the outbreak of the War of 1812, in which he fought valiantly as a
soldier. Both he and his wife attained advanced years, and passed away
in Indiana, after a long period passed in farming. They were the parents
of fourteen children, namely: Elison; Alfred; William C. ; Lucy, who
died young ; Jesse ; Joseph, who died young ; Jonathan ; Rachel Simmons ;
Elizabeth Elliott ; Andrew Jackson ; Catherine ; Thomas Jefferson ;
Lafayette ; and Benjamin Franklin.
Jonathan Townsend received his education in the public schools of
Indiana, and remained on the homestead farm there until he reached
the age of nineteen years, at that time, in 1847, coming to Andrew
County, Missouri. Locating on a property two miles north of Savannah,
he continued to reside thereon and to add thereto until his retirement,
February 24, 1894, at which time he was the owner of 190 acres of land,
of which he disposed, and since, then has made his home at Savannah.
During the period of the Civil war Mr. Townsend served as a private
in the Missouri State Militia, under Col. William Herrin, and the last
year under Capt. John Majors of Savannah. He sustained the family
reputation for courage and military prowess, discharging his duties in a
manner that has always been characteristic, whether in war or peace. At
the age of eighty-seven years he is still in the enjoyment of perfect health
and has all his faculties, it even being unnecessary for him to wear
glasses. He attributes his long and healthy life to the fact that he has
always lived sensibly, has never been intoxicated and has never used
tobacco. He has been a great lover of home and simple things, and has
never played cards or danced. He has been a consistent democrat since
the time he cast his first vote for General Cass, but has never sought
public preferment. Fraternally, he is connected with the Masons, which
he joined before the Civil war. He has been a member of the Baptist
Church for sixty-seven years, and at this time is serving as deacon
thereof.
On January 24, 1849, Mr. Townsend was married to Miss Katie Ann
Landers, who was born in Piatt County, Missouri, and died in Andrew
County in 1861. Their children were as follows: William Burnett,_ a
resident of Andrew County ; Francis Marion, living at Whitesyille, Mis-
souri; James S., who is the owner of a large farm in the vicinity of
Cawood, Missouri ; Hamilton Smith, an undertaker and monument dealer
at Warrensburg; and Louisa Jane, who died as Mrs. Ephraim Todd,
leaving four children. Mr. Townsend was again married April 5, 1863, to
Miss Amanda J. Parker, who was born February 28, 1839, in Bartholomew
County. Indiana, and came West with her parents in 1855, the family
settling first in Nodaway County, Missouri, and three years later removing
to a farm west of Savannah. She was a daughter of William and Miriam
HISTORY OF NORTHWEST MISSOURI 1939
(Critchfield) Parker, the former a native of Kentucky and the latter of
Tennessee, and the parents of nine children. Three of Mrs. Townsend's
brothers, Reuben, Nathaniel and John, served as soldiers during the Civil
war, the first two in the Missouri State Militia, and the last-named in the
United States service. Reuben met a soldier 's death in battle at Spring-
field, Missouri. Four children have been born to Mr. and Mrs. Townsend :
Nathaniel, who died as a child ; one infant which died unnamed ; Elison
Eugene, who is a resident of Savannah; and Laura Nettie,, who is the
wife of John Rowe, living one and one-half miles north of Savannah.
Mr and Mrs. Townsend celebrated their golden wedding anniversary
April 5, 1913.
The XCIX Club, Trenton. A women's club with a record of
notable accomplishment and influence since its establishment is that
known as the XCIX Club in Trenton. While the club was originally
in purpose a study club, its aim and scope were soon broadened to bring
it into more vital relations with the life of the community. It is now not
only the medium through which its members work for their individual
advancement and culture, but also turn their united efforts to the
improvement and betterment of their home city.
The club was organized in February, 1899, and its name is derived
from the year of its establishment. The first president was Mrs. George
Hall. At first the membership was limited to fifteen, but later to twenty-
five, and in 1906 the study club feature was broadened to a department
club, comprising three departments: Home and education, art and
literature, history and music. At that time the membership was made
unlimited.
At the present time the chief object of achievement before the club
is to aid in the establishment of a Y. M. C. A. The first hundred dollars
subscribed to the fund was given by this club some years ago, and the
club's contributions have since been increased until they now aggregate
four hundred dollars. Besides this, much philanthropic and civic work
has been accomplished by the home and education department. This
includes the establishment of a children's reading room at the Jewett
Norris Library at a cost of $300; a contribution of fifty dollars to the
White Way; the annual gift to the Missouri Loan Scholarship Fund
which assists poor girls to secure a college education ; an annual gift to
the Charity Union • the contribution to the Monument to the Civil War
Veterans ; the inspection of dairies, bakeries, meat markets and groceries,
and the censoring of picture shows and pool halls.
