of Omaha. Rufus married Miss Jessie Laney, lives in Itasca County,
Minnesota, and has four children named William Dudley, Virginia Lee,
Wallace M. and Roger L. The daughter, Joanna S., is the wife of Dr.
R. L. Laney of Virginia, Minnesota. Henry B., Jr., lives in Rocky Ford,
Colorado.
Jackson Van Schoiack, who has been a resident of Jefferson Town-
ship, Andrew County, throughout his life, and who for thirty-three
years has been carrying on operations on his present property in section
34, is one of the native sons of this locality w 7 ho have taken a helpful
part in advancing the community's interests while gaining success on
his own account. His career is expressive of the possibilities of country
life when directed by an intelligent purpose, earnest industry and per-
severing effort.
Mr. Van Schoiack was born in Jefferson Township, Andrew
County, Missouri, February 16, 1847, and is a son of Machiga and Luella
(Jackson) Van Schoiack, natives of Kentucky, who were married in
that state and moved to Indiana, remaining there three years and came
to Missouri in 1839, locating on land in Jefferson Township, where the
HISTORY OF NORTHWEST MISSOURI 1711
father entered a tract from the Government. In 1852 Machiga Van
Sehoiack purchased the farm of his father, Josiah Van Schoiack, who
started across the plains in that year for Oregon, but never reached his
destination, dying on the way of the numerous hardships encountered.
Machiga Van Schoiack died on the farm which his father had entered,
one mile south of the present home of his son Jackson, in November,
1906, and would have been ninety-three years old in the following April.
He was at that time one of the substantial men of his community, being
. the owner of 200 acres of land, and stood high in the esteem of his fellow-
citizens. Mrs. Van Schoiack died in 1895, at the age of seventy-seven
years, having been the mother of eleven children, as follows: William,
who is deceased ; Thomas, who is engaged in agricultural pursuits in
Jefferson Township ; Joseph, who died at the age of nine years ; Rachel,
who married Lee Hall and resides on the home place; Rebecca, who
married Healby "White, deceased, and resides in Arizona: Jackson, of
this review ; Martin, who is deceased ; Holland, who married Thomas
Ridgeway. and is now deceased; George, who died in Los Angeles,
California; Laura, who is deceased; and Mary, who married George
Rockwood of St. Joseph.
Jackson Van Sehoiack received his education in the subscription
schools of his native locality, as at that time there were no free schools,
and as an illustration of the advancement of the times it may be here
noted that today he pays a school tax of $140. He was brought up a
farmer boy and remained under the parental roof until the time of his
marriage, when he purchased a farm of 120 acres in Gentry County,
Missouri, residing there for nine years and meeting with moderate
success. Selling out at the end of that time he returned to his native
township and bought his present home, on which he has lived for thirty-
three years and where he has met with a full share of prosperity. At
this time he is the owner of 162 acres, although he formerly had a larger
tract, but sold off fifty-four acres. The greater part of this land has
been cleared by Mr. Van Schoiack, and all the improvements have been
made by him, his present buildings being of substantial character and
attractive appearance. In his general farming and stock raising opera-
tions he has shown himself a skilled and practical farmer, and uses
the most modern methods and machinery in his work.
On November 14, 1869. Mr. Van Schoiack was united in marriage
with Miss Missouri Ann Turpin, who was born in Andrew County,
Missouri, June 15, 1848, a daughter of Edward and Lavina (Abbott)
Turpin, natives of Indiana, where they were married. Mr. and Mrs.
Turpin came to Missouri in 1844 and located in Jefferson Township,
where they continued to be engaged in agricultural pursuits during
the remainder of their lives. The mother, who was born December 25.
1804. died October 20, 1887, while the father, born in 1806, died April
25, 1873. They were the parents of seven children, as follows : Margaret,
the widow of William Colburn, a resident of Oklahoma : Jane, the widow
of Sam Duncan, a resident of Mound City, Missouri: James, who died
in childhood : Celestine, the widow of Frederick Breit. residing in Jef-
ferson Township ; William Isaac, a resident of Empire City, Oregon ;
Mary Ann, deceased, who was the wife of Nelson Graves, who is also
deceased ; and Missouri Ann, who married Mr. Van Schoiack.
