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NAYLOR, James M.
History of Cass & Bates Co, MO, 1883 - Mt. Pleasant Township, Bates Co, MO
PROF. JAMES M. NAYLOR, principal of the Butler Academy, was born in Butler County, Ohio, November 3, 1842. His father was the Rev. A. R. Naylor, who was a Presbyterian clergyman, and connected for many years with the domestic missions of the west. His mother was formerly Elizabeth Montgainy, of Ohio. James M., determined to be a scholar, prepared himself for a course of study, and entered the Miami University at Oxford, Ohio, where he graduated in 1866. In 1862, he joined the Eighty-Sixth Ohio Volunteer Infantry, which was with the Fifteenth and also the Sixteenth corps, and accompanied General Sherman through his memorable campaigns. He acted as a scout for many months, and after serving through the war, discharging many important trusts, he received an honorable discharge and returned home. Not having completed his collegiate course he re-entered and after the last year's study received his diploma. He took the second degree of M. A. in 1869. His life work has been spent as teacher, mostly as principal in an academy, he having had under his tutorship, some of the best schools in Ohio and Indiana. In September, 1879, he came to Butler and took charge of the academy in this place, where he is meeting with great success. His school is large and deservedly popular. Professor Naylor married Miss Martha A. McCord in 1869. She was the accomplished daughter of Robert McCord, of Vincennes, Indiana. Professor N. is a zealous member of the Presbyterian Church, and the active and efficient superintendent of the Sunday School.
NELSON, Palmer E.
History of Bates County, Missouri, W. O. Atkeson, 1918
PALMER E. NELSON, the well-known manager of the "Allen View Stock Farm," is one of Bates county's progressive and energetic young agriculturists and stockmen. Mr. Nelson is a native of Bureau county, Illinois. He was born in 1885, a son of N.Y. and Mary Nelson, natives of Sweden. Mr. and Mrs. Nelson, with their son, Palmer E., came to Missouri in 1905 and they are now residents of Cedar county, Missouri. Mr. Nelson, whose name introduces this review, attended school at Princeton, Illinois. Seven years ago, dating from this writing in 1918, he was employed on the Green Walton place for one year and then on the farm, of which he is now manager, for one year, when he left Bates county and accepted a position with the Steam Shovel & Elevator Company of Kansas City. Mr. Nelson was employed with this company for eighteen months and then resigned his position and returned to his father's home in Cedar county, Missouri. Three years ago, in August, 1914, he assumed charge of the "Allen View Stock Farm" in Deepwater township. The marriage of Palmer E. Nelson and Nellie Miller was solemnized in 1907 and to this union have been born two children: Miller and Mary Jeannette. Mrs. Nelson is a daughter of Warren and Awra Miller and a native of Kentucky. Mr. and Mrs. Nelson have made scores of friends since their coming to Bates county and they are held in the highest esteem and respect by all with whom they have come in contact. "Allen View Stock Farm" is one of the excellent stock farms of Deepwater township, lying eight miles east of Butler, comprising four hundred ten acres of land partly in Deepwater and in Summit townships, owned by Frank Allen, of Butler, Missouri. The land is rolling and is a part of the old White place. "Allen View Stock Farm" is "The Home of Shorthorn Cattle and Duroc Jersey Hogs" in Bates county and is widely known in the stock markets of Missouri. Mr. Nelson shipped a carload of Duroc Jersey hogs, a herd of seventy-eight, farrowed in April and May of 1917, and they averaged two hundred forty-two pounds each December 1st, and "topping the market" at seventeen dollars and seventy-five cents each per hundred pounds in Kansas City, Missouri. Mr. Nelson keeps on the farm usually from eighteen to twenty brood sows and a herd of fifty to seventy-five Shorthorn cattle, mostly cows. "Hallen," one of the best males in the entire country, from the E.M. Hall herd, of Carthage, Missouri, twenty-nine months of age and weighing sixteen hundred pounds, heads the Allen herd. He was purchased in February, 1916, and could easily and quickly be made to weigh a ton, if it were so desired. "Allen View Stock Farm" is nicely improved and well equipped with all modern facilities for the efficient handling of stock. The improvements include a comfortable residence, hog barn, horse barn, hog houses, breeding pens, feeding rooms, implement shed, hog-tight fencing, and a splendid well. The well is 10 x 40 feet in dimensions and the water stands within twelve feet of the top and it would be impossible to pump it dry. The feeding rooms are supplied with a feed grinder, which grinds and mixes the feed, and Mr. Nelson employs all the methods of scientific feeding which have been proven profitable and practical by agricultural institutions. He reads and studies agricultural journals and bulletins and puts into practical use the knowledge he gains thereby, realizing that the main object in raising stock on the farm is to make money and that the farmer and stockman should find out just how much and what is profitable to feed and how to conserve the energy of the animal after it is profitably fed. Palmer E. Nelson is one of the most enterprising, up-to-date, intelligent stockmen of Bates county.
NEPTUNE, Absalom
History of Cass & Bates Co, MO, 1883 - Osage Township, Bates Co, MO
JUDGE ABSALOM NEPTUNE, section 16, owes his nativity to Marion County, West Virginia, where he was born February 21, 1819. His parents, Henry and Rebecca (Merideth) Neptune, were also natives of West Virginia. They reared a family of eleven children, Absalom being the fifth child. He grew to manhood and obtained his education, in the county of his birth, following from his boyhood his present occupation. In the spring of 1869 he emigrated to Bates County, Missouri, and settled where he now resides, his farm here containing 80 acres of land, all of which is well improved. He also has 26 acres in Vernon County. Mr. Neptune was married September 1, 1853, to Miss Ann S. Brand, also originally from West Virginia. They have three children living: Elizabeth J., Addie B. and James B. He is a member of the Masonic order. In 1872 he was elected to the office of justice of the peace of Osage Township, serving till January 1883. In November 1882, he was elected one of the county judges of Bates County, Missouri, and thus far has discharged his duties in an acceptable manner.
NEWBERRY, John B.
