Biographies
Charles A. Robinson. - Through an extensive
and varied experience in newspaper work Charles A. Robinson, of
Joplin, acquired a knowledge of men, their methods of thought and
impulses to action, and of the world in general, which qualified
him well for almost any other line of productive endeavor for
which he was adapted by natural endowment and inclination, and
has made him successful in all his undertakings. He was a poor
boy and early in life found himself at the mercy of the buffets
of fate and compelled to take care of himself and work his own
way to comfort and consequence among men. He accepted his destiny
with cheerfulnes and entered upon the task before him with
alacrity, applying all his powers to whatever he had to do and
making every hour of his labor tell to his advantage.
Mr. Robinson is a native of our adjoining state of
Kansas, and was born in its county of Johnson on July 9, 1875.
His father, Richard C. Robinson, was born and reared
in Ohio, and the mother, whose maiden name was Mary
Miller, was a native of Illinois. They are not living in
Neosho county, Kansas, where they are profitably engaged in
farming and generally esteemed as among the most worthy and
useful citizens of the prolific and progressive region in which
they live.
They were the parents of nine children, of whom Charles
A. was the third in order of birth, but the eldes of the six that
survived. He obtained a limited education in the public school in
Olathe, Kansas, attending it until he reached the age of eleven
years. The exigencies of his situation then compelled him to go
to work for himself, and he began his useful and progressive
career as a newsboy, selling the old line newspapers of Kansas
City. He was so apt and alert in his work, and so keenly on the
lookout for something better, that he soon secured a more
agreeable and remunerative position in the circulation department
of the Kansas City Journal. His duties in this engagement
were to etablish agencies and news depots in various places, and
thus help to build up the circulation of the paper. He was bery
energetic and successful in his efforts and won high commendation
from the paper for his enterprise.
He continued in connection with newspaper work in Kansas
City until 1894, then went to Chicago and secured employment in
the circulation department of the Chicago Tribune, with
which he was connected about three years. In 1897 he came West
agian and located in Kansas City, Missouri, where he opened a
retail grocery store, establishing himself at the corner of Main
and Thirty-first streets. One year of mercantile life was enough
for him at that time, and at the end of it he returned to the
newspaper line, taking employment in the circulation department
of the Joplin Globe. He remained with the Globe
nine years, and made an excellent record in its service.
In 1908 he was appointed receiving teller of the Joplin
Gas Company, a position in which he has given eminent
satisfaction to his employer and its patrons, and extended and
intensified the general esteem in which he has always been held.
He is careful and correct in his work, courteous and obliging in
his demeanor, constant in attention to the requirements of his
position and faithful in the performance of every duty. These
traits of character, together with his well known ability and his
loyal service on all occasions to his political party, induced
his party to appoint him city clerk under the Democratic
administration of 1911.
Mr. Robinson is a firm believer in the
principles of the Democratic party and an earnest and effective
worker for its successs in all campaigs. He is recognized by both
its leaders and its rank and file. He knows the voters and how to
commend the cause he represents to their judgment and approval,
and is therefore able to render great service to the organization
and its candidates whenever he takes the field, as he always
does.
His ancestors on his father's side of the house came to
this country from the north of Ireland and located in Ohio.
Members of the family have helped materially to develop and build
up that great stae, and have written their record in its history
in lines very creditable to themselves and deeds very serviceable
to the commonwealth. Succeeding generations have lived and
labored in many states, and everywhere have well sustained the
traditions and inspirin examples furnished by the earlier
arrivals and residents of the family connection on American
soil.
Mr. Robinson was married in Kansas City,
Missouri, on June 9, 1897, to Miss Nellie Norris, a
daughter of Captain W.H.P. Norris, a valiant soldier
in the Twenty-first Missouri Infantry during the Civil war. They
have one child, Charles A. Robinson, Jr., whose life
began in Joplin on June 26, 1904. The parents are members of the
Methodist Episcopal church, South. They have an attractive home
in Joplin, at 616 North Joplin street.
