USA > Missouri > Grundy County > The History of Grundy County, Missouri : an encyclopedia of useful information, and a compendium of actual facts > Part 50
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S. STEWARD, M. D.
Dr. Steward came to Grundy county in 1866 and settled upon a large tract of land five miles south of Trenton. He had, prior to this date, prac- ticed medicine for nineteen years in and around the city of Mansfield, Ohio, and in consequence of the trying duties devolving upon him from an extensive practice, his health had become much broken, and to remedy this and re- cuperate his system, he came West resolved to give up practice and turn his whole attention to farming and stock-raising. He was born in Mansfield, November 11, 1823; was there reared; received a common school education, and studied medicine under Dr. William Bushfield, of the same place, beginning study in 1843. Three years after he entered the Cleveland Med- ical College, graduated in the class of 1848, and began practice in his native city. In 1863 he was commissioned assistant United States army surgeon, and assigned for duty to the general hospital at Mound City, Illinois, where he served during 1864 and '65. After leaving the army at the close of the war he made a visit to his old home in Mansfield, and in the spring of 1866 settled in Grundy county, as above stated. Having regained his health, in 1872 he removed from his farm to Trenton and once more entered upon the active practice of his profession. Dr. Steward was united in marriage to Miss Olive D. Hyde, of Mt. Vernon, Ohio, in 1857. They have two daugh-
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ters: Cora and Nettie. The doctor has a pleasant home in Trenton and a large practice.
ORVILLE M. SHANKLIN
Was born in Trenton, Missouri, September 16, 1854. He is the son of Colonel John H. and Kitty Shanklin, was educated in the Trenton high school, and in 1873 he began the study of law in his father's office. Was admitted to the bar in 1877 and immediately began the practice of law at Jamesport, Missouri, where he remained until July, 1879, and then re- turned to Trenton and engaged in teaching in Grundy county. In 1881 he engaged in the life insurance business, and became district manager of the Centennial Mutual Life Association of Burlington, Iowa. September 19, 1877, he married Miss Dora A., daughter of O. G. Newton, of Trenton. They have two children: Alice and Floy. Mrs. Shanklin is a member of the Methodist Episcopal Church of Trenton. In 1880 he was the nominee of the Democratic party for county attorney of Grundy county but was de- feated by a small majority.
WILLIAM C. SWAYZE
Was born in Pinckney, Warren county, Missouri, June 19, 1841. When he was five years old his parents removed to Canada West. Living there until he was eighteen years of age, he came with his parents to Grundy county, and settled on a farm near Lindley, where he lived with them until 1861. He was enrolled in the State militia and served until 1862, when he enlisted in company C, Eleventh Missouri volunteer infantry, and served during the war. While in the service he was detailed as clerk at regimental headquar- ters, and was mustered out in August, 1865, and returned to Grundy county and engaged in farming. In 1870 he was deputized sheriff, under N. A. Winters, and served until 1873, when he, with N. A. Winters and H. J. Herrick, formed the firm of Herrick, Swayze & Winters, and engaged in the mercantile business for a short time. After the dissolution of this firm, he, with N. A. Winters, went into the grain and forwarding business, which they carried on until 1874. In 1870 he was one of the original incorporators of the Grundy County Coal Company, and while he was acting as superin- tendent, in 1875, a shaft was successfully sunk and mining began in 1876. In 1877 he was appointed deputy county collector, under W. T. Wisdom. In 1873 he married Mrs. Amanda H. Fisher, of Trenton, a lady who had established herself in the millinery business in Trenton in 1868, which she still carries on, her establishment being one of the oldest in the city.
JOIIN R. SCHOOLING
Was born on a farm, near Mackville, Kentucky, July 25, 1837. When fifteen years of age he came to Grundy county with his sister, Mrs. J. W.
