USA > Missouri > Linn County > The history of Linn county, Missouri. An encyclopedia of useful information > Part 54
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He was married April 16, 1869, to Miss Rosalie Emanuel, of St. Louis, by whom he has one son and one daughter, named, respectively, Eddie and Josephine, both of whom were born in Linneus. He is a member of the Masonic order, and belongs to the lodge, chapter and commandery of Brook- field, and also to Hope Lodge No. 29, A. O. U. W.
GEORGE NEWTON ELLIOTT.
Mr. Elliott is the son of Lampson W. and Amanda H. Elliott, both na- tive Missourians, and was born in Howard county, January 26, 1851. His parents moved to Linn county in the spring of the same year. and settled on a farm three miles northeast of Brookfield, where they still reside, and where George was reared. He laid the foundation of his education in the common schools of the country and in the graded schools of Brookfield, and finished his educational career in the State University at Columbia,
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HISTORY OF LINN. COUNTY.
graduating from that institution in the close of 1873, having spent four years within its classic walls. After leaving college he taught a district school one year, and in 1874 he and C. R. Norris founded the Linn County New Era, an independent paper, which they published till 1875. Norris then sold out to W. T. Wright, and they then conducted the paper as a Democratic journal under the name of the Brookfield Chronicle. That pa- per is still in existence, though Mr. Elliott has severed his connection with it. While on this paper Mr. Elliott was a studious reader of the law, under the guidance of Col. S. P. Huston, and he was admitted to the bar in 1876. Selling out his interest in the Chronicle, he began the practice of law in Brookfield.
In 1880 he became associated with H. Lithgow, and continued till Au- gust, 1881. He then succeeded to the practice of Judge Torrence, who had moved to Minnesota. In 1879, he was elected county commissioner of pub- lic schools and served two years. He is now clerk and assessor of Brook- field township. He was married March 24, 1880, to Miss Josephine E., daughter of Philip and Rebecca Pollord of Macon City. They have one child named Maggie L., born at Macon, December 15, 1880. Mr. Elliott is a member of Brookfield Lodge No. 86, A. F. & A. M.
JOHN FORD.
Mr. Ford was born in Eaton, Ohio, October 17, 1845. He is the son of Thomas and Mary Ford, and was deprived of both his parents by death when but a boy, his grandparents, Samuel and Sarah Macy, having reared him. They form erly lived in Eaton, but removed to Peru, Indiana, in 1855 and settled on a farm near that place. There John grew to manhood and received his education in common schools, continuing with his grandpar- ents till their death in 1865. He came to Missouri the same year, and was employed on a farm near Brookfield till 1869. Messrs. Scott & Clarkson of Brookfield then gave him a clerkship in their house, and he remained one year. His next employment was with Dennis & Gould, with whom he re- mained till January, 1871. He then engaged in the mercantile and grain business with John Riggs, the firmn being Riggs & Ford. They did business four years, when Riggs retired and Ford conducted the business alone till. 1879. Then Mr. Walter E. Brott came in as a partner, but sold out in the fall of 1880, and Mr. Ford continued to run the business till he was made cashier of the bank in January, 1881. He was married June 23, 1874, to Miss Alice E., daughter of Andrew D. Scott, Esq., of Brookfield. They have one child, a daughter named Adelaide, born in Brookfield, April 17, 1876. Mr. Ford belongs to Brookfield Lodge No. 86, A. F. & A. M. and Linn Chapter No. 41, R. A. M., and Cœur de Leon Commandary No. 14, K. T. of Brookfield.
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HISTORY OF LINN COUNTY.
JONATHAN PALMER FINLEY.
