Biographical Sketch of Judge T. L. Kimzey, Johnson County, Missouri >From "History of Johnson County, Missouri," by Ewing Cockrell, Historical Publishing Company, Topeka, Cleveland, 1918. ********************************************************************** Judge T. L. Kimzey, judge of the county court of Johnson County, Mo., is one of the prosperous sons of the earliest pioneers of Missouri and Johnson county. He was born in Johnson county in 1849, the son of S. P. and Cynthia (Wood) Kimzey. His paternal grandfather, Benjamin E. Kimzey, came to Missouri from Tennessee early in the nineteenth century about 1820. When just a mere boy, S. P. Kimzey located, with his bro- thers, in Saline county, Missouri. They with their father were engaged in the manufacture of salt at a salt lick in Saline county and trading with the Indians, peddling their salt, from wigwam to wigwam, in wagons drawn by oxen. There were no roads in those days and the Kimzey bro- thers followed the trails made by the Indians. Early in the thirties, S. P. Kimzey came with his father, Benjamin E. Kimzey, to Johnson county, where they entered land in Jefferson township and engaged in the pursuits of agriculture. S. P. Kimzey became very successful and prosperous in this vocation, owning at one time mor than 800 acres of land in Johnson county. He was a natural leader of men and prior to the Civil War was captain of the Home Guards for many years. He enlis- ted in the Civil War and served with the Southern army throughout the war, as did also his two brothers. After the war had ended, he return- ed to Johnson county, where he lived until 1882, when he moved to Eldorado Springs, Missouri and there his death occurred four years later. Mrs. Kimzey followed him death ten years later, her death occ- urring in 1896. T. L. Kimzey attended a "subscription school" of the early days. School was held in a log house, having a puncheon floor and benches. The seats were placed around the three sides of the room and the fireplace was on the fourth side. The "master" or "schoolma'am" sat in the center of the room and called the children up to "say their lessons." On one side of the room was a sort of shelf made of a split board and high enough to write upon and in front of this was a puncheon bench, which was for the older boys and girls. When they wished to write, they turned their backs toward the teacher and wrote upon the shelf. The little children could not reach the shelf, but that was not necessary, for of course they could not write. They sat on the punch- eon benches and studied their "a-b-c's" all day long. Spelling was the principal subject and frequently "spelling bees" were held, which occasioned much interest, for the men and women could spell in those days, if they did not know how to draw or paint pictures. The pupils sometimes grew very tired in the old fashioned school, but the "master" always kept a number of large switches in sight to urge the laggard on the road of learning. The children had many happy times, however, at school and they had the whole prairie for their playground. Two of the early teachers were Elza Ray and Sue Herrington. The only road was the state road and the children followed a trail to the school house. This trail was made by dragging a log back and forth across the tall prairie grass, using a yoke of oxen to do so. In the early history of Johnson county, there were no churches and Sunday School was a thing unheard of in this part of the state. Religious meetings were held in the cabins of the settlers or out under the trees. Later, little log churches were built like the houses and people from miles and miles away would come on horseback to hear the pioneer preachers, of whom Judge Kimzey recalls several, among them: Reverend William Caldwell, Reverend Frank Goodwin, Reverend "Jacky" Whitsett, and Reverend "Jim" Houx. The preacher was a pioneer and hunter like the rest of the settlers. It was no easy task for him to go from place to place through the wide, open prairie and muddy swamps, but he was always brave and cheerful and might be heard singing hymns at the top of his voice as went on his lonely way. The preachers were welcomed in the homes of the poorest settler and people came by families in wagons, drawn by oxen, to listen to their preaching with the greatest respect and attention. Judge Kimzey's father always led the singing at church and at gatherings held in the homes. His mother was a splendid singer and enjoyed the music immensely, always taking an important part at all musical gatherings. Wild game was plentiful, deer, wild turkeys, and prairie chickens being in abundance and to be had for the hunting. Supplies were hauled from Boonville, Warsaw, and Lexington. Mr. Kimzey remembers how his father frequently hauled choice cuts of bacon to Lexington, where he sold them for two cents a pound. Stock raising was not very profitable in the early days. Dried venison was the staple article of food and with plenty of that, cornbread and hominy the settlers considered themselves very well provisioned. Prairie fires were constantly feared and one of the evils, which had to be fought with great skill, for they were ex- ceedingly destructive. Judge Kimzey often aided his father in fighting the oncoming flames by a system of back firing. Their home was a log cabin, 16 x 16 feet in dimensions, constructed with a "loft" above and a "lean to" on the side, but it was all they had and they would fight hard to keep it. In early manood, Judge Kimzey went to California and remained in that state a short time. He was at that time 26 years of age, in 1875. Later he returned to Johnson county and engaged in farm- ing and stock raising. He is now the owner of 420 acres of land, most of which is in meadow and devoted to stock growing. Judge T. L. Kimzey and Ollie McQuerry were united in marriage in 1898. Ollie (McQuerry) Kimzey is the daughter of C. W. McQuerry, of Warrensburg, Missouri. Prior to her marriage, Mrs. Kimzey was engaged in teaching school, having taught two terms of school at Flordonia. To Judge and Mrs. Kimzey have been born two sons: Samuel W. and Charles Lee, both of whom are at home with their parents. Judge Kimzey is a member of the Demo- cratic party and in 1916 was elected judge of the county court in Johnson county and he is now serving his first term of office with great satisfaction to the entire county. ==================================================================== USGENWEB NOTICE: In keeping with our policy of providing free information on the Internet, data may be used by non-commercial entities, as long as this message remains on all copied material. These electronic pages may NOT be reproduced in any format for profit or for presentation by other persons or organizations. Persons or organizations desiring to use this material for purposes other than stated above must obtain the written consent of the file contributor. This file was contributed for use in the USGenWeb Archives by: <> Penny Harrell ====================================================================