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 69
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 69
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had purchased from his father. In 1868 he eame to Missouri and located on his present farm, which was then only partly improved. He now has two hundred acres, all under cultivation, and there engages in general farming and stock-raising. Sheep, hogs, cattle and horses of good grades may be seen on his farm, and he has met with success in this line of agriculture. .
The marriage of Mr. Pilkington in 1858 united him with Miss Mary, daughter of Richard Ware, of Crooke, North Tawton, Devonshire, England, who settled in Bureau County, Ill., April 2, 1859. Mrs. Pilkington was born in England July 15, 1833, and is a lady of refined character and great kindness of heart. Although having no children of their own, Mr. and Mrs. Pilkington have taken into their home and reared to maturity three chil- dren: William R. Corser, Annie Ware and Sue Ware. The adopted son has been given the bene- fit of a good, practical education and is fitted for a position of usefulness and honor. Annie is a student at Warrensburgh Normal School. The re- ligious home of the family is in the Episcopal Church, in which denomination they are earnest workers. In his political belief, Mr. Pilkington is a Republican, loyal at all times to party principles. Ile was Road Commissioner in Stark County, Ill., for six years, and has also served as Road Over- seer in this county. Socially, he is a member of the Grange, of which he has been Master for eight years.
R. EV. THOMAS M. COBB. One who has been interested in ministerial work is al- ways more or less of a scholar. and when scholarly attainments are united with bus- iness taet and ability, the combination is a most happy one in its commercial relations, and this is why the Triumph Pressed Brick Company of Lex- ington is to be congratulated on being so well officered. Its President, who is our subject, is a man of the highest mental attainments and withal
a gentleman having marked acquisitive faculties. Mr. Cobb was born in La Fayette County, October 17, 1842, and is a son of James M. and Mary (Pet- ers) Cobb.
Our subjeet's father came to Lexington in April, 1835, and is still living in La Fayette County. lle is a native of North Carolina. ITis father, Morris Cobb, also a native of North Carolina, was engaged for many years in the iron business in Tennessee. The aneestry of the American branch of the Cobb family can be traced to its founders. who came over from England with Sir Walter Raleigh and made settlement in North Carolina. Our subject's mother is of German ancestry, her American forefathers having settled in Virginia at an early day.
Mr. Cobb spent his boyhood on a farm in La Fayette County, and was sent to a private school. Later he entered Chapel Hill College, this county, where he pursued his studies until the breaking out of the war. He then entered Elliott's Battal- ion in the State service of Missouri in 1861, and enlisted in the Confederate army, joining the See- ond Missouri Infantry, which was commanded by F. M. Cockrell. He served under him in the Con- federate army until the close of the war, in April of 1865. ITe was in the battles of Pea Ridge, Farmington, Iuka, Corinth, Ft. Gibson, Champion Hill, in the siege of Vicksburg, Kingston (Ga.), New Hope Church, Pine Mountain, Kenesaw Mountain, Franklin and Nashville (Tenn.). He was twice wounded and was taken prisoner at Vicks- burg. While being sent by boat up the river to Alton, Ill., in June, 1863, in a moment when he was free from the observation of the guards. lie jumped overboard and made his escape but was re-captured the same night.
After the close of the war Mr. Cobb went to Ft. Laramie, Mont., and while there was engaged as a guard on a freighting expedition, that office being necessitated by the hostility of the Indians. On returning to Missouri in May, 1866. the principal of this sketch entered the ministry of the Method- ist Episcopal Church South, and took charge of the pastorate of Westport, Jackson County, this State. After remaining there three years he served in various other cities, having been sent to
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Springfield, Jefferson City, Harrisonville, Inde- pendence and Lexington. In the fall of 1878 he was appointed Presiding Elder of the Springfield District, and thus officiated for three years.
In 1886 the Rev. Mr. Cobb was appointed Pre- siding Elder of the Lexington District of the Methodist Episcopal Church South and discharged the duties of the office until December, 1889, when on account of failing health he left the ministry and has since been unable to perform ministerial duties. Mr. Cobb has been a delegate to four Gen- eral Conferences of his church. While enthusias- tic in his chosen work, our subject felt it to be en- tirely worthy of the cause to employ his business and executive talents in business enterprise. Ile was one of the organizers of the Exchange Bank of Springfield, Mo., and also one of the organizers of the Midland National Bank at Kansas City, at the present time being a stockholder in both of these. lle also owns a finely improved farm in Johnson County.