This worthy and eminent gentleman is a native of Ohio, and was born in Hayesville, September 9, 1822. He is the only son of Eli and Catharine Finley, who were pioneers of Richland county, Ohio. Jonathan was reared on a farm, though placed early at school and kept in constant attendance most of the time during his youth. His father gave him a liberal educa- tion, his preparatory course having been taken in Ashland Academy, Ash- land county, Ohio. He graduated from Vermillion Institute at Hayesville in 1848, and went immediately to the Princeton (New Jersey) Theological Seminary, from which he graduated in May, 1851. In September follow- ing his graduation Dr. Finley came to Missouri and founded the Van Rens- selaer Academy at Big Creek, Ralls county, and had charge of it for five years. In 1856, he went to Monroe county and held a mission charge there for six years. The Synod of Missouri appointed him in 1862 to take the presi - dency of Westminister College, a Presbyterian institution at Fulton, Calla- way county, this State, and he remained in that capacity till July, 1864, when he became pastor of the church at Palmyra, Missouri. He was there two years, and then came to Linn county, locating at Brookfield, and or- ganizing the churches of that place and Laciede, of each which he was pastor for two years. Since September, 1868, he has been pastor of the church at Brookfield exclusively. In September, 1880, he founded the Brook- field Academy, and acts as principal of that school in addition to his pas- toral work. The course in this school is designed as preparatory to the junior class in any college. In 1879, the Hamilton Theological College of Clinton, New York, conferred upon him the honorary degree of doctor of divinity. Dr. Finley has been twice married. His first wife was Rachel Ann, only daughter of William and Violet Colmery of Hayesville, Ohio, to whom he was married August 19, 1851. She died at Brookfield, September 20, 1870, and he was a second time married on August 20th, 1872, to Miss Margaret A., daughter of Robert Johnson of Washington, Penn- sylvania. What Dr. Finley has done for Brookfield in the cause of ed- ucational and religious advancement entitles him to the lasting gratitude of every citizen who prefers knowledge and' morality to ignorance and crime.
JOHNSON CISNEY GARDNER
is the son of Ephraim H. and Catharine Gardner, and was born on a farm near Rimersburg, Clarion county, Pennsylvania, March 25, 1843. He lived with his parents until he has eighteen years of age, receiving his education in the public schools and in the Rimersburg Academy, which latter he at- tended two years. When but eighteen years old (July, 1861), he enlisted in defense of the Union, in Company E of the Sixty-second Pennsylvania
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HISTORY OF LINN COUNTY.
Volunteer Infantry and served three years, first as a private and subse- quently as color-sergeant.
During his service he was engaged in the following battles and skirmishes: Yorktown, Virginia; Siege of Yorktown, Virginia; Hanover Court House, Virginia; McCainesville, Virginia; Gaines Hill, Virginia; Malvern Hill, Virginia; Harrison's Bar; Gainesville, Virginia; Antietam, Maryland; Blackford's Ford, Maryland; Kearneysville, Virginia; Chancellorsville; Get- tysburg, Pennsylvania; Funkstown, Maryland; Rappahannock Station; New Hope Church, Virginia; Mine Run, Virginia; Petersburgh, Virginia. He was discharged at Pittsburgh in July, 1864, and at once returned to Ri- mersburg, where he learned the photograph business under B. L. H. Dabbs, a celebrated artist of that city. Mr. Gardner remained with Dabbs till late in 1865, when he went to Burgettstown and established a gallery. In 1866 he went to Philadelphia to receive further instructions in photography. In 1867 he sold out, removing to Fairview, West Virginia, where he engaged in the same business until the fall of 1871, when he came to Brookfield, and opened a gallery. He has built up a good and steadily increasing business, and the work sent out from his "art rooms " rarely fails to please. In July, 1867, Mr. Gardner was married to Miss Lizzie, daughter of T. J. Spivey of Fairview, West Virginia. Four children have been born of this union, whose names are Mollie, Tillie, Albert, and Earl. Mr. Gardner is both a Mason and Odd Fellow, and is a consistent, earnest member of each of those orders.
