USA > Missouri > Nodaway County > Past and present of Nodaway County, Missouri Volume I > Part 52
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After his marriage Mr. Wyman bought a farm in Atchison county and lived there about two years, then went to Skidmore and entered the general merchandise business, remaining there two years, then bought the farm where he now lives four miles east and a half mile south of Quitman. It is an excel- lent place and he keeps it in good condition, it yielding him a very comfort- able living.
One child has been born to Mr. and Mrs. Fred C. Wyman, Russell Earl. Mr. Wyman is a member of the Woodmen of the World.
Both Mr. and Mrs. Wyman are descendants of excellent old families. The former's father was a practicing physician and was well known both in Nodaway and Holt counties. His oldest son. Charley, is also a practicing physician. being located at Maitland. Holt county; another son, Lionel, is farming south of Maitland: Grace Wyman is the wife of Raymond E. Teller and lives in Kansas City : Demas is associated with Lionel on the farm ; Helen Wyman lives in Kansas City with her sister, Mrs. Teller.
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Both of the grandparents of these children were tailors by trade. The maternal grandparents, the Duchmans, came to Nodaway county about 1870. before the railroad was built. Jasper Duchman's neighbors in Wisconsin endeavored to dissuade him from coming to Missouri, warning him against being killed by Indians and many other supposed disagreeable phases of life here. He brought his family here from the Badger state in wagons, bought a farm near Graham, but later sold it and followed tailoring in Graham. He wrote back to his neighbors in Wisconsin, telling them of the excellent condi- tions here and many of them came and settled near Graham. Mr. Duchman. who lived to be seventy-eight years old, fell into a natural sleep and never awoke, death coming to him as he slumbered. Mrs. Wyman's grandmother also lived to a good old age, eighty-seven years, dying in April. 1910.
The Wyman family, as well as the Duchman and Brown families, have always been noted for their industry and honesty.
THEODORE WILLIAM PORTER.
Few citizens in the northeastern part of Nodaway county are as widely and favorably known as Theodore W. Porter. of Hopkins, where he is suc- cessfully engaged in the insurance and real estate business. His life has be- come a part of the history of the community in which he has made his home for many years and his long and honorable business career has brought him before the public in such a way as to gain the esteem and confidence of his fellowmen. Keen perception, tireless energy and honesty of purpose. combined with mature judgment and every-day common sense. have ever been among his most prominent characteristics, and while laboring for individual success and for the material interests of the community, he has also been instrumental in promoting the moral and educational interests of the section in which he lives.
Theodore W. Porter was born June 22. 1843. in Battle Creek, Michigan. and is a son of William Lloyd and Roxy Ann ( Beals ) Porter. William L. Porter was born in New York state. His father was a lumberman, who operated a large number of sawmills in Allegany county, New York. Wil- liam Porter and his family migrated to Michigan in 1831, blazing their way from Detroit to Battle Creek, where Mr. Porter entered one hundred and sixty acres of land. He married Roxy Ann Beals in New York state, and they became the parents of seven children. The mother of these children
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dying in 1858, the father married again and by the second union were born two children. Mr. Porter came to Hopkins, Missouri, in 1868. and here lived until his death, which occurred in 1884. He was a man of high character and enjoyed the respect of all who knew him.
Theodore W. Porter was reared by his parents, his boyhood days being spent on the parental farmstead. He was educated in the public schools, sup- plementing this by a course in the Michigan State Normal School. At seven- teen years of age he commenced life on his own account. and the following five years were spent in farming. In 1865, he began freighting across the Rocky mountains, in which he was engaged during the following two years. He then engaged in farming in Bates county, Missouri. but in 1868 he re- turned to Michigan, where he remained until the spring of 1869. In that year he located on a farm at Xenia, Nodaway county. Missouri, being one of the first settlers in Hopkins township. He was of an enterprising make-up and. seizing the opportunity. he opened a drug store, from which he sold the first merchandise bought in this township. In 1873 Mr. Porter was appointed post- master at Hopkins and served seven years acceptably in this position. He remained in the drug business continuously and with marked success until 1884. In 1893 he went into the lumber business. in which he was successfully engaged for several years. He has for several years been engaged in the insurance and real estate business, being numbered among the leading citizens of the town. He possesses an accurate knowledge of local real estate values and his judgment is considered good and sound. He is also a notary public.
