USA > Missouri > Nodaway County > Past and present of Nodaway County, Missouri Volume II > Part 43
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forges ahead and at length reaches a position of honor among his fellow citizens, achieves success such as cannot be understood by those who have not been compelled to toil for what they have. To a considerable extent the subject of this sketch is a creditable representative of the class first named, a class which has furnished much of the bone and sinew of the country and added to the stability of our government and its institutions.
Raffail P. Nelson was born on the first day of August, 1836, in Camp- bell county, eastern Tennessee, and is a son of Pulaski and Marina (Cooper) Nelson. These parents spent their entire lives in their native state, the fa- ther dying in 1836 and the mother in 1858. The subject of this sketch received a fair education in the schools of his home community and when eighteen years of age accompanied his brother and family to Nodaway county. Missouri, the long and tiresome overland trip being made in a covered wagon. drawn by oxen, the year of their arrival here being 1856. His brother enlisted for service in the Civil war and died of fever after eleven months of service. Mr. Nelson and his brother bought two hundred acres of land, for which they paid four and a half dollars an acre and they proceeded at once to break the sod, using four yoke of oxen, and they lived in a tent until they could build a cabin home. In 1859 Mr. Nelson built a comfortable frame house. He has always devoted his efforts assiduously to the culti- vation of the soil and the raising of livestock, in both of which lines he met with a gratifying measure of success, cattle being his specialty. He now owns the same farm on which he began his married life, though for several years he has resided in Barnard, where he owns a fine residence property, though he still gives attention to his farming interests.
Mr. Nelson married Sarah E. Sharp, a daughter of Isaac and Rebecca (Graves) Sharp, of this county and parents of a large family, the father having been one of the pioneer settlers of Nodaway county. Mr. and Mrs. Nelson have become the parents of seven children, namely: Rena is the wife of William Wilson, a druggist at Guilford, this state, and they have a daugh- ter, Lula; Harriett is the wife of Preston Curnutt, a successful farmer and tax collector of Grant township, and they have eight children, Pearl, Lula, Raymond, William, James, John, Margaret and Elden; Belle, who is de- ceased, was a teacher in the public schools; Alvin P., who is a graduate of the normal school at Warrensburg, and is now principal of the public schools at Headrick. Oklahoma, married Pearl McCracken, also a graduate of the normal at Warrensburg, and they had one child, Mildred, deceased; Lula, wife of J. M. Boadbent, graduated from the normal school at Warrens-
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burg, and was afterwards principal of the schools at Barnard, this county, and Oronogo. Jasper county ; Clemma is the wife of William Patton, of St. Joseph, Missouri, and they are the parents of two children, Leland and Merrill; Ernest, a farmer, married Myrtie Westfall, and they have one child, Esther.
Mr. Nelson has taken a commendable interest in local public affairs, particularly as relating to educational matters, and for the long period of thirty years he served as a member of the school board, giving efficient serv- ice and doing much to advance educational interests. He and his wife are members of the Methodist Episcopal church South, of which he has served as trustee for fourteen years, and he donated six hundred dollars to the building of the present church building. He is a man of good business quali- fications and his word has never been questioned, his integrity in all things being well known. He enjoys a wide acquaintance and is well liked by all.
MILTON RAY HAYS.
In Monroe township are to be found some of the best farms and most progressive and enterprising farmers in Nodaway county, and in this class must be numbered Milton R. Hays, whose splendid and well cultivated farm, four miles west of Skidmore, is maintained at a high standard of agricul- tural excellence. Mr. Hays is widely known because of his success as a farmer and is well liked because of his splendid personal qualities and genu- ine worth.
