CHAPTER XXVII (Part 69)
BIOGRAPHICAL
Aurelius L. Armstrong, a leading druggist of Clinton, Missouri, has been continuously engaged in business here longer than any other merchant. He is a native of Missouri, born in Quincy, Hickory County, August 8, 1854, a son of Andrew L. and Sarah Ann (Hancock) Armstrong.
The father was born near Jacksonville, Illinois, in 1820, and about 1838 came to Missouri, first locating in Lincoln County, where he was married to Sarah Ann Hancock. He went from Lincoln County to Hickory County in 1852. Here he remained until 1855, when he came to Henry County and settled on a farm four miles northwest of Clinton. About two years later, he came to Clinton, where he was engaged in the mercantile business until the time of his death in 1858. Although a resident of Henry County but a few years, he took an active part in local affairs and became prominent in local politics. He was a candidate for the State Legislature in 1856.
The Armstrong family are of old Pennsylvania stock and William Armstrong, grandfather of A. L., the subject of this sketch, came from Pennsylvania to Illinois at a very early date in the history of the latter State. Sarah Ann (Hancock) Armstrong, mother of A. L. Armstrong, whose name introduces this review, is one of the honored pioneer women of Henry County. She celebrated her ninetieth birthday on May 5, 1918, having spent sixty-three years of her life in Henry County. She is a woman of unusual physical and mental vigor and is as active as most people who are thirty years her juniors. She is a constant reader of the daily papers as well as current literature in general and carries on regular correspondence with a number of friends and acquaintances. She also does considerable fancy needlework, despite her advanced age.
A. L. Armstrong was the third and youngest child born to his parents. His older brother, Hannibal H., is an attorney in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma; Solon, the second born, died in infancy. A. L. Armstrong received his education in the public schools of Clinton and Kentucky University, Lexington, Kentucky. After returning from college, Mr. Armstrong entered the employ of C. C. Williams, who conducted a drug store at Clinton, and for two years was thus employed. He then entered the employ of Bolton and Davis, and two years later, bought the interest of Mr. Davis in the drug store and the firm became Bolton & Armstrong.
This business arrangement continued for a period of five years when Mr. Armstrong sold his interest to his partner and in the fall of 1879 engaged in the drug business for himself, and has been continuously engaged in that business in the town of Clinton to the present time. His first drug store was on the south side of the square, and in 1890, he moved to the north side and has remained in that vicinity since, having occupied his present place of business about ten years.
May 1, 1878, Mr. Armstrong was united in marriage with Susan May Henshaw, a native of Clay County, Missouri, and a daughter of Joseph P. and Melissa (Neely) Henshaw, both now deceased. They died in Johnson County.
To Mr. and Mrs. Armstrong have been born one child, Atropa, now the wife of Charles A. Rutherford, Clinton, Missouri.
Mr. Armstrong is a Democrat and has taken an active part in his party organizations since boyhood. He has served two terms in the State Legislature, representing Henry County in the Forty-sixth General Assembly in 1910, and was re-elected, serving as a member of the Forty-seventh General Assembly.
He has been mayor of Clinton. For a number of years Mr. Armstrong has been a member of the Henry County Democratic Central Committee and is at present chairman of the City Democratic Central Committee. He is a member of the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks, the Royal Neighbors of America and a member of the Christian Church, having been an elder in the local church for over twenty-five years. Mr. Armstrong is one of the progressive and public spirited business men of Henry County, and during his long career here has built a reputation for honesty and integrity that is rarely equaled by any man in any community.
John A. Rush, late of Blairstown, Missouri, was a Union veteran of the Civil War and one of the interesting pioneer settlers of Henry County. He was born in Greene County, Ohio, January 12, 1842, the only child of Alvah and Mary A. (Roberts) Rush, the former a native of Kentucky and the latter of Maryland. The father died in Big Creek township in 1874, the mother having passed away in Ohio in 1863.
John A. Rush was reared and educated in Ohio and spent his early life in the uneventful way of the average boy of his time. In 1863, he enlisted at London, Ohio, in the 154th Ohio National Guard and served about one year, being mustered out of service September 27, 1864, at Camp Denison. In 1866, he came to Missouri and first settled at Independence, where he remained two years. In 1868, he came to Henry County and settled on the present site of Blairstown in Bogard township. Here he built a log cabin in February, 1869. He lived in a tent for a time until his cabin was completed. Mr. Rush recalled that his log cabin was located about fifty feet southwest of where Shepperd's garage now stands. This log house was his home until 1875, when he built a frame house which was destroyed by fire, and he built his present residence in 1886. Mr. Rush remembered among the pioneer residents who helped him raise his first log cabin the names of Conrad Fisher, Jesse Fisher, Henry Lotspeich, Boone McCarty, Conrad McCarty, K. Elliott, John Cox, Wilson Bedford, Elias Gilkner, James Jenkins, Thomas Jenkins, Ira Dunham and his brother and Daniel Quick. They are all dead now except Elias Gilkner. Mr. Rush had been successfully engaged in fanning and stock raising and was the owner of one of the valuable farms of Henry County. It consists of four hundred eighty-one acres of well improved and productive land. Mr. Rush was one of the first to sow blue grass in Bogard township. He departed this life June 3, 1918.
