The history of Linn county, Missouri. An encyclopedia of useful information, Part 56

Author:
Publication date: 1882
Publisher: Kansas City, Mo., Birdsall & Dean
Number of Pages: 906

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ANTHONY QUESTA.

Mr. Questa was born on a farm near Pittsburgh, Allegheny county, Pennsylvania, November 13, 1836. His parents were Augustus and Mary Questa. Anthony remained at home till his nineteenth year. In the win- ter of 1854-55 he worked in a blacksmith shop till the following spring at Cleveland, Ohio. He then removed to Chicago and was variously em- ployed till August following, when he went to Wisconsin and worked on a farm near Madison. After a trip to Nebraska he returned to Dane county, Wisconsin, and in the summer of 1862 enlisted in Company I, of the Twenty-third Wisconsin Volunteer Infantry, to assist. in suppressing the Rebellion .. He participated in many hard fought battles, and was wounded at Spanish Fort, Alabama, which so disabled him that he was discharged from service at New Orleans, June 10, 1865. He returned to Wisconsin and shortly afterwards came to Brookfield, this county, where he engaged for some time in various employments. In 1871 he began the butcher

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HISTORY OF LINN COUNTY.

business there and has been thus engaged almost constantly since that time. Mr. Questa has been twice married. His first wife was Miss Emily Nel- son, of Dane county, Wisconsin, to whom he was wedded September 29, 1859. She died at Madison, Wisconsin, March 25, 1862, and he was again married May 10, 1868, to Miss Carrie M. Harrison, of Brookfield. He had two children by his first marriage and has had three by the second. His wife belongs to the Methodist Episcopal Church at Brookfield, and both belong to the Good Templars. Mr. Questa also belongs to Hope Lodge No. 29, Ancient Order of United Workmen, of Brookfield.

CYRUS ROWELL,

a farmer of Brookfield township, Linn county, Missouri, was born in Lou- don, Merrimack county, New Hampshire, April 14, 1811. He was reared a farmer, was mostly educated in the common schools, having attended only one term at the academy of Gilmantown, New Hampshire. His parents, Moses and Nancy Rowell, when he became of age, selected him out of seven sons to remain with them on the old homestead, where he cared for them until their death, at which period he was fifty-five years of age, and the homestead became his property. In 1867 he sold the homestead and came West on a prospecting tour. Coming to Missouri, he selected Linn county for his future home, and purchased one hundred and sixty acres of wild . land of the Hannibal & St. Joseph Railroad Company, three miles south of Brookfield, on which he built a cabin, and, after breaking forty acres re- turned to New Hampshire. In the following spring he brought his family to their new home in Missouri, arriving in Brookfield March 15, 1868. The wild tract of land soon became a cultivated farm, on which he still lives, never regretting that he chose a home in the salubrious climate of Mis- souri.

July 1, 1838 he married Miss Judith B. Sanborn, of Loudon, New Hamp- shire. They have five children living, Moses P., a farmer of Brookfield town- ship; Lyman B., of Brookfield; Georgie, wife of John R. Green, a merchant of Iowa; Henry Clay, living at home, and Myra J., living at Pembrook, New Hampshire, with a childless aunt, after whom she was named, who has ta- ken her as an own child, to rear and educate. She graduated from the Pembrook academy in the class of 1881. They have lost three children, John and Judith A., who died in infancy, and Electa J., an idolized daughter of fifteen, who was taken sick while away attending school, and brought home, where she soon after passed to the other shore. Himself, wife, and three of their children, Georgie, Henry C., and Myra J., are members of the Congregational Church of Brookfield, he being a member of that de- nomination some fifty years, and his wife some forty-five years.

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HISTORY OF LINN COUNTY.

