p. 686 WILLIAM CORNELIUS VANAUSDAL
“The subject of this sketch was born in Bridgeton, St. Louis, county, Missouri, December 4, 1841. He is the son of Wm. M. and Mary Ann (Robertson) Vanausdal. His father was from Greenbrier county, Virginia; and his mother was a native of South Carolina. His father was drowned off the steamer Belle St. Louis while on his way to St. Louis in the fall of 1876. He and his family came to Boone county in April, 1852. He was both a blacksmith and house-carpenter, but the last years of his life he worked at carpentering exclusively. He built many of the best houses in and around Ashland. Mrs. Vanausdal’s brother, Jack Robertson, and her brother-in-law, Wm. Fallon, were the first to carry the United States mail across the plains from St. Louis to California on horseback. Wm. C. Vanausdal, our subject, was educated at Florissant, St. Louis county, and at Ashland College, under the principalship of J.T.M. Johnston and Dr. H. M. Chevins as assistant. When the war broke out he enlisted in Capt. Martin’s company, C.S.A., and was at the battle of Boonville. After Martin’s company was disbanded he joined Strode’s, and was captured and imprisoned at the University. After his release he started to Salt Lake City, but abandoned the idea and went down to Santa Fe, New Mexico, where he remained about two years, and returned to Missouri. He went to St. Louis and went into business with Harris and Pe, mule brokers, government contractors, etc., for whom he worked a year. He then came back to Boone and engaged in farming and stock trading. He made several trips to the Indian Territory for cattle, and continued in the business for two years. He next sold goods in Ashland for Godlove, Payne, Haden & Co. and Wiseman & Johnston. From there he went to Jefferson City and clerked for Crow, Roach & Stokes in 1872. After two years he came to Claysville, and, in conjunction with Thomas McKenna, he did a general merchandising business. He sold out in March, 1881, and went to farming and handling stock for about a year. He now gives his entire attention to the tie business. He purchased a steamboat and piloted her successfully for about sixty trips, buying and freighting his immense number of ties to the different points upon the river. Mr. Vanausdal was married the October 8, 1872, to Miss Martha Jane, daughter of E. W. and Elizabeth Forbis, of Boone county. By this union they have been blest with two children, aged eight and two years. His wife is a member of the Baptist church.”
p. 966 JOHN DAVID VANHORN
“The subject of this sketch is the son of Simeon J. and Eliza (White) Vanhorn; he was born in Boone county, Missouri, August 22, 1821; he was educated at the public schools of Columbia, and served an apprenticeship at the carpenter’s trade, working with his uncle, John Vanhorn. In 1850 he went to California, where he remained one year, returning to Columbia in 1851; he then engaged in the hotel business, having charge of the Selby House for about two years. In 1853 he sold out and went to work at his trade, which he followed until 1872; in the spring of that year he engaged in the livery business, in partnership with R. H. Smith. In 1874 the stable was consumed by fire, but the horses, twenty-six in number, were saved. Mr. Smith remained in business one year after the fire, when Mr. Vanhorn purchased his interest in the stable, and has conducted the business alone ever since. He was married December 1, 1850, to Miss Elizabeth J., daughter of Matthew and Prudence (Lilly) Culbert. They had eight children born to them -- three sons and five daughters -- only two of whom (David and Susan) are now living. Mr. Vanhorn’s father was one of the earliest settlers of Howard county and spent several years in Head’s Fort; he was a native of Winchester county, Virginia; he is buried some three miles from where he first settled. Mrs. Vanhorn, mother of John David, died about twenty-three years ago and is buried in Howard county. Mr. Vanhorn is the oldest of nine children, all of whom are dead but three. Joshua is living in Saline, and Ward in Howard. Mr. Vanhorn spent a large portion of his early life in the family of his uncle, Judge John Vanhorn, an account of whose life and services in connection with the early history of the county, appears elsewhere in this volume. He was judge of the county court for twelve years. In 1850 he polled the largest vote ever cast for a candidate in the history of the county. He died in 1880, in the eighty-fourth year of his age; he was buried in the Columbia cemetery. He was twice married, but had no children; he was first married in 1817, to Miss Nancy White, a native of Virginia; she died in 1877, and is buried in the Columbia cemetery. John Vanhorn was appointed jailor when the war broke out, and held the position until its close. He was a Union man.”
