Illinois; Mary Jessamine, who became Mrs. Lair, and who was born
November 5, 1859 ; Andrew, a resident of Springfield, Illinois ; and
Sophia, who is the wife of William Fenstermaker, also of Springfield.
To Mr. and Mrs. Lair there have been born the following children :
Nathan Earl, who is his father's assistant in cultivating the old home-
stead farm, married Bessie Carson and has a daughter, Avis ; Cyrus
Albert, also carrying on farming on the homestead place, married Lela
Taylor, and has one son, Forest Leroy; Sophie Emeline, who is the
wife of Earl Sanford, of East End, Saskatchewan, Canada, and has
one son, Oscar Kenneth ; and John Frederick, the youngest, a lad of
twelve years, who is attending the Ridgeway public schools.
Rev. Fielding Marvin, L\ D. One of the prominent ministers of the
Methodist Church, South, Conference in Northwest Missouri is Rev.
Fielding Marvin, now pastor at Savannah. Reverend Marvin is a son of
the late Bishop Marvin, who for many years was regarded with peculiar
veneration and respect by all members of the Southern Methodist Church
and by his faith and works was a tremendous power for good in Mis-
souri and all over the South.
Rev. Fielding Marvin was born at LaGrange, Missouri, November 1,
1849. His parents were Enoch M. and Harriet Brotherton (Clark) Mar-
vin. The late Bishop Marvin was born in Warren County, Missouri,
June 12, 1823, and his wife was born in St. Louis County of this state
August 13, 1820. The Marvin family was established by two brothers
who emigrated from England in 1635 and located in Connecticut. The
grandparents on both sides came to Missouri about 1820 when Missouri
was admitted to the Union and were prominent early settlers in St.
Louis County and Warren County. The grandfather Marvin was a
native of Connecticut, and left that state and lived in New York a short
time before coming out to Missouri. The late Bishop Marvin was reared
in Warren County and when about seventeen years of age began preach-
ing in the Methodist Church and afterwards affiliated with the southern
branch of that denomination. He had charge of a church in St. Louis
and while there met Miss Clark, who had been reared in that vicinity,
and they were married September 23, 1845. Many years of the active
M
r\
HISTORY OF NORTHWEST MISSOURI 1387
career of Bishop Marvin were devoted to the ministry. He was an
itinerant worker and during the war was a chaplain in the southern
army. In 1866 at the general conference at New Orleans he was elected
a bishop, and gave his time to the duties of that office in various parts of
the South and West until his death at St. Louis, November 26, 1877.
His widow survived him and died at Fredericktown, Missouri, March
16, 1882. Rev. Fielding Marvin was the only son, and the four daugh-
ters of the parents are now deceased.
Fielding Marvin was educated in the noted Pritchett Institute at
Glasgow, Missouri, graduating A. B. in 1870, and afterwards receiving
the degree of Master of Arts from the same institution. Mr. Marvin
first prepared for the profession of law, studying law in the University
of Virginia, and was admitted to the bar at St. Louis about 1875. After
a few years' practice at St. Louis he joined the Missouri Conference of
the Methodist Church, South, in 1889, and has filled many pulpits and
appointments in the Missouri Conference during the past twenty-five
years. Reverend Mr. Marvin came to the church at Savannah in the fall
of 1913 and has done an effective work in building up his congregation
and organizing all departments of church activity. While Rev. Willis
Carlisle was pastor here a Bible Class was organized about two years ago,
and this has been one of the best features of the church and a power for
good in the community. At the present time it has about ninety mem-
bers, composed of many of the prominent men in the town, and the
teacher is Mrs. Sam W. Wells.
Reverend Mr. Marvin is affiliated with the Masonic order. On October
31, 1895, he was married by Rev. Charles H. Briggs at Franklin, Mis-
souri, to Miss Georgia Casey. They are the parents of two sons : Mather
Casey and Edwin L.
James Walter Scott. Throughout his life James Walter Scott has
been a resident of Gentry Count}', and for many years has been accounted
one of its leading, influential and progressive agriculturists, financiers
and business men. Among the great forces that bring success in life,
one of the principal is unyielding tenacity of purpose. Action may be
created for a time by dash and audacity and superficial cleverness, but
these generally achieve no lasting success. Those who achieve the most
satisfactory results are they who have gained their position through
diligence and thoroughness in all things, and of this class Mr. Scott is
an excellent type. He was born on the farm on which he now makes his
home, September 22, 1870, and is a son of William Marshall and Cathe-
rine M. (Combs) Scott.
