Church, in which he has served as class leader and steward and as
superintendent of the Sunday school. Fraternally he belongs to the
Order of Masons.

John Costin. With all of honor and consistency may be entered in
this publication a tribute to the venerable pioneer citizen whose name
introduces this paragraph and who has maintained his home in Worth
County for a period of virtually sixty years. He has passed the eightieth
milestone on the journey of life, has ordered his course on a high plane
of integrity and honor, has achieved worthy success through his own
efforts, and has at all times stood exponent of the most loyal and worthy
citizenship. He has served in various offices of public trust within the
long years of his residence in Worth County, and also has the distinc-
tion of being one of the gallant citizens of Missouri who went forth in
defense of the Union in the Civil war. A man of deep piety, of strong
and noble nature and of utmost tolerance and kindliness, Mr. Costin
has made his life count for good in all its relations and is well worthy
of the unqualified confidence and affection that are accorded him by all
who know him, so that he may recall in gracious retrospect the incidents
of an earnest and useful life now that its shadows begin to steal gently
from the golden west.

John Costin was born in Jefferson County, Kentucky, on the 18th
of September, 1830, and is a scion of sterling pioneer families of that
fine old commonwealth, within whose borders were born his parents,
Lewis and Catherine (Smock) Costin. both of whom passed the closing
period of their lives in the State of Indiana. In the year 1813. when the
subject of this review was a lad of about thirteen years, the family
removed from Kentucky to Owen County, Indiana, where the father pur-
chased a tract of wild land and instituted the reclamation of a farm.
John Costin. owing to the vicissitudes and conditions of time and place,
received most meager educational advantages in his boyhood and youth,
but fully has he profited through self-discipline and association with the
practical affairs of life, with the result that he is a man of broad mental
ken and mature judgment. As a mere boy Mr. Costin gained close
fellowship with toil, in connection with the work of the home farm, and
he became also a wage-earner when he was but eight years old, modest
recompense being given him for the work of cutting cornstalks for
neighbors near the old home in Kentucky.



1302 HISTORY OF NORTHWEST MISSOURI

At the age of twenty years Mr. Costin made his first independent
investment, by purchasing a tract of land in Decatur County, Iowa. On
this place he remained only one year, at the expiration of which, in 1855,
he came to Worth County, Missouri, which has represented his home
during the long intervening years. Here he purchased 160 acres of
swamp land, and he applied himself to the arduous work of providing a
proper system of drainage and to bringing the land under effective
cultivation. On his originally uninviting farm he eventually produced
very fine crops of wheat, corn and other cereals, and with increasing
prosperity he added to his landed estate from time to time, until he is
now the owner of a fine demesne of 1,000 acres, in sections 13, 65 and 32,
Worth Township.

In 1860, while still giving careful supervision to his farm, Mr. Costin
established a general store at West Point, the nucleus of the village now
known as Oxford. He sold this store and business eleven months later,
and thereafter he continued successfully in the mercantile trade, by
establishing, in turn, stores at Grant City, Worth and Smithton. He
eventually disposed of each of these establishments, the one at Worth
having been sold to his son, Nicholas F., who still continues the enterprise
and who is known as one of the successful business men of Worth County,
individual record concerning him being given on other pages of this
work.

In response to President Lincoln's first call for volunteers to aid in
maintaining the integrity of the Union, Mr. Costin enlisted as a member
of a regiment largely recruited in Worth and adjoining counties, and
after serving about thirteen months, principally in Missouri and Arkan-
sas, he received his honorable discharge. In politics Mr. Costin has ever
been arrayed as a staunch supporter of the cause of the democratic party,
and he has been called upon to serve in various positions of local public
trust. In 1864 he served as treasurer of Worth County and in 1868
he was elected county sheriff and collector, to which dual office he was
elected in 1870, so that he served, and with marked ability, for four
consecutive years, later having been the incumbent of the office of county
coroner. He also served for a number of years as a member of the
school board of his district, and his influence and aid have at all times
been given in the furtherance of measures tending to conserve the educa-
tional, moral and general civic welfare of the community, in later years
his zeal having been specially notable in connection with the promotion
of the good roads movement in this section of the state. Mr. Costin
and his gracious wife are most zealous and devout members of the
Christian Church, in which he is now an elder of the church at Worth,
his service having previously ibeen given for a number of years in the
position of deacon.

