The Ancient Ones

By Judith Wilson.
Used by permission.

It was embarrassing when your own parent got
Up on Wednesday night and testified.
But it was worse when some of the
Real ancient saints got up and cried
Or shouted or waved their hankerchiefs.

We pretended we didn’t hear what those ancient,
Glowing saints said, but we heard . . . and later
The Holy Spirit called their praises of Jesus back
To our remembrance.

It was their steadfast witness. . .
Their genuine spirits of praise . . .
Their lives which were above reproach
That made their words stick . . .to
Later be remembered in times of trial. . .
Need . . . or discouragement.

They were special . . .
And I miss
Hearing from God’s saints
Whom Your light
Had shone through.

Mattie Florence Rhodes

Mattie Florence Rhodes (1871-1890 ) = Presbyterian. Mattie was born on July 1 to John E. and Catherine Dillman Rhodes. She was the third child of four. Her siblings were William Brooks, Jennie Dillman, and Irma Edna. She grew up in America’s dream home: a cottage surrounded by pretty garden flowers and a picket fence. Like most any other little girl during that time period, she was taught home arts early and received a work basket with a small silver thimble, an emery bag to sharpen her needles, and spools of thread for her birthday since she enjoyed sewing.

Mattie was a member of Mrs. A.G. (Louise) Trumbull’s Sunday School class at Central Presbyterian Church (f. 1857). The ten young ladies called themselves the “Little Gleaners” and pledged to help others. So Mattie and her friends began a sewing circle to furnish linens for a bed at the children’s hospital and sew clothing for the less fortunate. To obtain supplies, the Sunday school class made and sold gingham aprons (25 cents) and potholders (10 cents). They also hosted lawn socials and bicycle teas.

While they distributed the clothing they had made, Mattie discovered that single mothers had a difficult time earning a living because there was no one to watch their children, therefore, they had to keep their little ones with them. Mattie wondered how she could help and began to dream of a safe place where their precious babies could be cared for while their mamas worked.

Before Mattie died from typhoid fever on October 1, she gave the inheritance her father left her ($500) to her friends. Six years later, after they raised more money to go with Mattie’s, the “Little Gleaners” were able to realize Mattie’s dream of a day nursery for working parents’ children.

More to Read:
1. Mattie Rhodes Website
2. Mattie Rhodes Art Center Brochure
3. Elmwood Cemetery: Stories of Kansas City. By Bruce Matthews. Kansas City Star Books, KCMO; 2010.
4. "Tour Elmwood Cemetery’s Outdoor Museum of Kansas City"  History Brochure
5. Mattie Rhodes Youth Center YouTube Channel. 
6. Findagrave #101569459

Places to See in MO.
1. Mattie Rhodes Art Gallery, 919 W. 17th St., Kansas City,
2. Central Presbyterian Church, 3051 Campbell (Armour & Campbell), Kansas City
3. Elmwood Cemetery, 4900 Truman Road, Kansas City

Martin Rice

Martin Rice (1814-1903) = Farmer. Justice of the Peace. Surveyor. Tree-planter. Schoolteacher. Best known for his poetry. Martin was born November 22 in Union County, East Tennessee to Enoch and Mary Rice. He was the youngest of eleven children. They emigrated from Tennessee and settled on government land a few miles from Lone Jack in 1833.

He worked hard with his family to make the farm a success. After work, evenings were spent gathered around the fireplace and Martin learned to read epic poetry by Scott, Byron, and others. Later he taught school in a one-room log schoolhouse. He instructed seventeen students his first year of teaching and received two dollars per pupil each quarter. He also surveyed the townsite of Harrisonville and planted trees in three counties.

Martin married Mary Lynch (d. 1855) of Lafayette County and they became the parents of nine children.

They lived through the troubled times preceeding the Civil War. When Order No. 11 came, as he and six neighboring families were loading their wagons, the men were taken prisoners. Rice’s neighbors were killed, but Martin and his son were released as he had his loyalty papers from the military post at Pleasant Hill. Later, in a rural cemetery southwest of Lone Jack, a stone monument was erected in 1867 as a memorial to these men.

Through poetry, Martin wrote about his life and the people he knew. He was a member of the Pleasant Garden Primitive Baptist Church near Lone Jack (f. 1832), later transferring his membership to the Lone Jack Missionary Baptists. The Missionary Baptists withdrew from the Garden Baptists over the issue of missions in 1842. He honored the pioneer preachers he remembered from camp meetings and church revivals such as Joab Powell, Jimmy Savage, Jeremiah Farmer, and Thomas Stayton through his poetry.