The late William Marshall Scott, who passed away near Ford City,
Missouri, August 17, 1889, was one of the ante-bellum settlers of Gentry
County, coming hither in 1866 from the mountain regions of the far
West, whence he had gone in 1859 and spent some seven years in Cali-
fornia and Nevada in mining operations. On his return to Missouri,
he followed the trade of blacksmith as well as being engaged in agri-
cultural operations, and in both lines was able to achieve success because
of his persevering industry. Mr. Scott was born in Belmont County,
Ohio, April 26, 1833, a son of Robert Scott, born in Ireland, and Mary
(Stansberry) Scott, a native of Frederick County. Maryland. Among
the issue of this old couple were: James B., who died near Ford City,
Missouri, leaving a family; Moses and Fletcher, who met a soldier's
death during the Civil war as a member of the Missouri militia ; Belle,
w r ho married Porter Fore and died at Gentryville. Missouri ; Elizabeth,
who married M. M. Embree and died at Albany, Missouri ; William M. ;
and a daughter who died at Albany in young womanhood. William Mar-
1388 HISTORY OF NORTHWEST MISSOURI
shall Scott came to manhood with a common school education and learned
the trade of blacksmith in Belmont County, receiving twenty dollars
for his first year's work, forty dollars during the second, and sixty
dollars for the work of the third year. In the spring of 1855 he went
to Muscatine, Iowa, and in 1856 came to Missouri, stopping at Weston,
Platte County, where he worked at his trade. In May of that same year
Mr. Scott first visited Gentry County and remained here three years,
and then proceeded to the gold regions of the West, as heretofore stated.
In 1866, on his return to Missouri, he located on the farm which his
son now owns, and here the remaining years of his life were passed.
He confined his blacksmithing largely to his own work after locating
near Ford City, and was numbered among the extensive farmers of his
time, having 440 acres two miles east of the town.
In his political beliefs William M. Scott was a republican. He was
identified with no church, although he was a believer in the benefits of
church work, but failed to ally himself with any religious denomination.
Mr. Scott was married in Belmont County, Ohio, to Miss Catherine M.
Combs, a daughter of Elijah Combs, July 3, 1866. Mr. Combs was a
Missouri farmer and came from Ohio, but was originally from Fleming
County, Kentucky, where Mrs. Scott was bom, as was also her mother,
who bore the maiden name of Deborah Muncy. Mrs. Scott died in 1901,
having been the mother of the following children : Mary L., a resident
of Ford City ; James Walter, of this review, and the owner and occupant
of the old homestead; Frank L., a resident of Fredonia, Kansas; and'
Maude, who is the wife of Benjamin Newman, of Whitesville, Missouri.
James Walter Scott has spent his entire career in the Ford City
community. Following his course in the public schools of this vicinity,
he entered the Stanberry Normal School, and when he laid aside his
studies he began farming in earnest. While she lived he managed his
mother's place, and since the death of his father he has done a vast
amount of substantial improving. His generous home is of twelve
rooms, is modernly heated and equipped, and its immaculate white ex-
terior makes it a conspicuous mark for miles around, the residence
standing on an eminence. Mr. Scott received his early lessons in cattle
raising from his father, and he has been a growing factor as a feeder for
years, shipping his own stock and securing excellent prices in the
markets. He is also widely known in financial circles of Gentry County,
being president of the Ford City Bank, which was organized in 1914,
with a capital of $10,000, its vice president being Ben Boley and its
cashier Don C. Dougan. In politics, Mr. Scott has always been a repub-
lican, and fraternally he is a 'member of the Knights of Pythias, in
which he has filled all the chairs in his lodge. In his community he is
held in the highest regard by those who have had occasion to come into
contact with him in any way, and as a citizen he has done much to
advance the interests of Ford City and Gentry County.
Mr. Scott was married in Gentry County, February 27, 1895, to Miss
Ethel E. Easterly, a daughter of Philip and Alpha (Pennington) East-
erly. Mr. Easterly came to Missouri from Tennessee, and was the
father of the following children: Ida, who is the wife of Lewis Butler
of Lewiston, Montana ; Maggie, who is the wife of Marion Burke, of the
same city; Ethel E., who is the wife of James W. Scott; Grace, who is
the wife of S. R. McConkey, of Albany, Missouri; Donna, who is the
wife of Alexander Barger, of New Hampton, Missouri ; John R., a resi-
dent of Gentry County; Hugh, a resident of the State of Idaho; and
Philip, Jr., a resident of Lewiston, Montana. Five children have been
born to Mr. and Mrs. Scott, namely: Stella K., Blanche E., Mildred,
Marshall and Marion.