Source: History of Jasper County by Joel
T. Livingston, pg. 679 - 680.
Perl D. Decker is recognized as one of he
strong members of the Jasper county bar. He is undoubtedly one of
the busiest, for his practical and steady application to their
interests has won him scores of clients. Mr. Decker, who is yet
to be counted among the younger generation of citizenship, is an
Ohioan by circumstance of birth, his arrival upon this mundane
sphere having been made on September, 10, 1875, in Athens county
of the Buckeye state. His boyhood and youth were passed amid
rural surroundings, the scene of his residence shifting from Ohio
to Kansas, for in 1879 his father removed to Cloud county of the
latter state. There they bought a tract of wild prairie land near
Concordia and the elder people have ever since resided there. The
elder Mr. Decker is an excellent farmer, who has
improved his land in the most thorough manner, erecting good
buildings, and, in short, made of his Jayhawker homestead an
exceptionally fine property. He is still actively engaged in
agriculture of a general character and in stock-raising. The
maiden name of the mother was Sarah Ann Nye, who was
born in Ohio and reared four sons, named Amasa,
Melvin, Perl D. and
William.
Mr. Decker, the immediate subject of this brief record,
received his education in the schools of Cloud county, Kansas,
and matriculated for his higher trianing in Park College,
Missouri, where he studied for eight years and was graduated with
the class of 1897. A long gathering determination to adopt the
legal profession had in the meantime reached the point of
crystallization and to secure his training Mr. Decker entered the
State University of Kansas and was graduated with the class of
1899. Attracted by the prosperous and rapidly growing city of
Joplin, shortly after his admission to the bar he came here to
hang out his professional shingle and has ever since that time
been engaged in the general practice of the law. During four
years of this time Mr. Decker was a partner of Jedge David
E. Blair. He is a strong advocate before court or jury and
not only marshalls his causes with great ability, but also brings
to bear the strength of a strong and upright character, so that
he has gained and held the inviolable confidence and regard of
his fellow practitioners and also of the general public.
Mr. Decker was married in 1904, to Bertha
Greer, who is a native of the state of Illinois and a
daughter of Richard Greer. They maintain a cultured
and hospitable home. Mr. Decker's fraternal affiliations are with
the Independent Order of Odd Fellows, the Knights of Pythias and
the Woodmen of America.
Source: History of Jasper County Missouri
by Joel T. Livingston pg. 1019
John W. Frey. - An essentially
representative citizen and business man of Webb City, Missouri,
and one who has ever been loyal to the best interests of this
section of the state is John W. Frey, who has long been a
prominent factor in milling, banking and mining circles in Jasper
county.
A native of the find old Keystone state of the Union,
John W. Frey was born at Cowan, Union county, Pennsylvania, and
he is a son of Charles and Sarah Frey,
both of whom were born in Pennsylvania, the former in Chester
county and the latter in Berks county. The father was a mechanic
by trade and as a young man began to manufacture grain drills,
under the old Pennocks patent, he having been about the first
person to begin operations along that line. Charles Frey traced
his ancestry back to stanch Welsh extraction and the maiden name
of his mother was Griffith. Mrs. Charles
Frey was descended from old Swiss stock and her mother's
name, prior to her marriage, was Zellar. Mr. and
Mrs. Frey were the parents of six children - five boys and one
girl. The sister died at an early age and four of the brothers
were gallant and faithful soldiers in the Union army in the Civil
war, the three older ones having served throughout the whole
sanguinary struggle and all four having completed their military
careers withough a scratch, worth mentioning.
John W. Frey was reared to maturity in Union county,
Pennsylvania, where he attended Pike school, No. 6, until he had
reached his sixteenth year. In Mr. Frey's own words: "It was the
commonest kind of a common school but somehow the little old
school houses of that day made what little you did get stick."
