CHAPTER XXVII (Part 123)
BIOGRAPHICAL
Levi Helphrey, a farmer and stockman of Tebo township, is a native of Taney County, Missouri, and was born December 5, 1868. He is the son of David M. and Isabelle (Wyatt) Helphrey. David M. Helphrey, the father, was born in Ohio and accompanied his parents to Iowa when but a boy. He removed to Taney County, Missouri, in 1868, and there became a live stock trader and dealer. He made a practice of gathering a herd of mules, driving them to the cotton-growing regions of the South, disposing of them to the planters and then driving back herds of Southern cattle which he had purchased. In 1874, he drove a herd of cattle to Johnson County, Missouri, and traded the cattle for land in Post Oak township. In 1875, he settled on this land and was engaged in farming and stock raising until 1912, when he retired to a home in Windsor.
Later he settled in Leeton, where he is now residing. David Helphrey was born in 1836. His wife, Isabelle, was born in 1842. They were parents of eleven children, of whom eight were reared to maturity and are now living. By a former marriage, David M. Helphrey was father of one child.
Levi Helphrey was reared to become a tiller of the soil. After his marriage, he rented land for a time and in 1897, his father gave him a tract of 180 acres in section 7, Tebo township. He sold this land in 1913 and purchased his present nicely improved farm of 160 acres. This farm is a very good one and each year, with favorable seasons, produces good crops.
On August 17, 1893, Levi Helphrey and Miss Ina M. Smith were united in marriage. To this marriage have been born a family of thirteen children, three of whom died in infancy. The others are; Rolla, Flossie, Mamie (deceased), David, Carlos, Walton, Joseph, Ralph, Clyde, and Louisa. The mother of this family was born September 22, 1871, in Cooper County, Missouri, the daughter of Thomas and Mary R. (Weedin) Smith, who are now living at Rockville, Bates County, Missouri.
In politics, Mr. Helphrey is a Democrat, and he is fraternally a member of the Modern Woodmen of America.
Reuben T. Lindsay, one of Henry County's successful farmers and stock raisers, is a native son of this county. He was born in a pioneer log cabin in Fields Creek township, November 2, 1861. He is a son of Reuben T. Lindsay and Margaret (Stone) Lindsay. They were the parents of the following children: James D., Sarah J., Reuben T. and John S. W. Margaret (Stone) Lindsay was a daughter of Solothiel and Jane (Close) Stone, natives of North Carolina, who with their family came to Henry County in 1847. Her father was born in 1786 and died in 1862, and her mother was born in 1796 and died in 1872. They were the parents of the following children: Rebecca, Margaret, Eliza C., D.C, C.L., Minerva, Flavety, John C., Susan S., S.A. and Nancy C. Margaret Stone Lindsay died March 2, 1881, and Reuben T. Lindsay afterwards married her sister, who was the widow of Rev. James Cummings.
Reuben T. Lindsay, Sr., was born April 3, 1827, in Rockingham County, North Carolina, the son of Reuben and Sarah (Walls) Lindsay. His father, Reuben Lindsay, was born in 1778, in Maryland, and with his parents, went to Rockingham County, North Carolina, in 1790, where he received his education and became a very influential and prosperous tobacco planter and slave owner. In the War of 1812, he was United States quartermaster, located at Norfolk, Virginia. In 1815, he married Sarah Walls, who was born in Culpeper County, Virginia, in 1790, and shortly after her birth, her parents moved to Rockingham County, North Carolina. Reuben Lindsay, Sr., died in 1827, and left his widow with five children, as follows: Joshua, James, Morrison A., Robert and Reuben T. With her son, Reuben T., the mother came to Tebo township, Henry County, in 1839, and one year later, settled in section 10, Fields Creek township. They were the second family to settle in Fields Creek township, Joseph Fields being there only a short time previous to their coming. Mrs. Sarah Lindsay later married William Fewell, and they returned to North Carolina, where she died, in 1865.
R. T. Lindsay, Sr., served in the Civil War and was a member of the 16th Regiment, Missouri Volunteer Infantry. After the war, he continued farming and stock raising, and was very successful. He was a Royal Arch Mason, and with his family, was a member of the Methodist Church. He was laid to rest in Englewood Cemetery, Clinton, and his second wife died at Adair, Oklahoma, in 1903.
