Randolph County, Missouri Genealogy Trails

Randolph County, Missouri Genealogy Trails

Newspaper Articles

W. A. Rothwell Very III.
Moberly, Mo.—W. A. Rothwell, the Democratic national committeeman for Missouri, who has been In a dangerous
condition here for several days, was no better Tuesday. He is not expected to live.
[Alma, Wabaunsee County, Kansas October 16, 1908 Page 2 - Barb Z- 2009]

Mrs. Miranda Lawyer, wife of Bishop Lawyer of Huntsville, Mo., was adjudged insane Monday by the Randolph county court, and ordered taken to the lunatic asylum, and on Monday night slipped out of the house and hanged herself to a tree in the pasture.
Richmond Conservator, (Ray County, MO) July 25, 1889 [Submitted by Lisa]

Date: 1921-07-01; Paper: Kansas City Star
Lived a "Hermit" 90 Years "Aunt Betty" Elliott Died without Ever Having Ridden on Train (News Article)

Lived On Homestead Established by Parents, Randolph County, Mo. Pioneers
She Had Lived Simple Life. Although Possessed of Riches

Macon, Mo.July 1.—Ninety years In the back country of Missouri, without ever having ridden on a railroad train or visited a town larger than Moberly,
Huntsville or Macon, was the record of "Aunt Betty" Elliott, whose death occurred Thursday at the home of her sister, Mrs, S. P. Rice, six miles west of Jacksonville.
Miss Elliott was one of a very interesting trio, the other two being her brothers Perry and Jordan Elliott, who died a few years ago. All their lives they had lived upon the land which was taken up by their father, William Elliott, when he came from Kentucky to Northern Missouri in 1816, After the death of their parents and the marriage of the younger children, Miss Elliott and her two brothers lived on the old homestead, carrying on their farming operations and duties about the house in the same primitive manner as was conducted by
their parents in the pioneer days.

Had One Ride In A Motor Car
Miss Elliott once enjoyed the experience of riding In a motor car. She said
she got as far as College Mound when something about it went dead and they had to hitch on a couple of mules to haul them back home.
She never cared much for motor cars since then.
The Elliott brothers developed the estate until it comprised about two thousand
acres and, although in the heart of the very richest growing section of Missouri,
much of it was rough pasture land. For a great many years the farm was
Inclosed with rail fences, which as time went by sank far into the ground.
The fencing around this farm marks almost the last or the old rail fences in Northern Missouri.
None of the three had found time In their busy lives to go to school, but they
knew the value of stock and grain, and were as shrewd in their deals as any-body.
Underneath a large part of their land are valuable beds of coal.
Fight shy of doctors and medicine
Have something to interest you and keep going.
Learn to go to sleep easily and don't borrow trouble.
Get out In the air and raise turkeys, ducks and chickens.
Eat hearty and go to bed early."
Such was the rule of "Aunt Betty" Elliott, the last of the Elliott trio of Randolph County. Missouri who died Thursday on the farm an which she was born.
Like a hermit. Aunt Betty lived more than nine decades, helped amass a fortune, the extent of which she never really knew. and died without ever
going farther from her home than Macon, Scorned Luxury for Simple Life Fourteen years ago a staff correspondent for The Star visited the Elliott trio
and spent a day with" the children of nature" who scorned luxuries to live the simple life of their parents, pioneers of Missouri There the correspondent
found a leaky house, built by their parents; a well, which was started the year after the Civil War and never had been completed, and three "children." all
more than 70, who never had had time to even think about marriage. The only thing modern on the farm was a nice looking range in the kitchen which
the "boys" had purchased for "Aunt Betty."
Friends? Why "Aunt Hetty" had thousands of them, it seemed. She tossed a few handfuls of corn on the bed of wood chips, which served as a roadway
up to the house. Flocks of fowls, turkeys, ducks and chickens immediately clustered about her. "Here are my friends, and you see why I never get
lonesome," she told the correspondent
Their Rules For Life
And It was an extremely happy family. Late In the evening the two "boys" returned to the house.
All talked in gentle, quiet tones. In brief they outlined their lives as follows:
Never to old to work.
Never had a quarrel with anybody.
Never swapped a horse.
Never owned a dog.
Never used tobacco in any form.
Never belonged to a church, but believed in God.
Never were in a law suit
Never knew the extent of their wealth
Kept their accounts with pins on shingles.
What was good enough for their fore-fathers was good enough for them.
Submitted by Barb Z. -2009