His first employment was in connection with railroading and for a
time he worked for the private car line known in eastern
Pennsylvania as Peiphers line, which ran from New York and
Philadelphia to Lock Haven, Pennsylvania. Subsequently he was in
the employ of the Philadelphia & Erie Road and still later
was connected with the Frisco System. Having drifted into
Arkansas he organized the company that erected a mill and was
vice-president and manager of the first complete roller mill
built in Arkansas. While a resident of Rogers, Arkansas, he was
president and manager of a company that built the water works
syster in that place. He subsequently established his home at
Webb City, Missouri, where he has since resided and where he was
in the milling business for a number of years. In due time he
became interested in banking and was actively identified with
that line of enterprise in connection with the First National
Bank of Webb City, of which he was vice-president for years,
later becoming a heavy stockholder and a director in the First
National Bank of Carterville. When lead prospecting and mining
became such important fatures in the business world of Japser
county he turned his attention to that field, investing
considerable money therein at Webb City.
At the time of the inception of the Civil war Mr. Frey
became an ardent Union sympathizer and he served for nine months
as a private in the Twelfth Pennsylvania Cavalry, having enlisted
for service in Company E, under Captain David A.
Irvin. In his political proclivities he is a stanch
advocate of the principles and policies promulgated by the
Socialist party, being an active memeber of the Webb City Local
and doing considerable writing for publication along socialist
lines. While he has never manifested aught of ambition for the
honors or emoluments of public office of any description, he has
been honored by his fellow citizens with election to a number of
important positions of trust and responsibility. At Rogers,
Arkansas, he was a member of the city council and while a
resident of Pennsylvania he was incumbent of the office of
justice of the peace. In 1896 he was elected mayor of Webb city,
and he discharged the duties connected with the administration of
the municipal affairs of this place most creditably.
At Rolla, Missouri, on the 3d of February, 1875, was
solemnized the marriage of Mr. Frey to Miss Jane S.
Hagar, who was reared and educated at Rolla and who is a
daughter of John S. Hagar. Mrs. Frey was born in the
state of New York. Of the two children born to Mr. and Mrs. Frey,
Georgia is the widow of A.M. Wagner and
Nell has been summoned to the life eternal and is
buried in the Rogers cemetery, at Rogers, Arkansas.
In a fraternal way Mr. Frey is a prominent member of the
time-honored Masonic order, having become affiliated therewith in
1867. He was high priest of Webb City Chapter, No. 119, Royal
Arch Masons, in 1905-6, and has since been principal sojourner
thereof. For three years prior to January, 1910, he was secretary
of the Webb City Commercial Club, of which he is a most valued
and appreciative member. Mr. Frey is a man of unusual executive
ability, fine mental caliber and tremendous vitality. He carries
to successful completion everything he undertakes and all his
business dealings are characterized by those fair and honorable
methods which command to him the unqualified confidence and
esteem of all with whom he comes in contact.
Source: History of Jasper County by Joel
T. Livingston pg.1017 - 1019
Fred L. WILLIAMS is a prominent practicing
lawyer of Joplin, Missouri, where he is numbered among the
representative legal minds of the state, enjoying a fair share of
public patronage and its entire confidence and favor, and
likewise the high esteem of his fellow citizens in all stations
of life. He has been a popular resident of Joplin since 1903, is
a co-operant factor in all matters projected for the public
welfare and his loyalty and public spirit in all affairs
affecting Jasper county and the state at large have ever been of
the most insistent order.
In Putnam county, on the 31st of May, 1879, occurred the
birth of Fred L. WILLIAMS. He is a son of James C.
WILLIAMS, who was born in Kentucky and removed to Indiana
as a boy. The parents of James C. were farmers and thus he was
reared to adult age under the invigorating influences of rural
life, himself engaging in that line of enterprise after he had
reached manhood. He married Miss Mary Alice Bridges,
who was born and reared in Indiana, and they are both still
living, their home being in Putnam county, Indiana. After
completing the curriculum of the public schools of Putnam county,
Mr. Williams, of this review, was matriculated as a student in
DePauw University, at Greencastle, Indiana, in which excellent
institution he was graduated as a member of the class of 1902,
duly receiving the degree of Bachelor of Philosophy. He then
attended the Indiana Law School, at Indianapolis, being graduated
with the degree of Bachelor of Laws in 1903. In that year he came
to Joplin, where he inaugurated the active practice of his
profession and where he has succeeded in building up a large and
representative clientage, the same including some of the largest
firms and corporations in Jasper county. Immediately after his
advent in this city he began to work in connection with the firm
of Cole & Burnett and six months later he was admitted as a
partner of that well known law firm, the name thereof becoming
Cole, Burnett & Williams. This mutually agreeable partnership
alliance continued until the 1st of January, 1909, when the
partnership was mutually dissolved and Mr. Williams has since
conducted an individual practice. He controls an extensive and
lucrative clientage and is widely renowned as a lawyer of
experience and marked ability.
