in New York State in 1784, a son of Barefoot Brunson, who came from
Holland and settled in the Province of New York before the Revolution.
This Dutch settler married Margaret Bell, a native of Ireland. Thomas
R. Brunson learned the trade of stonemason, and when a young man
went to Tennessee and assisted in laying the foundation of the state
capitol at Nashville. Later he settled in Clermont County, Ohio, and
in 1841 moved out to the Territory of Iowa. As a pioneer in Lee
County he bought a tract of land near the present site of West Point,
and combined farming with his trade until his death in 1866. His
wife, Susan Miller, was born in Pennsylvania in 1796 and died in 1874.
David Miller, her father, was born in Germany, settled in Pennsylvania,
where he was a miller, and died there in 1845. He married Susan
Humlong, also a native of Germany, born in 1741 and died in 1844.
Thomas Brunson, father of Mrs. Bain, was six years old when the family
settled in Lee County, where he was reared and learned the trade of
plasterer. That and farming were his means of support in Lee Comity
until 1867, when he sold out and went to Clark County, Iowa. That
section of the state was still new, and he was able to trade a horse .for
eighty acres of land, which he began to improve, and he lived there to see
settlement and civilization become established all around him. After
twenty-eight years he again sold, and moved into the new country of the
Southwest. In Washita County, Oklahoma, he became one of the early
white settlers, bought a quarter section of raw land, and built a frame
house which he plastered with his own hands. It was the first house
with plastered walls in the county, and attracted much attention for
this modern innovation. He followed farming and stock-raising for
some years, and finally moved to the Town of Foss, where he is now
retired at the age of seventy-eight. Thomas Brunson married Arline
Clark, a native of Ohio. Her father was Cullen Clark, born in Vermont,
in 1810, and a son of Johnson Clark, of Scotch ancestry, who died in
1820, and whose wife Sally (Bent) Clark, died in 1817/ Cullen Clark
in young manhood went to Ohio, where he married Rozella Case. Her
father, Chauncey Case, who was born in 1788 and died in 1868, and was
a New York farmer, married Nancy Van Heining, who died in 1884.
Thomas and Arline Brunson had five children, namely: Rosa, Cullen,
Clark, Bent H. and Thurman. To the marriage of Mr. and Mrs. Bain
has been born one child, Homer Judson.
Homer Judson Bain. The only son of Oliver G. and Rosa (Brunson)
Bain, Homer J. Bain is one of the successful younger lawyers of Grundy
County, and has practiced with his father at Trenton since his admission
to the bar.
He was born at Trenton, September 9, 1879, attended the city
HISTORY OF NORTHWEST MISSOURI 191,3
schools, graduating from the high school with the class of 1896, and
the following year entered the University of Missouri. He graduated
LL. B. in 1901, and was admitted to the bar before the Supreme Court
in the same year.
An active republican, casting his first vote for William McKinley, he
has interested himself in local affairs and has been honored with posi-
tions of trust. In 1905 he was elected city attorney, and by re-election
served three terms. In 1910 he was elected prosecuting attorney of
Grundy County, and added to the honors previously gained by his
father in the same office.
June 16, 1908, he married Fern Hibbird, who was born at Sigourney,
Keokuk County, Iowa. Mr. Bain belongs to the university honorary
fraternity, Beta Theta Pi, and to Lodge No. 801, B. P. O. E. He is
much interested in agriculture, owns a stock farm in Lincoln Township,
where the Bain family history centers, and supervises his estate as a pas-
time and recreation, though he also makes his land pay good profits.
Hon. Thomas B. Cook, M. D. It is scarcely possible, in these modern
days, for a man to be a successful practitioner of medicine without being
also a man of learning and of solid, scientific acquirements. Often
the youth who feels the inspiration that ultimately leads him into the
medical profession finds his progress one of difficulty from lack of
encouragement, opportunity or capital, and when all these drawbacks
are overcome, through personal effort, battles have been won that make
firm the foundations of character. One of the leading physicians of
Ray County, Dr. Thomas B. Cook, of Rayville, has not only gained a
high place in his profession through individual effort and merit, but
has also won distinction in public life, and as the representative of his
people has been able to secure the enactment of some legislation of a
decidedly beneficial character to his community.