More to Read:

1. Jackson County Pioneers. By Pearl Wilcox. 1975.

2. Marriage Records of Cass County, MO.: 1835-1882. Cass County Historical Society, 400 East Mechanic, Harrisonville, MO., 1984

3. Shifra Stein’s A Kid’s Guide to Kansas City, By Diana Lambdin Meyer & Kathryn Lutz Dusenbery 2010, www.kckidsguide.com

4. The Marriage Records of Jackson County, Missouri: 1827-1850. By Mrs. John Vineyard, Independence, MO, 1967. Vol. 1

5. Blue River Baptist Association Missouri. By Marshall Louis Mertens and O.P. Joyce. Brown-White-Lowell Press, Kansas City, MO.1947.
6. A copy of one of Martin Rice's books. On Flickr. 
7. "The Exodus: Order No. 11." Cass County Library article. 
8. Findagrave # 23591689

 

Books of Poetry by Martin Rice:

1. Rural Rhymes & Talks & Tales of Olden Times

2. Rural Rhymes & Poems from the Farm.

3. Tramping Through Western Missouri.1893; reprinted 1994.

4. What I Saw of Order Number Eleven & Poems

5. A Synopsis of the History of Lone Jack Baptist Church
6. A History of Blue River Baptist Association: 1834 to 1886.

Places to Visit in MO.:

1. Order No. 11 Marker, Pacific House Hotel, 4th & Delaware, Kansas City, MO.

2. Lone Jack Museum, 301 S. Bynum Rd (1 block south of US 50 at Lone Jack exit), Lone Jack, www.HistoricLoneJack.org

3. Midwest Genealogy Center, 3440 S. Lee’s Summit Rd, Independence, www.MidwestGenealogyCenter.org

4. Pleasant Garden Cemetery, Lone Jack, MO.

Biography written by Dolores J. Rush, updated: 2/5/2020

Rev. Thomas Johnson

Rev. Thomas Johnson

Rev. Thomas Johnson (1802-1865) = Circuit Rider, Missionary. Best known for his work at the Shawnee Methodist Indian Mission Manuel Training School on the Santa Fe Trail in Fairway, KS. Johnson County, Kansas was named in his honor. He was born in Nelson County, Virginia, July 11. His brother, Rev. William Johnson (1805-1842), also served as a missionary.

Thomas married Sarah Davis (1810-1873) at Clarksville, MO. Several of their children’s names were Ann E., Alexander McAllister, Edna, Eliza, Cora, Mary Cummins, and William McKendree. Eliza later married John Bristol Wornall.

The 1808 treaty with the Osage Indians states the reservation boundary was between Missouri and Kansas territories. Congress, in 1819, passed the Civilization Fund, making $10,000 available annually for instructing Indians in agriculture, literacy, and other such pursuits. Much of the money was given to church agencies. The Delaware and Shawnee were forcibly relocated to eastern Kansas (present-day Wyandotte County). In 1830, the same year he married Sarah, Thomas moved to a village called Turner to preach the gospel. He built a log house on a hill south of the Kansas river.

In October of 1839, at the Missouri Methodist Conference at Fayette, Mo., Rev. Thomas Johnson was appointed as the superintendent of the Indian Mission district and to the Shawnee Mission (est. 1839-1862) on the Santa Fe Trail. Pioneer children attended school there also. At its height, there were sixteen buildings on 2000 acres.

During 1855, the Kansas territorial governor, Andrew H. Reeder appointed the Shawnee Indian Mission as the second capitol of the Kansas Territory (1855-1856) and the legislature met there. Hostilities were hot preceding the Civil War on the border. Johnson was shot near midnight of New Year’s Day as he answered the door to someone asking directions and died shortly after. He was quietly buried in the mission’s cemetery.

More to Read:

1. Annals of Shawnee Methodist Mission. Compiled by Martha B. Caldwell. Kansas State Historical Society. Topeka, KS. 1977.

2. Annual Reports of the Commissioner of Indian Affairs Relating to Kansas Indian Schools, 1837-1879. U.S. Office of Indian Affairs.

3. Civil War on the Western Border, 1854-1865. Jay Monaghan. Bonanza Books, NY; MCMLV.

4. Here Lies Kansas City. Wilda Sandy. 1984.

5. History of White Christian Church: 1832-1996, Wyandotte Co, KS. Cemetery Index

6. History of Wyandotte County, Kansas and Its People. Perl W. Morgan. 1911.

7. Historic Johnson County, By Elizabeth E. Barnes. Neff Pub, Shawnee Mission, KS; 1969.

8. Opening the Western Frontier; Thomas Johnson and the Shawnee Indian Mission. Joanne C. Eakin.

9.  Official Kansas Territorial Legislature, Shawnee (1854-55)

10. National Historic Trails Auto Tour Route Interpretive Guide: Western Missouri Through Northeastern Kansas, National Park Service, US Dept. of the Interior, Sept. 2005. 