Mr. Porter is a Republican in his political predilections and has long stood high in the councils of his party. His popularity is attested by the fact that he served his town as clerk and collector for fourteen years and as a member of the school board for twenty-one consecutive years, during which period he exerted a definite influence in the direction of elevating the standard of the schools and the courses of study. Fraternally, he is a member of the Ancient Free and Accepted Masons, in the local lodge of which he has served as sec- retary for eighteen years, and the Ancient Order of United Workmen, of which he is the present recorder.
On January 1. 1872. Mr. Porter was united in marriage with Dallas Johnston, a native of Maryland, and they are the parents of a daughter. Cecil. who is now the wife of George W. Austin, of Olathe. Kansas. Mr. and Mrs. Porter move in the best social circles of Hopkins and are popular among their acquaintances. Mr. Porter has, because of his sterling qualities of character and his genuine worth, earned and retains the respect and confidence of the entire community. and as a representative citizen of this section of the county he is eminently entitled to representation in this work.
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JAMES H. LEMON.
He whose career is now taken under consideration and to whom the reader's attention is respectfully directed, is numbered among the progressive and successful agriculturists of Nodaway county, of which he has been a resident many years. while he has gained prosperity through his own honest efforts in connection with the honorable calling of husbandry. Mr. Lemon was born in Luzerne county, Pennsylvania, August 16, 1842, and is a son of Elisha and Phebe ( Hartman) Lemon. The subject's parents were born, reared and married in the old Keystone state, where the father followed agricultural pur- suits. The subject's paternal grandfather, William Lemon, was a soldier in the war of 1812, sometimes called the Second war for Independence. Elisha Lemon and his family came to Illinois about 1846, locating in Fulton county among the early pioneers of that section. He there bought a small farm, which he operated until his death. In politics he was an old-line Whig and was a man of high character and enjoyed the respect of all who knew him. He and his wife became the parents of six children, three sons and three daugh- ters.
James H. Lemon received his education in the public schools of Fulton and McDonough counties, Illinois, supplementing this by three years' at- tendance at an academy at Prairie City, Illinois. He then engaged in teach- ing school for about four years. On the 9th of August, 1862, he enlisted in Company H. One Hundred and Nineteenth Regiment Illinois Volunteer In- fantry, as a private. serving with that command until the close of the war and being promoted to the rank of brigade provost sergeant. Upon receiving his honorable discharge from military service. Mr. Lemon returned to McDon- ough county, Illinois, to which place the family had removed prior to the opening of the war, and there he became identified with farming and school teaching. He shortly afterwards bought eighty acres of land, which he farmed with fair success for some years. In 1875 he came to Nodaway county, Missouri, locating on the farm on which he now resides in the northern part of Nodaway township. His first purchase there was one hundred and sixty acres, but he has added to this from time to time as he has been able, and is now the owner of twelve hundred acres of as good land as can be found in Nodaway county. He has been highly successful in his farming operations, being thoroughly practical and methodical in all he does. His property is well improved, its general appearance indicating the owner to be a man of good taste and sound judgment. In connection with a general
J. H. LEMON
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line of farming, he has also given considerable attention to the breeding and raising of thoroughbred live stock, in which line he has acquired a high rep- utation.
On June 23. 1869, Mr. Lemon was united in marriage to Emily Kautz. and they have become the parents of six children, William P., Charles W .. Sadie K., L. Amy, Nellie J. and Hervey A.
Religiously, Mr. and Mrs. Lemon are members of the Methodist Episco- pal church, to which they give a general support. Mr. Lemon keeps alive his old army associations through his membership in the Grand Army of the Republic. He has taken an active part in politics ever since attaining his majority and has always been found aligned with the Republican party. While living in Illinois he served as tax collector and since locating here he has served as justice of the peace and school director many years. In the fall of 1904 Mr. Lemon was nominated as the candidate of his party for the State Legislature and in the succeeding election he was chosen by the voters of the county. He made an excellent record in that law-making body and has twice been elected to succeed himself. now serving his third term. He has taken an active part in advancing legislation of a beneficiary nature and has always taken a stand for such measures as will benefit the people at large. Among the special measures introduced by him was the normal school bill. through the operation of which the Maryille Normal School has been elevated to its present high standing. He has served efficiently as chairman of the committee on roads and highways and as a member of other important committees has done effective work. He is a man of recognized ability and marked talents and in him Nodaway county is ably represented in the Legis- lature. He is of pleasing address and enjoys a host of warm personal friends, who esteem him for his genuine worth. In 1909 the State Nurses' Association, at their annual meeting at St. Louis, voted Mr. Lemon a hand- some gold-headed cane in recognition of his services in introducing and having passed what is known as the nurse bill.
