WADE, N. A.
History of Cass & Bates Co, MO, 1883 - Mt. Pleasant Township, Bates Co, MO
N. A. WADE, editor of the Bates County Democrat, is a native of Harrison County, Ohio, and was born April 27, 1843. His father, Robert Wade, was born in New Jersey, and by occupation was a mason. His mother, whose maiden name was Elizabeth Matson, was born in Virginia. N. A. was reared in his native state and educated at Franklin College. During the late war he enlisted in Company E, Fifteenth Ohio Volunteer Infantry, and served two years. He participated in the Atlanta campaign, and was at Nashville and in the battle of Franklin. After serving until the close of the war he was engaged for a time in teaching, and during his leisure hours he read law and prepared himself for admission to the bar, which occurred in 1868. He came to Butler in 1868, and followed his chosen occupation until 1871, when he was appointed deputy county clerk and recorder. In July 1871, in connection with J. Scudder, Esq., he purchased the Bates County Democrat, which he has since conducted with signal success. Politically, as the name of his paper indicates, he is an unswerving Democrat, and ever ready at all times to defend the faith of the party, and he is a zealous worker for its interests. In 1876 he was a delegate to the national convention which nominated Tilden for president. Mr. Wade was married, in 1871, to Mrs. M. J. Weed, a native of Bloomington, Illinois. They have one son, Benjamin R. W. They have lost one daughter, Hallie. Mrs. Wade is an aunt of the noted American vocalist, Litta.

WAINSCOTT, Mrs. Alice
History of Cass & Bates Co, MO, 1883 - Shawnee Township, Bates Co, MO
MRS. ALICE WAINSCOTT, widow of Barnett S. Wainscott, is a native of Washington County, East Tennessee, where she was born December 3, 1835. Her parents, Joseph and Anna (Johnson) Payne, removed to Polk County, Missouri, about 1845, where she met and married Mr. Wainscott January 20, 1852. Mr. Wainscott was a native of Missouri, having been born in Pike County December 23, 1831. He was the son of Thornton and Rebecca (Boone) Wainscott. His mother is nearly related to the great pioneer, Daniel Boone, and is still living with a daughter in Deepwater Township. Mr. Wainscott came to Bates County in 1867 and settled where the family now reside, in Shawnee Township. He died here March 19, 1880, leaving a family of six children to comfort and cheer the declining years of his lifetime companion. They were the parents of nine children, three of whom are also deceased. The eldest, Rebecca Elizabeth, married David Carver, and is left a widow with three small children, her husband dying quite recently, October 13, 1882. Melinda Ann is the wife of John Ray. The next, Isaac Houston, died February 7, 1876. Sarah Alice is the eldest at home. William Ewing died in infancy. John Young died September 30, 1865, and the three youngest are at home: Barnett Lee, James Herriford and Nancy M.

WALKER, Daniel K.
History of Bates County, Missouri, W. O. Atkeson, 1918
DANIEL K. WALKER, one of the most progressive and up-to-date merchants in this section of the state, the senior member of the business firm widely known as the Walker-McKibben Mercantile Company, was born in 1870 near Otterville in Moniteau county, Missouri. Mr. Walker is a son of Rev. Alexander and Agnes (Hannah) Walker, who were the parents of ten children, eight of whom are now living, as follow: D. V., a successful merchant of Wichita, Kansas; A. B., a prominent real estate dealer of Columbus, Ohio; Mrs. Annie C. Pyle, Butler, Missouri; Mary S., Butler, Missouri; D. K., the subject of this sketch; C.M., who is engaged in the loan business at Kansas City, Missouri; Harry, a prosperous merchant of Enid, Oklahoma; and John S., who is engaged in the life insurance business at Butler, Missouri. Rev. Alexander Walker was born in Scotland. He and Mrs. Walker, who was of Scottish descent, came to Moniteau county, Missouri, in 1868, and located at Tipton in that county in 1870. Twelve years later, Reverend Walker moved with his family to Bates county, where the remainder of his life was spent in ministerial work. He was a gifted minister of the Presbyterian church and was well known and highly esteemed in Butler, in which city he was pastor of the Butler Presbyterian church for many years. In his latter years, he was appointed state synodical missionary of the Presbyterian church, which position he was most ably filling at the time of his death, which occurred at Butler. Reverend Walker was interred in the cemetery at Butler. In the public schools of Tipton, Missouri and in Butler Academy, Daniel K. Walker obtained his education. He received his first business experience at the age of fifteen years at Wichita, Kansas, where he was employed for one year by Larimer & Stinson. Mr. Walker then returned to Butler, Missouri, and entered the employ of James McKibben, who conducted a dry goods and clothing store where the Palace Hotel was once located on the northeast corner of the public square, and later became associated in business with James and Joseph McKibben, organizers of the McKibben Mercantile Company of Butler, Missouri. James McKibben now resides in Kansas and Joseph McKibben is living at Pasadena, California. Further mention of both McKibbens will be made in this sketch in connection with the history of the Walker-McKibben Mercantile Company. In 1895, Daniel K. Walker was united in marriage with Ruby Pyle, daughter of Dr. Elliott Pyle, a prominent pioneer physician of Butler, Missouri, a surgeon of the Union army, who settled in this city a short time after the close of the Civil War. To Daniel K. and Ruby (Pyle) Walker have been born three children: Elliott Pyle, the eldest, graduated from Butler High School and was attending the University of Illinois when, in the spring of 1917, he enlisted with a University ambulance unit for service in France, afterward transferring with his unit to the United States Army Ambulance Corps, which was immediately sent to the training camp at Allentown, Pennsylvania. He earned promotion to first sergeant of Casualty Company Number 9, but March 30, 1918, just at the time his company was to sail for France, he died of pneumonia. He was the first Butler boy to die in the service. He was buried at Butler, Missouri, April 4, 1918, with military honors. Kirkby A., a graduate of the Butler High School, who is now studying at the Missouri University; and Agnes, who is a student in the Butler High School. The Walker family has long been prominent in Bates county and is still numbered among the best families of this part of the state. Mr. and Mrs. Walker reside at 512 West Pine street in Butler. The Walker-McKibben Mercantile Company, of Butler, was organized in 1892 by James McKibben, Joseph McKibben, and D. K. Walker as the McKibben Mercantile Company, succeeding James M. McKibben, who had succeeded M. S. Cowles & Company. M. S. Cowles opened a general store at Rich Hill about 1881 or 1882, after selling the general store in Butler to James McKibben. The M. S. Cowles & Company's general store in Butler was opened about 1867 and was located where the Farmers Bank is now, on the northeast side of the public square. The stock of merchandise was moved by James McKibben to the former location of the Old Palace Hotel, on the northeast corner of the square. Later, Joseph McKibben, who had been with M. S. Cowles & Company at Rich Hill, with James McKibben and D. K. Walker organized the McKibben Mercantile Company and the stock was again moved, this time to the north half of the Bennett-Wheeler block and afterward to one door east of the present location of the Walker-McKibben Mercantile Company's establishment. Daniel K. Walker first entered the employ of James McKibben in 1886 and he was associated in business with the McKibbens at the time of the organization of the McKibben Mercantile Company. After a few years, James M. McKibben sold his interest in the store to Joseph McKibben and Mr. Walker and about eleven years ago Joseph McKibben retired from the business. In 1906, Daniel K. Walker purchased all the interests of the McKibbens in the company, which has since been known as the Walker-McKibben Mercantile Company, and the stock of goods moved to the present location on the north side of the public square. The building now occupied is a large, well-lighted, two-story structure, 30 x 100 feet in dimensions. That Daniel K. Walker is exceptionally well qualified as a business man and merchant and that he has prospered is evidenced by the fact that he carries a stock of merchandise valued at many thousand dollars and employs a corps of assistants. The stock is clean, neatly arranged, and up to date, including a general line of dry goods, notions, ladies ready-to-wear clothing, shoes, men's furnishings, ladies', misses', and children's furnishings, rugs, and lace curtains. The clerks employed are unusually attentive to customers and lend their hearty and cheerful support in the pull for success. This store is undoubtedly one of the finest to be seen in any city, in places even twice the size of Butler. Mr. Walker is a gentleman of pleasing personality and his earnest purpose, humanitarian principles, and upright life richly merit the splendid success, which has attended his efforts, and his present high commercial and social standing.

WALLER, Edgar D.
History of Bates County, Missouri, W. O. Atkeson, 1918
EDGAR D. WALLER, successful farmer, livestock and grain dealer, New Home township, Bates county, Missouri, while his grain and livestock business office is maintained at Foster, is one of the "live wires" in the livestock and business world of Bates county. Since he began for himself upon a rented farm seventeen years ago, he has accumulated three farms totaling eight hundred acres located in New Home township. Since 1902, he has been engaged in the grain and livestock business with headquarters at Foster. Mr. Waller was born on a farm in Walnut township, Bates county, in 1879, a son of George and Eveline (DeMott) Waller, natives of Illinois, where they were reared and married. George Waller removed to Bates county, Missouri, in 1870 and made his home here until his removal to Madison, Kansas, in 1901. Mrs. Eveline Waller died in 1883. George and Eveline Waller were parents of three children: Harvey, deceased; Edgar D., subject of this review, and Walter, Kansas City, Missouri. E. D. Waller was educated in the Foster public schools and began farming on his own account in New Home township. His first purchase of land was for a quarter section in 1900 at a cost of twenty dollars per acre, which was bought on time. The place was but poorly improved with an old shack, but Mr. Waller soon replaced this with a good dwelling and other buildings. He lived on this place for two years, then sold it and went to Madison, Kansas, where he purchased a farm and remained but one year. Selling out, he returned to Missouri, where he rented the farm owned by I. H. Botkin, his father-in-law. He prospered in this venture, and, in 1906, bought a farm consisting of one hundred twenty acres, adjoining the Botkin place; added fifty acres in 1907; bought eighty acres more in 1915; and, in 1917, he purchased a large tract of five hundred sixty acres, making a total of eight hundred ten acres which he now owns and manages. Mr. Waller feeds over one hundred head of cattle annually for the markets and employs from three to twelve men in the conduct of his farming operations. During 1917, he harvested three hundred acres of corn which yielded forty bushels to the acre; one hundred fifty acres of wheat which averaged seventeen bushels to the acre, and eighty acres of oats, which gave a yield of forty-five bushels to the acre. For the wheat harvest this year (1918) he has sown three hundred acres. Mr. Waller was married in 1900 to Miss Ina Botkin, a daughter of Isaac H. Botkin, and aged and highly respected pioneer resident of Foster, concerning whose career an extensive biography is given in this volume. From October, 1916, to February, 1918, Mr. and Mrs. Waller made their residence in Rich Hill, Missouri. Mr. Waller is a Democrat in politics, but his whole time and energy are devoted to his extensive farming and business interests. His success is, without doubt, the most striking of that accomplished by members of the younger generation in Bates county.

WALLEY, Irvin
History of Cass & Bates Co, MO, 1883 - Mt. Pleasant Township, Bates Co, MO
IRVIN WALLEY was born in Franklin County, Ohio, December 7, 1833. His father, George Walley, and also his mother, formerly Elizabeth Thomas, were both natives of the same state. In 1834 the family removed to Grundy County, Illinois. Here the boyhood days of Irvin were spent in agricultural pursuits. In 1855 he came to Bates County, Missouri, and was engaged in farming until the outbreak of the civil war. He enlisted in the Cass County Home Guards, known as Major Dean's Battalion, in February, serving nine months. He afterwards attempted to enter the service but was prevented on account of disability. He then served in the enrolled militia and was appointed captain. After the close of the war he returned to Bates County and settled in Butler and opened the first public house in Butler after the war. He laid out an addition to the town, know as Walley's Addition to Butler. Politically he is a staunch Republican and a fearless advocate of its principles. Mr. W. was married August 31, 1863, to Miss Mary E. Long a native of Virginia. Their family consists of five children: Burdsey W., Bettie A., Flora E., Gertie E. and Ella P. The father of Mrs. Walley, W. C. Long, and her mother, whose maiden name was Mary A. Gibson, came originally from Virginia. The latter is connected on the maternal side with the celebrated Rutledge family of that state.

WALLS, James T.
History of Cass & Bates Co, MO, 1883 - Mt. Pleasant Township, Bates Co, MO
JAMES T. WALLS, M.D., was born in Nicholas County, Kentucky, December 15, 1851. He was reared to manhood there, and received his literary education, attending or a time the State Normal School at Carlisle. In July 1874, he began the study of medicine under Dr. M. M. Dills, with whom he continued until 1877. During the terms of 1875-6-7, he was a student of the Ohio Medical College, of Cincinnati, from which institution he subsequently graduated. In March 1877, he came to Burdette, Missouri, and established himself in practice there, making his home in the place until October 25, 1881, at which time he removed to Butler. July 17, 1882, Dr. Glessner became associated with him in practice, and they have since enjoyed a lucrative patronage. July 17, 1879, Dr. Walls was married to Miss Susan Canterberry, a native of Missouri. They have one child, Cecil V. The Doctor is a member of the Masonic and I.O.O.F. fraternities and also belongs to the Christian Church.

WALLS, Sam
History of Bates County, Missouri, W. O. Atkeson, 1918
SAM WALLS, one of Adrian's leading and most prominent citizens, chairman of the city council of Adrian, a member of the Jefferson Highway Commission, one of the organizers and a present member of the directorates of the First National Bank of Adrian, Missouri and of the Denton-Coleman Loan Company of Butler, Missouri, formerly a popular manager of a Butler hotel, now a successful pharmacist of Adrian, is a native of Kentucky. Mr. Walls was born in 1861 in Carlisle, Kentucky, a son of Thomas and Sarah Walls. Both the paternal and maternal grandfathers of Sam Walls were prosperous plantation owners in Nicholas county, Kentucky. When Sam Walls was a child, six years of age, his parents moved from Nicholas county, Kentucky to Georgetown, Vermilion county, Illinois. He attended school in Illinois until 1877, when he came with his parents to Bates county, Missouri and they settled on a farm located one and a half miles northwest of Butler. Sam Walls then attended the city schools of Butler until he had attained maturity. At that time, there was not a railroad in Bates county and he and his father engaged in freighting, working between Butler and Kansas City, Missouri. It required five days to make the trip and in the summers father and son would camp nights along the road, which was merely a miserable, uncared-for trail, frequently impassable. They could see far over the open prairie and often killed wild turkeys and prairie chickens. Thomas Walls died in 1903 and eight years later he was united in death with his wife. Mrs. Walls died in 1911. Thomas and Sarah Walls were the parents of nine children, six of whom are now living, namely: Mrs. Lydia Bagby, Kansas City, Missouri; Sam, the subject of this review; Mrs. Lizzie Grimm, Kansas City, Missouri; Thomas, Kansas City, Missouri; Mrs. Vertie Dudley, Fort Scott, Kansas; and Mrs. Stella Hammer, Kansas City, Missouri. For several years, Sam Walls was engaged in farming and stock raising on his father's farm in Bates county. In 1884, he entered the mercantile business at Butler and until 1890 successfully and profitably conducted a grocery store in this city, at which time he returned to agricultural pursuits and again resided at the old homestead for several years. Later, he returned to Butler and became associated with Dr. Lansdown in the hotel business at Butler, the two conducting the Arlington Hotel until 1897, when Mr. Walls purchased the Lansdown Drug Store at Adrian, where for the past twenty-two years he has been engaged in the drug business, carrying on a splendid and complete line of drugs, paints, and sundries. Dr. Walls was not an inexperienced druggist at the time of his purchase of this store, for he had at one time owned a large pharmacy at Amsterdam, Missouri. The marriage of Sam Walls and Mary L. Lansdown were solemnized in June, 1887. Mary L. (Lansdown) Walls is a daughter of Dr. and Mrs. W. J. Lansdown, who settled at Butler, Missouri in 1876. Mrs. Walls is a native of Camden county, Missouri. The Walls residence is located in Adrian and is one of the beautiful, modern homes of the city, an imposing structure of ten rooms surrounded by a nice, well-kept lawn. Both Mr. and Mrs. Walls are members and earnest supporters of the Methodist church. Fraternally, Mr. Walls is affiliated with the Ancient Free and Accepted Masons, the Knights of Pythias, the Modern Woodmen of America, the Elks, the Mystic Workers of the World, and the Eastern Star lodges. He has been a lifelong Democrat and always takes a keen and commendable interest in political matters and in elections. Since he has been a member of the city council of Adrian, forty miles of concrete walks have been laid in this city. He is an aggressive worker for internal improvements and, as a member of the Jefferson Highway Commission, is an enthusiastic "booster" of good roads. Sam Walls assisted in the organization of the First National Bank of Adrian, Missouri in 1913 and he is now a member of the board of directors and a stockholder of the bank. He also was one of the organizers of the Denton-Coleman Loan Company of Butler, Missouri, and is one of the present directors of that company. Mr. Walls remembers well his first teacher in Bates county, Professor Schaffer, and a minister, to whom he often listened in his boyhood days, Reverend Burgess. He knows full well the hardships and difficulties which beset the way of the young man who must make his own way, unaided, in the world. He has labored many ten-hour days for the mere pittance of fifty cents. Mr. Walls invested his first savings in a calf, which investment proved to be a safe and profitable one. Now, honored and respected by all his friends and acquaintances, Sam Walls occupies a conspicuous place and high standing among the best and most substantial citizens of Bates county, and none is more worthy of mention and commendation in a work of this character. Mr. Walls is one of the representative, public-spirited, "self-made" men of this part of Missouri.

WALLS, William M.
History of Cass & Bates Co, MO, 1883 - Mound Township, Bates Co, MO
WILLIAM M. WALLS, is a native of Nicholas County, Kentucky, where he was born September 11, 1823, being the third of thirteen children, eight of whom are now living. Five of these are in Missouri. His father, Zachariah Walls, was originally from Virginia, and his mother (formerly Tempe Osborn), was a native of Clark County, Kentucky. William's younger days were spent in a distillery, of which his father was the proprietor, and his advantages for acquiring an education were quite limited. When about twenty-eight years of age, March 3, 1851, he married Miss Eliza Alexander, and continued farming and running his distillery until coming to Missouri in 1877. After spending some months in Butler he came to his present farm in Mound Township, and is now interested in tilling the soil. Mr. and Mrs. Walls have nine children: James Thompson, Sarah Pickett, Isaac Walter, Emma Belle, Harriet, William, Cordia Mary, George Henry, and Benjamin F. James married Miss Susie Canterbury, and is a practicing physician in Butler; Sarah is the wife of Richard Willey and lives in the Neosho Valley, Kansas; Emma is the wife of Henry Belt, of Elkhart, and Harriet is the wife of John Cowdrey, also of Elkhart. Mr. Walls is a member of Butler Lodge, A.F. and A.M., and has been connected about thirteen years with that order.

WALTERS, John Robert
History of Bates County, Missouri, W. O. Atkeson, 1918
JOHN ROBERT WALTERS, of Lone Oak township, is one of the oldest and most honored of the Bates county pioneers. Besides being one of the oldest of the citizens of his township, not only in age but in years of residence in the county, he has reared one of the largest families in the county. This is not all, however, for he spent some of the best years of his life in defense of the Union during the Civil War. He was born October 3, 1844, in a primitive home on Camp Branch creek, in Cass county, between Pleasant Hill and Harrisonville. His early recollection of conditions during his boyhood days, in Cass and Bates counties, are vivid. He has seen his father shoot deer to the number of two and three before breakfast. Deer, as well as other wild game, were plentiful on the prairies and years ago he has shot deer himself and hunted the wild prairie chicken and turkeys. Having lived in Bates county since 1849, he is entitled to honorable mention as one of the oldest of the rest pioneers of the county. Joseph Walters, his father, a Kentuckian by birth, was taken by his parents to Indiana and thence to Illinois, where he spent the days of his youth under primitive conditions. He was married near Terre Haute, Indiana, to Margaret Burkhart, who was born in Indiana. In the early forties, Joseph Walters came to Missouri and first made a settlement in the southern part of the state, but, conditions not being to his liking, he settled in Cass county, where he lived until 1849 and then came to Bates county, settling in Pleasant Gap township, where his death occurred at the age of eighty-five years. Mrs. Walters attained the great age of ninety-six years and at the time of her death was the oldest pioneer woman of Bates county. They were parents of sixteen children, nine sons and seven daughters, six of whom are yet living: Nelson, on the old homestead in Pleasant Gap township; John Robert, subject of this review; Mrs. Mollie Brownfield, state of Washington; Solomon, living near Harrisonville; Mrs. Malinda Thomas, at the old family homestead in Pleasant Gap township; James, who makes his home in California; and Joseph, lives in Colorado. J. R. Walters made his home with his parents until the outbreak of the Civil War. Inasmuch as it appeared necessary for him to serve on one side of the conflict, he chose to side with the Union and accordingly went to Paola, Kansas, and enlisted in Company E, Ninth Kansas Cavalry, in the year 1863. This regiment operated along the border and in Arkansas, being on continuous scouting duty and engaging in battle with roving bands of Confederates and the dreaded guerillas who infested the border states. They had several "mixups" with Quantrill's gang of freebooters and he was engaged in the battle of Buell Bayou. He received his honorable discharge from the service at DuBall's Bluffs, Arkansas, and made his way homeward by boat to St. Louis, where he and his comrades were paid off, discharged and mustered out of service at Leavenworth, Kansas. He returned directly to Bates county and set about repairing the ravages made during the war, the Walters home having been destroyed and the livestock dispersed during his absence. In 1891, he bought his present home place and is the owner of sixty-six acres of well-improved land. Mr. Walters has one of the finest Shorthorn herds in the county and takes considerable pride in his fine livestock. His marriage with Belle Veda Walker, a native of Illinois, took place in 1874 and they have reared a large family of thirteen children of fourteen born to them. The children are as follow: Henry C., living on his father's place; William, Butler, Missouri; Lucy, Mrs. Homer Jenkins, Lone Oak township; Edward, living in Colorado; Mary, wife of Frank Nafus, Lone Oak township; Charles, a farmer in Vernon county, Missouri; Joseph, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania; Lizzie, wife of Aleck Cameron, Kansas; Harry, living in Idaho; Nellie, wife of Clifford Nafus, Pleasant Gap township; Jennie, wife of Ward Carpenter, living near Appleton, Missouri; Annie, resides at home; and Elijah, at home. Mr. Walters is a Republican in politics as was his father before him. He is a member of the Grand Army of the Republic.

