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GENEALOGY
977.8
D74H,
V.2
HISTORY
OF
SOUTHEAST MISSOURI
A Narrative Account of its Historical Progress,
Its People and its Principal Interests.
By
Robert Sidney Douglass, A. B., LL. B.
Professor of History, State Normal School, Cape Girardeau, Mo.
VOLUME II
ILLUSTRATED
Publishers :
THE LEWIS PUBLISHING COMPANY
Chicago and New York
1912
1143052
^-^
^
History of Southeast Missouri
Charles E. Gilbert. In the thriving little
city of Bonne Terre, St. Francois county, ]Mr.
Gilbert is established in the real-estate and
insurance business, and he is known as one of
the vital and progressive spirits who are put-
ting forth well directed efforts for the civic
and material upbuilding of the village and
county, where his operations in the real-estate
line have done much to conserve this end.
He is secretary of the Bonne Terre Com-
mercial Club, of which he was one of the
organizers and in the excellent activities of
which he has been one of the most influential
factors. He is well known in the county in
which he has elected to establish his home and
here his course has been such as to gain to him
the most unequivocal confidence and esteem, as
well as objective appreciation of his progi'es-
sive ideas and well defined policies for the
insurance of the industrial and commercial
advancement of Bonne Terre.
Charles E. Gilbert was bom in Clinton
county. New York, on the 22d of May, 1868,
and is the elder in a family of two children,
his brother, George A., being now a resident
of Virginia. His parents, George and Sarah
A. (Davis) Gilbert, were both born in the old
Empire st-ate, and the latter 's father, John
Davis, was a valiant soldier in the war of
1812. George Gilbert was reared on a farm
in New York state and was boi'n on the 30th
of May, 1836. As a young man he subor-
dinated all other interests to render his serv-
ices in defense of the Union, and he served
during the major part of the Civil war, in the
New York regiment commanded by General
MeCuUom. He was promoted to the office of
lieutenant and proved a gallant and faithful
.soldier. After tlie war he became a success-
ful contractor and builder at Plattsburg,
New York, and he was a man of prominence
and influence in his community, in which he
held various offices of public trust. He was
a Democrat in his political proclivities, was
affiliated with the Grand Army of the Re-
public, and both he and his wife were mem-
bers of the Methodist Episcopal church.
They continued to reside in New York state
until their death, secure in the high regard
of all who knew them.
Charles E. Gilbert very early showed an
insistent predilection for business affaix's and,
in fact, he left school when but sixteen years
of age, much against the wishes of his pa-
rents, in order to initiate his independent
career. The passing years have justified his
course and he has proved one of the world's
productive workers. From the age of six-
teen years until he attained to his legal ma-
jority he was employed in a general store at
Mooers, New York, and he then passed about
one year "on the road" as a commercial sales-
man. He then engaged in the retail grocery
business in the city of Boston, where he re-
mained about three years, at the expiration
of which he sold his business and became a
traveling representative of the wholesale
grocery house of Andrews, Barker & Brinton,
of Boston. Later he was similarly engaged
with a photographic-supply house, and in
1900 he located in the city of Chicago, where
he worked the local trade in the interests of
the Standard Oil Company, by which he was
later assigned to service in Iowa, Illinois and
Missouri. In 1909 he established his perma-
nent home at Bonne Terre, where he has
since been engaged in the real-estate and in-
surance business, in which his operations have
been constantly expanding in scope and im-
portance and to the benefit of the community
at large. He was one of the most influential
in effecting the organization of the Commer-
cial Club, of which he is secretary, and he has
done much to further its high civic ideals and
its policies for industrial and commercial
progress. In politics, while never imbued
with ambition for public office, he is aligned
as a supporter of the cause of the Demo-
714
HISTORY OF SOUTHEAST MISSOURI
eratic party, and he is affiliated with the
Independent Order of Odd Fellows, the
Elnights of Pythias and the United Commer-
cial Travelers. He attends and supports the
Methodist Episcopal church, of which Mrs.
Gilbert is a member, and both are valued
factors in the social activities of their home
community.
At the age of thirty years Mr. Gilbert was
united in marriage to Miss Nellie Condon,
and both of the children of this union are de-
ceased, the j'ounger having died in infancy
and Marion at the age of five years. The
devoted wife and mother passed away in 1904,
and in 1909 Mr. Gilbert was wedded to Miss
Ada Evans, of Bonne Terre. They have two
children, Ada Marion and Mildred Earl,
whose winsome presence lends brightness to
the family home.
Fred C. Wood. Though only twenty years
old Fred C. Wood has so complete a knowl-
edge of the mercantile business that he has
attained a position of responsibility which
would be an honor to a much older man, be-
ing manager of the Consolidated Stores and
Manufacturing Company's business in Lutes-
ville. The corporation is one of the strong-
est in the state. No fewer than sixteen stores
are owned and operated by the Consolidated
Store and Jlanufacturing Company in south-
eastern Missouri.
Jlr. Wood was born July 14, 1891, at Mine
La Motte, Missouri. His mother's maiden
name was Lucinda Miller and she, too, is a
native of Missouri. His father, Joseph
Wood, is a miner at Mine La Motte. F. C.
Wood is the second of a family of eight chil-
dren. He received his education in the public
schools of Mine La ]\Iotte and in Frederick-
town.
In 1906 he entered the employ of the Lake-
side Jlercantile Company, and remained with
that firm until 1909. The next year he ac-
cepted a position with W. P. 0 'Brien of Fred-
ericktown, dealer in gentlemen's furnishings.
Since March 1, 1911. he has had charge of
the Lutesville branch of the Consolidated
Store and Manufacturing Company's busi-
ness.
Mr. Wood was married to Miss Maude
Maze, of Fredericktown. on April 27, 1910.
The M. B. A. lodge counts I\Ir. Wood among
its members.
Robert D. Walls, who is industriously en-
gaged in the prosecution of a calling upon
which the support and wealth of our great
nation largely depends, and in which he is
meeting with pronounced success, has been a
resident of Senath or its vicinity since the
fall of 1874, when he came with his parents to
Dunklin county. He was born, ^March 22,
I860, in Gibson county, Tennessee, on a farm,
and as a boy had few opportunities to obtain
an education. Soon after the family settled
in Dunklin county, Jlissouri, ilr. Walls's fa-
ther died, and a few year later, about 1881,
his mother also passed to the life beyond.
After the death of his mother Mr. Walls en-
gaged in farming on his own account, rent-
ing land not far from his present homestead,
and there lived for about two years after his
first marriage. Buj'ing then forty acres of
his present property on credit, he devoted
himself to the improvement of his land, re-
deeming a farm from the forest. Meeting
with encouraging success in his imdertakings,
he has since bought other tracts of wild land,
buying first another forty-acre tract adjoin-
ing his first purchase, and five years later
adding eight.y acres on the same side of the
road. He subsequently bought eighty acres
on the opposite side of the street, and forty
acres in Honej' Cypress slough, and has now
an estate of two hundred and forty acres, all
of which is cleared, mainly through his own
efforts, as the land was in its pristine wild-
ness when he assumed its possession.
Although the southern part of Dunklin
county, in which Senath is located, is princi-
pally a corn and cotton country, Mr. Walls
makes a specialty of breeding fine stock, for
which he raises the feed, and in addition he
owns a threshing machine and a hay baler,
and in operating these, and in the breeding
of fine horses, he has formed a wide ac-
quaintance throughout southeastern Missouri,
and has a large circle of warm friends.
Mr. Walls has made improvements of note
on his home farm, having a barn ninety-six
by one hundi-ed four feet, the largest in this
part of the state, while his commodious
twelve-room house has its own water works,
and is lighted by acetylene gas from his own
plant. He makes a specialty of raising a su-
perior grade of stock, keeping ten head of
cattle, fifty horses and mules, and forty hogs,
raising sufficient hay and corn for feeding
purposes. Politically 'Sir. Walls is a stanch
Democrat. Fraternallv he is a member of
Senath Lodge, No. 513, A. F. & A. M.; of
Caruth Lodge, I. 0. 0. F.-, and of Senath
HISTORY OF SOUTHEAST 5IISS0URI
•15
Lodge, M. W. A. Religiously he belongs to
the Christian church.
]\Ir. Walls has been three times married.
He married first, in 1SS2, in Dunklin county,
Lutie Brooks, who died in early womanhood,
leaving one child, Hettie, who is married and
lives on the home farm. He married for his
second wife Mary Wells, who at her death
left three children, namely: Alvin, Fred and
Charles. Mr. Walls married, November 26,
1902, Belle Keeth, and to them three children
have been born, namely : Pearlie, Lester and
Bertha.
William Bray. Madison county, IMissouri,
has been and is signally favored in the class
of men who have contributed to its develop-
ment along commercial and agricultural lines,
and in the latter connection William Bray
demands recognition, as he has passed prac-
tically his entire active career in farming
operations. At present, in 1911, he is living
retired, but he has long been known as a
prosperous and enterprising agriculturist, —
one whose business methods demonstrate the
power of activity and honesty in the busi-
ness world. He is the owner of a fine farm
of two hundred and twelve acres, eligibly
located two and a half miles northeast of
Frederiekto^vn, where he has resided for the
past forty-two years.
William Bray was Ijorn in Lincoln county,
Tennessee, the date of his nativity being the
2d of November, 1842. He is a son of Andrew
and Elizabeth (Brown) Bray, who came to
Perry county, I\Iissouri, in 1854, and who
settled in iladison county, this state, in 1857,
locating, in the latter year, on a farm near
Fredericktown. where they resided during the
residue of their lives. The mother died in
1S63. at the age of sixty years, and the father
passed to the life eternal in 1895. at the age
of eighty-six years. Andrew Bray was a son
of Peter Bray, a native of North Carolina,
whence he removed to Lincoln county, Ten-
nessee, as a young man, there residing until
his death. Elizabeth (Brown) Bray was born
in North Carolina and \vas a daughter of John
Brown, who. .journeyed to Tennessee in an
early day. Mr. and i\Irs. Andrew Bray be-
came the parents of eight children, of whom
two are living, in 1911, namely, — Iradel, who
is a retired miner and who lives in Euba
county. California ; and William, the imme-
diate subject .of this review. Concerning
those who are deceased, — Joseph, James and
Carroll married sisters and became farmers.
residing in Missouri until their respective
deaths; John was long a merchant at King's
store, Bollinger county, Missouri, and two
children, a boy and a girl, died in Perry
county.
Mr. Bray, of this notice, was twelve years
of age at the time of his parents' removal to
Missouri, where he was reared to maturity, his
early educational discipline consisting of such
privileges as were afforded in the public
schools of Perry and iladison counties. He
grew up under the invigorating influence of
the old homestead farm, in the work and
management of which he early began to assist
his father. As a young man he launched out
into farming enterprises on his own account,
settling on an estate two and half miles north-
east of Fredericktown. With the passage of
time he became decidedly prosperous and he
is now the owner of a finely improved estate
of two hundred and twelve acres, the same be-
ing now operated by his children. He is
strictly self-made and the fine, substantial
buildings in the midst of well cultivated fields
are the best indications of the practical ability
and industry of the owner. Most of his atten-
tion has been devoted to diversified agricult-
ure and the raising of high-grade stock. He
• served for one year as a member of Jeff
Thompson's command. White's battalion, of
the State Guards, in the Confederate army, ac-
quitting himself with all of honor and dis-
tinction as a soldier.
In the year 1868 was solemnized the mar-
riage of ]\Ir. Bray to Miss Rebecca Gosney, a
daughter of Dr. James H. Gosney and ilel-
vina (Burdett) Gosney, long representative
citizens of Fredericktown. Dr. and Mrs. Gos-
ney reared a large family of children, of
whom ]Mrs. Bray is the only survivor, she be-
ing sixty-three years of age, in 1911. Dr.
W. H. Gosney. a brother of Mrs. Bray, was
engaged in the practice of medicine at Fred-
ericktown for a number of years and he was
a gallant soldier in the Confederate army, as
was also J. Franklin Gosney, who died in
young manhood. Mrs. Bray's father was a
native of Virginia, whence he migrated to
Jladison county. Missouri, at an early da}\
and for a number of years he conducted a
drug store at Fredericktown. Mr. and 'Sirs.
Bray became the parents of seven children, as
follows, — Elizabeth is the widow of Frank
Price and she resides at the parental home;
Jennie died as a young girl ; Josie is the wife
of R. W. Howard and they reside on the home
farm: Maggie is ^Mrs. H. C. Horn, her hus-
716
HISTORY OF SOUTHEAST MISSOURI
band being a blacksmith at Fredericktown ;
James, who operates part of the Bray home-
stead, wedded Elizabeth Gregory ; Willis, who
is teaching chemistry iu the normal school at
Kirksville, Missouri, was graduated in the
University of Missouri, in 1909, and he mar-
ried iliss Virginia Graham, a daughter of the
late John Graham and a niece of N. B.
Graham, a sketch of whose career appears
elsewhere in this volume ; and Ezel died at
twelve years of age.
In politics Mr. Bray is aligned as a stanch
supporter of the cause of the Democratic
party, and while he has never been incum-
bent of any public office he has often been
urged to run for county judge and other im-
portant offices. His religious views coincide
with the teachings of the Christian church,
in whose faith he has reared his children and
to whose philanthropical work he is a gener-
ous contributor. Mr. Bray has lived a life of
usefulness such as few men know. God-
fearing, law-abiding, progressive, his life is as
truly that of a Christian gentleman as any
man's can well be. Unwaveringly he has
done the right as he has interpreted it. Pos-
sessed of an inflexible will, he is quietly per-
sistent, always in command of his powers and
never showing anger under any circum-
stances. In every sense of the word he is well
deserving of the unalloyed confidence and
esteem accorded him by his fellow citizens.
Daniel R. Rench. The history of a nation
is nothing more than a history of the individ-
uals comprising it, and as they are character-
ized by loftier or lower ideals, actuated by
the spirit of ambition or indifference, so it
is with a state, county or town. Success along
any line of endeavor would never be properly
appreciated if it came with a single effort and
unaccompanied by some hardships, for it is
the knocks and bruises in life that make suc-
cess taste so sweet. The failui-es accentuate
the successes, thus making recollections of the
former as dear as those of the latter for hav-
ing been the stepping-stones to achievement.
The career of Daniel R. Rench, who is a self-
made man in the most significant sense of the
word, but accentuates the fact that success is
bound to come to those who .join brains with
ambition and are willing to work. For the
past two years Mr. Rench has been a prom-
inent and influential citizen of Cape Gir-
ardeau, where he has extensive interests in the
Riverside Lumber Company.
Daniel R. Rench was born in Bond county,
Illinois, the date of his nativity being the 8th
of June, 1862. He is a son of Daniel and
Savannah (Woodland) Rench, both of whom
were born and reared in Germany, where was
solemnized their marriage and whence they
immigrated to the United States at an early
day. Mr. and Mrs. Daniel Rench became the
parents of nine children, of whom the subject
of this review was the fourth in order of
birth. After arrival in this country the
Rench family located in Bond count}', Illi-
nois, whei-e the father turned his attention to
farming operations and where he passed the
closing years of his life, his demise having
occurred about 1865, at which time Daniel R.
was a child of but three years of age. Being
thus early bereft of parental care and guid-
ance he was placed in the home of an Ameri-
can family to be reared and educated. So
badly was he treated in this family of strang-
ers that he soon ran away from home and be-
gan to shift for himself. His early educa-
tional training consisted of the most meager
advantages, three months representing the en-
tire period of his actual schooling. When
fourteen j-ears of age he began to work in a
lumber yard in Illinois, where he became
thoroughly familiar with the ins and outs of
that line of enterprise. Among other things
he learned bookkeeping and to-day he is an
expert accountant. For a time after reach-
ing manhood he was in the lumber and hard-
ware business at Raymond, Illinois, where he
was a heavy stockholder in the E. R. Darling-
ton Lumber Company. In 1908 Mr. Rench
disposed of his interests in Illinois and came
westward to Missouri, locating at Cape Girar-
deau, where he is now a member of the firm
which conducts a large and prospex'ous build-
ing-material business, under the firm name of
the Riverside Lumber Company. This con-
cern is one of the important business enter-
prises in this city and one of its best assets is
the substantial and wholly reliable character
of its managers. Mr. Rench is possessed of
remarkable executive ability and tremendous
vitality, both of which qualities have been
such important factors in his rise to promi-
nence and influence in the business world of
Cape Girardeau.
In the year 1887 Mr. Rench married Miss
Eliza Costley, who was born and reared at
Raymond, Illinois, and who is a daughter of
William and Maria (Mayz) Costley. Mr. and
Mrs. Rench have three children, concerning
whom the following brief data are here in-
corporated,— Lelia May is the wife of Ed
HISTORY OF SOUTHEAST MISSOURI
717
Hendricks, of Carlton, Illinois; Walter E.;
and Elma Drueille, who is bookkeeper for the
Riverside Lumber Company.
While not greatly interested in politics Mr.
Rench exercises his franchise in favor of the
Republican party and he is a liberal contribu-
tor to all measures and enterpi-ises forwarded
for progress and development. In a fraternal
way he is affiliated with the Independent
Order of Odd Fellows and in their religious
faith the family are stanch Presbyterians.
Mr. Rench was originally a German Baptist,
a branch of the Lutheran church.
Griffin Watkins. Among the newer cit-
izenship of Washington is Griffin Watkins,
who in the short time of his residence here
has manifested certain traits and ideals which
made him a distinct acquisition from the civic
and social viewpoint, as well as the business,
and it is consistent with the purpose of this
volume that a resume of Ins life and achieve-
ments be incorporated in this volume. He is
superintendent of the Washington factory of
the Roberts, Johnson & Rand Shoe Company
of St. Louis, and he has been identified with
the state since February, 1907, when he went
to St. Louis. A few months later he was
placed in charge of the Washington factory
of the above house and has ever since served
them here.
Mr. Watkins is still a young man, his birth
having occurred in Nashville. Tennessee, Feb- .
ruary 13, 1877. He is a son of W. E. Wat-
kins, a farmer of Davidson county of the Big
Bend state. The senior Watkins was born
in that locality, as was also the grandfather,
W. E. Watkins, Sr., who was a pioneer or
at least one of that early company's immediate
successors. The subject's maternal ancestors,
the Cockrills, were likewise early Tennesseans.
The grandather married Jane Cockrill and
their large estate was operated by slave labor,
in fact, the family in ante-bellum days was a
successful and affluent one. The Watkins
family, it is scarcely necessary to state, be-
lieved in the supreme right of the states to
sever their connection with the national gov-
ernment, and Mr. Watkins' father served un-
der the flag of the Confederacy in the First
Tennessee Regiment of Infantry. The mother
of the subject was Miss Jennie G. Griffin
and she and her husband reared their fam-
ily of seven children to lives of industry and
usefulness in the free and open atmosphere
of the country about Nashville, and there Mr.
Watkins died in 1892, at the age of forty-
eight, while his widow survived until 1911.
The surviving children are as follows: Hor-
ton, who is one of the superintendents of
the St. Louis factory of the Johnson, Roberts
& Rand Shoe Company, and also one of its
board of directors; Mrs. W. H. Moulton, of
St. Louis; the Misses Jane, Rachel and May
Watkins, of St. Louis ; Mrs. Frank Miller, of
^Memphis, Tennessee ; and Griffin Watkins, the
immediate subject of this review.
The common schools in the vicinity of the
cities of Nashville and Memphis afforded
Griffin Watkins his preliminary education
and he subsequently took a commercial course
in these places. His business life almost
from the first has been in connection with
the shoe trade and when a veiy young man
he entered a shoe factory in Memphis. His
first employment was of the primary kind
and as an employe in the office and in
the packing-room. He subsequently was
advanced through the different departments,
becoming familiar with the various details,
and, proving faithful and efficient in small
things, he was given more and more to do.
His Jlemphis employers were the Goodbar
Company and he went from them to the
Tennessee Shoe Manufacturing Company
at Nashville, where he worked in the finish-
ing room. From this factory he went to
Eddyville, Kentucky, and took a position
with the Kentucky Shoe Company as super-
intendent of the factory. Leaving there
he came to the Roberts, Johnson & Rand Com-
pany, where his fortunes have been of the
highest character.
Mr. Watkins has never lost his liking for
the rural life of his boyhood and he spends
his vacations in the country, enjoying the
sports of rod and gun and liking nothing
better than indulgence in a little farming.
He owns a small farm in the Missouri river
bottom, near Washington, and his vacation
period finds him engaged in its supervision.
He is unmarried. He fraternizes with the
order of Elks and holds membership in the
Missouri Athletic Club.
Thomas Wilson Cooper. Prominent in the
community both as a representative of that
great basic industry and as a former mem-
ber of the state legislature, in which he suc-
cessfully stood for the best interest of Bol-
linger county in the period included between
the years 1900 and 1904, is Thomas W.
Cooper. Bollinger county is particularly for-
tunate in possessing as citizens a great many
ns
HISTORY OF SOUTHEAST MISSOURI
native sons, it being generally conceded that
the greatest compliment a man may pay to a
section is to elect to remain permanently with-
in its borders, and among those who iind
the county's charms and advantages superior
to those of other places is the subject. He was
born here on the 4th day of January, 1850,
and is the son of Kiuion and Charity (Rash)
Cooper, natives of Tennessee and Alabama,
respectively. The paternal grandparents
were Raford and Mary (Frasure) Cooper, na-
tives of North Carolina, and they came with
their families to Bollinger county in 1845 and
took up government land. Here the subject's
parents were married and reared a family of
six children, the other members being : Kinion,
of Arkansas; John 21., of Bollinger county,
Missouri ; Amanda Jane, wife of D. M. Robins,
of this county ; Elizabeth, wife of E. JI. IMyers,
and Polly Ann, wife of R. C. Aker, all of
this county.
Mr. Cooper was reared upon the farm and
like most farmer's sons early became fam-
iliar with the manifold labors that make up
an agriculturist's life. The mysteries of
seed-time and harvest were revealed to him
and when not seated behind his desk in the
district school room or engaging in such boy-
ish sports as fell to his share he was learn-
ing to become a farmer. In 1871, the year
in which he attained to his majority, he made
an independent start in life and rented a
farm which he operated. In 1876 he found
himself in a position to purchase eighty
acres of land, near Grassy, Bollinger county.
Of this he eventually disposed and bought
two hundred and fifty-eight acres of land
in this locality. — his present homestead.
This is a valuable property and has been
brought to a high state of improvement by
the diligence and executive ability of its
owner. In addition to general farming, Mr.
Cooper raises high grade stock with great
success and has at present four head of
horses, ten head of cattle, twenty-five head
of hogs and fifty head of sheep.
Mr. Cooper is distinguished for an un-
blemished record as a man and a citizen, and
in mark of the strong hold he has gained
upon the esteem of the community was his
election to the lower house of the ^Missduri
state legislature. He was elected in 1900
and reelected in 1902. and Bollinger countv
was well represented during that time. He
advocates the policies and principles of the
Republican party, having loyally supported
them since his earliest voting days.
Mr. Cooper laid the foundation of an
ideally happy marriage when, in 1871, Miss
Sarah E. Myers, daughter of Ephraim and
Senia (Lyrley) ilyers, natives of Missouri
and Illinois, respectively, became his wife.
They have a family of seven children, three
being sons and four daughters. Mary, born
in 1871, married Jacob Hammock; Charles
jMonroe was born in 1875; Theodosia Isabel,
born in 1875, is the wife of Charles Deck;
Levi Frank, born in 1877, married Isadora
ilcKelvy; T. Andrew was born in 1884;
Rosa, born in 1886, is the wife of George
Smith ; Eva Josephine, born in 1888, married
J. E. Haynes.
Mr. Cooper is a member of the Masonic
order and exemplifies in his own living its
ideas of moral and social justice and broth-
erly love. He is affiliated with the General
Baptist church, and he has been a minister
of this denomination for more than thirty
j-ears past.
David Huddlestox Moore is proud to con-
sider himself a farmer, and it is such men
as he that elevate the farming profession. He
possesses many natural abilities and he has
cultivated each one most carefully, so that
to-day there is no man in the county who is
more universally respected. He has done
much for the county and in particular for his
own to\^^lship. He is not one of the meu who
. believe that any fool can farm ; he knows that
it takes brains to get out of the soil all that is
possible. He has educated himself by study
and reading very largely since he left school,
realizing that knowledge is the most perma-
nent capital a man can have. It is some-
thing that is useful to him in any walk of life,
not only helping him to earn dollars and
cents, but giving him the satisfaction which
comes from simply knowing things. There
are men who are ignorant and do not know
it ; they have a contempt for education. Such
men are hopeless and it is no use trying to
do anything with them. There are others
who know little and are ashamed of it, but
they have not enough get-up about them to
chanee afl'airs. There are others who. like
Mr. IMoore. have lost no opportunities to ac-
Ouire knowledge as they went alons throusrh
life. Such men are bound to succeed, as has
Mr. Moore.
David Huddleston Moore was born at '^"est
Prairie. Dunklin countv. Missouri. Julv 10.
18.32. Hp is the son of Howard and Tabithn
(Reid") jMoore. both of whom were born in
HISTORY OF SOUTHEAST MISSOURI
'19
Virginia, where tliey were educated and mar-
ried. For a few years after their marriage
they lived in Virginia, coming to ^Missouri in
1830, After spending a year in Grand Prai-
rie they came to West Prairie, settling near
to the place that is now called Kennett. ;\Ir.
Moore bought the place from the old Indian
chief, Chille-de-Kaw, and lived in his house,
which stood about a quarter of a mile east of
the Frisco depot. The old chief stayed about
for two or three years, which naturally led
to there being many Indians in the neighbor-
hood. They lived in houses made of peeled
cypress bark, and roofs made of bark and
the walls built sloping, ilr. iloore finally
entered his land for the fort, going to Jack-
son to the land office. He died on this same
farm in 1863, when more than sixty years old,
his wife having died in 1861, They had eight
children, of whom only one is living now. The
eldest son, Jesse Pulaski, died in Dunklin
county at the age of fifty. William Sexton
died in Dunklin county also at the age of
fifty, John died in Dunklin county when he
was seventy years old. He served as consta-
ble for several years. Martha Elizabeth Jane
married Daniel J. Owens and died in Dunk-
lin county. Susan Claxton mai'ried Thomas
Varner and died in Arkansas. Mary married
Anderson Shepard and died in Dunklin
county. All of the sons were farmers.
David is the only surviving son of his par-
ents. He was the second white child who was
born in Dunklin county and as such he was
awarded premiums at fairs. The first white
child born in the county was Thomas Niel,
who is now dead, David has a vivid recollec-
tion of the Indian squaws who used to visit
his mother when he was a child. They wore
nose rings and tremendous ear bobs; their
faces were covered with paint and altogether
they presented such a frightful aspect that
David was terrified. His father u.sed to tell
stories about the Indians, and in particular
David remembers as if it were yesterday, the
story of one big Indian who would tell in the
morning the game he would kill that day and
when night came he would always produce
the game indicated. The men of his tribe be-
gan to suspect that he was possessed of a
devil or that he exercised witchcraft. They
put him on trial, convicted him and he was
executed in the following way — twelve men
were selected, each with a gun in his hand, six
of which were loaded and six not, the owners
of the guns not knowing themselves whether
the guns thev held were the loaded ones or
not. The twelve men all pulled the triggers
at once on a given signal, while the poor In-
dian ran to escape if he could. Naturally no
escape was possible; he fell dead, no one
knowing whose shot had killed him. His body
was not permitted to be touched, but lay
where it fell until it rotted and was eaten by
worms. David's father saw the body until
it was entirely obliterated. Thus David's
childhood was passed in the midst of scenes
that he has never forgotten. He went to the
school in the neighborhood and then helped
his father on the farm. When he was twen-
ty-one years old he left the home farm and
bought some land a mile and a half north-
east of Kennett, paying a dollar and a quar-
ter an acre for the wild land. He put one
hundred and sixty acres under cultivation
and forty-one years later he sold it at twenty
dollars an acre. It is now one of the best
farms in the county, all tillable land. Some
time after he had made the purchase of this
land he bought six hundred acres of land on
the two mile island, paying five dollars an
acre. Of this he has put two hundred and
forty acres under cultivation and has sold
half of his first holdings of six hundred acres.
Of the two hundred and forty acres which he
retained, his sons are on a part and he has the
rest for himself. He has thus placed about four
hundred acres of the southeastern ilissouri
soil under cultivation. He is now no longer
actively engaged in the management of his
land, but lives a retired life at Kennett. For
many years he operated cotton gins and him-
self built one in Kennett. He also operaled
saw mills very extensively. He was a nat-
ural mechanic and if he had chosen anythijig
in that line as his life work he would have
made as decided a success as he has as a cul-
tivator of the land. It was his pleasure to
set up his own machinery. At one time he
was asked by W. F. Shelton to go to St. Louis
and select an engine for him, at which time
he gave the maker of engines a few ideas that
were entirely new to them and were very val-
uable hints in regard to engines and boilers.
At one time the owner of a new engine said
that his engine must go back to the factory, as
it would not operate. Mr. ]\Ioore looked it
over and in a few minutes had located the
trouble and had the engine in shape for op-
erating. David was always very devoted to
his father and wi.shed to do as the old man
would have him, but at the same time he felt
that he must act according to his conscience.
His father was a secessionist, but David stood
720
HISTORY OF SOUTHEAST MISSOURI
by the side of his father and cast his vote for
the Union. He was not prepared to go as
far as to believe in freeing the slaves, how-
ever, at that time. His father had owned
slaves and had always treated them with the
greatest consideration. Mr. Moore is not a
Republican but is a staunch believer in the
Union.
Mr. Moore is now living with his fifth wife,
he being her third husband. He was first
married, March 24, 1853, before he was twen-
ty-one years old, to .Clarissa Sparlock, who
left two children, Mary, who died when she
was eight years old. and Wesley, a farmer in
Dunklin county. His second wife was Eliza
Sands, a widow. Next he married Miss Hes-
ter Ezel, who bore him four children : Mar- .
garet, who died young ; Robert, who also died
young; Curtis, who is a farmer iu Dunklin
county; and Laura, who married Thomas
Story, of Kennett. David's fourth wife was
the widow Beckwith, to whom no children
were born. His present wife's maiden name
was Anna Catherine Haggard and she was
born in Chattanooga, Tennessee. When she
was twelve years old she came to Dunklin
county with her parents, in 18.58. Her father
was Harland and her mother was Raehael
Shelton before she was married. They set-
tled at Brown's Ferry, where Mr. Haggard
worked as a brick mason. He died at the age
of fifty-one years and his widow also died at
fifty-one years of age. Their daughter. Anna
Catherine, married when she was sixteen
years of age James Bird, with whom she lived
for sixteen years and four children were born
to them, as follows: Harland Bird, who
married Fannie Campbell ; Ellen, who be-
came the wife of David Moore, junior,
nephew of David IMoore of Kennett ; and the
other two children died when they were in-
fants. Mrs. Bird then married Elias Jordan,
by whom she had two children, Lulu, who
died at the age of nine years, and Wesley
Jordan, who now lives at Sacramento, Cal-
ifornia. She then married Mr. Moore, with
whom she has been living for thirty-two years
of wedded life. Two children were born to
her and Mr. Moore: Eva. who married first
Summers Burnett of Kennett and later mar-
ried Gus Knocker of Texas, and Samantha.
who is now the wife of Dr. A. S. Harrison, of
Kennett.
Although Mr. Moore was brought up in
the Methodist ehiirch, his views accord with
those held by the little body of Disciples. He
is a man who has lived a life well worth liv-
ing; he can look back over the years and
think of the many worthy acts he has ac-
complished, of his family relations, of his
social connections, of his work on the land
and he cannot help feeling that it has all
been worth while, that he has lived to some
purpose in the world, having served his
Maker and his fellows to the best of his
ability.
William A. Southern. In all Dunklin
county there is no farmer who is better
known than Will A. Southern, president and
general manager of the Farmers' Gin Com-
pany. Not only is he prominent among the
farmers of the community, but he has a very
high standing with the various fraternal
orders with which he is affiliated in various
important connections. In any capacity he
is a man fitted to lead and to bring things to
pass, as a brief review of his life will clearly
show.
William A. Southern was born in Tennes-
see, that state to which so many Missouri
farmers owe their birth, and he first made
his appearance on the scene August 8, 1854,
on a farm in Wayne county. His father,
Peter Southern, was also a native of that
state, where he received his education, mar-
ried Elizabeth Midkiff and became one of the
flourishing farmers of the section, where he
had a large cotton plantation. When the war
broke out conditions in the south were much
unsettled and the farmers all found their re-
sources greatly depleted, with no prospect
of any immediate betterment. Peter South-
ern lingered in the old home, hoping for bet-
ter times, but in 1876 decided to try farming
in ilissouri. He therefore sold his farm for
what it would bring and moved to Stoddard
county, Missouri, where he bought a tract
near Bernie and lived until his death, in 1889.
He never felt that he had made very much
headway in Missouri and when he died
his widow returned to Tennessee, the home
of her girlhood, where she resided some
years, but is now living with her son Will at
Kennett. Missouri.
All of the early years of William South-
ern's life were spent in his native state,
where he received his education and as a
young man was married. He moved from
Wayne to Lake county, but he did not feel
that he had made a permanent settlement
there. In 1885 he followed his father to
Missouri, locating near Maiden, and for four
years took practically full charge of the
HISTORY OF SOUTHEAST .AHSSOURI
721
farm -wliieli he purchased. "When his father
died he yielded to his mother's solicitations
to return to Tennessee; disposed of the farm
and went back to his native state, where he
engaged in the mercantile business. One
year was sufficient to convince Mr. Southern
that he was not adapted to commercial life,
and again he pulled up his stakes and re-
turned to Missom-i. He had liked the out-
look that he had obtained of the agricultural
possibilities in that state and he felt that it
offered opportunities for success. Three
years after he had left ilissouri he returned
to the state, and in 1892 located at Caruth,
Dunklin countj-. For six years he farmed at
Caruth, at the end of which period he took
up his residence on the homestead which he
occupied until removing to Kennett in
August, 1911. His success has been steady
since that time, so that now he is farming
two hundred and sixty-five acres, two hun-
dred and two and a half acres of which he
owns himself, having practically dug the
whole farm out of the forest and brought it
under cultivation. When Mr. Southern first
came to Missouri there were no patent cot-
ton planters in all of Dunklin county; he
had been accustomed to the methods of rais-
ing cotton as practiced in Tennessee, and he
introduced the cotton planter on Grand
Prairie, by which act he first brought himself
into prominence in the county. In addition
to his farming enterprise Mr. Southern has
a controlling interest in the Farmers' Gin
Company, of which he is the president and
general manager, as mentioned above : he
also owns nine or ten houses and lots in Ken-
nett, as the result of his successful farming
since he came to ilissouri. He is a member
of the Farmers' Union and in connection
with this organization and also through the
introduction of the cotton planter. Mr.
Southern has been all over the county and
there is scarcely a farmer who does not know
him.
While Mr. Southern was living in Tennes-
see he married Miss Sarah Cartwright, of
Decatur county, where the marriage was
solemnized. To this union six children were
born, of whom three are living: Lawrence,
Mamie and Flora. In 1896. soon after he
came to Caruth. Missouri, he married ]\Iiss
Etta Reynolds, to whom were born Beckham
and Lusetie, who are living, besides three
deceased, two in infancy and one who be-
came the wife of John Jones.
Although Mr. Southern is a stanch Demo-
crat, he has never had any aspirations for
political honors ; he is desirous of seeing the
country prosper and is ready to do his part
towarcls that end, so that, with no wish to
thrust himself forward, he is at present the
incumbent of several offices. He is overseer
of roads in District No. 45, which office he
has filled for several years. He has always
been interested in education and has been
director of schools since 1901 and clerk of
schools for the same period. If Mr. South-
ern were not so prominent a farmer we
should think of him as a lodge man, as he be-
longs to seven fraternal orders and has won
distinction in all of them. He is a member
of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows;
of the Rebekahs; of the Knights of Pythias
lie being now the highest officer in his
lodge; of the ilodern Woodmen of America,
and also the highest officer in that lodge.
He is a member of the Knights of the Macca-
bees and of the Star of Bethlehem, being
general organizer of the latter in Dunklin
county. He is also affiliated with the Tribe
of Ben Hur lodge at Kennett, this being the
largest lodge of the order in Missouri, for
which Mr. Southern is to a large extent re-
sponsible, he having aroimd six hundred
members. Although ilr. Southern has been
in Dunklin county a comparatively short
time, he has, nevertheless, become a man of
prominence, not because he has shown any
desire to push himself forward, but by rea-
son of his strong personality. He is a pub-
lic-spirited man who has identified himself
with the interests of Dimklin county and is
doing all in his power for its improvement.
David Peatt Goff, an enterprising mer-
chant of Flat River, has had a successful
career, and his personal record properly be-
longs in the history of soixtheastern i\Iissouri,
where his family have lived for many years.
He was born at Valley ilines, ^Missouri, Sep-
tember 4, 1872. His father, David Daniel
Goff, who was born in 1837 and died April
21, 1888, was a highly respected citizen. Fur-
ther details concerning the family will be
found on other pages in the sketch of James
L. Goff. Of the nine children, five are living,
and David P. was the fifth in order of birth.
Mr. Golf's early years were spent in Jef-
ferson county, and the family home was
moved to DeSoto from Valley ]\Iiues in 1881,
After completing his education in the DeSoto
public schools, he apprenticed himself to a
machinist and learned and followed the trade
722
HISTORY OF SOUTHEAST MISSOURI
until 1898. In that year he engaged in the
mercantile business at DeSoto, and was one
of the well known merchants of that town un-
til he established the Goff Mercantile Com-
pany's branch at Flat River in February,
1909. He still has interests at DeSoto. the
store at that place being managed by his
brother William G.
In politics ]Mr. Goff is a Democrat and dur-
ing his residence in DeSoto was a member
of the city council. He is a member of the
Methodist Episcopal church. South, and af-
filiates with the Masonic order, the Royal Ar-
canum and the Modern Woodmen of America.
On Christmas day of 1897 he married Miss
Etta Cai-rie McClain, of Valley Mines, Mis-
souri. They have three children : Irene,
Charles and James.
James Houston Doris. Life is a voyage,
in the progress of which we are perpetually
changing our scenes. James Houston Doris
has arrived at a port where he can stop and
look back at the part of the voyage that has
passed. He has seen the good and the evil
that are in the world, the ups and the downs,
and he has learned to be uncensorious. hu-
mane. He has learned to attribute the best
motives to every action and to be charj' of.
imputing a sweeping and cruel blame. He
has no finger of scorn to point at anything
under the sun. Along with this pleasant
blandness and charity there is a certain
grave, serious humor. From this same port
he can see an expanse of waters covered with
a mist. If there are rocks ahead he cannot
see them : if there are whirlpools he hopes to
be able to avoid them by steering his boat
with the same steady hand which has been
his salvation in the past.
James Houston Doris (leaving all meta-
phor on one side) was born at Dixon, Web-
ster county, Kentucky-, Jlarch 3, 1868. His
father, Marion Francis Doris, was born in
Kontuckv', where he .spent all of his life.
He was a farmer and died when James was
about two years old. Mr. Marion Francis
Doris had married Sarah E. Jlorgan. a na-
tive of Kentucky', by whom he had one child.
After his death Mrs. Doris married another
Kentucky gentleman. William Price. Three
children were born to this marriage, all of
whom are living with their mother in Reyn-
olds county, I\Iissouri.
James has no remembrance of his father,
who died when he was only two years old,
but he does remember his Kentuckv home
and the school where he was educated until
he was sixteen years old. At that time he
came to southeastern Missouri, located in
Shannon county, and he took up the study
of law. In 1896 he was admitted to the bar,
practicing in Shannon county, at Winona,
until 1907. He then came to Cape Girar-
deau, where he has been in practice ever
since. He is a staunch Republican and has
been most active in political matters. While
he was in Winona he was mayor of the city
for two terms, serving four years in all. On
November 8, 1910, he was elected prosecut-
ing attorney on the Republican ticket, having
held that position ever since. He has a good
general practice in Cape Girardeau.
In tlie year 1880 he married Theresa E.
Helvery of Reynolds county, Missouri, since
when five children have been born to the
union. Their names are Seth A.. George M.,
ilike L., James H. and Rosco C, all having
been born in southeastern ilissouri and are
unusually healthy and strong. The youngest
is only fourteen years old and weighs a
hundred and fifty pounds without his
clothes. The other boys are equally well
developed.
]Mr. Doris is a member of the Independent
Order of Odd Fellows and of the Eagles of
Cape Girardeau, being very popular in both
of these organizations. His family is very
well known in this part of the state, i\Ir.
Doris being prominent in all matters con-
cerning the welfare of his adopted state. On
the other hand, he is a man who is greatly
appreciated in the community, both on ac-
count of the things he has done and because
of what he himself is.
William H. Daffron. Plan's first occupa-
tion in the evolution from the barbarian
stage to civilization, and his best, according
to many, since it has ever tended to endow
its sons with physical strength and moral
power, agriculture has in AYilliam H. Daffron,
of Wayne county, one more representative
to prove these points.
He was born in Georgia. February 8. 1847.
the son of another worthy tiller of the soil.
Smith Daffron. He was a native of South
Carolina, his birth having occurred in 1819,
and he died at the age of fifty-three years.
His first wife, the mother of William H., was
Elizabeth (Chasteen) Daffron. a native of
Georgia, and they were also the parents of
iMary E.. now the wife of Hiram Kimes, of
Reynolds county, and six other children, now
HISTORY OF SOUTHEAST MISSOURI
723
deceased. On the 19th of Juh'. 1859, he was
again married, his bride being Miss Elizabeth
Gilbert, now the widow of "William Stokley,
and a resident of Greenville, and they became
the parents of three children, of whom two
are now living, namely: Isaac N. Daffron,
of Greenville, and Thomas E., of Piedmont,
^Missouri.
In 1857, feeling the impulse to essay farm-
ing in the territory further west, the elder
]\Ir. Daffron removed with his family to Mis-
souri, locating on McKenzie's creek, two miles
north of Piedmont. At that site he purchased
three hundred and twenty acres of land and
an unfinished water power grist mill, which
he subsequently finished and operated. He
was further equipped for life in that he was
a carpenter by trade, and together with an-
other mechanic he is said to have built most
of the first churches and sehoolhouses in that
neighborhood. He is a devout member of the
Baptist church, and used his ballot in behalf
of the candidates nominated by the Demo-
cratic party, whose loj^al advocate he was.
His feon, William H. Daffron, whose name
forms the caption of this brief sketch, was
reared amid the vicissitudes of early Mis-
souri farm life, and received but little op-
portunity to attend the schools of the district.
He was the eldest son and second child in the
family, and unlike the pleasant lot of the eld-
est son under English regimes, the first born
of the frontier farmer early came to share
all of the earnest labors of the farmer who
reaps a worthy harvest. He also learned the
miller's trade, and following his father's
death, while he was still in his eighteenth
year, he managed both mill and farm until
the second marriage of his step-mother, after
which event the family property was sold.
Mr. Daffron, in 1878, married Jane Fulton,
who was born in Wayne county, one mile
southeast of Patterson, the daughter of James
Fulton, from Virginia and an early settler
in Wayne county. Seven children were the
issue of this union, of whom three survive,
namely: Malinda, wife of M. E. Xokes, a
resident of Texas; Elizabeth, wife of Adolph
Nokes, and a resident of Texas; and Alice,
who also makes her present home in the Lone
Star state. Mrs. Jane Daffron died in 1886,
at the age of about thirty yeacs.
]\Irs. Orpha (Warren) Deft, the widow of
William Deft and by him the mother of two
children, namely: JMaud, who became the
wife of Clinton Patterson of Piedmont; and
Blanch, wife of John Stockton of Wayne
county, became the second wife of William
Daffron, and they are now the parents of two
children, of whom they may well be proud,
Nannie and Alphia.
^Ir. Daffron is considered by many tlie best
farmer in Wayne county, and a survey of
his prosperous and excellently developed
farm, comprising four hundred acres of fer-
tile land, is convincing. Despite his earnest
interest in all that may contribute to the wise
management and well being of the county in
^vhich he makes his home, he has never held
public office, since he feels that other men
better equipped by the advantages of educa-
tional training can render more efficient serv-
ice to the community. In his religious af-
filiations he is a faithful and valued member
of the Missionary Baptist church.
Robert L. Yance. The present owner of
the Lutesville Soda Factory is a self-made
business man, of Scotch, Irish, German, Eng-
lish and Welsh descent and an lUinoisan bv
birth. The greatgrandfather Yance, a Ger-
man, came to America before the Revolution
and during his service in that conflict swam
rivers .several times carrying dispatches. He
was the father of eight sons and one
daughter, who settled in various parts of the
United States.
Robert L. Yance v.as born near Yandalia,
Illinois, January 24, 1866. His parents were
A. J. Yance, a farmer and saw mill man, and
Margaret Cavanaugh Yance, both natives of
Illinois. The latter died in 1872, eight years
before A. J. Yance and family came to Bol-
linger county. Robert L. Yance was one of
four children born to A. J. Yance and his
first wife. The others were two sisters, ilary
(Hughes) and Rosa (Bloom), and a brother,
U. S. Grant Yance. Mr. A. J. Yance 's sec-
ond wife also had four children.
Robert L. and the other children were early
thrown on their own resources. While a
youth. Robert resided with his grandmother
Yance and his aunt. Ellen Yance. He began
working as a farm laborer when verv young
and continued until sixteen years old. ' Four
of his uncles were in the Union army during
the Civil war and his Uncle Robert, for whom
he is named, was an officer, acting as captain
when killed at Yieksburg.
In 1886 Mr. Yance purchased a saw mill.
This he has continued to operate in various
sections of the county up to the present time.
Since 1901 he has been a farmer and he is the
owner of one hundred and twenty acres of
■24
HISTORY OF SOUTHEAST MISSOURI
creek-bottom land five miles west of Glen
Allen. In April, 1911, he purchased the
Lutesville Soda Factory, which he operates
with the assistance of his sons. The factory
has a capacity of one hundred cases per day
and is regarded as one of the best enterprises
in Lutesville.
In October, 1884-. Mr. Vance and Miss
Nellie McGregor were united in marriage.
Miss McGregor was the daughter of Preston
and Mary McGregor, of Kentucky. She was
born in 1864. Mr. and Mrs. Vance's family
number eight children. Grace, the eldest,
born in 1887, is now Mrs. Whitener. Ben-
jamin L., born May 4, 1889, was married No-
vember 6, 1910, to Adelia Cullison, of Bol-
linger county, daughter of Abner Cullison,
of Wayne county. Robert L. Vance has an
interest in one hundred and eighty acres of
land seven miles southwest of Zalma. He
also assists in the management of the soda
factory. In a fraternal way he is a member
of the" Modern Brotherhood. The other chil-
dren are Claude, born April 13, 1891. Rose,
born in March. 1893; Lorah, in July, 1895;
Versie, in 1897; Helen Gould and Gladys,
both of whose birthdays are in September, the
former was born in 1901, the latter in 1905.
Dan W. Roland. An esteemed and highly
respected resident of Senath, D. W. Roland
is actively associated with the advancement
of the industrial interests of this part of
Dunklin county, owning and operating the
only roller mill in the place. A native of
Kentucky, he was born on a farm in McLean
county, in 1858. In 1859 his parents moved
to Jacksonport, Arkansas, where his father
was in business until interrupted by the
breaking out of the Civil war, when he en-
listed in the Confederate army. At the close
of the war, his wife having in the meantime
died, he moved back to his old home in Ken-
tucky.
Brought up on the Kentucky farra_, Dan
"W. Roland had but limited opportunities for
obtaining book knowledge of any kind.
Leaving home at the ase of eighteen years,
he spent a year on a farm in Arkansas, in
Grant county, but, not satisfied with his
work, he went back to Kentucky, where for a
while he attended school. After his mar-
riage, ]\Ir. Roland was at first bridge carpen-
ter on a railroad, after which he for two
years successfully engaged in the i;ndertak-
ing and furniture business in Hopkins
county, Kentucky. Entering then the em-
ploy of the Louisville CofSn Company, he
was commercial salesman for eleven and one-
half 3'eai-s for that fii-m, his territory extend-
ing into ilississippi, and as far east as Balti-
more, 3Iaryland. Although he was held in
high favor by the firm and his work was ex-
ceedingly remunerative, Mr. Roland tired of
being on the road, and resigned his position
-\vith the company, and on June 12, 1903,
located in Senath, Missouri. For four years
thereafter he was head sawyer for G. L.
Roper, during which time he purchased the
lot on which his present plant stands, it be-
ing one hundred by one hundred and sixty-
seven feet. On giving up work with Mr.
Roper, he built his present mill in Senath,
and also leased another mill, which he ran
for two years, clearing enough mone.y in its
operation to equip his present mill. Mr. Ro-
land's plant handles corn only, and has a
capacity of six hundred bushels a day. He
is carrying on an extensive business, which
is increasing each year, being the largest in
the spring, and he is constantlj' adding new
machinery of the latest approved kinds for
milling, and in filling his numerous orders
employs one man besides himself, both being
kept busy. From April, 1904, to April, 1906,
Mr. Roland served as the mayor of Senath.
In Kentucky, in 1880, he was married to
Carrie T. Toombs, and to them two children
were born, Ganza T. and Walter H., neither
of whom are now living. Fraternally Mr.
Roland is a member of Senath Lodge, No.
513. A. F. & A. M.; of Helm Chapter, No.
117, R. A. M., of Kennett ; of Campbell Coun-
cil, R. & S. M. ; of ]\Ialden Commandery, No.
61, K. T.; and of Senath Lodge, W. 0. W.
Wliile living in Kentucky, Mr. Roland united
with the Cumberland Presbyterian church at
]\Iadisonville. which was organized by men
who were strong believers in slavery, and for
many years he was an active worker in the
church.
William H. Blanton. Among the promi-
nent and influential agriculturists of Madison
county, Missouri, who have achieved a splen-
did material success in this world, William
H. Blanton is honored and esteemed as a
business man of fair and honorable methods
and as a citizen of intrinsic loyalty and public
spirit. In addition to a fine farm of one
hundred and sixty acres, just north of Fred-
ericktown. he is the owner of other valuable
property holdings in this county, and he is
also financially interested in the Bank of
HISTORY OF SOUTHEAST MISSOURI
725
Fredericktowu, the ^lereliants Hotel Build-
ing and the Schwaner-But'ord Company, of
Fredericktown. He was born in Ii'on county,
Missouri, on the 6th of November, 1858, and
he is a son of Benjamin F. and Ailsie (Berry-
man) Blanton, the latter of whom was a niece
of the distinguished Rev. J. C. Berryman,
former president of Marvin Collegiate Insti-
tute, now Marvin College. The father was
born in Tennessee, in 1828, and he was called
to eternal rest in 1880, at the comparativel.y
early age of fifty-two years. His parents
migrated to ilissou'ri early in the nineteenth
century, settling in the northern part of the
state, in Henry county, where both resided
until their respective deaths. As a young
man Benjamin F. Blanton located in Iron
county, Missouri, prior to his marriage. He
was the owner of a large estate in the south-
ern part of Madison county and for a number
of years operated a fai-ra on the big St.
Francois river. Eventually disposing of the
latter estate, he opened a large farm five miles
distant from Ironton. where he passed the
closing years of his life. He was a stanch
Democrat in his political proclivities and in a
fraternal waj' was affiliated witti the time-
honored Masonic order. His old farm is still
in the family, being now owned and oper-
ated by a son, J. T. Blanton. It was origin-
ally wild timber land but is today recognized
as one of the finest farms in the comity.
Ailsie (Berryman) Blanton was born in ilad-
ison county. Missouri, in 1825. and she died
in 1870, at the age of forty-five years. Her
parents were Virginians by birth and came
to this state in the pioneer days. -Josiah
Berryman, her father, was engaged in copper
mining for a number of years at Mine La
Motte and elsewhere. In 1849 he made the
perilous trip overland to California, in quest
of gold, and on his second trip to the new
Eldorado, in 1850. he was taken ill and died.
Mr. and Mrs. B. F. Banton became the par-
ents of nine children, concerning whom the
following brief record is here offered. — -T.
Thompson resides in Iron county: ^Moman
E. maintains his home near Fredericktown :
Jennie is Mrs. Jliehael DeGuire, a sketch of
whose husband's life appears elsewhere in
this work; Alice died at the age of sixteen
years; Millie was the wife of Jerome Watts
at the time of her demise; Fannie, who mar-
ried Mr. Kincaid and reared six children, died
when past forty .vears of ase: Carter died
at the age of four years; James died in his
fifty-second vear. in 1907. in Colorado, where
he was a silver miner ; and AVilliam H. is the
immediate subject of this review.
William H. Blanton passed his boyhood
aiid early youth in Iron county and at the
age of sixteen years he became interested in
mining operations, engaging in that line of
enterprise for thirteen years in Colorado. In
1889 he came to Fredericktown, where he be-
came a member of the De Guire Milling Com-
pany, with which concern he was connected
until 1904. In the latter year he removed to
his fine farm of one hundred and sixty acres,
just north of town, and there he has since
resided. His estate is fitted out with all the
most modern improvements and is one of the
show places of Madison county. In addition
to farming Mr. Blanton is a director in the
Bank of Fredericktown and has been for a
number of years financially interested in the
Fredericktown Trust Company, now the
Bankers' Trust Compan.y, of St. Louis. He
is also a stockholder in the ]\Ierchants Hotel
Building and in the Schwaner-Buford Com-
pany, two important business concerns at
Fredericktown.
In the year 1885 was recorded the marriage
]\Ir. Blanton to Miss Annie E. Lanpher, a
daugliter of George W. Lanpher. mentioned
elsewhere in this volume. Mr. and Mrs. Blan-
ton have three children, namely. — Lillie, who
remains at the parental home, was a student
in Marvin College in 1903 ; Walter was grad-
uated in the Fredericktown high school class
of 1909. and attended the Columbia Agi-i-
eultural College two terms, completing the
Agricultural coiirse in 1911 ; and Clyde is
now attending the public schools at Freder-
icktown. In their religious faith the Blan-
ton family are devout members of the Meth-
odist Episcopal church. South. While never
an office seeker, Mr. Blanton is a stanch
Democrat in his political affiliations and he
has ever manifested a deep and sincere inter-
est in commnnit.v affairs.
Jerome C. Berryman. A cherished mem-
ory is an enduring monument, more inef-
faceable than polished marble or burnished
bronze. "To live in the hearts we leave be-
hind is not to die." Rev. Jerome C. Berry-
man is held in reverent memory by scores of
people in Southeastern Missouri, where he
passed many years as a Methodist minister,
missionary and educator. His demise oc-
curred on the 8th of May, 1906, in the vil-
lage of Caledonia, Missouri.
The Rev. Berryman was bom in the vicin-
726
HISTORY OF SOUTHEAST :MISSOrRI
ity of Bardstowu, Nelson county, Kentucky,
the date of his nativity having been the 22nd
of February, 1810. He was a sou of Gerard
Blackstone and Ailsie (Quisinberry) Berry-
man, both of whom were likewise natives of
the fine old Blue Grass commonwealth, where
the father was long identified with agricul-
tural pursuits. Jerome C. Berryman was
reared to the age of eighteen years in his na-
tive place, where he received a good common-
school education and where he gained his
early knowledge of ilethodist theology. In
1828 he came to jMissouri, where he was taken
on trial into the Methodist Conference. His
first circuit comprised seventeen counties,
with Farmington as headquarters. In 1833
he was sent to the Kickapoo Mission and
School, among the Indians in Kansas, remain-
ing in that state for a period of fifteen years,
at the expiration of which he returned to
^lissouri. While a resident of Kansas his
cherished and devoted wife and two of his
six children passed to the life eternal and
were buried in that state.
In 1853 Rev. Berryman was appointed as
pastor of the Centenary church, at St. Louis,
his peculiar talents seeming to be demanded
by the conditions existing there. In the year
1847 he founded the Arcadia College, at Ar-
cadia, Missouri, and for twenty years he had
charge of that institution, whose successor is
Marvin College, at Fredericktown. Asso-
ciated with Rev. Berryman in the conduct of
numerous revivals in Missouri was his
brother-in-law, well known by the unique
sobriquet of "Rough and Ready" Watts.
For some twenty years he was on the super-
annuated list of Methodist ministers and at
the time of his demise, in 1906, he was the
only surviving member of the historic Gen-
surviving member of the historic General
Conference of 1844. Just before he passed
into the great beyond he received a message
of love and sympathy from the General Con-
ference, then convened at Birmingham. The
funeral of Rev. Berryman was conducted at
Caledonia, the sermon having been preached
by Rev. [Martin T. Haw, who was assisted
bv Reverends A. P. SafiEold, W. W. Emory,
W. J. Ileys and Rev. E. H. White. Con-
cerning his great religious spirit the follow-
ing statement is particularly fitting here:
"To hear him sing "How Firm a Foiuidation'
or 'I'm Nearer my Home' was to have faith
reassured as by an interview with a prophet
or apostle."
Rev. Berryman was married three times.
He wedded Sarah C. Cessua, of Kentuckj-,
who bore him six children and who died in
Kansas while Rev. Berryman was a mission-
ary among the Indians. In 1847 was solemn-
ized his marriage to ilrs. ]\I. M. Wells, and
after her death, in 1868, he married Mrs.
Mary Trueheart, also deceased. In his prime
Rev. Berryman was in every sense of the
word an extraordinary man. Physically, he
was over six feet tall, with broad shoulders
and a fine erect carriage. His massive head
and rugged face showed force and power of
unusual order and the kindly expression of
his large mouth, together with his deep sono-
rous voice, was reassuring to all mankind.
He was a man of splendid mental caliber and
high ideals; generosit.y and kindliness of
spirit characterized his every thought and
act, and he was everywhere honored and es-
teemed for his innate goodness and unusual
ability.
The Honor.vble Thomas F. Lane, one of
the most prominent lawyers in Cape Girar-
deau county, has had wide and varied expe-
rience in his profession. A man with strong
opinions on all public questions, he has al-
ways had the courage to express them. While
in the senate he had the most exalted views
of his office and the obligations it involved.
He was not there to pander to public senti-
ment or so to trim his sails that he might
arouse a popular feeling among the people of
his district, but he was there to represent
the people as he felt they should be repre-
sented. He felt that if it were otherwise and
he were to be restricted in his views and
their expression and obliged to wait to find
out whether they pleased his constituents or
not. that he would infinitely rather go back
into private life and become a private citi-
zen, with the right to express his views, un-
trammeled and unciuestioned by anybody on
earth, — with the right to try to formulate
public sentiment along the lines of his ideas.
A man with such decided views could not
fail of being an important factor in his party
and in the country in general.
He was born in Dalton, Georgia, April 16,
1869. His father, John F. Lane, a native of
Tennessee, receiving his education in Georgia,
where he studied and practiced law. In
1868 he came to Poplar Bluff, where he es-
tablished one of the fii-st stores of that to^vii.
He carried on a thriving mercantile estab-
lishment, but did not personally have much
to do with its management, devoting his time
HISTORY OF SOUTHEAST MISSOURI
727
to his law practice. He was elected prosecut-
ing attorney and was probate judge for one
term. He was a Democrat of the most de-
cided character. He was a prominent jMason
and also belonged to the Independent Order
of Odd Fellows. Nor did he limit his opera-
tions to secular enterprises, but was instru-
mental in building the First ilethodist Epis-
copal Church in South Poplar Bluff, work-
ing indefatigably to raise the money to pay
for the edifice, besides aiding in the carrying
on of the various branches of church work.
He died at the age of sixty three, having
lived a very active life. The people in Pop-
lar Bluff considered him as one of the pro-
gressive men ot i.ie town, one who was inter-
ested in all public affairs and indeed in any
object he considered worthy, whether public
or private. While still living in Georgia, he
married Rosa A. Keith, a native of Whitfield
county, Georgia, where she was educated.
She is still living, interested in the welfare of
her children, beloved by the large circle of
friends who surround her. ilr. and Jlrs.
Lane have five children.
When Thomas was a baby of about twelve
months, he came with his parents to south-
eastern Jlissouri, locating at Poplar Bluff.
^Tien he was old enough he went to school,
passing through the grade school and the
high school in Poplar Bluff. After his grad-
uation he began the study of law in the of-
fice of J. Perry Johnson. He, with a boy's
admiration of his father's profession, had
long ago decided that he wanted to be a law-
yer, and during his high school course had
already shown his abilities along that line.
He entered the law department of the State
University at Columbia. Missouri, graduat-
ing in 1893. He was admitted to the bar the
same year, returned to Poplar Bluff and en-
gaged in practice. After three years he
moved to Ripley county and two years later
was elected prosecuting attorney. That he
was successful in this position was evidenced
by his being re-elected three times, holding
the office four terms in all. He had made
himself so necessary in politics that in 1908
lie was elected to the senate, the twent.v-first
district, including Cape Girardeau, Bollinger,
Wayne. Carter, Ripley, Butler and Dunklin
counties. He was a man who coiald not be a
silent member, but from his very make-up was
in the midst of things. He was chairman of
the committee on fish and game, — a subject
that was dear to his heart as he was an ardent
sportsman all his life. He was a member of
the following committees : — jurisprudence,
wills and probate law, education. University
and normal schools. He was chairman of the
committee on county courts and justices of
the peace.
On January 1.5, 1890, he married Mary E.
Johnson, the eldest daughter of ex-senator J.
Perry Johnson of Poplar Bluff. Mrs. Lane
spent all her maiden days in Poplar Bluff,
where she was extremely popular, not 'for her
father's sake, — although he was very highly
esteemed in the town, but she was loved be-
cause of her own sweet personality, to which
the dignity and responsibility of matron-
hood has only added grace and attractive-
ness. The senator and his wife have three
children living, Lowell C, Bryan J., and
Abigail F.
Thomas Lane is a prominent secret society
man, belonging to the Ancient Free and Ac-
cepted Masons, the Independent Order of Odd
Fellows, the Benevolent and Protective Or-
der of Elks, No. .589, the Knights and Ladies
of Security. He is also a member of the
Commercial Club in Cape Girardeau. There
is nothing half hearted about the senator.
When he is engaged in politics, he thinks of
nothing else; when he is conducting a case,
for him there is no other ease; his fraternal
connections are just as important, when he
finds time to devote to them, nor is he less en-
thusiastic in regard to his recreations or his
family relations. Socially he is extremely
hospitable, bis niunerous friends finding ready
welcome from him and his charming wife.
JoHx C. BuERKLE. There are turning
points in every man's life called opportu-
nity. Taken advantage of they mean ulti-
mate success. The career of John C. Buerkle
is a striking illustration of the latter state-
ment. Diligent and ever alert for his chance
of advancement, he has progressed steadily
until he is recognized as one of the foremost
business men of Cape Girardeau, Missouri,
to-day. Here he is held in high esteem by his
fellow citizens who honor him for his native
abilit.y and for his fair and straightforward
career.
ilr. Buerkle was born at Jackson, Mis-
souri, on the 22nd of September, 1880, and
he is a son of John M. Buerkle, whose nativ-
ity occurred at Wittenberg, Germany, on the
16th of April, 1829. About the year 1850
the father bade farewell to the scenes of his
childhood and youth and set out for Amer- .
iea, where he immediately began to work at
728
HISTORY OF SOUTHEAST MISSOURI
his trade, that of cooper. The second year
after his arrival in the United States he
came to Cape Girardeau couutj'', Missouri,
and here engaged in agricultural pursuits,
continuing to be identified with farming ope-
rations until his retirement from active busi-
ness life, in 11)02. lie was united in marriage
to Miss Fredericka Kies and this union was
prolific of four children, one of whom died in
infancy. Those living at the present time
are : ^laiy ; Augusta, who is now ;\Irs. John
Lucht; and John C, the immediate subject
of this review. John C. Buerkle received his
preliminary educational training in the pub-
lic schools and in the Geimian parochial
school at Jackson. After completing the
course prescribed in the local high school he
attended the Jackson Military Academy for
a period of one year.
In 1899 Mr. Buerkle became interested in
the general merchandise business as an em-
ploye of the firm of O'Brien & McAfee, with
whom he remained for two years, at the ex-
piration of which he bought out the share
of the senior member of the finn. There-
after a prosperous and profitable business
was run under the firm name of IMcAtee &
Buerkle but at the end of three years Mr.
Buerkle was forced to \vithdraw on account
of the impaired condition of his health. Since
that time to the present he has been engaged
in a number of different business enterprises.
For a time he conducted a laundry at Jack-
son and he also ran a livery stable in that
city. He then went to lUmo, Missouri, where
he turned his attention to the coal and feed
business and whence he removed, at the end
of six months, to Cape Girardeau, coming
hither on the 24th of March, 1909. Here he
has since been engaged in the coal and ice
business, being at the present time associated
in that enterprise with C. E. Meyer. He is a
man of splendid business abilitj^ and one who
will surel.v gain a high position in the finan-
cial affairs of this city.
On the loth of November, 1910. was sol-
emnized the marriage of Mr. Buerkle to Miss
Margaret McEndree, a popular young woman
of Cape Girardeau, where she was reared and
educated. In their religious adherency Mr.
and ]\Irs. Buerkle are devout memliors of the
German Evangelical church, in the various
departments of which they are most ardent
and active workers. In politics he accords a
stanch allegiance to the principles and pol-
icies for which the Republican party stands
sponsor. Wliile he is not an office seeker he
is ever on the qui vive and enthusiastically
in sj-mpath}^ with all measures and enter-
prises advanced for the good of the general
welfare. In addition to holding membership
in a number of representative social and
fraternal organizations I\Ir. Buerkle is also a
valued and appreciative member of the Com-
mercial Club of Cape Girardeau.
Fred J. Ruether. One of the prominent
and popular citizens of Washington is Fred
J. Ruether, mayor of the city, who has re-
sided here and in this vicinity since 1899, his
business relations to the community having
been those of a hotel man and retail liquor
dealer. He is a native Missourian, his birth
having occurred in St. Charles county, April
18, 1869, the son of Henry and Mary (Albers)
Ruether, the latter born in ]\Ii.ssouri of Ger-
man parents. Mr. Ruether, Sr., was born in
Hanover, Prussia, in 1836. and came to the
United States at the age of sixteen years in
company with a widowed mother, two broth-
ers and a sister. The other members of the
family are Antoine and John Ruether, and
Agnes, who subsequently became the wife of
Henry Bolte and resides in St. Louis.
The Ruethers settled in St. Charles county
and engaged in farming, and there Henry
Ruether married and established an inde-
pendent household. He and his wife both
passed away in 1872. leaving the following
children : Mrs. Ida Kleckcamp, of St. Loiiis ;
Kate, wife of Frank Meyer, of New Haven.
Missouri ; and Fred J., the mayor of "Wash-
ington.
Left an orphan in babyhood, Fred J.
Ruether passed his youth in the home of an
uncle, the John Ruether above mentioned, and
his youthful activities were given to the labor
of the farm. He attended the country school
and himself became a farmer on attaining his
majority. In 1898 he abandoned the great
basic industry and located at New Melle.
where he embarked in the hotel business, with
a buffet as a prominent feature. In 1899 he
located in Washington, where opportunities
were greater and more commensurate -with his
ambition, and his career here has been very
successful.
Mr. Ruether first became identified with
public affairs of Washington when he was
chosen a member of the council, and in that
capacity he served for two terms. In 1908
the Republicans iiiade him their candidate for
mayor and he was elected to the office. His
services were of such satisfactory character
HISTORY OF SOUTHEAST MISSOURI
"29
that the people re-elected him two years
later. Diiriug his regime the matter of mak-
ing new contracts with the water company
and the electric company for service came up
for rearrangement, and new franchises were
finally granted to each upon favorable terms
to the city. A five year contract was made
with the water company and a ten year ar-
rangement was effected with the light com-
pany. The purchase of a I'oller for the
streets also marked the beginning of more
substantial street improvements under his ad-
ministration. It has been a progressive
administration, in truth.
Mayor Ruether was happily married in
September, 1897, in St. Louis, Missouri, Mrs.
Louisa Hinnch, a native of that county and
a daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Fink, becoming
his wife. They have three daughters. Hilda,
Frederica and Lucile.
Save for his connection with the Independ-
ent Order of Odd Fellows, Mr. Ruether is not
a fraternity man. His residence of a dozen
j'ears in Washington has entitled him to a
place among the capable, law'-abidiug and
law-enforcing citizens, and his selection for
the chief magistrate is only one manifestation
of the general confidence reposed in him.
Clarence M. Swan. As the hope of any
community lies in its young men, Bollinger
county is particularlj^ fortunate in possess-
ing a fine, enterprising .young citizenship, and
among the prominent and highly respected
members of the younger generation is Clar-
ence Marvin Swan, who is siiccessfully en-
gaged in general agriculture and stock rais-
ing. Mr. Swan was born on the eleventh day
of February, 1884, in the western part of
the county which still claims his residence,
and is a son of John William and Sophia
Catherine (Sitze) Swan, natives of Missouri.
The paternal grandfather was Abraham
Swan, who lived at Wittenberg, Perry coun-
ty. Missouri.
Clarence M. Swan has two brothers living :
Charles A., born May 20, 1882, associated in
operating the farm ; and Earl M. Swan, born
December 27, 1892, resides with the parents
at Cape Girardeau and is attending the nor-
mal there.
Mr. Swan was reared upon the homestead
of his father and under the elder gentleman's
tutelage became familiar with the various de-
partments of agriculture. He attended the
public schools and eventually entered the
State Normal School at Cape Girardeau, Mis-
souri, which institution he attended two and
a half years, until 1905. He then took up
farming and cultivates his father's large
property of six hundred and forty acres, he
receiving a large share of the profits. He
employs up-to-date agricultural methods and
the result has been most satisfactory. In ad-
dition to general farming he engages in stock
raising and buys some stock each year.
Mr. Swan became a recruit to the ranks of
the Benedicts when, on October 9, 1907, he
established an independent household by his
marriage to Miss Kitty Shetley, daughter of
M. James and Jennie (Whitener) Shetley,
the father a native of North Carolina and
the mother a daughter of Missouri. They
share their attractive home with one child,
Beryl, born in 1908. Mr. Swan is in har-
mony with the policies advanced by the Dem-
ocratic party and he and his wife ai-e con-
sistent members of the Methodist Episcopal
church, South.
J. F. Feerell is one of the prominent
farmers of Dunklin county. If there is one
life more than another where there is room
for the exercise of a man's intelligence it is
the life of a farmer. It used to be thought
that agricultural pursuits did not require
much brains, but now men are of the opinion
that if a farmer is to get out of the soil aU
that it is capable of producing, he must use
his head as well as his muscles. If proof of
this statement were needed it can readily be
obtained by considering two farmers who own
the same amount of land, with similar cli-
matic and other conditions; the one will pro-
duce nearly twice as much as the other, and
yet they both put the same amount of labor
on the land, the difference is that the one
brings his mind to bear on every phase of his
work, while the other expects his muscles to
accomplish everything. Mr. Ferrell is one
of that class of farmers who uses both head
and muscles, the result being a productive
farm.
J. F. Ferrell was bom on a farm near
Nashville. Tennessee, March 25, 1870. and his
father was a mechanic of recognized ability.
When J. F. had .just passed his third birth-
day the family took up their residence in
Greene county, Arkansas, and the eight .vears
which succeeded their migration were among
the most eventful in the entire life of J. F.,
as they contained his elementary educational
training, the death of his father and his
mother and his removal to jMissouri, in com-
(30
HISTORY OF SOUTHEAST MISSOURI
pauy with his uncle and his oldest sister.
The little party of three located near Ken-
nett, having walked the entire distance from
their home in Greene county, Arkansas, in
one day. The uncle rented a tract of land
and commenced farming operations, in which
his niece and nephew assisted to the best of
their abilities. When J. F. had reached the
age of fourteen he severed home ties and
commenced to carve his own career, beginning
by working for the different neighbors and
receiving in return the sum of six dollars a
month. It is hardly to be conceived how he
could save any money on this small remuner-
ation, but in 1890 he had enough ahead to
justify him in renting a small farm, which
he operated for ten years, then bought one
hundred and fort.v acres of timber land, all
of which he has cleared himself. Later he
sold forty acres of this tract and now owns
one hundred acres, on which he has built a
seven roomed house and two barns, one sixty
feet square and the other forty by fifty feet.
Of his hundred acres seventy are under cul-
tivation and his crop consists principally of
corn, besides considerable cotton.
In the month of October, 1890, the same
year that Mr. Ferrell rented his little farm,
he married iliss Henrietta Robinson, a native
of Kennett. Five years later, October 6.
1895, their son, De Witt, was born, and in
February, 1900, before the little boy had
reached his fifth birthday, the mother died.
In 1901 his father introduced a new mother
into the home, in the person of Miss Mollie
Shelton. who became Mrs. J. F. Ferrell in
that year. She was born in 1870. in Pemi-
scot county, her parents being old settlers in
this section of Missouri. In the course of
time three children were born to this union:
Myrtle, whose birth occurred December 8.
1903 ; Ira, born September 8. and Pearl, bom
April 8. 1907.
]Mr. Ferrell is a member of the Independ-
ent Order of Odd Fellows of Kennett and of
the Farmers' Union. In politics he is a Re-
publican, believing that the Republican plat-
form contains the best elements of good gov-
ernment. When, at the age of fourteen, ilr.
Ferrell started out in life he was absolutely
without capital other than that of a good
constitution and habits of industry: he did
not even possess much of an education, yet
he has achieved success, by his own unaided
efforts. He has realized, however, the ad-
vantases of a good education, and is giving
his children the best advantages that the
region affords. He has many friends in
Dunklin county — friends who have known
him from the time he first came into the
neighborhood, who have watched him strug-
gle in his efforts to succeed, and who have
seen him arise victorious.
Franklin W. Brickey. The Briekey fam-
ily has had a leading part in the business
development of that part of southeast ]Mis-
souri included in Ste. Genevieve and Jeffer-
son counties for nearly three quartei-s of a
centurj'. Three generations have been iden-
tified with the affairs of Brickey 's Landing,
in the former county, of which Franklin
Woleut, of this sketch, the ^\'idely kno\vn
citizen of Festus, is a native.
ilr. Brickey was born at that place on the
16th of July, 1844, a son of John Compton.
The father was a native of Potosi, Missouri,
bom on the 16tli of Februarj-, 1816, and he
spent his boyhood in that place, where the
grandfather was a school teacher and keeper
of a small store. "\Mien he had reached an
age at which he could be entrusted with a
team, Jolin C. commenced to haul lead ore
to Selma on the Mississippi River, and at the
age of nineteen found employment in the
office of J, M, White, of Seliiia, In 1838,
when twent.y-two years of age, he moved
from Selma to Brickey 's Landing, where he
opened a small store and wood yard for the
river trade and steamboats. The elder Mr.
Brickey was carried along in the second
great tide of emigrants to the Pacific coast,
spending the years from 1851 to 1853 in Cal-
ifornia. He then returned to Brickey 's
Landing, engaged in general merchandise,
and in 1869 erected a flour mill in the famil-
iar home town. He sold his business in 1874
to his son. F. W. Brickey, and in 1888 moved
to Festus, where he resided, partially retired
from business and industrial life, until his
death, January 15, 1903,
John C, Brickey was a Democrat of the old
school and a stanch member of the Jlethodist
church. South. In 1840 he married Jliss
Mary Carpenter, of Rush Tower, Jefferson,
and the two offsprings of their union were
Eliza M. (JMrs. Aubuchow) and Franklin W.,
of this biography. ;\Irs. Marj' Brickey died in
1844, and about a year later the widower
married his first wife's sister. Miss Emily
Carpenter, by whom he had fourteen chil-
dren. Nine of this family are still living.
F. W. Briekey secured his early education
in various country- schools of Jefferson, Ste.
HISTORY OF SOUTHEAST MISSOURI
rsi
Genevieve and St. Francois counties. He
also completed one term at the Ste. Genevieve
Academy. At the organization of the En-
rolled Militia of Missouri in 1863, he joined
a company and was elected its tirst lieutenant,
but before he entered active service was ar-
rested and held under bond until the close
of the Civil war. During that period, in
1863-4, he operated a saw mill in Ste. Gene-
vieve county, and in December, 1865, pur-
chased a store at Glasgow City, Illinois, con-
ducting the business for about seven years.
For a short time he was similarity engaged at
Cross Timbers, Hickory county, and then
moved to De Soto, Jefferson county, where
he continued to conduct a good mercantile
business until 1874. Mr. Brickey then
bought his father's store and mill at the
Landing, of which he was the proprietor un-
til 1885, or the year of his coming to Festus.
At this place he purchased the plant which
he has since operated with such profit and
success under the name of the Festus Roller
Mills.
]Mr. Brickey has been president of the
Citizen's Bank of Festus for several years,
has sei"\'ed as president of the local School
Board, and thoroughly demonstrated his ca-
pacity as a thorough-going and high-minded
citizen. He is a Democrat and identified
with ilasonry as a Knight Templar. Mar-
ried in 1889 to Miss Nettie E. Davis, he is
the father of four sons — Nor\'al Wolcott,
Franklin Compton, Paul Ashland and Ray-
mond Davis Brickey.
De. Philbert.R. Williams, the prominent
physician of Cape Girardeau, is as universally
respected as he is known. In these days of
specialization it is a relief to find a physician
who is a general practitioner. Dr. Williams
is as fully qualified to perform a surgical
operation as he is to steer a patient through
a slow case of typhoid fever. His personality
is such that his mere presence serves as a
medicine ; his attitude is just sympathetic
enough to convey the assurance of sincerity
and at the same time is cheerful enough to
elevate the spirits of the sick one.
He was born in Cape Girardeau county,
October 20, 1856. His father, Francis M.
Williams, was a native of Cape Girardeau
county also, having been born near Jackson.
His whole life was spent in the count.v and
he died here at the advanced age of eighty-
five. He had been a farmer all his life, but
he retired -from active work about twenty
years before his death. His wife was Char-
lotte Randall, a native of Cape Girardeau
county, the daughter of Jeremiah Randall,
who had come to southeastern ^Missouri with
liis father; the3' were among the eai-ly set-
tlers in the county, ilrs. Williams was sixty-
nine years old at the time of her death. Of
her family of eight children only four are
living at the present time, the Doctor being
the eldest of the familj'. Isaac S. Williams,
father of Francis H. and grandfather of
Philbert R. was a native of Kentucky, of
Welsh descent. He was one of the pioneers
of southeastern Missouri. He represented
Cape Girardeau in the legislature, riding on
horse-back to the capital.
Philbert R. Williams attended the public
school of Cape Girardeau and the state nor-
mal. He had made up his mind that he
wanted to be a physician, but he did not have
the money needed to attend the university, at
the time he finished his course at the state
normal. He, therefore, went to work in a
drug store, where he would have the oppor-
tunity to learn something about medicines, at
the same time he studied most diligently in
his spare time and saved up every dollar he
could spare to pay his college expenses. He
entered the St. Louis Medical College in 1876,
graduating in 1878. After he had obtained
his degree he located at Kelso, Scott county,
Missouri, where he was in practice for twenty-
eight years. In December, 1905, he came to
Cape Girardeau, where he has been in prac-
tice ever since. He is a member of the South-
eastern Missouri Medical Society and of the
Cape Girardeau local society.
In 1879 the Doctor married Mary S. Har-
ris, the daughter of John Harris, who was a
Welshman and came to America when he was
a young man. He settled in Cape Girardeau,
where his daughter ilary was born. ilr. and
Jlrs. Williams have two sons, Lero.y J. liv-
ing at Fort Scott, Kansas, and is manager of
the Western Union telegraph office there.
Paul R. expects to follow in his father's foot-
steps and is attending the St. Louis Univer-
sity, being a junior in the medical depart-
ment.
The Doctor is a member of the Masonic
order, having high standing in that organiza-
tion. He is a life long resident of south-
eastern Missouri, his family on both sides be-
ing prominent in the early history of the
state. Considering the short time Dr. Wil-
liams has been in the city of Cape Girardeau,
he has been remarkably successful, and yet it
732
HISTORY OF SOUTHEAST MISSOURI
is not remarkable when the personality of
the Doctor is taken into consideration. He
inspires contidence, making his patients feel
that he is a true friend. He tinds many op-
portunities of doing good, going about from
place to place, but his kind acts are per-
formed in such an unobtrusive way that none
but the recipients of his help know anything
about these deeds.
Thomas H. Ham. Widely and favorably
known as one of Senath's prosperous agri-
culturists, Thomas H. Ham is numbered
among the citizens of good repute aud high
standing, and is well worthy of representa-
tion in a work of this character. Born No-
vember 30, 1863, one mile east of his present
home, he has spent almost his entire life in
Dunklin county, although as a boy of ten
years or thereabout he lived for a year in
Iron county, Missouri, and two years in
Wavne county.
His father, Thomas F. Ham, was born in
Tennessee, but was brought up in Pemiscot
county, Missouri. In 1862 he made his way
to Dunklin county, and soon after fell a vic-
tim to the charms of Mary Harkey, to whom
he wa.s married on January 4. 1863. He im-
mediately bought a tract of wild land near
Senath. and began the pioneer labor of hew-
ing a fai-m from the wilderness, clearing and
improving a part of the land now owned and
occupied by his son Thomas. During the
Civil war he in common with his neighbors
stxffered untold hardships and privations, and
even in later years often found it hard to
make both ends meet. Provisions were high,
and Thomas H. Ham remem.bers that when
a boy his father sent a man to Cape Girar-
deau to buy a barrel of flour, which cost him
fifteen dollars there, but cost ten dollars
more to get it to Senath. At twenty-five dol-
lars a barrel it is no wonder that he and his
family, as well as their neighbors, had flour
bread but once a week.
The oldest of a family of six boys and six
girls, of whom four boys and four girls are
now living. Thomas H. Ham remained at
home assisting his father, who was disabled
while serving as a soldier in the Confederate
army, in the care of the home farm, continu-
ing thus employed until his marriaEro. Be-
ginning life then for himself, Mr. Ham. who
owned a team but had no other resources,
rented land for two years, and carried on
general farming with good results. ?Ie then
purcha.sed a tract of land lying cast of
Senath, and after living there for five or six
years bought his present farm, which was the
parental homestead, buying the interest of
the remaining heirs in the estate, and now
owning one hundred and ten acres of rich
and fertile land. About forty acres of it was
covered with timber when he purchased it,
but he has cleared it, and has made other
noteworthy improvements on the place, hav-
ing erected a substantial house and barn, and
all the other necessary farm buildings, his
place comparing favorably in point of im-
provements and appointments with any in
the community.
Politically Mr. Ham is an uncompromising
Democrat, and active in party ranks. In the
Forty-fourtli General Assembl.y he repre-
sented Dunklin county, and during his term
in the State Legislatitre served on the Swamp
Lands and Drainage Committee ; on the Com-
mittee on Penitentiaries and Reform Schools ;
on the Committee of Agriculture, and was
connected with other committees of impor-
tance. He has served in various county and
.judicial conventions, and was a delegate to
the Congi-essional Convention that nominated
W. D. Vandevere for Congressman from the
fourteenth district of Missouri. Fraternally
Mr. Ham is a member of Senath Lodge, No.
513, A. F. & A. M., and of Caruth Lodge,
I. 0. 0. F. Religiously he is a valued mem-
ber of Harkey 's Chapel, Methodist Episcopal
church. South, and has been superintendent
of its Sunday school.
Mr. Ham married. November 25. 1886, in
Stoddard count.y, Missouri, near Asherville,
Annie L. McKay, who was born in Pemiscot
county, Missouri, April 3, 1867, and prior to
her marriage taught school several terms in
Dunklin county, in which she has spent the
greater part of her life. Mr. and Mrs. Ham
are the parents of eight children, namely:
Lilly, wife of T. E. Selby, of Dunklin
county; Edith, wife of E. T. Tucker, prin-
cipal of the schools in Cardwell, Missouri ;
Olin ; Annie ; Belle ; Eure : Bennie ; and
Price. Mr. and Mrs. Selby have two sons,
"Wyman and Byron, aged five and one and
one-half years, resnectivelv. Mr. aiid Mrs.
Tucker have two children, Winnis and Zaner,
aged three and one years, respectively.
Thomas Huskey is one of the prosperous
farmers residine in Lorance township. Most
people succeed better as employes than as
employers, which is doubtless the reason why
so many buy farms and lose them. They are
^&^i™-^^</^/^^w;
HISTORY OF SOUTHEAST MISSOURI
733
unable to make them pay, uot because they
do not labor enough, but because thej- do uot
use their brains sufficiently. Brought up on
the farm, ^iv. Huskey has found it impossi-
ble to leave the agricultural life permanently,
although for years he was connected with the
industrial progress of Southeastern Missouri.
He has now responded to the call of the laud
and returned to the simple farm life, not be-
cause he could uot succeed in business, but
because he felt impelled to return to nature.
Born on the 8th day of June, 1858, in
Sevier county, Tennessee, Mr. Huskey is a son
of William and Mary (Shults) Huskey,
natives of Sevier county. Father Huskey
was reared on a farm in Tennessee ; received
his education in that state and there married,
by which union he became the father of live
children, — John, Thomas, Annie, Mattie and
Sarah. John Huskey was sheriff of Bollinger
county, Missouri, from 1888 to 1892. In
1862 Mr. Huskey enlisted in the Union
army, serving with the Eleventh Tennessee
Cavalry until September, 1865, when he re-
ceived his honorable discharge. During his
army life he had been a participant in many
closely contested battles; was present at the
siege of Knoxville and many other important
conflicts. On his return to the life of a civil-
ian he found himself a widower, as his wife
had been summoned to her last rest during
the progress of the war. In 1866 he married
Miss Mary Feasel, who bore him four chil-
dren,— Laura, David, Willie and Hattie. In
1871 he, his wife and seven children (two
having died) migrated to Missouri, settled
on a farm four miles north of Marble Hill,
Bollinger county, and there the family was
increased by the birth of four more children,
— Baxter B., Loie, Oscar and Lulu. Four
other children were born to Mr. and Jlrs.
William Huskey, but they are all dead.
Father Huskey farmed in Bollinger county
(at different places), until 1897, when he
went to Cape Girardeau county, and lived at
Cape Girardeau until the 25th day of July,
1910: he then went to Seattle, Washington,
remained there for nine months, and returned
to Bollinger county in April. 1911.
When Thomas Huskey was a very small
bov his mother died and his father remar-
ried. The first thirteen years of his life were
passed in his native eountv in Tennessee,
where he attended school and learned how to
perform those duties which are required of
a boy who is brought up on a farm. In 1S71
he accompanied his family to IMissouri ; there
he received further educational training, and
after terminating his schooling he remained
on his father's farm until he attained his ma-
jority, when he became engaged in the timber
business. In 1884 he settled on a tract of
land in Lorance township, commenced to
work on the wild prairie and bring it under
cultivation and he built a house, into which
he moved in the month of June, 1886. He re-
mained on his farm until 1 894, at which time
he was elected to office and moved to Marble
Hill, where he resided two yeai-s. He was for
three years superintendent of the Pioneer
Cooperage Company plant — in 1906, 1907
and 1908. On the 8th day of August, 1908,
he went back to the farm in Lorance town-
ship, where he has remained ever since, culti-
vating his hundred acres of good farm land.
On December 25, 1884, the time that Mr.
Huskey moved to his farm for the first time,
he was united in marriage to Miss Amanda
Bailey, whose birth had occurred in Bollinger
county November 20, 1862. She is a daugh-
ter of John Bailey, a native of Bollinger
county, and Mary (Chandler) Bailey, born
in Caswell county. North Carolina. Four
children were born to Mr. and Mrs. Huskey,
—May, born July 6, 1886, married A. M.
Barrett of Lorance township. Mrs. Barrett
was a teacher in the Public Schools of Bollin-
ger county before marriage. Ray, whose birth
occurred March 22, 1888, was killed by a train
when he was twenty-one years of age. Nellie,
whose nativity took place on the 10th day of
September, 1891, married Frank Whitten,
son of attorney Wliitten, April 26, 1911, of
Paris, Texas, but who is now an electrician
at Ft. Towson, Oklahoma. Mrs. Whitten was
a teacher in the Central High School of Okla-
homa at the time of her marriage. Thomas,
who was born March 15, 1893, is now em-
ployed by the railroad when not assisting his
father on the farm. He graduated from the
public schools of Bollinger county in 1911.
In a fraternal way Mr. Huskey is affiliated
with the Independent Order of Odd Fellows,
and in relieious connection is a member of
the Methodist Episcopal church. He has a
larsre circle of friends in Bollinger county,
where he has spent so many years of his life.
Albert Blaine, one of Piedmont's most
prominent and popular citizens, is a Mis-
sourian, also the son of Missourians. and his
two grandfathers were pioneers in the state.
His paternal grandfather was a farmer and
an iron worker who came from Pennsylvania
734
HISTORY OF SOUTHEAST MISSOURI
and settled in Washington county, the birth-
place of Albert Blaine of this review. The
maternal grandfather, Lewis Simms, went
from Pennsylvania to Alabama and from
there came to Missouri. He took up his
abode in St. Francois county, where he en-
tered land and operated a tan yard, manu-
facturing leather goods. He was very suc-
cessful in both his farming and in his other
business. His daughter, jMary Simms, was
bom near Plat River, December 25, 1817,
and died August 9, 1899. She married Al-
bert Blaine, who was born January 1, 1815,
at Eddis Grove, Kentucky, on June 15, 1843,
and brought up a family of eight children.
Four of these are still living in Missouri :
W. H. Blaine resides in Piedmont, which
town is also the home of the subject of this
review; Martha is the widow of Harrison
Wallace, of Potosi, ]\Iissouri. and Sara is Mrs.
W. J. Slais, of Potosi. The father, Albert,
Senior, was reared in Washington county,
Missouri. He was apprenticed to a black-
smith and followed that trade and mercantile
business in Potosi until his death, September
8, 1860. He was a Democrat in politics and
a member of the United Presbyterian church.
Albert Blaine, of Piedmont, was born in
Potosi, Washington count.y, in 1847, on the
21st of October. He grew up in Potosi, at-
tending the common schools and later Bryant
& Stratton's Business College at St. Louis.
He began his business career as a clerk and
worked in that capacity for seventeen years.
When gold was discovered in the Black
Hills, Mr. Blaine went there in quest of the
precious metal but did not "make a strike,"
so returned to Missouri in 1877. At that
time Piedmont was building up and so he
decided to locate here.
The drug business was that upon which
Mr. Blaine decided to enter in Piedmont and
in this he went into partnership with Mr. W.
P. Toney. The firm of Blaine & Toney had
a flourishing trade for six years and then Mr.
Blaine bought out his partner's interest and
continued in the drug business until 1905.
BIr. Blaine learned the drug business from
start to finish and is a registered pharma-
cist. The venture was a success in eveiy re-
spect. In Piedmont real estate Mr. Blaine's
holdings are considerable. He owns several
business blocks and residence properties and
has, besides, a small farm in Wayne county.
He is also a stockholder in and the vice-
president of the Piedmont Bank.
Mr. Blaine is a Democrat, now as always,
and he has been called iipon to fill various
offices in the public service. He has served
on the school board, has been county judge
for two years and city treasurer for fifteen
years. In addition to having attained suc-
cess in the sphere of commerce, Mr. Blaine
has the still more valuable possession which
men covet as a guerdon of this life's toils,
the hearty liking and admiration of his fel-
low citizens. He holds membership in both
the Masonic order and in the Knights of
Pythias.
Mr. Blaine has no children of his own.
His wife, formerly Mrs. IMaria (English)
Emonds, widow of Dr. D. D. Emonds, has
one daughter, Grace Emonds, who is now the
wife of C. T. Mason, of Francis, Oklahoma.
Mrs. Blaine was born at Patterson, Missouri,
a daughter of Julius English, who was an
early resident and a farmer of that section
of Wayne county. Both Mr. and ]\Irs. Blaine
are members of the Presbyterian church.
John N. O'Connor. Enterprising, ener-
getic and a good business manager, John N.
O'Connor, of Senath, was formerly for a
time well known as proprietor and manager
of a finely-kept restaurant, but is at present,
in the retail meat business, being thus en-
gaged since 1902. He has been busily em-
ployed since coming to this part of Dunklin
county, in 1898, and by means of industry,
thrift and sound judgment has acquired a
substantial property. He was born Decem-
ber 23, 1871, in Fulton, Kentucky, but as
an infant was taken bj' his parents to Henry
count.v, Tennessee, where he lived until a lad
of eight years.
Going from Tennessee to Arkansas, John
N. O'Connor lived a brief time in Lonoke,
and afterwards resided at Brinkley, Arkan-
sas, from 1882 until 1896, during which time
he improved every offered opportunity for
acquiring an education, at the same period
of his career becoming familiar with all the
branches of agriculture. Marrying in 1896,
Mr. O'Connor came with his bride to Dun-
klin county, ilissouri. and for a year worked
by the month on a farm situated about two
miles north of Senath. In April, 1898, he
took up his residence in Senath. where he was
engaged in draying and logging until 1902.
In the spring of that year he purchased a
house and lot in Senath, but subsequently
sold that property, and bought, on ilain
street, a lot sixty by a hundred feet. The
frame building standing on the lot was after-
HISTORY OF SOUTHEAST MISSOURI
t35
wards burned, and Mr. 0 'Connor erected the
brick building in which are housed a res-
taurant, a meat market and a mercantile es-
tablishment. Mr. O'Connor also owns tive
houses and lots in Senath, two of the houses
having been built by him since he bought the
lots.
ilr. O'Connor married, in Arkansas, in
Slarch, 1896, Mary Dozier, and they have
two children, namely: Virgil, born in No-
vember, 1897 ; and Gertrude, born in 1900.
An active and highly esteemed member of the
Democratic party, Mr. O'Connor has ser^'ed
as a member of the Senath Board of Alder-
men for two terms, and for two years was
a member of the Senath Board of Educa-
tion, ilrs. O'Connor is a member of the
Baptist church at Senath.
Thomas J. Downs. A prominent farmer
and stockman, residing on his tine estate of
one hundred and twenty acres, eligibly lo-
cated just north of Fredericktown, Thomas
Jetferson Downs is a citizen whose loyalty
and public spirit have ever been of the most
insistent order. For a period of ten years —
from 1878 to 1888 — he was the popular and
efficient incumbent of the office of county
survej'or and from 1896 to 1904 he served
most creditably as county assessor. His finely
improved estate is known as the Nifong farm.
Mr. Downs was born in North Carolina,
the date of his nativity being the 5th of Au-
gust. 1846. He is a son of David and Mary
A. (Sherrill) Downs, both of whom were
likewise born in North Carolina, where they
continued to reside until their respective
deaths, in 1857 and 1872. After the death
of his first wife David Downs wedded Mary
Ann ilcLeod, who also died in North Caro-
lina. The father was a farmer and cotton
planter in his native state and he was a son
of Aaron Downs, born in Scotland in 1789,
and the original progenitor of the name in
America, he having immigrated to this coun-
try early in the nineteenth century. Aaron
Downs was the owner of a fine plantation in
North Carolina, where he also had some forty
negroes, ilary A. (Sherrill) Downs was a
daughter of David Sherrill, a prominent
miller and plantation owner in North Caro-
lina during his life time. The North Caro-
lina descendants of the Downs family were
all devout members of the Baptist church.
By his first marriage David Downs was the
father of four children, namely, — Aaron V.,
a banker and business man at Frederick-
town, ^lissouri ; William P., who is deceased ;
Mrs. Presswell, who is also deceased; and
Thomas J., of this notice. The second union
was likewise prolific of four children. — John
M., Robert Lee, Lulu and Louise, the first
two of whom are residents of North Carolina
and the latter two of whom are deceased.
Thomas J. Downs was reared to adult age
in his native state, to the public schools of
which place he is indebted for his prelim-
inary educational training. During the stren-
uous period of the Civil war his sympathies
were with the cause of the Confederacy and
in 1864, when eighteen years of age, he en-
listed as a soldier in Company G, Thirty-
second North Carolina Infantry, serving with
valorous distinction therein for one year or
until the close of the war. He was with Gen-
eral Early in the Shenandoah Valley and was
struck by a piece of shell in the kneecap at
Petersburg. He also participated in the last
charge made at Appomattox. In 1870 he re-
moved from the east to Missouri, settling
first at Iron Mountain. Having very little
money but being equipped with a fair educa-
tion, he began to teach school in Madison
county, continuing to be engaged in that oc-
cupation for a period of thirty years, during
most of which time he also engaged in farm-
ing operations. He has thoroughly familiar-
ized himself with the art of surveying and
does a great deat of that work in connection
with his farming. His farm of one hundred
acres is fitted with all the most modern im-
provements and is in a state of high culti-
vation. In politics he is a stalwart Demo-
crat and he has ever figured prominently in
local politics. In 1878 he was honored by
his fellow citizens with election to the of-
fice of county surveyor, serving with all of
honor and distinction in that capacity until
1888. In 1896 he was elected county assessor,
remaining in tenure of that office until 1904.
In a fraternal way he is affiliated with the
local lodge of the Independent Order of Odd
Fellows and in their religious faith he and
his wife and daughter are consistent members
of the ilethodist Episcopal church, South.
In North Carolina, in the year 1873, Mr.
Downs was -married to Miss Sarah Carlton,
who is a daughter of Pickens Carlton, rep-
resentative of a sterling old North Carolina
family. Mv. and I\Irs. Downs are the parents
of three children. — John Carlton, who is en-
gaged in farming enterprises south of Fred-
ericktown. married Miss Lizzie Pinegar and
they have three children, Frank, Clara and
736
HISTORY OF SOUTHEAST MISSOURI
Blanche ; William M., engineer in a large salt
factory at Wyandotte, Michigan, has trav-
eled extensively, having made trips to China,
the Philippines and South Africa, and he
married Miss Mamie Homer, of Michigan;
and iMargaret, who was gi-aduated in the
state normal school at Cape Girardeau, is a
popular and successful teacher in Madison
county and remains at the parental home.
The Downs familj' are prominent and popu-
lar factors in connection with the best social
activities of their home community, their
residence being recognized as a center of re-
finement and hospitality.
John Shidler Kochtitzky. An essenti-
ally representative and influential citizen of
Cape Girardeau, Missouri, is John Shidler
Kochtitzky, who is here engaged in the
dredging "business and who is ever on the qui
vive to do all in his power to advance the
progress and development of this section of
the state. Mr. Kochtitzky was born at Paris,
Ohio, the date of his nativity being the 24th
of March, 1857. He is a son of Oscar von
Kochtitzky, a native of Debreczin, Hmigaiy,
where he was born on the 13th of March,
1830. The father immigrated to the United
States in company with Louis Kossuth, the
exiled orator and patriot of Hungary and
after becoming a naturalized citizen of
America he eliminated the "Von" from his
name. His life was one of vicissitudes and
stirring adventures. After being educated
in the military academy at Buda Pesth,
Austria, he. at the age of seventeen years, in
1847. joined the German army and partici-
pated in the Schleswig-Holstein war. In that
campaign he served as aide-de-camp on the
staff of Field Marshal Wrangel, whose
brother admiral of that name gave name to
Wrangelland. Mr. Kochtitzky next saw
active service in the revolutionary struggle
against the House of Hapsburg. under Kos-
suth and Bene; this move came to naught,
however, owing to the treason of Gorgey.
The Hungarians being defeated, they sought
refuge in" Turkey. In the fall of 1849 he
enlisted for service in the Turkish navy,
spending a year and a half in the Mediterra-
nean, and in 18.^1 he came to America in
company with Kossuth, the two of them
rapidly mastering the Enelish languaee.
Althousrh a skilled civil engineer by profes-
sion, Mr. Kochtitzky located in Ohio, where
he turned his attention to agricultural pur-
suits and where he also conducted a saw mill.
At the time of the inception of the Civil war
he manifested intrinsic loyalty to the cause
of his adopted country by enlisting as a
soldier in Company I, One Hundred Fif-
teenth Ohio Volunteer Infantry, in which he
served with all of honor and distinction under
Colonel Lucy. After the close of the war- he
served as px-ovost marshal of middle Ten-
nessee for a time and in 1S67 he came to
Missouri, settling in Laclede county, which
he represented his constituents in . the state
legislature in the sessions of 1871 and 1872,
in which he was chairman of the committees
on Militia and Immigration. He was a man
of influence in public and business affairs and
among other things was instrumental in
bringing about the union of the Atlantic and
Pacific coast survey. In connection with
Major George B. Clark he constructed the
Little River Valley & Arkansas Railroad,
which line was later disposed of to the Texas
& St. Louis Railroad Company, the same
being now known as the Cotton Belt Line.
At the age of fifty-five years he was ap-
pointed, at Jefferson City, Missouri, as com-
missioner of labor statistics. He married
Miss Caroline Shidler, the ceremony having
been performed at Paris, Ohio, on the 25th
of June, 1854. This union was prolific of
eleven children, concerning whom the follow-
ing brief data are here recorded, — Otto L. is
a resident of Cape Girardeau ; John S. is the
immediate subject of this review ; Mary Kate,
the wife of Rev. J. V. Worsham, and died at
Fort Valley. Georgia; Josephine is deceased;
Ella Eva is now Mrs. J. A. Hess, of Sikes-
ton. Missouri ; Alfred died in infancy : Ed-
ward Hugh maintains his home at Mount
Airy, North Carolina, as does also Caroline
O., who is the wife of William ^Merritt ; May
died in infancy: Wilbur 0. is a resident of
]\Ionroe. North Carolina ; and Frank died in
infancy. The father was summoned to the
life eternal at Jefferson City, Missouri, on
the 15th of February, 1891.
John S. Kochtitzky, of this notice, received
his early educational training in the public
schools. At the age of seventeen years he
left school and in company with his brother
Otto went into southeastern Missouri, where,
under the father's instructions, they pre-
pared survevs in connection with the build-
ine of the Little River Vallev & Arkansas
railroad. Subseqneiitlv I\Ir. Kochtitzky was
interested in steaniboating on the old Anchor
Line Steamers, his work being of a clerical
nature. In the year 1881 he engaged in the
HISTORY OF SOUTHEAST MISSOURI
737
mercantile business at Maiden, Missouri.
After abandoning the mercantile business he
went to iSlew Madrid and there became in-
terested in the marketing of ice. One year
later he established his home at Kansas City,
Missouri, where he again engaged in mercan-
tile enterprises, and from the latter place he
removed to Carl Junction, Missouri, where
he became interested in lead aud zinc mining.
In 1903 he went to Joplin, Missouri, where
he launched out into the wholesale notion
business, his establishment being known
under the firm name of the Simeon Notion
Company, and where he remained for a
period of three years, at the expiration of
which, in 1906, he came to Cape Girardeau,
Missouri. Since the latter year Mr. Koch-
titzky and his brother Otto have conducted
an extensive and profitable dredging business.
They are well known in financial affairs in
this city and are exceedingly popular on
their sterling worth and impregnable integ-
rity.
At Masonville, New York, on the 10th of
October, 1883, was celebrated the marriage
of Mr. Kochtitzky to Miss Jennie B. Smith,
who is a daughter of Fredei-ick W. Smith, of
Masonville, New York. The paternal grand-
father of Mrs. Kochtitzky was Hazor Smith.
who was a son of Darius Smith, a scion of
one of the oldest colonial families, the
original progenitor of the name in America
having immigrated hither from England in
the year 16.34. Various representatives of
the Smith family have figured prominently
in public and military affairs from the
colonial wars down to the present time. Mr.
and Mrs. Kochtitzky have four children,
whose names and respective dates of birth
are here recorded, — Irma Electa, born Feb-
ruary 17, 1885; Oscar Frederick, November
8, 1886; Edna Leigh, November 25, 1892;
and John Shidler, June 12, 1897. All the
children are at home.
In their religious affiliations the Kochtitzky
family are consistent members of the Presby-
terian church and in a fraternal way Mr.
Kochtitzky is connected with the time-
honored Masonic order. In politics he is a
stanch Democrat. "While undoubtedly he
has not been without that lionorable ambi-
tion which is so powerful and useful as an
incentive to activity in public affairs, he re-
gards the pursuits of private life as beinsc in
themselves abundantly worthy of his best
efforts. In community affairs he is active
and influential and his support is readily and
generously given to many measures for the
general progress and improvement, liis
life history is certainly worthy of commen-
dation and emulation, for along honorable
and straightforward lines he has won suc-
cess which crowns his efforts and which
makes him one of the substantial residents of
Cape Girardeau.
George Henry Otto is Washington's phe-
nomenally successful merchant and repre-
sents one of the early families of Franklin
county. He was born in the to\\-n of Wash-
ington, March 1, 1868, whither his father,
W. H. Otto, came with bis partaits as a child.
The advent of the family in the United States
dates from the time the subject's grand-
father, Henry Otto, brought his household
out of Prussia, crossed the Atlantic on a sail-
ing vessel and established himself on the
banks of the JMissouri river in Franklm
county, which was to be his future home.
Here his son, W. H. Otto, grew to manhood,
received a limited education and enlisted in
the cause of the Union at the time of the
Civil war. He carried on a mercantile busi-
ness here for many years and passed away
in the early yeare of the present centuiy.
He was a Republican of unalterable convic-
tion and the part he took in public affairs
was only such as every intelligent voter
gives. He married Catherine Baumann, who
was, like himself, of German origin, and this
estimable lady still survives him, making her
residence at Washington. Of the issue of
their union William H. Otto, of New Haven,
is the eldest ; and next in order of birth are
E. H., of Washington ; George H., subject of
this record; Mrs. August H. Breckenkamp,
Mrs. Addie Menanwerth and Jlrs. F. H.
Stumpf, all of Washington.
Washington is fortunate in possessing
many enterprising citizens who claim the
locality as their birthplace and who have
paid it the highest compliment within their
power by electing to remain permanently
within its borders. Such is George H. Otto,
who is one of the number Washington is
proud to claim as native sons. He received
his education in the public and parochial
schools and at a very early age began upon
a mercantile apprenticeship as an assistant
in his father's store. He proved faithful
and efficient in small things and was given
more and more to do. His tastes as well as
his abilities were commercial and he had
little difficulty in deciding upon a vocation,
738
HISTORY OF SOUTHEAST MISSOURI
for he followed in the parental footsteps.
His present success has come from the most
modest beginnings, for when he engaged in
business as the successor of his father in
1893 his capital was only eighty dollars, and
his small business occupied a modest store
half a block south of that piece of ground
upon which his large department store has
since appeared, a monument to his executive
ability, progressive and modern methods
and the satisfaction he has given in his deal-
ings with the public. In his business are em-
braced the departments of furniture, carpets,
draperies and wall decorations, and there is
also an undertaking depaiiment. His stock
is exceedingly large and well chosen and
completely fills his three-story building.
This, together with his elegant home and
other .iudicious investments, constitute the
accumulations of a career of strenuous com-
mercial effort of less than twenty years.
Mr. Otto is a man of diverse interests and
an.y enterprise is indeed fortunate which has
the benefit of his counsel. He is associated
with several institutions of large scope and
importance, being president of the Washing-
ton Building and Loan Association; presi-
dent of the Washington Water and Electric
Light Company; a director of the Bank of
Washington; and a director of the Commer-
cial Club. In the last named organization he
is chairman of the advertising committee and
was instrumental in bringing about the loca-
tion here of the Washington branch of the
shoe factory of Roberts, Johnson & Rand. He
is interested in bringing to Washington cult-
ure and all higher advantages possible and
he was one of the founders of that greatly
appreciated institution, the Washington Pub-
lic Library, of which he serves at the present
time as a director. He is, in short, an able
exponent of the progressive spirit and strong
initiative ability which have caused the place
to forge so rapidly forward of late years in
every direction and he holds an unassailable
position as a remarkably progressive business
man and a loyal citizen. He has done much to
further the material and civic development
and upbuilding of the attractive city in
which he resides and in which he has
achieved success of distinctive and worthy
order.
Mr. Otto was married, November 15, 1893,
in Washington, to ^liss Pauline Kueckens, a
daughter of Burchard Kueckens, of St. Louis.
They share their handsome and commodious
^'ou^e with four cliildren, namely : Esther,
aged seventeen; Walter II., aged fifteen;
Paulina, aged six; and Henry, aged three.
The third child, George H., died at the age
of five years. Mr. and Mrs. Otto are affiliated
with the Lutheran church.
Edward Davis ^IcAnally. It is a signifi-
cant fact that the majority of men who have
made successes in the business world and
many of the professional men who have
come to the fi'ont were the sons of farmers.
At present our country's best educators are
advocating military training for boys as a
means of increasing their efficiency. Expe-
rience shows that in the past most of the
men who have made successes have orig-
inated on the farm. They learn many les-
sons there that they could not learn any-
where else. They learn the habit of early
rising; they are accustomed to simplicity of
food and customs ; they are given work to
do and are made to realize the consequences
of neglect, thus early coming to feel respon-
sibility. These are a few of the advantages
that come to a boy from his early life on a
farm. In addition to these, the chances are
that he will be possessed of a healthy body,
due to his open air life.
Edward Davis ]\IeAnally is an instance of
the above conclusions. He was born Novem-
ber 16, 1884, four miles south of Kennett.
His father, J. T. JIcAnally, was born in
Craighead county, Arkansas, in 1859, on
the second of May. He was the son of a
farmer and was born on a farm. When he
was only three years old his parents
brought him to Dunklin county so that his
earliest recollections cluster around this
coimty, where he attended the little old log
subscription school house near Vineit, in
the northern part of Grand Prairie. He had
an older brother stationed at Bloomfield and
tie remembered the northern and the south-
ern soldiers and his fears of both. When
he was only eight j'cars old his father died,
the widow following him in three years.
Thus the son was doubly bereaved while
most in need of parental care. His older
brother, J. D. McAnally, did his very best
to take the parents' place, taking his young
brother into his home, where he had his
doctor's office. J. T. made his home with
his brother for several, years, during which
time he studied medicine, but he never
practiced, not finding the profession to his
liking. J. T. McAnally l)ought one hundred
and sixty acres of land of which eight}"
1143052
'^c^o'-. ^. ?7-l'' ^n.xl^^
HISTORY OF SOUTHEAST MISSOURI
r39
acres are in cultivation and which he still
operates. Previously he had been engaged
in the mercantile business in Vincit for sev-
eral years. The company in which he held
stock discontinued business and he then
devoted his entire attention to farming. Of
his farm he cleared some forty acres, prac-
tically digging that part- out of the woods
and there built a house and farm buildings.
He was a member of the Farmers' Union
and is widely known, as he is one of the old-
est residents of the countj'. He married
while living at Vincit, Donna Hale, a native
of Tennessee. Four children were born to
this union, Edward, Thomas, ]Mamie and
Mary Belle. In 1896 Mrs. McAn^ally died,
and in 1891 he married again, his wife being
Carrie Buckner, of Kennett. His second
wife has borne him six children, Ruth, Dee,
Trible, Alton, Zada and James. Mr. ilcAn-
ally is a Democrat and intensely interested
in politics, but with no desire for political
honors for himself; all his energies are ex-
pended for others. He is a member of the
Christian church at Kennett, where he is a
most earnest worker.
Edward D. McAnally has spent practically
all of his life on the farm. He received his
early education in the rural schools, later
attending the Kennett high school and he
graduated from the Cape Girardeau normal
school in the class of 1909. During the short
time that has elapsed ' since his graduation
he taught in the rural schools and then was
principal of the south ward school in Ken-
nett. at the same time being the athletic di-
rector in the high school. On April 4, 1911,
young as he is, he was elected county super-
intendent, assuming the duties of the office on
April 10th. The district contains seventy-
eight schools and naturally the superintend-
ent must be a man of acknowledged executive
ability. Such the Democrats were convinced
Mr. McAnally is. and during his short term
since his election his actions have .iustified
his election, as he has made good to an ex-
tent that surprised even his warmest advo-
cates. If we were to predict we should say
that Mr. JIcAnally has a great future before
him. The profession he has chosen is one
that calls forth the highest qualities in a man
and is productive of great good. It is in the
schools that the future of our nation lies.
Dunklin county stands high in the state as a
commercial mart: it has professional men of
no mean calibre and it has boys and girls in
abundance who will be the citizens of the
future. To a large extent, therefore, the
future of Dunklin county rests with the
superintendent. A tremendous responsibil-
ity, but we believe that Mr. McAnally is
equal to the burden and prophesy a glorious
future for the county.
David A. Whitexer. This gentleman, who
is a prominent young citizen and farmer of
Bollinger county, ^Missouri, is one of the
progressive and up-to-date representatives of
the great basic industry. He claims this
county as his birthplace and none more than
he is interested in its prosperity. He was
born on the 20th day of August, 1878, and
is the son of Henry B. and Eliza C. Whitener,
the mother's maiden name having been Bol-
linger and both parents were natives of this
state. David was reared upon his father's
homestead, gaining his education in the dis-
trict schools and spending a great portion of
his time assisting in the manifold tasks to be
encountered upon every farm. Like most
farmer's sons, he learned by experience that
there is never a shortage of work upon the
farm and in this way he secured that thor-
ough training in his chosen calling which has
since stood him in such good stead. In 1900
he started out in life independently, begin-
ning agricultural operations on one hundred
and sixty acres of land deeded to him by his
father. This is a valuable tract and is situ-
ated near Castor Post Office. Here he re-
sided for two years and at the end of that
period sold it to advantage. In 1902 he and
his father built a grist mill at ^Marquand and
for six years he devoted his time to the con-
duct of this enterprise. On September 15.
1905, his father died and Mr. Whitener sold
out his milling interests and again made him-
self the proprietor of a farming property,
buying four hundred acres in association with
his brother, Robert Whitener. Here they
engage in farming and stock raising and have
met with very definite success. The subject
is a Democrat.
Mr. Whitener was happily married on the
eleventh day of August, 1909, his chosen lady
being ^liss Lizzie Hughes, daughter of
Michael and Mary (Vance) Hughes, natives
of the state of ^Missouri. ]\Irs. Whitener, who
is one of Bollinger county's popular and ad-
mirable young women, is a native daughter
of the county, her birth having occurred
within its pleasant boundaries on the sixth
day of November, 1886. Her paternal grand-
parents were named Leonard and Mary (Ri-
r40
HISTORY OF SOUTHEAST MISSOURI
ley) Hughes and were natives of Germany
and Ireland, respectively. Like her husband,
Mrs. Whitener was reared upon the farm and
attended the district schools. She began to
teach school in 1902 in Bollinger and for six
years continued in this useful capacity, prov-
ing a faithful and intelligent instructor.
She and her husband are held in high regard
in the community in which their interests are
centered.
O. B. Harris is one of the succ
farmers of Southeastern Missouri, where he
has maintained his residence for a period of
forty years, and that he has attained a high
standing in the community is the result of his
own efforts. There is a deep satisfaction in
the thought that ever.ything a man owns is
the result of his own work and thought, and
such satisfaction Mr. Harris is justified in
feeling.
0. B. Harris was born on the 14th of Oc-
tober, 1857, in the central part of the state
of Tennessee. The scene of his nativity was
the farm on which his father had lived and
prospered for many years, but at the time
when Oliver Harris was born, both agri-
cultural and commercial interests were very
much disorganized, on account of the threat-
ened hostilities between the north and the
south. In 1861, when the smouldering em-
bers flamed into open war, the elder Mr. Har-
ris decided to move from Tennessee and try
his fortunes further north. He would have
liked to take part in the struggle for eman-
cipation and himself assist in freeing the ne-
groes, in whose midst he had lived and whose
slavery he had witnessed, but he realized the
necessity of making a Jiving for his family,
and so disposed of the little farm for such
money as it would realize, selected such fur-
niture from the old homestead as he felt was
a])solutely necessary, bought a wagon on
which he packed his few belongings, and
started with his wife and child on the jour-
ney to Illinois. He remained in that state
for a period of ten years, but never felt that
it was his permanent home, and in the spring
of 1870 moved to Missouri, where he believed
the agricultural advantages as well as the
educational conditions were better. He set-
tled in Dunklin county, two miles west of
Caruth, on a farm owned by Alexander
Douglas, god-father of the author of this
work. After four years spent on this farm
Mr. Harris rented a desirable tract in the
vicinity and continued to engage in agri-
culture until the time of his death, in 1892,
his demise occurring two years after that of
his wife.
Oliver Harris spent the first four years
of his life on the farm in Tennessee where
he was boi'n, but he remembers little about
his southern home. He has indistinct recol-
lections of the jolting wagon in which he
traveled from Tennessee to Illinois, and of
the difficulties which his father encountered
on the journey, but has a vivid remembrance
of the school which he attended in the Prairie
state. The schools in the district where the
family lived were then poor, and, as much
on that account as any other, his parents
went to Missouri, where the educational ad-
vantages \vere much better. The boy, how-
ever, was not able to take advantage of the
opportunities there afforded, as his father
needed his help on the farm, and he left
school after the removal of the family to
Caruth. When Oliver Harris was twenty
years of age he started to work around for
the neighbors, for which he received the sum
of fifteen dollars a month at first. He later
received more remuneration and was able to
save most of the mone}' he earned and in-
vested it in land. He now owns a good farm
of eighty acres, worth seventy-five dollars an
acre, and has made all the improvements on
this land himself. He has erected a good
barn, built fences and fertilized the land un-
til it is very productive. For the most part
he raises corn and cotton, to which his laud
is admirably suited.
On the 27th of January, 1878, Mr. Harris
was united in marriage to Miss Dora Lacy,
who is a life-long resident of Kennett. One
daughter, Annie, was born to the union, and
she married Will Bass; they have one son,
Buel B., born in February, 1910. Both she
and her husband live on the farm with Mr.
Harris.
Mr. Harris is a Democrat, but he has never
felt that he could spare the time to be a pol-
itician; he is, however, always anxious to see
liis party win at the elections, and is deeply
interested in the local improvements of his
county and state. He is affiliatel with the
Independent Order of Odd Fellows of Ken-
nett, and has a high standing with the mem-
bers of the local lodge. What his career
might have been if his parents had never
come to Missouri it is hard to say, but he
would have made a success of life, no matter
where his lines were cast, and he has no rea-
son to be dissatisfied with the results of his
HISTORY OF SOUTHEAST MISSOURI
(41
labors in Dunklin county, as he has made
money and reputation, and has won regard
and friends among its inhabitants.
George Harold Bond, postmaster of Crys-
tal City, Jefferson county, is one of the bright
young men of the state, whose family is es-
peciall}- well known in connection with the
public affairs of Ste. Genevieve county. His
grandfather, George Bond, was one of the
stanch and popular pioneers of that section
of the state, having been a resident at St.
Mary's for more than eighty-two years. In
the Civil war he served with credit as col-
onel of state militia, and for many years was
one of the leading and honored merchants of
the town. Interest in the public affairs of
his county kept pace with the attention which
he paid to his private affairs, with the re-
sult that he was often called to participate
in the legislation of county and state. The
two terms which he served as legislative rep-
resentative from Ste. Genevieve county added
much to both his solid reputation for ability
and to his name as a straight-forward and
honorable man. His death on January 11,
1911, removed from the community a strong,
broad and upright character, who has justly
earned both respect and affection.
George C. Bond, the postmaster's father, is
also widely known and universally respected
in Ste. Genevieve county. He spent his
earlier business years as a commercial trav-
eler, but for some time past has been engaged
in quarrying limestone for the Pittsburg
Plate Glass Company. For many years he
has been one of the most active and influen-
tial Republicans in Ste. Genevieve county,
having served as chairman of the county con-
vention upon numerous occasions and been
mayor of St. IMary 's for several tei'ms ; and
this despite the fact that he has never sought
political position of any kind.
In 1887 George C. Bond was united in
marriage with Miss Cora M. Rozier, by whom
he has become the father of George Harold,
the immediate subject of this sketch ; Valley
S.. Anna May and Katherine.
George H. Bond, who was bom at St.
]\Iary's July 27, 1888, received his early edu-
cation in the parochial and public schools of
his native place, after which he went to St.
Louis and pursued a course at the Jones &
Henderson Business College.. Returning to
St. ]\rary's. he secured a position, as book-
keeper and cashier, with the Rozier Store
Company, which he most creditably retained
for six years. Mr. Bond then moved to Crys-
tal City, where for a time he was identified
with the Pittsburg Plate Glass Company.
His executive ability and probity of charac-
ter had, in the meantime, so commended them-
selves to the good graces of his townsmen
that he was warmly pressed for the postmas-
tership, and his appointment by President
Taft, during the Sixty-second congress of
1911 met with general approval, which has
been strengthened by his administration
since. Like his father and his grandfather,
the postmaster is a Republican and a stead-
fast Catholic; also an active member of the
Woodmen of the World and the Modern
Woodmen of America.
Joseph A. Ernst, proprietor and pub-
lisher of the St. Genevieve Herald, has had
an interesting career. He has always felt
that education was a man's best capital and
has lost no opportunity in helping to educate
othere. IMen who have achieved legitimate
success without education obtained in schools
and universities are numerous and many of
them in America try to belittle education,
but in the years to come the so called self
made man, competing in the battle of busi-
ness with scholarly rivals will go down to cer-
tain defeat. Mr. Ernst feels this and has not
only been highly educated himself, but he
seeks to be of service to others who have been
less fortunate than he.
Joseph A. Ernst was born at Westphalen
in Germany, December 10, 1836. His father,
Francis Ernst, was a native of the same place
and was a builder by occupation. His wife,
Mary Ann (Wilmes) lirnst was also a native
of Germany, where she and her husband both
died. They had seven children, one son and
six daughters.
Joseph's boyhood days were spent in his
native town, where he attended the public
school. After he had finished his school course,
he had the desire for further education and
his father, ambitious for his onl.v son, made
great sacrifices that he might send his son to
the university. He took a classical course,
graduating in 1857. The following year he
came to America, landing in New York city.
He went direct to Alton, near St. Louis,
thence to Cincinnati. He taught school for
many years, from 1862 to 1886. He taught
in Ohio and Indiana, coming to IMissouri in
1868. He went direct to St. Genevieve county
and taught school about eight miles from St.
Genevieve for about six vears. Then he
742
HISTORY OF SOUTHEAST MISSOURI
moved to the city of St. Genevieve, where he
taiitrht in the public school and became prin-
cipal of the St. Genevieve schools, which posi-
tion he held until 1886. In 1882, in addition
to his school duties, he established the St.
Gent vie I'e Herald, an independent paper
which he still publishes. In 1886 he resigned
his position in the schools and gave his entire
time to journalistic work.
On the 26th day of September, 1865, he
married ^Miss Adeline M. Hechinger, the
daughter of Protase and Abigail (Lord)
Hechinger, a German who settled near Cin-
cinnati. Ohio, where his daughter Adeline was
born. JIarch 17, 1843. She died October 8,
1901, having borne two sons and one daugh-
ter who grew to maturity. The eldest was
Frank J. A., the second John E. and the
youngest Florence A., now the wife of Ed-
ward S. Cross, of St. Genevieve county.
:\Ir. Ernst is one of the old settlers of St.
Genevieve county and from the first has been
greatly interested in public affairs. He is
personally a Republican, but he tries to keep
his own political views out of his paper, mak-
ing it truly independent. He is one of the
stockholders of the St. Genevieve Brewing
and Lighting Association. During the fifty
years that ilr. Ernst has been in the I'nited
States he has become well known as an edu-
cator and also as a journalist. He has re-
ceived benefits from the Americans, but he
has bestowed many more. He is popular
with young and old, his life having been such
as to command respect as well as admiration.
A. ^I. Barrett, resident of Lorance town-
ship, is well and favorably known as a farmer
and a progressive business man. The one
characteristic which has done more than any-
thing else to give to the United States its
agricultural and commercial supremacy is
enterprise. The man in Lorance township
who has this characteristic to a remarkable
extent is ]Mr. Barrett. By enterprise is meant
the ability to hustle, to make things go. to
bring things to pass that a less capable man
would deem impossible.
The birth of A. M. Barrett occurred August
19, 1877, in Bollinger county. He is a son of
S. Houston and Jlissouri Barrett, the father
a native of Tennessee and the mother of ilis-
souri birth and of North Carolina ancestry.
When S. Houston Barrett was a mere lad his
parents moved from Tennessee to Missouri;
there lie was educated, there engaged in agri-
cultural pursuits, and there he was married.
ilr. and ilrs. S. H. Barrett became the par-
ents of six children, w'ho were carefully
trained and educated.
A. M. Barrett was the fifth in order of
birth ; he received his educational training in
Bollinger county, and made such good use of
his opportunities that at the age of eighteen
years he was adjudged competent to instruct.
Beginning to teach in 1893, he spent the en-
suing eight years as an educator, while at
the same time he studied as much as he could
and in the summer time he was engaged in
agricultural pursuits. In 1904 he abandoned
the pedagogical field and during the last ten
years has farmed continuously. However, his
is such an active nature that he is compelled
to be occupied in some more exacting enter-
prise and while he devotes a fair share of his
energies and attentions to his farm, he is a
traveling salesman for the J. R. Watkins
IMedical Company, of Winona, ^Minnesota.
He is continually adding to his responsibil-
ities ; in the year 1909 he bought one hundred
acres of land on Hog Creek, and in 1911 he
purchased a tract of sixty-eight acres.
In 1906 Mr. Barrett was united in mar-
riage to Miss I\Iay Huskey, daughter of
Thomas Huskey and his wife. Amanda, who
reside near to the Barrett farm. Two chil-
dren have been born to the union of Mr. and
Mrs. Barrett, — Thelma L., born October 1,
1907 ; and Albert R., the date of whose birth
was November 5, 1910.
In a fraternal way Mv. Barrett is affiliated
with the Independent Order of Odd Fellows
and with the Masonic order, holding mem-
bership with the Blue Lodge. No. 545,
Ancient Free and Acepted JMasons. He has
many friends not only in Lorance township,
but throughout the whole of Bollinger
county.
William H. Lewis, of Flat River, is well
known through the lead belt as a prominent
Democrat and former member of the state
legislature and a newspaper man. He was
born at St. Jo, Texas, in 1879, but has lived
in Southeastern ^Missouri practically all his
life. His father, the late Shelby H. Lewis,
who died at Farmington in 1899, was likewise
a newspaper man and was editor of the
Farmington HeraJd at the time of his death.
He was born in Bardstown, Kentucky, in
1833. He was a verj^ active Democrat and a
member of various party committees. He
married ]\Iiss Elizabeth Hornsey, and three
of their eight children are living: — Dr. James
HISTORY OF SOUTHEAST MISSOURI
743
J., of Texas; Miss Hattie; and William H.
The father was a member of the Masonic
order.
Coming to jMissouri during his childhood,
William H. Lewis received his education in
the common schools and at Carleton College
in Farming-ton, and during most of his career
has been identified with Southeastern Mis-
souri journalism. He was formerly proprie-
tor of two Democratic weeklies in St. Fran-
cois county and also connected with papers
at Piedmont and Poplar Bluff. For several
sessions he was clerk of the state senate and
in 1905 was assistant secretary. During
1907-08 he represented St. Francois county
in the legislature. As chairman of the house
committee on mines and mining and member
of the labor and printing committees, he took
an active part in the legislation of that ses-
sion, and was author of several labor and
mining bills. At the last county election he
was defeated by a narrow margin for the
oflSce of recorder in a county that had given
heavy -majorities for the Republican candi-
dates for several elections. Mr. Lewis is a
member of the Masonic order, the Knights of
Pythias and the Modern Woodmen of Amer-
ica.
George E. Conrad. Although the man
without ancestors who succeeds in making his
own way in the world has doubtless a great
deal to contend with, he is without the obliga-
tions which are self-imposed on the descend-
ant of a family which has always amounted
to something. The untranslatable French
phrase, "noblesse oblige" is at the founda-
tion of many actions, and is a man's safe-
guard if he is conscientious, although at times
he may chafe under the obligations. George
E. Conrad, the well-known attorney and
farmer, whose family has been so closely iden-
tified with the history of Southeastern ]\Iis-
souri for many years, has not only lived so
as to satisfy his immediate family and his fel-
low men. but has also lived up to the stand-
ards set forth by his ancestors. He has made
his life count for something — has not only
made a competency for himself and his fam-
ily, but has done honor to the name he bears,
has been of assistance to individuals and has
aided in the advancement of his state and
county.
ilr. Conrad's birth occurred on the 22nd
day of March, 1852, in Bollinger county
(originally Cape Girardeau county). His an-
cestor. Peter Conrad, the founder of the Con-
rads in America, belong to an old
family of ancient lineage ; he was educated in
Prussia, where he learned the weaving trade,
and while still a young man he immigrated to
America with his two sons, Jacob and Ru-
dolph, locating in North Carolina, his home
until his death. Jacob settled in Pennsyl-
vania, near Pittsburg, while Rudolph re-
mained in North Carolina all his life. His son
Peter was born in Lincoln county. North Caro-
lina, as he was his son David Rudolph, father
of George E., and in 1820 the father and ten-
year-old son migrated to Cape Girardeau
county, now Bollinger county, ilissouri; re-
sided for two years on Crooked Creek, two
miles below Lutesville, then permanently set-
tled at Apple Creek in Perry county, where
Peter Conrad remained until his death. In
1833 his son David Rudolph bought a Span-
ish grant which had been confirmed to Freder-
ick Slinkard on Big White AVater, Bollinger
county, survey No. 801, and there he resided
on his six hundred and forty acre farm un-
til his death, in the month of November,
1890, at the age of seventy-nine (born Feb-
ruary 5, 1811). During the years that Mr.
David Rudolph Conrad lived in Bollinger
county he was one of its most esteemed resi-
dents and his fellow citizens showed their ap-
preciation of his abilities and lofty character
by bestowing honors on him. For many
years he was justice of the peace; he was
county judge from 1852 until 1861. He was
captured in October, 1861, and held prisoner
some seven weeks by Colonel Jeff Thompson,
the noted Confederate of this section. Sub-
sequently he was elected to the office of state
senator and served in that capacity from
1866 to 1870. The original land which he
purchased on Big White Water is divided and
is now the property of difl'erent members of
the family. Mr. David Rudolph Conrad had
thirteen children, seven of whom are living.
]Mr. George E. Conrad is no less well con-
nected on his mother's side of the house. Her
maiden name was Mary Bollinger, the daugh-
ter of Moses Bollinger and Elizabeth Statler.
Moses Bollinger was a son of Mathias — broth-
er of ]\Iajor Bollinger, who led many of the
first settlers into Bollinger county, which
was so named in honor of the brave Major.
The Bollinger family are of Swiss descent.
David R. Conrad's mother (grandmother
of George E.), was an Abernathy, wdiile
Peter Conrad's mother (George E. Conrad's
paternal grandfather's mother), belonged
to the old family of Shell. With these few
744
HISTORY OF SOUTHEAST .MISSOURI
fragments from the ancestry of the Conrad
family we will proceed to relate a few facts
in regard to the life of George E. Conrad
himself.
Mr. Conrad remained on the old homestead
until he had attained his majority, before
which time he had received an excellent
public school education and at the age of
twenty had been appointed to the office of
assistant county clerk, under his brother J.
J. Conrad, who was the worthy county clerk
in Bollinger county from 1866 until 1875.
In the month of September, 1873, Mr. George
Conrad entered the Missouri State Uni-
versity and for the ensuing ten years his
time was divided between teaching school,
farming for one year and studying in the
literary and the law departments of the
above " named institution. In 1882 he re-
ceived the degrees of Bachelor of Arts and
Principal of Pedagogics and the following
year he was graduated from the law school
with the degree of Bachelor of Laws. In
1884, a full-fledged lawyer, he commenced his
legal practice in Marble Hill ; the very same
year was elected to the office of prosecuting
"attorney, serving a term of two years. He
was again elected in 1906, and re-elected in
1908 ; it was during these two terms that a
quietus was put upon the illegal sale of in-
toxicants. It is needless to say that his
service in the above mentioned capacity was
eminently satisfactory. His conduct of the
prosecutor's office was generally satis-
factory, as has been his whole legal practice
—covering a period of more than a quarter
of a century.
Mr. Conrad married Miss Flora Jamison,
daughter of B. F. Jamison, of Bollinger
county, where he resided since 1876, at
which time he migrated from Indiana. Mr.
and Mrs. Conrad have a family of six chil-
dren:—Rhoda J., born March 14, 1894;
Rudolph Rhadamanthus, born June 26, 1896 ;
Caswallen Caractacus, born November 8,
1898; Plutarch Pericles, born November 29,
1900; Benton Bollinger, born June 6, 1905;
and Mary O'Neal, born April 22, 1911. The
family "attend the Presbyterian church,
where they are held in high esteem. Mr.
Conrad is a member of the Independent
Order of Odd Fellows, of the Modern Wood-
men of America, of the Mutual Protective
League and of the Improved Order of Red
Men.
In addition to his professional repiitation
Mr. Conrad is also well-known as a farmer.
He owns one hundred and twenty acres of
land between Marble Hill and Lutesville,
his residence being in ^larble Hill. He also
owns a tract of one hundred and sixty acres
of land in the southwestern corner of the
county, and there are few farms in the coun-
try which are more admirably conducted
than those which Mr. Conrad personally
supervises. Thus in legal and in agricultural
realms Mr. Conrad has become a man of note
in the county, a man who is respected for his
own sake and not on account of his ancestry,
who is liked because of his own genial person-
ality.
Elton W. Poe. A man of versatile talents,
possessing much mechanical skill and in-
genuity, and endowed with far more than
average business tact and ability, Elton W.
Poe holds a place of note among the leading
citizens of Senath, where, within the past few
years, he has built up an extensive and lucra-
tive trade as a dealer in furniture, in the sea-
son of 1910 having sold sixteen car loads. A
native of Missouri, he was born on a farm in
Washington county, June 22, 1871, a son of
Mr. and Mrs. E. M. Poe, who located at
Senath in 1910.
Receiving his preliminary education in the
public schools of his native county, Elton W.
Poe accompanied his parents to Bollinger
county, Missouri, when eleven years old, and
was there a resident ten years, during which
time he continued his school life for awhile,
and assisted his father on the farm. He sub-
sequently served an apprenticeship of three
years at the blacksmith's trade and at the
trade of a wagon maker. Locating in Stod-
dard county about 1894, Mr. Poe worked as a
farm laborer six months, and then went to
Leavenworth, Kansas, where he became pro-
ficient at the trade of a painter and paper
hanger, after which he traveled throughout
the country west of the Mississippi for two
years, gaining wisdom and experience in his
wanderings. Tired of roaming about, he
joined his parents at their new home in Stod-
dard county, and in 1896, having helped his
father on the farm for a year, l\Ir. Poe came
to Dunklin county in search of congenial em-
ployment. He subsequently took unto him-
self a helpmeet, and a year later, in 1900, lo-
cated in Senath, without a penny in the
world that he could call his own. Securing
work in the shop of Mr. McDaniels, a black-
smith, he remained with him two years, re-
ceiving a dollar a day for his labor. Saving
HISTORY OF SOUTHEAST MISSOURI
745
some money while there, Mr. Poe in 1902
opened a smithy of his own, putting in one
hundred and twenty-five dollars worth of
tools, and in its management has met with well-
merited success. As his large and constantly
increasing patronage demanded more efficient
service, he added to his tools and equipments
until he has now machinery and appliances
valued at two thousand, five hundred dollars,
his shop being one of the best and most up-
to-date of any similar plant in Southeastern
Missouri. A few years ago Mr. Poe pur-
chased a grist mill, in which he employs three
men, the mill having a capacity of fifteen
bushels an hour.
In 1906 ilr. Poe, with characteristic enter-
prise and ambition, rented a building on
Main street, and there for about two j^ears
dealt in second hand furniture. Succeeding
far beyond his expectations in his venture,
he purchased a lot, erected a brick building,
forty by one hundred feet, and in 1909 es-
tablished his present mercantile business,
which is one of the largest of the kind in this
part of the county, his stock of furniture be-
ing choice in quality and his sales unusually
large for a town no larger than Senath. In
addition to owning his store, smithy and mill,
Mr. Poe has a half acre of land in his home
lot and a substantial residence. This prop-
erty he has acquired by his own energy,
laboring in season and out, sometimes by
night as well as day, having done much of
the work on his home by lamp light.
Mr. Poe married, in 1899, in Dunklin
county, Hetta Freeman, who was born in
Stoddard county, near Bloomfield, and into
their pleasant home three children have made
their advent, namely: Bernice, Elton A. and
Vivian X. In his political affiliations 'Sir. Poe
is a Republican, but has never sought public
office. Fraternally he is a member of Senath
Lodge, No. 513, of A. F. & A. M., of Senath ;
of Helm Chapter, R. A. M., of Kennett; of
Campbell Council, R. & S. M. ; of the Valley
of Saint Louis Consistory, of Corinth ; of
:JIoolah Temple. A. A. O" X. M. S.. of St.
Louis ; and of Eutopia Lodge, No. 283, I. 0.
0. F.
JosiAH M. White. Among the useful,
highly honored and influential citizens of this
part of Missouri is Josiah il. Wliite, county
clerk of Madison county. He is a thoroughly
representative man and as such is well en-
titled to place in this compilation. He lias
held the important office above mentioned
since January 1, 1907, and his services have
been of the most enlightened and satisfactory
character. He is a native sou of ^ladison
countj% his birth having occurred at what is
known as White Springs on March 6, 1858,
the son of William B. M. and Sarah (Kelly)
White. The father was born in 1829 in the
.state of Tennessee and was the son of the
Rev. Elias White, a minister of the ^Methodist
Episcopal church who came to Southeastern
Missouri about 1835. He was a very well-
known minister and devoted his life to the
cause he represented. He was native to
Giles county, Tennessee. William B. M.
White had two brothers and four sisters, all
of whom found their way to this state. The
eldest brother, John White, served in the
Mexican war and now all of the number are
deceased with the exception of the subject's
father. He was reared in this vicinity and
engaged in farming and in the lumber busi-
ness here and near Fredericktown. He was
a soldier in the Confederate army, serving
under Colonel Kitchens for three years. His
military career was somewhat adventurous
and he was captured about the close of the
war.
Sarah Kelly, mother of tlie immediate
subject of this record, was born in j\Iadison
county, and died in January, 1902. She was
a daughter of Robert Kelly, who was of Irish
descent. That gentleman settled in ]\Iadison
county and followed agricultural pursuits.
Sarah was very active in the affairs of the
Methodist Episcopal church. She had two
sisters and four brothers, all of whom have
passed on to the L'ndiscovered Country.
Josiah ]M. White is one of a family con-
sisting of three brothers and one sister, all of
whom are living at the present time. Rufus
T. is a hotel proprietor of Ironton, Missouri;
Robert E. is engaged in the lumber business
at Marcfuand, Missouri"; the sister. Miss
Emma, resides with her father at Frederick-
town, Missouri.
Mr. White finds this section replete with
manj^ associations, for here he was born and
reared and he resided here continuously un-
til about the age of twenty years. He then
spent some time in Iron and Saint Francois
counties, principally in the former, where he
engaged in mining and in the lumber busi-
ness, in which he continued until 1902. He
then embarked in a new line of business. —
the mercantile — at ^Marquand, Madison coun-
ty, and his identification with that line of
enterprise continued until his acceptance of
746
HISTORY OF SOUTHEAST MISSOURI
his present office in 1907. He is a Democrat
in politics and is very enthusiastic in his en-
dorsement of the policies and principles of
the party of Jefferson, Jackson and Cleve-
land.
]Mr. White was united in marriage to Miss
Jessie Newcum, a native of Madison county,
and a daughter of Bennett Newcum, a con-
tractor and carpenter, now deceased. He
was one of the early residents hereabout.
His wife died in 190S. Mrs. White is a mem-
ber of the Christian church, but her husband
favors the Methodist Episcopal. They share
their pleasant home .with two daughters aiid
a son, namely: Claude, now of St. Louis,
where he is employed ; and Florence and Lil-
lian, who are at home.
Mr. White is a Royal Arch Mason and is
also affiliated with the Independent Order of
Odd Fellows and the Modern Woodmen of
America. The family maintains its home at
Southport.
Melbourne Smith, editor of the Lead Belt
News, is one of the able representatives of the
Fourth Estate in this part of the state, the
publication of which he is the head standing
as a fit moulder of public opinion and re-
corder of the events of the many-sided life
of the community. One of our greatest
American writers has penned the lines
' ' There was a young fellow of excellent pith,
Fate tried to obscure him by naming him
Smith."
But in the case of the subject, as in that
of the hero of the couplet. Fate seems des-
tined to frustration in her nefarious designs.
Melbourne Smith is a native son of Mis-
souri, his birth having occurred at Marble
Hill, Bollinger county, on December 9, 1882.
He is the son of that well-known statesman
and lawyer, Madison R. Smith, member of
Congress from the Thirteenth district of Mis-
souri. The elder gentleman was born July
9, 1850, at Glen Allen, Missouri, and received
his preliminary education in the public
schools, later entering Central College at
Fayette, and preparing for the law under
Louis Ilouck, of Cape Girardeau, Missouri.
He was admitted to the bar at Marble Hill in
187-4 and he was united in marriage to Nan-
nie Leech of Cape Girardeau January 12,
1881. To this union five children were born,
namely: Melbourne, Alma, Taylor, Bab and
Buntie. The family removed to Farmington
about the year 1888 and there the head of the
house engaged in the practice of law. An
able man and one of high ideals of citizen-
ship, he soon received marked political pre-
ferment, representing his district in the state
Senate from 1887 until 1891 and giving most
loj-al and efficient service to his constituents.
He acted as reporter of the St. Louis Court
of Appeals from 1901 until 1904 and in 1907
reached the zenith of his career, going as rep-
resentative of the Thirteenth ]\Iissouri Dis-
trict to the Sixtieth Congress, his tenure of
office lasting from 1907 to 1909. The Hon.
]Mr. Smith is a stanch supporter of the prin-
ciples of Democracy and he is a prominent
ilason. The religious faith of the family is
that of the Southern Methodist church. Mad-
ison R. Smith is at the present time counsel
for the Federal Trust Company of St. Louis
and he also acts in the same capacity for the
Houck Railroads. He is located at Farming-
ton at the present time.
The early education of Melbourne Smith
was secured in the public schools of Farming-
ton and he subsequently attended a number
of well-known institutions. These were Elm-
wood Seminary and Carlton College of Farm-
ington ; Branham & Hughes School at Spring
Hill, Tennessee; and Central College at
Fayette, Missouri. He exhibited marked at-
tainments in scholarship and in 1902 re-
ceived the degree of A. B. from the last
named institution. After his graduation he
became connected in 1903 with the Eepubli-
can of Cape Girardeau. About a year later,
— on June 9, 1904, he accepted a position
on the St. Louis Republican and remained
with that well-known newspaper for the fol-
lowing three years. When his father was
sent to the National Assembly in Washing-
ton, D. C, Mr. Smith went with him as his
secretary and he remained in the national
capital during the session of 1907-1909. He
subseciuently became connected with the Fed-
eral Trust Company and remained with that
organization until Jlareh, 1911, when he es-
tablished himself upon a more independent
footing, by becoming editor and publisher of
the Lead Belt News, at Plat River. This
paper represents the political principles for
which the Messrs. Smith have ever main-
tained great loyalty, — the Democratic — and
is a live and excellently conducted sheet.
On June 26, 1908, Mr. Smith was united
in marriage to Miss Helen Albert, daughter
of L. J. Albert, president of the Bank of
Cape Girardeau. This happy union was of
brief duration, Mrs. Smith's demise occurring
HISTORY OF SOUTHEAST MISSOURI
(47
in March, 1909, at Farmington. She is sur-
vived by one son, Albert. Mr. Smith is an
earnest member of the Methodist Episcopal
church. South and holds membership in the
Masonic lodge. He is widely and favorably
known and stands as a valuable member of
society.
August H. Breckenkajip, secretary and
treasurer of the Missouri Meerschaum Com-
pany of Washington, is one of the native sons
of the county who have manifested their un-
usual loyalty to the section which gave them
birth by electing to remain permanently
■\\-ithin its pleasant boundaries. He was born
in the country near this city, November 22,
1866, and upon his christening day received
the entire patronymic of his father, August
H. Breckenkamp, Sr. The elder gentleman
was also a native of the state, Franklin
county being the scene of his nativity and its
date December 22, 1840. He passed to the
Great Beyond in August, 1904. His parents
came to the United States from Germany in
the year of his birth and settled among their
countrymen in Franklin county. The name
of the grandfather was Louis. In his de-
scendant, the subject, are apparent those ex-
cellent characteristics which make Germany
one of America's favorite sources of immi-
gration.
August H. Breckenkamp, Sr., received
such education as the primitive IMissouri
schools of his day and generation afforded.
During the period of the Civil war he was
one of the militia ready for service upon call
of the Federal government and soon after the
attainment of peace he moved into Washing-
ton and there engaged in business. In
course of time he associated himself with J.
]\I. Degen in the organization of the Degen &
Breckenkamp Manufacturing Company, in
the planing mill, lumber and flour mill busi-
ness, which concern, some years later, united
with the Detmold Pipe Works and this com-
bine was ultimately absorbed by the H. Tibbe
& Sons Manufacturing Company, now known
as the Jlissouri ileerschaum Company. The
elder Mr. Breckenkamp was a Republican,
and there was nothing of public import at
Washington and in the surrounding country
in which he was not helpfull.v interested.
He was for several .vears public administrator
of Franklin county and gave service of the
most faithful and enlightened character. He
married Catherine Kappelmann, a daughter
of Henry Kappelmann and born at Buch-
holzhausen, Prussia, Germany. They became
the parents of the following children:
August H. ; Catherine, wife of E. A. Hopfer,
of Alma, Kansas; Edward, who died unmar-
ried; and Clara, now Mrs. A. E. Ritzmann,
of Washington, Missouri.
August H. Breckenkamp, Jr., immediate
subject of this biographical record, acquired
his education in the public schools and at the
age of eighteen he associated himself with E.
H. Otto, as a member of the firm of Otto &
Breckenkamp. After several years of this
association he entered the firm of Degen &
Breckenkamp, above referred to, and fol-
lowed its many vicissitudes to its final ab-
sorption by the Missouri Meerschaum Com-
pany, of which he is now secretary and treas-
urer. This cob pipe factor3^ represents one
of the old enterprises of Washington, its
establishment dating from the year 1878, and
it stands as a monument to H. Tibbe, its
author and founder. Its possession is of the
greatest importance to Washington, city and
county, providing a market for labor and for
that usually useless article — the com cob. It
does its share toward the general prosperity
and at the same time has experienced no
small success of its own. Mr. Breckenkamp
has served as a member of the city council of
Washington and gives heart and hand to the
men and measures of the Republican party,
with which he has been affiliated since his
earliest voting days.
Mr. Breckenkamp was married, January
15, 1888, to iliss Emily Otto, a sister of
George H. Otto, mentioned on other pages of
this work. She is a daughter of W. H. Otto.
Mr. and Mrs. Breckenkamp share their de-
lightful home with two sons. Otto and
August. The family are Lutherans in their
religious faith.
Henry Haynes. Thomas Jefferson is
credited with saj'ing, "Let the farmer for-
evermore be honored in his calling; for al-
though he labor in the earth, he is one of the
chosen people of God." Agriculture has
been the chief business of Mr. Haynes during
life and his industry, thrift and progressive-
ness have been rewarded with success mate-
rially, while his good citizenship has won
him the respect of the communit.y. Henry
Haynes was born in Bollinger county. IMis-
souri, on the 22nd day of October, 1855, and
is the son of Daniel J. and Sophia C. Haynes,
both natives of the state of Missouri. The
paternal grandfather was a son of ilathew
748
HISTORY OF SOUTHEAST MISSOURI
and Fanny Haynes, who were born in North
Carolina and there lived out their useful
lives.
The immediate subject of this biographical
record was reared upon his father's home-
stead and there spent the roseate days of
boyhood and youth. He secured his educa-
tion in the public schools and when it came
to choosing a vocation he easily came to a de-
cision to follow in the paternal footsteps. He
made an independent start when in 1880 he
began agricultural operations on a part of
his father's farm near Castor, Missouri, the
same comprising one hundred and ten acres
of land. He prospered from the first and in
later years bought two hundred and forty
acres more, then giving the original one hun-
dred and ten acres to his son, C. A. Haynes.
He devotes his energies to general farming
and stock raising and he is interested in all
that tends to advance and unify the agricul-
tural element in this section of the great state
of Missouri.
Mr. Haynes was happily married on the
9th day of December, 1880, the lady to be-
come his wife being Miss Eliza C. Rickman,
daughter of James E. and Elizabeth Rick-
man, natives of Alabama and Missouri, re-
spectively. Their union has been blessed by
the birth of three children. James E., born
in 1881, took as his wife Eva Cooper and he
resides near Lutesville and is a merchant;
Charles A., born in 1884, is married to Clara
Shetby and is engaged in farming at his
grandfather's homestead; Bessie L., the
youngest member of the familj', born in 1894,
still resides beneath the home roof and is now
in college, fulfilling her desire for an educa-
tion.
Mr. Haynes and his wife are prominent
and helpful members of the Baptist church,
and the head of the house is in harmony with
the policies and principles of the Democratic
party, to which he has given his vote since he
first attained to his majority.
D. M. RiGDON, after starting out in life in
the pedagogical field, has turned his energies
to agriculture. Every year there are more
men who become farmers for themselves,
which is a very desirable condition of affairs.
It seems suitable that a man should receive
the rewards of his own labor and in no place
is this so much the case as on the farm.
D. M. Rigdon was born in Fayette county,
in the southern part of central Illinois, April
1, 187.3. Tlie first four years of his life were
spent on his father's farm, at which time the
family moved to Vandalia, where the son
went to school. In 1887 he moved to Bol-
linger county with his father, where he at-
tended the public school and later was one
year at the Maytield Smith Academy at ^lar-
ble Hill. For the next six years he taught
school in Bollinger, Stoddard and Dunklin
counties. In 1898 he moved to a little farm
of sixty-one acres which was owned by his
wife. After a little over a year had elapsed
he moved to the farm where he is at pres-
ent, two and three quarter miles south of
Kennett, where he bought one hundred and
twenty acres of land on credit. At the time
when he made the change, March, 1899, the
land was very much run down, but he has
cultivated it with as much care as he trained
the minds of his pupils in his teaching days.
He has built four miles of wire fence and the
place is now well drained. He has built a
barn sixtj'-eight by seventy-eight feet and
has put up farm buildings. He raises cot-
ton and corn for the most part, but he uses
a large part of his land for pasture, on which
are cattle, horses, mules and hogs, indeed all
kinds of live stock.
In 1898 he married Miss Melissa Thomas,
of Dunklin county. Three children have been
born to the union, Carl, Vivian and Fred.
Mr. Rigdon takes an interest in polities and
has been once a delegate to the Democratic
convention. He belongs to the Ancient Free
and Accepted Masons and Sirs. Rigdon is an
active member of the Christian church. She
was born in Tennessee, in 1869. a daughter of
J. E. Thomas, a prominent farmer and citi-
zen, and also a large land owner of Dunklin
county, and an early resident. He was a
Democrat and was the founder and a charter
member of the Christian church of his com-
munity. Mr. Rigdon lives a happy, contented
life, respected by his fellows and loved by all
his friends.
Z. T. Hicks. Noteworthy among the
thriving members of the mercantile com-
munity of Kennett is Z. T. Hicks, who has
achieved siiccess in his career through his
own efforts, his habits of industry and hon-
esty having been well rewarded. He was
born September 18, 1849, at Dover, Stewart
county, Tennessee, about seventy miles north
of Nashville. A wide-awake, ambitious
boy, he joined the Confederate army soon
after entering his teens, enlisting in Septem-
ber, 1862, in a company of cavalry com-
^Z^K'Uj
J
HISTORY OF SOUTHEAST MISSOUEI
749
manded by Colonel Woodward, who was
killed at the engagement in Hopkinsville,
Kentucky, his successor having been Colonel
Lee Sipert, who served with his command
under General Lyon.
This young soldier saw service in Ken-
tucky, Tennessee. Alabama, ^Mississippi and
Georgia, at one time helping to capture one
of Sherman's supply trains, ilr. Hicks took
part in many skirmishes, and was at the
front in the battles at Nashville and Frank-
lin, at the latter place seeing some hard fight-
ing. During the retreat of Hood's Army
through Alabama, he kept at the rear, and
although the greater part of his brigade was
captured in Alabama he managed to escape,
an order having been given for each man to
look out for himself. ^Making his way as
rapidly as he could back to Tennessee, Mr.
Hicks went to his old hime, near the Ohio
river, where he remained for a few months,
living with a Colonel who had served under
General Porrest; he afterwards worked for
his father, and never surrendered or took
the oath of allegiance.
Coming to Missouri in the fall of 1870,
Mr. Hicks located in Kennett on the tenth
day of December, and has since been a resi-
dent of this city. He worked at first on a
farm, or in the timber regions, and for eight
winters followed trapping and hiinting,
catching beaver, otter and other fur-bearing
animals, finding both pleasure and profit in
the work, each season filling a contract with
a dealer in furs. Mr. Hicks also ran a dray
in Kennett for a time, and took some con-
tracts for levee making along the Saint
Francois river, building tour miles of it and
doing some other work along the same line.
For the past five years ]\Ir. Hicks has been
successfully engaged in biisiness for himself,
as a dealer in coal and wood having a large
and lucrative trade. He has accumulated
a fair share of this world's goods, and owns
an entire block in Rose Park, where he has
a neat and attractive home.
:\rr. Hicks married, June 17, 1883, Drusilla
Seeley. who was born in Tennessee, but was
brought up in Clay county, Arkansas. Two
children have been born to Mr. and Mrs.
Hicks, but both died in infancy. They, how-
ever, reared an orphan child from the age of
two years until fourteen years old. Mr. and
IMrs. Hicks are both trustworthy members
of the Baptist church, and he is a Democrat
in political affiliations.
Frank Alexander Johnston, first mayor,
of Crystal City after the incorporating act of
June 3, 1911, is a thoroughly educated,
trained and worthy representative of its busi-
ness and public interests. He was born in
Pennsylvania October 25, 1874, and is a son
of Joseph and ilartha (Flemming) Johnston.
The father was also a native of the Key-
stone state, born in 1848, and served in the
Civil war as a mere youth. Thus trained and
matured, even beyond his years, at the con-
clusion of the awful conflict he settled in
Venango county and engaged in the oil busi-
ness ; in 1866 he evidently longed for a more
peaceful and secure occupation, for in that
year he located on a farm in that section of
the state, where he lived and labored until
his death, at the age of sixty-three.
Frank Alexander Johnston was the fourth
child in a family of five, and received his
early education in the country and high
schools of Homer City, Pennsylvania. After
finishing his advanced courses, he taught
school for five years, and then established
himself as a merchant at Irwin, that state,
continuing his mercantile career at Ford
City. In 1902 Mr. Johnston became a citi-
zen of ^Missouri, becoming one of the founders
of Valley Park and its first merchant. He
remained in that town until his coming to
Crystal City in 1907. Mr. Johnston and his
brothers had established a flourishing general
store at Valley Park, St. Louis county; in
fact, the business was such as to warrant the
opening of another store at Crystal City, and
it was for that purpose that Frank A. be-
came a citizen of the place. That he found a
substantial welcome is evident both from the
growth of the Crystal City enterprise and
that when the place was ready to assume the
municipal garb his name was almost unani-
mously presented to the Judge of the County
Court for appointment to the mayoralty. In
his religious belief he is a Presbyterian and
attends the lodge meetings of the Modern
Woodmen of America.
In 1900 Mv. Johnston married Miss EUen
Naysmith. of Ford City, Pennsylvania, and
their home is a center of hearty and cultured
hospitality.
William H. Hatcher, M. D. For a num-
ber of years Dr. William H. Hatcher has
been connected with the upbuilding of Perry-
ville and he has just reason to be proud of the
fact that to his efforts can be traced many a
750
lilSTORY OF SOUTHEAST MISSOURI
substantial enterprise or advancement con-
tributing greatly to the growth and prosper-
ity of this section of the state. In every sense
of the word he is a representative citizen and
a phj-sician and surgeon of unusual ability.
It is to the inherent force of character, the
commendable ambition and the unremitting
diligence of Dr. Hatcher himself that he has
progressed in the professional world until he
now occupies a leading place in the medical
fraternity of ]Missouri.
A native of Cape Girardeau county, Dr.
William H. Hatcher was born at Pocahontas,
on the 2nd of September, 1863, and he is a
son of James D. and Amanda K. (Wilson)
Hatcher, the former of whom was born in the
eastern part of Cape Girardeau county and
the latter of whom claimed Cape Girardeau
county as the place of her nativity. The
father of James D. Hatcher was of German
extraction and his wife traced her ancestry
back to stanch Irish stock. Reared to ma-
turity in Cape Girardeau county, James D.
Hatcher early engaged in agricultural pur-
isuits and for a number of years he lived on
a farm in Illinois, later returning to his na-
tive place where he purchased the old Wilson
homestead. He was summoned to the life
eternal in the year 1908 and his cher-
ished and devoted wife passed to the great
beyond in 1905. Mr. and Mrs. James D.
Hatcher became the parents of ten children,
of whom the Doctor was the second in order
of birth and of whom six are living at the
present time, in 1911.
Dr. William H. Hatcher obtained his pre-
liminary educational training in the public
schools of his native county and for a time
he attended the State Normal School and the
Oak Ridge high school. In 1889 he began
to study medicine at Nashville, Tennessee,
where he remained for a period of two years,
at the expiration of which he went to St.
Louis, where he was matriculated as a student
in the University of Missouri, then the
Marion Sims Medical College, in which ex-
cellent institution he was graduated as a
member of the class of 1892, duly receiving
the degree of Doctor of Medicine. Dr.
Hatcher worked his way through college,
making the money with which to defray his
expenses by making "hoop-poles" for flour
barrels. Immediately after graduation he
settled in Perry county, at Brazeau, where he
was identified with the work of his profes-
sion for a period of nine years and where he
gained distinctive prestige as a physician and
surgeon of unusual skill and ability. In 1901
he established his home and professional
headquarters at Perryville, where he has re-
resided during the intervening j^ears to the
present time and here he enjoys the unal-
loyed confidence and esteem of all with whom
he has come in contact. After his arrival in
Perryville Dr. Hatcher espoused the reform
movement in politics and he has figured
prominently in the development of the city
and locality. In 1907 he erected the Perry
Hotel, which has been under several differ-
ent managements but which was again taken
charge of by Dr. Hatcher on the 1st of June,
1910. Under his able conduct this hotel has
gained a reputation as one of the finest hos-
telries in southeastern ]\Iissoviri. Dr.
Hatcher is on the committee and is one of the
boosters for electric lights and water works
in the town, where he is well known as an en-
terprising and progressive citizen whose deep
and sincere interest in community affairs has
ever been of the most insistent order.
At Brazeau, Missouri, on the 17th of June,
1894, Avas solemnized the marriage of Dr.
Hatcher to Miss Pinkie May Pross, whose
birth occurred at Newton county, Missouri,
and who is a daughter of Henry Pross, long
a representative citizen of Newton county,
Missouri, where he was engaged in the agri-
cultural business. Mr. and Mrs. Hatcher
have four sons, whose names are here en-
tered in respective order of birth, — Melvin
Pross, William Ray, Rollie Vernan, and
Nolan Sanford, all of whom are attending
school at Perryville. In his political convic-
tions Dr. Hatcher is aligned as a stalwart in
the ranks of the Democratic party and the
peculiar thing about this is that his father
was an uncompromising Republican, as are
all his brothers. In fraternal circles the
Doctor is a valued member of the Modern
Woodmen of America, and the United Broth-
erhood of America, in addition to which he
is also affiliated with a number of professional
organizations. The professional career of
Dr. Hatcher excites the admiration and has
won the respect of his contemporaries, and in
a calling in which one has to gain reputation
by merit he has advanced steadily until he is
acknowledged as the superior of most of the
members of the medical fraternity in this
part of the state, where he has so long main-
tained his home and where the list of his per-
sonal friends is coincident Avith that of his
acquaintances.
HISTORY OF SOUTHEAST MISSOURI
John Johnson is well known in Lutesville
as the superintendent of the factories of the
Pioneer Cooperage Company, one of the larg-
est and most progressive cooperage concerns
in southeastern Missouri. Before a man can
hope to become a siiperintendent of any
branch of industry he must give evidence of
possessing certain requisites ; he must himself
be perfectly cognizant of the details of that
particular line of work, and he must also
show that he has the ability to control men.
ilr. Johnson has been connected in some wise
with lumber and timber all of his life, is a
perfect master of the workings of the cooper-
age business, and he is possessed of that exec-
utive ability and tact which are necessary to
command the best possible service.
Born in Ashland, Ohio, i\Iarch 10, 1846,
]\Ir. Johnson is a son of Jacob and Zilpha
Johnson, both natives of Ohio; the father is
of Irish descent, while the ancestors of the
mother were a nuxture of English and Penn-
sylvania Dutch. Jacob Johnson was a farm-
er in his native state, where he passed his
entire life, was there educated and married,
and there his demise occurred in the year
1895, while his wife was summoned to her
last rest in the year 1883. They were the
parents of eight children, of' which number
their son John was the tii'st in order of birth.
When John Johnson was but a lad of fif-
teen the Civil war broke out, and he was
seized with a desire to participate in the
conflict. He was, however, too young to be
permitted to enlist at that time, and was
obliged to restrain his ardor with such pa-
tience as he could call to his aid. He con-
tinued his studies in the schools of his neigh-
borhood, and waited until such time as he
might be old enough to join the army. When
he was seventeen years old his father
gave his consent to the .voung man's wishes,
and on the 7th day of October, 1863, he en-
listed in the Forty-first Ohio Volunteer In-
fantry under General W. B. Hazen. He soon
was in the midst of the conflict, saw service
through Tennessee. Alabama and Texas, was
in the battles around Atlanta, Franklin and
Nashville : was in the Hood campaign under
General Thomas, and was in some of the most
severely contested campaigns of the war. He
was slightly wounded in the left leg at the
battle of Nashville, but nevertheless con-
tinued with his company until the latter part
of November, 1865, when he received his
honorable discharge at New Orleans, Louisi-
ana. After Lee's surrender, the regiment of
which Mr. Johnson had been a member was
sent to Texas with the Fourth Corps, to be
ready for duty in Mexico, to guard against
the expected French occupation. On Mr.
Johnson's return to the life of a civilian he
went back to his native place, and remained
on the farm with his mother until 1871. He
then went to Saginaw City, Avhere he en-
gaged in the saw mill business, since which
time he has been constantly occupied in the
lumber manufacturing industry. He spent a
year in northern Michigan ; then returned
home to Ohio for a short time, and in 1892
went to Carlyle, Illinois, where he was con-
nected with the cooperage business. Locat-
ing in Cape Girardeau in 1896, he was en-
gaged in the sawmill business again; in 1904
he took charge of a large mill at Brownwood
and was one of the number who bought out
the Pioneer Cooperage Company. Disposing
of his interests, however, he entered the em-
ploy of the Pioneer Cooperage Company, lo-
cated at Fredericktown and in January, 1910,
he assumed the charge of the four mills situ-
ated respectively at Lutesville and Grassy,
Bollinger county, and at Camp No. 33 and
Coldwater, Wayne county. Under his effi-
cient control the work turned out by these
mills has increased in ciuantitj' and im-
proved in quality.
In 1871, the year that Mr. Johnson left
the farm and started in the sawmill business,
he was married to Jliss Susan Morris, of
Paulding county, Ohio, where her father,
George W. Morris, was an honored resident.
Mr. and Mrs. Johnson became the parents of
seven children, five of whom are living, —
Anna, whose birth occurred in 1874 and who
became the wife of K. C. Pierce, of Lutes-
ville, where she maintains her residence;
Leora S., married to the Rev. P. J. Rinehart,
a minister in the Methodist Episcopal church
at Effingham, Ohio; Bessie, Mrs. Fred C.
Shetley, who maintains her home at Spring-
field, Texas; Ella Lee and Belle M., both
teachers in the public school.
Mr. and ilrs. Johnson are both members
of the Methodist Episcopal church. South,
and in fraternal connection Mr. Johnson is
atYiliated with the JIasonic order, his direct
membership being with the Blue Lodge, No.
502, Ancient Free and Accepted Masons, at
Paulding, Ohio. He owns property in Texas,
having a tract of one hundred and forty-
three acres on the south Gulf coast.
HISTORY OF SOUTHEAST MISSOURI
Thomas A. Son, il. D. As an able and
successful examplar of the benignant Eclectic
school of medicine Dr. Son, who is engaged
in active general practice at Bonne Terre,
St. Francois county, has gained prestige as
one of the representative physicians and sur-
geons of this section of the state and holds
to the fullest extent the confidence and esteem
of the community in which he is laboring with
all of zeal and ability in his noble and exact-
ing profession. He is a native son of Missouri
and a scion of staunch old southern stock, as
the original representatives of the name in
Missouri came to this state from Kentuclrv'.
Dr. Thomas Alvin Son was born on a farm
in IMorgan count^^ ^Missouri, on the 2d of
January, 1857. and is a son of James M. and
Eliza Jane (Harris) Son, the former of whom
was born near the city of Sedalia, this state,
in 1832, and the latter of whom was born in
Cooper county. James IMonroe Son was
twenty-one years of age at the time of his
marriage and his entire active career
has been one of close and successful
identification with the great basic in-
dustry of agriculture. He and his wife,
both now venerable in years, reside at Ard-
more. Oklahoma, and it is worthj- of special
note that of their twelve children only one
is deceased. Dr. Thomas A., of this review,
is the third in order of birth. The lineage of
the Son Family is traced back to staunch Ger-
man origin and that of the Harris family is
of Scotch-Irish extraction. The father of
James ]\I. Son was one of the pioneer clergy-
men of the Baptist church in ^Missouri, where
he continued to reside until his death, in
1865. Wlien the Civil was was precipitated
James M. Son showed his fervent loyalty to
the Union by enlisting in its defense, in re-
sponse to President Lincoln's first call for
volunteers. Early in 1861 he thus became
a member of a company commanded by Cap-
tain Hart, and he was with his regiment in
active service at Jefferson City during the
memorable raid of General Price through this
state. He is a member of the Grand Army
of the Republic, is a staunch Democrat in
his political proclivities and both lie and bis
wife are earnest and zealous members of the
Baptist church. Their lives have been marked
by faithfulness and sincerity and they have
not been denied the .iust reward of popular
confidence and regard, the while the gracioiis
evening of their lives is brightened by the
filial affection of their children and their chil-
dren's children.
Dr. Thomas A. Son gained his early ex-
periences in connection with the scenes and
labors of the home farm and in the mean-
while his ambition was quickened through
tlie discipline secured in the local schools, as
is shown b.v the fact that after completing
the curriculum of the same he took a course
in a business college in the city of Sedalia.
His close application and ready powers of
assimilation made him eligible for pedagogic
honors when he was but seventeen years of
age, and for ten years he devoted his atten-
tion to successful teaching in the schools of
Morgan, Miller and Moniteau counties. This
service was, however, but a means to an end,
and his next experience was gained along
radically different lines, as he engaged in the
general merchandise business in the little vil-
lage of Passaic, Bates countj', where he also
served as postmaster for a period of four
vears. In the meanwhile he had formulated
definite plans for a career of wider usefulness,
and in preparation for the work of his chosen
profession he entered the American ]\Iedical
College in the city of St. Louis, where he com-
pleted the prescribed course and where he was
was graduated as a member of the class
of 1899, with the degree of Doctor of
^Medicine. He made a specially admirable
record as an undergraduate and came forth
from this institution well equipped for the
work of his profession, in which his initial ex-
perience was gained in the city of St. Louis,
where he remained until 1899, when he es-
tablished his residence at Bonne Terre, St.
Francois county, where he has built up a
large and representative general practice and
gained the high regard of the community.
He is medical examiner for several fraternal
insurance orders, is an active member of the
Missouri Eclectic Medical Society, and in a
competitive examination he won a prize
through his excellent standing in American
Order of Medical Examiners. Though never
a seeker of political preferment. Dr. Son is
unwavering in his allegiance to the Demo-
cratic party and as a citizen he is essentially
liberal and public-spirited. He is affiliated
with the Masonic fraternity, the Knights of
Pythias and the Modern Woodmen of
America, and botli he and his wife hold
membership in the Baptist church.
On the 10th of Febniary. 1882, was solem-
ized the marriage of Dr. Son to Miss Ida L.
Carney, of Enon, IMoniteau county, this state.
She is a daughter of Charles B. Carney, one
of the representative agriculturists and sterl-
HISTORY OF SOUTHEAST MISSOURI
753
ling- citizens of that county. Dr. and Mrs.
Sou have au interesting family of nine chil-
dren, of whom eight remain at the parental
home, their names, in respective order of
birth, being here entered: Alviu Darwin,
John Ezra, Estella Blanche, James Benton,
Goldie, Maude, Leota, Roweua and Emma.
The attractive family home is known for its
cordial hospitality and good cheer and is a
favorite rendezrvous for a wide circle of
friends.
Thomas G. Wilson, a prosperous farmer
citizen at Senath in Dunklin county, is one
of the men who have more than kept pace in
their own prosperity with the remarkable
progress of recent years in Southeast Missouri
generally. Probably few men in this part
of the state have more to show for their
energy and business enterprise. A dozen
years ago he was a poor tenant farmer ; since
then he has become the owner of several
farms making in the aggregate one of the
best country estates in his county, owns prop-
erty in town, is a stockholder in the local
bank, and one of the most prosperous citizens
of his community.
]Mr. "Wilson was born in Henderson county,
Tennessee, September 25, 1866, and lived
there the first ten years of his life, during
which time he acquired practically all the
schooling he ever had. In 1877 his parents,
Nathan C. and Clarissa (Derryberry) Wil-
son, settled two miles northwest of Senath on
rented land. The father died in the same
year, and the mother then moved to Buffalo
Island and bought forty acres at a dollar and
a quarter an acre, all of it uncleared except
four acres. Her other sons moved away, and
Thomas was left alone to work the land and
provide for himself and mother. He was not
lacking in the faithfulness to duty and energy
and determination which accomplish great
works, and his later prosperitj^ seems a grate-
ful reward for his early toils and hardships.
He set to work, cleared off the little farm,
set out an orchard, and continued to live
there until 1901.
In that year he made the move which
started him to prosperity. He moved to the
T. J. Bolin farm of eighty acres two and a
half miles west of Senath. He bought the
place on credit, having only his own character
and energy as capital. His mother had lived
■with him all these years and also moved with
him to the present home, where she died in
September, 1902. From liis new beginning
at this location he has prospered. In 1903 he
added another eighty acres adjoining his tirst
place, in 1909 bought the Irv Scott eighty
lying just west of the corporation of Senath,
and has also acquired thirty-nine acres ad-
joining his origina.1 place on the east. In ten
years he has thus succeeded in possessing two
hundred and seventy-nine acres, and also
owns a couple of lots in town. All of his land
is cleared but twelve acres, and he has im-
proved it with good house and barn, and is
in every way a modern, progressive farmer,
lie owns stock and is one of the directors of
the Citizens Bank of Senath.
]\Ir. Wilson is one of the active citizens of
this community. He is a school director and
served as school clerk for nine years. In
politics he is Republican. He is one of the
working members of the Christian church.
Fraternally he is a member of the Independ-
ent Order of Odd Fellows and the Woodmen
of the World at Senath.
In 1894 he married iliss Artie M. Smith-
wick, daughter of Thomas and Elizabeth
Smithwick, well known residents of Dunklin
county, who came here from Tennessee. Six
children were born to them, three of whom
died in infancy, and the three living are:
Helen, born in 1901 ; Hubert G., born in
1903 ; and Veder H., born in 1906.
George W. Albright. Madison county,
Missouri, includes among her representative
citizens George W. Albright, at present
county collector, a native son who has ever
proved very loyal to her institutions and her
interests and who can ever be counted upon
to support such measures as in his opinion
will prove of general benefit. Mr. Albright
has held his present office since March 1,
1911, and has already proved most faithful
and capable.
George W. Albright was born on April 5,
1861, the son of Benjamin and Rachel
(AAHiitener) Albright, both of whom are de-
ceased, and of whom more extended mention
will be made in ensuing paragraphs. Both
belonged to families originally founded in
North Carolina and among the first to locate
in southeastern ^Missouri. George W. was
the tenth in order of birth in a family of
fourteen children, four of whom survive at
the present day. namely: Elijah P., of Fred-
ericktown : F. M.. residing in the soiitheast-
ern part of iladison county, where he is an
754
HISTORY OF SOUTHEAST IHSSOURI
extensive farmer and stockman; iliss Hattie,
who makes her home with the foregoing; and
George W.
Mr. Albright was reared in Madison county
and for a number of years was enrolled among
the successful agriculturists, only upon his
assumption of his present olfice, in fact, be-
coming less active in the great basic indus-
try. Politically he is one of the most loyal
and imswerving of Democrats, giving hand
and heart to the cause of the party. He has
fraternal affiliation with the Modern Wood-
men of America and the ilodern Brother-
hood of America and he is a consistent mem-
ber of the Methodist Episcopal church. South.
He has maintained his home in Frederick-
town for the past three years and is helpfully
interested in the many-sided life of the com-
munity.
Mr. Albright's wife, previous to her mar-
riage, was Leannah C. Tinnin, daughter of
Jason Tinnin, representative of an old Bol-
linger county family. To their union have
been born seven children, four of whom are
living, namely: Hugh D., Oscoe, Lola and
Edgar. Roscoe, twin of Oscoe, Lillie and
Jessie are deceased.
Benjamin Albright, father of the subject,
was born in Georgia and was but two years
of age when his parents, Christopher Al-
bright and wife, removed to Bollinger county,
Missouri, where Benjamin resided until after
his marriage, upon which occasion he removed
to ^ladison county. Three of Benjamin Al-
bright's sistei*s survive, they being Mrs. Eliza
Bennett, of Oklahoma ; Mrs. Henrietta Mc-
Daniel, of St. Louis; and one other also re-
siding in St. Louis. Benjamin was an agri-
culturist and was well and favorably known
in this county, in which his interests were
centered.
The mother, Rachel Whitener Albright,
was born in this county, the daughter of
Henrv' AVhitener, an early farmer-settler. As
before mentioned, but four of the children
who came into the home of these worthy peo-
ple are now living. Elijah P., born in Octo-
ber, 1851, resides in Fredericktown. He was
for years engaged in farming, but for the
past five years he has devoted his attention
for the most part to teaming. He married
Miss Rosie Bess, daughter of Edward Bess,
and they have one son, William G., a farmer
in Arkansas. Francis j\I. is an extensive
farmer in tlie southeastern part of iladison
county, and I\liss Ilattie resides witli him up-
on his farm.
James H.^rvey English, M. D. In no pro-
fession is there more constant progress than
in that of medicine and surgery, thousands
of the finest minds the world has produced
making it their one aim and ambition to dis-
cover more effectual methods for the allevia-
tion of suffering, some more potent weapon
for the conflict with disease, some clever
device for repairing the damaged human
organism. Ever and anon the world hears
with mingled wonder and thanksgiving of
a new conquest of disease and disaster which
a few years ago would have been placed
within the field of the impossible. To keep
in touch with these discoveries means con-
stant alertness, and while there may be in
some quarters a great indolence in keeping
pace with modern thought, the highest type
of physician believes it no less than a crime
not to be master of the latest devices of
science. An up-to-date practioner is Dr.
James Harvey English, of Farmington, Saint
Francois countj^ Missouri. He was born in
Hardin county, Kentucky, December 25,
1865, and his father, Robert S. English, was
also a Kentuckian, the date of the elder
man's birth being November 25, 1825.
Mr. English, the father, received his edu-
cation of a preliminary character in the
common schools and spent his youth and
early manhood as a farmer. In the fall of
1881 he removed to the state of JMissouri and
engaged in farming in Mississippi county,
where he remained for two years, at the end
of that period removing to a farm north of
Farmington. In about 1850 Robert S. Eng-
lish was united in marriage to Mary E.
Eggen, of Hardin county, Kentucky, and to
this union five children were born, the sub-
ject being the fourth in order of birth. The
others were Dena. who became ilrs. R. N.
Davis and is now deceased; Silas English,
of Hardin county, Kentuclrs'; John M. Eng-
lish, a resident of Hardin county, Kentucky,
and Lizzie, now jMrs. I. W. Ware, of Fred-
ericktown, Missouri. The mother died June
10. 1898, and the father survived a number
of years, his demise occurring November 20,
190-i. The.v were faithful members of the
Presbyterian church, and the father Avas
Democratic in politics and a member of the
Masonic fraternity.
Dr. English, of this review, received his
education in the public schools of his section
of Kentucky, and w^as about sixteen years of
age when his parents removed to Farming-
ton. To go into detail his public school edu-
HISTORY OF SOUTHEAST MISSOURI
cation consisted of two years in the Charles-
ton puhlic schools, one term in the public
schools of Farmington and two years in the
Baptist college of this place. After teaching
school for one year, he entered the Missouri
Medical College at St. Louis, and received
his well-earned degree from tiiat institution
in the year 1890. Shortly after finishing his
preparation he came to Farmington and he
has ever since been successfully engaged in
general practice. In 1907 he took three
months post-graduate work at Washington
University, at St. Louis, Missouri. Dr. Eng-
lish has served two four year terms as
county coroner. He is Democratic in politics,
Presbyterian in church faith and belongs to
the Modern Woodmen of America and the
Royal Neighbors.
On the 24th day of December, 1891, Dr.
English laid the foundation of a happy
household and congenial life companionship
by his union to Miss Delia Gossett, of Far-
mington, daughter of John Gossett. Dr. and
]\Irs. English are the parents of one son,
Charles R., u progressive and promising
young man, who intends to follow in the
paternal footsteps in the matter of a pro-
fession. He is at the present time stenog-
rapher at the State hospital. Dr. English,
who is generall.v recognized as one of the
leading members of his profession in the
county, is a member of the County and State
Medical Societies.
Abeam Wendell Keith, M. D. Among the
deceased but well remembered representative
of the medical profession in Saint Francois
county is Dr. Abram Wendell Keith. Bonne
Terre was the scene of the professional labors
of this gentleman, who has also left behind
him a record for unselfish and public-spirited
citizenship. For forty years he devoted him-
self to relieving the ills and sufferings of
humanity, nor were his services of the coldly
professional t^-pe, for he bore with him into
the sick room the kindly presence of the in-
terested and sympathizing friend. And in
the constant growth and development which
characterized the age in his field as in all
others he kept pace with the general progress.
As his name indicates he was of Scotch descent
and in his character were incorporated those
stanch, true traits which make old Scotia's
sons, in the words of her own poet, "loved at
home, revered abroad."
Abram Wendell Keith was born in Saint
Francois county, the date of his nativity hav-
ing been February 4, 1835. As said before,
his forefathers were of "the land o' cakes."
and his father was a native of Knoxville,
Tennessee. He grew to manhood near Farm-
ington and began the study of medicine un-
der Dr. Goff. In 1865 he entered the Medical
College of St. Louis and was graduated in
1858. After practicing for some five years in
Saint Francois county he entered the St.
Louis iledical College and in 1864 was grad-
uated from that institution, which has pre-
pared so many men noted in the profession.
Thus thoroughly ready for the profession
which more than any other requires that a
man give up his entire life to it, he estab-
lished himself at French village, St. Francois
county and after five years he succeeded his
preceptor. Dr. Goff at Big River ilills, re-
maining there until 1880. He then went to
Bonne Terre, where he practiced until his
death in April, 1897.
On the fifth day of July, 1859, Dr. Keith
was united in marriage to Miss Margaret
Ann ilcFarland, of St. Francois county, ilis-
souri, daughter of Reuben H. and Martha
Benton McFarland, and this ideal union was
further cemented by the birth of six chil-
dren. Dr. Frank L. Keith, mentioned on suc-
ceeding pages of this work devoted to repre-
sentative citizens of Southeastern ilissouri,
was the eldest in order of birth. The others
are : Bettie C, Wendell Linn, Martha Ellen,
Marvin L. and Finis W.
Dr. Keith was a devoted Methodist and
was one of the foundere of the church of such
denomination in this locality. He was gath-
ered to his fathers April 22, 1897, but his
cherished and devoted wife survives and
makes her residence at Bonne Terre.
Frank Lee Keith, M. D. One of the best
known and highly honored physicians and
surgeons of Southeastern Missouri is Frank
Lee Keith, M. D., who in addition to his gen-
eral practice is surgeon for the Doe Run
Lead Company. He is the scion of one of the
oldest and most distingiiished families of Mis-
souri and the history of his forbears includes
some of the most gallant pages of our na-
tional and colonial history. Dr. Keith is a
native of St. Francois county, his birth hav-
ing occurred IMay 26, 1860. In his choice of
profession he is emulating his honored father.
Dr. Abram Wendell Keith, who was a well-
known physician. The maiden name of the
mother was Margaret McFarland, and more
■56
HISTORY OF SOUTHEAST :\nSSOURI
complete biographical record of his parents
is given in preceding pages.
This locality is dear to Dr. Frank Lee
Keith by many years' association. His early
education was secured in the public schools
and in Arcadia College at Arcadia, ^lissouri,
which at that time was under the manage-
ment of the Methodist Episcopal church. In
the meantime, having come to the conclusion
to adopt the profession of which he is now
such an ornament, at the age of nineteen
years, he entered the St. Louis Medical Col-
lege and was graduated from that institution
in 1881, with the well-earned degree of M. D.
He began practice at Bonne Terre and after
two years satisfied an ambition for additional
training by going to New York and taking
post-graduate work in the Bellevue Hospital
Medical College and after finishing there he
remained in the east for a year, practicing in
the city of Brooklyn. He then returned to
Saint Francois county and resumed his prac-
tice and is at the present time located at Flat
River. He was superintendent of State Hos-
pital No. 4 at Farmington for two and one
half years, beginning with the year 1903, and
he gave to that institution a most able admin-
istration. At the present time he is surgeon
of the Doe Run Lead Company. He is asso-
ciated with all those organizations calculated
to advance the interests of the profession,
such as the County, State and American
Medical Associations and he is a constant
student of all that pertains to the advance-
ment of the great science with which he is
identified. He cares for a large practice and
is known over a wide expanse of territory.
Dr. Keith laid the foundation of a happy
household and congenial life companionship
when on June 20, 1883, he was united in mar-
riage, in Brooklyn, New York, to Miss Mary
Frances De Lisser, of that city. Mrs. Keith is
descended from an old Knickerbocker family
and the daughter of Richard L. DeLisser, a
native of Jamaica and a manufacturing
chemist. To their union have been born the
following seven children: Marion. Gertrude.
Frank DeLisser. deceased; Wendell DePeys-
ter, deceased; Mildred Fisher; Marguerite
Williams; Glenwood Linn; and Dorothy
Carolyn. Dr. Keith is a Mason, exemplify-
ing in himself the principles of moral and
social justice and brotherly love, for which
the order stands; he is Presbyterian in
church faith and his political conviction is
in harmony with the tenets of the Democratic
part.v.
Dr. Keith 's paternal grandmother was a de-
scendant of Andrew Baker, who located in
this part of the state in 1796, on a Spanish
grant. He was a brother of that Jacob Baker
who was one of the staff of General George
Washington. The Doctor's maternal grand-
mother was a niece of Senator Thomas H.
Benton, who was United States Senator from
ri for about thirty-two years.
Robert J. Bagby. The passing stranger,
as he travels through Franklin county, Mis-
souri, will see many beautiful farms, with
well-kept buildings, fine horses and cattle
and much attractive scenery, but as he nears
New Haven he will exclaim with pleasure at
the beauties of nature as exhibited on the
five hundred acres of growing verdure com-
prising the New Haven Nurseries. These
nurseries are one of the leading horticultu-
ral enterprises of the Mississippi valley, and
one of the oldest M'est of the river. The in-
cipient efforts which resulted in this exten-
sive nursery business came from Julian
Bagby, father of the subject of this review.
It was in 1868 that he planted the first seed
some twelve miles south of the city of New
Haven, and thus laid the foundation of this
far-famed nursery. Only a few acres were
comprised in his holdings there, and it was
merely a patch in contrast with the full-
grown enterprise of the present day. In
1871 Mr. Bagby changed his location to the
lofty hills overlooking the Missouri river
and renewed his horticultural efforts, but it
was not until 1880 that he decided to branch
out more extensively and exploit his prod-
ucts with the aid of road salesmen. For a
period of ten years this method of advertis-
ing the nursery was conducted, and the vol-
ume of business so taxed the capacity of the
plant as to warrant the management in mak-
ing it a wholesale and retail institution, and
as such it is now conducted.
The New Haven Nurseries comprise five
hundred acres, with an ideal equipment for
caring for stock and splendid homes for its
proprietors. Of this extensive tract two
hundred acres are planted in trees, compris-
ing chiefly peach trees, and from seven hun-
dred thousand to nine hundred thousand
young trees are budded annually, fifty per
cent of them being of the Elberta variety.
A branch nurserv of one hundred and sixty
acres is located at Altamont. Kansas. The
entire business is conducted through the
borne office, however, and under the efficient
HISTORY OF SOUTHEAST .AHSSOURI
r57
supervision of Robert J. Bagby. In 1S92 the
plant was incorporated under the laws of the
state for thirty thousand dollars, with Julian
Bagb}' as president, John L. Bagby as secre-
tary, and Robert J. Bagby as treasurer and
general manager. The history of the Bagby
family, therefore, is largely a history of the
New Haven nurseries, the extraordinary suc-
cess of the latter being mute evidence of the
business capabilities of the former.
Julian Bagby, the father of our subject,
was born November 28, 1834, in Cumberland
county, Virginia, the son of Madison H. and
Martha J. (Hudgens) Bagby. In 1854, Mr.
Bagby came to Missouri and, being a well-
educated and highly intelligent man, he en-
gaged in teaching school for a number of
years. As stated in the beginning of this
sketch, he turned the fii-st ground for the
New Haven Nurseries in 1868, in the mean-
time continuing his pedagogic labors until
the trees and plants should be of sufficient
size and hardiness to afford him a livelihood.
But the Civ-il war broke out, and Mr. Bagby,
a loyal southern sympathizer, was en route to
the Confederate army to offer his services
for the cause he considered right when he
was captured by the Federal troops, held
prisoner for some time, and finally paroled.
On the 24th of June, 1857, Julian Bagby
was united in marriage to Mary E. Bridges,
the daughter of Andrew W. and Elizabeth
(Leech) Bridges, the former of whom was
a hardy Scotchman, born in 1789, who set-
tled in JMissouri in 1839. He had purchased
some land in the hilly country of Missouri,
and worried along, eking out a scant living
from his tobacco fields, the while the rich bot-
tom lands lay wild and untamed. This fail-
ure to discern the most fruitful land was one
of the drawbacks with which the pioneer set-
tler had to contend, as he had no government
reports, agricultural colleges, or others' ex-
perience by which to profit. Mr. Bridges
fin-nished tobacco to the boat traffic of the
"Big ]Muddy," and lived to a comfortable
old age.
By the marriage of Mr. and Mrs. Julian
Bagby seven children were born, as follows:
Dr. Oliver, one of the prominent men of Yin-
ita, Oklahoma; Robert J., of this review;
Mrs. ifartha Patton. of New Haven ; John L.
and James Edward, twins, the latter of
whom died at the age of nineteen years ; "Wil-
liam, a dentist of Washington, this county;
and Dr. Louis, a practicing physician of Vin-
ita. Oklahoma. Mr. and Mrs. Bagby have
traveled life's path together for over fifty-
five years, and are both comparatively well,
though the strenuous life would break the
physical vigor of people of less hardy stock.
Robert J. Bagby, the worthy son of a wor-
thy father, was born in Franklin county,
Missouri, August 28, 1861, and his early life
did not differ much from that of other boys
of an agricultu)-al commimity. He attended
the rural schools of Franklin county, but
with a desire for more knowledge supple-
mented this schooling by a course in the high
school at St. Louis, and he engaged in teach-
ing, as did his father before him. However,
the confinement of the school-room was not
to his liking and he taught but a few months
when he decided that he, too, would farm.
Accordingly he followed farming on a small
scale for a short time, when he associated
himself in business with his father, it being
his belief that the enterprise so well be-
gun by his father could be increased and
broadened into a profitable business, and how
well he prophesied is proven to-day. At the
same time John L. Bagby entereci the con-
cern, and it was the stimulus given to the
business by this young blood that has caused
the exceeding growth and prosperity of the
New Haven Nurseries, of which more ex-
tended details were given in the beginning
of this sketch. Robert J. Baghy is also one
of the promoters of the Farmers' Savings
Bank of New Haven, being president of that
institution.
In politics Mr. Bagby gives his vote and al-
legiance to the Democratic party, but he has
never desired any of the official positions of
the party. He is a member of the Ancient
Free and Accepted Masons, and is also a
"Woodman. He and his wife are devout mem-
bers of the Missionary Baptist church, Mr.
Bagby being a member of the official board.
On May 30, 1889, Robert J. Bagby joined
the rank of the Benedicts when he was united
in marriage to Lillian Armstrong, who was
born December 26, 1870, a daughter of Ed-
win and Martha (Walton") Armstrong. Ed-
win Armstrong was a native Missourian. his
father being a pioneer settler in that state,
whence he migrated from Kentucky. Mrs.
Armstrong was a member also of an old Mis-
souri family, and her father lived to the ex-
treme old age of ninety-six years.
Mr. and Mrs. Bagby are the parents of a
family of sons and daughters of whom they
are justly proud. They are ten in number,
and are as follows: Carroll, who graduated
rss
HISTORY OF SOUTHEAST MISSOURI
from the United States Military Academy at
West Point in 1911, is a second lieutenant in
the ai-my, being the second youngest man
bearing a commission; Oliver W. is a mid-
shipman in the United States navy and a
member of the class of 1912,- his boat now
cruising in European waters; Ralph is in the
AVilliam Jewell College, class of 1914; Lew
W. is a freshman in the same college ; and
Robert E., Mary, Helen, Walter J., Lillian
and John complete the interesting family.
Much of the success of the New Haven
Nurseries is due to the untiring efforts of
John L. Bagby, a younger brother of Rob-
ert J., of this review, and the secretary of
the concern. He was boi-n in Franklin
county, Missouri, on the 15th day of October,
186S. His education, like that of his brother,
was received in the common schools of his
native countj-, and when he was still a young
man he entered the nursery business in con-
nection with his father and brother. His his-
tory is practically reviewed in the preceding
paragraphs. Suffice it to say that he is in
every way a good example of the enterpris-
ing, energetic and progressive business man.
John L. Bagby was married at New Haven,
this state, on August 10, 1892, the lady of his
choice being Alice Schleef, who was born
May 20, 1872, a daughter of Samuel and Lou
A. (Pihle) Schleef, the former an early set-
tler in Missouri from the Fatherland and un-
til his death a prominent New Haven mer-
chant. To jMr. and I\Irs. John L. Bagby have
been born two children, Harold and Ray-
mond, both in school.
This brief review of the Bagby family is a
striking illustration of the old axiom, "Op-
portunity knocks once at every door," — yes,
but one must be ready to meet it more than
half way, and must know the proper method
of treatment when it "comes a 'knocking."
Martin Bird Minter. Among the most
prominent, progressive and generally praise-
worthy of the citizens of Lodge, Bollinger
county, is jMartin Bird Lliuter, who answers
to the dual calling of merchant and farmer,
and among whose many claims to honor is
that of being a veteran of the Civil war, for
he served as a soldier in the Union army
during the latter part of the great conflict
between the states. Mr. Minter has conducted
a general store in Lodge since the year 1907,
and has a large and satisfied patronage. He
has a small farm at present in this county.
but in years past he has been more exten-
sively eugiiged in the great basic industry.
Martin Bird Minter, is a native Keutuek-
ian, his birth having occurred in Marshall
county of the Blue Grass state on the Ibth
da.v of January, 18,16. He is a son of Joseph
and Mary (Griffith) Minter, natives of Ten-
nessee and Virginia, respectively. The sub-
ject was reared upon a farm, his father be-
ing of that calling, and his preparation was
of that practical sort which comes from ac-
tual experience. As was the ease with the
young men of his day and generation, his
youthful years were disturbed by the events
preceding the Civil war and at the age of
eighteen years he enlisted in the LTnion army,
as a member of Company L, of the Twelfth
Kentucky- Cavalry, under the command of
Colonel Crittenden and General Stoueman.
The date of his enlistment was January, 1861,
and he was in time to see some of the most
active fighting of the war. His service was
for the most part in Tennessee, North Caro-
lina and Virginia. He participated in the
battles at Paducah, Kentuel^v-. and Bristol,
Virginia, not to menton numerous other en-
gagements. He received honorable discharge
in August, 1865, and returned to the pursuits
of peace.
For a number of years Mr. Minter resided
in the Big Bend state, where he ensfasred in
farming in Marshall county. In 1880, hav-
ing become favorably impressed with the ad-
vantages of Bollinger county, Missouri, he
severed his former a.ssoeiations and removed
to this locality. At that time he bought one
hundred and thirty-five acres of wood laud,
which he proceeded to clear. In 1886 he sold
this at an advantage and bought one hun-
dred and twenty acres in the vicinity of
Lodge. After operating this for a time he
sold half, but still retains sixty acres, which
he farms.
j\Ir. ]\Iinter is also a siiccessful business
man and he built his store here in 1907. He
carries a stock of general merchandise, and
in the years in which he has been identified
with business interests here he has enjoyed
an excellent patronage.
Mr. Minter was married on the 9th of Sep-
tember. 1866, the lady to become his wife be-
ing Julia i\Iorgan. daughter of T. J. and Em-
eline ^Morgan, natives of North Carolina
and Tennessee. The union of the subject and
his wife was solemnized while he was living
in IMarshall countv. Kentucky-. The worthy
HISTORY OF SOUTHEAST MISSOURI
759
wife and mother was called to her eternal
rest in April, 1S93, leaving seven living chil-
dren, two others having died previously, and
five survive and are as follows: Mary Eme-
line, born in 1867, the wife of R. C. Alexan-
der; Jo Ellen, born in 1872, wife of A. J.
Bess; Hattie, born in 1877, wife of Dines
Bess; Blaine L., born in 1881, whose wife's
maiden name was Jennie Shell; and Henry
Clay, born in 1883, and still residng at home.
Mr. Minter married his present wife in De-
cember, 1895. She was Sarah A. Hahn, of
Bollinger count}'.
Mr. Minter has ever taken an interest in
public matters and has occasionally given ef-
ficient service in public office. He was ap-
pointed justice of the peace of Lorance
township, Bollinger county, and held the of-
fice for six years and for the past thirteen
years he has held the office of postmaster of
Lodge, being in fact the present incumbent
of that office. He is a Republican and stands
high in party councils. In his church faith he
is affiliated with the Missionary Baptist
church, of which his wife is also a member.
He and the members of his family play a
prominent part in the many-sided life of the
section.
Sam Btrxs is the eldest of nine chil-
dren. His father, Thomas Byrns. was born
in St. Louis county, where he grew up on a
farm and married Miss ]\Iargaret J. Bowles,
of the same county. Later he moved to Jef-
ferson eountv, where Sam Byrns was born
in the year 1848. on the 14th of JIareh. The
elder Byrns was a Mason, a member of the
Baptist church and a Democrat in politics.
He represented Jefferson coimty in the state
legislature in 1870 and was always regarded
as a leading citizen of the county.
Sam Byrns spent his early life on the farm,
as his father had done, but received the
greater educational advantages which the
later time has provided. After completing
the course in the common schools he attended
the Steelville Academy at Steelville, Mis-
souri, and also the St. James Academy in St.
James. At Washington University he en-
joyed the advantage of the wider training of
collegiate study. After leaving Washington
Univ'ersity he read law and was admitted to
the bar in 1872, and entered upon the prac-
tice of his profession in Jefferson county.
The Democratic party found him a valua-
ble member of their organization and liave
testified their appreciation of his ability tn
advance the principles of their party by con-
ferring various political honors upon him.
Mr. Byrns has served in both the senate and
tl.e lower house of the Missouri legislature
and m 1890 was returned for congress from
the Tenth district of Missouri. While in
Washington he was a member of the rivers
and harbors conunittee. Upon the comple-
tion of his term in congress he returned to
DeSoto, where he has since practiced law in
partnership with ilr. Bean.
ilr. Byrns has been twice married ; in 1872
to Miss Laura Honey and in 1884 to Miss
Slelissa Moss. No children were born of
either union. Mr. and Mrs. Byrns are mem-
bers of the Methodist church.
George A. Lacy, a well known farmer near
Kennett, after experiencing many set-backs
and discouragements has finally come to a
place where all is apparently smooth sailing.
Of all the qualities wheh are essential in or-
der to insure success there is none more im-
portant than the ability to stick to a thing,
surmounting all obstacles, disregarding all
unpleasantness, climbing up after falling
down, hopeful in face of failure, optimistic
in all. Such has been the attitude of Mr.
Lacy throughout his difficulties.
George A. Lacy was born on a farm in
Tennessee. September 2. 1868, and on that
tarm the first six years of his life were spent.
In 1874 he came to Dunklin coimtv with his
parents, who took up their residence near
Vincit, but before three years had elapsed
both father and mother had died, leaving the
boy nothing but a heritage of a strong con-
stitution, a determination to achieve, and a
cheery disposition, combined with other per-
sonal traits that have assisted him as boy and
man. Mr. 0. B. Harris took his young or-
phaned brother-in-law to his own home and
eared for him with an almost paternal inter-
est, giving him the advantage of a common
school education and also giving him prac-
tical education in asrricultural pursuits.
George Lacy was an inmate of ]\Ir. Harris'
home for thirteen years, at which time
George, a strii3ling of twenty years, obtained
work on the different farms in the neighbor-
hood and in 1894 began farming operations
of his own on a tract of rented land in the
neighborhood of Kennett. near the place
where he now maintains his residence. The
farm was in a vrild state and the enterprising
young man cleared one hundred and forty-
five acres and put it under cultivation. A
760
HISTORY OF SOUTHEAST MISSOURI
short time after he commenced his independ-
ent agricultural pursuits he experienced a
heavy loss, when his large barn was entirely
destroyed by hre; this was followed by a se-
ries of misfortunes which prevented his get-
ing ahead as fast as his ambitious nature
would have chosen. In 1905 he rented a farm
of one hundred and fortj'-live acres of land,
owned by J. J. Rogers, of Kennett, and there
he now Ives.
In 1894 Mr. Lacy married Ruth Herron,
whose birth occurred November 11, 1868,
near Caruth. Mrs. Lacy has lived her entire
life in Dunklin county, her parents, Thomas
and Rhoda Herroo, being old residents of
that part of Missouri. Of the three children
who were born to Mr. and ]Mrs. Lacy two are
living. Berley B. and Arthur T. Mrs. Lacy
shared all the early discouragements of her
husband, as the year which marked his first
farming venture was the one in which they
were married, starting their life together
with no capital but the pluck and determina-
tion of husband and wife alike.
Mr. Lacy is affiliated with the Independent
Order of Odd Fellows, his direct membership
being with the Caruth lodge. In politics he
is a Democrat, but his life has always been
too busy to permit of his devoting much time
to political matters.
Clyde Oakes. The people of Kennett who
only know Clyde Oakes as a lawyer and a
man of business would never imagine that
he spent some years of his life teaching. He
is so thoroughly well fitted to fill the posi-
tions he occupies now that it is hard to think
of him and pedagogy together. Yet, as a
matter of fact, he was a most successful
teacher. As a rule a successful teacher may
become a prominent professional man, but
rarely makes a success of business. Mr.
Oakes has from first to last been a success,
not that we wish to put him in the class
of the "has beens," on the contrary, he is
doing excellent work in Kennett to-day and
will doubtless continue in his activities.
Clyde Oakes was born in Lake county,
Tennessee, November 2, 1877, where he re-
ceived his education. In 1900 he came to
IMissoui'i and taught for three years in
Dunklin coiinty. He soon made his presence
felt and in 1903 he became deputy county
clerk, holding the office for four years under
P. C. Harrison. He studied law and was
admitted to the bar by Judge Fort. In 1909
he was made assistant cashier of the Cotton
Exchange Bank and after one year was pro-
moted to the position of cashier, in which
capacity he is now serving the bank.
In 1904 he married I\Iiss Terah Ward, a
native of Dunklin county, daughter of W.
J. Ward. Two children have been born to
the union, Gertrude and Berniece.
Mr. Oakes is a member of the City Council
and is secretary of the Commercial Club.
He is a member of the Methodist Episcopal
church. South, and in his church work as in
all else is putting all his energies. He is a man
who is well known in Kennett and during the
few years that he has been here he has made
himself ver3' prominent in the business mart
and in political circles, being Secretary of
the County Democratic Central Committee. A
later history will recount the events which
will yet occur in his life and the efforts that
he wiU hereafter put forth for the betterment
of his county and state.
Charles E. Cashion. Ideas backed with
indefatigable energy, — the desire and power
to accomplish big things, — these qualities
make of success not an accident but a logical
result. The man of initiative is he who com-
bines with a capacity for hard work an in-
domitable will. He recognizes no such thing
as failure and his final success is on a parity
with his well directed efforts. Charles Ed-
win Cashion is a self-made man in the most
significant sense of the word. As a youth he
learned the printer's trade and he has been
interested in the newspaper business during
the major portion of his active business
career, being at the present time one of the
owners of the Perry Count y Repithlicaii. a de-
cidedly progressive and well edited publica-
tion. In 1910 he was elected to the office of
county clerk of Perry county and he is dis-
charging the duties connected with that posi-
tion with all of honor and distinction.
Charles E. Cashion was bom in Perry
county, Missouri, on the 11th of November,
1871, a son of John B. Cashion, who was like-
wise born in this county and whose birth oc-
curred on the 1st of September, 1844. The
father was reared to maturity on the old
Cashion homestead, in the work and manage-
ment of which he early began to assist his
brothers. He was orphaned at a very early
age, his parents having been William and
Sally Cashion. On the maternal side he
traces his ancestry back to stanch Holland
stock, his mother having been a representa-
tive of an old Noi-th Carolina Dutch family.
HISTORY OP SOUTHEAST :MISS0URI
761
With his four brothers, John B. Cashion grew
to maturity and at the time of the inception
of the Civil war all five boj's enlisted as sol-
diers in the Union arm3'. Although a mere
boy during the war period Mr. Cashion saw
a great deal of hard service and after the
close of that sanguinary conflict he returned
to Perry county, locating at Perryville, where
he engaged in the sewing-machine business,
to which line of enterprise he has continued
to devote more or less attention during the
long intervening years to the present time.
He has taken a prominent and public-spirited
part in local politics and has served with
efficiency as deputy sheriff, as township con-
stable and as .iustice of the peace. In 1866
was solemnized his marriage to Miss Emma
Block, who was reared and educated at Perry-
\alle and who is a daughter of Hyman Block.
This union has been prolific of four children
whose names are here entered in respective
order of birth. — Jessie, who is the wife of
T. W. Tackenberg: Charles E., who is the im-
mediate subject of this review; Corrine, who
is now ]\Irs. Henry CaiTuthers; and Linn,
who is engaged in the drug business at Ches-
ter, Illinois. Mr. and ]\Irs. John B. Cashion
are both living at a ripe old age and they
command the unalloyed confidence and esteem
of their many friends and acquaintances by
reason of their sterling integrity and genial
kindliness.
Charles E. Cashion, of this notice, was edu-
cated in the public schools of Perr3^ille and
at the age of fifteen years he left school and
learned the printing business. His first em-
ployment was with the Perry County Sun
and in the j-ear 1889 he launched into the
newspaper business on bis own responsibility
by establishing the Perry County Republi-
can. After running this paper for two years
he disposed of it to his cousin, Arthur V.
Cashion. and went to St. Louis, where he
worked at the printer's trade for a time. In
1898, however, he returned to Perryville,
where he again became interested in the Perry
Count]! Repnilican. being associated in the
editing: and publishing of that paper with his
cousin. In 1910 he made the race for and
was elected to the office of county clerk of
Perry county. His political proclivities are
in accordance with the principles of tlie Re-
publican party and he is an active factor in
the local councils of that organization. In
a fraternal way he is affiliated with the ]\Iod-
ern "Woodmen of America, the Modern Broth-
erhood of America, the Knights of Pythias,
the Sons of Veterans, and the Fraternal
Order of Eagles. His religious faith is in
harmony with the tenets of the Presbyterian
church.
On the 30th of December, 1901, Mr. Cash-
ion was united in marriage to Miss Dora
Garth, of Perryville. To this union have
been born two children, — Cosy Mildred,
whose natal day is the 12th of October, 1902 ;
and Beatrice, born on the 23d of June, 1905.
Mr. and Mrs. Cashion are decidedly promi-
nent and popular in connection with the best
social acti^'ities of Perryville and their at-
tractive home is widely renowned for its re-
finement and generous hospitality.
L. L. Bridges. There is no man in Scopus,
Bollinger county, Missouri, who is better
known than L. L. Bridges, whose family has
for years been connected with the agricul-
tural prosperity of the county. Mr. Bridges,
however, has not been content to rest upon
the reputation of his family, but is busily en-
gaged in making a name for himself, and as
teacher, farmer, merchant and postmaster he
has been eminently successful. Possibly the
man who decides on a certain business or in-
dustry when he first starts out in life and
devotes himself to that, and that alone, may
make more money than the one who has
turned his attention to different lines, but the
former misses much valuable experience en-
joyed by the man who has tried and made a
success of several branches of work.
Mr. Bridges began life on the farm one
mile east of Scopus where his parents, P. T.
and ilarzella Bridges, still reside. The father
and mother are both natives of Bollinger
county, were there educated and married,
and there they raised their family of six
children. L. L. Bridges made his fii-st ap-
pearance into the world on the 31st day of
August, 1887. As soon as he was old enough
he was sent to the district school, where he
received his earl.y educational training. On
completing the curriculum prescribed by
those schools, he attended the Will ilayfield
College at Slarble Hill, and on terminating
his college course, in 1907, he began to teach
school. The ensuing three years were divided
between teaching and working on the farm —
the winters being devoted to his pedagogical
efforts and the summers to the agricultural
pursuits. On the 6th day of March, 1910, he
purchased a half interest in the mercantile
store at Scopus, Mr. Bollinger owning the
other half. The firm was known as the Bol-
HISTORY OF SOUTHEAST MISSOURI
linger and Bridges Mercantile Company until
June 30, 1911, at which time Mr. Bollinger
sold his interest in the store and Mr. Bridges
formed a jiartnership alliance with Lee
Tount. The new tirm, conducted imder the
name of L. L. Bridges and Company, is doing
an extensive business and carries a tine stock
of goods, at this time exceeding three thou-
sand dollars in value.
On Washington's birthday, 1911, Mr.
Bridges was united in marriage to iliss Lun-
da Yount. daughter of William B. Yount, of
Marble Hill. In addition to conducting the
store, ilr. Bridges is the postmaster of Sco-
pus. He is ambitious and is looking towards
the future as having something greater for
him than that he has already realized, and
it is safe to predict that with his youth, his
enthusiasm, his abilities and his industry, he
will not be disappointed.
Lee Turley, ]\I. D.. who is engaged in the
successful practice of his profession in the
thriving little city of Bonne Terre, St.
Francois county, is not only one of the repre-
sentative physicians and surgeons of the
county but is also a member of one of its old
and honored families, the prestige of whose
name he has admirably upheld. The Doctor
was born on the old homestead farm, about six
miles northwest of Bonne Terre, and the date
of his nativity Avas December 6, 1862. He
was the third in order of birth in a family
of nine children, and of the other children
two st)ns and three daughters are living.
The parents were William W. and IMary Em-
maline (Shelley) Turley, the former born in
this state and the latter in Tennessee. William
Wesley Turley was born near Hazel Run, St.
Francois count.v, in 1833, and was the only
son of the first marriage of his father, Aaron
Turley, who was one of the early settlere of
the county and who here continued to reside
until his death. William W. Turley devoted
his entire active life to the great basic industry
of agriculture, in connection with which,
through well directed efforts, he gained inde-
pendence and definite prosperity, the while
he so ordered his life in all its relations as to
merit and retain the unqualified confidence
and esteem of his fellow men. He was a loyal
soldier of the Union in the Civil war and
gave effective service as a member of a I\Iis-
souri regiment, with which he participated in
a number of engagements. In later years he
perpetuated the more gracious memories of
this service through his affiliation with the
Grand Army of the Republic, and his politi-
cal allegiance was given to the Democratic
party, though he never sought or desired pub-
lic office. He was a member of the time-
honored Masonic fraternity and was a zealous
member of the j\Iethodist Episcopal church,
South, as is also his wife, who is now venerable
in years and who resides at Melzo, Jefferson
county, this state. Their marriage was
solemnized when he was twenty years of age
and Mrs. Turley 's father, William Shelley,
was at the time one of the representative
farmers in the vicinity of Hazel Run, St.
Francois county. William W. Turley was
summoued to the life eternal in 1881, secure
in the high regard of all who knew him.
Dr. Lee Turley gained his early training
under the sturdy discipline of the old home-
stead farm on which he was born, and his pre-
liminary educational advantages were those
afforded in the public schools, including the
graded school in the village of Primrose.
Later he continued his studies for four years
in the academic department of the University
of Missouri, at Columbia, and in preparation
for his chosen profession he then entered the
:Missouri Medical College, at Columbia, Mis-
souri, in which he completed, with character-
istic ambition and close application, the pre-
scribed course, with the result that he was
graduated and received his well earned de-
gree of Doctor of Medicine in 1890. Shortly
afterward he began his professional novitiate
by opening an office in Bonne Terre, and the
best evidence of his technical ability, earnest
devotion to his work and sterling personal
characteristics is that afforded in the gratify-
ing success which he has achieved and the un-
equivocal popiilarity he has gained in the
community. He has built up a large and
representative practice, has continued a close
and appreciative student of his profession,
and has thus availed himself of the most
approved remedial agents and advanced
methods in both branches of his profession.
Though his ambitions have been solely
along the line of his profession Dr. Turley
has not been neglectful of civic duties but
has ever been ready to lend his co-operation
in the furtherance of measures and undertak-
ings pro.jected for the general good of the
community, the while he has been found
aligned as a stalwart supporter and advocate
of the cause of the Democratic party. He is
affiliated with the IMasonic fraternity, the
Independent Order of Odd Fellows, the
]\Iodern Woodmen of America, and the Order
HISTORY OF SOUTHEAST MISSOURI
763
of American Yeomen. Mrs. Turley is a mem-
ber of the Catholic church.
On the 25th of November, 1893, Dr. Turley
was united in marriage to Miss Fannie Lee
Bisch, who was born and reared in St. Fran-
cois county and who is a daughter of Theo-
dore and Jlary (Storaine) Bisch, both now
deceased. The attractive home of Dr. and
Mrs. Turley extends its hospitality to old and
young, and that the young folk of the com-
munity enjoy its privileges is assured by the
fact that within its confines brightness and
merriment is given by the fine family circle
of four sons and four daughters, whose names
are here entered in respective order of birth :
Storaine Joseph, Hubert Lee, Julia Eileen,
John Courtland, Hamilton Shelley, ]Mary
Crystal, Lois Delphine and Ruby Vincent.
Thomas B. Kinsolving. As a type of the
successful business man, showing what energy
and enterprise will accomplish in a new coun-
try, Thomas B. Kinsolving, of Hornersville,
is one of the most representative citizens of
Southeast Missouri, and his career has a gen-
eral interest as a feature of this history.
Born on a farm in Kentucky, April 26,
1862, and educated in the common schools,
he moved from there to Howell eount3% Mis-
souri, spent some time in West Plains and
Maiden, and in 1893 arrived in Hornersville.
He had a five-dollar bill and his clothes, that
constituted his working capital when he be-
gan his career here eighteen j-ears ago. The
railroad had not yet brought Hornersville
into communication with the outside world,
and he made his entry into town on a stage.
A few stores then marked the biisiness cen-
ter, but the day of progress and prosperity
had not begun for the town, and when it did
begin he was on the crest of the wave. For
a time he bought and sold game and fish, and
helped his brother during the first summer.
In the fall he was appointed postmaster of
the village, an oiBce which he filled to the
satisfaction of the patrons for eight years.
In three years, by hard work and economy,
he had saved two hundred dollars. He then
decided to learn the drug business. His
good friend. Dr. Mathews, agreed to help him
in this enterprise, and it was this kindly aid,
offered at a time when he most needed it,
that proved the starting point of his success.
He bought a stock of goods for four hundred
dollars, paying half in cash, and in sixty days
was able to pay the rest and thus established
his credit on a firm basis. He was the first
druggist in town, and kept the postoffice in
the same building. During the early years
of his postmastership he had handled the
mail in a grocery store. When the railroad
was built he put up a store nearer the river,
where he remained two years, and then
bought his present lot and moved his build-
ing to it. This frame building was burned
in June, 1910, and he has since replaced it
with a substantial one-story brick, twenty-
five by eighty feet. He owns the adjoining
building on a similar ground space. He now
carries the largest drug stock in town, valued
at four thousand dollars, ten times the worth
of the stock with which he began business.
He has prospered in every way. For a time
he was engaged in lending money at low rate
of interest to the farmers of this vicinity,
and had out about forty -five hundred dollars
the third year. He began buying stock in the
Bank of Hornersville, and later formed a stock
company of which he is vice president, this
company engaging in loans and investment
business, and for a time competed with the
local bank. He has dealt considerably in
lands. He now owns near town a farm of
one hundred and four acres, some of the best
land in the county, improved with good
buildings, and is cultivated on the shares by
a tenant. He has two other tracts, one of
thirty and the other of fifty-five acres. In
town he owns ten acres in addition to the
fine four-acre plot on which his residence is
located. Mr. Kinsolving lived in a very small
house during his first yeai's in Hornersville,
but he now has a home that cost six thousand
dollars and is the best residence in town.
Mr. Kinsolving is one of the leading ]\Ia-
sons of this vicinity, being afiSliated with the
lodge at Hornersville, the chapter at Ken-
nett and the council at Campbell, and has
taken all the York Rite work except the
Knight Templar. He is also a member of the
Independent Order of Odd Fellows.
He was married at Hornersville, July 11,
1898, to Miss Ella Black. They have two
children: Elzora, born in 1900; and Aimer,
born in 1905. The family are members of the
Methodist church.
J. Hexrt Steatsxson. Of that public spir-
ited and generally creditable type of citizen-
ship upon which the strength of JMadison
county is so securely founded is J. Henr\'
Stevenson, a farmer and stockman, whose
splendid farm of more than two hundred
acres is located some three miles northeast of
Frederiektown. He has devoted a great deal
764
HISTORY OF SOUTHEAST MISSOURI
of intelligent effort to the breeding o±' tine
stock, and it is to sueli as he that the high
reputation enjoyed by the county in this line
IS due, some of the finest breeds being repre-
sented upon his farm. In addition to his
other distinctions he is a veteran of the Civil
war, in which he was mustered out as second
lieutenant of Company A, Bui-bridge's regi-
ment.
Mr. Stevenson enjoys the somewhat un-
usual experience of living at the present time
upon the very farm \ipon which his birth oc-
curred on November 17, 18-41. He is the sou
of Hugh B. and IMelissa (Kelly) Stevenson,
of Scotch and Irish descent, respectively.
The former was born in Lincoln county.
North Carolina, as was his wife, and came to
Jlissouri, locating on the farm now owned by
his son in Madison county. That was in
1826 and they brought with them their eldest
child, then an infant. The land was then all
in timber, and this plucky pioneer grubbed a
place for his log-house, which is still standing.
Hugh B. Stevenson died at this place about
the year 1880, being then about seventy-five
years of age. He was a Democrat and a good
citizen. His wife preceded him to the Great
Beyond by a number of years, dying at the
Madison county home in 1867, when between
sixty and sixty-five years of age. She was
a member of the Christian church and a
daughter of Enoch Kelly. The family of
which she was a member was a large one, and
one of her brothers, John Kelly, came to
Missouri, but died in the early days. The
Kelly family was one of the oldest in North
Carolina. He whose name inaugurates this re-
view was one of a family of ten children,
eight of whom were reared to maturity, as
follows: Robert, a farmer, died in Califor-
nia; Ben.iamin. also a farmer, passed away
at his home in the Golden state; Jlrs. Mar-
garet Gill died in Missoi;ri some years ago :
Mrs. Olivia Counts is deceased; Mrs. Joseph
Anthony is a widow residing in Frederick-
town ; Mrs. Louisa ]\IcKinsey is a widow re-
siding in St. Louis; Joseph died at Charles-
ton, ^fissonri.
J. Henry Stevenson has spent his entire
life amid his present surroundings. He was
educated in the common schools and since ar-
riving at years of usefulness and discretion
ha.s followed farming and stock-raising. He
makes a specialty of the finer breeds, such a.^
Aberdeen and Angus cattle and Poland China
hogs.
Mr. Stevenson was married here to Frances
Noell, who was .born in iladison county, in
1848, the daughter of Edward NoeU, de-
ceased. Her mother's maiden name was
Elizabeth Parkin. One brother, Charles, re-
sides in Oklahoma. ^Mr. and Mrs. Stevenson
have an interesting family of seven children,
all born at this home and all living. Alice is
the wife of George Elder, a barber, residing
at Fredericktown, and has one son, Ralph.
Robert, of Perry county, is a farmer and
school teacher; he married Rosy Shields and
has one daughter, jMarj'. Harr}' is a carpen-
ter, making his home in St. Louis; Laurence
is at home; George, of Nevada, is a black-
smith by occupation; Miss Dove is at home;
and Frederick resides in St. Louis, his occu-
pation being that of a mail clerk between St.
Louis and Kansas City, on the Missouri Pa-
cific Railwaj'.
