Madden, who was born in Clinton County, Missouri, a daughter of James
C. and Nancy (Hardwick) Madden. To this union there has been born
one son, Earl C., a graduate of the University of Missouri, class 1913,
and now engaged in business with his father.



John Mount. A former soldier of the great Civil war, John Mount
has lived in Northwest Missouri since 1871, when he. located in Ray
County, but for many years has been a practical farmer of Davis Town-
ship, in Caldwell County, and is now living retired at a comfortable home
in Braymer. The same fidelity which marked his career as a soldier has
characterized his later years of citizenship, and he is one of the highly
esteemed men of Caldwell County.

John Mount is a Tennesseean by birth, grew up in that state, but when
the integrity of the nation was submitted to the fortunes of war he took
the Union side, and in 1862 enlisted in Company K of the Second Ten-
nessee Infantry, under Capt. J. D. Underdown and Col. James Carter.
He saw his first active service at Cumberland Gap on April 25, 1862,
and continued with the regiment until his honorable discharge on June
15, 1865. For part of the time he was in the army of General Burnsides.
On November 5, 1861, Mr. Mount was taken prisoner, and for several
months suffered all the horrors and destitutions of Northern men in
Southern prisons. He was confined for a time at Belle Isle, was in the
Andersonville Stockade, and later at Florence, South Carolina. When
he went into the army he weighed 160 pounds, but starvation, exposure
and other sufferings reduced his weight- to 90 pounds before he was
released and rejoined his comrades. At Andersonville he saw dozens
of his comrades die of starvation and exposure, and he was a prisoner
there when the commander was Major Wurtz, who was afterwards,
because of his brutal treatment of the prisoners, tried and hanged by
the United States Government. After his honorable discharge Mr.
Mount returned to his Tennessee home.

John Mount was born in Tennessee in 1840, a son of Samuel and
Isabel (Underwood) Mount. His father was a native of North Carolina,
but the family came from Pennsylvania, and the mother was a daughter
of George Underwood, who saw active service in the "War of 1812. Samuel
Mount died at the age of seventy-six. The children were: John; Ella
McKnight, whose husband was a soldier ; Mary Petty ; Humphrey ; Martha
Estes; Henderson; I. P., now deceased; George, deceased; Margaret;
Napoleon B. ; and Rebecca.

John Mount, a few years after the close of the Civil war, in 1871,
located in Ray County, Missouri. In 1867 he had married, in Tennessee,
Ella Thornburgh. She was born in Tennessee in 1842, a daughter of
Samuel and Sarah (Moody) Thornburgh. Her father died at the age




MR. AND MRS. JOHN MOUNT



HISTORY OF NORTHWEST MISSOURI 1413

of eighty-four years. He was a farmer, and a member of the Methodist
Church. After living in Ray County for a time Mr. and Mrs. Mount
moved into Caldwell County, where he acquired a good farm four miles
from Braymer, comprising 130 acres. He still owns this farm, but now
rents it and has retired to a comfortable residence in Braymer. His farm
is well improved, with good house and barn, and its cultivation gave him
the prosperity which has enabled him to pass his later years in retirement.
Mr. Mount is an active member of the Grand Army Post at Braymer,
and is a strong republican in politics. His church home is the Methodist
Episcopal.

Of the children born to Mr. and Mrs. Mount only two are now living.
A daughter, Clara Phillips, died in Oklahoma, leaving one child, William
Earl. The son now living is Doctor Mount, a successful physician at
Polo, Missouri. The daughter is Almeda Phillips, who lives in Caldwell
County. Doctor Mount has one son, while Mrs. Phillips has three chil-
dren, Roscoe, Velma and Ira.

William G. Carter. A pioneer of Northwest Missouri and a farmer
near Martinsville, William G. Carter has resided on the hill where is
located his home since 1867. He came here from Gentry County, Mis-
souri, where, near Lone Star, he was born October 23, 1841. His father
was Vinson Carter, who settled in that county in the spring of 1811 and
after the land was surveyed and sectionized he entered a tract and there
spent the remaining years of his life in the peaceful pursuits of the
soil, devoting himself to mixed farming. Vinson Carter died at the age
of seventy-five years, in 1889, having been born January 4, 1814, and
was buried in the Carter Cemetery, near his old home, his wife lying
beside him. Before her marriage she was Patience Glendenning, a
daughter of William Glendenning, who came to Missouri from Ohio in
1841, and died about 1851, leaving two sons and four daughters.

