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 44
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 44
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6 HIOMAS SHELBY, a leading and prosperous agriculturist of La Fayette County for two- score years, has now retired from active duties as a tiller of the soil, but still retains the ownership of one of the model farms of the county, whose broad acreage is all under a high state of cultivation. Energetic and progressive, our sub- ject, from comparatively small beginnings, self- reliantly won his upward way, and to-day in his pleasant home in Lexington enjoys the competence gained by years of honest industry. Mr. Shelby was born in Marion County, Ky., September 23, 1818. The Shelby family is of Welsh descent, and, inheriting the sturdy virtues of their forefathers, the immediate ancestors of our subjeet have oc- cupied positions of honor and influence in the Land of Liberty to which the early emigrants from Wales came so many generations ago.
Ex-Gov. Shelby, of Kentucky, was a brother of the paternal grandfather of our subject, who was Jolin Shelby, a man of sterling integrity of char- aeter and excellent business ability. The parents of Thomas Shelby were William and Nancy (Ed- mondson) Shelby, both native Virginians. Will- iam Shelby was a stock-trader and removed with his family to La Fayette County in 1836, locating upon a farm, where he passed his days in agricul- tural pursuits. Ile died in 1854, but his wife sur- vived -until 1862. Useful and honored in life, their deaths were universally regretted by all who knew them. Thomas Shelby was one of a family of four children, three sons and one daughter. Our subject spent his early youth in Marion County, Ky., and attended a private school in his birth- place. Later removing with his parents to La Fayette County. Mo., he here made his home for forty-one years, and then went to Ohio, remaining three years in the Buckeye State.
Again returning to La Fayette County, Mr. Shelby located upon a farm of seven hundred acres and engaged in general agriculture. ITis natural ability and well-directed energy soon brought prosperous returns, and by constantly add- ing to his farming property, he soon owned one thousand acres of valuable land. Hle devoted much of his time to stock-raising and the feeding of cattle and hogs, and for many years was one of the leading shippers of live-stock. In 1883, he left to the care of others the fine farm of seven hundred acres, which is one of the most valuable and highly-improved homesteads in La Fayette County. Mr. Shelby has always been a patriotic citizen, and during the war was so situated that he could, candidly and without prejudice, estimate the claims and mistakes of both the contending parties. Without being offensive to either, he de- plored the terrors of Civil War, and such power had his sterling integrity of charactor that he commanded alike from blue coats and gray the confidence and esteem which he richly deserved for his liberality of sentiment and his excellent judgment.
A few years more than a half a century ago, Thomas Shelby and Miss Nancy H. Gordon were, on January 18, 1838, united in marriage. Mrs.
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Shelby was a native of La Fayette County. her father. G. II. Gordon, being among the early and substantial settlers of this part of Missouri. Ilon. Lin Boyd. ex-Speaker of the House of Congress, was the uncle of Mrs. Shelby. She passed away April 21. 1876, deeply lamented by a large circle of sorrowing relatives and friends. She was a woman of genuine nobility of character. and the mother of nine children. of whom five are yet liv- ing. Adia; Mattie HI., wife of S. J. Houston; .Joseph B., a farmer; Lin B., a prosperous tiller of the soil: and Forest L., who is also engaged in ag- ricultural duties. These sons and daughters oc- eupy positions of influence and worthily represent the family name. They are all members of the Christian Church. Mr. Shelby was married in 1878 to his present wife, who was Miss Margaret Houston, daughter of Samuel J. Houston, a well- known citizen of Ohio. The family residence in Lexington is attractively located, and is a com- mochious brick structure, handsomely finished and of modern design.
Our subjeet is a member of the Church of Christ and for forty-tive years has been connected with this denomination and one of the leaders in the extension of its good work. Pohtically, Mr. Shelby is a Demoerat, and has been an ardent advocate of Grover Cleveland, whom the people have a sec- ond time called to the Presidential Chair of this great American nation. The county of La Fayette numbers many substantial residents, but there is not within the limits of its territory a more up- right or public-spirited eitizen than our subject, Thomas Shelby, whose unostentatious life has wrought much of good for his less fortunate fellow- mell.