Mr. and Mrs. Van Schoiack have had two children : Addie. who is
the wife of Elias Wrisdey of Jefferson Township, has two sons, George
Dewey and Alva : and Laura, who died at the age of ten years. Mr.
and Mrs. Van Schoiack are consistent members of the Christian Church,
in the movements of which they have taken an active part. He has
1712 HISTORY OF NORTHWEST MISSOURI
not been a seeker for public preferment at the polls, but at all times
has supported good men and measures and is accounted one of the
public-spirited men of his township.
Edward R. Gibbins. A companion of the wilderness of Andrew County
and a sharer in the prosperity unfolded by the zeal and enterprise of
its tireless workers, Edward R. Gibbins, of Jefferson Township, has
been a witness to and a participant in the wonderful changes which
have transformed this part of Northwest Missouri from an unproductive,
valueless waste into one of the most fertile and valuable sections of the
country. A resident of this county and township for more than seventy
years, no one has better maintained the personal honor and public-
spirited characteristics of the best class of pioneers, or more forcibly
and persistently projected the usefulness of his family into a later and
more progressive period than has this highly esteemed agriculturist of
section 35.
Edward R. Gibbins was born in Washington County, Kentucky,
March 10, 1842, and is a son of Edward R. and Sarah (Noel) Gibbins,
natives of the Blue Grass State, the former born June 19, 1805, and
the latter June 13, 1811. The grandfather was William Gibbins, prob-
ably a native of Kentucky, who was the son of an emigrant from Scot-
land. In the year 1843 the parents of Mr. Gibbins came direct to Andrew
County with their eight children and located on a farm one and one-
quarter miles south of the present home of Edward R. Gibbins. There
they secured a quarter section of land from the United States Govern-
ment and continued to make it their home until 1865, when they sold
out and moved to Illinois. Three years later they disposed of their
Illinois property and went to Boone County, Missouri, and the father
spent his last years with his son, Rev. Beeler Gibbins, in Harvey County,
Kansas, at whose home he died at the age of ninety years. The mother
had died in 1843 soon after the family came to Andrew County, and
the father was later married to Mary Van Schoiack, who also died in
Kansas. Edward R. and Sarah Gibbins had a family of eight children,
as follows: Mary, who married Sam Miller, went to Oregon in 1852
and there died; William, a preacher, who crossed the plains in 1852
and died in Washington ; Rebecca Ann, who married Sebastian Nordyke
and died in 1881 in Andrew County; James Noel, a resident of Highland,
Kansas ; Samuel David, a resident of Oregon ; George Washington, who
makes his home with Edward R. ; Thomas Houston, who resides in Mon-
tana ; and Edward R., of this review. To the union of Edward R. and
Mary (Van Schoiack) Gibbins there were born four children: Martin,
a resident of Audrain County, Missouri ; John, a Methodist circuit rider
who died in Boone County, Missouri ; B. Levi, who lives in Oklahoma ;
and Beeler, a missionary Baptist preacher, whose home is in Harvey
County. Kansas.
Edward R. Gibbins was a child of one year when brought by his
parents to Andrew County, and here his education was secured in the
primitive district schools. He grew up on the home farm and has always
lived in this community, his activities being devoted to general farming
and the raising of stock. His present home property is a nicely culti-
vated tract of sixty acres, and here he is spending the evening of life
surrounded by the comforts and ease which his many years of labor
have brought. He has seen the changes that have occurred since he
cut many acres of grain with the primitive implements of the pioneers,
plowed his land with an ox team and used the same ox team in going
to church on Sundays. His life has been a very full and satisfying
HISTORY OF NORTHWEST MISSOURI 1713
one, and through it all he has retained the respect and esteem of his
fellow citizens. A democrat in his political views, Mr. Gibbins has
served his community as justice of the peace for thirty-two years, and
in 1914 was the candidate of his party for representative to the Legisla-
ture. He is a consistent member of the Baptist Church, and has served
for many years as deacon.
In 1863 Mr. Gibbins was married to Miss Elizabeth Ridgeway, who
was born in Calloway County, Missouri, February 10, 1843, a daughter
of Thomas and Elizabeth (Stephens) Ridgeway, natives of Kentucky
and pioneers of Missouri. They were the parents of six children:
Sarah, who died at the age of five years; John William, deceased;
Martha Ellen Armstrong, deceased; Nicholas, deceased; Thomas, de-
ceased ; and Elizabeth, Mrs. Gibbins. Mrs. Gibbins lost her mother when
she was an infant, and her father died when she was five years of age.