At Shelbyville, Indiana, in June, 1906, was solemnized
the marriage of Mr. Williams to Miss Ethel Jones,
who is a native of Indiana and who was a class-mate of her
husband’s at Depauw University. Mrs. Williams is a daughter
of Dr. Jones, who died in 1903, who has long been a
resident of Shelbyville, Indiana. Mr. and Mrs. Williams have no
children.
In his political proclivities Mr. Williams is an active
Democrat. While he is not an office seeker he is ever alert for
opportunities to help along progress and improvement. He was an
interested factor in the fight for a commission form of
government for the city of Joplin in 1910. In a fraternal way he
is affiliated with the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks
and in connection with the business affairs of Joplin he is a
valued member of the Commercial Club.
Source: A History of Jasper County; By
Joel T. Livingston; Pg. 820 – 821
George W. Taylor. – Farming, the
oldest of industries, has in recent years presented one of the
richest fields for scientific investigation and one of the
progressive representatives of the cause is George W. Taylor, who
has profited very materially by the use of the latest methods in
the cultivation of his own land, bringing his acres to the
highest possible point of productiveness. This gentleman is a
native son of the state, his first identification with Jasper
county, however, dating from the year 1899, when he secured a
farm of one hundred and twenty acres on Spring River. In 1901 he
disposed of that and became the owner of a fine eighty-acre farm
in the vicinity of Sarcoxie. He is a man of sound civic
principles and has the best interests of the community at
heart.
Mr. Taylor was born March 5, 1855, in Osage county,
Missouri, and is the son of Thomas and Susan
(Haskins) Taylor, pioneer settlers of Osage county, who
cast their fortunes with that part of the state in the early
‘30s of the Nineteenth century. The mother was born in
eastern Tennessee, in 1821, and died in 1879, aged fifty-eight
years. The father, who claimed Virginia as his birthplace, died
in November, 1859, aged sixty-five years. The elder Taylor owned
considerable land in Osage county and he became the father of a
family of ten children, six of whom are now living. He died when
most of them were small and the plucky mother kept the family
together and reared the boys and girls to manhood and
womanhood.
When Mr. Taylor reached the age of twenty-one years he
married and began farming for himself in Osage county. He was
successful from the start and accumulated property until he
became the owner of one hundred acres in Osage county. He
disposed of this in 1899 and, as previously mentioned, removed to
Jasper county and purchased one hundred and twenty acres on
Spring River. He disposed of this farm in 1901 and purchased
eighty acres near Sarcoxie, his present home. In his residence of
a decade here he has prospered and, like his neighbors, has had
the pleasure of seeing his property increase greatly in
value.
Mr. Taylor was married, March 9, 1876, to Eliza
Roux, daughter of Andrew and Virginia
Roux, natives of France. They came to America when young
and located in this state at an early date. Mrs. Taylor died
September 27, 1900, and her obsequies were held in the Missionary
Baptist church, of which the family are members. The remains of
this worthy woman are interred in the Harvey Cemetery on Spring
River. To the subject and his wife were born the following six
children: George Walter, born September 25, 1885,
married and farming in Jasper county; Florence Ann,
born April 7, 1888, wife of George Palmer;
Laura May, born December 7, 1890; Sophie
Pearl, born January 26, 1893; Charles Every,
born January 28, 1896; and Harvey Andrew, born
October 2, 1898.
Source: A History of Jasper County; By
Joel T. Livingston; Pg 885 – 886
John A. Peterson, late of Union township,
Jasper county, was for many years well known throughout this
vicinity as an industrious and enterprising farmer, failing
health finally compelling him to go further west. Born in Sweden
in 1851, he lived there until seventeen years old, when he
immigrated to the United States, locating first in Portage
county, Ohio, near Ravenna.