THOMAS MARION TRULLINGER.
A well-known farmer of Green township, Nodaway county, is Thomas Marion Trullinger, who was born in Fremont county, Iowa, February 28, 1862, and he is the son of Barton Worley and Mary Ann ( Miller ) Trullinger,
(35)
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the father born in Fountain county. Indiana. of Scotch-Irish parentage ; Illinois is the probable birthplace of Mrs. Trullinger. Her death occurred when her son, Thomas Marion, was only eight years old.
Thomas M. Trullinger has spent his life on the farm, having remained in Iowa until he was thirteen years old, then went back to Illinois with his sister, who had recently married and moved back to that state. After remaining there three years, he moved back to Nodaway county, Missouri. his father having moved to this county in the spring that the son went to Illinois, the father buying a farm near Maryville. At that time there were still thousands of acres of open prairie west of Maryville that was in a wild state. Roads wound around the ridges and followed across the prairies without much regard to the section lines.
Thomas M. Trullinger was married on January 10. 1883, to Malory Ellen Bentley, daughter of William Preston and Susan Jane ( Britton) Bent- ley. A sketch of Mr. Bentley appears elsewhere in this volume.
After his marriage Mr. Trullinger went to farming for himself in the west side of Polk township, and there he continued farming until about 1892, then moved to the east end of Green township and continued farming. About 1904 he bought a farm in that locality, which place joined that of his father-in-law. Mr. Bentley, and he has lived in that locality ever since. He follows general farming, raises hogs, milk cows, etc.
Two sons were born to Mr. and Mrs. Trullinger, Fred B. and Earl B. The former died when seventeen and one-half years old. in July, 1901. The latter was born August 25, 1886, and he lives at home with his father, and is now (1910) in his fourth year at the State University at Columbia, where he is studying both journalism and agriculture.
Mr. Trullinger is a member of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows. also the Maccabees.
WILLIAM FRENCH.
A man who boldly faces the responsibilities of life and by determined and untiring energy carves out for himself an honorable success exerts a powerful influence upon the lives of those about him and those who follow him. Such men constitute the foundation of our republican institutions and are the pride of our civilization. To them life is so real that they find no time to plot either mischief or vice. Their lives are bound up in their duties. they feel the weight of their citizenship. and take pleasure in sowing the seeds of uprightness. Such has been the career of the subject of this brief notice.
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William French, who is now successfully engaged in the real estate and insurance business at Hopkins, Nodaway county, was born at Ringwood, McHenry county, Illinois, on June 1, 1863, and is a son of Henry W. and Mary Jane ( Vreeland ) French. Henry W. French was of English descent. his own birth having occurred in New York state. His parents moving to the city of New York, he there passed his boyhood days and served an apprentice- ship at the trade of a blacksmith. From New York he went to McHenry county, Illinois, where he was engaged in blacksmithing for twelve years. The following three years he was employed at his trade in Poughkeepsie. New York. During the following few years he was located for short times at var- ious places, being six miles west of Kansas City, Missouri, one year, at Hop- kins, this county, eight months, at Lenox, Taylor county, Iowa, three and a half years, in Norton county, Kansas, four years, at Atchison, Kansas, six months. at Halls Station, Missouri, one year, and then at Bolckow, Andrew county, Missouri, where he remained until the fall of 1909, when he moved to St. Joseph, Missouri, where his death occurred on February 17. 1910. In 1861 Mr. French enlisted in Company H. Eighth Regiment Illinois Cavalry, with which he served valiantly for nine months, being honorably discharged from the service at the end of that period because of physical disability. He after- wards became a member of the Grand Army of the Republic. In his political views he was an ardent Republican, while religiously. he was a faithful and consistent member of the Methodist Episcopal church.
While a resident of New York state, Mr. French married Mary Jane Vreeland and they became the parents of three children, of whom the sub- ject of this sketch is the only one living. Mrs. French died in 1870 and Mr. French subsequently married Cornelia Houghtealing, of New York, who sur- vives him.
