George D. ; and Stanley B., all living at home.
Hox. James E. Ford. In November, 1914, the fourth district re-
elected James E. Ford to the State Senate. His return to the body in
which he has served as representative and senator for eight years is an
encouraging sign of the time to all citizens who believe in the essential
wholesomeness of the modern progressive tendencies in politics and gov-
ernment. Senator Ford has given excellent and positive service to the
cause of good government in Missouri, and by their votes at the recent
election the people of the fourth district justified his record and thereby
added a strong and experienced member to the next senate.
Senator Ford was elected to represent Grundy County in the lower
house in 1906, and during his second term was speaker pro tern. In
1910 he was elected for his first term in the senate. In that year Gov-
ernor Hadley appointed him a member and he was chosen chairman of
the auditing committee to investigate state offices. About half of the
forty bills he has introduced have become law. He was a joint author
of the present county school supervision law. He was the author of the
enabling act, now a law, defining and restricting the use of the initiative
and referendum, by which the people of the state have authority to
originate and also to approve or reject legislation. He was joint author
of the bill establishing the present state poultry experiment station, and
introduced a bill to prevent the importation of diseased live stock into
the state, a bill that failed of passage, but the essential value of which
has been emphasized by recent events. Among the measures introduced
by Senator Ford in the session of 1915 is one providing for a system of
township school districts, managed by one board of six with a uniform
levy throughout the township, defining township districts as "town dis-
tricts" with power to levy and collect taxes now allowed other town
districts, and providing for the establishment of township high schools
or joint township high schools. This plan Senator Ford thinks corrects
the two fundamental weaknesses of the present country school system,
the low tax levy required under the constitution, and the weak, isolated
independent district, and he thinks it will soon place a high school within
horseback distance of nearly every boy and girl in the state. Another
bill is a system of building permanent country roads by convict labor,
which is advocated by the state highway commissio2i. His progressive
tendencies are also shown by his introduction of bills to provide for a
presidential preference primary and another for the popular election of
United States senators, now provided by amendment to the Federal
Constitution. He was the first man in Missouri to conceive and ad-
vocate the use of the initiative as a means of overcoming the practice of
gerrymandering congressional and senatorial districts.
Senator Ford is a young man, but his career has stimulating interest
to those who believe in the efficacy of hard work and ambition. He was
born on a farm in Grundy County, April 5, 1880, a son of John B. and
Sarah (Cooksey) Ford, the former a native of Shelby County, Mis-
souri, and the latter of Illinois. His paternal grandparents, James H.
and Amelia (Cockrum) Ford, were both born in Kentucky. The senator
is descended on both sides from ancestors who took part in the Revolu-
tionarv war.
Vol. Ill— 34
1822 HISTORY OF NORTHWEST MISSOURI
His first schooling was in the old Ford School in Myers Township of
Grundy County, but most of his education has come from hard study
at home. He graduated in the Kirksville Normal, also attended the
Missouri State University, and took a course in logic and other subjects
through the correspondence department of the University of Chicago.
He has taught school, has owned and edited several newspapers, and
besides his active public career has kept close to the farming vocation
at which he was reared. His home is on his farm, Silverdawn, 2i/>
miles north of Trenton. In 1904, after leaving the Kirksville Normal,
Senator Ford bought a newspaper at Gault, but sold it in 1906
and came to Trenton and for a time was in the real-estate business. For
a short time he owned and edited a Trenton paper. He is also known as
an author, having completed some very authentic county histories, now
in book form, and is the author of a volume of humorous sketches en-
titled "Fact, Fun and Fiction," of which he sold the copyright. Dur-
ing 1911-12 he managed the home farm, then bought and conducted a
newspaper at Hamilton, which he sold in 1913, and has since given his
time to the operation of his own farm. In politics Mr. Ford is a repub-
lican.
In 1907 Senator Ford married Miss Grace Humphreys, a daughter of
Wade H. and Nettie (Cooper) Humphreys, of Gault, her father being a
large land owner in Grundy County. Mr. and Mrs. Ford are the
parents of three children, Wade H., James E. and Allie Grace.
William R. Anderson. A vigorous young Trenton business man
who has shown much capacity to manage large responsibilities and build
up business is William R. Anderson, local manager for the T. W. Ballew
Lumber Company. Mr. Anderson has had much experience in the lum-
ber trade, and though a young man still in his twenties has demonstrated
both ability and success in his relations with business and with citizen-
ship.
