USA > Missouri > Livingston County > Past and present of Livingston County, Missouri : a record of settlement, organization, progress and achievement, Volume II > Part 21
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The political affiliations of Dr. Ogan are with the democratic party and although he is public-spirited and takes interest in all measures inaugurated to promote the public welfare, he has never aspired to office. His fraternal relations are with the Vol. II-14
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Independent Order of Odd Fellows, in which order he has attained the third degree and has filled all of the chairs of the lodge. He is also affiliated with the Modern Woodmen of America. Capable, earnest and conscientious in the perform- ance of his professional duties, Dr. Ogan has demonstrated his ability to successfully cope with the ravages of sickness and disease and his practice is incontrovertible evidence of the con- fidence which he enjoys. Prosperity is his well merited reward and as his means have increased he has judiciously invested in local property and today owns several valuable business build- ings in Chula beside the family residence, where Dr. and Mrs. Ogan extend a warm welcome to their many friends, who often delight to gather at their hospitable fireside.
HON. J. M. DAVIS.
It is the peculiar function of a lawyer to participate in various lines of activity wherever he makes his home. He sees diverse sides of life and in his hands rest the peace, happiness and sometimes even the life of his clients. Upon the lawyer's honesty depends our na- tional justice, upon his soundness of judgment depends the efficacy of our legal institutions, in his hands rests the faith men have in the laws under which they live. The Hon. J. M. Davis, whose life work has had an important bearing upon the business and professional life of Chillicothe, has worked in the cause of right and justice not only as practicing attorney but also as judge of the county and circuit courts and as prosecuting attorney and is in years of service the second oldest lawyer in the state of Missouri, having been located in Chilli- cothe since 1885, while he has followed his profession since 1860. His record is that of an official who has ever been faultless in honor, fearless in conduct and stainless in reputation. Entirely free from ostentation and display, the simple weight of his character and his ability have carried him into the important public places, which he has filled, and he has fully demonstrated his ability to capably handle intricate and important law problems on the bench as well as before court or jury.
Hon. J. M. Davis came to Livingston county in 1852 with his parents, when fifteen years of age, on their removal from Clark county, Illinois, where he was born September 25, 1837. He is a son
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of Alexander and Priscilla (McKay) Davis, the former one of the pioneer farmers of this county, having settled here in Grand River township. The father acquired land here and broke the soil, grad- ually putting his farm under the plow and bringing it to a high state of cultivation, following during his life agricultural pursuits and attaining a gratifying degree of prosperity by his systematic and time-tried methods, his progressive spirit, ever leading him to make such improvements and institute such equipment as would promote the yield of his acres and increase the returns from his land. He passed away in 1893, in Grand River township, having survived his wife four years. The latter died in 1889 and both are buried in Monroe cemetery, Grand River township, Livingston county. The families on the father's and mother's side are of old and distinguished Welsh and Scotch origin and both settled in the United States long before the Revolutionary period, the ancestors of the father founding a home in Virginia and the mother's progenitors settling in Maryland. The great-grandfather of our subject was one of the heroes of the Revolutionary war.