William French was not favored with exceptional advantages in his youth and his education was mainly obtained by home study, much midnight oil being burned in his efforts to equip himself mentally for the battle of life. Though limited in book learning. Mr. French has been a man of keen dis- cernment and by habits of close observation of men and events he has become a well-informed man and is thoroughly practical in his views of affairs and in his conduct of business. He began to learn the trade of blacksmithing un- der the direction of his father while residing at Hopkins, and he has remained here ever since, having devoted himself assiduously to that line of effort and with considerable success until October 1. 1908. when he sold his business and took up that of real estate and insurance. He has met with gratifying success in his efforts and is numbered among the leading business men of
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Hopkins. He is the special representative of the Gray Realty Company, of Kansas City, of Bower & Hollingsworth, South Dakota lands. the Frank Wisdom Land Company, of Bedford, lowa, and the Kelly Land Agency, South Dakota lands. He is also agent for a general line of life, tornado and fire insurance and has handled a large number of risks in these lines. He has been very successful in his real estate deals and is credited with possessing an accurate knowledge of general land values.
On November 5. 1884, Mr. French was united in marriage with Alice M. Worley. of Hopkins. In politics, Mr. French is an ardent Prohibi- tionist, believing that the temperance question is the most vital issue now before the American voter. His religious membership is with the Chris- tian church. to which he renders a consistent support. He is a man of splendid personal character and has earned the respect of the entire com- 'nunity in which he has resided for so many years. He is public spirited and his support is ever given to those movements which promise to benefit the community morally, educationally, socially or materially.
WILLIAM PRESTON BENTLEY.
When the woods and prairies of northwestern Missouri were yet, for the most part, in their virgin state and the homes of many varieties of bird and beast that are not found here today; when the log cabin instead of the large frame dwelling dotted the hill crests, and when land as rich as the Union can boast could be had almost for a song, compared with what it costs today, then the Bentley family invaded this section and have been prominent in the industrial life here ever since, one of the best known of the family being William Preston Bentley, who was born in Rush county, Indiana. May 9. 1838. He is the son of Levi and Mary (Cain) Bentley ; his father was born in Boyle county, Kentucky, and his mother in North Carolina. In 1844. when William P. was only six years old, his parents died and he was reared by his maternal grandparents, who, in 1844, took up government land in Platte county, Missouri, where they lived until 1849, then came to Nodaway county and settled in Green township, buying a farm here on which they lived the rest of their days, grandfather Cain dying prior to the Civil war. During the war between the states Mr. Bentley served very faithfully as a soldier in Company H. Fifty-first Regiment. Missouri Infantry. In 1861 he married Susan Jane Britton, daughter of George W. and Mary
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(Arbuckle) Britton. She was born in Jackson county, Indiana, and came to Missouri in the latter fifties. Two children were born to Mr. and Mrs. Bentley, one of whom died in infancy : the other is Malory Ellen, wife of T. M. Trullinger, whose sketch appears in this work. Mrs. Bentley was called to her rest in 1903.
While Mr. Bentley was still a minor he purchased forty acres of land in Polk township, this county. After the war he improved it and lived there about twenty years. He then sold out and bought his present farm in March, 1886, in the eastern end of Green township, and he has made his home here ever since, having a good farm and a very comfortable home. He is a mem- ber of the Methodist Episcopal church, as was his wife until her death.
Mr. Bentley is a very interesting talker of the days when he first came to Nodaway county, when there were all kinds of game, deer, wild turkeys, etc., also wolves and wildcats. Indians often came in the fall to hunt, and would be driven out by the whites. The towns of Skidmore and Burlington Junction had not been thought of, and at Quitman there was nothing but an old log water-mill.
WILFRED ALLEN WHITE.
From an excellent old West Virginia family descends Wilfred Allen White, a successful farmer of Green township, Nodaway county, he himself having been born in that state in 1858, near the Ohio line. He is the son of William and Elizabeth (Clyde) White, both of whom died when their son. Wilfred A., was a child. When he was six years old they moved to Illinois, locating south of Peoria. The subject's maternal grandmother. Ann Clyde, came from Scotland when a young girl, making the long voyage in an old-fashioned sailing vessel which required thirteen weeks to cross the great Atlantic.