The beautiful and commodious Stevenson
home has been but recently completed, and
the carpentrj' work was all done by members
of the family, the son Harry taking a lead-
ing part in the same. The subject is in har-
mony with the policies and principles advo-
cated by the Democratic party and is help-
fully interested in all public issues \j'hich af-
fect the welfare of the community. He takes
great pleasure in his lodge relations, having
belonged to the Independent Order of Odd
Fellows since young manhood and being a
member of the Ancient Order of United
Workmen, both in Fredericktown. He and
his wife are both members of the Christian
church. As before mentioned. Mr. Stevenson
is a veteran of the war between the states,
having been a member of General Sterling
Price's command. He spent three years in
the service, eighteen months of which were
passed as a prisoner of war. He was captured
near Doniphan, Missouri, and was incarcer-
ated at various places, — at fronton. Camp
Chase, St. Louis and Delaware. He enlisted
when not yet twenty years of age and was
never seriously injured on the field. As a
member of the Confederate Veterans' Asso-
ciation of Fredericktown. he finds many an
opportunity to review the stirring events of
fifty years ago.
John Americus Knowles. One of the rep-
resentative young citizens of Madison county
is John Americus Knowle,s. postmaster at
Plat River and ever^-where regarded as one of
the ablest and most faithful of the servants
of Uncle Sam. He has held this office since
1905. and in the six vears since that date has
.i<MM^
HISTORY OF SOUTHEAST MISSOURI
765
afforded satisfaction of the highest character
to the community. He was born in Madison
count}', Missouri, January 30, 1879, and is
the scion of a Southern family, his father,
Benjamin Clardy Knowles, being a native of
the state of Tennessee. The elder gentleman
was reared on a farm in Tennessee, and later
in life removed to Illinois, where after a pe-
riod in which he engaged in agi-icuture he
went on to ilissouri. This was shortly pre-
vious to the birth of his son, John A., the
identitieation of the family with the state be-
ing now of about thirtj'-five years' duration.
In Madison county Benjamin Clardy Knowles
bought a tract of land and entered upon its
improvement and cultivation, meeting with
prosperity and becoming well known and
highly respected in the section. In Madison
count.v he married Miss Catherine Tinnin. of
Bollinger county, who died when twenty-nine
years of age, and to their union a family of
six children was born, as follows: William
Anson ; Emma, now Mrs. R. Meyers ; Dora,
wife of George W. Smith; John Americus,
immediate subject of this review; Claude
Lester; and Charles H. Mr. Knowles, Sr.,
married ilrs. Helen iloyers for his second
wife, and they are now residing in Freder-
icktown, Madison county, and are practically
retired, enjoying in leisure the fruits of their
former industry and thrift and having time
for the cultivation of the finer things of life.
The father is aligned as a stalwart supporter
of the policies and principles of what its ad-
mirers are pleased to call the "Grand Old
Party." and he and his admirable wife are
zealous and consistent members of the ]\Ieth-
odist Episcopal church. He has fraternal af-
filiations with the Independent Order of Odd
Fellows and the Ancient Order of United
Workmen.
The early life of John Americus Knowles
was spent upon his father's farm and he had
the opportunity of the usual country boy of
becoming thoroughly familiar with agricul-
ture in its many departments. He received
his early education in the country schools of
his district aiid also attended the graded
schools of Frederiektown. Not feeling in-
clined to adopt farming, as his own occupa-
tion, he came to town and for one year held
a clerkship in a store. He* abandoned that
and secured a position in the smelting and re-
fining department of the Central Lead Com-
pany and subsequently became a stationars-
engineer for the Central Lead Company, re-
taining this positon for no less than five years.
At the end of that time he was appointed
postmaster of Flat River, and as mentioned
m a preceding paragi-aph, he still retains the
same. He is one of the prominent men of the
locality and stands high in the regard of his
fellow citizens.
Mr. Knowles married, on the 29th dav of
April, 1900, Birdie L. Mitchell, of Flat Rh-er,
daughter of William H. Mitchell, a carpenter
and joiner. Three children have been born
into the home of ]Mr. and JMrs. Knowles,
namely: Harley L., Claude L. and Papinta.
The head of the house is an enthusiastic ad-
herent of the Republican party, doing all in
his power to advance its interests, and he and
his wife are members of the Methodist Epis-
copal church. Mr. Knowles enjoys fraternal
relations with no less than six lodges, namely,
the Independent Order of Odd Fellows, the
Knights of P.ythias, the Eagles, the Modem
Woodmen of America, the Ancient Order of
United Workmen, and the Knights of the
Maccabees, and in all these circles he is pop-
ular and prominent.
Charley Pincknet Wilkson, circuit clerk
of Saint Francois county, Missouri, is an
efficient public official and is exceedingly
popular in the community by reason of an
engaging personality and great loyality to
his friends and the community in which his
interests are centered. Mr. Wilkson was
born near Bonne Terre. October 3, 1872. He
is the son of John Wilkson, who was bom
in Jefferson coimty in the year 1847. The
early life of the elder gentleman was spent
on the farm and he received his education in
the country schools. At the age of seventeen
years he went to work in Valley ]\Iines and
he was long identified with this field of in-
dustry. He married Mary C. Haverstick, a
native of Jefi'erson county, Missouri, and to
their union were born four sons, as follows:
William, deceased ; Charles P., the imme-
diate subject of this review; Lewns, de-
ceased; and John, who resides near Farm-
ington, Missouri. The subject's mother
went on to the "Undiscovered Country"
when he was a boy, and the father contracted
a second marriage. Ellen Stringer, of Jef-
ferson county, becoming his wife. To this
union three children were born, the two
elder, James Albert and Hattie M.. being de-
ceased ; and Emma M. being the wife of
Henry Owens. The senior Mr. Wilkson is
still living at Bonne Terre. where he is en-
gaged in the liquor business. He is Demo-
HISTORY OF SOUTHEAST :\nSSOURI
cratic in politics and is affiliated fraternally
with the Masons and the Knights of Pythias.
The early life of Charles Pinckney Wilk-
son was passed in Bonne Terre and in the
public schools of that place he received his
preliminary education. He subsequently at-
tended the Baptist College and Judge R. S.
Thurman's Select School for Boys, at Farm-
ington, and in the meantime came to the
conclusion to adopt the legal profession as
his own. To secure the necessary training
he entered the State University at Columbia,
Missouri, and was graduated from the law
department of that institution in 1898, re-
ceiving the degree of LL. B. After his grad-
uation Jlr. Wilkson hung out his shingle at
Farmington and in a very short time his fine
native and acquired abilities received such
recognition that his professional reputation
soon spread throughout the county. After
practicing a short time he received the ap-
pointment of deputy clerk of the Circuit
Court and proved his usefulness in this pub-
lic capacity. It proved the highway to the
major otfice and in 1906 he himself was
elected circuit clerk, and in 1910, received
the re-election. He is of the type of citizen-
ship upon which Saint Francois county bases
its pride and doubtless no small amount of
public usefulness awaits him.
Mr. Wilkson established a happy house-
hold and a congenial life companionship
when, on July 26, 1900, at Bonne Terre, he
was united in marriage to Miss Mamie G.
Bradley, daughter of the well-known citizen,
J. J. Bradley. Mr. and Mrs. "Wilkson are
the parents of a promising family of five
children, three of whom are sons and two
daughters, namely: Charles Albert, Berkley
Genevieve, Adiel, Lewis and Virginia.
Mr. Wilkson 's political convictions are in
harmony with the principles advanced by
the Democratic party. His social and fra-
ternal proclivities are marked and he is
prominent and popular as a member of the
Knights of Pythias, the Modern Woodmen of
America and the Eagles. He is an enthusias-
tic college man and still maintains active re-
lations with the two Greek letter societies —
Beta Theta Pi and Phi Delta Phi— which he
joined while at Columbia.
Albert Koppitz. To him whose name
forms the caption for this article much of the
credit for Pacific's thrifty, enterprising con-
dition and spirit of progi-essiveness is due,
Mr. Koppitz having been elected mayor of
this city the first time in 1890. It requires
business acumen, tactful judgment, unfalter-
ing energy and undaunted fearlessness to
successfully manage the aJfairs of a munici-
pality, and such qualities Mr. Koppitz has
shown, as is evinced by the fact that he is
now serving his fifth term in the official chair
of Pacific.
Albert Koppitz was born at Kuttelberg,
Austria, April 27, 1852, a son of Benjamin
and Johanna (Pflieger) Koppitz, the former
the owner of a flour and saw mill in that
country, where he and his wife lived and
died. They became the parents of ten chil-
dren, of whom six are now living, but of this
number only two, Konrad and our subject,
braved the dangers of the briny deep in carv-
ing out for themselves fortunes in a new^ land.
Konrad is the senior member of the firm of
Koppitz-Melcher Brewing Comjjany, of De-
troit, IMichigan, a successful enterprise of
that state.
The childhood of Albert Koppitz was
passed among rural surroundings, his educa-
tion being secured in the common schools of
his native country, and they were not of the
best. His chief assets, therefore, when he be-
gan working on his own accord, were indus-
try, energy and perseverance, and he deter-
mined to master some trade. He accordingly
was apprenticed to a blacksmith, and after
mastering that he entered his father's mill
and learned that business. Thus equipped
with the know-ledge of two important trades,
he and his brother Konrad came to the
United States in 1872, settling at Chicago.
He spent three years in that city engaged at
the forge, and then moved to Kinsley, Kan-
sas, where he followed the plow for a short
time. Later he was employed as foreman in
a flouring mill, but in 1879 he decided to re-
turn east. He accordingly retraced his steps
and settled for a few months at Chicago, and
then, being offered the superintendency of a
mill at Lawrenoeburg, Indiana, he removed
to that city. Having pretty well mastered
the English language by this time, he became
quite invaluable to his new employers, who
sent him to Cincinnati, Ohio, in 1881. where
lie remained for two years. In 1883, how-
ever, he located at Columbia, Illinois, where
he engaged in the same business until he came
to Pacific, ilissouri, in 1885. Here Mr. Kop-
pitz entered into partnership with W. B.
Smith and bought a flour-mill, which busi-
ness was successfully carried on until 1902.
when ]\Ir. Koppitz bought out his partner's
HISTORY OF SOUTHEAST .MISSOURI
interest ajid has since been the principal
o^^■ner and proprietor of the Banner Roller
Mills, as they are now called. In 1888 the
company engaged in the retail lumber busi-
ness in Pacitic, and this phase of the enter-
prise has so prospered as to warrant the es-
tablishment of a branch yard at Eureka,
ilissouri.
Xor are Mr. Kappitz's interests confined
entirely within the scope of his roller mills.
In 1892 the Pacific Bank opened its doors to
depositors, with a capital stock of ten thou-
sand dollars. He was chosen president of the
institution and has since continued in that
office, serving in his capacity ably and well.
In 1894 the Pacific Electric Light Company
was organized, another one of Pacific's enter-
prising ventures, and our subject was made
its president and still holds this chair.
In politics ]\Ir. Koppitz is independent. He
began his official life in local affairs as a
member of the city council of Pacific, and,
as above stated, is now filling his fifth terra
as mayor of this charming little city. He is
ever on the alert for improvement, it being
his initiative that brought about the establish-
ment of an electric light plant here; and his
interest in street welfare launched. the move-
ment to macadamize certain of the public
streets ; while the question of an efficient and
modern city water plant is now being agi-
tated. Mr. Koppitz belongs to that time-
honored fraternity. Ancient Free and Ac-
cepted Masons, in which body he has held the
chair of Worshipful Master two terms.
On July 29, 187.3, Mr. Koppitz was united
in marriage in Chicago to Miss Barbara
German, born at Bavaria, Germany, Decem-
ber 25, 1856. The children of this union are
Albert, who is s\iperintendent of the electric
light plant at Marissa, Illinois; William, a
machinist in Detroit, Michigan; and Tillie,
the wife of H. J. Hillbrand. of Pacific, Mis-
souri. IMr. and Mrs. Koppitz maintain a
hospitable and charming home in Pacific,
which is always open to their friends and
neighbors, and where any one desiring com-
fort or good cheer can readily find it.
Daxtel C. Zimmerman. Among Bollinger
county's prosperous and representative asri-
cultnrists Daniel C. Zimmerman stands
prominent. He engages in general farming
and stock raising and his very desirable farm
of three hundred and seven acres is situated
about two miles northwest of Glen Allen. He
lias been identified with this section through-
out almost his entire life time and he is very
loyal to its interests, not indeed in a selfish
fashion, for there is nothing of public import
in which he is not helpfully interested, or any
local movement which in his judgment prom-
ises to benefit any considerable number of
his fellow citizens that does not have his cor-
dial advocacy and generous support.
Mr. Zimmerman was born in Bollinger
county, Missouri, on the 7th day of Jiuie,
1S50, and is a son of N. M. and Sarah Ann
Eliza (Bowman) Zimmerman, both of whom
were natives of North Carolina, and of old,
aristocratic families. The father is a son of
ilichael and Phoebe Zimmerman, who were
also natives of the so-called "Old North
State." The parents of the subject came to
Bollinger county in 1849 and became expo-
nents of the great basic industry, and it was
upon the old homestead that the early days
of Mr. Zimmerman were passed. Under his
father's tutelage he learned the many secrets
of seed-time and harvest and laid the foun-
dation for the thorough knowledge of farm-
ing which he now possesses. In 1871 Mr.
Zimmerman, who had just attained to his ma-
jority, started out for himself and for three
years was engaged as a railroader. Subse-
quent to that he went to Texas, and in the
Lone Star state spent two years as a farm
hand. He still remembered Missouri with
great affection, however, and at the end of the
two years he came back and after a time pur-
chased land. He has added to this from time
to time and now owns three hundred and
seven acres, fertile and well improved, upon
which he conducts successful farming opera-
tions. This, as before mentioned, is only two
miles northwest of Glen Allen. He raises
some stock of good quality and at present
owns six head of horses and mules, twenty
head of cattle and sixteen head of hogs.
Mr. Zimmerman established an independent
household in 1882 by his marriage to Mrs.
Mary E. Deck, a widow, daiighter of Aaron
and Drusilla ]\IeKelvy, natives of Tennessee
and ^Missouri, respectively. l\Ir. Zimmerman
has reared beneath his roof-tree three chil-
dren of his own and one step-daughter. His
eldest dauEchter. Caroline E., born in 1883. is
the wife of Forest Bollinger: Edgar N.. born
in 1885. resides near his father and he mar-
ried ^Farada Shetly: Lillian L., born in 1890.
is at home. The daughter by Mrs. Zimmer-
man's previous marriage. May, is the wife of
Juan F. Sites.
Mr. Zimmerman is a valued and consistent
768
HISTORY OF SOUTHEAST MISSOURI
member of the Cliristiau church and he is in-
dependent in his political eonvictious, esteem-
ing the best man and the best measure high
above mere partisanship.
Thomas P. Kirkma^'. AVhatever be the
discouragements and difficulties that a man
may have to meet in his early life, he is sui-e
to come out on top if he has the right stuff in
him. Thomas P. Kirkmau for many years
had a very hard time to get along, but now
he is one of the successful farmers of Dunk-
lin countj'.
He was born in Tennessee, in Chester
county, December 7, 1845. He went to school
in his native state but did not receive the ad-
vantages of many years of schooling, as he
was obliged to work on his father's farm.
He stayed in Tennessee until he was twenty-
eight years old, moving to Pemiscot county,
Missouri, in 1874. He bought some land and
farmed in the county for nineteen years, but
somehow or other did not meet with great
success. He stayed on year after year, hop-
ing all the time that things would improve,
but at last he made up his mind that it was
no use remaining there any longer. He was
not, however, discouraged, rather was deter-
mined to win out somewhere else. He came
to Dunklin county in 1892, settling on John-
son's Island, where he lived for four years
and was doing very well there, but he is now
farming sixty-two acres of land that belong
to his mother-in-law and making a great suc-
cess.
In 1868. while he was living in Tennessee,
Mr. Kirkman married Nancy Mayfield, a na-
tive of Tennessee. Four children were born
to the union. John, Rosa, Landrum and Eva
Mrs. Kirkman died in Pemiscot county, Mis-
souri, in 1883. while they were still strug-
gling to make both ends meet on the farm.
In 1896 he married Mrs. Mary Meharg, a
widow with five children ; Alice, who lives in
New Mexico; Will, who is in Clay county,
Arkansas; Chattie, who is in Senath, Mis-
souri; DeWitt, who is in St. Louis; and
James, who is at home with his mother and
stepfather. Three children have been born
to Mr. Kirkman and his second wife, Bettie,
Sam and Hattie.
Mr. Kirkman belongs to the Farmers'
Union of Missouri. He is a member of the
Mission Baptist church of Kennett and is an
active worker in that small but enterpris-
ing church. In politics he is a Democrat.
always anxious for his party to come out
ahead. During the time he has been in the
county he has become very well known and
respected. Whether it is that he can manage
a farm for somebody else better than he can
for himself, or whether conditions were just
against him, it is certain that he has been
more successful in looking after the interests
of his mother-in-law than he ever was in farm-
ing on his own account. Whatever the
cause, however, he is now doing well. He
takes the greatest interest in the welfare of
Dunklin county, his adopted home, and stands
ready at all times to do anything he can to
better conditions.
William Everett Crow, editor of the Jc/-
fcrson County Republican, is the eldest son
of the Reverend David W. Crow, whose work
in the ilethodist church of Missouri has had
so much to do with the growth of that de-
nomination in the state. David Crow was
born in South Carolina, in 1840, but came
with his parents to Perry county at an early
age. After some j-ears on the farai he went
into the milling business and was engaged in
that work when Lincoln called for volunteers.
Leaving his mill running, he went to war.
At the close of that heart-breaking period of
our history, he returned to Peri-y county and
taught school. He had obtained his educa-
tion by his own efforts, being always eager to
avail himself of chances to add to his knowl-
edge. At the old Crossroads church in Perry
county he preached his first sermon. Mr.
Crow was a circuit rider and lived the strenu-
ous and devoted life that such a calling
means. He established churches in Perry,
Bollinger, Cape Girardeau and Stoddard
counties.
In 1864 Reverend Crow married Miss Re-
becca Bollinger, of BoUinger county. Seven
children were born to this union: W. E. Crow,
the subject of this review; N. E. Crow; E.
M. Crow, who follows his father's profession;
Viola, Mrs. W. R. ilcCormick; ilinnie, Mrs.
Charles Tibbetts; Millie, wife of Reverend
Ray G. Crew; and Allen, now dead.
For six years Reverend Crow was presiding
elder of this district. He is now located at
DeSoto, where he has served as pastor for
sixteen years. Before settling in DeSoto,
Reverend Crow was for five years pastor at
Joplin, Missouri.
His eldest son. W. E. Crow, born Septem-
ber 3, 1866. at Perry^'ille, obtained his edu-
cation in the public schools of Perry county
and in the Mayfield Smith Academy at Marble
HISTORY OF SOUTHEAST MISSOUEI
769
Hill. The family moved to Stoddard county
after William had attended the academy
two terms and in the new home the boy went
to work in the printing office of the Bloom-
field Vindicator, of which Mr. C. A. Mosley
was editor. The business appealed to Mr.
Crow and when he came to DeSoto in 1890 he
continued to work at printing and later
bought the paper which he now owns and
edits.
]Mr. Crow has been prominent in the Re-
publican party, to which be contributes no
little strength both by his paper and by his
personal influence. In 1896 he was a mem-
ber of the Republican state committee. He
has served DeSoto four years as city clerk
and was eight years postmaster, being ap-
pointed to this office by president McKinley
in 1896. He was twice chairman of the
county committee and is now secretary of
that organization.
Mr. Crow's marriage to Miss Bessie J.
Butler took place in 1894. One daughter,
Lulu A., and three sons, Harry S., Ralph and
David Benjamin, have been the issue of this
union.
As might be expected, Mr. Crow is a mem-
ber of the ilethodist church. He holds mem-
bership in the Masonic lodge, in the Knights
of Pythias and in the Ancient Order of
United Workmen. None of Mr. Crow's social
affiliations or his public offices interfere with
his work on his paper. Through its pages he
has worked efi^ectively for the prosperity of
the town. The fine post office building and
the opera house are assets which were secured
largely through the instrumentality of the
Jefferson County Eepublican.
Henry F. "Weiss. Among the citizens of
Perrj^dlle, Missouri, who have been largely
influential in promoting the progress and
development of this section of the state, is
Henry F. Weiss, the present able and popular
incumbent of the office of mayor of the city.
Mr. Weiss is decidedly loyal and public-spir-
ited in his civic attitude and as a business
man and official he is held in high esteem on
account of his fair and honorable methods
and his sterling integrity.
A native of Perryville, Henry P. Weiss
was born on the 17th of November, 1868, and
he is a son of Joseph and Elizabeth (Kiefner)
Weiss, the former of whom was bom and
reared in Gennanj' and the latter of whom
claims Bavaria, Germany, as the place of her
nativity. The father continued to reside in
the old Fatherland until he had attained the
age of twenty-five years, when he immigrated
to the United States. Location was first made
in the state of Minnesota and subsequently
he lived for a time in Iowa and Ohio, eventu-
ally settling in Missouri. As a young man
he served three j-ears in the German army
and in his native land he familiarized him-
self with the ins and outs of the brewery
business, to which line of enterprise he de-
voted the major portion of his time during
his entire active career. He is now living
retired, with his wife, at Perrj^ville, where
he is passing the evening of his life in full en-
joyment of former years of earnest toil and
endeavor. Mr. Joseph Weiss married Miss
Elizabeth Kiefner, in 1867, and to this union
were born six children, concerning whom a
brief record is here ofi'ered, — Henry F. is the
immediate subject of this review ; Jlinnie is
the wife of William Hartung and they reside
at Cape Girardeau, Missouri; ]Mary is now
Mrs. A. M. Thieret and she maintains her
home at Perryville, Missouri; and Louisa,
Josephine and Lewis I. remain at the paren-
tal home.
To the public schools of Perryville Mr.
Weiss of this notice, is indebted for his pre-
liminary educational discipline and for two
terms he was a student in a German parochial
school in this city. As a young man he
learned the milling business and for fourteen
years he was in the employ of the Welcome
mills, now the Perrj^Ue Milling Company.
For the past ten years he has been engaged
in the business of buying wheat for the St.
Mary's Milling Company, a large and promi-
nent concei-n at Perr^^-ille. In his political
convictions Mr. Weiss is aligned as a stalwart
in the ranks of the Republican party, in the
local councils of which he is a most important
and active factor. In 1906 he was elected
to membership on the Perryville board of
aldermen and at the expiration of his two-
year term, he was further honored by his
fellow citizens in that he was then chosen for
the office of mayor of the city. He is now
filling his second term as mayor and he is
proving a most capable administrator of the
municipal affairs of the city. Under his
supervision Perrj-ville has built three miles
of granitoid walks and he has done a gi-eat
deal to advance the best interests of the
community at large. In a fraternal way Mr.
Weiss is affiliated with the Fraternal Order of
HISTORY OF SOUTHEAST MISSOURI
Eagles, the Ancient Order of United Work-
men and with a number of other representa-
tive social organizations.
In the year 1898 ilr. Weiss was united in
marriage to J\Iiss Lena Schott, whose birth
occurred at Apple Creek, Perry county, Mis-
souri, and who is a daughter of Joseph and
Mary (Ponder) Schott. 2Ir. and Mrs. Weiss
have five children, whose names are here
entered in respective order of birth, — Elmer,
Freda, i\Iarie, Roland and Helen. In relig-
ious faith Mr. Weiss is a Lutheran, while the
balance of the Weiss family are devout mem-
bers of the Catholic church and they are aU
ever on the alert to do all in their power to
advance benevolent and charitable work in
the city.
Charles F. Bollinger, an influential
farmer in Pattou, Bollinger county, Missouri,
after engaging in milling for a short time
has come back to the farm as the place to
perform his life work. Every year there are
an increasing number of men who become
farmers on their own account, which is a
very desirable condition of affairs. Mr. Bol-
linger realizes that a man should receive the
rewards of his own labors, and there is no
class of work in which this is so much the
case as in agricultural pureuits.
The scene of Mr. Bollinger's entrance into
the world was a farm on Little Whitewater
Creek, Bollinger county, where his parents,
Henry A. and Mary T. Bollinger, still main-
tain their residence. This worthy couple
were the parents of twelve children, eleven of
whom are living, — Emma, Charles F., Sarah,
Philip, Grover, Orlean, Anion, Joseph, Kyes,
Robert and Treecy.
Brought up on his father's farm, Charles
F. Bollinger early learned to take his part
in the conduct of the work, and until he was
twenty years of age he divided his time be-
tween his educational training and the cul-
tivation of the land. He then entered the em-
ploy of Hawn and Bollinger, millers at Pat-
ton, Missouri, made himself master of the
milling industrJ^ and in 1901 purchased the
mill. He successfully superintended its man-
agement for the ensuing two years, when he
disposed of his holdings and in 1903 and 1904
was employed by the Whitewater Stave Fac-
tory. By that time he had determined to re-
turn to the farm and is now the proprietor of
one hundred and thirty acres of good land in
tlie Little Whitewater Valley, on which he
erected a ])('autiful residence in May, 1909.
The year which marked Mr. Bollinger 's re-
turn to farming was also noteworthy as be-
ing the one in which he was united in mar-
riage to Miss Priscilla Seabaugh, the union
having been consummated on the 20th day of
March, 1904. They now have three children,
Delcie, born May 8, 1905 ; Christian S., whose
birth occurred on the 8th day of April, 1906 ;
and Henry Lavina, the date of whose nativity
was July 25, 1911. Mrs. Bollinger is a
daughter of Christian and Sarah E. (Masters)
Seabaugh, well known residents of Bollinger
county.
Christian Seabaugh, a farmer and stock
raiser, was born on the first day of March,
1850, in the county in which he always re-
sided. His father was Christian and his
mother Priscilla ; his grandfather, Christian,
was a native of North Carolina and later be-
came a settler in this county. He located on
a Spanish grant of land about six miles east
of the place where the grandson now resides.
Christian Seabaugh (III), by reason of his
industry, accumulated an estate of eleven
hundred acres and a few years ago he settled
all but eight hundred acres on his children.
In 1869 he married Miss Sarah Masters,
daughter of Christopher Masters, of Bollinger
county, and he became the father of ten
children, eight of whom are living, — Pris-
cilla, wife of C. F. Bollinger, the subject of
this sketch; whose birth occurred June
12, 1873 ; Wilbert E., a farmer, born June 22,
1875; Christian C, a farmer, who began life
January 12, 1879 ; Dayton, the date of whose
birth was August 22, 1882; Dr. 0. L., who
was born January 9, 1885, one of Patton's
prominent physicians, whose biography ap-
pears on other images of this history; EfSe,
whose birth occurred March 13, 1887; Ottie,
born July 19, 1889; and Louis Arnold, the
date of whose birth was October 13, 1891.
Mrs. Bollinger belongs to the Lutheran
church, and the husband is a member of the
ilutual Protective League. He has never
cared to dabble much in politics, and he be-
lieves that the fitness of the man for office is
of more consequence than the predominance
of any party. Mr. and Mrs. Bollinger have
many friends in the county which bears their
name — friends who respect and esteem both
husband and wife.
William B. Finney, M. D. There is no
profession that is fraught with more re-
sponsibility than the medical and no profes-
sion needs more knowledge, training and
WILLIAM B. FINNEY
HISTORY OF SOUTHEAST MISSOURI
culture than this same medical profession.
In addition to this the suitability of the
man himself must be taken into considera-
tion, for without such suitability he cannot
hope to be successful. A doctor must not
only know medical terms and remedies and
be conversant with the latest discoveries of
his colleagues, but he must know men. He
must study psychology as well as physiology.
As a matter of fact the true physician is
never graduated, but is always a student.
Dr. Finney is a physician who comes up to
all of the requirements mentioned above.
By nature, adaptability, training, education
and experience, he is a physician who is a
success in his practice.
"William B. Finney was born the first day
of the j'ear 1858. His father was James M.
Finney, who married Mary A. Smith, both
natives of Illinois. James Finney served
for several years as sheriff in Johnson county.
William B. attended the public schools at
Buncumbe. Illinois, after which he went to
Ewing College in Franklin county, Illinois.
After his course at Ewing he had decided
that he wanted to become a physician and
with that end in view he entered the College
of Physicians and Surgeons at St. Louis,
from which he was graduated, with the de-
gree of Doctor of Lledicine, in the class of
1890. After his graduation he started to prac-
tice at Laflin, ilissouri, remaining there until
December, 1892, at which time he came to
Kennett, ilissouri. He has remained here
ever since that time, with an ever growing
practice. He tries to keep up with current
events in his profession and with that view
he is a member of the County Medical Asso-
ciation, the State Association, the American
Medical Association and of the Southeastern
Medical Society. His practice is a general
one.
On the 2nd of August, 188.5, the Doctor was
married to ]\Iartha E. Clippard, a native
of Cape Girardeau county and daughter
of Judge AY. G. Clippard, of Bollinger
county, ilissouri. She is a graduate of the
College at Oak Ridge, Cape Girardeau
county. Five children have been born to
the union, but one son, Hubert Clip-
pard died when two years old. YTilliam 0.,
born July 13. 1887, is a graduate of the Mis-
souri State Normal. He took up the study
of medicine, being graduated from the St.
Louis University in 1910. He makes a spe-
cialty of surgery and is now located at Chaf-
fee, ^Missouri. He is a thirty-second degree
^lason. The next son, Ernest Green, is also
devoting his life to the medical profession.
He was born November 11, 1888, and is just
graduated from the St. Louis University, in
the class of 1911. He is starting in practice
with his father. Earl G. was born June 7,
1894, and is at present a senior student in
the Kennett high school. The Doctor's only
daughter, Mary Eula, was born October 22,
1897, and she is at home with her parents,
a junior in the High School at Kennett. The
Doctor and his family are members of ^Metho-
dist Episcopal church. South.
Dr. Finney is a Democrat, but he has
always made a point of keeping out of poli-
tics. He stands high in the Masonic order,
having taken the thirty-second degree. He
is a member of the Blue Lodge at Kennett
and of the Scottish Rite line in the Valley of
St. Louis. He also belongs to the Knights
of P.ythias and the Independent Order of
Odd Fellows. The Doctor owns seventeen
hundred acres of land in Dunklin county,
of which he has already developed six
hundred acres. He rents this land to tenants,
growing cotton and corn for the most part
and he also owns property in Kennett, valued
at about twenty thousand dollars. The Doctor
has a pleasant residence in a big yard,
where there are a fine lot of native "oaks
standing nearly one hundred feet high, in
addition to other varieties which he set out
himself. His is one of the pleasantest homes
in Kennett.
John H. M.vlugen. Numbered among the
representative members of the bar of St.
Francois county and a scion of one of the
sterling pioneer families of this county, with
whose history the name has been identified
for more than three-fourths of a century, :\Ir.
ilalugen is engaged in the active practice of
his profession in the village of Bonne Terre.
He is a citizen of prominence and influence
in the community and his personal popu-
larity attests the sterling attributes of his
character.
John Henry ilalugen was born on a farm
near Bismarck. St. Francois county, on the
12th of July, 1859, and is a son of Thomas
Benton Malugen and ]\Iary Jane (Tulloch)
Alalugen, whose marriage was solemnized on
the 6th of November. 1856. Thomas B. :\Ia-
lugen was born near French village. St. Fran-
cois county, on the 4th of September, 18.3-4,
and he was three years of age at the time of
his mother's death. "When he was a lad of
772
HISTORY OF SOUTHEAST IMISSOURI
seven years his father also passed away, and
he was reared to maturity on the farm of
John Tulloeh, in the same locality iu which
he was born, the while he was afforded the
advantages of the common schools of the lo-
cality and period. He finally wedded Miss
ilary Jane Tulloeh, a niece of his employer
and fosterfather and a daughter of Henry
Tulloeh, a representative of a family that was
founded in this section of ^lissouri about the
year 1814. The father of Thomas B. Malugen
was a man in most modest circumstances at
the time of his death, and thus slight pro-
vision was made for the care of the son. He
had been a soldier in the war of 1812, in
which he took part in the battle of New
Orleans, under General Jackson, Thomas B,
^Malugen devoted his entire active career to
agricultural pursuits and was one of the
prosperous farmers and honored citizens of
hif native state at the time of his death, his
wife surviving him by several years. He
served as a private soldier in the Civil war
and he was wounded in action at the time of
Price's raid. He never recovered from the
effects of this injury, which was the primary
cause of his death, which occurred on the
2d of January, 1888, his cherished and de-
voted wife being summoned to the life eternal
on the 22d of September, 1906, secure in the
affectionate regard of all who knew her.
Both were earnest and zealous members of
the Baptist church and Mr. Malugen was a
close student of the Bible, He continued to
follow agricultural pursuits in St, Francois
county until 1878, when he purchased a farm
in "Wayne county, where he continued to re-
side until his death. His widow then sold
the farm and removed to Piedmont, Wayne
county, where she passed the residue of her
life. They became the parents of nine chil-
dren, of whom the sub.iect of this review was
the second in order of birth, and all of the
five sons and four daughters are now living.
The father was a stanch Democrat in his
political proclivities and was a man of strong
convictions and broad views.
John H. Malugen passed his boyhood days
on the homestead farm near Bismarck, St.
Francois county, and in the schools of the
locality he secured his early educational dis-
cipline, which was supplemented by a coiirse
in the high school at Piedmont, Wayne
county. His ambition prompted him to fur-
ther effort in educational lines and he finally
entered the ^lissouri State Normal School at
Cape Girardeau, in which he was graduated
as a member of the class of 1884 and from
which he received the degree of Master of
Scientific Didactics. After his graduation he
became principal of the high school at Car-
thage, Jasper county, and for fifteen years he
was engaged in successful pedagogic work in
the schools of the state, AYithin this period
he was for five years superintendent of the
public schools of Bonne Terre, his present
home, and he also served as superintendent
of the Indian Industrial Schools at Sisseton
and Pine Ridge agencies, in South Dakota.
In the meanwhile ^Ir. ]\lalugen had pros-
ecuted the study of law with much assiduous-
ness and in .June, 1898, he was admitted to
the bar of his native state. He has since been
engaged in the general practice of his profes-
sion in St. Francois county and is also kno^^'n
as one of the progressive and public-spirited
citizens of his home town of Bonne Terre.
Here he was one of those primarily concerned
in the organization and incorporation of the
Lead Belt Bank, the establishing of which
met with strenuous local opposition, and he
is now vice-president and attorney of this
bank, which controls a large and substantial
business and had proved a most valuable ad-
.junct to the business interests of this section
of the state. He has also lent his co-opera-
tion in the promotion of other enterprises
and measures which have tended to further
the social and material progress and upbuild-
ing of the town and county, and iu politics,
though never a seeker of official preferment,
he accords a staunch allegiance to the Demo-
cratic party and is a member of its central
committee in St. Francois county. He is
affiliated with the Knights of Pythias and the
Modern Woodmen of America, and both he
and his wife hold membership in the Con-
gregational church.
On the 24th of July, 1889, ]\Ir. :\lalugen
was united in marriage to Miss Sarah Per-
kins, their union having been solemnized in
South Dakota. They became the parents of
four children, of whom three are living: Ora
Loraine, Effie Lucretia and Lewis Benton,
Birdie, the third child, died in her eighteenth
year, and the devoted wife and mother was
summoned to eternal rest on the 8th of Aug-
ust, 1903. On the 1st of August, 1906, Mr.
^Malugen contracted a second marriage, by his
imion with iliss Emily K. Johnston, of St.
Louis, and they became the parents of two
children, — ^lary Isabelle and John Henry,
Jr., the latter of whom died in infancy.
HISTORY OF SOUTHEAST .MISSOURI
m
William 'SI. Gates, general raerchant of
Hornersville, who is now considered one of
the most prosperous citizens and able business
men of the town, began his career in South-
east jMissouri about thirty-five years ago with
very little money and only his industry and
integrity as the basis for advancement. He
is one of the honored men who have won suc-
cess from reluctant fortune and have over-
come many obstacles in their paths of prog-
ress.
Born on a farm in North Carolina, June
26, 1852, and losing his parents during his
childhood, so that he has no recollection of
them, he had no opportunities to attend
school, has instructed himself in the essentials
of learning, and was brought up until he was
seventeen years old in the family of a North
Carolina farmer. At that age he began work-
ing on a railroad near home, but after a year,
having heard good reports about Tennessee,
he made the journey alone to Gibson county,
where he worked as a farm hand. He was
in a stave factory in ^Moscow, Kentucky, two
years, biit then returned to Tennessee and
lived on a farm until 1877.
In the meantime he had married, and in
1877 he brought his family in a wagon to
Dunklin county. There was no railroad at
Hornersville, IMalden being the nearest rail-
road point. Having little money, he began
as a renter on a farm, made money and pro-
gressed a little each year, and continued the
life of farming until 1890. He also bought
and sold land to some extent. He began his
career as a merchant at Cotton Plant, where
he started with a five hundred dollar stock,
part of which he bought on credit. During
his four years at that town he did well, and
then moved to Hornersville. A stock com-
pany was formed, of which Mr. Langdon was
manager, and they began business in a little
brick building, in which Mr. Gates held five
hundred dollars worth of the stock. He af-
terward bought out all the other parties,
paying them four thousand dollars, the busi-
ness having been organized on the capital
basis of ten thousand dollars. After purchas-
ing the stock he sold 'Sir. J. W. Block a half
interest. About 1901 he sold his interest to
Mr. Block and he established himself at his
present location on ]\Iain street. He put up a
one-story brick business room, fifty by eighty
feet, and owns the lot, fifty by 140, on which
this building stands. As a general merchant
he commands a trade from all the country
around, and many of his patrons have traded
with him for years, their confidence in his
dealings never having been misplaced. He
also has a two-story brick building across the
street from his general store, where he car-
ries furniture and undertaking goods. He is
the only undertaker in a radius of seven
miles. He owns three other lots on Main
street, and also two lots where his comfortable
residence stands. He is a stockholder and
one of the directors of the Bank of Horners-
\'ille.
Four years before coming to Missouri, in
January, 1873, Mr. Gates was married to
Miss L. A. Short. Four children were born,
but they and their mother are all deceased,
the latter passing away in 1895. In 1897 he
married j\Iiss India Tankesley. Their two
children are : Sadie M., twelve years old, and
Erny Lee, born in 1901. The family are
membei-s of the Baptist church, and fra-
ternally Mr. Gates is a member of the lodges
of the Masons and Odd Fellows at Horners-
ville.
Captain AYilliam H. Higdon. Whether as
a soldier following the starry ensign of the
Union and serving as a captain in her army,
as a public man devoted to the best interests
of the community, as a farmer using the most
progressive methods, industriously making
mature render her most bountiful yields, or
as a private citizen and loyal friend. Captain
William H. Higdon has ever shown himself
worthy of the high place he holds in the af-
fection and esteem of Madison county. Gap-
tain Higdon was born near Fredericktown,
Missouri, January 28, 1839, the son of Sam-
uel and Ala (White) Higdon. His father
was a native of Tennessee, the Higdons be-
ing one of the old and best known families of
eastern Tennessee (Marion county), where
they settled some time after their coming to
this country from England. He died in 1852
while yet a young man of thirty-five years.
His wife. Ala White Higdon. was a native of
the state of Georgia, a daughter of William
and Sarah (Baker) White, who moved to the
state of ilissouri when their daughter was a
young girl. The Whites, like the Higdons,
were members of the ^Methodist Episcopal
church, and she met and married ilr. Higdon
in iladison county. She passed away at the
age of thirty-two years, one week after the
death of her husband.
William Higdon was one in a family of
seven, two of whom died in infancy. The
three who are living are as follows: Nancy
774
HISTORY OF SOUTHEAST MISSOURI
J., now ;\Irs. "WTiitworth, of Madison county ;
James T., who served over three years in the
Third ^Missouri Cavalry of the Federal army,
makes his home near his brother William,
and still farms.
Captain Higdon has spent his entire life
in southeastern ^Missouri, with the exception
of his term in the Federal army and seven
years spent in California and the territories
before his enlistment. He was in California
in 1861. when the war cloud that had lowered
so long finally broke on a divided nation. He
enlisted as a private in Company A, Fifth
California Infantry, and was subsequently
promoted to the second and then the first
lieutenancy of that company. He was later
transferred to Company E, First Volunteer
Infantry, as its first lieutenant. He acted as
captain in several of the company's engage-
ments and served as adjutant at various times
in many of the posts of the west and as
commissary and post-adjutant. He received
his honorable discharge February 6, 1866, at
Fort Craig, on the Rio Grande river, having
served for four years, four months and twen-
ty-foiir days.
At the end of his army service Captain
Higdon returned to Madison county, and has
since spent his efforts as a farmer, being at
one time interested in the lumbering busi-
ness. The Captain is and has always been
an ardent Republican and has more than
once served the interests of the "Grand Old
Party." As a popular and efficient man with
the interests of communitj' sincerely at heart,
he has been elected to several public offices
and has made an enviable record in each ca-
pacity. He has been assessor, sheriff and col-
lector and an unsuccessful candidate for rep-
resentive. and this as a Republican in a
strongly Democratic section.
Captain Higdon was united in marriage,
on February 27, 1867, to Miss Xancy A.
Combs, also a native of Madison county,
born here June 1, 1839. She was the daugh-
ter of Silas and Elizabeth (Whitworth)
Combs, well known settlers in southeastern
Missouri. Mr. Combs was from the state of
Kentucky', while his wife spent her early life
in Georgia. Captain and :\Irs. Higdon have
been blessed with five children, one of whom,
IMary Octa, died at the age of twenty years,
November 8, 1894. Their son Edward Everett
Higdon is a practicing physician in Allen-
villc. Cape Girardeau county, ^lissouri, where
he settled after his graduation from Barnes
Universitv. He and his wife, who was former-
ly Miss Whitworth, have one child, a son
Floyd, aged four years. Dr. William H. Hig-
don, of Prairie View, Arkansas, is a graduate
of the Gate City Medical College at Dallas,
Texas. Lona B. Higdon is now the wife of Dr.
J. K. Smith, of Columbus, Johnson county,
ilissouri. Dr. and Mrs. Smith have two little
daughters. Opal and Pearl. Charles H. Hig-
don is the owner of a prosperous farm located
near the home of his father. He and his
wife, formerly !Miss Dodsou, have three chil-
dren, Harold, William Bailey and Glida.
Captain and Mrs. Higdon are members of
the Christian denomination and attend the
church of that faith at Higdon. Fraternally
Captain Higdon is a member of the Inde-
pendent Order of Odd Fellows, and he be-
longs to the post of G. A. R. at Frederick-
town. Captain Higdon now makes his home
on his splendid two hundred acre farm, lo-
cated east of Fredericktown, Missouri.
Rupus Cornelius Tucker. One of the
able and distinguished members of the bar
of St. Francois county is Rufus Cornelius
Tucker, former prosecuting attorney and a
man active and influential in public and po-
litical life. Although his career as an at-
torney has been of comparatively brief dura-
tion he has long ago won i-ecognition as the
possessor of an exceedingly fine legal mind,
as a lawyer who reasons instead of jumping
to conclusions and who always goes to trial
with his ciises well prepared, fortified by both
law and evidence.
Rufus Cornelius Tucker was born in Will-
iamson county, Tennessee, July 23, 1855.
His father, William Alexander Tucker, was
born in the same district about the year 1833.
The early life of the elder man was spent on
a farm and he received a common-school edu-
cation. At the time of the outbreak of the
Civil war he enlisted in the Confederate
army and for about three years was a mem-
ber of the forces of General Forrest. Upon
the return of peace he resumed his agricul-
tural operations and he resided upon his farm
until about five years previous to his demise
in 1893. About the year 1888 he made a
radical change by removing to Nashville. Ten-
nessee, and assuming the position of manager
of a lumber .vard. He was married at the
age of eighteen to Susan Catherine Chrich-
low, of Williamson county, Tennessee, she
being a daughter of William and Adeline
Chrichlow, farmers. To this union ten chil-
dren were liorn, the subject being the third
HISTORY OF SOUTHEAST iHSSOURI
775
in order of birth. William A. Tucker was
stanehly aligned with the supporters of the
Democratic party and in his church affiliation
belonged to the Southern Methodist Episco-
pal church.
Rufus C. Tucker passed his youth upon
the parental homestead in Tennessee and
gained his preliminary education in the com-
mon schools. At the age of twenty-two years
he assumed the responsibilities of married
life. Miss Sallie E. Ledbetter, of Williamson
county, daughter of Reuben and Nancy Led-
better, becoming his wife. Mr. Ledbetter is
a farmer and a citizen well and favorably
known in his locality-. The union of Mr.
Tucker and his wife has been fruitful of the
following eleven children : Julia Vaughn, de-
ceased ; a child who died in infancy ; Preston
G. Tucker, chief clerk in the train master's
department of the Slississippi River & Bonne
Terre Railway; Nannie, now Mrs. James
Eaton, a primary teacher in the public
schools of Bonne Terre ; Beauford A., stenog-
rapher to the auditor of the Mississippi River
& Bonne Terre Railway; Susie, a music
teacher in the Leadwood public schools; the
Rev. Frank C; Shelby L.; Clarence G. T.;
William R. T.; and Sarah Helen.
For some years after their marriage Mr.
and ^Ii-s. Tucker resided upon their farm in
Davidson county, Tennessee, but in 1881.
(February 9) they decided upon a change of
residence and removal to Delassus, St. Fran-
cois county, Missouri. For some five years
the head of the house conducted farming op-
erations and also engaged in teaming, Irat in
1886 he took charge of a mill in Farmington
and engaged in its operation for two years.
He speedily won the regard and confidence
of his neighbors and came to take an active
interest in public afi'airs. In 1888 he was ap-
pointed deputy sherifi' of St. Francois county
and served in that office for two years. He
was subsequently elected justice of the peace
of St. Francois township and held this office
b.y successive elections for no less than twelve
years, the length of time he held the position
alone being sufficient to show how well he
performed its duties and being eloquent of
his worth and capacity. It was his distinc-
tion to be elected the first police judge of the
city of Farmington in 1896, and he continued
to hold the office until 1902. During the time
he acted as justice of the peace he engaged
in the reading of law and was admitted to the
bar in 1897, by Judge J. D. Fox. Since that
time he has been continually in practice and
has met with much success personally, while
at the same time contributing to the prestige
enjoyed by the bar of St. Francois county.
In 1906 he was elected prosecuting attorney
of St. Francois county, which office he held
two years.
ilr. Tucker is not the only prominent mem-
ber of his family, his brother, Hugh Clarence
Tucker, being a missionary to Brazil and also
having charge of the American Bible Society
in that county. In political faith Mr. Tucker
is a Democrat, giving valiant support to the
policies and principles for which the party
is sponsor. He belongs to the Methodist
Episcopal church, South, and exemplifies in
himself those principles of moral and social
justice and bi-otherh' love represented by
the Masonic order. He is also a member of
the iloderu Woodmen of America.
GusTAV C. Rau is the proprietor of the Pa-
cific Bottling Works, one of the important
industrial enterprises that contribute materi-
ally to the commercial prestige of the place.
He is a native son of Pacific, his birth having
occurred here April 8, 1875. He is a son of
Nicholas Rau, a retired stone mason of Pa-
cific, who is a native of Germany. He was a
youth in his 'teens when he left the Father-
land and his presence in Pacific dates from
a few years previous to the Civil war. He
married Catherine Blaich, a lady of his own
nationality, and their children are as follows :
Mrs. F. J. Petei-son, of Pacific; Miss Kate,
who resides at the parental home ; Gustav C,
the immediate subject of this review; Adam
F., of Washington, Missouri ; William H., of
Washington; George J., Mrs. Edith Mayle
and Carl, residents of Pacific.
As is his right, Mr. Rau shares in those
excellent characteristics which make the
Teutonic dwellers in our country among our
most admirable citizens. Germany has given
the United States men of sturdy integrity,
indomitable perseverance, high intelligence
and much business sagacity, the result being
the incorporation of a firm and strength-giv-
ing fiber. AAHiile passing the days of boy-
hood and young manhood. Gustav C. Rau
engaged in various activities, while at the
same time acquiring his education. He
passed through the schools of Pacific and at
the age of seventeen years he entered as a
full-fledged wage-earner the bottling works
of Louis Mauthe. He mastered the business
in all its details and conseauontly, at the
death of the proprietor. Mr. Mauthe, he was
HISTORY OF SOUTHEAST .^IISSOURI
in a position to assume charge of the factory,
which he has since operated with the most
excelleut result. He purchased the plant
which was erected by the Mauthe Brothers
in 1881 and he gives his energies to its op-
eration. The annual output of the coucern is
two hundred and eighty thousand bottles per
year, and it is not to be gainsaid that it is
one of the signiticant enterprises of Pacific.
Mr. Ran is one of the stockholdei-s of the
Bank of Pacific, a sound and popular mone-
tary institution, and he is also a property
owner. His loyalty and enthusiasm for a
progressive town is shown in his active serv-
ices as a member of the committee appointed
to consider the question of a water works
plant and the best means of acquiring this
civic benefit, despite the opposing elements
which are evei- present to retard and delay
any public improvement, no matter how nec-
essary. He is a Republican in politics and
takes" in all public matters the interest of the
intelligent voter, although by no means an
office seeker.
Mr. Rau was married in Pacific, Missouri,
in November, 1896, the young woman to be-
come his wife and the mistress of his house-
hold being Miss Clara ]\Iauthe, a daughter of
William Mauthe, who came here as a settler
from his native Germany and here passed the
residue of his life. They have no children.
Mr. Rau is a popular and enthusiastic
lodge man. He stands high in Masonry, be-
ing a Master Mason, and also in the ranks
of the Knights of Pythias, of the local lodge
of which he is a past chancellor and he has
been a member of the Grand Lodge of the
state.
Daniel Hawn. In 1818 Mr. Hawn's par-
ents came to ^Missouri from North Carolina
and took up government land in Cape Girar-
deau countv. It was here that Daniel Hawn
was born in 1829 and he lived on the farm
until he was twenty-one. At that age he
learned the blacksmith's trade and he worked
at it for forty-six years, both in peace and m
war. In 1852 he came to Bollinger county
and plied his trade here until 1896, when he
retired to a farm of one hundred and fifty-
seven acres which he had acquired by inher-
itance nearly forty years before. This place
is situated three miles east of ]\Iarquand and
■was a part of his father's estate.
Mr. Hawn was married in 1851. to IMelvina
Smith, the dausrhter nf William Smith. They
have four children living : Hannah C born
in 1854, became the wife of Edward Brinley.
The second daughter, Emma Ellen, two
j-ears j'ounger, married Henry Slinkard.
Malice, born in 1858, is now Mrs. William
Denman. The son, William Hawn, is the old-
est of the family and was boi'n in 1852.
During the Civil war Jlr. Hawn went into
the Confederate army and spent nine mouths
of the year 1865 in Slayback's regiment. He
did not see any active service, but he did
blacksmithing for the regiment. Like most
of the veterans of the Confederate army, Mr.
Hawn is a Democrat in political convictions.
He has served his party in the offices of con-
stable and deputy sheriff. He filled the for-
mer position at ilarble Hill, for Lorance
township in 1857 and 1858. His two years
as deputy sheriff were spent in Bollinger
county.
Mr. Hawn has now retired from his black-
smith business and is living on his farm,
where he bids fair to round out his four-score-
and-ten years of busy and beneficent exist-
ence.
Reynolds M. Finney. One of the best
cultured men in Dunklin county is R. M.
Finney, who owns one of the best cultivated
farms in the county. He educated himself
from his boyhood and has never ceased to be
a student. We used to feel a certain amount
of pity for the bo.v who had to work his own
way through school, but that after all is the
best kind of education. If Mr. Finney had
not been obliged to pay so dearly for his edu-
cation he would not have appreciated it as
much as he does to-day. nor would he have
been the man that he is to-day.
Reynolds M. Finney was born in Johnson
county, Illinois, in December, 1852. His
father was a farmer and died when R. M. was
ten years old. When the latter was just sev-
enteen years old his mother married again
and he felt it incumbent on him to look out
for himself. He had attended the public
schools of his district, but he was very desir-
ous of obtaining more education. He had
no money to pay his expenses while he went
to school, but that did not daunt him. He
rented a piece of land and, having learned a
great deal about farming from his childhood,
he raised a good crop, which he sold. Tlie
next year he did the same thing and the pro-
ceeds of the two years' work lasted him
through a two and a half years' literary
course at Ewing College. Franklin county,
Illinois. At the end of that time liis money
L.<l--'tJL^
HISTORY OF SOUTHEAST ^NHSSOURI
777
was all gone aud he taught for two j-eai-s,
after which he took two years' work at the
State Normal, at the eud of which time he re-
ceived the highest certitieate that was given
by that institution. At that time, in July, 1881,
he came to Dunklin county and taught in the
high school at Kennett. He taught in Dunk-
lin county for several years, but spent his
time in the evenings and far on into the night
reading law. In 1883 he was examined in
open court and was admitted to the bar, with
the right to practice in Missouri in any cir-
cuit court and all courts of record. He had
already practiced a little before he was ad-
mitted to the bar and has practiced in all
about sixteen j'ears, during the last few .years
of that time having more general practice
than he could attend to. From 1885 to 1889
he served as school commissioner and during
these two terms he organized as many school
districts as there were already and under his
regime the first institute meeting that the
county ever held was inaugurated, with the
state superintendent in charge. From 1890 to
1894 he was prosecuting attorney, covering
two terms of service. He was public admin-
istrator for four years, all of these olBces be-
ing secured on "Democratic votes. He was
land commissioner, having been appointed by
the courts to take care of lands. In 1900 he
began to buy the farm which he now owns,
investing in forty acres at a time. All the
land that he bought at first was heavily tim-
bered and he has had it all cleared. In 1906
he moved from town onto his farm, where he
now owns about twelve hundred acres of
land. He also owns another farm of two
hundred and eighty acres just south of his
large farm and he rents the smaller piece of
land to a tenant. He has put up about twenty
houses for his tenants and has very produc-
tive land. He raises wheat, cotton, corn,
peas, mules, horses, hogs. etc. He is making a
specialty of white-face cattle, registered, and
is the pioneer in this industry. He buys and
ships cattle and hogs, besides shipping each
year about three carloads of hogs and three
carloads of cattle of his own raising. These
he sells to the National Stock Yards. East St.
Louis. Mr. Finney probably cultivates more
land than any other man in Dunklin county.
In 1906 he built a fine residence for himself,
in addition to whch he owns several lots in
town. He has helped to promote the Farm-
ers' Gin and .the Kennett Warehouse Com-
pany, being secretary and treasurer of the
latter. He was for a time president of the
Farmers' Gin, but he resigned, still retaining
his directorship.
On September 17, 1886, he married Miss
Maggie Fletcher, near Kennett. She was a
native of Tennessee, but had lived in Missouri
for many years. Three children were born
to the union, all of whom are at home, as fol-
lows : Nola N., Pauline M. and Reynolds
M., Jr. Mr. Finney is a member of the Blue
Lodge, Ancient Free and Accepted Masons,
and belongs to the Chapter in Kennett,
Royal Arch IMasons, and to the Commandery
of Maiden.
It is difiicult to say what Mr. Finney's ca-
reer might have been if he had not been de-
termined to get an education. He is so con-
stituted that he must needs have been useful
under any circumstances, but he would not
have been able to do just the things that he
has done for the good of the county and for
the good of his fellow men. As teacher, law-
j-er and farmer he has been alike successful.
C. C. MiTCHiM, the able and experienced
editor of the DeSoto Press, has given his
entire life to the newspaper business, and
though he is just in his prime, his editorial
training and experience have been varied and
extensive.
Mr. Mitchim was born during the Civil
war, November 21, 1863. His father, Lawson
S. Mitchim, was in the Federal army, serv-
ing as first lieutenant in an Arkansas regi-
ment, to which state he had come from North
Carolina when but nineteen years old. The
mother of the present editor was Catherine
Fronabarger Mitchim, of Atkins, Arkansas.
The wedding of ilr. and Mrs. Lawson ilit-
chim took place in 1858, and six children were
born to the couple. The three sons, W. S.,
C. C. and J. F. Mitchim, are still living, also
one daughter, Ollie, Mrs. S. S. Hancock.
Connie and BjTne, twins, are deceased.
At the close of the war, Lieutenant Mit-
chim moved to Mt. Vernon, Illinois, where he
remained two jears, and then moved to Jack-
son, Missouri. Here he conducted a livery
stable. In 1878 he moved to Doniphan, Mis-
souri, and took up farming, and it was there
that he died in 1879. His wife survived him
ten years, passing away in 1889. Lieutenant
Jlitchim was a highly public-spirited man and
contributed much to the upbuilding of Jack-
son. Several residences in that city were
built by him while he was conducting his liv-
ery stable and buying horses and mules. In
politics he was a Democrat; his church was
778
HISTORY OF SOUTHEAST MISSOURI
the Methodist, South, and he belonged to the
ilasonic order.
C. C. Mitchim, the owner and editor of the
Democratic organ of DeSoto, received liis
education in the schools of Jackson, grad-
uating from the high school in that city. He
was with his parents at Doniphan and a few
years after his father's death, went into the
newspaper business on the Sikeston Star at
Sikeston, Missouri. Seeking wider fields of
experience, he spent a time in Cape Gir-
ardeau, where he was connected with the Neiv
Era for a while and later with the Potosi
Eagle.
With this preliminary training, Mr. Mit-
chim next entered into the journalistic realm
as a proprietor when, in 1891, he bought the
Williamsville Transcript. After conducting
this paper four years, he sold it and bought
the Willow Springs Index, which he pub-
lished for twelve years. Upon disposing of
the Index, Mr. Mitchim bought the Wayne
County Journal, of Greenville, Missouri, and
the Piedmont Banner, and for the next three
years he successfully conducted both jour-
nals. In 1904 DeSoto was fortunate enough
to add ilr. Mitchim to her citizens, when he
bought the DeSoto Press, of which he is still
owner and publisher. The Press enjoys a
large circulation and owns its own building
through its editor, who is likewise the pos-
sessor of a residence property in DeSoto.
Mr. Mitchim has been twice married, in
1901, to Miss Urannah Talley, at Williams-
ville, the bride being a native of Marble Hill.
The second marriage was solemnized at Iver-
ness, ]Mississippi, where Miss Lillian Ward
became Mrs. C. C. Mitchim on February 17,
1909. Two children of the former marriage,
Nellie and Alma, are still living. One died
in infancy. A son, Charles Francis Mitchim,
has been born to Lillian and Charles C. Mit-
chim.
As Mr. Mitchim is a newspaper man
through and through, he is a member of the
Missouri Press Association, in addition to
which he holds membership in the .Modern
Woodmen, the Knights of Pythias and in the
Elks. As has been implied, Mr. Mitchim is a
Democrat, and both personally and as an
editor is influential in the party.
Lawrence L. Feltz, M. D. A physician
and surgeon who has gained distinctive pres-
tige in the work of his profession at Perry-
ville, Missouri, where he has resided during
the major portion of his active career thus
far, is Dr. Lawrence L. Feltz, whose name
forms the caption for this article. Dr. Feltz
was born in this citj' on the 15th of August,
1877, and he is a son of Florence and Mary
(Jeuin) Feltz. The father was born in the
city of Strassburg, in Alsace-Lorraine, when
that province was French territory, Strass-
burg having been consigned to Germany in
1871. As a young man he immigrated to the
United States and he proceeded immediately
to Missouri, locating in Perry county, where
he was engaged in the cooperage trade up to
the age of forty-five years. In his fortieth
year he went to Keokiik, Iowa, where he at-
tended the Eclectic Medical College, in which
excellent institution he was graduated in
June, 1876. He engaged in the active prac-
tice of his profession at Perryville in 1876
and continued to devote his energies to an
extensive and lucrative patronage during the
long intervening years until his demise, which
occurred in the year 1907, at the venerable
age of seventy-five years.
Dr. Feltz, the immediate subject of this
review, received his rudimentary educational
training in the public schools of Perryville
and for one year he was a student in St. Vin-
cent's College, at Cape Girardeau, Missouri.
In 1899 he was matriculated in the University
of Missouri, at Columbia, and subsequently
he pursued a three-year course in the Hering
Medical College & Hospital, in which he
was graduated as a member of the class of
1903, duly receiving his degree of Doctor of
Medicine. He later took an optical course,
graduating from the National Optical Col-
lege, St. Louis, Missouri, in July, 1910. He
initiated the work of his profession at Perry-
ville, where he has succeeded in building up
a large and representative practice and where
he is accorded recognition for his innate skill
and acquired abilit.y along the line of one of
the most helpful professions to which man
may devote his energies. In a fraternal way
he is afSliated with the Western Catholic
Union and with the Knights of Columbus,
for the local lodges of which he is medical ex-
aminer. In his political proclivities he is a
stanch advocate of the principles and policies
for which the Democratic party stands spon-
sor and while he has neither time nor am-
bition for public office of any description he
is ever on the qui vive to forward the best in-
terests of the community in which he resides
and of the county at large. In his religious
faith Dr. Feltz is a devout communicant of
the Catholic church, in the different depart-
HISTORY OF SOUTHEAST :\IISSOURI
meuts of whose work he is an active and
zealous factor.
Oda Lavinia Seabaugh, M. D., although a
young physician, has attained considerable
distinction in Patton. There is perhaps no
calling in life the success of which depends
so much on a man's personality, as well as
his abilities and efforts, as that of a physician,
and in both classes of these Ciualifications Dr.
Seabaugh has been thoroughly tested and
fully proven.
Born on a farm near the town in which he
now resides, Dr. Seabaugh began life Janu-
ary 9, 1885. He is a son of Christian and
Sarah E. (Masters) Seabaugh, both of whom
reside on their farm near Patton. The
father, born on the 1st day of March, 1850. is
a native of Bollinger county, as was Dr.
Seabaugh 's grandfather. Greatgrandfather
Chri.stian Seabaugh began life in North Car-
olina and when a young man came to Mis-
souri, where he was one of the pioneer set-
tlers. He located on a Spanish grant of land
situated about six miles east of Father Sea-
baugh's home today. Christian Seabanerh
(III) is the third of a family of eight chil-
dren, three of whom are now living: F. M.,
Amos and Christian Seabaugh. Christian
was educated in the country schools and at
the age of nineteen he settled on a farm of
one hundred and twenty acres — his home ixn-
til 1890. He then bought and traded his
farm, which had accumulated until it meas-
ured about three hundred acres, and secured
eleven hundred acres of improved land on
Little Whitewater creek, four miles southeast
of Patton. He has divided his land between
two of his children, retaining eight hundred
acres of his property for himself and others
of the family; four hundred acres of this are
cleared and in cultivation; he possesses
twenty head of horses, thirty cattle, forty
hogs and thirtv head of sheer). He may
iustly feel satisfied with his achievements, as
he has earned all he possesses, and not only
has he acquired a competency for himself and
his family, but he has been able to give his
children excellent educational advantasres. In
1869, the j'ear that he commenced farming
on his own responsibilities, he was united in
marriage to iliss Sarah Masters, daughter of
Christopher Masters, a well-kno\vn and hon-
ored resident of Bollinger county. Mr. and
ilrs. Seabaugh became the parents of ten
children, eight of whom are living — Priscilla,
born June 12, 1873, is the wife of C. F. Bol-
linger, of Patton, mentioned elsewhere in this
work ; Wilbur E., a farmer, whose birth oc-
curred June 22, 1875, married Maggie Shell,
who died, leaving one child, also deceased.
His second marriage was to Miss Jennie
Shell and they have had six children, four
living — Paul D., Opal. Edna and Wilbur J.,
the two deceased being Roy and Terrey ;
Christian C, married July 3, 1911, Miss
Texa Yount ; he is also a farmer, and the date
of his nativity was January 12, 1879. Dr.
Dayton, who began life August 22, 1882, is
now practicing at iMillersville, Missouri. He
married iliss Lillie Limbaugh, and they
have one son, Rusby. Oda Lavinia, born on
the 9tli day of January, 1885, is the physi-
cian whose name initiates this sketch. Miss
EiBe made her first appearance into the
world March 13. 1887. Autie, the date of
whose birth was July 19, 1889, married Flos-
sie Limbaugh. Lo.v Arnold's birth occurred
on the 13th of October, 1891. Father and
Jlother Seabaugh live a quiet, contented life,
holding membership in the Methodist Episco-
pal church, where they are highly esteemed.
Dr. Seabaugh was brought up on his fath-
er's farm, receiving his preliminary educa-
tional training in the Bollinger public school.
In 1901 he entered the Sedgwickville Acad-
emy, completed a two years' course there and
in 1903 entered the State Normal College at
Cape Girardeau, where he remained one
school .year. In 1904. having determined to
make the study and practice of medicine his
life work, he entered the Barnes Medical Col-
lege, at St. Louis, where his entire four years'
coiirse was characterized by the thoroughness
with which he ma.stered the different branches
of the immense field he was entering, his per-
centage in all his studies for the complete
course being over ninety-five per cent. Fol-
lowing his graduation with honors in 1908 he
served from May to September of that year
as interne in the Centenary Hospital. Thus
fully equipped, he returned to his native
place and commenced the practice of medi-
cine at Patton, as the successor to Dr. P. G.
Murray. Dr. Seabaugh 's residence and his
office are both in Patton and during his three
years of professional life he has built up an
extensive practice in the communit.y where he
passed his boyhood. Dr. Seabaugh estab-
lished his drug store at Patton in August,
1908, and conducts distinctly a complete
pharmacy.
On the loth day of September. 1910. the
Doctor was married to Miss Anna Siiiith,
(80
HISTORY OF SOUTHEAST MISSOURI
daughter of Johusou Smith, formerly a
merchant and now a farmer near I'attou,
Missouri. In fraternal connection Dr. Sea-
baugh is afliliated with the Modern Brother-
hood and with the Modern Woodmen of
America; in a religious way he has adhered
to the faith in which he was trained and
holds membership in the Methodist Episco-
pal church, South; while his political sympa-
thies are with the Democratic party. In re-
lation to his profession he is a member of the
American Medical Association, thus keeping
><breast of the times by the interchange of ex-
periences which is afforded through this so-
ciety. His private reading of medical litera-
ture is an outcome of his earnest desire to
learn of every new discovery, that he may be
more fully qualified to aid suffering human-
ity.
Reuben Appleberry, M. D. Associated in
active general practice with his younger
brother, Dr. Daly Appleberry, at Leadwood,
St. Francois county, the subject of this re-
view merits consideration in this work as one
of the representative physicians and .surgeons
of Southeastern Missouri, as does he also by
reason of being a member of one of the old
and well known families of this section of the
state. The Doctor was born at Valley Mines,
Jefferson county, Missouri, on the 20th of
September, 1880, and is the elder of the two
children of James and Fanny (Matthews)
Appleberry, both natives of that same county
and still residents of Valley Mines. The
father was reared on a farm in the vicinity of
Valley Mines and at the age of sixteen years
he began work under the direction of his
father, John P. Appleberry, who was super-
intendent of the mines and one of the pioneers
in connection with this industry in that sec-
tion. In 1878 James Appleberry was made
general superintendent of the Valley Mines,
of which responsible office he has continued
incumbent during the long intervening years,
which have been marked by earnest and faith-
ful application on his part. He is a man of
sterling integrity of character and commands
the high regard of all who know him. His
political support is given to the cause of the
Democratic party, he is afSliated with the
Masonic fraternity and is a most zealous
member of the Baptist church, in which he
has served to a considerable extent as a local
preacher, ever striving to aid and uplift his
fellow men. His marriage to Miss Fannie
]\latthews was solemnized in 1879, and of
their two children this sketch gives adequate
record.
Dr. Reuben Appleberry gained his early
experiences in connection with the work of the
home farm of his father, near Valley ilines,
and in that village he duly availed himself
of the advantages of the public schools, after
which he continued his studies for two years
in the Farmingtou Baptist College at Farm-
ington, the judicial center of St. Francois
county. He was then matriculated in Barnes
Medical College, in the city of St. Louis, in
which excellent institution he completed the
prescribed course and was graduated as a
member of the class of 1903, with the degree
of Doctor of Medicine. He has since been en-
gaged in general practice at Leadwood, where
his brother has been associated with him since
1906, and they control a large and represen-
tative professional business, owing alike to
their ability as physicians and surgeons and
their sterling attributes of character, which
have gained to them inviolable confidence and
esteem in the community. They are local
surgeons for the St. Joe Lead, Doe Run Lead
and Desloge Consolidated Lead mines and
also for the Mississippi River & Bonne Terre
Railroad, besides which both hold member-
ship in the St. Francois County Medical So-
ciety, the Southeastern Missouri Medical So-
ciety, and the Missouri State Medical Soci-
ety. Both are enthusistic motorists and their
automobiles afford them both pleasure and
a means for rapid response to professional
calls. He whose name initiates this review is
a stalwart in the local camp of the Demo-
cratic party but his profession is of para-
mount importance and he has had no desire to
enter the arena of practical politics. He is
affiliated with the lodge and chapter of the
Masonic fraternity, the Independent Order
of Odd Fellows, and the Knights of Pythias,
and both he and his wife hold membership in
the Methodist Episcopal church, South.
In 1901 Dr. Reuben Appleberry was united
in marriage to Miss Hattie Wilkinson, of
Bonne Terre. who was summoned to the life
eternal in 1904 and who is survived by two
children, — Hattie May and Charles Homer.
In 1906 he wedded Miss Minnie McDaniel, of
Farmington, who presides most graciously
over their pleasant home. No children have
been born of the second marriage.
Dr. Daly Appleberry, who is his brother's
able and valued coadjutor in their profes-
sional work, was born at Valley Mines, Jeffer-
son county, on the 30th of January, 1885, and
HISTORY OP SOUTHEAST MISSOURI
rsi
after due preliminary diseipliue he entered
Barnes Medical College, in which he was
graduated as a member of the class of 1906,
duly receiving hs well earned degree of Doc-
tor of Medicine and forthwith forming a
professional partnership with his brother,
with whom he has since been associated. He
is married, is a Democrat in his political al-
legiance, and is affiliated with the ilasonic
and social organizations.
B. P. HiGHFiLL. In Dunklin county one of
the names most prominently associated with
the commercial enterprise of this vicinity is
that of Highfill. I\Ir. B. P. HighfiU is mana-
ger of the Hornersville Mercantile Company,
one of a chain of stores now numbering seven
situated in various towns of this section, and
doing an immense aggregate of annual busi-
ness. The enterprise was originally started
by Mr. HighfUl's brother, H. Highfill, now of
Paragould, Arkansas. The success of these
two brothers is pointed to as one of the best
examples of business achievement in this dis-
trict.
B. P. Highfill was born in Paragould,
Arkansas, August 18, 18S3, and was left an
orphan when a child. He was educated in
Paragould and attended a private school
three years, thus acquiring a little more than
a high school education. He began his busi-
ness experience under his brother and con-
tinued for five years, and then took the man-
agement of the Hornersville branch store,
where he has built up a splendid trade. He
is a progressive young business man and has
a large sphere of activity before him. Pra-
ternally he is a member of the Elks lodge at
Paragould and the Knights of Pythias at
Cardwell.
Andrew P. Ruth holds an enviable repu-
tation as a soldier, as the first Republican in
later years to hold office in the county, and
as an enterprising and progressive citizen
who has ever proved himself a kind neighbor
and a loyal friend. He is now living, a re-
tired farmer and stockman, on his fine farm
three miles south of Predericktown. His fine
farm contains four hundred and forty acres,
two hundred and ten of which are at present
under cultivation.
Mr. Ruth was born October 23, 1841, in
Kessel, Germany, located about seven hours
ride from Hanover, and many of his sterling
qualities can be traced to the fine German
stock from which he sprang. He is the son
of Jacob and Dorothy (Werner) Ruth, who
immigrated to this country in 1847, coming
directly to Mine La Motte. Here the father,
who was a stone-cutter, followed his trade
and made his home for the rest of his life,
passing in 1853, in the very prime of his life.
Andrew P. was thus left an orphan, for his
mother had died in the preceding year, 1852.
Besides Andrew, two other children were
left. Henry now lives in California, whither
he went some fifteen years ago, and a sister,
now Mrs. Margaret Halter, is residing in St.
Praneois county, Missouri. Andrew P., left
as he was, was obliged to get most of his edu-
cation in night school, and his success at edu-
cating himself against such odds go to show
the timbre of the man. When he was thirteen
years old, he was apprenticed to a blacksmith
at Mine La Motte, and was put to work in the
mines. After fourteen months his administra-
tor, not satisfied at the treatment he was re-
ceiving from the blacksmith, gave him his
time, when the boy was only fourteen years
of age. He then followed mining until his
enlistment, in June, 1861, in the Union army.
He joined Buell's battery and with them was
consolidated with the First Missouri Artil-
lery and became a member of company I of
that regiment. In the fall of 1863 Mr. Ruth
veteranized and went into company H, of
the Pirst IMissouri Artillery, as a non-com-
missioned officer, and remained until the close
of the great struggle. He was with Sherman
on that memorable march to the sea, and after
the Grand Review was mustered out of his
country's service at Washington, D. C. He
had served four years exactly, having en-
listed on June 16, 1861, and was mustered
out June 16, 1865. His discharge, which
stands as a noble record of his service, was
signed with especial recommendation by Cap-
tain C. il. Callahan of Battery H., First :\lis-
souri Light Artillery, and by W. D. Hub-
bard, captain of the Thirteenth Missouri
Cavalry Volunteers. Among the many en-
gagements in which he was an active partici-
pant were the battles of Snake Creek Gap,
Lloyd Perry, Rome Cross Roads, Dallas, Old
Church, Kenesaw Mountain, Jonesboro, Fort
]\IcAllister, Savannah, Columbia, Will Creek
and the siege of Atlanta.
After the war was over he returned to
Mine La Motte, and stayed until 1869, when
he removed to Predericktown and engaged
in the liquor business for about six months.
Then he went to Colorado, mined for another
six months, and then returned to Frederick-
782
HISTORY OF SOUTHEAST MISSOURI
town and continued in the liquor
for over ten j'ears. In 1888 he bought his
present farm and for the past twenty years
has made his home on the same. He has fol-
low'ed general farming, and made many im-
provements on his land.
In 1867 was solemnized the marriage of
Mr. Ruth to Jliss Lucetta Hellaker, also a
native of the Fatherland, coming with her
family to Mine La Motte when she was a child
of six. Mr. and Mrs. Ruth have been blessed
wuth eight children, seven of whom survive
to this date, 1911. Elizabeth became Mrs.
Samuel Perringer, and she passed away in
1906, leaving one daughter, Mrs. Josephine
Barrington, the mother of Charles Barring-
ton. Henry Ruth, who married Miss Lessie
Bruce and became the father of six children,
is now a prosperous farmer, and lives not far
from his father's place. Joseph is also en-
gaged in farming, and is not far from his
father, being located on the Greenville Road.
He was united in marriage to Miss Mary
Sunderman. and they have since been blessed
with five children. Mary Ruth became the
wife of Mr. James Thompson and became
the mother of three fine children. She and
her husband have a farm two miles west of
her father's. Frank Ruth, who chose as his
bride Miss Emma Thompson, resides on his
father's farm. He is the father of two chil-
dren: Etta and Annie, the twins and young-
est girls in the family, are still at the par-
ental home, as is also their brother Andrew
Jr.
Politically ]Mr. Ruth has never wavered
from his strong Republican convictions and
he has had the honor to have been the first
Republican for many years in the county to
attain victory at an election. This was in
1896, when he was elected county .iudge. Al-
though a few men of his party have been suc-
cessful at the polls since, none had ever
gained a ma.iority for many years previously
before his election twelve years ago to the
position of county judge in Madison county.
Fraternally Mr. Ruth is affiliated with the
Independent Order of Odd Fellows, being a
member of the chapter at Fredericktown.
He was also a member of the Grand Army of
the Reiiulilie for several years. Mrs. Ruth
and the remainder of the family are members
of the Catholic church.
David Sullens Browne, proprietor of the
Browne Dry Goods Company at Flat River,
is one of the most enterprising merchants
of southeastern Missouri. He has been iden-
tified with this locality for the past fifteen
years, and through his native ability and in-
dustry has won a substantial position.
He was born in Wythe county, Virginia,
October 15, 1874. His father, James E.
Browne, was born in the same state in 1827,
had limited schooling during his youth but
educated himself so that he was prepared to
teach school and also for the ministry of the
Methodist church. Throughout the Civil
war he served as a Virginia soldier, and is
still a resident of that state, occupying a
charge as minister. He married Miss Eliza-
beth Lockett, a daughter of Edwin Loekett,
of Virginia. She is still living, and was the
mother of nine children. In politics the
father was a Democrat.
Mr. D. S. Browne, who was the sixth of
his parents' children, was educated in the
public schools of Virginia, and at the age
of nineteen began earning his own way, for
the first five years being in various lines of
work. He then located at Flat River and
after working awhile in the mines became
an employe of the E. F. Packard Store Com-
pany. His six years' experience there laid
the foundation for his subsequent success,
which resulted in the organization of the
Browne Dry Goods Company. This is one of
the largest exclusive dry goods houses in
southeastern Missouri, and is a monument
to the business management of its owner.
Mr. Browne's politics is Democratic, and
he is a member of the Methodist Episcopal
church. South and the Independent Order of
Odd Fellows. He married, in 1904, Miss
Elizabeth Arnoldi, a daughter of C. P.
Arnoldi, who was connected with the mines
at Flat River. One son has been born of
their marriage, James Frederick.
Charles R. Pratt. The man best fitted to
meet the wonderfully changed life of to-day
is not a new type of man. He is a man re-
splendent with the same old sterling quali-
ties— clean in his individual life, great in his
home life, great in his civic and patriotic life
and great in his religious life. He holds true
to his conscience and convictions, unswerved
by praise or blame, and in every possible con-
nection he manifested a deep and helpful in-
terest in community affairs. Such a man is
Charles R. Pratt, whose citizenship is a val-
uable adiunct to Flat River, Saint Francois
county. Missouri. Since the 1st of January,
1911, he has been general manager of the
HISTORY OF SOUTHEAST MISSOURI
783
Lead Belt & Farmington Telephone Com-
pany, and in that capacity has contributed
materially to the growth and increased busi-
ness of that concern.
A native of Macon county, Missouri,
Charles R. Pratt was born on the 18th of
January, 1871. and he is a son of Jesse R.
Pratt, whose birth occurred on the 5th of
January, 1841, in Knox county, Tennessee.
The father passed his boyhood and youth on
a farm and at the outbreak of the Civil war
enlisted as a soldier in the Confederate army,
serving during the entire period of the war
as a member of Marmaduke's Brigade. After
the close of the war and when peace had
again been established throughout the coun-
try he settled in Shelby county, ^Missouri,
where he was identified with farming opera-
tions until 1872. In the latter year he estab-
lished the family home in St. Francois coun-
ty, this state, and there he turned his atten-
tion to the manufacture of brick, also build-
ing up a large contracting business. He put
up the majority of the brick buildings now
standing in Farmington, Missoiiri. In 1909
he again directed his attention to agricult-
ural pursuits and he is now engaged in that
line of endeavor in ^Mississippi county, where
he is the owner of a finely improved estate of
two hundred acres of land. In the year 1867
was solemnized the marriage of Jesse R.
Pratt to IMiss Nannie S. Dennis, a native of
Illinois. This union was prolific of seven chil-
dren, four of whom are living at the present
time and of whom the subject of this review
was the second in order of birth. Mrs. Pratt
passed to eternal rest in 1880 and three years
later ]Mr. Pratt wedded Kate Bowyer, of
Farmington. To the latter union have been
born three children. In politics Mr. Pratt is
aligned as a stanch supporter of the Demo-
cratic party and in a fraternal way he is a
valued and appreciative member of the local
lodges of the Ancient Order of United "Work-
men and the Knights of Pythias.
Charles R. Pratt, whose name forms the
caption for this review, received his early
educational training in the public schools of
Farmington, where he also attended the Bap-
tist College, in which excellent institution he
was graduated as a member of the class of
1892. Subsequently he attended the Uni-
versity of Kentucky, where he pursued a com-
mercial course. For a period of four years
]\Ir. Pratt was a popular and successful
teacher in the Baptist College at Farming-
ton, where he served in the capacity of prin-
cipal for one year. For two years he was
principal of the public schools at Doe Run.
In 1898 he became interested in the news-
paper business at Farmington, where he be-
came editor of the Saint Francois Herald, an
incumbency he retained for three years, at the
expiration of which he became associated with
his father in the manufacture of bricks. In
1904 he came to Flat River, where he pur-
chased the Lead Belt News, which he edited
and published up to January 1, 1911. Dis-
posing of that paper to Mr. Smith, the pres-
ent editor, he became general manager of the
Lead Belt & Farmington Telephone Com-
pany, one of the most prosperous business
concerns in this place. Mr. Pratt is an en-
thusiastic politician, giving a hearty and
zealous support to the Democratic party. At
the present time. 1911, he is chairman of
the Saint Francois. County Democratic
Committee and he is likewise chairman of
the Thirteenth Congressional District Demo-
cratic Committee. He is ever on the riui vive
to advance the best interests of the community
in which he maintains his home and a more
loyal or public-spirited citizen cannot be
found in Flat River. In their religious faith
the Pratt family are devout members of the
Missionary Baptist church, in the various de-
partments of whose work they are most zeal-
ous factors.
On the 9th of May, 1895, ilr. Pratt was
united in marriage to Miss Viola "Williams,
whose birth occurred in ]\Iissouri and who is
a daughter of Elias and Mary "Williams. Mr.
and ]\Irs. Pratt are the parents of four chil-
dren, whose names are here entered in re-
spective order of birth. — Georgia F., Glen-
wood. Charles J., Jr.. and Bertrand, all of
whom are attending school at Flat River. Jlr.
and Mrs. Pratt are prominent in connection
with the best social activities of Flat River,
where their attractive home is widely re-
nowned for its refinement and generous hos-
pitality, ilr. Pratt is genial in his associa-
tions, sincere in his friendship and a man of
fairness and honor in all his business deal-
ings. He is atfiliated with the Independent
Order of Odd Fellows, the Modern "Woodmen
of America and the Fraternal Order of
Eagles. For the past five j'cars he has been
a member of the Plat River school board and
since 1908 he has been president of the board.
BuREN Duckworth is one of the retired
merchants of St. Clair, and is engaged ac-
tively and successfully as a lead mine pro-
784
HISTORY OF SOUTHEAST MISSOURI
moter and is president of tlie Bank of St.
Clair. He is an excellent and substantial
business man, of the enterprising type which
is aiding in the upbuilding of this part of
the state and of whom is especially appi-o-
priate representation in this volume. His
talents are versatile and in no less than three
distinct tields of enterprise has he made his
mark for ability and initiative of a high or-
der. He is loyal to this section with the loj'-
alty of a native son, his birth having occurred
in the vicinity of St. Clair on January 27,
1857. He is a son of Josiah Duckworth, who
came to the county about the year 1836. To
give the life of the latter in epitome, he was
a native Kentuckian, but must have moved
to Virginia, for it was from the Old Domin-
ion that he came to the state of Missouri. He
devoted his life to farming: kept aloof from
active participation in politics ; was not in the
army on either side during the war between
the states ; and he was killed by a falling tree
in September, 1881, when sixty-four years of
age.
Josiah Duckworth married Elizabeth Sto-
vall, who died in St. Clair in 1911, at the age
of .seventy-nine years. Their children were
as follows: Josiah C, of Aurora, Missouri;
Buren and Webster, twin brothers, who re-
side in St. Clair; Thomas P., of St. Clair;
Fannie L.. who married A. H. Short, of
]\Iena, Arkansas; Theodosia, wife of J. P.
Murphv, of St. Clair; Miss Mattie; and Es-
tella. wife of E. W. Walker, of Rolla, Mis-
souri.
Buren Duckworth passed his life upon the
farm until past the age of thirty years and
he has an agricultural training of the most
thorough and scientific sort. His education
was acquired in the country schools. In 1888
he made a radical and what proved a well-
advised change by leaving the country and
investing his small capital in merchandise.
He opened a small store in St. Clair and for
fourteen years conducted this business under
his own name, the entei-prise experiencing a
sound and flourishing growth. At the end of
the period mentioned he merged his stock
with the St. Clair Llercautile Company,
which he had organized. He remained finan-
cially interested in this for the space of eight
years and then abandoned commercial pur-
suits.
For many years Mr. Duckworth has pros-
pected for and developed mining properties.
He opened the Merrimac lead mine and
made it a salable proposition. He next de-
veloped the ■■ Chimney" mine and also found
a buyer for it. His following venture was
the ''Andeson, " which proved so profitable
that he and his associates are still operating
it. The gentlemen who are associated with
him are Gilbert Laj-, Charles Otte and A. C.
Beasley. In Greene county IMr. Duckworth
opened an iron bank, which is a valuable
prospect and has already showed the pres-
ence of iron ore in paying quantities. He
buys and ships barytes and is operating no
less than three properties yielding this com-
mercial stuff. The success of the several ven-
tures with which he has been connected are
largely to be credited to his executive ability,
tireless energj', engineering skill and genius
in the broad combination and concentration
of applicable forces.
In 1904, the St. Clair Bank was organized
by a few citizens of whom Mr. Duckworth
was one and he was chosen president of the
new monetary institution. For some years
he has dealt extensively in railroad ties, ship-
ping yearly some fifty thousand ties cut from
the forests adjacent to the town.
In politics ]\Ir. Duckworth is a Democrat,
supporting with enthusiasm the men and
measures presented bv the party and he has
himself been on the ticket for county ofSee.
In 1906 he made the race for county judge
and was defeated by only fifty-six votes in
a county normallj^ Republican by something
like seventeen hundred votes. He is a man
of pleasing personality and plenty of enthu-
siasm and has many friends.
On January 23, 1884, Mr. Duckworth mar-
ried Miss Nora E. Beasle.v, their union being
celebrated at St. Clair. She is a daughter of
Alfred Beasley, a successful and extensive
farmer of this locality who came here orig-
inallj' from Virginia. The issue of their
marriage is a daughter, Phoebe, wife of C.
H. Sparrow, of Newark, New Jerse.y. Small
Dorothy Sparrow, four years of age, entitles
the subject to the pleasant distinction of
grandfather.
J. A. Berry. Shortly after the close of the
Revolutionary war Hyram Berry was born
in North Carolina and in 1818, at the age of
twenty-three, he came to Bollinger county
with his wife. Amelia, and settled in Glen
Allen, where his descendants have been en-
gaged in farming and mercantile business
ever since. He himself lived until 1889, when
he died at the advanced age of one hundred
and four. His son, William Berry, was the
HISTORY OF SOUTHEAST MISSOURI
785
father of the subject of this sketch, and was
a prosperous nierehaut farmer who speut his
life in the county.
J. A. Berry was born on a farm three miles
north of ^Marble Hill in 1869. Until sixteen
he attended school and worked on the farm
and then went into his father's store at Glen
Allen. Here he has been ever since and is now
the sole owner of the large establishment. He
and his brother came into possession of the
business in 1890 and eleven years later he
bought his brother's interest. While in part-
nership with his brother, J. A. Berry was
postmaster at Glen Allen. In additon to his
mercantile business he owns a farm near
Glen Allen and is president of the People's
Telephone Company at Lutesville.
Mr. Berry's fraternal affiliations include
the venerable Masonic order, the Odd Fel-
lows, the Modern Woodmen and the Macca-
bees lodges. He is a Democrat in politics,
but does not devote himself to politics even
as a side-line of business.
Mrs. Berry is also a native of Missoiiri.
Before her marriage to J. A. Berry in 1902
she was Miss Emma C. McJIinn. Her par-
ents, A. C. and Catherine McMinn, are also
Missourians born. A family of three children
ma.ke up the home circle of Mr. and ilrs.
Berry, two sons and one daughter. They are
William M., Roy A., and Ruth C. Berry, aged
six. four and three, respectively.
Samuel Andy Reppy. Few mortals are
privileged to live lives of such interest, varied
usefulness and distinction as S. A. Reppy,
now an attorney-at-law and real estate dealer
in De Soto. Sir. Reppy is one of eight chil-
dren still surviving of the ten born to Hamil-
ton Smith and Sarah (Dunn) Reppy, pio-
neers of Jefferson county, before there was
any town of De Soto. Of these six were girls,
now all married; Susan, to William Butler;
Jane, to B. F. Butler; Nancy, to John Wil-
cox: Caroline is Mrs. Wash Butler; Eliza-
beth, Jlrs. T. W. Mc:\lunen, and Nora is Jlrs.
J. H. Gardener. The two sons are Samuel
A. and William G. Reppy.
H. S. Reppy, father of this family was a
Democrat in politii's, but he voted for Lin-
coln. He was bora in St. Charles, Septem-
ber 28, 1810. Shortly after his birth his par-
ents moved to Bele Fountain, Washington
county, to engage n mining, but both father
and mother died ■'ery shortly after coming
to the new home aid the boy was brought up
by ;\Ir. Hart, a distiller by trade. The orphan
supported himself by working for different
people and became first owner of a farm and
then the first merchant of De Soto. He died
in this city in 1874 and was buried on his
sixty-fourth birthday.
Samuel A. Reppy, eldest son of H. S., was
born ilay 21, 1837, two miles southwest of
De Soto, and remained on the farm until the
railroad was built in 1857, when he went into
mercantile business. He had a grocery store
in De Soto, but when the gold rush to Colo-
rado swept over the country in 1861, he left
De Soto in an ox-cart and made the journey
across the plains to the iiew El Dorado. His
stay was ended by an accident which crip-
pled him and five months after leaving De
Soto he came back and resumed business in
that place.
Mr. Reppy 's public career began in March,
1862, when he was elected county clerk. He
served afterwards as recorder of deeds and
as superintendent of public instruction in
Jeiferson county, where he was the first Re-
publican to hold office. He remained at
Hillsboro until 1873, when he went to Little
Rock, Arkansas. After a month's residence
in that city he moved to Prescott, in the same
state, and spent fourteen years there as one
of the most prominent citizens of the county.
He was well known in the political circle of
Prescott, where he served both as mayor of
the city and as associate justice of the county
court, and he counted among Ms intimate
friends the Governors Gus and Rufus Gar-
land, and Senator J. K. Jones.
Mr. Reppy returned to Jefferson county in
1889 and bought his old homestead. He spent
several 3'ears on the old place and then came
again to De Soto, where his father was once
the only man in business in the town. Since
his return to De Soto. Mr. Reppy has been
engaged in law and in real estate business.
He has been twice elected city attorney, in
recognition of his unusual ability in the legal
profession, to which he was formally ad-
mitted in 1867.
Seven children of Rachael P. (Whitehead)
and Samuel A. Reppy are still living. These
are John H., Samuel Allison, Robert Edgar,
and Henry T. Reppy; and Mrs. Theo Wal-
ther (Edith Reppy); Rachel E., wife of Dr.
Donnell; and Mrs. Roger Wilcox, nee Mabel
Reppy. The marriage of which these chil-
dren are the issue took place in 1860, on the
twelfth of February. The minister who per-
formed the ceremony was Reverend Samuel
786
HISTORY OF SOUTHEAST MISSOURI
Hoffman, a member of the legislature with
Abraham Lincoln.
Since 1865 Mr. Reppv has held member-
ship in the Masonic lodge and Eastern Star.
He is one of the most devoted workers in the
Methodist church, where he has served as
Sundaj'-school superintendent for over thirty-
five years. ]Mr. Reppy killed his first deer,
turkey and squirrel where the town of De
Soto now stands, and was the first justice of
the peace elected in De Soto, in 1860.
George 0. Hammersley. Not only to those
interested in commercial lines, but also to the
professional man of ability, Dunklin county
offers scope for intelligent effort and pecu-
niary reward for industry and talent. A
signal instance of such a career is that of
George 0. Hanunersley. In 1900, Dr. Ham-
mersley was graduated from the ]\Iemphis
Hospital and ]Medical College and the same
year came to Campbell. He had previously
lived in an Illinois town of a population of
750. In 1889 his marriage to Miss Artie Hill
of Norris City, Illinois, took place. The fam-
ily of the bride is one of the oldest and best
known in that section of the country.
When Dr. Hammersley came to Campbell
he ))egan at once to practice medicine. In
1906, he started a drug store and ran it for
four years, and he built up a thriving trade
in that time but sold it out because his prac-
tice required all his time. Dr. Hammersley.
improves every opportunity to keep abreast
of the progress in medical science. He holds
membership in the County, the State and the
National Medical Associations and in the Tri-
State Association. This includes ^Missouri,
Arkansas and Tennessee. The Doctor spent
two years in Tennessee from 1901 to 1902.
Dr. Hammersley has bought and sold a
great deal of real estate during the time he
has been here and his holdings in that line
are extensive and valuable. He owns one of
the best residences in Campbell, a farm of
eighty acres in Ripley county and one of
twice that extent in Howell county. All this
he has achieved in a little more than a decade
by his own efforts.
Dr. Hammer.slev and his wife are members
of the Cumberland Presbyterian church.
They have a family of three children all at
home. These are Hallie, Lucy and Flov. The
doctor is one of the popular citizens of Camp-
bell and holds membership in several lodges.
He is an F. and A. M. of Campbell, belonging
to the council at Campbell, chapter, Kennett.
The Odd Fellows and the Knigths of Pythias
also count him in their fraternity and he is
an Elk in the Caruthersville lodge.
Charles E. Porter. Dunklin county is
doubly proud of her self-made men; proud
first of possessing citizens of the calibi-e of
men who can carve fortune from circum-
stances and proud of being a place of oppor-
tunity for ambitious workers. Charles E.
Porter's career is in mauj^ respects a tj'pical
one. His history is that of a prosperous busi-
ness man who began with nothing.
Illinois is the place of Mr. Porter's birth,
the year being 1875. His parents moved to
Kentucky when he was only two years old
and remained in Livingston county, that
state, for ten years. In 1877 the Porter fam-
ily moved to Campbell and settled on a farm.
Here Mr. Porter went to school a little while
and then stayed at home until he went to work
on a farm near town and continued to live in
the country working out and renting until
1901.
In the meantime Mr. Porter had married a
young lady whom he had known as a boy in
Kentucky. This was Miss Rilous Vaughn who
became Mrs. Porter in 1895, on November 22.
Wben they had been married six years, Mr.
Porter moved into Campbell bringing with
him his wife and two children. Owen and
Russell. His first venture was a restaurant
in a small store. Thrift and business sagacity
made the business successful and he has stead-
ily forged ahead in the commercial world and
branched out into other lines of trade. His
mercantile stock gradually increased and fin-
ally he decided to dispose of his restaurant
and devote all his time to the dealing in mer-
chandise. Upon selling out his restaurant,
Mr. Porter consolidated with the McCutchen
^Mercantile Company and was associated with
that organization for seven years. During
that time be was one of the directors of the
stock company.
In 1909, the Porter-Benson Mercantile Com-
pany was organized and Mr. Porter was made
president and general manager of the concern.
The two years of its existence have shown
the wisdom of having so experienced and
gifted a business man at the helm. The stock
has been increased and now the store carries
a line of dry-goods, grocieries, wagons and
carriages. 1
In city real estate, Mr. Porter owns several
business lots and a residence which is one of
the beautiful places of the eity. It is situated
HISTORY OF SOUTHEAST :MISS0URI
787
ill the midst of a natural forest seven acres
in extent and is spacious and liaudsoine
grounds are no less the pride of the city than
of its owner.
iir. Porter is a Republican in political mat-
ters. He is well known in the lodges of
Campbell where he holds membership in the
Woodmen of the World, the Odd Fellows and
the Knights of Pythias. His church is the
Baptist. Besides his two sons, mentioned
above, Mr. Porter has four daughters, La
Vesta, Ola, ^Marguerite and ]\Iarie. ilr. and
Mrs. Porter have all their children still at
home. Mr. Porter 's mother died when he was
twelve years old, but his father is still living
on his farm near Campbell and has married
a second time.
When it is considered that :Mr. Porter has
built up such a business and acquired his val-
uable property all unaided in about twelve
years the inevitable conclusion is that a good
man has been doing good work in a good
territory.
Robert Henry Jones. In considering the
life of a man, the first thing we inquire is
what he has done, and we judge of a man by
his achievements. We want to know the
mistakes he has made and the experience
he gained from those mistakes. We want
to know the efforts that have been put for-
ward for betterment. We guess the number
of times Opportunity knocked at the door
and we wonder if he opened it or if he was
busily engaged with Neglect. In short we
would know if the man has made a success
or not. In the case of Robert Henry Jones,
late of Kennett, Missouri, the question can
most decidedly be answered in the affirma-
tive, as a short history of his career will very
plainly show.
He was born at Demopolis, Alabama,
November 18, 1859. His father, Benjamin
Jones, was a native of Virginia, where he
was reared and educated. He married Miss
Odenia Ligon, a native of Alabama, who died
about 1864. Her husband was killed soon
after the war, leaving his young children
without parental support.
Robert Henry had no recollection of the
little Southern mother who was taken away
when he was very small and but a hazy
memory of the father who died when he was
so young. He went to the district schools in
Alabama, where he received his early educa-
tion. When he was only thirteen years old
he started with his younger brother, Ligon,
on a long trip from Alabama to Wayne
county, Missouri, walking the entire dis-
tance, at times having to carry his brother
over rough places and through streams. Part
of his journey was through Clarkton, but he
had little idea then that Dunklin county
would ever be his home. He went to Patter-
son, Wayne county, where his aunt, the wife
of Seneca B. Sproule, lived. Mr. Sproule
was publishing a small paper there and the
boy entered the office, learned the trade and
later went with Mr. Sproule to Greenville
and then to Piedmont. Thence he walked
to Oak Ridge, Cape Girardeau county, where
the Rev. Nelson B. Plenry was conducting a
seminary or small college. He became a
member of that good man's family, working
his way through school for two terms. He
stayed only for that short period because he
did not find it possible to remain longer,
although even then he realized that he
should have more education if he would
accomplish very much in the w^orld. He
went to Cape Girardeau and worked at the
printing business under A. M. Casebolt, the
eccentric about whom so many stories have
been told. Then he went to Dexter and
worked in a printing office with Charles E.
Stokes. Later he was at Bloomfield for a
while; then he started the Maiden Clipper
newspaper and published it for about six
years. Later he ran the Dexter Messenger.
After this experience in the journalistic field
he engaged in the mercantile business for a
while at JIalden. He was city marshal of
ilalden at a time when great courage was
required. He was absolutely fearless of
physical injury and showed his bravery
while in that office. While a citizen of
Maiden and owner of the Clipper newspaper,
much of the time between 1881 and 1887,
Jlr. Jones was deputy clerk of the circuit
court and deputy recorder of deeds under
the late Judge T. E. Baldwin. It was while
holding this position that he became familiar
with the land matters and records of Dunk-
lin county. Later with T. R. R. Ely and D.
B. Pankey he organized a title and abstract
company, w^hicli has grown into prominent
proportions and the greater share of wiiich
he owned at the time of his death.
On February 16, 1886. Mr. Jones was mar-
ried to IMiss Hettie D. Langdon, daughter of
Judge E. J. Langdon, of Cotton Plant, Dunk-
lin county. Of this union three sons. Lang-
don, Byron and Irl, were born. The two
eldest boys are attending the University at
788
HISTORY OF SOUTHEAST jMISSOURI
St. Louis, while Irl has been at home with
his father.
On April 9, 1888, exactly twenty-three
years before his burial, Mr. Jones first came
to Kennett, with Will A. Jones as his printer
and on the 19th of April he put out the first
issue of the Kennett Clipper, the predecessor
of the Dunklin Democrat. Later he took his
brother, Ligon Jones, in as a pai'tner in the
venture and the two ran the paper until
April 27, 1893, when they sold it to the
present owners, who changed the name to
the Dunklin Democrat. Mr. Jones was one
of the organizers of the Dunklin County Fair
Association and was its secretary from its
inception in 1891 to the time of his death.
To him more than to any other man was due
the twenty successful fairs held at Kennett.
0. S. Harrison had been his chief co-worker
in the fair for several years and is its presi-
dent.
A few days ago Mr. Jones became inter-
ested as a stockholder in the little timber
railroad running from Campbell to the Dog
Walk lands of Clay county, Arkansas, north-
west of Kennett. Aside from hauling logs
over a sawdust ballasted track on very small
and crooked rails, its commercial importance
consisted in carrying blackberry picking
parties from Campbell to the luxurious
patches along the St. Francois river. When
Mr. Jones and his associates, business men
of Kennett, became interested in the road
and decided to build it to Kennett on a solid
roadbed with real steel rails, the public be-
came interested. The plan was to extend the
road from the southern terminus across the
river in Arkansas into Kennett, at the same
time pushing branches and spurs into the
wonderful Dog Walk lands of Clay county,
Arkansas, thus affording opportunity for
moving the vast body of timber on that land.
These plans were carried out and with the
extension of the road here the removal of the
Campbell Lumber Company's plant from
Campbell to Kennett was quickly agreed
upon. The growth of that plant from one
mill to three, trebling the capacity of the
plant and the consequent increase of the
working population of Kennett, are matters
of general knowledge in the county. When
the road had reached here and had been
standardized in width, equipped with big
engines and cars and appeared to be a real
railroad, the demand for its extension west
became so pronounced that it was built to
Piggott, due to the efforts of Mr.
What the extension did for Piggott (an im-
portant city on the Cotton Belt and the shire
town of Clay county, Arkansas) is second in
importance only to what it did for Kennett.
If you go into that pretty city over the St.
Loiiis, Kennett & Southeastern Railroad,
the name of the extended line, you will see
the evidence of the prosperity of the city.
]\Ir. Jones had been president of this road
since its extension to Kennett. If he had
lived he would have seen another one of his
great desires accomplished, the extension of
this road west from Piggott to a connection
with the Iron Mountain road and probably
still further west.
Mr. Jones was one of the organizers of the
Bank of Kennett, having been interested in
it as a director for twenty years at the time
of his death. He was also interested as a
stockholder in banks at ]\Ialden, Campbell
and Holcomb. His good judgment on the
value of lands induced him to become the
possessor of several thousand acres in this
and adjoining counties. As partner of
William Hunter, the land king of Southeast-
ern Missouri, of Virgil McKay, of W. F.
Shelton and others, he was possessed of large
interests at various times and had an ex-
tensive landed property at the time of his
death. Mr. Jones, known to his closest
friends as Clipper Jones and to his oldest
friend as Hal Jones, was a good provider
and far-sighted, as is instanced by the fact
that he carried life insurance in favor of his
sons to the amount of thirty thousand dol-
lars.
His death was sudden and unexpected;
only two days before he was attending to his
duties in his office. He had complained of
slight rheumatic pains and intended to go
to Hot Springs as soon as he should have
arranged his business matters. Two days
later he was beyond all connection with busi-
ness and he died with his head on the
shoulder of his youngest son, Irl, the other
sons being away at college. The funeral
was in charge of the Masonic order of which
Mr. Jones was a member. The Kennett
lodge. No. 68, Ancient Free and Accepted
Masons, with T. R. R. Ely, Master, (Maiden
Commandery as guard of honor) made every
arrangement. Mr. Jones had been a member
of the Presbyterian church since December 7,
1896, and its pastor, the Rev. C. W. Latham,
conducted the religious services, assisted by
the choir of the church for which he had done
so much. During the last twenty-five years
HISTORY OF SOUTHEAST IMISSOURI
789
Jlr. Jones did a great deal for the betterment
of Dunklin county ; he made a fortune for his
sons and was a progressive and valuable citi-
zen. He was a man of broadest interests and
was never idle. He was a born leader and only
followed when he felt that some one else
could be a better captain. He was positive
in his opinions and formed conclusions on
every subject, but he was always willing that
othei's should hold their opinions and was
willing to grant them as much liberty of ex-
pression as he took for himself. He was
charitable in speech and act, and his many
acts of private benevolence will long be re-
membered by the recipients of his kindness.
As an instance he eared for a near relative
who had become helpless, sparing neither ex-
pense nor care, his reward being the con-
sciousness that he was easing the burdens of
others. This was the key-note of all his ac-
tions, that of service to his fellow creatures,
and his loss will long be felt in the county.
Upon the occasion of the twenty-first
annual Dunklin county fair, his great friend,
0. S. Harrison, wrote a beautiful apprecia-
tion of him which was incorporated in the
pamphlet containing the premium list. The
article contained a short outline of his life,
the main facts of which have been recorded
in foregoing paragraphs. It can not be amiss
to repeat some of this in Mr. Harrison 's own
words.
"To recount his early experiences and up-
hill fight would occupy too much space, but
from early boyhood he seemed determined
to get as good an education as possible for a
lad in his circumstances, and later we
find him working his way through a small
college at Oak Ridge, Cape Girardeau
county, under the tutelage of Rev. Henry.
Prom here he went to Cape Girardeau and
worked at the printing trade. He next ap-
peared at Dexter and for awhile edited the
Dexter Messenger. He then entered the
mercantile business at Maiden and was at
one time the fearless city marshal of the
city, at a time when great courage and
personality were required.
"He later came to Kennett and was for a
time deputy circuit clerk and recorder of
deeds under that grand old man. Judge T.
E. Baldwin. He then, with others, organized
a title and abstract company in this county,
which has since grown into prominent pro-
portions and of which he was half owner and
manager at the time of his death.
"IMr. Jones has since been fovmd promi-
nently associated with all public enterprises,
being one of the organizers of the Bank of
Kennett, the president of the St. Louis, Ken-
nett & Southeastern Railroad and was the
guiding hand in the extension of this road
to Piggott, Arkansas.
"He was also one of the organizers of the
Dunklin county fair and was its secretary
from its inception in 1891 to the date of his
death, and it was in this enterprise that the
writer came so closely in touch with the
many lovable and manly qualities of R. H.
Jones. He was a man of sound judgment,
aggressive and ever a leader, kind yet firm,
and his arm was ever ready to uplift his fel-
low man or aid the unfortunate and op-
pressed.
"He was ever cheerful and jovial and his
office in Kennett was the rendezvous for
many who were drawn to him as the magnet
draws the steel. His place will be hard to fill
in many ways. In no instance are the words
of Emerson more aptly applied :
" 'Green be the turf above thee.
Friend of my better days,
None knew thee but to love thee,
None named thee but to praise.'
"Let us ever keep his memory green as a
tribute to him, one of the worthiest sons
Dunklin county ever produced."
HxjEY F. Bell. There is no mistaking the
high order of esteem accorded to ilr. Bell in
his native county, and he is knovra as a young
man of most genial and companionable dis-
position as well as one of distinctive literary
and business ability. He is editor of the Lead
Belt Banner, one of the alert and attractive
weekly papers of southeastern Missouri, and
is one of the representative business men of
the younger generation in his community.
At Bonne Terre, St. Francois county, he was
born on the 6th of September, 1885.
Huey Frank Bell is a son of Stephen and
Josephine (Lyons) Bell, the former of whom
was born in Carroll county, Virginia, and the
latter in "Wythe county, Virginia. The father
has been a resident of Missouri for fully
thirty years, and his entire active career has
been one of close identification with the min-
ing industry. For a number of years past he
has been captain of the mines of the Federal
Lead Company at Elvins, St. Francois
county, and he is well known in connection
with this line of industry in Missouri, where
his long experience in practical and executive
HISTORY OF SOUTHEAST MISSOURI
capacities has made him an authority in his
chosen vocation, the while he has so ordered
his course as to retain the unqualified con-
fidence and regard of his fellow men. He and
his wife maintain their home at Elvins, and
of their seven children four sons and one
daughter are li\ang. Stephen Bell is a
staunch supporter of the principles for which
the Republican party stands sponsor, is af-
filiated with the Ancient Order of United
AYorkmen, and his wife holds membership in
the ^Methodist Episcopal church. South. The
Bell family was founded in Virginia in an
early day and is of staunch Scotch lineage.
Huey F. Bell is indebted to the public
scliools of Bonne Terre for his early educa-
tional discipline, which included the curri-
culum of the high school, and thereafter he
attended the Gem City Business College, at
Quincy, Illinois, and the Moorhart Business
College, at Farmington, Missouri, in which
later he was graduated in 1906. After leav-
ing busines college Jlr. Bell was employed in
various clerical and executive capacities in
his home county until ]\Iarch, 1911, when he
purchased an interest in the Lead Brit Ban-
ner, of Leadwood, of which he has since been
the editor. The paper is issued on Friday of
each week, is a six-column quarto, is clean
and attractive in its letter-press, and is an
efi:"ective exponent of local interests, as well
as of the cause of the Republican party, to
which its editor gives unswerving allegiance.
Mr. Bell is known as a voracious student and
reader and his fund of information is broad
and varied, so that he is specially well
equipped for his work in connection with the
"art preservative of all arts." He has much
originality in thought and diction and has
made his paper one of the brightest weeklies
of this section of the state, besides which he
has been a contributor to various advertising
periodicals, principally on the sub.jeet of con-
sistent newspaper advertising. He is an in-
tuitive optimist, bright and cheery and every
ready with a kind word or deed, so that he
has gained to himself a wide circle of friends
in the county that has ever represented his
home. He is affiliated with the Brotherhood
of American Yeomen and liolds memliership
in the Methodist Episcopal church, South.
Mr. Bell still remains in the ranks of the
bachelors, but the perpetuity of this status is
not to be predicted with undue assurance,
even by the writer of this sketch, who has
long considered himself immune in this
direction.
Robert H. Tinnust, of Hornersville, began
his active career as a teacher when twenty
years old. Still a young man, he has never-
theless accomplished what manj' men work
half a lifetime to attain. As teacher, farmer
and business man he is known as one of the
most prosperous citizens of Hornersville, and
to thrift, enterprise and intelligent industry
he owes a substantial position in the world.
Born in Bollinger county, Missouri, Au-
gust 19, 1878, he spent his younger days on
a farm. For two years he attended Concor-
dia College in AYayne countj", where he com-
pleted two 3'ears of high school work, and
then took a general literary coui'se at Will
Jlayfield College at ilarble Hill, Missouri.
His first teaching was done in the country
schools of BoUinger county, and he then spent
eight years in the schools of Dunklin county.
He was principal of the Clarkton school two
j'ears, three years as principal at Coldwater,
and was teacher and also principal for three
years in the Bone school.
On November 9, 190-4, I\Ir. Tinnin married
Miss ilinnie Bone. She is a daughter of W.
il. Bone, president of the Bank of Horners-
ville. After their marriage he continued
teaching, and also has given a large share of
his attention to farming. There are few
more successful farmers in this part of the
state than ilr. Tinnin. He conducts his op-
erations on a place of two hundred acres,
which at his own expense he has improved
with a comfortable dwelling house and with
fences all around the farm. Corn and cot-
ton are his staple crops. In 1910 he raised
three thousand bushels of corn and fifty bales
of cotton, the latter crop averaging from
one thousand to one thousand five hundred
pounds to the acre. With his farming and
teaching he is one of the busiest men in Dun-
klin county, but this labor has its rewards,
for his annual profits run from two thousand
to twenty-five hundred dollars a year, and he
is laying the foundation for larger activities
and greater prosperity in the future.
Mr. Tinnin is affiliated with the ilasonic
and Odd Fellows lodges at Hornersville. He
and his wife are members of the Methodist
Episcopal church. South. They are the par-
ents of three children: Nelson, born Octo-
ber 8, 1905; Opal, born September 26, 1907;
and Ruby, born November 9, 1909.
Mr. Tinnin is a son of Benjamin A. and
Martha J. (Gibbs) Tinnin, both born in
Missouri, in Bollinger county. B. A. Tinnin
was a farmer, residing four miles east of
HISTORY OF SOUTHEAST MISSOURI
791
Marquand, in Bollinger county, and is aged
now titty-six years. His wife died in Xovem-
ber, 1907, at the age of tifty-two years. Both
were memhers of the ilethodist Episcopal
church. South. Robert H. is one of eight
children, all living, he being the eldest.
They are: L. E., of Texas; Mollie (McKin-
zie). of Ste. Genevieve county, Missouri; K.
G., of Flat River, Missouri; H. B., of Howell,
Indiana; Bess (Singleton), of East St. Louis,
Illinois; Rosa (Long), of East St. Louis; and
Richard, at home.
Col. William ^l. Newberry, "Willlvm
Newberry and Dr. Frank Newberry. Per-
haps no man who has ever lived within the
confines of IMadison county has been so in-
timately concerned with its history and better-
ment nor more sincerely mourned than
Colonel "William Newberry. His death was a
distinct loss to the county not only because
she lost one of her oldest residents and most
highly esteemed public men, but because she
lost a noble man and a loyal friend.
Colonel Newberry was born in Frankfort,
Kentucky, at the very beginning of the nine-
teenth century, in September, 1800. His early
education he obtained in the public schools of
Frankfort, and at eighteen came to the then
far western territory of Missouri. He located
at what was then the Kewanee village of St.
Micheal, an old French settlement in the creek
bottom, just north of the present site of Fred-
ericktown, Madison county, Missouri. Two
years later, in 1820, there came a great flood
which completely inundated the little French
village and it was never rebuilt. After the
flood was over it was decided to move the set-
tlement to the hill, now the site of Frederick-
town. Mr. Newberry being a practical sur-
veyor, was selected to lay out the new town.
From then until his death he never ceased to
have the interest of Madison county as of the
dearest concerns of his heart. He was always
actively associated with its political history,
and in every public office he ever undertook
he gained the same clean record of service
done with scrupiilous honesty and the same
zeal that other men apply to private enter-
prise. He was at one time probate .judge for
the county and filled the offices of county and
circuit clerk, pi'osecuting attorney and col-
lector. When he was collector, the capitol of
Missouri was at Saint Charles. Saint Charles
county, and it was necessary for him to take
the state's share of the money he collected to
the capital himself. He used to make the
trip on horse baek, carrying the money in his
saddle bags. He was often accompanied by
merchants en route for Saint Louis, the near-
est, large city. At that time there were very
few banks in southeastern Missouri, except
those at Cape Girardeau and at St. Louis. In
all Colonel Newberry served in various offices
for a period of forty years, a brilliant record
of efficiency and uncpiestioned trust. He was
licensed to practice at the bar of Missouri at
Jackson, this state, and he was everywhere
known as an old-time Democrat who always
adhered to and supported his party nomi-
nations.
Colonel Newberry lived on his estate, lo-
cated just west of Fredericktown. The large
farm which was his now lies, most of it,
within the corporate limits of Fredericktown,
and is an unusually fine and fertile tract of
land. Colonel Newberry was actively inter-
ested in the organization of the Methodist
Episcopal church at Fredericktown and it was
his liberality that bestowed the lot that is the
site for the present church.
In 1832 was solemnized the marriage of
Colonel Newberry to Miss Gabrella Frier.
She was born in Loudoun county. Virginia,
and had many of the graces for which the
womanhood of the Dominion state has ever
been noted. She was the daughter of a
wealthy business man of English descent and
the daughter of an old Virginia family. Mr.
Frier was known as the man who put in the
first stage line between Saint Genevieve and
Pocahontas on to Little Rock. Arkansas. He
came to Missouri in 1825 and was a resident
of the state until his death. He accumulated
a large fortune for those days when the big
corporation was not yet known, and was the
owner of an extensive farm three miles south
of Fredericktown. Mrs. Newberry, his daugh-
ter pa.ssed away in 1877, at the age of sixty.
Of the children of the union of Colonel and
Mrs. Newberry three survive,. Mrs. Sallie
Ramey, of Fredericktown, William and Dr.
Frank Newberry. Their father passed to the
Great Beyond in February, 1876. His passing
left the county bereft of one of its most able
and devoted citizens.
William Newberry, son of the late Colonel
Newberry, is now a farmer and stockman re-
siding east of Fredericktown, and in partner-
ship with his son Henry is operating a four
hundred acre farm, half of which is in cultiva-
tion. He was born at the home farm adjacent
to Fredericktown. December 23, 1844, and re-
ceived a good education as a boy. In April.
792
HISTORY OF SOUTHEAST MISSOURI
1864, he entered a mercantile establishment as
clerk, after his return from the army. He had
served a short time in the Confederate army
under Colonel Jeffrey, being captured and
paroled. For thirty-five years he continued to
be occupied as a salesman in the Frederick-
town store, with tlie exception of eight years
he spent in the public service. He was twice
elected to the position of county collector, for
terms of four years each. Ten years ago he
took up the great basic industry in which he
has been eminently successful.
In October, 1866, was solemnized the mar-
riage of William Newberry to Miss Maggie
Montgomery, who was born in Saint Francois
county, a daughter of Henry Montgomery, a
stockdealer who had in the early days operated
a stage line in southeastern Missouri through
Madison, Bollinger and Cape Girardeau coun-
ties. Mr. ^Montgomery passed away in Benton
county, Arkansas. Mrs. Newberry spent her
early life in Madison county and died here in
January, 1903, at the age of fifty-six years.
She and her husband were members of the
Methodist Episcopal church, of which he is
one of the trustees. This union was blessed
with several sons, who have grown to be use-
ful men. Mr. Newberry is an earnest Free-
mason having been made a Mason over foi'ty
years ago. Like his father, he is a member
and loyal supporter of the Methodist church.
Dr. Frank R. Newberry, brother of Wil-
liam and son of Colonel William M. New-
berry, is now one of the most prominent physi-
cians and surgeons in Fredericktown. Com-
ing from a long line of aneestoi-s, early set-
tlers in Newberryport, Massachusetts, and the
town of the same name in South Carolina, he
was born at the old Newberry homestead at
Fredericktown, Missouri, January 25, 1853.
Dr. Newberry was reared in his native town
and obtained his medical education at the
University of New York City, graduating
there with the class of 1875. After gi-adua-
tion he came at once to Fredericktown, wiiere
with energy and skill he built up a large prac-
tice. He was united in marriage to Miss Susie
Webb, of Iron count.y, Missouri. Of their
union several cliildren have been born, all
bright and intellectual, and give promise of
doing well.
Politically Dr. Newberry has been active
in the workings of the Democratic party, and,
like his father, has served the people of the
county in many public offices, bringing to each
those sterling qualities of progressiveness and.
absolute integrity with which the name of
Newberry has become synonymous. He has
been mayor of Fredericktown, and has repre-
sented the county both as a state representa-
tive and in the Missouri senate. While Dr.
NeW'berry was in the general assembly, he was
the author of the Newberry law-, which elim-
inated all amusements, gambling, dances, and
musical instruments from saloons, a law which
has since worked out for the better moral
status of the liquor business.
Dr. Newberry holds a prominent place
among the Masons of Missouri. He has both
the Royal Arch Mason and Knights Templar
degrees, and has had the honor of being dis-
trict deputy grand master and district deputy
grand lecturer. He is also a member of the
Knights of Pythias. He is one of the trustees
of the Methodist Episcopal church. South.
For the most part the practice of his pro-
fession and a determination to keep abreast
with all that modern research is daily contrib-
uting to medical science have occupied the
entire time of Dr. New^berry. He is a mem-
ber of the IMadison County Medical Society,
of the Missouri State Medical Society and the
Southeast jMissouri Bledical Society, being
one of its charter members. Dr. Newlierry
was for four years surgeon general of the
National Guard of Missouri during the ad-
ministration of Gov. Lawrence V. Stephens
and was with the Missouri troops during the
Spanish-American war. He was for thirty
.years local surgeon for the Iron Mountain
Railroad.
Benjamin F. Thompson, of Flat River, is
a native Missourian, the son of an old settler,
and one of the active business men and pub-
lic-spirited citizens of this section of south-
eastern Missouri.
He was born in Ralls county June 20,
1876. His father, R. W. Thompson, who was
born in Pike county, this state, January 1,
1837, was reared on a fann, received his edu-
cation in the country schools of the time, and
while very young served three years in the
Thirty-third Missouri Infantry of the Fed-
eral army. He returned from the field of
war to become a school teacher, a vocation he
followed for four years. Then he took up a
tract of land in Ralls county and for twenty-
three years was a farmer. From 1893 to
1906 he lived a retired life fn Vandalia, ]\Iis-
souri. After a brief residence at Green For-
est, Arkansas, he returned to Missouri and
spent his last days at Hannibal, where he
passed away November 28, 1908. At the age
HISTORY OF SOUTHEAST :\IISSOURI
r93
of thirty he was married in Pike county to
Miss Elizabeth Williams. Six children were
born of their union, Benjamin F. being the
fifth. The mother died during the infancy
of her j'oungest child, and several years later
the father married Mrs. Mattie E. Danforth,
of Vandalia, who is still living. Two children
were born to the second marriage. R. W.
Thompson was a Republican in politics and
a member of the iMethodist Episcopal church.
The early life of ^Ir. B. F. Thompson was
spent on a farm, during which time he at-
tended country school and two years in the
Vandalia high school. At the age of sixteen
he began life on his own account, and was
engaged in various occupations until he was
twent.y-four. He then entered the profes-
sion of photography, and has since been lo-
cated at Flat River, where he has built up a
good business. While Flat River was an in-
corporated town he served in the office of city
treasurer. In politics he is a Republican, is
a member of the Baptist church, and affiliates
with the Knights of Pythias, the ]\Iodern
Woodmen of America and the Fraternal Or-
der of Eagles. During the Spanish-Amer-
ican war he was an enlisted soldier in the
Fifth Missouri Volunteers.
On May 21. 1902, Jlr. Thompson was mar-
ried to iliss Sallie Callen, of Vandalia, Mis-
souri.
Joseph R, ilooRE is a retired farmer of
St. Clair and has been identified with the
state of ^lissouri for more than fifty years.
His advent to the commonwealth dates from
1858, at which time the family came out from
Lewisburg, Pennsylvania, where his birth oc-
curred ilarch 20, 1810. His ancestors were
Union county pioneers and his father and
grandfather were each of Keystone state
birth. In the early days his father, James
Moore, followed the dual vocation of farmer
and railroad contractor and his location in
Franklin county was just prior to the begin-
ning of the Civil war. The grandfather, also
named James ]\Ioore, was a farmer and
builder of bridges, who lived and died in
Union county. His birth occurred not far
distant from the Revolutionary period and
he lived to be eighty years of age.
James Moore, father of him whose name
initiates this biographical record, was born
in the early years of the nineteenth century
and died some time in the '70s. He was an
earnest citizen, loyal and enthusiastic in sup-
port of the Union in time of Rebellion and
he furnished three sous to wear the Federal
blue. He was a Republican and participated
to some extent in local politics after the war,
being elected county judge of Franklin
county. He returned to the state of Pennsyl-
vania towards the close of his life and passed
away in the vicinity of his birthplace. He
took as his wife Mary Ludwig, of Pennsyl-
vania who preceded him by some years to
the Great Beyond, her demise occurring at
Old Mines, Missouri, in 1859. The children
born to these worthy people were as fol-
lows: Edward, who died in Miller county,
Missouri, at the time of the Civil war, leav-
ing two children; Annie, who married Pres-
ton Lincoln and passed away while a resi-
dent of a suburb of Boston, Massachusetts;
James, who lived in Missouri until a few
years ago when he removed to Columbus,
Ohio; William, who died at Newport, Wash-
ington; Joseph R.. of this notice; Samuel,
who died in St. Louis; and Charles, a resi-
dent of Union, Missouri, and ex-surveyor of
the county. The brothers James, Samuel and
Joseph, were enlisted soldiers of the volun-
teer army during the Civil war.
Joseph R. Moore received his higher edu-
cation in Bucknell University at Lewisburg,
Pennsylvania. He finished school early in
his "teens and engaged in railroad work on
the New York & Erie Railroad at Susque-
hanna, Pennsylvania, as a machinist and was
at different points in the state before his ad-
vent to IMissouri. Here he resumed work
with the ^Missouri Pacific Company but upon
what is now the 'Frisco system. He re-
mained in the state until the war ended and
then returned to Pennsylvania, where he was
employed again with the New York & Erie.
He made several changes, being for a time
with the Catawissa road and then becomdng
identified with the North Central roalroad,
^vith which he continued to be associated un-
til 1867. In that year he finally left Penn-
sylvania and came to IMissouri to resume his
services with the Missouri Pacific. In two
years the j'oung man was given the responsi-
ble position of engineer and spent a cjuarter
of a century at the throttle, his residence be-
ing maintained for a part of the time at
Pacific, Missouri, and for a greater period
at Springfield. He quit the service in 1889,
but still retains his connection with the
Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers.
Mr. Moore's residence in St. Clair dates
from the year last mentioned, when he bade
farewell to the strenuous and hazardous life
r94
HISTORY OF SOUTHEAST MISSOURI
to which he had devoted his energies for a
quarter century. The peaceful, independent
life of the agriculturist appealed to him after
the noise and rush of the road and he secured
one of the fertile Missouri farms, his prop-
erty being situated near St. Clair, in Frank-
lin county. He continued successfully en-
gaged in this fashion until 1906, when he
placed a tenant in charge of his farm and be-
came a resident of Saint Clair. When the
Bank of Saint Clair was organized he as-
sumed a share of the financial responsibility
and at the present time holds the ofBce of
vice-president. He has shown marked dis-
criminatiou in his part of the management
of the atfairs of the bank, the personal in-
tegrity and high standing of the interested
principals of the institution constituting its
most valuable asset and giving assurance of
its continued growth and prosperity. Buren
Duck\vorth is president and Gilbert Lay,
cashier, and the bank is incorporated for
twenty-five thousand dollars.
In October, 1869, Mr. Moore was married
at Brighton, Illinois, to I\Iiss Dell S. Talcott,
daughter of Daniel Talcott, a New Yorker,
who came to Missouri and took his place
among the state's substantial farmer-citi-
zenship. Mr. and Mrs. Moore share their
hospitable and delightful home with one
daughter — Miss Ada E. 'Sir. iloore is a
Republican, having for many years sub-
scribed to the policies and principles of the
Grand Old Party and he takes an interest in
all matters relating to the public welfare.
He is one of the honored veterans of the
Civil war, his enlistment in the cause of the
Union having been made at Saint Clair,
where he had come just previous to the firing
of the first guns at Sumter. He became a
member of Company C of the Tenth Mis-
souri Cavalry and participated in the battle
of Wilson Creek. Under Captain Bowen the
company entered the engagement as an in-
dependent organization, the regiment being
not completed at that time. ilr. iMoore was
shot in the left leg — hit with a musket ball —
and so seriously wounded as to make his dis-
charge necessary. His military service was
thus of brief duration. With the passing of
the years he has by no means lost his interest
in the comrades of other days and is a prom-
inent member of the Grand Army of the
Republic.
James Belchamber. Forty-two years of
service on one railroad is suggestive of old
age, but although ]Mr. Belchamber has been
with the Iron jMoimtaiu road for that time
no one would think of him in that light, for
he is just in his prime. However, few peo-
ple enter railroad work as early as Mr. Bel-
chamber did. He was but sixteen when he
was first employed by the company, and so
he had an early start.
Port Huron, Michigan, was the place of
Mr. Belchamber 's birth and the year was
1856. His father, Daniel Belchamber, was a
native of England and his mother, Anne, of
Canada. The father was a painter by trade,
and in 1859 he traded his paint shops and
business in Michigan for two hundred acres
of land near Glen Allen. He entered the
state militia during the year of 1861. James
Belchamber went from Glen Allen to Sar-
nia, Canada, to attend school, thus continu-
ing for two years, and he returned home in
1871, during the memorable Chicago fire. In
the following year he began to work for the
railroad as a watchman, while in 1880 he
became an engineer and is still working for
the road in that capacity.
In the same year in which he became an en-
gineer Mr. Belchamber was married. His
bride was Miss Viney Elizabeth Peterson, a
native of Arkansas. They have five children :
Emma, born in 1882, is Mrs. Ira J. Kness;
James A. is married to Hattie Schuler ; and
Lula, Leona and Gail are still at home. The
family reside on the farm of two hundred
acres which is the old Belchamber estate. At
the time of the father's death the property
was divided between the mother, one brother,
one sister and Mr. Belchamber of this re-
view, and before the mother's death she
willed her share to him, and he also pur-
chased the interests of his brother and sister,
thus becoming the owner of the parental es-
tate.
Mr. and Llrs. Belchamber are valued mem-
bers of the Baptist church. He is connected
with the lodges of the Ancient Order of
United Workmen and with the Brotherhood
of Locomotive Engineers. In politics his
views are in harmony with those of the
Democratic party.
Clarence Raymond Bramblet. Among
the promising young citizens of Flat River
must be numbered Clarence Raymond
Bramblet, cashier of the Miners & Merchants
Bank, who since his first assumption of the
office in the year 1909 has proved himself
an efficient, alert and well-trained banker
HISTORY OF SOUTHEAST illSSOURI
795
and has taken an active part in building up
this splendid institution. He is a na-
tive son of the state and like so many
of the loyal citizens of Missouri who can
claim it as a birthplace he has paid it the
supreme compliment of electing to remain
permanently within its fair borders. Mr.
Bramblet was born in Ralls county, Missouri,
March 26, 1884. His father, Henry W.
Bramblet, by name, was bom in the year
1852, also in Ralls county. He spent his
early life upon the farm and at the age of
twenty-four years he married Miss Nora G.
Pulliam, of St. Charles county, daughter of
Benjamin Pulliam. To this union were born
two children, — he whose name inaugurates
this review and Orie H. The elder gentle-
man abandoned farming as much as fifteen
years ago and since that time has been en-
gaged as a commercial traveler for that im-
portant concern, the International Harvester
Company. He resides at the present time in
St. Louis. In politics Mr. Bramblet, senior,
is in harmony with the principles and poli-
cies of the Democratic party, and he and his
admirable wife are affiliated with the Metho-
dist Episcopal church, South.
Clarence Raymond Bramblet passed the
roseate days of childhood and youth upon his
father's farm, and, as is the pleasant portion
of the usual farmer's son, lived very near to
Nature's heart. In fact, as an assistant in
the various activities to be encountered upon
the farm, he became familiar with agriculture
in its many departments. He was not drawn,
however, to adopt agriculture as his own oc-
cupation, and after securing a good general
education in the district school and the high
school at New London, Missouri, he re-
ceived an offer of a position in the bank of
New London and accepted the same, being
then about eighteen years of age. He began
his banking career in the capacity of book-
keeper and proved faithful and efficient, re-
maining thus employed for two years and a
half. He went thence to St. Louis and for
four years was employed with the Mercan-
tile Trust Company. At the end of that
time he received an offer of the cashiership
of the Miners & ]\Ierchants Bank of Flat
River and came to this city, with which he
has ever since been identified. He still holds
the position above referred to and while he
has gained recognition from financiers, as an
able assistant, he is at the same time known
to be one of the most progressive and pub-
lic spirited citizens, giving his support to
all measures likely to result in general
benefit.
On June 11, 1911, Mr. Bramblet became
a recruit to the ranks of the Benedicts, the
young lady to become his wife and the mis-
tress of his household being Miss Helen
Vaughn, of Poplar Bluff, daughter of J. R.
A. Vaughn, presiding elder of the Poplar
Bluff district of the Methodist Episcopal
church. South. Mr. Bramblet and his admir-
able young wife are affiliated with tlie Jletho-
dist Episcopal church. South. In his politi-
cal conviction, the subject is aligned with the
supporters of the Democratic party and his
lodge relations extend to the great Masonic
order and the Independent Order of Odd
Fellows. In addition to the interests above
referred to, he is treasurer of the Lead Belt
Telephone Company.
James W. Gargas. After spending the
early part of his life in the struggle to make a
living, James W. Gargas has now reached the
point when he has one of the best farms in the
county, as the result of his own efforts. He
was born September 4, 1869, on his father's
farm near Shady Grove. His grandfather was
a native of Giles county, Tennessee, and was
one of the earliest settlers in Dunklin county,
coming liere about 1840, when the country
was in a wild, uncultivated condition and very
few of the towns were built up. His son, the
father of James W., did not come to Missouri
with his parents, but went to Alabama, not
coming here until 1861. Soon after his set-
tling in the county he married Esther Baker,
who helped him in all his efforts. He settled
on the farm that James W. owns to-day ; at
that time it was thickly covered with timber,
part of which he cleared and helped to build
roads. He died in July, 1876, aged about
thirty-three years, but his widow is still liv-
ing, with James W. She was born Julv 8,
1845.
James AV. Gargas was deprived of a father's
care when he was only four years old, but
his mother has been devoted to him all of his
life. He went to school at Shady Grove and
Liberty. One of the schools he attended was a
free public school, but the others were sub-
scription schools. Being brought up as he was
on the farm, he early learned all about farm
work of different kinds, he began when he
was very small to do odd jobs and to earn
small sums of money, but the sums he earned
were very small. When he was twenty years
old he worked out for a time, but only re-
r96
HISTORY OF SOUTHEAST MISSOURI
ceived twelve and a half dollars a month. He
worked around for the farmers in the neigh-
borhood, receiving from twenty-five cents to
fifty cents a day. His expenses, however,
were small, but little as the pay was he man-
aged to save most of the amount he made.
He rented the place on which he lives now,
l)Ut did not do very well at first as his own
master. He finally was able to buy forty acres
of land, eight miles south of Kennett, not
paying cash for the land. It seemed at first
as if he would not be able to make a go of it,
as the property was very much run down, the
fences were poor and the land pretty much
worn out. He began to fertilize the land, so
that now it will grow better cotton and more
corn than before. Having once got a start,
the rest has been comparatively easy. He
now owns one hundred and eight.y-six acres of
land, part of which he rents to tenants. He
has put up three houses for these different
renters and in 1909 he built a good seven-room
house and a fine barn for himself. He is grad-
ually doing away with picket fences and
putting in wire fences. He is not only im-
jiroving his home place, but is spending
inone.v on his rented places.
In 1889. when he was .just beginning to
work for other farmers. James "W. Gargas
married Alva Goodwin. She only lived eleven
months, having borne one child, Ella, who was
cared for by his mother. On August 13. 1896,
he marrieci Media Jones, daughter of Ben-
.iamin and Nancy (Pruett) Jones, near Car-
uth. Mrs. Gargas was born January 27, 1879,
and has lived here all of her life. Her par-
ents, too, were raised here, as her mother came
to I\Iissouri when she was seven years old and
her father was born here. Mr. Gargas has had
five children by his second marriage. — Effie,
born September 24, 1897 ; Annie, bom Febru-
ary 1.3. 1900; Van M., born July 13. 1902:
IMary. born April 27, 1907 : and Bertie, born
September 16, 1909.
Mr. Gargas is a member of the Ancient Free
and Accepted IMasons at Hornersville and of
the Woodmen of the World, lodge No. 335. at
f'aruth. He has done well for himself and his
family, after he once got a good start, and all
he has is the result of his own efforts.
R. W. I\rc]\rT-LLiN. For the past eight years
]\fr. R. W. McMullin has been in charge of
the Jefffrson CounUf Democrat, ably continu-
insr the work in which his father before him
was distinguished.
Richard Watson McMullin was a native of
Jeflierson county, born in 181:2, on his father 's
farm in Platte township, the eldest son
of Reverend John T. and Eliza M. McMullin.
Educated in the public schools of the county,
he became a teacher after completing his
school course. At the beginning of the war
he was drafted, but was soon discharged on
account of ill health. On October .5, 1864, he
married Mary E. Reppy. daughter of B. S.
and Rebecca Reppy. Mrs. McMullin lived but
one year, and some thing over a .year after
her death, Jlr. ilcJIullin was again married,
to Ellen, daughter of Emma 0. and Elias F.
Honey. They had ten children, four sons and
six daughters, of whom R. W. McMullin, the
present editor, is the eldest. Mrs. McMullin
died in 1898, on the thirtieth of August.
R. W. McMullin, senior, was a member of
the company that published the first paper of
Hillsboro in 1866, the original or the Jeffer-
son Democrat. In 1871 he became sole owner,
buying his partner's interest out, and on June
21, published the first issue of the journal
under his own management. The name of
the paper had been the Jefferson County
Leader but upon assuming control of the or-
gan, Mr. McMullin changed the name to the
Jefferson County Democrat.
Mr. McMullin was often called upon to
represent the party which he so ably sup-
ported with his pen and his popularity is indi-
cated by the numerous offices which he held.
He was at different times clerk of the county
court, chairman of the Democratic count.v
convention, member of the school board and
town trvistee, besides serving as probate judge
from 1877 to 1881 and as treasurer from 1887
to 1889. He was a sound business man as
well as an able public servant, as is evinced
by his being one of the original stockholders
of the Hillsboro Bank and at one time its vice-
president. Mr. Mc]\Iullin was a member both
of the Missouri Press Association and of the
South-east Missouri Press Association.
His death occurred on May 2, 1903, five
years after that of his wife. Both of them
were members of the Presbyterian church.
Upon the death of his father. R. W. Mc-
Mullin, junior, assumed the management of
the paper. He claims Hillsboro as his native
town and was born here in 1867. After com-
pleting the course of the public schools of
Hillsboro, he traveled for some time and then
attended the School of ]\Tines at Rollo. Mis-
souri, for three years, returning to Hillsboro
at the conclusion of his studies at Rollo. Mr.
I\IcMullin spent most of his time attending
HISTORY OF SOUTHEAST :\nSSOUEI
797
to his father's fine gardens until he was called
upon to manage the newspaper. For a while
one of his brothers worked with him, but he
is no longer in Hillsboro.
Mr. llcMullin continues to publish the
paper on the lines followed bj' his father.
The politics of the journal are still those of
the Democrats, ilr. McMuUin is interested
in politics but has no desire for office, pre-
ferring to devote his whole time to the Demu-
crat, all of whose editorials he writes. Like
his father, he maintains membership in the
Missouri Press Association and in the South-
east ilissouri Association. Fraternally he is
active in the A. 0. U. W.
Edward Thilenius. A distinctively prom-
inent and influential citizen of Perryville,
Missouri, is Edward Thilenius, who has been
identified with the milling business during
the major portion of his active career and who
is now incumbent of the responsible position
of superintendent of the Perryville ililling
Company, in which important concern he is a
stockholder. J\Ir. Thilenius was born in the
city of St. Louis, Missouri, on the 8th of
March, 1849, and he is a son of George C. and
Charlotte D. F. (Stuhldreer) Thilenius, both
of whom were born in Germany, the former
at Uslar on the 12th of IMay, 1803, and the
latter at Adelebsen, on the 7th of Septem-
ber, 1808. Mr. and Mrs. George C. Thilenius
became the parents of twelve children — six
boys and six girls — of whom five are living at
the present time, in 1911. Edward, of this
review, is the youngest in order of birth of
the above children and George C. Thilenius,
of Cape Girardeau is the eldest. George C.
Thilenius was married in Germany and he
and his wife immigrated to America about
the year 1848, location having been made at
St. Louis, where the family home was main-
tained throughout their lives. The father
was summoned to the life eternal in the year
1883 and the mother passed into the great be-
yond in 1887. ]\Ir. Thilenius was a merchant
by occupation and in addition to a number of
other important business enterprises he was
also interested in the Shaefer Soap Factory
of St. Louis.
Edward Thilenius completed his prelimin-
ary educational training with a thorough
course in the German Institute at St. Louis,
being graduated in that excellent institution
at the age of nineteen years. After leaving
school he entered the employ of his brother
at Cape Girardeau, there learning the milling
business. He continued to reside at Cape
Girardeau until 1881, in which year he came
to Perrj'ville, where he has since maintained
his home and where for a time he was man-
ager for tlie Biehle & Jaeger ]\Iilliug Com-
pany. In 1891 the German Savings Institu-
tion of St. Louis assumed control of the above
concern and for the ensuing twelve years Mr.
Thilenius was in their emploj'. In 1903 the
mill was reorganized, under the name of the
Perryville ]\Iilling Company, the same being
incorporated with a capital stock of twent}'-
five thousand dollars. Mr. Thilenius is a
stockholder in this company and he is the
present superintendent, a position he has held
since 1903. In politics ]\Ir. Thilenius is a
stanch advocate of the cause of the Republi-
can party and while undoubtedly he has not
been without that honorable ambition which
is so powerful and useful as an incentive to
activity in public affairs, he regards the pur-
suits of private life as being in themselves
abundantl.y worthy of his best efforts. In
community affairs he is active and influential
and his support is readily and generously
given to man.y measures for the general prog-
ress and improvement. He is a devout mem-
ber of the Lutheran church in his religious
inclinations and is affiliated with the local
aerie of the Fraternal Order of Eagles.
On the 19th of October, 1873, was solemn-
ized the marriage of ilr. Thilenius to J\Iiss
Emelia Bramdes, who was reared and edu-
cated at Cape Girardeau and who is a daugh-
ter of Henry Bramdes, of that city. JMr. and
!Mrs. Thilenius are the fond parents of
five children, namely, — Arnold, Theodore,
Helena, George and Edward. Arnold is a
dentist by profession and is engaged in his
life work at St. Louis; Theodore is engaged
in the automobile business at Perryvile;
Helena is the wife of F. J. Morton and they
maintain their home at Perrj-ville, Missouri.
George is connected with the freight depart-
ment of the Frisco system at St. Louis: and
Edward is in the employ of Milliken Drag
Company at St. Louis. Mr. and Mrs. Thilen-
ius are popular in connection with the best
social activities of Perryville and their spac-
ious and attractive home is widely renowned
for its generous hospitality.
H. T. O'Kellet, M. D., during the short
time he has been identified with the medical
profession in Patton, Missouri, has already
given evidence of possessing abilities and per-
sonal traits which cannot fail to achieve sue-
HISTORY OF SOUTHEAST :MISS0URI
cess. The name of O'Kelley has been prom-
inent in southeastern Missouri for almost half
a century, and the familj- has resided in the
United States for six generations. During
the years which have elapsed since the first
O'Kelley came to America, his descendants
have been identified with the military, relig-
ious, agricultural, political, commercial and
professional life of the states in which they
have severally made their homes. The O 'Kel-
leys have at all times been characterized by
their high sense of honor, their valor and their
efficient performance of any duties with which
they were entrusted. Dr. H. T. O'Kelley,
whose name initiates this sketch, and a review
of whose career thus far follows, has done
honor to the fair name he bears.
The founder of the American branch of
the O'Kelley family was James, who immi-
grated from Ireland at an early date and
settled in Virginia. He is distinguished as
having been the first elder of the Methodist
Episcopal church who was ordained in the
United States.
Benjamin, the only sou of Rev. James
O'Kelley, passed his entire life in North Car-
olina, with the exception of the seven years
during which he served in the Revolutionary
war. On leaving the army he married Mary
Williams and became the father of five sons
and four daughters, the sons being: Solo-
mon, Frank, Nimrod, Charles and Benja-
min.
Frank O'Kelley married Nancy Fain, a
young lady of Irish descent, who bore him
six sons, — T. K., Asberry, Joseph, William,
James and Charles. In 1837 the family
moved to Tennessee ; twenty years later they
migrated to Arkansas and in 186-4, during
the progress of the Civil war, came to Mis-
souri, where they settled in Bollinger county.
T. K. O'Kelley, the eldest son of Frank,
was born October 20, 1833, in North Caro-
lina, and after concluding his preliminary
educational training in the public schools he
entered Barrett College, in the Cumberland
Mountains of Tennessee, which he attended
two years, and was gi-aduated from this
Christian college in the class of 1856. He
forthwith commenced to teach and also to
study medicine, having determined to become
a physician. In 1857, on July 14. he married
M. A. Capehart, daughter of Hugh Cape-
hart, of South Carolina. In 1859 he mi-
grated to northwest Arkansas. After the
Civil war began he spent considerable of his
time fighting bushwhackers, and, loyal to
the Union, in March. 1864, he enlisted in the
Second Arkansas Cavalry, in which regi-
ment he served until the close of the war.
On his return to the life of a civilian he lo-
cated in Patton, Missouri, in September,
1865 ; continued his interrupted medical prac-
tice, and has since that date remained there,
where he has been known as a successful
physician. He is the oldest medical practi-
tioner in Bollinger county. He has not, how-
ever, confined his attentions entirely to his
professional work, but has superintended the
management of his property. At one time
he owned one thousand acres of land, which
he divided between his children, retaining for
himself a farm of one hundred and sixty
acres situated near Patton : he also has con-
siderable property in the town itself. Dr.
and Mrs. T. K. O'Kelley reared four chil-
dren, of whom we make note as follows: —
Harry was born February 4, 1859, in Ten-
nessee, and is now a physician residing at
Porterville, New Madrid county, Missouri,
He had four children, — Lena May (Mrs. Wil-
son), mother of Herbert; Fannie (ilrs.
Reeves), who has one son, William; Juanita;
and Flint. The second son of Dr. T. K.
O'Kelley is Zachariah A. He married Rosa
A. Heitman, who bore five children, — Emma,
wife of J. V. Knowles and mother of Irene,
Rosa and Thomas; Henry T., whose biog-
raphy is portrayed in this sketch ; D. G., a
physician; Mattie, and Hattie. Frank M.,
the third son, also had five children, —
Thomas, Anna, Elsie. Franklin and Dorothy.
The only sister of these three brothers was
ilattie M., who married Dr. Pressnell, be-
came the mother of two sons, Charles and
Pinckney. and is now dead. Dr. T. K. 0 'Kel-
ley has ever retained an interest in his com-
panions at arms, evincing same by his active
connection with the post of the Grand Army
of the Republic, in which he holds member-
ship; in fraternal connection he is also af-
filiated with the Slasonic order, being a mem-
ber of the Blue Lodge, Ancient Free and Ac-
cepted Masons; his religious sympathies have
remained constant to the faith in which he
was trained — the belief of his forefather,
James, the first ordained elder above men-
tioned, and the Doctor holds membership in
the Methodist Episcopal church. South.
Zachariah A. O'Kelley has been engaged
in agricultural pursuits since he first com-
menced his independent career, and is now
residing with his wife on his farm at Patton.
He prospered and was enabled to give his
HISTORY OF SOUTHEAST :\IISSOURI
.children the best of educational advantages,
the two sons both having entered the medical
profession.
Having traced the 0"Kelley genealogy
down from its American founder up to the
present day, a few words in regard to Dr.
H. T. O'Kelley follow. Born on his father's
farm near Patton, Missouri, June 20, 1885,
when he had attained the proper age he en-
tered the public school at Patton; later
studied at the State Normal School at Cape
Girardeau, in 1905 and 1906. then pursued
a course of study at the Will ^Maj'field Col-
lege at Marble Hill and subsequently matric-
ulated at the Barnes Medical University at
St. Louis, from which institution he was
graduated in the class of 1910. Having thus
obtained his M. D. degree he began to prac-
tice medicine at Lounds, Missouri, where he
remained until July, 1911, at which time he
removed to Patton and entered the office of
his grandfather. Dr. T. K. O'Kelley.
The year in which Dr. O'Kelley was grad-
uated from college was also memorable as
being the one in which he married Miss Ora
Conrad, daughter of Daniel and Eva (Stat-
ler) Conrad, whose biography appears else-
where in this book. Dr. and ilrs. O'Kelley
have one son. T. K. O'Kelley, Jr., born May
17. 1911. The Doctor is affiliated with the
Modern ^Yoodmen of America and with the
Tribe of Ben Hur.
C. S. Williams, M. D., one of the pro-
prietors of the Hornersville Drug Company,
until recent years was prominently active in
the profession of medicine in Southeast Mis-
souri, and has had a long and full career both
professionally and in business.
A native of Carroll county, Tennessee,
where he was born February 10, 1853. he
spent his youth in moderate circumstances
and had to work his way to pay part of his
tuition for his professional education. Dr.
Williams is a graduate of the medical depart-
ment of the University of Nashville, where he
took the three years' course and was grad-
uated valedictorian in a class of one hundred
and ninety. He was in debt when he finished,
and all his subsequent success has been the
result of talent and industry in one who be-
gan life a poor country bo.y.
For the first four years he was engaged in
practice in Tennessee and then for five years
practiced in Illinois. In October. 1885. he
located in Dunklin county, at a time when
this country was new, and he was a physician
among the residents of that time until 1889.
He then moved to Greenway, Ai-kansas, where
he had an excellent practice for twelve years.
Returning to Dunklin county in 1901, he
quickly built up a large practice, but re-
signed it after two years and the last eight
.vears has been engaged in the drug business
as his principal activity. He and Drew Var-
bell began a partnership in May, 1909, last-
ing two years, and then he and Dr. Hill
formed the partnership known as Williams &
Hill.
Dr. Williams is a member of the Dunklin
County Medical Society. Fraternally he has
been a member of the Jlasonic order since
1876, and is actively affiliated with the Blue
Lodge and the Royal Arch Chapter, and is
also a member of the Knights of Pythias. His
church is the ^Methodist, South, in which he
took an active part for a number of years.
He was married in Tennessee, February
14, 1872, to Miss M. E. Swift. They are the
parents of three children : Mrs. J. H. Hardin,
of Hornersville ; Glen, who is employed in the
drug store ; and Lillian, who married Curt
Burns.
W. T. Gay. The biography of AV. T.
Gay, senior partner of the firm Gay &
Schwab, blacksmiths and wagon-makers, is
one of those inspiring narratives of the tri-
umph of industry and skill in which every
American feels a sort of personal pride.
Mr. Gay was born in Devonshire. England,
in 1847, on December 24. Three years later
his parents, W. T. and Selina (Downey)
Gay, came to America and located in Ohio.
They remained in that state for ten years,
then, in 1860, they moved to St. Francois
county, Missouri. They resided mainlj' there,
but spent some time in Iron county. Four
of the nine children born to Mr. and Mrs. W.
T. Gay are still living. These are John Gay,
of Flat River. Missouri; Mrs. Robert Tetley
of Farmington, ilissouri, a widow ; IMrs. John
Tetley, also a widow, who lives on a farm in
St. Francois county, and W. T. Gay. the
subject of the present sketch. The father
and mother died within two years of each
other, the father in 1884. while on a visit
to one of his sons in Iron county, and the
mother soon afterward. Both were members
of the Episcopal church. Two of their chil-
dren, a boy and girl, aged respectively six
and seven years, died at the same time of
typhoid fever and are buried together in Ohio.
W. T. Gay was reared in St. Francois and
800
HISTORY OF SOUTHEAST MISSOURI
Iron counties. His educational advantages
were limited, but he had the advantage of
training under his father, who was a skilled
workman in the blacksmith and wagon trade.
W. T. and his brother Samuel were associated
with their father, and later the two brothers
conducted the business until Samuel's death,
a period of over twenty years. They had no
capital to start with, and ilr. Gay's remark-
able success has been due solely to his own
tireless energy and sound judgment.
Mr. Gay has had different partners in his
business. For a time one of his nephews was
^\■ith him and for some years he was alone.
Then the present firm was established. Gay
& Schwab are prepared to handle all kinds of
work and employ five assistants, all but one
of whom are skilled mechanics and this is
but one of Mr. Gay's successful enterprises.
A list of his activities makes one think of
Henry "Ward Beecher's advice to the men who
questioned him as to whether he should put
"another iron in the fire." "Put them aU
in," answered Beecher, "and the shovel and
tongs."
Mr. Gay is a stockholder in the Bank of
Ironton, of which he has been president since
its organization in April, 1905. The other
officers are R. E. Rudy, vice-president, one
of Iron county's substantial farmers; E. L.
Cook, cashier; and 0. G. Sehepman, assistant
cashier. Besides these gentlemen, the board
of directors includes Nicholas Allgier and J.
C. PauUus. The bank has a capital of fif-
teen thousand dollars, and a surplus of seven
thousand five hundred dollars. The hand-
some bank building erected by the institu-
tion is one evidence of the success of the un-
dertaking.
Mr. Gay is also in mercantile business, of
the firm Gay & Kindell, Mr. Fred Kindell be-
ing partner and his son, Fred Kindell, Jr.,
being manager. Four clerks are employed in
the large store near the bank. Another of
Mr. Gay's interests is the Clark & Gay Man-
ufacturing Company, of Little Rock, Arkan-
sas. He is a director and the vice president
of this concern, of which he was president for
some years after its establishment in 1905.
The plant is a hub factory manufacturing all
kinds of hubs, spokes, staves and wood-work
for vehicles. The business is capitalized at
eighty thousand dollars and employs seventy
men. Dr. R. W. Gay, of Ironton, is president
of the factory board.
Besides his mercantile, manufacturing,
banking and mechanical enterprises Mr. Gay
has the distinction, which he shares with his
son-in-law and junior partner, Mr. A. L.
Schwab, of owning the finest farms in Iron
county. These are located one and one half
miles northwest of Ironton; they embrace
four hundred and forty acres of well im-
proved, fenced land; fine barns and two good
houses.
A man of such extensive and varied busi-
ness responsibilities might be expected to
have no time for active part in politics, but
Mr. Gay is an exception. He is one of the
few Republicans to receive political honors.
He served eight years as mayor of Ironton,
then resigned that office to accept that of
representative, serving one term. In the fall
of 1910 he was elected county judge and is
still serving in that capacity.
]Mrs. Gay was Miss Lucy Logan, daughter
of Judge Logan, a prominent citizen of Iron-
ton. He was a native of Virginia, but came
to Missouri at an early age and became one
of her most esteemed citizens. He was a
prominent merchant of Ironton, a member
of the legislature and also judge of Iron
county. He died in 1886, at an advanced age,
mourned by the whole community. His
daughter grew up in Iron county and became
ilrs. W. T. Gay in 1871. Mrs. A. L. Schwab
is the only child of their marriage, but two
nieces of Mrs. Gay were brought up in the
Gay home. These were Georgia and Bell
Mufifley, of whom one. Miss Bell is now em-
ployed in Mr. Gay's store. Georgia became
the wife of Dr. Meredith, of St. Louis, and
died at the age of twenty-eight.
Mrs. Gay is a member of the Presbyterian
church. Mr. Gay's social affiliations include
the JMasonic order, in which he has taken the
R. A. M. degrees, and the Knights of Pythias.
He is rightly regarded as one of the county's
best rounded men of affairs and his popu-
larity is as unquestioned as his business
Thomas J. Rigdon, M. D. In all Kennett,
indeed in all Dunklin county, there is no
man in any walk of life who is more re-
spected and loved than Dr. Rigdon. He is
loved by old and young, by rich and poor
alike. His whole life has been spent in seek-
ing to benefit others. His one ambition has
been and still is to serve his fellow men.
His maxim is to look up, not down, to look
out, not in, but to lend a hand. His knowl-
edge of human nature has taught him to look
upon the errors of others in sorrow, not in
HISTORY OF SOUTHEAST MISSOURI
801
anger. From the time lie was a mere lad he
has been possessed of great determination,
balanced by good, common sense. He has
made his own way in the world and knows
how to appreciate the diiSculties of a man
struggling to gain a livelihood or the student
who is trying to gain an education. Although
he is vei-y positive in his views, he is most
charitable towards the opinions of others
and does not insist that it is necessary to
think his thoughts in order to be right. In
short, he is a man whom to see is to love and
admire.
He was born near Vandalia in Fayette
county, Illinois, September 7, 1867. His
father was Thomas Rigdon, a native of
Mount Vernon, Ohio. In 1837 he came to
Illinois and in 1887 to Bollinger county, Mis-
souri, farming in both states. He married
Electa E. Nichols (born in Indiana), after
he came to Illinois, his first wife having died.
She is still living at Lutesville, Missouri,
where she is the proprietor of the Com-
mercial Hotel. He died in Bollinger county
at the age of seventy-four, while living in
Illinois. He had been active in politics and
was at one time a candidate for sheriff on
the Democratic ticket. He was defeated by
one vote. He was deputy sheriff until his
chief died. He was superintendent of the
county poor farm from 1879 until 1885, dur-
ing which time he made Avonderful improve-
ments in the farm. He was often a delegate
to the Democratic conventions, where he
always made a stand for the fair thing. He
was the second cousin of Sidney Rigdon, the
noted leader of the Jlormons and one of the
first officers of the church. About 1836, when
Thomas was twelve or thirteen years old, he
remembers that on one occasion this same
Sidney Rigdon came to visit them at Mount
Vernon, Ohio, and he never forgot the con-
versations that took place between his father
and Sidney, often lasting all night and re-
lating to the founding of the Mormon
church (to which he was bitterly opposed),
then at Kirtland, Ohio, and its proposed re-
moval to Missouri. The removal, in fact,
took place to Independence, Missouri, some
two years later. In the conversation and
arguments Sidney assured his cousin that he
was the real founder of the church and the
author of the mysterious stone plates dug
up and deciphered by Joseph Smith. Sidney
Rigdon had been a minister of the Christian
church, a convert of Alexander Campbell,
and had conceived the Mormon church as a
means of personal advancement and to make
money. Thomas Rigdon condemned him in
unmeasured terms and tried to dissuade him
from his course.
Thomas J. Rigdon spent the fii-st twenty
years of his life on his father's farm in Illi-
uois, attending the country schools in his
neighborhood. When he was twenty he went
with his parents to Bollinger county, Mis-
souri, where they moved onto another farm.
He then began to teach, believing that that
was the line of work to which he was best
adapted. While he was teaching he took a
two years' course at the State Normal Scliool;
he taught four years in Bollinger county,
one in Cape Girardeau county, coming on
January 1, 1893, to Dunklin county, where
he taught in 1894 and 1895. By this time he
had decided that he did not care to teach
any longer and he bought a drug store in
Kennett, but his abilities did not lie in the
commercial direction and he lost his stock in
six months by fire. He took his first year's
course in medicine at Louisville, Kentucky,
in 1894, and after he had to give up his drug
store he resumed his study of medicine, but
he had to teach at the same time in order
to pay for his bread and butter. In 1898 he
took the second year's course, graduating in
1900, with the degree of Doctor of Medicine
and a debt of three hundred dollars. He be-
gan to practice in Kennett, succeeding Dr.
J. W. Back, who was his preceptor in the
study of medicine and who died in August,
1900. It so happened that he had a good
practice from the very start and he has de-
voted himself wholly to his work. He is a
member of the County Medical Society, of
the Southeastern Missouri Medical Society
and of the Missouri State Medical Associa-
tion. He is an ex-president of the county
society and is its present secreta.ry. In 1906
he was elected county coroner and has held
this office ever since. He was also county
physician in 1909 and 1910, his duties being
to attend the sick at the poor farm and jail
and examine the insane, etc.
On November 17, 1901, the Doctor married
Mary Ellen King Back, widow of the late
Doctor Back mentioned above, thus succeed-
ing the old doctor in his practice and in the
affections of his widow. Mary Ellen King
was born in Bollinger county and came to
Kennett with her husband in 1892, he re-
maining in practice in Kennett until he died.
She had two children, Cora Back, who is now
the wife of S. G. Fisher, assistant cashier of
80-2
HISTORY OF SOUTHEAST MISSOURI
the Cotton Exchange Bank, and Frank Back,
a medical student at Barnes Medical College,
St. Louis, Missouri. Dr. Rigdon has no chil-
dren.
In addition to the offices mentioned above,
Dr. Rigdon is also local registrar of vital
statistics for Kennett under the Bureau of
Vital Statistics of the state of Missouri. He
owns two hundred acres of land in Dunklin
county, which he took in the wild state and
he is gradually clearing it and bringing it
into a state of cultivation. He is a stock-
holder and director of the Cotton Exchange
Bank and has been connected with it in this
manner from its start. He is also a stock-
holder in the Peoples Bank of Holcomb,
Missom-i. He has always been active in poli-
tics, as delegate to state conventions, etc.
He is a member of three fraternal orders,
the Masons, Ben Hur and the Woodmen of
the World. He has been an elder in the
Christian church of Kennett for the past five
or six years. Indeed, there seems to be no
end to the different activities with which he
is connected. He was so eminently success-
tul as a teacher that it seemed as if the
pedagogical field was the one where he would
make the greatest success, but surely he is
in the right place now, where as physician,
as politician, as leader of the church, as con-
nected with banks, he fulfils each office as
if that and that alone were the work to
which he is most adapted. He has a standing
in the county that is second to none.
Robert George Ramsey, justice of the
peace at Flat River and for many years a
prominent citizen of this vicinity, was born in
Clay county, Kentucky, May 10, 1846. Since
an early age his life has been devoted to use-
ful activities, and besides the ordinary voca-
tions and responsibilities of citizenship he has
a military record gained during the Civil war,
before he had reached his majority.
His father, John Ramsey, was born in North
Carolina, and died in 1874, having followed
the occupation of farming throughout his ac-
tive career. He was a Republican and at-
tended the Baptist church. He married Char-
lotte Hubbard, of North Carolina, and they
were parents of seven children, Robert G. be-
ing the fifth.
The latter had limited schooling while he
was a boy but acquired the habits of industry
on the farm where he grew up. When he was
sixteen years old he enlisted in the Federal
army and saw four years' service iinder the
Union flag. He was a corporal in the Eighth
Kentucky Infantry and later re-enlisted in the
Fourth Kentucky.
After his return from the war he and a
cousin engaged in farming for a time, and
while a resident of Kentucky he was quite ac-
tively identified with the ministry of the Mis-
sionary Baptist church, under which denomi-
nation he preached in country churches. Mr.
Ramsey has been a resident of Missouri since
1893, and has been engaged in the grocery and
insurance business with his son. The ministry
of his church has also occupied some of his
time. During the period of Flat River's in-
corporation as a town he served three years
in the office of police judge, and since then
has been honored with the duties of justice
of the peace. Though his head is white with
the passage of .years, Judge Ramsey is still an
active citizen and holds an honored place in
his community. He is a stalwart supporter
of the Republican party, and fraternally is
a member of the Independent Order of Odd
Fellows.
On August 1, 1866, he was married to Miss
Harriet Jane Holcomb, of Jackson county,
Kentucky. Her father, Abner Holcomb, was
a substantial farmer of that locality. Nine
children have been born of their marriage:
Charlotte B., Mrs. Chris Englenian ; Mary
Jane, Mrs. A. B. Reynolds; Martha J., Mrs.
Wyle Murrell; Laura D., Mrs. Edward Dal-
ton; Amanda, Mrs. James Coombs; Susan, de-
ceased: Charles Crittenden; Squire Harvey;
John Millard.
Sherwood T. Peter, D. D. S., is favorably
and widely known as a successful stoekgrower
and dealer of St. Clair, in which county his
citizenship has long been valued. He is all
but a native of Missouri, having come to the
commonwealth as a bo.y of six .years. He was
born in Bojde county, Kentucky, August 30,
1861. His ancestors were among the first set-
tlers of that section of the Blue Grass state
and acquired some fame as jack and mule
raisers, and what is even more important as
good and useful citizens. Thus it will be seen
that the Peter family has been engaged in
the stock raising business for a good many
generations, and they have maintained tlie
highest ideals in their particular field. Dr.
Peter's father. J. C. Peter, of St. Joe. Mis-
souri, is engaged in the stock business and he
acquired his training in this sphere of en-
deavor from his father while living in Boyle
countv. There he was born in the '30s of the
HISTORY OF SOUTHEAST illSSOURI
803
uineteeutli century aud there lie founded an
independent household bj' his marriage to
Eliza McDonald, a lady of Scotch extraction.
Of the eight children of their union Dr. Sher-
wood is the eldest and seven of the uiuuber
survive.
To the public schools of Missouri is Dr.
Peter indebted for his general education,
which was completed in Saint Joe, where his
parents removed when he was a youth. Be-
coming interested in dentistry he began its
study in Syracuse, Nebraska, but finished his
course in the Western Dental College of Kan-
sas City, from which he was graduated in
1892. After a few months residence and pro-
fessional work in St. Louis the Doctor came to
St. Clair and was a resident dentist there
until 1897, when he followed the westward
trend of settlement and located at Roswell.
New Mexico. He resumed his profession there
and, in fact, continued it until his real estate
interests demanded his close attention and
he found it necessary to abandon the profes-
sional field in order to become a successful
agriculturist and stockman. While in New
Mexico he acquired considerable property in-
terests, of which at an opportune moment he
disposed at a distinct advantage, and in 1909
he returned to Missouri and invested in farm
lands near the St. Louis markets and among
the friends and associates of himself and wife
in the earlier days.
The part played by Dr. Peter in the rural
activities about St. Clair has been of a bene-
ficial sort for Franklin county. He is ener-
getic and he believes in progress and his
plans include a general program of improve-
ment from the clearing of the brushy hill
lands to the rebuilding and remodeling of the
old aristocratic land marks of ante-bellum
days. He has come into possession by pur-
chase of some nine hundred acres of land
and has adopted the Angora goat method of
cleaning up the brush, an experiment which
has demonstrated a dual profit. Li truth, his
experience has convinced him of the indis-
pensable utility of the Angora in the removal
of the scrub timber and weeds from the land
and at the same time the reaping of a reason-
able profit from the clip of the animal. The
Doctor has recently purchased the old Massey
homestead in the country and the old-time
brick mansion is assuming shape as a modern
bungalow which is destined for his future
home. He is a busy man, with fine business
gifts, but he is not siifficiently engrossed in his
own affairs to be oblivious of the general in-
terests. He is public-spirited and all matters
worthy of this qualification are sure to receive
his support. He is a stanch Democrat, but
politics have never tempted him to office-
seeking.
Dr. Peter was married on the 17th day of
September, 1895, to Miss Cora J. Hibbard,
daughter of H. A. Hibbard, one of the old
merchants of this locality and a representative
of a pioneer family of this county, becoming
his wife. They have no children.
f
Dr. .Matiiias M. Reagan. The Doctor's
parents and grand-parents were natives of
Missouri, so he is a representative of the third
generation of that sturdy stock who hewed
down the prime forests, brought the land un-
der cultivation and when they had reduced
farming to a science, found opportunity to
follow other vocations, while continuing to
live the virile life of the agriculturist.
Mathias Reagan was born in Bollinger
county in 1875. His parents were C4eorge
and Malinda Reagan. After a course in the
country school ilathias Reagan entered the
Vanderbilt University of Nashville, Tennes-
see, and took a two years' course in medicine.
Following this he spent two .years in the
Barnes Medical School of St. Louis, grad-
uating in 1900.
After completing his medical studies. Dr.
Reagan returned to Bollinger county and
took up the practice of medicine. He makes
his home on a farm of one hundred and thirty-
two acres near Patton, Missouri, on which he
does general farming. For one year he was
postmaster at Precinct, ilissouri.
In 1899 Dr. Reagan was married to JIary
Clements, whose parents, Henry and Minnie
Clements, are natives of this state. SeVen
children have been born of their union :
Emma, in 1900 ; Ida J., in 1902 ; Lena E., in
1904, George L., in 1906 ; Jlinnie R., in 1908 ;
Willie, in 1910, and Louis, in 1911.
Dr. Reagan is a member of the Jlethodist
church and is a Republican in polities.
T. W. Read, the well known farmer in
Dunklin county, has had to work very hard
all of his life, but has now reached the point
where he can en.joy some of the fruits of his
labors. He was born in Carroll county,
Tennessee, April 22, 1863. His father was'a
farmer and in 1870 moved to Benton county
and in 1873 to Lake count.v. In 1879 Mr.
Read was taken ill, and he died in 1882. In
1885 his wife died. They were the parents of
804
HISTORY OF SOUTHEAST MISSOURI
seven children, five girls and two boys, of
whom only two are living now. T. W. and his
sister Dollie, who married AV. W. Curry and
lives on the Tom Douglas place in Dunklin
county.
Tom Read spent the first seven years of his
life in Carroll county. Tennessee, when his
parents moved to Benton county. He started
to go to school there, but in three years his
parents again moved, this time to Lake
county. He was a good student and would
have iiked to stay in school, but when he was
sixteen his father became sick and Tom and
his mother took charge of the other six chil-
dren. They lived on the little farm of thir-
teen acres and found great difficulty in mak-
ing both ends meet. After three years of
sickness the father died and three years later
the mother followed him. During the next
year Tom's sister ^Martha was married and
took the little Dollie to bring up. One of the
other sisters died during the year. Tom took
charge of the other two children and in two
years his sister mari-ied. His brother died
after seven years. Up to 1885 Tom owned
nothing but the thirteen acres which he had
inherited from his father's estate and a mule.
He had absolutely no money. In 1885 he
began to farm the bigger farm which had
been his father's, living there from 1885 to
1893, renting the farm at first, but in 1893 he
owned fifty-five acres of the land. In 1893
he came to Dunklin county, where he traded
the fifty-five acres of land which he owned
in Tennessee for the one hundred and twenty
acres a mile and three-quarters east of Ca-
ruth wliich he owns today. The one Inindred
and twenty acres was valued at thirty-four
dollars an acre. ^Ir. Read traded his fifty-five
acres for it and paid sixteen hundred dollars
in cash. In addition to this place ^Ir. Read
owns one and a half acres of land in Caruth,
where lie lives. He has a nice seven-roomed
house, which he has remodeled. On his bigger
place he has two sets of buildings, one of
which is good. He has improved the farm l>y
clearing it of timber. He has built new
fences and outbuildings. The place is now
well drained and is in much better condition
than when Mr. Read came' here. He has im-
proved some of the low land of his farm.
On December 10. 1885. ;\Ir. Read was mar-
ried to Julia A. ilauldin in Lake county,
Tennessee. She was born October 17, 1867,
and had spent all of her life in Tennessee be-
fore her marriage. She was with her hus-
band (luriui;- all of his hard times and helped
him to care for his family. They had four
children, three boys and one girl : Willie S.,
born October 30, 1886; Eva Elizabeth, born
April 2, 1888: Arthur T., born Julv 3, 1891 ;
and Melvin T.. born July 8, 1906.
ilr. Read belongs to the I\Iutual Protective
League of Caruth. He is a member of the In-
dependent Order of Odd Fellows of Caruth
and of the ^Yoodmeu of the World, having
been the consul commander in Caruth in the
last named order for the past four years. He
belongs to the Christian church and is a mem-
ber of the school board. He is a Democrat
and was elected in 1910 to be one of two .jus-
tices of the peace for Clay township, Dunklin
county, his term to last four years. A man
of less true calibre than ]Mr. Read would
never have made the success of his life that
he has. He has the satisfaction of knowing
that he has done his best not only for his
family, but for the people with whom he has
been brought in contact and for his county.
Charles Augustus Frederick Hemme.
Hanover, Germany, is the birthplace of Mr.
Hemme, though few born and bred Mis-
souriaus are more completely identified with
the enterprises for the welfare of Hillsboro
than the present county recorder of Jeffer-
son county.
Augustus Hemme, father of Charles A. F.
Hemme, was also born in Einbeek, Province
of Hanover. He was well educated and a
large land-owner in his native country. He
was, moreover, a scientific farmer, and the op-
portunities of the newer land of America ap-
pealed to him so much that in 1857 he came
to this country and settled in Marinetown,
]\Iadison county, Illinois. He had been mar-
ried to Regina Witteram, of Hanover.
Charles is the eldest and the only living child
of the foiir born to them. Mr. Hemme lived
but one year after coming to America, and
his wife survived him only a twelvemonth.
Born in 1843. Charles A. F. Hemme en-
.ioyed the excellent schooling of Germany un-
til he was thirteen, at which time the fam-
ily emigrated to America. He continued his
studies in this country, taking a course in
Bryant & Stratton's Commercial College in
St. Louis. When he was fifteen Mr. Hemme
began to learn the carpenter's trade. After
his parents' death he made his home with
an uncle, who was in the lumber business,
and acted as clerk in his uncle's establish-
ment. When Mr. Hemme came to Jefferson
countv in 1872 he went into the business of
HISTORY OF SOUTHEAST MISSOURI
805
coutrat'tiog and building, being well pre-
pared for such work by his experience in the
lumber business as well as by his knowledge
of the carpenter's trade.
]Mrs. Hemme was formerly Miss Margaret
Brill, of Ironton. She became the wife of
Mr. Hemme in 1873 and has borne him six
children. The eldest, Oscar, is dead, but the
others are all living in this vicinity. Laura
is now Mrs. William Wilson ; Verdie, the wife
of Charles Hermann; Rebecca, of Ware
Evans. Charles and Lillie are unmarried.
Mr. Hemme is an honored member of the
Republicans, who testified their appreciation
of his abilities by electing him recorder of
Jefferson county in 1906 and re-electing him
in 1910. Not only in his party, but through-
out the county and wherever he is known
Mr. Hemme enjoys the respect of all who
have dealings or acquaintance with him. He
is afSliated with the Ancient Free and Ac-
cepted Masons, of Hillsboro, Missouri, and he
and his family are members of the Congrega-
tional church.
Francis M. Vessells, M. D. During the
years which mark the professional career of
Dr. Francis M. Vessells he has met with grati-
fying success and during the period which rep-
resents his residence in Perry ville, Missouri,
he has won the good will and patronage of
many of the best citizens here. He is a thor-
ough student and endeavors to keep abreast
of the times in everything relating to the dis-
coveries in medical science. Progressive in his
ideas and favoring modern methods as a whole
he does not dispense with the time-tried sys-
tems whose value has stood the test of years.
Dr. Vessells has maintained his home and pro-
fessional headquarters in this city since 1902
and the years have told the story of an emi-
nently successful career due to the possession
of innate talent and acquired ability along the
line of his life work.
Dr. Francis Meridith Vessells was born on a
farm located on the banks of the Mississippi
river some twelve miles from Perryville. the
date of his nativity being the 3d of July. 1874.
His father was born iu the vicinity of ]\Ie-
Bride. in Perrv countv. ]\Iissouri. in the year
1837. John L. Vessells. father of the Doctor,
was reared under the invigorating influences
of the old home farm. He was a son of George
Vessells. who was at one time .iudge of the
Perry county court. The Vessells family was
originally from Kentucky, whence representa-
tives of the name removed to ^Missouri at a
very early day. John L. Vessells married Miss
Elizabeth Meridith, of Perry county, and this
uuion was prolific of six children, namely, —
Isaac, deceased; Henry B., of Perryville, Mis-
souri; John J., of Perryville, ilissouri ; Irene,
deceased: Francis M., of this notice; and
Nellie, who is Jlrs. A. C. Mercier, of Perry-
ville, Missouri. In 1885 John L. Vessells gave
up farming and retired from active partici-
pation in business affairs, removing to Perry-
ville, where he passed the closing years of his
life, his demise having occurred in the year
1894. His cherished and devoted Avife, who
long survived him, died in 1910. In politics
ciples promulgated by the Democratic party.
His wife was a member of the Baptist church.
Dr. Vessells. the imediate subject of this re-
view, received his early educational training
in the public schools of Perryville. At the
age of sixteen years he was graduated in the
Bryant & Stratton Business College at St.
Louis and subsequently he was matriculated
as a student in the Vanderbilt Medical College,
at Nashville. Tennessee, which he attended for
a period of one year, at the expiration of
which he entered the medical department of
Washington University, at St. Louis, in which
excellent institution he was graduated as a
member of the class of 1899, duly receiving
the degree of Doctor of Medicine. He inau-
gurated the active practive of his profession at
Brewer, in Perry county, where he resided
for a period of two and one-half years. In
1902 he came to Perryville, where he has built
up a splendid practice and where he is recog-
nized as a skilled physician and surgeon and as
a citizen of marked loyalty and public spirit.
As a youth Dr. Vessells devoted considerable
attention to the drug business, having clerked
in a drug store from the age of sixteen to
twenty-two. He is a registered pharmacist in
Missouri, having passed the examination be-
fore the Board of Pharmacy June 20. 1898. In
1902, just after the Doctor's advent in Perry-
ville. he entered into a partnership alliance
with his brother-in-law, A. C. Mercier. to en-
gage in the drug business and they conducted
a fine establishment for the ensuing four years,
the Doctor withdrawing from the concern in
1906.
In the year 1895 Dr. Vessells was united in
marriage to Miss Lillian A. Doerr. whose birth
occurred at Perr\^lle and who is a daughter
of Augiist and ]\Iary E. (Entler") Doerr, the
father of whom is now deceased. Dr. and
'Sirs. Vessells have one son. Meridith. wliose
birth occurred on the 9th of August, 1897.
806
HISTORY OF SOUTHEAST .^HSSOURI
Mrs. Vessells is a woman of most gracious per-
sonality and she is deeply beloved by all who
have come within the sphere of her gentle
influence.
In politics Dr. Vessells is aligned as a stal-
wart supporter 'of the cause of the Democratic
party and while he has no time for political
preferment of any description he contributes
in generous measure to all projects advanced
for the good of the general welfare. He is a
valued and appreciative member of the Mis-
souri State Medical Society and of the Amer-
ican Medical Association in connection with
the work of his profession and by reason of
his close observance of the unwritten code of
professional ethics commands the admiration
and respect of the medical fraternity in ;\Iis-
souri. In a social way Dr. Vessells is con-
nected with the local lodges of the Modern
Brotherhood of America, the Modern Wood-
men of America, the Knights of the ^Macca-
bees and the Fratei-nal Order of Eagles. His
religious views coincide with the teachings of
the Catholic church, to whose faith he was
converted in 1910, and he is affiliated with the
Knights of Columbus. Dr. Vessells is recog-
nized as one of the leading physicians and sur-
geons in Perry county and he is everywhere
honored and esteemed for his fine manly
qualities.
George 'Washington ]\Ioothart. A busi-
ness education for those who are ambitious
to succeed in the commercial world is now
considered as necessary by those who are
factors in it themselves as a literary train-
ing for those who are bent upon profes-
sional work. It has taken years of patient
labor on the part of the educators who have
devoted themselves to this particular field
before this truth has been generally ac-
cepted by practical men and women, and to
such educators is due a large share of honor
in the remarkable material development of
the United States, which, in turn, is at the
basis of its higher civilization. In south-
eastern Missouri, George Washington
Moothart is a preeminent figure in commer-
cial education and in the past few years his
chain of schools have been the source of
supply for many reliable workers. The
schools of said chain are located at Farming-
ton, Desoto. Cape Girardeau. Bonne Terre,
Dexter and Kennett. Professor Moothart
is a man of wide and varied experience in
his line, and his enlightened methods are
proving productive of the most gratifying
results. The time has already come when
it means much to say, "a Moothart pupil."
The subject was born May 6, 1866, near
Argenta, JIacon coiinty, Illinois, and is the
son of Benjamin iloothart, who was born in
1821, in tiie state of Pennsylvania. The
elder gentleman moved from the Keystone
state to Ohio in early boyhood and after
spending forty years in the vicinity of Sid-
ney, Ohio, as one of the pioneer farmers of
that section, he removed with his family to
Illinois about the time of the outbreak of
the Civil war. He secured land in Jlacon
county and resumed farming, remaining for
the remainder of his life, his demise occur-
ring in 1908 in Cerro Gordo. Benjamin
Jloothart was twice married, first to INIiss
Elizabeth Fonts, of Sidney, Ohio, and to
their union were born six children. After
her death he married Miss Sarah Fike, of
St. Mary's, Ohio, and to this union five
ehildren'were born, Mr. Moothart being the
third in order of birth. The subject's
mother survived her beloved husband for a
very short time, her demise occurring in
Argenta, Illinois, in 1909. The father was a
Democrat, having given heart and hand to
the cause of the party since his earliest vot-
ing days and in chiirch matters he and his
wife were of the German Baptist faith.
The early education of George Washing-
ton Moothart was acquired in the common
and high schools of JIacon county, Illinois,
and, with the idea of devoting his life to the
cause of education, he entered the Normal
School at Ladoga, Indiana, and received ad-
ditional pedagogical training in the North-
ern Normal and Business University at Val-
paraiso, Indiana, the Northern Illinois
Normal School and the Business College at
Dixon, Illinois, giving particular attention
to literary, higher accounting and pen art
work. Upon beginning his actual career,
Professor Moothart taught in the public
schools of Macon county for three years and
then began his commercial work in 1890, as
principal of the business department of the
Odessa Business College at Odessa, Mis-
souri. He remained at that point about four
years, in the second year being made vice-
president of Odessa College. Upon termin-
ating his association with Odessa, Professor
Moothart became proprietor and director
of the River City Business College, at Ports-
mouth. Ohio, and he remained in charge of
this institution about four years. At the end
of that time he came to DeSoto, Missouri,
HISTORY OF SOUTHEAST MISSOURI
807
where on March 14, 1899, he organized the
first of the Moothart chain of business col-
leges, and after living at DeSoto for five
years and establishing other schools he re-
moved the headquarters of the chain to
Farmington, a rather more central situation,
and here he has ever since resided. The lo-
cation of the Moothart colleges, which are
six in number, have been noted in a preced-
ing paragraph. As the schools have grown
in importance and magnitude, it has seemed
expedient to form a corporation, the same
being perfected in 1907, Professor Moot-
hart becoming president of the corporation.
The Moothart colleges are best knoAvn
through the quality of their work, the thor-
ough, modern and up-to-date methods em-
ployed being productive of the finest results.
Almost every graduate of these institutions
are well qualified to become competent
bookkeepers, stenographers and general
office assistants. It is indeed gratifying in
this day when insincerity, greed and com-
mercialism are too often encountered that
Professor Moothart 's aims are by no means
purely of financial gain, but it is rather his
ambition to conduct a school in which stu-
dents of good habits become competent and
at the same time imbued with the idea of
success. It has been said that all Professor
Moothart 's graduates are living references.
It has been his policy to establish his schools
in small towns, for he believes in bringing
the schools to the students and in this way
many able young people are prepared who
would never go to the city, one reason being
living expenses. Then, too, their moral en-
vironment is often better. An important
consideration is the fact that no deserving
graduate of these schools is long out of a
position.
On the 27th day of December, 1904, while
residing in Portsmouth, Ohio, Professor
Moothart was luiited in marriage to !Miss
Blanche Evelyn Grosshart, of Odessa, ilis-
souri, daughter of Judge J. S. Grosshart.
The subject and his wife share their pleas-
ant home with two young sons — Warden
and "William.
In his political convictions Professor
Moothart is in harmony with such policies
and principles as are presented by the Dem-
ocratic party; his religious denomination is
Presbyterian ; and he is prominent and pop-
ular in a trio of lodges, — the Knights of
Pythias, the Modern Woodmen and the
Modern American.
F. ]\I. JoNE.s has for twenty-two years been
a teacher and a farmer. The former occupa-
tion he has practiced in Bollinger and Perry
counties and the latter in the first named
county, the place of his birth. His parents,
Francis IMarion and Nancy Susan (Burcham)
Jones, came to the county from Tennessee
shortly after their marriage and reared a
family of thirteen children, eleven of whom
lived to maturity. Mr. Jones' grandfather
was a Confederate soldier who lost his life
during the war. He had been released from
prison and was killed as he was starting
home. His father was taken prisoner and in-
carcerated for several weeks, then allowed to
return home.
F. M. Jones was born December 9, 1870,
near the town of Patton. He attended the
district schools and worked on the farm un-
til he was nineteen and then began to teach.
Since 1889 he has taught continuously. At
the death of his father in 1891 Mr. F. M.
Jones bought out the shares of the other heirs
of the home farm and since then he has
farmed the one hundred and twenty acres of
land three fourths of a mile north of Patton.
In June, 1901, ilr. Jones was united in
marriage to Miss ilary E. Hutson, daughter
of John W. Hutson, of Perry county. They
have four children: Edith Naoma, born Jan-
uary 22, 1902; Willie Edna, May 19, 190-4;
Irene Pearl, October 31, 1907; and Perry
Hutson, October 29, 1909. Both Mr. and
]\Irs. Jones belong to the lodge of the Jlodern
Brotherhood and ]\Ir. Jones is a member of
the Missionary Baptist church.
Mr. Jones has recently invented a hand
corn-shocking machine which he will put on
the market in a short time. A patent was is-
sued on this corn-shocker August 15, 1911.
D.iviD Henry ilcKExziE, M. D.. is a physi
cian of prominence in St. Francois county.
He has been in active practice at Leadwood
since 1906 and his entire career in the pro-
fession has been passed in ilissouri, in which
state he has resided since the age of three
years. He enjoys a large acquaintance and
takes a keen and active interest in the gen-
eral affairs of the day. Dr. McKenzie was
born in the troublous days of the Civil war,
the date of his nativity beins July 8, 1863,
and its scene near Riceville. Tennessee. His
father, Henry McKenzie. was born in North
Carolina in 1835. and having lost his father
at the age of four or five years was brought
up by his mother. Having been left in some-
HISTORY OF SOUTHEAST MISSOURI
what destitute eircumstances, it was impos-
sible for this worthy woman to give her son
anything but a limited education. They re-
moved to Tennessee when he was a lad and
there he followed farming, and at the age
of twenty-one established an independent
household by his union with Arvezena Wells,
a native of Tennessee. To their union were
born ten children, of whom the Doctor is
the fourth in order of birth. At the time of
the war Henry McKenzie was in the govern-
ment railroad service and shortly after the
termination of the great conflict between the
states he took his wife and four children to
Missouri and located in Saint Francois coun-
ty. He remained in the county three years
and at the end of that time bought a small
farm in Iron county, near Sabula. Upon
this estate the rest of the children were born
and the Doctor with his brothers and sisters
were reared to years of usefulness and in-
dependence. And here the father died on
Christmas day, 1905, his demise losing to the
community a fine citizen, a great church
worker, a man of ideal life who did not
drink, smoke nor swear, a man of domestic
nature who found his greatest pleasure at
his own fireside in the company of his own.
He was of Scotch-Irish descent, the former
element being so evident in the name and he
embodies in himself the most admirable char-
acteristics for which that nation stands. He
was Democratic in politics and a member of
the ilethodist Episcopal church. South. The
noble wife and mother survives and now, at
the age of seventy-five years, makes her home
at Williamsville, Wayne county, with one of
her sons.
Dr. McKenzie passed his early life upon
the farm, which, if one may judge by a study
of the lives of great men, seeros to be a piece
of good fortune rather than anything else.
At the age of twenty years he began to teach
school and he continued thus employed for
nearly a decade, employing his earnings upon
his own education, a part of which he re-
ceived in the Bellview Collegiate Institute.
In looking about him for' a life work which
would fully enlist his sympathies, he decided
to become a physician and he entered the
Kentucky School of Medicine at Louisville,
Kentucky, and in 1896 he received the de-
gree of M. D. AVhen it came to choosing a lo-
cation he decided upon Lesterville in Rey-
nolds county and there he practiced for ten
years, from that place removing to Lead-
wood, Missouri, in 1906. A man of signal
ability, now strengthened by a particularly
varied experience, he enjoys high standing in
the profession, and holds the confidence of
both his brethren and the laity. He is as-
sociated with those organizations calculated
to bring about the progress and unification
of the medical profession, such as the County,
Southeastern Missouri and State Medical
Associations. He does his own dispensing
and does general surgical work.
Dr. McKenzie 's wife was previous to her
marriage Margaret McNeely, of DeSoto. ;\lis-
souri, a daughter of S. E. and Emily (Wiley)
McNeely, and their union was celebrated on
the 22d day of November, 1898. They are
the parents of two boys and two girls,
namely: Marian Edna, Marvin Willard,
Plem-y Roscoe and Jessie Wells.
Dr. jMcKenzie is a stalwart supporter of
the policies and principles of the Democratic
party; his lodges are the Masonic, the Odd
Fellows and the Modern Woodmen of Amer-
ica ; and he and his wife are valued members
of the Methodist Episcopal church. South.
Their home is one of the popular ones of
Leadwood, hospitable, cultured and cheerful.
S. A. Shields. That Southeast Missouri,
and Dimklin county in particular, is the
finest country in America for the poor man is
the testimony of one of the most prosperous
farmers and prominent citizens in the vicin-
ity of Hornersville, Mr. S. A. Shields, who
has had remarkable opportunities for observa-
tion and knowledge to base this judgment
upon, since he has visited every city in the
United States and Canada of twenty thousand
population or greater.
Mr. Shields has had an interesting career.
He was born in Alabama, and from there his
father, who was a farmer, moved to Texas,
and he was reared and spent most of his
youth in Hunt county, where he attended the
country schools. At the age of seventeen he
began buying and trading stock, and ac-
quired a knowledge that has since been use-
ful to him in Dunklin county. He was a
member of a family of nine brothers, the
shortest being six feet four and the tallest
over seven feet; none weighed less than two
hundred and their average was three hun-
dred. ]Mr. Shields himself is six feet six.
The genius of public exhibitions, P. T. Bar-
num, induced this remarkable family of
brothers to join his great circus as the
' ' Texas Giants, ' ' and during 1883-4-6 four of
the brothers traveled all over the United
States and Canada, at a salary of forty dol-
lars a week for each. In 1895 Mr. Shields
HISTORY OP SOUTHEAST MISSOURI
married Mrs. Parsons, the giantess of Bar-
num's shows, she being a well formed woman
whose height was six feet seven. She died
several years after their marriage, leaving
two children, Shadrach and Paul, both at
home with their father. Jlr. and Mrs.
Shields were also with Sells & Forepaugh's
and Robinson's and Buffalo Bill's exhibitions.
Major Ray, a well known resident of Horners-
viUe, formerly of Cardwell, was a fellow-
traveler with ]\Ir. Shields in the circuses, he
and his wife being advertised as "the small-
est married couple in the world." After the
death of Mrs. Shields, ^Ir. Shields was in-
vited to spend the winter with ilajor Ray at
Cardwell, in 1902, and he liked the country so
well that he quit the circus business and has
since been identified with Dunklin county as
one of its leading farmers.
At Hornersville he was married to Miss
Bone, and he then bought his present place a
mile and a half south of Hornersville. This
farm of one hundred and thirty-seven acres
is one of the model places of this vicinity,
and he also has a tract of two hundred and
eight acres three miles west of Hornersville,
one hundred and fifty acres of which is in
cultivation. Altogether he farms about two
hundred acres, having one hundred and sixty
in cotton, also some cattle, horses and forty
or fifty hogs. He has five tenant houses on
his place west of town. The house of his
home place was burned and has been replaced
with one of the comfortable residences of this
vicinity. At Hornersville Mr. Shields buys
cotton for the East St. Louis Cotton Oil Com-
pany, and last season bought one thousand
four hundred and seventeen bales. This was
ginned at the Union Cotton Company, a stock
company in which Mr. Shields holds the prin-
cipal number of shares. Fraternally Mr.
Shields affiliates with the Honersville lodges
of the Masons and the Knights of Pythias.
George W. Scoggin. The present postmas-
ter and a prominent business man at Glover,
Missouri, is George William Scoggin, who in
addition to conducting a wholesale market for
flour, feed and provisions is also a farmer and
stockman of note. He was bom in Ruther-
ford county, North Carolina, the date of his
nativity being the 8th of October. 1847. He
is a son of Richard and ]\Iary (Dogit) Scoggin.
both of whom were likewise born in North
Carolina. Richard Scoggin was a son of Bur-
gess Scoggin and he died in the northern part
of Georgia in 1851. In the agnatic line the
Scoggin family traces its ancestry to stanch
English stock, while the maternal ancestry was
of German descent. Mary Dogit was a daugh-
ter of George Dogit, whose father, also George,
participated as a soldier in the war of the
Revolution ; he was wounded at Cowpens. The
Scoggin and Dogit families were extensive
planters and slave owners, but they never sold
any of their slaves. Mrs. Richard Scoggin
long survived her honored husband and she
came to Missouri, in company with the subject
of this review, in 1867. Her death occurred
m Texas, in 1906, at a good old age. Of her
four children. Burgess is a farmer in the vicin-
ity of Batesville, Arkansas ; Armelia died in
1883, in Wise county, Texas; Mary is the
widow of William Longly, of Wise county,
Texas ; and George W. is the immediate sub-
ject of this review.
A\'Tien a child of four years of age George
W. Scoggin accompanied his parents to Geor-
gia, where he received his early educational
training and where he remained until he had
reached his twentieth year. As a mere youth
of but fourteen years and eight months, he
enlisted for service in the Confederate army
of the Civil war, being orderly for General
Buckner, of Kentucky, for a time and later
attending General Morgan on his last raid.
He spent three years and nine months in the
army, during which time he participated in a
number of important engagements marking
the progress of the war, the same including
Stone River and Chickamauga. After his ar-
rival in Missouri, in 1867, JMr. Scoggin be-
came interested in farming and stock-raising,
in which lines of enterprise he has continued
to be engaged during the long intervening
years to the present time. He is the owner of
one hundred and sixty acres of fine farming
property in Iron county and in addition to
cultivating that tract is engaged in the whole-
sale flour, feed and provision business at
Glover. He formerly owned about one thou-
sand acres of land, which has been divided
among his children, including some six farms.
This town w-as named in honor of John M.
Glover, ex-congressman from St. Louis. For
the past twenty-one years Mr. Scoggin has
been postmaster at this place. In politics he
is a stanch Democrat and in a fraternal way
is affiliated with the time-honored Masonic
order, being a valued member of the lodge
and chapter of that organization. He and his
family are devout members of the Baptist
church, to whose good works they are liberal
contributors of their time and means.
810
HISTOEY OF SOUTHEAST MISSOURI
In Iron county, Missouri, in 1868, was
solemnized the marriage of Mr. Seoggin to
Miss Caroline Huff, who was born in Missouri
and who is a daughter of Joseph and Lavina
(Carr) Huff, natives of eastern Tennessee and
' North Carolina, respeetivelj'. Mr. and ilrs.
Huff were married in Tennessee, whence they
migrated to Missouri in 1829, locating in the
vicinity of Mine La Motte. Subsequently, in
1831, the Huff home was established at Ar-
cadia, Iron county. :\Ir. Huff entered a tract
of one hundred and sixty acres of government
land, on which he resided until his death, in
1883, at the age of seventy-five years. Mrs.
Huff was born in 1808 and passed to the life
eternal in 1903, at the patriarchal age of
ninety-five years. They were both members of
the Missionary Baptist church, in which two
of their sons and two sons-in-law were min-
isters. Joseph Huff, paternal grandfather of
Mrs. Seoggin, was a gallant soldier in the war
of 1812. He died in Missouri and is buried
near Arcadia College. James Carr, maternal
grandfather of Airs. Seoggin, was a native of
Scotland and a soldier in the English army in
his youth. As a boy he was bound out to an
uncle, but ran away to America. He was heir
to a large estate in his native land but never
took the trouble to claim the same. Of the
twelve children born to Mr. and Mrs. Joseph
Huff, but four are living in 1911, namely, —
Mathilda, born in 1827, is the wife of John
Green and is residing in Texas; Mrs. Lovina
Oilman maintains her home at Glover; Mrs.
Nancy Robbs lives in De Soto, ^Missouri; and
Caroline is Mrs. Seoggin. Mr. and Mrs. Seog-
gin became the parents of eleven children, of
whom four are deceased. The others are:
Luther, who operates a saw mill and farm
near Glover, married Rose Druitt and has
nine children; Lena is the wife of Allison
Tims, of Little Rock, Arkansas, where Mr.
Tims is a bookkeeper, and they have three chil-
dren : Lou is the wife of John Goff, of Center-
ville, Missouri, and she is the mother of five
children; Mirt is an engineer on the Iron
Mountain Railroad in St. Louis; Carrie is the
wife of Fred Sumpter, of Flat River, ilis-
souri, and they have three children; Cura
married Albert Duparrett and resides at
Glover, and they have two children ; and ]\Iiss
Ina remains at the parental home.
Socially ^Ir. Seoggin is genial and cour-
teous, and the popularity that comes from
these qualities, as combined w-ith the distinc-
tion that comes from his achievements, makes
him a man among many. A thorough busi-
ness man, a true friend, a jolly fellow and a
gentleman, such describe the marked char-
acteristics of George W. Seoggin, who is every-
where honored and esteemed for his sterling
integrity and worth. When ]\Ir. Seoggin came
to Missouri in 1867 he had no capital except a
span of mules and a wagon, which was their
means of conveyance fi-om Georgia. He was
accompanied by his mother and sister. He is
truly a self-made man and his wife has been
a most able helpmate.
OscAB S. Florence. Great changes have
occurred in the business world in the last
fifty years and even in the last quarter of a
century. There is a tendency in all depart-
ments of labor toward specialization, and the
man who wins success and advancement is he
who is specially trained for a certain kind of
work, who has mastered his line of business
both in principle and detail, in theory and
practice, giving him a comprehensive knowl-
edge of the sub.ieet which will enable him to
meet any condition that may arise, no matter
how unexpected. Since 1889 ilr. Florence
has devoted the greater part of his time and
attention to the general merchandise business
and he is now the owner of a fine department
store at Desloge, Saint Francois county,
Missouri. In this place he is also a heavy
stockliolder and a member of the board of di-
rectors of the Citizens Bank, and he was one
of the organizers of the Flat River Bank, in
which he is a director.
A native of the great Empire of Germany,
Oscar Sherman Florence was born at Mamel,
Germany, the date of his birth being the 18th
of February, 1863. He is a son of Sherman
Florence and Paulina B. Lott, both natives of
Germany, where they passed their entire
lives. The father was a farmer and miller
by occupation and he died in 1886, his
cherished and devoted wife having passed
away in 1882. They were the parents of four
children, and of the number the subject of
this review was the fourth in order of birth.
Paulina, Lena, and Selman all are deceased,
Oscar S. being the sole survivor of the family
in 1911.
When eight years of age Oscar S. Florence
left his home place and went to school at
Hamburg, Germany, whence he subsequently
made a trip to Liverpool, England, where he
remained for a period of two years, there
working in a baker's shop. Returning to his
native land, he passed one year at Konigs-
burg, where he clerked in a grocery store,
HISTORY OP SOUTHEAST MISSOURI
811
thus early forming the foundation for his
future life work. At the aee of twenty-one
years, in 1884. he decided to try his fortunes
to his native land and the friends of his child-
in the New AVorld and after bidding farewell
hood and youth he immigrated to the United
States, landing in the harbor of Boston.
From that citj^ he proceeded to St. Louis,
Missouri, where he found employment in
stores and factories for the ensuing four
years. Thence he went to Crystal, City
where he worked for a time in a glass factory.
Subsequently he became an itinerant mer-
chant, traveling extensively with a large stock
of goods. lu^ 1889 he settled at Flucom,
Missouri, where he entered into a partner-
ship alliance with James L. Goff to conduct
a grocery business. This mutually agreeable
association lasted two years, at the expiration
of which Mr. Florence went to Valle ilines,
where he purchased a lead prospect and
where he achieved a marvelous success by
conducting a grocery store in addition to
opening his lead claim. From Valle Mines
Mr. Florence removed to Desloge, where he
opened a small store, known as the Company
store, but conducted by the firm of Goff &
Florence for some twelve years. In 1901
Messrs. Goff and Florence dissolved partner-
ship and the former is now conducting a drug
store at Desloge. On other pages of this work
is a sketch dedicated to the career of ]Mr.
Goff, one of the old pioneer citizens of this
section of the state. Since 1901 Mr. Florence
has continued the grocery business individ-
ually and he now owns a modern and well
equipped department store, which covers the
space of four ordinary stores, its building be-
ing one hundred by eighty feet in lateral
dimensions. This store has won recognition
as the largest and best establishment in the
lead belt. In addition to his other interests
he is a stockholder in the Citizens Bank at
Desloge, in which he is also a director. In
1903 he was instrumental in the organization
of the Flat River Bank, in which he is a mem-
ber of the board of directors.
Mr. Florence has gained distinctive pres-
tige as one of the most enterprising citizens
of Desloge, where he is a man of prominence
and influence in all the walks of life. In
polities he is aligned as a stalwart in the ranks
of the Republican party and, while he has
never participated actively in public att'airs,
he is ever on the alert to advance measures
and enterprises projected for the good of the
general welfare. He is not formally con-
nected with any religious organization but
gives his support to the Methodist Episcopal
church, of which his wife was a devout and
valued member prior to her death. In fra-
ternal circles Jlr. Florence is affiliated with
a number of represenative orders of a local
nature and as a man he is genial in his as-
sociations, his affability gaining to him the
friendship and esteem of all with whom he
has come in contact. Mr. Florence became a
naturalized citizen of the United States while
a resident of Flucom, in the year 1889, just
five years after his an-ival in this country.
At Valle Mines, Missouri, in the year 1890,
Mr. Florence was united in marriage to Miss
Carrie M. Goodin, a native of Valle Mines,
Missouri, and a daughter of Austin Goodin,
long a representative farmer at Primrose,
i\Iissouri. Air. and Mrs. Florence became the
parents of two children, — Lena, whose birth
occurred on the 13th of January, 1893 ; and
Lon A. born on the 25th of February, 1895.
The daughter is a member of the Third Bap-
tist church of St. Louis. Both children have
been afforded excellent educational advant-
ages and they remain at the paternal home,
ilrs. Florence was called to eternal rest on
the 12th of July, 1905. She was a woman of
most gracious personality and was deeply be-
loved by a wide circle of affectionate and ad-
miring friends, all of whom mourn her loss.
Albert L.\ne, M. D. The world instinct-
ively and justly renders deference to the
man whose success in life has been worthily
achieved, who has attained a competence by
honorable methods, and whose high reputa-
tion is solely the result of preeminent merit
in his chosen profession. We pay a deserv-
edly high tribute to the heroes who on the
bloody battle-fields of war win glorious vic-
tories and display their invincible courage,
but we perhaps fail to realize that just as
much courage and skill are required to wage
the bloodless conflicts of civil life. Especial-
ly in the arduous career of a physician are
required all the qualities which go to make
up the ideal soldier — courage, daring, self-
control, and the keen judgment necessary to
make an instant decision when life itself is
at stake. Absolute indift'erence to physical
comfort as contrasted with his duty, com-
bined with a hardy frame and a complete
knowledge of his profession ; these they must
have in common, but the physician must add
to all these the divine gift of sympathy and
a personal magnetism which often does more
812
HISTORY OF SOUTHEAST MISSOURI
for his patients than medicine. Not only is
Dr. Lane of this high type of physician, but
he is an ideal citizen in every wa.v, public-
spirited in a fashion which finds its expres-
sion in deeds rather than words, — in short,
a builder. At the present time he is an im-
portant factor in the mercantile and banking
as well as the professional world.
Dr. Lane is one of the old residents of
Sullivan and his residence in Franklin coun-
ty dates from the year 1852, at which date
his parents came hither from Fredericks-
burg, Virginia. At that historic point in the
Old Dominion the Doctor was born August
16, 1844. On the paternal side Dr. Lane
comes of Protestant Scotch-Irish stock and
upon the maternal, of pure Scotch. His
father was Fountain H. Lane and the maiden
name of his mother was Jennie Briggs, her
father having left the "land 'o cakes" to
seek new fortunes on this side of the At-
lantic. The paternal grandfather, Richard
Lane, was a slave-holding planter of Spott-
sylvania county, Virginia, who died about the
year 1848. His son, Fountain H., father of
the immediate subject of this record, was
born in the '90s of the eighteenth century.
Fountain H. Lane's life was shaped upon his
father's plantation and he was a youth at
the outbreak of the war of 1812. A gallant
young fellow, he enlisted in the United States
army and served under General Cogburn, re-
ceiving a land warrant from the govern-
ment as a bonus for his soldier service. When
he came to Missouri he located near New
Haven in Franklin county and devoted him-
self to agricultural pursuits, his demise oc-
curring in 1872, some nineteen years after
the death of his wife. At the time of the
Civil war he was an avowed believer in the
right of the states to sever their connection
with the national government, and in politi-
cal conviction he was first a Whig and then a
Democrat.
The children of Fountain and Jennie
(Briggs) Lane were: Richard, who died in
Osage county, Missouri, leaving a family;
Rebecca, who married Ludwell Herndon in
Virginia, and is now deceased; William, who
resides in Comanche coiinty, Texas, as does
Alexander; Margaret, who married in 1863
a Mr. Bridges, of Osage county. Missouri, and
is deceased ; Albert L. ; Jesse, who spent his
life in Osage county, Missouri, and there left
a family at death : and Joseph, the youngest
child, a resident of Comanche county, Texas.
Albert remained upon his father's farm
until about the attainment of his majority,
and while still sheltered beneath the parental
roof-tree he came to a decision as to his pro-
fession. He first took up the study of med-
icine in New Haven, Missouri, his preceptors
being Dr. J. S. Hyde and Dr. H. S. Gilbert
and he subsequently became a student of the
Missouri ]\Iedical College, where he received
a well-earned degree on February 18, 1865.
In the following year he established himself
in Sullivan, Missoui-i, as the pioneer physi-
cian, and for several years was without a
professional colleague. He practiced here for
forty-five years without a break and drifted
into business as opportunity offered.
For the past fifteen years Dr. Lane has
been interested in merchandise. He was the
chief partner in the general mercantile firm
of the Clark-Lane IMercantile Company, of
which he is now practically the sole owner.
He spent his earnings in his profession as q
substantial builder of Sullivan and today is
one of the large property owners. Some of
the best buildings in the city are due to his
progressiveness and initiative. He built the
large three-story business house of the Clark-
Lane firm; the brick double store of the Wil-
liams and Clark hardware store; he was one
of the promoters of the Sullivan Milling
Company, and its president; he built the
Commercial Hotel and the new Peoples'
Bank OfSce ; and interspersed in the residence
district are many commodious cottages which
bi'ing him an income of no inconsiderable
proportions. His own substantial stone resi-
dence reflects from its exterior the substan-
tial character of its owner.
Dr. Lane entered the domain of finance
when he aided in the promotion of the Bank
of Sullivan, being chosen its president and
acting in such capacity for several years. He
took a large interest in the organization of
the Peoples' Bank here in 1894 and is its
president today. He has shown marked dis-
crimination in the management of the affairs
of the bank and the pei'sonal integrity and
high standing of the interested principals in
the institution constitute its most valuable as-
set and give assurance of its continued
growth and prosperity.
In May, 1868, Dr. Lane established an in-
dependent household by marriage, his chosen
lady being Miss Jennie C. Clark, daughter of
Rev. Jacob Clark, a Presbyterian minister,
who came to Sullivan from South Carolina.
Mrs. Lane passed away in 1888, the mother
of Meredith B. Lane, manager of the Clark-
HISTORY OF SOUTHEAST MISSOURI
813
Lane Mercantile Company; and of J. Agnes,
now Mrs. Leonard, of San Francisco, Cal-
ifornia, who was reared and educated by her
aunt, Mre. Hearst, wife of Senator George
Hearst, and who still remains near her dis-
tinguished relative.
Dr. Lane is a Democrat in his political
convictions, but takes no greater interest in
politics than that of the intelligent voter.
He is a Blue Lodge ilason and is very popu-
lar in the time-honored order. He is, in fact,
a popular citizen, his useful, helpful life and
commendable characteristics, combined with
a genial manner, having won for him a host
of friends.
WaLiAM G. Bragg. There is no man in
all Dimklin county who has gained more
prominence than William G. Bragg, the man
who never let himself be discouraged.
There is no kind of a man that nature hates
so much as a quitter. The start in life is
like a horse race, where opporttmity is
equal. The racers are all bunched at the
first turn, but from there they begin to scat-
ter. At the second turn two stop and two
are seen forging ahead. There is still a
goodly bunch to be seen from the grand
stand and individuals cannot be distin-
guished. At the third turn the bunch has
elongated itself to a single file and each in-
dividual can be seen. Several have "done
quit." As the leaders turn into the home
stretch you see only two horses out of the
dozen that started. These two come on with
a steady, sustained patter of hoofs, one .just
a length behind the other. They keep their
places until within a hundred yards of the
wire, when the horse that is behind seems
to let out an extra link and he forges ahead
and comes in under the wire, an easy win-
ner by two lengths. With men as with
horses the supreme test is the ability to stay
in and to give the extra burst of power
when it is required, thus qualifying to start
in a higher contest. Mr. Bragg is one of the
kind who has won out in all the different
heats of life's battle. He has had staying
qualities and come out victorious.
He was born in Knox county, Missouri,
September 21, 1852, the son of Captain Will-
iam G. Bragg, Senior, who was a native of
Virginia, having been born there March 4,
1811. As a child he was taken by his par-
ents to Kentucky, where they located.
William was educated and he there married
Fanny Tully, a young girl who was a native
of Kentucky. Soon after their marriage
thej' moved to Missouri, in 1838. They set-
tled in Knox county, staying there until
1865. They cultivated some wild land, mak-
ing many improvements and then engaged
in the general merchandise business until
the war broke out. I\Ir. Bragg raised a com-
pany for the state militia, but very early in
the war they were captured in Missouri by
General Porter. Mr. Bragg, now having the
title of captain, was paroled, but not being
exchanged he saw no further service in the
war. His son, Leonard T. Bragg, had en-
li.sted in the Federal army with the Second
Missouri Division; he had come with this
''ompany through southeastern Missouri
and they were stationed at Bloomfield tmtil
the close of the war. Leonard T. Bragg was
made circuit clerk and county clerk for
Dunklin county during the reconstructive
period; he took office in 1865, his father
coming to assist him in the office. At the
end of the term L. T. Bragg was re-elected,
serving one year longer. At the end of
that term L. T. Bragg resigned and
the Captain was appointed by the Governor
to succeed his son, who then went out west
to Oregon. The Captain then held the
offices of circuit clerk, county clerk, probate
clerk and county recorder all at one time.
At the end of his term he went into the gen-
eral merchandise business, running his
general store for several years. He also
operated a hotel in his private home. He
was active until his death, in his seventy-
eighth year, in 1888. He did not consider
himself a politician, though he was a Repub-
lican and had served in public capacities.
His closest friends were found amongst the
Democrats, as in the case of his son Leonard
T., who although a Republican was elected
by Democratic votes. When the Bragg fam-
ily first came to Kennett. in 1865. they came
down the Mississippi river to Cape Girar-
deau, where a two horse wagon met them,
that being the only two horse wagon in the
whole county. On their journey to Kennett
they met and passed ox teams in plenty, but
no horse wagons. For a long time after this
when any of the family had occasion to go
from Kennett to Cape Girardeau they used
ox teams, sometimes taking eighteen days
to make the trip. All goods had to come by
Cape Girardeau, so it was necessaiy for
them to make periodical trips there. The
Captain was an active member of the Chris-
tian church, helping in any way that was
814
HISTORY OF SOUTHEAST MISSOURI
possible, giving money and time for the sup-
port of its various enterprises, ilrs. Bragg
died at the age of fifty-seven, having borne
twelve children, those besides William G. be-
ing: ]\Iary E.. who is now the widow of Col-
onel Solomon G. Kite-hen and is living in the
state of Washington. Leonard T. has been
in the flouring mill business at Colfax,
Washington. He is now retired, ilartha H.
married John C. Towson, a manufacturer
living at Sikeston, Missouri. Bettie is the
widow of Edward B. Sturgis, who was a
merchant at Kennett. Anna married Benja-
min T. Walker and she died young. Ruth
B. married Dr. N. F. Kelley, late of Kennett.
She died in Kennett. Cornelia V. married
Dr. A. B. IMobley. who died January 21,
1911, she having died some years ago. Eva
M. is the wife of A. J. Sellers, of Arkansas ;
he is her second husband, she having first
married the Honorable James P. Walker,
ex-member of congress, late of Dexter, ]Mis-
souri. Lillian F. married James F. Tatum,
an old established merchant at Kennett,
now dead. She still lives at Kennett. Con-
stance married Frank Sanders. She died
young, leaving two sons and one daughter,
one of whom, Robert, is assistant cashier in
the Bank of Kennett. Robert Bruce is the
youngest of this large and interesting fam-
ily. When he was a young man he went to
Oregon, where he became a merchant at
Hood Rim, Oregon.
William G. Bragg was only thirteen years
old when the family first came to Kennett,
but he even then began to show of what
stuff he was made. He worked in his
father's store and also worked for others.
In 1879 he opened a general store of his
o-^vn, continuing in the merchandise business
for about twenty years. In 1882 he was
elected clerk of circuit court and recorder
of deeds, offices which his brother and his
father had both held. At the end of his
term he was re-elected on the Democratic
ticket. After the close of his second term
he went back to the merchandise business,
in which he continued until 1893. During
this time he went out to the state of Wash-
ington, where he engaged in the real estate
business at Pullman for two years. He is
now in the real estate and insurance busi-
ness at Kennett, where he handles his own
property very largely, buying and selling
farm lands and city land. He has laid out
additions to Kennett, one called the Bragg
Addition in his honor; here he sells and
builds on easy terms. Mr. Bragg has always
been a staunch Democrat, but he does not
concern himself with politics any more.
He has served as delegate to various con-
ventions and served his party in other ways.
He is, however, not the less interested in the
county.
On May 3, 1877, he married Kittie V.
Chapman, of Grand Prairie, eight miles
south of Kennett. She is the daughter of
Mrs. W. H. Helm, who was born at Hickman
in Kentucky and came to ^lissouri as ilrs.
Chapman in 1852 and soon afterward she
married W. H. Helm, a native of Tennessee,
who came to Missouri from Arkansas dur-
ing the war. Kittie V., now Mrs. Bragg,
was only an infant when her mother
brought her to Missouri. At that time Ken-
nett had very few people, so that ilrs. Helm
and her daughter are among the oldest resi-
dents of Dunklin county. Mrs. Helm saw
the country in its primitive condition and
has watched its progress with the deepest
interest. Sidney Douglas, well known in
Kennett, is a grand-nephew of Mrs. Helm,
his father's mother being a sister to Mrs.
Helm. Mrs. Helm has been a member of the
Church of Christ in Kennett for over fifty
years. She had the misfortune to lose her
second husband after about thirty years of
wedded life. Mr. and Mrs. William G.
Bragg have one son, William Ballard, aged
thirteen, now attending school.
Mr. Bragg can lay claim to being the old-
est male resident in Kennett, as there is not
a house standing nor a person living here
who was in Kennett when he came here in
1865. He and his wife are both members
of the Christian church, which would suffer
greatly if it did not have the help of the
Bragg family. Surely Mr. Bragg has lived
a life full of usefulness. He has kept right
on in the race of life, one of the leaders
throughout. He has not yet reached the last
goal, but has time for more efforts. He
shoAvs no sign of loss of interest in any of
the things he has always taken such an ac-
tive part in, but we believe will keep right
on to the end and will gain the reward he
so merits, the words of commendation,
"well done."
Frederick Kaths. The state of Prussia has
contributed lavishly to the strengtii of Amer-
ica and the career of Mr. Frederick Kaths is a
distinguished example of what the tireless in-
dustry, skilled workmanship and sound ,indg-
HISTORY OP SOUTHEAST MISSOURI
S15
ment as well as initiative in business, wliich
the German stock bring to this land, can ac-
complish in a country so rich in opportunitj'
as Iron county.
Mr. Kaths was born in Prussia, Germany,
October 22, 1834. His father, Herman Kaths,
was a broad-cloth weaver by trade. Both of
his parents died in Germany while Frederick
was a small child. There were nine children
in the Kaths family, one of wliom, Herman, is
still living at the age of eighty-four years.
He resides in East St. Louis and has spent
an active life devoted to mining and other
pursuits. Frederick Kaths received the com-
mon school education in Germany and learned
the trade of shoe-maker. At the age of
twenty-two, in 1856, he came to America,
landing at New Orleans. He had no funds,
but possessed the more valuable equipment of
health and ambition. He worked at his trade
of shoe-maker some ten or twelve years. He
remained in New Orleans only one year
and in April, 1857. came north to j\Iis-
souri by steamboat to Iron county, where
he had friends with whom he had been
corresponding. In Missouri he continued to
follow his trade and in 1860 started in the mer-
cantile business. The year previous, in 1859,
Mr. Kaths went from the Belleview Valley,
Missouri, with a party with ox-teams and pros-
pected and mined in Colorado, in the vicin-
ity of Pike's Peak, during the summer. He
conducted a saloon in Pilot Knob and worked
at his trade in Fredericktown. After ten
years he bought an interest in the Ironton
Manufacturing & jMilling Company and was
active in that business for several years.
Milling continued to be one of his chief enter-
prises until 1885. ^Meantime he was enter-
ing into other pursuits.
He opened a store at Graniteville in part-
nership with ]Mr. John Schwab, a man of con-
spicuous business sagacity, who died in the
summer of 1911. Mr. Kaths and Mr. Schwab
carried on the store together for several years,
and then Mr. Schwab bought out his part-
ner's interest. During this time Mr. Kaths
had bought and sold considerable land and
also engaged in the mining business for sev-
eral years. One of his recent transactions was
the sale of the land to the Epworth Methodist
Association. The tract is beautifullv located
and is about two hundred and forty-five acres
in extent. Mr. Kaths has retired from busi-
ness now and is the owner of large real estate
interests in Ironton and in Pilot Knob where
he has resided since 1860. His beautiful
home in that city, with its many improve-
ments, is not the least valuable of his many
holdings.
Like her husband, Jlrs. Kaths is a native
of Prussia. Her family came to America
three years before Mr. Kaths' arrival. Her
maiden name was Dorothy C. Romer. Her
father, Theodore Romer, was a miner at Mine
La JMotte, operating the mine on a royalty
basis. Later he removed to Pilot Knob, where
he resided until his death. Mrs. Kaths is now
about sixty-seven years old.
Six sons and three daughters were born to
Mr. and Mrs. Kaths. Two of the sons are
dead and of the four remaining three live in
Kansas. Ferdinand is engaged in the bank-
ing business at Stafford, Kansas. Frederick
W. is with the Larrabee Milling Company of
Hutchison, Kansas. This company is an im-
mense corporation and their plant at Hutch-
ison has an output of two thousand barrels a
day. Herbert A. is also engaged in banking
business, but in Turon, Kansas. William,
just older than Herbert, is in the U. S. mail
service at Little Rock, Arkansas. Frederick
W. is the only one of the sons who is mar-
ried. Of the daughters. Miss Annie resides
at the home in Pilot Knob with her parents.
Mrs. Hinsdale, nee Augusta Kaths, has her
home in Pilot Knob also. Emma, the wife
of Dr. Blanks, lives in Mexico, ]\Iissouri. Mrs.
Hinsdale has two daughters and Mrs. Blanks,
one.
Mr. Kaths is a Republican in politics. So-
cially he is a member of the Masonic lodge
of Ironton. In this ancient fraternity, he en-
joys the distinction of being probably the old-
est mason in Iron county, as he was taken into
the lodge in about 1862. Mrs. Kaths is a mem-
ber of the Lutheran church.
NoFFLiT Jones Wagster, Sr. A large pro-
portion of our population are farmers. Nofflit
J. Wagster, a successful farmer of Caruth,
was born in Hornersville, Dunklin county,
October 31. 1859. He is the son of Crit-
tenden and Kiddy (Jones) Wagster. ^Ir.
Wagster died in 1866, and his wife in 1897.
