Biographical Sketch of John Lemley, Johnson County, Missouri, Jefferson Township >From "History of Johnson County, Missouri," by Ewing Cockrell, Historical Publishing Company, Topeka, Cleveland, 1918. ********************************************************************** John Lemley, an honored and brave pioneer of Johnson county, Missouri, is one of the prosperous and progressive farmers and stockmen in Wash- ington township, who now resides in Knob Noster. He was born in 1836 in Greene county, Pennsylvania, son of Jacob and Catherine (Morris) Lemley. The Lemley family was a very prominent and influential family in Pennsylvania, being one of the leading colonial families. Several members of the family were professional men, while others were engaged in the pursuits of agriculture in that state. John Lemley was united in marriage with Anna R. Elder, the daughter of Michael Elder, a na- tive of Maryland, in the state of Virginia. To John and Anna R. (Elder) Lemley have been born eleven children, six of whom are now living: B. J., John W., James M., Finis, Ralph, and Mrs. Stella Berry. From Virginia, Mr. and Mrs. Lemley moved to Tennessee, where Mr. Lem- ley was employed as overseer in railroad construction work, assisting in the construction of the mammoth tunnel in that state on the South- ern Central railway. After the Civil War in 1865, they moved from Tennessee to Virginia and thence to Missouri and settled in Johnson county, on a farm of 120 acres in Washington township, which Mr. Lemley purchased for twenty dollars an acre, land now valued, at the lowest figure, at one hundred dollars an acre. The Civil War had left the county in a dreary state of desolation. Cabins had been burned and nearly all the fences destroyed, so that settlers in the country had to begin life a new. Much of the land was virgin sod and Mr. Lemley and John Shepherd each purchased two yoke of oxen, which they exchanged, to be used in breaking sod. Mr. Lemley soon found the oxen too slow for him and began using mules and horses. He tells an amusing story of how he learned to cultivate sod ground. He did it in his own way, much to the amusement of the neighbors, and arousing great ridicule, but he never failed to secure results. The first home of the Lemleys in John- son county was a primitive log cabin, having but one room and a "lean to" and not one window. Mrs. Lemley became very homesick and cried to go back home to Virginia. The neighbors comforted and encouraged them and when a few windows were added to the rude, unfinished cabin, Mrs. Lemley became more content to remain in the new Western home. There was one advantage which the first settlers had and that was that there was always plenty of meat to be had. Wild game of all kinds could be found in abundance. Many times John Lemley has killed as many as five prairie chickens at one shot. In the course of time, Mr. Lemley began to prosper and become well to do. He became widely known as a capable, successful stockman and was the owner at one time of 400 acres of fine farm land. He dealt largely in hogs and sheep. In 1909, Mr. and Mrs. Lemley moved from the farm to Knob Noster, Missouri, where Mr. Lemley purchased forty rods square of land in the city and a nice residence, which is their present home. In addition to his home in Knob Noster, John Lemley is the owner of rental property in the city of Knob Noster and one hundred acres of land south of the city. He is still actively engaged in farming and is an advocate of crop rotation, a course which he pursues on his own place. Both Mr. and Mrs. Lemley are members of the Cumberland Presbyterian church, of which Mr. Lemley was a deacon for many years and has been an elder of the congregation for over forty years. Countless times, John Lemley has attended the old fashioned revival meetings and, at one, Reverend G. W. Matthews secured forty conversions. Other pioneer preachers, whom he recalls were: "Uncle Davy" Hogan, Reverends Jack Shitsett, Henry Houx. Two early day teach- ers were: Fannie Thornton and Bettie Duffield, who afterward went as a missionary to Japan. ==================================================================== 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 ====================================================================