WALTON, G. W.
History of Cass & Bates Co, MO, 1883 - Summit Township, Bates Co, MO
G. W. WALTON, farmer and stock raiser, was born in Cooper County, Missouri, January 28, 1841, and is the third of a family of eight children, of whom five are living in Bates County. His parents were among the early pioneers of Cooper County, having settled there in 1826. His father, John Walton, was born in Virginia, and married Miss Jane Ruley, of Kentucky birth. G. W. grew to manhood on his father's farm, receiving his education in the common schools. In 1864 he went to Montana, and for two years was engaged in freighting to that country, where several towns were just springing into existence. In 1866 he returned to Cooper County and resolved to embark in farming. Accordingly, he began to look for a suitable location, and noting the natural advantages offered by this section of country, he came to Bates County, and has since been following the calling of a farmer and stock man. He succeeded in securing in the capacity of a wife the services of one of the most intelligent, accomplished and refined young ladies of the country, in the person of Miss Regina Etzler, a native of Bond County, Illinois, where she was born November 10, 1855. They were married in this county January 23, 1873. Mr. W. lives in section 5, where he has a farm of 400 acres, in fine cultivation and well suited to stock raising of all kinds. He handles annually about one hundred head of cattle and a proportionate number of swine, and from fifteen to twenty head of horses and mules. He is Democratic in politics and is a member of Butler Lodge, of the A.F. and A.M. fraternity. Himself and wife are identified with the Cumberland Presbyterian Church. They have had three children, two of whom are living, Maggie, nine years old, and Emma, a bright little girl of two summers. One child, Lillie, died March 23, 1875.

WALTON, William E.
History of Bates County, Missouri, W. O. Atkeson, 1918
WILLIAM E. WALTON -- The high position in the citizenship of Bates county which is held by William E. Walton, founder of the Walton Trust Company of Butler, Missouri, has been honorably and honestly won. His long career extending over a period of forty-seven years in Bates county has been marked by a regard for the well being of his fellowmen and a heartfelt desire to advance the interests of his adopted community, which has not been excelled by any individual in Bates county. Mr. Walton's success as a financier has been such as to place him in the front ranks of banking men of Missouri. His course in dealing with the people, who placed trust in him, has been of such an open nature and so honorable as to cause them to always have implicit confidence in his word. On the other hand, there are scores of citizens in Bates county, now prosperous, who have good and just reasons to be immeasurably thankful for his kindness in times of stress and his assistance in times of need. Mr. Walton, while amassing a competency by strictly honorable dealings, has endeared himself to the mass of Bates county citizens as no other man has done. Coming to this county a young man of ambition, integrity, and industrious habits, when the development of the county was practically in its infancy, he has played a very prominent part in the great work of bringing Bates county to the very forefront of Missouri counties and no name enrolled in the citizenship of this county is held in greater esteem than his. William E. Walton was born August 31, 1842, on a farm in Cooper county, Missouri, a son of William P. and Louisa (Turley) Walton. His father, a native of Virginia, came to Missouri from his native state in 1837. He was married in this state to Louisa Turley, a daughter of Samuel Turley, a native of Kentucky, who moved from Madison county, Kentucky, to Cooper county, Missouri, in 1813. He was one of the earliest of the Missouri pioneers and came here in a day when the country was wild and sparsely settled and the red men were still disputing the right of the invading white settlers to occupy what had to untold years been their camping and hunting grounds. Samuel Turley entered land from the government, improved it for his permanent habitation, and resided thereon for a period of fifty years. Jesse B. Turley, brother of Samuel Turley was, for over thirty years a Santa Fe trader and was well acquainted with many of the noted frontier characters of the early days. He wrote the "Life of Kit Carson" and was intimately acquainted with the famous hunter and scout who lived for a time with the Turley family. Benjamin T. Walton, an uncle of William E. Walton, served as a captain in the Fifty-second Virginia Regiment, Confederate army, during the Civil War and was killed at the battle of Port Republic. Mr. Walton was reared and educated in Cooper county, attending the old-time "subscription schools," whereby each parent paid one dollar per pupil per month. There were eleven children in the Walton family, the following of whom are now living, all reared in a log cabin: William E., subject of this review; Mrs. Mary Marshall, Eldorado Springs, Missouri; James W., Salt Lake City, Utah; Mrs. Florence Hoops, Kansas City, Missouri; Mrs. Virginia Chamberlin, Los Angeles, California; Mrs. Lutie Williams, Los Angeles; and Mrs. Nellie Stoddard, Los Angeles, California. William E. Walton came to Bates county, and located in Butler in 1870. His first work on coming here was to make or write up complete abstracts of title to all land and town lots in Bates county, making probably the first complete set of abstracts ever made in Bates county. Mr. Walton became the local representative of Eastern firms, who loaned large sums through him to Bates county land owners, and he has had more experience in loaning money on farm lands than any other person in this section of Missouri. In those days, money was an absolute necessity and an essential to the development of the county. The incoming settlers were mostly men from the older states and more settled communities, where land had advanced in price, and young men came here where lands were cheap in order to get a start. Through Mr. Walton, they obtained financial backing with which to carry on their farming operations and develop their land. Mr. Walton and the Walton Trust Company have loaned millions of dollars upon Missouri farm lands and afterward sold the farm mortgages to hundreds of Life Insurance Companies, Savings Banks, and individual investors throughout the country. It is a fact that they never allowed any mortgage buyer to lose a dollar of principal or pay any of the contingent expenses connected with the transactions. On the other hand, Mr. Walton always protected the landowner who borrowed the money and gave assistance to the mortgagee to the limit of his ability and never allowed a mortgage to be foreclosed if it were within his power to prevent it by giving counsel, encouragement and further needed assistance to the struggling farmer. Many well-to-do farmers of this section have good reasons to bless his kindly interest and his encouragement to them to do their best. The Missouri State Bank of Butler is his creation and this bank was organized by him in 1880. For a period of thirty-seven years, he was connected with this bank in the capacity of cashier and president. In 1891, he organized the Walton Trust Company of Butler, one of the most important and strongest institutions of its kind in this part of Missouri. He served as president of this concern for twenty-one years. The Missouri State Bank and the Walton Trust Company are veritable monuments to his enterprise and financial ability and are of such rock-ribbed stability and built upon a standard policy of fair dealing and integrity that they bid fair to endure as long as the civic state exists. Mr. Walton is now a stockholder and a director of the Missouri State Bank and the Walton Trust Company, but at his own request, he retired from the presidency on January 1, 1917. The Democratic party has always had the allegiance of Mr. Walton and, in 1874, he was elected county clerk of the county and served for a period of four years. Aside from taking a good citizen's interest in local, state and national politics he has never aspired for prominence in political affairs. For over forty years he has been a member of the Christian church of Butler and takes a great interest in church and religious matters. He is fraternally affiliated with the Independent Order of Odd Fellows, Butler Lodge No. 180. Mr. Walton is deeply interested in history, especially if it relates to his home state and section, and he has served two terms as president of the Old Settlers' Society of Bates County. Mr. Walton was married in March, 1878, to Miss Cora Allen, of Butler, Missouri, a daughter of F. M. Allen, of Butler. Personally, Mr. Walton is an approachable, genial, kindly and accommodating gentleman and is upon most friendly terms with the majority of Bates county citizens. His life work has been creative and productive and his aim in life has been to assist to the extent of his power in the right development of the resources of his home county. In this endeavor, he has succeeded and his name in this history of Bates county is one of the most honored -- his rightful place in the history of his home community has been won and he is valued to such an extent as to place him in the forefront of the Bates county citizenry.

WALTON, William E.
History of Cass & Bates Co, MO, 1883 - Mt. Pleasant Township, Bates Co, MO
WILLIAM E. WALTON. Confessedly one of the shrewdest business men in Western Missouri is the gentleman whose name appears at the head of this sketch, and his life and character fully demonstrate what may be achieved by energy, economy and pluck. William E. Walton is a native of Cooper County, Missouri, where he was born in 1842. His father was W. P. Walton, of Virginia, and his mother was formerly Louisa J. Tueley, a native of Cooper County, Missouri. Her father, Samuel J. Tueley, settled in Cooper County in 1814, two years before its organization. Kit Carson, the celebrated scout and Indian fighter, was an adopted son in the Tueley family. J. B. Tueley, a brother of Samuel, wrote a biography of Kit Carson, which is regarded as the most authentic narrative of the famous hunter. Mr. Walton received such an education only as the common schools of the country afforded. Being reared to agricultural pursuits, he adopted farming as a livelihood, but after a short experience he became convinced that his talent as well as his ambition led him in another direction. Therefore he abandoned the vocation of his youth and applied himself to merchandising. In 1859 he entered a store in Cooper County, where he remained as clerk for three years. He then served as deputy circuit clerk in Belleville, Illinois, for two years, and afterwards was an employee of William H. Trigg, banker and real estate dealer, in Boonville, Missouri, continuing with this firm for two years. He then went to Sedalia, Missouri, where he remained until 1870, when he came to Butler, his present home. Upon his arrival at Butler he opened an abstract and and real estate office, which he still controls. In 1869, the year previous to his removal to Bates County, he invented and copyrighted the Walton system of abstract books, which has become so popular that he has realized therefrom the sum of $10,000, already, saying nothing of what may be his income from this source in the future. In 1874 he was elected county clerk of Bates County, serving four years. He also represented his ward several times in the city council. In 1880 he projected and established the banking house of Walton, Dutcher & Co. This firm reorganized the Butler National Bank, of which Mr. Walton is cashier and the largest stockholder. In 1882 he erected the opera house at Butler, which is located on the southwest corner of the public square (a full and complete description of which may be found in the history of Mount Pleasant Township in this work) where it will stand as the most enduring and the most splendid monument, testifying to his financial success, to his spirit of enterprise and to his liberality. Mr. Walton is emphatically a self-made man, and has risen through the various gradations of farmer, clerk, etc., by his own invincible will and business tact. In 1867 he married Miss Nellie Kincaid, of Kentucky, who died two years thereafter. In 1879 he married Miss Cora Allen, who is the daughter of F. M. Allen, now of Nevada, Vernon County, Missouri. Mrs. Walton is a native of Ohio. Mr. Walton is a member of the Christian Church and one of its most liberal supporters.

WARDERMAN, Edward
History of Cass & Bates Co, MO, 1883 - Charlotte Township, Bates Co, MO
EDWARD WARDERMAN, farmer, section 34, was born in Monroe County, Illinois, March 4, 1830, and was the fifth child of Henry and Eleanor (Talbott) Warderman. The former, who was a Virginian by birth, served in the war of 1812, and after being mustered out went to Illinois, where his marriage occurred in 1832. His wife was a native of Kentucky, and early accompanied her parents to Illinois. They had a family of eight children. Edward began life for himself as a farmer. August 12, 1855, he was married to Miss Lucinda A. Pierce, of Madison County, Illinois, born January 21, 1837. Her parents were William R. and B. (Vincent) Pierce, natives of Shakertown, Kentucky, who now reside in Madison County, Illinois. In September 1868, Mr. Warderman removed from Madison County, Illinois, to Missouri, locating in Bates County. For many years he was the acknowledged leader of cattle feeders and shippers in Southwestern Missouri and Eastern Kansas, but of late years he has given his entire attention to agricultural pursuits. His farm embraces 500 acres of excellent land. Mr. and Mrs. W. have a family of six children living: Martha E., born August 6, 1856; B. A., born September 9, 1858; William H., born January 26, 1860; Mary J., born November 12, 1863; Lulu M., born November 27, 1869, and Joseph H., born June 11, 1874. Three are deceased: Sarah R., C. and B. L.

WARFORD, Mitchell
History of Cass & Bates Co, MO, 1883 - Spruce Township, Bates Co, MO
MITCHELL WARFORD, farmer and stock feeder, a native of Kentucky, was born in Estill County, April 10, 1827, and was the son of Jewell and Nancy Warford, nee Servner, of the same county. Mitchell grew to manhood in his native county, and spent his youth on the farm, obtaining a fair education in the common English branches. He was married in Estill County, April 12, 1849, to Miss Elizabeth Hamilton, of that county, and a daughter of Henry Hamilton. After about three years Mr. W. moved to Illinois and settled in Hancock County, but in two years and one-half went to Iowa, in the spring of 1855, and located in Davis County, where he resided five years; thence to Appanoose County, which was his home for two years. In the spring of 1864 he visited Colorado and located near Canon City, in Fremont County, where he stopped three years. In the spring of 1867, he came to Johnson County, Missouri, bought land and improved a farm, and was engaged in farming about five years. Selling his property there, in the fall of 1872 he moved to Bates County, purchased and improved his present farm in section 6. He has 240 acres, all fenced and fairly improved, with a comfortable house and a bearing orchard of 100 apple trees, with some peach, cherry and small fruits. Mr. and Mrs. Warford have raised a family of four children: William H., Mary E. (now Mrs. George Price); James E. and John A. He and his family are all members of the Missionary Baptist Church. They have lost one son, who departed this life November 3, 1879, aged nineteen years. He was also a faithful member of the Baptist Church.

WASSON, Mary
History of Cass & Bates Co, MO, 1883 - Prairie Township, Bates Co, MO
MRS. MARY WASSON was born on the 19th of March 1843. Her father, Peter Collin, who was born in Lyons, France, in 1800, removed to St. Louis, Missouri, when quite young, and remained there for two years, then coming to Bates County in the interest of the American Fur Trading Company, a trading post having been established at the point known as Collin's Ford, at an early day. He continued in the employ of this company for three years, when he entered into business for himself, and by trading with the Indians acquired a large competency for that time. Before his death, which occurred November 25, 1875, he had become the owner of a large tract of land. He was married in St. Louis to Miss Mary Cotney, who was born in the province of Canada. They had a family of eight children -- two sons and six daughters -- of whom the subject of this sketch was the fourth. Mary became the wife of Richard A. Wasson, October 17, 1876. He was born in St, Louis County, Missouri, and only lived about three years after his marriage, dying October 2, 1879. Mrs. W. has a large farm of 336 acres, located in section 23, upon which quite an amount of stock is raised annually. This place is well improved and under her able and judicious management has become a valuable farm.

WEADON, John R.
History of Bates County, Missouri, W. O. Atkeson, 1918
JOHN R. WEADON, prosperous farmer of New Home township, township trustee, has resided in Bates county since 1878 and is justly classed among the old settlers of this county. He has created his fine farm from unbroken prairie land and has placed every stick and shrub thereon and erected every building on the place during the many years in which he has resided here. In 1883 Mr. Weadon made his first purchase of land in Bates county and is now the owner of one hundred forty-two and a half acres of well improved and productive land, located in the southwest corner of New Home township. Mr. Weadon was born in Loudon county, Virginia, October 17, 1857, a son of Samuel K. and Almira (Wines) Weadon, both of whom were born in Virginia. They removed to Missouri in December of 1870 and first settled in Greene county, where they resided until 1874 when they located in Lawrence county. Six years later Mr. and Mrs. Samuel Weadon made a settlement in the southwest part of New Home township in Bates county and resided here until death called them. Samuel Weadon was born in 1835 and died on June 1, 1887. Mrs. Almira Weadon died in March, 1890 at the age of fifty-five years. They were parents of the following children: Francis, a resident of Kansas City, Missouri; John R., subject of this review; Samuel, living in Kansas City; Turner, a citizen of Oregon. John R. Weadon received his schooling in Virginia and in Missouri. He was reared to the life of a farmer. He came to Bates county from Lawrence county, Missouri in 1878. When Mr. Weadon came to this county, a young man twenty-one years of age, he had little or practically nothing in the way of capital or property. He began working on the farms of the county with a willing heart and strong hands and was imbued with an ambition to some day own a farm of his own. Five years later in 1883 he was enabled to make his first purchase of land and is now ranked with the well-to-do and forehanded farmers of this prosperous county. He has created a farm of his own upon which he has reared his family with the assistance of a capable wife. Mr. Weadon was very fortunate in his selection of his helpmeet and took to wife a daughter of one of the first and most prominent of the Bates county pioneers. He was united in marriage with Miss Mattie C. Miller, who was born in New Home township, March 13, 1861, a daughter of O. H. P. Miller, one of the earliest of the Bates county pioneers concerning whom extended mention is given in the history of the Miller family which will be found in connection with the biography of the late Jason Woodfin elsewhere in this volume. This marriage was consummated on November 18, 1883, and has been a happy and prosperous one. Mr. and Mrs. John R. Weadon have one child, Mrs. Edna R. Birks, of Howard township, Bates county. Mr. Weadon has been a lifelong Democrat and is prominent in the councils of his party in the county. He is ably filling the office of trustee of his township and has filled many positions of trust and responsibility during his residence in the county. Mr. and Mrs. Weadon are members of the Methodist Episcopal church, South, and are worthy and respected citizens of Bates county.

WEATHERS, John T.
History of Cass & Bates Co, MO, 1883 - Osage Township, Bates Co, MO
JOHN T. WEATHERS, of the M. S. Cowles Mercantile Company, was born in Morgan County, Illinois, January 25, 1854. His parents were Gilbert S. and Catherine P. (Taylor) Weathers. When he was twelve years of age the family moved to Holt County, Missouri, and in two years went to Brown County, Kansas. His father subsequently moved to Crawford County and then to Jasper County, Missouri, where he now resides. After receiving a fair common school education, John T. entered a hardware store in Hiawatha, Kansas, when about eighteen years old and stayed one year, then secured a situation with L. N. Smith, dealer in agricultural implements, at St. Joseph, Missouri, with whom he remained one year. In the fall of 1875 he attended the Jacksonville Business College at Jacksonville, Illinois. Returning to St. Joseph he spent the summer of 1876 with Mr. Smith. In the spring of 1877 he went to Jasper County and for ten months represented the interests of L. S. Moore, of Kansas City, in the Quaker Mills on Spring River. The summer of 1878 he stopped with his father on the farm, and on May 1, he was married to Miss Clara C. Spangler. In October of that year he entered a store at Carbon, Crawford County, Kansas, and for nearly two years kept the books of a complicated business and made a number of settlements. In May 1880, he entered the railroad office but in July came to Rich Hill and engaged as salesman for M. S. Cowles & Company. In October 1881, he was put in charge of the branch house at Pittsburg. When the M. S. Cowles Mercantile Company was organized he became a member and has since retained the charge of the branch house.

WEBB, Hiram
History of Cass & Bates Co, MO, 1883 - Spruce Township, Bates Co, MO
HIRAM WEBB, was born in Polk County, Missouri, April 10, 1852. William Webb, his father, was a native of Kentucky, while his mother came originally from Tennessee. Hiram moved with his parents from Polk to Saline County in 1863, and after living there some four years, came to Bates County in 1867, and located on the farm now occupied by the family. He spent his youth on the farm and at the public schools where he received a common English education. He was married in Henry County, April 8, 1877, to Miss Emma Beck, a daughter of George Beck; she is a Kentuckian by birth. Mr. Webb settled on his present farm in 1877 and now owns ninety acres, with eighty acres in good cultivation. His family consists of two children: Ada, born April 18, 1878, and Early Lee, born June 23, 1882. They have lost one child, Alonzo, born July 9, 1880, and died August 16, 1881. William Webb died at his residence in Bates County, July 8, 1882.

WEDDLE, Samuel H.
History of Cass & Bates Co, MO, 1883 - New Home Township, Bates Co, MO
SAMUEL H. WEDDLE was born at Blue Springs, Jackson County, Missouri, March 31, 1831. His parents were John and Jane Weddle nee Busley, the former a native of New York and the latter of Kentucky. They were married in Lafayette County, Missouri, about 1822. His father was born in New York City and learned the silverplate trade. In 1813 he enlisted for five years and at the close of the war re-enlisted for five years more and his regiment was sent to the frontier and stationed at Council Bluffs where his term of service expired. He then went down the Missouri River to the first settlements which were in Lafayette County. He stopped there and after being married located at Blue Springs. While living here he often visited the old Harmony Mission and assisted in setting out the old orchard of the mission which was a landmark long after the buildings had fallen to decay. He also served as cook at the mission, cooking for the Indian children. His experience in cooking during his ten years' service in the army gave him an opportunity to become thoroughly acquainted with the mission work. His wife died in the fall of 1851 and he followed her in 1866. He had been living for some years in Vernon County. In 1834 the family settled in Cass County, four miles east of Harrisonville, and in the spring of 1843 came to Bates County and located on the Miami, three and a half miles southwest of Butler. In 1850, in company with his eldest brother, William, Samuel H. went to California, where he remained until 1857, engaged in mining and ranching. On his return in 1857 he found the family living in Linn County, Kansas, but returned to Bates in the next year. In 1861 he enlisted in Cummins' Battalion State Guards and served five months on the border. Then he went to Texas in hopes of finding a country where he would be at liberty to remain out of the army but finding things worse there than it had been at home he came back to Bates and in May 1862, enlisted at the Cowskin Prairie, in the Sixteenth Missouri Infantry, under Colonel L. M. Lewis, and from that time participated in the various engagements of the regiment. He was at Prairie Grove and all through Arkansas and Northern Louisiana, taking part at Pleasant Hill, Louisiana, and at Saline River against Steele in Arkansas. He passed through without receiving a wound and surrendered at Shreveport, Louisiana. He remained one year in Texas, and returned to Missouri and resumed farming where he now lives. Mr. Weddle was married February 17, 1869, to Miss Nancy J. Evans, daughter of Ezekiel Evans, who died at Batesville, Arkansas, in 1864, from a wound received at Grand Prairie. He was one of the pioneers of Bates County and a brother of John Evans, of Shawnee Township. Mr. Weddle has three children: Albert Sidney Johnson, Cornelia Florence and Sonora Gertrude. Mr. W. was the fourth child of twelve children, of whom William, the eldest, died at Alton while held a prisoner. He was taken from Butler among many other civilians. Jonathan died in Texas and Abel died at home during the war from exposure. Of those who survive, Charity Turman lives at Siloam Springs, Arkansas; Susan lives with Samuel; Talitha Grummons is a widow and lives at Nevada, Missouri; John R., at Balltown, Vernon County; James H. resides near Butler, and David is at Trinidad, Colorado. Mr. Weddle is a Mason and a Democrat.