He had been a merchant and a farmer all of
his life. He was born in Tennessee and was
reared and married there, coming to Dunklin
county, ilissouri, in 1846. He and ilr. R. H.
Douglass were in the general merchandise
business at Hornersville. under the firm name
of Wagster and Douglass. Mr. C. Wagster
owned some five acres of land on the present
site of the business portion of Hornersville,
816
HISTORY OF SOUTHEAST MISSOURI
aud he was successful in his operations. He
was a Democrat and served as sheriff of Obion
county, Tennessee. Mrs. Wagster was a native
of South Carolina.
Nofflit J. was brought up on his father's
farm, going to the country school as soon
as he was old enough. He then went to
the public school at Arcadia, Iron county, Mis-
souri, for two years and to the state normal
at Cape Girardeau for one j'ear. After he
had finished his school education he went to
Denver, Colorado, where he worked in a sales
stable of Wall and Winter. He secured an
interest in the business, but at the close of one
year's work he sold out and returned home,
no better off than when he went except for
the year's experience, which was worth some-
tliing to him. He started in farming in Dunk-
lin coiTnty. buying twenty-one acres of land
on time, selling the mule out of the harness to
pay the cash deposit. His farm was on Horse
Island and at the end of four years of hard
work he bought forty-two more acres on the
same island and built a house, in which he
lived for five years, at the expiration of which
time he bought another tract of sixty acres on
credit, having paid for the rest of the land by
this time. He had at one time in all one hun-
dred and eleven acres, which he sold at a
good profit. He took his money and went to
Oklahoma, locating twenty-six miles west of
Oklahoma City, where he bought one hundred
an^ sixty acres of prairie land. After living
there for three years he sold the land for two
thousand dollars more than he paid for it.
He owned some property in El Reno, Okla-
homa, until recently when he sold. He came
back to Missouri, bought one hundred and
twenty acres of land at Caruth, January 1,
1910, and he has since that time bought an-
other twenty acres of land, the entire tract
meaning an investment of thirteen thousand
dollars. Corn and cotton are its main crops.
On ]\rav 9, 1888, soon after Mr. Wagster
cnme back from Denver, he married Elnora
Hoffman at Cotton Plant. On December 11,
1899, their dausrhter Pearl was born. She
lives at home with her father. On April 11,
1908. Pearl's mother died, and on December
11. 1910. he married Miss Melissa Miles.
]\Tr. Wagster was a member for years of the
IMethodist Er>iscopal church. Tatnm's Chapel,
on Horse Island. He also belongs to the In-
dependent Order of Odd Fellows, the Wood-
men of the World and the Rebekah Lnd^e, all
of Caruth. He is a member of the Farmers'
Union and one of its staunchest supporters.
In political belief he is a Democrat. Mr. Wag-
ster is very well liked in the county, for one
reason because he is always ready to lend a
helping hand to any one who is struggling to
make his way in life. He has had a hard time
himself, but has had no help from any one
and all that he did was through sheer hard
work. His father died when he was six years
old, so that there was no help from that source.
He has, however, always been successful, ex-
cept during the year he went to Colorado. He
had to borrow money to marry his first wife,
but has made money since that time. He is
improving his house and outbuildings and has
put up fences, now owning a very fine farm.
For the most part he grows cotton, this year
(1911) having planted cotton on over one hun-
dred acres, but he grows some corn also.
Some men who have made their way alone
are not willing to help others, they think that
what they themselves have done others can
do, but it is not so with Mr. Wagster. He is
anxious to keep others from experiencing the
difficulties he has overcome and never misses
an opportunity to help, as far as his means
will allow.
John Butler. An oculist and aurist of
high reputation and large practice. Dr. John
Butler, of Blackwell, is a stanch Missourian
by birth, education, professional training and
decided preference. Born in Salem, Dent
county, Missouri, October 18, 1863, he laid
the foundation of his education in the piiblic
schools of that place, and after graduating
from its high school he spent four years in
teaching. During the latter period he read
medicine and studied pharmacy, spending his
so-called vacations as an employe in various
drug stores. After four years of active ex-
perience in the drug business he obtained his
state certificate of pharmacy (in 1889).
The foregoing experience and study
formed a solid foundation for Dr. Butler's
medical studies and practice, and in 1890 he
was matriculated at the IMissouri Medical
College, St. Louis, but obtained his degree, in
1892, from the Beaumont Hospital and IMed-
ieal College and began practice at Oak Hill,
Crawford county. There he remained active
in professional work for the succeeding six
years ; then practiced in St. Louis until 1906,
since which year he has been a resident phy-
sician of Blacksvell, devoted to the delicate
and intricate specialties of treating affections
of the e.ye and ear.
In the prosecution of these specialties, the
HISTORY OP SOUTHEAST MISSOURI
817
Doctor has enjoyed a thorough training, both
in theory and practice. While in St. Louis
he pursued a post-graduate course of fifteen
months in the medical school of the Washing-
ton University, and for a year and a half
served upon the attending staff of the Oph-
thalmic Dispensary of that city. While Dr.
Butler makes a specialty of diagnosing and
treating diseases of the eye and ear, he is a
skilled general physician and surgeon with
a large and increasing clientele. His practice
in St. Louis was of the most encouraging na-
ture, but he was obliged to leave the larger
city on account of a chronic throat affection,
which necessitates a residence in a wooded
district of pure air and invigorating sui--
roundings ; all of these requirements are met
at Blackwell and vicinity, so that he is now
both on the highway to health, with a splendid
record behind him, and the promise of even a
brighter future. He is a thorough student,
skilled in practice, sociable, popular and a
representative citizen; specifically, also, he is
a Democrat, affiliated with the IMaccabees and
Modern Woodmen of America, and member
of the Christian church.
In 1891: Dr. Butler was married to Miss
Emma ^Ia3' Miller, of St. Louis, and the chil-
dren born to them have been Mon-is Frank-
lin, Prances Naomi, Julia ]May, Raymond
Clinton and Russell Manning Biitler.
Edward A. Rozier. Among the distinct-
ively prominent and brilliant lawyers of the
state of Missouri none is more versatile, tal-
ented or well equipped for the work of his
profession than Edward Amabel Rozier, who
maintains his home and business head-
quarters at Parmington, ^Missouri. Through-
out his career as an able attorney and well
fortified counselor he has, by reason of unim-
peachable conduct and close observance of
the unwritten code of professional ethics,
gained the admiration and respect of his fel-
low members of the bar, in addition to which
he commands a high place in the confidence
and esteem of his fellow citizens.
Edward Amabel Rozier was born at St.
Genevieve, ]\Iissouri, on the 9th of December,
1857, and he is a son of Edward A. Rozier,
Sr., who was likewise born at St, Genevieve,
the year of his nativit.v having been 1831,
The father was educated in the parochial
schools of St. Genevieve and at the "Bar-
rens" in Perrj^ille. In 1849 he made the
overland trip to California with a Darty of
enthusiastic "Porty-niners," returning east
via the Isthmus of Panama and landing in
the city of New Orleans, where he remained
lor some time, studying law under the able
preceptorship of his brother. In 1851 he re-
turned to St. Genevieve, this state, where he
initiated the active practice of his profession
and where for a time he was editor of the
Plain Dealer, an early newspaper in this
section of the countrj'. He married Miss
Lavinia Skewes and they became the parents
of two children, William Skewes Rozier, who
died at the age of twenty-six 3'ears, being at
that time a very successful lawyer, and Ed-
ward A.. Jr., the immediate subject of this
review. During his shoi-t but brilliant career
William S. Rozier made a very fine name for
himself, having become widely renowned as
an exceptionally gifted speaker. The father
was summoned to the life eternal in the year
1857, at the very early age of twenty-six
.years. Mrs. Rozier long survived her hon-
ored husband and she passed away in 1903,
at the age of sixty-six years.
To the public schools of his native place
Edward A. Rozier, of this review, is indebted
for his preliminary educational discipline,
which training was later supplemented by a
course in the University of Missouri, at
Columbia. As a young man he decided upon
the legal profession as his life work and with
that object in view he began to read law in
the office of J. B. Robbins, of Perry county,
Missouri. So rapid v.-as his progress in the
absorption and assimilation of the science of
jurisprudence that he was admitted to the
Missouri bar in 1878, at the early age of
twenty years. He immediately opened of-
fices at St. Genevieve, where he succeeded in
working up a large and representative client-
age and where on three different occasions
he was elected prosecuting attorney of St,
Genevieve county. In 1898 he was appointed
United States district attorney at St. Louis
and he served in that capacity with all of
honor and distinction for a period of four
years, at the expiration of which, in 1902, he
located at Parmington, where he has since
resided and where he is accorded recognition
as one of the leading lawyers of southeastern
Missouri. On two different occasions Mr.
Rozier was regent of the Cape Girardeau
Normal School and he has always manifested
a very deep and sincere interest in educa-
tional affairs and in the youth of the land.
He is very active and exceedingly successful
as a lawyer and in connection with his legal
work is affiliated with a number of representa-
818
HISTORY OF SOUTHEAST MISSOURI
'tive bar associations. In polities he accords
an uncompromising allegiance to the prin-
ciples and policies for which the Republican
party stands sponsor and he is unusually ac-
tive in the work of that organization in this
section of the state. In a fraternal way he
is a valued member of the local lodge of the
Knights of Pythias and he is also connected
with the Commercial Club of Farmington, of
which he is president.
On the 3d of May, 1881, Mr. Rozier was
united in marriage to Miss Anna M. Carlisle,
of St. Genevieve. To this union have been
born three children, concerning whom the
following brief data are here incorporated, —
Gladys is the wife of Paul B. Leming, of
Cape Girardeau; Carlisle is assistant county
clerk at Cape Girardeau ; and Lavinia re-
mains at home. In religious faith the family
are consistent members of the Catholic church
and they are prominent factors in connection
with the best social activities of Farmington,
where their large and attractive home is the
scene of many happy social gatherings.
Arthur 0. Conrad., If, as the sage says,
it is worthy of immortality to make two
blades of grass grow where onlj^ one grew be-
fore, surely the man who makes two bushels
of wheat grow where but one was harvested
before is to be ranked high in the roll of the
soldiers of industry. Arthur O. Conrad has
the honor of raising the record crop of wheat
in southeast Missouri. On a plot of thirteen
acres the yield was three hundred and eighty-
seven bushels. Needless to sa.v, he is one of
the successful farmers of the region.
]\Ir. Arthur Conrad is one of the twelve
children of Peter R. Conrad, and his dis-
tinguished ancestry, as well as the names of
his brothers and sisters, will be found in the
account of his father's life. Arthur was born
February 2, 1877, in Bollinger county, and
with the exception of a few years spent in
California he has remained all his life on a
farm in its borders.
In February, 1906, Mr. Conrad purchased
one hundred and ninety-three acres of land
on Whitewater creek. This was formerly the
John I. Conrad farm. Eighty acres of it are
in cultivation and the rest in timber and
pasture land. Besides his crops, Jlr. Conrad
raises some cattle, hogs and sheep. About
half a year before buying this farm, on
August 31, 1005, the marriage of Arthur
Conrad and Ida, daughter of Thomas and
Sophia Murray, was solemnized. At the
time of the wedding the Murray family were
residents of Perry county, but their home is
now in Bollinger county. There have been
four children born of this union, one of whom
died in infancy. The others are Meda Pearl,
born August 26, 1906; Myron Murray, Feb-
ruary 7, 1909; and Milton Glen, November
28, 1910.
Like the most of the Conrads, Mr. Arthur
is a member of the Presbyterian church.
Bert Sumpter. Although Bert Sumpter,
postmaster at Leadwood, is only a short way
past his majority, he has already manifested
sufficient force of character, ability and good
citizenship to entitle him to high and definite
standing in the community. He is a native
born to the great state of ^lissouri, his birth
having occurred at Lesterville, Reynolds
county. May 27, 1888. His father, Reuben V
Sumpter, who was born in the year 1847. and
who claims Iron county as the district of his
nativity is a man of honor in his commiinity
and a veteran of the Civil war. He passed his
early life upon the farm, becoming like most
farmers' sons familiar with the many phases
of seed time and harvest. Although only
about fifteen years of age when tlie first guns
were fired at Fort Sumter, he enlisted as soon
as accepted, his sympathies being with the
preservation of the integrity of the Union. He
wore the blue as a member of a IMissouri regi-
ment. When peace returned to a devastated
land, Mr. Sumpter, senior, returned to his
home and soon after married ilary J. Gog-
gins, a young woman born in Reynolds county,
Missouri, becoming his wife. To their union
six children were born, Bert, of this review,
being the eldest in order of birth. The father
and mother reside in the vicinity of Elvins
and the former is engaged in agriculture
The elder gentleman gives heart and hand to
the Republican party, to whose policies and
principles he has ever been devoted, and he
and his wife are zealous members of the
Baptist church, doing all in their power to
assist in its campaigns for righteousness. He
is a JTason and is thoroughly in sympathy
with the principles of moral and social jus-
tice and altruism for which the time-honored
frateraity stands.
Bert Sumpter spent his early life in Rev
nolds county and received his education in
the public schools provided by the same. Af-
ter finishing school he worked for a time
upon the farm and, if experience and ability
-xa injssaoons b aq pjnoo 'jqSnB joj jnnoD
HISTORY OP SOUTHEAST MISSOURI
819
ponent of the great basic industry if he so
desired. His tastes lie, however, in other di-
rections, and in 1905, he left the parental
roof-tree and came to Elvins, iMissouri, where
he secured work in the mines and continued
thus employed until 1909. In that year he
entered the post office at Elvins as assistant
postmaster, continuing until March, 1911, .
when he came to Leadwood and was assistant
postmaster here until Julj' 2i, 1911, at which
time he was appointed postmaster. He has
proved faithful and efficient.
Mr. Sumpter was happily married when on
the 2d day of January, 1910, he was united
to Prona Tucker, of Ironton, Mrs. Sumpter
being a daughter of W. D. and Cynthia
(Johnston) Tucker. The subject is a Repub-
lican and is ever ready to do all in his power
for the success of his party. He is a mem-
ber of the Baptist church and belongs to the
C. of H. Lodge.
Fayette Parsons Graves, the secretary
and a director of the Doe Run Lead Com-
pany and until recently active manager of
that important industry, is one of the best
known citizens of the lead belt. He began
his business career here over forty years ago,
as an employe in a lead plant, soon proved
his industry and executive ability, and for
many years has been one of the controlling
factors in the industries of this region.
The prosperous town of Doe Run may
properly be said to have been founded by
Mr. Graves in 1887. The fii-st log house is
yet on the site, and the old building still
stands as the first monument of civilization in
what is now one of the best towns of south-
eastern Missouri.
Mr. Graves was born in Rochester, New
York, January 17, 1849, a son of William
Henry and Julia (Parsons) Graves. "Wlien
he was a few months old he lost his mother
and twin brother, and eight years later came
the death of his father, who was salesman for
one of Rochester's seed houses. He after-
wards lived in the home of his grandmother,
then with an uncle at Burr Oak, Michigan,
and at the age of twelve went to the home of
an aunt at Hillsdale. Jlichigan. He attended
school at Burr Oak and Hillsdale, also a
private school in the latter place, and when
seventeen years old was sent to Southampton,
Massachusetts, and in 1866 entered "Williston
Seminary at Easthampton.
Being unable to continue until he com-
pleted the full course, he came west to Mis-
souri in 1868 and found his first employment
in the St. Joseph lead mines at Bonne Terre.
After two years in the mills and shops of the
company he was promoted to the position of
cashier and continued in that capacity for
over nineteen years.
In 1887 he was identified with the organ-
ization of the Doe Run Lead Company, at
which time he became a resident of Doe Run
and in charge of the works at this place. Few
employers have been more closely associated
with their men than Mr. Graves. While he
has acquired wealth and distinction, it has
been his pleasure to contribute a generous
share to the welfare and comfort of the men
at the works. The club house, with its bowl-
ing alleys, billiard and pool rooms and other
attractions, is the center of social life for this
community, and in establishing and maintain-
ing it successfully Mr. Graves has accom-
plished a work that can be mentioned with
pride. Mr. Graves has a state and national
reputation in the sport of bowling, being pro-
ficient in that game himself, but more on
account of his enthusiastic efforts ior the pro-
motion of this department of sports.
The Graves museum of minerals, ancient
vessels and arms of the orient, rare coins,
implements of the stone age, rare books and
manuscripts, and some six thousand stamps,
comprise one of the finest collections in the
United States and is one of the attractions of
southeastern Missouri Mr. Graves has spent
thirty-five years in assembling the specimens,
at great cost of labor and money. The
original collection was a box of ores which he
kept in the office at Bonne Terre in 1870. A
brick fireproof building, thirty by sixty feet,
is now the home of the collection. The choic-
est specimens have been on exhibition at all
the important world's fairs and expositions
held in this country since 1876, and the prize
awards bestowed on them would make quite a
collection of themselves. Mr. Graves was
appointed by Governor Dockerj^ as Missouri
commissioner of mines and mining at the Pan-
American exposition at Buffalo in 1901, and
also at the Charleston exposition of 1902.
Mr. Graves is a stanch Republican, and
served as postmaster at Doe Run from 1887
to 1891. He is a member of the Masonic
order and the A. 0. U. W., and his church is
the Congregational.
Mrs. Graves before her marriage was Miss
Mary E. Woodside, of Bonne Terre. Five,
children were born to them, and the two now
living are Dr. John B., of Sikeston, Missouri, '
HISTORY OF SOUTHEAST MISSOURI
and Mrs. J. V. Braham, of Cape Girardeau,
Missouri.
W. N. Cole. A citizen of Dunklin county
whose career has been long and varied and
has brought large prosperity and esteem as a
result, Mr. W. N. Cole, of Hornersville, began
life with nothing and by industry and an
ability to do things well has never had to com-
plain of fortune's treatment.
He was born in Tennessee, September 22,
1853, and in the year of 1857 the family
moved to New Madrid county, ilissouri. His
father had been a soldier of the Mexican
war. During his youth here he had very little
schooling. When he was about nineteen his
father and he moved to Howell county, Mis-
souri, his mother having died. The young
man then married, but his first wife lived
less than a year, and he and his father then
returned to New Madrid county, where he
married Miss Elizabeth Ballard. They here
had the following children: Richard, Lula
Belle, Wallace F., John, Pearl and Irene.
In 1876 he came to Dunklin county and
bought nineteen acres of land. To pay for
this he worked at twenty dollars a month,
and after he had paid for the little place and
lived on it two years he sold and then bought
one hundred and sixty acres in the wood, all
timber. This is his home farm, but in the
subsequent years his industry and manage-
ment have transformed it into one of the
best improved places in this neighborhood.
He cleared it, all but eight acres, and built
two houses and barns. A forty acres across
from this place he bought at $68.35 an acre,
and it is now worth over a hundred dollars
an acre.
In addition to farming he has been very
active in other lines of business. He is a
ditch contractor and is now engaged in the
construction of a ditch eleven and a half
miles long from the state line to Tom
Douglass', one mile west of Caruth. For
eleven years he was a licensed pilot on the
Mississippi river, and spent eleven years on
the river, eight years as pilot and master of
steam vessels. He was one of the capable
river men and he received good pay, and dur-
ing this period of his career he kept a tenant
on his farm, and in this way was able to ac-
cumulate a good property. For several years
he engaged in the construction of cotton
gins, doing this work all the way from
•Osecola, Arkansas, to Kennett, Missouri. He
put up the first modern gin at Hornersville,
for j\Ir. A. J. Langdon. An excellent me-
chanic, he has turned his skill to profit and
service in many waj's.
Mr. Cole served as a member of the county
court four years, being appointed by the gov-
ernor at fii'st to serve an unexpired term.
During this time he was one of the members
that organized the St. Francis Levee district,
and two thousand dollars was appropriated
to remove the drift from the river, a work
that was so far successful as to make the river
navigable. Fraternally ilr. Cole is affiliated
with the Independent Order of Odd Fellows
at Hornersville, the Elks at Paragould, the
Knights of Pythias and the ilasonic lodge
at Cardwell.
Syenite Granite Cohpany. A gigantic
industrial concern that has proved of more
than local value to the community of Gran-
iteville and Iron county at large, the Syenite
Granite Company has greatly promoted the
commercial activity of the entire state of
Missouri. This company leases some twelve
hundred acres of land in the northern part
of Iron county, where it operates the Syenite
red granite ciuarries, its product being prac-
tically the same as the old Egj'ptian s.veuite
granite, suitable for window sills, massive
columns, monuments, etc. The company was
incorporated under the laws of the state of
Missouri in 1882, the leading spirits in the
movement being W. R. Allen, E. M. Smith
and T. F. Walsh. At that early day the
quarries at Syenite, in St. Francois county.
Missouri, had already been opened and for
the succeeding ten or twelve years they were
operated by this company. At the expira-
tion of that period, in 1882, removal was
made to Graniteville, where the United
States government was already engaged in
the production of granite for public build-
ings, its plant being in charge of P. W.
Schneider, who later removed to a quarry
one mile north of Graniteville. This lease
is owned by the operators of the old Iron
Mountain Mine. The narrow gauge railroad
has been replaced by the present standard
gauge railroad, connected with the Iron
Mountain line at Middlebrook, Missouri, thus
giving ample facilities for the transportation
of products. The plant is fully equipped
with up-to-date machinery, immense travel-
ing crane, compressed air tools, etc.. for cut-
ting and polishing the granite. Some sixty
skilled men and about twenty other workmen
are employed at the present time, in 1911.
Formerly some fifteen hundred men were
HISTORY OF SOUTHEAST MISSOURI
employed, but this was in the days before
the introduction of cheaper stone, when pav-
ing was done with this quality granite. The
Syenite Granite Company is capitalized with
a capital stock of three hundred thousand
dollars, fully paid up and the official corps
is as follows : W. R. Allen, president ; T. P.
Walsh, vice-president and treasurer; and H.
W. Allen, secretary. In connection with its
quarries the Company conducts a large gen-
eral store at Graniteville.
Concerning the tensile strength of the
granite produced by this company the fol-
lowing letter from J. B. Johnson, professor
of civil engineering at Washington Univer-
sity, St. Louis, is here incorporated, the same
having been written June 14, 1895.
' ' Referring to j'our letter of incpiiry of the
13th, I am pleased to inform you that the
two specimens of granite which you sent me
were ground down by me on their top and
bottom faces to true parallel planes, leaving
prisms, which were 3.85 square inches and
3.78 square inches in area respectively.
These specimens broke, the former at 93,100
pounds or 24,200 pounds per square inch,
and the latter at 95,700 pounds, or 26,400
pounds per square inch.
"These results are higher than I can find
on record for granite, and the tests were
made also on prisms about twice as high as
they were in lateral dimension. In other
words, the prisms were about four inches
high, and about two inches square.
"From the law of the variation of crush-
ing strength with height of specimen, I would
infer that if these specimens had been
tested in a cubical form, and prepared in a
similar manner, their strength would have
been something over 27,000 and 29,000
pounds per square inch respectively."
Signed, J. B. Johnson.
The granite from the quarries of the Syen-
ite Granite Company has been used exten-
sively and gives universal satisfaction. It
has been used and may be seen in prominent
buildings in nearly every large city in the
United States and it has been found pecu-
liarly adaptable for monumental purposes.
William R. Allen, Jr., who has been active-
ly connected with the work and management
of the Company during practically his en-
tire active career, is a native of the city of
St. Louis but he has resided at Graniteville
for the past thirteen years! In addition to
his other interests he is postmaster at Gran-
iteville, where he is honored and respected
as a man of unusual loyalty and public spirit.
He was born on the 15th of June, 1878, and
is a son of William R. Allen, president of
the Syenite Granite Company. The father
was born in St. Louis, in 1S47, and is a son
of the Hon. Thomas Allen, who constructed
the Iron ^Mountain Railroad and the South-
ern Hotel, at St. Lovus. Thomas Allen mar-
ried iliss Ann Clementine Russell, of Belle-
view, Missouri, and they reared a large
family of children at St. Louis. He was not
interested in the Syenite Granite Company
but promoted a number of other important
business enterprises in St. Louis and in 1880-
82 represented the St. Louis district of Mis-
souri in the United States Congress, his death
having occurred at Washiugton, D. C., in
1882. He also served with the utmost ef-
ficiency as state senator in the Missouri legis-
lature and in 1858 he founded the Allen, Copp
& Nesbit Banking House at St. Louis. Wil-
liam R. Allen, Sr., is owner of the Allen farm,
at Pittsfield. Massachusetts, where he has
maintained his home since 1882. In addition
to being president of the granite company
mentioned in this review he is also president
of the Southern Hotel Company. He married
Miss Louise B. Woodward, a native of St.
Louis and a scion of an old and honored Con-
necticut family.
The third in order of birth of the four
children born to Mr. and Mrs. William R.
Allen, Sr., William R. Allen, Jr., has one
brother living at the present time, in 1911,
namely, — Henry W., who is secretary of the
Syenite Granite Company and who resides
at St. Louis, where he is lawyer and counsel
for the Guarantee Title & Trust Company.
William R. Allen, Jr., was educated in the
east, where he attended the Massachusetts
Institute of Technology, commonly known as
the "Boston Tech." Since 1903 he has been
the postmaster at Graniteville. At St. Louis,
in 1905, was solemnized his marriage to iliss
Florence York, a native of St. Louis. Mr.
and Mrs. Allen have two sons, F. York and
W. R., third.
Claude E. Abshier, editor and proprietor
of the Desloge Sun, is one of the most enter-
prising newspaper men of Southeast Mis-
souri. Since the paper came under his own-
ership in 1907 it has improved in all the fea-
tures which mark a first-class local journal,
and in the last two years its circulation has
trebled, which is the best indication of the
value of a newspaper's existence. Mr. Abshier
HISTORY OF SOUTHEAST MISSOURI
is a practical printer and all-around news-
paper man, and entered the business when
a boy. He is a member of the Press Asso-
ciation of ilissouri.
He was born in Spencer county, Indiana,
October 31. 1873. His father, Alfred Abshier,
was born in Illinois in 1848. accompanied the
family to Indiana, where he grew to man-
hood, and at the age of eighteen enlisted in
tlie Tenth Regiment Indiana Vohmteer Cav-
ahy, January IS, 1S64, for service in the Civil
war. He was mustered out at Evansville,
Indiana, May 25, 1865. Previous to this he
had acquired a good literary education and
had studied medicine, and after the war he
engaged in practice in Indiana. In 1873 he
moved to Scott county, Missouri, wdiere his
time was divided between the practice of
medicine, teaching school and farming. He
took up a homestead and was employed in
developing it for ten years. In 1886, after
having returned to Indiana and resided at
Booneville, he moved his family to Florida,
where he still resides. He has a good prac-
tice and is secretary of the Welaka Board of
Trade. He is a Republican in politics and a
member of the Grand Army of the Republic,
and of the Christian church. At the close
of the war he was married to Miss Nancy
Ray, of Spencer county. Her death occurred
in 190i, and in 1905 he was again mar-
ried. By his first marriage ten children were
born, five sons and five daughters, Claude
being the second living child.
Claude E. Abshier 's early life was spent
in Southeast Missouri, in Scott county, where
he attended the local schools, and during
1884 he attended school in Booneville, Spen-
cer county, Indiana. In 1886, when the
family moved to Florida, he apprenticed
himself to the printer's trade, and was em-
ployed for a time on the Belleview (Florida)
Blade, and later with the establishment of
Ogden Brothers & Company of Knoxville,
Tennessee. Returning to Florida in 1895, he
began the publication of the Belleview Xeivs-
Letfer. which he condiicted two years. For
six years he was engaged in farming in
Spencer county. Indiana, and in 1907 came
to the lead belt of Missouri and bought the
Desloge Sun. He conducts this as an inde-
pendent paper, and has made it an organ of
influence and of news.
In 1901 Mr. Abshier was married in
Spencer county to I\Iiss Delta Belle Haynes,
a daughter of T. K. Haynes, a prosperous
farmer of that locality. They are the parents
of three children: Oscar Mason, deceased;
Thomas Gurley, and Gladys Pauline.
B. N. Vaedell. One of the very success-
ful men of Dunklin county who began here
when the countrj' was a wilderness and whose
only capital was personal integrity and in-
dustry is ^Ir. B. N. Vardell, near Senath.
Born in Tennessee August 13, 1851, and
reared there, but deprived of any consider-
able schooling by the war, he came alone to
Dunklin county in 1874, and had neither
money nor friends. In the course of years
he has acquired both, and along with it the
respect of all who have watched the industry
and good management which he has dis-
played.
During the first year he worked on the
farm of J. C. McClane, and then bought from
his employer forty acres for three hundred
dollars. It was partly improved and he lived
on it for a time and sold it, and with the
proceeds bought another forty that is part of
his present estate. He built him a home and
lived there for about ten years. In 1876 he
married jMiss Almira Horner, of one of the
old families of this county. She owned in
all one hundred and sixty acres, and from
their joint possessions and subsequent good
management they have gained a position
among the well-to-do people of the county.
Some of the land which he bought from time
to time is now worth thirty-five times what
he gave for it. In 1897 he moved to his
present residence, this being the second home
he has built. He and his wife now own three
hundred and twenty acres, well improved
and highly cultivated. He himself farms only
about one hundred acres, and the rest is
worked by tenants, there being four tenant
houses on his farm. In the early days while
he and his ^^^fe were gradually getting ahead,
times were hard and prices of supplies very
high in proportion to what they got for their
crops. For a number of years the nearest
railroad point was ]Malden, forty miles away,
and in those days they had flour bread but
once a week.
In politics he is a Democrat and he and his
family are ^Methodists. The children are as
follows : Drew, a resident of Dunklin county ;
Benjamin, a farmer of Dunklin county;
Amanda, at home ; Floyd and Virgil, at home.
John I. Marsh.4ll. Though only forty-
five years old, l\Ir. J. I. Marshall has a record
of seventeen years of public service in Iron
W. F. SHELTON, SR.
HISTORY OF SOUTHEAST IMISSOURI
coimty. His father, Benjamin J\I. Marshall,
was born near New York city, but came to
St. Francois county when a young man and
followed farming there until his death, in
1887. His mother, :\Iary (Wood) Marshall,
is a native of Tennessee, from which state she
came with her parents to St. Francois county
when only one year old. She is now eighty-
three years old and still a citizen of ^lissouri.
John I. Marshall was born November 8,
1866, in St. Francois county, and was one of
twelve children, of whom four are still living :
Nannie E. (Sills), of College City, Cali-
fornia; Sarah (Cook), of St. Louis; W. P.,
of Los Angeles, California; and the present
sheriff of Iron county.
Mr. Marshall has lived in Ironton since he
was ten years of age. He attended the public
schools of this city, and was later city mar-
shal. For ten years he served as deputy
sheriff, and when sheriff Polk was killed in
1905 he was selected to fill out the term and
he has been twice elected to the office. He
has four deputies : D. B. Blanton and George
W. Marshall of Ironton ; A. L. Daniels of Des
Arc ; and W. E. Westerman, of the western
part of the county. On the 30th of :\Iay, 1905,
Sheriff' ^Marshall headed the posse which cap-
tured the Spaugh Brothers, who had shortly
before murdered Sheriff John AY. Polk. The
Spaugh Brothers ai-e now serving life sen-
tences at the penitentiary at Jefferson City.
Mr. IMarshall's political allegiance belongs
to the Democratic party. His religious pref-
erence is for the church of which his vener-
able mother is still an active member, the
Methodist. He is a member of the Knights
of Pythias lodge of Ironton, and also of the
Modern Woodmen of America.
Wells R. Harket. A worthy represen-
tatative of an honored pioneer of Dunklin
county, and a highly prosperous agricul-
turist of the town of Senath, W. R. Harkey
has been actively identified with the develop-
ment and advancement of the farming inter-
ests of this part of ]\Iissouri. He was born
April 2, 1865, on a Dunklin county farm,
and was educated in the Harkey school. His
mother died when he was a lad of twelve
years, but his father married for his second
wife a woman who proved an admirable step-
mother, and he continued his residence under
the parental roof-tree until after attaining
his majority.
When ready to establish himself in a home
of his own Mr. Harkey bought forty acres
of land, borrowing the money for which to
pay for it, and by dint of hard labor suc-
ceeded in improving a good farm from the
forest. He erected a comfortable dwelling
house, and put up other necessary farm
buildings. At the end of eight years he had
paid off the indebtedness on that tract of
land, and later sold it at an advance. At the
death of his father, in 1887, Harkey bought
out the interests of the remaining nine heirs
in the old home farm in Senath, and has now
a fine farm of one hundred and ninety-eight
acres. During the years that he has occupied
this place he has greatly improved the prop-
erty, having entirely renovated the buildings,
putting up new wherever necessary, and
placed the land in a good yielding condition,
his homestead being now one of the most at-
tractive and valuable in the vicinity, the land
being worth fully one hundred and twenty-
five dollars an acre. He has a well-bearing
peach orchard, and a good apple orchard,
and raises some small fruits and berries. He
raises some stock, which he sells to local buy-
ers, raising about seventy-five hogs a year,
and handling some mules.
Mr. Harkey is a Democrat in polities, and
fraternally is a member of Senath Lodge,
Modern Woodmen of America. He is a
Methodist in religion, attending Harkey 's
Chapel, which was named in memory of his
father. He like^\•ise belongs to the Farmers'
Union, which owns a grist mill and cotton gin
in Senath, and in these he is a stockholder.
Mr. Harkey has been three times married.
He married first, at Nesbit, Dunklin county,
Alice Strauther, who lived but five years
after their marriage. Three children were
bom to them, namely : William F., a resident
of Arkansas, married Mary Mautsanger;
Bertie; and a child that died in infancy. By
his second wife, whose maiden name was Ella
Dean, Mr. Harkey has one child, who lived
but six months. Mr. Harkey married for his
third wife, in 1894, Eva IBishop, who was
bom in Arkansas in 1875, and of their union
eight children have been born, namely: Hu-
bert (who assists his father in the care of the
farm), Lillian, Lena, Charles W., Cleva B.,
Walton, Bishop and Paul.
W. F. Shelton. In the death of W. F.
Shelton, Dunklin county lost its foremost citi-
zen, its wealthiest one and thousands have lost
a friend who can with difficulty be replaced.
82-4
HISTORY OP SOUTHEAST MISSOURI
He was broad minded, liberal, charitable and
at all times just. He carved out liis owu
career aud he was a skiiilul sculptor.
William "Prauklm tiheltou was born in
Ferry county, Tennessee, July 5, lii'dti. His
pai-ents, iinoch and Tabitlia (BrownJ Shel-
ton, were of North Carolina birth and in Ibic!
they moved to Uape Girardeau county and
after a few years moved to JJunklin county,
near Kennett, where both of them died, he in
Iti-iti, two years after they moved to Dunklm
county. Mr. and Mrs. Enoch Shelton had six
children, William F., John, Garvis and
Joseph, a little girl who died ui infancy and
Mary Jane, who married Mr. ]\lcMullin, of
Water Valley. She died in 1909. WiUiam
Franklin Shelton was only ten years old when
his father died and from that time he began
to work on a farm, attending school for four
mouths in the winter. He worked as a cotton
picker, as a farm hand, as a trapper and
laborer, anything that he could get to earn a
little money he tried. In the fifties he made
a trip to Pike's Peak and spent some time in
the Indian Territory. He made his head-
quarters with the late Captain Marsh, going
there when he was not working at too gi'eat a
distance. When the Civil war broke out W^il-
liam was one of the first to volunteer his serv-
ices to the Confederate army. He was a mem-
ber of General Jackson's militia and of Com-
pany D, Walker's Missouri Infantry for less
than a year. After the war was ended he
came back to Captain Marsh's and he then be-
gan to seU goods. His first business venture
was as a merchant with a small stock of
goods bought with the proceeds of a tract of
land which Captain ]Marsh had given him.
He put his goods into a building which he had
moved from east of where the Frisco depot
now stands to the north side of the square,
near the Shelton and Ward store of to-day.
Later he had a store where bis office was
afterward located until his death. Then he
bad his store on the opera house corner and
again at the location of the present Shelton
store. At one time, in 1876. he was a partner
of James' P. Walker in tlif mercantile business
at Dexter. It would be iiui>iissilile to name
the many enterprises with wliicli .Mr. Shelton
was connected — gins, mills and other ventures.
He had wonderful business and executive
ability and was always sself possessed, though
quiet in his speech. He had not had the ad-
vantage of much .schooling but he was a great
reader and had a most wonderfully clear and
retentive mind, rarely forgetting anything he
read. For forty years he made money and
loaned it successfully, but those who knew him
best say that he did not accumulate nearly as
much as he might have done if he had been
less tender hearted. He would trust any man
once and if he proved honest there was no
limit to his confidence. He was never known
to harass or deal unjustly with a debtor. He
was not a member of any church, but he was
none the less a Christian man, as is evidenced
by his charity. Pie gave freely and without
show, so that none but the recipients of his
deeds of kindness ever knew of his charitable
acts. He left an estate worth close to three
quarters of a million dollars, most of the
amount going to his two nephews, W. F.,
Junior, and Lee, sons of Mr. Shelton 's brother
Joseph. He was a partner in the W. F. Shel-
ton Junior Store Company, in the firm of
Shelton and Ward and the Kennett Furniture
Company, besides being a stockholder in
various companies. He was president of the
Dunklin County Publishing Company, the
owners of the Dunklin Democrat. He owned
a number of business houses and dwellings in
Kennett and also large tracts of farm lands
in the county. At the time of his death, Feb-
ruary 11, 1908, he was the oldest merchant in
Kennett and Dunklin county. He was a
Democrat and a leader in political affairs,
doing everything he could for the advance-
ment of his county. He was county treasurer
for eight years and was chairman of the
Democratic Central Committee. It hardly
seems possible for anything to have added to
the usefulness of Mr. Shelton, but it may be
that if he had married his life would have
been more complete. He was not, however,
like the old bachelor is usually depicted ; he
thought of himself last and of those in need
at all times. There are many who can testify
to the help that Mr. Shelton was to them.
Three years ha.ve elapsed since his death, but
his place is not yet filled by any one man, nor
will the gap he left ever be entirely filled
while those who knew and loved him live.
At the same time his namesake, W. F.
Shelton Junior, is doing all that it is possible
to follow in his uncle's footsteps and has in
addition made tracks of his own. He was born
in Kennett, November 24, 1870. His parents
were Joseph and Mary Jane (Hamilton)
Shelton, both natives of Tennessee, coming to
Dunklin county before the war. Joseph was
a farmer and died when he was forty-five
years old.
W. F. Shelton was brought up on his
HISTORY OF SOUTHEAST MISSOURI
825
father's farm and attended school at the
Bellevue Collegiate Institute at Caledonia,
Missouri, then taking a business course in St.
Louis. When he was only eighteen he entered
his uncle's office, remaining with him until
1892, since when he has made good for himself,
although his uncle always took the most af-
fectionate interest in his doings. Mr. Shelton
is a member of the W. F. Shelton Junior
Store Company of Kennett, a business which
had been established by his uncle soon after
the Civil war. Since its first start the name
had changed from T. E. Baldwin and Com-
pany to R. E. Sexton and Company and later
to W. F. Shelton Junior and Company in 1892,
being changed in January, 1908, to W. F.
Shelton Junior Store Company, and being in-
corporated with a capital of twenty-five thou-
sand dollars. The business has grown greatly
during the last sixteen years, during Mr.
Shelton 's connection with it. They do an an-
nual business of about one hundred thousand
dollars, general merchandise sales. The Com-
pany owns the building in which they do busi-
ness, a structure forty-two by one hundred
and thirty-two feet, two stories high. They
carry a line of dry goods, gi-oceries, millinery,
hats, caps, ladies' suits, clothing, etc. They
employ fourteen salesmen. Mr. Shelton is
also a stockholder in the Shelton Ward Hard-
ware Company of Kennett, the owners being
W. J. Ward, W. F. Shelton and Lee Shelton.
It was founded about 1897 by W. F. Shelton,
W. F. Shelton Junior and W. J. Ward and
was incorporated January, 1908, with a cap-
ital of fifteen thousand dollars. Mr. Shelton
has for years been a director of the Bank of
Kennett, organized by his uncle. For the past
five years he has been the president of this
bank. In addition to his commercial inter-
ests. Mr. Shelton is farming two thousand
acres of land in Dunklin county and Greene
county. Arkansas.
In " October, 1908, Mr. Shelton married
Edith Jeannin, one of the most popiilar young
ladies in the county. She was born in Cape
Girardeau and brought up in Florida. No
children have as yet been bom to the union.
As the wife of Mr. Shelton, she has by no
means lost anv of her charm nor her sweet
personality. She is loved by all who know
her not for the sake of her husband's posi-
tions, but for her own self.
Mr. Shelton is a voung man still and has
many years of usefulness before him, it is to
be hoped and expected. The name of W. F.
Shelton will ever be loved in Kennett, first
because Mr. Shelton 's iincle bore it, but sec-
ondly because the present owner is endearing
it to the people. He is Hviug a life worthy
of the name, than which no higher encomium
could be given. He is the worthy nephew of
a worthy uncle, a successful business man in
a prosperous city and a helper to his fellow
men.
Thomas Higginbotham. AVashington coun-
ty presents no more stanch nor interesting
character than Judge Thomas Pligginbotham
who at his country home near Blackwell is
engaged in the wise management of his agri-
cultural property and the quiet pursuits of a
scholar. His varied experience, his wide
reading and his able practice in the law and
on the bench has stored his mind with a
great fund of knowledge, freighted with ad-
venture, keen observations and gleanings
from the world's literature. Having fully
earned retirement from the storm and stress
of life, although well along towards patriar-
chial age, he still possesses that sturdiness
of manhood and vital interest in the affairs
of this good world that save him from sloth
either of body or of mind. His old and pic-
turesque homestead, with its quaint flower
gardens and mounds thrown up by prehis-
toric builders, as well as its fine evidences
of modern thrift and taste, is a fitting ma-
terial manifestation of a strong and broad
character which is rooted in the past, but
still leaves and blossoms in the present.
Judge Higginbotham is a native of Wash-
ington county, Missouri, where he was born
on the 15th of November, 1835. His father,
G. W. Higginbotham, also a native of that
section of the state, was one of the pioneer
fai-mers and lead miners of southeast Mis-
souri. Without waiting for a large bank
account (as it was not the style of those
days), he wedded ]\Iiss Helen Turley, by
whom he had eight children, as follows: Bur-
ris and Nellzenie, both deceased; Thomas,
of this review; Alzoinie (Mrs. Engledow),
a widow; Z. F. and L. B. also deceased;
Crews and Miranda, the last named
having passed away. The father of this
family met a violent death at the hands of
robbers, in May, 1863, and the mother died
in 1867.
The son's early manhood was spent in the
log schoolhouse of his home neighborhood,
assisting his father in the cultivation of the
farm and the handling of his live stock. In
his youth and young manhood he was em-
826
HISTORY OF SOUTHEAST MISSOURI
ployed in the construction of the Iron iloun-
tain railroad and in the mining of lead. He
began the study of law in 1870, and in the
same year was elected to the probate bench,
upon which he sat for six years. At the con-
clusion of his term he commenced to raise
stock, at one time having a large contract
with the government in that line.
Judge Higginbotham "s homestead is not
onl.v quaint and picturesque, but historic.
His large and striking residence is of ante-
bellum architecture, and his father bought
the property of Jack T. Smith, a noted fighter
of the early days, who claimed his title from
an old Spanish grant. This tract bearing
such interesting evidences of prehistoric
builders was purchased by his wife's grand-
father, and was also originally included in
one of the noted Spanish grants with which
this section of the country is so plentifullj'
plastered. It was this circumstance that
aroused the Judge's interest in antiquarian
studies and eventuated in such large and
complete collection that it justly may be
termed a museum of antiquities.
The tract of land from which have been
chiefly unearthed these valuable and inter-
esting relics is known as Boat Yard Farm,
and lies at the forks of the Mineral Ford and
Big rivers. It derives its name from the fact
that in early times many river boats were
built at this point. The locality carries the
student of American history back for some
two centuries, but concerns the antiquarian
as the depository of mastodon bones and a
favorite locality of the mound builders.
In 1S73 Judge Higginbotham was united
in marriage with Mi.ss Cai-oline ^Madden, a
native of his own Washington county. The
only child of their marriage, Lottie, is de-
ceased. He is a Democrat in politics and a
Mason fraternally, having joined the order in
1873. ilrs. Higginbotham is a member of tlie
Catholic church. Both the Judge and ilrs.
Higginbotham are sociable and charming en-
tertainers and their unique and beautiful
home is the center of much enjoyment and
cultured hospitality.
Ben ROGEE.S Downing, M. D. One of the
greatest of the English poets has declared,
"A wise physician, skill'd our wounds to
heal.
Is more than armies to the public weal."
As such must be reckoned Dr. Ben Rogers
Downing, who is one of the able and enlight-
ened physicians and. surgeons of Saint Fran-
cois county. He is a native of the state, his
birth having occurred at Memphis, Scotland
county, Missouri, October 28, 1874. His
father, "William G. Downing, was born in
Virginia in the year 1820, and after obtain-
ing a country school education he came with
his parents to Scotland county, Missouri, and
there the town of Downing was named in
honor of the family. The elder gentleman
engaged in the general mercantile business
up to the time of the beginning of the Civil
war, but although he was strongly Confeder-
ate in sentiment, he could not enlist in the
support of the cause he believed to be just,
owing to the fact that he was a cripple, his
arm being stiff from a fracture of earlier
days. After the termination of the war, he
went to St. Louis and there engaged in the
wholesale grocery business, continuing thus
profitably occupied for a number of years
and subsequently going into the commission
business. He was the possessor of valuable
farming interests in Dakota and he came to
be a man of no inconsiderable wealth. In
188-1 he was elected railroad commissioner
of the state of Missouri, an office he held for
six years. At the close of his tenure of office,
he retired and lived free from the active re-
sponsibilities of life up to the time of his
demise in 1902. He married ilary A. Jones,
born in 1834 in Quincy. Illinois, a daugh-
ter of William A. Jones, United States mar-
shal for the western district of Jlissouri.
They were married in 1849, and to this union
the following nine children were born : James
Logan; William Green; Milton, Tom and
Charles, deceased; Smith; May, now Mrs.
John B. Breathitt; Minnie, wife of Samuel
P. Griffith ; and the subject, who is the
youngest in order of birth, ilr. Do'ivning
was a Democrat in politics and a member of
the Christian church. He was a slave owner
and a strong supporter of the Confederacy.
Dr. Ben R. Downing received his education
in the public schools and in Jefferson City
and St. Louis, in the latter city attending
the Christian Brothers College. His attend-
ance at the institution named was of six
years' duration. Dr. Downing liad in the
meantime come to a decision as to his profes-
sion, and after finishing his general educa-
tion he matriculated in the Marion Sims
Medical College, now a part of the St. Louis
University, and was graduated in 1896, with
the degree of M. D. Since that time he has
practiced at Doe Run and at Farmington,
HISTORY OF SOUTHEAST illSSOURI
827
being at the latter place at the present, and
he is a member of the County and State
Medical Associations.
On the 9th of February, 1899, Dr. Down-
ing laid the foundation of a happy house-
hold and congenial life companionship by his
marriage to ^liss Nellie Alexander, daughter
of J. C. Alexander, of Farmington. Three
promising children have been born to bless
their union, namely: William Alexander,
William Greene and Clara Abigail. In re-
ligious conviction Dr. Downing is Methodist
Episcopal; fraternally he is a member of the
ancient and august Masonic lodge; and in
the matter of politics he is Republican, ever
giving heart and baud to the policies and
principles of the ' ' Grand Old Party. ' '
Henry E. Bollinger was born August 20,
1863. His pedigree is as follows: Son of
Daniel Bollinger, the son of Philip, the son
'of Henry B., the son of Henry, the founder
of the family in North Carolina. Henry of
this sketch lived with his mother, Polly Ann
Bollinger, until her death, in 1901, at the age
of seventy-seven. She deeded the farm of
three hundred and sixty acres upon which
Henry E. now resides to its present owner
before her death. Along with the land he
also acquired considerable live stock.
Mr. Henry E. Bollinger was married in
1892 to Emma Bollinger, born in this
county some eighteen years before her
wedding. She is a daughter of Henry
A. Bollinger, who is now managing H. E.
Bollinger's farm. The latter sustained a
serious in.iurs- in 1904, which has incapaci-
tated him for heavy farm labor and since that
time his father-in-law has relieved him of the
management of the place.
The Bollinger family tree shows Henry A.
to be a descendant also of that Henry who im-
migrated from Switzerland to America in
1732, landing at Philadelphia, whence Henry
B. migrated to North Carolina as mentioned
above. Henry A. was born Jul.v 3, 1849, in
the county of his name. He was one of a
number of children, Joseph, Barbara. Eliza,
Elizabeth, Aaron, Sallie (Green), Susan
(Cook), and Polly Ann (Green). Wlien
twent.v-two years of age he married and lo-
cated on a portion of his father's farm on
Little Whitewater creek. He resided there
until March, 1898. when he moved to his
present place of residence. He was married
in 1871 to Mary T. Canneyt, a native of Bel-
gium. They have the following children
living: Emma, Charles F., Sarah, Philip,
Orleana, Grover, Amon, Joseph, Kye and
Robert. The entire acreage which Mr. Bol-
linger cultivates is over two hundred.
Emma, daughter of H. A. and wife of H.
E. Bollinger, has two children: Zettie, born
in 1894, and Charles, three years later, both
children's birthdays occurring in November.
The family are members of the Christian
church.
Francis Marion Carter. A brilliant and
veteran member of the bar of Saint Francois
county is Francis Marion Carter, city at-
torney of Farmington, who has been engaged
in the active practice of the law in this "city
since 1869, a period of more than forty years.
He is a man who has held many honorable
and responsible offices and held them in a
remarkably commendable manner, and in
glancing over his career it is discovered that
he has filled the position of superintendent
of the public schools, prosecuting attorney
for four terms, public administrator and state
representative in the Thirty-third General
Assembly. It is indeed appropriate that in
a work of this nature a man of such profes-
sional prestige and fine citizenship should be
represented, particularly when he belongs
to an old family in the state. For indeed
Zimri A. Carter, father of the Hon. Mr.
Carter, was one of Missouri's pioneer settlers.
Francis ]\Iarion Carter was born November
28, 1839, in Ripley county, ilissouri. His
father, Zimri A. Carter, was born about the
year 1796, in South Carolina, and came to
this state at the age of eighteen years with his
father, Benjamin Carter. These hopeful
pioneers located first in Warren county and
then came to Wayne county, where they very
successfully followed the vocation of farming
and stock-raising. In that count.v the father
met and married Clementine Chilton, a young
woman living in the locality but a native of
eastern Tennessee. To their union was bom
a family of true pioneer proportions, for fif-
teen sons and daughters were their portion,
JMr. Carter, of this review and a twin, being
the eleventh in order of birth. The father
passed away in 1870, and the faithful wife
and mother survived him only until 1871. The
politics of the elder man were Democratic
and he was one to be deeply interested in the
many-sided life of his community.
P. M. Carter, immediate subject, spent
his earl.y life upon the farm and early became
acquainted with the great basic industry in
HISTORY OF SOUTHEAST MISSOURI
all its workings. After securing such ad-
vantages in the way of education as were
offered by the district schools, it became the
young fellow's ambition to gain a higher
education, and in proof of the old adage that
"where there's a will, there's a way," he
matriculated in Arcadia College : then in the
University of Missouri; and took the degree
of A. B. from the University of North Caro-
lina in the year 1862. With the passage of
the j^ears he had fully decided to adopt the
profession of law as his own and he pursued
his studies under John F. Bush and his
brother, Judge William Carter, being ad-
mitted to the bar in 1869. Ever since that
time, as previously noted, he has been engaged
in the practice of law at Farmington, and
here many honors have come to him. These
have been in part enumerated and give in
themselves an idea of his ability and the
trust in which he is held by those who know
him best. He is now city attorney of Farm-
ington and is engaged in the active practice
of the profession to which he is so undeniably
an ornament. He is a Democrat of the sound-
est and most stalwart type and holds high
place in party councils.
I\Ir. Carter's wife previous to her marriage
was Miss Maria A. McAnally, daughter of
Dr. D. R. McAnally, of St. Louis, and their
union was solemnized June 20, 1877, at South
St. Louis, Missouri. They share their cul-
tured and delightful home with the following
five children : Amy M., Russell. William Pres-
ton, Francis Floyd and Helen B. The family
is affiliated with the Methodist Episcopal
church, South.
Edwin L. Tinnin, who was born on the
place where he now resides, near Horners-
ville, March 18, 1872, is one of the prosper-
ous citizens of Dunklin county whose early
life was spent among the pioneer conditions
that once prevailed in this part of Missouri,
and who has been a factor in promoting the
work of development and has been rewarded
with a fair share of the general prosperity
which now rests on this region.
His father was Z. P. Tinnin, who died in
1887, at the age of seventy-five. He was a
former resident of Madison county, Missouri,
and in 18.W located on Big Lake Island. ]\ris-
sissippi county, Arkansas, but some two or
three years later secured a farm near the
state line. Finally he settled about two miles
south of Homersville and spent the rest of
his active life in farming there, excepting
two years spent in Texas. He was married
three times, and the mother of E. L. was his
third wife. Her maiden name was ilissouri
Taylor, and she was born in Stoddard county
^Missouri, but lived in Mississippi county
Arkansas, from the age of eighteen until her
marriage to James H. Bunch, when they
removed to Dunklin county, Missouri. After
Mr. Bunch's death she married Mr. Z. P.
Tinnin, in 1870. She then resided at the home
in Dunklin county, Missouri, until her death
in 1902, at the age of sixty-six, excepting the
two years spent in Texas. She had lived in
this count.y when the Indians were still about,
before the general departure of the tribes for
the west.
JMr. Edwin L. Tinnin is next to the young-
est of the three families of children of his
father's three iinions. His only full sister,
Emma, died when three months old. He had
seventeen half brothers and half sisters, of
whom but three half sisters are living; Betsy
Ann (Henson), of Madison county, ^Missouri ;
Victoria (Roach), of Dunklin county, Mis-
souri; and Catherine (Rhodes), of Missis-
sippi county, Arkansas.
The old homestead where Mr. Tinnin was
born and where he still lives was the prop-
erty of his mother's first husband. His
father died when he was fifteen years old, he
being the youngest of the four children left
in the mother's care. He had no school ad-
vantages, and has won his success through
his own efforts. In 1891 he married at Hor-
nersville. Miss Lueta Fleeman. who died in
1895, at the age of twenty-four, the mother
of three children; ]Mollie, born in 1893, and
Maude, born in 1896. both now living at home,
and James, who died in infancy. ]\Ir. Tinnin
in 1897 married Janetta Lee Grable. daughter
of Jonathan P. and Mary (Crites) Grable, and
who was born in Cape Girardeau county,
Missouri, September 1, 1879. Two of their
children, William and Edwin, Jr., died at
six weeks and nine months, respectively, and
the others at home are Omega, Robert, Mc-
Kinnis and Hazel. Mrs. E. L. Tinnin 's par-
ents, J. P. and Mary Grable. were natives
respectively of Indiana and of Wayne coun-
ty, Missouri. Both are deceased, the father
dying August 8, 1910, aged seventy-four,
and Mary, his wife, died August 20, 1903,
aged sixty-five years. Mrs. Tinnin was the
ninth of a family of ten children, of whom
five are living, all the others in Mississippi
county, Arkansas, viz: Bennett, Francis,
Maggie (Laxson), Columbus.
HISTORY OF SOUTHEAST MISSOURI
829
In 1S91 ill'. Tinnin began buying out the
heirs to the home place, and by thrift and in-
dustry gradually got ahead in the world un-
til he now owns a nice farm of sixty-eight
acres, worth a hundred dollars an acre. He
supported his mother after his father's death,
and has paid all his obligations and made a
worthy career. In politics he is a Democrat.
Fraternally he belongs to the ilasonic lodge,
the Independent Order of Odd Fellows and
the Mutual Protective League. His church
is the Missionary Baptist.
Charles W. Schneider. The present effi-
cient incumbent of the office of vice-president
of the widely renowned Schneider Granite
Companj', of St. Louis, is Charles ^Y. Schnei-
der, whose name forms the caption for this re-
view. Mr. Schneider maintains his home and
business headquarters at Graniteville, in Iron
county, Missouri, one of the large quarries
of the company being located in this place.
This gigantic concern was founded in the
year 1869 by Philip W. Schneider, father
of the subject of this review, and it has been
controlled by members of the family during
the long intervening years to the present
time.
Charles W. Schneider was born in the city
of St. Louis, Missouri, on the 11th of No-
vember, 1869, and he is a son of Philip W.
and Sophia (Hiltz) Schneider, the former
of whom was born in the province of Bavaria
and the latter of whom is a native of Alsace-
Lorraine, Germany. The date of the father's
birth was 1825 and he came to the United
States in 1840, at the early age of fifteen
years, immediately proceeding to the middle
•west and giving his attention to railroad con-
struction work. He was employed for a
time on the Baltimore and Ohio Road and
later became foreman and contractor on the
Panama Railroad. In the latter 'oOs he
built the Iron Mountain railroad tunnel at
Vineland, Missouri, and thereafter conducted
limestone ciuarries at St. Louis for a number
of years. In 1869 he became interested in
some granite quarries in Iron county and in
addition to various experiments he handled
many large government contracts in a num-
ber of large cities in the Ignited States. He
developed and introduced red granite into
the markets of this country and it may be
stated here that his product is the finest and
hardest red granite produced in America.
In 1869 he began operations at the quarries
now leased by the Syenite Granite Company,
continuing to work the same until 1882. In
1886 he organized the Schneider Granite
Company and opened the quarry one mile
northwest of Graniteville, of which gigantic
concern he was president until his death, on
the 6th of July, 1905. This company was
incorporated under the laws of the state of
Missouri in 1890 and the paid up capital
stock at the present time amounts to one hun-
dred and fiftj' thousand dollars. It produces
Missouri red granite for building work, di-
mension, paving, flagging, curbing and
polishing, and crushed granite. There is a
tremendous demand for the above products
throughout the United States and the busi-
ness is in a most flourishing condition.
The mother of the subject of this review
is Sophia (Hiltz) Schneider, who accom-
panied her parents from her native place in
Germany to the United States as a child. Lo-
cation was flrst made by the Hiltz family at
New Orleans, whence removal was later made
to St. Louis. Mr. Hiltz operated a stage and
mail line south from St. Louis for a number
of years, ilrs. Schneider is still living, at
the age of seventy-six years, her home being
in St. Louis. She is a devout member of the
Lutheran church and is deeply beloved by
all who have come within the radius of her
gentle influence. Concerning the seven chil-
dren born to Mr. and Mrs. Philip W. Schnei-
der the following data are here incorporated,
— Charles AV. is the immediate subject of this
review; Robert is president of the Schneider
Granite Company, at St. Louis; Mary is the
widow of Dr. Alois Blank and she resides in
St. Louis; Philip W., Jr., died in 1908;
Julius A. died in 1900 ; one child, a son, died
in infancy; and Miss Bertha, died December
5, 1907.
All the above children were born in St.
Louis and all were afforded college educa-
tions. Charles W. Schneider, of this notice,
was reaj-ed in his native city, to the public
schools of which place he is indebted for his
rudimentary educational training, the same
having been later supplemented by a course
in St. Benedict's College, at Atchison, Kan-
sas, in which excellent institution he was
graduated as a member of the class of 1885.
Since leaving college he has been intimately
identified with the granite business in con-
junction with his father and brothers. He
was elected vice-president of the Schneider
Granite Cotapany in 1904 and concerning
the other officers of that concern, R. P.
Schneider is president and M. Blank is secre-
HISTORY OF SOUTHEAST MISSOURI
tary. The company has a capacity for hand-
ling from live hundred to one thousand men,
a number of their employes being particu-
larly skilled workmen. The plant is fully
equipped with up-to-date machinery of every
description and is managed by the subject
of this review, who has proved himself un-
usually gifted as a captain of industry. In
politics Mr. Schneider accords a stalwart
allegiance to the principles and policies pro-
mulgated by the Republican party, and while
he has never had aught of time or ambition
for political preferment of any description
he is ever on the alert and enthusiastically in
sympathy with all measures and enterprises
advanced for the good of the general welfare.
In a fraternal way he is affiliated with the
Knights of the Maccabees and with the Yeo-
men. • J .1.
On February 28, 1905, was solemnized the
marriage of Mr. Schneider to Jliss Fannie
Bexten, a native of Folk, Missouri, and a
daughter of Benjamin Bexten, a prominent
farmer in the vicinity of that place. Mr.
and Mrs. Schneider have no children.
JvMES John Croke, county collector of
Saint Francois county, enjoys excellent
standing as a good citizen and efficient pub-
lic official and his name has previously been
identified in a favorable manner with rail-
road and mining interests. He has belonged
to this particular section of the state of
Missouri since 1883 and is very loyal to its
interests. He is very popular m the lead
belt district of Missouri, and being of Irish
descent he comes naturally by prepossessing
characteristics likely to commend him to his
fellow men. r.-. at
Mv. Croke was born m Jersey City. New
Jersey, July 12, 1864. His father, James J.
Croke, Sr., was born in Ireland and came
to America when a young man, ultimately
becoming a government employe in the cus-
tom house at New York city. He married
Hester Barry, and to this union a family of
old fashioned proportions was born, the im-
mediate subject being the fifth in order of
birth of ten children. The father remained
in the employ of the government until his
demise in 1891. His widow survives and re-
sides in Brooklyn, New York. The elder
:Mr. Croke, like his son and namesake, gave
hand and heart to the cause of- the Repub-
lican party. He was a Catholic in religion
and possessed a fine education, having been
educated for the priesthood.
James John Croke, Jr., received his edu-
cation in the public schools of his eastern
home and was but fourteen years of age
when he left the parental roof. From that
time he traveled much and made many
changes of residences and finally made an
end of his peregrinations by locating in
Saint Francois county in 1883. Since that
time he has been engaged in mining, being
for some time connected with the St. Joseph
Lead Company at Bonne Terre and about
the year 1899 he also served as locomotive
engineer. He was soon recognized as proper
material out of which to make the public
man and he made two unsuccessful runs for
sheriff, but the county was so strongly
Democratic that he lost. By no means easily
daunted, he made the race a third time and
was elected sheriff, an office he held for two
terms. Following his service in such capac-
ity he became special agent for the Missis-
sippi River & Bonne Terre Railroad Com-
pany and with this corporation he still re-
tains his position, while at the same time
performing the duties of county collector.
He was elected to this office in 1910.
On the 7th day of October, 1892, Mr.
Croke was happily married to Laura
Porter, of Bonne Terre, 'Missouri, daughter
of Captain Thomas and Elizabeth (Bowers)
Porter. Mr. and ^Irs. Croke are the par-
ents of seven promising young sons and
daughters, whose names are Harry, Hester,
Nadine, James, Earl, Elizabeth and Mabel.
The entire family are very popular in the
community, and enjoy general confidence
and regard. Mr. Croke lielongs to two
lodges, — the Independent Order of Odd
Fellows and the Knights of Pythias.
James L. Gofp. The admirable success
which has come to the subject of this sketch
is a legitimate reward of well directed effort,
for James Lonadus Goff has made his way in
the world along those lines which mark him
as a self-made man. He has been interested
in the store business in the vicinity of Desloge,
Missouri, during the greater part of his active
career and at the present time is the owner
of three stores, one on the property of the
Desloge Mining Company, one on the Federal
property and one on the St. Joe Lead prop-
erties. In addition to his general merchan-
dise interests he is president of the Bank of
Desloge, one of the most substantial financial
institutions in this section of the state, and
Mm^ X 00-07^
^
HISTORY OP SOUTHEAST MISSOURI
831
he also conducts a fine fruit farm near Bonne
Terre, this county.
A native of ilissouri, James Lonadus GoflE
was born in Jeft'erson county, on the 28th of
November, 1863. He is a son of David D.
Goff, who was born in Washington county,
Missouri, in the year 1835, and whose death
occurred in the vear 1888, at the age of
fifty-three years. The early life of David D.
Goff was passed on his father's farm, in the
work and management of which he early ac-
ciuired vigorous mental and physical qualities,
and his preliminary educational training was
obtained in the neighboring district schools.
His mother was called to eternal rest when
he was still a mere child and when he had
reached his sixteenth year he left home and
located at Valley Mines, where he lived with
an uncle and where he eventually became
superintendent of the Valley ^Mining Com-
pany. At the time of the inception of the
Civil war he gave evidence of his intrinsic
loyalty and patriotism to the cause of the
Union by enlisting as a soldier in the Federal
army, his military career extending over a
period of about a year. After the close of
the war he again entered the employ of the
Valley ^lining Company, remaining with that
concern until 1879, when he established his
home at DeSoto, where he engaged in the
real-estate business and where he became a
man in intluenee in public affairs. He was
mayor of DeSoto for four years and during
his administration many important improve-
ments were introduced, the same adding ma-
terially to the welfare of that village. He
married Miss Ellen T. "Walker, who is a
daughter of Rev. William Walker, an old
settler in Missouri and a ^Methodist Episco-
pal minister. I\Ir. and Mrs. Goff became the
parents of eight children, whose names are
here entered in respective order of birth:
William G., Frank, John, James L., Robert
L., Allie, David P. and George. William G.
Goff is engaged in the mercantile business
at DeSoto; Frank, John and George are de-
ceased ; James L. is the immediate subject of
this review : Robert L. is a resident of Shaw-
nee, Oklahoma ; Allie is the wife of Dr. W. L.
Pruett, of St. Louis, ilissouri : and David P.
is manager of the Federal store. In politics
the father was a stanch advocate of the prin-
ciples and policies promulgated by the Demo-
cratic ]5arty and in a fraternal way he was
affiliated with the time-honored ^Masonic order
and with the Independent Order of Odd Fel-
lows. Mrs. Goff is still living, ha\'ing reached
the age of seventy-five years, and she now
maintains her home at DeSoto, where she is
deeply admired and beloved by a wide circle
of intimate friends.
James L. Goff, the immediate subject of
this review, passed his boyhood and youth
on the home farm and up to the age of four-
teen years he attended the country schools of
St. Francois county. Subsequently he passed
three j'ears as a student in the high school
at DeSoto and while there incidentally
learned the machinist's trade. At the age of
nineteen years he went into Kansas and
thence to Nebraska, later returning to Mis-
souri and entering the employ of the Valley
Alining Company, as manager of their store
and as paymaster of the Company. He con-
tinued in the employ of the Valley ilining
Company for a period of eight years and in
1892 he came to Desloge, where he entered
into a partnership alliance ^\'ith Oscar S.
Florence, a sketch of whose career appears
elsewhere in this work. The firm of Goff &
Florence continued for a period of ten years,
at the expiration of which Mr. Goft' disposed
of his interest in the "Company" store, as
their place of business was called. Mr. Goff
now has a string of grocery stores, the main
store being located on the property of the
Desloge Jlining Company, with two branch
stores located respectively on the Federal
property and on the St. Joe Lead Company
properties. ^Ir. Goff is also heavily interested
in the real-estate business, being the owner
of several hundred acres of lead land and
considerable city realt.v. He is president of
the Bank of Desloge and in addition to his
other business interests has a fine farm near
Bonne Terre. where he is constructing a
large artificial lake, covering ten acres of land,
the same being fed by three springs. On this
same property are five thousand fruit trees.
Mr. Goff is improving this farm with the ulti-
mate object of making a fine summer resort
and orchard.
On the 22nd of June. 1887, Mr. Goff was
united in marriage to iliss Annie Goodin, a
daughter of Austin Goodin, a prominent and
influential farmer in St. Francois county,
Missouri. Mr. and Mrs. Goff became the
parents of four children, of whom but one is
living at the present time, namely, Olga V.,
whose birth occurred on the 11th of April,
1894.
In politics ]Mr. Goff is a stanch supporter
of the Democratic party and his religious
faith is in harmony with the teachings of the
HISTORY OF SOUTHEAST MISSOURI
Presbyterian church, in the various depart-
ments of which he is a zealous and active
worker. In fraternal affairs he is a valued
and appreciative member of the ]\Iasonie
order, the Knights of the Tented ilaccabees
and the ilodern Woodmen of America. He
has ever manifested a deep and sincere in-
terest in educational affairs and has been a
member of the board of education for a period
of twelve years. It is largely through his
influence that Desloge is now putting up a
fine thirty-five thousand dollar school build-
ing. ]Mr. Goff is a man of fine executive abil-
ity and tremenduous vitality and since his
splendid success in life is the direct result of
his own well applied endeavors it is the more
gratifying to contemplate. He is a man of
honor and high principle and is everywhere
accorded the unciualified confidence and
esteem of his fellow citizens.
Marion Francis Tucker. At Hollywood,
in Dunklin county, Marion F. Tucker has for
many years been accounted one of the most
enterprising and successful farmers and busi-
ness men, a citizen whose integrity and good
judgment are thoroughly esteemed by his
neighbors, and a man whose individual suc-
cess has meant the welfare of the community.
Having spent most of his life in this vicinity,
he has been identified with the country
through practically all its stages of progress
from a wilderness to one of the best agricul-
tural regions in ilissouri, and he has shared
in and helped promote this prosperous con-
dition.
He was born in Gibson county, Tennessee,
January 23, 1863. In 1869 the family came
to the locality where he was reared and where
he has spent the rest of his life, his home
place being three miles west and one mile
north of Horuersville. For several winters
he attended school at Coldwater. and all his
schooling was obtained in this vicinity. He
lived at home, helping his mother and father,
up to the time of his marriage and for several
years after. He was married on December
24, 188.5, to Miss Anna Belle Bailey. They
had fifteen years of happy married life, and
she passed away in 1901. She was the mother
of eight children, and the four still living
are : Eva, who married Oscar Vandiver ; Loid,
born Januar\' 31, 1893 ; Modie, born October
16, 1897: and Cari, born August 15, 1900.
He and his wife continued to live in the old
home place for a number of years, his father
having built another home for himself. The
father sold IMarion and his brother a farm,
and when they divided it the old home was on
the brother's part. Soon afterward, on his
father's death, he moved to the home place
and lived with his mother. He .had bought
his first forty acres on time froui his father,
and while living there got eighty acres of
his present place. He in companj' with his
father, two brothers and a brother-in-law,
acquired a mill property on the farm where
he lived, and conducted a gin there and then
established a saw mill. The interest in this
mill he had traded for the eighty acres on
which his present residence is located, it be-
ing situated one-half mile north and one-
quarter of a mile west of Hollywood. The
land was cheap when he got it and was cov-
ered with timber. While he was helping
with the mill and working his home forty he
cleared the eighty, and had it nearly all ready
for cultivation before he moved on to it.
Another of his enterprises was the first
store at what is now the village of Hollywood,
but before the railroad reached this point the
place was called Klondike. He owned this
store in partnership and left most of the
management to his partner, IMr. N. B. Stone.
This first stoi-e was burned down. In 1900
Mr. Tucker built a residence and moved to
his present farm. At that time he owned a
hundred and twenty acres. He has since
traded his original forty for another forty
ad.i'oining and has added by three purchases
until he now has a splendid farm of two hun-
dred acres, all of it the fruit of his own enter-
prise. With the exception of a nice grove of
five acres that adds to the attractiveness of
his home, he has all the acreage vinder culti-
vation. Corn and wheat are his principal
crops, and some stock. His farm is worth a
hundred dollars an acre, and is improved with
a good house and a barn fifty by sixty feet.
Since the marriage of his daughter in 1910
he has a housekeeper for his home and other
children. His trading point is Senath. In
politics he is a Democrat, and he is a member
of the ^Modern Woodmen of America at Card-
well.
Joseph A. Reyburn is the third to bear
that name in Missouri and is of the fourth
generation of a family which has assisted by
its sterling worth and good citizenship in the
growth and advancement of the section in
which its interests have been centered. His
great-grandfather, Joseph Reyburn, a Scotch-
man, was indeed, one of the most noted pio-
HISTORY OF SOUTHEAST MISSOURI
833
neers of the state. The subject, who was
christened in his honor, is county clerk of
Iron county and is one of its most capable
oiScials, but preceded his public service by a
commercial career. He is at present treas-
urer of the County Clerks' Association of the
state of ilissouri.
Glancing at Mr. Reyburn's forebears, it is
noted that his great-grandfather, Joseph
Reyburn, was born in Scotland, in the vicinity
of Edinburgh, and possessed those qualifica-
tions which make her sons "loved at home,
revered abroad." He immigrated in early
life to America and located in Montgomery
county, Virginia. He remained in the Old
Dominion for a few .years and then went to
St. Louis, Missouri, where he made the sec-
ond cash purchase of land at the Missouri
land office, which was then located at St.
Louis. He secured his land in the Belleview
Valle}', now Iron county, then Washington
count}'. Iron count.y being made up from
divisions cut off from Saint Francois, Wash-
ington, Dent, Crawford, Madison and Rey-
nolds counties. Having made that important
transaction, Mr. Reyburn brought his family
on from Virginia and settled upon his new
property, which at that time was heavily
timbered. It now consists of several fine
farms and is extremely valuable. He engaged
in many improvements and continued to
reside upon his fine estate until his demise.
His son, Joseph N. Reyburn, resided on the
same property until he too was summoned to
the "Undiscovered Country." He was a
planter and both he and his father owned
slaves which they brought from Virginia.
Samuel A. Reyburn was the son of Joseph
N. and the father of him whose name in-
augurates this review. He was born in Cale-
donia, Washington county, Missouri, and was
there reared. He became a man of some
public prominence and usefulness and served
as sheriff and collector of Washington coun-
ty in the early '50s. He was a stanch Dem-
ocrat and later, when Iron county was
established, he was appointed town commis-
sioner of Ironton. During the Civil war he
served for a short time as a Confederate sol-
dier, and .joined Captain White's company,
the first ever recruited in Iron county. He
died in 1883, aged sixty-one years. He was
a member of the Methodist church and of the
ancient and august Masonic fraternity. He
took as his wife Jlary J. Robinson, who was
born in Washington county, Missouri, near
Caledonia, and was a daughter of Archibald
Robinson, who brought his family from
Dlaeksburg, Montgomery county, Virginia,
some eighty-five or ninety years ago. He was
a millwright and built one of the first grist
mills in Washington county, Missouri, a
water mill on Clear Creek, afterwards known
as Bryan's mill, and it was patronized by
people from a wide scope of territory. The
Robinson family located in Washington coun-
ty, Missouri, and Archibald served in the
Mexican war. Mrs. Reyburn, who was a
member of the Methodist Episcopal church,
South, survived her husband until 1900, her
death occurring at the age of seventy-five
years.
The son of such worthy and estimable
parents, Joseph A. Reyburn, began life
auspiciously. He was one of a family of
eight children, equally divided as to sons" and
daughters, and of the number, besides him-
self, only two sisters are living, namely: Mrs.
A. B. ilcKinuey, of Bronaugli. Vernon coun-
ty, Missouri; and Mrs. Fannie L. Logan, of
Belleview, Missouri. Mr. Reyburn was reared
in Iron county and attended the common
schools and Westminster College. Upon
beginning his career as an active factor in
the world of affairs he engaged in the mer-
cantile business as a clerk at Ironton and
later at Piedmont, Missouri, but subsequently
abandoned this to take up the work of a
commercial traveler, in which capacity he
remained for twenty years. He represented
various wholesale shoe houses, such as Claflin
Allen, Orr Shoe Company, Peters Shoe Com-
pany, and others.
Mr. Reyburn laid the foundations of a
happy life companionship when, on the 29th
day of November, 1882, he was united in mar-
riage to Miss Mary A. Green, their union
being celebrated at Iron Mountain, Saint
Francois county. Mrs. Reyburn was born in
the vicinity of Nashville, Tennessee, but was
reared in Missouri and is a daughter of J.
D. and Judith P. (Higgs) Green, the latter
a native of KentuckJ^ J. D. Green was as-
sistant superintendent of the Iron Mountain
Iron Companj' for many years antl eai-lier in
his career was superintendent of the Bellwood
Iron Works, at Bellwood. Tennessee. In the
year 1892 he went to the city of St. Louis
and engaged in the live stock commission
business there for a period of ten years. He
died at Ironton some years ago, an honored
and influential citizen.
Mr. and Mrs. Reyburn are the parents of
two children, both of whom claim Iron Moun-
834
HISTORY OP SOUTHEAST MISSOURI
tain as their birthplace. Mabelle, the elder
daughter, is at home aud holds the position
of superintendent of music and art in the
Bonne Terre school, of Bonne Terre, Mis-
souri. She was educated at Hardin College,
jMexico, ^Missouri, and in 1910 and 1911
attended the Northwestern University, at
Chicago, where she took post-graduate work.
The younger daughter, Ruby, received her .
higher education at Hardin College and the
Cape Girardeau Normal School and at pres-
ent holds the office of deputy county clerk of
Iron county, ^lissouri, having first under-
taken its duties some two and one-half years
ago. The Reyburn family maintain a de-
lightful and hospitable home and are promi-
nent in the man.v-sided life of the community.
The name is indeed extremely well and favor-
ably known in Southeastern ^Missouri, not
alone through the present generation but by
those who have gone before. Politically the
head of the house is Democratic and in his
fraternal relations he is a member of the
Masonic lodge and the Benevolent and Pro-
tective Order of Elks. Mrs. Reyburn and
her eldest daughter are members of the Metho-
dist church. South, and iliss Ruby is a com-
municant of the Episcopal church. John V.
Logan, first presiding judge of the county
court, and John Cole, first sheriff of Iron
count.v, were both third cousins of Joseph A.
Reyburn. One brother, Samuel P., was as-
sessor for eight or ten years.
T. N. McHaney. a prominent and influen-
tial citizen of Kennett, T. N. McHaney has
long been identified with public affairs, aud
is now rendering excellent service as police
judge, and as notary public. The several
positions of trust and responsibility to which
he has been called have been filled in a man-
ner reflecting the highest credit upon him-
self, and proving that the confidence so freely
given him by the people and the trust reposed
in his abilities were not unworthily bestowed.
He was born July 11, 1858, in ilarion, Illi-
nois, and in July, 1879, having attained his
majority, came to Mis.souri.
Locating at Maiden, Dunklin county, Mr.
]McHaney was for a short time there em-
ployed as a clerk in the general store of his
brother, R. H. McHane.y, who was engaged
in mercantile pvirsuits at Maiden from 1876
until his death, in December, 1910. He also
had a branch store at Hornersville. and of
this :\Ir. McHaney had charge in 1880 and
1881. R. H. McHaney was a man of promi-
nence in the community and an active worker
in the Republican ranks.
Severing his connection with his brother in
1882, Mr. McHaney came to Kennett in that
year, and having opened a store of general
merchandise conducted it successfully until
1888. While living in Hornersville. he served
as postmaster, and in 1882, during the admin-
istration of President Arthur, was made post-
master at Kennett, and served through the
administration of President Harrison, being
succeeded by a Democrat when Cleveland
was inaugurated as president. During Presi-
dent McKinley's administration, Mr. Mc-
Haney was again appointed postmaster at
Kennett, and served for ten consecutive years.
From 1897 until 1900 the business of the post
office was greatly increased, in the former
year the office being changed from a fourth
class office to a presidential office.
A stanch Republican, Jlr. McHaney has
been a faithful worker in party ranks. For
twelve years he was secretary of the Four-
teenth Congressional Committee, and has been
active in local and state committees. Since
leaving the post offtee Mr. McHaney has
operated a farm adjoining Kennett, having
two hundred and forty acres under cultiva-
tion, corn and cotton being his principal
crops. As police judge and notary public
he is well known throughout the community,
his business necessarily bringing him in eon-
tact with many people whom he might not
otherwise meet.
In February, 1883, Mr. McHaney was
united in marriage with Louisa ]\Iarsh, who
was born in Dunklin countj', near Kennett.
Her father, John H. Marsh, came from Vir-
ginia to Dunklin county prior to the Civil
war, and here resided until his death, at the
age of sixty-five j'ears. He was quite promi-
nent in public affairs, and for many years
served as county clerk. Mr. and Mrs. Mc-
Haney have no children of their own, but
they have brought up three orphans from
childhood until reaching maturity, rearing
and educating them as if they were their
own, namely : Robert IMorgan, William Ed-
mund, and ]\Iinnie HoUowaj', the latter of
whom is still a member of the family. Mr.
and Mrs. McHaney are members of the Chris-
tian church. Mr. McHaney has alwaj's been
a "joiner," even having joined the Ku Klux.
He is a member of the Knights of Pythias
and a member of the Independent Order of
Odd Fellows, in which he is quite active, hav-
ing served officially in the Grand Lodge.
HISTORY OF SOUTHEAST MISSOURI
835
iliLTOX Hawkins, an old and promiueut
merohaut of Blaekwell, St. Francois county,
is a native of Washington county, !JIis-
souri, born on the 2nd of February, 1849.
His father, Augustus Hawkins, who was also
a native of that part of Southeast ^Missouri,
was engaged continuously in farming until
the Iron ilountain Railroad commenced to be
pushed through his home territory, when he
engaged in contract grading in connection
with the enterprise which has done so much
for the whole state. He then returned to ag-
ricultural pursuits. As a voter Augustus
Hawkins was a Democrat but was never an
office seeker or a politician in any sense of the
word. His marriage to iliss Elizabeth Pin-
son resulted in thirteen children, of whom
Milton is the eldest survivor of the family;
the father died in 1889 and the mother in the
preceding year, both being constant attend-
ants at the Baptist church and active work-
ers in all its movements for the good and ele-
vation of the community.
The early life of ililton Hawkins was spent
on his father 's farm and in obtaining an edu-
cation through the common schools of "Wash-
ington county. In 1872, when twenty-three
years of age, he became a citizen of Black-
well and one of its active young merchants,
forming a partnership with Clay Wallen.
This association continued until the death of
the latter, in 187-4, when the brother, Chris-
topher Wallen, entered into a like business
relation, ilr. Hawkins' brother, Newton,
was ilr. Wallen's successor as a partner in
the business; then its founder conducted it
alone for some three years; for the succeed-
ing four years he was in partnership with his
nephew, H. N. ilcGrady, after which he was
sole proprietor until 1900, when ilr. ]\IcGrady
again assumed an interest in the well estab-
lished business and retained it until 1909. In
the year named ilr. Hawkins' son-in-law, L.
E. Cole, purchased the business outright,
thus concluding an active and successful
mercantile career covering the unusually long
period of thirty-seven years. Although a
firm believer in Democratic principles, he is
"out of politics" for the very good reason
that he has never been in them. Masonry,
however, has always strongh^ appealed to his
sentiments of good fellowship and "square
dealing" in the world, and he has long been
an earnest member of that order.
In 1881 :\Ir. Hawkins wedded ]Miss Kitty
McCormick, of Jefferson county, and one
child. Lucy Newton (now ]Mrs. Cole), was
born to their union. Mrs. Hawkins was born
November 18, 1861, and died on the 19th of
May, 1911. Her father, Thomas F. died
when she was quite young, but she was reared
by a loving mother of rare judgment and de-
veloped into an affectionate, fiue woman, and
a wife of beautiful and elevating character.
In her religious faith she was a ^lethodist
of broad charity and intellectual views; and
the husband and father is of the same belief
and holds the same Christlike attitude toward
his fellows.
Owen Alonzo Smith, M. D. Among the
gifted medical and surgical practitioners in
Farmiugton and Saint Francois county Dr.
Owen Alonzo Smith, specialist in eye, ear,
nose and throat, stands preeminent. A man
who keeps ever in touch with the march of
progress in his field of usefulness, he devotes
his whole life to his profession and is highly
esteemed by both fraternity and laity. In
glancing over the achievement of a man such
as he, one is reminded of the lines of Pope,
"A wise phj'sician, skill 'd our wounds to heal,
Is more than armies to the public weal."
Dr. Smith was born in Jerse\wille, Illi-
nois, March 31, 1868, a son of Alfred Alonzo
Smith. The father was born in 1846, in Illi-
nois, and received his education in the com-
mon schools of that locality and period, which
means that it was of a somewhat limited
character. When quite young he learned the
copper trade and he has followed this in con-
nection with his farming operations through-
out almost the entire course of his life. In
latter j^ears, it is true, he has given up cooper-
ing and has devoted his time to farming. He
was married at about the age of tweutj' years
to Miss Isabelle Amerika ]Miller. their union
being solemnized at Jerseyville. Illinois. ]Mrs.
Smith was the daughter of Dr. ililler, a
dentist of Jersejn'ille. At the breaking out
of the Civil war, A. A. Smith enlisted in the
Union army and acted as a drummer in that
great struggle. "Wlien peace returned to the
devastated land, the young man came back to
ilissouri and bought a farm in Jefferson
county, his land being a part of the Kennet
tract. He engaged in its cultivation for about
eight years and then on account of ill health
abandoned the great basic industry and took
up his residence in Nashville, Illinois, where
he engaged in the cooper business again.
After a period of years devoted to his old
trade, Mr. Smith came back to his farm in
Jeft'erson county and upon its fertile and
HISTORY OF SOUTHEAST MISSOURI
well-situated acres he is now living. He and
his wife are the parents of three sons, — Owen
A., the immediate subject of this review;
Ulj'sses Scott, a physician at Hannibal, Mis-
souri; and Harold Howard, engaged in the
practice of the law in Oklahoma. In politics
Mr. Smith, the elder, is in harmony with the
men and measures of the Prohibition party
in later years, and was a Republican in early
life; he and his wife hold membership in the
Presbyterian church ; and in his lodge affilia-
tion he is a member of the ancient and august
Masonic order.
Dr. Owen A. Smith received his early edu-
cation in the public schools of Nashville, Illi-
nois, and after finishing their curriculum he
entered the serious walks of life as a wage
earner as book-keeper in a store at Festus,
Missouri. He began the study of medicine
in 1889, in the medical department of Wash-
ington University, at St. Louis, and took his
degree as a physician in 1892. For a year he
served as an interne in the city hospital in St.
Louis and then for a like period acted as as-
sistant physician for the Crystal Plate Glass
Company at Crystal City. Subsequent to that
he became associated with Dr. C. P. Poston
at Bonne Terre and was surgeon for two im-
portant corporations, — the St. Joe Lead Com-
pany and the ilississippi River & Bonne
Terre Railroad. Believing that the greatest
usefulness can be attained through specializa-
tion, Dr. Smith went to St. Louis and took
special work in the ej^e and ear, and having
exhausted the resources of that metropolis
he went on to New York, where in the famous
Post-Graduate College he continued his
studies, gaining practical experience at the
New York Eye and Ear Infirmary. His first
identification with Farmington was in 1902,
when he began practice as a specialist in the
eye, ear, nose and throat. He is a widely
known member of the profession and is con-
nected with some of the most important or-
ganizations of the same, his name being upon
the rolls of the American Medical Associa-
tion, the City Hospital iledical Society of
St. Louis, the State Medical Association, the
Saint Francois County Medical Association
and the South-Eastern Missouri Medical As-
sociation. He is also affiliated with the order
whose chief object is to extend the principle
of human brotherhood, — the Masonic — and in
the matter of religious conviction he is affil-
iated with the Christian church.
Dr. Smith was happily married when, in
December, 1893, he was united to Miss Nellie
E. Swink, of Festus, Missouri, their marriage
being solemnized while the subject was in
practice at Crystal City. Mrs. Smith is a
daughter of J. E. Swink, a well known citizen
of Festus, ]\Iissouri. The Doctor and his
wife share their charming home with two
sons, whose names are Laurence Augustus
and Harry Owen.
D. B. Pankey, cashier of the Bank of Ken-
nett, would never have attained the promi-
nence he now holds if he had not possessed
a discriminating quality to a very large ex-
tent. Not that he is a negative quality by
any means; he is most decidedlj' alive and
full of enterprise, but he has put on one side
all those things which though good in them-
selves have no part in his life. He has
known what to accept and what to reject,
where to triast and where to suspect. He
has chosen this thing and that thing as the
ones of all others he would choose to have in
his own life and the result is the man as he
is to-day.
D. B. Pankey was boi-n near Clarkton,
Dunklin county, IMissouri, July 17, 1861.
His father was David Y. Pankey, born at
Richmond, Virginia, where he received his
education and was brought up on the farm.
He became a tobacco grower and dealer in
the south, owning a great number of slaves
to cultivate and harvest the tobacco, etc.
He always treated them in the most consid-
erate manner and they were devoted to
him. He married Miss Sally Jones, a
sprightly young woman, a native of Rich-
mond, like himself. All business was begin-
ning to be very much demoralized in the
south and Mr. Pankey was losing money on
his plantation. He, therefore, sold off his
plantation for the small sum he could real-
ize, took his wafe and some of his slaves and
brought them to Missouri. He settled at
Clarkton, where he started a store and also
bought a small farm. In 1861, when the war
finally broke out, he raised a regiment for
the Confederate army, he being its colonel.
He served throughout the war, at the end of
which time he set his slaves free, but they
never lost the feeling of affection and devo-
tion towards him. but would have cheerfully
laid down their lives for him at any time.
One of them, Charles Birthwright, with his
wife Bettie, live in IMissouri and are leaders
among the colored people of Clarkton.
Colonel Pankey lived in Cardwell, Missouri,
later and died there in January, 1910, at the
HISTORY OP SOUTHEAST MISSOURI
837
age of seventy-four, his wife having died
many years before. The Colonel served the
county as county collector. He was a man
who had served his country m the army and
in civil aii'airs. He was very well known all
over the county and universally respected.
The Civil war commenced the year that D.
B. arrived in the world. He remembers
nothing of its horrors, but does remember the
loss of his mother when he was vei-y young.
He was brought up by his father, who did his
best to train him in the right way. The re-
sults seem to show that his methods were ef-
fective, if at times severe. D. B. received
his education in the schools of Clarkton, in
the Southeastern Missouri Normal at Cape
Girardeau and on his father's farm and in
his father's store, learning as much at the
two latter as he did in school. In 1883 he
was appointed deputy county clerk, under
Robert IMills. After two years Mr. Mills died
and Mr. Pankey was appointed in his place.
At the end of his term he was re-elected, mak-
ing his time of service sis years in all as clerk
and two years as deputy clerk. He was at
one time mayor of Kennett, rendering the
best of satisfaction to all political parties
and to the people in general. He was one of
the organizers of the Bank of Kennett, which
was started January 19, 1891, with a capital
of fifteen thousand dollars. T. E. Baldmn
was the first president, W. F. Shelton, the
vice president and D. B. Pankey the cashier.
Mr. Baldwin was president until January,
1901, when failing health forced him to re-
sign. He died soon afterward. He was suc-
ceeded by T. R. R. Ely, who held the office
for one year, "W. F. Shelton, Junior, being
elected president in January, 1905, and he
still retains the office. W. F. Shelton con-
tinued to be a director as long as be lived.
For a time W. F. Shelton, Junior, was vice
president, the office that is now held by T.
R. R. Ely. Mr. Pankey has remained the
ea.shier of the bank ever since its organization.
The capital is now twenty-five thousand dol-
lars, with a certified surplus of twenty-five
thousand dollars and undivided profits of five
thousand dollars The deposits are about two
hundred and fifty thousand dollars. The
bank owns the building in which it does busi-
ness and the stock is all owned locally. They
do a strictly banking business and have never
missed an annual dividend. Mr. Pankey is
president of the Kennett Ice and Electric
Company, having helped to organize it. He
is also president of the Kennett Store Com-
pany, carrying a line of men's furnishing
goods. He is president of the St. Louis, Ken-
nett and Southeastern Railroad Company,
having succeeded R. H. Jones at his death.
Mr. Pankey is a director and treasurer of the
Dunklin County Publishing Company, which
is the owner of the Dunklin Democrat. In
1904 he was chairman of the County Com-
mittee on the local ticket, when local
option took effect in this county, and was
active in that fight and the county has re-
mained local option. There were then five
saloons in Kennett, a town of fifteen hundred
at that time, and Mr. Pankey 's life was
threatened several times during that cam-
paign. The same issue came up in the city
of Kennett in 1909 and he was chairman of
the committee in this campaign and won by
nine hundred votes. He is a Mason, a mem-
ber of Kennett Lodge, A. F. & A. il.. No. 68,
of Helen Chapter, No. 117, Campbell Coun-
cil No. 33, of Campbell, Missouri, and of
Maiden Commandery, No. 61, of Maiden.
In May, 1888, Mr. Pankey married Josie E.
Rayburn, of Dunklin county, to which union
three children have been born, Hugh B., who
is a law student in the University of Mis-
souri, Russell R. and one deceased.
One would not imagine that Mr. Pankey
would find room in his bus.y life to do much
in church work, but he is as a matter of fact
an elder in the Presbyterian church, nor does
he confine his religion to his attendance at
church and to his fulfilment of the duties
that devolve on an elder, but he takes it with
him in his every day life, it is at the bank,
and in his various other occupations through-
out the day. That is the kind of religion
which counts after all. Religion has ceased
to be an emotion which finds relief in talk,
but it is a living force, which makes a man
more honest, more considerate of his fellows,
more active in his efforts to aid mankind.
Any other kind of a religion is of no real
value, but that is the sort that Mr. Pankey
practices. A man of such beliefs and actions
could not fail to be a power for betterment
in the coinmunity and as such Mr. Pankey 's
fellow citizens regard him.
T. B. Drum is the youngest of thirteen
children born to John and Mary Fulbright
Drum. Thirteen is said to be an \mlucky
number, but IMr. Drum's career has been of
the sort to help clear the reputation of the
maligned number. His parents were both
born in North Carolina and his father came
838
HISTORY OF SOUTHEAST MISSOURI
to Missouri at the age of eight, in the year
1816. Ten of the children of John Drum
lived to maturity.
T. B. Drum was born March 10, 185-4, iii
Cape Girardeau county. He received his
education in the district schools and until he
was twenty-five, worked on the farm. Prom
1872 to 1881 he operated a threshing machine
during the seasons, going about to the dif-
ferent farms. He was one year in Perry
county and spent some four years in Sedge-
wictv'ille, in a store and on the farm before
going into partnership with his brother in
a mercantile concern at Sedgewickville.
After two years T. B. Drum bought out
his brother Robert and since 1883 has con-
ducted the business alone. He has built up
an unusually large trade and does an exten-
sive business in retail prodiice exchange with
the residents of the surrounding country.
The territory from which he draws his cus-
tomers extends for miles beyond Sedgewick-
ville. His ten thousand dollar stock of mer-
chandise is housed in a fine business block
and his home is one of the elegant residences
of the town. Aside frora his store, Mr. Drum
has extensive interests in Sedgewickville real
estate and is a stockholder in the Bollinger
County Bank. He owns one hundred and
ninety-five acres of land in the county, on
which he keeps some stock, besides doing
general farming, and has investments in
Colorado mines and real estate. He is a
notary public in Sedgewickville.
On February 27, 1883, Mr. Drum was mar-
ried to Miss Flora Octavia Howard, daugh-
ter of [Monroe Howard of Cape Girardeau
county. Only one of their three children is
living'. Myrtle, now ilrs. Edward Crites. On
July 27," 1911, Howard Leroy Crites was
born, and Mr. Drum became a grandfather
before reaching his three-score years.
At Cape Girardeau Mr. Drum is a mem-
ber of the Elks' lodge. No. 639. Politically
he gives his support to the Democratic party.
Benjamin Franklin Towl. Missouri has
been the home of Benjamin Franklin Towl
as many years as have elapsed since his birth,
he being a native son of the state. This
gentleman, who is the cashier of the Bank of
Leadwood, is also the organizer of that sub-
stantial institution and he has given his best
strength and abilities to the furtherance of
its affairs.
:\Ir. Towl was born in Caledonia, Washing-
ton county, December 12, 1872, the son of
William Towl, a native of Hibaldstow, Eng-
land. The elder Mr. Towl left the old coun-
try at the age of sixteen years and crossed
the sea to find his fortunes in the "land of
the free and the home of the brave." In a
short time he found his way to Potosi, Mis-
souri, and soon found a field of usefulness as
a clerk in a store. As he was an ambitious
and thrifty young fellow, in a very short time
he had opened a store of his own at Cale-
donia. He married Miss Anna Kendall, of
Potosi, and to their union six children were
born, he whose name inaugurates this review
being the youngest of the number. William
Towl died in Annapolis, Iron countj', in 1890,
and his cherished and devoted wife survived
him for more than a decade, her demise
occurring in 1900. He w^s Republican in
politics and was known as a supporter of all
such causes as seemed likely to him to prove
of benefit to the whole of society. He at-
tended the Presbyterian church.
Benjamin Franklin Towl spent his earliest
days at Caledonia, and was about nine years
of age when his parents removed to Anna-
polis. Thus his public school education was
divided between these two towns. He sub-
sequently entered the Belleview Collegiate
Institute and there received higher instruc-
tion. When his school days were over, he
entered the employ of his brother's firm,
Towl & Russell, of Marquand, Madison coun-
ty, these gentlemen being engaged in the lum-
ber business. The year 1897 marks a radical
change of occupation for the subject and his
first identification with the banking business,
for in that year he was offered and accepted
a position as assistant cashier in the Saint
Francois County Bank at Farmington, Mis-
souri. After holding this position for four
years and learning much about banking, he
became cashier of the Bank of Saint Gene-
vieve and retained that office for two .years,
"displaying sound banking knowledge and in-
defatigable zeal in building up its affairs.
His next move was to come to Leadwood and
here on September 27, 1905, he opened the
Bank of Leadwood, he himself taking the
position of cashier. The other officers are as
follows : John S. Towl, president ; Thomas R.
Tolleson, vice president; William Towl, as-
sistant cashier. The Bank of Leadwood is
incorporated for ten thousand dollars and in
its career of six years has experienced a
.sound prosperity.
Mr. Towl was happily married on the 16th
dav of November, 1905, to Miss Emma Mark-
HISTORY OF SOUTHEAST MISSOURI
839
ert, daughter of C. Markert, of Muskogee,
Oklahoma. They have one child, a small son,
christened Benjamin Franklin Jr.
Ed. Buelison. In the years of the twen-
tieth centurj' industry and good management
have everywhere been well rewarded in the
field of agriculture, but perhaps nowhere to
a more generous degree than in Southeast
JMissouri. One of the citizens of this section
who would readily be named among the suc-
cessful farmers who a few years ago were at
the bottom of the ladder is Mr. Ed. Burlison,
whose farming interests are near Horners-
vdlle in Dunklin county.
Born April 29, 1869, in Lawrence county,
Tennessee, his father of Irish stock, originally
from North Carolina, and his mother of Ger-
man ancestry, he grew up in the Tennessee
mountain district and never had the advan-
tages of schools. Though he spent the first
thirty years of his life about his native place,
he was entirely without means when he
arrived in Southeast Missouri in 1898. With
his family he located on twenty acres of
rented land near where he now lives, and
stayed there until he had made two crops,
which netted him three hundred dollars This
money he used as advance payment on a farm
of forty acres worth twenty dollars an acre,
and got the rest on time. He moved to this
place in August, 1899, and in the following
May his wife died. She was Miss Ella Pipk-
ings, of Tennessee, and her three children
now living are : William, who married Miss
Maj' ilcCauliff and lives in Maiden; John,
at Maiden; and Miss Pearl, at home. ilr.
Burlison 's present wife was Miss Bertha
Statler, who was born in Bollinger county,
Missouri, Jlay 22, 1881. They have the fol-
lowing children at home : Mabel, Pat, Mike
and Ruby.
From the time he made his first purchase
of a farm Mr. Burlison has steadily pros-
pered. He later bought another forty for
one thousand dollars, and he has refused
twelve thousand dollars for these eighty
acres. At the present time he has one hun-
dred and sixty acres within three quarters
of a mile of Hornersville, and it is worth one
hundred and fifty dollars an acre. He has
three houses on his lands, and his rents
amount to eight hundred dollars a year aside
from the home place. He has a good home
and is rearing his family in comfort, and he
enjoys the thorough esteem of the community.
Fraternally he is a member of the Independ-
ent Order of Odd Fellows, the Woodmen of
the World and the Benevolent Protective
Order of Elks. In politics he is a Democrat.
James il. Logan, who is now living in vir-
tual retirement on his fine farm of three hun-
dred and eighty acres, eligibly located a
mile and three-quarters east of Belleview, in
Iron county, Missouri, is one of the promi-
nent and influential agriculturists of this sec-
tion of the state, where he has resided during
the greater portion of his life time. He was
born six miles northwest of his present home,
the date of his nativity being the 2nd of No-
vember, 1833, and he is a son of John V. and
Elizabeth H. (jMallow) Logan. The father
was born at Salem, Virginia, in 1809, and he
came to ilissouri in 1821, with his parents,
James and Lucy (VanLear) Logan, both
of whom were likewise bom in the Old Do-
minion commonwealth and who settled in
Washington county, now Iron county, after
their arrival in Missouri. Here James Logan
purchased a farm, which he improved and on
which he continued to reside until his death,
on the 25th of December, 1832. The Logan
family is of Scotch extraction and the vari-
ous members of the name have ever been
devout Presbyterians in their religious faith.
Lucy (VanLear) Logan was born on the 30th
of December, 1784, in Virginia, and she was
summoned to eternal rest in Iron county,
Missouri, on the 25th of January, 1859. Mr.
and Mrs. James Logan became the parents of
fourteen children, none of whom are living
at the present time. Hannah, born on the
19th of May, 1808, married ilr. Bonney and
they are both deceased; John, father of him
whose name forms the caption for this re-
view, was born on the 17th of October, 1809,
and died on the 22nd of February, 1875;
Sarah L., born November 29, 1811, is deceased,
as are also Margaret Ann, boi-n April 9,
1813; Eliza Jane, born February 1, 1815,
and who died at Ironton ; Lucy, born Septem-
ber 13, 1816, and died at Potosi, Missouri;
Mary Park, born June 19, 1818; and Lila,
born November 1, 1819, and died at Potosi,
^Missouri ; Angeline, born ilay 19, 1821, died
in Texas; Eveline Martha was born on the
3d of January, 1823, and died at the old
homestead; Lueza, born January 26, 1824,
died at the old homestead; James D., born
December 28, 1825, died at the age of four-
teen in Reynolds county, Missouri ; Robert
840
HISTORY OF SOUTHEAST MISSOURI
B., born June 10, 1827, died August 2, 1883,
at Caledonia, Missouri; and Joseph A., born
November 9, 1829, died on the 11th of Octo-
ber, 1860, in Collinsville, Illinois.
John V. Logan was reared and resided in
Belleview valley all his life. He was a cabi-
net-maker and carpenter by trade and in
later life was a merchant at Ironton, where
he resided for ten years and where he was
the efficient incumbent of the office of post-
master for a number of years. At one time
he also served as justice of the peace, was
judge of Iron county for several years, and
for one term was a member of the general
assembly in the Missouri state legislature.
He was originally an old-line AVhig in pol-
itics and later transferred his allegiance to
the Republican party. He was a devout
member of the Presbyterian church at Iron-
ton, in which he was an elder. His wife,
whose maiden name was Elizabeth ilallow,
was born thirty miles from Fincastle, in Vir-
ginia, on the 23d of iMarch, 1811, and she died
on the 7th of April, 1892, having survived
her honored husband for seventeen years.
Barnabas Mallow, a brother of Mrs. Logan,
is now living near Palmer, Missouri, he being
ninety-one years of age on the 11th of Octo-
ber, 1911.
James M. Logan, the immediate subject of
this review, was the eldest in order of birth
in a family of seven children, and has resided
in the neighborhood of his birth place during
most of his life time, having spent twelve
years at one time in Reynolds county, Mis-
souri. Without moving, he has lived in
Ripley, Shannon and Rejiiolds counties and
also with no moves has lived in Washington
and Iron counties. He has been identified
with agricultural operations during most of
his active career and he is now the owner of
a finely improved estate of three hundred and
eighty-five acres, sections of which are oper-
ated by tenants. In politics jMr. Logan is an
uncompromising advocate of the principles
for which the Democratic party stands
sponsor, and while he has never manifested
aught of ambition for political preferment
of any kind he served for two years as public
administrator of Iron county. In the time-
honored ]\Iasonic order he is a valued and ap-
preciative member of ilosaic Lodge, No. 351,
Free and Accepted IMasons ; and of the Chap-
ter at Ironton, Royal Arch Masons. He was
formerly affiliated with the Independent Or-
der of Odd Fellows and he and his wife are
zealous members of the Presbyterian church.
in which Mr. Logan has been an elder for
many years and in the various departments
of whose work they are most active factors.
On the 19th of November, 1857, was cele-
brated the marriage of jMr. Logan to Miss
Ann Stejjhens, who was born on the present
Logan estate on the 27th of IMarch, 1838, and
who is a daughter of Joseph L. and Louisa
W. (Wyatt) Stephens. Louisa W. Wyatt
was eldest of these children : Louisa W., Susan
H., James J., Mary E., William S., Edward
A., Minerva J. (residing at Caledonia), Rice
C, Benjamin L., and Nancy H., all deceased
except Minerva J. 3Ir. Stephens was one of
eleven children, whose names are here entered
in respective order of birth — Joseph L., ^lary,
Ann, David B., George W., Isaac C, John D.,
Brookings, Eveline, Berthena and Susan.
Joseph L. Stephens was born near Bowling
Green, Kentucky, on the 29th of December,
1812, and he died on the 15th of September,
1885, in Iron county. He came to Missouri
in 1824 as a small boy and after reaching
years of discretion learned the stone-mason's
trade, following that line of enterprise for a
number of years. At one time he was suc-
cessfully engaged in the general merchandise
business in Iron county and he was also ex-
tensively interested in farming operations.
In politics he was a Democrat and he served
for two terms — eight years — as county judge.
For a period of ten j-ears, from 1865 to 1875,
he was engaged in the mercantile business
with his son-in-law, James M. Logan. They
were unusually successful in that enterprise.
]Mr. and Mrs. Joseph L. Stephens were Meth-
odists in their religious faith and for a
time he served faithfully as steward in the
church of that denomination at Belleview.
Mr. Stephens was a son of George and Sarah
(Wright) Stephens, representatives of an old
and honored Kentucky family. Louisa W.
(Wyatt) Stephens, mother of Mrs. Logan,
was born in Virginia, on the 19th of March,
1812, and she died on the 22nd of November,
1888. She came to Missouri with her parents,
William G. and Frances (Level) Wyatt, when
she was in her twelfth year. Settlement was
made by the Wyatt family in the close vicin-
ity of the present Logan estate, the old
homestead entered by William G. Wyatt be-
ing still in possession of the family. Jlr. and
Mrs. Wyatt died near Caledonia, Missouri.
Mrs. Logan had one brother, George William,
who died in infancy.
JMr. and Mrs. Logan became the parents of
one son, Eugene M., whose bii-th occurred on
HISTORY OP SOUTHEAST MISSOURI
841
the 27th of January, 1859. He owns and
operates a thirty-barrel capacity flour mill at
Belleview, having been interested in the mill-
ing business for the past fourteen years.
Eugene M. Logan was educated in the public
schools at Belleview, Missouri, and subse-
quently attended the Westminster school at
Fulton, Missouri, for a period of one and
one-half years. He married Miss Fannie L.
Reyburn, a sister of Joseph A. Reyburn, a
sketch of whose career appears elsewhere
in this volume. They have three children,
Jennie Elsie, Joseph Lemuel and Anna Belle.
The elder daughter is a prominent music
teacher in St. Louis, where she was graduated
in the Beethoven Conservatory of Music.
She has taken extensive post-graduate work
in violin and piano and for one year was a
student in Oberlin College, at Oberlin, Ohio.
Mr. and ]\Irs. Logan have also reared a young
man, G. F. Coombs, who entered the Logan
household at the age of eight years. jMr.
Coombs is now assistant buyer in the gentle-
men's furnishing department of "The Fa-
mous" store at St. Louis. He was born on the
16th of October, 1885, at London, England,
a son of Joseph and Mary (Morgan) Coombs.
"With his widowed mother and brother and
sister, he came to America when a child of
but four years of age. Mrs. Coombs, with
her other two children, now reside in St.
Louis. Mr. Coombs is an energetic young
business man and is making rapid progress
toward the goal of success.
Mr. and Mrs. Logan, though well advanced
in years at the time of this writing, in 1911,
are still hale and hearty, retaining in much
of their pristine vigor the splendid physical
and mental qualities of their youth. They
are kindly, generous-hearted people and as
such hold a high place in the undying affec-
tion of their fellow citizens. Their exemplary
lives make them eminently well worthy of re-
presentation in this volume dedicated to the
careers of representative Missourians, for
they are citizens of sterling integrity and
worth.
Eli Thomas Bbaistd, M. D., who is recog-
nized as one of the best physicians and sur-
geons of the Lead Belt and enjoys a large
practice at his home town of Desloge and
vicinity, was born at Bonne Terre, Decem-
ber 12, 1883. His early schooling was in his
native town, after which he took the academic
course at "Washington University in St. Louis.
Entering the medical department of that uni-
versity, he was graduated with the degree of
M. D. in 1908. During his student career he
showed unusual ability, during part of the
course acting as assistant in the anatomical
laboratory, and after graduation was ap-
pointed to the City Hospital, where he spent
one year. He then located at Desloge, where
he soon acquired a large general practice.
Dr. Brand is a son of George W. Brand,
who is living retired at Bonne Terre, having
spent most of his life as a successful farmer
and stock raiser in St. Francois county. He
has been prominent in the Democratic politics
of his county, and is now serving as road
supervisor. He is a member of the Independ-
ent Order of Odd Fellows and the Yeomen.
He married in 1879, Miss Mattie Boyd, of
St. Francois county. Her father was a sol-
dier in the Federal army and was killed dur-
ing the Civil war.
Dr. Brand is a member of the county and
state medical societies, the American Medical
Association, the City Hospital Alunmi Asso-
ciation, and the St. Louis Medical Society.
His fraternal relations are with the Plii Delta
medical fraternity, the Knights of Pythias,
Modern "Woodmen of America, Select Knights
and Ladies, and Degree of Honor. In pol-
ities he is an active Republican and is now
serving as local register. He was married
on Christmas day, 1910, to Miss Bessie Per-
kins.
Bert P. Bryant. One of the oldest fam-
ilies of Dunklin county is represented by Mr.
Bryant. His great-grandfather was Dr. Wil-
liam H. Horner, who was family physician
to the pioneer settlers and whose career has
been permanently commemorated in the town
of Hornersville, named in his honor. He set-
tled here in 1832. His stock of medicines
and other equipment, ordered in St. Louis,
was brought down Little river to this spot,
in what was then a wilderness. He accumu-
lated a great deal of property, and the town
is built on land that he once owned, and which
after his death passed to his heirs. He was a
fine type of the old country doctor, and his
name deserves a place in the history of this
region.
His children were Amanda and Dr. Joseph
S., the latter still living and practicing medi-
cine at Hot Springs, Arkansas. Amanda
Horner, the grandmother of Mr. Bryant,
first married R. L. Fisher, a practicing phy-
sician of Kennett, and later became the wife
of Judge J. W. Black. As the wife of Dr.
842
HISTORY OF SOUTHEAST MISSOURI
Fisher she was the mother of Ennezia and
William H., besides several that died youug.
William H. spent all his life near Horners-
ville. Ennezia Fisher, who was born and
reared at Horuersville and attended school
there, died on January 15, 1890. She was
married in Hornersville to Mr. P. P. Bryant.
Mr. P. P. Bryant was born in Tennessee,
September 25, 1855, and came to Dunklin
county at the age ol^, thirteen, having spent
the rest of his life here with the exception of
a short time when he lived near the Arkansas
line. He now owns a farm of thirty-five
acres adjoining town, has a two-story brick
business building on Main street, besides sev-
eral dwelling houses, and is one of the pros-
perous citizens of Hornersville. Most of his
early career was devoted to farming. For
twelve years he was in the restaurant busi-
ness, and had a large and successful trade,
which laid the foundation of his present pros-
perity.
Bert P. Bryant, whose family history has
been briefly outlined, was born at Kennett,
February 15, 1885, his father having resided
there and at Campbell a few years. He at-
tended school in Hornersville until he was
thirteen, and then became a clerk for his
father in the restaurant business. For the
past three years he has been engaged in the
fire and life insurance business, and has built
up a very profitable connection in this line.
At the last general election he was Demo-
cratic candidate for the office of circuit court
clerk, and intends to try again in 191-4.
Mr. Bryant takes an active interest in
fraternal affairs, and is affiliated with the
Independent Order of Odd Fellows, of which
he was secretary ; the Masonic lodge, of which
he was also secretary; the Woodmen of the
World, the Woodmen Circle, and the Tribe
of Ben Hur, all at Hornersville. His church
is the Baptist. He is a progressive young
citizen, and enjoys the confidence and esteem
of all his fellow citizens.
ilr. Bryant married Miss Ida Craig. Her
parents are old settlers of the county, and
came from Tennessee. She was bom in Ken-
nett, August 25. 1886. They are the parents
of one child, ]\Iildred ilay, born August 25,
1909.
Arc.\dia College and Ursuline Seminabt.
The fine Catholic institution to which this ar-
ticle is dedicated is located at Arcadia, Mis-
souri, and is known as the Arcadia College
and Ursuline Seminary. This school and col-
lege accommodates young ladies only, and
among its students are girls of various de-
nominations. The site of this institution is
the one formerly occupied b^' old Arcadia
College, which was founded by the late Rev.
J. C. Berryman, a sketch of whose career ap-
pears elsewhei-e in this volume. In 1877 the
college was taken over by the Catholic chm-ch
and while it was a school of but very modest
proportions and facilities in those daj's it is
now one of the finest Catholic institutions of
learning in southeastern Missouri. The pres-
ent roll of attendance numbers one hundred
students. The grounds of the school cover
eighty-five acres and are beautifully im-
proved. The present fine church edifice was
completed in 1909, at a cost of fifty thou-
sand dollars. From 1877 until 1880 Bishop
John C. Hennessy, of Wichita, Kansas, liad
charge of the institution, his assistant having
been Rev. Father L. C. Wernert, who has
been in charge since that time to the pres-
ent. The present assistant is Rev. Father
John Adrian, and Mother Borgia Bigley is
mother superior. The institution represents
an investment of upwards of one hundred
thousand dollars, in addition to the fine new
fifty thousand dollar chirrch.
Rev. Father L. C. Wernert has presided as
pastor in this parish since 1880, the same be-
ing known as St. Joseph's Chapel and Pa-
rochial church of Arcadia. Missouri. He
was ordained to the Catholic priesthood at
St. Louis, in 1876. A native of Pittsburg,
Pennsylvania, he was born on the 3d of No-
vember, 1852, and he is a brother of the late
Rev. Father John L. Wernert, who died at
Detroit, Michigan, where he had been pas-
tor for a number of years, the date of his
demise being the 11th of February, 1889.
Joseph and Theresa Wernert, parents of
Father Wernert, were born at Strassburg,
province of Alsace-Lorraine, then French ter-
ritory. They came to the United States in
early youth and settled at Pittsburg, then
Allegheny, Pennsylvania, where the father
gained renown as a prominent architect and
builder. The Wernert family has always
given its allegiance to the Catholic church.
Father Wernert was educated in St. Fran-
cis Seminary, at jMilwaukee, Wisconsin, and
he was ordained as a priest by the late
Bishop Rj'an, then coadjutor at St. Louis to
Archbishop P. R. Kenrick, of that city.
Wlien Father Wernert assumed charge of
the parish at Arcadia his territory included
some ten counties and he was obliged to
HISTORY OF SOUTHEAST MISSOURI
843
travel extensively in order to hold service at
the different churches in his charge. For
the past eight j-ears he has had an assistant.
He is a man of fine intellectual attributes
and his many kind acts have been prompted
by intrinsic goodness and deep human sym-
pathy. He is ever ready to extend a help-
ing hand to the poor and needy and his great
charity knows only the bounds of his oppor-
tunities.
Concerning the equipment and attractions
of Arcadia College, the following article,
compiled bj- the Ui-suline Sisters, is consid-
ered worthy of reproduction at this point
and the same is given in full below.
The College and Academy, under the di-
rection of the Ursuline Nuns, is a thoroughly
equipped institution for elementary, second-
ary and the higher education of women.
The aim of the Ursuline Order is the
Christian education of young women. This
is a work which embodies the physical, in-
tellectual and moral development of the stu-
dent— a work which can be brought to com-
pleteness only by the concentration of ener-
gy that is capable of turning all things into
so many factors achieving the one great end.
The buildings are spacious and commodious
and are provided with all the modern im-
provements. The hot water system of heat-
ing is used with the most gratifying results
to both health and comfort. No expense has
been spared to provide the most complete
lavatory system throughout. The Bethalto
water system has been installed; with it the
pressure can be instantly increased, and a
strong steady stream of water sent over any
of the buildings; thus a reliable fire service
is always at command.
The pleasure grounds, which surround the
College, are extensive and most beautifully
adorned. The tennis courts, golf links, cro-
quet and basket-ball courts tell their own
tale, and bring to our mental sight a vision
of fair girlhood, with sparkling eyes and
cheeks aglow, the very embodiment of health
and happiness.
The increase in the number of religious
services and stiidents necessitated the build-
ing of a larger chapel, which was dedicated
on April 14th, 1909, by the Most Rev. J. J.
Glennon, D. D., assisted by the Rt. Rev. J.
J. Hennessy, D. D.. of Wichita. Kansas, and
forty-five priests of the Archdiocese of St.
Loiiis. The magnificent structure is strictly
Romanesque, of Cruciform design; measures
118 feet in length bj' 53 feet in width, and
has a seating capacit.y of over six hundred.
The edifice represents not only the largest
chapel in Southeast Missouri, but also one
of the most beautiful in the West.
It has been truly said that the zealous
daughters of St. Ursida have made the Val-
ley of Arcadia worthy of the name it bears
to-day, because of their beautiful Temple,
reared for the honor and glory of God, of
their great institution, nestling among the
Ozark hills, and because of the many cul-
tured and noble women they have sent forth
from their historic walls.
C-VPTAiN CH-iRLES K. PoLK. "And they
shall beat their swords into plow-shares" is
a fitting text for a brief sketch of the life of
Captain C. K. Polk, a soldier of distinction
in the Confederate army, now an enterprising
and successful farmer. He resides on his
farm twelve miles southeast of Ironton, in the
county which his ancestors took such an active
part in organizing and developing.
Captain Polk's father was Major John
Polk, a native of Georgia, who came to ]\Iis-
souri from "way down south" early in the
nineteenth century v.-ith his father, William
Polk. They secured land and after making
several moves came to the present home in
Iron county, where they have been potent
factors for its upbuilding, both by their pub-
lie services and private enterprise, ilajor
Polk was a representative of Madison county
in the '^Missouri legislature, and performed
the same service later for Iron county, which
he was active in organizing. The family is
related to that of the former president, James
K. Polk, and like him is of Scotch descent.
Ma.ior Polk married Christina Tount. of
Cape Girardeau county, ^Missouri. She was
bom in that county in 1799, her family being
among the early settlers of eastern Missouri,
German by descent. She was a member of
the Baptist church, which her husband
favored, but was not formally connected
with. Christina and John Polk were the par-
ents of a large family, of whom two sons and
three daughters grew to maturity, but Cap-
tain Charles Polk is the only member now
alive.
Captain Polk was born in Sladison county,
ilissouri, October 16. 1839, and has spent
all but eight years o-f his life in this state.
Four years he was in tlie war, two in Arkan-
sas and two in California, in Tehama county.
844
HISTORY OF SOUTHEAST MISSOURI
where he was engaged in farming. Farming
and fighting have been the two occupations
of his life and he has made good in both.
His military career began in the state
service, where he was lieutenant. Later he
.ioined the Confederate forces and was
elected lieutenant of Company B, Third Mis-
souri Cavalry, under Colonel Colton Greene.
His faithful and gallant service soon secured
him the appointment of captain, for he never
avoided any engagement or shirked the small-
est duty. He served from July, 1861, until
the surrender at Shreveport, Louisiana, and
though he was in the forefront of some
twenty-five or thirty engagements of all de-
grees of severity, he was never wounded nor
touched by a bullet.
Captain Polk was first married to Miss
Christ, of Missouri, Iron county, who died
before the war. While in Arkansas during
the war he was married a second time. The
union occurred in 1864 and the bride was
ilrs. Rhoda A. Emerson, nee Whitlow. She
had one child of her former marriage and
two were born to her and Captain Polk. The
daughter, Mrs. Christina Lee Ashlock, now
resides in Madison county. She has seven
children, the eldest of whom, Charles, is in
the United States army. The others, John,
Richard, Earle, Alma, Joseph and Dumont,
are at home. The son of this second mar-
riage, John William, was engaged in farm-
ing and milling in Iron county until his
death, in 1905, at the age of thirty-seven,
.years. He left a wife and four children,
Elmer, Lorene, Raymond and Carrie. The
bereaved widow was formerly Miss Laura
Miller, daughter of John J. W. Miller, whose
family came to old St. ilichaels, now Fred-
ericktown, in 1811. Later they came to Marble
Creek, where C. W. Miller now resides. Sirs.
Laura Polk's father, J. J. W. Miller, entered
the land on which he still resides in 1855,
during Pierce's administration. There ten
other children beside Mrs. Polk were born to
J. J. W. and Rachel Sutton Miller, six of
whom are still living. Captain Polk's second
wife went with him to California in 1873, but
she did not live to return in 1875, when he
came back to stay in Iron county. Here in
1877 he married the present Mrs. Charles
Polk, who was Miss Harriet Isabel Sharp, a
native of Iron county and a sister of Thomas
B. Sharp, ex-sheriff of Madison county,
whose life appears elsewhere in this work.
Captain and iMrs. Polk have seven chil-
dren. Of these, one son, Thomas, and two
daughters, Miss Annie and Miss Laura, live
at home, Thomas assisting his father to oper-
ate the farm. Three other daughters are mar-
ried: Hattie to Mr. W. L. Boatner, a farmer
whose residence is not far from the Captain's
home; Lula Polk Thomas, wife of Otto
Thomas, of Granite city, 111., a miller by trade,
and they have one daughter, I\Iarian, and
Mrs. 0. L. Yount, nee Eusebia Polk, is a resi-
dent of Ironton. She has two sons, Charles
and Jlorris. All of the daughters and the
son Henry Polk have all tauglit in the schools
of Iron and Madison counties. Charles Henry
Polk, is a traveling auditor of the M. K. & T.
Railroad. His headquarters are at Sedalia,
Missouri. He was two terms representative
of Iron county in the Slissouri legislature.
In polities Captain Polk is a Democrat. To
this party he has given lifelong adherence
and is a firm believer in its policies, though
his public service has been military rather
than political.
Both Mrs. Polk and the Captain are valued
members of the United Baptist church, the
latter having the distinction of being a mem-
ber of the first organization of that denomi-
nation west of the Mississippi river.
W. J. Ward. A wide-awake, brainy man,
possessing an unlimited amount of energy
and keen business instincts, W. J. Ward,
secretary, treasurer and manager of the
Shelton-Ward Hardware Company, is one of
the representative citizens of Kennett, stand-
ing prominent in mercantile and financial
circles. He has risen from humble surround-
ings and limited circumstances to a place of
afSuence and influence in the community, his
success in life being entirely due, as he says,
to the wise counsels and advice of Mr. W. F.
Shelton, who always stood ready to give as-
sistance to worthy young men. A son of D.
W. and Dillia A. Ward, he was born May 30,
1860, in Weakley county, Tennessee, where
he spent the first fourteen years of his life.
In December, 1874, his parents moved to
the north end of Dunklin county, Missouri,
settling in what is now known as the "Col-
ony," from there going, in 1876, to Grand
Prairie, near Cotton Plant, where they lived
two years. They subsequently settled near
Campbell, and not far from Valley Ridge,
Dunklin county, where the father's death
occurred in December, 1906, at the age of
seventy-two years. Mr. Ward's mother still
lives on the home farm, making her home
with a daughter.
HISTORY OP SOUTHEAST MISSOURI
After going with the family to Grand
Prairie, W. J. Ward worked out by the month,
picking cotton, etc., until twenty-four years
old. He then married, and for two years
rented land of his father-in-law at Grand
Prairie. Mr. W. P. Shelton came forward
about that time and assisted iMr. "Ward in
buying eighty acres of land at Horse Island,
near Senath, furnishing all of the money in-
vested, as Mr. Ward had not a dollar. Mr.
Ward cleared and improved a good farm,
erecting a substantial house and barn, and
in course of time repaid Mr. Shelton the
money which he had advanced while agent
for the land. Subsequently Mr. Ward traded
his farm for two hundred acres of land lying
just southeast of Kennett. He added to its
improvements, bought two hundred acres of
adjoining land, and held it all until about
three years ago, when he sold at an advance.
Mr. Ward has since purchased eight hundred
acres of wild land in Dunklin county, and a
thousand acres of the "Dog Walk" tract in
Arkansas, the development of which he is
just beginning.
In 1894 Mr. Ward became associated with
the business interests of Kennett, in company
with W. P. Shelton, W. P. Shelton, Jr., and
D. W. Moore establishing the Shelton Corn
Company, which was capitalized at two thou-
sand five hundred dollars, and handled corn,
cotton seed and retailed lumber. The com-
pany built an elevator, and for two years
carried on a good business, Mr. Ward being
manager of the concern. Buying out Mr.
Moore's interest in 1896, the Messrs. Shelton
and Mr. Ward built a planing mill and a saw
mill in connection with their lumber yard,
the plant adjoining the yards of the Railway
Company, and there manufactured all the
lumber they handled, and also shipped much
rough lumljer, their lumber interests crowd-
ing oiit the corn and seed business.
This firm, as lumber manufacturers, car-
ried a good supply of builders' hardware and
supplies, and in 1901, through the insistence
and persistence of Mr. W. F. Shelton, erected
on the public square of Kennett its present
tine building in which its hardware store is
housed, investing^ve thousand dollars in the
building, which is fifty by one hundred feet,
and to which a wareroom was subsequently
added. Putting in a stock of hardware
valued at six hundred dollars, the store was
opened October 1, 1901, and in the two fol-
lowing years the business had so increased
that a much larger stock was needed, so in
1903 an annex building, fifty by eighty feet
was erected, and two yeai-s later it was neces-
sary to build another annex, that one being
thirty-six by fifty feet. Each year the busi-
ness grew, assuming enormous proportions,
all under the management of Mr. Ward, and
in 1908 a building thirty-four by seventy
feet was added to the others, giving a floor
space of over thirteen thousand square feet.
The firm now carries a very heavy stock of
hardware, and its annual sales have vastly in-
creased in later years, six salesmen being em-
ployed. In November, 1909, the lumber busi-
ness, which had increased in a corresponding
ratio, its sales each year being about the same
as in the hardware department, was sold to the
Campbell Lumber Company. In January,
1908, during the illness of Mr. Shelton, the
business was incorporated as the Shelton-
Ward Hardware Company and was capital-
ized at fifteen thousand dollars. Mr. ^Y. F.
Shelton, Jr., was made president of the com-
pany, and Mr. Ward was elected secretary,
treasurer and general manager, a position for
which he was amply qualified Ijoth by knowl-
edge and experience, and which he has since
filled ably and satisfactorily.
Mr. Ward is likewise a stockholder in the
Cotton Exchange Bank, and is a director and
the vice-president of the Bank of Nimmons,
Arkansas, where he owns a store building
and other property. He is a Democrat in
polities, and fraternally he stands high in
the Masonic Order, being a member and a
past worthy master of Kennett Lodge, No.
215, A. P. & A. M. ; a member of Helm Chap-
ter, No. 117, R. A. M., of which he is Scribe;
and a member of the R. & S. M.
Mr. Ward's home, which is one of the
best and most attractive in the city of Ken-
nett, has eighteen rooms, and is furnished
with all modern conveniences. Mr. Ward
married, at the age of twenty-four years,
Mollie L. Herrmann, daughter of William
Herrmann, of Grand Prairie, Missouri, and
into their household seven daughters have
been born, namely : Myrtle M., wife of A. R.
Zimmerman, cashier of the Clarkton Bank,
in Clarkton, Missouri; Terah. wife of Clyde
Oaks, cashier of the Cotton Exchange Bank
of Kennett, of whom a brief sketch may be
found elsewhere in this volume; Willie A.,
a pleasant young lady employed as book-
keeper in the hardware store ; Hattie B. ;
Ruth; Alma, and Joe.
846
HISTORY OP SOUTHEAST MISSOURI
R. E. Englaxd. One of those thriving
and well-managed concerns which aid in ma-
terial fashion in the general prosperity and
commercial prestige of Hematite is the mer-
cantile business of which that widely and
favorably known citizen, R. E. England, is
manager and part owner. He is a native son
of the state, his birth having occurred at
Rush Tower, Jefferson county, July 2, 1869.
His father, James M. England, was born in
Jefferson county, likewise, and the paternal
grandparents, James Ross, a native of Ten-
nessee, and Margaret England, a native of
Missouri, cast their fortimes with Jefferson
county, locating in Plattiu, Avhere they con-
tinued to reside until the close of their
lives. The father of the immediate sub-
ject of this brief biography was one
of the historic gold seekers who went
to California only a short time after the
Forty-niners. He was but seventeen years
of age at the time and he remained for
four years before he returned to Jefferson
county, whose charms and advantages had
remained in vivid memory throughout that
period of rough adventure. About 1865 he
engaged in the mercantile business at Hema-
tite, ^Missouri, and in addition to this occu-
pation he engaged in farming on an extensive
scale. He remained actively engaged in this
two-fold pursuit until his death, in 190-4, his
loss being keenly regretted in the communitj-
in w^iich he had been a familiar figure and an
influence for good for so many years. He
married Elizabeth Waggoner a native of
Kentuckj% and a later resident of Jefferson
county — a daughter of R. G. and Mary Wag-
goner, natives of Virginia and Illinois, re-
spectively. To 2h: and Mrs. England were
born eleven children, nine of whom are still
living, R. E. being the sixth in order of birth.
Both parents were zealous members of the
Methodist Episcopal church. South, and the
father was Democratic in his political belief
and a member of the Masonic lodge, with
whose ideals of moral and social justice and
brotherly love he was in perfect harmony.
The elder I\Ir. England held the office of post-
master of Hematite for sixteen years.
The early life of R. E. England was spent
in Hematite, in whose public schools he laid
the foundations of his education. After fin-
ishing school at the age of fifteen years he
at once became an actual factor in the world
of affairs by going into the mercantile busi-
ness as an assistant to his father. It is some-
what unusual that he sliould have remained
thus engaged in all the ensuing years. The
family still own the business, but the subject
manages it in every detail and its continual
growth and abundant prosperity is the logi-
cal outcome of his executive ability and sound
judgment.
On the 16th day of February, 1896, Mr.
England laid the foundation of a happy mar-
ried life, the lady of his choice being ]\Iar-
garet McCormack, of Hematite, daughter of
Peter C. and Sophia McCormack. Four
promising young people are growing up be-
neath their roof-tree, namely : Dorothy, Kath-
erine, James M. and ]\Iargaret. ]\Ir. England
like his honored father, is aligned with the
men of the Democratic party, and he is in-
terested in all public matters and ready to
support such measures as would be likely to
result in general benefit.
GeneraIj James Robinson McCoEiiiCK.
One of the beloved and distinguished names
which will long remain bright upon Saint
Francois county's roll of honor is that of the
late General James Robinson McCormick; a
statesman who served Avith an eye single to
the good of his constituents in both state
and national assemblies; a man of great
usefulness when the integrity of the Union
was threatened as examining surgeon for
the United States army and later as briga-
dier general of the enrolled militia of South-
eastern Missouri; previous to the war a phy-
sician and in later years a drug merchant at
Farmington; and ever a good citizen, to
whom the general well being was very dear.
James Robinson McCormick was born in
Washington county, ilissouri, August 1, 1824,
and at the age of sixteen lost his father Jo-
seph, by death. The latter was a native of
North Carolina, where he was reared and
married, and in 1806 he came to Washing-
ton county, Missouri, and homesteaded six
hundred and forty acres of land. Several
families came with him. He was a farmer
until his death, which occurred about 1846,
and owned a few slaves. His first wife was a
Miss Sloan, who died and left one child,
Fielding L. His second wife (the subject's
mother) was Jane Robinsoi^ and she had six
children, all now deceased, and she died at
middle age. Previous to his father's death,
James R. ^McCormick had received a good
elementary education, a teacher having been
a member of the household and young James
profited much by that person's tuition. Left
without his natural guardian when young,
HISTORY OF SOUTHEAST MISSOURI
847
he had early to feel the stiug of straitened
eireumstanees and had no assistance in gain-
ing his higher education, working his way
through college and constituting in himself
an excellent example of that typical Ameri-
can product — the self-made man. The j'oung
fellow had his first experience as a wage
earner in the capacity of a teacher, his work
in this field covering the period of a year.
He subsequently pursued a course in Transyl-
vania University in Kentucky, entering that
institution of learning about the year 1847.
He then taught school again for about a
year, his pedagogical labors being this time
in the state of Florida, and subsequently he
took up the study of medicine under Dr.
Douglass, of Nashville, with whom he read for
about a year. This was preliminarj- to enter-
ing the Medical College of Memphis, from
which he earned the degree of ^I. D. in 1849.
When it came to locating and beginning his
active career, he chose Bollinger countj', Mis-
souri, where he practiced for a year, then
removing to Perry county, where he con-
tinued in practice until about the year 1860.
As signal mark of his standing and his use-
fulness to the community in his decade's resi-
dence there he was elected to the state senate
from that district. In 1861, at the outbreak
of the Civil war, he was appointed examining
surgeon for the United States army and oc-
cupied this position for two years. He was
then appointed Brigadier General of the en-
rolled militia of Southeastern Missouri and
served in that capacity until the close of the
war. He practically gave up the practice
of medicine at the close of the great conflict
and he was subsequently known by his
friends as "General" McCormick. He
opened a small drug store at Farmington and
devoted a good deal of time to its manage-
ment.
In 1866 General McCormick was again
elected to the state Senate, but resigned to
fill the unexpired term of Thomas E. Noel
in Congress. Having thus given a "taste of
his quality" in the National Assembly, he
was twice afterwards elected to the United
States Congress as representative from the
Fourteenth ilissouri district, his contempo-
raries in the great legislative body including
James G. Blaine and William Mckinley. At
the termination of his third term he retired
from politics, and. moving from Arcadia,
^Missouri, to Farmington. in 1874, that he
might be in closer association with his
friends, he there resided until he passed to
the Great Beyond, this occurring ilay 9,
1897. He was twice married, his first alliance,
in 1854, being with Mrs. Burchett Nance, of
Perry county. She died December 25, 1862,
leaving two children, of whom Dr. Emmett
Curran McCormick, mentioned on subsequent
pages of this work, was the younger; and a
sister, Martha Jane, who died at the age of
ten years, the elder. In 1866 General Mc-
Cormick married Susan Elizabeth Garner and
two children were the fruit of their union.
One died in infancy and a son, James Ed-
ward, resident in St. Louis, Missouri, is a
graduate physician, but does not engage in
active practice. The second Mrs. IMcCor-
mick died in October, 1901, having survived
her husband for a few years.
General McCormick was a "Union Demo-
crat" in politics and was a member of the
Senate at the time of the amendment of the
state constitution. He was a member of the
time-honored Masonic fraternity and in his
religious conviction was a Presbyterian. He
was literary in taste and a great reader, be-
ing familiar with the literature of all nations.
He possessed a clear, alert intellect and was
an honorable gentleman, enjoying the con-
fidence and respect of all.
Emmett Cueran McCormick, M. D. One
of the gifted physicians whose possession has
contributed in high degree to the professional
prestige of St. Francois county is Dr. Emmett
Curran McCormick, of Farmington. He has
no doubt inherited his skill in the profession
from his father. Dr. James Robinson Mc-
Cormick, who was one of the most prominent
of Southeastern ilissouri physicians and
surgeons and a prominent statesman, as well.
The subject is a man of fine abilities and is
particulaflj^ well-known for his achievements
in his specialty, the diseases of women and
children, in this line never having failed to
apply and develop his gifts as an original in-
vestigator.
Dr. ilcCormick is a native son of the state,
his birth having occurred on a farm in Perry
county, some eight miles southeast of Perry-
ville, the date of his nativity being ]\Iarch
22. 1855. His father. General James Robin-
son ]\IcCormiek, of whom mention is made
on preceeding pages of this work, was also
a native Missourian. The early education of
the subject was received at Arcadia, Mis-
souri, in the private schools of that place and
in Arcadia College. He also spent one 3'ear
— 1870 — in Washington, D. C with his
848
HISTORY OF SOUTHEAST MISSOURI
father, who -was in Congress at the time, and
during that time prosecuted his studies under
the direction of a private tutor. Having de-
termined upon his life work, he entered the
St. Louis Medical College and was graduated
from that famous institution ]\Iarch 3, 1881.
He was but a boy at the time of the Civil war
and that desolate period was further sad-
dened for him by the death of his mother,
whose demise occurred in 1862. For a time
he lived with a family of the name of Rupert
and at the battle of Pilot Knob the Rupert
home was converted into a hospital, his mem-
ory of the event having ever remained very
vivid. When prepared for his life work, Dr.
McCormick located at Farmington and this
has remained the scene of his entire career.
Here he is held in universal respect and is
valued as one who gives materially to the
community's well-being. With his brother
the Doctor owns two thousand, two hundred
acres of land in this county, all in a body,
which constitutes one of the best stock farms
in the United States. They breed registered
Short-Horn cattle, thoroughbred hogs, sheep
and driving horses, and a manager is ' em-
ploved to superintend this valuable estate.
On September 12, 1882, Dr. McCormick es-
tablished a happy household by his marriage
to Lucy F. AuBuchon, daughter of Ferd
AuBuchon, of French Village, Missouri.
They became the parents of eleven children,
as follows: Luella Gertrude; Fielding L. ;
Florence Burchette, now Mrs. H. L. Nichols,
of Chicago ; Emmett Curran, Jr. ; Katherine
Odiel; Lucy Corrinne; Martha Caroline;
James Robinson: Bernard Brooks, deceased;
]\Ianson AuBuchon; and the youngest child,
who died as an infant unnamed. The ad-
mirable wife and mother died May 6, 1909,
lamented by many friends. Mrs. I\IcCormick
was a liberal Catholic and a few years after
her marriage she .joined the Presbyterian
church, with which a year later her husband
also united. She was a noble woman and the
influence of her beautiful character will not
soon be lost. She devoted her life to her fam-
ily and found her greatest joys within the
sacred precincts of the latter. She was ill
for three years before her death and her
husband gave up his practice, abandoned
every outside interest to devote his entire
time to her whose loyal companionship had
been thoroughly ideal, but since her death he
has resumed the duties of his profession.
In his political allegiance Dr. McCormick,
like his honored father before him, subscribes
to the articles of faitli of the Democratic
party and all public measures which appeal
to his as likely to be of general benefit he
supports to the best of his ability. He is a
member of the Presbyterian church, as has
been previously noted, and his fraternal re-
lations extend to a trio of orders — the Ma-
sonic ; the Independent Order of Odd Fel-
lows; and the Knights of Pythias, of which
latter organization he is a charter member.
He is extremely popular, as all men of sound
character, winning personality and fine citi-
zenship must be, and is prominent in the
many-sided life of the community, as are also
his sons and daughters.
Richard D. Blaylock, M. D., is a native
of ^Missouri and it is safe to say that she has
few sons of whom she is prouder. His pa-
ternal grandfather, Thomas Blaylock, was a
native of North Carolina, a state which has
given Missouri the founders of many of her
best families. He came to Perry county in
1815, accompanied by his wife. In that coun-
ty was born James Alexander Blaylock, the
father of Dr. Richard Blaylock. The former
was three times married and Richard is the
third child of his third wife. Luvica Penny
Blaylock. There were ten children altogether,
two by the first marriage, Martha and Cath-
erine. The second wife had three sons : John,
Joseph A. and Christopher Columbus, and
one daughter. — ilatilda. Besides Richard,
Luvica Penny Blaylock bore three other sons,
Dr. Charles Ferdinand. George Avon and
Thomas. She died in 1909, at the age of
seventy-five. Her husband lived to be only
sixty, passing away in 1891.
Richard Blaylock was born in Perry coun-
ty January 15, 1872. While working on the
farm he attended the district schools and
also those of Perry\'ille. Later he took a
course in a training school in 1897 and 1898.
The following year he entered the Barnes
IMedical College of St. Louis. When he en-
tered school he had fourteen dollars and fifty
cents. He borrowed one hundred and thirty-
five dollars, and this took him through his
first winter. During the following summer
he secured employment on the street railway
and finished his course, on the street cars, as
it were, for he divided his time between study
and working for the railway company. Five
hours of every day during the third term he
ran a car and every day he attended his
classes, never missing a recitation. His med-
ical education cost him one thousand three
HISTORY OF SOUTHEAST .^HSSOURI
849
hundred dollars and he earned every cent of
it, leaving college owing no man anything.
He graduated in 1903, receiving the degree
of M. D.
Dr. Blaylock began his practice of his pro-
fession in Lixville. He spent one summer
there and in the fall of 1903 came to Sedge-
Tvielaille, where he has since resided and
where he has built up the practice which
would be expected of so efficient and well
equipped a phj'sician. The field of his work
is something over nine miles in extent. He
has a fine residence on two acres of land,
worth two thousand two hundred dollars.
In the fraternal organizations Dr. Blay-
lock holds membership in the Modern Wood-
men and Ben Hur. He is a communicant of
the iMethodist church, South.
In 1893 he was married to Dora Bollinger,
daughter of ^latthias Bollinger. She died
within fourteen months after her marriage.
Dr. Blaylock then married Rada Statler,
daughter of ilrs. Mary Statler. She, too,
lived only two years, dying in 1907, of tu-
berculosis. Her son Howard was born June
12, 1906. The present Mrs. Blaylock is
Sallie, daughter of John and Sarah Bowers,
of Cape Girardeau county. She was wedded
to Dr. Blaylock in 1910, on April 17.
George "Washington Williams, ^I. D.
The late Dr. George Washington Williams
was honorably and prominently identified
with the medical profession of Saint Fran-
cois county through many years. He came
here a young man full of strength and en-
thusiasm; here he married and established
a home; made the interests of the commu-
nity his own ; ever labored for its welfare ;
and, permitted a longer time of living than
is granted to the most, he died crowned with
years and veneration. Dr. Williams was
born in Roanoke, Virginia, June 22, 1819,
and passed his early life amid the interest-
ing scenes of the Old Dominion. He re-
ceived his preliminary education in private
schools and subsequently attended the Vir-
ginia Military Institute, from which well-
known institution he was graduated more
than three decades prior to the outbreak of
the Civil war. After finishing his general
education he came to Missouri and in this
state taught school as a means of livelihood.
While engaged in his pedagogical labors he
read medicine and having saved sufficient
money to further his preparation for the
profession of his choice, he entered medical
school, locating first at Caledonia. He sub-
sequently entered the Missoui'i Medical Col-
lege at St. Louis and received his degree
from that institution. After practicing for
a time at Caledonia he removed to Farming-
ton and there remained imtil his demise,
with the sole exception of a period of sis
years which he spent in Georgia on account
of his wife's health.
Dr. Williams chose as his wile one of
Farmington's daughters, Elinor D. Peers,
daughter of John D. and Kathryn Peers,
and to their happy union were born the
following seven children : Emma Peers,
who became the wife of B. R. Lagg, and is
now deceased; Dr. John W. ; Kate L., who
became the wife of C. F. Mansfield; Edward
V. ; Elinor Kennett, Mrs. George Rutherford ;
Dr. Benjamin, a record of whose life appears
elsewhere in this volume; and a child who
died in infancy.
Dr. Williams was a close student of his
profession, ever striving to keep in touch
with the latest scientific discoveries in his
particular field, and he was the kindly friend
and physician of hundreds of families in the ■
section, who esteemed him both as a man and
an enlightened minister to the ills of suffer-
ing humanity. In politics he was a stanch
Democrat, having given his suffrage to its
men and causes since his earliest voting days
and he was a member of the Presbyterian
church. His lodge affiliation was with the
Independent Order of Odd Fellows and at the
time of his much lamented death, on March
2, 1906, he had the distinction of being the
oldest Odd Fellow in all Saint Francois
county. His age when summoned to the
Great Beyond was eighty-six years, eight
months and eight days. The memory of this
good man will long remain bright in Saint
Francois county.
George Benjamin Williams. ]\I. D., is a
physician and surgeon of prominence and is
well entitled to representation in this work
dedicated to the citizens of Southeastern
Missouri. The name has long been identi-
fied with the profession in this section. Dr.
Williams' father, the late Dr. George Wash-
ington Williams, having been one of the
ablest of Saint Francois county practition-
ers and in choice of life work the subject
has thus followed in the paternal foot-
steps. More detailed mention is made of
the elder gentleman on preceding pages
of this work. Dr. Williams is surgeon for
850
HISTORY OF SOUTHEAST MISSOURI
the St. Joe Lead Company, the Illinois
Southern Railway Company and the St.
Louis Smelting & Refining Company, and
holds high place in the regard of both laity
and medical fraternity.
Dr. Williams is a native son of the county,
his birth having occurred in Farmington,
July 17, 1864. His education was secured
in the pulilic schools of Farmington and in
the Georgia Military Institute, of Marietta,
Georgia, from the latter institution receiv-
ing a degree. To prepare for the profession
he had elected he entered the Beaumont
School in St. Louis and in 1893 he finished
a profitable and zealously pursued course of
study and received the degree of Doctor of
Medicine. He located at Desloge, Missouri,
where he was in practice until 1898, when
he moved to Flat River, where he has been
in continuous practice since and where suc-
cess and recognition have awaited him. He
is surgeon for the St. Joe Lead Company,
the Illinois Southerr( Railroad and the St.
Louis Smelting & Refining Company. His
general practice is large and in addition to
the duties already mentioned he also does
some surgical work for two other companies.
He is probably the leading surgeon of the
Lead Belt and is a valued member of the
County, State and American Medical Asso-
ciations.
On July 19, 1893, Dr. Williams was united
in marriage to Miss Mattie E. Salveter, of
St. Charles. Missouri, daughter of T. C. Sal-
veter, manager of the St. Charles Car Works
and the Madison & Illinois Car Works. This
happy and congenial union has been further
cemented by the birth of two daughters, —
the Misses Maggie May and Jessie Ellen.
Dr. Williams is a loyal supporter of the
cause of the Democratic party and siqce the
attainment of his majority has subscribed
to its articles of faith. He is a valued mem-
ber of the Presbyterian church and his
lodge relations are three-fold, extending to
the time-honored Masonic order, the Inde-
pendent Order of Odd Fellows, and the
Modern Woodmen of America. He and his
family hold high place in society and their
home is one of the attractive and hospitable
abodes of the city.
Thomas Reuben Tolleson. The name of
Thomas Reuben Tolleson is prominently as-
sociated with the financial and commercial
interests of Leadwood as manager of the
Bonne Terre & Cattle Company Store and as
a stockholder and vice president of the Bank
of Leadwood. He has much financial ability
and has given thought and study to the de-
velopment of the bank, his efforts bringing
gratifying results and adding to the deposits
and financial strength of the institution.
He also has the distinction of having been the
first postmaster of Leadwood, his tenure of
this office having extended from the time of
its establishment in 1901 until November,
1910, holding it twice by commission and
once by appointment. He is, in short, a loyal
and representative citizen of this thriving
town and it is indeed appropriate that men-
tion of his life be recorded in this volume de-
voted to representative men and women of
southeastern Missouri.
Thomas Reuben Tolleson was born in Gran-
iteville. Iron county, Llissouri, May 6, 1874.
The father, Herman Tolleson, was born in
Norway, in 1843, and came to America when
a young man about nineteen years of age.
His first residence in the new country in
which he was to try his fortunes was in Wis-
consin, but after a few years he left that
state and came to Iron county, Missouri. He
was engaged in the quarries, and is, in fact,
in this business at the present time. He mar-
ried in 1872, Jane Kidd, of Iron county, and
to this union seven children were born,
Thomas Reuben being the eldest in order of
birth. The father and mother still reside at
Graniteville, and the head of the house, in
addition to his quarry interests, owns a farm
so eligibly situated that parts of it are laid
out in town lots. Mr. Tolleson, Sr., is Repub-
lican in politics and Lutheran in church affili-
ation. He takes no small amount of pleasure
in his lodge membership, which is with the
Independent Order of Odd Fellows and the
American Order of United Workmen.
The early life of Thomas Reuben Tolleson
was passed in Graniteville and he received
his education in the public school of Iron
county. At the age of nineteen years he left
the parental roof-tree and for two years
clerked for W. H. Beyers, a merchant at
Ironton, Iron county, and after that eight
years for the Lopez Store Company at Iron-
ton and Piedmont. Mr. Tolleson 's identifica-
tion with Leadwood dates from the year 1901,
in which year he came here to take charge of
the Bonne Terre Cattle Company, with which
after a decade he is still associated and to
whose prosperity he has contributed in very
definite manner. His almost immediate as-
sumption of the office of postmaster has al-
HISTORY OF SOUTHEAST MISSOURI
851
read}' been noted and also his connection
with that stable monetary institution, the
Bank of Leadville, of which he was one of the
original stock-holders. He is the champion
of good education and very appropriately is
a member of the school board. He is a stal-
wart Republican, ever ready to do all in his
power to assist in the cause, and is connected
with the ]\Iethodist Episcopal church, South.
He is a prominent lodge man, belonging to
the great Masonic order and holding the
Royal Arch degree, and to the Indej^endent
Order of Odd Fellows, the Knights of Pythias
and the Modern Woodmen of America.
ilr. Tolleson was married in 1889, !Miss
Bertha Shift'erly, of Bonne Terre, daughter
of Charles and Lena (Grizzell) Shifferly, be-
coming his wife. Four children have been
born to them, namely: Charles (deceased),
Grladys, Adele and Yirgil.
Henry B. Parker, one of the prominent
citizens of Hornersville and who has for a
number of yeai-s been enjoying the comforts
of material prosperitj-. came to this part of
the country in 1890 with a wife and five chil-
dren in a wagon. He possessed little at the
time, and his immediate ob.ject in coming
here was to pick cotton. During the follow-
ing season he planted and made an excellent
crop on rented land, and from that as a be-
ginning his industry and good management
have carried him forward to increasing suc-
cess every year.
Born in Tennessee on May 1, 1858 and
reared on a farm, he was deprived of school
advantages bj' the war. and what he has ac-
complished he owes to his own efforts. When
lie was nineteen he married in Tennessee
Miss Josephine Singleton, who was born in
Tennessee June 7. 1857. Mr. Parker's father
was from a North Carolina family, and his
mother was of an old family in ]\Iiddle Ten-
nessee. After his marriage he engaged in
farming in his native state, then moved to
Texas, where two years were spent without
very encouraging success, and from there he
came to Missouri. He spent a year or two
near Horne^s^^lle, then lived six or seven
years at Cotton Plant, and after being here
eleven years bought his first forty acres, on
time. Four years later he sold the place for
two and a half times what he had paid. He
then bought one hundred and sixty acres,
half of which he has since sold, and he im-
proved the home eighty and made a good
living on it until 1910. when he moved into
Hornersville, where he owns a comfortable
home and a lot one hundred and forty by
one hundred and forty feet. His home farm
is now rented, and he himself leases forty
acres near town for his own farming efforts.
He has done some trading in real estate,
and all his efforts of recent years have pros-
pered. He has been favored in his career by
the excellent health of himself and family.
Despite the malarial conditions of the coun-
try when he came here he had no sickness,
and there have been no deaths in his family
circle. His children are as follows: Nettie,
who married Tom Harkey, of Dunklin coun
ty; Maude, who married Ed Anderson, of
Hornersville; Kate, at home; Bettie, who
married James Rose, now living on ilr.
Parker's farm; and Vinnie, who married
Zack Kennett, of Hornersville. There are
also six grandchildren in the family.
Mr. Parker is a Democrat in polities and
since taking up his residence in Hornersville
has been honored with election to the ofBce of
mayor. He affliates with the Independent
Order of Odd Fellows at Hornersville, and
the family church is the ^lethodist.
Isaac G. Whitworth. Among the best-
known and most highly honored of the citi-
zens of Iron county, Missouri, was the late
Isaac G. Wliitworth. ex-county treasurer and
merchant at Ironton for over forty years,
who died February 8, 1908, in the ninety-
second .vear of his age. This venerable gen-
tleman, whose memory will long remain
green in the community in wbieh he was
generally beloved and where he played a use-
ful part for so many years, was born in
Madison county, Georgia, November 19. 1816,
the son of Winston and Sarah (Albright)
Whitworth, natives of North Carolina and
Georgia, respectively. In 1819 the Wliit-
worths, then a young married couple, mi-
grated from their home to Cape Girardeau
county, Missouri, making the long journey
across the wild intervening region in wagons,
according to the necessity of the da.v. The.v
were on the road three weeks. Shortl.v after
arriving in Cape Girardeau county they went
on to Perry county, where they remained for
a few years, and in 1827 they removed to
^ladison county, ^Missouri, where they pur-
chased a farm. The father died there in
1870, at the advanced age of eighty-three
years, and the mother survived until 1884,
when her years numbered eighty-seven.
Thus the subject comes of a family distin-
852
HISTORY OF SOUTHEAST MISSOURI
guished for its longevity. Of their twelve
children, eight grew to maturity and five are
now living.
Isaac G. Whitworth remained upon his
father's farm until the age of twenty years,
and he then entered upon his business career
as a saddler and blacksmith, while at the
same time keeping grocery for the space of
eight years. He then went back to the farm,
where he married in 1846. ilis Nancy B.
White, of Madison county. He engaged in
agricultural pursuits for ten years and also
was identified with lumbering and milling
activities. From 1856 to 1862, Mr. Whit-
worth was in the lumber business and ran a
saw-mill and in the year last mentioned he
took up his residence in Arcadia, Iron county.
Later he removed to fronton, where he was
engaged in the mercantile business until he
retired, in 188-i, and where the residue of his
life was passed. In 1878 he was elected
county treasurer and served in this impor-
tant office for six consecutive years, with
credit to himself and benefit to his neighbors.
His son, William H., succeeded him as county
treasurer for several terms. He was at all
times active in public life and his counsel was
held in high regard. Among the offices in
which he served were those of city treasurer,
councilman, justice of the peace, and several
school offices. He was a prominent Mason
and for many years was treasurer of the
lodge. He retired from active business about
the year 1890, but long after that he gave
valuable assistance and he was always
greatly interested in the business which he
founded and to which he gave the complete
energies of more than forty years, his advent
into Arcadia Valley, as before mentioned,
dating from 1862, and this section remaining
his home until his death. During his long
business career he had several associates. He
was very active mentally and physically and
always replied instantly upon hearing a busi-
ness proposition. In short he was a business
man of unusual acumen and ability. He was
a member of the Methodist Episcopal church,
South, from the year 1844, the time of its
division, and for over forty years he had the
distinction of being its most liberal sup-
porter. He was active in the ranks of the
Democratic party.
Isaac G. Whitworth and his wife, who pre-
ceded him to the hereafter by many years,
her death occurring in 1869, were the parents
of five sons and four daughters, and of this
number three sons and two daughters are
living. The eldest son, John W., died Feb-
ruary 16, 1911, at the age of sixty-three years.
He was a merchant and was in business from
his boyhood. Besides his \\-idow he is sur-
vived Ijy two daughters and a son, all residing
at Arcadia. In his earlier years a member of
the firm at fronton, he removed in 1880 to
Arcadia and was in business there from that
time on. Mary J., widow of James H. Clark,
of Ironton, is the second member of the fam-
ily. The late Sir. Clark was associated with
the Whitworth firm for many years. James
Monroe, second son, was originally a member
of the Whitworth Sons and a successor to the
business upon the dissolution of the firm in
January, 1910, the above named remaining
at the old stand and I. G. Whitworth, Jr.,
taking the hardware department. William
H., is a man of considerable wealth, who re-
tired from the firm in 1910, the other two
brothers continuing the business as stated.
Sarah P., is the wife of William R. Edgar, of
whom more extended mention is made on
other pages of this work. The youngest mem-
ber of the family, Isaac G., of Ironton, is in
the hardware business.
James Monroe Wliitworth, born in Madi-
son county, Missouri, May 8, 1852, has re-
sided in Ironton and been in business here
since 1862, with the exception of the ten
years which he spent in Arkansas. Of this
period he taught two years in Searcy,
Arkansas, and for eight years was engaged
in the drug business at Fayetteville. He re-
turned to Ironton in 1884 and has been in
business here continuously since that time.
He was married at Fayetteville, Arkansas,
in 1877, to Miss Laura Sue Jones, who was
bom at Jacksonport. Arkansas, the daughter
of the late Dr. J. W. and Savannah (Pryne)
Jones, the former one of the most distin-
guished physicians and surgeons of Arkansas.
To Mr. and Mrs. J. ]\I. Whitworth were born
ten children, four of whom are living and
concerning whom the ensuing brief data are
entered. Robert Pryne resides in Freder-
iektown. Missouri, and is proprietor of the
Madison Hotel of that place. He married
Miss Elizabeth Robertson and they are the
parents of one daughter. Laura Sue. wife
of Arnett L. Sheppard. the son of Judge
Sheppard. of Doniphan, Missouri, resides in
that place. They have one daughter.
Savannah is a teacher in the vicinity of
Searcy. Arkansas, and she is one of the fine
young instructors of that state. She is ex-
cellently educated, having attended Galloway
HISTORY OF SOUTHEAST MISSOURI
853
College at Searcy, Arkansas, and MeKinley
liigli school at St. Louis, Missouri. Morgan
Winston, aged seventeen, is engaged in the
telephone business and is at home. James
Monroe Whitworth is a Democrat in politics,
but has alwa3's declined office. He and his
wife are members of the Methodist Episcopal
church, South, in which he has held many
offices. He is interested in the Iron County
Bank, of which he is one of the organizers,
having been, indeed, one of the prime movers
to that effect. His father was the first pres-
ident of the bank, and James Monroe de-
clined the presidency, which was twice offered
to him.
Isaac G. WTiitworth, the second, is one of
Ironton's representative citizens and well
maintains the prestige of the honored name
he bears. As previously mentioned, he was
for a good many years a member of the firm
of Whitworth Sons (from 1884), and upon
the dissolution of the partnership (in Janu-
ary, 1910), he has continued the hardware
department, carrying among other things an
extensive line of stoves. He is a native son
of Iron county, his birthdate being November
17, 1866, and he is a son of the late Isaac G.
Wliitworth. He married Miss Grace Tual, of
Arcadia, daughter of the late E. C. Tual,
a general blacksmith. IMrs. Wliitworth 's
mother is still living, ilr. and Mrs. Whit-
worth share their delightful home with two
children — Grace, aged sixteen, and Eugene,
aged fourteen, both of whom are in school.
Like his brother, he is a director of the Iron
County Bank, with whose fortunes the family
have been so closely identified. In the mat-
ter of politics he is a tried and true Demo-
crat and his religious views coincide with
those of the Methodist Episcopal church,
South.
John Thomas Dustkins, who was appointed
postmaster of Desloge April 5, 1910, has been
identified with Southeast Missouri through-
out his life, and is one of the most influential
citizens of his community.
He was born on a farm near Piedmont,
March 9, 1870. His father, Thomas N. Din-
kins, was born in Allen county, Kentucky,
April 10, 1844, and at the age of thirteen ac-
companied the family to Lafayette county,
Missouri, where his father was a blacksmith
and farmer. Thomas N. Dinkins grew to
manhood in this locality and at the begin-
ning of the Civil war went into the Confeder-
ate army under General Joe Shelby. From
the war he returned to Missouri and was ac-
tively engaged in farming to- the end of his
life, his death occurring January IS, 1892.
He was a Democrat in politics, and a mem-
ber of the Baptist church and of the ilasonic
order. He married, September 10, 1867,
Miss Myra L. Farris, daughter of Lucian N.
Farris, a farmer of Reynolds county, this
state. She is still living at Piedmont.
John T. Dinkins, who was the second of
his parents' twelve children, was reared on
a farm in Reynolds county and attended
country school there. When he was five
years old the family moved to Texas, but re-
mained there only one year. His independ-
ent career began as a farmer, but in 1899 he
moved to Desloge and for the succeeding ten
years was engaged in mining. His popularity
among the citizens of the Lead Belt led to
his choice for the office of postmaster, where
he has proved a capable public servant. He
is an influential Republican, is a member of
the Baptist church, and affiliates with the
Masonic order and the Modern Woodmen of
America.
At the age of twenty-two he married Miss
Effie Larkin, daughter of Sampson Larkin,
of Centerville,. a former sheriff of Reynolds
county. Mrs. Dinkins passed away August
12, 1909, leaving five children : Thomas W.,
Odessa M., Ross, Otto and William Theodore.
Thomas Jefferson Shultz. Now a pros-
perous and enterprising farmer near Senath,
Mr. T. J. Shultz has spent all his life in Dun-
klin county, and during the early years of
his career contended with many difficulties
and privations so that the prosperity he now
enjoys is the more grateful to him and also
the more noteworthy as an individual accom-
plishment. He is one of the men who have
■won their way up from the bottom, and few
citizens of this region have a keener appre-
ciation of the conditions which once pre-
vailed in this country.
His parents coming from Tennessee and
being early settlers of Southeast Missouri, he
was born on a farm three miles northwest of
Hornersville, June 3, 1856. His father died
when he was a small boy, and he then lived
at home with his mother. Wlien a young
man he married Miss Rosetta Wilkins, and
her death came after they had spent twenty-
seven years together. In 1903 he married
Miss Georgia A. Bridges, who was born in
Tennessee.
Starting his career without money, he
854
HISTORY OF SOUTHEAST MISSOURI
lived during a period in this part of the coun-
try when pioneer conditions existed. His
trading has been done from one end of the
county to the other, and he was often com-
pelled to go many miles from home to get the
necessities of life. He bought a farm of
eighty acres, getting it on credit. During
his youth he went without shoes, and also had
to make the tliread for his clothes. White
tlour was a rarity for himself and also his
neighbors, corn meal being the staple food,
and often a whole month went by without his
eating wheat biscuit. Bran, wheat and rye
were used for coffee, and his neighbors, when
one of them happened to get a supply of real
coffee, would invite the rest in to share the
treat. In addition to these privations, Mr.
Shultz has had many individual hardships,
sickness and other things delaying him in his
progress. But he now owns his eighty-acre
farm, which is well improved and has a com-
fortable house which he built, and he enjoys
his share of the general prosperity of all this
portion of the state. He is a member of the
^Missionary Baptist church.
His children by his first wife are: Hettie
L., wife of Charles Higginbottom ; Abner C,
who married Nellie Kelley; Ida B., wife of
S. H. Pruett ; and ]\Iontie, at home. By his
present wife he has Joseph, born in 1905 ; and
Virdie, born in 1907 ; and one that died in
infancy. Mr. Shultz has three living grand-
children. Lester E. Higginbottom and Cletus
and Paul Pruett.
Mr. Shultz is a son of Calvert C. and Eliz-
abeth (Xeel) Shultz. the latter born in Dun-
klin county, Missouri, and she died in 1891,
aged fifty-four years. C. C. Shultz was born
in Tennessee and died about 1870, as a young
man of less than forty. They were married
in Dunklin county. Thomas J. Shultz is the
eldest of six children, of whom but one other
is living, William S., a farmer of Dunklin
county.
Jesse M. Hawkins, circuit clerk and re-
corder of Iron county, Missouri, now serving
his third term in this dual capacity, has all
of his life been working for the public. A
man cannot moiint to the top of the ladder of
fame at a bound, and if he should attempt
any such quick method of reaching the sum-
mit, he would find that his foothold was ex-
tremely insecure, and his descent would be
apt to be even more rapid than his ascent.
]Mr. Hawkins did not try the instantaneous
road to si;ccess, but contented himself with
climbing the ladder, rung by rung, pausing
at each step to make sure of his footing. In
this manner he has steadily progressed, and
is today one of the political leaders in Iron
county.
Born in iladison county, Missouri, on the
7th day of February, 1872, Mr. Hawkins is
one of the seven children of John Martin and
Cornelia (Russell) Hawkins, residents of
Belleview vallej', some two miles from Belle-
view, Iron count.v, ilissouri. Both parents
are members of old families. Great-grand-
father Hawkins was a wealthy farmer and
slave owner in Virginia, in which state he re-
mained until some j'ears after his marriage,
then migrated to Wilson county, Tennessee,
where both he and his wife spent the residue
of their days. Their son, Thomas P., was
born in Virginia about 1816, and when a
mere lad, accompanied his parents to Tennes-
see, where he was reared and educated.
About the time that he attained his majority
he married iliss Eliza Scobj', a life-long resi-
dent of Wilson county, Tennessee, up to the
time of her marriage, and in that county her
brother, John Scoby, was well known as an
able lawyer. Immediately after their mar-
riage Mr. and Mrs. Thomas P. Hawkins re-
moved to Madison county, ilissouri, taking
with them three of their slaves. They bought
a tract of land in ^Madison county, there en-
gaged in agricultural pursuits, and there be-
came the parents of four children, whose
names are as follows: James N., a soldier in
the Confederate army during the Civil war,
who was wounded in battle and died in the
state of Arkansas; Jane, who did not sm-vive
her fifteenth year; Elizabeth, who became
the wife of Defoe Waugh and died about
1896 in Oregon county, Missouri ; and John
M., whose birth occurred Jul.v 27, 1841, in
Madison county, Missouri. Mr. Thomas P.
Hawkins' farm was located six miles south of
what was then called St. Michaels and is now
known as Predericktown ; he planted tobacco
on his land, raised extensive crops and built
immense tobacco barns. He served for sev-
eral years in the capacity of justice of the
peace, and at the time of his death in 1875.
at the age of fifty-nine, Mr. Hawkins was
regarded as one of the most honored resi-
dents of Madison county, Missouri, — a stanch
Democrat in politics and a devout member of
the Methodist church.
Up to liis forty-eighth year. John M.
Hawkins (father of Jesse M.) lived in Madi-
son county, Missouri, with the exception of
HISTORY OF SOUTHEAST MISSOURI
855
the four years spent in the army. He had
just completed his education when the Civil
war was inaugurated, and he enlisted in the
Second Missouri Cavalry, Company E, under
Jeff Thompson, in command of one of the
Confederate companies engaged for state
service. At the expiration of the time for
which he had first enlisted ^Ir. Hawkins
again offered his services, re-enlisting for
three .vears under General Forrest. In the
month of April, 1865, the general surrend-
ered at Charleston, and the various members
of the company were paroled. Mr. Hawkins,
although engaged in many hard-fought bat-
tles, was never wounded, and on his return
home he was ready to take up his active
duties in civil life. In the year 1870 he was
married to Miss Cornelia Russell, native of
New Madrid county, IMissouri, where her par-
ents, Joseph and Sallie (Jackson) Russell,
were married, though the father's birth had
occurred in North Carolina, while the mother
hailed from Kentucky. Soon after their mar-
riage I\Ir. and ]\Irs. Russell removed to St.
Francois county, where they reared their
family of eight children, six of whom are liv-
ing. Mr. and ]Mrs. Hawkins also became the
parents of eight children, one of whom, Leota.
died at the age of twenty, and the names of
the seven living ones are as follows : James,
a commercial traveler, residing at ^Memphis,
Tennessee : Philip, who maintains his home
at Fairview, Oklahoma, and is a railroad en-
gineer in the employ of the Kansas City, Mis-
souri and Ohio Railroad; Laura, the wife of
Louis Morris, former principal of schools
at Flat River, where he and his wife reside;
Sallie (Mrs. Charles Sutton), who makes her
home at Ellington, Reynolds county. ]Mis-
souri ; Ethel, who is married to Harry Rus-
sell, of Belleview, Missouri ; Emma, the com-
panion of her parents on the farm : and
Jesse il., the immediate sub.ject of this sketch.
Mrs. Hawkins and the children are all mem-
bers of the ^Methodist church. ]Mr. Hawkins'
political interests center in the Democratic
party, whose principles he believes contain
the essentials of good government.
Jesse M. Hawkins spent the first sixteen
years of his life on his father's farm in Mad-
ison county, where he attended the public
schools, early evincing interest in literarv
sub.ieets and in all matters concerning the
public good. "Wlien he was sixteen years old
the family moved to Iron county. Belleview
Valley, and he continued his education at the
state normal school at Cape Girardeau.
Vol. n— If)
After completing his schooling he engaged in
the occupation of teaching, and in the year
1896 was elected to the position of commis-
sioner of public scliools, and six years later
became the incumbent of the office of circuit
clerk and recorder of Iron county. His x-ec-
ord during his term of service was so irre-
proachable that he was re-elected to the same
office, and is now serving his third term.
In the year 1900 ilr. Hawkins married
Miss Josie Olson, a daughter of John and
Sophia Olson, of Graniteville, Iron county,
and to the union of the young people two
sons, Russell and Jesse, Jr., were born.
The men in the Hawkins family have al-
ways been stanch Democrats, and Mr. Jesse
Hawkins is no exception, but has ever ren-
dered unwavering allegiance to the Demo-
cratic party. In a fraternal way he is affili-
ated with the Knights of Pythias and with
the ilodern Woodmen of America, while in
religious connection he holds membership
with the Methodist Episcopal church. South.
He is still a young man, with much of his life
before him, in all probability, and inasmuch
as his past record has been beyond reproach,
both in public and private capacity, he ^\'ill
doixbtless be the recipient of further honors
in recognition of his faithfulness, his abilities
and his sterling character.
Benjamin E. Hempstead, M. D., who was
engaged in the practice of medicine and sur-
gery at Cape Girardeau, possessed all the req-
uisite qualities of the successful physician,
for, added to his broad and accui-ate learn-
ing concerning the principles of his profes-
sion, he had a genial manner and sunshiny,
hopeful nature which did not fail to have its
effect upon his patients. His courteous sym-
pathy, as well as his professional skill, had
gained him prestige during the period of his
eight years' residence in this city and his
death on June 28, 1911, came as a severe
loss to the profession and also in business cir-
cles, for he was a successful business man as
well as physician.
A native of Egypt ^lills. Missouri. Dr.
Hempstead was a scion of a fine old pioneer
family in this state. He was a son of John
B. Hempstead, whose father was a native of.
England, where he was graduated in a med-
ical college and whence he immigrated to the
United States at a very early day, locating
at New London, Connecticut. John B. Hemp-
stead was likewise a physician and surgeon
by profession, and after growing to manhood
856
HISTORY OF SOUTHEAST MISSOURI
he moved from his home in Connecticut to
Illinois, later coming to j\Iissouri, where he
passed the closing years of his life. He mar-
ried Miss Margaret Thompson and to them
were born five children who grew to matu-
rity, the subject of this review being the fifth
in order of birth. Dr. Benjamin R. Hemp-
stead was born on the 26th of August, 185-i,
and he received his early education in the
public schools of Egypt ilills. Later he en-
tered the State Normal School at Cape Gi-
rardeau, Missouri, but he was forced to leave
that institution prior to graduation on ac-
count of impaired condition of his health.
Contracting tuberculosis, he was sent to
Texas, where out-of-door life and treatment
finally cured him. After remaining in the
Lone Star state for about one year he re-
turned to Missouri and, locating at Cape Gi-
rardeau, began to read medicine under the
able preceptorship of Dr. J. H. Rider. Sub-
sequently he was matriculated as a student
m tJie i\iissouri iledical College, at St. Louis,
in which well ordered institution of learning
he was graduated as a member of the class
of 1880, with the degree of Doctor of iledi-
cine. He ina!ugurated the active work of his
profession at Egypt Mills, where he was en-
gaged in continuous practice for fully a score
of years and where he won renown as a
physician and surgeon of unusual skill and
ability. In 1903 he came to Cape Girardeau,
and here resided until his death, which was
caused by appendicitis. He controlled a
splendid and extended patronage in this city
and in the territory normally tributary
thereto.
On the 5th of November, 1891, was sol-
emnized the marriage of Dr. Hempstead to
Mrs. Betty Russell Shaner. widow of AVade
Shaner and a daughter of Elam Russell. By
her first marriage Mrs. Hempstead became
the mother of one daughter, ^Marie Shaner,
who is now living at home. To Dr. and
Mrs. Hempstead were bom three children:
Mary D., Gertrude Fay, and James Elam. In
his religious faith Dr. Hempstead was a de-
vout member of the Presbyterian church
and in this connection it is interesting to
note that Edwin Hempstead, great uncle of
the Doctor, was instrumental in establish-
ing the first church of this denomination
west of the Mississippi river, he having come
to the city of St. Louis as early as the year
1811.
In politics Dr. Hempstead was an uncom-
promising advocate of the cause of the Dem-
ocratic party and at the time of his death
he was a member of the city council of Cape
Girardeau. "While a resident of Egypt Mills
he was the popular and efficient incumbent
of the office of postmaster in that place for
a period of fourteen years. In fraternal
channels he was affiliated with the Masonic
order, having completed the circle of the
York Rite branch and being a valued and
appreciative member of the lodge, chapter
and commanderj'.
H. A. Sugg. A man of superior business
intelligence and judgment, H. A. Sugg, of
Kennett, is prominently identified with one
of the foremost industries of Dunklin county,
being president and manager of the Plant-
ers' Gin Company, which owns several plants
and gives employment to many men. Born
at Dyersburg, Dyer county, Tennessee, H. A.
Sugg grew to manhood in the cotton belt, and
as a young man became familiar with cotton
ginning in his native state, having been there
engaged in the cotton trade fifteen years be-
fore coming to Dunklin county to assume
charge of the affairs of the company with
which he is now associated.
In 1906 the Planters' Gin Company v>as
organized with a capital of twent.y-five thou-
sand dollars, and with its present efficient
officers. H. A. Sugg being president, and
manager, and George Ferguson secretary and
treasurer. It was started with three plants,
one at Hayti, Pemiscot county, one at Hol-
comb, and one at Kennett, where the main
office is also located. Tlie business increased
with siTch wonderful rapidity from the very
beginning that other plants were soon re-
Quired, and have since been established in the
following-named places: at Gibson, Frisbee.
Octa and Senath. in Dunklin county, and at
Nimmons, Arkansas. These various plants
have an average capacity of from eight hun-
dred to one thousand bales each, or a business
amounting to about three hundred and fifty
thousand dollars a year. Each plant main-
tains its own gin, buying cotton from local
growers, and also carrying on a custom trade,
and in the ginning season one hundred men,
mostly from Dunklin county, are employed,
the Company's monthly pa.v roll in each
plant amounting to nearl.v one thousand dol-
lars. The head office of the firm is at Ken-
nett, and the cotton is sold direct from that
office. The ginning property is now valued
at fifty thousand dollars or more, and is one
HISTORY OF SOUTHEAST MISSOURI
857
of the most extensive and prosperous of the
kind in Missouri.
Alonzo T. Harlow. The late Alonzo
Thomas Harlow was for man.y .years a valued
factor and an honored resident of this sec-
tion. He was born, JMarcli 24, 1840, in Har-
risonville, Illinois, and there received his
early education. He subsequently entered
Shurtleff College, at Upper Alton, Illinois.
and was graduated from that institution with
the class of 1861. About the time of the at-
tainment of his majority he went to St. Louis
and there secured a position with the firm of
Harlow & Wall, commission merchants, as
bookkeeper. When he severed his connection
with that tirm it was to engage' in business
independently, embarking in the commission
business in St. Louis. Eventually he took in
a partner, and the firm became known as that
of Harlow, Gelston & Company, and later,
with the retirement of Mr. Gelston. he organ-
ized the firm of Harlow, Spencer & Company.
He encomitered very definite success, his
career continuing very interruptedly for
several years, until failing health made it
necessary for him to retire from the firm and
go to California to recuperate.
In 1885 the firm of Harlow & Spencer
failed, and Mr. Harlow, with the fine cour-
age which characterized his every relation,
assumed the indebtedness of the firm. He
then became associated with the Nansnn Com-
mission Company and continued with them
for eight years, and at the end of that period
he and Mr. Spencer again went into partner-
ship, the Spencer-Harlow Commission Com-
pany takin"- its place among the important
concerns of its kind. This arrangement.
however, preceded the death of IMr. Harlow
by only one year, his summons to the Great
Beyond occurring January .31, 1894, when he
^^rtually in the prime of life and use-
He was a man who enjoyed the con-
fidence of all those who knew him and he held
high place in mercantile and commission cir-
cles, as well as in social and civic life.
In 1881 Alonzo T. Harlow was elected vice
president of the ]\Ierchants' Exchange, and
just before his demise he was elected to the
office of president. He was a member of the
Masonic lodge, and the high principles for
which this ancient organization stands were
with him far more than a rhetorical expres-
sion, for he exemplified them in his daily liv-
ing. He also fraternized with the Knights
of Honor. He was a stanch Republican, one
of the leading ones of the section, in fact, and
at one time made an unsuccessful candidacy
for state representative, certain local condi-
tions bringing about his defeat. Some
twenty-five years previous to his death he
founded the Windsor-Harbor Presbyterian
church, of which he remained an active mem-
ber throughout his life.
ilr. Harlow was twice married, his first
wife being Miss Rhoda Israel, who died
twenty years after their union. In 1886 Miss
Lettia B. Waters, of Kimmswick, Jefferson
county, was united to him in marriage, and
their ideally happy companionship was only
of about eight years duration. Two sons were
born into their home — Alonzo W. and Logan
S. Mrs. Harlow, a lady of admirable char-
acter and charming personality, still resides
at Kimmswick, with her two sons. She, too,
is a member of the Presbyterian church. It
was in about the year 1868 that the late Mr.
Harlow came to Kimm.swick, where he built
the beautiful family home, but he continued
in business in St. Louis.
Alonzo W. Harlow, the elder of the sons, is
engaged in the surety bond business in St.
Louis, but he also retains his residence in
Kimmswick, his birthplace and the scene of
the greater part of his young life.
Barton Hates Boxer. Although still a
young man. Barton Hayes Boyer, prosecuting
attorney of Saint Francois county, is one of
the prominent and representative citizens of
Farming-ton. With an equipment which has
gained him recognition as one of the ablest of
lawyers, he has no inconsiderable fame in
local courts and, successful as he has been in
the past, it is firmly believed that the future
holds still greater honors.
Mr. Boyer was born October 10, 1877, at
French Village, Saint Francois county. His
father, Francis A. Boyer, was born in Jeffer-
son county in 1856 and passed his entire life
until he became of age upon a farm. He
took advantage of such simple educational
advantages as were proffered by the district
schools and when he came to manhood's es-
tate he for a time engaged independently in
farming. He subsequently engaged as a
miner at Bonne Terre and when the Doe Run
property was first opened he helped sink the
first shaft in the same. He continued in the
mines for a great many years or up to the
death of his wife, which occurred in 1891.
After that much lamented event he remained
for about one year at Knob Lick and in the
858
HISTORY OF SOUTHEAST MISSOURI
intervening time has lived in various places,
not having settled upon a permanent habita-
tion. He is now virtually retired from active
labor. The senior ^Ir. Boyer was married
in 1876 to Sarah E. Shumaker, daughter of
William G. Shumaker, a farmer located at
French Village. To this union the following
five children were born: B. H. Boyer. the
subject of this record ; Samuel G., located at
Grandin; Charles B., who is a citizen of
Graudiu; Nora E., widow of iMr. Garland;
and Mar}- E. In politics the head of the
house is an adherent of the policies and prin- ,
eiples of the "Grand Old Part.y;" his church
faith is Baptist; and he is a member of the
Independent Order of Odd Fellows.
To the public schools of Saint Francois
and Jefferson counties is Barton H. Boyer
indebted for his educational training. In
1893 he bade farewell to his desk in the school
room and went to Jefferson county, where
until 1897 he made his livelihood by working
on the farm and when opportunity offered
continuing his studies. In the year men-
tioned he matriculated at Carleton Institute,
where he studied for a twelvemonth and at
the end of that time he joined the Xavy and
remained in the same for two years, his con-
nection with that national institution taking
him to various interesting quarters of the
country. He then returned to Carleton In-
stitute, where he continued his studies, being
graduated in 1901, with the degree of Bach-
elor of Literature. During the years of study
and adventure he had gradually determined
to become a lawyer and the last year at col-
lege he studied law under a private in-
structor, Mr. James A. Abernathy, receiving
additional council and instruction from
Judge Carter and Messrs. George W. "Wilson,
Jerry S. Gossom, Jerre B. Burks and F. il.
Carter. On March 17, 1902, he was admitted
to the bar at Marble Hill and ever since that
time he has been in active practice, and with
the exception of a short time when he was
located at Elvine, he has been established at
Farmington. In 1902 he made an unsuccess-
ful run for prosecuting attorney on the Re-
publican ticket, the county, as was its
■wont, going strongly Democratic. Nothing
daunted, in 1908 Mr. Boyer made a second
run on the Republican ticket and this time
was elected, and at the election of 1910 suc-
ceeded himself. He is the present incumbent
of the office of prosecuting attorney and he
has ever brought ability and faithfulness to
the discharge of its duties.
On the 7th day of June, 1902, Mr. Boyer
was united in marriage to Rosetta "White, of
Ehdns, daughter of "W. R. "White, of St.
Louis, a stationarj' engineer, ilr. and Mrs.
Boyer share their pleasant and hospitable
home with a little daughter, Hiawatha, and
hold high place in popular confidence and
esteem.
Frederick Thiele. j\Ir. Thiele's parents
are natives of Germany. The father, John
Thiele, came to this country when only
eleven, and his mother, too, left the Father-
land when only a child. They settled in Cape
Girardeau county and were married there,
where they brought up a family of seven
children, of whom Frederick is the youngest.
On August 20, 1853, in Cape Girardeau
countj', Frederick Thiele was born. Until he
was eighteen, he remained at home and then
for two years worked out on the farms of
the district. At twenty he was married to
Adeline Hahs, daughter of Jesse Hahs, of
Bollinger county. At the time of his mar-
riage ^Ir. Thiele came into possession of one
hundred and twenty-two acres of land in
Bollinger county, which he held until 1906.
This land is now partially divided among
the children of Jesse Hahs. Mr. Thiele now
holds one hundred and twenty-five acres on
T^Tiitewater creek, all under cultivation. His
live stock comprises four horses, eight cat-
tle, forty sheep and five hogs.
Five children born to ]Mr. and Mrs. Thiele
are now living. These are Eli. born in 1879;
Joseph, 1883 ; Elizabeth, 188.5 ; Da3i:on, 1886 ;
and Octavia, in 1887. Joseph makes his
home with his father. He is married to
Daisy, daughter of John I\I. Johnson. The
Thiele family are members of the Lutheran
church.
Mr. Thiele's nephew, Ora Hahs, son of Eli
and Priscilla Crane Hahs, was born in 1886.
In 1905 he was married to ^Minnie Statler,
and they have three children. Clara Marie,
born in 1907 and twins, two years younger,
Pauline Elsie and Aline Elsie.
Jacob Day. In the agricultural life of
Saint Francois county, which plays a part so
important in the achievement of that pros-
perity which distinguishes it. Jacob Day is
an important factor. His property is at once
extensive and eligibly situated, and he is an
advocate of the new scientific methods in
agriculture which have reduced the great
basic industry to a sounder basis than ever
HISTOKY OF SOUTHEAST MISSOURI
859
before. Then, too, the development of the
lead resources of this section have had most
important bearing upon the fortunes of Mr.
Day, who recently sold three hundred and
fiftj'-seven acres to the Potosi Mines Com-
pany. In addition to his Saint Francois
county holdings he also owns land in Wash-
ington county.
Jacob Day was born November 18, 1853,
in the vicinity of Leadwood. His father,
George W. Day, was born in 1820, in either
Kentucky or Illinois, but at the age of eight
he came to this county with his parents, who
located near Leadwood and engaged in the
cultivation of the soil. The father secured
a limited education in the public schools and
then conducted farming operations, being
engaged as a farmer during his entire life-
time. He was married in 1849 to Sarah
Mitchell, and when she died she left a son,
George T. The father married again, in
1851, Mary "Walleu becoming his wife and
three children being born to them, namely:
Sarah, Jacob (immediate subject of this re-
view) and Mary H. ilr. Day was left father-
less at the age of two years, for the head of
the family died in 1855 and the young
mother was left with the care of four small
children. This brave and worthy woman sur-
vived her husband for more than half a cen-
tury, going on to the Undiscovered Country
in 1909. The elder sister of the subject,
Sarah, first married J. W. Carter, by whom
she had six children, and after his demise
married Joseph Kirkpatrick, one child hav-
ing been born to the second union. The
younger sister, ilary Helen, lives with her
brother upon the old homestead, which is
dear with the associations of many years.
The brother, George T., is a resident of
Seattle, Washington.
Jacob Day spent his early life on the farm,
in his .vouth learning the many secrets of
seed-time and harvest, and even in boyhood
coming to the determination to make agri-
culture his own occupation. He received his
education behind a desk in the country school
house, but through much reading and keen
observation has repaired many deficiencies
which the opportunities provided by the state
did not reach. He has been exceedingly suc-
cessful and now conducts one of the largest
farms in the locality, while at the same time
directing the affairs of his Washington
county property.
Mr. Day is unmarried. In politics he is a
Democrat, and has subscribed since his ear-
liest voting days to the measures and prin-
ciples for which the party stands. He is the
friend of good government and is interested
in all public issues. He is a loyal Odd Fel-
low and very popular in lodge circles.
Thomas Luther Hodges, M. D. Although
born in the state of Kentucky, IMissom-i has
been the home of Thomas Luther Hodges,
M. D., for a large portion of his life, although
at one time Arkansas came in for a share of
his citizenship. He is now a successful prac-
ticing physician of Esther, Saint Francois
county, and holds high' prestige with both
laity and fraternity. The birthdate of the
subject was January 17, 1868, and his young
eyes first opened upon the pleasant scenes of
Rowan county of the Blue Grass state. Both
of his parents were also born in Kentucky,
the father, William S. Hodges, having been
taken by his parents to this state as a small
cliild in 1835. The family located in north-
ern Jlissouri and there engaged in farming
until about the close of the Civil war, when
they returned to Kentucky. Throughout the
desolate period of the conflict between the
states, William S. was in the militia service.
In 1870 he returned to Missouri and located
in Knox county, where he conducted a farm
imtil his demise some four years later. Thus
the subject had the misfortune to be left
fatherless when onlj' about six years old. His
parents were married some time prior to
1860, the maiden name of his mother being
Elizabeth Humphrey, of Kentucky, and to
this union was born but the one son. The
mother is still living in Knox county, an
admirable and venerable lady over eighty
years of age. The elder Mr. Hodges, like his
son, was a Republican and his church mem-
bership was with the L'niversalists.
The early life of Dr. Hodges was spent in
Knox county, Missouri, and there he grew to
manhood. After securing such educational
benefits as were offered by the public scnools
of the locality, he entered Hurdland Academy
at Hurdland, Missouri, and after a course of
study there became a student in the Western
College at LaBelle. He was graduated from
both academy and college, from the latter
with the class of 1889. For five j'ears after
this he taught school and for one year was
engaged in the newspaper business, which has
often been called the best general education
in the world. It was after this that a long
gathering ambition to become a physician
came to the point of crystallization and he
HISTORY OP SOUTHEAST MISSOURI
entered the Barnes Medical College at St.
Louis, from which he took the degree of M.
D. with the class of 1898. When it came to
choosing a suitable location, Dr. Hodges first
located in Hot Springs, Arkansas, where he
carried on a general practice and where he
remained until 1905, when he went on the
road as a pharmaceutical salesman. In 1908
he came back to the state, whose charms had
ever remained vivid to him, and took up his
location in Esther, in the busy lead belt.
Here he now resides and carries on a large
general practice.
Dr. Hodges laid the foundation of a happy
married life when on the 21st day of April,
1899, he was united to Mrs. Molly Greene,
nee Snyder, of Dexter, Missouri. The doctor
takes great interest in the affairs of the
Masonic lodge and the Independent Order
of Odd Fellows and he stands as a fine rep-
resentative of the most excellent type of
citizen.
Isaac J. Pirtle. Southeast Missouri is one
of the greatest producers of lead in the
world, and no man in the region is better
known than Isaac J. Pirtle, state mine in-
spector. His residence is at Predericktown,
Missouri, and his headquarters are at the
Bureau of Mines and Mine Inspection, Jef-
ferson City, Missouri, and he and his sons
are particularly identified with the develop-
ment of the famous Mine LalMotte, a few
miles to the northeast of Predericktown, but
various members of the Pirtle family for sev-
eral generations have been strong agents in
the general progress of St. Prancois county
as well.
State Inspector Pirtle was born in St.
Francois county, February 2, 1853, and is
a son of Isaac N. and Susannah (Wilson)
Pirtle. In 1845, when thirty-six years of age,
his father came from Indiana to Missouri and
located on Castor river, that county, where
he continued until his death, in the early
nineties, to farm and to work as a black-
smith. He was a firm Republican and an in-
dustrious, good-hearted man, and was a most
earnest believer in Universalism, which, in
his younger days, was subject to much unde-
served ridicule. But Isaac N. Pirtle was a
man of convictions which could not be shaken
by such means, and held to his faith in the
midst of all the wickedness of the world,
dying in peace and with the confidence that
all would be well in the great everlasting
future.
A brother, Abner Pirtle, also came to St.
Prancois county at a somewhat later date
than Isaac N., prior to the Civil war, and
engaged there in farming.
Susannah Wilson (as Mrs. Isaac N. Pirtle
was known before her marriage) was born in
Kentucky in 1807, and not only proudly
claimed the state of Daniel Boone as her own,
but also relationship with the great western
pioneer, woodsman and hero. Her mother,
who died in the eighties, at the age of one
huncb-ed and two, was a second cousm of Mr.
Boone, the family name being the same. ilrs.
Susannah Pirtle had two brothers, John and
Allen Wilson, who were well known as sub-
stantial farmers, solid Republicans and
earnest Masons.
Isaac J. Pirtle is the youngest of four
sons and six daughters born to his parents,
of whom one brother and five sisters are liv-
ing. It is remarkable that all of the family
reaching maturity should have lived to be
over sixty years of age, except Isaac J., of
this biography, who bids fair to far exceed
that span of life. The following facts are
adduced as links in the family record, relat-,
ing to the ten children of Mr. and Mrs. Isaac
N. Pirtle: Jane is the widow of a Mr. Cox
of Cedar Rapids, Iowa; Mary Ann (Hale) of
Southeast Missouri, is also a widow, with
several mature children; Cynthia A. (War-
ren), whose husband is likewise deceased, re-
sides in Joplin, Missouri; Ellen, who has
been twice manned, is a widow living in In-
diana; Hannah T. Gatewood, also a widow,
resides in Joplin, Missouri ; Rebecca died
young; Thomas Jefferson, a Union soldier in
the Civil war, was killed by guerrillas, and
left a wife and four children in St. Francois
county; William Henry, a retired farmer of
that county, has been thrice married and is
now a widower with several children; James
M. went to Washington county, Illinois, in
1861, and engaged in fanning, married and
reared a large family and died at the age of
sixty-eight years; and the further sketch of
the tenth and last-born follows:
Isaac J. Pirtle was educated and reared
in St. Francois county, obtaining the train-
ing which fitted him to buffet with the ad-
verse things of this life both in the public
schools and the common, but invaluable,
school of experience. He is largely self-edu-
cated, but is widely read and closely ob-
servant to seize that knowledge which will be
of practical use to him. The consequence is
that he carries about him no useless tools;
JU^a^ (2. (Mi
HISTORY OF SOUTHEAST MISSOURI
each are kept in readiness for some definite
purpose — wliieh is surely the secret of "Get-
ting on."
At the age of fourteen young Pirtle began
to work at Mine Lailotte, in the northeastern
part of Madison county, famous as being the
oldest lead, nickel and cobalt mine in the
United States, having been worked continu-
ously since 1717. On this historic mining
ground the industrious and ambitious boy
commenced to climb from the bottom of the
ladder. Round by round he climbed to his
first broad and prominent platform, where he
took his stand as mine superintendent of the
great mine, and the thorough and broad
knowledge which he evinced in that position,
as well as his marked executive ability, in-
duced Governor Hadley to honor him with
the inspectorship of lead and zinc mines in
eastern ^Missouri on the 15th of February,
1908. While he had been active in Republi-
can polities for many years, his bitterest po-
litical enemies have ever conceded his abso-
lute fitness for the responsible office which he
holds and honors.
On Augiist 2, 1871, Inspector Pirtle mar-
ried ]Miss Amanda P. Scott, and in the fol-
lowing year moved to Mine LaMotte, which
remained his home until his present appoint-
ment necessitated his residence at Fredericks-
town. At the time of assuming office he built
the fine residence in which he lives with his
wife and the younger children.
Mrs. Pirtle is a Tennessee lady, born March
2, 1853, and is but one month younger than
her husband. She is a daughter of John "W.
and Lucetta (Bennett) Scott, who became
settlers in St. Francois county in its pioneer
days. The father was both a farmer and a
carpenter, and both he and his wife are de-
ceased.
Mr. and IMrs. Isaac J. Pirtle have had
twelve children born to them, of whom seven
are living. One son, Medford, died at the
age of sixteen j-ears, and four others in in-
fancy. The seven who survive are as fol-
lows: Carrie Rosetta, now the wife of Charles
H. Berry, is the mother of three children, the
family residing on Castor river, Madison
county; Arthur Barton married ]\Iiss Lizzie
Tinkler and resides at Mine Lailotte with
his wife and two children ; Armenius Frank-
lin is a foreman at Mine LaMotte and by his
union with ]Miss Mary Combs is the father
of three children ; Augustus Theodore mar-
ried ^liss Emma Head, has two children, and
is a contractor located at Mine LaMotte;
Mabel, Edward Benson and George
Sterling are all at home attending school.
Other facts connected with older genera-
tions may also be added. Mr. Pirtle 's ma-
ternal grandmother lived to be one hundred
and two yeai-s old, and the men of the fam-
ily, while not attaining any remarkable age,
have always showed marked patriotism, from
the paternal grandfather, who was wounded
at the battle of Tippecanoe, to the brothers,
James M. and William H., who were gallant
soldiers of the Union army.
All the members of the Pirtle families,
whether residing at Frederickstown or ]\line
LaMotte are actively and widely associated
with the social and religious activities of their
home conununities, and are therefore strong
factors in the higher progress as well as the
material advance of that section of South-
east Missouri. Both parents are members of
the Baptist church. The mother is a member
of the Rebekahs while IMr. Pirtle is iden-
tified with the Arch degrees of Masonry and
his wife with the Eastern Star. Two of their
sons are active members of the Independent
Order of Odd Fellows and one is connected
with the Rebekahs. The leading family traits
are, in fact, sociability, reliability and moral-
ity, which traits have been the foundation
planks of the only true Americanism.
Charles J. Tual. One of the leading rep-
resentatives of his profession in southeastern
Missouri is Charles J. Tual, of Irouton, an
architect and builder of extensive operations.
He is an able exponent of the progressive
spirit and strong initiative ability which
have caused this place to forge so rapidly for-
ward and he has here attained a position of
prominence and influence as a business man
and as a loj-al and progressive citizen. Not
only is his executive capacity of the highest
character, but he has undeniable talent in the
line to which he has devoted his energies, and
the buildings which are the creation of his
original ideas are artistic and wholly satisfac-
tory. JMr. Tual has been engaged in his pres-
ent work in Ironton for the past ten years,
and his business has grown so steadily that
he now employs from ten to twenty-five men.
Among the buildings which he planned and
constructed are the R. D. Lewis Building, of
Arcadia, the I. G. Whitworth Building and
the William Trauernicht building. In 1911
he made the plans and erected the fine taber-
nacle of the St. Louis Conference of the
Methodist Episcopal church, South, at Ar-
HISTORY OF SOUTHEAST MISSOURI
cadia, with a seating capacity of from one
thousand two hundred to one thousand five
hundred. This is a steel frame building,
with a tile roof — a model of its kind. Mr.
Tual operates in various other points in Mis-
souri, such as Potosi and Hornellville.
He whose name inaugurates this review is
a native son of the state, his birth having oc-
curred at Arcadia, April 14, 1870, the son of
Ezra C. and Vienna N. (Evans) Tual. He
began upon his present oecupatiou at the age
of twenty-one years and has continued thus
engaged except for an interim of eight years,
from 1893 to 1900 when, in Idaho and Mon-
tana, be tried out his fortunes in placer min-
ing. While in the far west he also engaged
as a contractor and superintended the erec-
tion of several important buildings at Butte,
Montana. He was very successful there as
in the other cities in which he has worked.
He has encountered his fairest fortunes in
Ironton, however, but his success has been
the logical outcome of the fine qualities above
referred to.
:\Ir. Tual was married July 10, 1901, Miss
Anna Kendal, daughter of Charles Kendal,
becoming his wife. Mr. Kendal came to Iron
Mountain about the year 1870, there engag-
ing in mercantile business, and later, upon
coming to Ironton, he opened a business of
the same kind. Mr. and Jlrs. Tual have one
daughter, Arline, born June 27, 1903, at
Ironton. They are highly esteemed members
of society and their residence is one of the
handsomest and most modern in Ironton and
most modern in Ironton. This newly com-
pleted abode of nine rooms is made of con-
crete block and is fully equipped with all the
modern improvements, including steam heat.
It is located on Knob street and is the centre
of a gracious hospitality. In politics Mr.
Tual is a stanch adherent of the Democratic
party, and is interested in all matters of pub-
lic moment.
The father of the foregoing, Ezra C. Tual,
deceased, was a well-known and highly re-
spected citizen of Iron county. This gentle-
man, whose demise occurred July 22, 1908,
at his home in Arcadia, was born in Burling-
ton county, New Jersey, February 19, 1829,
the son of Samuel and Elizabeth (Crock-
ford) Tual, both of whom lived and died in
New Jersey. Samuel Tual was a carpenter
by trade. Ezra C. was reared in his native
state and received a good common school
education, but the more important part of his
culture came from other sources, for he trav-
eled extensively and was a great reader and
observer, who all his life enjoyed the riches
of a well-stored mind. He traveled in South
America and many other foreign countries
and in foreign climes, as well as in New
Jersey and Missouri, engaged in his trade,
which was that of a blacksmith and wagon-
maker. After his globe-trotting he returned
to America and spent some years in the mid-
dle western states, such as Iowa, finally locat-
ing in Arcadia, Missouri, in 1860, and there
for years conducting a shop. In 186-1 he re-
moved to Montana and for two years and in
1876 went to the Black Hills, South Dakota,
where he engaged in mining and other busi-
ness for another period of time. He subse-
quently returned to ilissouri, where he made
his home until his death, making several
visits back to New Jersey. He was a Repub-
lican in political conviction and no citizen
was more highly regarded or better liked.
He was married, January 29, 1863, to Miss
Vienna Evans, who survives him and makes
her home at Arcadia. Mrs. Tual, who enjoys
the affection of countless friends, was born
at Farmington, Saint Francois county, Mis-
souri, August 29, 1842, and is a daughter of
George F. and Columbia F. (Brinker)
Evans. Her father was born in Belleview
Valley, Washington countj-, ilissouri, Aug-
ust 21, 1819, and died March 9, 1895. He
was a carpenter and builder and resided for
some years at Farmington, eventually remov-
ing to Crawford county. He latterly was
identified with mercantile pursuits. He died
at an advanced age at Berrymau, Missouri,
while en route to Steelville. His parents
were William and Mahala (George) Evans,
natives of Virginia and Tennessee respect-
ively. Both accompanied their parents to
this state in youth and married here.
Throughout a great part of his active life
William Evans taught school. The Evans
family is one of the oldest in America, no less
than nine generations having been repre-
sented in the land of the stars and stripes.
It is of Welsh origin. Mrs. Ezra C. Tual
came to Arcadia in 1858 and has made her
home here in all the years following. She is
a member of the Methodist Episcopal church.
South.
Mr. and Mrs. Ezra C. Tual were the par-
ents of the following five sons and two
daughters: Selden Jerome, born November 4,
1863, a member of the mercantile firm of Tual
Brothers, Arcadia. He married Blanche
Hatton, now deceased, and has one son,
HISTORY OF SOUTHEAST MISSOURI
863
Blanchard. George Evans, born August 21,
1866, is a conductor on the Atchison Topeka
& Santa Fe Railroad, and resides at Newton,
Kansas. He took as his wife Belle Duncan,
of St. Louis, and they have twin sons, George
and Robert. Fannie was born March 10,
1868, and died November 27, 1868. Charles
J. is the immediate subject of this record.
Elwood Collins, born January 21, 1871, is a
member of the mercantile firm of Tual
Brothers, of Arcadia. He married Cora il.
ilatkin, daughter of AYilliam Alatkiu, mem-
tioued elsewhere in this work devoted to
representative Missourians. They have three
daughters. — Eugenia, Hazel and Julia,
Grace, born December 5, 1873, is the wife of
I. G. Whitworth, of whom more extended
mention appears on other pages of this re-
view. Welden J., born November 26, 1876,
is an Arcadia citizen and is engaged in
carpentry in the emplo.v of his brother
Charles J. He married Ada Palmer, of Iron-
ton, and they have one daughter, Gladys ]\I.
The mercantile firm of Tual Brothers, at
Arcadia, was organized in 1899 and is an im-
portant concern. They carry a heavy general
stock of groceries and merchandise and also
hay, corn, bran, mixed feed and the like.
The Tual Brothers are owners of both store
and stock.
Ezra C. Tual was postmaster of Arcadia in
the administration of President McKinley,
and he was succeeded by his son, of the firm
of Tual Brothers. The office was located in
the store for some five years.
Andrew Parker Mackley, of Desloge, is
one of the most prominent financiers and
business men of the Southeast Missouri lead
belt, and through his ownership and execu-
tive management exercises an important in-
fluence in various lines of business in this
state and elsewhere.
A native of Southeast Missouri, he was
born in St. Genevieve county, August 7, 1874,
was reared on a farm, obtaining his educa-
tion in public schools and at Carlton College
in Farmington. At the age of twenty-one
he entered educational work for three years,
teaching in the public schools of Kinsey and
Bloomsdale. For one summer during this
time he was assistant cashier in the St. Louis
office of the Prudential Life Insurance Com-
pany. He then took charge of the postof-
fice at Desloge for Postmaster A. T. Spald-
ing, continuing in that capacit.v four years
and a half. In January, 1903, Mr. Mackley
became cashier of the Bank of Desloge, a
position in which he has acquired the confi-
dence of a large business public and has made
the bank one of the strongest institutions in
this part of the state. He has been continu-
ously in this position with the exception of
five months in 1910, when he had charge of
the Hopewell Plantation in Louisiana and the
Bank of ilonroe, that state. He is president
and owns a fourth interest in the Hopewell
plantation, which is capitalized at one hun-
dred thousand dollars. In addition to lands
near Desloge and town property, Mr. ilack-
ley is interested in Arkansas and Texas real
estate. He was a former president of the
Lead Belt Telephone Company.
His father was Hiram Parker Mackley,
who was born in Calloway county, Ohio, July
20, 1845. When he was seven years old he
was taken by his father, a carpenter by trade,
to Keokuk, Iowa, and in 1855 the family
home was established in St. Genevieve
county, this state, where he grew to man-
hood and lived until 1881. He then bought
a farm in Marks valley, near Farmington,
and lived there until his death, September
20, 1910. In politics he was a Republican.
He married, March 10, 1868, ^Miss Elizabeth
Hipes, daughter of Bart. Hipes, a farmer of
St. Genevieve county. She died in 1903, hav-
ing been the mother of ten children, of whom
Andrew was the third and oldest son.
Andrew P. Mackley is a member of the
Missouri Athletic Club of St. Louis, is a
Scottish Rite Mason, and member of the
Knights of Pythias and Independent Order
of Odd Fellows, and belongs to the ilethodist
Episcopal church, South. In politics he is
Republican. On May 26, 1897, he married
Miss Minnie Doughty, daughter of D. J.
Doughty, of Farmington. Of the three chil-
dren born to their marriage, one is living,
Ann Elizabeth.
J. G. BuRCHiTT, M. D. In professional
distinctions Dr. J. G. Burchitt, of Cardwell,
easily stands in the foremost rank of the
medical profession of Southeast Missouri.
He enjoys what is probably the largest prac-
tice in southern Dunklin county, and as a
doctor and citizen is well known throughout
this portion of the state. A man of large in-
terests and versatile in his accomplishments,
he has done much of real public service for
his community. In recognition of his prac-
tical work in the promotion of the arts and
science, the Roval Society of Arts recently
86-i
HISTORY OF SOUTHEAST MISSOURI
bestowed upon him a membership in that
body, this honor coming to him unsolicited,
and he is one of the two or tliree citizens ot
the state to be thus distinguished.
Dr. Burchitt is a native of Virginia, where
he was born March 27, 1864. His early
American ancestors were French Huguenots
and among the earliest of that people to set-
tle in the colony of South Carolina. His early
education was acquired in the Richmond
high school, two years in the military academy
of Blacksburg, Virginia, and for his profes-
sional training he entered the Louisville,
Kentuckj% Medical College, where he was a
student three years, and then a year in the
College of Physicians and Surgeons of New
York city. From 1886 to 1891 he was en-
gaged in practice at Flagfork, Kentucky, and
had a large practice in that small town. He
then moved to Pleasureville in the same state,
and there, in 1892, was married to Miss Maria
jMaddox. Her family was among the first
settlers of Kentucky, her grandfather being
considered the first settler of Dutch stock.
Her old home is covered by a deed to which
is attached the signature of Daniel Boone.
Dr. Burchitt practiced at Pleasureville four
years and then moved to Lexington. While
there he was commissioned, in 1898, as lirst
lieutenant and assistant surgeon in the army
during the Spanish-American war. He ar-
rived at Matanzas, Cuba, four da.vs after the
sixty U. S. volunteers had hauled down the
Spanish flag in the sight of fifteen thousand
hostile Spanish troops, that being on June 1,
1898. He was on detached duty as lieuten-
ant and was in the field most of the time. He
remained in Cuba until December, 1899, and
on his return to the United States located in
St. Louis for a short time.
In search of a place that would improve
his own health, and having heard much of
Southeast Missouri, in 1900 he came to Card-
well with the intention of staying but a short
time. He began practice and has been here
ever since. He has been an efficient factor in
improving the healthfulness of this country.
At first malaria was almost endemic, but it
has decreased to a remarkable degree in the
recent years, partly because of the general
development of the country and also because
the people are better trained to fight off the
disease. He was physician of the town dur-
ing a smallpox scare, and has been the health
ofificer of Cardwell throughout his residence
here. He was also elected a member of the
board of health of Dunklin countv in 1904
and served seven years, the longest service by
any one individual. During that time he
secured the passage of a local law through
the county court forbidding the sale of patent
nostrums, and it is now enforced to some ex-
tent. Dr. Burchitt has also been honored
with the office of mayor of Cardwell for one
term. He has prospered himself as well as
helping the community to better prosperity.
He is owner of a store and other property
in Cardwell and also has property near
Shelbyville, Kentuckj'.
Fraternally he is a thirty-second degree
Mason, a member of the Scottish Rite, St.
Louis Consistory, No. 1, a past master of the
Masonic blue lodge at Cardwell, is captain of
the Uniform Rank of the Knights of Pythias,
is past chief of the Tribe of Ben Hur, and is
also a member of the Independent Order of
Odd Fellows, the Elks, the Hoo-Hoos and the
Woodmen of the World. He is one of the
two persons in Cardwell whose church affili-
ations are Episcopalian.
Thomas D. Jones, treasurer of Iron
county, Missouri, is a member of a family
well and favorably known not only in the
county in which they reside but throughout
southeastern Missouri. Mr. Jones has filled
his important office with credit to himself
and honor to his constituents and has the en-
viable distinction of having made a clean rec-
ord in politics, a far too infrequent oc-
currence in this day of bribery and corrup-
tion.
Mr. Jones' birth occurred on Atigust 16,
1882, in the southern part of Iron county,
near the town of Brunot, his parents being
Solomon F. and ilargaret (Stevenson) Jones,
of whom more detailed mention will be made
in succeeding paragraphs. They are the
parents of ten children, four of whom are
doctors, either of medicine or dental surgery.
Dr. Charles H. Jones was graduated in the
class of 1902 from the American Medical
College, St. Louis, and he is now practicing
medicine and surgery at Brunot, Missouri;
Dr. Edward Jones, a graduate from the same
college in the class of 1907, has established a
good practice at Lilbourne, Missouri; Dr.
Noah Jones was graduated from the Barnes
Dental College, of St. Louis, Missouri, in the
class of 1907, and is now located at Camp-
bell, jMissouri ; Dr. George L. Jones, gradu-
ating from the same college of dentistry in
the class of 1911, has just established himself
at Pigott, Arkansas ; the next son, Owen, died
HISTORY OF SOUTHEAST MISSOURI
at the age of seventeen years; Fraiik, the
fifth son, has attended the Cape Girardeau
normal school for two years and has also
taught in Iron, Madison and New Madrid
counties; the two youngest boys, Ray and
Robert, are at home with their parents at
Brunot ; and the only daughter, Cora, is the
wife of C. J. Russell of Brunot.
Thomas U. Jones was reared on his father's
farm in Iron county, obtaining his elementary
educational training in the public schools at
Brunot. Following this he entered Concor-
dia College in Wayne county, where he took
up academic work and was graduated with
the class of 1902. Immediately after his
graduation he went to the normal school at
Cape Girardeau, and after one year's work
in that well-known institution he taught for
half a dozen years in Madison and Iron coun-
ties. On the 1st of January, 1907, he was
elected to the office of treasurer of Iron
county, then was re-elected to the same posi-
tion and is now serving his second term.
In the year 1906, Mr. Jones was married
to iliss Lulu Matkin, a native of Madison
county, where her father, W. ]\I. Matkin, was
formerly county judge; he now makes his
home in Iron county. Mr. and Mrs. Jones
have one son, Marvin. From his boyhood the
subject has given unwavering allegiance to
the traditions of the Democratic party and
he is now one of the stanehest Democrats
•nithin the borders of the county. Frater-
nally he is affiliated with the Independent
Order of Odd Fellows and the ]\Iodern Wood-
men of America; and in a religious way he
holds membership with the Christian church.
Considered from every viewpoint he is a man
worthy of respect and esteem.
Solomon F. Jones, father of the foregoing,
is one of the well-known and highly esteemed
agriculturists, his well-cultivated farm of
one hundred and ten acres being located
some two miles north of Brunot. He is one
of those loyal citizens who were born within
the pleasant boundaries of Iron county and
have paid it the highest compliment within
their power by electing to remain here perma-
nently. He was born in September, 1852,
and is the son of Shadraeh and Jane (King)
Jones, natives of Tennessee, who came when
young with their parents to ^Missouri. The
family is of Welsh descent. Solomon F.
was one of a family of nine children, of whom
the following survive at the present time:
William, a farmer, whose estate is situated
near Brunot ; Thomas, of Reynolds county.
I\Iissouri ; Shadrack, of California ; Xancj%
now Mrs. Newton, of Arkansas; and the sub-
ject. Henry and Elizabeth (^Irs. Stevenson)
are deceased, the former having died when a
young man and the latter when about tifty
.years of age.
Solomon F. Jones was reared near Brunot ;
received his education in the subscription
schools and when he left the parental roof-
tree to begin his independent career it was as
a farmer. He was united in marriage in
1872 to ]\Iiss ilargaret Stevenson, born in
Dent county, Jlissouri, in 1858, the daughter
of Joseph and Catherine (Cox) Stevenson,
both scions of pioneer ^Missouri families. In
his political convictions Mr. Jones is a Dem-
ocrat and he has warmly upheld the policies
and principles of that party in which he be-
lieves, ilrs. Jones is an earnest member of
the Baptist church.
W. i\I. Blaylock. Vigilant, active and en-
ergetic, W. j\I. Blaylock is amply qualified
for the responsible position he is filling as
manager of the Kennett office of the IModern
Gin Compress Company, of Little Rock,
Arkansas, having charge of the company's
southeastern iMissoui-i interests. A native of
Tennessee, he was born June 10, 1870, in Car-
roll county, where he received his prelim-
inary education. His father. Rev. J. il.
Blaylock, a Baptist minister, came with his
family to Dunklin county, ^lissouri, in 1884,
and has since been here engaged in his min-
isterial labors, being now a resident of
Kennett.
Having completed his early studies in ]\Iis-
souri, W. i\I. Blaylock subsequently lived for
a time in Tennessee, and was afterwards em-
ployed by the firm for which he is now man-
ager as a traveling salesman, selling gin and
compress machinery, his territory covering
parts of Arkansas, Oklahoma and Missouri.
Having served in that capacity two j-ears,
Mr. Blaylock assisted in building the gin and
compress plant at Kennett, and has since had
control of it.
The Modern Gin Compress Company, with
its main office at Little Rock, Arkansas, has
three plants in Dunklin county, Missouri,
there being one at Kennett, one at Holeomb
and another at Senath. Each plant has a gin
compressing machine, the capacity of the
three plants combined being from six thou-
sand to seven thousand bales annually. The
firm buys cotton of the local growers, gins
and compresses it, and sells direct to English
HISTORY OF SOUTHEAST MISSOURI
manufacturers at Manchester, England. A
compressed bale of cotton is twenty-four
inches by twenty-four inches, by forty-eight
inches, and weighs from five hundred to six
hundred pounds, requiring a pressure of
from six hundred to six hundred and fifty
tons on a twenty-inch hydraulic ram. The
cotton thus baled can be delivered in Man-
chester, England, for sixty-five cents per
hundred weight, while in the ordinary bale
it would cost that amouut to send it to New
Orleans. This company also manufactures
gin and compress machinery at Little Rock,
and are extensive dealers in cotton, operating
in Oklahoma and Arkansas. The company
has likewise established a wholesale and re-
tail feed trade at Kennett, with a branch feed
store at Senath, and has a factor}' for produc-
ing corn feed productions, its business in
this line being constantly increased and ex-
tended. Mv. Blajdock employs in the Ken-
nett plant from twenty-six to thirty men in
the cotton season, while in summer he keeps
sis men busily employed in the feed plant.
Mr. Blaylock married, in 1889, Eliza C.
"Wliittaker, a daughter of the late Rev. M. J.
"N^liittaker, who was for many years one of
the leading Baptist ministers of Dunklin
county. Three children have been born of
their union, namely: Aubrey C. (a book-
keeper in the feed store), R. E., and Blanche.
]Mr. Blaylock is a regular attendant of the
Baptist church, of which his wife is a consist-
ent member. Politically he is afBliated with
the Democratic party, but is not an active
worker.
GusTAVus Adolphus Wenom. a popular
and able young man, with a high record for
executive efficiency, is Gustavus Adolphus
AVenom, cashier of the Bank of Kimmswick
and postmaster of the town since the year
1906. He is a native son of the type of wliieh
Kimms^vick is justly proud, his birth having
occurred within the pleasant boundaries of
the place May 1.5, 1874. His father, the late
Jolm Wenom, one of Kimmswick 's leading
citizens, was born June 24, 1837, in Alsace-
Lorraine. Germany, then France, and came
with his parents, Florence and Fannie
"Wenom. and two brothers. Frank and Joseph,
to America, landing in New York, in 18.52,
very appropriately on the Fourth of July,
for they were all to become the most loyal
and enthusiastic of American citizens. In
September of the same year they took up their
residence on a farm some three miles from
Kimmswick. The subject's grandfather was
not to enjoy long residence in the new
country, for lie died in 1855, the grandmother
surviving until 1868. The father became a
member of Company A, of Colonel Rankin's
regiment of enrolled militia, and continued
as such during the progress of the Civil war.
He was married previous to that date. Miss
Catherine Miller, a native of Germany, be-
coming his wife, January 12, 1859, and eight
children were born to them, all but one sur-
viving at the present time. They are as fol-
lows: William; Ida, now Mrs. Koch; Katie,
now Mrs. Schwantner; Oscar; Otto; Gus-
tavus A., of this review; and John Jr.
John Wenom farmed until the year 1864,
in which year he made a new departure by
opening a meat market at Kimmswick and
conducting it until 1881. Sub-sequent to that
he engaged in the grain and insurance busi-
ness and for sixteen years he worked as road
superintendent, filling this important office
with credit to himself and benefit and satis-
faction to his neighbors. The length of time
he held the position is sufficient to show how
well he performed its duties and an elequent
tribute to his worth and capacity. He held
membership in the Feuton Farmei-s' Club
and the Ancient Order of United Workmen.
The first Mrs. Wenom died August 14, 1900,
deeply regretted by the many who knew and
loved her. On October 17, 1901. he con-
tracted a second union, ]Mrs. Elizabeth
Hirschfield becoming his wife and the mis-
tress of his household. This worthy lady sur-
vives him, making her home at Kimmswick,
Missouri. Mr. Wenom was one of the lead-
ing spirits in the promotion of the Bank of
Kimmswick, and in this substantial monetary
institution he was interested to a considerable
extent as a stock-holder and director. He
was a stanch Republican, at a time when Jef-
ferson oovmty was strongly Democratic, prov-
ing that nothing but downright conviction
influenced him. He was a man of strong
character and ability, and the things he un-
dertook to do he did well, doubtless the prin-
cipal factor in his success. He was indeed a
success in all the relations of life, and was a
kind hu.sband and indulgent and loving
father. He was one of the self-made men
and by indomitable purpose and energy- over-
came great obstacles. He came to the T'^nited
States a stranger in a stranere land, with a
limited education and sadly handicapped by
his ignorance of the lanfninge. but he was
nothing daunted by these circumstances.
dtfC^^ ^ ^^ui-^-i^-x^x^^^
HISTORY OF SOUTHEAST IMISSOURI
867
The death of John Wenom occurred June 21,
1909, but his revered memory wiU long re-
main green in the eommimity which was his
home for so many years.
The early life of Gustavus Adolphus We-
nom who in his high ideals of citizenship re-
sembles his father, was passed in Kimmswick,
where he resided continuously until the age
of sixteen years. At that time, having fin-
ished his public school education, Mr. Wenom
took a business course in Bryant & Stratton's
Commercial College at St. Louis, from which
institution he was graduated in 1891.