Coming to Missouri in 1877, Mr. Peterson purchased one
hundred and forty acres of land in Union township, Jasper county,
on section thirty, about eight miles from Carthage, and
immediately began the improvement of a farm. He succeeded well in
his undertakings, placing a large part of his land under
cultivation and making improvements of an excellent character,
having a good house, a large barn and a finely-bearing orchard,
his estate becoming one of the more desirable pieces of property
of the neighborhood.
Mr. Peterson married, in Ohio, Leah Bauer,
who was born in Summit county, Ohio, a daughter of Dr.
Jacob Bauer. Dr. Bauer was born in Germany, and
after his marriage to Christiana Holzworth, of
Germany, located in Ohio, where he and his wife spent their
remaining years, he being prosperously engaged in farming. Nine
children were born to Dr. and Mrs. Bauer, one of whom, S.J.
Bauer, M.D., for many years a prominent physician and
surgeon in Ohio, died at the age of fifty-six years. Another son,
Jacob W. Bauer, held a high Government position in
North Carolina for a number of years. Dr. Jacob Bauer, who lived
to the advanced age of four score and four years, was for thirty
or more years a deacon in the Presbyterian church. His wife
preceded him to the better world, passing away at the age of
sixty-nine years.
Of the union of Mr. and Mrs. Peterson five children were
born, namely: Henry Earl, of Wyoming;
Edith, wife of Rev. W.T. Ferguson, of
Gregory, South Dakota; Nellie May, a successful and
popular teacher in Gregory, South Dakota, where she has taken up
a homestead claim; Thomas Fred, of Montana; and
Deo Alfred, who resides on the home farm, of which
he is the manager. Mrs. Peterson, with the able assistance of her
son Deo Alfred, has continued the improvements previously
inaugurated on the home estate, which bears evidence of the
thrift and enterprise which first established it and by which it
has since been carried on. She is a member of the Methodist
Episcopal church, and has reared her children to useful and
honored men and women.
Source: A History of Jasper County By Joel
T. Livingston; Pg 896
Robert Henry Shelton. – Among the
venerable and highly esteemed citizens of Jasper county must be
numbered Robert Henry Shelton, a retired farmer, now residing at
Avilla. Although a native of Kentucky, he has been identified
with the county for thirty-five years and has ever proved very
loyal to its interests. He is widely known in the locality and
enjoys the respect of his neighbors. Mr. Shelton was born
September 22, 1838, in Russellville, Logan county, Kentucky, the
son of Mayberry and Elizabeth (Henry)
Shelton, natives of the Blue Grass state, and grandson of
Hall and Elizabeth Shelton. His
maternal grandparents were Robert and Nancy
Henry, the grandfather was born in Scotland and his wife
in Ireland, of Scotch ancestry. He grew to manhood on a farm in
his native county and there acquired those habits of industry and
thrift which were later to stand him in good stead. He had the
misfortune to be bereft of his mother’s care when a child
and his father died in 1862, when he was a young man. He was the
oldest of two children born to his mother. His brother
Ashur lives in Washington county, Illinois. The
following children were born of the second marriage of the
father: Charles, Jane,
Nancy, Lewis, Parena,
Martha, Alice and
George.
In the year 1853 Mr. Shelton removed to the state of
Illinois with his father, and the residence there was of one year
duration. He then returned to Illinois and lived there until
1875, when he returned to Missouri and located in McDonald
township, Jasper county. For several years he farmed on rented
land, but in 1884, being favorably impressed with the charms and
advantages of this section, he purchased one hundred and
twenty-two acres on White Oak Creek, making the purchase of
D.R. Milton. Here he resided throughout the
remainder of his active agricultural career, and in 1905 retired,
leaving his son, Henry Shelton, in charge of the
farm. In the year mentioned he removed to La Russell and there
erected a handsome residence, but in May, 1911, he disposed of
the same and took up his home in Avilla, where he purposes to
reside permanently. His home is situated upon an acre and a
fourth of desirable ground and this tiny farm Mr. Shelton finds
much pleasure in bringing to the highest state of
cultivation.