Vinson Carter was a native of Tennessee, born near White River, in
which vicinity he resided until a young man. He married his wife in
Putnam County, Indiana, for Greencastle was one of the Indiana towns
of which he spoke familiarly. He was a man of fair farmer's educa-
tion and the nearest he came to having a military experience was when
he assisted in scaring the Indians out of Gentry County. When the
republican party was organized he became an adherent of its principles
and continued to support its candidates until his death. His only pub-
lic service as an official was in the capacity of school teacher, but he is
remembered as a citizen always ready to bear his share of respon-
sibilities. In his religions faith, Mr. Carter was a Methodist and did his
part in erecting the place of worship in his locality, in those times the
community schoolhouse. He had no fraternal connections and was op-
posed to secret orders, which were contrary to his belief.

The children born to Vinson and Patience Carter were as follows:
Elizabeth, born June 9, 1840, became the wife of Wesley Mock, and now
resides near the home of her brother William G., in Harrison County,
Missouri ; William G., of this review ; Susanna, born January 27, 1844,
who became the wife of Jackson Dye and died in the vicinity of Grant
City, Missouri ; Elijah Albert, born January 13, 1846, who is now a resi-
dent of New Hampton, Missouri; John Lewis, born July 7, 1849, who
resides near Lone Star, Missouri; a twin brother of John Lewis, who
died in infancy ; Martha, born September 28, 1852, who became the wife
of William Clellon, engaged in agricultural operations in the vicinity
of Martinsville, Missouri; Milton Riley, born October 16, 1854, who is
now a resident near New Hampton, Missouri ; Hiram Frank, born April
27, 1857, who is carrying on farming on the old Carter homestead near



1414 HISTORY OF NORTHWEST MISSOURI

Lone Star, Missouri; Jane, born September 1, 1861, who became the wife
of Filmore Needles, and died in Gentry County.

Vinson Carter was a son of Elijah Carter, who came to Missouri with
his son, by way of ox-teams, and settled near the Carter Cemetery, in
Gentry County, one of his daughters being the first person to be buried
in that graveyard, the grave being made by her brother, Joseph. Among
the children of Elijah Carter were : Betsy, who became the wife of John
Glendenning ; Vinson, the father of William G. ; Leta, who married
Richard Glendenning, a brother of John ; Joseph ; Nancy, who became
the wife of John Glendenning, a brother of the mother of William G.
Carter ; Katie, who married Hugh Ross ; a daughter who became the wife
of Cubbige Needles ; Lewis ; Nathan, and Martha, who was first the wife
of George Ross and after his death married Mr. Swank.

William G. Carter received his education in the district school near
Lone Star, his only schoolhouse being one of logs. During his first
term in search of educational training he was forced to travel through
the timber for a mile and one-half, following a "blazed" path, and
as there were many wild hogs and other menaces to children roaming
in the woods at that time, the neighbors were wont to accompany the chil-
dren to and fro. Mr. Carter's first call from under the parental roof
was when he entered the army for service during the Civil war, in 1861.
He first enlisted for six months in Colonel Cragnor's regimen*, which
rendezvoused at St. Joseph, and after his time had expired he spent
a few months on the home farm and then entered the three-years service.
His company was B, belonging to the Thirty-fifth Regiment, Missouri
Volunter Infantry, and his first captain was Captain Scott, who, however,
proved so incompetent that he resigned and^the company was without
a captain until near the close of the war. The" first colonel of the Thirty-
fifth was Kimball, and the second a West Point man named Foster, but
the boys of the regiment did not like Foster's red tape and they succeeded
in getting rid of him without an investigation, he being succeeded by
Lieutenant-Colonel Fitch.

The Thirty-fifth Missouri Infantry was organized at St. Joseph, and
was sent to St. Louis for drill at Benton Barracks. The regiment
went from there to Jefferson City for thirty days, then returning to St.
Louis, and going thence down the Mississippi River to Columbus, Ken-
tucky, and on to Helena, Arkansas. At the latter point it did guard duty
for a long time, or until an expedition was formed to go down on the
Yazoo River, in Mississippi, but was there but a few days when ordered
back to Helena. It made next a trip to DuVall's Bluff and on its return
was sent up the Red River from Helena, was mustered out at Little Rock,
Arkansas, and was finally discharged at St. Louis, in 1865. Mr. Carter
participated in the battle of Helena under General Prentiss, and there,
as elsewhere, proved himself a brave and faithful soldier.