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Coleman, with whom he lived on a farm, near Trenton, four years, when he came to Trenton and was employed to take charge of the livery stable of his brother-in-law, J. W. Coleman, for one year. At the expiration of that time, Mr. Coleman employed him as elerk in his grocery store, where he remained two years, and was then engaged in the drug business with T. W. . Allen and T. B. Head, under the firm name of J. R. Schooling & Co. They carried on business until August, 1860, when the establishment was pur- chased by R. N. Featherston, with whom he remained, as clerk, until 1872, in which year he began working at the trade of harness making, which he has followed ever since, working for different firms in Trenton. In May, 1872, he married Miss Sallie Reynolds, of Trenton. They have two chil- dren, Jessie and Gordon L.
GEORGE W. SMITHI.
George W. Smith was born near Syracuse, New York, December 12, 1841. When he was twelve years old his father moved to Ingham county, Michi- gan, where he lived until he was fifteen, and from there went to Hillsdale county, Michigan, working for a while on a farm. He next removed to Janesville, in the same county, and was employed in a livery stable four years. In the spring of 1862 he went to California via New York and Panama, and from there to Nevada, engaging in the mercantile business until December, 1865, at which time he started upon his return to Michi- igan. The spring of 1866 found him in Livingston county, Missouri, where he farmed one year, then removed to Chillicothe and became proprietor of the Browning House of that place. Remaining in the hotel business until 1868, he removed to Trenton and engaged in the livery business, which he still follows. He has been vice-president of the North Missouri Central Agricultural and Mechanical Association for several years and still holds that position. In 1871 Mr. Smith married Miss Rosa Carnes, of Trenton. They have two children: Hugh C. and Hallie.
HENRY STEIN
Was born in Baden, Germany, April 14, 1832, where he lived, was edu- cated and remained until his seventeenth year, when he emigrated to Amer- ica, arriving in New York City July 5, 1849, an entire stranger, having neither relatives nor acquaintances, and with a cash capital amounting to only twelve dollars. His first enterprise was that of peddling, buying his first stock of goods in New York City, and making his territory the coun- ties of Orange, Sullivan, Delaware and Ulster, in the same State. Continu- ing business in those counties until 1854, he came to Missouri and peddled in Saline county one year, when he engaged in the general dry goods and grocery trade at Arrow Rock, doing business there until 1864, and from there to Quincy, Illinois, continuing in the same calling until 1868, when
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he went to Chillicothe, Missouri, and from there came to Trenton in the spring of 1869 and established his present dry goods and grocery business. Mr. Stein has no aspirations for political preferment, but has been elected a member of the school board of Trenton and served four years. August 28, 1859, he married Miss Rebecca Strouse, of New York City. They have eight children: Morris, Guss. and Nathan, clerking for their father; and Adolph, Abram, Eddie, Carrie and Lottie, living at home. Mr. and Mrs. Stein were brought up in the Jewish faith but are not members of any congregation.
HENRY C. SYKES
Was born on a farm in West Rupert, Vermont, December 10th, 1839, where he was reared and educated, and lived until attaining his majority. In the spring of 1869 he came to Grundy county and purchased a tract of land six miles southeast of Trenton which he has partly improved. In January, 1873, he purchased the one-half interest in the marble business of R. A. Collier, they doing business as R. A. Collier & Co., until the summer of 1877, when Mr. Collier retiring from the firm, he became sole proprietor and has carried on the business ever since. Mr. Sykes, on the 31st of April, 1874, married Miss Helen A. Cluff, of North Granville, New York. They have two children, Ernest M. and Lucy B.
NATHANIEL SHANKLIN & BROTIIER.