Doctor Cook has been a lifelong resident of Ray County, being a
member of a family which came here in pioneer days. He was born
on a farm in the vicinity of Lawson, May 6, 1855, and is a son of
Joseph and Melvina (Underwood) Cook, natives of Orange County,
North Carolina, the former born January 12, 1809, and the latter Decem-
ber 15, 1812. In 1838 Joseph Cook and his wife started on their long
journey to the far west, as then represented by Missouri, packing their
possessions in one wagon and being accompanied by their children, one
of w T hom died on the way, while in Tennessee. The hard, tedious and
dangerous trip consumed six weeks, but finally the little party of immi-
grants reached their destination in Audrain County, and there the father
established their primitive home. The family continued to reside
in that community until 1841, in which year Mr. Cook purchased a
tract of land in Ray County, on the present site of _ Lawson, and
there became a fairly well-to-do farmer. The contentions and ani-
mosities growing out of the struggle between the North and the South,
however, caused him to remove to Illinois in 1864, and there he re-
mained until peace was declared between the warring factions in 1865.
On his return to Missouri, he located on a property in Caldwell County,
near Polo, and this continued to be his home until his death, March 2,
1881, Mrs. Cook surviving until July 13, 1885, when she passed away
on the same homestead. They were the parents of eleven children, of
whom seven are now living, as follows: Lemuel, who is a resident of
Clark County, Missouri ; James Clay, who lives in Clinton County, this
state; O. G., who resides in Ray County; Martha, who is the wife of
Abraham King, of Excelsior Springs, Missouri ; Mary, who is the widow
1914 HISTORY OF NORTHWEST MISSOURI
of Joseph McCowan, of Elmira, Missouri; Sallie, who is the wife of
William P. Pryor, of Ray County, and Dr. Thomas B., of this review.
Doctor Cook was reared on the home farms and attended the common
schools of the country and the high school at Lathrop, and while he was
not employed with his studies gave his services to his father on the home
place. It was his ambition to become a physician, but was not possessed
of the finances necessary, and accordingly, to secure the needed means,
took up school teaching as a vocation. From 1871 until 1880 he taught
in the country schools of the community, and in the latter year, having
carefully saved his means, began reading medicine in the office and
under the preceptorship of Dr. W. C. James, at Lawson. Subsequently
he entered the medical department of the University of Louisville, Ken-
tucky, and in 1883' saw his ambitions realized when he was graduated
with the degree of Doctor of Medicine. He at once came to Rayville, and
in this city established himself in practice, his subsequent activities hav-
ing been centered here. At this time Doctor Cook is in the enjoyment
of an excellent professional business, built up by his ability, his thorough
knowledge of his profession and his deep sympathy and kindliness. He
has attained high standing in his profession as a strict adherent of
medical ethics, and among his fellow-practitioners is accounted a valued
assistant in consultation. He belongs to the various organizations of his
profession and keeps himself thoroughly in touch with the discoveries
and inventions constantly being made in the field of his calling. Doctor
Cook has been successful in a business way, being the owner of a flourish-
ing drug business at Rayville and a stockholder in the Commercial Bank
at Lawson and the Savings Bank at Richmond. A lifelong democrat,
he has been active in the ranks of his party, and in 1906 was honored
by election to the Missouri Legislature. His district returned him as
representative to the Forty-fourth General Assembly, in which he intro-
duced and had passed a measure granting to circuit clerks the power to
fix bail of persons charged with criminal acts during the vacation of
courts. He was also made chairman of the committee on accounts and
in that capacity acquired the suggestive sobriquet of "Watch-dog of
the Treasury." He took at all times a leading part in placing on the
Missouri statutes some of its most important laws during his terms of
office, and conscientiously protected the interests of his constituents.
On January 31, 1888, Doctor Cook was married to Miss Maud Mass-
berger, who was born in Carroll County, Missouri, May 15, 1868, a
daughter of Frank M. and Anna (Taylor) Massberger, natives of Mis-
souri, who are now living at Bogard, this state. One son has been born
to Doctor and Mrs. Cook, Thomas B.. Jr., who is a member of the
senior class, 1914, at the University of Missouri.
Mrs. Mary S. Nauman. The Nauman family took up its residence in
Holt County more than thirty years ago, and during his lifetime the
late Hiram Godfrey Nauman was one of the prosperous agriculturists
of Liberty Township. Though he came to Missouri a poor man, he
exhibited the thrift and enterprise which bring success in any vocation
and in any locality and has left his widow and children well provided,
and theirs is now one of the largest individual estates in Liberty Town-
ship.
