Greene County Biographies
Greene County Biographies
From: Past and Present of Greene County, Missouri
Early and Recent History and Genealogical Records
of Many of the Representative Citizens
by Jonathan Fairbanks and Clyde Edwin Tuck
JOHN F. UNDERHILL. The subject of this sketch belongs to that class of men
who win in life's battles by sheer force of personality and determination,
and in whatever he has undertaken he has shown himself to be a man of
ability and honor. Mr. Underhill hails from "ye merrie isle of old
England," and has the commendable characteristics of the people of that
great kingdom, and since coming in our midst in Greene county fifteen
years ago he has won a host of friends as a result of his even tenored
life, and he ranks among the enterprising husbandman of Wilson township.
John F. Underhill was born in the southern part of England, February 27,
1864. He is a son of John and Susan Underhill, both born and reared in
England, where they married and established their home and always resided.
The death of the mother occurred on January 31, 1901, but the father
survives at the advanced age of seventy-eight years. His active life was
spent as a carpenter, and he was a very highly skilled and honest workman.
His family consists of eight children, all surviving and all residing in
England except the subject of this review. They were named, John F., our
subject; Henry, James, Mary, Willie, Richard, Sarah, and Thersa.
John F. Underhill spent his boyhood in England and there received a common
school education. He lived on a farm where fine blooded live stock was
raised, and, having a natural bent toward this industry, learned a great
deal about it. When seventeen years of age he immigrated to America,
making a trip through Canada and the great Northwest, and finally settled
in Chicago, where he worked at laboring for six months, but not taking
very kindly to this kind of work, he longed for rural scenes instead and
accordingly went to Butler county, Iowa, and took a position with K. S.
Green on his large stock farm and remained there about eighteen years,
this being the kind of work in which he delighted. He saved his earnings
and on February 21, 1899, came to Greene county, Missouri, and purchased a
farm in Wilson township, consisting of one hundred and twenty acres, on
which he still resides, and which he has carefully tilled and kept well
improved and now has a very attractive place. In connection with general
farming he had, carried on stock raising in a successful manner, and has
dealt extensively in horses and mules, his registered Percheron horses
being admired by all who have seen them, and are among the best in this
section of the state. He has prospered by his judicious methods of farming
and handling live stock and is deserving of a great deal of credit for his
large material success in view of the fact that he began life single
handed and alone and has never had assistance from any source. He has
never married and in connection with carrying on the work of his farm, he
attends to his own household duties .
Politically, Mr. Underhill is a Republican in national affairs, but he
votes independently in local elections, preferring to cast his ballot for
the candidates whom he deems best suited for the offices sought. He takes
an interest in all movements having for their object the general
improvement of his vicinity, such as good roads, etc., and is regarded as
a good neighbor and good citizen in every respect.
FLAVIUS JOSEPHUS UNDERWOOD. The world owes much to the plain, plodding
worker who, uncomplainingly, does his whole duty as he sees it; but beyond
his labors there is a sphere of activity wherein the workers are few and
the products produced more rare--that of genius. Through the medium of
this subtle, sublime, elusive thing, possessed of certain favored ones,
all the great treasures of art, music, invention, literature and science
have been given to the world. Those who know him best do not hesitate to
pronounce Flavius Josephus Underwood, a venerable inventor and business
man of Springfield, as a genius of high order, although it is doubtful if
many who know him appreciate this fact to the fullest extent. His fertile
brain has given humanity many helpful things, which will continue for all
time to be a blessing to the race. For considerably more than a quarter of
a century he has been one of our leading men of affairs, for many years a
wagon manufacturer and later a contractor, but now in view of his advanced
age, he having passed his eighty-fourth mile-post, he is living in
retirement at his cozy home or North Grant street, although he is hale and
hearty and in possession of his faculties, his lusty old age being due no
doubt to the fact that he has led a busy, temperate and wholesome life.
Mr. Underwood is a scion of one of the oldest American families who lived
in New England for many generations, where the first of the family landed
from the Old World nearly four centuries ago, and from that remote period
to the present time the various members of his descendants have played
well their parts in pushing forward the wheels of the car of civilization
in the western hemisphere.
Flavius J. Underwood was born in Hardwick, Caledonia county, Vermont,
March 9, 1830. He was a son of Silas and Lucy Warner (Leslie) Underwood,
the latter a granddaughter of Robert Leslie, an Irish peer, who immigrated
to America in the early period of the country's history and located in New
Hampshire. Silas Underwood was born at Westford Massachusetts, December 7,
1783; he devoted his life to agricultural pursuits, and his death occurred
in March, 1869. He was a son of John Underwood, of Bradford, Vermont, who
was born October 28, 1755, and was a son of Joseph Underwood, born on
September 15, 1727, at Westford, Massachusetts; the latter was a son of
Joseph Underwood, born on May 28, 1681, at Watertown, Massachusetts; he
was a son of Joseph Underwood, who was born in 1650 at Watertown,
Massachusetts, and was a son of Joseph Underwood, the emigrant, who
crossed the Atlantic from England, his native country, and took up his
residence at Hingham, Massachusetts, in 1637, later removing to Watertown.
He was the founder of the Underwoods in America, now quite numerous,
having dispersed to all states of the Union.
Flavius J. Underwood of this review, was the youngest of ten children; he
grew to manhood in Vermont, assisting his father with the general work
about the farm, and during the winter months he attended the district
schools and an academy, and he began life for himself by teaching school
in his native locality. Remaining in Vermont until he was twenty-two years
of age he, following the advice of Horace Greeley, editor of the New York
Tribune, came west locating at Milton, Pike county Illinois, and operated
a farm in that vicinity several years. In 1860 he went to Rock Island,
that state, where he resided until 1871, having turned his attention to
the manufacturing business, and became superintendent of Buford's Plow
Works. Forty-three years ago he left Rock Island and came to Springfield,
Missouri, where he has since resided, and where, with James M. Wilhoit, he
started a wagon manufacturing plant, and made a success of this venture,
operating the plant for many years with much success, there having been a
great demand for their products owing to the high-grade workmanship and
superior quality of their wagons. Our subject finally gave up the
manufacturing business and turned his attention to contracting, which he
followed with satisfactory results up to his retirement from active life a
few years ago. But it has been as an inventor that Mr. Underwood has
figured most conspicuously and for which he is deserving of the most
credit. He has secured about twenty patents. While at Rock Island he built
the first successful two-horse cultivator, which has revolutionized
agricultural work, especially in the corn producing states. He enjoys the
distinction of being the first person to advocate and demonstrate the
circulation of steam for the purpose of heating buildings, which method is
now so universally employed. Among his many inventions is a coal chute
which he patented in 1904 and which is widely used. He believes his best
invention is a machine for boring out hubs in which to insert boxes. His
name is deserving of a high place among the successful inventors of his
day and generation.
Mr. Underwood was married at Hardwick, Vermont, July 8, 1851, to Daphna
Josephine Hortense Bridgman, who was born in that town and there grew to
womanhood and was educated. She, too, is a representative of an excellent
old family of New England. Our subject and wife have traversed the
life-path which leads through sun and shadow, for nearly sixty-three
years. Theirs have been an ideal domestic life, mutually helpful and
pleasant, and now, in the December of their years they can look backward
with no compunction for wasted hours or misdeeds and forward with the hope
of the just. Their union was blessed by the birth of four children, but
only one survives, Mrs. Ida M. Jenkins, who lives at Nobo, Greene county,
Missouri; she has three children. Our subject and wife have seven
grandchildren and four great-grandchildren. The following children were
born to Mr. and Mrs. Underwood: Genevieve Leslie, born on November 19,
1853, died November 9, 18654; Ida May, born in April, 1856, married
Grovner A. Shinn, September 19, 1873, and three children were born to
them, John B., Grover L., and Nellie U.; Inez Belle, born on October 18,
1860, married George B. Garlick, and to them two children were born,
Harold U., and Ruth; Nellie Maud, born, January 6, 1864, married William
Sheffield, and to them two children were born, Hortense and Cornelia.