The members of this firm, Nathaniel and William, are sons of Andrew T. Shanklin, one of the oldest pioneers of Grundy county. They were born and reared on a farm near Trenton. Nathaniel on the 3d of November, 1842, and William, March 27th, 1852. When quite young, Nathaniel began business for himself, dealing in and feeding stock, which he followed two years, when in 1864 he engaged in the mercantile business with James Austin, W. W. Hubbell and J. H. Shanklin, under the firm name of W. W Hubbell & Co., with whom he did business until 1868, and during which time Mr. Hubbell retired from the firm, changing it to N. Shanklin & Co. After the latter firm closed out business in 1868, he began business again, to deal in and feed stock, and farm at the same time. In 1874 he engaged in the grocery business with his brother, J. A. Shanklin, and they did business together until 1877, when he retired from the firm and became interested in coal mining. Being a member of the Grundy County Coal Company, in 1870 he was chosen superintendent of their coal shaft at Trenton, and still fills that position. October 17th, 1867, he married Miss Annie Austin, of Tren- ton, by whom he has six children: Minnie, Susie, James, Ernest, Ethel and Ida.
William Shanklin began business for himself when twenty-three, as a farmer, following agricultural pursuits until 1879, when he engaged in graz- ing buying and shipping cattle and hogs to eastern markets, at Trenton,
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continuing this until May, 1880, when he became associated with his brother and the present firm of N. S. Shanklin & Brother was founded. November, 1st, 1874, he married Miss Mary E. Bonnell, of Grundy county. They have three children: John M., Andrew L., and Anna May.
GEORGE TINDALL.
George Tindall, son of Col. Jacob T. Tindall (who fell at the battle of Shiloh), was born in Trenton, September 10, 1852. He attended the common and high schools of Trenton preparatory to a finishing course in the State University at Columbia, where he graduated in 1868, in his twentieth year. In 1872 he entered the office of Judge Stephen Peery, at Trenton, and pur- sued the study of the law until 1875, when he was admitted to the bar and at once began the practice of his profession, continuing until 1877, in which year he was obliged to relinquish practice on account of ill health. After several trips to Colorado he returned much improved in health, and in the latter part of 1877 established himself in the loan and real estate business in Trenton, and has been so engaged since that time. In 1875 he was chosen superintendent of the Grundy County Coal Company, which position he held until 1878. The following year he was elected mayor of the city of Trenton, and presided over the interests of the city in that capacity until 1881.
Mr. Tindall was united in marriage to Miss Lizzie Campbell, of Garrard county, Kentucky, on the 15th of March, 1875. They have two children: Austin, aged six years, and Lucy, aged four. Mr. Tindall is a prominent member of the Masonic fraternity, having taken the blue lodge, chapter and commandery degrees.
THOMAS TORPEY
Was born in Tipperary, Ireland, August 12, 1835, and when two years old, his parents emigra ted to the United States and settled in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, where he was reared. When twelve years of age he began to support himself, and at fifteen was apprenticed to learn the shoemaker's trade, serving three and one-half years, and from that time until 1857, he worked at his trade as journeyman, in Philadelphia, and various towns in Iowa and Missouri, when he came to Grundy county and settled in Trenton, continuing to work as a "jour" until 1859, when he engaged in the boot and shoe business. At the breaking out of the war of the rebellion in 1861, he enlisted in company B, Twenty-third Missouri volunteer infantry and served three years; was taken prisoner at the battle of Shiloh, April 6, 1862, and incarcerated in different southern prisons until October 19, 1862, then released on parole at Aiken's Landing, Virginia, and from there sent to Washington, D. C., where for two months he was in the hospital recovering from the effects of prison exposure. He was sent home on a furlough of
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six weeks and afterwards joined his regiment at Franklin, Missouri. His- regiment was kept in the State until the following fall, then ordered to Nashville, Tennessee, and soon after joined the Army of the Cumber- land in the Fourteenth army corps, and participated in all the battles of that division up to the capture of Atlanta, September 26, 1864, when he was mustered out, and immediately returned to Trenton and again engaged in the boot and shoe trade. In 1866, with Martin Eagan, he went into the marble business at Trenton, under the firm name of Eagan & Torpey. Clos- ing out that business in 1869 he resumed dealing in boots and shoes which he continued until January, 1881. Selling out he entered the restaurant business, in which he is at present engaged. During the years 1871, 1872, 1879 and 1881, he was a member of the city council of Trenton. November 4th, 1860, Mr. Torpey and Miss Sarah E. Crouch, of Trenton, were united in marriage. They have five children: Thomas E., Charles A., Maggie G., Hallie and Mabel. Maggie died at Trenton, June 27, 1881. Mr. Torpey holds a prominent place among the enterprising merchants of Trenton.