Mr. Shelton was married on the 26th day of March, 1861,
the young woman to become his wife and helpmeet being Miss
Susan Neighbors, daughter of Joel and
Mary (Stanley) Neighbors, and granddaughter of
John and Elizabeth (Holcomb) Neighbors.
John Holcomb, Mrs. Shelton’s
great-grandfather, was one of the first settlers of the territory
of Illinois and assisted in laying out the town of Belleville.
Joel Neighbors was a native of Virginia and his wife of Kentucky.
The union of Mr. and Mrs. Shelton was blessed by the birth of
five sons and three daughters, as follows: Monroe,
born July 6, 1862, died in 1884; Gilum, born August
24, 1865; Dellah, born April 23, 1868;
Emma, born January 1, 1870; Harry, born
February 23, 1873; Robert, born November 4, 1875;
Hattie, born October 4, 1877; and
Henry, born December 27, 1879. The family are
affiliated with the Methodist Episcopal church of LaRussell and
are valued members of the congregation. The head of the house is
a member of the Masonic order and exemplifies in his living the
principles of moral and social justice and brotherly love of the
great fraternity.
Source: A History of Jasper County; By
Joel T. Livingston; Pg 897 - 898
Ira J. Martin, post-office Maple Grove.
Among the rising young men of Jasper county is the subject of
this sketch. His birthplace is Cass county, Ind., and the date
Oct. 4, 1858, and he was reared on a farm and educated in Cass
county and in Jasper county, Mo., to which place he moved with
his parents in 1869. He worked out by the month on a farm until
1874, and then commenced to farm for himself. Oct. 4, 1881, he
was married to Miss Erassmy, daughter of
Erasmus and Elizabeth Chedester,
natives of Indiana. She was born May 15, 1866, and was married in
New Buffalo, Mich., in 1881. By this union they have one child,
Mabel M. Mr. Martin now has a fine farm of 120
acres, all under cultivation, good orchard, and good house, and
fair out-buildings, the farm being well watered. Mr. Martin is a
member of the Odd Fellows order, and a good farmer.
Source: The History of Jasper County
Missouri; Mills & Company
John Messick was born in Jessamine county,
Ky., Jan. 9, 1846, and was reared and educated in the town of
Nicholasville until May, 1862, and then he moved with his parents
to Putnam county, Ind., and there attended school until 1865. He
then went to Crawford county, Ill., in the latter part of the
winter of 1865, and engaged in farming until the spring of 1869;
then returned to Indiana and lived there until the spring of
1870. Then he came to southwest Missouri and visited northwest
Arkansas, Cherokee Nation, and southern Kansas, and made his way
to Jasper county, Mo., in the following July. In the spring of
1871 he went to Dade county, and bought a piece of raw
prairie-land and improved it, but did not remain long on account
of poor health. He then went to Hickory county, where he engaged
in the drug business until the spring of 1875; he then came back
to Dade county and farmed one season; then came back to Jasper
county, where he rented and cultivated J.M.
Richardson’s farm for two seasons. He then bought
the northwest quarter of section 26, in the spring of 1879, and
began to improve it. On June 26th, 1879, he married
Florella Anna Sheldon, daughter of Abel
and Sofronia Sheldon, of Ohio. Mrs. Messick’s
father was born in Hamilton county, Ohio, and at the age of
twelve years went to Kentucky. In the fall of 1882 John Messick
bought the south half of the northwest quarter of section 26. He
farm has an excellent spring, and Mr. Messick has a very nice and
pleasant home. He is a good neighbor, and is held in high esteem
by all who know him.
