Dade County Biographies as Published by Goodspeed, 1889

Pgs. 841, 842

Mason Talbutt, ex-probate judge and attorney-at-law of Greenfield, Mo., is a native of that city, born in 1846, and the son of Columbus Talbutt. The father was born in Bourbon County, Ky., and died in 1872. He was of French descent. While is Kentucky he followed the tailor’s trade, and in 1840 came to Missouri, and to Dade County in 1840. Later he settled at Greenfield, where he worked at his trade, and was one of the first tailors in the county. He was justice of the peace for a number of years, and was judge of the probate court at the close of the war. His wife, Amanda Allison, was a native of Tennessee, and is yet living. Her parents, Mathias H. and Mary Ann (Howland) Allison, came to this place in 1836, and became the owners of the land on which Greenfield is now standing. Mr. Allison donated the fifty acres for the site of the county seat. He died in 1878, but his wife is yet living at the advanced age of eighty-five years. To Mr. and Mrs. Talbutt were born nine children, Mason being the eldest. He was born in Greenfield, Mo., in 1846, and remained in school until eleven years of age. When twelve years old, he entered a printing office, and his first work was on the Southwest, at Greenfield. He worked as an apprentice two years. September 1, 1863, he enlisted in Company I, Seventh Provisional Regiment, Enrolled Missouri Militia, and November 1 of the same year he enlisted in the same company, Fifteenth Missouri Cavalry volunteers, and was in the service until June 30, 1865, where he received his discharge, at Springfield. His service was in Southwest Missouri and Arkansas. In the fall of 185 Mr. Talbutt resumed work as a printer and continued as such until 1868, when he became partner with John P. Griggs in the Greenfield Vedette, and edited it until 1869, when he bought his partner’s interest, and, in 1870 sold out. In 1871 Mr. Talbutt engaged in the grocery business, which he continued one year, and in the summer of 1873 he followed agricultural pursuits. During the winter of 1873-74 he published a paper called the Phoenix, and in the last mentioned year, went to Texas, where he remained during the summer. In the fall, he returned, and January 1, 1875, he became deputy circuit clerk and recorder, filling this position until June, 1877, when he commenced the publication of the Advocate, for B. G. Thurman, and continued at this for three years. In 1881 Judge D. A. DeArmond and Mr. Talbutt bought the paper, and Mr. Talbutt published it until October, 1887, when he leased it. About 1870 he commenced reading law, and in June, 1879, was admitted to the bar, and commenced his practice. In 1882 he was elected judge of the probate court, and served four years, since which time he has confined his attention to his practice. In October, 1884, the firm of Mann & Talbutt was formed. Mr. Talbutt was justice of the peace six years, was mayor of Greenfield two years, and was a member of the city council two terms. December 7, 1879, he married Miss Clara Kimber, a native of Illinois, and the daughter of J. H. and E. A. Kimber. Five children were the fruits of this union; Florence, Mary, Maggie, Henry and Lucy. In politics Mr. Talbutt is a Democrat, casting his first presidential vote for Lincoln, in 1864. In 1886 he was a delegate to the State Convention. He belongs to Greenfield Lodge No. 446, A. F. and A. M.; Greenfield Chapter No. 37; Constantine Commandery No. 87, and is a member of Greenfield Post No. 75, G. A. R. In 1888 he was commander of the post. He and wife are members of the Methodist Episcopal Church.