HORACE B. TINSMAN.
Among those who have more recently come to Trenton, and one who is- highly esteemed by all who know him, may be mentioned Conductor Hor- race B. Tinsman. He is a Pennsylvanian by birth, born in Lackawaxen, Pike. county, on November 1, 1839, and is the son of John A. and Celia (Ridg- way) Tinsman. Our subject was reared in his native town, receiving the advantages of the schools of that place, supplemented with two years at the University of Northern Pennsylvania, located at Bethany, Wayne county. After leaving school he was employed as clerk in his father's store, and at the age of eighteen left the paternal roof, and soon after we find him in the employ of the New York & Erie Railroad, where he continued for two years, and then accepted a position on the Lackawanna & Bloomsburg Rail- road. Later we find him in the employ of the Albany & Susquehanna Railroad, and from that road he accepted a train on the New York & Oswego Midland Railroad in 1869, and had the honor of being the first con- ductor in the employ of that company. In April, 1878, he came to Tren- ton, since which time he has been in the employ of the Chicago, Rock Island & Pacific Railroad as passenger conductor. On the 3d day of Feb- pary, 1863, Mr. Tinsman was joined in marriage to Mary J., daughter of h.f. B., and Esther Johnson, of Sullivan county, New York. Their family circle consists of Flora E., Scott and Frank N., and they have lost one son, Charles E. Mr. Tinsman is a man of untiring energy, and his friends know him as one careful of the interests intrusted to his keeping. His long experience in railroading has well fitted him for the position he now ocen- pies, and his genial ways have won for him a host of friends.
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HISTORY OF GRUNDY COUNTY.
C. L. WEBBER, M. D.
C. L. Webber is of Pennsylvania birth, born in Center county, December 10, 1843, where he lived until he was twelve years old, when his parents removed to West Union, Fayette county, Iowa. In this latter place he re- sided seven years, attending the common schools of the county until his nineteenth year, when he offered his services in the cause of the Union, en- listing in company G, of the Thirty-eighth Iowa volunteer infantry, in which he served during the war, and was mustered ont at Houston, Texas, in 1865. Returning to West Union, Iowa, he began the study and after- ward practice of dental surgery, which he continued until the fall of 1869, when he began the study of medicine under doctors Boucher and Shrader, of Iowa City. Next he entered the medical department of the Iowa State University, and March 4, 1872, graduated a doctor of medicine. The fol- owing year he located in Trenton, and established himself in the practice of his profession, and in 1874 became assistant surgeon of the Chicago, Rock Island & Pacific Railway Company. He holds the position of exam- ining surgeon for the Traveler's Accident Insurance Company, of Hartford, Connecticut, and was county physician of Grundy county for the years 1879 and 1880, and during the same time was city physician of Trenton. He is now filling his second term as coroner of Grundy county. Dr. Webber married Miss Mary S. Newcomb, of West Union, Iowa, in 1867, from whom he was granted a divorce in 1873.