William R. Anderson was born in Montrose, Henry County, Missouri,
February 22, 1888. His father, Jno. Q. Anderson, was born in Ken-
tucky November 12, 1862, and all the Andersons came originally from
Kentucky. The mother, whose maiden name was Sallie Wilson, was of
an Illinois family, but was born in Ray County, Missouri. February 28,
1864. They were married at Kansas City in 1884. The father located
in Polk County. Missouri, in 1874, taught country schools there for
several years, and in 1891 became identified with the E. W. Blew Lum-
ber Company at Montrose, Missouri. In 1898 he took over the business,
making the firm the Anderson Lumber Company. His death occurred in
1902.
William R. Anderson acquired his early education in the public
schools of Montrose, graduating from the high school in 1905, then in
the fall of the same year entered the Western Commercial and Military
School at Clinton, Missouri, was a student there until 1906, and during
1907 attended the Hill Business College at Sedalia. His practical busi-
ness career began in the fall of 1907 at Excelsior Springs, where he was
connected with the Roanoke Lumber Company until 1912. In that year
he became local manager for the T. W. Ballew Lumber Company at
Trenton, and has since been a resident of that city.
Mr. Anderson is a republican, is affiliated wth the Lodge and Royal
Arch Chapter of Masonry, and with the Benevolent and Protective Order
of Elks, being a popular member of these different fraternities. Decem-
ber 26. 1912. he married Miss Bessie Peterson, a daughter of Peter and
Yiola (Schultz) Peterson of McCook, Nebraska. The Peterson family
were pioneer settlers in Nebraska.
HISTORY OF NORTHWEST MISSOURI 1823
Robert A. Collier. One of the venerable citizens of Grundy County
is Robert A. Collier, whose home has been in that locality for more than
seventy years, and whose mind is filled with recollections of the early
surroundings and events of Northwest Missouri. He is one of the
honored veterans of the great Civil strife of the '60s, and has given many
years to public in Grundy County.
Robert A. Collier was born at Fayette, in Howard County, Missouri,
March 19, 1838, a son of William arid Susan Collier. His father was a
man whose enterprise did much for early Grundy County, and who was
the contractor who constructed the first courthouse at Trenton. The
family history is of much interest, and will be found somewhat in detail
in the sketch of Hon. Luther Collier, a brother of Robert A.
Robert A. Collier was five years old when the family moved to Tren-
ton, and grew up in that city. He has recollections of some of the early
schools and early school teachers, and among those who directed his
mental training as a boy he recalls Col. John H. Shanklin, George H.
Hubbell, James Turner, Jacob T. Tindall, Rev. James Vincent, J. B.
Allen and Joseph Ficklin. Later he attended school for a time at Beth-
any. For a practical vocation in life he learned the trade of brick-
layer under his father's direction, and that has been his main business,
although the greater part of his active years have been spent in other
duties.
In 1861 Mr. Collier enlisted for service in the Union army, becoming
a member of Company B, of the Twenty-third Regiment of Missouri
Infantry. He was made orderly sergeant, and in 1863 was commissioned
lieutenant by Governor Gamble. Soon afterwards by order of President
Lincoln he was appointed a mustering officer, and thus became a member
of the general staff. He served on the staff of Gen. Thomas A. Davies,
General Guitar and General McNeil. After three years and four months
in the army he returned home and was appointed mustering officer for
Grundy County, a position which he retained for about one year. Soon
after the close of the war Mr. Collier continued his public work as deputy
county clerk, and finally resigned that position to engage in merchandis-
ing. In 1870 he was elected county clerk, and gave twelve years to that
office.
In 1863 Mr. Collier married Miss Ann E. Cooper, a daughter of Dr.
James and Mary A. E. Cooper. They are the parents of four children :
William C, Robert E., Leon E. and Mary E., the last being the wife of
W. E. Pierson. Mr. Collier has affiliated with the Masonic Order for
half a century, and is one of the oldest Masons in Northwest Missouri.
Lesley P. Robinson. Prosecuting attorney of Grundy County, to
which position he was elected in 1912, Lesley P. Robinson is one of the
most popular officials of the county, and for nearly ten years has prac-
ticed law with growing success at Trenton.
