PACE, James L.
History of Cass & Bates Co, MO, 1883 - Mt. Pleasant Township, Bates Co, MO
JAMES L. PACE. The subject of this sketch is one of Butler's most enterprising citizens and a man who has probably done fully as much toward making Bates County, Missouri, what it now is any man here. He is a native of St. Clair County, Missouri, where he was born March 13, 1834. His father, James Pace, was born in Henry County, Virginia in 1807. He was there reared and married Miss Mildred Davis. They had five children of whom James L. was the third child. He grew to manhood and was educated in the county of his birth, and at the age of eighteen years, in 1861, he enlisted in Company C. of Colonel John T. Coffer's Regiment, Missouri State Guards. In 1862 he enlisted in the regular service (the company remaining the same) in Joe Shelby's Brigade, under General Marmaduke's Division and Regiment. Thus he served till 1864. After that time he was on the disabled list until the close of the war. Mr. P. was twice wounded -- first at Unionville, Missouri, in 1862, where he received a wound over the eye, causing a fracture of the skull. While on the retreat at the battle of Cape Girardeau, Missouri, he was wounded in the arm and through the body by one shot. At the close of the war he went to Saline County, Missouri, and for two years was engaged in farming. He then gave his attention to mercantile pursuits and stock dealing at Longwood, Pettis County, for two years, after which time he located at Altona, Bates County. There he was interested in trade for three years. In 1874 he was elected to the office of Recorder of Bates County which he held till 1883. He has twice been city alderman of Butler and has been director of the city schools. He is now a member of the Masonic fraternity and belongs to the blue lodge, chapter and commandery. Mr. Pace was married March 18, 1868, to Miss Mary Hyeronymus, a native of Missouri. They have one daughter, Ada. Mr. P., during his term of service as county recorder made a most excellent officer. He has won a host of friends while a resident of the county by his affable and courteous demeanor and is a man respected by all.

PAGE, Ava E.
History of Cass & Bates Co, MO, 1883 - Hudson Township, Bates Co, MO
AVA E. PAGE, section 8, is one of the enterprising men of Hudson Township. He was born in Livingston County, New York, January 5, 1834. His parents, Albert and Jerusha (Tyler) Page, were both natives of Connecticut; the former was born March 31, 1800. He moved to New York with his parents when a young man, where he grew to manhood and married. He filled numerous local offices in his county during his lifetime. He died in August 1876. Ava E. passed his younger days in his native county, on the farm and attending the public schools. When seventeen years of age he taught a winter term of school, and in the spring of 1852 he commenced a scientific course of study at the Wesleyan College at Lima, New York. In 1854, after finishing his collegiate studies, he went to Kentucky, and in the fall of the same year became a resident of Tennessee. There he engaged in teaching for two years. In January 1857, Mr. Page moved to Wisconsin and located at Milwaukee, where he was appointed deputy sheriff, serving in that capacity two years. He came to Missouri in May 1859, and upon settling in Bates County, bought land in Hudson Township. He purchased his present farm in 1866, and now owns 270 acres, all under fence, with 190 acres in cultivation, and eighty acres of timber. This farm is well improved. His large residence and basement barn, with convenient outbuildings are well arranged, and he has an orchard of some 500 bearing apple trees, besides peaches, plums and pears. He is also engaged in the stock business. Mr. Page was married in Henry County, August 1, 1861, to Miss Mary E. Robards, of New York City, and a daughter of the Rev. Israel Robards, of Scotch descent. Mrs. Page moved to Missouri with her parents when eight years of age. She returned, however to her native state and was educated at Rochester, New York. Mr. P. enlisted in the Sixtieth Missouri Cavalry, and was Lieutenant of Company C, during the war. He participated in numerous skirmishes and was in the engagement at Marshal, in Saline County. He was appointed one of the county judges, in 1864, and served as presiding judge for two years. He is identified with the Republican party, and has been elected a delegate to the state convention at various times, and has filled different local offices. He is also prominent in the Grange movement, and has filled numerous official positions in this order. He was appointed by the executive committee as one of the state lecturers of this order. He belongs to the Ancient Order of United Workmen, and is past master workman in this order. Mr. and Mrs. Page have four children: Florence I., C. A. Clifford, Herbert E., and Minnie. Mrs. P. is a member of the Missionary Baptist Church.

PAGE, C. N.
History of Bates County, Missouri, W. O. Atkeson, 1918
C.N. PAGE, a prominent citizen of Mingo township, Bates county, an honored Union veteran of the Civil War, is a representative of one of the oldest pioneer families of Missouri. Mr. Page was born in 1846 in Moniteau county, Missouri, a son of William and Mary Page, both of whom were natives of Kentucky. William Page came to Moniteau county in the early thirties and thence moved with his family to Henry county, Missouri, where he died about 1859. His wife, the mother of C.N. Page, died in Moniteau county. To William and Mary Page were born the following sons: John E., deceased; Kemp, deceased; Franklin, living in Henry county; Francis Marion, of St. Clair county, Missouri; and C.N., the subject of this review. In the old-fashioned "subscription schools" of Henry county, Missouri, C.N. Page obtained his education. Educational advantages were few in the pioneer days of Missouri and young Page was obliged to walk four and five miles to attend school held in a rudely constructed log cabin. Mr. Page enlisted in the Union army in 1861, when he was a lad scarcely sixteen years of age, and with him in the same company at the same time were his brothers, John E., Kemp, Franklin, and Francis Marion, all of whom were of the political faith of the Democrats but of Northern sentiments in regard to the war. C.N. Page re-enlisted with the Sixteenth Kansas Cavalry and served throughout the war, receiving his honorable discharge at Fort Leavenworth, Kansas. Mr. Page was with General Kearney on the Powder River expedition in Wyoming in the campaign against the Indians. After leaving Leavenworth, Kansas, Mr. Page came to Missouri and located near Creighton, whence he came to Bates county in 1896 and first established himself on a farm near Mayesburg, moving to his present country place in 1901, a farm comprising forty acres of land. In Mr. Page's own words, we may truthfully say of him that he is "a thoroughbred Missourian." The marriage of C.N. Page and Mrs. Sarah M. Crosby was solemnized in 1901. Mrs. Page was born and reared at Coshocton, Ohio. She came with her parents from her native state as far West as Illinois and there she was united in marriage with C.N. Crosby. Mrs. Page came to Bates county, Missouri from Illinois in 1867 or 1868 and was a resident of Mingo township at the time of her marriage with Mr. Page. C.N. Page has also been twice married. His first wife was Eliza Maupin, now deceased, and to this union were born two children: William, of Mingo township; and Mrs. Viola Bryant, of Chelsea, Oklahoma. Mr. Page is a man of firm convictions and principles and whatever he has undertaken in life has been with the object of benefitting not only himself but his neighbors and fellow citizens as well. In the Civil War, he freely and cheerfully offered himself a sacrifice on the altar of freedom and duty and since the war has ended he has just as conscientiously discharged all duties encumbent upon him. He is a gentleman of pleasing personality and his genial manners and fondness for companionship have attracted to him scores of warm personal friendships. His reputation is such that no one calls in question the rectitude of his intentions and his character is an open book the pages of which are remarkably free from blot or stain.

PAGE, Edward E.
History of Cass & Bates Co, MO, 1883 - Hudson Township, Bates Co, MO
EDWARD E. PAGE, section 1, is a native of New York and was born in Livingston County February 6, 1841. His father, Albert Page, was born in Connecticut March 31, 1800, and his mother, formerly Abigail Hanford, came originally from Saratoga County, New York. Albert Page grew to manhood and was married in New York. He filled several local offices during his lifetime, and died in September 1876, on the farm where he had lived for over half a century -- the place where he located before his marriage and which he improved himself. Edward spent his youth in the county of his birth on the farm and at the public schools. When seventeen years of age he went to Michigan, and was engaged in working on a farm most of the time for six years in different counties. In 1865 he visited Kansas, and in one year, in the spring of 1876, he came to Bates County, Missouri, and bought land and improved his present farm. His place consists of 120 acres, mostly fenced, with a fine orchard of 600 trees, including apple, about 200 peach and a variety of small fruits. Mr. Page is quite extensively engaged in the dairy business and has some good stock. He was married in Kent County, Michigan, October 5, 1863, to Miss Anna Bennett, a daughter of George Bennett. She is also a native, of Livingston County and was born in the town of Portage, where she was raised and educated and where she was engaged in teaching for a number of years. Mr. and Mrs. P. have six children: Harry O., Jay A., Dick E., Frank, Daisy A. and Clara. He is a member of the United Workmen.

PAGE, Herbert E.
History of Bates County, Missouri, W. O. Atkeson, 1918
HERBERT E. PAGE, proprietor of a fine farm of four hundred twenty acres in Hudson township, is a native son of Bates county who has "made good" in the county of his birth. The farm which he owns has been in possession of the Page family for over fifty years, Mr. Page first buying one hundred sixty acres of the old home place when he began his career in this county on his own account twenty-two years ago. Since that time he has accumulated one of the large and highly productive farms in this section of Missouri and has fitted up the place with splendid improvements. Mr. Page has a splendid barn 40 x 50 feet in dimensions, and a silo having a capacity of one hundred fifty tons of silage -- a modern adjunct to the proper feeding of livestock which Mr. Page considers one of the best assets of his farm. He has eighty head of cattle and at the present writing (January, 1918) is feeding a carload for the markets. He usually keeps from seventy-five to one hundred head of good hogs on the place, and adds to the income of his farm by feeding and raising a good variety of porkers. One of the best things on the place in Mr. Page's opinion is a drilled well, two hundred feet in depth, which supplies soft water for any and all purposes. The water from his well is piped to his modern eight-room residence and supplies an infallible flow for the livestock on the farm. H.E. Page was born in Hudson township, April 9, 1869, and is the son of Ava and Mary (Robords) Page, pioneer settlers of Hudson township. Ava E. Page, his father, was born in Livingston county, New York, January 5, 1834. His parents were Albert and Jerusha (Tyler) Page, both of whom were natives of Connecticut. Albert Page was born March 31, 1800, and moved to New York with his parents when a youth and grew to manhood there and married. He was prominent in the affairs of Livingston county, and filled several county offices during his residence there. He died in August, 1876. When Ava E. Page was seventeen years old he taught a term of school and in the fall of 1850 he went to Tennessee, where he taught for two years. In January, 1857, he removed to Wisconsin and located at Milwaukee, where he served for two years as deputy sheriff of Milwaukee county. He came to Missouri in May, 1859, and made settlement in Bates county, buying land in Hudson township which he improved from raw, unbroken prairie land and created a fine farm. He bought the home place which is now owned by his son, Herbert E., in 1866, and became owner of two hundred seventy acres. He set out an orchard of over five hundred trees of all kinds of fruit, and created one of the best country estates in the county. Mr. Page was also heavily engaged in the livestock business. He resided on his farm until 1896 and then moved to Roswell, New Mexico and resided there until 1909, when he went to California, and died at Pomona on July 4, 1910. Mr. Page was married in Henry county, August 1, 1861, to Miss Mary E. Robords, of New York City, a daughter of Rev. Israel Robords of Scotch descent. Mrs. Page moved to Missouri with her parents when eight years of age, but was educated at Rochester, New York. The following children were born to Ava E. and Mary Page: Florence I., wife of J.B. Baker, Upper Lake, California; Clifford, Arcadia, Florida; Herbert E., subject of this review; and Minnie, wife of William Wilson, Roswell, New Mexico. During the Civil War, Ava E. Page enlisted in the Sixth Missouri Cavalry and served as lieutenant of Company C in his regiment. He participated in many engagements and was in the battle of Marshall in Saline county. In 1864 he was appointed one of the county judges in Bates county, and served as presiding judge of the county court for two years. He was prominently identified with the Republican party and served as delegate to the state conventions of his party at various times. He was one of the leaders in the Grange movement and in every way was a leading citizen of the county, for some years serving as state lecturer of the Grange in Missouri. Herbert E. Page was educated in the common schools of Bates county and studied in the State Normal at Warrensburg for one year. He then spent three years in the West and then returned to the home farm where he has since followed farming. He first purchased one hundred sixty acres of the home place and by thrift, good management and hard work -- as he says -- on the eight-hour system, which calls for "eight-hour forenoon" and "eight-hour afternoon," he has made good and is owner of four hundred twenty acres of farm lands which are among the most valuable in Bates county. On October 24, 1895, Herbert E. Page and Miss Elfie Brown were united in marriage. This marriage has been blessed with children as follow: Harley H., one of his father's assistants on the farm, a graduate of the Appleton City High School; George Ava, a student in the district school. Mrs. Elfie (Brown) Page is a daughter of W.G. and Mary Brown of Hudson township. Her father is well known in Hudson township and her mother is deceased. See biography of William G. Brown.

PAGE, Louis F.
History of Cass & Bates Co, MO, 1883 - Deer Creek Township, Bates Co, MO
LOUIS F. PAGE was born in McHenry County, Illinois, August 15, 1852. His father. Reed Page, was a native of New Hampshire, and early removed to Illinois, where he was married in 1840 to Miss Mary E. Lillibridge of Pennsylvania. They had three sons and one daughter, of whom Louis was the youngest child. When he was two years old his father died, and his mother moved to Marengo, Illinois, where he attended the schools of the town. After this he was a student at the Chicago University and the law department of the State University at Ann Arbor, Michigan. In 1873 he came to Butler, where he was admitted to the bar, and practiced law with his brother for five years. In 1878 he was located at Hastings, Nebraska, and there practiced for six months. Returning to Bates County, he engaged in farming. His farm now contains 460 acres of the best of land, surrounded and sub-divided with good fences. The improvements are excellent; his house is one of the best farm houses in the county, and was built in 1879 at a cost of $2,200. He also owns a large farm in Kansas and one in Barton County, Missouri. Mr. Page deals extensively in stock and real estate. He is vice-president of the Adrian Bank and a member of Butler Lodge, No. 254, A.F. and A.M., and Miami Royal Arch Chapter, No. 76. He was married to Miss Emma Mopes, a native of Illinois, September 6, 1880.

