USA > Missouri > Nodaway County > Past and present of Nodaway County, Missouri Volume II > Part 2
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Wright, Thomas 884
Wiles, William E 642
Wilfley George L. 968
Totterdale, William H. 392
Tracy, William W. 960
Trapp, Prince L ..
517
Trapp William R. 517
Trullinger, Thomas M. 545
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VanCleve, William C .. 978
Vandersloat, Frederick W 927
VanSteenbergh, Gideon A 931
VanSteenbergh, Harold J 931
Vert, Jacob D. 846
Vert, James 846
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Walker, Charles 740
Walker, William H. 741
Wooldridge, Frederick E.
569
Workman, John 520
. Wells, William R. 533
Wyman, Fred C.
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IBills
BIOGRAPHICAL -- Continued.
JOHN SLIKER BILBY.
At this point the biographer is glad to give a conspicuous setting to the life record of John Sliker Bilby, a man who, however, needs no formal intro- duction to the readers of this work, being one of the notable men of his day and generation, his name being state wide and even national in its scope in view of the fact that he ranks with the great land owners of the world, therefore any attempt at laudation here would appear somewhat inconsistent if not in- congruous ; but aside from the positions which he occupies as a leading and highly esteemed citizen, there is added interest attached to the resume of his career from the fact that during his many years' residence here he has seen and taken a leading part in the wonderful development of Nodaway county from the primitive conditions existing when the prairies were, many of them. lying in wild sod, to the opulent present, he having long been one of the ad- vance guard of progress and material advancement, and while he has benefited himself in a very material way, he has never lost sight of his obligations to his fellow men, being public-spirited and loyal in his support of movements hav- ing as their ultimate aim the bettering of the locality honored by his citizen- ship.
Mr. Bilby was born at Drakestown, New Jersey, January 19, 1832, his parents being John and Delilah (Sliker) Bilby. The father, also born in New Jersey, spent his life there; he was the son of Jonathan Bilby, a sterling Scotchman who settled in New Jersey before John Bilby was born, thus es- tablishing this honored family in America. John Bilby was a stone-mason by trade and later in life followed farming; upon reaching maturity, he married Delilah Sliker, a native of New Jersey, in which state her parents were also born. To John and Delilah Bilby fifteen children were born, twelve of whom grew to maturity, and five are now living: Aaron died in 1908: Jonathan died in 1900: Mrs. Marilda Painter died in 1904: John S., of this review ; Nicholas died of consumption contracted while a soldier in the Civil war: George was killed in the battle of the Wilderness ; Jesse lives at Hackettstown, New Jersey ; Mrs. Renzilla Dick died in 1908: Mrs. Mehetable Seals lives at Drakestown, New Jersey ; Mrs. Elizabeth Gillinger lives at Quitman, Nodaway
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county : Mrs. Mary Young died in the winter of 1903 : Charles lives at Nellie, Oklahoma.
John S. Bilby grew to maturity at Drakestown. New Jersey, and when only eight years old went out to work for his living. Later he worked an entire year for one hundred and fifteen dollars. In his youth he learned the carpenter's trade and always knew the meaning of hard work. These early experiences gave him great fortitude, self-reliance and persistency, which re- sulted in his large success of later years. He is pre-eminently a self-educated and self-made man, therefore richly deserves the benign smiles which For- tune has bestowed upon him and the high esteem of his countrymen. In the early fifties he became a sufferer from tuberculosis and, believing that a change of climate would benefit his health, came to Canton, Illinois, and there he worked for a time with William Parlin, who afterwards became a member of the great plow manufacturing firm of Parlin & Orendorph. Accumulating a little money there. he began building houses on contracts ; he also built houses and sold them, and later bought eighty acres of land near Canton. He mar- ried Margaret Applegit, a native of Drakestown, New Jersey, and the daugh- ter of Moses and Margaret ( Messinger) Applegit, and this union resulted in the birth of four children, namely : Frances Ellen, born in 1862, is the wife of Dr. Rufus H. Smith, formerly a practicing physician, now engaged in the real estate business in Seattle, Washington ; John Edmund, a record of whom appears on another page of this work, is the eldest son: Russell Irving, the second son, is also represented in this work: Nicholas V., who was born in 1870, married Bird McMacken, and lives at Holdenville, Oklahoma, where he is engaged in a number of enterprises, raises cotton, cattle, runs a cotton-gin and has an oil mill on his large plantation on the Canadian river.