Judge J. M. Davis was reared under the parental roof and received his early education in the pioneer log schoolhouses in Livingston county, typical of the period and of the frontier district. During those times in which he was not occupied with school work he assisted his father with the work on the farm but at the age of eighteen years started out on his independent career and hired himself out for one season, for work in one of the pioneer sawmills in this section. Stu- dious of mind and gifted with the perception to readily acquire the lessons taught him, he had made himself the master of all the learn- ing his teachers could give him and in 1858 became a school teacher, instructing during the summer, while in the winter he studied law, having decided upon legal work as his life vocation. Two years sufficed him to grasp all the details and technicalities of the law and in 1860 he had prepared himself so thoroughly that he was able to pass the bar examination, and from that date engaged in practice. While advancement at the bar is proverbially slow, his business increased as he demonstrated his ability and he soon enjoyed a clien- tage which assured him of fair financial returns. Gradually he made a name for himself and won favorable criticism for the careful manner in which he handled his cases. He has remarkable powers of concentration and application and his retentive mind often excites the surprise of his colleagues, and as he gathered experience he became more and more at home in handling legal problems and soon mani-
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fested before court and jury such comprehensive knowledge of the law and took his point so well, that he seldom lost a case. His reas- oning is logical and his deductions sound, and seldom is he surprised by an unexpected attack of opposing counsel. In 1880 he was elected to the distinguished office of circuit judge and he held this position for eleven years, when he resigned to again take up private practice, in which he has ever since continued. As the second oldest lawyer of the state and in his many relations with various interests of import- ance he has acquired a reputation which far exceeds local limits and his name is well known and stands honored in this part of the state. His position at the Livingston county bar is enviable and his reputa- tion as a lawyer has increased by the decisions which he has given while sitting upon the bench, where he was ever fair and impartial, rendering verdicts strictly based upon the law and the equity of the case at hand. He was conceded by all to be one of the most capable judges ever presiding over the circuit court. Judge Davis also pre- sided for two years over the county court and for the same period of time served in the important office of prosecuting county attorney, handling his cases with expediency and forcefulness. He conducts his practice at present under the style of J. M. Davis & Son, William W. Davis, the youngest member of his family, ably assisting him in his extensive practice.
On October 18, 1863, Judge Davis was united in marriage to Miss Sevilla Mckay, a daughter of James and Rebecca Mckay, at Wa- pello, Iowa. The father had been district court clerk and held other offices of trust, and when on his way to California in 1850, to seek the golden treasure that country held out, died on the way and was buried at Fort Laramie, Wyoming. His wife has also passed away and is buried at Wapello, Iowa. Judge and Mrs. Davis became the parents of two children: Archibald B., who is the able successor of his father, wearing the ermine as judge of the thirty-sixth judicial circuit; and William W., who is engaged in practice with his father. The family residence is on North Locust street, Chillicothe, where they hold forth in winter, but in summer the Judge and his family spend their time in the country.
As prosperity has come to Judge Davis his interests have increased manifold and he has become an important factor to this section in various relations. He is one of the largest landowners, holding title to three thousand acres of valuable farm land which he rents out and which returns to him a large income. He also has extensive city property. In financial circles he has become known as the organizer
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of the First National Bank of Chillicothe, of which he served as the first president and he has also founded a number of other banks in the county. His political affiliations are with the progressive party, in the platform of which he finds embodied sentiments which he pro- fesses and such measures as he would like to see enacted. For forty- four years he has been an ardent and devout member of the North Methodist Episcopal church and is actively interested in all the work of this organization. A fact worth mentioning in connection with his legal career is that he has the largest and most complete private law library in the state of Missouri, of which he is justly proud, as his comprehensive collection of books has taken him a lifetime to collect. From whatever angle we may consider the life work of Judge Davis, we find that in all relations he has done his full share of work and has done it well. His record is, indeed, remarkable and he can look back proudly upon his career, no phase or wrinkle of which needs to fear the light. He is a man strongly marked by character yet soft- hearted, kind and genial and, though a forceful element in the com- munity, popular and beloved, enjoying the highest regard and esteem of all who know him. He is successful in the truest sense of the word, broad-minded and tolerant, yet shrewd and of wide experience. Never grasping or mercenary, believing in something greater than mere material wealth, he has in the course of a long life, simply and unostentatiously spent, become a factor for good in almost every phase of endeavor.
HARRY W. GRAHAM.