WEEDIN, Alphonso Freeman
History of Bates County, Missouri, W. O. Atkeson, 1918
ALPHONSO FREEMAN WEEDIN -- The name of Weedin is identified with the earliest period of Missouri history and goes back over a century to the troublesome days when the adventurous white settlers were striving to wrest the great domain, the vast wilderness which comprised the territory of Louisiana, from the wild red men. A. F. Weedin, prosperous farmer and stockman of Howard township, Bates county, is a worthy descendant of brave Missouri pioneers, who came to Missouri as early as the year 1811. He was born in Boyle county, Kentucky, September 12, 1848, a son of Rev. Caleb and Eliza (Moore) Weedin, the former a native of South Carolina and the latter a native of Kentucky. Caleb Weedin was born January 16, 1799, a son of Benjamin Weedin, who emigrated from South Carolina to Tennessee in 1809 and two years later in 1811, came to Missouri and became a member of the colony which settled near old Fort Boone. The Indians were very troublesome in those early days and for a period of three years the white settlers and Indians were constantly at war, the settlers finding it necessary to build a stockade and therein keep their families in safety from marauding bands of savages. The younger members of the little band, with the women, frequently found it necessary to defend the fort while the older men were absent on expeditions which were necessary for their maintenance and comfort. On one occasion, while Benjamin Weedin with his older associates were absent at the Osage Mission on a search for cattle which the Indians had stolen from the settlers, young Caleb with the other boys and the women in the stockade beat off an Indian attack. At another time, two men were sent out from the fort to reconnoiter and were attacked by Indians. One man, a Mr. Savage, was killed, while the other reached the fort in safety. In 1814, the Indians having become peaceably inclined, Benjamin Weedin settled on a tract of land near Boonville, and remained in Missouri until his death. Caleb Weedin returned to Kentucky and became a minister of the Cumberland Presbyterian church. For many years he preached the Gospel in Kentucky, principally in the vicinity of Glasgow, Barren county, in southern Kentucky. He died in 1864 after a useful life of devout service in behalf of men's souls. He was married in Kentucky in 1826 to Elizabeth Swan Moore, who was born in Kentucky July 20, 1810, a daughter of Samuel Swan and Mary Moore. To Rev. Caleb and Elizabeth Weedin were born children, as follow: Samuel S., who was a professor in McGee College, Missouri, at the time of his death; B. D., who came to Missouri in 1857 and became very prominent in the affairs of Lafayette county, Missouri, and served as a member of the county court and is county surveyor for many years, dying at Lexington, Missouri; Mary Catharine, deceased wife of Dr. J. C. Provine, Nashville, Tennessee; Anna E., died in 1917; Margaret E., deceased wife of Prof. H. A. Scomb, of Boyle county, Kentucky; W. H., a teacher for many years in Kentucky and Tennessee; Caleb C., a farmer in Kentucky; Sarah, deceased; and Alphonso Freeman, subject of this review and the only surviving member of the family. A. F. Weedin, subject of this review, received his primary education in the public schools of his native state and then finished his education at Center College, Danville, Kentucky. He taught in the public schools of Kentucky for a period of three years, and in November of 1875 came to Missouri and taught during the following year in Lafayette county. In 1876, he journeyed to Utah and for some months was engaged in mining in the Wasatch Mountains of Utah. After his mining venture, he returned to Lafayette county, Missouri and was married in 1878. Mr. and Mrs. Weedin resided in Lafayette county for a short time and then removed to Johnson county where they resided for a period of one and a half years. On Christmas Day of 1879 they arrived in Butler, Bates county and came to their farm in Howard township on the day following, taking up their abode in a small house which Mr. Weedin had previously erected on his farm. The small house or "shanty" was their home for three years and they then moved into more comfortable quarters which they built. This home was burned and was succeeded by a pretty farm cottage which is set attractively on a rise of ground north of the highway which goes past the Weedin home. The land which Mr. Weedin purchased in 1879 was unbroken prairie and unfenced but well watered with flowing water from natural springs and a creek. It is provided with good farm buildings and is one of the most productive farms in this section of Missouri. Mr. Weedin owns a total of two hundred eighty acres of valuable land. A. F. Weedin was married in August, 1878, to Miss Mary Lankford, who was born on a farm near Lexington, Missouri, December 22, 1859, a daughter of Barnett and Euphemia (Catron) Lankford, early pioneer settlers and extensive landowners of Lafayette county. To this marriage eight children have been born, as follow: Mrs. Anna Puryear, Rochester, Minnesota, who has four children; John Daniel Weedin, a railroad fireman whose home is at Calwa City, California, and who is father of three children; Frances, wife of Clarence Finch, of Kansas City, Missouri, has two children; Abner G., who is in training at the United States Naval School at Pensacola, Florida, and is now a member of the Aeronautic Contingent or in the aviation department with General Pershing's army in France; Samuel P., at home with his parents; Margaret Ellen, wife of Edwin Ferguson, a farmer in Howard township; Mary, a teacher in the public schools, who makes her home with her parents; Caleb Clay, a soldier in the Officers' Training Camp at San Antonio, Texas. For many years, Mr. Weedin has been one of the leaders of the Democratic party in his township. Because of his educational attainments and natural ability, he has been selected by his fellow townsmen to fill local offices, such as justice of the peace, township clerk, and assessor, and in the last named position he has served two terms of two years each. Having been reared in the faith of the Cumberland Presbyterian church, he has always adhered to the tenets of that denomination. He is fraternally affiliated with the Ancient Free and Accepted Masons. Personally, Mr. Weedin is a courteous, well-educated gentleman of the old school, one who endeavors to keep abreast of the times and maintains a stout and unswerving loyalty to Bates county and Missouri. Mr. and Mrs. Weedin are numbered among the best families of the county and he ranks as one of Bates county's successful and enterprising citizens.

WEIRICK, Isaiah L.
History of Bates County, Missouri, W. O. Atkeson, 1918
ISAIAH L. WEIRICK. The Weirick stock farm in Howard township, Bates county, is a splendidly equipped place for the purpose; in fact, no better nor more modern place exists in the county or this section of Missouri. The farm buildings, in their color tone of white, resemble a small village when seen from a distance. Besides the home, Mr. Weirick has erected a tenant house on the place. A large barn, one of the largest of its kind in the county, was completed in 1917 at a cost of forty-five hundred dollars, and which is 40x120 feet in extent. The horse barn is 30x44 feet in size and the buildings are conveniently grouped. The engine house, garage, granary, 36x64 feet, with a fourteen foot shed, and other necessary buildings all fit into the businesslike arrangement. Mr. Weirick has also erected a large silo, 16x36 feet with a capacity of one hundred fifty tons of silage. He maintains a dairy herd of grade cows, headed by a Polled Angus bull of the registered thoroughbred type. In December, 1917, he was feeding twenty-seven hundred head of sheep for the markets. For the past four years, Mr. Weirick has been a heavy sheep-feeder. He is planning feeding five hundred hogs during 1918 and has seven thousand bushels of corn purchased for this purpose. During 1917, he raised eighty acres of corn, into which the sheep were turned for the purpose of consuming grain and forage fodder without waste. I. L. Weirick was born September 1, 1871, in Ohio, a son of William and Sarah (Beach) Weirick, both of whom were natives of the Buckeye State. They removed to Shelby county, Illinois, in 1872 and resided there until 1900, when both Mr. I. L. Weirick's parents removed to Oklahoma, where they now reside. William and Sarah Weirick are the parents of the following children: Mrs. Margaret Wamsley, resides in Oklahoma, her parents living with her; Mrs. Irene Ehrsman, of Nebraska; Minnie, lives in Oklahoma with her parents; James and Charles, live in Oklahoma; Mrs. Ora Gay resides in Oklahoma; and Edna, lives in Oklahoma. Reared on the home farm in Illinois, and after receiving his education in the district schools, Mr. Weirick began for himself upon attaining his majority. From 1892 until 1896, he worked upon his father's farm and in 1897 accompanied his parents to their new home in Oklahoma. However, he returned to Illinois in 1897 and engaged in farming for himself. His first farm in Illinois consisted of two hundred acres to which he later added eighty acres and also bought twenty-five acres adjoining the town of Cowden whereon he made his home. During the summer of 1908 he disposed of his Illinois holdings, invested the proceeds in Bates county land, and in February, 1909, he moved his family to this county, where he soon attained a reputation as being a successful stockman and a man of decided business ability. Mr. Weirick was married in August, 1899, to Miss Grace Fritts, born in Illinois, a daughter of T. J. and Mattie Fritts, the former, a native of Indiana and the latter, of Illinois. Two children have been born to this union, namely: Fritts Henry, born April 17, 1905, and Russell True, born April 23, 1908. In January, 1918, the Weiricks took up their residence in Rich Hill. Mr. Weirick is independent in his political views and votes as his conscience and good judgment dictate. He and Mrs. Weirick are members of the Church of Christ.

WELCH, Samuel
History of Cass & Bates Co, MO, 1883 - Summit Township, Bates Co, MO
SAMUEL WELCH, farmer and stock raiser, is a native of Ohio, and was born in Harrison County, February 14, 1834. His parents John and Margaret (Gillmore) Welch, were born in the same county. Samuel spent his youth on his father's farm; attending the common schools, where he received an ordinary education. He was married in Morrow County, Ohio, June 12, 1855, to Miss Almira Shipman, also a native of Ohio, born in Morrow County, October 12, 1836. After his marriage, Mr. Welch was occupied in farming and stock raising in Morrow County for some thirteen years. He sold his property there in February, 1867, and in the summer of 1868, moved to Missouri, and located in Bates County, where he purchased land and improved his present farm. He has 420 acres all under fence, and in a fair state of cultivation. His large residence is finished in a neat and tasty manner, and is situated on an elevation. His yard is ornamented with forest trees, evergreens and shrubs. An orchard of twelve acres, with some select varieties of fruits, is upon the place which is in section 30. Mr. Welch is quite extensively engaged in handling Merino sheep. He and his wife have a family of four children: Harvey H., born April 6, 1856, is married and resides in Iowa; Francis E., was born December 13, 1858; Alice W. (deceased) was born January 30, 1860, and died December 19, 1871; U. S. Grant Welch was born April 3, 1865, and Delmina Welch was born March 13, 1872. Mrs. Welch is a member of the Baptist Church.

WeMOTT, A. W.
History of Bates County, Missouri, W. O. Atkeson, 1918
A. W. WeMOTT, the senior member of the widely and favorably known firm of WeMott & Major, harness dealers and manufacturers, is a native of Texas. Mr. WeMott was born at Bryan, Texas, in 1861. He is of French descent, a son of T. T. and Ellen S. WeMott. His father was a native of New York and his mother of Massachusetts. T. T. WeMott was a carpenter by trade, but he also engaged in farming extensively and successfully. He came to Missouri with his family in May, 1868, and settled at Butler in Bates county. The elder WeMott was well known in this city as a gentleman of exceptionally fine character, loyal to his home and friends. When he was nearing the "Valley of the Shadow," at Kansas City, Missouri, Mr. WeMott requested on his death bed that he be taken back to Butler for burial, back to the old home where his friends, who had known and esteemed him for so many years, still lived. His remains rest in Butler cemetery. T. T. and Ellen S. WeMott were the parents of the following children: Herbert, deceased; Mrs. Ada Powell, Kansas City, Missouri; Alice, Kansas City, Missouri; Mrs. Stella Corder, Kansas City, Missouri; Claudia and Maude, both of Denver, Colorado; and A. W., the subject of this sketch. In the city schools of Butler, Missouri, A. W. WeMott received his education. He has been employed in the harness shop, now owned by himself and Claude Major, since 1882, working first for McFarland & Son, former owners of the establishment. Mr. WeMott had charge of the manufacturing department for twenty-five years. In April, 1916, Claude Major, who had been with the firm for eighteen years, and A. W. WeMott purchased the stock and have continued the business. This is the pioneer harness shop of Butler and is still today one of the flourishing business establishments in Bates county. WeMott & Major usually employ three or four assistants and they are enjoying an extensive patronage. Both owners are skilled workmen and possess excellent business judgment. In 1889, A. W. WeMott and Flora Denny, daughter of Charles Denny, a well-remembered grocer of Butler, Missouri, were united in marriage. The Dennys came to Bates county among the earliest settlers, many years prior to the time of the Civil War. They were residents of Butler during the troublous times of the civil conflict and did much to assist the needy, dependent people, who were reduced to penury by the long struggle. To A. W. and Flora (Denny) WeMott have been born four sons: Theodore Charles, who is now at Fort Riley, Kansas; Herbert H., who is in the employ of the Levy Mercantile Company of Butler, Missouri; Walter, a stenographer, who is now at Fort Riley, Kansas; and Samuel, who is at home with his parents. The WeMott home is in Butler on East Dakota street. For nine years, during which period the paving of the city streets of Butler was laid, Mr. WeMott was a member of the city council. He is affiliated with the Modern Woodmen of America at Butler. A. W. WeMott is a gentleman, whose fidelity to the duties of good citizenship, whose honor in business and industry have attracted the attention of his fellowmen and made his example worthy of emulation.

WERNOTT, Theodore T.
History of Cass & Bates Co, MO, 1883 - Shawnee Township, Bates Co, MO
THEODORE T. WERNOTT was born in New York November 24, 1826, and his wife (formerly Ella S. Walker) was born near Boston, Massachusetts, April 12, 1838. Her father was Mathias Walker, a native also of the Bay State. Her mother's maiden name was Lydia A. Brickam. Ellen S. was educated in the excellent schools of Massachusetts, and on the 18th of February, 1857, was married to Mr. Wernott. The same year they removed to Dubuque, Iowa, and after remaining there but one year went south and lived in Texas until 1868. Then they settled in Bates County. Their home farm now contains 160 acres of excellent land, and is well improved. The residence was erected in 1880 at a cost of $1,500. They also have a tract of sixty acres on section 30, and upon this place is found a fine vein of coal. Their family numbers seven children: Ada, Arthur, Herbert, Mary A., Clauda, Stella, and Maud.

WEST, George W.
History of Cass & Bates Co, MO, 1883 - Mingo Township, Bates Co, MO
GEORGE W. WEST, druggist at Mayesburg, is the youngest of a family of eight children, and was born on the 16th of April, 1859, in Worth County, Missouri. His parents were J. C. West, a farmer by occupation and a native of Kentucky, and Elizabeth (Mahan) West, also from the same state. At the age of fourteen years George was taken to Iowa, remaining there two years when the family moved to Jackson County, Missouri. From thence they came to Bates County in 1868. His education was acquired in the schools of this county and he resided on the farm until 1881 when he discontinued tilling the soil, then entering the drug store in Mayesburg in company with G. A. Poage. They own the building which they occupy and are doing a satisfactory business. Mr. West is one of the rising young business men of Bates County, and is held in high esteem by its citizens, having the confidence of all who know him. He is a respected member of the Johnstown Lodge of the Masonic fraternity.

WEST, Robert Gentry
History of Cass & Bates Co, MO, 1883 - New Home Township, Bates Co, MO
ROBERT GENTRY WEST is probably the oldest native of New Home Township now living, having been born within its boundaries and within one mile of his present home on the 7th of April, 1842. His parents were Mark and Mary (Allen) West. She was a daughter of James Allen, who came from North Carolina and settled at the Harmony Mission about 1837. His father was born in Tennessee, where he married, and in 1837 moved to Missouri and for two years lived near Windsor, in Henry County. Coming to Bates County in 1839, he settled on the south bank of the Marais des Cygnes and lived there until his death, which occurred May 1, 1852. His wife had died in 1842, and he married the next year Miss Minerva McHenry, daughter of John McHenry, who died at Jefferson City while there attending the legislature, he being a representative of the county at the time. Minerva lived twelve years after her husband's death, and died at the Sac and Fox Agency, Kansas, on November 21, 1864. There are five children in the first family, of which our subject is the youngest and the only one now living. The eldest, James, was killed at Springfield January 8, 1863. Edward died of a congestive chill in 1851. Sammy died in infancy, and Elizabeth Jane, wife of Thomas Jackson, died at Butler in 1860; her husband was killed at Lone Jack. Of the second family of four children only one remains, Mary A., the wife of James P. Thomas. The eldest, Bolivar Jackson, died February 25, 1868. John W. died in infancy and Tillman Howard died in 1864, about the same time and at the same place as his mother. So far as can be ascertained Mark West was the first man who received a contract for carrying the mail in Bates County. This was about 1850. and the route was from Harrisonville to West Point and to Balltown or Papinville. What education Mr. West acquired in school was obtained by walking four miles to school. Judge Bartlett being the teacher. In 1861 he enlisted in the State Guard. In August of 1861 he attached himself to Colonel Cockrell's command, with which he participated at Lone Jack. After that he was in General Shelby's brigade, and in the fight at Springfield he was wounded and for seven years carried a navy ball. He has now entirely recovered from the effects of the wound. While in the hospital at Springfield he was taken prisoner, and after being sent to St. Louis and Chicago he was taken to City Point, Virginia, where he was exchanged. He rejoined his command on White River, Arkansas, and in 1864 was granted a furlough and went to Texas. He was not in the command at the time of the surrender. Returning to Missouri, he was soon after married, on April 26, 1866, to Miss Angeline Campbell, daughter of James L. Campbell. She is a native of Cass County. Her parents were originally from Virginia. Mr. West is a Democrat in his political preferences.

WHEATLEY, William
History of Bates County, Missouri, W. O. Atkeson, 1918
WILLIAM WHEATLEY, substantial farmer and stockman of New Home township, proprietor of two farms, aggregating three hundred sixty acres located in New Home township, is one of the old settlers of Bates county. Perhaps the greatest thing to Mr. Wheatley's credit, during his long and successful career in this county, has been his ambition and determination to give each member of his family of children the benefit of a thorough education in preparation for their own careers. He has done this, at personal sacrifices on several occasions, but has never regretted putting into effect his well-defined plan of educating his children. His reward is, and will be, the satisfaction of knowing that each and every member of his family will be better citizens and better equipped to take their places in the world than if he had allowed them to grow up without the necessary training and opportunities for acquiring knowledge which he has bestowed upon them. William Wheatley was born in Lucas county, North Carolina, in 1848, son of James and Elizabeth (Shumate) Wheatley, children of Virginia parents. In 1857, James Wheatley made a trip to the state of Missouri for the purpose of looking over the country and finding a location for a new home. This decided upon, he returned home and moved his family by wagons to Johnson county, Missouri, in 1859. There was a considerable party of North Carolina people in the company which came to Missouri and misfortune befell the company. For some reason or other, twenty-five members of the company contracted disease and died, either on the journey northward or after they had arrived in Johnson county. The trouble is thought to have been due to the bad water which they were obliged, of necessity, to drink. James Wheatley and his daughter, Jane, who two of the band who succumbed to disease and died on the same day in 1860, not long after their arrival in Johnson county. The family settled on a farm near Warrensburg, Missouri, and there William Wheatley remained until 1874. In that year he came to New Home township, Bates county, and bought twenty acres of land upon which he built a small, box house. He had no money when he came to this county and became a landowner by trading a team and wagon for a half-interest in the twenty acres. Mr. Wheatley had met with serious financial reverses in Johnson county and his object in coming to Bates county was to get a new start. He has never regretted coming and prosperity has smiled upon him during the many years of his residence in New Home township. He has built up a splendid estate. During his first four years in this county, Mr. Wheatley suffered greatly from chills and fever, and, in order to get rid of the affliction, made a trip to Texas, and the change of climate proved beneficial to him. The little twenty-acre tract grew to a fine farm of two hundred eighty acres through additions, and, in 1910, Mr. Wheatley purchased the "eighty" where his present home is located. His son-in-law is operating his former home place. The Wheatley farm has a never-failing spring which supplies water for the stock and the residence. Mr. Wheatley was married in 1872 to Elizabeth Grier of Johnson county, who died in 1890, leaving two children: Carlos, a railroad man in Oklahoma; and Mrs. Lillian Bowan, Visalia, California. His second marriage, in 1892, was with Mrs. Margaret (Moore) Graves, widow of George Graves, and daughter of Macklin Moore. By her first marriage with George Graves, Mrs. Wheatley had three children, namely: William, living in Kansas; Roy, deceased; and George Graves, deceased. To William and Margaret (Graves) Wheatley have been born seven children: Mrs. Julia Ayer, Rich Hill, Missouri; Dr. James Wheatley, a practicing dentist, Seneca, Kansas; Mrs. Goldie Caton, New Home township; Ivy and Ira, twins, the former a teacher in the public schools, and the latter, at home; Mary, a student in Rich Hill High School; and Mildred. Mr. Wheatley has generally been a follower and supporter of Republican principles but has never taken an active part in political affairs. He belongs to no lodge or organization which would have a tendency to take him from the bosom of his family. He is an exemplary citizen whose course in life has been marked by a steadfast devotion to his wife and children, and everything which he accomplishes is with the end in view that the different members can be comfortable and happy.

WHEELER, Francis Marion
History of Bates County, Missouri, W. O. Atkeson, 1918
FRANCIS MARION WHEELER, of Howard township, is a "self-made," very successful agriculturist, owner of a quarter section of highly productive land which has served as his home place since April 8, 1888. Mr. Wheeler was born May 1, 1851, in Schuyler county, Illinois, son of Austin King and Adeline C. (Chipman) Wheeler, natives of Guilford county, North Carolina, members of old Southern families. Austin K. Wheeler was born May 23, 1813, and died in 1901. He was married in North Carolina on May 31, 1838. He was the son of John and Keziah Wheeler. His wife was a daughter of Obadiah H. and Keziah Chipman. She was born October 22, 1816. Austin Wheeler migrated to Pettis county, Missouri, in 1856, and purchased an improved farm which he later sold and opened a blacksmith's shop. Civil War breaking out, he lost his business and then engaged in farming. When his health failed him in 1878, he came to Bates county, making his home in Sprague, after living at the home of his son, F. M. Wheeler. He died in 1882. He was father of six children: Rensselaer Harris, deceased; Keziah Ann Larue, living in New Mexico; John Henry, deceased; Harriet, died in infancy; F. M., subject of this review and his twin sister, Mrs. Mary Frances Winston, Rich Hill. The early life of Francis Marion Wheeler was replete with hardships and he obtained but little education. From boyhood he has been self-supporting. When he came to Bates county on March 20, 1878, all that he owned in the world was a good span of mules, a plow, a wagon, a cultivator, and one hundred dollars in money, which money he had carefully saved. The first thing he did upon coming here was to purchase eighty acres of land in Howard township at a cost of five dollars an acre. He broke up thirty acres of this tract and sowed it to wheat, the crop yielding only ten bushels to the acre. He planted a good corn crop which was ruined in August of that year by a hailstorm. His beginning in this county was not auspicious and the outcome of his first year in farming here was not encouraging. But, Mr. Wheeler was made of true pioneer material and he kept at the task of improving his farm and the second year was a better one. Continual good crops, in spite of the ordinary setbacks, of course, have made him a well-to-do citizen. His first home, which is still standing on the premises, was a small two-room house, which has been supplanted by a pretty cottage, erected in 1910. In addition to his fine farm in Bates county, Mr. Wheeler owns a tract of timber land comprising fifty-three acres in Howell county, Missouri. November 28, 1877, he was married to Miss Phoebe Ferguson Bright, who was born in Saline county, Missouri, September 8, 1854, a daughter of John and Margaret (Grissom) Bright, natives of Virginia and Kentucky, respectively. John Bright made a settlement in Missouri in the early thirties and entered government land. He died in July, 1890, and his wife followed him in death three years later, her death occurring in July, 1893. The following children have been born to Francis Marion and Phoebe Wheeler: Charley, born February 6, 1879, is employed in the Rich Hill lumber yard; Aubrey Blaine, born October 14, 1880, lives in Arkansas; Mrs. Rose Thomas, born November 20, 1822, lives at Pittsburg, Kansas; Arthur W., born December 18, 1884, a farmer in Howard township; Burch F., born January 24, 1887, lives in Kansas City; Austin K., born December 22, 1888, makes his home at Rich Hill; Lydia Ann, born February 23, 1891, at home; Francis Marion, Jr., born September 26, 1893, a private in the National Army, stationed at the training camp at Fort Pike, Little Rock, Arkansas; Joseph F., born October 4, 1898, at home. Mr. Wheeler votes the Republican ticket but is not greatly interested in matters which would have a tendency to divert him from his fireside and home interests. He is essentially a home man, one whose family and farm are his first consideration at all times.