Pgs. 842, 843

William M. Tarrant. Prominent among the farming and stock-raising interests of Dade County, Mo., stands the name of William Tarrant, who was born in Warren County, Ky., August 20, 1842, and came with his parents to Dade County, Mo., when less than six months old, he being the eldest of nine children. He lived with his parents until April 10, 1862, when he enlisted in Company D, Sixth Regiment Missouri Cavalry of Volunteers as a private, and was afterward promoted to the rank of orderly sergeant. He served three years, was in the battle of Prairie Grove, and was in numerous skirmishes. In 1866, September 5, he married Miss Josie King, a native of Polk County, Mo., born in 1841, and the daughter of Henry and Eliza King, both deceased. The mother died at the home of William Tarrant May 19, 1888, and the father died in Polk County, Mo., October 19, 1878. To Mr. and Mrs. Tarrant were born four children: Albert, Flora, Fanny J. and Eva. In 1867 Mr. Tarrant settled on his present property of 160 acres of land, with about 120 acres in another tract, and forty acres more in still another. He is well-to-do, and one of the prominent farmers of the county. He was formerly a Republican in politics, but is now a Union Labor man. Both he and wife are members of the Baptist Church. He is the son of John M. and Nancy (Potter) Tarrant, the grandson of Minus and Nancy (McConnell) Tarrant, the great-grand-son of Samuel Tarrant, who was born in England. John M. Tarrant was born in Warren County, Ky., January 11, 1820, and is now one of the oldest settlers living in Dade County. He is a prominent farmer and stock-raiser. Minus Tarrant was born in South Carolina about 1785, and died in Kentucky in 1871 at the age of some eighty-six years. He was a soldier in the War of 1812. Nancy Tarrant, our subject’s grandmother, was born in Simpson County, Ky., about 1796, and was of Scotch descent, her grandfather being a native of Scotland. Her father, James McConnell, was a soldier in the Revolutionary War. Nancy Tarrant died in Warren County, Ky., about 1852.

Pgs. 843, 844

J. W. Toliver, merchant, farmer and stock-raiser, also dealer in stock at Dadeville, Mo., is a native of Lawrence County, Mo., born in 1855, and the son of John H. and Ann (Laster) Toliver. John H. Toliver was born in Tennessee in 1813, and came with his parents, John H., Sr., and Polly Toliver, to Lawrence County, Mo. He was a farmer, and was also a mule trader by occupation. He held the rank of captain in the Confederate Army, and died in 1862. His mother, Polly Toliver, died at the age of ninety-two years in Lawrence County, Mo. Ann (Laster) Toliver was born in Tennessee in 1817, is now living, and is the mother of ten children, eight now living, J. W. Toliver being the ninth child in order of birth. He remained with his mother until twenty-one years of age, and in 1877 married Miss Amanda A. Watkins, a native of Dade County, Mo., born in 1861, and the daughter of George and Lydia Watkins, who were among the earliest settlers of the last mentioned county. To Mr. and Mrs. Toliver were born two children: George and Effie. Mrs. Toliver died in October, 1883, and on January 15, 1885, Mr. Toliver married Miss Marrillena (Clopton) White, daughter of R. G. and Elizabeth Clopton. Mrs. Toliver was born in Dade County, Mo., December 27, 1850, and was the mother of three children by her first husband: Elmer R., born June 28, 1871; Clyde C., born July 2, 1873; and T. H. White, born September 4, 1875. January 6, 1886, Mr. Toliver was appointed postmaster of Dadeville, and is still acting in that capacity. He has a general store in connection with the post office, and carries a stock of goods valued at $5,000. He is a Democrat in his politics, and is an enterprising, industrious business man. He has 160 acres of land in Kansas, and 400 acres in Missouri, which he keeps well stocked. Mrs. Toliver is a member of the Cumberland Presbyterian Church. Mr. Toliver’s maternal grandfather, Canon Laster, died in Dade County, at the age of ninety-two years.