History of Bates County, Missouri, W. O. Atkeson, 1918
CAPT. JOHN B. NEWBERRY, the oldest living pioneer citizen of Bates county, Missouri, ex-sheriff of Bates county, ex-senator and ex-representative of the Missouri State Legislature, proprietor of "Evergreen Liberty Bell Farm" in Bates county, is a native of Orange county, New York. Captain Newberry was born May 25, 1829, a son of Joshua and Elizabeth (Stevins) Newberry, both of whom were natives of New York. Mr. and Mrs. Joshua Newberry moved with their family to Broome county, New York and there the parents died and are buried. They were the parents of seven children, of whom Captain Newberry is the sole survivor. In the public schools of Orange and Broome counties, New York, Captain Newberry obtained his education in the elementary branches of learning. He later entered Harfard Academy, Susquehanna county, Pennsylvania, and was a student at that institution for one session. In his youth, he mastered the trade of blacksmithing and when he came to Missouri in 1853 he located at Papinsville, at that time the flourishing county seat of Bates county, and for four years followed his trade at that place. In 1857, Captain Newberry purchased his present country place in Bates county, a farm comprising one hundred twenty acres located two and a half miles southeast of Spruce. He recalls among the heads of families, that were residents of Papinsville in 1853, when he -- a young man twenty-four years of age -- came to this county, the following men: F.F. Eddy, F.H. Eddins, S.H. Loring, James McCool, George L. Duke, Stephen S. Duke, and D.B. McDonald. Captain Newberry can not recall one family, or one single member of any family, keeping house in Papinsville in 1853 who is now living. "Uncle James" Hook hewed the timbers for the residence built on Captain Newberry's farm in 1844, a building which has been since remodeled by Captain Newberry. The farm of this building was built of hewed lumber, the lath and weatherboarding all hand-rived, the floors made of pecan lumber hauled from Ball's Mill on the Osage in Vernon county, the woodwork of the interior made from pine hauled by oxen from Boonville, Missouri. The road from Papinsville to Boonville passed Captain Newberry's farm and the primitive log cabin on the place was known far and wide as "The House with the Glass Window." It stood just a few feet northeast of the site of the present residence and Captain Newberry described it as having a puncheon floor, and a ceiling of hickory bark, and a roof covering made of rived clapboards. The cabin was eighteen feet square. In 1873, the captain planted two Norway spruce evergreen trees on the lawn of his home and he has carefully and painstakingly trained them and one is so shaped as to present a marvelous resemblance to the famous Liberty Bell. It is a strangely beautiful tree and immediately attracts the attention of the passerby. Captain Newberry has the eye of an artist in matters pertaining to landscape gardening and the lawn of "Evergreen Liberty Bell Farm" is the most delightful feature of the place. At Butler, Missouri, in 1862 Capt. John B. Newberry enrolled in Company F, Sixtieth Enrolled Missouri Militia in the Civil War and of this company was elected captain, and served as captain until the company was mustered out of service. When Bates county was ordered evacuated in 1863, on account of Order Number 11, Captain Newberry's company was stationed in Henry county, in which county he remained after the war had ended until the autumn of 1865. During the summer of 1865, he worked at his trade of blacksmithing in Clinton. When he returned home, he found his house still standing, but found it with much difficulty as it was completely hidden by a rank of growth of weeds. In the election of 1870, Captain Newberry was elected on the Democratic ticket sheriff and collector of Bates county. He served faithfully and efficiently two years and did not ask for re-election. At that time he and his family resided at Butler. In the autumn of 1874, Captain Newberry was elected senator of the Missouri State Legislature to represent the district composed at that time of the counties of Bates, Cass, and Jackson. He served one term of four years during Governor Woodson's administration and again did not ask for re-election. In 1888, Captain Newberry was elected representative of the Missouri State Legislature and after serving one term in this official capacity he for the third time refused to ask for re-election. While a member of the House of Representatives in the Missouri State Legislature, Captain Newberry introduced a bill providing for the inspection of coal mines and the bill became a state law and it has countless times since proven to be a most valuable one, resulting in the saving of hundreds of lives. On December 10, 1854, the marriage of John B. Newberry and Elizabeth Drake was solemnized. Mrs. Newberry was a native of Ohio, born July 12, 1833, a daughter of George Drake, who located in Bates county in the days before the Civil War. He returned to Ohio at the time of the outbreak of the war and in that state remained until the conflict had ended, when he came back to Bates county, Missouri. Mr. Drake died at Johnstown in Bates county. Elizabeth (Drake) Newberry was residing at the time of her marriage with her widowed aunt, Sarah Drake, in the same homestead in which she died. To Capt. John B. and Elizabeth Newberry have been born five children, two of whom are now living: Mrs. Charles Ewin, Butler, Missouri; and George W., a graduate of the Butler high school, a former student of a business college of Sedalia, Missouri, now with the Houchin Loan & Collection Agency, Chicago, Illinois. Those deceased are: Susie, the wife of I.M. Kretzinger; Jessie, the wife of Arthur L. Gilmore; and one, who died in infancy. Mrs. Elizabeth Newberry died February 22, 1893. The second marriage of Captain Newberry occurred on October 8, 1902, with Mary Van Hoy, of Deepwater township, a daughter of John M. and Mary (Ludwick) Van Hoy, deceased pioneer settlers of Bates county. John M. Van Hoy resided in Henry county at the time of his marriage. He was captain of a company of Union soldiers during the Civil War. He died during the Civil War. After the war Mrs. Van Hoy located in Bates county and died at the age of ninety-four years. Mary (Van Hoy) Newberry was born May 4, 1856. There is no better authority in Missouri on the conditions of pioneer life in Bates county than Captain Newberry. He retains a vivid remembrance of the early days -- of the dense and gloomy shade of the primeval forest along the streams of water ere the clearings had been made and of the opportunities afforded one to conceal himself In the shelter of the tall prairie grass while awaiting a shot at a deer, wild turkeys, or prairie chickens, for which the family were waiting to make an appetizing and savory breakfast. He has many times brought three wild turkeys before the morning meal. Captain Newberry states that meat was plentiful in those days, that even the hogs ran at large through the winter, though each hog had an earmark to designate its owner. He recalls the days of the well-developed mosquito, when a smudge fire at night and a mosquito net over the bed were the only measures to take if one wished for comfort and sleep. Horseflies, "greenheads," were so annoying in the summers that it was impossible to travel across the prairie with horses and so people obliged to travel went at night in order to escape the pests. Captain Newberry used to own an Indian pony named "Tom," which he used in all his travels over the country, and when leaving Butler all that was necessary was to give the pony the rein and he would bring his master safely home, a distance of twelve miles, crossing intervening streams cautiously, even on the darkest nights arriving at " Evergreen Liberty Bell Farm" in safety. "Tom" was purchased from Thomas Goulding. In the daytime, a traveler would be able to located himself by marks upon trees along the way and would always "cut across" the prairie the nearest way. Captain Newberry is eighty-eight years of age at the time of this writing and in a very few months will have lived four score years and ten. He has during his long life of usefulness experienced the toil, the sacrifices, the hardships, and the many happy hours of pioneer life in Missouri and he has seen Bates county in embryo, then gradually emerge from a most primitive condition to one of the most advanced in the country. He has done his part nobly and well in bringing about the marvelous development and is spending the closing years of his career enjoying the comforts and luxuries of our present-day civilization. It is a wonderfully fine thing to have had the privilege to have a life which has spanned more than man's allotted three score years and ten, to have lived in two different centuries, and that in itself is sufficient evidence of a good, pure life well lived. Although Captain Newberry's eyesight is poor, preventing reading, he is otherwise in perfect possession of all his physical and mental powers, as active and alert as many who are a score of years younger than he. Rising above the heads of the masses are a few men of sterling worth and value, who by sheer perseverance and pluck, have conquered fortune and by their own unaided efforts have risen from the ranks of the commonplace to positions of eminence in a business world and state, and at the same time have commanded the universal respect and trust of all with whom they have come in contact. Among those earnest men of Bates county, whose strength of character and strict adherence to honorable principles, whose upright morality excite the admiration of their fellowmen, Captain Newberry is prominent and no biographical compendium of Bates county, Missouri, would be complete without his life-story.
