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 9
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 9
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LA FAYETTE AND
SALINE COUNTIES,
MISSOURI.
IS
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INTRODUCTORY.
SHE time has arrived when it becomes the duty of the people of this county to per- petnate the names of their pioneers, to furnish a record of their early settlement, and relate the story of their progress. The civilization of our day, the enlightenment of the age and the duty that men of the pres- ent time owe to their ancestors, to themselves and to their posterity, demand that a record of their lives and deeds should be made. In bio- graphical history is found a power to instruct man by precedent, to enliven the mental faculties, and to waft down the river of time a safe vessel in which the names and actions of the people who contributed to raise this country from its primitive state may be preserved. Surely and rapidly the great and aged men, who in their prime entered the wilderness and claimed the virgin soil as their heritage, are passing to their graves. The number re- maining who can relate the incidents of the first days of settlement is becoming small indeed, so that an actual necessity exists for the collection and preser- vation of events without delay, before all the early settlers are cut down by the seythe of Time.
To be forgotten has been the great dread of mankind from remotest ages. All will be forgotten soon enough, in spite of their best works and the most earnest efforts of their friends to perserve the memory of their lives. The means employed to prevent oblivion and to perpetuate their memory has been in propor- tion to the amount of intelligence they possessed. The pyramids of Egypt were built to perpetuate the names and deeds of their great rulers. ~ The exhu- mations made by the archeologists of Egypt from buried Memphis indicate a desire of those people
to perpetuate the memory of their achievements. The erection of the great obelisks were for the same purpose. Coming down to a later period, we find the Greeks and Romans erecting mausoleums and monu- ments, and carving out statues to chronicle their great achievements and carry them down the ages. It is also evident that the Mound-builders, in piling up their great mounds of earth, had but this idea- to leave something to show that they had lived. All these works, though many of them costly in the ex- treme, give but a faint idea of the lives and charac- ters of those whose memory they were intended to perpetuate, and scarcely anything of the masses of the people that then lived. The great pyramids and some of the obelisks remain objects only of curiosity ; the mausoleums, monuments and statues are crum- bling into dust.
It was left to modern ages to establish an intelli- gent, undecaying, immutable method of perpetuating a full history-immutable in that it is almost un- limited in extent and perpetual in its action ; and this is through the art of printing.
To the present generation, however, we are in- debted for the introduction of the admirable system of local biography. By this system every man, though he has not achieved what the world calls greatness, has the means to perpetuate his life, his history, through the coming ages.
The scythe of Time cuts down all ; nothing of the physical man is left. The monument which his chil- dren or friends may erect to his memory in the ceme. tery will crumble into dust and pass away; but his life, his achievements, the work he has accomplished. which otherwise would be forgotten, is perpetuated by a record of this kind.
To preserve the lineaments of our companions we engrave their portraits, for the same reason we col- lect the attainable facts of their history. Nor do we think it necessary, as we speak only truth of them, to wait until they are dead, or until those who know them are gone: - to do this we are ashamed only to publish to the would the history of those whose lives are unwerthy of public record.
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THE NEW YORK PUBLIC LIBRARY
ASTOR, LENOX AND TILDEN FOUNDATIONS R L
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yours Truly
BIOGRAPHICAL.
C APT. AI EDGAR ASBURY, President of ! the American Bank of Iligginsville, Chair- man of the Advisory Board of the Con- federate Home of Missouri, stockholder and Di- rector of the Higginsville Milling Company, Treasurer and owner of one-half interest in the Corder Coal Company, at Corder, owner of one- half interest in the Excelsior Coal Company, and a one-third interest in the Y. S. A. Coal Com- pany, of lligginsville, occupies a position among the influential and eminent men of Missouri. An energetic and thorough business man of undoubted ability, he is widely known as a promoter of finan- cial organizations and benevolent enterprises. Capt. Asbury was born in Pruntytown, Taylor County, W. Va., August 16, 1836. He is of English de- scent, and traces his ancestry back to a brother of the renowned Bishop Asbury.