Pgs. 844, 845, 846

Rev. Thomas Toney, A. M., M. D., ex-president of Ozark College, now real estate, loan and insurance agent, Greenfield, Mo., was born in Warren County, Ky., November 3, 1836. His parents were Jesse and Mary (Elliott) Toney. Jesse Toney was a native of Virginia, born in the year 1795, near Richmond; and his mother was named Susan Putnam before her marriage to Joab Toney. Jesse Toney was a professional teacher, but engaged in merchandising before his death. He died in 1837. His wife, Mary Elliott, was a native of Virginia, and the daughter of Maj. William C. Elliott, who was a soldier in the War for Independence and 1812. Maj. Elliott married Miss Phoebe Porter. Both were born in Scotland. Dr. Thomas Toney, the subject of this sketch, is of Scotch descent, and is a fair type of the American Scotchman. He received his education principally at the Mt. Mary Seminary, in Kentucky, and Glenville College, in Alabama, and received the degree of B. S. from the latter institution. The degree of A.M. was conferred on him by Cumberland University. He graduated in the medical department of the University of Nashville, and was also one of the first graduates in the medical department of Vanderbilt University. The subject of this sketch is strictly a self-made man, having been left an orphan when but a child, and had to work his way through every department, and that without assistance. He commenced teaching very young, at Walnut Grove, Ky., in the same house where he learned his alphabet, and here among the friends of his childhood he taught for the money that carried him through school, until the breaking out of the war. In 1862 he volunteered in the First Kentucky Cavalry, of the Southern army. He was forced to this, as he thought, by threats made against him if he did not join the United States army. He was opposed to secession, but he was also opposed to being driven or dictated to by any man or set of men. He was in the battles of Gallatin (Tenn.), Bacon Creek, Munfordsville, Perryville, Crab Orchard, Lexington, Lancaster, Augusta, in Kentucky; and Murfreesboro, Chickamauga, Missionary Ridge, and about 150 other smaller engagements. He was paroled as captain with 184 men, on the 24^th of May, 1865, at Albany, Ga. He was wounded several times, but not so as to be permanently disabled. While in the army he led an active and vigorous life, and had perfect control of men, even in the midst of “shot and shell.” The life of Dr. Toney has been a laborious one. He has always worked hard, and has been devoted to teaching and preaching. He was instrumental in founding the Tullahoma (Tenn.) Masonic Institute, the Beach Grove College, the Wartrace (classical) Academy, and the Lebanon Business College and Telegraph Institute. While engaged in teaching he usually preached every Sunday. He has been pastor of the following congregations of the Cumberland Presbyterian Church: Tullahoma, Shelbyville, Mt. Hebron, Green Hill and Chattanooga. To some of the above he preached several years. While principal of the Lebanon Business College, which was a department of Cumberland University, he was also president and superintendent of the Lebanon and Nashville Telegraph Company, which position he held for years. He has always been a strong temperance man, yet very many of his strongest friends have been of the opposite party. In 1880 he moved from his home in Nashville, Tenn., to Fredonia, in Kansas. He took part as temperance lecturer in the great temperance wave that swept over that State soon after his arrival there, which resulted in the prohibitory amendment to the constitution. Dr. Toney was elected president of Ozark College, December 26, 1883. He served as such until June, 1887, when he resigned. The college under his administration was a great success, there being the largest attendance during the last year the institution has ever had. He is a Master Mason, also Royal Arch, Council and Sir Knights Templar. He is an Odd Fellow, having taken the highest degrees in that order. He is a member of the K. of H., also of E. A. W. Though he was in the Confederate army, yet his best and most intimate friends have been among the ex-Federal soldiers. He has waited upon many of them in their afflictions, and preached their funerals, mingling tears of sympathy and sorrow with their bereaved. Dr. Toney is a public-spirited, educated Christian gentleman, of large means, always willing to do his part in every enterprise that tends to advance society and better the condition of his fellow-men. He is a logical, fluent speaker, a popular lecturer, and a skillful presiding officer. He has had the honor of presiding over many noted public assemblies, such as the Southwest Missouri Immigration Association, which met in Springfield in 1888; the Railroad Extension Convention at Stockton, and many other important assemblies. He married Miss Mintie Truitt, of Warren County, Ky., who still lives. In closing this little sketch of Dr. Toney, it will not be out of place to say that he is a man of strong convictions; as a friend he is faithful and loving to the last; as an opponent he is fair, yet pushing, persevering and unfaltering; as any enemy he is fearless and undaunted. Such characteristics will usually stir up some enemies, but their friends will be many, and of the class know as “true and tried.”

