USA > Missouri > Pike County > The history of Pike County, Missouri : an encyclopedia of useful information, and a compendium of actual facts > Part 24
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in September of the same year, thus formning the present firm of Todd Brothers.
John Hall Todd (deceased), lately of Louisiana, Missouri, was born in St. Louis county, near St. Louis, Missouri, October 3, 1819. He is of Scotch and French descent, and was the son of Benjamin and Sarah Todd. Ilis mother was a sister of General Joc Calies, of Missouri. He came with his parents to Clarksville, Pike county, when he was very young, where he was raised. When fifteen he was apprenticed to John Hewitt, of Paynesville, to learn the saddle and harness making trade, with whom he worked seven years, when, in 1841, he returned to Clarksville and engaged in saddle and harness making until 1846, when he went to New Diggings, Wisconsin, where he engaged in saddle and harness making and investing in lead min- ing until 1852, when he returned to Pike county and purchased a farm near Prairieville, where he pursued farming until 1839, when, selling the farmi, he purchased another near Ashley, to be convenient to a school, so as to educate his children. Renting his farm in 1878 he removed to Lonisi- ana, Missouri, where he was engaged in draying up to his death, December 21, 1881. His wife, who still survives him, was Miss Caroline Coffee, of Tennessee. She became acquainted with him while visiting a sister at Clarksville, Missouri. in 1844, and March 3, 1845, they were united in matrimony. They had ten children: Ayesha J., wife of Jesse Irving, of near Ashley; William O., of California; Addic T., wife of William Heron, traveling in Europe: John B., of Louisiana; Maggie, unmarried and now in California; Clarence, a merchant of Columbus, Kentucky; Benjamin F., of Louisiana; and Minnie P., Sethie D., and Carrie, at home. Mr. Todd was a Master Mason and a member of the lodge at Bowling Green, Mis- souri.
Walter James Van Horn was born near Campbell county, Kentucky, February 8, 1818, where he was raised and educated. His father dying when he was very young, he lived with his mother until manhood. He be- gan life for himself by being variously employed until 1842, when he em- barked in the manufacture of tobacco at Union, Boone county, Kentucky, where he followed it only a short time, when he went to Covington, Ken- tueky, where he continued in the same business until 1848, when he re- inoved to Louisiana, Missouri, where, with his brothers, William M. and Archibald, he engaged in the manufacture of plug and fine cut tobaccos, they being the pioneer tobacconists of Louisiana. In 1863 they discontinued the business at Louisiana, when he, with the same brothers and Edward C. Murray, went to Chicago, Illinois, and engaged in the manufacture of
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tobacco as Van Horn, Murray & Co. Their co-partnership was dissolved in 1866, when he, with his son Cassius, his brother Archibald, and J. H. Patterson, in the firm style of A. M. Van Horn & Co., engaged in distilling at Chicago, having a large distillery, carrying on an extensive business for one year, when their distillery was burned. Returning to Louisiana in 1877 he, with his son and brother, purchased the old tobacco factory at Louisi- ana, which also burned down the same year. He and his son Cassins then engaged in the same business at Warsaw, Illinois, until 1869, when he re- tired from business and returned to Louisiana, where he died in 1879. In 1859 Mr. Van Horn invented a machine for manufacturing flat lump to- bacco and is the original inventor of that kind of machinery. In 1842 he married Sarah W. Cloyd, of Boone county, Kentucky, by whom he has had six children, one of whom died in infancy; Cassius, of Louisiana; Cornelia, wife of W. W. Anderson, Lonisiana; Addie, wife of W. F. Colten, of Salt Lake City, Utah; Mary S., wife of James A. Chutes, of Lincoln, Nebraska, and Clara R., who died in Chicago in 1865, at four years of age,
Wald Brothers, merchants of Louisiana, Missouri, Louis, Adam, and David, are natives of Prussia. Louis came to the United States when a boy, in 1850, and was engaged as a clerk at Quincy, Illinois. The other two came in 1866. In ISTO Louis and David engaged in business at Me- Comb, Illinois. Adam was a traveling salesman until 1873, when he came to Louisiana and engaged in the commission business, and in 1874 he be- came associated with his brothers at MeComb, Illinois, in the mercantile business, he managing the store at Louisiana and they at McComb. In 1878 they consolidated their business at Louisiana. These brothers have acted in unison since their boyhood and have shared in all their transac- tions. They began business on a small scale and have gradually increased it until they have the most extensive dry goods store in Pike county. They are located on the corner of Georgia and Third streets, occupying three large store rooms elegantly fitted up in the most modern style.