The mother of these children died October 2. 1887, at what was then the family home in the west part of Green township. Nodaway county.
After his marriage to Margaret Applegit in Illinois, Mr. Bilby went to live on his farm in Fulton county, near Canton. He then made several trades in farm property, and three or four years after his marriage he moved to near Bushnell, in McDonough county, Illinois. He and Messrs. Day and Crider organized one of the first livestock commission firms in Chicago under the firm name of Crider. Day & Bilby. Mr. Bilby remained in McDonough county and bought and shipped stock to Chicago. Whenever an opportunity to buy land in McDonough county presented itself he availed himself of it and became the owner of nearly a thousand acres there. About 1868 he came to Nodaway county, Missouri, and bought a half section of land in the south side of Green township. west of Nodaway river. Here he rapidly increased his holdings and soon had in his possession a very large amount of land. Having
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a lumber yard of his own, he built a store, and a postoffice was established there, called Fairview. He also built houses and large barns. He bought large numbers of cattle from neighboring farmers and adjoining counties, fattened and sold them. Buying more land, from time to time, his holdings spread into Atchison and Holt counties. He followed farming and stock feeding on a large scale, larger, in fact, than had ever been seen in Mis- souri. By 1873 he was going beyond the nearby counties and brought cattle from as far as Kansas City to fatten them here. During several years he bought cattle in Oregon and Washington, driving them to the railroad, a hun- dred miles east of Cheyenne, Wyoming, shipping them to Council Bluffs, Iowa, from which place his sons and their assistants would drive them to their land in this locality.
Mr. Bilby built the first tile factory in this part of Missouri, located at Quitman, and for many years he and his sons have been putting in car loads of it in their land every year. John S. Bilby was also the first to sow blue grass in this section of Missouri and lie now raises enormous quantities of it, selling car loads of the seed.
The Bilby ranches in this state now cover twenty-six thousand acres in Nodaway, Atchison and Holt counties, all very valuable land. To manage this vast acreage an organization and a perfect system is required, the manage- ment being divided by John S. Bilby and his sons, Russell and Edward as fol- lows : John S. and J. Ed. Bilby are partners under the firm name of the Quit- man Live Stock Company : John S. and Russell I. are partners under the name of the Nodaway Valley Cattle Company. The Missouri ranches are divided between the two managements. Edward having the north and west parts and Russell that south and nearer Quitman; both use the brand "Ranch 44," one branding cattle on the left side and the other on the right side. Each ranch has a foreman in charge of parts of the work and these foremen have their assist- ants. There are boarding houses on the ranches and stores where they may do their trading: these stores carry several thousand dollars' worth of stock and many of the articles bear the brand "Ranch 44." There are several school districts on the ranches whose taxes are voted by the employes living there and the Bilbys pay nearly all of it ; however, the men are fair and do not vote ex- orbitant levies. There are ice houses, traction engines, feed mills, blacksmith shops, all kind of modern farming implements and many enormous barns on these ranches to say nothing of the commodious, attractive and beautifully lo- cated residences where genuine Western hospitality and good cheer are found ever prevailing.
Formerly the Bilbys drove cattle in from neighboring townships and
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counties, but they now haul them in by train loads, most of them coming from Texas and old Mexico and they are widely known as the cattle kings of north- western Missouri, known throughout the Middle West, especially at all the general markets, and in the great Southwest and Mexico their names are household words. But such prestige has no tendency to give them stilted man- ners or affected superiority of attitude toward their fellow men; on the con- trary, they are plain, unassuming, straightforward, honorable and genteel, neighborly, kind, generous and treat all classes in the spirit of man to man.
In the early eighties the Bilbys began buying land in Nebraska and they now own seven square miles there or over four thousand acres; they also bought large tracts in Arkansas, partly timber land, and at the time much of it was apparently almost worthless, but it is now as fine a rice growing district as can be found, and their ranches in Kansas contain forty-three thousand . acres. About ten years later they began buying Texas land and now own about two hundred thousand acres in that state, and in Old Mexico the Bilbys own about four hundred thousand acres of land. In the fall of 1902 John S. Bilby began operations in Oklahoma and now has large ranches there. where he is engaged in farming and stock raising and feeding. He has a rare gen- ius for land buying, seldom makes a mistake, being a man of keen discernment in forecasting the outcome of a present transaction. Such achievements are truly marvelous when the fact is considered that Mr. Bilby was compelled to start in life empty handed, making his own living even when a mere child. He has continued to work diligently, early and late, always persistently and along a well defined line. He has exercised wonderful judgment and rare foresight, and it is said he would get up in the night to buy land. It is believed that he is now the largest individual land owner in America.