At Greenup, Cumberland County, Illinois, in the year 1852, was
solemnized the marriage of Mr. Costin to Miss Louisa Asher, daughter
of Lewis and Alice (Brown) Asher, who were residents of Illinois at
the time of their death, Mrs. Costin having been born in Warren
County, Indiana, on the 24th of August, 1835. Mr. and Mrs. Costin
became the parents of five children, concerning whom brief record is
given in conclusion of this review : John D., who was born March 4, 1877,
and who wedded Miss Leora Barnes, of Worth County, is one of the
prosperous farmers of this county; Nicholas F. is engaged in business
at Worth and is the subject of an individual sketch on other pages of
this volume ; Martha Jane, who died in December, 1896, was the wife of
James Martin, who is a representative farmer of Worth County, and she
is survived by three children, Zula May, Gettis and Maggie Vera. The
second daughter, Florence, born in 1864* is the wife of Reuben Swain, and
they live in Nodaway County and have had three children, Arthur,





%d, ^J^y^KT



HISTORY OF NORTHWEST MISSOURI 1303

Minnie and Blanche, but Arthur died in 1913. Zula May, youngest of
the children of Mr. and Mrs. Costin, was born March 27, 1873, and is the
wife of Ira Wells, engaged in farming near Ravenswood, Nodaway
County, and they have one son, Darl Ford.

Nicholas F. Costin. Bearing a name that has been most honorably
and prominently linked with the history of Worth County for more than
half a century, Mr. Costin is in every sense upholding the high prestige
of his patronymic and is numbered among the progressive merchants
and loyal and enterprising citizens of his native county, where he is
engaged in the general merchandise business in the Village of Worth,
as successor of his honored father, John Costin, concerning whom con-
sistent and more specific mention is made on other pages of this publi-
cation, so that further review of the family history is not demanded in
the present connection.

Nicholas Ford Costin was born on the old homestead farm, in Middle-
fork Township, Worth County, Missouri, on the 25th of December, 1878,
so that he became a right welcome Christmas guest in the family home,
as the youngest of the four children. The public schools afforded to Mr.
Costin his early educational advantages, and this discipline was supple-
mented by a course in the Gem City Business College, in which he was
graduated in 1896. 'In pursuance of higher academic training he
entered Stenbury College, in 1892, prior to taking his course in the
business college, and he there pursued the normal or teacher's curriculum
until 1894, when he returned to his home and became actively associated
with the work and management of the farm. In the same year also he
became his father's coadjutor in establishing the general store at Worth,
and he continued as his father's partner in the business until 1910, since
which time he has been the sole proprietor. He has brought to bear most
progressive policies and has made his store effective in service, with a
stock carefully selected to meet the demands of the trade and with
punctilious care to fair and honorable treatment of all patrons. On the
11th of October, 1913, Mr. Costin removed from his original building to
new and more eligible quarters in an adjoining building, the second
floor of which is nicely fitted up as a village opera house or theater.

Mr. Costin has strong vantage-place in the confidence and esteem of
the people of his native county, and it may legitimately be said that here
his circle of friends is limited only by that of his acquaintances. At the
county seat he is affiliated with Grant City Lodge No. 66, Ancient Free
and Accepted Masons, besides which he holds membership in the adjunct
organization, the Order of the Eastern Star, and is a member of Worth
Lodge No. 614, Independent Order of Odd Fellows. In politics he is
unswerving in his support and advocacy of the cause of the democratic
party and he has served as clerk of various elections held in the county.

On February 22, 1903, Mr. Costin was married to Miss Adella Mc-
Cray, who was born in Nodaway County and who is a daughter of
James A. and Amanda E. (Mullen) McCray, whose fine homestead farm
is situated near Gilman City, Daviess County, where they have resided
for many years, Mr. McCray being a prominent democrat of that county
and having served as its sheriff. Mrs. Costin completed special course
in literature and music at Grand River College, and is a woman whose
gracious personality makes her a favorite in the social life of her home
community. Here both she and her husband are affiliated .with Hall of
Sunshine Chapter No. 222, Order of the Eastern Star, and she is eligible
likewise for membership in the Society of the Daughters of the Ameri-
can Revolution. Mr.' and Mrs. Costin have no children.

