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Indian Creek Township

JEROME J. BICK

(Dealer in General Merchandise, Farm Machinery, etc., Clapper, Monroe county, Mo.). One of the most interesting and instructive branches of the study of political economy, perhaps the most interesting and instructive one, is that which deals with the comparative thriftiness of intelligent and honest communities and nationalities; and, indeed, it is a branch which has not received that attention from thinkers and writers which its importance deserves. Here we see German-Americans all around us and those of German-American parents outstripping us, whose families have long been settled in this country, in the material affairs of life, almost without exception. This is absolutely true, considered as classes, respectively, those of old German stock on the one hand, and those of old American families on the other. Wherever we see one of the former class, we fail not, in one instance out of 99, to see a thrifty, prosperous citizen, one steadily and certainly rising to prominence in the material affairs of life. But this is by no means true of Americans; the American of thrift is rather the exception than the rule. These facts are plainly manifest to any one of ordinary observation. But why this is so is not so easy to determine. We would be slow to admit that we are not as intelligent, active and industrious as our fellow-citizens of German antecedents. What is the cause of it, then? This is an interesting question for political scientists to consider and determine. We, who write only history, or rather biographies, have only the facts to state, without entering into philosophico-scientific process of ratiocination to determine the sequence resulting from such facts. Here we have a striking illustration of the subject under consideration in the career of a prominent citizen of the northeastern part of the county. Mr. Bick started out in life for himself with a very modest modicum of means. His whole business career has been made at Clapper, a small country point, far from the best trading center to be found. Yet, notwithstanding, he has built up the largest business in the county in his lines of trade - is the leading business man, in fact, of the county, in these lines. To this prominence of success he has risen, too, in a remarkably short time. Why has he surpassed all others in the county? He is a German-American, or rather of German parents, and exhibits in his close attention to business, his economical and frugal management, his sterling honesty and fair dealing, and his sober judgment and solidity of character, these marked traits of a German character. Doubtless it is not all due to his hereditary nationality that he has succeeded so well; but certain it is that most of his class do succeed, and in this fact may be found at least some explanation of his success. John Bick, his father, was born and reared in Germany, and came to America when a young man: 24 years of age, in 1846. He located in Ohio, and resided in Seneca county for nearly 20 years. He was there married to Miss Catherine Portz, also originally of Germany, and nine children followed their union, namely: Margaret E., Jerome J., Nicholas M., John, Francis, Louis, David C., Mary A. and Anna M. He followed farming and merchandising in Ohio with characteristic German success, and in 1865 removed to Missouri, settling in Monroe county. Jerome J., his eldest son, and the subject of this sketch, was born in Fostoria, Seneca county, Ohio, November 9, 1852, and was therefore 13 years of age when the family came to Missouri. He was reared to farm life, and also learned the practical details of merchandising, receiving as he grew up a substantial business education. On starting out for himself he inherited $1,000, as well as the rest of his brothers and sisters, and by his good judgment, intelligence and character, made wise use of the means he received. But of more value than this was the manner in which he had been brought up, and the lessons of old-fashioned honesty and economy which he had been taught. Young Bick has proved himself fully worthy of his father’s help and his father’s hopes and expectations. He has come up in life with steady strides and, as has been said, is now one of the leading and most prosperous business men of the county. He carries an extraordinarily large stock of general merchandise for a store outside of a city, and, indeed, for a retail house anywhere, as well as a full and complete supply of farm machinery, in which can be found everything to supply the wants of a farming community. His trade extends for miles and miles around, and he is doing what may be fairly termed an immense business. No more popular business man is engaged in trade in the county, and his name is a synonym for reliability wherever it is known. Mr. Bick is a man of family. He was married June 21, 1871, his wife having been before her marriage a Miss Mary Shields. She was born July 4, 1854.  They have five children: Frederick J., Richard J., Joseph E., William T. and Robert P. Besides his business, Mr. Bick has a fine farm of 350 acres, devoted to grain and stock, the management of which he superintends. His place is conducted on energetic business principles, and is one of the choice farms of the township.

