My Genealogy Hound

A. J. HALL is prominently identified with the real-estate interests of Sedalia, as well as other portions of the state, being actively engaged in the sale and transfer of both city property and farm lands. He has achieved wealth by his own unaided exertions, and is, in fact, a self-made man, starting out with nothing but youth in his favor. By indomitable perseverance and enterprise he worked his way upward, and is now numbered among Sedalia’s most prosperous citizens.

Mr. Hall was born near Hamilton, Canada, on the 23d of February, 1828, and is a son of Robert Hall, whose birth occurred in Genesee County, N. Y., while his paternal grandfather was a native of Ireland. The father operated a sawmill in Canada until his death, in 1833. He had married Mary Bailey, a native of the Empire State, and to them were born six children, who lived to maturity, and five are still living. The mother died in Lena, Ill., at the age of sixty -seven. The maternal grandfather, Aaron Bailey, was born in New Hampshire, but became one of the early settlers of Genesee County, N. Y., where he engaged in farming. In 1839 he removed to Stephenson County, Ill., locating on a new farm near the town of Lena, which he improved and cultivated until his death, which occurred when he had reached the age of eighty-seven.

At the age of eleven A. J. Hall left New York, going by the Lakes to Chicago, and thence by team to his grandfather’s farm near Lena, Ill., where he remained for four years. In the district schools he acquired his education, but at the age of fifteen began to clear and cultivate a tract of one hundred and twenty acres of wild land owned by his mother. He became the owner of that farm at the age of twenty-three, but when Lena was started removed to that place and began dealing in grain, which he shipped to St. Paul, Chicago and the South. He also there engaged in the dry-goods business until 1862, and was one of the first Aldermen of the city.

In that year Mr. Hall started for California over the plains with mules and horses, going by the North Platte route, via Salt Lake City and the Humboldt River. He located at San Jose, where for two years he engaged in teaming, when he entered the lumber business. In 1867 he sold out, however, and, returning to Lena, Ill., again began dealing in grain, which he followed until the fall of 1868, when he came to Missouri. After remaining in St. Louis for six months, in August, 1869, he went to Lamonte, where he built an elevator. He shipped most of his grain to St. Louis, and was engaged in the grain and lumber business for eighteen years. He still owns three large stores and two resident properties in Lamonte, besides an elevator, which has a capacity of fifteen thousand bushels. He was very successful in the grain business, and purchased about one thousand acres of land in the vicinity of Lamonte, which he operated. He also fed a large number of cattle and hogs, shipping about two hundred head of the former each year. In 1882 the yield from four hundred acres planted in corn was seventy-five bushels to the acre, and he sold the same for forty cents per bushel. Our subject laid out Hall’s Addition to Lamonte, a tract comprising twenty acres, which he has now mostly sold. He organized the Lamonte Bank, of which he became the first President, and held that office until he sold out three years later.

At Buffalo, N. Y., in 1868, Mr. Hall was united in marriage with Miss Sarah Holmes, who was born in Syracuse, that state. To them have been born two children: Olive, now Mrs. Penquite, a resident of Herington, Kan.; and Holmes, who graduated from the high school of Sedalia, in the Class of ‘95. The family now reside at their beautiful residence at the corner of Tenth Street and Lamine Avenue, in Sedalia. In addition to the property above mentioned, Mr. Hall owns a fine hotel in St. Joseph and the Commercial Hotel in Boonville.

In 1892 Mr. Hall came to this city, and now has an office in the Minter Block. He deals extensively in real estate, both in business and resident property, and also has a cattle ranch, comprising eight hundred and eighty acres in Cowley County, Kan. He has been very successful in most of his undertakings, and in business as well as social circles holds an enviable position. Besides being Mayor of Lamonte for many years, for several terms he was also a member of the City Council. For twelve years he there served as School Director, and during that entire period was President of the Board. In politics he is a Republican, and at one time ran for County Judge, but as his party was in the minority he was defeated, though only by twenty-seven votes, while the opposing party generally received a majority of four hundred. He has attended many county and state conventions, and served as Chairman of the County Republican Central Committee.