Eciuipped with a thorough business training
and plenty of native ability, he took a posi-
tion with the Singer Sewing Machine Com-
pany at St. Louis and remained with that
concern for several years. In 189i-1895 he
held a position as cashier with the Monte-
Sano Park, near Kimmswick, resuming his
residence in Jefferson county, and in August,
1895, he became deputy circuit clerk of the
county, which position he retained until 1899.
From the year mentioned until 1903 he was
bookkeeper with the Meyer-Schmidt "Whole-
sale Grocery Company at St. Louis and the
following year, 1901, when the Bank of
Kimmswick was organized, he returned to
his native town to accept the ofSce of cashier,
which he retains to the present time. In
1906 he was appointed postmaster of Kimms-
wick, which at that time was only a fourth
class office, but in January, 1910, the office
was advanced to third class. Mr. "VVeuom
was again appointed by President Taft to the
postmastership and his brother, John Jr., acts
as assistant postmaster.
Mr. Wenom was happilv married October
4, 1901, iliss Blanche Sibley, of Salt Lake
City, Utah, becoming his wife. They share
their home with two sons. Freeman Sterling
and Gustavus Adolphus, Jr. The subject is
Republican in politics and holds membership
in the Court of Honor.
Judge Johx Lilburn Thomas. Judge
Thomas was born September 16, 1833, near
the present Belleview post office, then in
Washington county, now Iron county, Mis-
souri. His parents, James Wilton Thomas
and Eliza Ann Johnson, were born, raised
and married in Albemarle county, Virginia.
In 1826 thev moved to Washington count v,
Missouri. His father was a son of Captain
John Thomas and Frances (Lewis) Thomas
and through his mother was descended from
the Warners, the Lewises of Warner Hall and
the Randolphs, all of Virginia. Judge
Thomas' grandfather was a revolutionary
soldier and through him he became a mem-
ber of The Sons of the Revolution and he is
also a member of the Society of Colonial
Wars through ten ancestors, whose names
and services are recorded in the Llissouri
Register of that Society for 1909. His pa-
rents had eight children, three born in Vir-
ginia and five in Missouri, he now being the
sole survivor of the family. His father tilled
a small farm every year and he was justice
of the peace of Washington county two years
(1842-43), but his life profession was teach-
ing. He and his wife were Methodists and
their home was the stopping and preaching
place for the circuit riders of that denomi-
nation on their periodical rounds. The father
died October 4, 1845, and the mother. Novem-
ber 29, 1875.
At his father's death Judge Thomas was
only twelve years old and the oldest son at
home, and on him fell the duty of managing
all out-door work. He attended some short
term schools and did all sorts of farm work
till he was nearly seventeen. Having inher-
ited some means from their uncle, John L.
Thomas, of Virginia, the mother moved to
Arcadia and put the four youngest children
in the Arcadia High School in April, 1850.
With the money he inherited and the income
from a six months' school he taught in 1852,
Judge Thomas was enabled to gi'aduate in
that school in the B. A. degree in July, 1853.
He then taught school for two years and a
half and read law at odd times. On March
27, 1855. he was licensed to practice law and
in the fall of that year opened an office at
Steelville.
He was united in marriage at Hillsboro,
December 25, 1856. to Sarah Ellen, daughter
of Judge Philip Pipkin, and granddaughter
of Phillip Pipkin, of Tennessee, a colonel in
the war of 1812-14, and great-orranddaughter
of Lester Morris, a revolutionan' soldier of
Virginia. There were born to them twelve
children, five of whom are living: Kora (Mrs.
J. W. Evens'), of Bii-miugham, Alabama;
Winna (Mrs. W. B. Morgan), of Trinidad,
Colorado; Zoe (Mrs. E. Y. Mitchell, of
Springfield. Missouri: Emily (Mrs. Frank
Hamel). of De Soto. Missouri; and Richard
'M.. an attorney of Washington. D. C. The
latter married a IMiss Johnson of that city.
Judge Thomas ran for assessor of Wash-
ington county in 1854. but was defeated.
He was countv attorney for Crawford county
HISTORY OP SOUTHEAST MISSOURI
in 1857-1858, and moving to Hillsboro in
September of that year, helped organize the
Jefferson County Teachers' Association in
1859, the first of its kind in Southeast Mis-
souri for the advancement of education. He
ran for circuit attorney in 1860. but was
defeated and was county attorney for Jeffer-
son county, 1863-64. He helped organize the
Jefferson County Immigration Society, 1866;
was elected its president and prepared for
the society a statement descriptive of the coun-
ty and its resources, published in the Hand
Book of Missouri, 1881. He took the lead
in a campaign for good roads, 1867-68, result-
ing in giving Jefferson county more improved
roads than any county in the state outside
of Jackson and St. Louis, and he also in-
corpoi'ated a company and superintended the
building of a rock road from Hillsboro to
Victoria 1870-72. He was elected to the Leg-
islature, 1870. and was requested by General
Francis P. Blair to put him in nomination
for the Senate, which he did in January,
1871. He was appointed chairman of the
Judiciary Committee of the House by
Speaker Wilson, giving him a state--\vide
prominence; ran for judge of the Supreme
Court in 1872, but was defeated; helped in-
corporate the Hillsboro High School. 1874
and became its president; and was elected
circuit judge in 1880 and re-elected. 1886.
He organized in 1881 "The Conference of
Nisi Prius Judges of Missoiiri," of which he
was president eleven years, and it still meets
annually. Judge Thomas moved to De Soto
in November. 1881, and in 1890 ran for judge
of the Supreme Court, but was defeated, and
was appointed in December of that year, by
Governor D. R. Francis, judge of the Su-
preme Court for two years, being defeated in
1892 for nomination to succeed himself. He
was appointed, in IMay. 1893, assistant at-
torney general for the post office department,
and held that office four years. A few years
ago he, as chairman of the De Soto Commer-
cial Club, headed the movement to install a
municipal water plant for the City, and the
people voted the bonds and the plant is now
in operation.
Judge Thomas has been a member of the
Masonic order for over fifty-five years, and
he and his wife are members of the Order of
the Eastern Star.
Judge Thomas served twelve years as a
judge, ten on the trial and two on the appel-
late bench. As trial judse he required the
.sheriff to open and adjourn court in the court
room instead of the outer window, and on de-
ciding eases he often wrote lengthy opinions
on questions of importance or public interest.
The two years he was judge of the Supreme
Court he wrote one hundred and fifty opin-
ions and he took a liberal and advanced posi-
tion on four questions of great public interest :
1. In the Thornton case, 108 Mo. Rep. 840,
in which the defendant was charged with
debauching a girl under eighteen under
promise of marriage, he set up the same
standard of morals for men as women in their
sexual relations. 2. In the Terry case, 106
Mo. Rep. 209, he held that the statute, mak-
ing it a felony for a man, holding a confiden-
tial relation to a girl under eighteen to de-
bauch her, embraced those hiring servant
girls to work in their homes. In the Thorn-
ton case he so vigorously denounced men who
debauched young girls under promise of mar-
riage and then deserted them that it is prob-
able his opinion in that case had some
influence in inducing the Legislature a few
years later to extend the age limit of girls
in such cases, from eighteen to twenty-one
years. 3. In the Loomis case, 21 Lawyers
Reps. Ann. 789, he iipheld the constitution-
ality of the anti "track store" statute, for-
bidding the payment of wages in anything
biit lawful money, but a majority of the
court was against him on this point. 4. In
the Relyea case, 112 Mo. Rep. 86, he clearly
stated what he thought the law of fellow
service in personal injury eases was, in a
dissenting opinion of great cogency; and it
is probabl.v this opinion and others he wrote
on the same question had some weight in the
enactment of an employers liability act a few
years later. 5. In the Gratiot case, 16 Law-
yers Reps. Ann. 189. he defined very clearly
the limitation of the power of the court to
take a question of fact from the jury. His
opinions in the Gratiot and Relyea cases,
however, proved to be his undoing politically,
for by them he incurred the displeasure of
the great corporations which, holding the bal-
ance of power in the Democratic convention
row margin for the nomination as a candidate
of July, 1892, defeated the Judge by a nar-
to succeed himself. Of all his judicial work,
however, he prizes most his position in the
Thornton case, in defence of young girls
against the wiles of unscrupulous men. He
says if he were required to write his epitaph
and were limited to a single act of his life he
would have it stated he was the author of
the opinion of the court in that case.
HISTORY OF SOUTHEAST MISSOURI
As attorney for the postal department
Judge Thomas found himself in a new field,
with few precedents to guide him. He
dealt with foreign as well as domestic ques-
tionis. He ruled that our government could
refuse to carry, in its mails, matter advertis-
ing lotteries authorized by foreign govern-
ments to raise public revenue and not vio-
late the comity of nations. In every case,
domestic or foreign, where an appeal was
taken to the Attorney General (first Richard
Olney and then Judson Harmon) or to the
courts, the decisions of Judge Thomas were
affirmed.
Raised by a Wliig father the predilections
of Judge Thomas were towards that party,
but it died about the time he was grown and
he soon became a Democrat. During the
war he was classed as a secessionist, was ar-
rested several times and required to take
the oath of loyalty. On one occasion he was
required to sign a bond that if found out-
side Federal lines he shoidd be shot. In
subseqiient years, however, he has often
said, in public speeches, that he rejoiced
that the war terminated in the preserva-
tion of the Union and the abolition of slav-
ery.
He continued to affiliate with the Demo-
cratic party till 1896, when, as he views it,
the party went over to populism and he re-
fused to follow. Now he thinks all parties
are teaching socialistic doctrines, though
denouncing socialism, and he is politically
homeless. He is an individualist and he
hates all phases of governmental paternal-
ism, whether it be interfering with business
or dictating what one shall eat, drink or
wear.
"When Judge Thomas quit office in 1897
he practiced law two years with his son,
John Lilburn Thomas, Jr., and then retired
from business. Since then he has devoted
himself mainly to literary pursuits, publish-
ing two works, one on "Non-Mailable Mat-
ter" treating of the law relating to lotteries,
frauds and obscenity in the mails and the
other on "Constructive Contempt," devoted
chiefly to a criticism of the IMissouri Su-
preme Court for nullifying, as unconstitu-
tional, a statute that had existed seventy-
five years, in order to enable the members
of the Court to sit as .judge and jurors to
determine whether a citizen had libelled them
in a newspaper article and fix the punish-
ment therefor. Besides these works he has
published scores of historical, political and
critical articles in the Press.
The religious creed of Judge Thomas, as
formulated by himself, is this: "I believe
I ought to be humble, patient, meek; I
ought to hunger and thirst after righteous-
ness and eschew evil ; I ought to love justice
and mercy and hate injustice and cruelty;
that I ought to do to others what I would
have them to do to me ; I ought to pluck the
beam out of my own eye before I try to take
the mote out of my brother's eye ; I ought to
help those who are not able to help them-
selves; I will be judged here and hereafter
according to the deeds done in the body and
I serve God best when I serve my fellows
best."
Judge Thomas is now an old man. He has
watched and studied the evolution of civil-
ization for sixty years and he still takes an
absorbing interest in current events and
watches the kaleidoscopic phases of domes-
tic and world affairs as they daily develop.
In his advanced age it is his fortiuie to re-
tain his mental faculties unimpaired to con-
tinue his literary work and to have the com-
panionship of the devoted wife who united
her life to his over fifty years ago.
Albert Wijlpert, county clerk of St.
Francois county. IMissouri, since 1910, is one
of the most active and influential Republi-
cans of this section and he has given a most
able and conscientious performance of the
duties of his important office. This is not to
say all, for in a previous career in the rail-
road and lead mining business he has had an
excellent opportunity to witness and assist in
the phenomenal growth of this section. Mr.
Wulfert is a native-born citizen of Missouri,
his birth having occurred at Gerald, Frank-
lin county, February 26, 1875. His father,
Julius Wulfert, was born in Berlin, Ger-
many. December 13, 1828, and came to Amer-
ica at the time"^of the Revolution of 1848. At
the time of the Civil war in this country his
sympathies, like those of most of his coun-
trymen on this side of the sea, were with the
cause of the Union. Not long after coming
here he located at Washington. Missouri, and
he subsequently removed to the vicinity of
Gerald, where he engaged in agriculture.
On March 9, 1856. he married IMarie Hart-
man of Campbellton, Missouri, and to this
union ten children were born, Albert being
the eighth in order of birth. At the time of
870
IIIST(3RY OF SOUTHEAST MISSOURI
Price's raid in the Civil war, the elder Mr.
Wulfert was at home on furlough from the
Union army and he was captured, although
his incarceration was of comparatively brief
duration. He resides at the present time at
Gerald, a prosperous farmer and honored
and useful citizen. He is Republican in pol-
itics and holds membership in the ]\Iasonic
order.
The early education of Albert Wulfert, of
this review, was secured in the common
schools in the vicinity of his home and also
from the father, a well educated man who
for a time maintained a private school for
the benefit of his sons and daughters and the
children of his neighbors. At the age of
seventeen years he entered the Warrensburg
Normal School and was in attendance there
during the term of 1892 and 1893. Follow-
ing that he taught school for a period of four
years and in 1897, with a view to making a
radical change of occupation, I\Ir. Wulfert
took a course in railroad and telegraph work
and the following year he located at Flat
River and became agent and operator at the
office at that place maintained by the Mis-
sissippi River & Bonne Terre Road. After
one year of this work he again made a com-
plete change of work and entered the employ
of the Doe Run Lead Company as time
keeper. At that time the Doe Run Lead
Company owned but one mine, but its growth
has been so great and continual that at the
present it owns seven. Flat River, when he
first went there, was but a small town, but
it has grown until today it is a city of five
thousand inhabitants.
Mr. Wulfert, at the time he came to Saint
Francois county, found the Democratic party
in complete control, the Republican party
having lost life and vigor through many de-
feats. With the initiative and purpose of a
born leader, Mr. Wulfert buckled on his Re-
publican armor and offered himself on the
sacrificial pile as a candidate for county
clerk. Not that Mr. Wulfert regarded it in
that light, but such was the opinion of the
community. He was defeated in the conven-
tion the first time, but lost by a small major-
ity. At the election in 1910 he won by a
large ma.iority and he has held the office of
county clerk with credit to himself and the
party. It is needless to say that the opposi-
tion he overcame was severe.
Mr. Wulfert was chief office man in the
offices of the Doe Run Lead Company at Flat
River under Superintend 0. M. Bilharz and
Captain J. A. Perry. In the year 1905 Mr.
Charles Clardy became Mr. Wulfert 's as-
sistant and when he left the office the crew
consisted of seventeen men. He is a climber,
as has been manifested in many ways. For
instance, he started as time-keeper of the Doe
Run Lead Company and when he left he had
become paymaster and purchasing agent, this
fine result being obtained through the legiti-
mate channels of perseverance and hard work.
He wins the confidence of those with whom
he comes into contact and it was his popular-
ity with the men of the mines which elected
him to his present office. In 1902 he became
one of the trail blazers for the establishment
of the St. Joe Lead Company Mill, upon
whose site the town of Leadwood now stands.
This was the first modern mill in the county.
Mr. Wulfert joined the Benedicts when on
December 4, 1901, he was united in marriage
to Miss Julia Grandy. Mrs. Wulfert is a
daughter of John Grandy, of Iron IMountain,
foreman of carpentry in the mines. To the
union of the subject and his admirable wife
have been born six children, as follows:
Perry (deceased), Viola, Harold, Rodney,
Julius and Dorothy.
Mr. Wulfert is an advocate of the princi-
ples of moral and social justice and brotherly
love as set forth by the Masonic order, and
he is also a valued member of the Independ-
ent Order of Odd Fellows, the Knights of
Pythias, the Modern Woodmen of America
and the Order of Railroad Telegraphers.
Louis Willum Lix. The postmaster of
Lixville is the tenth or last of the ten chil-
dren of Henry and Mary Lix, natives of Ger-
many. They both came to America when
young, settled in this county and remained
here until the end of their lives. The eldest
son of the family, Henry Lix, did not live to
grow up, but the eighth child was given his
name and lived to bear it. The other chil-
dren were christened August, Christian,
Louis, Nancy, Catherine, Louise, Minnie and
Caroline.
Louis Lix was born November 8, 1868. He
has lived all his life on the farm where he
was born, which he inherited at his father's
death. Both parents died in 1900 ; he at the
age of seventy-three, and she at sixty-four.
In 1903 Louis Lix bought his mercantile busi-
ness. He deals in general produce and has
extensive holdings in real estate, two hundred
and twenty five acres in Bollinger county
and fiftv-four in Perrv county, besides lots in
HISTORY OF SOUTHEAST MISSOURI
871
Lixville, of wliieli the total area is seven
acres.
Mr. Lix was appointed postmaster in Maj',
1905, and has served ever since that time. He
is a Republican in his political creed, as so
many of the Americans of German descent
are.
On February 10, 1895, occurred the mar-
riage of Louis Lix and Rosetta, daughter of
David Barks. Six children -n-ere born of this
union: August W., October 28, 1895; John
Robert, October 12, 1897, deceased; Bertha
Ethel, April 5, 1900; Esther Ella, March 3,
1903; Effie May, November 3, 1905; and
Mary Alice, July 11, 1909. The family are
members of the Lutheran church.
Ross Blake, an energetic, able and hon-
ored citizen of Leadwood, has also the good
fortune to be blessed with a strong, brave
and fine father. Both have made splendid
records in the railroad and mining fields of
southeast Missouri, the younger man being
at the present time superintendent of the
large lead mine and mill at the point men-
tioned. H. A. Blake, the father, was born at
Newark, Ohio, on the 2nd of November, 1846 ;
received a fair education in his boyhood and
spent the bulk of his youth in the Civil war,
wearer of the blue and an honor to it. After-
ward he taugTit school ; advanced in that field
to the superintendency of schools of Mont-
gomery county, ^Missouri, and finally com-
pleted a course in civil engineering. While
thus engaged for a cjuarter of a century he
was identified with the Missouri Pacific, Kan-
sas City & Pittsburg and ilississippi River
& Bonne Terre Railroads. The elder man
and father has earned the partial retirement
which he is now enjoying at the home of his
son in Leadwood. By his marriage to Melissa
Carter he became the father of two sons, Carl
and Ross. Both he and his wife are well
known members of the Baptist church, and
he himself is one of the old IMasons of the
locality, to whom the compass and square
have a high moral and religious significance.
Ross Blake was born at Nevada, southeast
Missouri, on Christmas day of 1879. After
receiving his early education in the public
schools of Sedalia and completing his studies
under the tutelage of his father, he entered
the employ of the IMissouri Pacific Railroad
in connection with its engineering corps, and
continued in the same line of work with the
Iron ^Mountain and Kansas City. Pittsburg &
Gulf Railroads. He has always taken a deep
interest and has attained prominence in the
military matters of the state, and during the
Spanish-American war was a non-commis-
sioned officer of Company D, of the Missouri
Volunteers. At the conclusion of the war he
became connected with the engineering de-
partment of the Mississippi River & Bonne
Terre Railway, but in 1904 located at Lead-
wood to take charge of the four mines and
mill at Leadwood, property of the St. Joseph
Lead Company, under the direction of 'Sir. 0.
M. Belharz, the responsibilities of which posi-
tion he still ably carries. He is a Republican
in polities ; a Congregationalist in his church
connections: and, like his father and other
members of his family, a member of the time-
honored Masonry and a firm believer in its
benefits, both practical and moral. Married
to Miss Frances Jennetta Sargent, of Bonne
Terre, in 1904, Ross Blake is the father of
one child, Virginia.
Timothy F. Kinsolving. The prosperous
grocery establishment of T. F. Kinsolving
Company at Hornersville represents the en-
terprise of one of the most progressive citi-
zens of the town, one who has always relied
on his own industry for advancement, and by
successive years of labor and good manage-
ment has been able to secure an independent
place in the business affairs of his commu-
nity.
Mr. Kinsolving is a member of a family
well known in Dunklin county. He was born
on a farm in Kentucky in 1869, and had few
school advantages. Wlien he was twelve
years old the family came to Dunklin county,
near Maiden, living there three years, and
then to Howell county, where he lived twelve
years and employed himself at farm work.
When he was twenty-seven years old he mar-
ried Miss Bertha Yakley, who was born in
Indiana in 1879. Soon after his marriage,
in 1898, he came to Hornersville and began
farming. For six years he was in the livery
and blacksmith business in this town, his as-
sociate in the livery business part of the time
being his brother Tom, under the firm name
of Kinsolving Brothers. In 1909 he started
the business of T. F. Kinsolving Company,
and since then his trade has increased
rapidly, and as a merchant he is considered
one of the most substantial in Horners\'ille.
He owns his town home, and has acquired a
start on the road to fortune. Fraternally he
is a member of the Woodmen of the World
and the Independent Order of Odd Fellows
HISTORY OP SOUTHEAST :\nSSOURI
at Hornersville and the Knights of Pythias
at Cardwell. In politics he is a Democrat.
He and his wiie have one child, Eainbridge,
who was born in 1897.
^Ir. Kinsolving"s parents were natives of
the state of Virginia, whence they were
hronght to Kentuckv' as children. His
mother died in 1897, while on a visit in Hor-
nersville. His father is now living with his
son Thomas in Hornersville. The children
of the parents were: Thomas (see sketch) ;
Floyd, a doctor of Hornersville; Wilbur, a
butcher in Hornersville ; Leam, in Dunwick,
IMissouri ; T. F. ; Bettie, who married Tom
Davis, of Harrisburg, Arkansas; and Eller,
the wife of Sam Lyons, of West Plains, ]\Iis-
WiLLiAM C. Wilkes is one of the coming
attorneys of Carathersville, where he has suc-
cessfully practiced law since 1907, and where
he has the highest record for integrity, no
one being able to east any aspersions on his
character, either in his private life or his
professional capacity. Since his first entry
into the legal field he has set himself each
day to perform those tasks w'hich he could
see, leaving all else to determine itself later.
This simple course of action has bi'ought him
more business than he can handle, but what
is worth far more it has brought him the con-
tentment which comes with the knowledge
of having done his best. His fellow citizens
say of him that he is one of the few honest
lawj'ers in the county.
Mr. Wilkes' birth occurred August 17,
1885, at Caruthersville, Missouri. He is a
son of George L. Wilkes, who was born in
Henderson county, Kentucky', on the 23rd
day of October, 1856. His education was ob-
tained in the public schools of Pemiscot
county. ^Missouri, and later he engaged in the
occupation of farming. In the year 1879 he
married Miss ilargaret Burris, who came
from Washington, Indiana, where her par-
ents, Mr. and Mrs. John Burris, resided. To
this union of Mr. and Mrs. Wilkes ten chil-
dren were born, and of this number William
C. is the fourth in order of birth.
William C. Wilkes has spent practically
his entire life in Caruthersville. He went
through its grammar school, then entered
the high school, from which he was graduated
in the class of 1904, then matriculated in the
University of Missouri and in 1907 was a
graduate from the law department of that in-
stitution. He returned to Caruthersville and
practiced alone for one year. In 1909 he
entered into partnerehip with Judge Gossom,
the prosecuting attorney of Pemiscot county,
while Mr. Wilkes is the assistant prosecuting
attornej'. The union of these two men is a
very strong one, as each is able to bring into
the firm diflierent necessary elements of suc-
cess. The learned Judge can furnish the
experience, while Mv. Wilkes has the en-
thusiasm and optimism of youth.
Mr. Wilkes is a member of the National
Guards of Missouri; he enlisted in 1903,
while in his junior year in high school, in
Company I of the Sixth Batallion, and dur-
ing his university course he was in the col-
lege militarj' department. He is now ad-
vanced to the rank of captain and adjutant
of the Sixth Regiment, is on the staff under
Colonel Oliver, and is greatly interested in
military doings. It is natural that Mr.
Wilkes should have a large circle of ac-
quaintances in Caruthersville, and the fact
that he stands high in their estimation is
ample proof of his sterling worth, since they
have every reason to appraise him at his true
value.
William Bernard Fleege, druggist of
Desloge and closely identified with the busi-
ness interests of the town, was born in Me-
nominee, Illinois, July 6, 1881. His father,
Herman Fleege, was also a native of Illinois.
Early in his career he migrated to Iowa with
a mule team, but later returned to Illinois
and began a successful career as farmer. He
now owns one of the largest stock farms in
Illinois. He married, in June. 1875. ]Miss
]Margaret Hargraphen, daughter of Bernard
Hargraphen, a farmer of Illinois. There
were eight children by this marriage. Wil-
liam B. being the third. The parents were
members of the Catholic church.
William B. Fleege received his early edu-
cation in the public schools of IMenominee.
Later he entered the school of pharmacy at
Des iloiues, Iowa, and was graduated in
1906, ecjuipped for the business of life. At
Dubuque and St. Louis he was employed as
registered pharmacist for several yeai-s. and
in July, 1910, came to Desloge and bouiiht an
interest in the drug business which has since
been successfully conducted by him. Among
his business experiences he was one year a
dining car conductor on the Wabash rail-
road. He is a member of tlie Catholic
church.
In October. 1907. Mr. Fleege married ]\Iiss
.V. JxSy\yi^\yi<Myy-d.
HISTORY OF SOUTHEAST :\IISSOrRI
873
Dora Kelluer. They have two children.
Urban and Donald.
J. V. Slixkard. living a retired life at
^larble Hill, c-an sit back comfortably in his
chair and contemplate the changes that have
taken place in his career since he first
launched out for himself, a lad of fifteen. The
men of his acquaintance are so accustomed
to thinking of him as being awaj* up at the
top that they almost forget he was not born
that way, but as a matter of fact he made a
very modest beginning. It is one of the laws
of nature that we fall into or climb up to
close-fitting positions in the activities of life,
according to our varying sizes and values,
and thus it has been in the ease of ilr. Slink-
ard, born to lead and therefore unable to be
kept in the ranks.
J. V. Slinkard is a native of ilissouri, born
ilarch 21, 1839, in Cape Girardeau county.
He is the son of Daniel and Eva (Helder-
man) Slinkard, the father a native of North
Carolina. Daniel Slinkard, when a young
man, moved to Cape Girardeau county, Mis-
souri, there married, buried his wife, mar-
ried again and became the father of eight
children. He died in 1838, shortly before
his youngest child was born. IMrs. Daniel
Slinkard was a widow before she married the
father of the subject of this biography; her
first husband was James Morrison, by whom
she became the mother of several children.
By her three marriages she was the mother
of fourteen children. After the death of her
second husband, Daniel Slinkard, she was
married a third time, to ilr. Miles Doyle.
J. V. Slinkard was the little babe who had
not yet arrived in the world when his father
died, so that he never knew the affectionate
care which a father delights to bestow- on his
children ; he had, however, a step-father who
assisted the mother to rear her family and
in whose home the lad resided until he was
fifteen years old. At that age, having al-
ready learned how to do all kinds of farm
work, he left school and started to make his
own way in the world by hauling gravel for
the Jackson turnpike. This work was fol-
lowed by day labor in a brick yard, and
after a short time the youth, unused to the
stead.y manual labor which was reciuired of
him, was taken sick and forced to return
home. The experience taught him that he
would do well to fit himself for some other
kind of work, and he went back to school
while living in the house of his half-brother.
T. J. 0. jMorrison. He made such good use
of his opportunities that at the age of eigh-
teen he was adjudged competent to become a
teacher, was appointed to a school, in which
he taught for five terms, and then remained
three terms in another district. While he
was thus engaged in his work as an educator
the war cloud, which had long been casting
threatening shadows over the land, burst and
discharged its contents. The young teacher,
full of enthusiasm for the cause which he
considered just, and with the desire for ad-
venture so characteristic of youth, enlisted
in the Missouri State Guards, imder Colonel
Jeff. Thompson. His company, however, was
not destined to see very many months of
fighting; sickness broke out in the ranks and
the members of the company who had marched
forth with such brave hearts in the month
of September were brought back in Decem-
ber, sick and discouraged. In addition to the
fever which had stricken down Mr. Slinkard,
in common with his companions at arms, he
was wounded in the jaw and other parts of
the face during the battle of Fredericktown,
and to this day the marks appear as a wit-
ness of his heroism during those terrible
months of suffering. His health, never very
robust, did not return to him, as he had
hoped, and he went to a mountain resort in
the eastern part of Tennessee, where he re-
mained for several j-eai-s. It was not until
the month of February, 1869, eight years
after he left the army, that he was fully re-
covered from the hardships of his military
experiences, but no sooner did he feel himself
a well man again that he continued his long-
interrupted career, but with changed course.
He now went into the general merchandise
business at Zalma (then Bollinger's Mill), in
partnership with Daniel Bollinger. By the
month of December, 1870, he had satisfied
himself that if he would continue to keep
the health which had been recovered with
such difficulty he must live an outdoor life,
whereupon he disposed of his interest in the
store, bought a farm within ten miles of
Zalma, and there he farmed until 1884. At
that time the mercantile life again offered
attractions to him; he went back to his old
store in Zalma, in partnei-ship with "W. A.
^IcMinn, and since the retirement of that
gentleman in the .vear 1889, Mr. Slinkard has
been the sole proprietor of the business.
It must not be thought that Mr. Slinkard
devotes all of his time to his store ; on the
other hand, he has no active connection with
374
HISTORY OF SOUTHEAST MISSOURI
it, although he retains his interest in the
business. He has become very well known
in and around Zalma, and to Imow him is to
appreciate his stei'ling qualities. As a mark
of this appreciation which his fellow citizens
feel, they elected him to the office of county
treasui-er on the Democratic ticket, and he
served in this capacity from the fall of 1902
until 1904. When the Bank of Zalma was
established, in 1905, Mr. Stinkard was its
tirst cashier and served three and one half
years, and, although now retired from that
office, he still owns stock in the bank. He
owns the property on which his store stands
and has a half interest in the hardware store
in Zalma. Although not connected with ac-
tive farming operations, Mr. Stinkard is, as
a matter of fact, the owner of two farms, — a
forty acre tract of land near Zalma, and all
cleared, east of the town and a half inter-
est in a large two hundred and forty acre
farm near Sturdivant, one hundred and
twenty acres of which are cleared. Prom-
inent as Mr. Slinkard is in Zalma, he is no
less well and favorabl.y known in ]\Iarble
Hill, where he owns five blocks of land and
one lot, on which is built his beautiful resi-
dence. He owns stock in the Advance Tele-
phone Company of Marble Hill and in the
Public Life Insurance Company at Kansas
City, Missouri, and also has stock in the Bank
of Marble Hill.
Mr. Slinkard has been thrice married. In
1870, just at the time when he commenced his
mercantile operations, he married Miss Sarah
J. Hopkins, of Wayne county. She died in
1877, having borne him four children, two
of whom are living now : Leota, born in 1870,
is Mrs. Charles King and resides at Zalma,
Missouri ; Leo, born in 1873, lives at Zalma,
where he has the active management of his
father's store. In 1887 Mr. Slinkard mar-
ried Miss Lizzie Shetley, of Madison county,
^Missouri, and became the father of two chil-
dren, one of whom, Hiram, born in April,
1890, is now living. In 1890 the second :\Irs.
Slinkard died and two years later the twice-
bereaved man was united to Miss Anna Hen-
lev, who became the mother of Clarence, bom
in the fall of the year 1892.
It would be difficult to find a man with
more wide-spread interests than ilr. Slinkard.
In addition to those already mentioned he is
affiliated with the Masonic order, his direct
membership being %vith the Blue Lodge, No.
140, Ancient Free and Accepted ^Masons of
Iilarble Hill. He joined first in 1881, at
Greenville, Missouri. For years he has been
one of the pillars of the Baptist church at
Zalma, his interest still keen, but perhaps the
enterprise towards which he is most closely
drawn is the Will Mayfield College at Mar-
ble Hill, of which institution he has been
the treasurer for several terms, and he has
been a stanch supporter of the college for
a much longer period. Alert to aid in any
movement which has for its end the better-
ment of the communitj', educational etforts
seem to him of all others the most deserving
of his aid.
William JI. Matkix, ex-county judge and
assessor of Madison county, Missouri, is one
of the well-known and representative farmers
in the county, where he has resided for more
than forty years. Since he first engaged in
agricultural pursuits the status of the farmer
has undergone a radical change. A farm
and a mortgage used at one time to be
synonymous terms, and a man burdened with
debt is not apt to be beautiful either in looks
or disposition. Now all of this has been
changed and "back to the farm" means a re-
turn to efficiency, health and life; we reach
the farm by going forward, not by going back-
ward. The business of the farmer who pro-
duces food must be regarded as a fine art.
Much of this changed condition has come
about within the recollection of Judge Mat-
kin, and it is due to the work and example
of such as he that ideas on this subject have
so completelj' changed.
Beginning life December 19, 1844, judge
Matkin made his first appearance into the
world on a farm in ]\Iadison county. He is
a son of LeRoy and Rebecca (Polk) Matkin.
The father was born in St. Francois county,
Missouri, where he spent his boyhood and
early manhood, and he then moved to Mad-
ison coiuity, there manned, and there and in
Iron county his twelve children were born,
eight sons and four daughters, of which
number six remain : C. A., a resident of Iron
county; J. LeRoy, maintaining his home in
Madison county; William M., the subject of
this sketch ; Ben F., who lives in Iron county ;
Ira, residing at Montgomery. Louisiana ; and
Mary A., widow of Randall Dunn, of
Grandin, Missouri. The other brothers and
sisters all died young. LeRoy Matkin, father
of this family, was a man of intellect, being
a prominent educator of his day; he tmight
in subscription schools. He was deeply in-
terested in all matters of public concern and
HISTORY OF SOUTHEAST MISSOURI
875
in recognition of his great abilities and ster-
ling qualities of character he was elected by
his fellow citizens to the office of judge of
Iron county and he was also deputy assessor
of the county. He was for j^ears a member
of the United Baptist church, in which he
was an active worker. His demise occurred
in his sixty-first year, in 1882, in Iron
county, Missouri, and his wife was summoned
to her last rest in the year 1897. She was a
sister of Captain Charles K. Polk, whose his-
tory appears on other pages of this book.
Grandfather Matkin came to Missouri early
in the nineteenth century and located on
Indian Creek, St. Francois county, near Bis-
marck. His death was caused by a tree fall-
ing on him, which crushed him. He had
three sons. — LeRoy, above mentioned ; Wil-
liam D., who resided on the old homestead
until his death ; and Ben, who also resided
in St. Francois county and died some years
ago.
"VVlien "William M. Matkin was a mere lad
he accompanied his parents to Iron county,
and received his educational training in the
common schools of the district. At the in-
ception of the Civil war he enlisted in the
company of his uncle. Captain C. K. Polk,
and served with him throughout the war,
until the young man was taken prisoner at
Fort Scott and was incarcerated at Fort
Alton. Illinois, until the close of the war,
when he was paroled. Although engaged in
the thick of the conflict in many closel.v-con-
tested battles, he was never seriously
wounded. On leaving the army he resided
in the home of his uncle, who had been pro-
moted to the rank of ma.ior, as a result of
his braver.v and heroism. "William Matkin
engaged in farming and still owns the two
hundred and eighteen acre farm which has
been his home for over forty years. He is
the second owner from the government, and
during the years which have elapsed since
his purchase of the place he has greatly im-
proved it.
In 1870 Mr. Matkin married ^liss Julia F.
Kaufmann. whose birth occurred in St. Louis
on the 12th day of Jauuarv, 1849. She was
a daughter of F. G. Kaufmann, of German
birth, who located in St, Louis, Missouri,
there married a German lady and remained
in that citv for a few years. He then went
to Belleville, Illinois, and later came to Iron
county, Missouri, He was a gunsmith and an
expert general mechanic, with an inventive
turn of mind. He worked in wood and iron
and patented the heading machine for com-
bined header and thresher for wheat, oats,
etc. His shop was located some fourteen
miles southeast of Ironton, and there he suc-
ceeded in making a good living, so that he
was able to give his children the advantages
of a liberal education. His daughter Julia
was well educated in both English and
German. She lived in happy companionship
with her husband for a period of forty-one
years, and on September 18, 1910, she was
summoned to her last rest, at the age of sixty-
one. Of the eight children who were born to
this worthy couple, five are living, — Rev. "W.
L. H., a minister in the General Baptist
church, now residing with his father and
operating the farm, where also his wife (Miss
Emeline Arnett before her marriage), and
four children make their home; Bertha, wife
of Charles H. Griffin, residing near the old
homestead in j\Iadison county; Cora M,, who
is married to Mr. Elwood Tual. a merchant
at Ai-cadia, in the firm of Tual Brothers, and
who has three children; iirs, Thomas D.
Jones, a sketch of whose husband appears on
other pages of this history; and Pearl, a tal-
ented young lady who lives with her father.
Miss Pearl is a teacher and is especially
gifted in drawing and painting.
Ip the year 1876 "W. IM. Matkin was first
elected on the Democratic ticket to the high
office of county .judge and in 1882 he became
the county assessor. In 1890 was again
elected countv .judge, serving another two-
year term. His terms of service were char-
acterized by the same uprightness which have
marked his acts in every relation of life. In
a religious way the Judge and his wife were
for years members of the United Baptist
church, and Judge Matkin still retains his
active membership. His fraternal affiliation
is with the Independent Order of Odd Fel-
lows at Ironton. The Judge can sit back in
his chair in pleasing- contemnlation of the re-
sults of his years of successfiil efforts for his
familv and for his fellow citizens, and he may
feel that he has earned the approbation and
reg-ard which is accorded him.
Drew "\^ardell. In all respects a worthy
reiiresentative of the industrious, capable
and intelligent citizenship of Dunklin
county. Drew Vardell, of Kennett, is render-
ing most acceptable service as reeorrler of
deeds, and takes pleasure in doing what he
can to advance tlie interests of town and
county, A son of B. X. Yardell, he was born
HISTORY OF SOUTHEAST MISSOURI
April 18, 1883, in Dunklin county, i\Iissouri,
near Hornersville, where he was reared and
educated.
Born in Tennessee, near Nashville, B. N.
Vardell became thoroughly acquainted with
the various branches of agriculture when
3'oung, and chose for his life work the inde-
pendent occupation of a farmer. Coming to
Dunklin county, Missouri, in 1874;, he bought
a tract of wild land near Hornersville, and on
the farm which he redeemed from its prime-
val condition has since carried on mixed
husbandry with exceptionally good results.
He married Elmira Horner, a daughter of
Elijah Horner, who was one of the founders
of Hornersville and for many years one of
the leading men of this part of the state.
Drew Vardell attended the district schools
when young, there acquiring ample education
to fit him for a good position in the ranks of
the world's workers. He continued to reside
beneath the parental roof-tree until after his
election, in the fall of 1910, as recorder of
deeds, being the regular Democratic nominee
for the office. Taking his office on January
1, 1911, ]\Ir. Vardell has performed the duties
devolving upon him in the capacity with
credit to himself and to the satisfaction of
the people concerned.
Mr. Vardell married, Jlay 9. 1905, Nora
Williams, who was born near Hornersville,
Dunklin county, a daughter of the late
"Uncle" Dan Williams, and their pleasant
home has been made more bright by the birth
of one child, a daughter named Lile Estella.
]\Irs. Vardell is a most estimable woman, and
a faithful member of the Methodist Episco-
pal church. Fraternally ilr. Vardell belongs
to Carnation Court, No. 7, Tribe of Ben Hur.
Simon Girty Nipper. One of Washington
county's foremost young attorneys is Simon
Girty Nipper. He possesses excellent profes-
sional attainments and has already "given a
taste of his qaulity" in public office, having
for several years been prosecuting attorney,
an office he resigned to accept the appoint-
ment by President Taft as census supervisor
of the Eleventh Missouri district. He is one
of the most loyal and enthusiastic of Repub-
licans, being ever ready to do anvthing, to
go anywhere in support of the cause. He is
a splendid campaigner and is widely noted
for his eloquence, which readily brings con-
viction to his auditors.
Simon Girty Nipper was born March 1,
1882. in Washington countv, as was also his
father, James A. Nipper, whose birthdate
was April 11, 1856. The elder gentleman
worked around the sawmills and upon farms
in his youth and received his education in the
country schools, supplementing this with
much reading, of which he was very fond.
He was married, March 31, 1880, to Amanda
Martin, of Washington county, and their
union was blessed by the birth of six children,
namely : Emily, deceased ; Simon G. ; Fronia,
now Mrs. W. T. Dougherty; Oma, now Mrs.
W. C. Huitt; Grace, deceased; and James
William. After his marriage ]\Ir. Nipper,
the father, took up farming and he also was
well known as a Baptist preacher. He is
now engaged in preaching in various country
churches of that denomination in Washing-
ton and Crawford counties. ]Mrs. Nipper
died January 17, 1911, much lamented by
those to whom she was nearest and dearest.
She was a stanch Baptist, a good mother and
loving wife. The father is a Republican in
politics.
Simon G. Nipper was the son of humble
parents and passed his boyhood twenty-five
miles from a railroad. He attended the coun-
try schools four months out of each year and
the rest of the time helped on a farm. At the
age of eighteen years he secured a position as
janitor at the Chillicothe Normal School and
while thus engaged also attended school. It
was not until then that he saw his first rail-
road train. Subsequently he worked in the
mines in Saint Francois county as an under-
ground laborer. With the savings from this
hard work he was enabled to attend the
Steelville Normal School, his father having
removed to Crawford county. Following
this he taught school for four years and dur-
ing the entire period laid siege to his Black-
stone to such good purpose that Pebraary 25,
1905, he was admitted to the bar at Steel-
ville. Missouri, He came to Potosi in the
same year and at once entered upon the prac-
tice of the law, in which he soon gave evi-
dence of signal ability. In 1906 he became a
candidate for prosecuting attorney and in the
race defeated W, A. Cooper. At the ensuing
election he succeeded himself, Charles H.
Richeson being his unsuccessful opponent.
He is extremely active in political matters
and is a standard bearer of the party in
Washington county. He enjoys an excellent
practice and at the same time is very faith-
ful to his official duties. The eleventh district
of ^Missouri, to which the president appointed
him census supervisor, includes the counties
HISTORY OF SOUTHEAST MISSOURI
877
of St. Louis, Jefferson, "Washington, Iron,
Reynolds, Carter, Wayne, Bollinger, ^ladi-
son. Saint Francois, Perry and Sainte Gene-
vieve. He had the distinction of being the
youngest supervisor in all the state of Mis-
souri. While the census was being taken he
had little time for other matters, but resumed
his practice with its conclusion.
Mr. Nipper has the very unusual record of
ha\ing been a delegate from Crawford
countj' to the state convention at the early
age of twenty years. He has served as chair-
man of the Republican County Committee of
Washington county and as chairman of the
Republican CongTessional Committee of the
Thirteenth district.
On January 25, 1903, Miss Fannie Huitt,
of Crawford county, became the bride of ilr.
Nipper, and their happy marriage has been
blessed by the birth of two sons, Wendell
Ward and Elmer Huitt. Mrs. Nipper is a
daughter of W. H. and Amanda Huitt, and
she and her husband ■ maintain a delightful
and hospitable home.
Van Houston Harrison. M.D. For many
years one of the leading physicians and sur-
geons of Dunklin county, the late Van Hous-
ton Harrison. M. D., of Kennett, not only
gained marked prestige in his profession but
was known far and wide as a progressive and
public-spirited citizen, and as a man whose
life was ever ordered on the highest princi-
ples of honor and integrity. He was born
July 11. 1834, in Sumner county. Tennessee,
where his father. Dr. Jesse Harrison, a
prominent physician, located on going to
Tennessee from Virginia, his native state.
Inheriting a taste for the study of medicine
from his father. Van Houston Harrison took
a course of study in the Memphis Medical
College, and was subsequently graduated
from the ilissouri Medical College, at Saint
Louis, with the degree of M. D. Dr. Har-
rison began the practice of his profession at
Williamsville, New Madrid county, Missouri.
from there moving in 1861 to Clarkton, Dun-
klin county, which was then the best town
south of Cape Girardeau. Very soon after-
ward he enlisted in the Jackson Militia, and
served for a time as surgeon in the Confeder-
ate army. He continued in active practice at
Clarkton until 1893. when he settled at Ken-
nett. where he continued his professional
labors until his death, November 2-1, 1896,
having a large and lucrative patronage. The
Doctor devoted his time and his energies to
his profession, and was an influential mem-
ber of the various town, county and state
medical associations, being considered an au-
thority on the various diseases to which the
human flesh is heir.
Politically Dr, Harrison was a sound Dem-
ocrat, and though never an office seeker did
make one vigorous camjiaign for the state
senatorship, but was defeated at the polls.
Fraternally the Doctor was made a ilason in
early life, and was for years one of the lead-
ing members of Clarkton Lodge, No. 130, A.
F. & A. i\I., which he represented at the Grand
Lodge ; he was likewise a charter member of
West Prairie Chapter, No. 31, R. A. M., the
first chapter organized in this part of the
state. Dr. Harrison was also one of the or-
ganizers of the Clarkton & Hall Educational
Association, which in 1880 erected a four
thousand five hundred dollar building which
was used for public and private schools and
in which lectures were held, its influence be-
ing felt over a wide area. He was an Old
School Presbyterian in religion, and for up-
wards of a ciuarter of a century was an el-
der in the Clarkton Presbyterian Church.
Dr. Harrison married, in Clarkton, Rox-
anna Stokes, who was born at Cape Girar-
deau, Missouri, but was brought up and edu-
cated in Clarkton, where her father. Judge
John H, Stokes, was a .judge in the Court of
Common Pleas. Mrs. Hamson died in Ken-
nett, Missouri, :\Iarch 31, 1906. Ten chil-
dren were born to Dr. and Mrs. Harrison,
namely : Emma, widow of John T. James, late
of Clarkton, Missouri ; A. S. Harrison, M. D.,
of Kennett; 0. S. Harrison, engaged in the
loan and insurance business at Kennett ; P.
C. Harrison, a lumber dealer in Kennett;
Lucretia, who died in infancy; R. E. Har-
rison, who died at the age of twenty-five
years, in 1895, was engaged in mercantile
pursuits at Pascola, Missouri ; Van Houston
Harrison, Jr., a bookkeeper at Kearney, Ar-
kansas; Zalma B. Harrison, an attorney at
Rector, Arkansas: Agnes, wife of Professor
Herbert Pryor, of whom a brief sketch may
be found elsewhere in this volume; and Er-
nest F. Harrison, M. D., of Kennett.
P. P. Bryant. One of the old and pros-
perous residents of Hornersville, Mr. P. P.
Bryant knew this town when it had only one
store. In this vicinity he has spent nearly
forty years of his life, and beginning as a
poor younsr man who had the responsibility
of supporting his widowed mother and one
878
HISTORY OF SOUTHEAST MISSOURI
sister, he worked a steady progress in his ma-
terial circumstances and for a number of
years has enjoyed a prosperity that fully re-
wards his earlier struggles.
Mr. Brj'ant was born in Decatur county,
Tennessee, September 25, 1855. His father
was a farmer from east Tennessee and during
the war moved to Padueah, Kentucky, where
he died when his son was seven years old.
The latter had few school advantages, largely
owing to the conditions resulting from the
war. In 1874 his mother moved to Dunklin
county, when he was fifteen years old, and
the support of the mother and sister devolved
upon him. His mother lived with him until
a j^ear before her death, which occurred about
1887. For several years he worked on a
farm, and then rented a farm near Horners-
ville, where he made three crops, being in
debt when he went on the place. He then
bought a home and business block in Horners-
ville and for five years was in business there
and did well. Selling out, he was in business
at Campbell two years, then in Noble,
Arkansas, two years, and in 1893 returned to
Hornersville. For two years he drove the
mail to Kennett, and then for twelve years
conducted a prosperous restaurant business
in Hornersville. In 1909 he retired from his
active career, but since then has built a two-
story brick business house, fifty by fifty on
Main street, and two dwelling houses, and
owns thirty acres of valuable land adjoining
town.
Mr. Bryant's first marriage was to Almedia
Harmon, who died two years after marriage.
His second wife, who died while he was in
Noble, Arkansas, was ]\Iiss Nezzie Fisher.
Their three children were: Hattie, Bert (see
sketch), and John. In October, 1902, he
married in Hornersville Mary "Woodruff, who
was born in Indiana, July 24, 1870, and came
to Hornersville with her parents. They have
one child, Cora E., born in 1903.
Mr. Bryant is a Democrat in polities. His
fraternal affiliations are with the Independ-
ent Order of Odd Fellows and Woodmen of
the "World at Hornersville and the Knights
of Pythias at Paragould.
AuGrsTus Samuel St. IMary, Jr. The last
of the male descendants of the family which
founded St. Mary's, Ste. Genevieve county,
Augustus S. St. Mary, Jr., was for many
years an active and widely known figure in
the mining industries of Southeast Missouri,
especially as an expert builder of smelting
works. He is a native of "Washington county,
Missouri, born February 13, 1838. His
grandfather, also A. S. St. Mary, located at
"Vincennes, Indiana, before the outbreak of
the Revolutionary war, being one of the pio-
neers of that place and one of "Washington's
most trusted couriers during the progress of
hostilities. The father was born in old Vin-
cennes, and at the conclusion of the hostili-
ties with Great Britain his parents started
with their family for their old home in
Canada, "but before they reached their destin-
ation they were stricken with fever and both
died. As the children disagreed as to what
was best to be done under the distressing cir-
cumstances their life-courses were henceforth
separated.
A. S. St. Mary, at this crisis, directed his
course toward St. Louis, arriving in that city
in 1802, soon after the Louisiana Purchase
had been made from France. Then twelve
years of age, he secured employment as a
farm laborer, and received as pay for his
services the piece of ground which is now
the site of St. Joseph's College, St. Louis.
Trading the land for a horse and cart, he
joumej^ed with his new possessions to Ste.
Genevieve, where he worked for awhile and
then exchanged the former for a ferry boat.
This he operated for about thirteen years,
also establishing and running a yard which
supplied the river boats with wood. When
the lead boom struck Washington county, he
moved to that section of the state and engaged
especially in the smelting branch of the lead
industry, and until his death in 1867 was ex-
tensively engaged in building and operating
smelting plants in various parts of Southeast
Missouri. While at the Old Mines he mar-
ried Miss Mary Louise Politte, who died in
1893, mother of three children, — Henry;
Mary Louise (Mrs. Atwood), now deceased
and A. S., Jr., of this sketch. The deceased
was a Catholic and a stanch Democrat.
Augustus Samuel St. Mary. Jr., spent his
early life in receiving a common-school edu-
cation and working in the lead mines. At
the breaking out of the Civil war he was in
his twenty-fourth year, and served in the Con-
federate army as a lieutenant under General
Cockrell. After the war he married, and he
continued to engage in lead mining, farming
and other occupations, coming to Festus,
Jefferson county, as machinist for the Glass
Works. He also operated a construction
camp during the building of the St. Louis &
San Francisco Railroad, and made himself
HISTOKY OF SOUTHEAST MISSOURI
879
felt in manifold other Avays as a distinct per-
sonal force iu the development of his home
region. He is fully entitled to the retired
life which he is now enjoying at one of the
Festus hotels with a favorite daughter.
Mr. St. Mary was married, in 1866, to Miss
Julian Boursaw, of Rich Woods, Washington
county, and the two children of their union
are Josephine and Margaret Cyrena, both
unmarried. The father of this family is,
therefore, as stated, the last male descendant
of the founders of St. Mary's, Missouri.
James M. Hindman, M. D. The profes-
sional career of Dr. J. M. Hindman excites
the admiration and has won the respect of
his contemporaries, and in a calling in which
one has to gain reputation by merit he has
advanced steadily until he is acknowledged
as the superior of most of the members of
the medical profession in Bollinger county,
Missouri, having long since left the ranks
of the many to stand among the successful
few. Dr. Hindman is engaged in the active
practice of his profession at Dongola, Mis-
souri, where he is a man of mark in all the
relations of life.
In Jay county, Indiana, on the 21st of
December, 1867, occurred the birth of Dr.
Hindman, who is a son of J. ]Monroe and
]\Iary Elizabeth (Lanning) Hindman, both
of whom are now deceased. The father was
a farmer in Bollinger county, Missouri, and
he had achieved a fine success in that partic-
ular line of enterprise. He served as county
judge of the southern district for two years.
He and his wife became the parents of ten
children, of whom the Doctor was the eldest
in order of birth and seven of whom are liv-
ing in 1911. On the old homestead farm in
Indiana Dr. Hindman was reared to adult
age. In 1881 the family home was estab-
lished in Jay county, that state, and there
the Doctor received his preliminary educa-
tional training. In 1883. J. Monroe Hind-
man removed wnth his family to Arkansas,
remaining in that state for a period of twelve
months, at the expiration of which a return
was made to Indiana. In 1885 the family
again set out for Arkansas, but. soiourning
for a time in Bollinger county, ^Missouri,
while en route. Mr. Hindman became so im-
pressed witli the attractions of this place
that he decided to settle here. Accordingly,
he homesteaded a tract of one hundred and
sixty acres of land in Liberty township,
where he resided until his death. Dr. Hind-
man was associated with his father in the
work and management of the farm until
1889. He then farmed for himself until
1898, when he decided upon the medical
profession of his life work and in that year
was matriculated as a student in the St.
Louis College of Physicians and Surgeons,
at St. Louis, ^Missouri, being graduated in
that excellent in.stitution as a member of
the class of 1902 and duly receiving his well
earned degree of Doctor of I\Iedicine.
Dr. Hindman initiated the practice of his
profession at Dongola, Missouri, where he
opened up a drug store and where he has
continued to reside up to the present time.
He rapidly built up a large and lucrative
patronage and to-day holds prestige as one
of the most skilled physicians and surgeons
in Bollinger county. He has continued to
conduct his drug store in connection with
his professional work and the same is w^ell
equipped and strictly modern in all its ap-
pointments. Dr. Hindman is the owner of
some three lots and a beautiful residence in
Dongola, where he is honored and esteemed
by, his fellow citizens and where he is un-
usually loyal and public spirited in his civic
attitude.
In the year 1888 Dr. Hindman was united
in marriage to Miss Emma P. Shell, a native
of Bollinger county, ^Missouri, and a daugh-
ter of Troy Shell, of that place. Dr. and
;Mrs. Hindman have no children. In their
religious faith they are devout members of
the Baptist church, in the different depart-
ments of whose work the.v are most zealous
and active factors. In politics he accords
an uncompromising allegiance to the cause
of the Republican party and in fraternal
channels he is affiliated with the time-hon-
ored Masonic order, the Tribe of Ben Hur
and the Woodmen of the World.
William T. Stevenson. An able expo-
nent of the progressive spirit and strong
initiative ability that have caused Iron
county to forge so rapidly forward commer-
cially and in other lines is William T. Steven-
son, who has done much for the material and
civic development and upbuilding of the at-
tractive town in which he has elected to
establish his home. ]Mr. Stevenson is a man
of great and diverse activity. He is engaged
in the general merchandise business at Des
Arc: he is a member of the firm of William
Stevenson & Brothers, who conduct a general
store at Scatterville, Wavne county ; he owns
HISTORY OF SOUTHEAST MISSOURI
the Des Are Telephone Company, and in fact
is one of the most prominent telephone men
in this part of the state; he is vice-president
of the Bank of Des Are and former president
of this sound monetar}' institution: and he
has given excellent service in public office.
It is by no means to be gainsaid that he is
one of the big men of Iron county. He built
the Des Arc telephone system and he has Bell
and other long distance phones connected
locally in five counties and extending to Wil-
liamsville. Marquard, Lesterville, Ellington
and all towns in that area. In addition to
the enterprises above noted which benefit by
his controlling ability he is also in the lumber
and milling business. For twa terms he has
been elected one of the three county judges
of Iron county and he is serving in that
capacity at the present time.
]Mr. Stevenson was born upon the farm
where he now makes his residence on January
21, 1865, and is the son of J. W. and Ellen
(Shaver) Stevenson, the latter of whom is
living at Des Arc at the age of sixty-four
3'ears. She was born and reared in ]Madison
county, JMissouri, her parents having been
pioneers to Missouri in the earlier part of the
nineteenth centurv. and who took a part in
the life of the country in an agricultural ca-
pacity. The father was born in Iron county ;
was reared near the site of Des Arc ; was a
farmer; and served as a soldier in the Civil
war. aiore is told of him in succeeding para-
graphs. He and his wife became the parents
of a round dozen of children, ten of whom
were sons and two daughters, and of this
number but one is deceased, the eldest, Perlie,
who married Napoleon Lewis and died a .vear
later, in 1898. The subject is the eldest of
those living; David F., of Taskee, Missouri,
is engaged in merchandising and farming;
John H. resides at Des Arc and is interested
in merchandising and real estate, owning a
large number of houses in this place; Robert
H. is a merchant of Des Arc ; James W., of
near Corydon, Re.vnolds county, owns and
operates two saw mills; Ollie D. is the owner
of a saw mill near Lesterville. ^Missouri;
Charles C. is a partner of his brother, the sub-
ject, in the mercantile business; Ozro and
Cicero, twins, are engaged in the tie and
lumber business together ; ilarshall resides at
home with his widowed mother; Bertha, now
Mrs. Zell Lewis, resides at Pangborn. Arkan-
sas, where her husband owns a sawmill and
is engaged in tlie lumber business. It is an
interesting coincidence that all the brothers
are to more or less extent engaged in the lum-
ber business and that all were rfeared upon
the homestead farm a mile and a half north
of the present town of Des Are.
ilr. Stevenson received his general educa-
tion in the district schools and remained at
home until the attainment of his majority.
His first experience as a wage-earner was as
a book-keeper in a saw-mill. As early as 1886
he realized his ambitions of placing himself
upon an independent footing and started in
business for himself. He subsequently
formed a partnership with his brother, John
H., and these two gentlemen still retain some
associate interests. In 1905 Charles C.
Stevenson entered into partnership with his
brother and at the present time he manages
jointly with the subject the mill, the store at
Des Arc and a farm south of town. The other
interests of the subjects are individual.
ilr. Stevenson was first married to ]\Iiss
ilollie Chilton, who died August 29, 1902,
the mother of four daughters, Eva, Ethel,
Lena and Lela, all of whom are at home. The
subject was married in the year 1904 to ]\liss
Rhoda King,, daughter of the late Samuel
King. This honored and venerable citizen
died in ]\Iay, 1911, when nearly eighty years
of age.
Politicall.y William T. Stevenson is a
stanch and stalwart Democrat, as are all his
brothers. In speaking of his public service
mention should be made of his four years of
office as deputy with Sheriff M. T. O'Neal.
He is a member of the Jlodern "Woodmen of
America of Des Arc and he and his family
favor the Baptist church.
The late J. Wesle.y Stevenson, father of the
subject, was summoned to the Great Beyond
on January 20, 1910, at his home near Des
Arc, the very farm upon which he was born
November 13, 1842. He is a son of Hender-
son C. and Angeline (J\IcFadden) Stevenson,
who came to Missouri from Kentucky and
Virginia, respectively. Angeline McFad-
den's parents were Samuel and Lucy
ilcFadden, early pioneers of this section of
Missouri. The family all were farmers and
none of the name of JIcFadden now reside
in this section.
J. Wesley Stevenson, himself the father of
twelve children, was one of a family of ten,
and of that number only three survive at the
present time, namel.y: Mrs. Lucinda Shaver.
)f near Des Arc ; Mrs. Annie Lloyd, of near
Des Arc ; and James A., of Iron county.
'Sir. Stevenson was one of those who paid
HISTORY OP SOUTHEAST MISSOURI
881
Iron county the L-oinpliiueut of remaiuing
within its favored boundaries throughout the
entire course of his life. He was a farmer
and stockman, in particular raising great
uundoers of horses and furnishing teams for
the lumber business. He was Democrat in
his political conviction, ever giving heart and
hand to the partj^'s causes.
ilr. Stevenson was married May 8, 1864,
to iliss Ellen Shaver, born in 1848, in ^Mad-
ison county, ilissouri, on the Saint Francois
river. This worthy lady is now residing at
Des Arc. She is a daughter of David "\V. and
]\Iary (Ramsey) Shaver, they having been
married in Illinois. The mother died when
she was an infant — about 1850 — and the
father survived for more than a score of
years, his demise taking place in 1872. He
was latterly in the mercantile business at Des
Arc and when the railway was built through
which brought the town into being he sold
the lots upon which the town was built. Mrs.
Ellen Stevenson was one of a family of four
children, and of these, besides herself, one
brother, John Shaver, is living at Des Arc.
J. Wesley Stevenson was a soldier in the
Civil war. serving in Company H, Forty-
seventh Missouri Regiment. The military
work of this organization for the most part
was in the state, but toward the close of the
war he was in the United States service in
Tennessee. Altogether, he wore the uniform
of the Union army over three years and was
honorably discharged at the end of the great
conflict. It is indeed remarkable that all the
ten sons of this fine man are still living and
in business, nearly all near the old home, and
the name of Stevenson is one which enjoys
high regard in Iron county. The Stevenson
brothers are engaged in lumber manufactur-
ing, mercantile business and farming and to-
gether they operate three thousand acres of
land. All are prominent and successful busi-
ness men and all are sound, law-abiding-
citizens, none of the ten ever having been ar-
rested. All are married with the exception
of the youngest son. ilarshall. who resides
with his widowed mother. There are thirt.v-
one grandchildren.
AViLLiAJi C. Stokes. A citizen of promi-
nence and influence, widelv known througli-
out Dunklin county. William C. Stokes, of
Kennett. has filled positions of importance to
the public with credit to himself and to the
satisfaction of all. and en.ioys to a high
decree the confidence and esteem of his fel-
low-men. A native of Missouri, he was born
January 10, 1858, in Cape Girardeau, and
at the age of four years was brought by his
parents to Clarkton, Dunklin county, where
he received his elementary education, which
was completed at Westminster College, in
Fulton, Missouri, where he took the literary
course.
Returning to Clarkton, Mr. Stokes clerked
for ten years in the store of his brother, T.
C. Stokes, and was afterwards for four years
engaged in farming, being located four miles
south of that town. The ensuing four years
he was employed in Clarkton, after which he
resided in Maiden, ]\Iissoiiri. for three years,
being first engaged as a clerk and later as a
manufacturer of shingles. Being then elected
deputy circuit clerk and recorder, Mr. Stokes
served in that capacity until January, 1906,
his residence in the meantime being in Ken-
nett. He was subsequently appointed, by
Governor Folk, county recorder to fill an un-
expired term, and being elected to that posi-
tion in 1907 served acceptably to the people
for four consecutive years, performing the
duties of his office ably and faithfully. He
is now busy looking after his landed interests,
which consist of two hundred acres of wild
land, one half of which he has already
cleared. Politically Mr. Stokes is an earnest
supporter of the principles of the Democratic
party.
On June 23, 1881, Mr. Stokes was united
in marriage with Mary T. Hood, and into
their pleasant home two children have made
their advent, namely: Clara, born August 6,
1886; and Lawrence, born November 21, 1894.
Fraternally IMr. Stokes is a member of C.
H. Mason Camp. IModern Woodmen of Amer-
ica, at ilalden; and of Pioneer Lodge, No.
165, Independent Order of Odd Fellows, at
Kennett. Religiously the family is affiliated
by membership with the Presbyterian church,
in which he has been an elder the past four
Everett Reeves. A prominent figure in
both the military and legal circles of Caruth-
ersville. Everett Reeves occupies a noteworthy
position in the foremost ranks of the leading
citizens of his community, and is deservedly
popular with his fellow-men and co-workers.
A native of Tennessee, he was born Januarv
17, 1877, in Weakley county, a son of G. W,
and Laura ("Arnold) Reeves.
Having acquired a good education in tlie
public schools. Everett Reeves was variously
882
HISTORY OF SOUTHEAST MISSOURI
employed imtil after attaining his majority.
In May, 1898, he enlisted as a private in
Troop H, First United States Cavalry, and
after serving faithfully for nine mouths was
mustered out at Fort Meade. South Dakota.
Returning then to his home, he was for some
time a member of the National Guard at
Fulton, Kentucky. Continuing his military
career, Mr. Reeves, in 1907, enlisted as a pri-
vate in Company I, Sixth Infantry. Missouri
National Guard, and has since been three
times promoted, in February, 1911, having
received his commission of captain, of that
company, an important office which he is fill-
ing with the same fidelity and aliility that
characterized his efforts in subordinate posi-
tions.
Soon after his return from the Spanish-
American War Mr. Reeves entered the South-
ern Normal University, at Huntington, Ten-
nessee, and was there graduated in 1900. He
had taught school four years before entering
the University, and then l)egan the study of
law and was admitted to the bar in 1901.
Beginning his professional career, he prac-
ticed law at Fulton. Kentucky, for four
years, and in 1905 located at Caruthersville.
^lissouri, as a partner of R. A. Pierce, of
Tennessee. Three years later, that partner-
ship being dissolved. Mr. Reeves was for two
years in company with N. C. Hawkins. In
the summer of 1911 he became associated with
the well-known legal firm of Shepherd & J\le-
Kay, and has since carried on a large and
lucrative business, his clientele being exten-
sive.
Mr. Reeves married, February 14, 1901,
Erin Pinkley, who was born in Carroll
county, Tennessee, May 11, 1880, and into
their home three children have made their
advent, namelv: Folk Odell, Opal and Ever-
ett, Jr. Politically Mr. Reeves is a firm sup-
porter of the principles of the Democratic
party, and served from May 1. 1908, imtil
May 1. 1910, as city attorney. Fraternally
he is an active member of the Independent
Order of Odd Fellows, in which be has passed
all the chairs; and is also a member of the
Modern Woodmen of America and of the Im-
proved Order of Red Men.
I. F. Donaldson. Worthv of special rep-
resentation in this volume is the late I. F.
Donaldson, one of the strong, brave and
public-spirited men who were active in pro-
moting the upbuilding and growth of Ken-
nett and Dunklin county, and who also
in the pioneer task of opening up
public highways throughout this section of
Dunklin county.
He was born August 31, 18-47, in Gibson
county, Tennessee, and died at West Plains,
]\Iissouri, December 19, 1905, where he had
moved with his family for the benefit of his
health, his death being a cause of general
regret.
He came to Dunklin county with his
father. Captain Humphrey Donaldson, in
1856, locating on Horse Island, the family
being one of the first to settle below Kennett.
He worked for his father until he was thirty
years of age on the farm and as a teamster,
hauling freight from Cottonwood Point and
]\Ialden. In 1878 he went to Maiden and
clerked in a store until 1882. He was a
Democrat, was twice elected as sheriff and
collector, and was also a county judge. After
finishing his term as sheriff and collector he
engaged in general mercantile business. He
was a man of good business ability and judg-
ment, and for many years conductecl his
store on the northwest corner of the Square.
He was affiliated with the Independent Order
of Odd Fellows, a member of the lodge at Ken-
nett, and was also a member of the Presby-
terian church.
He was married, April 22, 1884, to Miss
Panola Rayburn, daughter of Major W. C.
and M. J. Rayburn, of Clarkton. Of this
union six children were born, two d.ving in
infancy and Thomas F., Davis R., !Madge and
Josie Aileen are all living with their mother
in Kennett.
His son, Thomas F. Donaldson, one of the
younger members of the Dunklin county bar,
was bom in Kennett, March 29, 1886, and
here acquired the rudiments of his education.
Having a special taste and aptitude for legal
work, he entered the law department of the
University of Missouri, from which he was
graduated with the class of 1909, and has
since been successfully engaged in the prac-
tice of his profession at Kennett. Thomas
F. Donaldson is a member of Kennett Lodge,
No. 5.3, A. F. & A. "SI., and also the Independ-
ent Order of Odd Fellows, Pioneer Lodge No.
165.
Ch.\rles Alex.vxdeb Young. A prom-
inent and usefiil part in the many-sided life
of Cadet. Missouri, is taken by Charles Alex-
ander Young, whose relations to the commu-
nity are three-fold, being those of a successful
merchant, a small farmer and village post-
HISTORY OF SOUTHEAST :\IISSOURI
master. He lias resided here since 1903 and
has from the first manifested those principles
of public-spirited citizenship which have
gained for him the unqualified confidence
and approbation of his fellow townsmen.
]Mr. Young is a native Kentuckian, his birth
having occurred in Bowling Green, that state,
October 7, 1S70. His father, John Young,
was born in 1849, in Greeneastle, Warren
county, Kentucky, and followed farming
throughout the course of his life. He was
married in 1869 to Sarah Elizabeth Hudnell,
of Kentucky, daughter of Joshua Hudnell,
and the subject is their onl.y child. The
father died in 1873, but the mother survived
until 1886. The father was a Democrat in
his political conviction, as were the ma.jority
of the sons of Kentuckv' of his day and the
mother was a consistent Baptist.
Charles A. Young was left fatherless at
the age of three years and was then reared
by an aunt, with whom he lived for some
time, then going to live with the Society of
Shakers at South Union. Kentuckj-. through
whom he received his education. In course
of time he left the Shaker settlement and re-
turned to his mother, who lived at Bowling
Green, and there he attended school for one
year. As the question of making a liveli-
hood was paramount, he worked at various
places on farms in the vicinity of Owensboro,
Kentucky-. He eventually left his native state
and went to Hot Springs, Arkansas, where he
worked in a grocery store for about three
years. At the end of that time he came to
Missouri and took up a farm in "Washington
county, upon which he remained for about
two j'cars. He made a new departure then
and took up railroading, but he was disabled
and for three years was an invalid, but hap-
pily succeeded in regaining his health.
Mr. Young was married ilarch 2. 1896,
Miss Mary Bouchard, a native daughter of
Cadet, becoming his wife. ilrs. Young's
parents are ilatthew and Sophia Bouchard.
Six promising children have been born into
their home, namely: Leo Barnard, Eufaula
Beatrice, Delia ilay, Sophia Bermetta, Win-
field Benton Thiirston, and Clara Lucille.
Shortly after their marriage Mr. and Mrs.
Young went to St. Louis, where they remained
for eight years, during three years of which
period the head of the house was with the
street railroad company, and following which
he was employed by the Wabash Railroad
Company. In 1903 he came to Cadet and em-
barked in the mercantile business, in wliieh
from the first he has experienced remarkable
success. The growth of his trade has been
such that he has found it expedient to build
a new store building. He has also built him-
self a residence on one of Cadet's loveliest
sites, a height overlooking the valley in which
the town lies. His farm is situated half a
mile from the railway station, and this is
devoted to general agriculture. He was ap-
pointed postmaster August 1, 1909, which
office he now holds. Unlike his father in pol-
itics, :\Ir. Young is a strong Republican and
a leader of the party in his township.
William G. Petty. A man of good finan-
cial and executive ability, William G. Petty,
of Kennett, has achieved success in his busi-
ness career, and in addition to being an ex-
tensive landholder and agriculturist is
connected with two of the more important
organizations of the city, being president of
the Cotton Exchange Bank and of the Petty-
Spencer Hardware Company, a prominent
mercantile firm. A native of Tennessee, he
was born January 25. 1853, in Hickman
county, a son of jMilford M. and Xaney Petty,
natives of Tennessee. After farming in
Hickman county for thirty-five years. Mil-
ford M. Petty moved to Dunklin county,
Missouri, in 1882, and here both he and his
good wife spent their remaining years.
Soon after attaining his majority, William
G. Petty, who had been working 'as a farm
laborer for six years, bought a tract of wild
land in Salem township and began the im-
provement of a homestead. In 1887 he pur-
chased two hundred acres of land lying near
Nesbit, Dunklin county, and this land, with
the one hundred and sixty acres which he had
previously placed under cultivation, is now
one of the most productive and most desir-
able farms of southeastern IMissouri. Mr.
Petty has also invested in other landed prop-
erty, owning between six hundred and seven
hundred acres on Horse Island, near Senath
and near Kennett, too, being advantageously
located. He operates his farms by tenants,
making cotton his main crop.
In 1891 Mr. Petty was elected sheriff of
Dunklin county, and was re-elected at the ex-
piration of his term, serving four consecutive
years in that capacity. In 1899 he embarked
in the hardware and agricultural implement
business with N. N. Rice, for three vears be-
ing junior member of the firm of Rice & Com-
pany. He then bought out his partner, and
the business was incorporated, with a capital
HISTORY OF SOUTHEAST illSSOURI
of ten thousand dollars, as the Riggs-Petty
Hardware Company, and continued business
for four years. Buying out Mr. Riggs, he
then became sole proprietor of the business,
which he conducted alone until 1910, when he
sold a half interest in the concern to J. D.
Spence, the name of the tirm being changed
to the Petty-Spence Hardware Company.
This company has about thirty-five thousand
dollars invested, including the building, which
is fifty-two feet by two hundred feet, with a
floor space of ten thousand square feet, and
carries a stock valued at fifteen thousand dol-
lars, while its annual sales amount to between
forty and fifty thousand dollars. The firm's
business has rapidly increased in the past
few years, five or six men being employed to
handle its line of hardware and agricultural
implements, and it now pays good dividends
on the capital invested.
Mr. Petty helped organize the Cotton Ex-
change Bank, of which he has since been
a director, and of which he has been presi-
dent since 1905. The bank has a capital
stock worth thirty thousand dollars, with a
surplus of twenty thousand dollars, while its
deposits and undivided profits amount to
two hundred thousand dollars. Politically
Mr. Petty is affiliated with the Democratic
party, and has served five or more years as a
member of the City Council, at the present
time being a member of the Kennett Board
of Education. He is also a stock-holder and
director in the St. Louis, Kennett and South-
eastern Railroad Company, a railroad run-
ning from Kennett, Missouri, to Piggott,
Arkansas.
Mr. Petty was united in marriage, in
1879, with Amanda B. Herrmann, a daugh-
ter of "William Herrmann, who was a pioneer
settler of Hornersville. Dunklin county, and
for many years operated a cotton gin and
grist mill near Nesbit. in the meantime gain-
ing distinction as the inventor of the first
cotton cleaning attachments used in ginning
cotton. Seven children have been born to
Mr. and IMrs. Petty, namely : Harry, of whom
a brief sketch mav be found on another page
of this volume; Curtis, employed in the store
of the Pettv-Spencer Hardware Company ;
Neel. who died at the age of thirteen years;
Bertie, who lived but ten years; Connie, who
is a bookkeeper for her father; Genie: and
Gilbert.
•T. W. WniTE. M. D. Known as the builder-
up of the thriving village of Holl\'wood and
as one of the largest land-owners in this vicin-
ity, Dr. J. W. White has long been a promi-
nent citizen of Dunklin count}' both in his
profession and in business aft'airs. He laid
the foundation of his fortune as a family
physician for hundreds of the residents in the
vicinity of Senath. An able physician,
kindly and popular, he possessed a remark-
able industry that enabled him to keep up
with the demands of his patients over a ter-
ritory a dozen miles in eveiy direction from
his office, and during the twelve years that he
was located in Senath he was one of the best
known travelers over the country highways,
taking his advice and skill to the benefit of
the sick in the neighborhood. He has been
a resident of Hollywood and since 1907 has
resigned active practice, devoting all his time
and energies to the supervision of his exten-
sive interests.
Dr. Wliite was born May 15. 1863. of well-
to-do farming people near Bloomfield in
Stoddard county, and in the primitive coun-
try schools of his boyhood he acquired a
good common-school education. Until
nearly grown he remained on the home
farm, and then went to Texas and was a
cowboy for several years, getting health
and experience. On his return he came to
Dunklin county and worked for J. M. Doug-
las on a farm until he had earned enough to
take a course in the Cape Girardeau Normal
during 1886-7. For several years he taught
school in Missouri and Texas. Then in 1890
he married Miss Annie Sando, of Zalma,
Bollinger county. The following year he
attended medical school in St. Louis and
then entered the Kentucky School of Medi-
cine at Louisville, where he was graduated
an M. D. in 1893. When he began active
practice he was in debt five himdred dollars
for money that he had borrowed to complete
his education. With a wife and child he
began work vigorously and since the first
year has been practically independent of the
hardships of fortune. After a year's prac-
tice at Lula he located in Senath, when only
a few stores composed the business district
of that town. While busy with his profes-
sion he also did his share toward the im-
provement of that town, building several
good houses, and was also one of the citi-
zens most influential in securing the con-
struction of the railroad through the town
in 1896. In 1898 he interrupted his busy
practice long enough to take a post-gradu-
ate course in medicine at Chicago.
HISTORY OF SOUTHEAST MISSOURI
In 1905 he located at Hollywood and in
1907 gave up practice to engage in mercan-
tile and real estate business. In making
Hollywood a trading center he has done
more than any other individual, and he owns
most of the towTi. His large store building
accommodates a general stock of merchan-
dise which produces an annual trade of
thirty-five thousand dollars. He owns more
good land in this section than any other in-
dividual, with the exception of Senator
WiUiam Hunter, having about nine hundred
acres of farming land, several farms in the
vicinity of Hollywood and one of eighty
acres in Stoddard county. About half of
his land is in cultivation and operated by
tenants. He is also owner of about ten
thousand acres of timber on what is known
as the Hunter Plantation. A stave factory
has contracted to cut the timber, and it is
estimated that seven years will be required
to work up the timber on his land.
Dr. White and family reside in an attract-
ive new home at Hollywood. He is a mem-
ber of the Christian church of this village,
and through his generous contributions and
working interest the church owes its pres-
ent prosperity. Fraternally he is a member
of Senath Lodge, No. 30, of the Masonic
order. Of the six children born to himself
and wife, one died in infancy, and the
others are named as follows: Harry, born
in 1893, now a student in the State Normal;
Pearl, born in 1898; Ruby, born in 1899;
Ralph, born in 1906; and Ernest, born in
1902.
Philip A. Frie. One of the prosperous
farmer citizens near Senath, P. A. Frie has
had a progressive career from small begin-
nings. Born in Hardin county, Tennessee,
April 7, 1867, he was reared on a farm, and
had few opportunities to attend school. His
father was a minister and farmer, the Rev. "W.
G. Frie, who died December 2, 1896, aged
sixty-three years. His widow, formerly Miss
Delia Bone, now resides at Cane Island. Ar-
kansas. Rev. "W. G. Frie was a minister of the
General Baptist church and thus spent his ac-
tive life. As long as he lived his son worked
in his employ. When he was ten years old the
family moved to Perry county, and there he
lived until his marriage, December 20, 1885,
to Miss Alsa Bunch. Mrs. Frie was born in
Perry county, Tennessee, June 5, 1868, daugh-
ter of Rev. G. D. and Mavy (Denton") Bunch,
the former a minister of the General Baptist
church all his life. He died about 1894, but
his widow is still living in Tennessee, at the
age of about seventy years.
From a cousin living in Dunklin county
and also from others information about this
country induced the Frie family to come
to Southeast Missouri. With his wife and his
parents he came by steamboat down the Ten-
nessee and Ohio rivers to Cairo, and thence
via the Cotton Belt to Paragould, and thence
to Caruth, where they all settled and lived
for three years. For several years he was a
renter, and then bought a piece of land near
Cardwell on time. He sold his first eighty
acres, and in 1904 bought his present farm-
stead of eighty acres and has lived there to
the present time, ilost of the land was in
timber when he bought it. Forty acres he
cleared with his own hands, and hy his labors
he has transformed this into one of the valu-
able farms of the neighborhood. He has also
built him a comfortable home. No money has
ever come to him except through his own
work, and he is well deserving of all his pros-
perity.
He and his wife lost one son, Corrie, and
their children living are: Delia, Ella, Nellie
and an adopted boy, Virgil Dalton. Mr.
Frie is a member of the ilasons and Modem
Woodmen at Senath, and in politics is Re-
publican.
H. L. il.vRBURY. Born at Price 's Landing,
Scott county. Missouri, H. L. Marbury, editor
and proprietor of the Pestus News, is still
on the very sunny side of fifty, as the day
of his birth was February 4, 1864. Benjamin
Marbury, his father, born at Mcilinnville,
Tennessee, on the 20th of September, 1840,
was a man of remarkably broad education.
His earlier mental training was in a literary
school at Leavenworth, Tennessee, and he af-
terward studied law, but decided finally in
favor of medicine. Looking to that end, he
completed a course in the medical department
of the Yanderbilt University, Nashville, in
1868. Now a thoroughly qualified M. D., he
located at Tracy City, Tennessee, and became
surgeon of the Sewanee Coal Mine of that
place, as well as a general physician of large
practice. In 1873 he moved to Charleston,
^Mississippi county, of the same state, where
he practiced until his death. November 20,
1875, at the early age of thirty-five years.
Benjamin Marbury, the father, was a sol-
dier under the well known Confederate gener-
al. Braxton Bragg. He was made a prisoner
HISTORY OF SOUTHEAST MISSOURI
at Franklin, escaped from the boat in which
he was confined, and while a fugitive was
taken to the home of William M. Lusk, a Scott
county farmer who had a pretty daughter,
Rachel Anna : the rest of the story is the old
simple chapter, ever fresh and sweet with
each recurring life of the normal man and
woman — attraction budding into love, and
love blossoming into marriage. The marriage
of Benjamin Jlarbury to Rachel Lusk oc-
curred in ilay, 1862, when both were in their
youthful years, and the three children born
of their union were Horatio L., of this biog-
raphy ; Benjamin H., the well known lawyer
of Farmington, St. Francois county ; and Dr.
Alexander B. Marbury, a dentist at Charles-
ton, Mississippi county.
H. L. Marbury obtained his early educa-
tion in the public schools of Charleston, Mis-
souri, in 1884 entering the Bellview Collegi-
ate Institute of Caledonia and graduating
from its commercial department in 1889.
After working for some time he returned to
that institution and took an advanced course
which brought him the degree of B. S. He
then taught for sevei'al years in Reynolds,
Scott and Washington counties, the last of
his labors in the field of education being
conducted in that last named county, at ilin-
eral Point, in 1891-2.
]Mr. ilarbmy enlisted for service in the
Spanish-American war, joining the Fort
Smith, Arkansas, Infantry Regiment. After
the war he returned to Fort Smith, where he
was mustered out with an honorable record,
and thence went to his home in Caledonia.
Prior to his war experience he had studied
law, and while residing in Arkanass he was
admitted to the bar and practiced in that
state. Subsequently he was connected with
the Pittsburg Plate Glass Company, and par-
tially completed the regular course at the St.
Louis University Law School. Sickness in
the family compelled him to return to Crystal
City, where he again entered the employ of
the" Pittsburg Plate Glass Company. But he
craved something more stimulating and in-
tellectual, and in 190-1 purchased the Festus
Xeics, which he still conducts as a stirring,
solid Democratic newspaper. The News has
a circulation of over a thousand, and, under
"Sir. ]Marbury's good management, is a sub-
stantial and influential journal. Besides
owning his newspaper plant in Festus, he has
considerable real estate in the town, and is
in every way one of its substantial citizens.
He is a leading member of the Methodist
church, being steward in the local organiza-
tion, and is well known as a fraternalist be-
cause of his active connection with the
Knights of Pythias, Odd Fellows and Red-
men.
In 1903 Mr. Marbury wedded iliss Nellie
Gertrude Evens, of Mineral Point, !iIissouri,
and their child, Willard Horatio Marbury, is
now five years of age.
William Carter. One of the most widely
known and progi'essive of the business men of
Piedmont, Wayne county, Missouri, is Wil-
liam Carter, whose activities are directed
along important and diverse lines, including
stock, lumber and banking, while in previ-
ous times he has been interested in the agri-
cultural development of southeastern ilissouri
and has himself been an exponent of the great
basic industry. He is a native son of Wayne
county and is loyal to its institutions as only
one can be to whom a section is endeared by
the associations of a lifetime. The date of
his birth was April 20, 1849, and his parents
were John B. and Cynthia (Wood) Carter.
AVilliam Carter lost his father when Bear-
ing manhood, John B. Carter having passed
on to the "Undiscovered Country" in 1866,
when fort.v-seven years of age, his demise oc-
curring at his home west of Piedmont. He
was born in VanBuren, Carter count}', Mis-
souri, where his father. William, and his
grandfather, Benjamin F. Carter, located iit
the year 1812, they continuing to reside there
until their deaths, except for a few years
spent in Saline county. They were prominent
stock-raisers and farmers. Two of John B.
Carter's brothers, Charles and B. F. Jr.,
served in the Confederate army. The family
were from Virginia, originally, but had re-
sided in Georgia some years previous to com-
ing to Missouri.
William Carter's mother, whose maiden
name was Cynthia Wood, was born in WajTie
county, Missouri, in 1821, and died in 1908,
at the age of eighty-seven years. Her mar-
riage to John B. Carter was celebrated in
Wayne county, which was the scene of almost
her entire life. They were members of the
Baptist church and active in its affairs. Mr.
Carter has a brother and sister living, name-
ly: Charles, a merchant of Piedmont, Mis-
souri ; and Mrs. Isaac Chilton, who resides
near Leeper in Wayne count}', Jlissouri.
The scene of the usefulness of William Car-
ter has been at and near Piedmont and, as
suggested in a preceding paragraph, he is a
HISTORY OF SOUTHEAST MISSOURI
887
man of various interests, iucludiug farming,
stock raising, lumbering and banking. He
possesses excellent executive abilitj^ and has
made a success of his various enterprises.
Mr. Carter laid the foundation of a happy
married life when, in the year 1S84, he was
united with ]Miss Sarah A. Black, daughter
of Samuel and Mary J. (Jamieson) Black.
The father came to ilis-souri in the early
'30 's of the nineteenth century, making the
journey overland from Virginia, with the
usual attendant hardships of the pioneer trav-
eler. They located on the Saint Francois
river in "\Vaj-ne county. The father was a
farmer and stockman and represented Wayne
county in the legislature prior to the Civil
war. He was a Presbyterian in religious con-
viction. His father, also Samuel, had come
with his children to ^Missouri and he "died
here about one year after their arrival. Mrs.
Carter's father lived to the advanced age of
eighty-seven years, his death occurring in
1896. His wife, whose maiden name was
Mary J. Jamieson. was born in the Old Do-
minion and came to ilissouri as a child with
her parents, Andrew and [Matilda (Parrish)
Jamieson, who engaged in farming and stock-
raising. She was born in 1826 and died in
1896. the year of her husband's death. Her
parents were settlers in Belleview Valley.
They were members of the Methodist Episco-
pal church. South, and enjoyed the respect of
the communit.y. ^Irs. Carter was one of nine
children, all of whom grew to maturity and
seven of whom are living, namely : IMary, wife
of Martin S. Warren, a farmer of Wayne
county, of whom detailed mention is made on
other pages of this work; Mrs. Alice Carter,
residing at San Diego, California ; Samuel A.,
of near Charleston, Illinois ; Andrew, of Pen-
dleton, Oregon ; Sarah A., wife of the subject;
John, a farmer living near Patterson, Mis-
souri; and Mrs. Ella Williams, of Farming-
ton. Two elder brothers, Cyrus and Hous-
ton, went west years ago.
Hon. Arthur Lee Olr'er. Distinguished
not only as a man of broad attainments and
a lawyer of prominence, but for the able
and efficient service which he has rendered
his fellow-men in both houses of the jMissouri
Legislature, Hon. Arthur Lee Oliver, of Caru-
thersville, Pemiscot county, is numbered
among the leading citizens of Southeast ]\Iis-
souri, and it is with pleasure we place before
the readers of this biographical volume a
brief resume of the salient points of his ac-
tive career. He was born January 5, 1879,
in Leeman, Missouri, where his father, the
late Henry Clay Oliver, was born, lived and
died, his birth occurring in ]\Iarch, 1852, and
his death on January 5, 1901. His mother,
whose maiden name was ilary L. Alexander,
was born October 9, 1853, and is now living
at Leeman, ilissouri.
Having completed the eoui-se of study in
the schools of his native town, Arthur Lee
Oliver spent two years at the Carlisle Train-
ing School, in Jackson, ^Missouri, and attend-
ed the State Normal School at Cape Girardeau
for a year. He subsequently taught school
a short time, being quite successful in his
pedagogical work, and then entei-ed the Uni-
versity of Texas, from the law department
of which he was graduated with the class of
1900. Locating in Caruthersville, Missouri,
in August, 1910, Mr. Oliver formed a partner-
ship with C. B. Foris, and they continued in
company until January 1, 1911, when JMr.
Foris was elected circuit judge, the copart-
nei-ship then being dissolved. As a man and
a lawyer Mr. Oliver soon after coming to
Caruthersville won such standing in the com-
munity that he was elected to the office of city
attorney, and served from 1903 until 1905.
He was likewise elected, on the Democratic
ticket, which he invariably supports, as a
member of the board of examiners of the can-
didates for teachers in our public schools. In
1905 JMr. Oliver was chosen as the Demo-
cratic representative to the State Legislature
from Pemiscot county, and in 1909 was elect-
ed State Senator from this, the Twenty-third
District, for a term of four years. He has
been connected with the introduction and
passage of several bills of importance in both
liranehes of the General Assembly. In 1907
he was made chairman of the Judiciary Com-
mittee of the House, and in 1911 was chair-
man of the Judiciary Committee of the Sen-
ate. Mr. Oliver was also chairman of the
Insurance Committee, and of the Judiciary
and Statutory Revision Committee, and from
1909 until 1911 was chairman of both the
Committee on Ditches and the Committee
on Drainage. He is now a member of
the Committee on Appropriations, one of
much importance, and of several smaller
committees, such as the Clerical Force, Munic-
ipal Committee, and the Committee on Priv-
ileges and Elections.
On October 29, 1907, Mr. Oliver was united
in marriage with ilary E. Roberts, who was
born in Caruthersville, Missouri, and they
HISTORY OF SOUTHEAST MISSOURI
have one child, John R. Oliver, whose birth
occurred August 25, 1910. Fraternally Mr.
Oliver is a member of the Ancient Free and
Accepted Order of ^Masons, belonging to
Caruthersville Lodge, No. 461, at Caruthers-
ville ; of the Benevolent and Protective Order
of Elks; of the Knights of Pythias; and of
the ilodern Woodmen of America. Religious-
ly both air. and Mrs. Oliver are members of
the Presbyterian church, and generous con-
tributors toward its support.
Benjamin Addison McKay. Among the
representative and talented members of the
legal profession of Caruthei-sville, Pemiscot
county, Missouri, is Benjamin Addison Mc-
Kay, of the firm of Sheppard, Reeves & Mc-
Kay, one of the strongest combinations of
legal ability within its pleasant boundaries.
Mr. aicKay is a native son of the county and
belongs to a prominent family, and his father,
John ilcKay, and his brothers, Vergil and
John J. McKay, are mentioned on other pages
of this work. His birth occurred ilay 14,
1871, in the northern part of the county and
his early years, up to the age of fourteen,
were passed upon his father's farm, his seas-
ons of fall and winter being passed in part
behind a desk in the district school room.
Between the age of fourteen and eighteen he
worked as a hired assistant to various
farmers, while at the same time continuing
very diligently his studies. At the age of
eighteen he began teaching in what is
known as the Austin sehoolhouse, on Horse
Island, near Senath. His career as an
instructor there was for two terms, and
following this he matriculated in the normal
school and completed the greater part of the
"C" course. He was very successful as an
instructor, his ability and personality well
fitting him for such work and no doubt a con-
stantly advancing career in this field would
have been his had he chosen to remain in it.
He taught at Cardwell, Dunklin county, for
two years and in 1892 came to Pemiscot coun-
ty, where for a like period he was engaged as
instructor in the school south of Caruthers-
ville. By no means of the type which is con-
tent to let well enough alone, he again entered
the normal school and remained a student
there in 1894 and a part of the year 1895.
Following this refreshment at the "Pierian
spring" he accepted a position in the schools
of Hornersville, Dunklin county, retaining
the same for three years.
At this juncture Mr. McKay made a radi-
cal change by beginning the study of law,
his studies being directed by C. P. Caldwell.
Jn 1897 he was admitted to the bar at Gayoso,
the then county seat of Pemiscot county, his
examination being conducted by Senator
Oliver, of Cape Girardeau; Robert Rutledge,
of New Madrid; Dick Darnell, of Tiptonville,
Tennessee; and J. R. Brewer, of Gayoso, said
examination being before Judge Henry C.
RHey, of Pemiscot county. Shortly after his
admission to the bar Mr. McKay gave very
definite assistance to his brother in his cam-
paign of 1898 for county clerk of Dunklin
county. In course of time he and his bi'other
formed a law firm under the name of McKay
& McKay, in Kenuett. That was in 1898 and
the relationship continued until 1903. On the
first day of January of the year mentioned
Mr. McKay, of this notice, came to Caruthers
ville and practiced here alone until his elec-
tion as prosecuting attorney in 1906, but dur-
ing his term in that office he admitted to
partnership Samuel Corbett, the firm of Mc-
Kay & Corbett existing until 1911. In the
early part of 1911 a new law firm was formed
composed of Sheppard, Reeves & McKay
and of this Mr. I\IcKay is a member at the
present time. It has met with fair fortunes
and to the high prestige which it enjoys Mr
McKay has contributed in no small measure
Mr. McKay gives hand and heart to the
men and measures of the Democratic party
and is of no small influence in local politics.
He is a public spirited citizen and is found in
harmony with all that tends to advance the
welfare of the whole of society. Both he
and his wife are consistent members of the
Methodist Episcopal church.
He whose name inaugurates this sketch
formed a happy life companionship by his
marriage on July 28, 1897, to Lillie A. Mizell,
daughter of Martin L. and Frances Davis
Mizell. Mrs. McKay was born June 28, 1878,
near Hornersville, Dunklin county. They
share their pleasant home with one son, Byron
Addison, born April 13, 1904, in Caruthers-
ville.
Arthur S. Harrison, M. D. Devoting his
time and energies exclusively to the duties
of his profession, Arthur S. Harrison, M. D.,
of Kennett, has built up an extensive and lu-
crative practice, and has won for himself a
prominent and honorable name in the medical
fraternity of Dunklin county. He was born
April 25, 1866, at Clarkton. ilissouri. a son
of the late Van Houston Harrison, M. D.,
^'
^
HISTORY OF SOUTHEAST MISSOURI
for many j-ears one of the most successful
and popular physicians of Kennett, and a
grandson of Dr. Jesse Harrison, who prac-
ticed medicine in Tennessee throughout his
active career. A more extended parental and
ancestral history may be found on another
page of this work, in connection with the
sketch of Dr. Van H. Harrison.
Brought up in an atmosphere of culture
and retinemeut, Arthur S. Harrison natur-
alb' chose a professional career, and at the age
of seventeen 3'ears began the study of medi-
cine. Subsequently entering the Missouri
Medical College, at Saint Louis, he was there
graduated with the class of 1888, having pre-
viously had four years of valuable experience
as assistant house surgeon at the Galveston,
Harrisburg and San Antonio Hospital, at
Columbus, Texas. Dr. Harrison immediately
after receiving his diploma began the practice
of his profession at Clarkton, ilissouri, and
removed to Kennett January 1, 1897, being
in partnership with his father as long as
the father lived. He is one of the foremost
physicians of the city, and in addition to
his extensive local practice is surgeon for the
Frisco Railway Company in Southeastern
ilissouri. The Doctor is active and promi-
nent in medical associations, belonging to
the Southeastern ^Missouri, the State and the
American Medical Associations.
Dr. Harrison married first, at the age of
twenty-eight j-ears, Lillian Hay. of Kennett,
and to them two children were born, Lucille
Harrison and Gilbert. The Doctor married
for his second wife Semantha Moore, a daugh-
ter of David H. Moore, of whom a brief
sketch may be found elsewhere in this bio-
graphical work, and they have one child,
Charles Weldon Harrison.
"William B. Hoener. If we were to select
the one class of men who have helped more
than any other to make of Missouri the thriv-
ing prosperous state it now is. we should
point to the farmer. AVhere there are so
many efficient agricultural men it seems in-
vidious to select one as being more effective
than another, but everyone must receive his
due, and William B. Horner, one of the early
farmers in Dunklin county, is deserving of a
place in the front rank of agriculturalists.
ilr. Horner was born February 8. 1853, in
Dunklin county, within half a mile of the
place where he now resides. He never ex-
perienced a father's affectionate regard, as
that parent died shortly before the little
lad's advent into this world. For the first
six years of his life he was tenderly cared for
by his mother, at the expiration of which time
she too was summoned to the life eternal,
leaving the boy an orphan, indeed. He was
not, however, without relatives, and Grand-
mother Horner took the little boy to her
home, entered him in the schools of the neigh-
borhood, and kept him with her until he was
fourteen j-ears old. At that age his sui--
roundings were again changed, as he went to
live with an uncle, a farmer near Cotton
Plant, who was obliged to work hard himself
and expected his nephew to do the same. At
the time it seemed as if too much was ex-
pected of the young man, but the experiences
he gained during the eight years which suc-
ceeded his introduction into his uncle's house-
hold have been of inestimable benefit to him
in his after life. He learned how to do all
kinds of farm work. — hauling, driving oxen,
etc., and when he was twenty-two years old
he left the house which had been in truth a
home to him and began to farm on eighty
acres of land that had been contracted for by
his father, but paid for by the uncle, who
acted as guardian, besides another forty
acres which had been paid for from reve-
nues derived from the rental of the eighty
acres — one hundred and twenty acres in all,
part of which was covered with timber. Mr.
Horner diligently set to work to clear the
land and built a house in the open space—
among the first houses in Caruth at that
time. For five years he lived there, during
which time he saw houses put up all around
him, and he put his agricultural knowledge
to such good account that he greatly im-
proved the land and was able to dispose of
it at a good price. With the proceeds of the
sale he bought a part of the farm which he
now owns, moving into an old shanty on the
place. He found, however, that the shanty
Was inadequate for his needs and he built a
house on the south end of the farm, which was
the residence for ten years, it then being de-
stroyed by fire. He then bought another
farm, of eighty acres, and removed to the
house located on same, residing there about
a year, then resided on the Prewitt farm, one
mile south of Caruth, until he removed to
Kennett, on account of better educational ad-
vantages for the children. He resided there
one and one half .vears, and then built the
present comfortable home, a nine-roomed
house, one of the biggest and most comfortable
homes in Caruth. At that time, in 1904. he
HISTORY OF SOUTHEAST MISSOURI
was the possessor of about one hundred acres
of land, but he has since sold eighty acres,
but has made other purchases and now owns
a tract of two hundred and ten acres in the
heart of Caruth, all in a high state of culti-
vation.— the barn and everything else about
the place being up-to-date.
On December 30, 1875, Mr. Horner mar-
ried ^liss ilahuldia Prewitt, practically a
life-long resident of Caruth, as she has been
in this part of the country — a mile and a
.half from town — since she was ten years old.
She was born in Tennessee, coming to Stod-
dard county, Missouri, in infancy and four
years later the family located in Dunklin
county. She was the companion and help-
meet of her husband during his years of hard
work, and now they have both reached a
stage where they can enjoy the fruits of their
labors and watch the prosperity of their six
children, James W., Will. Henry, Hetty, H.
M., and Jane, the three eldest sons are at
home, and the other three, two daughters and
a son, are married.
Thirty-five years ago I\Ir. Horner joined
the Independent Order of Odd Fellows, his
initiation taking place in May, 1876, at the
Caruth lodge, and during all these years he
has always been closely identified with the
order. He is affiliated with the Caruth lodge
of the Woodmen of the World and with the
Rebekahs. ilrs. Horner is also a member of
the Rebekahs, of the Woodmen Circle and of
the Missionary Baptist church. In political
preferment Mr. Horner is a Democrat, en-
thusiastic for the success of the party.
LE^^s Joshua Couch, the popular postmas-
ter of Blackwell, was born at Hillsboro, Mis-
souri, August 11, 1874. His father, James H.
Couch, was born in Laclede county, ilissouri,
and spent his life on a farm. He was mar-
ried to Mary Rebecca Reynolds, of Jefferson
county, who bore him the following children :
Theresa 6., who became the wife of Edwin
Sloan; Lewis J; Cora A., who became Mrs.
Samuel McMullen ; Mary A., wife of William
McMullen; Amanda, Mrs. Harden Blake;
Ira J. ; Willis Walter ; and John and Jethro,
deceased. Both Mr. and Mrs. Couch are liv-
ing on their farm in Jefferson county. Mr.
Couch is a Democrat and a member of the
Baptist church. He was for two terms su-
perintendent of the Jefferson county poor
farm.
Lewis J. Couch spent his early life on a
farm in Jefferson county, receiving his edu-
cation at Dry Creek school. After leaving
school he spent four years farming in Jeffer-
son county on a rented place and then went
into railroad work at DeSoto. In 1905 he
came to Blackwell and resumed farming.
Four years later he was appointed postmaster
and still holds this office, serving his sec-
ond term.
In 1896 Mr. Couch was married to Annie
Wade of Dry Creek, Jefferson county. She
died of tuberculosis, leaving one child, Min-
nie. In October, 1902, was solemnized the
marriage of L. J. Couch and Ida Pollett of
St. Francois county. No children have been
born of this union.
Mr. Couch is a member of the church of
his parents' faith, the Baptist, but in pol-
itics he is a Republican. He is connected in
a fraternal way with the ]\Iodern Woodmen
of America.
Hakrt V. Petty. One of the more active
and enterprising of the younger generation of
Kennett's merchants, Harry V. Petty, head
of the firm of H. V. Petty & Company, has
started out in life with brilliant prospects
for a prospei'ous future, his energy, ability
and good judgment and tact bidding fair to
place him ere long among the prominent busi-
ness men of this section of Dunklin county.
The eldest child of William G. and Amanda
M. (Herrmann) Petty, of whom a brief ac-
count may be found elsewhere in this volume,
he was born March 3, 1881, at Cotton Plant,
Missouri.
After completing his early education. Mr.
Petty became familiar with the details of
mercantile pursuits while working for his
father in the hardware and agricultural im-
plement store. In 1911 he started in busi-
ness on his own account, in company with
Laura M. Petty establishing the firm of H.
V. Petty & Company, which has since built
up an excellent patronage as an exclusive
dealer in boots and sboes, their first year's
business being highly satisfactory from a
pecuniary point of view. This firm is the
only one in Southeastern Missouri to deal
in shoes, only, and carries a fine assortment
of shoes of all kinds, the stock being valued
at six thousand dollars.
Mr. Petty married. July 16, 1903. Laura
M. Fletcher, a daughter of Charles Fletcher,
of Rutherford, Tennessee, and they are the
parents of two bright and interesting chil-
dren, namely: Aleeue May and Mozelle Vir-
ginia.
HISTORY OF SOUTHEAST :\IISSOURI
891
Hiram J. Houston, one of the prosperous
farmers residing near Senath, Dunklin coun-
ty, has attained his present position of af-
riueuce in the community solely through his
own efforts. It is a noteworthy fact that
that there is no calling in life whei'e the son
so often follows in the footsteps of his father
as in the case of farming. Mr. Houston
started his independent career in his father's
footsteps, but the son's strides have been
longer and more rapid; he has made tracks
of his own, branching out in other directions
than those taken by his father. Hiram Hous-
ton has not only seized every opportunity of
advancement which presented itself to him,
but he has gone out of his way to seek op-
portunities to better his condition, with the
result that he has achieved success.
On the 1st day of December, 1863, Mr.
Hiram J. Houston began life on a farm in
Decatur county, Tennessee. He is a son of
Samuel ^l. and Mary E. (Jennings) Houston.
a Tenessee fanner who never succeeded in
making much more than a good living for
himself and family, and was unable to assist
his sons in their own careers. Hiram J.
Houston remained at home with his parents
until he was twenty-three years of age, dur-
ing which time he learned to do all kinds of
farm work, and he also gained his education-
al training in the little log school house in
jhis district. His father needed his help dur-
ing the summer, so he only attended school
during three months of the winter for ten
years — thirty months of regular instruction
in all, but the young man made the best use
of the time and since he got out into the world
has learned much from observation and from
reading, so that today he is a very well-in-
formed man. In the year 1885 he left home
with practically no money at all in his pocket,
and came to visit his cousin in Missouri, in-
tending return to the parental roof in a short
time. He came by way of Cairo to Maiden
with Al Douglas, who was hauling freight.
At that time the narrow-gauge railroad was
built to Maiden (it being broadened to stand-
ard gauge in 1886), but did not extend to
Kennett, so the yoiTUg man was obliged to con-
tinue his journey on foot, or depend on the
good will of such teams as he found going in
his direction. "When he finally arrived at
Senath, where his cousin lived, he found only
two houses, so that he has seen the town gi-ow
to its present proportions. He stayed with
his cousin for a year, worked for him and for
other farmers in the neighborhood, and at
the end of the twelve months he found him-
self with only thirty-five dollars — the capital
with which he began to fann. He rented a
place near the site of his present home, and in
the year 1893 he bought forty acres of wild
woods, cleared enough of the timber to make
space for a house, and with his own hands
he built the house which he occupies at the
present time. He worked early and late to
clear the place and bring it under cultivation
and now has it all cleared ; he has bought an-
other forty acre tract, which was in a fair
state of cultivation, so that he now farms
eighty acres of land, on which he has him-
self put all of the improvements, and he does
general farming. He was one of the organiz-
ers and original stockholders of the Farmers'
Union Cotton Gin at Senath, established in
1906, and has been general manager for the
past four seasons. An average of about
twenty-five hundred bales per annum are
turned out by this plant.
AVhen Mr. Houston had saved enough
money to buy his first land, referred to above,
he married Miss Lulu Winona Barnes, who
was born in Tennessee in 1867. The worthy
farmer and his wife now have seven stalwart
sons, — Guy R., Ross, Luther, Jennings,
Charles, Lester and Hubert — all living at
home except the eldest, who is married to Miss
Bertha Locke and has his own home in
Senath.
ilr. Houston is a member of the Farmers'
Union and also is affiliated with the Woodmen
of the World, a fraternal order. In politics
his sympathies are with the Republican party,
but he has always been too busy to find time
to dabble in politics. He is, how^ever, inter-
ested in the prosperity of the town, which he
has seen grow up, and of the county in which
he is an honored resident.
Frank Seymour Luckey, a young and
rising physician of Festus. is a native of De-
Soto, Missouri, where he was born March 21,
1882. He is a son of Frank C. and Mary L.
(Jennings) Luckey. The father lived in his
native state of New York until he was eleven
years of age. when the family migrated to
Jerseyville, Illinois, thence moving to a farm
near Janesville, Wisconsin, which was the
homestead for the succeeding two years. The
next change of location was to a farm near
DeSoto, Mi.ssouri, where Frank C. Luckey
reached manhood and married Mary Jennings,
of Henrietta, that state, on the 2ist of May,
]881. The father of Dr. Luckev moved to
HISTORY OF SOUTHEAST MISSOURI
Festus with his family twenty-two years ago,
but although he has become prominent for his
public spirit and active and generous pro-
motion of worth}- movements, he has never
accepted ofBcial preferment. During most
of his residence at Festus he has been en-
in the building and contracting busi-
He is a Republican in politics, a Meth-
odist in his church connections, and a mem-
ber of the ilodern Woodmen of America. Mr.
and ]\Irs. Luckey have become the parents
of six children, and are highly honored as
typical home-builders and moral members of
the community.
After completing the public-school courses
at Festus, Frank S. Luckey moved to DeSoto,
graduating from its high school in 1900 and
for the two succeeding years being in the em-
ploy of the Pittsburg Plate Glass Company.
This business experience, however, was but
the means toward the end of securing a train-
ing in the science and art of medicine. In
1903 he was matriculated in the medical de-
partment of Washington University, St.
Louis, and after a thorough mastery of the
regular course was graduated an il. D. in
the class of 1907. Dr. Luckey at once opened
an office in Festus, and has enjoyed a good
practice from the first. WTiile at the Univer-
sity he was an enthusiastic athlete, having
been a member of the football team of '03, '04
and '06, and he has good cause to believe that
his physical training as a student will come
into fine play in the maintenance of the stam-
ina required of the successful physician in
meeting the wearing and racking ordeals of
his profession. The Doctor is a Republican, a
Methodist and affiliated with the Knights of
Pythias, Red Men and ]\Iodeni Americans.
He is unmarried.
IMartin S. Waeren. Among the most high-
ly respected and widely known of the agricul-
tural citizens of Wayne county is ilartin S.
Warren, who has resided in this locality since
the age of thirteen years and of whose many
personal merits is indication of the general
confidence in which he is held where so well
■well known. His fine farm consists of two
hundred and sixty acres and is situated in
Logan township, Rural Route 4, Township
29. This is adorned with an ample, commodi-
ous home and is highly improved and culti-
vated. ^Ir. Warren devotes his energies to
general farming and the raising of high-
grade stock.
The subject of this biographical record was
born in Lee county, Virginia, April 7, 1843,
and is the son of Rodney and Elizabeth
(Jaynes) Warren, both of whom were natives
of the Old Dominion. The father was born
in Lee county, January 15, 1803, and was the
father of ten children, of whom in addition
to the subject three sisters are living: Mrs.
Jlary Llalloy, residing three miles west of
Piedmont; Mrs. Elizabeth Taylor, of Green-
castle; and Mrs. William H. Daffron, whose
sketch appears on other pages of this work;
and one brother, Benjamin, who is a citizen
of California. Mr. Warren came to Wayne
county in 1856, with his parents who had left
Virginia to seek new fortunes in Missouri.
He came into possession of his present estate
in the year 1868 and has added to his prop-
erty from time to time. He has been par-
ticularly successful in his raising of stock,
which is noted in this section for its tine quali-
ty. He has made all the splendid improve-
ments himself, building his handsome home,
substantial outbuildings and fences of the
most practical sort.
^Ir. Warren laid the foundation of an es-
pecially happy marriage by his union on the
17th day of December, 1868, his chosen lady
being Miss Marj' Susan Black, sister of Mr.
John Black, a farmer residing near Patterson,
WajTie countj'. It has been their privilege
to enjoy a companionship of nearly forty-five
years. Their daughter, Lillian, wife of
George W. Hay, resides in Oklahoma, and one
child died in infancj'. They have also two
grandsons, Warren and William, fine little
lads, aged six and two respectively, ilr. and
]\Irs. Warren retain the vigor and enterprise
of their earlier years and are held in general
confidence and esteem. Politically the sub-
ject gives heart and hand to the men and
measures of the Democratic party. He is a
loyal Mason, belonging to the Blue Lodge No.
526 of Piedmont. Missouri, and Mrs. Warren
is a member of the Presbj'terian church.
Jesse David Huffman. A man of ability
and industry, Jesse David Huffman, of Caru-
thersville. is well known throughout this sec-
tion of Pemiscot county as cashier of the
Bank of Caruthersville, an office for which,
by reason of his comprehensive knowledge of
banking and his systematic business methods,
he is amply qualified. A son of the late Jesse
Huffman, he was born October 29, 1864, at
Cottonwood Point, Missouri, coming from a
family of prominence.
Jesse Huffman was bom in Virginia in
HISTORY OF SOUTUEAST MISSOURI
893
1822, and as a boy lived for a number of
years in Tennessee. Early thrown upon his
own resources, he came to ilissouri, and for a
time was employed in cutting wood, which he
sold as fuel to the steamboat companies, mak-
ing mone.y in the operation. He bought land
when it was sold for a song, as it were, and
through its rise in value accumulated consid-
erable property. Prior to the Civil war he
owned a number of slaves, and with their
help carried on general farming on a large
scale, his home being at Cottonwood Point,
where his death occurred in 1890. He was
twice married. By his first wife, w'hose maid-
en name was Melissa Branch, he had eight
children, as follows : Emily ; Blanche ; Susan.
who became the wife of Judge Brasher, of
whom mention may be found on other pages
of this work ; James and William, twins ; Ella ;
Jesse David, the subject of this brief personal
record; and Andrew. He married for his
second wife Mrs. Amanda Powell, and to
them two children were born, namely : Anna
and Edwin, the latter now clerk of the Cir-
cuit Court. Prominent in the field of poli-
tics, Jesse Huffman was at one time .judge
of the County Court, and in 1873 represented
Pemiscot county in the State Legislature.
He was an active worker in religious circles,
and an influential and active member of the
Methodist Episcopal church.
Brought up in Cottonwood Point, Jesse D.
Huffman obtained his rudimentary education
in the pviblic schools, and in 1885 was gradu-
ated from Johnson's Commercial College.
Returning home, he began farming for him-
self on one hundred and sixty acres of land
that had been deeded to him by his father,
and met with such good success in his agri-
cultural labors that he bought more land, and
still owns three hundred and fifty acres that
are under a fair state of cultivation, and
from the rental of which he receives a good
income. On giving up farming ilr. Huffman
embarked in mercantile pursuits at Cotton-
wood Point, from 1892 until 1896 operating
a drug store. In 1902, having disposed of
his mercantile interests, he was elected coun-
ty clerk on the Democratic ticket and held
the office a year. From 1904 until 1905 he
served as public administrator, and the en-
suing three years was cashier of the People's
Bank. Resigning that position in 1908, he
accepted his present office of cashier of the
Bank of Caruthersville, one of the strong
financial institutions of Southeastern Mis-
souri, which has a capital of fifty thousand
dollars and a surplus of twelve thousand dol-
lars, and is well officered, J. H. McFarland be-
ing its president and D. Welsh, the vice-presi-
dent. Mr. Huffman is also connected with
other enterprises of note, being president of
the Farmers' Bank of Braggadocio, Missouri,
and a stockholder, not only of the Bank of
Caruthersville but of the Dilhnan Egg Case
Realty Company and of the Union Gin Com-
pany.
Mr. Huffman married, in 1887, Sarah Wil-
liamson, who was born in Kentucky in 1864,
and they have one child, Lissie. Taking an
active part in local politics, ilr. Huffman was
for four yeai-s secretary of the Democratic
County Central Committee. Fratei-nally he
is a member of the Woodmen of the World,
and religiously he belongs to the Presbyte-
rian church.
James M. Baird. Among the prominent
citizens whom Senath has been called upon
to mourn within the past few years, special
mention should be made of James M. Baird,
whose death, which occurred February 26,
1910, was a loss not only to his immediate
family and friends, but to the entire com-
munity A native of Southeastern Missouri,
he came from honored ancestry, being a son
of Robert Baird, who reared several children,
among those growing to maturity being the
following named : James ]\I., the subject of
this sketch, Robert. M. D.. of Saint Louis;
Edward, of Arcadia. ^Missouri ; and Mamie,
of Saint Louis.
James ]\I. Baird spent his early life in
Iron and Washington counties. Missouri, ac-
quiring a good ediication while young. In
1878, through the influence of T. C. Lang-
don, he came to Dunklin county, and was for
several years in the emplo.v of T. C. Lang-
don & Company at Cotton Plant. From 1881
until 1889 ~Slr. Baird resided in Arcadia, be-
ing there engaged in business. Coming to
Senath \vith his family in 1889. he formed a
partnership with his brother-in-law. Judge
J. ]\I. Douglas, and embarked in mercantile
pursuits under the firm name of J. M. Baird
& Company, carrying a stock of hardware,
carriages, wagons, agricultural implements,
etc., valued at $5,000, and built up a busi-
ness amounting to from $40,000 to $50,000 a
year. IMr. W. R. Satterfield. a nephew, was
subsequently connected with the firm for two
years, during which time the firm name was
Baird, Satterfield & Company. After ilr.
Satterfield 's retirement the firm resumed its
894
HISTORY OF SOUTHEAST MISSOURI-
original name of J. 'SI. Baircl & Company, and
continued until 1900, when Mr. Baird bought
out his partner and continued the business
alone until his death. In addition to deal-
ing in hardware, agricultural implements of
all kinds and vehicles of every description,
he handled cotton most of the time, having a
gin, and also had other interests of value,
o^^■ning valuable trj^^cts of laud.
Mr. Baird married, June 16, 1880, Lucy
Douglass, who belonged to an early and
highly respected family, being a sister of J.
:\I. Douglass and A. W. Douglass, of Salem
township. Six children were born to ]\Ir.
and Mrs. Baird, of whom two are now living,
namely : Huldah, wife of 0. H. Storey, cash-
ier of the Citizens' Bank, of Senath; and
Hettie, who is attending school in Des
Moines, Iowa. Mr. Baird achieved distinc-
tion in social and business circles, and as a
result of his ability gained a comfortable for-
tune. Fraternally he belonged to Senath
Lodge, No. 513, A. F. & A. M. ; to Helm
Chapter, No. 117, R. A. M., of Kennett; to
the Independent Order of Odd Fellows; to
the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks;
and to the Woodmen of the World.
In 1910 Mr. Baird 's heirs were made in-
corporators of the J. M. Baird Mercantile
Company, of Senath, becoming successors of
the J. M. Baird Company, which was founded
twenty years before, it being capitalized at
$30,000, with a surplus of $60,000. Mrs. J.
il. Baird was made president of the Com-
pany; Mrs. Huldah Storey, vice-president;
Miss Hettie Baird, secretary ; and Mr. 0. H.
Storey, treasurer and manager. This enter-
prising company has a regular department
store, its large building, sixty by sixty-five
feet, being really a triple store, in which ten
clerks are kept busily employed. It carries
a fine line of buggies, carriages, wagons, agri-
cultural implements and tools, and a good as-
sortment of hardware of all kinds, and has
a large warehouse, its stock being valued at
$30,000, while the firm's annual business
amount's to about $100,000. The Company
likewise deals in cotton, owning and operat-
ing a cotton gin, which it has recently erected
in place of the one formerly used. It han-
dles from six hundred to one thousand bales
of cotton per year, a business of $65,000,
and during the cotton season gives employ-
ment in this branch of industry to ten men.
This Company has also other property of
much value, including about a thousand
acres of farming land, one half of which is
rented, the tenants growing cotton as tlieir
principal crop.
Mr. Baird was born in Potosi, Missouri,
February 7, 1853, and died at Memphis,
Tennessee, February 26, 1910. He had been
in poor health for several years prior to his
death, and about a month before contracted a
severe cold through exposure at a fire, caus-
ing pneumonia, which, with complications, re-
sulted fatally. Hoping that a change might
prove beneficial, his physician. Dr. Hughes,
and Henry Hathcoek. one of the trusted em-
ployes in the store, took him to ^Memphis,
Tennessee, on February 25, 1910, but he grew
weaker and weaker while traveling, and on
the morning following his arrival in that city
he passed to the life beyond. As the falling
of a sturdy oak leaves a vacant place hard to
fill among the surrounding forest trees, so
the loss of a person like Mr. Baird deprives
family and associates of a noble character,
within whose beneficent shadow it was good
for all to dwell.
C. F. Baumblatt. Many of the thrifty
and well-to-do merchants of our country have
come from the land beyond the sea, note-
worthy among the number being C. F. Baum-
blatt, of Kennett, one of the properietors of
the Kennett Store Company, who is carrjdng
on a substantial business. A native of Ger-
many, he was born in Wurtzburg, Bavaria,
and was there educated.
Coming to America at the age of fourteen
years, Mr. Baumblatt lived for awhile in
Donaldsonville, Louisiana, where he received
his mercantile training. Seeking a favorable
place in which to locate, he next came to Mis-
souri, and for three years was in the employ
of J. S. Levi & Company, at Maiden. In
1892 he secured a position as clerk with Ta-
tum Brothers, of Kennett, with whom he
remained twelve years, acquiring a good
knowledge of the business carried on by that
firm. Mr. Baumblatt then, in 1904, estab-
lished his present clothing house, becoming a
half owner of the present concern, and has
since built up an extensive and highly remu-
nerative trade, dealing in gentlemen's cloth-
ing, shoes and furnishing goods. This firm,
known far and wide as the Kennett Store
Company, carries a stock of goods valued at
eight thousand dollars, and does an annual
business of twenty-six thousand dollars, its
trade being one of the largest of the kind in
Dunklin county.
HISTORY OF SOUTHEAST MISSOURI
895
E. C. Hunter. Conspicuous among the
leading real estate dealers of Kennett is E.
C. Hunter, a large property owner, who has
been among the foremost in advancing the
growth and prosperity of the city, the vari-
ous enterprises with which he has thus far
been associated having proved successful. The
record of his business career is noteworthy,
disclosing keen foresight, great energy and
much ability. A native of Tennessee, he was
born in Weakley county, December 25, 1842,
but his youthful days were spent in Paducah,
Kentucky, where he acquired his early edu-
cation.
During the Civil war Mr. Hunter served
in the Confederate army, enlisting in the
Third Kentucky Regiment, which was first
commanded by Colonel Thompson, who was
killed at Paducah, Kentucky, while at home
on a visit. He continued with his regiment
until the close of the conflict, taking part in
many engagements and receiving but one
wound, and that not a vei-y serious one.
Coming to Kennett, Missouri, in 1885, Mr.
Hunter was in the employ of W. F. Shelton,
Sr., as a clerk for eleven years, after which
he conducted a grocery on his own account
for two years. Since that time he has de-
voted his time and attention to the real estate
business, having been identified with many
transactions of importance, buying and sell-
ing large and valuable tracts of land in Ken-
nett and vicinity. 'Sir. Hunter laid out an
addition to Kennett. in which he has built
and sold many residences, and still owns
about twenty good houses. He has also other
residential property of value in Kennett, and
owns business blocks on Main street and valu-
able farming land in Dunklin county. His
own home is pleasantly located in the central
part of the city, being one of the most at-
tractive in the community.
Mr. Hunter married, in Kennett, Birdie
Hampton, of Kennett, and they are the par-
ents of two children, Charley and Walter,
both pupils in the Kennett High School. Al-
though not a politician, Mr. Hunter served as
county clerk while living in Kentucky, and
for ten years served as a member of the Ken-
nett Board of Education. Both ]\Ir. and Mrs.
Hunter are valued members of the Presby-
terian church.
Elmer Orville Brooks. One of the prom-
inent and promising young business men
of the community is Mr. E. 0. Brooks, who in
spite of his youth has given proof of his abili-
ty in the commercial woi-ld. He made a suc-
cess of managing a mercantile concern for
other parties and now at the early age of
twenty-six, is entering upon his third year
of business for himself, with every indica-
tion of prosperity and permanency.
Lorena, Kansas, was the birthplace of El-
mer Brooks. His father, Gardner Brooks,
went from Huron county, Ohio, his native
place, and settled in Kansas, where he con-
tinued his life-long occupation — that of farm-
ing. He was married in 1881 to Miss Flora
Cole, also a native of the Buckeye state, and
four children were born to them: Harry P.,
Elmer 0., May (now Mrs. Louis Snyder),
and I. Jay Brooks. In 1886 Gardner Brooks
and his family came to Missouri, where they
lived until 1904, when they went back to the
old home in Ohio. The parents are still liv-
ing there in Huron county. They are mem-
bers of the Methodist church and Mr. Brooks
belongs to the lodge of the Modern Wood-
men.
Elmer Brooks was born in 1885. He re-
ceived his early education in the public
schools of DeSoto, Missouri. At the age of
foui-teen he left school to go on a farm at
Blactn'ell with his parents. After three years
at home, he retvirned to Blackwell to clerk
for Hawkins and ^McGready of that place.
He remained with this firm until 1905, when
he went back to Ohio and accepted a similar
position there for a year. From May, 1906,
until November, 1909, he had charge of one
of Hawkins & McGready's stores at Tunnell
Station, but gave this up to go into an inde-
pendent establishment at South Blackwell.
Mr. Brooks handles general merchandise
and has a good trade which is constantly
growing. He is thoroughly acquainted with
the business and with the demands of the
trade in this locality.
Mrs. Elmer Brooks is the daughter of J.
R. Politte, the well-known farmer of Black-
well. He, as well as his daughter Olive, was
born in the state of Missouri. The marriage
of Miss Politte and Mr. Brooks took place No-
vember 28, 1906. They have one sou. Clif-
ford. Mr. Elmer Brooks belongs to the same
lodge and votes the same ticket as his father,
Gardner Brooks. Both of them give their
political support to the Democratic party.
William London. Saint Francois county
is indeed fortunate in the quality of its pub-
lic officials and William London, sheriff since
1908. has labored valiantlv and successfully
896
HISTORY OF SOUTHEAST MISSOURI
for the enforcement of the law, winning the
gratitude and approbation of the law-abiding
citizens of the county and becoming highlj'
unpopular with those doubtful members of
society whose business too frequently takes
them from the straight and narrow path.
Sheriff London was born July 11, 1873, in
]\Iadison county, Missouri, and thus is a na-
tive son of the state. His father, A. S. Lon-
don, was born in the state of Tennessee in
1841. The early life of the elder gentleman
was passed on the farm and he received his
education in the country schools. Wliile
still a child Mr. London came with his par-
ents to iladison county, :Missouri, where he
engaged in farming with the older people.
At the age of twenty-six he married, IMiss
Nancy Dudley of ^Madison county, daughter
of AVilliam Dudley, of Alabama, becomiug his
wife. Ten children were born to this mar-
riage. William London, the immediate sub-
ject of this review being the second in order
of birth. A. S. London continued engaged in
agriculture until about the year 1885, when
he left the farm and located in Doe Run,
Missouri. He is still living and makes his
home at Flat River, where he has charge of
Die supply office of the Doe River Lead Com-
pany. He is Democratic iu his political affili-
ations; Baptist in his religious convictions,
and a member of the Masonic lodge. He is
well known and highly respected in the com-
munity in which he is best known.
"William London received his early educa-
tion in the public schools of Madison, Saint
Francois county, and at an early age became
an active factor in the great working world.
"\Mien about seventeen years of age he se-
cured employment in the mines and he re-
mained identified with this great industry un-
til 1905, when he became deputy sheriff. As
is so often, and quite appropriately, the ease,
the deputyship led to the main office, and in
the fall of 1908 :Mr. London was elected
sheriff of Saint Francois county, which office
he now holds.
In the year 1893, when twenty years of
age, Mr. London laid the foundation of a
happy life companionship by his union with
Leoi-a Evans, daughter of Samuel Evans, of
Doe Run. Their marriage has been further
cemented by the birth of six children, name-
ly. Emma, Clyde, Carl, Edna, John and
Leora.
Mr. London has not departed from the
faith of his fathers and is Baptist in his re-
ligious convictions. He gives heart and hand
to the men and measures of the Republican
party and his fraternal affiliations are with
the ilasonic Lodge, the Independent Order
of Odd Fellows and the Modern Woodmen of
America. He is a popular man and a self-
made one, whatever fortune has brought to
him having come through his own enlight-
ened efforts.
John J. Rogers. Prominent among the
leading druggists of Dunklin county is John
J. Rogers, of Kennett, who is also a man of
influence and recognized worth as a citizen,
his business ability being unquestioned and
his character above reproach. A native of
ilissouri, he was born at Vincit, Dunklin
county, October 5, 1875, coming on both
sides of the family from excellent ancestry.
His father, the late William A. Kogers, was
born in 1850, and died while j-et in man-
hood's prime, his death occurring in 1883.
]\Ir. Rogers' mother, whose maiden name
was ]\Iary Cook, was born in 1853, and is now
residing in Kennett, Missouri.
Having acquired his preliminary educa-
tion in the district schools, John J. Rogers
subsequently further advanced his education
in the schools of Kennett, and later com-
pleted a business course of studj' at Quincy
Illinois. When ready to begin his active ca-
reer, he secured a position as clerk with the
Harrison Drug Company, at Kennett, and at
the end of eight years, having obtained a
practical insight into the business, bought out
his emploj'ers and now, in company with G.
C. Wells and Dr. Harrison, is carrying on
an extensive and lucrative business as a deal-
er in drugs, his trade being large and con-
tinually increasing. Mr. Rogers is also much
interested in the agricultural prosperity of
this part of the community, being the owner
of a good farm, from the rental of which he
derives a fair income.
Mr. Rogers married, June 15, 1910, Myrtle
Wells, who was born at Marble Hill, Missouri,
February 22, 1884, a daughter of Jacob and
Jean (Bollinger") Wells, both of whom are
living. Public-spirited and active, Mr. Rogers
is a valued member of the Democratic party,
and for six years rendered his fellow-citizens
appreciated service as mayor of Kennett.
Fraternally he is a member of lodge No. 639,
Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks,
at Cape Girardeau.
Theodore Ehrichs. Germany has given
to America a large share of her most substan-
/<k<A'^(/z^<i^^
Z.<u,-<.^
HISTORY OF SOUTHEAST MISSOURI
897
tial citizens — men who not only make comfort-
able homes and rear families which are an
honor to society, but who participate in im-
portant affairs of state with that energy and
practical wisdom which is so distinctive of
America as a nation. Measured by these best
of standards, Theodore Ehrichs, of Festus,
ex-probate judge and agriculturist of broad
acres and broad mind, is fully representative
of the German element which is most highly
valued b.y those who have always considered
the ideal nation one which is founded on
family comfort and sobriety, widespread pros-
perity and solid happiness resting upon health
of body and mind.
Judge Ehrichs' life in the Fatherland com-
menced with May 9, 1844; on that day he
gladdened the hearts of his parents, Wil-
helm and Louisa (Fritzberg) Ehrichs, who
had welcomed eleven children before him
and were to be blessed with one after him.
The father was a hard-working schoolmaster,
born in 1800, who died in 1850, the mother,
M'ho was his junior by about a dozen years,
surviving her husband until 1898; but both
spent their entire lives in Germany, being
wedded to its modest and peaceful condi-
tions.
Theodore, the son, was of the energetic,
long-sighted temperament which chafes at
confinement, and quite early in his boyhood
became a sailor, being thus engaged until he
was twenty years of age. His wanderings
tinally brought him to the United States, and,
guided by his inherent common-sense and
the instincts of his German blood, he deter-
mined to learn a trade which he knew would
be in demand in the new and undeveloped
country of southwestern Illinois on the other
side of the river from St. Louis. Locating
in Madison county, he therefore mastered the
carpenter's trade, following it as a journey-
man in various localities for a number of
years. He finally crossed the Mississippi in-
to Jefferson county, Missouri, and became a
successful builder and contractor at Hills-
boro.
After marrying his first wife, in 1875,
Judge Ehrichs began his active farming in
Jefferson county, and has made that his main
occupation since, although his home is in the
city of Festus. His farm is located near Rush
Tower, in this county and consists of three
hundred and twenty-five acres, and is one of
the most valuable and attractive in South-
east Missouri. An honored resident of Fes-
tus for many years, he has given the farm
his personal attention and his carefully se-
lected and tended live stock is a credit to
the state, which has stood in the front rank
of that industry for many years. The strength
and probity of his character have given the
•Judge both wide popularity and higli reputa-
tion, and outward manifestations of this gen-
eral sentiment have been numerous. As a
Republican he has repeatedly served in the
conventions of his party, and in 1902 he
was elected by his warm supporters to the
probate bench, which office he honored for
four years. He is also a Mason of high stand-
ing, and conforms to the tenets of the order
both in sjiirit and in letter, which means that
he is a fraternalist in every sense of the word.
Judge Ehrichs married as his first wife, in
1875, Miss Alice Weaver, of Jefferson coun-
ty, by whom he has three living offspring — •
Ella Louisa (Mrs. Coney McCormick), Dora
"Weaver and Georgia Minnie. Mrs. Alice
Ehrichs died in 1886, and in 1903 the Judge
married Miss Sophia Euler, by whom he has
had one child, Marie Minnie. Judge Ehrichs
is a natural musician and highly talented,
and although he has contributed to many en-
tertainments, etc., he has never made a pro-
of the art.
W. D. Lasswell, president of the Camp-
bell Lumber Company at Kennett, Missouri,
has had a noteworthy career since he first
started in business. He was born January
7, 1861, in Dunklin coimty, Missouri, the son
of D. J. Lassw-ell, who came from Tennes-
see to Missouri in 1854, where he was both
a merchant and a farmer. He died at the
age of sixty-nine.
W. D. Lasswell attended school in his na-
tive town and very early in life began to
show signs of business qualifications. When
he was just a lad he began to clerk and by
dint of the strictest economy he managed
to save five hundred and fifty dollars. With
this capital he opened a store at the old
Four Mile village, removing to Campbell at
the advent of the railroad and the demise of
the old village. He continued in the mer-
cantile business until 1907, having been
very successful during these years. Before
that time he and his brother, J. F., had be-
gun to manufacture lumber, a business
which has since assumed such extensive
proportions. The Lasswell Milling Com-
pany was started in 1893 and in 1897 it
transferred its property to the Campbell
Lumber Company, the Lasswell brothers be-
898
HISTOEY OF SOUTHEAST MISSOURI
ing the principal stockholders. In 1898 "W.
D. became president of the company and act-
ing manager. He widened the scope, build-
ing a large mill at Kennett. since -which time
a big business has grown up. The officers at
the time of its incorporation were W. D.
Lasswell, president, 0. A. ^McFarland, vice
president, Louis Allen, secretary and treas-
urer. Its present capital is one hundred
thousand dollars. The mill cuts sixty thou-
sand feet of logs daily, doing an annual busi-
ness of three hundred thousand dollars. The
Company employs four hundred men and its
expenditure is seven hundred dollars daily. It
has a saw mill, a planing mill and a stave
mill. It owns six thousand acres of land in
Arkansas and has built thirty miles -of rail-
road to supply the mill. In 1898 Mr. Lasswell
was worth about twenty thousand dollars and
since that time his capital has steadily ad-
vanced, so that now he is looked up to as
one of Southeastern Missouri's mo.st success-
ful business men. He has taken a great in-
terest in land development, having pushed
drainage developments and opened up
farms. Mr. Lasswell, in company with his
brother, has for the past three years been a
large drainage contractor, having com-
pleted works of one hundred thousand dol-
lars in magnitude.
In 1883 he married Miss Jennie Barham,
of Dunklin county, to which union six chil-
dren have been born: Alvin, Fred, Gus,
Bill, ilurray and Marie.
Mr. Lasswell is a member of the Method-
ist Episcopal church of Campbell, where he
not only gives of his money, but he is always
ready to help in the enterprises of the
church in any other way that is possible.
There are few men in the county who have
attained the prominence that is enjoyed by
Mr. Lasswell and none are held in higher
esteem.
Cicero Collins. Among the popular and
prominent citizens of fronton, Missouri, is
Cicero Collins, the recent purchaser and pres-
ent proprietor of the New American Hotel.
For twenty years past IMr. Collins has been
interested in the milling business in Iron
county and at Tiff, Washington county, Mis-
souri, he has been running a saw mill and
manufacturing lumber for the past year. He
formerly resided at Sabula, Missouri, where
he enjoys general esteem.
]Mr. Collins was born in Iron county, in
the southeastern part of the state, on the
24th day of July, 1850, and is the son of
Moses P, and Elmira (Wilson) Collins, na-
tives of Kentucky and North Carolina, re-
spectively. The father, who was born in
1813, came to Missouri in 1826, when a boy
of thirteen, with his parents, Joseph and
Julia Collins, both of whom were born near
Covington, Kentucky. The mother was born
in North Carolina and came to this state
with her parents, William and Julia Wilson.
These worthy people, who were agricultur-
ists, as were all of their family, settled in
Wayne county, near Piedmont. William Wil-
son located in the eastern part of Iron county,
six miles east of Sabula, and there engaged
in the cultivation of the soil. He died in
1873, and his wife survived him until 1882,
his demise occurring at the age of eighty-four
years. They were consistent members of the
Baptist church and the father was a stanch
and lo.val Democrat. Cicero was one of a
family of nine children, of whom but five
are living. An enumeration of the orig-
iiial number is as follows: Jane, who died
young; Lafayette, deceased; William, de-
ceased; Isaiah, deceased; Taj-lor, of Pied-
mont, Missouri; Cicero, the subject of this
sketch; Joseph, of Arcadia; Lee, of Wayne
county, residing near Greenville ; and George,
who still resides on the old homestead in the
southern part of Iron county.
]\Ir. Collins, immediate subject of this bio-
graphical record, received his education in
the common schools of Iron county, where
he has resided throughout almost the entire
course of his life. As before mentioned, he
has engaged in the milling business for a
score of j'ears and he also owns a fine farm
near Sabula, his other activities not pre-
venting him from managing it himself. It is
a tract of five hundred and twenty acres, and
is devoted for the most part to general farm-
ing. He has also engaged in merchandizing
at Sabula for the past twelve years, in addi-
tion to milling and farming.
Mr. Collins laid the foundation of a happy
married life when, on the 23rd day of De-
cember, 1872, he was united in marriage in
Cape Girardeau county, Missouri, to Virginia
Weast, daughter of Samuel and Fannie Weast
and who was born in the Old Dominion and
came to Missouri as a child with her parents.
The sons and daughters of Mr. and Mrs. Col-
lins are as follows : Birdie, wife of A. F. Blan-
ton, of DeSoto, ^Missouri : ]\Iyrtie, who be-
came the wife of H. E. Homan, of Marquand,
Missouri ; Hartford, who is located at Sabula,
HISTORY OF SOUTHEAST MISSOURI
in the lumber business, and who married Nel-
lie Johnson; Etta, wife of Frank Willett,
of near Sabula, ilissouri. farmers; Stella,
wife of J. T. Dunn; the ]\Iisses ilamie. Ina,
Virgie and Hazel, an attractive quartet of
j'oung ladies still residing beneath the home
roof ; and one child who died in early infancy,
unnamed.
ilr. Collins has ever taken an active and
intelligent part in the affairs of any com-
munity in which lie has resided and his in-
fluence in affairs of public moment is of the
most important character. Fraternally he
is affiliated with the Independent Order of
Odd Fellows and the Modern Woodmen of
America, his membership being with the An-
napolis lodges.
Lee TV. Rood. A man of versatile talents
and vigorous mentality, Lee "\V. Rood, of
Caruthersville, has gained distinction for his
activity in advancing the educational status
of this part of Pemiscot county, and is now
an important factor in promoting the finan-
cial welfare of the city, as cashier of the Peo-
ples Bank being associated with one of the
leading institutions of the kind in Southeast-
ern Missouri. Mr. Rood organized this bank
in 1905, and served as its president until
1909, in the meantime placing it on a sub-
stantial basis. He was born March 18, 1865,
in Guei-nsey county, Ohio, and was brought
from there to IMissouri in infancy.
Robert D. Rood. Mr. Rood's father, was
born in Wisconsin, August IS, 1833, and
married Nellie J. Wilson, who was born in
Guernsey county, Ohio, October 10, 1834.
Soon after the close of the Civil war he
came to Missouri, bought land in Callaway
county, and on the farm which he improved
has since resided, he and his good wife hav-
ing a pleasant home.
Growing to manhood on the parental farm,
Lee W. Rood gleaned the rudiments of his
education in the rural schools of his district,
subsequently continuing his studies at West-
minster College, in Fulton. Missouri. At
the age of seventeen, years he began life on
his own account as a school teacher, and for
seventeen j-ears was actively associated with
the schools of Caruthersville, firet teaching
in the rural schools for seven years and later
serving as superintendent of the schools for
ten years. He taught first in a small frame
building, among his fellow-teachers having
been the charming yoiing lady who subse-
quently became his wife. During ]\Ir. Rood's
superintendency of the Caruthersville schools
he organized the present efficient public
school system, properly grading the schools
from the primary through the high, and in-
troduced newer methods of teaching, not only
raising the standard of the Caruthersville
schools, but increasing their value and effic-
iency.
In 1905 ilr. Rood was instrumental in
founding the Peoples Bank, of which he was
elected president, as above mentioned. This
sound institution has a capital of $50,000; a
surplus of $25,000; and deposits amounting
to over $300,000. It is carrying on a large
and constantly increasing business, and pays
large dividends. "Sir. Rood is a large prop-
erty owner, having title to four hundred
acres of land, a part of which he rents, and
owning several business houses. He also
deals extensively in real estate, in this line
of work having a lucrative patronage.
3Ir. Rood married, :\Iarch 16, 1887, Belle
Gregory, who was born in Montgomery coun-
ty, Missouri, October 8, 1866, and they have
one child, Robert F. Rood, whose birth oc-
curred January 9, 1902. In his political af-
filiations ilr. Rood is a stanch Democrat.
Fraternally he belongs to the Benevolent and
Protective Order of Elks and to the ]\Iodern
Woodmen of America. He was formerly vice-
president of the State Teachers' Association,
and a member of its executive committee, and
for a time was president of the Southeast
^Missouri Teachers' Association. Religiously
he is an elder in the Presbyterian church, to
which Mrs. Rood also belongs, and is a faith-
ful worker in its Sunday school.
JoHN^ Joseph Axdrev? Hii.gert. A young
man who is coming to be known as one of the
leading educators of Southeastei-n ^Missouri is
Prof. John Joseph Andrew Hilgert. who has
brought to his several charges a wise and pro-
gressive leadership which has resulted in the
most definite and excellent results. As it has
been said of another educator, it is his aim
to teach the younger generation to be "of
quick perceptions, broad sympathies, and
wide affinities; responsive, but independent;
self-reliant, but deferential ; loving truth and
candor, but also moderation and proportion;
courageous, Init gentle ; not finished, but per-
fecting. ' '
Professor Hilgert is a native of Jefferson
county, Missouri, his birth having occurred
at House Springs, July 31, 1884. His father,
Andrew Hilgert, was also born at House
900
HISTORY OF SOUTHEAST MISSOURI
Springs, in the year 1859. The elder gentle-
man was reared on the country homestead of
his father, John Hilgert. who died when An-
drew was a boy. The little family, left so
suddenly without a head was in sore predica-
ment, but the young shoulders of Andrew and
his brother. John C. accepted a large share
of the burden, these two lads assuming the
greater part of the work and responsibility of
the farm. There they grew to manhood and
became worthy citizens. Andrew Hilgert
was married in 1881 to Mary Leight. of Jef-
ferson county, and their union has been
blessed by the birth of nine children, eight of
whom are living, and the immediate subject
of this biographical record being the second
in order of birth. The family is as follows:
Katie ^I. (now J\Irs. Gus Diehl), the subject,
Joseph T. R., Henry E., Lizzie K. (Mrs.
Fred Flam), Louis F., Leo P.. and Albert.
The father and mother reside upon the old
homestead, secure in public esteem and in
the enjoyment of a host of friends. The
father is one of Jefferson county's Democratic
standard bearers, but up to the present time
he has steadfastly refused nomination for
office, although urged on several occasions
to make the run for county judge. He and
his family are communicants of the Catholic
church. He affiliates with the Modern "Wood-
men of America and the Ancient Order of
United Workmen.
The early life of Professor Hilgert was
passed upon the farm, an experience which he
shares with the majority of our national
heroes. He received his earlier education in
the public schools, continuing as a student
of the same until the age of seventeen years.
He then matriculated in the Cape Girardeau
Xormal Training School and there took an
extended course. He began his career as a
teacher in 1904 at the Heads Creek School,
and then accepted a position in the schools
of House Springs, where he continued for
period of one year. In Kimmswick since 1906
he has assumed his present position in the
Kimmswick schools, of which he is superin-
tendent. During his regime the school has
won more prizes than any other in the coun-
ty and it is conducted along the most up-
to-date and enlightened lines. Its enrollment
has increased from seventy to one hundred
and twenty, two rooms being for the white
pupils and one for the colored.
Professor Hilgert was married on the 18th
day of Septpinber. 1907. the young woman
to become his wife being Miss Dollie Crom-
well, of Eureka, Missouri, and they are both
prominent in the affairs of the coramunity.
^\Irs. Hilgert is a daughter of Henry and Mary
Brimmer, Cromwell and a native of Jefferson
county, ^Missouri.
Professor Hilgert, like his brothers, is a
self-made man, and has made his own way
unaided to his present high standing. He
was asked to accept the county superintend-
ence' of schools, but declined, refusing the
trust on account of his youth. He is Demo-
cratic in his political conviction, attends the
Catholic church and fraternizes with the
Court of Honor.
Is.vDORE W. ]\IiLLER. One of the vigorous,
progressive and successful business men who
are contributing most distinctively to the in-
dustrial and civic prosperitj^ of southeastern
Missouri is this well known and highly es-
teemed citizen of Desloge, St. Francois coun-
ty, where he conducts a large and prosper-
ous general merchandise business, his es-
tablishment being known as the Globe store.
His initiative energy and achninistrative pow-
ers have found various other avenues of en-
terpi-ise and his capitalistic and business in-
terests are of broad scope and importance. He
is liberal and public-spirited as a citizen and
commands the high regard of those with whom
he has come in contact in the various rela-
tions of life. He is a j'oung man whose ster-
ling character and fine business ability have
enabled him to achieve large and worthy suc-
cess, and he is well entitled to representation
in this history of southeastern Missouri.
Isadore William Miller was born in the
province of Nomakst, Russia, on the 14th of
February, 1880, and was about three j'ears of
age at the time of his parents' immigration
to America. He is a son of Ruben and Ida
(Bloom) ]\Iiller, both of whom were likewise
born in that same Russian province, where
the respective families have lived for many
generations. Ruben Miller was born in the
year 1857 and was twenty-six years of age
at the time when he came with his family
to America. Of the nine children Isadore W.,
of this sketch, was the first born, and of the
number three sons and one daughter are now
living. The parents now maintain their home
at St. Louis, Missouri, where the father has
lived virtually retired since 1909. after a
long and successful business career. Soon
after his arrival in America Ruben Miller
located in the vicinity of Nashville, Tennessee,
where he turned his attention to agncultural
HISTORY OF SOUTHEAST MISSOURI
901
pursuits and where he continued to reside for
several years, after which he engaged in the
mercantile business in the state of Kentucky.
After there maintaining his home for eight
years he removed to Greensburg, Pennsj'l-
vania, where he was engaged in the same
line of enterprise until 1895, when he came
to Missouri and located at Elvins, St. Fran-
cois county, where he built up a large and sub-
stantial general merchandise business, to
which he continued to give his attention until
1909, when he sold the same to his two sons,
Isadore W. and Harry A., and he has since
lived retired, in the enjoyment of the just
rewards of former years of earnest endeavor.
He had practically no financial resources
when he came to America and thus his suc-
cess stands as the direct result of his own
efforts, the while he so ordered his course
as to gain and retain the respect and good
will of those with whom he has come in con-
tact in the land of his adoption. He is a
staunch adherent of the Republican party,
and both he and his wife are devoted to the
religious faith of their ancestoi-s. being lib-
eral in the support of the Jewish church and
appreciative of its noble history.
The boyhood days of Isadore "VV. Miller
were passed principally on his father's farm
in Tennessee, and after duly availing him-
self of the advantages of the public schools
he was enabled to attend for a time Vander-
bilt University, in the city of Nashville,
though in the meanwhile he had initiated his
association with practical business affairs.
"When but twelve years of age he began to
assist in his father 's store, and two years later
he found employment in a mercantile es-
tablishment at Davis, "West Virginia. Later
he was similarly employed at Beaver Falls,
Pennsylvania, and at the age of seventeen
.years he came to the west. He resided for a
short period in Arkansas and then located
in the city of St. Louis, Missouri, where he
secured a position as salesman in a men's
furnishing goods establishment. Later he
was engaged with a mercantile business at
Bloomfield, this state, and still later he en-
gaged in the general merchandise business at
Columbus, Kentucky, where he remained un-
til 1901, when he sold his interests in that
place and came to St. Francois county, Mis-
souri, where he soon afterward became as-
.sociated with his brother in the purchase of
their father's mercantile business at Desloge.
Here he has since continued the enterprise
with marked success, and the Globe store con-
trols a large and representative patronage,
based upon fair dealings and punctilious serv-
ice in all departments. Mr. Miller is also
president of the Citizens ' Bank of Desloge ;
is vice-president of the Herculaneum Mercan-
tile Company, which conducts a prosperous
general merchandise business at Herculane-
um. Jefferson county; and is associated with
his brother in the ownership of a flourishing
general store at Elvins, St. Francois county,
where the enterprise is conducted under the
firm name of Miller Brothers. He is the own-
er of a substantial business block at Bonne
Terre, this county, and he is senior member
of the firm of Miller & Gradj', which is en-
gaged in the real-estate business and which
has valuable properties at Bonne Terre, Des-
loge, Flat River and Leadwood. He is in-
dividually the owner of valuable realty in
his home town of Desloge, and is one of its
most progressive and public-spirited citizens.
His energy is indefatigable and his wide-
iiwake, progressive policies have gained him
marked success and prestige as a business
man of sterling character. He is one of the
heaviest stockholders of the Lead Belt Tele-
phone Company and is ever ready to lend his
aid and influence in the support of measures
and enterprises projected for the general good
of the community. ]\Ir. Miller gives his sup-
port to the principles and policies of the Re-
publican party, and is affiliated with the Mod-
ern Woodmen of America, the Knights of
P.ythias, the Independent Order of Odd Fel-
lows and its adjunct organization, the Daugh-
ters of Rebekah, and also with the Royal
Neighbors and the Select Knights.
On the 26th of June. 1904, was solemnized
the marriage of Mr. Miller to Miss Jennie M.
Dehovitz, of St. Louis, and they have a win-
some little daughter, Helen Sarah.
Ed Anderson, whose general merchandise
establishment at Hornersville is one of the
growing business enterprises of the town, has
been identified with Southeast ^Missouri since
1896 and is one of the well known and
esteemed citizens of Dunklin county.
He was born in Tennessee, November 20,
1870, and was reared in Hickman county, iji
the middle of that state. There he attended
school. When he came to ilissouri in 1896 he
was without money, and the substantial prog-
ress he has since made is the best evidence
of the qualities of industry and business judg-
ment which he possesses. At that time there
was no railroad at Hornersville, and he has
902
HISTORY OF SOUTHEAST MISSOURI
lived liere long enough to witness the prin-
cipal development of the country. For one
year he worked at Neshit, for four years at
Cotton Plant, two years at Senath and five
years at Kennett, and then in July, 1909,
came to Hornersville and established his pres-
ent business. Being well known and enjoy-
ing the confidence of the people in this
vicinity, he has a good trade and one that he
is constantly increasing.
]Mr. Anderson was married at Nesbit in 1899
to iliss ilaude Parker, daughter of ]\Ir.
Henry B. Parker, of Hornersville. They
are the parents of two children: Nellie Lee
and ilary J. Mr. Anderson affiliates with"
the Independent Order of Odd Fellows, is a
Democrat in his political beliefs, and he and
his family belong to the Methodist church.
South.
E. ]\I. Thilenius. One of the great prob-
lems of the age is the color question and it
is .iust as much a problem today as it was
fifty years ago when the negroes were the
cause of contention between the north and
the south. For the most part those who were
influential in freeing the slaves have passed
beyond the difficulty and to their descend-
ants is left the task of deciding what shall
be done with the colored race. George C.
Thilenius, member of the convention which
abolished slavery in the state of Missouri,
had no more difficult task than his son. who
lives in the age whose business it is to
establish the status of the negro in the state
and country.
George C. Thilenius was born in the king-
dom of Hanover, Germany, August 10, 1829.
His father, who was also named George C.
gave him all the advantages that were
afforded by the private schools in his native
country. At that time there was no public
school sj^stem. After his general education
was completed, he was apprenticed for a
term of four years in the city of Gottinseu.
Hanover., to learn the merchandise business,
completing his apprenticeship when he was
niiipteen j-ears of age. That same year he,
his father and his mother (whose maiden
name was Charlotte Stuhldrehen) with his
three sisters, all embarked on a sailing vessel
and started for America. After a stormy
passage of eight weeks the family arrived at
New Orleans, full of hopes and fears. The
weather was warm and favorable, and the
flowers seemed to smile a welcome to the
wearv travelers. They took a boat and made
their way up the river to St. Louis where
they looked around them and considered the
prospects in the mercantile line. The follow-
ing year, in 18-19, George C. Thilenius, Jr.,
with his father opened a store in what was
then the village of St. Louis. This arrange-
ment continued until 1853 when George C.
Jr. was engaged by W. H. Belcher, sugar
refiners of St. Louis, to go to Matanzas, Cuba,
in the interests of their branch refinery at
that city, where he remained three years. At
the end of that period he returned to St.
Louis and engaged in the wholesale business
until 1857, at which time he removed to Cape
Girardeau and entered into pai'tnership with
"William Bierwirth in the general mercantile
business. The following year, in 1858, he
bought out the interests of his partner, put
in a larger line of goods and did a flourishing
business until 1863. When the war broke
out. in 1861, he took an active part in
organizing the first troops that were raised at
Cape Girardeau in defense of the Union. In
1862 he received the commission of Captain
by Governor Gamble and later in the same
year he was promoted to the position of Lieu-
tenant Colonel of the militia and placed in
command of the fourth military sub-district
of Missouri by Governor Fletcher, who later
gave him the commission of Colonel. In 1865
he was elected by the counties of Bollinger,
Cape Girardeau and Perry to the constitu-
tional convention which abolished slavery in
the state of Missouri. In 1865, after the close
of the war, he commenced the erection of the
far famed Cape City mills. His success in the
new venture was assured from the very start.
The mills became famous for the quality of
flour produced, carrying off first premiums at
almost all competitive exhibits. In 1873 he
sent some of his flour to the World's Exposi-
tion at Vienna in Austria and was awarded a
medal of merit and a diploma for the best
flour. At the exposition at Philadelphia,
Pennsylvania, in 1876, he received similar
recognition.
In 1857 he married Miss Margaret Fromann
of St. Louis. She was a native of Cobourg,
Germany, having come to this country when
she was a young girl. Mr. and Mrs. Thilenius
had one son and three daughters.
The Colonel was always active in public
affairs. He was mayor of Cape Girardeau in
1867, 1869 and 1871. He was greatly inter-
ested in all educational matters, realizing
that it was there, with the school boy and
school girl that the future of the nation lay.
HISTORY OF SOUTHEAST MISSOURI
He was instrumental in establishing the
public schools in Cape Girardeau. He died
July 7, 1910, having lived a good life, full of
usefulness for his fellow men.
His son, Emil M. Thilenius was born June
17, 1869, at Cape Girardeau, Missouri, where
he was brought up and educated, attending
the public schools which his father was the
means of introducing into Cape Girardeau.
After leaving school he was in business with
his father for about three years, but later
took full charge, leaving his father free to
attend to his many other duties, ilr. Thil-
enius is now the proprietor of the Cape City
Bottling Works, located at 228 North Pacific
street.
December 27, 1896, he married Miss Emma
Dittlinger, the daughter of Alphonse and
Katie Dittlinger, old- residents of Cape Girar-
deau. Four children were born to this union,
Eona, Paul, Arthur and Herbert.
Mr. Thilenius is a member of the Benevo-
lent and Protective Order of Elks, of the
Eagles, of the Knights of Pythias and of the
Sons of Veterans, having a very high stand-
ing in all of these organizations. He is a
Republican in politics and has always been
greatly interested in public affairs. For sev-
eral years he was township committeeman
and was a member of the board of education
for three years and reelected for three j^ears.
more. He has by no means reached the limit
of his capabilities and as he is always ready
to do anything that will promote the good
of his native town, where both he and his
wife have spent the whole of their lives, his
party will undoubtedly keep him as busy as
he will permit. Mr. and Mrs. Thilenius are
both very hospitable and like nothing better
than to entertain their numerous friends at
their home. They are both extremely popular.
Judge Jesse H.' Schaper. The history of
a nation is the history of its people; like-
wise, the history of Southeastern Llissouri is
the history of its people, and not one of the
least known of these is Judge Jesse H.
Schaper, of Washington. On the contrary
Judge Schaper is prominently and effectively
identified with this .section of Missouri, in
connection with the valued service he has
rendered in his capacity as probate judge of
Franklin county, a position he has held since
1902.
Judge Schaper was bom near Troy in Lin-
coln county, this state, on the 21st of No-
vember, 1865, a son of William and Julia
(Sandfos) Schaper. The father, William
Schaper, was a native of Hanover, Germany,
born in 1820, from whence he came to the
United States at the age of twenty-one and
began farming, making of this vocation a con-
siderable success. When the clouds of the
Civil war began to lower, Mr. Schaper en-
listed as a member of the Home Guards and
served in the interests of the Union until the
close of that war. As above stated, the
mother of our subject was Julia (Sandfos)
Schaper, whose father fought with Blueher's
army in the battle of Waterloo and thus
helped save all Europe from the domination
of the French. For this service ilr. Sandfos
was presented with a medal upon the battle-
field, which he always treasured. He sub-
sequently came to the United States axid
settled in Lincoln county, Missouri, a neigh-
bor to Mr. Schaper, and in friendly neigh-
borhood gatherings began the acquaintance
of William Schaper and Julia Sandfos,
which culminated in their marriage. To
this worthy couple were born six children,
as follows: Henry, of Lincoln county;
Louis, deceased; Mary, who became the wife
of Henry Gerdemann; William, who died in
1907, leaving a wife and family in Warren
county; Charles, of Lincoln county; and
Judge Schaper, of this review. Mrs. Schaper
passed on to the Great Beyond in 1867. Mr.
Schaper took for his second wife Mary PoU-
mann, by whom there were two children:
Frank and Jennie, and the daughter married
Theodore Schemmer of Warren county, Mis-
souri. The father of William Schaper and
the grandfather of our subject was also
named William, and he had two other sons,
Hermann and Henry, both of whom married
and reared families in Lincoln county, this
state.
Judge Jesse H. Schaper can therefore most
truthfully be called a "son of Missouri."
being bom in Lincoln county, that state, in
which county his father and grandfather also
passed most of their lives. And he is no
prouder of Missouri than Missouri is of him.
His career as a lawyer had its birth when he
decided on that profession as his life voca-
tion when he was still a youth in the rural
schools of his native county. Accordingly,
when he was but seventeen years of age. he
entered Central Wesleyan College at War-
renton, and graduated therefrom in 1889. re-
ceiving his degree of B. A., whereupon he im-
mediately matriculated in the Missouri Uni-
versity department of law, graduating from
904
HISTORY OP SOUTHEAST MISSOURI
that institution in 1892, his diploma admit-
ting him to practice ia the courts of the state
and to the federal courts of St. Louis. De-
termined to upset the theory that ' " a prophet
is not without honor save in his own coun-
try, ' ' he began the practice of his profession in
his own state, settling in Washington, Frank-
lin county, and here he has pursued his pro-
fessional activities for almost two decades,
gaining an enviable record as a modern type
of the enterprising, progressive and honorable
attorney. His crimiiuil as well as his civil
practice has gained him favorable comment
and professional fame beyond the limits of
his own judicial circuit, which is reflected by
an ever-growing and ever-widening clientele.
In 1902 Jesse H. Schaper was chosen pro-
bate judge of Franklin county, and after
serving a full term in this office he was again
chosen to succeed himself, serving four years
more and again returning to the office with an
increased acquaintance and a wide popularity
among his constituents whom he has served
so faithfully and so well. He has partici-
pated in many forensic battles during his
professional career, one of the best known of
which was his defense of the bank robbers
and murderers, Collins and Rudolph, charged
with the murder of detective Shoemacher and
the looting of the Bank of Union several
years ago. One of the cases in which he was
chief counsel, which is well remembered in
that county, was a civil one involving the
validity of the will of H. Tibbe, who be-
queathed a large amount of property to Eden
College of St. Louis and to the German Synod
of North America. He was associated in the
case with Judges Lubke and Muench of St.
Louis, the latter being now circuit judge of
that city. The trial in the lower court went
against them, but the brief on appeal was
prepared by Judge Schaper and said law
firm and resulted in a reversal of the case
and a verdict for the defense and the sus-
taining of the will, the brief being commented
upon by judges of the higher tribunal as one
of the best efforts in that line on record. Mr.
Schaper has for six years been legal adviser
of Wa.shington. He is likewise attorney for
the Franklin County Bank, of which he is a
stockholder, and is a director of the piiblii-
schools.
In politics Judge Schaper has always allied
his vote and bis services with the Republican
party, and has taken an active part in local
elo'>tinns, ns liis aforeiiicntioned record shows.
Tic is an Odd Fellow and a :\rodern Wood-
man, occasionally relaxing from the arduous
and confining duties of his profession for a
pleasant chat with his fellow lodge members.
In religious affairs he is a devout adherent
of the Methodist Episcopal church, having
been, as he laughingly asserts, "brought up
a 3Iethodist."
Judge Schaper laid the foundation for a
home and hearth of his own when he married,
in Franklin county, Missouri, Miss Jessie
Mai'tin, a daughter of Judge John R. Martin,
a pioneer and one of the leading lawyers of
Franklin county. He was a man of fine edu-
cation and intellectual ability, a Republican
of the early organization who helped to bring
the party into shape for its first national
campaign. He was especially adept in ad-
ministration work, and was appointed by
Governor Fletcher of Missouri as the first
probate judge of Franklin county. Judge
Martin was the Republican candidate for
congress from his district in 1886, but was
defeated in a general Democratic victory.
His daughter, Jessie Martin Schaper, in-
herited her father's mental acumen, she being
a woman of high intellectual powers. She
was a teacher in the public schools before her
marriage, her education having been com-
pleted at Synodical College, Fulton, Missouri.
She is at present superintendent of the
Presbyterian Sabbath-school, and is especially
pleasing in her manner with young folks.
Judge and Mrs. Schaper have six children :
Florence, Phoebe, Margaret, John Martin,
Jessie and Randolph.
No more fitting tribute could be paid to
Judge Schaper than that he is beloved by his
family, esteemed by his friends, honored by
his legal confreres, and respected by his
political or judicial opponents.
John D. Phelps. The father of John
Phelps was Reverend D. S. Phelps, a native
of Kentucky. He preached the gospel in
southeastern Missouri for many years and also
worked at the blacksmith trade. He was a
minister of the Congregational denomination
and for six years before his death, in 1910,
had lived in Oklahoma. He died in Lutes-
ville, where his wife had died twenty years
before. She was born in Illinois and her
maiden name was Nancy Roland.
John D. Phelps was born on the last day
of July, 1874, at Millerdale, Cape county,
Missouri. He attended school in Lutesville
and at Will jMayfield College. He taught
school in 1897 and 1898 in Mississippi
HISTORY OP SOUTHEAST MISSOURI
905
count}-. The following two years he farmed
in the same county and then worked at public
works, doing draying until 1907. During
this period he spent eleven months in Okla-
homa for his health, but with that exception
has lived continuously in Missouri. In 1907
Mr. Phelps accepted the position of manager
of the Poultry House of Goodwin & Jean of
Lutesville. This concern handles sixteen
thousand pounds of poultry every month and
two thousand cases of eggs annually. They
also deal in hides.
Mrs. Phelps was formerly a resident of
Cincinnati, Ohio. She is the daughter of
Joseph Arthur, of Bollinger county, now
retired. She was married to John Phelps
June 27, 1897. The children of John and
Iva Arthur Phelps are: Austin A., born
August 9, 1898; Nellie May, three years
younger; Joseph Elbert, bom in 1903; and
Ruby Idella, born in June 1907.
Mr. Phelps has been connected with the
Odd Fellows' lodge for five years and has
been a Modern Woodman for ten years. He
is a member of the Presbyterian church of
Lutesville, in which place he owns residence
property.
The father of J. D. Phelps was married
three times and John is one of fifteen children
born of the second marriage. Eleven of these
are still living, and they reside in this county,
in Ai-kansas, in Colorado, Kansas, Washing-
ton and in St. Louis.
Captain Daniel Hatnes. A well-known
and highly esteemed citizen of ]\laldeu,
Dunklin county. Captain Daniel Haynes
served with distinction as an officer in the
Civil war, and now, in these days of peace
and prosperity, is serving with equal ability
and fidelity in public positions, being justice
of the peace and notary public. A native of
Illinois, he was born June 3, 1839, in Wayne
county, where he grew to man's estate,
spending his earlier years on the old home
farm.
During- the progress of the Civil war he
promptly responded to the call of Governor
Yates for one hundred-day men, and was
mustered into the state service by General
U. S. Grant. On May 28, 1861, he was mus-
tered into the United States service by Cap-
tain T. C. Pitcher as a member of the
Eighteenth Illinois Volunteer Infantry,
which was under command of Colonel M. K.
Lawler, serving for three years as a brave
and faithful soldier. On June 8, 1862, on
account of gallant conduct on the field of
battle, he was promoted to the rank of cap-
tain, having earned his promotion in the en-
gagements of Fort Donelson and Shiloh. The
Captain was in the fiercest of the fight at
Fort Donelson, where thirteen of his com-
rades were killed, and at Shiloh he was at the
front during two days of fighting, his regi-
ment forming a part of General John A.
McClelland 's division. He took part in the
siege of Vicksburg, and with his comrades he
was later sent to Little Rock, Arkansas, and
was an active participant in the engagements
at Elba and Saline River, where a shot in the
left leg shattered a bone, and he was obliged
to give up active service for a time. Captain
Haynes subsequently did special court-
martial duty, later being inspector of army
supplies. At the expiration of his term of
service he was honorably discharged at
Springfield, Illinois, and returned to his old
home in Wayne count}-, where he served as
deputy sheriff and sheriif.
In 1870 Captain Haynes located in Stod-
dard county, Missouri, and in 1877 became a
resident of Dunklin county. Having formed
a partnership with Sylvester W. Spiller, he
filled several contracts on the narrow-gauge
railroad, grading several miles of the road,
reaching ilalden, Missouri, July 4, 1878.
Jloving a frame building from Cotton Hill,
three miles away, to Maiden, the Captain and
ilr. Spiller put in a stock of railroad sup-
plies, and on the completion of the railway
in the following spring, installed a full line
of general mei'chandise and embarked in
business under the firm name of Spiller,
Haynes & Company, Mr. J. H. ilcRee subse-
quently being admitted to partnership. The
firm built up a good business, and in addition
to the selling of groceries, dry goods, etc.,
bought all the cotton grown in the country
roundabout, erected a gin, and made a spe-
cialty in dealing in cotton until 1881, when
that branch of the business was abandoned
on account of the credit system then intro-
duced.
The firm then accepted a contract for grad-
ing the right-of-way for the railroad for a
distance of twenty-five miles south of JIaldeu,
and in the spring of 1882 the grading was
finished and the ties ready to be laid. The
road, however, passed into the hands of a re-
ceiver, and after taking debenture the firm
of Spiller, Haynes & McRay realized but
sixty cents on the dollar, even after waiting
four or five years and liaving a law .suit.
906
HISTORY OP SOUTHEAST MISSOURI
Captain Haynes then embarked in agricult-
ural pursuits, opening up a farm and carry-
ing on a good business as a dealer in cattle.
He bought a large tract of land at tive dollars
an acre, the land being heavily timbered, and
after clearing one hundred and twenty acres
of it sold it for thirty-tive dollars an acre, the
same land at the present writing being worth
fully one hundred dollars an acre. Leaving
the farm in 1905, the Captain returned to
IMalden. and has since been actively engaged
in official work, having been elected justice of
the peace, a position which he had previously
filled for six years, and is also serving as
notary public, positions for which he amply
qualitied and which he is filling with credit
and honor.
A stanch Democrat in politics. Captain
Haynes was chairman of the first Board of
Trustees of ilalden, serving for six years
after the organization of the village. Frater-
nally he is one of the charter members of
Maiden Lodge, Ancient Free and Accepted
Order of IMasons, with which order he united
forty-five years ago and which he has served
most acceptably as master, and of which he
is now secretary. He is also a Roj-al Arch
Jlason, and he represented his IMasonic Lodge
at the Grand Lodge of JIasons in Jlissouri.
The Captain read law in early manhood,
but was not admitted to the bar, although his
legal knowledge has oft times been of inesti-
mable value to him in his business enterprises.
He has dealt in real estate to some extent,
having sold several hundred acres of ^Missouri
land. In 1877, when he was engaged in rail-
road work, he frequently saw bear tracks in
the woods, and as a hunter found not pleas-
ure only, but considerable profit, at one time
selling seventy dollars worth of hides and
pelts.
At Clarkton, Dunklin county, ]\Iissouri,
November 6, 1879, Captain Haynes was
united in marriage with Judith E. McCou-
nell, who was born in Obion county, Tennes-
see, and came to ^Missouri with her imele,
Gilham Hopper, who is now living retired at
Maiden. ]\Irs. Haynes died in April, 1889, at
a comparatively early age. Of the six children
born of their union two died in infancy and
four are living, namely: Irene, a stenog-
rapher and bookkeeper for the Campbell
Lumber Company, at Kennett, Missouri;
Inez, wife of Dr. J. B. Sharp, of Senath, Mis-
souri; John A., who is connected with the
Iron Mountain Railroad Company; and
Xancy, who presides most gracefully and ably
over her father's household.
Many funny anecdotes are told of Captain
Haj'ues. On one occasion a young man was
brought before him charged with stealing a
saddle. The young man pleaded guilty and
in assessing his punishment Captain Haynes
said: "Young man, owing to the fact that
you have a great deal of competition in your
business I will make your punishment light.
I will fine you twenty-five dollars." On an-
other occasion a man was sued for delinquent
poll tax before the Captain, and, not wishing
his case to be tried before him, prepared an
affidavit for a change of venue, which motion
Haynes at once overruled. The man told him
he had a right under the law to a change of
venue. "I know it," said Haynes, "but a
man who refuses to pay his taxes is an unde-
sirable citizen and not entitled to the protec-
tion of the law." At the proper time judg-
ment was rendered by default, the man's
wages were garnisheed and the tax collected.
Captain Haynes has the reputation of being
very just and impartial in his rulings and
decisions, and is seldom reversed by the
higher courts.
Charles L. Jones. Upon the practical,
broad-minded citizens who do things, de-
pends the spirit and progressiveness of any
community, and Caruthersville owes much of
its business reputation to such men as
Charles L. Jones, who has done much of the
building and carpenter work in the city for
several years, building up an enviable reputa-
tion in that line of enterprise. Although
still in the ver\' prime of life, Charles L.
Jones has accomplished more solid construct-
ive work than many men do in a life time.
He was born in Franklin county. Illinois, in
the year 1871, a son of James Calvin and
Sarah (McGlasson) Jones, and was brought
up by his parents in a comfortable farm
home. His father, James Calvin Jones, was
a good carpenter and many comfortable
homes stand today in Franklin county,
Illinois, as monuments to his ability as a
carpenter. His death occurred in 1887, the
mother's in 1890.
Charles L. Jones engaged in the carpen-
ter's trade in Stoddard county before coming
to Caruthersville in 1900. In that year he
came to his present location and has been
actively engaged in his chosen pursuit ever
since. He has several fine buildings to his
HISTORY OF SOUTHEAST MISSOURI
907
credit and specimens of his work may be
found throughout the county. He owns four
lots at the corner of Eighth street and Grand
avenue, on which in December, 1910, he
erected a splendid two stoi-y, ten room house,
with an ingenious double hallway, and in this
house he and his brother, Dr. B. F. Jones
(with whom he has lived since sixteen years
of age) make their home.
Dr. Jones is a graduate of the North West-
ern iledieal School of St. Joseph, Missouri,
and has been a practicing physician over
thirty years. In 1883 he was married to Jliss
Minnie Clara Smith, of Louisville, Kentuckj',
and their four children are as follows : Anna,
the wife of William Cone, of Bloomfield,
Missouri, is the mother of two children and
she resides near her father in Caruthersville,
where she and her husband own two lots and
a very cozy home. Grace is the wife of James
W. Spencer, of Saint Louis, associated with
the Smith & Davis Manufacturing Company
of that city. Clarence Odeu, sixteen years
old, is a student at the local high school, and
Virginia Lee, aged twelve, is still in school
and, like her brother Clarence, remaining at
tlie parental home.
Charles L. Jones is a bachelor and frater-
nallv is entitled to wear the blanket of the
Red" Men.
William G. Bray. With a remarkable ca-
pacity for the handling of multitudinous
details, and a concentration of purpose that
enables him to make everything work to de-
sirable ends, William G. Bray, cashier of the
Bank of Senath, holds high rank among the
more active and successful business men of
this part of Dunklin county, his interests be-
ing many and varied. A son of W. E. Bray,
he was born, December 25, 1869, at old Four
ilile, Dunklin county, of honored pioneer
stock.
Born in Tennessee in 18.35, W. E. Bray was
a son of Jamea Allen Bray, of North Carolina,
whose wife, a Miss Tillman, of South Caro-
lina, was a kinswoman of Senator Benjamin
R. Tillman, of South Carolina, and of Con-
ductor Bob Tillman, of the Cotton Belt Rail-
way. At the age of seventeen years W. E.
Bray came with his parents to Dunklin
county, Missouri, where he studied for the
ministry, and for many years has been em-
ployed as a preacher in the Baptist church,
his home at the present time being in Camp-
bell, Missouri. He married, at Valley Ridge.
^Missouri, Quilla Gregory, a daughter of
James Gregory, a pioneer settler of Dunklin
count.v, who located on the present site of
IMalden settling years before the incorpora-
tion of the town, and there lived until nearly
one hundred years of age, at his death being
the oldest person of his community, and next
to the oldest one in Dunklin county.
Receiving his preliminary education in the
district schools, William G. Bray subse-
cjuently completed his early studies at the
State Normal School, although several years
later, on May 25, 1905, he was admitted to
the Dunklin county bar before Judge J. S.
Fort, and is a member of the Bar Association.
After leaving the Normal School, ilr. Bray
was for five years employed in railroad work,
being in the offices of the Frisco, the Cotton
Belt, and other railways. In 1893 he had the
misfortune to receive a gunshot wound in his
left arm while out hunting, but the accident
in nowise diminished his love for the sport.
Mr. Bra.y was subsequently for three years
employed by E. S. [McCarthy & Co., contract-
ors during the construction of the Kennett
& Southern Railroad. Locating then at
White Oak, Dunklin county, he was there en-
gaged in the milling and mercantile business
for a time, being afterwards similarh' em-
ployed in Dent county, Missouri. Turning
his attention then to agricultural pursuits,
]Mr. Bray carried on general farming at Ken-
nett for a year, and in 1908 embarked in the
drug trade at Senath, and continued so em-
ployed until the organization of the Bank of
Senath, of which he was one of the promoters.
Mr. Bray was very active in the founding of
'•his financial institution, which was organ-
ized July 2, 1902, with a capital of fifteen
thousand dollars; its surplus and undivided
profits being now fifteen thousand dollars,
while its deposits are between one hundred
thousand and one hundred and fifteen thou-
sand dollars. Mr. Bray erected the building in
which the bank is housed, sold the stock,
opened the bank, and has served as its cashier
ever since its organization. He has other in-
terests of value, being a stockholder, and the
secretary, of the John M. Karnes Store Com-
pany ; and being the owner of a fine farm of
two hundred acres lying south of Senath.
He operates his farm through tenants, one
hundred acres of it being devoted to the
growing of cotton. He is an extensive dealer
in horses and mules, with barns in Senath,
handling about one hundred head a year,
finding profit in the industry.
Politically ]\Ir. Bray is a stanch adherent
HISTORY OF SOUTHEAST MISSOURI
of the Democratic party, but is not an aspir-
ant for public office at any time. Fraternally
he belongs to the Independent Order of Odd
Fellows; and to the Paragould Lodge, No.
1080, Benevolent and Protective Oi-der of
Elks; and to other beneficial organizations.
:\Ir. Bray married, July 17, 1907, Ora A.
j\Ioore, a daughter of the late B. A. ^loore,
of whom a brief account may be found else-
where in this book, in connection with the
sketch of David Moore. Mr. and ilrs. Bray
have no children of their own, but they have
reared a nephew of Mr. Bray's, Ernest R.
Bray, a lad of eighteen years, now employed
as a clerk in the store of the John M. Karnes
Store Companj'.
Robert L. Wade, of JIalden, is vice-presi-
dent and manager of the ilalden Hardware
and Furniture Company, one of the most
important (if not, indeed, the most impor-
tant) concerns of its kind in Dunklin county.
This enterprise, which has experienced con-
stant growth since its first coming into
existence in 1905, is a business so subtantial
and well managed as to contribute not only
to the success and prosperity of its owners
but to that of the entire community as well.
Mr. Wade was born June 29, 1862, and is a
son of Robert C. Wade, president of the
Maiden Hardware and Furniture Company
and also interested in the agricultural devel-
opment of this part of the state. The elder
gentleman, who is one of the most prominent
citizens of the county, was born in Tennessee
in 1831 and served almost throughout the
Civil war as a member of the Army of the
Tennessee, his sympathies naturally being
with the institutions of the South. He re-
sided in Arkansas for a time and in 1889
came to Maiden, where he has ever since made
his home, and of whom mention is made on
other pages of this work.
Young Robert secured his education in the
schools of Hickory Plains, Arkansas, and
passed his earl.v youth upon his father's
farm, continuing as the assistant in his agri-
cultural endeavors until the age of twenty-
four years, and becoming so well-versed in
the many departments of the great basic in-
dustry that he might well have continued as
its exponent as far as familiarity with it is
concerned. At the age mentioned he left
home and for two years resided at Des Arc.
On March 4, 1890, Mr. Wade took up his resi-
dence at Jlalden and secured a position with
Johnson ^larks. a ^^ciieral merchant, in whose
employ he continued for a year. A year
later he went into the Allen Store Company,
as a stock-holder, his role in the affairs of the
concern being as buyer. His mercantile
career, which had begun most auspiciously,
was interrupted by ill-health and he spent
some time in St. Louis recuperating. After
regaining his natural strength and vigor he
went to work for T. C. Stokes as salesman
and remained with him for over three years.
When his father decided upon establishing
an independent business and having the sub-
ject as his partner in the enterprise, he gave
up his other interests and since 1905 he has
acted as manager and vice-president of the
Maiden Hardware and Furniture Company.
This has experienced the best of fortunes and
is one of the big houses of Dunklin county,
the executive ability and good ,]udgment of
the immediate subject being one of its most
valuable assets. It is an incorporated con-
cern.
Mr. Wade forsook the ranks of the bache-
loi-s when, on April 15, 1896, he was united
in marriage to Nellie C. Hill, daughter of E.
W. and Cora (Bartlett) Hill. Mrs. Wade
was born September 27, 1876, at Bloomfield,
Illinois, and she and the subject share their
pleasant home with two children — Wolford
C, born February 4, 1897; and Cora Nell,
born July 24, 1907. Mr. Wade is one of the
pillars of the Democratic party, ever giving
heartiest support to its men and measures.
He is a member of the ancient and august
ilasonic order and he and his wife are mem-
bers of the Methodist Episcopal church.
James S. Wahl. A man of distinctive
energy, ambition and pronounced business
acumen, thoroughly public-spirited and pro-
gressive, James S. Wahl, of Caruthersville,
began life for himself as poor as the poorest
of boys, for ten years, even, roving the coun-
try, more especially the western states. His
native talents, industry, and the inherent
self-consciousness of his ability, however,
took possession of him at an opportune time,
and he is now classed among the more enter-
prising, progressive and wealthy men of
Pemiscot county, his interests being varied
and of great importance. A son of Lewis
Wahl, he was born in 1864, in Daviess county,
Kentucky, of German ancestry.
Lewis Wahl was born May 1, 1810, in Wit-
tenburg, Germany, and was there brought up
and educated. Immigrating to the United
states when twenty-two years of age, he fol-
>fe^^ Wa
HISTORY OF SOUTHEAST MISSOUEI
909
lowed his trade of a piano manufacturer for
manj- .years in Kentucky, but spent his last
days in Tennessee, dying December 27, 1901.
His wife, whose maiden name was Harriet
Thomas, was born February 29, 1832, in
Gibson county. Tennessee, and died in Milan,
Tennessee. February 18. 1882.
Receiving his early education in the public
schools of jMilan, Tennessee. James S. Wahl
left home a beardless boy of seventeen years
and for ten j-ears thereafter roamed the
country without aim or purpose, stealing
rides on box cars or wherever he could find a
hold, in the meantime working as a farm
laborer or at odd jobs when his pocket was
empty. In 1889, having, as Kipling ex-
presses it, "found himself," Mr. Wahl took
up his residence in Bernie. Stoddard county,
Missouri, where for a year he clerked in a
grocery and drug store. Going from there to
Kennett, Missouri, he ran a pool room for
eighteen months, and then went back to
Bernie, where, within a little more than a
year, he lost one thousand six hundred dol-
lars in the saloon business, or at least, was
that much in debt when he retired from that
industry.
Locating in Caruthersville, Missouri, in
October, 1891. 'Sir. Wahl conducted a pool
room in this city for two years, making money
in the operation. Embarking then in an en-
tirely new occupation, he began shipping in
ice on a small scale, and also dealt in beer
and soda water, peddling his ice in a wheel-
barrow at first. Devoting his energies to his
business, he has since built up an enormous
trade in soda water, and now carries on a
substantial business, manufacturing and sell-
ing a thousand cases daily, shipping not only
soda water, biit ciders and all brands of
vinegar to various points within a radius of
one hundred miles, his patronage being verj-
large. He is likewise agent for the William
J. Lemp Brewing Company, of Saint Louis,
and in the management of his afl'airs era-
ploys thirty-five men. In addition to his
plant at Caruthersville ilr. Wahl has sixteen
branch establishments in other near-by
towns, and is the sole proprietor of all of
them.
In 1902. in company with Mr. Schult and
J. F. Gordon, he established an ice manufac-
turing plant at Xew ^Madrid. Missouri, and
still retains an interest in it. In 1904, with
other business men. he bought a small ice
plant in Caruthersville, enlarged it to its
present capacity of fifty tons of ice a day.
and was manager of the plant from 1904 un-
til 1910, when, owing to his multitudinous
cares, he withdrew from his position. He is
vice-president of the Caruthersville Ice and
Light Company, which supplies the city with
electric lights, the company, in which he
holds one-fourth of the stock, having been in-
corporated with a capital of one hundred thou-
sand dollars. Mr. Wahl is also president of the
]\Iarianna, Arkansas, Ice and Storage Com-
pany, in which he holds forty per cent of the
entire stock; is president of the Southern
Supply Manufacturing Company, which
manufactures soda fountain supplies, fix-
tures, and syrups, its plant being located in
Memphis, Tennessee; a stockholder in and
president of the Chaffee Cold Storage Com-
pany, of Chaffee, Missouri ; a stockholder of
the Pemiscot County Bank; a stockholder in
various companies of minor importance; and
is financially interested in the Ice Cream
Company recently organized at Caruthers-
ville. Mr. Wahl likewise has other interests
of great value, owning five business blocks
and three residences in Caruthersville, and
having both residential and cold storage
property in Hayti, Pemiscot county.
^Ir. Wahl mari-ied, in 1891, Conchie Doug-
las, who was born in IMilan, Tennessee, a most
estimable and highly respected woman. Po-
litically Mr. Wahl is an adherent of the
Democratic party, and, though not an office
seeker, he has served acceptably as an alder-
man of the city. Fraternally he is a member
of Caruthersville Lodge, No. 461. Ancient
Free and Accepted Order of ]\lasons: of
Helm Chapter, No. 117, Royal Arch ]\Iasons;
of Cape Girardeau Council ; and of Cape
Girardeau Commandery, No. 55, Royal and
Select ^Masters; of ^Missouri Consistory. No. 1,
at Saint Louis: of Moolah Shrine, at Saint
Louis ; and of Memphis Lodge, No. 27. Benev-
olent and Protective Order of Elks, at
Memphis, Tennessee, of the Knights of
Pythias and of the Independent Order of
Odd Fellows.
Stephen Hug. There are few records in
human annals which cover a series of more
stirring adventures, laid in more widely sep-
arated regions of the earth, than those
which constitute the life history of Stephen
Hug, who at his beautiful rural home near
Crystal City now peacefully reviews nearly
eighty-two years and fearful conflicts with
warriors of Africa, Russia and America.
As eloquent proof that he was well to the
910
HISTORY OF SOUTHEAST MISSOURI
front where the blows and bullets fell thick-
est, he still carries in his body wounds re-
ceived in the Dark Continent, from the
brave Russians of the Crimea wnen he
fought under the standard of his native
France, and from the dashing Confederates
at "Wilson Creek while fighting with equal
valor M-ith the Stars and Stripes above him.
Stephen Hug is a native of Pres de Col-
mar, Alsace, department du Haut Rhin,
Germany, where he was born on the 24th of
December, 1829. He is of stable farmer
stock, a son of Anton and Marianna (Kuhn)
Hug. The father died at the age of sixty-
four years. The son spent his early life in
France and was educated in both French
and German. He served in the regular
army from 1848 to 1850, and then from 1850
to 1856; and at the age of eighteen he had en-
listed in the French army and went to
Africa. For seven years, from 1848 to 1856,
he served in the Third Regiment of Zouaves
in the province of Constantine. From there
he embarked for the Crimean war at Galli-
poli, Turkey, on the war vessel Gemap, and
while en voyage traversed the ]\Iediterra-
nean sea and the Dardanelles. They de-
barked from the Gemap in the port of Gal-
lipoli and passed behind the Adrianople.
Two days later, while on the march, the
army was taken with cholera and within
forty-eight hours three hundred and sev-
enty-four soldiers and one hundred and
sixteen officers died. They then counter-
marched to Adrianople and took the route
to Varna, then crossing the Black sea to
Eupatoria, where on the following day the
battle of Alma was fought; for this engage-
ment their chief commander. General St.
Arneaut, taking with him to the field one-
half of each company of the whole army
and holding the remainder in reserve on the
vessels. The battle lasted for six hours and
resulted in defeat for the Russian army.
General Menchikoff, commander-in-chief of
the Russian army, brought with him his
family that they might have the pleasure
and satisfaction of witnessing the repulse of
the French and English army, boasting that
he would drive them to the sea, but the
honors were awarded to General St. Arneaut
and his noble warriors. On the second day
following, the latter general called a halt
and ordered his men from the front to the
rear and placed his command in charge of
General Canrobert, telling liim to take Se-
bastopol as soon as possil)le with the forces
he had, "for," said the General to Canro-
bert, "if you wait more than forty-eight
houi's you can not take it, as the enemy
forces are close at hand." A short time
after thus turning the army over to General
Canrobert he very suddenly died.
For the service of Mr. Hug in those cam-
paigns a medal was awarded him by
Queen Victoria, on which is inscribed the fol-
lowing battles: Alma, Inkerman, Balaklava
(where he received a scalp wound from a
sabre), Tcharnaija and Sebastopol (where
he received a serious wound in the left
temple from a shell and which laid him up
about a month), and besides these battles
many skirmishes and sorties. In the follow-
ing spring he returned home, and in 1860
made preparation to come to the United
States, which then threatened to become all
but united. On arriving on these shores
Mr. Hug first located in Pittsburg. A year
afterward he moved to St. Louis, and at the
outbreak of the Civil war' joined the First
]\Iissouri Regiment of Union troops. He
fought with them sturdily and skilfully, and
gathered in two more wounds at the historic
engagement at Wilson Creek.
After the close of the Civil war Mr. Hug
located at Selma Kennett Castle, Missouri,
where he remained for about five years,
then taking up land on the island near Crys-
tal City. In 1879 he removed to his present
homestead, known as Hug's Landing. He
has since improved his estate until it is one
of the most beautiful and valuable farms
in southeastern Missouri. With his fertile
and thoroughly cultivated lands, substantial
brick residence and neat concrete walks, a
picturesque and peaceful country home
overlooking the broad sweep of the Missis-
sippi river, Mr. Hug is not only enjoying
such comforts and charms of life, but the
unbounded respect and affection of his
many friends and the deep love of those
closer to him. He has never dabbled in
politics, although every one knows that he
will be found at every election with a Dem-
ocratic ballot in his hand. In his religious
belief he has always been a Catholic.
Mr. Hug has been twice married, first, in
1856, while living in France, to Miss Ther-
esa Maurrer, by whom he had two children :
Theresa, now Mrs. Wittier, and Justine,
now Mrs. Purges. Mrs. Theresa Hug died
in 1895, and in the following year Mr. Hug
married Mrs. Annie B. Rooney. He has had
no children by his present marriage, al-
HISTORY OF SOUTHEAST MISSOURI
911
though his wife by a former union is the
mother of William Francois Didier and
Margaret Didier, the latter now Mrs. Cos-
ier.
Despite his years ilr. Hug is still hale
and hearty and personally looks after his
estate. He is a successful man and of that
most inspiring and admirable type — the
self-made man.
Ch.\rles T. Hubbard. Among the repre-
sentative Missourians is Charles T. Hubbard,
who owns and operates a small farm on the
edge of Clarkton and who in addition to his
agricultural pursuits is also interested in the
general merchandise business, being em-
ployed in Godsey's store at Clarkton. He is
loyal and public spirited in his civic attitude
and is ever on the alert to do all in his power
to advance the general welfare of Dunklin
county and the state at large.
Charles T. Hubbard was born at Clarkton,
Missouri, on the 30th of May, 1874, and he is
a son of M. "\V. and Elizabeth (Hodges)
Hubbard. The father was a native of the fine
old Bluegrass state of the Union, having been
born and reared in Madison county, Ken-
tuek>', whence he removed to Dunklin county.
Missouri, about the time of the outbreak of
the Civil war. He was a farmer and merchant
by vocation and at the time of his demise,
which occurred in ilay, 1900, he was a man
of extensive prominence and influence in this
section of the state. Mrs. Hubbard, who is
now living at Clarkton, was born in Smith
county, Tennessee, and she is a daughter of
Judge R. L. Hodges, who came with his fam-
ily to Jlissouri in the early '50s. Of the four
children born to IMr. and Mrs. M. W. Hub-
bard. Charles T. is the subject of this notice ;
Robert G. and Walter JI. are mentioned on
other pages of this volume ; and ]\Iollie is the
wife of B. F. Jarman, a farmer near Clark-
ton.
^Ir. Hubbard, whose name forms the cap-
tion for this article, was reared and educated
at Clarkton and he remained on the farm
with his father until the latter 's death, in
1900. After that event he inherited a tract
of thirty-seven acres of the old paternal
estate and after disposing of some of his
property as town lots he still retains twenty-
seven acres, on which he is engaged in general
farming. He makes a specialty of corn and
cotton and has an acre and a half of land set
out to apple and peach trees. He has ten
hogs and a number of cattle and horses. In
the spring of 1911 Mr. Hubbard began to
work as a clerk in Godsey's store at Clarkton
and he expects to continue as such. In poli-
tics he is a stanch Democrat and in fraternal
circles he is affiliated with Lodge No. 8788,
ilodern Woodmen .of America. He is also a
valued member of the Domestic Workers of
the W^orld and of the Mutual Protective
League. In their religious faith he and his
wife are consistent members of the Presby-
terian church, in the different departments of
whose work they are most active and zealous
factors.
On the 1st of June, 1904, was solemnized
the marriage of Mr. Hubbard to I\Iiss Bettie
C. Templetou, a daughter of S. G. and Luella
(Williamson) Templeton, both of whom were
born and reared in Tennessee. Mrs. Hubbard
has one sister, Mrs. Anna Lee ]\Iurrill, of St.
Francois county, Missouri. Mr. and ilrs.
Hubbard are the fond parents of two children,
Templeton, whose birth occurred on the 6th
of June, 1905; and Martha Luella, born on
the 4th of November, 1907. The Hubbards
are popular and prominent factors in connec-
tion with the best social activities of Clark-
ton, where their attractive home is recognized
as a center of most gracious hospitality. Mr.
Hubbard is genial in his associations, kindly
and courteous in his address and he is every-
where accorded the imqualified confidence
and esteem of his fellow men.
Samuel E. ]\Iitchell. It is entirely within
the province of true history to commemorate
and perpetuate the lives and character, the
achievements and honor of the illustrious
sons of the state. High on the roll of those
whose efforts have made the history of medi-
cine in ilissouri a work of fame appears the
name of Dr. S. E. ]\Iitchell, who for the past
five years has been numbered among the medi-
cal practitioners at Maiden, ^Missouri.
Mitchell is strictly a self-made man, his educa-
tion having been obtained through his own
well directed endeavors. In addition to the
work of his profession he is deeply interested
in real-estate and farming operations in the
vicinity of ^lalden and he is also an active
participant in public affairs, his intrinsic
loyalty to all matters affecting the good of
the general welfare having ever been of the
most insistent order.
A native of the fine old Buckeye state of the
Union. Dr. Mitchell was born in Lawrence
county, Ohio, on the 21st of December, 1872,
and he is a son of Everett and Ellen ilit-
912
HISTORY OF SOUTHEAST :MISS0URI
cliell. both of whom are uow deceased. The
father was active in couneetiou with the iron
furnace at Ironton, Ohio, during the greater
portion of his business career, having owned
a half interest in that concern. He was about
the only Democrat in his section of the state,
where he was party leader and where he fre-
quently served as judge of elections. Dr.
]\Iitchell was reared to the age of fifteen years
at Ii-onton, Ohio, where he received his pre-
liminary educational ti-aining. In 1887 he
began to teach school as a means to secure
further education, continuing to be engaged
in that particular line of work for a period
of ten years and having as his ultimate goal
the study of medicine. At one time he was
principal of his home school at Ironton, hav-
ing some seven teachers under his direct
supervision. In 1901 he pursued a course of
two years in the University of Ohio and in
1902 he came to Missouri, where he entered
the medical depai'tment of the University of
St. Louis, in which he was graduated as a
member of the class of 1906, duly receiving
his degree of Doctor of .Aledicine. His me-
dicinal course included two years spent in a
hospital in St. Louis and a short time passed
as demonstrator in the medical department of
his alma mater.
In 1906, shortly after his graduation. Dr.
Mitchell came to Southeastern Missouri on a
homeseekers' excursion, and becoming deeply
impressed with the attractions of the country
and the prospects for a good practice hq
settled at Maiden, where he has resided during
the intervening years to the present time.
Previously he had revisited Ohio and Vir-
ginia in search of a location and had about
decided upon Oklahoma as a choice field but
he never reached that state. When Dr. Mit-
chell landed in Maiden he was about one thou-
sand dollars in debt, but his energy and skill
soon won him a large and representative
patronage and he is now recognized as one of
the foremost business men and citizens of this
place. He has dealt extensively in real-estate
in ]\[alden, where he now draws rental from
some ten or twelve modern residences, and in
addition thereto he is also the owner of a fine
farm of two hundred acres in New ]\Iadrid
county, this state. He is a heavy stockholder
in the Building & Loan Association and in
connection with his medical work is a valued
and appreciative member of the Missouri
State ^Medical Society and the American
Medical Association. Dr. Mitchell attributes
a great deal of his splendid success to the
kind help given him by his old friend, Charles
I\Iason, but without his own energy and ability
no amount of assistance could have won him
such distinctive prestige in five short years.
While he usually votes the Democratic ticket
in political affairs he is not tied down to party
principles. He has served with unusual
efficiency on the local register bureau of
vital statistics and on the state board of
health and in addition thereto has also been
a member of the United States Pension Board.
Dr. Mitchell was united in marriage, in
1901, at Charleston, Illinois, to Miss Sally
Cook, a daughter of John Cook, long a repre-
sentative citizen of that place. Dr. and Mrs.
Mitchell have no children. In their religious
faith they are devout members of the Metho-
dist Episcopal church, in which he is a mem-
ber of the board of trustees and steward. In
fraternal circles he is affiliated with the lodge,
chapter and council of York Rite Masonry
and he is also connected with the Knights of
Pythias and the Modern Woodmen of
America.
J. W. Adams. Distinguished as one of
the leading barbers of Pemiscot county, J. W.
Adams, of Caruthersville, has one of the finest
equipped tonsorial establishments in South-
east Missouri, and is widely known as an
expert in his profession. He was bom in
Saint Clair countj', Illinois. May 25, 1868, a
son of C. W. and Margaret Ella Adams. His
father, a miner, worked at his chosen occupa-
tion in the mining fields of Illinois and Indi-
ana. The parents had a family of four chil-
dren, as follows: J. W., the subject of this
brief biographical sketch ; Edward, who died
in JIalden, Missouri, in 1888; Charles, who
met with an accidental death in childhood,
in Joppa. Illinois, having been drowned in
a well; and Ida, the only daughter and the
oldest child, married Elijah Smith, of Stod-
dard county, Missouri, and died in Bell City,
that county, in 1893, leaving one daughter,
Anna, now the wife of James Pate, of Deer-
iug. Missouri.
Leaving Illinois when a boy, J. W. Adams
worked in various places and at various
employments, eventually locating at Tipton-
ville, Tennessee, where he followed his trade
of a barber for six years, gaining in the mean-
time skill and experience in his chosen work.
Coming from there to Caruthersville, Mis-
souri, in 1896, ]\Ir. Adams bought a barber's
shop near the river, and while in that locality
acquired a good reputation for skilful work-
HISTORY OF SOUTHEAST MISSOURI
913
mauship. Remaining there but a j-ear and a
half, he sold out and bought a shop in the
business section of the city, and about four
years ago, his constantly increasing patronage
demanding more commodious quarters, he
purchased the building in which he is now
located and in which he is carrying on a large
and highly remunerative business, in his
establishment having five chairs and three
bath-rooms. Mr. Adams has also acquired
other property of value in Carathersville,
owning the building now occupied by the
Gil Hill Drug store, and three good lots and
houses in the city, one of which he occupies,
his home, at the corner of Highland avenue
and Sixth street being a fine, two-story house,
well finished and well furnished.
Mr. Adams married, in Tiptonville, Ten-
nessee, Clara Mooney, a daughter of Edward
Moone.y, of that cit.y, and into their house-
hold four children have made their advent,
namely: Charles, born ]\Iarch 6, 1895, attends
the Caruthersville High School; Edward,
born March 20, 1897, is a pupil in the same
school; Cora Allie, born November 27, 1900;
and Ethel ilarie, born March 15, 1902. Fra-
ternally Mr. Adams joined the Beuevolent and
Protective Order of Elks at Cape Girardeau,
and is now a member of Caruthersville Lodge,
No. 1233. of Caruthersville, having been
transferred to it from Cape Girardeau Lodge,
No. 639, of Cape Girardeau. Religiously Mrs.
Adams and the children belong to the ]\Ietho-
dist church, and take much interest and
pleasure in forwarding its work as far as lies
within their power.
Edward Allen, who is closely identified
with the advancement of the agricultural in-
terests of Dunklin county, is pleasantly located
in the town of Campbell, where he is profitably
engaged in the cultivation of the soil, in the
management of his well-kept farm meeting
with signal success. A native of this county,
he was born, December 30. 1861, in Union
township, and was there reared to man's
estate.
His father, Elihu Allen, was born in Ver-
mont, in 1822, coming from honored New
England ancestry. In 1858 he became a
pioneer settler of Missouri, and an extensive
land owner for his times. Locating in LTnion
township, he boiight from the Government
nearly five hundred acres of land, paying
$1.25 an acre for the tract, and at once began
the pioneer labor redeeming a farm from the
wilderness. He met with success as a gen-
eral farmer, and in addition to tilling the soil
was engaged in business as a grocer, building
up an extensive and remunerative trade, which
he continued until his death, February 20,
1881. He married Elizabeth Stout, who was
born in Michigan, in 1810, and died in Union
township, Dunklin county, April 15, 1896.
Brought up on the parental homestead,
Edward Allen received his early education in
the district schools, and remained on the
home farm until twenty-five years of age,
assisting in its labors as a boj', and in its
management after the death of his father.
Starting in life on his own account, Mr. Allen
first purchased eighty acres of land now
included in his present estate, and has since
added by purchase seventy acres more, hav-
ing now title to one hundred and fifty acres
of rich and fertile land, all of which, with
the exception of ten acres, is cleared, and
divided into fields and pastures with wire
fencing. He is an exceedingly skilful agri-
culturist, having erected a substantial set of
buildings, and placed in an excellent state
of tillage, raising abundant crops each sea-
son of corn, potatoes and peas. Mr. Allen
also raises Hereford and Durham cattle, keep-
ing about thirty head; and has likewise
seventy Poland China hogs, and nine head
of horses and mules.
Mr. Allen married for his first wife, in 1886,
Mary E. Crawford. She died January 9,
1899, leaving three children, namely: Fred,
born in 1891 ; Iilyrtle, born in 1891 ; and Edith,
born in 1896. Mr. Allen married for his sec-
ond wife, !Mylissa Rennick. Politically Mr.
Allen uniformly casts his vote in favor of
the Democratic party. Religiously he is a
member of the ^Missionary Baptist church,
of which he was clerk for six years. Fi-ater-
nally he belongs to Pittsburg Lodge, No. 273,
Independent Order of Odd Fellows, at Camp-
bell, in which he has passed all the chaii"s.
WiLLi.vM T. Bbackenridge, a recent resi-
dent of Maiden, has already shown his fellow
citizens that he is a man who is worthy of
their respect. They have not needed to
inquire as to his record before his advent
in Dunklin county, since his general demean-
or and actions during his so.journ in ^Maiden
have gained for him a cordial reception from
all who have come within the circle of his
sympathetic presence.
Mr. Brackenridge's birth occurred at Fort
"Wayne, Indiana, on the 3rd day of October,
1863. He is a son of Joseph Brackenridge,
914
HISTORY OF SOUTHEAST MISSOURI
a native of Indiana, the father born August
24, 1832, in the town of Brookville ; there he
was educated and engaged in the profession of
a lawyer. When a young man he moved to
Fort Wayne, Indiana, there met ]\Iiss Eliza
J. Taylor, whose nativity occurred at Cazeno-
via, New York, January 3, 1832, and the
acquaintance terminated in marriage in 1860.
Three children were born to this union, —
Edith, Robert and William T., all reared and
educated at Fort Wayne, and there the father
and mother resided until they were summoned
to their last rest. Judge Brackenridge died
]\Iay 30, 1891, and his widow survived him
fifteen years, her demise occurring on the
2nd day of June, 1906.
Mr. William T. Brackenridge attended the
public schools of Fort Wayne, Indiana, and
remained in that city until the month of Octo-
ber, 1910. After completing his schooling
he began studying law and was employed by
his father. In the year 1911 he incorporated
the Wayne Heading Company, one of the
largest manufacturers of barrel headings in
the country; it turns out twenty thousand
sets of barrel headings per week. ilr. Brack-
enridge is secretary and treasurer of this
concern, which was incorporated under the
name of The Hannah Brackenridge Company,
of Fort Wayne, Indiana, whose distributing
point is ]\Ialden. Since coming to Maiden
Mr. Brackenridge has purchased a section of
land and it is now all cleared. A big ditch
has been put through the property and the
land is rapidly rising in value.
On the 14th of October, 1894, Mr. Brack-
enridge was united in marriage to Miss
Catherine Schermerhorn of Delphi, Indiana,
and they are the parents of four children, — •
Joseph Hale, born July 12, 1897 ; Janet, whose
birth occurred July 5, 1902; William Taylor,
his father's namesake, whose nativity occurred
on the 26th day of July, 1904; and Reed
Case, born January 5, 1907. Mr. and Mrs.
Brackenridge are both members of the Epis-
copal church.
Jerry M. j\IcElvain. Of all the qualities
which are essential in order to ensure success
there is none more important than the ability
to stick to a thing, to surmount all obstacles,
to disregard all unpleasantness, to climb up
after falling down, to hope in spite of failure
— such has been the attitude of ^Ir. JMcElvain,
the stock dealer who is so well-known in
Caruthersville. There is no kind of a man
that UMturc liatrs so iiiuc'h as a quitter; with
men, as with horses, the supreme test of
mettle is the ability to stay in, and to give
the extra burst of power when it is required,
thus qualifying to start in another contest.
Mr. McElvain is a native son of the state
of Illinois, born in Hamilton county, that
state, August 3, 1866. He is a son of W. R.
and Minerva (Shelton) McElvain, born in
Pennsylvania and Ohio, respectively. Mr.
McElvain, Sr., followed the occupation of a
stock-raiser and dealer. He was not success-
ful in making much money and could not
give his children many educational advan-
tages. Jerry M., the sixth in order of birth
of the ten children born to his parents,
obtained such little education as he was able
to procure in his native county, and at the
age of about fourteen he left school and
started to battle for himself in the busy world.
He went into the stock business, but met with
one misfortune after another, difficulties that
would have discouraged most men ; he failed,
lost everything he possessed except a covered
wagon and a team of horses, but he simply
looked around for some other location in which
to make a fresh start. He came to Caruthers-
ville in the spring of 1899, arriving April
18th, in his covered wagon, traveling almost
like a gypsy, and without losing any time he
went to Tom Miles, an old liveryman, and
so impressed Mr. Miles that he gave the en-
terprising .young man a load of horses to sell
on a commission of fifty per cent. This was
Mr. McElvain 's fresh start in life and from
that time he has continued to make money in
the stock business and as a liveryman. In
twelve short years, beginning with a capital
of a covered wagon and a team of horses, he
has become the owner of the largest retail
business as a stock dealer between Memphis
and St. Louis, and his capital is more than
sixty-five thousand dollars.
On February 18, 1885, when only nineteen
years of age, Mr. IMcElvain was united in
marriage to Miss Margaret Adams, born in
1868, in Saline county, Illinois, where her
parents, John and Demarius (Boyd) Adams,
resided. Mr. and Mrs. McElvain had a
family of six children, whose names are as
follows: William, born April 9, 1886, who is
a recent graduate from the law department
of the University of ^Missouri and is now
practicing in Caruthersville ; Gilbert, de-
ceased; Cl.vde, who was graduated from the
Jackson, Missouri. Military School and is
married to Josephine Pierce, daughter of
Charles R. and Elizabeth Pierce, owners of
HISTORY OF SOUTHEAST MISSOURI
915
a farm near Caruthersville ; Ralph, who is
employed in the Famous Store Company;
ilinerva, the wife of D. B. Burnett, of Tip-
tonville, Tennessee ; and Jerry, who died in
infancy. Mrs. McElvain was with her hus-
band during his poverty and has remained
by his side during his prosperity — a help-
meet throughout. She is greatly interested in
the work of the ilethodist church of Caruth-
ersville. and is ever ready to lend her aid
to any branch of the religious activities of
the church.
ill-. jMcElvain is a loyal Democrat in po-
litical views, anxious at all times to do his
best in support of his party. He holds mem-
bership with the fraternal order of Eagles
and with the tribe of Red Men. Probably
because he was denied the privileges of a
liberal education himself, he has realized its
importance and he has given his children the
best educational training that he could find.
They are all doing credit to their training
and to their parents and are becoming men
and women of prominence in the world.
Louis Theilmann is one of the foremost
educators of Southeastern Missouri. As su-
perintendent of the Bonne Terre schools for
eight years his work has borne fruit in the
reputation for its fine schools, which is now
one of the best distinctions of Bonne Terre.
This city was one of the first in Southeastern
Missouri to introduce manual training as
part of its public school course. Throughout
his long career as an educator Professor
Theilmann has been an exponent of the prac-
tical in education, and was among the first in
the state to urge instruction in agriculture,
manual training and domestic science, as a
regular part of common-school work. While
advocating the modern and practical in pref
erence to the outgrown formulas of the past,
he also strives to make civic righteousness
the central principle of his plan of education.
Professor Theilmann was born in Hamilton
county, Ohio, April 27, 1862. His father.
John Theilmann, was born in Hesse-Darm
stadt, Germany. January 5, 1833, and re
ceived his early education in German schools.
He arrived in America on his twenty-first
birthday, and after working a number of
years in New York and Cincinnati he moved
to a farm in Northwest IMissouri in 1867.
His final years are being spent on his old
liomestead. He is one of the old-time hon-
est, industrious and thrifty farmers, and has
always enjoyed the respect and esteem of his
community. In politics he is a Republican,
and is a member of the Swedeuborgian
church. He married, in 1857, Miss Amelia
Fehleisen, a native of "Wurtemberg, Ger-
many. Education was one of her strongest
ideals, and she was willing to deny herself in
order that all her children, four sons and
two daughters, might receive adequate prep-
aration for life.
While growing up on the home farm Pro-
fessor Theilmann attended the country
schools of Caldwell county, and after leaving
the Kingston high school entered the ]Mis-
souri State University, where he graduated in
1885 with the degree of Bachelor of Science.
The degree of Master of Science was given
him by the university in 1890. During the
quarter of a century since leaving the Uni-
versity his work has been almost entirely in
the educational field. He was principal of
the Kingston schools one year, taught in
Clinton Academy one and a half years; in
1888, with his brother, G. A. Theilmann, or-
ganized the Appleton City Academy and was
connected therewith ten years, was principal'
of the Breckinridge schools three years, and
for the past eight j'ears has been superin-
tendent of the schools at Bonne Terre. He
is also part owner, with Mr. Wolpers. of the
Bonne Terre Register, Mr. Wolpers being
editor of that popular paper.
Professor Theilmann is Republican in pol-
itics, is a member of the Swedeuborgian
church, and alSliates with the Masonic and
Odd Fellows orders. He married, in 1898,
Miss Jessie M. Baugh, daughter of J. M.
Baugh, of Appleton City, Missouri. They
have three children: Gertrude, Wallace and
Giles.
James D. Brandon. One of the prosper-
ous and extensive farmers in the vicinity of
Clarkton, Dunklin county, was the late James
D. Brandon, who owned a valuable property,
and whose operations included general farm-
ing, stock-raising and cotton-growing. He
was born in Livingston county, Kentucky,
May 10, 1867, his parents being John A. R.
and Fredonia (Burgess) Brandon. His
decease occurred July 28, 1911. The father
was a farmer and mechanic in the Bluegrass
state and owned one hundred and fourteen
acres near Smithland, Livingston county,
Kentuclrv% where he successfully raised to-
bacco. When the subject was of tender yeai-s
the little family removed to Henry county in
the western part of Tennessee and there they
916
HISTORY OF SOUTHEAST MISSOURI
resided for about eight years. In 1879, they
made another change of residence to Clay
county, Arkansas, where the father bought
four hundred and eighty acres of land. John
A. R. Brandon was the father of a number
of sons and daughters. The eldest was John
A. Jr., who came into Dunklin couuty m 1891.
He located in the southwestern part of Free-
man township, where for sevei-al years he
worked upon a farm. His marriage to Miss
Alice Reeves occurred December 23, 1894.
He gradually acquired property, in 1899 buy-
ing eighty acres ; in 1902, forty acres ; in 1907,
nmety acres and a little later thirty, the lat-
ter purchased from J. W. Swobey. He was
unfortunate in losing a great number of
hogs in the cholera epidemic in 1910. He is
the father of six children, namely: James, a
pupil in the fifth grade ; Everett, in the third ;
Liola, Clarence, Ruby and Audrey, who have
not jet attained to school-going age. John
A. lirandon Jr. was a student at Campbell
high school and was a teacher in the county
for several years, teaching three years at Prov-
idence, and one year at Lentz. He is engaged
for the coming year at Pee Dee and expects
to continue as an instructor, a work for which
he is well qualified. He is a member of the
Masonic fraternity, of the Independent Order
of Odd Fellows, and the Domestic Workers,
of which latter order he is secretary. Mrs.
Brandon is a member of the General Baptist
church of Mount Gideon.
JMelissa, second child of John A. Brandon,
Sr., became the wife of J. R. Rice, a farmer
residing on the Saint Francois river. At his
death, some fifteen years ago she married Mr.
David Jones, a farmer of this county. She
died in 1898, leaving one child, Alice, who
first married a Mr. Lot of Kentucky and at
his death married a Mr. Harris. She has
four children — Eliza, Hattie, George and
Jlay. Minnie Rowton, third of John Bran-
don's children, is now deceased.
James D. Brandon, the third child of the
family and immediate subject of this review,
left his native Kentucky when a child and
the changes of residence of his parents divided
his early years between Henry county, Ten-
nessee, and Arkansas. He eventually found
his way to Missouri and began working for
the father of James Kitchen in 1885 and con-
tinued in his employ for about one year. He
then was engaged by other farmers and in
1890 he made a start toward independence by
purchasing from his father-in-law, H. G. Hall,
eighty acres of land. In 1903 he bought
forty acres more of Judge Scobey's son J.
W. Seobey, and in 1908 bought an additional
one hundred and twenty acres of the Seobey
land from Judge L. H. Seobey. In 1897 he
sold sixty acres to H. G. Hall.
Mr. Brandon was united in the holy bonds
of matrimony to Margaret R. Hall, daughter
of H. G. and Mary (Baysinger) Hall, of
Dunklin county. They became the parents of
five children, three of whom are living. One
died in early infancy and a little daughter,
Tennie Elizabeth, succumbed at the age of
two years to chills and fever. Mary, the
eldest daughter, married W. S. Sanders,
farmer of Dunklin county and their two
children died at an early age. Mr. Sanders
owns a farm not far from the homestead of
Mr. Brandon. Lula married L. H. Shepard,
a farmer living in the vicinity of Sanders,
and they have an infant son. Homer, while a
daughter Hazel, died in infancy. Mattie,
became the wife of Joseph Ferguson an agri-
culturist in this section and they have an
infant daughter. Opal. Mr. Brandon also had
a little daughter, Alice, by his last marriage.
The first Mrs. Brandon died in 1896 and
after her demise the subject married Tennie
ilcFarland, a daughter of one of the old fami-
lies here, but she lived for only a short time.
In 1905, Mr. Brandon married a third time,
Ida ]\Iay Netts, daughter of J. P. Netts, who
was reared in this county, becoming his wife.
She died in 1907. Mr. Brandon then took
as his wife Nora Lentz, daughter of Eli and
Sarah (Norman) Lentz and had one child,
Alice, w4io is about eighteen months of age.
Mr. Brandon was a successful farmer and
left a well-improved property, all but sixty
acres of which is well-cleared and under cul-
tivation. He raised cotton and every year
had excellent crops. His estate now consists
of about three hundred and twenty acres.
He was a consistent member of the Metho-
dist Protestant church, in which he held the
office of trustee. His widow is a Baptist.
The subject was a Republican in his political
conviction and took a public-spirited interest
in all the aft'airs of the community. He was
a very popular lodge man, having belonged to
the Independent Order of Odd Fellows, at
Campbell, Missouri ; and at Maiden was affi-
liated with the Modern Woodmen, the Modern
Brotherhood and the Woodmen of the World,
while he was also connected with the Domes-
tic Workers at Pee Dee.
HISTORY OF SOUTHEAST :\nSSOURl
91^
William Bredensteineb. To the people
of Maiden the name of William Bredensteiner
immediately suggests a picture of appetizing
bakery commodities, neatly and tastefully
arranged. As a general thing foods that are
especially palatable are not particularly
wholesome, but that is not the case with Mr.
Bredensteiner 's products, which are prepared
under sanitary conditions and at the same
time they satisfy the cravings of hunger. Mr.
Bredensteiner is both a popular and a suc-
cessful business man, and is such not by acci-
dent but by virtue of industry, honor and a
thorough knowledge of his specialty.
The birth of William Bredensteiner oc-
curred on the 29th day of September, 1864, in
the kingdom of Hanover, now a province of
Prussia, Germany. His parents, Fred and
Mary (Buchsick) Bredensteiner, were both
life-long residents of the same German king-
dom where the mother 's birth occuiTcd in 1831
and the father's in 1815. They reared a
family of five children, — Mary, Karl, Anna,
William and Ernest (twins). Father Bre-
densteiner fought in the war of the French
Revolution, and was an actor in the terrible
scenes which were common during that con-
flict. As a civilian he was engaged in the
occupation of a farmer, and he lived to the
good old age of eighty-four years, his death
occurring in 1899. His widow survived him
six years, she being summoned to her last
rest in 1905, at the age of seventy-four.
William Bredensteiner entered school
when he was six years old and his educational
training continued until his fourteenth year;
during his eight years of schooling, obtained
in the public institutions of his native town,
he gained a good, general education, and on
its termination he commenced to learn the
bakery trade at the quaint town of Bremen
on the Weser, as the apprentice of one of the
master bakers of that town. By the time he
had served his apprenticeship he had become
an adept at his trade and for six months he
worked as a baker in his native kingdom, but
believed that he could do better in the United
States. On the 5th day of October, 1882,
therefore, he landed at Baltimore, Maryland,
and went direct to Cincinnati, Ohio, where
'■'s sister jMary resided. She had married
Fred Drees, a baker in that city. Mr. Bre-
densteiner worked for I\Ir. Henry Kassen, a
baker, for five years. Then followed a period
of wandering on the part of Mr. Breden-
steiner; for a year he worked in Paris, Ken-
tucky, then six weeks in Louisville, Kentucky,
then two years and a half at St. Louis, Mis-
souri, where he worked partly at night and
partly by day. Following his St. Louis experi-
ence he came to New Madrid county, Alissouri,
where for five years he was employed in
Henry Jasper's bakery at New Madrid. Next
he worked one year at Murphysboro, Illinois,
then one year at Harriman, Tennessee. In
1898 he came to Maiden and for five years he
was the head baker of Al. S. Davis. During
all these years of change of scene and oJ:
employers Mr. Bredensteiner had accumulated
a little money, as well as considerable experi-
ence of conditions in different parts of the
country, and on the first of March, 1903, tired
of working for others any longer, he bought
out Mr. Davis' bakery and commenced to do
business for himself. Scarcely more than
two months later (May 25, 1903) a fire swept
away the buildings on Madison street, where
ilr. Bredensteiner 's bakery was located, and
his store was entirely demolished. On the
11th of February, 1904, he moved to the loca-
tion where his store is today (the corner of
Madison and Beckwith) and re-commenced to
build up a trade. His patronage is now as
good if not better than that of any other
bakery in the county. In 1906 he put in a
line of groceries with his bakery goods and
now has a fine, up-to-date establishment.
jMr. Bredensteiner was married to Miss
Eliza Cook, September 22, 1894. Miss Cook
was a native of Bloomfield, Missouri, and is
the daughter of Nathaniel and Anna Cook.
Mr. and Mrs. Bredensteiner are the parents
of three children, all of whom are attending
the public school in Maiden and whose names
are as follows: Doi'othy, born August 14,
1896; Walter, whose birth occurred January
9, 1901 ; and Albert, the date of whose nativity
is March 17, 1903.
Mr. Bredensteiner has always been deeply
interested in the politics of his adopted coun-
try, and in the Republican party he believes
he sees the best principles of good govern-
ment; he, therefore, is a strong Republican,
although he keeps out of politics himself. In
religious belief he holds to the Lutheran
creed — the doctrine in which he was trained.
In a fraternal way he is widely connected;
he is affiliated with the Modern Woodmen of
America, with the Maccabees, with the
Knights of Pythias, with the Masons (being
a member of the Council No. 46, Royal and
Select Masters; of Chapter No. 117, Roj'al
Arch Masons; and of Commandery No. 61,
Knights Templars), and with the Benevolent
918
HISTOKY OF SOUTHEAST MISSOURI
and Protective Order of Elks. His stand-
ing with tliis last mentioned order has been
of a high and important nature, as is indi-
cated by the fact that he dedicated the Elk
hall at Cape Girardeau. Personally Mr.