 

JOHN DIXON

(Farmer, Post-office, Elizabethtown). Mr. Dixon’s farm contains 300 acres, in sections 3 and 4 of Indian Creek township, and is a place substantially and comfortably improved, one of the valuable farms and desirable homesteads of the township. He is a man who, in any country where agricultural advantages are at all favorable, would take an enviable place among the well-to-do farmers and respected citizens of his community.  Thoroughly industrious and a man of intelligence and unquestioned old-fashioned honesty, he attends faithfully to his duties as a farmer and stock-raiser and leads a life that is without reproach as a neighbor and citizen; so that, while he necessarily succeeds by steady, regular strides in the accumulation of property, he at the same time wins and retains the confidence and esteem of his neighbors and acquaintances. It is such men as these, of which he is a representative, that we desire to sketch in this volume, briefly of course, but in a way, at least, that will do them no injustice, and at the same time add to the value of our work. Mr. Dixon was born in Nelson county, Ky., December 12, 1818. Fortunate in the possession of kind and worthy parents who took an interest in his moral training as well as in learning him habits of industry and frugality, he grew up on the farm, developing, by the outdoor exercise of farm life, a good physical constitution, and forming a character for integrity and a disposition for industry that were bound to make him a valued citizen and successful farmer. Reared on a farm in Nelson county, he was married June 29, 1841, to Miss Matilda Abell, and the following year they removed to Missouri, settling in Monroe county, where they have since resided. Here he resumed farming and by hard work and honest methods has succeeded in situating himself comfortably in life. Seven children have been sent to him and his good wife, as the best blessing which Heaven can bestow upon the conjugal relation, namely: Helen C., Joseph A., Matilda M., Robert P., Mary Bell, John D. and Anna L. John D. was accidentally drowned while attempting to cross the Neosho river, in Kansas. He left a family, consisting of his wife and a child. Two others died of that dread and fatal disease, consumption: Robert P., who died October 22, 1875, and Anna L., the wife of James E.  McLeod, August 9, 1878. Mrs. McLeod left four orphan children. When death enters the household it is hard to bear at best, but when it selects for its victim a devoted young mother with a family of small children around her, and robs them of the angel of their life, of her who loves them above all others on earth, and for whom it is her greatest desire to live- when death comes to a home to take away a mother, the light and life and hope of the household, it is sad, indeed. But that fell malady, consumption, selected this gentle and loving mother to be borne away to the grave at its behest, and after slowly but surely destroying her health and drying up the source of her life, death came at last to bear her away. The gentlest hearted of American poets might well have had this good woman in view when he wrote his tender poem of a beloved one taken from those who loved her, by consumption -

“Ay, thou art for the grave; thy glances shine

Too brightly to shine long; another Spring

Shall deck her for men’s eyes, -- but not for time—

Sealed in a sleep which knows no waking.

The fields for thee have no medicinal leaf,

And the vexed ore no mineral of power;

And they who love thee wait in anxious grief

Till the slow plague shall bring the fatal hour.

Glide softly to thy rest then; Death shall come

Gently, to one of gentle mold like thee,

      As light winds wandering through groves of bloom

      Detach the delicate blossom from the tree.

      Close thy sweet eyes, calmly, and without pain;

And we will trust in God to see thee yet again.” 

