CHAPTER XXVII (Part 22)
BIOGRAPHICAL
John Bernard Schmedding - Eighty-four years ago the four Schmedding brothers, John, Theodore, Garrett and Bernard, came to Henry County and founded the Germantown settlement. They erected the first Catholic Church on Schmedding land in 1834 and also assisted in the building of the present church prior to the Civil War. Theodore Schmedding later went to the Osage Mission at St. Thomas in Kansas and died there. The others remained in Henry County and reared families and assisted materially in the development of the county. As the years passed, others came from Germany and a large settlement has grown up and prospered in the neighborhood of Germantown, extending over three adjoining townships and reaching over the line into Bates County to the westward.
The Schmedding family originated in Westphalia, Germany, and the Schmedding brothers crossed the Atlantic in a sailing vessel in 1831. They walked to their destination from Lexington, Missouri, to Henry County.
John Bernard Schmedding, Montrose, Missouri, is owner of 400 acres of land, consisting of three farms and with three sets of improvements, 320 acres of which is located northwest of Germantown and eighty acres just west of Montrose is a worthy descendant of pioneer stock. He was born near Germantown, Henry County, August 12, 1850, and is the son of John Bernard (born 1800, died 1865) and Elizabeth (Walbert) Schmedding (born 1807, died 1872). His mother was born in Westphalia, Germany, and came to America when a young lady and was married to John B. Schmedding in Osage ounty.
To John Bernard and Elizabeth Schmedding were born five children: Bertha, died in infancy; Annie, wife of Anton Mucke, died in Henry County; Henry, died in 1862; John Bernard, subject of this review; Joseph H., a resident of Germantown.
There were no free schools in this section of Henry County during the boyhood days of John Bernard or "Barney" Schmedding. He and his brother, Joseph, managed the home place of the family until Barney was married. He then settled upon his own land and made a division of 880 acres of land which he and Joseph H. owned together and farmed in common after the death of their mother. John Bernard received 400 acres and the brothers gave a sister a tract of 160 acres, which they improved for her. For three years after his marriage, Mr. Schmedding lived in a log house and then erected a handsome house, which was his place of residence until the fall of 1911, when he and Mrs. Schmedding moved to a pretty cottage home in Montrose.
Mr. Schmedding was married in 1880 to Miss Nora Buckley, who was born in Canada December 14, 1863, the daughter of Michael and Helen (Quilligan) Buckley, both of whom were natives of Ireland. The Buckleys immigrated to Canada and from Canada came to the United States in 1868. They resided at Jacksonville, Illinois, for two years and then came to Henry County, settling upon a farm nine miles north of Montrose.
Michael Buckley died April 22, 1907, aged sixty-seven years. Helen Buckley died February 22, 1911, aged seventy-seven years. They were parents of four children: Mrs. Nora Schmedding; Mrs. Catherine Carver, Walker township; Mrs. Mary Matheny, Montrose, Missouri; Ella, is deceased.
The children born to John Bernard and Nora Schmedding are: John, Joseph H., Lee, Lawrence, Nina Viola and William Edwin. John is a farmer in Deepwater township, married Lena Cook and has five children: Edith, Geneva, Marcellus, Mildred and Edwin. Joseph H. lives on the home place, married first time to Edith Cook, who died, leaving two children: Josephine and Bernard.
His second wife was Minnie Towns. Lee Schmedding is deceased. Lawrence lives on the home place, married Hilda Licher, and has three children: Harry, Amanda Fredericka, Erschell Justin. Nina Viola is deceased. William Edwin, born November 16, 1891, is now a member of the National Army and after undergoing training at Camp Funston is now in France fighting on behalf of world freedom. He is a member of the 355th Supply Company, 89th Division, National Army. He went to France June 2, 1918.
The Republican party has always had the support of Mr. Schmedding and he has served as justice of the peace of Deepwater township. He and all of his family are members of the Catholic Church. Mr. Schmedding is the oldest native born citizen of the southern part of Henry County.