In 1849 she was brought to Buchanan County, Missouri, and was here
reared and educated in the family of her mother's sister and the latter 's
husband, John K. and Mary Ellen (Stephens) Johnson. Mr. Gibbins
has reared a remarkable family, and one of which any man might well
feel proud. Seventeen children were born to him and Mrs. Gibbins,
there being four sets of twins, and of these children five are deceased:
Mary Ellen and Martha Ellen, twins, who died aged five and eleven
months, respectively; Elisha, a twin of Elijah, died at sis months;
Nicholas died at the age of two and one-half years; and Elizabeth died
at the age of three months. The other children are as follows: John
Thomas, a farmer of Jefferson Township ; Rebecca Ann, who resides
with her parents; Ida Jane; Charles Edward, a resident of DeKalb
County, Missouri ; Samuel David and Roger Lee, twins, both residing
in Andrew County ; Sebastian Ellis, of this county ; William Arthur, who
also lives in Andrew County; Elijah, of DeKalb County, Missouri;
Alice Belle and Sarah, twins, the former of whom is the wife of Sam
Redman, of Andrew County, and the latter of whom resides with her
parents; and Nancy Elizabeth, who also resides at home. Mr. Gibbins'
eldest son's son, John Edward, has a daughter, Ethel Marie, Mr. Gibbins'
only great-grandchild. All the children who are married own their
own homes. The children were carefully reared, well educated and
thoroughly fitted to become good citizens, and to honor the name which
they bear, as well as to lend dignity to the positions in life which they
have been called upon to fill.
Amos Meter. Many of the successful agriculturists of Holt County
are carrying on operations on farms upon which they were born and on
which they have resided all their lives. In this class is found Amos
Meyer, who has a tract of 124 acres lying in East Lewis Township,
and who is known as a progressive and enterprising farmer. _ He has
devoted his career to the pursuits of the soil, and his energetic labors
have resulted in the accumulation of a valuable property and a position
among the substantial men of his locality. Mr. Meyer was born on the
farm on which he now lives, June 20, 1874, and is a son of Martin and
Catherine (Miller) Meyer.
Martin Meyer was born in Germany, and in young manhood, seeking
the greater opportunities offered by the United States, emigrated to this
country. After some search for a suitable locality, he finally decided to
locate in the fertile region of Northwest Missouri, establishing himself
in Holt County. A man of industry and energetic habits, he was suc-
cessful in making a comfortable home for his family, and when he died,
in 1886 or 1887, was the owner of 666 acres, of which eighty were under
1714 HISTORY OF NORTHWEST MISSOURI
cultivation. A good citizen and generous neighbor, true to his obligations
and his friendships, he was held in high esteem among the people with
whom his life was passed, and when he died left many to mourn his
loss. Mrs. Meyer, who was a worthy helpmate to her husband, survived
him several years, dying about the year 1895. Both were laid to rest
in Holt County. Among their ten children three are deceased, while
the survivors are : John, George, Mary Ann, Alex, Eliza, Sophronia and
Amos, all being born in Holt County. They were given good educational
advantages, reared to habits of industry and honesty, and trained to
occupy the places in life to which they were called.
The public schools of Holt County furnished Amos Meyer with his
education, and during his boyhood and youth he spent his vacations
industriously by assisting his father in the work of the home farm. He
has continued to reside on this property to the present time, and now
has 100 of his 124 acres under cultivation, although he has not been
actively engaged in farming recently as he has suffered a spell of ill
health. The buildings on this land are practically the same as when
his father lived here, except that they have been rearranged, and in
several instances have been remodeled, while numerous improvements
have been made and new equipment installed. Mr. Meyer has always
been a believer in the use of modern methods and machinery, and the
success which has attended his efforts would seem to indicate that his
is the proper idea. Like his father, he is an adherent of republican
principles, but has not sought nor desired public office. As a citizen
he has encouraged and supported good movements in his community, the
best interests of which he has always had at heart.
Mr. Meyer was married to Miss Goldie Hamilton, daughter of- John
and Mary (Smith) Hamilton. To their union have been born three
children : Mary, Opal and Luther, the last two being twins, and all born
in Holt County.