ENRY SEIMS. Among the excellent and publie-spirited German-American citizens of La Fayette County is the subject of this sketelt. His record as a soldier is without blemish, and his present standing in the community
is one of considerable prominence. His home is located upon section 14, range 26. township 49, where he resides on his farm of one hundred and twenty acres of land.
The native country of our subject is Prussia, where he was born in April, 1837. He was the son of Christian and Elizabeth Seims, natives of Germany. In the public schools of that country lie received a fair education in his native language, and since his residence in America he has become sufficiently acquainted with the English language to make his conversation in it a very easy matter. It was in the year 1858 that Mr. Seims left Ger- many, taking passage in a sailing-vessel at Bremen, and after a rough voyage of sixty-seven days reached New Orleans. From that eity he came north to Gaseonade County, Mo., and engaged in work on a farm.
During the early part of his life in Missouri, our subject received only $12 per month, and with this he was content and continued laboring until the breaking out of the Civil War. In September, 1861, Mr. Seims enlisted at St. Louis in Company F, Second Missouri Light Artillery, and thus be- came a part of the Fifteenth Army Corps, com- manded in turn by those great generals, Sherman and Logan. The regiment to which our subject was attached was engaged in the battles of Pea Ridge and Chattanooga, the sieges of Vicksburg and Atlanta, and other less important, although just as dangerous, engagements.
Mr. Seims received his honorable discharge in the fall of 1864 and returned to Missouri. but a few months later he re-enlisted in Company F', First Veteran Corps, under Gen. Hancock, and was appointed to do guard duty at Washington, Win- chester, Cincinnati and Louisville. He received his final discharge after the assassination of Presi- dent Lincoln. At that time he was at Camp Stone- man, near Washington City, on the Potomac. To Mr. Seims, Gasconade County, Mo., was home, and hither he made his way as soon as he was relieved of his duties as a soldier. For some time he con- tinued there engaged in farming, but later moved to Osage County, Mo., where he pursued for many years the same vocation.
In the spring of 1880, our subject removed to
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La Fayette County, and in this place he has re- mained ever since. Ilis farm of one hundred and twenty acres has given him employment and en- joyment, and success as a farmer has made of him a prominent man in the township. In his political belief, he has espoused the Republican party, and is a very well-informed and progressive men. In 1868, our subject was united in marriage with Miss Elizabeth Feak, who is a native of Baden, Ger- many, and eight bright children have been born of this union, namely: William, Edward, Emma, Ilenry, Lydia, August, John and Oscar. The members of the family belong to the German Evangelical Church and are highly respected.
AMES M. ASHLEY, a representative busi- ness man and leading citizen of Marshall, Saline County, Mo., is a senior partner in the widely known firm of James M. Ashley & Company, dealers in poultry and eggs, com- manding the most extended trade of any firm in the county in their special line of business. Ae- tive and energetic in the daily round of toil, our subject has achieved success, and with prosperity has gained the experience of years of upward prog- ress thoroughly identified with the growth of his present home. Upright and honorable in his deal- ings, he has won the confidence and regard of the business public, and in private life has a host of friends.
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Mr. Ashley was born in Casey County, Ky., September 29, 1831. Ilis father, John Ashley, was also a native of Kentucky, but his paternal grand- father was born in England, near London; he emigrated to America, and settled first in Vir- ginia, where he farmed. afterward locating in Ken- tueky, where he died much lamented. llis son, the father of our subjeet, worked on a farm in Kentucky in early boyhood, and at seventeen years of age enlisted in the service of the Government under Gen. Harrison, and fought bravely in the War of 1812. He was a tiller of the soil in Casey
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and Lincoln Counties until 1851, when he settled in Illinois, first in MeLean County, then in Pike County, spending two years in the State; he then returned to Pulaski County, Ky., and died there in 1857. lle was a Whig in political attiliations, and was a member of the Methodist Episcopal Church.