 

JAMES V. DOOLEY

(Farmer and Stock-raiser, Post-office, Stoutsville). Any one at all acquainted with the people of Monroe county and with its history is aware that the Dooley family was one of the pioneer families of the county, coming here in a day when but few, if any, of the conveniences and comforts of civilized life were to be enjoyed. They had to face life in a wilderness with all the hardships and dangers that that implies. The treacherous Indian had not yet been driven out and the flocks and herds of the early settlers were in greater danger from the wolves and other predatory “varmints” of the country, than were the loved ones around the hearthstone from the merciless savage. Then hardly a sign of roads had appeared and of course there were no bridges, and as for school-houses and church buildings they were out of the question, while mills, the old fashioned horse-power machines, were days’ journey apart. All these things are changed now, and here today we have one of the first counties in the State, a county that compares favorably with any, disconnected with a large city, in the whole West. To make this mighty and gratifying change, the Dooleys did their full part, and no history of the county would be a justly correct one which failed to give them the credit they deserve. Mr. Dooley’s father, Stephen Dooley, came from Kentucky, where he had been reared, and settled here in an early day. He was married in Monroe county of Missouri, to Miss Fannie Johnson. He is still living, and he and his good wife have been blessed with nine children: James V., Elkana, Martha, William, Christopher, Lucy, Lettie, Luther. James V. was born in Monroe county, January 12, 1837. He was reared, however, in Monroe county (is this right) ? and lives on the home his father gave him. He has always engaged in stock growing ? (this also?) as his favorite calling, and to this he has devoted himself with unwavering fidelity and industry. He has a good farm of over 300 acres. In 1876, Mr. Dooley was married to Miss Sallie A. Searcy, formerly of Boone county, Mo. They have no children.

 

REV. FATHER P. MORRISSEY

(Catholic Priest, Indian Creek). Father Morrissey was ordained to the priesthood at Montreal, Canada, in 1875. Born August 10, 1852, his early years were spent at home with his parents, assisting in such work as he could do and in attending the local parochial schools. At an early age, however, the purpose was formed for him to devote himself to the priesthood, as soon as he could be prepared for that sacred office. Accordingly, he was educated with that object in view. His ecclesiastical education was completed in Milwaukee, Wis., and in due time, thereafter, he was ordained at Montreal, as stated above. Father Morrissey came to this place in 18-,  ? since which he has had continuous charge of the church here. His work has been of much value to the church, and highly gratifying to the Catholic community; while his bearing toward those with whom he has been thrown in contact, generally, and his presence as a representative of the church are commended by the public at large. By all who have witnessed his labors here he is considered a churchman of marked ability and superior scholarship, and his piety and earnest zeal for the cause of religion are manifest in everything that he does. A representative of the church, that stands out to all the world the intermediary between God and man, it is the most that can be said of any human being to say, that he is in every way worthy of his high and sacred office, a statement which the writer believes, from all he has been able to learn, can with truth be made.

 

SAMUEL C. FIELDS

(Dealer in Drugs, Medicines, Paints, Oils, Notions, Etc,, Elizabethtown). Capt. John D. Fields, Mr. Fields’ father, an old steamboatman, who had run the Ohio river for a number of years, desiring to lead a more quiet life came out to Missouri in 1835, and settled in Monroe county, where he engaged in farming. He was a native of Pennsylvania, born near Pittsburg, and made his home in that State until his removal to Missouri. He was married in this State to Miss Mary C.  Edwards of Monroe county, but formerly of Kentucky. After living in this county for over 20 years he crossed into Ralls county and settled there, where they still reside. They had a family of seven children, namely: Catherine, Samuel C., Elizabeth, John D., Martha J., Abigail A. and Ella. Samuel C. Fields, the eldest son and subject of this sketch, was born in Monroe county, January 23, 1848, and was reared in this county. He was engaged in farming for a number of years after he grew up, but always had an inclination for business pursuits. Possessed of a studious mind and ambitious to obtain a respectable knowledge of books, he not only improved his mind to good advantage in school, but studied his book at home with great assiduity during his leisure hours. Later along, having an opportunity to engage in business, he became identified with mercantile life and has since had no cause to regret his identification with it. At Elizabethtown he has a good drug store with a well selected stock of drugs, medicine, etc., and has a large custom from the people tributary to this place. On the 9th of February, 1871, he was married to Miss Mary E. Hagan. They have five children: Mary A., Herbert E., Margaret M., John Elbert and Harriet E. Mrs. Fields is a member of the Catholic Church.