Politically, Mr. Underwood has always been a loyal Democrat. He has served
as a member of the city council. He was at one time candidate for the
state legislature, and for many years he has taken an active part in
political affairs. During campaigns he has frequently taken the stump in
Greene and adjoining counties and won a reputation as a forceful speaker.
Fraternally he belongs to the Masonic order, and is active as a member of
St. John's commandery, and served as eminent commander several years ago.
Mrs. Underwood is a member of the Order of Eastern Star of which she was
formerly worthy matron when it was first organized.
This grand old couple are well known and highly esteemed by a very wide
circle of friends in Springfield. (Mr. Underwood's death occurred on May
4, 1914, after the above sketch was written.)
JOHN J. UNDERWOOD. Those who belong to the respectable middle classes of
society, being early taught the necessity of relying upon their own
exertions, will he more apt to acquire that information and those business
habits which alone can fit them for the discharge of life's duties, and
indeed it has long been a noticeable fact that our great men in nearly all
walks of life in America spring from this class. The subject of this
sketch, whose life history we herewith delineate, is a worthy
representative of this class, from which the true noblemen of the republic
spring; but he has made no effort to be a leader of men, contented to lead
an honest, industrious and conservative life, desiring no other title than
that of a good citizen.
John J. Underwood, president of the Springfield Stone & Fuel Company, was
born near Bolivar, Polk county, Missouri, August 25, 1872. He is a son of
Abraham Alexander Underwood and Martha Ellen (Nenninger) Underwood. The
father was a native of Pennsylvania, and the mother of Ohio. They grew up,
were educated and married in the East, and resided there until 1870, when
they removed to Bolivar, Missouri. A. A. Underwood was one of five
children. When the Civil war came on he enlisted for service in the One
Hundred and First Ohio Volunteer Infantry, from Bucyrus county, Ohio, and
saw considerable hard service, including the greatest battle of modern
times, Gettysburg, and he was also in a number of other important
engagements. After a gallant service of two and a half years he was
mustered out and honorably discharged. He studied law, and after coming to
Bolivar, built up one of the largest practices in southwest Missouri and
was one of the leaders of the Democratic party in this section of the
state and prominent in public affairs. He was a candidate for Congress in
1876. His family consisted of eight children, namely: Mrs. Jennie Farrer,
of Springfield; Gertrude died in infancy; Mrs. Mary West lives in Oklahoma
City; Sherwood is deceased; Alex is in South America; John J., of this
review; Thomas lives in Springfield; and Charles, deceased.
John J. Underwood was reared in his native community and received his
education in the schools of Bolivar; his sisters were graduates of the
Southwest Baptist College there. Our subject attended school until he was
eighteen years of age, then moved to a farm with his parents, near
Bolivar, where he worked for a number of years, then went to Oklahoma
City, and took up a claim near there, where he remained a year in the city
and a year on the claim, then returned to the home farm and lived there
until 1907, when he located in Springfield and started in the feed and
fuel business on Commercial street, and a year later took up the
commission business, and later helped organize the Merchants Baking
Company and operated one of the best bakeries, although not so extensive
as some, in the state, and was highly complimented by the state inspector,
who stated that our subject's bakery was the cleanest and most sanitary on
his record or that he had inspected in his territory. Mr. Underwood made
this venture a paying one and operated the bakery until 1911, when he was
one of the incorporators of the Springfield Stone & Fuel Company, which
was capitalized at ten thousand dollars, and which has been a pronounced
success under his able management, he being president and manager of the
same, and he now owns all the stock of the company. The other two
incorporators were M. H. Southworth and A. L. Farrer.
Mr. Underwood carries on a general stone contracting business and also
deals in cement, stone and fuel, but makes contracting his principal
business and handles large jobs, and in recent years he has furnished the
materials for a number of the most important new buildings in Springfield,
such as the addition to the government building, State Normal School
building, all the material for the state home of the Knights of Pythias,
such as sand and cement, and he did all the stone work on the State Normal
School, also many other of the best modern buildings here. His work has
been eminently satisfactory in every respect, and prompt and high-grade
work is his aim, as well as scrupulous honesty. He understands thoroughly
every phase of his business, which is rapidly growing, and he is one of
the best known contractors in his line in this section of the state. He
also enjoys a large trade in fuel.
Mr. Underwood was married September 9, 1895, to Carrie Farrer, a daughter
of Bucher and Elizabeth (Rafferty) Farrer. Her father was a native of Iowa
and her mother of Ohio. They located in Dallas county, Missouri, in an
early day and lived there until the father's death. His family consisted
of three children, namely: A. L., Carrie, who married Mr. Underwood; and
Charles. Mrs. Underwood grew to womanhood in Dallas county and was
educated in the common schools there.
Three children have been born to our subject and wife, namely: Edna, Earl
and Mary.
Politically Mr. Underwood is a Democrat. He is a member of the Christian
church, and fraternally he belongs to the Benevolent and Protective Order
of Elks, the Knights of Pythias and the Modern Woodmen of America. His
wife belongs to the Mothers' Club of the Boys' School, and she is an
active member of Campbell Street Methodist Episcopal church, South.
ALFRED H. VAN BIBBER. Even though every other condition may be exactly
right, even to the weather, farmers are beginning to learn that the
success of any crop, whatever the kind, depends upon the seed. An
increasing proportion of farmers do not think of planting their corn
without first testing the seed thoroughly; but how about the clover, the
garden seeds, and so on through the list? The tiller of the soil is
learning that he can not afford to run the risk of poor seed with them any
more than with the corn. It is not hard nor does it take much time to
sprout one hundred or less seeds of most kinds. Then you know instead of
guessing. This and many other phases of advanced agriculture has been
learned by Alfred H. Van Bibber, a farmer of Campbell township, Greene
county.
Mr. Van Bibber was born on May 17, 1858, at Cave Spring, in the northern
part of Greene county, Missouri, and when a small boy moved to Springfield
and a few years later moved to the old home place where he now lives. He
received a practical education in the district schools, starting farming
when twenty-one years old. He is a son of James D. and Caroline (Staley)
Van Bibber. The father was born in Clay county, Missouri, in 1828, and the
mother was born in North Carolina, in 1837. She immigrated with her
parents to Greene county, Missouri, in an early day and here she has since
made her home, and is still living on the homestead, now advanced in
years. James D. Van Bibber grew up on the farm and received a limited
education in the old subscription schools in which his wife was also
educated. His father, Joseph Van Bibber, was one of the earliest settlers
of Clay county, Missouri, he and his wife having removed there from
Virginia. James D. Van Bibber received sufficient education to enable him
to teach school for some time when a young man. He moved from Clay county
to Arkansas and later to Greene county, being about sixteen years old when
coming here, and for some time engaged in mercantile pursuits in
Springfield. In 1874 he was elected to the office of county clerk of
Greene county, and the fact that he was re-elected several times, serving
in all twelve years, would indicate that he was a man of ability and
discharged his duties faithfully and satisfactorily. He was a merchant for
several years, and later purchased a farm near Cave Spring, Iowa, in 1887,
established the family home of two hundred and forty acres in North
Campbell township. His death occurred in 199. Politically, he was a
Democrat and was influential in the affairs of his party. Fraternally, he
was a member of the Masonic Order. He was a man well informed on current
topics and led a useful and upright life, leaving behind him a host of
friends.
Only two children were born to James D. Van Bibber and wife, namely:
Alfred H., of this sketch; and Laura Belle, who has remained single and is
living at home with her mother.
Alfred H. Van Bibber has devoted his attention to general farming, for the
most part, and is now owner of a good farm on sixty-six acres, a part of
the homestead, which consisted of one hundred and forty acres. The land is
all tillable and has been kept well cultivated and the improvements are
fairly good in every respect, the father of our subject making most of the
improvements now seen on the place. In connection with general farming Mr.
