CHAPTER XXVII (Part 58)
BIOGRAPHICAL
Fred H. Griefe - Henry County has many true American citizens of German birth who came to this land of opportunity poor in purse, with no knowledge of the language and customs of the country and have become prosperous and are thoroughly in sympathy with American institutions and American ideals. We doubt very much if throughout the length and breadth of Henry County, where there are hundreds of well-to-do and contented farmer citizens of German birth or ancestry there is a single one who is not thoroughly loyal to his adopted country. Fred H. Griefe, large land owner of Springfield township, is one of this large population who left Germany to escape the restrictions which hampered men of his class and kept them ground down to poverty through all of their lives. He has risen in the short space of thirty-eight years from being a common farm hand at a wage of $8.00 per month, to become one of the wealthy and progressive land owners of Henry County and is a citizen of truest worth and integrity.
Fred H. Griefe was born in Lippe-Detmoldt, Germany, July 18, 1862, the son of Fred and Caroline (Tunnermann) Griefe, to whom four children were born: Caroline, widow of G. Scheele, Windsor, Missouri; Henrietta, wife of Christ Uhlenbock, Springfield township; Fred H., subject of this sketch; Henry, a merchant at Windsor, Missouri. The father of these children died in Germany in 1869. Fred H. Griefe was the second of the family to leave his native land, coming here in 1880. He first worked for two years and then sent for his mother and the rest of the family, who joined him in this county. Mrs. Caroline Griefe died at the home of her daughter, Mrs. Christ Uhlenbock, in 1897 at the age of seventy-one years.
Mr. Griefe began his career in Henry County as a farm hand at $8.00 per month. For a period of sixteen years he worked as farm laborer, eleven years with one employer. He purchased his first land in 1896, eighty acres in section 11, Springfield township. From this small beginning his large farm has grown, wath the exercise of hard work, economy and good management, to the grand total of 554 acres. The Griefe farm is one of the best improved, most fertile and the best kept places in Henry County. Each year of Mr. Griefe's ownership has added to its value.
In November, 1886, Fred H. Griefe and Miss Catherine Balke were united in marriage. Mrs. Catherine Griefe was born near Roseland, Springfield township, October 16, 1864, the daughter of John and Mary (Streeby) Balke, the former of whom was born in Germany and the latter in Henry County, both now deceased. To the marriage of Fred H. and Catherine Griefe were born children as follows: John W. and Charley, deceased; Lelia, at home with her parents.
Mr. Griefe is a Republican. He and Mrs. Griefe attend divine services at the Methodist Church. He is affiliated with the Knights of Pythias and the Anti-Horse Thief Association.
James E. Slack was born in Henry County, Missouri, July 2.3, 1874, and is now engaged in farming in Springfield township. He received his education in the grade schools and the Calhoun High School, from which he was graduated. In 1897, he was married to Edna Finks, who was born in 1875 and is a daughter of Judge Mark F. and Nancy E. (Avery) Finks, a sketch of whom appears in this volume. Mr. and Mrs. Slack are the parents of seven children, as follows: Martha Irene, Lyman, Helen, Marjorie, Henry, Earl V. and Walter, all of whom are at home with their parents.
James E. Slack has 175 acres in the home farm and 160 acres in Oklahoma. He is a breeder of Shorthorn cattle and jacks, specializing in thoroughbred cattle, and is endeavoring to propagate the noted "Casey" breed, being the blood of "Choice Goods," "Young Abbotsburn," etc. "Prince of Tebolaun" and "Carolina" are undefeated as show cattle. He has a herd of twenty head of thoroughbreds, breeding cows and heifers. In politics, he is a Democrat and belongs to the Baptist Church. He also belongs to the Free Mason Lodge.
Mr. James E. Slack has for years been a protector of quails and makes the preservation of game birds a hobby.
Andrew D. McQueen - Few pioneer citizens of Henry County have achieved such success as has come to Andrew D. McQueen, Union veteran, and extensive land owner of Leesville township. Nearly fifty years ago, Mr. McQueen came to this section of Missouri, poor in a worldly sense, his health depleted in consequence of early hardships and the sufferings undergone through having been an inmate of the terrible Libby Prison, during the Civil War. After locating in Henry County, he soon found his health and has retained it ever since, and in time he found wealth and has lived to see the entire section of western Missouri develop and blossom into a fertile and prosperous community. He has reared one of the largest families in Henry County and has held a place of prominence and leadership in the Leesville community since he first came to this locality in 1869. He is rightly named the "Sage of Leesville."
Andrew D. McQueen was born in Carroll County, Ohio, November 9, 1837, and is the son of Abel and Rebecca (Davis) McQueen, the former of whom was born in Pennsylvania, and the latter was a native of Virginia.
Mr. McQueen was reared in Ohio and served for nearly two years with the Union Army during the Civil War. Mr. McQueen first enlisted in September, 1862 in Company K, 110th Regiment, Ohio Infantry, serving one year in this regiment. At the battle of Winchester he was taken prisoner and placed in Libby Prison, and later was imprisoned in Belle Isle. The sufferings he underwent while a prisoner were terrible and left their marks upon his constitution for several years afterward. He lost forty pounds in forty days. The treatment afforded him and his comrades was terrible in its brutality and so incensed did an Irish prisoner become that the Irishman swore that he would knock down the officer who had a miserable habit of cursing them and beating them without provocation, while making his rounds. The Irishman did so and knocked the officer senseless. Shortly afterwards a company of soldiers filed into the prison with loaded muskets and a demand was made for the name of the prisoner who had assaulted the officer. The prisoners refused to divulge the Irishman's name and no amount of threats could compel them, they being, as Mr. McQueen says, "fearless of death, and even ready to welcome death as a relief from their misery." As a punishment he and his immediate comrades were left without food for two days. In August of 1863, he was exchanged and returned to his command. In October, 1863, he was invalided home, and during the next spring he was married to the sweetheart of his boyhood days. The marriage had been set to take place before the outbreak of the war, but both he and his sweetheart had agreed to postpone the wedding while he served his country. After his marriage in the spring Mr. McQueen again enlisted in Company I, 157th Regiment Ohio Volunteer Infantry for one hundred days service.