John Calhoun Walters, grocer of Louisiana, was born near German- town, Pennsylvania. November 13, 1844. When he was four years old he went with his parents to Akron, Ohio. He attended the high school of Ak- ron until he was fourteen, when he was employed as a clerk in the store of M. Ballenger and was in his employ until 1861, when he enlisted in the U. S. Volunteer Marine service on board the gunboat Tyler, of the Mississippi squadron, and served until September, 1865. He held the position of boat- swain's mate. He participated in the bombardment of Forts Henry and Don- elson, battle of Shiloh, bombardment of Island No. 10, naval battle near
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Memphis, and the bombardment and siege of Vicksburg. After being mustered out at Annapolis, Maryland, he went to Pike county, Illinois, where his father had removed in his absence, where he worked at the cooper's trade until 1870, when he came to Louisiana and was employed as a fore- man, in the cooper shop of E. M. Craig. In 1876 he became associated with his employer in the grocery business in the firm name of E. M. Craig & Co. In 1879 Mr. Craig retired from the firm, and C. Anderson becom- ing his successor the firm was changed to Walters & Anderson. Novem- ber 24, 1870, he married Sadie C., daughter of E. M. Craig, by whom he has one child, Annie. Himself and wife are members of the Christian Church of Louisiana. He is a member of Globe Lodge No. 495, A. F. & A. M .; of Union Lodge No. 1873, K. of IL .; and of Riverside Lodge No. 22, A. O. U. W., of Louisiana.
August William Wehrman, merchant tailor, was born in the village . Walthopen, Hanover, Germany, December 23. 1832, where he was raised and lived with his parents until manhood. When fourteen he began to learn the trade of tailoring and worked at that trade until reaching his majority, when in 1851 he came to the United States. He first settled at Chicago, after making a visit in Wisconsin, where he worked until the spring of 1855, when he went to Fulton. Illinois, and worked as cutter and salesman in the merchant tailoring establishment of Philip Goldsmith until 1858, when he went to St. Louis, where he was employed as cutter and journeyinan tailor until November, 1860, when he came to Louisiana and was employed by Gunn & Barnum in the merchant tailoring department of the store for a short time, when he went to Ashley, Missouri, and engaged in the merchant tailor- ing business until 1863, when he returned to Louisiana and carried on business until 1865, when he suspended, and was employed as a cutter by Ayers & Hawkins until 1879, when he established his present business which has so increased that he now employs eleven hands. June 14, 1864, he married Bettie, daughter of Nicholas Griffith of Ashley, Missouri, by whom he has three children: Amelia, Mand, and Augustus. He is a mem- ber of the Baptist Church of Louisiana. He is a Master Mason, a Knight of Honor, and a Knight of Pythias, and belongs to the lodges of those orders at Louisiana.