JOSEPH GAMBLE,
proprietor of the city garden, Brookfield, Missouri, was born in Leicester- shire, England, July 24, 1828. His father was a shepherd, and as such our subject was reared and spent his younger days. After receiving a fair edu- cation, he was put out to service when thirteen years old, his parents re- ceiving his wages until he was nineteen. He began for himself by working on the Rugby & Stamford Railroad, on which he was employed three years. He was employed as game-keeper for Colonel George Anthony Lee Keck, Esquire, of Stoughton Hall, three and one-half years, and as shepherd for William Gifford, Esquire, of Leicestershire, for six and one-half years. In 1863 he came to America and located at Fort Wayne, Indiana, securing employment as groom and gardener for Hon. Samuel Hanna until 1869. That year he came to Brookfield and established the city garden. Mr. Gamble has been twice married. His first wife was Sarah Pollard, of England, to whom he was married in June, 1850, and of whom he was de- prived by death before he left England in 1863. There were born to them three children by this union, Joseph, Caroline, wife of Solomon Johns, of St. Catharine, Missouri, and David, now living in Iowa. His second mar- riage was to Anna Robinson, of Brookfield, formerly of England, in 1869,
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HISTORY OF LINN COUNTY.
by whom he has two children, Horace Hanna, and Lizzie, both at home. Mr. Gamble and wife are both members of Grace Episcopal Church, at Brookfield, and he is a member of Hope Lodge No. 29, Ancient Order of United Workmen, of Brookfield.
JOHN MC GOWAN.
The subject of this sketch, who is the oldest settler of the town of Brook- field, was born in Almond, Allegany county, New York, June 13, 1845. He resided with his parents in different places till 1856, when they came to Missouri, making the journey with wagons as there were then no rail- roads. They were accompanied by an uncle of John's, and they settled on Yellow Creek, near Hays, in Linn county. The uncle became a contractor in building the Hannibal & St. Joseph Railroad, and John was employed by him in various capacities till after the road was completed. In 1857, he, being then twelve years old, was employed as watch, and also had charge of the supply-rooms, under Foreman Hurd, at Thayer. When the company laid out the site of Brookfield, Mr. McGowan came with the first lot of engines brought to the town. The town then had only two boarding- shanties, and there was but one house in sight on the prairie. Mr. Mc- Gowan remained in the employ of the company, in one capacity or another, till 1876, during which time he ran as engineer for several years, having gone through the usual initiatory course as fireman. He had some risky experiences during the war, because of bushwhacker incursions, and fre- quently drilled with other employes, preparing themselves for self-protec- tion. He was in one collision near New Cambria, three men being killed outright. Quitting the road, because of ill-health, Mr. McGowan began. the grocery business in Brookfield, and eighteen months later went into the saloon business in the same town, and is still so engaged at this writing. On the tenth of June, 1873, he was married to Miss Maggie Meehan, of St. Louis, by whom he has two children, named Katie and Maggie, both born in Brookfield. While running on the road, Mr. Mc- Gowan was a member of the "Brotherhood of Engineers," and continued in the same till he quit railroading.
GEORGE WASHINGTON GOLDMAN
is the son of Thomas Goldman, deceased, and was born in Fort Seneca, Ohio, April 7, 1850. When he was nine years old his parents removed to Kansas, where the lived till he was fifteen years old, when they returned to Ohio. Remaining one year, they again left that State, this time for Lyons, Iowa, where they lived two years, removing then to Brookfield, Linn county, in 1868. George was educated partly in the common schools, completing his course at the Brookfield Academy, and at Highland Uni- versity of Kansas, remaining at the latter institution two years. On com-
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ing to Brookfield, the father engaged in the hay business, and in time took George into the concern. The father died in 1877, and George succeeded to the entire management. He greatly increased the business, his ship- ments amounting to as much as eight hundred cars, including hay, grain, and seeds; and he sells an average of some fifteen car-loads of farining implements, per annum. Mr. Goldman was married on the tenth of July, 1872, to Miss Emina M. Shipp, of Clarksville, Missouri. They have two children-Emma Gertrude and Homer Linn-and one deceased, named Charles. He belongs to Hope Lodge No. 29, Ancient Order of United Workmen, and both himself and wife are meinbers of the First Presby- terian Church of Brookfield.