John S. Bilby was married on October 2, 1909, to Eva Smith, of Good Hope, Illinois, a lady of intelligence and refinement and the representative of an excellent and influential family there. Mr. Bilby still claims northwestern Missouri as his home, but he and his wife spend nearly all their time in Okla- homa, where he gives his individual attention to his large ranches. With duties that would crush the ordinary man, he has his labors so systematized that he experiences little or no inconvenience in doing them. He is essentially cosmopolitan in his ideas, a man of the people in all that the term implies, and in the best sense of the word a representative type of that strong American manhood which commands and retains respect by reason of inherent merit. sound sense and correct conduct. Measured by the accepted standards of ex- cellence, his career, though strenuous, has been eminently honorable and use- ful, and his life fraught with great good to his fellow men and to the world.
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NODAWAY COUNTY, MISSOURI.
JUDGE WILLIAM HENRY CONN.
Precedence among any of the several professional lines to whose fol- lowing both pre-eminent and mediocre ability has been given can be attained by no side-path, but must be gained by earnest. heroic work; it must be the result of subjective native talent, supplemented by the closest application and a breadth of intellectuality that will render possible the ready and practical use of mere theoretical knowledge. Among the large number who essay the achievement of preferment and honor, the percentage of failures is far in ex- cess of that of successes. One of the worthy citizens of Nodaway county whose career has clearly demonstrated that he is possessed of the adaptation and essentials which point to professional thrift is Judge William Henry Conn, of the probate court, the salient facts in whose interesting and varied career are herein briefly set forth.
Judge Conn is a scion of two excellent old families of Illinois, having been born in Nauvoo. Hancock county, that state. November 4. 1846, and he is the son of Henry and Parmilla ( Miles) Conn, both natives of Chautauqua county. New York, where they grew to maturity and were educated. and from which place they emigrated to Illinois in 1844. finally making their home in Lee county, that state. Henry Conn was a man of many sterling characteristics and never faltered in the face of obstacles. He followed the tide of gold seekers that poured over the wild stretches of western prairie into California. arriving there in 1852, where he spent his last days. having been killed in a gold mine. In 1866 Mrs. Conn and children came to Worth county. Missouri, where the mother died in 1882, having reared her family in comfort and respectability. Four children were born to Mr. and Mrs. Henry Conn. three of whom are living at this writing, one dying in in fancy.
William H. Conn was educated at Teachers' Institute and Classical Seminary, Paw-Paw Grove. Illinois, where he made an excellent record for scholarship, preparing himself for a teacher. In the spring of 1870 he went to Allendale. Worth county. Missouri, where he taught school for two years. Having made a very creditable record in the schools there and winning the confidence and admiration of both pupils and patrons, he was appointed and later elected superintendent of schools, serving four years in a most accept- able manner, instituting many helpful changes and placing the schools there under an excellent system. He later devoted his attention to school teaching again, his services being in great demand in that locality. For a time he was also successfully engaged in the real estate and insurance business.
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In 1890 Mr. Conn moved to Ravenwood, Nodaway county, and en- gaged in the milling business for a period of four years. Then he again took up the real estate and insurance business, to which he added a loan depart- ment, remaining in the same until 1906, having built up an extensive and lucrative business. In that year he was elected probate judge on the Repub- lican ticket. having long manifested an interest in the affairs of his party, and he has discharged the duties of this important office in a manner that has excited the admiration of all concerned, irrespective of party alignment. He is appreciated and respected in every relation of life. professional, political. business and social : he is a sincere and impartial jurist and, in the better and higher conception of him, an honest man. The unostentatiousness, candor and openness of his character were never warped by selfish instincts or ob- scured by professional or business ardor, and he is popular with all classes as a result of his exemplary career.
JOHN S. SCHENCK.