PAHLMAN, George H.
History of Bates County, Missouri, W. O. Atkeson, 1918
GEORGE H. PAHLMAN, cashier of the Bank of Amsterdam, Missouri, is one of the youngest bankers in Missouri and is one of the most efficient and capable in Bates county today. He is a native of Bates county, having been born on a farm in Charlotte township, March 28, 1889, a son of G.C. and Anna J. (Dutton) Pahlman, natives of Illinois. G.C. Pahlman was born in Illinois in 1861 and was reared to young manhood in his native state. He migrated to Missouri in 1885 and made a settlement in Charlotte township, Bates county soon after his marriage with Anna J. Dutton who was born in Illinois in 1865 and came to Bates county with her father, Samuel Dutton, in 1870. Mr. and Mrs. Pahlman still reside on their farm in Charlotte township. They are the parents of the following children: James T., Carmen, Oklahoma; G.H., subject of this review; Glenn W., Nashua, Montana; Holly F., a farmer of Charlotte township; Emma E., a student in Butler High School. G.H. Pahlman was educated in the public schools of Bates county and the State Normal College at Warrensburg, Missouri. For a period of three years he taught school in this county and then entered the Bank of Amoret as assistant cashier. In the year 1916 he took charge of the Bank of Amsterdam as cashier. This bank was first organized in 1892 by W.J. Bard, John McKee, C.A. Emerson and H.P. Nickel with a capital of ten thousand dollars. The first cashier was C.A. Emerson and the first president was H.P. Nickel. Mr. Emerson was succeeded as cashier by W.W. Badgeley, who was followed by W.W. Rubel, who was succeeded by Clyde Bailey. Mr. Pahlman followed Mr. Bailey as cashier of the bank. The bank was burned out in the fire which occurred on February 3, 1916 and practically swept away the business district of Amsterdam. The bank being well insured the loss was slight, being about $750 all told. A new bank building was erected and opened for business in the spring of 1917. This building is built of brick with a tiled floor and fitted up with handsome modern fixtures at a total cost of $4,100, the building costing $2,600 and the new fixtures costing $1,500. The bank's capital and surplus in December of 1917 is $15,000. The undivided profits are over $5,000. The deposits will exceed $125,000. The present officers are: John McKee, president; William Henderson, vice-president; cashier, G.H. Pahlman and the assistant cashier is Mrs. M. Pahlman. The directors are: John McKee, John Morewood, Alex Morewood, W.A. McBurney, and G.H. Pahlman. In addition to his duties as cashier, Mr. Pahlman conducts a fire insurance and farm loan department on his own account. In politics Mr. Pahlman is allied with the Democratic party. He is affiliated with the Methodist Episcopal church. He was married October 28, 1912, to Miss Mayme E. McKibben, who was born in Charlotte township a daughter of William F. and Julia E. (Wolfe) McKibben, natives of Illinois. William F. McKibben, who is now living in Amsterdam, was born November 8, 1855, in Stephenson county, Illinois, a son of David T. and Eliza J. (Tompkins) McKibben, natives of Pennsylvania and Canada, respectively. The McKibben family came to Bates county, Missouri, in 1869 and located at Butler, where the parents lived a retired life until death. William McKibben engaged in farming on his own account in Charlotte township in 1885. After renting land for three years he purchased a farm of one hundred and twenty acres which he improved, added eighty acres thereto and sold out in January, 1917. He was married in 1884 to Julia E. Wolfe, a daughter of C.W. Wolfe, who came to Bates county from Iowa in 1869. The following children were born to this marriage: Bertha Gertrude, wife of O.W. Walker, Kansas City, Missouri; Mary E., wife of the subject of this review and who is assistant cashier of the Bank of Amsterdam.

PARDEE, John
History of Cass & Bates Co, MO, 1883 - Grand River Township, Bates Co, MO
JOHN PARDEE, farmer and stockman, resides on section 19, where he has lived since 1850, and where he has a farm of 180 acres, well improved with a good orchard. This land he entered himself. When he came here his post office was at Harrisonville. His father, Philo Pardee, a native of Connecticut, and a blacksmith by trade, died when the son was an infant, and he was reared by his grandfather, Joseph Montgomery, and with him went to Indiana in 1832, where he lived until coming to Missouri, and where he received a limited education in subscription schools. His mother was formerly Rachel Montgomery, a native of Wythe County, Virginia, where John was also born May 27, 1820. Of a family of two brothers and one sister he is the second child. He was married February 14, 1861, to Miss Elizabeth Murray, a native of Ohio. During the war he served for a time in the home guards and then went to Osawatomie, Kansas, where his wife died October 24, 1864, leaving one child, Joseph William. Mr. Pardee was married again November 17, 1867, to Miss Elizabeth C. James, a Kentuckian by birth. They have two children: James S. and Samuel M.

PARISH, W. W.
History of Bates County, Missouri, W. O. Atkeson, 1918
W.W. PARISH, ex-postmaster of Adrian, Missouri, a prominent real estate agent of Bates county, is one of the county's most successful and substantial citizens and a worthy representative of a good, old, pioneer family of Missouri. Mr. Parish was born in Miami county, Kansas in 1867, a son of W.D. and Salina Parish. W.D. Parish came to Cass county, Missouri in 1857 from Morgan county, Indiana and for four years was engaged in farming and stock raising in this part of the state. At the outbreak of the Civil War in 1861, Mr. Parish enlisted with the Union forces and served throughout the war with the Fourteenth Kansas Infantry, receiving the commission of lieutenant. When the war had ended, he purchased a farm in Kansas, a tract of land comprising one hundred sixty acres located in Miami county, which he sold in 1867 to the authorities of Miami county to be used for the county infirmary. In 1868, Mr. Parish purchased a farm in Cass county, Missouri, as the boundaries were at that time, land now a part of Bates county in East Boone township. He engaged extensively in stock raising, keeping both graded and pure bred stock, and succeeded well, being the owner at one time of three hundred twenty acres of choice land in Bates county. W.D. Parish was considered a wealthy man in his day and he was highly respected and esteemed in his community as an honest, upright, honorable citizen. He died August 26, 1907 and the widowed mother is now making her home at Galena in Chariton county, Kansas. W.D. and Salina Parish were the parents of the following children: Mrs. Laura Bower, Colorado Springs, Colorado; Mrs. Dora Cook, deceased; and W.W., the subject of this review. In Kansas, W.W. Parish acquired his elementary education and at Sedalia, Missouri, he finished his school work with a most thorough business course. After completing his education, Mr. Parish accepted a position with the Altman-Miller Manufacturing Company as traveling salesman, which position he ably filled for five years. In 1892, he moved on a farm, which he had purchased, in Bates county and for eight years was engaged in farming and stock raising. Mr. Parish sold his country place in 1900 and moved to Adrian, where he entered the real estate business, in which he was employed at the time of his appointment as postmaster of Adrian, on January 15, 1905. He served faithfully and well nearly nine years as postmaster until August, 1913, at the time the rural routes were being adjusted, examinations were being held for carriers, and the Postal Savings System was being installed, all of which meant an enormous amount of careful, detailed, tedious work. After his term of office had expired, Mr. Parish again turned his attention to the real estate business and in his line of work has been remarkably successful. His business methods, which were very efficient, require that he should do a large amount of traveling, as he handles vast tracts of land and his transactions extend far beyond the confines of Bates county into many different states. W.W. Parish and Mary A. Hopwood were united in marriage on February 28, 1893. Mrs. Parish is a daughter of Charles and Ruth Hopwood, early settlers of Cass county, Missouri. Charles Hopwood was a native of England. He was educated in the schools of London and was a master mechanic and skilled architect. To Mr. and Mrs. Hopwood were born five children: Mrs. Emma Bouse, Westphalia, Kansas; Mrs. W.W. Parish, the wife of the subject of this review; John P., of Lane, Kansas; Charles W., Harrisonville, Missouri; and Mrs. Sadie Stephens, Harrisonville, Missouri. Mrs. Parish possesses a remarkably tenacious memory and talks most interestingly of the early days in Bates county. She remembers well the time, when she was a little child, that the settlers would drive across the open prairie when the grass was as high as the horses' backs. In those days, no one thought of raising hay, for anyone was privileged to cut as much as he desired out on the prairie. Vividly she recalls the day the first train on the railroad came into Adrian, as the tracks passed through her mother's garden. Mrs. Parish states that the two places, Adrian and Archie, were named in honor of two sons of the railroad contractor. She obtained her education in the district schools of Bates county. To W.W. and Mary A. (Hopwood) Parish have been born three children: Lyman T., who has answered the country's call and is now in service in the United States army; Mrs. Hazel Newton, Kansas City, Missouri; and Mary Frances, deceased. Politically, Mr. Parish is a life-long Republican in his belief and he has been an active worker in the ranks of his party for many years, having many different times been sent as delegate to the congressional conventions and taking a keen interest in local politics. Mr. Parish is fraternally affiliated with the Royal Arch Masons and derives much benefit and pleasure from lodge work. He is a most creditable descendant of one of the old colonial families of North Carolina, a grandson of Larkin Parish, an honored pioneer of Indiana, who died in Bates county, Missouri many years ago. Personally, W.W. Parish enjoys great popularity in this part of Missouri and his conduct in all relations of life has been that of the true gentleman. He discharges the duties of a good citizen with commendable fidelity and his influence in the community has always been exerted in behalf of all that is best and noble in life. The people of Bates county consider Mr. and Mrs. Parish one of their best families and Adrian is proud to claim them as its own representative citizens.

PARK, A. J.
History of Cass & Bates Co, MO, 1883 - Charlotte Township, Bates Co, MO
A. J. PARK, farmer and stock raiser, section 19, a native of Licking County, Ohio, was born May 20, 1832. His father, Timothy Park, of Hampshire County, Virginia, was born December 7, 1803, and in 1823 removed to Licking County, Ohio, where he married Miss Nancy J. Hillbrant, of that county, born April 28, 1810. Mr. Park died September 3, 1875, and his wife July 15, 1876. Their family consisted of six children, A. J. being the eldest son and third child. In 1834 he was taken to Northern Ohio, where he grew to manhood, and for two years he attended college at Westerville, supplementing this course by attendance at the Seneca Academy of Tiffin, Ohio. July 4, 1860, he married Miss Sarah J. Wolfe, who was born in Seneca County, Ohio, April 29, 1835. She was the daughter of James and Marcelous (Shoukwiler) Wolfe, the former of Ross County, Ohio, born October 5, 1804, died September 14, 1869, and the latter of Pike County, same state, born July 26, 1808. They were married October 5, 1825. Mrs. P. was educated at the Seneca Academy. In 1870 Mr. Park located in Bates County, Missouri, and now has a good farm of 480 acres, well improved. He and his wife have two children: Alton J., born September 5, 1861, and Minnie J., born August 3 1871.

PARK, Wilbur J.
History of Bates County, Missouri, W. O. Atkeson, 1918
WILBUR J. PARK -- The Park family is one of the oldest, most honorable families in Bates county, members of this family having settled here sixty years ago when the greater part of Bates county was in an unoccupied state. W.J. Park, a sterling representative of this old and respected family, residing on his splendid farm in Elkhart township, was born in Hampshire county, Virginia, July 11, 1856, and has lived in Bates county since he was two years of age. His father was Jefferson Park and his mother, prior to her marriage, was Barbara Davis, both of whom were born and reared in Hampshire county, Virginia, of old Virginia stock. Jefferson Park immigrated to Bates county, Missouri, in 1858, accompanied by his brothers, Washington, Samuel and Wesley Park, all of whom settled in the same vicinity excepting Wesley, who went further westward and located in Pottawatomie county, Kansas, remaining in Kansas until after the close of the Civil War, when he returned to Missouri and here made his permanent home. Jefferson Park settled on a farm located just one mile south of the farm owned by the subject of this sketch, in Charlotte township. He and his brother, Washington, purchased four hundred acres of land from Russell B. Fisher and the former made his home on this place until the outbreak of the Civil War. Being a man of pronounced Union sympathies and loyal to the government he could not abide the views and actions of the pro-slavery advocates, and accordingly removed to Linn county, Kansas, to remain there during the years of warfare. He was pronounced in his views and intensely loyal to the Union, outspoken to such an extent in expressing himself that he had many clashes with those whose views and opinions were just the opposite. He lost considerable property through the depredations of "bushwhackers" and at the time of his departure from Kansas, he and his family were forced to travel by ox-team motive power because of the fact that all his horses had been driven away by marauders. He returned to Missouri in the fall of 1865 and proceeded to repair the damages which his farm had suffered, it being practically necessary for him to begin all over again and replace the buildings and fences. The Park farm, eventually, became one of the best improved tracts in the county and Jefferson Park made his home thereon until his death on February 1, 1897, at the age of seventy-six years. He was born February 1, 1899. To Jefferson and Barbara (Davis) Park were born the following children: Rhoda Ann, born November 1, 1849, married Dr. R.A. Rising, and died in August, 1916, at her home in Cowley county, Kansas; Phoebe J., born January 23, 1852, in Virginia, and died in childhood, December 28, 1865; Luther D.C., born June 1, 1854, resides in Nevada, Missouri; Wilbur J., born July 11, 1856, subject of this review; Ezra B., born November 6, 1865, in Missouri, died April 28, 1895; Ulysses G., born March, 1864, in Linn county, Kansas, now living in Clark county, Kansas; Lydia S., born May 25, 1867, married Fletcher Orear, she died at Butler, Missouri, September 29, 1908; and Laura J., born April 2, 1869, and died September 9, 1870. The mother of this fine family of children was born January 30, 1829, and died December 29, 1915. Jefferson Park was a follower of Abraham Lincoln and a stanch Republican during his whole life after attaining his majority. He and his wife were members of the Methodist Episcopal church and were liberal supporters of religious and charitable works. Wilbur J. Park, subject of this review, spent his boyhood days in Bates county and received his education in the public schools. He has followed farming pursuits continuously from his youth and has made a pronounced success of his life work, owning an eighty-acre farm which comprises his home place and also eighty acres which were formerly part of the Park homestead in Charlotte township. He carries on general farming and stock raising. Mr. Park was married April 16, 1882, to Miss Mary Chandler, and to this marriage have been born the following children: Floyd, who married Vera Angel, of Bates county, and resides at Adair, Oklahoma; Leroy J., married Minnie Largent, of Bates county, and lives on the old home place in Charlotte township; Odessa, resides at Ogden, Utah; and Leonard, married Vesta Leitch, a native of this county, and they reside on the Leitch farm in Bates county. Mrs. Mary (Chandler) Park was born in Tennessee, a daughter of L.L. and Margaret (Belcher) Chandler, both natives of Tennessee, the former dying when Mrs. Park was four years old. The family moved to Illinois when she was a small child and her mother now resides at Longton, Kansas. Mrs. Park is one of three children born to her parents, the others being Amanda and John S., who live with their mother at Longton, Kansas. The allegiance of Mr. Park to the tenets and principles of the Republican party has generally been constant, although he is inclined to much independent thinking and voting in local and state matters, rather than yielding a blind obedience to any political fetish or organization. If a candidate for office is well qualified, according to his idea, he willingly supports that individual for the office sought regardless of his political affiliations, and he pursues the same course with measures which are intended to make changes in the government, be it local, state or national. He is the present justice of the peace of Elkhart township and he had served one term in this capacity prior to the beginning of his present term of office.