Mr. Hays was born at Burr Oak Grove, this county, on August 2, 1871, and is a son of James and Laura A. (Young) Hays. James T. Hays was born near Blandinsville, McDonough county, Illinois, April 4. 1838, a son of Thomas R. Hays, a native of Washington county, Kentucky, and a grandson of Hillory Hays, a native of Virginia. In 1859 James T. Hays accompanied his parents on their removal to Nodaway county, Missouri, where they located on a farm four miles west of Skidmore. When he at- tained his legal majority he began farming on his own account and he re- mained devoted to this line of work, with gratifying success, until about sixteen years ago, when he gave up active labor and removed to Maryville. where he now resides. For a short time he was interested in a farm near that town, and then for about seven months he was engaged in the milling
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business. At the end of that period he took the agency for the Page Woven Wire Fence Company, which he conducted with marked success. though, because of ill health, he is not now covering as much territory as formerly. He is also to some extent engaged in the real estate business at Maryville, in which he is fairly successful. Mr. Hays married Laura A. Young, the daughter of Milton and Mary J. (Richardson) Young, her birth having oc- curred near Hillsboro. Highland county, Ohio. Mr. and Mrs. Hays became the parents of ten children, namely: Nellie, wife of William A. Argo, of Burr Oak Grove, this county; Milton R., also of Burr Oak Grove. and whose name heads this sketch; Eddie C., of Hooker county, Nebraska; Pearl C., of near Skidmore, this county; Elvira B .. of near DuQuoin. Illi- nois; Hermione died at the age of eighteen years; J. T., of Hooker, Nebras- ka; Laura L., at home; Willie and Samuel died in infancy.
Milton R. Hays spent his boyhood days in the neighborhood where he was born, and his preliminary education was obtained in the common schools, being supplemented by studies at the Maryville Seminary, where he was graduated and received a diploma in 1892. In March, 1893, his parents removed to Maryville, and during that summer the subject lived on the farm of his uncle, John G. Hays. He then rejoined the family in Maryville, but in the spring of 1896 he returned to the old home farm, four miles west of Skidmore, in Monroe township, where he has since resided. He has given wise direction to his farming operations and his efforts have been re- warded with a gratifying measure of success. The farm is well improved and, under the careful tending of Mr. Hays, it has produced splendid crops annually.
On February 15. 1899, Mr. Hays married Alice Knepper, the youngest daughter of Hiram and Fredericka (Stull) Knepper. She was born in Ogle county, Illinois, and came to Missouri with her parents when she was about two years old. They located in the southeastern part of Atchison county, where her father soon bought a farm and it has been the family home ever since. Mr. and Mrs. Hays became the parents of six children, namely : Hol- lis Richardson, Hermione. Opal Pauline and Victor Raymond: Guy Eldon and Merril Owen died in infancy.
Fraternally, Mr. Hays is a member of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows and the Modern Woodmen of America, and religiously, he and his wife are earnest members of the Methodist Episcopal church, to which they . give a generous support. Mr. Hays possesses a genial disposition, makes friends readily and is well liked by all who know him.
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A. T. CLARK.
Dependent very largely upon his own resources from early youth, the subject of this sketch has attained to a definite success in life, and though he may have, like many another business man, met with some misfortune and encountered many obstacles, he has pressed steadily forward, ever willing to work for the end he had in view. He has become one of the leading boni- faces of northwestern Missouri and enjoys a wide acquaintance among the traveling public, who appreciate his efforts to make his hotel comfortable. inviting and satisfactory in every respect. The Hotel Ream is numbered among the good hotels of this section and is a favorite stopping place for travelers.
A. T. Clark is a native son of Missouri, having first seen the light of day at Savannah, Andrew county, on January 22, 1852. and is a son of Jere- miah J. and Elizabethi (Duncan) Clark. Jeremiah Clark was an expert millwright and he built practically all the water mills first in operation in what is known as the Platte purchase and in Page county, Iowa. He worked at this business during practically all of his active years and became widely known throughout this part of the country. Politically he was a Re- publican, fraternally a member of the Ancient Free and Accepted Masons, while his religious membership was in the Christian church. He and his wife have been dead about thirty-two years.