When his military career was finished, Mr. Carter returned to his
home and resumed his agricultural pursuits, becoming a farmer and
stockman. At the time of his marriage he was possessed of $400 in
money, a team of horses, two cows and a heifer. He lived on a rented
farm the first year, in Gentry County, and in the spring following began
his career as a farmer in Harrison County. Mr. Carter paid $3 an acre
for 100 acres in section 5, township 61, range 29, and built a loghouse,
twelve feet square, just opposite his present dwelling, and to this cabin he
brought his wife, it continuing to be their place of dwelling for perhaps
ten years. This primitive home was succeeded by a frame structure, in
keeping with the progress of the times, and just before his youngest child
married, Mr. Carter erected his present commodious and extensive home,
this now being accounted one of the splendid residences of the county.



HISTORY OF NORTHWEST MISSOURI 1415

When Mr. Carter started farming in Harrison County, he broke the
sod and planted corn, and about the only way he had of getting cash was
from hogs and cattle, although even then little was secured as only meager
prices were obtainable. He was energetic, thrifty and persevering, how-
ever, and came to be the owner of 1,000. acres of land, and as his sons
married, he helped them substantially to a start in life. Mr. Carter was
one of the organizers of the Bank of Martinsville, of which he has been a
director since its inception, and of which he is now president, managing
its affairs with an ability which has done much to make it one of the
strong financial institutions of Harrison County. He has also other
business interests, and is a stockholder of the New Hampton Lumber
Company.

In political matters Mr. Carter is a republican, but has confined his
activities in politics to casting his vote. He is a member of the Methodist
Episcopal Church, in which he is active, and has served his congregation
at Martinsville as an official.

Mr. Carter was married February 22, 1866, to Miss Martha Wilson,
a daughter of Adam and Matilda (McDonald) Wilson. Mr. Wilson
came from Albany. Kentucky; to Missouri and settled first in Gentry
County, but passed his final years in Harrison County, and died Sep-
tember 12, 1897. at seventy-eight years of age, having been born May 30,
1819. Mrs. Wilson passed away April 21, 1911. when almost ninety-two
years of age. Their children were as follows : Elizabeth, who married
William Clopton and lives at Jefferson, Iowa; Mary Ann, who died in
childhood ; Mrs. Carter, born February 3, 1846 ; James, a resident of
Carlyle, Kansas ; Harriet, who married Silas Ebersole, of Big Springs,
Kansas ; John, of St. Joseph, Missouri ; Catherine, who married Sam
Meredith, of Martinsville, Missouri; Ellen, who died as Mrs. Harvey
Spillman; and Phebe, who became the wife of Tobe Coleman and died
while a resident of Harrison County.

The children born to Mr. and Mrs. Carter have been as follows :
Lewis P., born July 11, 1868, a resident of Lake City, Iowa, married
Carrie Thailor, and has six children. Dean, Edith, Frank, Gertrude, Sam
and Fay; Adam H., born September 26, 1870, a farmer near Martinsville,
married Fannie Young, and has five children, William Y., Raymond,
Thomas, Edgar and A 7 elma ; Vinson A., born February 6, 1873, a farmer
near Washington Center, Missouri, married Maud Scott, and has four
children, Ray, Gladys, Alice and Mildred; Charles O., born November 23,
1876. is a farmer near the homestead of his father, married for his first
wife Rebecca Adair and for his second Myrtle VanHoozier, and had four
children by his first wife, Clarence, deceased, Marie, Cora and Jessie,
and one child by his second wife, Wayne; John R., born July 31, 1879,
a farmer of Harrison County, married Femma Young, and has three
children, Roy, Loren and Vondalena ; and Silas Franklin, born Novem-
ber 5, 1881, a farmer on the property adjoining that of his father,
married Fannie Creekmore, and has five children, Goldie, Lloyd, Lois,
Gracie and Leslie.



William Davidson. For more than forty years William Davidson
has been identified with the splendid country about Worth. His earlier
years were spent in the strenuous activities of the Middle West and Far
West, and always as a busy and industrious citizen. Mr. Davidson has
passed the age of three score and ten, and has a retrospect over the
years that have gone that can be contemplated only with satisfaction,
since in that time he has gained those prizes which are the dearest ambi-
tion of mankind — ample material prosperity, provision for home and
family, and the respect and esteem of a community.