The club has also done some effectual work in connection with the
public schools, and has conducted parents' and teachers' meetings which
have served to bring into closer relations the schools and the homes. The
Trenton Clean City Club, an outgrowth of the XCIX Club, provided a
public playground and installed drinking fountains in the public schools.
The club members on one Arbor Day visited the schools and made talks
on the planting of trees and the conservation of nature 's resources, and
at another time they observed the Safety First day.
The other departments of the club have studied the history, music,
art and literature of the United States and of most of the European
countries. Many of the musical programs have been worthy of mention,
including the "Evening with American Composers," and "Selections
from Grand Opera." The art and literature department secured the
Turner Art Exhibit and has given dramas by authors whose countries
were being studied. Guest day is the first of May and has been celebrated
by many unique social affairs; notably the May Day breakfast at the
1940 HISTORY OF NORTHWEST MISSOURI
Riverside Country Club and the Commercial Club Banquet at which
Governor Hadley was the guest of honor.
The motto of the club is : " Slumber not in the tents of your fathers ;
the world is advancing, advance with it. ' ' The club flower is the carna-
tion and the club colors red and white. A list of the past presidents
of the club is as follows : Mrs. Rachel Hall, Mrs. Nettie Hoffman, Mrs.
Ida Austin, Mrs. Sarah Steckman, Mrs. Lida M. Cook, Mrs. Sallie M.
Asher, Mrs, Sallie B. Patton, Mrs. Rachel Hall, Mrs. Bessie S. Witten,
Mrs. Carrie Rogers Clark, Mrs. Eva M. Wright, Mrs. Rose H. McG-rath,
Dr. Lulu Herbert, Dr. Erie Herbert, Mrs. Sallie M. Asher, Mrs. Carrie
Rogers Clark, Mrs. Bessie S. Witten, Mrs. Rose Preston, Mrs. Sarah
Steckman, Mrs. Pansy Prewitt McCollom and Mrs. Mae Brandt.
The club now has 100 members and is affiliated with the Missouri
State Federation and the General Federation of Women 's Clubs.
Homer Crockett. A representative of that class who have been most
efficient in bringing prosperity and in creating the modern twentieth
century conditions in Northwest Missouri, Homer Crockett has spent
his active career as a farmer, merchant and horseman, his chief reputa-
tion outside the county being due to the successful enterprise which he
conducts in partnership with his brother Nathan W. in the breeding
and raising of thoroughbred imported horses, jacks, jennets and mules.
In Platte Township of Andrew County is a community where the name
Crockett has been synonymous with enterprise and successful ability
since the early days. In section 14, in the same neighborhood as are
located other Crockett farms, is the home place of Homer Crockett.
Homer Crockett is the second of five children born to Milton and
Sarah (West) Crockett, who came out to Northwest Missouri in 1857
and were among the early settlers of Andrew County. Milton Crockett
was a fine character among the older settlers, and the chief facts in his
life and his lineage will be found in the sketch of Le Roy Crockett.
Homer Crockett was born in Seneca County, Ohio, August 2, 1855. and
has spent most of his life in Andrew County. During the war his parents
returned to Ohio, where his father enlisted and served in the Union
army. Homer Crockett lived on the old home farm until his marriage,
and has since been actively identified with farming with the exception of
four years during the '80s when he and his brother Wallace A. were in
partnership in merchandising at Whitesville. Homer Crockett occupies a
farm of 120 acres, and owns another eighty acres nearby, also 320 acres in
Hartley County, Texas. The home farm is the old Rodkey Place, formerly
owned by Mrs. Crockett's father. Since 1890 Mr. Crockett and his
brother Nathan have been engaged jointly in the business of breeding
Percheron horses, jacks and jennets, also high grade Tennessee and Ken-
tucky stock. Their enterprise has brought them a considerable reputa-
tion, and their animals have been exhibited as prize winners in a number
of shows and fairs. Homer Crockett has been a stockholder in the
Farmers Bank of Whitesville since its organization. He is known all
over this community as a capable man of affairs and an alert and public
spirited citizen, and a hard worker in any cause which he enlists. He is
a member of the Methodist Episcopal Church at Walnut Grove, in which
he is a trustee, and in politics is a republican.