11. Findagrave #35605339

Historical Note: Thomas' mother-in-law was captured by the British and the Shawnee Indians in Kentucky during the Ruddell Station raid in 1780. 

Places to see in Mo & KS.

1. Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art (portrait of Roma Johnson Wornall), 4525 Oak St, Kansas City, MO

2. White Christian Church/Delaware Indian Mission, 2200 N. 85th St., Kansas City, Wyandotte County, KS.

3. Shawnee Indian Mission Historic Site & Museum, 3403 W. 53rd, Fairway, KS.

4. Shawnee Methodist Mission Cemetery (1839-1930), 3201 Shawnee Mission Parkway, Fairway, Shawnee Twp, Johnson, KS

5. Old Mission United Methodist Church

6. Edna Johnson Anderson, Elmwood Cemetery

7. John Wornall House Museum, 6115 Wornall Rd, Kansas City, MO 

Historical Note: Rev. Thomas Johnson performed the marriage of Daniel Boone's grandson, Daniel Boone III and his bride, Mary Philabert on 19 January 1832. 

Dr. Johnston Lykins

Dr. Johnston Lykins (1800-1876) = Medical Missionary. Kansas City’s First Mayor (1853-1854). Born in Virginia on August 15. Dr. Lykins received his medical education at Transylvania College (f. 1780), in Lexington, Kentucky.

Dr. Lykins came west in 1831, settling in the Kansas City area as a medical missionary. He is said to have accompanied the Shawnee Indians on their long trek from Michigan to the territory of Kansas. The Federal government began setting aside reservations as early as 1786, but on May 28, 1829, Congress gave President Jackson permission to move various Indian tribes such as the Shawnee and the Delaware to the new Kansas territory.

Dr. Lykins compiled a Shawnee-English dictionary and written alphabet to enable the Shawnees to read his translation of the Bible. He also vaccinated his flock against smallpox.

He was instrumental in organizing First Baptist Church, formerly at 5th and West Streets, which is presently located at Red Bridge and Wornall roads in south Kansas City. Charter members were: Robert and Mary A. Holmes, T.M. and Sarah J. James, A.L. and Elizabeth M. Martin, D.L.Mimms, Dr. Johnston, Martha, and Julia Lykins, Rev. R.S.and Elvira Thomas.

Johnston’s first wife was Delilah McCoy, the daughter of Baptist missionary Elder Isaac McCoy. She died of tuberculosis at the Pottawatomie Indian Reservation in 1844. He had one son and daughter, Julia, who married Dr. T.S. Case. He married his second wife, Martha A. “Mattie” Livingston in 1851. He built a two story, 14 room, red brick mansion which was completed in 1857 at 12th and Broadway. He had invested in land, but lost his wealth in the economic collapse during the 1870s and died while still in bankruptcy. Afterwards, Mattie converted the house into a boarding school for girls. It was sold and moved two years before her death in 1889.

More to Read:

1. Blue River Baptist Association Missouri. By Marshall Louis Mertens and O.P. Joyce. Brown-White-Lowell Press, Kansas City, MO. 1947.

2. Article abt. Lykins Translation of the Gospel of Matthew

3. A Century of Faith: The Story of the First Baptist, Kansas City, MO. 1855-1955. By Otto F. Dubach & Virginia Sheaff.

4. Transylvania University History

5. A Condensed History of the Kansas City Area: Its Mayors and Some V.I.P.s 1850-1950 ” Assembled by George Fuller Green. City Historian. The Lowell Press; Kansas City, MO. 1968.

6. History of Kansas City, 1886. T. S. Case.

7. The History of Jackson County, Missouri. Kansas City, MO; Union Historical Company, Birdsall, Williams & Co., 1881. Reprinted: Cape Girardeau, MO, Ramfre Press, 1966.

8. John Brown and the Legend of Fifty-Six. By James Claude Malin. 1942.

9. Johnston Lykin's Journal

10. Here Lies Kansas City: A Collection of our City’s Notables and Their Final Resting Places. Wilda Sandy, 1984. and Union Cemetery Historical Society Walking Tour Map.
11. Polk Family & Kinsmen. By William Harrison Polk (1843- ), Louisville Press, 1912. 
12. Wiki List of Kansas City Mayors and Biography

13. “Missouri Star: The Life and Times of Martha A. “Mattie” Livingston Lykins Bingham. By Dr. Rose Ann Findlen. 2011. 
14. Findagrave #6012821


Historical Note: The Lykin's mansion on Quality Hill stood until 1989.