PARKER, Green B.
History of Cass & Bates Co, MO, 1883 - Summit Township, Bates Co, MO
GREEN B. PARKER, the subject of this sketch, is a native of Missouri, and was born in Henry County, December 25, 1845. His parents were Benjamin G. Parker, a native of North Carolina, and Susana (Hudson) Parker, a Kentuckian by birth, Benjamin G. moved to Missouri in the fall of 1830, and located in Henry County, and was one among the first settlers of the county. Green Parker, his son, spent his youth on the home farm, and was a student at the common schools. He was married in his native county, March 6, 1870, to Rachel J. Gutridge, daughter of Elijah Gutridge. She was born in Ohio. After this, Mr. P. was engaged in farming for about two years, and in the fall of 1872 he moved to Bates County. In the fall of 1878 he came upon his present farm. He has 130 acres of land, all fenced, with fair improvements, a good house and barn and a young orchard. He resides on section 13. He is Democratic in politics, and was elected collector of his township in the spring of 1881. He takes great interest in educational matters, and is the director of his school district and acted in the same capacity in his district in Henry County. Mr. and Mrs. Parker have six children: Claudius E., Benjamin E., Lucinda F., Melvin G., William R. and Elizabeth. Mr. Parker is a member of the Baptist Church.

PATCHIN, William H.
History of Bates County, Missouri, W. O. Atkeson, 1918
WILLIAM H. PATCHIN -- During the forty years in which William H. Patchin, substantial farmer and stockman of West Boone township, has resided in Bates county, he has won a place for himself as a successful farmer and business man excelled by no citizen of the county, who has stayed close to the mother earth in the effort to secure a livelihood and competence. From a modest beginning in his young manhood, during the strenuous days of the great rush for free homesteads in Oklahoma in 1889, in which he was a successful participant, he has successfully built up his holdings until he is owner of five hundred and sixty acres of splendid farm land in West Boone township. Three hundred twenty acres of rich prairie land comprise the home farm upon which Mr. Patchin erected a modern eight-room farm residence in 1910. The residence is lighted and heated with natural gas flowing from a well, drilled in 1911 to a depth of one hundred ninety-eight feet on the place. Mr. Patchin is an extensive stockman and large feeder of cattle of which he feeds from one to two carloads annually. He also feeds from one to two carloads of hogs each year. Mr. Patchin has all the grain grown on the farm fed to his livestock and the grain ration is supplemented by a balanced ration of cottonseed meal and oil meals. He has made a thorough study of livestock production and attributes his success as a stockman to careful and observant feeding. W.H. Patchin was born April 20, 1865, in Hancock county, Illinois, a son of Hiram and Susan (Power) Patchin, natives of New York and Virginia, respectively. Hiram Patchin was born in 1816 and died in 1881. His birth and early upbringing were in New York state, whence he migrated to Illinois in 1841. He was a son of Abijah Patchin, of an old American family. Hiram Patchin was married in Illinois to Susan Powell, who was born in Virginia in 1828, and died in Bates county in 1893. He built up a good farm of one hundred sixty acres in Hancock county, Illinois, and resided there until 1877, when he came to Bates county and purchased a farm in West Boone township just to the west of the present home of his son, William H. He reared a family of four children: Harvey, deceased; Mary Jane, deceased; Mrs. Alice Akins, living near Gentry, Arkansas; and William H., this subject. William H. Patchin was eleven years of age when he came with his parents to Bates county. His schooling was practically completed before coming here, due to the fact that schools were very few and poor in Bates county in that early period of its history. With a determination to secure a farm for himself, he joined the rush of homesteaders in 1889, when the territory of Oklahoma was thrown open for settlement, and secured a fine quarter section of land. He developed and improved his homestead and resided there until 1894. He then sold out and returned to his old home county, purchasing one hundred acres of farm land adjoining the town of Merwin. He increased his holdings to two hundred acres, which he sold in 1909, and moved to his present location, where he made an initial purchase of eighty acres. He has simply added one tract after another to this small nucleus until he has one of the large stock farms of the county. Mr. Patchin resided in Butler from September 1, 1913, to March 27, 1914, in order to give his children the advantage of a high school education. While a citizen of Butler, he became widely acquainted in the city and made many warm friends, becoming associated with the Walton Trust Company and the Denton-Coleman Trust Company, as a stockholder. Mr. Patchin was married February 5, 1890, to Miss Bessie Winn, who was born in Johnson county, Missouri, August 13, 1870, a daughter of A.C. and Louisa Frances Winn, natives of Orange county, New York, and Greene county, Illinois, respectively. Her parents removed from Indiana to Johnson county, Missouri, in 1865, and came to Bates county from Johnson in the fall of 1872, settling in West Boone township. Mrs. Winn is deceased and Mr. Winn resides with his daughter, Mrs. Lucinda May Baker, in West Point township. He is eighty-one years of age. To William H. and Bessie Patchin have been born children, as follow: Elmer, born May 12, 1894, a graduate of the Mechanical Engineering School of Kansas City, studied four years in the Butler High School and now in the employ of the Federal Government at the Philadelphia Navy Yard; Lawrence, born December 16, 1897, a graduate of the Butler High School and now a student in the Kansas City Business College; and Carl Henry, born March 27, 1913. Politically, Mr. Patchin is allied with the Republican party. He is essentially a home man, one who finds his time taken up with his extensive agricultural affairs and his family. He and Mrs. Patchin are held in high esteem by their many friends in Bates county, and are numbered among the county's leaders.

PATTISON, Thomas W.
History of Cass & Bates Co, MO, 1883 - West Point Township, Bates Co, MO
THOMAS W. PATTISON, township clerk and assessor, was born in Guernsey County, Ohio, March 29, 1829. His father was Samuel Pattison, a native of Virginia, and his mother, was formerly Martha Alexander, of Pennsylvania. Thomas is the fifth of eleven children, five of whom are living. They are: Jane McGaw of Homer Township; Alexander in Madison County, Iowa; Susan Speck in Ringgold County, Iowa, and Sarah A. Patterson in Monmouth, Illinois, with whom his mother is now living, at the advanced age of eighty years. One brother John is at Keithburg, Illinois. Mr. Pattison was married in Sangamon County, Illinois, March 29, 1853, to Miss Ann R. Crawford. In 1854 he removed to Van Buren County, Iowa, where he lived seven years, when he began the carpenter trade, at which he has worked ever since. In 1861 he returned to Illinois and lived in Monmouth seven years. In 1869 he came to Peculiar, Cass County, and after three years there, settled where he now lives in West Point Township. Mr. and Mrs. Patttison have reared one child, Edward K. Pattison, who married Galathus I. Sankey, now living in Kansas, and a little girl of nine years, Anna Coldsmith. Mr. Pattison has spent a portion of his life, serving in the capacity of a school teacher.

PATTY, James M.
History of Cass & Bates Co, MO, 1883 - Mt. Pleasant Township, Bates Co, MO
JAMES M. PATTY, stock dealer and shipper, was born in Tippecanoe County, Indiana, on December 27, 183 1. His father, Eli Patty, came originally from North Carolina, and when eighteen years of age removed to Ohio, and from thence to Tippecanoe County, Indiana, in 1820. He was there married to Miss Catherine Guyun, a Virginian by birth. They had seven children, of whom James was the sixth child. He remained at his birthplace until fifteen years of age, when he went to Vermillion County, Indiana, passing his youth and early manhood there, and also completing his education, after which he engaged in farming. In 1847 he removed to Miami County, Indiana, and six months later returned to Georgetown, Vermillion County, where he was interested in agricultural pursuits and dealing in stock. In the year 1865 he came to Bates County, Missouri, and resumed his former occupation, near Butler. Of late he has resided in the city, and has devoted his entire attention to the stock business, in which he has met with satisfactory financial success. He is one of the directors of the Bates County National Bank, and was one of the projectors and stockholders of the Bates County Republican, of which he has been president since its organization. Mr. Patty was married, September 27, 1851, to Miss Catherine Campbell, who was born in Tennessee. They have four children living: Mary E., Jennie L., Alexander, and William M. Mr. P. is a member of the A.O.U.W. of Butler.

PEARSON, Peter
History of Cass & Bates Co, MO, 1883 - New Home Township, Bates Co, MO
PETER PEARSON was born in Bolton Parish, County Cumberland, England, April 1, 1836, his parents being George and Margaret (Brown) Pearson. His wife was formerly a Miss Mary Jane Willis, to whom he was married July 24, 1861. They have ten children: Thomas Willis, George Brown, Robert, Mark, Isaac Becket, Margaret Hannah, Mary Elizabeth, John Joseph, James Daniel and Esther Jane. When nine years old, Mr. Pearson began work in the mines of his native county, in the capacity of "trapper," and passed through all the various departments of coal mining, so that he became thoroughly familiarized with the entire work. In 1869, he immigrated to America, and worked at Massillon, Ohio, for several months. Moving to O'Fallon, St. Charles County, Missouri, he remained one year, and thence to Alma, Illinois, where he stopped until July 1880. Then he came to Rich Hill, and has since been employed in various capacities in the mines, digging coal, laying track, etc. At present he has charge of the timber work in Mine No. 1. Mr. Pearson is a member of the Free Methodist Church, and is a man of considerable general information. In Illinois he was licensed to preach, since which time he has filled local appointments. He is taking great interest in educational matters, and it is mainly through his influence that the miners' children have such good facilities as they have, and his work is doing much to elevate the mining class, in advancing the cause of education, temperance and morality.

PECK, John T.
History of Cass & Bates Co, MO, 1883 - Deepwater Township, Bates Co, MO
JOHN T. PECK was born near Stanton, Augusta County, Virginia, May 1, 1832, and was the son of John H. and Mary (McCrary) Peck, who were also natives of Virginia. John T. moved with his parents to Missouri in 1836 and located in Saline County, being among the pioneers of that vicinity. After living there about one year they settled at Lexington where John H. Peck engaged in the hotel business. Our subject spent his youth until eighteen years old on a farm, after which he worked in a rope factory for two years. He was married in this county, August 23, 1855, to Miss Susan Jane Sanford, a daughter of Wyatt Sanford, of Butler. She was born at Lexington but was raised and educated in Springfield, Missouri. After this event Mr. Peck located in Bates County where he entered land and improved a farm and where he resided about fifteen years. Selling out in 1866 he went to Arkansas and located in White County, but in a short time returned to Bates County, when he bought his present farm in section 17. He owns one hundred acres of land all fenced, with seventy-seven acres in cultivation, and a fair house, barn and improvements. A fine orchard of 1,000 bearing apple, about 500 bearing peach, some cherry, pear, and plum trees is on the place. Mr. and Mrs. Peck have nine children: Wyatt S., Mary F. (now Mrs. Cicero Graham), William Lee, Lillian E., Ellen Bell, Flemming H., Florence May, Walter and Flora Ethel. Mr. P. is man of more than ordinary intellect though he has been almost entirely self educated. He is general manager of the Home Life Association of Burlington, Iowa, for Cass and Johnson Counties and is doing a good business for his company. He and his wife are members of the Cumberland Presbyterian Church and he belongs to the Grange.

PERRECK, Ransom B.
History of Cass & Bates Co, MO, 1883 - Osage Township, Bates Co, MO
RANSOM B. PERRECK, proprietor of the National Gazette, was born on the 13th of January 1845, in Adams County, Illinois. His younger days were passed in that county, and a large portion of his time was spent in attending its public schools. In 1869, he removed to Bourbon County, Kansas, and devoted his attention to agricultural pursuits until 1874, when he became engaged in the grocery trade at Fort Scott, Kansas, continuing the business one year. During 1875-6, he was occupied in the sewing machine trade. He resumed farming, and in 1880, came to Rich Hill, first embarking in the real estate business. Six months afterwards he commenced wholesaling liquors. In 1882, he became proprietor of the National Gazette, and this paper still remains in his possession, a journal ably edited and enjoying a good circulation. In 1882, Mr. Perreck was nominated by the Greenback party for the position of county judge. In December 1861, he was married to Miss Matilda Gayer, a native of Ohio. They have one child, Cleo. Mr. P. is a member of the order of Knights of Pythias.

