USA > Missouri > Lafayette County > Portrait and biographical record of Lafayette and Saline counties, Missouri : containing biographical sketches of prominent and representative citizens, together with biographies and portraits of all the presidents of the United States > Part 28
USA > Missouri > Saline County > Portrait and biographical record of Lafayette and Saline counties, Missouri : containing biographical sketches of prominent and representative citizens, together with biographies and portraits of all the presidents of the United States > Part 28
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C HIARLES N. BEALE. Life in the camp seems to have served but as a stimulus to renewed energies in other lines in most of the soldiers of the late war, it being undeniably true that Americans are lovers of peace and haters of strife. Onr subject, although a brave and gal- lant soldier, has shown himself since the war a skilled and most successful farmer. His father, John Beale, was born in Virginia in 1801, and was the son of Charles Beale, also of that State, in which section the family is an old and representa- tive one.
The mother of our subject, Ophelia ( Wood) Beale, born in Virginia in 1801, afterward re-
moved to Kentucky, but was married in her native State, and then settled with her husband on a farm in West Virginia. In the fall of 1843 they came to Lexington, Mo., lived in Greenton two years, and later settled upon the present farm of our subjeet, which was then unimproved, the entire locality, in fact, being in a wild state and very sparsely settled. Hard work soon brought the acres in condition, and when the father died in 1878, he had the satisfaction of leaving a finely improved property. His wife, who died in 1867, bore him two children: Mrs. Tidball, residing at Wellington, this county, and our subjeet. The fa- ther, as well as his wife, was a member of the Pres- byterian Church, in which body both were active and influential. He had been named a Justice of tlie Peace in Virginia and served in that capacity for several years, and at Greenton served effici- ently and to the public satisfaction as Post- master.
Our subject was born October 1, 1832, in Poea- hontas County, W. Va., attended district schools in that State, as well as in Missouri, and was eleven years old when he accompanied his parents to the latter State. He supplemented his public-school instruction with attendance one session at Chapel Ilill College and two years at the State University, with a course in Prof. Jonathan Jones' Commer- eial College at St. Louis. Ile graduated from this latter institution March 2, 1854, with the degree of . Master of Accounts. Following this, he took charge of his father's farm, having been given a half-mterest in it. At the outbreak of the war he enlisted in Capt. Withers' Company, Price's army; he took part in the siege of Lexington, and was present at the surrender of Col. Mulligan; was then taken sick and returned home, having re- ceived his discharge.
In the spring of 1863, our subject went to lili- nois, thence to lowa in the fall, remaining until May, 1864, then home for a short visit, and after- ward to California by a steamer from New York. His return journey in November, 1865, was by way of Nicaragua, since which time he has given his undivided attention to the management of the farm. The latter consists of three hundred acres, all under cultivation except twenty acres in tim-
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ber, and with excellent improvements. The resi- dence was built by his father, while the barn which he erected in 1883 cost him $600. Ile believes it to be beneficial to the land to vary the crops, although wheat and corn are his principal products. He was married in 1870 to Miss Jennie, daughter of Thomas Lee, an early settler here. She was born in Kentucky in 1836. and became the mother of three children. only one living, Arthur L., a student at Odessa College. Mr. and Mrs. Beale are members of the Presbyterian Church, in which body he is an efficient Deacon. Our subject is a member and Vice-President of the Central Protective Associa- tion, and was for a number of years a member of the Grange. Politically, he is a Democrat and is faithful to the principles of that party.
ILLIAM II. SWAN is one of the most pop- ular and best-known railroad men in this section of the country. Ile has for many years held the responsible position of foreman of the Chicago & Alton roundhouse at Slater, and is esteemed for his genial good-nature and manly characteristics.
Mr. Swan was born in Cleveland, Ohio, on the 21st of September. 1858. Ilis father was Charles A. Swan, a natives of Lowell, Mass., where he was engaged in the iron business, but after removing West he accepted a position as foreman in the round-house there for the road now operated by the Lake Shore & Michigan Southern.
In the year 1869, Charles A. Swan moved from Cleveland to Jacksonville, III., where he held the position of roundhouse foreman until 1871, when he was removed to Roodhouse, Ill., where he occupied a similar position for eight years. Mr. Swan has now retired from active life and is enjoying the fruits of his active years in Roodhouse, where, at the age of sixty-live, he is still active and in pos- session of all his faculties. The mother of our subject was Maria Ilill, also a native of Massachu- setts, who died in Jacksonville, III. She was the
mother of six children, of whom our subject is the youngest.