MICHAEL RICE,

farmer, of Brookfield township, Linn county, Missouri, was born in Marion county, Ohio, February 4, 1839. His parents removed to Cumberland county, Illinois, when he was an infant, and settled on a farm, where he lived until he was fourteen years old. They next removed to Christian county, Illinois, where his parents died, one in 1858 and the other in 1859, the care of the younger portion of the family devolving on him. . He remained on the homestead and married in 1860. In 1866 he sold his in- terest in the homestead and removed to Fayette county, Illinois, purchasing a farm in the vicinity of Vandalia. He resided there two years, then sell- ing out, came to Linn county, Missouri. He was employed at farm work until 1877, when he bought his present fine farm near Brookfield.

December 2, 1860, he married Miss Almira Scrivner of Taylorville, Illinois. They have eight children, John Wesley, Mildred Caroline, George W. K., Olive Belle, Mary Agatha, Nettie Viola, Francis Alvian, and Louisa Gertrude, all living at home.

SAMUEL MILTON ROBINSON.

The subject of this sketch was born on a farm near St. Clairsville, Bel. mont county, Ohio, April 7, 1840. He is the eldest of five sons of Thomas and Martha Robinson, old residents of his native county. His father died when Samuel was fourteen, and he has been the mainstay and support of his mother ever since, and of the younger members of the family until they became self-sustaining. In 1864 he enlisted in Company E, of the Fifty-first Ohio regiment, and served one year, and took part in the battles of Nashville and Franklin, under General Thomas. He was mustered out June 5, 1865, and returned to Ohio. Soon after this, he came to Missouri to look at the country, with a view of making it his future home. He se- lected a piece of improved land two and one-half miles north of Brookfield " in Linn county, which he has subdued into a productive farm. Mr. Robin- son returned to Ohio, closed up his business, and came back in 1866, bring- ing his mother and the younger children. ' His place contains two hundred and fifty acres, which he put mostly in grass, as stock raising is his specialty, as a farmer. Mr. Robinson was never married, but lives a life of “ bach- elor's bliss," his mother acting as his housekeeper. In 1876 he was elected assessor of Brookfield township, and was reëlected his own successor. He is a member of the first Presbyterian Church of Brookfield, and is one of the ruling elders of the same.

JESSE WILSON RIDGWAY (DECEASED).

Mr. Ridgway was a native of Howard county, this State, born January 13, 1827. He was reared in the county of his birth, and received such an

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HISTORY OF LINN COUNTY.

education as the schools of his neighborhood at that time afforded. In 1850, he was married to Miss Melcena True, a native of Boone county, Mis- souri. The following year the young couple left their home and friends, and came to Linn county, settling on the farm in Brookfield township where his widow and family still reside. At that time the country was but sparsely settled, and Mr. and Mrs. Ridgway experienced all the hardships incident to pioneer life. They bought a piece of wild land, and by their own hard labor succeeded in improving it into one of the best and most comfortable places in the township, containing two hundred and ninety- five acres. They have reared a family of seven children, four sons and three daughters, of whom five are still living. Their names are Laura E., William E., W. Thompson, Sampson G., Mary J., Arthur E., and Jesse W. Two of these, William and Arthur, are dead.

Many persons will remember Mr. Ridgway as one of the early settlers of Linn county. His well-known character of honesty, integrity, and fair dealing, made him many warm friends during his life, and it is to be re- gretted that he was cut off while in its prime. He died December 28, 1868, and his loss is not only not easily replaced to the county of which he was a citizen, but can never be replaced to his family to whom he was such a kind husband and father. . The life of Jesse W. Ridgway was in every sense an eminent success.

