married Frances Cottrell, lives near Fillmore in Andrew County, and
has one child, John C. ; Roy Tillman, lives in Texas, and by his marriage
to Emma Yenni has two children, Devere and Lawrence Sheldon â– Robert
Carl, who lives on the homestead with his father, married Emily Faires,
and has one child, Warren G. ; Louis Emmett is cashier of the Farmers
Bank of Nodaway ; Walter Ray lives at home ; Emma Elizabeth died in
1900 at the age of two years ; Barbara Elizabeth died at the age of eight
months.
James Pleasant Gillispie. A resident of one locality for more than
half a century is not an unimportant distinction, especially when the
years are filled with useful efforts, with satisfying accomplishment in
1958 HISTORY OF NORTHWEST MISSOURI
material things and the esteem of fellow citizens, and such is the position
of James Pleasant Gillispie in Andrew County, Missouri, where he was
born, where he spent his school days and early youth, where he has
accumulated a sufficient property for advancing age, and where he has
been honored as one of the judges of the county.
Judge Gillispie was born at Lincoln Creek in Jackson Township,
Andrew County, March 16, 1858, a son of J. H, and Marion (Cornelison)
Gillispie. His father was born in Madison County, Kentucky, and as a
child was brought to Andrew County by his widowed mother during the
'40s. He died July 13, 1895, at the age of sixty-nine, and his wife passed
away January 13, 1884. J. H. Gillispie was first married to a sister
of his second wife, and the one child of the first union, Andrew, is now
deceased. By his second marriage there were five sons and three daugh-
ters : W. T., of Jackson Township ; Susan Frances, wife of William
Hoffman, of Jackson Township ; Judge James P. ; John M., of Jackson
Township ; Mary Elizabeth, deceased, who married David Roberts ;
Edward Lafayette, of Jackson Township ; Margaret Rebecca, wife of
Jesse Robinson, of Fillmore ; and Benjamin B., who died in 1906. J. H.
Gillispie spent most of his life on a farm in Jackson Township, where
his son John now resides. During the California gold excitement he
made a journey overland to California with ox team in 1849. He was
a democrat, served as justice of the peace many years, was affiliated with
the Masonic fraternity and belongs to the Christian Church.
Judge Gillispie has spent all his life in Andrew County, had a
country school education, and the first year after his marriage worked
as a renter, and then conducted a farm owned jointly with his brother,
John M., for seven years. They owned 140 acres in partnership. Since
that time he has been an independent farmer. Judge Gillispie now has
a fine stock farm well known in Lincoln Township, situated on sections
1 and 2, comprising 186% acres. All its improvements except the resi-
dence represents his own enterprise. For about ten years Judge Gillispie
did a profitable business as a breeder of Shropshire sheep, and now
specializes in Poland China hogs.
He has been an active democrat since casting his first ballot back
in the '70s, was a candidate for sheriff in 1900, and served as county
judge from his district for one term of two years, 1902-04. He is
affiliated with the Masonic order.
On September 10, 1882, Judge Gillispie married Susannah Elizabeth
Bohart. Mrs. Gillispie comes of one of the wealthy and prominent old
families of Andrew County and was born in this county October 29,
1862. Her parents were William and Mary (Burns) Bohart, both
natives of Indiana. Her father was born in 1842 and her mother in
the same year, and her father came to Missouri in 1860 and her mother
in 1858. They were married in Andrew County and were prosperous
farmers there. Her father died February 25, 1874, and her mother April
17, 1903. The four Bohart children were : Mrs. Gillispie ; Sally, wife of
N. S. Dickson, of Andrew County; Philip Emery, deceased; and Jennie,
wife of J. L. Martin, of Andrew County. Judge Gillispie and wife had
only one child, Carl Emery, who died in April, 1887, at the age of four
years.
E. M. Waterson. For more than forty-five years E. M. Waterson
has been a resident of Andrew County, and has lived at his present home
place in section 2 of Lincoln Township since 1883, has prospered like
the majority of Andrew County farmers, has been a liberal provider for
his family, has been interested in business affairs, and is honored in his
community for his private success and for his value as a citizen.