Van Bibber makes a specialty of raising Jersey cows and Chester White
hogs.
Politically, he is a Democrat, but he has never been as active in public
affairs as his worthy father before him, and has never cared for office.
JAMES D. VAN BIBBER. The late James D. Van Bibber, was a well-known man
throughout Greene county during a past generation, having been clerk of
the county court for a period of twelve years, and long a successful
merchant and agriculturist in the northern end of the county. He will long
be remembered in this locality as a man of public-spirit, comprehensive
ideas and as a man of honest impulses and genial and sociable personality.
Mr. Van Bibber was born on May 3, 1828, at Liberty, Clay county, Missouri.
He sprang from old Colonial stock of Holland Dutch ancestry--three
brothers, sea captains--coming to America from Holland in the early part
of the seventeenth century, and located in New York and Virginia, and were
among the early founders of the country. Joseph Van Bibber, grandfather of
our subject, was born in Virginia from which state he moved to Missouri in
1800 with his family and settled in Callaway county, in the wilderness. He
married a Miss Irwin, of Irish stock. He owned a large tract of land and
passed the remainder of his days in Callaway county. He was the father of
seven children, namely: Lucinda, Minerva, Melissa, Joseph, Irwin, Frank
and Daniel. Joseph Van Bibber, son of above and father of our subject, was
born in Greenbriar county, Virginia, in 1797 and was but three years old
when brought by his parents to Callaway county, Missouri, and was,
therefore, reared in this state, received a common education and was a
gunsmith by trade and employed by the United States government at Liberty,
Missouri, when there was an Indian agency at that point. He married in St.
Charles county, Missouri, Susan Boone, a daughter of Nathan and Olive (Van
Bibber) Boone. Nathan Boone was the son of the most famous of all
pioneers--Daniel Boone, of Kentucky. It will be remembered that this noted
hunter and Indian fighter moved to Missouri about 1795 and settled in St.
Charles county, having been preceded by his son, Daniel. Morgan Boone came
a few years previously. Nathan, who came in 1800, was born in Kentucky in
1781 and married there before he was twenty-one years of age, and he and
his wife became the parents of thirteen children, twelve of whom lived to
be married men and women, namely, James, Jeremiah, Delinda, Susan, Olive,
Nancy, Benjamin H., John C., Levica, Melcena, Mary, Sarah and Mahala. Mr.
Boone resided on his farm in St. Charles county until 1834. He was a
captain in the Dragoon service of the United States army and stationed at
Fort Leavenworth many years. He was engaged in the early Indian troubles,
and resigned when he became an aged man, being lieutenant-colonel at the
time. In 1834 he moved to Greene county and settled on land near Ash Grove
which he purchased from the government, several hundred acres, and here he
passed the remainder of his days, an honored citizen, and reached the age
of seventy-five years.
After his marriage Joseph Van Bibber lived at Liberty until 1832, when he
went to Arkansas and settled in Randolph county, in the wilderness, and
was one of the first settlers in that county, and was one of the surveyors
who laid out the town of Pocahontas, the county-seat of that county, and
there he died at the age of forty-two years, and his wife died a few years
previously. They were the parents of four children who lived to grow up,
namely: Letitia, James D., Sarah and Emulus C.
James D. Van Bibber, subject of this memoir, was left an orphan when he
was thirteen years of age, after which he lived with his grandfather Col.
Nathan Boone, at Ash Grove, until between fifteen and sixteen years of
age, when he began to work out for himself. He worked and paid his tuition
at a subscription school, and attended school at Springfield two terms and
thus gained a common education and began life, in an industrial way as a
clerk at Cave Spring, Greene county, later engaging in the mercantile
business there for himself in which he built up a good trade and continued
in this line of endeavor until the breaking out of the Civil war. He then
exchanged his stock of goods for land near Cave Spring, and continued
purchasing until he owned about seven hundred acres, and lived on this
land until 1862 when he came to Springfield and engaged in the mercantile
business until the close of the war. In 1874 he was elected clerk of the
county court, and held this office twelve years, being elected three
times. He discharged the duties of the same in a manner that reflected
much credit upon himself and to the satisfaction of all concerned. He
owned a good farm just north of the city limits of, Springfield which he
sold in 1887 and bought two hundred and forty-three acres upon which he
built a large residence. He spent the rest of his life engaged
successfully in general agricultural pursuits.
Mr. Van Bibber was married in 1854 at the age of twenty-six years, to
Caroline Staley, daughter of Alfred and Lucinda (Brower) Staley. Alfred
Staley was born in North Carolina where he spent his earlier years and
from that state he emigrated to Missouri in 1846 and settled in Greene
county. In 1848 he went into the mercantile business at Cave Spring, where
he was a prominent merchant until his death in 1853.
To Mr. and Mrs. Van Bibber two children were born, namely: Alfred H., a
sketch of whom appears on another page of this volume; and Laura Belle,
who has remained unmarried and is living on the old homestead with her
mother, the latter being now advanced in years.
Politically, Mr. Van Bibber was a Democrat, and fraternally he belonged to
the Masonic Order, being a member of O'Sullivan Lodge No. 7, of Walnut
Grove, and held the office of secretary for three years. He was a man of
high Christian character and when his death occurred in 1909, sincere
regret was expressed in the community in which he lived.
JUDGE JAMES R. VAUGHAN. The life and record of the late judge James R.
Vaughan, for many years a prominent attorney and business man of
Springfield, are typical of that class of men who in the earlier history
of this country helped to lay the foundations of its present greatness,
the same being true of his honored father and grandfather before him. He
was austere in his relations with his fellow-men, puritanical in his ideas
of right and wrong and zealous to live up to them. While on the bench he
had a proper sense of dignity and research which was due to his court, and
was not slow to insist on them. Nevertheless he took a lively interest in
the careers of young men starting their work at the bar, and many of them
have reasons to remember the kindly aid and suggestions from him which
saved them from the pitfalls and traps of the law into which, in their
ignorance, they might otherwise have fallen. In his public career as well
as in his private life no word of suspicion was ever breathed against him.
His actions were the result of careful and conscientious thought; and when
once convinced that he was right, no suggestion of policy or personal
profit could swerve him from the course he had decided upon. His career
was complete and rounded in its beautiful simplicity; he did his full duty
as a public officer and as a private citizen; and he died, in the fullness
of years, beloved of those near to him, and respected and esteemed by his
fellow citizens.
Judge Vaughan was born in Murfreesboro, Tennessee, January 6, 1845. He was
the eldest son of Thomas and Susan B. Vaughan, and he was four years old,
when, in 1849, his parents moved to Christian county, Missouri, locating
on a farm, and there the elder Vaughan became a prominent citizen; he took
much interest in public affairs, and was one of the political leaders of
that county. He was a Whig until that party was succeeded by the
Republican party in the fifties, and he was a stanch Union man during the
Civil war, and after the war he was a Democrat. His death occurred on
August 18, 1880, his widow surviving several years. She was a native of
Tennessee, and was a daughter of Robert Lawing, who was an early settler
of that state. James Vaughan, Sr., paternal grandfather of our subject,
was a native of Virginia. Thomas H. Vaughan, father of our subject, was a
soldier in the Seminole Indian war in Florida. He and his wife were
members of the Presbyterian church, but late in life she joined the
Methodist Episcopal church. To these parents seven children were born,
only three of whom grew to maturity, namely: Samuel R. died in 1899 at the
age of twenty-two years; a daughter who became the wife of James R. Bell;
and James R., of this memoir.
Judge Vaughan grew to manhood on the home farm near Ozark, Missouri and
attended the district Schools near his home, and the schools in Ozark, and
in 1860 entered the University of Murfreesboro, Tennessee, where he
remained until the commencement of the Civil war, when the institution was
closed. Young Vaughan then returned to Missouri with an uncle, Dr. David
A. Vaughan, and remained with his parents until March 19, 1862, when he
took "French leave" of his home and joined the Sixth Missouri Volunteer
Cavalry under Gen. Samuel R. Curtis, enlisting at Cassville, this state.