The paternal great-grandfather of our subjeet was one of the heroes of the Revolution. Grand- father John Asbury was a farmer in Fauquier County, Va., where he died. Ilis son, Col. John Asbury, was born at the homestead in Fauquier County, Va., and successfully followed mercan- tile pursuits in the Old Dominion, where he served etliciently as Judge of the County Court and Col- onel in the Virginia Militia. In 1856, he took his family to Richmond, Ray County, Mo., where he farmed extensively, and also kept an hotel until the war broke out, when he returned to Vir- ginia. After the war was ended, he again came to Missouri and located at Plattsburgh, Clinton County, where he engaged in general merchandise until he died in 1882, aged over three-score years and ten. Col. Asbury was an active member of the Baptist Church and highly esteemed by all who knew him.
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The mother of our subject, Leah Bayly (Rogers) Asbury, was a native of Fauquier County, Va., a granddaughter of Hon. Pierce Bayly, of Virginia, and a daughter of Col. William A. Rogers, a soldier of the Revolution, under the command of Gen. Washington. Col. William A. Rogers was a son of Edward Rogers, who was of English descent, a sol- dier and a man of courage and endurance. William A. Rogers was an extensive agriculturist of Vir- ginia, near Pruntytown, and held various official po- sitions of trust, representing his constituents in the Legislature and filling the important office of High Sheriff. At the good old age of eighty years, he passed away, leaving behind him the record of an honored and upright life. The mother of our sub- jeet died in Plattsburgh in 1878 and left a large family to mourn her loss. Of her ten sons and daughters, eight grew to adult age, our subject be- ing the sixth in order of birth. Two sons and three daughters are now living.
William P., the eldest son, served in the Con- federate army during a part of the Civil War, and afterward practiced law for a time at Rich- mond, Mo. He removed thenee to Warrensburgh, where he became a prominent attorney and re- sided until his death. Mountjoy was a soldier in the Confederate army, and served as Quarter- master of a brigade with the rank of Captain, re- maining in active duty until the close of the war. lle now resides in Anson, Jones County, Tex., where he owns a large sheep raneh. The third son is our subjeet. Virginia Bird is the wife of HIon. W. F. Davis, who was a representative in the Legislature during his residence in Clinton County, Mo., but subsequently removed to St. Joe, where he now resides. Penelope M. has been twice mar- ried. Her first husband, Zadoek Shields, repre-
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sented his district m the Legislature of Virgima, and was Sheriff of Taylor County. W. Va. After his death she married a cousin of the same name, and they now reside in Flemington. W. Va. Emma is the wife of David S. Hall. and lives at Cripple Creek, Colo.
Our subjeet was reared in Pruntytown, W. Va., and received his education principally at Reetor College. For two years he clerked for his brother, William P., who was a merchant of Wheeling, W. Va. Later, he entered Alleghany College, at Meadville. Pa., where he prosecuted his studies for one year. In company with his father, he then came to Missouri. journeying by boat to Lexing- ton, and thence coming overland to Richmond. There he entered the law office of Hon. C. T. Gar- ner, and Maj. Oliver, formerly a member of Con- gress, and after a course of legal study under those prominent lawyers, he was admitted in 1859 to practice at the Bar of Missouri by Judge George W. Dunn. He opened an office in Houston, this State, where for one year he practiced alone, and then formed a partnership with Hon. William II. 11. Thomas, of the same place.
In the fall of 1860 our subject was elected School Commissioner of Texas County, and served in this capacity until the war began, in the spring of 1861, when he was elected a delegate to the Jefferson City Secession Convention, called to- gether by Gov. Jackson. He was sent by the Governor with three wagon-loads of powder, and commissions for the Missouri State Guard to Gen. MeBride and his staff in Texas County. It was a very hazardous undertaking, but at the time our subject did not realize the whole danger. When he had safely delivered the powder and the com- missions with which he had been intrusted, Gen. MeBride, appreciating his ability and courage, ap- pointed him an Aide-de-camp on his staff. with the rank of Lieutenant-colonel in the Missouri State Guard. From that time our subjeet carried commissions to the other officers, and frequently returned after having experienced many narrow escapes from capture and death.