Pgs. 846, 847

Ex-Judge George W. Wells. Prominent among the representative men of Washington Township and among the enterprising farmers and stock-raisers of the same, stands the name of Mr. Wells, who was born in Manongalia County, W. Va., in 1839. He is the son of Benjamin L. and Sophia (Kughn) Wells and the grandson of James Wells, who was of Welsh descent, and who went, when young, from Baltimore to Greene County, Penn., where he died at the age of ninety-three. His father was an early settler of Baltimore. Jacob Kughn, the maternal grandfather of George W. Wells, also went when young from Baltimore to Greene County, Penn., and there he died at the age of ninety-five years. He was of Welsh descent, and was a soldier in the early wars. Benjamin Wells and wife were natives of Pennsylvania and both die when their son, George W. Wells, was but a lad. Mr. Wells was justice of the peace for many years. George W. Wells was the fourth of five children, two sons and three daughters, and received very little schooling after the death of his parents. He lived with relatives and strangers until fifteen years of age, and then learned the carpenter trade, which he followed until the war. In 1854 he went to Illinois, thence to Iowa, Nebraska, Ohio, etc., and in 1859 to Greenfield, Mo. In May, 1861, he went to Chicago, and in October of the same year joined Company F, Fifty-seventh Illinois Volunteer infantry, and was in the fights of Fort Donelson, Shiloh, Corinth, and was with Gen. Hulbert through Mississippi, Alabama, Tennessee, etc. In the spring of 1864 he joined Gen. Sherman, and was all through the Georgia and Atlanta campaigns. He was at the grand review at Washington, D. C., and was discharged at Louisville, Ky., July 7, 1865. He held the office of corporal, third and first sergeant, and from October, 1864, he commanded his company as captain. He was in the service nearly four years. After the war he traveled in different States until 1866, when he returned to Dade County, Mo., and in 1867 married Mrs. Letitia Poage, a native of Dade County, Mo., and the daughter of Jonathan and Catherine Weir. Mr. Weir was born in Cooper County, Mo., and his wife in Kentucky. They were married in Cooper County, and Mr. Weir is still living. To Mr. and Mrs. Wells were born six children, five now living, one son and four daughters. Since the war Judge Wells has lived on his present farm, which consists of 180 acres of excellent land, 80 acres in another tract, and over 100 acres under cultivation, all the result of his own efforts, as he started a poor boy. In 1876 he was elected judge of the county court from the Eastern District, and in 1878 he was elected presiding judge, serving in the latter capacity four years with ability and credit. He is a Republican in politics, and his first presidential vote was cast for Abraham Lincoln, while in service. He is a member of the I. O. O. F., Lacon[sic] Lodge No. 75, and he is also a member of Greenfield Post, of the G. A. R. His wife is a member of the Cumberland Presbyterian Church. He is an active worker in the cause of education and for the general up building of the county; he is one of the progressive and industrious farmers of Dade County, and spares no pains for th improvement of his stock. Although of Southern birth, Mr. Wells took a firm stand for the union at the breaking out of the war. His brother was also a stanch Union man, but many of their relatives were in the Confederate Army.