ROBERT J. SCOTT, M. D.,

was born on the Bine Spring farm in Scott county, Kentucky, October 8, 1837. His parents were Thomas W. and Adeline Scott, the latter a daugh- ter of the renowned Richard M. Johnson of Kentucky. At fourteen years of age Robert was sent to school at Shurtliff College in Upper Alton, Illi- nois, in which institution he completed his education. Soon after return- ing home from school his father, forseeing the downfall of slavery, sold his slaves and landed property and removed with his family to Rushville, Illi- nois, where our subject began the study of medicine under Dr. William McMurphy, au eminent physician of that place. He pursued his profes- sional studies assiduously for five years. . On the fifth day of June, 1857, he was married to Miss R. E. Lee, by whom he has three children, named, respectively, E. Byron, T. Frederick, and Fannie I. At the time of his mar- riage Dr. Scott was not of age, though he readily settled himself to the great business of life. His father gave him a considerable sum of money, part of which he invested in woolen mills at Rushville, while the remainder he handled successfully in speculations till about the beginning of the civil war. Then he made an unfortunate investment by which he lost over twenty thousand dollars, reducing him to poverty and destitution. For a while succeeding his reverses he remained at Rushville, and endeavored to retrieve his shattered fortunes; but finding the effort fruitless, he moved to

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HISTORY OF LINN COUNTY.

Brookfield, Missouri, arriving there April 13, 1866. All his effects con- sisted of two teams and one hundred and twenty-five dollars in money. He purchased a tract of land from the Hannibal & St. Joseph Railroad Com- pany, and at once began improving it into a home, at the same time en- gaged in the practice of his profession. Meeting with success in his prac- tice, he was enabled to improve his farm and conduct it as subsidiary to his medical practice. The Doctor's marriage proved to be an unhappy union, and it was dissolved by mutual consent in June, 1868. He was again-mar- ried October 6, 1869, to Miss Emily J. Johnson of Brookfield, who died there in 1874. One child resulted from this marriage, a son named Ira Mentor, born November 7, 1880. Dr. Scott has a strong predilection for medicine, and has been in constant practice in Linn county since his first coming in 1866. Being still anxious to avail himself of the most recent discoveries in medicine, he is taking an advanced scientific course in the Missouri Medical College of St. Louis, in a class for physicians who have been long in the practice.

ANDREW D. SCOTT.

The subject of this biography is a native of Scotland, and was born on the 3d of May, 1832, in Dumfrieshire, near the city of Dundee. His parents were James D. and Ellen Scott, and they came to America in 1836, and set- tled near Ithica, New York. They lived there until 1845, and then moved to Lee county, Illinois, and commenced farming near where Amboy now stands. Mr. Scott was reared a farmer, and received his education in the common schools of the places in which the family resided during his boy- hood. He began farming for himself at about twenty years old, and in 1852, married and settled on a farm in Lee county, continuing till 1865. That year he sold out and engaged in the mercantile business at Mendota, Illinois. In 1868, he removed to Brookfield, this county, and he and Wil- liam Clarkson began merchandizing there, and they did business till Mr. Scott's health began to fail, when he retired from the firm and went to Col- orado, making several trips for the benefit of his health in the succeeding four or five years. He took in the centennial exposition in 1876, and on the same tour revisited his old home, returning to Brookfield in the fall, where he assisted his son-in-law, in the firm of Ford & Brott, in the mercantile business for some three or four years. In the fall of 1879, Mr. Scott, with several other parties, organized the bank of Brookfield, he being elected vice-president. In the following year he was elected president, and still holds that position. He has been twice married, his first wife, Mary Jane, having been a daughter of William Smith, brother of the celebrated Mor- mon prophet and founder, Joseph Smith. She died at Brookfield, Decem- ber 21, 1878, and he was again married May 30, 1881; to Miss Carrie L. Grant, of Stark county, Illinois. He has four children, three daughters and

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HISTORY OF- LINN COUNTY.

one son, all by his first marriage. Mr. Scott served as collector of Brook- ley township, Lee county, Illinois, and has filled similar positions in Brook- field township, Linn county. He has also served on the city council in Brookfield, and on the city school board. He is a member of Brookfield Lodge No. 86, A. F. & A. M.

AARON STAINS, JR.