In politics the original of this sketch is a stanch Democrat. In 1881 he was appointed Chaplain of the State Legislature. Ile is a member of Golden Square Lodge No. 102, A. F. & A. M., of Westport, Mo. Hle is also a member of the Westport Lodge, I. O. O. F.
May 15, 1866, Mr. Cobb was married to Miss Mary A. Wagoner, a daughter of Amos Wagoner, a native of Kentucky. She died January 14, 1867. The following year he was married to the present Mrs. Cobb, who was a Miss Cameron Houck, a daughter of Solomon Houck, a native of Virginia. She was born in Cooper County, Mo. They have been the parents of six children, five of whom are living at the present time. There are three daughters and two sons. Helen C. is a grad- uate of Central College Conservatory of Music, having taken the highest honors in the Class of '89. In 1889 and 1890, she took a post-graduate course and now is first assistant of the musical department in Hamilton College, Lexington, Ky. Her sister, Mary C., who is a painter and vocalist of marked talent, is at home, while Bessie is still a student at Central College. Thomas M., Jr., is also studying at Central College, while William B. is a member of the High School. The family resi-
dence is located at the corner of Twentieth and Main Streets and is a commodious and homelike place. The members of the family are each taught to look for and bring out the best features in the natures of others.
SA BRIGHTMAN HATCH, a prosperous and representative farmer and well-known and highly respected citizen of La Fay- ette County, Mo., is pleasantly located upon section 32, range 27, township 19, where he cultivates a valuable farm of one hundred and fifty-four acres. Mr. Hatch was born in Aurora, Erie County. N. Y., February 10, 1828. and was the son of Wilder and Hannah (Tabor) latch. The paternal grandfather of our subject, and in whose honor he was named. was Asa llatch, a na- tive of New Hampshire, and a soldier of the Revo- lutionary War, who served his country faithfully in her struggle for national independence. lle was by occupation a farmer, and immediately after the close of the war settled in .Jefferson County, N. Y., and removed after a time to Erie County, finally locating in Steuben County. where he passed away, deeply regretted by all who knew him. Ilis estimable wife was Sarah Wilder, 'who reared four children : Susan. Jeremiah, Wilder, and one other whose name is not recorded. In religi- ous belief the grandparents were both Presbyteri- ans and earnest Christian people.
The father of our subject, Wilder Hatch, was a native of New Hampshire, and removed with his parents to New York, where he lived in Jefferson and Erie Counties. Raised upon a farm, he en- gaged in the duties of agriculture as the business of his life, and deciding to try a new field of labor went to Walworth County, Wis .. in 1840. During the latter part of the gold excitement in Califor- nia, he started for the Pacific Slope, in search of the glittering treasure of the Golden State. Many years have passed and never a word from him has ever reached his family, who have long mourned
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him as dead. Wilder Hatch was twice married, and by his first wife became the father of a daugh- ter, Sarah, and one son, Wilder. The second wife was the mother of our subject, and bore her lius- band but one living child. She survived her hus- band's disappearance a number of years, and at the age of sixty-three died in 1856, in Porter County, Ind. She was a most estimable lady and a member of the Baptist Church. Her father, Earl Tabor, the maternal grandfather of our sub- ject, was in early life a Connecticut farmer, and removed to Saratoga, N. Y., and from there to Erie County, where he died at the age of eighty years.
The wife of Earl Tabor, Susannah Brightman, became the mother of these sons and daughters: .lames, Bradford, Phoebe, Susannah, Hannalt, Jesse, Helen and Fannie, who gathered a bright; merry band around the family hearth nearly a century ago. Grandmother Tabor was the daugh- ter of an English officer, who received his commis- sion from King George the Third, of "Merrie England." Asa Brightman Hateli was reared upon a farm, and like his paternal ancestors, has fol- lowed the occupation of a tiller of the soil all his life. He has been a bread-winner from almost his earliest remembrance, and had but very little op- portunity to gain an education. Ile accompanied his parents to Wisconsin, and remained there eleven years, and at the expiration of that lengthi of time went with his mother to Porter County, Ind., and resided there until the fall of 1865, when he located in Missouri, and purchased two hun- dred and forty acres of land. For twenty-eight years he has lived in his present neighborhood, and has been closely associated with the upward growth and progress of his part of the county. Our subject was married to Lavinia Arundel, a native of Pennsylvania, and a daughter of John and Eliza (Patterson) Arundel, of Scotch parent- age. Mr. and Mrs. Hatch have been the parents of five children, three of whom survive: Viola is the wife of lra Sigman; Charlotte is the wife of Samuel Dunn; Maude is the youngest. Cora E. died at twenty-three years of age. Mr. and Mrs. Hatch are Unitarians in behef, and are ever ready to assist in all worthy enterprises. Mr. Hatch was
in early days a member of the Free Soil Party, but in later life has been an ardent Republican, and an earnest advocate of the principles and platform of the party which now receives his vote. A self-made man, conscientious, upright, energetic and faithful in the performance of duty, he enjoys the respect and confidence of a large circle of true friends, who thoroughly appreciate his sterling in- tegrity of character.