Source: The History of Jasper County
Missouri; Mills & Company
William D. Mitchell, farmer, section 23,
post-office Dudenville, was born in Johnson county, Ind., June
18, 1839, and was reared and educated in Johnson county. He is
the son of Benjamin and Bernetha
Mitchell, natives of Kentucky. Our subject was the third
of eleven children. On Aug. 14, 1862, he enlisted in Company I,
Seventy-ninth Indiana Infantry, and served his country three
years. He was mustered in at Indianapolis and went to Louisville,
Ky., and joined the Army of the Cumberland. The principal battles
he was engaged in were Berryville, Stone River, Lookout Mountain,
and Missionary Ridge, and was mustered out June 7, 1865. He was
married to Miss Delphia Shoemaker, June 23, 1861,
the daughter of Washington and Eliza
Shoemaker. His father was born in Ohio and his mother in
Kentucky. Mrs. Mitchell was the third of eight children, being
born Feb. 1, 1841. Mr. Mitchell moved to Guthrie county, Iowa,
and farmed four years; then moved to Kansas, living there three
years, and moved and located on his present farm of 160 acres, in
1873. It is well fenced and watered. Mr. and Mrs. Mitchell are
members of the Christian Church. Mr. Mitchell’s well-earned
reputation for fair and honorable dealing has won him many warm
and true-hearted friends and neighbors. They had their house
burned in 1882, and had no insurance, but their kind neighbors
have aided them so that he hardly feels his loss, for which he
hold them in grateful remembrance.
Source: The History of Jasper County
Missouri; Mills & Company
Willis Mills, farmer and stock-raiser,
post-office Dudenville. Prominent among the successful farmers
and stock-raisers of Lincoln township is the subject of this
sketch, who was born in Marion county, Ind., Sept. 30, 1838,
where he was reared and educated. He is the son of
Mark and Charity Mills, who had nine
children, our subject being the seventh child. When he was
twenty-one years of age he went to work on a farm for himself,
and in 1866 he moved to Muscatine county, Iowa, and engaged in
farming. He was married in Marion county, Ind., to
Mary, daughter of Isaac and Ann
Hawkins, who are natives of Ohio. Our subject moved to
Carthage, Jasper county, Oct. 2, 1875, and rented a farm near
Carthage and lived on it two years, when he moved to his present
farm of 160 acres. He also has 40 acres in McDonald township, and
160 acres in Lawrence county. He has a fine two-story residence
on his farm, also a splendid barn, granary, and out-buildings.
Mr. and Mrs. Mills have five children, named Rolina
A., Arthur L., Cora B.,
Chester H., and Lester E. Mr. and Mrs.
Mills are both members of the Society of Friends, and are greatly
respected by all who know them.
Source: The History of Jasper County
Missouri; Mills & Company
George Williams. – A splendid
representative of the younger generation of thriving
agriculturists of Union township, George Williams proprietor of
the Fallis Stock Farm, is prominently identified with the
industrial interests of his community and is conducting his
farming operations with marked success. Wide-awake and
industrious, he possesses much energy and excellent executive
ability, and is held in high regard by his fellow-associates. A
son of George Williams, Sr., he was born October 22,
1881, in Twin Grove township, Jasper county, and was there reared
and educated.
George Williams, Sr., was born near Dayton, Ohio, and
while yet a young man served his country as a soldier during the
Civil war, enlisting in an Ohio regiment. Becoming one of the
early settlers of Jasper county, Missouri, he purchased a tract
of land that was practically in its original wildness, and having
improved a good farm in Twin Grove township, was engaged as a
tiller of the soil until his death, at the age of seventy-three
years. He was a man of sterling integrity and honesty; a stanch
Republican in politics; a valued member of the Grand Army of the
Republic; and belonged to the Christian church. He married
Catherine Wardson, who was born in Barton county,
Missouri, a daughter of John Wardson. She died when
her son George was but six years old, leaving six children, of
whom five now survive, as follows: Frank, Mrs.
Lucy Baker, George, Fred
and Mrs. Dolly Flenner.
Brought up on the home farm and educated in the district
school, George Williams took kindly to agricultural labor in the
days of his youth and has made farming his chief occupation in
life. His estate, Fallis Stock Farm, is pleasantly located in
section two, Union township, six miles southeast of Carthage, and
contains one hundred and sixty acres of land, one hundred acres
of it being rich bottom land. The farm is well watered, and is
stocked with thoroughbred Short-Horn cattle, his herd containing
some of the finest cattle in the county, and with Poland China
hogs. He has a substantial residence, surrounded by shade trees
of all kinds, and a large barn and a finely-bearing orchard.
