USA > Missouri > Linn County > The history of Linn county, Missouri. An encyclopedia of useful information > Part 45
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JOSEPH C. MOORE (DECEASED).
The old and prominent citizen whose name heads this sketch, though no longer among the living, will be remembered by many as one of the early settlers in Locust Creek township. Joseph C. Moore was born in Alabama, on the first day of May, 1791. He was the son of James Moore, a gentle- man who had served as a captain in the war of the Revolution, and moved to Alabama in an early day. Joseph was reared in the State of his birth, and there received his education. When quite a young man he enlisted in the War of 1812, to serve five years, or during the war. He served out his
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full term of enlistment, which carried him over and beyond the period of the war. He went to North Carolina in 1817, whither his father had re- moved while Joseph was in the army. They soon moved to Tennessee, where James Moore, the father, died. In 1842 Mr. Moore came to Mis- souri, and settled on the place where he died, two and one-half miles east of Linneus. He had received a government " land patent," which he located in government land in Locust Creek township, and consisted of one hundred and sixty acres. He was first married in Tennessee, in about the year 1828, to Miss Jane Pate, daughter of Jeremiah Pate, of Tennessee. She died in 1846, and Mr. Moore was again married early in 1848 to Miss Sophia Root, daughter of David Root, of Linn county. She also is dead, having survived her husband but a few days. Six children were born to Mr. Moore by his first marriage, four of whom still survive, named, respect- ively: Nancy (Root), Jeremiah, William L., and James A. Those de- ceased are John N. and Joseph Moore, and were the oldest children. By his second marriage Mr. Moore had four children, named Jane (deceased), Ann, Martha, and Leco (Taggort) Moore. Nancy, the only daughter of the first marriage still living, is now the wife of James Root, a farmer of Yolo connty, California.
William L. and James A. Moore are two of the most enterprising farm- ers and stock men of the county. They live near the old homestead, and are both men of property, and own good well improved farms.
Joseph C. Moore died at his home east of Linneus on the nineteenth day of May, 1873. He was a member of the Methodist Church, and had been for over forty years. When the church split in 1844 he went into the. southern wing of that great body and remained staunch in that faith till the day of his death. He was a man well known in the county, and hon- ored by all as a good and true man and a worthy member of society. He took pains in the moral training of his family that they too might become worthy and useful citizens.
JOHN T. NICKERSON.
Mr. Nickerson is another subject to the manor born, and first saw the light in Linn county on the fifth day of March, 1847. He is the son of Allen and Emma A. Nickerson, the maiden name of the latter being Long, a native of Howard county. Mr. Nickerson was reared on the old Nicker- son homestead, six miles north of Bucklin, and his early life was spent in farm work. His education was obtained partly in his native county, and partly at the Missouri State Normal School, at Kirksville, from which he graduated in June, 1872. He first began teaching in Baker township, in his twenty-first year. Since he began teaching, he has been thus engaged almost constantly during the fall and winter months, except when attending school himself.
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For three years he was not teaching, being then engaged in the drug business at Bucklin, which, however, he sold out in the spring of 1878. At the spring election of school affairs in 1881, Mr. Nickerson was elected commissioner of public schools for Linn county. His only opponent was a gentleman of the same politics as himself, both being Democrats. In the fall of the same year he became principal of the Linnens public school, a graded institution requiring five teachers.
Mr. Nickerson was married on the nineteenth of December, 1876, to Miss Edith M. Whittaker, daughter of Judge Thomas Whittaker, of Buck- lin. They have one daughter, born in 1877. Mr. Nickerson and lady are both members of the Baptist Church. He also belongs to the A. O. U. W. and to the Good Templars. As above stated, Mr. Nickerson is a Democrat as was his father before him. At this writing his official term and his principalship of the Linneus school are both unexpired.
BENJAMIN JOSEPH NORTHCOTT.
This gentleman was born in Menard county, Illinois, January 7, 1842. He is the son of Rev. B. F. Northcott, of the M. E. Church, who came to Linn county in 1854, and who still resides at Browning. Mr. Northcott's mother was Elizabeth M. Christy, and there were nine children born to his parents, of whom he, Joseph, is the eldest. Only five of these are living now.
