USA > Missouri > Grundy County > The History of Grundy County, Missouri : an encyclopedia of useful information, and a compendium of actual facts > Part 60
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574
HISTORY OF GRUNDY COUNTY.
PETITION TO INCORPORATE THE TOWN OF EDINBURG.
" To the Honorable County Court of Grundy county, Missouri :- We, the undersigned citizens and tax-payers of Edinburg, Grundy county, Mis- souri, hereby petition your honorable body to incorporate the town of Edinburg, in Grundy county, Missouri, and thereby give us the powers and privileges of a corporation in accordance with the laws of the State of Missouri, the metes and bounds of said corporation to be as follows; to-wit, Beginning at a stake three rods south of the northwest corner of the southwest quarter of the southeast quarter of section 15, in township 61, range 25; thence north one hundred and eight (108) rods, to a stake; thence east eighty rods to a stake; thence south eighty-eight rods to a stake; thence east twenty-five rods to a stake; thence south twenty rods to a stake; thence west one hundred and five rods, to the place of begin- ning; the same to include the town of Edinburg.
" Signed: Henry Totten.
Geo. W. Sparks.
W. T. Gannaway.
W. W. Sparks.
Jno. E. Vertrees.
N. B. Hunt.
J. M. Sparks.
W. P. Gates.
W. V. N. Keys.
G. W. Totten.
John Ward.
Jacob J. Botsford.
Daniel Bainter.
John Witten.
Mrs. Susan Watkins.
L. H. Shafer.
W. B. Boyer.
A. W. Dumm.
H. H. Turner.
L. F. Falkenstein.
R. T. Short.
Wm. Albin."
Armed with this formidable document, they proceeded to interview the County Court, with happy results. The court made the following order:
ORDER OF INCORPORATION OF THE TOWN OF EDINBURG.
"April Term County Court, April 17th, 1877.
"Now at this day come John E. Vertrees and others, citizens and tax-payers of the town of Edinburg, and file their petition, asking to have the town of Edinburg incorporated, which petition was granted, and it is ordered that said town be incorporated, and that L. H. Shafer, John E. Vertrees, William Albin, Dr. R. W. Witten and Wesley Sparks be appointed trustees for said town."
There has been but little since the incorporation of the town to make history. It will never become a large city, but as it is, it has something worthy of its care and pride, and that is the college. Let the people of Madison township foster and sustain Grand River College, and make it
575
HISTORY OF GRUNDY COUNTY.
worthy of all praise. Its name has gone forth, and with it a fair reputa- tion that will bring it a heritage that cannot be taken away, and will increase from generation to generation.
EDINBURG IN 1881.
The present business of Edinburg is conducted by Woodress & Shafer, general dry goods, groceries, etc .; John H. George, groceries, cigars and tobacco; John Ward, drug store, and also landlord of the Ward House; John J. Botsford, wagon manufacturer and blacksmith. He has a fine establishment on the site of the old Newton shop, keeps three hands besides himself, and has a new and commodious establishment, and a repu- tation which is well and favorably known far beyond the limits of Grundy county, and of great value to Edinburg. He succeeded his father, Amos, in the wagon department. N. B. Hunt started a wagon manufactory in 1856, and he was followed by the above, Mr. Amos Botsford, and he by his son.
J. M. Sparks opened a blacksmith and repair shop in 1874, and is doing a good, steady business.
Daniel Bainter keeps another hotel at the north end of town, and is a favorite with the traveling public.
Edinburg Lodge, I. O. O. F., No. 394, was organized February 22, 1880. The first officers of the lodge were L. H. Shafer, N. G .; John Crowder, V. G .; John E. Vertrees, treasurer, and James Witten, secretary. They elect their officers every six month. The order had seventeen charter mem- bers. Its present officers are James Witten, N. G .; John H. George, V. G .; W. W. Barnes, secretary, and Wm. Harding, treasurer. The order has now forty-five members, and is in a flourishing condition. Meetings are held weekly.
A cornet band was organized in the fall of 1878, and since that time has become not only proficient in its musical education and training, but very popular with the citizens, and is considered one of the permanent insti- tutions of the town. It numbers ten members, as follows: A. B. Barnes, and C. D. Thompson, E-flat; Lee McNaught, B-flat; Otto Crowder, 2d B-flat; James E. Gates, first alto; James F. Godwin, second alto; Oliver Watkins, tenor; Geo. F. Witten, baritone; John H. George, bass; David E. Dick, bass-drum, and Wm. Dent, tenor-drum.