William Il. Swan, of whose life we here give a brief sketch. was eleven years old when his parents removed to ,Jacksonville, Ill., and after graduating at the common school he entered the High School. When only fifteen years of age, he accepted a po- sition as machinist in the roundhouse of which his father was foreman. and worked in this capacity for a year, then entered the Illinois College at Jacksonville, where he completed his freshman year but left the year following to return to his trade at Roodhouse.
In the year 1882, our subject came to Slater and commenced work as a mechanic in the roundhouse. After occupying this position four years, he was promoted to the position of foreman. In 1889, Mr. Swan went to Jacksonville, Ill., where he worked at his trade one year, after which he as- sumed his old place as foreman of the roundhouse at Slater.
Those acquainted with the details of railroad work when emanating from that center of mechan- ism known as a roundhouse can form some idea of the responsibility assumed by one who undertakes to direct the workings of so responsible an adjunct to the railroad service, and when it is taken into consideration that the subject of this sketch has seventy engines to oversee, it can be taken for granted that his work is labor requiring no in- ferior skill.
In 1880, Mr. Swan obtained the consent of Miss Annie Scruby, of Carrollton, III., to be his life partner. This lady was born in Sparta, Wis., but received her education in Carrollton, where she made many friends in the years spent there pre- vions to her marriage. She is the mother of six childen: Gracie, Minnie, Harry, Carrie, Nellie and Lillian. Socially, Mr. Swan is a member of the Knights of Pythias, in which body he held the position of Past Chancellor. Politically, he stands by the Republican banner in weal and woe. Ile is a man of sterling principles and has attained his present position, both socially and in his business life, by the qualities of heart and mind which have endeared him to his associates and brought him the love and good-will of his fellow-citizens. A
THE NEW YORK PUBLIC LIBRARY
ASTOR, LENOX AND TILDEN FOUNDATIONS R
L
Henry Blasser
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bright, keen, intelligent and broad-minded man, it is hardly necessary to add that our subject keeps posted on the leading subjects of the day, and for a man in his position has contributed his full quota toward the growth and advancement of the town in which he bas made his home for so many years.
2 ENRY BLOSSER, an extensive and pros- perous agriculturist, residing in township 51, range 22, Saline County, is a progress- ive citizen, widely known throughout his section of the country and universally respected for his ability and integrity of character. Our subject was born in Virginia March 24, 1831. The Blos- sers are of Swiss descent, and at an early day set- tled in Virginia. Grandfather Jacob Blosser was born in Virginia January 13, 1756, and died Oc- tober 6, 1842, in Shenandoah County. His wife, a Miss Beary, was a member of an old Virginia family. Joseph Blosser, the father of our subject, a native of Shenandoah County. was born at five o'clock in the morning of the 2d of March, 1795. He spent the days of boyhood in Virginia, and be- came a miller, as had been his father before him. He owned and operated for many years a mill on the ITawksbill, a small stream emptying into the Shenandoah River. This mill he finally traded for three hundred and twenty acres of land. lo- cated in Pike County, Ohio.
Removing with his family to this purchase in 1831, they found the land almost an impenetrable forest, and were obliged to live in a rail pen until a log cabin could be erected. They wintered in a cabin without a door, but of these pioneer scenes our subject remembers nothing, as he was at the time but an infant six months old. The wife of Joseph Blosser was Sarah Jane Baey, the daughter of llenry Bacy, of Culpeper County, Va., The maternal grandfather of Henry Blosser was a vet- eran of the Revolutionary War, and a man of en- ergy and resolution. Joseph Blosser, after remov-
ing to Ohio, did but little farming, but operated a mill, and as the boys grew to manhood they cleared the land and improved the farm. In politics, the father was a Whig. He died December 17, 1863, in Pike County, Ohio. His wife passed away in Mercer County, Ohio, November 7, 1876. Their children numbered nine: Elizabeth Ann, widow of Aaron Saylor, of Malta Bend, Mo .: Susan, de- ceased; Barbara, widow of Joseph Gee, of Ohio; Jacob, who lives in Ohio; Henry, our subject; Joseph, who resides in Kansas; John, deceased; Daniel, who lives in Kansas; and Mary, the wife of Valentine Roach, whose home is in Mercer County, Ohio.