This gentleman is the son of Aaron and Julia Ann Stains, and was born on a farm near Shirleysburg, Huntingdon county, Pennsylvania. His- father was a contractor and builder and Aaron Jr. learned the carpenter's. trade from the men in his employ. He continued to live with his parents till after he was of age. In 1854 he came to Missouri and settled in Linn county, five miles southeast of Brookfield. He then engaged in building, and erected many barns and residences in that part of the county and in Chariton. He then went to Kansas in 1856 and there became involved in the struggle of " Bleeding Kansas" in the efforts to bring her in as a free State. He enlisted in the Union service at Laclede, in the Thirty-third Regiment of Missouri Volunteer Infantry, serving till February, 1865, when he was discharged because of disability caused by a gunshot wound. During his service he participated in many battles, the most important of which were Helena, Pleasant Hill, Natchitoches, Grand Ecore, and in all the fights under Gen. A. J. Smith and General Mower on the Shreveport expe- dition by Banks. He was also on the White River expedition, and was, in all, four times wounded. After his discharge he returned to his farm in Linn county and continued farming till 1870, when he rented out and moved to Brookfield and engaged in contracting and building. In July, 1872, he went into the dry goods and grocery business, which he continued till he sold out and moved to Chariton county. There he purchased a farm and lived on it three years when he sold it and returned to Linn. In 1879 he again came to Brookfield and resumed the carpenter's trade till the fall of 1881, when he began business in his present line. Mr. Stains has been three times married, his first wife being Mary J. Howe, to whom he was married December 15, 1857. She died August 1, 1863, and he was again married to Miss Grazilla E. Lambert, on the twenty-seventh of April, 1865. This lady also died July 19, 1873. He was a third time married, July 19, 1874, to Miss Sarah E. Weaver. His last and third wife also died April 21, 1880. Mr. Stains is the father of four children, one by his first mar- riage, two by the second, and one by the third. He is a member of the Methodist Episcopal Church and has been for thirty years.

CHARLES B. SIMPSON,

was born in Bangor, Maine, August 3, 1839, and is the son of Jason and Elizabeth Simpson. He lived with his parents till his thirteenth year, at-

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HISTORY OF LINN COUNTY.

tending school at Bangor. At that age he went to sea, and served one year as cabin boy, and then went "before the mast" acting in the capacity of sailor till his seventeenth year. In 1856 he became second mate of the bark Corinthian and held that position several years. After quitting the sea he came in 1861, to Oquawka, Illinois, to which place his parents had re- moved. There he enlisted for national defense in Company E, Tenth Illi- nois Volunteer Infantry, and served from April 19, 1861, till August 12, 1865, when he was mustered out, at Louisville, Kentucky. Though he enlisted as a private, he was promoted through all the various grades to captain of Company F, of the same regiment. Before being commissioned to that rank he had been transferred to the non-commissioned regimental staff as sergeant-major. During his service he participated in the battles of Belmont, New Madrid, Corinth, Stone River, Mission Ridge, Resaca, Atlanta, and the battles of Sherman's "march to the sea." Also the battles of Columbus, South Carolina, and of Raleigh, North Carolina; and though mustered out as above was discharged at Chicago, soon afterwards returning to Oquawka. In September, following, he came to Brookfield, this county, and engaged in the drug and grocery business with W. T. Snow, and "Snow & Simpson" was the firm's name, they being the second house that ever did business in Brookfield. Mr. Simpson retired from the firm in 1868, and soon afterwards established himself in the grocery and queensware business, in which he is still engaged. He never was a political aspirant, and the only official position he ever held was that of councilman of Brook- field. On January 20th, 1869, he was married to Pella Pettijohn, of Chicago, by whom he has one child named Katie D., born at Brookfield, March 12, 1870. Mr. Simpson is a Mason, and belongs to Lodge No. 86, A. F. & A. . M. at Brookfield.

DAVID A. SHEPHERD.

