CHAPTER XXVII (Part 64)
BIOGRAPHICAL
Joseph H. Smith - Forty-eight years ago Joseph H. Smith came from his old Virginia home and settled upon a tract of timber land in the southwestern part of Leesville township, cleared the land, placed it in cultivation and in the course of time built a good home and beautified his surroundings. During all these years, he has been well content to live upon his eighty acre farm engrossed with the duty of rearing and educating his large family of children. He has become well to do, gained wisdom with age, kept himself well informed on the events of the day, and takes a keen interest in living and all that is going on in the world.
Joseph H. Smith was born April 21, 1845, in Patrick County, Virginia. He is the son of Foulks and Mary Ann (Handy) Smith, both of whom were members of old Virginia families, the former of English extraction and the latter of German descent. Foulks and Mary Ann Smith were parents of children as follows: Mrs. Lucinda Deatheridge, San Antonio, Texas; Samuel F., a soldier in the Confederate Army, killed in the fighting around Fort Donelson; Mary E., deceased; Ruth, died in early childhood; Joseph H., of this review; George F., a farmer in Leesville township; Mrs. Elitha Warner, living in Nebraska; Mrs. Sarah Alice Smith, deceased; John L. Smith, a bachelor, lives just south of his brother's place; Mrs. Ida Deatheridge, living on a farm one mile north. Foulks Smith came to Henry County, Missouri, in 1871 and spent his last days among his children, dying in October, 1878, at the age of sixty-eight years.
Joseph H. Smith enlisted in 1861 in Company A, 50th Regiment Virginia Infantry of the Confederate Army and served until the surrender of General Lee. He fought in the following battles: Fort Donelson, Fredericksburg, Sharpsburg, Winchester, Gettysburg, the Seven Days Battle of the Wilderness, besides many skirmishes and minor engagements. He was twice slightly wounded in battle. During a skirmish in Blackwater, Virginia, General Pryor was in command of the division. The Confederates were encamped near the enemy in a grove in the fall of the year.
The night was rather chilly. Some of the soldiers woke up, stirred the smouldering fires, and before daylight the enemy captured the picket posts. An attack followed. The camp woke up and began to defend themselves. Shells began to come thick and fast. The Confederates were all surprised and excited but finally got in line for battle. Colonel Poague, commander of the regiment, was killed during the first part of the attack by the Unionists. As the men were lined up ready to begin the fight and repulse the Unionists and the firing was becoming faster and faster, all along the line, just at sunrise, General Pryor came riding down the line. Joseph H. Smith was standing munching away at a roasted sweet potato. He was still somewhat excited especially over the death of Colonel Poague, yet could find time to eat. As the general came near the young soldier, he called out: "General, did you know that Colonel Poague was killed?" The general stopped his horse, eyed the soldier boy and his big sweet potato, and said: "Did you ever hear of a war but what somebody was killed? Please give me part of that potato." The general took half of the sweet potato and the fighting went on.
Returning to his home after the close of the war, Mr. Smith found the whole country devastated, farms ruined, people penniless, business stagnant, and the outlook for the future so discouraging that he deemed it useless to try to make a new start. Added to these drawbacks was the restless feeling which possessed the returned soldier, who had been use to stirring outdoor life for four years. He decided to come West.
Accordingly, in the fall of 1866, he came to Henry County, Missouri, with little capital and began the improvement of his fine farm, which he purchased in 1870, in Leesville township. During over half a century, he has been one of the respected and influential figures in the citizenship of Henry County and is widely known for his progressiveness.
Mr. Smith was married in 1869 to Mrs. Frances Helen (Parks) Nichols, a widow. The children born to this marriage are: Ida Lee, a teacher in Colorado; Hugh A., holding a professorship as head of the department of romance and languages at Wisconsin University, Madison, Wisconsin, holds a master's and doctor's degree and has studied at Harvard University; Elmer, living in Iowa; Pinckney, who studied at the Missouri University; John M., a farmer in Leesville township; Audrey, wife of Professor Lionberger, Norris, Henry County; Mrs. Mary Jewett Poague, Benton County, Missouri; Norma, a teacher in the public schools of Colorado; Winifred and Helen, at home with their parents, and are teachers.
Every member of this family has taught school, excepting Elmer. Each of the children has attended high school, either at Windsor, Clinton or Appleton City. Mrs. Frances Helen Smith, mother of this fine family, was born in Henry County in 1854, and is the daughter of Mrs. Catherine Nichols, a widow who came to Henry County during the early thirties.
The Democratic party has always had the firm support of Mr. Smith, and he has always taken a keen interest in political matters, although he has never been a seeker after political preferment. The cause of education has generally been uppermost in his desires and he has lent his energies and influence toward the building of good schools in his neighborhood and has always been emphatically in favor of better educational advantages for the young. He was one of the leaders in the movement which culminated in the erection of a more modern building in his school district and is a firm friend of good schools. He is affiliated with the Presbyterian Church. Keen, intelligent, well posted on everyday events, he is a fine conversationalist who impresses one with his progressive ideas and broad outlook upon life.