PERRY, W. W.
History of Bates County, Missouri, W. O. Atkeson, 1918
W.W. PERRY, the well-known owner of the "Prairie Home Herd" of big bone Poland China hogs, one of Bates county's most intelligent, progressive, young stockmen and leading citizens, is a native son of Shawnee township, Bates county, one of the boys of yesterday who have "made good." Mr. Perry became interested in raising Poland China hogs in February, 1915, when he purchased five brood sows at the Charters sale and at the present time, in 1918, he has one hundred head of splendid animals in the "Prairie Home Herd" and is having no difficulty whatever to find a ready market for his stock in the vicinity of his home in Shawnee township and abroad, a farm located fourteen miles northeast of Butler and seven miles northwest of Spruce. Mr. Perry recently built on the farm a modern hog house, sexangle style in imitation of the sale barn of W.B. Wallace at Bunceton in Cooper county, Missouri, with breeding pens around all sides, concrete floor, the light furnished from overhead and by fourteen windows around the sides of the building, a model house of its kind. W.W. Perry completed a course in animal husbandry at the Missouri State University, Columbia, Missouri, and has mastered the art of judging stock. At the university, he was obliged to judge stock six days in the week and after keeping that up for several months one soon learns something about good stock and forms some conception of what a fine specimen is and how to produce it and care for it after it has been produced. Mr. Perry has in his herd two exceptionally fine pigs, one of them a prize winner, namely: "Chief" and "Royal Cross Third." The latter won first prize for the best pig under two and over one year of age at the Butler Fair in 1916. The prize was a silver set of twenty-six pieces, which Mr. Perry prizes highly. He has the following extraordinarily good boars registered: "Prairie Home Bob," out of "Jumbo Bob," dam, "Charters' Giantess," dam "Long Giantess," which is the largest dam ever shown at the Missouri State Fair, shown at Sedalia in 1917, purchased by Mr. Perry for two hundred sixty dollars; and "Perry's King Joe," out of "King Joe," that sold for one thousand two hundred fifty dollars, a record-breaking prize at the time, dam, "Maid Wonder," which cost two hundred forty dollars. These two boars are Mr. Perry's head animals and are well worth the attention of all breeders interested in raising better hogs. Another sow, "Wonder Maid," won first prize at the Missouri State Fair in 1915 as the best junior yearling brood sow on exhibition. W.W. Perry is a member of the Farm Club of Bates County and has an established reputation in western Missouri as one of the most successful stockmen and breeders of high-grade animals in the state and his work is being more and more appreciated by the prominent stockmen of his home county. W.W. Perry was born in 1881 at the Perry homestead in Shawnee township, Bates county, and was reared on the farm of one hundred twenty acres of land, purchased by his father in 1879, one of the excellent stock farms of Shawnee township. Mr. Perry is a son of M.F. and Mary O. (Waldo) Perry. M.F. Perry was born in Henry county, Missouri, in 1847, a son of William T. and Mary (Cooper) Perry, the former, a native of Virginia and the latter, of Kentucky. William T. Perry came to Missouri in 1836 and settled on a tract of land, which he entered from the government, in Henry county, and on his farm in that county spent the remainder of his life. He died in 1888 and interment was made in the cemetery near his home place. M.F. Perry obtained his education in the "subscription schools" of Henry county, as there were no public schools in this state until after the Civil War. He was reared on his father's farm in Henry county and practically all his life has been interested in agricultural pursuits. He came to Bates county, Missouri, in 1879 and purchased his present country home in Shawnee township, a farm comprising one hundred twenty acres of valuable land, nicely improved and conveniently located, fourteen miles from Butler and seven miles from Spruce. Mr. Perry is very much interested in horticulture and had a splendid little orchard on his place until the cyclone of 1916 destroyed it. He has since planted another orchard and hopes to be one of those who will enjoy the fruit from it in the days to come. The marriage of M.F. Perry and Mary O. Waldo was solemnized in 1876. Mrs. Perry is a daughter of Col. Calvin and Mrs. Matilda (Odineal) Waldo, of St. Clair county, Missouri. To this union have been born three children: Mrs. C.A. Webb, at home with her parents; Mrs. Robert Powers, Butler, Missouri; and W.W., of whom mention has been made in this sketch. Mr. and Mrs. Perry are highly respected in Shawnee township, where their family has long been enrolled among the most valued and best families and Mr. Perry has at many different times been honored with offices of public trust in his township. He has served as justice of the peace in Shawnee township, as clerk, as assessor, and has just completed a very satisfactory term in the office of deputy collector. He is public-spirited and takes a deep and abiding interest in all matters relative to the upbuilding and betterment of his community. M.F. Perry is a most worthy representative of a noble, old, pioneer family of Henry county and Bates county, one of the first families of Missouri.

PETERSON, Niels
History of Bates County, Missouri, W. O. Atkeson, 1918
NIELS PETERSON, of West Point township, is one of the most successful farmers of his day and generation. Beginning in this country as a poor man in 1900, he made his first investment in a farm, buying on time. His first year was a bad one, 1901, being a dry year during which he raised practically no crops whatever. The year before he had made his purchase he paid five hundred dollars cash rent for a place but did not earn his rent. He decided wisely that it was much cheaper to pay interest than to pay rent for land, especially when it seemed so difficult to raise anything at all. Things began soon to go his way, and he has prospered from year to year. Mr. Peterson is now owner of one hundred thirty-five and a half acres of excellent land, a farm which is kept in a high state of cultivation by methods which only citizens from that far-away land of Denmark, where he was born, instinctively know how to apply. Niels Peterson was born in the little kingdom of Denmark, September 14, 1850, a son of Peter Larson and Helen Ludwig, both natives of Denmark, who lived all their days in the land of their birth. On March 14, 1873, Mr. Peterson left the land of his birth to seek his fortune in America, arriving in New York City, April 9, 1873, a poor, immigrant lad, who found it necessary to at once obtain employment or starve. In this country, however, there is always work for the willing and able, and he soon obtained employment as a laborer in the great city and he remained there for seven years. Coming of a hearty race to whom economy is both a necessity and a virtue, he saved money sufficient to invest in a farm in Cloud county, Kanas, but suffered the misfortune of being defrauded out of his title by the shrewd and unscrupulous individual with whom he made the trade. He remained in Kansas for six years, saved another stake, and then located in Ottawa county, Kansas, where he remained for twelve years without appreciably increasing his fortunes. All the while, however, his wonderful cheerfulness and optimism upheld him and he eventually got together enough funds to make another start. He came to Bates county in the fall of 1900 and after one season's experience in paying cash rent for his land he again bought a farm. During the past year of 1917, Mr. Peterson had planted twenty-five acres of corn which yielded the splendid crop of fifty bushels to the acre. Some of the acreage yielded as high as sixty bushels to the acre. From six acres of corn planted for silage he filled his sixty-ton silo and provided feed for his fine herd of Hereford cattle. Where others have failed with the use of a silo, Mr. Peterson has solved the problem of perfect silage during the winter months. He planted his corn, intended for silage, on June 20, 1917, and harvested the crop when the stalks were still full of moisture, the avoiding the necessity of using artificial methods of giving moisture to the silage by watering, practiced with indifferent success by others. The silage is allowed to settle of its own weight and when taken from the silo for feeding purposes it is still sweet and savory, full of natural juices and makes ideal provender for livestock. Mr. Peterson is certain that he has discovered the proper way to put up silage and, besides being the first man in his neighborhood to erect a silo, he is the first in his section to properly fill the silo. There is absolutely no waste with his methods of feeding, as the livestock eat every shred and scrap of the forage. He has a fine herd of thoroughbred Herefords, including eleven cows and as many calves, all in first-class condition. In 1908, Mr. Peterson erected a large barn, painted red, with concrete floors, thirty-four feet wide, twenty-nine feet high, with a twelve-foot shed on each side, one of the best barns in the neighborhood. Mr. Peterson was married in Rochester, New York state, September 14, 1880, to Miss Jane Watson, who was born in 1863, in Penfield near the city of Rochester, New York, Monroe county, a daughter of Edward Marshall and Catherine (Eagan) Watson, the former a native of Cambridgeshire, England, and the latter of Brooklyn, New York. When seventeen years of age, Mrs. Peterson left home and came West with her husband. Mr. and Mrs. Peterson have no living children. Mr. Peterson is a Republican. He is a member of the Catholic church.

PETTYS, Thomas L.
History of Bates County, Missouri, W. O. Atkeson, 1918
THOMAS L. PETTYS, merchant and the treasurer of the Old Settlers' Annual Reunion Association of Bates county, Missouri, is one of the leading citizens of Butler and at the age of sixty-nine years an active and prominent business man of this city. Mr. Pettys is a native of Ohio. He was born in 1848 at Republic in Seneca county, son of Jobe and Augusta (Bishop) Pettys. The mother died when her son, Thomas L., was an infant and the father died in northern Michigan a few years later. Thomas L. Pettys has one sister living, Mrs. Susanna Augusta Cowan, of Bend, Crook county, Oregon. The mother is interred in the cemetery at Republic in Seneca county, Ohio. Thomas L. Pettys acquired a good common school education in the public schools of Republic in Seneca county, Ohio and completed the prescribed course of study in the Republic High School. He came to Missouri with his uncle, Dr. Lyman E. Hall, who at one time was county judge of Bates county. Judge Hall died on his farm in Homer township and his remains were laid to rest in the cemetery at Mulberry. Mr. Pettys made his home with his uncle, Dr. Hall, until the death of the doctor. He then left the farm and accepted a position with William Robinson, a general merchant and honored pioneer of Mulberry, and for two years young Pettys worked as clerk in Mr. Robinson's mercantile establishment. Mr. Pettys thought that Colorado offered superior advantages to the ambitious, young man and he resigned his position as clerk and went to that state, where he remained four months and returned to Missouri to enter the employ of Mr. Levy at Butler and for six years was thus engaged in the same building in which the Levy Mercantile Company now is located. At the close of that period of time, Mr. Pettys again left Missouri and took a claim of land in western Kansas in Gray county and, after having proven it, he sold this tract and came back to Butler, investing his money in a grocery store owned formerly by Charles Denny, Butler's pioneer groceryman, and taking into partnership with him his son-in-law, Dell Welton. This firm continued in business two years and then Thomas L. Pettys disposed of his interest in the store, selling the same to Mr. Welton. The former purchased the grocery store located on the southeast corner of the public square. After conducting business for two years at the old stand Mr. Pettys moved his establishment to the John Steele building, and at this place has continuously been in business ever since. For thirty-three years, Mr. Pettys has been prominent in the business and financial circles of Butler. He states that when he first came to this city there was a little frame building on the northeast corner of the square, which structure was dignified by the name of the Bates county court house. December 25, 1889, Thomas L. Pettys and Mrs. Mary E. (Porch) Glass were united in marriage. Mrs. Pettys is a native of Cole county, Missouri, a daughter of Henry H. and Lucinda (McLean) Porch, the former, a native of North Carolina and the latter, of Tennessee. Mr. and Mrs. Porch were honored and widely known pioneers of Cole county. They were the parents of the following children: Andrew J., deceased; William N., Berlin, Oklahoma; J.W., who has been a resident of Butler, Missouri, since 1865; and Mrs. Thomas L. Pettys, the wife of the subject of this review. Of the early days in Bates county, Mr. Pettys can tell much and in his own delightful, inimitable manner relates stories of pioneer times in this section of the state. He has done much toward making the Old Settlers' Reunion an annual success. The association was organized in 1896 and the reunion is one of the biggest and most important events of the year in Bates county. The last meeting was held October 10, 1917 on the public square in Butler. Mr. Pettys was personally acquainted with many of the leading and influential men of the days gone by and he recalls that William Robinson was the first merchant at Mulberry. Mr. Robinson opened a store at that place about 1870. Dr. Lyman E. Hall was one of the most prominent citizens of western Bates county, a highly respected and intellectual pioneer physician whose practice was very extensive in the early days. He frequently made calls far beyond the confines of this county and at that time there were no fences to obstruct travel over the prairie and no roads to guide the traveler. Dr. Hall and William Robinson were the benefactors of the orphan boy, Thomas Pettys, friends whom he had always held in grateful remembrance and the highest esteem. Like the majority of young men, Thomas L. Pettys had to win recognition by merit alone. A multitude of obstacles in the pathway to success had to be overcome before the future looked very bright or promising. Left an orphan when but a small child, he was dependent for many years upon the mercies of an unmerciful world. A close observer, keen thinker, and diligent worker, Mr. Pettys seized every opportunity to profit by the knowledge of those older than he in years and experience and exceptional success has crowned his efforts. While attending primarily to his own business affairs, Mr. Pettys is not unmindful of the claims every community has upon its citizens and public-spirited in an obtrusive way he takes a deep interest in all movements which have for their object the betterment and uplift of the community.

PHEASANT, Thomas J.
History of Bates County, Missouri, W. O. Atkeson, 1918
THOMAS J. PHEASANT -- The late Thomas J. Pheasant of Hudson township, was an industrious and enterprising citizen who did well his part in the development and up-building of Bates county. He was born in Jefferson county, Indiana, September 3, 1856, son of Charles Pheasant. He was reared and educated in his native state and migrated to Bates county, Missouri in 1882. Not long after his arrival in this county he made a permanent location on the farm now owned by his widow. He purchased this land from Judge Robards. This farm consists of one hundred fifteen acres and is kept in a high state of cultivation and is finely improved with a good residence, barns and other buildings and during his life time in this county, Mr. Pheasant kept in a good state of repair. He followed farming and stock raising and dealt rather extensively in livestock, buying and shipping large number of cattle and hogs each year prior to coming to Missouri. He took a good citizen's part in local civic affairs and served as constable of Hudson township and also served as a member of the township board. Mr. Pheasant died March 22, 1915. On December 9, 1886, Thomas J. Pheasant and Miss Elizabeth Wilson were united in marriage. This marriage was a happy and prosperous one and the young couple worked together in perfect harmony in the rearing of their fine family and the building up of their fine farm. Their first home was in a little, old log cabin which was built in pioneer days by the father of Judge Robards and which was situated on the hill one mile north of the present home of the Pheasant family. The logs used in the building of this cabin were cut in the Osage river bottoms and hauled to the site of the cabin, the cutting and hewing of the logs being accomplished with incredible labor, long, long ago. This cabin consisted of two rooms with a loft above. Iron rods at each corner held the logs together. The logs were so joined in order that prowling Indians would be unable to pry up the corners of the cabin in case of an attack. In later years the old cabin, after it had served its purpose as a habitation for man, was torn down and the material used in the construction of a barn on the Pheasant place. The present home of the family was the former home of Judge Robards. This residence was remodeled by Mr. and Mrs. Pheasant in 1902 and is a comfortable and attractive farm home. Six children were born to Thomas J. and Elizabeth Pheasant, as follow: Mrs. Clay Mauck, living in Hudson township, a former teacher in St. Clair, Bates and Henry counties; Bruce, serving his country as a private soldier in the encampment at Fort Logan, Colorado, having enlisted in the National Army, while homesteading a tract of land in Wyoming; Mrs. O.E. Reid, living in Cass county, Harrisonville, also a former teacher who taught school in Bates and Cass counties prior to her marriage; Charles E., a sturdy, industrious young citizen, twenty-two years of age, who is operating the home place; Elizabeth, a student in the Appleton City High School, class of 1919; and Thomas De Witt, a student in the first year class of the Appleton City High School. The Pheasant home place is located three and a half miles west of Appleton City and is well equipped with two good barns, a silo having a capacity of one hundred tons and is well stocked with cattle and hogs and sheep, there being one hundred and ninety-five head of the latter animals on the place at the present writing. Mrs. Elizabeth (Wilson) Pheasant was born December 1, 1862 in Virginia, and is a daughter of Edward and Sarah (Powell) Wilson, natives of Cumberland county, Virginia. Edward Wilson came to Bates county in early pioneer days and entered government land in Hudson township. Mrs. Pheasant's brothers and sisters are as follow: Goodrich Wilson, Elk City, Oklahoma; Edward C., Calumet, Oklahoma; G.T. Wilson, Calumet, Oklahoma; Mrs. Daniel Donahue, Appleton City, Missouri; Mrs. George G. Shoup, Appleton City, Missouri. Mr. Pheasant was a member of the Methodist Episcopal church and so lived his life that it was as nearly in keeping with the teachings of the Savior as was possible for mortal man. He was honest and straightforward in his business dealings and won a name for himself as a reliable and trustworthy citizen among his fellow-men. His death was a time of sorrow for his family and many warm friends and associates who had grown to love him and respect him for his many excellent qualities. He was a good provider for his family, a kind husband, and a loving parent to his children for whose welfare and correct upbringing he was very ambitious and lived his industrious life solely for their benefit. Mr. and Mrs. Pheasant were always in complete accord with the advanced ideas of caring for their children and in giving them every educational advantage of which they were capable. Mrs. Pheasant and the members of her family are all earnestly affiliated with the Methodist Episcopal church.