The late Hiram Godfrey Nauman, who died January 17, 1913, and
whose death took away one of the best and most successful citizens of
Liberty Township, was born in Page County, Virginia, a son of Reuben
and Elizabeth Nauman. He was married in his native county to Mary
S. Dovell, a daughter of David M. and Elizabeth (Booton) Dovell. Mrs.
Nauman had seven brothers and four sisters, while her husband was
HISTORY OF NORTHWEST MISSOURI 1915
oue of a family of twelve sons and daughters. Mr. and Mrs. Nauinan
became the parents of six children, mentioned as follows : Stella, unmar-
ried; Lelia Clyde; Emma V., who married Albert L. Walkup; Bessie G.,
who married Lester Griffith, and has one child, Roseland Virginia; C.
Victor, unmarried; Hiram Elmer, who married Blanche Conner, and
has two children, Robert Sheldon and B. Louise. The children are all
still living, and all of them were born in Virginia, except the two
youngest, one of whom was born in Holt County and the other in Atchison
County.
Mr. and Mrs. Nauinan brought their family to Holt County in 1881,
and he began here as a renter. Subsequently he bought a farm in Atchi-
son County but sold that and secured the 200 acre farm in Liberty
Township from David Kelly. This was the nucleus of his enterprise,
which before his death had accumulated a large estate comprising 600
acres. During that time he also erected a substantial residence now
occupied by Mrs. Nauman and her unmarried children, and perfected
many other improvements about the farm.
The late Mr. Nauman was a member of the Presbyterian Church,
while Mrs. Nauman belongs to the old school Baptist, Politically he
was a democrat. Mrs. Nauman and her children now have the active
management of the farm, and are people who enjoy the highest regard
of the community.
Hon. John E. Carter. Now in the seventy-eighth year of his life,
Mr. Carter is one of the oldest and best known citizens of Trenton in
Grundy County, and with firm step and unclouded mind still walks the
streets and attends to his daily routine of affairs, and only recently
retired from his active duties as county treasurer. Mr.- Carter was
in business in Trenton before the Civil war, served on the Union side in
the great struggle between the states, and during the past forty years
has given much of his time to official duties. He still manifests a keen
and intelligent interest in all that effects the welfare of his home county
and city, and is known as a man of progress and public spirit.
John E. Carter was born in the one-time Village of Cleveland in
Tippecanoe County, Indiana, December 21, 1836. His father was Dr.
Benjamin Carter, who was born in V\nitefield, Lincoln County, Maine,
and the grandfather was Joseph Carter, of an old English family and
a farmer in Lincoln County, Maine. Dr. Carter acquired a good educa-
tion as a young man, and studied medicine in Bowdoin College, where
he was graduated with his degree and went west to take up practice.
He lived in Indiana for a time, and taught school as well as looked
after his patients. From Indiana he moved to Kentucky, later went
to Arkansas, but without making a permanent home in either state he
returned to Indiana and settled in the Town of Monroe, Tippecanoe
County, where he died at the age of fifty years. Doctor Carter, Sr.,
married Elizabeth Eddy, who was born in Dearborn County. Indiana,
in 1818. Her father, John Eddy, a native of New York State, was one
of the early settlers of Dearborn County, a few years later moved to
Tippecanoe County and from there to Lawrence County in Arkansas,
where his last years were spent. Mrs. Carter, after the death of Doctor
Carter, married James LaCount, and spent her last years in the City of
Trenton. By her first marriage there were three children: John E.,
Martha and Frances. The second union resulted in two sons, Benjamin
and Fred.
John E. Carter was reared neither in affluence nor in poverty, but
in a time and among circumstances which forced him early into the
struggle of life, and what he has accomplished is almost entirely the
1916 HISTORY OF NORTHWEST MISSOURI
result of his well directed efforts. The Indiana schools which he at-
tended as a boy were conducted on the subscription plan and the teacher
boarded around among the families of his patrons. This school, such
as it was, afforded him the rudiments of training, but at the age of
twelve he became self-supporting and earned his living at various kinds
of work for several years. "When he was seventeen he apprenticed
himself to the blacksmith's trade, and at the end of one year was given
twenty-five dollars for the twelve months' work. Mr; Carter came to
Trenton, Missouri, at the age of nineteen, nearly lifty-nine years ago.