The mother of Mr. Asliley was in maidenhood Elizabeth Montgomery; she was born in Virginia, the daughter of Ezekiel Montgomery, a native of the Old Dominion, and a farmer of that State. Ile was a patriot, and was wounded while fighting in the Revolutionary War. He died in his native State after long years of usefulness. Mrs. Ashley passed away in Illinois, after becoming the mother of thirteen children, two of whom died young. Our subject was the eleventh child of the large family. He attended the public schools in Kentucky, and at seventeen years of age accompanied his parents in their various change of residence, going first to McLean and Pike Counties, and then back to Pu- laski County, Ky., where he learned the carpenter's trade. In 1861, he went again to Illinois, and lo- cated in Winchester, Scott County, and worked at his trade, soon finding ready and lucrative em- ployment as a contractor and builder. From 1856 to 1858, he was busy in Arney, Ind., then returned to Scott County. Ill., and was appointed Deputy Sheriff of the county under llorace Stewart, and held that position in 1869 and 1870. At the lat- ter date he took up his former business there until he went to Roodhouse, in Greene County, where, engaged in building, he remained for a time, then returned to Winchester, but later went to Rush- ville, III., in which place he remained five years.
In 1886 our subject journeyed to Kansas and lived in McPherson two years. In 1883 he came to Marshall and resumed his occupation of con- tractor and builder, but in June, 1890, opened his present place of business and has succeeded be- vond his expectations, building up a fine trade in a comparatively short time. The first of the suc- ceeding year he bought out his nephew, who had been in business with him, and then commeneed buying and shipping poultry. The trade, which is rapidly increasing, amounts to from $30,000 to 840,000 per year, and is by far the largest of its character in this section of the State. The firm
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pick and dress the poultry and ship a car every week to Boston, and also handle immense lots of eggs, and run five wagons. The business location of James M. Ashley & Co. is upon La Fayette Ave- nue, one of the finest for the purposes of trade in town. Mr. Ashley ereeted his own handsome and commodious residence on North Fourth Street.
Our subject was married in Tennessee to Miss Nannie Ilubble, a native of Kentucky, who came to Indiana with her family and died in this West- orn State. She left four children: Alonzo, resid- ing in Marshall. a carpenter, contractor and builder; Mary E., now Mrs. Albert Darling, of Marshall; Eva B .. at home: and James L .. who is in business with his father. Mr. Ashley's second marriage was in Winchester, the bride being Miss Anne L. Summers, who was born in Illinois. This estima- ble lady is the mother of three children, Tessie 1., Ernest Il. and Myrtle. Our subject is a member of the Baptist Church, and with his family is ever ready to aid in all good work. Ile is a Republi- can. and is earnest in his convictions and sound in argument, and in the few years of his residence in Marshall has ever been an active and public- spirited citizen.
1 RA M. RILEA is well known to the traveling public who frequent the Chicago & Alton Road on the Kansas City Division, being a conduc- tor whose eagle eye passes no passenger by whose silver can swell the coffers of the railroad com- pany. He has been in the employ of the road more or less since the fall of 1868.
The original of this sketch was born at Sardinia, Brown County, Ohio. November 8, 1819. He is a son of Joshua D. and Naomi (Kineaid) Rilea, both of whom were natives of the same place. Grand- father Rilea was a member of an old Eastern fam- ily who moved to Brown County in an early day, and in 1832 went to live in Fulton County, Ill .. and engaged in farming near Canton. He was one of the '49ers who made the overland route
to California. but although he secured quite a good deal of the precious metal he was robbed of it on his way back. On returning to his Illinois farm he cultivated it until his death, which oe- curred when he was eighty-five years of age.
Joshua Rilea was a carpenter and builder, and had a good many contracts for putting up large buildings. He went to Illinois in 1832 with his father, but returned to Ohio, where he married and lived until 1857, when he again went back to Illi- nois and located in MeLean County, being there employed at his trade. In 1862 he enlisted in the One Ilundred and Twenty-ninth Illinois Infantry, serving until the close of the Rebellion, when he _resumed his trade and was thus employed until 1889. Hle then located on a farm in Kansas, home- steading a claim in Logan County. where he now resides. Ile is a member of the Grand Army of the Republic. Our subject's mother was the daughter of Robert Kincaid, who was a merchant in Sardinia. Her family were ali Scotch Presbyterians.
Of the six children born to Mr. and Mrs. Rilea, our subject is the eldest. Ile passed eight years of his life on the farm in Illinois, and attended public school. In 1868 he entered the employ of the Chicago & Alton Road as baggage agent at Chenoa, both for that road and the Toledo, Peoria & Wa- bash. He was thus employed until the spring of 1870, when he became line repairer, which position he held until the fall of 1880. During the ten years he was thus employed he lost only twenty- five days, and was in charge of certain divisions, having his headquarters at Alton. In 1879 he was placed in charge of the men that put up the see- ond wire from Mexico to Kansas City over the Al- ton Railroad.