Mr. Rush was united in marriage in 1874 to Miss Mary A. Wall, a daughter of Dr. Z. R. Wall, a Johnson County pioneer and a native of South Carolina, who was one of the very early settlers in the southern part of Johnson County, now deceased. Mrs. Rush has one brother now living, Robert Wall, who resides at Denton, Missouri. She has three sisters, Mrs. Fannie Hughes, Mrs. Margaret Simpson and Mrs. Cornelia Hubbard, all residing at Denton, Missouri. To John A. Rush and wife have been born the following children: Mrs. Mary Elizabeth Wright, Kansas City; Mrs. Maudie Alice Urton, Kansas City, Missouri; John W., Blairstown, Missouri; Mrs. Lillie Eva Gilliam, Johnson County, Missouri; Mrs. Glennie Anderson, Johnson County, Missouri; Mrs. Maggie Hunt, Blairstown, Missouri, and Cliffe, who resides at home.
Mr. Rush always took an active part in local public affairs and was deeply interested in any movement for the improvement and up-building of the community. He was the original promoter of Drainage District No. 2 and was president of that company. This drainage system is thirteen miles long, running from the Judge Guyer farm in Johnson County southeast through Bogard township in Henry County to the W. S. Ward farm in Big Creek township. This drainage movement met with strong opposition at first but Mr. Rush with the assistance of some others who had the foresight to see the benefits to be derived from such a project, succeeded in overcoming the reactionary element. It is now universally conceded that the project was the proper thing. Mr. Rush saw practically all of the development of Henry County and played an important part in the progress in this, the banner county of Missouri. He was a man who always lived a clean and upright life and cultivated simple habits. He lived to be seventy-six years of age and physically and mentally was equal to the average man a score of years his junior. He was one of the substantial and highly respected citizens of Henry County. Mr. Rush was a member of the Christian Church for over thirty years and was affiliated with the Grand Army Post of Blairstown.
E. M. Goodwin, senior member of the finn of Goodwin & Harman, prominent real estate dealers of Clinton, is a native Missourian. He was born in Knox County in 1872, and is a son of W. E. and Rosa J. (Sharp) Goodwin, the former a native of South Carolina and the latter of Indiana.
W. E. Goodwin came to Moniteau County, Missouri, when a small boy with his widowed mother. They settled at Sandyhook and later removed to Knox County, Missouri, where he grew to manhood and was married to Rosa J. Sharp. In 1885, he came to Henry County with his family and located at Deepwater, which was the year that the town of Deepwater was laid out. W. E. Goodwin was an ordained minister and for a number of years was identified with the American Bible Society. He has always been active in religious work and was principally the founder of the Southern Methodist Church at Deepwater. He and his wife contributed liberally to the maintenance of this church and both felt a just pride and satisfaction in the results of their work. Some time after locating at Deepwater W. E. Goodwin became associated with the Keith & Perry Tile Company, and in fact, helped build the factory. This company was later succeeded by the W. S. Dickey Clay Manufacturing Company and Mr. Goodwin remained with that company until 1903. He removed to Clinton about 1910, where he still resides. He took an active part in the building up and development of the town of Deepwater and served as its mayor three terms. He was also justice of the peace for a number of years and served as township treasurer two terms. His wife departed this life in 1911 and her remains are buried in Englewood Cemetery.
W. E. and Rosa J. (Sharp) Goodwin were the parents of the following children: E. M., the subject of this sketch; Estella May, now the wife of Dr. E. A. Reeves, Kansas City, Kansas; Bessie, now the wife of Dr. E. H. Henry, dentist, Deepwater, Missouri; Oscar Lee, who died at the age of twenty-five years, and his widow, who bore the maiden name of Estella Millenbarger, is now a teacher in the public schools of Kansas City, Kansas. She has one son, Robert Goodwin, aged thirteen years.
E. M. Goodwin received his education in the public schools of Deepwater, Missouri, and for ten years, was in the employ of the W. S. Dickey Clay Manufacturing Company at Deepwater. He then engaged in the real estate business at Deepwater as a member of the firm of Hearn & Goodwin. In 1904, he was elected county collector of Henry County, and removed to Clinton and after the expiration of his term of office, he engaged in the real estate business with R. E. Harman under the firm name of Goodwin & Harman and since has continued in that business. They are one of the leading real estate firms of not only Clinton but this section of the State. They have done a great deal of emigration and colonization business in western Kansas and Colorado. In 1917, this firm bought 14,000 acres of land and sold 8,000 of it. They operate extensively in southern and western lands.
In addition to his activities in the real estate business, Mr. Goodwin has for the past five years operated a large stock farm and for fifteen years has been an active auctioneer and has conducted more sales during that time than any other auctioneer in Henry County. During the past year, he has devoted his entire time to war activities, being sales director of the Third and Fourth Liberty Loan.
Mr. Goodwin was united in marriage in November, 1894, with Miss Hattie Davis, a native of Henry County and a daughter of M. B. Davis, who came from Illinois here and now resides in this county. Mrs. Goodwin's mother died when Mrs. Goodwin was an infant. To Mr. and Mrs. E. M. Goodwin has been born one son, Ray Davis Goodwin, a graduate of the Clinton High School and was a member of the class of 1919, University of Missouri, where he was specializing in agriculture. He is now a sergeant in the National Army.
Mr. Goodwin is representative of the substantial business men of Clinton and Henry County, and the Goodwin family stands high in the community.