On September 1, 1878, Homer Crockett married Jennie Rodkey, who
was born in Carroll County, Indiana, July 17, 1855, and came with her
parents to Andrew County in the spring of 1866. Her life since that time
has been spent on the home farm where she now lives with the exception
of four years in Whitesville while her husband was engaged in merchan-
dising there. Mrs. Crockett is a daughter of David and Elizabeth (Eller)
HISTORY OF NORTHWEST MISSOURI 1941
Rodkey, her father a native of Pennsylvania and her mother near Dayton,
Ohio. They were married in Ohio, from there moving to Carroll County,
Indiana, and her father came to Andrew County in 1865 and brought his
family in the following spring. Mrs. Crockett's mother died in 1879,
at the age of fifty-eight, and her father in 1883, at the age of sixty-two.
Mr. Rodkey was a carpenter by trade, an occupation he followed for a
number of years, but later engaged successfully in farming. He also
conducted a nursery, and supplied the young trees for a large number
of the early orchards in Andrew County. The five children in the Rodkey
family were : Lodiska, widow of J. A. Williams, of Kokomo, Indiana, and
she now resides in Bolckow, Missouri â– Newton, deceased ; Wirt, deceased ;
Mrs. Crockett ; and Esther, wife of Lyman Stingley, of King City. Mr.
and Mrs. Stingley formerly owned a 160 acre farm in this neighborhood,
just east of the Homer Crockett place, and he was a successful farmer
and stock raiser, handling a good many fine mules. In January, 1913,
however, he sold his farm and moved to King City, where he is now
living retired.
Mr. and Mrs. Crockett have three children : Maggie, the wife of C. 0.
Townsend, of Colorado Springs, Colorado, and they have one child,
Gladys ; the second child, a son, died in infancy ; Lena is the wife of Ewing
D. Clark, of Omaha. Nebraska, and has one son, Edwin D. Mrs. Clark
graduated from the Savannah high school and was one of Andrew
County's successful school teachers. She attended the Maclean School of
Expression and Dramatic Art in Chicago, Illinois, in 1912, and she has
won high honors for her ability. She was awarded the silver medal at the
W. C. T. LT. contest, and she afterward won the gold medal at the contest
held at Albany, Missouri. Mrs. Crockett takes much interest and is an
active worker in the Walnut Grove Methodist Episcopal Church, and has
been president of the Ladies Aid Society since its organization.
John W. Gresham. Many years of steady industry, growing pros-
perity and influential citizenship have marked the career of John W.
Gresham in Holt County. Mr. Gresham owns fine farming property
in Bigelow Township, and for a man who began life with little education
and who gave the benefit of his early struggling years to paying off debts
and supporting a family, he has well earned all the comforts and the
esteem which the world can bestow.
John W. Gresham was born in Johnson County, Missouri, July 13,
1857, but has lived in Holt County since infancy. His parents, John J.
and Elizabeth (Catron) Gresham, were the parents of seven children, one
of whom is now deceased. John J. Gresham, a farmer, came to Holt County
about 1858 and settled on land about two miles southwest of Bigelow.
It was an unimproved place, and for a number of years his labors were
directed to the clearing up of the land and to the establishment of a
home. About 1876 John J. Gresham made a trip to Wyoming, leaving
his wife and children on the farm. It was a disastrous expedition, and
the party with which he traveled turned back before reaching its destina-
tion, but they were overtaken by Indians and in the fight which ensued
John J. Gresham was killed, and his body never recovered. This calamity
befell when John W. Gresham was about nineteen years of age. At once
there devolved upon his shoulders the responsibilities of managing the
farm and assisting his mother and brothers and sisters in making a living
and paying off the debt which incumbered the homestead. Mr. Gresham
thus remained at home until his marriage, and afterwards his mother
lived with her younger sons.
After his marriage in 1879 Mr. Gresham began as a renter, worked
in that way for three years, and then bought seventy-seven acres com-
1942 HISTORY OF NORTHWEST MISSOURI
prising his present farm and also the forty acres on which his son Earl
now lives. It was improved land, but all the building has been done since
he took possession thirty-five years ago.