Thomas Ferdinand Whitney, proprietor of the Louisiana Foundry and Machine Shop of Louisiana city, was born near Vicksburg. in Hine county, Mississippi. May 7, 1838. His father dying when he was five years of age, he was sent to relatives living in Dedham, Massachusetts, where he lived and attended school until he was ten, when he was sent to New York City
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and was apprenticed to the New York City Novelty Iron Works Company to learn the trade of machinist and engine builder and served seven years, and during the latter part of his term of apprenticeship he was made assist- ant draughtsman in the office of the Novelty Company. He left the Novelty Company the fall of 1854, becoming a cadet in the Marine Engineers' Corps at the U. S. Naval Academy at Annapolis, Maryland, and graduated as marine engineer in the class of 1856, and was at the same time commissioned second assistant on board the U. S. steamship Mississippi, and served a cruise of eight months on the Mediterranean Sea. Indian Ocean, and other African waters. He was then granted a leave of absence, at the expiration of which he re. signed. In the fall of 1857 he came to Missouri and engaged in the foun- dry business for a short time at Hanibal, when he came to Louisiana city, and founded the Louisiana Foundry. In 1857 he married Laura Holt of Hannibal, Missouri.
. Robert Haveraft Williams, merchant of Louisiana, Missouri, was born near La Grange, Lewis county, Missouri. March 31, 1852. He is the son of William Y. and Sarah C. (Simpson) Williams. When he was four years old his parents removed to La Grange where he was raised. From his fourteenth year up to his nineteenth he worked in his father's tobacco fac- tory, when, in 1871, he become associated with his brother, Horace N., in the dry goods business at La Grange, in the firm name of Williams Broth- ers. In 1872 they removed to Louisiana. In August, 1882, Horace N. retired from the firm, and he continued the business alone. May 23, 1877, he married Ora B., daughter of J. N. Bryson, of Louisiana, Missouri, by whom he has one child, Russell. He is a Knight of Pythias, and member of Unison Lodge No. 1875, of Louisiana, of which he is one of the past dictators. In 1882 he represented his lodge in the Grand Lodge of the state that met at St. Louis.
Levi Hall Woods, grocer, of Louisiana, was born in Brookville, Frank- lin county, Indiana, April 16. 1828, where he was raised, and educated in the public schools. At the age of fifteen he began elerking and was em- ployed as such by his father and others up to 1850, when he made a trip to California with a mule team. where he successfully mined on the Yuba and Feather rivers until 1852, when he went to Portland, Oregon, and engaged in the anction business, first as clerk and then as proprietor, until May, 1855, when he returned to Indiana, and soon after he became associated with F. G. Taylor, of Covington. Kentucky, and ran a peddler's wagon through por- tions of Ohio and Indiana, wholesaling Yankee notions, until the fail of 1856, when he came to Missouri and was employed as a clerk at Savannah
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until the fall of 1855, when he purchased a farm near Savannah and pur- sued farming until 1881, when he joined the Confederate army under Gen- eral Sterling Price. Three months after his enlistment he was injured, and soon after he accepted the terms of President Lincoln's proclamation and gave up his arms. Hle then went to St. Louis where he was employed as second mate on the steamer " Beardstown " for two seasons. During 1865 and 1866 he sold fanning mills through the southern portion of Illinois for a Cincinnati firm. In 1867 he came to Clarksville, Missouri, where he clerked until 1869, when he came to Louisiana and engaged in the grocery businesss until the spring of 1870, when he failed in business on account of going security for others. He then went to Illinois and farmed near Alton until 1872, when he went to St. Louis and was engaged in huckstering for two years, and afterward employed as salesman for a tobacco manufactory until 1874, when he purchased a farm near Bowling Green, Missouri, and pursued farming up to October, 1881, when disposing of his farm he came to Louisiana and engaged in the grocery business. He has been twice married. Hle married for his first wife, Adaline Norwood, of Savannah, Mis- souri, January 27, 1857; she died at the same place in IS66. His second wife was Lorain Wigginton, of Pike county, whom he married January 21, 1869.
