USA > Missouri > Nodaway County > Past and present of Nodaway County, Missouri Volume II > Part 38
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George W. Jackson, Sr., was a good farmer and business man and at his death he left nearly four hundred acres of valuable land on which he carried on general farming and stock raising extensively. He was a Democrat, but did not care for public life. preferring to devote himself to his business affairs. He deserved a great deal of credit for what he accomplished, having had noth- ing when he came to Nodaway county.
William T. Jackson grew to maturity on the home farm and assisted with the general work on the same, attending the local schools in the mean- time. He remained under the parental rooftree until he was twenty-seven years old, or until he married, which event took place on March 30, 1887. when he espoused Addie Belle Breit, daughter of Fred and Deliah Breit, both natives of Andrew county, having come to Nodaway county when children and were neighbors in Grant township. Mr. Breit is still living on his old farm, his wife having died about ten years ago, on February 7, 1900, at the age of fifty-five years. Mr. Breit is now sixty-six years old.
When Mr. Jackson married he settled on his present farnf, on April 4, 1887, renting the same of Mike Hilgart, who entered it froni the government. It contained five hundred and three acres. After renting the place two years. it was sold to H. R. W. Hartwig, of whom Mr. Jackson leased the place for eleven years, but at the end of ten years. in 1899. he purchased it. paying thirty dollars per acre. he having paid cash rent all these years. He has since added to this place until he now has five hundred and seventy-six acres in a body, constituting one of the best farms in the county. He has in this vicinity one thousand and seventy-nine acres. He owns the old home- stead in Grant township, a part of which lies in Washington township, three hundred and sixty acres, which he bought soon after his father's death for ten thousand dollars. He has bought and sold until he owns in that place
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six hundred and forty acres. This he rents, operating all his liome place. which is on the divide between the Platte river and Honey creek, four and one-half miles north of Ravenwood and fifteen miles northeast of Maryville. He has erected one of the most attractive and substantial homes in this part of the county. He has always interested himself extensively in stock raising and feeding. especially hogs and cattle, usually having from one hundred to one hundred and fifty cattle of his own raising. He has been very successful in all his operations. having started out in life with practically nothing. On coming to this farm he had only two teams and forty head of cattle, but he is a most indefatigable worker and a good manager.
Mr. Jackson is president of the Platte Valley Bank at Ravenwood, hav- ing held this position since it was organized, and he has been a heavy stock- holder in the same from the first, and much of its prestige as a sound and conservative institution is due to his judicious management.
Mr. Jackson has long taken an abiding interest in public affairs and. recognizing his merit, his friends elected him presiding judge of the county court in November. 1902, and he served one term with C. F. Gray, of Inde- pendence township. Thomas Whiteford, of Grant township, and later with Myron W. Staples. of Nodaway township, and Thomas Conlan, of Grant township. He made a very creditable record, but was not a candidate for re- election, much to the regret of his constituents. He is a faithful supporter of the Democratic ticket. He is prominent in Masonic circles, being a mem- ber of Lodge No. 465, at Parnell City, the chapter and the commandery at Maryville and the temple of the Mystic Shrine at St. Joseph.
To Mr. and Mrs. William T. Jackson five children have been born, named as follows: Mirtie Ethel married E. C. Goodin, who lives on an ad- joining farm; Roy Ernest is a student in the Maryville Business College : Pearlie Ann is also a student in that institution : G. Frederick and Raymond William.
Personally. Mr. Jackson is a very pleasant gentleman, always courteous, obliging and straightforward in his business transactions, thus meriting the high esteem in which he is held by all who know him.
FRANK WIEDERHOLT.