Mr. John W. Gresham is a member of the Methodist Episcopal
Church, is affiliated with the Woodmen of the World and the Fraternal
Union of America, and his course in both public and private affairs has
always identified him with the betterment and advancement of his com-
munity. He has served on the home school board, and is a democrat in
politics, with which party his father was also affiliated. As a farmer
Mr. Gresham is successful in the raising of stock and the staples of Holt
County. Mr. Gresham credits the success that he has won largely to the
possession of good health, industrious habits and honorable dealings with
his fellow men. His father was a man of exemplary habits, and never
used tobacco in all his life.
John W. Gresham married Belle Bridgeman, daughter of John W.
Bridgeman. They have one son, Allen Earl Gresham, who was born in
the village of Bigelow, Holt County, October 6, 1884. He was reared
and educated in his native county, obtained his schooling at Mound City
and Bigelow, and continued at home with his parents until his marriage.
He married Virginia Flowers, daughter of W. L. and Martha Ellen
(Dawson) Flowers. After his marriage he was located on the Frank
Sauer farm until 1914, and then moved to his present place of forty acres,
comprising a part of his father's estate in Bigelow Township. He does
a general farming business. Mr. and Mrs. Allen Earl Gresham are the
parents of three children, Farell F., Rex F. and Forest B., all of whom
were born in Holt County.
Charles W. Scott. Among the venerable citizens of Grundy County
whose lives have long since passed the mark of three score and ten. Charles
W. Scott, of Brimson, is worthy of mention. His life has been a long
and full one, including experiences in California during the "days of
old, the days of gold, the days of '49," as a soldier during the Civil war,
in which he won promotion for valiant service, and, in later years, as
a farmer and stock raiser whose energetic and well-directed efforts won
him material fortune, while his good citizenship won him personal esteem.
Today, at the age of more than eighty-one years, he goes about his daily
round of affairs, a striking and helpful example of a long life well lived.
Charles W. Scott was born August 2, 1833, in Daviess County, Mis-
souri, and is a son of John and Charlotte (Meeks) Scott, natives of
Virginia. His father's family included members who participated in the
War of 1812, while on his mother's side he is related to Joseph and Butler
Meeks, who many years ago went to the Hudson's Bay country, where
they engaged in hunting and trapping, and where many bearing the name
are still to be found. Mr. Scott obtained his education in the public schools
of Grundy County, but at the age of seventeen years the spirit of adven-
ture and the oft-repeated stories of the great fortunes to be secured in
the gold country called him to California, and he safely made the long
and hazardous journey across the plains. A short experience, however,
convinced him that money was not to be secured as quickly as he had
been led to believe, and he gave up the vocation of miner for that of
tender of a ranch. In 1853 Mr. Scott returned to Grundy County, and,
realizing the need of further education, attended Grand River College.
In that same year he entered upon his agricultural career by purchasing
eighty acres of land, locating in Grundy County and erecting a small
log cabin. This land, which cost him $2.50 per acre, he improved, and
was able, in 1856, to dispose of it at a good price. He next moved to
Harrison Township, in the same county, where he purchased sixty acres,
HISTORY OF NORTHWEST MISSOURI 1943
at $1.25 per acre, and this formed the nucleus for his present magnificent
farm.
The distress of his country and its need for men called Mr. Scott
to the ranks of the Union army in 1861, when he enlisted in the Missouri
State Militia, which organization was held to subject to call at any time
during the war. Under Colonel Shanklin, Mr. Scott participated in a
number of battles in Missouri, was promoted to orderly sergeant of his
company, and was honorably discharged at the close of hostilities with
an excellent record as a soldier. Returning at that time to his home he
resumed the duties of peace, taking up his agricultural labors where he
had left off, and as the years have passed he has continued to devote
himself to general farming and stock raising, with a full measure of
success. At this time he is the owner of 420 acres of land, on which are
located substantial and architecturally handsome buildings, a modern
frame residence, valuable improvements of every kind, and large herds
of well-fed cattle. The very air of the place denotes its prosperity and
the property is a substantial monument to the labors, good management
and ability of its owner. Mr. Scott is a republican and has labored
efficiently and conscientiously in his community 's behalf as justice of the
peace and in other offices. With his family he attends the Methodist
Episcopal Church and takes a helpful part in its work.
