CHAPTER XXVII (Part 21)
BIOGRAPHICAL
Ernie C. Brown - The pretty farm residence of Ernest C. Brown, located in Walker township on a beautiful stretch of well kept State highway, is in the midst of one of the most fertile sections of Missouri. Mr. Brown is owner of 300 acres of land, but is farming a total of 400 acres in the vicinity of his home farm of 240 acres. Mr. Brown was born August 17, 1874, in Deepwater township, and is a son of M. V. (born March 4, 1837) and Helen M. Cecil (born August 7, 1847) Brown. His mother was born in Leesville township, a daughter of Judge Wilson M. Cecil, a pioneer of Henry County who came to this county from Kentucky and was one of the first county judges of the county. M.V. Brown is a native of Sangamon County, Illinois, and is the son of R.D. Brown, a native of Pennsylvania. M.V. Brown came to Henry County in 1872.
His father came to Missouri at a later date and died at Appleton City. Mr. Brown, Sr., is still residing at his home place in Deepwater township. The old Brown homestead is a splendid Colonial style house, built of hardwood lumber as early as 1857 and was used as a hospital and a fort during the Civil War when the residents of Bates County were ordered from the county as a result of General Ewing's Order No. 11. For further particulars regarding M. V. Brown, the reader is referred to his biography given elsewhere in this volume.
Ernie C. Brown was educated in the district schools and the Appleton City Academy. He has always followed the vocation of farmer. In the spring of 1896, he settled on the farm nearby where his brother Charles now lives and cultivated this large tract until 1904, when he went to Benton County, Missouri, and remained in that county for two years, returning to Henry County in 1906. He then settled on the Hackler place, which he has improved considerably.
Mr. Brown was married on November 28, 1900, to Miss Mable C. Hackler, who was born in Benton County, Missouri, a daughter of J.R. and Nannie E. Hackler, the latter of whom died when Mrs. Brown was a child.
J.R. Hackler was a native of Virginia, who ran away from home at the age of fourteen years and enlisted in the Confederate Army. During one of the battles in which his regiment took an active part, he was shot through the leg and ever afterward was a cripple. For a year after leaving the service, he was forced to live on corn bread and milk. In 1866, he went to the mining region and remained for four years, during which time he accumulated a competence which he invested in land in Benton County. He also bought land in Henry County upon which he resided until 1893, and then returned to Benton County, where his death occurred on October 23, 1896. He was father of two children: Mrs. Mabel C. Brown and James E. Hackler, who is owner of the home place in Benton County.
Mr. Brown is an independent Democrat who votes the National Democratic ticket as a rule but is inclined to independence of thought and action in local, county and township affairs. He has filled the office of treasurer of Walker township and is one of the best known of the younger generation of farmers in Henry County.
Albert L. Steele - For nearly fifty years Albert L. Steele has resided upon the farm where his birth occurred December 10, 1869. He is the son of Albert Harrison Steele (born 1827, died December 18, 1893) and Elizabeth (Woodson) Steele (born December, 1842). Albert H. Steele was a native of Kentucky and was a pioneer settler of Henry County. He was one of the original "forty-niners" and crossed the plains with the gold seekers and returned to Missouri by way of the Isthmus of Panama after mining for some time on the Pacific slope. He first settled in Deepwater township and later made a permanent settlement in Walker township on the place now owned by his son, Arthur L. Steele.
He was married in 1864 to Elizabeth Woodson, who was born in a log cabin located near the "old adobe" church in Walker township in 1842. She was a daughter of Shadrach Woodson, who was one of the earliest pioneers of Henry County. For further particulars concerning the Woodson family the reader is referred to the biography of Chesley G. Woodson in this volume. The elder Steele became a large land owner in Henry County and was widely and favorably known. He was father of children as follows: Mrs. Mollie Belt, deceased; Albert L., subject of this review; Nannie, died in infancy; William J., Walker township; Frank H., Kansas City, Missouri; Ida, died in infancy; Mrs. Pearl Walker, Walker township.
Albert L. Steele attended the home district and received such education as the schools of his day afforded and has always resided on the home place of the Steele family with the exception of a few years spent in Kansas City. He is owner of 112 acres of excellent farm land.