W ILLIAM L. SMITH, a prominent agricul- turist of La Fayette County, Mo., resid- ing upon his farm in township 49, section 10, range 27. is the subject of this sketch. His parents were Lawson and Sarah (Riley) Smith, na- tives of Kentucky and Maryland, respectively, both good and worthy people, who, in 1839, re- moved to La Fayette County, Mo., from Nicholas County, Ky., and in 1842 settled upon the farm where our subjeet now resides. Mr. Smith, Sr., was a farmer, and, upon coming into Missouri, de- cided to engage in that business to the exclusion of all else, selecting a tract of Government land in a county where there was but little settlement prior to his eoming. La Fayette County offered many advantages to the pioneer settler, which he was quick to take advantage of. and here made his home until his death in 1885. The cheerful, help- ful wife, the mother of our subject, survived her husband but one year.
Our subjeet's brother and sister are Wesley L., and Georgie, the latter now the wife of Dr. Amos Graves, of San Antonio, Tex., where he was one of the pioneers of the country. William L. Smith, our subject, was born in Nicholas County, Ky .. September 27. 1834, being a child of tender years when his parents came to this State. His child- hood and youth were passed in the pioneer home in the new country, and he remembered many scenes of those times, especially the tiresome modes of farming when only ox-teams were used as beasts
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of burden. William early displayed signs of un- usual intelligence, and was afforded the advantages offered at the Chapel Hill High School of this county, and also a term at the okl Masonic College at Lexington. Mo. He thus obtained the founda- tions of a good education, and as he has always possessed a thirst for knowledge, has become a well-informed man from later diversified reading.
One of the most important events in the life of our subjeet was his marriage, April 27, 1867, with Mary O .. daughter of John Young, an early settler of Lexington Township, La Fayette County, a son of ex-Gov. Young, of Missouri. The mother of Mrs. Smith was of the family of Bellas, early set- tlers of the county. The wedded life of Mr. and
1 Mrs. Smith has been productive to them of nine children, namely: James Y., Riley, Forrest. Upton B., William, Nannie. Orlena, Matilda and Bettie, the latter deceased. During the "late unpleasant- ness," Mr. Smith served in the army for four months in Company I. commanded by Capt. With- ers, in Price's Division, and took part in the bat- tle of Lexington, Mo. Mr. Smith was reared a Democrat, taught to believe that the principles of that party are the ones best suited for the govern- ment of this country; hence has always followed his early instruction, and votes with the followers of Jackson and Cleveland. Almost all of the growth of the county has come under his eye, and with much of it he has been prominently identified, having always favored all interests which had for their object the advantage of his home county. In Mr. Smith La Fayette County has a citizen of in- telligence and influence.
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OSEPH D. MILLER, for nearly two-score years a highly respected resident and a well-known builder and contractor of Wav- erly, La Fayette County, Mo., has now re- tired from active business duties, and, in the eve- ning of his life, enjoys the competence gained by years of energetic industry. Arriving in Waverly
in the infaney of this flourishing city, he at onee engaged in business, and ereeted many of the most substantial and best stores and dwellings of the place. Energetie and efficient in the daily work of life, and thoroughly upright and reliable in business transactions, our subject gained the con- fidence of the general public, and received various offices of trust, whose duties he ever performed with able and conscientious fidelity.
Mr. Miller is a native of Franklin County, Ky., and'is a son of Aaron Miller, who was born and reared in the Quaker State, but who made his home later in Kentucky, and there married Miss Mary Zook. the mother of our subjeet, and a most devoted wife and loving parent. Mr. Miller at- tended the common schools of Kentucky through his boyhood, and at seventeen years of age pre- pared for future independence and usefulness by apprenticing himself to a carpenter. It was not very long before he became skilled in the use of the various tools of the trade, and reif-reliantly determined to seek a new field of work and win his way to future prosperity and success. Locat- ing in Missouri m 1856. he made his permanent home in Waverly, and soon identified himself with the growing interests of the town. From the date of his arrival until 1872, he was one of the busiest builders and contractors in that por- tion of the State.
