Missouri

Biography of J. R. Esworthy

J. R. Esworthy, whose country home is on Rural Route No. 15 out of St. Joseph, has spent the greater part of his active life in Champaign County. He began here almost empty handed and that he now owns one of the larger and better improved farms of the county is a distinct tribute to his hard working industry and persistent efforts. Mr. Esworthy was born in Union County, Ohio, May 14, 1849, son of Thomas and Elizabeth (Good) Esworthy. His father was born in Maryland, of which state the grandfather was also a native. The mother was a native … Read more

Biography of Jacob Moudy

Jacob Moudy. The community of Ludlow in Champaign County pays special honor and respect to Jacob Moudy and his family. Mr. Moudy has had a long and active career. His years have been spent with benefit to himself and also to his family, friends and neighbors, and he has done something to make every community with which he has been identified a little better and to elevate the standards of life and morality. Mr. Moudy is a son of Peter and Elizabeth Moudy, both of whom were natives of Pennsylvania. In the early days they migrated from Pennsylvania down the … Read more

Dakota Indians

Dakota Indians. The earliest known home of this tribe was on and near the Mississippi in southern Minnesota, northwestern Wisconsin, and neighboring parts of Iowa. In 1825, after they had spread somewhat farther west, Long (1791) gives their boundaries thus: They were bounded by a curved line extending east of north from Prairie du Chien on the Mississippi, so as to include all the eastern tributaries of the Mississippi, to the first branch of Chippewa River; thence by a line running west of north to Spirit Lake; thence westwardly to Crow Wing River, Minn., and up that stream to its head; thence westwardly to Red River and down that stream to Pembina; thence southwestwardly to the eastern bank of the Missouri near the Mandan villages; thence down the Missouri to a point probably not far from Soldiers River; thence east of north to Prairie du Chien. At a later time they occupied less territory toward the east but extended much farther westward between the Yellowstone and Platte Rivers.

Biography of William Peyton Waggener

William Peyton Waggener, only son of Hon. Balie Peyton Waggener, had followed in the footsteps of his father in the profession of law, and had attained enviable rank and prominence in the profession at Atchison. He was born at Atchison June 18, 1870, and grew up in his native city, where he attended the public schools and St. Benedict’s College. In 1887 he graduated from the Military School at Boonville, Missouri, and for two years was a student in Midland College at Atchison. He then entered the law office of his father and after a careful preparation was admitted to the bar … Read more

Biography of James Wallingford Waggener

James Wallingford Waggener is general superintendent of the Atchison Railway, Light & Power Company, and for many years had been in active charge of the varied public utilities directed under that corporate title. Mr. Waggener is an able business man, was educated for the law, and was in practice for a number of years until he transferred his talents to more active and constructive fields. Mr. Waggener is a brother of Hon. Balie P. Waggener, the eminent Kansas Lawyer. The details of the family history will be found in connection with the sketch of that prominent Atchison citizen. James W. … Read more

Biography of David C. Stahlman

David C. Stahlman, M. D.The kind of energy, resource and large-mindedness required of the man who would succsed in any of the learned professions in these days of strennous effort seem to be an integral part of the equipment of Dr. David C. Stahlman, a medical and surgical practitioner, who with the exception of two years had been engaged in the practice of his honored calling at Potwin, Butler County, since 1900. The recipient of a patronage that is as remnnerative financially as it is satisfying intellectually, Doctor Stahlman is an enthusiastic and careful thinker, and notwithstanding his well known … Read more

Biography of Edgar Ernest Brooks, M. D.

Edgar Ernest Brooks, M. D.The town and community in which he had gained note as a successful physician and surgeon is also Dr. Brooks’ birthplace. He is one of the leading members of the medical fraternity of Cowley County and had now been in practice at Burden for nine years. Dr. Brooks was born in that community August 1, 1884. He was one of a family of eleven children. This branch of the Brooks family came to America from England and were pioneers in the province of Pennsylvania. Dr. Brooks’ grandfather, John Brooks, was born about 1806. He spent the … Read more

Biography of Thomas R. Hopkins

Thomas R. Hopkins. Modern business requires practical and thorough training in the same degree as the professions and sciences. In Champaign County there is no institution which affords a better curriculum and practical business education than the commercial college formerly known as Brown’s Business College and now owned and administered by Mr. Thomas R. Hopkins, himself a thorough educator of long experience and a man who has trained hundreds of young men and women and given them a thorough preparation for entrance into business affairs. Mr. Hopkins was born in Peoria County, Illinois, January 24, 1877, a son of Griffith … Read more

Biography of Andrew, Scott Rev.

Rev. Andrew Scott. The qualities of real manhood and the power of leadership were never in greater demand in church work than today. The clergy have always been men of education and of fine moral standing, and with these qualities the successful pastor must now combine the spiritual enthusiasm and some of the same enterprise and energy which are such vital assets in the business world. A better type of this modern minister Champaign County does not have than in the case of Rev. Mr. Scott, pastor of the Christian Church at Fisher. Mr. Scott is a man of letters, … Read more

Biography of Alvis Clayton Zimmerman, M.D.

