USA > Missouri > Carroll County > Portrait and biographical record of Clay, Ray, Carroll, Chariton, and Linn Counties, Missouri, containing biographical sketches of prominent and representative citizens > Part 81
USA > Missouri > Chariton County > Portrait and biographical record of Clay, Ray, Carroll, Chariton, and Linn Counties, Missouri, containing biographical sketches of prominent and representative citizens > Part 81
USA > Missouri > Clay County > Portrait and biographical record of Clay, Ray, Carroll, Chariton, and Linn Counties, Missouri, containing biographical sketches of prominent and representative citizens > Part 81
USA > Missouri > Linn County > Portrait and biographical record of Clay, Ray, Carroll, Chariton, and Linn Counties, Missouri, containing biographical sketches of prominent and representative citizens > Part 81
USA > Missouri > Ray County > Portrait and biographical record of Clay, Ray, Carroll, Chariton, and Linn Counties, Missouri, containing biographical sketches of prominent and representative citizens > Part 81
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ROE. JOHN W. LOCKHART, A. B., A. M. Among the learned and scholarly instruc- tors of Missouri prominent mention be- longs to Prof. Lockhart, of Salisbury. ile was born at Smith's Station, Lee County. Als .. Feb- ruary 5, 1861, and is the son of Rev. John II. Lock- hart, a native of Lincoln County, Ga. The ances- tors of the Lockhart family were originally from Scotland. The grandfather of our subject, Rev. David Lockhart, a minister in the Methodist Epis- copal Church, was born in Lincoln County, Ga., at an early day. Later, he removed to Dadeville, Tallapoosa County, Ala., where he engaged in agri- cultural pursuits and continued to reside until his death.
The gifts of this grandparent fell upon his son, the father of Prof. Lockhart, also a man of attain. ments, and he too joined the Methodist Episcopal Church South, and became a minister in that confer- ence. Wherever he has resided, he is remembered as a man distinguished for his linguistic attainments. Now in his sixty-seventh year. he is a very promi- nent minister, and is well known throughout his State as the popular teacher of the school at Camp Hill, Ala., where he has been signally successful. During the late war he enlisted, but his medical knowledge was put to better use, and he was de- tailed as nurse in the ho-pital.
The mother of our subject was one of the intell- igent and charming daughters of Georgia, and was born in Talbot County, where her grandfather. Joseph Burt, was a man of influence, and a planter of large means. The family is of English descent. She is a member of the Methodist Episcopal Church South, and has been the mother of three children: our subject; Annie, now Mrs. Phelps, of Opelika. Ala; and Rev. J. D., a minister in the North Ala- bama Conference. Our subject was reared in Ala- bama, at Salem and Oakbowery, and gained hi- early education in his father's school, where he soon began to display talents of an unusually high order. Upon entering college he had ad- vaneed so far in his studies that he became a mem- ber of the junior class. January 1, 1883, he en- tered the Alabama Polytechnic Institute, formerly a Methodist school. located at Auburn. Ala., and was graduated in the Class of '81, bearing off the first honors and the degree of A. B. Later, he re- ceived the degree of A. M. in the same institution.
When he had reached the age of twenty years, our subject began teaching school at Cus- seta, Ala., and for one year he was Principal of the High School there. From that position he was called to the Chair of Latin and Greek in Ope- lika Seminary, where he taught one year. and was re-elected, but resigned there, and for three years traveled as a pastor of the Methodist Episcopal Church in the State of Alabama. Afterward he accepted the principalship of the Cropwell School. a school of high grade, and held the position for eighteen months, resigning it to accept a similar position at the Union High School at Macon, Ga .. where he was the Principal for a year.
The people of Macon parted with Prof. Lock- bart with regret when he was called to the Chair of Latin and Physics in the North Missouri Insti- tute at Salisbury. Believing that it would extend his usefulness, our subject accepted the offer. and came to this city September 5, 1892. Hle has gained a practical knowledge of chemis- try and physics in the laboratory, and is an inventor of more than ordinary skill. In connec- tion with Mr. Howard, the city electrician, he has invented and put into use an electric bell system, as well as several machines of practical value.