NEWBERRY, John B.
History of Cass & Bates Co, MO, 1883 - Deepwater Township, Bates Co, MO
HON. JOHN B. NEWBERRY. Among the prominent men of Bates County, is the subject of this sketch, who was born in Orange County, New York, May 25, 1829. Joshua Newberry, his father, and also his mother (formerly Elizabeth Stevens) were natives of the same county, the former born November 2, 1792, and the latter March 14, 1791. Joshua served in the war of 1812, and was in several important engagements. He held different local offices in his native state, where he died in 1862. John B. Newberry moved with his parents to Broom County, New York, in 1841, and there grew to manhood, spending his youth on the farm and attending the common schools, where he received a good education in the English branches. When in his twentieth year he was a student in the Harford Academy, in Susquehanna County. He had previously worked one year and a half learning the blacksmith trade, and after completing his studies at school he labored at his trade in different parts of the state for about four years. In 1853, he came to Missouri and located in Bates County, continuing his chosen calling at Papinville, where he remained four years. In the spring of 1857, Mr. Newberry moved to his present farm. He has 400 acres of land in his home place, with 300 under fence and about 200 in cultivation and fairly improved. There is a good house, barn and outbuildings, and a bearing orchard of 200 apple, with some peach, cherry and pear trees upon the place. He resides on section 22. In the summer of 1862, he enlisted in Company F, Sixtieth Missouri Enrolled Militia, and when his company was organized he was elected captain, in which capacity he served until the fall of 1864, when his company was discharged. The captain is identified with the Democratic party, and was elected sheriff and collector of Bates County in the fall of 1862, and served for two years. In the fall of 1870, he was re-elected sheriff and collector and served one term. In the spring of 1873, he returned to his farm. In the fall of 1874, his party further recognized his ability by nominating and electing him state senator for the Fourteenth State Senatorial District. He served in this capacity with distinction and credit to himself for four years. Since retiring from office he has taken more than ordinary interest in politics, and has served as a delegate to numerous conventions. Mr. Newberry was married in Bates County, December 10, 1854, to Miss Elizabeth Drake, a daughter of George Drake, of Licking County, Ohio, where she was born. She came to Missouri in 1844, and was raised and educated in Bates County. Mr. and Mrs. N. have four children: Alice A. (wife of C. S. Ewin), Susan L., Jessie E. and George W. They have lost one child, an infant. Mr. Newberry is a member of the Masonic fraternity, the Odd Fellows and also the Patrons of Husbandry.
NEWLON, George K.
History of Bates County, Missouri, W. O. Atkeson, 1918
GEORGE K. NEWLON, one of the most progressive and successful young citizens of Summit township, is a native of Winterset, Iowa. He is a son of Samuel J. and Ellen (Seevors) Newlon, the former, a native of Ohio and the latter, of Iowa. To Mr. and Mrs. Newlon were born eight children, who are now living: Daniel, Ballard, Missouri; Dr. J.S., a prominent physician of Butler, Missouri, a sketch of whom appears elsewhere in this volume; Lorraine, who resides at home with her widowed mother; Edith, the wife of H.O. Welton, Butler, Missouri; George K., the subject of this review; Thomas D., a salesman for the Motor Machinists Supply Company, of Kansas City, Missouri; Selina, who is a student at the Warrensburg State Normal School; and Alfred, a motor machinist, of Kansas City, Missouri. S.J. Newlon left his native county in Ohio, Marion county, in early manhood and went to Madison county, Iowa, and from there moved with his family to Nebraska. The Newlons resided in Nebraska but a short time, when they returned to Iowa, in which state they made their home until 1902, at which time they came to Bates county, Missouri, and the father purchased the farm in Summit township, which is now the property of Mrs. S.J. Newlon and is known as the "Newlon Brothers' Stock Farm," a place comprising two hundred twenty acres of valuable land, lying four and a half miles northeast of Butler, formerly the Mitchell farm. S.J. Newlon died at his country home in Summit township in 1912 and interment was made in Oak Hill cemetery. His widow still resides at the home place with her son, George K., and her daughter, Lorraine. Thomas D. Newlon was until recently associated with his brother, George K., in farming and stock raising, but he retired from the farm and accepted a position as salesman in Kanas City, Missouri. George K. Newlon attended the city schools of Winterset, Iowa, and the Butler High School. Since leaving school, he and his brother have been engaged in the stock business at the home place in Summit township. This farm is one of the excellent stock farms of Bates county, well equipped with modern facilities for handling stock and abundantly watered. Mr. Newlon has high-grade cattle and hogs on the place, at the time of this writing in 1918, in addition to twenty head of yearling mules. He is giving special time and attention to the last-named stock, the product of which has made Missouri famous in this country. The "Newlon Brothers' Stock Farm" is nicely improved and the neatness and well-kept appearance of the general surroundings bespeak the care of an expert agriculturist. The residence, a house of ten rooms, was new when the Newlons came to the farm and since their coming Mr. Newlon has built two stock barns, one 48 x 50 feet in dimensions, the other 50 x 60 feet in dimensions. Although George K. Newlon is a comparatively newcomer in Bates county, few men of twice his age and years of residence in Summit township have as excellent standing as he has. His record for fair dealings has been far above criticism and in every relation of life his upright conduct has commended him to his fellowmen as a young gentleman of intelligence, industry, and irreproachable character.
