were then ordered South to Fort Henry and Fort Donelson. Mr. Cole
began to see active service during the siege of Fort Donelson, and after
the fall of that post proceeded to Shiloh. Subsequently the command
made an effort to reach Vicksburg by way of Holly Springs, but the
1354 HISTORY OF NORTHWEST MISSOURI
Confederates cut off their line of communication, and they had to
retreat, and finally reached the vicinity of Vicksburg by way of the
Mississippi River. In front of Vicksburg the Union forces were em-
ployed in digging a canal to change the course of the river, and later
Mr. Cole's command was engaged in the siege of the city, being posted
southeast of the river stronghold. Mr. Cole says the happiest day of
his life was when Pemberton surrendered the Vicksburg garrison. After
some further employment in the campaigns of Mississippi, the Four-
teenth Regiment joined Grant's army at Chattanooga, and was present
but not in action during the battles of Missionary Ridge and Lookout
Mountain. In the general advance toward Atlanta, the Fourteenth was
assigned to McPherson's corps, and fought in the battle of Resaca, and
in many of the other engagements during the almost continuous fighting
between Chattanooga and Atlanta, including the battles of Buzzard's
Roost, Dalton, Ringgold Gap, Peachtree Creek, where General McPher-
son was killed, and then in front of Atlanta on July 22d and again on
July 28, and finally at Jonesboro. Jonesboro was the last engagement
in which Mr. Cole participated. He had enlisted on September 7, 1861,
and his three year term expired just before the fall of Atlanta, but he
remained twenty days over time because of inability to get through the
lines to the North. Mr. Cole was discharged at Big Shanty. Although
he had many close calls he came out unwounded. At Vicksburg he was
on one occasion stationed behind a clump of sprouts as a sharpshooter
using his gun against a picket in the rebel fort, and was fired on in return
and the ball passed through the edge of his cap just above his ear. At
Shiloh Mr. Cole's cartridge box was pierced by a'pullet.
After leaving the army the veteran soldier, though still under age,
returned to Illinois. Having no trade, he took Horace Greeley's advice
to "go West and grow up with the country," and thus arrived in Har-
rison County, Missouri, in 1865. His circumstances were such that he
could be classed only as a "laboring man," he had no money, and unable
to find employment, in a short time his feet were almost on the ground.
Through the kindness of Mr. Casebolt, who is still living in this vicnity,
he received a pair of boots, and thus protected his bare feet until the
winter was over. That winter was spent in the home of William H.
Bowler, a son-in-law of the man with whom Mr. Cole had spent his
youth in Illinois.
With the opening of the spring of 1866, Mr. Cole rented a farm,
and with one horse which he owned and one that he borrowed put in a
crop, and as his efforts were seconded by a propitious season, he seemed
fairly started toward prosperity. Hogs were worth at that time 8 cents
a pound, and he believed it wise to buy hogs and feed his corn to them.
Corn was so cheap as almost to be a drug on the market, but after he
had fed all his own crop and had bought 500 bushels more, the price of
hogs had declined so that he was compelled to kill them and peddle the
pork around his home vicinity at 4 cents a pound. Thus his first
year proved almost disastrous, and he was left deeply in debt. He still
possessed the sympathy and confidence of his neighbors, and the fol-
lowing year rented a farm from Mr. Baber, raised another crop of corn,
on the half shares, and again, on the advice of Mr. Baber, bought and
fed hogs, and this year conditions were in his favor, and he more than
made up for the losses of the previous season. With this varying suc-
cess Mr. Cole continued as a renter for three years, and then bought
eighty acres of land in Sherman Township. Forty acres were under
fence and a poor house that deserved the name of shanty was the prin-
cipal improvement. Mr. Cole engaged to pay $20 an acre
HISTORY OF NORTHWEST MISSOURI 1355
for the property, and by several seasons of unflagging work struggled
out from under the load of debt, and after that his progress toward
success was marked by only the ordinary incidents and ups and downs
of the Missouri farmer. The farm which he bought more than forty
years ago was his permanent home, and he kept increasing his acreage
until his accumulations were measured by 600 acres, and he
continued as active manager and supervisor of this large estate until
1902. That year Mr. Cole moved to the City of Bethany, and bought
the old Doctor Vandivert home, which had later been the home of Gen-
eral Prentiss. Aside from his large farming interests Mr. Cole was
for a time interested in the Cole hardware store at Bethany, and was
one of the organizers and is now president of the Harrison County Bank
of Bethany.