In such men as John S. Schenck, long an influential citizen of Nodaway county, who died April 10, 1910. there is particular satisfaction in offering their life histories as justification for the compilation of works of this char- acter-not that their lives have been such as to gain for them the admiring plaudits of men or wide notoriety in any line, but that they have shown such attributes of character as to entitle them to the regard of all.
Mr. Schenck came from an old German family, members of which have figured in a most loyal relation to our American institutions for many genera- tions, they being a military people and faithful in defending our national honor, participating in all our wars from the Revolution down.
John S. Schenck was a native of the Buckeye state, having been born in Darke county. Ohio, May 18. 1843, the son of William B. Schenck, a native of the same county, where he grew to maturity, was educated and began mer- chandising, which he made his principal life work. Removing from that county, we find him successfully engaged in business at Warren, Huntington county. Indiana, where his death occurred in 1883, at the early age of thirty- seven years. He was in one of our early Indian wars. His wife was Nar- cissus Stocksdale, who was born in Maryland. the daughter of Elias Stocks- dale, who was a captain in the war of 1812, and who had the honor of par-
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ticipating in the capture of Washington. He was a native of Maryland. Mrs. William B. Schenck died in 1847 when only twenty-one years of age. Great- grandfather Schenck was a soldier in the Revolutionary war.
Three children were born to Mr. and Mrs. William B. Schenck, two of whom died in childhood.
John S. Schenck grew to maturity in his parental home and had the ad- vantages of a good education. After passing through the public schools, he entered Miami University, at Butler, Ohio, from which institution he was graduated in 1863. Carrying out the traditions of his ancestors, he gave way to his patriotism and joined the Union army, remaining for a period of four months in Company A. Eighty-sixth Regiment Ohio Volunteer Infantry. This regiment was detailed to guard railroad trains and Mr. Schenck did not see any very exciting or hard service. He had prepared himself for a teacher and after his army experience he took up his professional work in northwestern Missouri for a period of seven years, also taught in Nebraska and was very successful in this line of work. He came to Maryville in September, 1869, and was identified with the life of the county up to his death. For a period of twenty years he very ably discharged the duties of justice of the peace, but not continuously. He traded a great deal in real estate, but during the latter years of his life lived in retirement.
Mr. Schenck was twice married, first to Charlotte T. Morton, September. 1867. She was a native of Indiana and her death occurred on December 7. 1880 ; this union resulted in the birth of six children, four of whom are living at this writing, namely : Lewis V .. of Los Angeles, California; Aurene is a member of the home circle; Jennie is the wife of E. T. Smith, of Guthrie. Oklahoma ; Kate is engaged as reporter for the Maryville Tribune.
Mr. Schenck's second marriage was to Eugenie H. Abbott. June 18, 1883. She is the daughter of John and Elizabeth Perry (Phelan) Abbott. Mrs. Schenck was born in Mississippi, December 25, 1862. This union has been without issue. Mrs. Schenck's father was of Irish ancestry and her mother of English. The latter was a teacher for many years, and a woman of fine character.
Mr. Schenck was a member of the Masons. Knights of Pythias and the Grand Army of the Republic.
The following tribute to Mr. Schenck was written by Judge W. E. Ellison :
"A notice of the lives of the departed members of the Nodaway county bar would not be complete without a reference to John S. Schenck. He was
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born on the 18th day of May. 1843. in Darke county. Ohio. During the early period of the Civil war he enlisted in the Federal army and, though too young to achieve distinction, his military service was faithful and honorable. After the war he took a thorough course in college and supplemented that with an extensive law course at the University of Michigan. He located in Nodaway county in the seventies, and during his entire life here he has been recognized as upright and manly in all his dealings. He departed this life at his home in Maryville, on the 10th day of April, 1910.
"He never practiced his profession. but was better equipped for it than most of his brother lawyers. Other avenues of business proved more inviting and remunerative and he was quite successful.
"He was a man of sterling integrity and of exceptionally good sense. His college training was unconsciously revealed in all his communications with his fellows. Acute in thought and clear in expression, he was always interesting and instructive. Had he applied himself to the practice of the law. he without doubt would have taken rank with the most distinguished lawyers of north- western Missouri and proved himself to be a wise counsellor and an able ad- vocate."
GILES ROLAND DAVIS.