Joseph had a spell of fever when he was but three years old, which pro- duced paralysis of the left leg, and necessitated his going on crutches all his life. He was a puny child, but as he grew older and took more exer- cise, he became robust and has enjoyed good health most of his life. In 1854 he came with his father to Missouri, and lived in Linn county till February, 1857, and then moved back to Adams county, Illinois, and re- mained till April, 1863, when he again moved to Linn and settled in the north part of the county, near Enterprise, where the Rev. Northcott had entered large bodies of land. In the spring of 1865 Mr. Northcott came to Linneus, then acting as clerk of the probate court under Judge James F. Jones. His literary education was received principally at Quincy Col- lege, Illinois. His legal education was acquired under the able preceptor- ship of Maj. A. W. Mullins, of Linnens, and he was admitted to the bar in October, 1866. Immediately he began the practice in Linneus and has been thus engaged ever since. Mr. Northcott was the first superintendent of schools appointed in Linn county when the legislature created that office in 1866, and he organized the first teachers' institute ever held in the county. He was elected to serve a second term after the expiration of his appointed term. He served as magistrate by appointment in the years 1869-70. In 1870 and again in 1880, he assisted in taking the census enumeration of the county. The first law partner he ever had was his father, and his next
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was Mr. Charles W. Bigger, with whom he is still associated. Mr. North- cott was married March 3, 1867, at Miami, Missouri, to Miss Lida C. Ball, daughter of John G. Ball, Esq. They have three sons and one daugh- ter, all living.
Mr. Northcott belongs to the I. O. G. T. and the A. O. U. W. lodges at Linneus. Politically, he is a Republican, and has received his official positions at the hands of that party.
DAVID PREWITT (DECEASED).
The subject of this sketch, though no longer among the living, will be remembered by many citizens of Linn county as an old settler and most worthy citizen. David Prewitt was born in Halifax county, Virginia, on the 21st day of December, 1791. The name is probably of French origin, but the ancestors had been long in the United States.
David was the son of Antony Prewitt, who moved with his family to Madison county, Kentucky, when the former was fifteen years old, and lived there till 1819. While residing in that State, our subject was married to Miss Nancy Turner, of a family quite prominent in Kentucky. Two daugh- ters were born to them before leaving that State. In 1819, Mr. Prewitt, having shipped his goods by keel boat, started for Missouri, his only family being himself, wife, and two infant daughters. They made the trip all the way on horseback, Mr. Prewitt riding one horse and carrying one child, and Mrs. Prewitt similarly mounted, carrying the other. They settled at ()ld Franklin, in Howard county, and there the husband and father made a sup- port for his family by engaging in the butchering business with Philip. Barnes. When the county seat was changed to Fayette, Mr. Prewitt moved to that town and there engaged in the hotel business. He served two terms as sheriff of Howard county, in about 1830-33. He was elected on the Whig ticket, his competitor being John Harvey, Esq. Mr. Prewitt ran so well in the official race that he was honored with the soubriquet of " Black Whip," that being the name of the fastest race-horse then in central Mis- souri. On leaving Howard, in 1836, he removed to Rockport, Boone county, and there also engaged in the hotel business till his removal to Linn county. This took place in 1840, and he settled near Linneus, just west of the farm which is now the home of Henry Clay Prewitt, his son. As seen in the history of Linneus, he was one of the first merchants that ever did business in the place. By referring to the official history it will be seen that he was county treasurer for several years. Mr. Prewitt was a member of no church or secret society. He was but once married though survived his wife some years. They raised a family of nine children, of whom Henry C. is the only living son.
Mr. Prewitt departed this life December 1, 1873. He is buried at the Linneus cemetery, where rest several of his children. Sleeping quietly with
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his own loved dead, his many friends and relatives recognize his grave as the resting place of a worthy citizen, who spent with them a long, useful, and eventful life.
HENRY CLAY PREWITT
was born in Fayette, Howard county, Missouri, on June 29th, 1835. He moved with his father, Mr. David Prewitt, to Boone county, and thence to Linn, arriving here when he was but five years old. His schooling was ac- quired at the common schools of the county, the first one he attended being in the old log school-house on " Muddy." The practical part of his edu- cation, however, was got in the store of his father, where he remained from 1845 till 1852. In that year, then but seventeen years old, he left home and went to California, where he remained four years, engaged in gold min- ing. At that period, the old "sluice " and " long-tom " system were in vogue, and Mr. Prewitt made quite a success, returning before he was twenty-one, with two thousand dollars in cash. This was the stake on which he began life, and he has the consolation of knowing that he made it himself. In March, 1857, Mr. Prewitt began merchandising in Linneus and continued for twenty-three years. He managed to live through the war without being forced to take an active part, though he was several times raided by thieves. After the war he moved on to his farm in the southern suburb of Linneus, and quit merchandizing in 1879.