HISTORY OF NORTHWEST MISSOURI 1959
E. M. Waterson was born at Marysville, Kansas, August 2, 1858.
That date of itself indicates an early residence in the Sunflower State]
and Mr. Waterson has the distinction of having been the first white
child born in Marshall County. A few hours after his birth the first
white girl was born in that community, named Hattie Mc Grill. Mr. Wat-
erson 's parents were James and Artemisia (Cameron) Waterson, his
father a native of Ohio and his mother of Kentucky. Both the Waterson
and Cameron families were Kansas pioneers, having gone to that terri-
tory in 1814. The grandfather, Thomas W. Waterson, who died at
Marysville, Kansas, September 5, 1889, was born in Pennsylvania in
1811, went from there to Cincinnati and in 1854 settled in Doniphan
County, Kansas, and in 1860 took up his residence at Marysville. It is
said that he was the first justice of the peace appointed in the Territory
of Kansas, his appointment coming in 1854. He was a member of the
Territorial Legislature in 1855 and in 1857 and was four times mayor
of the City of Marysville besides other offices of trust. From 1860 until
the year of his death he was a Marysville merchant, finally selling out
and spending his last days in retirement. His success as a business man
was measured by the accumulation of a property estimated at upwards
of a hundred thousand dollars. Combined with this was a thorough
public spirit and liberality which caused him to contribute in many
ways both to the public good and to individual needs.
James and Artemisia were reared in Kansas, were married in 1857
in Brown County, and soon afterwards took up pioneer claims in
Marshall County. James Waterson was killed at Marysville, Kansas, in
1868, while driving a team. He was then thirty-four years of age. His
widow survived him many years, and died near Savannah in Andrew
County, Missouri, August 6, 1884, at the age of forty-four. There were
three children: E. M. ; Nannie, wife of J. A. Roberts, of Andrew
County ; and John, a resident of St. Joseph.
In 1863, when E. M. Waterson was five years of age, the family
moved to Andrew County, Missouri, owing to the troubles incident to
the war. After the war the family returned to Kansas, lived there until
the death of the father, when the mother once more brought her children
to Andrew County. During his residence in these two states E. M.
Waterson spent his boyhood and acquired his education in the common
schools. He has lived in Andrew County since 1868, and has been a
farmer since reaching his majority. He now owns 160 acres, and has
had his home on this farm since March 15, 1883. Its improvements are
to be credited to his own' management and labor, and he has prospered
through the work of general farming and stock raising. For one year
he was a director of the Andrew County Mutual Telephone Company,
and for the past eighteen years has been a director and agent for the
Andrew County Mutual Fire, Lighting & AVind Storm Insurance Com-
pany. In politics a democrat, Mr. Waterson twice led his party ticket
as candidate for the offices of county judge and county collector. His
only fraternal affiliations are with the Modern Woodmen of America.
In March, 1883, Mr. Waterson married Sarilda Mackey. She was
born on the farm where she now lives, November 30, 1856, and has never
lived in any other locality longer than eleven months. Her parents were
John 0. and Sarah (Cameron) Mackey. Her father was born in Ken-
tucky, March 10, 1811, and her mother in Clay County, Missouri, in
1824. John O. Mackey came to Clay County when a youth, was married
there in December, 1842, and in 1844 came to Andrew County as a
pioneer. He died on the old farm in Lincoln Township in 1857, while
his widow survived him fifty years, passing away in 1907. John O.
Mackey was not only a pioneer farmer but a blacksmith by trade, and
1960 HISTORY OF NORTHWEST MISSOURI
had one of the shops which supplied a service to a large country com-
munity. He worked in the fields during the day time, and would usually
spend several hours doing his work as a blacksmith in the night. There
were six Mackey children, as follows: Eliza Mary, widow of C. M.
Rumburg, of California ; Anderson, of . Andrew County ; Elizabeth,
deceased wife of W. W. Bussell; Mrs. Waterson; James, who died at
the age of sixteen years; and Frances, who died at the age of four
years. Mr. and Mrs. Waterson are the parents of five children : Lola
May, wife of C. F. Clark, of Loveland, Colorado, and who died March 1,
1915; Alice, wife of Henry Ordnung, of Andrew County; John Ray,
who died at the age of four years ; Ralph and Ada, both at home.
William Ent. In point of years of continuous residence William
Ent is the oldest citizen of Lincoln Township, Andrew County. More
than fifty-five productive and useful years have been spent in this com-
munity. It is difficult to measure the work and influences that can
properly be ascribed to such a man as William Ent. If he has pros-
pered beyond the average of men, his success is only a just desert, since
through all these years he has gone about among his fellow men with the
uprightness of conduct and the incorruptible integrity which more than
justify any material reward that has followed his labors.