From the Badger state hails Frank Wiederholt, one of Jefferson town- ship's best known farmers, he having been born in Grant county, Wisconsin. April 2, 1865. the son of Joseph and Anna Wiederholt. The mother died
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when Frank was twelve years old. then the father settled in Illinois. On April 15. 1887, Frank came to Nodaway county, Missouri, his brother, George, having preceded him here by two years, and he is still living in Jeffer- son township. Frank went to work cutting wood at seventy-five cents per day and worked out by the month for Godfried King at eighteen dollars per month on the farm, receiving twenty-one dollars per month the second year. The third year he was here he rented land. paying one-third the crop and in the fall ran a threshing machine in company with his brother and one of the King boys. He continued to rent land and followed threshing for three years, then bought eighty acres in Washington township at twenty dollars per acre. which had on it a small house and a straw-roof stable, having traded for one- half of the place, going in debt for the balance. He operated a threshing- machine for thirteen seasons, in partnership with others. After occupying his farm for five years, he sold out for four hundred and twenty-five dollars, and in the meantime bought one hundred and twenty acres of Godfried King, pay- ing thirty dollars per acre, this being the place where he now lives. He has rebuilt the house and added additional buildings, and paid out a great deal of money in improvements. He has since added eighty acres at forty dollars per acre. his place now being worth about eighty dollars per acre. He carries on general farming and fed cattle for a number of years. He has raised an excel- lent grade of Poland-China hogs for his own use. He keeps an imported Tennessee Mammoth jack, costing one thousand dollars. also paid the same price for an imported Percheron horse, which was imported by Frank S. Stream. of Custer, Iowa. Mr. Wiederholt has bred draft horses for a num- ber of years and has been very successful.
Mr. Wiederholt was married on June 4. 1890, to Elizabeth Walter. daughter of George and Theresa (Boner) Walter. late of Jefferson township, this county, her father being now deceased. Mrs. Wiederholt was born in Nebraska, but grew to maturity in Jefferson township, this county. The following children have been born to Mr. and Mrs. Wiederholt, five sons and two daughters, all living at home: George, Charley, Theresa. Mary, Edward. Leo and Lawrence. They are all receiving good educations. This family was reared in the Catholic faith and they hold membership at the Monastery here.
EDWARD T. CLARK.
The present solid prosperity enjoyed in Nodaway county may be attrib- uted largely to her pioneers and early settlers. In the days of her settlement. when a wilderness was the only welcome tendered a stranger who settled here,
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little to encourage and much to discourage came to his lot. But these sturdy men who came to their new home with a determination to succeed, and worked persistently and honestly, became later the prosperous and honored citizens of this locality. Of this class of people were the parents of the subject of this sketch and in his own life he has exemplified those characteristics which have contributed so largely to the upbuilding of the community in which he lives.
Edward T. Clark was born in 1857 about ten miles west of Maryville. Nodaway county, and is a son of John and Catherine (Noffsinger) Clark, both of whom came from Guernsey county. Ohio, in 1845, and located about a mile east of Skidmore, with the latter's father, Peter Noffsinger, who had located here the year before. Later they secured government land near Mineral Springs, Nodaway township, which they afterwards traded for another tract of two hundred and forty acres. Other trades were made and eventually they located southwest of Maryville, where the family home was established when the subject was born. John Clark was a successful farmer and also a good sawyer, running a saw-mill at various points along the Nodaway river. His wife was an invalid, in consequence of which he spent the greater part of his time at home. In 1866 the family located at the southeast edge of Skid- more, where the subject now resides, and here the parents spent their remain- ing days, the father dying November 10. 1876. and the mother on February 2. 1900. They were the parents of three sons. Wesley. Thomas and Edward. Wesley lives at Loveland, Colorado, where he is superintendent of a plant which converts gypsum into plaster. He is married and the father of two children, Mrs. Ed Bender, of Sligo. Colorado, and Mrs. Walter Strickler, of Skidmore, this county. Wesley formerly worked at the blacksmith trade. first at Maryville. later at Skidmore, and subsequently ran a grist mill at the latter place. He moved to Colorado in 1907. Thomas, who was reared on the home farm, married and became the father of seven children, of which number four are living. In December. 1885. he moved to Monta Vista, Col- orado, having taken up government land in the San Luis valley.
The subject's maternal grandparents were Peter and Frances Noffsinger. who also came to Missouri from Ohio. They became the parents of thirteen children, of which number twelve grew to maturity. All lived to old age. married and reared families.
The subject of this sketch was reared under the parental roof and se- cured a fair education in the common schools, though much of his time was spent in helping his father in the saw-mill. Beginning with 1879 he spent ten years as assistant to his brother Wesley, who operated one of the first
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steam threshing outfits in Nodaway county. Mr. Clark has for a number of years devoted his attention to agricultural pursuits, in which he has met with a gratifying measure of success. He is the owner of one hundred and twenty acres of well improved land, three-quarters of a mile of his boundary line joining Skidmore, and he also owns twenty acres of land farther south. He is a practical farmer and gives his personal attention to every detail of his work. The place is well improved and its general appearance indicates the owner to be a man of excellent taste and sound judgment.