Fred Batschelet - Fifty-six years ago, Fred Batschelet, pioneer settler and large land owner of Davis township, left the old home of his parents in Switzerland and crossed the ocean to America in search of fortune and a permanent home. After some years, he found what he was desiring in Henry County, Missouri, and besides having accumulated a fortune in land and money, he has contributed one of the largest families of the county to the land of his adoption. Were the fact that he has reared a large family of fourteen children to sturdy manhood and womanhood the only thing which he had accomplished, he would still be worthy of an honored place in the historical annals of his adopted county. This is not all, however. Before Mr. Batschelet had learned the language and customs of his adopted country, and before he had obtained a foothold here in the making of his own career, he offered his services in behalf of the preservation of the Union, and is one of the few remaining Union veterans in Henry County.
Fred Batschelet was born July 10, 1842, in the Canton of Berne, Switzerland, and is the son of Benedict and Elizabeth (Weber) Batschelet, who were parents of five children. Benedict and Elizabeth Batschelet lived and died in the land of their nativity. Fred Batschelet was reared to the life of a farmer, but learned the baker's trade in his youth. In 1862, he immigrated to America and first settled in Illinois where he remained for three years. During the last year of the Civil War, he served in the Union Army in Company A of the 40th Missouri Volunteer Infantry Regiment. For a time he was detailed to provost guard duty in the South.
While a citizen of Illinois, he was married and sometime later he located in St. Louis. In the year 1870, he, with his brother John, came to Henry County and invested in a tract of 106 acres. The brothers cultivated this tract in partnership for about four years and then each undertook to farm for himself. From this small beginning, Mr. Batschelet has accumulated an entire section of land, or 640 acres.
Mr. Batschelet was married in 1866 at Highland, Illinois, to Miss Anna Pfister, who was born in Switzerland, April 30, 1848, and came to America when a child with her parents who settled at Highland, Illinois. Fourteen children have been born to this union, as follows: Fred and Godfred, twins, born in Illinois, are farmers in Davis township; John, a farmer, living near Lewis Station; Benedict, a farmer in Davis township; Minnie, wife of Daniel Dehn, Clinton township; Robert, lives in Oklahoma; Albert, a farmer in Bear Creek township; William, Davis township; Anna, wife of W. E. Hillebrand, Davis township; Mary, wife of Allen Mitchell, living on a farm near Montrose; Caroline, Bertha, Edward, and Rosa, at home with their parents.
Mr. Batschelet is a Republican and has been active in civic affairs in his township during his long years of residence here. He assisted in the organization of School District No. 42 and is a valuable citizen.
Three years ago he retired from active farm labor, advancing years compelling him to relinquish much of his activity which had brought him prosperity during the years in which he has been farming in Henry County. He is a member of the Reformed Church. Few men can look back over a lifetime of endeavor and point to a better record of achievement than can Mr. Batschelet.
Jacob A. Marks - In the death of the late Jacob A. Marks of Davis township, Henry County lost a good, industrious citizen, who stood high in the community and ranked among the real old settlers of this county, and western Missouri.
Jacob A. Marks was born in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania, May 10, 1846, and departed this life at his home in Davis township, May 10, 1917. He was the son of John and Susanna (Schroeder) Marks, natives of Pennsylvania, and of Pennsylvania Dutch extraction. The Marks family, consisting of the parents and six children, came to Henry County in 1866. During the first years of his residence here, Mr. Marks worked as a farm laborer. At the time of his marriage to Susan M. Hibler, he settled upon an eighty-acre tract which his wife had inherited from the Hibler estate. This tract, Mr. and Mrs. Marks improved and increased to a total of 200 acres. Mr. Marks was an industrious and enterprising farmer and stockman and a successful citizen. His death was a distinct loss to the county.
On December 11, 1876, Jacob A. Marks and Susan M. Hibler were united in marriage and this marriage was blessed with ten children, as follows: The first child died in infancy; Maud, wife of David Burdick, Nevada, Missouri, mother of four children, Roy Marks, Margaret Ellen, Mildred Ruth, Leland Wilson; Thomas H., Kansas City, Missouri; Charlotte, wife of G. L. Gregory, San Diego, California, has one child, Leon G.; Laura B., deceased; James B., farming the home place; Samuel, an enlisted man on the U. S. S. Wisconsin, United States Navy; Ruth V., Rolla B., and George Dewey, at home with their mother.
Mrs. Susan M. (Hibler) Marks was born in Walker township, Henry County, August 11, 1856, and is the daughter of Henry R. Hibler, one of the best known of the early pioneer settlers of Henry County, a sketch of whom appears in connection with that of Joseph F. Hibler of Walker township. Henry Hibler was an extensive stockman and a large land owner, who in the early pioneer days drove herds of cattle for the settlers to St. Louis and there disposed of them in the stock markets. Mrs. Hibler is capably managing her estate of 200 acres, and is also interested in the Dixie Oil Company, a producing and dividend paying oil company of Kansas. She is also a stockholder in the Sedalia Packing Company.
Mr. Marks was a Democrat and served as justice of the peace of Davis township. He was a member of the Methodist Church South and lived a Christian and upright life. He was affiliated with the Independent Order of Odd Fellows. His descendants have just cause to be proud of his career as a citizen, an exemplary, honorable man in every sense that the words imply; he was likewise a kind husband and a good father.
