CHAPTER XXVII (Part 14)
BIOGRAPHICAL
Thomas B. Parks, county surveyor of Henry County, is a native son of this county and a member of a well known pioneer family of western Missouri. He was born at Leesville, Missouri, April 10, 1860, and is a son of Bird D. and Lourinda J. (Lee) Parks.
Bird D. Parks, the father, was born in Kentucky and when twelve years of age came to Missouri with his parents, who located in Cooper County. He was a son of Peyton Parks.
Bird D. Parks came to Henry County in 1844 and settled on a farm on Grand River south of Leesville. He bought his land from the Government at $1.25 per acre. At that time, the Government land office was located at Lexington and Mr. Parks went there to pay for his land, and like other settlers of that time paid for it in silver dollars. Here he followed farming until the Civil War broke out, when he entered the Confederate Army and served as captain of a company in General Price's army. During the early part of the war, he participated in a number of important engagements, including the battles of Lexington and Wilson Creek. Afterwards, he returned to his Henry County home and removed with his family to Cooper County, and after the war returned to Henry County and settled in Springfield township, where the town of Thrush now stands. Here, he spent the remainder of his life engaged in general farming and stock raising. He was a man of unusual ability and his life was filled with experiences out of the ordinary. In 1849, he made the trip to California. He went by the Overland route with ox teams and after remaining about a year at the mecca of the gold seekers, he returned home by way of the Isthmus of Panama. On this trip, he was shipwrecked in the Caribbean Sea. He was a Democrat and prominent in the political affairs of Henry County and for eight years, held the position of county surveyor. He was widely known as a prominent Mason. He died in 1903 at the age of eighty-six years. His wife, who was also a Kentuckian, died in 1893, aged seventy-five years.
To Bird D. and Lourinda J. (Lee) Parks were born eight children who grew to maturity, three of whom are living as follows: Louisa, married Thomas Baughman, who is now deceased and she resides in Oklahoma; H. A., of Kansas City, Missouri, and Thomas B., the subject of this sketch.
Thomas B. Parks received his early education in the public schools of Henry County and later entered the State Normal School at Warrensburg, where he was graduated in the class of 1878. He then engaged in teaching in Henry County and taught about seven years in all, during which time he was principal of the Calhoun schools one year. He was appointed county surveyor of Henry County in 1887 and elected to that office a number of times, serving thirteen years in succession. He then went to Montana, and for a number of years was in the employ of the Government as a surveyor, during which time he surveyed and sectionized a portion of the Flat Head Indian Reservation. In 1907 he returned to Henry County and from that time until 1916 was engaged in farming.
He was then elected county surveyor again, which office he still holds. He owns a valuable farm and is interested in farming and stock raising. Mr. Parks was married January 9, 1888, to Miss Minnie L. Strieby, a native of Michigan, who came to Henry County with her parents in 1871. She is a daughter of Joel and Melvina (Norris) Strieby, who now reside in Clinton.
To Mr. and Mrs. Parks have been born the following children: Pearl, married Mode Davis, Clinton; Clayta, married Albert Dunning, Jr., Fairview township; Zoe, at home with his parents; Manford, resided on his father's farm until he became a soldier in the National Army; Gordon, a midshipman in the United States Naval Academy at Annapolis, Maryland; Mildred, a teacher in Saskatchewan, Canada, and Vivian, a graduate of the Clinton High School, class of 1918, who resides at home.
Mr. Parks is a Democrat and has been identified with that party all his life. He is a member of the Masonic Lodge and the Modern Woodmen of America.
William Avery Foote, a pioneer business man of Clinton, now living retired, is a native of New York. He was born in Oneida County, December 12, 1839. His parents were John and Mary (Lull) Foote, both natives of the State of New York. The Foote family is of English lineage and the ancestors of William A. Foote were early settlers in New England.
Nathaniel Foote, of England, immigrated to New England in 1636 and was one of the first settlers of Weathersfield, Connecticut. Mary Lull, the mother of William Avery Foote, is a descendant of one of the early families to settle in New York. John and Mary (Lull) Foote went to Wisconsin, and spent the last years of their lives in Dane County, that State, where they both died. They were the parents of nine children and three of their sons served in the Union Army during the Civil War.
William Avery Foote was ten years of age when his parents removed from Oneida to Wyoming County, New York, where the father conducted a tannery. In 1858, William went to Springfield, Illinois. Here, he attended school for a time and for four years, was employed in a hardware store. He then went to Indianapolis, Indiana, to work in a hardware store for the same employer, where he remained about four years. In 1869, he came to Henry County, Missouri, where he and his brother, Ebenezer Lull Foote engaged in the hardware business under the firm name of Foote Brothers. They also conducted a grain and elevator business in partnership, E.L. having charge of that department while William A. conducted the hardware business. When the Foote Brothers started in business in Clinton, there was no railroad in Henry County, and their goods were hauled mostly from Warrensburg. They continued business in Clinton, for forty years, disposing of their mercantile business in 1909, and since that time, Mr. Foote has been practically retired, with the exception of looking after his various business interests.
Mr. Foote was united in marriage September 14, 1869, with Miss Emma D. Wood, a native of Springfield, Massachusetts. To Mr. and Mrs. Foote were born two children, Mary L., who married Henry W. Kerr of Denver, Colorado, who is now deceased, and she resides with her father in Clinton; and S. Elizabeth, married Robert E. Harmon of Clinton, Missouri. Mrs. Foote departed this life January 12, 1917. She was a highly educated and cultured woman who lived a consistent Christian life. She was a life long member of the Baptist Church and was active in the work of her denomination. Mr. Foote is also a member of the Baptist Church and has been a Republican. To Henry W. and Mary L. Kerr was born one son, Derry William Kerr. Robert E. and S. Elizabeth Harmon have one child, Elizabeth Agnes Harmon.