1416 HISTORY OF NORTHWEST MISSOURI

William Davidson was born in Putnam County, Indiana, February
22, 1841. His birthplace was near Mount Meridian, situated on the old
National Road, a noted thoroughfare constructed before the time of
railroads, from the eastern side of the Alleghenies across the states of
Ohio, Indiana and Illinois to the Mississippi River and surveyed even as
far as Jefferson City, Missouri. His grandfather was William Davidson,
of Scotch-Irish stock, who was perhaps a native of Ireland and came to
America prior to the Revolutionary war. He afterwards settled in Erie
County, Pennsylvania. He was an uncle of Captain Lewis, noted in
American history as one of the Lewis and Clark Expedition to the
Pacific Coast in the early part of the eighteenth century. Among the
children of William Davidson were : William, Thomas, Polly and
Joseph. Some of his children lived near Zanesville, Ohio.

Joseph Davidson, father of William, was born in Erie County,
Pennsylvania, grew up there, and was educated in the schools of that
section. When a young man he started West, locating in Illinois, and was
identified with the early survey in that section of the country. While
there he was first married. The children of this marriage were : Simon,
who spent his life as a farmer and died at Boulder, Colorado, leaving a
family ; Ann, who married a railroad man and is believed to have died
in Nodaway County, Missouri; Medina, who married Robert Mann and
spent most of her years in Iowa, but died at Boulder, Colorado; Joseph,
who went out to California and died at Sonoma ; Allen, who also went
west and died at Willis, California, leaving a family. Joseph Davidson
removed from Illinois to Putnam County, Indiana, about 1838, and
there married, after the death of his first wife, Elizabeth Albin. She
was at that time the widow of John Collins. Her father, William
Albin, came from Pennsylvania after living there many years to Ken-
tucky, was one of the pioneers, and then settled in Putnam County,
Indiana. The second Mrs. Davidson died in Worth County, Missouri,
in 1885 at the age of seventy-six. Her children by Mr. Collins were:
Thomas H. ; Sarah J., who married Jesse Wright and lives in the Province
of Alberta, Canada ; T. H. Collins, who practiced law in Missouri twenty
years and at Denver, Colorado, sixteen years, died in the State of Wash-
ington, leaving a family. The children of Joseph and Elizabeth David-
son were : William ; Angeline, who died in Gentry County, Missouri, as
Mrs. Warren Hill; Frances, who married Fred Cassins and died at
Cisco, California, leaving two sons; and Laura, who died unmarried.
Joseph Davidson and family removed from Indiana in 1851 to Iowa,
locating in Fremont, eight miles south of Sidney, where he spent the rest
of his years, passing away in 1854, when about seventy years of age.

William Davidson, who was ten years of age when the family came
to Iowa, spent most of his early years on the frontier, where civilization
had established few institutions, and his schooling was extremely limited
owing to the absence of regular instruction in most of the neighborhood
where his youth was spent. He lived for some years both in Iowa and
Nebraska, but became of age in Missouri. He was in Gentry County,
Missouri, at the beginning of the Civil war and in 1862 joined Company
E of the First Missouri Cavalry of the Missouri State Militia under
Captain Joseph H. Little and Colonel McFarran. This regiment acted
under special orders for the guarding of the state after the Confederates
had been driven off, and for a time it was stationed along the St. Joseph
and Hannibal Railway, and had one small skirmish at Kirksyille. They
were then south of the Missouri River, and remained at Lexington or in
that vicinity until Mr. Davidson was discharged after having served
eleven months.

After his military experience Mr. Davidson sought entirely new



HISTORY OF NORTHWEST MISSOURI 1417

fields of adventure. With an ox team and wagon he joined a caravan in
Nebraska bound for Montana. His mother and sister accompanied him
on this eventful journey. They were part of a train consisting* of about
sixty wagons, and followed the Platte River route, through Wyoming,
through Bridger Pass until reaching the road leading from Utah to
Virginia City, and arrived in the latter place without delay or special
incident. While there Mr. Davidson engaged in mining, but his pros-
pecting brought him little substantial results. Dissatisfied with that
section of the West, he left after a year and in the fall of 1864 arrived
in Humboldt County, California. He engaged in stock raising with a
location near the Eel River, and spent about nine years in that location
with considerable profit.