This closes the record of Madison township, and of the beautiful town of Edinburg, up to the year 1881, both growing, with a bright and prosperous future before them. The officers of the township at the present time are James A. Godwin, assessor and clerk; Samuel K. Witten, trustee; William Harding, collector, and L. H. Shafer and Thomas Bosley, justices of the peace. L. H. Shafer, postmaster.
576
HISTORY OF GRUNDY COUNTY.
BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES.
REV. WILLIAM BALDWIN.
William Baldwin was born in Preble county, Ohio, January 15, 1812, where he lived until he was about sixteen years of age, when his father moved to Montgomery county, Indiana, where he grew to manhood. He embraced religion in his early days, and afterward began preaching. He was married to Miss Elizabeth Harrison, September 6, 1832. Was ordained elder in 1838, and had charge of several churches in his native county; also carried on a farm, which he sold out in 1856, and came to Daviess county, Missouri, where he has made his home most of the time since. Two years ago, in 1879, he came to Grundy county and settled on the farm where he · now lives. Elder Baldwin preached in several churches in this county while he lived in Daviess county; he officiated at nearly all the marriages of Elder McCammon's children, besides a great many others in this county; filled the pulpit in the Union Church on Coon Creek while Elder McCam- mon's lungs were affected, part of the time during the war. There are four preachers now laboring for the Master who were brought to repent- ance through his labors in the good cause; namely, John L. Netherton, James Poe, Joseph Wood and De Witt Brown. He baptized the first three. He has conducted several successful revivals during his labors, has baptized as high as thirty-six persons at one going into the water, and has baptized forty persons a year for three years. He still preaches occasionally now, but has no church in charge. His first wife died September 19, 1850. They had eight children: Mary H., Alzina A., Sarah E., Nancy J., Zerilda C., Samantha E., Martha E. and John W. Mary HI., Alzina A., Sarah E. and Zerilda C. are dead. He married Mrs. Mary Worley, November 6, 1851. They had three children: Robert L., Emma A. and Samuel F. Robert L. and Samuel F. are dead. Elder Baldwin was assessor under the old town- ship law, and was on the school board for several years.
JUDGE CHARLES P. BRANDOM.
Charles P. Brandon was born in Rappahanock county, Virginia, Septem- ber 7, 1834, where he lived and grew to manhood, and attended the district schools during the winter months, and worked on the farm in the spring and summer. He was living with his father when he married the first time, Miss Betty C. White, August 24, 1854, and continued to reside with him until October 7, 1855, when he moved to Greene county, Ohio, and remained until September, 1856. At this time he went into debt for a pair of horses, harness and wagon and some furniture, all of which he loaded into his wagon, and with his wife and one child started for Missouri. He landed near Gal- latin, Daviess county, where he remained until the spring of 1857, then moved on a farm near Edinburg where he remained until the spring of
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.HISTORY OF GRUNDY COUNTY.
1859. His wife was killed by lightning August 9th, the same year, and he lay in bed siek with a fever at the time the bolt struck his house, breaking every window in it and tearing up clothing and bedding; the house was nearly rended to pieces; his family had just got up from the dinner table where every dish was turned upside down, and his wife had come to his bedside to ask him what he wanted to eat, when the lightning struck her, and she fell dead by the bed; it also tore the sheet and pillow-cases that hung over the bed into strings. Judge Brandom thinks his life was saved by his lying on a feather bed. This misfortune about broke him up, besides robbing him of his dearly beloved wife. He remained here until January, 1860, when he took his only child and went back to Greene county, Ohio, where his wife's relatives lived, and stayed there about one year, then returned to his father's, who was in Daviess county, with whom he remained until he married again, his second wife being Miss Lodey McCammon, daughter of William McCammon, whom he married July 24, 1862. The spring of 1863 he moved on a farm his father-in-law gave him in Grundy county, where he still lives. By hard work and good management he has accumulated considerable property, and now owns twelve hundred acres of land, all told, in this county, and one of the finest farm houses in the county, has a very large barn, and in fact the-outbuildings are good and his farm is all fenced. He deals in cattle and stock generally, and has a large herd of cattle feeding for market, besides sheep, horses, mules and other stock too numerous to mention. He was elected county judge in 1877; has been one of the school board for a number of years; is one of the directors of the ·Grand River College now; and was township trustee under the old township law until it was repealed. Mr. and Mrs. Brandom are members of the Baptist Church. They have had six children, beside Olivia Belle, his first wife's child. Their names are Sylvester W., Eleonora I., Edna Earl, Oriola, Lora Leota and William M. Edna E. and William M. are dead.