PHILBRICK, Harrison
History of Bates County, Missouri, W. O. Atkeson, 1918
HARRISON PHILBRICK, a late prominent farmer and stockman of Bates county, Missouri, one of the wealthiest landowners of the county, surveyor of Bates county from 1868 until 1880, was a native of New Hampshire. Mr. Philbrick was born in 1840 at Rye in Rockingham county, a son of Daniel and Sarah Ann Philbrick, both of whom were natives of New Hampshire. Sarah Ann Philbrick was a relative of Daniel Webster, New Hampshire's most famous son, the most prominent figure in the history of our country in the interval between 1815 and 1861, a world-renowned statesman, diplomat, and orator. Harrison Philbrick was a graduate of the New Hampton Theological Seminary. He was a civil engineer in the early days in New York and in Ohio. Mr. Philbrick came to Bates county, Missouri, in 1867 and located temporarily in Hudson township. He moved to Butler in 1868 and seven years later removed to his country place now managed and occupied by his son, George Craig Philbrick. At the time the Philbricks settled in Bates county, the country was open prairie and to their home Papinsville was the nearest town and postoffice. Harrison Philbrick was elected surveyor of Bates county in 1868 and for twelve years capably served in this county office. He became interested in stock raising after he had moved to his farm in 1875 and was in recent years one of the leading stockmen in western Missouri, raising cattle, hogs, horses, and sheep. At the time of his death in 1916, the Philbrick estate embraced nearly one thousand acres of land, which is still in the Philbrick name. The residence, a handsome structure of eleven rooms and two stories, was built in 1875 and remodeled and rebuilt in 1884, is one of the most conspicuous rural homes in the county. The farm, which was the original purchase of Mr. Philbrick, is supplied with all modern conveniences for facilitating the handling of stock and grain and the land is abundantly watered. George Craig Philbrick now has charge of the home place, the farm where he was born, and farms three hundred fifty acres of land which he owns. His sister, Lillie Haven, is his housekeeper. Miss Lillie Philbrick was educated in the city schools of Butler, Missouri, and is well known in Bates county. The Philbrick homestead is located four miles southeast of Rich Hill, Missouri, one of the valuable prairie farms of this vicinity, just above the overflow of the Marais de Cygnes. The marriage of Harrison Philbrick and Jane Eastman, of Meredith, New Hampshire, was solemnized in 1868. To this union were born the following children: Lillie Haven, of whom previous mention has been made in this sketch; Ira Perley, who is engaged in farming and stock raising on a part of the home place; Daniel Eastman, a farmer and stockman on a part of the home place; George Craig, who resides on the original home farm; and Nellie, the wife of Willie Wills, of Neosho, Missouri. The mother died in 1885 and interment was made in the cemetery at Rich Hill, Missouri. Harrison Philbrick was united in marriage with Emma Lane in 1887. Emma (Lane) Philbrick was a native of Ohio. She died in 1915 and her remains were interred in the cemetery at Rich Hill. Mr. Philbrick died December 8, 1916, and he, too, was laid to rest in the Rich Hill cemetery. Harrison Philbrick was a gentleman of unusual intellectuality, broad perspective, and clearly defined principles. Honor and integrity were synonymous with his name and he enjoyed the unlimited respect, confidence, and regard of the people of Bates county. As a neighbor, there was none better, as a friend, there could be none truer, and on the roll of Bates county's best citizens the name of Harrison Philbrick will always be accorded an honorable place.

PIEPMEIER, Henry J.
History of Cass & Bates Co, MO, 1883 - Hudson Township, Bates Co, MO
HENRY J. PIEPMEIER, the subject of this sketch, was born in St. Charles County, Missouri, February 28, 1853. His parents, Henry and Elizabeth (Kuneil) Piepmeier, were native Germans. They immigrated to the United States when young, and were married in the United States. Henry accompanied the family from St. Charles to Bates County, in 1856. His youth and almost his entire life has been spent in Bates County, where he was raised as a farmer, being educated in the common schools. He was married September 17, 1879, to Miss Fanny Bailey, a daughter of Moses Bailey. She was born in Missouri and was raised and educated in Bates County. After his marriage, Mr. Piepmeier settled on his present farm. He has 180 acres of land, all fenced, with about twenty acres in meadow. This farm is in section 12. Mr. and Mrs. P. have one child, Jesse E., born July 15, 1881.

PIERCE, James S.
History of Cass & Bates Co, MO, 1883 - Charlotte Township, Bates Co, MO
JAMES S. PIERCE, druggist at Virginia, came originally from Cocke County, Tennessee, where he was born in 1843. His father, George W. Pierce, who was born in Tennessee, October 24, 1809, married Miss Linden B. Swargerty in 1834. She was also a native of Tennessee; born in 1811 and died in 1862. In 1853 they settled in Bates County where the father still resides. James S. was principally reared and educated here. During the late war he served in the Seventh Regiment, Missouri Volunteer Infantry. After hostilities had ceased he spent some time in Iowa, but returned to Missouri in the fall of 1865. In 1867 he married Miss Hattie E. Browning, a native of this county, born in 1847. She is a daughter of Jasper and Amanda (Ester) Browning. Mr. Pierce has long been identified with the interests of Bates County; first as a farmer and later as a merchant at Virginia, where he is meeting with good success. He has two children: Levi Franklin and George Jasper. Mrs. P. is a member of the Baptist Church.

PITCHFORD, D. T.
History of Cass & Bates Co, MO, 1883 - Pleasant Gap Township, Bates Co, MO
D. T. PITCHFORD, farmer and stock feeder, section 32, was born in Franklin County, Illinois, August 19, 1831. His parents were James G. and Martha (Williams) Pitchford; his father was born in Allen County, Kentucky, while his mother was a Tennesseean by birth. The subject of this sketch moved with the family to Montgomery County in 1832, where his youth was spent on a farm. He was married in this county, October 16, 1852, to Miss L. McGowen, a daughter of Alexander and Louisa McGowen. After that event he resided in Montgomery for about four years, and in 1857 moved to Christian County, the same state. Selling his property there in the fall of 1873, he came to Missouri and located on his present farm.Mr. Pitchford has 195 acres of land in his home place, all fenced and mostly improved. He also owns a farm of 140 acres in Prairie Township, with fair improvements. Mrs. Pitchford died in Christian County in April 1871, and there are five children living by this marriage: Buenavista M. (wife of W. H. H. Bailey, of Illinois), C. C, William P., Laura A. (wife of Howard Rose) and Thomas Jefferson. Mr. P. was again married, this time in Christian County, November 30, 1 871, to Mrs. Elizabeth Yarber, a daughter of John Piatt. They have three children: Ella May, Edgar Lee and Jesse James. He and his wife are members of the Baptist Church.

POAGE, George A.
History of Cass & Bates Co, MO, 1883 - Mingo Township, Bates Co, MO
GEORGE A. POAGE, druggist, Mayesburg, is a native of Virginia, having been born in Pocahontas County, December 3, 1850, the eldest of fourteen children. His parents were Samuel Poage and Sallie, nee Allen, also of Virginia. At the age of five years he, with the family, came to Missouri and settled in Daviess County, where he was reared on a farm. He was educated at McGee College, and when of age began life for himself by first securing a companion, in the person of Miss Carrie J. McCarty, a native of the same state as himself They were married December 20, 1871. He embarked in farming in Daviess County, which he continued until 1881. having come to Bates in 1880. He entered the drug store with Mr. West in 1881, and is still in the same business. Mr. Poage has the respect of his acquaintances, and has been elected to the offices of justice of the peace, treasurer and township trustee. He and his wife are members of the Presbyterian Church, and he is also a Master Mason. Mr, and Mrs. Poage have had three children, but have lost two of them, only one, Harry B., now living. The other two were named John H. and Lola T.

POETER, E. A.
History of Bates County, Missouri, W. O. Atkeson, 1918
E.A. PORTER -- The one hundred sixty acres of land owned by E.A. Porter and located one mile west of Adrian, in Deer Creek township, is one of the best improved and finest agricultural plants in this section of Bates county or in Missouri. Everything about the place denotes thrift and good farm management on the part of the proprietor. When Mr. Porter purchased this place, in 1907, it was practically devoid of improvements. During his tenure, he has erected a thoroughly modern eight-room residence of handsome appearance. He has built a large, white barn 50 x 60 feet in size; a hog and cattle barn, 36 x 40 feet in dimensions; a concrete-floored feeding shed for hogs; and a silo, having a capacity of one hundred tons. Mr. Porter feed generally about one hundred head of Poland China hogs and keeps a herd of Red Polled and Durham milch cows. Altogether he has spent in excess of eight thousand dollars upon farm improvements and the unanimous judgment of persons who observe the Porter farm is that he is thoroughly progressive, energetic, intelligent agriculturist. E.A. Porter was born in September, 1869, on a farm in Bates county, a son of R.I. and Catherine (Pulliam) Porter, the former, born in Jefferson county, Missouri, in 1838, and the latter, born in Cass county in February, 1849. The father of R.I. Porter was a Missouri pioneer who came to this state from Illinois. Catherine (Pulliam) Porter was a daughter of Augustus Pulliam, who came to Missouri from Kentucky in the early fifties. R.I. Porter was reared to young manhood in Jefferson county and during the early sixties he journeyed to Montana, where he followed mining in the Western mountains for a period of five years of thereabout. In 1866, he located in Bates county and settled on a farm eight miles northeast of Adrian in Grand River township, where there were both timber and water in abundance. He developed this tract into one of the finest farms in Bates county and recently sold it for a good price. Mr. and Mrs. R.I. Porter now reside in Nevada, Missouri. They have three children: Edward A., subject of this review; Dr. E.M., of Great Falls, Montana, one of the most famous surgeons of the Western country; and Miss Eva, who lives with her parents at Nevada. Edward A. Porter was educated in the district school near his father's home and afterward attended Butler Academy, following which he studied at the Warrensburg Normal College. He cultivated the home place until he was twenty-one years old and, after his marriage, he settled on a farm one mile southwest of Altona. He first purchased eighty acres of land which he improved and to which he successively added two "eighties." He ultimately owned two hundred forty acres of land, which is rated among the best farms in the county. Mr. Porter sold this farm at a considerable profit in 1907 and invested the proceeds in his present home farm. Mr. Porter was married in February, 1890, to Miss Mary Cantrell, who was born in Bates county, Missouri, a daughter of Stephen and Lillian (McClure) Cantrell, natives of Georgia, who came to Bates county in 1868 and resided here until death claimed them. Three children have been born to Edward A. and Mary Porter, as follow: Cora, wife of Virgil S. Proctor, living in Montana; Lola, wife of Frank Mathers, assistant cashier of the First National Bank of Adrian; and Alma, at home with her parents. The Democratic party has always had the allegiance of Mr. Porter and he has always been more or less interested in the affairs of his party. For a period of ten years he filled the office of assessor of Grand River township. He and Mrs. Porter are members of the Methodist Episcopal church. Mr. Porter is fraternally affiliated with the Modern Woodmen of America, the Independent Order of Odd Fellows, and the Encampment.