A. T. Clark was reared on the farm which his father owned and oper- ated near Savannah, Missouri, and secured a fair education in the public schools. On attaining mature years he began contracting, in which line he remained engaged for about twenty years, during which time he handled many large contracts in this part of the country. Among his large contracts was one for the stone work on the Burlington railroad from Savannah to Amazonia, and he also erected the two first pressed brick buildings in Mary- ville. He located in Maryville in 1878 and thereafter made this city his head- quarters. In the spring of 1898 Mr. Clark, having heard of the wonderful opportunities in Alaska, made a prospecting trip to that far-off territory, and being successful in locating a good claim, he was able to bring back home over thirteen thousand dollars in gold. In 1901 he again made a successful trip to that land, and made annual trips there during the following four years. In Maryville Mr. Clark became identified with business interests and for about twenty years he was engaged in the ice and wood business. After his return from Alaska in 1904 he engaged in the bus and transfer
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business for about a year. In 1906 he purchased the Hotel Ream property, which he has since successfully conducted. The house contains forty good rooms, which are well furnished and comfortable in every respect, and the dining room of the hotel will compare favorably with that of hotels in the large cities, Mr. Clark taking an especial pride in this department of the hotel service. An earnest desire to make his guests as comfortable as possi- ble in every respect has characterized Mr. Clark's management of this well- known hostelry, his efforts having met with a due appreciation on the part of the public who have stopped there.
Mr. Clark married Anna M. Cobb, who was born October 16, 1860. the daughter of Amos and Harriett Cobb, and to them have been born nine children, of which number seven are living.
Politically, Mr. Clark is a stanch supporter of the Republican ticket, though he is not in any sense a seeker after public office. Religiously he is a member of the Methodist Episcopal church, to which he gives a generous support. A man of fine personal qualities and genial disposition, Mr. Clark has won a host of acquaintances and his circle of personal friends is large.
MYRON W. STAPLES.
A man who has long been an important factor in the citizenship of Nodaway county is Myron W. Staples, and his popularity is well deserved. as in him are embraced the characteristics of an unbending integrity, unabated energy and industry. He is public spirited and takes a deep interest in what- ever tends to promote the intellectual and material welfare of the community in which he has resided.
Mr. Staples was born in Jefferson county, Wisconsin, in 1852, the son of A. R. and Abigail (Ward) Staples, the former a native of Vermont, and the latter a native of New Hampshire, in which state they were married. They came west in about 1850 and located in Jefferson county. Wisconsin, where they pre-empted land and were pioneers. In about 1853 they moved to Mon- roe county. Wisconsin, and in 1856 to Gentry county, Missouri, where they bought and pre-empted land, and there developed a good farm, becoming well established, and lived there until 1862, when they moved to Nodaway county, this state, and located four miles west of Hopkins. Mr. Staples bought and traded land, and about 1876 he bought land in Atchison county and lived there until his death in 1879. His wife died in 1883. He and his
MYRON W. STAPLES
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wife were the parents of six children, two of whom died young. A. R. Staples was a general farmer all his life. Originally a Whig, he was later a Republican. a member of the Ancient Free and Accepted Masons and the Eastern Star.
Myron W. Staples was faithful in his duties about the home on the various farms to which his parents moved in his youth, and he received a limited education in the district schools, but, being of a persistent nature, he has improved every opportunity and is purely a self-made man. At the age of twenty-one years he began life for himself, having married, on August 10, 1873, Mary Wood. He began farming on the home place in this county. In the spring of 1874 he moved across the state line to a farm of ninety-two acres in Page county, Iowa, which he developed and improved, and afterward sold in the fall of 1875 for thirteen dollars per acre. In the spring of 1876 he took up farming in Atchison county, having the previous year purchased two hundred and forty acres there. This was his home until 1896, when he moved to Burlington Junction, where he resided until 1906, since which time he has lived on his farm, having made general farming and cattle and hog feeding his principal life work, and he has been very successful in both, being a man of good business principles. He has placed extensive modern improve- ments on his land and has an attractive and comfortable home. He is the owner of the following described land in Nodaway and Atchison counties. The north one-half of section 4, township 65, range 38: section 3, township 65, range 38; the west half of section 2, township 65, range 38. and ninety- two acres of southwest of section 36, township 66, range 38. aggregating thirteen hundred and seventy-two acres. He has been a very busy man all his life with the exception of the time spent in Burlington Junction, when he lived retired.
