Page:History of Southeast Missouri 1912 Volume 1.djvu/779

 HISTORY OF SOUTHEAST MISSOURI 677 Tennessee, who came early to "Wayne county and died before his prime. His marriage with Jane Ivy is tinged with a bit of pioneer romance that helped to make bright those days of not too easy life in the sparsely popu- lated districts of the middle southwest. She had started with her father and brother to found a home in the state of Kentucky, when she met, loved and consented to become the bride of Milburn Mathes. Carroll P. Bennett was one of two children. His sister, who became Mrs. Jennie Barnett. died in 1906. He spent his early life in the invigorating and strength-giving environment of the home farm, and so satisfactorily did he complete his work in the common schools of the district that he in turn became teacher in- stead of the taught, and occupied the pedagogue's desk until 1898. In that year he came to Greenville and compiled a set of abstract books. He then entered the real estate and insurance business. Considering the fact that to all who know him "his word is as good as a U. S. bond," and that he has insight and farsightedness combined with an unusual portion of that quality of electric energy that marks the successful American business man, it is no wonder that every en- terprise he undertakes prospers. Besides his substantial business interests already men- tioned, he is the owner of two or three farms in Wayne count.v. and is vice-president of the Wavne Countv Bank. On December 22. 1895, Mr. Bennett estab- lished the charming home that is now his by his marriage to Miss Effie Smith, liorn in Wayne county, near Piedmont. She is a daughter of William R. Smith, a prominent farmer of Wayne county and at one time sheriff and probate .iudge of the county. To them have been born three children, Hal, recorded among the able and valued members of what its devoted adherents love to term "the Cxrand Old Party." AiiBERT A. Parnsworth is one of the w^ell- known and representative farmers in Bol- linger county. Since he first engaged in agri- cultural pursuits the status of a farmer has undergone a radical change and the man him- self is viewed in a very different light from that in which we used to regard him years ago. A farm and a mortgage used at one time to be synonymous terms, and a man burdened with debt is not apt to be beautiful either in looks or disposition. Now all of this has been changed and ' ' back to the farm ' ' means a re- turn to efficiency, health and life; we reach the farm by going forward, not by going back- ward. The business of the farmer who pro- duces food must be regarded as a fine art, not to be left to the whipped-out and the dis- couraged, as in former times. Much of this changed condition has come about within the recollection of Mr. Farnsworth, and it is due to the work and example of such as he that ideas in regard to farmers have become so modified. ]Ir. Farnsworth was born August 18, 1865, in Johnson county, Missouri, the son of Chris- topher L. and Nancy Caroline (George) Farnsworth, natives of Greene county, Ten- nessee. In the fall of 1854 Mr. and ilrs. Christopher Farnsworth came to Henry county, Missouri, with the idea of becoming permanently located there, but in the spring of 1855, they determined to move to Johnson county, where they raised their first crop that season. After harvest they bought a tract of land in Cass county, where they resided until General Ewing's command was issued to va- cate the border counties, in 1863. They then returned to Johnson county and lived there until death summoned the father. IMareh 7, 1909, while his widow still maintains her resi- dence in the county. Mr. and Mrs. Christo- pher Farnsworth were the parents of ten children, nine of whom are living. Albert A. Farnsworth. the seventh of the family in order of birth, was reared on his father's' farm in Johnson county and attended the district school in his neighborhood. After completing his schooling he assisted with the work of the farm and remained at home until 1890, at which time he was twenty-four years of age. He then rented from his father a farm in Johnson county of one hundred and seventy acres in area, where he lived until March", 1910, the .year following his father's demise. He removed to Bollinger county, and with the savings he had accumulated and his share of his father's estate he bought four hundred acres of land near Scopus, Bollinger county. This tract was only in his possession a very short time before he re-sold it to the original owner and bought instead two hun- dre'd and twenty acres of fine land between Marble Hill and Lutesville. Seventy acres of this tract is bottom land and the remainder hill land, admirably adapted for the uses to which "Sir. Farnsworth puts it. He raises
 * Tai-y and Hiram. Politically Mr. Bennett is