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For a long time our subject has been a member of the Masonic order. and active in the ranks of the Democratic party. He is a very entertaining Ice- turer, especially upon scientific subjects, and the citizens of Salisbury may be congratulated upon their wisdom in securing the services of as thor- oughi a scholar as Prof. Lockhart.
h II. PRATT. M. D., the subject of this sketch, is a practitioner in an art that has been honored since the days of Galen, and one that involves confidence and confid-
ences. He was born in Elkhart County, Ind .. January 9, 1847. his father, Joseph Pratt. being a native of Shoreham, Vt., and his mother. Betsy ( Wilcox) Pratt. a native of Dutches- County. N. Y. At the age of fourteen he removed to Cass County, Mich., where he remained until he was twenty living upon a farm. lle then came back to Indi- ana and attended the public schools and a Baptist Institute at Crown Point, Lake County, prepara- tory to his study of medicine with his brother, Alonzo J. Pratt, of the same place. After fifteen months' reading under his brother, he entered Rush Medical College at Chicago, and graduated in the Class of '72, after five years of preparation in all.
Some of his classmates at old Rush have become famous; among them may be named Lehman Il. Dunning, professor in one of the leading medical colleges of this country: Dr. A. K. Steele, and Dr. E. Fletcher Ingalls, professor in Rush Medical College. Dr. Pratt practiced at Des Plaines. sey- enteen miles out from Chicago, from 1872 to 1875, after which he came to Brookfield, Mo., remaining until 1879 in partnership with Dr. Bryan, who died later of consumption. Dr. Pratt settled at Mill Grove, Mercer County. Mo .. in 1879, and there he practiced until 1887. when he returned to Brookfield, where he has been in active practice ever since. Interested in all matters relating to his profession, and believing in the value of association and interchange of ideas. he is an earnest member of the Grand River Medieal Society.
Our subject was married May 15, 1872, to Mis- Carrie JJarvis, at Crown Point. Ind., who died in Mercer County, Mo .. and he married a second time, November 28, 1889, this union being with Miss Florence 1. Barnes, daughter of George Barne-, a resident of Brookfield. She was born at .Jordan. N. Y., graduated from the High School of that place, and for nine years taught with Dr. Finley in Brookfield College, continuing with him until his death. She married Dr. Pratt during her last year of engagement at the college. her term not being completed until June, 1890. Dr. and Mrs. Pratt are very popular in Brookfield circles, where they are highly esteemed for their social qualities. their sympathy and intelligent grasp of the various subjects of interest to intelligent minds.
AMES A. TAYLOR, one of the old and re- spected citizens of Salisbury, is engaged in farming and stock-raising and is one of the most genial of gentlemen. He was born in Buckingham County, near Lynchburgh, Va .. Aug- ust 10, 1810, and is the son of Cornelius Taylor. a merchant and master of a craft on the river. who died in Virginia in 1856. The mother of our sub- jeet, Maggie Cowell, was also a Virginian by birth. John J. Cowell, the grandfather of our subject, was a Virginian planter and a volunteer in the War of 1812. He was the son of a Revolutionary soldier who died during the progress of the War of 1812.
The grandfather of our subject was a man of great energy. He belonged to the devoted band known to the workl as the " Hardshell " Baptists. In 1844, he came to Missouri and located in Sali -- bury Township. Chariton County, where he cleared and improved one hundred and twenty acres. On the home there established he died in 1857 at the age i of seventy-two years. The mother of our subject died in 1810, leaving three children. William died here in 1856. John C. was First Lieutenant in Price's division during the Civil War and
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served through the entire struggle without injury. He was killed in a wreck on the Mississippi in 1870.
Our subject is the only member of his family now living. Ile came with Grandfather Cowell to this State when but four years of age, and as the journey was made with team and wagon it took a long time. The only schooling our subject received was three or four months a year in the subscription schools. Game was so plentiful that he naturally became a hunter. I'mtil the spring of 1864. his home was in Missouri, but then he went to Montana. traveling by coach, and remaining in Salt Lake City for fourteen days. When he reached Montana he began to prospeet. and engaged in mining in Vir- ginia Gulch and in Central City, Colo., and other desirable places, where he worked by the day. Re- maining there from 1861 to 1867, he then went to Elizabethtown. N. M .. forty miles northeast of Otaus, and with a company of five others opened up the Willow Gulch Mine. In December. 1868. he returned to Central City and there remained until the fall of 1869, when he returned home on the Union Pacific Railroad. via Omaha and St. Jo- seph. Hle settled in Salisbury, where he engaged in business and carried on his farm. He now conducts an extensive business in raising and shipping stock. In 1879, he opened a grocery store and in 1882 erected a brick house. He owns several val- nable pieces of property, including his brick resi- dence. and the store on Broadway, which he rents. In his grocery business he was tirst associated with Mr. Wilhite, and later was with William Clark for fifteen years, but in 1880 he sold this business.