I. M. WHITE.
Isaac M. White was born in Greensborough, Guilford county, North Carolina, May 19, 1829, where he lived with his parents until their death in 1846, and then with an uncle, E. Hoskins, of the same place, working in his tannery and attending the Quaker college at New Garden, near his na- tive town. His parents and relatives being Quakers he was also reared in that belief and still adheres to the faith to a great extent. September 19, 1848, he left his native State in company with a young companion, Thomas Coffin; they started on foot, each carrying all his worldly goods in a small hand valise, for Knightstown, Indiana, arriving on the first of November. They stopped with relatives until July, 1849, when his comrade bought a quantity of chickens and shipping them on a flat-boat, started for New Or- leans, and he, purchasing a horse, returned to Greensborongh, North Caro - lina, where, soon after, his comrade also returned, having lost all he had in' his investment and trip to New Orleans. After being together for a short time they concluded to go to California, but after due consideration he de .- termined to return to Indiana with relatives. To enable young Coffin to make the trip to California he loaned him $50, and, although Coffin became; quite wealthy in mining speculation while there, the sum was never re-
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turned. On his return to Indiana he rented a farm in Henry county, and farmed one year. In 1851 he invested in the old National Turnpike lead- ing from Richmond to Indianapolis, buying seven shares of $250 each, and began to work on the road as a bridge-builder-that being his first experi- ence as a carpenter and builder. Pursuing that business for one year he went to Raysville, in the same county, and took a contract to manufacture butter firkins, and after completing his contract, in 1852, began working at bridge building on the Indianapolis & Peru Railroad, which he followed two years. In 1854 he went to Kokomo, Howard county, Indiana, and engaged in contracting and building until 1856, when he went to Dubuque, Iowa, and worked as carpenter and joiner until December of the same year; from . there he removed to Cedar Falls and remained there until the spring of 1857, and thence to Hampton, Franklin county, Iowa, still working at his trade. In 1858 he was elected one of the county judges of Franklin county and filled the office for two years, and in 1860 was elected justice of the peace at Hampton for a term of four years, but resigned in 1861 to enlist in company F, Second Iowa volunteer infantry, to serve three months. At the expiration of that time he went to Indianapolis, Indiana, and enlisted. in company D, Thirty-ninth Indiana volunteer infantry, and with his regi- ment took part in the battle of Shiloh and all others up to the time of the taking of Corinth in 1862, and afterwards participated in the battles of Perry- ville, Stone River, Murfreesborongh, Liberty Gap, Chickamauga and Mis- sionary Ridge. In 1863 he was detailed some six months as a sapper and miner for making facines and gabions for earthworks at Murfreesborongh. April, 1864, his regiment veteranized and were given thirty days' furlough, and at the expiration of the furlough were assigned to Rosecrans's division, with which he participated in the raids in Alabama and Georgia under- generals Rosseau, Thomas, Cook and Kilpatrick, and accompanied General Sherman in the great march from Atlanta to the sea. In 1865 he was trans- ferred to the First regiment of veteran volunteer engineers and served until his discharge September 30, of the same year. After his discharge from the service he returned to Hampton, Iowa, and during the winter of 1866 left there and came to Missouri, settling at Chillicothe, where he engaged in the carpenter and joiner's trade. November 20, 1867, he married Miss M. A. Lafferty, of Chillicothe, and soon after removed to Wheeling in the same (Livingston) county. In 1870 he was elected supervisor of registra- tion, and receiving the appointment of postmaster under President Grant, served from 1870 to 1873, when he resigned and removed to Trenton, where he has since resided and followed his trade, excepting a short time in 1880, when he was in the mercantile business with W. P. Lafferty under the firm name of White & Lafferty. Mr. and Mrs. White are members of the Presbyterian Church of Trenton, of which he is a ruling elder and one of the board of church trustees.
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HISTORY OF GRUNDY COUNTY.