CHARLES GREEN.
The subject of this sketch was born in London, England, March 20, 1846. At sixteen years of age he began to learn the druggist business, at which he served faithfully and successfully three years. In 1867 he sailed, for America and landed at New York City. Subsequently he settled in Henderson, Henderson county, Kentucky, for one year. Thence he went to St. Louis, locating there and remaining two years. He then returned to. his native land, reaching there in December, 1869. In April of the follow- ing year Mr. Green again settled in New York. In May of the same year he located in Brookfield, Linn county, Missouri, and at once engaged in the drug business as clerk for W. T. Snow. September 16, 1876, he purchased Mr. Snow's interest in the drug store and continued to do business at the. old post-office stand until January 9, 1882, when he removed into his ele- gant new quarters in DeGraw's block. Mr. Green's establishment is one. of the largest and most magnificent in the State, and his business, already very extensive, is daily increasing. Mr. Green is a highly popular and thorough-going young man.
HUBBARD HART.
This gentleman came from Madison county, New York, in about 1860, and located first in Illinois, where he resided for fifteen years engaged in. harnessmaking, a trade he had learned in youth. He is the son of Elias K. and Emily (nee Hubbard) Hart. On July 3d, 1855, he was married to Miss Elizabeth L. Collins, daughter of Lois and Phœbe Collins, and also a native of Madison county, New York. They have had three children, one. only of whom still survives. Charlie Hubbard is still living, but Lena and Mand are dead. They have two adopted children, Katie and Hattie, the latter now the wife of Mr. Dulton. His wife's folks are of the Friends (Quakers) persuasion. Mr. Hart was formerly an Odd Fellow. Since com- ing to Missouri he has been engaged in farming, and has one of the nicest improved farms in Linn county. Mr. Hart has made all the improvements
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himself, having settled on new land in Brookfield township. He has an elegant residence, handsomely furnished with piano, paintings, books, etc., and the place is well supplied with all that goes to make home attractive. The house is in the midst of a beautiful yard, the plan of which was made when the place was first occupied by the Harts. It is surrounded by a neat hedge, and contains a fine drive laid through it, and is ornamented with evergreens, shrubbery, rustic seats, walks, mounds, etc. Mr. Hart served during the great war in Company H, of the One Hundred and Forty- seventh Illinois Infantry; and though he made quite a tour throughout the South with his regiment, he saw no very heavy battles. Linn county needs more such citizens as Mr. Hart to improve and develop her agri- cultural resources.
MICHAEL M. HOLSINGER (DECEASED),
was a native of Rockingham county, Virginia, born in the year 1811. In 1857 he came to Missouri, and after a sojourn of eighteen months in Callaway county came on to Linn county and continued to reside here till the time of his death. Most of his long and useful life he spent in agri- cultural pursuits. He was married March 26, 1839, to Miss Frances Carr, daughter of John and Rebecca Carr, all three of whom were native Vir- . ginians. Five children have been born of this union; named, Lucretia, George (deceased), Sarah, Franklin P., and Lavinia, all born in Virginia but the last named, who is a native of this State. Oldest son, George, died in the army. He served in Company F, Twelfth Missouri Cavalry. Lucretia is now the wife of Richard Chester, and Sarah is married to Nor- ton Esworthy. Mr. Holsinger died in this county January 31, 1878.
WILLIAM D. HICKS.