The reputation of being one of the squarest men living is borne by Giles Roland Davis, well known agriculturist of Monroe township. Nodaway coun- ty. Missouri. Handicapped by physical conditions that would have overcome many another man, he has bravely fought against all odds until today he has not only acquired property and a comfortable position in life, but, what is far better. the respect and regard of all. who know him.
Giles R. Davis is the third son of John Henry and Ellen M. (Smith) Davis and his birth occurred in the town of Deerfield. Oneida county. New York, September 13. 1853. His father was born at the old turnpike in the town of Deerfield. New York, in 1820. He was the oldest son of Roland and Margaret ( Roberts) Davis, who came to America from Wales in 1817 and located in Deerfield. New York. His grandfather. Jonathan Davis, was pro- prietor of a large grist-mill in Wales. In 1849, Mr. Davis united in marriage with Ellen M. Smith, of Deerfield, in which place he died September 10. 1883. His wife. Ellen M. Smith, was born in Deerfield. September 28. 1830. being the youngest daughter of Pratt and Eleanor ( Wheeler) Smith, and
GILES R DAVIS.
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was married to Mr. Davis in 1849. She died in Utica, New York, September 6, 1902. Her father, Pratt Smith, was born in Taunton, Massachusetts, and was the son of Timothy Smith, the birth of the former occurring in 1788. When ten years of age he came with his parents, Timothy and Prudence (Pratt) Smith, five brothers and one sister, and located on what has since been called Smith hill in Deerfield, New York. He was drafted in the war of 1812 and went to Sacket Harbor, New York. His grandfather, the first Timothy Smith, came from Ireland and located in Taunton, Massachu- setts, when nineteen years old. He joined the patriot army and fought in many battles of the Revolutionary war. His wife and a grandmother of Pratt Smith was a descendant of Mathew Pratt of England. Pratt Smith died in Deerfield in 1874. His wife, Eleanor Wheeler, mother of Ellen Davis, was born in Dutchess county, New York, in 1788, and was the daughter of Ephriam Wheeler, who came with his wife from Holland and located in Dutchess county where he reared a large family. They kept negro slaves. and were among the early settlers of the county. Mrs. Smith died in Deer- field, New York, in 1859. at the age of seventy-one years. Thus for many generations the Smith family has been prominent in Oneida county in the old Empire state, many of them taking a conspicuous rank in various walks of life and doing much for the general good of the locality, being regarded as public-spirited, law-abiding and industrious citizens wherever they have dis- persed, welcomed in all communities where they have desired to cast their lot.
Charles Davis, second son of John Henry and Ellen M. (Smith) Davis. was born in the town of Deerfield, New York, September 23. 1851. He re- ceived his education at school district No. 3. in that place. also attended Whitestown Seminary. New York, after which he worked on the farm at home until 1877 when he went west and located in Union valley. Nodaway county, Missouri. His death occurred in Skidmore, Missouri. July 8, 1881.
Giles R. Davis was reared on the paternal estate at Deerfield Hills, and his education was received in school district No. 3 in Deerfield and at Whites- town Seminary. After completing his education he engaged in teaching school for a number of terms, his last term as a pedagogue being in the winter of 1879-80. In the spring of the latter year he came to Missouri, having made arrangements to go into business at Maryville. this county. but unfor- seen contingencies arose which prevented him from following out his original plans and a few days later he paid a visit to his brother. Charles, who was on a ranch a mile and a half southwest of Skidmore. This brother urged Mr. Davis very strongly to remain with him awhile and keep on the lookout for another opening, and he remained there during the summer. In the fall, the
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brother desired to return to New York state to pay a visit to his old sweet- heart and persuaded the subject to remain during his absence and look after the ranch, which he did. The brother returned in the spring and the two planned to go to Nebraska and buy a ranch of their own. However, before they could carry their plan into execution, the brother, Charles, had a leg broken by an engine falling over him, the injury resulting in his death a month later. Charles Davis was a man of splendid character and clean habits and had a large circle of friends. At the time of his death a local newspaper had the following high words to say of him: "Being yet a young man, of only twenty-five years, he had acquired by his good management and industry considerable valuable land in this part of the county and, above all. the inestimable respect of the community at large and the reputation of an honest, shrewd business man. He came here five years ago, with a number of his New York friends. to work the large tract of land owned by his cousin. Fayette Smith, and since that time has been always faithful to his duty and trust."
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