Pgs 847, 848

Rev. David G. Young, ex-circuit clerk and ex-officio recorder of Dade County, Mo., now residing one and a half miles north of Greenfield, was born in Niagara County, N. Y., in 1829, and is the son of Uriah and Phoebe (Gregory) Young. David G. Young was left an orphan when a small boy, and he was then taken by his uncle, William B. Young, who had married a sister of Phoebe (Gregory) Young. About 1836 David Young went to Genesee County, Mich., and it was here he grew to manhood. In 1855 he married Miss Margaret Pratt, who was born in Shiawassee County, Mich., in 1831, and to this union was born one child, Margaret, who is now the wife of Milton Holly, of Millbrook, Mich. After one year of married life Mr. Young was left a widower, and, in 1857, he engaged in the teacher’s profession, which he continued for some time in Williamson County, Ill. In 1861 he married Miss. Amanda E. Roberts, who was born in Williamson County, Ill. Nine children were the fruits of this union, seven now living: Emily, John C., William E., Susie, James, Clarence and Ida. August 12, 1862, Mr. Young enlisted in Company D, Eighty-first Regiment Illinois Infantry, and was in the fight at Port Gibson, Raymond, Vicksburg; was in the Red River expedition, and was in the fight at Guntown. At the last mentioned action he was captured, was in the prison at Macon, Ga., for six weeks, Savannah six weeks, was at Charleston, S. C. on month; and, while at the last-mentioned place, had the yellow fever. During the winter of 1864-65 he was at Columbia, and, in March of the last-mentioned year, he was exchanged, sent to Annapolis, Md., and was granted leave of absence. He then went to St. Louis, where he was discharged. In the battle of Raymond he was wounded in the left leg by a minie ball, and was disabled for some time. He at first entered the service as a private, but was promoted through all the different ranks to tat of captain, being commissioned such May 22, 1863. In 1865 he was elected county superintendent of schools of Williamson County, and served four years. In 1870 he removed to Dade County, Mo., settling in Cedar Township, and, in 1874, was elected circuit clerk and ex-officio recorder. In 1878 he was re-elected, and served in all eight years. At the age of eighteen he was converted, and in 1859 he was licensed to preach the missionary doctrine. He had charge of four churches in Williamson County, erected the Baptist Church in Marion, Ill., and was pastor of that church when he came to Dade County. He has had charge of five churches in Dade County, and organized the Baptist Church at Greenfield. Rev. David G. Young is one of Dade County’s most highly esteemed citizens. He is the owner of 200 acres of land, and is a well-to-do farmer. In politics he is a Greenback-Prohibitionist. His official and private life has been one of purity and above reproach.

Pgs. 848, 849

William Marshall Young, one of Center Township’s successful and enterprising farmers, was born in Dade County, Mo., in 1845, and is the son of Isom A. and Mary M. (McLemore) Young, and grandson of Matthew M. and Elizabeth (Neal) Young. Matthew Young was born in South Carolina, and when young went to Tennessee, where he remained until 1860, when he moved to Hamilton County, Ill., and there died four years later. His wife, Elizabeth Neal, was a native of Ireland. Isom A. Young was born in Monroe County, Tenn., in 1822, and moved to Dade County, Mo., in 1842, where, the following year, he married Miss Mary M., daughter of Archibald and Sarah (Plumley) McLemore, who were natives of North Carolina, and Knox County, Tenn., respectively. Her father died in 1825, and the mother the year previous. Mrs. Young was born in Monroe County, Tenn., in 1823, and is the mother of eight children: William Marshall, Mary (deceased), wife of Jerome McClure; Martha (deceased); Virginia, wife of Harry H. Finley; Monroe, in Washington Township; Madora, wife of John O. Mitchell; and Matthew L., furniture dealer in Greenfield. Immediately after his marriage, Isom A. Young located on Sac River, for miles northeast of the county seat, and there passed the remainder of his life. He came to Dade County when it was in a wild state, with but few white settlements, and when wild game was plentiful. He came without money, but with a large reserve of latent energy, which, put into play, soon placed him beyond the reach of want. At the time of his death, which occurred April 10, 1885, he was the owner of 880 acres of land, and was one of the best citizens of Dade County. As a memento, he left behind him a good name and a highly respected family. In 1870 William Marshall Young married Miss Dialtha McClure, a native of Dade County, Mo., born in 1848, and the daughter of Frank McClure. To Mr. and Mr. Young were born seven children: Martha L., Viola M., Frank J., Ruthy F., Marshall A., Mathew Boyd and Lucy V. In December, 1888, for the purpose of educating his children, Mr. Young moved on the farm where he now lives, which consists of sixty-five acres. He also owns 391 acres on Sac River. He is one of the county’s best farmers and most successful men, dealing quite extensively in raising stock. He is a Democrat in politics. Mrs. Young is a member of the Methodist Episcopal Church, South.

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