This gentleman was born in the city of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, June 23, 1816. His parents moved from that city when Williamn was eight- een months old, and settled near Wilkesbarre, in Wyoming Valley of the same State. Here he resided until after he came of age in 1837. He received the rudiments of an English education in the common schools, and com- pleted his course at a Quaker institution in his native city. On coming of age and starting in life for himself, Mr. Hicks was employed in the whole- sale grocery house of his uncle, John K. Graham, of Philadelphia, for whom he worked one year. Returning to Wyoming Valley he was employed as book-keeper in the iron works of Smith & Little, and remained with them till 1840. He again went to Philadelphia and was engaged as agent for Moore & Stewart, in selling ironware manufactured by that firm at Dan- ville. In the latter part of 1841, Mr. Hicks became associated with William P. Cresson, the firm being Cresson & Co., in the hardware commission business in the same city, and so he continued up to 1843, when he retired
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from the firm. His next business venture was in the firm of Paul & Hicks, manufacturers of saws and edged tools in Philadelphia. He quit that part- nership in 1844, and was employed as book-keeper for the tobacco commis- sion house of Sailor & Sank, at the same time devoting all his spare hours to the assiduous study of the law. He was admitted to the bar in 1846, at Camden, New Jersey, and the following year became associated with Isaac Mickle in the law practice, which partnership lasted till 1853, when he moved to Neponset, Illinois. There he was variously engaged till 1857, when he entered a new field, and began farming on a rented place, and continued in that vocation eight years. In 1865 he went to Quincy, Illinois, and em- barked in the real estate business, continuing for two years, when he came to Brookfield, this county, and opened a real estate office, and is still in that business. He is also serving as justice of the peace in connection therewith. Mr. Hicks was married on the seventeenth of January, 1842, to Miss Ada T. Sage, of Camden, New Jersey. They are the parents of two children. The son, William W., whose biography also appears in this work, is now the editor and proprietor of the Brookfield Chronicle; and the daughter, Fannie L., is the wife of Thuse Bevier, of Linn county.
WILLIAM W. HICKS,
the subject of this sketch is the son of William D. and Ada (Sage) Hicks, and was born in Philadelphia, March 21, 1847. He lived with his parents in Philadelphia; Camden, New Jersey; Neponset, Illinois; Modena, and Quincy, coming with them to Brookfield, Linn county, in 1867. Soon after reaching this last named city, William, being then twenty-one years old, began reading law with his father. He was licensed to the practice in 1869, and was engaged in that vocation till 1872, when lie abandoned it. The following year he went to Kansas City, and was employed in the wholesale dry goods house of J. M. Shelly & Co. This position he held a short time, when he returned to Brookfield and purchased a half interest in the Chron- icle, a Democratic journal, edited by George N. Elliott. In 1878 Mr. Hicks became sole proprietor and editor of the Chronicle, and at this writing is still manipulating the editorial helm of that lively sheet. On the tenth of September, 1878, Mr. Hicks married Miss Ida Wilson, of Brookfield. One child, a daughter named Nellie, has been born of this union, the date of her birth being September 3, 1879.
CHARLES P. HYATT.
Mr. Hyatt is a native of New York, born July 24, 1819. His mother died when he was two years old and he was taken by his grandparents to raise. They both died when he was but seven years old and at that early age he was thrown on his own resources for support. He went to live with Joseph Harper, on Long Island, and remained with him in the capacity of
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HISTORY OF LINN COUNTY.
farm hand and gardener for about six years. Mr. Harper was father of the well known "Harper Brothers," publishers, of New York City. On leaving Mr. Harper Mr. Hyatt went to live with an uncle in Portsmouth, under whom he learned the bricklayer's and plasterer's trade. He left his uncle in 1839 and began business for himself in the same city, and continued it till 1849, when he removed to Jackson, Ohio, and worked at his trade. Sub- sequently he went to Keokuk, Iowa, and was engaged in the grocery busi- ness in addition to his other business. The subject of this sketch first came to Missouri in 1859 and located at Jefferson City, and the year following obtained the position of master mechanic in the State penitentiary, which he held till 1862. From that time he served two years as city collector, and then removed to Hannibal. From the latter place he came to Brook- field, in this county, in 1865 and engaged in the real estate and agricultural implement business with G. W. Adams and James Scott, the same firm also representing several insurance companies. In 1869 he went to Quincy, Illinois, and there engaged in the manufacture of "Hyatt's Magic Baking Powder" for one year, when he sold out and again came to Brookfield. There he commenced the manufacture of butter-scotch in 1873, and also carried on the building business and has erected a large portion of the pres- ent brick buildings in the town.
