CHAPTER XXVII (Part 36)
BIOGRAPHICAL
Fred H. Heiman - Although Fred H. Heiman, a successful farmer of Deepwater township, is what we might call a newcomer to Henry County, he has taken his place in the civic life of the Montrose community and is fast becoming one of the leaders in this section of the county.
Endowed with a high mentality, a progressive and enterprising spirit which has been further developed by a good education, Mr. Heiman is one of the best informed citizens of the county and an excellent farmer.
Fred H. Heiman was born in Damiansville, Illinois, January 14, 1868, and is the son of John Herman and Mary (Santel) Heiman, the former of whom was a native of Illinois and the latter of Iowa. John Heiman was of German descent and followed agricultural pursuits during his entire life. In 1887, he left Illinois and went to Ottawa County, Kansas, where for two years he lived on a farm near Delphos. In 1889, he went to Woodson County, Kansas, and made this county his home until his death in 1908. His widow still resides in Woodson County. There are nine living children in the Heiman family: August B., an oil man in California; Rosa M., wife of Herman Bruegeman, Woodson county, Kansas; Agatha, at home with her mother; Martin, Hooker, Oklahoma; William, Iola, Kansas; George A., at home with his mother; Edward N., Woodson County, Kansas; John H., of Humboldt, Kansas, and Fred H., subject of this sketch.
After receiving his education in the Effingham County high school at Altamont, Illinois, Mr. Heiman was employed in a retail store for a time. He then became a farmer and joined his people in Kansas. He went to Ellis County, Kansas, and taught school for twelve terms, in all, eight terms of which were taught in Ellis County, and four terms in Woodson County. While teaching, during the latter four terms, he followed farming in Woodson County. He came to Missouri in 1903, and rented a farm, five miles east of his present place until 1909, at which time he purchased his farm of 160 acres south of Montrose in Deepwater township. Mr. Heiman has erected splendid improvements on this tract, including a handsome residence of eight rooms and pantry, a large barn, forty-eight by forty feet, a granary, twenty-six by thirty-four feet, a hog house, eight by twenty-four feet, a sheep shed eight by thirty-four feet sufficient to shelter fifty-six head of sheep, a cow shed 26 by 28 feet, and silo. Mr. Heiman also raises Duroc Jersey hogs for the market. A large windmill on the place pumps a sufficient supply of water.
On April 4, 1894, Fred H. Heiman and Miss Annie M. Swaters were united in marriage. Mrs. Annie M. Heiman is the daughter of John Swaters, a well-to-do resident of Deepwater township, and a sketch of whom appears in this volume. Nine children have been born to Fred H. and Annie M. Heiman: Regina, wife of John A. Nold, northeast of Montrose; Cornelius H., Leo, Martin, Rosa, Ferdinand, Loretta, John, Helen, all at home with their parents. Mrs. Regina Nold has two children, Loraine and Dorothy Nold.
Mr. Heiman is a Democrat and his family are members of the Church of the Immaculate Conception at Montrose. He is affiliated with the Catholic Mutual Benefit Association and Knights of Columbus.
Frank Wagner, owner of a nicely improved farm of 106.66 acres of land in Deepwater township, south of Montrose, was born in Germany in 1846, near the Swiss boundary line, and he naturally belongs more to the Swiss nationality than to the German. He is a son of Frank and Catherine Wagner, who emigrated from their native country to America in 1852 and resided in Illinois for the next seven years. In the fall of 1859, the family located in Henry County, Missouri, and Frank Wagner, the father, followed his trade of carpenter and builder, and cabinet maker.
He made his first home in Bogard township on a farm which he cultivated in addition to following his trade in various parts of the county He located in Deepwater township in 1872 and purchased a tract of unimproved prairie land consisting of 160 acres. In the course of time he added another quarter section which, upon his death, was divided among his three sons, Frank, Joseph, and Jacob, who all live on adjoining farms at the Cross Roads south of Montrose.
Frank Wagner, subject of this review, placed all of the improvements upon his land and has tilled his acreage successfully up to recent years or until his retirement from actual labor in the fields. Mr. Wagner was married in 1874 to Mary Schissler (born 1852, died 1891), a native of Deepwater township, and the daughter of David Schissler, a Henry County pioneer. Mr. Wagner has reared eight children out of ten born to this marriage: Kate, wife of Joseph Kaumans, living in Wyoming; Joseph, eldest of the family, lives in Kansas; Henry lives in Kansas; Mary, wife of William Hueser, who is tilling the home place, has seven children, Lenora, John, Ida, Loretta, Margaret, Bernard and Bertha; John lives at Rock Island, Illinois; Mrs. Annie Montague, resides at Grand Island, Nebraska; Mrs. Josephine Currie, lives at Rock Island, Illinois; Herman is a farmer in Deepwater township; Frank is deceased.
Mr. Wagner is a Democrat. He is a member of the Montrose Catholic Church and is affiliated with the Knights of Columbus. His work here has been well done. He has reared a splendid family and accumulated a sufficient competence to care for his declining years, and has the honor of being one of the real old settlers of Henry County, and being universally respected and esteemed by all who know him.