John C. Wood, gardener, of Louisiana, was born in Schleswig-Holstein, Germany, March 2, 1824, where he was raised. In 1836 he was sent to the Prussian Agricultural School, from which he graduated in 1538, receiving the first preminm awarded to a class of sixty-six members. He then worked in his father's garden and nursery until 1851 when he became overseer on the farm of Hon. John Fisher, and was so employed up to 1854, when he came to the United States. IIe first located near Chicago, where he was employed in the nursery of Dr. John Kentton until 1857, when he went to Bloomington, Illinois, and was employed as foreman in the nursery of F. K. Phenix until 1859, when he came to Missouri and worked in the nursery of Norman J. Coleman, of St. Louis, six months, when he went to St. Charles and became associated in the nursery business with A. Conagan, in the firmn name of Conagan & Co. He retired from the firm at the begin- ning of the war in 1861, and enlisted for five months in Company A, of Colonel Cragle's Regiment Missouri Volunteer Infantry. At the expiration of his terin of enlistment he was employed in the quartermaster's depart- ment of General Osterhaus's brigade, then at St. Louis, and was with that brigade at the battles of Pea Ridge, Red River, Helena, Vicksburg, Look- out Mountain, Peach Orchard, and the battles in Alabama, the last being
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at Mobile. After the war in 1866 he came to Louisiana and worked in the nursery of William Stark until 1869, when he became associated with Mr. Stark in a vineyard and in raising small fruit, and was with him until 1873, when he began to work his present garden, one mile west of Louisiana. Ho grows everything in his line, including flowers, his market being Lon- isiana. November 30, 1859, he married Mary Oliver, of Pike county. JIe is a member of the Lutheran Church, and his wife of the M. E. Church Sonth.
BUFFALO TOWNSHIP.
Robert F. Ayres, a farmer and stock-raiser of Buffalo township, is the only surviving son of the late Richie Ayres, an old and highly esteemed resident of Pike county, who settled on Grassy Creek in 1828, where he lived until his death, which occurred August 5, 1STS. Our subject was born on his father's homestead, on Grassy Creek, January 22, 1842, where he still resides, and is actively engaged in breeding pure Short-Horn cattle, in which he has been very successful. In November, 1882, he was elected county judge of Pike county on the regular Democratic ticket. March 9, 1865, he was married to Anna, daughter of William Bryson, late of Pike county. They have six children living: Anna Isabelle, Lena, Helen, Mary Grace, and Lilian. They had one. Robert F., Jr., who died very suddenly October, 1882. when four years of age. Himself and wife are members of the Ebenezer Presbyterian Church, on Grassy Creek, of which he has been ruling elder for sixteen years. He is a Master Mason, and member of the lodge at Louisiana.
John James Arthur, a farmer of Buffalo township, is the eldest of two sons of Maston IL. and Bersheba (Butt) Arthur. He was born near Clarksville, May 2, 1830. When he was only a few months old his parents removed to Clear Creek, near Louisiana, where he lived with them until be- coming of age. When he left home to do for himself he engaged in farm- Ing as a renter on Salt River, in Buffalo township, where, in 1854, he pur- chased sixty-three acres of land, which was the uncleus of his present farm, containing 206 acres. With farming and growing fruit he is to some ex- tent engaged in raising stock. He has filled the position of school director for fourteen years. He has been three times married. He married for his first wife, Rhoda Nalley, October 21, 1852, and she died August 26, 1863, by whom he has six children. His second wife was Elizabeth Spencer, whom he married March 31, 1864, who died January 25, 1875, by whom he has five children. He married for his last wife, Mrs. Eliza A. Spencer, June 12,
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1876. Himself and wife are members of the Salt River Baptist Church, of which he has been clerk for six years. During the late war he was a Union man, and, although exempt from military duty, became a home guard un- der Captain MeGarry, but was called out on guard only occasionally.