HISTORY OF NORTHWEST MISSOURI 1389
Rev. Alfred Noah Cave. As a minister of the Methodist Church
and a farmer the Rev. Mr. Cave has been actively identified with Harri-
son County since 1858, most of the time in Daviess and Harrison coun-
ties. His father located on Sugar Creek in Harrison County in the
spring of 1860. Rev. Mr. Cave was a soldier during the war, and comes of
a family with a notable military record, beginning back in the days of
the Indian wars in the colonies.
Alfred Noah Cave was born in Fairfield County, Ohio, October 25,
1810. His father, Alfred Noah, Sr., was born in Harrison County,
Kentucky, April 25, 1814, and when a child his parents took him to
Ohio and in 1833 settled in Fairfield County. In that state he grew up,
with limited educational advantages, but with a superior intelligence
and a gift for influencing people which he early employed in the work
of the Methodist ministry. He was ordained by Bishop Waugh at
Delphi, Indiana, and was soon in the ranks of the circuit riders who
carried the message of Christianity to so many isolated communities in
the early days. He rode circuits in Tippecanoe, Clinton, Montgomery
and Jasper counties, Indiana, and attended many of the Indiana con-
ferences. His work as a preacher continued almost to the month of his
death. He was a man of talent, and gifted beyond the ordinary
preacher. His sermons showed exact familiarity with the scriptures,
and his knowledge of the old testament was almost as great as of the
new. It is said that he could instantly name the verse and chapter of
almost any quotation he heard from the Bible.
It was in 1847 that he located with his family in Tippecanoe County,
and later in Clinton County, Indiana, and from there some years later
set out for Missouri. The journey was made by wagon, the caravan
consisting of a horse team and a yoke of cattle, and during a season of
hot rainy weather. Central Illinois, through which they passed, was
almost as thinly settled as Missouri, and offered good opportunities for
settlement, but the family came on to the fringes of civilization in North-
west Missouri. The Mississippi was crossed at Quincy, and the first
permanent location was a farm in Daviess County. The senior Cave,
though living on a farm, practically devoted all his life to the min-
istry. He was a factor in the erection of several Methodist churches
in Harrison County, particularly that at Bethany, and was pastor there
while it was in his circuit. His work was mainly in the rural churches
of Daviess, Harrison and Gentry counties.
As a young man Rev. Mr. Cave, Sr., was a whig, but joined the repub-
licans at the organization of the party, gave his vote to Mr. Lincoln in
1860, and regularly supported other nominees until his death. He was
rather prominent in public affairs, served as county treasurer of Harri-
son County from 1868 to 1870, was defeated in the latter year, but in
1872 was the successful candidate and served four years more. During
the Civil war he joined the Twenty-third Missouri Regiment at Rolla
in the capacity of chaplain, and was with Sherman's army until the
fall of Atlanta, when he resigned on account of ill health and returned
home.
Alfred N. Cave, Sr., was married in Fairfield County, Ohio, March
1, 1833, to Miss Rebecca Anderson, who died in Clinton County, Indi-
ana, in 1849. Her family has many interesting relations with American
history. Her great-grandfather was William Anderson, who was born
in the Scotch Highlands in 1693, and because of his connection with the
uprising in behalf of the Pretender, Prince James, son of James II,
had to flee from Scotland about 1715. He passed through England and
emigrated to Virginia, joining other refugees from the wrath of the
English sovereign. With remittances from Scotland he was able to
Vol. Ill— 7
1390 HISTORY OF NORTHWEST MISSOURI
purchase lands in Virginia and Maryland, and the records state that in
1738 he owned in Prince George County, Maryland, several plantations
on Conegovhiege Manor, one of which, "Anderson's Delights," he later
sold" to Dr. George Stewart- of Annapolis, Maryland. Soon after his
arrival in America, William Anderson, discovered far up the Potomac
River a beautiful valley, in which he built a hunting lodge, and which
has since been known as the Anderson Bottom. When Hampshire
County, Virginia, was established, it included this bottom, which was
only five miles from Fort Cumberland. William Anderson was a born
soldier, had many conflicts with the Indians and was prominent in
Virginia military affairs. Soon after the beginning of the French and
Indian war, he recruited a company for Braddock's army, and was part
of the ill-esteemed colonials who at the disastrous Braddock's Fields
in Western Pennsylvania helped in a measure to retrieve the terrible
defeat administered by the French and Indians to the trained British
regulars. William Anderson died at Anderson Bottom in Hampshire
County in 1797, having been a devout member of the Episcopal Church.