Mr. Hyatt was married November 20, 1841, to Miss Mary A. Thorman, by whom he had four children, one living and three deceased. He is a mem- ber of Brookfield Lodge No. 86, A. F. & A. M., and of Linn Chapter No. 41, and of Cœur de Leon Commandery No. 14, K. T., and Brookfield Lodge No. 161, I. O. O. F.
JAMES RICHARD HUFFAKER, M. D.
Dr. Huffaker is a native of this county, and was Born in Baker township, March 17, 1847. He is the son of John W. and Eliza Huffaker, both pio- neers of Linn county. James was reared on the place where he was born, and laid the foundation of bis education in the common schools of his neigh- borhood, and at eighteen years old attended the Carlisle Academy at Car- lisle, Indiana. He was about a year at this school, and then came back home and taught school in Linn and Chariton counties, alternately teaching and going to school till 1868. In that year he entered the State University at Columbia, Missouri, and remained three years, graduating in 1871. Im- mediately thereafter he began the study of medicine under Dr. L. E. Cross, of Brookfield, and, after reading one year, went, in the winter of 1872-73, to the Homeopathic Hospital College at Cleveland, Ohio, and there took a course of medical lectures. He began practice in the spring of 1873, succeeding to the practice of his old preceptor, Dr. Cross, of Brookfield. Again in 1878, he attended lectures, this time at the St. Louis Homeopathic College, and after graduating from that institution, resumed
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his practice at Brookfield. The same institution, in 1880, conferred the honorary degree of ad eundem on Dr. Huffaker. He has an extensive and lucrative practice in Linn and adjoining counties. He was married May 26, 1874, to Miss Dora Rooker, daughter of T. M. Rooker, of Linn county. They are the parents of three children, Edith, Mabel, and Elva Steel Rooker, all born at Brookfield. Dr. Huffaker is a member of Hope Lodge No. 29, A. O. U. W. of Brookfield.
DWIGHT PAYSON HUBBARD.
Mr. Hubbard was born on a farm near Belleville, Jefferson county, New York, July 26, 1843. He was left an orphan when only eight years old, and was taken charge of by his grandfather, and lived with him till his thirteenth year. The death of his grandparent threw Mr. Hubbard on his own resources, and he began supporting himself by doing "chores " for farmers, and thus continued till his sixteenth year. By that time he had saved enough by close economy to defray the expense of two years' school- ing, previous to which he had had no education. He attended the Belleville Academy, represented by Professor James D. Houghton, whom he still ' reveres as a father. Immediately after quitting the academy, April 9, 1861, he enlisted in Company K, of the Twenty-fourth New York Volunteer In- fantry, the first and second lieutenants of which had been his teachers in the school. He served till 1863, when he was discharged for disability, caused by gun-shot wounds received at the second battle of Bull Run. He participated in the battles of Fredericksburg and Rappahannock Station. He returned to New York and took a course in a commercial school at Sy- racuse. Again in October, 1864, he enlisted in the First New York Vet- eran Cavalry, serving till June 8, 1865. Returning to Belleville, he en- gaged in the boot and shoe business till 1866, when he was obliged to quit because of ill health caused by his wounds. He then engaged in farming, and has pursued that vocation ever since. In 1868 he came to Linn county and located on a farm near Brookfield, where he still resides. He was mar- ried September 12, 1866, to Miss Minnie, only daughter of Benjamin and Lucy Dickenson, of Adams, Jefferson county, New York. They have two children, Arthur D. and Clark S. Mr. Hubbard is master of Grange No. 481, at Brookfield.
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