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 30
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 30
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live, the father being an interested observer of all passing events and public affairs. He and his wife are members of the Presbyterian Church, he having been an Elder in it for fifty years. They are the parents of nine children, eight of whom are living. Four of their sons served in the Civil War; one, John R., Jr., was accidentally killed in a skirmish near Booneville, Miss., and another, James, was shot through both thighs in the battle of Gettysburg, while fighting under Gen. Long- street.
When the war broke out our subject, who had received his education in the schools of Kentucky and Missouri, was then just eighteen years of age. On account of his youth, however, he did not re- main at home; on the contrary, he enlisted in May, 1861, in Magotfin's company of independent cav- alry, under Gen. Price, and participated in the battles of Sugar Creck and Pea Ridge, Ark. The term of service of the company having expired, he re-enlisted in Company G, Second Missouri Cavalry, in Van Dorn's Division, and later served under Forrest. The four years in which he was in the army were spent in active service. He took part in the following engagements: Farming- ton, Tenn .; a number of skirmishes before Corinth, Holly Springs, and Tallahatchie River; made raids under Armstrong in Northern Alabama, and took part in a sabre fight; was in the battles of Juka and Corinth, and fought against A. J. Smith in Missis- sippi. Ile was sent to Mobile on pieket duty and from there to Columbus, Miss., and surrendered. Enlisting as a private, he was made Corporal and came home with the record of a brave and faithful soldier.
Returning to La Fayette County after the war, Mr. Ford commenced active operations as a farmer. In the month of October, 1870, he mar- ried Miss Sarah, daughter of Rochester Beatty, a native of Mason County, Ky., where he died. Mrs. Ford was born September 5, 1848. The farm belonging to Mr. Ford consists of two hundred and forty acres, all under fence, and two hundred of it under cultivation. He owns one of the finest barns in the township, which was recently erected at a cost of $1,600, and he also has an interest in a cattle ranch in Wyoming. No children have
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been born to our subject and his wife. Their re- ligions convictions are in harmony with the teach- ings of the Christian Church and they hold membership with that church at Odessa, in which Mr. Ford is a Deacon. He is a member of the Masome order and manifests mueh interest in the welfare of that fraternity. A lifelong Demo- erat. he is an active worker for that party and is frequently a delegate to its conventions. He has an abiding concern in all matters relating to the welfare of lus community, where he is highly es- teemed.
G EORGE W. WILSON, train dispatcher for the Chicago & Alton Railroad, Kansas City Division, at Slater, one of the most careful and most successful operators, as well as one of the oldest as regards length of service, is a very agreeable and accommodating man, ready to do a favor without acting as if it were a favor, and al- together. the kind of man that every one likes to know. He holds a very high position for his age, and lills it better than most older men would do, better, indeed, than such positions are usually filled. He is a close observer, and attends strictly to his business. It is greatly to his credit that he can say he has never been the cause of an accident in all the time of his service.
Mr. Wilson was born at La Fayette, Ind., August 12, 1865. His father. Thomas K., was born in Can- ada, and was reared to the work of farming. When fourteen years old, he went to the Lakes to buff as a cabin-boy. After a while he came to Ft. Wayne and learned the shoemaker's trade. Later he went to Logansport, Ind., where he was married. Still later we find him at La Fayette, Ind., working at his trade, and subsequent to this at State Line, in business for himself in a retail shoe store. While at La Fayette in 1861, he enlisted in the Thirteenth Indiana Infantry as a private for three years. Hle was wounded in the service, in the calf of the leg, while with his regiment in battle. He was in the army three years and four months,
In 1880 Mr. Wilson, Sr., removed to Newport, Ark., and was engaged in business there till the fall of 1881, when he located in Mexico, Mo. Ile is a Republican, a member of the Presbyterian Church, and of the Grand Army of the Republic. Ilis father came from Ireland, and was a Seoteli Presbyterian. The mother of our subject, Minna (Pfunder) Wilson, was born at Baden-Baden, Ger- many, on the picturesque Rhine. Her father, George Pfunder, emigrated with his family to America, and settled at Huntington, afterward moving to La Fayette, Ind. Ile was a farmer, and also a shoe- maker. Ilis son, George W .. was killed in the Civil War, having been shot through the head. Another son, Fred, also served in the war.