Harry W. Graham, in the general newspaper business in Chilli- cothe, is a representative of some of the oldest families in America, his ancestors having been prominent in this country since Revolu- tionary times. He was born in Toledo, Iowa, January 6, 1867, and is a son of Gilbert H. and Annie M. (Wells) Graham. On the pater- nal side he is connected with the Adee and Ludington families, both of whom date back to the days of the American Revolution. The Adee family in Missouri today is descended from John Adee, who came to America about two hundred years ago. He was a weaver in early life and moved from Providence, Rhode Island, to Rye, in or before 1729, and there engaged in farming and real-estate operations. He died in 1784, having lived in America during the greater part of
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his life. He was born in England and from there came to America with his family in the early part of the eighteenth century. This fam- ily was of French extraction, dating back to Count Adee, whose ancestral home was at Clermont, forty miles from Paris. The second brother of the viscount was a contemporary of the celebrated Mary, Queen of Scots, and accompanied that unfortunate queen when she left France to take her place on the throne of Scotland in August, 1561. Later a branch of this family moved to Circencester, Glou- cestershire, England, and there their monuments may still be seen, bearing the family coat of arms, namely, three crosses, points down- ward, one in pale and two in saltier, encircled with a coronet. John Adee had four sons and one daughter, Jonathan, William, Daniel, John and Hannah. His son, Jonathan, who died at the time of the outbreak of the Revolutionary war, had five children, Samuel, Phoebe, Sarah, Rebecca and Jonathan. Of these Samuel was a boy of ten years at the time of the outbreak of hostilities with England and even during his childhood was an enthusiastic patriot. In April, 1793, he moved to the town of Bovina, Delaware county, New York, being one of the first settlers in that community. He was an energetic man and met the pioneer conditions which he found there with confidence and courage. Settling in the midst of a dense forest where he was obliged to kindle large fires at night to keep off the wild animals, he erected in three days a log cabin which in the course of seven or eight years gave way to a fine frame dwelling, while a farm well improved and highly cultivated attested his enterprise and perseverance. His wife was Sarah Bloomer, of White Plains, where she lived during the troubled times of the revolution, when the country was scoured alternately by "Redcoats" and the patriot soldiers of Washington. Samuel Adee died in October, 1828, and was survived by his wife until March, 1843. They had the following children, Joshua, Eliza- beth, Ann, Jonathan, Deborah, Darius, Esther and Stephen B. The latter, inheriting his father's energetic nature, remained on the old homestead and occupied himself with its cultivation and improve- ment. In 1831 he married Miss Elizabeth D. Ludington, a sister of Millicent (Ludington) Graham, grandmother of the subject of this review. Elizabeth Ludington was a lineal descendent of Lady Jane Pinckney, daughter of Sir John Pinckney, Earl of Derby, and a fa- mous lawyer in England. His son, Thomas Pinckney, came to America in 1687 and was commissioned governor of the Carolinas. He was accompanied by his sister Jane, who married a Mr. Fowler, and their daughter Jane married Thomas Foster. By this union there was a
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daughter, Mary, who afterward became the wife of James Northrup, and their daughter Jane married Henry Ludington. Mr. and Mrs. Henry Ludington were the great-grandparents of Harry W. Graham of this review and their daughter, Elizabeth D., married Stephen B. Adee.
The Ludington family is also of old American establishment, Henry Ludington's father, Samuel Ludington, and his five brothers having served under Washington during the Revolutionary war, one as a colonel on his staff. The family is of English origin, the grand- father of these six Revolutionary soldiers having been born in Liver- pool. He was an officer in the English navy but after the expiration of his term of service moved to America with his family and settled at the place in Putnam county which bore his name. Their patriotism made them famous, many members of the family having taken promi- nent parts in the war for Independence. Samuel Ludington marched with the Continental troops from New York and was present at the surrender of Lord Cornwallis at Yorktown, Virginia. In 1795 he moved to Ludingtonville with his family and he and his son Henry cleared up adjoining farms in Bovina, New York, all of the property being now owned and occupied by Henry Ludington's son, Thomas H. Ludington, great-uncle of Harry W. Graham, of this review.