The farm belonging to Mr. Taylor consists of two hundred acres, three miles west of this place, and one hundred and forty-six aeres have been well improved. He makes a specialty of raising fine horses. Shorthorn cattle and Poland-China hogs. In addition to other interests he owns stock in the Fish Pond Ice Company. In Salisbury Township in 1871, Mr. Taylor married the daugh- ter of Shelby Van Diver. a farmer of this neigh- borhood, and two children have been added to the family, Allene and John. Mr. Taylor affiliates socially with the Independent Order of Odd Fel- lows. For several terms he served as School Di-
rector and for two terms was one of the "City Fathers," belonging to several important commit- tees. Ile believes in the Democratic party and votes in accordance with his belief. Ile has been a member of the Grand Jury. The family rezi- dence is pleasantly located on Third Street in Salis- bury.
LEXANDER WILLIAM DONIPHAN was born in Mason County, Ky., July 9. 180s. the youngest in a family of ten children. llis aneestors on both the paternal and maternal sides were of English extraction. Ilis fa- ther, Joseph Doniphan, was a native of King George County, Va., and removed to Kentucky with his family in 1790. Ilis mother, whose maiden name was Anne Smith, was a native of Fauquier County. Va., and was an aunt of Gov. William Smith, of that State. Joseph Doniphan served in the Amer- iean army during the entire Revolutionary strug- gle. and at its conclusion, being yet unmarried, he spent several years with Daniel Boone in Ken- tucky, and is said to have taught the first school ever opened in that State.
Our subject was left an orphan by the death of his father in 1813, and his after nurture de- volved upon his mother, who was a woman of ex- traordinary mental powers and sparkling wit. When he was in his eighth year she placed him under the instructions of Richard Keene, of Augusta, Ky., a learned though eccentric Irishman and a graduate ' of Trinity College, Dublin. At the age of four- teen young Doniphan was entered as a student of . Augusta College, where he was graduated at the early age of eighteen with especial distinction in classies. While in that institution he had the benefit of the training of several able instructor -. particularly Drs. Bascom and Durbin.
Upon leaving college. Mr. Doniphan devoted himself for nearly a year to the systematic study of history and general literature. He then beyan the study of law in the office of Hon. Martin P. Marshall, of Kentucky, one of the most eminent jurists of the Marshall family, and after spending two years with that gentleman. he was licensed to
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practice by the Supreme Court of Ohio. In March. 1830, he came to Missouri and was licensed to practice by the Supreme Court at Fayette in the succeeding month. On the 19th of . April. 1830, he settled in Lexington, Mo., and commenced his long, successful and brilliant forensie career
The practice of the law in the West was more laborious then than it is now. Law libraries were few and limited in extent, and the day of legal blanks had not come. At the age of twenty-two Mtr. Doniphan, without experience, became associated with Abiel Leonard. Robert W. Wells, Pey- ton R. Hayden, and other gentlemen eminent for ability and legal attainments, and who were ai- ready expert in the management of cases. llis maiden speech at the Bar was made in 1830, when he assisted Mr. Leonard in the defense of a man indicted for murder. This was the first murder case he had ever seen tried. llis conduct in this trial was modest. and gave evidence of the dawn- ing of that reputation as a criminal lawyer which he afterward attained.
In 1833 Mr. Doniphan removed to Liberty, Me., which he made his home for the succeeding thirty years. There he found already established in the practice of the law those distinguished attorneys, D. R. Atchison, Amos Rees and James M. Hughes. llis experience at Lexington had been preparatory; at Liberty his reputation attained its zenith. Nor was the state of society there unfavorable to the development of any of the manly, social or men- tal qualities. Its business and leading men (as well as those of the county at large) were beyond the average in capacity. They were young men of high social positions in their native localities of Virginia, Tennessee, North Carolina. Maryland. Kentucky or the East. educated. chivalrie and generous, and had come to the Far West to make their homes and fortunes. Liberty was the nearest town to Ft. Leavenworth. and to it, to relieve the tedium of station life, resorted for years the choice and prime young officers of the army, the men un- dler Riley, Kearney and Sidney Johnston, who from time to time were stationed at that post. Henee, society in Liberty was pleasing and exceptionally brilliant. Doniphan was young, ambitious, highly cultured, and his mind expanded with ease to
meet the magnitude of each new occasion. The faculty of ready, powerful and tempestuous speech. the flashes of brilliant thought, had come to him. and the people of the State at once recognized him as an orator.
In 1836 Mr. Doniphan was elected to represent Clay County in the Legislature; again in 1810. and yet again in 1834, without opposition. In January 18Gi, he was appointed one of the five delegates to represent Missouri in the so-called Peace Con- ference, which met in Washington. While there he was elected a delegate to represent his senatorial distriet in the State convention called by the Legislature of Missouri, January 21. 1861, and took his seat on his return from Washington. Ja the convention he maintained the position of a conservative Union man, and did not allow the demands of the moment to betray him into lesing sight of the rights of the States.