George W. Wilson is the eldest of nine children, seven of whom are still living, five boys and two girls. He was reared in La Fayette until four years of age, when the family removed to State Line. In 1880 they went to Arkansas, and the following year located in Mexico, Mo. George was educated in the public schools, and clerked in a confection- ery store in Arkansas. In November, 1881, he be- gan to study telegraphy in Mexico with the Chi- cago & Alton and Wabash Railroads. Nine months later he became assistant ticket agent in Moberly for the Wabash and Missouri, Kansas & Texas Railroads. After three months thus spent, he went to St. Louis, and was at the evaeh yards for one month as operator. when he went to Mexico as operator for the Wabash Railroad; then to Clark, on the Chicago & Alton and Wabash, for fifteen months; then to Huntsville, Mo .. on the Wabash, for one year; again to Mexico as operator there for nine months; and finally to Slater in June, 1887, as dispatcher and operator, remaining here about a year; after that to Roodhouse in the same capacity for fifteen months, then back to Slater as dis- pateher, in which position he has remained ever since. lle works on the day trick, and has been train dispatcher for the longest period of time of any man here, with the exception of the chief dispatcher. Ile can be depended upon every time, and has the entire confidenee of every one with whom he is in any way associated.
Mr. Wilson has a fine residence in the North Addition here, one of the prettiest homes in the
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city, and in an excellent locality. The house is very nicely arranged, and has no superior in that respect in the city. lle is interested in Slater prop- perty, and is a member of the Building and Loan Association. The subject of this sketch was mar- ried in Perry, Ralls County, Miss Cornelia Galla- gher becoming his wife. She was born near Perry, and is a daughter of James Gallagher, a pioneer farmer of Ralls County. There are two children, Lulu and James K. Mr. Wilson is a member of the Knights of Pythias, Uniformed Rank, also a Na- tional Unionist and a true-blue Republican. In his religious connections he is a member of the Cumber- land Presbyterian Church, and served as Sunday- school Superintendent in Roodhouse. He is a popular man, and one who can be relied upon to do his duty faithfully and fully, than which no higher compliment could be given him.
LBERT C. BENNETT, residing on section 13, township 51, Saline County, Mo., where he owns a fine farm of eighty aeres of land, is the subject of this sketeli. He was born in Northbridge, Mass., in November, 1820. Ilis parents, Rufus and Mary ( Wood) Ben- nett, were also natives of the grand old State of Massaeliusetts, where they reared nine children, of whom our subject was the youngest, and one and all of these children grew to maturity and reared families. The grandfather of our subjeet was a seafaring man, who bravely aided the colonists in their struggle for independence by enlisting in the Colonial army. Hle proved himself a brave soldier and did credit to the Irish ancestors from whom he sprang.
Albert C. Bennett was reared in his native town to manhood, receiving only a limited educa- tion. Ile learned the trade of a boot and shoe maker and pursued that ealling until about thirty- five years of age. When he reached the year 1858 he decided to leave the East, and therefore emi- grated to the Prairie State, where he located in
llaneock County and engaged in farming. As lie knew nothing about agricultural pursuits he had much to learn, but has been so successful in it that he has followed that business ever sinee. Although a poor man when he began life, he has reared a large family, and now is the owner of eighty acres of land on which he resides.
Mr. Bennett was married in 1847 to Hannah M., daughter of George Kempton, who bore ler husband eight children, seven of whom they reared, one having died. The names of the chil- dren were as follows: Rufus, of Neosha County, Kan .; Lydia, who died when sixteen; Lucina, wife of Hlawey Mismore, of Montgomery County, Kan .; Sarah and Joanna (twins), the former Mrs. Mar- tin, the latter wife of William Southers; Albert N., Robert B., and Sarah, who died in infancy in Massachusetts. Both Mr. and Mrs. Bennett were members of the Union Baptist Church in Illinois. The parents of Mrs. Bennett, George V. and Ilan- nalı (Andrews) Kempton, were natives of Up- bridge, Mass., and England, respectively. The grandfather of Mrs. Bennett, Ezra Kempton, was a native of Massachusetts, of Irish extraction.
Mr. Bennett has been independent in polities all his life, not voting for party measures, but for the man he considers the best man for the posi- tion. He has always been an honest, upright man, and now enjoys the evening of a well-spent life, surrounded by the comforts his labors have procured for him.