In a more direct line Harry W. Graham is a descendant of Thomas Graham, father of John Graham, born in Roxburyshire, Scotland, March 7, 1754. He lived in the parish of Robertson, on a farm called Bradley, situated on the Boswick river, not far from Har- wick, and there made his home until about the year 1798, when he and his wife, who was in her maidenhood, Miss Jane Grey, left the home- stead on account of difficulties concerning land titles and went to the parish of Lootland to a farm called Teanside, in Roxburyshire, where they lived about one year. About 1800 they left Scotland and taking eight of their children, came to America, settling in the town of Bovina, Delaware county, New York, where they lived a number of years and where all of the children were married. Jane, the wife of John Graham, died there and was buried in Stamford, Delaware county. After her death John Graham went to Erin, Chemung county, New York, and there spent the remainder of his life, making his home with his son John. He died October 7, 1841, in the eighty- seventh year of his age. He and his wife had nine children, Isabella, Jane, William, James, John, Euphemia, Jenitt, Thomas and Margaret, all of whom were born in Scotland. Of these Isabella married James Thompson, of Scotland. She never came to America, and was buried
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in the parish of Eames, in Roxburyshire, or Dumpeyshire. She and her husband had fourteen children, thirteen of whom died in Scot- land. One son, John Thompson, left Scotland in the year 1831, sailing from Liverpool on the 6th of June of the same year. After landing in New York he made his way to Cuba, Allegany county, where he still resides.
On the maternal side also Harry W. Graham is a representative of a family whose members have been prominent in America for many generations. His mother, Anna M. (Wells) Graham, was a daugh- ter of Elisha and Elizabeth (Cornell) Wells. The latter was a niece of Ezra Cornell, founder of Cornell University of Ithaca, New York. She was born in Licking county, Ohio, and had one brother, Gideon, and a sister, Anna. Her husband, Elisha Wells, maternal grandfather of the subject of this review, was a son of Osmond Wells, who had five children, Elisha, Orlando, John, Ann, who was twice married, and Jane, now Mrs. Partridge, of West Liberty, Ohio. Orlando Wells married Elizabeth Stewart, a sister of Green Stewart, and they had the following children: George, Edward, Fred, Grace, Lord Byron, Charles and Seymour. Grace married John Bonker, an engineer in the employ of the Missouri, Kansas & Texas Railroad, and they reside in Sedalia.
Gilbert H. Graham, father of the subject of this review, upheld the honorable traditions of his family by active and loyal service in the Civil war, having held the position of quartermaster sergeant and commissary quartermaster in the Eighteenth Illinois Volunteer Regi- ment. He was in the thick of the battle at Chickamauga and took part in many other important engagements between 1861 and 1865. After the close of hostilities he spent several years in the mercantile business and later acted as agent for the American Express Company. He now resides in Denver, Colorado, having survived his wife since July 22, 1902. She is buried in the Greenwood cemetery in that city.
In the acquirement of an education Harry W. Graham attended public school in Ohio and Kentucky. After graduating from the Bellevue high school he entered Augusta College in Augusta, Ken- tucky, and there he spent one year, laying aside his books at the age of seventeen. He obtained employment under J. G. Isham, a manu- facturer of gas chandeliers, and after one year identified himself with the Methodist Episcopal Mission Choir, traveling as a chorister through Kentucky and Missouri. He afterward spent one year in completing his education in the St. Charles Military College and then entered the ministry of the Methodist Episcopal church, South. He
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did able and consecrated work in this capacity but was forced to abandon it for something more lucrative and for seven years was identified with an express company, maintaining this connection until he established himself in the general newspaper business in Chilli- cothe. During this time also he was interested in selling pure-bred live stock as an auctioneer and did such able and successful work in that capacity and as an agricultural specialist, that he was employed as live-stock and general farm specialist by a number of agricultural publications, his duties in this connection taking him all over the corn belt of the middle states. While in this work, he was appointed a delegate, in the spring of 1912, by Governor Herbert S. Hadley, of Missouri, to the southern commercial congress convention, at Nash- ville, Tennessee, to represent the state, and later was appointed, by the executive officers of this congress, a member of the American Commission for the study of European systems of co-operative rural credits, to represent the state of Missouri on this tour of European countries, the commission to leave New York, April 26, 1913. Being advised by the governor, that no funds were available in this state for this work of investigation, he declined the appointment. Being an able, progressive and far-sighted business man, all of his interests are capably and carefully managed and therefore profitable and his suc- cess places him today among the representative citizens of this section of Missouri.