Mr. Scott was married December 3, 1854, to Miss Sarah Thornburg,
who was born in Alabama, a daughter of William and C. (Rickey) Thorn-
burg. Nine children have been born to this union, as follows: Laura,
who married George Drummond, and has five children — Floyd, Ray,
Musie, Irene and Francis; Flora, who married Charles M. Bowman, of
Grundy County, a native of Ohio, and has three children — Velta, Dale
and Scott ; Hannah, who married J. P. Lynch, of Grundy County, and
has one son — Frank ; Lottie, who married Louis Shaw, of Grundy County,
and has four children — Lyman, Gard, Paul and Bart; Charles S., who
married a young lady of Iowa; Thomas T., who married a California
lady and has one daughter — Yuba ; Hugh, who married Luella Frazier,
of Gallatin, Daviess County. Missouri, daughter of Dr. and Mrs. Lillian
Frazier, of that place, and has six children — Wilson, Hulda, Anna L.,
Elsie B., James and Francis L. ; Bart, who married Elizabeth Coppel, of
Ludlow, Missouri, daughter of Mose Coppel; and Porter, who married
Callie Cires, of Grundy County, daughter of Columbus and Mary Jane
Cires, and has three children— Gertrude, Helen and Columbus.
Philip Ernest Wenz. Many of the most thrifty and prosperous
business men of Buchanan County have come from the land beyond the
sea, noteworthy among the number being Philip Ernest Wenz, who has
been actively identified with the manufacturing and mercantile interests
of St. Joseph for more than half a century, and is eminently deserving
of mention in this biographical work. He was born, October 23, 1831, at
Beisinger. three miles from Bodelshausen, Hohenzollern, Germany, in
the same house in which his father, Conrad Wenz, was born and reared.
His paternal grandfather served in the German army, under Karl Herzog,
and was afterwards appointed chief forester, with two assistants under
him. He subsequently bought a house in Beisinger, and there spent his
remaining years.
Conrad' Wenz learned the trade of a baker when young, and spent
his entire life in the town in which his birth occurred. He married,
and of the six children he reared, five came to America, as follows:
Philip Ernest, George, Fred, Catherine, and Rosa.
Having attended school steadily from the age of six years until
fourteen vears old, Philip Ernest Wenz then served an apprenticeship
1944 HISTORY OF NORTHWEST MISSOURI
of four years at the trade of a boot and shoe maker in the City of Zurich,
after which he followed his trade in various European cities. In 1854,
desirous of trying life in a new country, he went from Stuttgart, Ger-
many, to Havre, France, where he sailed for America, arriving at the
end of sixty-seven days after leaving the fatherland. Mr. Wenz imme-
diately came to St. Joseph, which was then a small frontier city, Missouri
having at that time no railways, while Kansas had just been opened to
settlers. His only capital when he came to this country was good health,
willing hands, and a set of tools. Finding employment at his trade, he
worked as a journeyman for twenty-one months, and then embarked in
business on his own account, establishing on Edmund Street the business
now owned by his brother, it being one of the first of the kind established
in the city, or in Northwestern Missouri. Selling out in 1860, Mr. Wenz
purchased property at No. 1003 Frederick Avenue, and there conducted
a general store a few years, but has since, at the same location, been
actively engaged in his present business.
Mr. Wenz married, in 1859, Christiana Frederica Bauman, who was
born in the village of Backnang, in Wurtemberg, Germany, in the same
house in which the birth of her father, John Bauman, occurred. Reared
and educated in his native village, John Bauman married Frederica
Schwaterer, a native of Marbach, Wurtemberg. She died in 1844, in
early womanhood, leaving seven children, Christina F., George, Caroline,
Gottlieb, Jacob, Dorothy, and Ludwig, all of whom, with the exception
of Dorothy, came to America. In 1858 Mr. Bauman emigrated with his
family to this country, settling in Andrew County, Missouri, where he
purchased 150 acres of land, one half of which had been cleared. Imme-
diately assuming possession of the log buildings standing on the place,
he began adding to the improvements already inaugurated, and was there
a resident until his death, at the age of seventy-two years. Mrs. Wenz
died September 28, 1902, leaving four children, namely: Emma, Rosa,
Annie, and Nellie. Mr. Wenz has four grandsons, William AVenz, Herbert
Wenz, Edwin Wenz, and Ernest Beihl. Mr. and Mrs. Wenz were both
brought up in the Lutheran Church, and have reared their family in
the same religious faith.
Capt. John Harnois. A veteran of the Civil war, and a highly
respected citizen of St. Joseph, Capt. John Harnois has had a varied
career in life, having been associated with different industries, and having
served in army and navy, and also having filled with ability and fidelity
numerous public offices. A son of Peter Harnois, he was born, November
12, 1844, in what is now the State of Nebraska, coming from pure French