CHAPTER XXVII (Part 96)
BIOGRAPHICAL
J. L. Hunt, a well known and successful citizen of Big Creek township, was born in Audrain County, Missouri, May 1, 1861. He is a son of Alexander and Margaret (Kiefer) Hunt, the former a native of Kentucky and the latter of Audrain County, Missouri. The mother was born in 1839 and died in October, 1893, and her remains are buried in the Urich Cemetery. Alexander J. Hunt, the father, was born in Kentucky - June 30, 1837, and now resides with his son, J. A. Hunt, in Bogard township.
Alexander Hunt is a son of Hiram Hunt, a native of Kentucky who came to Missouri with his family in 1853 and settled in Montgomery County, where they resided during the Civil War. In 1867, the Hunt family came to Johnson County and settled in Chilhowee township, where Hiram Hunt, the grandfather of J. L., spent the remainder of his life. Alexander J. Hunt served in the State Militia in Montgomery County during the Civil War and later served with the Home Guards. He is now in his eighty-second year.
J, L. Hunt is one of six children born to his parents, the others being as follows: J. A., Blairstown, Missouri; T. M., Kankakee, Illinois; A. D., whose address is unknown; Mrs. Jennie Lee White, Lamoni, Iowa, and G. C, Phoenix, Arizona.
J. L. Hunt was reared on a farm in Johnson County, Missouri, and received a good common school education. He remained at home with his parents until he was twenty-three years of age, when he engaged in farming on his own account in Johnson County. Two years later, he came to Henry County and purchased his present place, which is located one mile southeast of Blairstown. He settled here January 4, 1886, where he has a valuable and productive farm of forty acres. While Mr. Hunt is not what might be called a large land owner, he is one of the successful and well to do farmers of Big Creek township. In addition to his general farming, he also has a splendid orchard which has been a profitable source of income. Mr. Hunt believes that less land, better cared for and better farmed, is the best method of getting good agricultural results.
August 14, 1884, Mr. Hunt was united in marriage with Miss Minnie B. Davis, a native of Madison County, Ohio, and a daughter of Daniel and Margaret Davis, pioneer settlers of Big Creek township and a sketch of whom appears in this volume. The mother died April 30, 1915, and the father is now in his eighty-seventh year. They were the parents of the following children: James M., deceased; Mrs. Edna Farnsworth, Holden, Missouri; Minnie B., the wife of J. L. Hunt, the subject of this sketch; D. H., deceased; Apps, on the home place in Big Creek township; William W., deceased; John, a farmer in Big Creek township; Mrs. Bertha Jackson, Holden, Missouri; Lydia, the wife of Robert Wall, Blairstown, Missouri. To Mr. and Mrs. Hunt have been born the following children: Florence, died in infancy: Osee Frances, married Don Cochin, Ardmore, Oklahoma; Iva Edna, married Warren Ellis, Point Marion, Pennsylvania; Lydia Oleto, who resides at home with her parents.
The Hunt family are well known and prominent in the community. John C. Davis, a prominent citizen of Big Creek township and a leading farmer and stockman, was born on the place where he now resides in October, 1875. He is the son of Daniel and Margaret (Hill) Davis, pioneer settlers of Big Creek township. The mother died in 1915 and the father now resides on the place where he settled in Big Creek township upon coming here after the close of the Civil War. They were the parents of the following children: Monroe, deceased; Mrs. Edna Farnsworth, Holden, Missouri; Mrs. Minnie Hunt, Big Creek township; Hill, deceased; Apps, on the home place; William, deceased; Mrs. Bertha Jackson, Holden, Missouri; John C, the subject of this sketch, and Mrs. Lydia Wall, Blairstown, Missouri.
John C. Davis was reared on the home place and received his education in the district schools of Big Creek township. He remained at home with his parents and was engaged in farming on the home place until he was twenty-nine years of age, when he purchased his present place from Tobias Doak. His farm consists of one hundred acres of well improved land, eighty acres of which is situated in Big Creek township and twenty in Bogard township. The residence, however, is in Big Creek township, one and one-half miles southeast of Blairstovm. The residence and other farm buildings are modern and the place in general presents a neat and well kept appearance. Mr. Davis is engaged in general farming and stock raising and has met with a well merited degree of success.