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OHN A. LEWIS, one of the prominent citi- zens of Saline County, Mo., is the subject of the present sketch. Ile is a representa- tive of an old and prominent family in America, who came to the country in Colonial times, when they received large tracts of land from a grateful monarch in Rockingham, Augusta and Bath Counties, Va. Later, in the historie list of valiant Revolutionary generals may be found the names of Charles and Andrew Lewis, near in
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command to their great chief, Washington, and one of these was the great-grandfather of our sub- ject. The military spirit descended to the next generation, for there, in the grandfather of our subject, we find another officer, Capt. John Lewis.
One of the early settlers had brought with him a body of emigrants, whom he settled upon the lands, and he built a fort for their protection from the Indians on a river in his territory, called the Cowpasture. This old building still shows to the lover of historic spots a part of the walls, and our subjeet has vivid recollections of seeing the an- cient fort with its loopholes in quite a good state of preservation. Grandfather Lewis was a farmer by occupation, and raised some stock upon the broad Virginia hillsides and rich meadows. He died in the old homestead at about the age of seventy-live or six years. This old home is lo- cated thirty miles from Staunton, and ten miles from Warm Spring, the county seat of Bath County, Va.
The grandmother of our subject was a Miss Miller, a lady whose ancestors came over from Ireland. The father of our subject was one of twelve children. His life was passed on the old place in Bath County where he was born, and there he married Miss Ehza, a daughter of Col. Dickerson, of Bath County. The first settlement of the family was upon a plantation in Greenbrier County, Va., but later they returned to Bath County, where they remained a few years, and then, in 1836, removed to Saline County, Mo.
The first settlement made here by Mr. Lewis was upon a place near what is now known as Fairville, but he sold this and found a fine piece of ground upon the Missouri River near Miami, where he remained until the death of his wife in 1844. Later, JJohn Lewis. our subject's father, went to Virginia to look after his property there, and decided to remain in the old State. There he remained until the close of the Civil War and re- married, the union being with a Miss Jury, by whom he reared a family of four boys and one girl, namely: James. William, Henry, Marcus and Margaret. He was a Demoerat in his political belief, always consistently supporting the princi- ples of that party. The family of John Lewis was
brought up in the faith of the Presbyterian Church. The children born of the first marriage were as follows: Adam, deceased: John A., our subject; Charles S., residing in Pueblo, Colo .; and Mary, who was the wife of A. M. Francisco, but is now deceased.
Our subject was born in Virginia, in 1826. and at about the age of ten years he accompanied his parents to Missouri, going overland to the Ohio River, thence by boat to St. Louis, and finally reaching Arrow Rock, Saline County, Mo. Sev- eral families were in this party, bringing along all of their household goods and chattels, including their slaves. Our subject received his education in the common schools of both Virginia and Mis- souri, remaining at home until the outbreak of the Mexican War in 1816. At that time he volun- teered at Marshall and was a member of the com- pany of Capt. John Reed in Doniphan's regiment of mounted volunteers, serving twelve months.
After the close of this war our subject returned to Virginia on a visit for one and a-half years, starting in 1848 and remaining until 1850, when he made a trip to California overland, in com- pany with fourteen others. Seven years were spent in that country, principally in mining, and the return trip was made by the way of the Isth- mus and New York. Mr. Lewis is a pensioner of the Mexican War, and a man of influence and re- spectability in the county where he has made his home since 1867. Here he located upon what is known as the Washington Lewis farm, near Grand Pass, which place he has improved. The marriage of Mr. Lewis took place in 1863 with Miss Jos- ephine, a daughter of George Crutsinger, of Saline County, and seven children have blessed this mar- riage, as follows: Charles, George: Eliza, who is the wife of G. S. Smith, of Grand Pass; Mary, Clara, Annie and Josephine. The sons are happily married, one of them being Rev. Charles Lewis, pastor of the Methodist Episcopal Church South, in Kansas City. George lives with his family in Oklahoma County. Our subject is a Democrat, and during the war was a Southern sympathizer. ITis farm consists of one hundred and sixty aeres, where is carried on a system of general farming. Mr. Lewis is a much respected member of the
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Methodist Episcopal Church South. The post- office address of the family is Malta Bend, a pleasant little village of Missouri, where our sub- ject is well and favorably known.