 

CHRISTOPHER G. HAYDEN

(Farmer, Post-office, Indian Creek). Among the many settlers who came into Monroe county from Kentucky, some 10 or 12 years before the war, was the family of which the subject of the present sketch is a worthy representative. His parents were James L. and Catherine (Gibbs) Hayden, his father a native of Kentucky, but his mother originally from Maryland. Both were reared in Washington county, of the former State, however, and they were married in that county. They lived there engaged in farming until 1850, when they came to Missouri and settled in the neighborhood in which Christopher G. Hayden now resides. The father died in this county a number of years ago, but the mother is dead. They made a good farm, on which they permanently resided, the father until his death. There were 11 children in the family, of whom but five are living: William H., Amelia, Christopher G., Louisa and John S. Christopher G. Hayden was about grown when the family came to Missouri, being 18 years of age, and three years afterwards, in Monroe county, February 6, 1853, he was married to Miss Susan M. Peirceall. Nine children have followed this union, six of whom are living: Mary L., Joseph C., Elizabeth C., Thomas B., Malinda J. and Annie L. Mr. Hayden has followed farming from boyhood, to which he was brought up, and by industry, a frugal manner of living and good management, has achieved success as a farmer. He has an excellent place of 220 acres, all well improved and one of the valuable farms of Indian Creek township.  Personally, and as a citizen, he holds a worthy place among the best class of people in the north-eastern part of the county and his family is well respected.

 

GEORGE B. LAWRENCE

(Farmer and Stock-raiser, Post-office, Indian Creek). On account of the conformation of the country, in the movement of emigration westward, especially from the South Atlantic States between the Chesapeake Bay and the Peninsula of Florida, to the country west of the Ohio and of the Mississippi below Cairo, Kentucky became a sort of gateway or filter, as it were, through which all, or nearly all, must pass to reach this western region. Hence it is that in Missouri, Illinois and Indiana, and in all this part of the country, we find that most of the people whose families were originally settled in the South Atlantic States, stopped for one or more generations in Kentucky. Here we see people, some from North or South Carolina and some from Virginia or Maryland, or even from Alabama or Tennessee, whose families lived for a greater or less period of years in the Blue Grass State in the course of their migration westward. So it was with the family of which the subject of the present sketch is a representative. His people were originally from the Carolinas, and his father, William Lawrence, was born in North Carolina, but the Lawrences became early settlers of Kentucky. There he was married to Miss Margrey Luckey, formerly from South Carolina, and in 1832 they came to Missouri and settled in Monroe county. Here the father followed farming with success until his death, which occurred in 1848. The mother died in 1851. They had five children: Louisa, Charity, Agnes, Rachel and George B. George B. Lawrence, the subject of this sketch, was born in Iredell county, N. C., April 1, 1824, and at the age of 25 was married in Monroe county, Mo., to Miss Sarah E. Engle, originally of Virginia, but reared in this county. Nine children have followed this union, five of whom are living: Mary O., Eliza J., James 0., Sarah, Agnes C., Leroy and Lloyd H., three of whom are married, Mr. Lawrence has followed farming and has done well in his chosen occupation. He has a good farm of 360 acres, on which he raises considerable grain, stock and other products for the markets. He is in easy circumstances, having a good property without being in debt to any one.