John S. Smith. There is no financial institution in Northwest
Missouri which more thoroughly deserves and enjoys to a greater degree



1304 HISTORY OF NORTHWEST MISSOURI

the confidence of the community which it serves than the Holt County
Bank, at Mound City, which has had a long and prosperous career of
more than thirty years. The bank was organized in February, 1880, by
Hugh Montgomery, Albert Roecker and Robert Montgomery. Its first
president was Robert Montgomery, and its first cashier was Hugh Mont-
gomery. This bank began as a small private institution, started more for
the convenience of a limited patronage than as a general public utility,
and its growth has been in proportion to the development of the com-
munity and the constantly growing patronage voluntarily accorded it.
Its first location was in the rear of the William Hoblitzell store, now
the Wehrli store, subsequently it was moved to the corner where the
Riffe & Company's store is now located, and after that building burned
was moved to its present location.

It is an axiom that the strength of any banking institution depends
upon the personnel of the men behind it and in its organization. To an
important degree the success of the Holt County Bank has been due to
Mr. John S. Smith, who is now serving as its president, and was its
cashier from 1887 to 1900, when promoted to his present office.

John S. Smith has made a typical American success. He started life
as a section hand and has risen to leadership in his community, both
as a banker and citizen. His father was killeS during the Civil war,
and his widowed mother had six small children dependent upon her.
In such conditions it was necessary for the son John early to take up
work that would help support the household, and all the education he
received was acquired by self study during the meager opportunities of
hard labor.

John S. Smith was born in Holt County, April 11, 1855, a son of
Moses and Sarah Louise (Currier) Smith. Diligence, ambition and
integrity have been tne characteristic features of Mr. Smith's career.
He worked only a few years as a common laborer, then found employ-
ment in a hardware store in Mound City, from that got into the lumber
business, and had a small independent establishment of his own. The
people of this community from the first had recognized his thorough
integrity in all his dealings, and as he was prosperous himself and a
man of rare judgment, many found it convenient to intrust him with
the task of looking after their financial surplus. In this way Mr. Smith
was led to engage in banking in a small way, and his institution was
one of the constituent elements in the formation of the Holt County
Bank. From the position of cashier in that institution he was promoted
to the presidency, and is the owner of most of the stock in the bank.
His nephew, B. P. Smith, was for several years cashier, and is now vice
president, while the present cashier is B. H. Watson.

Besides his interest as a banker, Mr. Smith is the owner of a thousand
acres of land in the vicinity of Mound City, and is easily one of the
most substantial citizens of that section. He also has extensive business
interests in Kansas, Colorado and other states. He has attained thirty-
two degrees in Scottish Rite Masonry and is affiliated with the Inde-
pendent Order of Odd Fellows and the Woodmen of the World. His
chief public service has been as a member of the school board, and for
more than thirty years he has served as its president. Since he began as
a business man at Mound City no enterprise affecting the welfare of
the community has been advanced without his loyal support and fre-
quent cooperation. He is a well-known citizen in Northwest Missouri,
and particularly in banking circles of this section of the state.

Mr. Smith was married July 19, 1874, to Miss Mary N. Denmark,
who was born at Black River Falls, Wisconsin. To their marriage have
been born nine children, and the four still living are: Bertha B., at
home ; Charles C, who married Margaret Corsant and lives in Mound



HISTORY OF NORTHWEST MISSOURI 1305

City, engaged in the oil producing business, operating chiefly in the
Oklahoma fields ; Helen H. is the wife of C. T. Hall, assistant cashier of
the Holt County Bank; and Colene, a student in Rockford College at
Rockford, Illinois.

Millard Fillmore Stipes. This Jamesport editor and publisher has
lived actively and usefully in Northwest Missouri forty-five years, at
first as a teacher and surveyor, and close on to thirty years in journalism.
A newspaper man is also in an important sense a public man, and Mr.
Stipes has in addition given much time to the formal duties of office
in his city and state.