JOHN JACOB BOTSFORD
Was born in Andrew county, Missouri, July 28, 1853, where he lived until he was about two years of age, when his father moved to Hancock county, Indiana. There he remained about two years, when his father moved back to Missouri and located in Edinburg, where he has since resided. He was educated in the Grand River College. In 1871 he was apprenticed to a blacksmith in Chillicothe, Missouri, where he worked for three years; after that went to Moberly, Missouri, and worked in the blacksmith department of the railroad shops at that place for several years, then thought he would start out and see the world. He traveled through Kentucky, Tennessee and Illinois, and in 1875 returned to Edinburg, bought ont the blacksmith shop, and embarked in business for himself. By attending strictly to busi- ness he has been enabled to enlarge his shop to double its former capacity, and has built a new wagon and paint shop, until his establishment is now
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HISTORY OF GRUNDY COUNTY.
about four times as large as when he started. He manufactures wagons, spring wagons and carriages, and does general blacksmithing, employing from three to four men. He .is a good business man and a credit to the town. Mr. Botsford married Miss Mary Ann A. Witten, August 3, 1876. His wife died June 4, 1881, leaving two little boys, Claude Thompson and Homer Parmlee.
WILLIAM W. BARNES
Was born in Belmont county, Ohio, August 5, 1839, where he lived until he was four years of age, when his father moved to Monroe county, same State, where he was educated and grew to manhood, and followed farming and school teaching. He married Miss Amanda J. Dumm, February 12, 1860, and settled on a farm, where he was when the war broke out. He enlisted in the Ohio State militia, and his company was called out several times, twice to go after the great raider, John Morgan, who was captured on the farm of his wife's uncle. Remaining in the militia until about the close of the war, he moved to Grundy county, Missouri, in April, 1865, and since then has followed farming, teaching school during the winter; after having taught nine terms in succession in his own district, he gave up teaching and devoted all his time to farming. In the fall of 1880 he embarked in the fine stock business, dealing in short-horn Durham cattle and Norman horses, and owns the thorough-bred bull Paris, registered in the American Herd-book, volume 21, also two Norman mares. It is his intention to go to Kentucky this winter to purchase some pure Short-Horn heifers, and at the same time to buy some full blood Norman mares for breeding. He has a fine farm of one hundred and forty acres, and intends to devote his time to breeding blooded stock and improving the live stock of this county. He in- vites the farmers of this and adjoining counties to call and see his stock.
Mr. and Mrs. Barnes have six children; namely, John B., Wilbur L., Lewis N., Frank Carl, Essie and Bessie, twins. They are members of the M. E. Church.
JOSIAH BARNES
Was born in Belmont county, Ohio, August 23, 1815, where he lived about thirty years. He married Miss Susannah D. Barnes, in October, 1842, and moved to Monroe county, same State, in 1845. They had five children. His wife died in 1852, and he married Miss Mary Elizabeth Driggs, October 17, 1854. They resided in Monroe county until 1865, when he moved to Grundy county, Missouri, and settled on a farm near Edinburg, where he still resides. Mr. Barnes was township trustee in his native county but has not held any office since he came to this county. Some years since he was asked to write up this county, giving the statistics of the amount of grain, etc., raised in the county, for the State Agricultural Society, and spent a good deal of time hunting up such information as was wanted; he could not
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IIISTORY OF GRUNDY COUNTY.
find any two men who could tell him the same thing, but procured most of his information from Major John C. Griffin, of Trenton. He has been the father of ten children in all: William W., Abel Benson, Mary Elizabeth, Lydia Ellen, and babe not named, by his present wife; and Benjamin Allen, Milton Orion, Maggie Belle, Ellsworth Eugene (dead), and Milo Kingsley, by his first wife. Mr. and Mrs. Barnes, and two children, are members of the M. E. Church. He has been church steward for thirty-six years.