Mr. Staples has been more or less active in political affairs for many years and has been of great help to the local Republican ticket, and as a reward for his services and his fitness for responsible public position, he was elected judge of the county court in November. 1904, and he took office January I. 1905, serving for a period of two years in a manner that greatly pleased his constituents, and with a fidelity to duty that excited even the admiration of his political opponents. His decisions, while on the bench, were marked with characteristic fairness and showed a desire to conserve the interests of the county. also proved the wisdom of his friends in placing !. im in this respon- sible position. Mr. Staples is a Royal Arch and Chapter Mason, also a mem- ber of the Eastern Star.
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To Mr. and Mrs. Myron W. Staples the following children were born : : Marvin E., deceased ; Newel I. is a farmer in the county and he is a member of the Ancient Free and Accepted Masons and the Eastern Star, having at- tained the thirty-second degree in the former fraternity. Newel married first. in 1898, Ethel James, of Elmo, who died in 1900. He married a second time, in 1902. Inez Williams, of College Springs, Iowa. Cora May. deceased. Flora Etta, deceased. Bert B., who is farming in Atchison county, married on April 14. 1908, Lulu Workman, daughter of J. T. Workman, of Maryville. The mother of these children was called to her rest in August, 1904. She was a woman of beautiful character and beloved by a host of friends. Judge Staples and his family have justly won the high esteem of all who know them.
RODOLPH R. STAPLES, SR.
In the collection of material for the biographical department of this work there has been a constant aim to use a wise discrimination in regard to the selection of subjects and to exclude none worthy of representation within its pages. Here will be found mention of worthy citizens of all voca- tions, and at this juncture we are permitted to offer a resume of the career of one of the substantial and honored citizens of Burlington Junction, Nod- away township, where he has long maintained his home and where he has attained to an enviable position in the community.
R. R. Staples, Sr., who gave eminent satisfaction as mayor of Burling- ton Junction, was born near Sparta, Monroe county, Wisconsin, on Decem- ber 23, 1854, and is descended from sterling Irish ancestry in the agnatic line, a remote ancestor, Thomas Staples, having been made a baron in 1628. The subject's great-grandfather, Sergeant Abraham Staples, rendered val- iant service to the colonies in the war of the Revolution and his death oc- curred at Mendon, Massachusetts, where, on October 31. 1877. a statue was unveiled in his honor. the address being delivered by Rev. C. A. Staples. a descendant and a resident of Providence, Rhode Island. The subject's paternal grandfather, Job Staples, was a native of the state of Vermont, and for many years was a sailor on the high seas. The subject's father. Abial Staples, who was born in Orange county. Vermont, married Abigail Ward. who was born in New Hampshire. the daughter of Benjamin Ward. a native of that state and of English descent. In 1847 Abial and Abigail Staples removed to Jefferson county, Wisconsin, going later to Monroe coun-
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ty, that state, where they remained until 1856. In that year they came by ox team to Gentry county, Missouri, and six years later they came to Noda- way county, locating near where Hopkins now stands. There the father remained until 1877, when he went to Colfax township, Atchison county, locating on a farm which is now owned by the subject of this sketch. There the father died in 1879, at the age of sixty-seven years. His wife survived him a few years, dying in 1883, at the age of sixty-seven years. They were consistent and active members of the Christian church and enjoyed the sin- cere respect of all who knew them.
R. R. Staples was reared under the parental roof and secured his edu- cation in the public schools of Gentry and Nodaway counties. He was reared to the life of a farmer and, under the directions of his father, he soon be- came an expert judge of livestock. After the death of his father he con- tinued the operation of the home farm, carrying on the raising and feeding of stock on the Grand View farm. He steadily pursued his way along these lines, meeting with well deserved success, and is now numbered among the big cattle dealers of this section of the state. He is the owner of five hundred and sixty acres of fine land, all under fence and either in cultivation or in grass. His efforts have been characterized by enterprise and progressive methods and as an up-to-date business man he is the equal of any of his com- peers.
In 1901 Mr. Staples made a pleasure trip to Europe, being absent from home about five months, and on his return he devoted himself to farming in Atchison county, this state, where he resided until December. 1904, when he moved to Burlington Junction, where he now makes his home. though still maintaining an active supervision of his farming operations.