POINDEXTER, Luther
History of Bates County, Missouri, W. O. Atkeson, 1918
LUTHER POINDEXTER, a successful and influential farmer and stockman of Spruce township, Bates county, is a native of Boone county, Missouri. Mr. Poindexter was born in 1879, son of Mr. Poindexter and Mary Elizabeth (Salsman) Poindexter, the father, a native of North Carolina and the mother, of Camden county, Missouri. The Poindexters settled in Spruce township, Bates county in 1881 and the father rented land in the township until his death in 1903. Interment was made for him in the cemetery at Johnstown. The widowed mother now makes her home on her farm near Johnstown, Missouri. Mr. and Mrs. Poindexter were the parents of the following children: Frances, the wife of James Chitty, of Altona, Missouri; Melvin, who died in infancy; William, who went to the state of Idaho in 1916 and now resides there; Lark, a well-to-do farmer and stockman residing near Ballard, Missouri; Luther, the subject of this review; Brush, a well-known farmer and stockman residing near Johnstown, Missouri; Ollie, who is now deceased and he left a widow, Mrs. Mintie (Crump) Poindexter; Roy, who is engaged in farming and stock raising near Johnstown, Missouri; Hattie, deceased; Attie, the wife of Nilie Beaman, of Adrian, Missouri; Walter and Lucy, who reside with their widowed mother on the farm near Johnstown, Missouri. When Luther Poindexter was a child, two years of age, his parents moved with their family to Bates county, Missouri and in this county Mr. Poindexter was reared and educated. He attended the district schools of Spruce township and after acquiring a good common school education began farming and stock raising, in which pursuits he has since been engaged. Mr. Poindexter began life for himself at the age of twenty years. In 1916, he purchased his present country place, a farm comprising one hundred twenty-five acres of land located one mile south and one-fourth mile west of Ballard, Missouri, one of the most attractive rural homes in Spruce township. A branch of Soap creek flows through the farm and the land is well watered, for in addition to the creek there are five good wells on the farm. The improvements include a comfortable, well-built residence, a house of five rooms; a barn, 50 x 60 feet in dimensions; a second barn, 40 x 50 feet in dimensions; an implement shed; and several hog sheds. The buildings are situated on an elevation and the drainage around them is the best. W.D. Howard formerly owned the Poindexter place. Mr. Poindexter is profitably engaged in raising cattle, hogs, horses, and mules and in addition is an extensive feeder of hogs. He is one of the enterprising, intelligent agriculturists of his township and his tireless efforts, unflagging industry, and good business judgment well merit a goodly share of success. Politically, Mr. Poindexter is a stanch Democrat. In 1906 Luther Poindexter was married to Ada Zeiler, a daughter of John and Sallie Zeiler, living pioneers of Osceola, Missouri. To this union have been born two children: John Melvin and Dimple. Mr. and Mrs. Poindexter are highly regarded and valued among the best and most prominent citizens of Spruce township, where for nearly forty years the Poindexter name has been respected as the synonym of honorable and upright manhood and womanhood.

POLLARD, T. C.
History of Bates County, Missouri, W. O. Atkeson, 1918
T.C. POLLARD, the well-known and energetic owner, manager, and "live wire" of The Pollard Agency of Butler, the largest insurance agency in southwestern Missouri, is a native of West Virginia. Mr. Pollard was born in 1874 near Powhatan, West Virginia, a son of Thomas T. and Phoebe (Ball) Pollard, who were the parents of the following children: Mrs. Mary Hamm, Hopkins, Missouri; Mrs. Ida M. Baird, Bancroft, Iowa; Mrs. Luella M. Baird, Pawpaw, Illinois; Mrs. Effie J. Barnes, Hopkins, Missouri; and T.C., the subject of this review. The father died about 1874 and in 1880 Mrs. Pollard came to Hopkins, Missouri with her children and at that place her death occurred in 1914. When T.C. Pollard was a babe, six months of age, his father died and, thus, the boy was early in life placed upon his own resources. Since he was a lad, eleven years old, Mr. Pollard has made his own way in the world. Seventeen years ago, he began his insurance work with L.C. Gray, the present state agent for the Springfield Fire Insurance Company of Springfield, Massachusetts for Missouri and Kansas, at Kansas City, Missouri. Mr. Pollard has been writing insurance constantly since that time. He left Kansas City in 1906 and went to Greeley, Colorado, where he opened an agency, or rather organized an insurance company, the Colony Investment Company, which is still doing a thriving business in that state. Seven years later, Mr. Pollard left Greeley and went to Rolla, Missouri, where he followed the insurance business for two years, in charge of the Livingston Clino Bland Insurance agency. In June, 1916, he came to Butler, Missouri, when he purchased his present agency. He attends personally to every policy written, keeping close account of the policy and date of expiration. Mr. Pollard has traveling men looking after new business as well as the old, when losses occur, he is just as desirous to adjust and pay the insurance as to write a new policy. All losses are adjusted at Mr. Pollard's own office and his maxim of business is, "Do it now." In April, 1900, T.C. Pollard was united in marriage with Nora L. Lancaster at Ada, Kansas. Mrs. Pollard is a daughter of John G. and Alpha Lancaster, both of whom are now deceased. Mr. Lancaster died at Boulder, Colorado on October 17, 1912 and five years later, to the day, he was joined in death by his wife. Mrs. Lancaster died October 17, 1917. To T.C. and Nora L. Pollard have been born four children: Charles L., Naomi B., Harold C., and Donald N. Mr. and Mrs. Pollard reside in Butler at 112 West Fort Scott street. The Pollard Agency was first established by Thomas Evelsizer about 1890 and was then known as the Continental Insurance Agency. Mr. Evelsizer sold the agency after several years. Later it was acquired by Ben Canterbury. Mr. Canterbury and Mr. Travis conducted the business in partnership for many years under the firm name of Canterbury & Travis. The latter partner sold his interest back to Mr. Canterbury, from whom T.C. Pollard purchased the agency in June, 1916. The Pollard Agency has now thirteen companies and is doing the largest insurance business in this part of the country, covering the counties of Bates, Cass, St. Clair, and Vernon for two fire insurance companies, one life insurance company, and one casualty insurance company. Although T.C. Pollard is a very recent addition to the good citizenship of Butler, he has in the brief period of his residence in this city won a conspicuous place in the respect and esteem of the business men of Bates county and is now classed with the most valued, substantial and intelligent citizens.

POPP, Fred E.
History of Bates County, Missouri, W. O. Atkeson, 1918
FRED E. POPP, who is farming the Popp estate of three hundred acres in the southwestern part of New Home township, was born in Madison county, Illinois, in 1866. He is a son of the late Michael and Barbara Popp, natives of Prussia, Germany. Michael Popp was born in 1829 and died in Bates county in 1897. He immigrated to America in 1845 and first settled at St. Louis, where he was employed as laborer for two years. He went from St. Louis to Madison county, Illinois, and after a period of employment as farm laborer he invested his savings in sixty acres of farm land which he cultivated until 1871. In that year he sold his Illinois farm and came to Bates county and made a first settlement at Prairie City, eight miles east of Rich Hill, where he lived for eleven years. He then bought the farm of three hundred acres which his son, Fred E., is now managing. He built a handsome farm residence and a large barn and prospered as the years went on, living on the place until his death. A six-foot vein of excellent coal underlies the Popp land. Mrs. Popp departed this life on the old home place, June 5, 1917. The other children of the family are as follow: Mrs. Mary Schmidt, deceased; Mrs. Pardcha Cattelson, Creighton, Missouri; Mrs. Barbara Yeager, deceased; George, living in Oklahoma; Conrad, a farmer in Bates county. Mr. Popp is an independent Republican voter and is a member of the Lutheran church.

PORTER, George S.
History of Bates County, Missouri, W. O. Atkeson, 1918
GEORGE S. PORTER, well and favorably known farmer and stockman of Deepwater township, was born on the farm which he is now managing, May 14, 1877. He is the son of Jefferson L. and Catherine (Schere) Porter, natives of Virginia. Jefferson L. Porter was born in Virginia in 1826 and departed this life on his farm in Bates county in 1912. He was a scion of an old American family of prominence. He came to Missouri from Virginia in 1858 and made an early settlement in Deepwater township, where he became one of the most influential citizens of the county. Mr. Porter first purchased a homestead of two hundred and forty acres from Jarrard Witt who had entered the land. He was industrious, a good farmer, and financier and became owner of nine hundred and twenty-six acres of land in this county previous to his death. When Order No. 11 was issued by General Ewing calling for the residents of Bates county who were in sympathy with the South to evacuate their homes, Mr. Porter was the only man in his neighborhood to remain. During the troublesome times in the border country when marauding bands would sweep over western Missouri, burning homes and killing livestock and settlers, J.L. Porter was living on the old home place. When ordered away, he left it for one night only, he and his family returning next day. A party of marauders attempted to assassinate him, and his horse was killed during the affray. The attack and attempt upon his life occurred near Johnstown. A party was organized to avenge the assault, composed of Mr. Porter, A.E. Page, John Sisson, George and William Warner, Lafayette Griggs, and Valincourt Griggs. The party came upon a part of the band which had attempted the killing and a battle ensued which lasted for some time on April 14, 1861. Lafayette Griggs fell dead at the first return fire from the jay-hawkers and a running fight ensued, the marauders making a stand for their lives near a small lake. Eight of the invaders were killed and the captain wounded, he being killed later by members of the posse who became the victors in the engagement. Jefferson L. Porter was appointed associate judge of the Bates county court in 1864 when the court held its session at Johnstown. He was prominent in the affairs of Bates county for many years and became widely known as a breeder of Hereford cattle and Duroc Jersey hogs. In 1901 he started the practice of holding private sales of his fine stock at his place and made a success of the undertaking. To Jefferson L. and Catherine Porter were born eight children as follow: Stewart F., Jonesboro, Arkansas; Damaris, wife of Lee Witt, she died in September, 1917, at Troy, Missouri; Bettie, wife of Alvin Hart, Henry county, Missouri; Jennie, wife of Jasper Talbot, Miami, Oklahoma; Edith Murray, widow, Longmont, Colorado; Mollie M., wife of Jordan Cottle, Chicago, Illinois; George S., subject of this sketch; A.L. died at the age of thirty-five years in 1892, killed at Lexington Junction in a railway accident; Nora died in 1912, aged forty years; three children died in infancy. Mrs. Catherine (Schere) Porter was born in Virginia and died in 1892. Mrs. Porter was a daughter of John Jacob Schere, born in Guilford county, North Carolina, February 7, 1785, married Elizabeth Grierson. John Jacob Schere was the son of Frederick Schere, born in Guilford, North Carolina, in 1763, married Barbara Smith, and served in the Patriot Army during the War of the American Revolution, losing an ear in battle. He was the son of Jacob Daniel Schere, a native of Oberbelbock, Germany, married Hannah Sophie Dick, and immigrated to Berks county, Pennsylvania, in September, 1748. His son probably migrated to North Carolina and there founded another branch of the family from which George S. Porter is a direct descendant. George S. Porter was educated in school district No. 53, and studied in the Appleton City Academy for two years. After leaving school he took up farming and was his father's partner until Judge Porter died. He is managing a large farm of five hundred acres in all which is one of the best equipped stock farms in Bates county. All of this land is located in Deepwater township, excepting eighty acres which lies in Spruce township. All of the land excepting sixty acres is in hay, pasture and timber. The place is well watered, a deep well drilled three hundred and twenty feet furnishes an abundant supply of water for all purposes. Mr. Porter keeps one hundred head of cattle and about twenty head of horses and mules on the place. On December 11, 1900, George S. Porter was united in marriage with Sarah Bessie Alexander, of Deepwater township, a daughter of T.J. and Maud (Colegrove) Alexander. Her father was a native of Indiana, born in Jay county, May 18, 1854, and accompanied his father, Andrew Calvin Alexander, to Bates county in 1867. Andrew Calvin Alexander died in Bates county in 1893. T.J. Alexander, farmer, died August 21, 1899. His wife, Mrs. Maude Alexander, was born in Lebanon, Indiana, November 12, 1860, and is now making her home near Johnstown. Mr. and Mrs. George S. Porter have three children: Ruby Violet, Ralph Alexander, and Ruth Catherine. Mrs. Sarah Bessie Porter was born July 20, 1882, and reared in Bates county. Her grandfather, Andrew C. Alexander, a prosperous farmer, was a native of Ohio, and married Sarah H. Callahan, who was born April 9, 1834, in Jackson county, Ohio, and died February 10, 1895. They were married June 2, 1853, moved from Indiana to Iowa in 1857, and from Iowa to Missouri in 1867 and located near Johnstown. While Mr. Porter is a Republican in politics he attends strictly to his own business affairs and leaves political matters to those who have more time for politics. He votes as a good citizen should but the management of his large stock farm and his home affairs keep him occupied.

PORTER, J. W.
History of Cass & Bates Co, MO, 1883 - Howard Township, Bates Co, MO
J. W. PORTER, dealer in furniture, was born in Morgan County, Missouri, in 1840, and was the son of Green L. and Lucinda Porter, the former born and reared in Tennessee, but the latter a Kentuckian by birth. They were married in Cooper County, Missouri, and subsequently settled in Morgan County, where J. W. was brought up and educated. In 1858, he started in business life for himself as a farmer. During the late war he served about fourteen months in the Confederate army in Kansas and Texas. In 1867 he was married to Miss E. M. Porter, of Tennessee. Her parents. Rev. J. S. and Mary Porter, were also natives of that state, and came to Missouri in 1859. In 1868, Mr. J. W. Porter located on a farm in Pettis County, and remained there until 1879, when he came to Bates County. He lived on a farm here until 1881, when he purchased a lot in Hume and entered into his present business, erecting one of the most substantial business houses in the place. He and his wife have one child, James L. They are both church members.

PORTER, W. T.
History of Cass & Bates Co, MO, 1883 - Howard Township, Bates Co, MO
W. T. PORTER, dealer in drugs and notions, at Hume, is a native of Smith County, Tennessee, and was born in 1841, his parents being Peter and Louisa Porter. The father was born in North Carolina, and the mother also came originally from Smith County. In 1851 the subject of this sketch accompanied the family to Pettis County, Missouri, where he spent his youth and early manhood. In the late civil war he served for about ten months under General Sterling Price, in Company F, 45th Regiment Missouri Volunteer Infantry. He was united in marriage to Mary Porter, of Morgan County, Missouri, who was reared and educated there. She died leaving one child, Peter W. His second marriage occurred to Miss Allie Stoker, who was born in Kentucky. During the years 1872-73 Mr. P. lived in Colorado, and on December 23, 1881, he located at Hume. They have two children: William E. and Fred C. They are both members of the M. E. Church.