Although but a boy of tender years, he proved to be a faithful and
courageous soldier and participated in a number of engagements in western
Missouri, such as Sarcoxie and other places, later going south, and was
with the army that invested the renowned Confederate stronghold at
Vicksburg, later went up the Arkansas river to Arkansas Post, after which
he was assigned to different transports on the Mississippi river. Besides
the siege of Vicksburg he was in the engagements at Jackson and a number
of cavalry raids in eastern Louisiana; was in the Red river expedition led
by General Banks, and fought at Sabine Cross Roads and Pleasant Hill and
was again in an expedition to southeastern Mississippi, along Mississippi
sound. Although in many campaigns and engagements he was never wounded.
For meritorious conduct he rose to the rank of sergeant-major, and as such
was honorably discharged after the battle of Baton Rouge, March 22, 1865,
and returned to his Missouri home. After teaching school a short time he
entered Illinois College, at Jacksonville, Illinois, where he spent one
term, and in 1866 entered the law department of the University of Michigan
at Ann Arbor from which he was graduated in March, 1868. Soon thereafter
he began practicing his profession at Ozark, Missouri, and built up a good
clientage, ranking among the leaders of the Christian county bar, and
became a public school commissioner. Remaining at Ozark until 1877, he
came to Springfield, where he spent the rest of his life, and was one of
the ablest and most successful lawyers in Greene county, and enjoyed a
large business. He was possessed of a logical and analytical mind, was
resourceful, tactful and tenacious, and as a pleader at the bar he had few
equals. In 1886, upon the death of Judge W. F. Geiger, Governor Marmaduke
appointed Mr. Vaughan to the position of circuit judge, to fill out the
unexpired term of several months, and he discharged the duties of this
responsible position in an able and most satisfactory manner. Although a
very busy man professionally he found time to look after extensive
business interests, which accumulated with advancing years under his able
management and keen foresight. During several years he was vice-president
of the First National Bank, of Springfield, and he did much to further the
prestige and success of the same by his able counsel and management. Aside
from that he owned considerable valuable real estate, and was attorney for
several corporations, and was widely known as one of the most successful
corporation lawyers in the state. Politically, he was a Democrat and was
one of the local party leaders, however was not a seeker after political
preferment, preferring to devote his attention exclusively to his
extensive professional and business interests.
Judge Vaughan was married, May 10, 1871, to Barbara A. Weaver, a daughter
of John R. Weaver, a native of Tennessee, from which state he emigrated to
Christian county, Missouri, in an early day, and there became a prominent
citizen, and he served that county twice in the office of county
treasurer. Mrs. Vaughan was born on December 17, 1852, and was one of
seven children.
To Judge Vaughan and wife eight children were born, six of whom are still
living, namely: Lena V., who married John A. Taylor, president of the
Springfield Business College and a prominent business man of this city;
they have three children and live in a cozy home at 800 South National
boulevard; the other children are Anne C., Charles and James; Susie died
when fourteen years of age, and Mary died at the age of two and one-half
years; Eleanor and Robert H. Mrs. Vaughan lives in a beautiful home on
East Walnut street, and she has a host of warm friends.
Judge James R. Vaughan was summoned to his eternal rest on February 4,
1904. Of him the Greene county bar will ever cherish his many virtues in
fondest memory, and his many friends will lay up in their hearts in
highest esteem the pure worth of him whose exemplary life and character
were manifest in all his professional, judicial and business relations.
CHARLES WILLIAM VESTAL. Success in the varied vocations of men is won
practically along the same line by industry, persistency of effort, the
exercise of sound judgment and correct ideals properly applied. The
chronicles of our captains of industry and men of affairs in general
indicate that these characteristics always win the goal sought in the
sphere of human endeavor, no matter what the environment may be or what
obstacles are met with, for they who are endowed with them make stepping
stones of their adversities to higher things. These reflections are
suggested by a cursory study of the career of Charles William Vestal, who,
while yet a young man, has forged his way to the front in the jewelry
business in Springfield, and is among the worthy native sons of Greene
county, throughout which he is widely and well known, principally by
virtue of the fact that he was for years connected with the office of
county collector.
Mr. Vestal was born in Greene county, Missouri, March 2, 1885. He is a son
of James R. and Margaret E. (Wadlow) Vestal. James R. Vestal was born in
the above named county and state also on December 20, 1859, and here, too,
occurred the birth of the mother of our subject, on December 19, 1863, and
here they grew to maturity, were educated in the common schools of their
day and were married, and here spent their lives. They each represented
pioneer families, well known in the northern part of the county. Dr. James
R. Vestal, our subject's paternal grandfather, was a native of Indiana,
from which state he emigrated to this locality when it was sparsely
settled. He was a physician of the old school and he practiced in the
vicinity of Cave Spring for many years and was one of the best known
early-day doctors in that vicinity. His son, James R. Vestal, Jr., there
grew to manhood, and when a young man learned the jeweler's trade in
Walnut Grove, this county, and he worked at the same in that town for
nearly twenty years, during which period he was post master for some time,
maintaining the office in his jewelry store, and he cared for the
telephone interests of his town when the telephone was in its infancy. He
was a resident of that town when he was elected by the Republicans county
collector, whereupon he removed to Springfield. After serving faithfully
his first term he was nominated by his party to succeed himself in office
and he was elected by a handsome majority. After his second term expired
he spent the rest of his life in retirement.
His family consisted of two children, a son, Charles W., of this sketch,
and a daughter, Nora E., of near Willard, this county. The mother of these
children was a daughter of Dr. Wadlow, also a well remembered pioneer
doctor of the vicinity of Cave Spring, who died some years ago, but his
widow survives at an advanced age, and makes her home with her daughter,
Mrs. Nora Claypool, at Walnut Grove. The death of Mrs. Vestal occurred in
July, 1908. Fraternally James R. Vestal was a member of the Masonic order,
the Blue Lodge and the Royal Arch division; also belonged to the
Independent Order of Odd Fellows, the Woodmen of the World and the Court
of Honor. He was a member of the Cumberland Presbyterian church. His death
occurred after an illness extending over a period of some three years, on
April 16, 1914, at the home of his son, our subject, on North Jefferson
street, Springfield. In its issue on the following dav, The Springfield
Independent, said of him, in part, as follows:
"James R. Vestal's familiar nickname was 'Ruff.' Everybody in
north-western Greene county knew him and respected him. The town of Walnut
Grove loved him. While a citizen of that town he enjoyed the happiness of
his family, consisting of Mrs. Vestal, their son Charles and a daughter.
The son is now a business man in Springfield. During his term of office
his son was one of his trusted clerks. He and Mrs. Claypool, nee Miss Nora
Wadlow, sister of Mrs. Vestal, are well known to every tax payer in Greene
county. They were the faithful helpers in Mr. Vestal's office.
"Mr. Vestal was a great big-hearted man. He was the idol of his friends
and a companion to them. He was ever ready to assist in the home of
suffering and he was always ready to the assistance of the distressed.
There was never a night too stormy or too dark for him when he heard the
cry of want, neither did he ever flinch when duty called him. He had
implicit confidence in humanity. This caused him some trouble as well as
abundant joy. Many times he was deceived, yet his confidence was soon
restored and he would go forward with greater determination. The many
traits of splendid character he possessed endeared him to all the people
and that is what placed him in one of the best positions in the giving of
Greene county. The writer of this has known Mr. Vestal for nearly a
quarter of a century. He has gone with him on missions of mercy and he has
been cheered by him in seasons of gloom. His tender heart was the pride of
his friends. He loved his family, his sainted wife, one of the purest of
women, and his children were his idols."