Although in politics he has been a vigorous advocate of the economic
policies maintained by the republican party, Mr. Cole has been chiefly
characterized through his. strict temperance views, and has refused to
vote for any man who uses alcoholic drinks as a beverage. He has
served as one of the trustees of the Methodist Episcopal Church, and
since 1865 has been identified with the Independent Order of Odd Fel-
lows, in which organization he has served as noble grand.
On May 31, 1871, Mr. Cole was married in Harrison County to Miss
Ellen Meek. Her parents were "Rev. George W. and Mary (Chockley)
Meek, her father a United Brethren minister who came to Missouri from
Indiana. Mrs. Cole was the third in a family of seven children. The
children of Mr. and Mrs. Cole are : William C, a hardware merchant
of Bethany ; Charles L., who is now active manager of the home farm ;
George E., a merchant at Carnegie, Oklahoma; Maud and Roy, twins,
the former the wife of Dod Planck, a Sherman Township farmer, and
Roy, a farmer in Harrison County.
Henry Lewis George has been identified with the business life of
St. Joseph for a period of forty-five years, and during this time it has
been his privilege to realize many of his worthy ambitions and through
the exercise of good judgment and business sagacity to wrest from his
opportunities financial and general success. In Ms evolution from gro-
cer 's clerk at a meager salary to the head of one of St. Joseph 's leading
commission enterprises he has supplied an inspiring example of the
compelling power of strong determination and perseverance and the high
worth of homely, sterling virtues. Mr. George was born in the City of
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, in November, 1849, and his family history,
as traced in a genealogy now in Mr. George's possession, runs back sev-
eral centuries in Austria. His great-great-great-grandfather, John
George George, who spelled the name Jorger, was born in Austria about
the year 1686, came to America with his brother Peter and here founded
the family in Pennsylvania, where they were granted all the privileges
allowed natural born British subjects. He became a land owner and
spent the remainder of his life in Pennsylvania, where he passed away
at a ripe old age, in the faith of the Lutheran Church. Peter George
and his son, Joseph, served in the Revolutionary war, in Capt. Thomas
Fitzsimmons' company, in the Third Battalion, commanded by Col. John
Cadwalader, and participated in the battles of Trenton, Princeton, Bran-
dywine and Monmouth and wintered at Valley Forge. The Third Bat-
talion was delegated by General Washington for special service. Peter
George subsequently took an active part in public affairs in Philadel-
phia, where he was married to Sybella Rennin or Renninger. Joseph
George, who conducted the Fox Chase Inn at Philadelphia prior to the
1356 HISTORY OF NORTHWEST MISSOURI
Revolution, married Anna Barbara Somers, a daughter of Henry and
Veronica Somers.
The family name in Pennsylvania has been variously spelled, as
Jorg, Jorge, Jarger, Jurigher, Jerger, Yerger, Yeriger, Yorger, Gerger,
Georger and George. Peter George, the great-great-grandfather of
Henry L. George, was born about 1720, in Philadelphia. Among his
sons was Joseph George, who was born in that city about 1752, and the
latter 's son, also named Joseph George, was born there October 24, 1785.
He served as a soldier during the War of 1812 from August 26, 1814,
until January 20, 1815, and was a lifelong resident of Philadelphia,
where he was engaged in the mercantile business, handling leather goods
and accessories.
Joseph Stern George, the father of Henry Lewis George, was born
in the City of Philadelphia, January 21, 1827, and was a natural me-
chanic, working at one of the skilled trades as a young man and later
becoming prominent as a city official of Philadelphia, where he spent his
entire life, dying at the age of seventy-seven years. He married Har-
riet Elizabeth Mulford, who was born of English parents, and she died
at the early age of twenty-five years, Henry L. and Harriet being their
only children.
Henry Lewis George was reared and educated in Philadelphia and
New York, and commenced his active career as a grocer's clerk at the
age of fourteen years, when he received a salary of $2 per week.
After one year he became employed with a firm engaged in the manu-
facture of patent medicines, but when abo.ut fifteen years of age com-
menced business with wholesale dealers in hosiery, underwear and gloves,
and continued with them for more than five years. At that time Mr.