Our subject was but three months old when his parents moved to Ohio, traveling in an old cov- ered wagon, and camping out by night during the two months which the journey required. Mr. Blos- ser remained at home on the Pike County farm until twenty-one years of age, when he worked out for himself, first at farm work, earning $13 per month, the first money he had ever received for himself. Ile next took a lease of fifty acres of bottom land, heavily timbered, belonging to his father. This he eleared and seeded to grass, and then sold his lease for $300, which sum gave him his first start in life, about the year 1856.
Upon March 18, 1858, our subject was united in marriage with Miss Sarah Baker, a daughter of .Josiah and Emma (Schooley) Baker, of Ross County, Ohio, and Virginians by birth. Mrs. Blos- ser was born in Ross County, Ohio, in 1839, and was one of seven children, four sons and three daughters, five of whom are living. A devoted wife, Mrs. Blosser has also by her refined and cul- tured manners, drawn a large circle of friends into an intimate acquaintance with the family. She is always ready to aid the needy, to comfort the sor- rowing and to sympathize with the distressed, and it is her delight to lend a helping hand to those who need assistance.
In 1860, Mr. Blosser bought in Ross County, Ohio, two hundred and forty acres of land for $11,000, although at the time he had only $2,000 of his own. After three years he exchanged the place for a smaller farm, receiving the difference, and selling the last purchase in 1865 for $11,000.
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llaving disposed of his property in Ohio. he at once departed for Saline County, Mo .. with $5.500 in his possession. At first he bought two hundred and forty acres of land, which he industriously im- proved for three years, adding other tracts mean- time, and finally selling all for $12.000. He then bought six hundred and forty acres where he now resides, paying therefor the sum of 814,400.
The extensive acreage was then all prairie land unimproved, but has since received an addition, now making in the large and highly improved farm a total of nearly nine hundred acres. Mr. Blosser also owns in Republic County, Kan., five hundred acres of land, which he bought in 1883. At about the same time he purchased a traet of thirteen hundred acres of bottom land for about $14.000, and in the spring of 1881 he sold eight hundred aeres of the same for $12,000. The re- maining five hundred acres he has since improved, and the land now yields from ten to fifteen thousand bushels of eorn per year.
Upon the home farm Mr. Blosser and his sons engage in general farming, raising wheat exten- sively, their acreage of that cereal sometimes pro- dueing ten thousand bushels per year. They use their own threshers, having on the place two steam threshing-machines of the most improved patented make. The intelligent family of our subject is composed of one daughter and six sons. Erskine, the eldest-born, married Annie Otte: Mary. the wife of Ward Haskett, lives in Saline County; Joseph is married to Ruby Sprague; Quincy mar- ried Elizabeth Gauldin; Henry 1. married Clara lleskett; William and Louis are at school. Joseph has the management of the Kansas property, and the other sons are settled on the home lands.
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As a boy, Mr. Blosser had a passion for hunting, and he is yet an enthusiastic follower of that sport. When he first came to Missouri he found abund- ant use for his rifle, quantities of wild game being plentiful, but now he is obliged to go farther in their pursuit, and every August or September for the past five or six years he has gone to Wyom- ing or Colorado, remaining for two months at a time. In this health-renewing and dehghtful ex- cursion, he is accompanied by his wife and sons, who take with them a full camping outfit. As
trophies, the hall of the commodious family resi- dence contains the head of an elk, and in the sit- ting-room is a specimen of the head and neck of a magnificent elk. In another room, the walls are decorated with the heads of blacktail deer, shot in Wyoming. The home dwelling is a large, artist- ically designed and finely finished mansion of three stories, including the mansard, which con- tains several rooms. The house, surrounded by beautiful foliage and stately old trees, makes a picture not easily forgotten.
Mr. Blosser has accumulated his property by self-reliant industry and enterprise. lle is a man of strictly temperate habits and believes in the pro- hibition laws. In business transactions his word is considered as good as his bond. Mr. and Mrs. Blosser and their family are all members of the Christian Church, and are prominent in all good works of their locality. Our subjeet has been an Elder in the church for many years, and has been most liberal in the support of that religious or- ganization, and is also known as a generous giver to those less fortunate than himself. Ile and his sons are ardent Republicans. During the war he was a stanch Union man, and three of his brothers served in the Federal army. Although his in- vestments have all been most profitable, and in eon- sequence of his excellent judgment and superior business ability, he has been exceedingly pros- pered, Mr. Blosser is unostentatious and genial, and exhibits in his mode of living the simplicity and kindness of heart which distinguish the true American citizen.