DANIEL BAINTER
Was born in Fayette county, Ohio, October 28, 1825, where he lived until he was about twenty years of age, when he went to Henry county, Indiana, where he married Miss Charlotta Corry, September 22, 1850. They lived there on a farm until the fall of 1856, then moved to Grundy county, and located on a farm about one and one-half miles from Edinburg. In 1861 he joined the home-guards, under Col. Shanklin and Major DeBolt. His company held themselves in readiness to go whenever they were called on, which was very often, in faet every time that any raiding was done north of the Missouri River; they were called on several times to hunt Quantrell and his band out of this part of the country. He remained in the service until the war was over, when he settled down to farming until the fall of 1866, when he moved to Edinburg, kept a boarding house and run his farm. About five years ago he "hung out his sign," and commeneed to keep hotel, which he is still conducting, and keeps a first-class place where man and beast can find the best of accommodations. Mrs. B. presides over the culinary de- partment to the satisfaction of all comers. Mr. Bainter was appointed post- master under President Grant during his first term, which position he held for several years, then resigned in favor of Mr. Shaffer, the present post- master, because he could not spare the time to attend to the office. He was elected town constable for several years. Mr. and Mrs. Bainter have eight children; viz., William Henry, Sarah Elizabeth, Thomas Albert, John Mil- ton, Mary Eliza, Perry Anderson, Ella Belle, and Eddie McGilbert; William Henry, and Sarah E., were born in Indiana, the rest were born in Grundy county. Sarah Elizabeth, Thomas Albert, John Milton, Mary Eliza, Perry Anderson, and Ella Belle are all dead.
WILLIAM H. CURRAN
Was born in Tazewell county, Virginia, May 1, 1841, where he lived until eleven years of age, then moved to Grundy county, Missouri, in 1852, where he located on the farm he still lives on. He went back to Virginia in 1861, and enlisted in the Confederate army, where he served during the war. Mr. Curran married Miss Nancy Wilson, April 24, 1862. They lived in the "Old Dominion" until 1868, then moved back to Missouri, where he went to farming again on the old place. His wife died October 10, 1874, leaving
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HISTORY OF GRUNDY COUNTY.
eight children. January 18, 1875, he married Miss Josephine J. Ketron. She was born in Carroll county, Missouri, October 5, 1842, and her parents came to this county when she was about six years old. They have had four children. The names of his first wife's children are William E., Hugh W., Charles F., Sarah O., Mary V., John J., E. M., Myrtle B .; and those of his second wife, Nancy V., Luvenia J., Thomas and Thompson, twins; Mary V. and Thompson are dead.
JOHN D. FROMAN
Was born in Vermillion county, Illinois, November 24, 1838, where he lived until he was about seventeen years of age, when his father moved to Daviess county, Missouri. He married Miss Nancy J. Moore, October 11, 1860, and moved on his farm, where he lived until 1865, when he went into the mercantile business in Bancroft. He remained about two years, then sold out and went back on the farm where he stayed about two years, when he bought an interest in a grist-mill, in company with Mr. Graham; the firm was Graham & Froman, and he remained about two years, and then sold out to his brother. From there he went to Gallatin, and bought an interest in a grist and saw-mill, remained about one year, sold out again, rented his mother-in-law's farm, which he has cultivated ever since. He has been on the school board for several years. Mr. and Mrs. Froman had nine children, Lena, Linnie, Leona, Emma, James R., Harry T., Clyde. M., Anna E., and Nancy J .; Lena, Leona, and Anna E., are dead. Mrs. Froman died Decem- ber 23, 1880.
T. P. FULKERSON.
Theophilus P. Fulkerson was born in Grundy county, Missouri, April 6, 1845, where he has lived ever since. He was a student of the old Grand River College and attended the first school ever taught in it, under John O. Martin, continuing until the school-house burned, when he went to the dis- trict school tanght by Morgan P. Scott. He worked on the farm during the summer and went to school in the winter, and when about twelve years old, he and his brother ran a carding-machine in Edinburg. For two sum- mers he attended the sessions of the new Grand River College, under Mr. Wheeler. July 16, 1863, he enlisted in company K, First Missouri cav- alry, Capt. H. F. Peery; they did duty all over the State and were in several . skirmishes; he was mustered out in 1865, and then settled down to farming again. He married Miss Sarah J. Fulkerson, July 4, 1869. They had two children, and Mrs. F. died February 21, 1874. March 2, 1876, he married Miss Phylena Emeline Hudson. They have had two children. The names of the children by both marriages are: Fred C., Fannie (dead) Ira, and one not named. Mr. and Mrs. Fulkerson are members of the M. E. Church. He owns a farm of three hundred and twenty acres.
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HISTORY OF .GRUNDY COUNTY.