Places to see in Mo & KS.:

1. Red Bridge Baptist Church Marker, 100 W. Red Bridge Road, South Kansas City, MO.

2. Johnston E. Lykins Square, 8th Street, Myrtle Ave., KCMO

3. Stand on the SW corner of 12th and Washington streets, Kansas City where Lykins house once stood.

4.. Lykins Community Center, 4012 E. 10th Street, 816-784-2200 (was named in his honor)

5. Pottawatomie Baptist Manual Labor School, 1847-1859, Kansas History Center near Topeka
6. Westport Historical Society, 4000 Baltimore Ave, Kansas City

7. Union Cemetery, 227 East 28th Terr. Kansas City. 64108


Lykins' Family:

1. The Lykin's Family Bible is being held in the Kansas City Library Collections. 
2. Family:  Rev. David Lykins
3. David Lykin's Baptist Wea Mission
4. Daughter: Julia Lykins Case (1839-1872), Elmwood Cemetery, 4900 Truman Road, Kansas City, Mo.

Updated: 23 Mar 2022. Biography written by Dolores J. Rush. 

Haldor Lillenas

Haldor Lillenas

Haldor Lillenas (1885-1959) = Pastor, Composer, Publishing. Best known for his (3000 +) hymns. Haldor Lillenas was born in the country of Norway on the island Stord, south of Bergen on November 19. His family immigrated to America when Haldor was two, eventually settling in Minnesota.

In 1906, Haldor experienced a conversion at the Peniel Mission in Astoria, OR. He joined the Nazarene church and moved to Deets Bible College (future Point Loma Nazarene University) in Los Angeles, CA where he met his future wife, Bertha Mae (1889-1945) through one of the college’s music groups. She was the second child of a Methodist pastor, W.C. Wilson. Her mother died in 1893 and her father remarried two years later. Then they moved from Kentucky to Pasadena, CA after her father joined the Church of the Nazarene in 1905. Haldor and Bertha married in 1910. They became proud parents of Evangeline and Wendell.

Haldor and Bertha, both ordained, shared the preaching and music ministries in each of their pastorates. They couldn't afford a piano, so bought a "wheezy little organ" for $5.00 from a neighbor and wrote several songs on that instrument. They served in California (1910-14, 1920-23); Illinois (1916-19); Texas (1919-20); and Indiana (1923-26). He founded his own music publishing company, which Nazarene Publishing house in Kansas City purchased as a subsidiary in 1930.

They moved to central Missouri near the Lake of the Ozarks and built a stone house which they called Melody Lane in the 1940s. Haldor would travel to Kansas City by train one day a week for meetings at the publishing house, but composed music in his home office.

After Bertha’s death, he married Lola Kellogg. He died in 1959 after a car accident and was buried in the Forest Hill Cemetery in Kansas City, MO.

More to Read:
1. Down Melody Lane: An Autobiography. by Haldor Lillenas. Beacon Hill Press, Kansas City, MO. 1953. Google Books.

2. Called Into Holiness. By W. T. Purkiser. Nazarene Publishing House, 1983. Vols. 1, 2

3. Hymns: Inspiring Stories About 600 Hymns and Praise Songs. By Wm. J. & Ardythe Peterson. Tyndale, 2006.

4. Nazarene Roots: Pastors, Prophets, Revivalists & Reformers. By Stan Ingersol. Beacon Hill Press, 2009.

5. The Seventy-Fifth Anniversary of Iberia Church of the Nazarene: 1908 - 1983, A History. Main & High Street, PO Box 152, Iberia, MO 65386. Rev. Aldean Wood, Pastor.

