Clay County MO Archives News.....Auto-Biography of Dan. Carpenter September 26, 1879 ************************************************ Copyright. All rights reserved. http://www.usgwarchives.net/copyright.htm http://www.usgwarchives.net/mo/mofiles.htm ************************************************ File contributed for use in USGenWeb Archives by: Ronald J. Reid rreid21@cox.net December 16, 2007, 10:26 pm The Liberty Tribune September 26, 1879 Published in the Liberty Tribune, Sep 26, 1879, Section: Front Page; Page Number 1 AUTO-BIOGRAPHY OF DAN. CARPENTER. [From the Platte City Advocate.] I don’t belong to the “Old men’s Association,” but if I live long enough the years of my pilgrimage will entitle me to a place among them. I was born on the banks of the Ohio river at Hanging Rock, Laurence county, Ohio, on the 7th day of March, 1825, and am 54 years old. Moved to Clinton county, Missouri, in 1843, to Clay in 1845 and to Barry, in clay, in 1847. So near to Platte as to be as closely identified with her people as if I had lived 100 yards further West, and in her borders. I have followed merchandising in Barry ever since, two years excepted. In 1850 I took an ox train of merchandise via South Pass, Salt Lake and Carson River to California, whence, after five months’ sickness, I returned to Barry. In 1853 I was married to Miss Paulina Gash. Fortunately for the world, unless I had succeeded better than others, I have inflicted no evil on it by raising children who have not advanced above their parents in ratio to the improvement in advantages and facilities for attaining to a higher scale of intelligence. In 1852 I was admitted to the Masonic Fraternity, and have been advanced to Knight Templar and High Priest. In 1859 I joined the Cumberland Presbyterian Church, and was made an Elder. In 1864 I moved to Kansas City and engaged in the mercantile business. At the end of one year I returned to Barry, city life not suiting my taste, and continuing the business. In 1869 I moved on the farm, one mile East of Barry, where I now reside, and toil like an “honest farmer,” earning my bread by the sweat of my face. I have been married nearly 26 years – have not paid $50 for doctor’s bills for myself or wife, and have not lost sixty days from sickness, and but little of the good things of life for the want of a good appetite. I have been the W.M. of a Masonic Lodge fourteen years, High Priest of a chapter, and D.D.G.M. of a District in Missouri. I served as Postmaster for 25 years, with many curses, few thanks, and poor pay. Have been a Convenience Notary Public for eight years, and am serving four more years in the same business. I have done more “thank’ee” jobs than any man west of the Mississippi. I have attended more funeral services than any preacher in the State, for the last twenty years. I have been from New York to San Francisco – from New Orleans to Chicago, St. Louis, through Memphis, Atlanta and Augusta to within 60 miles of Charleston; from Branchville, S.C., through Wilmington, Weldon, Richmond, Washington City, Baltimore and Philadelphia to New York; from Kansas City to Pittsburg by steamer, by canal and R.R., to Philadelphia; have been to Cairo, Louisville, Cincinnati, Columbus, Cleveland, Erie, Rochester, Syracuse, Albany and New York; crossed Lakes Michigan and Erie, by steamer; through Canada to Niagara Falls and Suspension Bridge and down the beautiful Mohawk Vale – from St. Joseph to Springfield, Terre Haute, Indianapolis Great line, Wheeling and Baltimore to Philadelphia; and have run through Lancaster, Harrisburg and summit to Jersey City. I have been from Sacramento and San Francisco, through the Devil’s Gate, out on the peaceful Pacific – on San Diego, ate plantain, bananas and oranges in Accapulco; roasted over night in Panama in an old Spanish Fortress; crossed the Isthmus on a pack-mule; ran the Chagres river in a bateau rowed by naked natives – crossed the Caribean sea and Gulf of Mexico, and ascended the Mississippi river from the Balize to the Hannibal & St. Joe Railroad; crossed the State of Illinois in a canal boat and half the continent on foot. I have crossed bleeding Kansas on two different routes – traversed the Centennial State; ascended the Arkansas river to the timber line; scaled the rocky Mountains, and, like Moses of old, “viewed the landscape o’er.” I have traveled on foot, with an ox train, on horseback, by stage, canal, railroad, and by river, lake and ocean steamers, and yet amidst all this variety, monotony, sameness, grandeur, magnificence and glory of land and water, continent and ocean, forest and prairie, wild country an advanced civilization, mountain and plain, “There is no place like home.” Yet, amid all these soul surprising vicissitudes, I am not happy – I have not been in “Bosting.” My father’s name was William Carpenter, born in Harrison County, Va., 1792, died in Weston, Platte County, Mo., at the advanced age of eighty-two. He belonged to Captain Davinson’s company of Ohio militia in the war of 1812 but was not in any battle. His father’s name was Bery Carpenter, who was a Methodist circuit rider, and died in Ohio at the age of 60. His father’s name was Carpenter and so were all their father’s clear back to the old man of all, who left an estate in England worth 200,000,000 pounds which none of us can reach – and here is another source of mishappiness. My mother’s name was Hannah Clark; and like all other Hannah’s is a noble, good and grand old lady of the past. She was born in Spotsylvania County, Va., 1799, and now resides in Weston, Mo., in the enjoyment of a consciousness of a well spent life, and with full assurance of a blessed immortality when the angel comes. Her father’s name was Samuel Clark, who died in Clinton County, Mo., aged 48. He enlisted at the age of 12 years to the commander of Yorktown, which culminated in the surrender of Lord Cornwallis, and gave independence to the United States. As for the Carpenter’s and Clark’s they are spread all over the United States, and their father’s have been called by the same name for many generations past, and the root of the “old family tree” is set in the 200,000,000 fortune of Great Britain; but alas! the grapes are sour. My wife’s father’s name was Jos. D. Gash, who was born, in Bancombe county, N.C., moved to Missouri when a young man, and died near Barry in 1851, aged about 54. The original name was “Ally.” While crossing the ocean he received a severe flesh wound with an ax, and as a lad was apprenticed, as was then common, to pay passage and was nicknamed Gash, because of the wound referred to; and this stuck to him and his descendants closer than a brother. My wife’s mothers name was Eliza Killian, born in the same county as her husband, died near Barry in 1865, aged about 64 years. The Gash’s and Killian’s with their relations from a large part of the population of Buncombe and Henderson counties, N.C., where they have lived for many generations; and none of them expect to get to glory unless they can pass through Ashville, N.C., die where they may. The accidents and incidents may be very interesting but I am not sufficiently informed to attempt a sketch of them outside of my wife’s father’s family. File at: http://files.usgwarchives.net/mo/clay/newspapers/autobiog178gnw.txt This file has been created by a form at http://www.genrecords.org/mofiles/ File size: 7.5 Kb