Captain Asbury was in the battle of Wilson Creek and afterward at Lexington. where his horse was shot under him. He also engaged in the bat-
tles of Prairie Grove and Elkkorn, on the staff of Gen. Frost. of St. Louis. He remained with this command but a short time. when he resigned and raised a company in Southern Missouri for Gen. McBride, who was forming a brigade for the Con- federate service. Capt. Asbury recruited a com- pany for Col. Shaler, and turned it over to him. Ile subsequently organized a company of cavalry for Col. Cornell, being elected Captain of the company. While taking his company out of Missouri, he was captured by the Federals at West Plains, and was placed in the stockade at Springfield. Thence he was sent to Gratiot Prison, in St. Louis, and after six weeks was taken for exchange to Fortress Mon- roe. Upon his arrival Gen. Butler refused the ex- change of all the officers, and Capt. Asbury with others was sent to Ft. Norfolk, where he was in prison for six weeks. June 13. 1863, while being transferred to Ft. Delaware, he and twenty-six other Confederate officers engaged in the capture of the steamer "Maple Leaf." an account of which is best told in the words of the Captain himself, as follows:
"On June 13, 1863, myself and twenty-six Con- federate officers, having been cooped up in a room, 12x18 feet, with but one window, and that barred, in Ft. Norfolk, were surprised and much gratified at the order to prepare for removal to Ft. Delaware, and at once were taken out into the fresh air and placed upon the magnificent United States steamer "Maple Leaf," which was passing on her way from New Orleans to Ft. Delaware. On board of the boat were about seventy-five Confederate officers, prisoners of war, from New Orleans, guarded by about fifty United States soldiers. Among the prisoners was the Captain of the Confederate ves- sel "Star of the West," which had been recently captured at New Orleans. When we went aboard, we were cordially received by the Confederates, and at once we passed out of the bay. and then steaming by Fortress Monroe we were soon out at sea, or out of the mouth of the Chesapeake. Everything was still, and the evening shades had begun to lengthen when, at the tap of the great bell (the Confederates' agreed signal to seize the ship), every man from his station pouneed down upon his man, armed and unarmed, and a desper-
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ate struggle for supremaey ensued. Each man to his man, arm to arm, and "Freedom or Death," was the word. The first to yield was the guard, and each one yielding strengthened the attacking party, for it gave them guns, sabers and pistols.
"The commanding officer was asleep in his cabin. Two Confederate officers broke in his door and commanded him to surrender. Waking from his sleep, he drew his sword to defend himself. The Confederates quietly told him that the boat was ours, and that resistance was useless, and he gave up his sword. Within five minutes from the tap of the bell, the officers, guard and crew of the "Maple Leaf" were cowering under the guns and pistols of the Confederates. Not a lick was given, not a shot was fired, but, as it seemed, in a twinkle the transaction was completed. Gray uniforms took the place of the blue, and the vessel moved on as if nothing had occurred. The course was veered a little, a hurried council was held. and the Captain of the "Star of the West" took com- mand of the "Maple Leaf." We headed for the Virginia coast, with the determination to land and burn the vessel, but before this was carried out milder counsels prevailed. The Federal officers agreed to take an oath of parole, and also agreed that they would proceed on their way to Ft. Dela- ware, and that they would not communicate the event of the day at any intervening point, or un- til they reached their destination, upon the condi- tion that the Confederates would parole them and save the vessel. They also agreed to take care of the sick Confederates who could not make the journey of one hundred or more miles through the country to the Confederate lines.
"The Confederates stood guard over the Fed- eral officers and soldiers until the last Confederate was in the small boat, and near the shore, when, at a signal, the vessel was surrendered to them. The Confederates having taken all the arms and plenty of ammunition, they gave a yell and salute and were lost in the woods. The "Maple Leaf" was then headed for Ft. Delaware, but night and dark- ness being on us, 1, being one of the sick that re- mained, knew nothing of our course until we ar- rived back at Fortress Monroe, to the very point our friends were trying to prevent the Federal of-
fieers from going, knowing that the Federal cav- alry would be put on them at once, and possibly in- tercept them on their way. And true it was, for before twelve o'clock that night, one thousand cav- alrymen were after them, but did not intereept them, for the whole company, without the loss of a man, after great hardships, sore feet, hunger and thirst and tired out, reached the Confederate lines on the third day's journey. This last I learned after my exchange in 1861."