William Linneaus Wright. There are only a few country estates
which compare in extent, productiveness and general value with that
of W. L. Wright in Benton Township of Andrew County. Mr. Wright
has lived a long and useful life, his early years in particular were filled
with many interesting experiences, and his home has been in Andrew
County for half a century. While it has been characteristic of him
to give strict attention to his own affairs, and while there is little that
lends itself to fluent description in the life of a progressive, prosperous
and diligent farmer and stock man, Mr. Wright has never in all his
years sought to avoid the responsibilties that go with capable and sub-
stantial citizenship. He has been a factor in the development and life
of Andrew County,
William Linneaus Wright was born in Des Moines County, Iowa,
February 20, 1837, a son of John D. and Celia (Hanks) Wright. His
father was of a New England family, was born February 8, 1807, was
liberally educated, and for five years was a teacher in New Jersey. He
had the spirit of the true pioneer, early became discontented with the
settled and staid life of the East, came out to the then frontier, and
from that time forward lived pretty close to the edge of western civiliza-
tion, moving further w^est as the country around him became settled
up. His wife was a native of Kentucky, and it is a fact of interest to
note that she Avas a cousin of Abraham Lincoln. She was a daughter
of William Hanks, and it will be recalled that Mr. Lincoln's mother
was Nancy Hanks. John D. Wright moved to Illinois in the early days,
locating in Macon County, where he served as sheriff and survevor.
HISTORY OF NORTHWEST MISSOURI 1715
While holding those offices the Black Hawk war broke out, and he was
an orderly sergeant in the company commanded by Abraham Lincoln.
John D. Wright had many interesting reminiscences of Mr. Lincoln,
whom he frequently met in early days in Illinois, and of whose career
and character he was always a great admirer. About 1831 John D.
Wright became one of the pioneers in Des Moines County, Iowa. That
was a number of years before Iowa was organized as a state, and in his
capacity as a surveyor he did some valuable work in laying out the
wilderness and many of the lines he established are still in existence. He
platted the townsite of Burlington, Iowa, and for four terms represented
Des Moines County in the Iowa Territorial Legislature, while the terri-
torial capital was at Iowa City. He made the trips to the capital by
stage or horseback. Mr. AY. L. Wright recalls that his father once
brought home a pair of overshoes made of buffalo hide, the hair being
left on the inside, and they made a very serviceable article of footwear.
When W. L. Wright was about six years old his mother died. After
he reached the age of eighteen his father moved to Union County, Iowa.
thus again transferring his home to the western margin of settlement.
Very few pieces of land had been entered in L T nion County at that time,
and the father preempted a homestead two and a half miles southeast
of the Town of Afton, and secured a house that had formerly been occu-
pied by the Mormons. While in Union County he continued his work
as a surveyor and laid off the Town of Afton, his son William helping
in the survey by carrying the chain. John D. Wright became one of
the big factors in Union County, bought land extensively around Afton,
and at one time owned about nine hundred acres. While he was engaged
in his duties in locating settlers and making surveys, he had his sons
and hired other men to break up the prairie.
About 1863 John D. Wright sold his Iowa interests and came to An-
drew County, Missouri, locating two miles north of Savannah. Later
he bought a place near Rosendale, and lived there until his death at
the good old age of eighty-five. He was three times married. His first
wife was a Miss Robison. and their only child died in infancy. By
his marriage to Miss Celia Hanks there were the following children :
Marvin, who died in infancy; Elizabeth, who died in infancy; William
L. : J. D., of Oregon; Priscilla, who died in infancy; Elisha and Electa,
twins, the former of Kansas, and the latter the wife of Mr. Ward of
Spokane, Washington. His third wife was named Simmons. Her
children were : Charles of Savannah, Missouri ; Emily Parker of Oregon :
Justus of Utah ; Lyman of Oregon ; George of Baker City, Oregon ;
and Mary Jamison of Union, Oregon.
William L. Wright is the owner of a fine estate of 640 acres. This
includes the north half of section 13 in Benton Township, the south-
east quarter of section 12, eighty acres in section 11 and another eighty
acres in section 12. The place is about four miles from Rosendale. As
his early life was spent largely on the frontier with his father he had
little opportunity to gain an education, but by association with his
father and by his own reading and observation and experience with
men he has always passed as a man of intelligence and of more than
the average attainments. L T ntil he was about twenty-five years of age
he went barefoot and drove an ox team for the breaking of prairie land
in Iowa, that comprising the major part of his early experience. In
early years he met with some vicissitudes in getting established, but
finally began making money and really owes all his prosperity to his
individual efforts. Mr. Wright is a democrat, and at one time was
defeated by only seventeen votes for the office of presiding judge of
1716 HISTORY OF NORTHWEST MISSOURI
the County Court. His party was in the minority, and while he accepted
the nomination he made no effort to be elected, and the close margin
by which he was defeated was really a high tribute to his popularity
and his qualifications as a citizen.