Millard Fillmore Stipes is a lineal descendant, twelfth in line, from
Sir Edward, Lord North, the first baron of that name, created by Henry
VIII of England. Capt, George North, an officer in the Pennsylvania
line during the American Revolution, who fought so valiantly against
his kinsman, the British premier, was the great-grandfather of the Mis-
souri editor.

Mr. Stipes was born at the old Cruzen home in Saline County, Mis-
souri, November 12, 1851. Growing up on his father's farm, he attended
district school near by except for a year or so during the Civil war, and
during 1867-68 was a student in the Miami Male and Female Institute,
a private school conducted by John C. Hamner, A. M., of Virginia. In
the spring of 1869 his parents removed to a new home in Carroll County,
and he began work on a farm and as a surveyor, a calling he had learned
under the instruction of Professor Hamner. For two years he was
deputy county surveyor, and in January, 1870, began teaching, his regu-
lar occupation for the next fifteen winters and for about half of the
intervening summers. Mr. Stipes was a student in the Kirksville Normal
during the spring and summer of 1873 and again in 1874. His teaching
was chiefly in the country districts of Carroll and Saline counties, but
for three years, 1880 to 1883, he was at the head of the graded schools in
Norborne, and at Jamesport the following year and at Jameson the next,
all in Missouri.

On January 1, 1885, Mr. Stipes took charge of the Jameson Reporter,
which he edited and published until September 1, 1886, when he pur-
chased the Jamesport Gazette, of which he has been editor and publisher
continuously to the present writing. Few members of the profession
in Northwest Missouri have held an editor's chair with one paper for a
longer time.

AVhile not a professional politician, Mr. Stipes has for a number of
years been interested in politics and the problems of government. In
1892 he represented his county in the democratic state convention at
Sedalia and again at Kansas City in 1894, and has often been called to
preside over democratic county and local conventions. By appointment
from Governor Folk, he served four years, February 1, 1907, to February
1, 1911. as a member of the board of control of the State Industrial Home
for Girls at Chillicothe, and during that time was treasurer of the institu-
tion. In his home city Mr. Stipes served for twenty-one years on the
school board, all the time as president or secretary.

December 28, 1881, he married Emma Lee Kieffer, at the home of
her parents near Miami. Her death occurred April 22, 1891, and one
child survives, Mrs. Opal Arnold. He married Amy Louise Ried, June
6. 1893, at the home of her parents in Kirkwood, Missouri. Three
children were born to them, two of whom, Ruth and Florence, survive.

Soper J. Tatjl. One of the comparatively young men in Clay
County citizenship, Mr. Taul has achieved the success which consists in
accumulation of a substantial share of the world's goods and in an



1306 HISTORY OF NORTHWEST MISSOURI

honorable position among his fellows. Largely through his own efforts
he has prospered as a farmer, and for the past four years has justified
the confidence of the community through his work in the office of county
collector.

Soper J. Taul was born in Platte Township of Clay County. November
22, 1877. His parents were Ben I. and Patsy Ann (Spencer) Taul.
His father was born in Clark County, Kentucky, in 1821, and the mother
in Nicholas County of the same state on August 26, 1832, and is still
living, while the father died July 26, 1886. They were married in
their native state — came out to Missouri before the war, the father com-
ing through by land-working cows — and they settled in Clay County, but
owing to the troubles incident to war times returned to Kentucky. When
peace was restored they found permanent homes in Missouri, and the
father took up farming east of Smithville. He started with 390 acres,
and had an estate of 270 at the time of his death. For this time he was
reckoned among the successful farmers. He was a democrat, and with
his family worshipped in the Methodist faith. Of the eleven children,
nine are still living, as follows: Elizabeth, wife of S. H. Lewis of
Paradise. Missouri; James, of Clay County; Mollie, wife of Noah Neff,
of Liberty ; W. K., of Kearny ; Margaret, deceased ; J. T., who is farming
on the home place ; R. C, living at Paradise ; Maxie, wife of Hay den
Settle, of Kearny ; Benjamin, of St. Joseph ; C. D., deceased ; and Soper J.