John Marshall Allen, grocer, of Louisiana, was born on a farm in the vicinity of Louisiana, February 5, 1845. His father, Samnel E. Allen, came to Pike county in 1818, from St. Louis county, Missouri, where he was born in January, 1811. Hle was raised in this county, and from maturity until 1850 followed farming in the vicinity of Louisiana, and in that year he es- tablished himself in the boot and shoe business in Louisiana, following it some two or three years, when he changed from that to the grocery business which he followed until his death, in 1870. The subject of this sketch was raised in Louisiana, and educated in the private and public schools, and by attending Eureka College, in Illinois, a year and a half. At eleven years of age he began to work in the tobacco factories of Louisiana, and was so employed during the summer seasons for twelve years, and attending school during winters. In the fall of 1867 he went to St. Louis, where he worked in a tobacco factory until the spring of 1868, when he went up the Missouri River as far as Fort Benton. on the steamer Success, and from there across the country to the Bitter Sweet Valley, where he engaged in herding cattle until May, 1869. He then took charge of a stock ranch, in the same val- ley, for Snipes & Allen, until 1870, when he went to The Dalles in Oregon, and to the Yakima Valley in Washington Territory, where he heard the news of his father's death, when he returned to Lonisiana city, where he en- gaged in the grocery business in 1871. Selling out in the spring of 1873 he returned to The Dalles in Washington Territory, and ran a cattle ranch for himself until July, 1874, when he sold his ranch and returned to Louisiana and engaged in the grocery business until 1877, when he went to the Black Hills and prospected for gold in the Big Horn and Wind River Mountains during that summer, when he went to Washington Territory and established a ranch near the mouth of the Klikatat River, and remained until the spring of 1880, when, disposing of his ranch he returned to Louisiana and estab- lished his present grocery business. October 29, 1873, he married Ollie Lyle, of The Dalles, Oregon, by whom he has one child, Lelia.
William Newton Bryson. a farmer of Buffalo township. is of an old pioneer family. His grandfather. John Bryson, came from the York dis- trict, South Carolina, in 1816, and settled in Pike county (then a part of St. Charles county), he being the original owner of the site of Louisiana city, pre-empting it from the government, which he sold. Ile then,
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about 1819, entered the land that is now the Bryson homestead, on Grassy Creek, five miles west of Louisiana, which, at his death, in 1821, was inher- ited by his son William, who was born in Yorkville, South Carolina, De- cember 13, 1801, and came with his parents to Missouri in 1$16. He mar- ried Miss Eliza Yeater in 1828. They had two sons: John, and the subject of this sketch, who was born on the homestead, September 24, 1844, where he was raised. He was educated by attending the public school, the Wat- sou Academy at Ashley, Missouri, and Shurtliti College, at Upper Alton, Illinois. During the war, in 1861, he was employed as a clerk in the pay master general's office of the state of Missouri, at Jefferson City. At the death of his father, May 5, 1864, he inherited the homestead, where he soon after engaged in farming, and so continues. In 1876. in connection with farming, he engaged in breeding Short-Horn cattle, and in that year started his herd, known as the Ashland Herd. November 11, 1869, he married Miss Sno M., daughter of . John Reading, of Pike county, by whom he has two children, Ora and Eliza. He is a member of the Ebenezer Presbyte- rian Church, on Grassy Creek.
Henry Benjamin Butts, M. D., a retired physician, is the oldest of five sons of Rev. Daniel B. Butts. He was born near Rome, New York, July 31, 1534. His father being a minister and making frequent changes, he was raised at no one place. He was educated by attending the public schools of the various places where he lived with his parents, until he was sixteen years of age, when he began clerking in a drug store in New Haven, Connecticut, and was so employed for four years, when he went to New York City and engaged in the drug business, which he followed there and at Rome. New York, and St. Louis, Missouri, until 1862, when, having studied medicine privately, he graduated as M. D. from the McDowell Medical College, of St. Louis. He then began the practice of medicine in St. Louis, and in 1863 he founded the Dr. Butts Dispensary, of St. Louis, of which he was proprietor until 1874, when he sold his dispensary, and retiring from the practice of medicine, came to Pike county and settled in the vicinity of Louisiana city, on his Hill Side stock and dairy farm, and is engaged in breeding Jersey cattle and makes the "Crown Jersey Herd Butter," which he ships weekly to St. Louis. October 9, 1834, he married Lucinda, dangh- ter of Samuel S. Bishop, Esq., of New Haven, Connecticut. By her he has three children: Ada L., Sherman H., of Ashland, Pike county, and John A. Himself and family are members of the First Presbyterian Church of Loui- siana city, of which he is one of the ruling elders. He is a prominent Ma- son, having taken all the degrees up to the ninety-fifth of the "Egyptian
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Masonic rite of Memphis." He has presided as worshipful master of his lodge and high priest of his chapter several years. He is now deputy grand master and distriet lecturer of the Grand Lodge of Missouri for the third district of Missouri.