At that time the Hannibal and St. Joseph Railway was in process of con-
struction, but not yet completed entirely across the state. His trip
west, from Indiana to Trenton, with all his belongings, was performed
in the old "prairie schooner," and was not very eventful, except the
loss of a horse which somewhat delayed the journey, until a horse could
be bought, and the journey westward could be resumed. The country
was new and untamed, and many were the times they enjoyed the luxury
of camping out, and the game which came in the way of his rilie. They
reached Trenton at last, a hamlet of 800 inhabitants, peculiarly char-
acteristic of southern life, "niggers" and the "divine" institution.
After two years of work as a journeyman, he opened a shop of his own
and did a good business until the breaking out of the war.
In 1861 Mr. Carter enlisted in the Missouri State Militia, and spent
six months with the Grundy County Battalion. He then served with a
regiment of state troops, all of whose service was in Missouri. At the
close of the war he resumed his business at Trenton and directed it per-
sonally until 1870. Since that time much of his energies have been
absorbed by official duties.
On January 30, 1860, Mr. Carter married Mary E. Wethered. She
was born near Pontiac, Michigan, a daughter of George Wethered. The
happy married companionship of Mr. and Mrs. Carter has continued for
fifty-three years, and they are one of the most venerable couples in
Northwest Missouri. They have reared six children, named Minnie,
Elizabeth, Frances, Luther, Mattie and Myrtle. Minnie married William
Marden, and has one daughter, Carrie. Elizabeth married J. L. Marden,
and their one daughter is Edna. Frances married John Rose, and has a
son named John Conrad. Luther married Maude Hall, and has a son,
Dale. Mattie married John R. Brazelton, and has a daughter, Frances.
Myrtle is the wife of P. R. Durdy. Both Mr. and Mrs. Carter have
been members of the Christian Church for more than half a century.
Mr. Carter cast his first presidential vote for Abraham Lincoln, and
was one of sixteen republicans in all Grundy County in the year 1860.
He has been one of the wheel-horses of the party in Grundy County
for half a century. In 1881 he was elected a member of the State Legis-
lature, and was three times re-elected. During his four terms at the
state capital he did much for his home district, was a student and a
worker for progressive legislature affecting the entire Commonwealth,
and gave suitable service on various committees. In 1904 came his
election to the office of county treasurer, and by re-election his minis-
tration was continued until January, 1913. Mr. Carter belongs to the
Jacob Smith Camp No. 72, G. A. R., and he also affiliates with the Grand
River Lodge No. 52, I. O. O. F.
Jacob F. Phillips. With the passing years the descendants of the
old soldiers of the Civil war will prize more and more the gallant records
made by their forefathers who fought in the campaigns of the South
which brought about a united country. There are many families now
which take special pride in referring to their Revolutionary ancestors,
HISTORY OF NORTHWEST MISSOURI 1917
and in course of time even greater respect will be paid to those who
fought for the integrity of the Union during the dark days of the '60s.
One of the fine old soldiers who still survive from that dark and stormy
time of civil strife is Jacob F. Phillips, a prominent citizen and farmer
of Davis Township in Caldwell County.
Jacob F. Phillips was born in Washington County, Indiana, February
27, 1840. His birthplace was a log cabin, located on an early farm
in that section of Indiana. His father was Andrew Phillips, who came
from North Carolina and was one of the first settlers in Indiana. Grand-
father Phillips died in Caldwell County, Missouri, in about 1870. An-
drew Phillips was reared in Indiana, and was married there to Jemima
Ratts, who died in Illinois in about 1901. She was born in North Caro-
lina, a daughter of Rinehart Ratts, who died in Indiana. Andrew
Phillips in 185-4 moved to Logan County, Illinois, settling on a farm
near Atlanta, and he died there in 1856, at the age of thirty-seven, leav-
ing his widow with seven sons, whose names are : Jacob F. ; Rinehart,
who was a soldier of the Twenty-eighth Illinois Infantry, died in 1863,
in Mississippi, and was buried at Oxford, that state ; Ransom, who was
also a soldier, now lives at Atlanta, Illinois ; Abraham, who died at King-
fisher, Oklahoma; John M., who died at Atlanta, Illinois; Thomas F.,
whose home is in Kingfisher, Oklahoma, and who was also a soldier ; and
George A., who died in Illinois when but five months old.