Mr. Robinson was born on a farm four miles from Corydon. Wayne
County, Iowa, October 17, 1881. His father was Peter Lunsford Robin-
son, who was born in Greencastle, Indiana, June 1, 1832. The grand-
father was Addison Newton Robinson, a native of Kentucky, whose father
moved to Indiana during the territorial period, and who lost his life
while defending the old fort at Vincennes against Indian attack. Grand-
father Robinson was a pioneer of Putnam County. Indiana, and had his
home near Greencastle. In 1843 he went West and found a home in the
Territory of Iowa. He entered land four miles northwest of the present
site of Corydon, and was one of the early settlers who cleared the wilder-
ness and prepared the way for modern civilization in that part of the
state. He improved his land and lived upon it until his death when about
1824 HISTORY OF NORTHWEST MISSOURI
seventy years of age. He married Elizabeth 'Neil Lunsford, who was
bom in 1812, and whose parents were probably natives of Ireland and
early settlers in the State of Indiana. Grandmother Robinson died at the
age of eighty-seven years.
Peter Lunsford Robinson, father of the prosecuting attorney, was
eleven years old when the family located in Iowa, was reared amid pioneer
surroundings in that state, and during his later life he often recalled
many circumstances which characterized the country in that day. He
knew Iowa when wild turkey, prairie chicken and all kinds of game
roamed and could b*e found by the hunter in abundance on every quarter
section. There were no railroads for a number of years after the Robin-
son family located there, and the farmers of Wayne County in the early
days took their grain to Alexandria on the Mississippi River, there load-
ing with goods needed for domestic consumption at home. When ready
to start in life on his own account Peter L. Robinson bought land near
the homestead and finally succeeded to ownership of the old place, where
he lived until 1896. Selling out his Iowa home, he then moved to Grundy
County, Missouri, and bought land in Madison Township. He became
one of the well known farmers and stock raisers and lived there until his
death a few years ago. Peter L. Robinson married Mary Atkinson, who
was born in Lee County, Iowa, December 13, 1849. Her father, James
Atkinson, was one of the early settlers of Grundy County, and had the
distinction of operating a grist mill for the benefit of the settlers in the
early days. About 1863 he went out to Denver, Colorado, and was one
of the early residents of that western city. Later he returned to Mis-
souri, and spent his last days in Boone County. He was by profession a
Primitive Baptist preacher and was quite successful as a trader. The
maiden name of his wife was Margaret Mendenhall, who was born in
Illinois and died at Trenton before her husband went out to Colorado.
Mrs. Peter L. Robinson died December 22, 1910, and she reared eleven
children, namely : Willett, Ida, Edwin, Stephen, Lizzie, Lida, Lesley P.,
Nellie, Maggie, Newton and William. Of these children Willett and
Lizzie are now deceased.
Lesley P. Robinson received his early education in the rural schools
of Wayne County and as he was about fifteen when the family came to
Grundy County he had some schooling here, and later entered the Univer-
sity of Kansas and studied law in the Kansas City Law School. Ad-
mitted to practice in the fall of 1904, he has since been steadily advancing
in professional attainments, and in 1905 formed a partnership with the
veteran lawyer, Luther Collier, a partnership which has continued with
mutual profit and satisfaction to the present time.
In 1908 Mr. Robinson married Nellie May Songer. She was born in
Grundy County, a daughter of John R. Songer, who was born in Tren-
ton Township November 9, 1847, and was the son of Giles Songer and
grandson of Abraham Songer. The last named was a native of Pennsyl-
vania and of German stock, later removing from Pennsylvania to Wash-
ington County, Indiana, and finally to Clay County, Illinois, where he
died. Abraham Songer married Catherine Sawyer, who was born in
Pennsylvania and also died in Clay County, Illinois. Giles Songer came
to Grundy County in 1846, only five years after this county was organized,
and got a tract of land direct from the Government six miles northeast of
Trenton. He was a man of much industry and enterprise, and after
developing his first tract of land sold out at a profit and bought more land
three miles east of his previous location where he resided until his death
in 1884. Giles Songer married Nancy Childress, who died in 1907, at the
good old age of eighty-seven years. John R. Songer, Mrs. Robinson's
father, has spent his entire life in Grundy County, and now lives
HISTORY OF NORTHWEST MISSOURI 1825
retired in the City of Trenton. He married Nannie V. Shanklin, who
was born in Trenton, a daughter of Andrew and Rachel (Sharpe) Shank-
lin, and the granddaughter of Absalom and Nancy (Leesterj Shank-
lin. Mr. and Mrs. Robinson have one daughter, named Mary Virginia.