 

JAMES E. McLEOD

(Of McLeod & Hardevick, General Merchants, Post-office, Clapper). Whoever has read the biographical division of this work, as well as all who are acquainted with the people of this county, are not unfamiliar with the honorable record in life made by the father of the subject of this sketch, Hon. Patrick H. McLeod, one of the prominent citizens of the county. An outline of his life and of his family antecedents has been given in the sketch, at the head of which stands his name, on a former page of this volume. It is unnecessary therefore to repeat here what is said there. Suffice it to say that James E. McLeod is a worthy representative of the family whose name he bears. He was born in Montgomery county, Md., before his father left that county for the West, March 1, 1844, and was therefore six years of age when the family settled in Monroe county. Reared in this county, he obtained a sufficient education for business purposes, and would doubtless have taken a more advanced course had not the war unsettled everything in this part of the State. Although still a mere boy when the war broke out he joined his fortunes with the South and became a soldier in the State guard under Jackson’s call. Faithfully through the long struggle he did his duty as a defender of Southern rights and institutions. Since the war he has been actively engaged with the business duties and responsibilities of life.  As a member of the firm with which he is at present connected, he gives his whole attention to, the business, and by his excellent business qualifications and personal popularity contributes his full share to the marked success which has characterized the career of the firm. They carry a full line of general merchandise, and doing business on a cash basis, absolutely so, so far as purchases are concerned, they sell at the lowest prices possible, and thus secure a large trade. Dealing fairly with their customers, when once a patron begins to trade with them he almost invariably continues their permanent customer. Mr. McLeod has been twice married. His first marriage was to Miss Susan Dixon. After her death, in 1882, he was married to Miss Estelle Freeman, his present wife. She is a member of the church.

 

CHARLES W. MONTGOMERY

(Farmer, Post-office, Clapper). One of the industrious farmers and well respected citizens of Indian Creek township must be set down as the subject of the present sketch, Charles W. Montgomery. Mr. Montgomery, a son of William P. and Mary (Yates) Montgomery, was born in Washington county, Ky., September 1, 1823, and was reared in that county. His parents are both now deceased; his father died of cholera during the terrible cholera epidemic of 1833. His mother survived until 1874 and died of dropsy. They had six children, four of whom are living: William P., Mary R., Martha E. and Charles W. Montgomery, who, 11 years after his father’s death, December 20, 1844, was married to Miss Helen M. Hagen of Kentucky. This union lasted many years and to them were given 12 children. But at last the shadow of death fell upon their pathway and beneath its dark pall the spirit of the devoted and beloved wife took its flight to its home beyond the skies. Mr. Montgomery’s present wife was a Miss Mary E. Grant, of the same name as the great General in the Union armies of the great war, and probably distantly related to him. She was born and reared in Marion county, Ky. Mr. Montgomery, who has resided in Monroe county for many years, and is one of the sterling good citizens of Indian Creek township, has a neat farm of about 100 acres, in an excellent state of cultivation and improvement. By his first wife he has 10 children living: Mary C., Martha A., Sarah F., James S., John H., Elizabeth J., Alice I., Charles W., George E. and Thomas G.

 

ROBERT F. PARSONS

(Farmer, Post-office, Indian Creek). A year before Mr. Parsons’ birth his father, Squire Clement Parsons, and family, including his wife, whose maiden name was Eliza Blanford ?, and their elder children, or those then in esse, ? went to Louisiana from Kentucky, remained there five years, then came to Missouri in May, 1841, and settled in Monroe county, where Squire Parsons made a good farm, and lived a useful and respected life until his death, which occurred in 1865. His wife died in 1875. They had 10 children, eight of whom are living: James C., Mary J., John H., William E., Elizabeth C., Thomas S., Joseph M. and Robert F. The father was for some years justice of the peace in this county, and acquitted himself in the discharge of the duties of that office with great credit. Robert F. Parsons was born in this county November 15, 1841. After he grew up he was married on the 17th day of January, 1865, to Miss Mary M. Winsatt. They have seven children: James W., Thomas E., Clary V., Mary A., Alfred W., Alfonsus and George H. Mr. Parsons’ father having been a life-long farmer, the son not only inherited a taste for agricultural life, but by long experience on the farm became so well attached to it that he has made it his permanent calling. Mr. Parsons has a farm of 180 acres, comfortably improved.

