Bates County Court House, Butler, Missouri
Note by Phyllis Brown: This is another entry from a history of one of the counties of Missouri. It is fascinating that such lovely articles were written about the normal, ordinary citizens of the county. George Hertz is my husband’s great-grandfather. It was on our 2006 genealogy trip to Illinois, Iowa and Missouri that we found this information – and found the majority of his relatives! I commend the small towns for their history centers – definitely a love of the past goes into their upkeep – and staffed by countless volunteers!
History of Bates County, Missouri
GEORGE HERTZ
George Hertz, proprietor of “Shady Brook Stock Farm” in Mount Pleasant township, is one of the successful farmers and stockmen of Bates county. Mr. Hertz is a native of Iowa. He was born November 21, 1867, in Johnson county, a son of Henry and Florentine Hertz. The father is now deceased and the mother still makes her home at the Hertz homestead in Iowa. Mrs. Florentine Hertz celebrated her eighty-fourth birthday on December 28, 1917. She is one of the beloved pioneer women of Johnson county, Iowa, where she and her husband settled in the earliest days and improved a splendid farm.
George Hertz, obtained his education in the public schools of Johnson county, Iowa, was engaged in raising Percheron and Belgian draft horses there prior to coming to Bates county, Missouri, in 1904. About six years ago, Mr. Hertz began raising Hereford cattle and, at the time of this writing in 1918, he has on the farm in Mount Pleasant township eighteen head of high-grade animals. Last year, 1917, Mr. Hertz also began the breeding of big-bone Spotted Poland China hogs. He is an enthusiastic advocate of pure-bred stock, for he states that it costs no more to raise a good animal than it does to raise a “scrub”.
The marriage of George Hertz and Rose Leuenberger was solemnized September 28, 1898. To this union were born two children: Harold and Esther. Mrs. Hertz, the mother of the children, is deceased. Mr. Hertz remarried, November 22, 1916, his second wife being Myra Ethel Eaton, a daughter of Herbert and Marian Rosalie Eaton, of Johnson county, Iowa.
“Shady Brook Stock Farm” in Mount Pleasant township comprises one hundred forty acres of land, well watered by Mound branch and two wells which have never been known to have been dry. This farm lies one and three-fourths miles northeast of Butler and is one of the nicely improved country places of Bates county. The residence is a two-story structure of nine rooms and there are two well-constructed barns on the farm. Mrs. Hertz has complete charge of the poultry on “Shady Brook Stock Farm” and she is making a name for herself as an exceptionally successful producer of pure-bred Plymouth Rock chickens and Toulouse geese and at the present time she has a flock of one hundred twenty-five fine birds.
Mr. and Mrs. Hertz are comparatively newcomers in Bates County, but both possess to a marked degree the happy faculty of making and retaining friends and they have now countless warm personal friends in this part of the state. George Hertz is a man of industry and excellent judgment and one of Bates county’s progressive citizens.
Categories: Cemeteries, Family Stories, Genealogy Ramblings