At the age of nineteen years Mr. Williams was united in
marriage with Ada Mottel, who was born in Brown
county, Kansas, a daughter of Edward Mottel, who was
of French parentage. Her parents resided in Jasper county ten
years, but are now living in Alberta, Canada. Mr. and Mrs.
Williams are the parents of five children, namely:
Catherine, George W.,
Glenn, Everett and
Fay.
Source: A History of Jasper County; By
Joel T. Livingston; Pg 1014 – 1015
John Hinamon, farmer, post-office Jasper,
son of George Hinamon, who was born in Germany in
1792, and moved to America in 1832, landing in New York City, and
from there moved to Pennsylvania; then to Monroe county, Ohio,
where the subject of this sketch was born June 27, 1837. He was
raised on a farm and worked at home until twenty-one years of
age; then worked out by the month. After that enlisted in Company
D, Ninety-sixth Ohio Volunteer Infantry, and went South; followed
Price when he made his raid through Kentucky. The seige of
Vickburg was the first battle he was in; was at the battle of
Grand Gulf, where they captured 800 men, and Mr. Hinamon was
detailed to guard the prisoners and went with them to Alton,
Illinois, where they were put in the old prison. In returning to
his regiment he had his leg broken, and was put upon a hospital
boat, and from there was taken to the hospital at Jefferson
Barracks. From there was discharged and sent back to his home in
Ohio. He next engaged in farming. Was married March 15, 1866, to
Amanda Farris. They have six children, named
Charles M., Maud C., Guy
W., Orrin G., Hattie B., and
Mary M. They moved to Jasper county in 1873 and
lived a few months in Carthage; then bought his present farm of
eighty acres and moved upon it; has a good orchard and one good
spring. Mr. Hinamon went into the stock business, before he left
Ohio, and lost all that he had and came here a poor man. He now
has a good farm and is comfortably situated; has made it honestly
by hard work and is very highly respected by all who know
him.
Source: The History of Jasper County
Missouri; Mills & Company; Pg. 1002
Jonathan Hauck, post-office Jasper, farmer,
was born Nov. 8, 1828, in Lebanon county, Pennsylvinia; son of
Jacob Hauck, a native of the same state; his parents
were born in Germany. Jonathan worked at home until twenty-five
years of age, then went to Ohio. Was married to Mary
Lichty; her parents were Pennsylvania Dutch. Mr. Hauck
worked at coopering until 1861, and then enlisted in the Union
army for about nine months; was taken sick and soon after
discharged. In 1870 bought his present farm of eighty acres,
which is all under cultivation; has a good orchard and fair
out-buildings. His children are Anna B., born July
3, 1857, in Ohio; Anson L., born July 15, 1859, in
Ohio; Catharine E., born March 26, 1862, in Ohio;
Andrew J., born Feb. 17, 1866, in Illinois; and
Sarah J., born Dec. 27, 1867, in Illinois. Mr. and
Mrs. Hauck are members of the Dunkard Church, and are well liked.
Mr. Hauck takes quite a prominent part in home affairs; is school
director and road master.
Source: The History of Jasper County
Missouri; Mills & Company; Pg. 1002 - 1003
George W. Jenkins, the leading business man of
Jasper, hardware dealer, and engaged in several other
enterprises; born Aug. 11, 1854. His father and mother are
natives of Kentucky. When the war broke out they moved to
Illinois, remaining until it closed; then removed to Kentucky;
and in 1880 came to Jasper county, Mo. George staid with his
parents and worked on the farm until he was twenty-two. He came
to Jasper county, Mo., and farmed four years; then came to Jasper
and engaged in the hardware business with H.C.
Hefley. Is also buying grain and keeps a butcher shop;
also trades in stock. Was married April 15, 1875, to Miss
Isabel Howard. Has three children, named
Mary, Rosy, and
Willie.
Source: The History of Jasper County
Missouri; Mills & Company; Pg. 1003
Page updated Thursday, March 04, 2004
© 2004 Renessa Lewis
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