POWER, Melvin Sidney
History of Cass & Bates Co, MO, 1883 - Mt. Pleasant Township, Bates Co, MO
MELVIN SIDNEY POWER was born in Ontario County, New York, in 1827. His father, William Power, married Miss Dorcas Arnold. Melvin spent his early days at the common schools, acquiring a good business education. After attaining his majority he settled on a farm, and married Miss Prudence Eugenia Rapalje May 27, 1852. Her father, Abraham Rapalje, was born in Dutchess County, New York, and subsequently moved to Ontario County. Her mother was formerly Eliza Scott, of Saratoga County. Mrs. Power received a thorough education at the Fitzhue Seminary at Rochester. They have three children living: Ralph Edward, Melvin Rapalje and Sarah Eliza, Lizzie. Jerome Alexander, who was born August 17, 1859, at Santiago, Island of Cuba, died July 31, 1881, at Mankato, Minnesota, where he was stopping for his health. In 1857 Mr. Power went to Cuba, where he remained for nine years, engaged as a general produce and egg dealer, also dealing in stock. He was successful in making money, but also met with many heavy losses. Coming to Missouri February, 14, 1868, he bought the Planters House at Pleasant Hill, which he kept for six months, then selling it and moving to Butler, where he purchased an old mill. He at present has lumbering interests in Arkansas and ships logs to the mill here to be manufactured into lumber. The Butler Mill was started by him on the 15th of December, 1866, commencing with one run of burrs for grinding corn. Its capacity was forty bushels of corn per hour, and many grists came forty and fifty miles from Cass, Henry and Vernon Counties, Missouri, and Linn County, Kansas. About one year after this a run of burs and other machinery for grinding wheat were added, also a saw mill. There were two boilers and two engines, and in the fall of 1868 one boiler exploded, breaking the leg of one man and cutting the head of another man open. The building was totally demolished. In ten days from the time of the explosion the mill was running again, night and day. This was the first steam mill in Bates County since the war and the first steam one ever in Butler. M. S. Power sold the mill to his sons, E. R. and M. R. Power, in the fall of 1877. The capacity of the mill is 120 bushels of wheat and 400 bushels of corn and 6,000 feet of lumber every ten hours. Grinding and sawing are done at the same time. This firm employes thirty-five men, including log haulers and choppers. Their sales are mostly home trade, they furnishing seventeen stores and three bakeries with flour in Butler. Their lumber is sold mostly to farmers.

PRATT, Harry T.
History of Bates County, Missouri, W. O. Atkeson, 1918
HARRY T. PRATT, well and favorably known citizen of Hudson township, has resided in Bates county for the past fifty years, and is one of the best known men in his section of the county. Mr. Pratt was born in New York, May 5, 1864, and is a son of Joel and Mary (Taylor) Pratt, both of whom were natives of New York. The Pratt family came to Bates county, Missouri in 1868 and made a settlement in Hudson township, locating on a farm just north of the townsite of Hudson. This is one of the Bates county towns that has disappeared from the map after a brief heyday of growth and prosperity. In the year 1868, Hudson boasted a number of store buildings, a church, school and several residences and was a place of some importance. It flourished until the coming of the railroad and the founding of the town of Appleton City in the adjoining county of St. Clair. Hudson thereupon took the very best course -- the inland town was moved bodily to the vicinity of the railroad and thus passed out of existence. Mr. Jackling kept store in Hudson in 1868. His son, Daniel Jackling, is now a copper mining millionaire residing in San Francisco. The main street of Hudson as it was fifty years ago now forms the road between the Pheasant and Pratt farms. The present school house is located in a grove which had been set out by the townsite company and designated as a public park. One tree in this grove is over fifty years old. When Appleton City was started, over thirty houses were moved from Hudson to the new city in the early seventies. Among this number was the Hudson Presbyterian church which was sawed in two parts and hauled by oxen and horses to the new site. The first half of the building was burned while being transported to its destination. The other half was taken on to Appleton City and the burned part replaced, but the entire building has since been replaced by a new church edifice more in keeping with the progress of the times. Joel Pratt purchased a tract of one hundred and eighty acres on the north line of the township or town and increased his holdings to a total of two hundred fifty acres which are under the care and management of his son, Harry T. Pratt. He was the first postmaster of Hudson, serving in this capacity during 1868 and 1869. Joel Pratt and wife were parents of the following children: Harry T. and Garry, are twins, the latter of whom is a merchant doing business in Appleton City; Mrs. Alice A. Alexander, Appleton City. Joel Pratt was born in Washington county, New York, August 2, 1835, a son of Garrison Pratt, who was born in Connecticut in 1806, married Miss Elmira Smith, of Vermont, and moved to New York when a young man. Joel Pratt was reared to young manhood in Washington county, New York and was educated in the public schools. He was married in Allegheny county, New York, February 10, 1859, to Miss Mary Jane Taylor, a daughter of Francis F. Taylor, of Allegheny county. In 1864, Mr. Pratt engaged in the mercantile business at Black Creek and continued in this business for four years. In 1868 he came to Bates county, where he has pursued a long and interesting career. He was prominent in the affairs of the Democratic party and served several years as township collector. Harry T. Pratt received his education in the schools of his home township and the old Butler Academy. After ending his school days he was engaged in farming until 1902 and was then engaged in the mercantile business at Appleton City in partnership with his father and brother, Garry. In 1911 he returned to the farm and is successfully engaged in tilling his well-improved place of two hundred thirty-five acres. The Pratt place is one of the best watered stock farms in the county and is equipped with two sets of improvements including three barns. Mr. Pratt's present home is a building remodeled from what was formerly the postoffice and hotel building of the town of Hudson and consists of nine rooms. Since 1917, Mr. Pratt has engaged in the breeding of registered Aberdeen Angus cattle and has a herd of twenty-five cows and a registered male of this fine breed of cattle. He has recently disposed of a carload of fine cattle and has about seventy-five head of grade stock on his place. He has sixty head of Shropshire sheep and a fine drove of Poland China hogs. He has been active in the civic affairs of Hudson township for the past thirty years and has filled the office of member of the township board, justice of the peace and is now serving as constable and tax collector. Mr. Pratt is an elder of the Presbyterian church of Appleton City. He is a member of the Odd Fellows and is affiliated with the Ancient Free and Accepted Masons and he and Mrs. Pratt are members of the Presbyterian church. Mr. Pratt was married in 1895 to Lulia E. Chapin, of Hudson township, and to this marriage have been born two sons: Louis C., at student in the Appleton City High School, class of 1918; J. Lawrence, at home. Mrs. Lulia E. (Chapin) Pratt is a daughter of E.S. and Sarah Chapin. E.S. Chapin, her father, was born in Medina county, Ohio, October 16, 1838. His father, Calvin Chapin, was born in 1805 in connection, married Miss Susannah Cole Stiles, a native of Massachusetts. Calvin Chapin moved to Ohio when a young man and E.S. Chapin was there reared to young manhood. In the fall of 1861 he enlisted in Company G, Forty-second Ohio Infantry Regiment, under Col. James A. Garfield, and served three years in the Civil War. He was wounded during the siege of Vicksburg. He also took part in the engagements at Prestonsburg, Cumberland Gap, Chickasaw Bayou, and Arkansas Post, and many other battles. In the fall of 1864, following his discharge from the service, he was married, December 29, 1864 to Miss Sarah Field, a native of Medina county, Ohio. In the spring of 1867 he came to Missouri and bought land in Hudson township, Bates county. Mr. and Mrs. Chapin were parents of seven children; Clyde F., Leroy S., Lulia E., Myrta M., Roland T., Gracie, and Pearl.

PRATT, Joel
History of Cass & Bates Co, MO, 1883 - Hudson Township, Bates Co, MO
JOEL PRATT, section 3, was born in Washington County, New York, August 2, 1835. His father, Garrison Pratt, who was born in Connecticut in 1806, married Miss Elmira Smith, a native of Vermont. The former early moved to New York with his parents and settled in Washington County where he grew to manhood. Joel Pratt passed his youth on a farm in his native county and was educated at the public schools. He was married in Allegany County, February 10, 1859, to Miss Mary Jane Taylor, a daughter of Francis F. Taylor, and a native of the county where she married. Mr. P. continued to reside in New York until 1868. In 1864 he engaged in the mercantile business at Black Creek which he followed for three years. In the spring of 1868 he came to Missouri and located in Bates County at Hudson where he purchased land and improved his present farm. He owns 1 10 acres all fenced and in cultivation with a good, large residence. He is quite extensively engaged in the raising of sheep and has a flock of about 400 head with some good graded merino sheep. Mr. and Mrs. Pratt have three children: Harry T. and Garry A. born May 5, 1864, and Alice A., born May 5, 1876. Mr. P. and his wife are members of the Presbyterian Church. He also belongs to the Masonic fraternity and the Patrons of Husbandry. He is identified with the Democratic party and has held the office of township clerk for several years.

PRICE, Milton H.
History of Bates County, Missouri, W. O. Atkeson, 1918
MILTON H. PRICE, a prominent farmer and stockman of Summit township, is one of Bates county's successful citizens and a member of a well-known pioneer family of Henry county, Iowa. Mr. Price is a native of Baltimore county, Maryland. He was born on December 12, 1839, a son of Jehu and Susan M. (Matthews) Price, natives of Maryland, who settled in Henry county, Iowa, in 1859 and resided in that state the remainder of their lives. The mother died February 27, 1873, and the father joined her in death on March 6, 1873. The remains of both parents were interred in Prairie Grove cemetery in Henry county, Iowa. In October, 1859, M.H. Price and his brother, S.T. Price, left home to try their fortunes in Iowa, driving across country from Maryland. It will be recalled that 1859 was a momentous year in the history of our country and that for many months before the outbreak of the Civil War many events of tremendous import occurred. This was the year John Brown's raid upon the United States arsenal at Harper's Ferry, Virginia. On October 16, 1859, he with about twenty followers surprised and captured the arsenal, the supplies, and arms, and the next day he was captured. One week later, the two Price boys appeared at Newmarket in Shenandoah county, Virginia -- strangers coming upon the scene at a very inopportune time -- and they were naturally looked upon as suspicious characters, the federal officers being convinced that they were two of Brown's men. To escape arrest and conviction, the young men had no little difficulty in establishing their identity and innocence. M.H. Price was a student at Milton Academy, Baltimore, Maryland at the same time that John Wilkes and Edwin Booth were students at the same institution. There were probably one hundred students enrolled at Milton Academy at that time and Mr. Price recalls seeing the brothers frequently in the amateur theatricals staged at the school. Edwin Booth, the peerless actor of the American stage, was but six years older than Mr. Price. The father of the Booth brothers, Junius Brutus Booth, was undoubtedly one of the greatest tragedians that ever lived and he gave to the world three sons of note: Junius Brutus, Jr., John Wilkes, the author of the greatest tragedy in the life of our nation, and Edwin, the greatest actor of America in his day. Strange stories were current in Baltimore of the elder Booth's peculiarities and eccentricities, of how he forbade the use of animal food on his place, "Belair," near Baltimore, the taking of animal life, and even the cutting down of trees. He could often be seen bringing his butter and eggs to the Baltimore markets in person. For thirty-four years, M.H. Price resided in Henry county, Iowa on the home place, where his parents had settled in 1859 and which he had inherited from his father's estate. Mr. Price sold the farm in Iowa and came to Bates county, Missouri on February 1, 1894, locating on a farm, which he purchased in Mound township. This place comprised eighty acres of land and on it Mr. Price lived for four years. He then purchased a farm of one hundred sixty acres in Summit township and since has increased his original holdings until his place now embraces two hundred forty acres of valuable land, eighty acres lying on the north side of the Summit road and one hundred sixty acres on the south side. There is an excellent orchard, covering three acres of land, on the farm and sixty acres of the place are devoted to pasture. Mr. Price made the remark, at the time he first saw his present country home, "If I owned that farm, there are just two things that would make me leave it -- the sheriff or the undertaker." He bought the farm one year afterward and he hasn't changed his mind yet. He is profitably engaged in raising registered Percheron horses and he is the owner of a registered Kentucky jack. Mr. Price gained some prestige among the horsemen of Bates county, when he presented at the Bates county fair, "Brilliant," a colt which he had raised. "Brilliant" weighed eight hundred pounds when seven months of age and won three premiums at the different county fairs in Bates county, when a colt, when one year old, and again when two years old. The picture of "Brilliant," the colt, may be seen at the Farmers Bank in Butler, Missouri, and he, himself, is still on the farm, a valued possession of M.H. Price, who is a lover of fine horses. M.H. Price and Laura Blackstone were united in marriage, January 26, 1878. Laura (Blackstone) Price, born at Middleburn, Guernsey county, Ohio, September 28, 1845, is a daughter of William Presley and Cecelia C. (Hayes) Blackstone, of Illinois. William Presley Blackstone was born in Belmont county, Ohio, in 1818, a son of William Blackstone, who came to America when he was twelve years of age with his father, Ebenezer Blackstone, a native of Scotland, a veteran of the War of 1812. Hugh Benjamin and Nathan Blackstone, sons of Ebenezer Blackstone, were veterans of the War of 1812. The Blackstones are relatives of William Blackstone, an eminent English jurist, who was born in London, July 10, 1723, and died in a railway carriage while traveling between Rouen and Caen, May 1, 1850. Cecelia C. (Hayes) Blackstone was born in Guernsey county, Ohio, in 1822. She was a distant relative of Rutherford B. Hayes, the nineteenth President of the United States. The Blackstone family in American trace their lineage back to a Scottish chieftain, who fought side by side with Baliol, William Wallace, and Robert Bruce. Mrs. Price has in her possession an old land warrant signed by James Madison, President of the United States, and dated October 21, 1816, which is made to Daniel McPeek, of Guernsey county, Ohio, who entered land which her father purchased. This paper came with the abstract to the land. To Mr. and Mrs. M.H. Price have been born three children: Presley B., at home; Tacy C., who married Harry Raybourn and she died in 1910, leaving two daughters, Marie Elizabeth and Laura; and Blanche S., who married Del Lutsenhizer, a prosperous farmer of Deepwater township, and to them have been born two children, Hazel and Howard Benton. Mrs. Price's parents moved to Geneseo, Illinois, in 1857 and Mr. Blackstone became very wealthy. Politically, Mr. Price is affiliated with the Republican party and he has served the public ten years as township committeeman, being chairman of the committee. He is a gentleman of strong conviction and pronounced views and a fearless upholder of principles which he believes to be right. Mr. and Mrs. Price are numbered among the county's most valued citizens.