Alvis Clayton Zimmerman, M. D. Having survived all his contemporaries, Doctor Zimmerman may be justly called the pioneer physician and surgeon at Perry, where he established himself in practice twenty years ago and where his skill and ability have brought him a commendable place professionally and in the social and civic life of that community. Doctor Zimmerman was born in Jefferson County, Kansas, April 9, 1874, and represents a very early pioneer and territorial family in this section of Kansas. He is a son of the venerable Mathias Coffman Zimmerman, who is still living at Oskaloosa, Kansas, retired, past four … Read more

Biography of W. S. Ferguson

W. S. Ferguson is secretary and treasurer of The Locomotive Finished Material Company of Atchison, one of the most important industries of the city. Mr. Ferguson had been identified with Kansas and Atchison for over thirty years, and throughout that time had been connected with the foundry and manufacturing business in different capacities. He is now the oldest executive official in point of continuous service of The Locomotive Finished Material Company. He represents an old and honored family name in the City of Alton, Illinois, where he was born January 16, 1861. The Fergusons for several generations were linen drapers … Read more

Biography of Martin Orlando Stover

Martin Orlando Stover. Farmers are the uncrowned kings of America today, and if they do not hold the political destiny of the country in their hands they are at least the custodians of the resources which are the most vital and necessary to the welfare and existence of the millions who live in the great cities and industrial centers. Champaign County has a wealth of men who are doing their part in the development of American agriculture, and it is no disparagement of what others are doing and have done to name Martin Orlando Stover as a recognized leader among … Read more

Biography of Frederick Proebstel

FREDERICK PROEBSTEL. – This pioneer of the Wallowa valley was born in Germany in 1829, and with his parents emigrated to America in 1842 and located in Missouri. In 1852 he made the crossing of the plains to Lewis County, Washington Territory, locating on Fourth Plain. Mr. Proebstel, belonging to the family of this name, a number of whose biographies are found in this volume, shared many experiences in common with others, and was one of the Indian fighters of 1855-56, and wishes to bear special testimony to the liberality of the Hudson’s Bay Company during the hard winter of … Read more

Biography of Hon. John Stewart

HON. JOHN STEWART. – This gentleman was born February 12, 1800, in Virginia, that grand old state which has given birth to heroes and cradled the world’s best since the white man first took possession of this fair land of ours. There our subject was nurtured through all his infancy and until his fifteenth year, when his parents moved to Terre Haute, Indiana. He resided in that state until 1837, learning the blacksmith trade, which calling so nearly broke down his health that he abandoned it and engaged in trading cattle. He first earned his title of captain in the … Read more

Biography of Capt. Pleasent Calvin Noland

CAPT. PLEASENT CALVIN NOLAND. – Captain Noland, one of the most substantial farmers of Lane County, and for nearly forty years a resident of Oregon, was born in Missouri in 1830. His ancestry extends to Ireland and Wales; and his grandfather, Leadstone Noland, was a soldier in the war of the Revolution. His father, Smallwood V. Noland, became a pioneer of Missouri, and a very conspicuous man in that region, and as commissioner of Jackson County was concerned in the removal of the Mormons, by whom he nearly lost his life. In 1846, entering the service of the United States … Read more

Biography of James P. Stephens

JAMES P. STEPHENS. – This original owner of a large portion of the townsite of East Portland, Oregon, was born in 1806 in Virginia, and removed to Indiana when but a boy of eight, and came still farther west to Hancock County, Illinois, in1832. In 1830 he married Miss Elizabeth Walker of Ohio, and passed on to Missouri, and in 1843 made preparations to come to Oregon. Failing, however, to reach the rendezvous in time, the journey was postponed until the next year. Crossing the plains in 1844, he endured the hardships of that toilsome year, and reached Oregon City … Read more

Biography of Hon. James Willis Nesmith

HON. JAMES WILLIS NESMITH. – Oregon has given a few men to the nation; and the luster of their memory still shines in the galaxy of her heroes. Colonel Baker, one of the most brilliant men ever at Washington, District of Columbia, has coupled with his title that of senator from Oregon. Yet he was in no sense an Oregon-made man, but rather made use of Oregon to elevate him to a seat which it was impossible for him to attain from Illinois. With Colonel Nesmith, however, the case was the reverse. He was as truly an Oregon man as … Read more

Biography of Johnson Mulkey

JOHNSON MULKEY. – This prominent pioneer of Oregon was born in Knox County, Kentucky, in January, 1808. His father, Philip Mulkey, and mother (whose maiden name was Margaret Miller), were natives of Germany. In the year 1818 they moved with their young family to Missouri, settling in Lafayette County, where the father soon after died, leaving his widow with nine children. Johnson was married in 1835 to Mrs. Susan Roberts, née Brown. In the summer of 1845 he crossed the plains to Oregon, and on arriving took up a land claim in Benton county three miles west of what is … Read more

Biography of Robert Wilson Morrison

ROBERT WILSON MORRISON. – This leading pioneer of the immigration of 1844 was born March 14, 1811, in Fleming County, Kentucky, of Scotch parentage. In 1822 he moved with his parents to Montgomery County, Missouri, living with them until his marriage in 1831, to Miss Nancy Irwin. Two years later a move was made to Clay County, and thence to Clinton County, on the border of the territory occupied by the Indians of the plains. Upon the consummation of the “Platte purchase,” he moved with his family into that frontier region, and for six years lived in Andrew County. The … Read more

Biography of John H. Moores

J.H. MOORES. – Among the immigrants who came to the Sate of Oregon in 1852 was Honorable John H. Moores, the subject of this sketch, who deserves more than passing mention for the service rendered by him to the commonwealth during an active business career in the state extending over a period of twenty-eight years. Among the older residents who played a prominent part in the earlier development of the state was his father, the late Colonel I.B. Moores, Sr., whose love of novelty and adventure brought him as one of the first pioneers to Oregon, where he located in … Read more