NEWLON, J. S.
History of Bates County, Missouri, W. O. Atkeson, 1918
J.S. NEWLON, M.D., a well-known and successful practitioner of Butler, Missouri, a specialist in the diseases of the eye, ear, nose, and throat, is a native of Nebraska. Doctor Newlon was born in Kearney county, Nebraska in 1883, a son of Samuel J. and Ellen (Seevers) Newlon, the former a native of Ohio and the latter of Iowa. Samuel J. Newlon was a well-to-do and enterprising agriculturist. He was reared and educated in his native state and in 1854 left Ohio to make his home in Iowa, whence he moved with his wife and two children to Nebraska, where Dr. J.S. Newlon was born. Later, the Newlons returned to Iowa and in that state remained until 1903, when they came to Bates county, Missouri, locating near Butler on a farm. There the father died in 1912 and the mother still resides. To Samuel J. and Ellen Newlon were born the following children: D.W., a prominent farmer and stockman, Culver, Missouri; Lorraine, who is at home with the widowed mother on the home place; Dr. J.S., the subject of this review; Mrs. H.O. Welton, Butler, Missouri; George, who is engaged in farming on the home place; Thomas D., a widely known automobile salesman, Kansas City, Missouri; Selina, who is a student in the Warrensburg State Normal School; and Alfred, a motor machinist, Kansas City, Missouri. Dr. J.S. Newlon is a graduate of Winterset High School in Iowa. After completing the high school course, Dr. Newlon entered Haynes Academy at Excelsior Springs, Missouri, matriculating later in the University Medical College at Kansas City, Missouri. He is a graduate of the latter institution in the class of May 8, 1908. Doctor Newlon has also attended the New York Polyclinic Institute. He began the practice of his profession at Ballard, Missouri, in 1908 and five years afterward located at Butler. He gives special attention to the diseases of the eye, ear, nose, and throat. Doctor Newlon is secretary of the Bates County Medical Society and also of the Missouri State Medical Association. He is a member of the Southeastern Medical Association, also. September 15, 1915, Dr. J.S. Newlon and Jennie Mae Owen, the only daughter of Judge and Mrs. A.B. Owen, of Butler, Missouri, were united in marriage. A biography of Judge A.B. Owen will be found elsewhere in this volume. To Doctor and Mrs. Newlon has been born one child, a son, Robert Owen, who was born May 8, 1917, just nine years to the day from the time his father graduated from the University Medical College.
NEWSOME, Dempsey G.
History of Cass & Bates Co, MO, 1883 - Mt. Pleasant Township, Bates Co, MO
DEMPSEY G. NEWSOME, was born on the 28th of October, 1842, in Forsythe County, North Carolina. He spent his youth at his birth place and attended the schools of that vicinity, and was interested in different branches of business until 1861. Then he enlisted in Company B, 11th North Carolina Volunteers, of the Confederate army, and was in active service until August 1863, when he was wounded at the second battle of Bull Run. On account of disability he was therefore discharged. In 1864 he removed to Knob Noster, Johnson County, Missouri, where he resided for two years. Coming to Butler he followed the trade of painting until 1869, when he was appointed deputy sheriff and collector of Bates County. This position he continued to fill for two years. Subsequently he was employed as a clerk by R. Weil & Co., at Butler, and in 1872 he established the Bates County Times, which he edited for two years with marked ability as a journalist. Selling his interest in this paper he again entered the house of R. Weil & Co., as manager of their store at Harrisonville. He remained there until they closed business at that point when he returned to Butler, and in December 1881, he accepted his present position as manager of the boot and shoe department of the extensive establishment of M. S. Cowles & Co. in this city. Mr. Newsome was united in marriage on March 8, 1871, to Miss Emma F. Campbell, a native of Illinois. They have an interesting family of four children: Stonewall J., Ora, Dixie L. and Goldie. Mr. N. is a member of the I.O.O.F. fraternity.
NEWTON, J. H.
History of Cass & Bates Co, MO, 1883 - Pleasant Gap Township, Bates Co, MO
J. H. NEWTON was born in Hancock County, Illinois, May 22, 1841. William H. Newton, his father, was a native of Virginia, and was born January 16, 1818, and his mother (formerly Martha Routt) was born in Clark County, Kentucky, May 22, 1822. The former moved to Kentucky with his parents when a boy, and located in Trigg County, where he resided till about the year 1836. then going to Illinois and settling in Hancock County, of which he was a pioneer. J. H. Newton accompanied the family to McLean County in 1843, where he grew to manhood. His youth was spent on the farm and in attending the common schools and the Bloomington High School, where he passed about one year. August 15, 1861, he enlisted in Company C, Thirty-third Illinois Volunteer Infantry, and served until October 1864, when he was discharged at Springfield, Illinois. He participated in a number of important engagements, among which were the battles of Fort Gibson, Champion's Hill, Black River, and the siege of Vicksburg, where he received a slight gunshot wound. After this engagement he went to the Department of the Gulf. Upon receiving his discharge he returned to McLean County, where he was for a time engaged in farming. In October 1868, became to Bates County, Missouri, and settled on a farm in Pleasant Gap Township, moving to his present place in November 1870. He owns 136 acres of land, 120 of which are fenced and mostly in cultivation. He has a good apple and peach orchard of 125 budded peach trees of the best varieties. This place is located in section 22. Mr. Newton was married in McLean County, December 23, 1864, to Miss Julia A. Smith, a native of Floyd County, Indiana, where she was reared and educated, and a daughter of Jacob T. Smith. They have a family of three children: Edward E., John R. and Jessie. They have also lost three children, who died at about the age of one year. Mr. Newton is identified with the Republican party, and was one of the county commissioners of McLean County for two years, and was elected justice of the peace of his township in 1882. His wife is a member of the M. E. Church.
