Saline County Century Farm: Guthrey family of Miami has long history in Saline County, many colorful stories to tell

John Guthrey Sr. purchased land in Saline County in 1867. He built a house in Miami that still stands. He and his wife raised seven children -- four girls and three boys. He was president of Miami Savings Bank. (Contributed photo) [Click to enlarge]

A 110-acre farm near Miami has belonged to the family since 1867, when their great-grandfather John G. Guthrey Sr. (1810-1886) invested approximately $100,000 in farmland and property in the area.

A "Saline County History" story on the man who eventually became president of the Miami Savings Bank and owned a large mill in the area described him as a "capitalist."

John G. Guthrey Jr., at far left, was part of the Miami band. This picture, taken somewhere around the turn of the 20th Century, shows Miami's bandstand in the heyday of the town. He was also one of the founders of the Marshall Municipal Band in 1927. (Contributed photo) [Click to enlarge]

He was born in Virginia and raised on a farm. He made his money dealing in tobacco before and during the Civil War.

At birth, Guthrey was given a slave named Dick Poole as his "body servant" according to the tradition of Virginia planter families at the time. When he was 21 years old, Guthrey's first act was to free Poole in 1831. Poole continued to work for wages for Guthrey until the end of his life.

On a trip to New York in 1861, after the battle of Bull Run, Guthrey was seized as a Southern sympathizer and thrown into Fort Lafayette prison.

According to the family, he was actually seized for his money, which was taken from him after his arrest. It amounted to $140,000 in bonds and currency.

The sons of John G. Guthrey Sr. were sent to Macon Military Academy at a young age. They later attended Missouri Valley College as academy students. From left are Joseph Palmore, 9; John Garnett Jr., 8; and Churchill Hunt, 7. (Contributed photo) [Click to enlarge]

After six months in prison, he was released for lack of evidence. After filing suit, he received his property back. He then established a tobacco factory in Brooklyn, N.Y.

Next, he opened a Wall Street business under the firm name of Harvey and Guthrey until 1867, when he sold out to his partner. Having already invested $100,000 in real estate in Saline County, he moved his whole family to Miami.

He and his wife, E.S. Hawkins of Yonkers, N.Y., had seven children -- four girls and three boys -- Lucy, Eliza, Virginia and Emelia, followed by Joseph, John G. Jr. and Churchill.

"His wife was much younger than him," said Betty McCann, who with her brothers Charles and Kile, along with relatives John G. Guthrey IV and Valeta Guthrey, still own the farm.

It was one of 16 Saline County farms recently recognized as a Century Farm, for being in the same family for over 100 years, one of two in the Guthrey family honored on the same night.

The home Guthrey built in Miami, although no longer in the family, is still standing. It included quarters for the freed slaves the family brought from New York.

John G. Jr. was the grandparent of the present owners. He and his wife, Clara Bell Kile, built a house on the property, which is located off Highway C near Miami.

The farm was nicknamed "Honeymoon Heights Farm" because apparently the couple "honeymooned" there, after living in the country of Mexico when they were first married.

"My grandfather worked for an oil company in Tampico, Mexico," explained Betty, who said her grandmother told him she didn't want to raise children there, so they came back. "So typically you say, they honeymooned there."

John Guthrey Jr. (1871-1948) was a musician and traveled with the Lemon Brothers Circus before marrying. He was also very active in the Miami town band and is listed as one of the founders of Marshall's Municipal Band.

He and his brothers, Churchill and Joseph, were sent to Macon Military Academy when they were young and eventually became academy students at Missouri Valley College, which opened in 1889.

The first MVC classes were held in the old Cumberland Presbyterian Church. In 1890, MVC had 155 students -- 140 were of academy rank (boys had to be 14 years or older, girls, 13 years), nine were college students, nine were pre-ministerial students and 40 were in the music department, according to "Saline County History."

John's brother, Churchill Guthrey, became a story himself. At age 25, he was held in jail and almost executed for being a "filibuster" in Guatemala.