While engaged in the campaign in the Shenandoah Valley Mr. McQueen was in Milroy's division, which was surrounded by a part of the Confederate Army and compelled to surrender.
Soon after the close of the Civil War Mr. and Mrs. McQueen moved to western Indiana, where he purchased eighty acres of land. His experience in this section of Indiana, which was largely wooded and marsh land at that time, was not satisfactory and he found that the climate was very unhealthful. For four years he struggled against continued illness and became so thoroughly discouraged that he determined to leave the country and go west. Mr. McQueen trekked through Illinois but found Illinois people also afflicted with malaria and kindred ailments and decided to try Missouri. He traveled over the State and eventually arrived in western Missouri. The excellent health of the settlers in the eastern part of Henry County and the beauty of the surroundings in which they lived pleased him very much and he decided that he had found a permanent abiding place for him and his. He disposed of his land in Indiana and came to Leesville township in 1869. His first investment was in 200 acres of land at a cost of thirteen dollars an acre. For this land he went in debt to the extent of $1,000. He had some money but it was necessary for him to purchase a team, some live stock and tools with which to work. This expenditure ate up all of his slender capital.
Along came the panic of 1873, and for four years he strove in hard lines and had all that he could do to keep the wolf from the door during the lean years. He hauled corn to Clinton, a distance of fourteen miles, for a mere pittance in order to get food with which to feed his family. After the "lean years" Mr. McQueen decided never again to go in debt and to "pay as he went." This resolution he has kept for many years and has prospered as he deserved.
Mr. McQueen taught school in the neighborhood for a number of years while conducting his farming operations with hired help. Mr. McQueen has added 160 acres to his home farm, making 360 acres in this farm. During the years past, he has purchased different farms aggregating 340 acres, making a total of 700 acres. His first home in Henry County was a log house of two rooms. He cut the logs, trimmed them and built the cabin himself. In the fall of 1885, he erected his present imposing frame house, which is one of the largest in the county.
The upper part of this mansion contained a very large room which Mr. McQueen dedicated to the use of the neighborhood for social doings and meetings. When the residence was finished he sent out word throughout the surrounding country for the young folks of the neighborhood to come to a housewarming and social event. They came and spent an enjoyable evening. At this time, he addressed them and informed them that this large room was theirs for all time and would serve as a gathering place for the young people as long as he lived and that the room was dedicated to the people of Leesville neighborhood for innocent social events and that every gathering must be kept within the bounds of propriety. For many years, the young folks and even the older people availed themselves of this generosity and sociability and many enjoyable social events were held, the McQueen residence being the mecca of the folks of the surrounding country.
February 18, 1864, Andrew D. McQueen and Miss Sarah E. Tope were united in marriage. To this marriage have been born children as follows: Mrs. Hettie C. Nichols, residing on a farm two miles east of the McQueen place on the county line; Abel E., owner of 330 acres of good land in Benton County, Missouri; Joseph B., a farmer in Leesville township; George F., Leesville township; Rebecca Geneva, deceased; Joshua F., Butte, Montana; John, living in Colorado, and Milton, at home (twins); Mrs. Eva 0. Puckett, Leesville township; Mrs. Sarah Emeline Fife, Parsons, Kansas; Mary S., her father's housekeeper; William B., a fanner in Leesville township; Alonzo H., aged twenty-nine years, at home; one child died in infancy. The mother was born June 7, 1842, in Carroll County, Ohio, the daughter of Joseph and Hettie Tope, natives of Pennsylvania and descendants of Holland Dutch and Irish stock, respectively.
Mrs. McQueen departed this life on November 28, 1910. She was a good and faithful helpmeet to her husband and cheered and comforted him in adversity and assisted him materially in achieving to a position of comfort and well being. She was a kind and wise mother to her children, fulfilling her destined mission on earth as only a true and noble woman could.
Mr. McQueen has always been a Republican and served as justice of the peace of Leesville township for twenty years. Being a man of excellent education and well informed he has been one of the most useful citizens of Henry County during his long years of residence here. He is a member of the Methodist Episcopal Church. When there were many more Union veterans in the neighborhood and before their fast thinning ranks were depleted by the inroads of the "grim reaper," there existed in Leesville a flourishing Grand Army Post. This post was known as Dan McCook Post No. 312 and their meeting place was in the McQueen home in the large room referred to in a preceding paragraph. Mr. McQueen assisted in organizing the Grand Army Post and gave the privileges of the room to the old veterans as long as was desired. Now the ranks of the veterans are so thinned that meetings are not held and each year only a few meet to administer the last rites to the memory of their comrades who have preceded them to the great beyond. Well past four-score years.
Andrew D. McQueen has so lived his life that he is serenely contented in his old age to live a peaceful and retired life, a patriarch in his own right, respected and highly regarded by all who know him.