William Ent is a native of Ohio, born in Knox County, December 25,
Christmas Day, 1836, a son of John and Susanna (Baxter) Ent. His
father was born in Pennsylvania, and his mother in Knox County, Ohio.
John Ent was taken by his parents when a child to Knox County, Ohio,
grew up there, became a farmer, and died in March, 1847, when his son
William was only ten years of age. The Ent family was established in
Andrew County by the grandparents, Peter and Elizabeth (Davis) Ent.
Grandfather Ent was a native of New Jersey, lived in Pennsylvania and
in Knox County, Ohio, but in 1847 settled among the pioneers of Andrew
County. He bought a farm, a portion of which is now owned by his
grandson, William Ent. Peter Ent died in Andrew County in 1862, and
his wife passed away within the same week of his death, both being
advanced in years, past eighty. All their ten children came out to
Andrew County except John Ent, who had died in Ohio the same year
the rest of the 'family went to the West. William Ent's mother died in
Savannah, Missouri.
William Ent grew up in Knox County, received a limited education
from the local schools, and in 1854 started out to satisfy the usual long-
ings of a boy for travel and adventure. His chosen destination was the
Pike's Peak gold district, but he never reached Colorado. His mother
had gone to Iowa to live with her people and the son met her in that state
in 1856, and in November, 1858, he arrived in Andrew County, with
an ox team and wagon. On the way he had encountered the typical
Missouri mud, and it was all he could do to make progress with an
empty wagon and three yoke of cattle. Arriving in Andrew County he
never proceeded further west, since his grandfather managed to hold
him in this part of Missouri. William Ent was one of a family of five
children, the others being: Delilah Graham, of Iowa City, Iowa; John,
deceased; Samantha, deceased; and Mary Webber of Albia, Iowa. The
mother of this family eame to Andrew County about 1870.
William Ent has lived in Andrew County continuously since 1858.
His career has been one of effective endeavor, not only as a farmer, but
also as a business man. At the present time he owns and occupies eighty
acres in section 12 of Lincoln Township, land formerly owned by his
grandfather. He bought this land in 1865, and developed it as a splendid
fruit orchard. Much of the old orchard has since been cleared away
HISTORY OF NORTHWEST MISSOURI 1961
and is now used for other purposes. For fifteen years Mr. Ent was
engaged in the fruit packing business at Savannah and packed as high
as twenty thousand barrels of apples in a single season besides manu-
facturing about a thousand barrels of cider. During 1864-65 he con-
ducted a sawmill in Andrew County. From these facts it can be seen
that Mr. Ent has lived and worked in such a way as to profit himself
and to furnish a service to the community.
As a citizen voter Mr. Ent's record goes back nearly sixty years. His
first presidential vote was cast for James Buchanan in 1856, but on the
whole he has been identified with the republican party, having voted the
democratic ticket only three times in the course of fifty years. He is a
member of the Methodist Episcopal Church, and has been particularly
prominent in the Independent Order of Odd Fellows, a fraternity with
which his membership has been identified more than half a century. He
is the oldest member in good standing of Savannah Lodge No. 14, and
has represented his home lodge both in the Grand Encampment and in
the Grand Lodge in the State of Missouri. During the Civil war he
served nine months in the Missouri State militia on the Union side.
In 1859 Mr. Ent married Miss Annie Spencer, who was born in
Portage County, Ohio, and died in 1870. She was the mother of three
children : Perry, who died in 1905 ; Kitty, who died at the age of twenty
years ; and Flavia, wife of James Harless, of "Wichita, Kansas. In 1872
Mr. Ent married Mrs. Artemisia Cameron Waterson, a widow who
brought him three children of her own, and who died in 1883, the mother
of four children by Mr. Ent, two of whom died in infancy, and the other
two are : Bertie, of St. Joseph ; and Frank, of St. Joseph. On December
7, 1886, Mr. Ent married Mrs. Louisa S. Piper. She was also the mother
of two daughters by her former marriage, one of them now deceased.
By his third wife Mr. Ent has a son, Lawrence S., who is now engaged
in the active management of the home farm in Lincoln Township. Mr.
Ent's son Perry left four children, and three of these have been reared
by their grandfather and are now living with him, named Ruby, Beulah
and William. Mr. Ent sometimes speaks of his homestead in Lincoln
Township as the orphans' home. Besides his own children it has been
a home for half a dozen children by the previous marriages of his two
wives and also the home of his three grandchildren.