On April 9. 1876, Mr. Staples was united in marriage to Hannah Isa- bel Fine, a native of Fountain county, Indiana, and the daughter of Harri- son and Elizabeth (Emerick) Fine, the former a native of Indiana and the latter of Ohio. To Mr. and Mrs. Staples have been born four children, Ar- villa L., Weltha J .. Lester O. and Rodolph R., Jr. These children all reside at home excepting Lester, who is engaged in the operation of a farm six miles southwest of Burlington Junction. They were all educated at Tarkio College, Rodolph continuing his education at the Capital City Commercial College, at Des Moines, Iowa, graduating in 1909.
Politically Mr. Staples is a stanch supporter of the Republican party and has long taken an active part in public affairs, standing high in the coun- cils of his party, having been delegate to a number of county, congressional
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and state conventions. In 1888 he was his party's nominee for the office of county judge and an unmistakable evidence of his popularity was the fact that he reduced the opposition majority from eighteen hundred to nine votes. In 1892 he was the nominee for the Legislature from Atchison county, be- ing defeated by only two votes. In 1898 he was nominated for the position of county recorder and made a splendid race, being defeated again by a nar- row margin. He served as mayor of the city of Burlington Junction and to the duties of this office he gave the same careful administration that has characterized his own business affairs. Fraternally, he is a member of the Ancient Free and Accepted Masons, having taken all the degrees of the York rite and those of the Scottish rite up to and including the thirty-second degree, being also a member of the Ancient Arabic Order of Nobles of the Mystic Shrine. His wife and two daughters are members of the Order of the Eastern Star, the daughters being also members of the Order of Daugh- ters of Isis. Religiously. Mr. and Mrs. Staples are members of the United Brethren church, to which they give an earnest and liberal support. Mr. Staples is genial and courteous in his relations with his fellow-men, enjoys an extensive acquaintance throughout this and adjoining counties and is held in high esteem by all who know him.
EDWARD CLARENCE WOLFERS.
It is not an easy task to describe adequately a man who has led an emi- nently active and busy life and who has attained a position of relative distinc- tion in the community with which his interests are allied. But biography finds its most perfect justification. nevertheless, in the tracing and recording of such a life history. It is. then, with a full appreciation of all that is demanded and of the painstaking scrutiny that must be accorded each statement. and yet with a feeling of satisfaction, that the writer essays the task of touching briefly upon the details of such a record as has been that of the subject whose life now comes under this review, Edward Clarence Wolfers, active manager of the Wolfers Mercantile Company, whose splendid stores are located at Pick- ering and Hopkins, Nodaway county.
Edward C. Wolfers is a native son of the great Empire state, having been born in Salamanca. New York, on January 17. 1868, and is a son of Charles A. and Eliza A. (Crandall) Wolfers. Charles A. Wolfers was born in Chautauqua county. New York. on July 21. 1846, and remained at the
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place of his nativity until twenty-two years of age, spending his boyhood clays in the villages of Centerville and Fredonia. At the age of thirteen years he commenced to learn the trade of a cigarmaker, which he followed for four years. In the spring of 1864 he enlisted in the service of his country, be- coming a member of Company I, One Hundred and Eighty-seventh Regi- ment, New York Volunteer Infantry, with which he served valiantly until the close of the war, some thirteen months, and during that time rose to the rank of sergeant. He participated in a number of the most hotly contested battles of that struggle, among which were Hatcher's Run and the engage- ments before Petersburg, and assisted in the capture of General Lee's army. He also participated in the Grand Review at Washington, the most noted military pageant of modern times.
After being mustered out of service at Buffalo, New York, Mr. Wolf- ers returned to his home at Dunkirk, that state, and commenced railroading in the employ of the Atlantic & Great Western railroad, with which he remained some five years. In 1870 he came to St. Joseph, Missouri, where he accepted a position with the Kansas City, St. Joseph & Council Bluffs railroad, continuing in the employ of this company six years, after which he came to Hopkins and engaged in the hotel business. For one year he kept the Hopkins House, and then went to Pickering, where he opened a general merchandise store, which still occupies his attention. He is entirely a self- made man and has worked his way through life by honesty, integrity and fair dealing. He has always taken a keen interest in educational matters and has served as school director, and also served at one time as postmaster at Pickering.
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