George came to St. Joseph, Missouri, in which city he arrived on the
9th day of September, 1869, and immediately entered the employ of
R. L. McDonald & Co., with whom he continued for a period of twenty-
seven years. In 1896 he engaged in the business of representing dif-
ferent mills in the sale of their products, and this has continued to be
his line of endeavor to the present time. The industry, purpose and
ideals of Mr. George have tended to the most substantial in commercial,
industrial and business life, as well as to the most elevating in ethical,
educational and civic growth. He belongs to the constructive class of
men, and to the non-visionary conservatives who hold fast to old truths
until the excellence of new ones has been demonstrated. On the other
hand, he is progressive and enterprising, keeps in close touch with the
progress of the world, and has the courage to grasp opportunities and
the ability to make the most of them.
Mr. George was married January 23, 1884, to Miss Maggie Beattie
McDonald, who was born in St. Joseph, daughter of Rufus L. and Mary
(Wilson) McDonald, and to this union there have come three children:
Mary Marjorie, who is the wife of Frazer L. Ford; Rufus Lewis, who
died in infancy; and Harriet Louise, who is attending school. Mr.
George is a member of Charity Lodge, F. & A. M. ; Mitchell Chapter
No. 89, R. A. M. ; Hugh de Payne Commandery No. 51, K. T. ; St. Jo-
seph Council No. 9, R. & S. M. ; St. Joseph Lodge of Perfection No. 6 ;
Moila Temple, A. A. 0. N. M. S., St. Joseph ; St. Joseph Chapter Rose
Croix No. 4, A. A. S. R. ; Albert Pike Council of Kadosh No. 4, A. A.
S. R. ; St. Joseph Consistory No. 4, A. A. S. R. He is the oldest past
master of his lodge, and is past high priest of Mitchell Chapter. Mr.
George is a member of the Commercial Club, of which he was for four
years president, is a member of the Sons of the Revolution, the Good
Government League, and is also connected with the Benton and Country
HISTORY OF NORTHWEST MISSOURI 1357
Clubs, in all of which he has been chief executive. He is an official
member of the First Presbyterian Church, which he has served as deacon
and elder for many years.
Mr. George is the owner of the most valuable collection of Indian
relics privately owned in the United States, an account of which recently
appeared in the Kansas City Star, from which we quote the following :
"Because a small basket, purchased ten years ago from an Indian res-
ervation, merely as a souvenir of his Western trip, turned out to be a
rare specimen, Harry L. George, of St. Joseph, Missouri, realized that
the original Indian types of industry and art were rapidly passing and
he began his collection of specimens of the North American tribes'
handiwork, which is recognized as one of the most complete private col-
lections in the United States. Mr. George places no price upon it. 'I
could only estimate the sum of money I have spent in obtaining my
specimens,' he says, 'and that gives no idea of the real value. Many
of the pieces were made by tribes now extinct, and of course all of
them will increase in value with time. In starting my collection I
found that fifty-eight different tongues were spoken among the North
American Indians, and my original intention was to get representative
baskets from each of these families. But several of these are now extinct
and among the fiftj-three now in existence some, owing to their geo-
graphical location, are not now basketmakers. Thus, in order to get relics
from each tribe, I have been forced to add pottery and bead- work to
my collection. I have picked up many of my specimens during my
travels through the West and Southwest, but most of them I have
bought through agents and friends. I have obtained my specimens
from every reservation in the United States and Alaska.' St. Joseph
has no public museum and Mr. George has had a part of his collection
placed in cases in the main public library. One of the central public
schools has another portion of it, and the remainder Mr. George has
in his home. The collection shows clearly to what almost unlimited
uses the basket was put by uncivilized man. It was used for holding
water, food and other precious objects in use in everyday life, for gather-
ing articles of commerce and transporting them, for furniture and cloth-
ing. The woven receptacles played an important part in the love affairs
of the dusky people, in their religion, in their family life, and in the
weird ceremonials they produced. Before the coming of the white man,
basketry supplied nearly every necessity. The wealth of an Indian
family was reckoned by the number and the beauty of the baskets they
owned, and the highest virtue of woman was in her ability to make them.
It was the most expert woman in basketry who brought the highest price
when sold in marriage.
"Among the ceremonial baskets in Mr. George's collection, perhaps
the most interesting are his twenty-four tiny witch baskets, the largest
of which, feather trimmed and greatly ornamented, measures two and
one-half inches in diameter, and the smallest one, woven with a black
and white design, is five thirty-seconds of an inch. It is indeed mar-
velous basketwork when one realizes what short, fat fingers have woven
the intricate and smoothly perfect little models. These special baskets
were made by the Porno tribe of Northern California. In the collection
are a number of their religious baskets which show the care and pains-
taking labor which must have been expended upon their construction.