WHEELER, Thomas
History of Cass & Bates Co, MO, 1883 - Osage Township, Bates Co, MO
THOMAS WHEELER was born in New York, December 20, 1835, and is the son of Benjamin and Alice S. Wheeler, nee Palmer. While the subject of this sketch was young, his father removed to Boston, Massachusetts. Here the son was reared to manhood and received his education, his mercantile experience commencing in the wholesale drug trade. At the outbreak of the war he went south with General B. F. Butler. After his return he came west, and has since been engaged in the coal business at different places, and at present occupies a responsible position with the Rich Hill Coal Company. Mr. Wheeler was married November 19, 1857, to Miss M. L. Miller, a native of Massachusetts. They have one son, Benjamin F. They lost one daughter, Lizzie S.

WHINERY, Joseph T.
History of Cass & Bates Co, MO, 1883 - Homer Township, Bates Co, MO
JOSEPH T. WHINERY, breeder of and dealer in pure American merino sheep, section 36, was born in Greene County, Ohio, November 12, 1843. His parents were Joseph and Sarah J. (Thompson) Whinery, the former a native of Columbiana County, Ohio, and the latter of Indiana. She died when Joseph T. was but a year old, and he was then reared and educated in Columbiana County, being brought up by his paternal grandmother. He began life's battle alone, but by industry and good management soon achieved an enviable reputation as a business man. Coming to Missouri with a brother, he purchased a farm in Walnut Township, Bates County, in 1867, and devoted his time to farming and the cattle business. In 1880 the partnership which had so long existed was dissolved, and Mr. J. T. Whinery bought the property which he now owns and turned his attention to his present business. He keeps on hand a large number of fine sheep and has done much towards promoting this industry in Bates County. His marriage occurred April 15, 1869, to Miss Louisa Craig, of Montgomery County, Kentucky, born August 15, 1847. She was a daughter of Captain W. D. Craig, who came to Bates County from Montgomery County in 1870, settling in Homer Township, but he is now a resident of Charlotte Township. Mr. and Mrs. Whinery have a family of three children: Jennie, born March 3, 1872; Joseph and Sadie, born August 11, 1877. One is deceased: William, who was born August 14, 1879, died July 28, 1880.

WHITE, Joel N.
History of Cass & Bates Co, MO, 1883 - West Boone Township, Bates Co, MO
JOEL N. WHITE was born in Adams County, Illinois, August 5, 1843, his parents being John A. and Elizabeth (White) White, the former a native of Tennessee, and the latter of Virginia. They were among the first settlers of Adams County, Illinois. Joel N. is the second of fourteen children, six of whom are living, but he is the only one now in Missouri. He received a good common school education, and has spent his life on a farm. During the war he served three months at Springfield, Illinois. In the spring of 1872, Mr. White came to Missouri, and now lives one-half mile west of Rosier, where he has a farm of over 300 acres in a good state of cultivation. He is one of the principal stock raisers in his township, handling each year from one to three car loads of cattle and two or three hundred head of hogs. He was married September 27, 1864, to Miss Mary Colter, also a native of Adams County, Illinois. They have five children: Laura, Arvilla, Dora, Lizzie and Jane A.

WILCOX, E. D.
History of Bates County, Missouri, W. O. Atkeson, 1918
E. D. WILCOX, a successful farmer and stockman of Mount Pleasant township, is one of the excellent citizens of Bates county who are widely and favorably known beyond the confines of their immediate community. Mr. Wilcox is a native of Council Bluffs, Pottawattamie county, Iowa. He was born in 1865, an only surviving child of Milo W. and Mary (Weldon) Wilcox. Milo Wilcox was a native of Ohio and Mrs. Wilcox was born in Kentucky and in youth came from her native state with her parents to Ohio. Milo Wilcox and Mary Weldon were united in marriage at Springfield, Illinois, and immediately afterward located in Iowa, where their son, E. D., was born. They moved from Iowa to Bates county, Missouri, in 1866 and in September of that year settled on a tract of land in Mount Pleasant township, the northwest quarter of section 8, for which Mr. Wilcox paid five dollars an acre. Mrs. Wilcox did not live long to enjoy the new home. Two years after their coming West, in 1868, she died, leaving her son a babe then but three years of age. In 1869 Milo Wilcox was united in marriage with Mary Ashley, a native of Bates county, and to them were born five children: Mrs. Lillie Silvers, Springfield, Missouri; Roy, Butler, Missouri; Manning, Butler, Missouri; Newton, Butler, Missouri; and Mrs. Nellie Huffman, Springfield, Missouri. Mary (Ashley) Wilcox died in 1895. Mr. Wilcox continued to reside on the farm, where he had settled in 1866, until his death in 1906. He was highly respected in his township, where he was numbered among the leading citizens. Mr. Wilcox was public-spirited and enterprising and deeply interested in educational work, serving faithfully and well on the district school board for many years in his community. He and Isaac Conklin built the school house, located near the Wilcox home, which was named in honor of Mr. Wilcox. The school was organized about 1866 and there all the Wilcox children attended school. In all that constitutes genuine manhood and good citizenship, Milo Wilcox occupied a conspicuous place among his fellowmen. Honest and upright in all his dealings, with integrity unquestioned and a record untinged by the breath of suspicion or calumny, Mr. Wilcox fully merited the esteem and confidence in which he was held by the people of his township and county. The old Butler and West Point trail ran due west of the Wilcox homestead, in the early days. The land was practically all open prairie when the Wilcox family settled in Bates county and the traces of the old trail may still be seen in the pasture at the Wilcox home. Milo Wilcox drove a span of mules to Missouri from Iowa and the year following his coming west he disposed of his team for five hundred dollars. E. D. Wilcox recalls the many deer he saw in the county in the days of his boyhood. He remembers hearing his father relate how he hauled the lumber for the two rooms of the Wilcox residence from Pleasant Hill, Missouri. In a pioneer home, amid pioneer surroundings, E. D. Wilcox was reared to manhood and was educated. He obtained his education at the Wilcox school house, attending no other school. Milo Wilcox made it a rule than when his sons had attained the age of eighteen years they were to begin life for themselves and thus, at the age of eighteen years, E. D. Wilcox began to make his own way in the world. He rented land and engaged in farming and then after several years was enabled to purchase a farm in Sheridan county, Kansas, to which he moved in 1902. After three years, Mr. Wilcox returned to Bates county and purchased one hundred twenty acres of land lying directly north of his old home place, forty acres of which he afterward sold. He then purchased additional land on the east side of his farm, completing an eighty-acre tract, forty acres of which were inherited by Mr. Wilcox from his father's estate. Seventy acres of this east eighty-acre tract were formerly a part of the home farm. Mr. Wilcox is successfully engaged in general farming and stock raising. He keeps on the place an excellent grade of Poland China hogs, which have proven in recent years to be a profitable investment. In 1890, E. D. Wilcox and Mary Walton were united in marriage. Mary (Walton) Wilcox is a daughter of T. J. and Allie Walton, of Butler, Missouri. Mrs. Walton died in 1894 and Mr. Walton still resides at Butler. To Mr. and Mrs. Wilcox have been born two children: Irene, the wife of Carl Thompson, of Passaic, Missouri; and Walton, who resides at home with his parents. With the energy characteristic of a Wilcox, E. D. Wilcox has improved his farm and put the place in splendid condition, constantly adding to the beauty and attractiveness of his country home until now the Wilcox place is one of the most comfortable, desirable rural residences within the boundaries of the township. Mr. Wilcox is a quiet, plain man of the people, one noted for good sense and broad, intelligent views of men and affairs. Honorable and upright in all his dealings, aiming to do right as he sees and understands the right, his life has been far above criticism. Mr. and Mrs. Wilcox are well-known and highly valued by the best families of Bates county.

WILHITE, Henry F.
History of Cass & Bates Co, MO, 1883 - Deer Creek Township, Bates Co, MO
HENRY F. WILHITE, farmer and stock raiser, section 29, was born in Hancock County, Illinois, February 12, 1839, being the son of Robert Wilhite, a Virginian by birth, who removed to Illinois in an early day where he married Peche Bucker. Henry was the oldest of eight children, three sons and five daughters. He was reared on the home farm, receiving his education in the common schools and after arriving at manhood he worked on a farm for three years. He then bought land and was engaged in tilling the soil in Illinois until 1869, when he came to Bates County, Missouri, where he has since followed agricultural pursuits and stock raising. His farm contains 220 acres, 170 acres under fence, with a good young orchard and house, built in 1882 at a cost of $7,000. He is a member of the Dunkard Church, and also belongs to Crescent Hill Lodge, No. 368 A.F. and A.M. Mr. Wilhite was married October 12, 1864, to Miss Ella Cruse, a native of Illinois. She died August 12, 1880, leaving three children living: Hattie May, born July 6, 1870; Charles S., born July 22, 1872; and Laura, born October 28, 1875. They lost two: James A., born September 18, 1865, and Alburtus L., born August 28, 1867. They were drowned July 16, 1876, while in bathing.

WILLIAMS, James E.
History of Bates County, Missouri, W. O. Atkeson, 1918
JAMES E. WILLIAMS, postmaster of Butler, ex-city treasurer, ex-councilman, and ex-mayor of Butler and the present proprietor of the Williams' Grocery in this city, is a native of Bates county, Missouri, a member of a well-known and prominent pioneer family of this section of the state. Mr. Williams was born in 1866 near Altona, son of James T. and Elizabeth (Quisenberry) Williams, the former, a native of Kentucky and the latter, of Sedalia, Missouri. James T. Williams came to Missouri, when he was a boy of twelve years of age, with his parents and the Williams family settled on a farm in Pettis county. In 1854, the son, James T., came to Bates county and located on a tract of land near Altona. He went to Sedalia at the time of the outbreak of the Civil War and for two years served with the Confederates in the regiment commanded by Generals Price and Shelby. After the conflict had ended, Mr. Williams returned to Bates county in 1865 and resumed his interest in agricultural pursuits. He took an active and prominent part in public and political affairs and for a long time was one of the leading and most influential men in his township, filling with much credit to himself and universal satisfaction to his constituents a number of offices within the gift of the voters of the township. To James T. and Elizabeth (Quisenberry) Williams were born six children: Mrs. Mary Wright, of Kansas City, Missouri, the widow of Dr. L. M. Wright, a late prominent physician of Butler, Missouri; Mrs. Bettie Harrison, Adrian, Missouri; Z. J., who has for many years one of the leading business men of Butler, whose death occurred in Texas in January, 1916 and interment was made in the cemetery at Butler; Mrs. Jennie Bowden, Sherman, Texas; James E., the subject of this sketch; and Mrs. Ella Ewing, who is deceased and whose remains are interred in the cemetery at Butler. The mother died in 1911 and the father in 1914 and both parents were laid to rest in the cemetery at Butler. James E. Williams attended school in Altona and Butler. He is a graduate of the Butler Academy and of Weaver & Dever Business College at Butler. Since he was twenty years of age, Mr. Williams has made his own way in the world. He began his mercantile career in the employ of his brother, Z. J., who for several years conducted a grocery establishment in Butler. After a few years, the two brothers formed a partnership and added hardware and implements to their stock of merchandise and this firm continued in business for twenty years, when James E. purchased Z. J.'s interest in the store and the latter moved to Texas. James E. Williams has continued the business here since that time. He is not only prominent in business circles in Bates county but he has been a dominant factor in the political life of Butler and has filled several important positions in the city government. Mr. Williams served eight years as chairman of the Democratic committee, one term as city treasurer, ten years as city councilman, and two terms as mayor of Butler. During his term in the mayor's office, the first paving in this city was laid around the public square and a walk made to the cemetery. In April, 1914, James E. Williams was appointed postmaster of Butler and, at the time of this writing in 1917, he is now serving his city in that capacity. In 1895, James E. Williams was united in marriage with Susie Steele, daughter of John and Martha (Baker) Steele, both of whom are now deceased. John Steele died at Butler, Missouri in April, 1917. He was a Union veteran of the Civil War and an active participant in the work of the Grand Army of the Republic at Butler in late years. Mr. Steele was a worthy and consistent member of the Baptist church and he ever remained loyal and true to the beautiful faith, the teachings of which were so nobly exemplified in his life. To James E. and Susie (Steele) Williams have been born three children: James S., who is now a student at the State University at Columbia, Missouri; Walter E., a senior in the Butler High School and a member of the class which graduates in 1918; and Martha, who is a pupil in the graded schools of Butler. The Williams home is in the city of Butler at 206 Havanna street. For many years, Mr. Williams has been closely connected with the business interests of Butler and with important municipal enterprises. He is a practical man of affairs, possessing superior executive ability, and as a citizen he stands far above reproach.

WILLIAMS, John H.
History of Cass & Bates Co, MO, 1883 - New Home Township, Bates Co, MO
JOHN H. WILLIAMS, was born in Bedford County, Pennsylvania, March 28, 1838. His parents being Samuel and Catherine (Barndollar) Williams, both natives of Pennsylvania. John is the third of ten children, of whom eight are now living: One sister in Bates County, Eliza (wife of D. F. Beegle, of Butler); one sister in Wheeling, one in Bedford County, Pennsylvania, one brother, James, is an attorney-at-law in Philadelphia; three brothers still reside in Bedford County; two of these, Jacob and Samuel, are merchants, and have extensive iron and coal interests in the mining regions. Mr. Williams had advantages of far better facilities for schooling than the majority of young men of his day. His father had been instrumental in securing an academy in the town of Rainsburg, and in this young Williams received a fair education. When the war interfered with his studies, he enlisted in the Eighth Pennsylvania Reserves, in April 1861, and served until May 1864, principally in Virginia. In July 1864, he organized a company of men for the one hundred day service, and was commissioned as captain of the company. They were attached to the 194th Pennsylvania, and did provost duty about four months. In 1866, Mr. Williams came west and while in Kansas City engaged with D. K. Abeel, in running a saw mill. They located the mill on the Miami in Lone Oak Township and continued to run it until it was burned in 1868. In the following year, February 10, he married Miss Mattie B. Colcord, a daughter of T. R. Colcord; she is a native of Wisconsin, and her parents were originally from New England. They have one child, a boy, Edgar I. They have an adopted child, a little girl of two or three years. Since 1869, Mr. Williams has been engaged in farming, and now has a farm of about 360 acres in New Home Township. He is taking quite an active interest in improving his own stock. In his political opinions he is a Republican and on questions of education and prohibition he is much in advance of the average. He is attached to the Methodist Episcopal Church.

WILLIAMS, Richard D.
History of Cass & Bates Co, MO, 1883 - Mt. Pleasant Township, Bates Co, MO
RICHARD D. WILLIAMS was born in Wales, September 2, 1827, and in 1848, in company with his brother William, he came to this country and settled in Oneida County, New York. He learned the wagon and carriage trade, and after spending two years there, in 1850 he went to Watertown, Wisconsin, where he worked eighteen months. He was then located in Chicago for two years. In 1853 he visited California and mined for two years with good success. Returning to La Crosse, Wisconsin, he made it his home until the spring of 1857, when he came to Missouri and settled in Cooper County, and in the fall following visited Wales. In February, 1858, he returned to New York City, and married Miss Elizabeth Evans, of Brooklyn. She was born in Wales in 1825. Soon after their marriage they came to Cooper County, Missouri, and bought a farm and improved it. In 1861 Mr. Williams joined the Missouri militia and continued with them until 1864, when he moved to Weston and worked at his trade. He next located at Atchison, Kansas, and in 1866 he came to this city and settled on the property where he now lives, for which he had previously traded. He owned 1OO acres of land, sixty of which forms an addition to the city. He built a fine residence and other buildings, and also set out five acres to choice fruit trees, which now constitutes a valuable orchard. Mr. and Mrs. Williams have two children living: George F. and David A. They lost their eldest child, Mary Caroline, who died May 30, 1863, when three years of age. Mr. W. is a Republican in politics, and with his estimable wife belongs to the Presbyterian Church. He donated three acres of land, the site of the Butler Academy, to the trustees of that institution and also made a liberal contribution for building the same. He came to the county with limited means, but has been fortunate in his business enterprises, and has always been foremost in making donations to all the enterprises which would tend to promote its prosperity.

WILLIAMS, S. K.
History of Cass & Bates Co, MO, 1883 - Charlotte Township, Bates Co, MO
S. K. WILLIAMS, physician and surgeon, at Virginia, is a native of Fairfield County, Ohio, and was born January 8, 1850. His parents were Thomas and Jane (Gray) Williams, the former of Lancaster County, Pennsylvania, born in 1819, and the latter of Pickaway County, Ohio, born in 1825. They have lived in Homer Township, Bates County, since 1872. Our subject received his education at the Ohio Wesleyan University, of Delaware, Ohio, from which institution he graduated June 23, 1863. Soon after he began the study of medicine under Charles Davis. In 1873-4, he attended lectures at Columbia, and the year following graduated at Kansas City. Then he commenced the practice of his profession at Seneca, Missouri, and in 1878, located at Virginia, where he is having a good practice. January 28, 1880, Dr. Williams married Miss Bessie Gates, who was born August 31, 1857, in Illinois, and is a daughter of Joseph and Anna Gates nee Wiggins, both of England. Mrs. Williams was educated at Cincinnati, Ohio. They have one child, Mabel. The doctor is a member of the M. E. Church, and his wife of the Baptist.

WILLIAMS, T. E.
History of Cass & Bates Co, MO, 1883 - Howard Township, Bates Co, MO
T. E. WILLIAMS, dealer in drugs and druggists' sundries, Sprague, is a Kentuckian by birth, and was born in 1844. His father, Josiah, and his mother, Ann Williams, were also born in Kentucky, the former on May 8, 1804, and the latter in April 1804. They had a family of six children: Morgan, Martha, Newton, Jasper, John J. and T. E. (twins). Young Williams was reared and educated in Macon County, Missouri, and in 1860 he accompanied his parents to Vernon County, Missouri, where they now reside. He spent the summer of 1874 in Colorado. December 23, 1877, he was married to Miss Elizabeth Madison, of Christian County, Missouri. In 1881 Mr. W. located at Hume, and has built up a good trade in his line.

WILLIAMS, W. A.
History of Cass & Bates Co, MO, 1883 - Howard Township, Bates Co, MO
W. A. WILLIAMS, physician and surgeon, was born in Pettis County, Missouri, July 2, 1850. John H. Williams, his father, the son of Absalom and Sarah (Spurgeon) Williams, was a native of Davidson County, North Carolina, born April 1, 1820. He married June 25, 1851, Miss Arabella C. Gillen, a Kentuckian by birth, born in 1832, and daughter of William and Maria Gillen, nee Oglesby. In 1846, John H. Williams settled in Pettis County, Missouri, and entered a farm. In 1850 he crossed the plains to California, remaining in the land of gold until 1851. In October 1858, he moved to Knob Noster, Johnson County, Missouri, and there engaged in mercantile pursuits, going thence in 1859 to Brownsville, Saline County, being one of the leading merchants of the city until 1861. In 1865 he entered into the drug business, but in 1867 sold out and located on a farm, remained upon it until 1880, when he took a trip to Colorado. In 1881 he settled at Hume, and is now railroad agent and proprietor of the City Hotel. Our subject was educated at Wake Forest Institute, and in 1872-3, was a student at the State University at Columbia, Missouri. He first began the study of medicine under Dr. L. H. Williams, afterwards with W. D. Robinson, and later in the office of J. C. Hughes. In 1875 he was under James T. Hill in Johnson County, and on February 14, 1876, he graduated at Keokuk, Iowa. In 1877, he practiced at LaMont. In 1880 he visited Colorado, and upon returning, took up his situation in Hume, December 18, 1881, where he is rapidly gaining an enviable reputation among his brother practitioners.

WILLIAMS, William A.
History of Bates County, Missouri, W. O. Atkeson, 1918
DR. WILLIAM A. WILLIAMS -- For the past thirty-seven years Dr. W. A. Williams has been ministering to the sick and ailing in the section contiguous to Hume, Missouri. He is one of the best-known professional men of the county and for many years has been an active and prominent figure in the political history of Bates county. He is one of the real leaders of the Missouri Democracy, and Doctor Williams enjoys a wide and favorable acquaintance among the people of this section of his native state, for he was born in Missouri, a son of one of the early pioneers of Missouri. John H. Williams, his father, was born in North Carolina, April 1, 1820, a son of Absalom Williams, who emigrated to Missouri in the fall of 1845 and settled in Pettis county, where he resided until his death in April, 1867. John H. Williams was reared to young manhood in Pettis county and was married in Johnson county to Miss Arabella C. Gilliam on June 6, 1851. They were the parents of nine children, four living, of whom the subject of this review is the eldest, the others being: Joseph P., residing in Hume, Missouri; Mrs. S. H. Thomson, Kansas City; Mrs. R. F. Collins, Enid, Oklahoma. The mother of these children was born at Boone's Lick, Howard county, Missouri, January 25, 1832, a daughter of William Gilliam, who located in Howard county in 1831, and moved to Johnson county, Missouri, in 1840. Mrs. Williams is now living in Hume. John H. Williams started for Illinois during the Civil War time but abandoned his intention of locating in that state. When peace was declared, he located at Dresden, Pettis county, where he became a merchant and livestock dealer. During his younger years he taught school and followed the profession of civil engineer. Afterward, he moved to a farm on the Blackwater in Pettis county. For sixty-seven years he was a constant sufferer from asthma, an affliction which prevented him from attaining the maximum of success which was his just due. He removed to Hume, Missouri, in 1881 and resided there until his untimely death on May 5, 1889, his demise being caused by a fall which resulted in a fractured hip, death resulting soon afterward. Doctor Williams was reared and educated in Pettis county, receiving his classical education at Lake Forest Academy, after which he studied medicine for one year at the University of Missouri. Following his course at the Missouri University he entered the College of Physicians and Surgeons at Keokuk, Iowa, and graduated from this institution on February 14, 1877. He began the practice of his profession at Logwood, Pettis county, where he remained for two years. He then practiced for two years at Lamonte, Missouri, and in August, 1880, went to Silver Cliff, Colorado, remaining there for one year. In September, 1881, he made a permanent location in Hume, Bates county, and for the past thirty-seven years has successfully practiced his profession. Doctor Williams has kept abreast of the advances made in the science of his profession and rarely a month passes which does not find him in the hospitals of Kansas City, frequently visiting the city twice each month in the interest of his professional practice. Doctor Williams was married in 1905 to Miss Edna Z. Bacon, who was born in Vernon county, Missouri, and is proprietor of the Fashion Store at Hume. He is a member of the Bates County, Tri-County and the Missouri State Medical Societies. Doctor Williams is affiliated fraternally with the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks, No. 1026, Rich Hill, Missouri, and is prominently identified with the Knights of Pythias Lodge. He has served as Chancellor Commander of the Hume Lodge of Pythias since its organization with the exception of but a few years and has been a member of the Grand Lodge and representative from the Hume Lodge since 1893. He has attended the sessions of the Grand Lodge of Phythians in the state of Missouri for the past twenty-four years. For fourteen years he was supreme representative of the Ancient Order of United Workmen and is past master for the state of Missouri in this order, having filled practically every executive office in the order. He is also affiliated with the Woodmen of the World and the Degree of Honor. Politically, Doctor Williams is one of the most influential Democrats in this section of Missouri. For many years he has been active in the councils of his party and has assisted many of his friends to political preferment. For thirty years he has been identified with the party organization in Missouri and has never missed a county or state convention where he has been one of the guiding spirits. Having no desire for political or civic honors himself he has been interested in politics for pure love of the game and the excitement of taking part in a political contest.