R E. RICHART, an energetie and extensive agriculturist, and highly respected citizen of Saline County, Mo., resides upon bis large farm near Napton, township 50, range 20, where he owns seven hundred and fifty acres of land, mostly under a high state of cultivation. Our subject was born in the State of Kentucky, April 15, 1822. 1lis paternal grandfather, James Richart, was of German descent, and born in Penn- sylvania, and was seven years engaged in the Rev- olutionary struggles of our country, in which he faced all the privations and dangers of those troublous times. The veteran soldier afterward pursued the peaceful avocation of farining, and died in Bath County, Ky.
The paternal grandmother, Jane (Oliphant) Riehart, was born in Pennsylvania and died in Kentucky, and both she and her venerable hus- band were buried from the Springfield Presbyte- rian Church, in Bath County. The children who had gathered together in the olden days at the fireside of this father and mother were ten in number. They were Wilham, Andrew, James, John, Duncan, Martha, Ann, Jane, Lydia and Mary. These brothers and sisters were of adult age when they all. with one exception, removed -with their parents to Kentucky; Martha, who married James Shannon, remained with her hus- band in Northumberland County, Pa. Dunean Oliphant Richart, the father of our subject, was born in Pennsylvania, and was about twenty-two years of age when he came to Kentucky. lle married Miss Marthia, a daughter of Moses and Elizabeth Sharp, of Sharpsburgh, Bath County, Ky. The Sharps were an old Virginia family of distinction, and Grandfather Sharp had also fought bravely in the War of the Revolution, ac-
tively remaming in the ranks for seven years, at the expiration of which time our independence was declared.
The mother of our subject was the fourth of seven children, and had four brothers and two sisters, Mary and Elizabeth. The sons were Richard, William, Joseph and Thomas. The older brothers were prominent physicians of Bath County. The parents of our subject were married in Bath County, Ky., and when our subject was two years old they removed to Bourbon County. and there reared their family of eight children, who, with one exception, lived to mature age. John, the eldest, died in infancy; Joseph H. re- sides at Owensville. Bath County, Ky .; William S. lives at Mt. Sterling, Ky .; the fourth child is our subject; Elizabeth, wife of John A. Judy, of Mexico, Mo .; Martha died unmarried, at the age of twenty-seven; Dr. D. M. Richart, who died at Sharpsburg, Ky., was a surgeon in a regiment of J. C. P. Breckenridge and Morgan's Brigade; and Mary Ellen died in Kentucky, leaving two small children to the care of her husband. .James Ilazelrigg.
Mr. Riehart having attained years of maturity married a most estimable lady, Miss Sarah A., a daughter of Robert and Sarah (Davis) Meteer, and settled on his father's old farm in the eastern part of Bourbon County, Ky. In the spring of 1864 he sold the homestead and came to Audrain County, Mo., where he remained with his family two years, and in the spring of 1866 purchased five hundred and ten aeres of land in townships 43 and 50, range 20, Saline County, Mo., and brought his family here in October, 1866. Our subject subsequently purchased land to the amount of ten hundred and forty acres, and now retains seven hundred and fifty. The home has sheltered ten children: William Robert; Anna Bell; John, a resident of California; Elizabeth, married to Joseph Field, Jr., of Saline County; Jo- seph D., who died at the age of seven years, seven months and seven days; Edwin, who died at the age of six years and six months; Thomas, who is in Cali- fornia; Mattie 1)., Sarah M. and Tobias complete the list of the brothers and sisters, and of the survivors all are occupying positions of influence and honor.
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Mr. Richart was during the Civil War an up- holder of the National Government, which both his patriotic grandfathers had given so many years of their lives to sustain.
Politically, our subject is independent, and gives his vote to the man he believes best adapted to the requirements of each office. Mr. Richart and his excellent wife are valued members of the Presbyterian Church, have ever been active in the good work of that religions organization, and materially aided in the extension of its influence. Upright in the daily walk of life, a kind friend and neighbor, Mr. Richart enjoys the high regard of the community among whom so many years of his life have been passed.
