Walnut Township
James Cole
9 Feb 1854 -13 Sept 1939
James Cole, Son of Jesse & Eleanor (Burckett) Cole, was born in Macomb, IL and moved to Adair County at about age 3. He remained on the same farm near Youngstown the rest of his life. James was first married to Catherine McVicker with whom he had a daughter, Julia. After her death he married Louise “Lucy” (Merkle) Grau, a widow with two sons, Albert & William. They added one more child to the combined family, a son Earl. [MO Death Certf; KDE obits]
Albert H Latham
25 Jan 1857 – 8 Sept 1921
Albert Latham was less than a year old when his parents, James & Mary Latham, moved to Adair County from Harrison County, OH. He became one of the county’s prominent farmers and, at the time of his death, was President of the Farmers State Bank of South Gifford. Albert and Araminta Smith, a native of New Albany, IN, married in 1884 and had one daughter, Ethel. [Violette; KDE obits]
John Sadler
17 Oct 1843 – 29 Dec 1917
John Sadler and his parents immigrated to the US from Bavaria was he about 18 years old and lived in Ohio and Iowa for a few years before settling in Hannibal, MO in 1864. John and his wife, Sarah Ellen Ackles, moved to Adair Co in 1879 and bought a farm near Gifford where he bred Angus cattle and Poland-China hogs. He died at age 74 from injuries received in a timber cutting accident. [Violette; KDE obit]
Michael Weber
17 Dec 1846 – 8 May 1936
Michael Weber was born in Alsace-Lorraine then brought to the US by his parents at age 3 months. The family lived in Ohio till about 1857 when they traveled to Missouri by river boat and eventually settled in Adair County. A farmer most of his life, Michael became a miller in 1890 when he bought “the old mill at Yarrow” (built 1847) on the Chariton River. He began using the mill to generate electricity for the town of Yarrow in 1910. Michael and his second wife, Magnolia Florence Hays, were the parents of Harrison, John, Henry and Eva. [Violette; First 100 Years; KDE obit]
Valentine Williams, MD
Mar 1859 –
Dr Williams, a native Missourian, moved to Adair County about 1894 and was farming as well as practicing medicine at Nind. A widower with five children, he remarried in 1897 but we’ve yet to discover the names of either of his wives. He apparently left the area by 1905 and no other information has come to light as yet. [Atlas; 1900 Census]