Bredensteiner is a man of pleasing demeanor
and his views of life and attitude towards
people in general are characteristic of a
broad-minded man who has traveled as exten-
sively as did Mr. Bredensteiner.
J. S. N. Faequhar. Especially worthy of
representation in this biographical volume is
J. S. N. Farquhar, of Caruthersville, who
through his own enterprise, worth and ability
has risen to a commanding position in the
lumber trade of Southeast Missouri, and is
actively identified with the advancement of
other industrial enterprises. A native of Mis-
souri, he was born in 1881, in jMadison county,
a son of David and Sarah Ann (Graham)
Farquhar, the latter of whom was born and
reared in the same county, the former in
Scotland.
Completing his early education at the Mar-
vin Collegiate Institute, in Frederiektown,
^Missouri, J. S. N. Farquhar taught school for
a year, and in 1903 was graduated from
Draughon's Practical Business College, at
Saint Louis. Going then to Arkansas, he
had charge of a lumber yard until ill health
compelled him to resign his position and
return home. He married soon afterward,
and for a few months succeeding that impor-
tant event in his life was bookkeeper, at
Marianna, Arkansas, for the L'Anguille Lum-
ber Company. Locating at Caruthersville,
Pemiscot county, Missouri, May 2, 1904, Mr.
Farquhar assumed charge of the yards of the
Riverside Lumber Company, and has since
been instnimental in building up a large and
lucrative trade for his employers. He is
amply qualified for the position, being keen
and alert to take advantage of opportunities,
and broad and bright enough to handle all
of the business that comes in his way. The
Riverside Lumber Company was organized in
1900, and is carrying on a substantial busi-
ness. Mr. Farquhar is likewise connected
with various other important enterprises,
being a stockholder and the president of the
Home Lumber and Shingle Manufacturing
Company, which was organized March 11,
1911, and is a stockholder in the Whitener
Jewelry Company, the Argus Publishing
Company and the Twentieth Century Pub-
lishing Company of Saint Louis.
On March 27, 1904, Mr. Farquhar was
united in marriage with Gertrude M. E. Twid-
well, who was born in Wayne county, Mis-
souri, July 25, 1882, and they have two chil-
dren, namely: Angella Conchita, born Janu-
ary 7, 1907 ; and Bonnie Marie, born Febru-
ary 14, 1909. Mr. Farquhar is an active mem-
ber of the Caruthersville branch of the
Mutual Protective League, and since its
organization, in 1907, has sei'ved as its secre-
tary. He likewise belongs to the Modern
Woodmen of America, and has held all of the
officers in the local camp. Both ilr. and Mrs.
Farquhar are prominent members of the Bap-
tist church, in which he is a deacon, the
church clerk and a teacher in its Sunday-
school.
Ambrose Davis Bridges. A venerable and
highly respected citizen of Campbell, Dunk-
lin county, Ambrose D. Bridges has been a
resident of this part of the state for upwards
of sixty-six years, and in that time has wit-
nessed many wonderful transformations in
the county, the wild land being converted into
fields rich with grain, the log cabins of the
pioneers being replaced by commodious frame
houses, while the hamlets of the early times
have developed into thriving villages and
populous towns and cities. In this grand
change Mr. Bridges has- contributed his full
share of the pioneer labor, and can now look
back with pride and pleasure upon his work.
A native of Kentucky, he was born, January
10, 1823, in Mercer county, a son of William
and Nancy (Davis) Bridges, the former of
whom died in Campbell, Missouri, in June,
1846, and the latter died about 1838.
Reared and educated in Kentucky, Ambrose
D. Bridges came to Missouri soon after attain-
ing his majority, and on January 18, 1844,
located in the woods near the St. Francois
River near what is now Campbell, where he
pui-sued his favorite occupations, farming and
hunting. No land south of township twenty-
two had then been surveyed, but he took up a
tract of forty acres, which, as soon as it was
surveyed, he purchased. This was then a part
of Stoddard county which then extended
north to Whitewater sixteen miles southwest
of Cape Girardeau. With true pioneer grit,
he began the improvement of a homestead,
and as a farmer met with eminent success.
As his means increased, he wisely invested it
in other tracts of land, in course of time
acquiring title to two thousand acres of rich
and valuable land, thirteen hundred of which
HISTORY OF SOUTHEAST MISSOURI
919
he still owns, the remainder having been
deeded to his children. In addition to carry-
ing on general farming with good results Mr.
Bridges has devoted much attention to the
raising of hogs and horses, and for a quarter
of a century operated a saw mill. His farm
is finely improved, and amply supplied with
all the accessories required by a modern and
successful agriculturist.
Since taking up his residence near Camp-
bell, he has resided at his present home since
his marriage in 1845. Jlr. Bridges has taken
an intelligent interest in everything pertain-
ing to the welfare of town and county, and
had the honor of being called to sit upon the
first grand jury convened in Dunklin county.
Diiring the Civil war, he served as lieutenant
in Captain Leander Taj'lor's company, Col.
James Walker's regiment, for a year, and
after his return home, while running his saw
mill he had frequent troubles with the guer-
rillas, which then infested the country at
times. He is identified with one of the lead-
ing financial institutions of his community,
having been a director of the Bank of Camp-
bell since its organization.
Mr. Bridges married, February 24, 1845,
Charlotte Russell, who was born January 13,
1829, in Hickman county, Kentucky', and died
at the home near Campbell, ilissouri, in 1896.
Fourteen children were born into the pleasant
home of Mr. and Mrs. Bridges, namely : Eliza-
beth, deceased, who married Jasper Beasley;
Minerva, a widow, living in Campbell ; Wil-
liam, of Campbell, of whom a brief notice
appears elsewhere in this work; John, James,
Ellen, and Perry E., all deceased; Eliza, wife
of Lee J. Taylor, of whom a short sketch
may be found on another page of this volume ;
Sarah Ann, wife of Frank Bristol, an
employee in a mill at Campbell; Lucy, wife
of G. AV. McCutchen; Josephine, wife of
Thomas ]\Iedley ; and Lottie and Daniel, twins,
who died in infancy and Marion D., deceased.
Politically ilr. Bridges is a stanch adherent
of the Democratic party. Fraternally he is a
member of Four Mile Lodge, No. 212, A, F. &
A. M., of Campbell; of Kennett Chapter, R.
A. M., which he organized; and of Campbell
Council, No. 33, R. & S. M.. of Campbell. He
is also a member of the Order of the Eastern
Star of Campbell.
Levi ^Mercantile Company. At this .junc-
ture attention is directed to a brief history
of one of the leading department stores in
Southeastern Missouri. The Levi [Mercantile
Company was incorporated under the laws of
the state of Missouri in 1889, with a capital
stock of twenty-five thousand dollars and it
is officered as follows: J. D. Goldman, St.
Louis, president ; J. N. Arends, vice-president ;
A. Lebermuth, secretary and treasurer; and
A. Lebermuth and J. N. Arends, general man-
agers. This concern, the business of which
has now reached very large proportions, was
originally J. S. Levi & Company, which was
founded by J. S. Levi and J. D. Goldman, at
i\Ialden, Missouri, in the year 1878. At that
early day J. S. Levi was resident manager
and the other partner, J. D. Goldman, main-
tained his home in the city of St. Louis, the
two men having formerly been associated in
a number of important business enterprises at
Dexter, Missouri. Closely connected with the
Levi Mercantile Company is the Goldman-
Levi Land Company, which was incorporated
in 1889 and which controls considerable valu-
able real estate in this section of Southeastern
[Missouri. Mr. Levi lives at Kokomo, Indiana,
whither he removed in 1889 and where he is
engaged in the dry goods business, and Mr.
Goldman is still in St. Louis, where he is also
a member of the Lesser-Goldman Cotton Com-
pany . The Goldman-Levi Land Company
owns a great deal of city and country realty
at and near Maiden and the Mercantile Com-
pany is its local representative. The Levi
Mercantile Company occupies two floors, fifty
by one hundred feet each in lateral dimen-
sions, and it also owns a store room, twenty-
five by one hundred feet. It is a modern and
well equipped department store, its stock in-
cluding a complete line of dry goods, cloth-
ing, furniture, hardware and agricultural im-
plements, in addition to which it also is a
large buyer of cotton, handling upwards of
twenty-two hundred bales per annum of the
latter commodity. This business enterprise
is constantly increasing the scope of its opera-
tions and it caters to a very cosmopolitan
trade.
Adolph Lebermuth, one of the general man-
agers of the Levi Mercantile Company, was
born in Bavaria, on the 19th of September,
1855, and he is a son of David and Jeannette
Lebermuth, both natives of Bavaria. He
received his preliminary educational training
in the public schools of his native place and
in 1885 he came to Slalden, to accept a posi-
tion as bookkeeper for J. S. Levi & Com-
pany. He continued in the employ of that
concern, in the capacity of bookkeeper, up
to 1889, when the company was incorporated
HISTORY OF SOUTHEAST MISSOURI
and he was installed as one of the general
managers, in co-partnership with J. N.
Arends. ilr. Arends is a native of Germany,
where his birth occurred on the 6th of Janu-
ary, 1854. He is a son of John N. and Mary
T. Arends and after completing the curri-
culum of the Christian Brothers school of
Jlobile. Alabama, he, as a young man, turned
his attention to the mercantile business. In
1879 he entered the employ of Messrs. Levi
and Goldman at Dexter, Missouri, coming
with Jlr. Levi to Maiden when the firm of
J. S. Levi & Company was formed. While at
Dexter he was salesman and cotton buyer
and since 1889 he has been joint manager of
the Levi Mercantile Company. Under the
able management and guidance of Messrs.
Lebermuth and Arends the business of this
concern has increased to a remarkable extent.
They are both possessed of executive ability
and energy and as citizens their interest in
the general welfare has ever been of the most
loyal and public-spirited order. In politics
they are uncompromising advocates of the
principles and policies promulgated by the
Democratic party and in fraternal circles
they are affiliated with a number of represent-
ative organizations of a local character.
Prank D. Roberts. Noteworthy among
the talented and accomplished men who have
graced the bar of Southeast Missouri is
Frank D. Roberts, of Caruthersville, who has
served as prosecuting attorney both of his
home city and of Pemiscot county, and has
likewise represented his district in the Mis-
souri State Legislature. A native of Ten-
nessee, he was born December 25, 1855, in
Dyersburg, coming from a well-known and
highly respected family.
His father, the late John Roberts, was for
many years actively engaged in business at
Dyersburg, Tennessee, owning a large store
and also a cotton gin, both of which he oper-
ated successfully, continuing there until his
death, in the latter '70s. To him and his
wife, whose maiden name was Mary Davis,
four children were born, namely: Frank D.,
with whom this brief sketch is chiefly con-
cerned; William D., of Memphis, Tennessee,
an extensive cotton dealer, owning gins in
^Memphis and in other places; Joseph, for
many years engaged in the livery business in
Dyersburg, Tennessee, died, in 1883, at Daw-
son Springs, Tennessee ; and Robert Lee, who
was engaged in the cotton business with his
brother William, died in Portageville, Mis-
souri, in 1905.
Ambitious as a youth to enter upon a pro-
fessional career, Frank D. Roberts began the
study of law in Memphis, Tennessee. In 1880
he located in Pemiscot county, ilissouri, and
having been admitted to the bar at Gayoso,
the old county seat, he there began the prac-
tice of his profession. In 1889 he opened a
law office at Caruthersville, where he has
since resided. A man of strong personality,
possessing much force of character and reso-
lution of purpose, Mr. Roberts, as natural to
one of his mental calibre, soon became active
in public affairs, serving as mayor of Caruth-
ersville and representing his county in the
State Legislature. He did much to advance
the cause of education in Southeast Missouri,
and for a while was school commissioner. For
nearly six years after coming to Caruthers-
ville he was connected with the mercantile
establishment of Cunningham Brothers, dur-
ing which time he invested in land. He has
since bought many other tracts, and is now
an extensive owner of realty, having title to
much valuable land in Pemiscot county.
On December 21, 1882, Mr. Roberts was
united in marriage with Sallie M. Cunning-
ham, a daughter of Frank and Mary E.
(Johnson) Cunningham, the former of whom
died in Caruthersville, January 16. 1892,
while the latter is a resident of this city. Mrs.
Koberts has four brothers in Caruthersville,
all of whom are large landholders and mem-
bers of the old and reliable mercantile firm
of Cunningham Brothers, as follows: John
A., Charles L., Frank J. and Kent H. Six
children have blessed the union of Mr. and
Mrs. Roberts, namely : Grace E., who married
Clellan Tindle, cashier of the Pemiscot Coun-
ty Bank, has four children, all sons; ]\Iary
E., wife of Arthur E. Oliver, a rising young
attorney of Caruthersville, has one child, John
R. Oliver; Nell C, was graduated from the
Caruthersville High School, subsequently
studied one year in Saint Louis, and gradu-
ated at Dr. Mary Law's School in Toledo,
Ohio, and is now teaching in a kindergarten
school in Chicago; Ernestine, who completed
the course of study at a school for physical
culture in Battle Creek, Michigan, is now
residing at Chicago ; and Floyd B. and Frank
Jr.. are both pupils in the Caruthersville
High School.
Fraternally Mr. Roberts is a member of
the Ancient Free and Accepted Order of
^.^
^
HISTORY OF SOUTHEAST MISSOURI
921
Masons and of the Knights of Pj^thias. He
formerly belonged to CaruthersviUe Lodge,
Independent Order of Odd Fellows, being a
member until the disbandment of the lodge.
He is a member of the Presbj^terian church,
to which his wife and children also belong.
]Mr. Roberts retired from the active prac-
tice of his profession in 1904, since which
time he has devoted attention to his other ex-
tensive interests.
Moses Wopford. The world instinctively
pays deference to the man whose success has
been worthily achieved and whose promi-
nence is not the less the result of an irre-
proachable life than of natural talents and
unusual energy exerted along the line of
his chosen field of work. Among the great
captains of industry in southeastern Mis-
souri Moses "Wofford holds prestige as a
citizen and business man whose success has
been on a parity with his own well directed
endeavors. In addition to owning consider-
able valuable property in this section of the
state he is president of the Dunklin County
Bank, is treasurer and general manager of
the Allen Store Company, at Maiden, and
is vice-president of the Senter Commission
Company, of St. Louis.
A native of the fine old commonwealth of
Georgia, iloses "\Yofford was born in For-
syth county, that state, the date of his na-
tivity being the 20th of April, 1850. He is
a son of John P. and Mary (Cunningham)
Wofford, both of whom are now deceased.
The father was identified with farming dur-
ing his active career, and he died in 1885,
at the age of sixty-nine years. The mother
died in 1856, aged thirty-five years, and left
seven children. The father married the
second time, wedding Mary Wofford, and
they had five children, one of whom is liv-
ing. Mrs. Wofford died at about thirty-five
years of age, in 1865. Mr. Wofford and his
first wife became the parents of seven chil-
dren, of whom the subject of this review
was the fifth in order of birth, and two of
whom are living in 1911. Moses Wofford
passed his boyhood and youth in his native
state of Georgia and his preliminary educa-
tional training consisted of such advantages
as were afforded in the schools of the stren-
uous war times. When seventeen years of
age, he removed to western Tennessee and
thence to St. Louis, Missouri, in 1879. For
a short time he maintained his home in Ar-
kansas, representing the northern part of
that state and southeastern Missouri in the
cotton market for the Senter Commission
Company. This was in 1881, and he has
been with them ever since.
Closes Wofford established his home at
JIalden, Missouri, in 1898, and here he has
since continued to reside. The Allen Store
Company, of which he is treasurer and gen-
eral manager, was incorporated under the
laws of the state in 1892, R. H. Allen,
having been the original general manager,
Mv. Allen was succeeded, in 1898, by Mr.
Wofford as manager. This corporation has
a capital stock of twenty thousand dollars
and the excess including the capital as-
sets amounts to forty-five thousand dollars.
In addition the Company owns a fine store
building, forty-five by one hundred feet in
lateral dimensions, with four store rooms,
twenty by forty-five feet, opening on Mad-
ison street. The annual sales of the concern
amoimt to from fifty-two thousand to fifty-
five thousand dollars annually and the cot-
ton end of the business amounts to from two
hundred to five hundred bales annually.
The Allen Store Company is practically a
country department store, complete in
equipment and strictly modern in all its
appointments. For thirt.y years Closes Wof-
ford has traveled in southeastern Missouri for
the Senter Commission Company, of St.
Louis, of which important concern he is now
the efficient incumbent of the office of vice-
president. This concern is a general com-
mission house, with cotton as its principal
line. Mr. Wofford is also interested in the
Dunklin County Bank at Maiden, of which
substantial monetary institution he is presi-
dent. This bank is incorporated with a cap-
ital stock of twenty thousand dollars and
is officered as follows: Moses Wofford,
president; Henry Anderson, vice-president;
and W. J. Davis, cashier. Mr. Wofford
in his various business dealings is a man of
keen foresight and of shrewd discernment,
and inasmuch as his present high position in
the business world of southeastern Missouri is
the direct outcome of his own well applied ef-
forts, his admirable success is the more grat-
ifying to contemplate.
In his political convictions Mr. Wofford
is a stalwart supporter of the principles and
policies for which the Democratic party
stands sponsor, and while he has never been
an office seeker he is a willing contributor
to all matters pro.jected for progress and
improvement. He has served as a member
922
HISTORY OF SOUTHEAST MISSOURI
of the Maiden school board and in his re-
ligious faith is a consistent member of the
Missionary Baptist church at Maiden. In
the time-honored Masonic order he has
passed through the circle of the York Rite
branch, being past worshipful master of
Blue Lodge, of the Ancient Free and Ac-
cepted Llasons; and past eminent com-
mander of Maiden Commandery, No. 61, of
the Knights Templars, ilalden, and a mem-
ber of the Scottish Rite at Little Rock,
Arkansas.
ilr. Woiford married first Emma Wade,
a native of Trenton, Tennessee, where she
was reared, and she died in 1885, when
about twenty-five years of age. His second
marriage was to Birdie Hilton, at Judsonia,
Arkansas, where she was born and reared, a
daughter of George and Cassie (Key) Hilton.
They have two children: Irene, ten years of
age, and Charles Hilton , an infant. Mrs.
Woff'ord is also a member of the Missionary
Baptist church.
Walter M. Hdbbaed. The city of Clark-
ton, Missouri, is particularly fortunate in its
type of clean-cut, straightforward business
men, whose contribution to progress and de-
velopment has ever been of the most insistent
order. One of its foremost citizens is Walter
M. Hubbard, who conducts a large and thriv-
ing general merchandise business on jAFain
street. His establishment is wonderfully well
equipped and caters to a large trade in Clark-
ton and the country normally tributary
thereto.
Walter M. Hubbard was born at Clarkton,
]\Iissouri, the date of his nativity being the
9th of September, 1872. He is a son of
Michael W. and Elizabeth D. Hubbard, the
former of whom was called to eternal rest on
the 10th of ilay, 1900, and the latter is now
living with her sons. The father was a native
of Madison county, Kentucky, whence he came
to Missouri, settling in Clarkton at about the
time of the inception of the Civil war. The
mother was born in Smith county. Tennessee,
and she is a daughter of R. L, Hodges, who
came to Missouri in the ante-bellum days and
who was at one time judge of Dunklin county.
M. W. Hubbard was a farmer and merchant
by occupation, at one time owning a farm of
one hundred and sixty acres near Clarkton
and conducting a .store in this place for about
twenty years. Mr. and Mrs. Hubbard be-
came the parents of four children, concern-
ing whom the following brief record is here
inserted, — Robert G. is the owner of a farm
of one hundred and twenty acres of land
south of Clarkton: he is mentioned on other
pages of this work; Charles T. is likewise a
farmer by vocation and a sketch of his career
appears elsewhere in this compilation; Mollie
is the wife of B. P. Jarman, who owns a
farm west of Clarkton and they have two
sons, Frank and Robert ; and Walter M. is the
immediate subject of this review.
To the public schools of Clarkton Walter
M. Hubbard is indebted for his preliminary
educational training and as a youth he be-
came associated with his father in the work
and management of the latter 's store. He
came into full possession of the store in 1908.
This general merchandise business was begun
by M. W. Hubbard in 1883, the original busi-
ness occupying a store forty feet deep with
a twenty-foot frontage. Subsequently ten
feet were added to the side and twenty feet
to the back of the store. At the present time,
in 1911, the store has a frontage of one hun-
dred and sixteen feet, a portion of which is
forty feet deep, the rest being sixty feet deep.
For two years, 1906-7, Robert G. Hubbard
was associated with Walter AI. of this review
in the conduct of this mercantile concern.
Mr. Hubbard now conducts it alone, however,
and he is achieving an unusual success, the
same being the direct result of his own well
applied endeavors. In addition to his other
extensive interests at Clarkton Mr. Hubbard
is a heavy stockholder in the Farmers' Bank
of which substantial financial institution lie is
vice-president. In politics he is aligned as
a stanch advocate of the principles and
policies for which the Democratic party-
stands sponsor and in a fraternal way he is
a valued and appreciative member of the
Modern Woodmen of America. In religious
faith Mrs. Hubbard is a member of the Cum-
berland Presbyterian church, in the various
departments of whose work she is active.
On the 14th of February, 1894, Mr. Hub-
bard was united in marriage to Miss Maggie
L. Young, who was reared and educated at
Portageville, Missouri, and who is a daugh-
ter of John Young and Phyllis (Delisle)
Young. Mr. and Mrs. Hubbard are the par-
ents of four children — three boys and one
girl, all of whom are attending school at
Clarkton. Paul S. was born in 1895; Carl
in 1899; Loomis G., in 1901; and Jessie A.
in 1903.
While Mr. Hubbard has not been without
HISTORY OF SOUTHEAST MISSOURI
923
that honorable ambition which is so powerful
and useful as an incentive to activity in pub-
lic affairs, he regards the pursuits of private
life as being in themselves abundantly worthy
of his best efforts. In community affairs he
is active and influential and his support is
readil.v and generously given to many meas-
ures for the general progress and improve-
ment.
Thomas B. Kent, of the Allen Store Com-
pany of Maiden, is one of the prosperous
members of the communitj' in which he re-
sides. Having been actively engaged in the
mercantile business almost a quarter of a
century, it is natural that he should be con-
sidered a first-rate business man; indeed
there is very little in connection with the
conduct of a store that Mr. Kent does not
know. It is a fine thing for a man to be mas-
ter of his own business and a still finer for
him to strictly attend to it, and it is this last
characteristic that has to a large extent de-
termined the success of Mr. Kent.
ilr. Kent, born on the 5th day of May, 1866,
at Des Arc, Arkansas, is the son of Thomas
B. Kent, Sr., and Mary E. (Harris) Kent.
The father was a native of Anne Arundel
county, Maryland, where his birth occurred
January 27, 1836. ilrs. Thomas B. Kent
Sr.'s nativity took place on the 10th day of
December, 1843, in Prairie county, Arkansas,
where she passed her entire life, was there
married, on the 22nd day of November, 1858,
and there gave birth to five children. Of this
number only Mr. Kent of Maiden and his
sister, Sadie T., born April 20, 1873, are liv-
ing. Thomas B. Kent, Sr., was educated for
the legal profession and for many years he
was an able expounder of the law, engaged
in general practice at Des Arc, Arkansas.
At the commencement of the Civil war he en-
listed in the southern army as an officer, hav-
ing been a student both at "West Point and
Annapolis, a graduate of the naval institu-
tion, and he served throughout the entire war.
He died March 20, 1881, his interests having
been divided between his professional duties,
his allegiance to tlie Democratic party, his
Masonic brethren, the college at Annapolis
(his alma mater) and the Episcopalian
church. His widow survived his death twenty-
three years, she having been summoned to
the life eternal November 19, 1903.
Thomas Blake Kent, Jr., was educated in
the public schools of his native town and his
training comprised a high school course,
AYhen he had attained his majority he com-
menced to work in the general store of B. B.
Bethel of Des Arc, remaining with this
establishment for about nine years. On the
first of September, 1896, he came to Maiden,
^Missouri, in compliance with an offer from
the Allen Store Company. Since he first
became connected with this corporate body
j\Ir. Kent has made himself almost indispen-
sible in the responsible position which he
occupies.
The day following Christmas, 1898, Mr.
Kent was united in marriage to filiss Susie
Eastward, a daughter of Arthur and Mary
(Waters) Eastward, of Maiden. .Mr. and
ilrs. Kent are now the parents of four chil-
dren,—Thomas B. (the third of the name),
Elizabeth, Josephine and Margaret.
Mr. Kent has remained true to the political
faith of his father, but has deviated from his
parents' religious creed, as he is a member
of the Presbyterian church. Mrs. Kent is a
member of the Catholic church. Mr. Kent is
a member of two insurance orders. He owns
a three hundred and twenty acre farm, which
he rents.
William Thomas Alvet. A well-known
resident of Caruthersville and a large prop-
erty owner, William Thomas Alvey began life
for himself with a very limited capital, and by
dint of persevering industry and good man-
agement has acquired a fair share of this
world's goods and is justly entitled to that
honorable term "a self-made man," his pres-
ent prosperity being entirely due to his own
efforts. He was born in Perr.y count.v, In-
diana, March 21, 1846, and spent his earlier
years on a farm in that county.
His father, George W. Alvey, who formerly
owned land in Perry county, Indiana, came
with his family to Pemiscot county, Missouri,
and here continued his agricultui'al operations
until his death, which occurred in Caruthers-
ville a quarter of a century ago. His wife,
whose maiden name was Susan Mack, died in
Caruthersville, Missouri, in November, 1908.
They were the parents of several children,
as follows: William Thomas, the special sub-
ject of this brief biographical sketch; George
W., Jr., who married Mandy Elder and died
in Caruthersville, in 1898, leaving one son,
George S., whose home is with his uncle, Wil-
liam T. Alvey, although he is at present at-
tending Jasper College, a Catholic institu-
924
HISTORY OP SOUTHEAST MISSOURI
tion at Jasper, Indiana; JMary H., widow of
George Baker, owns and occupies a farm in
New Madrid county, Missouri; Emma, who
makes her home in Caruthersville, with her
brother William; Susan, wife of J. E. Mode,
a steamboat man, running on the "J. T.
Reader," lives in Caruthersville, and has six
children ; Nannie is the widow of J. D. Black,
who died at West Memphis, Arkansas, in
1896, and since the death of her husband she
has lived in Caruthersville with her brother
William ; and Mrs. Sallie Langdon, whose hus-
band, Edward Langdon, was murdered in
1908, by whom it is unknown. Jlrs. Langdon
has three children, namely: Traman L., at-
tending Jasper College, and Edwina and Fred
H. who live with their Uncle William.
In February, 1863, William T. Alvey offered
his services to his country, enlisting in the
Thirteenth Indiana Cavalry, under Captain
J. T. Wheeler, and Colonel J. M. L. Johnson,
and served until the close of the conflict. He
participated in many closely contested en-
gagements, including among othei-s the battles
at Nashville, Tennessee, and at Mobile, Ala-
bama. After being mustered out of the army,
in 1865, he remained for about six months
in the South, and then returned to his In-
diana home. Coming to Pemiscot county,
Missouri, in Feliruary. 1868, :\lr. Alvey
located in Caruthersville, and for a time
earned his living as a wood chopper. In-
dustrious and thrifty, he saved his money and
in 1901 bought a whole block of land lying
just outside of the city limits. About six
years ago he sold that land at an advance,
and has since secured title to other tracts of
realty, purchasing first four lots in the Bill-
ings Addition, numbers six, seven, eight and
nine, his sister, Mrs. Langdon, owning block
numbers ten and eleven in the same addition.
Mr. Alvev's home is in this addition, at the
corner of Walker and Sixth streets, and is
noted for its generous hospitality. IMr. Alvey
also owns property in the business section of
Caruthersville, where, about sixteen years
Ago, he embarked in the saloon business, buy-
ing out William Wilks in 1895.
Mr. Alvey and his sisters are valued mem-
bers of the' Roman Catholic church, and the
nephews are being trained in the same re-
ligious belief.
Robert A. Whiteaker, like all other suc-
cessful men, found the beginning of his busi-
ness prosperity was the securing of the right
job. His brilliant rise came with the oppor-
tunity to put into play those mental faculties
that had no chance to develop in the routine
of a small position. The man who is bigger
than his job hunts another, realizing that in
all probability, unless he takes the initiative,
some bolder man — possessed of no greater
qualifications — will forestall him and secure
the coveted post. Mr. Whiteaker has never
been found lacking in courage — that essen-
tial factor in "making good" — hence his
prominent position in the commercial life of
Campbell, Dunklin county, Missouri.
Beginning life August 15, 1868, Robert A.
Whiteaker made his first appearance on the
scene of life two miles west of the city where
he resides today. He is a son of Robert
AVhiteaker, whose birth occurred in 1845 in
Bollinger countj', Missouri, and the time of
whose demise was February, 1868. At the age
of two years, Robert Whiteaker, Sr. was
brought by his parents to Dunklin county,
where he was educated and later became en-
gaged in farming. At the time of the incep-
tion of the Civil war he was desirous of serv-
ing in the army, but was only sixteen at that
date and was forced to wait with such pa-
tience as he could summon, until he should be
old enough to enlist. He then became a mem-
l)er of the Tenth ilissouri Cavalry and dur-
ing the year of his army life he was trans-
ferred to the Fourth I\Iissouri Batallion. On
his return to Civil life, at the close of the
war, he went back to his boyhood home and
engaged in farming and stock-raising for
himself. In 1866, he married ^Miss Sara
I\IcElyra and died two years later, as men-
tioned above. His widow married again and
is now Jlrs. E. C. Haines, maintaining her
home at Portageville, Missouri.
Robert A. Whiteaker. thus deprived of a
father's care before his birth, was brought
up by his mother and his step-father, attended
the school in his district and at the age of
twelve the lad left home and commenced his
independent career by working on a farm,
where he remained for two years. He then
entered the store of William Bridges, at that
time the proprietor of a first class store in
Campbell. From 1882 until 1897, a period
of fifteen years, Mr. Wliiteaker stayed with
Mr. Bridges, who also had a store in ^Maiden
where i\Ir. Whiteaker spent part of his time.
In the year 1897 Ur. Bridges sold out his
Maiden "store and his efficient employee, Mr.
Whiteaker, determined to commence to make
HISTORY OF SOUTHEAST MISSOURI
use of the executive abilities which were la-
tent iu him. Forming a partnership with T.
C. Stokes, a general merchant at ilalden. the
two did business under the firm name of T.
C. Stokes and Company, for a period of five
years. In 1902, while looking about for busi-
ness openings, he occupied a position in a
hardware store at Maiden, and in August,
1903, he accepted an invitation to enter the
employ of the ^IcCutcheon Mercantile Com-
pany of Campbell, and from that time until
the present day, his success has been steady
and certain. Beginning his connection with
that corporate employer in the capacity of
manager of the dry goods department of the
concern, he has advanced until he is now su-
perintendent of the whole business and he
has stock in the company. He has invested
his money in two farms in the neighborhood —
two hundred and fifty acres in extent — and
on his land he has erected fine, improved
buildings. His farms are about four miles
from Campbell and he also has three houses
and lots in that town and one in ilalden.
In the year 1897, Mr. Whiteaker married
]Miss Gertrude Spiller, whose birth occurred
in 1875 in Cotton Hill township. Dunklin
eount.y, Missouri, where she passed her entire
life p^e^^ous to her marriage. Mr. and Mrs.
Whiteaker have four children, — Roland, born
in 1S98 ; Russell, the date of whose birth is
1903; Sylvia, who made her first appearance
into the world in 1908; and Robert A., Jr.,
whose nativity occurred in the month of De-
cember, 1910.
Mr. Wliiteaker, in his fraternal connection,
is affiliated with the Masonic order, holding
membership with the Blue Lodge at Maiden,
Free and Accepted ilasons : and with the
Modern Woodmen of America. He places his
suffrage with the Democratic party, but has
never cared to take any active part in politics.
His present prominent position is one that a
man might well feel proud of, under anj" cir-
cumstances, but when the fact is recalled that
he has made his way in the world, without
assistance, from the time he was a lad of
twelve, it is to be acknowledged that he is
deserving of the respect which is tendered to
him by his fellow citizens. Having had very
little schooling, he has read, observed and
profited by his experiences, so that he is today
a well-informed man on all practical sub-
jects.
D.vNiEL E. DuNSCOMB. Among the essen-
tially representative and influential farmers
of the younger generation in Dunklin county
Missouri. Daniel E. Dunscomb holds prestige
as one who has achieved success through his
own well directed endeavors. He is the own-
er of a fine estate of one hundred and thirty
acres, located two miles south of :\Ialden, on
which he raises cotton and corn, and in addi-
tion thereto he manages fifty acres of his
mother's farm, both estates being located in
the close vicinity of Maiden.
A native of Tennessee, Daniel Edgar Duns-
comb was born in Gibson county, that state,
on the 3rd of January, 1876. His father,'
Samuel Dunscomb, was born and reared in
Kentucky, in Logan county and was an ex-
tensive farmer in Kentucky during the earlier
years of his active career, besides spending
two years in Tennessee. He was summoned
to the life eternal February 24, 1899. Samuel
Dunscomb married Miss MoUie Hopper, a
daughter of Gillon Hopper, of Dunklin coun-
ty, and they became the parents of nine chil-
dren— six daughters and three sons, of whom
two of the boys died as infants, the third
being the subject of this review. The names
of the daughters are here entered in respect-
ive order of birth,— Beulah. Lela, Anna,
Lillie, Ludie and OHie. Mrs. Dunscomb sur-
vives her honored husband, and she is now
residing in Maiden, Dunklin county, and
her father, Gillon Hopper, is with her.
Mr. Dunscomb, of this notice, passed his
boyhood and youth from one year of age in
Dunklin county, ^Missouri, where he early
began to assist his father in the work and
management of the old homestead farm and
where he received a fair educational training
in the neighboring district schools. Since he
has made his home on the farm which he still
owns. His entire estate is tmder cultivation
and in connection with its management he
also runs a farm of fifty acres belonging to his
mother. His principal crops are corn and
cotton and in addition to general farming he
raises considerable live stock, making a spe-
cialty of thoroughbred cattle, also feeding
and shipping hogs. He is possessed of un-
usual executive ability and tremendous
vitality and inasmuch as he has himself built
the ladder by which he has risen to a position
of prominence among the agriculturists of
Dunklin county his admirable success is the
more gratifying to contemplate.
In June, 1902, Mr. Dunscomb was united
in mari'iage to ]\Iiss Olive Capshaw, who was
HISTORY OF SOUTHEAST MISSOURI
born and reared in Dunklin comity and who
is a daughter of Judge C. C. Capshaw, long
a prominent farmer near Clarkton. and now a
District Judge. To this union have been born
four children, one of whom. Alva D.. died at
the age of nineteen months. Those living are
Wilbur. Edna aud Daniel E. Jr. .Airs. Duns-
comb is a woman of most gracious personality
and she is deeply beloved by all who have
come within the sphere of her gentle influence.
The Dunseomb home is one of refinement and
generous hospitality and is the scene of many
attractive social gatherings.
In his political proclivities Mr. Dunseomb
is aligned as a stalwart in the ranks of the
Democratic party. He is not an active par-
ticipant in public affairs but is ever on the
alert and enthusiastically in sympathy with
all projects advanced for progress and de-
velopment. In fraternal channels he is a
valued and appreciative member of the
Maiden lodge of the Independent Order of
Odd Fellows, in whose ranks he is an active
worker. In their religious faith Mr. and ;\Irs.
Dunseomb are consistent members of the
Missionary Baptist church, to whose charities
and benevolences they are liberal contributors.
Charles William Shields, one of the rep-
resentative citizens of Caruthersville, has
become known as an expert in all matters
pertaining to abstracts. He has not, how-
ever, always devoted himself to the business
in which he is now engaged, but has in turn
been in the employ of the city railroad, then
in a collector's ofBce, later worked at mining
and finally l)ecame identified with the real
estate and abstract business. In all of these
different connections Mr. Shields has gained
experience that is of inestimable value to
him and which greatly adds to his efficiency
as a business man.
Born on the 17th of September, 1869, in
St. Louis county, Missouri, Mr. Shields is a
son of Thomas Shields, whose birth occurred
in 1840. in Washington county, Missouri,
where he was reared to maturity. When Lin-
coln's call for volunteers was issued Thomas
Shields responded by enlisting in the I^nion
army, and during his four years of service
he showed bravery and grit. He gained pro-
motion, being sergeant of his company when
he wa.s honorably discharged. He had suf-
fered severely from the privations which he
was forced to endure during his army life
and was never very strong again. After
leaving the army he went to Eureka, Missouri,
as agent for the Missouri Pacific Railroad,
and in the month of December, 1870, he died,
a victim of tuberculosis. The five years
spent at Eureka had been crowded with in-
cident, as during that time he married Miss
Julia Nicholas, born in September, 1852, in
St. Louis county, Missouri, and their only
child, Charles, was born. After tlie death of
Sergeant Shields his widow married James
A. Shields, brother of her first husband, and
to this union four children were born : ilinnie,
the wife of Dr. J. P. Townsend, living in
Washington county, Missouri; James A., re-
siding in AYashington countj% Missouri; Nell
T., who was married first to Thomas Mc-
Laughlin and is now the wife of Dr. Keeney,
of Kirkwood, Missouri, and John N., who
maintains his residence in Caruthersville,
Missouri. Sirs. Shields death occurred in
February, 1892, in Washington county, where
her husband still resides.
Charles William Shields was only fifteen
months old when death deprived him of a
father's care and affection, but he found in
his uncle and step-father a kind and consid-
erate guardian, who educated and trained the
lad to the best of his abilities. Mr. C. W.
Shields obtained his education at the Belle-
view Collegiate Institute, then took a business
course at the Hayward Business School of
St. Louis, Missouri, which he completed be-
fore his twenty-first year. For a time he
worked for the city railway company in St.
Louis, then entered the employ of a collector
at Potosi, Washington county, and remained
in his service about two years. Not having
found the line of work which suited his
tastes and capabilities, Mr. Shields again
made a change of occupation and mined for
a couple of years; then went to Frederick-
town and did abstract work, and some eigh-
teen months later he returned to Potosi and
went into the real estate business with his
step-father. In January, 1904, he went to
Kennett, Missouri and started an abstract
office for himself; in July of the same year
he sold out his business in order that he
might accept a position with the Pemiscot
Abstract and Investment Company. He is
now filling the niche into which he just fits;
is secretary of the company and doing excel-
lent work.
On October 23, 1892, Mr. Shields was
united in marriage to ]\Iiss ]\lary C. Ilornsey,
daughter of William D. and Sarah J. (Nichol-
son) Hornsey of Potosi, Missouri, where
IMiss Mary's birth occurred February 13,
■m
%.
^.
HISTORY OF SOUTHEAST MISSOURI
927
1869. Mr. and Mrs. Shields have a family of
two children — Ford N.. born September 8,
1893; and James T., the date of whose birth
was November 12, 1897. Mrs. Shields is an
active worker in the Presbyterian church,
while Mr. Shields' interest lies with the fra-
ternal organizations with which he is affil-
iated— the Mason, the Benevolent and Pro-
tective Order of Elks and the IModern Wood-
men of America, and with the political party
to which he adheres, he being a stanch Dem-
ocrat. He has been an active worker for the
public good since he came to Caruthersville,
was superintendent of the water works for
a time and is at present tlie chief of the
fire department, a position which calls forth
the good jiidgment combined with the fear-
less daring for which Mr. Shields is noted.
Judge James L. Downing. Conspicuous
among the able and influential members of
the Dunklin county bar is Judge James L.
Downing, of Maiden, who has won prestige,
public recognition and endorsement as a
lawyer, and as a public official has served his
constituency with marked fidelity and ability.
A native of Missouri, he was born in Scot-
land county, January 27, 1851. His father,
William G. Downing, was a planter and slave
holder in his earlier life, but after the close
of the Civil war was engaged in the whole-
sale grocery business until 1871 in Saint
Louis, where his death occurred in 1904, at
the venerable age of four score and four
years. He was active in public affairs, from
1882 until 1889 serving as state railroad com-
missioner.
Being educated primarily under private
tutorship, James L. Downing attended the
literary department of Washington Univer-
sity, at Saint Louis, with the class of 1870.
Subsequently completing the law course in
the same institution, he was admitted to the
Schuyler county bar in 1874, by Judge John
W. Henry, at Lancaster. Beginning the
practice of his profession in Schuyler county,
Mr. Downing was located at Memphis for
nearly ten years, winning a fair share of
patronage and gaining experience of much
value. In 1884, just as Maiden was being
started, he opened a law office in the new
town, and has since continued in practice
here, being one of the oldest established and
most distinguished attorneys of Dunklin
county.
One of the most active and influential
members of the Democratic party. Judge
Downing takes a prominent part in local
campaigns, being an effective speaker, and
has served on different committees in the
Democratic State Conventions for forty years.
In 1898 he was elected, on the Democratic
ticket, as probate judge, and served in that
office from 1899 until 1903. He has been
city attorney the past four years, an office
which he had previously filled satisfactorily
to all concerned. Judge Downing is now at-
torney for the Bank of JIalden and also for
the United States Cooperage Company. He
is an elder in the Presbyterian church, which
he helped to organize, and was very influen-
tial in securing the erection of the new church
building. Fraternally the Judge belongs to
the Independent Order of Odd Fellows, in
which he is a past noble grand; to the
Knights of Pythias; to the Knights of the
Maccabees ; to the Woodmen of the World ;
and to the Mutual Protective League.
Judge Downing has been twice married.
He married first, in Canton, Missouri, Mary
Richardson, who died when forty-eight years
of age, leaving one son, Samuel G. Downing,
who is employed in the Levi Mercantile Com-
pany. The Judge married for his second
wife, in 1903, at Lamar, Missouri, Alice
Clark. The Judge and Mrs. Downing have
no children of their own, but have an adopted
daughter, Nancy, a bright little girl of three
years.
Aaron Rufus Zimmerman. Among the
citizens of the younger generation who are
generally recognized as definite factors in the
advancement and prestige of Dunklin county,
Missouri, must assuredly be mentioned Aaron
Rufus Zimmerman, a member of the well
known familj' of that name and cashier of
the Bank of Clarkton, a position which he has
held since 1907. He also enjoys a reputation
as an enlightened instructor, having for sev-
eral years previous to taking his present po-
sition engaged as a teacher in the schools of
the county. Mr. Zimmerman is a son of John
Henry Zimmerman, the elder gentleman hav-
ing been born December 16, 18-5.5, at Glen-
allen, Bollinger county, Missouri. He still
resides in the vicinity of his birth and has
devoted his life to agriculture. The mother
whose maiden name was Drusilla McKelvy,
was born April 23, 1853. at Glenallen, and is
now deceased, this worthy lady having passed
to the Great Beyond October 12. 1900, at
Glenallen, where she is interred. There were
three sons in the family. The eldest, Elery,
928
HISTORY OF SOUTHEAST ^IISSOURI
was born February 28, 1879, and resides at
ilalden, where he holds the position of agent
for the 'Frisco Railroad. His wife previous
to her marriage was Oetie King. Oiwille,
born December 30, 1881, is a member of the
legal profession and is located at Kennett,
where he is associated in practice with ex-
Judge Fort, having recently graduated from
the law department of the University of
^Missouri. Aaron Rufus is the youngest in
order of birth. After the mother's death
the father married again, Miss Emma Jane
i\Iayfield, of ]\Iayfield. becoming his wife, and
one child was born to their union, namely,
Roscoe. born December 12, 1901. The father
is a stalwart Democrat and a public spirited
citizen. He is a member of the time honored
ilasonic order and he and the members of his
family are in hannony with the teachings of
the liethodist Episcopal church.
Aaron Rufus Zimmerman was born on Jan-
uary 31, 1883, at Glenallen. He received his
preliminary education in the public schools
and then attended the Mayfield Smith Acad-
emy at IMarble Hill, Missouri. Subsequent
to that he taught school for two years, one
year in the Farmington schools and another
"at Glenallen. Following that he went to
Cape Girardeau and entered the normal
school where he took a straight academic
course, covering four years and entitling
him to a degree. He then taught school at
Clarkton and then, as always, his pedagog-
ical services were recognized as of the highest
character. However, in 1907 he made a rad-
ical change of occupation by entering the
Bank of Clarkton as cashier, which position
he has ever since filled acceptably. He is an
efficient, alert and well-trained banker and
has taken an active part in building up this
excellent institution. He is also identified
with the agi-icultural interests of the county
and owns a farm on the western edge of the
corporation. He is a Democrat in his polit-
ical convictions and he and his wife are mem-
bers of the ^Methodist Episcopal church. He
takes great pleasure in his fraternal relations
which extend to the Masons, the Independent
Order of Odd Fellows and the Modern Wood-
men of America.
On the 20th of November, 1908, Mr. Zim-
merman was united in marriage to Myrtle INI.
"Ward, daughter of W. J. Ward, a prominent
citizen, of whom further mention occurs on
on other pages of this work. The marriage
of these popular young people was celebrated
at Campbell. Mrs. Zimmerman was born No-
vember 23. 1887, and the union of her and
the subject has been blessed by the birth of
two daughters, Drucilla, born November 12,
1909, and Ouita, born September 30, 1911.
Thomas il. Walker. There is no occupa-
tion that man may follow that has turned out
more honest men that the tilling of the soil,
no occupation that has taught her sons more
of the sterling lessons of right living or en-
dowed them with more abundant heritage of
physical and mental strength. Thomas 31.
Walker is a farmer and the son of a farmer,
a loyal follower of the plow, and the generous
possessor of those ciualities for which the men
of agriculture are known. He was born in
Pope county, southern Illinois, on the 1st of
January, 1850, to Newton and Luiza (Ford)
Walker. His father owned a farm of one
hundred acres, and upon it raised his family
of eight children, equally divided into four
boys and four girls. Besides Thomas il., the
subject of this brief personal review, the
brothers and sisters were as follows: William
J., now in Stoddard county, living on a farm,
to which place he came in 1885; Edgar H.,
who makes his home in Dunklin county and
farms on Smith's land, his two children by
his marriage with Miss Mattie Baker being
Fred and Addie, the former of whom is en-
gaged in farming and the latter being still in
school; Willy, who died in Illinois; 'Slary who
passed away at the age of fifty, and who
married first James Fox and later William
Hopkins, left two children, Newton, who is
engaged in farming, and Almedie, who lives
in Frances, Oklahoma ; Martha, who married
an Illinois farmer— Mr. E. J. Baker; Sarah,
who passed to the "undiscovered country"
in Illinois in 1895; and Harriet, who is now
ilrs. William Henson, makes her home in
Frances, Oklahoma.
Mr. Walker's father died in Illinois in
1867, at the age of thirty-five years, and
three years later, in the fall of 1870, the for-
mer came to Missouri and located in Dunklin
county, on Fred Baker's farm three miles
west of ilalden. His mother came to Mis-
souri in 1885, and passed away in this state
in 1900, aged about seventy years. After
two years on the Baker place Mr. Walker
moved to several other places, finally, in 1888,
making a purchase of eighty acres from Fred
Baker. Pie raised crops on that tract for
four years, in the meantime clearing about
five acres of the forty that had never been
cleared since pioneer days. At the end of
HISTORY OF SOUTHEAST MISSOURI
929
that time he sold the farm to Sam Daugherty
and went to Grand Prairie, where he estab-
lished himself for one year near the old Sid
Douglas place. For another year Mr. Walker
farmed a one hundred and twenty acre farm
north of Maiden, and then removed to one
about a mile south of the farm on which he
just previously resided. This was Mrs. Pax-
ton's farm, and the one on which he remained
for the next two years and still in the same
neighborhood was the property of the Cen-
tury Company.
For ten years ]Mr. Walker remained on one
farm, his former residence, renting from
varioiis owners as the farm changed hands,
first Mr. J. J. Summers, then 6. B. Grier and
lastly from the Stokes Brothers. The one
hundred and sixty acres in the plot were all
cleared, and he had excellent success with
crops of melons, corn, cotton and hay. The
current j'ear will mark his first venture into
raising mules. In January, 1912. Mr. Walk-
er removed to the G. N. Lasswell farm, in
Stoddard couut.y. one and three quarter
miles south-west of Bernie, Missouri.
On the thirteenth of ilay, 1869, Mr. Walk-
er was united in marriage to Miss Caroline
Gage in Pope count}', Illinois. She passed
away when her husband was located at Grand
Prairie in 1880, at the age of thirty-two years,
and was survived by five children, concerning
whom the following brief data is here insert-
ed: -John married ]Miss Florence Hammons,
the daughter of an old resident of southeast-
ern ]Missouri. became the father of six chil-
dren, all of whom make their homes in the Lone
Star state; William, also a resident of Texas,
married Miss Lizzie Nannie, and they have
one child ; Autoway, who married first a Mr.
Hammons, who died in Texas, and later be-
came the wife of ilr. Robert Mentor, of Crock-
ett, Texas, is the mother of four children
by her first marriage ; James 0., who married
Jliss Fannie Pippins, daughter of an old-
timer in ilalden, William Pippins, became
the father of three children, who make their
homes in Dunklin county; and Thomas, who
was united in marriage to Sliss Lily Hayes
and resides now in Stoddard county, Mis-
souri.
In 1880 was solemnized the second marriage
of Thomas M. Walker, the lady of his choice
being ]Miss Cora Waters, who was raised near
Kennett, Dunklin county, the daughter of
Newton Waters, a well-known farmer. She
was the mother of three children, two of
whom survive, as follows: Lenie, who became
the wife of Oscar Pippins, and they have two
children; Arthur, employed by Hatley and
Company, who have a store at Townley, and
David, who contracted throat trouble and
[ away m the year 1887 in infancy.
ilr. Walker subseciueutly took as his wife
:Miss Elva Smith, the daughter of Will Smith,
but after eleven months she became very ill
and was called to her eternal reward before
the year was up.
Mr. Walker was married to his present
wife on the 11th of July, 1894. Prior to that
time she was Mrs. Sarah Emiline, the wid-
owed daughter of William Barr. They have
lived happy and congenial home life. Of the
children of Mr. and Mrs. Walker the follow-
ing data are here incorporated in this record :
Esker, died twelve years ago of typhoid
fever, at three years of age ; Altha was born
the 17th of June, 1898; Pansie was born in
December, 1901 ; Bealer was bom on the 15th
of July, 1905; and Ravmond was bom the
1st of March, 1908.
ilr. Walker derives much pleasure from
his fraternal relations and is a member of
the Independent Order of Odd Fellows, being
connected with the branch of that body lo-
cated at Townley. Jlrs. Walker is an earnest
member of the Missionary Baptist church of
Schumach, Dunklin county.
Formerly ilr. Walker was a subscriber to
the doctrines promulgated by the Democratic
party, but his present views demand a
broader and more liberal program for the
amelioration of social conditions. He is now
independent in political views.
James Monroe Ballard. The name of
James Monroe Ballard, of Caruthersville, is
familiar in business circles throughout Pem-
iscot county, his achievements in agricultural,
commercial, financial and industrial circles
having won him distinction and great ma-
terial success. A son of Joseph A. Ballard,
he was born February 14, 1849, in Perry
county, Indiana, and was there reared in the
small town of Rono.
Joseph A. Ballard was a farmer and me-
chanic, owning one hundred and eighty acres
of land near Rono. Indiana. He married first
Mary A. Carte, and they became the parents
of ten children, one being the subject of this
sketch, James Monroe Ballard, the other nine
being as follows: Lemuel F., who died in
childhood; Samuel G. and Joseph L., who
died in infancy; Mrs. Sarah J. Everard, of
Blytheville. Arkansas; John A., whose death
930
HISTORY OF SOUTHEAST MISSOURI
occurred a few years ago in Farmington, Mis-
souri ; Charles M., a rural mail carrier at
Dyersburg, Tennessee, married Margaret
"Wiedman; Thomas J., who when last heard
from was living in Crawford county, Indiana ;
George W. died in Dubois county, Indiana,
in 1887; and Eliza A. died in Perry county.
Sarah J., the oldest daughter, married first
Anthony Little, who died while in manhood's
prime, leaving her with two children, namely :
A. 6. Little, who has represented Mississippi
county, Arkansas, in the State Legislature
during the past two years; and Curtiss J.
Little, a surveyor in Mississippi county, Ar-
kansas, and captain of a company of militia
at Blytheville. Mrs. Little subsequently
married for her second husband C. J. Ever-
ard, of Blytheville, and they have four chil-
dren. After the death of his first wife,
Joseph A. Ballard married again, and by his
second union had one child, ilary Katherine,
wife of A. J. Thornton, of Morganfield, Ken-
tucky, a well-known lumberman.
James jMonroe Ballard was brought up and
educated in his native state, and as a young
man was there variously employed, for four
years serving as postmaster at Rono. Coming
to Missouri in 1885, he lived for a short time
at Cottonwood Point, subsequently being for
fourteen years a resident of Cooter. He in-
vested largely in land, obtaining title to one
thousand acres, and still owns five hundred
acres in the vicinity of Cooter. An ambitious
student, with a natural aptitude for the law,
he was admitted to the bar in 1897, at Gayoso,
the old county seat, but has never engaged
in the practice of his profession to any extent.
Mr. Ballard has been one of the promoters
of many of the more important enterprises
that have marked the pathway of progress in
Pemiscot county. He was one of the ineorpo-
ratoi-s of the Saint Louis, Caruthersville and
Memphis Railway, which is now a part of the
Frisco system, and was also associated with
the Mississippi Railroad Company in connec-
tion Mith the Tyler Land and Timber Com-
pany. He. is a stockholder in the Pemiscot
County Bank and was formerly a stockholder
in the Bank of Caruthersville, and for a time
was president of the Bank of Cooter. He
likewise held stock in the old Caruthersville
Grocer Company- and in the Tjder Land and
Timber Company. Mr. Ballard was one of
the original promoters of the Caruthersville
Oil Mill Company, now the Missouri Cotton
Oil Company, and served as vice-president
one or more terms; was one of the founders
of the Argus Printing Company; and was
also actively associated with the Pemiscot
Land and Cooperage Company.
Politically Mr. Ballard is an ardent sup-
porter of Prohibition whenever action is
called for, but otherwise casts his vote in
favor of the Democratic party. While living
at Cooter he served ten years as justice of the
peace; for four years was associate justice
of the County Court; and for sixteen years
was notary public commissioner. Fraternally
he is a member of the Blue Lodge, No. 461,
Ancient Free and Accepted Order of Masons,
at Caruthersville; is a Royal Arch Mason;
and a member of Fallen Lodge, No. 1415,
Good Templai*s, at Stanley, Kentucky-.
Mr. Ballard married. May 11, 1873, at
Rono, Indiana, Rachael R. Hatfield, and to
them five children have been born, namely:
Thomas H., engaged in the luml)er business
at Claremore, Oklahoma, married j\Iaude
^liller; Flora E., who seventeen years ago
married Thomas L. Cassidj', of Cooter, has
seven children; James R. lived but seven
years; Addie M., who was educated at the
Caruthersville High School; William Floyd,
also a high school graduate, is a member of
the Caruthersville Hide and Fur Company,
ilr. Ballard and his wife and children are
members of the Methodist church at Caruth-
ersville.
William H. Powell. Numbered among
the successful and well-to-do farmers of
Campbell is William H. Powell, who has
found both pleasure and profit in his inde-
pendent occupation. A native of Tennessee,
he was born, November 1, 1856, in Weakley
county, but has no recollection of having ever
lived there, as he was but an infant when
brought to Missouri.
His father, Samuel K. Powell, was born in
Tennessee, in February. 1828. In 1856 he
brought his family to Missouri, and having
purchased land in Dunklin county was here
engaged in tilling the soil until his death,
June 10, 1885. His first wife, whose maiden
name was Sally Ann Hopper, was born and
reared in Tennessee, and died in Dunklin
county, Missouri. Samuel K. Powell married
for liis second wife IMalinda Carthwright,
who died some years since leaving five chil-
dren, viz : Charles and Thomas, deceased, and
Mary Jane (Crawford), of xVrkansas; Bettie
(Harper) and Robert, of Dunklin county,
Missouri.
William H. was one of four brothers of the
HISTORY OF SOUTHEAST illSSOURI
father's first union, the others being John F.,
of near Campbell; Leonard, died when
young; and James A., of Arkansas. Having
obtained a good common school education
when young, "William H. Powell had a prac-
tical training in the various branches of agri-
culture on the parental homestead, and early
chose farming as his occupation. After the
death of his father, Mr. Powell bought forty
acres of land, and rented another tract of
twenty-six acres, starting in life on his own
account. Making diligent use of his time and
talents, he succeeded well in his undertakings,
and as his means increased he invested in
other lands, and now has a finel.y improved
farm of one hundred and seventy-three acres,
which he devotes to general farming, his
principal crops being corn, wheat and hay.
Enterprising and energetic, he is continually
adding to the value of his property, and year
bj- year increasing his wealth.
]\Ir. Powell has been twice married. He
married first, in 1896. JIartha V. Grimes, who
bore him children two of whom are living,
Cora and Vallie. Mrs. Powell died November
19, 1897, and :Mr. Powell married in 1898,
Emma B. Faughan, who was born July 9,
1882, and of this union five children have been
born, namely : James Elsie, George .C, Agnes,
Edith, and Alva. In his political affiliations
Mr. Powell is a Democrat, and religiously he
is a member of the Baptist church.
Levi B. Phillips. A prominent and influ-
ential farmer of the younger generation in
Dunklin count.y, Missouri, Levi B. Phillips is
engaged in diversified agriculture and the
raising of high-grade stock and mules on a
farm of eighty acres located two miles west
from ^Maiden.
Levi B. Phillips was born at Beaver Hill,
Tennessee, on the 22nd of December, 1878,
and he is a son of Charles and ]\Iary (John-
son) Phillips, both of whom are now deceased,
their deaths having occurred about the year
1897. The father was engaged in farming
operations in Tennessee for a number of years
but in 1891 he disposed of his plantation in
that state and came to ]\Iissouri. locating in
Bollinger county, where he passed the residue
of his life. He and his wife became the
parents of ten children, concerning whom the
following brief data are here incorporated,
— Clarinda came to IMissouri in 1893 and she
and her husband, whose name is J. C. Vaughn,
reside near ]\Ionterey. Tennessee ; Jesse came
to jMi-ssouri in 1890 and farmed near Zalma
from that year until his death, in 1906 ; Will-
iam S. is married and resides in Kentucky;
Josephine resides in Tennessee ; Charlie came
to Jlissouri in 1890 and he is now in Arkan-
sas ; Tom maintains his home on a farm near
JIanila, Arkansas; Elvira lives in California;
Joseph and Dora died in early life ; and Levi
B. is the immediate subject of this review
Mr. Phillips, of this notice, was a child of
thirteen years of age at the time of his par-
ents' removal from Tennessee to Jlissouri,
and he was reared to maturity on the old
home farm in Bollinger county, to whose pub-
lic schools he is indebted for his preliminary
educational training. In 1897 he left home
and began to work out as a farm hand. For
a time he resided in Dunklin county, ilis-
souri, and thence he went, in 1901, "to ilis-
sissippi county, Arkansas, where he was en-
gaged in farming. On the 9th of December,
1901, he enlisted in the United States army
and went to San Francisco, California, where
he remained in the government sendee for a
period of three years, at the expiration of
which he received his honorable discharge
and returned to Missouri. He arrived in
Maiden on the 12tli of December and three
da.ys later was married. After that impor-
tant event he purchased his wife's half in-
terest in an eighty acre farm and cultivated
the same until 1909, when he sold it to "Will-
iam Brook. He is now engaged in farming
his estate of eighty acres, the same being
eligibly located two miles west of ]\Ialden.
He makes a specialty of raising com. peas and
cotton. He has four head of mules, two of
which he raised himself, one mare, thirteen
hogs and three head of cattle. He is making
a splendid success of farming and will some
day rank as one of the foremost agriculturists
of Dunklin county.
On the 15th of December, 1904. was solem-
nized the marriage of !Mr. Phillips to ]\Iiss
Minerva Bell Connel, who was born and
reared near Maiden and who is a daughter
of John and Susan E. Connel, the former of
whom died in 1892 and the latter of whom
passed to eternal rest in November, 1910.
Mrs. Phillips' brother John "W. died in in-
fancy and her brother Leonard is now re-
siding on a farm near Kennett, this county.
Mr. and IMrs. Phillips have three children,
whose names and respective dates of birth are
here entered. — Raymond, born December 13,
1905: Argettie, boi-n November 24. 1907; and
Howard P.. born on the 20th of January,
1909. In their religious adherency ]Mr. and
HISTORY OF SOUTHEAST MISSOUEI
Mrs. Phillips attend aud give their support
to the General Baptist church at .Alouiit
Gilard, of which she is a devout member.
They are prominent in connection with the
best social activities of their home community
and are everywhere accorded the unalloj'ed
confidence and esteem of their fellow citizens,
who honor them for their exemplary lives and
sterling integrity.
Robert Fleming Coppage. junior partner
of the firm of Ward & Coppage, is possessed
of considerable business perspicuity, which
has raised him to the rank of one of the
leaders of commerce in this part of the coun-
try. The firm, of which lie is the efficient
manager, is one of the largest in the county
of Pemiscot, but extensive as the business has
become ilr. Coppage is not content to rest
upon his oars, engaged in backward contem-
plation, but is looking towards the future as
having something greater in store for him
than that he has already experienced. He is
ambitious, and to such all things are possible
when united with that capacity for work
which is found in ]Mr. Coppage, and is bound
to compass the desired end.
Robert Fleming Coppage is a native of
Tennessee, born at Trenton, that state, No-
vember 8, 1874. He is a son of Philip B.
Coppage, whose birth occurred November 11,
1837, near Owensboro, Kentucky'. He stayed
in his native state until the Civil war broke
out : then he enlisted with the Union army, in
the Third Kentucky- cavalry, under Captain
Thomas. After he returned to the life of a
civilian he went to Tennessee and there mar-
ried Chester Thompson, who was born in that
state November 30, 1851. To this union
seven children were born, two of whom died
in infancy, and the names of those who were
reared to maturity are as follows : Sallie, born
February 3, 1873, married to H. T. Hunter;
Robert, the immediate subject of this biog-
raphy; Carrie, born August 27, 1877, residing
at Humboldt, Tennessee, with her mother;
John, born June 21, 1882. died in Jlay, 1911,
near Caruthersville and is buried at Hum-
boldt: Philip, born jMarch 6, 1884, living
with his mother. Father Coppage removed
from Trenton, Tennessee, to Humboldt, Gib-
son county, that state: there he died in No-
vember. 1908, and was buried there, while
his widow and two of his children still main-
tain their residence in Humboldt.
Robert Coppage received his educational
training in tlie Trenton schools and at the
age of fourteen he left the parental roof, re-
moved to Sebree, Webster county, Kentucky,
and there entered the drvig store of Mr. W. I.
Smith, with the intention of learning the
business. In 1893, returning to Humboldt,
he spent one year traveling for the Hum-
boldt nursery ; the following year he sold
maps for Rand McNally ; and in 1895, when
he had just attained his majority, he went to
Arkansas and clerked in the general store of
J. ]\I. Ward. The following year he came to
Caruthersville. still in the emploj^ of Mr.
Ward, aud before very long he became man-
ager of one of the J. il. Ward stores. He
proved to be so efficient that in 1901 he was
given a share in the business and the firm
name was changed to Ward & Coppage. In
1908 the firm was incorporated under the
name of Ward-Coppage Jlercautile Com-
pany; the store, under ilr. Coppage 's super-
vision, has grown to be one of the most pros-
perous concerns in the eouiity. ilr. Ward
has never lived in Caruthersville and leaves
the management of the store entirely to Mr.
Coppage.
In the 3^ear 1901 Mr. Coppage married
]\liss Jessie Huffman, daughter of William
H. and Jessie Huffman, natives of Cotton-
wood Point, Missouri. ]Mrs. Robert Coppage
was born on St. Valentine's day, 1882, at
Caruthersville, where her girlhood days were
spent. IMr. and Mrs. Coppage have no chil-
dren.
Robert Coppage is a member of the Be-
nevolent and Protective Order of Elks and of
the Masonic fraternity order; in ^Masonry he
has taken the thirt.y-second degree and is also
a member of the Shrine. He is greatly in-
terested in all matters of public interest, is
a Republican and was elected alderman, in
which capacity he is now serving,
John William Stephens. Possessing keen
judgment, discrimination and foresight. John
William Stephens, of Caruthersville. has been
eminently successful in his Imsiiiess career,
being one of the largest landholders of Pem-
iscot county and an extensive property owner.
A son of the late James H. Stephens, he was
born February 2. 1862, in Paris. Henry
county, Tennessee, where his earlier years
were spent.
James H. Stephens was engaged in agri-
ciiltural pursuits in Tennessee for many
years, from there, in 1882, coming with his
family to Dunklin county, IMissouri, where
he engaged in the raising of cotton for a
HISTORY OF SOUTHEAST MISSOURI
time. lu 188-1, accompanied by his wife and
children, he bought land in Mississippi
county, Arkansas, near Manila, and was there
engaged in tilling the soil until his death, in
June, 1903. He mai-ried Ditha Stephens,
whose death occurred in Mississippi county,
Arkansas, in 1885. They reared four chil-
dren, as follows: Frank, who married Sarah
Burkett, died in 1897 ; Charles, living in Mis-
sissippi county, Arkansas, married Miss Cas-
fiie Kilmer, and they have two children, Hettie
and Burt; Lena, who married Bud Easton,
of Greene county, Arkansas, died in 1898, in
Kennett, Missouri; and John William.
Continuing a member of the parental
household until twenty-three years of age,
John William Stephens acquired a practical
knowledge of the various branches of
agriculture. Going to Mississippi count.v.
Arkansas, with the family in 1887, he in-
vested his money in twenty acres of land, and
finding the venture profitable from a financial
standpoint he bought many other tracts in
that vicinity, one containing five hundred
acres; another nine hundred and sixt.v; one
of two hundred and fort.v ; one five hundred
and six ; one two hundred and forty ; one
ninety-five; his next purchase having two
hundred ajid forty acres; and his next two
twenty-five and forty, respectively. Mr.
Stephens also bought a farm of two hundred
and forty acres in Oklahoma, and since com-
ing to Missouri has obtained title to two
tracts of land in Pemiscot county, near
Caruthersville. one consisting of twenty-five
acres and the other of ninet.v-five acres. He
also owns two hundred acres in Dunklin
county, near Kennett, and one hundred and
sixty-two acres near Hornersville. He still
retains four hundred acres of his Arkansas
land, and has twenty-five acres near Caruth-
ersville.
In Caruthersville Mr. Stephens owns city
property of much value, having a lot one
hundred feet square, on which he has erected
four buildings, while near the railway station
he has a lot also containing four buildings,
the lot being one hundred and one feet by one
hundred and forty feet; on a near-by lot.
seventy-five by one hundred and forty feet,
he has nine houses : and in the same locality
be has twenty-five acres of land, on which he
has recently built four new. modernly-con-
strueted houses. Mr. Stephens likewise has
twenty thousand dollars invested in the
saloon business in Caruthers^'ille. For nine
vears before coming to Caruthersville he lived
at Kennett, coming from there to Caruthers-
ville in 1908. He was there successfully em-
ployed in farming and stock raising, as he
was in Arkansas, and still handles some stock,
making a specialty of handling mules, which
he raises for the market.
Mr. Stephens married, February 18, 1885,
Frances Ashabranner, a daughter of Samuel
and Mary Ashabranner, of Mississippi county,
Arkansas. Four children have been born to
Mr. and Mrs. Stephens, two of whom died
in Mississippi county, Arkansas, namely:
Claude, who died at two years of age, and
Harry, who died in infancy. Those living
are Maud, who married Henr.v Theweatt, of
Mississippi count.v, Arkansas, and has two
children. Benford and Jack; and Clarence,
now eleven j-ears old, is attending school at
Caruthersville, being a pupil in the sixth
grade. Mrs. Stephens is a most estimable
woman, and a valued member of the Meth-
odist Church at Kennett.
Luther Fraxklix Tatum. One of the
thriving and well-managed concerns which
add in material fashion to the general pros-
perity and commercial prestige of the city is
the Tatum Brothers Store, which has the dis-
tinction of being the largest store in Clark-
ton. Although the two brothers, Luther
Franklin Tatum and Ira Bragg Tatum, who
own and conduct the business, are both young
in .years the.v have given evidence of great
executive ability and in the legitimate chan-
nels of trade have won the success which al-
wa.ys crowns well-directed labor, sound .judg-
ment and untiring perseverance, while at the
same time concerning themselves with the
affairs of the community in an admirably pub-
lic-spirited fashion.
The elder brother, Luther Franklin Tatum,
whose name stands at the head of this article,
was born December 27, 1880. at Kennett,
Dunklin count.v, the son of the late James
F. Tatum. The father was born in 1850 in
Howard county, Missouri, the son of A. C.
Tatum, a native Virginian. When a young
man James Tatum located in Dunklin county,
whose possibilities were evident to him and
entered into busin.ess at ilalden, from which
place he subsequentl.v removed to Kennett,
where for years he conducted a large and im-
portant mercantile business. In 1907 he re-
tired and turned the business over to his
sons who removed the stock to Clarkton. His
demise, which the community counted a great
loss, was upon December 1-3, 1909. The
HISTORY OF SOUTHEAST MISSOURI
maiden name of the young woman he made
his wife was Lillie Bragg, daughter of the
late Captain W. G. Bragg. Both the Bragg
and the Tatum families are well and favor-
ably known in this locality where their inter-
ests have been centered for so many years.
Mrs. Tatum survives and makes her home at
Kennett. Luther Franklin Tatum is one of
the following six children, born to the union
of his father and mother: John, deceased in
youth ; Luther F. ; Ira, a record of whose life
follows this ; Richard, a business man of Ken-
nett; Susie, the only daughter, a student in
the William Woods College at Fulton; Ber-
ney, a student in the Kennett high school. A
more complete record of the life of James F.
Tatiim is given on other pages of this work.
Luther Franklin Tatum was born Decem-
ber 27, 1880, at Kennett. In addition to such
public school advantages as he enjoyed in his
native town, he pursued his studies "for a year
at Cape CTirardeau Nonnal and subsequently
attended school for a year at Quincy, where
he took a general business course. Having
finished his education he went into the Bank
of Kennett, where for two years he acted as
bookkeeper. Subsequently he organized the
Tatum Brothers ilercantile Company, he and
his brother buying out their father's busi-
ness, as before mentioned, and removing with
it to Clarkton, in October, 1906. Here they
built up a splendid patronage, drawn both
from Clarkton and the surrounding country.
The elder brother is also interested in farm-
ing in Dunklin county, having bought a farm
southwest of Holcomb. This tract of one
hundred and sixty acres, consists of wild land
in the new drained district.
Mr. Tatum was married November 25,
1908, at Holcomb, to Mis,s VanDora Hazel Mc-
Comas, daughter of A. W. and Kate C. (Hale)
McComas. Mrs. Tatum was bom in August,
1889, at Paris, Texas. Mr. Tatum is a stanch
Democrat and stands high in Masonry, be-
longing to the four branches of the York Rite.
Ira Bragg Tatum, junior member of the
Tatum Brothers Store Company, of Clark-
ton, was born June 1, 1883, at Kennett. He
secured his educational discipline in the dis-
trict schools of Kennett and when approach-
ing young manhood, became a clerk in his
father's business and under that gentleman's
excellent tutelage secured that commercial
training which has since stood him in such
good stead. At the age of twenty-one years
he assumed a more independent footing as a
partner in the Tatum Brothers Mercantile
Company. He and his brother bought out
the father upon his retirement and brought
the concern to Clarkton, of whose opportuni-
ties they hoped much and which they have
seen realized. Mr. Tatum, like his brother,
is a landholder and owns farm lauds south of
Clarkton which are daily increasing in value
under the s.ystematic course of improvement
now in progress in this section. He is a
Democrat and a Jlason.
Mr. Tatum was married July 18, 1906, to
Polly Graham, daughter of Charles and Allie
(Callicott) Graham. Mrs. Tatum was born
near Martin, Tennessee, June 10, 1882. They
share their home with two little daughters,
Elizabeth F., born ilay 4, 1907 ; and Virginia
Prances, bom March 18, 1910. Mr. Tatum is
a Blue Lodge Mason, a member of the lodge
at Kennett.
IMrs. Nancy Crain. Held high in the
esteem and affection of the county for her
life as a good wife and mother, and as a
woman who has alwa.vs been interested in
whatever tended to advance the welfare of the
community, is Mrs. Nancy Crain. Her maiden
name was Nancy Hawell. Nancy Hawell was
born February 5, 1846, in Gibson county,
Tennessee. Her father, Abraham Davis
Hawell, lived on a farm in that county, and
her mother was Luiza (Pope) Hawell. They
came to Dunklin county in 1858. Her par-
ents' family consisted of two sons and eight
daughters. Elizabeth ]\Ialinda Hawell came
to Diinklin county and here married John
Vai-val. She has been dead several years.
Ally V. Hawell was married in Dunklin
county, to which she had moved in 1850, to
Jasper Dickenson. She died two years ago,
but her son, John Dickenson, still lives in the
county. Polly M. Hawell became the wife
of John Horn, of Dunklin county, and died
many years ago. Penniney Hawell became
the second wife of John Horn, and her daugh-
ter, Henrietta (Horn) Jones, is the wife of
a Dunklin coi;nt.y farmer and lives here now.
John D. Hawell chose a Dunklin county girl
as his bride. Miss Mary Provens. He died a
number of years ago, and his only daughter,
now Dora Crowley, survives him and makes
her home in the county. Abraham Hawell
died in infancy and his brother James B.
passed awa.v wlien a boy of ten years. Martha
Hawell, now ]\Irs. Bob Crafton, has two chil-
dren, Nancy Crowley and Miss Alice, residing
in Dunklin.
HISTORY OP SOUTHEAST JIISSOURI
935
When Nancy Hawell was only three years
old, her parents moved to Dunklin county,
Missouri, from Tennessee and bought eighty
acres of land near Pee Dee. Her father died
forty years ago and her mother two yeai-s
afterward; Nancy inherited her share of her
father's property and has since made her
home in this county. In August, 1867, Nancy
Hawell was united in marriage to William
Henry Baissinger, the son of an eminent laud-
owner, Jackson Baissinger. After his mar-
riage to Nancy Hawell, William Baissinger
bought two hundred acres of the home plan-
tation, most of M'hich had to be cleared. Mr.
and Mrs. Baissinger subsequently became the
parents of ten children. Thomas Davis and
Louisa were twins, born on the fourth of
July, 1868. Both died two months later.
James Marion, born January 10, 1872, died
when he was two years old. John Henry,
born September 12, 1873, died of measles
when he was sis years old. Robert Jasper,
whose birth occurred September 1, 1875, lived
until his thirteenth year, when he was struck
by lightning. William J., born February 25,
1877, lived only eleven days. Ollie Bell, born
September 9, 1879, became the wife of George
Holtzhaser and is the mother of five children :
Jalmer Ora, born in 1901 ; V. Dallas, born in
1905 ; Nancy W., born in January, 1908 ; John
Henr}^ born in 1909 ; and Cletus Raymond,
born in September, 1911. Martin Luther,
born December 11, 1881, died at the age
of two, of diphtheria. Ellnora, whose birth
occurred in February, 1885, now makes
her home with her mother in Dunklin county.
She is unmarried. George Weston, born
September 18, 1886, lived a little over a
month. The father died on Christmas day,
1887.
Fraternally Mr. Baissinger was a member
of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows,
and was an active member of the Methodist
Protestant church at Salem, Missouri.
On January 22, 1889, Nancy Hawell Bais-
singer became the wife of William H. Grain,
a resident of Illinois. Their one son, Arthur
Cledes Grain, born April 11, 1890, now makes
his home near his mother, living on the old
property. He married Miss Maudie Hauf-
stauttler, and is the father of one child, named
Ora Lee, born in November, 1910. Mrs.
Grain owns one hundred and sixty acres of
land and each of her daughters own twenty
acres, Ellnora rents her portion to Arthur.
Mrs. Grain rents her portion to her son and
to Mr. Holtzhauser. Mr. Grain passed away
in Dunklin county at the age of fifty-seven
years, January 7, 1904, and was laid to rest
in iiouut Gilleon cemetery. He was a mem-
ber of that historic order, the Ancient Free
and Accepted ^Masons, and of the Independent
Order of Odd Fellows. He belonged to the
General Baptist church, situated at Mount
Gilleon.
Mr. Grain had an illustrious record as a de-
fender of the Union, having served four years
in the Federal army during the Givil war.
During one engagement he was injured in the
knee and was crippled for the rest of his life.
Oscar R. Cole. Having directed his ef-
forts along well defined lines of endeavor,
Oscar R. Cole has obtained an assured posi-
tion among the active and prosperous mer-
chants of Garuthersville, and as a man of
worth and stability is held in high esteem by
his associates. A native of Tennessee, he was
born in Shelby county, twelve miles east of
Memphis, and was reared in that vicinity.
His father, James A. Cole, has accom-
plished a satisfactory work as a business man,
and, having gained a competency, is now
living retired from active pursuits in Mem-
phis, Tennessee. He married Patty Rhodes,
and to them four children were born, namely :
M. W., a merchant in Wilson, Arkansas, is
married and has two children; James E., of
Memphis, Tennessee, is associated with the
National Biscuit Company; Mrs. J. N. Sulli-
van, whose husband is a contractor for cabi-
net work and store fronts, at Memphis, Ten-
nessee ; and Oscar R.
Leaving the parental household in 1889,
Oscar R. Cole was for three years in the em-
ploy of W. C. Knight, in De Soto county,
Mississippi. He was afterwards with his
uncle, J. W. Rhodes, a general merchant at
Golden Lake, Arkansas, for six years. The
ensuing three years Mr. Cole was clerk in a
general store at Palestine, Arkansas, and the
following two and one-half years was second
clerk on the Lee line of steamers running be-
tween Cairo, Illinois, and Memphis, Ten-
nessee. Locating at Garuthersville, JMissouri,
in 1898, he bought out B. L. Sherrill, and for
several seasons was engaged in the grocery
business with L. L. Crocker. Since 1906 Mr.
Cole has carried on business alone, and has
built up a substantial trade in groceries, his
present stock, which is well selected, being
valued at four thousand, five hundred' dollars.
He occupies a good building, which is cen-
trally located, and has, in addition to its floor
HISTORY OF SOUTHEAST MISSOURI
space of seventy by fifty feet, excellent store
rooms in the basement. He carries a good
of staple and fancy groceries, and deals also
line of staple and fancy groceries, and deals
also in bay and feed.
Mr. Cole married, May 4, 1902, Helen
Parks, daughter of J. C. Parks, of Caruthers-
viUe, and they are the parents of two children,
namely: Helen, born March 9, 1904; and
Joseph Folk, born January 4, 1907. Fra-
ternally Mr. Cole is a member of the Modern
Woodmen of "America; of the Woodmen of
the World; of the Improved Order of Red
Men; and of the Knights of Pythias. He
has been especially active in both organiza-
tions of the Woodmen, having served as clerk
of the local camp in each.
Robert Charles Young. Broad-minded,
keen-sighted, and public-spirited, Robert
Charles Young of Campbell, Dunklin county,
takes an active and intelligent interest in ad-
vancing all reform movements, having
worked and written extensively for the tem-
perance cause, a movement in the right direc-
tion, which was formerly opposed by many
of his fellow-citizens, but has now their earn-
est support. Mayhap, however, he is best
known for his achievements in arousing the
interests of the people throughout the county
in the betterment of agricultural methods,
and inspiring them with a desire for a knowl-
edge of scientific agriculture as carried on by
an up-to-date farmer. Within the past ten
years he has written many valuable articles
on this important subject, and is now a
steady correspondent for the Dunklin Demo-
crat, also for agricultural journals and other
periodicals of Missouri, including Colman's
Rural World, published in St. Louis. He is
equally interested in the temperance cause,
speaking and writing in its favor, and de-
voting much of his time and energy towards
its advancement.
Mr. Young was born January 1, 18.50, in
Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, where his father
was engaged in business as wholesale hard-
ware merchant. His father died while he was
yet an infant, and the family became separ-
ated. He was taken to Athens county, Ohio,
where he received his preliminary education,
being a pupil in the district school. At the
age of twenty-two years he attended a public
school at Cuyahoga Falls, Ohio, where he was
imder the instruction of a Miss Booth,
formerly an associate teacher with James A.
Garfield at Hiram College, Hiram, Ohio. On
August 16, 1875, Mr. Young began his pro-
fessional career in Greenup county, Ken-
tucky, where he taught five months. Desirous
of further advancing his knowledge, he sub-
sequently attended Dickinson Seminary, in
Williamsport, Pennsylvania, for two terms,
while there being an active and valued mem-
ber of the Belles-Lettres Society. In 1877 he
entered Heidelberg University, at Tiffin,
Ohio, and was there graduated in 1880, with
the degree of Bachelor of Science, his class
having had twenty-one members. He then
taught or worked in the woods for upwards
of a score of years, afterwards continuing his
educational work until 1904, in which he met
with eminent success.
In 1896 Mr. Young began farming on his
own account, and has since made a practical
test of the agricultural methods he had so
long advocated, and for year to year has
made steady progress along the lines that
lead to agricultural prosperity. He has a fine
farm of one hundred and sixty acres at Camp-
bell, Missouri, and also owns one hundred
and sixty acres in Arkansas. He has one
hundred and thirty-five acres of his home
farm well fenced and well improved, and, in
the summer of 1911, erected a fifteen-hundred
dollar barn, forty-four feet by eighty feet,
and forty feet in height, it being one of the
best structures of the kind in this part of
Dunklin county. Mr. Young pays consider-
able attention to the growing of stock of a
good grade, keeping ten head of cattle, and
working to obtain a herd of Polled Durhams ;
he also has thirty Duroc Jersey hogs, and
four mules. His orchard contains eighty
apple trees, and, one hundred and thirty
peach trees, and produces an abundance of
fruit.
A leading citizen, and a farmer of prom-
inence, Mr. Young has been a prime mover in
the establishment of beneficial enterprises
and organizations, and has used his influence
towards the cleansing and purifying of both
the sanitary and moral conditions of public
places, and has been especially active in help-
ing to advance the agricultural status of the
county. He assisted in the organization
of the local Farmers' Institute, of which he
has been secretary since 1906, and was a pro-
moter of the Truck Growers' Rally, which
met annually for several years. In 1910 the
Farmers' Institute, which, owing to the
strenuous efforts of Mr. Young, is now a very
strong organization, merged the Truck Grow-
ers Rally into a magnificent "Corn Show,"
HISTORY OF SOUTHEAST MISSOUEI
937
Avhicli proved a great success, drawing visit-
ors from all parts of the county. The Frisco
Railroad Company ably seconded the efforts
of the farmers, giving a one-hundred dollar
scholarship to the person between the ages of
eighteen years and forty years who brought
in the best ten ears of corn to the Corn Show.
Mr. Young was the first man in Dunklin
county to tile his laud for drainage, and his
modern methods of farming have been quite
influential in educatine: farmers along agri-
cultural lines, especial use having been made
of the United States Bulletins for farmers,
issued by the Government. Largely through
his work, the value of land in Dunklin and
adjacent counties has been increased three
dollars an acre, a sum amounting to
$1,000,000.
Politically Mr. Young is a Republican m
national affairs, biit in local elections he votes
for the best men and measures, regardless of
party prejudice. Since 1871 he has been a
consistent member of the Methodist Episco-
pal church, which he has served as steward
and local preacher for many years. Fra-
ternally he belongs to Campbell Court, No.
5, Tribe of Ben Hur, at Campbell; and of
Camp, No. 205, Woodmen of the World, of
Campbell.
Mr. Young has been twice married. He
married first, in 1883, Martha Warnock, and
their only child, Lily May, died in infancy.
On January 12,- 1895, Mr. Young married for
his second wife Mrs. Lucy M. Harrison.
RuFUS H. Stanley. A prominent and in-
fluential citizen of Maiden, Missouri, is Rufus
H. Stanley, who is here engaged in an ex-
tensive contracting, building and lumber busi-
ness. In connection with his work he employs
a force of about fifty men and his contracts
extend throughout Dunklin county, where he
has gained distinctive prestige as a business
man whose dealings have ever been of the fair
and honorable type. Mr. Stanley was born
in AA^arren county, Tennessee, ou the 2nd of
Febnaary, 1843, and he is a son of Richard
H. and Obedience (Forrington) Stanley, the
former a native of Virginia and the latter of
North Carolina. The father was engaged in
the saddlery business during the major portion
of his active career and he was summoned to
the life eternal at seventy-seven years of age,
at which time Rufus H. of this review was
a child of but twelve years of age. The
mother died at the age of ninety-six years.
The early youth of R. H. Stanley was passed
in the respective homes of his brother and
brother-in-law aud his preliminary educa-
tional training consisted of such advantages
as were afforded in the schools of the locality
and period. As a young man he entered upon
an apprenticeship at the carpenter's trade
and for a number of years was engaged in
that line of enterprise. At the time of the
inception of the Civil war he set up a little
store at McMinnville, Tennessee, buying his
goods in company with his brother. On one
occasion his stock was taken by the rebels
but he took the risk of driving seventy-five
miles for a new supply, which was liable of
confiscation. Finally becoming discouraged
by his successive losses, he gave up his store
and removed to Illinois, where he followed
the work of his trade, the scene of his opera-
tions having beeu principally in Perry, Ham-
ilton and Jefferson counties. In the '80s,
however, he removed to California, where he
remained one year. In 1890, through the in-
fluence of a Mr. Garrison, he was prevailed
upon to come to southeastern jMissouri, where
he has siuee resided. He has followed the
contracting and building business in this sec-
tion of the state during the intervening years
to the present time, most of his work along
this line being at Maiden, Kenuett and New
Madrid. His contracts cover all kinds of
work in the constriiction line aud it may be
noted here that he has erected the most im-
portant buildings in each of the above men-
tioned places.
In connection with his work Mr. Stanley
requires the assistance of some fifty men, and
this in itself shows the extent of his opera-
tions. He erected the brick kilns at Keunett
and Maiden and in addition to his other in-
terests carries a large and complete line of
lumber, paints, hardware, wall jjaper, etc.
His work has even extended into Arkansas,
in various cities of which state he has erected
large business blocks. He has been familiar
with the ins and outs of the building business
from earliest youth and now contents himself
with confining his attention to this line of en-
terprise, in which he has realized a fair com-
petency. He says that southeastern Missouri
is the best country he has ever seen for a poor
man and he also says it is the most healthful
country he has ever lived in. In his political
convictions he is an uncompromising sup-
porter of the pmciples and policies for which
the Democratic party stands sponsor and
while he has never manifested aught of desire
for the emoluments and honors of public
HISTORY OF SOUTHEAST MISSOURI
office of any description, he is ever on the qui
vive to help along any project advanced for
the good of the county and state at large. He
is connected with a number of fraternal and
social organizations of representative char-
acter and in their religious faith the Stanley
family are consistent members of the Chris-
tian church, to whose philanthropical work
he is a most liberal contributor. As a citizen
I\Ir. Stanley's patriotism and loyalty have
ever been of the most insistent order, and as
a man he is honorable and reliable in every
possible connection. No one in this part of
the state commands a higher degree of popu-
lar confidence and esteem than does he.
In Perry count.y, Illinois, on the 3rd of
July, 1867, Mr. Stanley was united in mar-
riage to ]\Iiss Delia ]McGee, who was born and
reared in Hamilton county, Illinois, and who
is a daughter of John H. IMcGee, long a rep-
resentative citizen of that state. Mr. and
Mrs. Stanley are the parents of three chil-
dren, concerning whom the following brief
data are here incorporated, — Rufus Herbert,
Jr., is a prominent attorney at Hugo. Okla-
homa, and for a time he was engaged in the
practice of his profession at Poplar BlufE,
Missouri, where he was twice elected prose-
cuting attorney; Obie is the wife of T. C.
Ashcraft, a merchant at IMalden, Missouri ;
and Vernal is a music teacher at home. In
the time-honored Masonic order Mr. Stanley
has passed through the circle of the York
Rite branch, holding membership in Maiden
Lodge, Ancient Free and Accepted Masons;
Kennett Chapter, Royal Arch Masons; and
Maiden Commandery, Knights Templars. In
all of Mr. Stanley's building operations he
has never had a law suit or a dissatisfaction.
James D. Templeton. To few is it given
to attain so high a place in the esteem and
affection of their fellow citizens as that en-
joyed by James D. Templeton, who is known
throughout the vicinity of Maiden and Dun-
klin county as "Uncle Jim." Mr. Temple-
ton is a prosperous and progressive farmer in
Cotton Hill township, where he is the owner
of a fine estate of three hundred acres, the
same being eligibly located four and one half
miles distant from Maiden.
James D. Templeton was born at Double
Springs, ^Mississippi, on the 13th of July,
1846, and is a son of James and Darkus
(Sommers) Templeton, both of whom were
natives of Mississippi, where was solemnized
their niari-iage in the year 1831. ^Mr. and
]\Irs. Templeton became the parents of nine
children, of whom two are living at the pres-
ent time, namely, — Angeline, who is the wife
of John L. Arnold, a farmer in Hall county,
Texas, and James, the immediate subject of
this review. The mother of the above chil-
dren came to Missouri and resided with the
subject of this notice until her death, which
occurred in 1890, aged seventy-nine years.
The father passed away in JMississippi, in
1855, aged forty-seven j-ears.
On the old homestead farm in Mississippi
James D. Templeton was reared to adult age
and he received his limited elementary educa-
tional training in the public schools of his
native place. He was a child of but nine
years of age at the time of his father's death
and thus was early bereft of paternal care
and guidance. He became interested in farm-
ing as a young man and located on his pres-
ent estate near Maiden, Dunklin county, ^lis-
souri, in the year 1867. Beginning with but
twenty acres of land, he has added continu-
ally to his original holdings until he is now
the owner of a farm of three hundred acres,
the same representing some of the most arable
land in Dunklin county. He devotes his at-
tention to diversified agriculture and the
raising of high-grade stock and has gained
high prestige as a farmer of note in this sec-
tion of the state, where he is honored and es-
teemed as a man of mark in all the rela-
tions of life.
Mr. Templeton was first married in 1866,
his wife having been Miss Margaret H. Ar-
nold, who was summoned to the life eternal
in 1873 and who was survived by six chil-
dren, one of whom, William A. Templeton,
conducts the store at ]\IcGuire Corner, about
five miles south of jMalden. In 1874 Mr.
Templeton wedded Miss Nancj' Williams, a
daughter of a prominent farmer southwest of
jMalden. This union was prolific of eight
children, three of whom reside near Mai-
den, namely: Grover, who is an extensive
farmer and land owner; Dora, who is the
wife of Charles Carmen ; and Ora, who is now
Mrs. Luther Bray. Mrs. Templeton died in
1891 and in that year, ilr. Templeton mar-
ried IMiss Lydia C. Halzheuser. who passed
to eternal rest in 1900. For his fourth wife
Mr. Templeton chose ^liss Emma Turner, of
Memphis, Tennessee, the ceremony having
been performed on the 22nd of November,
1900. She died in 1907 and on the 28th of
May, 1908, Mr. Templeton was united in mar-
riage to Mrs. Tennie Rodgers Maynard, the
i^2-^^-^-^^^^ Xy^ .x:;^^^-^— ^^^^^--2^:^^,^
HISTOET OF SOUTHEAST MISSOUEI
widow of E. M. JMaynard and mother of Flora
Blaynard, who married Grover Templeton, a
son of Mr. Templeton.
In politics Sir. Templeton accords a stal-
wart allegiance to the principles and policies
for which the Democratic party stands spon-
sor, and while he has never participated ac-
tively in public affairs he gives freely of his
aid and iutluence in support of all measures
and enterprises projected for the good of the
general welfare. Mr. Templeton was for-
merly an active Slason at Clarkton but he
was demitted from the order when the lodge
at that place broke up. In his religious faith
he is a devout member of the Methodist
Protestant church, in which he has been a
member of the board of trustees for the past
forty-three years. He is a man of high ideals
and deep human sympathy — one whose char-
ity kaows only the bounds of his opportuni-
ties, and he is ever.ywhere accorded the un-
alloyed confidence and respect of all with
whom he comes in contact.
H. Clem Nanson. It is rather unusual
nowadays to find a man who has engaged in
the same line of work all of his life. As a
rule a boy decides on a certain career and
changes his mind many times during his
adolescent period, or. as soon as he launches
out on his chosen calling he finds it not suited
to his tastes or capabilities. This has not
been the experience of Mr, Nanson. He is in
the merchandise business, commenced when a
little lad of fourteen j-ears of age, and he has
never seen reason to alter his course. He is
a man who knows his own business and he
attends to it.
H. Clem Xanson was born at St. Louis,
Missouri, November 25, 1874. His father,
Clement Charles Nanson, is a native ]Mis-
sourian, his birthplace being Benson, that
state, and the year 1850. He was reared to
adult age in ]Missouri and was there educated
in the public schools. Later he formed a
partnership alliance with ilr. T. B. Simss
and the two opened a general store at Car-
uthersville, doing business under the firm
name of Simss & Nanson. In 1872 I\Ir. Nan-
son was united in marriage to Miss Sallie W.
Bushey, born on the 10th day of December,
1855, on the old Bushey farm at Caruthers-
ville, where her parents, George "W. and
IMary P. (Walker) Bushey, had maintained
their residence for many years. Mr. and
Mrs. Nanson had but one child, H. Clem, and
in 1874, the year that he was born, the fam-
ily moved to St. Louis, where the father en-
gaged in the merchandise business; later he
went to Leadville, Colorado, then to Mem-
phis, Tennessee, still following the same
occupation. He was a man who had two
great interests, his store and the Democratic
party. He died in the month of September,
1902, in St. Louis, and is buried in Bellefoun-
taine cemetery.
H. Clem Nanson attended school until
fourteen years old at Christian Brothers'
College, Jlemphis, Tennessee. In 1888 he
commenced to work in a drv goods store.
After two years had elapsed he realized that
if he would be successful in life it was neces-
saiy for him to obtain some more education,
and he went to Caruthersville and remained
there in school for several years. After leav-
ing school for the second time he went to St.
Louis and far a while worked for the Brown
Shoe Company of that city ; later he went to
Claremore, Indian Territory, and worked in
a general store. During the ensuing three
years, after leaving Claremore, he was em-
ployed by the Illinois Central Railroad Com-
pany at New Orleans, but after this experi-
ence he returned to the commercial life as
being the one in which he could achieve most
success. In 1900 he returned to Caruthers-
ville, gained employment with the Cunning-
ham Store Company, and then went into bus-
iness for himself. He has a first class store,
handles women's articles exclusively, and his
is the only store in Cai-uthersville that is de-
voted to women's garments only — indeed
there is no other such store in the whole of
southeastern Missouri. The Nanson Dry
Goods Company, of which Mr. Nanson is the
active superintendent, was incorporated
August 19, 1905, with Mr. Coppage, presi-
dent; J. M. Ward, of Memphis, vice-presi-
dent; H. Clem Nanson, secretary and
treasurer. The above named three gentle-
men are the only stockholders of the corpora-
tion. The Nanson Dry Goods Company has
recently bought out the Caruthersville Sup-
ply Store.
On St. Valentine's day, 1901, i\Ir. Nanson
was married to Miss Mary Alice Clayton, bom
December 30, 1881, in Pemiscot county,
Missouri, the adopted daughter of H. C. Gar-
rett and wife. Four children have been bom
to Mr. and IMrs. Nanson, — Joseph S., born
:\Iarch 11, 1903; H. Clement, Jr., born July
27, 1905; Mary Alice, born December 25,
1907; and James Clayton, born October 1,
1910.
940
HISTORY OF SOUTHEAST MISSOURI
In political vieM's Mr. Nanson is a stanch
Democrat, as was his father before him. In
a religious way he holds membership with
the Presbj'terian church, and in fraternal
connection he is affiliated with the Benevo-
lent and Protective Order of Elks and with
the Modern Woodmen of America. He has a
high standing with his business, political, re-
ligious and fraternal associates, and is de-
servedly popular.
Robert G. Hubbard. To Robert Green
Hubbard has come the attainment of a dis-
tinguished position in connection with agri-
cultural pursuits in Dunklin county, Mis-
souri. His life achievements worthily illus-
trate what may be attained by persistent and
painstaking effort and inasmuch as his suc-
cess in life is the result of his own well
directed endeavors it is the more gratifying
to contemplate. He is the owner of a tract of
one hundred and twenty acres of land south
of Clarkton, a portion of his estate lying
within the city limits. Mr. Hubbard has
iigured prominently in connection with the
public affairs of Clarkton, having been the
efficient incumbent of the office of mayor
for a term of two years.
On his father's farm, in the close vicinity
of Clarkton, Missouri, on the 23d of August,
1865, occurred the birth of Robert G. Hub-
bard, who is a son of M. W. and Elizabeth
(Hodges) Hubbard, the former of whom was
born and reared in Madison county, Ken-
tuctv, and the latter is a native of Smith
county, Tennessee, whence she accompanied
her father, the late Judge R. L. Hodges to
Missouri in the ante-bellum days. M. W.
Hubbard came to this state about 1861 and
he was a farmer and merchant during the
greater part of his active career, the scene
of his operations having been Clarkton. Mr.
Hubbard passed to the Great Beyond in May,
1900, and his beloved wife is now residing at
Clarkton. They became the parents of four
children, of whom Robert G. is the immediate
subject of this review ; Charles T. and Walter
]\r. are mentioned elsewhere in this work ; and
Mollie is the wife of B. P. Jarman, a farmer
of note in Dunklin county and has two sons,
Frank and Robert.
Robert Green Hubbard passed his boy-
hood and youth on the old homestead farm
near Clarkton and he received a good com-
mon-school education. He early began to
assist his father in the work and management
of the farm and in 1901 purchased a tract of
land from Tom Baird, after having inherited
tifty-four acres of the paternal estate. In
1903 he sold the land he had purchased in
order to buy another tract of his father's
farm which was up for sale. He is now the
owner of a farm of one hundred and twenty
acres, the same representing one of the finest
estates in Dunklin county. He is engaged in
diversified agriculture and the raising of
high-grade cattle and horses. He has about
two acres set out to apple and peach trees.
In 1906 Mr. Hubbard became interested in
the general merchandise business at Clark-
ton as a member of the firm of Hubbard
Bros., his partner in that enterprise hav-
ing been his brother, Walter JM. Hubbard.
He continued to be interested in the mercan-
tile business for a period of two years and
then disposed of his interests to his brother.
In his political proclivities he is a stanch
advocate of the cause of the Democratic
party, in the local councils of which he is an
active worker. In 1906 he was honored by
his fellow citizens with election to the office
of mayor of Clarkton and he served as such
for a term of two years. His capable admin-
istration of the municipal affairs of the city
was characterized by a strict policy for prog-
ress and improvement and during the period
of his regime he accomplished a great deal
for the good of Clarkton. He is affiliated
with a number of representative social and
fraternal organizations of a local nature and
in his religious faith is a consistent member
of the Cumberland Presbyterian church at
Clarkton.
In the year 1888 Mr. Hubbard was united
in marriage to Miss Flora Timberman, a
daughter of Mat Timberman, an old resident
of Dunklin county. This union has been pro-
lific of three children, as follows, — Tabitha
is the wife of Cornelius Stattler, of St. Louis,
Missouri: they have two children, Tabitha
and Cornelius; Maggie married W. F. Wells,
a druggist at Clarkton; and Josephine re-
mains at the parental home.
Mr. Hubbard is a man of liberal views and
broad human sympathy. He is generous in
his judgment of his fellow men and is ever
ready to help those less fortunately situated
in life than himself. He is honored and es-
teemed throughout Dunklin county as a man
of his word and he numbers among his per-
sonal friends some of the most influential
citizens of this section of the state.
HISTORY OF SOUTHEAST MISSOURI
941
William L. Craig. A business man of dis-
tinctive prestige and influence at Maiden,
Missouri, is "William Craig, who, in addition
to being an embalmer and funeral director,
is also prominently identified with the build-
ing material business in this place. He has
achieved a mai-velous success for himself and
is recog-nized as a citizen of intrinsic loyalty
and public spirit. He was born three miles
south of Maiden, the date of his nativity be-
ing the 4th of November, 1868, and he is a
son of Judge J. P. and Harriett R. (Hood)
Craig, both of whom were born in western
Tennessee, whence they came to Missouri in
the ante-bellum da3'S. For a number of years
after his arrival at Maiden Judge Craig was
engaged in the general merchandise business
but later he turned his attention to farming
operations. He was a stanch Democrat in
his political proclivities and, while not an
active politician, was ever on the qui vive to
do all in his power to advance the general
welfare of his home community. In 1894 he
was elected county judge of Dunklin county
and he served with the utmost efficiency in
that capacity for a period of four years. In
their religious faith he and his wife were
devout members of the Presbyterian church,
in the various departments of whose work
they were most active factors. Coming to
Missouri as a poor man. Judge Craig became
a man of extensive means and influence prior
to his death, which occurred on the 8th of
February, 1901. His cherished and devoted
wife, who preceded him to a life eternal,
passed away in 1885, at the age of forty-five
years. They were the parents of four chil-
dren, concerning whom the following brief
data are here incorporated, — Joseph died in
infancy; Flora died in childhood; Jennie,
who grew to maturity and married James
Warren, died in Butler county, Missouri in
1908, at the age of fifty years : and William
L. is the immediate subject of this re\dew.
William L. Craig passed his boyhood and
youth in the vicinity of llalden, Missouri, to
the public schools of which place he is in-
debted for his early educational training.
After his parents settled on their farm near
IMalden he continued to reside at home until
1890, assisting his father in the work and
management of the estate. In that year he
opened a grocery store at Maiden and con-
ducted a most flourishing concern for a
period of eight years, at the expiration of
which he became interested in the undertak-
ing business. He is a licensed embalmer and
is a particularly efficient funeral director.
In connection with his undertaking estab-
lishment he now conducts a large and con-
stantly increasing building material business,
handling dressed lumber, shingles, doors and
windows. He has proved decidedly success-
ful in both ventures and is known as a man
of unusual executive ability and tremendous
energy. As a result of his fair and honorable
methods he commands the unalloyed confi-
dence of all with whom he has had dealings
and as a citizen he is respected for his high-
minded principles and unwavering support
of all measures and enterprises advanced for
the good of the community. In all the walks
of life he has been manly, generous and true
and he is ever willing to lend a helping hand
to those less fortunately situated in the way
of worldly goods than himself.
On the 17th of December, 1891, Mr. Craig
was united in marriage to IMiss Addie V.
Oxley, of Valley Ridge, Dunklin county, Mis-
souri. Mrs. Craig is a daughter of W. J.
Oxley, who for a number of j'ears conducted
a store at Valley Ridge, where he was the
popular incumbent of the office of post-
master. He is now living in retirement at
IMalden. Mr. and ilrs. Craig have five chil-
dren.— Pearl, Lloyd, Van, Winnie and Earl.
Pearl Craig is a member of the class of 1912
in the Maiden high school.
In politics Mr. Craig is an unswerving sup-
porter of the principles of the Democratic
party and in religious matters he and his
wife are consistent members of the Mission-
ary Baptist church, in which he is deacon at
the present time. In fraternal circles he is
affiliated with the Independent Order of Odd
Fellows, in which he is past noble grand ; and
he is also a valued and appreciative member
of the Modern Woodmen of America, the
Tribe of Ben Hur and the Royal Neighbors.
Bennette Dilley Crowe is as universally
respected as he is known in Caruthersville.
In these days of specialization it is a relief to
find a physician who is a general practi-
tioner. Dr. Crowe is as fully qualified to
perform a surgical operation as he is to steer
a patient through a lingering case of typhoid
fever. His personality is siieh that his mere
presence serves as a tonic, his bearing being
just sympathetic enough to give assurance of
his sincerity, and yet is sufficiently hearty to
elevate the spirits of the sick one.
Dr. B. D. Crowe is from Tennessee, his
birth having occurred near Newbem. that
942
HISTORY OF SOUTHEAST MISSOURI
state, August 18, 1863. He is a son of John
Rice Crowe, who was known in his native
state (Tennessee) as a prosperous farmer,
belonged to the Primitive Baptist church,
and in politics was a stanch Democrat, but
vith no desire for public olHce for himself.
John Rice Crowe was born in Perry%'ille
county, Tennessee, March 28, 1818, and when
a young man moved to Dyer county, where
he purchased a tract of land near Newbern
and devoted his time to the management of
his farm. He there married Miss Betty
Lunsford, a young lady born in Raleigh,
North Carolina, Februaiy 7, 1820; she was
a member of an old North Carolina family
who were religiously of the Methodist per-
suasion, as was ]Miss Betty. In course of time
]\Ir. and ilrs. Crowe became the parents of
a family of eleven children, whose names are
as follows: William G., James A., Arbezine,
John R,, Andrew J., Melissa, Jennie, Thomas,
Amanda, Bennette and Aquilla. The three
eldest sons were all soldiers and John R. was
killed in battle, and of the entire family of
eleven the only two living today are Andrew
J., the well-known justice of the peace in
Caruthersville. and Dr. Bennette Crowe.
Father and ilother Crowe lived together for
many years, the husband's demise occurring
March 9, 1890. His widow survived him al-
most seven .veai-s, she being summoned to her
last rest on the 2nd day of March, 1897 : both
died at Newbern, Tennessee, and lie side by
side in the Poplar Grove cemetery at New-
bern.
Dr. Bennette D. Crowe, the tenth child in
order of birth, was brought up on his father's
farm. As soon as he was of the proper age
he entered the public school at Newbern and
after completing flie grammar school course
he became a student at Newbern high school.
Immediately upon his graduation, at the age
of eighteen, he began to read medicine, in
preparation for the vocation he had chosen,
but he was not able to continue his profes-
sional training at that time and in order to
earn money he worked on the farm and con-
ducted the management of a sawmill which
his father owned, postponing his medical ed-
ucation, but not abandoning the determina-
tion to become a physician. In 1892 he
entered the medical college in connection with
the Memphis Hospital, at I\Iemphis, Tennes-
see, and was graduated from that institution
after a three years' course. During the en-
suing four years he practiced medicine in
Tennessee, then, in 1899. he came to Car-
uthersville and commenced to practice. He
speedily was awarded the recognition which
his abilities merit, gradually built up an ex-
tensive general practice, and is today to be
found at certain hours at his office on Ward
street.
Two days after attaining his majority the
Doctor was united in marriage to Miss Emma
Kirkpatrick (August 20, 1884). IMrs. Crowe
is a daughter of James and ilinerva (Plead-
ers) Kirkpatrick. of Newbern, Tennessee,
where their daughter Emma was born on the
first day of the year 1865. Dr. and Mrs.
Crowe reared a family of four children, but
one little one died in infancy. The names of
those living are as follows: ]\Ivrtle, born
July 17, 1885, the wife of J. E. Duncan, of
Caruthersville ; Robert L., whose birth oc-
curred November 27, 1887, a graduate from
the Jackson Military School and from the
Ohio State University (1911), now a drug-
gist living in Ohio; Madge, born March 28,
1890, married to Leslie Prohaska, of Caruth-
ersville; Roger, the date of whose nati^^ty is
April 11, 1895, is a student in the public
school. ]Mrs. Crowe, a devoted member of
the Baptist church, constantly encouraged
her husband in his efforts to obtain his med-
ical education and has aided him in every
possible way.
The Doctor is affiliated with the Masonic
fraternal order, with the Independent Order
of Odd Fellows, with the Knights of Pythias
and with the Benevolent and Protective
Order of Elks. He has remained true to his
father's political beliefs, and has served the
Democratic party in various responsible ca-
pacities. During the past four years he has
been the coroner of Pemiscot county; for a
term of two years he served the city of Car-
uthersville as maj'or and for a period of six
years he was a member of the board of alder-
men. In the estimation of Dr. Crowe his
profession takes precedence over all else, but
if he were a less able practitioner he would
.still be a man of prominence, in relation to
the public offices which he has so acceptablv
filled.
L. N. Pollock is one of the prosperous
merchants of Campbell, Slissouri. Taking a
pride in his business he has brought into it
system, order, organization and intelligence.
Many merchants fail to make a success of
their stores becaiise they permit themselves
to be cajoled into buying articles which they
find themselves unable to sell. Mr. Pollock,
HISTORY OF SOUTHEAST MISSOURI
943
while up-to-date in ever.y respect, is pos-
sessed of that sound judgment by means of
which he instinctivel.y knows when an article
is apt to become a good seller, and he has
rarely been caught with many unsalable
goods on hand. Perhaps another cause of his
success is to be attributed to his attentive,
but not obsequious manners; it is very much
easier to be waited upon than to wait upon
others, and to serve humanity well, grace-
full.y and effectually, is a fine art which Mr.
Pollock appears to have mastered.
Born on the 20th day of ilarch, 1871, in
Tennessee, Jlr. Pollock is a son of Dr. D. C.
and Eliza Pollock, natives of Tennessee, and
they moved to Dunklin coiinty soon after
their marriage and later took up their resi-
dence in New Jladrid county. The son, L. N.,
was about two j-ears old when the family
located in New ^ladrid count.v, ^Missouri,
and he came to Maiden, Dunklin county,
when about seventeen, ilost of his schooling
was obtained in New ^Madrid county. When
he was seventeen years old he left the
parental roof, went to ]\Ialden, where he
worked for a couple of months for his board
and then obtained a position as clerk in a
store in ]Malden, remaining there for about
three years. The eusuing seven years he
clerked in different stores in Maiden and in
1897 came to Campbell, at that time only a
very small place. He engaged in business
with Lasswell & Wade, who were operating
a store in a wooden building belonging to
John Bridges estate. At the expiration of
twelve months (during which time ^Ir. Pol-
lock was president of the company) Mr.
Wade sold his interest in the business to Mr.
Baile.v and during the six or seven years that
the new partners were associated, the re-
ceipts of the business amounted to over two
hundred thousand dollars yearly. In 1906
Mr. Pollock and ]Mr. ]\Iitchell established the
general merchandise store which is now being
conducted under the firm name of Pollock &
Mitchell. The firm, which is steadily increas-
ing its trade, carries a complete line of
groceries and of dry goods, with a little
hardware and some farm implements.
In 1892, while a resident of JIalden, Mr.
Pollock was married to IMiss Norma ]McCas-
lin, a native of that place. By this marriage
Mr. and Mrs. Pollock have six children,
whose names are as follows: Herald L.,
Louise and AUine (twins), Clyde, Roy and
Melba, all at home. Mr. Pollock has gone
through all the branches of the York Rite
masonrj', being a member of the Blue lodge
at Campbell, Ancient Free and Accepted
]\Iasons; of the Council at Campbell. Royal
Arch iMasons; of the Chapter at Kennett,
Royal and Select Masters; and of the Com-
mander}' at Maiden, Knights Templars. He
is also affiliated with the Modern Woodmen
of America.
"\Mien Mr. Pollock came to Campbell four-
teen years ago he had less than nothing, as
he was in debt about three thousand three
hundred dollars, for the first stock of goods
which he purchased on time. Today, in ad-
dition to his business interests he owns about
three hundred acres of land near town, which
is divided up into two farms, almost all
cleared. These farms he rents out to farm-
ers, and has himself nothing to do with the
working of the land. He is a self-made man,
who has proved to be a first class workman.
William Aljian Tejipleton is a prosper-
ous and progressive agriculturist in Dunklin
county, Missouri, and in addition to his
farming interests he is also conducting a
store at i\IcGuire's Corner, some four miles
south of ilalden. ilr. Templeton was bom
on his father's farm in this county, the date
of his nativit.y being the 13th of August,
1867. He is a son of James and ^Margaret
(Arnold) Templeton, the former of whom is
a successful farmer in Dunklin county,
where he owns an estate of three hundred
acres, and the latter of whom died in 1873.
On other pages of this work appears a sketch
dedicated to the career of James Templeton
so that further data in regard to the family
history are not deemed essential at this junc-
ture.
For a number of j'ears after completing
the curriculum of the district schools of his
home community, William A. Templeton re-
mained on the old homestead farm, in the
work and management of which he early
began to assist his father. In September,
1898, he purchased a tract of one hundred
acres of land, one half of which was cleared,
the same being located five and one-half
miles from ilalden. In 1902 he added thirty-
five and a half acres to the original tract and
in 1908 he purchased forty acres, all cleared.
He disposed of a forty-acre tract in Cotton
Hill township in the winter of 1910 and
bought in its place a tract of sixteen acres
from his father. He raises cotton, corn, peas
and melons, his market for the last-men-
tioned product being near his present store,
944
HISTORY OF SOUTHEAST MISSOURI
on the Frisco Railroad. For the past j^ear
he has conducted a tine general merchandise
store at JMcGuire's Corner, four miles south
of :\Ialden, his excellently equipped estab-
lishment catering principally to a niral
trade. In addition to the conduct of the
store he has charge of a postal department.
He is a business man of square and straight-
forward methods and as a result of his splen-
did executive ability and tremendous vitality
he is achieving an admirable success. He is
honored and esteemed throughout Dunklin
county as a man of his word and as a citizen,
whose aid and influence are ever exerted for
the good of the community.
On the 8th of July, 1888, Mr. Templeton
was united in marriage to Miss Sallie
Lasater, a daughter of the late Dr.
Lasater, formerly of Tennessee. Mrs. Tem-
pleton was born May 16, 1867, and was the
fourth in order of birth in a family of six
children, three of whom are living, in 1912.
:Mr. and Mrs. Templeton became the parents
of seven children, three of whom are de-
ceased, namely, — George, born on the 18th of
April, 1889, died in 1890; Ethel, born Feb-
ruarv 14, 1900, died in 1901; and Sallie,
born on the 21st of September, 1905, died
August 18, 1906. The children who are liv-
ing are: Roy Ernest, born December 23,
1891, was graduated in the Campbell high
school as a member of the class of 1911, and
he is now employed on his father's farm;
Arthur, whose birth occurred November 19,
1893, is now at Ft. Smith, Arkansas; Clara,
born September 6, 1895, remains at home, as
does also Nettie, born April 2, 1903. On the
21st of October, 1904, Mrs. Templeton was
summoned to the life eternal. She was a
woman of most gracious personality and her
loss was deeply mourned by a wide circle of
lo\'ing and devoted friends.
3Ir. Templeton married November 7, 1906,
:Mrs. jMollie Hall, nee Brannon, who was
born in Carroll county, Tennessee, a daughter
of :\Iichael and Isabella (McCluskey) Bran-
non. Mrs. Templeton came to Arkansas with
the family at fourteen years of age, and was
married there to ]\Ir. H. G. Hall, who died
July 1. 1905. She, too, is a member of the
ilethodist Protestant church.
In politics Mr. Templeton is an unswerv-
ing advocate of the cause of the Democratic
party and in a fraternal way he is affiliated
with a number of representative organiza-
tions of a local character. His religious
faith is in harmony with the tenets of the
ilethodist Protestant church, to whose good
works he is a liberal contributor of his time
and means. There rests no blemish on his
entire career and the same serves as lesson
and incentive to the younger generation.
Thomas Jefferson Edgar Page. No rec-
ord of the lives and accomplishments of the
men of southeastern Missouri would be
complete without an account of the men who
have furnished the basis of the prosperity
this section enjoys, for no district is more in-
debted to its agriculturists than Dunklin
county. Prominent among these builders of
her fortunes stands Thomas E. Page, well-
known for his success as a breeder and dealer
in .stock. Not only his business record but
the luiblemished story of liis private character
and achievements easily account for the high
esteem with which he is regarded by his large
circle of friends, a circle, it may be noted,
that is almost co-incident with that of his
acquaintances.
Mr. Page, christened Thomas Jefferson
Edgar Page, was born December 30, 1861,
just when the lowering cloud of civil war was
bursting upon a sorely divided nation, the
place of his nativity being Lockhart, Cald-
well county, Texas. He was the son of
Leander Berry and Mary Manson (White)
Page. Of his one brother and six sisters, the
following data is here inserted. Anzo E. be-
came the wife of Guy M. Smith, a resident of
the Lone Star state, and upon her death, ten
years ago, she left five children, all of whom
now live at Kennett. Ella B. married R. W.
Stokes in 1881, and became the mother of two
sons, Merrill Aubert and Roy ]\I. and she
makes her home in Maiden. Lula L., Mrs. T.
R. R. Ely, passed away at Keimett twelve
years ago. sur\'ived by three children,
idella was united in marriage to J. D. Wal-
trip, a resident of Dunklin county, and she
passed to her heavenly reward in September,
1908. She was the beloved mother of seven
children, of whom five are now living.
Estella, whose death occurred five years ago,
was the wife of T. R. R. Ely, and her only
child lives at the present time with the father
in Kennett. Clarence E.. for the last eight
or ten years has been one of the prominent
and reliable attorneys of Dunklin county,
with an office in Kennett, where he and his
wife, Mrs. Hattie (Moore) Kennett make
their home. Texanna, the first born of the
family, died in infancy.
The elder Mr. Page was a property owner
THOMAS J. E. PAGE
HISTORY OF SOUTHEAST MISSOURI
945
in Texas and his death occurred in that state
in 1908, at the age of seventy-nine years.
Prior to his first visit to this state, Thomas E.
Page resided at the parental home. In 1880
he made a visit to this section: of the country
Avith his sister, remaining here for about eight
months. After his return to Texas, he con-
tinued in the stock business as a cowboy, etc.,
gaining valuable experience. After eighteen
months, he returned to this state with his
mother and his sisters and brother. His
mother remained with him until her death at
Clarkton in 1896, at the age of sixty-six years.
Mr. Page, upon settling in Dunklin county,
farmed on a small scale for a few years. His
first property, he bought fifteen yeai-s ago,
about 1895, the purchase being two hundred
acres of land about one mile north of Clark-
ton, which he seciired from the Skagg heirs.
Besides that tract, he bought fifteen acres
more of Melt Gardner, and a two-thirds in-
terest in a one hundred and sixty acre farm
at Holcomb. This he sold after fifteen years
of ownership. His present place, where he
now lives and has erected his substantial and
handsome home, he bought thirteen years ago.
along with twelve acres in Clarkton in the
spring of 1911. IMr. Page bought out the in-
terest held by Mr. Ely in the farm they had
formerly owned in partnership, the same
being a section of swamp land, located east of
Gideon. Besides the splendid residence in
which he lives, Mr. Page has two other houses
in Clarkton. His stock farm is large and
prosperous, and both the quality of his stock
and the various improvements upon the farm
reflect the progressive spirit of his manage-
ment. Besides the three Irandred head of
cattle now grazing on his swamp land, he has
a drove of one hundred hogs, sixteen head of
horses and mules and a few colts.
Mr. Page's interest in business has not been
confined, however, to stock-raising. Other
thriving enterprises in which he has financial
interests are the Clarkton Real Estate and
Improvement Company and the Concrete
Block Company, and he is a stock-holder in
the Bank of Clarkton and also in the Peoples
Bank of Holcomb.
On the 7th of August. 1897. Mr. Pase laid
the foundations of his present hospitable and
delightful household by his marriage to ]\rrs.
Ida Josephine Davidson, the charming and
attractive daughter of George Young of
Portageville. At the time of her marriage,
she was the mother of two children by her firet
husband Mr. "Will Davidson, both of them
being daughters, Bertha Irene, and Trixie by
name. Bertha Irene, having completed a
preparatory course at ilalden is a high-school
pupil there, while Trixie will graduate in one
more year at Clarkton. The marriage of Mr.
and Mrs. Page has been blessed by the births
of two children, — Mary Kathleen, who was
born March 17, 1902, is at the parental home
and attends school in Clarkton, and a son,
Julius Ravmond, who was born December
12th, 1903."
Mr, and Mrs, Page lend their support to
the Presbyterian church of Clarkton, both
being members of that denomination, Mr.
Page being one of the elders. Fraternally.
Sir. Page is affiliated with the Knights of
Pythias of Kennett, and the Independent
Order of Odd Fellows of Clarkton.
Robert L. Ward. A well-known and emi-
nentl.y successful lawyer of Pemiscot county,
Robert L. Ward, of Caruthersville, has at-
tained signal precedence and honor in the
legal profession, and as a stalwart supporter
of the principles of the Democratic party has
eonti'ibuted a due cpota toward the advance-
ment of its cause, in the meantime having
rendered able and appreciated service in vari-
ous public offices of trust and responsibility.
A native of Tennessee, he was born August
18, 1873, in Dver couutv, a son of Benjamin
F. and 3Iary F. (Green) Ward.
As a small boy Robert L. Ward attended
the public schools of his native town, but in
January, 1885, a few years after the death of
his father, he came vvith his mother to
Wa^'ne county, Missouri, driving across the
intervening country with a two-horse wagon.
He continued his studies for a while in the
public schools, and began his active career as
a school teacher. At times from 1892 to 1898
he attended the State Normal School at Cape
Girardeau, and in 1900 entered the law de-
partment of the University of Slissouri, from
which he was graduated in 1901. In 1902
Mr. Ward was admitted to the IMissouri bar
in Wayne county, and was there engaged in
the practice of law until 1901. Coming to
Caruthersville in that year, he opened a law
office and began the practice of his profession.
In December of that year he became associ-
ated with his present partner, L. L. Collins,
and the firm thus established has since car-
ried on an extensive and lucrative law busi-
ness, being one of the strongest and best legal
firms of the county. An active and valuable
member of the Democratic partv. ]\Ir. Ward
946
HISTORY OF SOUTHEAST MISSOURI
represented Wayne county in the State Leg-
islature for two years, being elected to the
position in 1901, and in addition to serving
well on the committees on education and the
probating of wills, and on several minor com-
mittees, was one of the promoters of the bill
to license teachers.
Mr. Ward married, October 10, 1906, Vir-
ginia A. Atkins, of Jackson, ilissouri, and
thev have one child, Byron A. Ward, who was
born July 12, 1907. Fraternally ]\Ir. Ward
is a member of the Aucieut Free and Ac-
cepted Order of I\Iasous, belonging to Caruth-
ersville Lodge, No. 431, of Caruthersville ; of
the Order of the Eastern Star, to which his
wife also belongs ; and of the Benevolent and
Protective Order of Elks. Both IMr. and
Mrs. Ward are consistent Christian people,
Mr. Ward being affiliated b.y membership
with the ^Methodist Episcopal church, while
Mrs. Ward is a member of the Presbyterian
church.
James J. Sharp came to Dunklin county
in 1881 when he was twenty years of age.
His reason for leaving Kentuekj-, his native
state, was that he liked Dunklin county bet-
ter. He had visited here earlier and decided
that this was a better place than his former
home. AAHien he first arrived in the region,
he settled on a small place near his present
home and after five years, he was able to buy
a small place and this he kept two years. At
the end of that time he bought his present
place, or a part of it and has been improving
and enlarging it ever since. iMr. Sharp now
o-n-ns 1.58 acres situated a mile west of Clark-
ton. All but twenty acres of this is cleared
and the land is worth over a hundred dollars
an acre. "\Mien he took the farm there was
nothing on it in the wa.y of buildings but he
has put up a commodious house and good
barn. A part of the land was cleared, but
most of that work has been done since the
present owner came into possession of the
place.
Mr. Sharp was left an orphan at three
years of age and was reared by an uncle, his
father's brother, Jesse Sharp, of Ohio, Ken-
tucky-, and later in McLean county, Ken-
tuck>% where he resided with his elder sisters
until coming to jMissouri. Mr. Sharp had an
older brother, Allen Sharp, who settled in
^Missouri about 1878 and married a sister of
]\Irs. James J. Sharp. Allen Sharp died some
twenty-six years ago. James J. resided with
Allen for some two or three years after com-
ing to Missouri.
Mrs. Sharp was foiiuerly iliss jMattie
James, born in Dunklin county, ^Missouri, in
1866, daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Tom James
of this county. James J. Sharp and his wife
were married December 1, 1888, at Kennett,
Missouri. Her father is known as "Uncle
Tom James" and was one of the first settlers
of Dunklin county. Five children have been
born to Mr. and ]\Irs. Sharp. They are
Sam C, j\Iamie Ella, Ernest, and Carroll, all
at home. One child, Paul, died in November,
1909, aged fourteen years. Sam C. Sharp is
assistant cashier of the Bank of Clarkton.
Mr. and Mrs. Sharp are members of the
Oak Grove General Baptist church, of which
Mrs. Sharp's father and grandfather were
founders, having hewed the logs and built the
structure, ilr. Sharp is a Democrat in polit-
ical policy and in a fraternal way his affilia-
tion is with the Independent Order of Odd
Fellows, at Clarkton.
Herschel p. KmsoLviNG. A man of
prominence and influence in the business and
political world of Maiden and Dunklin
county, ilissouri, is H. P. Kinsolving, who,
in addition to numerous other interests, is the
owner of farming property in this section of
the state amounting to one thousand acres of
most arable land. At one time he was presi-
dent of the Dunklin County Bank and he has
also served as president of the Jlalden Im-
provement Company, in the organization of
which concerns he was a most important
factor. He is a former state commissioner
and for twenty-five years prior to April,
1911, he was postmaster at ^Maiden, serving
in that capacity continuously except during
the Cleveland administrations.
A native of the fine old Bluegrass common-
wealth, Herschel P. Kinsolving was born in
Marshall county, Kentucky, the date of his
nativity being the 24th of April, 1854. He
was reared to the invigorating discipline of
the old homestead farm, in the work and man-
agement of which he early became associated
with his father. During the winter sessions
he attended school in his home district and
for a time he was also a student in the Mar-
shall County Seminary, at Benton, Kentucky,
At the age of seventeen years he began to
teach school, first in rural schools for a period
of three and a half years and later in the
schools of Birmingham, in the latter of
HISTORY OF SOUTHEAST MISSOURI
947
which he was employed for three years. His
parents were M. B. G. and Nettie (Dunn)
Kinsolving. The father was born and reared
in Virginia and the mother was boi-n and
reared in Kentuckj'. The father was a farmer
by occupation and he was summoned to
eternal rest in the year 1887, the mother hav-
ing passed away in 1871.
While teaching at Birmingham, Kentucky,
Herschel P. Kinsolving became interested in
a general store in that place. In 1879 he de-
cided to try his fortunes further west and in
that year came to Maiden, Missouri, where he
immediately opened a drug store. At that
early day this now thriving little metropolis
was a new town with a narrow gauge rail-
road. With the passage of time ilr. Kin-
solving's drug business began to extend out
and eventually he controlled a large and
lucrative patronage. He continued to be
identified with that line of enterprise until
March, 1911, in all a period of thirty-two
years. Some twenty-five years ago he began
to buy up land, paying for his first property
the merely nominal price of two dollars and
a quarter per acre. He cleared off the heavy
timber on his land, burning the same up and
opening the ground to cultivation. Little by
little he has added to his original holdings
until he is the owner of a thousand acres of
some of the finest land in Dunklin and New
Madrid counties. Eight hundred acres of his
estate are under cultivation and of that area
four hundred acres are operated by tenants.
For some of his land he has paid as high as
fifty dollars per acre, on various occasions dis-
posing of the timber at very good prices. He
has been a great advocate of drainage in Mis-
souri, though most of his property is upland.
In 1897 he became instrumental in the or-
ganization of the Dunklin County Bank, of
which substantial financial concern he was
president for a period of twelve years. In
recent years, however, he has disposed of his
stock in that concern. He was also one of the
organizers of the Maiden Improvement Com-
pany, serving in the capacity of president of
that enterprise for a period of nine years.
In his political convictions, IMr. Kinsolving
has ever been aligned as a stalwart supporter
of the principles and policies for which the
Republican party stands sponsor. He was
chairman of the first Republican county com-
mittee in Dunklin county, it having been
founded in 1888, during the Harrison cam-
paign. He continued as chairman of the
county committee for eighteen vears and for
ten years was member of the Alissouri State
Republican committee, the last four years of
this time being a member of its executive
committee. In 1902 he was nominated for
Congress in his district but owing to normal
political exigencies failed of election. In
1880, during the Hayes administration, he
was appointed postmaster at Maiden and he
continued as such until April, 1911, being out
of office only during the Democratic adminis-
trations of President Cleveland. In 1880 the
postoffice paid about twenty dollars per
month and Mr. Kinsolving was urged to take
it into his store. In 1911 it paid one hundred
and forty dollars per month. The income in
1880 was about one dollar per day, while at
the present time it is fifteen dollars per day.
During his incumbency as postmaster Mr.
Kinsolving established two rural delivery
routes and he has accomplished a great deal
in many different connections for the good of
the postoffice. He has ever manifested a deep
and sincere interest in educational affairs at
Maiden and for nine years was president of
the school board at ]\Ialden, it having been
during his incumbency that the high school
was started in this place. In religious mat-
ters he is a consistent member of the Method-
ist Episcopal church, in which he is a mem-
ber of the board of trustees and of the board
of stewards. He is also connected with the
district board of stewards of the church of
that denomination.
Mr. Kinsolving was married to Miss Eliza
Heath of Birmingham, Kentucty, in 1877,
and she died at Maiden in 1888. He is the
father of five children: Vernia, who is the
wife of L. B. Stokes; Edith, whose death
occurred in 1888 ; Herschel P. Jr., Nettie and
Mildred. In 1911 was solemnized the mar-
riage of ]Mr. Kinsolving to Jliss Laura Allen,
a native of Williamson county, Illinois,
whence she came to IMissouri in the year
1911. There have not been any children born
to this union. In a fraternal way Mr. Kinsolv-
ing is a valued and appreciative member of
the grand old Jlasoni'c order, in which he has
passed through the circle of the York Rite
branch, being affiliated with the lodge, chap-
ter and commandery of that organization.
He is also connected with the local lodges of
the Independent Order of Odd Fellows,
Woodmen of the World and the Knights of
P.ythias. He is a man of wide experience
and broad information and his deep human
sympathy and kindliness of spirit make him
HISTORY OF SOUTHEAST MISSOURI
one of the most highly honored and deeply
beloved citizens in this section of the state.
John J. Horner. Numbered among the
more active and prosperous business men of
Pemiscot county is John J. Horner, who has
been a dealer in hay, feed and grain at Car-
uthersville during the past six years, and has
the distinction of owning, with his brother,
the only grain elevator in the county. He
was born, November 5, 1878, at Olney,
Illinois, and was there reared and educated.
His parents, John N. and Mary E. (Rush)
Horner, natives of Darke county, Ohio, lo-
cated in Olney, Richland county, Illinois,
where the death of his father occurred in
1889, and his mother is now a resident of
Caruthersville, IMissouri.
Coming with his brother, Paul L. Horner,
to Pemiscot county, Missouri, in 1905, Mr.
Horner established himself in business, and
has since dealt extensively in hay, grain,
feed, coal and wood, and in addition handles
buggies, wagons and vehicles of all kinds.
Beginning on a modest scale, he has each
year increased his operations, the business
which at the first amounted to about ten
thousand dollars a year being now valued at
over one hundred thousand dollars a year,
its marked increase being due to the energj^
enterprise and good judgment of the Messrs.
Horner, men of pronounced ability.
Mr. Horner married Edna P. Richardson,
of Olney, Illinois, and their attractive home
is a center of social activity. jMr. Horner is
a member of Caruthersville Lodge, No. 1233,
Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks,
•while Paul L. Horner is a member of Olney
Lodge No. 926, at Olney, Illinois.
John C. Summers, residing in the town of
Campbell (a retired farmer, who formerly
owned a farm in the vicinity), has many
friends not only in the place which he now
honors by his residence, but also in the vari-
ous parts of southeastern Missouri where he
has lived at different times. He has made
many changes of location since he first
started out for himself and the period of his
life which stands out with most clearness is
the time of his service in the army, as from
that time his loss of eyesight dates.
Mr. Summers was born in Green county
(now Clay county), Arkansas, May 16, 1846.
His parents lived in Indiana and were visit-
ing in Arkansas when their son, John, made
his first appearance into the world. The
parents returned to Indiana with the little
boy and they remained in that state until
1853, when John C. Summers was seven
years old. The family then moved to Dunk-
lin county, Missouri, where the lad received
his educational training. When he was fif-
teen years old President Lincoln issued his
first call for volunteers to take part in the
conflict that had become inevitable. The
youth was desirous of accompanying the
older young men of his acquaintance to war,
but he was too j^oung to be permitted to
serve. The following year, however, on the
21st day of August, 1862, he was mustered
into the Federal army at St. Louis. He
served in the IMissouri Volunteer Infantry,
Company G, under Colonel Cavannah, in the
direct command of Captain ilcGarvey and
later of Captain O'Brien. The incidents
which followed stand out very distinctly in
Mr. Summers' mind; from St. Louis his
company went to Capt Girardeau, where they
drilled for six weeks; then they went down
the Mississippi river to Memphis, thence to
Vicksburg, Shreveport and Arkansas Post.
Mr. Summers participated in important en-
gagements at the latter two places, then re-
turned to Vicksburg, where the company
remained until July, 1863, assisting in the
capture of that city. When they finally left
Vicksburg he went on a hospital boat to St.
Louis. When he started from Vicksburg he
was well and acted as attendant to his sick
comrades, but he later was himself seized with
illness, and went to Cape Girardeau, where the
disease proved to be smallpox. The sickness
settled in his eyes, with the result that his
eyesight was irrevocably lost. After regain-
ing his general health, he left Cape Girar-
deau and returned to his home in Dunklin
county, not to be a dependant because he had
lost one of his senses, but to go forth and
battle with the world as bravely as he had
faced the enemy during his army life. In
the year 1876 he bought a farm of one hun-
dred and twenty acres on the St. Francois
river ; at the time of his purchase of this tract
it was thickly covered with timber, and he
cleared part of this and lived on the clearing
for seven years. At the expiration of that
period he moved to Holeomb, where he
stayed fourteen years; from Holeomb he
went to St. Francis, Arkansas, bought one
hundred and seventeen acres of land, which
he later sold to the railroad company and
next took up his residence at Brown's Ferry,
where for two years he ran the ferry. He
HISTORY OF SOUTHEAST MISSOURI
949
then bought a tract of laud oue mile west of
Holcomb, four huudred acres iu exteut, all
timber land. During the fourteen years of
his residence on the place he cleared two
hundred and fifty acres of the tract, built
fences and several good buildings, besides
making other improvements. In 1897 he
sold his farm at Holcomb and bought a one
hundred and sixty acre farm near Campbell,
where he resided until two years ago, when
he retired from active farm work, sold his
farm and moved to the home in Campbell
where he is to be found today.
Mr. Summers has been twice married. In
1871 he was united to Miss Nancy Sanders,
who bore him one child, Emma, now married
to Luther Averj-, of Gibson, Dunklin county,
Missouri. After eight years of wedded life
the young wife and mother was summoned to
the life eternal. In the year 1879 Mr. Sum-
mers formed a matrimonial alliance with
3Irs. Cornelia Beard, a widow with two chil-
dren,— Albert and Rosie ; both are married,
the former living at Hayti, Jlissouri, and the
latter, wife of Amos Harvey, resides at
Kennett. To the union of Mr. and Mrs.
Summers six children have been born, —
Annie, married and living in Jasper county;
John, married; James, married; Benjamin,
William and Sylvia at home with their par-
ents.
Mr. Svimmers is a stanch Republican and
in religious connection he and his wife hold
membership with the ilethodist Episcopal
church South. He has ever evinced an active
interest in educational matters, possibly be-
cause he himself received very little school-
ing. During his residence at Holcomb he
helped to establish the first school in that
town and his suggestions in relation to mat-
ters of education have always been of a help-
ful nature. AVhen the fact that Jlr. Sum-
mers has been blind since he was twenty
years old is considered, it is impossible to re-
frain from making comparisons between the
progress he has made and the career of many
men who have the free use of their five
senses. It is the determination and op-
timism of Mr. Summers which have been
important factors in his success.
Henry Anderson. Eminently worthy of
representation in a work of this character is
Henry Anderson, of Maiden, who has been
influential in advancing the mercantile in-
terests of this part of Dunklin county, and is
held in high esteem as a man and a citizen.
his business ability being unquestioned, and
his character above repi-oach. He was born,
February 7, 1861, at Cottonwood Point,
Pemiscot county, Missouri, of pioneer stock.
His father, William Y. Anderson, was
born, reared, and married iu Tennessee.
Coming to Missouri in 1857, he settled with
his family in Pemiscot county, where he was
engaged in agricultural pursuits until his
death, at the age of forty-five years. His
wife, whose maiden name was Susan C.
Beaver, was bred and educated in Tennes-
see. At her husband's death she was left
with a family of six children, the oldest being
about twenty years old. She kept the fam-
ily together, renting the farm for a few
years, but subsequently came with her chil-
dren to Dunklin county, locating in Maiden,
where she spent her remaining daj-s, passing
away at the age of sixty-five years.
Leaving the home farm on attaining his
majority, Henry Anderson clerked in a
store at Hales Point, Tennessee, for three
years. In 1893 he came to Maiden, expect-
ing to have no trouble in finding some re-
munerative employment, and for a time,
even, drove a draying team. Unable to secure
work, j\Ir. Anderson was forced to embark
in business on his own account. With the six
hundred .dollars which he had accumulated
he paid five hundred dollars for a home, and
invested one hundred in a restaurant, which
he conducted successfully for a year, when
he in company with his brothers, George W.
Anderson and W. R. Anderson, opened a
grocery, under the firm name of Anderson
Brothers, establishing a substantial business,
which is still being carried on successfully.
Under the management of ilr. Anderson a
large and exceedingly remunerative trade
was built lip, a line of general merchandise
being added to the grocery department, the
entire stock being now valued at twelve
thousand dollars, while the sales mount up
to about fifty thousand dollars each j^ear.
As its business increased larger quarters
were demanded, and the past twelve years
the firm has occupied a well furnished and
equipped building, thirty feet by one hun-
dred and twenty-five feet, with a balcony
thirty feet by thirty feet, which is used for a
millinery department. In 1906 Mr. Ander-
son retired from the firm, which has been
known as W. R. Anderson & Co. The An-
derson Brothers are all men of excellent
business and financial judgment, and have
acquired considerable wealth. They own, to-
950
HISTORY OF SOUTHEAST MISSOURI
gether, seven business buildings located in
the best part of the business section of
Maiden, and each of the brothers have a
pleasant home in this city. Heurj- Ander-
son is a stockholder, and vice-president of
the Dunklin County Bank.
Politically Mr. Henry Anderson is a stanch
Democrat, and in 1910, having been elected
by a hea\y vote to serve out the unexpired
term of George W. Peck, served as mayor of
Maiden. He filled the responsible position
most acceptably to all concerned, but posi-
tively refused a second term in that office.
During his time of service the electric light
and water system was installed at a cost of
$32,000, it being the best and most useful
proposition ever accepted by the town. The
plant is fitted with the most approved
modern machinery and appliances, being one
of the best in its appointments of any in
Southeastern Missouri, and is giving splen-
did satisfaction to the people.
Jlr. Anderson married Mrs. Mary E.
(Aclin) Forsythe, a widow, with one son,
William C. Forsythe, who was brought up by
Mr. Anderson, and was employed in the store
until his death, when but twenty-four j'ears
of age. He was married, and at his death left
two boys, for whom Mr. Anderson is tenderly
caring. Jlr. Anderson's oldest brother, John
R. Anderson, died at Caruthersville, Mis-
souri, and Mr. Anderson also brought up the
four children which he left, namely: Louisa,
formerly a clerk in the store, is the wife of
Dr. W. L. Marlow, of Kennett; Anna, now
a clerk in the store; John, clerking in the
store ; and Mary, who is a school girl.
GiLLUM ]\I. Hopper. Merited appreciation
offered voluntarily during the life time of
the man who deserves it is the greatest
lionor that can come to one. Gillum ^lonroe
Hopper is one of the grand old men of Dunk-
lin county, where he has resided during the
greater portion of his active career and
where he is honored and esteemed as a man
of sterling integrity and worth. He has
long been engaged in farming operations
and is the owner of a fine estate of one hun-
dred and twenty acres, the same being
eligibly located two miles south of Maiden.
Gillum Monroe Hopper was born in "War-
ren county. Tennessee, on the 26th of No-
vember. 1827, and he is a son of Absolom C.
and Ollie B. (Moore) Hopper, both of whom
were born and reared in Tennessee. The
father was an agriculturist by occupation
and at one time he owned a farm of one
hundred and twenty-four acres of land near
Hickory creek, in Warren county, Tennes-
see, where he devoted most of his time and
attention to the growing of corn, tobacco
and flax. Absolom C. Hopper, father of the
subject of this review, was the owner of
some five hundred acres of land in Gibson
county, Tennessee, and at the time of his
death Gillum M. Hopper inherited from him
a farm of fifty acres. Mr. and Mrs. Abso-
lom C. Hopper became the parents of ten
children, of whom Gillum IM. was the first-
born. Harrison Hopper died in 1907, near
the old home in Tennessee ; Louis was inter-
ested in railroad work in southern Missouri
for a number of years and is now deceased;
Nathaniel and Elmo came to Missouri, the
former settling near Clarkton and the latter
near Wrightville ; Moses resides in Obion
county, Tennessee. In 1833 the Hopper
family removed from Tennessee to Arkan-
sas, Avhere the home was maintained for a
period of four years, and they then re-
turned to Gibson county, Tennessee. Ab-
solom C. Hopper was called to eternal rest
in the year 18.51, aged forty-four years, and
his cherished and devoted wife passed away
in 1878, aged about seventy-one years.
In the public schools of his native place
and in those of Boone county, Arkansas,
Gillum ]M. Hopper received his preliminary
educational training. In 1872 he decided to
try his fortunes in Missouri and in that year
went to Clarkton, where he purchased a
farm of one hundred and thirty-seven acres
and where he also built a mill and a gin,
continuing to operate the same until 1881,
at which time he removed to Maiden. In
the latter place he conducted a gin for the
ensuing eighteen years, during which time
a great deal of the cotton raised in this sec-
tion of the state passed through his hands.
In 1889 Mr. Hopper's mill and gin at Mai-
den were destroyed by fire and from that
time he lived in virtual retirement on a
farm located two miles south of ilalden
until five years ago and since then he has
resided at Maiden with his daughter, Mrs.
Dunscomb. Most of his land was originally
very heavily wooded but he realized nothing
from the timber on it. Since clearing his
estate he has been very successful in the
growing of wheat, cotton and corn. He still
has three acres of timber land and a portion
of his farm is set out to small fruits and
berries. In 1885 Mr. Hopper purchased
^ i^ ^^^"^-crj^qjLrp
Al-^.^/^^^^c,
HISTORY OF SOUTHEAST MISSOURI
951
several acres of land in Maiden and then as
the town grew up round him he sold oft'
portions of it at different times. He now
possesses only one lot in ilalden, although
he has a small interest in some of the prop-
erty owned formerly by Louis Hopper
in his political affiliations ]\Ir. Hopper is
aligned as a stanch supporter of the prin-
ciples and policies for which the Democratic
party stands sponsor. He takes a deep and
sincere interest in all matters affecting the
general welfare of the county and he is a
man of influence and prominence in the
vicinity of Maiden. In fraternal channels
he is connected with Blue Lodge, No. 146,
Free and Accepted Masons, of Maiden, and
with the local lodge of the Independent
Order of Odd Fellows. In his religious faith
he is a devout member of the Methodist
Episcopal church at Maiden, and in the
same is an active and zealous worker. Al-
though he has now reached the venerable
age of eighty-four years, Mr. Hopper is still
erect and hearty, retaining in much of their
pristine vigor the splendid mental and phys-
ical qualities of his youth.
Mr. Hopper has been thrice married. On
the 24th of November, 1853, he married
Elizabeth Daniel and after her death, which
occurred November 25, 1883, he married, on
June 5, 1884, J\Irs. Elizabeth Allen, who
died in 1896. For his third wife Mr. Hop-
per chose Elizabeth Anne Glisson. of Ten-
nessee. She died April 3, 1904. Mr.
Hopper became the father of five daughters
and one son, concerning whom the follow-
ing brief data are here incorporated: Ab-
solom Clark Hopper, who died November
15, 1891, at the age of twenty-six years;
Mary Elizabeth, who became the wife of
Samuel Dunseomb, of Tennessee, and they
had seven children ; Ollie B. married R. C.
Vinson and thej' had one child. Dee Vinson,
now in Indiana, and Mrs. Ollie B. Vinson
died :ilareh 25. 1880; Ditha Louella and
Jennie Lee died while infants; and Julia
Ann is the widow of G. W. Peck, formerly
mayor of Maiden for a number of terms.
Edward Donley Gillen, proprietor of the
Gillen Furniture Company, an extensive and
progressive enterprise of Caruthersville,
Missouri, is one of the leaders of commerce
in this city. His interest in the city and
county prompts him at all times to encourage
every plan for advancement. His courteous
treatment and fair dealing are bringing to the
Vol. n— 1 e
Gillen Furniture Company a large trade,
which is ever expanding.
Mr. Gillen is a Kentuckian, born in Mc-
Cracken county, that state, February 6, 1872.
His father, Edward Gillen, was a life-long
resident of McCracken county, Kentucky, it
having been the scene of his birth in the year
1833, his marriage in 1871 to Miss Loulie
Gardner (born in 1854 in McCracken county,
Kentucky), the birth of his two children,
Edward and Ella, the death of his daughter,
Ella, at the age of seventeen, April 19, 1874,
and his own death on the 8th of October,
1880. During his life he was a man of prom-
inence, being well known as a farmer and a
school teacher. His education had been ob-
tained in the public schools and at the college
at Georgeto^^Ti, Kentucky, from which insti-
tution he was a graduate, and later became a
teacher in the public schools. In politics he
favored the Democratic party, while in a re-
ligious way both he and his wife were J\Ietho-
dists. He had a high standing with the Ma-
sonic fraternal order, being the secretary of
the Masons in his vicinity. His widow sur-
vived him just eleven years, her demise
having occurred in the mouth of October,
1891.
Edward D. Gillen was educated in his
native county and on the termination of his
schooling he began to work in the saw-mills
in his neighborhood, and was connected in
some wise with the lumber trade until 1902,
at which time he came to Caruthersville,
without any close family ties, his father,
mother and only sister all being dead. On
his arrival in Caruthersville he and E. L.
Reeves, established a furniture business, and
the same year both partners went to Texar-
kana, Texas, where they established a furni-
ture business under the name of Reeves-Gil-
len Furniture Company. Here Mr. Gillen
remained until 1907, at which time he sold
out his share of the business, came to Caruth-
ersville again, after his seven years' success-
ful experience, and on the 8th day of May,
1909. he established the Gillen Furniture
Company, located on Third street. His store
is thoroughly modern and equipped with up-
to-date accessories. There is a large sales-
room for the furniture department, with a
balcony, a stove department, work rooms and
ware rooms, the whole requiring more than
six thousand square feet of floor space. His
line is a large and varied one, consisting of a
complete stock of house furnishings, includ-
ing the famous Buck's stoves and ranges
952
HISTORY OF SOUTHEAST MISSOURI
(noted for their certainty and superiority),
carpets, mattings, rugs and draperies of the
latest designs and standard quality. ]Mr. Gil-
len is fully conversant with all the details of
operating this large establishment, of which
he is the sole proprietor.
During ^h: Gillen's residence in Texas
(Pebruary 12, 1907), he was united in mar-
riage to Miss Lucia, daughter of James and
Fanny A. (Collins) Trigg, residents of Tex-
arkana, where their daughter Lucia was
born, August 6, 1876, and where she was mar-
ried. Sir. and Mrs. Gillen have no children ;
both husband and wife are members of the
Methodist church, and in a fraternal way
Mr. Gillen is afflliated with the Benevolent
and Protective Order of Elks. Politically
he sympathizes with the Democrats, but he
has been too busy about other matters to have
found time to dabble in politics. He is a suc-
cessful business man and ever anxious for
the advancement of the city of which he is an
honored resident.
James K. Dunscombe was born in Logan
county, Kentucky, May 9, 1859. Ten months
after this event the family moved to Dunklin
county, ]\Iissouri, where the father, Daniel S.,
lived until his death, October 12, 1876. His
parents were Daniel S. and ]\Iarie (Johnson)
Dunscombe. Daniel S. Dunscombe was born
May 3, 1817, in Logan county, Kentucky, and
was in fair circumstances financially though
he suffered considerable loss from the Civil
war, as his sympathies were with the South.
The mother was born March 25, 1819, also in
Logan countv, Kentuckv, and died July 23,
1883.
As has been stated in the sketches of other
men who came to this county at an early
period of its development, educational facil-
ities were exceedingly meagre at that time
and few of the farmers' sons had much school-
ing, but they did get a training which present-
day educators declare nothing in our modern
life approximate for developing resource and
self-reliance. Wliether or not this is a cor-
rect idea, we must all concede that the men
and women of that generation accomplished
wonderful things from small beginnings.
James K. Dunscombe was the youngest of
nine children, of whom four grew to ma-
turity: Samuel D., mentioned elsewhere in
this work; Anna Eliza, born July 25, 1841,
and died October 24, 1900. leaving her hiis-
band, James Shannon : AVilliam T., born
September 4, 1846, residing at Campbell,
ilissouri, married Susan Liddell, who died,
leaving six children, his present wife was
IMrs. Lou Rayburn, nee Giles, by whom he
has one daughter.
James K. Dunscombe had not much chance
to go to school. He worked on his father's
farm as was the custom of most of the j'oung
men of the time. He was but twenty years
old at the time of his father's death and the
responsibility of supporting his mother and
sister devolved upon him.
At the age of twenty-seven he was married
to Miss Jennie D. Johnston of St. Louis.
Mrs. Dunscombe was born in Callaway
county, i\Iissouri, July 26, 1864, a daughter
of Henry P. and Eliza Frances (Shepherd)
Johnston, both natives of Culpeper county,
Virginia, but both came to ^Missouri as young
people, the Shepherd family having located
in Callaway county. Mr. Johnston is a miller
and millwright and still follows that busi-
ness, making his home with ilr. and Mrs.
Dunscombe, being aged now about sixty-nine
years. Mrs. Johnston died in the latter part
of July, 1882, at the age of forty-seven, the
date of her birth being December 30, 1834.
Mrs. Dunscombe was the eldest of nine chil-
dren, of whom five grew to maturity, viz :
Robert, born June 16, 1866, resides at St.
Louis, married Belle Somers, and has two
children; Charles Dennis, born ilay 9, 1871,
residing in Oklahoma, married Linnie Baker ;
George W.. born August 26, 1875, married
Carrie Kinder, has one daughter and resides
at Barton, Arkansas ; and Hugh B., bora Feb-
ruary 16, 1878, residing at Clarkton, mar-
ried Vara Skaggs and has three children.
j\Irs. Dunscombe had lived in Dunklin county
for some time before her marriage. The old-
est of the six children of ]\Ir. and jMrs. Duns-
combe, Hester Price Dunscombe, has attended
the normal at Cape Girardeau for three years,
and is now engaged in teaching at Campbell.
The others are Mary A., Valma, Jennie D.,
Sarah and Kenley Tola, all still at home.
Like most of these whose forebears were
sympathizers with the cause of the South,
Mr. Dunscombe 's political faith is that of the
Democratic part.v. He is an active worker in
the Presbyterian church of Clarkton of which
he is an elder. In the same town he is affil-
iated with the Odd Fellows' lodge and at
Campbell he is a member of the F. and A. M.
Sir. Dunscombe 's farm is 116 acres in ex-
tent, located at the north edge of Clarkton,
his residence being within the incorporation.
At his father's death he inherited fifty acres
HISTORY OF SOUTHEAST MISSOURI
953
as his share of the estate. Later he bought
out the other heirs but did not keep all the
land he purchased. When he came to the
place in 1881, onlj- a part of it was cleared.
The greater part of work as well as the erec-
tion of the farm buildings and of the dwelling
house situated in the midst of a pleasant
grove, is the result of iMr. Dunscombe 's efforts.
WiLLL\M Baylor Bledsoe. Farming,
the oldest of the industries, has in recent
years presented one of the richest fields of
scientitie investigation, and one of those pro-
gressive Missouriaus, who has not only lent
his assistance to these experimental en-
deavors, but who has also profited by them
very materially in the cultivation of his own
land, bringing his acres to the highest possi-
ble point of productiveness, is William Bay-
lor Bledsoe, whose farm of two hundred and
eighty acres has the distinction of being one
of the best in the county, ilr. Bledsoe, who
also gives a part of his attention to the duties
of deputy tax collector, has for a number of
years been identified with the livery and
transfer business in Maiden, although never
at any time severing his identification with
the great basic industry.
William Baylor Bledsoe was born in Over-
ton county, Tennessee, on July 2, 1869. He
is a son of John H. Bledsoe, a prominent
citizen of JMalden, born in Tennessee in 1845,
the son of Baylor Bledsoe, a Virginian. When
William B. was a year old, his father went
to Texas and for several years was engaged
in farming in Johnson county. In 1881 the
family came to ^Maiden, Dunklin county,
among the pioneers of the place which at that
date had but seven or eight hundred inhab-
itants. The father in course of time bought
a tract of unimproved land two miles from
town, and proceeded to clear this, while main-
taining the home in Maiden. He has been
for years one of the prominent men and
highly honored, his present residence being
at Monticello, Arkansas. The maiden name
of his wife was Mary J. Carlock and the chil-
dren which have blessed their union are as
follows: William Baylor, immediate subject
of this record; Mary C, wife of Thomas
Crawford, of Carrollton, Illinois; Sallie,
wife of M. Z. Anderson, of Maiden; Alma,
and Laura Bell, who are at home.
The youth of William B. was thus divided
between Texas and Missouri and in this state
he assisted his father in his agricultural ac-
tivities. He secured his education in the
public schools of Maiden and at the age of
nineteen years tried a new field of endeavor
by selling goods for Cox, Bledsoe & Company,
a mercantile company with headquarters in
Maiden. After his marriage in 1891, Mr.
Bledsoe engaged in farming for three years,
on his property situated two miles southwest
of Maiden, and to this he has added until it
now consists of two hundred and eighty
acres. In the fall of 1893 he went back to
Maiden and engaged in the transfer busi-
ness. For eighteen years he conducted a
transfer line and then, in 1905, opened a
livery barn in connection. The latter he dis-
posed of in October, 1910, but is still con-
ducting the transfer line. He has continued
to farm very successfully throughout all this
period. He makes a specialty of corn, cotton
and peas.
In his political afaiiation, Mr. Bledsoe is
a Democrat, ha'ving since his earliest voting
days given heart and hand to the men and
measures of the party. He is a prominent
and popular lodge man, holding membership
in the Maccabees, the Modern Woodmen, the
Lodge of Ben Hur and the Benevolent and
Protective Order of Elks.
Mr. Bledsoe laid the foundations of a happy
marriage when on January 4, 1891, he was
united to Mary Pritchett, of Dexter, Mis-
souri. She is a daughter of Presley and
Christina (Black) Pritchett, and was born
July 23. 1874, at Dexter. There are two chil-
dren in the Bledsoe household — lona, born
July 28, 1892. now at home ; and Carl, born
February 16, 1894, now residing with his
father.
Elzie H. Musgeave. A man of excellent
tact and good business qualifications, with
a keen appreciation of the elements that go
to make up a successful career, Elzie H. Mus-
grave stands high among the well-known mer-
chants of Caruthersville, where he and his
partner, Roy E. IMason, have a well stocked
gentlemen's furnishing store, carrying a full
line of men's and boys' clothing. He was
born, December 18, 1876, in Brownsville,
Tennessee, where he was reared and edu-
cated. His father, John H. Musgrave, was
born in Tennessee. August 20, 1848, and died
in Brownsville, Tennessee, June 17, 1909,
while his mother, whose maiden name was
Bethia B. Forest, was born March 12, 1857,
in Tennessee, and died, June 15, 1906, in
Brownsville.
Ambitious and energetic as a youth, Elzie
954
HISTORY OF SOUTHEAST MISSOURI
H. ilusgrave acquired a practical education
while 3'oung, and for seven years after enter-
ing upon a business career was manager of
the clothing department of one of the largest
dry goods establishments of his native city.
In 1899, looking for a larger field of en-
deavor, he came to Pemiscot county, Missouri,
and founded the Caruthersville Supply Com-
pany, of which he was at the first vice-presi-
dent, the remaining officers having been A.
P. Seoggin, Whit Campbell, Emmett Slater
and Tom Whithurst. At the end of a year
Mr. Musgrave was made president of the con-
cern, and managed its affairs most ably for
six years. In the spring of 1907 he sold out
his interest in the firm, and six months later,
in September, 1907, formed a partnership
with Roy E. Mason and opened his present
mercantile house, putting in a substantial
and attractive stock of men's and boys' fur-
nishing goods, and has since built up an
annual business of thirtj'-five thousand dol-
lars, having a trade that is constantly in-
creasing in amount and value. Mr. Mus-
grave is also president of the Sanders Realty
Company, which was organized, with a cap-
ital of ten thousand dollars six years ago,
and is in an exceedingly prosperous condi-
tion; and is a stockholder in the People's
Bank of Caruthersville.
Mr. Musgrave married, in 1903, Susie
Crews, who was born in Fi-anklin county,
Missouri, in 1876, and they have two chil-
dren, namely: Marion, born January 20,
1906 ; and Elzie H., Jr., born April 9, 1911.
Politically Mr. Musgrave is an earnest sup-
porter of the principles of the Democratic
party. Fraternally he belongs to Cottonwood
Lodge, No. 461, Ancient Free and Accepted
Order of IMasons, of Tennessee; and to St.
Louis Consistory, of St. Louis, Missouri.
Religiously he is a member and a deacon of
the Baptist church, to which Mrs. Musgrave
also belongs.
Frank M. Snider, a farmer residing in
Campbell, Dunklin county, has made a de-
cided success of his life, despite the fact that
wlien he commenced his independent career
he had not the mans to procure either techni-
cal or college education. Throughout his life
he has applied himself to the tasks in hand ;
he chose a definite course of action to which
he has in the main applied himself; tem-
porary hardships offered to him no terrors,
as he was ever on the look-out for the oppor-
tunities which he was certain would present
themselves, and he stood in readiness to grasp
them.
On the 25th day of February, 1848, Prank
M. Snider was born in Union county, Illinois,
and two years later he was taken by his par-
ents to Dunklin county. The family settled
seven miles north of Campbell and there they
lived busy, uneventful lives, until 1853, when
the death of the mother (a native of Ireland)
brought sorrow to the household. The father,
although a hard-working man all his life,
was not at first very successful and could not
give his children the educational advantages
that he would have liked. About 1860 Father
Snider married again and soon after that
event he began to make some headway. He
remained on the homestead until his demise,
which occurred when he was eighty-two years
old.
Prank M. Snider was early trained to work
and because his help was required at home,
and also on account of the fact that the only
available educational facilities were the sub-
scription schools — for which the money was
not forthcoming — he received very little edu-
cation. The lad was but thirteen years old
when the Civil war broke out — too young to
serve in the army — but in the spring of 1865,
when he had attained his seventeenth year,
he responded to a call from the President
and for the ensuing six months he was a mem-
ber of the state militia, stationed at Bloom-
field. His company disbanded in the fall of
1865, but as they were never mustered out.
Mr. Snider does not draw any pension. On
leaving the army he returned home and to-
gether with his father and brother, raised
stock on the farm and succeeded in making
money. Fifteen years after his army ex-
perience Mr. Snider found himself possessed
of forty acres of land, most of which was
covered with timber, and valued at fifteen
hundred dollars. He moved on to his place,
cleared it, raised hogs and bought more land,
and at the present time he owns eighty acres,
which are known as the home place, all cleared
but twenty acres. He has another forty acre
tract of land cornering the first place he
bought and still another forty acres near by,
both cleared. After deeding his children two-
hundred acres, he has three farms in all, on
two of which he has built houses. In 1907 he
moved to the home where he may be found
today. It is a ten-room house with a base-
ment and a furnace, surrounded by extensive
HISTORY OF SOUTHEAST MISSOURI
955
grounds, as he owns four lots adjoining. Tlie
home propertj" belongs to his wife and two
daughters.
On the 2nd day of September, 1880, Mr.
Snider was united in marriage to Miss Mary
Reniek, born near Jonesboro, Craighead
county, Arkansas. "When she was a child the
family moved to Illinois, where the father
died and later the mother moved to Dunklin
county, locating near Campbell where Mr.
and Mrs. Snider were married, and where
Mrs. Reniek died November 26, 1911, at
seventy years. The children born to Mr.
and Mrs. Snider were: Francis W., Jen-
nie M., Delia and Sam and one who died in
infancy, all except the first born living at
home with their parents. In politics ]\Ir.
Snider is a Republican and his allegiance has
always been unwaveringly tendered to that
party. His interest in educational matters
has been deep and lasting, as he has been
school director for seventeen years. In his
own family, he was willing to make sacrifices
that his children might have educational ad-
vantages and for two years the family resided
at Cape Girardeau so that his children might
receive the excellent training afforded by the
schools in that city.
F. W. Snider, the eldest of the family of
four, was born on his father's farm February
28, 1882, and. has lived in this section all of
his life. His first educational training was
obtained in the country school ; then followed
a high school course at Dexter and later he
was for a period of four years and a half at
the State Normal School at Cape Girardeau,
from which institution he was graduated in
1905, with the degree of Bachelor of Peda-
gogy. He forthwith commenced his work as
an educator and in 1906 he taught in the
Maiden high school. The following year, in
the fall of 1907, after this brief teaching ex-
perience, he accepted the appointment of
superintendent of schools at Campbell, where
he has continued to incorporate his lofty
ideas in regard to educational matters, into
the schools of which he has control.
In the month of June, 1909, Professor
Snider was married to Dora Walker, whose
birth occurred near Campbell April 5, 1887.
Her father, a native of Tennessee, died in
1897, while her mother, born in Missouri,
still lives in Campbell. The Professor has a
farm near Campbell and three lots in Camp-
bell, besides owning stock in the First Na-
tional Bank. In politics he has remained
true to his father's training and places his
sutfrage with the Republicans; his religious
sympathies are with the Methodists, and Mrs.
Snider is a member of the Methodist church,
Vvhile his fraternal conection is with the In-
dependent Order of Odd Fellows, the
Knights of Pythias and the Woodmen of the
World — all of Campbell. Professor Snider
is a young man, naturally looking towards the
future in the firm expectation that it has in
store for him something greater than he has
already obtained, and inasmuch as he has
abilities that are above the average, character
that is beyond reproach and a personality
that draws to him friends, his expectations
will doubtless be realized to the fullest extent.
H. E. DoEENER began his career in the
commercial world at the age of twelve, when
he went to work in a St. Louis store as a cash
boy. His father was a traveling salesman
who became helpless from paralysis in 1880
and for the next year and a half H. E.
Doerner worked as a cash boy and then se-
cured a better position as the result of study
in a night school. He kept steadily improv-
ing his situation until at seventeen he went
to work for a hat company at a fair salary
and learned that business. Later he traveled
for the firm and after five years with them
went into a packing house, where he did gen-
eral office work.
When only thirteen Mr. Doerner began his
study in night school, as his ambition would
not permit him to give up his education. He
learned bookkeeping in one j'ear of study
and secured a position in the ilissouri Pacific
Railway office, which he kept for three years.
All the while he continued to attend night
school, this time going to the Benton Law
School of St. Louis. He was admitted to the
bar in '1904, two years after coming to Pem-
iscot county. His admission entitled him to
practice in all courts of Missouri. He was
the last person in this county to be admitted
under the old law.
T^Tien ]\Ir. Doerner came to Steele it was
in the capacity of bookkeeper for the F. T.
Jackson Store Company. The firm became
bankrupt a few months after his arrival and
for a few months Mr. Doerner conducted a
grocery business. About this time he was
appointed local agent of the Frisco Railroad.
Steele was only a flag station at the time. Mr.
Doerner finished his preparation for admis-
sion to the bar and attended to the railway
work.
At the present time he is the only lawyer
HISTORY OF SOUTHEAST MISSOURI
in Steele and has a growing practice. He is
chairman of the board of trustees of the vil-
lage, an ofiSce which corresponds to that of
mayor of a city. He was six j-ears a justice
of peace and this is his fourth term as mayor.
In 1908 and 1909 he was attorney for the
town of Steele and also for HoUand, Mis-
souri. He belongs to the Democratic party.
On December 13, 1904, occurred the mar-
riage of Miss May Regan and ilr. H. E.
Doerner. No children have been born of this
union. ]\Ir. Doerner owns fort}' acres of land
in this vieinitj', which he has cleared; also a
lot on i\Iaiu street and a residence property
of three-quarters of au acre in town.
In the Modern Woodmen's lodge of Steele
]\Ir. Doerner is consul and in the K. 0. T. M.
of the village he is record-keeper. His mem-
bership in the IMasonic order is at Cotton-
wood Point, where he is a Blue Lodge Mason.
H. C. ScHTJLT. Active not only in
and social circles, but in public affairs, H. C.
Schult has been called to various responsi-
ble and honorable positions in city and coun-
ty, and in every instance has acquitted him-
self with conspicuous energj' and ability, his
tact, sound judgment and integrity being ap-
preciated in Caruthersville, his home city,
and in all parts of Pemiscot county. He
was born March 19, 1858, in La Crosse, "Wis-
consin, and was there educated in the pub-
lic schools.
His father, John Henry D. Schult, was
born in Hamburg, Germany, and as a young
man immigrated to the United States, locat-
ing at La Crosse, "Wisconsin, where he spent
his remaining days, dying November 20,
1864, at a comparatively early age. He mar-
ried Elise Oentrich, who was born in Berlin,
Germany, and died in Milwaukee, "Wisconsin,
June 3, 1905.
On September 1, 1877, ere attaining his
majorit}', H. C. Schult took up his residence
in Gayoso, Pemiscot county, then the county-
seat, and assumed charge of one of the lead-
ing weekly newspapers of Southeast Mis-
souri, "The Statesman," becoming its man-
ager and publisher. In the spring of 1878
yellow fever became epidemic in Memphis,
Tennessee, and all communication with the
outer world through that city being cut off
the publication of the Statesman was sus-
pended from July, 1878, until the following
October. In the meantime Mr. Schult was
employed as deputy county circuit clerk. In
1880 he was appointed deputy sheriff and
county collector, and served in that capacity
until the fall of 1881, when he received the
appointment of deputy county and circuit
court clerk. In April, 1883, Mr. Schult was
appointed county and circuit court clerk, and
in 188-4 was elected to the same position to
fill out a term expiring in 1886, when he was
re-elected to the same office without opposi-
tion, and served ably and satisfactorily until
1890.
Locating at Caruthersville, Pemiscot coun-
ty, in 1892, Mr. Schult, with others, organ-
ized the Pemiscot County Bank, of which he
has since been a director, and for five years
served as cashier of that institution. In
1893 he was appointed a member of the di-
rectorate for the St. Francis Levee District
of Missouri and is still holding the office,
and since 1898, having been secretary of the
board. From 1898 until 1908, ten full years,
Mr. Schult was city clerk of Caruthersville,
serving as long as he could be persuaded to
by his fellow-citizens. In 1898 he was ap-
pointed presiding judge of the County Court,
and held the office, by election and re-elec-
tion, until 1906. In 1893 he was made secre-
tary of the Caruthersville Board of Educa-
tion, and is now filling the same position.
In 1902 Governor Dockery appointed Mr.
Schult a member of the Board of ]\Ianagers
of Hospital No. 4, Farmington, Missouri, for
a term of three years. At the organization
of the board ^Ir. Schult was elected presi-
dent thereof for a term of two years, and
was re-elected in 1904. In 1911 Governor
Hadley appointed Mr. Schult a member of
the Board of Regents of the Missouri State
Normal School, Third District, Cape Girar-
deau, Missouri, for a term ending January 1,
1915. He is identified with several promi-
nent enterprises of the city, being president
of the Caruthersville Ice and Light Company,
in which he is a stockholder ; president of the
Pemiscot Abstract and Investment Company ;
and secretary and manager of the Silica Real
Estate Company.
On June 20, 1882, Mr. Schult was united
in marriage with Henrietta "Ward, who was
born in Caruthersville, Missouri, September
1, 1861, and they are the parents of four
children, all of whom are at home, namely:
Mayme E., Edna A., Hina C, Jr., and
Louis H.
Mr. Schult has been a Mason for many
years, belonging to Caruthersville Lodge, No.
461 ; has taken the thirty-second degree, Scot-
tish Rite, also the York Rite, and is a mem-
HISTORY OF SOUTHEAST MISSOURI
957
bei" of Moolah Temple, Mystic Shrine, St.
Louis. He is also prominently identified with
other fraternal organizations.
W. L. Baker. Young as he is, there is
very little in connection with farm work that
Mr. Baker does not know, but he is not one of
those unpleasant men who feel sure that they
know it all. On the other hand, if any one
has anything better to show him he is always
glad to look into the matter and to try any-
thing that he finds an improvement on the
old methods.
He was born in Dunklin county, Missouri,
near Caruth, December 5, 1885.. His father,
James M. Baker, was born at the same place
in 1849, where he lived all of his life. James
M. Baker's father came from Tennessee and
his mother came from Illinois, and in 1846
they settled in the southern part of Dunklin
county, near Cardwell. In 1876 James M.
Baker married Nancy M. Sullinger, born in
1848, in Stoddard county. Her father was a
farmer who was born and raised in Cape
county, coming in 1865 to Stoddard county.
Her mother was born in Illinois and came to
Stoddard county, ]\Iissouri, when she Avas
twenty years old. Mr. and Mrs. James M.
Baker had five children: Morgan, Robert,
IMary Elizabeth, William L. and Claude.
Prom the time of his marriage jMr. Baker
lived on the place which the son Will now
lives on. Originally the land was pretty well
covered with timber and James IM. cleared it
all. He died in 1897, but his widow is living
with Will on the iavm.
Mr. Will L. Baker did not have very much
schooling; he attended the school in Shady
Grove first and then attended the public
school in Kennett, but by the time he was
sixteen years old his brothers and sisters had
all ' left home and he had to run the farm,
which is in reality owned by his mother. With
the enthusiasm of j'outh he is making im-
provements on the old place. He has re-
modeled the house, so that it is now very
nice. He has built another one for his tenant,
who farms part of the eighty acres, twenty
acres of which is wood land. Jlr. Baker has
put up fences on his land and so cultivated
it that it is very productive, his crop being
mostly corn and cotton. Mr. Baker has not
yet married, but his mother keeps house for
him. He is a Democrat in political beliefs
and enthusiastic for the party. He is an
attendant of the I\Iethodist church of
Liberty, the same church where his father
was an active worker, having been superin-
tendent of the Simday-school for many years.
Mr. James Baker was very well known in
the county and his son, well thought of at
first for his father's sake, is fast winning his
way by reason of his own merits and person-
ality.
William Strong Staeett. A man can-
not mount to the top of the ladder of fame
at a bound, and if he should attempt any
such quick method of reaching the summit
he would find that his foothold was extremely
insecure and his descent would be apt to be
even more rapid than his ascent. William
Strong Starett, manager of the Roberts Cot-
ton Oil Company, did not attempt the quick
road to success, but contented himself with
climbing the ladder rung by rung, pausing
at each step to make sure of his footing. In
this manner he has steadily progressed and
is today one of the notable characters of
Maiden.
Mr. Starett was born on the 17th of July,
1864, on a farm near Clarkton, Missouri. He
is a son of Robert C. and Amanda J. (Hogan)
Starett, the father born in 1825, near Pales-
tine, Obion county, Tennessee, and the mother
was a native of Indiana, where her birth
occurred Jlarch 15, 1838. Wlien a young
girl she accompanied her parents to Tennes-
see, there met Mr. Starett, Sr., and later be-
came his wife. Five of the nine children who
were born to this union grew to maturity:
Pardee, married P. J. Miller, a farmer near
Clarkton, and died in 1884 ; Ozello Belle, was
married to C. P. McDaniel, of Senath, and
died in 1892; Wilburn H., living, with his
wife, Lou Ann Bell before her marriage, and
three children, in western Tennessee; Will-
iam Strong, the subeet of this biography;
and Alice, the wife of A. 0. Waltrip, a
farmer residing two miles southeast of Clark-
ton, on the farm where Mrs. Waltrip was
born. Mr. and Mrs. Robert C. Starett com-
menced their wedded life in Missouri,
whither they migrated shortly after their
marriage. They bought a farm in Dunk-
lin county, situated about two miles south-
east of Clarkton. The land was then
thickly covered with timber, so that Mr.
Starett built his home in the woods, then
commenced to clear the place and put it
under cultivation. He planted cotton very
extensively and also engaged in the cotton
gin business, remaining on the farm until he
died, December 28, 1876.
958
HISTORY OF SOUTHEAST MISSOURI
William Strong Starett was reared ou his
father's farm and received his education in
the disti'ict school in the neighborhood. AVhen
he was twelve years old his father died and
the lad's schooling came to an end. as he was
needed at home to assist in the farm work.
He gradually assumed more responsibility
until he was managing the entire working of
the farm and remained there until 1896. At
that time he moved to Jlalden, and two years
later he took up his residence in Kennett,
where he worked as a day laborer for the
Roberts Cotton Oil Company. During the
ensuing four years ]Mr. Starett proved so
useful to his corporate employer and showed
himself so thoroughly capable that in 1902
they put him in charge of their plant at
:Maiden, in which capacity he is still serving.
The Maiden branch of the Roberts Cotton
Oil Company is extensive — as important as
any similar plant in this section of the coun-
try. The company's operations are far-
reaching, as it owns other branches outside
the state of Missouri, besides a number of
gin plants. ]Mr. Starett is manager of all the
interests of the company in Missouri.
On the 5th day of February, 1889, while
Mr. Starett was living on the farm at Clark-
ton, he was united in marriage to Miss
Lucinda Williams, daughter of James K. and
Henrietta (Waltrip) Williams. Mr. and
]\Irs. Starett have a family of two children,
— Bernice, born December 15, 1889, and
■James Conway, born August 13, 1893, both
son and daughter live at home with their
parents.
In fraternal connection Mr. Starett is affil-
iated with the Knights of Pythias, the
ilodern Woodmen of America and the
Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks. In
politics he is a stanch Democrat ; and the four
members of the family are all united by a
strong religious feeling, while taking dif-
ferent roads to the same end. Mr. Starett is
a firm believer in the old Baptist doctrine,
Mrs. Starett and Miss Bernice are just as
loyal to the Presbyterian faith, and James
Conway is a Methodist. The family is well
known and respected in Maiden.
George W. Treece. In the removal of
George W. Treece from Steele to Tyler, the
former community loses one of its most en-
terprising members in the business circles
and one most interested in its educational
growth. Mr. Treece was one of the members
of the first town board, on which he served
as treasurer for five years. He was six years
postmaster and for five years school director
and president of the board. One so active
in matters of public welfare might not be ex-
pected to be prominent in business matters,
but Mr. Treece is an exception.
Until he was grown up, he lived in Illinois,
the state in which he was born in 1869 on
September 14. He attended several different
schools for short terms when he was young
and at the age of eighteen began to teach.
For eight years he pursued this profession in
Illinois, Missouri and Arkansas. While in
the last mentioned state he became acquainted
with Miss Maggie Freeman, also a teacher.
Miss Freeman was born in Ohio in the same
year as Mr. Treece, to whom she was mar-
ried in 1894. Their five children are Ralph,
Ruth, Cloe, Fred and Grace. Mrs. Treece is
a member of the Methodist church, South,
and her husband is a communicant of the
Christian church.
Mr. Treece left the profession of teaching
to go into mercantile business in 1899. Later
he moved to Steele, where he was instru-
mental in the organization of the bank of
Steele in 1904. For two and a half years
Mr. Treece was cashier of that organization
and is now its president. He also established
a bank at Tyler in March, 1911, of which he
is cashier and this necessitates his living in
that town. Since 1900 Steele has been Mr.
Treece 's residence. Here he has built a
commodious dwelling house on an acre of
ground. During his lifetime he has owned
several farms and now has a forty acre one
in the San Joaquin valley in California.
In the Masonic lodge at Cottonwood Point
Mr. Treece is a junior deacon. He also belongs
to the Modern Woodmen at Steele. In his
politics he is a Democrat. All that he has he
has acquired by his o-wn efforts, for at the time
of his marriage he had nothing. His suc-
cess is witnessed wath pleasure by all who
know him.
Edward Livingston Davts. Although Mr.
Davis has only resided in Braggadocio a few
years he has already made himself a power in
the community in which he lives. His family
has been connected with the history of Mis-
souri for many years, and Mr. Davis himself
has been a resident of Pemiscot county for
three decades, during which time be has made
a name for himself. Wliether as farmer,
stockman, dealer in real estate or holder of
public office, he has been eminently success-
HISTORY OF SOUTHEAST MISSOURI
959
fill. Possibly the man who decides on a cer-
tain business or profession when he first
starts out in life, and devotes himself to that,
and that alone, may make more money than
the one one who has turned his attention to
different lines, but the former misses much
valuable experience enjoyed by the man who
has tried and made a success of several kinds
of work.
On the 8th of July, 1849, Mr. Davis made
his first appearance on the scene of life on
a farm in Livingston county, Kentucky. His
grandfather, "William Davis, was a large
landowner in Missouri, had a long retinue of
slaves and huge herds of cattle, and was re-
garded as a prosperous gentleman. At the
time of the New JMadrid earthquakes he fled
to Kentucky, leaving behind him everything
but his slaves. He secured a tract of land in
Livingston county, where he commenced life
anew, was there married and there reared his
family. There his son "William was born,
January 8, 1811, and there he passed his en-
tire life, following the vocation of farmer and
stockman, holding allegiance to the Demo-
cratic party, and living a quiet, simple exist-
ence. "When a young man he married Miss
Mehitabel Rondeau, Avho was born in Eng-
land in 1813 and accompanied her parents
to the United States when a child of three or
four years. The family settled in Livingston
county, Kentucky, where she made the ac-
quaintance of William Davis and sub-
sequently became his wife. The couple lived
in contentment on their farm, the wife in-
terested in the Baptist church and her family
of seven children, in addition to her care for
her husband and her every-day tasks. The
names of the children are as follows, — John
R. ; \A''illiam N., who lives in Lafayette
county, Missouri ; Esther F., who lived to the
age of twenty-four and was then summoned
to her last rest; Edward L., the real estate
dealer in Braggadocio whose name appears
at the head of this biography; Blackhawk;
"Watson and Campbell, twins. "Watson was
drowned at the age of thirty-five. The father
and mother are both buried in Livingston
county, Kentucky, where Mr. Davis died in
1897, sixteen years after his wife, whose de-
mise occurred in July, 1881.
Edward L. Davis spent the first fifteen
years of his life on the farm which was the
scene of his nativity, and he attended the
district school in the winter, while during
the summer he assisted his father with the
farm work. At the age of fifteen years he
left the paternal roof and commenced to work
for the farmers in the neighborhood, receiv-
ing for his services the sum of ten dollars
per month. Small as this remuneration was
he managed to save most of it and after a
couple of years' experience as a field hand
he rented a piece of land for himself and
began to farm. In 1880 he came to Pemiscot
county, where he rented a farm at Cotton-
wood Point. In 1884 he moved to Bragga-
docio, but after residing there for about a
year he moved to Caruthersville, where for
twenty-five years he was a prominent citizen,
being known as a farmer, stockman and
dealer in real estate. In 1907 he moved back
to Braggadocio, engaged in the real estate
business there and has continued in that
occupation up to the present time.
Mr. Davis, a widower today, has been
twice married. On the 1st day of October,
1872, he was united to Miss Martha Glass,
daughter of Samuel and JMartha Glass, resi-
dents of Illinois state, where their daughter
Martha's birth occurred in the year 1847.
Mr. and Mrs. Davis became the parents of
six children: Myrtle, married to James
Crews, living in Alabama ; Laura, residing
in Caruthersville, with her husband, Lee Car-
rigan; Edward L., maintaining his home in
Caruthersville; Harry, who married Miss
Delia Clifton and now lives in Braggadocio;
Quince, living with his brother, Edward L.,
in Caruthersville; and Mattie, her father's
companion and housekeeper. In September,
1893, Mrs. Martha Davis was summoned to
the life eternal, and her body lies in the old
Methodist graveyard. In the month of June,
1895, Mr. Davis married Mrs. L. B. Long, a
daughter of Caleb and M. E. Hobson. Mrs.
Davis became the mother of one son, Caleb
L., who is living in Braggadocio with his
father. On the 15th of January, 1911, the
second Mrs. Davis died, and she was buried
in the Long Cemetery in Braggadocio.
Mr. Davis has for years been a member of
the Slasonic fraternal order, in his religious
belief he is a IMethodist, while in politics he
has ever been found arrayed as a Democrat
who takes the most loyal interest in all that
touches the welfare of his adopted state. In
recognition of his sterling qualities, his fel-
low citizens elected him to the office of judge
of the county court, and for two years he
filled the position in an acceptable manner.
In the year 1892 he was elected sheriff, but
he resigned the same year, and since that
time has refused all efforts to persuade him
HISTORY OF SOUTHEAST MISSOURI
to become a candidate for public oifice, but
has devoted himself to his business, his church
and his family.
W. N. Holly. The parents of W. N. Holly
moved from Iowa to Tennessee and thence to
Pemiscot county, 'Missouri. The father was a
farmer and merchant and married in Tennes-
see, his bride being j\Iiss Nannie Kearney, of
Madison county. Their two children are David
Bennett and Walter N. Holly, the latter born
in JMadison county, Tennessee, June 30, 1889.
Uavid Bennett Holly was born at Cooler,
Pemiscot county, Missouri, in 1892.
At the age of three Walter Holly 's parents
brought him to Pemiscot county and he has
lived in Cooter ever since. M. A. Holly, his
father, was engaged in mercantile business
in the town three years prior to his death, in
1901. Nannie Kearney Holly had died two
years before her husband's demise. W. N.
Holly went first to school in Cooter and then
to the Caruthersville schools. He followed
this preparatory course by further study in
the Military Academy of Jackson, Missouri,
and a year at Washington University in St.
Louis, where he studied law.
Then jMr. Holly returned from St. Louis,
in 1908 he was married to Miss Hattie Pierce,
of Caruthersville. She was born February
25, 1889. Her parents, Charles and Eliza-
beth Pierce, are old settlers of the county.
Mr. Holly received from his father seven
hundred and sixty-six acres of land near
Cooter; two hundred and fifty acres of this
are cleared and the tract is worth seventy-
five dollars an acre. The timber on the re-
mainder is worth from forty to fifty dollars
an acre. Mr. Holly rents a part of this and
has built a modern seven-room house on his
farm. His chief crops are corn and cotton.
The red-gum and sycamore on the timbered
land are being taken out and the land put
under cultivation. In the latter part of 1911
he removed to West Plains, which he has
planned to make his future home.
His family consists of two sons, Joe Byron
and Robert Buell Holly. In polities Mr.
Holly is an advocate of the principles of the
Democratic party.
William Calvin Arthur, a well-known
barber in Maiden, where he has been in busi-
ness for twenty-one years, is the owner of the
largest establish menf in Southeastern Mis-
souri. Since he first entered the barber trade
this industry has developed very consider-
ably. At one time a barber's duties con-
sisted simply of shaving and cutting hair,
but today he must have a knowledge of skin
diseases and the principles of massage. Mr.
Arthur has kept abreast of the times and is
an up-to-date barber in every sense of the
word.
William Calvin Arthur was born in Greene
county, Indiana, October 19, 1871. He is a
son of Martin V. and Anna (Burton) Arthur,
both of whom were born, reared, educated
and married in Greene county, Indiana, and
there both died and were buried. They
brought up a family of six children, — Mary,
Frank, William, Margaret J., Siota and
Martha. The father was a farmer, who
served during the Civil war in the Fifty-
ninth Indiana Volunteers, Company K, for
three years. He suffered intensely from the
effects of the many hardships which he, in
company with his comrades at arms, were
forced to endure and he never regained his
health. He lived several years after he left
the army, but his death was attributable to
the ill health which he contracted during
his service. His political sympathies were
with the Republican party.
William Calvin Arthur resided in Indiana,
on the old homestead M'here he was born,
until he was sixteen years of age, and during
his boyhood he attended the district school
and assisted his father with the work of the
farm. In 1887 he migrated to IMissouri and
procured a farm in Bollinger county, where
he resided for three years, engaged in agri-
cultural pursuits. In 1890 he came to Mai-
den, where, after qualifying himself for the
work, he opened a barber shop and steadily
worked up a flourishing business. In the
month of May, 1899, he had three chairs in
his shop, which were steadily filled by his
patrons, when the fire which swept away the
buildings in his street totally demolished his
shop, but he lost no time in rehabilitating him-
self and soon had more trade than ever. He
now has seven chairs, and is regarded as one
of the most efficient barbers in the county.
For almost eighteen years his shop was located
in the Davis building (including the time
when he was burned out) and is now in the
Cox building, next to the Dunklin County
Bank.
On the first day of the year 1895 Mr.
Arthur was married to Miss Catherine Hub-
bard, daughter of Jessie and Parthina
(Copeland") Hubbard, of Graj^ille, Illinois,
where Miss Catherine's birth occurred on the
HISTORY OF SOUTHEAST MISSOURI
961
22nd daj^ of November, 1876. ilr. aud ]\Irs.
Arthur now have a family of four children,
one little one, Karl, having died in infancy.
The names of the living are, — Bert, born
July 3, 1896 ; Gladys, whose birth occurred
on the 2nd day of February, 1901; Mabel,
who was born April 1, 1903 ; and Fred, born
January 8, 1909.
Mr. Arthur has not only achieved a suc-
cess in a tinaneial way, but he has become
widely and deservedly respected and es-
teemed.
George W. Peck. The death of George "W.
Peck, well known as the ' ' Father of Maiden, ' '
occurred on the 15th day of July, 1910, and
the same was universally mourned by a wide
circle of devoted friends throughout South-
eastern Missouri. Mr. Peek served on several
occasions as mayor of Maiden and he was
particularly active in all mattere projected
for the good of the general welfare. A man
of unusual enterprise and initiative, he met
with such marvelous good fortune in his
variolas business projects that it would verily
seem as though he possessed an "open Se-
same" to unlock the doors to success. He
was a financier of extraordinary ability and
his interests extend to practically every line
of business. Self educated and self made in
the most significant sense of the words, he
progressed steadily toward the goal of suc-
cess until he gained recognition as one of the
foremost business men and citizens of Maiden,
where he established his home in 1877.
George W. Peck was born in St. Lawrence
county, New York, on the 22d of November,
1843, and he was a son of Burley and So-
prona Peck, both of whom are deceased. His
rudimentaiy educational training was ob-
tained in the public schools of his native
place and as a young man he turned his at-
tention to teaching. Coming to Maiden, Jlis-
souri, in 1877, when this place was a mere
hamlet, he became agent for the Little River
Valley & Arkansas Railroad Company, then
a narrow gauge line which afterward became
a portion of the great Cotton Belt system.
Shortly after his arrival here he managed to
center the gi-ain trade at Maiden, erecting an
elevator and continuing to be interested in
that line of enterprise until 1903. In that
year he started to manufacture ice on his
own account, the scene of his operations be-
ing in a factory previously erected by the
Maiden Ice Manufacturing Company. This
plant, which is still in operation, has a capac-
ity of fifteen tons and its annual business
amounts to about ten thousand dollars. Mr.
Peck also handled real estate for a number of
years, dealing extensively in city and farm-
ing property. Among the additions promoted
by him may be mentioned the Southside, The
Peck and the Peck-David additions, all
suburbs of Maiden. He erected a number of
prominent business blocks in this city and in
18S2 opened the first fire-insurance agency
in Southeastern Missouri, conducting the
same until the time of his death. For years
he was agent for the Waters-Pierce Oil Com-
pany and was one of the organizers of the
Dunklin County Bank, serving as its vice-
president after the second year until the time
of his death.
In his political proclivities he was a stal-
wart supporter of the principles and poli-
cies for which the Republican party stands
sponsor and he was ever an active factor in
connection with the affairs of that organiza-
tion. In 1886 he was honored by his fellow
citizens with election to the office of mayor,
serving in that capacity for two successive
terms and giving an unusually alert and pro-
gressive administration of the municipal af-
fairs of Maiden. It was under his direction
that the old electric-lighting plant was built
in this city and he was instrumental in ar-
ranging for the new electric plant, attending
a board meeting in that connection the night
prior to his death. He was elected mayor
again in 1910, and was also serving as such
when death called him from the scene of his
mortal endeavors. He ever manifested a deep
and sincere interest in educational affairs and
for twenty-five years was a member of the
board of education, serving for twenty years
as president thereof. He stood exceedingly
high in Masonic circles, having been a val-
ued and appreciative member of the lodge,
chapter, council and commandery of the York
Rite branch. He was past master of the
Blue Lodge and organized the Maiden com-
mandery of the Knights Templars, of which
he was past eminent commander. His
funeral was one of the largest ever held in
Southeastern Missouri, friends having come
from all sections of the state to do him hon-
or. It was conducted under the auspices of
the beautiful Masonic ritual and the serv-
ices were preached by Rev. J. T. Self, of the
Methodist Episcopal church. Warm resolu-
tions were passed by the town board and by
the school board, his loss having been keenly
felt by every citizen at Maiden.
HISTORY OF SOUTHEAST MISSOURI
In the j-ear 1878, at Maiden, was celebrated
the marriage of Mr. Peck to Miss Julia Hop-
per, a native of Clai-kton, Missouri. To this
union were born four children, concerning
whom the following brief data are here in-
corporated,— Wilbur married Carrie Dicker-
son and resides at ilaldeu, Missouri, where he
is connected with the Roberts Cotton Oil
Company; Elmer H. is manager of the busi-
ness left by his father ; Irene was married, on
the 21st of June, 1911, to L. L. Campbell, of
Indianapolis, Indiana ; and Chester was
graduated in the ^Missouri State Normal,
Cape Girardeau, ilissouri, as a member of
the class of 1911. i\Irs. Peck survives her
honored husband and she now resides at
]Maldeu, where she is held in high regard by
all who have come within the sphere of her
gentle intiueuce. In their religious faith the
Peck family attend the Methodist Episcopal
church, of which Mr. Peck was a consistent
and active member.
Mr. Peck was a man of great philanthropy
but there was a modesty and lack of all os-
tentation in his work as a benefactor. In
this day, when disinterested citizenship is all
too rare a jewel, it is helpful to reflect upon
a course of high-minded patriotism siich as
that of ilr. Peck. His deep sympathy and
innate kindliness of spirit make his memory
an enduring monument more ineffaceable
than polished marble or burnished bronze.
' ' To live in the hearts we leave behind is not
to die."
IvB MiCHiE was born in Cooter, Pemiscot
county, in 1880. His mother had come to
this place from Tennessee in 1856 and his
father from Jlississippi four years later. ]\lrs.
Michie is still living in Cooter, but her hus-
band died some years ago.
The schools of earlier times were poor in
this county and Mr. Jlichie attended a com-
mercial college in Memphis for five months.
Until his marriage he devoted himself entirely
to farming. He had fifty acres of land given
him and still owns this and thirty acres more
which he has bought, all in the vicinity of
Cooter.
In 1903 Mr. Michie was married to Miss
Nora Treece, daughter of Larkin Treece, of
Caruthersville. She was born in Illinois in
1883 and came to ^Missouri when very j^oung.
After his marriage Mr. Michie still lived at
Cooter and also had a store at Tyler, but this
was not a ver>' flourishing concern.
In 1907 the Bank of Steele tendered Mr.
Michie the position of cashier and he and his
family came to the town to live. He now
owns a residence in town and considerable
property on Main street, besides forty lots
in another section of the town which are being
rapidly sold. Mr. ilichie is a stockholder in
the Bank of Steele and also in the Bank of
Cooter. He is secretary of the board of di-
rectors of the former bank, whose business
has doubled since he was chosen cashier.
In politics Jlr. Michie "s convictions are
those of the Democratic party. He is a mem-
ber of i\Iodern Woodmen of America. Three
children, Iverson, junior, Erma and Earl
Larkin, complete his home circle.
FABiuii M.\xiiiuM WiLKiNS, for years iden-
tified with the medical progress of Dunklin
county, has solved the one mystery in this
brief life — the mystery of death — his demise
having occurred on the 16th day of July,
1895, after a life of successful efforts to en-
rich the cause of science and to aid his fellow
men. He gained friends and admirers, re-
spect and esteem, and his loss was mourned
by his professional brethren, by his fellow
citizens, by his numerous friends and ac-
quaintances, as well as by his family. After
the lapse of seventeen j'ears his memory is
still green in the hearts of those who knew
and loved him.
• Dr. Wilkins was a son of John and Helen
(Grisum) Wilkins, both natives of North
Carolina. Both husband and wife passed
their youthful days in their native state, were
there married and became the parents of
eight children, including: Eliza, Ellen, Fa-
bium, ]\Iary, Fanny, Lucien and Columbus.
Father Wilkins was engaged in the occupa-
tion of farming and in 1844 he with his
family migrated to Tennessee, where they
took up their residence at Union City, Obion
county; there the mother died during a siege
of cholera, in the '70s and several years after
the father and husband's death occurred.
Fabium Maximum Wilkins' birth took
place on the 22nd of December. 1834, in
Wake county, North Carolina, and he re-
mained in his native place until he had at-
tained his tenth year, at which time the
family moved to Union City, Tennessee, as
mentioned above. He received an excellent
general education in the Union City schools,
then entered the University of Nashville to
study medicine, and was graduated from the
medical department of that institution in
1859. He returned to his boyhood home and
HISTORY OF SOUTHEAST MISSOUEI
963
commenced his medical practice, but he only
remained there a few months, for in June,
1859, he came to Dunklin county, Missouri,
located at Clarkton, where he soon was ac-
corded the position to which his merits en-
titled him. For twenty j^ears or more he
devoted his whole time to his extensive prac-
tice, and in 1881 he commenced to sell dmigs
in Clarkton. Three years later he came to
Maiden and there continued both business
and professional activities and had one of
the largest practices of any physician in
Dunklin county. He kept in touch with the
latest medical discoveries through his con-
nection with the Southeastern Missouri Medi-
cal Association, and when he died, in 1895,
he was regarded as one of the ablest prac-
titioners in his section of the countiy. Wliile
putting his professional work before every-
thing else in his estimation, he was also in-
terested in polities, being aligned as a Demo-
crat, and in the Christian church, of which
he was a member, as well as in his family. He
was buried in Rosewood cemetery at Maiden,
the funeral rites being in the charge of his
Masonic brethren.
The j'ear after the Doctor came to Dunklin
county, August 15, 1860, he was married to
Martha Baird. who was a life-long resident
of Dunklin county, Missouri. She bore him
five children, — Columbus, Samuel, IMinnie,
Lena and Eugene — and died March 7, 1874,
at Clarkton, where she was buried in the
Standfield cemetery. On the 23rd day of
February, 1875, Dr. Wilkins formed a matri-
monial alliance with Miss Tennessee Moore,
and to this union two children were born, —
Helen and Claude. The wedded life of the
second Mrs. William was very brief, as two
days before her third wedding anniversary
she passed away and was buried in Stan-
field cemetery. On the 5th of February, 1880,
the Doctor was married for the third time,
and the woman on whom his choice rested was
Mrs. Mary Ella (Scruggs) Wilkins, the
widow of his brother, C. C. Wilkins, and the
daughter of James Lawrence Scruggs and
Sarah (Basby) Scruggs. ]\Irs. Wilkins' birth
occurred September 21, 1846. The third ilrs.
Wilkins became the mother of four children,
— Pabium Maximum, Jr., born November 13,
1882, now a music student of the Chicago Con-
servatory of Music and at the Cosmopolitan
School : Guy S., whose nativity occurred May
19, 1884: Wiley S., the date of whose birth was
May 19, 1886 : and Paul E., born on the 1st
dav of November. 1889. The vounger bovs all
live in Maiden with their mother, Wiley S.
being in the employ of the Frisco Railroad
Company. The family is very prominent in
the social life of Maiden and each member
is esteemed for his own sake and not on
account of the father's and husband's high
standing. Mrs. Wilkins, tenderly cared for
by her children, is loved for her sweet and
gracious personality and womanly demeanor.
William A. Sweaeingen, M. D. A well-
known and popular physician of Steele, Wil-
liam A. Swearingen, M. D., has an extensive
and lucrative general practice, and is fast
winning for himself a prominent and honor-
able name in the medical profession of Pem-
iscot county. He is a native of Missouri, his
birth having occurred November 26, 1871, in
Farmihgton, Saint Francois county, where
his parents, Thomas V. and Mary (Turley)
Swearingen, are still living, owning and oc-
cupying a valuable farm. The Doctor has
one brother, Zeno L., who is married and is
in business at Saint Louis. Jlissouri, being
associated with the Tipton Mackey Company ;
and one sister, Lell. wife of Marion F. Hor-
ton, a real estate dealer at Flat River, Mis-
souri.
Having laid a substantial foundation for
his future education in the public schools of
his native town, William A. Swearingen, at-
tended the Baptist College in Farmington,
^Missouri, and was graduated from the Barnes
^Medical College, in Saint Louis, with the
class of 1900, there recei^^ng the degree of
iL D. Beginning the practice of medicine
at Knob Lick, Saint Francois county, he re-
mained there two years, and was afterwards
located for the same length of time in Wyatt,
Mississippi county, jMissouri. Coming from
there to Steele in 1904, Dr. Swearingen has
here built up a large and highly satisfactory
patronage. He has made rapid strides in his
chosen profession, and is often intrusted with
important business in connection with his
practice, his skill and wisdom in dealing with
difficult cases having gained for him the con-
fidence of the entire community.
The Doctor married, December 25, 1896,
Georgia A. Edwards, daughter of Edward
Edwards, a well-known agriculturist living
near Farmington. ]\Iissouri, and their home
is one of the most pleasant and attractive in
the community.
John Elgin Stokes is president of the
Stokes Brothers' Land and Live Stock Com-
964
HISTORY OF SOUTHEAST MISSOURI
pany, and secretary of the Stokes Brothers'
Store Company, both incorporated and both
concerns contributing to the prosperity of
the section. He is also a considerable land
owner and engages in successful agricul-
tural operations giving the major part of
his attention to cotton, a crop from which
he has enjoyed excellent returns. As a
citizen he is the friend of good gov-
ernment ; is a man of pronounced and
clear views; in short a straightforward, up-
right and downright American, ever ready
to give public-spirited support to all measures
likely to result in general benefit. He is the
eldest of the sous of Robert W. Stokes, one of
the representative and jjioneer citizens of
Maiden, to whom a more specific article is
devoted on other pages of this work. The
paternal ancestors were of Irish birth and the
family was founded in this country by the
subject's great-grandfather when the nine-
teenth century was in its infancy.
John Elgin Stokes was born December 1,
1862, near Clarkton, Dunklin county, Mis-
souri, and there passed his boyhood. He
received a good public school education and
his father's farm was the scene of his first
activities as a worker. He continued to be
thus engaged until the attainment of his
majority. At about that time (in 1883) he
went to Clarkton and entered into a business
partnership with a cousin. This was of a gen-
eral mercantile character and the two young
men were sufficiently successful in their
venture to continue it until 1890. In that
year, which was the year of his marriage,
Mr. Stokes disposed of the interest above
noted and embarked in a new line of activity,
— the stock business. In 1896 he removed to
^Maiden, where he still engaged in the buying
and selling of live stock and at the same time
effected a partnership with his brother Amzi
L. Stokes, of whom more extended mention
is made on other pages of this history. This
mercantile concern has since been enlarged
and is at present one of the important busi-
nesses of the county. He acts as secretary
and his executive abilit.y has contributed
much to its good fortunes. His activities as
a farmer and cotton grower have been men-
tioned. His farms are situated some six miles
north and south of IMalden. He has other in-
terests of large scope and importance in ad-
dition to those alread.v mentioned and is a
stockholder and director of the Bank of
Maiden, of which his brother A. L. Stokes is
presiding ofScer. He is of sufficiently social
nature to find much enjoyment in his lodge
relations, which extend to the Knights of
Pythias, the ilaccabees and the Modern
Woodmen. Politically he subscribes to- the
articles of faith of the Democratic party, to
which all his male relatives pay fealty, and
he takes in all public affairs the interest of
the intelligent voter. His wife is a member
of the Presbj'terian church.
On September the 17th, 1890, Mr. Stokes
became a recruit to the Benedicts by his mar-
riage to Miss Cassie Ashcraft, daughter of
Cass and Lucinda (Kelly) Ashcraft, both de-
ceased, but formerly residents of Maiden,
near which place ]\Irs. Stokes was born. Their
union has been blessed by the birth of a trio
of daughters, namely: Roberta, Ruth and
Helen, all of whom reside with their father
and mother. Their respective birth dates are
July 3, 1891 ; March 11, 1893 ; and September
3, 1896.
Thomas I. Brooks, the manager of the
Cooter Supply Company, was born in this
county and his father has lived in it since he
was four years old, so that both of them have
grown up with the countrv. W. C. Brooks
was born in Henderson county in 1852. "When
he came to Pemiscot count.y, in 1856, his
family lived at Cottonwood Point. A year
later they moved to a place two miles north of
Cooter. near the present site of Steele, which
latter town was not then on the map. Mr.
Brooks' schooling was obtained in terms of
about two months of the year, and until he
was married he lived at home. In 1874 his
marriage to Miss ]\Iosellar Coleman, of Ware
count.y, Tennessee, took place, and he went to
work for himself on a i-ented farm. Grad-
ually, as he was able, Mr. Brooks bought land
and at present he owns one hundred and
eighty-four acres near Steele. There are
three good houses on this estate and the land
is worth from ninety to one hundred dollars
an acre. Mr. Brooks lives in Cooter and rents
out his farms. In the town he is interested
in the bank of which he is a stockholder. He
is active in the work of the IMethodist church.
South, being a steward and a trustee.
Thomas Brooks is his only child.
The centennial year was the year of
Thomas Brooks' birth, October 26th being
the exact date. He has always lived in the
county and was educated in the public schools
and in the Southern Normal University of
'UC^^c
a-^iy^-l^
HISTORY OF SOUTHEAST MISSOURI
965
lluntiugton, Tennessee. He attended this
school for three years and upon completing
his course there spent some years in teaching.
^^nlen Mr. Brooks came to Cooter he spent
seven years clerking in different stores. In
1905, "he bought an interest in the Cooter
Supply Company and the same year the busi-
ness was incorporated and Mv. Brooks was
made general manager and secretary and
treasurer. The business is constantly increas-
ing and the plant is now the largest store in
the county south of Caruthersville. When
Mr. Brooks began clerking, he had practically
nothing. He had been in business for sev-
eral months in Steele, but his enterprise there
was a failure.
On September 4, 1898, occurred the mar-
riage of Thomas I. Brooks to Miss Minnie
Scott. J\Irs. Brooks is a native of this county,
born in 1882. Her parents are old settlers
here. She has borne Mr. Brooks children as
follows: Thelma, born in 1900, Raymond, in
1902, and Gerald, in 1904.
Like his father, ilr. Thomas Brooks is a
Democrat ; he is also a member of the Inde-
pendent Order of Odd Fellows at Cooter, to
which his father belongs. Thomas Brooks is
also affiliated with the ^Modern "Woodmen at
Cooter. Both he and his father are the own-
ers of pleasant residence properties in the
town.
J. A. Shivers, M. D. Distinguished not
only as the longest-established physician and
surgeon of IMalden, Dunklin county, but for
his professional knowledge and skill, J. A.
Shivers, jM. D., has attained eminent success
in his chosen work and built up an extensive
and lucrative practice. The son of a farmer,
he was born :March 16, 1865, in Crockett
county, Tennessee, where he was reared and
educated.
A close student in his boyhood days, he
made good use of all offered opportunities for
acquiring an education, and subsequently, by
teaching in the rural schools of his district,
worked his way through college, in 1887 being
graduated from the Memphis Hospital Med-
ical College with the degree of IM. D. In seek-
ing a favorable location the Doctor's thoughts
turned towards southeastern ^Missouri, eastern
Arkansas and Texas as fields of promise. Ar-
riving in Maiden, he was pleased with the
prospects in view, and decided to here begin
the practice of his profession. ^Meeting with
success from the start, he has since remained
here in active practice, being the oldest phy-
sician in point of continuous practice in this
part of the county. For four years, 1897 to
1901, Dr. Shivers conducted a drug store as
a side issue, but has since devoted his atten-
tion to his numerous patrons. Still a student,
as in his earlier years, he keeps up to the
times in the knowledge of diseases and their
treatment, and in 1902 took a post graduate
course at the New York Post Graduate School
of Medicine. The Doctor has served at dif-
ferent times on the ]Malden Board of Health,
and for fourteen years has been president of
the United States Board of Pension Examin-
ers. He is a stanch Republican, but not a
politician. Fraternally he is a member of the
Ancient Free and Accepted Order of ]\Iasons.
Dr. Shivers is interested to some extent in
agricultural pursuits, owning two hundred
and sixty acres of drainage land, which he is
fast improving, already having eighty acres
under cultivation. He has one son, Pat Shiv-
ers, a lad of twelve years.
WiLLi.iM M. Bone. For more than forty
years prominently identified with the agri-
cultural interests of Dunklin county. Slis-
souri, the record of the earnest and indus-
trious life of William M. Bone is one upon
which rests no shadow of wrong or suspi-
cion of evil, his name being honored by all
who knew the man and had cognizance of
his sterling character and inflexible integ-
rity of purpose. At the time of his death,
October 8, 1911. he was perhaps the most
prominent and wealthiest resident of Hor-
nersville, where for six years he had acted
as president of the Bank of Hornersville.
]Mr. Bone was born in Perry county, Ten-
nessee, ilarch 5. 1848, and was a son of
Baxter Bone and his wife, who both died at
their home on Grand Prairie, near Cotton
Plant. Dunklin count.v.
Mr. Bone had one sister and four broth-
ers, all of whom are now deceased. He was
but nine years of age when the family
migrated to Dunklin county, and not long
thereafter his father passed away. He at
once started to work to assist in caring for
his widowed mother, but she passed away
when he was still a youth, and the twenty-
first year of his life found him with prac-
tically no family connections or capital.
Turning his attention to farming, to which
vocation he had been reared, Mr. Bone made
a small purchase of land two and one-half
miles southwest of Hornersville, and so
successful were his operations throughout
HISTORY OF SOUTHEAST MISSOURI
his life that he became the owner of five
hundred and forty-eight acres of some of the
best soil in the state, and cultivated and
improved all except eighty acres thereof,
ilr. Bone eventually erected tenant houses
and rented his land, and in 1905 came to
Hornersville to become president of the
Bank of Hornersville. In 1907 he settled
in his residence in the southwestern portion
of the city, where his death occurred. Fra-
ternally he was prominently connected with
the Masons, and his religious faith was that
of the Missionary Baptist church. In polit-
ical matters a Democrat, he was known as
a leader in the ranks of his party in this
county, and for many years served ably as
justice of the peace. Signally true and up-
right in all the relations of life, he com-
manded the respect and esteem of all who
knew him, and his death was a distinct loss
not only to his immediate family but to
those who had been proud to call him friend
and to the commimity which had benefited
by his long years of residence.
On September 9, 1877, Mr. Bone was mar-
ried to Miss Arrena Bivius, who was born
in Gibson county, Tennessee, January 10,
1859, the estimable daughter of "Wiley and
Jane (McFarland) Bivins. Wiley Bivins
was born and reared in Tennessee, and fol-
lowed agricultural pursuits throughout his
life, his death occurring in the spring of
1882, when he was seventy-two years of age.
His father died when he was a youth. ]\Irs.
Bivins was born JIarch 23, 1838, in Gibson
county, Tennessee, where she spent her entire
life, and died there June 15, 1867. Her
father, Erasmus ilcFarland, was an exten-
sive farmer and land-owner in Tennessee.
Mrs. Bone was one of four daughters and is
now the only survivor, the other three, all
of whom passed away in Dunklin county,
being: Miranda, who was the wife of Peter
Hall, of Senath ; Alice, who married Adam
Karnes, of Senath ; and Miss Marcis. Six
children were born to Mr. and Mrs. Bone,
namely: William Ashby, born November
1, 1879, who died December 25, 1903; Min-
nie Alice, born October 25, 1883, who mar-
ried R. H. Tinnin, mention of whom is made
elsewhere in this volume, and who has four
children. Nelson Bone, Opal Vera, Ruby
Maude and Clinton Cockerel; Luther Lee,
born December 23, 1885, engaged in culti-
vating the homestead farm, married Miss
Icy Dowdy, daughter of William Dowdy;
Ora Ethel, born November 23, 1888, who
married Harry Sheperd, and now resides on
the old homestead ; James Walter, born July
20. 1890, who died at the age of one month
and twenty days; and Maude Elizabeth,
born October 22, 1892, who married Robert
Edmonston, and resides at Hornersville
with her mother.
John H. Bledsoe. An honored resident of
IMalden, Missouri, John H. Bledsoe holds a
position of note among the progressive and
keen-sighted business men who have been in-
fluential in advancing the agricultural and in-
dustrial interests of the community, and at the
same time have been so successful in manag-
ing their own affairs that they have accumu-
lated property of much value. A native of
Tennessee, he was born, June 23, 1845, in
Overton county, a son of Baylor Bledsoe, who
was bf)rn in Virginia, and died, in 1860, in
Tennessee. His father was a nephew of Col.
H. M. Bledsoe, of Lees Summit, Missouri, who
as commander of Bledsoe's Battery during
the Civil war gained fame and distinction.
Leaving the home farm in 1870, John H.
Bledsoe went from Tennessee to Texas, and
for several years thereafter was engaged in
farming in Johnson county. In 1880, after
visiting his friends in Tennessee for a brief
time, he came to Dunklin county, ]\Iissouri,
locating in IMalden, which had then but seven
hundred or eight hundred inhabitants. But
six men that were then residents of this town
are now living here, uamelv : Captain
Haynes, Sill Spiller, J. H. McRee, Dr. Van
Cleve, H. P. Kinsolving. and J. IM. Barrett;
the first three gentlemen were in business to-
gether under the firm name of Haynes, Spil-
ler & McRee. There were neither churches or
schoolhouse here when Mr. Bledsoe came, and
not one of the business houses then .standing
has been preserved, all having passed out of
existence. After living here two years, he
bought a tract of wild land lying two miles
out of the village, paying fifteen dollars an
acre, and in due course of time succeeded in
clearing and improving a farm of two hun-
dred and eighty acres, retaining, however, in
the meantime, his home in Maiden. In 1910
he sold this same farm for one hundred dol-
lars an acre, a large advance on his original
investment of money.
Mr. Bledsoe settled in Maiden during its
wildest and most troublous times, when
drunkenness and carousing were the order of
the day, everything being run wide open, with
frequent saloon fights, and an occasional mur-
HISTORY OF SOUTHEAST MISSOURI
967
der. For twelve consecutive years, from 1882
until 1894 he served as marshal, and proved
himself a daring and vigilant official. He was
afterwards deputy sheriff, serving under
Sheriffs Donalds, AUgood, Morgan, and Sat-
terfield, sixteen years in all, while under Sher-
iff' Sattertield hanging two men.
^Ir. Bledsoe is a stockholder and a director,
of the Bank of Maiden; a stockholder in the
Dunklin County Bank ; and also in the Build-
ing and Loan Association. He is a master
mason, and for six years was Worthy Master
of his lodge. Strictly temperate in his habits
and his speech, he has never used tobacco,
whiskey, or liquor in any form, and has never
littered an oath, a clean record that can scarce
be equalled by any man in Missouri. He is
affiliated by membership with the Methodist
Episcopal church, being one of its most con-
sistent and faithful members.
Mr. Bledsoe married, in Tennessee, Mary J.
Carlock, one of his early schoolmates, and to
them the following children have been born,
namely: W. Baylor, a farmer; Mrs. Mary
Crawford, of Carrollton, Illinois; Sallie, wife
of M. Z. Anderson, of Jlalden, a railroad man ;
Alma, wife of J. L. Bittick, a bookkeeper in
Paragould, Arkansas ; Laura Belle, living at
home.
Ira M. Moreis. The activity and enterprise
of any growing center of population is per-
haps as clearly indicated in the class of pro-
fessional men who look after its legal interests
as in any other respect, and it is with pleas-
ure that we refer to Ira M. Morris, a distin-
guished and versatile attorney at law, whose
home and business headciuarters are at Mai-
den. Missouri. He is prominent in local Demo-
cratic circles, having represented his party in
various delegations, and for six years he was
city attornej' of Maiden. His accuracy and
familiarity with the science of jurisprudence
is well known and his library consists of the
highest legal authorities.
A native of Missouri, Ira M. Morris was
born at ]\Ialden on the 11th of November,
1879, and he is a son of the widely renowned
Dr. J. W. Morris, who has been engaged in
the practice of medicine at Maiden and in
Southeastern Missouri for the past twenty-
five years. Dr. Morris married Miss Eliza J.
Kennedy, of Martin, Tennessee, and they be-
came the parents of eight children, of whom
the subject of this review was the third in
order of birth. On other pages of this work
appears a sketch dedicated to the life and
Vol. n— 1 7
work of Dr. Morris, so that further data in
regard to the family history is not deemed
essential at this juncture.
When a child of but one year of age Ira
M. Morris accompanied his parents on their
removal to Tennessee, where the family home
was maintained for a period of seven years,
at the expiration of which it was established
at liickman, Kentucky. JMr. ilorris received
his preliminary educational training in the
public schools of Kentucky and Tennessee
and he was a youth of fifteen years of age at
the time of his return to ]\Ialden. He early
decided upon the legal profession as his life
work and in 189S was matriculated as a stu-
dent in the law department of the University
of Tennessee, at Knoxville, Tennesee, in which
excellent institution he was graduated as a
member of the class of 1900, duly receiving
his degree of Bachelor of Laws. Immediately
after graduation he was admitted to the bar
of Tennessee and later to the Missouri bar. He
initiated the active practice of law at Maiden,
where he has succeeded in building up a large
and lucrative clientage and where he has won
distinctive prestige as one of the leading at-
torneys in southeastern Missouri. From 1909
to 1911 he was assistant prosecuting attorney
under John H. Bradley and in 1902 he was
elected city attorney of Maiden, serving in
that capacity with the utmost efficiency for a
period of six years.
At Maiden, on the 6th of September, 1905,
)vas solemnized the marriage of ]Mr. Jlorris
to Miss Florena Wallace, a native Missourian
and a daughter of the late William T. Wal-
lace. Mr. and ]\Irs. Morris are the parents of
two fine sons, Kenneth, w4iose birth occurred
on the 29th of August, 1906 ; and Paul, bom,
on the 30th of August, 1908.
In politics Mr. Morris is aligned as a stal-
wart in the ranks of the Democratic party, as
previously stated, and he has served as a dele-
gate to the County Democratic committee and
to the Judicial Democratic State committee.
In their religious faith he and his wife are
devout membere of the Christian church and
in a fraternal way he is affiliated with the Mai-
den Lodge of the Knights of Pythias, of which
he is chancellor commander, in 1911. As a
man he stands high in the estimation of his
fellow citizens, while in the profession he has
the admiration of the bar and the judiciary,
and his cases are prosecuted with persistency
and tenacity of purpose which defies all just
cause for defeat.
HISTORY OF SOUTHEAST MISSOURI
Dr. T. S. Cooper was born in Perry eouuty,
Tennessee, in 1866, and lived there sixteen
years. His father was a tanner, who sent his
son to Vanderbilt University at Nashville.
Here he received his M. D. degree in 1891, at
the age of twenty-five, and came back to Pem-
iscot count}'.
The Doctor did not select Cooter as his field
but settled here accidentally, as it were. In
fact he was marooned here by the high water
and by the time the floods had subsided and
travel was again possible he had acquired a
small practice and so he stayed. At present
he has an extensive practice in the southern
part of the county, and as he is one of the
oldest physicians in Pemiscot county so is his
practice one of the most extensive.
When Dr. Cooper was stopped in Cooter
because of the high water, his sole possession
was one horse. He now owns a two hundred
and fifty acre farm near Douglas, all of cleared
land and furnished with good buildings. In the
town of Cooter he has a lodge property on
ilain street and is the possessor of a telephone
line of one hundred and fifty subscribers, the
first telephone line of the community. He
also has farm land in Arkansas.
In the year after his graduation Dr. Cooper
was married to ileda Brooks. The two chil-
dren of this marriage, Lawrence E. and Paul
H.. are still at home. The mother died in
1908, and Dr. Cooper married JMiss Effiie
'^liitener. of Bollinger county. She and Dr.
Cooper are members of the Methodist church.
South.
In addition to his membership in the med-
ical societies of the county, the state of ilis-
souri and in the American Medical Associa-
tion. Dr. Cooper is affiliated with the Odd
Fellows, the ]\Iodern Woodmen and Woodmen
of the World in Cooter. He was for one year
president of the Bank of Cooter and is now
a member of the town board.
JoHx W. W.vLiiACE is a minister's son and.
unlike those who are much spoken of and
probably little known, he has always been in-
terested in all movements for the uplifting of
mankind. He is especially active in the work
of combating the liquor trade and its influ-
ences.
Hardin county, Tennessee, was John Wal-
lace's birthplace. He was born in 1853 and
spent tlie first four years of his life in the
county where he began it. Like most Metho-
dist ministers' sons, he lived m several dif-
erent places before he grew up. From Hardin
county his father went to ^Mississippi, to a
settlement near Corinth, and remained there
two years. At the end of this time the family
went back to Tennessee, locating in McNary
county. Here they stayed eight years and
William attended school. From ^IcXary
county they moved to Henderson county in
the same state, and there Mr. John Wallace
lived until he came to Missouri.