In 1846 occurred the war with Mexico. In May, of that year, Gov. Edwards requested Mr. Doniphan to assist in raising troops for volunteer service in the Western counties of the State, and he acceded to the request. The enthusiasm of the people was high, and in a week or so the compan- ies of men which upon organization at Ft. Leav- enworth formed the famous First Regiment Mis- souri Cavalry had volunteered. As is known, Mr. Doniphan was elected its Colonel almost by ac- ciamation. There never was in the service of the I'nited States a regiment of finer material. It was composed of young men in the prime of life. and equal, mentally and physically, to every duty of a soldier. They were mainly the sons of pioneers of Missouri; they had the courage and manliness. and possessed the endurance and virtue, of their fathers. The regiment formed a part of Gen. Stephen W. Kearney's column, known as the Army of the West.
In June, of 1846, the regiment began its long march to Santa Fe. Chihuahua. Monterey, and the Gulf, a distance of thirty-six hundred miles. This march is known in history as Doniphan'> Expedi- tion. In November, 1816, Col. Doniphan. with his regiment, was directed to go into the country of the Navajo Indians, on the western slope of the Rocky Mountains, to overawe or chastise them, and he
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completed this movement with great celerity and ability. His soldiers toiled through snow three feet deep on the crests and eastern slopes of the mountains. Having completed the object of this expedition. concluding a satisfactory treaty with the Indians. he returned to the River Del Norte, and on the banks of that stream collected and briefly refreshed his men, preparatory to effecting what was then intended to be a junction with Gen. Wool. He was there re-inforeed with two batteries of light artillery. In December, 1846, he turned the faces of his little column to the South, and put it in motion toward Chihuahua. In quick succession followed his brillant and decisive vie- tories at Brazito and Sacramento, the capture of Chihuahua, the plunge of his little army into the unknown country between Chihuahua and Saltillo, and its emergence in triumph at the latter city. The laurels won by Col. Doniphan and his men are among the brightest that grace the American arms, and the memory of them will be as en- during as the history of the Mexican War itself.
On December. 1837, Col. Doniphan was married to Miss Elizabeth Jane, daughter of the late Jolin Thornton, of Clay County, Mo. She was a woman of much strength of character, of refined and gen- tle manner and elegant literary taste. She was acute in her perceptions and highly religious in feelings. The domestic life of herself and husband was characterized by the utmost harmony. Two children, both sons. were born to them, but they died in youth. In 1863, during the heat of the Civil War, Col. Doniphan removed to St. Louis. where he remained until 1868. and then returned to Western Missouri. Ile lost his estimable wife in 1873, after which time he lived in retirement, de- voting himself entirely to the amusements of read- ing, correspondence and converse with his friends.
During the existence of the Whig party. Col. Doniphan was an ardent and conscientious mem- ber of it, but after its dissolution he joined the Democracy. His mind was always too broad to admit of his being a partisan in any restricted sense, nor did he ever seek political office. He was a firm believer in the truth of the Christian religion and was an active and consistent member of the Christian Church from 1859 until his death.
His personal appearance was imposing and magnif- icent. and in height he was six feet, four inches. Ilis frame was proportioned to his height, and was full without the appearance of obesity. His face approached the Grecian ideal very closely. the es- sential variance being in the nose, which was aqui- line without severity. Ilis forehead was high. full and square: the eyes of the brightest hazel. and the lips symmetrical and smiling. When young. his complexion was very fair and delicate. and his hair and beard were sandy.
In the varied circumstances of his life. Col. Doniphan exerted a great influence. In parlia- mentary bodies he did so mainly through social impress and personal contact. He was fascinating in conversation, and his society was sought wher- ever he went. His mind acted with quickness and precision, and he had surpassing faculties of gen- eralization, perception and analysis. Ilis temper- ament was poetic, even romantie, but was guarded by fine taste and the most delicate sense of the ludi- crous, llis mind was so well organized, so nicely balanced, its machinery so happily fitted. its stores of information -o well digested and -o com- pletely made a part of the brain, that its riches without apparent effort flowed or flashed forth on all occasions. and placed each subjeet or object they touched in a flood of light. Nature had en- dowed him munificently. If the union in one mind of the highest intellectual qualities consti- tutes genius, he possessed it.
Ile died in Richmond, Mo .. August 8, 1887. and was buried in the new cemetery at Liberty. Mo .. on the 12th of the same month. A lofty monu- ment marks his last resting-place.