Jacob F. Phillips was reared in Illinois and was educated in the
schools of Logan County. He was twenty-one years of age when the
war came on, and in August of 1861 he enlisted for service in Company
F, Thirty-eighth Illinois Infantry. He went with the regiment to Mis-
souri, took part in some operations around Pilot Knob, and at different
times was under the command of General Scofield, General Grant, Gen-
eral Rosecrans and others of the great leaders of the Union Army. He
fought at Murfreesboro, Tennessee, at Rome, Georgia, in the various
battles and skirmishes about Chickamauga, and during that campaign
was taken prisoner. He endured all the hardships and sufferings of life
in the Southern prisons, was confined in the notorious. Libby Prison at
Richmond, Virginia, and then the no less famous Andersonville, and
was confined at five different places before his exchange. When he went
into prison he weighed 190 pounds and about one hundred and twenty-
five when he came out. He was exchanged in December, 1864. In one
of his battles, that of Chickamauga, he was wounded in the left leg.
He served in the Missouri Militia in 1866, as a non-commissioned officer,
with the rank of orderly sergeant.
As a Missouri farmer Mr. Phillips has been unusually successful
and owns a fine place of 320 acres, a part of which is bottom land well
situated for alfalfa. His industry has been largely stock raising, and he
keeps about one hundred and fifty hogs and horses, mules and cattle.
Mr. Phillips married, February 21, 1867, Martha Rathbun, a sister
of Samuel Rathbun, a prominent Caldwell County farmer whose his-
tory will be found on other pages of this work. Her father was Allen
Rathbun, one of the early pioneers of Caldwell County. Mrs. Phillips
died March 11, 1909, at the age of sixty-three. She was a member of
the Church of Christ. They became 'the parents of nine children,
three of whom died in infancy, and five are now living. Mary M.,
who is living in Kansas, is married and has two children ; James A., who
is on the old homestead farm, married and has three children; Edgar L.,
Effie and Eva May, all at home. Dora A. died at the age of twenty-eight
years. Since the death of his wife Mr. Phillips has lived with his children
and grandchildren. Politically he is a republican, and has supported
that partv since war times. He is also active in the Grand Army of
Vol. Ill— 40
1918 HISTORY OF NORTHWEST MISSOURI
the Republic, and is a member of and an elder in the Church of Christ.
He is devoted to his home and family, but is also a man of popular
character in the community, and has hosts of friends in this section of
Northwest Missouri.
Cyrus Jasper Pattisson. One of the most beautiful properties in
Andrew County is that of Cyrus J. Pattisson, a tract of 125 acres and 20
acres of timber land, lying in section 19, Platte Township. "The
Evergreens," as this farm is known, has been developed under the
supervision of Mr. Pattisson, who has resided here since 1870, and is
known as one of the township 's substantial men. While the property is
equipped with every modern appliance for practical farming and stock
raising, it has been so beautified by the planting of shade and orna-
mental trees, shrubs, roses, etc., and occupies such a notable position on
a ridge that it is one of the show-places of this part of Northwest
Missouri.
Cyrus J. Pattisson was born in Jefferson County, Indiana, April 4,
1843, and is a son of John and Leah (Walker) Pattisson, the former a
native of Indiana and the latter of Maryland. His grandfather, John
C. Pattisson, was born in London, England, within 200 feet of the north
end of the historic London bridge over the Thames. He was twice mar-
ried, and by both unions reared families. The grandmother of Cyrus
J. Pattisson was the second wife, formerly Mary Bloor, a native of Eng-
land, but of a family said to have been of Holland origin. John C.
Pattisson was a physician and early settler of Indiana, in which state he
located after his emigration to the United States. His pill bag, which
he carried on his saddle, is one of his grandson's highly prized posses-
sions. He died in Jefferson County, Indiana, in 1837, the grandmother
surviving him many years, and passing away in September, 1876, at
the home of one of her daughters (Josephine Snider) in Nodaway
County, Missouri, near Barnard and is buried in the Lower Neely Grove
Cemetery near Rosendale in Andrew County.
John Pattisson grew up in Jefferson County, Indiana, and was
there married June 16, 1842, to Leah Walker, who had been brought
from her native Maryland by her parents as a child. In May, 1858,
the family came to Nodaway County, Missouri, where John Pattisson
engaged in farming until 1859, then going to St. Joseph, where he was
engaged in merchandising during that and the following year. In the
spring of 1861 he returned to his farm in Nodaway County, and after-
wards came to Andrew County, and died on his farm there June 27,
1875, aged fifty-eight years eight months and seventeen days, having
been born October 10, 1816. His widow survived until March 17, 1896,
being eighty-five years of age at the time of her demise. John Pattisson
was a strong and unswerving Union man and one of the 410 Lincoln