Mr. Steele was married on October 24, 1900, to Miss Ella Markie Simpson, who was born in Texas, May 24, 1877, a daughter of Duke and Alice (Lutzenheizer) Simpson, the latter of whom died in 1881. Duke Simpson later went to California and remained in that State until 1913, when he returned to Missouri, visiting among relatives and friends for some time and is now making his home in Oklahoma. He was twice married. After her mother's death, Mrs. Ella Markie Simpson Steele was reared in Bates County by Judge Francis M. Steele. Mr. and Mrs. Albert L. Steele have four children: Earl, born November 29, 1901; Paul, born June 13, 1904; Alice Elizabeth, born October 16, 1906; Francis A., born November 7, 1909.
Mr. Steele is a pronounced Democrat. He and the members of his family are associated with the Hopewell Cumberland Presbyterian Church and frequently attend Stone's Chapel for divine services. He is affiliated with the Woodmen of the World Lodge of Piper, Missouri.
John F. Focht - Although John F. Focht, well-to-do farmer of Walker township, during a career as an agriculturist, has earned the right to retire from active labor, he willingly gave up his mode of living which provided for a round of travel and sight-seeing throughout the country, to return to Henry County and take active charge of his farm in order that the food supply of the nation might be enhanced. Mr. Focht is owner of 246.67 acres of farm lands in the northwest corner of Walker township, four acres of which lies in Bates County. Mr. Focht has had an interesting career and is one of the best posted and intelligent citizens of Henry County.
Born on an Ohio farm, near the city of Wapokaneta, Ohio, August 15, 1863, he enjoys the distinction of being a son of the first white child born within the confines of his native county. He is the son of Daniel and Maria (Justus) Focht, the former of whom was a direct descendant of one of Baron Steuben's soldiers who came to America and assisted in the fight for the independence of the American colonies. Daniel Focht was born near Wilkesbarre, Pennsylvania, in May, 1813, and was a son of Adam Focht, who settled in the wilderness of western Ohio as early as 1836, cleared a home from the forest and swamp land and reared a family of sons as follows: Louis, Adam, John, Samuel, William, Daniel, and Jacob. His father established a home in Pennsylvania, the western part not many years after the Revolutionary period upon a grant of land which had been given to the family by a grateful Government.
Tradition says that the original Focht ancestor paid his passage across the Atlantic with Steuben's expedition by fighting with the American forces. Daniel Focht was reared to young manhood in Schuylkill County, Pennsylvania, and in 1836, located in western Ohio. He was there married and reared a family of twelve children, nine of whom are living: Mrs. Jane Hulbert, living in Ohio; Jacob, a citizen of Ohio; Mrs. Hannah Abbot, Bates County, Missouri; John F., subject of this review; William, living in Ohio; Mrs. Dora Cummins, Indiana; Mrs. Susan Winegardner, Ohio; and Mrs. Leora Butler, living in Southern Idaho.
John F. Focht was reared in Auglaize County, Ohio, and was there married in 1890 to Miss Vona Brackney, who was also born in Auglaize County, a daughter of Riley and Matilda Brackney, well-known residents of that county. One son has been born of this marriage: Russell C., born in March, 1893, a successful farmer of Walker township, who married Mazie Hughes.
Leaving his native State in November 2, 1882, John F. Focht went to Iowa and was employed at farm labor in that State for a period of ten months. He was then employed in Nebraska for seven months; Kansas, eight months; New Orleans and the Southland, three months. After this sight-seeing trip over the country, he returned to Ohio, and after a short visit with the home folks of four months, he made a trip through Iowa, Kansas, Texas, Oklahoma, stopping for a time in Kansas City and Omaha, where he was employed at gainful labor.
After his marriage in 1890, he settled down on an Ohio farm for six years. In 1896, he sold out and traveled a distance of three thousand miles to Chehalis, Washington, toured Idaho, attended the Portland, Oregon Exposition and then located near Chehalis, where he was engaged in farming for eleven months. He and Mrs. Focht then toured California, Arizona, New Mexico, and Colorado and ended their trip at Creighton, Missouri. Since that time, he has owned three farms and is now located on one of the good fanns in Henry County. His last trip was a tour of Idaho in 1917.
Mr. Focht is a Democrat in politics and is one of those widely traveled men who are well posted upon the events of the day and knows his native land and loves it for its vastness and beauty.