In public affairs Mr. Robinson has enacted a considerable role, and is
regarded as one of the leaders of the local democracy. He cast his first
vote for W. J. Bryan, and has served as a member of the Grundy County
democratic central committee and as delegate to county and state con-
ventions. In the campaign of 1912 he was candidate on the democratic
ticket for the office of prosecuting attorney, and his name contributed to
the strength of that ticket, and since taking up his duties he has well
justified the confidence of his friends and political supporters.
Levi M. Hickey. From the close of the Civil war until his retire-
ment a few years ago to the Village of Whitesville, Levi M. Hickey was
one of the industrious and hard-working farmer citizens of Andrew
County. Mr. Hickey won his competence under conditions which would
be deemed hardships by the present generation of agriculturists. Per-
sistent toil, early and late, vigilant attention to all details of his busi-
ness, and observance of all the old-fashioned rules of honesty and fair
dealing, have been the cornerstones on which his career has been based.
He is one of the highly honored citizens of Andrew County.
Levi M. Hickey was born in Carter County, Tennessee, December 21,
1838, and belonged to a large family of that plainspoken and hardy class
of people known as East Tennesseeans. His father was a whig, during the
war was a Union man, and the son Levi was one of the family who
fought for the cause of the Union. The parents were James M. and
Nancy (Millard) Hickey. His father was born in Washington County,
Virginia, in 1797, and his mother in Sullivan County in East Tennessee
in 1803. They were married in Sullivan County, and spent their lives
in that state on a farm. The mother died in 1862 while her son Levi was
in a Confederate prison at Richmend, Virginia. The father died at the
age of seventy-two. There were fourteen children, all of whom lived to
maturity, and all were reared in a hewed loghouse, one of the typical
homes of Eastern Tennessee, where there was an abundance of the
necessities, but very few of the luxuries and in that time and place
schools were held in less esteem as a means of discipline than the work
and experience of the home farm. The children are briefly named as
follows: Charlotta White, who died in Tennessee in December, 1912,
at the age of ninety ; Elizabeth Lacey, Matilda Miller, Timothy, James,
William. and Nathaniel, all deceased; Ann, who married Thomas Crum-
ley and is now deceased ; Levi M. ; Mary, deceased wife of Jack Crumley ;
Martha ; Emma, wife of George Crumley of Knoxville, Tennessee ; and
Paulina Dinwiddie of Knoxville, Tennessee.
Levi M. Hickev lived at home until his marriage in 18o9, and then
moved to Washington County, Tennessee, and lived in that vicinity until
the outbreak of the war. He early determined to enlist in the Union
army, and while trying to get through the Southern lines to the Union
forces was made a prisoner, and for three months kept at Richmond,
Virginia. Having been exchanged, and sent through the lines, he
reached Louisville, Kentucky, where the regiment which he was to join
was then stationed. Thus his formal enlistment was delayed until De-
cember 26, 1862, when he became a member of Company B of the Fourth
Tennessee Infantry, and remained with that organization until August
2 1865 being mustered out at Nashville with the rank of sergeant.
In the fall of 1865 -Mr. Hickev came to Andrew County, Missouri, locat-
ing 2% miles north of Whitesville. His chief possessions at that time
1826 HISTORY OF NORTHWEST MISSOURI
were a willingness to work hard for a living, and by steady industry he
prospered as a farmer and acquired a valuable estate. His home was
burned in 1907, and owing to his advanced age he decided to sell his
land, and has since lived in Whitesville, in a home he built on coming
to that village.
Mr. Hickey has a record of exceptional length as a republican voter.
Owing to the fact that there was no Lincoln ticket in Tennessee in 1860,
he gave his ballot to John Bell, the free soil candidate, but while in the
army voted for Lincoln the second time, and has supported every presi-
dential candidate of that party down to date. In state and county elec-
tions he splits his ticket. Mr. Hickey was a member of the Dunkard
Church until removing to town, and now attends worship in the Chris-
tian Church.
In 1859 he married Mary Bashor, who died in Andrew County in
1892. Their children were : Nancy, wife of Charles Daggett of Kansas ;
Thomas, of Idaho ; Louisa, wife of G. W. Gebhart of Platte Township ;
Paulina, wife of Bert Riddlesbarger of Idaho; Wallace of Wright
County, Missouri; and Henry Milton, who died in infancy. In 1896
Mr. Hickey married Mrs. Malinda (McNatt) West, who was born in
Gentry County, Missouri, a daughter of William McNatt and widow of
Joseph West. By her first marriage her children are: Esther, wife of
George Hardwick of Los Angeles, California ; and Elmer, of Ravens-
wood, Missouri.
