[page 527] Spencer Collings, M.D., Elmo, was born in Shelby County, Kentucky, September 13, 1828, and when four years of age he accompanied his parents on their move to Putnam County, Indiana, where he was reared. He was educated in the schools of Greencastle, and when in his nineteenth year he began the study of medicine and attended the Keokuk Medical Institute. During the fall of 1848, he began the practice of his profession in Mercer County, Missouri, where he continued till 1862, after which he was engaged at his profession in various localities in Missouri till October, 1873. At that period Dr Collings came to Nodaway County, Missouri, and located at Lamar Station, remaining there till 1878, when he took a trip, lasting over three months, to California and a number of the territories. He also at the same time visited the British Islands. After this journey he again resumed his practice at Lamar Station, and in 1880, he came to his present location, and erected the first dwelling in the town. Dr Collings is a member of Canada Lodge, No. 329, A.F. and A.M. He was married September 7, 1847, to Miss Susanna Evans, who was born in North Carolina, November 13, 1831. She died Noveber 9, 1862. They had six children, four of whom are now living: Francis A., Julia A., Octava C., and Burr. The doctor was again married May 1, 1872, to Miss Mary J. Henderson, a native of Caster County, Kentucky, where she was born February 22, 1845. They have one child: Spencer. Dr and Mrs Collings are members of the Church of God. The former is also a minister of that church.

[note from Pat O'Dell - I believe that this Collings family was from Middlesex Co., N.J. to western Penn after 1750. Spencer Collings' parents were Spencer Collings and Catherine Lucas (1783-1834) who were married in 1797. Catherine's father was Abraham Lucas of Fayette Co, Pa to Nelson and Shelby Cos, Ky about 1788. Abraham Lucas' father was Thomas Lucas.]

[page 538] Lincoln Twp - John Mills Lamar was born on the 6th day of July, 1804, in Anderson County, Tennessee, where he grew to manhood. He attended the schools in his native county, and acquired a substantial elementary education. During the year 1826, he was married to Hanie Smith, also a resident of Anderson County, Tennessee, but a native of Virginia. In the year 1836, Mr Lamar recruited a company of volunteers in Anderson County, of which he was chosen captain, and with his company joined one of the last expeditions which took part in the Floridian War. In 1839, he moved from the State of Tennessee to Hendricks County, Indiana; in 1841, from that state to Platte County, Missouri, and in the summer of 1842, he located with his family just west of the Nodaway River, in the east edge of the Hutson settlement, now Lincoln Township. At this date his family consisted of himself, wife and five children, then under the age of fifteen years. His children were named respectively, Rufus, Napoleon B., Charles J., Rutela E., and Sarah. From the date of his settlement in this county, he began to adapt himself to his new home and surroundings. With commendable zeal he sought by correspondence to induce emigration from his native state to his adopted country. At the same time he bent every energy to civilize the then wild frontier. In the month of August, 1843, his wife Hanie, and eldest son Rufus, both died. They were the first whilte persons buried in the settlement. In the winter of 1843-4, Mr Lamar taught a school in one of the newly erected cabins, which was attended by all of the children of the settlement. During the same winter he was appointed justice of the peace by the County Court of Holt County, the settlement then being a part of that county. In the fall of 1844, he was elected to fill the same office, and acted in that capacity for several years, and until after the territory constituting the Hutson settlement was attached to Nodaway County. Many of his official acts appear upon the pages of the first records of this county, while from a private diary by him kept, appear many official acts which ante date all public records of this county. From this record we extract the following entry, which will show the exact date of the first marriage in this county as it is now bounded:

The first wedding: "Be it remembered that on the 15th day of February, A.D. 1844, I, John M. Lamar, an acting justice of the peace in and for the Township of Benton, Holt County, Missouri, did solemnize the rites of matrimony between Abijah Hampton and Nancy Oster, and join them together in wedlock as husband and wife. Given under my hand this 16th day of February, A.D. 1844. J.M. LAMAR, Justice of the Peace."

[page 539] Similar entries of other marriages and offical acts which took place in the Hutson settlement (now Lincoln Township), while it constituted a part of Holt County, and before the organization of Nodaway County, are found in this diary. Some years after the death of his first wife, Mr Lamar was married to Susannah Spencer, and during the first years of the settlement, his cabin was the home of all immigrants in search of homes in his neighborhood. We note in his diary the date of all arrivals and departures, to and from his section of the county.A welcome was extended to those who came, a regret followed those departing. Mr Lamar took a lively interest in the welfare and prosperity of his neighboring settlers, and never hesitated to espouse the cause of the weak or oppressed, if he felt their cause was just. In 1845, he composed and reduced to manuscript the account of a difficulty which arose between two settlers over a disputed claim. This narrative was entitled "Chronicles of the West."* [*see page 347] In style and spirit it was quite characteristic of the author. In 1846, Mr Lamar was elected and commissioned Captain of the Second Company, First Battalion, Fifteenth Regiment, Second brigade, Fifteenth Division Missouri Militia, and served in the regiment under Colonel Amos Graham, of Nodaway County, Missouri, for some time, but the regiment was never called into active service. From 1846 up to 1860, he filled the offices of justice of the peace and constable of his township. In 1855, he was one of the commissioners who located the county seat of Atchison County, at Rock Port, Missouri. He aided all enterprises which promised to benefit his county. In politics he was a firm Democrat. As far back [as] 1849, we note in his diary the following entry: "The winter of 1848-9, the hardest winter ever known in Missouri, sent as a curse on the American people for electing General Taylor to the presidency of the United States of America, and as a preface to his administration." Many like entries show the tenacity with which he grapsed a tenet. Though pronounced in his views, he rarely took an active part in political canvasses. He rather accorded to all mankind the unqualified freedom to think, speak and act according to the dictates of an individual judgment. During the late war Mr Lamar, to some extent, sympathized with the seceding states; however, he took no part in the confict. After the war, some years, he opened a store of general merchandise in connection with his son, at Six Corners, in Lincoln Township, and continued in that business up to the time of his death. On the 16th day of August, 1877, at the residence of his son, Charles J. Lamar, he died; and midst a throng of friends and relatives the remains of the old pioneer were conveyed to the beautiful hill-top, just west of the Nodaway River, where, among the forest trees, they were laid away to rest beside the graves of his first beside the graves of his first wife and child, who had there slept for thirty-four years. "Disturb him not; let him pass peaceably."