NICHEL, John
History of Bates County, Missouri, W. O. Atkeson, 1918
JOHN NICKEL, one of the few surviving old settlers of West Point township, Union veteran, is a native of Missouri, having been born in Dade county, March 8, 1839. For the past fifty years this aged citizen has resided on his farm in Bates county and has witnessed tremendous and far-reaching changes during that long period. He has reared a family of sons and daughters and has accumulated a sufficiency of this world's goods to give each child a farm and yet leave enough to support himself comfortably in his declining years. His career has been an honorable and useful one which is well worth recording in this history of Bates county. Mr. Nickel is a son of Samuel and Helen (Clark) Nickel, both natives of Pennsylvania. Samuel Nickel was born in Westmoreland county, Pennsylvania, and migrated to Ohio, where he was united in marriage with Helen Clark and then came further westward to become one of the vanguard of Missouri pioneers who settled in Dade county in 1836. From Dade county he removed to Cedar county, Missouri, in 1849. When the Kansas territory was thrown open to settlement in 1854 he was among the first to locate in Linn county in that year. He was an ardent free state man who was opposed to slavery and took an active part in the border warfare, doing all within his power to make Kansas a free state. Samuel Nickel was a friend of the noted John Brown of Osawatomie and his son, John Nickel, knew Brown well. Samuel Nickel served two years in the Sixth Kansas Cavalry Regiment of the Union army during the Civil War and six of his sons enlisted and served in behalf of the Union, as follow: William, Benjamin, Jasper, Newton, John and Robert. Samuel Nickel had ten sons and a daughter, five of whom are yet living, as follow: John, subject of this review; Newton, a Union veteran, Oklahoma; George; residing in Texas; J.J., living in Denver; Mrs. Emma E. Eagan, residing in San Francisco, California. Samuel Nickel died at the age of seventy-one years and his wife departed this life at the age of fifty-six years. John Nickel has an enviable and noteworthy war record. He enlisted on August 17, 1861, in Company "D," of the Sixth Kansas Cavalry and served until the close of the conflict. He was honorably discharged from the Union service in December, 1864. Mr. Nickel saw active and continuous service in Missouri, Arkansas, and Indian Territory and Kansas. The principal battles in which his regiment took an active part were: Drywood, September 1, 1861; Sny Hills, 1862; Cowskin Prairie, June, 1862; attack on Clarkson, July 4, 1862; Stan Watea Mills, July, 1862; Coon Creek, August 24, 1862; Newtonia, September 30, to October 9, 1862; Old Fort Wayne, October 22, 1862; Cane Hill, November 29, 1862; Prairie Grove, December 7, 1862; attack on train, Fort Gibson, May 25, 1863; Honey Spring, July 17, 1863; Prairie De Ann, April 10 and 12, 1864; Poison Spring, April 18, 1864; Ouchita River, April 29, 1864; Roseville, April 2, 1864; Muzzard Prairie, July 27, 1864; Cabin Creek, September 9, 1864. At the battle of Cabin Creek, Oklahoma, he was wounded in the right shoulder and again suffered a wound in the right hand at the battle of Roseville, Arkansas. After receiving his discharge, Mr. Nickel returned to his home in Linn county, Kansas, and lived there until 1868, when he crossed the line into Missouri and bought a tract of unfenced and unbroken land in West Point township. This tract was crossed by a stream which afforded a plentiful supply of timber growing along its banks. Mr. Nickel cut logs from the timber and erected a rude log cabin which served as his home in Missouri for a number of years. Game was plentiful in those days and the young soldier and his wife had few wants which were not easily supplied although they enjoyed but few luxuries such as the present generation have in their homes. In the course of time Mr. Nickel prospered and built himself a comfortable and imposing farm house. Life was not always easy but he prospered through the lean and good years and eventually became owner of six hundred forty acres of land which he has divided among his children. He deemed it best to give each child a tract of land or its equivalent while he was yet living and as each attained his majority he received a fair start in the world. Mr. Nickel was married on February 15, 1865, to Mary L. Francis, who was born in Illinois in 1845 and departed this life in 1895. She was a daughter of Thomas and Hannah Francis, of Illinois, who were pioneer settlers in Bates county, Missouri, coming here from Illinois in 1856. To John and Mary L. Nickel were born the following children: Elmer T., living in California; Hannah T., wife of E.J. Francis, residing in Oregon; Anna L., wife of William Speeks, now deceased; John L., living on the home place, married Miss Ollie Denny and has three children, Arthur, Floyd and Paul Denny. Mr. Nickel has fourteen grandchildren in all. Mr. Nickel has always been allied with the Republican party and has filled practically all local township offices. He is religiously associated with the Methodist Episcopal church and served as deacon of his church. Mr. Nickel is a member of the Grand Army Post at La Cygne, Kansas. Mr. Nickel loves to talk of the old times and especially grows reminiscent when he speaks of the war times and his strenuous career in the Civil War when his father and six stalwart and patriotic sons went forth to fight in behalf of the Union. He bequeathes a heritage of right living and right doing which will be an inspiration to the present and succeeding generations. His fifty years of endeavor in Bates county have been blessed with excellent results and he has done as much as any other pioneer settler in the upbuilding of this county.
NICHOLS, Asa C.