C HARLES HOEFER, an influential and pros- perous citizen, well known throughout Central Missouri as Cashier and one of the organizers of the Bank of Higginsville, La Fayette County, is a man of sterling integrity and charae- ter, and has won his upward way by self-reliant energy and honest industry. A leader in business circles, our subjeet is also interested in benevolent
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and social enterprises, and enjoys the respect and confidence of the entire community among whom his busy life has been passed.
He is a native of the principality of Lippe-Det- mold, Germany, and was born August 25, 1840, the youngest of six children. Five of the sons and daughters grew to maturity, but of them only three now survive : Rev. llenry Hoefer, the es- tecmed minister of the Evangelical Church of Higginsville: Charlotte, the widow of Mr. Adolph Welirmann, residing in Higginsville; and Charles.
Our subject received his early training and pri- mary education in the Fatherland, but upon reach- ing his fifteenth year emigrated with his father to America. The family left Bremen on the sailing- vessel "New Orleans," and after tossing about the broad Atlantic nine weeks and three days, landed at New Orleans, La. From that city they steamed up the Mississippi to St. Louis, Mo., which jour- ney took another week. From St. Louis the weary travelers proceeded by rail to Washington, passing over the Missouri Pacifie, the only road then com- pleted and in running order in the State. At Washington the family and their goods were loaded into teams and wagons, and slowly wended 1 their way to Warren County, where they made their home.
The family were in comfortable circumstances, the father Herman Hoefer, having sold his farm in Germany for the sum of $10,000. He was a na-" tive of Lippe-Detmold, and there acquired a com- petence. From the date of his arrival in Warren County until his death in 1860, five years later, he remained a constant resident of his first home here. The mother of our subject, whose maiden name was Wilhelmina Korsmeyer, was a native of the same vicinity as her husband, and died in Germany in 1855.
Charles Hoefer worked upon a farm in Warren County until 1859, and then entered the Evan- gelical College, where he pursued the course of study two years, afterward completing his educa- tion in the Methodist Episcopal College at Quincy, Ill., graduating with honor from that excellent institution of learning. Our subject then engaged in teaching at Hopewell, Warren County, where he was a most successful instrnetor for six years.
lle then experimented with merchandising in the same place, and continued in the business for two years. In 1870 Mr. Hoefer came to La Fayette County, and bought a farm of two hundred acres adjoining the land where Higginsville now stands, and which place had then only a few scattering houses. llere he was successfully engaged in the duties of general agriculture and stock-raising un- til 1878, when he located in Higginsville and be- came a stockholder and book-keeper of the Amer- ican Bank, as it is now known, then the Asbury- C'atron Banking Company.
In 1880 Mr. Hoefer severed his connection with this corporation and organized the Bank of llig- ginsville, with a capital stock of $30,000, and has ever since been its popular and efficient Cashier. The prosperity of the bank is attested by the divi- dends, which pay annually 10 per cent., besides which it has accumulated a surplus of $3,000. Our subject has been especially fortunate in hand- ling real-estate speculations, and owns much valu- able property acquired by energy and excellent judgment in investing. Mr. Iloefer was married in Warren County, in 1868, to Miss Levina Haek- mann, a native of the same county, and a daugh- ter of Hon. Henry Hackmann, a native of Ger- many, but an early settler of Warren County, and an extensive and successful farmer. Ile is a prom- inent Republican, having served in the State Legislature of Missouri. Mr. and Mrs. Hoefer are the parents of nine children, of whom eight are living. Daniel graduated from the Methodist Episcopal College at Warrenton, and is a banker; Frank A., is a graduate of the same college, and is a book-keeper in the Bank of lligginsville; William is attending the Warrenton College ; Edward I. is Deputy Postmaster at lliggins- ville ; Samuel, Benjamin, Oscar and Karl are attending school, and are all bright and intelli- gent young people. One little one, Albert, died at three years of age.
Our subject is a church member and one of the most active supporters of the Evangelical Church of Higginsville. Ile was the first German settler of the place, and has ever been foremost in assist- ing his nationality, giving his services freely to aid them in any way, and proffering needed financial
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help or advice. Politically he is a Republican, and has been a popular delegate to various State and county conventions, discharging the duties re- posed in him in a most faithful and efficient man- ner, and is known far and wide as an enterprising and public-spirited citizen.