Mr. Prewitt was married on the twenty-second day of February, 1857, to Miss Mary Frances Hunt, daughter of Henry Hunt, of Ray county.
She is still living, and they have five children living, all daughters, and one son and one daughter dead. The oldest daughters are married, one be- ing the wife of Wood Oreor, and the other of Dr. J. S. Johnson, all of Lin- neus. Mr. Prewitt belongs to the Odd Fellows, and also to the A. O. U. W.
Politically, he is a Democrat, but cast his first presidential vote for Gen- eral Winfield Scott. Mr. Prewitt has been a successful business man, and has reared an intelligent and interesting family of which he may well be proud.
DR. EDWARD F. PERKINS.
This gentleman, who has had political and official connection with Linn county since his residence here, is a native of the "Old Dominion," and was born in Henry county, Virginia, on the thirteenth of September, 1833. He is the son of the Rev. William Perkins, formally a minister in the M. E. Church South, and also a native of Virginia, and who died in Linneus in 1871. Dr. Perkins's mother was Martha Henry Fontaine, a family of French Huguenot extraction, the original name being De La Fontaine, and a name prominent among the early Huguenots of the Carolinas. She was a great granddaughter of the illustrious Patrick Henry, of Virginia, and reared by
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her grandmother, the eldest daughter of that master statesman. On the paternal side the Perkins family is of Scotch-Irish origin, and was here prior to the Revolution, the doctor's grandfather having been a major in that struggle for independence.
When our subject was about five years old his father moved from Vir- ginia to Howard county, Missouri, near Glasgow, and there Edward resided till 1854. His general education was acquired chiefly in Howard county, and his professional education was obtained partly at Glasgow in the office of Dr. Isaac Vaughn (with whom he read over a year) and at McDowell Medical College in St. Louis, which he attended during the years 1854-55. Dr. Perkins first began the practice in the spring of 1855, at Milan, Sulli- van county, Missouri. His only family consisted of himself and his horse, and he began life with a cash capital of eight dollars all told, less seventy- five dollars of indebtedness incurred for outfit. He at once got into a lucra- tive practice and remained at Milan nine years. He then moved to Linneus in 1864 and began the practice, and soon afterward went into the drug bus- iness with John Bradley, his brother-in-law. Dr. Perkins soon bought Bradley out and conducted the business alone till 1873 when he closed out. During the campaign of 1874 he was brought out by his Democratic friends as candidate for State Senator of the Sixth Senatorial District of Missouri, and received the nomination when the convention met at Linneus over sev- eral other popular gentlemen. The Republicans brought out E. A. Hol- comb, of Keytesville, as his competitor. Dr. Perkins was duly elected at the ensuing election and served one term of four years. His health was not good during this period, and he laid politics aside at the expiration of his term engaging in the mercantile business at Linneus and has been thus en- gaged ever since. Though not regularly in the practice any more, he oc- casionally attends his own personal friends in sickness.
Dr. Perkins was first married in the spring of 1859 to Miss Jennie T. Garrett, of Linn county. She died in August, 1874 and he was again mar- ried in December, 1878, to Mrs. Kate Moore, a daughter of the Rev. L. T. McNeally, of the M. E. Church. Seven children were born of the first mar- riage (three now living), and one, a daughter, of the second.
Dr. Perkins is a member of the M. E. Church South, and has been for sixteen years. His first wife was a member of the Christian Church, and the present Mrs. P. belongs to the Southern Methodist. Dr. Perkins has taken all the degrees of Oddfellowship, and as far as Fellow-Craft in Mas- onry.
Though having no capital to begin life Dr. Perkins has, by energy, indus- try, and thrifty management, amassed a fair competency, and is enabled to surround his family with all the comforts of life.
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DR. P. H. PERKINS.
The history of the Perkins family as elsewhere given is complete, except that part personal to the scion whose name heads this sketch.
