CHAPTER XXVII (Part 4)
BIOGRAPHICAL
George N. Angle - The Angle farm in Davis township is one of the finest farms in Missouri. The home farm upon which the residence is located on a sloping hillside and overlooking a vast tract of country stretching away on every hand, consists of three hundred sixty acres. In addition to this tract another farm of ninety-five acres lies in the Grand River bottoms and is noted for its fertility. Mr. Angle has made this place his home since 1883 and has gradually built improvements until it is one of the beautiful places in Henry County. The residence of seven rooms was erected in 1903, supplanting the old house which had stood on the site for many years. On the Angle farms, have been sown for this season's crops one hundred fifty-six acres of wheat, one hundred fifteen acres of oats and one hundred five acres of corn. Mr. Angle's sons are farming one hundred eighty acres of their own land and one hundred eleven acres which they are renting. The Angle farm is a very productive one, which boasts a heavy output of live stock each year. Only recently, Mr. Angle has disposed of a carload of cattle and one of hogs (April, 1918).
The average output of Hereford or white face cattle from the place is about one hundred five head. The yearly production of Duroc Jersey hogs is over one hundred eighty head. Fifteen head of work horses and mules are maintained on the place.
George N. Angle was born August 7, 1855, in Pike County, Missouri, and is the son of John and Sarah Elizabeth (Ferguson) Angle, who settled in Henry County in 1866.
John Angle was born in Pike County, Missouri, February 4, 1830, and died in Clinton, Missouri, November 18, 1914. He was the son of Jacob Angle, a native of Germany who emigrated to America and settled in St. Louis in 1812. Some years later, he went to Pike County, Missouri, and settled on Salt River, not far from the city of Louisiana. John Angle was reared in Pike County and there married Elizabeth Ferguson, October 26, 1854. Elizabeth (Ferguson) Angle is a daughter of John and Rebecca (Stevenson) Ferguson, natives of Kentucky who were pioneer settlers of Pike County, Missouri. Mrs. Elizabeth Angle was born September 3, 1835, and is now living in Clinton, one of the oldest of the pioneer women of Henry County.
The Angle family came to Henry County in 1866 and first settled a few miles northwest of Clinton and some time later, settled in Davis township, where John Angle improved a splendid farm and became fairly well-to-do and highly respected. John and Elizabeth Angle were parents of eleven children, five of whom are living, as follows: George N., the subject of this review; Sarah, died in 1855; John Richard, residing in Clinton; Harvey, deceased; Ernest Angle, died in 1905; Solon, lives in Canada, and has a family of eight children; Mrs. Orpha Dooley, lives in Clinton and has a family of four children, and Daisy Jeffries, lives in Oklahoma. John Angle became owner of two hundred sixty acres of land in Davis township and resided there until he removed to Clinton, where he died four years later.
George Angle was eleven years of age when he accompanied his parents to Henry County. He received his early education in the Fields Creek school. He located in Davis township in 1879 and remained with his parents on the home farm until he was twenty-five years old. He began to make his own way when he attained his majority and has been successful from the start of his career. He purchased his first land in 1883 and with his wife's assistance and the joining of their respective capitals he became owner of one hundred twenty acres. With the exceptions of forty-seven acres, which was Mrs. Angle's by inheritance, all of the Angle lands have been purchased on time. Mr. Angle found it a good business policy to go in debt for land and make the land pay for itself with wise cultivation and good business management. His large farm of four hundred fifty-five acres is one of the best in Henry County and one of the most productive. He has deviated considerably from the old time methods of agriculture and is progressive.
March 20, 1881, the marriage of George N. Angle and Miss Ella Rogers was solemnized. This marriage has been blessed with the following children: Albert F., born April 20, 1882, married Miss Marie Bassaird of Sonora, California, February 12, 1918, and resides at Sonora; John Ferguson, born April 17, 1883, died at the age of twelve years; Leslie, born April 25, 1885, resides in Isabelle, South Dakota; Bertha, born October 4, 1887, married W. L. Coonrod in October, 1915, and lives at Carterville, Missouri; Earl, born October 30, 1889, Fairfield, Montana, married Alma Zimmerman August 20, 1917; Ralph, a farmer of Davis township, born November 11, 1891, married Clara Ogan in October, 1916; William A., born November 19, 1893, graduated from the Clinton High School, studied at the State University and is now engaged in farming on the home place; Clarence, born January 19, 1896, enlisted in the United States Navy in December, 1917, and was located at the Great Lakes Naval Training Station, and is now a member of the crew of the United States battleship Wisconsin; Donald, born April 28, 1898, is a graduate of the Clinton High School; Mary, born February 9, 1901, is a student in the Clinton High School; Velma, born May 3, 1903, died January 4, 1905.