At the age of twenty-two Mr. Wallace was
married to Miss Sarah Lipscomb, a lady born
and reared in Henderson count}', where her
marriage to Mr. Wallace took place. The
young couple were poor when they began life
together. John W. Wallace farmed, and
when his wife inherited forty-six acres of
wooded land he bought another forty-six from
one of the other heirs and proceeded to im-
prove the whole tract. He cleared the land,
put up good buildings and planted an orchard
and also began to raise stock.
Mr. AYallace came to Pemiscot county in
1897. He had decided that this was a better
place to earn a living, so he sold out and set-
tled on a place a little south of Steele. His
assets when he arrived were one hundred and
thirty dollai-s and a plug team. For five years
he was engaged in the monument business in
Caruthersville, but except for this he has
lived at and near Steele ever since coming to
the county. He was for five years engaged in
farming near Steele, was then engaged in
merchandising for three years, re-entered gen-
eral merchandising two j-ears later, and is at
the present time engaged in handling general
merchandise. He is running his establish-
ment alone, as he has bought out his partners.
He has a highly satisfactory trade and is do-
ing a profitable business. He owns a farm ad-
joining town, a place of forty-five acres of
good land. He also has a house worth over
one thousand five hundred dollars with three
lots and a barn.
^Ir. Wallace grew up in a religious atmos-
phere and he has not departed from the way
in which he was trained up as a child. He
takes an active part in the work of the iletho-
dist church, of which he is steward and a
trustee. Ever since the organization of the
Sunday school he has been its superintendent.
Politically Mr. Wallace is a Democrat, but
perhaps it might be said that he is even more
a Prohibitionist. When the county Anti-Sa-
loon League was formed in 1910, he was presi-
dent of the organization and he was candidate
for state representative on a "dr}'" ticket.
He has always taken an active part against
HISTORY OF SOUTHEAST MISSOURI
the liquor element whichever party it might
belong to.
Both of Mr. Wallace's children live with
him. His daughter is IMrs. Overturf, whose
husband is a traveling salesman. His son
Joseph A. Wallace is said to be the smallest
Red IMau in the state. John W. Wallace be-
longs to the Masonic order, being a member
of the Blue Lodge at Cottonwood Point.
Allen C. Brown, M. D., resides in the vil-
lage of Moselle and was born in Boles town-
ship, Franklin county, Missouri, March 1.
1864. He belong-s to the era of pioneer settle-
ment by inheritance and is descended from
John Bonner Brown, who founded the family
in ]\Iissouri, but who was a native of the state
of Kentucty. To Burrel Brown, the father
of John, belongs the distinction of bringing
this particular branch of the family to the
United States. Burrel was a Scotch weaver
who fled from Edinburgh to America after in-
juring a townsman in a personal encounter.
He afterward paid for his passage aboard-
ship to this country and ultimately located in
Virginia, where he reared a family, among his
sons being Joseph and John. Joseph was a
surveyor who was sent into Jlissouri by the
United States government to survey that sec-
tion of the state adjacent to St. Louis and he
was so impressed with the possibilities of the
wilderness that he induced his brother, John
Bonner, tO' also settle here.
James R. Brown, father of him whose name
inaugurates this review, was born in Frank-
lin county, Missouri, in 1829, and died here in
1876. He passed his life as a farmer and took
as his wife Margaret Wade, a daughter of
Greenberry Wade, another of the pioneer set-
tlers of the state. The Wades migrated from
the Old Dominion, from Greenbriar county,
where the subject's great-grandfather was
born December 10, 1770. The latter married
Nancy Bay, born June 6, 1776, and their chil-
dren were Margaret, John, Greenberry,
Samuel, Polly, L. B., Eliza A., and Francis
A. The parents removed to Bath county,
Kentucky, about the date of its entry into the
sisterhood of states and the father died there
June 7, 1844.
Greenberry Wade was born in Bath county,
Kentucky, November 1, 1803, and for fifteen
years he was a judge of the county court of
Franklin countv. He married Marv W. Kel-
so May 26, 1823. His wife was born in Vir-
ginia, May 7, 1805, and their children were:
Nancv, who married first a ]\Ir. Woodland
and second a ]\Ir. Reynolds, and who was
born in Bath county, Kentucky, April 10,
1824; Eveline, born in Bath county, Ken-
tucky, January 28, 1825, who married a Mr.
Lane and removed to Texas, where she passed
away; Eliza A., who was born in Warren
county, Missouri, December 12, 1825, and who
became the wife of one Henry Duncan ; Chap-
man W., born in Bath county, Kentucky
February 27, 1830, who died while a resident
of Cabool, Missouri ; Dr. Robert Bay, born in
Morgan county, Kentucky, July 24, 1832, and
died in Scott county, Missouri, in 1876 ; Sarah
Chapman, who died in 1883, at the age of
forty-five years, she having survived her hus-
band, Nathaniel Prentice, some sixteen years ;
William K., born in Franklin county, ills-
souri, August 7, 1837, who died young; Mar-
garet, mother of Dr. Brown, born in Franklin
county, Missouri, in August 21, 1839, and died
March 27, 1869 ; Virginia, born in Franklin
county, Missouri, November 25, 1841, the wife
of James Chisholm and a resident of the
county ; James Wade, born in Franklin
county, April 18, 1844, deceased in early life ;
and Charles B., born in Franklin county, Mis-
souri, September 4, 1846, and killed while a
soldier in the Confederate army. Dr. Brown's
ancestry is interesting and it is indeed appro-
priate that the previous forces that are united
in him should be traced. In this day, when
it is the exception to find an American citizen,
one of whose parents was not born in a
foreign country, he appears as unusually
American.
Dr. Brown is the eldest of a family of three
sons. The second son, James Bedford, died
in 1896, and Norman G. is a resident of Okla-
homa. Allen C. was only five years of age
when his mother died and only twelve when
he lost his father. However, he grew up in
the community of his birth among his rela-
tives, gaining his early education in the pub-
lic schools and later matriculating as a student
in the Normal School at Cape Girardeau.
Teaching was his first choice among the pro-
fessions and he was engaged in public school
work for nine years, seven of which he spent
in Pacific as principal. Wliile there he mar-
ried, the lady to become his wife being one of
the county's most capable teachers and one
of the faculty of the Pacific schools. She con-
tinued to teach for four years after her mar-
riage to the subject and then retired to devote
herself more thorouarhly to domestic afl'airs.
As time went on Dr. Brown found himself,
so to speak, and he concluded to prepare him-
970
HISTORY OF SOUTHEAST MISSOURI
self for the profession of medicine, a decision
whose wisdom has since been proved. He took
up the study of medicine in earnest in 1892,
after his retirement from the scliool room, and
became a student of the :Missouri Medical Col-
lege at St. Louis. He completed his course
in 1895 and in April of that year he located
at Moselle. During his period of studentship
he spent his vacations in special work in the
laboratory, and in other fields of college work
and thus his preparation was unusually thor-
ough. Visiting the city clinics was on his
daily program during his well-spent vacation
periods. He is a member of the Franklin
County ]\Iedieal Society and has been its sec-
retary since its organization. He belongs to
the Missouri State jMedical Society and to the
American ^Medical Association; he is first
vice-president of the 'Frisco System Medical
Association and he is an ex-president of the
Rolla District Medical Association. He is one
of the directors of the Bank of Moselle and is
secretary of its board. The bank was organ-
ized in 1908 and is capitalized at ten thousand
dollars. He enjoys an excellent practice and
is held in highest regard, professionally and
as a citizen, in the community in which his
interests are centered.
On August 7, 1889, Dr. Brown laid the
foundation of an extremely happy household
by his marriage to Miss Rebecca Moore,
daughter of William C. Moore, of Union
county, Pennsylvania, where Mrs. Brown was
born May 1. 1865. The family came to Mis-
souri in 1884 and Mrs. Brown spent eight
years in public school work in Franklin
county. The Moore family is of Revolution-
ary stock and the immigrant ancestor was an
Englishman. James Moore, his son, enlisted
May 1, 1776, in the First Pennsylvania Regu-
lar troops under Captain Parr, as a member
of Colonel Edward Hand's Regiment of
Colonial troops. He fought in the battles of
Long Island and Saratoga and after the sur-
render of Burgoyne marched with the troops
to Valley Forge in November, 1778, and spent
there the gloomiest and hardest winter of the
war. The maternal grandfather of Mrs.
Brown, Charles Wagenhurst, married a Miss
Rebecca "Weasner, also of Revolutionary an-
cestry. Her father, William C. Moore, is de-
ceased, but his widow resides at Allenwood,
Pennsylvania. Their children are as follows :
Annie Baker, of Allenwood, Pennsylvania ;
]\Irs. Brown ; Allen R., of Franklin county ;
and Mrs. C. F. Kincaid, of St. Louis. Dr.
and Mrs. Brown share their pleasant home
with three children: Annie Baker, Ruth and
Lyman Seaburn.
Gilbert T. Penny, D. D. S. Prominent
among the men who have won honor and dis-
tinction in professional, industrial and civic
circles is Gilbert T. Penny, D. D. S., of Mai-
den, who has won a fine reputation in his pro-
fession; has cleared and improved a farm of
two hundred acres; and is now serving his
second term as mayor of the city. A son of
John Penny, he was born June 17, 1867, at
Oak Ridge, Cape Girardeau county. His
grandfather, Rev. Cullen Penny, was a Metho-
dist minister and one of the early circuit
riders of Missouri, where he spent his last
years.
John Penny was born and reared in North
Carolina, and as a young man located in Cape
Girardeau county, Missouri. Buying a tract
of land that was still in its primeval wildness,
he labored heroically to redeem a farm from
the forest, and in his work was quite success-
ful. On the estate which he cleared and im-
proved he has lived for upwards of half a
century, an esteemed and respected citizen,
and one of the most extensive farmers of his
neighborhood. His wife, whose maiden name
was Susan Drum, was born in Missouri, of
pioneer parentage.
Remaining on the home farm until twenty-
five years of age, Gilbert T. Penny was grad-
uated from the Oak Ridge High School, and
after an attendance at the Normal School
taught school in Cape Girardeau county four
years. Subsequently entering Vanderbilt
University, in Nashville, Tennessee, he was
there graduated in 1894. with the degree of
D. D. S. The Doctor has since been success-
fully engaged in the practice of his profession
at Maiden, where he has a fine patronage. He
belongs to the Missouri State and the South-
eastern Missouri District, Dental Associa-
tions. The Doctor is an earnest supporter of
the principles of the Democratic party, but
is not a politician in the sense implied by the
term. He has been a member of the Maiden
School Board during the past four years, and
has also served for two years on the City
term of two years, and after a lapse of four
years, in the spring of 1911, he was again
elected to the same high position, at that elec-
tion having no opponent, it being the first time
in the history of the town that such a thing
happened. Under his judicious administra-
tion needed improvements are being made,
sidewalks being extended, and cement being
/tri^^/^/i^/^^ZjCl
HISTORY OF SOUTHEAST MISSOURI
971
used in their construction. Dr. Penny, as
heretofore mentioned, has cleared a farm of
one hundred and twenty acres from the
wilderness, and has placed about sixty acres
of it under cultivation, raising corn prin-
cipally.
Dr. Penny married, in Maiden, Missouri,
Maggie i\I. Penny, whose parents died in New
Madrid county, ^Missouri, when she was an
infant, leaving her to the care of an uncle,
John Penny, of Clarkton, ilissouri. The Doc-
tor and Mrs. Penny have one child, Fred, a
school boy. Mrs. Penny is a pleasant, attract-
ive woman, and a consistent member of the
Presbyterian church. The Doctor is active
and prominent in the Masonic order, and has
served three times as worthy master of his
lodge ; is past eminent commander of Maiden
Commandery, No. 61, K. T. ; and has repre-
sented his lodge at the Grand Lodge.
Dr. Penny helped organize the Maiden
Savings and Loan Association, and served as
its president during its life of four years. It
was capitalized at two hundred thousand dol-
lars, and issued one hundred and fifty thou-
sand dollars. It helped to build many homes
in Maiden and vicinity.
Robert C. Wade, president of the Maiden
Hardware & Furniture Company, at Maiden,
Missouri, and prominent in agricultural cir-
cles in this section of the state for a number
of years, is a representative business man of
this city, and is a man who not only has
achieved his individual success, but has also
publie-spiritedly devoted himself to the
general welfare of his fellow citizens, and
has been foremost in advancing improve-
ments which will prove of lasting benefit to
the city, county and state. He is, further-
more, a self-made man, having lost his father
at an early age and compelled to seek his ad-
vancement as best he could. From the first
he was possessed of ambition and determina-
tion and his energy, courage and busines.s
judgment have brought him to a position of
esteem and influence among the citizens of
this state, where he is a man of mark in all
the relations of life.
A native of Rutherford county. Tennessee.
Robert. C. Wade wa.s born on "the 26th of
June, 18.'?4. and he is a son of Noah and
Rachel (Wade) Wade, the former of whom
died when the subject of this review was a
child of but six years of age, and the latter
of whom was summoned to the life eternal
in 1872. The father was a farmer by occupa-
tion and he passed away in Gibson county,
Tennessee, leaving a widow and seven chil-
dren. When thirteen years of age the young
Robert G. had full charge of the old home
farm, his mother being an invalid and the
support of the family depending largely on
him. His educational training was of most
limited order but his extensive reading and
association with important affairs has made
him a man of broad information. At the out-
break of the Civil war he became an ardent
sympathizer with the cause of the Confeder-
acy and for four years was a gallant soldier
in the Forty-seventh Regiment, in the Army
of the Tennessee. He participated in a num-
ber of important engagements marking the
progress of the war, the same including the
battles at Richmond and Perrj^ille and the
Atlanta campaign. For a time he was wagon
master in the army, handling the provisions
and laying and taking up bridges, having a
detail of from twenty to eighty men. Just
before Lee's surrender he was at home on a
furlough, which lasted throughout the close
of hostilities.
In December, 1867, Mr. Wade went to
Philip county, Arkansas, later removing
thence to Prairie countv, that state, and re-
maining in the latter place until 1889, which
year marks his advent in oMalden, Missouri.
In Arkansas he had cleared himself a small
farm and for seventeen years after his ar-
rival at Maiden he was engaged in agricult-
ural pursuits on a fine estate of one hundred
and seventy acres on the edge of the town.
In 1905, in company with his son Robert L.,
Mr. Wade founded the ]\Ialden Hardware &
Furniture Company, which is incorporated
with a capital stock of eight thousand dollars
and of which Mr. Wade is president. Since
1905 he has devoted his undivided time and
attention to the business of this prosperous
.concern and it is now recognized as one of
the finest stores of its kind in this section of
the state. The son has charge of the manage-
ment of the store and he is a business man of
remarkable executive ability and unusual
energy. Mr. Wade disposed of his farm in
1905. In politics he is aligned as a stanch
supporter of the cause of the Democratic
party but he has never participated actively
in public affairs. He is the owner of a great
deal of valuable real estate at Maiden and as
a business man has been decidedly success-
ful.
Mr. Wade has been twice married, his first
union having been to Miss Elizabeth E.
HISTORY OF SOUTHEAST MISSOURI
Felts, of Tennessee, the ceremony having
been performed in that state. To this union
were born four children, two of whom are
living at the present time, in 1911, namely,
—Fanny, who is the wife of Rev. Z. T. :Mc-
Caun, of the St. Louis confei-ence of the
ilethodist Episcopal church. South, and he
is stationed at Manchester, Missouri, having
formerh' served as pastor at Maiden and Dex-
ter; and Robert L. is manager of the Maiden
Hardware & Furniture Company- 's store at
^Maiden, as previously noted. Mi*s. "Wade
died in Arkansas in 1887 and subsequently
Mr. Wade married Mrs. ]Mary Allen, of Mai-
den, she being then the widow of Dr. R. C.
Allen. Mrs. Allen was born in Tennessee
and was a childhood friend of her second
husband. There were no children born to
the second marriage aud j\Irs. Wade was
called to the great beyond in November,
1906, deeply mourned by a wide circle of
loving and devoted friends. She made a
fine home for her step-children and was a
woman of most gracious personality, wield-
ing a broad influence for good in the entire
community.
Mr. Wade is a devout member of the
]\Iethodist Episcopal church, South, in the
different departments of whose work he has
been an active factor for sixty-six years. He
helped build the beautiful church edifice of
that denomination at ^Maiden and organized
the fir.st ilethodist Sunday-school in this dis-
trict, being superintendent of the same and
a teacher of a men's class for a number of
years past. He is also church steward. Mr.
Wade has lived a life such as few men know.
God-fearing, law-abiding, progressive, his life
is as truly that of a Christian gentleman as
any man's can well be. Unwaveringly he has
done the right as he has interpreted it and
by reason of his broad human sympathy and
exemplary life is held in high regard by all
with whom he has come in contact.
George Dalton, M. D. The career of Dr.
George Dalton is a splendid example of what
may be accomplished by young manhood that
is consecrated to ambition and high purposes.
He is a prominent physician and surgeon at
ilalden, Missouri, and a self-made one at that.
His start in getting his education was particu-
larly difficult and many young men in his po-
sition would have become discouraged and left
the field, but the obstacles, instead of dis-
couraging Dr. Dalton, spurred him onward,
giving him a momentum and force which have
since resulted in steady progress and success
and have brought him the esteem of his fellow
practitioners and an extensive patronage. He
IS president of the Bauk of Maiden and in
^lasonie circles is unusually prominent.
A native of Pittsburg, Pennsylvania, Dr.
George Dalton was born on the 23d of April,
1853, and he is a son of James and ilarj- Dal-
ton, both of whom were born and reared in
Ireland, immigrating thence to the United
States about 1850. The father was a marble
polisher by trade and for a time was em-
ployed as such in shops in St. Louis. As a
child the Doctor resided On a farm near
Keokuk, Iowa, and later he lived in St. Louis.
At the age of fourteen years he went to Ten-
nessee, where he worked on a farm, availing
himself of such educational advantages as
were offered and reading and studying ex-
tensively by himself during his leisure mo-
ments. He early decided on the medical pro-
fession as his life work and applied his every
energy to attaining his goal. At the age of
twenty-one years he was matriculated as a
student in the Universitj' of Missouri, in the
medical department of which excellent insti-
tution he was graduated as a member of the
class of 1889, having in the meantime been
licensed to practice medicine in this state and
having worked along that line for five years
prior to his graduation. He was a prominent
physician and surgeon at Judsonia, Arkansas,
until November, 1896, which date marks his
advent in ilalden. Here he controls a large
patronage and in connection with his work
is a member of the Arkansas State ^Medical
Society and the Southeastern Missouri Med-
ical Society, of which latter organization he
is secretary, in 1911. In 1904 Dr. Dalton
pursued a post-graduate course in the New
York Post-Graduate Medical School & Hospi-
tal, being thus exceedingly well equipped for
his work, in which he has won wide renown.
Dr. Dalton has been for some time president
of the substantial monetary institution known
as the Bank of JIalden and he owns a half in-
terest in the J\I. H. Osborn & Company, a
mercantile enterprise founded by him in
1905. He is also the owner of a fine farm of
one hundred and twenty acres of land on the
edge of IMalden, the same being devoted to
diversified agriculture and the raising of high-
grade stock. Inasmuch as the splendid suc-
cess achieved b.v Dr. Dalton is entirel.v the
outcome of his own well directed endeavors
it is the more gratifying to contemplate.
In Arkansas, in the year 1884, was cele-
HISTORY OF SOUTHEAST MISSOURI
973
brated the marriage of Dr. Dalton to Miss
Susie Rucker, who was borii iu Tennessee but
who is descended from a hue old Arkansas
family. Dr. and JMrs. Dalton are the parents
of four children, of whom Zetta and Ruth
have life certificates as ^Missouri teachers ; Lila
is a senior iu the University of jMissouri, at
Columbia ; and George, Jr., is a sophomore in
the agricultural department of the University
of ilissouri.
While Dr. Dalton has never participated
actively in local polities, he is a stanch sup-
porter of the cause of the Democratic party,
believing that the principles of that organiza-
tion contain the best elements for good gov-
ernment. He has served as a member of the
school board for nine years and has been
president of the board since the death of
George Peck, in 1910. In a fraternal way he
has passed through the circle of the York
Rite ]Masonry, being past master of the Blue
Lodge of the Ancient Free and Accepted Ma-
sons, and recorder of the Commandery of the
Knights Templar. He sat in the Grand
Lodge of the state while master member in
the Chapter and Council but has refused
further honors. In religious matters he and
his family are consistent members of the
Presbyterian church, to whose good works
they are most liberal contributors.
S. E. Redman enjoys the distinction of hav-
ing been the first justice of the peace in Hol-
land township, an office which he held from
1903 until November, 1910. Since coming to
Holland in 1899. he has identified himself
with all its interests both of a public and of
a commercial nature. Before moving to Hol-
land he lived in Senath, Missouri, near which
town he was born in 1872. His parents had
come to Dunklin county from Carolina iu
1844, and it was their home until their death.
Mr. Redman had the usual chances for
schooling, which were very poor indeed, but he
managed to attain proficiency in one much
neglected art, that of writing. He is one of
the best penmen in this section of the country.
He lived at home until his marriage, which
occurred when he was twenty-four years old.
When S. E. Redman was united in marriage
to Miss Lizzie Jones, his assets were fifty dol-
lars in money and a horse. For two years he
rented a farm and then moved to Senath and
spent a vear and a half in the livery business.
He left this to handle a line of groceries, but
after doing this for a few months in Senath,
he moved to Holland, where he had an in-
terest in a saw mill. Here he continued to
carry on his grocery business for two years,
as well as to manage his mill. One of his
later investments is a gin in Holland, of which
he holds one-third of the stock. This plant
is doing a good business and has increased its
earnings materially since Mr. Redman took
hold of it in the capacitj' of manager. In
1910 the cotton ginned by it was 1,-532 bales.
Mr. Redman has bought several thousands of
bales of cotton and of cotton seed as an in-
vestment.
It was through his efforts that a post office
was established in Holland in 1900. He was
post-master for several years but resigned in
1908 and yielded the post to his wife, who was
appointed to fill the vacancy. Another of
Mr. Redman's public services is that of filling
the office of mayor for several years.
The confidence which he feels in the future
of Holland is indicated by the fact that he
owns a half interest in sixty-six lots in the
town besides the two-acre tract on which he
has built his residence. When he came to
Holland there were not any buildings, only
timber.
Mr. and Mrs. Redman have two children,
Bertha, born in 1897, and Ruby, in 1905. He
is a member of the Red Men's lodge and in
his political beliefs and practice belongs to
the Republican party.
Stephen H. Sadler. A farmer and stock-
raiser of enterprise and initiative in Dunklin
county, Missouri, is Stephen Hollas Sadler,
who is a native son of the state and a scion of
a fine old pioneer family, ilr. Sadler was
born on the 5th of November. 1866, in Cotton
Hill township, Dunklin county, Jlissouri,
and he is a son of James D. and Louisa (War-
ren) Sadler, both of whom are deceased, the
latter having been called to eternal rest on the
4th of Febi'uary, 1890, aged forty-four years,
and the former having passed away on the
7th of February, 1890, aged forty-eight years.
The father was an agriculturist by occupation
and was the owner of a fine estate of one
hundred and sixty acres in Cotton Hill town-
ship. He was a gallant soldier of the Con-
federacy in the Civil v,-ar. having served for
a period of eight months toward the close of
that conflict under Captain Wliite, For a
time after the close of the war he was a mem-
ber of the state guards for a number of years.
He was very fortunate during the period of
hostilities and did not lose a sreat deal as
the result of raids and plundering at the
974
HISTORY OF SOUTHEAST MISSOURI
hands of the enemy. Mr. and IMrs. James D.
Sadler became the parents of three children,
concerning whom the following brief data are
here incorporated: Louis Jeii'erson, a prom-
inent farmer in Dunklin county, married
Minnie Demorea, and they have three chil-
dren— Cora Alice, Elmer and Loriue ; Sarah
Alice is the wife of H. A. Lesmeister and they
reside at Jonesboro, Arkansas; and Stephen
H. is the immediate subject of this review.
Stephen H. Sadler was reared and edu-
cated in the place of his birth and at the time
of his father's demise he inherited a tract
of fifty-three and a third acres of the old
parental homestead. He took possession of
this land in 1900 and in the same year he and
his brother bought up the sister's share of the
estate, making eighty acres of Stephen's
farm. He also purchased a tract of forty
acres of land from John Robinson, one half
of that tract being uncleared. He has com-
pleted fencing and has it nearly all cleared.
In addition to his farming properties he is
the owner of a fine house and two lots in the
Levi Addition of Maiden. On his farm he
raises cotton, corn, hay and melons. He also
raised cattle and hogs and feeds a number of
mules. He has an orchard of four hundred
apple and pear trees and is doing a splendid
business as a fruit grower. In his political
afifiliaticns he is a stalwart in the ranks of the
Republican party, and while he has never
participated actively in public afifairs he gives
freely of his aid and influence in support of
all projects advanced for the general welfare.
While not formally connected with any relig-
ious organization, he attends and contributes
to the welfare of the Christian church, of
which his wife is a devout member. He is
broad-minded and liberal in his views, is
tolerant of others' feelings and sensibilities
and in all the relations of life has so conducted
himself as to command the unqualified con-
fidence and esteem of his fellow men.
On the 3d of August, 1897, was solemnized
the marriage of ]\Ir. Sadler to Miss Fannie
Stanley, a daughter of William and Hannah
(Evans) Stanley, who came to Maiden from
Fulton, Kentucky, but their home formerly
was near Knoxville, Tennessee, where both
were reared. William Stanley was identified
with agricultural pursuits during the greater
part of his active career and he died ]\Iarch
1, 1899, aged almost seventy-four, his wife,
aged sixty-four, survives him, as do also six
children. Mrs. Sadler is the fifth of twelve
children, six of whom are living, viz: Man-
ford, who married Ethel Summers and has
four children living and they reside at Ken-
nett, Missouri; Robert, who married Laura
Maples, has one daughter and resides at Ken-
nett, Missouri; Charles married Caroline
Scroggins, has two children and is a farmer
near Campbell ; Ruth, wife of George Watson,
has three children and resides at ilalden ; and
Bedford, residing at Maiden. Those deceased
were: Susie, Richard Levi, Sanford, Freiling
Hyson. Elnora and Vanda Lee. Mr. and
Mrs. Sadler are the parents of two children,
namely, — Inez Evelyn, bom on the 7th of
July, 1901. and Alline, bom on the 8th of
October, 1904, both having been at Hot
Springs, Arkansas, with their mother, in
1911, but at home now. They had three chil-
dren who died, as follows, — Diamond Chal-
mer, bom in February, 1900, died on the
26th of July, 1904 ; Wyman W., whose birth
occurred on the 3rd of October, 1905, died
at the age of eight weeks; and Laura Ger-
trude, born on the 3d of August, 1898, died
at the age of seven weeks.
William W. T.\rkington. Distinguished
not only for his personal worth and integrity,
but for his public-spirit and honorable record
in official life, William W. Tarkington. of
Haji;i, Pemiscot county, is one of the leading
Democrats of his community, and in town and
county campaigns uses all legitimate means to
aid his party. A native of Missouri, he was
born September 6, 1840, in New ]\Iadrid
county, coming from pioneer ancestry. His
parents, Joshua and Eliza Tarkington, came
from their native state. North Carolina, to
Missouri in 1838, and having purchased land
in New Madrid county were there engaged in
cultivating the soil the remainder of their
lives. The father, whose birth occurred in
1800, died in 1849. while the mother, who was
born in 1806, lived until 1856.
Brought up on the home farm, William W.
Tarkington was educated in the subscription
schools of his day, and while yet in boyhood
began earning his own living, having been
left fatherless when but nine years of age.
In 1861 he joined the Confederate army,
enlisting in Company I. First ^Missouri In-
fantry, and served under the command of
General John S. Bowen in manv engagements
of note. At the battle of Shiloh he was
wounded and for a time confined in the hos-
pital. During the siege of Vicksburg. Mr.
Tarkington was captured, and at once
paroled. Early in 1865. while in Tennessee,
HISTORY OF SOUTHEAST MISSOURI
975
he was again taken by the enemy, and held
a prisonex" at Camp Jlorton, in Indianapolis,
Indiana, until the close of the war.
Since taking up his residence in Hayti, Mr.
Tarkingtou has taken a genuine interest in
local affairs, and has rendered his party and
his fellow-citizens excellent and appreciated
sen'ice in various capacities. He was for two
years county judge, and for five years served
as justice of the peace. In the spring of 1911
he was elected police judge, and is filling the
position with characteristic ability and faith-
fulness.
Fraternally Mr. Tarkington is a member of
Hayti Lodge, No. 571, Ancient Free and Ac-
cepted Order of IMasons, at Hayti, of which
he is at the present time senior warden; of
the Independent Order of Odd Fellows; and
of the Order of the Eastrn Star. For a full
quarter of a centiirj^ he has been an active
and valued member of the ilethodist Episco-
pal church, in which he has served as steward
for twenty years, and is now superintendent
of its Sunday school, a position which he has
filled most ably and satisfactorily for twenty-
five years. Politically a sound Democrat, he
has for a score of years been chairman of the
township committee of that party. Mr. Tark-
ington has never married, his attention
having been turned through life to things of
a less serious nature.
J. L. "Wright has always been one of the
progressive farmers in southeastern Missouri.
The salvation of the country's agriculture lies
in greater skill and less waste, and he has al-
ways tried to increase the one and reduce the
other. He has never been much concerned
with the worry over the farmers leaving the
farm, for what we want is not more but bet-
ter farmers. He has always tried to make
farm life so attractive that no man in his
senses would want to leave it. His attitude
has always been that farmers should of course
make a success of their farms, but they should
use their increased revenue not to hoard, but
for greater comfort on the farm.
J. L. "Wright was born at Hickman county.
Tennessee, September 7, 1852. His father.
James B. "Wright, was a native of Davidson
county, Tennessee, where he grew to man-
hood and married Nancv Cook, like himself
a native of Tennessee. Soon after their mar-
riage they decided to leave their native state
and in 1859 they came to ^Missouri, locating
first on Horse Island, one mile north of
Senath. " They did not stav there verv long.
but went to Grand Prairie, near Caruth, re-
turning later to Horse Island. After a short
period they went to Kentuckj', and Mr.
"Wright died there in Graves county. After
his death his widow returned to ilissouri and
to the farm near Senath, remaining there
until she died, in 1901. James B. "Wright
served in the Mexican war and also six
months in the Civil war, under Colonel
Ketchen.
J. L. "Wright remained in his native county
until he was seven years old, when he came
with his parents to Missouri and located near
Senath ; from there he went to Grand Prairie,
then back to near Senath, and then to Ken-
tucky, where he stayed three years. Upon the
death of his father he and his mother came
back to Missouri once more, where he rented
a piece of land near Senath and began to
farm. He had moved about so much that he
had not been able to have the advantage of
much schooling, but he was naturally a quick
bo.y and he has made up for the lack of school-
ing in later years by the readiness with w-hich
he has picked up knowledge as he went along.
In 1876 Mr. Wright moved on to a farm near
the center of Kennett. After a few years of
successful farming he built the house in which
■he lives now, making a most attractive home.
After a time he sold some of the farm, as it
was larger than he cared to manage, so that
now he owns one hundred and thirty-five
acres. He has improved a great deal of
swamp land, putting one hundred acres into
cultivation, besides about one hundred acres
of land on which he grew fruit, corn and
cotton. The swamp land was some of the land
that he sold, retaining only the very best
cultivated land for himself.
In 1876, when he was twenty-four years
old, Mr. "Wright married ilary E. Price, the
daughter of John and Sophia (Medloek)
Price, who came from Virginia and were both
dead at the time of their daughter's marriage
to 'Sir. "\^^right. John Price was a pioneer of
Dunklin county, his farm extending to with-
in two blocks of the court house in Kennett,
the first session of the circuit court in Dunk-
lin county being held in his log residence,
which stood where the Campbell Lumber
Company's office is now, three-quarters of a
mile northeast of the present court house. The
old building is still standing and ilr. "Wright
fwho lives on the farm that was owned by
John Price) uses it as a corn crib. The part
of the farm that was nearest to the court
house has been sold, some of it being Wright 's
976
HISTORY OF SOUTHEAST MISSOURI
Additiuu to Keiiuutt— the Addition being
eiglit acres in extent, and is tilled with good
residences. The laud was originally covered
with a tine growth of native oaks, manj' of
which are still standing. One of the ward
school houses stands iu the midst of several
trees and there is as iiue a playground under
these trees as can be found anywhere. An-
other live acre tract which was owned by jMr.
Price is now owned by D. B. Pankey, dozens
of these tine old trees ornamenting the entire
tract and surrounding the brick mansion. The
house and grounds make as fine a residence
as can be found iu southeastern Missouri. Mr.
Price was justice of the peace for many years
until the time of his death, just before the
war. He was a first rate farmer and a man
with wonderful executive ability. His son,
ilarion, grew up here and when all the young
men were filled with the gold fever he went
to California in search of gold; it is not re-
corded that he found any, but he staj-ed there
until the time of his death. Mary E. Price
was born in one of the first houses ever built
in Kennett, the one that is now used as a corn
crib by her husband, ]\lr. Wright. ilr.
Price's other daughter married and went to
Illinois, where she died. Mary was only four
years old when her father died and eight at
the time of her mother's death; the little girl,
doul)ly bereaved, was taken in by the Garrett
Owens family, neighbors, and she remained
with them for four years. She then went to
live with Richard Cook, who was an uncle,
but he only lived a short time after Mary
came to them. His widow, Nancy Cook, kept
the young girl until she and Mr. Wright were
married. She died December 21, 190-i, hav-
ing brought up a family of five children.
James JL, the eldest, died June 20, 1908, in
Arkansas, at the age of thirty-one. He was a
mei'chant in Kennett and afterwards became
a t'ariiier. He left a wife and two children,
who are in Little Rock, Arkansas. Mr.
Wright's second child was Sarah Ellen, who
is now the wife of P. S. Smith, a farmer at
Kennett. The third child, married Ilattie
Prickett, of Carbondale; Bettie was the
fourth child and she married Ab. Graves, also
a prosperous farmer and is living now with
her father. William F. is a merchant
living at Carbondale, Illinois; Eva, the
youngest, is the wife of Robert Sandefur, a
prominent railroad man of Muskogee, Okla-
homa.
^Ir. Wrij^lit is n Democrat, but he has never
eared to takr any active part in politics. He
is a member of the Presbyterian church, and
one of its elders, and his wife was also a mem-
ber of the church. He is always ready to help
not only in any good work that is instigated
by the church, but he is liberal in his gifts to
any worthy object. He has a beautiful farm
and residence and is so situated that he can
enjoy the fruits of his hard work in past
years. He is one of the most influential men
in the county and his personality is such that
he is liked as much as he is respected.
Captain Benjamin F. Allen, proprietor
of the City Hotel at Hayti, Missouri, and one
of its leading grocers, has the distinction of
being one of the oldest hotel keepers in years
in the city, and one of its longest-established
business men. Beginning life for himself
when a mere boy, he has steadily trod the
path of progress, by means of indomitable
perseverance, untiring industry, and resolu-
tion of puri:)ose has achieved success in his
career, winning a position of note among the
self-made men of our times. A native of the
Blue Grass state, he was born in 1846, in
Greenup county, a son of Thomas Jefferson
and Peserva (Dewey) Allen. His father
moved from Kentucky to the western part of
Missouri in 1845, but his stay in that locality
was brief, and on returning to his former
home he resumed his occupation of a miller,
operating both a saw mill and a grist mill for
a number of years.
His early education being limited to an at-
tendance at a subscription school for five
months, Benjamin F. Allen decided, when ten
j'ears old, to leave home and carve out his
own fortune as he pleased. Going, therefore,
to Portsmouth, Ohio, he peddled newspapers
and tobacco on the street for awhile, and was
afterwards employed for a time on the river
boats. At the close of the Civil war he made
his way to southern Illinois, where he secured
a position as deck sweeper. Becoming famil-
iar with the Mississippi river in all its phases
and conditions, he acted as pilot between Cin-
cinnati and New Orleans from 1873 until
1888, being as well-known and popular in that
capacity as the late "I\Iark Twain." On
leaving the river, Jlr. Allen rented land near
Hayti, and was here successfully engaged in
agricultural pursuits for six years. In 1895
he purchased and assumed the proprietorship
and management of the City Hotel, at Hayti,
and has since catered generously to the wants
of the traveling public, as "mine host" being
noted for his genial courtesy, accommodating
\ V V Viva wv. 1'St v.i-
i-S
HISTORY OF SOUTHEAST MISSOURI
977
spirit and genuine hospitality. ]\Ir. Allen also
conducts one of the leading groceries of
Hayti, his store, in which he carries on a busi-
ness amounting annually to about ten thou-
sand dollars, being well stocked with a general
line of fancy and staple groceries. He has
been identified with the interests of this
thriving village since it was organized, and
has contributed his full share towards its ad-
vancement.
Prominent in local affairs, Mr. Allen served
as mayor of Hayti from 1896 until 1898, at
the same time being police .judge, and filled
both of these offices again for a term of two
years, from 1906 until 1908. He was alder-
man from 1909 until 1911, and for fourteen
years has served as justice of the peace, his
present term in that capacity not expiring
until 1914. He is veiy active in Democratic
ranks, and is now a member and the secretary
of the Central County Committee. Frater-
nally Mr. Allen is amember of Hayti Lodt;e,
No. 571, Ancient Free and Accepted Order
of IMasons, of Avhich he has been both junior
and senior warden and is now the treasurer.
He is a valued member of the ^Missionary
Baptist Church, of which he has been deacon
for a number of years, and superintendent
of its Sunday school.
]\Ir. Allen married, in 1881, Emma Pop-
ham, who was born in Meade count.y. Ken-
tucky, in 1861. Four children have blessed
the union of Mr. and ilrs. Allen, namely :
Eva, born in 1884; Arthur, born in 1886;
Walter, born in 1888 ; and Ben, born in 1890.
"William Bridges, a life-long resident of
Dunklin count}-, Missouri, is one of the prom-
inent landowners of the southeastern part of
the state. He has made a fortune, lost it
and again placed himself in a position of af-
fluence. Of all the cjualities which are im-
portant in order to ensure success, there is
none more essential than the ability to stick
to a thing. Mr. Bridges, in spite of all ob-
stacles and unpleasantness, climbed up after
losing practically all he possessed, was hope-
ful in face of failure and preserved a consis-
tent optimism, which has assisted him to
bring thinsrs to pass which a less sanguine
man would have deemed impossible.
On both sides of the family Mr. Bridges is
of English descent and has inherited the bull-
dog tenacity of purpose characteristic of the
British race. He made his entrance into the
scene of life ^farch 28, 1850, on his father's
farm near Campbell. His grandfather was
of English birth and when a young man he
emigrated from his native land, came to
America and settled in Virginia, later mi-
grating to Kentiicky and taking up his resi-
dence in Mercer county, that state. There he
married and there his son, Ambrose D., was
born and became later the father of William
Bridges. Father Bridges, after his marriage,
left his Kentucky home, migrated to Mis-
souri and settled on a farm a mile and a half
west of Campbell and here he proceeded to
raise cattle on an extensive scale. He is still
living on, the old place, at the age of eighty-
seven, and his daughter, Minerva, who mar-
ried Mr. Thompson and is now a widow, is
his companion and housekeeper. Mr. Bridges,
Sr., has given a large proportion of his land
to his children, but he still owns fourteen
hundred acres of valuable farm land.
Raised on the farm near Campbell, William
Bridges early learned those habits of useful-
ness and responsibility which have stood him
in such good stead in his later career. When
he was a lad there were very few schools in
his neighborhood, either public or subscrip-
tion, but he went to school for a short time,
when his educational training was inter-
rupted by the Civil war, which suspended all
routine work of every nature throughout the
country. For the ensuing four years Wil-
liam Bridges lived close to nature, gaining
thereby the foundations of the strong
physique which he still retains. When he
was fifteen years old peace was declared and
the schools again resumed sessions; he at-
tended only during three winter months of
each year, until he was nineteen years of age,
Avhile the balance of the year was devoted to
helping to make and gather the crops and to
taking care of the stock on the farm. He
learned to become expert in all out-door ex-
ercises, was pn excellent swimmer and
rider and was a good shot — daring in spirit
without being reckless or boisterous, with
nerves of steel. When a lad of sixteen, in
January, 1866, he had a little hunting expe-
rience which he retails in his pleasant, in-
imitable manner. His father had a number
of cattle in the bottom land which the youth
was commissioned to sell; after transacting
his business, he started on his homeward way
and came across bear tracks: be soon reached
the house, and reported the discovery to his
father, who in turn told two of his neigh-
bors (Archie Mills and Marion Beazley), that
there was a bear in that region. Early the
next morning the three men and the boy.
HISTORY OF SOUTHEAST MISSOURI
each armed with a rifle, assembled to hunt
the bear. They uallt'd to their seven dogs,
then each mounted his steed — Archie Mills
had a fine sorrel liorse. a swift runner ; ]Mar-
ion Beazley was astride a large roan horse,
also a good runner; ilr. Bridges climbed on
to his racing mule, while the young man
leaped on to a mustang mule, of a vicious
temper, a poor riumer but long-winded. The
little party rode, all four abreast, to Taylor
Slough, where they saw the bear track and
almost at the same time they discovered the
remains of the bear's sunper — a half-eaten
hog, which the bear had killed and torn in
pieces; the animal of which the hunters were
in quest was l.ying asleep in a big hollow tree,
but he wakened when he heard the men and
dogs, and started to run. At that moment
a herd of deer approached and the atten-
tion of men and dogs was attracted by the
deer; all the dogs except one followed the
deer, while the remaining canine continued
faithful to the purpose of the expedition and
followed the bear track, which was easily
discernible. After running for about a mile
and a half Mr. Bear flung himself into a
swamp that was supposed to be impassable,
dog followed and next came the boy, who had
so urged his vicious mule that they had out-
distanced the three men and their mounts
during the mile and a half run. The bear
made a quick turn and the dog lost him, but
the boy did not lose sight of his pre}'. He
raced ahead, intending to have the honor of
capturing the bear single-handed, without
even a dog to assist him. The mustang mule
caught up with the bear, and William Bridges
shot deliberately over his head. This in-
furiated the bear, as was the intent; then
followed a scene of confusion ; the dogs all
arrived at the place and the three men came
running at full speed, for in one way or
another they had lost their horses. William
Bridges tried to catch Mr. Beazley 's horse,
and while he was thus engaged the bear
seized the opportunity to make his escape.
The boy followed and for two hours he chased
that bear, paying no attention to the direction
he was going, intent only on reaching the
bear. As a natural consequence the youth
was lost in those woods, but he did not lose
his head, nor did he lose sight of the ob.iect
for which the party had ])een formed. Get-
ting between the bear and the river, so as to
prevent tlie huge beast from crossing, the
race oontinued. until finally the bear started
on the liack track and ran straiglit to the
place where the men and dogs were gath-
ered. The fight began and after a desperate
struggle the hunted animal fell prostrate, ap-
parently dead. Boylike, William Bridges
advanced to the bear and pulled his hind leg.
Infuriated by the indignity the mortally
wounded bear made a last desperate efl'ort to
retaliate, jumped up and advanced towards
the boy, — who was, however, too quick to be
caught by the woimded animal. The youth
mounted his mule and rode away from the
threatening claws of the wounded beast.
This is only one of the many interesting ex-
periences which Mr. Bridges relates to a few
favored listeners.
When nineteen years old William Bridges
began to clerk in a little country store at Old
Four IMile, a place which gained its name
through its being situated four miles from
three of the neighboring villages. For the
ensuing two years he remained as a clerk in
this general store, when his father bought his
partner o\it and sold his son a half interest
in the bvisiness. For the next four years the
management of this concern devolved al-
most entirely on William Bridges, and he
was very successful in the conduct of the
store. In the fall of 1879 he went to Maiden
and engaged in the general merchandise
business on a much larger scale than hereto-
fore. At first the senior Mr. Bridges, and
his two sons, William and John H.. were
partners in the new establishment. After a
time the father and brother dropped out of
the Maiden concern (opening a store at
Campbell) and William Bridges was again
left with the sole management of a store. He
continued to successfully conduct the busi-
ness for three years, when he sold out his in-
terest to W. J. Davis and T. J. Bailev. He
later, about 1885. opened a general store at
Campbell, then only a small town. The
above is all in relation to the commercial
connections of Mr. Bridges, but during these
years he had not confined his attention to the
management of his stores, but had left the
actual work to competent clerks. Louis
McCutcheon began what has proved to be an
exceptionally prosperous career, in Mr.
Bridges* store. Tn 1873 enterprising young
Bridges began to buy mules, cotton and any-
thing else he thought he could sell : young as
he was. he was one of the biggest buyers in
that section of the state, and he made a great
deal of money by his sales. Traveling
through the country in the course of his buy-
ing and selling, he also dealt in real estate,
HISTORY OF SOUTHEAST :\nSSOURI
979
buying land whenever possible, as an invest-
ment. At one time he had four thousand six
hundred acres. In the year 1S96 he sold out
his store interest to Will Taswell, and siuce
that date Mr. Bridges has been engaged in
farming and stoekraising. He is today the
proprietor of seven hundred and thirteen
acres of land, about hve hundred acres of
which is under cultivation and rented out to
tenants. In 1894 he was not able to stand up
under the losses which he, in common with
many other capitalists, had suffered as a re-
sult of the panic of 1893. He had enormous
holdings at that time, and in order to meet
his obligations he was forced to sell his prop-
erty at very low figures — property that is
now fetching high prices. His cotton, worth
one hundred thousand dollars, he sold at a
loss of three cents per pound. Thus his en-
tire fortune took wings and he had practi-
cally to begin over again. Many men would
have felt too discouraged to make any fur-
ther efforts, but Mr. Bridges did not let any-
thing interfere with his optimism, and has
slowly mounted again, not to the height (in
a material sense) that he had reached before,
but he is in a position of ease and affluence.
August 17, 1871, Mr. Bridges was united
in marriage to Martha J. Taylor, a native of
Tennessee, and they have four children, —
Effie E., married to A. T. VanMeter of
Campbell; John L., a farmer who married
Miss Rogers and the couple live in Dunklin
county; William and Kingdon, who are at
home with their father. Two other children
were born to Mr. and Mrs. Bridges, but they
did not survive infancy. Mrs. Bridges is a
member of the Christian church.
Mr. Bridges has one of the best two-story
brick residences in Southeastern Missouri;
the fifteen rooms are large and airy and
magnificently furnished, but without any os-
tentation. The rooms are furnished for use
and comfort and not for show. Although as
mentioned above, Mr. Bridges had very lit-
tle schooling, he is a cultured man ; he has a
good library and is a great reader ; he keeps
up with the times on all subjects of the da.v
and is familiar with all the current literature
of any merit. He has been too busy about
other matters to have much time left to dab-
ble in politics; he devotes some of his few
spare moments to Masonry, having .ioined the
order in the year 1871 when a Masonic lodge
was built at Four Mile. He is now a Master
Mason, being a member of the Council.
While a resident of Maiden he helped to or-
ganize the Dunklin County Bank in that
town, and was for several years vice-presi-
dent of this enterprise. There is no man in
Dunklin coimty who has been more active in
his attempts to promote the betterment of
the community, although his efforts have all
been made in a quiet way. Realizing the
value of school training, he has sent boys to
school, paid their expenses and then assisted
them to get started in business. He is a man
whose genial manners and sympathetic per-
sonality have gained him hosts of friends,
not only in Campbell, where he resides, but
throughout Dunklin county. The picture
facing this sketch was taken when Mr.
Bridges was 55 years of age.
Elbert H. Henson. An honored repre-
sentative of the native-born citizens of Dunk-
lin county, Elbert H. Henson, of Gibson, has
here spent his entire life, and since attaining
manhood has contributed his full share to-
wards the development and advancement of
its agricultural interests. His birth occurred
September 17, 1853, on Ten j\Iile Island,
where his parents were pioneer settlers.
His father, Nathaniel Henson, was born in
South Carolina, and died in Kenuett, Mis-
souri, in 1858, while yet in the prime of a
vigorous manhood. He married Nancy
Thompson, who was born in 1827, in Tennes-
see, and as a girl came with her parents to
Dunklin county, Missouri, where she spent
the remainder of her life, dying on the farm
now owned and occupied by her son Elbert
in 1884.
Elbert H. Henson was but five years old
when his father died, and but nine years of
age when, in 1862, his mother assumed pos-
session of the farm where he now resides. He
assisted in the care of the homestead until
twenty-three years of age, when he purchased
one hundred and sixty acres of land and be-
gan farming independently. Prosperity has
smiled on his undertakings, and his fine farm
is under good cultivation and yielding profit-
able harvests, three acres being devoted to
the growing of fruit, while the other fields,
which are divided by wire and picket fencing,
are devoted to the raising of cotton, corn and
peas. Jlr. Henson also raises some stock,
chiefly mules, which find a read.y market.
Mr. Henson has been three times married.
He married first, November 15, 1889, Fanny
Badie. who died two years later, and he mar-
ried for his second wife, in 1892, Sara Kasle,
who died four months later. On June 5,
HISTORY OF SOUTHEAST MISSOURI
1895, ilr. Henson "vvas united iu marria;',e
with ilaggie Gibson, who was born in Hardi-
ean county, Tennessee, February 2-i, 187&.
Her father, James Gibson, was born in 1S52,
in Hardiman eountj', Tennessee, and is now
a resident of Nimmous, Arkansas, while her
mother, whose maiden name was Dovie Lam-
bert, was born in Hardiman county, Tennes-
see, in 1857, and died, in 1895, in Little Roek,
Arkansas. Mr. Henson has five children, ail
of whom were born of his third marriage,
namely : Ethel, Jesse, Ezra, Aaron and Fan-
nie, in politics Mr. Henson is identified with
the Democratic party, and fraternally he has
for twenty-four years been a member of the
Independent Order of Odd Fellows. ^Ir.
and Mrs. Henson are consistent members of
the ilissiouary Baptist church, and are highly
esteemed throughout the community for their
sterling traits of character.
William T. Taylor. Noteworthy among
the energetic and self-reliant men who are so
skilfully conducting the agricultural interests
of Dunklin county is William T. Taylor, of
Holeomb, who was born not many miles from
his present home, August 25, 1865, of pioneer
ancestry.
His father, Philip Fulbright Taylor, a na-
tive of North Carolina, came westward in
pioneer days, about 1820, when twelve years
of age, and located near Holeomb, Missouri.
He purchased a tract of land that was still in
its primeval wildness, and having cleared a
part of it began cultivating the soil, being one
of the first two white men to plant corn in
this part of Dunklin county, the other being
the great-grandfather of William Moore, who
resides near Campbell. He was skillful iu the
use of the rifle, enjoying hunting, and one
winter won a notable record, having killed
fifty -two bears that season. He spent his last
years in Arkansas, dying in that state in
1874. His wife, whose maiden name was
Mary E. Smith, was born in Kentucky, and
died in Dunklin county, Missouri, in 1888,
aged sixtv-three years.
Left fatherless" when a boy, William T. Tay-
lor remained on the old homestead which his
father had redeemed from the wilderness until
twenty-three years of age, helping his
widowed mother in the management of the
farm, from the age of twelve years doing all
of the planting and most of the farm work.
He subse("|uently worked for wages on a
neighboring farm for two years, and for two
years was employed as a raftsman on the
^Mississippi river. On taking upon himself
the responsibilities of a married man, Mr.
Taj'lor rented land for ten years, and then
made his first purchase of real estate, paying
eleven dollars and fifty cents an acre for
thirty-five acres of land in Holeomb. He af-
terwards added one hundred and twenty
acres to his original purchase, paying fifty
dollars an acre for the tract, and has now a
fine farm of one hundred and fifty-five acres,
well worth seventy -five dollars an acre. His
farm, which is well cultivated and which he
has finely improved, Mr. Taylor devotes to
the growing of corn, cotton and peas, chiefly,
and in its management is meeting with well
deserved success, the farm being well stocked,
Avhile evei-ything about the place bespeaks the
thrift and practical judgment of the proprie-
tor.
Jlr. Taylor married first, August 1, 1894,
ilattie Rouse, who proved herself a most
valuable helpmate and companion. She was
an active member of the Missionary Baptist
church, to which Mr. Taylor belongs. She
died in 1908, aged thii-ty-nine years. Mr.
Taylor married for his second wife, September
7. 1909, jMrs. Rosa A. Davidson, a daughter
of Milton A. and IMartha (Scobey) Lightfoot,
and their only child, Thomas Harrison Tay-
lor, was born August 16, 1910.
Politically ilr. Taylor is a firm adherent of
the Republican party. Fraternally he is a
member of the Independent Order of Odd
Fellows, and of the Woodmen of the World,
in which he has filled various official positions,
ilrs. Taylor belong-s to the Daughters of Re-
bekah and to the Ladies Circle of the Wood-
men of the World.
Thomas IMcFarland. An able representa-
tive of the progressive agriculturists of Dunk-
lin county, Thomas McFarland, of Gibson, is
skillfully devoting his energies to the man-
agement of his attractive farming estate, on
which he has made substantial and essential
improvements, so that it now compares favor-
ably with any in the town. He is a man of
keen foresight and enterprise, and possesses
a good understanding of the best ways of con-
ducting his business so as to secure the best
possible returns. A son of Andrew McFar-
land, he was born October 20, 1860, in Orange
county. North Carolina.
In 1873 Andrew McFarland migrated with
his family from North Carolina to Missouri,
and was subsequently busily engaged in gen-
eral farming until his death, for seventeen
HISTORY OF SOUTHEAST :\nSSOURI
981
years operating on rented land. He was born
in Nortli Carolina and died in Dunklin
county, Missouri, in September, 1896, aged
seventy-five years. His wife, whose maiden
name was Caroline Cook, was born in Orange
county, North Carolina, and died in Dunklin
county, Missouri, in 1S79, aged forty-six
years.
A lad of thirteen years, Thomas ]\IcFar-
land, when he first came to Missouri, began
assisting his father on the farm, and likewise
continued his studies, attending first a sub-
scription school and later a public school.
A\Tien eighteen years old he began life for
himself, and for five years worked by the
month on neighboring farms. The ensuing
five years Mr. McFarland lived and labored
on rented land, and met with such good suc-
cess in tilling the soil that he was then war-
ranted in buying a tract of land. Being
persuaded in his mind that the farm which
he now owns would prove a good investment,
he purchased ninety acres of it, and as his
means increased added to it, by purchase, one
hundred and ten acres more, haviug now a
fine estate of two hundred acres, on which he
has made valuable improvements, haviug
erected his conveniently arranged dwelling
house all of the outbuildings. Mr. ilcFarland
has two acres devoted to the culture of fruit,
and in addition to the growing of corn and
cotton raises fine cattle and Poland China
hogs. He is recognized throughout the com-
munity is a wide-awake, enterprising agri-
culturist, and is held in high esteem as a man
and a citizen. He is especially interested in
the development of the cotton industry, and
is one of the stockholders of the Farmers ' Gin
at Gibson, Missouri.
Mr. ]\IcFarland married, September 14,
1885, Mary Jolly, who was born October 11,
1868, and to them seven children have been
born, five living, namely: ilary E., Homer
W,, Letha, Blanche and Leona, The two de-
ceased children are : William Andrew and
Sylvanus, who died in infancy, ilrs. McFar-
land was born in Cape Girardeau county, Mis-
souri, a daughter of William and Elizabeth
(Campbell) Jolly. The latter was a native
of ^Missouri, but the former was from East
Tennessee; he was a farmer until his death,
in August, 1896, aged sixty-six years. The
mother died when ilrs. McFarland was but
an infant in the winter of 1869-70. Mr. Mc-
Farland is an adherent of the Democratic
party, but has never been an aspirant for
political ofifice. Fraternally he belongs to
Campbell Lodge, Modern AVoodmen of Amer-
ica, and religiously he is a member of the
Cumberland Presbyterian church, which he
is serving as elder.
"W. H. Houston has been trained in a hard
school, that of adversity. His has been a long
and arduous struggle with little to encourage
him and against heavy odds, but he has come
out of the conflict with not only honor, but
vnth unusual success in a material way. His
is surely a life history to encourage those who
are toiling upward at what sometimes seems
a hopeless rate.
Jlr. Houston was born in Tennessee, Sep-
tember 2, 1868, His entire life has been spent
on a farm, Mrs. Houston, his mother, died
before he was six years old and his father
broke up housekeeping. The boy lived with
a cousin for five years and then hired out on
the farms of the neighborhood. He had op-
portunitj' to go to school only a few months
of a year. Sometimes he could get work only
by the day and for several years he just man-
aged to make a bare living. The youth knew
the bitterness of poverty. He continued to
work on the Tennessee farms until he came
to Dunklin county, in July, 1892, In the
meantime he had married Miss Clue IMcNeil
of Lake county, Tenuessee, They had one
child. Ophelia May, born :March 4,"l891. She
died in infancy'. The mother died in Dunklin
county in 1895.
When ]\Ir. Houston first came to this region
he settled near Holeomb. His first venture
was a share-crop. The next year he hired out
to John Thomasson for thirteen dollars a
month through crop time. As this was only
five months of the year he was without income
of any sort for the winter.
On February 25. 1897. JMr.. Houston was
married a second time. The bride was Alva
Thornberry. born and reared in Dunklin
county. She is ten years younger than her
husband, whose good fortune dates from his
marriage to her. Airs. Thornberry, her
mother, is still living in Holeomb.
In the year of his marriage to Miss Thorn-
berry Air. Houston rented fifteen acres of
land from John Thomasson. This tract is
near Air. Hoiiston's present home. The next
year he rented forty acres and moved to
Holeomb. Later Air. Houston was a tenant
of A. F. Blakemore's and he lived on different
places during the following three years, at
the end of which time he was renting one
hundred and sixty acres.
982
HISTORY OF SOUTHEAST MISSOURI
In 1903 he moved to the place where he
now lives. This farm now comprises about
one hundred and five acres and Mr. Houston
owns it all. When he came to the place to
live the fences were in i:)Oor repair and it was
generally in rather a run down state. Mr.
Houston has not only repaired the fences
but also the houses for his hired men. He
has cleared about fifteen acres of the tract
and put up additional farm buildings. He
has put at least two thousand dollars worth
of improvements on the place and the land
is worth about one hundred dollars an acre.
Mr. and j\Irs. Houston have five children
living: Edna, Will, Truma, Harold and
Euwin. Two others have died, one at thi-ee
months, and the other, the eldest, at almost
seven years. A sister of Mr. Houston 's makes
her home with him also. The Woodmen of
the World is his lodge. His politics are
Democratic.
Mr. Houston has made all that he has since
his second marriage and looking at his
"luck" since that time, one can see that his
good fortune is due to no chance but to the
persistent determination never to own him-
self beaten.
B. L. GuFFY. It was the privilege of Mr.
Gutt'y to acquire his legal bent and indeed
much of his legal knowledge from association
with his father, a judge of the Kentucky
court of appeals. When the subject of this
review w^as thirteen years old his father was
elected to the above mentioned court and the
family moved from IMorgantown in Butler
county, where B. L. had been born in 1875,
and took up their residence in Frankfort,
Kentucky. The father held this office for
eight j'ears.
Here Mr. Guffy attended school and for
six years held the position of deputy sergeant
of the court of appeals. This office gave him
ample opportunity to study law and he made
good use of it. In 1897 he was admitted to
the bar of Kentucky and after that time prac-
ticed both in Kentucky and in Marion, Indi-
ana. In 1899, while still at Frankfort, he
was married to Miss Jane Huffman, born in
Spencer county, Indiana, in 1880, and they
have one daughter, Mahala Helen. He was
in ]Marion four years during the oil boom in
that place and had a fairly large practice in
the town.
Mr. Huffman, Mrs. Guffy 's father, had
bought twelve hundred acres of timber land
in ^lissouri. and in 1906 Mr. Guffy came
down to see about the purchase. He found
the county so good a field for all sorts of en-
terprises that he decided to locate here and
since then has been identified with this
region. The timber has been sold and ]Mr.
Guffy has part of the laud under cultivation
and more of it being cleared. He owns two
houses in Hayti and has a third interest in a
business block, one huiKlred by seventy feet,
on the main street of Hayti.
Since coming to the county Mr. Guffy has
been prominent in the Republican party of
the county. He has served as chairman of
the county committee of his party and also
filled the same office in the fourteenth con-
gressional committee. For two years, begin-
ning in 1907, he was city attorney. In 1909
he was appointed postmaster, and since that
time he has put in many improvements at
the office.
In the Masonic fraternity Mr. Guffj^ be-
longs to the Blue Lodge of Hayti and in the
same town he is a member of the Modern
Woodmen of America. He still continues
his law practice in the city as well as keep-
ing up his other enterprises.
Judge John A. Hogue. A prominent fac-
tor in advancing the material interests of
Dunklin county, John A. Hogue is conspicu-
ously identified with the financial and mer-
cantile prosperity of Holcomb, his home
town, where he has won a good record for
industry and success. A son of John B.
Hogue, he was born January 15, 1841, in
Obion county, Tennessee.
Coming with his family to Dunklin
county, Missouri, in November, 1860, John
B. Hogue purchased one hundred and sev-
enty-four acres of land, paying twenty
dollars an acre for the piece, and was here
prosperously engaged in cultivating the soil
until his death, at the age of sixty-six years.
He took an active part in local affairs, serv-
ing for four years as county judge. His wife,
whose maiden name was Jane Robinson, was
born in North Carolina, and died young,
when John A. was an infant.
For four years after taking up his resi-
dence in Dunklin county, John A. Hogue
assisted his father in the pioneer labor of
improving a homestead. In 1861 he enlisted
in the Confederate army, became first lieu-
tenant and commanded the company at the
siege of Vicksburg. His was Company K,
Fifth Missouri Infantry, General Cockrel's
brigade, Bowen's division. Mr. Hogue also
HISTORY OF SOUTHEAST MISSOURI
took part in the battles of Coriutli, Fort
Gibsou, and in the gunboat battle on the
"Sumpter" at Plum Point, luka. He was
afterwards, from 1864 until 1872, engaged
in general farming on his own account. Since
coming to Holcomb, ilr. Hogue has been
actively and successfully employed in busi-
ness, at the present time being president of
the People's Bank, a responsible position
which he has ably filled since 1909. He or-
ganized the People's Bank in 1901. He is
also connected with the mercantile interests
of this part of the county, assisting his sons,
who are among its leading merchants.
Politically llr. Hogue is a sound Democrat,
and has rendered efficient service as county
judge for one term. Fraternally he stands
high in the Ancient Free and Accepted
Order of Masons, being a member and past
master of the local lodge, and a member, also,
of the local chapter and of the council.
Mr. Hogue married first Rebecca White,
who bore him four children, as follows :
Cora B., who died when thirty-seven years of
age; Mortimer S., engaged in mercantile pur-
suits in Holcomb ; Iras ]\I., who married S. E.
Bage, cashier of the People's Bank; and
Maury A., a well-known merchant of Hol-
comb. Of his union with Jledora James, his
second wife, ^Mr. Hogue has one child, Hes-
man D., a Dunklin county farmer. Mr.
Hogue married for his third wife, Mary
Howell, and to them three children have been
born, namely: John A. Hogue. Jr., who was
graduated from the Kentucky School of
Medicine, in Louisville, Kentuekv, is en-
gaged in the practice of his profession at
Holcomb; Robey H., bookkeeper for Hogue
Brothers, owns and operates the Holcomb
Telephone Company; and Allie M., a teacher
in Texas. IMr. Hogue 's religious views are in
harmony with the Presbyterian church.
John William Morris, M. D., is one of
the pioneer settlers in Dunklin county, Mis-
souri, and is well-kno\\ai and respected not
simply in Maiden, where he resides, but
throughout the state of Missouri. Not onl.v
has he become identified with the leading
members of the medical profession but he
has aided political and civic prosperity and
improvement. There is no more public-spir-
ited man in Maiden, nor one who has been
more active in the furtherance of all matters
of common betterment. A brief recital of
the leading events of his life will serve to
show that he has well earned the approba-
tion which he has gained in this locality.
Dr. Morris was born January 6, 1847, at
Nashville, Tennessee. His father, John E.
Morris, was born at Richmond, Virginia, in
1821, and was there educated and engaged in
the occupation of carriage manufacturing
with Josiah Stout. In 1843 he was united in
marriage to I\Iiss JMary Ann Chambers, born
in 1830, at Fredericksburg, Virginia, and the
wedding was solemnized at Buckingham
courthouse, Virginia. Shortly after their
marriage the young couple moved to Tennes-
see, where the.y became the parents of three
children, George E., John W. and Virginia
Adelaide. In 1849 Tennessee was the scene
of a cholera epidemic and the dread disease
carried off John E. Morris, his eldest child,
George E. and the baby, Virginia. The be-
reaved widow and mother remained in Ten-
nessee three years, then, with her little boy,
her only living child, she took up her resi-
dence in Kentucky. There mother and son
stayed, enjoying the closest degree of inti-
macy, until the j'ear 1868, when Mrs. Morris
was summoned to her last rest.
Dr. Morris, at the age of two, deprived of
a father's love and the companionship of his
brother and little sister at one time, was ten-
derly cared for and reared by his mother
When he was five years old he accompanied
his mother to Kentucky, as mentioned above,
and there received his educational training.
He was a teacher in the public schools, but
did not regard pedagogj^ as the work for
which he was best adapted, and studied med-
icine during his spare time. He remained in
Fulton count.y, Kentucky, until after he at-
tained his majority, when the death of his
mother left him without famil.v ties. On the
second of November. 1872, he moved to Cot-
ton Plant, Dunklin county, ^Missouri, and the
day after he arrived in the township he ad-
ministered his first medicine in Dunklin
county to the children of Ed Langdon, al-
though Dr. Morris was not at that time a
certified physician. He later attended the
University of Illinois and was graduated
from the medical department of that institu-
tion in 1879. That same year the Doctor set-
tled in ^Maiden and commenced the practice
of medicine as an authorized practitioner.
He soon had to give up all idea of continuing
his work at that time, as his eyes were trou-
bling him and he believed he was losing his
sight entirely. For the ensuing ten years he
984
HISTORY OF SOUTHEAST MISSOURI
traveled Irom town to town, maniifacturiug
and selling staves, at the same time prescrib-
ing for his friends and acquaintances with-
out any compensation, but actuated by the
desire to serve his fellow men. During the
course of these j-eai-s he spared his eyes as
much as possible and they gradually re-
gained their strength. In 1889 he returned
to Maiden and since that time he has stead-
ily practiced medicine and sold drugs. In
the course of his life Dr. Morris has been the
subject of fifteen or more operations for fa-
cial nerve trouble, and naturally made a
study of the affliction from which he suf-
fered. He is now recognized as somewhat of
a specialist in the nervous disease of tic-
douloureux.
The Doctor was married to Jliss Eliza J.
Kennedy October 2, 1870. Miss Kennedy is
a daughter of Francis M. and Elizabeth
Kennedy, of Fulton, Kentucky, and was one
of a family of eight children. Two j^ears
after her marriage she accompanied her hus-
band to Missouri and during his wandering
life she was his constant companion. They
became the parents of nine children, as fol-
lows: "William C, born at Hickman, Ken-
tucky, July 12, 1872, now a resident of Chaf-
fee, Missouri ; Ha Bertrand, born October
18, 1874. at Clinton. Kentucky, who did not
survive her second year; Maud E., born
September 17, 1876, in the northern part of
Arkansas, now the wife of John Witting, of
Maiden; Ira M., born at Maiden March 11,
1879, whose biography is given on other
pages of this book; Edwin, born June 30,
1881, at Martin, Tennessee, living at Mem-
phis, Tennessee; Herbert B., bom July 31,
1884. in Kenton. Tennessee, owner of a drug
store in Maiden, manried to Lois Adkins, who
bore him two children; Ora Lee, born No-
vember 30. 1886; Virginia A., born January
16, 1890; Mary M., who did not survive in-
fancy.
Ever since Dr. Morris' first arrival in
Dunklin county he has identified himself
witli the prosperity of Maiden in particular
and also of the whole count.y. He was quick
to recognize what was lacking and to take
means to suppl.y the needs. He organized
the first Sunday school in Maiden, was the
first mayor of the to^^^l, and originated and
promoted the first barbecue, people coming
from all directions to be present at the novel
celebration. He put up the first drug store,
and is still selling drugs. It would be diffi-
I'ult to find a man in anv walk of life who
has the versatility of the worthy Doctor. As
an instance of this may be mentioned the in-
cident which occurred while he was acting in
the capacity of mayor ; a man named Hall
was shot and killecl by an officer who was
attempting to arrest him ; Dr. Morris, in his
official position of mayor, held the prelimi-
nary examination of the man, pronouncing
him dead, and then as a physician he probed
for the bullet which had lodged in the offi-
cer's body, fired by Hall, and extracted it
from the suffering man. It is the general
opinion of his fellow citizens that the Doctor
is the most popular man in Maiden.
On December 25th the family of Dr. Mor-
ris observe an annual reunion, the custom
having been in vogue and strictly observed
by all members and their families. On De-
cember 25, 1911, there were present thirty-
two members.
Fred ]\Iorgan. A well-known resident of
Hayti and one of its active business men,
Fred Morgan is a man of sagacity and wis-
dom in political and industrial afl'airs, per-
forming his full share of burden bearing in
the management of municipal matters. He
was born, in 1876. in Bloomfield, ^Missouri, a
son of Collin and Eppie C. (Harper) Mor-
gan. His father is now living in Paragould,
Arkansas, but the death of his mother oc-
curred in February. 1910, at Hayti, ^Missouri.
Spending a part of his earlier life in
Dunklin county, Missouri. Fred Morgan ac-
quired his preliminary education in the pub-
lie schools of Kennett, afterwards attending
the University of IMissouri, in Columbia, for
a short time. During the first eleven j^ears
of his active career Mr. Morgan bought and
sold cotton in Pemiscot county, being quite
successful in his dealings. Locating at Car-
uthersville in 1909, he was there employed
in the whiskey business for a .vear, but has
since resided in Hayti. where he has recently
erected a fine, new, two-story, brick block,
one hundred by one hundred and fift.v feet.
A man of excellent financial abilit.v. Mr.
Morgan has allied himself with some of the
leading organizations of the cit.v and has been
president of the Citizens Bank of Hayti since
January, 1911. This financial institution
was organized June 17. 1905, capitalized at
ten thousand dollars. Mr. A. J. Dorris being
elected president and Mr. C. J. Provine.
cashier. Mr. D. M. Ray succeeded as presi-
dent, while C. P. Wells. Jr., was cashier for
a vear, succeeded bv L. A. Creenwell on ^lav
HISTORY OF SOUTHEAST MISSOURI
3, 1911. ilr. Greeuwell was succeeded ou
December 1, 1911, by ilr. C. J. Provine, the
present incumbent. Deposits of the bank
now amount to twenty-five thousand dollars,
while the surplus is two thousand one hun-
dred dollars. ]\Ir. Morgan is allied with
many corporations of importance, and is a
stanch Democrat in his political affiliations,
and is now rendering valued service as one of
the members of the Hayti Board of Alder-
men.
He married, September 3, 1904, Ruth
Keyser, a daughter of George W. Keyser, a
native Virginian and one of the earlier and
more prominent settlers of this part of Pem-
iscot county. Mr. and Mrs. Morgan are the
parents of two children, namely: Virginia,
born Mav 14, 1906; and ^Mack, born Decem-
ber 26, 1908.
Samuel E. Bage. A successful man of
affairs, Samuel E. Bage, cashier of the
People's Bank at Holcomb, is an extensive
landholder and one of the leading citizens of
his communit.y. A native of IMissouri, he was
born February 11, 1869, in Jeffersontown,
where his parents, Samuel A. and Lj^dia C.
(Washburn) Bage, are still living, being
people of much prominence and highly re-
spected.
In the days of his boyhood and youth
Samuel E. Bage received excellent educa-
tional advantages, attending first the public
schools of Caledonia, ^Missouri, afterwards
continuing his studies for one term at the
Cape Girardeau Normal School, and later
being graduated from Jones's Commercial
College at Saint Louis. Coming to Holcomb
in 1892, Mr. Bage taught school three years,
and was afterwards associated with the
Hogue Brothers in mercantile business for
an equal length of time. Turning his atten-
tion then to the free and independent occupa-
tion in which he was reared, he has made
.iudieious investments in land and is now the
owner of eight hundred and thirty-five acres
of as good land as can be found in Dunklin
county. A part of this land he rents, but the
remainder he manages himself, carrying on
general farming witli satisfactory pecuniary
returns. In 1904 the People's Bank of Hol-
comb was organized, with a capital of twelve
thousand dollars, and a surplus of nine thou-
sand dollars, and IMr. Bage was elected its
cashier, and has since filled the office with
characteristic ability and fidelity. In his po-
litical relations he affiliates with the Demo-
cratic party, and fraternally he is a member
and for a number of years has been treasurer
of Corkwood Camp, Xo. 275, AVooduien of
the World, of Holcomb.
In 1895 Mr. Bage was united in marriage
with Iras Hogue, a daughter of John A. and
Rebecca (White) Hogue, of whom a brief
biographical record is given on another page
of this work. Mr. and Mrs. Bage are the
parents of four children, namely: Hazel,
John, Ruth and Genevieve.
Ely D. Baird. Born in humble circum-
stances and reared in poverty, Ely D. Baird
has sturdil.y overcome obstacles and difficul-
ties that have beset his pathway and now
stands as a typical representative of the self-
made men of Pemiscot county, being num-
bered among the keen, progressive and busi-
ness-like farmers who are so ably conducting
the agricultural interests of this part of the
state, his well cultivated farm being situated
in Hayti township. He was born February
22, 1866, in Harrison county, Kentucky,
which was likewise the birthplace of his
father, Thomas Baird, who spent his entire
life in the Blue Grass state, dying in Bullitt
county in 1899 in his sixtieth year. "Sir.
Baird 's mother, whose maiden name was
Kate Michael, was born in Bourbon county,
Kentucky, and died in Hayti, Missouri,
October 16, 1906.
His parents having a large family of chil-
dren and being very poor, Ely D. Baird had
no educational advantages whatever as a boy,
never attending a public school for a day.
After his marriage, however, he studied un-
der his wife's instructions, passed the literary
examinations for admission to the Kentucky
School of Medicine, in Louisville, Kentucky,
where he subsequently spent a year. When
eighteen years old he ran away from home,
going to Louisville, where he boarded a
steamboat, and as a stowaway in the hold
came down the ^lississippi to Missouri, a com-
panion furnishing him with grub left by the
negro crew during the trip. Securing work
in the cotton fields, he proved himself ex-
ceedingly apt at the labor, and within six
weeks was the champion picker, taking every
prize for cotton picliing that was put up in
Dunklin count.y.
Ambitious and resourceful, Mr. Baird
made a point of saving his earnings, and
when he had accumulated a sufficient siim to
warrant him in so doing bought one hundred
and sixty acres of land in Dunklin county,
HISTORY OF SOUTHEAST MISSOURI
near Holcomb, paying one dollar and a quar-
ter an acre. Fourteen years later he dis-
posed of that property for thirty-five dollars
an acre to Dr. C. G. Drace, now of Kennett,
a very good increase for those days. He sub-
sequently bought his present farm of two
hundred and twenty-six acres near Hayti,
Pemiscot county, giving forty dollars an
acre for the tract, which is now worth fully
one hundred dollars an acre. He has made
improvements of an excellent character on
his place, each year adding to its beauty and
value, and is now engaged in general farm-
ing and stock raising on an extensive scale,
and is meeting with eminent success in his
operations. Sir. Baird grows cotton, com
and alfalfa, and raises hogs, cattle, horses and
mules, finding each branch of industry prof-
itable in the years that have elapsed since he
came here, in 1887, having accumulated a
handsome property. He established a general
store at his farm two and one-half miles east
of Hayti in October, 1911, and is successfully
conducting the same in connection wdth his
farming operations.
Mr. Baird married, in 1887, Jane Burns, a
native of Bullitt county, Kentucky, and they
are the parents of four children, namely:
John, Pearl, Leslie and Juanita. In his po-
litical relations Mr. Baird is a stanch sup-
porter of the principles of the Democratic
party. Fraternally he is a member of the
Modern Brotherhood of America and of the
Modern Woodmen of America, at Hayti.
Mrs. Baird belongs to the Royal Neighbors,
and is a member of the Baptist church.
Henry S. Hostetler. Holcomb is a live
town and is a place which attracts live men.
One of her livest and most enterprising mer-
chants is Henry S. Ho.stetler. a native of
Indiana. Mr. Hostetler came to Dunklin
county on Christmas day of 1877. He was
something over eight years old at the time of
his arrival, as he was born May 20, 1869. His
father settled south of Clarkton. where he
farmed and later opened a blacksmith shop in
Clarkton. Until his death, in 1896, he lived
at the head of Varney river.
After his father's death Mr. Hostetler
moved to Holcomb with his mother and went
to work in the drug store of Dr. I. W. Powell,
of whom mention is made on other pages of
this work. His salary was very small and he
did not succeed in getting much ahead. Sub-
sequently his employer, IMr. Powell, went into
business with 'Mr. "West fall in a general
store, and Mr. Hostetler continued to work
for the new firm for a time and then bought
out Mr. Powell's interest in 1909. Six years
before he had bought out ]Mr. "VVestfall, so
now he is proprietor of the entire concern,
the largest in town. He carries agricultural
implements, groceries and hardware. Dr.
Powell has an office in the building and at-
tends to the drugs, which Mr. Hostetler also
handles.
The Holcomb Gin Company is an enter-
prise in which ]\Ir. Hostetler is largely inter-
ested, owning fifty-six out of one hundred
and twenty -six shares. He is the manager of
this plant and operates it with great effi-
ciency. Dr. Powell is owner of the greater
part of the stock and is secretary of the com-
pany.
In real estate Mr. Hostetler owns two hun-
dred and seventeen acres of timber land near
his old home in the vicinity of Holcomb. In
the same town he owns a residence worth two
thousand dollars besides the nine acres sur-
rounding it. His mercantile business is in-
creasing rapidly and during the year 1910,
his sales amounted to forty-six thousand dol-
lars.
One daughter, Martha, bom in 1910, is the
issue of the union of Mr. Hostetler and Miss
Laura E. Spear, which was solemnized June
25, 1907, at Ashley, Illinois. Mrs. Hostetler
had lived in that state all her life before her
marriage.
Jlr. Hostetler is a Republican in his polit-
ical convictions. The Methodist church of
Holcomb counts him one of its most zealous
workers. He carries his tliorough methods
of doing things into all that he takes in hand.
George B. Webb. A well-to-do and thor-
ough-going agriculturist of Pemiscot county,
Missouri, George B. Webb has been a resident
of Hayti for a quarter of a century, and is
widely known as a man of integritj' and hon-
esty, well meriting the high esteem in which^
he is held by his neighbors and friends. He
was born August 20, 1870, in Gibson county,
Tennessee. His father, Crockett Webb, was
born in White county, Tennessee, in 1845,
and died in Lake county, that state, while his
wife, whose maiden name was Jane Webb
(no blood relation), spent her entire life in
Tennessee, dying in early womanhood.
Being left an orphan in childhood, George
B. Webb was brought up in Dyer county,
Tennessee, living in difi'erent families as a
boy and youth and acquiring his education
JAMES H. WATKINS MARTHA E. WATKINS
FLEETY McGINTHY
HISTORY OP SOUTHEAST MISSOURI
987
in the district schools. He earlj- became fa-
miliar with the various branches of agricul-
ture, and has been a tiller of the soil during
his entire life. Locating at Hayti, Pemiscot
county, in 1887, Mr. Webb began working
land on shares, and has rented land ever
since. At the present time he is carrying on
general farming on one hundred acres of
land that he rents, and in the raising of cot-
ton and corn is meeting with very satisfac-
tory results, each year making a goodly siim
of money. In February, 1912, he started a
restaurant and rooming house at Hayti and
is conducting the business successfully.
Mr. Webb married, August 18, 18*89, Ma-
linda Horner, who was born in Pemiscot
county, Missouri, in 1871, a daughter of John
and Ellen (Humphry) Horner. Eight chil-
dren have blessed the union of Mr. and Mrs.
Webb, namely : Emma, born August 7, 1890 ;
Albert, born April 26, 1893; Fred, born
April 8, 1895; Mettle, born September 4,
1897; Jack, bom November 27, 1902; Lex,
born Aug-ust 21, 1905 ; Pearl, born September
8, 1910; and Wayman, Ijorn September 14,
1911. Mr. Webb has been a member of the
Baptist church, and one of its deacons, for
many years, and for years did good work
among the young people as superintendent
of its Sunday-school. Fraternally he belongs
to the Woodmen of the World, at Hayti.
J. W. Gaither. Crawford county, Indi-
ana, was the birthplace of 'Sir. Gaither and
his home until he came to Pemiscot county in
1896. His wife, too, was bom and reared in
Indiana. Her maiden name was Harriet C.
Myers, which she changed to ilrs. J. W.
Gaither in 1876. After his marriage Mr.
Gaither worked at the carpenter's trade and
ran a flat boat between Louisville and New
Orleans on the Mississippi river for twenty
years and then he came to this county.
Wlien jMr. Gaither arrived at his present
place of abode his worldly possessions con-
sisted of twelve dollars and he had a wife and
five children. The first year he worked at his
carpenter trade and at wagon-making, and
was able to buy forty acres of land, which he
sold for cash. The third. year he purchased
twenty acres and two years later added a
forty to his original farm. The sixth year he
bought forty acres more and on this eighty
he now resides. In 1910 Mr. Gaither bought
an eighty acre tract adjoining- his home place
and he now has nearlv all of the one hundred
and sixty acres cleared and under cultiva-
tion. One farm was not half cleared and the
other in poor condition when he took charge
of it, but he has put both places in good
order.
To have started with twelve dollars and to
have acquired one hundred and sixty acres
of hundred-dollar-an-acre land in fifteen
years is an accomplishment of something like
a miracle. Mr. Gaither has an orchard of
apples, peaches and pears on his second place
and he has built a stock and hay barn iifty-
six by one hundred and twelve feet on the
place, besides improving another bam. The
fertility and the levelness of this part of
Pemiscot county, as well as the good roads
make the farms here among the most valuable
in the whole country.
At the World's Fair at St. Louis in 1904,
Jlr. Gaither took the gold medal for the finest
and longest alfalfa, which was seven feet one
and one-half inches in length, eleven inches
longer than any other exhibited. In 1911 he
sold from forty-five acres, over two hundred
tons besides having fed to his stock some
twenty tons. The market value is from
eighteen to twenty dollars per ton.
Mr. Gaither is a Republican in political
matters but he devotes his time to his farm
interests. He is numbered among the mem-
bers of the Masonic fraternity's Blue Lodge
of Hayti. When he was a boy his father lost
most of his money, so he had little chance for
schooling. However, he is able to instruct
the five men he employs to work his farm, so
he has profited by the lessons of one valuable
schoolmaster, said to be at once the best and
most expensive — Experience.
Of his five children, Harry, the youngest,
is at home. The twins, Nettie and Hattie,
born in 1891, are attending normal school.
Ida, Mrs. Andrew Newsom, lives on a farm
near her father's home, and Bessie, who mar-
ried Ernest Lawrence, also lives in Pemiscot
county.
James H. Watkins. Among the very
early settlers that came to Caruthersville
and, casting their fortunes with the south-
eastern section of Missouri, have since aided
in its growing prosperity and loyally sup-
ported all enterprises and measures advanced
for the welfare of the community as a whole,
the name of .James H. Watkins must ever be
written high. Wlien Mr. Watkins first came
to Caruthersville to make his home there were
988
HISTORY OF SOUTHEAST MISSOURI
only two stores in the town, a far cry indeed
from the prosperous business center of the
present daj'.
James H. Watkius was one of the six chil-
dren that blessed the union of William and
Kvelyn (Lulvei,) Watkins. He first saw the
light of this world sixty-six years ago in Tip-
pah county, Mississippi, where his father was
the owner of a fertile farm of one hundred
and sixty acres. Concerning his brothers and
sisters the following brief data are here in-
serted: John, whose death occurred three
years ago in De Soto county, ]\Iississippi, was
the owner of a large farm, and at one time
held title to considerable real estate in Pemi-
scot county; Henry, passed away five years
ago this winter, near Covington, Tennessee;
Caroline, passed away thirty years ago and
was survived by two children, one of whom is
now Mrs. Kipton. living in the neighborhood
of Memphis, Tennessee, and the other, for-
merly Miss Jane Baker, is now Mrs. Charles
Turner, of Pemiscot county, and has one son,
who makes his home in Memphis, Tennessee ;
and Thomas who lives at the present time
near Covington, Tennessee.
Mrs. William Watkius, the mother of the
subject of this brief personal review, passet.
to her eternal reward some time before the
lowering cloud had broken and devastated
her native state, and her husband married
again, the lady of his choice being Miss
Nancy Pall. He died in Tippah county fif-
teen years ago, the father of twelve children,
some of whom make their homes in Pemiscot
county. George is at Cauda Switch, running
a store and the post-office; George married
Miss Frankie McCall, and is the father of a
family ; Haywood is the owner of a fine farm
just across the river in Tennessee; Richard,
who was united in marriage to Miss Hettie
Donovan, of Pemiscot county, owns consid-
erable property in Canithersville. including
an up-to-date store building and four otlier
structures: Mrs. M. Sides is engaged in tbp
merca.ntile business in Caruthersville : and
Robert, who was married to Miss Allie Bram,
is the present constable of Caruthersville.
In 1865. on the 24th of November. Miss
Martha Entrikin. the daughter of John En-
trikin, of Tippah county, Mississippi, promi-
nent farmer and land-owner of that region,
became the bride of Mr. .Tames Watkins. He
stayed in Mississippi nntil November. 1877.
when he left the Bayou state and came direct
to Caruthersville, where he bought some town
property, consisting of two lots and a house.
After one year he purchased one hundred
and twenty acres of fertile farm laud, located
southwest of Caruthei-sville, and farmed the
same for a period of ten years, with such suc-
cess that he was able to retire from the field
of agriculture. After selling forty acres of
his land to his brother Jolin he moved into
town and, buying six acres of town property,
he has since erected four residence houses,
one of which he occupies himself and three of
which he lets to tenants.
He is the father of eight children, of whom
the following brief account is here given:
Wesley, now in his forty-fifth year, is a
f ai-mer and stock-raiser, located in Middleton,
Tennessee; Jesse, now living at Hot Springs,
Arkansas, is a farmer, and has a family, his
first wife being Miss Bettie Culver, and his
second, Miss Julia Wills; Alice, who died in
June, 1895, was the wife of George Feltes,
and the mother of one child; Golden, thirty-
six years old, married Mrs.' N. A. King and
is engaged in agricultui'al pursuits in the
state of Arkansas; Ida passed to her reward
in 1892, while yet a girl of fifteen ; Louis set-
tled in the Bear state, where he is a pictui-e
agent and owns property in Walnut Ridge,
that state, where he lives with his wife, who
was formerly Miss Willie Coffee ; Myrtle died
on her father's farm in Februarj^, 1889, when
a child of two years; and Maud now lives in
Caruthersville, where her husband, Mr. C.
E. Meek, has a paint and butcher's business.
Mrs. Watkins spent her youth at Charleston.
South Carolina. She and her husband,
among many other good deeds, have under-
taken to raise an orphan child, and Fleety
McGinthy, now eleven years old, makes her
home beneath their hospitable roof. Mrs.
Watkins is a member of the First Missionary
Baptist church of Caruthersville, which she
joined in 1865.
P. S. Winston. Since coming to
Mr. Winston has been so intimately associ-
ated with the firm of Westfall & Company
that an account of his life would be incom-
plete without also giving a brief one of the
establishment.
Wlien seventeen years old C. H. Westfall
came from Illinois where he had gone from
his birthplace near Louisville, Kentucky, and
started to work as a farm laborer. This was
about tlie year 1878. He was entirely alone,
witli his fortime all before him. He became
acquainted with ]\Iiss Fanny Douglass, who
HISTORY OF SOUTHEAST MISSOURI
lived iiuar Clarkton, where he had settled and
iu 1880, they were married. After his
marriage Mr. Westfall farmed and ran a giu.
He was for a while iu business with Dr. Pow-
ell, aud the Doctor sold out to Mr. AViuston.
Until ]\Ir. Westf all's death they maintained
a prosperous business. Upon Mr. Westf all's
death, in 1905, his widow took his place in
the business and the firm has continued to
do a lucrative business. They were burned
out in 1910, on March 6th, but resumed busi-
ness in the same month.
Mrs. Westfall has several brothers aud
sisters living in this part of the state. Her
parents, Asa and Mary Marshall Douglass,
moved to Dunklin county with their separate
families when they were young people and
were married in this county. 'Two brothers,
Asa and Walter, live near Holcomb. Four
other brothers and one sister live near Clark-
ton.
P. S. Winston was born in Sturgis, Ken-
tucky, in the year 1878. In Kentucky he had
farmed and attended college several years at
Sturgis. In 1900 he came to Holcomb and
went to work for Westfall & Company. He
had some money when he came to Holcomb,
and in 1902 he 'and Mr. Westfall entered the
mercantile business. He was general man-
ager of the business before he went into part-
nership with ilr. Westfall, and he still holds
that position.
Mr. Winston was married to Miss Ethel
Westfall on December 26, 1900. Their son,
P. Westfall Winston, was born November 24,
1909. The family are members of the Meth-
odist church.
Mr. Winston's activities are not confined to
the management of the flourishing mercantile
establishment of which he is part owner. He
farms a tract of one hundred and ninety
acres adjoining the town. This land is the
property of himself, his wife and his mother-
in-law. Part of the work on this large farm
Mr. Winston is obliged to hire done, but he
does a large share of it himself. When he
took charge of the place it was in poor condi-
tion but he has improved it until now it is
worth a hundred dollars an acre. One forty
acre tract Mv. Winston has cleared and
brought under cultivation since taking charge
of the farm. His crops are mainly corn, cot-
ton and melons.
IMr. Winston is a Democrat in political
policy but he is not a practical politician. He
is a member of the Woodmen of the World
and of the Independent Order of Odd Fel-
lows. Both personally and as a business man
he is regarded as one of Holcomb 's most de-
sirable citizens — one of the sort who are the
"sinews of the republic."
Columbus E. Pritchabd was liorn on his
father's first farm in this county in 1871, on
January 23d. This original eighty is just a
mile and a half from the place where the
father moved when Columbus was a boy and
on which the son now lives. The father is
Charles Manley Pritehard, of whom mention
may be found on other pages of this work.
Subscription schools were the only means
of getting an education in the county during
the boyhood days of Mr. Pritehard, and he
walked three and a half miles to and from
school every day. Until he was twent.v,
Columbus Pritehard lived at home.
When he was twenty-three j'ears old his
father gave him forty acres of land. He now
owns two hundred acres in all, of which
eighty adjoins IManley. The rest is a mile
west of the town and all in one piece. Mr.
Pritehard has refused a hundred dollars an
acre for all his holdings. A fine residence in
Manley is another of Mr. Pritehard 's pieces
of property.
In 1891 he was married to Miss Stacy
Revis, born in Tennessee, but a resident of
Missouri since her babyhood. Mrs. C. E.
Pritehard was not sixteen at the time of her
marriage.
Only one of the eight children born to I\Ir.
and Mrs. Pritehard is living. This is a
daughter. Vera Edna, born June 25, 1908.
Mr. Pritehard is an active member of the
lodge of the Woodmen of the World and also
holds membership in the IMutual Protective
League. The Baptist church has in him an
enthusiastic and devoted worker. The church
and also the school of Manley are on a part
of his father's present farm.
In 1910 Mr. Columbus Pritehard was ap-
pointed a fourth-class postmaster. This
could not be said to be a political appoint-
ment, as Mr. Pritehard is a Democrat. The
office has been in C. M. Pritehard & Com-
pany's store for the past two years.
Thomas E. Pritchard. Like his older
brother, Thomas Pritchard was born in his
father's old log cabin in the little clearing in
the forest. The date of his birth is January
30, 1873, and he is a son of Charles Manley
Pritchard. of whom mention is made else-
where in this. work. He grew up on his
990
HISTORY OF SOUTHEAST MISSOURI
father's place and had what schooling the
subscription schools afforded, which was not a
great deal. Until he was twenty-seven he
remained at home.
On April 25. 1900, Thomas E. Pritchard
was married to Nora E. Eulitt. iliss Eulitt
was born within two miles of the birthplace
of her husband, on July 8, 1SS2. Her parents
are ilargaret and "\V. J. Eulitt, of this county.
For a year after his marriage Thomas Pritch-
ard worked for his father. In addition to the
forty acres which his father gave him Mr.
Pritchard bought another forty, so when he
married he possessed eighty acres. He made
his first crop in 1901. In 1902 he added an-
other eighty acres to his tract, working a part
and renting out the remainder for about five
years. By this time he had built a new house
on what is now his home place and in 1906
took up his residence there. He now owns
two hundred and forty acres adjoining Man-
ley, and of this he has made two hundred
acres by his own efforts.. C. M. Pritchard
and his two sons own all of Manley except
forty acres.
Like his brother, Mr. Thomas Pritchard is
member of the Woodmen of the World. In
political views, too, the brothers are agreed.
Thomas has been district clerk of the school
ever since it was organized.
Three of six children born to Mr. and Mrs.
Thomas E. Pritchard are li^^ng: Lena May,
born in 1905 ; Claude B., in 1908 ; and ilerle,
in 1911.
William James Burgess, IM. D.. is one of
tlie most up-to-date physicians in Caruthers-
ville, making a specialty of the treatment of
clironic diseases. There is no citizen of
Caruthersville who is not familiar with the
Therapeutic Institute of which Dr. Burgess
is the proprietor and manager, although his
excellent system of locating disease is not so
generally understood. His methods of treat-
ment are as varied as it is possible for them
to be, and he is entirel.v opposed to the cure-
alls which are advocated in certain institu-
tions. It is true that he does attempt to cure
all diseases, but each trouble has its own par-
ticular remedy. The Institute has patients
from the states of Kansas, Ohio, Indiana,
Oklahoma, Arkansas, Iowa, South Carolina,
etc., and all ex-patients bear testimony to
the curative efficacy of the Burgess methods.
Dr. Burgess' birth occurred April 30.
1877, at Victoria. Illinois. He is a son of
Fred William and Sallie (ilcCoid) Burgess,
the father a native of Pennsylvania, where
he was born on the 29th day of August, 1846,
while the mother claimed Fairfield, Iowa, as
the place of her nativity, and July 2, 1848,
was the date. ilr. and IMrs. Burgess, Sr.,
were man-ied in 1872, at Fairfield, Iowa, and
became the parents of three children : Maude,
whose birth occurred April 5, 1874, and who
is married to Andrew Larson; Robert
McCoid, bom November 28, 1875, now a resi-
dent of Missoula, ^Montana ; and William
James, the successful physician whose biog-
raphy is here given. Father Burgess was a
student in the public school when President
Lincoln issued his first call for volunteers;
the young man, then not sixteen years of age,
was seized with the desire to enlist, but on
account of his extreme youth he was com-
pelled to restrain his ardor. In 1864 he
joined the Eighty-third Illinois Infantry and
served with that regiment until the close of
hostilities. Upon his return to the life of a
civilian he went to Victoria, Illinois, where
he became identified with the harness-making
industry. In 1881 he moved to Keokuk,
Iowa, and accepted a position as mail agent
on the Burlington Railroad, remaining with
this corporate concern for a period of twelve
years. At the expiration of that time he
again took up his trade and is today in the
harness business at Keokuk. On the 15th
day of ]\Iarch, 1897, his wife was summoned
to the life eternal, since which time his inter-
est has centered in the progress of the Repub-
lican party ; the Presbj'terian church, of
which he and his wife were both old mem-
bers; the fellowship which he enjoys with his
companions at arms, as he meets them at the
post of the Grand Army of the Republic
with which he is connected ; and in the wel-
fare and achievements of his children.
Dr. Burgess is the youngest of the family ;
he has no recollection of the little town in
Illinois where he was born, as the family
moved to Keokuk, Iowa, when he was but
four years of age. He has, however, distinct
remembrance of the school where he received
his preliminary educational training, the high
school which he later attended, and the medi-
cal school from wliich he was graduated April
19. 1901 — his entire education up to that
period having been obtained in Keokuk. Im-
mediately following his graduation he came
to Wyaeonda, ilissouri, where he remained
until 1904, engaged in the general practice
of medicine. During these three years he
took special interest in chronic illness which
HISTORY OF SOUTHEAST MISSOURI
991
came within his notice and accordingly he felt
the desire to study further along this line. To
that end he went to Chicago, where he took
post graduate work, and he also took a course
in the Chicago Electrical College, remaining
in Chicago until the 1st of July, 1905. The
ensuing three years he spent in stud.y in St.
Louis. Missouri, and in November, 1908, he
came to Caruthersville. The following
spring (April, 1909) he opened his institu-
tion, which is known as the Dr. W. J. Burgess
Therapeutic Institute, and is the only similar
institute in his section of the country. ^lost
phj'sieians commence the examination of a
patient by asking a long string of questions;
often the mere suggestion of some of these in-
terrogations make the patient imagine that he
has symptoms which do not exist save in his
brain. Dr. Burgess asks no questions, but
proceeds to locate the trouble for himself.
His institute is one of the most thoroughly
equipped in the country ; he has two X-ray
machines, which are in constant operation;
his assistants are all especially trained and
fully qualified to perform the various duties
allotted to them. It might be thought that
inasmuch as Dr. Burgess has received such a
thorough training that he does not experience
the need of further study; such is not the
case ; he realizes that the sponge which ceases
to absorb shrivels, and it is impossible for
him to have his work up-to-date unless his
mind is in a similar condition. He is a mem-
ber of the American Research Society, and
methods of treatment approved by this body
are immediately employed in the Dr. Burgess
Therapeutic Institute. As an instance of
this fact may be mentioned Dr. Burgess'
early use of the injection method of treat-
ing specific diseases of the blood, — a treat-
ment which is causing such a sensation
throughout the medical world. No single
method of treatment is followed at the insti-
tution, but electricity, medicine, massage,
etc., are employed separately or together, as
required for securing the best results. "Wlien
drugs are required for patients, the medi-
cines are furnished free, thus insuring purity
and uniformity of materials. To those who
live some distance from the Institute rooms
and wholesome food are provided at very
reasonable prices. Dr. Burgess invites visit-
ors to inspect the Institute at any time and
he takes pleasure in showing them demon-
strations of the X-ray as used in examining
and treating patients. During the three years
that have elapsed since Dr. Burgess opened
the institute he has had to enlarge it and is
expecting to make still further additions as
occasion demands.
On the 25th of July, 1900, while yet a
student in the Keokuk medical school. Dr.
Burgess married Miss Jennie Larson, of
Keokuk, born there April 30, 1882. She is a
daughter of Bertel Larson and Anna Peter-
son. Two children have been born to Dr. and
:Mrs. Burgess, — William I\Iyrle, whose birth
occurred :May 26, 1903, and Ethel Janice,
born April 16, 1907.
In political belief the Doctor is aligned
with the Republican party. In fraternal con-
nection he is afaiiated with the Tribe of Red-
men, with the Independent Order of Odd
Fellows, with the ilodern Woodmen of
America and the Woodmen of the World.
Dr. Burgess has made many friends since he
took up his residence in Caruthersville —
friends who respect him because of his ster-
ling qualities of mind and who esteem him.
because of his genial, sympathetic personal-
ity.
Isjlac W. Caldwell. It falls to some men
to be born great, while others have to achieve
greatness. It is clearly evident, however, that
Isaac W. Caldwell, of Gibson, Dunklin
county, was destined to be the architect of his
own fortune. He began his career on a low
rung of the ladder of attainments, but by un-
tiring energy and a resolute purpose he has
steadily pursued his way along the pathway
of success, in the meantime gaining a note-
worthy position among the active and valued
citizens of his community and its more suc-
cessful agriculturists. A Tennesseean by
birth, he was born in 1859, in Union City,
Obion county, where he was brought up and
educated.
When twenty-seven years old Jlr. Caldwell
began life for himself as a farmer. On De-
cember 19. 1887, he located at Gibson, Mis-
souri, and for a year was emplo^-ed in his
chosen occupation on rented land. He sub-
sequently bought sixty acres of land, and in
its management was exceedingly fortunate,
each year finding much profit in his opera-
tions. He subsequently bought adjoining
tracts of land, his present farm containing
one hundred and tliirty acres of rich and pro-
diictive land, which he devotes to general
farming, raising principally, cotton and
melons, which give good returns for the care
bestowed upon them. For seven years ^Ir.
Caldwell was here engaged in mercantile pur-
992
HISTORY OF SOUTHEAST MISSOURI
suits, but being burned out and losing three
thousand six hundred dollars by the confla-
gration, he retired from store keeping and
has since confined himself entirely to his farm
work. His estate is well fenced with wire,
and to the impi'ovements already inaugu-
rated, and which he has made himself, he is
constantly adding, each year enhancing the
value of his property.
An active member of the Democratic party,
Mr. Caldwell has been justice of the peace for
the past twelve years, while eleven or twelve
years ago he made the run for county treas-
urer. Religiously he is a trustworthy member
of the Cumberland Presbyterian church.
Fraternally he is a member of Freeman
Lodge, No. 290, Independent Order of Odd
Fellows, in which he has passed all the chairs
but one; and of the Modern Brotherhood of
America.
]Mr. Caldwell has been three times married.
He married first, August 4, 1885, Maggie
Alexander, who died in early womanhood,
leaving one child. Iris, who lives at home.
Mr. Caldwell married, in 1891, ^MoUie George,
by whom he had two children, Gladys and
Nellie. He married for his third wife Ida
Caldwell, their marriage being solemnized
June 9, 1907, and they have two children,
Aubra Bryan and James Edward, born
August 1, 1908, and October 5. 1911, respec-
tively.
Robert L. ]Mead. Tennessee has been the
birthplace of many of Dunklin county's
prominent and prosperous citizens, and Mr.
R. L. Mead is of that number. His stay in
that state was very brief, as he was born
September 20, 1865, and in November of the
same year his parents came to this county.
They purchased a farm three miles east of
Campliell and here Robert grew up.
There was little opportunity to secure an
education at that time of the county's his-
toi'v. :is scliddls wvvv few, and in addition to
tliis l';ict .Mr. .Mend liad duties at home which
]irc\riil(Ml Ills fiikinj;- advantage of such facil-
ities ns were afforded, except to a very lim-
ited extent. His father became deranged
wlien Robert was eight years old and the care
of the family of eight devolved upon an older
brother, Samuel by name. With what assist-
ance the others could give Samuel Mead ran
the farm and supported the family. He is
now living at Lake City. Arkansas.
Robert L. Mead lived at home and worked
on the home place until his mother died. In
1885 he married Miss Arper A. Tinnon, a
lady born and reared in the county. As soon
as they were married the young couple went
to live on a farm near Campbell and this
place was their home until they moved to
their present abode, fifteen years later, in
1901.
When Mr. Mead purchased the first tract
of his present farm he was practically at the
very beginning of his financial success. He
bought two hundred and forty-seven acres on
time. Prosperity attended his undertaking
and now, after buying and selling several
tracts, he owns three hundred and twenty-
seven acres of land, all under cultivation and
requiring the services of fifteen men to
operate.
This land was all timbered when Mr. Mead
came to this locality, and before he bought it
he superintended clearing it and then farmed
it on shares. He perceived that the land was
of unusual value and so he decided to buy it.
He now farms about half of it himself and
lets out the other half on shares. He rents
about one hundred acres besides, making a
total of over four hundred acres which he has
under cultivation in his own and his tenants"
charge. To have accomplished as much as
this in a lifetime would be an achievement.
That ]\Ir. Mead has done it in a decade is an
eloquent commentary on his ability and
.iudgment as well as on his industry.
Mr. Mead has three sons, Samuel Law-
rence, Vernon and Randall, all of whom are
still at home with their father and mother.
Robert W. Stokes. One of the largest
landholders of the town of Maiden, and one
of its most progressive and prosperous farm-
ers, Robert W. Stokes, a veteran of the
harvest fields, has accomplished a satisfac-
tory work as an agriculturist and is now liv-
ing practically retired from active pursuits,
enjoying to the utmost the reward of his
many years of unremitting toil. A life-long
resident of Missouri, he was born November
30, 1839, in Cape Girardeau county, of hon-
ored pioneer ancestry.
His father, John H. Stokes, was born in
county Roscommon. Ireland, September 3.
1805, and as a young man eighteen or twentv
years old, came to the United States. He
began life for himself as a clerk, being first
employed in Pittsburg, Pennsylvania, and
later at Princeton, Indiana, a short time,
where he took the oath of allegiance. Subse-
quently, accompanied by his family, he came
/^^f^^z^l^
HISTORY OF SOUTHEAST MISSOURI
westward to ilissouri, his intended point of
destination being Jefferson City. Tiie boat
ou whieb be was traveling caugbt tire, how-
ever, and landed him at Cape Girardeau,
where be remained. After farming for a
year or two he engaged in other work, open-
ing a private school, which he managed for a
time, and subseciuently tilling various public
offices of trust, including those of city asses-
sor and city collector. Coming from there
to DunkUn county in 1861, he engaged in
merchandising at Clarktou in a store that
he had opened in 1856 and managed,
and also in one at Asherville, Stoddarcl
county, that being at the time when the
cotton gin at Cotton Plant was the only one
in the coimty. The Civil war proved disas-
trous to him, breaking up his business, his
store finally being burned. He was subse-
quentlj' for a time engaged in farming near
Clarkton, but spent his last 3-ears retired, in
Clarkton, his death occurring there March 8,
1876, at the age of seventy-one years, six
months and five days. He was active in pub-
lic affairs, serving as a judge in the Court of
Common Pleas and the Probate Court dur-
ing the entire time that the two were asso-
ciated as one office. He was a man of deep
religious convictions and a member of the
Presbyterian church. ,
John H. Stokes married, in Pittsburg,
Pennsylvania, Jime 13, 1833. Lucretia Childs,
who was born at Becket, Berkshire county,
]\Iassachusetts, January 4. 1818, and died at
Clarkton, Missouri, in September, 1896, aged
seventy-eight years. Seven children blessed
their union, namely: Augusta, who manned
Dr. Paschal H. Chambers, of Lexington, Mis-
souri, and died in that city, where prior to
her marriage she was a siiceessful teacher in
the public schools ; Roxanna. wife of Dr. Van
H. Harrison, of Kennett. of whom a brief
sketch may be found on another page of this
work; Thomas Chalmers Stokes, of Maiden;
Charles Edward of Kansas City, publisher
of the Leader; John Franklin, who died
at Clarkton. at the age of thirty-eight years ;
William Childs, of Kennett. ex-county re-
corder; and Robert W.
Coming to Dunklin county in the fall of
1856, Robert W. Stokes became identified with
merchandising. At the breaking out of the
Civil war he enlisted, under General Jeff
Thompson, in the Missouri State Guards for
six months, and subsequently served as a sol-
dier in the Confederate Army. After the
conflict was over he engaged in farming near
Clarkton, and now owns four hundred acres
of valuable land, a tract which includes his
tii-st pui-chase of forty acres. Bu;\-ing first a
small piece of timber, he laborect faithfully
to clear it, burning up quantities of tine tim-
ber in his efforts to redeem a farm from its
original wildness. For many years he grew
cotton, the first crop of which was raised in
this part of the country about 1863, its culti-
vation in this section being forced by the exi-
gencies of war. Mr. Stokes operates his land
now by tenants, though when necessary he
can himself manage the land. In 1881 he
left the farm, and was engaged in the livery
business at Clarkton for a few years, while
thus employed carrying the mail from Mai-
den to Kennett, via Clarkton. In 1899, after
a short residence at Kennett, Mr. Stokes lo-
cated at Maiden, and in company with his
brotlier William C. Stokes purchased a shin-
gle mill near by, but was not very successful
in its management, and he is now spending
his life in pleasant retirement.
Mr. Stokes married, March 5, 1862, Mar-
tha J. White, who was born in Obion county,
Tennessee, but was brought up in Clarkton,
Missouri. Her father. E. C. White, who died
at Clarkton, Missouri, was for many years a
prominent citizen of that place serving as
justice of the peace and as county judge. He
was for several years engaged in agricul-
tural pursuits in Dunklin county, later run-
ning a general store at Clarkton, and finally
becoming an extensive dealer in land, acquir-
ing much wealth in his operations. Mrs.
Martha J. Stokes passed to the life beyond
December 14, 1881. leaving seven children,
namely: John E. ; A. L. ; Laura, wife of Al-
bert J. Baker; Robert W., Jr. ; Birdie I., wife
of M. B. Rayburn; Luther B.; and Mattie J.,
wife of W. A. Cohen, a merchant at Freder-
icktown, Missouri. All of the sons and the
son-in-law, Mr. Baker, are engaged in busi-
ness at Maiden, being members of the Stokes
Brothers Store Company. Mr. Stokes mar-
ried for his second wife,' June 28, 1882, Ella
B. Page, of Lockhart, Caldwell county,
Texas, and they have two children, Merrill
Aubert, having a tin shop in Maiden ; and Roy
Manson, assistant cashier of the Bank of
Maiden.
Both Mr. and Mrs. Stokes are Avorthy mem-
bers of the Presbyterian church, and she is a
member of the Ladies' Aid Society and one
of its active workers. Mr. Stokes is a Demo-
crat, but is not a politician in any sense im-
plied by the term. He served six years on
994
HISTORY OF SOUTHEAST MISSOURI
tile school boai-d of Maideu. Althougli as a
yoimg man xUr. Stokes could uot euaure a
liouua, or a man who owned one, lie uas
witUiu the past htteeii or twenty years ue-
veioped a love for hunting, and each winter
taKes a deer hunting trip, in early times,
wlieu wild game of ail kiuds abounded in tins
part of the country, many of the men oi
prominence, such as Judge iiurgess and Uen-
erai Wickem, would go to ClarKton to hunt,
tiudiug great pleasure in the sport.
Daniel J. Keller. To the people of Mai-
den the name Keller suggests a man of ver-
satile taleuts— a man who has passed the
greater part of his life connected in some
wise with journalism, but is now devoting his
wtiole time to agriculture. It is a boon to the
state of Missouri that scholarly men such as
2*lr. Keller are engaging in farming, thereby
raising the status of the farmer from its
former condition of opprobrium to one oi
envy.
ilr. Keller, born on the 1st of April, 1862,
at La Crosse, Wisconsin, is of Irisu descent.
His father, Daniel Keller, was a native of the
Emerald Isle, where his birth occurred on
the 6th day of July, 1822, and at the age of
sixteen he emigrated to America, settling
in New York state, where he followed the
occupation of a contractor and builder.
He married Mary Carroll, born in New
York city on the •4th day of May, 1825.
Daniel Keller, Jr., the sixth in order of
birth of a family of eight children, spent the
first nineteen years of his life in La Crosse,
Wisconsin, during which time he received his
elementary educational training in the pub-
lic school, following the grammar school
course by four years in high school. He early
gave evidence of possessing literary abilities
of a high order and while still in school he
worked on the newspaper which was managed
and edited by il. M. (Brick) Pomeroy — the
famous writer of Civil war times. When i\lr.
Pomeroy went to Denver he was accompanied
by Daniel Keller, and the two worked in har-
mony for a couple of years, at the end of
which time ilr. Keller returned east and set-
tled in Kansas City, where for a brief inter-
val he side-tracked into the express business,
but soon returned to newspaper work. For
seven years he was employed in the capacity
of foreman of the Kansas City Times, only
severing his connection w-hen its owner. Dr.
Muraford. died in 1892. In the spring of the
year 1893 ]Mr. Keller went to New York city
to accept a position on the Commercial Ad-
ccriistr, ana he remained in that great me-
tropolis until 1900, when he came to Maiden,
Missouri, and bought out the Dunklin County
Xvws, one of the oldest papers of southeast-
ern Missouri. Until the spring of 1911 he
was the able editor of the ^eu■s, and under
his management the paper was in a more
tiourishing condition than at any previous
time of its existence. Mr. Keller had, how-
ever, experienced the call which nature often
makes to a man who has all of his life been
engaged in city work. Back to the land is the
advice that the heart and soul otfer, and the
man who can and does heed this cry is very
fortunate. It used to be thought that brains
were not necessary in the management of a
farm, and a premium was placed on brawn,
but that age has passed. 21r. Keller has sold
his interest in the Dunklin County News
and is devoting his entire time to farming,
bringing all his intelligence to bear on the
land and thus assisting it to bear crops to its
fullest capacity.
On the 13th day of June, 1888, Mr. Keller
was united in marriage to ]\Iiss Adene Cooke,
daughter of Abel D. and Laura Amanda
(La Vallee) Cooke, of New ]\ladrid county,
IMissouri, where Miss Adene 's birth occurrea
October 6, 1867, and where she was married
in the Catholic church in the township of
New Madrid. On the 4th of July, 1894, :\lr.
and Mrs. Keller became the parents of a
daughter, Laura St. A., and November 13,
1900, their son, Jerome, was born, but he did
not survive infancy. Mrs. Keller is an ac-
complished musician, having received a most
thorough training. She plays both piano and
organ and while residing in New York was
for over four years the organist of St. Fin-
bar's church of Brooklyn. She is not only a
performer of both expressive and technical
ability on piano and organ, but she is a
teacher of considerable fame — having the
power to impart to others the mechanical
ways of expressing the beauties of melody
and harmony.
IMr. Keller is a most pronounced Democrat
and has had the opportunity of aiding his
party through the medium of his paper. In
a fraternal way he is affiliated with the
Knights of Columbus, but at present his all-
absorbing interest is the conduct of his farm.
James R. IMorrow. Carrying on a substan-
tial business as a dealer in general merchan-
dise, James R. Morrow is one of the leading
HISTORY OF SOUTHEAST MISSOURI
j'oiing merchants of Gibson, Dunklin county,
and is prominent in fraternal and social
circles. He was born ^March 6, 1879, in Obion
county, Tennessee, and was there reared to
agricultural pursuits, remaining on the farm
until twenty-five years of age.
On leaving home Mr. Morrow was for two
years employed as station agent and tele-
graph operator on the Cotton Belt line. Not
content with that position he then came to
Gibson, Missouri, and for some time was here
engaged in mercantile business with his
brother, D. C. ]Morrow. Disposing of his
interest in the firm in 1910, Mr. Morrow
purchased his present store, and having put
in a stock of general merchandise has built
up a business now valued at twenty-five
thousand dollars per annum and which is
rapidly increasing, his patronage being ex-
tensive and remunerative. He has a good
farm of two hundred acres, which he rents,
and is also a stockholder in the Bank of Hol-
comb, of which he has been secretary for a
short time.
Mr. ^Morrow married in August, 1903,
Mattie Ratliff, who was born June 28, 1880,
in New ]\Iadrid county, Missouri and they
have two children. Vera Evelyn, whose birth
occurred August 28. 1904, and Horrell Rich-
ard, born August 24, 1911. A Democrat in
politics. Mr. IMorrow uniformly supports the
principles of his party at the polls, and is
ever among the leaders in promoting enter-
prises conducive to the public welfare. Fra-
ternally he is a member of Freeborn Lodge,
No. 290, Independent Order of Odd Fellows,
at Gibson : of the Tribe of Ben Hur ; and of
the ilutual Protective League, also of Gib-
F. C. Parks, the able and enterprising
cashier of the Bank of Holcomb, was born in
Illinois, January 17, 1872. He was left an
orphan at the age of three and began early
to make his own way in the world. The first
object of his desire was an education, and he
pursued it with characteristic determination.
He worked his way through the high school
of Marion, Illinois, and then went through
the academy at Crab Orchard, Illinois, in the
same manner. After his graduation from this
institution he was elected to teach in it, and
for two years taught history, geometry and
eheinistry there.
After leaving the academy work Mr. Parks
spent five years in the public and the high
schools of Illinois and then came to Dunklin
county in 1899. His first position in this
county was at Caruth, where his excellent
work kept him for nine years. From there
]\Ir. Parks went to Cardwell, where he stayed
until 1909, when he resigned to accept the
position he now holds in the Bank of Hol-
comb.
Mr. Parks has a family of four children,
Parker Buell, Clarence E., Herman C, and
Geraldine. Their mother, Eunice Blauken-
ship Parks, is a Tennesseean by birth, but
grew up near Senatli, Missouri, at which
place her marriage to Mr. Parks was sol-
emnized December 23, 1901.
Mr. Parks' lodge connections are divided
among several places where he has lived. He
is an A. F. and A. M. at Cardwell; an Odd
Fellow both at Holcomb and the Campbell
encampment; in Caruth he is affiliated with
the Rebekahs and the ilutual Protective
League ; and he belongs to the Holcomb chap-
ter of the Woodmen of the World.
Few citizens of the county enjoy the sin-
cere respect of a wider circle of friends than
]Mr. Parks. These all accord him cheerful
admiration for his personal qualities and for
what he has accomplished by his unaided
efforts, making so much of his few opportuni-
ties. He has a farm near Holcomb, his
present residence. It is significant that
since Mr. Parks went into the bank the busi-
ness of that institution has doubled its scope.
IM. B. Ratburn. Talented and cultured,
I\I. B. Rayburn, cashier of the Bank of JMal-
den, is a man of broad capabilities, resource-
ful and quick to grasp a situation and utilize
opportunities, his natural endowments well
fitting him for the honored position he holds
in financial and business circles. A son of
the late M. M. Rayburn, he was born July
7, 1875, in Clarkton, Missouri, coming on the
paternal side of the house of Virginian stock.
Born and reared in Virginia, M. M. Ray-
burn came to Dunklin county, ]\Iissouri, in
early manhood, and for a number of years
was engaged in farming and stock-raising.
Public-spirited and energetic, he filled
various offices, and having, in the eighties,
been elected sheriff of Dunklin county, served
in that capacity for four consecutive years.
He died at the age of fifty-nine years, at
Clarkton, in 1900. He married, in Missouri,
Fanny L. Ake, who was born in Arkansas,
and died, in 1890, in Dunklin county, Mis-
souri.
Lentil twenty-two years of age M. B. Ray-
996
HISTORY OF SOUTHEAST MISSOURI
burn remained beneath the parental root-
tree, in the meantime acquiring a substantial
education. Fitted for a professional career,
he taught school eight years in Dunklin
county, for four years being superintendent
of the Clarkton schools. Subsequently Mr.
Rayburn assisted in the founding of the
Bank of ;Malden. and having been elected as
the first cashier of the institution abandoned
the educational profession and has since de-
voted his time and attention to the interests
of the bank with which he is officially con-
nected. The Bank of ilalden was organized
in 1903. with a paid up capital of fifteen
thousand dollars, a sum that was increased,
in ] 906. to twenty thousand dollars. The sur-
plus and the midwinter profits were seven
thousand five hundred dollars, the deposits
at that time, early in 1911. having been nine-
ty thousand dollars. Jlr. Rayburn has been
cashier of the bank ever since it started, while
its first president. A. L. Stokes, was suc-
ceeded by the present president. Dr. fieorge
Dalton.
Actively and intelligently interested in the
promotion of the welfare of both town and
eount.v, Jlr. Rayburn spares neither pains
nor expense in his eflforts to establish bene-
ficial enterprises, and as a member and the
president of the ^lalden Commercial Club
has proved himself a genuine "booster." He
has rendered excellent service as a member of
the School Board, and is a valued member
of the Presbyterian church and clerk of its
official board. Prominent in the ^lasonic
Order, he is a Knight Templar, and ^ecially
active in the local Commandery.
Jlr. Rayburn married, at the age of twenty-
one years. Birdie Stokes, a daughter of R.
W. Stokes, of whom a brief personal record
appears on another page of this volume. Five
children have been born to Jlr. and ]\Irs.
Rayburn, namelv: ^Mildred Lee. Doris
Eli/abctli, M. B.. Jr.. and Dixie IMay.
.\. W. Douglass. Conspicuous among
leading agriculturists of Senath is A. W.
Douglass, an early and highly esteemed settler
of this section of Dunklin county, who has
contributed his full share in advancing its
material prosperity. A native of Missouri,
he was born January 21. 1852. near Caruth,
and has occupied his present farm since
Febniary, 1875. Up is the third son of Alex-
andcr T. and Elizabeth Douglass.
Mr. Douglass married, in April. 1874.
Senath TTale. She was born in Childs cnuntv.
Tennessee, August 10, 1855, a daughter of
Charles D. and Elizabeth (Webb) Hale, they
also being farming people. They left Ten-
nessee and came to Dunklin county in 1859.
The.y remained there until the breaking out
of the Civil war, in 1861, when they returned
to their native state. Tennessee, where
Charles Hale served in the Confederate army
for a time. He returned to Dunklin county,
however, in the year 1869 and later bought
a farm at Grand Prairie, where he spent the
remainder of his days and died in 1893, at
the age of sixty-one years. He was a ]\Iason
and a member of a local Baptist church. Fol-
lowing his demise his widow successfully con-
ducted the farm until the year 1899, when
she removed to the town of Senath, where she
now resides. She is at this writing en,joying
good health and is especially active for a
woman of her years. She, like her husband,
is a member of the Baptist church.
Immediately following his marriage ^Ir.
Douglass and his young bride, in whose honor
the town of Senath received its name, came
here to live. A few pioneers had taken up
their residence in Senath at that time, but
there were no public highways, no railroads
and no post office in the vicinity. Cotton.
Plant was the nearest trading post, and one
had to go either there or to Kennett to find
a doctor. The people roundabout lived in
true pioneer style, helping each other when-
ever help was needed, ilr. Douglass was the
first postmaster of Senath. holding the office
for seven years, his wife in the meantime
serving as assistant postmaster. The carry-
ing of the mails was paid for by private
subscriptions for the first twelve months after
the post office was established, which was in
1882. Salem township had but sixty voters
when Mr. Douglass first located there, but the
number has steadily increased. ^Ir. Douglass
has been very successful in his agricultural
labors, his farm of one hundred and twenty
acres, lying within the corporate limits of
Senath. being much more valuable than land
lying outside of the town. During the
greater part of his residence in Salem Town-
ship he has held the office of justice of the
peace and is regarded as one of the ablest and
fairest minded .iustices in the county. He
is a man of sound .iudgment and has acquired
a good knowledge of the law.
Mr. and ^Vfrs. Douglass have reared seven
children, namely : "William H., a well known
attorney of St. Louis. i\Iissouri ; Elizabeth
W.. wife of Charles Wvland, of Des
HISTORY OF SOUTHEAST MISSOURI
997
Iowa ; Alexander T., a member of the firm of
the Caneer Store Company, at Seuath; Lucy
M., wife of W. C. Biggs, manager of agencies
of the National Life Insurance Company, of
Des jMoines, Iowa ; James D., cashier of the
National Life Insurance Company in Des
lloines, Iowa ; Robert Satterfield, at home ;
and Edward Everett, at home.
;\Ir. Douglass is a Democrat in his political
persuasions, and both he and his wife are
staunch members of the Baptist church.
The Hon. James il. Bow'ers, well known in
different connections in Wayne county, Mis-
souri, is a man whose father was not in posi-
tion to give him much of an education, but
Mi: Bowers, realizing that education was a
man's best capital, worked hard to gain knowl-
edge, that he might be prepared for the high
position which he intended to make. ]\Ien who
have achieved legitimate success without an
education obtained in schools and universities
are numerous, and many of such men try to
belittle education, but in the years to come
the so-called self-made man. competing in the
battle of life ^^ith scholarly rivals, will go
down to certain defeat. The Hon. James Bow-
ers realized this and hence spared no pains to
produce the knowledge he desired. He is to-
day a highly cultured man, yet eager to con-
tinue a student.
James M. Bowers ' birth occurred March 24,
1865, in Reynolds county, ]\Iissouri. He is a
son of Josephus and Ann G. (Hart) Bowers,
the father a native of North Carolina and the
mother was born in Coffee county, Tennessee.
"Wlien Josephus Bowers was a small boy, in
about 1832, he accompanied his parents to
"Webb's Creek. Reynolds county, Missouri,
where the family settled on a tract of wild
land, which they soon brought into cultivation.
Josephus Bowers received a meager education
in a subscription school in the neighborhood
of his father's farm, but he made such eood
use of his opportunities that he was adjudged
competent to teach. After a short time he de-
termined that he was not fitted for an edu-
cator and he commenced to farm for himself
on a small tract of land, where he raised his
family of eleven children — nine of whom are
living today, as follows: Eliza E.. wife of
Georse Santhew. of Redford. IVIissouri: James
M.. the subiect of this sketch : ^Matilda C wife
of W. H. Johnson, of Revnolds county. "Mis-
souri : Thomas J., residing at Winona. ^Hs-
souri : Benjamin L.. living at Ruble. Missouri :
Rufus, living in the northwest; ]\Iaud L., who
married Charles Larkin and lives at Ruble,
JMissouri ; Alice B., iirs. Otto Aly, residing in
Texas; and Ernest E. of Reynolds county.
Mr. Bowers, the father of this interesting
family, died on his farm after spending forty
years of his life there, during which time he
lived a simple life, a member of the Methodist
church and a stanch ally of the Democratic
party.
James M. Bowers, brought up on his fa-
ther's farm, attended the district school and
at the age of sixteen began to teach ; the next
ten years were divided between obtaining and
imparting knowledge, and inasmuch as he
taught in different localities his education was
likewise received at various institutions. He
was at Hale College, Wayne county, ^Missouri,
tor one year ; he spent six months at Carlton
Institute, Farmington, Missouri ; six months
at the Baptist College at Farmington, ]\Iis-
souri; six months at the LTniversity of Ken-
tucky at Lexington, and a year and a half at
the "V"alparaiso, Indiana, normal school, mak-
ing in all four years as a student. Altogether
he has taught eighteen years. In 1891, after
leaving Valparaiso, he accepted a position as
bookkeeper at Leeper, Wayne county, Mis-
souri ; for four and a half yeare he filled a sim-
ilar position at Piedmont. Wayne county, Mis-
souri ; and for three years he owned and edited
the Wayne county Journal, then sold out and
commenced his political career. It is natural
that he should have always been deeply inter-
ested in all mattei-s pertaining to education,
and in 1897 he was the Democratic candidate
for the office of school commissioner ; he served
in this capacity for two terms and was two
terms on the board of educatioon. He was
appointed by Governor Folk to fill an unex-
pired term as county surveyor, and he served
for one year. He was well qualified for this
office, since he has made a special study of
surveying and timber estimating. In 1906
Mr. Bowers was the Democratic choice for
representative, and, after a very close race,
was defeated by only twenty-eight votes. At
the next election his party were determined
that he was their most fitting candidate and
persuaded him to become their nominee a sec-
ond time ; he was elected by a large majority,
and so distinguished himself during his term
of office that he was re-elected in 1910. The
Hon. James Bowers has led a bus.y life, as in
addition to the above mentioned occupations
he negotiates real estate sales ; he has, however,
998
HISTORY OF SOUTHEAST MISSOURI
found time to ruad law in his spare moments,
and he expects to be admitted to the bar in
January. 1912.
Mr. Bowers has been twice married; on
August 25, 1891, he was united to Margaret
Alexander, of Williamsville, Missouri. She
died February 12, 1907. aged thirty-two
yeai-s. On the loth of July, 1908. he formed
a matrimonial alliance with Miss Cora Steven-
son, a native of Illinois, ilr. Bowei-s has no
children. Both he and his wife are membei-s
of the Baptist church and in a fraternal way
he is affiliated with the ilasonic fraternal
order and holds membership with the order
of the Eastern Star; he is also a member of
the Independent Order of Odd Fellows and
of the Rebekahs. There are few residents
of Wayne county who have had a career as
varied as has the Hon. James Bowers; his
intercourse with so many classes of people has
naturall.v broadened his views, so that, while
positive in his ovm beliefs, he is most tolerant
of the opinions of other people. He is widel.v
and justly popular.
Charles W. Highpill. One of the most
enterprising and capable men that are iden-
tified with the commercial interests of Senath
is Charles W. Highfill, the secretary, treas-
urer and general manager of the Highfill
Jlercantile Company, which handles every-
thing needed on the farm or in the home, do-
ing a business amounting to one hundred
thousand dollars a year. A native of Ar-
kansas, he was bom February 19, 1875, in
Paragould, Greene county.
Growing to manhood in his native city, Mr.
Highfill began his active career as a clerk in
a general store, and for twelve years was
employed at various places, the last four
years of the time having been spent A\ith
Bertnig Brothers, of Paragoidd. While thus
engaged he was elected eount.v clerk of
Greene eount.v, Arkansas, and ser^'ed faith-
fullv and well in that position from 190-1 to
1908. When, on September 1, 1908, the
Highfill Mercantile Company, which is a
branch of the S. L. Joseph Mercantile Com-
pany of Paragould. Arkansas, was incorpo-
rated at Senath. ]\Tissouri, bv Hezekiah High-
fill and partner. ^W. Charles W. Highfill
came to Senath to accept an official position
with the company, and has since been a dom-
inant power in expanding and in extending
the business of this enterprising firm. The
company was incorporated with a capital of
ten thousand dollars and with the following
named officers: President, H. Highfill, of
Paragould, Arkansas; vice president, Joseph
Wolf, also of Paragould; secretary, treasurer
and general maaaager, Charles W. Highfill.
This firm, which cai-ries everything except-
ing furniture, cari-ies a stock of goods, includ-
ing agricultural implements, dry goods, cloth-
ing of aU descriptions, groceries and hard-
ware, valued at fifteen thousand dollars. Its
main store room is fifty b.y eighty feet, with
a wareroom in the rear thirty by forty feet,
while the room devoted to agricultural imple-
ments, carriages, etc., is also fift.v by eighty
feet. Eight clerks are kept busy in attending
to the wants of the numerous customers, who
are attracted to the store through the fair
prices asked for the goods, Mr. Highfill being
a firm advocate of large sales and small prof-
its, which are beneficial to both buyer and
seller. This firm likewise handles cotton, op-
erating its own gin and in 1910 buving. prin-
cipally from the local farmers, about three
thousand bales of cotton, paying for it over
two hundred thousand dollars.
Politically, Mr. Highfill is an uncompro-
mising Democrat, but is not an office seeker,
his time being devoted to his business inter-
ests. Fraternally he is a member of the In-
dependent Order of Odd Fellows, of the
Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks and
is a Thirty-second degree Mason and much
interested in promoting the good of the order.
On the 22d of August, 1900, he married
Miss Sadie Branuan, who was born in Green-
field, Green county, Illinois, March 9, 1879.
Her parents, however, moved to Paragould,
Arkansas, when she was but ten years of age,
and she was educated in the public schools
there. The only child born of this union,
Gladys, died at the age of nine years. Mrs.
Highfill is a member of the Christian church.
H.VRRY Pruitt Poston, M. D., of Bonne
Terre, represents one of the most prominent
names in the medical profession of Soitth-
eastern ]Mis.souri. He is, in fact, of the third
generation in the profession in the state, his
grandfather. Dr. Henr\' Poston. of Irondale,
having been one of the pioneer practitioners,
and his father. Dr. Charles Pope Poston, being
one of the distinguished medical men of the
section. Although a young man. Dr. Harry
Pruitt Poston has alread.v given a taste of his
qualit.v and has evinced gifts of the highest
order. No one more than he realizes the con-
stant study and investigation neees,sary to
keep pace with the progress in the wonder-
HISTORY OF SOUTHEAST MISSOURI
ful science to which he has seen tit to devote
his life and talents and it is sate to say that
one of his ambition and ability will ever suc-
ceed in keeping abreast with moGern thought
and discovery. Dr. Poston is an admiraoiy
public-spirited young citizen, as well as a une
representative of his calling, and all measures
calculated to result in good to the whole of
society are sure of his support.
Harry Pruitt Poston is a native son of
Bonne Terre, Saint Francois county, ilis-
souri, his birth having occurred at this place
in 1884. He is the son of Dr. Charles Pope
Poston and his wife, Mahala Cunningham
Poston, of whom special mention is made on
other pages of this work. He is the eldest
of nine children born to these estimable
people. During his boyhood Dr. Poston at-
tended the Poune Terre public schools and
when young in years came to the conclusion
to adopt the profession in which his forebears
had found their usefulness. He secured his
necessary professional training in the medical
department of Washington University, and
received a well-earned degree from that in-
stitution in 1907. The two succeeding years
were spent in hospital experience in St.
Luke's hospital in St. Louis, where Dr. Pos-
ton acquired a very valuable practical ex-
perience obtainable in no other way. From
St. Louis he went to New York city, and in
that eastern metropolis he gained additional
training in the Hutchinson street and New
York Hospitals. Subsequent to that he visited
European clinics and studied abroad, and all
in all enjoys a preparation of unusual va-
riety, thoroughness, and high equality. Dr.
Poston returned to Bonne Terre and, having
specialized in surgery, he was made chief
surgeon of the St. Joseph Lead Company;
the Mississippi River & Bonne Terre Railway
and allied companies and has charge of the
Bonne Terre Hospital, a position that his
father had held for thirty-five years, and
when he resigned his son was appointed
in his place. His activities are such as to
render him absorbed to the exclusion of other
interests, in the profession of which he is so
admirable an exponent. He is affiliated with
those organizations whose chief aim is the
unity and advancement of the profession,
namely, the County. State and American
Medical Societies, and the Association of Rail-
way Surgeons. His coUese fraternity is
Siffma Nti. in whose affairs he still retains an
interest. In his political alles-iance Dr.
Poston is aligned with the men and measures
of the Republican party and he is a member
of the iMasomc fraternity.
Dr. Poston was married in December, 1910,
his chosen lady being Miss Elizabeth Schor-
eutz, of Trieste, Austria. Mrs. Poston has
won an assured place in the best social life
of Bonne Terre as an accomplished and
charming young woman, and their home is
one of the popular ones of the place.
Curtis Moore. The substantial and pro-
gressive agriculturists of Dunklin county
have no more worthy representative than
Curtis Moore, of Kennett, who stands high
among the industrious, thrifty and business-
like farmers who are so ably conducting the
agricultural affairs of Southeastern Missouri.
He was born, February 10, 1875, in Dunklin
county, two miles north of Kennett, a son of
B. H. Moore.
His parents removing to Kennett when he
was nine yeai*s of age, Curtis Moore began
working in a cotton gin soon afterward, and
had but little time allowed him for attend-
ing school while he was j'oung. He remained
at home for eleven years thereafter, working
on the home farm in the meantime and board-
ing in town, beneath the parental rooftree.
In 1895 Mr. iloore, still in the employ of his
father, began clearing the land which he now
owns and occupies, it being a part of the sec-
tion of timbered land which his father had
purchased , and for whom he subsequently
worked for seven years. Receiving then a
deed to a portion of the tract owned by his
father, Mr. Moore labored faithfully in his
efforts to reclaim a farm from the forest, and
has since bought other land, his present home
estate containing two hundred and forty acres
of choice land, which yields him abundant
harvests each season. His untiring efforts
and practical industry, combined with skill
and good .iudgment in conducting the labors
of his land, have met with a well-deserved re-
ward, the farm, with its extensive and valu-
able improvements, being a credit to his
energy and sagacity,
Jlr. Moore married, March 4, 1902, at Ken-
nett, ilissouri Storey, and into their home
three children have been born. Cullev A.,
Cleval F. and Tol H,
Nathaniel C. Whalet, The reputation
of ^Ir. "Wlialey as one of the prominent and
promisina: young lawyers of the state is in-
deed well-deserved, his natural ability, train-
ing and acquirements being of the highest or-
1000
HISTORY OF SOUTHEAST MISSOURI
der. Although to be accounted as a member
of the younger generation of citizenship iu
Poplar ijluff, he has already to his credit a ca-
reer of no small brilliance and event. He has
creditably represented St. Glair county, Mis-
souri, in the general assembly and he is now
acting as city attorney, his splendid standing
as a lawyer having been stamped with highest
approval by his election to this office. His
general practice has been carried on as a mem-
ber of the partnei-ship of Whaley & lug. Mr.
Whaley is a native sou of ^lissouri, his birth
having occurred in St. Clair county, ilissouri,
May 31, 1878. His parents, both of whom
are now deceased, were John Cahan and
Frances (Newsome) "Whaley. The former,
who was a very successful physician and
surgeon, and who served as state senator
from his county in 1898, was likewise a native
of this state, his birth having occurred near
Palmira, Marion county, and his demise in
St. Clair county, in 1903. The mother, who
was the scion of a well-known family of
Georgia, in which state her birth occurred,
passed on to the "Undiscovered Country" in
September, 1909.
^Ir. AVhaley passed the roseate daj-s of boy-
hood and youth in St. Clair country and was
graduated from the high school of Osceola.
He subseqiiently matriculated in "Westmin-
ster College at Fulton and after pursuing his
studies in that institution he attacked his
Blackstone as a student in the Kansas City
School of Law and there received his degree
with the class of 1903. He inaugurated his
practice in the Indian Territory, remaining
there for one year and then returned to Osce-
ola, the judicial center of St. Clair county,
where he resided until 1907, finding a promi-
nent place in the many-sided life of that com-
munity. In that year he was sent by his na-
tive county to represent it in the Forty-fourth
assembly, his election being upon the ticket
of the Democratic party. He served with sig-
nal efficiency iipon important committees,
namely: The committees on criminal juris-
prudence, and constitutional amendments.
He introduced a bill on initiative and refer-
endum winch carried. The young statesman
carried with him to the legislature well-de-
fined and unfaltering ideas of duty towards
his constituents, proving in refreshing con-
trast to the self-seeking politician who has
proved the menace of modern society. He is
a Democrat in political conviction, having
given hand and heart to the policies and prin-
ciples of the order since his earliest voting
days. His election to the office of city attor-
ney occurred in April, 1910.
Mr. Whaley was married on August 2,
1911, to Ida G. Roman. She was one of the
talented and popular young women of the
city and previous to her marriage was a
teacher of English in the High school. Mr.
Whaley and his wife are both members of the
Presbyterian church.
The subject has a number of fraternal af-
filiations. He belongs to the Masonic order
and exemplifies in his own living those ideals
of moral and social justice and brotherly love
for which the order stands. He is a popular
member of the Benevolent and Protective Or-
der of Elks and the Modern "Woodmen of
America, and while at college became a mem-
ber of the Greek letter fraternity. Kappa Al-
pha.
Lee J. Taylor. A man of versatile talents,
energetic and progressive, Lee J. Taylor has
been actively identified with many branches
of industry, and is now prosperously engaged
in general farming and stock-growing at
Campbell, having a well improved estate. A
son of Lee J. Taylor, Sr., he was born Novem-
ber 3, 1866, in Dunklin coi;nty, and here re-
ceived his elementary education.
Lee J. Taylor, Sr.. a native of Kentucky',
was born in 1826. and died April 5, 1870, in
Dunklin countv, I\nssouri. He married, April
16, 1851, :\rary Ann Pollock. Six children
were born of their union, as follows: Nancy
E., born Februaiw 2, 1852, is the wife of
Charles McCutcheon. of Campbell ; ^Martha J.,
born in 1854, married William Bridges, of
Campbell, of whom a brief biography is given
elsewhere iu this work: Felix IM., born in
1856, died in infancy : Van, born July 7, 1861,
died February 27. 1883; Lee J., with whom
this sketch is chiefly concerned ; and Edward.
whose sketch may be found on another page
of this volume.
After leaving the public schools of Dunk-
lin county, Lee J. Taylor took a business
course at the Draughon Commercial School in
Nashville, Tennessee. He was subsequently
for fifteen years connected with mercantile
establishments in ^Maiden or Campbell, either
as a book-keeper or a clerk. In 1888 he opened
a general store in ]\Ialden. ]\li.ssouri, and at
the end of two years formed a partnership
with William Bridges, and for two years car-
ried on a general mercantile business amount-
ing to fifty thousand a year. Selling out
then, Mr. Taylor became book-keeper for his
HISTORY OF SOUTHEAST MISSOUEl
1001
former partner, In 1898, in company with
W. A. Uehng, Mr. Taylor embarKed in the
livery business, having stables at Kennett ana
at Campbell. Disposing of his interests in
the livery in ISijy, he became a stockholder in
the Campbell Lumber Company, and was its
secretary and treasurer for two years. Sell-
ing out in 1901, he purchased the telephone
exchange at Hope, Arkansas, which he con-
ducted for six months. From 1901 until
1903 Mr. Taylor resided at Fort Worth,
Texas, having charge of the Texas Telephone
Supply Company. Eeturning then to Camp-
bell, Missouri, he engaged in the pole, piling
and lumber business, in that industry ship-
ping goods to all parts of the Union. His
health failing, he, in 1908, purchased his pres-
ent farm of two hundred and twenty acres,
and has made improvements of an excellent
character on the place, having erected a snug
little house of six rooms, a barn, and all the
requisite outbuildings, and having fenced the
land and set out fruit trees of various kinds.
He raises each season good crops of wheat,
corn and hay, and in addition keeps one hun-
dred hogs, a fifth of them being Duroc Jer-
seys; cattle of a good grade; ten horses; and
plenty of sheep and chickens.
]\Ir. Taylor married, September 29, 18S6,
Dixie Bridges, who was born August 2, 1867,
in Campbell, a daughter of Ambrose D. and
Lottie (Russell) Bridges, of whom further no-
tice may be found elsewhere in this biographi-
cal record, ilr. and Mrs. Taylor have one
child, Henry A. Taylor, born November 21.
1890, married, November 23. 1910, Alice
Smith, and is now a book-keeper at ilount
Carmel, Illinois. Fraternally Mr. Taylor is
a member of the Modern Woodmen of Amer-
ica, A. F. & A. M. Four Mill Lodge, No. 212,
and of the Tribe of Ben Hur. Politically he
supports the principles of the Democratic
party. Religiously ]\Irs. Taylor is a member of
the Christian church. The son, Henry A.
Taylor, is a member of the Mutual Protective
League, the Knights of Pythias, Helm Chap-
ter, No. 117, Royal Arch Masons. Kennett,
Missouri, and of the Hoo Hoo Lodge, a Lum-
ber order. He belongs also to the ilethodist
Episcopal church.
John Frank Grant. Though not an old
resident of Clarkton, John Frank Grant, by
his genial personality, his ready sympathy,
and intense interest in every enterprise ad-
vanced in the best interests of the county,
finds himself high in the esteem of the com-
munity in which he lives. Like all typical
Kentuckians, for he is a native of the iilue
Grass state, being born in jMetcalfe county
January 12, 1871, he has that large concern
for the welfare of others that constitutes the
ideal of American citizenship. He is the son
of Flournoy and Frances (Tupmanj Grant,
and one of a generous family of nine children,
concerning whom the following brief data
are here set down : Emmett was united at the
altar to Miss Fannie Shaw, and both are now
deceased, Emmett dying in February, 1910,
survived by his two children; Mattie, now
ilrs. Kapps, is a resident of Kewanee; Beu-
ford is a resident of Colorado; Swannie mar-
ried ]Miss Carrie Underwood, and they, with
their son Willie, make their home in Scott
county; Bartlette is now located in Bonnie-
ville, Kentucky; Leslie is engaged in the Cen-
tennial state ; and Virginia, now J\Irs. Carter,
also resides in the state of Colorado.
John Frank Grant first came to the state of
Missouri twenty-six years ago, on the 29th of
December, from Boone county, Kentucky.
His first land he purchased in 1895, and it
was a tract of about one thousand two hun-
dred acres a little west of Vanduser. After
one year he sold that piece of ground and
went to Kansas.
Six years ago he bought eighty acres of
farming property north of Vanduser, which
he kept for six years and then spld in De-
cember, 1910. Coming to New Madrid county
in January, he bought three hundred and
twenty acres of old swamp land, and with the
zeal of a pioneer set out to improve the value
of his property. One hundred acres are now
cleared, and he has utilized the swamp for
pasturing purposes. He has also raised stock
and crops of corn, wheat and watermelons in
Scott county.
In September, 1892, was solemnized the
marriage of John Grant to Miss May Vaughn,
the daughter of Drew and Anna (Estes)
Vaughn, whose home was near Morley in
Scott county, and this union has been blessed
with eleven children, four of whom are de-
ceased: Lottie Ellis, born in 1894. died in
1895 from blood poisoning; Willis D.. born in
1895. died in infancy, as did also Frank Ar-
nold, bom in 1898. and Mary B. born De-
cember 12, 1906. Of his living children.
Anna May was born in 1899; Mattie V. was
born April 28. 1901; Maggie Ada was born
February 1, 1903; Twyman W. was born Oc-
tober 9. 1904: Lawson Cline was born De-
cember 5, 1907 ; Christine Marie was born on
1002
HISTORY OF SOUTHEAST :\IISSOURI
February 9, 1910, and Kenneth Hall was born
December 5, 1911.
Mr. Grant has been an enthusiastic and ac-
tive lodge man for many years, being thor-
oughly acquainted with the benefits of such
organizations. He is a member of the Inde-
pendent Order of Odd Fellows, No. 700, lo-
cated at Vauduser; the Modern Woodmen of
America, of Vanduser, in which organization
he was formerly on the council and manager
for over six years ; the Ben Hur fraternity, of
Vanduser ; the Redmen ; the Royal Neighbors ;
the :\Iutual Protective League of Clarkston.
and the Knights of Pythias. Both he and his
wife are members of the Missionary Baptist
church of Vanduser, and they attend the
church of that organization which is located
in their present home.
Besides his multifarious interests Mr.
Grant is a stockholder in the Vanduser Bank,
and he acts as one of the directors of that re-
liable monetary institution.
John M. Karnes. One of the most pros-
perous and prominent business men of Sen-
ath. and a substantial representative of the
mercantile interests of Dunklin county, John
IM. Kames, founder of the John ]\I. Karnes
Store Company, is held in high respect as a
man and a citizen, while his influence as a
man of honesty and integrity is felt through-
out the community. He was born October 15.
1864, in PeiTiiseot county, Missouri, a son of
John Karnes, a native of Tennessee. His
father moved from Tennessee to Missouri in
1S60. locating first in Pemiscot county, where
he lived nine years. Coming from there to
Dunklin county in 1869, he was engaged in
general farming near HolhTvood vmtil his
death, in 1887, at the age of fifty years.
Brought up and educated in Dunklin
county, John M. Karnes remained at home
durin<r his earlier 3'ears, but had no ambition
to follow the rural occupation of his ances-
toi-s. Forming a partnership therefore with
J. I. Caneer, he became junior member of the
firm of J. I. Caneer & Company, which for
several seasons conducted two general stores
in Sennth. In 1898 Mr. Karnes established a
store of his own. and manaared it independ-
ently until he was burned out. He was then
doin<r an annual business amounting to about
thirtv thousand dollars. A stock companv
was then formed, and in 1904 the John IVI.
Karnes Store Company was incorporated, the
stockholders heins men of recosrni^ed business
acumen, and it was capitalized at twenty-five
thousand dollars, Mr. Karnes being elected
treasurer and manager. Subsequently the
capital stock was increased to tifty thousand
dollars, and Mr. Karnes is now president and
treasurer, while his son^ J. W. Karnes, is man-
ager, and "\V. G. Bray is secretary.
The John ^l. Karnes Store Company occu-
pies a building that is one hundred and six
feet by one hundred and twenty-two feet, its
main room being sixty-four by one hundred
and twenty-two feet, and carries a stock of
dry goods, clothing and general merchandise,
including hardware and agricultural imple-
ments, valued at twenty thousand dollars, its
sales each year averaging one hundi-ed and
tifty thousand dollars. This firm also deals
in cotton, buying from twelve hundred to
three thousand bales a year, which ai*e sold at
sums ranging from one hundred and fifty
thousand dollars to two hundred and twentj'-
five thousand dollars. The expense of oper-
ating the establishment of this firm is about
thirteen thousand dollars a year, which in-
cludes the paj' rolls. Mr. Karnes, who had
no capital to speak of to begin with, the sum
at the most not exceeding a thousand dollars,
now holds the controlling stock in the com-
panj', which is one of the most prosperous in
the town, and one of the best patronized.
ilr. Karnes married first Jane Johnson,
who died a few j^ears later, leaving two sons,
namely: J. W., manager of the John M.
Karnes Store Company; and James, a clerk
in the store. Mr. Karnes married for his sec-
ond wife Bertha Sando, and they are the par-
ents of two children, namely: John Senter
and George Patton. Mr. Karnes is public
spirited and takes an intelligent interest in
everything pertaining to local affairs. Fra-
ternally he is identified with the Ancient Free
and Accepted Order of ilasons.
Charles H. Mason. In the death of
.Charles H. Mason three years ago there
passed away from earth one of the most en-
tei-prising spirits that Maiden ever knew.
This marvelous man left the stamp of his abil-
ities on everything with which he was con-
nected— his business, the schools in which he
taught, and the various organizations which
he promoted — and, dying, others have been
able to carry on the different enterprises
which he so ably launched.
]Mr. ^lason was a native son of Illinois, his
birth having occurred in Hamilton county, on
the 4th day of January, 1861. His father.
John Mason, was bom at Hopkinsville, Ken-
HISTORY OF SOUTHEAST MISSOURI
1003
tueky, May 17, 1821, and was reared to ma-
turity and educated in his native town. On
the 29th day of July, 1847, John Mason was
united in marriage to Miss Mary A. Burton,
born October 27, 1832, at McLeansboro, Illi-
nois, and to this union seven boj'S and three
girls were born. About the year 1848 Jlr.
Mason moved to Calloway county. Missouri,
and took up his residence near Fulton ; after
remaining there for a short time he went to
Hamilton count.y, Illinois, which became his
permanent home. There he led a simple life ;
he neither served in the army nor dabbled in
politics, but busied himself with the conduct
of his every-day tasks, with the rearing of his
family, with his Masonic lodge meetings, and
with his church activities (he was a member
of the Christian church). He became a man
of note in the communitj% being both re-
spected and loved.
Charles Mason spent the first sixteen years
of his life in his native place, where he made
such ffood use of his educational opportuni-
ties that when he was only sixteen years of
aee, he was adjudged competent to teach, and
for the ensuing half dozen years he was con-
nected with the pedagogical profession, most
of which time he taught in St. Francis, Ar-
kansas. In 1888 he determined to abandon
his scholastic work and associate himself with
commerce. He entered the marble business
at Maiden ; two years later he located in Para-
gould, Arkansas, but his residence in that
town was of short duration; he returned to
Maiden, where he remained for the residue of
his days, conducting his business and identi-
fying himself with the prosperity of the town
of Maiden. He was ever on the alert to per-
form good and useful deeds for the improve-
ment of the rapicU.y growing to^vn and pei--
haps the most important act which is re-
corded to his honor, is the establishment of
the Park cemetery of jMalden, which today is
a beautiful memorial to Mr. Ma.son. He was
a prominent member of the Building and
Loan Association, and there was no citizen of
Maiden who did more for its advancement in
many directions. The hosts of friends who
still mourn his loss bear evidence to his lofty
character and varying capabilities.
On the 14th dav of July. 1897. ]Mr. Mason
was married to Miss Nellie Jo>Tier, one of the
eight children of IMatthew and Nancy (Par-
ker) Joyner of Saline county. Illinois, where
all the family were born and reared. The
date of Mrs. Charles Jlason's nativity was
December 19. 1869. No children were born
to the union of Mr. and Jlrs. Mason, but they
had an adopted daughter, Pearl, whom they
have always regarded as their very own by
ties of blood, as she has ever been by reason
of the care and devotion with which they en-
veloped her. Mr. Mason was too busy about
other matters to devote much time to polities ;
he was a Democrat, and did what he could
for his pai'ty, but any public matter received
a share of his attention, no matter whether a
Republican or Democrat was at its head. Mr.
Mason for years was a member of the Chris-
tian church, of which church Mrs. Mason is
also a member. In fraternal connection Islr.
Mason was afSliated with the Masonic order,
with the Knights of Pythias, the jMaccabees
and the Independent Order of Odd Fellows.
Mrs. Mason still resides in Maiden, amongst
the friends who love her because of her gra-
cious demeanor and her cordial, sympathetic
personality.
RoLLA Augustus Cole, of the mercantile
firm of Cole Brothers at Desloge, was born in
Jefferson county, Missouri, November 15,
1873. His father, Joshua Cole, was born in
Washington county, ilay 25, 1843, was reared
on a farm and educated in country schools,
and during the Civil war served as a soldier
of the Confederacy. He then returned to Mis-
souri and located on a farm in Jefferson
county, where he and his wife are still living.
He is a member of the Baptist church, and in
politics is a Democrat. Soon after the war he
married Miss Anne Long, daughter of Thomas
Long, a farmer of St. Francois county. They
were the parents of eight children: — Nancy
Jane, ]\Irs. A. S. Coaker ; John Miiton ; Bruce ;
RoUa A.; Emma Belle, Mrs. W. L. Johns;
Luther Joshua; Lewis Everett; and Newton
LeRoy.
During his boyhood on the farm 'Slv. R. A.
Cole attended country school and later had
one year in the Baptist college in Farmington.
He taught school in St. Francois county and
engaged in other occupations until 1903, when
he embarked in the merchandise business at
Rush Tower. He was a merchant at that
place four years and three years at Festus,
and in March. 1910, he and his brother Bruce
established the mercantile house of Cole
Brothers at Desloge. This is a large general
merchandise business, and the members of the
firm have acquired a reputation for commer-
cial integrity throughout this section of the
state.
^Ir. Cole is a Democrat in politics, belongs
1004
HISTORY OF SOUTHEAST MISSOURI
to the Methodist Episcopal church. South, and
is a member of the Masonic order and the
Knights of Pythias. He married, in Febru-
ary, 1898, Miss Laura Etta England, daugh-
ter of B. F. England, a farmer of Jetferson
county. They have one child, Franklin Au-
gustus.
C.VPTAIN John AV. RE^-ELLE. The Revelle
family is of French descent and Captain
Revelle 's father and grandfather were both
born in Pennsylvania. His mother, Susanna
Rowe Revelle, was a native of North Carolina,
her family being of German lineage. She was
married to John L. Revelle in Bollinger
county and they reared a family of seven chil-
dren. These were Joel T7., Henry "W., Levi
W., Lucinda, Katherine. James and John W.
John L. Revelle served as a justice of the
peace for many years during his life. He
died December 26. 1855, at the age of fifty-
seven yeai-s.
John W. Revelle was six and a half years
old when his father died, as he was born June
16, 1849. Deprived early of his father, and
still further straitened in resources by the
war, in which his brother James had enlisted,
he was obliged to go to work earlj' both to sup-
port himself and to help his mother. The
other brother was married and had his own
family to supply, so the burden fell upon
John. During the winters and between crop
seasons he managed to secure some education
and at eighteen began teaching in Bollinger
county.
After four years of work in the county Mr.
Revelle was elected superintendent of public
schools in 1872, when the school law provided
for super\'ision as now. He served two years
and in 1874 was elected clerk of the circuit
court, in which office he served three succes-
sive terms.
In 1886 :\Ir. Revelle entered the Charleston
Classical Academy in ilississippi county and
later attended the State Normal at Warrens-
burg and he spent three years in preparation
for the profession to which lie was called Jby
nature and training and added the '"Incident
of education to the accident of ability" for
that loftiest of vocations. From 1889 to 1892
Mr. R«vo11p held the position of principal of
the Lutesvillc schools and was then called to
the princii)nlship of the Benton schools in
Scott county. He remained here two years
and then left the profession for eight years
to engage in mercantile business in Lutesville.
In 190.3, at Bertrand, Mr. Revelle again
took up the school work, and served three
years in that place as principal. The next
two years he tilled the same post at Wyatt and
from 1907 to 1909 was at Anniston. After
two years at Van Dusen, Missouri, Mr.
Revelle accepted his present position as su-
perintendent of the Bismarck schools.
When a boy ilr. Revelle was for two years
a student at West Point and at the outbreak
of the Spanish-American war, he organized
company H of the Sixth Missouri and com-
manded this company during the war. He
accompanied his regiment to Tampa, Flor-
ida, after being in Jacksonville, but was
forced to resign on account of ill health. He
contracted malarial fever at Jefferson Bar-
racks and narrowly escaped dyinsr from the
effects of the disease. He served four months
in all, having entered the service June 2,
1898. The peace protocol was signed while
company H was preparing to leave for Cuba.
Later, in Cuba, the company saw active serv-
ice under another captain.
Mr. Revelle 's marriage occurred in 1873,
in September, when he was united to Miss
Mary Frances Arnold, of Ironton, Missouri.
They had seven children, who are all living.
Valee was born February 19, 1875. She
married L. L. Vandervoort, and they re-
side at Paragould, Arkansas. Charles Gil-
bert, two years younger, is now first assist-
ant to the attorney general of Missouri. Al-
bert Clarence, born January 2, IhbU, is a
physician in Los Angeles, California. J\Iary
Alice, born in 1883, lives in Georgetown,
Texas, the wife of Dr. W. J. Birchman.
Sarah Sue is unmarried and is a teacher in
the Poplar Bluff High School. Mildred Belle
married recently J\lr. B. 0. Wells, and they
reside at Lutesville, Missouri. John Arnold,
the youngest son, is a traveling salesman for
Swift & Company, of St. Louis, with head-
quarters at Paris, Kentucky.
Mrs. Revelle was born October 20, 1855,
in Greenville, Missouri. Her father was a
native of Indiana and her mother, Sarah
Moore Arnold, of Kentucky. Her maternal
grandmother lived to be one hundred and
five years old ; she was a Stevens, of the fam-
ily who fought in the Revolutionary war.
Mrs. Revelle 's maternal grandfather fought
in the Union army in the Civil war for three
j'ears.
Mr. Revelle owns a pleasant residence in
Lutesville, where both he and Mrs. Revelle
en.ioy a wide circle of friends. They are
members of the Missionary Baptist church
HISTOEY OF SOUTHEAST MISSOUEI
1005
at Marble Hill. Mr. Revelle has been a
uiember oi: the Jlasonie lodge for forty-four
years. His wife belongs to Chapter 106 of
the Eastern Star.
John R. Kelley was born in Decatur
county, Tennessee, in ISoS. There were few
chances for education in that region at that
time, subscription schools being the only in-
stitutions of learning, and they were short
in duration and sometimes short in instruc-
tions also. John R. Kelley was raised on a
farm on the Tennessee river until seventeen
years old. His father was engaged in the
cotton and stave business, also conducting a
general furnishing business, but in 1874 he
failed financially. Not being able to give
John R. a start in life, he set him free to
work out his own fortune. The son then left
Tennessee for Arkansas, and taught schools
m mathematics, and after a few months left
there for Texas, where he herded cattle and
worked in a general mercantile store, leaving
there in 1S78: he then went to Scotts Hill,
Henderson county, Tennessee, where his
father had moved and was in the hotel busi-
In February, 1879, Mr. J. R. Kelley mar-
ried Miss Carrie Dodds, who lived near ilif-
tiin, Henderson county, Tennessee, and in
that year he engaged in the corn and stave
business. Leaving that place, he moved to
near Mifflin. Tennessee, but after making
two crops left there, in January, 1882, for
Texas, where his first wife died, leaving him
with two bovs, William R., who was born in
1880, and Thomas F.. in 1881. Remaining
in Texas about one year, he brought his boys
back to Tennessee, in 1883, and there he en-
gaged in the saw mill business in ]\Iaury
county. He had no capital, but he gradually
increased his business. In 1885 he married
Rilda A. Raspburry at Forty Eight. Wayne
county. Tennessee, and the four children of
this marriage are all at home, namely: Max
L., born in 1886; Albert A., in 1'888 : Fred,
in 1893. and the daughter. Johnnie J., born
in 1891.
The lumber business proved profitable to
Mr. Kelley. and he continued saw-milling in
Maury. Wayne. Perry and Hardin counties :
he continued to prosper until the panic of
1893, and in that he lost all of what he
had accumulated in the preceding years.
After this Mr. Kelley worked for a salary
until the panic of 1907. At that time he was
handling a lumber business in Oklahoma.
For two years he superintended a mill at
Tamaha, Oklahoma, cutting two million feet
of very profitable lumber, and at the time the
panic struck he had from twelve thousand
to fifteen thousand acres of fine timber and
two saw mills in operation on Red River.
He sent in his resignation at once when the
panic came. Mr. Kelley bought eighty acres
of what now constitutes the town of Steele,
ilissouri. and the timber on that tract he
traded for an eighty acre tract adjoining.
This first eighty he bought from Dennis
Green, now a resident of Caruthersville,
Missouri, for two mules, a wagon and harness
and seventy dollars. Jlr. Kelley happened
to meet Mr. Green when the latter needed a
team and the former had one to spare. ]\Ir.
Kelley has made his home at Steele since
1903, with the exception of the space of two
years he was in Oklahoma. In 1910 he built
the best building in Steele, a two-story brick
structure fifty-one by eight.y-two feet, the
first floor containing a general store and a
two dollar a day hotel is on the second floor.
Henry F. Bollinger. The name Bol-
linger is familiar not only to every resident
in the county of that name, but is known
all through Missouri on account of the dis-
tinguished family of which Mr. Bollinger is
an honored member. Dating from the j'ear
1796, at least one Bollinger has participated
in Missouri's development, both agricultural
and commercial. A man who knows nothing
of his ancestors, even his parents, has only
his own ideals to live up to, but he who has
not only to satisfy himself, but to attain to
the standards set forth by his forefathers,
has a harder task before him. If ]Mr. Bol-
linger's long line of ancestors could be
ranged before him they would find no rea-
son to condemn him. His whole life is an
open book — a ledger, perhaps, kept in the
best bookkeeping hand and always ready for
inspection.
Like many of his forefathers, Henry F.
Bollinger is a farmer. He was born Septem-
ber 3. 1870, on the farm which was entered
by his great-grandfather, Philip Bollinger,
and received by him as a Spanish grant in
1800. The founder of the Bollinger family
in America was Henry, who had a brother,
David, a native of Switzerland, who was de-
sirous of seeking his fortunes in America.
Bidding farewell to his beloved moimtain
home, he embarked in a sailing vessel at Rot-
terdam, crossed the Atlantic and landed at
1006
HISTORY OF SOUTHEAST MISSOURI
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. September 5,
1738. Alter carefully considering which
commonwealth he should select as the scene
of his activities he tinally decided on North
Carolina. According to the records, he en-
tered land in Lincoln county, that state, and
subseciuently became one of the largest landed
proprietors and slave owners of his day. He
had nine children: George, Henry B., Dan-
iel, Joseph. Abraham. Elizabeth. Sophia,
Susannah and ilagdalcna, and on the death
of the father a will was found (a copy of
which is in the possession of the subject of
this biography) giving the bulk of his im-
mense estate to his oldest son, George, and
the remainder was to be divided between the
eight children — a disposition of property
which was in accordance with the old country
ideas.
Henry B. Bollinger, the second son of the
family and the direct ancestor of Henry F.,
served seven years in the Continental Army
in the Revolutionary war. and the records
show^ that on May 10, 1789, he entered a
tract of land in Lincoln county, North Caro-
lina— probably a Revolutionary gi-ant. He
had ten children: ilathew, John, Henry,
George F.. Philip. David, Abraham, Peter.
Solomon and Davault.
George F. Bollinger, the fourth son in or-
der of birth and whose nativity occurred in
1770. distinguished himself in the army, ris-
ing to the rank of major. In n§6 Major
George Bollinger came from North Carolina
to ilissouri, at that time a part of the Louis-
iana territory, and on account of favorable
land offers received from the military com-
mander in chai-ge of North Louisiana he re-
turned to North Carolina and brought back
twenty families, among the party being his
six brothers. ]\lathew. Daniel. John. Henry.
William and Philip. These settlers belonged
to the German Reformed church, and their
fii-st pastor C180.5) was the Rev. Samuel Wei-
burg, who changed his name to Wybark.
Major Bollinger was in receipt of many hon-
ors from the people of the new county
formed (Cape Girardeau) and filled impor-
tant offices in the interest of the people. He
was elected to represent the Cape Girardeau
District in the First Territorial Assembly.
Served several terms in the State Senate, and
in lS3f) was presidential elector on Jackson's
ticket. He died in 1842. and Bollinger
conntv was organized nine years later. 18.51.
Bollinger county was named in his honor,
and Fredericktown was also named for him.
He was the founder of the Burford's Mill at
Burfordville, Cape Girardeau count}-, Mis-
souri.
Philip, born in 1775 and died in 1855, was
the second son of Henry B. Bollinger. He
received a Spanish grant of six hundred and
forty acres on Little Whitewater Creek, lo-
cated his family there and erected a cabin
thereon, in the year 1800. This cabin is
standing today, and is reputed to be the old-
est building in Bollinger county. It is still
habitable and in a fair state of preservation,
located near the present residence of Henry
F. Bollinger. Philip reared a family of eight
children, and to them he made a will, dated
the 12th day of May. 1811. The children
were: Daniel, David, Polly. Katharine, Eliz-
abeth, Henry. Frederick and George F. The
son Henry, the sixth born, died in 1867. He
had married Barbara Wliitner, daughter of
Henry Whitner. and to them six children
were born: Henry; Philip, who married
Elizabeth Seabatigh ; Betsie, the wife of
George James : Katie, wife of Henry May-
field ; Sallie. wife of Frederick Bollinger ;
and Pollie. wife of Jesse Seabaugh.
The ancestry is thus traced to Henry Bol-
linger, father of Henry F. He married his
cousin Sallie. one of the six children of Dan-
iel Bollinger, and the names of her brothers
and sisters are: David, Polly, Betsy. Eliza
and Katie. Five children were born to this
marriage : David, who was born July 10,
1851. and married Sarah Bollinger, daughter
cf John Bollinger ; Daniel F. ; Pollv, born
July 29. 1856, died December 20. 1870;
Katherine, born Jtily 16. 1866, died Septem-
ber 30, 1874; and Henry P. Henry Bollin-
ger was the owner of four hundred and
eighty-two acres of land in the original Span-
ish grant tract, while his wife owned two
hitndred and fifty acres in another tract, the
gift of her father. Daniel. Henry Bollinger
was born April 8. 1823, and his death oc-
curred April 6. 1899, and his wife, born Sep-
tember 26, 1826. was summoned to her last
rest but a .short half-hour after the death of
her husband, and was laid to rest in the same
grave in Patton cemetery.
Henry F. Bollinger, residing at Patton.
]\nssouri, obtained his education in the public
schools, also attending the Cape Girardeau
Normal for one year. In i\larch. 1898. he
embarked in the mercantile business at Pat-
ton with his brother Daniel and B. S. Robin-
son, and in 1901 the two brothers bought the
interest of IMr. Robinson and continued the
HISTORY OF SOUTHEAST MISSOURI
business until the death of Daniel Bollinger,
which occurred. February 1, 1902. Alter this
sad event Henry F. determined to make the
pursuit of agriculture his life work, almost
as a matter of course, for as a boy and youth
he had assisted in conducting his lather's
farm and had learned the methods of work-
ing the land. After his father's death he re-
ceived two hundred and forty-six acres as
his share of the property, and of this one
hundred and twenty-five acres are under
cultivation, the remainder being timber laud.
He does not do much general farming, but
raises considerable stock, owning at the pres-
ent time thirty-nine cattle, thirty hogs, twen-
ty-eight sheep and ten horses and mules.
On the 10th of January, 1900, ilr. Bollin-
ger was married to Miss Ellen S. Grindstaff,
a daughter of Peter W. Grindstaff and Mary
A. (Mayfield) Grindstaff, natives of Bollin-
ger county, the mother born Augiist 18, 1867.
The father died July 8, 1901, aged fifty-six
years, leaving six children: Hannah A., who
married J. F. Ellis; George A., who married
Shaby Johnson ; John H., who married Effa
Nugent : Mary A., who married Kirby Smith :
Ellen S., who married H. F. Bollinger, and
Hezekiah il., who married Rosa Reagan. Mrs.
Bollinger's paternal grandparents were
David and Mary (Masters) Grindstaff and
her maternal grandparents were George W.
Mayfield and Polly (Cheek) J\Iayfield. Ellen,
wife of Henry F. Bollinger, was born on the
10th day of January, 1875. She is now the
mother of two children, Henry P., born July
1, 1902, and Mary S., whose birth occurred on
the 31st of ilay, 1906. The son is the sev-
enth to bear the name of Henry, dating from
the Swiss founder of the American branch of
the family, and in each generation since that
time there has been found at least one Henry
Bollinger. David, the eldest brotlier oi;
Henry F.. has three children: Amanda, who
married Frank Schenimann: Poll.v C. the
wife of B. S. Robinson : and David, who mar-
ried Edith Seabangh and has two children,
John H. and Grace. The second brother,
Daniel F., who was born January 8, 1862,
married Lenora Knowles. and has two chil-
dren, Elvie 0., born July 27, 1892; and
Rettie G., who was born July 26, 1897.
Henry F. Bollinger, who is the only one
of his family now living, is a member of the
Royal Americans, and his religious connec-
tion is with the ^Methodist Episconal church.
South. His wife holds membershin in the
National Life Association. ]\rr. Bollineer,
wlule never taking much active part in poli-
tics, has ever rendered unwavering allegiance
to the Democratic party.
John B. Deerup. The one characteristic
which has done more than anything else to
make of the United States the leading manu-
facturing country that it now is is enterprise,
and a man who possesses this characteristic
to a remarkable extent is Mr. Drerup, ct the
United States Cooperage and Handle Com-
pany, and of the Portageville Stave Com-
pany. By enterprise is meant the ability to
liustle, to make things go, to bring things to
pass that a less capable man would deem im-
possible.
Mr. Drerup was born in Glandorf, Ohio,
September 18, 1866, and is a son of John H.
and Therese (Mersman) Drerup. The father
was born in the kingdom of Prussia in 1833
and when a babe of one year he came to the
United States with his parents, who took up
their residence on a farm in Ohio, and there
John H. Drerup was reared to maturity and
engaged in farming at Glandorf, Ohio. On
June 25, 1864, he married iMiss Therese Mers-
man, a native of Glandorf, Ohio, where her
birth occurred on the 25th day of September,
1848. Eight children were born to this union,
— John B., of this review; Henry J., who
married Phil.y Leopold and resides in Castro
county, Texas ; Frank H., the husband of
ilary Lammers, living near Heni-y J. in
Texas; Anna, Mrs. W. J. Rieman, residing
at Deerfield, Michigan ; August, married to
Jlary Fortman and residing at Ottawa, Ohio ;
Lucy, who died six months after her marriage
to Ignatius Fortman; Edward H., mar-
ried June 28, 1911, to Adelaide Stechschulte
of Glandorf, Ohio, where the couple reside;
and Fred, who is single and lives at Glandorf,
Ohio. The father, John H. Drerup, died on
the farm where he had spent so many years of
his life, March 21, 1906, and his widow still
lives at the old homestead.
John B. Drerup spent the first twenty-two
years of his existence on his father's farm at
Glandorf, Ohio, attended the district school
in his neighborhood and later assisted his
father with the farm work. In the .vear 1889
he purchased a farm at Ottawa, Ohio, where
he resided, engaged in agricultural pi;rsuits,
until the year 1903. At that period he de-
termined to make a change of occupation and
he entered the stave business. For a time
he was located in ^Michigan, and in 1907 he
came to ]\Ialden, Missouri, and bought out a
1008
HISTORY OF SOUTHEAST MISSOURI
large interest in the United States Cooperage
and Handle Company, whose headquarters
are in Maiden, with another branch at Jack-
souport, Arkansas. This corporation is un-
doubtedly the most fully equipped of any
similar enterprise in Southeastern Missouri;
it makes shipments to all parts of the coun-
try and even to foreign countries, ilr.
Drerup, in his connection with this impor-
tant concern, is becoming prominent among
the cooperage manufacturers of the state of
Missouri. With ^Ir. Turner, president of
the T'uited States Cooperage and Handle Co.,
Mr. Drerup has started a mill at Portage-
ville, Missouri, and this city has been his
home since the 15th of October, 1911, al-
though he still retains his interest in the
other mills. The enterprise hero is known as
the Portageville Stave Company.
On the 13th day of June, 1889, Mr. Drerup
married Miss Minnie M. Hermeler, daughter
of Bernard and Dinah (Abeler) Hermeler,
of Ottawa, Ohio. Immediately after the
wedding Mr. and Mrs. Drerup went to Ot-
tawa, Ohio, where the husband managed his
farm, as mentioned above. Five children
were born to Mr. and ilrs. Drerup. as fol-
lows: Magdalene, born October 12. 1890, at
Glandorf, Ohio, now married to JMerrill
Stokes, a resident of ilalden; Herbert H.,
Albert (deceased), Alpheus and Arthur.
]\Ir. and Mrs. Drerup are Catholics and their
children are all baptized into the same faith.
Jlr. Drerup, though interested in all mat-
ters of public improvement, does not take
any active part in politics, and contents him-
self with voting the straight Republican
ticket. Although not actively engaged in
farming, he still owns farm and ; he has one
hundred and thirty acres at Maiden and also
has a one-third interest in a nine hundred
acre tract at Townley, both of which proper-
ties are being improved.
William Lat.yte Gossage, M. D. The
early life and experience of Dr. William L.
Gossage presents to the world the record of a
man who has surmounted all obstacles of
whatever nature in reaching the goal of his
ambition. Handcapped in his youth by try-
ing conditions, his education was neglected
until in years of early manhood he deter-
mined to continue his studies where he had
been compelled to leave ofE in his boyhood,
and thus at the age of thirty-three he entered
upon his niedir-al studies, at a time when the
average young man is well established in his
profession. Nothing daunted, Dr.
has been able, through the application of the
compelling forces of his nature which domi-
nated his earlier years, to reach that place
in his profession which is the fitting reward
of his arduous laboi'S.
Born in Golconda, Illinois, on March 28,
1867, William Lafate Gossage is the son of
William Dearl Gossage and his wife, Mary
Minerva Dixon. The family is one of good
old Irish origin, the name of Gossage being
an ancient and honored one in Ireland. The
founder of the family in America was Hamp-
ton J. Gossage. He emigrated from Ireland
near the close of the eighteenth century,
and settled in a little village in Virginia,
where he carried on farming as an occupation
and means of livelihood. He was a man of
not more than ordinary education, and like
all the Gossages was of the Baptist faith. His
wife was an English woman, of whom it is
impossible to give further details, her family
record having been destroyed through some
unfortunate occurrence. George Washington
Gossage. the son of Hampton Gossage, moved
to Bedford county, Tennessee, in the year
1840. but he left that state in the summer of
the secession and moved to Pope county, Illi-
nois. While a slave-holder himself, Mr.
Gossage was strongly averse to the plan of se-
cession, and would not remain in the south-
ern states. In Pope county he entered one
hundred and sixty acres of land and there he
conducted a prosperous and thriving farm
until his death, which occurred at the age of
eightj'-four. He was a member of the Baptist
church throughout his life time. He was the
father of William Dearl Gossage, the father
of Dr. Gossage of this sketch.
William Dearl Gossage was born in Bed-
ford county, Tennessee, in 1842. After mov-
ing to Illinois with his father's family he
taught school for several terms and then set-
tled on what is still known as the old Gossage
farm in Pope county, Illinois. He was of
the Baptist faith and in politics an old Jef-
fersonian Democrat. He married Mary Mi-
nerva Dixon, the daughter of Thomas Dixon,
a prominent slave-holder of Helena, Arkan-
sas, near whei-e he operated a large planta-
tion.
William Lafate Gossage was the eldest son
of his parents, and his help was required to
carry on the work of the farm. Thus it was
that his early education was neglected to a
deplorable extent. When he was twenty-five
years of age he began attending school again.
A. nJuoL^ )^^a
HISTORY OF SOUTHEAST MISSOURI
though not very regularly, and at the age of
thirty-three graduated from the common
branches of study and obtaining a county
certineate. He was not content to stop there,
however, and he accordingly entered the St.
Louis College of Phj'sicians and Surgeons,
from which institution he was graduated in
1905, and immediately began the practice of
his profession at Fairdealing, Ripley county,
Missouri. During his residence in Fairdeal-
ing Dr. Gossage was busy along other lines
than that of his profession. He was mainly
instrumental in making possible the erection
of a Baptist church building, and also helped
to organize a telephone exchange in the town
and was president of the company for four
years. He made several abortive attempts to
effect a consolidation of the three rural school
districts surrounding Fairdealing and to es-
tablish there a Central High School, but his
efforts each time were defeated. This con-
tributed one of the main causes for the re-
moval of Dr. Gossage from Fairdealing to
his present location, Kennett, Missouri, it be-
ing his earnest desire to give his growing
family the advantages of a high school edu-
cation, which had been denied him in his
youth. The Doctor is a member of the ilis-
sionary Baptist church, holding fast to the
family faith in his religious tendencies, and
in political, too, as he is a Democrat. He is
a man of generous and kindly instincts, and
one of the forms which his benevolences takes
is the giving of medical aid to the worthy
poor who are unable to make any return for
the service. Dr. Gossage is a member of the
Missouri State Medical Society and of the
Masonic order.
On April 28. 1889. took place the marriage
of Dr. Gossage and Vesta Isabelle Duncan,
of Eddyville. Illinois. She is a daughter of
Francis Marion and Sarah Jane (Robbs)
Duncan. The father is a prosperous farmer,
now retired. He is a veteran of the Civil
war, and saw much active service ; he was
captured several times by the Rebels, biit
managed to escape each time. Dr. and Mrs.
Gossage are the parents of six daughters:
Alola "Myrtle, bom April 25. 1890, near Ed-
dyville, Illinois; Iva Belle, born July 26.
1891; Sarah Emma, born November 2. 1892;
Mellie Vearl, born June 16, 1895, at Harts-
ville, Illinois ; Gertie Fav. born April 4. 1899.
near Edd^'^ille ; Vera Gladys, born December
24. 1903, at Fairdealing. IMissouri. The two
eldest daughters are married. 3\Iyrtle being
the wife of James Edward Wilson, of Ken-
nett, Missouri, and Iva married to Jesse Earl
Husband, also a resident of Kennett.
Alfred Thomas Chatham, M. D. A pro-
fessional man, and above all a physician, may
always be looked upon as making more or
less of a sacrifice of himself to aid humanity
and the cause of science. He receives less
monetary return for his work than a business
man, and yet as a general rule he has ex-
pended much more time and money in prepa-
ration for his career than has the business
man. The physician who looks upon his pro-
fession as merely a means of livelihood is an
utter failure, but Dr. Chatham has ever held
a high idea of the loftiness of his calling.
The birth of Dr. Chatham occurred on the
26th day of jMarch, 18-48. in fiercer county,
KentuckJ^ He is the son of Elijah Gates and
Elizabeth (Board) Chatham; the father was
born in Boyle county, Kentucky, March 18,
1822, and died in Mercer county, Kentucky,
August 2. 1852. The mother, who was a na-
tive of Mercer county, Kentuck>% was born
April 2, 1822, on the farm where her husband
died; her demise occurred May 14, 1903, in
Mercer county, fifty years after her husband
was summoned to the life eternal. Their
marriage had taken place in 1844. in ]\lercer
county, and they became the parents of five
children ; James, who died in infancy ; Al-
fred T.. the subject of this sketch ; Maitie E.,
who married J. Tewniev and died April 2,
1893; David B.. born November 12. 1850;
Nannie, bom Januarv 3, 1853, and died May
17. 1900. the wife of George R. Nichols. Eli-
jah J. Chatham was a farmer all of his life —
his whole attention being devoted to the man-
agement of his land, while his wife, likewise
interested in her farm duties, was also de-
voted to her church work, her membership
being with the Cumberland Presbyterians.
Alfred Thomas Chatham spent the first few
years of his life on his father's farm, and his
educational training was received in a school
at Pen-vville, Bovle county, Kentucln^; the
Rev. William B. Godby. a famous Methodist
evangelist, was the principal of this school,
and under the tutorship of that divine, the
doctor received a good, general education. In
1862. youne as he was. Dr. Chatham enlisted
in the Sixth Kentuckv Cavalry' Resriment.
Company G; Captain William Campbell was
in charge of the company and the the resrf-
ment was under Morgan's command. Dr.
Chatham served until the close of the Civil
war, and although he saw much active service
1010
HISTORY OF SOUTHEAST MISSOURI
and participated in many hard-fought battles,
he was neither captured nor wouuded. Re-
turning to the life of a civilian, Dr. Chatham
decided to study medicine ; for a time he read
and studied alone, then entered the medical
school at Evansville, Indiana, and was grad-
uated from that institution in 1884. He forth-
with commenced his life as a practitioner in
Davies county, Kentucky, and remained there
four years ; in the spring of 1888 he came to
Caruth, Missouri, and iu March, 1889, he
removed to Clarkton, this state, where he has
since remained in practice. He has been in
Clarkton longer than any other physician and
is regarded as one of the ablest medical men
in the county. He is authorized to practice
in the states of Kentucky, Missouri and Illi-
nois, and also has a certificate from the Mis-
souri State Board of Pharmacy. Not content
with merely being a first class practitioner.
Dr. Chatham has added his quota to the med-
ical world of science ; he, in collaboration with
Dr. A. M. Nicks, wrote a book entitled the
"Practice of Medicine," a book containing
the results of his own pereonal experiences as
well as much information gathered from some
of his professional brethren ; the book is a
very valuable one and is well worthy of the
recognition it has received in the medical
world.
On the 1st day of November, 1866, Dr.
Chatham, on his return from the army, was
married to iliss Lydia Crabtree, daughter of
Isaac and Sarah (Lamb) Crabtree. Mrs. Al-
fred Thomas Chatham was bom October 23,
1841, near Owensboro. Kentucky, and died
February 28, 1907, at Clarkton. " She became
the mother of eight children, all born in Da-
vies county, Kentucky. Lula, the eldest of
tlie family, was born February 26, 1868, mar-
ried Da\id Ingram and now resides at Rec-
tor. Arkansas ; David B. was born on the 7th
of July, 1869, married Ida B. Crabtree and
lives in Clarkton; Sallie's birth occurred on
Christmas day. 1871 : she married John Bray
and died June 26, 1898 ; Ilee, born September
28, 1873, has been twice married; his first
wife was Ibie Taylor and his second wife
i\Iary Ellen Young ; he resides in Clarkton ;
Walter P. 's birth took place October 25, 1874 ;
he married Nellie Smith and they are living
at Kennctt ; IMattie, the wife of W. B. Greg-
son, was born December 15, 1877, and now
lives near Gibson ; Maude L., born December
2, 1879. lives in Clarkton with her husband,
W. T. Dunscomb; Lizzie G, born November
15, 1882, is the wile of Sam Dunscomb of
Clarkton.
Dr. Chatham married for his second wife,
Miss Mary B. Davis of Boyle county, Ken-
tucky, a daughter of John A. and Ellen M.
(Raney) Davis.
Dr. Chatham, devoted though he has al-
ways been to his profession, has also been in-
terested iu civic affairs. He is a stanch
Democrat, as was his father before him, and
in recognition of his abilities as an executive
of high order, his fellow citizens have at dif-
ferent times persuaded him to hold various
offices. For two years he was the coroner;
for a short time he acted as sheriff and he has
also held the responsible position of mayor of
Clarkton. He is president of the Farmers'
Bank of Clarkton — one of its largest stock-
holders. He is affiliated with the Independ-
ent Order of Odd Fellows, and although not
himself the member of any church, he was
entirely in sympathy with his wife's religious
views as a member of the Baptist church. Dr.
Chatham is too broad-minded a man to
have any hobby; he is interested in so many
and such A\idely-differing subjects, that he is
prevented from becoming narrow. The gath-
ering together of interesting relics, RUfth as
the Doctor has made, in a man of less broad
sympathies would be regarded as a hobby, but
in the case of the Doctor, his collection, ex-
tensive as it is, is just one of many interests.
Joseph A. Renick. Dunklin county, Mis-
souri, is one of the rich agricultural districts
of aiissouri. It has been and is signally fa-
vored in the class of men who have contrib-
uted to its development along commercial
and agricultural lines, and in the latter con-
nection the subject of this review demands
recognition, as he has been actively engaged
in farming operations during practically his
entire active career thus far. He is a pros-
perous and enterprising agriculturist, who is
honored and esteemed throughout the county
for his sterling integrity and worth.
On the 14th of September, 1872, on a farm
four miles southwest of I\Ialden, Missouri, oc-
curred the birth of Joseph Avery Reniek,
who is a son of John W. and Susan (Basin-
ger) Reniek, both of whom are deceased.
The father was summoned to the life eternal
in the year 1888, and the mother passed away
in 1899. Mr. and IMrs. John "W. Reniek be-
came the parents of children concerning
whom the following record is here inserted:
HISTORY OF SOUTHEAST MISSOURI
1011
ilary wedded J. il. Blackburn, a farmer near
Alalaen, aud they have live children, David,
Joseph, Rosy, Lucy and William; Nancy was
the wite of John Douglass at the time of her
demise, in November, 1897, and their two
sons, Marvin and Grover, reside at Clarkton;
Cora B. married Lawrence Mills, a farmer
near Maiden, and she died in 1909. The
three children born to this union are Agnes,
Edgar and J. R. John W. wedded Maggie
Campbell, and they reside four miles north-
west of Maiden. Their four children are
Slartin, Julie, Ruth and ^Martha. Gussie died
at the age of five years. Joseph married
Molly Mills, and they reside near Maiden.
Their children are : Geoffrey, who died at the
age of two years, and Avery A. is a child of
seven years of age and is now attending
school at Craig, Missouri. Joseph A. is the
immediate subject of this sketch.
Joseph Avery Renick was reared to adult
age on the old homestead farm in Dunklin
county and he received a good common school
education in his youth. Subsequently he at-
tended school at Maiden, under Professoi"
Buck, and for two years he was a student in
the State Normal School at Cape Girardeau.
For. seventeen years he was devoted to the
pedagogic profession, teaching for eight years
in Craig settlement and for six years in
Tompkins district near the St. Francois river.
In 1900 he decided to engage in farming op-
erations on his portion of the old parental
estate. Later he bought up the shares of one
brother and two sisters, this making in all
one hundred and twenty acres. In 1903 he
purchased eighty acres of heavily wooded
laud from the Chateau Land and Lumber
Company, and in 1910 he bought forty acres
from Sant Davis. He now has two hundred
and forty acres, of which all but twenty acres
are under cultivation. He expects to add an-
other forty acres to his estate some time in
the near future. Cotton, corn and hay con-
stitute his chief crops, and in addition to gen-
eral farming he devotes considerable time to
the raising of cattle, hogs and mules, having
made a splendid success of stock growing.
FTe has a beautiful orchard of apple and plum
trees. His fine farm buildings located in the
midst of well cultivated fields, are splendid
indications of the thrift and industry of the
practical owner. In connection with the
management of bis farm, Mr. Renick employs
one farm hand all the year round and part
of the time he has work for as many as three
extra men.
In fraternal channels Mr. Renick is affil-
iated with the Maiden Lodge of the Inue-
pendent Order of Odd Feuows; and he is
also a valued and appreciative member of
the Protective League of xUaiaen. In politics
He is an uncompromising supporter oi the
principles and policies tor wiiicii the Repub-
lican party stands sponsor and he is an active
factor in the local council of that organiza-
tion. In their religious faith he and his wife
are devout members of the Methodist Prot-
estant church at Craig settlement, and they
are prominent aud popular factors in connec-
tion with the best social activities of their
home community. Mr. Renick is recognized
as one of the most enterprising citizens of
Dunklin county, where his fine farm repre-
sents one of the most beautiful estates in this
part of Missouri.
Reuben S. Chapman. Since 1874 Dunklin
county, Missouri, has been the home of Reu-
ben S. Chapman, and during the most of that
time the community has recognized in him
one of its most useful, estimable and progres-
sive citizens, his particular field of endeavor
being agriculture and in former years, the
supervision of farms. He is now and has
been since August 16, 1910, when he gave the
more active management of his affairs into
younger hands, living retired at his beautiful
home at Senath, where now in leisure he cul-
tivates those finer pursuits from which his
former busy^ life partially withheld him. He
is a man of excellent civic ideals and very
loyal to the section in which his home has
been maintained for nearly forty years.
Reuben S. Chapman is the scion of a
Soutliern family, his birth having occurred
at Montgomery, Alabama, February 3, 1836,
the son of Solomon and Feriba (Ferguson)
Chapman. The father was born in South
Carolina in 1800, and died at Hickman, Ken-
tucky, on May 22, 1842. He was married in
Georgia and passed his life in several south-
ern states, first residing in Alabama, going
thence to Mississippi, then to Kentucky and
dying while en route to Missouri, at Hick-
man, Kentucky. He was an extensive farmer
and slave-owner and died when the South
little foresaw the changes which were to come
in its fortunes. The mother, whose maiden
name was Feriba Ferguson, was born near
Savannah, Georgia, and survived her husband
for many years, her demise occurring in 1873,
at Hickman, Kentuck^^ She was a member
of the ^lethodist Episcopal church. Her
HISTORY OP SOUTHEAST MISSOURI
lather was a planter, his country home hav-
ing been in tlie vicinity ol: Savannah. Reu-
ben S. was one of a family oi seven children,
tour of whom were sous and three daugh-
ters, and of the number he is the only sur-
vivor. The following is an enumeration of
his brothers and sisters, now ail passed to the
Great Beyoud. David \V. lived and died in
Kentucky, where he followed the vocations
of a carpenter and mechanic ; Turner G., who
died in 1S58, near Maiden, Duuklin county,
Missouri, was for many years a bookkeeper,
but eventuallj- went into business for himself
and also engaged in farming; Irene E. mar-
ried Alec ferry and lived and died at Hick-
man, Kentucky : Artemesia married David T.
Riley and passed away at Hickman, her hus-
band's death occurring in Louisiana; Emily
V. died single at Hickman, Kentucky, in
1S53, her death being caused by cholera;
Fetuah Ann died unmarried in 1873, while
living at Hickman.
Reuben S. Chapman was partly reared at
Hickman, but passed his youth in several
states of the Union, due to his father's nu-
merous changes of residence in those days.
It was early incumbent upon him to make his
own living, and his first occupation was in a
diy-goods store, subsequent to which he took
up" carpentry and was thus engaged until the
outbreak of "the Civil war. A Southerner by
birth and parentage and holding the institu-
tions of the South in warm affection, it was
but consistent that he should enlist in the
Confederate army, and this he did, becom-
ing a private under Captain (later General)
Forrest, and serving throughout the entire
struggle, from the spring of 1861, to his pa-
role on May 10, 1865, at Gainesville, Ala-
bama. At the end of the war he returned to
Hickman, Kentucky, and there engaged in
contracting and building until his arrival at
Cotton Plant, Dunklin county, ^Missouri, in
October, 1874. He at once entered with a
zest into the many-sided life of the commu-
nity and became a force in its affairs. Among
his first contracts upon comin? here was a
church building with a Masonic hall on the
second floor.
^Ir. Chapman married after coining to
Dunklin county, on December 24. 1876, his
chosen lady being ]Miss Ellen Parker. She
was a native of the countv. born April 22.
IR.'iS. and the daughter of Enos and Sallie
CHorner') Parker, who came to IMissouri in
183.5 from Henderson county, Tennessee
Her grandfather. Russell Homer, was the
second representative sent from Dunklin
county to lue lUissoui-i state legislature, and
it was in his honor that Hornersviile was
named, in 1835, when he was residing there,
tuere were not to exceed a half dozen white
families in Dunklin county, and there still
remained many Indians, who not so long be-
fore had claimed it as their own hunting
ground. Mrs. Chapman's father was a farmer.
He was captured during a guerrilla raid at
tue time oi tne Civii war and died while still
imprisoned, bhe was one of nine children
anu IS the only member of the family living,
with the exception of a half-sister, pi'obably
now resident in Texas. To Mr. and Mrs.
Cliapmau were born six children, of whom
two sons survive. Alvin is a coal dealer at
Senath and Elbert is a teacher in the schools
of Dunklin county. All the others died in
infancy with the exception of Nevin, who
was six years of age when summoned by the
Grim Reaper.
After his marriage Mr. Chapman engaged
in farming for three or four years near Cot-
ton Plant and then entered the employ of
Edmoud J. Langdon, assuming general su-
pervision of his extensive landed interests in
Dunklin county, and for twentj'-two years he
remained associated with him, managing Mr.
Langdon 's affairs with signal success. Mr.
Langdon was at that time by far the largest
land-owner and operator in Duuklin county.
He died in 1892, at Arcadia, Iron county,
Missouri. Subsequent to that lamented
event Mr. Chapman resumed farming on his
own account near Cotton Plant, buying a
farm and there residing until his sale of the
property on August 16, 1910. He thereupon
purchased his present fine and advanta-
geously situated home near Senath, where he
now resides, secure in the esteem of his neigh-
bors and associates. Politically he is a loyal
Democrat, and he has played his part in pub-
lic life, having served as magistrate and no-
tary public at Cotton Plant for many years.
No one has been more interested in public
events in this section of Southern Missouri
in the last four decades than this gentleman
of worthy citzenship.
AL^^N Chapman. A man of scholarly at-
tainments, Alvin Chapman long held a prom-
inent place in the educational field of
Dunklin county. He was born at Cotton
Plant in this county, February 27, 1882, and
was educated in the county's public schools
and in the State Normal School at Cape
HISTORY OF SOUTHEAST MISSOURI
1013
Girardeau, Missouri. Following the comple-
tion of this training he taught in the schools
of Dunklin county for live years, and during
the last two years of that period he served
as the suijerintendent of the Senath High
School. Possessing thorough knowledge of
advanced methods of teaching and being an
enthusiastic believer in education for the
people, he brought the school with which he
was identified to a high grade of excellence.
He served one term as county commissioner
of schools and one term as county superin-
tendent of the schools of Dunklin county.
"While filling the last named position, as su-
perintendent of the schools of Dunklin
county, Mr. Chapman conducted the first
County High School Meet and Declamatory
Contest ever held in the state, and to him also
belongs the distinction of introducing the
county graduation exercises at the county
seat of Dunklin county, which proved of
greater efficiency in bringing the country
schools into notice than any other act before
accomplished by the educators of the county.
Under Mr. Chapman's administration as su-
perintendent the standard of certification of
teachers was raised until the schools were
supplied with well qualified teachers and the
price of teachers' wages was increased over
five dollars a month, and the attendance was
increased over twenty-three per cent and four
new districts organized. He had the distinc-
tion of being the first county superintendent
elected under the new law, and he served
with such marked ability in that position that
he was re-elected to the same office in 1909.
ilr. Chapman resigned the county superin-
tendency to accept a position wth the High-
fill Mercantile Company, of Senath, in which
he rose to the treasurership and continued in
the office until August, 1911. In October of
that year he purchased the coal, ice and feed
business of George W. Crone, at Senath,
which he is now conducting in association
with S. C. Hooper. In the fall of 1912. he
was elected a director of the Citizens Bank of
Senath, ilissouri. Although one of the ris-
ing young business men of Senath. ilr. Chap-
man is best known, perhaps, as an educator
and scholar.
Will ]\I. Runels is one of the successfiil
farmers of Bollinger county. The man who
has devoted his life to one occupation may
.iustly be regarded as somewhat of an author-
ity on all matters pertaining to that calling,
and Mr. Runels stands in jiist that relation
in regard to farming — the primal need of the
human race. He is a man of energy, pos-
sessed of a progressive spirit, and his ettorts
have been crowned with success.
The birth of Mv. Runels occurred August
4, 1873, in Bollinger county. He received
his education in a district school and after
terminating his schooling he commenced to
work out on the farms of his neighbors, con-
tinuing as a field hand until he was thirty
years old. He then rented a farm, moved on
to it and for three years he cultivated this
rented land. In 1896 he bought eighty acres
of good land near his present residence, and
for the ensuing nine years he did his best to
bring the already fertile land into a state of
high cultivation. In 1905 he rented the place
which is his home today, and two years later
he bought the same, which then included one
hundred and thirteen acres. He has added
to this purchase during the past six years and
now is the owner of over three hundred acres
of land, himself farming over two hundred
acres, while the tract of one hundred acres
he rents out.
ilr. Runels was married in 1893, on the
17th day of August, to iliss Ida Allen, daugh-
ter of D. J. Allen, a respected resident of
Cape Girardeau county. The year of his
marriage is doubly memorable to Mr. Runels,
as in that year he first commenced farming
on his own responsibility, having previously
always worked for others. He now has a fam-
ily of seven children, having lost three by
death. The names of the living are as fol-
lows: Tessa, born in 1894; Norman, whose
birth occurred August 1, 1896 ; Georgie, the
date of whose birth was January 13, 1900;
Beulah, whose nativity occurred on the 28th
day of July, 1902 ; Dessie, born October 14,
1903; Willie, whose birth occurred February
25, 1906; and May, who made her first ap-
pearance into the world on Christmas day,
1907.
Politically Mr. Runels has never taken any
active part with any party. Fraternally he
is affiliated with the Modern Woodmen of
America, and in religious connection he holds
membership in the ilethodist Episcopal
church, where he has many friends. His
neighbors regard him as a farmer who has
prospered and as a man who is well worthy
of respect and esteem.
Henry S. Goad. In the honored list of
those citizens who have added to service of
their country in war the still more valued
lOU
HISTORY OF SOUTHEAST MISSOURI
industrial contribution ot •■diligence in busi-
ness" in the time of peace, \\ ayue county
claims a generous quota of names and none
more revered than that of Henry S. Goad.
He is counted one of the county s most suc-
cessful business men and model farmers; an
eminence that is cheerfully accorded him by
all who know him either in a social or a busi-
ness way. For he is a man active in all good
works and his reputation among those who
deal with him in a business way is that his
word is ■ ■ as good as a government bond. ' '
Henry S. Goad was born in Tennessee in
ISrtU, on the 22nd of May. His father, Abra-
ham Goad, was born in the same place and
died there at the age of about sixty. IMr.
Goad's mother had died four years previ-
ously, when he was but two years old. There
were five children in the family, Mr. Goad be-
ing the only one now alive. Abraham Goad
was a farmer and blacksmith and died a well-
to-do man for that time.
At the age of fourteen (in 1854) Mr. Goad
came to Missouri with a ^Jlr. E. Kemp, locat-
ing in Madison county. In 1864 he enlisted
in the Forty-seventh ilissouri. Company II.
He was in the battle of Pilot Knob, as well
as at Leesburg and in numerous engagements.
He came home in the fall of 1865 and turned
his attention to farming. Such was his abil-
ity and industry in this pursuit that in 1866
he purchased a model place in Madison
county, improved it and paid for it with its
products. He sold this estate to purchase a
larger one and this he also improved and later
sold. At this juncture he came to Wayne
county and bought his present home of two
hundred acres. He has made this into a farm
of the best modern type. All the modern
appliances for efficiency and comfort have
been put in since Mr. Goad acquired the
place. Success has always been his and he
is accounted one of the region's authorities
on stock, in which he has dealt all his life.
Mr. Goad was first married to Elizabeth
"White, who lived but a short time. She left
two children, Harry and Arthula, both of
whom are deceased. In 1865 he married
C'atherinp Tlinkle. whose demise occurred in
18713. The three children of this marriage
are all living: Mrs. James P. Hunter, of
Brunot. I^Iissouri, nee IMary Elizabeth Goad:
Peter M.. at home; and Barbara, wife of
Samuel Aslilev. of Wayne county. The
pre^^piit :\rrs. Gond was formerly Miss Rachel
Smith. She and Mr. Goad have seven chil-
dren. Their two daughters are married.
Atlanta to Elias ^Vhite, of Wayne county,
and Bertha to Gilbert Hunter, of Brunot.
Of the sons, three, Claude, George and
Harry, are at home; John \V. lives in Madi-
son county; and James L., in Wayne county.
Politics is not one of Mr. Goad's activi-
ties, though he is eminently public-spirited
and interested in all the political issues. He
is aligned with the Democratic party,^ to
which he has given his life-long adherence.
Both Mr. and Mrs. Goad are members of
the .Missionary Baptist church, to which their
loj-al support and devotion have been of
great service.
J. P. Preslar is another citizen of this
county who has a right to the title of a self-
made man. Starting with almost nothing,
he has in less than a score of years risen to
the position of one of the solid financial men
of the countJ^ His success both in farming
and in the mercantile line has been conspicu-
ous and gratifying to all who know him, inas-
much as it has been attained by virtue of his
sterling qualities both as an individual and
as a man of business.
Born in North Carolina, ]Mr. Preslar 's
father, S. P. Preslar, moved to Tennessee
w-ith his parents when he was about fifteen
years of age. Here he grew- up and married
Elizabeth Taylor, the mother of J. P. Preslar
and of J. H. Preslar, now living at Frisbee
in this county. Elizabeth Preslar died when
the subject of this sketch was only eight
years old. His father married a second time
and his wife, Polly Slayter Preslar, was in
every way a mother to the children. She
later left her husband and is now living in
Kennett. S. P. Preslar lives in Frisbee.
J. P. Preslar was born in Henderson
county, Tennessee, in 1871, on October first.
His entire life has been spent on the farm
and his schooling has been obtained in the
rural schools of Tennes.see and later of this
county. His father moved here in 1886 and
settled on Buffalo Island. Until eighteen
years of age Mr. Preslar worked for his
father and then began to hire out on the
neighboring farms. For four years he
worked by the day or the month and boarded
with his employers. Then, in 1893, he was
married to Miss Arpy Pritcbard, who was
born and grew up in Dunklin county. She
is the daughter of C. M. Pritchard. of Fris-
bee. of whom mention is made on other pages
of this work. The wedding took place at
Holcomb Island, near Frisbee.
HISTORY OP SOUTHEAST illSSOURI
1015
After his marriage, Mr. Preslar continued
to farm. He had very little money when he
settled on his present place and part of his
first eighty acres was bought on time. How-
ever, industry and good management ena-
bled him to get ahead rapidlj'. He has built
the dwelling house, the barns and other farm
buildings. Land which was worth thirty
dollars an acre when he took it is now val-
ued at one hundred dollars and his lands
have increased from eighty to two hundred
and twenty-five acres. It requires the sei'\'-
iees of ten hands to carry on jMr. Preslar 's
farm work. The main crops are cotton and
corn. He also raises fine watermelons. One
of his profitable enterprises is dealing in
stock. He ships seven or eight carloads every
year and raises some horses and mules, be-
sides buying and selling hogs and cattle.
Mr. Preslar 's political principles are those
for which the Republican party is sponsor.
He is an active and efficient worker in the
Baptist church at Frisbee, of which he and
his wife are members. A family of seven
children is still under the parental roof.
Their names are Finns E., Florence E., El-
mer. Vergil. Gladys E.. Sybil and Allie May.
Two others are deceased.
Since 1905, i\Ir. Preslar has been in the
mercantile business. The firm is C. IM. Pres-
lar & Company and IMr. Preslar 's interest is
one-fourth of the whole. The store is located
at Frisbee and it has also a smaller branch
in Holcomb, both handling general merchan-
dise. The other members of the firm are C.
M., C. E. and T. E. Pritchard, father and
brothers of ilr. Preslar 's wife.
The Woodmen of the World, No. 275, ot
Holcomb. is ilr. Preslar 's only fraternal as-
sociation.
Thomas J. Douglass was born in Dunklin
county, not far from the site of the present
town of Caruth. July 17. 1859. He is the son
of Reverend Robert H. Douglass and Rebecca
J. (Was-ster) Dousrlass. both of whom are de-
ceased, the mother dying in April, 1865, and
the father in Febmarv, 1904.
Thoma,'^ -T. Douglass was reared in Dunklin
county. He attended the schools of the
county, Arcadia Collesre at Arcadia. Iron
eountv. and the State Normal school at Cane
Girardeau. He spent six months as clerk in
the store of A. D. Leach at Cape Girardeau,
and was employed in a similar capacity by
several men in his home county, was a suc-
cessful school teacher for a few years, and
finally engaged in business for himself. He
became a dealer in cattle and hogs on an ex-
tensive scale, cultivated a large farm, and op-
erated a store, cotton gin and other enter-
prises.
In 1890 he was elected county collector and
was re-elected in 1892. He was chosen col-
lector again in 1904, and in 1910 was again
elected for a term of four years, and is now
filling that office. Mr. Douglass has a nat-
ural bent for political life, and is distin-
guished for his energy and for his ability to
make and hold friends. No man in the
county has a larger or more loyal following.
On December 17, 1884, Mr. Douglass was
married to Miss Hattie A. Argo, a native of
McMinnville. Tennessee. Of this union ten
children were born, six of whom died in in-
infaney. Those living are Hulda E. and
Robert H., both of whom are in the office with
their father, Frank Shelton and Hugh M.
Mr. Douglass is a member of the Baptist
church, and has long been a leader in the
work of his own and other denominations. He
is also active in fraternal work, being a mem-
ber of the Blue Lodge of the Masonic order,
and also of tlie Royal Arch Chapter of the
Council. He was for a number of years the
district deputy of the order of Odd Fellows,
and is an active member of the Knights of
Pythias and of other orders as well. He has
been identified with the farmers' movement
(Farmer Educational and Co-Operation
Union of America), and has often repre-
sented the local organization at the national
meetings.
He is known for his kindness, few men hav-
ing ever been refused a favor at his hands.
He has always been the friend of progress
and has assisted in every, movement for the
improvement of society; he has been a firm
friend and supporter of the public schools,
and is regarded as one of the leading and
most influential men of the county.
RoBEKT Lee Warren. Among the native-
born citzens of Wardell. Pemiscot county,
who have spent their entire lives within its
precincts, aiding in every possible way its
growth and development, whether relating
to its agricultural, mercantile or financial in-
terests, is Robei-t Lee Warren, the represen-
tative of a pioneer family of prominence. He
was born in what is now Wardell. March 16,
1873, where his father, Richard C. Warren.
1016
HISTORY OF SOUTHEAST MISSOURI
a iil'e-long resident of Pemiscot fouuty, was
an extensive farmer, owning about three
liuudred acres of good land.
Kieliard C. Warren died on his farm in
AVardell in 1903, while his wife, whose
maiden name was Elizabeth Parmenter, pre-
ceded him to the better world, passing away
in 1902. They were the parents of seven
children, as follows: Curtis E., who died in
188-1; William Henry, who died in 1886; S.
K., a landholder in Wardell ; J. T., owning a
large tract of land near "Wardell, married
Mary F. ^leatte, of New Madrid, Missouri,
and they have one child ; ilary Jane, who
married Freeman F. Dillard. died in 1905,
leaving four children; ^Marietta, who became
the wife of J. W. Braey, of Wardell, is also
deceased; and Robert Lee is the special sub-
ject of this brief sketch.
Becoming familiar with the many branches
of agriculture while living on the home farm,
Robert Lee Warren has always retained an
active interest in the advancement of the
farming interests of his community, and has
wisely invested a part of his accumulations
in land. His first purchase of land was in
19ul, when he and his brother bought one
hundred and sixty-four acres from the Stew-
ard heirs. In 1902 they purchased eighty
acres from the Cunningham Brothers, of
Caruthersville, and, with his brothers. R. L.
Warren has a third interest in eighty acres
lying near Wardell. The greater part of the
land owned by him is under a good state of
cultivation, two hundred and thirty acres
being cleared and partly improved, each sea-
son yielding abundant harvests. Mr. War-
ren is also interested in one of the leading
general mercantile establishments of War-
dell, for two years having been associated
with the well-known and enterprising firm
of Dillard. Perrigan & Company.
Fraternally 'Sir. Warren is a member of
Wardell Lodge. No. 676. Independent Order
of Odd Fellows, of Wardell ; and of Portage-
ville Lodge. No. 620, Mutual Protective
League, of Portageville, IMisouri. He has
never been an aspirant for official honors,
but for eight years sem'ed as .iustice of the
peace, resigning the position a few years ago.
He is a worthy member of the Missionary
Baptist ehureh. and a generous contributor
towards its support.
Albert Clarke Mc!Mn.L.\>r. Among the
foremost representatives of Leadwood busi-
ness men is Albert Clarke McMillan, of the
iirm of Leadwood & Pike, merchants who are
carrying a substantial business here and are
numbered among its most prosperous and
progressive citizens. Not only the subject,
but his father before him, was born in Jeffer-
son county, this state, the younger man No-
vemlier 8, 1874. and the elder December 13,
1839. The father, whose name is Robert W.
Mc]\lillan. is an exponent of the great basic
industry and has spent his entire life upon
the farm. At the time of the Civil war he
served in the state militia. He was married
in 1868 to Adeline Donnell. of Jefferson
county, and to their union the following
seven children were born: Emma Rebecca,
now ]Mrs. F. J. Heaton : A. C. the immedi-
ate subject of this review; Claude E. ; Stew-
art Dean; Bert L. Vance; Maude Blanche,
now Mrs. Fred Cooke ; and IMabel Edna. The
father and mother survive and make their
home in Washington county, where they are
held in the highest esteem and where the
father still engages in the wholesome, inde-
pendent occupation to which he has devoted
his energies and capabilities since his earliest
days of usefulness. He is aligned with the
supporters of the Democratic party, with
whose teachings he has been in harmony
since his maiden vote, and the family are af-
filiated with the Methodist Episcopal church.
South.
Albert Clarke ^Meilillan spent the roseate
days of youth in Jefferson county and re-
ceived his education in the public schools of
DeSoto. Shortly after finishing high school,
at the age of seventeen years, he began clerk-
ing in a store at Ehins, and remained in the
employ of the owners of that establishment
until seven years ago, when he went into busi-
ness for himself, choosing Leadwood as a
promising location. His knowledge of the
mercantile business, gleaned from his expe-
riences as an employe, was thorough and gen-
eral and he was thus well-equipped for the
more independent duties to which he then
gave his attention. The firm, as mentioned
before, is known as McMillan & Pike. They
have met with success and enjoy a patronage
extending over a wide area.
]Mrs. McMillan was before her marriage
^riss Lulu B. ^McPike. and their union was
celebrated August 25. 1901. They are the
parents of one child, Glenwood Clarke. 'Mr.
McMillan, in his political convictions, resem-
bles his honored father. He is a member of
HISTORY OF SOUTHEAST MISSOURI
1017
the Methodist Episcopal church, South; and
his fraternal relations extend to the Inde-
pendent Order of Odd Fellows.
Thomas Platte Darlington. The post-
master of Victoria came from "back east," a
region whose location is variable, moving
westward with the course of empire, but Mr.
Darlington is a native of the "real east," as
the northern section of the original thirteen
colonies is sometimes called. Incidentally it
mav be remarked that he unites in his char-
acter the best qualities of both west and east,
being just a large-hearted, whole-souled
American with plenty of western "push"
tempered with eastern caution.
air. Darlington is the third child of Sarah
Platte and John Darlington, a shoemaker.
Philadelphia was the birthplace of the elder
Darlington but he moved to New Jersey when
a voung man and there married Sarah Platte.
Their four children were Alexander. Allia-
nus, Thomas Platte and Ruth. The two first
mentioned are dead and the daughter is Mrs.
Gilbert Irdell. John Darlington died m 1865
and his wife in 1887. .
Thomas Darlington spent his early life in
New Jersey, the state where he was_born, the
date of his"^ birth being July 26, 18-45. He at-
tended the public schools and then went to
Camden, where he engaged in mercantile
business. Here his marriage to ^liss Emma
Lloyd took place in 1871 and his two chil-
dren were born. But one of these, Bessie L.,
lived to maturity. She is now :\Irs. Harry
McNicoll. . .
Mr Darlington came to ^Missouri m IbJ.i
and located in St. Louis, where he continued
to work in the mercantile business. After
nine vears in St. Louis, he decided to move
his business to Victoria, and since that time
has been postmaster of the town. In politics
Mr Darlington is a Republican, but he en-
joys the good-will of Republicans and Demo-
crats alike, both for his efficient service in
office and for his personal qualities, yiv.
Darlington's religious faith is that of the
Baptist denomination.
John :MATnEw^s Campbell, the manager of
the T'nited States Barytes Company, was
born in New York city, on January IS. 1868.
The same city was the birthplace of his
father. William Campbell, the son of another
John Campbell, a mechanic of Irish descent.
William Campbell went into a small mercan-
tile business when he reached manhood and
remained in that line of work until a few
years before his death, in 1901. He was mar-
ried in 1867 to Hannah Ann Galleghar, of
Brooklyn, and John M. Campbell is the eldest
of their three children. The two daughters
are now married, Mary Abagail to Mr.
George Noonan and Helen Caroll to Mr. J.
F. McLaught. William Campbell died in
1901, but his wife is still living and makes
her home with her different children. She is
a member of the Catholic church. Her hus-
band was a Presbyterian.
John ]\I. Campbell grew up in New York
city and attended the public schools of that
place, graduating from the grammar school
in 1882. When he finished this course he
was apprenticed to a jeweler but later left
the business to clerk in the hardware house
of H. T. Patterson and Company. He re-
mained there some time and then went into
an insurance and brokerage house, where he
stayed until his marriage, in 1894.
At the age of twenty-six Mr. Campbell was
married . to Miss Catherine L. Farrell of
Rochester, New York. Five children were
born of their union and three of them are liv-
ing: Lawrence John, Raymond Leslie and
Arthur Edwin. After his marriage Mr.
Campbell went into a stock brokerage com-
pany, where he was bookkeeper and had op-
portunity to make mone.y on the stock mar-
ket. After leaving this firm, he spent two
years away from business, traveling with his
wife. He is the holder of the greater part of
the stock in the McLaughlin Press of Buf-
falo, New York. He is secretary and treas-
urer of this firm and his brother-in-law, Mr.
McLaughlin, is president.
jMr. Campbell had invested considerable
money in southeastern Missouri and was suf-
ficiently interested that he came to the re-
gion at the reciuest of the board of directors
and took charge of the United States Barytes
Company at Tiff. His family accompanied
him here and are living in Tiff at present.
j\Ir. Campbell is a Republican in politics,
as his father was before him. His church is
the Episcopal and he is a Mason of the
thirty-second degree.
Phillip Henky Barth, M. D. One of the
most active and successful physicians of
Saint Francois county is Dr. Phillip Henry
Barth. who is enjoying a large and con-
stantly gi-owing practice in Bismarck, his
home, and by his skill, genial manners and
kindly courtesy has endeared himself to all
1018
HISTORY OF SOUTHEAST MISSOURI
classes of people. He is of German birth, but
came here with his parents when a child of
five years and is to all intents and purposes
a loyal J'oung American citizen. The date of
his birth was in April, 1878. His father,
Christopher Barth, was a native of the same
countrj' and he, like so man.y of his country-
men, came to America to seek the wider op-
portunity and richer resource which had
been the portion of so many who had pre-
ceded him. The year in which he crossed the
Atlantic was 1883. He went with his fam-
ily to Leadville, Colorado, soon afterward
and there died in the following year. He
was married in the Fatherland, about the
year 1872, to Caroline Zeigler, and to the
union a quartet of sons were born, namely:
William, of St. Louis ; Fred, of the same city ;
Phillip, of this review; and Charles, of St.
Louis.
Phillip Henry Barth, M. D., passed a boy-
hood and j'outh of unusual vicissitudes. As
mentioned, he came to this countrj^ with
his parents and brothers when a little lad
of five and can but faintl.y remember the voy-
age which was to make such a momentous
change in his life. "When about seven years
of age (in 188^1) the family removed to Bis-
marck, Missouri, and here he received his ele-
mentary education, subsequeutly matriculat-
ing in the Tunsfueldts Board School in that
city. He later became a student at the Uni-
versity of Missouri, remaining enrolled at
that institution for one j'ear. In the mean-
time he had come to the conclusion to adopt
the medical profession as his own and he
chose as his professional alma mater the
Simms-Beaumont I\Iedical College, from
which he was graduated with the degree of
M. D. in 1901.
"When fully prepared for his life work Dr.
Barth was influenced by the happy memories
of his early youth to locate in Bismarck and
there he first hung out his professional shin-
gle. In a short time, however, circumstances
made it appear to be advisable to remove to
Dexter, but while there he was seized with a
serious case of malaria and, temporarily in-
capacitated for professional activity, he re-
turned to the city of St. Louis where be
believed that the climate would be more fa-
vorable to his state of health. After practic-
ing in S. Louis Dr. Barth returned to Bis-
marck, where he aeain engaged actively in
the duties of his profession, while at the same
time attendimr to Draetice at Desloge and at
Booneville. In 1008 be became permanently
established at Bismarck and in the interven-
ing time has met with the greatest success
and appreciation. Dr. Barth also owns and
conducts a drug store, which provides him
with an additional source of income and is
likewise one of the well-managed business
houses of the town.
Dr. Barth established a particularly happy
household when, in 1903, he was united in
marriage to I\Iiss Mary Euler, of DeSoto,
]\Iissouri, and their union has been blessed
by the birth of two children, — Andrew ila-
rion and Dorothy Phyllis. The Doctor pins
his faith to the men and measures promul-
gated by the Democratic party, and finds
pleasure and profit in his relations with the
Masonic Lodge, the Associated Order of
United Workmen, the Modern Woodmen of
America and the Court of Honor.
D. L. Rivers. This sterling and represen-
tative member of the bar of southeastern IMis-
souri is established in a large and successful
yiraetice in St. Francois county and maintains
his home in the thriving little industrial
town of Elvins. He is a scion of one of the
old and honored families of Virginia and the
lineage is traced back to patrician English
origin, as is shown by the use of the family
name in the writings of Shakespeare. The
family was founded in the historic Old Do-
minion commonwealth in the colonial era and
became one of prominence and influence in
that colony, whence representatives later
went to Tennessee in the pioneer days, and
at the present time scions of this fine old
parent stock are to be found in most diverse
sections of the Union.