In the fall of 1880 our subject located on a farm in Woodson County, Kan. It was upon section I, and this he operated for five years, during which time he gave his chief attention to stock-raising. Five years of this, however, were enough for the man who had been so accustomed to the active life of railroading, and he returned to the road which he had first been employed upon, accepting the position of brakeman. with his headquarters at Slater. Nine months later he was made con- ductor, and has run continuously since that time
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on through freights. When serving as telegraph repairer he had a velocipede which he named Hurdy Gurdy, and which still goes by that name.
Mr. Rilea was married in Kirksville, Mo., March 22, 1876, to Miss Clara A. Foster, who was born in Racine, Wis., a daughter of Edward Foster, a na- tive of Lincolnshire, England, who came to Amer- ica at the age of twenty-two. Mr. Foster first io- cated at Montpelier, Vt .. engaging in the harness and saddlery business. Later he located at Ra- cine, and added trunks to his former stock. Dur- ing the Civil War he was a Government contractor, and later became a wholesale dealer, supplying knapsacks, canteens, ete. Mrs. Rilea's mother was before her marriage a Miss Isabel Williams, a na- tive of Montpelier, Vt. She still lives, making her home with a son at Webb City, this State, and has reached her four-score years.
Our subject and his wife are the parents of three children, whose names are Walter 1., Howard E. and Eugene F. Mr. Rilea is the Secretary of Slater Division No. 212, of the Western Railroad Con ductors' Association. Ile is a Deacon in the Cum- berland Presbyterian Church. We are happy to chronicle of him that he is a true-blue Republican.
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1 SAAC SPONSLER has had a pleasantly varied experience and has traveled extensively over the States, perhaps not always eumbered with a great amount of worldly wealth, but always pos- sessed of a happy, genial spirit, which awoke by very contagion the kindhest interests on the part of those with whom he was thrown in contact. Mr. Sponsler was born in Frederick County, Md., in the town of Emmetsburgh, August 12, 1825. There he passed the early years of his life untilhe left home and went to Pennsylvania.
On making the change in his place of residence, as above stated, our subject inereased his store of knowledge by learning to make children's shoes. He was employed at this business in Butler and
Allegheny Counties for two years. On leaving Pennsylvania he went to Louisville, Ky., and there the water-way proved too fascinating, and he made several trips on the river to New Orleans, engaged as a deck-hand in order to pay his passage. Some- time afterward he enlisted in the regular army at St. Louis, and was a participant in the Mexican War and served his full term of enlistment, which was five years.
After his discharge from the military service our subject made a brief visit to his old home in Fred- eriek County, Md., and soon afterward started overland for California to seek his fortune. Not realizing his golden expectations, he returned to Frederick County, and some months later entered the employ of the Baltimore & Ohio Railroad Com- pany, with which he remained about two years.
At this time, Mr. Sponsler went to Butler County, Pa., and engaged for a while in the printing busi- ness, which did not, however, prove as remunera- tive as he had anticipated, so he abandoned that pursuit and took up the shoe business, in which he continued for seventeen and a-half years, being located during that time at Prospect, Pa. He came to Missouri in 1866 and purchased a farm in Cooper County, upon which he settled. After a residence of three years there, in which he im- proved the place to some extent, he sold the farm and removed to Clarksburg, Moniteau County, Mo. This continued to be his home for several years, and he was engaged very successfully in the shoe business. He was also in partnership with John D. Woods in filling a contract for furnishing ties to the Missouri Pacific Railroad Company. From Clarksburg Mr. Sponsler came to Slater, where he has ever since been an honored and re- spected resident.
The original of our sketch is President of the Slater Milling Company, and for several years has been one of the Directors of the Slater Savings Bank. Our subject was married in Prospect, Pa., to Miss Mary, a daughter of Edward and Prudence Kennedy. She was born in Butler County, Pa., and there passed her early womanhood. She and her husband are devoted members of the Cumber- land Presbyterian Church. They have had their full share of sorrow, for death came to their house-
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hold and cut down in the flower of woma. hood their only child and daughter. Estella, who was the wife of Dr. Ward Switzer. She died at the residence of her parents in Slater March 26, 1889, leaving two children, Mary and Frank.