History of Cass & Bates Co, MO, 1883 - Hudson Township, Bates Co, MO
ASA C. NICHOLS, a Missourian by birth; was born in Boone County, July 16, 1832. John Nichols, his father, was a native of Virginia, but moved to Kentucky with his parents, where he grew to manhood and married Nancy Melvin, originally from Delaware, but who was raised in Kentucky. The former moved to Missouri in 1821, and located in Howard County, being one of the early settlers of the state. A. C. Nichols spent his youth on a farm and received an education in the common schools of his native county, and subsequently devoted some fifteen years to teaching vocal music. He was married in Boone County, in September 1857, to Miss Mary J. Sapp, a daughter of John E. Sapp, and also a native of that county. She died in December 1865, leaving two children: Martin L. and Grandison B. Mr. Nichols was married to his present wife, (formerly Miss Eleanor J. Petty,) April i, 1867. She was born in Boone County. Mr. N. resided in the county of his birth until the spring of 1874, when he moved to Bates County, then purchasing his present farm in section 29. He has 64 acres of land, with a comfortable house and fair improvements. A good coal bank is upon his farm, from which he has been taking coal for six years, and is now obtaining on an average about 30,000 bushels per year. This vein runs from four to five feet in thickness and is of good quality. There is also a sandstone rock quarry on the place, near the surface, and the rock is very even and about thirty inches thick. Mr. Nichols devotes most of his time to coal mining. He has two children by his present wife: Hattie and Mettie. He is a member of the Patrons of Husbandry.
NICHOLS, William T.
History of Bates County, Missouri, W. O. Atkeson, 1918
WILLIAM T. NICHOLS, a successful farmer and stockman of Grand River township, is one of Bates county's most highly regarded and valued citizens. Mr. Nichols is a native of Indiana. He was born in Warren county, Indiana, in 1847 and in childhood moved with his parents to Warren county, Illinois, in 1854, thence to Coffey county, Kansas, in 1857, where they took up government land and settled on a farm located between Burlington and Leroy and where both father and mother died. The mother died in the spring of the year 1859 and the father died in the ensuing autumn. W.T. Nichols was an orphan at the age of twelve years, the son of Thomas and Elizabeth Nichols. He returned to Illinois after the death of his father and remained in that state until 1867, when he returned to Kansas and two years later came thence to Bates county, Missouri, which county has been his home for nearly fifty continuous years. When the Civil War broke out in 1861, W.T. Nichols was an orphan lad fourteen years of age. He was imbued with patriotic fervor and endeavored zealously to get into the ranks of the Union army, but he was entirely too short. The examining officials demanded of him that he remove his boots and then measured him and, as he was an undeveloped boy, he fell far short of the standard height. Mr. Nichols attended school in Illinois and Kansas. In his youth, he was employed in work on the Lexington Lake & Gulf railroad bed and it was necessary for him to follow the officials in order to obtain his last pay. He received two dollars a day and a man with a team received from three to three and a half dollars a day. After locating in Kansas, Mr. Nichols' brothers hauled provisions from Westport, Missouri. In 1869, he purchased with his hard-earned savings a small tract of land in Grand River township, Bates county, thirty acres of his present home place, from his uncle, Hiram Nichols, who had settled in Bates county, Missouri, in 1862 and died here in March, 1893. To his original holdings Mr. Nichols has constantly added until he now owns a valuable farm comprising one hundred ten acres of choice land in Grand River township, located five miles northeast of Adrian in one of the best farming districts of this section of the state. Hiram Nichols, the former owner of the farm, was one of the first settlers in this township, a brave, sturdy pioneer who spent the greater part of his life in Bates county. His residence was a rude, one-room log cabin. W.T. Nichols was obliged to use the water from the branch nearby for drinking purposes, when he first settled on his farm in Bates county, and in 1874 he carried maple saplings and two box-elder trees from the creek banks and transplanted them in his yard and they are still growing nicely, one being three feet in diameter. He recalls how, in the spring of 1875, the devastating grasshoppers destroyed his crops and all growing plants on his farm, but undauntedly he replanted and in spite of the pests raised a good crop of corn. Mr. Nichols well remembers the days in Bates county when hogs sold for one dollar and eighty cents a cut, corn for fifteen cents a bushel, eggs for three cents a dozen, large hens for one dollar and fifty cents a dozen, and small hens for one dollar and twenty-five cents a dozen. He has himself sold his produce at the above given prices. In discussing matters relative to early-day facilities for obtaining an education, Mr. Nichols states that Mingo school district was organized before the Civil War and that the one school house in the district, a frame building constructed of native lumber, stood the havoc of war and remained standing for many years afterward. The marriage of W.T. Nichols and Hattie Simpson, a daughter of Benjamin and Mildred (Covington) Simpson, natives of Kentucky, was solemnized September 4, 1877. Benjamin Simpson was killed near Dayton in Cass county, Missouri, in 1861, mention of which is made in Judge Glenn's "History of Cass County." Mildred (Covington) Simpson was a member of the family of Covingtons in whose honor the city of Covington, Kentucky, was named. Hattie (Simpson) Nichols was born in 1861, in the same year in which her father was killed, in Grand River township, Bates county, Missouri, and two years later her mother moved with her children to the old home place in Kentucky and there remained until 1871, when she returned to the Bates county home to find everything on the farm destroyed, the house, the barn, and even the stone chimney. Mrs. Simpson was the heroic type of pioneer woman who knew not what discouragement or failure meant. She rebuilt the residence, improved the farm of one hundred twenty acres of land, and unaided, reared and educated and provided for eleven children. Mrs. Simpson was one of the most noble of the brave pioneer mothers, a woman of remarkable energy and ability who was held in the highest esteem and respect by all who knew her and she was widely known. Her death, December 15, 1902, was deeply lamented in Bates county. Mrs. Simpson's remains are interred in Crescent Hill cemetery. Mrs. W.T. Nichols recalls her first school teacher, Miss Sarah Severs, at Deer Creek school house, and she was in turn succeeded by Dr. E.E. Gilmore. To W.T. and Hattie (Simpson) Nichols have been born five children, all of whom are now living: Etta May, who is at home with her parents; Addie Elizabeth, the wife of John Revis, of Severy, Kansas; William Dallas, at home; Zora, the wife of Edwin Dryden, of Hamburg, Iowa; and Benjamin Franklin, Adrian, Missouri. The success which has attended the efforts of W.T. Nichols has been constant. He has encountered more than the usual difficulties that beset the pathway of every "self-made" man. He began life with more than the ordinary handicaps, an orphan, without educational advantages and without financial resources, but with a will which no obstacle could weaken and a high purpose born of determination to succeed, he has overcome them all and won for himself a prominent place among the leading farmers and substantial citizens of his township and county.
NICKELL, James E.