He was the father of four children, and his daughter Agnes married
Capt. W T illiam Henshaw.
Capt. Thomas Anderson, a son of the above and the grandfather of
Mrs. Cave, was born in Berkeley County, Virginia, in 1733, and also ad-
ded to the lustre of his family name in military annals. He took part in
several Indian campaigns, and was with Governor Dunmore on his ex-
pedition into the Ohio Valley for the subjugation of the Indians. When
the Revolution came on, he entered enthusiastically into the Colonial
service, and was in command of a company at Yorktown when the sur-
render of General Cornwallis ended the war and made independence a
fact. He married a Miss Bruce of Virginia, and all their four children
were born at Anderson Bottom. Of their sons, AA 7 illiam, Joseph and
Abner took up arms against Great Britain in the war of 1812, serving
under Colonel Sanderson.
Capt. James Anderson, a son of Captain Thomas and father of Mrs.
Cave, was born in Hampshire County, Virginia, February 17, 1768, and
although very young served for three months toward the close of the
Revolution. After the war he located in Berkeley County, and became
a merchant. While there Gen. Anthony Wayne was put in command
of the army for the western Indian campaign, after two generals had
suffered disastrous defeats at the hands of the red men. Captain Ander-
son left his business, recruited a troop of horse, and joined Wayne's
army, probably at Fort Cumberland, and was made an ensign. He
was a great admirer of his strenuous and impetuous commander, and
supported him with daring and usefulness. Having some skill in
mathematics and drafting, he superintended the construction of most
of the forts erected by General Wayne in the old Northwest Territory,
now the states of Ohio and Indiana. He continued with the army until
the final overthrow of the western Indians, and was present at the
treaty of Greenville in August, 1795. At the engagement known as
Fallen Timbers his gallantry won him promotion, and he was eventually
commissioned a lieutenant and finally a captain. Late in life he joined
several of his children in Clinton County, Indiana, and died there
October 24, 1844. Capt. James Anderson married Priscilla House, and
Rebecca (Anderson) Cave was one of their ten children, five sons and
five daughters.
The children born to Rev. A. N. Cave and wife were : James E., who
was in an Indiana regiment during the Civil war, and died at Crawfords-
ville, Indiana; Hiram L., who also was with an Indiana regiment, and
died near Darlington, Indiana ; Priscilla J., who married Joseph Bounser
HISTORY OF NORTHWEST MISSOURI 1391
and died at Cerro Gordo, Illinois ; Alfred N., Jr. ; and Elizabeth, who
died at Chillicothe, Missouri, as Mrs. George Estep. Rev. Mr. Cave, Sr.,
after the death of his first wife married Elizabeth M. Loveless, daughter
of Benjamin Loveless. She died without children at Bethany in April,
1887.
With such an inheritance, it would have been surprising if Alfred
X. Cave, Jr., had not made his career one of useful service to his fellow
men. Owing to the pioneer environment in which he was reared, he had
limited educational advantages, and has depended largely on his own
studies and reading and practical experience. His first serious work
was when he became a Union soldier. He entered the army in 1861
in Company F of Merrill's Horse, the Second Missouri Cavalry, Captain
Hanna being in command of the company. During the first and second
years the command was in different parts of Missouri, and in the fall
of 1862 went into Arkansas, participating in the engagements at
Brownsville and Arkadelphia. Returning to St. Louis, the regiment
was sent to Nashville, but arrived too late to take part in Sherman's
campaign to the sea. The command did guard duty in Tennessee, and
at the close of the war received the surrender of part of Gen. Joe
Wheeler's cavalry. Mr. Cave escaped without wounds. He was sergeant
of his company, and when mustered out at Chattanooga had in his pos-
session Governor Fletcher's commission as second lieutenant.