In 1880 Mr. Clark married Cedona Tracy, daughter of W. W. and Susan (Moody) Tracy, whose sketch appears elsewhere in this work, and they have become the parents of four children, namely: One that died in infancy ; Leslie, who died at the age of two years and eight months; Eri died at the age of four months : Norah is the wife of William Archibald Mast. son of W. G. Mast, and they live on the farm with her father. They have one son, Douglas Clark Mast. Mr. and Mrs. Clark and their daughter, Mrs. Mast, are all members of the Methodist Episcopal church and are numbered among the best people of the community. Mr. Clark is a man of sterling qual. ities and his relations with those about him have been such as to win for him the sincere good will of all who know him.
JAMES L. HEPBURN.
From the far-away land of heath and heather, the thistle and the blue- bell, the land of Bruce and Burns, comes James L. Hepburn, who has profited alike himself and his neighbors since taking up his residence in Nodaway county, where he has a valuable and well-tilled landed estate. His birth oc- curred in Scotland on September 12, 1841, and he is the son of Thomas and Jeneth (Lawton) Hepburn, both natives of Scotland. In the year 1869 they came to Nodaway county, Missouri, and settled where their son, James L .. now lives, and here the father died in 1882, at the age of seventy-nine years ; his widow survived him sixteen years, dying in 1898. at the age of eighty- eight years. They were the parents of ten children, six of whom are living. The parents were members of the Presbyterian church, he being an elder in the same and she identified with this denomination for more than seventy-five years.
James L. Hepburn, of this review, was reared on a farm and soon became acquainted with hard work, and he was educated in the common schools and LaChute Academy at Quebec, Canada. He also attended gram-
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mar school at Van Creek's Hill, province of Ontario, Canada. He began life as a farmer and was in the employ of the government in the postoffice department in Canada for five years, first as a carrier of mail, then as assist- ant inspector. After coming to Nodaway county, Missouri, he worked at the carpenter's trade for seven years, and for over thirty years he has been en- gaged in farming and stock raising, being known as a breeder of fine Here- ford cattle, which he has made a specialty of for many years. He success- fully operates one of the best improved and most desirable farms of the town- ship, consisting of five hundred and twenty acres managed under the firm name of Hepburn Brothers. He has an attractive and substantial residence and such outbuildings as his needs require. General farming is carried on in a manner that stamps Mr. Hepburn as a twentieth-century agriculturist.
In politics, Mr. Hepburn is a Democrat, and he has been assessor of his township for the long period of twenty-six years. He has also been school director for many years. He has been a Mason all his mature years and is a member of the Ancient Order of United Workmen. He has been president of the Nodaway County Mutual Fire and Lightning Insurance Company, which has a large local business, and he has been adjustor in this county for the State Mutual Fire Insurance Company of Cameron, Missouri. Mr. Hepburn and family are Presbyterians and he is an elder in the local congre- gation at Hopkins.
In February, 1872, at Jessup, Iowa. Mr. Hepburn married Maria J. Rob- inson, a native of Quebec, Canada, of Scotch-Irish parentage. This union has resulted in the birth of seven children, named as follows: Thomas Henry is pastor of the Buena Memorial church in Chicago: Jessie is the wife of W. H. Ghormley, of Greenwood, near Kansas City, Missouri ; Esther is the wife of Fred Davis, of Hopkins, Missouri: John George is a farmer and is living at home : Charlotte is the wife of D. E. Hotchkin, of Maryville: two daugh- ters are deceased.
WILLIAM W. TRACY.
The subject of this sketch is rightly numbered among the pioneers of this section of Missouri, having come here in the early stage of its development. Today there are but two or three living who were here when he came and his reminiscences of those early days are interesting and valuable. Indians were then numerous and but little had been done in the way of permanent im- provement, not a railroad having at that time been built west of the Missis- sippi river.