Charles W. Vestal grew to manhood at Walnut Grove and there received his
education, attending the high school there. He had in the meantime learned
the jeweler's trade under his father, and worked at the same for several
years. He came with his father to Springfield as deputy county collector
not long after leaving school and remained in the office during the two
terms his father was incumbent of this office. In 1913 he resumed the
jewelry business, opening a shop at 207 McDaniel avenue, Springfield, and
in May, 1914, purchased the Osborn jewelry store and is now located at 211
McDaniel avenue in neat quarters and is enjoying a large and rapidly
growing business, his friends of former days coming to him from all over
the county and he has a large city trade of the best people. He carries an
extensive, attractive and carefully selected stock, one that would be a
credit to any city, keeping a large line of watches, clocks, diamonds and
all kinds of precious stones, cut glass, hand-painted china, novelties,
optical goods; in fact, everything to be found in an up-to-date and
modernly appointed jewelry store in large cities. He makes a specialty of
repair work of all kinds, doing all kinds of high grade watch work and
diamond mounting; in fact, makes a specialty of the two latter. High
grade, honest and prompt work is his motto, and by fair and courteous
treatment he can attribute much of his pronounced success in his chosen
vocation, and the biographer predicts for him a future replete with
success of a still vaster degree.
Mr. Vestal was married, June 20, 1910, to Ella J. Campbell, a native of
Greene county, where she grew to womanhood and received a good education.
She is a daughter of George W. and Serena (Miller); Campbell. Mr. Campbell
was born in Greene county and Mrs. Campbell is a native of Pennsylvania.
They were married here and are both living, Mr. Campbell being a farmer.
Mrs. Vestal received a common and high school education and is a graduate
of the Chicago Musical College.
Politically, Mr. Vestal is a Republican. Fraternally, he belongs to the
Masonic order, including the Blue Lodge and the Royal Arch Masons, and is
also a member of the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks. He is a
young man of unquestioned integrity and industry and worthy of his
business success and the high regard in which he is universally held.
MADISON CAMPBELL VINTON. Although the business of farming requires, in its
operations, constant industry and the exercise of thought and study in its
every detail, in order to make it successful, yet it affords greater
opportunities for the best and right living and the achievement of
happiness than any other business. Realizing this fact, Madison Campbell
Vinton, one of the leading agriculturists and stock raisers of Jackson
township, Greene county, left the city of Springfield, where he had become
a successful merchant, and turned his attention to farming many years ago.
In the country he has found not only a large degree of material success,
but health and contentment. He has no desire to return to the commercial
world and the city.
Mr. Vinton was born three miles south of Springfield on the Campbell
street road on September 18, 1855. He is a son of Samuel S. and Margaret
Eugenia (Campbell) Vinton, one of the well-known and highly esteemed old
families of this locality. The father was born in Baltimore, Maryland, on
January 28, 1828, and the mother was born in Tennessee. Samuel S. Vinton
came west with Major Barry when fourteen years of age, and he finally
became owner of a fine farm of three hundred and twenty acres south of
Springfield, where he engaged in general farming and stock raising and
trading on an extensive scale. He, was a very successful man of affairs.
For some time he followed merchandising in Springfield, where his death
occurred, January 16, 1890. His wife died when the subject of this sketch
was four years old. To these parents three children were born, namely:
Mrs. Juliet R. Williams lives in Springfield; Madison C., of this sketch;
and Samuel S., Jr., of Springfield.
Madison C. Vinton was taken to St. Louis by his father when he was six
years old, where he lived until he was fourteen years old, when he
returned to his native county. He received a good education. He began his
business career by clerking in a store in Springfield, going to
Marshfield, Webster county, about a year later, and worked in a store for
seven years, later went into the grain business for himself. He
subsequently returned to Springfield, where he engaged in merchandising in
1880. Selling out he started a shoe store and for a number of years
enjoyed a good business on the south side of- the public square, under the
firm name of Vinton-Baxter Shoe Company, "The jumbo Shoe Store." Selling
out in 1887, he bought the farm in Jackson, township where he now lives,
which contains two hundred and eighty acres, which he has brought up to a
high state of improvement and cultivation and which ranks among the best
farms of Greene county. He has a beautiful home, and large and convenient
barns and other buildings, and he carries on general farming and stock
raising on an extensive scale, paying particular attention to the raising
of a good grade of live stock, handling a large number of mules annually.
For some time he operated a dairy on his place.
Mr. Vinton was married, first, in 1878, to Elizabeth McGinty, by whom four
children were born, namely: Harry C., who lives in Texas, working for the
National Lumber Company; James K. lives in Denver, Colorado, and works for
the Colorado Southern Railroad Company; Walter B. lives in Greene county;
William A. is at home. The mother of these children died December 8, 1893,
in Springfield, Missouri, and Mr. Vinton married Bessie Dabbs by whom one
child has been born, Juliet Lee Vinton, whose birth occurred July 24,
1904. His first wife was a daughter of A. C. McGinty and wife, and the
present Mrs. Vinton is a daughter of William P. Dabbs and wife.
Politically, Mr. Vinton is a Democrat. Fraternally, he is a member of the
Royal Arcanum lodge. He is a self-made man, well informed and a pleasant
gentleman to meet.
GEORGE YEAKLEY. Crop management is a scheme, not a lot of practices. An
important part of it is the rotating or alternating of crops on given
areas. In other words, pre-arranged, permanent plans must be carried out
in order to obtain the best possible results. The properly managed farm
not only becomes an annual income producer, but leads on to what is
tantamount of an endowment policy or an annuity during the declining years
of the farmer, and, finally, resolves itself into a provision for the
family of those the farmer leaves behind at the close of life. One of the
most successful general farmers of Republic township is George Yeakley, a
representative of one of the old and prominent families of the western
part of Greene county.
Mr. Yeakley was born on the old homestead in Republic township, this
county, March 31, 1856. He is a son of Thomas and Elizabeth M. (Young)
Yeakley, whose family consisted of six children, four sons and two
daughters, all now deceased except the subject of this sketch and a
sister, Mrs. Margaret Drum, widow of W. E. Drum. Those deceased are John,
James, Henry and Rebecca.
The Yeakley family emigrated from Tennessee to Missouri in 1840. The
father of our subject was ten years old when he removed from has native
locality, Greene county, Tennessee, to Polk county, this state. After
living there about a year the family moved to Greene county, settling in
what was then known as Center township, and not long thereafter the
father, Thomas Yeakley, entered and purchased from the government a large
tract of land. This he improved and carried on general farming and stock
raising here the rest of his life, adding to his holdings from time to
time until he finally owned fourteen hundred acres of valuable land and
was regarded as one of the most extensive and successful general
agriculturists in the western part of the county, and was a progressive
and public-spirited citizen, a man of fine character, and he did much for
the general improvement of his neighborhood. His death occurred on May 11,
1914, at the advanced age of eighty-four years, leaving behind him a host
of warm friends and a record of a well-spent and honorable life. The
mother of our subject was born in Lafayette county, Missouri, in the year
1834. She was the daughter of George Young and wife. Mr. Young was a
native of Hawkins county, Tennessee, whose family consisted of four
children. He came to Missouri in pioneer days and located in Lafayette
county. The mother of our subject is living at an advanced age.
George Yeakley grew to manhood on the home farm in Republic township and
there assisted with the general work when a boy. He received his education
in the local schools and when young in years took up farming and stock
raising for his life work and this has engaged his close attention to the
present time, and he has met with very gratifying results all along the
line, having inherited much of his father's thrift and foresight. He owns
a well-improved and productive farm of eight hundred and sixty-five acres
in Republic township, which is adorned with a pleasant home and numerous
substantial outbuildings. One may see about the place at all seasons large
numbers of sleek, well-bred live stock which form no small portion of his
annual income.
Mr. Yeakley was married on December 27, 1877, to Celestia J. Redfern. She
is the daughter of Joseph Redfern, a native of Tennessee, from which state
the family came to Greene county, Missouri, in an early day and
established their future home. Ten children were born to Mr. and Mrs.
Redfern, an equal number of sons and daughters; three sons and three
daughters survive.