The mother of this fine family of children was born December 2, 1860, in Henry County, and is the daughter of Thomas and Lucinda (Fletcher) Rogers, the latter of whom was born on December 4, 1831, at Lexington, Missouri, a daughter of James Fletcher, a pioneer settler of Henry County. She died in 1866. Thomas Rogers was born at Winchester, Kentucky, February 18, 1824, and died May 16, 1883. He was among the earliest of the Henry County pioneers and established one of the first stores in Clinton. He was the first postmaster of Clinton and came from Kentucky to Henry County in the late thirties. His wife was the first to be buried in the old Clinton Cemetery. After her mother's death, Mrs. Angle was reared by her aunt, Mrs. Jane Trotter of Carrollton, Missouri.
Mr. Angle is a Republican and he has generally taken an active and influential interest in civic matters in his home township. For over thirty-one years he has been school trustee. He and Mrs. Angle and their children are members of the Mt. Carmel Presbyterian Church. Mr. Angle is affiliated with the Modern Woodmen of America. He is a charter member of the Mt. Carmel Presbyterian Church and has served as an elder for thirty years and has been Sunday school superintendent for past thirty years.
Capt. W. F. Carter, a Civil War veteran, now engaged in the real estate, loan and insurance business at Clinton, comes of a long line of good old Southern stock and is one of the representative pioneers of Henry County. Captain Carter was born in St. Clair County, Missouri, March 4, 1843, Osceola being his native town. He is a son of William F. and Eliza A. (Conn) Carter. The father was a native of Culpepper County, Virginia, and was a member of the "first families of Virginia." Anna Hill Carter, of Shirley, Virginia, a close relative of William F. Carter, was the wife of Gen. Robert E. Lee, and this branch of the Carters trace their lineage back to Robert Carter, who was the agent of Lord Fairfax, and he was a conspicuous figure in the colony of Virginia prior to the Revolutionary War and a very wealthy man.
William F. Carter, the father of Captain Carter, the subject of this review, was at General Washington's funeral, but was a baby in his mother's arms. He grew to manhood in Virginia and became very wealthy, at one time owning 8,500 acres of land, which was located in Kentucky.
Later he removed to Missouri and bought what was known as the "two mile farm" near St. Louis. He went to St. Clair County about 1842, and was engaged in farming the balance of his life. He was a thorough scholar and was a graduate from the law department of the University of Virginia, taking his degree from that institution when he was eighteen years of age. He was a fine Latin and Greek scholar and an accomplished gentleman of the old school and a great enthusiast in educational matters. He died at the age of sixty-two years. He was related to the Washington family in the following manner: George Washington's sister, Bettie, married Col. Fielding Lewis, Washington's aide-de-camp. To this union was born one daughter, Bettie, who married Charles Carter, and Charles Carter and Bettie Lewis were the parents of W. F. Carter, Captain Carter's father.
Eliza A. Conn, Captain Carter's mother, was born at White Sulphur Springs, Kentucky. She was a daughter of Colonel Conn, who was the owner of White Sulphur Springs. She died in 1872.
Captain Carter is the only living member of the children born to his parents. When a youth he attended the public schools at Osceola, Missouri, and was prepared for college under the preceptorship of his father.
He was a student in the University of Missouri when the Civil War broke out. In April, 1861, at the first call to arms, he enlisted in the Confederate cavalry service and later was transferred to the infantry, serving as second lieutenant in the Ninth Missouri Infantry, and practically had command of Company A most of the time. He participated in many important engagements but was never wounded, sick nor taken prisoner. He was of the cheerful type of soldier, never seeing the discouraging nor gloomy side of life, even in the most trying hours. He won the reputation of being the jolliest soldier in his regiment. During his term of service he was with his command in Missouri, Arkansas, Texas and Louisiana, and served four years, two months and ten days. As a soldier his fidelity to duty never ceased and his service never ended until the principles for which he fought were hopelessly inscribed, "the lost cause."
At the close of the war Captain Carter returned to Missouri, and located at Sedalia. In 1868 he came to Henry County and engaged in the mercantile business at Montrose Here he prospered and built up a large business establishment, but in 1876 he met with a severe financial loss, his business being destroyed by fire. He was then elected county treasurer of Henry County and moved to Clinton. After the expiration of his term of office he was employed as clerk in Sammons & Sammons Bank until that institution failed. In 1905 he engaged in real estate, insurance and loan business, in which he is still engaged. In 1915 he was elected collector of Clinton township and re-elected at the expiration of his first term, serving until 1918.