D ANIEL T. GUTHREY. Shakespeare tells us in his incomparable "Julius Cæsar, " that the good that men do is oft interred with their bones, but there are too many ex- ceptions to this rule to make it a discouraging truth. The few extracts which may be placed be- fore the public in a brief sketch such as the follow- ing will possess interest, but cannot tell the whole story of a life, even if it were not filled with more adventure than falls to the common lot.
The good citizen, the honest lover of his State, the honored parent of a large family, whose inthu- ence is still felt in his community. although he has been called hence. is the subject of whom we now write. Daniel Guthrey was born in Buckingham County, Va., in 1817, and grew to maturity in his native place. When he was twenty-one years old he made his first visit to this State, then went back to his own home, but in 1836 he returned to the county. became a pioneer here, and made this his home for the remainder of his life. His first loca- tion was about six miles east of Fairville, where he resided for a short time, then came to his place one-half mile northwest of Fairville, and in this home he reared his family of eleven children. All of these grew to maturity and went out into the world to battle for themselves, bearing with them the influence of a good example.
The wife of our subjeet was the daughter of Col. John Brown, a resident of this county. The an- cestors of both families were natives of England, who later became residents of Virginia. At the breaking out of the late war, Mr. Guthrey was the owner of six slaves. He had always been one of the firm supporters of the Government, but when the war came on and the States seceded he attached
himself to the Confederate cause. Two of his brothers were members of the Black Horse Cavalry. Always during life a Democrat, although a Con- servative one, so he continued until his death. His attention to business was great, and he became a wealthy and successful man. His death occurred in 1880.
The eldest child of Mr. Guthrey is the subject of the following notice: John W. Guthrey was born in 1841, grew to manhood in this county, and had reached only the age of nineteen years when the Civil War broke out, putting to rout all of his plans for the future. Immediately John W. en- listed in the company commanded by Capt. Ed. Brown, and joined the Confederate army at Boon- ville under Gen. Price, but in the fall of the next year he was so unfortunate as to suffer capture, and was kept in prison until the close of the war.
In 1863 John W. Guthrey was married to Miss Betty, the daughter of J. G. Tucker. She lived until 1878, and then passed away, leaving two children. Willie HI. and Claud W. In 1880, Mr. Guthrey married Miss Mary E .. the daughter of Rev. T. L. Austin, and to them have been born five bright and interesting children. These are Ollie, Austin, Harvey, Clarence and Ida. Mr. Guthrey might be called a "dyed-m-the-wool" Democrat, so firm is he in his allegiance to the principles of that party. The members of his family are Methodists, and in that connection are held in high esteem. Mr. Guthrey owns two hundred and sixty acres of valuable land, which he accumulated by his own toil.
HARLES J. HADER. The present sketch is a memorial of one who in life was a good neighbor, kind friend, a faithful fa- ther and husband, and a prominent and public- spirited citizen of La Fayette County, Mo. Mr. Hader was a native of Germany, where he was born August 1, 1811. and was a brother of Henry and Ernst Hader, whose biographical sketches ap- pear in other parts of this RECORD. While still a
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lad, our subject came to America with his parents, and with them located in Indiana for a short time, later accompanying them to La Fayette County, Mo.
As our subject grew to maturity, he obtained both a German and an English education, and at an early day became accustomed to work upon his father's farm. This occupation he followed all of his life, and at the time of his death left his wife and children a fine farm of eighty acres. Better though than this he left to them the memory of a good and kind husband and father, and a repu- tation of spotless integrity. In these days it is no light thing to say that a man's word is as good as his bond, but this could truly be said of our present subject.
The first marriage of Mr. Hader occurred when he was united with Miss Paulina T. Guenther, and they were the parents of three children: James, Albert and Joseph, the last-named having passed away. The second marriage of our subject took place March 28, 1880, the bride being Mrs. Lon- isa, the widow of the late William Fetter, of War- ren County, Mo. By this union of Mr. Hader was born a family of seven children, as follows: Caro- line, Meta, Charles, Benjamin, John and Daniel, the last two remaining at home to the present time. The second danghter, Alvina, was removed by death.
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