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Mr. Tracy was born in Johnson county, Indiana. on August 13. 1826, and is a son of William and Catharine (Gilbreth) Tracy. William Tracy was a native of Kentucky and was a soldier in the war of 1812, having fought under General Jackson at the battle of New Orleans. He moved to Indiana probably about 1822 and entered government land in Johnson county. About 1842 he moved to near Vandalia, Illinois. The subject of this sketch was reared by his parents and secured a fair education in the primitive schools of those early days. He relates that at the age of sixteen years he attempted to cast a vote for Henry Clay for President. but was told to go home and raise whiskers first. On October 2, 1853, he married Susan Moody, a native of Illinois, born May 2, 1835, and a daughter of Edmund and Sarah ( Hamilton ) Moody, natives of Kentucky who had located in Illinois. In 1854 Mr. and Mrs. Tracy came to Nodaway county, Missouri, traveling by rail to Alton, Illinois, thence by steamer to St. Louis, where they took a river boat and were five days and nights reaching St. Joseph, from which point they traveled by team to Nodaway county, their destination. They bought a farm one and a half miles north of where Burlington Junction now stands, and this was their home until 1875, when they went to Kansas. This move was, however, made at an inopportune time, as that was the year of the great grasshopper plague. That experience was enough for them and they moved back to Nodaway county, buying a farm on the Elk Horn, about five miles southeast of Skid- more. They lived on this farm until the fall of 1905, when they moved into a nice residence which they had purchased in Skidmore, where they still reside. The farm has been sold. Mr. Tracy was during his active years a hard working man and his efforts were rewarded with gratifying success, so that now, in the golden sunset of his life, he is able to enjoy that rest which he has so richly earned. He and his wife have enjoyed a mutually happy com- panionship of fifty-seven years and now, contented in their home life. they are enjoying the associations of many warm and loyal friends, who esteem them highly because of their genuine worth. They are worthy members of the Baptist church.
To Mr. and Mrs. Tracy have been born eleven children, namely : Lily. born May 14. 1866, who died at the age of nineteen years ; Perry, born July 2. 1864, who died at the age of seven months ; Pearlie, born July 29. 1877. who died when thirteen months old : those living being Mary A., born Decem- ber 29, 1854, who married Mr. Laduke and lives at Broken Bow, Nebraska ; Sarah E., born September 24. 1856, who is the wife of William Francis Gray, living five miles north of Maryville: Alonzo, born February 1. 1859. lives in Custer county, Nebraska : Cinderillia, born May 25. 1861, lives near
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Elk Horn creek in the southern part of Monroe township; her twin sister. Cedona, is the wife of Edward T. Clark, whose sketch appears elsewhere in this work; Elzadia, born October 9. 1869, married John Welty and lives in the San Luis valley, Colorado; Ulysses, born May 15, 1871, also lives in the San Luis valley ; Llewallyn, born November 19, 1873, lives in Skidmore.
SAMUEL DICK SEE. D. O.
The science of osteopathy has of recent years made rapid headway, and the practitioners of this somewhat exacting profession are finding themselves in the front rank of men of science and the learned professions, with their popularity and patronage rapidly growing. The name that heads this bio- graphical review is a well-known one in this class and also one that stands for progress in all lines affecting the welfare of the community where he lives. Though not old in point of years, Doctor See has had considerable practical experience and in his professional work he has had remarkable success, hav- ing treated successfully a number of extremely difficult cases which had re- fused to yield to the treatment of drugs and tinctures. A man of pleasing personality, he has readily made friends and is deservedly popular among his acquaintances.
Samuel Dick See is a native son of the great state of Missouri, having first seen the light of day at Paris, Monroe county, on November 20, 1878. He is the only son of Samuel R. and Mary (Heathman) See, who are still living at the old home, where the father is successfully engaged in farming and stock raising. Samuel D. See was reared on the paternal farmstead and secured his preliminary education in the public schools at Paris, supplementing this by two and a half years' attendance at the Normal School at Kirksville, Missouri. He had for some time considered with much favor the system of physical treatment known as osteopathy and by the time he had completed his normal work he had definitely decided to make the practice of osteopathy his life work ; with this end in view, he matriculated in the American School of Os- teopathy at Kirksville, the pioneer school of this practice, and was graduated there in June, 1900. During the following two years he was engaged in the active practice of his profession in Mississippi, was then three years in Kansas, since which time he has been located at Hopkins, where he has built up a large and lucrative business. An intimate and accurate knowledge of human anatomy. especially that feature relating to the bones and their at-
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tached nerve systems, and their relations to the various organs of the body has given the practitioners of osteopathy a key to the cure or alleviation of physi- cal disorders which the practitioners of other systems disregard, and, though the system of practice is of comparatively recent origin, it has rapidly gained a foothold and is today held in high repute among the most intelligent people of the country.