January 11, 1905, John C. Davis was united in marriage with Miss Maud E. Albin, a daughter of D. L. and Hattie M. (Hough) Albin. Both natives of Ohio and now residents of Chilhowee, Missouri. D. L. and Hattie M. Albin are the parents of the following children: Alice, married Oscar Ward; Charles, resides at Greenfield, Oklahoma; Maud, the wife of John C. Davis, the subject of this sketch; Ethel, married Walter Doak, Greenfield, Oklahoma; Gertrude, married Howard Waugh; Roy Albin, Big Creek township; Myrtle, died at the age of eighteen, and Edith and Edna, twins; Edith resides at home and Edna is now the wife of Fred Shiel, Greenfield, Oklahoma, and Nadine resides at home. To John C. Davis and wife have been born three children: Frances Alberta, Dorothy May and Elmer Lee.
Mr. Davis is a m.ember of the Modern Woodmen of America No. 2888, Blairstown, Missouri, and Mrs. Davis belongs to the Royal Neighbors. The Davis family are well known and are numbered among the leading citizens of Henry County.
Jefferson A. Hunt, a prominent farmer and stockman of Bogard township, is a native of Missouri. He was born in Pike County in 1865, a son of A. J. and Margaret Jane (Keifer) Hunt. The mother is now deceased. She died in October, 1893, aged fifty-four years. The father now lives with J. A., the subject of this sketch.
Jefferson A. Hunt came to Henry County with his parents in 1868 when he was about three years of age. He was reared on a farm and received his education in the public schools. When twenty-one years of age, he began farming on his own account. In 1890, he purchased his first land in Big Creek township, which he later sold and for twelve years was in the Government service as a rural mail carrier out of the Blairstown post office. He bought his present farm of two hundred acres in May, 1917. It is located one mile west of Blairstown in Bogard township, and is one of the valuable farms of northwestern Henry County. It is well improved with a good residence and other farm buildings which bespeaks the industry of its owner.
J. A. Hunt was united in marriage in 1887 with Miss Susan B. Lotspiech, a daughter of John and Caroline (Potts) Lotspiech, both now deceased. To Mr. and Mrs. Hunt have been born three children, who are now living, as follows: Walter A., married Goldie Pope, and resides at Blairstown, Missouri; Dorris C. and Howard W., residing at home with their parents.
Mr. Hunt is a member of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows and the Modern Woodmen of America of Blairstown. He is one of the successful men of the county, and has made good through his own industry and integrity. He began with nothing and by his own unaided efforts, has become one of the prosperous men of the community.
Jesse C. Merrill, a leading farmer and stockman of Bogard township, is a native of Illinois. He was born in Vermillion County, Illinois, September 26, 1853, a son of William C. and Susan (Smith) Merrill. William C. Merrill, the father, was a native of New Hampshire and a very early settler in Illinois. He died at Rossville, Illinois, in 1853. He was a son of Jesse C. Merrill, a native of Ireland. Susan (Smith) Merrill, the mother of Jesse C. Merrill, of this sketch, was a native of England, and came to America with her parents, who settled in Illinois at an early date. William C. and Susan (Smith) Merrill were the parents of two children: Jesse C., the subject of this sketch, and Florence, who married J. D. Wilson and now resides in Denver, Colorado. After the death of William C. Merrill, his widow married James Carter and the following children were born to that union: Mary Carter, Denver, Colorado; Mrs. Mattie E. Mowery, Rossville, Illinois, and J. Oscar Carter, Mendon, Ohio.