6. Awakening Messages and Stirring Experiences Including a Brief Sketch of His Sainted Wife, Evangeline. W.L.Surbrook, President of Kingwood Holiness College, Kingswood, KY, 1930. (contains a copy of one of Haldor's poems)

7. Kansas City Star-Times Obituary, August 18, 1959. 
8. "Our Nazarene Foremothers: The Clergy-Couple Who Birthed a Publishing Company."
By Stan Ingersol. New Horizons Magazine: Resources for Nazarene Clergywomen. 2004. p. 8-9.  USA Canada Region.org Newsletter 
9. "The Nazarene Connection with Indianapolis: Lillenas Publishing Company." Daily Summary. 26 Jun 2017. No.06 p. 3. www.nazarene.org
10. Nazarene Women and Religion: Sources on Clergy and Lay Women in the Church. By Stan Ingersol. Kansas City, MO.
11.  Great Gospel Songs: Designed for Use in All Services of the Church. By Haldor Lillenas. Nazarene Publishing House, Kansas City, MO. 1929. Internet Archive.
12. "The Carpenter of Nazareth (Poem)" by Haldor Lillenas. Herald of Holiness, Kansas City, MO. 20 April 1935. Vol. 24, No. 5. p. 12. Wesleyan-Holiness Digital Library
13. A Partial List of Haldor's many songs
14. Bertha's Death Certificate #17547
15. Findagrave # 6872074


An Audio Recording -- "It Is Glory Just to Walk With Him - A Hymn by Avis M. Burgeson & Haldor Lillenas, 1918.

Places to Visit in MO. & KS.

1. NOTE: Melody Lane Estates, in Miller County, MO. is a private residence.

2. Iberia Church of the Nazarene, Iberia, MO.

3. Nazarene Global Ministry Center & Archives, 17001 Prairie Star Parkway, Lenexa, KS. 66220, 913-577-2970 www.nazarene.org (guided tours by appointment)

4. Forest Hill Cemetery, 6901 Troost Ave., Kansas City

Biography by Dolores J. Rush, updated: 3/17/2020.

John Bristol Wornall

John Bristol Wornall (1822-1892) = Gentleman Farmer. Trustee at Wm. Jewell College. Kentucky-born on October 12 in a transplanted Scottish family. He emigrated with his family twenty-one years later to the future Kansas City area. His father paid John Calvin McCoy, son of the Baptist missionary, Elder Isaac McCoy (1784-1846), $2500 for the 500 acre farm 2 ½ miles east of Westport and they moved into the 4-room farmhouse.

John married three women and had two boys that lived past childhood,Frank C. & Thomas J. He married Matilda A. Polk in 1850, and Eliza Johnson, daughter of the Rev. Thomas Johnson of the nearby Shawnee Methodist Indian Manual Labor School in 1854, and in 1866, he married Eliza’s cousin, Roma Johnson. Roma survived him by forty-one years.

Mr. Wornall was a founding member of the Westport First Baptist Church known originally as the Regular Baptist Church at Big Blue which was organized on July 4, 1840. A Brother Burris was the first pastor. There is said to be a stained glass window dedicated to John Wornall at the historical church.

Mr. Wornall, a former trustee of William Jewell College, with a building named in his honor on campus (it burned down in 1913), was named President of the General Association of the Missouri Baptists in 1872. He served in that capacity for the rest of his life. The Missouri Baptist Association was an assembly representing upwards of 80,000 people with 900 ministers at that time.

He built a two-story, red -brick farmhouse for Eliza on the main county road in 1858. The Wornalls lived there off and on. During the Border/Civil War, it was ransacked occasionally and served as a hospital to troops of both sides. In 1964, the Jackson County Historical Society purchased the home and restored it as a museum.

More to Read:

1. The John Wornall House Museum , Kansas City, Missouri Tourist Brochure.

2. Here Lies Kansas City. Wilda Sandy. 1984.

3. The Heritage League of Greater Kansas City Directory of Historical Sites and Organizations History Map brochure. PO Box 10366, Kansas City,

4. The Interpretive Site Coalition (ISC) 2011 Kansas City’s Passport to Adventure.

5. 1870 US Census, Ancestry.com

6. Following the Santa Fe Trail: A Guide for Modern Travelers. Marc Simmons, 1986.

7. Shifra Stein’s A Kid’s Guide to Kansas City, By Diana Lambdin Meyer & Kathryn Lutz Dusenbery 2010

8. “Stained Glass Windows.” By Marguerite Milliken. Wornall Columns; Kansas City, MO. Fall 2008. P. 3.

9. Westport: Missouri's Port of Many Returns. By Patricia Cleary Miller. Lowell Press, Kansas City, Mo. 1983.

10. Blue River Baptist Association Missouri. By Marshall Louis Mertens and O.P. Joyce. Brown-White-Lowell Press, Kansas City, MO.1947.

11. Missouri Baptist Ministers. Click here. 
12. "A Memorial Day Look Back at the Westport Cemetery." Midtown KC Post, Kansas City, MO. 29 May 2017.
13. Life in Missouri During the Civil War
14. Findagrave #22141

Historical Note: Mr. Wornall kindly wrote an obituary for Samuel Hays, a great-grandson of Daniel Boone that was published in The Kansas City Journal of Commerce newspaper on Tuesday, 7 July 1874. 