WILLOUGHBY, Alexander
History of Cass & Bates Co, MO, 1883 - Howard Township, Bates Co, MO
ALEXANDER WILLOUGHBY, farmer, section 36, came originally from Jackson County, Missouri, where he was born January 31, 1835, being a son of James and Irena Willoughby, nee Brock. His father, a native of Virginia, born in 1775, was in the war of 1812. He went with his parents to Howard County, Missouri, in an early day, and was there married. His wife was born in 1799, in Kentucky. They had a family of fourteen children. Alexander accompanied the family to Platte County in 1847, and there his father died, and the following fall his mother with her children moved to Cass County, and settled near Harrisonville, on Camp Creek. He grew to manhood in this vicinity and in 1853, crossed the plains to California, and remained till 1856, when he returned to Missouri. Mr. W. was married July 10, 1858, to Miss Margaret A. Hollenback, who was born in Kendall County, Illinois, March 21, 1840. Her parents were Thomas and Susan (Darnell) Hollenback. In 1858, he settled near where he now resides, and in 1862, moved his family to Kansas and enlisted in Company A, Second Missouri Volunteer Cavalry of the Confederate army, serving in Missouri, Arkansas and Texas, under General Price. At the close of the war he returned to his farm. He built the first grocery house in Sprague, and Mrs. W. was the pioneer postmistress. Their family consists of five children living: Carrie, James, Dora, Dovie and Clark. They lost a son, Alexander. They are members of the Baptist Church.

WILSON, Alexander
History of Cass & Bates Co, MO, 1883 - New Home Township, Bates Co, MO
ALEXANDER WILSON, coal contractor, was born in Lanarkshire, Scotland, June 29, 1837. His parents were John and Jane (Diet) Wilson. His father was a coal miner, and when ten years of age Alexander began to assist his father in the mines, and his whole life has been devoted to this business. When twenty-one years old he commenced contracting, and for many years was sinking shafts, at times being required to go to a depth of five hundred feet. In 1870, he immigrated to America and worked for awhile in Maryland, and thence to Washington County, Illinois, and until July 4, 1876, was employed in the coal mines of Illinois, sometimes prospecting, again digging, and then contracting. Subsequently he located in Randolph County, Missouri, and took a contract north of Huntsville and also ran a grist mill in connection. In November, 1877, he went to Taylor County, Iowa, and purchasing a tract of land gave his attention to farming but nine months. In August 1880, he moved to Johnson County, Missouri, and for three months had charge of the Johnson County Coal Mining Company. In December 1880, he came to Rich Hill, and has since been at work in the mines here. In June 1882, he took his present contract of the Rich Hill Coal Mining Company, to sink Shaft No. 5. Mr. Wilson was married March 21, 1861, to Miss Isabella Wood. They have four children: John, Jane, Isabella and Frances Ann. They are connected with the United Presbyterian Church. He is a member of the I.O.O.F., and also of the Knights of Pythias fraternities.

WILSON, D. H.
History of Cass & Bates Co, MO, 1883 - Prairie Township, Bates Co, MO
MAJOR D. H. WILSON, merchant and dealer in hardware at Papinville, was born October 25, 1828, in New Boston, Hillsborough County, New Hampshire. His father, Samuel Wilson, was a native of the same town, and his mother, formerly Sally Hadley, came originally from Goffstown, that state. The former was quite an extensive farmer for his day and the locality in which he resided. D. H. Wilson received the principal part of his education at Sanborn Bridge High School. When seventeen years of age he went to Massachusetts and apprenticed himself to learn the mason's trade, to which he applied himself for five years. Upon arriving at manhood and determined to seek his own fortune, he came westward and settled in Brown County, Illinois, which was his home for eighteen years. In October 1861, he entered Company K, Tenth Illinois Cavalry, as a private, and on reorganization of the company he was elected first lieutenant, which rank he held until 1862, when he was detached as quartermaster. In 1863 he was promoted to captain, and served in that capacity until the re-enlistment of the regiment, when he was elected major. In 1865 he was honorably discharged. In 1867 Major W. was appointed internal revenue collector and disbursing agent of the Ninth Congressional District of Illinois, but only served four months, the senate, which was Republican, failing to confirm him, a Democrat. In March 1868, he came to Bates County, Missouri, and established himself in the merchandise business, in which he is now having a good trade. He is also connected with the firm of Sanderson & Wilson, dealers in hardware at Rich Hill and Papinville. September 22, 1870, he married Miss S. W. Moss, of New Hampshire, a most estimable lady, and one possessing the true characteristics of New Englanders and the generous hospitality of the Southerners. They have one child, Ellen Maud, nine years of age. Major Wilson and his wife are members of the M. E. Church. He has been connected with the Masonic order since 1863. His trade has been very satisfactory since his location here and is constantly on the increase.

WILSON, E. C.
History of Bates County, Missouri, W. O. Atkeson, 1918
E. C. WILSON, the well-known cashier of the Farmers Bank of Rockville, Missouri, is one of Bates county's prominent financiers. Mr. Wilson was born July 31, 1891, at Clinton in Henry county, Missouri, a son of Mr. and Mrs. C. B. Wilson, who settled in Henry county forty years ago and are now residents of Clinton, Missouri. To Mr. and Mrs. C. B. Wilson have been born the following children: Frank, of Clinton, Missouri; C.D., of Clinton, Missouri; W. A., of Parsons, Kansas; Jessie, an only daughter at home with her parents; and E. C., the subject of this review. In the city schools of Clinton, Missouri, E. C. Wilson received his elementary education, which was afterward supplemented by a thorough business course at Colt's Business College. After completing his school work, Mr. Wilson was engaged in railroad work until he entered the Farmers Bank of Rockville, Missouri, as cashier in 1916, succeeding J. R. Wyatt, who has succeeded L. Wyatt, the cashier at the time of the organization of the institution. The Farmers Bank has doubled its business during the past year and much of its marked and splendid success has been and now is undoubtedly due to the energetic efforts of its capable cashier, who has mastered well the intricate problem of finance. The marriage of E. C. Wilson and Mayme L. Griffith, a daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Wesley Griffith, of Clinton, Missouri, was solemnized May 19, 1916. Mr. and Mrs. Wilson are very popular with the young people of Rockville and they moved in the best social circles of Bates county. Mr. Wilson is held in the highest respect by the leading business men of the county, who know him to be a young man of ability and exceptionally keen discernment and business judgment. The Farmers Bank of Rockville, Missouri, was organized July 10, 1913, with a capital stock of ten thousand dollars. The present capital stock of the bank is ten thousand dollars, the surplus fund and undivided profits fifteen hundred dollars, and the deposits, at the time of this writing in 1918, more than sixty-six thousand dollars. The officials of the Farmers Bank of Rockville are, as follow: J. N. McDavitt, president; August Fischer, vice-president; E. C. Wilson, cashier; and John T. Mock, Gates Merryfield, M. G. Wilson, C.L. Roberts, and T. W. Gray, directors. This bank is one of the sound financial institutions of Bates county, Missouri.

WILSON, Reuben C.
History of Cass & Bates Co, MO, 1883 - Pleasant Gap Township, Bates Co, MO
REUBEN C. WILSON, farmer and stock dealer, is a native of Kentucky, and was born in Montgomery County October 28, 1824. His father, Joseph Wilson, was born in Virginia, as was also his mother, whose maiden name was Ann Hopwood, the latter near Fairfax. Joseph Wilson served in the war of 1812. He early moved to Kentucky with his parents, who were among the pioneers of the state. The youthful days of Reuben C. were spent in Kentucky on the farm. He went to Illinois in 1856 and located in Sangamon County, and was engaged in working on a farm with the Hamilton Brothers. In 1858 he entered into partnership with these brothers, who were among the largest farmers, land owners and stock dealers of the state, and continued with them for a number of years. He resided in Sangamon County until 1868, when he moved to Missouri in the spring of that year, purchasing land in Bates County, now a part of his present farm. Mr. Wilson has about 1,000 acres, with nearly 900 acres under fence. His home place consists of 200 acres in section 4, well improved, with a large residence, a good barn and convenient out buildings. There is an orchard of forty acres with some select varieties of fruits, a vineyard of 450 grape vines and a variety of small fruits on the place. Mr. W. was married in Bath County, Kentucky, December 16, 1847, to Miss Mariam Piersall, who died in Illinois in May 1865, leaving five children: Franklin P., Charles T., Anna E. (now Mrs. Riley Burcham), George H. and James T. He was again married in Illinois, February 16, 1867, to Miss Mary Cassity, a daughter of G. W. Cassity. She is also a native of Kentucky. There are four children by this marriage: Oliver P., Everett, Emma and Lou. Mr. W. and his wife were formerly members of the Christian Church.

WILSON, W. M.
History of Cass & Bates Co, MO, 1883 - Mound Township, Bates Co, MO
W. M. WILSON, a prominent farmer and stock raiser of Bates County, was born in Greene County, Ohio, on the 28th day of February, 1854. His father, Joseph E. Wilson, was born in Maryland, but was principally reared in Virginia. He afterwards moved to Ohio. The maiden name of his mother was Delia P. Marshall. W. M. spent his boyhood days on a farm and received his education at Antioch College and the Ohio State University, from which institution he was graduated in 1876. He remained in his native state until 1879, when he came to Bates County, Missouri, and since that time has been engaged in handling and feeding stock, with a good degree of success. Mr. Wilson was married, November 21, 1877, to Miss Mary A. Woodard, a native of Crawford County, Pennsylvania. Their family consists of two children: Mary and Minnie L.

WISE, James M. & Henry G.
History of Cass & Bates Co, MO, 1883 - Osage Township, Bates Co, MO
JAMES M. AND HENRY G. WISE, comprising the firm of J. M. Wise & Co., grocers and commission merchants, are natives of Vermillion County, Indiana, Henry G. having been born December 8, 1846, and James M., May 25, 1849. They remained at their birth place till 1867, when they removed to Miami County, Kansas, residing there for one year. Going to Cherokee County, Kansas, they were together engaged in the mercantile business at Baxter Springs till 1872, in which year they went to Joplin, Missouri, continuing to live in that city till 1877, and they are still interested in business at that point. They subsequently visited Leadville, Colorado, and were occupied in trade for two years, and the following year they resided at Lake City, Colorado. They then returned to Joplin, Missouri. Henry G. soon came to Rich Hill and embarked in the hide and tallow business, and after six months' time James M. joined his brother here, and they then established their present business. Henry G. Wise was married, July 1, 1874, to Miss Helenia Wescott, a native of Michigan.

WISEMAN, F. J. & MAGILL, Guilford M.
History of Cass & Bates Co, MO, 1883 - Osage Township, Bates Co, MO
WISEMAN & MAGILL, editors of the Western Enterprise, established their paper, in September 1881. F. J. Wiseman is a native of Fayette County, West Virginia, and was born February 28, 1852. He was reared on a farm in his native state, and in 1879, went to Leadville, Colorado, and after being engaged in different occupations for one year, he returned east to Louisburg, Kansas. There he was occupied in publishing the Border Watchman, in connection with a Mr. Trickell. After remaining at this place five months, he came to Rich Hill, and in September 1881, in company with G. M. Magill, established the Enterprise. They have a circulation of about 1,000, and their paper is the official organ of the city, and one ably edited and deserving a wide circulation. Mr. W. is a member of the Masonic fraternity. Guilford M. Magill, originally from Georgia, moved to Miami County, Kansas, when five years of age. He there grew up and was educated, and in 1881 he came with his partner to Rich Hill, Missouri.

WITMORE, Ira
History of Bates County, Missouri, W. O. Atkeson, 1918
REVEREND IRA WITMORE, the well-known and competent manager of the Farmers Lumber Company of Adrian, Missouri, an honored bishop of the Church of the Brethren, one of Bates county's most progressive and prosperous citizens, is a native of Ohio. Reverend Witmore was born in 1868, a son of Jacob and Amanda Witmore. For three generations, the Witmores have been ministers in the Church of the Brethren. Jonathan, the father of Jacob, Jacob the father of Ira, and Ira Witmore, who traces his lineage back to a prominent and highly respected colonial family of Pennsylvania. In the state of Ohio, Reverend Ira Witmore was reared and educated. He came to Missouri in 1881 and settled in Bates county in 1893 on a splendid farm, of eighty acres of land, located one mile from Adrian, for which place he paid twenty-five dollars an acre. Reverend Witmore was recently offered one hundred dollars an acre for his farm, which is not for sale. His home is one of the most beautiful country places in this part of the state. He but lately disposed of his stock interests, in order that he might give his entire attention to the work of the Farmers Lumber Company, of which he is manager. As a minister of the Gospel, Reverend Witmore is many times called upon to perform marriage ceremonies and funeral rites. The marriage of Reverend Ira Witmore and Hannah Blocher, a daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Jacob Blocher, who came to Illinois from Pennsylvania, in the early days of the settlement of that state, and thence to Missouri, was solemnized in 1892. To this union have been born four children: Merle, Irma, Gertrude and Naomi, all of whom reside at home with their parents. Reverend and Mrs. Witmore are highly esteemed in Adrian, where the Witmore family is numbered among the best families. The Farmers Lumber Company of Adrian, Missouri was organized in 1903 at Adrian, Missouri with a capital stock of ten thousand dollars, consisting of four hundred shares. The company has long been self-sustaining and has prospered from the very beginning. The Farmers Lumber Company of Adrian has annually paid a dividend of from five to ten per cent, and stock in the company is at the present time selling for sixty dollars a share, which sold originally for twenty-five dollars. The officers of the company, at the time of this writing in 1918 are, as follow: E. H. Wyatt, president; W. H. Wagner, vice-president; L. R. Allen, secretary; Ira Witmore, manager; E. H. Wyatt, L. R. Allen, D. F. Andes, W. H. Wagner, H. Baie, directors; D. W. Six and J. P. Reeder, clerks. This company financed the building of the Adrian Cheese Factory, which is proving to be a most profitable investment. Reverend Witmore was elected manager of the company in 1908 and for three years prior to that he had been a clerk of the company. The Farmers Lumber Company handle all kinds of building material, including lumber, doors, cement, paint, and builders' hardware, all of which have greatly advanced in price during the past ten years. The company had, at the time of this writing in 1918, a carload of yellow pine coming from Louisiana, which is costing eleven hundred fifty-two dollars and twenty-four cents. S. H. Ray was the first business manager of the Farmers Lumber Company of Adrian and under his capable management a surplus fund of two thousand eight hundred eighty-four dollars and eighty-two cents was accumulated. Since Mr. Witmore has assumed the management, this fund has been increased to ten thousand one hundred dollars, an increase which certainly reflects great credit upon the efficient business management of the company. Reverend Witmore has also increased the capacity of the company's building and it now owns two large plants. He relates many interesting and amusing experiences which he has had as manager of a new company beginning to make itself felt in competition with older firms. The prosperity of the Farmers Lumber Company is sufficient proof of its phenomenal success.

WIX, Abner
History of Cass & Bates Co, MO, 1883 - Hudson Township, Bates Co, MO
ABNER WIX, the subject of this sketch, was born in Overton County, Tennessee, October 28, 1828. Reuben Wix, his father, was a native of New York or Pennsylvania, while his mother, whose maiden name was Jane Smith, came originally from South Carolina. Abner accompanied his parents to Illinois when a child, and first located in Hamilton County, afterward in Wayne County, and then, in 1835, in Fulton County. He spent his youth as a farmer boy, and received a common school education. He was married in Fulton County, in March 1851, to Mrs. Susan Berry, a daughter of George Cooper. She is a native of Ohio, and was born, raised and educated in Holmes County. When eighteen years old Mr. Wix learned the blacksmith trade, and had charge of the machinery for a flouring and saw mill for four years. After his marriage he was engaged in farming for about twelve years, and in the fall of 1865, he moved to Woodford County, Illinois, and tilled the soil there four years. In the fall of 1869, he located in Bates County, Missouri, where he bought land. He has a farm of 170 acres, all in cultivation and pasture, with forty-five acres in tame meadow and fifty acres in timber, and seeded with grass. His orchard contains 300 apple and 100 peach trees, also pear, cherry and small fruits. This place is in section 2. He has some good graded cotswold sheep and Poland China hogs. Mr. and Mrs. Wix are the parents of three children: Caroline (now Mrs. E. F. Henry), Joseph and Alice Jane (now Mrs. V. M. Phillips, of Nevada). Mrs. W. is a member of the United Brethren Church.

WIX, Abner L.
History of Bates County, Missouri, W. O. Atkeson, 1918
ABNER L. WIX, of Pleasant Gap township, is a native son of Bates county. He was born in Pleasant Gap township, June 18, 1855, a son of Joseph and Sarah (Beatty) Wix, the former a native of Overton county, Tennessee, and the latter, of Kentucky. Joseph Wix, the father, was a very early settler in this section of Missouri. He was born June 15, 1820. He located in what is now Pleasant Gap township, in 1836, and spent the remainder of his life here, engaged in farming and stock raising, except during the period of the Civil War. He was a Union man and went to Kansas at that time and lived in Jefferson county. He served in the State Militia during the early part of the war and was severely injured at the Clear Creek fight by his horse falling, so that he was unfit for military service after that. One of his sons, John, was killed during the war. The Wix home was devastated during the war. At the close of the war, the family returned to Pleasant Gap township, rebuilt their home, and improved the place, and here the parents spent the remainder of their lives. Joseph Wix was married three times. A. L. Wix, the subject of this sketch, was one of the children born of his father's first marriage. The others were, as follow: Sarah E., deceased; John, who was killed during the Civil War; Perry, deceased; Clark, who lives in Deepwater township; Thomas H., Yates Center, Kansas; and Rev. Lewis L., Deepwater township. For further particulars regarding the life of Joseph Wix, the reader is referred to the biography of Clark Wix. A. L. Wix spent his boyhood days in Pleasant Gap township and there attended the public schools. He has been engaged principally in farming and stock raising, with the exception of ten years, when he was engaged in the mercantile business in Appleton and Filley, Missouri. Mr. Wix has traveled extensively and during the course of his trips has covered twenty-eight states. He was first married May 31, 1880, to Miss Elizabeth Ellis, a native of Indiana. Three children were born to this union, one of whom is living: John A., who resides in Bates county. A few years after the death of his first wife, Mr. Wix was united in marriage with Miss Clementine Wilems, a native of Texas, and to this union have been born six girls, as follow: Mary, married John W. Farrell, Pleasant Gap township; Annie; Rose Lee, married Claude Baker, Pleasant Gap township; Nellie, married Arthur Baker, Pleasant Gap township; Lena and Sallie. Mr. Wix has a valuable farm of eighty acres in Pleasant Gap township, where he is successfully engaged in general farming and stock raising. He raises registered Poland China hogs, and has the best strain of that breed in the country. He is also a breeder of registered Jersey cattle. Although Mr. Wix is comparatively a young man he has seen many changes in the course of a half century's development of Bates county. He remembers seeing deer by the herd in this vicinity and has killed game, such as wild turkeys and prairie chickens.

WIX, B. M.
History of Bates County, Missouri, W. O. Atkeson, 1918
B. M. WIX, the progressive merchant and postmaster of Pleasant Gap, was born in 1880, in the state of Washington, the son of the late Joseph and Rosa (Deweese) Wix, who were pioneer settlers of Bates county, the former coming to this county in 1839, and becoming prominently identified with the early and creative period of the county's history. A biographical sketch of Joseph Wix appears elsewhere in this volume in connection with the biography of Clark Wix. B. M. Wix was practically reared in Bates county, his father and mother returning from Washington to this county in 1881. He attended the district schools and the Appleton City Academy, and taught school for a period of six years, one year of which was spent in Washington, where he went in 1912. He was the first city mail carrier appointed for the city of Butler. In May of 1913 he purchased the stock of goods and building owned by Judge R. B. Camp, who had been engaged in the mercantile business in Pleasant Gap since 1883. The store building owned by Mr. Wix was erected by the contractors, Burk & Talmage and the lumber hauled from Pleasant Hill, Missouri. The business growth of the Wix establishment has been so great during the past five years that Mr. Wix has found it necessary to find larger quarters. In consequence he has set about the erecting of a large concrete store building, 30 x 60 feet in size, of two stories, the lower floor of which will be used for store purposes and the upper floor which will be a hall room, will serve as the headquarters of the Pleasant Gap Boosters' Club. Mr. Wix hauls his goods retailed from his store from Appleton City, a distance of nine and a half miles. The Wix store carries a general stock of groceries, dry goods, and clothing, hardware, etc. and a trading depot for the convenience of the farmers of this section is conducted whereby Mr. Wix handles the produce produced upon the farms in the vicinity of Pleasant Gap. He does a large annual business in this manner, and his wagons which haul the store goods from Appleton City, usually go loaded with farm produce for shipment from Appleton City. Mr. Wix was married in 1905 to Lillian G. Casperson, a daughter of James and Alice Casperson. They have no children. Mr. Wix was reared on a farm and he has never lost his love for the soil. He is owner of a fine one hundred forty acre farm located one and a half miles north of Pleasant Gap which he oversees. He is postmaster of Pleasant Gap and is one of the live wires of this hustling community whose farmers around about are banded together in a Pleasant Gap Boosters' Club which is organized on lines similar to a city commercial club. The region around Pleasant Gap is one of the richest and most progressive sections of western Missouri and the building of the large hall in connection with the Wix store is the work of the Boosters' Club, which will dedicate the building for use as a community hall for the entire neighborhood. It is such movements as these which band the farmers together and make for better homes and more progress and prosperity in the agricultural districts. The Pleasant Gap Boosters' Club was organized in 1915 and the club has held three successful fairs or agricultural and livestock exhibits since its organization and done more to create a spirit of cooperation and emulation and make for better farming than any one agency ever introduced into this section.