Walter Kurz. The Kurz family has a record of more than thirty
years' residence in Andrew County. In the cultivation and improve-
ment of land and in the raising of the fruits thereof it is only a matter
of justice to say that they have not only kept pace with but have been
leaders in raising the general agricultural standards of this section of the
state. Mr. Walter Kurz, whose home is in section 11 of Lincoln Town-
ship, is one of the younger representatives of this family, and what he
has accomplished in the last quarter of a century will serve to indicate
the substantial things associated with this name.
Walter Kurz was born in Canton Bern, Switzerland, July 18, 1871,
one of the younger children of Benedict and Elizabeth (Biegler) Kurz.
His father was born in the same canton in 1831, and his mother in 1832.
Benedict Kurz was a man of education and of no little prominence in
his native country. He taught school for a number of years and then
on account of his health took up farming. He was active in local
politics, served as mayor three terms, each term four years in duration,
of his home Village of Wattenwyl and was representative of his home
district, Seftigen, in the Federal Government six years, having resigned
his post when he left Switzerland for America. He had many friends,
stood high in the community, and it was on account of financial troubles
1962 HISTORY OF NORTHWEST MISSOURI
brought about by his generosity in attaching his name to bonds for his
friends that led him in 1883 to leave Switzerland and come to America.
He came direct to Andrew County, where many of his fellow countrymen
had located, and bought 158 acres of land in Lincoln Township, and
lived there as a farmer until his death in 1899. His wife passed away in
1896. The old home place is now occupied by their son, Fred E. After
coming to America Benedict Kurz took out citizenship papers, and
voted with the democratic party. He was a member of the German
Reform Church. Brief mention of the nine children in the family is as
follows: Fred E., the present proprietor of the old homestead ; John,
who lives in Lincoln Township ; Elizabeth, who died in 1888 at the age
of twenty-eight ; Ernest, a resident of Texas ; Alexander, who lives with
his brother, John; Joseph, a resident of Kansas; Gottfried, of Texas;
Walter ; Millie, who lives with her brother, Ernest, in Texas.
Walter Kurz was twelve years old when the family came to America,
and most of his education was acquired in the national schools of Swit-
zerland. He lived at home with his parents until the age of twenty-three,
and then for three years was a farmer in partnership with his brother,
Joseph. After his marriage he bought a farm of eighty acres, and applied
himself industriously and with characteristic vigor to the task of paying
for the land and improving it. When that was accomplished he bought
an adjoining eighty acres, and on the second eighty he has his present
homestead. The second purchase was a well improved farm. His success
has come from general farming and stockraising, and no man stands
higher in that community than Walter Kurz.
Politically he is identified with the democratic party, and has served
his community as a school and road officer. He is a member of the
German Reform Church at Amazonia.
In 1899 Mr. Kurz married Rosa Lee Durtchi, who was born in Canton
Bern, Switzerland, in 1872, and in 1883 came to this country with her
parents, Adolph and Rosa Durtchi. Her father is still living, a resident
of Fillmore, Andrew County. Mr. and Mrs. Kurz are the parents of
seven children : Benjamin, Edna, Selma, Aline, Ernest, Clarence and
Irma Lee.
The oldest brother of Walter Kurz, Fred Emil Kurz, was born in
Switzerland, July 10, 1856, and has lived on the old farm in Lincoln
Township since 1883. He is likewise one of the successful general
farmers and stock raisers of this county. He was well educated in his
native land, but for more than thirty years has been a loyal and patriotic
American citizen. He is a democrat and a member of the German
Reform Church in Amazonia. In 1891 he married Minnie Segessemann,
who was born in Lincoln Township, Andrew County, in 1870, a daughter
of Gottlieb and Catherine Schneider Segessemann. Both her parents
were natives of Switzerland and are now deceased. Fred E. Kurz and
wife have the following children: Elizabeth, Fred H., Paul (who died
at the age of thirteen years), Eric, Ada, Gertrude (died at the age of
nine), Wilma, Alma, and Heinz.
John Aebersold. The possibilities of a human life and the wide
opportunities of America are well illustrated in the career of John
Aebersold, one of the most substantial citizens of Andrew County. Like
many other residents around Amazonia he is of Swiss birth and parent-
age, came to the United States a young man with knowledge and skill
in a trade, but entirely unfamiliar with the English language or the
customs of the New World. He had courage and determination, but no
financial resources, and for a number of years battled manfully with
circumstances, and not only mastered a new tongue but acquired by slow
HISTORY OF NORTHWEST MISSOURI 1963
and painful effort the capital which he brought with him into Andrew
County.