According to the Merriam Webster dictionary, a filibuster is a mid-19th century term for "an irregular military adventurer, specifically an American, engaged in fomenting insurrections in Latin America."

The Guthreys have a scrapbook kept by their grandfather, telling about Churchill's near-execution. According to newspaper articles in the scrapbook, Secretary of State John M. Hay and President William McKinley intervened on behalf of Guthrey and four other Americans.

According to the articles, the United States sent a gunboat to rescue the five men. One newspaper headline from the day said, "The returned filibusters laid out their entire scheme."

After that adventure, Churchill spent his life being a lawyer, undertaker, chiropractor and newspaper reporter. But, said Kile Guthrey, "He died broke right here and had to cut wood for his brother to get room and board."

The children of John Jr. and Clara Bell were John G. III, Kile P. and Elizabeth, also all graduates of Missouri Valley College.

The late John G. III married Valeta Brown in 1950 and became a high school principal in Iowa. Valeta and their son, John G. IV, still own an interest in the Century Farm.

Elizabeth graduated from Valley and taught at the Missouri State School.

In all, the Guthreys have 14 MVC graduates in their family, including their brother, Jim, who died in a car accident in 1975. Charles and his wife, Jackie, teach at MVC now.

When their grandfather, John G. Jr., had the farm along with other family farms, he managed them and they still have an account book he kept.

"He couldn't have farmed it all himself with horses. There were too many acres. So he pretty much tenant-farmed it out," explained Kile.

Their father, Kile P., and his wife, Harriet Hoge, also an MVC graduate, came back to Saline County from East St. Louis in 1948, and started farming the family land.

"When my father came here in 1948, that's when tractors were coming out," said Kile.

"Our big tractor was an 'M' Farmall and we had a gray Ferguson 20," he said. They had two plows, which were two-bottom, 14-inch plows and an eight-foot disk.

"It took a long time to get over all that," said Kile, who said they always had a hired hand, "just to plow."

"In those days they'd plow all winter," he said, adding they would put a heat houser on the tractor to keep warm.

"When you pulled two 14s making a strip this wide, it takes a long time," he said.

Charles and Kile also remembered August days of plowing under large weeds that had grown up in wheat stubble.

"I'd have the old 'M' and we'd be plowing sunflowers under, 10 foot tall, that was before shredders," said Kile.

"Charles would be first and he could raise his plow up and shake off the weeds. And I was pulling an old trip-plow where you'd have to pull a rope. Well, he'd be plowing ahead of me and he'd back off and shake his trash off and I'd come plowing through there and he'd ball me up and I'd have to pull it clear out, get off and pull it out by hand. About the third time, me and brother had a 'visit.'"

He said they swore never to plow sunflowers under again, after their father bought a shredder.

The Guthreys also remember growing up in Miami when the town had two grocery stores, a doctor, two or three filling stations, one diner and a drugstore.

"When we were growing up in Miami, the only time we went to Marshall was Saturday morning or Sunday for dinner at grandmother's," said Kile.

"When we went to Miami R-1 school and it was fairly new, there were 250 kids out there (when they consolidated)," he said, explaining that there were smaller farms and "all kind of hired hands."

"Down in that bottom, there used to be 30 kids that lived there -- now there's not a house down there," said Kile.

They also remember trips to the doctor in Miami.

"I can remember going to a doctor here when I was a little boy. We'd go see Doc Hazard and he'd give us our shots or whatever. Then he would walk out and us boys would walk up to the counter and he would give us a soda," explained Kile.

The doctor was Hazard Sullivan, who also owned the drug store.

"The doctor's office was in the back and the drugstore was in the front," explained Charles. They said there was another Sullivan brother who was a doctor. He was called Dr. William.

The doctor also made house calls.

"I believe Jim was sick or Charles was sick -- he came out and spent the night with us. He stayed all night," said Kile.

Next year, the Guthrey family will have another farm eligible to be named a Century Farm.

Contact Marcia Gorrell at marshallag@socket.net