W HAMAM H. BENEFIEL, a prosperous gen- eral agriculturist and successful stock- raiser, residing upon section 5. township 58. range 21 west. Linn County, is a native of the State of Indiana, and was born in Boone County. October 17. 1837. Ilis paternal grandfather. George Benetiel, emigrated from Bourbon County to lef- fer-on County, Ind., when the latter State was set
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a territory, and with his family experienced the pri- vations common to the early pioneer settiers. The father of our subject, Samuel Benefiel, was born in Bourbon County, Ky., and accompanied his father and mother to their new home. There he attained to manhood. and beginning life for himself re- moved to Boone County. Ind .. and entered land. About this time he married Miss Elizabeth Cald- well, a daughter of Alexander Caldwell, a Ken- tuckian, but one of the very first settlers of Boone County, Ind., and an energetic and enterprising man.
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Samuel Benefiel continued to make his home in Boone County until his death in 1866. His sur- viving daughter. Mrs. Nancy Burris. a widow, lives in township 59. range 19, where she owns one han- dred and sixty acres. Our subject was reared in Boone County. and there enjoyed the limited ad- vantages of the little subscription schools of those early days. Arriving at manhood, he was married in Jefferson County, in 1858, to Miss Amanda J., danghter of Samuel Ryker, a successful farmer of Jefferson County, whose father, Samuel Ryker, was a native Kentuckian, but widely known as a pio- neer settler of Indiana. Mrs. Benefiel was reared in the county which had been the home of her pa- E L. JOYCE, Superintendent of Schools at Brookfield, Mo., and County Commissioner. was born nine miles north of this city. ternal ancestors for so many years, and after her marriage located with her husband in Boone County. The family came to Missouri in 1870, , January 7, 1856, a son of Edward and Louvicy settling upon the homestead in Linn County, a , (Burton) Joyce. The father was a native of finely improved farm of two hundred and thirty- nine acres, now highly cultivated and annually yielding an abundant harvest. i
Three children have blessed the home of our subject and his estimable wife. William s. resides upon an excellent farm of one hundred and sixty acres direetly south of the home place; Elizabeth is the wife of a Kansas farmer. A. E. Thomas; Mag- gie .J. is at home with her parents. The members of the family are identified with the Presbyterian Church and Mr. Benefiel is a Deacon of the Bethel Church. During the Civil War our subject served in Company B, One Hundred and Fifty-fourth In- diana Infantry, for about six months. His life has been mainly devoted to the pursuit of agriculture and the cultivation of the homestead. which was mostly unbroken prairie land when it came into
the possession of its present owner. The property, then valued at about $15 or $16 per acre, is worth ₹10, having increased in estimated vahte rapidly and being considered one of the best pieces of farm- ing land in this part of the county. Mr. Benefiel profitably handles excellent grades of cattle, horses and hogs and is a practical man, thoroughly at home in every detail of farming life.
Our subject wears the bronze button of the Grand Army of the Republic and is a member of Post No. 188, having served as Quartermaster of the same. Politically, he is an earnest Republican and holds fast to the principles of "the party of reform." He has never been an aspirant for office but is ac- tively interested in the local and national issues of the day. Since he became a resident of the State he has been indentified with the progressive inter- ests of Missouri. As a true and loyal citizen. kind friend and neighbor, he enjoys the high regard of a host of acquaintances.
County Cork. Ireland, and the mother of Tenues- see. Mr. Joyce, Sr., came to the United States at the age of fourteen. married in Southern Illinois when about twenty-five years old. and settled in Missouri about the year 1846, engaging in farm ing. Ile pre-empted land in Linn County, where the old home now stands and in which his widow still resides. He remained there during a busy and prosperous life, dying there in 1880, and his remains are quietly sleeping in the Brookfield cemetery. Mr. JJoyce had been one of the pioneers of this section, and during the exciting times of the Civil War was a conservative I'nion man. Ile reared a family of thirteen children, twelve of whom are living.
Our subjeet was reared on the farm. and was educated first in the public schools, and later in
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various normal and other schools of merit. \t the age of twenty-one he took up the profession of teaching, continuing it ever since. For three years he was Principal of the St. Catharine graded school. for two years Principal of the schools at. Laclede, and he is now serving his third year as Superintendent of the Brookfield schools, Prof. Joyce has managed the County Institute, holding a State license to do so, and for the past two years has taught his own institute. Omt of the one hundred and forty-three teachers licensed to teach in the county, Brookfield require, fourteen to impart instruction to the nine hundred pupils enrolled in the city. Owing to the good manags- ment and executive ability of Prof. Joyce, every- thing moves along smoothly, and the public schools of Brookfield are a credit to the county.
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