p. 1058 REV. MERIWEATHER L.A. VIA
“Rev. Meriweather Lewis Arlington Via, farmer and minister, was born near Charlottesville, Albemarle county, Virginia, August 27, 1813. He is the son of Pleasant and Margaret E. Via. He remained with his parents until nineteen years of age, when he began doing for himself as a farm overseer, following this occupation until he was twenty-four years old. In 1837 he engaged in blacksmithing, following this business until 1842, when he sold out and removed to Missouri. In 1845 he purchased a farm near Everett, in Boone county, where he remained until 1865, when he sold out and removed to Callaway county, Missouri. He remained there four years, returning to Boone in 1869, settling on the farm where he now lives, near Columbia. In addition to farming, Mr. Via is a local minister of the Methodist Church South. He was licensed to preach in 1851, and was subsequently ordained a deacon, at Louisiana, Missouri, by Bishop Pierce, and was made an elder by Bishop Marvin, at Fulton, Missouri. He was married January 3, 1832, to Miss Mary Ann Watson, of Albemarle county, Virginia, by whom he has four children: William, a prosperous physician, whose biography appears elsewhere in this volume; John U., who is now superintending his father’s farm; Margaret V., wife of Wingfield Conley, a farmer of Missouri township; and Meriweather Benjamin, also a practicing physician. He [M.B.] was born in Albemarle county, Virginia, December, 1839. When he was three years old his parents came to Missouri and settled in Boone county, where he was raised and educated. He remained with his parents until he attained his majority, when he commenced teaching in the common schools of Boone county. He also taught penmanship in Boone and the surrounding counties. In 1873 he began the study of medicine, under his brother, W. P. Via. From 1874 to 1875, inclusive, he attended the lectures at the Missouri State University. In 1876 he attended a course of lectures at the Medical College in St. Louis, finally graduating from Keokuk, Iowa, in 1881, when he began the practice of medicine in Missouri township, making his home with his father three and one-half miles southwest of Columbia.”
p. 1059-60 WILLIAM PLEASANT VIA
“William Pleasant Via, M. D., was born in Albermarle county, Virginia, August 12th, 1842. His parents removed to Boone county, Missouri, in 1845. He was raised on a farm, attending the common schools until 1864, when he commenced the study of medicine under Dr. John M. Shock, of Everett, Boone county, Missouri. In 1866-67 he attended lectures at the Ohio Medical College, Cincinnati. In 1870-71, he attended medical lectures at Popes College, St. Louis, graduating from that institution in March, 1871. After practicing his profession in various places, and making a tour through the Western and Northwestern States, he returned to Boone county in 1877 and resumed his former practice in the vicinity of Midway, at which place he is permanently located. He has the patronage of a fine district of country, getting all the practice he can attend to. In addition to his regular practice, he is county physician, having the care of all patients at the county prison and infirmary. He was married June 9th, 1877, to Miss Emma E., daughter of J. H. Ravenscraff, of Boone county. They have two children, Hugh Breinerd and Guy Forrest. Dr. Via is a member of Twilight lodge, No. 144, A. F. and A. M., Columbia, Missouri. He was a Confederate soldier during the civil war, having enlisted under Col. Harvey McKinney in 1861, serving until the winter of 1864.”