G. L. WINTERS
Was born on a farm in Greene county, Illinois, near White Hall, November 19, 1842, where he was reared and educated. After leaving the homestead, in 1863, he engaged in farming until 1868, then began teaching school, and followed it until 1871. In this latter year he entered the office of John W. Kitchen, of Pana, Illinois, and began the study of law. Remained with him eighteen months and then came to Missouri. Locating in Trenton he engaged in the mercantile business with J. HI. Winters, under the firm name of J. H. Winters & Co. This firm sold out in 1876, when he went in the office of Judge A. H. Burkeholder, resumed the study of law, was admitted to the bar in the following August and at once engaged . in the practice of law in Trenton, where he is yet practicing his profession. He has been twice elected justice of the peace, first in 1878, and a second time in 1880. In the same year, 1880, was elected public administrator. March 16th, 1870, he married Miss Eliza Banning, of Greene county, Illi- nois, by whom he has one child, Lettie Verne. They have buried one child, Clarence C., who was drowned in August, 1879, when eight years old. Mr. and Mrs. Winters are members of the M. E. Church of Trenton, Missouri.
GEORGE F. WALKER
Is a native of western New York, where he was reared and educated. He was for a number of years connected with the Erie Railway Company, but came West, and in 1871 was appointed superintendent of the south- western division of the Chicago, Rock Island & Pacific Railway, with head- quarters at Trenton, and still holds and most efficiently performs the duties of the position. Mr. Walker has been a resident of Trenton since the building of the southwestern division of the Chicago, Rock Island & Pacific Railroad, and although necessarily away a great deal of his time, takes a great interest in its growth and prosperity.
CAPT. N. A. WINTERS.
Nathan A. Winters was born on a farm near Jacksonville, Illinois, May 10, 1831. His parents were Nathan and Ruth Winters, who came to Grundy county and settled on a farm in Liberty township in 1840, where he lived with them and worked on the farm up to his sixteenth year, in 1847, when he enlisted in the army and served during the Mexican War under Capt. John C. Griffin and Col. William Gilpin, and was mustered out at Independence, Missouri, in October, 1848. He returned to the home- stead in Grundy county, and soon after purchased a farm in Sullivan county, where he lived and farmed until 1854, when he returned to Grundy county, and engaged in the mercantile business at Lindley, which he followed at that place and at Kirksville, in Adair county, until 1859. That year he
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HISTORY OF GRUNDY COUNTY.
went to Colorado and run a pack train into the mines then known as the Gregory and the Russell claims until 1860, when he returned to Adair county and engaged in farming until the intelligence of the firing on Fort Sumter was received, when he promptly tendered his services to his coun- try, and helped to raise the first company in the State, north of the Han- nibal & St. Joseph Railroad. He raised a company in the spring of 1861, and was unanimously chosen captain, and went into camp in Adair county, where he thoroughly drilled his men before tendering his company to Gen. Hurlbert, division commander of northern Missouri. His company was assigned to detached duty at home, with the addition of five hundred home- guards, and brigaded with the Third regiment of Iowa infantry, Col. Scott commanding. In September, 1861, the home-guards being disbanded, he was commissioned captain, and his company assigned to the Twenty- second Missouri infantry, as company A, but being a cavalry company, was soon afterwards transferred to the Seventh Missouri volunteer cavalry as company HI, serving in Missouri, Arkansas and Texas. Capt. Winters par- ticipated in many battles, and endured all the hardships of a soldier's life. In 1864 he resigned his commission, returned home, and assisted in raising the Forty-fourth Missouri volunteer infantry, and was again com- missioned and went out as captain of company K, of that regiment. While recruiting in 1864, he was injured by a collision on the Hannibal & St. Joe Railroad, after which he was placed in the reserve corps, and acted as assistant commissary of musters at Rolla, Missouri, until the close of the war. On his return to Grundy county he pursued farming until the fall of 1868, when he was elected sheriff of Grundy county, and elected his own successor in 1870. After serving out his second term he engaged in mer- chandizing in Trenton until 1880, since which time he has been a contractor, aiding to construct the Quincy, Missouri & Pacific Railroad. He has been twice married, the first time to Miss Sarah Brown, of Sullivan county, Mis- souri, in November, 1848, and she died March 15, 1878, leaving seven chil- dren, six sons and one daughter. On the 19th of January, 1879, Capt. Winters was united in marriage to Mrs. Mary Lonorgan, of Trenton.
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