Jesse C. Merrill was educated in the public schools of Vermillion County, Illinois, and the Danville Business College at Danville, Illinois, where he was graduated in 1876. He then engaged in farming, which he successfully followed in his native State, until 1912, when he came to Henry County, Missouri, and bought his present place in Bogard township. It is located about two miles west of Blairstown, and is one of the valuable farms of Henry County. It consists of four hundred acres and was formerly known as the Quick farm. When Mr. Merrill came here, he immediately erected a new modern residence which is up-to-date in every particular. It is a two story, eleven room structure, equipped with light, water and heat systems. The other buildings about the place, including the barns and garage, are thoroughly in keeping with the residence. Mr. Merrill is extensively engaged in stock raising and is one of the successful stockmen of the county. He has on his place usually about sixty head of cattle, thirty horses and mules and from seventy-live to one hundred hogs. The place is nicely located on the state highway which runs from Garden City to Blairstown.
On February 16, 1876, Jesse C. Merrill was united in marriage with Miss Nancy J. Partlow, a native of Vermillion County, Illinois, and a daughter of Jesse L. and Rachel (Davidson) Partlow, both of whom are now deceased.
They were the parents of the following children: Mrs. Mary E. Anderson, Frederick, Oklahoma; Mrs. Annie Robins, Huron, South Dakota; Nancy J., wife of Jesse C. Merrill, the subject of this sketch; Mrs. Lillie B. Sale, Urbana, Illinois; and Mrs. Ida Rush, South Wayne, Wisconsin. To Jesse C. Merrill and wife have been born six children as follows: Dr. Susan R. (Merrill) Cooper, a graduate of the Cincinnati Medical College and now a practicing physician at Aurora, Nebraska; William and Lillie, twins, the former now residing at Giltner, Nebraska, and the latter at home with her parents, and both are graduates of the Rossville High School, Rossville, Illinois; John R., also a graduate of the Rossville, Illinois High School, is now a farmer and stockman in Big Creek township, Henry County; Mrs. Grace R. Ernst, McCook, Nebraska, and Hunter, married Jessie May Waugh, and resided on the home farm until he became a private in the National Army stationed at Camp Funston, August 1, 1918.
The Merrill family rank among the leading people of Henry County and Mr. Merrill is one of our substantial and progressive citizens. Mr. and Mrs. Merrill are members of the Methodist Episcopal Church. In politics, he is a Republican.
A. H. Weakley, the present superintendent of the Henry County Home has earned the well-merited reputation of being one of Henry County's most efficient public officers. Mr. Weakley was born in Fairfield County, Ohio, in 1867, a son of Harrison and Martha (Messie) Weakley, both natives of Fairfield County, Ohio, and they now reside at Stoutsville, Ohio. They were the parents of the following children: A.H., the subject of this sketch; Effie; Arthur C; Delia and Edward, deceased; Mrs. Etta Lest, who resides in Pickaway County, Ohio; Mrs. Lydia Marks, Fairfield County, Ohio; and Lula Belle, deceased.
A. H. Weakley was reared and educated in Fairfield County, Ohio, and in 1886, came to Henry County, Missouri. He settled at Deepwater, where he was successfully engaged in painting and paper hanging for twenty years. In 1911, he was appointed superintendent of the Henry County Home, which is one of the best conducted institutions of the kind in the State. Mr. Weakley possesses the faculty of not only making the place a real home for the unfortunate whose condition in life necessitate such institutions, but he also has been successful in conducting this institution with a minimum expense to the county. This is not because the inmates are not properly cared for and properly fed, for the reverse is quite true of the Henry County Home. Under Mr. Weakley's capable management, he keeps the production of the home farm up to the highest state of efficiency. He raises from twenty to twenty-five head of hogs annually for the consumption of the home and also keeps a sufficient number of cows to furnish an ample supply of milk and butter, and every field of production is represented here. In 1917, he raised over four hundred chickens. Under his management, the Home is as nearly self-sustaining as would seem possible, with from twenty to thirty inmates, which is about the usual number.
Mr. Weakley was united in marriage in 1899 with Miss Inez McGinnis, a daughter of John McGinnis of Deepwater, Missouri; to this union was born the following children: Ray and Fay, twins; Ray is now a soldier in the United States Army, having enlisted in August, 1917, and is now with the American Expeditionary Forces in France; Fay, is a student in the Catholic Academy, at Clinton, Missouri; Clifford; Ruth; and Lula Belle, residing at home with their father.
Mr. Weakley is a member of the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks and is one of the substantial men of Henry County.