UDGE HERMAN H. ELLING, one of the best-known and most distinguished men of La Fayette County, Mo., is the subject of this sketch. Although a District Judge of known ability, he has not confined his attention to legal business. Since 1875 he has lived upon one of the best cultivated farms of the county, and there finds both pleasure and profit in the raising of fine stock, together with his agricultural efforts. Judge Elling was born in far-off Prussia, June 6, 1845, and was the son of William and Mary Elling, natives of Germany. He was reared in his native country until he was twelve years of age, attending the German schools, but at that time he and his brother, two years older, decided that they would emigrate to America.
An older brother of our subject was then living in La Fayette County, and the brave lads thought it would be but a simple matter to find him if they could but get across the great ocean. Probably Judge Elling would hesitate quite a long time be- fore he would permit two of his own lads of twelve and fourteen to start alone upon that great journey, but, nevertheless, the two little German boys found their way to Bremen, where they took passage for America. One can imagine how their childish
hearts swelled with pride as they realized that they were really on the way to that great country of which they had read and heard so much. The sailing-vessel, after a trip of seven weeks, safely deposited them in New Orleans, and from there they managed to reach St. Louis and communicate with their brother in La Fayette County.
Our record tells us of the energy of our subject and of his determination to master the strange English language, also of his close application at night school. which he attended for a period of two months in St. Louis. For about one year Herman remained with his brother Henry in this county, and then began to learn the trade of a blacksmith. In 1858, he entered the shop of Julius Vogt, which was then located upon the site of the present town of Concordia, remaining with him for about eight months, when he went to Lexington. There he continued working until 1860, and in the fall of 1861 he enlisted in the Home Gnards, which com- mand was subsequently merged into Company E., Fourteenth Missouri Infantry. He was in the bat- tle of Lexington, where he was taken prisoner, but was soon released.
Subsequently our subject started a blacksmith shop in Concordia, but at that time party feeling was running high, and he found himself obliged to change his location. At St. Louis he found em- ployment as a journeyman and worked there until 1861, after which he went to Nashville, Tenn .. and worked there at his trade in the employ of the Government for six months. Then he came to La Fayette County. Mo., and here he started a shop within one and one-half miles of Concordia, which he conducted until he began farming upon his pres- ent place in 1874. This fine farm contains two hun- dred and fifty-five acres of as fine land as over the little German lad could have pictured to himself in the old days in Germany. and it is well im- proved and well stocked.
The marriage of Judge Elling took place in 1869; with Miss Martha Helms, who was born in La Fay- ette County, a daughter of George Helins, one of the early settlers of the county. To this union eleven children have been born, and their happy parents have given them the following names: David, Sophia, George, Samuel, Martin, William,
THE NEW YORK PUBLIC LIBRARY
ASTOR, LENOX AND TILDEN FOUNDATIONS R
Youre Very Truly Til Tuckern for
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Lottie, Rosa, Arthur, Clara and Mabel. Judge Elling is now serving his third term as Judge of the Eastern District of the county with great credit to himself and to the entire satisfaction of his con- stituents. In his polities he is a Democrat, and he has been very active in conducting the workings of his party through the county. He is a member of the Masonic order, of Aullville, and has served as Treasurer of the lodge, and is also a member of the Grand Army of the Republic Post of Concor- dia, of which he has been Treasurer.
P HILLIP TUCKER, Jr., an enterprising cit- izen of Slater. and a prosperous merchant tailor located on Maine Street, is one of the leading business men in his section of the State. An expert cutter and fitter, thoroughly at home in all the details of his work, and withal a genial gentleman, he has rapidly extended his trade from a comparatively small beginning, until he now controls a valuable custom throughout the county, Energetic, ambitious and progressive in his business methods and ideas, he owns and man- ages one of the finest tailoring establishments in the Southwest, and carries a complete line of piece goods second to none in this part of the country.
Our subject was born in the eastern part of Wales, April 9, 1848. Ilis father, Phillip Tucker, was a native of London, and in that noted city grew to manhood, and there for several years en- gaged in business as a merchant tailor. Ilaving served a long apprenticeship, beginning when he was but nine years old, he was successful in his trade, but finally decided to make a change of residence, and removed to Wales, in which portion of Great Britain his wife, Susan (llope) Tucker, was born. In 1852, when Phillip, Jr., was but four years old, his parents emigrated to America, and landing safely in New York, journeyed thence to Keokuk, Iowa, and finally located in Hannibal, Mo. En- gaging immediately in business, the father soon be- came known as a thoroughly competent and reliable merehant tailor.
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