Politically. Doctor See is a stanch Democrat, while fraternally, he is a member of Lodge No. 502, Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks, and the lodge of Ancient Free and Accepted Masons, both at McPherson, Kansas. His religious creed is that of the Campbellite or Christian church, of which he is an earnest and liberal supporter. In every relation of life's activities in which he has engaged. Doctor See has been faithful to his duty and because of his upright life. his genuine worth and ability and his genial disposition, he has gained a large circle of acquaintances, among whom are many warm personal friends.
EDWARD FORSYTH.
It is indeed gratifying to note that the sentiment of respect for the old soldier who fought for the National Union during the days of her peril is growing among the younger generation, for it should be so. Even in this day when there are many of the veterans still living, no one can see one of them dressed in his honorable uniform of blue without feeling a glow of pride and without showing him studied deference. But the ranks of the old phalanx are fast going down before the only foe they could not combat, and ere long none will be left to recount the actual experiences of that bloody time. In the meantime, while they are still with us, let us pay suitable honor to their sacrifices, patriotism and sufferings. Edward For- syth, a retired business man of Maryville, one of Nodaway county's sub- stantial and highly-honored citizens, is one of these old soldiers of whom it is a pleasure to write.
Mr. Forsyth was born in Green Lake county, Wisconsin, in 1846, and there he spent his boyhood and received his primary schooling. At the age of seventeen. in 1863. he enlisted in the Thirty-eighth Regiment Wis- consin Volunteer Infantry, and served with credit in the Ninth Corps of the famous Army of the Potomac until the close of the war, and was in the thickest of the fight at Cold Harbor where the above-mentioned regiment fought its first battle and where it was nearly annihilated. coming out of the fight with only seventy-five or eighty men. The regiment was also in
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all the hardest of the Wilderness fighting and, in fact, saw hard service on to Appomattox, and in all its vicissitudes Mr. Forsyth comported himself as a true American soldier, never shrinking from duty, however hazardous. In 1861 he was out a few months with the First Wisconsin Regiment of Cavalry, which he accompanied to St. Louis, Missouri, but more as an as- sistant to the captain than as a soldier. He was in the Grand Review in Washington at the close of the war, and was honorably discharged in Au- gust. 1865, having been kept on garrison duty in Washington City after the close of actual hostilities.
In 1867 Mr. Forsyth located at Chillicothe, Missouri, and engaged in the meat business. He maintained a very successful trade until 1881, when he moved to Maryville, where he conducted an extensive provision business for a period of twenty-five years, building up a very lucrative and satisfactory patronage. About five years ago he turned the same over to his son, L. E. Forsyth. He once started a packing company, believing that it would be a benefit to the town, but after two years of varied experiences it was closed as a result of lack of proper local support, and after that he killed only for his own trade.
In 1905 Mr. Forsyth became interested in the use of cement in build- ing, becoming an extensive contractor in the same, and established a plant for the manufacture of cement blocks. He built the Everhart ice and cold storage plant, the shirt factory building and about twenty dwellings, be- sides many foundations, basements, sidewalks, etc .. and he was very suc- cessful in this line of endeavor. He is an enthusiast in the future use of cement in building.
Edward Forsyth was married while living at Chillicothe, Missouri, to Sarah E. Draper, a woman of education and refinement. the daughter of an excellent and well-established family of that city. This union resulted in the birth of one child, L. E., proprietor of the local Forsyth meat market and a meat packer, a young man of excellent business attainments, who was for a period of ten years an employe of the First National and the Nodaway Valley Banks, until succeeding his father in the meat business, which he is carrying forward with gratifying results and rapidly adding to his customers. He married Besse Michau, a favorite in the younger social circles of the city. She is the daughter of Lavencour Michau, deceased. formerly a well- known citizen of this city. This union has been blessed with the birth of one child, Edwina.
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