History of Bates County, Missouri, W. O. Atkeson, 1918
JAMES E. NICKELL, owner of a splendid farm of two hundred and eighty acres in Deepwater township, was born in Tazewell county, Virginia, August 20, 1855, a son of Thomas (born 1827 -- died February 18, 1911) and Sarah (Harman) Nickell, the former of whom was a native of Kentucky and the latter a native of Virginia. Thomas Nickell was a veteran of the Civil War, having served in the Confederate army in Virginia. During the war in 1863 he located in Omaha, where he became one of the originators of the Omaha Stock Yards. Mrs. Sarah Nickell died in 1863. Thomas and Sarah Nickell were parents of the following children: James E.; Howard; and Rosa, who died at the age of thirteen years. James E. Nickell came to Bates county in 1868 with an uncle, James H. Harman, who located on a farm in the northeast part of Deepwater township which he improved and later sold and bought a farm situated five miles northeast of Butler. After some years of residence on this place, Mr. Harman sold it and moved to Warrensburg, where he died. Mr. Nickell made his home with his uncle during his boyhood days and attended the Elm Grove school. He took up farming as a life vocation and has prospered from a small beginning, now owning a large place of two hundred and eighty acres, one quarter section of which is the old Nicholas Choate farm. He has a handsome farm residence and a splendid barn erected in 1897. The Nickell farm presents a well kept appearance and its productive capacity is kept at the maximum. On June 14, 1880, James E. Nickell and Miss Sarah J. Choate were united in marriage. Mrs. Sarah J. (Choate) Nickell was born April 26, 1863 and is a daughter of Nicholas and Pernelia (Wilson) Choate, a sketch of whom appears in this volume in connection with the biography of Dr. J.W. Choate of Butler, a brother of Mrs. Nickell. Mrs. Nickell was educated in the Willow Tree and Elm Grove district schools. Her first teacher was Phineas Holcomb, who taught in 1868-1869, the next being Henry Jarvis, now a practicing physician of Schell City, who taught in Elm Grove district, 1869-1870. The Willow Tree district was organized in 1870. Mr. and Mrs. Nickell have two sons: Erie W., a jeweler at Clinton, Missouri; Charles L., who is farming on the home place and was born May 31, 1883. C.L., after attending the district school in his neighborhood, attended the Butler public schools for one year and then spent two years at the Warrensburg Normal College. Mr. C.L. Nickell has a modern residence of eight rooms erected in 1909 and a large barn 38 x 42 feet, built in 1912. He is conducting general farming operations on the Nickell home place and raising cattle and hogs for the markets. Charles L. Nickell was married in 1907 to Miss Rozella Barackman, a daughter of Benjamin and Rozella Barackman, of Spruce township, Bates county. To Charles and Rozella Nickell have been born three children: Helen, Wilbur, and Cecil. James E. Nickell has always taken a good citizen's part in local affairs and has served his township capably as collector and trustee.
NICKERSON, D. K.
History of Cass & Bates Co, MO, 1883 - Osage Township, Bates Co, MO
D. K. NICKERSON, manager of the lumber firm of R. J. Hurly & Co., is a native of Maine and was born in Kennebec County, October 7, 1821. His parents were Daniel and Louisa (Gilbert) Nickerson, the former originally of New Brunswick and the latter of Massachusetts. When D. K. was fourteen years of age, they with their family moved to Lowell, Massachusetts, where he learned the trade of watch making, which he followed at that location till 1843. Then he went to Lawrence, Massachusetts, continuing the same occupation till 1848. Locating in Canton, Illinois, he remained till 1850; then went to Parkville, Platte County, Missouri, and three years later he became engaged in the grocery business at Butler, Missouri. In about eighteen months he moved to Bourbon County, Kansas, where he sold goods till September 1880, when he came to Rich Hill, accepting his present charge in the following December. Mr. Nickerson is a member of the I.O.O.F. fraternity. He was married on the 13th day of May 1838, to Miss Mary D. Blair, a native of New Hampshire. They have four children: Amos, George, Frank and Mabel.
NOLAND, Thomas B.
History of Cass & Bates Co, MO, 1883 - Shawnee Township, Bates Co, MO
THOMAS B. NOLAND was born in Columbus, Ohio, July 13, 1841. His parents were William Noland and Margaret, nee Weatherinton, the former a native of Virginia and the latter of Ohio. Her father was a pioneer settler of Ohio, and was in the war of 1812. They were the parents of three sons and five daughters, Thomas being the eighth child. The family located in Hancock County, Illinois, when he was nine years old, and there he grew to manhood, attending the academy at Denmark, Iowa, thus receiving a good education. At the age of nineteen years he began to teach, and taught in the schools of Illinois until 1874, when he came to Bates County. Since moving to Missouri he has been occupied in farming and occasionally teaching. His farm lies on section 21, and contains 160 acres, all under fence and in cultivation. Mr. Noland has been a justice of the peace for five years, and being interested in causes of education has been repeatedly elected a school director. He is a Methodist in his church connection, and belongs to the farmers' order, the Grange. He was married, January 5, 1862, to Miss Margaret Florence, a native of Ohio. They have six children: Leroy W., Charles G., Harriet B., Florence M., A. B. and Lizzie. They have lost one daughter, Maggie.
NORBURY, Alfred
History of Bates County, Missouri, W. O. Atkeson, 1918
ALFRED NORBURY, successful farmer and stockman, Walnut township, owner of four hundred twenty-five acres of rich, prairie farm lands in the western part of Bates county, is a native of England, born in Ramshire, August 7, 1849. He was a son of John and Tabitha (Besant) Norbury, who lived all of their lives on an English farmstead in Ramshire. Alfred Norbury was reared and educated in his native England and immigrated to America in 1871. When he landed at New York he had his savings with him, and traveled to Olathe, Kansas, where he was employed at market gardening, during his first year. He farmed land in Johnson county during his second year and in 1873 he located in Bourbon county, Kansas, moving to a farm located five miles south of Fort Scott. Some time later he removed to Crawford county, Kansas and purchased one hundred twenty acres of farm land which he occupied until 1901, and then traded the tract for two hundred twenty acres in Bates county. He moved to his farm in Walnut township during the fall of the "dry year" as it will always be known in the history of Missouri and Kansas. He prospered thereafter and added to his acreage until he owned six hundred ten acres, a portion of which he has deeded to his sons. Mr. Norbury was married in England, in the year 1871, to Sarah Rowe, born in Essex county, England, in 1852. To them have been born as follow: Daniel, a farmer in Walnut township, married and has seven children -- Emma, Grace, Sarah, Agnes, Margaret, Alpha, and Fred; Edward, a farmer, Walnut township, has six children -- Edna, Mary, Lanita, Anna May, Edith, Edward, and Leonard; Sydney, is married and has six children -- Alfred, Naomi, Leroy, Vint, Ellis, and Lillie; Walter, is a farmer and has two children -- Freda, and Harold. Mr. Norbury is fortunate in having all of his sons residing in the neighborhood of the home place and all are doing well as tillers of the soil. In politics, Mr. Norbury is a Socialist, and belongs to the Episcopal church.