John Aebersold was born in Canton Bern, Switzerland, December 25,
1835, a son of John and Catherine (Buhler) Aebersold, likewise natives
of Canton Bern. His father was bom in 1810, and died in the old
country when the son, John, was seven years of age. The mother, who
was born November 17, 1811, followed her son to America in the summer
of 1867, and spent the last thirty years of her life in the Aebersold home
in Andrew County. She died in March, 1900. Her children were John ;
Jacob, who died at the age of twenty ; Elizabeth Steiner, of Switzerland ;
and Caroline, deceased.
John Aebersold spent the first twenty-four years of his life in Swit-
zerland, where he was educated in the national schools, and learned two
trades, first the baker's occupation, and later the miller's trade. In
1859 he came to America, spent five years in Tuscarawas County, Ohio,
and in 1864 reached Andrew County. Here he invested the capital which
represented his savings since coming to America in a tract of raw land,
forty acres, north of Amazonia. Later he sold that and bought his
present place in section 14 of Lincoln Township. At the present time
Mr. Aebersold owns 125 acres, and at one time his farm comprised 285
acres, but it was too much for his individual management, and he sold
more than half of it. He did much pioneer work in Andrew County,
having cleared about one-third of his land, and developed it into a farm
that has long yielded regular returns in grain, fruit, and livestock.
Mr. Aebersold has been a republican voter ever since his naturaliza-
tion as an American citizen, and has been one of the leaders and most
generous contributors to the German Reform Church at Amazonia. He
helped build the church of that denomination in Amazonia, and gave
more for its construction than any other member. With success as a
farmer he has naturally been called upon to take his part in other public
affairs, and at one time was vice president of the Exchange Bank at
Savannah, and also a director in the Commercial Bank at Savannah. At
the present time he retains no active business interests, his son-in-law
operating the farm, and in the eightieth year of his life is enjoying those
comforts and the leisure which are the merited reward of his earlier
efforts.
In 1859 in Ohio Mr. Aebersold married Anna Barbara Yenni, who
was born in Canton Bern, Switzerland, September 13, 1840. She died
at the Aebersold homestead in Andrew County, February 17, 1914. Her
parents were John and Barbara Yenni, a family long well known in
Andrew County. Mr. and Mrs. Aebersold were the parents of five
children: Louis A., who lives in Jackson Township, Andrew County;
Emma Catherine, wife of Mike Ordnung, of Nodaway Township ; Mary,
wife of Frank Ruhl, who manages the Aebersold farm; Fred A., who
died at the age of eleven years ; and John A., who died in childhood.
When John Aebersold landed in Ohio he possessed only fifty cents in
American money. For five years he worked at day wages on farms in
Eastern Ohio, and spent the winter months as a coal miner. He learned
the English language by the rough and ready method of actual conversa-
tion and by hearing others speak it, and learned to read and write by
the help of newspapers. He has mastered the language, and for many
years has been a devoted reader of the county and the daily metropolitan
papers, and also has taken several agricultural journals. He takes no
German papers, and has completely transformed himself into an Ameri-
can citizen, and is one of the most loyal Americans to be found in North-
west Missouri. When Mr. Aebersold reached Andrew County he had
about three hundred dollars, representing his hard earned savings during
1964 HISTORY OF NORTHWEST MISSOURI
his residence in Ohio. Aside from what his hard labor has accomplished,
Mr. Aebersold gives the credit for his success in life to his good wife.
She was an- industrious homemaker, always ready with valuable counsel
to her husband in his affairs, and is remembered by all the people of
her community in Andrew County for her kindness of heart and prac-
tical charity. When people were in trouble she was always sympathetic,
and turned her sympathy into deeds of practical helpfulness and was
a welcome visitor at every home in times of affliction.
Judge Christian Yenni. A representative of that sterling Swiss
people, a large colony of whom have been identified with the development
of a section of Northwest Missouri lying north of St. Joseph, Judge
Christian Yenni has lived in Andrew County a half century, and he
himself and other members of the family are men of prominence and
distinctive leadership in affairs. Judge Yenni has been singularly pros-
perous as a farmer, and owns one of the fine estates in Lincoln Township