On August 12, 1855, Mr. Wright married Sarah Clemmons, who died
May 16, 1860. On December 5, 1860, he married Matilda A. Bonifield,
who died January 8, 1871. The third marriage occurred November 2,
1871, when Fannie G. Gillam became his wife. The two children of
the first marriage were : Elizabeth Jane, who died in the State of Oregon
as the wife of Joe Wilson, leaving two children ; John D., who married
Alice Carter, and both died in Oregon, leaving four children. By the
second marriage there were three children : Ellsworth, who died in
childhood; Albert, also deceased; and Virginia, who married Milton
Holt, and she died in Oregon October 18, 1902, leaving four daughters
and one son. Mr. Wright by his present wife had three children :
Canby Allen, who lives on a farm adjoining his father; Martha, wife
of John Coffman of Oklahoma; and W. L., Jr., on one of the farms
owned by his father.
Hon. W. A. Pyle. In the peaceful pursuits of agriculture, more
than one veteran of the great Civil war has tried to forget the in-
evitable horrors of that conflict, in which, from a sense of duty he
participated and gave years of his young manhood to his country's
service, but not all of them have later been called from farm and orchard
to assume such public responsibilities as was W. A. Pyle, one of Andrew
County's most representative men. Judge Pyle has been a resident
of Andrew County for forty-seven years and his stability in every phase
of life, his business judgment, his public spirit and his personal in-
tegrity have long been recognized by those who have known him in
every day affairs, in commercial relations and in the responsible office
of presiding judge of the county. He served on the county bench with
honor, efficiency and usefulness for eight years.
In the ancestry of Judge Pyle some distinguished names are found.
His paternal grandmother, Sabina Marshall, was a daughter of Samuel
Marshall, who was a brother of Hon. John Marshall, who held the office
of chief justice of the United States for thirty-four years, during which
his decisions on constitutional questions established precedents in the
interpretation of the Constitution that have been accepted ever since.
Another member of this branch of the Marshall family is found in
Indiana's most distinguished citizen, the present vice president of the
United States.
W. A. Pyle was born in Scioto County, Ohio, January 3, 1844, and
is a son of G. W. and Susannah (Rankin) Pyle. The father was born
also in Scioto County, in 1815, a son of Absalom Pyle, who was of
English extraction but was born in Roanoke County, Virginia, from
which state he moved to Ohio and there became a farmer. In 1847
the parents of Judge Pyle came to Andrew County, Missouri, the father
purchasing the farm on which his son W. A., the only living member of
his family, now resides, both he and wife dying in the same year. He
married Susannah Rankin, who was born in 1817, a daughter of William
R«ankin.
W. A. Pyle was reared on his grandfather's farm in Ohio and was
given educational advantages, attending an academy at Jackson at
the time of the outbreak of the war between the states. Although only
seventeen years old at that time he enlisted for army service, entering
Company E, Thirty-third Ohio Volunteer Infantry. His service was
HISTORY OF NORTHWEST MISSOURI 1717
long and severe, testing not only the physical strength of the boy but
proving that a man's courage is not always measured by years. He
accompanied his regiment through Kentucky, Tennessee and Alabama,
fought in the battle of Perryville when twenty-four of his comrades in
his company fell, later participated in the battle of Stone River, the
Tullahoma campaign, and in the fall of 1863 in the battle of Chicka-
mauga. On the last day of this battle the brave young soldier was
wounded and then taken prisoner and in danger and suffering was
later transferred to Atlanta, where he was held a prisoner until February
17, 1864, when he was exchanged, under a flag of truce. His condition
was such at this time as to make necessary his removal to a hospital and
he was a patient at Nashville until a furlough home was secured and
after he reached Ohio he reported at Cincinnati and was again placed
in a hospital, from which place, in August, 1864, he was sent to Todd
Barracks at Columbus, and on October 4, 1864, he was mustered out.
His long period of suffering and the serious character of his injuries