D. L. Rivers, who has maintained his home
in St. Francois county for more than a quar-
ter of a century and who is firmly entrenched
in the confidence and high regard of its peo-
ple, claims the state of Tennessee as the place
of his nativit.v. He was there born on a farm,
in Tipton coiinty, on the 30th of March. 1853,
and is a son of Juda-e Thomas Rivers and
Elir/abeth (Tuggle) Rivers, the former of
whom was born in Virginia, in 1808. Judge
Rivers was reared on the old family planta-
tion in Virginia and finally removed from
that state to Tennessee, where he became the
owner of an extensive plantation, which he
operated tliroiigh the service of a large num-
ber of slaves. He was a man of prominence
and influence in the communitv, owing alike
to his sterling character and his fine mental
powers, which well equipped him for leader-
HISTORY OP SOUTHEAST MISSOURI
1019
ship in thought and action. He had secured
admission to the bar but gave his attention
to agricultural pursuits as a vocation rather
than to the practice of law. He served as
county judge for a number of years and was
called to other offices of public trust in his
home count}'. When the Civil war was pre-
cipitated his loyalty to the cause of the Con-
federacy was of the most insistent order,
and though then well advanced in years he
promptly tendered his services m its behalf
by enlisting in a Tennessee regiment, of
which he was made colonel and with which
he proceeded to the front soon after the in-
ception of hostilites between the north and
south. He virtually sacrificed his life in the
cause, as he suffered an attack of pneumonia
when in the lield and died soon after his re-
turn home, in 1S62. He ever commanded the
respect and confidence of all who knew him
and his life was one of signal honor and use-
fi;lness. He was a stalwart in the camp of
the Democratic party, was a zealous member
of the Presbj'terian church, and was promi-
nentlj' ideutihed with the ilasonic fraternity.
He was twice married, his first union having
been with iliss Emma Grover, who bore him
two sons and two daughters. Judge Rivers'
second wife survived him by a number of
years, she likewise having been a devoted
member of the Presbyterian church. She
was a woman of noble and gracious person-
ality and her memory is revered by those
who came within the circle of her gentle in-
fluence. Of the three children of the second
marriage D. L., of this sketch was the first-
born ; Rosa is Mrs. Seward ; and Emma is the
wife of Dr. Jackson, a representative physi-
cian and surgeon.
D. L. Rivers passed his bo.yhood days on
the old home plantation in Tipton county,
Tennessee, and his youthful experiences were
varied, as the country was at the time in the
midst of the catacl.ysm of civil war and he
lived in a section that was a stage of military
operations. He was not yet ten years of age
at the time of bis fathers' death and his early
educational advantages had been those af-
forded in the country schools in the vicinity
of the homestead plantation. In 1867 he en-
tered Andrew College, at Humboldt, Tennes-
see, from which institution was developed the
fine Vanderbilt University, in the city of
Nashville, that state. There he pursued
higher academic studies for a time arid later
he entered Cecilian College, at Elizabeth-
town, Kentucky, in which he was graduated
and Irom which he received the degree of
iiaciieior ol Arts, in lbi'2 he became a stu-
dent m the law school of CumDeriaud Lni-
versity, at Lebanon, 'iennessee. tie wiih-
arew irom the law school prior to graduation
and turned his attention to newspaper work,
in connection with which he aid effective
service and gained more than local reputa-
tion. He served in turn as editor oi the
Hiunholdt Journal, the West Tennessee Jour-
nal and the Unio-n City Chronicle, in the
same state, and for varying periods he was
ideutitied in an editorial capacity with other
representative papers in Tennessee. In the
meanwhile he had continued his reading of
the law and in 1878 he was admitted to the
bar of his native state, but he practiced but
little at that period.
In 1S80 Mr. Rivers came to Missouri and
located at Bismarck, St. Francois county,
where he was admitted to the bar of the state
in the same year, and where he continued in
the active pi-actice of his profession for twen-
ty-four years, within which he was identified
with much important litigaton in the various
courts of this section of the state and gained
established reputation as one of the able trial
lawyers and conservative counselors of the
bar of St. Francois county. He was called
upon to serve in various township and village
offices of trust and his coui-se has ever been
such as to justify the high regard in which
he is held in this county. In 1901 he trans-
ferred his residence to Elvins, but he still
controls a large professional business at Bis-
marck, in additon to his representative prac-
tice in Elvins. He served for some time as
claim agent and assistant attorney for the St.
Louis, Iron ^Mountain & Southern Railroad
and he has also been retained by other im-
poi-tant corporations, either as attorney or
counsel, or as both. He has never wavered
in his allegiance to the principles and policies
for which the Democratic party stands spon-
sor in a basic wa.v, though he has never been
a seeker of political prefei-ment. He is an
appreciative member of the time-honored Ma-
sonic fraternity and both he and his wife hold
membership in the Presbyterian church.
In the state of Georgia, in the year 1876.
Mr. Rivers was united in marriage to iMiss
Mary W. Ferrill. who was born and reared
in that state and who died at Bismarck, St.
Francois county. Missouri, in 1884. Of the
children of this union only one is now living.
Mr. Rivers wedded Miss Sarah M. Hutch ins,
of Cape Girardeau, Missouri, who presides
HISTORY OF SOUTHEAST :\nSSOURI
most graciously over their pleasant home.
The three children of this union are: Irene,
Thomas H. and Lillian.
Albert Sidistey Davis. It is most unusual
for a man of prominence, such as that which
has been attained b.y IMr. Davis, to have had
such a varied business life. A man's career
cannot be guided entirely by his own wishes
— new conditions arise, old conditions change.
Fortune will not come to a man at the time
and place of his selection and Mr. Davis
knew that he must go and seek fortune, for it
would never hunt for him. He also knew
that if a man is really competent there is
need of him somewhere, and it behooves him
to find out where he is required. That is ex-
actly what Mr. Davis did; he changed occu-
pation as well as location, until finally he
found the niche into which he fitted. He is
now known as one of the most progressive real
estate men in Maiden, Missouri, and his suc-
cess is attributable to the fact that instead
of drifting he has kept on shifting until he
found what he wanted.
Mr. Davis is a native of New Madrid
county, Mis,souri, born there December 26,
1861. He is a son of Samuel T. Davis, a
Kentuckian, whose birth occurred February
29. 1836, in Shelby county, that state, and
who died September 28, 1881, aged forty-five
years, six months and twentv-nine days.
When Samuel Davis was five years old be ac-
companied his parents to New ^Madrid county,
'Mi.s.'souri : bis father. William R. Davis, was
tlie owner of a larsre plantation in Kentucky
and possessed many slaves. Wlien lie came
tfl ]\rissouri be brought with him his slaves
and other personal property. Grandfather
Davis bought a large plantation in Missouri
and proceeded to siirround himself with all
the luxuries which were considered fitting for
a southern gentleman and his family. Shortly
before the Civil war broke out Grancl-
father Davis died, and his wife (Catherine
Merriwether, before her marriage) outlived
the close of the war only a short time.
Samuel Davis was educated at the schools
in New Madrid county, then entered the col-
lege at Arcadia, Missouri, and later prepared
for the bar at the University of Kentuckv- at
Louisville. He was graduated with honors
from that institution in 1856. when he was
but twenty years old. He forthwith com-
menced his legal practice with the Hon. R.
A. Hatcher at New Madrid. Continuing his
practice, he won an enviable reputation as a
brilliant lawyer and successful business man.
In 1865 he was elected on the Democratic
ticket as a representative to the legislature,
and he had a part in the exciting sessions
which followed the war. In 1858 Mr. Davis
was married to Lizzie McGuire of Jackson,
Missouri, and to this union were born six
children. In 1869 Mrs. Lizzie Davis de-
parted this life and in 1872 the Hon. Samuel
Davis formed a matrimonial alliance with
Mrs. L. K. Buchanan, who became the mother
of two children. In 1881, on the 28th day
of September, Samuel Davis died of dropsy,
in New ^Madrid country, leaving a large estate
to his children and widow.
Albert Sidney Davis attended the schools
in New Madrid county, later was a student
at the naval academy at Annapolis, where he
remained for a couple of years, and then en-
tered a military school at Tuskaloosa, Ala-
bama. His was an impetuous nature, and he
\vas desirous of leading an adventurous life;
after leaving school he went west as a cattle
driver, but soon tired of being a cowboy and
secured a position in Kansas City. In 1893
he came to Maiden, Missouri, and located on
the place where he is found today ; he went
into the grocery business on his first arrival
in Maiden, and for eight years he was the
successful owner of a store. Mr. Davis has
been in the real estate business for the past
eight years and is entirely successful.
On the 2nd day of March, 1885, he was
united in marriage to Miss Carrie Dawson,
of New Madrid county, IMissouri. where the
wedding occurred. Mre. Albert Davis is a
daughter of Georare W. Dawson and Lavira
Amanda (La Vallee) Dawson, residents of
New Madrid county, where their children
were all born.
Mrs. Davis, whose birth occurred February
13, 1862, received her educational training in
the public schools in St. Louis, Missouri. The
first eight years of her wedded life were spent
in Kansas City, and she has since lived in
Maiden. They are the parents of four chil-
dren,— Louis Sidney, born September 30,
1886, who was educated in St. Louis and is
now in business with his father; Laura Kate,
born January 25, 1894, a student in the high
school; Mildred, born June 26, 1898, died
June 8, 1900; Albert Samuel, born August
15. 1903, who is just commencing his school-
ing. The Davis family are all members of
the holy Catholic church.
In addition to the real estate business in
which Mr. Davis is engaged, he is also inter-
HISTORY OP SOUTHEAST MISSOURI
1021
ested in other activities. He is a director of
the Bank of Maiden ; he held the responsible
position of mayor of Maiden, being elected to
tliat high office on the Democratic ticket; and
he was for some time school director, tiuding
in this position opportunity to do good work
in the educational world. He is well-known
in ilalden and is deservedly popular.
Mrs. L. a. Cooke. On the pages of our
Southeastern Missouri History there could be
no truer type of southern lady described
than Mrs. Cooke. She was all that the term
implies, refined, cultured, modest and wom-
aidy. She was raised verj' carefully and
sheltered from all that was crude or rough,
just as the first families of the South in ante-
bellum days reared their daughters. Her
father, a physician, taught her outdoor sports
for health's sake, and she became a noted
horsewoman and passed many hours on her
pony, attended by one of her slaves. This
was only one of her man.y accomplishments;
she sang and did many things well. Her
girlhood was spent in and around New Mad-
rid and her education was finished in St.
Louis at the Visitation Convent. At the age
of nineteen she married George W. Dawson,
one of the leading young men of the county
and the son of Dr. Doyne Dawson, of New-
Madrid. Their marriage united two of the
oldest and most aristocratic families of ilis-
souri and their married life was most happy
and prosperous. They had six children, the
last being born after the war had called Mr.
Dawson. He was a valiant soldier and did
hard service in the Confederate army until
the battle of Shiloh. After this battle he
was prostrated from such active service, took
inflammatory rheumatism with typhoid fever
and was never well again. Two months later
the little mother with her six weeks old baby
made her way in a skiff, with brother and
physician, down the river to Memphis, to the
bedside of her sick husband. He, Captain
Dawson, was tenderly can-ied to New Mad-
rid but only lived a couple of months.
At the close of the war this little creature
proved of what material Southern women are
made. She, who had had slaves to do her
every wish, a kind, loving and indulgent hus-
band and all that makes a perfect home,
fnnnd herself bereft of evervthing and with
little practical knowledge. However, she was
enupl to the occasion, showing executive abil-
itv and making a home for little ones that
they look back on with pride.
Her marriage to Dr. A. D. Cooke took
place some years later and two more children
had been added to her household when Dr.
Cooke died. He was a highly educated Eng-
lishman and a dentist by profession.
After his death she lived in New Madrid
until her youngest daughter married and
moved to New York city, after which she
made her home with her and continued doing
good in her quiet way to all around her wher-
ever she was. She was a strict and pious
Catholic and her influence was far reaching
and she often mentioned with pride the fact
that all of her five children were Catholics
and her sixteen grandchildren were of the
same faith.
She came back to Missouri with her daugh-
ter and made her home in Maiden and it was
here that she passed away very suddenly on
December 10, 1909, at the age of seventy-
seven.
Mrs. Cooke was Laura Amanda La Vallee,
daughter of Dr. Edmond La Vallee and Sid-
ney Watson La Vallee, of New Madrid, and
a direct descendant of the French settlers of
New Madrid, St. Louis and Ste. Genevieve.
Her children who survived her are Mrs. L. B.
Howard, Mrs. J. W. Jackson and Mr. C. W.
Dawson of New Madrid, Mrs. A. S. Davis and
Mrs. D. J. Keller of Maiden, Missouri.
John Thomas Rice. One of the represen-
tative citizens of Irondale is John Thomas
Rice, who is engaged in mercantile business
here and who since 190i has given faithful
and capable service to LTncle Sam as postmas-
ter of the little cit.y. As a good citizen, an
efficient public official and an up-to-date busi-
ness man, he contributes to the prosperity
and prestige of the place in very definite
manner. The Rice family is one of the oldest
in this section and ]\Ir. Rice, of this review,
is a native of Washington county.
John Thomas Rice was born in Washington
county, July 2, 1865, and is the son of Wil-
liam L. Rice, who was bom in Randolph
county, Arkansas. At the age of fifteen years
William came with his mother and the other
children to Missouri, his father having died.
They settled in this county, and the motl'er,
who was a physician, engaged in practice here.
Here William grew to manhood and sained
his education in the county subscription
schools. When he arrived at years of suffi-
cient strength and discretion he ensaeed in
fanning and followed this occupation until
his demise. He was married to Rachel Wild-
1022
HISTORY OF SOUTHEAST MISSOURI
mau, of Washington county, and they became
iiic i.aieiiis 01 leu cuiiaieu, ilie su-Dject being
lue iouiui ui oruer oi uuili. lie was a woi-
tuy citizen, a member of the Methodist Epis-
copal cuuieu and a ioyai adherent of tlie
■■(jriand Old Party." The mother survives,
her years numbering seventy-two at the pres-
ent time, and slie maintains her residence on
tue Old nomestead near Irondale. She enjoys
tne regard of many friends.
The early life of John T. Rice was spent
on the larm and his education, which was of
a limited character, was gained in the Old
Kice scliool house, withm whose wails he was
made acquainted with the common branches.
At about tlie age of twenty-two years he en-
gaged in the barber's business and followed
this at Irondale for four years. At the end
of that period he sold out and bought an in-
terest in the mercantile business of W. T. But-
ler & Sons. He continued with that firm for
eight years and became familiar with com-
mercial life in all its phases, and then iindiug
himself in a positon to become established on
an independent footing, he bought them out
and has since been in business for himself.
He was appointed postmaster in 1904 by
President Roosevelt and has held the office
ever since that time, giving satisfaction to
all concerned.
^Ir. Rice was married, in 1904, to one of
Washington county's admirable daughters.
Miss ^linuie Trauernicht. Their union has
been blessed by the birth of the following
three children : Zenda Marie, iMenetta and
Joseph William.
The subject is one of the leaders of the
local Republican party, having given his sup-
port to its men and measures since the day of
his maiden vote. He is a Mason and follows
the precepts of moral and social justice and
brotherly love for which that order stands.
He also belongs to the Modem AVoodmen of
America.
The Zoellner Brothers. If those who
claim that fortune has favored certain indi-
viduals above others will but investigate the
cause of success and failure it w^ill be found
that the former is largely due to the im-
provement of opportunity, the latter to the
neglect of it. Fortunate environments en-
compass nearly every man at some stage of
his career, but the strong man and the suc-
cessful man is he who realizes that the proper
moment has come, that the present and not
the future holds his opportunity. The man
who makes use of the "Now" and not the
"To Be" is the one who passes on the high-
way of life others who started out ahead of
him, and reaches the goal of prosperity in
advance of them. It is this quality in the
Zoellner Brothers that has made them leaders
in the business world and won them an envia-
ble name in connection with the publishing
and newspaper interests at Perryville, where
they edit the Perry County Sun.
The Zoellner Brothers were born in Perry
county, on the old farm near Biel.le, Mis-
sotiri. They are sons of Henry Zoellner,
whose birth occurred in Westphalia. Ger-
many, on the 7th of November. 1S36. Henry
Zoellner immigrated from Germany, in com-
pany with his parents, to the United States
in 1845, at which time he was but a lad of
nine years of age. The Zoellner family lo-
cated on a farm in the vicinity of Biehle, jMis-
sotiri. and there the young Henry was reared
to maturity, his edttcational training consist-
ing of such advantages as he was able to se-
cure for himself. After reaching adult age
he was united in marriage to Aliss Agattha
Diena Lappe, who was likewise born in West-
phalia, Germany, and who was a daughter of
Frederick Lappe. Mr. Henry Zoellner served
in the six months volunteer militia during the
Civil war. Mr. and Mrs. Zoellner became the
parents of thirteen children, of whom nine
attained their majorities as follows: Anton,
John H., Joseph F., deceased; Theresia, later
Ish-s. Louis Ernst, now deceased; William F.,
A. H., A. B., P. H., and Mary now the wife
of Frank P. Schuemer, who now, in 1912 is
conducting a milling business in Millheim,
[Missouri. Three of the boys are in the ofSce
of the Perry County Sun, and are also con-
ducting a first class undertaking business,
Adolph H., Augtist B. and Frank H. The
father is still living and is making his home
with his daughter, Mrs. Frank P. Schuemer,
in ilillheim. Perry county, this state, and his
cherished and devoted wife passed away on
the 4th of August, 1902. Henry Zoellner is a
son of John and Catherine Zoellner, both of
whom passed the closing years of their lives
in this state. He is a Democrat in his polit-
ical proclivites and is recognized as a citizen
of sterling worth and unquestioned integrity.
Adolph H. Zoellner was born August 13,
1873, in Perry county, Missouri, and under
the invigorating influences of the old home
farm near Biehle he was reared to maturity
and he received his elementary education in
the neighboring schools of Perry county. As
HISTORY OF SOUTHEAST MISSOURI
1023
a young man he learned the blacksmith's
traae under the preceptorship of his brother,
Joseph, at Miiiheim, ^Missouri. He followed
the v\ork of this trade but a short time, how-
ever, and on the 10th of April, 1899, he pur-
chased an interest in the Ferry County Sun,
a Democratic paper, the ofiSces of which are
at Perryville. He w^as associated for a time
in the publishing of this paper with R. M.
Aberuathy, and in 1901 he aud his two broth-
ers bought up all the stock in the Perry
County iSun, which they have since edited and
pubished with most gratifying success. At
the same time they conducted a grocery, fur-
niture and undertaking business in Perry-
ville. Missouri, under the firm name of Zoell-
ner Brothers, but have since disposed of the
furniture and grocery departments, and are
now devoting their entire time to the under-
taking business, and to an extensive job print-
ing business and the work connected with the
paper. The policy of the Perry County S^in
is Democratic and through its terse editorials
it has accomplished a great deal of good for
the community and the county at large.
On the 24th of October, 1899, Mr. Adolph
H. Zoellner was united in marriage to Miss
Lizzie M. Baudendistel, who was born and
reared in Perry county in the state of Mis-
souri. Mr. and Mrs. Zoellner are the parents
of two boys and two girls, Jennings Joseph.
Robert Francis. Ursula Wilhelmina and
Lyneta Elizabeth. In their religious faith
Mr. and Mrs. Zoellner are devout communi-
cants of the Catholic church, and he is affil-
iated with the Knights of Columbus, the
"Western Catholic Union and the Modern
Brotherhood of America. He was official re-
porter of the ^Missouri house of representa-
tives during the session of 1911.
August Bernard Zoellner was born in
Perry county, Missouri, on the 4th of IMarch,
1874. and his preliminarv education was re-
ceived in the public schools of his native place
and bv self discipline. As a young man he
enoraged in farmincr. threshin<? and saw mill-
ing, continuing to be identified with those
lines of enterprises imtil 1899. in which year
he ioined his brothers, first in the grocery,
furniture and nndertakiner business and
later, in 1901, in the printing business, and
being of a mechanical turn he has become
one of the best iob printers in this part of
the state. On the 26th of October, 1897, he
weddpd Miss 7^melia Bnerck, who was born
in Perrv countv, Missouri, on the 1st of
June, 1875. This union has been prolific of
eight children, whose names are here en-
tered iu respective order of birth, — Lillie,
Rudolph (deceased;, Stella, Webster, Laura,
Chalmer, Cordula and Marion, in his polit-
ical convictions Mr. Zoellner is aligned as a
staunch advocate of the principles and poli-
cies for which the Democratic party stands
sponsor and in their religious faith he and
his Avife are Catholics. He is affiliated with
the "Western Catholic Union.
Frank Henry Zoellner was born in Perry
county, on the 30th of January, 1876. His
early educational discipline was similar to
that of his brothers. He subseciuently at-
tended summer schools and for one term was
a teacher in a country school. In time he be-
came interested with his brothers in the con-
duct of a grocery, furniture and undertak-
ing business, and in 1901 he too became a
member of the printing firm which edits the
Perry County Sun. On the 27th of i\Iay,
1902, was solemnized the marriage of Frank
H. Zoellner to Miss Anna Baudendistel, a
sister of Adolph Zoellner "s wife. To this
union have been born five children, — Trula
K., Albert A., Harry J., Le Roy F., and
lola V. Mr. Zoellner is a member of the
Catholic church, is a valued and apprecia-
tive member of the Western Catholic Union
and in politics accords an unswerving alle-
giance to the Democratic party.
The Zoellner Brothers hold an exceed-
ingly high place in the coubdence and es-
teem of their fellow citizens at Perryvlle,
where through their own well directed efforts
they have made success not an accident but
a logical result. They are ever on the alert
and enthusiastically in sympathy with all
measures and enterprises advanced for the
general welfare, and they are all members
of the Perryville Commercial Club.
Amzi Leach Stokes. An enterprising,
progressive and very definite factor in the
many-sided life of Maiden and its vicinity is
Amzi Leach Stokes, representative of the
family well-known in Dunklin count3^ He
is at the head of the Stokes Brothers Store
Company, a concern dealing in general mer-
chandise, and is one of the largest land-hold-
ers hereabout. He is a native son of the
county, his birth having occurred on Febru-
ary 9, 1866. in the vicinity of Clarkton, on
his father's homestead farm.
Mr. Stokes is a son of Robert "W. and Mar-
tha J. ("Wliite) Stokes, the life of the former
of whom is treated in detail on other pages
1024
HISTORY OP SOUTHEAST MISSOURI
of this history of southeastern I\Iissouri.
Robert W. Stokes, who is a life-long resident
of Missouri, was born in 1839, in Cape Girar-
deau county, and his father, John H. Stokes,
was a native of County Roscommon, Ireland,
and came to the United States when a lad.
The subject is thus of the third generation
of the family in the land of the stars and
stripes. His father is a veteran of the Civil
war and has been variouslj' engaged, in
farming, milling, store-keeping, livery busi-
ness and real-estate dealing, in the latter
proving remarkably successful. He and his
wife, now deceased, are the parents of the
following children : John E. ; Amzi L., of
this sketch ; Laura, wife of Albert J. Baker ;
Robert W., Jr.; Birdie, wife of M. B. Ray-
burn : Luther B. : and ilattie J., wife of AY.
A. Cohen, of Fredericktown, ]\Iissouri.
Amzi Leach Stokes gained his education at
various points, attending school at Lexing-
ton. Missouri, for one .vear, and at Caledonia,
for two, in addition to his studies at Clark-
ton. At about the age of twenty-one years
he entered the employ of his older brother,
John E. Stokes, in the mercantile business at
Clarkton and following that worked for a
time for T. C. Stokes. In 1890, he accepted
a position with AVilliam Bridges in his store
at ]\Ialden and remained thus associated for
the period of three years. He then estab-
lished himself upon a more independent foot-
ing by forming a partnership with T. C.
Stokes, in the general mercantile business,
under the firm name of T. C. Stokes & Com-
pany, this association being effected in the
j-ear 1893. and being continued under that
name until about 1900. when the subject dis-
posed of his interest. He then opened up
the present business on Madison street to-
gether with his brothers and brother-in-law,
Mr. Baker, the same being at first known as
Stokes Brothers & Company, and at present
being incorporated under the name of the
Stokes Brothers Store Company, of which
Mr. A. L. Stokes is president and general
manager. Upon its first organization Amzi
L. Stokes became president of the Bank of
Alalden. and has contributed in no small
measure to the excellent standing of this
monetary institution, which has been in ex-
istence since 1903. He has met with great
success and stands for the ideal type of the
plucky, level-headed, prosperous and all-
round useful citizen of jMissouri and the
southwest. In politics he is aligned with the
Democratic party and his religious faith is
that of the Presbyterian church.
Mr. Stokes was married August 8, 1896, to
May Williford, daughter of John B. and
Amanda Spiller, his chosen lady being a
resident and native of ilarion, Illinois, her
birthdate having been August 8, 1870. One
child was born to them on August 3, 1900 —
a daughter named Anna May. The beloved
and faithful wife and mother passed away
December 25, 1907, at St. Louis, in the St.
Louis Hospital, after an illness of three
months and her remains are interred in the
new cemetery at Maiden.
AYiLLi.^M A. Powers, il. D. The man
who has had no time which he could call his
own. who has had to go eighteen houre and
more at a stretch night after night, who has
had to eat his meals wherever and whenever
he could find a moment, such a man will,
more than the average well-regulated individ-
ual, appreciate the quiet restfulness, regu-
lar hours and untrammeled freedom of the
farm. And Dr. William A. Powers, the sub-
ject of this brief review, is finding the ut-
most pleasure and enjoyment in his large
farm of seven hundred acres near Pacific,
tliis state.
Dr. W. H. Powers was the father of our
subject. He was born in Rock Bridge
county, Virginia, in 1823, and, having de-
cided upon the medical profession as his life
work, prepared himself for this vocation in
a Cincinnati medical school. "When still quite
a young man, in 1848 to be exact, Dr. Pow-
ers came to Franklin countj', ^Missouri,
where he continued in the practice of his
profession until his death, in 1908. He was
well known and well beloved by all his pa-
trons, many of whom he had helped not only
in a medical way but by words of advice,
wisdom and good cheer. The maiden name
of our subject's mother was Julia Colburn,
whom Dr. AY. H. Powers married in 1852, in
Franklin county, Jlissouri. and to them were
born six children, of whom three are now
living, namely: Mrs. G. H. Hanker, of
Franklin county; Mrs. J. V. Denney, whose
husband is a physician of Cedar Hill, this
state ; and William A., of this review.
As before mentioned. Dr. William A.
Powers, of Pacific, is the son of W. H. and
Julia (Colburn) Powers, his birth having oc-
curred at Lonedell. Franklin county, ]Mis-
souri. September 3. 1876. Acquiring his rud-
HISTORY OF SOUTHEAST -MISSOURI
1025
inientary education in the district schools, he
subsequent!}' spent two years as a student in
the normal school at Warrensburg, and hav-
ing decided that he wished to follow the
profession of his father, he entered the Beau-
mont Hospital Medical College, later ab-
sorbed by the Marion Sims Medical College,
fi'om which institution he was graduated in
1898. He then located for practice in the
community in which he had grown to man-
hood, and continued his profession with con-
siderable success until 1900. About this time
he dabbled a little in live-stock, and was quite
extraordinarily successful in his venture.
Finding that he had within him an innate
love for nature and all out-doors and the
creatures of the field, he abandoned his pro-
fessional career and established himself on a
farm near Pacific, where he engaged in gen-
eral agricultural pursuits, paying especial
attention to the breeding and raising of live
stock, making a specialty of hogs and sheep
for market. Dr. Powers has an attractive
estate and thoroughly en.joys eveiy minute
of the day working in the various depart-
ments of farm life. He has other interests,
however, maintaining a rock-crushing plant
at Kansas City, doing a profitable business,
and he is also a stockholder and director of
the Citizens Bank of Pacific, which bank he
assisted in organizing.
In politics our subject supports the poli-
cies of the Democratic party, as did his
father before him. though he has no aspira-
tions for public office. He is also a mem-
ber of that time-honored organization. An-
cient Free and Accepted Masons, being him-
self a Master Mason.
Dr. Powers established a hearthstone of his
own when he led iliss Gertrude Harbison, a
daughter of Dr. M. C. Harbison, pioneer, to
the marriaee altar, the date of these nuptials
being October 21. 1900. There were no chil-
dren bom to this union. Mrs. Powers passed
away on April 15, 1907, leaving her husband,
still a young man. to mourn her loss.
Philip S.\mpson Terry, city attorney of
Crystal City, .iustice of the peace at Festus,
and one of the prominent attorneys of South-
east Missouri, is a native of the Goldenrod
state of the southwest and has made his repu-
tation within her borders. He was born at
Springfield on the 1st of August. 1S76. the
younsrest and the eleventh child born to
George Washinsrton and Helen (Walker)
Terry. His mother died when he was three
years of age and his father, a farmer, about
a year afterward. Thus left an orphan, he
lived with James M. Dillon, of Dillon Station,
Missouri, until he was twelve years of age,
when he decided to be his own master for
the remainder of his life.
The boy's first venture in man's work was
in St. Louis county, where for two years he
was employed in a dairy. He spent the suc-
ceeding two or three years as a section hand
on a railroad and then attended the Normal
and Business Institute at Steelville, ilissouri,
from which he graduated in 1895.
At the completion of his course in the
above named institution, in his nineteenth
year, Mr. Terry commenced to teach and was
thus engaged until 1903. By this time he
was also a full-fledged lawyer. He had
studied to such good purpose that he had
been admitted to the bar of Texas in 1898
and to the ilissouri state bar in 1899. In
1903 he abandoned the educational field alto-
gether and opened a law office at Festus. In
1909 Mr. Terry was admitted to the federal
bar at Cape Girardeau, and for the past eight
years, or since the commencement of his resi-
dence at Festus, has conducted a growing and
high-grade business in both the higher and
lower courts. He has been honored with both
the police .judgeship and city attorneyship,
has been justice of the peace for nine years,
and is a Republican and a citizen of decided
abilities and upright character. His popu-
larity and standing are further attested by
his wide and active connection with the fra-
ternities, participating, as he does, in the
good work of the ]\Iasons, Knights of Pythias,
Elks and Eagles.
On June 12. 1907, Mr. Terry married Miss
Lucy Noce. of Festus, and Grace is the child
of their union.
John G. Turi.ey. M. D. Worthy of recog-
nition in this publication as one of the repre-
sentative physicians and sureeons of south-
eastern Missouri. Dr. Turley is engaged in the
successful practice of his profession in the
village of Desloge. St. Francois county, and
he is a scion of one of the old and honored
families of this favored section of the state.
Dr. John Geora-e Turley was bom at Farm-
ington. the judicial center of St. Francois
county. Missouri, on the 23rd of August.
1874. and is a son of Wullen Ellis Turley and
Mary C. (Taylor) Turley. both of whom were
born and reared in this county, where the
father has devoted the major part of his
1026
HISTORY OF SOUTHEAST MISSOURI
career to agricultural pursuits. His cherished
and devoted wife was summoned to the iixe
eternal in 1902, and her memory is revered
by all who came within the sphere of her
gracious and gentle induence. Of the nine
children the Doctor was the second in oraer
of birth. Wullen E. Turley is a staunch ad-
herent of the Democratic party and is a mem-
ber of the ^lethodist Episcopal church, South,
as was also his wife.
Dr. Turley was reared to the sturdy disci-
pline of the farm, where he waxed strong in
mind and body, and after completing the cur-
riculum of the public schools he continued
higher academic studies in the Baptist Col-
lege, at Farmington, where he was a student
for three years. He then put his scholastic
attainments to practical test and use by turn-
ing liis attention to the pedagogic profession,
in connection witli which he was a successful
and popular teacher in the public schools of
his native county for a period of three years.
In preparation for the work of his chosen vo-
cation he entered Barnes ^Medical College, in
the city of St. Louis, in which he was gradu-
ated as a member of the class of 1899, on the
12th of April, and from which he received his
well earned degree of Doctor of Medicine.
After his graduation he at once opened an
office at Desloge, where he has since been en-
gaged in successful general practice, where he
has secured a large and appreciative patron-
age and where he is official surgeon for the
Desloge Lead Company. He is a close stu-
dent of his profession and keeps in touch with
the advances made in both medicine and sur-
gery, so that he is enabled to avail himself of
tiie best remedial agents and the most ap-
I)roved surgical methods and facilities. He
is irtentif^ed with the St. Francois County
Medical Society and the ]\Iissouri State Medi-
cal Society, and he is a close observer of the
staunch but unwritten code of professional
ethics. His personal popularity in his native
county is of the most unequivocal order, his
political allegiance is given to the Democratic
party; he is affiliated with the time-honored
Masonic fraternity, and both he and bis wife
hold membership in the Methodist Episcopal
church. South. They are popular factors in
the social activities of their community and
their attractive home is a center of gracious
hosnitplitv.
In November. 1909, was solemnized the
marriaee of Dr. Turley to Miss Lillian Boyd,
who likewise was born and reared in St.
Francois county and whose father is one of
the representative citizens of the village of
Esther, this countj'.
H.\RRY Talbert Brooks, a successful farm-
er and and ex-county sheriff, was born in
Washington county, Illinois, on March 4:,
1862, in the little town of Ashley. When he
was thirteen years of age his father moved to
Dunklin county and settled in Clarkton.
Here he rented a farm until his death, which
occurred in 1881. H. T. Brooks was the sec-
ond of three sous and there were two daugh-
ters in the family also, so he was obliged to
work hard to help support the familj'. The
country was new then and there was little
chance for education even if money had not
been scarce. The main school of the county
was a .subscription school at Clarkton. Mr.
Brooks had to spend most of the time work-
ing at the plough and picking cotton.
The sisters grew up and married, and the
mother made her home with them. At the
time of her death in 1909, she was living with
a married daughter. Mr. Brooks' two broth-
ers and two sisters are: J. W., of Holcomb;
ilrs. Reta Hodges, a widow residing at Hol-
comb ; Mrs. Edward Hassley, living on a farm
near Holcomb; and P. L., a farmer now lo-
cated near Schumach, Dunklin county. LTn-
til Mr. Brooks was twenty-one, he lived at
home, but at that age began to work for him-
self. Until his marriage he worked out on
the farms. In 1886, three years after he be-
gan to work for himself, he was married to
Percy Taylor, of Holcomb Island. Her
father, John Taylor, was a prominent man
in the count.y. He was at one time prosecut-
ing attorne.y of Dunklin county and later rep-
resented it in the state legislature, ilrs.
Brooks, his daughter, was born in Clarkton
in 1878. She passed her entire life in this
county, where she died in 1907.
A farm south of Clarkton was the first home
of H. T. and Percy Taylor Brooks. Later
they located on the farm where 'Sir. Brooks
now resides. At that time (1899) the coun-
try round about was all heavily timbered.
The first farm he occupied here was a rented
one of twenty-five acres. In twelve years he
acquired one hundred and forty acres of his
own, all under cultivation. Part of this he
was obliged to buy on time, but by unremit-
ting effort he has made his place into a well
improved and prosperous farm. All the im-
provements have been put on the place since
he bought it.
In 1891 Mr. Brooks was made deputy
4J5:/L
<^^^-^
HISTORY OF SOUTHEAST MISSOURI
1027
sheriff of the county. In 1903 he was elected
to the ofBce of sherijf on the Democratic ticket
and served two terms, and he is a candidate,
subject to the Democratic primary election in
August, 1912, for the same office. j\Ir.
Brooks is a member of the ilutual Protective
League and of the Woodmen of the World.
His church is the Jlethodist, South, to. which
both he and his wife belong, ilrs. Brooks
was ]Mrs. Ford, of Kennett, before her mar-
riage to Mr. Brooks in 1908. She has no
children of her own but ]Mr. Brooks' three
sons and three daughters by his tirst wife
are all still at home. These are Maud, Lau-
rence, De Witt, Page, Eleanor and Percy.
John H. Zimmerman. "It is less credit-
able for a man to remain in the house than to
attended to things out of doors, "wrote a fa-
mous Greek author some two thousand years
ago. And then he expatiates on that topic
which more modern- writers think they have
discovered, the fact that the farm produces
superior citizens. While our present indus-
trial system will afford that advantageous
training to a more and more limited propor-
tion of our young men, we can but congratu-
late ourselves on the fact that the Jliddle
West is still predominantly agricultural and
that our farmers still make up a large part
of our population.
Mr. Zimmerman is a farmer and the son of
a farmer. His father, George R. Zimmerman,
was a native of North Carolina, who came to
Missouri in the first half of the nineteenth
century. His wife. Lucinda Haley Zimmer-
man, was born in ^Missouri. John Zimmer-
man was born in Bollinger county, in 1854,
and grew up on a fann. He was married in
1877 to Drucilla IMcKerby. Her father. Dr.
Aaron McKerby, was a physician and a Bap-
tist minister in Bollinger county, where he
also served as presiding .judge of the county
court.
In the year of his marriage Mr. Zimmer-
man started out to farm for himself and
boudit a quarter section of land four miles
west of Glen Allen. In 1884 he traded this
for a tract of two hundred and forty acres
north of Glen Allen, and he still owns and
operates this farm.
I\Ir. Zimmerman is a member of the IMa-
soTiie order pnd also of the lodffe of the Odd
Fellows. His political party is that of the
Democrats and his church membership is in
the Methodist denomination.
The Zimmerman family numbers four chil-
dren, two of whom are married. Elery, born
in 1879. married Octie King, and Rufus, four
years younger, is wedded to I\Iyrtle Ward.
Orville, born in 1881, and Rosco, in 1905, are
still in their parents' household.
F. A. Mayes. For over thirty years Dr.
Mayes' history has been identified with that
of Diuiklin and Pemiscot counties and it is
safe to say that few of its citizens have
evinced a livelier interest in the welfare of
the community than he has. He has been ac-
tive not only in his profession — in itself one
of the most philanthropic occupations — but
every movement for better education, for
more churches, for public improvements of
every sort found in him a generous supporter
and an influential champion.
Dr. Slaves was born in Nashville. Tennes-
see, in 1849. Twenty yeai-s later he moved to
western Tennessee and stayed there for a few
years. This was after he had completed the
knoxville High School. The state senator
had the privilege of appointing two students
to go to this school and the Doctor was one of
the chosen students. In 1871 Dr. IMayes went
to the Nashville IMedical Colles'e and took a
two years' course. After finishing there he
went to Louisville and spent some months as
a graduate student. Fi-om Louisville Dr.
Mayes went to Dexter. IMissouri, and in 1877,
after two years spent in Dexter, he moved to
Maiden, which was his hom.e for a quarter of
a century.
Wlien Dr. ilayes settled in Maiden it was
only a tiny village and there were very few
physicians in the county. He had been mar-
ried three years before in Union City. Ten-
nessee, to Miss Emma Ownby. a young lady
who had been brought up in Tennessee, in
which state she was born in the year 1855.
Upon coming to IMalden Dr. Mayes threw
himself heart and soul into his profession and
into all the enterprises for the good of the
new town. He built up an extensive practice
in jMalden and the surrounding country in
the days when the region was only a raw, un-
developed district and he has retained it in
the later stages of the county's growth.
Dr. ]\Iayes is a Democrat "clear through,"
and he held many minor offices in Dunklin
and Pemiscot counties. He contributed Erener-
ously to the schools and churches of Maiden
and was alwavs counted upon to help all ^ood
works both with money and influence. Fver
since 1876 he has been a member of the Free
and Accepted :Masons, of the Chapter at Ken-
1028
HISTORY OP SOUTHEAST MISSOURI
nett. He also holds membership in the
KJaight of Pythias and in the Odd Pellows.
In 1903 Dr. Mayes came to Hayti, where he
had established one of his sons in business
and since that time he has resided here. He
owns one of the finest homes in the to%vn and
has a large practice here also, which keeps
him busy all the time. He and his family
are members of the Christian church. His
daughter Carra is now Mrs. E. A. Baldwin,
of Kennett. His two sons are Von and
Clarence.
The recommendation, "Physician, heal thy-
self." could not be spoken to Dr. Mayes. He
has always been known as an athlete, is now
in perfect health and has never spent more
than three days in bed in his life, except as
the result of an accidental injury. He at-
tributes his vigor and health to the care he
has always taken of himself.
W. A. Pitman. An essentially representa-
tive agriculturist and stocki-aiser in Dunklin
county. Jlissouri. is W. A. Pitman, who is the
owner of a fine estate of two hundred and
eighty acres, eligibly located one and one-half
miles distant from Maiden, where he has re-
sided for the past twelve years. Mr. Pitman
was born in Dyer county. Tennessee, the date
of his nativity being the 2nd of October. 1856.
He is a son of Jordan and Caroline (Bird)
Pitman, both of whom are deceased. The
father died in Tennessee when the sub.ject of
this review was an infant of bat three months
old and after that sad event the bereaved
mother, with her two children, came to l\Iis-
souri. locating near ^Maiden. She died at the
home of her son W. A., in 1893. George "W.
Pitman, only brother of him whose name
forms the caption for this review, is now en-
gaged in farming in Dunklin county. He
married -\Iiss Susan Bailey and they are the
parents of five children.
W. A. Pitman was reared to maturity near
3Ialden. to whose excellent public schools he
is indebted for his preliminary educational
training. As a young man he became inter-
ested in farming operations and in 1878 he
purchased a tract of fort.y acres of land west
of Maiden from the Chateau Land Company.
Two years later he bought one hundred and
sixty acres ad.joining the original tract but
subsequently disposed of it. In 1899 he
bought one hundred and eighty acres of land
north of town and he has resided on the same
during the long intervening years to tbe pres-
ent time. His holdings, in 1911, amount to
three hundred and forty acres and his prin-
cipal crops consist of cotton, corn and
wheat. He also raises a great deal of stock
and in his various ventures has met witli
most gratifying success. He is a stalwart
supporter of his political proclivities and
gives freely of his aid and influence in sup-
port of all matters and enterprises pro-
jected for the good of the general welfare.
He is affiliated with a number of representa-
tive social and fraternal organizations of a
local character.
Mr. Pitman has been three times married.
In April, 1877. he wedded Adeline Baisin-
ger. who bore him seven children and who
was summoned to the life eternal. In Au-
gust, 1888, ]\Ir. Pitman was united in mar-
riage to Mrs. N. C. Sellers, widow of John
Sellers. To this union was born one child,
who died a few days after its mother. For
his third wife 'Mr. Pitman married Agnes
E. Laine, this ceremonv having been per-
formed on the 30th of August, 1884. Con-
cerning the five children born to this union
the following brief data are here incor-
porated,— Carrie B., born on the 8th of Oc-
tober, 1885, is the wife of Joseph ilack-
moore, who resides near the Pitman home-
stead, and they have four children; Joans A.
died at the age of two months, on the
21st of November. 1886: Samuel T.. whose
birth occurred on the 23d of January. 1887,
is now residing at the parental home, as is
also Naddie, born on the 11th of February,
1889; and Franklin B. died on the 31st of
December, 1891, at the age of two months.
Mr. and Mrs. Pitman are honored and es-
teemed by their fellow citizens because of
their exemplary lives and innate kindliness
of spirit. Their attractive home is re-
nowned as a center of generous hospitality
and it is the scene of many happy social
gatherings.
James W. Lynx. A loyal and public-
spirited citizen, who has gained distinctive
prestige as an agriculturist and stockraiser
in the close vicint.v of Clarkton, Dunklin
county, Missouri, is James W. Lynn, who
is the owner of a fine estate of one hundred
and sixt.v acres. He was born in ^IcLean
county, Kentucky, on the 7th of October,
1871, and is a son of Rufus and Arabella
(Van Horn) Lynn, both of whom are liv-
ing at the present time, in 1911, their home
being on a farm near Campbell, Missouri.
Mr. and Mrs. Rufus Lynn became the par-
HISTORY OF SOUTHEAST MISSOURI
1029
euts of sis ciiildi-en, concerning whom the
following record is here inserted, — James
■\Y. is the immediate subject of this review ;
Rosa is the wife of D. A. Schneider, of
Campbell, where he is engaged in the insur-
ance business; Henry M. married a Dunklin
county girl and they reside in Oklahoma;
Jennie B. lives at home with her parents,
as do also John and Molly. The Lynn fam-
ily migrated from the old Blue Grass com-
monwealth to Missouri in the winter of 1880
and the family home was established three
miles northwest of Clarkton, on a farm.
James W. Lynn, of this notice, was
reared to the age of nine years in Kentucky
and after his parents' removal to Missouri
he received his educational training in the
district schools and in the public schools of
Clarkton. He continued to reside at home
with his father, assisting him in the work
and management of the homestead until his
marriage, in 1895. For five years after that
important event he farmed on a rented
estate and in 1900 he went to ilcLean
county, Kentucky, where he remained for
one year. Returning to Dunklin county,
Missouri, in 1901, he bought a farm of forty
acres from C. C. Capshaw, this land being
located near Clarkton and forming the nu-
cleus of his present fine homestead. Later he
bought forty acres of land from Jim Clem,
and in 1907 he purchased forty acres from
the Shelton heirs. He is also three-fourths
owner of another forty acres adjoining his
farm. He is engaged in diversitied agricul-
ture and the raising of high-gradi^ stock and
is achieving a most marvelous success in
both these lines of enterprise. He is pos-
sessed of fine, practical business ability and
is everywhere recognized as a man of fair
and honorable methods. He is affiliated
with the Republican party. In their relig-
ious adherency he and his wife are consist-
ent members of the Baptist church at ilount
Gilead and they are active workers in behalf
of its philanthropical projects.
On the 30th of January. 189.5. Mr. Lynn
was united in marriage to Miss Rosa Shel-
ton, a daughter of W. H. Shelton and a na-
tive of Dunklin county. Mr. and ilrs. L\'nn
are the parents of four children, whose
names are here entered in respective order
of birth. — Verna, Parolee. Olive and Alva
R.. all of whom are attending school.
Harry B. Belt has lived an interesting
life and had left the imprint of his personal-
ity upon divers enterprises before he came
to" New ^Madrid in 1908, where he has since
become the partner of Francis L. Steel in
the general abstract, loan and real estate bus-
iness. He was born in Saint Louis, the date
of his nativity being September 20, 1858, and
he was the son of Henry B. and Margaret A.
(Reynolds) Belt. His mother at present
makes her home in New Madrid, aged eighty-
seven years in January, 1912, but the father
died in 1881.
Harry B. Belt, while naturally gifted
■\\ith the qualities that bring success in the
business world, has a very considerable debt
to pay to the exceptional educational ad-
vantages which as a boy and young man he
was able to enjoy. After his preparatory
work he attended the Washington University
at Saint Louis, Missouri, and graduated from
that institution in the class of 1874. He then
attended the Missouri State School of iliues,
and finished his course there in 1878, having
prepared himself to be a mining and civil
engineer.
Mr. Belt did not, however, put his tech-
nical knowledge to the usual occupation, and
for two years he represented a publishing
house and traveled out of Kansas City, after
which he accepted a position in the Continen-
tal Bank of Saint Louis and worked on in-
dividual books, as well as fulfilling the duties
of exchange clerk. The succeeding four years
he spent in the auditor 's office of the Missouri
Pacific Railroad. Following that he went to
Memphis, Tennessee, where for twelve years
he was employed in the land department of
the Louisville, New Orleans and Texas Rail-
road. From thence he went to Clarksdale,
Missouri, and entered the abstract business,
remaining with the company he started for
two and a half years.
In 1908 he came to add his vigor to the
business life of New Madrid, and went into
the New Madrid Title and Abstract Company
for the first year, finally, as before stated,
forming a partnership with Francis L. Steel,
which is now one of the trustworthy and
stable enterprises of New Madrid.
In 1887, in Kirkr^vood. Jli.ssouri, Mr. Belt
was united in marriage to Miss Aura Mills.
She passed away five years later at Memphis,
Tennessee, leaving two children, Alice E.,
who has since become the wife of a Mr.
Belts, of Saint Louis, and IMargaret R. Belt,
who remains at home with her father.
Fraternally Mr. Belt is connected with the
Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks,
1030
HISTORY OF SOUTHEAST MISSOURI
Herd No. 27, of Memphis, Tennessee. At
the polls he supports the principles and men
advocated by the Democratic party. He is a
Presbyterian.
0. B. Coats is general manager of the stave
mill which operates in Lilbourn under the
name of 0. B. Coats & Company. This plant
is one that covers three acres and has a ca-
pacity of one million five hundred thousand
staves every twelve months. It employs forty
men and is one of the largest industrial con-
cerns in the county. Large as this establish-
ment is, it does not represent Mr. Coats' en-
tire interest in business nor even his entire
holdings in the lumber milling enterprise.
The company, composed of himself, his cousin,
J. A. Coats, and his brother, Herman Coats,
have another mill at Rector, Arkansas. The
flourishing business has been built \ip from
the very foundation by the owners, with little
or no capital to start on. During the first
eighteen months the company shipped a hun-
dred car loads of staves.
0. B. Coats was born in Greenfield, Tennes-
see, in 1866, on October 15th. His father was
in straitened circumstances and not able to do
much for his family. Until he was twenty-
four Mr. Coats lived on the home farm. At
the age of twenty his father gave him a horse
worth seventy-five dollars. He worked on the
farm two years after this then sold what he
had and went to school for a year. After
this he worked at hauling timber, (which he
also bought) until he was married, December
23, 1893, to iliss Lula Wingo, who was born
and reared in Tennessee.
After his marriage Mr. Coats farmed for
five years and then spent five more years in
the timber business. When he left Tennessee
he went to Kentucky, where he bought an in-
terest in a stave mill. He stayed in Kentucky
two years and then moved his plant to Puxico,
Missouri. After four years in Pusico, Mr.
Coats went to Greenway, Arkansas, where
with his brother and cousin he did a profit-
able business in the same line of work in
which he is still engaged. In 1910 Mr. Coats
moved to Lilbourn and took charge of the
plant here. The company have some timber
lands near Lilbourn, and Mr. Coats himself
owns one hundred and twenty acres a mile
and a half west of town. In town he owns a
residence and several lots.
He is a Republican in matters of political
policy. His church is the Missionary Baptist.
Fraternally he is affiliated with the K. 0. T.
M. and the Modern "Woodmen, his member-
ship in both these lodges being in Puxico.
Four children have been born to Mr. and
Mrs. Coats, ail of whom are still at home.
They are Glennie, born in 1895; Annie, in
1898 ; Henry, in 1906 ; and Mattie, in 1909.
John W. Harris. A prominent and pros-
perous citizen of Gibson, John W. Harris, who
for six years, from 1904-1910, served as county
judge of Dunklin county, has here been suc-
cessfully engaged in general agriculture for
several years. He is a native of Tennessee,
his birth having occurred March 30, 1851, in
Benton county.
Left fatherless when a small child, Mr. Har-
ris was brought up by his grandparents,
whom he accompanied to Greene county,
Arkansas, in 1867. In 1869 he came with
them to Dunklin county, ilissouri, and for
two years or more assisted his grandfather in
the clearing and improving of a farm. Be-
ginning the battle of life on his own account
in 1871, he purchased seventy-three acres of
land on the Saint Francois, and there began
his business career. Energetic, resolute and
persevering, he cleared much of the land, and
continued its management until 1890, when he
sold out and moved to Oklahoma, where he re-
sided three years. Going from there to Frank-
lin county, Arkansas, Mr. Harris bought a
farm and carried on mixed husbandry until
selling his land, in 1895. Returning to Dunk-
lin county, Missouri, in 1896, jMr. Harris
rented land for six years, and then bought
his present fine farm of one hundred and
forty acres, which is one of the most desirable
in the neighborhood, being well supplied with
convenient buildings and all the appliances
for carrying on his work after the most ap-
proved modern methods.
Mr. Harris is one of the leading Democrats
of the coimty, and has served his fellowmen
in various public offices of trust and respon-
sibility. In 1878 he was elected constable of
Holcomb township, and held the position four
years. He has served as roadmaster, and has
served six years as county judge, having been
elected to the position in 1904-, re-elected in
1906, and again in 1908. He was at one time
a candidate for probate judge, but was de-
feated at the polls. Fraternally he is a mem-
ber of Four Jlile Lodge, No. 212, Ancient
Free and Accepted Order of Masons, at
Campbell ; of Freeboim Lodge, No. 290, In-
dependent Order of Odd Fellows, in which he
has passed all the chairs; and is also a mem-
HISTORY OF SOUTHEAST jMISSOURI
1031
ber of the local Encampment, having been
secretarj- of the subordinate organization for
six years. He belongs to the jMissionary Bap-
tist church, and for a number of years has
been a deacon in the church.
Mr. Harris married first, in 1870, Mary
Brown, who died April 20, 1879, leaving two
children, William A., born April 6, 1871,
and James jM., born May 10, 1874, both farm-
ers in Dunklin county; R. J., born November
6, 1872, died in 1879. Mr. Harris married
for his second wife July 29, 1879, Almira Ben-
son, born in 1861, a daughter of William and
Jane (Wildman) Benson, and to them the fol-
lowing children have been born: Dora, born
August 6, 1880, wife of F. C. Curd, a farmer
living near Holcomb; H. L., born January 21,
1882, died September 10, 1884; Lily, born
]\Iarch 13, 1884, and who married Henry
Barnes, received a first-grade certificate after
leaving school, and subsequently taught school
seven years; Florence, born June 24, 1886,
wife of D. C. Morrow, who is a well-known
merchant of Gibson; Grover C, born Febru-
ary 23, 1888, station agent at Holcomb, Mis-
souri; May, born May 5, 1890, formerly a
student at the Cape Girardeau Normal School
and now teaching at Schumach; Dee, born
November 21, 1892; Velma, born November
25, 1897, died September 15, 1899 ; and Susan,
born November 25, 1899.
Alfonse DeLisle. Perhaps no family has
been more closely identified with the fortunes
of New Madrid county or contributed more
men of sterling worth and progressiveness to
the business life of Portageville than the De-
Lisle family, of whose elan Alfonse DeLisle is
a typical and substantial representative.
Alfonse DeLisle is the son of Eustace and
Clemence (Meatt) DeLisle. the former of
whom was born in Missouri and died here in
January, 1897, and the latter of whom was
born in this countj' and passed away in New
Madrid county on September 26, 1887. _ He
was the grandson of Eustace and Philine
(Pikey) DeLisle, both of whom were born in
the land of the fleur-de-lis, and immigrated
to the new world in compan.v with a brother,
John DeLisle, some time after tho close of the
Revolutionary war. The father of Alfonse
DeLisle followed the great basic industry of
agriculture, and attained both prominence
and respect in the eommunit.v, where he is
still remembered for his hearty co-operation
in whatever was broached for the general wel-
fare.
His early life Mr. DeLisle spent amid the
suri'oundings of his father's farm, and there
gained the substantial foundations of a suc-
cessful life, good health and a respect for
honest labor. He attended the district school
and helped with the hardy outdoor labor of
the farm until he reached his twentieth year.
In that year he took his little savings of two
hundred dollars and went to work in the store
of his brothers, Ambrose and Edward, known
as the DeLisle Brothers. Ambrose died in
1875, and in 1878 Edward and Alfonse
formed a partnership, which continued until
1900, when the establishment was enlarged
under the caption of the DeLisle Store. In
1906 J. J. DeLisle was added to the firm and
the business reorganized as the DeLisle Sup-
ply Company. With a fine patronage to start,
and an adherence to strict business principles,
under the able presidency of Alfonse DeLisle,
the store has developed into a mercantile in-
stitution with an annual business record of
one hundred and fifty thousand dollars.
Besides the presidency of the DeLisle Sup-
ply Company, Jlr. DeLisle heads the list of
officers of the Pinkley Store Company, is a
stockholder and first vice-president of the De-
Lisle Lumber and Box Company, and vice-
president of that substantial monetary insti-
tution, the Bank of Portageville.
In 1880 Mr. DeLisle was united in mar-
riage to Miss Modest Meatt, who died October
2, 1893, the daughter of Edward and Modest
Meatt. The issiie of their union were : Stella,
born in 1881 ; Lewis, in 1884, and now assist-
ant cashier in the Bank of Portageville ; and
Virgie, born in December, 1892. On October
10, 1905, Mr. DeLisle laid the foundations of
his present happy and hospitable home by his
marriag;e on that date to Miss Mary 0 'Connor,
of Fredericktown, Madison county. Their
children are Francis W., now five years old;
Ellen R,, aged three; and Mary L., a baby of
fifteen months.
Mr. DeLisle and his family conform to the
CathoUe faith, as has his family back to the
daj'S when they lived in France. Fraternally
j\Ir. DeLisle is a member of the Knights of
Columbus, and is also affiliated with the
Woodmen of the World. In the realm of poli-
tics his opinions coincide with those promul-
gated by the Democratic party, and he has
served the community in which he lives as
alderman from the Second ward for a period
of eight years, and for six years on the School
Board.
1032
HISTORY OF SOUTHEAST MISSOURI
D. W. BuRFOED. The father of D. W. Bur-
ford, K. P. Burford, practiced two of the
learned professions. He was born in Tennes-
see, was a lawyer of Effingham, Illinois, and in
1852, two years before the birth of D. W. Bur-
ford, began the practice of medicine in Barry
county, Missouri. After six years of resi-
dence here he removed to Cape Girardeau
county, where he lived until 1892 — thirty-
four years. From there he came to Lutesville
and remained in this city until his death at
the age of ninety. He passed away on April
5 1910. D. W. Burford 's mother died in 1864,
at the age of thirty-seven. Dr. Burford
brought up a family of seven children.
D. W. Burford was educated in the country
schools of Cape Girardeau county. He be-
gan teaching at the age of twenty-four and
taught for nine years. In 1885 he went into
the general merchandise business at Gravel
Hill, in the same county where he had gone to
school. For nine years he carried on his es-
tablishment there and then came to Lutes-
ville, where he has been for the past eighteen
years. He is in partnership with his step-
mother and they own a stock valued at nine
thousand dollars, as well as the building in
which they do business. Mrs. Burford be-
came the wife of Dr. Burford in 1865. She
was formerly Sophia Price, of Lafayette
county, Missouri. Her parents, Thomas and
Lavinia Price, are old residents of Lafayette
county, where the father was a farmer and a
millwright. Mrs. Price w^as born in Mary-
land.
In 1876 D. W. Burford was married to Miss
Sophia C. Kinder. Her parents are Alfred E.
and Matilda Estes Kinder, of Cape Girardeau
county. The only child of this marriage is
Roscoe Burford, born in 1885. He is at pres-
ent at Dexter, Missouri, where he is station
agent for the Iron Mountain Railway. He is
married to Vera, daughter of David Clip-
pard, of Marble Hill, and has one daughter,
Eloise.
In the lodge of the Ancient Order of United
Workmen, Mr. Burford is recorder, and he
serves in the same capacity for the K. 0. T. M.
He is also a member of the Odd Fellows fra-
ternity. In his lodges, as in all other rela-
tions with his fellow-citizens, Mr. Burford is
an esteemed and popular member.
Dr. E. E. Jones is the second physician to
locate in Lilbourn. His predecessor in the
profession killed himself. Dr. Jones has been
in the town onlv since 1007, and in that time
has built up a large practice. His field ex-
tends to ilarston on the south and to New
Madrid on the east. For one year before
coming to Lilbourn, he practiced with his
brother, Dr. C. H. Jones, of Brunot, in Wayne
county. Missouri.
Dr. Jones received his medical education at
St. Louis, in the Ajmeriean Medical College,
where he attended four years and graduated
in 1906, near the head of his class. He pur-
sued the Eclectic course while in school.
He received his literary education at Concor-
dia Cpllege, Wayne county, Missouri, secur-
ing his B. S. degree, and later attended the
Cape Girardeau Normal.
Two years after coming to Lilbourn Dr.
Jones was married to Miss Anna Thompson,
who was born at Petrolea, Ontario, Canada.
They have two children, Charles Edward,
born February 17, 1910, and Corliss Lee, born
September 21, 1911.
Dr. Jones is a member of the National Ec-
lectic Medical Society and also of the medical
society of the state and of the county. Like
most of the successful men of the middle west,
he grew up on a farm. Iron county, Missouri,
was his birthplace and his home until he went
away to school. When he settled in Lilbourn
in 1907, he was still paying for his education,
and in the four years of his stay here he has
built up a remarkably good practice for so
short a time.
Edward 0. Taylor. Among the practical
and progressive agi-iculturists of Dunklin
county is Edward 0. Taylor, of Campbell,
whose energy, ability and excellent business
tact have won him an assured position among
the prominent husbandmen of this section of
the state and made him an important factor
in the advancement of its farming interests.
He was born September 3, 1870, in Dunklin
county, Missouri, a son of the Lee J. Taylor,
Sr., of whom a brief biographical sketch may
be found on another page of this volume, in
connection with that of Lee J. Taylor, his son.
Receiving a good common-school education
in the public schools, Edward 0. Taylor be-
gan work as a wage earner when seventeen
years old, and for seven years was employed
as clerk in a mercantile establishment. His
natural inclinations turning towards the rural
occupation to which he was reared, he then
purchased one hundred and twenty acres of
the land now included in his present farm,
and afterwards increased its acreage by the
purchase of forty acres of adjacent land. He
HISTOKT OP SOUTHEAST MISSOURI
1033
has all but twenty acres of his farm under
siiltivatiou, and his improvements on the
place are excellent and valuable, reflecting
credit upon his wisdom and good manage-
ment. Mr. Taylor's farn\ is well drained and
fenced, and admirably adapted to the grow-
ing of corn, wheat, oats and hay, his principal
crops, which bring him a handsome annual
income. He likewise makes a specialty, to
some extent, of stock raising, having now
eight horses, eight head of cattle, thirty shoep,
three hundred and fifty chickens and thi'ty
fine Duroc Jersey hogs.
Mr. Taylor married, in 1899, Mamie Mo^ •
ton, a daughter of Henry Stalling and Fran
ces (Chandler) Morton, residents of Humans-
ville, Missouri, and they have one child. Van,
born June 22, 1900. Religiously Mr. Taylor
and bis wife are faithful members of the
Methodist Episcopal church. South, which he
has served as steward for four years. Fra-
ternally he is a member of Campbell Lodge,
No. 212, Ancient Free and Accepted Order of
Masons. Politically he uniformly casts his
vote in support of the Democratic ticket.
John N. Barnes has put his hand to a va-
riety of things, including the plough, in the
forty-five years of his life, and he has guided
them all with success. He was born in Pemis-
cot county, near Portageville, in 1866. and at-
tended the subscription and the public schools
in that county and in New JIadrid, near
Point Pleasant. In 1889 he was married and
for four j-ears thereafter ran his mother's
farm.
Mr. Barnes' next enterprise was a general
merchandise store at Hayward, at which place
he was also postmaster. The venture was a
success, but at the end of three years its pros-
perous course was ciit off by a fire, which en-
tirely destroyed the stock. Mr. Barnes then
bought a place and farmed for a year, and
next spring moved to Stewart's Landing and
took care of two government lights on the
river. The following February he returned
to Hayward and in July of the same year
moved to Hayti and biiilt a home. There he
remained four months and then traded the
property in Hayti for a store in Hayward.
For three years Mr. Barnes did a thriving
trade in Hayward and then traded his store
for thirty acres of cleared land in Pemiscot
count, near Portageville. He rented the
farm and built his present home in town.
Later he sold his land and built the brick
block, eighty by twenty-five feet, which he
still owns. In 1901 and 1902 he worked on
the railway and did carpenter work. He com-
pleted his building in 1904 and from 1905 to
1909 clerked in Mr. Marr's store in Portage-
ville. The next year he purchased a half in-
terest in the Portageville Mill Company, and
after keeping it a year traded it for two
lots and a two-story house in town. Two
years before he had bought a merry-go-round,
Avhich he also traded for a house and lots after
running it seven months.
Mrs. Barnes is the daughter of Mike Fisher,
a farmer, born in Tennessee in 1819. He
lived ty be eighty-three years old, dying in
this county in 1902. Her mother was Mary
Liggett Fisher, also a native of Tennessee,
who died in Pemiscot county in 1883, at the
age of thirty-six. Lucy Belle Fisher Barnes
was born in Pemiscot county in 1873. Her
two children, Cecil, born September 24, 1896,
and Mary M., born July 12, 1900, are both at
home. Mrs. Barnes is a person of unusual
executive ability and broad interests. She is
an active worker in the Methodist church,
where her efficiency makes her partake of the
portion of all willing and efficient workers —
that of being chosen to manage matters. She
is president of the Ladies' Aid Society now
for the third year. Previous to this she held
the office of treasurer for five years. Besides
this she has taught in the Sunday-school for
seven years. In the lodges of Portageville
Mrs. Barnes belongs to the Knights and
Ladies of Honor and to the Eastern Star, in
which she has held office. She was formerly
connected with the Ben Hur and with the
Mystic Workers. Mr. Barnes is a Woodman
of the World, a Modern Woodman and a
Mason. In the last mentioned fraternity he
has served two years as clerk, and in the 'first
was four years banker. His political affilia-
tion is with the Democratic party.
George H. Tratlor, one of New Madrid's
most efficient law;\'ers, has become very well
known during the dozen years that he has re-
sided in the town. Not only has his profes-
sional career been of an exceptionally bril-
liant nature, but he has also become identified
with the civic and political prosperity of New
Madrid. There is no more public-spirited
man in the county than ]\Ir. Traylor, nor one
who has been more active in the furtherance
of all matters of common betterment. A brief
recital of the leading events of his life will
1034
HISTORY OP SOUTHEAST MISSOURI
serve to show that he has well earned the ap-
probation which he has gained in New Mad-
rid.
Mr. Traylor is a Kentuckiau, as was his
fathei-. William Traylor, the grandfather,
was born in North Carolina, there spent his
boyhood days, there engaged in agi-icultural
pursuits and there married, removing subse-
quently to Caldwell county, Kentucky. In
course of time four sous, — Jerry, Mage, E. M.
and Hill H., — were born to Mr. and Mrs.
Traylor, and in 1838 the family moved from
their Kentucky home to Missouri ; they settled
on a one-hundred-and-sixty acre tract of land
some ten miles noi-th of New Madrid and were
proceeding to bring the wild land under culti-
vation when the death of Fanny, the wife and
mother, interrupted the quiet tenor of the
family life. Mr. Traylor, not caring to re-
main on the farm, sold the entire one hundred
and sixty acres for the sum of thirty dollars
and returned to his old home in Kentucky,
after only three years' absence. This same
land, owned by C. D. Matthews, is today
worth one hundred and fifty dollars per acre.
Mr. William Traylor took up the broken
thread of his life in Kentucky, and remained
there for the residue of his days, his demise
occurring in the year 1868.
George H. Traylor 's father, Jerry, was
born July 15, 1834, and when he was four
years of age he accompanied his parents and
brothers to Missouri. He remembered little
of his life on the farm near New Madrid, as
he was only seven years old when the family
returned to Kentucky, leaving the mother in
the Ogden cemetery. New Madrid county.
Jerry Traylor attended school in Kentucky
and when he had finished his education he
commenced to farm. In 1861 he was married
to Amanda Towery, who bore him five chil-
dren,— Sanford, who died at the age of nine
.years ; George, the distinguished lawyer whose
name initiates this sketch; Mary J., born in
October, 1866, in Kentucky; William E.,
whose birth occurred April 10, 1869; and
Frogge, the date of whose nativity was 1871,
and who resides in Mississippi county, Mis-
souri. Father Traylor remained in Kentucky
iintil 1897. when he moved to Mississippi
county, Missouri, and died there in August,
1899. Besides his family and his farm Mr.
Traylor had two absorbing interests — his
church (he and his wife holding membership
in the Methodist church) and the Farmers'
Union . Mrs. Jerry Traylor 's demise occurred
in December, 1905, in Mississippi county, Mis-
souri, and husband and wife are both buried
in the Charleston cemetery. .
George H. Traylor, the eldest living son of
his parents, was born in Caldwell county,
Kentucky, April 27, 1864. His preliminary
educational training was obtained in the pub-
lic school during the winter, while in the sum-
mer he assisted his father with the farm work.
In the winter of 1888 and 1889 he took a gen-
eral course at the male and female academy
at Providence, Kentucky. He then went to
live with Ids maternal grandfather, taking
charge of his large business interests, and in
1890 and 1891 he attended the Bethel College
at Russellville, Kentucky, entering the scien-
tific department. At the close of the school
year he returned to his grandfather's home,
remaining there until 1894, when the old
gentleman was summoned to his last rest.
George Traylor had long been possessed of
the desire to become a lawyer, but until now
he had found no opportunity to fit himself for
the profession. On the demise of his grand-
father, he determined to wait no longer, but
to commence his legal studies. He entered
the ofiice of Harry Ward, of Marion, Ken-
tucky, and under the able guidance of that
learned gentleman, Mr. Traylor made steady
headway, being admitted to the bar at Prince-
ton, Kentucky, on the 9th day of March, 1898.
The following year, in the month of March,
he came to New Madrid, where he commenced
his legal practice alone. His success has been
assured from the very commencement of his
career. He was appointed probate judge to
fill out the unexpired term of the deceased
judge, and his record in that high office was
irreproachable — his rulings characterized by
their justness, combined with leniency. For
two terms he has served in the capacity of
city attorney.
On the 26th day of March, 1897, the year
before Mr. Traylor moved to ilissouri, he was
united in marriage to Miss Rosa Davis, born
March 6, 1877, at Shady Grove, Kentuclg^,
where her parents, H. C. and Fanny Davis,
were well-known residents. Mr. and Mrs.
Traylor are now the parents of one child,
Reba Gould, who was born October 6, 1901, at
New Madrid, IMissouri. Both husband and
wife are members of the Methodist church,
South, at New Madrid, and in a fraternal way
Mr. Traylor is affiliated with the Modem
Woodmen of America. In politics he has ever
been staunch to the Republican party, which
in turn has appreciated the signal efforts he
has put forth by electing him to public office.
HISTORY OF SOUTHEAST MISSOURI
1035
In Febriiaiy, 1911, he was appointed to the
position of post-master of New Madrid, and he
is so systematic in his arrangement of his
time and so possessed of executive ability that
he is able to perform the duties which devolve
on him as post-master while he is also carry-
ing on his private legal practice.
Leonard Lee Lefleb. One of the leading
pharmacists of Pemiscot county, Leonard Lee
Lefler is well established in Hayti, where he
has built up a substantial and lucrative drug
business, which he manages with undisputed
success, being assisted in the store by his
father, Columbus L. Leffler. A native of
Pemiscot county, he was born August 25,
1879, on the paternal side being of honored
French ancestry. His grandfather. Levi
Lefller, was born in the city of Paris, France,
in the latter part of the eighteenth century,
and as a young man immigi'ated to the United
States. He married Narcissis Dorris, who
born in Kentucky, in 1794, and died, in 1857,
in Pemiscot county, Missouri, where they
settled in pioneer days.
Columbus L. Leffler, who retains the orig-
inal spelling of his surname, keeping the two
" fE 's, " was born on a farm in Pemiscot coun-
ty, Missouri, April 10, 1854, and was educated
in the subscription schools. For many years
after attaining his majority he was engaged in
farming and lumbering, owning and operat-
ing saw mills, buying and selling timber, and
cultivating the soil. ]Moving to Hayti in 1897,
he was for a time engaged in the timber busi-
ness, and for two years served as city marshal.
He subsequently bought ovit a grocery, which
he conducted successfully until selling his
store and stock to Mr. Allen, since which time
he has worked in the drug store of his son
Leonard.
On November 26, 1876, Columbus L. Leffler
married Mary Jane Wilson, who was born in
Tennessee, January 1, 1861, and their only
child, Leonard Lee. is the special subject of
this brief biographical sketch.
On leaving school Leonard Lee Lefler began
learning the drug business, for fourteen years
serving as a clerk for druggists in different
places in Missouri, first in New :Madrid, later
in Charleston, and then in Cairo. He is now
a registered pharmacist, thoroughly ac-
quainted with the details of the drug business,
his large store at Hayti, where he enjoys a
business amounting annually to eighteen
thousand dollars, being one of the finest
stocked and equipped in Southeastern Mis-
souri.
Politically both Mr. Lefler and his father
are steadfast Democrats. Fraternally both are
members of the Ancient Free and Accepted
Order of Masons; of the Woodmen of the
World; and of the Independent Order of
Odd Fellows, in which the father has served
as treasurer and as financial secretary.
Mr. Lefler married Hattie Dunmire, who
died March 16, 1905, at the birth of their only
child, Ernest D. Lefler. On September 30,
1911, ilr. Lefler married Miss Ada Dorris.
C. M. Baenes was born in New Madrid
county, two and a half miles east of ]\Iarston,
on the 19th of July, 1873, his parents being
S. S. and Laura Marston Barnes. He began
his education in the country schools and when
he was eight his family moved to New ^ladrid
but after one year in that town they moved to
the farm again and remained there until 1886.
At this date they settled in New Madrid and
remained there until C. IM. of this sketch was
grown.
In 1891 Mr. Barnes entered the preparatory
department of the State University of Mis-
souri, and after two years in that course en-
tered the collegiate department, from which
he graduated in 1898. While in the univer-
sity Mr. Barnes took work in literature, peda-
gogics, history and social science. He gradu-
ated with the degree of Bachelor of Letters.
After graduation ]Mr. Barnes went with the
cadets to the Spanish-American war. During
his course he had been prominent in all stu-
dent activities, serving as local editor of the
university paper, the M. S. U. Independent.
He enlisted in the army as a private, but was
appointed first lieutenant of Company M,
Fourth Missouri U. S. V. I., by Adjutant-Gen-
eral Bell of Jlissouri. Mr. Barnes was regi-
mental engineer and range officer. He spent
three months in Virginia and the same period
of time in Pennsylvania and South Carolina,
being mustered out February 10, 1899.
Upon returning to New iladrid Mr. Barnes
took charge of a small railway (St. Louis and
Memphis), now belonging to the Frisco sys-
tem. This division was fourteen miles in
length and had been purchased by Mr.
Barnes' father in 1899. For two years the
son was superintendent of this road, hav-
ing studied civil engineering a little while in
the university. The father sold oiit his inter-
est in the road in 1901.
Mr. Barnes was married in 1899 to Miss
1036
HISTORY OF SOUTHEAST MISSOURI
Emma Atkins, of Poplar BlufE, Missouri. She
was born August 12, 1880, and was married
on I\Iay 10, some two months before her nine-
teenth* birthday. After his marriage, Mr.
Barnes went to Everett, Washington, and
worked in a wholesale house for five months.
When he returned to Missom-i he took charge
of the Barnes Store Company in Marston.
This corporation was organized in New Mad-
rid in 1886, the Barnes family being the
members of the firm. When the Marston
branch was established there was only one
store in town. ilr. Barnes has been at the
head of it ever since it was started and is now
the vice president of the company. The store
handles general merchandise and has practi-
cally all the trade of the town, with an in-
creasing business. Other interests which he
has in ilarstou besides his mercantile business
are the Bank of JMarston and the :Marston
Realty Company, in both of which he is a
stockholder. He also owns real estate in the
town. In December, 1911, he was appointed
by Governor Hadley a member of the State
Board of Agriculture and State Fair Board
from the Fourteenth Congressional District.
Ever since coming to Marston Mv. Barnes
has been the postmaster of the town. The of-
fice is a fourth class one at present. In the
lodges of the town he is a prominent member.
He belongs to the historic Masonic fraternity
and is first noble grand of the ilarstou lodge
of the Odd Fellows and clerk of the ilodern
Woodmen. He is a member of the Presby-
terian church. His three children, C. Merlin,
junior, Asa and S. S., junior, are aU at home.
Edward Charles Hainks. Canada has
been generous in her endowment of New Mad-
rid comity with upright and progressive citi-
zens, for besides several other prominent busi-
ness men of Portageville, Edward Charles
Haines comes of her stock. He was born Oc-
tober 23, 1848, in Lower Canada, the son of
Charles and Emmaline (Perry) Haines, the
former of whom was a native of the city of
Jlontreal and the latter of whom also claimed
the Dominion as her birthplace, she being a
distant relative of the Commodore. They
moved to the ' ' States ' ' before the outbreak of
the Civil war, and both passed away in Dunk-
lin county. Missouri.
Edward Charles Haines has been in many
places and engaged in a variety of enterprises
and has seen both war and peace since he
came with his parents from the British com-
monwealth to the state of Indiana. There the
family stayed for fifteen years, and for seven
years Edward C. operated a timber concern
and a saw-mill. In 1864, when but sixteen
years of age, he felt the spirit of the new
country, and enlisted in her behalf in the One
Hundred and Thirty-eighth Indiana Volun-
teer Infantry, Company K, and served one
year. His company was the one detailed to
guard General LeRoy's headquarters at Tul-
lahoma, Tennessee.
After the cessation of strife Mr. Haines re-
turned to the pursuits of peace, and, going to
El Paso, Illinois, he engaged in the mercantile
business before settling in Dunklin count}',
where he farmed for two years, and then em-
barked in the saw-mill business and built a
saw-mill at Campbell when the Cotton Belt
was being constructed. It is interesting to
note that Mr. Haines used to own the present
site of Campbell. He remained there for
seven years before removing to Lottie, New
jMadrid count.y, where he had mercantile and
saw-mill interests for seven years. In 1899
he came to Portageville and opened a saw-mill
and later operated a box factory for a couple
of years. Mr. Haines is persistently energetic
and he has seldom been without two or three
saw-mills, with an eye always to new oppor-
tunities that should be of benefit to himself
and to the community. He has put up a sash
and door factory and also manufactures
staves, which he and his sou still own. Five
years ago he opened a general merchandise
and hardware store, and success has so at-
tended its operation that it is now one of the
largest stores in town, doing an annual busi-
ness of forty thousand dollars.
Wliile in Indiana, Mr. Haines established
a home of his own through his marriage, the
lady of his choice being Miss Louisa Morris.
The children of this union are as follows:
Frank, who manages a grist and saw-mill in
Portageville ; and Bert, who operates the sash
and door factory and the planing mills. Mr.
Haines contracted his second marriage \nth
Miss Sarah E. Davis, a daughter of George
McLeyea and Jane (McLe.vea'i Davis, promi-
nent old settlers of Dunklin count}-, who came
to Missouri when the state demanded all the
fortitude and steadfastness of true pioneering
to make life on the frontier a success. Mr.
and Mrs. Haines have no children. Both are
members of the Presbyterian church.
Though a busy man, Mr. Haines has ever
been willing to assume the duties of public
life when his fellow-citizens made demands
upon him. He was elected mayor of Portage-
HISTORY OF SOUTHEAST MISSOURI
1037
ville soon after his arrival, and has held that
office at various times since for four terms of
two j'ears each, and is the present incumbent
of the office. As a stalwart leader in local Re-
publican ranks he has served for several j-ears
as count.v central Republican committeeman.
Albert Tixdle. ]\Ir. Tindle's family has
been connected with the progress of Pemiscot
county since the early fifties and he himseli
has gained distinction — has performed many
useful acts for the betterment of the county,
and his efforts have received the recognition
which they merit. The great source of effi-
eiencj' in a man's life is the principle of re-
jection. Mr. Tindle would never have at-
tained the prominence which he now enjoys if
he had not possessed this discriminating qual-
ity to a very large extent. Not that he is a
negative quality bj' any means; on the other
hand he is most decidedlj' alive and full of en-
terprise, but he has put on one side all of
those things which, though good in them-
selves, have no part in his career. He has
known what to accept and what to reject —
where to trust and where to suspect ; he has
chosen this thing or that as the ones of all
others he would wish to liave in his own life ;
and the result is the man as he is today.
Mr. Tindle's grandfather. George W.
Tindle. was the first member of the family to
come to Missouri. His birth occurred on the
27th of January, 1825, at Shawneetown. Illi-
nois, where he received his ediication and en-
gaged in farming. In 1847 he married Miss
Elizabeth A. Dillard, a native of Tennessee,
where she was born in 1827, at Nashville. A
few years after their marriage the couple de-
termined to come to Missouri, and, packing
such household articles as they could readily
take with them, they embarked on a trading
boat and came do\\Ti the ilississippi river to
Pemiscot county. During the Civil war he
ran a woodyard or chute, which was kno^vn as
Island No. 16. and later bought a tract of
land near Caruthersville and followed agri-
cultural pursuits, at the same time conduct-
ing a general store in Caruthersville. He
took up his residence in the old frame build-
ing now standing on the corner of Third
street and Ward avenue, where he also estab-
lished his store. His house and the one now
known as Dr. Bell's building are the two old-
est buildings in Caruthersville. Grandfather
Tindle was ever interested in politics, voted
the straight Democratic ticket, but had no de-
sire for public office. He had a family of
eight children, two of whom died in infancy;
the names of the six who lived to maturity are
as follows, — Mary A., John A., Robert C.
(father of Albert Tindle), Eliza J., George
W.. Jr., William PI. George W. Tindle lived
to be seventy-four yeai"s of age, his death hav-
ing occurred in Caruthersville on the fourth
of July, 1899, four years after his wife's de-
mise, as she was summoned to the life eternal
March 2-1, 1895.
Robert C. Tindle, the third in order of
birth in the family of eight, was born October
27, 1851, in Pemiscot county (then called
New Madrid county), soon after his parents'
removal from Tennessee. His entire life was
passed in Caruthersville and its vicinity ; here
he was educated, here married to Miss Selina
L. Daniels, and here died in the month of
June, 1896, while his wife's death occurred
August 20, 1886. Husband and wife both lie
in the Eastwood cemeteiy at Caruthersville.
To the union of Mr. and Mrs. Tindle (whose
marriage took place February 28, 1877), one
child, Albert, was born.
Albert Clellan Tindle's nativity occurred
August 9, 1878, in Caruthersville, where the
first eight years of his life passed without
event, except that at about six years of age he
entered the public school. In 1886 his gentle
mother was removed from the family circle by
death, and the father and son lived together;
the lad continued his schooling, and after
graduating from the public school he had the
advantage of one session's instruction at the
state normal school at Cape Girardeau, his
course being literary and commercial. Wlaile
attending school in Caruthersville he worked
after hours and during his holidays in the
store of C. G. Shepard. At the age of eight-
een he secured a position in the Pemiscot
County Bank, and has remained with the
bank ever since. Entering as bookkeeper, his
promotion to the place of cashier soon fol-
lowed, in which capacity he is still serving,
with William A. Ward as president of the
bank.
When Mr. Tindle was twenty-four j^ears of
age (November 29, 1902"), he was married to
Miss Grace Roberts, daughter of Frank D.
and Sallie (Cunningham) Roberts, old resi-
defits of Caruthersville, where IMiss Grace was
born September 20, 1884. ilr. and ^Mrs. Tin-
dle now have a family of four fine boys, —
Albert G., Jr.. born August 15, 190.3 ; Joseph
R.. whose birth occurred February 6, 1905;
George L., the date of whose nativity is De-
cember 10. 1907: and Robert F., born De-
1038
HISTORY OF SOUTHEAST MISSOURI
eember 19, 1910. Mrs. Tindle is a member of
the Catholic church.
In a fraternal way Mr. Tindle is affiliated
with the Benevolent and Protective Order of
Elks and with the Masonic Order, having at-
tained to the thirty-second degree iu Scottish
Rite Masonry. While capably filling the posi-
tion of cashier of the bank, as mentioned
above, he does not devote his entire time to
those duties which devolve on a cashier, but
holds office in other organizations. He is the
president and a stockholder of the Missouri
Cotton Oil Compan.y, of the Famous Store
Company and of the People's Gin Company.
He is possessed of considerable executive abil-
ity, hence his election as president of these
corporations. All matters of public better-
ment receive a share of his attention and he
has held various civic offices at different times.
He has served on the board of aldermen for
two terms, and in 1908 he was elected to the
responsible position of mayor. During his
mayoralty the first real improvements on the
streets were made — twelve miles of concrete
sidewalks were laid, and his whole term was
conspicuous for its effectiveness.
"William L. Digges, although a young
physician, has attained considerable distinc-
tion in New Madrid. There is perhaps no
calling in life the success of which depends so
much on a man's personality, as well as his
abilities and efforts, as that of a physician,
and in both classes of these qualifications Dr.
Digges has been tlioroughly tested and fully
proven.
A native of Missouri, Dr. William Digges
was born at Moberly, November 9, 1874:. He
is the only son of Thomas Henry Digges, well
known in New Madrid in various connections ;
the father is a Virginian, born in Culpeper
county, that state, on the 13th of June, 1841.
Reared in his native county, Thomas Henry
Digges received his educational training at
Warrenton, Fauquier county, until he was
twenty years of age, at which time the war
cloud, which had long been hovering with
threatening aspect over the country, burst
upon the nation. Mr. Digges, with the enthu-
siasm of youth, hastened to lend his aid to the
Confederate army. He enlisted in the Black
Horse Company — an independent battalion —
but f3o many of its members were killed that
the survivors were placed in the Fourth Vir-
ginia Cavalry. Mr. Digges served throughout
the entire war, participated in both battles of
Manassas, and although he himself escaped
capture or injury, he was the witness of many
scenes of bloodshed from his position in the
thick of the fight. After the close of the war
he did not remain in Virginia long, but in the
j'ear 1867 traveled by waj' of St. Louis to
New Madrid, Missouri. His years of army
life had unfitted him for close, indoor work,
and he spent the ensuing three years as clerk
on a wharf boat. In 1870 he took up his resi-
dence at Moberly, Missouri, where he engaged
in the grocerj' business for the next three
years ; then he came back to New Madrid and
for perhaps a year he farmed a tract of land
which he rented. About 1875 he established a
warehouse in New Madrid, remaining in that
business until the New Madrid Bank (the first
bank in the county) was organized. Mr.
Digges, one of its promoters, was elected to
the office of president, and acted in that ca-
pacity, while at the same time continuing his
interest in the warehouse, until 1905, at which
date he came into the Commercial Bank as a
stockholder and director. In addition to the
connections already mentioned, he has inter-
ests in the insurance business and in an ice
and coal concern.
On the 9th day of April, 1872, Mr. Digges
was married to Miss Lizzie La Forge, daugh-
ter of Alfred A. and Laura (Dawson) La-
Forge, old and respected members of the com-
munity in which they lived. Born on the 1st
day of November, 1849, at New Madrid, Mrs.
Digges has spent practically her entire life
here and holds membership in the Catholic
church, the faith in which she was reared.
Mr. Digges has never dabbled much in poli-
tics, though he has ever been a firm adherent
of the Democratic party, whose platform he
believes contains the best elements of good
government. In fraternal connection he is
affiliated with the Ancient Order of United
Workmen.
Dr. Digges has no remembrance of his birth
place, as when he was but a babe the family
moved to New Madrid, where they have ever
since remained. When he was old enough he
entered the public school, completed the cur-
riculum prescribed, including a high school
course, then went to St. Louis, where he
entered the Christian Brothers College. In
1894, having determined to make the medical
profession his chosen calling, he matriculated
at the Washington University, and in April,
1897, was graduated from the medical depart-
ment of that institution. Returning to New
Madrid, he commenced the practice of medi-
cine in partnership with Dr. Dawson ; the fol-
HISTORY OF SOUTHEAST MISSOURI
1039
lowing year he joined Comijany L of the
Third United States Volunteer Engineers,
and after one year's service he again re-
turned to New Madrid, resumed his inter-
lupted practice, and has remained here up to
the present time (1911). The Doctor has
never married, but has devoted himself to his
professional work and to his parents, with
whom he resides.
In politics Dr. Digges has held to the teach-
ings of his father and gives allegiance to the
Democratic party; while fraternally he be-
longs to the Tribe of Redmeu. As a physi-
cian he is considered unusually successful,
and as a man he is widely respected and es-
teemed; he has developed from being his
father's son to a man who has made his own
name — not content to live on the reputation
of his father, exalted though it was and is.
Robert L. Crockett is one of the best
kno\^'n merchants in Pemiscot county, where
he has spent the greater part of his life. He
has had many difficulties to overcome, and life
has been far from an easy road, but he has
never had anj- aversion to hard work, and his
career has been one of upward movement dur-
ing all of the years that he has spent in the
business world. He has followed the precept,
do the thing that lies nearest you, and though
often tempted to follow the lure of an "easier
job," he did not yield, but continued to
steadily fight his way upward. After trying
his hand at various kinds of work he finally
settled on the mercantile business, and has
been eminently successful. His honesty in
business methods and his straight-forward
manner have won for him many friends, and
his store is one of the best patronized in the
county.
Pemiscot county, Missouri, was the birth-
place of Robert L. Crockett, and the year
1864. He lived in the town of his birth,
Caruthersville, until he was twenty-six years
of age. During his youth he attended school,
but as he grew older he had the desire that
comes to all boys to go to work. Since his
famil.v were not wealthy, this was the more
natural, so he turned to the first work that
offered, and from then until he left the county
to go to Tennessee he worked by the day or
by the month. This unsettled condition did
not suit him, for he now had a wife to sup-
port. He therefore determined to go to Ten-
nessee where he hoped to secure steady em-
ployment.
In Tennessee he went to work in a saw-mill
and remained in this work for five years. At
the end of this time he had a pretty thorough
knowledge of the timber business, from the
manufacturer's standpoint, so on his return
to Missouri it was not hard for him to secure
a position. He returned to Caruthersville
and went to work for the Pemiscot Land,
Cooperage Company, as manager of their tim-
ber interests in the country surromiding Ca-
ruthersville. Four years ago he resigned this
position and went into the grocery business at
Terry Switch, near Hayti, Pemiscot county.
He has worked early and late and has suc-
ceeded in building up a flourishing trade,
which amounts to about two thousand dollars
a year.
Mr. Crockett was married to Miss Belle
Hosick in 1885. They have no children.
Sullivan S. Tiiojipsox. Among the citi-
zens who have given New Madrid county its
high reputation throughout Missouri is Sulli-
van S. Thompson, one of the prosperous and
progressive real-estate dealers of Portageville.
He was born of old southern stock in Bland
county, Virginia, in 1869. His father was
Jesse M. N. Thompson, who was born and
died in the Dominion state, after serving four
years in the Confederate army, in whose serv-
ice he was four times wounded, once so se-
verely that he was sent to the hospital. His
mother, Mary A. (Thompson) Thompson, was
his father's fourth cousin. She was born in
Virginia, and is still living. The parents of
Sullivan Thompson moved to Pemiscot
count}', Missouri, soon after the birth of their
son, and there the father farmed. Sullivan S.
grew up there and attended the district school
while helping with the farm. He had few of
what we call educational advantages, and in-
stead has had to acquire his stock of informa-
tion from a keen observation and a wide expe-
rience with men and affairs. In 1902 he es-
tablished himself in the real-estate business,
and he has continued to do a thriving busi-
ness ever since. He owns fifty-five acres of
cleared land and nine hundred and eiglity
acres of wild land. He also owns nine town
lots, with houses on three of them. He also
deals in timber along with his real-estate in-
terests.
In 1888 Mr. Thompson was married, the
lady of his choice being Miss Mary J. Crab-
tree. Mr. and Mrs. Thompson had one son,
Jesse, now in his father's office. The present
Mrs. Thompson was prior to her marriage
iliss Mary Payne, one of the most popular
1040
HISTORY OF SOUTHEAST MISSOURI
yoimg women of Owensborough, Davies
county, Kentucky. She and Mr. Thompson
are the parents of two children, ]\Iercer V.
and Joseph Maurice, both of whom are at
home.
Fraternally Mr. Thompson is a Knight of
Columbus and a member of the Knights and
Ladies of Honor. He belongs to the herd of
the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks
located at Cape Girardeau, and is a member
both of the Modern Woochnen of America and
the Woodmen of the World, in which latter
order he has served as a member of the coun-
cil. Because of his business he is also a mem-
ber of the Concatenated Order of Hoo-Hoos, a
national lumberman's organization.
lu the field of politics Mr. Thompson is
aligned inth the party of Jefferson, Jackson
and Cleveland. He served as the chief of po-
lice of Portageville for two years before re-
signing. He has several times been appointed
to serve on the sixteenth irrigational congress,
whose state committee is limited to sixteen.
Both Mr. Thompson and his wife are members
of the Catholic church.
Is.i^vc W. Po'mjLL. M. D. Laying a sub-
stantial foundation for his future prosperity
in the days of his youth, when his exceedingly
limited means taught him economy and his
lack of influential friends taught him self-re-
liance. Isaac W. Powell, M. D.. has achieved
success through his own well-directed efforts,
and is now not only one of the leading citizens
of Dunklin county, but one of the most skil-
ful ancl popular physicians of Holcomb and
one 'of its most active and able business men.
Born, in 1853, in Louisville, Kentuckj^, he
there acquired his preliminary education. He
subsequently continued his studies at Funk's
Seminary, in La Grange, Kentucky, and in
1888, several j-ears after attaining his ma-
jority, attended the Kentuckj^ School of Medi-
cine and graduated from the Louisville, Ken-
tucky, iledical College, having earned the
money to pay his college expenses.
Beginning the practice of his profession in
Saint Francis, Arkansas, Dr. Powell remained
there four and one-half years. Coming from
there to Holcomb, ilissouri, in 1891, he has
here built up an enviable reputation as a
physician of skill and ability, and has gained
an extensive and lucrative patronage. He is
also engaged in mercantile pursuits, handling
drugs. For a number of .years he was junior
member of the mercantile firm of Westfall.
Powell & Company. lie subsequently bought
out the interests of Mr. WestfaU, and sold one-
half of his own interests to Mr. Hostetler, who
now manages the business, the Doctor, how-
ever, retaining the entire ownership of the
building in which the store is located.
Dr. Powell has large landed interests, own-
ing about one-fourth of the town of Holcomb ;
having a farm of four hundred acres, which
he rents; having title to five houses and lots
in Kennett, ilissouri ; owning four houses and
twenty-five lots in Piggott, Arkansas; and,
with Ml'. Hostetler, owns a cotton gin in Hol-
comb. The Doctor is one of the largest stock-
holders of the Piggott (Arkansas) Pair Asso-
ciation, and of the New Hotel Company of that
place, which has a large, steam-heated, up-to-
date hotel, one of the very best in Clay county.
Dr. Powell is actively associated with vari-
ous financial institutions of importance; or-
ganized and is one of the stockholders and the
president of the Bank of Holcomb ; is a stock-
holder in the Citizens Bank at Rector, Arkan-
sas; also in the Bank of Nimmons, at Nim-
mons, Arkansas ; in the Bank of Greenway, at
Greenway, Arkansas; likewise in the South
East Missouri Trust Company, and was one of
the organizers and is a stockholder in the Peo-
ples Bank of Holcomb. He is president of the
Democratic Central Committee of Dunklin
count.v, and since eighteen years of age has
taken a zealous interest in political affairs.
Dr. Powell married Julia ilcCormick, of
Louisville, Kentucky, a woman of much cul-
ture and refinement. She died in 1903, leav-
ing two sons, namely: Reginald B., a student
at the State University, is prominent in ath-
letics and was baseball pitcher for the Normal
Ball Team for two years ; and Isaac, who lives
with an aunt in Louisville, Kentucky.
The Doctor limits his practice now to office
work, endeavoring to leave the ranks. He had
at one time the largest practice in the county.
He attended the Catholic school when a boy
and joined that church when young. He
left school when sixteen years of age and
learned the carpenter's trade and also that of
Ijuilding bridges for railroad construction, and
he was foreman of a gang of men before he
had reached his twenty-first year. He has
been successful in his life work, and has won
the proud American title of a self-made man.
Jesse S. Dalton, D. D. S. This is an age
of progress and America is the exponent of
the spirit of the age. In the beginning of the
past century our countrj' was in its infancy
and history shows no parallel for its growth
yhs^^^.rU(
HISTORY OF SOUTHEAST MISSOURI
1041
aud achievements. No other country has
made as great advancement in the lines of
science and mechanical invention, and the
superiority of her inventions has been widely
recognized throughout the civilized world.
In this steady growth and development,
which has characterized the age, the science
of dentistry has kept pace with the general
progress, and in that profession Dr. Dalton
enjoj-s the highest reputation. He is a native
son of the state, his birth having occurred
September 22. 1862, at Millersville, Cape Gir-
ardeau county, Missouri, on his father's farm.
He is a son of Jonathan and Lorena (Harp)
Dalton. The subject attended the public
schools of the locality and in such time as re-
mained worked on the farm, early becoming
familiar with the secrets of seed-time and har-
vest. His first adventures as a wage-earner
were in the capacity of teacher, his pedagogi-
cal activities being in the counties of Cape
Girardeau, Bollinger and Dunklin. In 1886
he entered the normal school and there pur-
sued an academic course, attending for one
year. He then continued as a teacher until
1890, when he entered the dental department
of Yanderbilt University at Nash\'ille, Ten-
nessee, from which institution he was gradu-
ated in 1892. He began his active practice of
the profession in his home county, where he
remained for one year, and in 1894 he re-
moved to New Madrid, where he has ever
since engaged in practice. He has been in
practice here longer than any dentist in the
place and enjoys general confidence both from
the professional and civic standpoints.
On April 19, 189.3. in his home comity. Dr.
Dalton was married to Ella Byrd. daughter
of William and Mollie ( Evans) Byrd. whose
birth occurred near Jackson. Missouri. Sep-
tember 19. 1869. Her much lamented demise
on June 21, 1897, left motherless a little
daughter. Lorena. born April 5. 1895. who
makes her home with her father. Dr. Dalton
was a second time married December 25,
1898. to Ella D. Miller, daughter of Francis
]\I. and Sophronia ("Edinger") Miller. Mrs.
Dalton 's birth having occurred in Cape Gir-
ardeau county. February 10, 1872. Their
three children are: Jessie L.. born Januarv
11. 1901: Ralph M.. born July 18. 1903: and
Francis Willard, born May 18. 1906.
Dr. Dalton is popular and prominent as a
fraternity man. his affiliations extending to
the time-honored Masonic order, the Macca-
bees, the Modern Woodmen, the Redmen. the
Royal Neighbors and the Eastern Star. Both
Dr. and Mrs. Dalton are valued members of
the Methodist Episcopal church. South, and
both are useful factors in the many-sided life
of the community in which they enjoy general
aud well-deserved
E. M. Jones. The editor of the Lilbourn
Ledger was born west of Clarkton in the year
1879. This same place was the birthplace of
liis mother, Nancy Powers Jones. She was
born in 1850 and in her youth used to haul
cotton from Clarkton to Cape Girardeau, as-
sisting her mother in this occupation. In
1878 she was married to J. C. Jones at Clark-
ton, then one of the largest towns in this part
of the country. Her husband had come into
the county two years before from Tennessee.
She was his second wife and lived with him
until her death in 1900. He is still living in
JIalden, Missouri, aged eighty years, Febru-
ary 13. 1912.
E. ]\I. Jones was born on a farm and re-
mained there until he was twenty years of
age. He then went into business at Campbell
and spent one year in that town, after which
he spent a year in Caruthersville and one in
New Madrid. In 1904 he came to Lilbourn
and for two years was in the mercantile busi-
ness. Since 1906 he has dealt in real estate.
In 1910 he was made postmaster.
For several months Sir. .Jones has con-
ducted a ladies' and gentlemen's furnishing
store. This has its quarters in the large con-
crete business block which Mr. Jones and Dr.
E. E. Jones own in partnership. Mr. Jones
owns six lots in town with three good build-
ings on them and he has the largest real estate
business in town. Since the spring of 1910
he has been editor of the paper conducted by
the citizens of Lilbourn. called the Lilbourn
Ledger.
In 1907 Mr. Jones was married at Memphis,
to Miss Mary Fox. of New Madrid county,
Missouri. Mrs. Jones was born and reared in
this county. Her mother is deceased, but her
father resides at Matthews. New Madrid
county, Missouri. They have one daughter,
Vergie Marie, born June 1, 1909.
Adolphus Branham. Among the men who
have contributed to the general prosperity
and helped to make the reputation for pro-
gressive enterprise which Portageville bears
in this section of the country is Adolphus
Branham. He himself was born in this
county, the date of his nativity being Febru-
ary 22, 1859, one year before the cloud of civil
1042
HISTORY OF SOUTHEAST MISSOURI
war burst on a divided nation, and his father
also claimed New Madrid connty as the place
of his birth. The mother of Jeff Branham,
father of the subject, the grandmother of
Adolphus, was one of the pioneer women of
^Missouri, for she was living here in 1811 and
'12, and could remember the earthquakes of
those years. Her son Jeff Branham married
Miss Eliza Limery, who was born and spent
her entire life in New Jladrid county. Jeff
Branham was born in 1824. and passed to his
eternal reward in 1866, when Adolphus was
only six years old. Adolphus Branham gi-ew
up on his father's farm, and after attending
the district schools went to work on the old
place. He still manages two hundred and
eighty acres of the farm land along with his
other intere.sts. Adolphus was the eighth of
ten children, and is the only one now living.
He has a niece and nephew living.
In 1894 he embarked in the saloon business
here in Portageville, and built a large brick
business block, the second brick block to be
erected in Portageville. It was forty by
eighty feet, and at the present time has an ad-
dition ten by sixty feet.
In 1880 was solemnized the marriage of Mr.
Branham to Miss Emma Worland. a native of
New Madrid county. She passed away, leav-
ing one child, Rosalie Branham, and another
child, Linnus Stanley, died when two years
old. The present mistress of Mr. Branham 's
home was prior to marriage Miss Ruth Adams,
of Pemiscot county. The.y are the parents of
one child, a son, Adolphus Aquilla Branham.
Mr. Branham is now occupied with a busy
private life, managing his farm and caring
for his real estate interests. He makes his
home in town. Politically he favors the men
and measures advocated by the Democratic
party. He is a charter member of the AYood-
men of the World. Mr. Branham and family
are members of the Catholic church.
Joseph Fielding Gordon's family have
been connected with the progress of" South-
eastern Missouri for more than half a cen-
tury, while J. F. Gordon himself, a well-
known figure in New Madrid, has for years
been prominent in various ways. He has a
high .standing among the publishers and .jour-
nalists of the state ; he is distinguished in civic
connection, as the holder of public ofBces ; and
in the fields of commerce and finance he is no
less notable.
The date of Mr. Gordon's birth is June 6.
1865, and his first entrance into the scene of
life occurred at Gayoso, then the county seat
of Pemiscot county, Missouri. His father,
John A. Gordon, was a native of Louisiana.
Father Gordon's boyhood and youth were
passed in Mauiy county, Tennessee, where he
received a general education, and there, too,
he enlisted as a soldier to serve in the Mexi-
can war. Soon after leaving the army he
came to Missouri (in 1858), took up his resi-
dence at Ga.yoso, and commenced what proved
to be a brilliant career, in the course of which
he served Pemiscot county at various times
as probate judge, as prosecutor, as county
clerk, as circuit clerk and as recorder, while
simultaneously he carried on the study of law,
being admitted to the bar in 1875. He prac-
ticed law for the remainder of his active life.
Soon after his arrival in Missouri John A.
Gordon was united in marriage to Miss Nancy
E. Yeargin, a member of an old Pemiscot
county family. She became the mother of 'two
daughters, Dolly and Louise, and one son, Jo-
seph F. : her tastes were simple and her af-
fections were divided between her family and
her church (her membership being with the
Methodists) ; her demise occurred at Gayoso,
Missouri, abont the month of January, 1871.
John A. Gordon died February 12, 1886,
when on business at Caruthersville. In poli-
tics he had been a power, rendering unfalter-
ing allegiance to the Democratic party. Mr.
John A. Gordon married for his second wife,
in 1873, Miss Belle T. McParland, widow of
Captain James H. McFarland, C. S. A. She
died in August, 1875. His third wife was
Miss IMaria Gates. Their one son, Nebby
Alexander Gordon, is editor of the Marion
(Ark.) Reform, also deputy county and cir-
cuit clerk.
After completing his limited schooling,
Joseph F. Gordon was apprenticed as a
printer to John S. Hill and H. C. Schult, and
in 1886. having just attained his majority, he,
as a result of his father's political training,
became the publislier of the Democrat at
•Gayoso. The following year he went to Sisse-
ton, Rolierts county. South Dakota, as printer
in an Indian school, and in 1888 returned to
Gayoso. where he side-tracked from his chosen
calling and for several months he was in the
employ of DeLisle Brothers, who were en-
gaged in the general merchandise business.
Returning to printing in 1889, he worked in
the Gayoso printing shop until 1890. when he
was elected to the office of circuit court clerk,
which position he held for the ensuing eight
vears, being an ex-officio recorder. In 1899 he
HISTORY OF SOUTHEAST MISSOURI
1043
served in the senate as clerk on the engrossing
force, and that same year he moved to Ca-
ruthersville, where he acted as deputy county
clerk until he was appointed to the high office
of probate judge, to fill out an unexpired term
of Judge J. N. Delashmult. Oii the 1st day
of April, 1902. having abandoned newspaper
work, he moved to New Madrid, helped to or-
ganize the ice plant there, becoming its secre-
tary and general manager, and still retains
his interest in this concern. In 1906 he was a
second time appointed to the office of circuit
clerk, and has remained the able incumbent
of that office up to the present date (1911).
In the month of Jlarch, in recognition of his
acknowledged executive and financial abili-
ties, he was asked to accept the position of
cashier of the Commercial Bank, and, busy
though he was, he accepted the urgent invita-
tion.
On the 26th day of October, 1896, Mr. Gor-
don married Miss Rose Bremermann, who had
passed her entire life in Cape Girardeau, was
born there July 10, 1875 (her parents, Ber-
nard and Wilhelmine (Luckman) Bremer-
mann, being respected residents of that city)
and was there educated and married. She is
a member of the Lutheran church, ilr. and
Mrs. Gordon have had one son, John Bernard,
born October 13, 1901, and who died in Au-
gust, 1911, and they have buried two other
children.
In a fraternal way Mr. Gordon is affiliated
with the ilasons and with the Independent
Order of Odd Fellows. His fellow citizens
regard him as one of the ablest as well as one
of the most genial residents of New Madrid.
AViLLiAM H. Napper. a prosperous and
highlj' esteemed resident of Dunklin county,
William H. Napper has been intimately asso-
ciated ^^'ith its agricultural and industrial in-
terests for many years, and is now living on
his own farm, which is one of the best pieces
of property in the neighborhood, and is assist-
ing his son Harry in its management. Born
in Nelson county, Kentucky, in 1854. he was
brought to Missouri by his parents at the age
of three years, and until ten years old lived
with them in Cape Girardeau count}^ In
1864 the family removed to Dunklin county,
settling in Kennett, where "William H. re-
ceived his early education, attending first a
subscription school and later a public school.
As a boy and youth "William H. Napper as-
sisted his father on the farm, remaining at
home until twenty-six years old. Beginning
life for himself at that age, he bought land
and in addition to carrying on general farm-
ing with good results was successfully en-
gaged in the hotel business, being engaged in
both lines of business until about 1908. Since
that time he has helped his son manage the
home estate as mentioned above. ^Ir. Napper
is also an insurance man, being agent for the
National Life Insurance Company, of Des
Moines, Iowa.
Mr. Napper married Anna Barger, who was
born in Spencer county, Indiana, and they
have just one child, Harry G. Napper. In his
political views ilr. Napper is a steadfast
Democrat. Religiously he is an influential
member of the ilissionary Baptist church at
Kennett, which he assisted in organizing.
Fraternally he is a member of the Ancient
Free and Accepted Order of Masons, while
formerly he also belonged to the Woodmen of
the World.
Edward Alexander Wright. Whether the
name of Edward Alexander Wright suggests
journalism or journalism suggests the name of
Edward Alexander Wright the fact is that the
two are so closely connected that it is difficult
to dissociate the two in the mind. A man of
ilr. Wright's age, who has been in some wise
identified with newspaper work since his six-
teenth year (a period of nearly four decades)
may justly be considered a veteran in the
journalistic field. The siarvival of the fittest
is as true in journalism as it is in any other
vocation, and the surest warrant of a safe and
sound policy in a community is continued
growth and constant renewal of popular sup-
port and confidence. Mr. Wright, as the pres-
ent owner and editor of the Southeast Missou-
rian, is to be congratulated no more on the
manifest signs of prosperity in his journalis-
tic undertaking than on the assurance of the
hearty good will and esteem of his readers.
Born in St. Louis. Missouri, December 2,
1856, Mr. Wright is one of the seven children
of Erie Wright, a Bostonian, whose birth oc-
curred in 1825. When a young man Mr. Erie
Wright came west to St. Louis, there made the
acquaintance of Miss Louise Cruchon, a
young French girl, whose birth took place on
the 30th day of September, 1830, in Paris,
France, and subsequently (in 1849) the
couple were married. In course of time chil-
dren were born to Mr. and Mrs. Wright, three
of whom died young, while three daughters
and one son are living today.
At the age of five Edward Wright was de-
1044
HISTORY OF SOUTHEAST MISSOURI
prived of a father's care, before he had fully
realized what a father's affection meant, but
his mother did her best to take the place of
both parents with her only sou and daughters.
The lad attended the public school of St.
Louis until he had attained his sixteenth year,
when he was apprenticed to a printer who was
also the publisher of The Missouri Cash
Book of Jackson, Missouri. On completing
his four years' apprenticeship he worked on
dilferent ' papers throughout Southeastern
Missouri; was in Eennett, where he worked
on the first paper of Dunklin county, the
Kennett Advance; was employed on a paper
in Cape Girardeau, and changed locations in
this manner until 1880. At that time he came
to New Madrid, where he formed an alliance
with Mr. Allen, the present editor of the Rcc-
orel, and at that time the holder of a public of-
fice which necessitated his being absent from
New Madrid most of the time, leaving to his
collaborator the sole responsibility of the pa-
per. ^Ir. Wright was fully ecjual to the emer-
gency, a fact which his long continuance with
the paper evinces. In 1909 Mr. Wright
bought the Southeast Missourian, a weekly
paper published every Thursday, non-parti-
san in its character and which he has since
successfully conducted. The increasing circu-
lation of this weekly, combined with the
strong, forceful articles it contains, are testi-
monials to the abilities of Mr. Wright in the
way of conducting a paper. The State Press
Association finds a helpful member in Mr.
Wright; the Southeastern Missouri Press As-
sociation is now out of existence, but during
its life, Mr. Wright was its able president.
On the 1st day of October, 1884, Mr.
Wright was united in marriage to Miss Cora
Grover, daughter of Benjamin F. and Anna
(Ferguson) Grover, of Adams coimty. Illi-
nois, where Miss Cora was born September
12, 18.')7. In the course of time Mr. and Mrs.
Wi-ight became the parents of four children :
Gillian, born on Christmas day, 188.5. who did
not survive her first year ; Grover, whose birth
occurred October 1, 1887, who married Jessie
Elder nnd now resides in Blytheville. Arkan-
sas; ]\ramie, the date of whose nativity is Sep-
tember 28. 1889 ; and Erie, bearing the name
of bis paternal grandfather and his aunt, who
was born on the 7th day of September. 1894.
Mrs. Wright, an accomplished musician, play-
ing both piano and organ, began her musical
education at a very tender age ; she early com-
menced playing the organ and for the past
forty years has been the organist of her
church, both she and her husband holding
membership with the Presbyterians. Mrs.
Wright is also in sympathy with her hus-
band's fraternal achievements, and is herself
a member of the ^Maccabees. Mr. AVright is a
Mason — a member of the Council — one of its
Royal and Select blasters. He belongs to the
Independent Order of Odd Fellows, in which
he has passed all the chairs twice, has been a
noble grand twice, and is at present vice-presi-
dent of the Southeastern Missouri Odd Fel-
lows Association. He is a prominent mem-
ber of the Tribe of Redmen, being deputy
great sachem of New Madrid for that frater-
nal order.
Even as Mr. Wright 's father laid down his
life for the aid of Missouri, the sou has been
no less loyal; he has devoted his time, his
energy and his talents for the betterment of
his native state ; for a period of thirteen years
he served in the capacity of city clerk, and in
the interests of eclucation he has for years
been on the board of directors of public
schools, where he is today the secretary of this
body. If Mr. Wright were a less capable jour-
nalist he would nevertheless be prominent in
his fraternal connection ; while if he belonged
to no secret orders his achievements in the
civic and educational line would still be suffi-
cient to win him a place of honor in this book.
Charles Manley Pritchard. It has been
Air. Pritchard 's privilege to watch the growth
of Dunklin county from a wilderness and a
home of wild beasts to a region of fertile
farms and a prosperous commercial center
with all the advantages of schools and the
many appliances of modern civilization. And
not only to watch this development but to be
a power in promoting it has been his privi-
lege and his pleasure.
Mr. Pritchard 's parents came from Tennes-
see to Missouri in 1860, when their son
Charles Manley was fourteen years old. They
had intended to go to Arkansas, but the war
was going on fiercely there by the time they
reached Missouri, so they stopped in Dunklin
county, settling near what is now the town of
Manley. The elder Pritchard was a school-
teacher and was several years justice of peace
in the county at a time when there were but
one or two in its boundaries. Schools in those
days were subscription schools and very few
in number.
C. M. Pritchard lived at home until he was
seventeen years old. At that age he wedded
Rachael D. Forsythe and went to farming for
CHARLES M. PRITCHAKD
HISTORY OF SOUTHEAST MISSOURI
1045
himself. His first farm was oue of eighty
acres and he lived on it for ten j'ears. ^\ lien
Mr. Pritchard settled upon this land it was
a trackless wilderness, in the midst of which
he cut out a small clearing and pnt up a ioa--
cabin. In this clearing ilr. Pritchard found
many bones of Indians buried only under the
leaves, which had fallen on what had proba-
bly been their last battle-field. The Indians
were just leaving the region at the time when
Jlr. Pritchard came to ilanley and he was
accjuainted with a Choctaw chief, Chilleteaw.
, This personage of the red race was one of the
I last of his tribe to leave and he became partly
civilized. ^Ir. Pritchard used to watch him
grind up his corn on top of an old stump and
make his bread in the ashes. Mr. Pritchard 's
daughter, Frances Cordelia, and two sons. Co-
lumbus E. and Thomas E., were born on this
place.
Mr. Pritchard cleared his eighty acres and
brought it under cultivation and began to ac-
quire more and more land. He sold his first
farm to a man named Rayburn for four hun-
dred dollars. Before selling it he moved to
the place he now owns and where he has
lived since 1875. At the time he sold his first
place he owned about five hundred acres —
all the land aroimd Manley. At that time
the country was full of game and wild ani-
mals. As Mr. Pritchard was a great hunter,
he enjoyed keeping his family in venison and
other game. Indeed his children were fed
chiefly on wild meat, Mr. Pritchard says.
Some aspects of a good hunting country are
not so pleasant as this abundance of choice
food. For instance, the wolves used to chase
the dogs under the house every night and
ilrs. Pritchard narrowly escaped being killed
by panthers several different times. They
were so bold that she was obliged to bar the
doors to keep them out of the house.
I\Ir. Pritchard and Rachel Forsythe Pritch-
ard, his wife, had four children, who are now
living in this county on lands adjoining their
father's home place. He has given each of
them forty acres and they have added to the
gifts in most in-stances. Mr. Pritchard has
sold several forty acre tracts and now his
place is about two hundred acres in extent.
He has done all the work on this fami from
clearing off the timber to puttinsr up the most
modern buildings. The land is worth one
hundred dollars per acre. He does not do
much work nn his farm now but rents it out.
His four children are Frances Cordelia, the
wife of J. R. Bullock: Columbus E. : Thomas
E.; and Arpie 0., the wife of J. P. Preslau,
whose life is briefly outlined elsewhere in this
volume. Rachael Pritchard died in 1S99. In
the following year Mr. Pritchard married
Ellen Maiden, who lived until 1908. The
present Mrs. Pritchard was Elleu Colvers. a
native of Illinois. She was married to Mr.
Pritchard in December, 1910.
In 1871 Mr. Pritchard paid one dollar and
seventy cents tax for real and personal prop-
erty. Thirty-five years later he began busi-
ness with his two sons, Columbus and Tom, in
a small frame building in ilanley. The fir'.:i
of C. M. Pritchard & Company had a one
hundred and fifty-dollar stock of groceries
and feed. The following year they added a
line of dry goods. Today the establishment
occupies a brick building forty by seventy
feet, lighted with gas and altogether the best
building in town. The stock invoices ten
thousand dollars and the business of the
store, one of the best country stores in the
county, is constantly increasing.
The town of Manley is named for Mr.
Pritchard, its first settler, by whose middle
name it is now designated on the map.
Harry Hexderson" was born at Owensburg,
Davis county, Kentiicky, in the Centennial
year, on November 11. His parents were
-John T. Henderson, a native of Kentucky,
and Laura Kirkland Henderson, born in In-
diana. In 1882 the family moved to Missouri,
where John Henderson followed his two occu-
pations of farming and running a saw-mill.
When Harry Henderson started in busi-
ness for himself he first went into farming.
From 1898 until 1905 he ran a general store
at Gayoso and after that date conducted the
same kind of an establishment at Concord.
In 1911 he sold out at Concord and moved to
Hayti. Here he built a store building fifty by
thirty-five feet and a residence of seven rooms.
His business averages about fifteen thousand
dollars a year in the general merchandise line
which he carries.
Aside from his mercantile business Mr.
Henderson has real estate interests in two ad-
jacent towns. He also bought eighty acres of
land at Hayti and has a hundred and
twenty near b.v. He does general farming
and his chief crops are cotton, corn and al-
falfa. When he started into business his
father gave him five hundred dollars, which
Mr. Harry Henderson has paid back some
time since. He belongs to the party of Mc-
Kinley. Roosevelt and those other presidents
1046
HISTORY OF SOUTHEAST MISSOURI
who have added honor to what its meiubers
like to call the "Grand Old Party."
Five children gladden the home of Mr.
Henderson and Lona Trautman Henderson,
his wife. These are Carter, Warren, Edna
and the twins, Rosa and Edith. ]\iiss Traut-
man was born in Hayti and became Mrs. Hen-
derson in 1902.
Thomas J. Brown, a prominent lawyer of
New Madrid, has solved the secret of success,
which demands concentration — oneness of aim
and desire; which demands a certain abnega-
tion— a certain disinterestedness. Mr.
Brown's professional career is composed of a
succession of small successes, which, united,
have produced the strong, resourceful char-
acter as he is known by the citizens of New
Madrid today.
Thomas J. Brown was bom December 15,
1873, in Hopkins county, Kentucky, where
his father, William B. Brown, has passed the
major portion of his life, engaged in agricul-
tural pursuits, and where he still resides, a
prosperous farmer. Father Brown's birth oc-
curred in October, 1845, and the first few
.years of his life were passed on his father's
farm. When he had reached the proper age
he attended the district school, where he ob-
tained a good, general education, and before
its completion the Civil war broke out. The
youth was desirous of enlisting, but was too
young to join the army at the commencement
of hostilities. In 1864, when he was nineteen
.years of age, he gained admittance into the
Union forces, enlisting in the Forty-third Illi-
nois Infantry and serving till the company of
which he was a member was mustered out, in
1865. On leaving the arm.y he returned to his
home in Hopkins county, and the following
year was married to Miss Sarah Dever, born
in Hopkins count.v in 1850. To this union
four children were born, — Mattie, whose birth
occurred April 28, 1870, and who is married
to J. W. Ramse.v, of Hopkins county, Ken-
tuclcy : Thomas J. ; Dora, born March 28,
1877, who died suddenl.y in church at the age
of twenty-one: and Dema, the date of whose
birth is May 6. 1881, and who is the wife of
T. B. Givens. of Hopkins county, Kentuckj'.
Mr. Brown's political s.ympathies have ever
been with the Republican party, and in a re-
ligious way both he and his wife held mem-
bership in the Baptist church. He is still an
active member, but his wife was summoned
to her last rest on the 22nd day of November,
1904, her death occurring in the home where
her wedded life had been spent.
Thomas J. Brown, the second child in order
of birth and the only son of his parents, re-
mained at home under the parental roof until
he was eighteen years of age, and during the
years that he had attended the district school
he had also assisted his father with the work
on the farm. When he was eighteen years
old he went to school at Providence, Ken-
tucky, where he attended the male and female
academy of that town. On the completion of
his academic course he taught school for a
short time, then began the study of law in
Princeton, Kentucky, under William Marble,
and in the month of June, 1897, he was ad-
mitted to the bar of Kentucky. He forthwith
commenced his legal practice at Princeton, in
partnership ^dth Edward Hubbard, remain-
ing in that town until September, 1899, when
he came to New Madrid. jMissouri. He opened
an office alone, but in a few months he went
into partnership with his old associate, Ed
Hubbard, and in 1908 he formed an alliance
with Thomas Gallivan — his partner today. In
addition to the large legal practice in which
the firm engages. Mr. Brown has become an
important factor in the Republican party and
is distinguished as being the first presidential
elector on the Republican ticket in the Four-
teenth district.
On the 4th of October, 1899, Mr. Brown
was married to Miss Mamie Gra.v, born June
16, 1873, a daugliter of John and Mary (Jor-
dan) Gray. Mr. and ilrs. Brown are now the
parents of four children — one boy and three
girls — Frances, born September 22, 1901;
Thomas J., the date of whose nativity was De-
cember 5, 1903; Virginia, whose birth oc-
curred October 1, 1906; and Dora L., born
January 14, 1909.
Mrs. Brown has many friends in the Epis-
copal church, where she is a prominent mem-
ber, while her husband is equally well-known
and esteemed by his Masonic brethren. His
life up to the present time has been filled with
hard work, and he is now enjoying the fruits
of his labors, although he is by no means
read.y to sit back and do nothing. In the
course of his career he has made mone.v, repu-
tation and friends — is both popular and re-
spected.
GoAn S. Barnes. Few men as young find
themselves so securely ensconced in the esteem
and good-will of their associates as Mr. Goah
HISTORY OF SOUTHEAST MISSOURI
1047
S. Barnes, recognized throughout this section
of the country as one of Portageville's most
enterprising citizens. The future of j\lr.
Barnes, while yet unwritteu, may safely be
forecasted as one of increasing tiuancial
prosperity and continued honorable service
as a public official.
Goah S. Barnes was born in Stewart, Mis-
souri, at Barnes Ridge in Pemiscot county,
the date of his nativity being January 17,
1876. His parents, James T. and ^ Susan
(Neumen) Barnes, were both natives of Shaw-
neetown, Illinois, and both passed to their
eternal reward at the home in Pemiscot
county. For sixteen years Goah S. Barnes at-
tended the district schools of Pemiscot before
going to Cape Girardeau to take advantage of
the state normal school at that place. There
he spent four years and was graduated with
the class of 1899. His first business venture
was a mercantile concern which he conducted
at Stewart, Missouri, the same being a fair
sized enterprise with a stock valued at seven
thousand dollars. He also managed a cotton
gin at Stewart during the three years of his
stay, prior to coming to Portageville in 1902.
As a young man of twenty-two he embarked
in the grocery business, and remained in that
until he undertook the operation of a saw-
mill at Bokerton, Missouri, all the time main-
taining his home in Portageville. After eight
months he sold his lumber interests, and, re-
turning to his home field, he accepted an
agency for the Lemp Brewing Company
under J. S. Wahl, and was manager for two
years. In 1904 he was appointed to the post-
mastership, following two years service as a
clerk in the service, and for eight years Mr.
Barnes' keen business and executive ability
and absolute integrity were placed at the dis-
posal of the people he served. "When he took
the position it paid twenty-five dollars a
month, and he built it up to the point where
it now pays a salary of twelve hundred a year.
The Portageville office was the second he had
filled, for he was obliged to resign the same
office in Stewart, to which he had been ap-
pointed in 1899, when he left that place.
Mr. Barnes bought out the firm of "Wahl
and Schult, and now runs a refrigerating
plant and does a business whose annual vol-
ume exceeds fifty thousand dollars in whole-
sale beer and soda and retail coal. Besides
his other interests he knows how to manage a
farm, and is the owner of a fertile tract of
one hundred and eighty acres, which he now
rents to tenants.
On June 15, 1908, the marriage of Mr.
Barnes to Miss Olga Summers, daughter of
Martin and Louise (Hackert) Summers, of
Hickman, Kentucky, was solemnized, and the
foundations for an unusually happy and gra-
cious home life were laid. They make their
home in the handsome four thousand dollar
Jiouse, set on four acres of beautifully located
grounds, that Mr. Barnes recently erected
and which has already gained a reputation
for its charming hospitality. The children of
this union are Goah, born April 25, 1911, and
Lynus Y.. who was taken away at the age of
fifteen months. Both Jlr. and Mrs. Barnes
are members of the Catholic church and lib-
eral contributoi-s to the Portageville parish.
Fraternally Mr. Barnes is affiliated with
the Modern "\Voodmen of America, the "Wood-
men of the World, and is a member of the
Cape Girardeau herd of the Benevolent and
Protective Order of Elks. In the field of
politics he is allied to the "Grand Old
Party," and has been a member of the Re-
publican Central Committee for over ten
years. Besides his terms in the post-office he
"has served as a member of the local board of
aldermen, first filling the unexpired term of
the late Dr. Corlis, and later represented the
second ward after the election of 1910.
Charles W". Reed. "When a young man,
Morral Reed, the father of Charles W. Reed,
came from Alabama to Missouri. Here he
settled in Dunklin county, near Hornersville,
and later married a young lady from his old
home in Alabama. Charles Reed was born in
1863, April 15. When he was four years old
his parents moved to this county. Upon com-
ing to Pemiscot county Morral Reed bought
one hundred acres of land, paying one dollar
an acre for it. His son Charles now owns
ninety-five acres, worth seventy-five dollars
an acre. Both Morral Reed and his wife,
Adeline, died in this county.
Charles Reed has always been engaged in
farming. He attended the public schools of
the county while working for his father and
later went into agriculture independently.
He raises corn and cotton, as well as hogs and
cattle, and his place is well improved.
Mr. Reed was married to Miss Belle Bissett
in 1889. She died without issue. In 1903 his
second marriage took place, when he was
united to Miss Nora Miller. One daughter,
Stella, has been the result of this union.
Judge William L. Stacy has been a resi-
dent of the state since he was five years old.
Obion county, Tennessee, is the place of his
1048
HISTORY OF SOUTHEAST MISSOURI
birth as well as of his parents, Johu and Ar-
minta (Taj-lor) Stacy. John Stacy was born
in 1813 and his wife in 1827. William L.
Stacy was born in 1850 and live years after-
wards his parents moved to Stoddard county,
Missouri, where they lived iiutil their death,
which was in 1875. Both passed away in the
same year.
The subscription school and the public
schools of the county gave Mr. Stacy his edu-
cational training. After leaving his father's
farm to work for himself he came to this
county and rented a farm for many years.
It was in 1874 that he started for himself,
with the sum of five dollars as his entire capi-
tal. Six years afterward he bought eighty
acres of wild land, for which he paid three
hundred dollars. The same land is now val-
ued at one hundred doUars an acre. Mr.
Stacy now owns one thousand acres of cleared
land and three times that acreage in wild
laud. He rents out his farm and devotes
himself to his real estate business. The Stacy,
Hunter & Johnson Realty Company was or-
ganized in 1910, Mr. Stacy being the senior
partner. Prior to the organization of this
firm Mr. Stacy was in the real estate busi-
ness for twelve years alone.
He is a popular and influential member of
the Democratic party and has been called
upon to represent that body in the capacity
of county judge for sixteen years. He was
eight years associate and eight years presid-
ing judge of the county. While filling this
office he directed special effort to the improve-
ment of the drainage in the county and had
the satisfaction of seeing his efforts rewarded
in the material betterment of the lands of the
district. Another service which Mr. Stacy
has rendered his party is that of acting on
the Democratic congressional committee.
Mrs. Stacy was formerly Miss Laura G.
Hill. She was born in this county and was
married in 1872. She and ]\Ir. Stacy have no
children. She is a member of the ^Methodist
church. Mr. Stacv is a Jlason of New iladrid
lodge, No. 429.
L. Willis Young has been a resident of
Missouri since February, 1900, when he came
from Obion county, Tennessee, his native
place, and took up his abode on a farm near
Hayti. Mr. Young rented this place and
worked it for three years. The following two
years he spent in Hayti, still farming. After
renting another farm in the vicinity he bought
his present place in 1910. He first purchased
forty acres and later bought forty more, and
now owns eighty acres, well improved. In the
years he has owned the place Mr. Young has
put most of the improvements on it. He built
the fence and the large barn, forty by forty
feet. The six-room dwelling house is also one
of his additions to the place, as well as sev-
eral of the out-buildings. In addition to what
he owns he rents two hundred acres, upon
which he raises cotton, cattle and hogs.
Mr. Young's parents lived and died in Ten-
nessee. His father died when he was very
young, and as he grew up he was obliged to
help support his mother. His schooling was
in consequence limited. He was married in
1873, being but sixteen years old at the time.
The bride was Mary C. Stanley, of Tennessee.
They had a family of five children, four
daughters and one son. The daughters are
now all married, their names being Adebelle
Hale, Hattie Lasswell, Lena JMiddleton and
Janie Britton. The son's given name is
Brown. After the death of ]Mary Stanley
Young, Willis Young married a second time,
the present Mrs. Young is also a Tennes-
seean, her maiden name was Belle Nix. Two
children have been born of the second mar-
riage, Edward C. and Minnie.
Mr. Young belongs to the Woodmen of the
World at Hayti and to the Modern Woodmen
of America at Caruthersville. He votes the
Republican ticket.
James R. Bullock, the well known farmer
in Dunklin county, has won the respect and
esteem of all who know him. Perhaps if his
friends knew of the difficulties he has had to
encounter they would think even more of
him. He is a man who has attained a promi-
nent position in the state entirely through his
own efforts. He has had to pick up a good
deal of the education he has acquired, but be-
cau.se he has had to work for it lie sets
greater value on the things he does know.
He was born in Florida, April 15, 1860.
His father. James R. Bullock, was a farmer.
who came to Missouri in 1861 with his little
baby boy. his wife having died in 1860. He
crossed the ^Mississippi river at New Madrid,
thence came direct to Dunklin county, where
he located on a farm. Soon after he settled
in the county he married Harriet Shelton, a
young Jlissouri woman, who took the little
motherless boy to her heart. Mr. Bullock ar-
rived in Missouri just about the time the Civil
war broke out. indeed it was because of the
unsettled condition of Florida before the war
HISTORY OF SOUTHEAST :\IISSOURI
1049
that he left his farm there. He sympathized
with the cause of the South, although he took
no active part. He was killed by the guer-
illas in a raid they made in Dunkin county,
because they were known to be in sympathy
with the southern cause. His death occurred
in 1862.
James R. Bullock was born on a farm in
Florida, and the first few years of his life
were full of changes. A few weeks after he
was born his mother died. Shortly after that
his father moved to Missouri, bringing with
him James R., a baby of one year. He soon
was given a new mother, the only mother he
ever knew. When he was only two years old
his father died, leaving him to the care of his
foster mother. She brought him up as care-
fully as she could, giving him the advantages
of some schooling, but not much. When he
was ten years old his stepmother married
William Campbell and took James R. to her
new home. He stayed with Mr. Campbell un-
til he was twenty-two years old, receiving the
best of treatment at the hands of his step-
father in return for service he rendered on
the farm. When he was twenty-two years
old he started out to make a home for him-
self. He had no money, but he took up a
claim in Dunklin county and cleared it him-
self. The land was wild and uncultivated,
but by dint of hard work he improved it and
now has five hundred and sixty-seven acres
of good land, every bit of which he has cleared
except sixty acres. After working alone for
a time he was soon able to hire help and he
has always felt the deepest sympathy with
men who wanted work. He built a good seven
roomed house on his land and a barn fifty by
thirty feet, besides several sheds. He has a
large amount of stock, having from twenty to
twenty-five horses, from forty to fifty hogs
and from one hundred to one hundred and
sevfnty-five cattle always on hand. In one
year he shipped three thousand seven hun-
dred dollars worth of stock. He is known
by the farmers all over this part of the state.
having lived on the same place all of his life
since he reached man's estate. His farm is
located ten miles north of Kennett.
Tn 1880 Mr. Bullock married Frances Cor-
delia Pritchard. a native of this county,
daushter of Charles M. Pritchard. whose
sketch may be found on other pases of this
work. Mr. and Mrs. Bullock have two chil-
dren now liA-ing. L. T. and Pearl, both of
whom arc at home with their parents.
Mr. Bullnck has other interests besides his
farm, having helped to organize the People's
Bank at Holcomb. In Jime, 1911, he opened
a small store in Manley, and in November
following added to his stock dry goods, gro-
ceries, clothing, etc., becoming the proprie-
tor of a general store, which he manages in
connection with his farm and stock business.
He also owns and operates a livery stable
here. He is a member of the Independent Or-
der of Odd Fellows. For fifteen years he has
been a member of the Pleasant Valley Gen-
eral Baptist church, where he does very good
work. He may with reason feel that he has
done well during this much of his life. He
has never had a dollar given to him, but has
worked for all he has. Not only has he
achieved success financially, but he is a man
who is universally liked and respected by all
his neighbors and associates.
George W. Sutheel.\nd. One of the
prominent men who have given Portageville
its name for progressive enterprise and
square dealing is George W. Sutherland,
whose merchandise establishment is one of the
countv's finest business houses. Mr. Suther-
land is not a native of Missouri, having been
born in Booneville, Warrick county, Indiana,
in 1857. There he attended the public schools
until, at the age of eighteen, he went to
Evansville, Indiana. When he was twenty-
one he left his position to go into the saw-
mill business on his own account. In the fall
of 1898, however, he removed to New Madrid
county, for business in the Hoosier state had
not been altogether successful, and he was at-
tracted by the richer resources of this section
of the country. Upon his advent in Portage-
ville he started the first sawmill and erected
one with a capacity of twenty thousand feet
a day. He continued in the milling business
until" 1905, when he embarked in the mercan-
tile business which he now conducts, doing
an annual volume of business amounting to
about $25,000. Besides his store he has other
interests, being a stockholder and director in
the Farmer's Bank of Portageville. His real-
estate holdings embrace five houses and lots,
which he lets to tenants.
Mr. Sutherland's first marriage was with
Miss Lizzie McQuary. of Indiana, and they
became the parents of two children. Minnie,
who is married, and Elvis, now deceased.
The present charming wife of Mr. Suther-
land was formerly ]\Iiss Nannie Keener, one
of the popular young women of Uniontown,
Kentucky, and she and her husband are now
1050
HISTORY OF SOUTHEAST MISSOURI
the parents of eight children, namely : Eva,
George, Thelina, Henry, Grace, Gladys, Vera
and Jack. All of the children make their
home with their parents.
Fraternally Mr. Sutherland is affiliated
with the Independent Order of Odd Fellows;
the Ancient Free and Accepted Order of Ma-
sons, Blue Lodge, No. 166 (32nd degree), and
to both the Chapter and Commandery at St.
Louis, and the Consistory, besides having
been through all the chairs in Blue Lodge;
and he is a member of the Woodmen of the
World. In the field of politics he may be
found under the standard of the Democratic
party. He has been an alderman for several
years and has given appreciated service to the
community as a member of the school board.
Mr. Sutherland's success is particularly
gratifying to those who have witnessed the
odds -against which he has at times past been
obliged to work. Twice during his stay in
Portageville his lumber mills have been de-
stroyed by fire, but ability and persistence
know no obstacles and he has always quietly
gone ahead and come up "on top" -with a
smile and eager to start afresh. With that
spirit it is little wonder that he holds a firm
place in the esteem and affection of the com-
munity.
Matt J. Conran. To conspicuous success
in commercial enterprises Mr. Conran has
added the record of long and efficient public
service. His achievements entitle him to the
reputation he enjoys of being one of the most
substantial and public-spirited men of the
county.
Born in the county on May 24, 1869. Mr.
Conran attended the public schools and in
October, 1891, when twenty-two shears of age,
started in the mercantile business for him-
self. Before going into an independent estab-
lishment he had clerked in other stores and so
was thoroughly acquainted with the workings
of the trade. For twenty years he conducted
a flourishing establishment, handling a gen-
eral line. In 1910 he went into his present
hardware business. The concern is a stock
company, of which he is general manager, do-
ing a business of something like $50,000 a
year.
Other interests of Mr. Conran 's are banks
and agriculture. He is the owner of four
thousand acres of land, mostly under cultiva-
tion. A part of this he rents, and share-crops
part. He is a stockholder in the Farmers
Bank at Portageville and president of the
Banking Company of New jMadrid. He is
also interested in the Palmer Bank and is a
stockliolder in the People's Trading Com-
pany of New Madrid.
In the social organizations of the section
Mr. Conran is a member of the Red Men and
of the Odd Fellows at New Madrid. In
Cape Girardeau he holds membership in the
Elks' lodge.
Mr. Conran has served New Madrid as
alderman for two terms, during which time
the city hall was built. He is now mayor and
has served in that capacity for three terms.
The city water works were "built under his ad-
ministration of the city affairs. Mr. Conran
was a member of the forty-fifth and forty-
sixth assemblies at the Capitol, where he was
sent by the Democratic party as representa-
tive of the county. During his two terms in
the legislature he served on the swamp-lands
and drainage committee and also on the ap-
propriations, accounts and railway and ware-
house committees. In 1901 he was chairman
of the Democratic committee of the county.
Altogether, few men have accomplished more
in the space of forty-two years of existence
than Mr. Conran 's record for that period
shows.
J. L. Arnold is another of those men who
have been the architects of their own fortunes
and have built for themselves a most admir-
able structure. He has accomplished this
without the advantage of any great educa-
tional training, as the schools about Napoleon,
Ohio, where he grew up, did not afford him
much chance for learning.
The lumber business was the occasion of
Mr. Arnold's coming to Lilbourn in 1905.
He had a saw mill here and then he began to
buy and to improve land in the neighbor-
hood. He has a place of twenty-five acres in
the corporation, which he has owned for three
j^ears. Since coming into possession of the
place he has remodeled the house and gener-
ally improved the property. Jlost of this
land is in timber. Between Marston and Lil-
bourn Mr. Arnold owns over seven hundred
acres of land, upon which he has several
houses. He has been active in constructing
ditches and in getting roads made and in
otherwise improving general conditions. In
addition to his holdings in this region he
owns a $5,000 home in Napoleon, Ohio, and a
three-story brick business block, twenty-two
by sixty feet, in St. Joseph, Michigan.' He
has had this for over a year. His posses-
HISTORY OF SOUTHEAST MISSOURI
1051
sions in Lilboiiru include several town lots
and a store building. In 1910 lie went into
the grocery and the hardware business in Lil-
bouru but, after building up a fine trade, he
sold out in September, 1911. He is now con-
structing two brick store buildings, one of two
story, twenty -two by sixty-six feet, and a one-
story building, nineteen by sixty-six feet,
near the Union Depot.
In 1886 Mr. Arnold was married to Miss
EfSe Uncapher, of Napoleon. Two children,
Carl J. and Helen, have been the result of
this union. The Democratic party embodies
Mr. Arnold's political creed. In a fraternal
way he is connected with the Independent
Order of Odd Fellows.
William Myers. A native of New Madrid
county whose history shows the fine calibre
and the progressive nature of the citizenship
of the county is William Myers. He was born
here in 186i, the first year of the Civil war;
to William and Jennie (Thomlin) Myers.
His father was a native son of New Madrid
county, having been born here in 1833 and he
passed away in 1875, when his son was four-
teen years old. His wife was born within the
confines of the county in 1834 and was called
to her eternal reward when her son was
twelve years old.
After the early deaths of his parents Wil-
liam Myers went to work for his board for
Monroe Broughton, of this county, and there
he remained for four years, and for the fol-
lowing three years he was employed at a wage
of thirteen dollars a month. At the end of
that time he purchased a team, and for eight
years kept bachelor's quarters with Charles
Tony. In 1883 he sold out and went to cen-
tral Texas, where he stayed one year. He and
Mr. Tony then farmed together for six more
years after his return from Texas.
On February 5, 1891, Uv. Myers was
united in marriage to Miss Ella DeLisle, who
was born in this county, August 12, 1867.
She is a sister of Alfonse DeLisle^ a review
of whose life appears elsewhere in this vol-
ume. Their union has been blessed with one
child, Hal, born August 24, 1893, who is still
at home with his parents. Both j\Ir. Myers
and his family are members of the Catholic
church.
In his fraternal relations Mr. Myers is affi-
liated with the Modern Woodmen of America,
the Woodmen of the World, the Knights of
Columbus, the Modern Brotherhood of
America, the Mutual Protective League (of
which his wife is also a member) and the
Knights and Ladies of Honor. Mr. Myers is
also a member of the order of Ben Hur.
For the last five years Mr. Myers has
clerked in the DeLisle Supply Company store.
He was formerly in the drug business for
thirteen years. He is the owner of the opera
house, a fifty by eighty foot building with a
fifty foot brick front, and he owns one hun-
dred acres of fertile farm land, seventy-five
acres being cleared and which he lets to a
tenant to cultivate. Mrs. Myers has operated
a profitable millinery business for a period of
fourteen years, and is still conducting the
business.
Ben Pikey is now serving his second term
as county judge, and his work in this office
has been of unusual benefit to the county.
He is not new to the duties and responsibili-
ties of public life, for previous to becoming
county judge he was ten years constable and
served several years as justice of peace. He is
a Democrat and was put into office by that
constitutency, but the things he has accom-
plished since becoming county judge have'
commended him to all citizens alike. Eigh-
teen school and road districts have been or-
ganized under his direction and the roads of
the county have been materially improved.
Another service he has done the community is
that of purchasing in 1908 the county poor
farm and making it self supporting. The
buildings have been improved and the eighty
acres of land made to produce paying crops.
Mr. Pikey is president of the county court.
Poverty was the school in which Mr. Pikey
grew up. His parents were poor and had
only a small farm, which they had secured
by homesteading. This farm is now owned
by a brother of Mr. Pikey. The children were
"raised poor" as is the colloquial phrase. Ben
Pikey was born in 1861, and lived at home
until he was twenty-one, when he moved to the
place which is still his home.
The farm which Mr. Pikey settled on was
a tract of eighty acres, all in timber. This
he cleared, first a large enough space to build
a house and then the entire tract. The house
in which the family now live is not the origi-
nal one which Mr. Pikey built but a more
modern structure with which he replaced that
one. The now valuable land was worth but
from a dollar to a dollar and a quarter an
acre when he took possession of it.
Mr. Pikey has been twice married. His
first wife was Martha Alexander, born in Illi-
1052
HISTORY OF SOUTHEAST MISSOURI
nois, but brought up in this section of Mis-
souri. She lived but two years. Her son,
Walter, is still at home with his father. On
November 19, 1890, Miss Lucy Henson be-
came Mrs. Ben Pikej'. She was born in Pope
county, where her father and mother had
grown up. They moved to Hickman, Ken-
tucky, which place Lucy left at the age of
fourteen to come to New Madrid county.
Five children have been the issue of her union
with Mr. Pikey: Grace, the eldest, is now a
teacher in the schools of the county, and the
other four, Richard, jMamie, Jennings Bryan
and Samuel B., are at home.
Mr. Pikey 's lodge affiliations are in differ-
ent towns of the county. He is a member of
the Masonic order at Conran; in Marston he
belongs to the Odd Fellows; and in New
Madrid to the two "Woodmen's lodges and to
the order Ben Hur.
The principal crops of Mr. Pikey 's farm
are corn and cotton, but he gives considerable
attention to raising stock.
Albert 0. Allen, the prominent politician
and journalist, was born on a farm near Fred-
ricktown, Madison county, Missouri, in 1844.
He attended the Arcadia high school three
years and on leaving that institution came to
New Madrid county to work for the clerk of
the circuit court. Shortly after this the Civil
war broke out. Mr. Allen enlisted in the
First Missouri Infantry, under the command
of Colonel, (afterwards Major-General) John
S. Bowen, of St. Louis. Mr. Allen remained
in the C. S. A. army for four years and was
paroled at Jackson, Mississippi, Mav 12, 1865.
In 1866 he established the Weekly Record,
and he has been connected with that paper
ever since, both as owner and editor, not to
mention being reporter, printer and devil.
This journal has a large circiilation.
In 1872, Mr. Allen was elected a represen-
tative of New IMadrid county, and ever since
that time he has been more or less in public
life. He afterwards served six years as chief
clerk of the state auditor's office under Judge
Holladay and twelve years later filled the
same position under State Aiiditor Sieberrt
for twelve years. In 1900 he was elected state
auditor and served four years. He was re-
nominated in 1904, but was defeated in the
landslide when Governor Folk was the only
Democratic candidate elected. During Cleve-
land's first administration ]\Ir. Allen was spe-
cial agent for the TTnited States in the settle-
ment of land claims of the states against the
United States. Since 1905 he has devoted his
entire attention to his paper, refusing to be
a candidate for any office. Although he de-
clines to serve his party in this manner, he is
eager to work for it both as an editor and as
an individual. Indeed his chief ambition is
to be of use to his friends and his party.
ilr. Allen was married in 1881 to Miss
Laura Watson, of Jefferson City. They have
four children: Virginia, now Mrs. W. T.
Riley, and Albert, Christy and Sarah. Mr.
Allen is a member of the Episcopal church.
He has attained some prominence in the order
of the Masons, having taken all of the York
rite degrees and is a Knight Templar and
belongs to the Commandery of Jefferson
City. He is a Democrat of the "old school"
that is of the Jeft'ersonian type. To absolute
fearlessness in matters of editorial policy he
adds the quality of geniality, and the com-
bination makes him deservedly admired and
respected by all who came in contact with
him.
A. P. Simpson. Among Dunklin county's
many successful farmers it would be hard to
find a more energetic and public-spirited one
than A. P. Simpson. The county was his
birthplace. He came into this life in a house
within one hundred and fifty yards of his
present home. Except for three years it has
been his home continuously ever since the
July of 1874 when he was born. He has
worked for its improvement not only by bet-
tering his own property but Ijy striving stead-
ily for the things that benefit the country as
a whole.
The only accessible school when Mr. Simp-
son was a boy was at Schumaeh settlement.
He attended this for four or five years, but
only aboiit three months of each year,
although the term was of six months' dura-
tion, so his educational advantages were
limited. Mr. Simpson's parents lived on the
place where he was bom only a few months
after his birth and then moved to the place
where Mr. Simpson now resides. They re-
mained here for six years : moved to a neigh-
boring place also now Mr. Simpson's prop-
erty, and then went to Washington county.
Arkansas, and stayed three years. Mr.
Simpson was fourteen years old when he
came back to Dunklin county and into the
home where he now lives.
Until he was twentv-one he stayed on his
father's place. In 1895. on IMay 2R. he wa."?
married to Miss Doda Marlowe, daughter of
HISTORY OF SOUTHEAST MISSOURI
1053
Richard and Sarah Marlowe, old residents of
the county. JMrs. Simpson was born August
22, 1869. After his marriage ^Ix. Simpson
moved to Campbell and worked there for
three months. Then he came back to the farm
and built a house. After renting for three
years, he bought eighty acres of land. Mr.
Simpson cleared forty-six acres of this tract.
fenced it and built a good six-room house on
that place. This was his residence for six
years and then he moved to his present home.
Mr. R. L. Mead now owns the eiglity ilr.
Simpson left in November. 1905.
When the farm i\Ir. Simpson now operates
so suecessfull.v first came into his possession
it was not fenced nor were there an,v biiild-
ings on it. Only seventy-five acres were
cleared. The bringing of the other 225 un-
der cultivation is another accomplishment of
Mr. Simpson's. Two years after buying his
first hundred acres, he boueht eighty acres
more from Mr. Hoffman. This adjoins his
original place, only it is across the road.
Upon this he put up a good house and also
fenced it. A second eighty was soon added to
the hundred and eighty and this also was
improved with a good house. At the present
time Mr. Simpson has six hundred acres of
land for which he would not take one hun-
dred dollars an acre.
Most of Mr. Simpson's large estate is
farmed on shares. There are sixteen dwelling
houses on the entire place and most of these
are as comfortable quarters as could be de-
sired. Mr. Simpson believes in housing his
help. Attending to his farm is his chief busi-
ness in life and he has the reward of those who
attend to business in having it pay. All he
has, has been accumiilated in that prosaic
and practical fashion. He has never in-
herited nor married any land or money.
Although Mr. Simpson declares that farm-
ing takes up all his time, he finds or makes
some to devote to matters of public welfare.
In 1905 he formed a new school district near
his home from two other districts and he built
a school house. Another undertaking in which
he was the moving power was the changing of
a road near his place and making it better for
travel. He has spent several hundred dollars
out of his own pocket for building and im-
proving public roads. And last but not least
of his labors for better highways was his serv-
ice as promoter of a road from his place to
Frisbee.
In agriculture Mr. Simpson devotes his ener-
gies chiefl.v to growing cotton. He began by
planting twenty acres and now his acreage for
that crop is five hundred acres. In addition
to the land he owns he rents some two hun-
dred acres yearly. Each year he operates a
larger acreage than the preceding year.
Mr. and Mrs. Simpson have seven children :
Elvesta. born in 1898 ; Yelma, in 1901 ; Hubert
in 1903; Alfred, in 1905: the twins. Varah,
and Vada, in 1909, and Alta, born in 1911.
Mr. Simpson's father, Thomas J. Simpson,
was born in December, 1849. His birthplace
was Tennessee, but his parents were from Ken-
tucky. Schools were poor, and as his father
died when he was but twelve, and yet the old-
est of a famil.v of seven, his opportunities
were few indeed. When he was twentv-one he
came to Dunklin county with his mother and
younger sister. His mother died in 1877.
Thomas J. Simpson has lived in Tennessee,
Arkansas and in the Ozark mountains. He
came to Dunklin in 1873 and bought a hun-
dred acres near his present home. He had
nothing at the time but he set to work to clear
and improve the land. He married Sarah
Curry, of Marshall count.y, Tennessee, in 1871.
Their children are : A. P. Simpson, of this re-
view ; Rebecca, now Jlrs. Robert Green ; ilary,
Mrs. Ira Green ; and Ella, who lives with her
father. Jlrs. T. J. Simpson died in 1905, and
her husband has never married again. He is
a member of the jMethodist church. South.
Mr. Simpson has now about sixty acres of
land valued at a hundred dollars an acre. All
the work of clearing this and all the improve-
ments in the way of buildings on it are the re-
sults of his efforts, so he feels that he has
made his farm if not his land.
Albert McBride, undertaker and worker
in wood, is one of the best known figures in
Campbell, but by reason of the nature of his
business his advent in his industrial capacity
cannot fail to be regarded as a sad one. His
is not a joyous occupation, and yet Mr. Mc-
Bride contrives to be cheerful. As long as
there is death in this world there will be need
of undertakers, and it is their province to try
and do away with the repulsiveness of death,
such as existed in former years before the
embalmers had acquired the proficiency which
they have now attained. Mr. McBride visits
the homes into which affliction has come and
does everything in his power to relieve the
sorrowing ones of all anxiety concerning the
last rites for their departed relatives.
The birth of Mr. McBride occurred on the
28th day of September, 1869, at what was
1054
HISTORY OF SOUTHEAST MISSOURI
known as Four Mile, a mile and a half from
Campbell, Missouri. His father was a na-
tive of North Carolina, where he was born in
1839 ; he came to Dunklin county in 1867, and
the following year married. His wife has
been a life-long resident of Campbell, where
she still lives — a widow for fifteen years, as
her husband's demise occurred in 1886.
The first born child of Mr. and Mrs. Mc-
Bride was Albert and he early learned to as-
sist his father with the work of cultivating
his fifty acres of land. When he was of the
proper age the lad was sent to the country
school, but only for three months in the win-
ter, as during the remainder of the year his
assistance was recjuired at home. In this
manner Mr. McBride spent his time until he
was seventeen years of age, when he began to
work in the store owned by John Bridges
and Sons, and he lived at home. After the
death of his father he left home and con-
tinued to work in the store until he was
twenty-two years old. He then gained em-
ployment with the Kennett & Southern Rail-
road Company, now part of the Frisco sys-
tem, and after a year with this corporate con-
cern he engaged in the building business and
since that time has been connected with build-
ing, contracting and all kinds of wood work.
In 1909 he went in business with his brother,
0. McBride, under the firm name of O. Mc-
Bride & Company. They are undertakers
and woodworkers and theirs is the only under-
taking establishment in Campbell. The firm
owns its own building, a structure one hun-
dred and sixty-six feet by one hundred and
four feet.
In 1891, the year that Mr. McBride left
home, he was married to ]\Iiss Lillie Van
Meter, born in 1869 in the central part of
eastern Missouri, the latter moved to Dunklin
county with her parents. To this union of
Mr. and Mrs. McBride two daughters were
born, — Bernice, who began life in 1897 and
Neva, who made her first appearance into tnft
world in 1901.
Mr. McBride is affiliated in a fraternal way
with the order of Masons, belonging to the
Blue Lodge, A. F. & A. M. ; with the Inde-
pendent Order of Odd Fellows; and with the
IModern Woodmen of America. In politics he
has always rendered unwavering allegiance to
the Democratic party, who have showai their
appreciation of his abilities and his upright-
ness by electing him to the high office of
mayor — the position he is now filling with
honor to himself and with distinct advantage
to the residents of Campbell.
George DeLisle. If the business history
of Portageville is closely interwoven with the
mercantile ventures of the DeLisle, the record
of the agricultural prosperity of the county
can also bear witness to the talent and pro-
gressiveness of a DeLisle. George DeLisle,
who farms one hundred acres of rented land
and owns eighty, has demonstrated what up-
to-date methods can do to get the greatest
possible yield from ground under cultivation.
George DeLisle was born within the con-
fines of the county in 1876, to Frank and Ce-
cilia (Leroy) DeLisle. His father was born
in New Madrid county in 1837 and passed to
his eternal reward in 1889. His mother was
also a native of the same county, having been
born in 1838, and she passed away in 1900.
Frank DeLisle, the father of the immediate
subject of this sketch, was a general farmer,
and died leaving a high reputation for
honesty and fair dealing with all with whom
he had ever come in contact.
George DeLisle as a boy attended the dis-
trict schools of the county. His father died
when he was thirteen years old, and he was
early called upon to assume the duties of the
home farm. He began to farm for himself
in 1901, renting first a tract of forty acres,
and later enlarging his base of operations.
He raises stock for his own use but otherwise
gives his time to general farming and grain
crops.
In 1903 was solemnized the marriage of
George DeLisle to Miss Ella Young, bom in
New Madrid county, in December, 1885.
They have become the parents of four chil-
dren,— Olga G., Linnis L., George G. and Ce-
cilia E., all of whom are at home. Mr. De-
Lisle and his family are members of the Cath-
olic church.
In the field of politics Mr. DeLisle is a
stanch adherent of the Democratic party, and
he has manifested his interest in the cause of
good government by serving on the board of
aldermen, twice representing the second ward.
He is a member of the Modern Brotherhood.
John A. Hummel was born July 6, 1856,
in New York City. His parents were natives
of Baden, Germany, whence they had immi-
grated to this country about 1851. Lawrence
Hummel, the father, was a wagonmaker by
trade. He was thirty-seven years of age when
HISTORY OP SOUTHEAST MISSOURI
1055
he eame to this cov;ntry and Ernstiua, his
wife, was but seventeen. The3- moved to In-
diana in 1S65, where the father died in 1880
and the mother six years later.
John Hummel attended the Catholia
schools in Indiana. At the age of fifteen he
went to work in a drug store in that state and
learned the business. He came to New
Madrid, in 1877 and clerked for four years
here, at the end of which time he went to
Jouesboro, Arkansas, to enter into partner-
ship with Aaron Stiefel. After three years in
business there their store was destroyed by
fire. In 1885 Mr. Hummel returned to New
Madrid and went into business alone, but a
year later he sold half his interest to J. E.
Powell. This association lasted for ten years,
until Mr. Powell's death, when Mr. Hummel
bought out his interest from the heirs. For
the past twelve years he has conducted the
business alone, handling not only drugs but
also school books, window glass, paints and
wall paper. The business is one which aver-
ages $17,000 a year. Mr. Hummel has been a
registered pharmacist in the state since 1881
when he took the state examination.
Two of the children of John and Bell Sher-
wood Hummel are following their father's
choice of a business and have attended the
St. Louis College of Pharmacy. Paul has
finished his course in that school and is a reg-
istered pharmacist. Lee H. is still in attend-
ance. The other child, Floyd, is pursuing a
business course in St. Louis. Mrs. Hummel
was born in this county in 1857, and was mar-
ried in November, 1886. She is a member of
the Presbyterian church, while Mr. Hummel
is a Catholic.
Mr. Hummel belongs to the Modern Wood-
men of America and to the Red ilen. He is
affiliated with the Knights of Pythias. _ He is
deeply interested in all matters of public wel-
fare ; has served as school director for twenty
years and was three terms alderman, at the
period when the city hall and the water works
were built.
Dave Dye. The Dye family is another of
the many valuable units of society which Ten-
nessee has contributed to Dunklin county.
The parents of ilr. Dave Dye came to Clark-
ton in 1876. before David had celebrated his
tenth birthday, as he was born September 12,
1866. After remaining some time in the
neighborhood of Clarkton, the Dyes moved to
a place near Holcomb. The father died while
living here, but the other members of that
household are still living in this vicinity.
Thomas Dye resides west of IIolcoiuli and Liz-
zie (Dye) Boswell's home is in the town,
where the mother also lives. The father died
in 1906.
Dave Dye spent his boyhood as most of the
sons of the pioneers did, going to school a lit-
tle and working on the farm a great deal.
Until he was married, at the age of twenty-
one, he lived at home. The union of Mr. Dye
and Miss Miles was of short duration, as her
death dissolved it after a brief interval. The
year after this wedding, 1888, Mr. Dye bought
a farm near Holcomb and this eighty acres
was his residence and working it his occupa-
tion until 1898.
At this date Mr. Dye married a second time.
The bride was Miss Annie Bach, born and
reared in Dunklin county, but at that time
residing in northwestern Arkansas. The
same year was the beginning of Mr. Dye's
mercantile enterprises. He had several stores
in different parts of the county and conducted
them successfully in the main. In 1905 he
found himself perilously near to ruin on ac-
count of having extended too much credit to
persons who had proved to be poor risks.
However, with characteristic pluck and per-
severance he set to work to make good his
losses and accomplished his intention more
satisfactorily than he could have hoped. He
sold out his stock in 1908 and moved to Hol-
comb, where he lived for two years. In
ilarch, 1911, Sir. Dye came to his present
home, the one hundred and forty acre farm
on which he has built the house and the barns.
The home circle of our subject includes five
children : Sallie, Ellen, Walter, Ola and Dave.
Mr. and ilrs. D.ye have buried three other lit-
tle ones. The church to which they belong is
the Missionary Baptist.
In 1910 Mr. D.ye built a two-story brick
building, one hundred and twenty-three by
seventy feet, in Kennett, on the main street
of the town. This structure is now occupied
by a restaurant, hotel, a grocery store and a
barber shop. Mr. Dye's fortune has practi-
cally all been made since 1905, and in these
six years he has accumulated something be-
tween twenty-five and thirty thousand dollars.
Shaplet R. Hunter, Jr.. the county treas-
urer of New Madrid county is the son of L.
F. Hunter, of whom mention is made on other
pages of this work, and was born in this
county in 1879. He enjoyed the advantages
of training in several of the fine schools in
1056
HISTORY OF SOUTHEAST MISSOURI
both the west and other sections of the coun-
try. After attending the public schools of
New Madrid, he went to St. Louis and
studied in the college where his father had
gone when a boy, that of the Christian Broth-
ers. Mr. Hunter later attended Notre Dame
in South Bend, Indiana; the Davis Military
academy of South Carolina, the Marmaduke
Military academy at Sweet Springs, Mis-
souri; and also the Gem Business College of
Quiney, Illinois.
Mr. Hunter is a Democrat and has been
chosen repeatedly to fill various offices by his
party. In 1899 he was assistant county clerk
and served in this capacity for two years.
After a year spent in mercantile work at La-
Forge, he again returned to public life this
time in the office of the county treasurer, in
which capacity he is still serving. He is also
street commissioner of New Madrid. In the
commercial activities of the town he is far
from being without interest. He owns a half
interest in the New Madrid Hardware and
Suppl.v Company, of which concern he is sec-
retary and treasurer.
Mr. and Mrs. Shapley Himter (nee Agnes
Digges) have five children, Thomas, Lloyd,
Margaret, Agnes, and Shapley. They are
both communicants of the Roman Catholic
church.
William J. McMillan. No citizen in
Dunklin county holds a higher place in the
unqualified confidence and esteem of his fel-
low citizens than does William J. McMillan, a
representative farmer whose fine estate of one
hundred and forty acres lies two and a half
miles north of ]\Ialden. Mr. McMillan is a
young man of unusual enterprise and initia-
tive and he has met with such marvelous good
fortune in his various business pro,jects that
it would verily seem as though he possessed
an ' ' open sesame ' ' to unlock the doors to suc-
cess.
A native of Dunklin county, William Jef-
ferson McMillan was born on the 14th of Sep-
tember, 1884, and he is a son of John and
Mary (Harris) McMillan, both of whom are
now deceased. The mother died and the father
was mysteriousl.v killed in April, 1906, while
attending a ball game at Maiden. John Mc-
Millan was owner of two hundred acres of land
.inst north of IMalden, and at the time of his
demise this land was divided among his three
children. Mr. and Mrs. McMillan became the
parents of four children, — Homer is seven-
teen years of age, in 1911, and he is
in farming on a tract of sixty acres of land
near Maiden; Henrietta is residing in Mai-
den with her step-mother, Mrs. Joseph Smith ;
William is the immediate subject of this re-
view; and one child died at the age of two
years.
William J. McMillan was reared to matu-
rity on the old homestead farm, in the
work and management of which he early be-
gan to assist his father, and his early school-
ing consisted of such advantages as were af-
forded in the graded schools of Maiden.
William McMillan came into possession of
eighty acres of land, his share of the paternal
homestead, in 1906, and subsequently he pur-
chased a tract of sixty acres of uncleared
land from Barney Drerup. He intends cut-
ting dowji his timber in 1912. His chief crops
are cotton, corn, peas and hay, and he is also
interested in stock-raising, having about
thirty head of hogs, some cattle, four horses
and a number of mules. He did not conduct
his farm until 1911, and prior to that time
was engaged as a clerk in Maiden, working
for a time in Levi's store and later in Sex-
ton's. He has two houses on his farm, one
for his own personal use and one for the hired
help. He recently erected a fine, modern
barn, twenty by thirty-six feet in lateral di-
mensions and two stories in height.
Although Mr. McMillan does not participate
actively in public affairs, he is ever ready to
give his aid and influence in support of all
measures and enterprises projected for the
good of the general welfare. In fraternal
circles he is affiliated with the Maiden lodges
of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows, the
Knights of Pythias and the time-honored Ma-
sonic order. In addition to managing his own
farm, he is guardian of his sister Henrietta's
estate. He is a j'oung man of fine business
capacity and tremendous vitality, qiialities
which count for success in any undertaking.
On the 27th of July, 1910, was solemn-
ized the marriage of Mr. McMillan to Miss
Gertrude Penny, who is a relative of the pres-
ent mavor of Maiden, and who is a daughter
of Jack Penny, of Maiden. Mrs. McMillan
is a devout member of the Presbyterian
church at Maiden and she is a woman of most
gracious personality, being a great influence
for good in the community in which she re-
sides.
Robert F. Burns. A self-made man in
every sense implied by the term. R. F. Burns,
without even the advantages of a common
^^4
^Mm
HISTORY OF SOUTHEAST MISSOURI
1057
si'hool education, lias steadily plodded his way
along the road to success, and is now-
numbered among the more enterprising and
prosperous agriculturists of Dunklin county,
having a well-kept farm in the town of Sen-
ath. Born November 2. 1857, on a farm in
Cape Girardeau county, ilissouri. he has
spent his entire life as a farmer, finding both
pleasure and profit in his independent occu-
pation.
His father was taken ill while serving as a
soldier in the Northern army during the Civil
war. and sent home, where he died a few days
later. His wife married for her second hus-
band Prank Holderfield. and subsequently
moved from ^Missouri to the northwestern part
of Arkansas.
Robert F. Burns remained at home until
eighteen years of age. spending the last five
years of the time in northwestern Arkansas,
where he assisted his step-father on the farm.
becoming familiar with all branches of agri-
culture, although he had no means of obtain-
ing an education. Coming from Arkansas to
Dunklin county. ]Mr. Burns arrived here in a
hack with a brother-in-law. but with no other
assets than the clothes he wore and a change
of clothing. He had an unlimited stock of
energy and determination, however, and im-
mediately secured work on a farm. At the
end of two years he married and settled on
land that is now included in his present fine
farming estate. The land was heavily
timbered, but he immediately began to clear
and improve it. and met with such well mer-
ited success in his efforts that he was from
time to time enabled to purchase other land,
becoming owner of two hundred and forty
acres of valuable land in this vicinity. A
part of this estate he has given to his chil-
dren, his present home farm containing one
hundred and sixty acres, which are well cul-
tivated and well adapted to the raising of the
cereals common to this part of the state.
jMr. Burns married IMartha Turner, a native
of Dunklin county, and into the household
thus estahlished five children have heen born,
namely: Frank, who married Laura Phelps.
of Homer.sville ; James, who married Kate
Neal, of Kennett : Curtis married Lulu "Wil-
liams, and resides in Dunklin county;
Florence, wife of Thomas Coleman. livin£r in
Dunklin county: and Ethel, wife of Andrew
Walthrop. residing on the home farm. Po-
litically Mr. Burns is a Republican. Frater-
nally he is a member of Caruth Lodge. I. 0.
0. F., and religiously he is a member of the
Baptist church at Coldwater.
William M. Killion. Talent and circum-
stance combine to bring success in this world,
but the men who have found success know
best of all that talent is a wasted gift unless
fostered by hard, persistent labor— labor that
knows no obstacles and is never tired — and
that circumstances are in the main of man's
own making. The record of William M. Kil-
lion, of Portageville, Missouri, than whom
none stands higher in the esteem and affec-
tion of the county, bears out these facts, for
his life is the story of steady industry coupled
with conspicuously alert management.
William M. Killion was born in Obion
county, Tennessee, on May 3, 1858, the son of
John and Cristie (Snyder) Killion, both of
whom were natives of Perry county, Tennes-
see. In all William Killion attended the dis-
trict schools of his native county only three
W'ceks, the rest of his education being ob-
tained in that greater school of observation
and experience, where he who runs may read,
provided the eye be keen and the mind acute.
After helping his father on the home form for
several years he started to farm on his own
venture, and began a trading business in
horses and mules in which he subsequently
engaged for a period of twenty-five years.
In November, 1902, Mr. Killion settled in
Pemiscot county, Missouri, locating on a farm
near Stewart. There he remained for three
and a half 3'ears before moving to Portage-
ville. He is, at the present time, the owner of
fourteen hundred acres of ilissouri farm land
which he rents out to tenants.
The maiden name of Mr. Killion 's first wife
was Miss Tennessee Glover, and she became
the mother of four children, namely: Chris-
tina ; Henry A., now a practicing physician
and a graduate both of the University of
Nashville, Tennessee, and Barnes University
at St. Louis : Anna ; and Ader A. The pres-
ent Mrs. Killion was formerly Miss Jonnie
C. Lewis, a native of Lake comity, Tennessee.
Mr. and Mrs. Killion are the parents of four
children. Lewis. Leo. Mary F. and Willard T.
Fraternally Mr. Killion is a thirty-second
degree Scottish Rite Mason, belonging to
Portageville lodge, A. F. & A. M,, No. 166,
and to Missouri Consistory No. 1, of St. Louis.
He is also a member of the Independent Order
of Odd Fellows, Lodge No. 161.
1058
HISTOKY OF SOUTHEAST MISSOURI
ToLBERT E. Bellon. Ill this record of the
noble and useful lives of the citizens of South-
eastern Slissouri it is indeed fitting that there
should be included a sketch of the life of the
late Tolbert E. Bellon. He was born in the
days when the count.y still maintained the
characteristics of the frontier, for the Mis-
souri of 1855 still indicated the "far west" to
many people. He was the son of Joseph and
Sarah (Smith) Bellon, the former of whom
was born in New Madrid county in 1832, and
the latter of whom was born in 1843. The
father, who had a butchering business, passed
away in 1867. and his widow makes her home
in New JIadrid. aged about seventy years.
Following his early training in the local
public schools Tolbert E. Bellon learned the
backsmith's trade and remained therein for
nine years, after which he tended bar for a
period of thirteen years. Prior to 1901, he
was engaged in farming for a year or two,
but in that j'ear he entered upon his prosper-
ous business as a retail liquor dealer and re-
mained in the same one location until his
death, January 3, 1912. Besides the activities
already mentioned, Mr. Bellon had under-
taken the construction of sidewalks and sew-
erage and had been employed in the water-
works, both in the office and the building de-
partment.
In 1888, in New Madrid county, was so-
lemnized the marriage of Mr. Bellon to Miss
Amelia E. Toney, who was born in the county
in 1869, the daughter of William and Ollie
(Lane) Toney. Their home has since been
blessed with the following children : Tolbert
E., Jr., employed as a carpenter, married Miss
Anna Jones and has an infant son, Sydney ;
Welton; Alleen, wife of Roger Jones; and
Henrv', all of whom remain in the home town.
In his political affiliations Mr. Bellon was a
Democrat, and he evinced his interest in the
welfare of the municipality by serving as
alderman from the Second ward for eight
vears.
His death, at the first of the year 1912, is
keenly felt as a great loss not only to his
widow and family, but to his many friends.
Jonx Edgar Duncan is a lawyer in Ca-
ruthersville who has achieved success. Be-
ginning as a very young man Mr. Duncan
applied himself "diligently to the study of
every great subject which had any bearing on
the one branch of learning which he proposed
to master — that of the law. There is no at-
torney in Caruthersville who is more able to
advise in legal matters than ^Mr. Duncan, its
former city attorney.
John Edgar Duncan was born in Pope
county, Illinois, August 11, 1874. His father,
John Duncan, Sr., was a native of the same
place. He enlisted in the Union army during
the Civil war, serving three years, one month
and a half in the Thirty-first Illinois Volun-
teer Infantry. His company participated in
many hard-fought battles, but though he was
many times in the thick of the conflict, he es-
caped without wound or capture. On his
honorable discharge and his return to the life
of a civilian he engaged in the grocerj' busi-
ness in Saline county; later moved to a farm
he had purchased in Saline county, Illinois,
and devoted his time to its management. He
remained thus engaged in agricultural pur-
suits until the year 1889, when his demise oc-
curred : he was buried in Walnut Grove ceme-
tery. Wlien a j'oung man Mr. Duncan was
united in marriage to Miss Frances Wilson, a
native of Kentucky. Her family moved to
Illinois, locating in Pope county, near Mr.
Duncan's home; thus the two young people
became acquainted and later married in Pope
county, Illinois. Mrs. Duncan's death took
place in Saline county, Illinois, and five of
her seven children survived her, the remain-
ing two having died in infancy. The names
of those who grew to maturity are as follows :
Alice, who married Sherman Shufflebarger
and lived in Pope county. Illinois, where her
death occurred; Olive E.. the wife of William
J. Hutchinson, residing at Darrisville, Illi-
nois: Cordelia, married to H. N. Finney, of
Carrier IMills, Illinois, where Mrs. Finney's
demise occurred; J. E., the lawyer who is the
subject of this biography ; and Violet V., who
is married to Lewis Pattinson and resides in
Illinois. Father Duncan never took any ac-
tive part in politics ; his interests were di-
vided between the post of the Grand Army of
the Republic, of which he was a member, the
Masonic fraternal order, the Independent Or-
der of Odd Fellows and his every-day duties,
while his wife was an active member of the
Baptist church.
The first seventeen years of John Edgar
Duncan's life were spent on his father's farm,
where after he was old enough, his time was
spent in the performance of those tasks in
connection with the work of the farm which
were within his capabilities, with such little
schooling for which he found time. When he
was seventeen years of age his father died
and the vouth. not intending to follow an
HISTORY OF SOUTHEAST MISSOURI
1059
agricultural life, determined to receive a
thorough general education. To that end he
entered the State Normal sciiool at Carbon-
dale, Illinois, where he took a three years'
academic course. Upon its termination he
had decided that he would become a lawyer
and he read and studied with Ira ]Moore, of
Golconda, Illinois. By dint of close applica-
tion, combined with his natural aptitude for
grasping the subject, he soon became fully
qualified to tender legal advice, although he
was not admitted to the bar until 1899, when
he successfully passed the examinations held
at Charleston, Missouri, with H. C. Riley as
the presiding judge. Mr. Duncan had taken
up his residence in Caruthersville in 1898,
and on his admission to the bar he commenced
to practice alone. In 1902 he formed a part-
nership alliance Avith C. E. Braggunder and
the two did business under the firm name of
Duncan & Braggunder for a period of six
years, at the end of which time Mr. Duncan
again continued in business aloue. In March,
1911, on the return of ilr. McCarty from the
legislature, he united his powers to those of
Mr. Duncan and the firm of Duncan & ]\Ic-
Carty was formed, whose office is on Third
street, Caruthersville, where the two able men
conduct their pi-osperous business. They find
their time fully occupied, as they have a large
clientage.
Mr. Duncan has .been twice married. He
was united to Miss Robbie McGaugh, daugh-
ter of William McGaugh, and she died in the
month of March, 1905. On the 21st day of
June, 1906, Mr. Duncan married Miss Myrtle
Crowe, who was born July 17, 1884, a daugh-
ter of Dr. B. D. Crowe and Emma (Kirk-
patrick) Crowe. By this second marriage
Mr. Duncan became the parent of three chil-
dren, one of whom is dead ; the names of the
two living are, — Madge Lee, born April 16,
1908, and John Sterling, whose birth oc-
curred June 29, 1910.
Mrs. Duncan is a devoted member of the
Baptist church, while Mr. Duncan's time is
devoted to the conduct of his business and to
the support of the Republican party. He is
ever anxious for the improvement of condi-
tions in the community in which he lives, and
in recognition of his generally conceded abili-
ties and his uprightness of character his fel-
low citizens elected him to the office of city
attorney of Caruthersville, in which capacity
he served with honor both to himself and his
party. He was formerly mayor of Hayti,
Missouri, and served as chairman of the com-
mittee of the Fourteenth congressional dis-
trict. He has not sought public offices, but
the honors he has received have been bestowed
on him because of his evident fitness for re-
sponsible positions.
Frank Haines. Of the younger business
men of Portageville whose enterprise and well
known reputations for thoroughly reliable
up-to-date methods spell continued prosper-
ity for New Madrid county, none is better
known for his alertness and sound credit than
Frank Haines, now engaged in saw-mill busi-
ness. He was born March 6, 1871, at Logans-
port, Indiana, a son of Edwin Charles and
Louisa (Morris) Haines. He was the grand-
son of Charles and Emmaline Haines, natives
of the Dominion of Canada, who immigrated
to this side of the boundary line about thirty
years ago. Concerning E. C. Haines, the
father of the immediate subject of this re-
view, special mention is made on other pages
of this compilation.
Frank Haines spent his early life near
Logansport, Indiana, and attended the dis-
trict schools of that place before coming to
Missouri, where he continued his schooling.
He then went into his father's saw-mill, and
for a time was in partnership with his brother
Bert. In 1911 he established himself in a saw-
mill business alone, his mill now running with
a daily capacity of fifteen thousand feet. In
partnership with George Atkinson he oper-
ated a grain and grist mill until August, 1911,
which gi'inds on the average two hundred and
fifty bushels a day. Mr. Haines purchased
his partner's interest in August, 1911, and
now condiicts the biisiness alone. He also
makes a business of shipping logs wholesale.
On the 25th of November. 1905. Mr. Haines
was miited in marriage to Miss Rose Lillicrap
of Union county, Kentucky. She is the
daughter of George and Kate Lillicrap, the
former of whom was born in England, De-
cember 8, 1851, and the latter of whom was
born in Caldwell county, Kentucky, Novem-
ber 29, 1853. Mr. and Mrs. Haines have since
been blessed with one child, a daughter,
Louise, born February 16. 1906. Mrs. Haines
is a member of the Episcopal church.
Fraternally Mr. Haines is affiliated with
the Ancient Free and Accepted Masons, being
a member of the Blue Lodge. No. 166, of
which he has been secretary for six years.
He is a thirty-second degree Mason of the
Chapter. Council and Consistory at St. Louis.
He has been through all the chairs and has
1060
HISTORY OF SOUTHEAST MISSOURI
been district deputy for two years in the In-
dependent Order of Odd Fellows. He is also
a member both of the Woodmen of the World
and of the Modern Woodmen of America.
John Thomas Sheehy. When a kindly
disposition and whole-hearted sympathy with
all human distress is added to perseverance
and progressiveness the person possess-
ing that combination of qualities is sure to be
held high in the affection and respect of the
community in which he lives. Tliat well-
rounded genial character certainly has won
for John Thomas Sheehy, the popularity that
he enjoys in New Madrid and in the county.
John Thomas Sheehy was born in the city
of Saint Louis, in 1856, the son of John H.
and Katherine (Kelly) Sheehy, both natives
of the Emerald Isle. His father, whose birth
occurred in Ireland in 1830. died in New
Madrid in 1881. and his mother, whose birth
occurred in the same land in 1824. also died
in New Madrid, the date of her demise being
December 27. 1887. The father of John
Thomas Sheehy, prior to his immigi-ation to
this country, was an English soldier. He was
a baker by trade and upon moving to this
country, engaged as a baker at St. Louis for
Joe Jarneau. Kendall & Company and others.
Later, in 1860, he went to New Orleans, where
he was employed at the Commercial bakery
for a time, and then went to Vicksburg, Mis-
sissippi, and opened up a bakery, but war
times in the south meant ruin for him as well
as for thousands of others, and he later
moved to Memphis, Tennessee, and finally
settled in New Madrid, in May, 1867. It will
be remembered that the elder Mr. Sheehy was
one of those who helped in the raising of the
bodies of the Union soldiers, when they were
disinterred for shipment to the burial
grounds of the north. He was also associated
in the unsuccessful attempt to lay a plank
road from New Madrid to Dunklin county,
started by Biggins and O'Bannon. Follow-
ins that venture he again opened a bakery at
New Madrid, which he conducted during the
rest of bis active life. When he passed away,
September 18, 1881, though he had only been
in New IMadrid a comparatively short time,
he left a host of friends to mourn a very sin-
cere loss.
John Tliomas Sheehy spent his youth from
about eleven years of age in New Madrid, at-
tendinsr the public schools of the locality and
the parochial schools of the Catholic church,
in which faith lie was reared. His first expe-
rience in the business world was obtained
while assisting his father in the management
of the bakery, but in 1875 he began business
of his own in a small way, opening a confec-
tionery and grocery store, later increasing his
grocery stock to fair proportions.
In 1890 Mr. Sheehy formed a partnership
with A. 0. Cook, and for four years the two
built up a prosperous trade in the "Famous"
grocery store, after which Mr. Sheehy bought
out his partner and ran the business alone un-
til 1895, when he sold the grocery to Mrs,
Alvin Moore, and engaged in the retail liq-
uor business in the building he had previously
erected. On September 27, 1899, his build-
ing, with many others, was destroyed by fire
and in 1900 Mr. Sheehy erected his present
brick block, with the ample dimensions of
eighty-five by one himdred feet, a two-story
building that adds to the substantial appear-
ance of the street on which it stands. He also
owns four hundred and sixty acres of fertile
farm land, and has a real estate business of
considerable size, owning and renting twelve
residence properties in New Madrid.
In 1899 was celebrated the marriage of Mr.
Sheehy to Mrs. Anna G. Rochelle. nee G. Se-
coy, daughter of Mr. and Mrs. William Secoy.
They have no children, but Miss Linda May
Rochelle, the step-daughter of Mr. Sheehy,
makes her home with them.
Leo a. Greenwell. Conspicuous among
the younger generation of the live, wide-
awake bTisiness men of Pemiscot county is
Leo A. Greenwell, who has already attained
some degree of prominence in the financial
world, being cashier of the Citizens' Bank of
Hayti, a responsible position which he is ably
and faithfully filling. He was born February
24, 1888, in Andyville, Meade county, Ken-
tucky, coming from excellent ancestry on both
sides of the family. His father. Thomas
Greenwell, born in 1863, married Mollie
Burch, whose birth occurred in 1873, and
they are now living in Canady, Missouri.
Spending his earlier life in his native state,
Leo A. Greenwell was there educated, attend-
ing first the public schools of Andyville and
later continuing his studies at the State Nor-
mal school in Brandenberg. Anxious as a
young man to start in life on his own account,
he entered the employ of N. M. Sanders &
Company, a commission firm of Louisville,
Kentucky, for a year having charge of their
branch house at Hardinsburg, Kentucky. He
next had charge for three months of the
^ Id J^'oaaaX^
HISTORY OF SOUTHEAST MISSOURI
1061
Adams Express Company's business at Louis-
ville, Kentucky, and for a year following that
time was with the Louisville and Evansville
Packet Company. Mr. Greenwell was subse-
quently clerk on the Lee line of steamers,
plj'ing between Memphis and Cincinnati and
Memphis and Saint Louis, for four years.
Giving up that position he located at Caruth-
ersville, Pemiscot county, Missouri, and for
three months was bookkeeper in the Pemiscot
County Bank. Coming from there to Hayti,
Mr. Greenwell was made assistant cashier of
the Citizens' Bank, and on May 3, 1911, was
promoted to the cashiership of this institution,
which was capitalized at $10,000, and has
now deposits amounting to $17,000, with a
surplus of $2,100.
Mr. Greenwell married Lillian G. Tiusley,
a daughter of John 0. and Katie Tinsley,
well-known and highly esteemed residents of
this county, and they have one child, an infant
named Clelland J. Greenwell. Fraternally
Mr. Greenwell is a member of the Benevolent
and Protective Order of Elks and of the Mod-
ern Woodmen of America. Religiously both
Mr. and Mrs. Greenwell are faithful and
valued members of the Catholic church.
H. Cl.vy G.vkrett. Conspicuous among
the leading citizens of Caruthersville is the
mayor of the city, H, Clay Garrett, who for
four years represented Pemiscot county in the
State Legislature, and who during his entire
active career has been intimately associated
with the advancement of the best interests of
his community. A "true son of the soil,"
and proud of the distinction, he comes of
honored pioneer ancestry, among his fore-
bears of a few generations ago having been
some of the original settlers of Indiana, while
at a later perior his father. Cory don Garrett
aided in pushing the frontier line westward
into Missouri. He was born January 11,
1840, in Yanderburg county, Indiana, and
was there i*eared and educated,
Corydon Garrett, a native of Kentucky,
married Sarah James, who was born in
Yanderburg county, Indiana, and subse-
iiHiiitly engaged in agricultural pui'suits. In
^bii'ch, 1858, he came to Missouri, journeying
down the Mississippi river on a flatboat to
Pemiscot county, bringing with him the first
two-horse wagrons ever seen in this region.
Buying a tract of wild land near Cottonwood
Point, he erected from the lumber which he
and his son. H. Clay Garrett, had started from
Evansville. Indiana, for that purpose in July,
1857, the house in which the familj^ resided
for many years and which is now owned by
this same son. He subsequently continued to
improve the property, and ere his death,
which occurred in 1862, had quite a piece of
the land under cultivation.
H. Clay Garrett came with his parents to
Pemiscot countj^, Missouri, in 1858, and in
the redeeming of a farm from its pristine
wildness was of great assistance to his father.
In 1862 he enlisted as a soldier in the First
i\Iissouri A^olunteer Infantry, and served
under command of Colonel Bowen. He was
for a short time ill with typhoid fever while
in the army, and was in the hospital at [Mem-
phis for a little less than a month. He took
part in the battle of Shilo. and when the city
of ilemphis was taken he was captured by the
enemy, but was at once paroled. Returning
home at the close of the conflict, Mr. Garrett
had charge of the parental homestead from
1865 until 1896, as an agriculturist being quite
successful, and he was also in the mercantile
business at Cottonwood Point. Disposing of
that business, he located at Caruthersville,
and for ten years conducted a drug establish-
ment in that city, but since September, 1910,
he has been general manager for a large
jewelry firm, a position for which he is well
qualified. He still owns a valuable farm (the
old homestead), one hundred and seventy
acres of which are under cultivation, while
sixty acres are unimproved, and in its manage-
ment he takes much pleasure.
An active supporter of the principles of the
Democratic party, Mr. Garrett has ably filled
various public positions of importance. In
1887 he was elected as a representative to the
[Missouri Legislature, and while a member of
the House served on several committees and
at a special session was one of the promoters
of the bill in which was incorporated the
■"Swamp Angel Railway Law." He is now
i-endering his fellow citizens excellent service
as mayor of Caruthersville. filling the chair
with credit to himself and to the honor of his
constituents. Fraternallv he is a member of
Caruthersville Lodge, No", 461, A. F. & A. il. ;
of Kennett Chapter, No. 117. R. A. M. : of
Cape Girardeau Council. No. 20, R. & S. jM. ;
of Cape Girardeau Commandery, No. 55. K.
T. ; and also of Caruthersville Lodge. No.
123.3. B. P. 0. E.
Mr. Garrett married, in 1864. Amanda Jack-
son, and to them two children were born, Eva
and "William. Mr. Garrett married for his
second wife Mrs. M. A. Hudgings. a native of
1062
HISTORY OF SOUTHEAST MISSOURI
Missouri, and they have two children. Walter
and Georgia.
Thomas Gallivan is one of the progressive
Ia\vyers of New Madrid. In considering the
achievements of a man like Mr. Gallivan a
comparison is suggested between his condition
and that of other men who commenced their
business or professional career with no more
educational advantages and no more outside
help than Mr. Gallivan; and j-et many -of
them eke out a bare existence, while Mr. Galli-
van is regarded as a man of means. Circum-
stances doubtless have a great effect on a
man 's progress in life, and yet it is but due to
Mr. Gallivan to say that the successful man
makes his own circumstances, or at any rate
he is so constituted and equipped as to-be able
to take advantage of them and to grasp the
opportunity when it presents itself. Mr. Gal-
livan has ever been ready to seize the oppor-
tunity and in consequence has become promi-
nent among the members of the legal pro-
fession.
Thomas Gallivan was bom November 20,
1873, in Columbia City, Indiana. His father,
John Gallivan, is a native of Ireland, born
there about 1833; he spent the first twenty-
one years of his life in the Emerald Isle;
there received his education and there en-
gaged in agricultural pursuits. His opera-
tions, however, were cramped by the condi-
tions which prevailed in Ireland, and he came
to the United States, took up his residence in
the state of Indiana, and continued as a culti-
vator of the soil under new circumstances.
Beginning in a small way, he gradually in-
creased his holdings until at the time of his
death, in the month of September, 1899, in
Columbia City, Indiana, he was the owner of
a large farm, which was in a highly cultivated
state. A few .years after his arrival in In-
diana, Mr. Gallivan had made the acquaint-
ance of Miss Mary McKelligott, born in Ire-
land in 1842, and who came to America when
a young girl. In 1867 she was united in mar-
riage to Mr. Gallivan, and to this union six
children were born, — John, Dennis, Thomas,
Patrick, James and Katherine. Mrs. Galli-
van lived ten years after her husband's death,
her demise having occurred in December of
the year 1909, in Columbia City, Indiana, her
home during the years of her widowhood, and
for some time previous thereto, though her
marriage had been solemnized in the Catholic
church at Warsaw, Indiana.
Thomas Gallivan, the third of the five sons
in the family, was reared on his father's farm
and as soon as he was old enough he attended
the school in his neighborhood. He made
such good use of his time that at the youthful
age of thirteen he was adjudged competent to
teach, and then commenced his own independ-
ent career. For the ensuing eight j^ears his
time was divided between teaching and at-
tending school, and his spare moments were
devoted to the gaining of knowledge. Thus
it happened that by the time he had arrived
at the age of twenty-one, he had a good, gen-
eral education, and he proceeded to tit him-
self for his chosen vocation. To that end he
studied law with one of the most able ex-
pounders to be found in Columbia City —
Andrew A. Adams, now on the appellate
bench of Indiana. In 1898 Thomas Gallivan
was admitted to the Indiana bar, and for six
years he was engaged in practice in Columbia
City, in partnership with Mr. Whiteleather,
the firm doing business under the name of
Whiteleather & Gallivan. On the 28th of
May, 1898, Mr. Gallivan enlisted in the One
Hundred and Sixtieth Indiana Volunteers,
but as his company was not called on for
active service he was able to continue his pro-
fessional work without interruption. In 1905
he moved to Parma, Missouri, remained there
two years, then in 1908 he came to New Mad-
rid and entered into partnership with Mr.
Brown. The firm, known as Brown & Galli-
van, is doing a prosperous business, both men
having a high standing both legally and per-
sonally.
On the 24th of May, 1899, Mr. Gallivan
was married to Miss Emma N. Nix, daughter
of John and Mary May Nix, residents of
Huntington, Indiana, where Mrs. GalUvEin
was born May 8, 1873, where she passed her
girlhood days and in whose Catholic church
her marriage was solemnized. She is the
mother of four- children — three daughters
and one son, — Maj^, born February 22, 1901;
Leona, whose birth occurred May 7, 1904;
Mildred, the date of whose nativity is Novem-
ber 14, 1907; and Thomas, Jr., born on the
8th of March, 1911. Mr. Gallivan has de-
voted most of his time to his professional
work, though his political sympathies are
with the Democratic party, and in fraternal
connection he is affiliated with the Benevolent
and Protective Order of Elks and with the
Knights of Columbus.
George Shelbi' Coppedge. One cannot
think of Mr. Coppedge, of Caruthersville,
HISTORY OF SOUTHEAST MISSOURI
1063
without beiug impressed with his cleanuess,
and that is uot because he is engaged in the
laundry business but because his methods of
dealing and his own character are so irre-
proachable. L'aruthersville boasts of many
men of acknowledged commercial ability and
with these Mr. Coppedge has a high standing.
He has been connected with various lines of
work since he tirst commenced his business ca-
reer, and he has gained valuable experience in
these different enterprises. From his very
nature he is a man who is bound to succeed in
any walk of life.
Mr. Coppedge was born on the 2nd day of
May, 1871, in Haywood county, Tennessee.
His father, Thomas C. Coppedge, is a native
of Virginia, his birth having occurred in Sep-
tember, 1822. He received his education in
the Old Dominion commonwealth, and later
moved to Haywood county, Tennessee, where
he engaged in the occupation of farming and
also conducted a store at Stanton, Tennessee.
When a young man he married Miss Fannie
McGee, whose girlhood days were spent in
Haywood county, Tennessee, and there she
w^as married and there lived in happy compan-
ionship with her husband and her four chil-
dren,— Thomas B., Charles W., Anna and
George S. ilr. and Mrs. Coppedge lived a
quiet, simple life, both members of the Method-
ist church and active in religious work. Mr.
Coppedge was a Republican in political belief,
and was affiliated with the Masonic fraternal
order. His death occui-red at Stanton, Ten-
nessee, in the mouth of September, 1886.
Until the time George S. Coppedge was
twenty-one years of age — beginning from the
date when lie first entered school — his time
was divided between his educational training
and clerking in various stores and locations.
He attended the public school of his district
and his first experience in the commercial
line was obtained in his father's store when
he was a little lad. In 1897, on the 17th day
of March, ]\Ir. Coppedge came to Caruthers-
ville and for the ensuing five years he served
J. M. Ward in the capacity of bookkeeper. In
1902 he organized the Bradley-Coppedge Mer-
cantile Company — an incorporated concern
which Mr. Coppedge successfully managed
for two years and a half, at the end of which
time he sold his share in the company. In
1904 he engaged in the livery business, in
which line he continued for four years, sell-
ing out then to Medlin & Fisher, the present
owners of the business. Coincident with his
livery experience Mr. Coppedge bought a
steam laundry, devoting part of his time to
the livery and part to the laundry business,
and since 1908 he has devoted his entire at-
tention to the conduct of the laundry — the
only steam laundry in Pemiscot county. He
has enlarged his building and increased his
facilities and is still making improvements.
He does a large business and employs nine
assistants. He is the sole proprietor of the
business, which is a paying concern.
Two 3'ears after he came to Caruthersville
Mr. Coppedge was married to Miss Mattie
Ward, a native of Pemiscot county, Missouri,
where her birth occurred January 9, 1880.
She is a daughter of W. A. and Mary (Gar-
rett) Ward. Five children have been born
to Mr. and Mrs. Coppedge, two of whom died
in infancy. The names of the living are Mar-
tha, William and Thomas. Mrs. Coppedge
is a member of the Catholic church at Ca-
ruthersville. Mr. Coppedge was formerly a
member of the Benevolent and Protective
Order of Elks and is now affiliated with the
Masonic fraternal order. He is ever inter-
ested in all matters of public betterment and
his fellow citizens showed their sense of ap-
preciation of his sterling character and
acknowledged abilities by electing him to the
office of justice of the peace, in which capac-
ity he served two years, as the Republican
candidate.
Murray Phillips has had the advantages
of the broad training which the colleges of
the state afford, having spent the time before
his majority in the schools of the state. Born
in 1877, he went first to the public schools of
St. Louis and then to the State University,
obtaining his B. A. degree at the age of
twenty-one, class of 1898. While at the Uni-
versity he became a member of the Sigma Chi
fraternity, an organization which has many
distinguished alumni of this and other large
universities. After completing his collegiate
course he went to St. Louis and graduated
from the law school there in 1900, beiug ad-
mitted to the bar in the same year.
New Madrid county elected, him prosecut-
ing attorney on the Democratic ticket in 1900,
but after one term in office Mr. Phillips has
preferred to confine himself to his other busi-
ness. He is now a grain dealer and this takes
all his time and attention.
The same year of his graduation from the
law school and of his election to county attor-
neyship of New Madrid county. Mr. Phillips
was married to Miss Eddye Newsum, like
1064
HISTORY OF SOUTHEAST MISSOURI
himself a native of the county. She was born
February 13, 1878, aud her parents were Ed-
ward and Adelia (Phillips) Newsum. The
former has been deceased over thirty years
and the latter is residing at New Madrid.
;Mrs. Phillips is a communicant of the Catho-
lic church and Mr. Phillips of the Episcopal
church. They have three sons: Murray,
Richard and Howard, born in 1901, 1903 and
1907 i-espeetively. Mr. Phillips is a member
of the Elks' lodge of Cape Girardeau. He
was a sergeant of Company M, Fourth ilis-
souri Volunteers, during the Spanish-Ameri-
can war, continuing in service some four
months.
Murray Phillips is a sou of the late Mur-
ray and Anna (Howard) Phillips. Murray,
Sr.. who died at Hot Springs, Arkansas, Au-
gust 6, 1911, was born January 19, 1847, in
New iladrid county, Missouri, on a farm near
New Madrid, and was reared and spent his
life here as a farmer. He was a son of Shap-
ley R. Phillips and wife, who was formerly
Sallie Graves. Shapley R. was born in Vir-
ginia, came to Louisville, Kentucky, and
thence as an early settler to New Madrid
eountj% Missouri, where he was a farmer. He
was a very extensive land owner and one of
the largest slaveholders of the country, own-
ing some three hundred slaves. Mr. Murray
Phillips, Sr., was the youngest of eight chil-
dren, all now deceased and all of whom fol-
lowed agricultural pursuits. Anna Howard
was born in New Madrid county, Missouri, in
October, 1853, and resides at New ]\Iadrid,
Missouri. Her parents were James H. and
Elizabeth (B.yrue) Howard. The latter was
of a very old family of New Madrid county.
Mr. Howard was also an extensive farmer.
Louis Segal. There are no more interest-
ing stories than the records of men who have
come from the old and downtrodden countries
of Europe and here in the new country and
republican atmosphere found ample oppor-
tunities for their talents and their industry.
Louis Segal, now the prosperous proprietor,
with his partner, Mr. Barkovitz, of a stock
of dry goods, notions, hats, caps, boots, shoes,
cloaks, furs, furniture, etc.. was born in Po-
land, in 1876. He was educated in that coun-
try and when eighteen years of age, deter-
mined to get a chance in life where the coun-
try was new, the field was broad and ability
was needed, be immigrated to the United
States. Here be knew no one except his
brother-in-law. and when he landed he was
literally without a dollar of his own. He weut
to Louisville, Kentucky, where he stayed for
one and a half years before coming to Portage-
ville in 1893. For a year he was engaged in
peddling throughout the neighboring coun-
try in an endeavor to get a start, and he also
ran a wagon from house to house for about
sis months. He then opened a store, only six
by ten feet and with a two hundred and fifty
dollar stock, in partnership with ^Ir. Barko-
vitz, who has been his partner aU this time
and who was also a native of Poland.
The venture of Segal and Barkovitz pros-
pered and they were soon able to enlarge
their business. They moved into their pres-
ent building, fifty by oue hundred and
twenty feet, eight years ago. It is interesting
to note that the friendship of Mr. Segal and
Mr. Barkovitz has lasted from their boyhood
days in Poland, and they have not often been
separated in their lives in this country. It is
related that in 1892 they left Ma.yfield, Ken-
tucky, together and driving over the country
peddled their little stock of goods until, just
opposite Hickman, Kentucky, they came to
the state of Missouri. In making their first
enti-ance into the state, however, there seemed
to be no cordialit.y of greeting, for the season
was wet and the roads were muddy almost to
the point of being impassable. When they
came to ford the swollen stream, for the
bridge had been washed away by the torrents,
their horse got bej'ond his depth and the two
friends had to wade out in water up to their
arm pits to save the animal from drowning.
Needless to say the stock was damaged, and
any other two men would have been discour-
aged. Not so these young Hebrews. They
went to Portageville, and it was the goods
they had rescued from the stream that served
as "their first stock in the store they. at once
opened.
In 1896 was solemnized the marriage of Mr.
Segal to the bride he had chosen in Poland to
share his fortunes. Their home has since
been blessed with three children, by name,
Nathan, eighteen years of age : Benny, seven-
teen, and Abie, fourteen. All of them make
their home with their parents.
Politically Mr. Segal is an advocate of the
men and measures of the Republican party,
but his interest in politics has never extended
beyond the interest of any good citizen who
supports the measures he favors at the polls,
and 'Sir. Segal has never desired the emolu-
ments of piiblic office. He was selected by
the Republicans of New Madrid county as one
HISTORY OF SOUTHEAST MISSOURI
1065
of the committeemen to attend the Republi-
can convention at Chicago in June, 1912.
Fraternally he is affiliated with the Ancient
Free and Accepted Order of Masons, holding
the thirty-second degree in the same. He has
had the honor to have passed all chairs in the
Blue Lodge of that order. He is also a char-
ter member of the Independent Order of
Odd Fellows' chapter of Portageville.
B. A. ToLLE. An able, enterprising and in-
fluential business man of Deering, Pemiscot
county, B. A. Tolle is identified with one of
the leading industries of this part of the state,
being manager of the Wisconsin Lumber
Company's store. A son of A. F. Tolle, he
was born September 28, 1881, at Roxbury,
McPherson county, Kansas.
A prosperous farmer and landholder, A. F.
Tolle is a man of prominence in his commu-
nity, and very active in local affairs. In 1882
he was elected sheriff of McPherson county,
Kansas, and has since been much in evidence
in poUtieal circles, at the present writing be-
ing postmaster at Roxbury. He married
Olive Matthess, and they reared five children,
as follows: Charles H., living in San Fran-
cisco, California, married Ella Kirkpatrick;
M. Morgan, of Hailey, Idaho, is engaged in
mining pursuits; F. May, wife of Henry
Bartz, a farmer living near Kenton, Kansas;
Carrie Frances, wife of Carl G. Elvin, prin-
cipal of a business college at Merwin, Mis-
souri ; and B. A., the special subject of this
brief personal record.
Leaving home when a young man, B. A.
Tolle made his way to Trumann, Arkansas,
where for four and one-half years he had
charge of the store operated by the Spring-
field Lumber Company, his experience in that
capacit.y proving of inestimable value to him
in his subsecjuent mercantile career. Coming
from there to Deering, ilissouri, he was first
in the employ of the Deering Harvesting
Company, but is now manager of the Wiscon-
sin Lumber Company's store, which carries
a stock of merchandise valued at eighteen
thousand dollars, and occupies a building
forty feet by one hundred feet in dimensions.
Mr. Tolle is recognized by the firm as a man
of excellent executive and business ability,
and in addition to managing the store has
charge of the Company's bowling alley, pool
room and ice cream and soda parlors, all of
which are in a flourishing condition and very
popular with the employes and the people in
general.
Mr. ToUe married, September 28, 1909,
Martha Pemberton, of Sikeston, Missouri,
and they have one child, Tyrus Morgan, born
September 27, 1910. Fraternally Mr. Tolle
is a member of the Independent Order of Odd
Fellows, belonging to the lodge at Trumann,
Arkansas.
The Dawson Family. The history of the
New iladrid branch of the Dawsons begins
with Robert Doyne Dawson, who came to the
county from Maryland in the early part of
the nineteenth century, in about 1815, and
founded the line which has given so many
prominent and honorable citizens and soldiers
to the county. The profession of Robert
Doyne was that of a physician. He had been
a surgeon in the army and came to Missouri
in the interest of one Mr. Waters, who had
several grants of land here from the Spanish
government. Robert Doyne Dawson not only
became a large land holder in New Madrid
county, but he was active in the public af-
fairs of his adopted state. He was a member
of the first constitutional convention of the
state and the representative of his county in
the state legislature.
He located on the old Dawson homestead
west of New Madrid and in 1818 married Me-
linda Walker, who was born in Pemiscot
county, on the present site of Caruthersville.
Their six children grew up in the county and
settled near New Madrid. Thomas lived on
the old farm; Pamelia married Dr. W. W.
Waters, of New Madrid. This town, too, was
the home of Mary, Mrs. A. A. Augustine; of
ilrs. A. A. La Forge (Laura Dawson) ; of
Sarah, whose husband was Mr. Richard Wat-
son ; and of George Dawson, who married
Miss La Vallee. He was a captain in the
First Missouri Infantry, under Colonel
Boyne, and was killed in the service in 1862.
Thomas H. Dawson, the son of Robert and
father of William Dawson, was born Septem-
ber 19, 1822, in the house which is still stand-
ing in New Madrid. He married Agatha La-
Forge, who was born in this county in 1827,
February 4, and died here in September,
1903. Two of their eight children died in in-
fancy. The others were Robert A., born
April 15, 1846; William and G. W., whose
lives will be outlined subsequently ; Ada, born
August 22, 1854, died single ; Weston, born
January 23, 1857, now in the lumber business ;
and Eliza, born in 1859. now Mrs. E. T. Riley,
of New Madrid. Weston W. and Thomas died
in infancy.
1066
HISTORY OF SOUTHEAST MISSOURI
Thomas Dawson enlisted in the Home
Guards and was tirst lieutenant under Gen-
eral Watkius. He was captured and forced
to take the oath of allegiance to the United
States and also obliged to sign away live
thousand dollars because he refused to lead
General Polk's army around Island No. 10.
Mr. Uawson was kept in the guard house un-
til the bond was signed. Thereafter, though
barred from service in the field, he was a
strong financial supporter of the Confederacy.
After the war he became a merchant and was
in partnership with his brother-in-law, R. J.
Watson. They were large fur-buyers for a
Louisville fur company. He had also en-
gaged in this business before the war. The
Democratic party, of which he was a life-long
member, elected him sheriff, and later collector
of the county. He died at the home of his
daughter, Mrs. E. T. Ryan, in New Madrid,
Missouri, June 29, 1906.
William Dawson 's record is one of long and
efficient public service. Born in 1848, he was
educated at the Christian Brothers' College
of St. Louis, from which he graduated in
1869. The year following his graduation he
taught in the college where he had been a stu-
dent, and in June, 1870, came home to begin
the arduous work of public career. For four
years, beginning in 1870, Mr. Dawson was
sheriff and collector of the county. In 1878
he was elected to the legislature, and re-
elected in 1880 and 1882. lu 1884 the Demo-
cratic party, to which he is allied by inheri-
tance and by choice, sent him to congress for
one terra. In 1892 Governor Francis ap-
pointed him a member of the W^orld's Fair
Board at Chicago. After the first few months
Mr. Dawson was secretary of that organiza-
tion. In 1899, at Jefferson City, he was again
called upon to fill a public office, this time as
clerk of the committee on accounts in the
house of representatives. Later he was regis-
ter of lands under Mr. Allen, who was then
auditor. His last service for the state was
taking inventory of the state property at the
penitentiary. Since that time he has spent his
time on his farm.
This home was the scene of Mr. Dawson's
marriage to Miss Ella Hunter, daughter of
W. W. and Amanda (Watson) Hunter. The
event took place in 1874, on the day before
Christmas. Of their children the following is
given : One died in infancy, and another,
Thomas TI., at the age of one year. Nellie,
born in 187.5, is now Mrs. W. A. Boone. Will-
iam, ten years younger, works in Hunter's
Bank of New Madrid. Lillian, the youngest
daughter, is still at home, also Robert, born
in 1889.
Another member of the Dawson family who
has won distinction is Dr. George William
Dawson. He was born March 12, 1852, and
like his brothers Robert and William was sent
to school in St. Louis. Dr. Dawson took his
medical course in the Louisville Medical Col-
lege, from which he graduated in 1875. Upon
completing his course he returned to his home
county and has practiced here ever since. He
has been in the medical profession longer
than any other physician in New Madrid
county.
The Doctor's wife is the daughter of James
H. and Elizabeth Byrne Howard. Mary
Howard was born in New Madrid February 4,
1862. She was wedded to Dr. Dawson May
10, 1883, and has borne him a large family of
children. Two sons, Thomas and West, died
at about two years of age. The others are
Agatha, born February 4, 1885; I. Doyne,
January 4, 1888 ; Colombe, January 15, 1892 ;
Laura, April 25, 1894; Mary, February 16,
1896 ; Emma, November 10, 1899 ; G. Gaillard ;
Paul, December 2, 1903 ; Luke Byrne ; Ralph,
November 20, 1905; and Harold, October 24,
1907. Like the other branches of the family,
the Doctor's family belong to the Catholic
church.
Robert Alexander Dawson is the unmarried
brother of the house. He is a man fond of
outdoor life and in the early days, when it
was possible to kill a deer whenever you felt
so inclined, he was known as a great hunter
and also as a famous fisherman. These were
his diversions, however, not his occupations.
He was born on April 15, 1846, and worked
on the farm until he went to the Christian
Brothers' school in St. Louis. When he re-
turned to the city he worked on a wharf boat
for a while and then assisted his father in
running a saw-mill. Later he disposed of the
mill and went to farming on his present place
of two hundred and eighty acres, four and a
half miles northeast of town. Mr. Dawson
bought this place in 1870, and has lived on it
ever since. In 1875 he was elected sheriff and
held the office for three terms — something
which he is probably the only man in the state
ever to accomplish. The cause of this long
tenure of office was occasioned by the revision
of the state constitution just at that time.
At the time of the World's Fair at Chicago
Robert Dawson was in charge of the forestry
exhibit of the state of Missouri. He and
^/t /T /S^'^^^^vL
HISTORY OF SOUTHEAST MISSOURI
1087
his brothers are interested in timber lands.
He follows the family tradition in the mat-
ter of politics and gives his support to the
Democratic party.
JMaetin Van BuitEN Baird. Some men are
content to serve their country in a single call-
ing while others, more blessed perhaps in
native talents, find on every hand tasks for
the strong man's heart and hand. The long
and useful life of iMartiu Van Buren Baird,
known throughout the county and beyond its
confines as Parson Baird, has behind him the
splendid records of the farmer, the soldier and
the minister of the gospel, and today, though
he has passed the psalmist's allotment, he is
hale and vigorous and alertly interested in
whatever affects the welfare of Clarkton and
Dunklin county.
Born June 7, 1837, in Wilson county, Ten-
nessee, Martin Van Buren Baird is the son
of Thomas J. and Mary (Martin) Baird. He
had the following brothers and sisters, to all
but the first two of whom he was only half
brother: Presley T., who died in Tennessee
thirty years ago; Nancy Jane, who married
Louis Laferney, the son of a fanner in Dunk-
lin county, and died in 1878, leaving four chil-
dren, all now deceased except IMartin, who
makes his home in Arkansas; Francis, who
was born in Arkansas but who was married
and passed away in Dunklin county, ten years
ago ; Mary Louisa, who also married a resident
of Dunklin county. Mr. Jack Koen, and died
some twenty-five years ago. leaving several
children; Mattie. "the wife of R. jM. Harris,
who died thirty years ngo, leaving a family,
of whom Minnie, the wife of Samuel Hassel,
of Dunklin county, and Fred, established in
Holcomb. are still living; Ella, the wife of J.
L. Bradsher. and the mother of six children,
all surviving and in Dunklin county, who
makes her home near her brother ilartin;
Amanda, who owns a farm, and, with her chil-
dren, makes her home in Holcomb; Eddie,
married to Finas Rasberry, and the parent
of three children; and William Thomas, a
fanner who married Miss Nettie Wright, and
died ten years ago.
Thomas J. Van Buren. the father of the im-
mediate subject of this sketch, after the death
of his wife in Tennessee' in 1848. came to
Dunklin county, Missouri. At that time
Martin was a young man of twenty-three. The
father bought land, two hundred acres at
first, later increasing the amount by purchases
in other places. He finally decided to locate
in Clay county, Arkansas, and after disposing
of Ins Holdings here bought iana m thai vicin-
ity and took up his residence in tliat piace.
In ISiy was solemnized his marriage to lUiss
Martha Clements, and some time alter her
death he was married to iUiss Irene Steward.
Martin Van Buren bought his nrst land in
1860, and it consisted of an eighty acre tract
formerly the property of W. G. Wadkins. lie
later increased his holdings by the purchase
of three more fertile eighty acre tracts, in
1865, 1880 and at another later date. In 1890,
twenty-one years ago, he gave up active man-
agement of the farming lands and divided two
hundred and forty acres among his sons.
When the Civil war was precipitated upon
the nation, making of her fair unity two fac-
tions, the North and the South, j\Ir. Baird, fol-
lowing his convictions, became a Confederate
soldier under Price's command, and while
under Marmaduke and under Colonel Ketch-
em's division he saw active service in several
battles of the sanguinary struggle, including
those of Belmont and Parlet Mound. At one
time he was taken prisoner, but escaped and
managed to regain the Confederate camp by
keeping to the thickets and bushes. He re-
mained in the service, a brave and valiant
soldier in the most trying crises, for two yeara,
and at the expiration of his service was
mustered out with the rank of lieutenant.
In 1860. before his enlistment in the South-
ern cause, Mr. Baird was united in marriage
to Miss Ollie B. Hopper of Gibson county,
Tennessee, March 30th being the date of their
wedding. They became the parents of two
children : Walter P. passed to his eternal re-
ward after his marriage to Miss Matilda
Harvey, of Kennett, leaving the bereaved
widow" with two sons, both now attending the
normal school at Cape Girardeau. Thomas
J., the second son. was married to Miss Eliz-
abeth Helm, of Kennett, and at the time of his
death was the principal of the school at that
place, besides being engaged in the insurance
business and managing considerable land,
which he owned. His two children, Kittie.
aged seventeen, and her brother Thomas are
attending the state normal school at Cape
Girardeau. It is interesting to note that at
the time of his demise, their father, the
younger son of Martin Baird, was master of
the Masonic lodge at Kennett, having been one
of the most prominent members of that his-
toric order. Before taking up the pedagogic
profession he had attended the state normal
school at Cape Girardeau. In fact, he was the
1^68
HISTORY OF SOUTHEAST MISSOURI
first student from Dunklin county to attend
that institution. He led the class in which he
graduated.
When he was twelve years old Martin Van
Buren Baird joined the Baptist church in
Wilson county, Tennessee, and from that time
until this he has been an eager supporter of
all for which the Christian doctrines of the
church stand, and has ever exemplified in the
manner of his daily thought the beliefs that
he sustains, so that he can well be looked upon
as a Christian gentleman whose example has
ever tended to nourish those same beliefs in
others. Upon coming to Dunklin county he
joined the Oak Grove Baptist church, and it
was there that he first rendered ser\'iee to the
^Master by preaching His word. Later he be-
gan to preach throughout the county, and take
charge of tlu^ various churches of the faith.
From 1864 on he has been continuously identi-
fied with the history of Baptist churches of
this section. Wherever churches were needed,
his hand was at the helm to push along the
good work of their building. In 1868 Rev.
Mr. Baird was elected clerk of the Black River
Baptist Association, and has served as iloder-
ator for more than twenty-five j^ears. Almost
continuously since 1868, he has served in some
official capacity. It was he who organized the
churches at Kennett, Maiden and Campbell,
and he still is an active worker in their inter-
est. In 1891 Rev. Mr. Baird was married to
I\lrs. Lillian Adams, nee Harvey, the daughter
of Benjamin and Emma (Ivey) Harvey, and
she has been to him a gracious and sympa-
thetic help-meet.
Fraternally Mr. Baird was formerly iden-
tified \\nth the Ancient Free and Accepted
]\lasons and with the Independent Order of
Odd Fellows. During his residence of fifty-
two years Rev. Mr. Baird has married more
couples, officiated at more funerals and
baptized more people than any other man in
Dunklin county or of this portion of Southeast
Missouri. With such success to himself and
gratification to others has he followed his
triple calling that one can do no more in
speaking of him than to quote the words of
the iiiimortal Shakespeare. "Take him for all
in all. there is a man."
James H. Kimbrovf. One of the oldest
families of Southeastern Missouri is repre-
sented by Mr. J. H. Kimbrow. near Senath
in Dunklin county. Few of his fellow citizens
of like age have the distinction of being na-
tives of the county. He has spent all his life
here, has known hardships and privations,
and measured by the difficulties of accom-
plishment his career has been notable and he
well deserves the esteem which has been given
his later years. Both his parents were from
Tennessee and brought to this section as chil-
dren, where they spent the rest of their lives.
His father was prominent in the early public
affairs of the county, and held the office of
sheriff. A run-away horse terminated his life
when his son was a child, and James H. and
Mrs. S. J. Harkey are the only ones of his
children living in this part of the state.
Mr. Kimbrow was born at Kennett, June
15, 1856. A few years after his father's death
his mother married again, and from the time
he was twelve years old he was practically an
orphan and all the advantages which he se-
cured were the results of his own ambition
and hard work. He attended a few terms of
the subscription schools then in vogue in this
part of the country, and his eagerness to
learn advanced him more rapidly than many
others who had none of the cares of self sup-
port. The first free school that he ever knew of
was at Nesbit. He worked out by the month
when a boy and young man, and gradually
got ahead in the world. When he was twenty-
six he married, at Nesbit, Miss Lena M. Har-
key. For nearly thirty years they lived a
very happy married life, and of all the hard-
ships Tiis career has known his severest loss
was the death of his beloved companion in
June, 1911. She had worked with liim in the
acquirement of their modest fortune, and
both father and children have lost their best
friend. Bj' years of labor and good manage-
ment their home estate now consists of one
hundred and twenty-two and a half acres,
with a comfortable dwelling in an attractive
grove, and the place is now valued at a hun-
dred dollars an acre or more. The sons now
conduct the farm.
The children are: Annie, Belle, Ethel,
Bascomb, Bert, Nettie and Thelma. Mr. Kim-
brow is a Democrat in politics, and has taken
an active part in the local Methodist church.
Fraternally he is a member of the Horners-
ville lodge of Masons.
William H. Barham. Henry county, Ten-
nessee, is Mr. Barham 's native place and he
was born on November 27, 1870. He had
scarcel.y any chance to go to school, but spent
his time working on a farm until he was
twenty-one years of age.
At the age of nineteen Mr. Barham was
HISTORY OF SOUTHEAST MISSOURI
married to Hetty Gregson, whose parents
were William M. and Eliza Kemp Gregson,
of Henry county, Tennessee. Mrs. Barham
was born September 3, 1872, and she bore her
husband three children: Eva, born Janu-
ary 22, 1891; Deering, December 10, 1894;
and Louise, June 26, 1902. ilrs. Barham
died at the home at Portageville, December
20, 1911, aged thirty-nine years, three months
and seventeen days.
On the first of January, 1902, Mr. Barham
moved to Maiden, Missouri. There he worked
for his father, selling whiskey until the town
went "dry." In 1904 he came to Portage-
ville, and entered the employ of Mitchel and
Weeks. Four years later he bought out his
emploj^ers and has continued in the business
in the same place since that date.
Dr. L. S. Michie. Covington, Missouri,
was the birthplace of Dr. L. S. IMichie, and
Pemiscot county has been his home all his life.
He was born "November 11, 1870, and re-
ceived his medical education in the Memphis
Hospital Medical College, from which he re-
ceived his degree in 1895. After gi-aduation
Dr. Michie returned to Pemiscot county and
located at Cooter. There he remained for fif-
teen years and built up a large practice in the
vicinity. Besides his professional work he
was active in many enterprises for the de-
velopment of the town. He had a cotton gin
there and carried extensive interests in cot-
ton. Another of his enterprises was a store
handling drugs and general merchandise, but
he sold it when he moved from Cooter to
Tyler. When the railroad was built into Coo-
ter Dr. Michie gave the corporation the right
of way and during the entire time of his resi-
dence in the town he was instrumental in pro-
moting the development of the place in all
possible ways.
Dr. Michie continued his studies in medi-
cine for two years at Warrensburg and Kings-
ville, Missouri, and pursued a literary course
there as well. Wlien he graduated he was in
debt, but by his own efforts he has become
one of the substantial members of the com-
mercial circle of this county. In 1910 Dr.
Michie moved to Tjder. Here he owns a resi-
dence, situated on an acre of groimd and he
has a general store and a drug business. He
is having a flourishing trade in all lines which
he handles. He has built a gin in Tj^er,
which has a capacity of twenty tons a day.
This is the only one in the county operated by
gasoline and it has a fifty horse power engine.
He is extensively interested in farm proper-
ties both near Cooter and in Pierre, South
Dakota.
Dr. Michie was first married at Memphis,
in 1899, to JMiss Anna Morris, of that city.
She died in October, 1907, leaving four chil-
dren: Thomas F., Marion Sims, Charles H.
and T. A., Junior. In 1910 Dr. Michie mar-
ried his presimt wife, who is also a native of
Memphis. H-sr maiden name was Ida McMil-
lan.
In the lodges of Cooter Dr. Michie is a mem-
ber of the Odd Fellows, the Woodmen of the
World and the Modern Woodmen of America.