Six children have been born to George Yeakley and wife, namely: Minnie,
who married Ed. Shook, now engaged in the implement business in
Springfield, has one child, Edwin; Lucile is the wife of Robert E.
Mansfield, a railroad man, and they have one child, Robert Y.; Bessie is
the wife of Jake Frame, a farmer; Hattie is at home with her parents;
Thomas Pauline is the youngest; the second oldest of the children died in
infancy.
Politically Mr. Yeakley is a Democrat, but has never cared for public
office, preferring to devote his attention to his large farming and live
stock interests and to his home. He and his family are members of the
Methodist Episcopal church, and the family stands high in the community.
THOMAS YEAKLEY. This biographical memoir has to do with a character of
unusual force and eminence, for the late Thomas Yeakley, whose life
chapter has been closed by the fate that awaits us all, was for a long
lapse of years one of the prominent citizens of Greene county, having come
to this section in pioneer times, and he assisted in every way possible in
bringing about the transformation of the country from the wild condition
found by the first settlers to its latter-day progress and improvement.
While he carried on a special line of work in such a manner as to gain a
handsome competence for himself, ranking for decades among the most
extensive and progressive agriculturists and stock men of this section of
the state, he also belonged to that class of representative citizens who
promote the public welfare while advancing individual success. There were
in him sterling traits which commanded uniform confidence and regard, and
his memory is today honored by all who knew him and is enshrined in the
hearts of his many friends.
Mr. Yeakley was born in Greene county, Tennessee, November 25, 1809. He
was a son of John and Matilda (Grills) Yeakley. John Yeakley was also a
native of Greene county, Tennessee, his birth occurring there on November
15, 1809. He was a son of Henry Yeakley, of Pennsylvania Dutch stock. The
latter married Susanna McNeece, who was a daughter of Isaac McNeece, a
native of Scotland, and -a weaver by trade. As early as 1804 the Yeakley
family located in Greene county, Tennessee, and there to Henry Yeakley and
wife the following children were born: Samuel, who was a soldier in the
War of 1812, and was at the battle of Horseshoe, fought by Gen. Andrew
Jackson; Mary, Henry, Isaiah, Elizabeth, Lydia, Ann, George, John, Joseph,
Malachi, Jacob and Betsey, all of whom lived to reach manhood and
womanhood. Henry Yeakley, father of the above named children, owned and
operated a farm, but he was by trade a gunsmith. He had obtained a
practical education in the German language, but also spoke intelligent
English and was a well informed man in every respect. He died at an
advanced age and was buried in the old Quaker church cemetery in Greene
county Tennessee. His wife was a little girl when the battle of Brandywine
was fought, in Revolutionary times, was near the field and saw the battle,
about which she frequently related stirring incidents to her children in
after years. She was a Quaker, while Mr. Yeakley was a Lutheran, and both
were deeply religious.
John Yeakley, father of the subject of this memoir, was reared on the old
homestead in Tennessee and when a young man, learned the blacksmith's
trade, which he followed as his main vocation throughout the subsequent
years of his active life. He retained until his death an old anvil which
his father took with him from Pennsylvania to Tennessee, now one hundred
and ten years ago. John Yeakley was well acquainted with Azariah Doty, who
lived to be over one hundred and four years old and who was one of General
Marion's men during the war for independence. When twenty years, of age
Mr. Yeakley married Matilda Grills, in 1829. She, too, was a resident of
Greene county, Tennessee. To this union six children were born, namely:
Thomas, Henry, Rhoda, Betsey A., Jane and Benjamin, who died when a child.
In the fall of 1839.he removed with his family to Missouri and after
passing the winter in Polk county, came to Greene county in the spring and
settled on eighty acres on which he spent the rest of his life, in west
Center township. The journey from Tennessee was made in a small two-horse
wagon. The Ozark region was at that time a wild and sparsely settled
country, a great portion of which was covered with great forests in which
there was an abundance of wild game. Henry Yeakley's farm lay along Big
Sac river. This he cleared and improved into a valuable farm, through much
industry, and prospered with advancing years, becoming an extensive land
owner, and he gave each of his sons a good start in life. His first wife
died and he subsequently married Eliza Allen, who also died, and he took
for his third wife Margaret L. Cochran, to whom he was married on November
4, 1880.
For many years Mr. Yeakley voted the Whig ticket, having cast his first
vote for Andrew Jackson and his last on that ticket for Peter Cooper. In
later life he was a Republican. In his religious views he was always a
Methodist, and assisted to build the first Methodist church in west Center
township, called Yeakley Chapel, and when it burned he gave the land for a
new church which he assisted to build and which also took the name of
Yeakley Chapel, and he served as steward in this church for a number of
years. His last wife also attended this church and was one of the
principal teachers in the Sunday school, although she held membership in
the Presbyterian church in Lawrence county. During the Civil war Mr.
Yeakley remained neutral, and, contrary to the usual custom, was left
unmolested, having only two stands of bees stolen, one by the Federal and
one by, the Confederate soldiers. But both armies took heavy toll from his
neighbors.
Thomas Yeakley, the immediate subject of this sketch, was ten years of age
when he accompanied the family from Tennessee to Missouri, and he grew to
manhood in Greene county and here spent the rest of his life. A complete
biographical sketch of this unusual man's life would be a history of the
development and growth of the county. He often recalled the incidents of
the journey across the rough country from his native county to this, the
trip requiring several weeks. In the wagon were his father, mother, and
brothers, Henry and Benjamin, and sister, Rhoda, besides himself. In the
party were Henry, Nathan, Ann and Bettie Paulsell, also Daniel Delaney and
family, Jonathan Pickering and family. School opportunities in Greene
county three-quarters of a century ago were meager and not much in the way
of "book learning" could be had, but while young Yeakley did not learn
much from text-books he learned how to work in a pioneer environment, and
was naturally intelligent and investigating and he not only prospered with
advancing years, but became a well-informed man on current topics. On July
17, 1851, he married Elizabeth M. Young, a daughter of George B. and
Margaret (Leeper) Young. She was born on August 17, 1834, in Lafayette
county, Missouri, and was brought to Greene county when one year old, the
family locating in Republic township, where her father entered land from
the government and he and his wife died here. He was a prosperous farmer
and when he died owned several hundred acres of Greene county land.
Thomas Yeakley devoted his life to agricultural pursuits and was unusually
successful, having been a man of great industry, sound judgment and wise
foresight. In 1854 he settled on the land where his widow now resides. The
place then consisted of but forty acres on the edge of Grand Prairie, and
by industry and thrift he added to it until he became owner of about
twelve hundred acres of as fine land as the county affords. Through it
runs Pond creek and Big Sac river. It is very productive and has been
brought up to a high state of cultivation in improvement, all of which
improvements our subject himself made and planned, and which do much
credit to his intelligence and progressiveness. He carried on general
farming and stock raising on an extensive scale and was a leader in his
line of endeavor.
Politically, Mr. Yeakley was a Democrat, but never sought to become a
public man. He was always interested in the cause of education and
assisted to build up fully one-half of the first school houses in his
district, in fact, no man ever did more for the locality in which our
subject spent the major portion of his long, useful and honored life.
To Thomas Yeakley and wife six children were born, namely: John, who died
in early life; James also died young; George, who is a successful and
widely known farmer and stock man of the vicinity of Republic, married
Celestia J. Redfern, and a full sketch of them is to be found on another
page of this work; Henry is deceased; Margaret M. (known to her friends as
Maggie), was married on March 22, 1887, to Dr. Edwin B. Robinson, of Bois
D'Arc, this county who died several months after their marriage; he was a
graduate of the Missouri Medical College of St. Louis, of the class of
1879, and in 1882 was graduated from Bellevue Hospital, New York City,
after which he practiced in that institution for three months and then at
Bois D'Arc, where he built up a good practice; Mrs. Robinson subsequently
became the wife of W. E. Drum, for many years a successful merchant of
Bois D'Arc, where he died several years ago and his widow is a resident of
Springfield. Rebecca, youngest child of our subject, is deceased.