There are several specimens used by the Hopi Indians of Northeastern
Arizona in their famous dances. There are several ceremonials
made bv the Hupa Indians of California, of which there are no dupli-
voi. m— 5 "
1358 HISTORY OF NORTHWEST MISSOURI
cates and which are therefore very valuable. There is a basket with
peach-stones carved and marked for dice. The game was played exclu-
sively by the women. For a dice tray they used a large fine basket
tray. Baskets played an important role in the etiquette of the red
men. The Choctaw girls, in sending a gift of fruit or flowers, used a
heart-shaped or double basket to convey a sentiment of sincerity. Mr.
George has love baskets from several tribes and an exquisite specimen
of the wedding basket of the Pomos. Specimens of cooking baskets no
longer obtainable are found in the collection. They were of course not
put over a fire. The food was placed in them and then clean, hot stones
were put in. The heat from these stones, combined with constant stir-
ring, cooked the food. These baskets are made of split cedar roots.
Among the most fantastic specimens are baskets trimmed with shells,
and other hard substances. The feather seems to have been one of the-
most used basket decorations. The plant materials used vary with the
geographical location of the tribes. Dyes used in basket making were
made from roots and pigments of the earth. Among the most beautiful
and interesting of the carrying baskets are the pappoose baskets. There
are nineteen cradles and several miniature cradles which the Indian chil-
dren used to carry their dolls in. Two Pima carrying baskets, one for a
child and one for an adult, are beautiful examples of lace work among
the Indians. These burden-bearing baskets consist of a framework of
poles, about which a bag or bowl is woven of Yucca palm strings. The
sticks are carefully wrapped with hair. These baskets are fastened to the
forehead when carried by a beautifully beaded band.
"Mr. George's object in the beginning was the collection of only
baskets, but he found so many rare and beautiful Indian specimens of
other articles, that his collection of these is as large or larger than that
of the baskets. He has specimens of every sort of ornament, imple-
ment and dish used by the Alaska Indians. His collection of Indian
necklaces, each with a history of its own, some of them known, is almost
complete in itself. The claws and bones of animals and birds, beads
and bits of abalone pearl and bright feathers, are the materials used
in the making of these."
John E. Smith. The career of John E. Smith in Harrison County
covers the period between the era of the log cabin and the undeveloped
prairie, and the present day of the most modern improvements and fine
fertile farms. Mr. Smith is now engaged in successful agricultural pur-
suits in White Oak Township, his home being located in section 11, town-
ship 63,' range 29, Harrison County, and was born in a log cabin in the
same community, December 30, 1866, his parents being Edward and
Frances R. (Clay tor) Smith.
Edward Smith was born in 1826, in the State of Missouri, and
acquired a scant education in the country schools. He came to Harrison
County prior to the outbreak of the war between the North and the
South, but did not serve in that struggle, although he had previously
had military experience as a soldier during the Mexican war. Mr. Smith
came to Harrison County from one of the counties of this Northwest
Missouri section, perhaps Daviess County, where he had been brought
up from a child, and where he had entered land which he exchanged
with his brother for his first home in section 11, White Oak Township.
His final home was in section 2, and he came to be one of the large
landholders of his township, was chiefly engaged in stockraising and
feeding and was an occasional shipper to market. In politics he was a
democrat, but never sought public office. His religious affiliation was
HISTORY OF NORTHWEST MISSOURI 1359
with the Methodist Episcopal Church, South, and he took an active part
in religious affairs, being an officer in the Shady Grove Church. Edward
Smith was united in marriage with Miss Frances R. Claytor, a daughter
of Henry Claytor, and she is now seventy-three years of age) and lives
at New Hampton, Missouri. Mr. Smith died in 1900, the father of the
following children: Adaline, who married James Coleman, and died
at Saint Joseph, Missouri ; Price, who is a farmer of Bethany Township,
Harrison County; Sarah, who died single; John E., of this notice;
Thomas V., a resident of New Hampton ; Martha, also of New Hampton ;
Samuel A., a farmer of White Oak*Township ; Mary and May, twins,
the latter of whom lives in New Hampton, while the former died unmar-
ried.