Places to see in KS. or Mo.

1. John Wornall House Museum, 6115 Wornall Road, Kansas City, MO 64113

2. Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art (portrait of Roma Johnson Wornall), 4525 Oak St, Kansas City, MO

3. Forest Hill Cemetery, 6901 Troost Ave, Kansas City.
4. 1855 Harris-Kearney House, 4000 Baltimore Ave, Kansas City (Westport), MO.

5. 1963 Westport Historical Society Marker Dedicated to the Memory of the Pioneers Who Settled the Town at the Westport Shopping Center, 1002 Westport Road, Kansas City, MO.

6. Wornall Road, Kansas City. [Runs north and south. Begins in Westport near the Missouri river with the present day Broadway St and changes over to Wornall Road abt. 50th St. (56 Hwy) and ends in Martin City on 135 Street (150 Hwy)].

7. First Calvary Baptist Church, 3921 Baltimore, Kansas City

8. Wm. F. Partee Center for Baptist Historical Studies. William Jewell University, 500 College Hill, Liberty, MO 64068.

9. Shawnee Methodist Mission Cemetery (1839-1930), 3201 Shawnee Mission Parkway, Fairway, KS.

Biography written by Dolores J. Rush, Updated: 10/27/2020. 

Bereniece Therese Chouteau

Bereniece Therese Chouteau (1801-1888) = French – Catholic. Daughter of Col. Pierre Menard, first Lt. Governor of Illinois.

Having just celebrated her 20th birthday, she was a convent-educated young bride when she married Francois Gesseau Chouteau (1797-1838), a 24 year old. They emigrated up the Missouri River to the future Kansas City area, a wilderness. Francois was the son of Pierre Chouteau and a nephew of Auguste Chouteau, the founder of St. Louis. They were sent upriver to build a warehouse for their family’s fur trading business. Francois built their first home on the river, but it was flooded, along with the warehouse in 1826. They built another home up on the river bluff near the foot of Troost and Forest avenues and settled there to raise their ten children, nine sons and one daughter. Five died young.

There was no priest in that area for some time. Once, during the Christmas season, Berenice told some young Indian boys the story of man’s redemption when she showed them her statue of the Blessed Virgin Mary holding her Divine son. Another time, during a cholera epidemic in 1827, she baptized seventy-five Indian children. But eventually, a 26 year old missionary priest came, Father Joseph Anthony Lutz. He stayed there for nearly two months to administer to the spiritual needs of the early Catholic community in the winter of 1828.

In 1833, Bishop Rosati of St. Louis sent Father Benedict Roux to the little community at the mouth of the Kaw River. They celebrated mass in a rented log cabin. Later Father Roux baptised one of Bereniece and Francis’ sons as well as Elizabeth and Eulalia Boone, Daniel Boone’s great-granddaughters.

When Mrs. Chouteau died on November 21, 1888, she had outlived her husband, all her children and most of her friends.

More to Read:

1. Light in the Early West: Berenice Chouteau. By Rev. James J. Schlafly, M.A., Benziger Brothers, 1959.

2. Jackson County Pioneers. By Pearl Wilcox. 1975.

3. Chez Les Canses: Three Centuries at Kawsmouth. By Charles E. Hoffhaus. 1984.

4. Here Lies Kansas City: A Collection of Our City’s Notables and Their Final Resting Places. By Wilda and Hal Sandy. 1984.

5. Journal of the House of Representatives of the Twelfth General Assembly of the State of Illinois (information about her Father).

6. Ghost Towns of Kansas: A Traveler’s Guide. Daniel Fitzgerald. University Press of Kansas, 1988.

7. A Condensed History of the Kansas City Area: Its Mayors and Some V.I.P.s 1850-1950 ” Assembled by George Fuller Green. City Historian. The Lowell Press; Kansas City, MO. 1968.
8. Missouri: Day by Day. By Floyd C. Shoemaker, Editor. Mo State Historical Society, 1942.
9. The Chouteau Family. By Beatrice Clark Turner.
10. Chouteau Genealogy 
11. Creoles of St. Louis. By Paul Edmond Beckwith. Nixon-Jones Printing Co, St. Louis, 1893. Free e-book retrieved from Google Books. http://books.google.com/
12. 1810 Pierre Menard's letter to Pierre Chouteau of St. Louis, MO. 
13. Pearl Street. 
14. Findagrave #50822410

Places to Visit in MO. and KS:

1. St. Louis
2. Conjunction of the Mississippi River and the Missouri River.
3. Conjunction of the Missouri River and the Kansas River.