Charles H. Martin, who is managing the Martin estate of 420 acres in Fairview township, Henry County, was born in Clinton, Missouri, the son of James B. Martin, one of the widely-known old settlers of Marshall Creek and a Union veteran now deceased. The Martin farm is situated on Marshall Creek, which, according to one of the old settlers who formerly resided in this neighborhood, should have been called "Jim" Creek on account of the fact that James or Jim Kirk, James or Jim Flecker, and James or Jim Henry Dunning, settled on this creek in the early days. However, the creek received the name of "Marshall" and the name has ever held.
James B. Martin was born March 24, 1838 and departed this life on June 29, 1910. He was born in Henry County, Illinois, but was reared in Kentucky. He was the son of one of the old-time school teachers known everywhere as Uncle Billy Martin. When the Civil War broke out, James B. Martin enlisted at Louisville, Kentucky, in the Tenth Kentucky Volunteer Infantry and served for three years and four months with the Union Army. He was wounded at the battle of Chickamauga and lay in the Government hospital for eighteen months. The wound crippled him for life, a shot or minnie ball taking effect in his left heel. January 1, 1865, he came to Clinton, Missouri, and sometime later swam the Deepwater when it was filled with ice in order to escape from a band of guerillas who were still attempting to wage war against Union people.
Edward A. Martin, a brother, preceded him to this county and Edward was tending cattle on the north side of the Deepwater at the time.
James B. Martin was a noted swimmer who at one time swam the Tennessee River while foraging after roasting ears. He was carried a mile down the river by the swift current with a companion named Alex Moore.
Soon after coming to Henry County, he was married to Ann Eliza Bridges, daughter of Charles Bridges of the Marshall Creek neighborhood. The Bridges came from Springfield, Illinois, to Henry County.
Ann Eliza Martin was born in 1848 and died in 1915. Six children were born to James B. and Ann Eliza Martin, as follows: Charles H., subject of this review; Edward A., Coffeyville, Kansas; Mrs. Jessie A. Wolford, Fairview township; Emery, living on the Martin home place; James Claude, living on the home place; Clifford B. makes his home with Charles Martin.
James B. Martin was an independent Republican. He was a member of the Christian Church and was affiliated with the Free Masons, the Independent Order of Odd Fellows, and the Grand Army of the Republic. James B. Martin was a Henry County citizen worth while. He was an honest, upright, and industrious man of affairs who had the respect and esteem of a wide circle of friends and acquaintances throughout the county.
James Ramsey Wilson - The basis of all true history is biography. History is but the narrative of the accomplishments of a body of people as a whole; the individual is the doer and it is necessary in the presentation of a true history of Henry County, to present the salient facts in the lives of the men who have made possible the up-building of this important section of Missouri. James Ramsey Wilson, late of Deepwater township, was a pioneer of this county who contributed more than the ordinary man to the settlement and development of Henry County. His sons and daughters today occupy important places in the State, and are among the leaders of the communities where they reside and have resided.
James Ramsey Wilson was born in Maysville, Kentucky, in January, 1803, and died in Henry County, Missouri, in June, 1897. He was the son of James Wilson, who was born in the North of Ireland, and was a son of James Wilson, of Scotland, who moved from his native land to Ireland and there settled upon a large estate, which was named Bull Valley Castle. He had several children, among them being James Wilson, father of the subject of this review. James Wilson received a good education and during his twentieth year, he immigrated to America. The occasion of his leaving the old home in Ireland was owing to his disgust with the methods of dispensing justice in practice in the courts of his native country. One particular flagrant piece of injustice which he witnessed so incensed him that upon going home, he informed his father that he was not desirous of living in a country with injustice so rampant, and that he intended crossing the ocean to settle in America. His father gave his consent and supplied him with funds sufficient to last him for one year in the new country. Upon his arrival at New York, the captain of his ship recommended his services to a ship chandler or shipping merchant, as bookkeeper, the young man's skill as a penman having favorably impressed the ship captain. He immediately took up his duties and for many years was engaged in the mercantile business in various parts of the country, becoming successful, although his fortunes were variable.
There were times when he was possessed of considerable capital and others when he was forced to start with little or no capital. One instance, the loss of a cargo of cotton valued at $40,000 and which cost him but $10,000, serves as an illustration of the varying fortunes of his career.
This happened in New Orleans and it was not long until he had paid back every dollar of his losses. He became a merchant at Maysville, Kentucky, and was there married to Elizabeth Bailey, the daughter of Col. Samuel Bailey, who had come to Kentucky from Virginia and purchased a large tract of land in the vicinity from Simon Kenton. About 1812, Colonel Bailey settled near the mouth of the Ohio River and with his wife and children stayed at the hotel kept by Captain Dennis in Paducah.