WIX, Clark
History of Bates County, Missouri, W. O. Atkeson, 1918
CLARK WIX, the widely known justice of the peace of Deepwater township, ex-judge of the county court of Bates county, Missouri, ex-deputy internal revenue collector of Missouri, and ex-postmaster of Butler, Missouri, proprietor of "Walnut Grove Stock Farm" in Hudson and Deepwater townships, is an honorable representative of one of the prominent pioneer families of western Missouri. Mr. Wix was born February 5, 1850, on his father's farm in Pleasant Gap township, Bates county, Missouri, a son of Joseph and Sarah (Beatty) Wix, the former, a native of Tennessee and the latter, of Kentucky. Joseph Wix was born in Overton county, Tennessee, on June 15, 1820. In 1835, the Wix family left Tennessee and settled on a tract of land in Fulton county, Illinois, a farm located near Fulton. One year later, Joseph Wix left the homestead in Illinois to try his fortune in the West, as Horace Greeley aptly said, "to grow up with the country," and in 1836 came to Bates county, Missouri, with a cattleman, who brought stock of Polk county in this state, helping him drive the cattle. At Bolivar, Missouri, they encountered the surveyors returning from old Papinsville, who told Mr. Wix that the country from which they came was as fine land as they had ever carried a chain over and for him that was sufficient recommendation. Joseph Wix parted with his friend, the cattleman from Illinois, and set out for Papinsville. On his arrival in Bates county, he found that the Indians of this part of the state were celebrating with a drunken jubilee, and -- knowing from experience the savage characteristics of an intoxicated red man -- Mr. Wix became alarmed about his own safety and started to go on farther north, when, a few miles out from the site of Papinsville and just north of the site of Pleasant Gap, he saw a horse coming which he recognized as belonging to an old friend and neighbor, an Illinois man, and he inquired of the boy-driver to whom the animal belonged. The lad replied that the horse was owned by "Dick" Elliott, a settler from Illinois. Mr. Wix's surmise was proven correct. Mr. Elliott assisted the newcomer in locating and he settled on the farm, where he made his home the remainder of his life in Bates county, on the place now owned by his son, Seth Wix. Joseph Wix was one of the first settlers of this county and of the township, in which his farm lay, one of the first merchants. There was a small store at Pleasant Gap at the time of his settling in Missouri and he opened one at his country home and for it hauled his merchandise from Boonville, Cooper county, Missouri, employing yokes of oxen, traveling by way of Dayton and Boonville. Mr. Wix was one of the leading men of affairs in western Missouri, a man of much intelligence and skill, an exceptionally capable workman in those days before the cry for specialization and in 1841 and 1842 his abilities were recognized as far as Fort Scott, Kansas, where he was called to assist in roofing the fort. He served his township, Pleasant Gap, for twenty years as justice of the peace, he was judge of the Bates county court from 1861 until 1863 and again from 1866 until 1869, and he was a member of the Missouri State Militia in Capt. John B. Newberry's company. For three years, during the Civil War, Squire Wix and his family resided in Jefferson county, Kansas. They returned to their home in April, 1865, to find all the buildings on the farm had been burned, the fences destroyed, and their stock gone. It was not a pleasant scene or a happy outlook for the future, but Joseph Wix was a true, brave, undaunted pioneer and he nobly set to work to begin life anew. To Joseph and Sarah (Beatty) Wix were born the following children: Sarah Elizabeth, deceased; John D., who was accidentally killed while serving with the Missouri State Militia during the Civil War; Perry, who died about 1855; Clark, the subject of this review; Thomas H., Yates Center, Woodson county, Kansas; A. L., Butler, Missouri; and Rev. Lewis L., a well-known minister and successful farmer of Deepwater township, a sketch of whom appears elsewhere in this volume. The mother died May 8, 1857, when her youngest born was a babe three days old. Interment was made in Deweese cemetery in Bates county. Sarah (Beatty) Wix was a daughter of Robert Beatty, a native of Kentucky, who located in Saline county, Missouri, in the earliest days of the history of Missouri and from Saline county came to Bates county. Mr. Beatty died in 1853 and his remains were laid to rest in Smith cemetery in Bates county. Mrs. Wix was one of the bravest of Bates county's pioneer women. Joseph Wix remarried, his second wife being Mrs. Eliza A. Cox, and to this union were born two children: Joseph F., who resides on the home place in Pleasant Gap township; and Mrs. Fannie A. Pherrington, of Eureka Springs, Arkansas. By a third marriage, Joseph Wix and Rosanna Deweese were the parents of four children, who are now living: Benjamin F., who is engaged in the teaching profession and at present is employed in teaching the Cumpton school; B. M., the merchant and postmaster of Pleasant Gap, Missouri; Seth, who is engaged in farming on the home place in Pleasant Gap township; and Mrs. Minnie Ballweg, of Pleasant Gap township. Joseph Wix died February 26, 1895, at the Wix homestead. He was seventy-five years of age and, with the exception of three years residence in Kansas during the Civil War, the greater part of his life after attaining maturity was spent within the geographic limits of Bates county, Missouri. His career was a busy and useful one and a striking example of honorable dealings, steadfastness of purpose, and invincible courage that is well worthy of emulation by the young man obliged to rely upon his own resources for a start upon the rugged highway which leads to success. Interment was made in Myers cemetery in Hudson township, Bates county. Clark Wix obtained his elementary education in the "subscription schools" and the public schools of Bates county. When he was twenty-one years of age, he began life independently engaged in the pursuits of agriculture and stock raising. He farmed on the home place for three years and then purchased a part of his present farm in Deepwater township. C. E. Sharp entered from the government that part of "Walnut Grove Stock Farm" upon which the Wix residence is located and 240 acres of the farm were entered by B. Reed, a speculator from Tuscarawas county, Ohio. Ninety acres were entered by Mr. Dinsmore, of Ohio. "Walnut Grove Stock Farm," so-called from the grove of walnut trees planted on the place by Mr. Wix, comprises seven hundred sixty-five acres of choice land in Deepwater and Hudson townships. Mr. Wix has himself improved the farm, adding a handsome residence, a house of eight rooms, in 1887; a new barn, 60 x 60 feet in dimensions, constructed of native timber sawed on the farm, which is probably the largest, best-built, most substantial barn in Bates county; a second barn, 24 x 30 feet in dimensions, with two twelve-foot sheds attached; a stock barn, 24 x 50 feet in dimensions; and numerous other farm buildings needed in the efficient handling of large herds of stock. There are three different sets of improvements on "Walnut Grove Stock Farm." Mr. Wix has on the farm, at the time of this writing in 1918, from twenty-five to thirty head of horses and mules, perhaps seventy-five head of cattle, and twenty-five head of sheep. He raises only high grade Hereford cattle, the head of the herd being registered, and Duroc Jersey hogs. He is the owner of a splendid registered jack, also. Three hundred acres of "Walnut Grove Stock Farm" are in bluegrass and pasture land. The marriage of Clark Wix and Caroline E. Brown was solemnized February 26, 1871. Caroline E. (Brown) Wix is a daughter of John W. and Elizabeth (White) Brown and a native of Champaign county, Ohio. Mrs. Wix's parents came to Missouri in 1866 and settled in Bates county on a farm in Hudson township and they are both now deceased. John W. Brown was an elder of the Methodist church for forty years and the leader of the movement which resulted in the building of Brown's Chapel in Hudson township, a church named in honor of the founder. He was the father of nine children, two daughters being the sole survivors of the entire family, namely: Mrs. Clark Wix, the wife of the subject of this review; and Mrs. George W. Pharis, of Hudson township. Mr. Brown died in 1900 at the age of eighty-six years. The remains of both the mother and father lie interred in Myers cemetery in Bates county. To Clark and Caroline E. (Brown) Wix have been born nine children: Ida May, deceased; Nellie F., the wife of Charles Burge, of Long Beach, California; Bessie, deceased; Levi, deceased; Sarah E., the wife of Charles R. Holloway, a professor in the Portland high school, Portland, Oregon; Mrs. Albert Cox, Long Beach, California; John E., Salt Lake City, Utah; Joseph Hilton, recently married and living on the home farm; and one child died in infancy. For many years, Clark Wix has been a citizen of distinctive prestige in Bates county. He has held several different offices of public honor and trust and he has invariably proven himself to be a capable and trustworthy official. He has filled the office of justice of the peace in Deepwater township for many years, thus following in the footsteps of his honored father, has served as judge of the county court from 1886 until 1889, was deputy internal revenue collector of Missouri for five years, during the administration of McKinley and Roosevelt, and for four years was the efficient postmaster of Butler, Missouri. Mr. Wix is one of Bates county's most prominent and influential citizens, a man of many excellent qualities, a citizen of marked ability, a worthy son of one of Missouri's noblest pioneers. Judge Wix is a stockholder and director of the Missouri State Bank and the Walton Trust Company.

WIX, Clark
History of Cass & Bates Co, MO, 1883 - Deepwater Township, Bates Co, MO
CLARK WIX, the subject of this sketch, was born in Bates County, Missouri, February 5, 1850. His father, Judge Joseph Wix, is a native of Tennessee. He moved with his parents to Illinois when quite a small boy, and located in Fulton County. When eighteen years old he came to Missouri, and for a short time lived in Polk County, after which he moved to Bates. Here he was married to Miss Sarah E. Beatty, a Kentuckian by birth, and after his marriage he settled on a farm in this county, where he is one of the prominent men. Clark Wix spent his youth on his father's farm and received a good common school education. He was married in the county of his birth, February 21, 1871, to Miss Caroline E. Brown, a daughter of John W. Brown, of Bates County. She was born in Champaign County, Ohio. Mr. Wix afterwards farmed for three years on his father's estate, and then bought the land and improved his present farm in section 32. He has 320 acres, 180 under fence and 1 00 acres in cultivation, with a fair house, barn and outbuildings, and a bearing orchard. He is Republican in politics, and was appointed notary public in 1879, and was the postmaster of Lahai Post Office until it was discontinued in September 1882. In the spring of 1881, he was nominated and elected a justice of the peace of his township. Mr. and Mrs. W. have three children: Nellie F., born June 10, 1874; Levi, born December 20, 1879, and Sarah, born September 22, 1882.

WIX, Joseph F.
History of Bates County, Missouri, W. O. Atkeson, 1918
JOSEPH F. WIX, prosperous and enterprising farmer and stockman of Pleasant Gap township, is a native son of Bates county and a member of one of the oldest and most prominent of the pioneer families of this section of Missouri. His father was Joseph Wix, who settled in Bates county as early as 1839. His mother was Eliza Malcomb Wix, also of Missouri pioneer lineage. A complete biography of Joseph Wix, pioneer, appears elsewhere in this volume in connection with the biography of Clark Wix, brother of Joseph F. Wix. Joseph F. Wix was born in Pleasant Gap township in 1862 and has lived all of his life in Bates county, having practically grown up with Bates county, and progressed with the county from a wilderness of prairie and forest to the present time when the county ranks among the first among Missouri's greatest agricultural counties. His mother was the second wife of Joseph Wix, and he has a sister residing in Arkansas. Mr. Wix received his education in the Pleasant Gap public school, now called the Pleasant Ridge school. Mr. Wix went to Washington county with his parents and also lived for three years in Cedar county, Missouri. He resides upon a part of his father's old homestead, having become the owner of this place by the purchase of the various interests of the other heirs. His farm embraces two hundred and ten acres of rich land, which includes thirty acres of timber. All of the existing improvements on the place were erected under the supervision of Mr. Wix, his residence having been built in 1902, a good building of two stories and six rooms. His large barn measures 44 x 50 feet in dimensions, and he has a smaller barn 26 x 30 feet in size. The Wix farm is located two miles north and one-half mile east of the village of Pleasant Gap and is considered one of the best farms in a locality noted for its progressive farmers and excellent farmsteads. He raises Shorthorn cattle and handles mostly good grades of livestock, such as Poland China hogs and Rhode Island Red poultry. On December 19, 1886, Joseph F. Wix and Miss Louise E. Wielms were united in marriage. To this marriage have been born children as follow: Grace, wife of H. L. Padley, Pleasant Gap township; Fannie, wife of E. E. Morilla, Pleasant Gap township; Cora, Tillie, and Emma J., at home with their parents, the latter attending the Butler High School. Mrs. Louise E. Wix is a daughter of John and Barbara Wielms, the former of whom emigrated from his native land of Belgium in 1855. Mrs. Wielms was born in Switzerland and left her native land and came to America with her parents in about 1855. John and Barbara Wielms were married in Texas and came to Vernon county, Missouri in 1866. Mr. Wielms died in Vernon county, and Mrs. Wielms now resides at Virgil City, Missouri. Mr. Wix is one of the leaders of the civic life of Pleasant Gap and has served as a member of the township board. The Wix family are prominent in their home township and are progressively inclined, taking an active part in social activities and ever ready to do their part in advancing the interests of their home community and county.

WIX, Lewis L.
History of Bates County, Missouri, W. O. Atkeson, 1918
ELDER LEWIS L. WIX, proprietor of "Lone Elm Farm" in Deepwater township, a well-known and highly respected minister of the Church of Christ of Bates county, is a member of one of the sterling pioneer families of Missouri. Mr. Wix is a native of Bates county. He was born May 5, 1857 at the Wix homestead in Pleasant Gap township, the youngest son of Joseph and Sarah (Beatty) Wix, a sketch of whom appears in connection with the biography of Clark Wix, which will be found elsewhere in this volume. When Lewis L. Wix was a babe, three days of age, he was left motherless and dependent upon the care of his uncle and aunt, Joseph and Fannie Beatty, who reared him to maturity. Joseph Beatty came to Bates county in his boyhood days with his father, Robert Beatty, who had moved from Kentucky to Saline county, Missouri and thence to Bates county in the early thirties. Robert Beatty died in Bates county in 1853 and interment was made in Smith cemetery on the Beatty home place. Joseph Beatty entered a tract of land in Bates county, a farm comprising three hundred twenty acres, of which two hundred forty acres now form the country place owned by Rev. Lewis L. Wix. On this farm in Deepwater township he was reared, here was spent his happy childhood days, this is the only home he has ever known and around it are woven myriads of fond recollections. There are four hills on "Lone Elm Farm" and Reverend Wix has at different times resided on each one of them. Joseph Beatty died December 9, 1876 and interment was made in White cemetery in Deepwater township. Fannie Beatty was a native of Ohio, a daughter of Joseph and Julietta (Corbin) Beaver, and she came to Bates county when she was a girl, nine years of age. Joseph Beaver was an early-day pioneer preacher of the Christian Church. He died in Texas in 1875, to which state he had gone on missionary work. Mrs. Joseph Beatty died April 4, 1913. She was one of the noblest pioneer women, who ever came to this part of Missouri. Lewis L. Wix attended the country schools of Bates county and, by applying himself assiduously to his studies in his youth and by close observation, extensive reading, and concentration in his mature years, he has acquired a fund of knowledge the average college graduate might well strive to attain. The pioneer homes of Missouri were not supplied with the multitude of conveniences now found in even the humblest rural homes in Bates county. Such a thing as electric lights were unheard of by the wildest dreamer, lamps had not yet come into use, and few homes were supplied with candles, although they were used extensively in some parts of the United States. The light from the large, open fireplace was usually all the light needed, but when it was necessary a sort of lamp was made by saturating a twisted rag in melted lard and placing it in a dish. Many and many a night, young Lewis L. Wix mastered his lessons for school the next day studying by such a lamp. Reverend Wix was ordained a minister of the Church of Christ thirty years ago and he has been engaged in ministerial work in this state and in Texas ever since. In the early days, he traveled on horseback or in a "prairie schooner" on his evangelical tours throughout the country. Reverend Wix has made two trips across the plains. He made the first trip on a mule in 1874 and the second at a later date in a "prairie schooner." The marriage of Elder Lewis L. Wix and Emma Hall was solemnized in August, 1876. Emma (Hall) Wix is a daughter of William and Martha Hall, who came to Bates county from Moniteau county in the days prior to the Civil War. William Hall was a veteran of the Union army in the Civil War, having served four years. Both he and Mrs. Hall died in Washington county, Arkansas many years ago. To Rev. Lewis L. and Emma (Hall) Wix have been born eight children: Lillie, the wife of Richard Johnson, of Great Falls, Cascade county, Montana; Rosa, the wife of Lewis G. Wix, a well-to-do farm of Hudson township, Bates county; Joseph W., who resides in Montana; Salley E., the wife of D. G. Smith, of Lone Oak township, Bates county; Mary V., the wife of William F. Graves, and she is now deceased; Maud L., the wife of O. E. Job, of Sisters, Crook county, Oregon; Martha Stella, the wife of Howard W. Smith, of Lone Oak township, Bates county; and Lewis A., at home with his parents. Politically, Reverend Wix is affiliated with the Democratic party. He has never aspired to hold political office but has been content to confine his energies to the manifold duties of an evangelist and minister of the Church of Christ and the only office he has ever held has been an office in the church. He is successfully engaged in general farming and stock raising at "Lone Elm Farm," a beautiful country place located on Deepwater creek nine miles east of Butler, and among the progressive agriculturists of the county takes high rank. Reverend Wix is a gentleman of exceptional oratorical ability, remarkable memory, and countless excellent qualities. As a citizen, he is a man of honor, uprightness, and stern morality, a true leader of men.

WOLF, Fred
History of Bates County, Missouri, W. O. Atkeson, 1918
FRED WOLF, assessor of Mount Pleasant township, is a native of Ohio. He was born in Adams county and was there reared and educated. At the age of nineteen years, he came to Bates county, Missouri -- "a-foot and alone" -- and located at Pleasant Gap, where he was employed at any kind of work he could obtain in the summers and for two winters attended school. In 1892, Mr. Wolf purchased his first land, a tract of seventy-three acres, which he sold in the autumn of the same year and then bought a farm comprising eighty acres. Five years later, Mr. Wolf disposed of his second country place and in 1896 moved to Butler. In April, 1898, he resigned his position as clerk in a mercantile establishment at Butler and enlisted in the services of the United States in the Spanish-American War, enlisting at Butler. He was sent to Jefferson Barracks at St. Louis, then to Chickamauga Park and to Lexington, Kentucky, and thence to Albany, Georgia, where he was mustered out at the close of the conflict. At one time, Mr. Wolf was sent on a sick furlough to the City Hospital at St. Louis, and while he was recuperating in the soldier's ward it was being reported in Butler that he was dying and later that he was dead. When he returned home, Mr. Wolf had the most unusual experience of reading his own obituary in the Butler newspapers. Prior to leaving Butler, he was employed at the Hill Cash Store as clerk. Afterward, he was with the American Clothing House in the shoe department for one and a half years and with the Levy Mercantile Company for one year. He purchased his present home place of eighty acres of choice land located two miles west of Butler in Mount Pleasant township in 1910 and moved to it. In 1895 Fred Wolf and Stella Burch were united in marriage and to this union were born two children: Bernice Vivian, who is now a junior student in the Butler High School; and Ronald Wayne, at home. Mrs. Wolf died in 1906. A sister of Fred Wolf has charge of the household and is caring for the children. Mrs. Wolf was a daughter of Mr. and Mrs. James K. Burch, a prominent pioneer family of Bates county. James K. Burch came to this part of Missouri in 1844 and located on land eight miles south of Butler. While a resident of Pleasant Gap township, Fred Wolf was elected assessor and served capably two years. He is the present assessor of Mount Pleasant township. Mr. Wolf is a worker. His life has been one of untiring activity and has been crowned with the degree of success which is obtain by those only who devote themselves indefatigably to the work that lies before them. He is widely recognized in Bates county as a man of intelligent views, excellent judgment, and sterling moral worth.

WOLFE, C. W.
History of Cass & Bates Co, MO, 1883 - Charlotte Township, Bates Co, MO
C. W. WOLFE, farmer, section 20, was born in Athens County, Ohio, in 1842, and was a son of Jacob and Sarah (Bryson) Wolfe, the former originally of Athens County and the latter a native of Bedford County, Pennsylvania, but reared in Ohio. C. W. was brought up and educated in the county of his birth, and in 1861 he enlisted in the Twenty-second Regiment Ohio Volunteer Infantry, and served for some five months. Going to Dallas County, Iowa, he farmed and taught school until September 1864, when he enlisted in Company K, Iowa Volunteer Infantry. This time he served in Georgia, Mississippi, and with Sherman in his march to the sea, being mustered out at Louisville, Kentucky, July 24, and discharged at Davenport, Iowa, the August following. He then returned home. Mr. Wolfe had been married, July 10, 1862, to Miss Mary Young, a native of Athens County, Ohio, born in 1844, and a daughter of John and Mary (Higgins) Young. After his marriage Mr. W. located in Dallas County, Iowa, on a farm, remaining there until coming to Bates County, Missouri. In 1870 he settled in Homer Township and improved a farm of eighty acres, but upon selling out purchased his present estate, comprising 240 acres, well improved. He and his wife have five children: James J., David C, Julia E., Jacob Y. and Bertha.