This gentleman is a native of Ohio, and was born in Xenia, March 13, 1839. He was reared and educated in his native city, and there, also, learned the watchmaker's and jeweler's trade. In 1859 he went to Belle- fontaine, Ohio, and established himself in the jeweler's business, and con- tinned it till 1863, when he closed out and became clerk of the post-office, of which he had full control in Bellefontaine until 1865, when he resumed the jeweler's business at the same place, till his coming to Brookfield in this county. That was in 1870, and he opened there in his old line. Mr. Hoff- man came in as partner in 1878, the firm, since then, being D. A. Shepherd & Co. In 1872 Mr. Shepherd was elected township clerk which he held till 1877. He was elected justice of the peace in 1879, for Brookfield township, which he held till 1881. Mr. Shepherd was married on the fourth day of October, 1864, to Miss Mary Hughson, of Granville, Ohio, by whom he has two children. Edwin H., the oldest, was born in Bellefontaine, in October

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HISTORY OF LINN COUNTY.

1865; and William L., the youngest, also at Bellefontaine, November 26, 1868. Mr. Shepherd is a member of the Brookfield Lodge No. 161, I. O. O. F., and has filled all positions in the subordinate lodges and encampment, and all chairs in the Grand Encampment of Missouri; and he is now repre- sentative to the Sovereign Grand Lodge.

LUCIUS ALBION SMITH

is the son of Ami C. and Lydia Smith, and was born at Walworth, Wayne county, New York, February 26, 1839. He lived with his parents until he became of age, receiving his education in the Walworth Academy. In 1862 he came to this State and engaged in the hotel business with E. J. Crandall, and continued one year. He was then employed by the Hanni- bal & St. Joseph Railroad, in various capacities, as station agent, yard- master, and conductor, altogether about two years, when he again became associated with Mr. Crandall, this time in the real estate business, handling the lands of the Hannibal & St. Joseph Company till 1868. In that year Mr. Smith established himself in the furniture business at Brookfield, and continued till 1870, when he sold out and went into the hardware business with Augustus Turner, the firm being Turner & Smith. They were to- gether till 1872, when Mr. Smith retired from the firm, and while he was out of business made a visit to the East. He returned to Brookfield, and in 1876 engaged in the general merchandise business with J. B. Cooley, the latter, however, retiring in February, 1880, since when Mr. Smith has conducted the business alone. He was elected justice of the peace in 1878, eld the office two years, and was reelected, his second term being unex- pired at this writing. Mr. Smith is a Freemason and belongs to Brookfield Lodge No. 86, A. F. & A. M. He is a good citizen and an honorable man, and conducts his business on the principle of "live and let live."

JAMES S. STEWART,

senior member of the firm of J. S. Stewart & Bro., proprietors of the city marble works of Brookfield, was born in Arrow Rock, Saline county, Mis- souri, December 19, 1851. He is the son of Samuel and Mary Stewart nee Wood. His father dying when he was six years old, he remained with his mother and attended school until he was eighteen years of age, when he went to Boonville and became apprenticed to E. J. Bedwell to learn the trade of a marble cutter, and served three years. After the expiration of his apprenticeship he worked some eight months as a journeyman, at the end of which time he, in August, 1874, established himself in the marble business at Arrow Rock. He continued in it until 1877, when he closed out, removed to Chillicothe, and there engaged work in the shop of John Fitzpatrick, where he remained nine months. In April, 1878, he became a partner of J. K. Legitt, of the same place, and they carried on the marble

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HISTORY OF LINN COUNTY.

business in the firm name of Legitt & Stewart until December 1, 1880, when Mr. Stewart withdrew from the firm, removed to Brookfield, and established his present business. In September, 1881, his brother, Samuel N., became associated with him, the firm being J. S. Stewart & Bro. They are employing a force of from five to seven hands. April 15, 1874, Mr. Stewart married Miss Rebecca L. Salle, of Chillicothe. They have two children, George N. and Mamie L. They lost one, Willie, who died at Arrow Rock, in August, 1877, at the age of nearly three years. Mr. Stewart is a member of the Presbyterian Church of Brookfield, also a member of Chillicothe Lodge No. 91, I. O. O. F., and of Chillicothe En- campment No. 67, I. O. O. F.