Earl R. Caldwell, one of the progressive young farmers of Walker township, who is farming 120 acres of the Caldwell home place, was born in 1890 and is a son of John Caldwell, who was born in Ohio in 1844, and who first located in Pettis County when he came from his native State to Missouri. In the spring of 1875, he came to Henry County and settled on a tract of prairie land which he improved with a splendid farm residence which is a mansion in size and became very successful as an agriculturist.
John Caldwell became owner of 320 acres of well improved land, and he tilled his acreage until his removal to Urich on April 1, 1911, where he engaged in the milling and feed business. Mr. Caldwell married Abigail Neptune, who was born in Ohio in 1844 and died in March, 1914. Of the children born to John Caldwell and wife, six are now living: Charles, Urich, Missouri; Francis, Urich, Missouri; Mrs. Nettie Toalson, Urich, Missouri; Mrs. Flora Long, Walker township; Earl R., subject of this sketch; Florence Chenoweth, Walker township.
Earl R. Caldwell was educated in the district school and took charge of the home farm when his father removed to Urich. He was married in 1911 to Miss Nelia Allison, daughter of A. H. Allison of Walker township, a sketch of whom appears in this volume. They have two children: Vestal Harvey, aged four years; and Frances Willard, aged three years.
Mr. Caldwell is a Republican and is a member of the Methodist Episcopal Church. John Caldwell operated the first threshing outfit ever used in Henry County and for a number of years after coming to Henry County, he operated a sawmill and threshing outfit operated by steam.
George Gretzinger - The home place of Mr. and Mrs. George Gretzinger in Walker township is one of the truly attractive farmsteads in Henry county, and its owners can truthfully say that they have placed every tree, shrub, building and all improvements upon the tract upon which they settled in February of 1889. The nucleus of the Gretzinger farms was a tract of ninety-six acres which came to Mrs. Gretzinger from the Lebold estate upon the death of her mother, Mrs. John Barth. Mr. Barth gave them enough additional land to eke out 160 acres, which they built up and created into a splendid prairie farm. In addition to this home place, they own 200 acres in White Oak township which Mr. Gretznger and his sons are cultivating and raising large crops upon.
George Gretzinger was born December 4, 1859, in Tuscarawas County, Ohio, a son of Jacob and Magdalena Gretzinger who died in Ohio. George Gretzinger came to Henry County in 1889 and on February 24th of that year, was married to Miss Dora Barth, who was born June 21, 1867, in Tuscarawas County, Ohio. She was six months of age when her parents, John and Mary (Lebold) Barth came to Henry County and settled in this vicinity. For further particulars regarding the biography of John Barth, who was one of the most successful and enterprising of Henry County's departed old settlers, the reader is referred to various sketches in this volume. Mr. Barth not only accumulated a fine estate, but he reared a splendid family of sons and daughters who have attained to positions of honor and affluence in their community. All have excellent homes and are prosperous, as well as being leaders in their home county.
The following children have been born to George and Dora (Barth) Gretzinger: Earl, died at the age of three years; Arthur Lee, born December 9, 1893, at home with his parents; John Ross, born November 8, 1895, lives at home, married on September 2, 1917, to Mildred, daughter of Ellis Greenhalge, of Walker township.
Mr. Gretzinger is a Republican in politics. Mr. and Mrs. Gretzinger and the children of the family are members of the Lucas Methodist Episcopal Church, excepting Arthur, who belongs to the White Oak Methodist Episcopal Church. The Gretzinger's are an industrious family, progressive, intelligent, and endeavor to keep abreast of the times in all things.
Joseph H. Harness - Along a stretch of well-kept highway in the Southeastern part of Walker township are a number of very attractive farm homes. The surroundings are ideal for a progressive farming community, with a flowing stream and beautiful timber tracts in the vicinity. This corner of the township is undoubtedly one of the most fertile and progressive in Henry County. The home of Joseph H. Harness and wife is one of the pretty places of the county, and shows in its appearance that the dwellers therein have a taste for the better things of life and believe in beautifying their surroundings. The Harness residence is a very pretty cottage, standing on a rise of ground on the west side of the highway and the other buildings and fencing are in keeping with the house.
The Harness farm consists of 210 acres of well-improved farm lands, eighty acres of which are in the home place.