WOLFE, Charles W.
History of Bates County, Missouri, W. O. Atkeson, 1918
CHARLES W. WOLFE, a retired farmer and stockman of Butler, Missouri, one of the honored Union veterans of the Civil War, is one of the leading citizens of Bates county. Mr. Wolfe is a native of Athens county, Ohio. He was born October 9, 1842, a son of Jacob and Sallie (Bryson) Wolfe, the father, a native of Ohio and the mother, of Bedford county, Pennsylvania. Jacob Wolfe was a son of George Wolfe, a native of Westmoreland county, Pennsylvania. Both parents of Charles W. Wolfe are now deceased and their remains lie interred in a cemetery in Athens county, Ohio. In the common schools of Athens county, Ohio, Charles W. Wolfe received his education. At the age of nineteen years, he enlisted in the Union army on April 22, 1861, and for five months served with Company A, Twenty-second Ohio Infantry, when taken ill with measles and honorably discharged. Mr. Wolfe reenlisted with the Fifteenth Iowa Infantry on September 26, 1864, and he was with Sherman on his famous march from Atlanta to the sea. Charles W. Wolfe was mustered out and received his final honorable discharge at Louisville, Kentucky and his pay at Davenport, Iowa. After the close of the Civil War, Mr. Wolfe returned to his home in Ohio, coming to Bates county, Missouri, in 1869, and locating on a farm in Charlotte township, in which township he has since owned several different country places. Later, he purchased a farm of one hundred forty-eight acres of land in Homer township and at the present time is the proprietor of a country place located near Old Virginia. Mr. Wolfe retired from the active pursuits of agriculture in 1910 and moved to his home in the city of Butler, a comfortable residence at 116 West Fort Scott street. The marriage of Charles W. Wolfe and Mary Young, a native of Athens county, Ohio, a daughter of John and Mary Ann (Higgins) Young, was solemnized in January, 1862. John Young was born in Ohio and Mrs. Young was born in West Virginia near Wheeling and both departed this life at the Young homestead in Athens county, Ohio. To Charles W. and Mary (Young) Wolfe have been born five children, four of whom are now living: James, a noted attorney of the state of Kansas, who practiced law with Senator Stone of Missouri and was admitted to the bar under him when located at Nevada, Missouri, a popular author whose book, "Why is a Bachelor?" has been widely read throughout the country, a recently appointed member of advisory draft board of Kansas, receiving his appointment from Governor Capper, and a talented lecturer who has traveled extensively on Chautauqua circuits; David C., who was a successful and prosperous farmer and stockman at the time of his death at the age of forty-nine years at Virginia, Missouri, and he has left a widow, Tella May (Parks) Wolfe, and several children; Julia Etta, the wife of W.F. McKibben, of Amsterdam, Missouri; Reverend J. J., a graduate of the Butler High School and a former teacher in the Bates county public schools, a recently ordained minister of the Methodist Episcopal church at present serving at Garden City, Missouri; and Bertha L., the widow of Andrew Simpson and the mother of two daughters: Mary Josephine, a graduate of the Butler High School in the class of 1915 and now a teacher in the public schools of Bates county, Missouri; and Lee Etta, a student in the Butler High School, Butler, Missouri. Mr. and Mrs. Wolfe have repeatedly opened their hearts and homes and welcomed other little ones for whom they have cared with the same solicitude bestowed upon their own children and they have reared, in addition to their own, three children, namely: Robert Tye Wolfe, a grandson, who is now with his father, Reverend J. J. Wolfe, at Garden City, Missouri, and is a student in Kansas City Business College; Maud Hockett, now the wife of Reverend Edward Skidmore, of Sugar City, Idaho; and Ivy Cathey, now the wife of Claude Kenion, of Amoret, Missouri. Mr. and Mrs. Wolfe are lovers of children and they are very proud of their fifteen grandchildren and three great-grandchildren. Mrs. Wolfe is a remarkable woman, a lady of boundless energy and deep and abiding human sympathy. Mr. Wolfe, at the age of seventy-six years, is still physically and mentally alert and as active as many men several years younger than he. He is a fluent and interesting conversationalist and justly proud of his splendid family of boys and girls.

WOLFE, Clinton R.
History of Cass & Bates Co, MO, 1883 - Osage Township, Bates Co, MO
CLINTON R. WOLFE was born in Montgomery County, Maryland, on the 10th day of March 1846. His father, Josiah Wolfe, was a native of Maryland, and by occupation a farmer. His mother's maiden name was Anna L. Bell. She was born in the District of Columbia. In 1861 the family of Josiah Wolfe removed to Missouri, and settled in Johnson County, near Warrensburg, where Clinton was reared to manhood, and engaged in agricultural pursuits until 1870. In 1872 he moved to Moniteau County, Missouri, and here gave his attention to the tobacco and grain business, until 1876. Coming to Bates County, he embarked in the drug trade at the old town of Rich Hill; in the fall of 1880 he moved his stock of goods to the new town, where he continued business till June 1882. Previous to his removal to this city he was elected a justice of the peace for Osage Township, and he has since continued to hold this position. He is also a notary public. In April 1881, Mr. W. was elected mayor of the city, and still discharges the duties of his office in a highly commendable manner. He married Miss Eva Perry, a native of Montgomery County, Maryland, and a most estimable lady. Their family consists of three children: Harry W., Anna B. and Alta.

WOLFE, David Clayton
History of Bates County, Missouri, W. O. Atkeson, 1918
DAVID CLAYTON WOLFE, a late prominent citizen of Charlotte township, an early settler of this county, was one of the most advanced and progressive farmers in this section of Missouri. Self-educated, a great reader, a religious worker, gifted mentally beyond the attainments of ordinary men, he was a visionary to the extent that he frequently advocated measures for the lasting benefit of the people, which measures were in advance of the thought of his time. To Mr. Wolfe belonged the credit of originating the system of road dragging which is now in use along the main highways of this county. He was the first man to drag the roads in the vicinity of his farm in Bates county and he started the campaign for road dragging and a better system of roads in Bates county, when the greater part of the citizenship was opposed to such a procedure. He was a stanch advocate of prohibition and had he lived to the present day would have been gratified at the steps and measures that have been taken to insure national prohibition in the United States. David Clayton Wolfe was born September 23, 1864, and died February 10, 1917. His place of birth was in Dallas county, Iowa, and he was a son of Charles W. and Mary Josephine (Young) Wolfe, natives of Ohio. Charles W. Wolfe, his father, was born in Athens county, Ohio, in 1842, a son of Jacob and Sarah (Brunson) Wolfe, the former a native of Athens county and the latter, a native of Bedford county, Pennsylvania, but reared in Ohio. C. W. Wolfe was reared and educated in the county of his birth, and in 1861 he enlisted in the Twenty-second Ohio Infantry, and served for five months. He then went to Dallas county, Iowa, and farmed and taught school until September, 1864, when he enlisted in Company "K", Iowa Volunteer Infantry. He saw active service in Georgia, Mississippi, and was with Sherman on his famous march to the sea. Mr. Wolfe was mustered out at Louisville, Kentucky, July 24, 1865, and discharged at Davenport, Iowa, in August, 1865. He then returned home. Mr. Wolfe was married July 10, 1862, to Mary Josephine Young, who was born in Athens county in 1844, daughter of John and Mary (Higgins) Young. In 1870, Mr. Wolfe came to Bates county and located in Homer township, where he resided for two years and then purchased a tract of two hundred forty acres in Charlotte township, which he improved. There were five children born to Charles W. and Mary Wolfe: James Irvin, David C., Julia E., Jacob V. and Bertha. Mr. Wolfe resides in Butler. David Clayton Wolfe was reared to young manhood at the Wolfe homestead, located two and a half miles southwest of Virginia in Charlotte township. He lived practically all his days in this locality, excepting a short time spent in Colorado. He was married February 22, 1888, to Miss Tella May Park, and eight children were born of this marriage: W. J., living at Blue Mound, Kansas; Warren D., in real estate investment and loan business, Kansas City, Missouri; Mrs. Bonnie Darnes, who formerly taught school in this county, and now lives at Attica, Kansas; Mrs. Bessie Hardinger, Charlotte township; Joe Clayton, Burdee Marie, George and Charles, twins, at home. (Three grandchildren have been born: Willard Wolfe Hardinger, deceased; George Robert Darnes, and Tella Virginia Darnes.) The mother of the children was born October 25, 1866, in Crawford county, Ohio, a daughter of George Washington and Susan (Quaintance) Park, natives of Ohio, who came to Missouri in 1876 and settled on a farm in Charlotte township, Bates county. G. W. Park resided here until his death in 1906, becoming an honored and highly respected citizen of the county, having been the pioneer advocate of prohibition in Bates county. Mrs. Park is still living at the age of eighty-six years. At the time of his marriage, David Clayton Wolfe purchased eighty acres of land one-half mile east of Virginia. The first home was a small two-room house of one and a half stories, and he also erected a barn. The first small house served as his home for some time and he later erected the present beautiful home of the family, which is one of the most attractive and best kept-places in Bates county. A beautiful grove of shade trees fronts the highway, all of which were planted by Mr. Wolfe. He increased his acreage gradually until, at the time of his death, he and Mrs. Wolfe owned a total of three hundred well-improved acres. Politically, Mr. Wolfe was allied with the Democratic party. He belonged to the Christian church, of which he served as elder for a number of years. He was a candidate for state representative on the Democratic ticket in 1912 and made the race for the office upon a pronounced advanced platform which he enunciated with clearness and decisiveness during the campaign. His platform as published in the newspapers at that time called for the enactment of: "A law limiting the owners of land to possession of 640 acres in each county; a law changing the time of tax assessments from June to March of each year; a system that will solve the question of roads." He was the pioneer in the good roads movement in Bates county, although his first efforts to have the county authorities undertake the grading of highways met with bitter and determined opposition. The first graded and dragged roads in the county were those which bordered upon his land. He dragged these roads with a "King Road Dragger" for years without pay, and lived to see the authorities make a fair start upon a system of better roads throughout the county. He was a Good Templar and was a strong advocate of national prohibition. He was also a firm adherent to the cause of "woman suffrage" and, had he lived to the present, his hopes regarding national prohibition and woman's suffrage would have been gratified. Mr. Wolfe was a constant reader who kept abreast and even ahead of his own time. He was a deep thinker and, endowed with literary ability, he was enabled to express his thoughts in poetic vein on many occasions. He was a "man worth while" in the community and his loss to the county was deeply mourned by his many friends and acquaintances. His influence among his fellow-citizens was always for good, he was never known to sanction evil in any form, a Christian in name, he endeavored to live a Christian life, and he bequeathed a respected and honored name to his children who will always revere his memory because of his uprightness, his kindness, his broadness of vision, and his integrity of purpose.

WOLFE, Marshall L.
History of Cass & Bates Co, MO, 1883 - Mound Township, Bates Co, MO
MARSHALL L. WOLFE, county surveyor and inspector of mines, was born in Hyattstown, Maryland, December 10, 1843, and was the third of a family of five children, four boys and one girl. He is the brother of C. R. Wolfe, mayor of Rich Hill, and also has one brother, George C, living on a farm near Rich Hill. One brother, John B., is a merchant at Johnstown, Moniteau County, and his only sister, Anna Embree, lives in Pettis County. His parents were Josiah Wolfe, who died when Marshall was about five years of age, and Ann L. (Bell) Wolfe, who afterwards married L. T. Hyatt, now a merchant at Columbus, Johnson County. In 1860 the family came to Missouri, and lived one year in Lafayette County, removing to Johnson, near Warrensburg. He attended the Lexington College for several months. In October 1865, Mr. Wolfe married Miss Kittie A. Dawson, daughter of Captain E. W. Dawson, of Johnson County. Her death occurred at Butler December 21, 1880. She left two boys: John C, aged sixteen, and Dawsey R., a lad of twelve. In 1868 Mr. W. came to Bates County and located on the coal lands in New Home Township, where he engaged in farming and stock raising and where he lived until Rich Hill was started when he sold his land to the coal company, who began mining upon it. They have one of their best shafts on land bought of him. He had opened a mine and conducted it for three or four years prior to disposing of it. Going to Butler he erected a residence on Main Street. He invested money in farming lands, purchasing a farm of 160 acres in Mound Township, where he now lives, and 400 acres in New Home Township. He has also a farm of 480 acres in Greenwood County, Kansas. In 1880 Mr. Wolfe was elected county surveyor and overseer of roads and bridges, and was soon after appointed by the county court inspector of mines. Religiously he was brought up a Campbellite and in his political views he is a Democrat.

WOLFE, Marshall Lee
History of Bates County, Missouri, W. O. Atkeson, 1918
MARSHALL LEE WOLFE -- The career of Marshall Lee Wolfe of Passaic, Bates county, has been a remarkable one, characterized by industry and professional usefulness in the active development of Bates county in a material sense, such as has not been surpassed by any one citizen in a decade and more. As a pioneer, farmer, surveyor, landowner, and citizen, he has won a high place in the citizenship of this county and no individual is more widely nor more favorably known than Mr. Wolfe. He was born on a plantation on the banks of the Potomac river, in Frederick county, Maryland, December 8, 1843, a son of Josiah and Anne Lee (Bell) Wolfe. Josiah Wolfe was a native of Pennsylvania. His wife was a native of Maryland, a daughter of an officer of the United States navy who served under the intrepid Commodore Decatur in his famous and victorious naval campaign against the pirates of the Barbary Coast States. Josiah Wolfe died when Marshall Lee Wolfe was but an infant and his mother married Levi Hiatt, who brought the family to Missouri in 1859, making a settlement first in Lafayette county. Finding land in that county too high priced for his purse, Mr. Hiatt located in Johnson county, Missouri, near Warrensburg. Here the mother died in 1913, at the age of ninety years. There were five children in the Wolfe family, only two of whom survive: Marshall Lee, subject of this review; and John B., editor of the "California Democrat," California, Missouri. Mr. Wolfe was educated in the public schools of Warrensburg, Missouri. When seventeen years of age, he enlisted in the Fifth Provisional Regiment of State Troops for service in the Civil War. For a great part of his time of enlistment he, with his command, was stationed at Old Germantown on the Deepwater river and was also stationed at various places in Missouri. At the close of the war he was married and then came to Bates county, first locating on a farm near Rich Hill, where he lived for fourteen years. After a few years' residence in Butler he settled on a farm northeast of the city. Of late years his residence has been at Passaic. About 1893, he went to Wyoming and bought several ranches in the Powder River valley, where he engaged in horse raising on an extensive scale, having as many as six hundred head of fine horses on his ranch as well as hundreds of sheep and cattle. Mr. Wolfe spent much of his time in Wyoming in the hunting of big game, and has killed buffalo, elk and bear in considerable numbers, having killed several "grizzlies" in the Rocky Mountain country. Mr. Wolfe was an excellent rifle shot and enjoyed hunting and he has hunted in all of the Rocky Mountain states. He recalls that hunting was good during the early days of his residence in Missouri when herds of deer and wild turkeys were to be seen in almost any direction. During past years he has spent his time in Missouri, Arkansas, and Wyoming. In Wyoming, he still has a large ranch, besides large tracts of land in Arkansas, totaling four thousand acres. At one time he owned over eleven hundred acres of Missouri land, but of late years he has been investing his capital in government land in the above-named states. During his long career he has been interested in the coal mining industry of Bates county and assisted in the development of the coal fields of this county. November 17, 1866, Mr. Wolfe was united in marriage with Kitty Dawson, of Knob Noster, Johnson county, Missouri, who bore him two children: Carby, deceased; and Dawson, residing in Arkansas on the Wolfe lands. The wife, and mother of these children, died December 21, 1880. His second marriage was in 1882 to Pattie Henderson, and to this marriage were born children as follow: Mrs. John Crim, Butler, Missouri; Mrs. Bird Cook, Wyoming; Frank, living in Canada; and Mrs. Emma Jennings, living in Wyoming. During his entire life since attaining his majority, Mr. Wolfe has been allied with the Democratic party. He was elected county surveyor of Bates county in 1880 and was reelected to this important office in 1884, by a majority of one thousand votes, which is unquestionably the largest majority ever given any candidate for official preferment in Bates county. His career in the surveyor's office was a notable one, which has never been surpassed. During the course of his administration many of the large bridges of the county were built under his supervision and planning. The feat of joining Rogues' Island in the Marais des Cygnes river to the mainland was a notable undertaking in engineering and one which the county judges declared could not be done. Mr. Wolfe has made an exhaustive study of the Eads' plan of controlling the Mississippi in the delta country and applied his knowledge to conditions in this county. He joined the island to the mainland by deepening the other channel opposite by building levees or by bunches of willows together and weighting them down with stones, compelling the water to cut its own channel within the borders of the willow battices. Mr. Wolfe surveyed thousands of acres of Bates county lands and "old timers" of the county well remember his careful and conscientious work. He laid out hundreds of miles of roadways and surveyed more miles of road than any other surveyor in the county. During his first term of office, a state law was passed which created an additional duty on his part as county mine inspector. Later the law was passed creating a board or a commission consisting of five members whose duty it was to examine and select a state mine inspector in competitive examination. With nineteen other applicants for this position he underwent the examination before this commission and was successful, receiving his appointment as state mine inspector from Gov. John S. Marmaduke. He served in this important state office for five years and then resigned. While filling this position, the practical mining knowledge which he had gained while interested in coal mining was of considerable benefit to him in his work. Mr. Wolfe is fraternally affiliated with the Independent Order of Odd Fellows and the Ancient Free and Accepted Masons. He is a member of the Christian church. Although he is well past the allotted three score years and ten, his activity has been little diminished with the passing of time, his mind is still vigorous, and his interest in things mundane continues to be as great as ever. He is one of the fine, old characters of this county and the state of Missouri and one of the few remaining pioneers of this important division in the upbuilding of which he has assisted so materially. His accomplishments in the engineering field in this county will long endure as a monument to his ability and genius. Marshall Lee Wolfe ranks among the historic characters of a great county.

WOOD, Albert A.
History of Cass & Bates Co, MO, 1883 - Rockville Township, Bates Co, MO
ALBERT A. WOOD, farmer and stock man, was born in Onondaga County, New York, August 21, 1831, and is the eldest of a family of seven children. His parents were Stephen Wood, a native of Vermont, and Mahala (Lewis) Wood, who were born in the Empire state. When Albert was three years of age the family moved to Delaware County, Ohio, where he was reared to man's estate, being educated in the noted schools of Delaware. At the age of twenty he began to work in a mill, and continued at this until the call for troops took him from his business. He enlisted August 1, 1862, in Company C of the Eighty-eighth Ohio Volunteer Infantry and served in the capacity of a non-commissioned officer until July 1865. When the war closed he returned to the bosom of his family and resumed the control of his mill. This business he followed until 1871, when he conducted a farm for six years Coming to Bates County, Missouri, in 1877, he has since devoted his attention to agricultural pursuits. His farm contains 350 acres in good condition. Mr. Wood is a member of the orders of United Workmen and Odd Fellows. He was married, October 24, 1854, to Miss Margaret Bremzer, a native of Ohio. They have three children: Frank, Alice (wife of F. T. Clark) and Emma.

WOODFIN, Jason Sherl
History of Bates County, Missouri, W. O. Atkeson, 1918
JASON SHERL WOODFIN -- The late Jason Sherl or J. S. Woodfin, who was a prominent citizen of Walnut township, was a son of one of the first pioneer settlers of Bates county. He was born March 8, 1833 in North Carolina, a son of John Woodfin, who emigrated from North Carolina in 1837 and made a settlement in Johnson county, Missouri. He resided there for four years and in 1841 made a permanent settlement in Walnut township, Bates county. He made a settlement on a tract located one and a half miles north of Woodfin place in Walnut township and built up one of the finest country estates in this section of Missouri. John Woodfin prospered and accumulated a total of eleven hundred acres of land. During the winter of 1861, John Woodfin, on account of threats having been made against his life by the antislavery adherents and Kansas "jayhawkers," went to Johnson county. He left his home sorely against his own inclinations and only yielded to the importunities of his relatives and friends in the end. Becoming anxious about his family he returned to his home during the winter and a band of "jayhawkers" came to the home with the intention of killing him. Snow lay deep upon the ground and the cold was intense. Mr. Woodfin escaped through a window and made his way to the nearby wood where he remained all night until his enemies had left. The exposure resulted in a severe cold which caused his death soon afterward. By his first marriage with Hannah Hyatt, he had four sons and two daughters. His second wife was Mrs. Emily (Bryant) Granthem, widow of a "forty-niner" who died on his way home by sea from the gold fields of California. A daughter born of his first marriage is yet living -- Mrs. Miller, wife of Rev. William Miller of New Home. J. S. Woodfin's first wife was Ruth Turner, who died during the Civil War leaving three daughters: Mary, wife of James H. Sacre, Charlotte township; Mrs. Alice Warman, died in Colorado; Mrs. Lucy Williams, widow living at Wellsville, Kansas. During the Civil War, Jason S. Woodfin served for a long time in the state militia in Capt. John Newberry's company and then spent the remainder of the time on the western plains and in Colorado. He served as a government teamster until 1865. He then returned to Bates county and engaged in farming on his Walnut township land. He was married then to Miss Prudence E. Miller, who bore him the following children: Mrs. Elizabeth Charlotte McHenry, Foster, Missouri; Mrs. Lillie May Clouse, deceased; Frances J., wife of William Hyatt, Grant county, Oregon; Mrs. Emily C. Lester, Aberdeen, Washington; Mrs. Prudence Olive Farrell, Colorado; Mrs. Ethel Goodenough, Foster, Bates county; Maude A., wife of E. L. Thomas, New Home township; Jason S., living in Idaho, married in April, 1900, to Cannie Sells, of Butler, who died August 4, 1915, leaving three children, Ree Jefferson, Prudence B. and Lillie May; Willie Cleveland, deceased; Mrs. Minnie Ellen Blevin, Walnut township. Mrs. Prudence (Miller) Woodfin was born November 5, 1848 on a pioneer farm located four miles east of Foster, Bates county. She is a daughter of Oliver Hazard Perry Miller, a native of Missouri, and Charlotte (Vryans) Miller. O. H. P. Miller was born in Franklin county, Missouri in 1815 and died in the Federal prison at Springfield, Missouri, April 30, 1863. He was a son of Samuel Miller, a native of Pennsylvania, who was among the first pioneers of Franklin county, Missouri, settling at Miller's Landing on the Missouri river. At the age of seventeen years, O. H. P. Miller left home and located in Bates county in 1832. His first settlement was made north of the Marais de Cygnes river and in 1845 he came to New Home township and settled on a farm one-half mile east of old New Home. When the Civil War broke out he lost everything, the home and buildings being burned and his live stock stolen or killed. In the fall of 1861 the family removed to Henry county and remained there until the spring of 1866. O. H. P. Miller and his oldest son left home for the war and served with the Confederate forces. Henry Miller, the son, was killed at the battle of Lone Jack, August 8, 1862. O. H. P. was quartermaster and served with Captain John McCombs' company. He was taken prisoner in Arkansas and interred in the Federal prison at Springfield, where his death occurred. His eight children were as follow: Henry Clay, deceased; Rev. William Barton Miller, New Home, Missouri; Emily Jane, deceased; Mrs. Prudence E. Woodfin, Walnut township; Susan Mahala, wife of W. A. Comer, living near Nevada, Missouri; Lucinda, wife of Charles B. Briscoe, Walnut township; Josephine, deceased; John, residing near New Home; and Martha, wife of John Weadon, New Home township. After the war the family settled on the old place and rebuilt the home and made another start. Time healed the wounds and sorrows caused by the misfortunes of war and they prospered. The mother died March 12, 1890, at the age of seventy-six years. After their marriage, Mr. and Mrs. Woodfin started housekeeping in a little log house of one room to which he added other rooms as the family increased and they were able. They owned an eighty-acre tract which had been given to Mr. Woodfin by his father. He entered land and purchased other tracts as he was financially able and at the time of his death, he was owner of five hundred twenty acres. All that the family had left at the close of the Civil War was an old log cabin, with both doors and windows gone and all the fences on the place were burned and the orchard uprooted and reset in Kansas. During his later years, Mr. Woodfin was ill for a good part of the time and Mrs. Woodfin courageously shouldered the burden of caring for her husband and looking after their extensive farm interests. Mr. Woodfin died September 9, 1899, aged sixty-five years. Mr. Woodfin was a lifelong Democrat who was very loyal to his party. He was a member of the Christian church and was a good Christian citizen who loved his home and fireside and was devoted to his wife and family. For over fifty-one years, his widow, Mrs. Prudence Woodfin, has resided in the home which she and her husband made long ago, and has never left home except for visits to Idaho and among her children. She recalls the old pioneer days and remembers how happy the people were even in their rude surroundings. Her father, O. H. P. Miller taught the first school in New Home township, which was held in one room for a term of three months, of the double log cabin which was the Miller home in New Home township. Her father was a well educated man who was skilled in languages and was familiar with the classics. Previous to the outbreak of the war he had built a fine mansion on his farm, native woods such as walnut being used in its construction, one room of which was lined with book shelves. When the family went to Henry county and located near Clinton for safety during the war the house was first looted of its contents and then burned to the ground by marauders on Christmas night. The father of John Woodfin was Thomas Woodfin who came with his family to Johnson county, Missouri, when he was an old man and mainly spent his time in fishing and hunting while his sons all engaged in farming. He accompanied his family to Bates county and died here. Mrs. Woodfin is energetic and capable and well preserved, despite her age, and still looks after her farm. She prefers to reside in the home which has served her for so many years rather than to move to the town or city. She is a member of the Christian church and is a devout Christian who is always ready to assist in worthy undertakings. She is one of the most honored and highly respected of the Bates county pioneer women.