In August, 1865, on his return home Mr. Cave began farming in
Harrison County, and continued this business in Harrison County until
1878, when he moved out to Kansas and spent two years in Republic
County. On returning to Missouri he located in the vicinity of Bethany,
and has had his home permanently in this community for over thirty
years. Like his father, he has identified himself with church work, and
has been known in this part of Missouri as a local preacher and in circuit
work for many years. Politically he is a republican, and while politics
has never been a hobby with him, he was honored in 1900 with election
to the office of county treasurer, and gave four years of capable admin-
istration of its affairs. He succeeded James Selby in the office. Since
the war he has enjoyed many pleasing associations with old comrades,
and about 1882 became a member of the Grand Army, has served as
commander of T. D. Neal Post. No. 124, and attended one national Grand
Army encampment, that at Chicago.
On January 1, 1866, Mr. Cave married Miss Martha E. Meek, who
was born in Wabash County, Indiana, and came to Missouri in 1856.
Her father, George W. Meek, married Mary E. Shockey, and they lived
for many years on a farm in Sherman township, and both are buried
in the Fairview Cemetery in same township. Mr. Meek was also a
minister of the United Brethren Church. Their children were : Mrs.
Cave, born October 31, 1846; Griffith, who died in Harrison County;
Sarah A., who died unmarried; Malinda E., who married John L. Cole,
of Bethany ; Henry, who lives in Oklahoma ; Abram, who died at Enid,
Oklahoma," leaving a family ; Reverend Paschal, of Blue Ridge, Missouri ;
Ruey M., wife of William Parnell, of Mountain View, Oklahoma; and
Emma J., wife of David Joseph, of Elk City, Oklahoma.
The children of Mr. and Mrs. Cave are: Ollie M., who married
William H. Swain, of Bethany, and is the mother of Marie; Rebecca
Anna, who married David Bartlett of Harrison County, and is the
mother of Alva and Kathryn ; Miss Mary, a teacher ; Eldora Lillie, wife
of James Tippet, of Bethany, and the mother of Paul and Louis: and
Etta May, who married Edwin Woodlin, of Kent, Washington, and has
one child, Retta.
1392 HISTORY OF NORTHWEST MISSOURI
William Avery Miner. Conspicuously identified with the lumber
and banking interests of Harrison County, William Avery Miner has
grown into this situation and a condition of independence during a
period of thirty years and as a result of his earnest efforts and the
sheer weight and force of his characteristics. He has ever belonged to
that class of men who accomplish something worth while each day of
their lives and this always tells forcibly in the sum total of a finished
career. Mr. Miner has been a* Missourian since his advent to the state
in 1881. He followed his brother, Edgar S. Miner, here, to engage in
the lumber business, and did so as a subaltern where salaries were not
large or robust. While he had no capital, it was really the opportunity
he was most in need of and he began right where the finger board of
circumstances pointed out the highway of opportunity. Notwithstand-
ing there was no tangible evidence indicating large results at the end
of a long career where he started, yet the student of conditions saw
clearly the outcome for one in control of a given territory to be pro-
vided with the building material necessary to improve and develop it
in accord with the modern method of homemaking. Seeing this situa-
tion as the Miner brothers did, and being favored by the presence of
a "friend at court" with the capital, in the person of B. M. Frees, of
Chicago, Illinois, the application of their abundant industry was easily
and readily encouraged to enter a combination for business which has
ramifications over much of Northwest Missouri.
Mr. Miner is a contribution to Missouri from the State of Wiscon-
sin, having been born at Brodhead, Green County. May 8, 1861. He
was reared at Monroe and educated in the high school there, and grew
up in the home of a scholarly and intellectual father, and this fact had
its influence in shaping the intellectual training of the son. When the
guiding spirit of the home converted its professional atmosphere into
a business one, the young man again profited in lessons of trade which
capitalized his life, as it were, for an independent career.
The Miners belong to one of the old New England families. Rev.
Samuel Elbert Miner, father of William Avery Miner of this review,
went into Wisconsin during its pioneer days, well equipped with educa-
tional and other qualities which rendered his labors effective among
the early builders of that commonwealth. Being a minister, he set about
preparing the way for an effective campaign in the spreading of the
Gospel, with establishing congregations and building churches, having
caused the erection of the First Congregational Church, at Madison, the
capital of the state. He was chaplain of the first constitutional con-
vention of the state and his pastoral work was carried on for a period
of many years. During his long and effective labors, he had at various
times charge of the Congregational churches at Madison, Elkhorn, Wyo-
cena, Brodhead and Monroe, but in his later years he gave up his minis-
terial work and engaged in the retail lumber business. Reverend Miner
was known not only in the affairs of the church and in business in his
state, but in politics as well. His Yankee birth and rearing set his heart
unalterably opposed to human bondage and when the question of the