NORFLEET, J. K.
History of Bates County, Missouri, W. O. Atkeson, 1918
J. K. NORFLEET, a prominent merchant of Butler, Missouri, the senior member of the firm, Norfleet & Ream, is one of Bates county's best business men. Mr. Norfleet was born in Kentucky in 1846, a son of Larkin and Frances (Gann) Norfleet, both of whom were natives of Kentucky. Mr. and Mrs. Norfleet were the parents of ten children: Mrs. L.M. Phillips, Higginsville, Missouri; Mrs. J.J. Bell, Little River, Texas; Mrs. Rosaline Blevins, who resides in Arkansas; Rev. L.P., Sedalia, Missouri; A.L., a prosperous banker of Oklahoma City, Oklahoma; J.K., the subject of this review; Mrs. E.E. Wheatley, deceased; Mrs. Fannie Dickson, deceased; T.I., deceased; and one child died in infancy. The mother died about 1890 and the father followed her in death in 1909. Larkin Norfleet died at Mayview in Lafayette county. Both parents are buried in Marvin Chapel cemetery in Lafayette county. When J.K. Norfleet was a child six years of age, he came to Missouri with his parents and they located in Miller county. He attended school at Knob Noster, Missouri, whenever the opportunity presented itself and though Mr. Norfleet is the only member of his father's family who was not given many educational advantages, who received but little schooling, he is probably as successful as any in the business world. At the outbreak of the Civil War, Mr. Norfleet enlisted with the Confederates and served four years under General Price in Arkansas, Louisiana, and Missouri. Mr. Norfleet was at Baton Rouge, Louisiana when the war ended. He returned to Miller county, Missouri, and remained there two nights, going thence to Saline county, where he resided for a short time. From Saline county, J.K. Norfleet went to Knob Noster, Missouri, where he made his home with his parents for four years, and then with them to Lafayette county near Mayview, where both mother and father died. Mr. Norfleet was engaged in the hardware business at Independence, prior to coming to Butler in 1901 and entering his present business which he has so admirably organized. In 1869 J.K. Norfleet and Laura McClellan, daughter of Doctor McClellan, of Versailles, Missouri, were united in marriage and to this union have been born nine children, seven of whom are now living: Mrs. C.M. Brosins, Kansas City, Missouri; Clyde K., a traveling salesman, Independence, Missouri; C.V., Sanford, Florida; J.D., Carl, and Roy, who are associated in business with their father in the firm of Norfleet & Ream; and Mrs. Birdie Pauline Ream, Butler, Missouri. Those deceased are: Mrs. Leona Monroe and Ella Ruby, who died at the age of five years. Mr. and Mrs. Norfleet reside in Butler. Norfleet & Ream, dealers in groceries, hardware, automobiles, and Case threshing machines, began business in the city of Butler in 1901. They first rented a store room, 14 x 60 feet in dimensions, located on the west side of the public square and began in the mercantile business as a Racket store. At the time of this writing in 1918, the site of the establishment is two doors north of the former location, the present building having a frontage of fifty-seven feet and a depth of one hundred feet. The Norfleet & Ream garage is located on Ohio street, the room being 50 x 100 feet in dimensions. The north room of the building on the public square, a building two stories in height, is used for the offices on the second floor and for salesrooms on the first floor. Norfleet & Ream own all the buildings in which they transact business. They purchased the building on the public square ten years ago and the garage building three years ago, dating from 1917. The members of the firm of Norfleet & Ream are, as follow: J.K. Norfleet, F.C. Ream, J.D., Carl M., and Roy J. Norfleet, sons of J.K. Norfleet. This is the largest business concern in Butler and the annual budget of business amounts to two hundred fifty thousand dollars. J.K. Norfleet is one of the most enterprising and progressive citizens of Bates county. His soundness of judgment and clearness of foresight have won for him the highest regard of the leading business interests of this part of Missouri.
NORMAN, William
History of Cass & Bates Co, MO, 1883 - Deer Creek Township, Bates Co, MO
WILLIAM NORMAN, farmer, section 22, was born in England, July 5, 1853, his parents were Thomas and Susan (Shaver) Norman, being natives of England. William was the oldest of five sons and two daughters. He lived with the family in England until 1867, when he emigrated to America, settling in Illinois, where he followed farming until 1878. Then he came to Bates County, Missouri. Mr. N. received his education in Illinois, and on August 5, 1875, he was married to Miss Anna M. Howe, a native of Illinois. Her death occurred in April, 1876. He was again married October 19, 1880, to Alice McKill, of Pettis County, Missouri. He has two children: John and Susan.
NORTH, James C.
History of Cass & Bates Co, MO, 1883 - Mound Township, Bates Co, MO
JAMES C. NORTH was born in Juniata County, Pennsylvania, in 1838, and was the son of Thomas and Catherine (Brenansoltz) North, who are of English ancestry. James was the third of six children, five of whom are still living. He is the only one in the west, the others being in Pennsylvania. His father was a tanner by trade, and he was initiated into the secrets of the tanyard at an early age. He continued at this work until about twenty-two years old. At the outbreak of the war he was attached to Milroy's Brigade, and served in the capacity of sutler for the 123rd Ohio, until about the time of the battle of Gettysburg, when he retired from the army and soon after moved to Tazewell County, Indiana, where he remained until about 1868. Coming to Missouri he purchased land where he now lives, near the town of Adrian. Mr. North is one of the first farmers and stock men of Mound Township, and his present comfortable condition is simply the result of untiring and diligent attention. In politics he is a Republican of advanced views and supports everything tending to promote and develop this country.
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