In 1873 Mr. Davidson returned to Missouri, his mother making the
trip over the railroad, which had been constructed since they made their
overland journey. On returning to Missouri Mr. Davidson bought land,
a partly improved tract of 160 acres, in Section 18, including the old
Smithton Village in Worth County. There he began his industrious
career as a Missouri farmer. His home has been in that vicinity with
the exception of eight years spent on the Kansas frontier in Sheridan
County. He located there in 1890, bought a claim and engaged in both
farming and stock raising. The decade of the '90s was a somewhat
disastrous period for the farmers of Western Kansas, and in all the eight
years spent there Mr. Davidson succeeded in raising only two crops,, and
was finally compelled to leave owing to the persistent drought. The chief
advantage of his residence there was that it enabled him to keep his
children in school at Hoxie, near his home, and in the State Normal
School. Returning to Worth County in 1898, Mr. Davidson moved to his
present farm in Section 18, and his residence stands not far from the
old townsite of Smithton, the former county seat, the site of which is
included in his land. It is a matter of interest to note that Smithton
was named in honor of Mrs. Davidson's father, Eli Smith! some facts
concerning whose interesting career as a pioneer in this section of
Missouri are found in succeeding paragraphs. At the present time
Mr. Davidson owns and operates 500 acres in this part of the state,
raising grain and stock.

Mr. Davidson throughout his career has endeavored to perform those
duties and obligations which are the part of good citizenship. His first
presidential vote was cast for Abraham Lincoln in 1864, and he has
never wavered from that political allegiance and has taken little stock in
either the populist or free silver movements or the still later progressive
propaganda. As to religious matters, one of his parents was a Baptist
and the other a Christian, and he has compromised by choice of the
Presbyterian faith, in which he has long held membership. Fraternally
he is a Mason.

Mr. Davidson was married at Independence, in Jackson County, Mis-
souri, March 15, 1871, to Miss Esther Mary Smith, eldest daughter of
Eli Smith, who came from New Lexington, Ohio, May 7, 1857.

Eli Smith was of English descent, his father, James Smith, having
come to America in an early day and settled in Washington County,
Ohio, where he was married. Eli Smith was one of nine children. In
1842 he married Sarah Stewart. The only child, Arthur Smith, born
to this marriage, died in 1879, at Omaha, Nebraska. Sarah (Stewart)
Smith died in 1846. In 1847 Eli Smith married Miss Julia Ann Skinner.
The four children of this . marriage were: Esther Mary, Mrs. William
Davidson, who was born in 1847 and died in 1910; Sarah Leanna, who
is Mrs. H. C. Miller and lives at Seneca, Missouri ; Julia Amanda, who is
Mrs. T. A. Chase and lives at Pasadena, California ; and James Jefferson,
who died in infancy.



1418 HISTORY OF NORTHWEST MISSOURI

In 1857 Eli Smith moved from New Lexington, Ohio, and built a
home on the Middle Fork branch of Grand River, situated in Worth
County, Missouri. The site of this home later became the first county
seat of Worth County. It was called Smithton in honor of its founder.
Smithton remained the county seat of Worth County until about the close
of the Civil war, when the county offices were removed to a more central
location, at the site of the present Grant City. During the strenuous
days that preceded the Civil war Smithton was the principal trading
point in Worth County. The closest railroad was at St. Joseph, and all
supplies were freighted overland from that point. Eli Smith was promi-
nent in the pioneer affairs of North Missouri, both in its political and
civil life. In the early part of the Civil war he enlisted in Colonel
Cranor's regiment and held the office of quartermaster. Every movement
for the betterment of North Missouri found Mr. Smith in the front ranks.
As a temperance man he was uncompromising in his belief. After the
close of the Civil war Mr. Smith was made a member of the assembly
which drafted the new constitution of Missouri.

In 1863 Mrs. William Davidson, then fifteen years of age, moved
with her father to Lexington, Missouri, where Eli Smith engaged in the
mercantile business. There Mrs. Davidson received a high school educa-
tion, subsequently supplemented by a course in a private institution of
learning. Esther Mary Smith, whose death, as noted, occurred in 1910,
possessed in a high degree the sterling qualities of her father. No
mother ever showed a more unselfish devotion to her family and felt
more keenly the responsibilities of home. Unselfish to a fault, ever
ready to assist in the relief of human suffering, she lived a life of beauty
and love that only her family and friends could appreciate. She was a
member of the Presbyterian faith, in early life took an active interest
in church affairs, but with the increasing cares and responsibilities of her
home exemplified there her beautiful Christian spirit and lived always
a life of high ideals and beauty of character.

While Mr. Davidson may regard with considerable satisfaction his.
experiences and accomplishments in the world of material effort, he is
justified in taking special pride in his children, all of whom are now
useful members of society and employed as workers and home makers
in different parts of the country. The children are : Arthur D., Chase
E., Phebe E., Clarence, Grace L., Frank L., Elmer S., Muriel and