Edward Smith was a son of Vincent Smith, who passed away in
Harrison County prior to the Civil war. He married Miss Sarah Wright,
who died at Blue Ridge, Harrison County, when nearly eighty years of
age, and they became the parents of the following children: Vincent,
who died in Harrison County and left a family ; Thompson, who passed
away in Greene County, Missouri, leaving one child ; Edward, the father
of John E. ; John W., a resident of Harrison County ; Oregon, who mar-
ried Andrew Graybill and lives near Hatfield, Missouri ; Isabel, who mar-
ried Alfred Thomas, and died at Blue Ridge ; Benjamin, a resident of
Greene County ; Sarelda, who married Noah Dotson and died in Harrison
County; Solomon, who is also deceased; Columbus, who lives at Saint
Joseph; Susan, who married Thomas Shackelton, of Excelsior Springs,
Missouri ; Marcus, of Springfield, Missouri ; and George, who died near
Springfield, the next to the youngest child.
John E. Smith received his education in the schools adjacent to his
childhood home, and as he grew up performed the services of a sort of
cowboy in caring for the family herds. When he entered upon his own
career he was past his majority and began life as a farmer, and so
ably have his affairs been conducted that he is now the owner of 238 acres
of fine land in section 11 and 285 acres in section 12, and it is practically
all in cultivation. His buildings are modern, commodious and substan-
tial, his machinery of the latest manufacture, and the entire appearance
of the farm is a reflection of its owner's enterprise and excellent man-
agement. Mr. Smith handles stock quite largely as a feeder and occa-
sional shipper, and is known as a good judge of cattle. He has a number
of business interests, these including holdings in the stock of the Bank
of New Hampton and of a mail order house in Minneapolis. Politically
he is a democrat, but his activities in this line have been confined to.
voicing his preferences through his vote. With his family he belongs
to the Methodist Episcopal Church, South.
Mr. Smith was married April 5, 1904, to Miss Hattie Bender, a
daughter of John W. and Margaret (Funk) Bender. Mr. Bender came
to Missouri from Indiana, and is of German stock, as was also his wife.
Of his twelve children, Mrs. Smith is the fifth in order of birth. Three
children have been born to Mr. and Mrs. Smith, namely : Clifton, Frances
and Kenneth.
William Van Leazenby. A resident of Harrison County since 1880,
and now a farmer near Ridgeway, William Van Leazenby came to this
part of Northwest Missouri from Pickaway County, Ohio, his native
place, he having been born near the town of Mount Sterling, Ohio, in
the same house in which his father's birth occurred, July 29, 1857. He
is the eldest son of Isaac Leazenby, who married Mary Tanner, a daugh-
ter of David Tanner, an agriculturist of Ohio. Isaac Leazenby was a
1360 HISTORY OF NORTHWEST MISSOURI
son of Joshua Leazenby, mentioned elsewhere in this work, in the history
of the old, well-known and honored family.
Isaac Leazenby was an agriculturist by vocation, and was an exhorter
and class leader of the Methodist Church. He was decidedly a man of
peace, and did much toward the prevention of trouble or animosity in
his neighborhood. An extravagant instance of his endeavor to accommo-
date a neighbor is shown in his loaning of his own wagon — when he was
really using it — to a neighbor and then sending his sons off to borrow
one elsewhere that his own work might be completed. He came to Mis-
souri in 1SS1 and lived near Ridgeway during the rest of his life, dying
January 21, 1887. His children were as follows: William Van, of this
review ; Amanda, who married Jacob Frost and died at Grant City, Mis-
souri; John W., of Ridgeway, who has served as county representative
to the Missouri General Assembly twice ; Charles C, of near Cainsville,
who is accounted one of the leading auctioneers of Harrison County: and
George, who is a resident and business man of Idaho.
William Van Leazenby grew up in his native locality and was edu-
cated in the district schools, and learned the vocation of his father, that
of farming. After his marriage, as long as he remained in Ohio, he
lived on the property adjoining his old home, but, in 1880, having friends
and relatives in Missouri, he came West as a means of improving his
condition and located first near Cainsville, in Harrison County. He had
a wife and child and money enough to make a payment on an eightj'-acre
farm that he purchased in that locality, buying an eighty-acre tract which
was partly improved. He remained on this land and farmed it until it
became worth double what he had paid for it, and he then disposed of