Thomas Marion Carroll, a farmer of Buffalo township, is a son of Joseph and Isabelle ( Henry) Carroll. They were natives of South Carolina, and came to Pike county (then a part of St. Charles county) in 1817. He was born on a farm in Buffalo township, four miles south of Louisiana, Decem- ber 17, 1823, where he lived with his parents until manhood. His father being a blacksmith he also learned that trade. After becoming of age he worked one year in his father's shop, and then began to do for himself by establishing a shop on the Frankford road, six miles from Lonisiana, and followed blacksmithing there for four years, up to 1849, when his father gave him a part of the homstead, where he farmed and carried on a shop until 1852, when, selling ont. he purchased the land that is now his farm. containing 200 acres, the only improvement being a small field. With farming and clearing his land he also continued blacksmithing up to 1860, when he discontinued his blacksmithing and devoted himself to farming and fruit-raising, and making a specialty of the latter for the last fifteen years. In 1860 he was elected assessor of Pike county and re-elected in 1862 and 1864. In 186S he was elected a member of the Missouri state senate for a term of four years. In 1869 he was present at the inaugura- tion of Governor Joseph W. MeClerg, and has witnessed the inauguration of all the governors since, excepting that of T. T. Crittenden. August 22, 1844, he married Martha W. Bryson, daughter of William Bryson, an old pioneer of Pike county, who came from South Carolina in 1816. By her he has six children : John M., of Texas; Homer B., of St. Louis; Helen C .. wife of Colonel P. R. Dolman, of Montana Territory; William C., still at home, and Joseph T., of Montana Territory. Himself and wife are members of the Ebenezer Presbyterian Church, on Grassy Creek.
James Young Fry, a farmer of Buffalo township. was born at Ramsey Creek, in Calumet township, Pike county, Missouri, October 22. 1820. Ilis parents were natives of Kentucky and came to Pike county in 1819. Soon after his birth they removed to Buffalo township and settled on a farm six miles south of Louisiana city, where his father died in 1522. He remained with his mother until manhood, and, as soon as he was old enough. helped her to maintain the family by working out for wages. After reaching ina- trity he worked two years as a farm hand for 850 per year and board. He then, not having had an opportunity to attend school, attended a subscription
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school in Buffalo township one year. He then taught a subscription school for nine months for $12 per month, and "boarded around." The next year he purchased his mother's homestead, going in debt for the whole of the purchase-money. He lived there two years when, in 1848, he sold and pur- chased his present farm two miles south of Louisiana city, where he has pursued farming and horticulture ever since. November 27, 1844, he mar- ried Miss Elizabeth C. Jordan, daughter of Robert Jordan of Pike county, by whom he has five children living: James R., a farmer of Buffalo town- ship; Cortes M .. a commercial traveler for the wholesale hat and cap house of J. Meyberge & Co. of St. Louis; William W., an attorney at Mexico, Missouri: Octa M., at home; and Barber W., a student at the Missouri State University at Columbia. Himself and wife are members of the Buf- falo Cumberland Presbyterian Church, of long standing, of which he has been one of the ruling elders since 1850, and has served as clerk of the ses- sion for eight years. During the late war he was a Union man and served as a home guard under Colonel Fagg.
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