John D. Brown - Fifty-one years ago John D. Brown, well-to-do retired farmer of the Montrose neighborhood in Deepwater township, came to Henry County from his old home in Illinois and purchased a large tract of unimproved prairie land at a cost of $13 an acre. He and his brother, M. V. Brown, bought together seven hundred acres of land. Mr. Brown erected his handsome and substantial farm residence in the fall of 1868 and has had the extreme satisfaction of developing his fine farm of four hundred acres from unbroken prairie. He has placed every shrub and tree upon the place and year after year has witnessed the growing of crops in succession upon the acreage which he reclaimed. As he has grown old he has likewise prospered and now in his old age is well content with what has come to him through his own endeavors and the assistance of his noble wife, who has gone to her reward.
John D. Brown was born near Springfield, Illinois, on March 1, 1842. He is the son of Reason B. and Rachel (Ernest) Brown, both of whom were born and reared in Kentucky and were early settlers in Illinois. After their two sons had settled in Henry County the parents came to Missouri and settled upon a farm one mile south of John D. Brown's place. In old age they retired to a home in Appleton City, where both died and lie buried. In 1861 John D. Brown went to Idaho and worked in the gold and silver mines of that State and also served as a packer and freighter of merchandise between Walloolo and Bannock City and Placerville, all mining camps in the West. He returned to his home in Illinois in 1866 with his savings from five years of hard work. In 1867 he came to Missouri and purchased his farm.
November 7, 1867, John D. Brown and Miss Louise Cecil were united in marriage and Mr. Brown says of this marriage: "It was the best thing I ever did." One child is the offspring of this happy marriage: Gertrude, wife of John Henry Holland, a farmer living near Hartwell, Henry County. Mrs. Louise (Cecil) Brown was descended from one of the oldest pioneer families of Henry County. She was born February 25, 1847, on a pioneer farm near old Leesville, in eastern Henry County, and was the daughter of Wilson and Henry Cecil, pioneer settlers of Henry County.
Mrs. Brown died April 10, 1909. She was a good and faithful wife to her husband and the married life of this devoted couple was a most happy and congenial one. She was a true helpmeet and was a deeply religious woman, being active in the affairs of the Cumberland Presbyterian Church, of which she was long a valued member.
Mr. Brown has generally voted the Democratic ticket and is a member of the Cumberland Presbyterian Church. Now living a comfortable retired life upon his place he varies the days with trips to the nearby town of Montrose, where he enjoys hob-nobbing with his old friends of many years standing. He recalls the days of old, when people were happy and hospitable and kind - when the neighbors would take turns in going to mill, their nearest grinding place being the Xenia mills, thirty-five miles away on a tributary emptying into the Osage River. They would take a very heavy load of grain and the trip to Xenia and return would require two days.
Mr. Brown enjoyed hunting and fishing in the early days and his boon companion on many hunting trips was the late Bill Salmon of Germantown. He has killed many deer and prairie chickens. No man is more highly regarded in his section of Henry County nor more universally respected than John D. Brown, who is intelligent, well read and companionable.
Charles H. Snyder, a Union veteran of the Civil War, is one of the substantial pioneer residents of Henry Country. Mr. Snyder was born in Dresden, Saxony, October 31, 1839, a son of Ernest and Emelia A. (Laonhardt) Snyder. The Snyder family came to America in 1849, landing in New York November 3. Ernest Snyder, the father, was a prominent civil engineer and held a high station in that profession in his native land. He took a prominent part in politics and was a political associate of Carl Shurtz, of whom it will be recalled was prominent in a political revolution that took place in Germany about the middle of the last century. On account of his political activity in opposition to the government, Ernest Snyder left his native land with his family and came to America, and thus escaped prosecution for opposing the same Prussianism with which the world is contending today.
After coming to America, Ernest Snyder with his family located in Company F, Second Regiment, East Tennessee Volunteers. He participated in the battle of Mill Springs, which was fought January 19, 1862, and after that he served on detached duty until 1863. Mr. Snyder then entered the employ of the Louisville & Nashville Railroad Company as assistant auditor with headquarters at Louisville, Kentucky. He remained in that capacity until 1865, when he came to Henry County, Missouri.
Upon coming to Henry County, Mr. Snyder engaged in the lumber business. He opened the first lumber yard in Clinton. This was before there were any railroads here and all his lumber was hauled from Warrensburg, which was the nearest railroad point. After being in the lumber business for about one and one-half years, Mr. Snyder was appointed deputy county clerk. In 1870, he was elected county clerk and served two terms. Mr. Snyder, perhaps, has held a commission as notary public longer than any other man in Henry County, receiving his first commission in 1875, and has served as notary public ever since that time, and so far as known he bears the distinction of being the oldest ex-county official of Henry County. Mr. Snyder has been in the real estate loan and fire insurance business for nearly forty years, and during that time, he has loaned a great deal of eastern money to the farmers of Henry County.
Mr. Snyder was united in marriage March 26, 1861, to Miss Mattie Boyes, a native of Jersey City, New Jersey, but at the time of her marriage a resident of Tennessee. To Mr. and Mrs. Snyder were born three children: Meta, married H. H. Williams, Clinton, Missouri; Charles W., who served in the Eleventh United States Infantry during the Spanish American War. He made a good military record but his health failed while he was in the service and he died May 27, 1900; Margaret C., is unmarried and resides with her father in Clinton. Mrs. Mattie Snyder died May 25, 1912, at the age of seventy-one years.
Mr. Snyder has always been identified with the Republican party although in a political sense he is inclined to be independent. As he expresses it, he proposes to do his own thinking. He is a member of the Knights of Pythias and the Independent Order of Odd Fellows and also the Ancient Order of United Workmen.