p. 967 ABRAHAM VICTOR
“The subject of this sketch is the son of Isaac and Caroline (Lion) Victor, of Spiesen, Prussia, where he was born November 15, 1835. He came to the United States in the spring of 1852 and settled in Rocheport, Boone county, Missouri, engaging in the sale of dry goods and notions which he peddled, traveling on horseback. In 1854 he left Boone county, but continued the business of peddling until 1857, when in partnership with Simon Schiffman, he opened a store of general merchandise at Georgeton, Missouri. He remained in this business until 1863, when he sold out and returned to Prussia. After a stay of fifteen months he returned to the United States in 1864, settling in Columbia, Missouri, where he was employed as a salesman by A. & M. Barth. In 1865 he went to Rocheport and engaged in the mercantile business under the firm nane of Victor, Myer & Co. They failed in business in 1869 and again in 1871. They also had a store in Columbia. In 1872 Mr. Victor went in business with Loeb, Myer & Co., Columbia, Missouri, and remained with them for two years. August 1, 1874, he bought Fred. Mayfield’s liquor store on Broadway and Ninth Street. He is now running the only wholesale liquor store in Boone county. He is exclusive agent for the wholesale trade of Anheuser’s lager beer. He also deals largely in hides, tallow, furs, etc. In addition to the liquor and hide trade Mr. Victor is largely interested in railroad ties, buying from forty to fifty thousand annually. He has a tobacco and cigar store on Broadway, under the firm name of A. Victor & Co. The liquor and hide store is conducted under the individual name of the proprietor. Mr. Victor was married March 21, 1866, to Aurelia, daughter of Abraham Arnold. They have four children, two sons and two daughters. Their names are Bell, Minnie, Isadore and Albert. One child died in infancy. Mr. Victor is one of eight children, five daughters and three sons. The subject of this sketch is the youngest of the family and the only one now in America. Mr. Victor is a member of the Masonic order, also an Odd Fellow.”
p. 794 WILLIAM LITTLETON VICTOR
“William L. Victor was born in Nicholson county, Kentucky, August 19, 1818. He is the son of William and Eleanor Victor, and was educated in his native State. Coming to Boone county, Missouri, in the fall of 1845, he settled on a farm five miles northeast of Columbia. Mr. Victor was married February 20, 1845, to Miss Frances, daughter of Cumberland and Elizabeth Snell, of Paris, Monroe county, Missouri. By this union they were blessed with eight children, six daughters and two sons, four of whom are living. Mary F. died November 18, 1860; William W., August 26, 1869; Lee, January 22, 1872; Elizabeth E., May 22, 1873. Julia A., Amanda G., Eugenie and Samuel E. are alive at this writing. In 1841, Mr. Victor accepted a situation in the dry goods store of James G. Fox, at Paris, Missouri, with whom he remained two years. He then went to Hannibal, Missouri, where he assisted in a wholesale and commission store, remaining in that business about one year. Leaving Hannibal, he returned to Kentucky. In 1845 -- as before stated -- he came to Boone county, Missouri, and settled on a farm owned by his wife. Mr. Victor was deputy county collector, under Sheriff Hickman, in 1849-50, returning a delinquent list of but a fraction over $500. He has also officiated as assessor for his district. Was a member of the Masonic order before the dissolution of his lodge years ago, and is also a member of the Columbia Grange. Is an elder of the Christian church at Antioch. He has held this position since the organization of the church. Mr. Victor owns a fine farm of 570 acres, well watered and well improved. Mr. Victor has resided on this place since 1845. He is largely interested in agriculture. His farm is well calculated for stock raising, being well adapted to the growth of bluegrass. Mrs. Victor died January 25, 1874, from a hurt received a few days previous, she having been thrown from a horse while going to church. Mrs. Victor was forty-nine years old at the time of her death.”
p. 794 I.C. VIVION
“Irvin C. Vivion was born in Boone county, Missouri, on the farm settled by his parents, nine miles southeast of Columbia, on the Columbia and Cedar Creek gravel road. He was educated partly in Boone county, finishing his studies at Westminster College, Fulton, Missouri. After completing his studies he returned to his farm in Boone county. He was married January 24, 1865, to Mollie, daughter of Robert and Nancy B. Wallace, of Bourbon county, Kentucky. Seven children were born to them, three sons and four daughters. Two sons are dead. Mr. Vivion is a practical farmer and a dealer in cattle. He owns 540 acres of excellent land, well situated and in a high state of cultivation Mr. Vivion’s parents, John G. and Rebecca Robnett Vivion, emigrated to Boone county in the fall of 1825.”