SAMUEL NEWTON STEWART,

junior member of the firm of J. S. Stewart & Bro., was born at Arrow Rock, Missouri, August 24, 1853, where he lived with his mother, his father dying when he was quite young, until he reached the age of eighteen years. From 1871 until 1878 he was more or less engaged as a contractor in the lumbering business in Texas. In the latter year he came to Chilli- cothe and began to learn the trade of marble cutter with his brother, James S., and worked with him at Chillicothe and Brookfield until September, 1881, when he became associated with him as J. S. Stewart & Bro. Janu- ary 8, 1880, he married Miss Frances E. Middleton, of Chillicothe. They have one child, John Reuben.

SMITH SCHENCK

was born in Elizabeth, New Jersey, November 23, 1823. His parents were Samuel and Jane Schenck. At the age of sixteen he started out for him- self, first beginning to learn the tailor's trade, working in his native town and in Brooklyn, New York, until he was master of his trade and had reached his majority. He worked some time as a journeyman in New York City. In 1846 he established himself in the merchant tailoring business in his native city, Elizabeth, following it until 1848, when he sold out and returned to New York City, taking the position of cutter in a wholesale house on Chatham Street until 1850. His next move was to Newark, New Jersey, where he was employed as cutter by Charles Camp- bell two years, leaving Mr. Campbell and accepting the foremanship of the wholesale house of Waldron & Co., of the same city, until 1855. Resign- ing this, he was variously employed up to 1860, when he embarked as a manufacturer and jobber at Newark, continuing in it until 1865, when he sold out. In 1866 he came to Missouri and purchased a tract of wild land in the vicinity of Macon City, and settled down as a farmer. In 1868 he abandoned farming and resumed work at his trade as a journeyman until 1875, when he established himself in the tailoring business at Macon City,

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HISTORY OF LINN COUNTY.

but soon after removed to Brookfield where he was employed as foreman by H. Emanuel & Co. until October, 1880, when he became a partner with his- son Samuel in the merchant tailoring business in the name of S. Schenck & Son, he retiring from the firm during the same year, not wishing to share business cares. Since then he has been employed by his son. July 31, 1844, he married Miss Elizabeth Woodruff, of Elizabeth, New Jersey. They have five children, Talmadge, of Texarkana, Arkansas; John, of Ma- con City, Missouri; Samuel, merchant tailor, of Brookfield; George, black- smith, of Brookfield; and Benjamin, now learning the tailoring trade with his brother Samuel.

JOHN CHRISTIAN THUDIUM

is a native of Germany, born April 5, 1845. He lived with his parents, George F. and Rosina Thudium, until he was thirteen years old, when his mother died, and six months later he and his father came to America, ar- riving in New York City July 17, 1859. There they lived till 1865, John meanwhile learning the trade of machinist, at which he worked some four years. He attended night school during the winter months, and learned. cigar-making during the summer nights. In 1865, he went to Philadel- phia, and was employed at cigar-making in the long established house of Joseph Crisman & Co., with whom he worked a few months. They then assisted him in opening the business for himself at Tyrone, Pennsylvania, and he ran the tobacco and cigar business there till 1866. He came to. Brookfield in 1868, after a sojourn in St. Louis, and established his present business, and has built up a good trade in his line. In June, 1877, Mr. Thudium was appointed deputy collector by County Collector James Tooey, and served till 1879. In January, 1881, he was appointed- deputy by Sheriff F. M. Boles, and still holds the position. He was married to Miss- Terissa, daughter of George Drifuss, of Brookfield, on the ninth of Novem- ber, 1870. Mr. and Mrs. Thudium are the parents of five children, named as follows: Mamie, Carl, Birdie, Lizzie, and George, all of whom were born in the live little city of Brookfield.

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The history of Linn county, Missouri. An encyclopedia of useful information, Part 56

Author: Publication date: 1882 Publisher: Kansas City, Mo., Birdsall & Dean Number of Pages: 906

Author:
Publication date: 1882
Publisher: Kansas City, Mo., Birdsall & Dean
Number of Pages: 906