Dr. Patrick Henry Perkins (called Park in the family) is a son of the Rev. William Perkins mentioned in the biography of Dr. E. F. Perkins. He is a brother of the latter, and consequently a great-great-grandson of the illustrious Patrick Henry, of Virginia. He (Dr. Perkins) was born in Henry county, Virginia, on the twenty-second of January, 1829. When he was about eight years old his father, in 1837, moved with his family to Missouri, settling in Howard county, and there Dr. Park was reared and educated, receiving the greater part of his literary education at Glasgow. His professional education was acquired at the McDowell Medical College in St. Louis, attending lectures there in 1853-54. He read medicine with Dr. Vaughn, of Glasgow, and Dr. Graves, of Brunswick, for two years be- fore entering McDowell College. Dr. Perkins first began the practice in Grundy county, in 1855, and remained one year. From there he moved to DeWitt, in Carroll county, where he practiced for nine years. Illinois was his next field of operations, going there in 1864, to escape the war troubles of Missouri. Locating at Camp Point he remained in the practice one year and then returned to Missouri and located at Linneus, Linn county, in Oc- tober, 1865. Since that date Dr. Perkins has been constantly in the prac- tice here, and most of the time in the drug business, having begun the lat- ter in 1873.
Dr. Perkins was first married in March, 1857, to Miss Mary Jane Guth- rie, daughter of the Rev. Eli Guthrie, of the Cumberland Presbyterian Church, who was drowned in the Missouri River near DeWitt. Dr. Per- kins's wife died in March, 1865, and he was again married in April of the following year to Miss Mattie Flood, daughter of Judge John Flood, an . old settler of this county, and once judge of one of the Chariton County Courts. This lady is still living at this writing. He had four children by his first marriage, three sons and one daughter, one son and one daughter still living. By his second marriage Dr. Perkins has had four children, two of each sex, and all living.
Dr. Perkins and wife belong to the Methodist Episcopal Church South, he having been a member for twenty-three years. He also belongs to the Masonic order, the Good Templars, and the Ancient Order of United Workmen, and has filled inany offices. He was elected mayor of Linneus in April, 1881, on the straight-out temperance ticket, he having always been a great temperance advocate.
Politically, Dr. Perkins is a Democrat, and was a Southern sympathizer during the war. In 1849 he went with the gold excitement to California, and was engaged in mining and cattle trading for two years. He returned in 1851. He made money there.
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The Perkins family have in their possession a letter written by the great Patrick Henry, of Virginia, which they preserve as an heirloom and souvenir. It bears date July 4, 1794, and is addressed to his daughter as " My Dear Patsy." It is a business letter written in regard to some land transaction. It was our intention to publish the letter, but being unable to make out some words and names we are forced to forego.
FRED W. POWERS.
The subject of this sketch presents another case of a county official who was to the manor born.
Fred W. Powers was born in Linn county, Missouri, three miles north of Bucklin, on the sixth day of May, 1841. He is the son of Dr. John F. Powers, an old settler and practicing physician who died while serving a term as representative of Linn county in the General Assembly of the State in February, 1865. Fred's mother was Isabella Brownlee, a native of Ayrshire, Scotland. She was married to Dr. Powers on Staten Island, New York about 1839. They had five children of whom Fred was the sec- ond child and oldest son. He was raised wholly in Linn county, and here laid the foundation of his education in the public schools. He subsequently attended Central College at Fayette, Missouri, and still later attended Mc- Gee College, in Macon county. He was compelled to quit this institution, shortly before he was to graduate by the outbreak of the war, and losing the four years succeeding, he never again returned to college. He enlisted - at the age of twenty-one in the Second Provisional Enrolled Missouri Mili- tia, and served seven months, and then entered the regular United States service in the Twelfth Regiment of Missouri Volunteers in Company M, under Captain Oscar Smith, but was soon after transferred to Company L, commanded by Captain Harry M. Shannon, and was elected and commis- sioned second lieutenant of his company. He held this rank till the war closed, and was awhile acting adjutant of the third battalion of the regi- ment. His military service was confined principally to Tennessee, Alabama, and Georgia. He was in several hard-fought battles, and a number of skirmishes, including the battles of Franklin and Nashville, Tennessee, Selma, Alabama, and Columbus, Georgia. He was for some time on duty as pontooner.
June 22, 1865, Lieutenant Powers resigned his commission at St. Louis, came home to Linn county, and began farming on the old homestead, his father having died a few months before his return. He continued farming till the spring of 1871. In the summer of 1870 he received the nomina- tion for circuit clerk at the hands of two political parties, the Republicans first placing him on their ticket and the "People's Convention " ratifying their action. At the ensuing election he was elected by a majority of 442 over his Liberal Republican opponent. He has held this office ever since,
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and has been honored by votes from all political parties, steadily holding his position even since the county has polled a small Democratic ma- jority.