In 1872 Mr. Miller was appointed Postmaster of Waverly, which position he held most acceptably for the succeeding ten years, when he resigned of- tieial duties and again entered into his old busi- ness as a builder and contractor. He however did not long continue in business, as in 1883 he retired from active work. Our subject can point with pride to his handiwork, not only in Waverly, but throughout the surrounding country, many of the finest residences in the county having been ereeted under his supervision. In 1845, before coming to Waverly, Mr. Miller was united in mar- riage with Miss Mildred. a daughter of David llaggerty, a native of Kentucky, in which State Mrs. Miller was born, educated and married. Mr. and Mrs. Miller are the parents of two elnildren, Margaret N. and David S. Our subjeet is a de- voted member of the Christian Church, and with
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his good wife has ever been prominent in the leading work and benevolent enterprises of that religious denomination.
Mr. Miller is a prominent and stanch Repub- lican, and an earnest advocate of his party. He has been an Alderman of Waverly two terms, and while occupying the position of a "City Father" materially aided in local progress and improve- ment. As a citizen of integrity of character and intelligence, he is conscientiously opposed to the manufacture and sale of intoxicating liquors, and strongly favors legislative prohibition. Keenly alive to the needs of the present hour, our subject ever casts his influence into the balance of right and justice.
OHN KROENCKE, one of the most promi- nent financial and social factors of the town of Concordia, Mo., is engaged there in the handling of dry goods, groceries, clothing and notions. llis place of business is on South Schiller Street, where he is located in a handsome two-story brick building, of which he occupies three rooms. The lower ones are 24x60 feet, and the upper one, which is used for carpets and gen- eral surplus stock, is of the same size. Our subject is the oldest merchant in Concordia, having lo- cated here when there was not a house in the place.
The birth of Mr. Kroencke took place near Bre- men, in the province of Hanover, Germany. De- cember 1, 1841. His father, Herman, was a native of the same place, while his mother, whose maiden name was Mary E. Shumaker, was also a native of that province, and there this worthy couple reared seven children. Our subject was the last of the line, and came to this country with his parents when he was thirteen years of age, in 1854. Ile was old enough to remember the pleasures and discomforts of that long journey, and gladly stepped ashore in the city of New Orleans. Another water trip was necessary to bring the family to Benton County, Mo., and there the father, being an edu-
cated man, secured pupils and taught school. At this place Mr. Kroencke, our subject, attended school until he was eighteen years of age, and in the spring of 1857 he came here and worked on a farm in the summers, and went to school in Ben- ton County during the winters.
About this time the Civil War broke out, and our subject enlisted in the army, June 13, 1861, in Company B, of the German Missouri Regiment, under Col. Cook, and was discharged September 13, 1861. During his term of service our subject had been in the battles of Cold Camp, Lookout Station, and in several skirmishes. After his re- turn he operated a hemp factory here, in 1862, which he continued until 1869, when he opened his present store. At that time the town was in the future, but the good judgment of Mr. Kroencke told him that every indication pointed toward the growth of this section.
On October 9, 1865, our subject married Miss Sophia Brockman, who was born in La Fayette County, Mo., and they have four children, as fol- lows: Annie, now Mrs. Meyer; George, Mary and Sophia, deceased. Mrs. Kroencke was taken away in 1870. Mr. Kroencke was again married, March 13, 1873, taking for his second wife Miss Sophia Frerking, who was born in this county, and nine children were born of this marriage, but only seven are living. The children were as follows: llerman, who is deceased; Ida, William, Arthur, Martha (deceased), Alfred, Ella, and Edwin and Carrie, twins.
Our subject erected the present fine store build- ing in 1876, and carries from 810,000 to $15,000 worth of stock, and has always a trade to warrant so great an investment. Ile is a very prominent man lierc, a stockholder in the Concordia Savings Bank, and has been Vice-president of the bank for the past twelve years. Our subject and his fam- ily are active members of the Evangelical Lutheran Church. When the town was first incorporated he was a member of the first Board of Trustees, and is now an Alderman under the new corporation as a town of the fourth class, and has served many years as a member of the School Board, beside having served in many minor capacities, which have fully illustrated the public confidence and esteem in
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which he is held by his fellow-citizens. In his politi- cal opinions, our subject has always been an ardent Republican. Ile is a man who has the esteem and respect of the whole community.
