know the year. I know that my father and grandfather forded the
river above Boonville in 1816, but I do not
know how much longer my father had lived in Missouri. My mother
was Nancy White and she came from
Kentucky also, but was married in Howard county. I lived in Howard
county till 1840 when I came to
Versailles, April 19. I opened a store here at that time.
It was a general store. I had bought the stock of
goods in Fayette where I had been clerking, brought them here and went
into business with W. W. Cook
who had been in the store business here. The firm name was Cook
& Tooley. I was thus engaged 14 years,
then moved to Cooper county where I farmed six or eight years, part
of this time I clerked in a store in
Tipton for Squire Isaac Snodgrass. I was a clerk in a store in
Sedalia in 1865-66, for Norris, Taylor & Co.
They were St. Louis men who were engaged in the wholesale business.
Then I came back to Tipton and
clerked for
Henry Wolfe a year or so. Then I clerked for Moore & Hearst
three or four years. Then I went to
Bunceton where I clerked for a firm in the mercantile business.
Then I cam back to Tipton and clerked for
Moore & Hearst three or four years and till I came to Versailles
to live. I came to Versailles in the latter
eighties and have been here since.
I married Miss Susan Embry, of California, Missouri. We
were married four miles north of
Versailles at the home of her mother who had married Howard Chism.
We were married December 31,
go around the prairie way. Marks of this sleet are still noticeable
in the forests around here. Three children
were born to us. two girls, Grace (Mrs. J. W. Mills) and Mrs. Thompson
Redmon, now dead; and one son
John who lives in St. Louis. He was first born. Mrs. Redmon
was the second child. My wife died in 1884.
Some of the most prominent people in business here in 1840 were
Hugh Galbraith, who was in the
mercantile business, James Livingston, A.R. Nelson, brother to Jim
and Tom, merchant. Dr. J. B. Thruston
and Dr. J. B. McClelland were here. The lawyers were: Garrett
Minor, Peter Minor, Louis Wells, F. A.
Counsellor.
Robert Wilson was a circuit rider Methodist preacher and was
about all that came here at that time.
The Baptists and Methodists had organizations here at that time.
The court house was a hewed log house 20 feet square and stood
about where the present one
stands.
Humes’ mill, or Walton’s mill, was the nearest grist mill.
People came to this mill from as far north
as the Missouri river. Soon after 1840 a stage line was in operation
through here from St. Louis to Van
Buren, or Port Smith Ark. Thomas L. Price was the local agent.
Among the farmers were: Tom Moore,
father of John Moore who is now 83 years old.” {Since Mr. Tooley
gave me this statement John Moore
died, his death occurring Saturday morning, June 1, 1907.} “Beverly
Thruston, Jacob Chism, J. Blakely,
William McCarroll, Pate Woods, Dave Boger, Willis Cole, Hardin Summers
Andy, and Constantine Estes,
and a lot of Merriotts. Several Silvey families lived on the
Gravois.
The McClannahans were conducting a tavern here then. William
Kidwell was an early day furniture
dealer.
Warner Houser, John Kay, John Robison and Walker Moore all lived
in the south part of the
county, rather southeast. Frank Ross, grandfather to A. L. Ross,
and Wm. Campbell lived south. James
Masters lived out about the poor farm. Wm. Mobley, father to
B. C. Mobley, Hiram and Samuel Madole,
Willis, Monroe and Dan German lived around Barnett. Alex Beard,
John Phillips, Wade Parks, Elisha
Taylor, Willis Brown, Hugh B. Kelsay and the Allee families lived east.
There was any amount of turkeys and deer here in the 40’s.
I have seen great bunches of both
around where the cemetery now is. I have seen as many as five
or six deer at a time out there. The woods
were full of turkeys and small game. Fish were plentiful and
prairie chickens were here by the thousands. I
killed 22 with a rifle one day.
Section 14
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