The youngest of the family, Soper J. Taul was only nine years old
when his father died, and as the necessities of the homestead demanded
all hands, he stopped his schooling at an early age, having attended
several winter terms in the country. He worked at home until his mar-
riage, and when that event was celebrated at the age of twenty-one he
started out to provide for his own family. On December 21, 1898,
he married Minerva Davis, who was born in the same neighborhood
November 12, 1877, a daughter of Cephas and Falitta Jane (Britt)
Davis. Her mother is still living at the age of sixty-five.

As a part of his earlier experience Mr. Taul had worked for three
years, between the ages of fifteen and seventeen, at wages of 50 cents a
day, so he had a thorough apprenticeship in the school of labor. After
his marriage he continued on the home place a short time, then rented
land for three years, after which he bought a place adjoining the old
homestead. For about ten years he carried on his enterprise as a
progressive farmer citizen, and still owns and operates a farm of 160
acres north of Liberty.

Mr. Taul has taken considerable part in democratic polities, and was
the choice of his party and many friends for the office of county collector
in the fall of 1910, and after four years of capable work was renominated
and elected without opposition in i914. Mr. Taul belongs to the Knights
of Pythias and Independent Order of Odd Fellows, and he and his wife
are Methodists. They are the parents of two children: May Neff and
Dorothy Eleanor.

G. W. Stoner. Noteworthy among the oldest and best known real
estate men of Northwest Missouri is G. W. Stoner, of Cameron, who has
been a resident of that city since 1868, and during the time that has since
elapsed has been conspicuously identified with the highest interests of
town and county, ever using his influence to promote the public welfare.
Mr. Stoner was born, January 13, 1835. in South Bend. Indiana, and
when he was about twelve years old the family removed to Montgomery
County, that state, locating not far from Crawfordsville.

Jacob Stoner, his father, was a native of Virginia, was of German
descent, and inherited in a large measure the habits of thrift and indus-
try characteristic of his forefathers. Migrating with his family to



HISTORY OF NORTHWEST MISSOURI 1307

Indiana in pioneer days, he bought land in Montgomery County, and
in addition to carrying on general farming, he for many years had a
well producing sugar orchard on his place. He married, in Botetourt
County, Virginia, Polly Beath, who was of English ancestry, and to
them five children were born, two sons and three daughters, and of
these three children are living, as follows : David, a resident of Kansas ;
Mariah Brawton, of Lathrop, Missouri ; and G. W., the subject of this
review. Both parents died on the home farm in Indiana, the father
dying at the age of seventy-seven years, he having survived his wife for
a number of years. He was a republican in politics, and both he and
his wife were members of the Christian Church.

G. W. Stoner acquired his education in the district schools of his
native county, and developed into manhood on the parental homestead,
where he was trained to the habits of industry and thrift that became
the foundation of his present success in business and have gained for
him the respect of the community in which he lives. As a young man
he was ambitious to take advantage of the opportunities offered in a new
and undeveloped country, and in 1857 located in Daviess County, Mis-
souri, where he followed farming for a few years. Settling in Cameron
in 1868, he established himself in the real estate business, which he has
since followed with deserved success, his dealings being extensive and
profitable. Mr. Stoner has an intimate acquaintance with land values
throughout the central west, his dealings in realty extending to all parts
of Missouri, Kansas, Oklahoma and Texas.

He married, in 1862, more than fifty years ago, Susan Rogers, of
Daviess County, Missouri, who has, indeed, proved herself a true help-
mate and a most congenial companion. Three children blessed their
union, namely: Jacob, Ida and B. F., but the last named, the youngest
of the three, died in 1868. Jacob Stoner, the first born, died in April, 1912,
his death being mourned as a public loss. He was one of the best known
traveling salesmen of the state, and was also active in local affairs, having
served his constituents most faithfully and ably in various offices, more
especially as mayor of Cameron. For many years he was drum major
in the Cameron Military Band, which was one of the finest musical
organizations in this section of the country, and was often in demand
throughout Missouri, playing in all its large cities. He was a member
of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows and of the Knights of Pythias.
He married Alice Smith, a native of Missouri.

Mr. G. W. Stoner is public spirited and a highly useful member of the
community, active in advancing the things which make for the welfare
and progress of town and county, being especially interested in the cause