PRICE, Samuel W.
History of Cass & Bates Co, MO, 1883 - Spruce Township, Bates Co, MO
SAMUEL W. PRICE, section 16, was born in Lafayette County, Missouri, November 20, 1837. His parents, Anderson and Margaret (Brown) Price, were Virginians by birth. The former grew to manhood and was married in Virginia, and moved to Missouri in an early day, locating in Lafayette County, where he was among the first to settle. In the spring of 1837 he went to Daviess County, and was also a pioneer there. Samuel passed his youthful days on a farm and received a common school education. He was married in Grundy County, Missouri, October 23, 1862, to Miss Wilhelmina Conkling, a daughter of Zela Conkling. She is a native of Missouri; was born in Grundy County. After this event Mr. Price farmed in Daviess County for about two years, and in January 1865, visited Nebraska, and the following spring moved to Iowa, where he lived one year. In the spring of 1867 he returned to Lafayette County, and in five years, or in the spring of 1872 he came to Bates County, and bought a farm in Spruce Township, which he still owns. He located at his present residence in the spring of 1881. He has about 400 acres of land, mostly improved, with a good dwelling on his home place and a young bearing orchard. He is quite extensively engaged in raising and feeding stock and has been very successful in this business. Mr. P. and his wife have five children: Thomas W., William Lee, Anna B., Dora Bell, and Samuel M. Mrs. Price is a member of the M. E. Church, south.

PRIER, A. A.
History of Bates County, Missouri, W. O. Atkeson, 1918
A.A. PRIER, farmer and stockman, Hudson township, was born on a farm in Henry county, Missouri, January 20, 1873, and is a son of one of the old Missouri pioneers who owned the farm which became the townsite of the flourishing town of Appleton City in Henry county. He is a son of William M. Prier, one of the real old settlers of this section of Missouri. William M. Prier was born in Edgar county, Illinois, June 9, 1830, and received his schooling in a little log school house in that county at a period when the pupils used quill pens with which they did their writing. He has had many experiences well worth the telling. When a boy fifteen years old he was bitten by a rattlesnake while industriously cradling oats. While in New Orleans he was stricken with the cholera in the year 1851. While a member of the United States secret service he was shot in the leg. He was then serving as deputy United States marshal -- and landed his man even though he received a wound while doing it. In 1851 his father moved to Iowa, and in 1852, William M. Prier went there to make his own home and resided there for the next sixteen years. In 1868 he came to Missouri and located on the site of Appleton City in St. Clair county, buying the land which later became the townsite, at a cost of two dollars and ten cents an acre. In 1870, he sold this land to the Appleton City Townsite Company for twenty-five dollars an acre. For the ensuing six years he was marshal of the new town. In 1883 he came to Bates county and bought his farm in Hudson township, a place which is now owned by Jasper Varnes. In 1893 he bought the adjoining farm of one hundred sixty-three acres from James Cherry and has since made his home thereon. Mr. Prier possesses a remarkable memory concerning the old times and loves to contrast the past with the present. In speaking of the price of calves in the old days as compared with the present, Mr. Prier says that in 1844 he bought a calf for one dollar and seventy-five cents and it was a much better calf than one which his son sold for forty dollars in October, 1917. Sheep in those days of seventy-eight years ago were sold for fifty cents a head, and now, they are worth fifty dollars a head. Mr. Prier has in his possession the first compass used in St. Clair county, Missouri, and he assisted the surveyor in making the survey of the town plat of Appleton City in that county. For a period of six years he served as chairman of the township board of Hudson township and helped to survey the highways of his home township. He also surveyed a part of Deepwater township and achieved a reputation as an exact and accurate surveyor while engaged in this work. He has served as justice of the peace of Hudson township for two terms and has never missed voting at but one election since 1852, at the time he moved from Illinois to Iowa. When he settled at Appleton City in 1868 there were but four houses in sight on the landscape and in driving to Harrisonville from his home he would not see a house until he struck the mound region northeast of Butler. For twelve years this aged and versatile pioneer was engaged in the United States secret service -- from 1864 to 1876. In 1852, William M. Prier was married to Artemesia Brown of Edgar county, Illinois. Mrs. Prier died in 1906 and her remains are interred at Myers cemetery. The following children were born to this marriage: Marion C., deceased; Cynthia A., deceased; Charles E., died at Moline, Kansas; Benjamin L., superintendent of the water works at Osawatomie, Kansas; C.W., Tahlequah, Oklahoma, in the State Normal School; Alva A., who is farming the home place. Alva A. Prier was born June 25, 1873 in St. Clair county, Missouri. He was educated in the public schools of Appleton City and has always been engaged in farming. Since 1906, he has been managing the home place on his own account and has been making a pronounced success of his farming operations. For the past eleven years he has been engaged in sheep raising and has forty-four head of the animals on the place in addition to cattle and hogs. On May 6, 1897, Alva A. Prier was married to Carrie Belle Hall, of Hudson township. She died in 1908 leaving two children: Cora Alice, and Anna Belle. On November 3, 1909, Mr. Prier was united in marriage with Lela T. Padgett of Hudson township and two children have blessed this marriage: Lela May, deceased, and Margaret Marie. Mrs. Lela Prier is a daughter of J.W. and Sarah Padgett, well known residents of Hudson township. Mr. Prier has served as a member of the township board and is one of the most enterprising of the younger citizens of Hudson township. W.M. Prier became a Mason in 1856. He has killed one hundred wolves in Bates county, is active and strong for his age, works daily and walks miles each day, is the second oldest pioneer in Bates county.

PRIESTLY, Frank
History of Bates County, Missouri, W. O. Atkeson, 1918
FRANK PRIESTLY, proprietor of the Peoples Feed Yard at Butler, Missouri, is one of Bates county's successful business men. Mr. Priestly is a native of Linn county, Kansas. He was born July 5, 1868, a son of Joseph and Melinda (Taylor) Priestly. Joseph Priestly was born in England in 1830. He emigrated from his native land when he was a young man, twenty-one years of age, and came to America. Mr. Priestly located first in Illinois and later settled in Kansas in 1858. Melinda (Taylor) Priestly is a native of Illinois. Her father died when she was but an infant and her mother remarried, her second husband being Levi Ward. The Wards and Melinda Taylor settled in Linn county, Kansas in 1854. To Joseph and Melinda Priestly have been born six children, who are now living: Mary, the wife of William Gould, of Oregon; Emma, the wife of John Donnelly, of Oklahoma; Frank, the subject of this review; Hattie, the wife of Jack Williams, Spokane, Washington; William, Anadarko, Oklahoma; and Clara, who is at home with her parents at Pleasanton, Kansas. Edward, William, and Joseph Priestly, three brothers, located on a vast tract of land near Trading Post, Kansas in 1858, purchasing "squatter's" rights there. Joseph Priestly and his wife, the parents of Frank Priestly, resided on this land until February, 1904 when the moved to Pleasanton, Kansas, where they now reside. Mr. Priestly is now eighty-seven years of age and his wife is seventy-seven years of age. A biographical sketch of Mr. and Mrs. Priestly appears elsewhere in this volume. Frank Priestly received a good common school education at the Priestly school near Trading Post, Kansas. The Priestly school was named in honor of the Priestly brothers, Edward, William, and Joseph, upon whose land the school building was located. In 1890, Frank Priestly purchased the Cottrell homestead in Valley township, Linn county, Kansas and there resided for five years, going thence to Pueblo, Colorado, where he remained five years. When he returned to Kansas, Mr. Priestly purchased a farm located two miles south of Pleasanton, where he lived until his coming to Butler, Missouri. He purchased a feed yard at Butler, which he later traded for a farm he formerly owned, the place south of Pleasanton, Kansas. He was residing on the farm two years, when he repurchased the Peoples Feed Yard, the yard he had previously owned and which he still owns and manages. Mr. Priestly handles coal, feed, wood, and grain and in connection operates a feed stable. November 27, 1889, Frank Priestly and Minnie M. Cottrell were united in marriage at the Cottrell homestead in Valley township, Linn county, Kansas. Mrs. Priestly is a daughter of Moses L. and Ruth A. (Whitaker) Cottrell, both of whom are now deceased. Mr. Cottrell was born in Darke county, Ohio in 1827 and Mrs. Cottrell was born in Indiana in 1839. To Moses L. and Ruth A. Cottrell were born the following children: John H., of Colorado; Mrs. Rosa J. Black, Greenwood county, Kansas; Mrs. Josie (Cottrell) Nuckols, deceased; and Mrs. Frank Priestly, the wife of the subject of this review. The father died in 1883 in Linn county, Kansas and he was joined in death by the mother on June 21, 1892. Both parents were laid to rest in East Mount Zion cemetery in Lincoln township. Mr. and Mrs. Priestly are the parents of three children: Winnie, who is teaching her fourth term of school in the Taggart district in Bates county; Ray, who is on the home farm at Pleasanton, Kansas; and Marion, at home with his parents. Mr. and Mrs. Priestly have in addition reared and educated a nephew, George Nuckols, son of Mrs. Josie (Cottrell) Nuckols, a sister of Mrs. Priestly. The Priestly home is in Butler at 204 West Dakota street. As a citizen, Frank Priestly stands high above reproach, being noted for his honesty and honorable dealings and from the beginning of his career to the present time he has commanded the unqualified respect and esteem of his many friends and neighbors and business associates.

PULLIAM, George W. R.
History of Cass & Bates Co, MO, 1883 - Deer Creek Township, Bates Co, MO
GEORGE W. R. PULLIAM, farmer, section 28, was born in Boone County, Missouri, October 19, 1840. His father, Richard R. Pulliam, originally from Kentucky, immigrated to Missouri in 1819, where he married Miss Ann Smith, a native of Tennessee. The subject of this sketch was reared on the farm in Boone County, receiving his education in the common schools. In 1863-4, he taught school, after which he engaged in farming, which occupation he followed until 1881. At that date he came to Bates County, Missouri. His farm contains eighty acres of good land, well improved. Mr. Pulliam's grandfather, Smith, lived to the age of 103 years. His father died in 1877. His mother is now sixty-eight years old, and is residing in Boone County. He was married April 6, 1864, to Miss Nancy C. Short, a native of Missouri, born March 2, 1844. They have ten children: Sally E., Amanda, John Y., William T., Katie E., Annie B., Attelie N., Rue E., George and Richard.

PURKEY, L. R.
The Old Settlers' History of Bates County, 1900
L. R. PURKEY was born in McDonough County, Ill., October 27, 1862, came with his parents to this county when seven years old, locating near Burdett, and has ever since resided in the county. His early life was spent on the farm and he attended the public schools. In 1886 he was married to Miss Belle Timmons, who died one year after their marriage. In 1889 he was again married to Miss Nannie Heavilin, she also died soon after their marriage. On April 1, 1892, he bought a half interest in the Adrian Journal, since which time he has been engaged in the business. On October 11, 1892, he was united in marriage with Miss Laura Holloway. Mr. Purkey is an active member in the United Brethren Church, and is at present superintendent of the Sunday School of that denomination in Adrian.

PUTNAM, L. W.
History of Cass & Bates Co, MO, 1883 - Deer Creek Township, Bates Co, MO
L. W. PUTNAM, school teacher, was born in Yates County, New York, March 1, 1841. His father, Jacob Putnam, who was a farmer by occupation and a native of the same state, was married in 1839 to Miss Louisa Cora of New York. They had four sons and three daughters, L. W. being the eldest. He was reared on his father's farm, receiving his education in the common schools and the Academy at Dundee, New York. In August 1861, he enlisted in Company H, Fiftieth New York, and was discharged in June 1865. He was promoted from private to sergeant, and after the war he returned to New York and taught school until 1868, when he removed to Bates County, Missouri, and located at West Point. He has taught school in this county from that time except for two years spent in the State of Kansas. In March 1882, he came to Adrian and accepted the principalship of the Adrian school. Mr. P. is a member of the Baptist Church, as is also his wife. He belongs to the Masonic fraternity. August 27, 1865, he was married to Miss Mary Eveland, a native of New York. They have one child, Carrie, born June 29, 1866.

PYLE, Elliott
History of Cass & Bates Co, MO, 1883 - Mt. Pleasant Township, Bates Co, MO
ELLIOTT PYLE, M.D., dealer in drugs, books, stationery, etc., was born on June 21, 1827, and is a native of Clinton County, Ohio. He continued to make his home in that locality until 1847, in the spring of which year he removed to Lee County, Iowa. 1853, he began the study of medicine under Dr. E. D. Adkinson, at Dover, the same county, and continued to prosecute it earnestly until 1857. During this time, in 1855-6, and 1856-7, he attended the medical department of the Iowa State University. In 1857, he embarked in the practice of his profession at Hager's Grove, Missouri, at which point he remained for one year. Upon going to Croton, Iowa, he made it his home until 1860, when he moved to West Point. There he had a most successful practice. In July, 1862, he was appointed assistant surgeon of the United States Hospital, at Keokuk, and after two months service there he joined the Second Iowa Regiment in a like capacity. He served with that command until September 1863, when he was commissioned surgeon and assigned to hospital duty in Arkansas. He remained on duty at different points throughout the state up to the fall of 1866, when he received his discharge. During the greater part of that year he was acting surgeon-in-chief of the state, in the absence of the regular official. Upon obtaining his discharge, Dr. Pyle returned to West Point, Iowa, and continued to reside there until the spring of 1867, when he came to Butler, Missouri, resuming the practice of his profession. He also started the drug business, to which after a short time he devoted his entire attention. Since his location here the doctor has been an acknowledged leader among our citizens in promoting the general improvements of the place. His drug store is now the best fitted one in the locality, and his business is a remunerative one. He was married April 22, 1857, to Miss Mary A. Walker, originally from Illinois. They have a family of three children: William E., Nancy J. and Ruby A. Dr. P. is a member of the Masonic fraternity at Butler.

PYLE, John H.
History of Cass & Bates Co, MO, 1883 - Mt. Pleasant Township, Bates Co, MO
JOHN H. PYLE, blacksmith, was born in Lawrence County, Pennsylvania, November 6, 1830. He was there reared and educated, and has followed from his eighteenth year the trade of blacksmithing. In 1868, he emigrated to Bates County, Missouri, where he engaged in the farming and dairy business, which he continued for four years. Returning to Pennsylvania, he gave his attention to his trade at Meadville for one year. Then he again came to Bates County, Missouri, and established himself in his present business. In 1882, he built the brick store adjoining his shop at a cost of $2,500. He owns besides this a fine farm of 160 acres of land, one and one-half miles from town, and also several dwellings in Butler. Mr. Pyle was married, November 9, 1854, to Miss Jane Elliott, a native of England. They have three children living, Charlie H., Melvin A. and Jessie F. He is a member of the Masonic fraternity and also belongs to the Presbyterian Church.

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