Mr. Powers was married on the twenty-third day of June, 1870, to Miss Annie L. Roberts, daughter of Morris Roberts, Esq., deceased, formerly of Linn county. They have had two children. One, a daughter, Stella, died in September, 1873; the son, Fred Harold is still living.
Mr. Powers is a member of the Masonic order; is a Royal Arch Mason, and a Knight Templar. He is also a member of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows and of the Ancient Order of United Workmen.
Mr. Powers may well feel complimented by his repeated elections to the same office despite the various political mutations through which the county has passed since he was first elected. Barely in the prime of manhood, with the best years of his life still before him, he can look ahead to a long life of honor and usefulness, cheered and supported by the warm friends that his upright service in a public office has won for him. He is at this writing in the fire-insurance business, and represents six of the strongest companies on the continent.
WILLIAM W. PEERY.
This gentleman, in addition to having served Linn county in a public office, may be called an old settler, having come as early as 1858. William -. W. Peery is the son of Joseph A. and Harriet (Talley) Peery; the former came to this State in 1835, from West Virginia, and the latter Missouri born, being a native of Howard. William was born on a farm seven miles east of Mexico, in Andrain county, on the fourteenth day of September, 1842. When he was four years old his parents moved to Milan, in Sulli- van county, and there resided till 1858, when they moved to Linn county. William was educated chiefly in Sullivan county in the public schools. Mr. Peery was taken down with a spinal affection on January 2d, 1857, which permanently affected his lower limbs, destroying his power of locomotion by the process of walking. His legs became completely paralyzed, and he was forced to invent a way of locomotion by means of a small wagon in the nature of a velocipede, worked with the hands instead of with the feet. By this means he managed to go about sufficiently to attend to his business. He was first engaged, after coming to Linn, in the mill business with his father. In 1872 he was elected township assessor of Clay town- ship, where he then resided, and held the position three years. In 1874 he was nominated on the Democratic ticket for county recorder, and at the ensuing election went in ahead of the ticket, and his " tadpole " and inde- pendent competitors. He assumed the duties of the office in January, 1875, and served one term of four years. He had moved to Linneus in December, 1874, and lived here till March, 1881. In the fall of 1878, he was elected
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justice of the peace of Locust Creek township, but resigned in 1880. He was elected mayor of Linneus in April, 1879, and served one year.
At this writing Mr. Peery lives on a farm he purchased one-half mile north of the court-house square of Linneus. He is engaged in the saw- mill business at this time, and owns a mill now running on Parsons Creek, in Clay township. Mr. Peery was married in August, 1879, in Linn county, to Miss Mildred F. Talley, a cousin on the maternal side. They have one daughter, named Emma, born May 26, 1880. Mr. Peery is not a member of any secret order or society of any kind. Mrs. Peery belongs to the Methodist Church South, at Milan. Politically, Mr. Peery is a staunch Democrat, and never swerves in his fidelity to that party, though several delegates of Greenbackers have tried to persuade him to allow them to use his name on their ticket for county office.
JOHN C. PHILIPS.
This sketch outlines the life of a gentleman who has been in the county for nearly half a century, and who has had official connection with the county, as did also his father. Mr. Philips is a native Missourian, and was born in Howard county, on the thirty-first day of May, 1835. He is the son of Jeremiah Philips, who formerly served the county in an official ca- pacity of sheriff, representative, treasurer, and circuit clerk. His public service in Linn county extended over a period of twenty years.
Mr. Philips's mother was Jemimah Lay, a daughter of Daniel Lay, de- ceased, formerly of Howard county. She was married to Jeremiah Philips in about 1834, and was his second wife. She was the mother of eighteen children, of whom John C. was the second child and oldest son. When he was two years old the family moved to Linn county, in 1837, and this has been the home of our subject ever since. He was raised there and educa- ted in Linn county, and the first business he ever did was to act as deputy under his father when the latter was circuit clerk. After his father re- signed, in 1861, John C. engaged in the general merchandise business in Linneus, and sold goods here from 1863 till 1869. He took no part in the civil war, but had one brother, George Philips, who served four years in the Confederate army. From 1866 to 1874, Mr. Philips was engaged in business, partly for himself and partly as clerk for others.
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