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M ATHEW W. ILALL. The position that our subject holds indicates that he is a man of many parts. He has been Clerk of the Circuit Court of Saline County for five years. a position that exacts of a man a fair knowledge of the rules of legal practice. He must he an accountant, for under his keeping is a large amount of book-keeping of a particular sort. Hle has charge of the seal of the court, and with him is the custody of all the court records, bills, decla- rations and pleadings. Not an insignificant posi- tion is that which our subject holds.
Mr. Hall was born at Arrow Rock. Saline County, August 16, 1853. llis father, Hon. MI. W. Ilall, M. D., was born just out of Lexington, Ky., March 15, 1817, and is a son of the Rev. Nathan II. Hall, who was for thirty years Pastor of the First Pres- byterian Church of Lexington, Ky. Our subjeet's father grew to maturity and was educated at Lex- ington, where he acquired his degree of Doctor of Medicine in the old medical college. Later he moved to Saline, Il., where he was engaged in the practice of his profession for twelve years, and while there he was married to Miss Agnes Lester. In February. 1815, he moved to Saline County, Mo .. locating at Arrow Rock, where he was soon in requisition as an experienced physician. In 1857 he moved to his present home, twelve miles west of Arrow Rock, and has practiced continu- ously, with the exception of a short time when he was a prisoner at Alton during the late war, hav- ing been captured at the Black Water surrender. He owns a fine farm, of which he acquired the pre- emption papers direct from the Government. This has been the family home since 1857.
Mathew Hall spent his boyhood days on the old home farm. and acquired the rudiments of his ed-
ucation in the district schools. Later, he entered Westminster College, at Fulton, Mo., and then re- turned to Saline County to engage in farming, his tract being only a mile distant from the old home- stead. where he still lives. He was elected to his present position in 1886, and in 1890 was re- elected for the second time. It goes without say- ing, in view of his re-elections, that his incumbency of the office has been highly satisfactory.
Mr. Hall was married February 15, 1883, to Miss Minnie Woods, a daughter of the Rev. C. C. Woods, of the Methodist Episcopal Church South. They have two children whose names are John and Woods, and these they are bringing up to a noble ideal of manhood and in the faith of the Methodist Episcopal Church. Our subject is one of a family of eight children, of whom three of the boys became physicians. The eldest is Dr. C. Lester, of Kansas City; W. E. is an attorney in
. Kansas City; John R. is a physician at Marshall; Louise is now Mrs. W. W. Trigg. of Boonville, Mo .; our subject, Mathew W .. is next in order; Dr. T. B. is practicing at the old homestead; Flor- ida is the wife of D. W. Shackelford, of Boonville; and Etlie is Mrs. Fred W. Glover, of Kansas City. Our subject's father was a member of the State Legislature in 1861 during the memorable session that voted to carry Missouri out of the Union.
AMES M. SLUSHIER, an energetic, enter- prising and native citizen of Lexington Township, La Fayette County, Mo., who was born November 29, 1849, is one of the most successful general agriculturists and ex- tensive stock-raisers in his portion of the State. Progressive in his methods and ideas, our subject has, with but comparatively little capital to begin life with, won a competence, and upright in char- aeter and daily walk, transacting business with honor and integrity, commands the esteem of the community among whom he has been a constant dweller all his life. Our subjeet is the son of
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Thomas and Minerva C. (Beck) Slusher, early and well-known pioneer settlers of the State of Missouri.
Thomas Slusher was the son of Christopher Slusher, a native of the Old Dominion, and was himself born in the good old State of Virginia. His wife, the mother of James M., was born in Kentucky, and early emigrated to Missouri. Fa- ther Slusher was but seven years of age when his parents resolved to journey from their childhood home to the new State, and long and wearisome was the ride across the country, much of it searcely reclaimed from a wilderness. Reared amid the seenes of pioneer life, the sons and daughters of Grandfather Christopher were hardy, self-reliant men and women, and marrying and rearing fami- lies of their own, gave to their adopted State many of its best citizens of to-day. Our subject, like his father, attended the little log schoolhouse, which had not yet given place to the comfortable and commodious structures of the present age.
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