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APT. JOSEPH P. ELLIOTT, the popular Sheriff of Saline County, Mo., from 1866 to 1890, and a prosperous general agriculture- ist and stock-raiser, now residing in township 50, range 20, is widely known and highly respected as a citizen of courage, honor and integrity. Born in Richmond, Va., May 27, 1830, our subject is of English descent. llis father, Benjamin Elliott, was a native of the Old Dominion, born in HIen- rico County, Va., and his demise occurred in Sa- line County, Mo., in 1841, at about forty years of age. lle was married in llanover County to Miss Angelina, a daughter of Walter A. Crenshaw and Elizabeth (Fretwell) Crenshaw. The mother of Capt. Elliott died at the age of sixty years in 1864.
The brothers and sisters of our subject were as follows: Cornelius, the first-born, now deceased; Capt. Elliott was the second child; Edmund V. is dead; and Benenna is married to William McCros- key, of Cooke County, Tex. The three paternal uncles of Capt. Elliott were as follows: JJohn Ell- iott, now President of a bank in Richmond; Sam- ple 11. and William, now deceased. Our subject located in Saline County, Mo., with his parents when only three years of age, and has been a con- stant resident of this portion of the State ever since, having therefore been an eye-witness for the past three-score years of the growth and rapid upbuilding of his neighborhood and county. Capt. Elliott was educated in the common schools of Saline County, and has been a farmer. as was his father before him,
Our subject served in the State Guard as a pri-
vate under Capt. Brown in the late war. and then joined the Confederate army under Gen. Joseph Shelby, and was appointed First Lientenant of his company upon its organization in August, 1862. Fearless by nature, our subject distinguished him- self by his brave and gallant bearing upon the field of war. Wounded at the battle of Spring- field while cheering his men on to victory, he was carried to Hartsville, Wright County, where Capt. Garret of his company was wounded and died, our subject then being promoted to the position of Captain. Recovering from his wound, Capt. EHl- iott, in April, 1863, took command of his com- pany, which was E. Shelby's old regiment of cav- alry. Our subject remained in the service until June, 1865. when he was among those who surren- dered at Shreveport. La.
Capt. Elliott participated in the following en- gagements and battles: Wilson's Creek. Booneville, Carthage, first and second engagements at Dry Wood, Lexington. Coon Creek, Cane Hill, Prairie Grove, Springfield, Ilelena, Osage, Independence, Westport, two fights at Newtonia and at Fay- etteville, Ark. Three times Capt. Elliott was wounded during the war, and three times he had his horse shot under him, and constantly and un- flinchingly faced danger and death. Since leav- ing the office of Sheriff in 1890, Capt. Elliott has devoted himself entirely to the peaceful avocation of farming his one hundred and forty aeres of valuable land and raising fine graded stock.
In December, 1869, our subject married Miss Mary T. Ross, daughter of James and Leah Ross, of Howard County, Mo. The pleasant and happy home of Capt. Elliott and his excellent wife has been blessed with the presence of two children, Mamie and Josie. Mrs. Elliott attended the com- mon schools of Howard County, and also received a course of instruction at Fayette College, in Fay- ette, Mo. Our subject and his wife are both mem- bers of the Christian Church, and always aid in its various social and benevolent enterprises, and are justly considered important factors in all the good work of their home locality and neighbor- hood. Capt. Elliott fraternally belongs to the Knights of the Maccabees, and he and Mrs. Elliott and the two daughters have a host of tried
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friends and true, and command the respect and esteem of all who know them. Our subject is a stanch Democrat and a firm adherent of the Jack- sonian party, which has now (1892) just enjoyed a signal victory.
F6 RANKLIN C. MCREYNOLDS, a wide-awake and enterprising young agriculturist, was born March 11, 1853, on the farm which is still his home, and which adjoins the town of Grand Pass. The MeReynolds family is of Irish descent. The grandfather, Joseph MeReynolds, of Virginia, removed with his family to Tennessee and from there to Saline County, Mo., about 1819, becoming one of its tirst settlers. lle en- tered nine hundred acres of land from the Gov- ernment and gave his attention to farming. In Virginia he married Elizabeth Logan, and unto them were born five children: John, Allen, Logan, David, and Elizabeth, wife of Samuel Webb, of Saline County; all are now deceased.
Allen MeReynolds, father of our subject, was born in Tennessee in 1812, and with the family came to Missouri, the journey being made by wagon. He married Amanda A., daughter of William and Nancy A. (Holt) Cooper, who were of Scotch descent, and in an early day immigrated with their family to La Fayette County, Mo. Mrs. Cooper, the grandmother of our subject, is still living at the advanced age of ninety-seven years and makes her home with her daughter, Mrs. Stark, in La Fayette County.
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