Biographical Sketch of Mrs. Nancy (Williams) Greenwell, Johnson County, Missouri,
Columbus Township

>From "History of Johnson County, Missouri," by Ewing Cockrell,
Historical Publishing Company, Topeka, Cleveland, 1918.
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Mrs. Nancy (Williams) Greenwell, the highly regarded and respected 
widow of the late Ralph Greenwell, is one of Johnson county's best
known and noblest pioneer women.  She is still with us and now at the
advanced age of eighty-two years resides on the farm in Columbus town-
ship, in which township she has lived for more than sixty years.  Mrs.
Greenwell is a native of Kentucky.  In that state, she was born, rear-
ed, and married.  In 1854, Ralph Greenwell, an enterprising, young
Kentuckian, and Nancy Williams were united in marriage, in Shelby 
county, Kentucky and immediately after their marriage, Mr. and Mrs.
Greenwell left Kentucky to make the new home in what was then the 
western wilderness of Missouri.  They came by steamboat to St. Louis
and from that city to Lexington, Missouri on the "Lucas," when it made
its first trip.  The Greenwells settled on the farm in Columbus town-
ship, now owned by their son, C. G., the place being known as "Walnut
Grove Stock Farm."  To Ralph and Nancy Greenwell were born three
children, who are now living: Mrs. Sallie Rennick, Lafayette county,
Missouri; R. W. and C. G., both of whom are engaged in farming and
stock raising in Columbus township.  Mr. Greenwell died in 1905 at the
age of eighty-four years.  He was laid to rest in the cemetery at 
Columbus.  His death came while he and Mrs. Greenwell resided on the
farm just across the road from the present home of the widow.  Ralph
Greenwell was an honest, industrious, upright citizen, a man of high
ideals and fine, moral principles.  His death has been deeply deplored
and the loss to the good citizenship of Columbus township keenly felt.
When the Greenwells settled in Johnson county, those who were then
living here were, as follow: "Old man Gott;" Frank Ramsey, now of
Warrensburg; Pleasant Rice, the first settler of the county; Groves 
and Conwell, pioneer merchants of Columbus; Mr. Norris; Berry Smith
and "Josh" Rogers, merchants; Reverend Robert Morrow, a minister of 
the Cumberland church; the Perdees, a well known pioneer family; Drs.
Dobbins, Shriner, Fulkerson and Coleman, the last named physician 
being drowned in the same year, 1854, that the Greenwells came to 
Johnson county; the Reverend Allen Wright, a minister of the Christian
church.  Mrs. Greenwell well recalls when Senator Francis M. Cockrell
came to Columbus about 1855, employed as attorney in a lawsuit which
resulted from a scalding given a Conwell slave by "Hi" Henderson's
negro.  Senator Cockrell won the case and Mrs. Greenwell remembers that
she thought at the time the victor was a very boyish-looking lawyer.
The one hotel in Columbus was conducted by Mrs. Fine for many years 
after the Greenwells came here.  Columbus then boasted one hotel, a
blacksmith's shop, a tailor's shop, one harness and wagon maker, and
several general stores.  The mercantile establishments were exception-
ally good for those early days and all carried a very fair line of
goods, including silk, which, however, was not in great demand.  All
handled whiskey, just as they all now carry vinegar, as a stock in
trade, and in spite of the fact that liquor was very easily obtained
there were very few "drunks."  Sixty-three years ago, Mrs. Greenwell
then a young bride of nineteen years of age, came with her husband to
the new home in the thinly settled west.  During the past half century
there have been countless changes in Johnson county, and all have 
been witnessed by Mrs. Greenwell.  Death has removed many families
from our midst; institutions have arisen and have grown; roads, drain-
age, churches, schools, and homes have appeared almost as if by magic
where once were log cabins and productive farms have supplanted wide,
unfenced prairie fields.  And for all our choicest blessings, too 
great praise can not be given men and women like Nancy Greenwell, 
whose labor and constancy in the days of long ago made all things
possible.  It is with much pleasure that we pause to honor one, upon
whom the pure, white snow of years has fallen, a brave, true, pioneer
woman.  We are indeed fortunate to have Mrs. Greenwell still with us
to aid in snatching from oblivion the names of those who have lived
and labored here more than sixty years ago.

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