Thus ends the thrilling relation of the "Maple Leaf" and its capture as told by Capt. Asbury, but he further continues the story of his captivity, which we will chronicle in his words, "I reached Ft. Delaware in July, 1863, and was sent to John- son's Island, Lake Erie, where I was confined until February, 1864. ] suffered much from hunger and exposure, but had endured most discomfort at Ft. Norfolk, where my health was seriously impaired." Capt. Asbury would have died on Johnson's Is- land if it had not been for the Federal surgeon, who kindly gave him attention and medicine as he required. In 1864, he was sent to Fortress Mon- roe, and remained there for some time, or until he was offered for exchange. There were twenty- seven hundred officers on the island, one thousand of whom drew lots, and only three hundred of that number were selected. Being one of the fortunate ones, Capt. Asbury was paroled in June, 1864, and sent through the lines to Richmond, Va., from which city he proceeded to the parole eamp at Demopolis, Ala. In August, 1861, he was ordered to his command west of the Mississippi. He trav- eled the entire distance on horseback, swam the horse across the Mississippi, while he paddled over in a "dug-out," and then joined Gen. Shelby at Batesville, Ark. Ile thien raised another company for Gen. Shelby, but he was unable to get them out of Missouri to Arkansas, and was obliged to so re- port to Gen. Shelby, who sent two companies of cavalry for them.
Gen. Shelby then desired our subject to become a member of the company and stand his chance for election as Captain, but under the existing circumstances he declined. As a compromise he accompanied Col. Rathburn to Missouri for the purpose of recruiting volunteers. He was snecess-
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ful in securing about thirty men, whom he turned over to the regiment, and then started to see his family at Richmond, Mo., not knowing they had meantime removed to Virginia. He swam the horse across the river at Lexington. and went up the Missouri to Clay County, as he could not make Richmond on account of the soldiers. While he and Capt. Henly were endeavoring to reach Richmond. they were stopped on the Albany bridge by cavalry in Federal uniform, and when they started to run the soldiers yelled: "If you are Southern men do not run." Our subject and his partner halted, and found the leader was the notorious "Bill" Ander- son. returning from a fight at Centralia, and with him they went for safety. The command intended to cross the Missouri at Sibley, but the Federal cav- alry and infantry, six hundred strong, overtook them, and a battle ensued. "Bill" Anderson charged at the head of his men, and in the rush of the conflict he was killed. llis men fell back in line and waited to be attacked. The Federals also withdrew, and there was no further battle. . Lieut. Arch Clemens then took command of Anderson's men, and the company made a detour around the Federals, crossed the Missouri at Brunswick, and went south to Howell County, Mo.
Our subject was now in the company of desper- ate men, and was anxious to get away from them. After he arrived in Ilowell County, he started off on a side road, taking a boy with him, who also wished to leave the gang, but they were overtaken by some of the party and forced to return. After a series of explanations and a course of argument, in which he agreed with them on several points. he was allowed to depart. Ilis entreaties and re- quest were made to Arch Clemens, who escorted him to the line out of danger. Immediately fol- lowing this adventure, Capt. Asbury made his way as quickly as possible to Gen. Kirby Smith's head- quarters at Shreveport, La. With Maj. Beard he took charge of the Clothing Bureau at Huntsville, Tex., until the elose of the war. When Gen. Kirby Smith, his staff and wagons, came through on the way to Mexico, our subject organized a company of old Confederates and escorted him for two or three hundred miles to protect his wagon-trains from pillage. Ilaving decided to resign the captaincy,
he tendered his resignation to Gen. Smith, who accepted it. Hle surrendered at Galveston, whence he came to Missouri via New Orleans and St. Louis, and arrived at Dover July 9, 1865. Ilis posses- sions at that time consisted of a twenty-dollar gold piece. all that remained of what was paid him in Texas for his horse and pistols.
Capt. Asbury could not practice law on account of the iron-clad oath prescribed by the radical government of Missouri. He therefore engaged as clerk in a general store in Dover, where his brother, W. P., was a partner, and continued there for some time. At Dover. November 9, 1865, he married Miss Ellen, daughter of P. M. Gaw, an old settler of Dover. in which place Mrs. Asbury was born. Her father was from Virginia originally, but now resides in Higginsville. Our subject con- tinned as clerk until January 1, 1866, when he bought out the partner of his brother, and the firm continued as Asbury Bros .. doing an exten- sive business. In 1868, he purchased his brother's interest and conducted the business alone. Dur- ing the next four years he made $16,000, and con- tinued at Dover; he also started a branch store in Higginsville, where he was in partnership with 11. G. Smith, the business being conducted under the firm name of Smith & Asbury. In 1878, he sold out at Dover and removed to Iligginsville. Ile was much interested in securing the right of way of the Chicago & Alton Railroad, and took the first share in the road here. The company has shown him many courtesies, and he is still a stock- holder of the road.
