CHAPTER XXVII (Part 23)
BIOGRAPHICAL
John Layman - After a number of years spent as a successful contractor and builder in Kansas City, John Layman listened to the call of his country and the land and returned to the farm in Bear Creek township in order to do his part in swelling the vast amount of food stuffs needed to feed the people and armies of America's allies in the Old World who are battling for the rights and freedom of mankind. John Layman and Georgiana Layman are owners of 320 acres of farm land in Bear Creek township which they are improving and fixing up so as to make a good country home in time to come. Mr. Layman was born in Clark County, Missouri, in 1860 and is the son of George and Eliza (Combs) Layman, natives of West Virginia and Missouri, respectively.
Mrs. Eliza Layman was a daughter of Kentucky parents who were Missouri pioneers. George Layman came to Missouri with his parents when but a boy. He was born in 1817 and died in 1901. In 1865, he moved to Henry County from Clark County and lived for three years upon a farm east of Clinton, and in 1868 he located near Montrose. There are ten children of the Layman family: Mrs. Renie Skelton, Topeka, Kansas; Mrs. Emma Fair, deceased; Mrs. Belle Triplett, Topeka, Kansas; William; Henry, Kansas City; Mrs. Florence Durnell, Joplin, Missouri; Mrs. Florida Burks, Joplin, Missouri; Mrs. Maude Davis, Chicago, Illinois; Mrs. Bab Trott, Joplin, Missouri.
In early manhood, Mr. Layman learned the trade of bricklayer and builder and many of the brick houses in his section of Henry county were built by him, among them being the old Nick Erhart mansion which in days gone by was one of the show places of the county. He and Mrs. Layman and the family spent eight years in Kansas City where Mr. Layman was employed as foreman of brick construction on many of the largest public buildings of the city. On account of his health and the fact that the farm needed their personal attention they returned to Bear Creek township and resumed cultivation of their large acreage in 1914.
John Layman and Georgiana Erhart were united in marriage in 1886 and to them have been born five children: Iva, wife of Fred Roberts, Muscogee, Oklahoma; Joseph, living on the home place, married Nannie Lober and has two children, Aubertine and Burnell; J. Nick, resides in Bear Creek township, married Pearl Minnich, and has one child, Margaret; Ida, at home with her parents; Frankie, the youngest of the family. Mrs. Georgian Layman was born in Bear Creek township, in 1868 and is the daughter of the late Nicholas Erhart.
Nicholas Erhart was born on July 19, 1831 in Bavaria, Germany, and died at his home in Bear Creek township, July 18, 1915. In 1844, he emigrated with his parents, George and Susannah (Schrepfer) Erhart who settled in Cole County, Missouri, near Jefferson City. On the way to the West, his mother died at Johnstown, Pennsylvania. George Erhart made a home near Jefferson City and died there. Nick Erhart was there reared to young manhood and enlisted and served as a soldier in the Mexican War, receiving for his services a Mexican Land Grant in Henry County to which he came soon after the war ended. Not content with having served his country in Old Mexico, he enlisted with the Union Army at the outbreak of the Civil War and was badly wounded at the Battle of Lone Jack. He was hit in the shoulder and was honorably discharged, but after his wound had healed he returned again to the Union service. Mr. Erhart was very successful as a farmer and stockman and accumulated a total of 1,280 acres of land, much of which he gave to his children, owning at the time of his death 320 acres.
Mr. Erhart was married to Malvina Coffelt (born 1832; died 1910), a native of Knox County, Kentucky, and daughter of Philip Coffelt, a pioneer of Moniteau County, Missouri, who also made an early settlement in Henry County. Four children born to Nick and Malvin Erhart are living: Mrs. Viola Dutro, Brownsville, Texas; Mrs. Georgian Layman; Mrs. Ida Adkins, Bear Creek township; Mrs. Nellie Harness, Kansas City, Missouri. Mr. Erhart was a Republican and a member of the Lutheran Church. He was a charter member of the Montrose Lodge of Ancient Free and Accepted Masons.
John Layman is a supporter of Republican political principles. He is affiliated with the Ancient Free and Accepted Masons of Montrose. He and Mrs. Layman are popular, well liked, industrious and enterprising people, who are hospitable to the core and have many warm friends among the people of Henry County.
Woodford A. Snapp - There is nothing more pleasant than to meet an Missouri old settler who has lived a useful life, reared his family, at peace with the world and friends with his neighbors, and glad to be alive; having accomplished his destined mission on earth - that of rearing an excellent family, creating a home for himself and having provided for his declining years, is the estimable record of Woodford A. Snapp, one of the old timers of Henry County who is still hale and hearty despite his more than threescore years and ten as allotted him by divine interpretation of the Scriptures.