 

CAPT. JOHN D. PIERCEALL

(Farmer and Stock-raiser, Post-office, Indian Creek).  During Gov. Phelps’ administration in this State, Capt. Pierceall, who had been chiefly instrumental in organizing a company under the militia laws of the State, was commissioned by the chief executive of Missouri, Thomas C. Fletcher, commander of the company which he organized. Since then he has continued captain of this company, and under his command and discipline it obtained a wide and enviable reputation for its superior drill. Capt. Pierceall, one of the public spirited citizens of Indian Creek township, takes a commendable interest in everything calculated to advance the best interests of the community. He is one of the substantial farmers and stock-raisers of the county, and one of its energetic farmers. He has a good farm of nearly a quarter section of land, which, with his characteristic industry and good judgment, he has improved in an excellent manner. His place is one of the choice homesteads of the township. Capt. Pierceall is a worthy offshoot of the respected old Maryland family whose name he bears. His father, Joseph Pierceall, was born in Maryland, but when quite young was brought out to Marion county, Ky. In 1836 Joseph Pierceall was married in Kentucky to Miss Elizabeth Able, of Washington county, that State, but also originally from Maryland, and a relative of the well known Dan. Able, of St. Louis, who was likewise from the Chesapeake Bay State. There were 14 children by this union, seven of whom are living, Capt. John D. being the fifth in the family. He was born in Union county, Ky., January 14, 1827. In an early day his parents removed to Missouri and settled in Indian Creek township, Monroe county, where he grew to manhood. Capt. Pierceall received a good ordinary education in the country schools, and perhaps not less from natural inclination than from the fact that in an early day in this country there were but few other pursuits open to young men, he became a farmer, having been reared on a farm, which occupation he has since followed. April 9, 1850, he was married to Miss Delphena Wimsatt, also originally from Kentucky. She died, however, after the birth of two children. Capt. Pierceall’s present wife was a Miss Susan Yeager before her marriage. The two children by his first wife are Benedict J. and Laura A. There have been six children by his last wife, but only three are living: Ernest, James G. and Idella. The Captain and family are members of the Catholic Church.

 

WILLIAM J. PIKE

(Farmer, Post-office, Clapper). The mind and heart are the sources from which spring all our emotions, and they it is that test the measure of contentment and happiness which fall to our lot in this life, as well as determine the fate that is to overtake us when the body shall have crumbled to dust. And it will hardly be questioned by any one that our affections, our attachments to loved ones, have more to do with our happiness in this world than all other influences combined. What though a man prosper in material affairs and rise to fame in the general esteem, if his heart be torn and lacerated and his life be darkened by the shadows of sorrow from the loss of those nearest and dearest to him on earth? Who, with his accumulated millions and with all the honors that the world can bestow, when bending over the form of a dying wife or child, or some one dearer than life itself, would not give all he has of wealth, fame and everything -to call back the fast waning life to health and happiness again? Then, is he not to be congratulated, is he not to be ranked among the most fortunate of men who, entering life at its Eastern threshold, has made much of its journey and passed over to where the sun goes down, without from the first bingo called upon to witness the death or to bear the loss of some loved one? Such has been the happy fortune of the subject of the present sketch. Already well along in life, he was married in 1853, and himself one in a family of 13, has been blessed with 10 children of his own, all of whom are living, as well as their loving and devoted mother, and 13 grandchildren besides. From the morning of his long and happy married life the shadow of death has never hovered over his household, nor over the families of any of his children.