Captain Carter was married September 2, 1869, to Miss Frances Vickars, a native of Missouri, of Virginia parentage. To this union was born seven children, four of whom are living: Fanny, wife of Frank S. Callaway, Kansas City; Jennie Washington, married Ed Covington, Deepwater, Missouri; Frank, proprietor of the Troy Laundry, Clinton; Stephen v., engaged in Government service at Tacoma, Washington. The mother of these children died in 1887 and in 1895 Captain Carter was united in marriage with Miss Jennie Kennedy, who had been a teacher in the Clinton public schools for a number of years prior to her marriage.
Captain Carter has been a Mason for fifty-three years, and is a Knights Templar. He has been a lifelong Democrat and is a member of the Methodist Church, South. He is well known in Henry County and in this section of Missouri, and no man stands higher in the estimation of his fellow citizens than Captain Carter.
Dr. Bernice B. Barr, with thorough preparatory training in the College of Physicians and Surgeons at Baltimore and the Bellevue Medical College of New York City, entered upon the practice of his profession well-equipped for the onerous duties that have devolved upon him in this connection. He was born in Benton County, Missouri, January 4, 1857, and is a son of William T. and Elizabeth M. (Wilson) Barr, who were natives of Tennessee. The father, who made farming his life work, came to Missouri in 1850, settling in Benton County, where he lived for about six years. He then removed to Henry County, establishing his home near Montrose, where he resided until 1861, when he returned to his native State. He had a short time before entered the Confederate army under General Price and fearing to leave his family in Missouri he took them to Tennessee. There he joined the forces under Gen. John Morgan, with whom he served until Morgan was killed. Mr. Barr continued in the army until the close of the war and was never wounded, but was captured several times and released. After the war was over he engaged in farming in Tennessee until his death, which occurred in the year 1894. He had for five years survived his wife, who passed away in 1889.
Dr. Barr was the third son and the third child in a family of six children. He attended school at Gallatin, Tennessee, and, having determined upon the practice of medicine as a life work, attended the College of Physicians and Surgeons at Baltimore. He graduated from the Bellevue Medical College at New York in March, 1880, and has since taken post-graduate work, while throughout his professional career he has remained a close student of the science of medicine. Following his graduation in 1880 he began practicing at Shawnee Mound, in Henry County, where he remained for five years. He then went to Montrose, in the same county, spending eight years there. On the expiration of that period he went to Clinton, where he has since practiced continuously, devoting his entire time to his profession, the duties of, which he discharges with a sense of conscientious obligation that prompts him to put forth the best possible effort, not only to alleviate suffering, but also to promote his efficiency through further study and research. He is a member of the Henry County Medical Society, the State Medical Society and the American Medical Association, and through the meetings of those organizations keeps in touch with the trend of modern scientific thought in the field of medical and surgical practice.
On the fifteenth of September, 1881, Dr. Barr was united in marriage to Miss Maggie Squires, who was born at Calhoun, Henry County, Missouri, a daughter of Jerome B. and Cynthia (McNealey) Squires, the former a native of Calhoun and the latter of Warsaw, Benton County, Missouri. In early life the father engaged in merchandising and continued in that business until a few years prior to his death, which occurred in 1901. His wife passed away in 1906. Dr. and Mrs. Barr became the parents of four children, one of whom died when one and one-half years old.
The others are: Ella Bernice, Robert W. and Herbert M. Robert was graduated from the West Point Military Academy in 1910 and remained in the army for three years when he resigned in order to look after his wife's estate. He enlisted as a volunteer in the National Army in September, 1917, was commissioned as captain and went to Fort Benjamin Harrison. In November, 1917, he was commissioned as major of artillery in the Three Hundred Forty-second Field Artillery and sent to Fort Riley December 1, 1917. Major Barr became ill on December 14, 1917, and has been seriously ill since, and is now in Colorado for his health, although still a major. He is now the owner of large landed interests near Clinton.
Herbert M., residing at Kansas City, is in the employ of the wholesale jewelry house of C. B. Norton. The twin brother of Herbert died at the age above mentioned, of pneumonia.
Dr. Barr gives his political allegiance to the Democratic party and is active in its support. He has served as county coroner and for three terms has been alderman from his ward, exercising his official prerogatives in support of many progressive public measures. He belongs to the Modern Woodmen of America and the Woodmen of the World, and his religious faith is indicated by his membership in the Presbyterian Church. Nearly his entire life has been spent in Missouri and those who know him - and he has a wide acquaintance - entertain for him warm friendship, not only because of his high professional skill, but also by reason of his many excellent traits of character and those social qualities which make for personal popularity.