On December 29, 1887, Mr. Graham married Miss Mary Ophelia Ford, a daughter of J. T. and Ophelia (Howell) Ford and a descend- ant of a family whose ancestry dates back to the Pilgrim Fathers, its members having been prominent in American affairs for many gen- erations. Mrs. Graham is connected with the Bartlett family, one of whose early representatives signed the Declaration of Independence. Her father was a pioneer in Missouri and for many years engaged in general farming in this state, later retiring to spend the evening of his life in rest and comfort. He died in 1893, having survived his wife since 1887. Both are buried in Edgewood cemetery, in Chillicothe. To Mr. and Mrs. Graham were born four children : Locksley E., who is a student at Cornell University; Lucille C., who is attending high school; Frank M., who is also pursuing his studies; and Charles W., who died in infancy and is buried in the Edgewood cemetery.
Fraternally Mr. Graham is connected with the Masonic order, holding membership in the lodge, chapter, commandery and shrine. He is also a member of the Benevolent Protective Order of Elks, the Knights of Pythias, the United Commercial Travelers, and the
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Knights of the Maccabees. His religious views are in accord with the doctrines of the Christian Scientist church, of which he has been a member for the last two years. He is very progressive and liberal in his political views and interested in public affairs, having served ably and conscientiously for one year as city auditor. He is a worthy rep- resentative of the best type of American citizen, a man of admirable characteristics, broad views and modern ideas, whose political and commercial efforts are conducted on a high mental and moral plane. His sympathies are keen and conservative and his means ever at the disposal of well directed and feasible plans for the general improve- ment, and he is in consequence a worthy representative of the long line of patriots and soldiers from which he comes.
JAMES F. OLIVER.
After a long and useful career as an agriculturist James F. Oliver is living retired in Chillicothe, enjoying the comforts earned during his years of well directed and zealous labor. He is a native son of this section, born in Livingston county, October 28, 1850, his par- ents being John C. and Jane ( Prillman) Oliver, natives of Virginia. They came to Livingston county in pioneer times, settling near Dawn in 1849. There the father purchased land and carried on farming until his death. The mother has also passed away. To their union were born seven children: George H., John B., Sarah and Thomas E., all of whom are now deceased : Mary E., the wife of J. H. Shields, of Iola, Kansas; Parthenia, the wife of William Winfrey, of Avalon; and James F., of this review.
James F. Oliver acquired his education in the public schools of Livingston county and at the age of eighteen laid aside his books in order to engage in the butcher business. After three years he took up farming and at the age of twenty-two married and took charge of the farm in Blue Mound township belonging to his mother-in-law. With intelligence and singleness of purpose he carried forward the work of development, making the property a model agricultural enter- prise. Being successful in his undertakings, he added to his holdings from time to time and finally operated four hundred acres. Event- ually, however, he moved to Chillicothe township, where he pur- chased one hundred and sixty acres, upon which he resided until 1898,
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when he retired from active life and purchased a fine home in Chilli- cothe, where he now resides.
On the Ioth of October, 1872, Mr. Oliver was united in marriage to Miss Theresa Weir, a daughter of Robert and Sarah (Jacobs) Weir, the former a native of Ireland and the latter of Ohio. They came to Missouri about the year 1843 and settled near Utica on a farm which the father operated until his death, which occurred on the 29th of May, 1861. His wife has also passed away, her death having occurred September 10, 1909. In their family were three children : Olivia, deceased; Theresa, the wife of the subject of this review; and William John, of Blue Mound township. To Mr. and Mrs. Oliver were born six children: J. Claude, who is a ranchman of Nevada; Anna, at home; Roy, who passed away July 6, 1888; Vergil, who is a Pullman car conductor and who makes his home in Denver, Colo- rado; Kate, who married William Epperson, of Great Falls, Mon- tana; and Lulu Grace, the wife of M. L. Crouch, of Joliet, Illinois. Mr. and Mrs. Oliver are devout adherents of the Methodist Episcopal church, South.
Mr. Oliver gives his allegiance to the democratic party and has always taken a loyal and progressive interest in the affairs of his community, although his public spirit never takes the form of office seeking. Fraternally he is connected with the Independent Order of Odd Fellows and the Masons. He stands high among the substan- tial men of the community and his progressive spirit and the trust- worthy qualities of his character have won for him widespread con- fidence and respect.
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