In 1878, Capt. Asbury began banking with a capital of $10,000. In 1880, he organized the Asbury-Catron Banking Company with a capital stock of $30,000, and for three years served as President. In 1883, he changed the name to the American Bank, and increased the capital stock to 850,000, continuing as President. The Asbury Bank, as it is often called, is the oldest and largest institution of the kind in Higginsville, and does a regular banking business, carrying a surplus of 810,000. In 1891, Capt. Asbury built the Amer- ican Bank Block, at the corner of Russell and Brown Streets, one of the finest buildings in the county, erected at a cost of $15,000, and occupy-
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ing a frontage of fifty feet, with a depth of one hundred feet. For many years our subject has been interested in mining with Capt. H. G. Smith, their partnership having lasted twenty-five years. Smith & Asbury opened the Corder Shaft. located at Corder, a twenty-inch vein, and own six hun- dred acres of coal land, employing one hundred and twenty-five men. They are sinking another shaft to furnish the Chicago & Alton Railroad. There are twenty houses upon the property, and a branch of the bank is also located at Corder. Capt. Asbury opened the Excelsior Shaft about a quar- ter of a mile from Higginsville, and has mined it successfully in partnership with J. 11. Campbell, who manages it. The company has eight houses there and owns lots in the city. With Messrs. Smith and Young, Capt. Asbury bought the old Winsor shaft, which they reopened and named the Y. S. A. Coal Company, employing abont seventy- five men.
Our subjeet has been interested in farming and real estate bothi here and in Kansas City, and has ever been foremost in the promotion of all enterprises of merit in this section of the State. He assisted in the organization of the Higginsville Milling Company, and is also one of its most efficient Directors and stockholders. In 1879, he laid out Asbury's Addition to Higginsville, and has since sold the entire one hundred and sixty acres as thus subdivided. In 1880, he erected his resi- dence at the corner of Shelby and Brown Streets, which is one of the most attractive homes in the city. Capt. and Mrs. Asbury became the parents of five children: Eva, a graduate of Hardin College, at Mexico, Mo., died in Iligginsville in June, 1892, aged twenty-five years. Hugh G., who was educated at the William HJewell College, at Liberty, Mo., is teller of the American Bank. Leah B. was graduated from Hardin College and afterward from llollins' Institute, at Roanoke, Va., Class of '89, and is now at home. Ai Edgar, Jr., is a stu- dent in the Missouri Military Academy, at Mexico. Harvey N., a boy of fourteen years of age, and the youngest child, is at home. Capt. Asbury and family are widely known, and are among the im- portant factors in the social as well as the business life of this part of the State. They have a large
circle of friends and acquaintances, and command the esteem and confidence of the entire commu- nity.
Capt. Asbury interested himself in the incorpor- ation of the La Fayette County Fair Association, and has been Treasurer of the organization ever since. Ile has also materially aided in the educa- tional advancement of Higginsville, and was one of three (Capt. Belt, Dr. Fulkerson and himself) who secured the location of the Confederate Home of Missouri at Higginsville, and received through their labors the three hundred and sixty-two acres needed for a site. In conjunction with these gen- tlemen, he supervised the erection of the cottages and also the main building and the laying out of the grounds. He is a member of the Baptist Church and one of its valued Trustees. Ile has been gen- erous in his contributions to other denominations, and in various ways has contributed to their sup- port. Ile is a prominent Mason, having attained the rank of Knight Templar. His membership is with Lodge No. 364, A. F. & A. M .; Chapter No. 106 in Higginsville, and De Molay Commandery No. 3 at Lexington. Ile belongs to the American Bank- ers' Association and the State Bankers' Association. In political affiliations, he is first, last and always a Democrat, and with the immortal Jackson be- lieves with his whole heart and strength in the principles he advocates. As an earnest, energetic and representative American citizen, he takes a deep and abiding interest in the conduct of local and national affairs.
OHN WILLIAM BROWNING, one of the popular and well-known farmer residents of Saline County, Mo., is one of the good citizens that Missouri has produced. Ile is a native son of the soil and is proud of his State and country. Devoted to business, Mr. Browning has but little time to dabble with State affairs, but when he does express an opinion it is always on the side of peace and order. The family is of
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