4. Four Houses, Wyandotte Co., KS. (about 20 miles downstream from the mouth of the Kansas River at Cedar Creek; 2 ½ miles east of DeSoto, KS. on the north bank) Marker Site: of Chouteau Station 1828-1903. Trading Post, Ferry Crossing, Train Station, Post Office, General Store

5. The Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception, 416 West 12th St., Kansas City, Jackson County.
6. Chouteau Greenway, N. 38th Street to N. 43rd St, KCMO
7. Look around behind the building for the Chouteau Society marker at Pennsylvania and Westport Road, Kansas City, MO. It is enclosed within black iron fencing.
8. Chouteau Park, N. 46th Street and Chouteau Trafficway, KCMO.
9. Marais des Cygnes River
10. Vernon County Historical Museum, 212 West Walnut Street, Nevada
11. Chouteau's Island Marker, US-50, one mile west of Lakin, Kearny Co, KS.
12 Calvary Cemetery, 5239 West Florissant Ave, St. Louis.
13. Lewis & Clark Museum (on the Missouri River),  St. Charles, MO. (see General William Clark's family tree chart).

George Caleb Bingham

George Caleb Bingham (1811-1879). Genre Artist. Statesman. Professor. Best known for his painting “Fur Traders Descending the Missouri” and “The Jolly Flatboatmen.” Paternal grandson of a Methodist preacher, Rev. George & Louisa Vest Bingham, in Augusta Co., Virginia, George Caleb Bingham was born March 20, the second child of Henry Vest and Maria “Mary” Christina Amend Bingham.

In July of 1819, George emigrated with his family to Franklin (f. 1816), a village along Boon’s Lick Trail in Missouri and beginning point of the Santa Fe Trail. After his father died of malaria in 1823, his family moved once again to a farm across the river and surrendered Henry’s businesses in Franklin to pay debts. Mary, George’s mother, taught school. At age sixteen, George was apprenticed to Rev. Justinian Williams of Boonville, a cabinetmaker, and rode with him on his circuits. Occasionally Rev. Williams asked his young apprentice to preach for him.

Beginning his artistic career as a portrait painter, in a letter written to his mother in May of 1835, George mentioned that he hoped to paint Rev. John Lapsley Yantis’ portrait, a Presbyterian preacher in Liberty.

George was married three times, first to Sarah Elizabeth Hutchison (1819-1848) in September 1836, then in 1849 to Eliza Thomas (1829-1876), daughter of Rev. Dr. Robert Stewart Thomas, a Baptist; and finally, in 1878, to Martha “Mattie” A. Livingston Lykins (1824-1890), previously married to Dr. Johnston Lykins (1800-1876), a Baptist medical missionary. Bingham had 5 children; 4 sons; Isaac Newton (1837-1841), Horace (b.1841), Joseph Hutchinson (1848), James Rollins (bc.1861) and a daughter, Clara (b.1844).

Bingham died of cholera in Kansas City. His best friend, James Rollins, gave the eulogy and he was interred at Union Cemetery.

More to Read:

1. Letters of George Caleb Bingham to James S. Rollins. Edited by C.B. Rollins, Missouri Historical Review 32-33. (October 1937-July 1939).

2. Bingham: Fighting Artist. The Story of Missouri’s Immortal Painter, Patriot, Soldier and Statesman. By Lew Larkin. Burton Pub., KCMO., 1954. (Reprinted School of the Ozarks Press, Point Lookout, MO.; 1971)

3. Paintbox on the Frontier: The Life and Times of George Caleb Bingham. By Alberta Wilson Constant. 1974.

4. Jackson County Pioneers. By Pearl Wilcox. 1975.

5. George Caleb Bingham: Frontier Painter of Missouri. 1975.

6. Here Lies Kansas City: A Collection of Our City’s Notables and Their Final Resting Places. By Wilda and Hal Sandy. 1984

7. George Caleb Bingham: The Evolution of an Artist. E. Maurice Bloch.

8. George Caleb Bingham. By Shapiro, Groseclose, Johns, Nagel, & Wilmerding. 1990.

9. The Painting and Politics of George Caleb Bingham. By Nancy Rash. 1991.

10. George Caleb Gingham: Missouri’s Famed Painter and Forgotten Politician. By Paul C. Nagel. 2005.

11. George Caleb Bingham. Patricia Moss, Fine Art Investigations. @2011-2017. 

12. Missouri: Day by Day. By Floyd C. Shoemaker, Editor. Mo State Historical Society, 1942.

13. Missouri Star: The Life and Times of Martha A. “Mattie” (Livingston) Lykins Bingham. Rose Ann Findlen, 2011. 

14. Kansas City's  Police Historical Society
15. George Caleb Bingham
16. Findagrave #7096

Paintings:

Rev. Abner Deane, click here. 