James Gibson. Scotch persistence, thrift and industry, qualities
which he brought over from the old country, have enabled James Gib-
son to accomplish more than the average man who starts life with only
a pair of willing hands and a heart courageous for any fate. Mr.
Gibson is now one of the large land owners in Platte Township of
Andrew County, has a large family of boys and girls, and most of them
are married and occupying homes of their own which he gave them.
Forty years ago James Gibson came to Andrew County with a wife and
an infant child six months old. He had very little money, but most men
at the present time would consider it hardly enough for running ex-
penses. What he has accomplished since then is a remarkable testi-
monial to his diligence and general business ability.
James Gibson was born in Ayrshire, Scotland, June 1, 1819, a son of
Alex and Jane (Howitt) Gibson. Both parents were born in the same
county, and spent their lives there, chiefly on a farm. Their nine chil-
dren were : Jane Miller, deceased ; David, who lives in Kansas ; William,
who died in Scotland ; James ; John, who lives in Scotland ; Mary Jime-
son of Scotland; Alex, of Scotland; Peter, who died in childhood; Agnes,
who died in girlhood; and one that died in infancy.
James Gibson received an education in the old country, and earned
his support while working as a farmhand until 1869. He gave his peo-
ple half his wages, but by careful economy managed to save £9, and
with this sum started for the United States. Large numbers of Ayr-
shire people had settled in the State of Wisconsin, and that was his
destination. When he arrived at Milwaukee he had 25 cents in his
pockets, and though an exceedingly homesick boy lost no time in securing
work as a farmhand and going ahead until he had some degree of finan-
cial independence. In 1875 Mr. Gibson came to Andrew County, and
for five years rented and operated a farm, and then bought the nucleus
of his present homestead. At the present time Mr. Gibson owns 640
acres, divided into seven different farms, each with a set of improve-
ments. In his home place he operates 120 acres, azid also uses forty
additional acres for pasturage. His success has come from general
HISTORY OF NORTHWEST MISSOURI 1827
gram and stock farming, and after acquiring his land he has kept im-
proving it and by his own work has added much of the value which his
farms now represent. While his sons were at home assisting him, he
usually fed about a carload of cattle every year.
Mr. Gibson is an independent republican, and is a member of the
Lower Empire Presbyterian Church, and has fraternal affiliations with
the Independent Order of Odd Fellows and the A. H. T. A. In 1874
he married Agnes Booth. Mrs. Gibson was born January 28, 1852, in
Waukesha County, Wisconsin, where they were married. Her parents
were James and Elizabeth (Welch) Booth, both natives of Scotland, but
married in New York, and immediately afterward came West and settled
in Waukesha County, Wisconsin, securing land from the Government.
The five children in the Booth family were : Robert, James, Janet, now
deceased, Agnes and Elizabeth.
Mr. and Mrs. Gibson have a family of eight children. William lives
in Platte Township ; Ella is the wife of Myron Johnson of Platte Town-
ship ; Elizabeth is the wife of Le Roy Wilkerson of Platte Township ;
James ; Myron ; Robert ; Charles, who died at the age of four years ; and
Jennie, at home. The six oldest children are all married and each oc-
cupies a farm of eighty acres on Empire Prairie, originally a part of
their father's estate. The homestead farm of Mr. and Mrs. Gibson is
known as Plain View.
David Gebhart. During the forty-five years of his residence in
Andrew County, David Gebhart has lived from early manhood to
mature age and has acquired those things most appreciated by a man
of industry and ambition. He has a fine farm in Platte Township,
which represents his diligence and good business judgment, has provided
liberally for home and family, and has gained the esteem of all citizens
in that locality for his uprightness and solid work.
David Gebhart is a native of Indiana, born in Henry County, on
Christmas Day of 1851. His parents were George and Mary (Baker)
Gebhart, both natives of Pennsylvania, where they were married. They
removed to Indiana during the '10s and spent the rest of their lives
there. The mother died when David was two years old and the father
lived to be nearly eighty-two years of age, passing away in 1903.
George Gebhart, who was of German ancestry, was a shoemaker by