Reuben T. Lindsay, whose name introduces this review, was educated in the Felds Creek school, and his education supplemented by attendance at the Clinton Academy and the Fayette, Missouri, College. He has followed farming and stock raising all of his life, spending his early days with his father, and later tilling the same acres as his own. He owns 2,100 acres of land, the most of which is in pasture land for his large herds of cattle and hogs. About 700 acres are farmed, raising the usual crops of wheat, corn and oats. Has home is modern and well kept, where all of his friends are welcome to enjoy his hospitality.
In 1887, Mr. Lindsay was united in marriage to Sallie F. Roysten, a daughter of Dr. E. C. and Eliza Drake Roysten. The father is deceased, and the mother lives at Huntingdale, Missouri, at the advanced age of ninety-one years. One daughter, Mrs. J. S. Spangler, has been born to Mr. and Mrs. Lindsay. She resides with her parents.
Mr. Lindsay is one of Henry County's most progressive citizens, and ranks among the leading citizens of the county. The Lindsay family is truly one of Henry County's pioneer families.
James L. Elliston, a well-known general insurance man of Clinton, Missouri, is a native son of Henry County. He was born in Fields Creek in 1864, the son of Jeptha D. and Elvira F. Ferguson (Lewis) Elliston, the former a native of Grant County, Kentucky, and the latter a native of Virginia. Jeptha D. Elliston settled in the northern portion of Henry County prior to the Civil War. When the war broke out, he enlisted in the Confederate army, and at the close of the war, returned to Henry County, and lived but a short time. He died in 1865. His wife survived him a number of years, departing this life in 1900.
James L. Elliston was reared in Henry County and educated in the public schools, and has been in the insurance business in Clinton practically since he reached manhood. In 1885, he entered the general insurance business in Clinton, with Theodore W. Collins. In 1903, this partnership was dissolved and Mr. Elliston continued the insurance business alone. He is recognized as one of the successful insurance men of Henry County, and has built up an extensive business.
Mr. Elliston has been identified with the Democratic party since boyhood, and has taken an active interest in local politics. He has served as city treasurer, councilman and mayor of Clinton. He was elected mayor in 1898, serving a term of two years.
In 1901, James L. Elliston was united in marriage with Miss Louise Oldham, a native of Mississippi, and a daughter of Doctor Oldham.
Mr. Elliston is a member of the Ancient Free and Accepted Masons and is a Knights Templar Mason and member of the Mystic Shrine. He also holds membership in the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks.
Capt. Garrett W. Freeman - At this time, during the greatest conflict the world has ever known, we honor more and more the last remnant of the veterans who fought in the sixties. Capt. Garrett Freeman served through the Civil War in the Union Army, even though previous to the outbreak he and his father were slave owners.
Captain Freeman was born May 27, 1839, in Shawnee township, the son of James and Elizabeth (Elkins) Freeman. James Freeman was a native of Virginia, and his wife was born in what is now West Virginia. They came to Shawnee township, Henry county, in 1839, just a short while before the birth of Captain Freeman. Very few settlers had preceded these pioneers into Shawnee township.
James Freeman was a slave owner, and at the election of 1860, voted for Stephen A. Douglas, but when the war came on, he took his stand for the Union. He decided he was not in favor of slavery, and that it was indeed a curse. During and after the war, James Freeman was a Republican. He lived to a good ripe old age. He died in 1892. His wife, Elizabeth Elkins, was an aunt of Senator Elkins of West Virginia. She is also deceased. Of the family two sons, Garrett W., the subject of this sketch, and James M., a farmer, near Huntingdale, Missouri, survive.
In 1860, Captain Garrett Freeman was married to Sallie Allen, a native of Howard County, Missouri. Her brother, Rev. Garrett Allen, is a minister at Washington, D. C.
Mr. and Mrs. Freeman had two children born to them: Robert Lee, a merchant of Nevada, Missouri, married Josie Richardson, of Adrian, Missouri. Their daughter, Wilma, is a graduate of the Nevada High School. The second child born to Captain and Mrs. Freeman was Mollie, who married Floyd Crews, and is now deceased. Her three surviving children are as follows: Wright, James and Garry.