Roma Johnson Wornall, click here. 

Margaret (Foreman) Strode, Findagrave memorial #29122887

More of Bingham's work, click here. 

Places to see in Mo:

1. George Caleb Bingham Art Festival, Arrow Rock

2. Bingham Cottage, Arrow Rock

3. Arrow Rock State Historic Site, Van Buren Street, Arrow Rock

4. The State Historical Society of Missouri’s George Caleb Bingham Gallery, 1020 Lowry Street, Columbia

5. St. Louis Art Museum, St. Louis.

6. Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, (portrait of Roma Johnson Wornall), 4525 Oak St, Kansas City, MO

7. Union Prison Collapse Marker, 14th and Grand Ave., Kansas City, MO.

8. Stand on the southwest corner of Third and Main Street where Bingham’s studio once was located. Kansas City.

9. Bingham-Waggoner Estate, 313 West Pacific, Independence.

10. Santa Fe Trail Trailhead, 130 E. Broadway. New Franklin

11. Union Cemetery, 227 East 28th Terr. Kansas City. 64108

12. Order No. 11 Marker Memorial, Bates County Courthouse Lawn, 1 North Delaware, Butler, MO.

Biography written by Dolores J. Rush, Updated: 10/27/2020

Rev. James Clayton Dobson, Sr.

Rev. James Clayton Dobson, Sr. (1911 - 1977) = Artist, Pastor, Professor. Born on May 24, 1911, the youngest son of six to Robert Lee and Juanita Martin Dobson. Jimmie announced at the age of three years that he wanted to become an artist. At the age of sixteen, he heard God’s call to the ministry, but he wouldn’t give up his art. For several years, he rebelled, and left the church. During this time, however, his mother faithfully prayed for her son.

James entered the Art Institute of Pittsburgh in the fall of 1930 and graduated, rated “Number One” in talent by the Institute in his class. Unfortunately, he couldn’t find a job in the art field and took a job pumping gas at a Texaco service station.

He married a preacher’s pretty daughter named Myrtle Georgia Dillingham on June 13, 1934 and their only child was born on April 21, 1936 by C-section*.

James yielded to God during a evangelistic service. He set aside art and prepared to enter the ministry. He obtained his local preacher’s license and his first pastorate began in Sulphur Springs, Texas.

He was known as a man of prayer, a prayer warrior. He prayed that his beloved son would grow to become a man who followed the Lord's lead in every area of his life. God honored his prayers. Many people came to know the Lord.

Rev. James C. Dobson Sr. officiated at his son, Dr. James C. Dobson, Jr’s, marriage to Shirley Deere on August 27, 1960* and prayed over them to consecrate their oneness.

God gave back Jim his art by sending him to teach art and history at Mid-America Nazarene College in 1971.* His portrait was drawn by one of his most talented art students, Ray Craighead* , a few months before his death on December 4, 1977.*

More to Read:

1. “Christian Fathering” film. 3rd film in series from Focus on the Family.

2. Dare to Discipline. By Dr. James C. Dobson, Jr. 1970

3. Focus on the Family, Colorado Springs, CO. 80995

4. Focus on the Family: Celebrating Twenty-Five Years of God's Faithfulness. 2002.

5. Home With a Heart. Dr. James C. Dobson, Jr. 1996.

6. MidAmerica Nazarene College: The Pioneer Years, 1966-1991. Donald S. Metz. Nazarene Publishing House, KCMO, 1991.

7. Parenting Isn’t for Cowards. By Dr.James C. Dobson. 1987.

8. Ray Craighead

9. Straight Talk to Men and Their Wives. By Dr.James C. Dobson. 1980.

10. Turning Hearts Toward Home. By Rolf Zettersten. Dallas, Tx., Word Pub., 1989.
11. Findagrave #13988865

Places to Visit in KS.:

1. Mid-America Nazarene University,  2030 E. College Way, Olathe, KS.,  Virtual Tour of Mid-America Nazarene University. Dobson Hall is one of the stops.

A Quote about Professor James Dobson:

"Studying under Professor James Dobson (from 1973-1977) made a profound impact on my life. His keen sense of observation and dedication to the creative process was inspiring not only to me, but to all the students he instructed." ~ Ray Craighead.