WILLIAM P. GATES
Was born in Tazewell county, Virginia, May 6, 1833, where he grew to manhood. His early years were filled with many hardships. His father died when he was about seven years old, and he being the eldest child, was bound out to a preacher and lawyer, with whom he staid until he was about twelve years of age; was then turned out of house and home owing to the death of his employer's wife. He returned home, as his mother had married again, and remained there about two years. Was again bound out, to a farmer, with whom he lived until eighteen years of age, when lie left him to try to get an education, as he had never been to school a day in his life. He went to live with a farmer, working for his board night and morning and such time as he had to spare from school; attended school for three months, and had to walk five miles every morning and night to and from school. This was abont all the schooling he ever received, and as he had lived around enough to learn that a man without an education in this world was not much respected, determined to have a little education, and used to ask people to help him to read; in that way he acquired what edu- cation he lias. He learned the shoemaker's trade and employed men to work for him; used to study of nights and they would help him. This was done principally after he came to this county. To-day he is one of the best in- formed men in the county where he lives, and has followed up his thirst for knowledge until he has got to be a great reader, and keeps "posted" in the general news of the country. Mr. Gates married Miss Mary A. Harper, August 4, 1853. In 1856 he concluded to go West, sold off about all he had, except some bedding and clothing, which he got a neighbor to haul to the Ohio River for him, as they were coming West in company; he and and his wife walking. He carried his seven months old child on his back one hundred miles, from his native county to the Big Sandy River at Prestons- burg, Kentucky, where he and his father-in-law bought a flat-boat, which took about all the money he had, some $14. They then floated down the Big Sandy to the month, where they took a steamboat up the Ohio River to Guyandotte, where he had to stop and go to work, as his money was all gone. He worked on the wire suspension bridge, being built there at that time, receiving one dollar per day and boarding himself, and thought that he had found a " bonanza," as he had never received but fifty cents a day where he came from. He worked here about forty-five days, then got another job and worked there all summer to get enough to take his family on to Mis- souri. Leaving there October 22d, he landed at Brunswick, Missouri, No- vember 22d, being on the river one month, and landing there with only one gold dollar to his name. However, he had friends in Grundy county, where . he came the same fall, and has been ever since, except about one year spent in Daviess county. He has followed farming most of the time since
582 .
HISTORY OF GRUNDY COUNTY.
he came, only working at his trade in winter. In 1864 he moved to Edin- burg, where he still lives. Was enrolled in the Missouri militia the same year and served twenty-three days. Mr. Gates is respected by all who know him. Mr. and Mrs. Gates have five children, two of whom were born in Virginia and the others in this county: Thomas H .. Louisa J., Althea J., William B. and James E. There are but two living, William B. and James E.
WILLIAM T. GANNAWAY
Was born in Harding county, Kentucky, February 8, 1831, where he lived about ten years, when his mother moved to LaRue county, the same State, where he lived about five years and then went to Breckinridge county, Kentucky. Here he lived some six years, then moved to Macon county, Missouri, in 1852, remaining about two years, when he went to Gentry county, Missouri. He lived there nine years, and spent the winter of 1862 and 1863 in Nebraska. In the spring of 1863 he went to Montana, remain- ing there one year; came back to Iowa and spent the winter of 1864 and 1865. In the spring of the last named year he engaged in freighting on the plains, which he followed that season, then came to this county. He entered the mercantile business in Edinburg, continuing until August, 1871, when he sold out and went to Gentryville, and again embarked in the mer- cantile business, carried it on fourteen months, and again came back to Grundy county and located on the farm where he now lives, near Edinburg, and engaged in general farming. He has been postmaster in Gentryville and Edinburg.
Mr. Gannaway married Miss Mary Olivia Wynn, September 28, 1871. She was born in Grundy county, March 22, 1846, in the house she still lives in, was the daughter of Minor Wynn, and is a member of the M. E. Church (South). They have had three children; named, Leona, Bertha and Martha Emma. Leona and Martha Emma are dead. Mr. Gannaway owns a farm of two hundred acres.
JOHN M. GRAHAM
Was born in Belmont county, Ohio, May 5, 1804, where he lived about two years, when his mother died and an unele took him to Fayette county, Penn- sylvania. He lived there until he was about twenty-one years of age, was educated and learned the spinning wheel business, which he followed for a number of years, then moved to White county, Illinois. In 1825 he and his brother started for that State, and having no money to pay their fare they got a skiff and rowed themselves down the Monongahela and Ohio rivers from above Pittsburgh to Mt. Vernon, Indiana, about 1,000 miles; they left the river at this point and footed it across Posey county to the Wabash River, where he paid out the last dime he had in the world to get across the ferry; . they footed it to where their elder brother had gone nine years before. Mr.
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