After the death of his parents, Wilfred A. White lived with an elder brother, Clyde White. He received a good education, having attended Aving- don College, in Knox county. Illinois. Upon leaving the school room he turned his attention to farming. In 1884 he married Jennie Kiesling, a native of Kentucky, born in McCracken county ; she is the daughter of George and Ellen (Reichel) Kiesling. Mrs. White has three brothers and four sisters: Martin and Lawrence live near Forest City. Illinois: George lives at Havana, Illinois: Etta, Mrs. Mary Warner: Mrs. Margaret Pemberton :
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Mrs. Alma Tobias also lives at Forest City. The parents of these children were both born in Germany, the mother having come to America with her parents when six years old. George Kiesling, the father, was born in Bavaria, Germany, and came to America when twenty-eight years old.
Wilfred A. White is a member of a family of eleven children, of whom nine are living. David C., who reared the subject of this sketch, now lives in Maryville ; Marion lives at Greenwood, Mississippi ; Milton lives at Wash- ington, Iowa; John Calvin lives in Dallas, Texas; Elbert lives in Spring- field, Illinois : Mrs. Sarah Maxwell lives in Idaho; Mrs. Alice Smith lives in Oklahoma, and Mrs. Anna Watt also lives in Oklahoma. Mr. White mar- ried in Illinois, to which state his wife was brought by her parents, in i868. when she was a child, her father dying there in 1908; her mother still lives near Forest City. Illinois.
Near the last named place. Mr. White went to farming for himself and lived there until 1902, owning a good farm of one hundred and sixty acres. Upon the date just mentioned he sold out and moved to Nodaway county, Missouri, buying a farm in the eastern end of Green township in the fall of 1901 ; it was located five and one-half miles west of Maryville. The year following he moved to where he now lives. He has a well-improved farm of one hundred and thirty acres, a good house, well furnished and well kept. He is very successful as a general farmer and handles some good stock, although he does not make stock raising a specialty.
Politically, Mr. White is a Republican and takes considerable interest in the welfare of his community. He is a member of the Masonic order at Maryville and is a Royal Arch Mason ; he also belongs to the Modern Wood- men, and he and Mrs. White are both members of the Baptist church.
JOHN HUBBERT MILLER.
The name of John Hubbert Miller is well known in Green township. where he maintains a good farm, and, in fact, few men of western Nodaway county are better known, and he represents a fine old pioneer family. His birth occurred in Wisconsin. January 28, 1873, and he is the son of Nicholas and Catherine ( Fredrick ) Miller.
When John H. Miller was a small boy, the family moved several times. For a time his father was engaged in the livery business at Random Lake. When the son was about seven years old his parents moved to Kansas and
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there farmed a little over eleven years, then moved to Nodaway county, Mis- souri, and located in the eastern edge of Green township, one mile south of the Nodaway township line. There the father bought a farm of two hundred acres and established the family home, having sold his Kansas properties. He lived in Green township about eight years, then moved to Chicago, though he retained his farm here, but lived the rest of his life in Chicago. dying in 1904. He was a very successful farmer and business man. During the Civil war he was a member of Company A. Col. Robert G. Ingersoll's regiment of Illinois cavalry, in which he made a very creditable record.
The Miller family is of German origin. Nicholas Miller having been born near Luxemberg, Germany, from which country he came to America with his parents, when a child. Ten children were born to Nicholas Miller and wife. Mrs. Miller was previously married before her alliance with Nicholas Miller, her first husband having been killed during the Civil war. By her first marriage one daughter. Katie, was born. At the close of the war she married Mr. Miller, and her daughter has since been known as Katie Miller. Of Mr. Miller's children only three are living. John. Frank, who lives in Chicago, and Joe, who lives in Evanston, Illinois, where the mother of these children also now resides. The following are the deceased children of Mr. and Mrs. Nicholas Miller: Frank died when about fifteen years old at Random Lake, Wisconsin: Lizzie. Maggie, Mary and Susie all met a very tragic death simultaneously. about 1885, having been struck by lightning. John H. being the only one struck that recovered, and he was badly burned ; Jacob was about six years old when he fell off the steps of the Miller home and injured his skull, from which he died about six months later in the fall; Julia died in 1906 when fifteen years of age, while living in Chicago with her mother.
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