The mother of these children is a devout member of the Methodist church
and is a broad-minded, neighborly and charitably inclined lady who numbers
her friends only by the limits of her acquaintance.
During the Civil war Thomas Yeakley had several narrow escapes from death.
He did not take active part in the strife, remaining at home as a secret
service agent in the employ of the government. He was on several occasions
attacked at night and in one encounter was slightly wounded by a bullet
which passed through the house in which he was living. Upon being called
to the door one night and commanded to light a match, Mr. Yeakley
responded by firing at his unwelcome visitors. They retreated, bearing
away a badly wounded companion, their trail being marked with blood. That
he had frustrated an attempt at murder was shown in subsequent
developments. On the day of the battle of Wilson's Creek, August 10, 1861,
he visited the battlefield with some of his neighbors, mixed with the
soldiers and saw the dead and wounded the next day.
Mr. Yeakley, who was reputed to be one of southwest Missouri's wealthiest
and most influential men and who had lived on the same farm for the
unusual period of sixty years, was summoned to his eternal rest off May
11, 1914, at the advanced age of eighty-four years. Rev. J. B. Ellis,
formerly president of Morrisville College, now living retired at his home
in the suburbs of Springfield and for many years a presiding elder in the
Methodist Episcopal church, South, in this state, conducted the funeral at
Yeakley Chapel, and he had the following to say concerning Mr. Yeakley's
religious life and church relations, in part: "Thomas Yeakley united with
the Methodist. Episcopal church, South, some years after the Civil War, at
a small church a few miles northwest of Republic. About 1875 he set about
a parcel of ground four miles south of Bois D'Arc for church and cemetery
purposes. A substantial building was erected and he became a charter
member of this class. He was a liberal supporter of his own church, and
likewise of other churches, having assisted in the erection of many
churches in Greene and other counties. He was interested in the general
welfare and contributed to various enterprises and benevolences."
HENRY C. YOUNG. Henry C. Young, descended from a family of pioneers, was
born near Louisville, Kentucky, in 1835, being brought to southwest
Missouri as an infant in the early settlement of this country. His father,
Gabriel Richardson Young, born a generation before in the same place,
inherited a change of name from his father whose family, in Wales, had
borne the name of Yong. The emigrant ancestor, cherishing the memory of
wrongs resulting from the iniquity of the entail system, sought
forgetfulness in the borderland, taking part with the followers of Daniel
Boone in the conquest of "The Dark and Bloody Ground," since known as
Kentucky. He married a Miss Stillwell. Their children went in different
directions on leaving the Kentucky home. Gabriel Richardson Young, who had
married Nancy McKenzie, of Charleston, South Carolina, followed the
immigration of his kinsman, Alexander McKenzie, to this country. McKenzie
sojourned two years on a place three and a half miles south of where the
town of Springfield was afterward laid out, being one of the first
settlers in this vicinity, removing, when neighbors became numerous, to
the Spring river country, west of the present site of Mount Vernon. Mrs.
Nancy McKenzie Young, who was the only daughter of her family, had ten
brothers who came to southwest Missouri with the early settlers, all of
them eventually moving on, with the continuous emigration of pioneers
seeking larger freedom, to locations in Texas, where the McKenzies are
well known. Gabriel Richardson Young was well along in years when he
arrived in the Spring river country and began preparations for the
establishment of his new home and he did not long survive the event,
leaving his family to meet the difficulties which beset pioneers, in
somewhat straitened circumstances. Henry C. was the oldest of three boys,
his brothers being J. Mansil Bonaparte and Richardson. The sisters were,
Gabrella, afterward Mrs. Bennett Wellman; Amanda, Mrs. Stone-Hardin; and
Mary Ellen, Mrs, T. A. Sherwood. Two other sisters, Sarah and Pauline,
died in their youth. Henry worked and studied by turns, as a farmer boy,
and this he continued by turns while engaged in different occupations in
which he contributed to the support of the family. He was about half grown
when Mr. Wellman, who had opened a store at Cape Fair, in Stone county,
took the boy in as a clerk, which was his initiation in commercial
pursuits, which he followed successfully while completing his education.
He attended the Arkansas College at Fayetteville, making great progress in
a short time and altogether utilizing his advantages in a manner which
qualified him for important undertakings and won him favor with Robert
Graham, president of the institution, and other men of note whom he met at
that time. His energy and perseverance in the face of difficulties
attracted general attention and he was known throughout his life for the
pertinacity with which he adhered to his purposes and carried out his
work. While in St. Louis on his first trip to the city he was introduced
in the house of Hargadine & Company and was by them intrusted with some
important collections. He attended to this business with such promptness
and diligence that he became their permanent representative in this
section.
He married, at Mount Vernon, in 1858, Isabella Robinson, daughter of
William and Nancy (Kelsy) Robinson, related to the Robinson family of
Troupe county, Georgia, and the Kelseys, of Napa, California. After living
in Mount Vernon a short time the couple moved to St. Louis and made their
home in Cote Brilliante, a suburb of that city. Four sons were born to
them, namely: Charles Graham and Henry C. Jr., in Mount Vernon; Robert E.
Lee and Gabriel Richardson, in Cote Brilliante.
In the meantime, Henry C. Young read law, and, after being admitted the
bar, formed a partnership with T. A. Sherwood. Beginning practice at Mount
Vernon, the firm of Sherwood & Young soon became widely known, afterward
moving their office to Springfield. Mr. Young took a prominent part in
what has been called "The Missouri Movement," one of the initial steps in
the beginning of the reaction against the ascendancy of radicalism in the
North which followed the close of the Civil war. B. Gratz Brown was
elected governor, a new constitution was written for Missouri, the
Democrats came into power in this state and soon afterward throughout the
entire South. Judge Sherwood was elected as one of the justices of the
Supreme Court. Mr. Young was named as one of the first board of railroad
commissioners by Governor Charles H. Hardin, whose cause of reform he had
championed early, but declined in favor of General Marmaduke, for whom he
had solicited the position. President Peirce, of the Atlantic & Pacific
railroad, then building into the Southwest under difficulties, had heard
of the indefatigable Henry Young and he was employed at the munificent
salary of three thousand dollars to do as much work as is now ordinarily
allotted to several railroad attorneys. Among the concessions which he
secured at that time was a grant of ten thousand acres for every mile of a
branch line to be built from Red river through eastern Texas to Sabine
Pass, a distance of four hundred miles, and another grant to a subsidiary
company of the Atlantic & Pacific for a branch from Central Texas to
Laredo on the Rio Grande. In the selection of these routes the building of
important lines which have since materialized was anticipated, but the
promoters of the pioneer projects were robbed of all benefits by the hard
fate which precipitated the panic of Black Friday in 1873, just as their
projects were getting under way, Mr. Young then being in New York on his
way to London to negotiate the sale of the bonds. He was interested in a
number of important enterprises in Springfield and the Southwest in those
days. Later he formed a partnership with Col. C. W. Thrasher and the firm
of Thrasher & Young held a leading place in the practice here for a number
of years. Notable among the matters which they had in hand in the course
of an extensive practice was the litigation in connection with the
issuance of bonds in aid of the Hannibal & Saint Joe railroad in which
they won for taxpayers contesting the legality of the bonds in a series of
suits extending through about twenty years until a decision was finally
rendered in a Federal court in favor of the bondholders as innocent
purchasers.
Mr. Young was a member of the Christian church and a Master Mason. He died
at his home here in 1886. Among those who hold him in kindly remembrance
is Professor Jonathan Fairbanks, who says: "He was a gentleman in every
sense of that word, urbane and full of cheerfulness, courteous to
everyone, dignified and well poised, big hearted and generous, even to his
enemies, of whom he had but few. He was a man of large caliber, capable of
grasping any situation, making the most of every opportunity. As his
opponents learned to know him they became his, friends. His personality
won the hearts of all. It was my pleasure to know him intimately. If I
needed a friend in any matter I knew that I could find one in him. He was
a man to be remembered for his rare qualities, one of those whose life is
a blessing to any community. I loved him as a brother."