“The knell, the shroud, the mattock and the grave,

The deep damp vault, the darkness and the worm,”

 

have never thrown the pall of sorrow across his life -the weeping form of grief, white robed and head bowed under the dark long veil of sorrow, has never entered his home. With the Penate of domestic affection ever supreme in his household, in leading a life of unbroken contentment with his surroundings, his lot is one to be envied by the best and wisest of men. True he has not become the master of great wealth, nor has he made nor desired to make a high sounding name in the world, but pursuing the even tenor of his way, he is living out the measure of the sands of life assigned him with as little to regret and as much to be satisfied with here and to hope for hereafter as seldom falls to the fortune of men. It is not to be looked for in this sketch that the great service a family like the one of which we are now speaking performs to society, to government, to humanity, should be pointed out or dwelt upon. From the beginning there has been no higher, wiser, more divine law than the one expressed in the command - “Go forth, multiply and replenish the earth.” Living in obedience to this great law, to the country no less than to the interest of humanity and the divine economy of Heaven, the subject of the present sketch is performing the full measure of his obligation. To the State he is giving citizens to upbuild its prosperity and, if needs be, to defend it in times of danger, and in every aspect of man’s relation to life he is worthily subserving the interests of humanity. The sketch of such a citizen, therefore, appropriately finds a place in this volume. William J. Pike was born in Nelson county Ky., December 7, 1827, and was a son of Bernard and Mary L.(Shircliff) Pike, being the eldest in their family of 13 children. When he was quite young, his father, a farmer by occupation, removed to Meade county, that State, where William J. was reared. The father was for many years, and until his death, one of the most highly respected citizens of that county. He never held an office of a political nature. William J. Pike became a farmer, following the example of his father, continuing that pursuit in Meade county until his removal to Missouri in March 1853. Meanwhile, on the 18th of October, 1853, he was married to Miss Elizabeth M. Yager. As has been said, 10 children have blessed this union, namely, as follows: Mary E., Cordelia E., William H., Martha J., John T., Teresa F., James M., Magdaline, Agnes and Josephine. Several of the elder of these are married and have families of their own, there being 13 of the grandchildren. Mr. Pike feels encouraged to hope that if he lives to a ripe old age he will have the pleasure before the sun of his earthly career goes down of presiding over a family union of 20 sons, sons-in-law, daughters and daughters-in-law, and no less than 100 grandchildren, making in all, including himself and good wife, 122. A family union even larger than this was not an uncommon thing in the good old days of the patriarchs and with the blessing of Heaven it is still not impossible. Mr. Pike has a good homestead of his own, made by the sweat of his own honest brow and now he is living in comparative ease, a life of singular contentment and happiness under the shade of his own vine and fig tree. He and wife and his elder children are worthy believers in and followers after him whose word that can not be broken has been given that those who believe in me shall not perish, but shall live eternal in the home not made with hands, wherein there is no sorrow nor sadness nor parting of loved ones.

 

BENEDICT J. YAGER

(Farmer, Post-office, Clapper). Probably the principal reason that the Western people have become distinguished for their enterprise and push, or what is commonly called go-ahead-ativeness, is that they are descendants of the brave-hearted men who, taking their lives in their hands, had the courage to push out into the wilderness of this Western country, among savages and all the dangers of pioneer life. None but men of courage and character could do this, for let us take it to ourselves and reflect whether we would be willing now to go into the wilds of Australia or South America, away from all civilization and with rifle and ax drive out the Aborigines at the risk of our own lives and clear away forests to make homes and found States. Mr. Yager’s ancestors were of this brave-hearted class of men. His grandfather was one of the pioneers of the wilds of Kentucky, and his father, Francis E. Yager, was a pioneer in Illinois and an early settler in Missouri. His father was born and reared in Kentucky and lived there until after his marriage, Miss Elizabeth Sims becoming his wife. Two years after Benedict J.’s birth, he having been born in Meade county, January 11, 1832, the family struck out across the wilderness for Illinois and settled in Hancock county. There they lived until 1842, when they came to Missouri, locating in Monroe county, where the father subsequently died. He opened a good farm here, on which the subject of this sketch and his mother still reside. There were 14 children in the family, 10 of whom are living. Benedict J. was reared on the farm and also learned the milling business, for his father, besides being a farmer, was an energetic miller. Benedict J. Yager has never married.  He has resided on the homestead from boyhood and still conducts the place. Mr. Yager is one of the well respected citizens of Indian Creek township.