WOODHOUSE, J. V.
History of Cass & Bates Co, MO, 1883 - Osage Township, Bates Co, MO
J. V. WOODHOUSE, superintendent of the Rich Hill Smelting Works, was born in England, January 10, 1826. During the time of his residence in his native country he was employed in a carpet factory, but when he was less than fourteen years of age he emigrated to America, locating in Sullivan County, New York. After one year he went to the city of Boston, and worked in a carpet factory there till he attained the age of twenty-three years. While thus employed he put up the first machinery in that city for manufacturing tapestry carpets. When he was twenty-three he left Boston with two steam engines for the Chippewa Valley, Wisconsin, where he was engaged in the lumber business, for seven years. Going to St. Louis, he fitted up the old Southern Hotel of that city, put in the heating apparatus for the Insane Asylum, afterwards worked in the machine shops of Girard B. Allen, and for some time was superintendent for the St. Louis Bridge Company. In 1870 he went to Mine La Motte, Missouri, where he built the crushing and dressing works for a lead smelting company, and during this period obtained a patent for smelting which is now used in all mining districts. In 1877 he moved to Illinois, locating near Bunker Hill, where he had purchased a farm. Becoming dissatisfied with the life of an agriculturist, he remained but six months, then settling at Oronogo, Missouri, where he placed in position the pumping machinery for the lead and zinc mines. He built the smelting works for the lead company, at Webb City, Missouri, then erected the Pitcher Lead and Zinc Smelting Works at Joplin, and has been superintendent for the same company since completing the Rich Hill Smelting Works, of which a more extended notice is given in the history of this city. While in Boston, Mr. Woodhouse was married to Miss Harriet J. White, September 8, 1847; by this union they have ten children, eight of whom are now living: Thomas D., Warren, Joseph, Frank, George, Caddie, Henrietta, and Minnie. Mr. Woodhouse is a member of the I.O.O.F. order.

WOODS, Marion
History of Cass & Bates Co, MO, 1883 - Grand River Township, Bates Co, MO
MARION WOODS was born in Lawrence County, Missouri, April 3, 1852. His father, Marvel S. Woods, is also a native Missourian. His mother was formerly a Miss Lucinda Bridges. They had a family of three sons and two daughters of whom Marion was the eldest. When ten years old he went to Kansas and worked on a farm for three years, then coming to Bates County and here he has since resided. He was married November 13, 1873, to Miss Catherine Crawford, also a native of this state. They have an interesting family of four children: Crayton, Lafayette, Coleman and Thomas. Mr. Woods lives on section 22 where he has a farm of 160 acres of good land with fair improvements. He keeps a number of horses, mules, cattle and hogs and tries to handle the best. He usually raises a large crop of wheat, having had fifty acres of his farm sown to wheat the past fall.

WRIGHT, H. L.
History of Bates County, Missouri, W. O. Atkeson, 1918
H. L. WRIGHT -- Nearly fifty years have elapsed since H. L. Wright, of Mound township, was born in Bates county. The Wright family came to this county and made a settlement in Elk township in 1868 during a period when the county was practically in its infancy and was just making its second start along the path of progress and development. Mr. Wright has grown up with his native county and has progressed with his fellow citizens, and although he has endured many vicissitudes during his life time, has experienced the cyclones, has known hardships imposed by drouths and the various disappointments which fall to the lot of the tiller of the soil, he has prospered and is owner of one of the best farms and one of the finest country residences in this part of Missouri. H. L. Wright was born in Elkhart township, Bates county, December 22, 1869, a son of Francis Marion and Philara (Holland) Wright, the former, a native of Brown county, Ohio, and the latter, of Tazewell county, Illinois. When but a boy Francis Marion Wright accompanied his parents to Illinois and there he grew to manhood. He was married in Illinois and in 1868 came to Bates county to make a permanent home for his family, locating in Elkhart township. He purchased unimproved land, from a Mr. Danielson, and followed farming during the remainder of his active life. Mr. Wright was a Republican in his political views. He departed this life in 1890 and one year later his wife followed him to the grave. They were parents of nine children, four of whom are living: Mrs. M. L. Burnett, Mound township; P. K., living on the old homestead in Elkhart township; James A., Cottonwood, Idaho; and H. L., subject of this review. During his entire life, Mr. Wright has lived in Bates county and has followed the traditional vocation of his fathers, becoming a successful agriculturist. He improved his present splendid farm in 1910. After he had placed the finishing touches upon the buildings and was looking forward to years of undisturbed prosperity in his newly completed home, there came the cyclone of June 15, 1912, and in the twinkling of an eye, the results of his handiwork and preparation for comfortable living were wiped out of existence and dispersed to the four points of the compass by the power of the strong wind which tore down fences, razed buildings, and scattered the lumber far and near. All the family heirlooms, which had been gathered during a lifetime, were gone forever. Mr. Wright later, found the covers of the old family photograph album at some distance from the site of the home. A fine orchard of fifty trees was utterly destroyed. The first warning which the family had of the approaching tornado was the appearance of a black, angry-looking, twisting cloud, which was sweeping down upon them from the west, leaving death and destruction in its wake and destroying everything in its path. The Wrights took immediate warning and Mr. and Mrs. Wright hurried to the storm cave, as they heard the roaring and crashing which accompanied the cyclone. Within five minutes' time the storm had passed and had done its fearful work. Livestock were carried some distance away, the tornado wiping out every vestige of a once comfortable home. Mr. Wright has since rebuilt and replaced the farm buildings at considerable expense. Mr. Wright was married in 1910 to Adelia L. Addleman, who was born in northern Missouri, but was reared in Bates county, a daughter of J. M. Addleman, now residing in Mound township. Mr. Wright specializes in the breeding of Shorthorn cattle and Poland China and Chester White hogs. He is engaged in general farming and stock raising. He is affiliated with the Central Protective Association and both he and Mrs. Wright are members of the Adrian Christian church. They are upright, worthy people who have a host of friends in Bates county and are numbered among the best citizens of this section of the state.

WRIGHT, J. D.
History of Cass & Bates Co, MO, 1883 - Mt. Pleasant Township, Bates Co, MO
J. D. WRIGHT, farmer, section 27, was born in the state of Delaware on September 24, 1809, and is the son of O. H. and Nancy (Baker) Wright, also natives of Delaware. The former was born January 16, 1784, and the latter December 24, 1784. They were married October 10, 1806. When eleven years old J. D. accompanied his parents to Fayette County, Ohio, and there he grew to manhood. He was married October 7, 1830, to Miss Christina Wright, originally from Ross County, Ohio, born May 2, 1809. Subsequently Mr. W. began life in poor circumstances in Ohio, but in 1838, removed to Indiana, where he improved a farm. Selling out he came to Bates County, Missouri, and in 1858, located where he now resides. His farm consists of 240 acres of improved land, besides sixty acres of timber. Mr. and Mrs. Wright have eight children living: Joel, Mary, Malinda, Harriet, Jacob, Margaret, Christina and Annette. Four are deceased: Matilda, Jasper, Elizabeth and an infant. Mrs. Wright is a member of the Christian Church. Mr. W. was county judge in 1864, and while in Indiana served one term there as county judge.

WRIGHT, John
History of Bates County, Missouri, W. O. Atkeson, 1918
JOHN WRIGHT, a well-known citizen in Bates county, is a native of Kentucky. Mr. Wright was born in 1853, a son of James and Elizabeth (Dean) Wright, both of whom were natives of Kentucky. James Wright came to Missouri in 1881 and settled on a farm of eighty acres of land in Mount Pleasant township, a place formerly owned by Henry Medcalf, of Kentucky, and now owned by Lewis Deffenborgh. Mr. Wright resided on this farm until his death in 1887. Mrs. Wright departed this life in 1905 and both father and mother were interred in the cemetery at Oak Hill. James and Elizabeth (Dean) Wright were the parents of the following children: Jackson, Okmulgee, Oklahoma; Mary C., the widow of John McCann, Butler, Missouri; Angelina, the wife of G. W. George, Carlisle, Kentucky; John, the subject of this review; R. M., who died about 1897 and whose remains are interred in Oak Hill cemetery; Dorcas, who died in 1886; Sallie J., the wife of C. O. Blake, Mount Pleasant township, Bates county, Missouri; and Bettie, who first married John Walls, now deceased, and then Thomas Gibson, of Kansas City, Missouri. John Wright came to Mount Pleasant township, Bates county in 1878. He rented land for one year and then purchased forty acres of land, on which tract his present country home is located. At different times later, Mr. Wright added to his holdings tracts of forty acres each and he is now owner of a farm comprising one hundred twenty acres of valuable land. All that is now on the Wright farm in the way of improvements, John Wright has himself placed there. In addition to his country place, Mr. Wright owns the old John Farris homestead in Butler, a handsome residence of eight rooms with a barn and an abundance of shade and fruit trees situated on a tract of two and a half acres of land in Burton's addition. At Aberdeen, Ohio, the marriage of John Wright and Mary A. McCann was solemnized on November 11, 1875. Mary A. (McCann) Wright is a daughter of James and Susan (Barr) McCann, both of whom were natives of Nicholas county, Kentucky. The Wrights and McCanns were natives in Kentucky and John and Mary were friends and playmates in their school days. Mrs. McCann died in 1891 and Mr. McCann joined her in death in April, 1907. Their remains are resting in Concord cemetery in Nicholas county, Kentucky. To John and Mary A. Wright have been born two children: Carrie E., the wife of Charles W. Dickerson, of Butler, Missouri; and Anna Maud, the wife of Harry French, of Charlotte township, Bates county, Missouri. Mr. and Mrs. Wright are very proud of their five grandchildren, the sons and daughters of Mr. and Mrs. Harry French: Kenneth Wright, Dorothy Belle, Doris Louise, Mary Mildred, and John Willie. Mr. Wright moved to Butler from his farm several years ago and while a resident of Butler he was twice elected assessor and served capably and well for two terms. After six years in the city, he returned to the farm and in Mount Pleasant township he was again elected assessor and he served one term. When Mr. Wright again took up his residence in Butler, about two years ago dating from the time of this writing in 1918, the voters of this city knew where to find an honest, conscientious official and he was for the fourth time elected assessor and served another term in office, making a record of eight years of efficient, satisfactory service. Mr. Wright has steadily climbed upward in life, overcoming countless obstacles and forging to the front until he now ranks high with the successful citizens of Butler and Bates county.

WYARD, Augustus F.
History of Cass & Bates Co, MO, 1883 - Mt. Pleasant Township, Bates Co, MO
AUGUSTUS F. WYARD, dealer in harness, saddles, etc., came originally from Monroe County, Illinois, where he was born September 27, 1852. There he resided till sixteen years of age, when he removed to Bates County, Missouri, and engaged in cattle herding which he continued most of the time till 1873. He soon began learning the trade of harness making with J. T. Graves and after a little over two years' service, worked at journey work in different shops till 1877. Then he embarked in the business for himself, buying out T. Glass. Upon conducting that shop till December 1881, he purchased the interest of J. T. Groves and consolidated the two stocks in his present place of business. He also has a branch establishment at Windsor, Missouri. Mr. W. was married April 28, 1879, to Miss Lizzie Evans whose death occurred September 24, 1880. He was again married December 28, 1881, to Miss Nanna Major, a native of Missouri, she having been married in the house where she was born. Mr. Wyard is a member of the I.O.O.F., and also of the Masonic fraternities.

WYATT, Edward H.
History of Bates County, Missouri, W. O. Atkeson, 1918
EDWARD H. WYATT, a retired farmer and stockman of Adrian, Missouri, is one of Bates county's prosperous and most highly respected citizens. Mr. Wyatt is a native of Ohio. He was born in 1855, a son of Charles and Harriet (Henry) Wyatt, natives and lifelong residents of Ohio. Charles Wyatt was a son of John Wyatt, of Ohio, and Harriet (Henry) Wyatt was a daughter of Matthew Henry, of Ohio. Charles Wyatt was a member of the teaching profession in his native state, being employed in teaching in the public schools and also in teaching music. He was ruling elder of the Presbyterian church and superintendent of the Amesville Presbyterian Sunday School for many years and choir leader for at least a score of years. He was the owner of a splendid farm, a tract of land comprising five hundred acres, in Athens county, Ohio and was engaged extensively in stock raising. Charles Wyatt was considered a wealthy man in his day and a very successful citizen. To Charles and Harriet (Henry) Wyatt were born ten children, eight of whom are now living: Edward H., the subject of this review; C. E., Lawton, Oklahoma; W. P., Athens, Ohio; Mrs. Cora M. McCune, on a farm near Adrian, Missouri; Charles, Amesville, Ohio; Mrs. Mary McDaniel, Amesville, Ohio; Emma, Amesville, Ohio; and Mrs. Lucy Stires, Guysville, Ohio. The marriage of E. H. Wyatt and Hattie Brown was solemnized in 1877. Hattie (Brown) Wyatt is a daughter of Mr. and Mrs. John D. Brown, of Athens county, Ohio. To this union has been born one child, a son, who is now living: George B., who is general manager of the Farmers Elevator Company of Adrian, Missouri, married Lulu Steele of Warrensburg and they have two sons: George Steele Wyatt and Dugald Edward Wyatt. Both Mr. and Mrs. Wyatt are consistent members and workers of the Presbyterian church and Mr. Wyatt has been ruling elder of the Fairview Presbyterian church for many years. They reside in Adrian, where they have a most pleasant and comfortable home. E. H. Wyatt and his brother, A. T. Wyatt, came from Ohio to Missouri in 1881 and purchased a herd of one thousand sheep and engaged in the sheep raising industry in Bates county. Open prairie furnished an abundance of grazing territory in those days, for one might drive for miles and miles in this section of the state and not encounter a single bit of fencing. The Wyatt brothers purchased tracts of land at different times and constantly added to their holdings until they owned a vast tract comprising one thousand acres. After some time, they disposed of their herd of sheep and devoted their time and energies to general farming and stock raising. They had bought their land in some instances for as little as five dollars an acre. A. T. Wyatt finally decided to leave Missouri and settle in Kansas and E. H. Wyatt was left to continue the work alone. He is now owner of a farm in Bates county, a place embracing four hundred eighty acres of land, which he rents. He is a stockholder in the First National Bank of Adrian, Missouri, in the Farmers Elevator Supply & Manufacturing Company, and in the Farmers Lumber Company of Adrian, Missouri. The life-story of E. H. Wyatt has been the story of a worker, of a busy man of affairs, of a Christian gentleman, whose ideal in life has been to worthily discharge his duty toward the Master and his fellowmen as he sees and understands it. There are few better types of the enterprising, "self-made" business men in Bates county than Mr. Wyatt. From small beginnings, by prudence, industry, and perseverance, and the ability of the pioneer to conquer all discouraging obstacles, he has succeeded in carving a name that shall endure as long as the history of Bates county is written and achieving a success in life that should be an inspiration to the young men of the rising generation. And now, in the eventide, surrounded by everything calculated to make the remainder of his earthly sojourn agreeable and pleasant, E. H. Wyatt can enjoy the consciousness that all that he has and all that he is he has justly, honestly, honorably earned by his own personal exertions.

WYATT, George P.
History of Bates County, Missouri, W. O. Atkeson, 1918
GEORGE P. WYATT, a lumberman of Butler, Missouri, is a native of Ohio. He was born in Athens county in 1869, one of three children born to his parents, H. C. and Mary F. (Pratt) Wyatt, both of whom were natives of Ohio. The children of H. C. and Mary F. Wyatt were, as follow: Mrs. Anna Jewett, deceased; George P., the subject of this sketch; and Edward, who died in infancy. H. C. Wyatt was born in Athens county, Ohio in 1830 and in that state was reared to maturity. At the time of the outbreak of the Civil War, he was a young man, thirty-one years of age. He enlisted with the Thirty-sixth Ohio Infantry and served until dangerously wounded at the battle of Missionary Ridge on November 25, 1863, when the Federal list of casualties totally amounted to fifty-five hundred men, after which time Mr. Wyatt was stationed as guard near Washington, D. C. until the close of the conflict. In 1871, H. C. Wyatt came to Butler, Missouri and engaged in farming for several years, when he abandoned agricultural pursuits and established the lumber business on Ohio street, now known as the H. S. Wyatt Lumber Company. Mr. Wyatt purchased the Warner Lumber Company at that time and he and his son, George P., continued the business until November 19, 1915, when they were succeeded by H. S. Wyatt, son of George P., of whom further mention will be made in this review. Mary F. (Pratt) Wyatt, mother of George P., died in 1907 and H. C. Wyatt has been making his home with his son since her death. George P. Wyatt came to Butler, Missouri, with his parents when he was not yet three years of age. He attended Butler Academy and when sixteen years of age, succeeded H. C. Wyatt in the lumber business and continued in this business until 1915, when his son, H. S. Wyatt, succeeded him. In 1891, George P. Wyatt and Nettie Steele were united in marriage. Mrs. Wyatt is a daughter of John Steele, of Butler. To Mr. and Mrs. Wyatt have been born five children, four of whom are now living: H. S., owner of the H. S. Wyatt Lumber Company, a progressive, ambitious, young man and unmarried; Doris, a student at Monticello Seminary, Godfrey, Illinois; Ruth, who is attending Butler High School; Esther, who is a pupil in the graded schools of Butler; and Mary, deceased. When local option was voted in at Butler, Missouri, George P. Wyatt served the city as street commissioner and marshal for four years for one dollar annually. He was afterwards elected city alderman. At the close of this term he was nominated for the office of mayor without opposition, but his health prevented his acceptance. Mr. Wyatt is now one of the directors of the Butler School Board.

WYATT, Hiram C.
History of Cass & Bates Co, MO, 1883 - Mt. Pleasant Township, Bates Co, MO
HIRAM C. WYATT, proprietor of lumber yard, planing mill, etc., was born in Athens County, Ohio, May 5, 1831, in the same house in which his father, George Wyatt, was born in 1803. He died in 1868. His mother, formerly Maria Cable, was born in New York, in 1804, and died in 1867. They were married in 1822, and had ten children, of whom H. C. and Philander L. only are living. Hiram C. received a good education at the schools of his native county, and worked on his father's farm until of age. He then settled on a part of the old farm, where he married Miss Mary F. Pratt, in 1859. She was the daughter of Eben and Susanna Wells Pratt, of Athens County. They have three children, two of whom, Anna M. and George Pratt, were born on the same place as their grandfather and father, and Edward Wells was born in Butler. Mr. Wyatt sold out his property in Ohio, in 1871, and came to Missouri and located in Butler, where he has since resided. He bought twenty acres, which is now within the city limits, built a good residence, one of the finest in the city, and in 1874 formed a copartnership with John F. Boyd. They purchased the small lumber yard of John A. Warner, and added a large and well assorted stock of lumber, shingles and building materials, it now constituting one of the finest yards in the county. In the spring of 1882 they started a planing mill and a manufactory of doors, moulding, etc., which is located at the depot. They have good machinery, and are doing an excellent business. Mr. Wyatt was a member of Capt. E. P. Henry's company in the Thirty-sixth Regiment Ohio Volunteers, Fourteenth Army Corps, during the war, and shared all the hardships incident to many hard fought battles in which the regiment participated. He was wounded at Mission Ridge, the bullet passing through the body and lodging in his clothing. He then was sent to the hospital in Washington, where he remained until mustered out, in 1864, with the regiment. In politics he is a Republican, and in his church affiliations a Presbyterian.

WYATT, Philander L.
History of Cass & Bates Co, MO, 1883 - Mt. Pleasant Township, Bates Co, MO
PHILANDER L. WYATT, farmer and breeder of fine Merino sheep, was born in Athens County, Ohio, in 1847, and was the son of George and Maria (Cable) Wyatt, both natives of Ohio. He attended good common schools and remained at home on his father's farm for the most of the time, until in 1871, when he came to Missouri, settling in Butler, when with his brother he bought forty acres of land which is now a part of the city. He erected a good residence, which with the location and surroundings are among the best in the city. He has a farm of 800 acres, west of town, where he keeps from 1,000 to 1,500 head of fine sheep. He is breeding from the best flocks in the west, and few flocks can be found east or west, of superior breeding. He makes sheep raising and herding his principal business. Mr. Wyatt married Miss Maria Henry in 1868. She was the daughter of Mathew and Mary (Park) Henry. They have three children: Frank, Jessie and Almon. Mr. Wyatt is a true type of eastern enterprise -- thorough in all business transactions, and unassuming in his intercourse with those about him. Mathew Henry, father of Capt. E. P. Henry, and of Mrs. Wyatt, was born in Washington County, Pennsylvania, in 1797. He came with his father to Washington County, Ohio, when six years old, and in 1839, moved to Athens County. He married Miss Mary Peak in Washington County in 1825. They have nine children living: Sarah Ann, (now Mrs. Henry Glazier), Almon, Mary Louise (now Mrs. Wallace Henry), Harriet (now Mrs. Charles Wyatt), Kate (now Mrs. George Henry), Capt. Edward P., Robert Barnard, Charles and R. B. live on the old homestead with Maria (now Mrs. P. L. Wyatt); George died when eleven years old, Mathew Henry died in 1852. Mrs. Henry is now seventy-five years of age, and very active for one of her years, and lives with her youngest daughter (Mrs. P. L. Wyatt), where she is enjoying every comfort possible.

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