They moved to their new location aboard a Government steamboat confiscated from Aaron Burr at the time his ill fated plans for founding a great empire in the Southwest came to naught. Col. Samuel Bailey was killed by Indians a few miles above Bailey's Station, a frontier settlement which he had established on his land. He was attacked by a band of the savages and fought to the death. The Indians took his body and placed it in a new cabin near the scene of the crime. Later, Light Horse Harry Lee led a party to recover the body and give it proper burial near the site where he met his death opposite Rush Creek Island on the Kentucky shore of the Ohio River.
James Wilson did not remain long in Kentucky. Indians becoming numerous and on the warpath and the War of 1812 raging at the time, making it unsafe for settlers in the new country, he took his wife and children and went on horseback to country of the Kanawha River in what is now West Virginia. Here he engaged in the manufacture of salt in partnership with a Frenchman named Savaryn and made a permanent home in West Virginia.
James Ramsey Wilson was married in West Virginia to Susan Everett, born in Guyandotte County, Virginia, in 1811 and died in Henry County, Missouri, in 1875. She was a daughter of Col. John Everett of Guyandotte, Virginia, who married Miss Sallie Woodson of Charlottesville, Virginia.
Col. John Everett was an officer of Virginia militia and was was the son of John Everett, a soldier of the Revolution who was noted for the depths of his patriotism. It is said of him that he refused a large grant of Government land as payment for his services in behalf of American Independence with these words: "I did not light for land; I fought for liberty." The wife of John Everett was Miss Sallie Deadman, a daughter of Captain Deadman, who also fought in the Revolutionary War on the American side. Mrs. Sallie (Woodson) Everett was the daughter of Tralton or Tarlton Woodson who married a Miss Shepherd.
James Ramsey Wilson left Cabell County, West Virginia, in 1840 and came to Henry County, selecting a tract of land in the southeastern part of Bear Creek township near the Teays settlement. He removed his family to the site of his new home in 1841 and for four years made his home in Marshall Creek. In 1845, he settled permanently in Deepwater township, erecting some time later one of the finest and largest houses in the county, modeled after an old Virginia home. This home is still standing and is the place of residence of Miss Bettie Wilson, a daughter. The estate, which he built up, has been operated by his sons as a corporation under the name of J. H. Wilson and Brothers and has prospered during all these years.
To James Ramsey and Susan (Everett) Wilson were born the following children: Joseph H. Wilson, a widely-known farmer of Deepwater township, a sketch of whom appears in this volume; Mrs. Mary E. Houx, Warrensburg, Missouri, widow of Rev. J. H. Houx, late of Warrensburg, and who was a noted pioneer preacher of the Methodist Episcopal faith; John M. Wilson, deceased; Capt. Edwin Wilson, deceased; Susan Elizabeth, or Bettie Wilson, residing on the Wilson Home Place; William W. Wilson; and Richard B. Wilson, postmaster of Montrose, Missouri, a sketch of whom appears in this volume.
Edwin Wilson left home when in his eighteenth year and enlisted in the Southern Army as a member of Parsons' Brigade. Although small for his age, he never shirked duty and was always found in the thickest of the battles and struggles in which his command was engaged.
He became a valuable assistant to the field surgeons and was advised, on account of his skill in handling wounded men, to become a surgeon. After the surrender of Parsons' Brigade in Louisiana, he went to Texas and was first employed in sampling cotton. Opportunities for advancement came rapidly his way and he became a large land owner and cotton planter on his own account. He also became interested in banking and was vice-president of the American National Bank of Austin, Texas, at the time of his death. He was a leader in the commercial and civic life of his adopted State and associated with the leading figures of Texas. He had large interests in Texas and New Mexico. His death occurred at Austin, Texas, June 10, 1912, at the age of 68 years.
He married Lulu Bailey Wilson, who bore him two children: Mrs. John Harris, Dallas, Texas; and Mrs. Welburn Hudson, of Austin, Texas.
John M. Wilson went West when seventeen years of age and became a gold and silver miner. His life story reads like a romance were it possible to record his travels and adventures among the mining camps of the Rockies, the Pacific Slope, Mexico, and the Andes of South America.
For many years, he was engaged in various mining enterprises in these sections and became wealthy. The various vicissitudes and fortunes of the gold miner were his. During his career he was associated with widely known mining men of the United States. He died at El Paso, Texas, February 4, 1914, aged seventy-seven years. His whole career was characterized by honorable and upright dealings, attributes which have been the heritage of the members of the Wilson family for generations. He was married in early life to Miss Marion W. Wright of Washington, D. C, and to this marriage were born three children: James Robert, living in New Mexico; Isabella Everett, wife of Nathan Foster, Fayetteville, Arkansas, a veteran of the Spanish-American War; Mrs. Anna Caldwell, whose husband is a mining man of New Mexico.
William W. Wilson was born December 26, 1851, in Deepwater township, and is the jolly bachelor brother of the family. He has always been engaged in farming and makes his home with his brother, Richard B. Wilson.
James Ramsey Wilson and wife were members of the Methodist Episcopal church and so lived their lives that a lasting and deep impression will be forever engraved in the annals of the county which they helped to create from an unbroken wilderness.