WALTER B. YOUNG. The farmer who succeeds must plan his planting well
ahead. He must subdivide his crop area into sections of a size to suit his
requirements, and in such manner as to keep his ground fully occupied by a
continued succession of crops, throughout the growing season, and thus
obtain the maximum of produce from his soil with no loss of fertility and
with the minimum risk of loss from insect attacks , drought, flood or from
disease. One of the successful young farmers of Wilson township, Greene
county, who seems to have a comprehensive grasp of the above phases of
agriculture and a myriad of others of importance, is Walter B. Young.
Mr. Young was born near Greenville, in eastern Tennessee, December 8,
1882. He is a son of J. H. and Mary J. (Walker) Young, both natives of
Tennessee also, where they grew to maturity and were married. The father
was a shoemaker in his earlier life, but later devoted his attention to
farming, purchasing a farm in Greene county, Tennessee, when our subject
was about six years old, and lived on the place three years, when he sold
out and removed to Greene county, Missouri, settling on the Walter Bray
farm near Bois D'Arc, where he resided six years, then purchased twenty
acres near that town. He is now making his home in Bois D'Are. His wife
died in 1909. They were the parents of six children, namely: John lives on
a farm in Murry township; Mrs. Mollie Bean Mrs. Lee Lockwood, Charles is
deceased, Walter B. of this sketch, and Mrs. Bertha Peck lives near Kansas
City, Missouri.
Walter B. Young, grew to manhood on the farm and assisted his father with
the general farm work. He received his education in the district schools
of Tennessee and at Bois D'Arc, Missouri. He remained with his parents
until he was eighteen years of age. He began farming for himself when but
a boy and has continued in this vocation with gratifying success. He has
for the past five years been operating two hundred acres in Wilson
township and has been well repaid for his labor and careful attention to
it.
Mr. Young married on March 17, 1901, Eva Robinson, a daughter of Marion
and Cornelia (Carter) Robinson, both natives of Greene county, this state,
where our subject's wife grew to womanhood and was educated in the common
schools. She is the oldest of six children, the others being named as
follows: the second child died in infancy; William and Walter, twins; Mrs.
Bertha Arbuckle, who was next in order, and Gertie, who is at home with
her parents, who live on a farm near Elwood, this county.
Three children have been born to Mr. and Mrs. Young, namely: Virgil Ray,
Lorena Essie and Velma.
Politically, Mr. Young is a Republican. Mrs. Young is a member of the
Baptist church.
JAMES P. YOUNGBLOOD. It is at all times very interesting to compile and
preserve the experiences of the old soldiers who went out to fight the
country's battles during the slave-holders' rebellion fifty years ago.
These gallant old fellows are fast passing away and we should get all
their experiences first hand before it is too late, for it is not only
interesting but important that we preserve these personal experiences,
for, after all, those are the events that make history. What would history
be worth were it not for the vivid actions of the individuals? That is all
there is to the splendid histories of ancient and modern times. The story
as told by one who has passed through the bloody experiences of a half
century ago of several years of stubborn struggle and was in numerous
engagements, marches and campaigns, and perhaps prisons and hospitals, is
far more interesting than if narrated long hence by some writer who may
distort events out of their true historic significance. One of the
veterans of that great conflict whose military career would, if set forth
in detail, make a fair sized volume of interesting narrative is James P.
Youngblood, for many years a farmer in the western part of Greene county,
who is now living in retirement in Springfield.
Mr. Youngblood was born in Fayetteville, Arkansas, August 30, 1844. He is
a son of Theodrick B. and Sarah (Hutchinson) Youngblood, the father a
native of Alabama and the mother of Tennessee, and they were married in
Mississippi. They subsequently moved to northwestern Arkansas, and were
living near Carrollton when the Civil war broke out, and there the father
of our subject raised a company of one hundred and twenty men. The company
met on Long creek on the morning of July. 14, 1862, and organized electing
Theodrick B. Youngblood captain. They camped the first night on White
river. Some of the members of the company had killed a deer which they
dressed and ate. Some of the Union people living there reported them to
the federal authorities as a gang of rebels, and the following day they
started to Galena, Missouri, and while crossing a hill near that place
they observed a woman mount a horse and hasten away for the purpose of
again notifying the Federals, but a girl who lived in the neighborhood,
being friendly to the company, went to the Federals, telling them that the
visitors were Unionists instead of secessionists; however, the Federals
came upon the company, which had stacked arms and the leader of the
Federals addressed the company, commending it for the bravery it had
shown. The purpose of the organization was to become a company of the
First Arkansas Volunteer Union Cavalry, which it was understood was
organizing, and the company desired to enlist in the same under Col.
Harrison. The company was accepted, Mr. Youngblood continuing captain.
During the latter part of the war the company was detailed to hold
Bentonville, Arkansas, properly guarding mail carriers. The subject of
this sketch was sent there with a lieutenant to receive the Confederates
who desired to surrender and remained there two weeks, when the lieutenant
received orders to report to Colonel Harrison at Fayetteville, and Mr.
Youngblood was left in charge at Bentonville, by which town many of the
secessionists came on their way back home and about one hundred
surrendered to him, giving up their arms and taking their parole papers.
Our subject was seventeen years old when he enlisted in Company K, First
Arkansas Union Cavalry, enlisting in Springfield, Missouri, in July, 1862,
under his father and served three years and thirty-five days. He took part
in a number of engagements, including that of Prairie Grove, Arkansas. For
some time he was stationed in the old Cassville court house in Barry
county, Missouri, and while there port holes were cut through the building
through which they could fire at the rebels when they attacked the place.
He was mustered out and honorably discharged at Fayetteville, August 25,
1865.
James P. Youngblood is one of eight children, namely: William, the eldest;
Margaret is deceased; James P., of this sketch; Mrs. Susan Ragsdale, next
in order; Charles M., who lives in Springfield; John A., who was formerly
county surveyor of Greene county and now resident of Springfield;
Theodrick B., who was named after his father; and Jeremiah M., the
youngest.
James P. Youngblood grew to manhood on the home farm in Arkansas, and he
received his education in the subscription schools, which he attended
three months each year for a few years, and remained with his parents
until he joined the army. Some time after the war he came to Greene
county, Missouri, and purchased a farm between Brookline and Republic,
where he resided twenty-four years, carrying on general farming and stock
raising in a very gratifying manner and ranking among the leading tillers
of the soil in that locality. Selling his farm, he moved to Springfield
and engaged in the grocery business on the boulevard for eighteen years,
selling out and retiring from active life in 1908. His home is on Prospect
avenue where he now lives surrounded by all the comforts of life.
Mr. Youngblood was married in Berryville, Arkansas, November 27, 1866, to
Paulina A. Bayless, a daughter of John and Lurainey (Jones) Bayless, of
DeKalb county, Alabama, where Mrs. Youngblood lived with her parents
until, she was eleven years old, when the family removed to Carroll
county, Arkansas. She received her early education in the public schools
of Berryville, Arkansas. She was one of eleven children, all now deceased
but herself and two brothers, John Bayless and George M. Bayless, both
living on a farm near Cassville, Missouri.
To Mr. and Mrs. Youngblood nine children have been born, namely: William
Sheridan, who lives in Springfield; Hugh Grant is deceased; John B. lives
in Golden, Colorado, Jehu R. lives in Springfield; George B. is living
with his parents; James Paul makes his home at San Antonio, Texas , the
three youngest children died in infancy.
Politically, Mr. Youngblood is a Republican. Fraternally, he belongs to
Solomon Lodge No. 271 of Masons at Springfield; also is a member of Capt.
John Matthews Post, Grand Army of the Republic, Springfield, Missouri. He
and his wife are members of the Missionary Baptist church, in which he is
a deacon.