Mr. Snapp was born June 2, 1847, in old Tennessee, and is the son of A. A. and Lavine (Bird) Snapp, natives, respectively, of Virginia and Tennessee. Both parents come from old Southern families of the true pioneer type. As early as 1848 the Snapp family came to Cooper County, Missouri, and there established their home amid many of their former friends and acquaintances from Tennessee who had preceded them. In this county the elder Snapp created a fine farm, reared a useful family and departed this life after his work was done.
W. A. Snapp was reared to young manhood in Cooper County and when he had attained the age of twenty-five years (1872) he started out for himself and made a location in Pettis County, Missouri. Here he followed farming pursuits and was married in September of 1874 to Miss Sarah J. Lacey, a native of Pettis County, and daughter of George W. Lacey one of the well-known citizens of that county. To this marriage were born a large family of children, eight of whom were reared: Alpheus A. Snapp, is a clerk in the Missouri, Kansas & Texas railway offices at Sedalia, Missouri; Mrs. Mary Sargent lives in Bear Creek township; Jacob A. resides in Springfield township, Henry County; Walter M., at home with his parents; Robert L., Tulsa, Oklahoma; Rev. George B. Snapp, a minister of the Methodist Episcopal Church, now stationed at Chilhowee, Missouri; Mrs. Lillie Myrtle Crouch, Bear Creek township; Fred, a farmer in Bear Creek township.
Mr. Snapp has resided in Henry County since the year 1876, made his start in this county, and has owned various farms throughout the county. His fine farm of forty acres located in Bear Creek township is well improved and affords him a comfortable living. It is probable that there is not a more contented nor a happier and jollier citizen in Henry County than Mr. Snapp. He is a Democrat and has always espoused Democratic principles and supported the policies of his party and firmly believes that President Wilson is the greatest living figure in the world today. He and the members of his family are Baptists.
Judge William Benjamin Collins, a member of the County Court from the north district of Henry County, is a native son of this county and belongs to one of the pioneer families of western Missouri. Judge Collins was born July 18, 1856, in Big Creek township, a son of Thomas and Sarah (Wooster) Collins, natives of Virginia. Thomas Collins was born in Albemarle County, Virginia, August 20, 1816, and came to Warren County, Missouri, with his parents in 1825, when he was about nine years of age. He was a son of George Collins, who spent the remainder of his life in Warren County after coming to this State.
Thomas Collins went to California in 1849 with an ox team train. He met with more than the success of the average gold seeker and when he returned he came by way of the Isthmus of Panama and New Orleans, and had several thousand dollars in gold, which he exchanged for currency at New Orleans. He came to Henry County in 1855, settled near where Garland is now located in Big Creek township. Here he bought three hundred twenty acres of land, and later added more acreage until at one time he owned over eight hundred acres. He died February 10, 1899. His wife departed this life September 9, 1872, and their remains are buried in the Norris Cemetery. Thomas and Sarah (Wooster) Collins were the parents of the following children: William B., the subject of this review, and James T. and John Pressly, twins. James T. lives in Bogard township and John Pressly died at the age of eight years.
When the Collins family settled in Henry County this section of Missouri was sparsely settled. Indians were still within the present borders of Henry County. When Judge Collins was a baby the squaws who lived in the vicinity of the Collins family often wanted to borrow the white papoose, but his mother, fearing that they might forget to bring him back, persistently refused to loan him for the amusement of the squaws. Judge Collins lives practically on the same place where he was born, and still drinks water from the same well from which he drank during his boyhood days. He attended school in the rural district school in Big Creek township and in Honey Creek township. His first teacher as he remembers was a Miss Spangler. He has made general farming and stock raising his life's occupation and has met with a reasonable degree of success. He owns a valuable farm of two hundred acres in Big Creek township and eighty acres in Honey Creek. In addition to general farming he is also extensively engaged in stock raising, and is recognized as one of the successful stockmen of Henry County.
Judge Collins has been a life long Democrat and has always taken an interest in political affairs. He was elected county judge for the north district of Henry County in 1914 and re-elected in 1916. He has made a capable and conscientious public officer and has conducted the affairs of the county in the same capable, conscientious manner characteristic of him and his private business affairs.
Judge Collins was united in marriage February 20, 1876, to Miss Mary Blevins, a daughter of R. P. and Missouri Ann (Crockett) Blevins, the former a native of Henry County and the latter of Indiana. Further mention of the Blevins family history is made elsewhere in this volume. To William B. Collins and wife have been born two children: Ella and John Pressley. Ella Collins is now the wife of Dr. S. W. Woltzen, a native of Illinois, born May 6, 1870. He was educated in the public schools of Minook and Benson, Illinois, and the St. Louis Medical College of St. Louis, Missouri. He practiced medicine for twenty-three years in Henry County and on June 23, 1917, was commissioned captain in the Medical Reserve Corps of the United States Army and served in that capacity until his honorable discharge on account of sickness in June, 1918. John P. Collins, the only son born to Judge Collins and wife, is now engaged in farming in Big Creek township, Henry County. He married Ethel Miller November 14, 1906.