J. H. Harness was born October 6, 1871, on the Harness homestead within one-half mile of his present home. He is the son of William Harness (born April 30, 1844; died July 3, 1914), a native of West Virginia and a son of Adam Harness, who was one of the first pioneers to make a settlement in what is now Walker township. Mr. Harness preempted or entered Government land at a time when there was but one house between his cabin and the old settlement of Germantown in the early forties. There were no homes on the way to Clinton which was then but a frontier settlement. William Harness enlisted in the Confederate Army in 1863 and served for one year with the Confederate forces during the Civil War. He became very ill with measles and it was necessary for his father to make the long journey to St. Louis and bring him home in order that he might receive proper care. Adam Harness made the long trip to St. Louis and returned by ox-team, the only available method of transportation in those days.
William Harness received a tract of land from his father and married Mary Ann Mullen, who was born in Henry County, a daughter of William Mullen, a pioneer from Kentucky who gave the land for what is now known as the Mullen Cemetery. Mary Ann Harness was born in 1848 and died November 15, 1896.
To William and Mary Ann Harness were born fourteen children, twelve of whom were reared to maturity: William A., a farmer in Bear Creek township; A. L., Kansas City, Missouri; Mrs. Mary Hackney, Urich, Missouri; Mrs. Martha Long, White Oak township; Sterling V. and Mrs. Stella McCoy, twins, the former of whom resides in Bates County, Missouri, and the latter is deceased; Harvey, White Oak township; John S., deceased; Edgar died at the age of nineteen years; Mrs. Sarah Wort, living in Kansas; Mrs. Frances Jennings, Maxville, Kansas.
J. H. Harness was educated in the common schools and has spent his whole life in the vicinity of his birthplace with the exception of one and a half years' residence in Eldorado Springs, Missouri.
Mr. Harness was married, October 18, 1893, to Miss Gertrude Colson, who was born in Walker township, the daughter of Archibald and Hannah (Sevier) Colson, the former of whom came to Henry County and made a settlement in the early fifties, dying here in 1906. He was a Union veteran, one of the best-known of the old settlers of Henry County, and reared a splendid family. His widow now resides in Urich. She is a direct descendant of the famous Sevier family of Tennessee, one of the members of which family was Governor Sevier of Tennessee. She was born in Osage County, Missouri, in September, 1846 and is the mother of seven children: Dr. J. R. Colson, Schell City, Missouri; Mattie, wife of Richard Angle, Clinton, Missouri; Mrs. Laura Chrisman, Bonham, Texas; Mrs. Mollie Clyzer, a widow living at Montrose; Mrs. Gertrude Harness; B. S. Colson, Appleton City, Mo; R. P. a live stock buyer, Montrose, Missouri.
To J. H. and Gertrude Harness have been born two children: Glen W., and Richard P. C, both of whom are at home with their parents. Politically, Mr. Harness is a Democrat. He and Mrs. Harness are members of the Cumberland Presbyterian Church. They are intelligent, well-informed, sociable people, who while industrious and enterprising, believe in enjoying the good things of life while they may.
The history of the Harness family in America begins with Peter Michael Harness, a native of Holland, who accompanied one of the expeditions of William Penn to the colony of Pennsylvania in search of a home and religious freedom. He settled later in Virginia. A descendant of this Peter Michael Harness was Capt. Jack Harness, who served as a captain of a company in Gen. George Washington's Army, during the War of the American Revolution. He is mentioned in the History of the Valley of Virginia as one of the noted characters in the Revolutionary epoch of American history. He was an inveterate Indian fighter and killed many Indians during his eventful career; three of his brothers lost their lives at the hands of hostile Indians. His son, Lee Adam Harness, was the father of Adam Harness, who was married to Nancy Ellen Murdock and came to St. Louis County, Missouri, as early as 1830.
In 1855, he came to Henry County, and settled on Granddaddy Creek, near Stone's Chapel. His son, William Harness, enlisted in the Confederate Army in 1863 and fought at the battle of Wilson's Creek. He served under General Price and was in Price's Raid through Missouri and Kansas, his commander being Captain Spangler of the cavalry. At St. Louis, he became ill with measles and his father made the long trip to bring him home, as before stated.