In his profession he keeps abreast the new
movements and maintains his connection with
the medical associations of the county, the
state and with the national association. Both
as a physician and as a business man the
Doctor is regarderl as one of the most pro-
gressive and enterprising men in the commu-
nity.
William F. Perkins. There is no man,
probably, in Southeastern Missouri that has a
more practical and definite knowledge of the
lumber interests of our country than William
F. Perkins who as a boy went into the Michi-
gan lumber camps and has ever since been
identified with the lumber industry, at the
present time being superintendent for the
Wisconsin Lumber Company at Deering, Mis-
souri, having full charge of the firm's af-
fairs at this point. A son of Paul B. and
Katherine (Shell) Perkins, he was born in
Alleghany county. New York, April 2, 1862.
When a child William F. Perkins was
taken by his parents to southern Michigan,
and when twelve years old began working in
the lumber camps in northern Michigan. Ere
he had reached man's estate he was familiar
with the diversified interests of that vast tim-
bered region, and was there a resident until
1905, being all of the time associated with the
development and advancement of the lumber
industry. Locating then in Forrest City,
Arkansas, j\Ir. Perkins was for four years as-
sociated mth the Forrest City Manufacturing
Company. Coming to Deering, Pemiscot
county, Missouri, in January, 1910, he ac-
cepted his present position as superintendent
of the Wisconsin Lumber Company, an office
for which he is especially adapted, both by
knowledge and experience, and which he is
filling with credit to himself and to the emi-
nent satisfaction of the firm which emploj's
him.
1070
HISTORY OF SOUTHEAST MISSOURI
Mr. Perkins married in 1883, in nortliern
MiL-liigan, Cora E. Dye, and to them four
children have been born, namely: "VVayne B.,
twenty-four years of age, assists his father;
Bessie, who is employed in the office of the
Forrest City Box Company, at Forrest City,
Arkansas; Mildred, with her father; and
Katherine, a pupil in the Caruthersville high
school. Fraternally Mr. Perkins is a member
of the In(K'|H-ijil.'iit Order of Odd Fellows at
Forrest Cit\, Arkansas; and of the Ancient
Free and Arcrptrd Order of Masons at Hayti,
Missouri. ^Irs. Perkins imited with the
Methodist Episcopal church at Forrest City,
Arkansas, and is a regular attendant of the
Methodist church at Deering.
I. Newton Maxwell. Standing prominent
among the intelligent and thriving agricultur-
ists of Pemiscot county is I. Newton Maxwell,
of Steele, a large landholder and the proprie-
tor of a well-kept farm, which in its appoint-
ments and improvements compares favorably
with any in the neighborhood. He was born
March 4, 1867, in Camden, Benton county,
Tennessee. His father, the late William Max-
well, moved with his family to Pemiscot
county, Missouri, many years ago, and was
here engaged in agricultural pursuits until
his death in 1886. To him and his wife, whose
maiden name was Mary Woods, four children
were born as follows: Docia, who died in
childhood ; Susan, who married William
Becker, died at the early age of eighteen
years; Lon, who owned a farm near that of
his brother, died of meningitis in 1899 ; and I.
Newton.
Accompanying his parents to Pemiscot
county when a lad, I. Newton Maxwell as-
sisted liis father in clearing a farm from its
original wildiirss, remaining at home until
twenty years (ihl. Starting in life for himself
in 1887, he bought forty acres of land near
Steele, and in 1888 bought eighty acres more,
all of which is now included within the limits
of his present farm. Successful in his under-
takings, Mr. Maxwell made other wise invest-
ments in realty, and now owns four hundred
acres of rich and fertile land and has a half
interest in another tract of one hundred and
sixty acres lying in Virginia township. He
is now serving as deputy constable, but dur-
ing the two previous years he was deputy
sheriff of Pemiscot county.
On April 17, 1886, Mr. Maxwell married
Alice Coleman, a daughter of Peter W. Cole-
man, an extensive land ow^ler in Pemiscot
county, and of their union four children have
been born, namely : Elma, born in 1896, is a
pupil in the public schools ; Zula whose cloth-
ing accidentally caught fire on February 7,
1904, died a few days later from the burns re-
ceived her death occurring February 27,
1904; Brooksie, and Lola V. Fraternally
Mr. Maxwell is a member of the ilodern
Woodmen of America at Caruthersville ; and
of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows at
Hayti ; and he carries insurance in the Mis-
souri Life Insurance Company.
Isaac H. Lee, now the prosperous lumber-
man of New Madrid, whose prosperity is not
without significance since it means the stimu-
lation of business in the town as well, is only
one of the many examples that this country
can show of men whose fortunes are of their
own carving. He was born in troublous war
times, 1863, in Alexander county, Illinois, to
Elisha and Lucinda (Hunter) Lee. As a boy
he attended the log school house of the dis-
trict, but on the whole he may be said to have
educated himself. He was still a small boy
when he was orphaned, his father having laid
do^v^l his life for the Union as a member of
the Federal army, and his mother dying when
he was but seven years old.
In 1878 his guardian took him to Kansas,
where he obtained some practical experience
in the drug business by working in a drug
store, and later he completed the course in
pharmacy at the Pharmacy school in Law-
rence, Kansas, from which institution he was
graduated in 1885.
His intention at that time was to become an
independent druggist, but after clerking in a
drug store for nine years his health failed
him and he made his start in the timber busi-
ness. In Jime, 1908, he came to New Madrid
and built his present hoop mill, which has a
capacity of forty thousand hoops per day and
employs fifty men in the mill, doing a busi-
ness of seventy-five thousand dollars a year.
The business has grown constantly, due to the
energy, application and sound business head
of Mr. Lee. Besides being a stockliolder, di-
rector, vice-president and manager of the
New Madrid Hoop and Lumber Company,
I\Ir. Lee is the owner of a farm in Illinois.
In 1904 Mr. Lee was married to iliss Mary
Craig of Illinois. They have no children.
Fraternally he is a member of the Masonic
order, the Ancient Order of United Work-
^^<>#' ^^^^^.^L^vti^
HISTORY OF SOUTHEAST MISSOURI
1071
men and was formerly a Knight of Pythias.
Politically he gives his allegiance to the
"Grand Old Party." His wife is a Baptist.
Judge William C. Whiteaker, who is in-
dustriously engaged in the prosecution of a
calling upon which the support and wealth
of the nation largely depends, and in which
he is meeting with deserved success, has been
a resident of Dunklin county since a lad of
three years, when his father, ]\Iyles C. White-
aker, came here as a pioneer.
Myles Whiteaker was the son of John White-
aker, who was born in Pennsylvania in the
year 1780. The father of John Whiteaker
was killed in the Revolutionary war and his
mother then married a man named Wilson.
When quite younsr John Wliiteaker went to
Virginia and lived with a paternal uncle until
the age of twenty, when he came West and
settled in Southern Illinois. He was a mem-
ber of the first state senate after Illinois was
admitted as a state. From the best informa-
tion John Whiteaker was a grandson of Capt.
John Whiteaker who commanded a company
in Pennsylvania during the Revolutionary
war. ilarch 5. 1807. John Whiteaker married
Catherine Harsrraves. He left Illinois about
1837 and came to Bollinger countv. Missouri.
March 1, 1847. he came to Dunklin county
and died a few days later on ^larch 7th.
Born in Union county, Illinois, February
25, 1820, Myles C. Whiteaker came to South-
eastern Missouri soon after the organization
of Dunklin county, which was in 1845, and in
1846, as soon as the land was surveyed, bought
one hundred and twenty acres lying one and
one-fourth miles north of the farm now owned
and occupied by his son William, and sub-
sequently pre-empted another tract of one
hundred" and twenty acres. With a stout
heart and a strong arm, he set to work to clear
and improve a home-stead. and as his means
increased he added other lands, becoming an
extensive landholder. He met with much suc-
cess, and remained on his well-improved estate
until his death, January 6. 1887. He married
Barbara Seabaugh, who was born in Bollinger
county, Missouri, in 1818, and died on the
home farm, in Dunklin county, Januaiy 13,
1882.
Born April 19, 1843, in Bollinger county.
Missouri, William C. Wliiteaker was brought
up in pioneer times and had very meager
school advantages, his education having been
mainly self acquired after he had reached
mature years. During the civil war he served
nearly three years in the Confederate army,
belonging to the Fourth Missouri Artillery,
commanded by IMarmaduke, being elected gun
sergeant. He was ill ten days at one time, and
was three times capturecl by the Federal
forces, but his imprisonment was of short dur-
ation, as he made a successful escape each time
that he was taken prisoner. In 1866, at the
time of his marriage, Mr. Whiteaker began
life for himself as a farmer, his father pre-
senting hira with one hundred and twenty
acres of land, ten acres of which were im-
proved. Laboring with diligence and perse-
verance, he placed the land under a good state
of cultivation, and from time to time invested
in other tracts of land, having owned thirteen
hundred acres in all. He has now title to sis
hundred acres, three hundred of which are
well improved and highly productive. His
land is well fenced and drained, and finely
adapted to the raising of corn and hay, his
principal crops. "Sir. Whiteaker also raises
many cattle, keeping about fifty head, and has
two hundred Poland China boss, and about
four hundred chickens. He formerly paid
much attention to the breeding of mules and
horses, but has now only fifteen head. He is
a stockholder of St. Francis Bank, in St.
Francis, Arkansas, and as its president, and
one of its directors, is renderinsr fine service.
Politically Mr. Whiteaker affiliates with the
Democratic party, and for years served as
county judge, at the same time being presi-
dent of the county court. , Ever interested in
educational mattera, he was school director for
twenty years. Fraternally he is a member of
Campbell Lodge. No. 212, A. F. & A. M., in
which he has passed all the chairs ; and of St.
Francis, Arkansas, lodge of the I, 0. 0. F.
Mr. Whiteaker has been three times mar-
ried. He married first, in 1866, Emma Ed-
ward, who was born in 1854, and died in 1872,
leaving two children, namely: Ashley, whose
death occurred April 1, 1893 ; and A. D., who
is engaged in the lumber business at St.
Francis, Arkansas, married Grace McCosky.
Mr. Whiteaker married second Caroline Geer,
who was born in 1859, and died in 1888. Two
children were born of their union. Flora, wife
of Silas Ramsey, of St. Francis, and John,
who died in 1888. Mi-. Whiteaker married for
his third wife, in 1893, Lou Well^er, who
was born in Cape Girardeau county, Missouri,
in 1861, and they are the parents of three
children, as follows: Edith, Anna, and Wil-
liam C, Jr., all at home.
107
HISTORY OF SOUTHEAST MISSOURI
Francis M. Baird. Among the self-reliant
and courageous men of Pemiscot coimty who
through their own efforts have arisen from a
state of comparative poverty to one of inde-
pendence is Francis M. Baird, of Hayti, a
prosperous farmer of Pemiscot county. He
was born in Harrison county, Kentucky, in
1871, being a brother of E. D. Baird, in whose
sketch, which appears elsewhere in this work,
a brief account of his parents, Thomas and
Kate (Michael) Baird, may be found.
As a youth Francis M. Baird attended the
public schools of Bullitt county, Kentucky,
and assisted his father on the farm, remain-
ing at home until becoming of age. He subse-
quently worked in Ferguson's soap factory at
Louisville, Kentucky, two years, and later
tended bar in that city for an equal length
of time. Coming to Missouri in 1897, Mr.
Baird was employed as a farm laborer in
Dunklin count.v for two years, after which he
purchased his present farm of forty acres in
Hayti, Pemiscot county, where he is carrying
on general farming successfully, raising al-
falfa, cotton, horses, mules and hogs.
Jlr. Baird was united in marriage in 1901,
with ilelissa Burns, who was born in August,
1881, in Bullitt county. Kentucky', where her
parents, Sanford and Eliza (Shelton) Burns,
are now living, her father having moved there
when a young man from Nelson county, his
native place. ]\Ir. and "Sirs. Baird have one
child, Lida E., whose birth occurred Novem-
ber 16, 1907.
Politically Mr. Baird affiliates with the
Democratic party. Fraternally he belongs to
tlie Improved Order of Red Men and to the
Woodmen of the World. Religiously both he
and his wife are faithful members of the Bap-
tist church.
Cap B. Richards. Of Virginian stock. Cap
B. Richards was born in Culpeper county,
that state, .iust prior to the devastation of the
southern states by the horrors of civdl war, in
the year 18.59. He is the son of Rufus and
Corcielia (Foster) Richards, both native born
Virginians. Like so many of the old prosper-
ous slave-holding families of the south, the
Civil war meant utter ruin for the Richards
family. Early in the war period they left
their native state and came to Cape Girar-
deau, where the father engaged himself as a
carpenter and contractor.
The family misfortunes meant hardship for
the boy. too. and after the age of thirteen, he
never had another chance to attend school.
He grew to manhood at New Madrid, and he
went to Pine Bluff to work about 1883 and
there remained, gaining in knowledge of the
world what he was losing in the way of school
room and books. After eleven years in Pine
Bluff he returned to New Madrid and in 1894
engaged in the undertaking business, bringing
the tirst hearse to this county. In 1907 he
purchased a hotel which burned the following
year. He soon rebuilt, however, and the pres-
ent building was erected on the old site, a
double store-room, one sixteen by sixty and
the other twenty-four by sixt^' feet, with a
residence adjoining. He also continued the
undertaking business, combining it with a
stock of picture moulding, glass, paints and
the like, in which he handles a very satisfac-
tory volume of trade.
In April, 1909, Mr. Richards established a
household of his own by his marriage to Miss
]\Iary Watson, who was born in Jefferson
City, Missouri. She was the daughter of
James C. and Mary (Patterson) Watson, the
former of whom was born in Saint Charles,
]\Iissouri, in 1833, when Missouri was still the
frontier country, and passed away in 1881,
and the latter of whom was born in Powhatan
county, Virginia, November 26, 1836, and sur-
vived until August 9, 1910. ]Mrs. Richards
received her early education in the Jefferson
City high school, and taught the district
school in New Madrid county for eleven
years. The union of Mr. and Mrs. Richards
has been blessed with two children, Cap B.,
Jr., born June 4, 1903. and Lucien A., born
November 22, 1905. Mr. Richards is a strong
fraternity man, and is affiliated with the fol-
lowing organizations, — the ilodern Woodmen
of America, Knights of the Maccabees, the
Woodmen of the World, the American Pro-
tective League, and he is a Knight of Honor,
while his wife is a Lady of Honor. Mrs.
Richards is a devout communicant of the
Catholic church.
Mr. Richards accords his political alle-
giance to the Democratic party and at one
time he filled the position of coroner of the
county. His wife also has rendered public
service to the community, at one time having
been appointed by Governor Stevens to fill an
unexpired term as school commissioner, in
which office she served ably and well.
Tom Martin. Mr. Martin's father came to
the central part of Pemiscot county in 1856.
A little later in the same year he moved to
the northern part of the county, where Tom
HISTORY OF SOUTHEAST MISSOURI
1073
Martin was born. The mother lived but a
short time after his birth, and after her death
Mr. Martin, Tom's father, went back to Ken-
tucky, his home previous to his coming to
Pemiscot county. Upon returning to his na-
tive state he married again, and the second
wife was a good mother to her step-son, Tom,
and the other children. Schools were poor in
Kentucky where they lived and the boy had
little chance to attend.
At the age of sixteen years Mr. Martin and
an older brother came back to Pemiscot county.
For eight years he worked on the farms in
the region and then married and moved to the
place where he now lives. His wife was Katie
Turner, with whom he lived until her death
eleven years later, in 1891. She bore him one
child, Robert, who is now married and living
near home. The forty acres of Robert Mar-
tin's farm were a gift from his father. He
has biiilt his own house and barn.
Mr. Tom Martin's first purchase was a
tract of fifty-three acres. He had rented a
few years before buying. He has added
gradually to his original place and at one
time owned ninety-three acres. At present
he has this amount less the forty he gave his
son — fifty-three acres — and raises corn, cot-
ton and alfalfa upon it. In addition to what
he owns, Mr. Martin also rents eighty acres.
In 1891 Miss I\Iattie Baugh, a Tennessean
by birth and rearing, was united in marriage
to Mr. Tom Martin. They have one child.
Sterling by name. Mr. and ilrs. Martin are
members of the Methodist church. South. In
political convictions 'Sir. Martin holds with
the Democratic party.
PiNKNET Martin Matfield. J\layfield is a
name widely and honorably known in South-
eastern Missouri, where it has had and con-
tinues to have so many representatives dis-
tinguished both in professional and commer-
cial lines.
John Jefferson Mayfield, the father of
Pinkney and Anion Mayfield, was born in
Bollinger county, Missoiiri, in October, 1840,
and is still living in the county, a very active
worker, though past seventy. John ]Mayfield
has always been a farmer and stock raiser,
thousfh diiring the war he was a member of
the Cape Girardeau militia. He was married
in 1860 to Sarah M. "Williams, also born in
this county and still living with the husband
of her youth. Nine of their twelve children
lived to maturity. Four of the sons have be-
come physicians. These are: Eli. who mar-
ried Mattie Skidmore and resides in Arkan-
sas; John J., junior, of Jackson, Missouri;
and Amon and Pinkney M., of this county.
Two other sons, James and Lee, are still liv-
ing on the home place. Both are married,
James to Ellen Masters and Lee to Octa
Yount. George and Marshall live in Bollin-
ger county and are engaged in stock raising
and farming. Mrs. George ilayfield was
Sarah Sample. George is also a merchant.
Marshall's wife was Amanda Bess before her
marriage. The Mayfield men are generally
Democrats in politics, as is the father, John J.
Sarah Williams Mayfield is a member of the
Christian church.
Dr. Pinkney Mayfield followed the custom-
ary course of his generation and worked on
his father 's farm until seventeen years of age,
attending school in the meantime. He gradu-
ated from Will Mayfield College at ]\Iarble
Hill, ilissouri, in 1896, and there spent two
years in teaching at Hurricane and Miller-
ville, Missouri.
The Doctor began his study of medicine in
1899, at the same college where his brother
Amon took his course, the St. Louis College
of Physicians and Surgeons. Pinkney May-
field prepared to be a general practitioner
and received his diploma in 1903. Upon com-
pleting his studies at St. Louis he came to
Portageville and has practiced here ever
since. He has an office on Main street.
Dr. Mayfield has been twice married. His
first wife was Rosaline Branham, to whom he
was wedded October 18, 1904. She bore him
one child, Maurellian, born December 24,
190.5. On August 34, 1910, Dr. Pinkney was
united in marriage to Olive, daughter of Syl-
vester and Mary (Snider) Miller. Mrs. May-
field was born in Millersville, September 29,
1886.
Dr. JMayfield is of the same political party
as his father and brother Amon. His lodges
also are those of his brother, the Modern
Woodmen and the Masons, However, Dr.
Pinkney Mayfield is a member of the Elks,
the Ben Hur, the Mutual Protective League
and the I\Iodern Brethren. He carries seven-
teen thousand dollars insurance for himself
and ten thousand dollars for his wife, and he
owns business property on Main street and
two residences in Portageville.
Clarence L. Joslyn. It is a subject for
congratulation that the young men in the state
of Missouri are coming to the front in such a
prominent manner, as it augurs well for the
1074
HISTORY OF SOUTHEAST MISSOURI
future prosperity of the state. Mr. Joslyn
is a young man who has already shown the
mettle that is in him and has won the esteem
and good will of all who have come within the
sphere of his iutluence.
Clarence L. Joslyn was born April 10,
1877, at Port Huron, Jliehigau, and is a son
of Otis and Sarah (Libby) Joslyn. The
father is a native of New Hampshire, born at
South Lyndboro, that state, August 5, 1835.
He was educated in his home town, where
also he learned the lumber trade. In the
course of his business he went to Boston, ]\Iass-
aehusetts, where he engaged in the Hour and
feed business. There he met Miss Libby, who
was born January 16. 1842, at Saco, Elaine,
and she later became his wife (1865). Four
of the six children who were bom to Mr. and
IMrs. Otis Joslyn are living, — Otis W., born
September 14, 1869, living in Charleston, Mis-
souri; Clarence L. ; Bertha; Fred L., whose
birth occurred September 16, 1882. In 1869
Otis Joslyn Sr., moved to Port Huron,
Michigan, and in 1889 he located in Whiting,
Jlississippi county, Missouri, and remained
there ten years. He built the sawmill in
Whiting which is known as the Ward Lum-
ber Company. In 1899 he went to Sagi-
naw, Michigan, where he and his wife still
maintain their residence.
Clarence L. Joslyn attended school at Port
Huron, ilichigan, where he passed the first
fourteen .years of his life; he then accom-
panied his parents to Whiting, Missouri, and
for the ensuing six years was in the employ
of the Ward Lumber Compan.y, above men-
tioned. In the month of January, 1898, he
accepted a position with the St. Louis South-
western Railway Company at Campbell Dunk-
lin county. Missouri, and the following year,
in July, he was moved to Maiden, i\Iissouri,
where he worked as cashier and agent until
1905 wiien he was promoted to the position
of traveling auditor for the St. Louis South-
western Railway Company, the position which
he is still filling.
On November 15, 1907, Mr. Joslyn was
united in marriage to Miss Inez Squires, born
exactly twenty-one years earlier, as her wed-
ding took place on her twenty-first birthday.
Her parents were Richard H. and Margaret
(King) Squires, of ^Maiden. Missouri. On the
13th of September. 1908, "Sir. and Mrs. Jo.slyn
became the parents of a boy. Harold Lees.
IMr. Joslyn is a stanch Republican, which
political party he believes stands for the best
principles of good government. He is a
Knight Templar and a member of the A. A. 0.
N. M. S.
Cornelius C. White. New Madrid has
many men of whom it may be proud for the
integrity and stability of their business as
well as of their personal records. Cornelius
C. White may easily be listed among this
number. He was born in Mississippi county,
Missouri, in the year 1870, to Jesse K. and
Margaret (Barry) White. The father was
born in Benton county, Tennessee, in 1836.
and passed to his reward in Mississippi
county in 1884. Margaret A. Barry was born
in 1844, in the vicinity of Atlanta, Georgia,
and at present makes her home in Bertrand,
Mississippi county.
As a boy Cornelius C. White attended the
public schools of Bertrand, which prepara-
tion was ably followed 'by a course in the
State Normal school at Cape Girardeau. For
two years he then made use of his normal
school training and followed the pedagogic
profession. In 1895, however, he gave up
teaching to enter business, and with a capital
of about five hundred dollars he embarked in
the drug business. Following this venture he
was interested in another drug stock, and was
in Cardwell, Dunklin county. After two
years in that place he came to New Madrid
and bought the stock of Jasper & Hale, which
store he still has and which is the basis for his
present enterprise. The business now in-
cludes not only drugs but also a general line
of jewelry, musical instruments, paints, china
and the like, amounting altogether to about
twelve thousand dollars a year in volume of
business.
In 1903 Mr. Wliite established a household
of his own by his marriage to Miss Allie
Work, a native of Saint Louis. They have
no children. Both are interested in fraternal
affairs, Mr. White being a member of the In-
dependent Order of Odd Fellows, with a
Grand Lodge degree and a record of having
filled all chairs. Mrs. White is a member of
the Rebekahs and is district department
president for the local district. Mr. White
casts his vote for the party candidates of the
party of Jefferson. Jackson and Cleveland.
Both he and his wife are devoted members of
the IMethodist Episcopal church, in which
the}' are stewards.
J. W. Thomasson. Henry county, Tennes-
see, was the birthplace of Mr. Thomasson, but
his parents moved to Dunklin county when he
^-A^
HISTORY OF SOUTHExVST MISSOURI
1075
was a very small boy. The son was born on
the 20th of Februarj', 1S62. His parents on
both sides were of Southern birth, and moved
from North Carolina to Tennessee iu an early
day. His paternal grandfather, Arnold
Thomasson, moved from Tennessee to Arkan-
sas about the year 1852. He had mai-ried
Charity Lowrey. Some time before the birth
of the son J. W. his father had come to Dunk-
lin county, Missouri, to look over its possi-
bilities before moving his family here. At the
time of the location of the family here the
first levee was being constructed on the St.
Francois river. Those who worked on it re-
ceived an acre of land for each rod of levee
constructed. Mr. Thomasson 's father built
three hundred and twenty rods, and so re-
ceived two quarter sections of land, the same
being the site of the village of Holeomb.
"When the family joined Mr. Thomasson they
settled on what was known as the Pritchard
place in Frisbee, and while living there they
were biirned out. After a year or two 'Sir.
Thomasson took his family to Greene county,
Arkansas, and they spent some years there.
It was during this time that the elder l\Ir.
Thomasson enlisted in the Confederate army
and went into the campaign from which he
never returned alive, being mortally wounded
in an ensragement and dying at Holly Springs,
Mississippi. His widow remarried and moved
back to ]\Iissouri, locating two miles south of
Holeomb. Her second husband was P. JI.
Ray, and Mr. Thomasson of this review lived
with his mother and stepfather until jMrs.
Ray's death, in 1878. She bore the maiden
name of Sarah Benton, and her brother, "Wil-
liam H. Benton, accompanied ]\Ir. Thomasson
to Dunklin county. He afterward moved to
Craighead county. Arkansas, where he bought
a farm near the town of Jonesboro, and he
also built and operated a grist mill and cot-
ton gin. The city of Jonesboro now covers
this farm. The death of Mr. Benton occurred
about the year 1874.
After the death of his mother Mr. Thomas-
son lived one .vear vrith his brother-in-law.
Until he was twenty-four he worked in differ-
ent states, in Kentuekv, Tennessee and Ar-
kansas, and at that time he settled on the place
where he now resides and married Lula, the
dauehter of John P. Taylor. She died in
1902. nfter sixteen years of wedded life. Her
only child. Fred, married Miss Lora Crow and
lives at Holeomb. and thev have two children.
Jeanette and an infant, having also lost one
child in infancy.
^Vhen Mr. Thomasson first settled on his
present farm he was without capital, and he
bought sixty acres from his brother-in-law on
credit. His wife owned ninety acres in her
own right, and he afterward not only paid for
his sixty but bought land from her. He now
owns a continuous tract of two hundred and
forty acres, of which thirty-five acres are iu
timber. "When Mr. Thomasson acquired the
land only about one hundred acres were
cleared, the clearing of the remainder, as well
as the buildings on the place, being his work.
Only the house was standing when he first
occupied the place. The entire farm is well
improved and in splendid condition, and some
of his best land now is that which was said to
be worn out.
Mr. Thomasson gives his support to the
Democratic party, like most of the men of his
inheritance and training. In fraternal orders
he is a member of the W^oodmen of the "World
and the Independent Order of Odd Fellows.
In all respects he is one of the prominent and
popular membei-s of the community in which
he has lived since it was only a sparsely set-
tled and wooded wilderness.
■ AVhile at the World's Fair at St. Louis in
1904 Mr. Thomasson met IMiss Bettie Godbey,
a daughter of Kentucky, born and reared in
Casey county. In August of the same year
they were married, and the.y are living on the
place where Mr. Thomasson broiight her as a
bride. She is a daughter of E. J. Godbey, now
of Lincoln county, Kentuclrv, where he is a
farmer and a banker and a very prominent
member of the community. Her mother is
Louise ("Wesley) Godbey, and the family in
some ways is rather remarkable. Both par-
ents, also the five sons and five daughters, are
all living. Of the sons, two are lawyers, two
are physicians and one is a f ai-mer ; one daugh-
ter is the wife of Professor C. E. Lewis, of
Berea College, Kentucky, another is the ^vife
of J. P. Kelsey, a driiggist of Somerset, Ken-
tucky, one is unmarried, and the remaining
daughter married Mr. C. E. Jones, a farmer
who lives near Middleburg, Kentucky. Mr.
Thomasson did not have as large a family con-
nection, and he is now the only member living.
His two brothei-s died in childhood, and his
two sisters died after reaching years of ma-
turity.
The genealogies of Mrs. Thomasson 's family
on both the paternal and maternal sides are
very interesting, and a few facts may be in-
serted here. On the maternal side she is a
direct descendant of Charles and John "Wesley,
1076
HISTORY OF SOUTHEAST MISSOURI
the uoted preacher and founder of Methodism.
On the Goubey side are mau.y well loiown the-
ological students, including a cousin of E. J.
Godbey, the Rev. Mr. Godbey, a former editor
of the Christian Advocate and a minister of
the Methodist Episcopal church. The Rev. W.
13. Godbey, another cousin, is a noted Evangel-
ist and is the author of several books. He has
written a work on "Baptism," which is con-
sidered an authority by the clergy of his
denomination, and he has twice translated the
Bible from the Hebrew and the Greek, being
a scholar in both languages. In his sermons
he uses the original Hebrew and Greek texts.
With the traditions of such a family it is
not remarkable that ilrs. Thomasson should be
a woman much above the ordinary both in
character and intellect. She is a member of
the Eastern Star, holding her membership in
the Chapter at Middleburg, Kentuckj-.
A. P. Blakemoee. Something over a quar-
ter of a century ago a young man who was
working on a farm iu Tennessee heard that
Dunklin county was a good country. This
young man had no capital; he was not even
educated in the common school branches, but
he had that surest lure to fortune, the. capac-
ity for hard work. He came to the county in
1878, when he was twenty-five years old. He
is now fifty-seven and owns four hundred
acres of valuable land. That man is A. F.
Blakemore.
Jlr. Blakemore spent a year in Clarkton
when he first came to the county and then he
moved to the place where he has lived for
twenty-six years. His original farm con-
sisted of forty acres. Now the place is one of
one hundred and twenty acres. All the im-
provements on the farm are his work. The
house on the home place is a structure of
seven rooms and the barns are large and well
equipped. Mr. Blakemore raises corn, cattle
and hogs. His other property in the county,
two hundred and eighty acres, is almost all
cleared land and he has cleared it himself.
Mrs. Blakemore was formerly Mrs. Nettie
Williams. Their family numbers two chil-
dren, William S. and Alley, both at home.
They lost one child. Mr. Blakemore is a Dem-
ocrat in politics. He is an active worker in
the Methodist church, of which he is one of
the influential members.
D.wiD H. :Mann. Germany was the birth-
place of Mr. Mann's parents and it was near
the town of Mainz, on the storied Rhine, that
they and their children were born. Abram,
the father, began this mortal life in 1820 and
Minna Moritz Mann, his wife, two years later.
Two of their seven children died very young.
The parents came to America in 1856, when
David was scarcely a year old, for he was
born on July 7, 1855. The voyage was made
in a sailing-vessel and was about two and a
half months in duration.
The father, Abram Mann, went into busi-
ness in Dayton, Ohio, but afterwards re-
moved to Cincinnati, about 1859. Like most
of our German-Americans, Mr. Mann was re-
markably loyal to the land of his adoption
and during the war he served in the Union
army, being a soldier in the Cincinnati guard
against Morgan.
David went to school in Cincinnati until he
was nineteen. At that age he went to Hen-
dei-son, Kentucky, and worked for the Mann
Brothers of that city. He stayed with the
Henderson firm until August, 1884, when he
came to New Madrid and bought out J. R.
Newton, a fur dealer. David Mann and his
brother Ferdinand composed the firm of
Mann Brothers of New Madrid. The estab-
lishment was the largest of its kind in South-
eastern Missouri. The house bought from the
trappers and from the local merchants. One
of the buildings used by the firm is still stand-
ing on Main street.
]\Irs. Mann was Miss Lilia O'Bannon. Her
father, William O'Bannon, was a well known
merchant in New Madrid and in St. Louis.
He built the first road from Clarkton through
the swamp to New Madrid. His wife was for-
merly Virginia La Farge. Their daughter
Lilia was born in New Madrid county, on De-
cember 9, 1871, and less than twenty years
after, on Alarch 17, 1891, became Mrs. David
Mann. She is a member of the Roman Catho-
lic church. Mr. and Mrs. Mann have two chil-
dren, Milton, born August 18, 1892, and Will-
iam, November 24, 1893.
Mr. Mann was the first banker of the town
and indeed the only one until he and some
other business men organized the New Mad-
rid Banking Company. This was the first or-
ganized banking firm in this part of Mis-
souri. Mr. Mann has large interests in real
estate in Missouri and in other states. Be-
sides organizing the first bank of New Mad-
rid, he erected the first saw-mill here and he
was one of the promoters and builders of the
St. Louis & Missouri Southern Railwa.v, and
is one of the stockholders and directors. His
enterprise has been a strong factor in the com-
HISTORY OF SOUTHEAST MISSOURI
1077
mereial development of the town. The poli-
cies of the Republican party commend them-
selves to Mr. Mann's political judgment, al-
though he is a business man and in no sense
interested in political preferment. He is a
member of the Masonic order.
Mr. Mann 's parents both died in Cincinnati
in 1887, within two months of each other.
They were members of the Jewish church, and
it might be said of them as of Saul and Jona-
than : "In death they were not divided. ' '
John L. Brown, M. D., one of Campbell's
successful physicians, a prominent business
man and a Christian worker, has a tliriving
practice which extends over- a large area in
Dunklin county. A man's personal traits
perhaps count for more in the medical profes-
sion than in any other line of work. Coming
in contact with people when they are most
has the opportunity to speak a word here and
susceptible to external influences, a physician
there that will aid a man in his journey
through life. Dr. Brown, possessed of the
broadest sympathy not only with the physical
weaknesses of others, but with their moral in-
firmities, has a nature that invites confidence,
a character that commands respect and a tem-
perament that is willing to lend a helping
hand.
Beginning life at Metropolis, Illinois, the
Doctor's birth occurred on a farm in that
place July 25, 1869. He obtained his first
schooling at the common school in his disti-ict,
then he completed a high school course and
entered the medical college for physicians
and surgeons at St. Louis, from which insti-
tution he was graduated in 1892. carrying off
the second honors in the class of eighty-three
students. When the fact that he worked his
own way through school is taken into consid-
eration, his standing is all the more to his
credit. In 1891 he took up his residence in
Campbell and the following year, after ob-
taining his degree, he commenced to practice.
His patients are scattered over a territory of
ten miles square. Most of the time that he has
been engaged in the medical profession he has
also superintended the management of a drug
store. He and his brother. Dr. C. W. Brown,
each owned a drug store : they united the two
stores under one management, thereby form-
ing an incorporated company in which the
two brothers are the principal stockholders.
The two stores are doing a very large busi-
ness and the company is prospering.
In 1895 Dr. Brown was married to Miss
Josie Gehrig, whose father was a native of
Switzerland, and her mother was born in Ten-
nessee; they were old settlers in Campbell,
where they raised their children. There Mrs.
Brown's birth occurred December 28, 1875;
there she was educated and married; and
there she is bringing up her own children,
whose names are as follows, — Hillary Lloyd,
born in 1898, and Rodney Louis, whose na-
tivity occurred in April, 1904.
Dr. Brown is a member of the Independent
Order of Odd Fellows and of the Knights of
Pythias — the Campbell lodges. He is also
affiliated with the Masonic order, being a
member of the Blue Lodge at Campbell, An-
cient Free and Accepted Masons ; of the Chap-
ter at Kennett, Royal Arch Masons; of the
Council at Campbell, Royal and Select Mas-
ters; and of the Commandery at Maiden,
Knights Templar. He has thus concluded the
York Rite branch of the order. The Doctor
takes an active part in church work, being a
deacon in' the General Baptist church at
Campbell, and he has liberally contributed
towards the erection of several churches of
other denominations in the town. Dr. Brown
owns his home and several other houses and
lots in Campbell, all obtained as the result of
his efficient work since he came to the town
almost twenty years ago.
Bert Haines has spent his life at the busi-
ness in which he is engaged, and although
that is not such a very long time, yet Mr.
Haines has a thorough knowledge of all as-
pects of the lumber industry. Woodford
county, Indiana, was Mr. Haines' birthplace,
and August 27, 1867, the date of his birth.
Until he was twenty-one he went to school and
worked for his father, who also had a saw-
mill. Wlien Mr. Bert Haines was about fif-
teen his father moved to Campbell and put
up a mill in that town.
In 1885 Mr. Haines' father left Campbell
to cut the right of way for the Cotton Belt
Railway from Dexter to Delta, then between
Bird's Point and Jonesborough. This work
occupied him for two years, during which
time his son Bert was with him. The year
after finishing the railroad work the father
and son conducted a saw-mill at what is now
the town of Parma, then called Lotta. This
arrangement lasted one year and then Mr.
Bert Haines worked by himself for a year in
a plant near Maiden. For the next six years
he was in business with his father and brother
in a heading mill which they put up at Lotta.
1078
HISTORY OF SOUTHEAST IMISSOURI
About fourteeu years ago Mr. Haiues aud
his two sons, Frank and Bert, came to Port-
ageville where the}' have sinee continued in
the lumber milling business. Mr. Bert Haines
is in charge of the planing mill and the lum-
ber yard, while Frank takes care of the saw-
mill and the stave factory.
In September, 1888, Mr. Haines and Miss
Mattie Vaughn were married at Campbell.
Mattie Haiues lived only eight years after her
union. She died in October, 1896, at Lotta,
and is buried at Campbell. She left her hus-
band with two children, Urcel, born Decem-
ber 12, 189i, and Ethel, October 14, 1892.
The present ilrs. Haines, Emma, the daugh-
ter of William and Jlartha Webb, was born
in Stoddard county, Missouri, December 12,
1877. Her marriage to Mr. Haines took place
April 14, 1898. Their one daughter, Mar-
jorie, was born December 23, 1903. Mr.
Haines is a Republican in political convic-
tions.
L. B. Cravens was born in Indiana, Octo-
ber 14, 1857, and lived in that state until
after the Civil war, when his father moved to
Henderson county, Kentucky. Here the boys
attended school three months of the year and
worked on the farm for the rest of the time.
On September 10, 1875, his father was killed,
aud the mother died August 20, 1878. L. B.
Cravens was left on the farm his father had
rented, with his two sisters to support. There
were six other brothers, but the burden of
earing for the sisters fell upon L. B., and he
took care of them for eight years.
In 1883, after his sisters were married and
provided for, he came to New Madrid county,
part of the way by train and part of the way
by wagon. He settled a mile and a half east
of the present site of Lilbourn, which was
then only timber and deep water. For a year
IVIr. Cravens rented a farm on the prairie and
then bought land, a farm between Point
Pleasant and New Madrid, and went into the
stock business with F. A. Lewis, of New Mad-
rid. Three years later he sold his farm and
invested in other properties, but he continued
to deal extensively in stock. Wlien he first
came to what is now Lilbourn all was range
and wilderness.
In inOn ]Mr. Cravens came to Lilbourn and
engaged in the livery business, conducting the
only establishment of this sort in the town.
He has done a flourishing business in the liv-
ery line and now owns six good buildings on
the main street besides his livery stable. A
blacksmith shop aud a meat market are
among his other possessions and several
houses which he has built. He leases about
live hundred acres of land near town, on
which he keeps his stock. Another of his in-
terests is the tile factory of Lilbourn.
Mr. Cravens has found time in the midst of
his busy life to fulfil the duties of public of-
fice. He was mayor of the town until Sep-
tember, 1911, and is now a justice of the peace
and for four years he acted as police judge.
Although Mr. Cravens and his wife, Jane
(Ta.ylor) Cravens, have but one child, Bettie,
born in 1904, a year after their marriage, he
has found place in his heart and at his
hearth-stone for fourteen nephews and nieces.
Three of these were the children of his two
sisters; seven more were orphaned by the
death of one brother and not only these, but
four of another family were taken into his
house and provided for. At the present time
only three of these orphans are living in Mr.
Cravens' home, as the others have all mar-
ried.
In the lodge of New Lladrid Mr. Cravens
has taken three degrees in Masonry. Ever
since coming to the state he has lived in this
county, where he has been unusually success-
ful in his enterprises. His prosperity is
grudged him b}' no one, for he has earned it
by strict • attention to business, and he has
given of his store generously. Mr. Cravens is
a life-long Democrat. Mrs. Cravens is a mem-
ber of the Methodist Episcopal church. South.
She was born in Indiana, but was reared in
Henderson county, Kentucky, where her par-
ents removed shortly after the Civil war.
Mr. Cravens is a stockholder and director
of the Bank of Lilbourn and also a stock-
holder of the Lilbourn Electric Light Com-
pany. He still conducts his livery-barn and
blacksmith shop.
John Ashley, M. D. Prominent among
the citizens of foreign birth in Stoddard
county, Missouri, is Dr. John Ashley, who
since 1898 has been engaged in the general
practice of medicine at this point. His pro-
fessional ability and prestige is on a par
with his standing as a gentleman and a pub-
lic-spirited member of society. He is a man
of two-fold profession, havinsr preceded his
career as a physician by sixteen years as
a clergyman of the Methodist Episcopal
church, and he still retains his membership
in the conference.
John Ashley was born in Cheshire, Eng-
HISTORY OF SOUTHEAST MISSOURI
1079
land, June 18, 1853, and spent his boyhood
on a farm in his native laud. He received
his academic and medical training in that
country, receiving his degree in 1874. He
engaged in the practice of medicine and
preaching, being located at Liverpool and
Chester, and from 1882 until 1898 was out
of regular practice, having previous to the
first date (in 1878) been ordained to the min-
istry of the Methodist church. He preached
for a time in England and then in 1882 came
to America to enter the St. Louis conference
of the Methodist Episcopal church. Subse-
quently he was sent to San Antonio, Texas,
as supply, and he remained there for a year
and a half previous to locating at Osceola,
Missouri. He went there in January, 1884,
and remained there for three years, the limit
of the Methodist pastorate. His next re-
moval was to Biitler, Missouri, where he
stayed one year; then went to Sedalia, ]\Iis-
souri, for two years; to Lebanon for two
years: Lamar for two years; to Greenfield
for three years; and then to Golden City,
where he remained until 1898. His value as a
minister of the Gospel was everywhere recog-
nized and his services were devoted to pastoral
work. Although no longer engaged in minis-
terial service, he is still a member of the St.
Louis conference as supernumerary.
Dr. Ashley found church work agreeable
and satisfactory, but he believed that a field
of even greater usefulness was presented by
the profession he had abandoned, and accord-
ingly located in Bloomfield to resume his
medical practice. He came here as a minister
of the Methodist Episcopal church, entering
upon his duties in 1898. He is prominently
identified with Stoddard county medical af-
fairs and is a member and secretary of the
Stoddard County ]\Iedical Society, having
held said office since the societ.y was organized
in 1903. In 1910 he was made a vice presi-
dent of the State Medical Society, and for six
months during 1911 he has been an able mem-
ber of the State Board of Health. In the
American ]\Iedical and Southeastern Missouri
Medical Associations he also holds member-
ship, and he is a medical writer of high at-
tainments and originality. He is a constant
student of his profession and is ever alert to
new scientific discoveries.
Dr. Ashley was married in Chester, Eng-
land, on the 8th of July, 1878, to Hannah
Hughes, daughter of Thomas Hughes, of
Chester, England. This happy union has
been resultant in the following family of six
children. Charles Leonard, who died in 1900,
at the age of twenty-two years, was principal
of the High school at Golden City, ]\Iissouri,
This promising young man was a graduate of
the Lamar high school and had also been a
student in the State University. Millicent,
wife of J. Herndon, a mining chemist at
Salmon, Idaho, and graduate of the Rollo
School of Mines, is an elocutionist of remark-
able gifts and has won the entire series of
Demorest medals, the silver, gold, grand gold
and diamond — in successive years. Winifred
is the wife of Dr. Spencer Clark, of Green-
ville, Illinois. John Lucas is secretary, treas-
urer and general manager of the Weber Ab-
stract Company, of Bloomfield. Munford is
a student in the Dental department of Wash-
ington University, St. Louis, Missouri, and
Vincent, a recent graduate of the Bloomfield
high school, is a student in the American
Medical College, St. Louis, Missouri.
Albert B. Hunter is probably the largest
grain dealer in this section Of the country. In
less than thirty years he has built up a busi-
ness which averages a quarter of a million
dollars a year, and besides this he is one of
the large landholders of the region and a
heawy stockholder in several corporations.
Samuel and Mary Ann (Lewis) Hunter
were the parents of Mr. A. B. Hunter. They
were both born in the county and the mother
is still living here, at seventj^-nine years, and
still active. The father died in' 1864, at
thirty-five, meeting an accidental death.
Albert B. was born July 8, 1855, and grew up
on the farm six miles north of New Madrid.
He received his education in the country
schools and until lie was twenty-eight sta.ved
on his father's farm. In 1883 he started in
the business of which he has made such a
signal success, establishing a grain and gen-
eral merchandise house in La Forge, this
county. The venture was a success from the
start and the receipts from the general store
and grain house at La Forge are now from
one hundred thousand dollars to one hundred
and twenty-five thousand dollars a year. Mr.
Hunter has his headquarters at this place for
the six grain houses he owns in different
towns. For eighteen years he has had an es-
tablishment at East Prairie. His other
branches are located at New Madrid, Ristine,
Marsten and Lilbourn. Mr. Hunter says that
the receipts from his grain business from
1080
HISTORY OF SOUTHEAST MISSOURI
October, 1910, to the same date iu 1911 were
about three hundred and forty thousand dol-
lars.
Some of i\Ir. Hunter's other interests are
farms, a bank and railways. He owns a total
of seven thousand acres of laud, six thousand
of this being cleared and in one tract. An-
other of his possessions is Hunter's Bank of
New Madrid. This concern has a capital of
twenty thousand dollars and a certified sur-
plus of forty -five thousand dollars and is do-
ing a rapidly increasing business. In the St.
Louis and Missouri Southern Railway he owns
ten thousand dollars worth of stock and is
third vice president of the road. His resi-
dence in New Madrid is the finest home in
this part of the county.
Mrs. Albert Hunter was born in the county,
near Point Pleasant, in 1862. She is a grand-
daughter of Godfred Le Sieur, who wrote a
history of the earthquakes in 1811 and 1812.
This distinguished scholar was the father of
Mrs. Hunter's mother, Amanda Le Sieur,
who became the wife of John Pack, a phy-
sician of note in the earlier days of New
Madrid county. Ella Pack Hunter was born
about two years before her father 's death and
four years before that of her mother. She is
a member of the Roman Catholic church.
One of the four children of Mr. and Mrs.
Hunter, Camille, born in 1890, is still at home.
David R., born in 1881, is cashier in the bank.
Henry, one year younger, is in the mule busi-
ness in New :\Iadrid, and Albert B., Junior,
born in October, 1884, is a farmer and stock-
raiser. All the brothers are married.
Mr. Albert Hunter is a Democrat and,
^yhile he has not the slightest interest in poli-
tics from an office-seeker's standpoint, he is
counted a most influential member of the or-
ganization. Although he does not care to
accept any office himself, he has done much
to put others into such positions.
Thom.vs Benton Turnbaugh, M. D. One
of the most prominent and highly esteemed
citizens of Bloomfield, Thomas B. Turnbaugh,
M. D., is a physician of wide experience and
has given much time and thought to the study
of the various diseases to which mankind is
heir, and to the processes of alleviating suffer-
ing. He is a man of broad capacity, and has
for years been active in religious affairs and
in business circles, while as a strict Prohi-
bitionist his influence has been felt in the
arena of politics. A son of John J. Turn-
baugh, he was born July 25, 1840, in Pitts-
field, Illinois, where the first ten years of his
life was spent.
John J. Turnbaugh was born and reared iu
Kentucky, but as a young man established
himself as a merchant in Pittsfield, Illinois.
In 1842 he was commissioned by Governor
Ford as major of the Seventy-fourth Regi-
ment of the Illinois State Militia, and took
part in the ilormon war of that period iu and
near Carthage, Illinois. In 1850 ilajor Turn-
baugh came with his famih' to Jackson, Cape
Girardeau county, I\Iissouri, where for eight
years he was engaged in mercantile pursuits,
at the same time conducting a hotel. From
1858 until 1861, under the administration of
President Buchanan, he was receiver of the
U. S. Land Office, at Jackson, Missouri, and
was there a resident until his death, in 1873,
aged sixty-three years. IMajor Turnbaugh
married Nancy A. Morrison, who was born in
Indiana and died in Jackson, Missouri, April
11, 1911, aged eighty-nine years. Of the
eleven children born of their union several
died in infancy and in later years, and five
are now living, namely : Dr. Thomas B. Turn-
baugh, the special subject of this brief
sketch ; two daughters living in Cape Girar-
deau county, Mrs. Anna Obermiller, of Jack-
son, and Mrs. .James F. Brooks, of Cape
Girardeau, and two daughtei-s residing at La
Jolla, California, Mrs. ]\I. P. Dickinson and
Mrs. Virginia Smith, widows.
A bright and scholarly student in his .youth-
ful days, Thomas Bentou Turnbaugh was
graduated from the Jackson Academy, in
Jackson, Missouri, with high honors. The fol-
io-wing two years he was one of the instructors
in the Jackson Academy, being under Dr. Ma-
ple, now of Cape Girardeau, the first .year, and
the second year being principal of the acad-
emy, which is a preparatory school, having
about sixty students in the institution and
teaching Latin, Greek, geometr.y and trigo-
nometry. In 1863 he began reading medicine,
aud was graduated from the medical depart-
ment of Washington University, in Saint
Louis, with the class of 1867, and was also
valedictorian. Dr. Turnbaugh immediatel.v
began the practice of his profession at Four
Mile, Dunklin county, a small place now de-
funct, located near the present site of Camp-
bell, remaining there ten years. Coming from
there to Bloomfield in 1877, he has built up a
large and lucrative practice in this vicinity,
and has acquired a fine reputation for pro-
fessional knowledge and skill. He is a mem-
ber of the Stoddard County Medical Asso-
HISTORY OF SOUTHEAST MISSOURI
1081
eiatiou, and an honorary member of the Saint
Louis Medical Association. For use in his
practice he carries a good stock of pure drugs.
Sincerely devout in his religious convic-
tions from his earliest youth. Dr. Turnbaugh
was licensed to preach by the Jackson Bap-
tist church in 1862, and was pastor of the
Goshen church imtil 1864. In 1867 he organ-
ized a Baptist church at Four Mile, and served
as its pastor for ten years. From 1878 until
1888 the Doctor filled" the pulpit of the Baptist
church in Bloomfield, preaching as effectively
and ably as he practiced medicine, interesting
the community in his religious work and add-
ing largely to the membership of the church,
which had but forty members enrolled when
he assumed its charge. The Doctor has at-
tended many Baptist conventions, not only in
^Missouri but in Kentucky, Texas and at Hot
Springs. Arkansas.
Dr. Turnbaugh is a loyal adherent of the
Prohibition party. He was reared in the
Democratic faith, and in 1871 represented
Dunklin county in the Twenty-seventh Gen-
eral Assembly, sei-ving without special dis-
tinction. He was afterwards defeated when a
candidate for representative from Stoddard
County to the State Legislature on the Pro-
hibition ticket, although he came witliin one
hundred and sixty-four votes of carrying the
county, which is now "dry." Fraternally
the Doctor is a member and past master of
Bloomfield lodge. A. F. & A. M. ; a member of
Kennett chapter. No. 117, R. A. M. ; and of
Campbell Council, R. & S. M. He was for
many years an active member of the local
grange, and was the life of that organization.
Dr. Turnbaugh married, in November,
1867, Minerva A. Owen, who was born in
Stoddard county, Missouri, in 1844. Her fa-
ther, Judge R. P. Owen, for three terms judge
of the judicial circuit, located in Bloomfield
in 1841, and for years was a leading attorney
in this community. The Doctor and Mrs.
Turnbaugh have two sons, namely : John 0.,
born in 1868, an insurance. man, and now in
San Diego, California, with his mother for his
health, the Doctor owning a house in that city ;
and T. Ben, Jr., mayor of Bloomfield, of whom
a brief sketch may be found following.
T. Ben Turnbaugh. A public-spirited, in-
fluential citizen of Bloomfield, T. Ben Turn-
baugh, now serving as mayor of the city, is
also a prominent business man, being actively
engaged in the jewelry trade and having a
well-stocked establishment. A native Mis-
sourian, he was born July 30, 1875, at Four
Mile, Dunklin county. He grew to manhood
in Bloomfield, acquiring his elementary educa-
tion in the public schools and being gradu-
ated from the William Jewell college, in Lib-
erty, with the degree of A. B. in 1897.
Not caring to enter upon a professional ca-
reer, Mr. Turnbaugh, in June, 1898, opened
his present store, succeeding the well-known
firm of J. C. Tribble & Son. Jlr. Turnbaugh
carries a fine line of jewelry and precious
stones, and handles musical instruments of
all kinds and novelties both pleasing and ar-
tistic.
In April, 1911, Mr. Turnbaugh was hon-
ored by his fellow-citizens, who elected him to
the mayor's chair, not because he was a stanch
Democrat, as his election was not the result
of party affiliations, but was the outcome of
the people's belief in his integrity and his
ability to advance the best interests of the
municipality, the campaign motto having
been "Let us make Bloomfield a better place
in which to live." In the^ administration of
affairs since assuming the'liuties of his office
he has endeavored to carry out the wishes of
the people, and is succeeding well, being ably
seconded in his efforts by a wise, loyal and
progressive people.
j\Ir. Turnbaugh married, October 31, 1900,
Ellenor Drysdale. of Stoddard county, a
daughter of Thomas Drysdale, a prosperous
hardware merchant, and they have one child,
Leonore. Mr. Turnbaugh is a strong advocate
of temperance, and, with his family, attends
the Baptist church.
Mr. Turnbaugh is a son of Dr. Thomas B.
and Minerva A. (Owen) Turnbaugh, who
have resided in Bloomfield for a quarter of a
century, his father being a well-known phy-
sician, of whom a brief sketch may be found
on another page of this work.
John H. Tesberg. It is as postmaster and
grocer that John H. Tesberg stands in rela-
tion to the community of Pevely, Jefferson
county, Missouri, and both as a genial and ef-
ficient servant of Uncle Sam and an up-to-date
merchant who brings the best afforded by the
market within the reach of the people who are
his fellow townsmen Mr. Tesberg is a success.
He is a native of the city of St. Louis, his
birth having occurred there on July 23, 1874.
His father, John Tesberg, Sr., was born in
Oberassven, Germany, February 6, 1843, and
like many another young Teuton who has en-
riched the citizenship of the land of the stars
1082
HISTORY OF SOUTHEAST MISSOURI
and stripes he early came to the oonclusion to
try his fortunes in the much-vaunted laud of
"Opportunity" on the other side of the At-
lantic. He came to America about the year
1870 and was married in 1872 to Katie Seha-
fer, of Lisa, Germany, who had, like her hus-
band, left her native land in youth. They
have four children, the subject being eldest
in order of birth and the others being Katie,
now Mrs. Phil M. Reilly, Ferdinand W., and
William J. The elder man served in the Ger-
man army for the necessary period and
learned the cooper's trade, and after locating
in St. Louis he followed that trade until 1876,
when he removed with his little family to
Schmidt Station, in the vicinity of Pevely.
He survives and is the owner of extensive
farming property, he and his estimable -wife
enjoying in comfort the fruits of their previ-
ous industry and thrift. His polities is Re-
publican and he is influential on the right
side in all public matters, being a prominent
and highly esteemed citizen.
The scene of the life of John H. Yesberg
has thus far been laid in Jefferson count}'.
He was educated in the common schools and
when yet a lad worked on various farms for
the modest stipend which such labor affords.
He had also a good deal of experience as a
dairy worker. In 1889 he accepted a posi-
tion as a clerk in the general store of J. W.
IMatheis at Pevely, and when Mr. Matheis sold
out the concern to Mr. A. D. Davis, Mr. Yes-
berg stayed with the store as a necessary fix-
ture. It changed hands several times, and the
subject remained with it. At last Mr. J. F.
Meier became its owner and took it to an-
other location. From there he went to work
for H. J. Henkel, a merchant, with a post-
office in the same building, and Mr. Yes-
berg was chosen as clerk of the same. Wliile
with him (in 1906) he received the ap-
pointment of postmaster of Pevely by Presi-
dent Roosevelt, his excellent citizenship hav-
ing recommended him to this trust. Its duties
not requiring all his time and energy, in 1908
he opened a grocery store independently and
the store and the postoffice are situated in the
same building. He is now serving his second
term as postmaster.
Mr. Yesbers: was married in 1900, Miss
Carrie K. Stahl. of Sulphur Springs, Missouri,
becoming his wife. They share their
home with one son — Arthur J.
Oscar McNiel, sheriff of Stoddard county,
is one of the prominent citizens of this section
and is unselfishly devoted to the cause of law
and order of which he is the official champion.
He is one of the standard bearers of the local
Democratic party and extremely popular, his
election to the office of sheriff having been a
gi'eat personal triumph, as the campaign was
an extremely warm one. He is a native of
Bloomfield and is very loyal to the interests
of a locality which is dear to him \\ith the as-
sociations of life-long residence. His birth-
date was March 19, 187-4, and his parents,
Jesse F. and Nancy Jane (Johnson) JilcNiel.
The father was a native of the Old Dominion
and served in the Army of the Confederacy
under Lee, surrendering with that great
Southern commander at Appomattox Court
House after four years' devotiou to the cause
which he believed to be just. He was
wounded at Vicksburg, but recovered suffi-
ciently to continue to the end of the war. At
the close of the great struggle he came to Mis-
souri and engaged in the shoemaker's trade,
working at the bench at Bloomfield and con-
tinuing thus honestly and industriously em-
ployed throughout the course of his life. His
wife, who survives, was a daughter of Ben
Johnson, of Bloomfield, a well-known market
gardener. Mr. Johnson was a soldier in the
Union army and his demise occurred in this
place, which was the birthplace of Mrs. Mc-
Niel, the elder.
]Mr. ]\IcNiel had the misfortune to lose his
father when a lad but eleven years of age, and
the family was left in serious circumstances,
for young Oscar had four younger brothers
and sisters. He shouldered no small part of
the responsibilities and doubtless this early
discipline had a definite part in moulding a
character of imusual strength and firmness.
When the youngest child was twelve years of
age and Oscar had not yet bade farewell to his
teens his mother was summoned to the life
eternal and the little family was again left
without a head. His first adventures in the
workaday world was as a farm laborer, work-
ing for eight dollars per month at first and
giving most of this to his mother. He worked
seven years for George W. Bobbitt, whose eld-
est daughter he married. In the days when
the wolf howled about the doorstep, the brave
mother took in washing to support the fam-
ily. She subsequently married Charles Young
and after his death married James Grimm,
who .survived her. The children of the first
marriage were as follows : Oscar ; Virgie, who
married Lee Young and died at the early age
of twenty-six years; Rosa, who died at the age
HISTORY OF SOUTHEAST MISSOURI
1083
of fourteen years; and Willie, a citizen of
Keunet, Missouri.
On Marcli 6, 1899, Mr. McNiel laid the
foundation of a happy and congenial mar-
riage, Miss Emma E. Bobbitt, daughter of the
subject's former employer, George W. Bob-
bitt, becoming his wife. They began life in
very modest circumstances, but their industry
and thrift piit them on the high road towards
success. For a time he worked for N. M.
Cobb, ex-sheriiS, for seventy-five cents per
day, boarding himself. By the means of
strictest economy the young couple finally
succeeded in securing funds to buy a horse,
which, with one the wife owned, made a team.
They rented land for two years and then took
a three j'ear lease on a tract.
They then removed to a rented property of
one hundred acres, located six miles east of
Bloomfield Bottom, near Idalia, and there
they spent six years. Mr. and Mrs. McNiel
now reside at Bloomfield, IMissouri.
In the year 1908 Mr. McNiel made his first
enti-}' into public life, becoming a candidate
for sheriiS; he was duly elected and assumed
office January 1, 1909. The campaign was
one of the most interesting and hard-fought
in the historj- of that section. No less than
six candidates entered the field, for the nom-
ination, one having been sherift' for six terms
and one having had twelve years' experience
in the position in days past. The subject's
friends, who are indeed numerous, rallied to
his support and he received the nomination.
He is now serving the first four-year term
ever served by a sheritt' in this county. He
gives his best energies to the office, by de-
voted service demonstrating the wisdom of
the choice of his constituents. His deputy is
G. M. Barham, one of his boyhood friends
who lived in the neighborhood of his old
home and with whom he was wont to ' ' swap ' '
fishing experiences and like interests. He is
a tried and true Democrat and has always
worked for the good of his party and the
cause of his political friends, and he is pos-
sessed of considerable influence in party
ranks. At the last election he led his ticket,
beating Bryan by one hundred and forty
votes. He borrowed one hundred dollars to
make the race.
Mr. and Mrs. McNiel have five children, all
of whom are still sheltered beneath the roof-
tree. They are by name : Flo. Fay, George,
Mildred and Irene. Norman, the fifth child,
died at the age of eighteen months. Jlrs. Mc-
Niel is a zealous member of the Missionary
Baptist church and Mr. McNiel takes no small
amount of interest in the affairs of the fol-
lowing quartet of organizations with which
lie is affiliated: the Knights of the Macca-
bees ; the Court of Honor ; the American Yeo-
men ; and the Independent Order of Odd Fel-
lows. He enjoys his vacations with rod and
gun and is typical of the good citizenship of
Southeastern
William H. Whitten was born in Missis-
sippi county, Missouri, in 1870. His j^arents
were both natives of Illinois, where the
mother died when William was very young,
and the father's death occurred in August,
1900. He was brought up by his grandfather
and an uncle, both of whom lived in Southern
Illinois. Mr. Whitten attended school in
Metropolis City, Illinois, and at an early age
went to work in the factories. He was em-
ployed in a saw mill, in a wool factory and
in a plough-handle factory during the four
.vears when he was working in this line. He
began work at the wages of twenty cents a
day. His first raise was to forty cents and
before he quit that sort of work he was re-
cei\ing a dollar and a quarter a day.
Upon leaving the factory Mr. Whitten went
to Tiptonville, Tennessee, where he worked on
a farm for a year. Then, in 1886, he came
to this county and rented thirty acres of
land. He has continued to rent and farm tracts
of increasing size ever since. He now works
about seventy acres, doing general farming
and raising some stock. His chief crops are
corn and cotton.
In 1889 Mr. Whitten was married to Miss
Rosy Gadar, of this county. They have four
children, three at home, Nellie, Thaddeus and
Lena, and one daughter, Mamie, married to
Mr. Charles McGee, mentioned elsewhere in
this work. Mr. Whitten is a member of the
time-honored Masonic fraternity and also of
the Woodmen of the World. His political al-
legiance is given to the Democratic party.
Thomas Ewing Tribble, M. D. In this lo-
cality the name of Tribble stands for pro-
gress, and the death of Dr. Thomas Ewing
Tribble, physician and drug merchant, on
February 9, 1911, deprived Bloomfield and
Stoddard county of a potent influence in the
direction of development. Not only was he
an ornament to his profession, but he brought
about many benefits, being an innovator in
the best sense of the word. Wherever he re-
sided this has been the ease, and he was fre-
1084
HISTOKY OP SOUTHEAST MISSOURI
quently misunderstood, from the fact that he
was often ahead of the status of the locality.
He was very loyal to the interests of Bloom-
field, serving it in every way possible, and his
home, with its classic beauty, was one of the
glories of the city.
Dr. Tribble was born in Franklin. Simpson
county, Kentucky, October 19, 1856, and was
in the prime of life when summoned to the
"Undiscovered Country," being a little over
fifty-four years of age. He was the scion of
excellent families, a son of Nelson and Hen-
rietta (Reed) Tribble, the latter a cousin of
the late Thomas Braekett Reed, the noted
Maine statesman, who was speaker of the
House of Representatives at "Washinsrton for
several terms and a prominent candidate for
the presidential nomination. "When approach-
insr manhnod Dr. Tribble became drawn to
the medical profes,sion and received his train-
insT in the medical department of the Univer-
sitv of Tennessee, being graduated with the
class of 1S83. Shortlv after graduation he
eneasred in the practice of his profession at
Orain Valley. Mi.ssouri. and he then, to find
a larger opening, removed to Bloomfield and
after three years' residence went on to Kan-
sas City, where he remained for about a
twelvemonth. When the lands in Oklahoma
were opened up to settlement, he became in-
terested in the matter and was aboard the
first train that steamed into Guthrie. There
his natural snfts of leadership and his unusual
abilitv readilv placed him at the front and he
was honored by being made president of the
county board of health and United States pen-
sion surffeon. He later returned to Bloom-
field and here remained until his death, en-
gaged in the practice of his profession and the
proprietorship of the Tribble Drug Company.
Dr. Tribble spent five years in the new
town of Guthrie, Oklahoma, where he met with
success. In Guthrie was also located his
wife's father. "W. "W. Duncan, who built the
first roller flour mill in that locality in 1891.
The channs of Bloomfield ever remained vivid
with Dr. Tribble. and in 1893 he returned and
resumed his practice, which had always been
of a thrivinsr character. Five years later he
opened the Tribble Drug Company, but at the
same time continued an office practice, his
fa.ilins' health having felt the strain of visit-
ing. He srave faithful and efficient service as
countv phvsician for .six vears. this beine in
two periods of service. He also, established a
cement block, sills, etc.. plant at Bloomfield
and owned the nicest and best home in south-
east Missouri, besides three business houses
and several small residences that he rented.
Although Dr. Tribble was a true and loyal
Democrat, he had no political desires. He
might have been a successful politician had he
entered the field, for he was a natural organ-
izer and had the gift of making big ideas
realities. He with two or three other citizens
built and supported the Christian church. It
was he who advocated a law to keep stock en-
closed. This movement was several times de-
feated, but with the courage of his convic-
tions he kept at it and finally educated the
people so that it became a popular feature
and was carried. It was he who laid the first
brick sidewalk at Bloomfield, at which the peo-
ple made derision, saying that he was too good
to walk on common ground. Later they found
it necessary to admit that it is such as he that
bring about advancement. In other matters
innumerable he took a similar active interest.
It was Dr. Tribble who brought the first
touring ear to Bloomfield. and indeed to Stod-
dard county, this being purchased in 1909.
Enterprising as he was, he decided to open up
an automobile line between Bloomfield and
Dexter, and within six months others emulated
his example. Mrs. Tribble was the first
woman in the county to drive a machine, and
his son, then but fourteen years of age, was
the first boy to master the intricacies of mo-
toring, his machine being a Ford. He also
took a helpful part in completing the gravel
road between Dexter and Bloomfield. An in-
teresting and rather amusing episode was the
receipt of a threatening letter from persons
residing on a certain road, the epistle declar-
ing that he must keep his automobile off the
road in question, and that if found upon said
road he might guess what would happen.
Mrs. Tribble took it upon herself to find out
and drove her machine there at night, but
\vithout developments.
Dr. Tribble had a peculiarly happy nature
and found a source of greatest happiness in
the woods, in which he loved to wander,
studying the flowers and insects, stretching
himself beneath the great trees and living
close to nature's heart. He loved to take long
walks and when he grew less strong to ride
deep into the country. The choice of a loca-
tion for his home was characteristic, his house
being set upon a raw knoll which he set out in
trees from the woods. His house was one of
the most beautiful in Southeastern Missouri
and reqiiired fourteen months for the build-
ing. The architectural plans were based upon
HISTORY OF SOUTHEAST MISSOURI
1085
his own suggestions and the result, a lovely
classical Colonial structure, is the pride of
Bloomfield. The knoll upon which it stands
is twelve feet above the street and from the
third floor porch the countrj- can be sur-
veyed for a distance of twenty miles. The in-
terior is all in hard wood finish and the ar-
tistic furniture the Doctor had made to spe-
cial order, the style corresponding to that of
the house. He had looked forward for a dec-
ade to having an ideal home and it is indeed
regrettable that he could not longer live to
enjoy it. He had believed that this home,
Maple Terrace, would be his tarrying place
when he had retired from the more strenuous
activities of life. His death occurred after a
lingering illness, but though the mortal part
of him has been laid away, it may well be
said of him that "to live in hearts we leave be-
hind, is not to die."
Dr. Tribble contracted an ideally happy
marriage when, on November 9. 1893, he
was united to Miss Pearl Duncan, of Lex-
ington, ^lissouri, daughter of "W. W. and
Julia (Jones) Duncan. Their union was
blessed by the birth of four children, — Edison,
Bess, Gladys and Noble. Gladys is deceased,
her death having occurred at the age of a year
and a half. Dr. and Mrs. Tribble were zeal-
ous and generous members of the Christian
church and both were held in high regard in
the community which they loved sufficiently
to make their home, although familiar with
many other locations. Mrs. Tribble is a
woman of admirable character and attain-
ments and the children will be reared to the
ideals of their father.
The ensuing tribute was paid to Dr. Trib-
ble by a local publication at the time of his
demise: "He was a man of exemplary habits,
a high sense of personal honor and in all the
walks of life an upright and useful citizen and
Christian gentleman, whose death will be
sincerely mourned by a large circle of friends
and acquaintances."^
Jasper Newton Ptjnch. The public-spir-
ited and enterprising citizens of Stoddard
county have a worthy representative in the
person of Jasper Newton Punch, of Bloom-
field, who has served as county clerk for six-
teen years, from 189.5 to 1910. inclusive, and
is now identified with the Little River Valley
Land Company, which is dealing extensively
in real estate. A son of Newton A. Punch,
he was born November 10, 1866. in Stoddard
county, IMissouri, near Asherville, and but
fourteen miles from the county-seat. His
grandfather, William Punch, came from
North Carolina to Missouri about 1840, locat-
ing in Wa.yne couutj', on the Saint Francois
river, where he carried on general farming
until his death, which occurred a few years
later, while he was yet in the prime of life.
Born in Lincoln county, North Carolina,
Ne^'ton A. Punch came with his parents to
Wa.yne county, Missouri, when a boy of seven
years, and was there reared to manhood.
Succeeding to the independent occupation of
his ancestors, he made farming his life occu-
pation. He served in the Confederate army
under General Price throughout the larger
part of the Civil war, with hTs command sur-
rendering at Shreveport, Louisiana. He after-
wards engaged in agricultural pursuits near
Asherville, living there until his death,
September 29, 1903, aged three score and ten
years. He married Lucy Ann Stacey, who
was born in Tennessee, a daughter of John
F. Stacey, who settled on the Saint Francois
river, just west of Asherville, Missouri, in the
fifties. He afterwards removed to Arkansas,
but later returned to Stoddard county, and
died near Asherville, in 1873 or 1874. Lucy
Ann (Stacey) Punch died December 2. 1876,
when but thirt.y-eight years of age. Of their
children, three grew to years of maturity,
namely: Jasper Newton; Andrew M., who
died at the age of twenty-three years, taught
school in early manhood, and at the time of his
death was a cadet at West Point ; and Mary
E., who was educated at the State Normal
school, taught school in Stoddard county
several years, and died at the age of twenty-
eight years, in Bloomfield, where she was then
teaching. Newton A. Punch married for his
second wife Mary J. Wliite, who survives him,
and is the mother of three children, as fol-
lows: Jesse, living on the old home farm;
Robert L., a teacher and farmer, living in
Leora. ^Missouri : and Samuel A., a teacher in
the advanced grades of the public schools.
Taking advantage of every offered oppor-
tunity for advancing his education while
young, Jasper Newton Punch began to teach
school when eighteen years of age, and taught
school or worked on the home farm Tintil
twenty-eight years old. He completed the
short course at the Cape Girardeau Normal
school, and received a state certificate, bvit did
not care to make teaching his life work. In
1894 Mr. Punch was elected county clerk on
the Democratic ticket, and was three times
re-elected to the same office, serving in all six-
1086
HISTORY OF SOUTHEAST MISSOURI
teen consecutive years, performing the duties
of his otiiee efdciently and punctually and to
the entire satisfaction of all concerned. He
is now devoting his energies to the real estate
business, as a member of the Little River
Valley Land Company having extensive and
heavy transactions in realty and he is also
secretary and treasurer of the Stoddard
County Trust Company.
Fraternally Mr. Punch stands high in the
Ancient Free and Accepted Order of Masons,
being past master of his lodge, which he has
represented in the Grand Lodge; a member
of Poplar Bluff Chapter, No. 11-i, R. A. M. ;
of Poplar Bluff Council, R. & S. M. ; of Cape
Girardeau Coramandery, No. 55, K. T. ; and
of the Valley of Saint Louis Consistory.
Mr. Punch married Soonie N. Wright, who
was born in Alabama, but was brought up and
educated in Texas, being graduated from the
Sam Houston Normal school, and afterwards
teaching school in Texas for a while previous
to her marriagp,
Orren L. Davis. John Davis, the father
of Orren L. Davis, was born in England and
lived there until he was twenty years of age,
when he came to America and settled on a
farm in Warren county, Pennsylvania.
There he lived until his death, in 1859, when
he succumbed to consumption and left his
wife and three children. Mrs. Davis was born
in Utiea, New York. She lived eleven years
after her husband's death, and in 1870 passed
away on the same farm where her husband had
died. The daughter, Maria, and Noah, the
other son, both settled in Warren county,
Pennsylvania.
Orren Davis was born in 1840, on May 20.
Until he was fifteen he worked on his father's
farm. From that time until 1862 he worked
on the farms of the region, but at twenty-one
he felt it his duty to enlist in the army of the
Union, and accordingly went into C. E. Bald-
win's Independent Company of Pennsylvania
Volunteers, in which he served nine months.
After the war Mr. Davis went into a
jewelry store in Corey, Pennsylvania, and
learned the business For three years he
stayed with his employer, getting a thorough
knowledge of what he has adopted as his
chosen occupation. At Youngsville, Pennsyl-
vania, Mr. Davis began business for himself,
and remained there until September, 1880,
when he came to Piedmont, Missouri. For
eighteen years he was engaged in the jewelry
business in Wayne county. He spent about a
year in Kennett and in Du Quoin, Arkansas.
In July, 1898, he came to New Madrid, and
since that date has been identified with the
business in this county, where he is one of the
oldest of his trade.
Mr. Davis' marriage took place in Pennsyl-
vania, in 1866. His bride was Amanda Stan-
ford, born in Warren county, Pennsylvania,
in 1843. Amanda Davis died in Piedmont,
in 1882, and is buried in that town. She left
two children, Gertrude, born in 1867, who
died at the age of nineteen, and Maude, born
January 7, 1882, living with her father in
New Madrid. In 1903 Mr. Davis was again
married, his bride being Julia Haines, one of
seven children of Abraham and Margaret
(Bleirns) Haines. Mrs. Davis was born at
Falmouth, Kentucky, where her parents had
moved from Miami count}', Ohio. Both she
and Mr. Davis are members of the Eastern
Star and are communicants of the Presby-
terian church, ilr. Davis is a member of the
Masonic fraternity.
In the matter of politics he is an Inde-
pendent— one of that ever growing body who
are responsible for so much that is good in
both the old parties. He votes for the best
man, irrespective of the organization with
which he is connected. Always keenly inter-
ested in his business, Mr. Davis maintains his
membership in both the state and the Na-
tional American Retail Jewelers' Association.
Elmer S. Workman, four years alderman
of Portage\'ille and nine years school direct-
or, is one of the leading property owners and
business men of the to^^•n. He has lived here
since he was fourteen years of age, at which
time he came with his parents, James A. and
Mary A. (Inman) Workman, from Indiana.
The father was born in Indiana and the
mother in Ohio. James Workman is a Pres-
byterian preacher, still living in Portageville
and still blessed with the companionship of
tlie wife of his youth.
Elmer Workman was born in 1868 and at-
tended the district schools of Indiana until he
came to Missouri in 1882. He continued to go
to school several years after coming to this
county, helping his father on the farm in the
meantime. When he .started out for himself,
at the age of about twenty, he rented a farm.
He continued to rent for twelve years, then,
as soon as he was able, he bought two hun-
dred acres of land. JMr. Workman sold one
hundred and sixty acres of this and bought
eighty more. He now farms one hundred and
eighty acres of his own and one hundred and
HISTORY OF SOUTHEAST MISSOURI
1087
sixt.y acres which he reuts. He is engaged in
general farming, having considerable live
stock and sixty-five Poland China thorough-
bred ho^s.
In December, 1908, Mr. Workman went into
the livery business in Portageville and con-
ducted the undertaking successfully for two
years, when he sold it out, because he did not
like it. He is now engaged in handling and
shipping timber, as well as in the regular
blacksmithing work. Mr. "Workman also buys
and sells "stock, shipping it out in carload lots.
His holdings in city property include two
houses and three acres of lots, and a block of
five more lots, A^dth a new hovise on it, in resi-
dence property, and three lots with a livery
barn in the business section.
Mrs. Elmer Workman is a native of Por-
tageville, where she was born February 23,
1876. She is the daughter of George Young,
who passed his life here, and of Ellen Lesieur
Young, also born in Portageville. The family
of Mr. and Mrs. Workman consists of their
two children, James H. and Ha^el M., and a
niece of Mi-s. Workman's, Myrtie Young, of
whom JMr. Workman is guardian. Mr. Work-
man's lodge is the Woodmen of the World;
their church, the Presbyterian. In politics he
is a Democrat, but does not find time to take
active part in political matters apart from
serving in the capacities mentioned, which are
hardly to be classed in the sphere of politics.
Clay A. Moselet. Worthy of especial
mention in a work of this character is Clay A.
]\Ioseley, one of the foremost citizens of
Bloorafield, and active in the promotion of its
business interests, being vice-president of the
Bloomfield Bank and president of the Vindi-
cator Publishing Company. He was born
June 8, 1860, in Marion, Alabama, a son of
Milton A. Moseley, who enlisted in a company
of Alabama Cavalry during the Civil war,
and was killed while serving in the Confeder-
ate army, in 1864.
At the age of fourteen years Clay A. ]\Iose-
ley came with his mother to Missouri, and for
two j'ears lived in Wayne county, the ensuing
seven years being spent at Van Buren, Carter
county, where he followed the printer's trade,
having learned type-setting in Wayne county.
Although but sixteen years old when he set-
tled in Van Buren, he established the Van
Buren Cvrrent-Local, which he built up into
a bright, clean and newsy sheet, which is still
having a prosperous existence. Selling his
paper, Mr. Moseley came from Van Buren
to Bloomfield to assume the editorship and
management of the Vindicator, owned by
Ligon Jones, and two years later, in 1885,
bought the paper, of which he had sole charge
until 1910, when he organized the Vindicator
Publishing Company, a stock concern, capital-
ized at $6,000. Mr. JMoseley owns one-third
of the stock, and is president of the company.
The Vindicator is a Democratic organ, and
champions all movements calculated to bene-
fit Southeastern Missouri, more especially
those of value in advancing the interests of
Stoddard county.
Mr. Moselej' was one of the prime movers in
the organizing of the Bloomfield bank, which
was established in 1895, with a paid-up capi-
tal of $10,000, having for its officers the fol-
lowing named men : George Houck, president ;
James E. Boyd, vice-president ; and James B.
Buck, cashier, while Mr. Moseley was one of
the directorate. In 1900 John'U. Buck, fa-
ther of James B. Buck, succeeded Mr. Houck
as president, and served until his death, in
January, 1903. James B. Buck, then cashier,
was elected president of the bank, and W. W.
Walker was made cashier, and held the posi-
tion until his death, in 1906. V. W. Moran
then succeeded to the cashiership, and the
stock was increased to $15,000, and in 1908
was raised to $50,000, its present capitaliza-
tion, and has now deposits amounting to $390,-
000, with a surplus and undivided profits of
$20,000. I\Ir. Moseley has served as vice-presi-
dent of this institution since 1903, having then
succeeded Mr. Boyd, and has contributed his
full quota in making it one of the most reli-
able and substantial banking houses in the
county. He is also a stockholder and a di-
rector of the Miller Hardware Company,
which is carrying on a thriving business.
Prominently identified with the agricultural
interests of Stoddard county, Mr. Moseley is
an extensive landholder and stock grower,
owning one farm of four hundred acres and
another containing five hundred acres, both
of which he leases to tenants. He devotes one
farm to the breeding of fine stock, including
Hereford cattle, Duroc-Jersey hogs and
mules, keeping from a dozen to twenty of the
latter. The other farm is mainly i;sed for cot-
ton growing, having eightv acres that yield
him annually from one thousand to twelve
hundred pounds an acre, the amount in
money being from twelve to fifteen dollars an
acre. Mr. ]\Ioseley also deals extensively in
land, buving and selling large tracts.
Mr. Moseley married, October 24, 1889,
1088
HISTORY OF SOUTHEAST MISSOURI
Mai L. Bedford, daughter of Major H. H.
Bedford, of Bloomfield, and they are parents
of seven children, namely: Ernest, Thaeher,
Vivian, Thui-man, Gladys, Eloise and IMabel.
Fraternally Ur. Moseley is a member of the
Ancient Free and Accepted Order of Masons.
Religiously the family worship at the Baptist
church and contribute generously towards its
support.
William A. Burrow is a representative of
the early pioneer type of Pemiscot county,
Missouri, and his life in this section of the
state has been filled with interesting facts con-
cerning the settlement and growth of the
county, particularly in the rural districts.
Settling in Hayti in 1888, he bought a tract
of virgin forest land, which he has since re-
duced from a state of pristine wildness to a
flourishing farm, such as is common to south-
eastern Missouri. He has seen the country
thrive and land values appreciate in a most as-
tonishing manner, land which he bought
twenty years ago for the merely nominal sum
of one dollar per acre now commanding a
price of fifty dollars the acre. He carries on
a general farming business on a portion of his
farm, the remainder of which he rents, not
being able to work the entire tract without
much additional help.
Born December 29, 1846, William A. Bur-
row is the son of Alfred and Masinda (Fell)
Burrow. The former was a native of Tennes-
see, born there in 1803. He died in Pemiscot
county, Missouri, in 1866, whence he had come
with his wife and family in about 1844. He
had settled here several years previously, but
it was in 1844 that he located here perma-
nentl.y, and he lived on the place which he
entered until his death. His wife was born
in Kentucky, on January 8, 1812, and she
pa.ssed awa.y in Pemiscot county one year pre-
vious to the death of her husband. Their
son, William A., attended a subscription
school in his boyhood, when he might be
spared from his duties in connection with
the regular work of his father's farm. After
the death of his parents, which occurred be-
fore he had reached his majority, the young
man remained for a year or two with his
brothers and sisters, after which he went on
a homestead for a number of years. Previous
to his homestead experience, however, Mr.
Burrow enlisted in the Missouri State Guards
in "1 864 and served throughout the term of his
enlistment.
Mr. Burrow has been twice married. His
first wife was Elizabeth Braiin, born Febru-
ary 14, 1843. They were united in marriage
on the 14th of June, 1868, and her death oc-
curred on July 8, 1910. Seven children were
born to Mr. and Mrs. Burrow. The two eldest
were twins, Margaret and Lucinda, and they
married twin brothers of the name of Casey.
The other children were Mary, ilenissa, Mar-
tha L., Adella (who died in infancy), and
William, Jr. On December 30, 1910, Mr. Bur-
row married Nancy Albright.
]Mr. Burrow is living now on a farm he
bought in 1888, paying for it the sum of one
dollar an acre, his holdings amounting to a
quarter section, or one hundred and sixty
acres. In later years, however, he was obliged
to pay a sum of $400 to heirs of the original
owner of the land in order to establish a clear
title to his property, but the present value of
his farm is such as to render his total payment
but a small item in comparison with its real
worth, land in his vicinity selling freely in
these days at $50 an acre, with values ever
appreciating. Corn and cotton are the prin-
cipal products of the soil, while he usually
keeps about thirty hogs and sixty head of cat-
tle on the place. On the whole, he is regarded
as one of the more prosperous farmers of his
district, and is a notable example of the vast
earning power of consistent energy, carefully
applied.
^Ir. Burrow reviews in reminiscence his
boyhood days in Pemiscot county on his fa-
ther's farm, and the conditions then in con-
trast with his present situation were indeed
highly primitive. The country in the fifties
was in a practically wild state, and in liis
recollection wild game of every variety
abounded. Black bear, elk, deer and fowl of
the edible variety were there in abundance
and the absence of a trading post by no means
inconvenienced them in the matter of obtain-
ing the necessities of life. What the.y did not
produce in the fields and gardens for the
family table they were privileged to shoot at
their discretion, unhampered by the modern
inconveniences known as game laws. They
made their own clothing and builded their
furniture, rude and uncouth though it might
be, but it answered their simple purpose and
better was not desii-ed. Did they need can-
dles and matches? Then they made them by
a simple process, inelegant but satisfactory.
HeatinsT stoves were unheard of. and even a
cooking stove w-as a rarity in those days. Mr.
Burrow has seen all these pioneer conditions
superseded by modem usages and methods,
HISTORY OF SOUTHEAST MISSOURI
and has taken liis place iu the march of pro-
gress, his own home and farm being a fine ex-
ample of the best in modem progress.
Edward LeRot Danbt, although a young
man, has already shown that he is possessed of
no inconsiderable ability and executive force.
A man in this country is judged by his friends
and acquaintances according to what he ac-
complishes; in the old country people still
want to know who and what a man's father
was, but in ilissouri, as in the other states of
the Union, a man can not rest upon his fa-
ther's deeds, Imt if he would be well thought
of miist himself bring things to pass. Mr.
Danby, commencing his life in the busy world
in connection with coopering, wandered into
other avenues, but has finally returned to the
business in which he started and is making
rapid strides towards the top of the ladder.
Mr. Danby 's birth occurred April 29, 1885,
at Liuwood, Michigan. His father, "William,
born November 24, 1858. at Vernon, Michigan,
has passed his entire life up to the present
time in the state of Michigan, now residing at
Lansing, that state, where he is in the em-
ploy of the city water works. He is well-
known as a devoted member of the Methodist
church, as a stanch Republican and as a mem-
ber in high standing of the Modern Woodmen
of America and the Maccabees. On the 16th
of April, 1882, Mr. Danby was united in mar-
riage to ]\Iiss Alta LeRoy. born September 10,
1865, at Brighton, ilichigan, who later moved
to Kawkawlin, where the wedding took place.
Mrs. Danby maintains her home at Lansing.
Michigan, interested in the Blethodist church
and in her family. She has six children, —
Maude, born January 9, 1883, the wife of
John IMiller, of Newcastle, Henry county, In-
diana : Edward LeRoy, the immediate subject
of this review; "William, whose birth occurred
on the 7th of July, 1887, at Linwood, Michi-
gan; Carl, born March 2, 1889. residing at
Lansing, in tEe employ of the Oldsmobile
Auto factory; Sue, whose nativity occurred
August 24, 1892, the wife of Arthur Jersey,
of Elk City, Oklahoma ; and Neil, the date of
whose birth was December 9, 1896. "William,
the third child, received his education in the
public school of Linwood, Michigan, and on its
termination he worked in hoop mills in Inter-
lochen and Boyne City, Michigan, then went
to IMound City, where he remained for about
a year and a half. Up to this period "Wil-
liam's movements had been identical with
those of his older brother, Edward, but their
paths then separated; "William returned to
Boyne City, thence to Lansing, where he
worked for the Reo Auto Company for about
a year, and later to Detroit, in the employ of
the Owen Auto Company. "While in Detroit
he was stricken with typhoid fever and con-
fined to his bed for thirteen weeks. As soon as
he was able to travel he went home to Lansing,
remaining until he had regained his strength ;
then, on the 27th of November, 1910, he came
to Caruthersville, where his brother had been
living for more than a year, and Mr. "William
Danby commenced to work for the Caruthers-
ville Cooperage Company, his business being
the culling of hoops. He "made good" and
his advancement was rapid, he now being as-
sistant foreman, under his brother Edward.
William Danby, on the 4th day of August,
1909, was married to Miss Sarah Casey,
daughter of Hiram C. and Anna Casey, of
Cairo, Illinois. Mrs. William Danby 's birth
occurred November 13, 1888, in Johnson
county, Illinois, where she was reared and
educated, and the couple now reside at 431
Washington avenue. South Caruthersville, the
husband devoting most of his time to his busi-
ness. He is a member of the Benevolent and
Protective Order of Elks.
Edward LeRoy Danby. as mentioned above,
attended the i^ublic school of Linwood, Michi-
gan, then worked in different hoop-mills in
Interlochen and Boyne City and from 1905 to
1907 was employed in Mound City. ilr.
Danby is a cornetist of considerable ability,
and at this juncture he became a member of
a band which traveled from place to place,
and during the following year he was on the
road, playing the cornet. His next move was
to Parsons, Kansas, after severing his con-
nection with the band, but he only remained
a short time there. During this brief inter-
val, however, he established the Oxford Hotel
a good, two-doUar-a-day hotel, still in exist-
ence. In 1909 he went to Claremore, Okla-
homa, as night clerk in the Sequoy Hotel, then
back to Kansas, where for three months he
worked for the Loose-Wiles Candy and
Cracker Company, of Kansas City, following
this connection by gaining employment in a
bakery at 1509 Grand avenue. Kansas City.
During all these years of varied employments
and locations. !Mr. Danby realized that he had
not yet found the work which he intended to
follow^ as a vocation, but in August, 1909, he
located in Caruthersville and forthwith began
to make headway. Starting to work for the
Caruthersville Cooperage Company in the ca-
1090
HISTORY OF SOUTHEAST IMISSOURI
pacity of millwriglit, he was soou promoted to
the position of assistant foreman and iu time
became the efficient foreman of this flourish-
ing concern, a stockholder in the company and
also a member of the board of directors. In
September, 1911, he sold his interest in the
Caruthersville Cooperage Company and lo-
cated in Proctor, Arkansas, where with Mr.
L. B. LeRoy and himself established the Le-
Roy-Danby Cooperage Company, an estab-
lishment that is doing a highly profitable busi-
ness. Mr. Danby holds the office of superin-
tendent of this company.
On the 16th day of October, 1910, Mr.
Danby was united in marriage to Miss Ruth
V. Short, a life-long resident of Caruthers-
ville, where her birth occuri-ed March 29,
1893. She is a daughter of Charles N. and
Mary (Williams) Short, well-known residents
of Caruthersville.
Mr. Danby carries insurance in the Indian-
apolis Life and Loan Company ; in politics he
is a Republican, as is his father, and in fra-
ternal connection he is a member of the Be-
nevolent and Protective Order of Elks and of
the Tribe of Redmen. During all Mr. Dan-
by's varied experiences he gathered knowl-
edge which is of use to him in his present life.
He learned how to control himself, which is
the first step towards knowing how to govern
ofliers ; and he gained tact through his inter-
course with many classes of men, so that he
is now able to hold the good-will of his em-
ployes and to see that they work to the full
extent of their capabilities; he is deservedly
popular, not only with the men who are un-
der him, but with all his friends and acquaint-
ances.
Ashley is one of a family of six children, the
others being as follows: Charles Leonard, who
died in 1900, when principal of the high
school at Golden City, Missouri; Millicent,
wife of J. A. Herndon, of Salmon. Idaho ;
Winifred, wife of Dr. Spencer Clark, of St.
Louis, Missouri; and Munford and Vincent,
both located at Salmon, Idaho. The subject
is the fourth in order of birth.
Mr. Ashley is a native son of the state, his
birth having occurred in Osceola, Saint Clair
county, Missoui-i, December 16, 1885, some
three j'ears after his parents came to this
country. Although to all intents and pur-
poses British, he has become a loyal Ameri-
can, with reverence and regard for our na-
tional institutions. He received his education
at the public schools of Golden City, Mis-
souri, and in the High school at Bloomfield,
Missouri, and has the advantage of paternal
association, his father being a man of very
liberal education. Mr. Ashley came to
Bloomfield in his early youth with the other
members of his family, and when within four
years of the attainment of his majority (in
February, 1902,) he first became associated
with the W^eber Abstract, Land & Loan Com-
pany. Proving faithful and efficient in small
things, he has been steadily advanced and now
holds the position of secretary, treasurer and
general manager.
Mr. Ashley was happily married June 8,
1910, his chosen, lady being Miss Emma
Weber, daughter of E. M. and Elisabeth A.
(Prack) Weber, the former being the sub-
ject's employer. They maintain an attractive
home and are happy in the possession of hosts
of friends.
John L. Ashley. One of the younger gen-
eration of representative citizens of Stoddard
county is John L. Ashley, an enterprising
business man who is aiding in the up-building
of Bloomfield and who is well entitled to con-
sideration in this volume. He is secretary
and treasurer of the Weber Abstract Land &
Loan Company of this city, the continual
progress and present high standing of this
important concern being largely credited to
his executive ability and tireless energy.
J. L. Ashley is a son of Dr. John Ashley,
one of Stoddard county's most gifted phy-
sicians, of whom extended mention is made
on other pages of this work. The maiden
name of the subject's mother was Hannah
Hughes, a native of Chester, England. Mr.
Geoege a. Grain is a man known widely
and favorably in Stoddard county as a citi-
zen of high ideals and as an agriculturist of
the type which is upbuilding in definite fash-
ion the prosperity of the section. He is cele-
brated as a breeder of thoroughbred Jersey
cattle and Duroc Jersey swine, his ambitions
in this line being nothing short of perfection
and having materially contributed to the ele-
vation of the local standard. His homestead
is most advantageously situated some two
miles west of the court house and is adorned
with a stately home, built seventy feet above
the general level, and commanding a splen-
did view of the surrounding country, which is
indeed interesting at this point. Mr. Grain
has served for two terms as sheriff, having
^ CLrS^
HISTORY OF SOUTHEAST MISSOURI
1091
been elected in 1900 and having proved a
standi custodian of law and order.
George A. Grain was born in Williamson
county, Illinois, near Marion, April 11, 1868,
the son of Thomas M. and Serena (Back)
Grain. He spent his boyhood and early youth
in his native state, his father's identification
with Missouri dating from September, 1882.
The mother was a daughter of Thomas W.
Back, a native of Georgia, and she came with
him to ^Missouri in 1844, when she was about
three j-ears of age. She is a native of the
Cracker state, and her father upon coming to
this state entered a part of the property now
known as the Samuel G. Seism farm, this be-
ing situated three and one-half miles north-
west of Bloomfield, and this was his home dur-
ing the dread period of the Civil war. He
had two sons in the Confederate army and
a son-in-law in the Union army, and while
they were at the front their wives were
staying at Mr. Back's house. He went to
Williamson county, Illinois, and died there
before the close of the war. He entered land
and with his sons began the clearing of
what came to be a splendid tract. He was
a member of the old Masonic lodge at
Bloomfield and exemplified in his own life
tliose principles of moral and social justice
and brotherly love for which the order
stands. His two sons were William H. Back,
who died in Bollinger county, Missouri; and
Jacob Back, now a resident of Dunklin coun-
ty. Both, as previously mentioned, were in
the army of the Confederacy.
Thomas M. Grain was also a native of
Williamson county, Illinois, his home until
1882, when he settled in Stoddard county,
Missouri. One sister of IMrs. Thomas M.
Grain, Exona, had become the wife of
James H. Wliite, whose father, Uriah
Wliite, had entered one hundred and twenty
acres, now a part of George A. Grain's farm.
Both are deceased. Upon coming to Mis-
souri in 1882 Thomas ^I. Grain bought a
farm four and one-half miles northwest of
Bloomfield, and upon that property he and
his wife are still living, both past the age of
seventy. He enjoys the respect and confi-
dence of whatever community claims his res-
idence and he has served as justice of the
peace in both Illinois and in Stoddard coun-
ty. He is a stanch and enthusiastic Demo-
crat and at the time of the conflict between
the states served in the Union army, wear-
ing the blue as a member of the Eighty-first
Illinois Volunteer Infantry for four years.
and becoming a non-commissioned officer. In
the matter of religious conviction he is a
member of the Philadelphia Jlissionary Bap-
tist church. He and his wife are the par-
ents of two sons, George A., whose name in-
augurates this review, and W. S. Grain, who
still resides with his parents.
George A. Grain remained beneath the
parental rooftree until the attainment of his
majority and secured a good common-school
education. About that time he purchased
eighty acres of land on Lick Creek Bottom,
this having several disadvantages at that
time, as it was in the woods and very inac-
cessible on account of the absence of roads.
He paid four hundred and twenty dollars
for this tract and met the debt with the tim-
ber upon the land. He zealously began upon
the work of improving it and bringing it to
a state of cultivation, and in a few years
paid nine hundred dollars for eighty acres
beside it. In 1900 Mr. Grain was elected
sherifi^ of the county and had his first ex-
periences in public life. He was re-elected
in 1902 and served for four years. His of-
ficial duties were by no means light, the
rough element causing a good deal of trou-
ble, as liquor was freely sold and lawlessness
was at a crisis where instant nipping in the
bud was necessarj'. While sherifi^ he pur-
chased two hundred acres more and later one
hundred and twenty-five acres, making the
site of his home, altogether four hundred and
sixty-five acres. He is one of the most im-
portant farmers in this section and his ac-
tivities in fine stock-raising have already
been noted. In addition to his thoroughbred
Jersey cattle and Duroc Jersey swine he
keeps the best mules and raises large quan-
tities of hay and grain. His farm is highly
improved and is famous far and wide, his
house, barns and outbuildings being models
of their kind. Mr. Grain no longer dabbles
in politics, his other interests being too great
to allow of his taking time for other things.
He takes in public matters the interest of the
intelligent voter and ever gives hand and
heart to all measures likely to result in the
general welfare.
Mr. Grain was married in February, 1889,
at the age of nearly twenty-one years to JMiss
Gurica Wright, a native of Kentucky, and a
daughter of James M. Wright. The fii-st
]\Irs. Grain died eight years later, leaving
four children, as follows: Delia, Eulalia,
Leona and T. Marshall, all of whom are at
home. Mr. Grain was married a second
1092
HISTORY OP SOUTHEAST MISSOURI
time, December 19, 1903, Miss Rosa Bry-
ant, of Stoddard county, daughter of James
Bryant, now deceased, becoming his wife and
the mistress of his household. They have
two small daughters, — Georgia, born July 26,
1906; and Mildred, born December 3, 1909.
Mrs. Grain and the older children are mem-
bers of the Bloomfield Christian church. The
head of the house is a Mason and a member
of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows.
In the latter he has passed all the chairs and
at the present time has the honor to be a past
noble grand and a member of the Grand
Lodge of Missouri. Both Mr. and Mrs. Grain
are popular members of the Rebekahs.
James Alpheus Bradley, the county clerk
of Dunklin county, is a man who has spent
most of his life as an educator, while at the
same time he has constantly been developing
his own character. That is as it should be —
education is never complete and life and edu-
cation should proceed hand in hand to the
end of our days. He does not believe in sep-
arating education from practical life.
Mr. Bradley was born September 11, 1872,
near Senath, Dunklin county. His parents
were Reuben and Anna Aletha (Myracle)
Bradley. Reuben was born near Gape Girar-
deau, January 3, 1847, and when he was very
small both of his parents died. When he was
seventeen years old he enlisted in the Gonfed-
erate army, in which he served until the close
of the Civil war. After he was mustered out
he came to Dunklin county, where he bought
a farm at Senath and farmed till of late years,
when he came to Kennett to live with his boys.
His first wife died in 1890 and his second
wife in 1908. Mr. Bradley never laid claim
to being a politician, but 'he worked for all
public advancement. He has a family of
three sons, all of whom have made successes
of their lives. The eldest is James A. John
Henderson, the second, is a practicing attor-
ney of Dunklin county. Milton Milliard is a
druggist, and has a drug store at Senath, Mis-
souri.
James A. Bradley made his home with his
father at the farm until he was twenty-one
years of age. His early education was re-
ceived at the public schools of Dunklin
county ; then he went away to school at Pales-
tine, Tennessee, later attending the State Nor-
mal at Cape Girardeau, graduating in the class
of 1898. He began to teach, however, in July,
1893, and taught for twelve years in Dunklin
county. He was superintendent of the school
at Campbell, Missouri, for seven years — a
graded school with eight assistant teachers
under him ; and while engaged in teaching he
was elected county commissioner of schools
for two years and a member of the Board of
Education of Dunklin county, Missouri, for
four years, under appointment from state su-
perintendent of schools. He studied law and
was admitted to the bar in 1904, and later took
a course in law at the Grant University at
Chattanooga, Tennessee.
On July 7, 1902, Mr. Bradley married Miss
Ellen Ligon, daughter of R. H. and Sarah
Ligon of DunkUn county, where they were
farmers. Mrs. Bradley was a successful
teacher in Dunklin county before her mar-
riage. Of the four children born to Mr. and
Mrs. Bradley only two are living, Mildred
Irene and Carlton Winton. The other two
died in infancy.
Mr. Bradley is a member of the Independent
Order of Odd Fellows, of the Knights of
Pythias, of the Woodmen of the World, of
the Modern Woodmen of America and of the
Ben Hur Societies. He is a member of the
Baptist church, while his wife is a member of
the Methodist Episcopal church in Kennett,
but they both take an interest in both
churches. In 1906 Mr. Bradley was elected
county clerk on the Democratic ticket. He
was re-elected in 1910, which fact is proof that
his work has been eminently satisfactory in
the past.
Charles D. Wilson. One of the most
prominent and influential citizens of Bloom-
field, Stoddard county, Missouri, is Charles D.
Wilson, circuit clerk and one of the local
Democrat leaders. He is a native of Indiana,
his birth having occurred in Adams county
of the Hoosier state February 25, 1868. He
has lived in Missouri since the age of nine
years, at which time his father came to the
state. His mother was at that time deceased,
her death having occurred in Decatur, In-
diana. Her maiden name was Elizabeth
Burdge, and she was a native of Indiana. The
father, whose name was Thomas L. Wilson,
was a well-known and useful citizen, who
served as associate .judge of the eountv court
from 1882 until 1886. He lived retired on his
farm in the vicinity of Idalia for a number of
years and was there summoned to eternal rest
in February, 1900, at the age of seventy-one
years.
Charles D. Wilson received the greater part
of his education in this state and began his
HISTORY OF SOUTHEAST MISSOURI
industrial career in the abstract business. He
early became interested in public aiifairs and
having won the confidence of the community
in which his interests were centered, it was
not surprising when he was asked to serve
the people in public capacity. In November,
1906. he was elected clerk of the circuit court
for a term of four years and his ability and
faithfulness to public trust were approved in
a general manner by his re-election in 1910.
He is at the present time serving his second
term. He has served on the central commit-
tee of his party and is held in high esteem in
its councils.
In July, 1902, Mr. Wilson laid the founda-
tion of a happy marriage by his union with
Mi-s. Mattie Schafer, a widow, whose maiden
name was Colbert and a native of Stoddard
county. She is a daughter of the late Mrs.
Ann Crumb, by a former marriage, and he
was a pioneer of Stoddard county. The
mother's second husband, the late Judge
Crumb, served as probate judge for a num-
ber of years and was a man of the highest es-
teem and most salutary influence. Mr. and
Mrs. Wilson share their charming home with
the latter 's daughter by her first marriage,
Miss Lotta Schafer, a gifted musician.
The four surviving children of Thomas L.
Wilson, father of the subject, are as follows:
Calvin B., residing in Oklahoma ; Ida B., wife
of Henry Shanks, of Indiana ; Hattie, wife of
Henry Tesson, of St. Louis. Missouri; and
Charles D., the only one of the family who
still resides in Stoddard county. Thomas L.
Wilson was one of the Democratic leaders of
his day.
Hugh M. Flanary. A resident of Stod-
dard county for upwards of twenty years,
Hugh M. Flanary, of Bloomfield, was for a
long while connected with the development of
the timber industry of this part of the state,
and is now rendering excellent service as
comity recorder. He was born, October 7,
1868, in Humphreys county, Tennessee. He
acquired his rudimentary education in the
common schools, and after continuing his
studies for two years at the State Normal
School, in Dixon, Tennessee, taught for
awhile in the rural districts.
In 1889 ]\Ir. Flanary came to Southeastern
Missouri with T. J. Moss, a Saint Louis lum-
ber man, who located at Advance, Stoddard
county, where he managed a substantial busi-
ness in getting out railroad timber and ties.
Mr. Flanary subsequently occupied a posi-
tion as bookkeeper with Mr. J. A. Hickman,
of Fuxieo, ^Missouri, performing the duties de-
volving upon him with equal fidelity and abil-
ity. Elected .county recorder of Stoddard
county in the latter part of 1910, ilr. Flanary
assumed the responsibilities of his office on
January 1, 1911, and as a recorder is giving
eminent satisfaction to all concerned.
Charles Buck. A man of excellent busi-
ness ability, tact and judgment, Charles Buck,
secretary of the Buck Store Company, of
Bloomfield, is actively associated with the pro-
motion of the mercantile prosperity of this
part of Stoddard county. A son of the late
John L. Buck, he was born in Bloomfield,
November 6, 1864, coming from pioneer an-
cestry, his grandfather, Bryant F. Buck,
having been an early settler of Scott county,
Missouri. John L. Buck was three times
married, his second wife, whose maiden name
was Laura Bo.yd, having been the mother of
his son Charles. Further parental and ances-
tral history may be found elsewhere in this
volume, in connection with the sketch of the
father.
An ambitious scholar from his youth up,
Charles Biick acquired a knowledge of the
three "r's" in the public schools, after which
he attended the Christian Brothers College, in
Saint Louis, the Universit.y of Missouri and
the University of Illinois at Urbana, Illinois.
He is now officially connected with one of the
oldest business firms of Bloomfield, the Buck
Store Company, of which he is secretary, it
having been founded in 1858 and incorpor-
ated under its present name in 1902. Mr.
Buck is also an extensive landholder, owning
a tract of land containing one thousand acres,
which he devotes to general farming and stock
feeding, raising and dealing. His farm lies
about a mile west of Bloomfield, and is
operated by tenants, although he handles the
stock himself. He is also a stockholder in the
Bloomfield Bank, and in the Toole Grist and
Flouring Jlill, one of tlie prominent industries
of the place.
Mr. Buck married, in 1900, Carrie Smith,
who was born and educated at Auburn. Ken-
tucky, and into their pleasant household three
children have been born, namely: Angeline,
Carson and Charles, Jr.
Thomas J. Toole. A man of unquestioned
business and executive ability, energetic and
far-seeing, T. J. Toole, junior member of the
Buck & Toole IMilling Company of Bloomfield,
1094
HISTORY OF SOUTHEAST MISSOURI
is superintendent of one of the more import-
ant industrial plants of Stoddard county, and
handles, mayhap, more mill productions than
any other one man, his trade in flour and meal
extending throughout the Southern states. A
native of Indiana, he was born January 9,
1859, in Madison, Jefferson county, and there
learned the miller 's trade while working with
his father, who was an expert in that line of
work.
Having become familiar with every branch
of the miller's trade, Mr. Toole accepted a
position as head miller with the firm of
Gripp, Jones & Company, in Louisville, Ken-
tucky, in 1877, and was there five years, gain-
ing in the meantime valuable knowledge and
experience. Going from there to Saint Louis,
Missouri, he was first associated with Kehlor
Brothers, and afterwards with Todd & Stan-
ley, being employed for a year in establishing
mills, including among others a large roller
mill which he started in Dexter, Stoddard
county, for Cooper & Jorndt, and of which
he was superintendent and head miller until
1892. Returning then to Indiana, Mr. Took,
as head of the firm of Toole & Glidden, was
engaged in milling at "Lewisville until 1896,
when the mill was burned and he lost all of his
accumulations. Coming back to Missouri in
1896, Mr. Toole, in partnership with the late
John L. Buck, established the milling plant
of which he is now superintendent and man-
ager, a position which lie has held from the
start.
In 1901 the business was incorporated under
the name of the Buck & Toole Milling Com-
pany, with a capital of forty thousand dollars.
The plant was originally owned by Rebock
& Bear, who built it in 1891, at a cost of ten
thousand dollars, and conducted it until 1896,
when they sold out to Buck & Toole, who in-
corporated it five years later. John L. Buck
was then made president of the company, and
retained the position until his death, when Mr.
Toole, the former vice president, was made
president and general manager, and superin-
tendent of the entire business, a position for
which he is amply qualified. Charles Buck
was chosen vice president, and his brother,
James B. Buck, was made secretary and treas-
Tirer. Under the new officers improvements
of value have been added to the original plant,
the capacity of the elevator having been in-
creased four fold, from twenty-five thousand
bushels to one hundred thousand bushels,
while now the producing capacity of the mill
is two hundred and fifty barrels of flour, and
two hundred barrels of meal daily. The firm
is carrying on an extensive merchant and ex-
change trade, marketing its productions in all
of the larger cities of Southeastern Missouri,
Arkansas, Louisiana, Georgia, Mississippi,
Tennessee and other southern states. The
company pays out annually about two hun-
dred and fifty thousand dollars for wheat buy- .
ing it principally in Stoddard county, and ',
each year ships large quantities of corn and
oats, some years shipping some wheat to other
places. Its favorite brand of flour is the
"Wliite Foam," which finds a ready sale in
the best markets of the South, being noted for
its superior quality, sweetness and purity.
Mr. Toole is also president of the Bloomfield
Electric Light, Power & Heat Company, whose
plant supplies not only the water and water ',
power to the town, but electric light and the 1
power used in cotton ginning.
Mr. Toole married, in Madison, Indiana, ,
Anna M. Bott, and of the ten children which i
have blessed their union seven are living, "
namely : Will, an electrician ; Gertrude, who
was graduated from Hardin College; Ray-
mond, bookkeeper at the mill; Edwin;
Mildred ; Thomas ; and Howard. Frank, who
was employed in the mill office, died in Novem-
ber, 1909, at the early age of twenty-six years.
Joel Adams was born in Livingston county,
Kentucky, on July 9, 1847. He was a farmer
in Kentucky, working for his father when a
boy and for himself later. He made a success
of the pursuit of agriculture in Livingston
county and decided that he would like to be in
a new country, so when twenty-two years ago
he came to Missouri. Since coming to Pemi-
scot Mr. Adams has rented farms of aboiit
thirty-five acres and done general farming
upon them.
Mr. Adams is a self-educated man, as he has
attended school less than two months in his
life. In 1892 he was ordained a minister of
the Baptist church and since that time he has
preached at Little River, Landmark, Pierce
Chapel, Mission Point, Conran and at Steele,
Missouri. He is a member of the Indepen-
dent Order of Odd Fellows, and of the Wood-
men of the World, in which latter order he is
also orator. In addition to these two lodges
Mr. Adams is a member of the Farmers'
Union.
Mr. Adams has been married three times.
His first wife was a native of Kentucky,
Mandy Williams by name. They were wed-
ded in 1868 and had four children; Mary,
W^'JJ-^^^J^tAA^ /D, /4
HISTORY OF SOUTHEAST JIISSOURI
1095
born iu March, 1869; Lula, April, 1871;
Susan A., ilay, 1873 ; and Richard E., 1875.
The second ilrs. Adams was a widow, Mrs.
Kate ilinner, who was born and died in Liv-
ingston county, Kentucky. She bore Mr.
Adams one daughter, Sallie. The mother's
death occurred when about tweuty-eight years
of age. The present Mrs. Adams was form-
erly Mrs. Elizabeth Saterfield, of Marshall
county, Kentucky.
John S. Adams, Joel's father, was born in
Bedford county. North CaroUua. His death
occurred in Springfield, Illinois, in 1862. He
had served in the Civil war, a volunteer in the
forty-eighth Illinois Infantry. His wife was
Sallie Howell, of Virginia, who died in Ken-
tucky, in 1861. Mr. Adams is a Democrat.
He serves as judge of elections and has per-
formed this duty for the last teu or twelve
years.
William J. Cbutcher. One of the most
intelligent, prosperous and progressive agri-
culturists of Stoddard county, W. J. Crutch-
er owns and occupies a valuable homestead in
the town of Essex, which has been his home
for many j-ears, and where he has won a fine
reputation as an honest man and a good citi-
zen. He was born March 2, 185-1:, in Stewart
county, Tennessee, where both his father,
Joseph Crutcher, and his grandfather, Wil-
liam Crutcher, had long been engaged in
agricultural pursuits.
His father dying in 1867, William J.
Crutcher found himself at the head of a fam-
ily consisting of his widowed mother, two
younger brothers and a younger sistei'. He
remained with his mother until the younger
children were grown up, working for wages,
receiving six dollars a month in winter and
eight dollars a month during the summer
seasons, all of which went into the family
treasury. In 1872 he removed with the fam-
ily to Stoddard county, and for a year was
engaged in farming on rented land. At the
age of nineteen years Mr. Crutcher married
Sarah Vincent, who had one hundred and
twenty acres of land, of which twenty-five
acres were under cultivation. Seven hun-
dred dollars were then due on the land, and
Mr. Crutcher set to work most resolutely to
pay off the indebtedness, and in the course of
five years had the tract all paid for. As his
means increased, he invested in additional
land, paying three dollars an acre for a part
of his present farm, which adjoins the vil-
lage of Essex, and which contains about
seven hundred acres of as choice land as can
be found iu this section of the county. He
has bought other large tracts of land, paying
as high as sixty dollars an acre for some of
it, and finding the cheapest land the hardest
to pay for, although nearly every acre of his
total of fifteen hundred acres is now worth
fully one hundred dollars an acre. Mr.
Crutcher has two hundred and sixty acres in
a farm lying near his homestead, and owns
two hundred and eighty acres in Arkansas.
He has not sold very much land, although
some that he paid three dollars and seventy-
five cents an acre he sold at five dollars an
acre, the land at the present time being val-
ued at one hundred dollars an acre.
Mr. Crutcher has carried on general farm-
ing with great success, raising grain and
stock, having a fine open range for his cat-
tle, and has bought and sold stock, finding
profit in that branch of agriculture. Some
years ago he conceived the idea of creating a
canal along the bluff, three miles distant, to
keep the water ofl: the flats, and has since
continued a hearty supporter, with many
others of the draining jjrocess, greatly en-
hancing the value of his property and add-
ing to its productiveness. He has accumu-
lated considerable wealth through his own ef-
forts, owning store buildings in Essex, and
was formerly president of the Bank of Essex,
of which he was one of the organizers and
owning stock in this institution for several
years, but sold his interests some years since.
He is a Democrat in politics, but was never
an aspirant for official honors. In his farm-
ing Mr. Crutcher made a specialty of grow-
ing wheat, which he began, in 1879, by sow-
ing twenty-five acres, while in 1909 his crop
lacked but very little of netting him ten
thousand dollars.
Mr. Crutcher has been twice married. His
first wife, who lived but eight years after
their marriage, bore him two children, name-
ly: A child that died in infancy; and Wil-
liam, who lived but seventeen years. Mr.
Crutcher married for his second wife, Novem-
ber 27, 1882, Manda Jane Overbey, who was
born in Richland township, Stoddard county,
Missouri, a daughter of Harvey Overbey, and
his wife, Lydia, the former of whom was
born in Virginia and the latter in Tennessee.
ilr. and ]Mrs. Overbey came to Missouri in
1856, and settled in Stoddard county, where
the death of Mr. Overbey occurred when his
daughter JManda was hut eight years old.
Mr. and Mrs. Crutcher are the parents of
1096
HISTORY OF SOUTHEAST ]\nSSOURI
four children, namely: John L., a farmer in
Richland township ; Jennie, wife of Thomas
Taylor; Clarence; and Lee. Mr. and Mrs.
Crutcher, in the kindness of their warm
hearts, have also raised other children, tak-
ing into their hospitable home several or-
phans, whom they have tenderly cared for
until they were married, when they would in-
stall them in a small house on their farm,
which they appropriately named the "Or-
phans' Home," and see that they were well
started in life. Fraternally Mr. Crutcher has
been a member of the Independent Order of
Odd Fellows since 1879, and religiously Mrs.
Crutcher is a faithful member of the Baptist
church.
R. Lee Smyth. An able exponent of the
progressive spirit and altruistic citizenship
which have caused this section to forge so
rapidly forward in the last few years is R. Lee
Smyth, collector of taxes, residing at Bloom-
field, Missouri. He is also interested in the
agricultural history of Stoddard county and
successfully engages in operations in the great
basic industry on his farm six miles southwest
of Dexter. Mr. Smyth is well-known as an
educator, his earliest sphere of usefulness
having been the educational field, and his
pedagogical endeavors having included some
sixteen terms, all in the county schools.
Mr. Smj'th is a native of Tennessee, his
birth having occurred in Weakley county,
that state, November 6, 1863. His boyhood
was spent on a farm in his native state and it
was in Tennessee that he received the educa-
tion which he was to put to such good use.
He came to Missouri in young manhood to
join a brother, James P. Smyth, and a cousin,
James W. Walters, who had alread.v become
.sufficiently attracted by the charms and ad-
vantages of Stoddard county to settle there.
Both of these gentlemen, like the subject,
were school teachers, and Mr. Walters subse-
quently became county surveyor of Stoddard
county. Missouri has indeed proved a lode-
stone for the Smyth family, for two other
brothers and a sister followed in course of
time, namely: Hugh E. Smyth and Captain
Smyth and Musa Smyth, the former, a farmer
residing in Dexter, and the two latter now re-
siding in Holdenville, Oklahoma. The
brother James P., previously mentioned, after
teaching for a number of years is now the
undertaker of Dexter.
In the roseate da.vs of youth R. Lee Smyth
worked on the farm in the summer and taught
school in the winter. His higher education
was obtained in the ^Masonic Institute at Glea-
son, Tennessee, and he subsequently matricu-
lated in the Sharon Training School at
Sharon, Tennessee. He taught his first school
in Lancaster district, eight miles southwest of
Dexter, and his enlightened educational meth-
ods at once were fruitful of the best results
and won him the gratified confidence of the
community. He continued in this line for a
number of j'ears, teaching continuously for
sixteen terms in all. In 1906 Mr. Smyth be-
came the candidate of the Denioeratie party
for tax collector, his name being placed be-
fore the primaries in April, and in the fall of
that year he was elected, taking office on
]\Iarch 1, 1907, and of such high character
were his services that he was re-elected in
1910, and is now serving his second term. He
has ever taken a great interest in part.v afPairs
and has ever proved ready and willing to do
anything legitimate to assist the cause in
which he believes. He is exceptionall.v well-
versed in political conditions and has been
delegate from this count.y to senatorial con-
ventions. In addition to his usefulness in
other fields he has engaged successfully in
agriculture, his farm being situated six miles
southwest of Dexter, on Crowley's Ridge, and
being of large proportions, consisting of a
half section in one tract and of forty acres in
another. The half section is a part of his
wife's old home.
Mr. Smyth was happily married on the 8th
day of Ma.v, 1902, his chosen companion being
Cora Lee Rose, daughter of Jonathon and
Charlotte (James) Rose, the former of North
Carolina and the latter of Illinois. The Rose
family came to Missouri before the Civil war
and located near the northern border of Stod-
dard county. In course of time the.v removed
to the vicinit.v of Idalia and later took pos-
session of the above-mentioned farm, six miles
southwest of Dexter, where the father en-
gaged successfully in his chosen vocation and
died in the .year 1903, at about the age of
sixty-four years. His widow survives and
makes her home with her daughter. Mrs. R.
Lee Smyth. Cora Lee. wife of the subject,
was born east of Bloomfield. near Idalia, and
is one of a family of two children. ]\Ir. and
Mrs. Smyth have a promising family of six
children, as follows: Elvin and Alvin, twins;
Grace, Marvin, Raymond and Robert. Mr.
and ^Irs. Smyth are genei'ous and u.seful mem-
bers of the Bloomfield Christian church, in
which the former is an elder. He is a popular
HISTORY OF SOUTHEAST :\IISSOURI
1097
and promiuent fraternity man, being affiliated
with the Independent Order of Odd Fellows
at Bernie, Missouri, and with the Modern
Woodmen of America at Bloomfield.
The parents of R. Lee Smyth were A. D.
and ]\Ialinda Smyth, the former retired and
residing in Stoddard county, and elsewhere
with his children. He was a farmer in Ten-
nesee, and was a stanch Democrat and veteran
of the Confederate army, being wounded at
the battle of Shiloh, in which noted battle,
Mrs. R. Lee Smyth's father also participated.
Mr. R. L. Smyth's mother died in Tennessee,
December 31, 1893. She and her husband
were members of the Cumberland Presby-
terian church.
"William R. Taylor. Honored and es-
teemed by all, there is no man in Stoddard
county who occupies a more enviable posi-
tion in agricultural circles than William R.
Taylor, not alone on account of the splendid
success he has achieved but also on account
of the honorable, straightforward business
policy he has ever followed. His close appli-
cation to business and his excellent manage-
ment have brought to him the high degree of
prosperity which to-day is his. During prac-
tical!}' his entire life time thus far he has
been a valued resident of Southeastern Mis-
souri and at the present time, in 1911, he is
the owner of an estate of nearly seven hun-
dred acres, to be exact, 6991/4, the same be-
ing eligibly located two and a half miles dis-
tant from Essex, in Stoddard county.
A native of the fine old conmionwealth of
Tennessee, William R. Taj'lor was born in
Carroll county, that state, the date of his
nativity being the 7th of September, 1843.
He is a son of Stephen and Delia (Springer)
Taylor, the former of whom was a native of
either North or South Carolina and the lat-
ter of whom claimed Alabama as the place
of her birth. Stephen Taylor came to Mis-
souri with his family in the latter part of
the year 1846, and he settled on a farm two
and a half miles southeast of Essex, this es-
tate forming the nucleus of AVilliam R. Tay-
lor's fine farm. He was a pioneer in this
section of the state and pre-empted a tract
of Government land. Other families were
coming to Stoddard county, too. at that time,
among them being the Warren family from
Illinois. Dan. ^Matthew and William War-
ren, all sons of Levi Warren, likewise pre-
empted Government land in Stoddard county,
and the children of Dan Warren still reside
here. The Taylor family remained in the
neighborhood, where, at the time of the incep-
tion of the Civil war, most of the settlers were
southern sympathizers. In 1862 Stephen
Taylor was captured by the Federals and im-
prisoned at Alton, Illinois, where he died a
few months later, in October. 1862, at the
age of fifty-two years. He was a southern
man and during the early days of the war
was ardently in sympathy with the secession
movement. Mr. Taylor's widow survived him
but a few years, her death having occurred
in August, 1869. Mr. and Mrs. Taylor were
active in the development of their home com-
munity and were instrumental in the organ-
ization of the first Missionary Baptist church
some two miles distant from Essex. ]\Ir. Tay-
lor was exceedingly fond of out-of-door life
and he was noted as a splendid coon hunter.
In those early days the country about here
was infested with all sorts of large game and
the subject of this review tells of having
killed bear, deer and elk in this vicinity, and
he killed three deer within gunshot of his
present home.
William R. Taylor was a child of liut three
years of age at the time of his parents' re-
moval to Stoddard county, where he passed
his boyhood and youth amid frontier sui'-
roundings. His preliminary educational
training consisted of such advantages as were
aft'orded in the schools of the locality. Dur-
ing the last years of the war he rented his
present farm, it having been the old home of
Jesse Henson, who with his brother-in-law,
John Whitehead, had been the first settlers in
this vicinity. Henson eventually moved away
from Stoddard county and "W'liitehead died
in 1866. The farm referred to above con-
tained one hundred and sixty acres and when
he purchased it ilr. Taylor paid for the same
a sum of nine hundred dollars, about forty
acres of the tract having been opened to
cultivation. With the passage of time Mr.
Taylor has continued to add to his original
estate until he is now the owner of a farm of
699 acres. Most of his land he purchased for
the merely nominal price of $2.50 or $3.00 per
acre, but about twelve years ago he bought
120 acres for which he paid thirteen hundred
dollars. He now has five hundred acres of
his land under cultivation and associated with
him in the management of the estate are
his two sons. He has made corn a leading
crop, some seventy-five acres being devoted
thereto, the same being under the supervi-
sion of tenants, and he is also raising some
1098
HISTORY OF SOUTHEAST MISSOURI
cotton. "With ample range he has kept cat-
tle and hogs and conducts an extensive and
ever increasing business in the raising and
shipping of stock. In 1895 he erected the
beautiful Taylor residence, which is modern
and convenient in every possible connection
and where is dispensed the generous hospi-
tality for which Southeastern Missouri is so
noted.
On the 3d of September, 1871, Mr. Taylor
was united in marriage to Miss Martha Ann
Rhodes, who was reared and educated in
Stoddard county but who was born in Ten-
nessee. This union has been prolific of seven
children, five of them living and concerning
whom the following brief data are here in-
corporated,— ilary is the wife of John Blood-
worth and they reside on a por.tion of Mr.
Taylor's farm; Sarah J. married Ryan
Laiigley, who is identified with agricultural
pursuits on a farm near Frisco in this
county; "William R., Jr., is associated with
his father in the latter 's farming operations,
as is also Thomas A., and Adele is the wife
of Otto ililes, a merchant at Essex. The
eldest child, John, died at five years and the
other in infancy.
In his political convictions Mr. Taylor is
aligned as a stalwart supporter of the prin-
ciples and policies for which the Democratic
party stands sponsor, and while he has never
manifested aught of desire for political
preferment of any description he has always
done everything in his power to advance the
best interests of the community in which he
makes his home. He has been an enthusias-
tic advocate of the good-roads movement and
in every possible respect has contributed to
progress and improvement. Mr. Taylor's re-
ligious faith is in harmony with the teachings
of the Baptist church. He is a man of great
benevolence, is genial and kindly in his as-
.sociations and on many occasions has given a
Tielping hand to those less fortunately situ-
ated than himself. His exemplary life and
fair dealings have won him the confidence
.and regard of his fellow men.
;Martin Larsen. The Danish type is one
wliich has found many representatives in the
New World and has assuredly contributed its
quota towards the onward march of progress.
Of this nation was the late Martin Larsen,
one of Stoddard county's leading agricultur-
ists, whose memory is held in reverence in a
community to which his influence was of def-
inite benefit. It is indeed fitting that a re-
view of his life and achievements should be
incorporated in this volume devoted to rep-
resentative citizens of Southeastern Mis-
souri.
Martin Larsen was born November 24,
1835, in Denmark, and died October 24,
1910, thus being five .years beyond the psalm-
ist's allotted span of life when summoned
to his eternal rest. He came to America be-
fore the Civil war, when a young man about
twenty-four years of age. "Wliile in his native
country he had had the advantage of military
training and he had also had the advantage of
some practical experience in agriculture.
Upon landing on American shores he at once
turned his face toward ^Missouri and located
in the vicinity of Poplar Bluff, in company
with nineteen of his couutiymen. He took
up a homestead, a part of which is now the
site of the present town of Poplar Bluff. At
that time it was uncleared land, covered with
woods, and at first he could make but a make
but a small clearing. In a few months most
of the little Danish colony had scattered,
some going one place, some another. Mr.
Larsen and Elias Heusner were among those
who moved away, and they came to Stoddard
county, where the subject secured work in a
saw mill belonging to the father of Mr. Joe
Sykes. He also worked in the logging camps
near Bloomfield and in one way and another
tried out his fortunes in the new world. For
seven years ilr. Larsen worked with Henry
Miller as a farmer, and he had a responsible
position with that gentleman, being his over-
seer. He was thrifty, as well as capable and
industrious, and saved his money to such good
advantage that at the end of the seven years
he found himself in a position to purchase
eighty acres of land, and on this tract he
lived about the space of two years. About
the year 1870 he bought his late home, an
eligiblj^ situated farm of one hundred and
sixty acres, which was about half improved,
paying twelve hundred dollars for the same.
Here he farmed in the summer, and in the
lull between harvest and seed-time he hauled
goods to Cape Girardeau for John Buck,
making two trips to that point with mer-
chandise each week and being on the road
all of the time. This strenuous existence
continued for seven years, but he eventually
found it necessary to devote his entire atten-
tion to his farming, and he found such suc-
cess and added to his land so frequently that
he at last owned a splendid property con-
of 960 acres, this being less than six
HISTORY OF SOUTHEAST MISSOURI
1099
miles southwest of Bloomfield. His chief
products were corn, wheat, hogs and cattle. It
was his distinction to become the leading
farmer in all Stoddard county, his methods
being up-to-date and his success in all lines
phenomenal. His acres were adorned with a
substantial residence, and his barns and out-
buildings w-ere excellent.
Aboixt the year 1900 Mr. Larsen placed his
land in other hands and removed to Bloom-
field to en.joy in the leisure of retirement the
fruits of his earlier years of industry, and
here, happy in the enjoyment of hosts of
friends and surrounded by all material com-
forts, he lived until his demise. He retained
his interests, however, and at one time in-
vested extensively in a bank at Dexter, this
proving a financial loss. In addition to his
principal farm he owned in other localities in
Stoddard county seven or eight hundred
acres, whose improvement he had brought
about, some of this being bottom land. He
was not one to be content with "letting well
enough alone," as the old adage has it, but
was constantly devising some new plan of im-
provement. Mr. Larsen was a stanch sup-
porter of the policies and principles of the
Democratic party, but his interest in polities
was nothin more than that of the intelligent
voter. His zeal for continual improvement
was not limited to his lands, but extended
also to his own education, for although he
had been well educated in his native lan-
guage, he made every effort to perfect him-
self in English and did not allow his studies
to end with his school days. His religious
conviction was that of the Lutheran church,
of which he had been a member in Denmark,
although he did not aifiliate in this country.
Mr. Larsen laid the foundation of an in-
dependent household by his marriage at
Bloomfield to Louisa Edwards, who was born
in Tennessee and came to Stoddard county
as a girl. She was a daughter of a Mr. and
Mrs. Edwards once well known in this sec-
tion, who died some thirty or more years ago.
This faithful and admirable wife was called
to her eternal rest January 10, 1892. Mr.
Larsen 's second wife was Sally Smith, daugh-
ter of James M. Clark. She was a native of
Kentucky and came to Stoddard county with
her first hiisband, who died some time later.
Her father also became a Missouri citizen
and lived where Henry Larsen now lives.
Mrs. Larsen survives the sub.jeet and is a
woman held in high regard in the community
in which she is best known. The issue of the
subject are as follows: Preston, who resides
on a farm near Aid; J. C, who operates a
part of the old ho^nestead; Alma S., wife of
W. A. Kirby, who also manages a part, of the
Larsen estate; and W. H.
William Henry Larsen was born on the old
homestead in Stoddard county, February 3,
1877. He resided beneath the home roof un-
til the age of nineteen, when he was married
to Eifie Timmons, daughter of Garret Tim-
nions, of Kentucky. Mi-s. Larsen is a native
of Kentucky. Mr. Larsen is one of the suc-
cessful agriculturists of the comity, and in
the management of his ailairs has already
evinced the sound judgment and executive
capacity of his father. In 1906 he bought
his present farm, which is a part of the Clark
estate above mentioned. He and his brother
Preston both received from the parental es-
tate a tract of bottom land near Aid, which
they have cleared and improved. His farm
is located four miles west of Bloomfield, con-
sists of 240 acres and is a model of its kind.
As a boy his fancy had been taken by the
Clark farm and at the settlement of the Clark
estate he bought it, thus making his early
dreams come true. He raises high bred
mules, graded stock and hogs, and also raises
a good deal of corn. He takes little interest
in politics, except to support to the best of
his ability all measures likely to result in
benefit to the whole of society. His wife is
a member of Lick Creek Methodist Episcopal
church. Mr. and ilrs. Lai-sen share their at-
tractive and hospitable home with five chil-
dren,— Edgar and Edith, twins; Leslie. Lol-
lie and Charlie.
John A. ^Iiller. Colton wrote: "It is
not known where he who invented the plow
was born, or where he died; yet he has ef-
fected more for the happiness of the world
than the whole race of heroes and conquerors
who have drenched it with tears and saturated
it with blood, and whose birth, parentage and
education have been handed down to us with
a precision exactly proportionate to the mis-
chief they have done." Agriculture, indeed,
has received the "highest awards" from the
world of moralists ; and it is a great pity that
all mankind are not engaged in it. — at least
to some extent. One of Stoddard county's
prosperous farmers and good citizens is John
A. ililler, a native son of the state.
The JMiller family have been identified with
this part of Missouri since the beginning of
the nineteenth century. The subject's fa-
1100
HISTORY OF SOUTHEAST MISSOURI
ther, Robert Miller, was born at Cape Girar-
deau, March 7, 1815. Owing to the fact that
there were no schools, he was without educa-
tional advantages, but being energetic and
ambitious he learned much through his own
efforts. In ancestry he was half Irish and
half German. His mother was born in North
Carolina, October 21:, 1818, and was reared
in Perry county, and the marriage of the par-
ents occurred in the northern part of Stod-
dard coiinty, about the year 1837. The
young couple located at a point fai'ther south
in the county — six miles west of Bloomfield,
to be exact. JMany Indians were there at that
time and conditions were decidedly primitive.
Land, however, was very cheap, and the father
entered 160 acres at $1.25 an acre. He
eventually added a few acres, making his
property to consist of two hundred acres.
This represented his home throughout the re-
mainder of his days. His life, like that of
most of the pioneers, was hard and busy, for
in addition to the usual tasks of agriculture
he had to clear all of his land and construct
his own buildings, the first one being made
of logs. Finally he began to prosper a lit-
tle and then hired hands. His children were
as follows: Celia Jane, Thomas Warren, John
A. (subject of this biographical record), An-
drew Franklin, Amos B. and Maria Jose-
phine. The ravages of the Civil war were
felt by the little circle. The father was killed
March 28, 1862, by a guerilla band, which ar-
rested him without cause, took him away and
shot him. This was particularly without rea-
son as he was neutral in his sympathies, sid-
ing with neither section. Previous to this the
eldest brother had died, and thus the whole
of the farm work fell upon the shoulders of
John A. and his brother. Times were
hard, indeed, in this section of Missouri in
the dreary days following the Civil war, and
it was about all they could do to make a liv-
ing. In a few years, however, they got ahead
sufficiently to improve the farm a little, and
on August 7, 1870, Mr. Miller assumed the
additional responsibilities of marriage. The
worthy mother lived until 1881, and at her
death the farm was divided among the chil-
dren, and the various portions sold by each,
Mr. ^liller getting about three hundred dol-
lars for his portion.
John A. Miller was born July 26, 1847, on
the old homestead. His schooling consisted
of about three short terms of two and a half
months each, but this short period does not
represent his whole schooling, as he has ac-
quired a great deal of useful knowledge on his
own account. After the war he went to school
a short time and completed his arithmetical
studies himself at home. His work on the
home farm has been recorded, and after his
marriage he built a little log house on his
mother's old place and engaged in the work-
ing of a part of the farm until 1876, when he
removed to the farm upon which he lives at
the present time. The young couple began
vei-y modestly, and made their home in a lit-
tle shanty for a winter and summer. They
improved their fortunes very rapidly, how-
ever, and while Mr. Miller was clearing his
land he built a larger house and rail fences.
To the original eighty acres, which he bought
in 1875, he seven years later added eighty
more, and at the present time owns 160 acres,
115 of which are under cultivation. In evi-
dence of the good purpose to which Mr. Mil-
ler has made his improvements is the fact
that whereas the land cost five dollars an
acre when he bought it, it would now bring
sixty dollars an acre. It is well fenced, most
of the fences being of wire.
Jlr. ]\Iiller laid the foundation of a happy
household and congenial life companionship
when, in August, 1870, he was united in
marriage to Mary K. Harper, daughter of
Henry and Keziah (Brown) Harper. Mrs.
Miller was born three miles south of Bloom-
field, September 24, 1850. Their marriage
has been blessed by the birth of the follow-
ing children: Linus E., who died March 7,
1878; Lorenzo, born March 7, 1873, died
IMarch 13, 1875; Edith V., born June 18,
1875, died in 1898, leaving two children,
Samuel K. and Linus A., who have been
reared by their grandparents and are now
their useful young assistants in the work of
the farm's cultivation; Eldon E., born April
30, 1881, married Myrtle Sifford, and resides
on land adjoining the subject ; Eunice May,
born November 3, 1883, attends the Normal
School at Cape Girardeau; John E., born
May 15, 1888, is now attending law school at
Valparaiso, Indiana ; Iva B., born May 18,
1892, is attending Normal school ; and the
j'oungest member of the family, Ogden Ray,
born January 7, 1896, is at home.
]\Ir. Miller is a stanch Democrat and
takes a great interest in public affairs. He
is an active member of the General Baptist
church, of Aid, Stoddard county, and he and
his wife and family are held in high esteem
in the community in which their interests
are centered.
HISTORY OF SOUTHEAST MISSOURI
1101
John Tawney was born in Indiana and
lived in that state until he was twenty-one
years old. His father was a farmer who
died when John was four years old. The
mother was supported bj' her children.
When John Tawney began his business
career it was in the emploA'ment of the Hart-
well Brothers' Handle ilanufaeturing Com-
pany of Allen county, Ohio. He was mar-
ried when he left his native place to go into
this work. His wife was born in Whitney
county, Indiana, and died in Allen county,
Ohio, in 1883. The daughter whom she bore
to John Tawney is now living in Mississippi.
Two years after her death, he married Ida
Rockhill, of Areola, Indiana, his present
wife.
After his second marriage ]\Ir. Tawney
spent twelve 3'ears in Delphos, Ohio, as a
handle maker, steadily rising to better posi-
tions in his work. In 1895 he went to Vin-
cennes, wliere the headquarters of the com-
pany were. Here he had charge of a gang
of men. although he, himself was working,
by the piece. After four years here he went
to Mount Vernon, Illinois, in the interest of
the same company. In Mount Vernon ]Mr.
Tawney built and operated a factory for the
company which manufactured handles and
wagon stock. About this time he also built
a factory in ^Mississippi and stayed there
four months superintending it after it was
put into operation.
In 1905 Mr. Tawney moved a part of his
Mount Vernon plant to Lilbourn. The fac-
tory here has a capacity of four thousand
handles a day. The wood used is mostly
hickory and the abundant timber suppl.y of
this region makes it a most desirable site for
such a factory.
Mr. Tawney intends to make Lilbourn his
home hereafter, and to that end he has built
the finest residence in the town. In addition
to being superintendent of the factory, he is
president of the bank and has been ever since
its organization. Another post of respon-
sibility in the commercial enterprises of the
town which Mr. Tawney also fills is that of
president of the Building and Loan Associa-
tion of the town. In city property he owns
besides his residence twelve lots, some of
which have buildings upon them, and has a
half interest in nine other lots. He is the
present city treasurer. Democratic in pol-
itical bias.
Two of the children born to ^Ir. and :\Irs.
Tawnev. Frances and Florence, are still at
home. The son, Howard, is assistant cashier
of the Bank of Lilbourn. He is married to
Bertie Fisher Tawney. The other daughter is
IMamie, the wife of H. C. Lee.
When John Tawney was married he was
penniless and when he came to Lilbourn he
had only one thousand dollars exclusive of
his household furniture. What he has ac-
complished and acquired in the brief period
of six years evidences his business acumen
and his unremitting industry.
WiLLi.vM H. Petty. A well-known and
highly esteemed resident of Kennett, Wil-
liam H. Petty followed the profession of a
teacher for several years, being very success-
ful and popular as an educator, and is now
serving as deputy county clerk, a position to
which he was elected in the spring of 1907.
A son of Charles A. Petty, he was born in
Humphreys county, Tennessee, July 25,
1874, but has spent the greater part of his
life in Dunklin county, Missouri.
Charles A. Petty was born and bred in
Tennessee, living there until after his fii'st
marriage. In October, 1874, he came with
his family to Dunklin county, ilissouri, and
after living in the vicinity of Hornersville
two years moved to Cotton Plant. In 1883
he settled in Kennett, and for four and one-
half years served as deputy sheriff under 1.
F. Donaldson. He subsequentlj- bought a
farm lying one and one-half miles west of
Kennett, and still owns and operates it, al-
though he resides in Kennett. He married
first Frances ^Miller, who was born in Tenn-
essee. She died June 17, 1890, in ^Missouri,
leaving ten children, all but one of whom
are now living, William H.. of this sketch,
being one of the number. He married for
his second wife ]\Iollie Baugus. of Decatur
county. Tennessee, and of that union one
child was born. He married for his third
wife, Sally Latta, and of the three children
born of their marriage two are living.
Charles A. Petty is one of the leading
Democrats of this community, and from
1903 until 1907 served as associate county
.iudge. During that period all swamp land
funds were transferred to the county school
fund, which was of great advantage to the
piiblic schools. He is a valued member of
the Methodist Episcopal church, towards the
support of which he is a liberal contributor,
and in which he has been class leader several
years.
As a boy and youth William H. Petty re-
1102
HISTORY OP SOUTHEAST MISSOURI
ceived eseellent educational advantages, and
after his graduation from the Cape Girar-
deau Normal school taught for nine years in
Dunklin county, being an instructor in the
Kennett High school a part of the time. In
April, 1907, Mr. Petty entered the county
clerk's office as deputy, and is performing
the duties devolving upon him with char-
acteristic ability and faithfulness. Having
never swei-ved from the political faith in
which he was bred, ilr. Petty is a steadfast
Democrat, and for two years, in 1903 and
1904, was a member of the Kennett Board
of Education. He is a man of much culture,
and intelligent reader, and has a choice col-
lection of books in his large library. He is
a member of the Methodist Episcopal church,
and for two years had charge of the Bible
class in its Sunday school, being a most in-
teresting teacher. Fraternally Mr. Petty be-
longs to the Independent Order of Odd Fel-
lows; to the Knights of Pythias; to the
Woodmen of the World ; and to the Tribe of
Ben Hur.
Mr. Petty married, June 26, 1910, Helen
Jlay Griffin, a beautiful Kentucky girl. She
is a pleasant agreeable woman, and a member
of the Baptist church, in which she was
reared.
James L. Higginbotham. If "biography
is the home aspect of history," as Wilmott
has expressed it, it is entirely within the
province of true history to commemorate and
perpetuate the lives and character, the
achievements and honor of the illustrious sons
of the state. High on the roll of those whose
efforts have been an important factor in the
progress and development of Southeastern
Missouri appears the name of James Lawson
Higginbotham, the present efficient and popu-
lar incumbent of the office of mayor of Ber-
nie, in Stoddard county. Mr. Higginbotham
is a farmer by occupation and he is the owner
of a splendid rural estate of some three hun-
dred and twenty-seven acres, the same being
eligibly located live miles west from Bernie.
James L. Higginbotham was born in Dun-
klin county, Missouri, on the 4th of October.
1865, and he is a son of Marion Higginbo-
tham, whose birth occurred in Edwards coun-
ty, Illinois, whence he accompanied his par-
ents to Missouri as a lad in the year 1835.
His parents, Lawson and Mary Higginbo-
tham, located first in Dunklin county and
later established their home on Crawley
Ridge in Stoddard county, where they passed
the residue of their lives, the former dying
in July, 1875, at the age of seventy-five years.
Marion Higginbotham married Miss Agnes
Riddle, a native of Tennessee, who accom-
ptiuied her parents to Missouri when she was
a child of but six years of age. After their
marriage Mr. and Mrs. Higginbotham lived
in Dunklin county until 1871, in which year
they came to Stoddard county, settling on
the estate now owned by the subject of this
review. He was engaged in agricultural pur-
suits during the major portion of his active
career and he was summoned to the life eter-
nal in 1884, at the age of sixty-nine years.
His cherished and devoted wife, who long
survived him, passed into the great bej'ond in
October, 1910, at the age of seventy-five j'ears.
Marion Higginbotham organized the first
Missionary Baptist church in this section, it
becoming known as the Wliite Oak Grove
church, and of it he and his wife were devout
members until the time of their respective
deaths. He was very pi-ominent in all relig-
ious movements and was a delegate to a num-
ber of county and state church associations,
in addition to which he was deacon in the
local church. He also manifested a deep and
sincere interest in all educational affairs,
serving as a director of the local school board.
His family consisted of two sons and two
daughters, concerning whom the following
brief data are here recorded, — Julia A. be-
came the wife of John 0. Wilson, a farmer in
this county, and she died in 1910; John L.
was a farmer in the vicinity of Bernie and
he died in 1898, at the early age of thirty-two
years; James L. is the immediate subject of
this review ; and Amanda is the wife of J. P.
Ward, a merchant at Bernie.
James L. Higginbotham, of this notice, was
reared to the invigorating discipline of the
home farm in Stoddard county, he having
been six years of age at the time of his par-
ents' removal hither from Dunklin county.
After availing himself of the advantages af-
forded in the public schools of the neighbor-
hood he became interested in farming on the
old homestead, which he inherited at the time
of his father's death. With the passage of
time he has added to the old estate until he
is now the owner of a tract of three hundred
and twenty-seven acres of some of the very
finest land in Southeastern Missouri. In ad-
dition thereto he is also the owner of con-
siderable valuable property in Dunklin coun-
ty. He has devoted the major portion of his
time and attention thus far to diversified
HISTORY OF SOUTHEAST MISSOURI
1103
agriculture and the raising of thoroughbred
stock and for the past twenty-two years he
has shipped cattle with marked success. He
has been a very prominent factor in the drain-
age and redemption of the Kswamp lands in
Southeastern Jlissouri. He has been very
prominent in connection with improvements
in the village of Bernie, where he has erected
a number of residences and business houses
and where, in company with his uncle, he re-
built the noted Higginbotham Block. In his
political convictions he is a stalwart sup-
porter of the principles and policies for which
the Democratic party stands sponsor and he
has taken an active part in local politics. In
the spring of 1910 he mad-e the race for and
was elected mayor of Bernie. As head ad-
ministrator of the municipal affairs of the
city he is acquitting himself with all of honor
and distinction and under his supervision a
great many important improvements have been
started. About the time he assumed the re-
sponsibilities of his office concrete walks were
just being introduced; he has taken up that
idea and Bernie now boasts many clean con-
crete streets. He served as a member of the
school board for many years, from the time
he was of age until elected to the office of
mayor of Bernie.
In the year 1884, at the early age of eigh-
teen years, Mr. Higginbotham was united in
marriage to Miss ]Mary Cross, also aged eigh-
teen years. Mrs. Higginbotham was born and
reared in Stoddard county and she is a
daughter of Thomas and Elizabeth (Jones)
Cross, the father a prominent and influential
farmer in this section during the greater part
of his active career. ]\Ir. and Mrs. Higgin-
botham are the parents of the following chil-
dren,— Harry Preston is cashier in the Bank
of Bernie. ilissouri : "Walter ilarshall is as-
sistant cashier of the Bank of Bernie and is
also engaged in the stock business; James
Alva is attending business college at Quincy,
Illinois ; and Flora and Elsie Blanche remain
at the parental home. In their religious faith
the Higginbotham family are devout mem-
bers of the Baptist church, to whose good
works they are most liberal contributors of
their time and means. In a fraternal way he
is affiliated with the local lodges of the Inde-
pendent Order of Odd Fellows, which organ-
ization he has represented in the county con-
vention, and with the Knights of Pythias.
Mr. Higginbotham is a man of high honor and
notable mental caliber. The list of his per-
sonal friends might almost be said to include
that of his acquaintances and they are legion,
bound in no sense by partj' lines, religious
creeds or social status. People of every di-
versity of condition, position or relative im-
portance, know him and, knowing him, re-
spect and love him.
George H. Jones. The mercantile in-
terests of Bernie have an able representative
in George H. Jones, who has been engaged
in business here since 1902, and who is an en-
terprising and public spirited citizen. His
father, William A., was born in Selma, Ala-
bama, in 1848 or 1849. He was educated in
the common schools, and because of his love
of Southern institutions he enlisted in the
Confederate arm}% serving under General
Joseph Wheeler. He resided in Alabama for
only a short time and then ,with his parents
removed to Pensacola, Florida. He was a
member of an Alabama regiment, however, for
he was in the state when the first guns were
fired at Sumter, and remained in the ranks
until the termination of the conflict in April,
1865. Following the surrender he went to
Georgetown, Kentucky, where he attended
a theological seminary, a desire to enter the
ministry having reached crj'.stallization point.
This was a Baptist institution. He was
called to the pastorate of a church in Colum-
bus, Kentucky, and there he remained for
about fifteen year's. There in October, 1868,
he was united in marriage to ]\Iinerva Sims.
Her parents were old Kentucky settlers and
lived in the Blue Grass state nearly all their
lives. He removed to Jlissouri in 1884 and
previous to that time he taught school,
preached, farmed, did missionary work, and
later was employed to teach the school in
Bloomfield, Stoddard county. Such was the
strenuous life of the minister of the time and
locality. In January, 1886, he removed to a
farm five miles southwest of Bloomfield and
lived there practically all of the time until
his death, which occurred on April 6, 1905.
The devoted wife and mother preceded him
to the Great Beyond, her death occurring
Julv 30, 1896. The children of this union
were Albert S., 'William A., George H., Peter
Reuben (county clerk at Bloomfield) and
James T.
George H. Jones was born October 12, 1873,
at Jordan Station, Kentucky. He obtained
most of his early education in his native
state, subsequently attending school one year
in Bloomfield after coming here with his
parents. When they went out to the farm he
1104
HISTORY OF SOUTHEAST MISSOURI
attended the country schools for one year and
in Dexter pursued his studies for a time. By
this time he had acquired a good general edu-
cation and he taught school for one year. His
next business experience was in the insurance
business, in which he continued for a limited
period; later working on a farm and buying
and selling land to good profit. His career
as a business man of Bernie dates from 1902,
when he engaged in his present business with
his brother, Reuben, buying out his brother's
partner. Reuben subsequentlj' sold his in-
terest in the store to his brother, J. T., and
the ^Messrs. Jones continue mercantile opera-
tions under the name of Jones Brothers.
Their stock has been increased continually
and their loyal and enthusiastic patronage
with it. ;\Ir. Jones owns other town prop-
erty and also a farm of forty acres. In the
store a general line of goods is handled, the
same including hardware and dry goods.
ilr. Jones was married in Bernie, October
17, 1909. to ]\Iinnie Lee Fonville, daughter of
W T. Fonville, and who was born in 1885.
They share their pleasant home with one son,
William Jewell, born August 9, 1910. :\Ir.
Jones is a man who takes great interest in
lodge affairs. He is a member of the Inde-
pendent Order of Odd Fellows; he has for
several vears been past chancellor of the
Knights "of Pythias; he has also been for
quite a period banker of the Woodmen of the
World; and he is affiliated with the Modern
Woodmen of America. Mr. Jones attends the
Baptist church and in his political affilia-
tions he is a stanch supporter of the Dem-
ocratic party.
Fe.\.nk il. McMi'LLiN. A well-known and
highly esteemed citizen of Essex, F. M. Mc-
Jlullin has for several years been profitably
engaged in general farming and stock rais-
ing, owning and occupying one of the most
attractive of the many beautiful rural home-
steads of Stoddard county. A son of F. M.
:\lcMullin. Sr., he was born January 27, 1879.
in Sikeston, Scott county, Missouri, of Irish
ancestry.
F. il. 3Ic:\Iullin, Sr., was but a child when
about a quarter of a century ago he was
brought to :Missouri by his father, who died
within a very few years after immigrating to
the United " States. Left an orphan when
young, he grew to manhood in Scott county,
and from his youth up was engaged in agri-
cultural pursuits. Ambitious and resolute,
he set to work with a determination to suc-
ceed in his chosen occupation, and having
bought land in Essex cleared and improved
a valuable farm of two hundred and forty
acres, and there resided until his death, in
August, 1899, when but fifty-six years of age.
A part of the town of Essex is built on that
farm. He never meddled with politics, but
was a prominent member of the Methodist
Episcopal church. South, his home being the
headquarters of visiting Methodist ministers,
who found a warm welcome at his fireside.
He married Sail}' Drysdale, who was born in
Kentucky, and came with her parents to ilis-
souri. She died several years before he did,
in early womanhood. Eight children were
born to their union, namely: Alma, wife of
Herbert Boaz, a merchant in Parma, ilis-
souri; Thomas, who died at the age of twen-
ty-three years ; Frank ]M., the special subject
of this brief sketch; Hattie, wife of Charles
Lisle, an attorne.y in Dexter, Missouri ; John
William, of Fornfelt, a railroad man; James
engaged in mercantile pursuits at Parma ;
Bettie, of Parma, formerly connected with
her brother's store but now the wife of John
Lee, a hardware and implement dealer of
Parma; and Katie, who has attended the
Cape Girardeau State Normal school, resides
in Dexter and is now teaching in the Dex-
ter public schools.
Since twelve yeai-s old a resident of Stod-
dard county, Frank :M. :MciIullin resided on
the home farm near Essex as long as his
father lived, and at his death received his
share of the parental estate, of the stock, and
the household goods, and two thousand dol-
lars in money. In addition to the land
which came to him by inheritance he bought
one hundred and twenty-three and one-half
acres of ajoining land near the village, and
having cleared off the timber has placed the
greater part of it under a good state of cul-
tivation, largely increasing its value, which
is now far more than quadruple the fifteen
dollars an acre which he paid for it. ilr. Me-
:\Iullin has here erected a substantial resid-
ence, good barns and outbuildings, and in
addition to raising the cereals common to
this section of the country is extensively
engaged in stock breeding, raising and ship-
ping, making a specialty of buying and sell-
ing horses, cattle and mules. He breeds
and raises fine saddle and driving horses,
and matches roadsters and driving horses,
having an extensive and lucrative business
in this branch of indu.stry. He has bought
and sold several tracts of farming property,
HISTORY OF SOUTHEAST MISSOURI
1105
being successful in his miinerous real-estate
transactions.
ilr. ilcilullin married, November 20,
1900, Sally Allbright, of Bertrand, Missouri,
a daughter of Joseph Allbright, a prominent
farmer and stock-raiser of ilississippi county,
and they are the parents of a bright and
promising son and daughter Vivian and
Marion, besides a son Francis D., who died
at three years of age. Devoting his entire
time to his business interests, Mr. McMullin
has kept out of politics altogether.
Jesse W.ills McCollum, engaged in the
drug business in Dexter, is one of the older
citizens of this locality and has been identified
with its interests in a very prominent manner
since the .year 1853. The ^McCollum family
is indeed one of the best known hereabout.
Jesse W. is a veteran of the Civil war, hav-
ing worn the Confederate graj' for four years
and his experiences during the "Great Con-
flict" were often of truly thrilling interest, it
being the privilege of the editors to incor-
porate some of these in this review,
J. W. ^IcCollum was born in Union Dis-
trict, South Carolina, near Union court
house, September 22, 1832, and thus at the
present time is nearly arrived at the four-
score milestone. At the age of six years be
was taken to western Tennessee by his par-
ents. William and Mary (Hyatt) McCollum,
and in 1853 another removal was made to
Stoddard county, ^Missouri. The father ac-
quired property of an agricultural nature
four miles north of Bloomfield and there lived
until his demise, in 1863, at the age of fifty-
seven years. He bought an improved farm,
to which he added many improvements of his
own and he came to be one of the leading
farmers of the county. He was also a stock
speculator and drove mules and horses to
southern ;Mississippi. He was in sympathy
with the cause of the South, whose institu-
tions he held dear, and he gave four sons to
the Confederate army. He did not engage
in public affairs, giving his whole attention
to his private concerns and the rearing of his
large family. His devoted wife STirvived him
but a short time, her death occurring in 1864.
The ^IcCollum children consisted of the fol-
lowing: Joseph C. residing on a property
two and one-half miles north of Bloomfield;
Jesse "\V. ; Robert C. who was killed while
perfonning his duties as deputy sheriff of
■what was then Green now Clay county.
Arkansas, in 1876, and who was also a mer-
chant and postmaster; James Harvey died at
Trenton, Tennessee, about the j-ear 1901;
Aaron died in a hospital at Montgomery, Ala-
bama, from wounds received during the war;
the four latter were all Confederate soldiers,
Aaron serving in the eastern army and Jesse
"W., Robert C. and James Harvey in the west-
ern army. A sister, Emily, married Colonel
William L. Jeffreys, late of Dexter, Missouri,
and she is now living with a daughter in
Texas. Colonel Jeffrey's is buried at Jackson,
Cape Girardeau county, where he lived at the
outbreak of the war. Marj', the second sister,
died as a j'oung married woman ; and John J.,
makes his home in Western Arkansas.
To speak more fully of the military record
of Jesse W. jMcCollum of this review, he
served as orderly sergeant in Captain Pay-
ton's company organized in northern Mis-
souri, and he was with this company at the
time of the termination of the war. He was
also in detail service and recruited in south-
ern Missouri, assisting in the recruiting of
several companies. He took part in several
raids, being with General Sterling Price, who
commanded the district during the latter part
of the war, on the famous Price raid, and he
was with Marmaduke on a similar expedition.
He was never wounded, but was thrice cap-
tured. He was first taken at Saint Francois-
ville, now Asherville, shortly before his en-
listment. The story of the affair, which pos-
sesses the essentials of humor, is well worth
recounting at this point. Colonel Leeper, a
Union commander, now living at ]Mill Spring,
came with his men to Saint Fraucoisville, now
Asherville, where the subject kept a small
store. The soldiers ate Mr. ilcCollum's
stock of bacon with relish, appropriated what-
ever other edibles they wanted, and fed his
corn to their horses. Colonel Leeper then
demanded his weapons and I\Ir. ilcCollum
produced in order a single barreled shot gun,
a double barreled shot gun, a derringer pistol,
a rifle, and finally a bow and arrow, at which
Beeper's soldiers, who were interested spec-
tators, set up a great shout of laughter. Mr.
McCollum was generously allowed to keep the
latter weapon. The next morning Leeper
ordered him to get his horse, as he
must go with him as a captive to Bloomfield,
and the colonel sent two soldiers with him to
the pasture to catch his horse. ]\Ir. ]McCol-
lum then engaged in a clever and successful
bit of strategy. Taking his bridle and sad-
dle, he told the two men to wait at the bars
and said that he would try to catch the horse
1106
HISTORY OF SOUTHEAST MISSOURI
or would drive it towards them. He knew
well enough that he could catch it anywhere,
and, doing so, he mounted and struck out
through the woods and, eluding his pursuers,
he rode to IMalden, forty miles distant, his
route taking him past the site of his present
store in Dexter. He reported to Colonel
Jeffreys and that commander sent a squad
of eighty men with him to head off Leeper
and his men as they returned from Bloom-
field. Reaching his old home he learned that
the Federals had just passed enroute to
Greenville. So, taking a short cut through
the woods, they came upon Leeper and his
men, who had unsaddled their horses and
were getting supper. The Rebel yell was
raised and the attack was such a surprise that
the Federals scattered, some of them not wait-
ing to bridle their horses. Nine men were
captured, as well as several hoi-ses, at the
crossing of the Mingo river, its bottom being
quicksand and the horses getting fast. Mr.
^McCollum does not deny that this episode
gave him great satisfaction, owing to the
treatment he had received at the hands of
Leeper.
The second capture of Mr. :\IcCollum was
in company with forty-eight Confederates in
Dunklin county. For a time he languished
in jail at Bloomfield, was then taken to Cape
Girardeau by government wagons and then
put aboard a stock boat and sent towards St.
Louis. Meantime a scheme was brewing to
escape and each man had undressed and tied
his clothes to a scantling, intending to throw
it overboard, jump over himself and swim
ashore. As this was about to be consum-
mated, a storm came up and the boat put
ashore. Guards were thrown out and from
that time the prisoners were so watched that
escape was out of the question. They were
finally put into old McDowell 's college prison
in St. Louis. A part were sent on to the
Alton Penitentiary, Illinois, but Mr. ]MeCol-
lum soon observed that those who complained
of their health were not sent to Alton, but
were kept at JIcDowells, and afterwards he
was always sick when such calls were made.
He was finally paroled and returned as far as
Cape Girardeau, but there the Federal com-
mander refused to honor his parole and in-
sisted on his enlisting, or again going back
to St. Louis a prisoner. He asked for a fur-
lough to visit his family, then living north of
Bloomfield, Stoddard county, and he and his
brother-in-law agreed to report on a fixed
date, ten days, the Federal colonel making
the passport or parole to read that if they did
not report as agreed they would be shot where-
ever found. They reported at once to
Colonel Jeffries at ^lalden, who decided to
try to capture these Federals whom they had
learned were soon to be sent out to Bloomfield.
The Confederates gathered quietly in the
woods at the outskirts of Bloomfield. The
Federals had planted cannon a quarter of a
mile west of the court house on the Greenville
road. Colonel Jefferies, who had eighty' Fed-
eral uniforms, had that many of his men don
these, and the}' rode into town and, answering
the questions of the sentries, were permitted
to pass along. Coming to the Federal cannon
the}- took possession of these, and, firing one
as a signal, their companions came pellmell
into the town, and with their own cannon
used against them, the Federals could make
but a short stand, being soon captured.
While ilr. ^McCollum was trying to visit his
family at Four Mile, Colonel Daniel's Wiscon-
sin Regiment came to the village and scoured
the woods to locate him and his comrades. He
rode a fine stallion, which one night slipped
his halter and made for his former stable at
Four Mile. He created quite a commotion in
the Federal camp, but was finally taken in
charge by a Mr. Walker, an old friend of the
subject. jMr. McColliim resolved to secure his
horse and trailed it to within half a mile of
the village, when he saw four soldiers' horses
tied at a farm, where they often went to have
cooking done. Slipping off spurs and revol-
vers, he hid them in the grass and as one of
the soldiers came out of the house, he asked if
he had seen such a hoi-se. The soldier re-
counted "the trouble" in the camp and of
Walker's taking the horse. J. W. who pre-
tended to be working Walker's land, said that
the horse was Walker's and that he needed it
to work his corn, but that he was afraid that if
he went to the village he might be detained.
So he offered to hire the soldiers and his two
comrades to secure the horse for him, and
showed them four one dollar Jlissouri Bonds
of Governor Cave Jackson's issue, which they
gladly accepted, bringing his horse to him.
His nerve won.
At another time as he was stopping at a
friend's a squad of Federal cavalry came
along and stopped to examine the brand on
liis pony. Catching the situation, he asked the
friend's sou for a hoe and both walked to
the gate, he telling the soldier that he was a
farmer, that he had come to borrow the hoe
and that the young man was going with him
, JlecU/cc/x:^
HISTORY OF SOUTHEAST ]\IISSOURI
1107
to plant his corn. Taking it all in all, few
veterans can equal his experience in their
variety and humor. He surrendered at Wits-
burg, Arkansas, April 5, 1865.
At the close of the war Mr. McCollum
opened a saloon at Kitchen's Mill in the
northern part of Stoddard county, in what
was later Carterville, now Leora, where from
ten to fifty wagons stood almost constantly
waiting for their milling. He knew almost
every business man at Cape Girardeau where
he bought his goods. There was but one man
in the community who had any education — the
constable — and J. W. got him at first to read
his bills and add up his accounts. He soon
so realized his own need of education that he
learned of this man to read and cipher and
through his own exertions he since has ac-
quired a liberal education. Major Henry Bed-
ford, who reeentlj' died, was the last survivor
of those who were grown men when J. W. ]\Ic-
Collum was first in Bloomfield. In 1873 Mr.
McCollum came to Dexter and started a saloon
in the old town and he stands today one of
its oldest business men. February 14, 1912,
marked his fifty-ninth j^ear of residence in
Stoddard county. He has always been an
ardent Democrat, but has had little taste for
public life and when defeated by only four
votes for county assessor he grew tired of
polities.
Mr. McCollum was married in 1857 to Vil-
etta Taylor, who was born north of Bloomfield,
the daughter of Isaac Taylor, and they lived
together until August, 1884. On April 5,
1885, he was married to Josie Thorne, a na-
tive of Kentucky, who died May 14, 1910.
There were no children in the first family, but
two sons were born to the second. The elder,
Harry J., is associated in the drug business
with his father, and the younger, Frederick
R., died in young manhood. Mr. ilcCollum
has a host of friends and is one of the rep-
resentative men of the county, his interesting
personality and generous nature remaining
undimmed with the passing of the years. He
is a member of the Church of Christ.
John R. Reddick, of Bloomfield, ]\lissouri,
engaged in the real estate business, has, with-
out doubt, fully as accurate knowledge of
land values and titles in Southeastern Mis-
souri as any person living, his business bring-
ing him in constant contact with land buyers
and sellers, and with titles thereof. A son
of James D. and Polly A. (Groom) Reddick,
he was born February 26, 1851, in Weakley
county, Tennessee. His grandfather, David
Reddick, was a pioneer of ^Missouri, having
located in Dent county in 1837, and there
living until his death, at the age of sixty -five
years. James D. Reddick joined his father
in Dent county about 1854, and spent the
later years of his life at Siloam Springs,
Howell county, Missouri, passing away at the
age of fifty-nine years.
But three years of age when his parents
settled in section 6, township 24, range 6 west,
Watkins township, Dent county, John R. Red-
dick there grew to manhood on the home
farm. He subsequently worked in the Court
House at Salem, the county seat, being deputy
for various countj' officials, and also served as
tax collector, for two terms of two years each,
during the sixteen years that he was em-
ployed in the Court House becoming familiar
with the work of each department and in ad-
dition helping to make a set of abstract books.
In 1S92 Mr. Reddick was called to Bloom-
field, Missouri, to assist in making a set of
abstract books for Stoddard county, being
employed by Buchhannan & Statts. He
afterwards purchased the set of books that
he had made, and kept them up to date, hav-
ing a full record of everything pertaining to
the title and ownership of lands in this part
of the state.
As a land and loan agent ilr. Reddick has
had several extensive transactions. In 1898
he sold to the Charter Oak Land Company
of Lawrence, Kansas, a half township of land,
the ownei-s of which were scattered over the
United States, it taking him eight months to
secure the lands and deeds for the same. He
has sold about twenty-five thousand acres of
land in Stoddard county and has bought and
sold other tracts, and in 1911 had on hand a
deal involving a section of unimproved land
in Stoddard county. There are but two sets
of abstracts in Stoddard county, Mr. Reddick
long owning one. In his loan agencj' he has
handled a quarter of a million dollars with-
in the past three years. He has good prop-
erty of his own, and is interested in mining
propositions in the lead and zinc fields of
Phelps county. Missouri, ilr. John R. Red-
dick on January 18, 1912, sold his abstract
books to Emil Weber, of the firm of E. :\I.
Weber, abstractor. Mr. Reddick now devotes
his entire attention to his large real-estate
trade and interests and to his extensive min-
ing interests in Phelps county, Jlissouri. He
has the honor of being a director of The New-
burg Holding and Developing Company, a
1108
HISTORY OF SOUTHEAST MISSOURI
five million dollar mining corporation, v.ith
offices at 710 Central National Bank Bnild-
ing. St. Louis, ilissouri. This company's
holdings are in Phelps and other counties of
ilissouri.
Politically ilr. Reddick is affiliated with
the Democratic party, but has never been an
aspirant for official honors since coming to
Bloomfield. Fraternally he is a member of
the Independent Order of Odd Fellows, and
has passed all the chairs of his lodge, which
he represented at the Grand Lodge in 1885.
Mr. Reddick married, in Dent county, ]Mis-
souri, America L. Hedrick, and to them four
children have been born, namely: J. Lee,
who has been engaged in business with his
father and is now associated with his succes-
sors; Edith, wife of Roy D. Jones, of Saint
Louis; and Abigail and Ora F., the daugh-
ters and younger son being at home.
Silas Young Babnett. It is a pleasurable
task to record the history of one who by
resolute will, industry and good management
has won success and standing in the world of
business. Such a man is Silas Young Barnett,
owner of much agricultural land in Stoddard
county and one of the leading grocers of the
community, ilr. Barnett is a native of the
state of Tennessee, his birth having occurred
December 8, 1862, on a farm. He attended
school in that state and when a young man,
having heard good reports of the opportunity
in this part of ilissouri, he made a change of
residence. That was in 1882, when he was
about twenty years of age, and his ambition
to improve his fortunes was gratified. He
located first at Maiden, Missouri, where he
remained for three years, working for the Cot-
ton Belt Railway Company, in a clerical capa-
city. While there he was married and went
to Arkansas for the same company, continuing
with them for three j'ears longer. He then
removed to East Prairie, in Mississippi county,
^Missouri, where he resided for a short time.
He returned to the state of Tennessee and
there engaged in the liquor business for five
years and subsequently came to Bernie. where
he was in the same line until 1900. In that
year he embarked in his present field, the
grocery business, and he has prospered from
the first. His business has increased rapidly
and he has invested the money he has made to
excellent advantage in farm land in the sur-
rounding country. He has three farms of
three hundred and eighty acres, all near
Bernie, and he has tenants upon these valuable
properties with the exception of that situated
nearest to town, upon which he makes his own
home.
ilr. Barnett was married in the year 1890,
to iliss Annie ^McCice. who was born and
reared by her grandfather in ilississippi, her
father having died when she was a child.
When about fifteen years of age she removed
with her grandfather, James Stewart, to
Maiden, Dunklin county, and there she and
Mr. Barnett met and were united in matri-
mony. They have one son, Cecil, born in
Obion county, Tennessee, December 8, 1892.
Mr. and IMrs. Barnett also reared a niece of
the former, Mabel Picket, who came to live
with them when nine years of age. Both
she and ]Mr. Barnett 's son attended the Nor-
mal school at Cape Girardeau, ^Missouri, and
the niece taught several years previous to her
marriage to Lee Mitchell. Mr. and Mrs.
ilitchell became the parents of two children,
one of whom is now deceased.
'Slv. Barnett is member and trustee of the
^lethodist church. South. Fraternally he is
affiliated with the Modern Woodmen of
America and the Royal Neighbors of America,
of which latter he has been an official for
several years, being at the present time head
oracle.
The Barnett store is housed in a commodi-
ous building twenty by fifty feet, made of
brick, and an excellent line of groceries is
carried, the most fastidious tastes being
catered to. The greater part of his farming
land, as previously mentioned, is in the hands
of renters.
IMr. Barnett 's father, Lexy Barnett, was
born in Madison county, Tennessee; the
grandfather was a native of North Carolina
and the great grandfather was born in Scot-
land, the origin of the family having been in
the "land o' cakes." The maiden name of
the mother was Eveline Timms. Lexy Bar-
nett, who answered to the double calling of
farmer and school teacher, enlisted in the
Southern army in 1862, the very year of the
son's birth. He was one of the martyrs
of that great conflict, falling in battle, and
his death left fatherless a family of seven
children six of whom were boys, and the
eldest being only about twelve at the time of
this sad event. The grandfather assisted in
their maintenance until the boys were old
enough to work out their own destinies, each
of them, it is scarcely necessar.v to state, be-
ginning the battle at a very early age. The
children of Lexy Barnett are herewith enum-
HISTORY OF SOUTHEAST JIISSOURI
1109
erated. J. H.. of Dexter, ^Missouri, is in the
grocery business, and married Sophia ilat-
thews. J. W. died in 1909. E. H., an em-
ploy of the Frisco Railway, is married and
has one daughter. J. B., a railroad man. died
in the early '90s. ]\lollie. the only sister, died
at the age of eleven years. Will died when
about five 3'ears of age, and Silas Y., of this
sketch, is the youngest in order of birth. The
parents were devout members of the Meth-
odist Episcopal church. Mr. and Mrs. Bar-
nett are generally recognized as useful mem-
bers of society and enjoy the possession of
hosts of friends.
"William C. Caldwell, 'SI. D. The world
instinctively pays deference to the man whose
success has been worthily achieved and whose
prominence is not the less the result of an
irreproachable life than of natural talents and
acquired ability in the field of his chosen
labor. Dr. Caldwell occupies a position of
distinction as a representative of the medical
profession at Essex. Missouri, and the best
evidence of his capability in the line of his
chosen work is the large patronage which is
accorded him. It is a well known fact that a
great percentage of those who enter business
life meet with failure or only a limited meas-
ure of success. This is usually due to one or
more of several causes — superficial prepara-
tion, lack of close application or an unwise
choice in selecting a vocation for which one is
not fitted. The reverse of all this has entered
into the success and prominence which Dr.
Caldwell has gained. His equipment for the
profession has been unusuall.v good and he has
continually extended the scope of his labors
through the added efficiency that comes
through keeping in touch with the marked
advancement that has been made by the mem-
bers of the medical fraternity during the last
decade.
Dr. Caldwell was born in Warwick county,
Indiana, on the 14th of October, 1871. and he
is a son of Ajnos K. and Sarah L. (Dial) Cald-
well, the former deceased and the latter still
living, at the age of sixty-three years. Reared
to the invigorating discipline of the home
farm in the old Hoosier state of the Union,
the early educational discipline of Dr. Cald-
well consisted of such advantages as were af-
forded in the neighboring district schools. As
a youth he attended and was graduated in the
Evansville, Indiana. Commercial College and
alter that event was engaged in keeping books
for a concern in his native state for a number
of years. Eventually- lieeoniiug interested in
the medical profession, he decided upon it as
his vocation and with that object in view he
pursued a course of study in the Hom-
eopathic College of ^Missouri, at St. Louis, in
which excellent institution he was graduated
as a member of the class of 1901. duly receiv-
ing the degree of Doctor of Medicine. Im-
mediately after graduation he located in Stod-
dard county, opening up offices at Essex,
where he has since resided and where he has
gained distinctive prestige as one of the ablest
homeopathists in this section of the state,
Prior to taking up the study of medicine he
had served in the United States Marine Hos-
pital at Cairo, Illinois, and in the Southern
Indiana Insane Asylum at Evansville. He
had one brother who was engaged in teaching
school in Stoddard county, Missouri, for a
number of years and who died in 1900.
Dr. Caldwell has succeeded in building up a
large and representative patronage in Essex
and the surrounding territory and in con-
nection with his life work he is a valued and
appreciative member of the Stoddard County
^ledical Society, the ^Missouri State iledical
Society and the American ^Medical Associa-
tion. He has given most efficient and satis-
factory service as vice-president of the Stod-
dard County iledical Society and is medical
examiner for a number of insurance com-
panies. In 1909 he was appointed by the
state board of health as local registrar of
birth and deaths. In his political convictions
he a stanch advocate of the principles and pol-
icies for which the Republican party stands
sponsor and is at present the township's com-
mitteeman, in which connection he comes in
close touch with all local campaigns. He is
deeply interested in educational matters and
has served for the past three years as a mem-
ber of the local school board. He is an ad-
vocate of the good-roads movement and con-
tributes in generous measure to all matters
projected for the good of the general welfare.
On the 27th of December. 1903. was solem-
nized the marriage of Dr. Caldwell to Miss
Carrie P. Wilson, who is a daughter of the
Rev. Virgil Wilson, a Baptist minister who
officiated in the church of that denomination
at Essex for a period of three years and who
is now in charge of a church at Patton, Mis-
souri. Dr. and ilrs. Caldwell are the fond
parents of three children, whose names are
here entered in respective order of birth. —
Russell D., Reginald C. and Wilma W. In
religious faith [Mrs. Caldwell is a consistent
IMO
HISTORY OP SOUTHEAST MISSOURI
member of the Methodist Episcopal church.
They are prominent and popular factors in
connection with the best social activities of
the communit}'. In fraternal channels the
Doctor is connected with the time-honored
^lasonic order and with the local lodge of the
Independent Order of Odd Fellows. By his
close observance of the unwritten code of
professional ethics Dr. Caldwell commands
the admiration and esteem of his fellow prac-
titioners and of his numerous friends and
associates at Essex.
Pareish Green Wilson. Prominent
among the more respected and influential
citizens of Bloomfield is Parrish Green Wil-
son, who for many j'ears has been active!}'
identified with the promotion of the mercan-
tile and agricultural interests of Stoddard
county, and is now living retired, enjoying a
well-earned leisure. A son of the late Ben-
jamin Wilson, he was born October 8, 1833,
in the northern part of Cape Girardeau
county, twenty-four miles from the Cape.
Born in 1791, in Virginia, Benjamin Wil-
son was taken by his parents to Kentucky
when three years old. In 1810 the parents
came to Missouri, and settled first on the
Saint Francois river, near Indian Ford, about
five miles west of the present site of Puxico,
later improving a farm near Jackson, Cape
Girardeau county, where both his father and
mother spent their last years. Growing to
man's estate in Cape Girardeau county, Ben-
jamin Wilson there married for his first wife
a Miss Johnson, and settled in Perryville,
Perry county, where he kept a hotel for a
number of years. There his wife died, leav-
ing three daughters and one son, John, who
is now living in Texas, a venerable man of
eighty-five j'ears. On March 12, 1912, he
married for his second wife, in Perry county,
in 1828, Virginia Bull, who was born in
North Carolina in 1794, and died in Cape
Girardeau county, Missouri, in 1845, leaving
two children, William B. Wilson, M. D., who
was actively engaged in the practice of med-
icine at Cape Girardeau until his death, and
Parrish Green, the special subject of this
In-ief sketch. Benjamin Wilson was an active
member of the Missionary Baptist church. In
his earlier life he was a Whig, and in later
years was a stanch Democrat. During the
Civil war he sympathized with the South. He
had formerly been a slave owner, but had
given his slaves to his older children prior to
the war, later giving his two younger sons
their eciuivalent in money. He lived to a
i-ipe old age, passing away in 1870, aged
seventj'-nine years. His second wife, who was
a widow when he married her, had two chil-
dren by her first husband, and came with
them and her brother and sister to ]\IissoTiri.
Parrish Green Wilson lived on the home
farm until fifteen j-ears old, when he came to
Bloomfield to live with an uncle, John M.
Johnson, and for a year clerked in his store,
receiving no definite pay. Returning then to
the old home farm, he attended the Arcadia
High school two terms, being under the in-
struction of Professor Farnham. Going then
to Cape Girardeau, Mr. Wilson clerked for a
year in his brother's general store, receiving
twenty dollars a month wages. He subse-
quently read law in Jackson, with Greer W.
Davis, an eminent lawyer, and although ad-
mitted to the bar never practiced his profes-
sion. Forming a partnership, instead, with
his brother, William B. Wilson, he opened a
mercantile establishment at the Cape, and
for four years dealt in drugs and books, mak-
ing some money. During that period, which
was at the time of the Civil war, he was for a
few months a member of the Jackson ililitia.
At the close of the conflict Mr. Wilson estab-
lished a general store at Leora, in the north-
western part of Stoddard county, in a farm-
ing community, and there carried on a pros-
peroixs business until 1880. Coming from
there to Bloomfield, he conducted a drug store
in this city until 1895, when he sold out, hav-
ing been engaged in mercantile pursuits in
Stoddard county for thirty consecutive years.
In the meantime Mr. Wlison had bought
land near the village, owning at one time three
hundred and forty acres, but subsequently
selling about one hundred acres, and devoting
the two hundred and forty acres which he re-
tained to general farming. He has now
rented his valuable farm for a period of five
years, and is living retired at his pleasant
home in Bloomfield.
Politically Mr. Wilson has ever been a lead-
ing member of the Democratic party, and has
filled various public positions. For six years
he was a member of the county court, serving
for four years when there was but one county
judge. He was subsequently elected county
judge of probate, and served faithfully and
ably for sixteen years, retiring from the office
in 1892. He is an old and valued member
of the Baptist church, the Missionary Baptist,
and for mam- years was a member of the An-
cient Free and Accepted Order of Masons, al-
cLa^rCU^^
HISTORY OF SOUTHEAST MISSOURI
1111
though he has allowed his membership to
lapse.
ilr. Wilson has been four times married.
He married, in 1868, Mary Louisa Yeargin,
who died in Bloomfield, ilissouri, in 1888,
leaving six children, namely : Ben, cashier of
the Farmers' Bank at Essex; Will, of Leba-
non, Oregon ; John, a graduate in medicine at
Washington University, in Saint Louis, and
now practicing at Bloomfield; ilaggie, living
with her father ; and Bettie and Nannie, both
of whom died in early womanhood.
Ben Wilson. A man of excellent business
capacity and judgment, and an expert ac-
countant, Ben Wilson, of Essex, is well known
in financial circles as cashier of the Farmers'
Bank, a substantial and prosperous institu-
tion which is well patronized. A native son
of Stoddard county, he was born near Leora
April 3, 1873, and was educated in the public
schools of Bloomfield.
As a young man Mr. Wilson served for
three years as deputy county clerk and re-
corder under Mr. C. A. Moseley, and was
afterwards deputy recorder of deeds under
Asa Norman for an equal length of time.
Entering then the employ of the Graham
Mercantile Company, Mr. Wilson remained
with the firm as salesman until it was re-
moved to Arkansas, a period of four or five
years. Coming then to Essex, he accepted a
position with A. R. Emory, at first serving as
salesman and later as bookkeeper. Going
to Arkansas, ]Mr. Wilson on January 1, 1907,
was made manager and bookkeeper of the
Monette Supply Company, of which ]\Ir. Gra-
ham was owner, the position being one of im-
portance. Owing to the exceedingly limited
edi^eational advantages in that place, Mr.
Wilson returned to Essex with his family,
and was again bookkeeper for Mr. Emory
until assixming his present position with the
Farmer's Bank. This bank has a paid-up
capital of twenty thousand dollars, with a
surplus of four thousand dollars, and de-
posits amounting to sixty thousand five hun-
dred dollars, and has for its officers J. P. La
Rue, president; William J. Hux, vice-pres-
ident; and ilr. Wilson as cashier.
Mr. Wilson married ilary T. Davis, who
was born in Mississippi, but was reared and
educated in Stoddard county, a daughter of
Garah Davis, a typical Southern gentleman.
Four children have been born to Mr. and
Mi's. Wilson, one of whom, Roger Davis Wil-
son, died when but eight years of age. Those
living are as follows: Ben, Paul and Eliza-
beth, ilr. Wilson was a charter member of
Bloomfield Lodge, I. 0. 0. F., and is now a
member of the Essex Lodge of that order.
John P. LaRue. Stoddard county, ilis-
souri, figures as one of the most attractive,
progressive and prosperous divisions of the
state, jxistl.y claiming a high order of citi-
zenship and a spirit of enterprise which is
certain to conserve consecutive development
and marked advancement in the material up-
building of this section. The county has been
and is signally favored in the class of men
who have contribiited to its development
along commercial and agricultural lines, and
in the latter connection the subject of this
review demands recognition, as he has been
actively engaged in farming operations dur-
ing practically his entire life thus far. He
has long been known as a prosperous and en-
terprising agriculturist and one whose busi-
ness methods demonstrate the power of ac-
tivity and honesty in the business world. In
addition to his other interests he is a raiser
and shipper of high-grade stock and he is
also the present able and popular incumbent
of the office of president of the Farmers Bank
of Essex. The splendidly improved farm on
which he resides at present is located in the
vicinity of Frisco.
A native of the fine old Blue Grass state,
John P. LaRue was born in Hardin county,
Kentucky, the date of his nativity being the
25th of December, 1865. He is a son of
Jacob and Rhoda F. (Perry) LaRue, the
former of whom was born in France and the
latter of whom claims Kentucky as the place
of her birth. The father immigrated to the
United States in the year 1829, and his mar-
riage was solemnized in Keutuckj'. whence
removal was made to Missouri in the year
1869, location having been made on a farm
some four miles west of Bloomfield, in Stod-
dard county. Subsequently the family home
was established in Dexter, where ^Ir. LaRue
ran a boarding house for the railroad men
employed on the Cairo branch of the Iron
Mountain Road, for which company he also
worked. In 1874 he again turned his atten-
tion to agricultural pui-suits, removing in
that year to a farm just north of Bloomfield.
Two years later settlement was made on the
Holmes Farm near East Swamp, between
Dexter and Essex. In 1878 the father was
summoned to the life eternal, at the age of
fifty-six years, and he was survived by a
1112
HISTORY OF SOUTHEAST MISSOURI
widow and a family of thirteen children.
James M. the eldest son, died in 1880, leav-
ing John P., of this notice, to assume the re-
sponsibility of the care of the family. The
mother is still living, her home being with
John P. LaRue.
In his youth John P. LaRue received but
very meager educational advantages, the same
consisting of about three months' attendance
in the neighboring district schools. At the
age of fifteen, at the death of his older
brother, he Itecame virtually the head of the
family and on his good judgment depended
largely the maintenance of his younger
brothers and sisters. When twenty-one years
of age he purchased a tract of about forty
acres of land, pajing for the same three dol-
lars per acre. Previously he had been rent-
ing this land and he paid for it out of the
crops. In 1887 he disposed of it for tw'o hun-
dred dollars, which sum he invested in a
farm of one hundred and thirty-three acres,
becoming indebted for six hundred dollars.
This farm was partially improved and after
working it for four or five years Mr. LaRue
sold it for thirty-five hundred dollars, thus
realizing a large profit on his investment.
He continued to barter in land and at one
time owned one hundred and sixty acres of
heavily timbered land in Stoddard county.
He began to clear his tract of woods, haul-
ing logs to Dexter to start a factory. In 1895
he disposed of all his other property and
bought a farm of two hundred and forty
acres of most arable land eligibly located some
six miles south of Essex, paying twenty dol-
lars an acre for it. He resided in the vicin-
ity of Essex from 1903 to 1908 and during
that time was engaged in diversified agri-
culture and in the growing and shipping of
thoroughbred stock. He improved his land
until he had two hundred acres iinder culti-
vation and he erected a fine large barn and
a beautiful, modern residence. In 1909 he
traded some Essex real estate for eighty acres
of land still farther south, which he later
sold. In 1911 he removed from his farm near
Essex to an estate of one hundred and fifty-
three acres near the village of Frisco, where
he is living at the present time. For this
propert.v he paid fifty-seven dollars an acre
but through many improvements of recent
installment he has raised the value to
seventy-five dollars an acre. His old farm is
also valued at seventy-five dollars an acre.
]\Ir. LaRue now devotes most of his time and
attention to the raising of cattle and hogs,
which are sired by thoroughbred males.
While his tenants grow cotton he does not en-
courage it as a crop.
In 1907 I\Ir. LaRue became instrumental in
the organization of the Farmers Bank at Es-
sex, which substantial financial institution is
incorporated under the laws of the state with
a capital stock of two thousand dollars and
which is officered as follows : John P. LaRue,
president; W. J. Hrux. vice-president; and
Ben Wilson, cashier. In his political con-
victions ]\Ir. LaRue accords an uncompromis-
ing allegiance to the principles and policies
for which the Democratic party stands spon-
sor and while he is not particularly ambitious
for the honors or emoluments of public of-
fice he has served with the utmost efficiency
as mayor of the village of Essex. He is
deeply interested in educational affairs and
has been a school director for a number of
.years. In 1903 he started a farmers co-op-
erative telephone company from Essex to the
Vincent school house and while the same be-
came established the farmers failed to keep
it up. However, he has kept up his own line
from Frisco to Essex. I\Ir. LaRue is decid-
edly a loyal and public-spirited citizen and he
has ever done all in his power to advance the
best interests of the county in which he has
so long resided. Inasmuch as his splendid
success in life is the outcome of his own well
directed efforts it is the more gratifying to
contemplate and by reason of his fair and
honorable methods he is well deserving of
distinctive mention in this compilation and of
the unalloyed confidence and esteem of his
fellow men.
In Stoddard county, ilissouri, in the year
1889, was celebrated the marriage of Mr. La-
Rue to Miss Ida Belle Allstun, who is a na-
tive of this section of the state and who is a
daughter of H. B. Allstun, a sketch of whose
career appears on other pages of this work,
so that detailed data at this juncture are not
deemed essential. Mr. and Mrs. LaRue are
the parents of eleven children, whose names
are here entered in respective order of birth,
— Charles B., Alma, Walter, John. Leta, Ora,
Louis, Pansy, Russell, Harry and Herschel,
all of whom remain at the parental home.
Charles B., the oldest son, is farming for him-
self on one of his father's farms and Alma is
the wife of Elijah Langley, a prominent citi-
zen and business man at Essex. In his relig-
ious interests Mr. LaRue is not formally
identified with any church but he attends and
gives his support to the Baptist church, of
HISTORY OF SOUTHEAST MISSOURI
1113
which his wife is a consistent member. In a
fraternal way he is affiliated with the time-
honored ^Masonic order and with the local
lodge of the Independent Order of Odd Fel-
lows.
Elias V. McGREw^ Having lived in Dun-
klin county all his life, a prosperous farmer
and highly esteemed citizen, Elias V. Mc-
Grew is one of the old settlers and is the son
of one who was a pioneer in the best of the
term. Hamilton McGrew, his father, who
was born in Illinois in 1842, was brought to
Dunklin county by his parents in 1845. The
family first lived near Cotton Plant, and then
at Buffalo Island. No school existed in the
county at that time, so his education was
limited. He married Miss Elisa Branum,
who was a native of Dunklin county. Seven
children were born to them, but three sons
and three daughters died, so that Elias V. is
the only remaining representative of the
family. Hamilton ilcGrew was one of the
enterprising early settlers, and he acquired
one hundred and sixty acres of land, forty of
which cost a dollar and a quarter an acre,
and the rest two and a half dollars an acre.
Much of this he cleared himself. He had a
cabin home, and he spent his life as an in-
dustrious and prosperous farmer. His wife
died December 5, 1879, and he passed away
April 17, 1902.
Elias Y. McGrew was born on the farm
where he has spent the rest of his life on
December 29, 1871. He lost his mother when
he was eight j'ears old, and he was reared
on the home farm and attended free school at
Buffalo Island. At the age of eighteen he
married iliss Martha Noonan at Senath. She
was born in Illinois, July 11, 1873.
His father having retired from regular
labor several years before his death, ]\Ir. ilc-
Grew has had the active management of the
home farm for a number of years. Not only
has he done much to improve and develop the
home farm which be got from his father, but
he has increased his holdings until he is now
one of the most extensive land owners in the
vicinity. His possessions consist of five
hundred and eleven acres, about one hundred
and fifty being slough land, two hundred
acres in cultivation and the rest timbered. In
a short time practically all the land will be
cleared. On the home place he has built a
comfortable residence, and he has four houses
for tenants, one being an especially good
dwelling of the kind. He has a large amount
of wire fencing, and all his improvements are
of a substantial character that enhance the
value of the land and contribute to the pro-
gress of the community. His farm is five
miles southwest of Senath, at which town
he does his trading. He also owns a house
and lot in Cardwell.
ilr. McGrew is a member of the Masonic
lodge at Senath, and in politics is a Repub-
lican. He and his wife lost four of their
children in infancy. The family now con-
sists of: James H., born in 1890; William
H., born in 1892 ; Fred L., born in 1896 ; Ed-
ward Y., born in 1900.
B. W. Gkeen. There is no better known
figure in Kennett than that of B. W. Green,
the blacksmith, farmer, saw miller and Bible
student. At either of the above occupations
he is an expert.
He was born in Tennessee, Marshall county,
in 1854, but owing to the condition of things
in the south on account of the Civil war he
received very little schooling. When he was
sixteen years old he moved to Obion county,
Tennessee. For six years he worked at all
sorts of trades, being willing to do anything
to earn an honest living. He then became a
blacksmith in Horn Beak, Obion county,
carrying on his work as a blacksmith at the
farm which he has bought. His blacksmithy
was known all over the county, as he was
considered the best blacksmith of that re-
gion. After staying in Horn Beak for nine
yeai-s he moved into the "bottoms" of the
county, which is the region where the
night riders were famous. In 1901 Mr.
Green came to Missouri and bought four
hundred and twenty-two acres of land, most
of which he still owns. He owned some land
on Two Mile Island, where he started a saw
mill a little later. He has operated this saw
mill irregularly for eight years, for the most
part sawing timber from his own land. He
has one hundred and eighty-five acres of his
land under cultivation and he has put up all
the buildings that are on the place. He once
had the misfortune to have his mill burn
down, but he is not one of the kind who can
be daunted by any mishaps.
In 1874 Mr. Green married Gertrude Wil-
son, of Obion county, Tennessee. Four sons
have been born to the couple, B. J., A. C,
H. T. and C. J., all living on the farm, which
they rent from their father.
I\Ir. Green is a Democrat. While he lived
is Tennessee he was an elder in the Christian
1114
HISTOKY OF SOUTHEAST MISSOURI
elmrch, and has held the same office ever since
he eame to Missouri. He takes the greatest
interest in the work of the church and de-
lights in having discussions on religious sub-
jects. While he was in Tennessee he raised
seven hundred and fifty dollars of the thou-
sand dollars for a church near his place and
now a new church is being built in Kennett,
of which IMr. Green was the main promoter.
He has studied the Bible for thirty-tive years
and is thoroughly well up in the Scriptures.
One of the Scriptural teachings which he has
always carried out in his own life is to do
with all his might anything which he under
took.
James H. HoLL-usfn. A natural mechanic,
J. H. Holland acquired skill in the use of
tools when young and served an old-time ap-
prenticeship at the carpenter's trade, receiv-
ing sixty dollars and his board for his first
year's service, and one hundred and twenty-
five dollars and his board the second year.
He subseciuently worked as a journeyman tor
four years, becoming an expert builder and
joiner.
Mr. Holland also achieved success in the
very exacting work of a pattern maker, as a
young man being employed at the Quincy
Foundrj', in Quinc.y, Illinois, in that capac-
ity. He subsequently spent ten years work-
ing at his trade in Pike and Adams counties,
Illinois, from there coming to [Missouri, which
promised for him a rich field of labor.
Spending two years in Dexter, he erected
many residences in that part of the county,
and also several store buildings, including
among others that occupied by the Miles'
grocery. For the past six years Mr. Holland
has been a resident of Essex, and here he has
erected many of the more important private
and public buildings of this place, and has
also erected many of the county buildings, in
every case giving excellent satisfaction as re-
garcied the artistic and durability of his work.
]Mr. Holland has likewise filled important
contracts in Arkansas, having erected the
Female College at Conway, at a cost of
seventy thousand dollars, and also doing con-
siderable shop work at Pine Bluff.
^Ir. Holland has been twice married, by his
first wife having six children. He subse-
quently married, in Arkansas, Mrs. ]\Iattie
J. (Remington) Bushfield, as a daughter of
Alma Remington, who is engaged in the mil-
linery business at Dexter.
Joseph "W. Morrill, one of Pacific's most
highly respected citizens, is one of the en-
gineers of long standing of the 'Frisco sys-
tem, and for eighteen years has resided in this
place. By the circumstances of birth he is a
Canadian, his eyes having first opened to the
light of day on Morrill Hill in Stanstead
county, Quebec. October, 2, 1860. His father
was David R. Morrill, a farmer and a native
of that count.y, where the grandfather, Isaac
Morrill, located as an emigrant from the
state of New Hampshire. The famil.y traces
its lineage back to England and its remote
American progenitor founded the family in
New England among its pioneers. David R.
Morrill was engaged in pastoral pursuits and
was married in the county of his nativity to
Miss Sarah Roberts, who was his second wife.
By a former marriage there was a son. Estes
H. ilorrill, of Boston, ^Massachusetts. To the
second union were born : Charles E., of Bos-
ton, Massachusetts; ilrs. May Whitcher, of
Chicago ; Frank B., of Stanstead county,
Quebec ; and Joseph W., the subject. The
father and mother passed away where thej^
had made their lives and are remembered as
worthy members of society.
Joseph E. IMorrill was educated in the com-
mon schools of his birthplace and at the age
of eighteen years crossed over the boundary
line to the United States. He found employ-
ment as a wagon driver for an ice company
at Boston and in November, 1879, he made a
step which was to prove of importance in his
life, coming west to [Missouri and entering the
service of the 'Frisco company as a laborer in
their round house at Pacific. Proving faith-
ful and efficient in small things, he was given
more and more to do, and in a year he had
worked himself up to the position of fireman,
and in 1883 he was deemed sufficiently ex-
perienced and trustworthy for the important
position of engineer. He was in the freight
service of the company until February, 1904,
when he was given the Pacific Accommodation
run to St. Louis, and this he still holds.
It was while running as a fireman and
while located at RoUa, [Missouri, that Mr.
Morrill took oi;t his first papers as a citizen
of the United States. He completed that for-
mality in St. Louis, and while he emphasizes
the importance of independence in municipal
affairs, he holds fast to the principles of pro-
tection and votes for the Republican candi-
dates for state and national officials. As he is
known to be a staunch champion of good edu-
HISTORY OP SOUTHEAST MISSOURI
1115
cation, he was selected by his district some
twelve years ago as a member of the school
board of Pacific, and was chosen chairman of
the board in 1911.
On November 18, 1885, Mr. Morrill was
united in marriage to Miss Ida M. Murphy,
a daughter of E. AY. Murphy, of Dixon, Mis-
souri. The issue of their marriage are Eulas
C, J. Raymond. Helen M. and Donald E.,
an interesting quartet of young people who
help to make of the hospitable ]\Iorrill home
a delightful abode.
Having aided as a stockholder in the organ-
ization of the Citizen's Bank of Pacific, Mr.
Morrill was made one of its directors. He is
also a member of the official board of the
Pacific Home Telephone Company. He has
belonged to the Masonic fraternity since 1884,
and for an equal period to the Brotherhood
of Locomotive Engineers. He and his familj-
are affiliated with the Presbyterian church, to
which they give valued support. j\Ir. and
Mrs. Morrill stand high in the confidence and
esteem of the community in which their in-
terests are centered, and are recognized as
valuable members of the communal life of
Pacific.
Davtsey Ryan, M. D. One of the repre-
sentative physicians and surgeons of Bernie,
Missouri, Dr. Dawsey R.yan is well uphold-
ing the prestige of the honored name which
he bears. His professional career excites the
admiration and has won the respect of his
contemporaries, and in a calling in which one
has to gain reputation by merit he has stead-
ily advanced until he is acknowledged as
the superior of most of the members of the
calling in this part of the state, having left
the ranks of the many to stand among the
successful few. Dr. Ryan has been a resi-
dent of Bernie since 1905 and his public-
spirited citizenship has been an important
element in connection with progress and im-
provement in this section of the state.
A native of Galatia, Illinois. Dr. Ryan was
born on the 23d of October. 1881, and he is
a son of Henry X. and Hanna (Jerdon)
Ryan. The mother died at the age of twenty-
seven years. The father was identified with
farming operations during the greater part
of his active career and he and his wife be-
came the parents of three children, of whom
Dawsey of this review was the first in order
of birth. His father is still living on the
old home place, and is now fifty .vears of
age. Dr. Ryan was reared to the invigorat-
ing discipline of the old homestead farm in
Illinois, in the work and management of
which he early began to assist his father.
His preliminarj' educational training consisted
of such advantages as were offered in the
I^ublic schools of his native place and at the
age of nineteen years he became interested
in the study of medicine. With that profes-
sion as his ultimate goal, he entered the Col-
lege of Physicians & Surgeons, at St. Louis',
^Missouri, and in that excellent institution
was graduated as a member of the class of
1904, with the degree of Doctor of iledicine.
He opened offices and entered upon the prac-
tice of his profession at Galatia, his old home
town in Illinois, but desiring a broader field
he came to Southeastern ilissouri in the fol-
lowing year, locating at Bernie, where he has
since resided. His success in this place was
assured from the start and he is now re-
garded as one of the most skilled physicians
and surgeons in Stoddard countj', where he
controls a large and lucrative patronage. In
connection with the work of his profession
he is a valued and appreciative member of
the Southeastern Missouri Medical Society
and in a fraternal way he is affiliated with
the Masonic order, being affiliated with Ber-
nie Lodge, No. 573, Free & Accepted :\Iasons.
In politics he accords an unswerving al-
legiance to the principles and policies pro-
mulgated by the Republican party but his
extensive medical practice prevents an ac-
tive participation in public afi'airs.
At Harrisburg, Illinois, in the year 1904,
Dr. Ryan was united in marriage to Miss
Bertha Baker, who was born and reared in
Illinois and who is a daughter of Henry and
Phoebe (Gahm) Baker. Dr. and Mrs. Ryan
have one child, Lois, whose birth occurred
on the 30th of September, 1905. In relig-
ious faith Mrs. Ryan is a devout member of
the ilethodist church and in a social way
they are popular factors in connection with
the best activities of their home community.
Hugh C. Davidson, M. D. In the profes-
sional annals of Butler county the name of
Dr. Hugh C. Davidson, deceased, is one of
importance, for no one more conscientiousl3'
and helpfully answered the call of the suffer-
ing public. By native ability and training
he was well equipped for his position in the
community, and his memory is one of the
prized heritages of the county. Dr. David-
son was born in Hickman count.y, Tennessee,
in 1832, the son of Rev. David and Theresa
1116
HISTORY OF SOUTHEAST MISSOURI
(Green) Davidson. In ISS-t the father came
to Butler county, Black river township, and
there he continued to reside until a short
time previous to his death, which occurred
in Iron county in 1866. His entire life was
given to the ministry of the Christian
church and he was known as an eloquent
speaker and zealous worker for the cause.
He was the son of Joseph Davidson, a
Scotchman, the county in Tennessee of that
designation having been named in honor of
that stanch citizen and pioneer. He was a
Revolutionary soldier and he died in Hick-
man county, Tennessee, at the age of one
hundred and four years. The mother of
Dr. Davidson was born in Ohio, in 1S06, and
her demise occurred in 1864, two years pre-
vious to that of his father.
Hugh C. Davidson as a youth pursued his
higher studies, such as Latin and Greek,
under private teachers, and at the age of
twenty-one years he began the studj' of med-
icine. He subsequently matriculated in the
Philadelphia iledical College and was grad-
uated with the class of 1866. In 1862, at the
time of the Civil war. he .joined the secret
service and was made provost-marshal for the
sixteenth and seventeenth districts of Mis-
souri, which office he retained until June,
1864, when he again entered upon his
stvidies. As soon as his preparation was
completed he began upon his life work and
engaged in practice until his death on April
25. 1902.
Dr. Davidson was the owner of a fine
farm of five hundred acres in Butler county,
situated near Hendricks, and upon this es-
tate he maintained his home. In addition to
his other interests he was prominent in pol-
itics, and was twice candidate for the state
legislature on the Republican ticket. Sub-
sequent to that he was nominated for eon-
•gress on the Republican ticket.
Dr. Davidson married in 1852 Martha
Ann Higgins, who lived until 1864, leaving
Tiim two young sons, — Alexander "W.. now a
physician of Pine Bluff; and Josephus M., a
physician of Polk's Station, Tennessee. In
1867 he married Eliza S. Stuart, who died
in 1869. their son, Abraham L., being the
only survivor of that Pinion. In 1871 Sarah
Epiey became his wife, and her death oc-
curred in 1878. There were two children of
this marriage, — Henry C. and Viola.
Dr. Davidson found pleasure in his fra-
ternal relations, which extended to the ]Ma-
sons, the Independent Order of Odd Fel-
lows and the Grand Army of the Republic.
Alexander DA\^DSON, M. D. Holding
high position among his professional breth-
ren in Butler county is Dr. Alexander
Davidson. Acute in his perceptions, widely
read in his profession, and skillful in apply-
ing his acciuirements to practical use, his
valiie as a physician and surgeon is of the
highest character. In addition to his pro-
fessional ability he is one of the most admir-
able of citizens, by no means content with
"things as they are," but rver striving for
"things as they might be.' This was es-
pecially apparent during his service as
mayor of the city.
Dr. Davidson is a son of Hugh C. David-
son, was born September 26, 1853. and has
been in constant practice in Poplar Bluff
since Jiily, 1884. He is one of the promi-
nent physicians of the state, and is identi-
fied with the principal organizations, among
them the Missouri State Eclectic Medical
Society, of which he was president for one
year, and is and for several years has been
its treasurer. He is a valued contributor to
medical magazines, being a man of original
research and ideas, and his articles appear
in such well known organs of the profes-
sion as the Eclectic Medical Journal of St.
Louis, the American Medical Journal and
the Gleaner.
In 1889 the community gave evidence of
the confidence and high regard in which it
holds the subject by electing him mayor of
Poplar Bluff and his regime was of the most
progressive and enlightened order. He did
a great service to the city by establishing
sewerage. Water works had alread.v been
secured, but it was Dr. Davidson's honor to
bring about the building of the first sewers.
Also, the Frisco Railroad had trouble in
gaining entry into the city, but through his
influence this difficulty was obviated, and
the location for a depot secured by his coun-
cil. He has also served as county treasurer,
his election to said office ha\'ing occurred in
the fall of 1900 and his tenure of office ex-
tending to 1905. He has for the past four
years served as chairman of the County
Central Committee of the Republican party,
and has been sent as delegate to the various
party conventions. While county treasurer
he induced the count.v court to issue bonds
to take up floating indebtedness to the
amount of thirty thousand dollars.
For the past three yeai-s Dr. Davidson
has been affiliated with the time-honored
Masonic order. He is a member of the Blue
Lodge, chapter and council and is very
,/h^. iL^_:e>..^^^/K
HISTORY OF SOUTHEAST MISSOURI
1117
active iu the two former. He has been for
thirty years a member of the Independent
Order of Odd Fellows, in which he holds the
ofSce of treasurer, and for twenty-four years
he has enjoyed fellowship with the Knights
of Pythias. He is fond of out-of-door life
and finds no small amount of pleasure in
his hunting expeditions.
Dr. Davidson laid the foundations of a
happy marriage when on the 25th day of
October, 1878, he was united with Lizzie C.
Atkins. They are the parents of four liv-
ing children, as follows: Hattie, wife of E.
A. Grant, a timber man of Pennsylvania;
Stella, wife of Perse ]\IcNelley, who is in
the employ of the Dalton Adding Machine
Company, located in Poplar Bluff, ilissouri ;
Clara il., wife of Edward ]\IcXelley. fore-
man of the, Dalton Adding ilachine Com-
pany, of Poplar Bluff; and Allie M., a
school girl. The subject's admirable wife is
active in the affairs of the Baptist church
and is also connected with the Pj-thian Sis-
tei-s.
One of the most honored members of the
bar of Butler county was the late Isaac M.
Davidson, uncle of Dr. A. W. Davidson, who
■was one of the most able and widely known
of Southeastern Missouri attorneys for a
long period of years, included between the
time of his admission to the bar in 1867 and
his demise in 1895. He also engaged in the
real estate business and became one of the
hea\iest taxpayei-s in the county. He was
a native of Hickman county, Tennessee, his
birth having occurred there February 25,
1835. He was a son of David Davidson, a
Christian minister. After securing his edu-
cation Mr. Davidson engaged in teaching
for a time, but, as was the case with the ma-
jority of the young men of his day and gen-
eration, his career was interrupted by the
outbreak of the Cm\ war. Thoroughly in
sympathy with the cause which stood for
the preser^-ation of the Union, he enlisted in
1862 and was made first lieutenant of Com-
pany D, Thirty-first ilissouri Cavalry.
Later he became an enrolling officer.
After the termination of the war between
the states Mr. Davidson began his preparation
for the bar, attacking his Blackstone as he
•would have done a hostile regiment. In
1867 he was admitted to practice and proved
a most able lawyer. In 1872 he was elected
county school commissioner and from 1876
to 1880 he held the office of prosecuting at-
torney. He was married in 1857 to Lucinda
Ross, a native of Kentucky, who died three
years after their union. In 1863 he and
Llary I. Barfield were united, but her de-
mise occurred in 1868. He is survived by
his third wife, whose maiden name was
Mary McCullagh. and who was from Arkan-
sas. He was a Republican in politics; a
consistent member of the Christian church;
and a prominent member of the Grand Ar-
my of the Republic.
Hiram B. Allstun. Widely known as a
prosperous agriculturist of Essex, H. B. All-
stun is numbered among the citizens of good
repute and high standing in Stoddard coun-
ty, where a large part of his active life has
been spent. A native of Kentucky', he was
born January 21. 1864, in Hardin county,
where he was reared and educated. While
yet in his 'teens he began working for wages
as a farm laborer, and later rented land for
two years.
Having made up his mind to make a com-
plete change of residence, ^Ir. Allstun. in
1886, came to Stoddard county, ilissouri, in
search of a favorable location. Locating
four miles south of Essex, he bought two hun-
dred acres of land, paying fifteen hundred
dollars for the tract, or $7.50 an acre. Sev-
enty acres were under cultivation, and the
deal included in addition to the land four
head of mules, considerable other stock and
fifteen hundred bushels of corn, the land and
all amounting to three thousand dollai-s. Of
this sum ]Mr. Allstun had but one hundred
dollars ready to pay, but he borrowed the
remainder from a friend in Sikeston, pay-
ing him ten per cent interest per annum.
He subsequently bought adjoining land, be-
coming owner of a full section of the finest
soil in Southeastern ^Missouri, paying from
$3.50 to $20,00 an acre for it, at the same
time borrowing money at ten per cent inter-
est to pay for the land. ]Mr. Allstun has
never sold any land, and has now five hun-
dred acres under eiiltivation, and in the past
two years has tiled much of it. his farms
being in excellent condition. He has re-
cently purchased forty acres of land just
south of the village of Essex, paying $110.00
cash per acre, it being the highest price that
had then been paid for land in this part of
the state. Here he has a fine little home.
I\Ir. Allstun erected good buildings on his
old farm, the improvements all being of an
excellent character, and as a farmer has
made a specialty of growing corn, wheat,
1118
HISTORY OP SOUTHEAST MISSOURI
hogs and cattle, formerly keeping from one
hundred and fifty to two hundred head of
cattle, which he generally sold from the
range, selling the calves that he raised when
a year old. A good white oak grove formerly
stood upon his land, but he sold much of it
for railroad ties, receiving but little or noth-
ing for his labors in cutting the timber. In
1910 ilr. AUstun's tenant hulled 420 bushels
of clover seed, a profitable crop. When Mr.
Allstun first located near Essex there were
very few good buildings, and neither schools
or churches in this part of the county. He
and his neighbors felt pretty blue at times,
and surely thought that each year would be
the last in ^Missouri, but having stuck per-
sistently to his work he has made good, ac-
cumulating a handsome property.
]\Ir. Allstun has been three times married.
He married first, in Hardin county, Ken-
tucky, Mary Baker, who died in early wo-
manhood, leaving four children, namely:
Belle, wife of John LaRue, of Frisco, Stod-
dard county; May, wife of William Harri-
son, a farmer in Stoddard county ; Thomas, of
Stoddard county ; and Yirgie, wife of John
Lankford, of Essex. He married for his sec-
ond wife ilaria Baker, a sister of his first
wife, and they became the parents of six
children, as follows-. Pearl, wife of Charles
Snyder, of Kennett, Missouri ; Cora, wife of
Charles Swendle, living near Essex; Lulu,
wife of Ed Joseph; Roy, living at home;
Earl, a lad of fifteen years, living at home,
but becoming a practical farmer, already
owning a number of growing calves and pigs ;
and Lora. j\Ir. Allstun married for hi^ third
wife Lulu Harbolt, of Stoddard county. Mis-
souri.
Ch.veles B. Clements. Among the pub-
lic-spirited and progressive men who have
been especially active in advancing the ma-
terial interests of Dexter, Charles B. Clem-
ents now serving as mayor of the city, is wor-
thy of honorable mention. Possessing sound
.iudgment and much executive ability, he is
ever found among the leaders of any pro-
.ieets calculated to benefit the general pub-
lic, and as a dealer in real estate he has been
influential in bringing man}' good settlers
into this part of Stoddard county. A native
of Illinois, he was born January 18, 1865, in
Douglas county, and was educated in the vil-
lage schools.
Learning telegraphy, he was for five years
an operator for the C. H. & D. Railroad
Company at different offices along their line,
and afterwards a resident for twelve years in
the west, two years of this time in Seattle,
Washington, working in the shipping ofQce
of a machinery company. On returning to
Illinois he was engaged in mercantile pur-
suits at Camargo, Douglas county, for a time,
serving also as town clerk while there. Sell-
ing out, Jlr. Clements was operator for a
year and a half on the Cincinnati, Hamilton
& Dayton Railway, with headcjuarters at
Mt. Auburn. Becoming in the meantime in-
terested in real estate in different parts of
the country, his attention was drawn to the
possibilities to be obtained in the develop-
ment of Southeastern ilissouri lands, and in
1905 he came to Stoddard county in search
of a favorable location, and for six mouths
thereafter was associated with the Dexter
Land Compan}^ Embarking then in busi-
ness for himself, ilr. Clements has built up
a fine ti'ade in real estate, and as an insur-
ance agent has been ciuite successful. He has
bought and sold valuable properties, and has
developed a valuable farm 11^4 miles south of
Dexter, on the bottom lands, devoting it to
general farming, including the raising of
clover, and in addition raises Poland China
hogs. He has made improvements of an ex-
cellent character, the large draining ditch
being one of the most important. As a real
estate man Mr. Clements has co-operated
with other wide-awake agents, and through
their influence the country roundabout is
developing and being built up with wonder-
ful rapidity.
Independent in politics, ilr. Clements
served for two years in the city council, and
in April, 1910, was elected mayor of Dexter
for a term of two years. Under his wise
administration many concrete walks have
been laid and the streets improved. Main
street having been gravelled. An effort to
inaugurate a system of water works was
started, but was defeated at a special elec-
tion by fifteen votes cast by the small tax-
payers, ilr. Clements secured Dexter as the
meeting place of the Southeastern Missouri
Cormnercial Men's Association for May, 1911,
a meeting that proved of benefit to the town.
The Municipal Electric Light Plant not prov-
ing successful, it was sold under his admin-
istration, and the city has since received
much better service.
IMr. Clements married in 1898, in Douglas
county, Illinois, Pearl Cole, and they have
three children, namely : Paul, Elizabeth and
HISTORY OF SOUTHEAST MISSOURI
1119
Charles. Fraternally ilr. Clements is a mem-
ber of the Independent Order of Odd Fel-
lows and of the Court of Honor.
Thomas Lyneard Whitehead. Among the
best known and most highly respected of the
citizens of Stoddard county is T. L. White-
head, of Bernie, who is successfully engaged
in the mercantile business, carrying a general
stock, including farming implements, gro-
ceries and dry goods. The name of White-
head has been associated with the historj' of
this locality for as many as 85 years, for it
was early in the nineteenth century that the
subject's father, John Whitehead, a native of
Tennessee, removed from that state to ilis-
souri, he being a young man of about 25 at
that time. The journey was made on a gray
mare, and the wife, -whose maiden name was
Polly Henson, was seated behind him. They
settled on the hills east of Bloomfield, or what
is the present site of Bloomfield, for there
was nothing there at that time but an In-
dian village. They were there about 3 years,
when they removed to what is known as East
Swamp, ten miles southeast of Bloomfield.
They were only the third family to settle in
that section, which was very swampy, the
others being the families of George Eskew
and D. Lunsford. The land was mostl.y tim-
ber land, little cultivating having been done,
and John Whitehead bought his property at
the low government prices. He had in all
240 acres and he brought these to a state of
good improvement, fearing none of the stren-
uous work of the pioneer. He died in 1867,
when about 69 yeai-s of age. He and his
worthy wife and helpmeet were the parents
of the following children : William, de-
ceased : Robert, killed in war as a Confed-
erate soldier; Katherine, Eveline and Nancy,
deceased ; Thomas L. ; Samuel, a farmer near
Bernie; and John, deceased.
Mr. Whitehead was boi'n on February 22,
18-48, about two miles south of Essex. He
had no chance for schooling, for there were
no schools in the locality and what he learned
he absorbed, as some one has said, "by main
force and awkwardness." He lent his shoul-
der to the hard work of pioneer farming,
and enjoyed the wholesome pleasures of the
other young people of the new section. Just
as he was growing into young manhood the
Civil war became a dread reality and times
became harder than ever^ and there was con-
stant anxiety in the family circle, as one
brother was in the Confederate army, and
finally the news came of his death. The
father died shortly after the close of the war
and Mr. Whitehead assisted his mother in
the maintenance of the household until the
year 1874. In that year he went west to
Texas and remained in that country for
three years, farming and engaging in work
of various descriptions. He made little head-
way there, however, and eventually came back
home and for fifteen years farmed on a farm
of his own. He received a part of his father's
estate and he sold his interest previous to
going to the Lone Star state.
About the year 1891 Mr. Whitehead made
a radical change, and taking the money he
had made in agi-iculture he established him-
self in the mercantile business at Bernie. He
was at first alone in his business enterprise,
but three years later he took two other gen-
tlemen into partnership, forming the firm of
W. L. Smith & Company. This is housed in
a large and commodious building and is a
thoroughly up-to-date business and one in
great favor in the county. He also owns an
excellent residence, a seven room structure,
with pretty surroundings.
In the j-ear 1869 Mr. Whitehead married
Martha Gallowaj^, who bore him three chil-
dren, two being deceased, and a daughter,
Marj^, residing in Illinois. The first ilrs.
Whitehead died in 1875. In 1879 he mar-
ried a second time, Bettie Pierce becoming his
wife. She died in 1881, and one child born
to them is also deceased. Mr. Whitehead
married his present wife in the year 1882.
Nancy (Lee) Robinson. She was born in
1861, in Kentucky, and removed to Missouri
with her parents. There is no issue to this
union. Mr. Whitehead belongs to the General
Baptist church and his fraternal afiiliation is
with the Independent Order of Odd Fellows.
Both he and his wife are Rebekahs. He is a
stanch Democrat and has held some minor of-
fices, always with credit to himself. He has
lived in this community all his life and is
greatly liked, both as a citizen and business
man.
To return to the father of Mr. Whitehead,
that gentleman in the early days would haul
his stufE to Cape Girardeau, making about
two trips a year to that point. The distance
was about sixty miles ancl the trip took about
a week. He would return with sugar, molas-
ses and coffee. The mother made all the
clothes for their menfolks and shoes were
made at home. Everj' thing possible was
homemade and even the plows were wooden.
1120
HISTORY OP SOUTHEAST MISSOURI
The log house consisted of two rooms and
there were no stoves, but open fireplaces with
stick and dirt chimneys.
John F. Rice, of Essex, is one of the many
enterprising men extensively engaged in
farming in the rich and productive country
of Southeastern Missouri, who bring to their
calling good business methods and excellent
judgment, and whose labors are crowned with
success. Born in Douglas county, Illinois,
December 27, 1860, he grew to manhood in
the prairie state, being trained in his youth-
ful days to agricultural pursuits.
On migrating to Missouri, Mr. Rice spent
three years in Carroll county, coming from
there to Stoddard county in the spring of
1904. He bought 340 acres of land adjoin-
ing Essex, a small part of which he has since
sold as an addition to Essex, and has now
nearly all of his land under a good state of
culture, operating his home farm himself,
while he has tenants on his other farms. Mr.
Rice paid $55.00 an acre for his farm near-
est town, and about $50.00 an acre for his
other lands. He grows grain, wheat, com,
stock and cotton, the latter yielding excellent
returns, amounting to eight dollars or more
an acre, sometimes netting even as high as
fourteen dollars per acre. He has made im-
provements of value on his farms, which
have already doubled in value, and which
he expects will certainly again double within
the next ten years. Mr. Rice has made a
specialty of breeding draft horses and rais-
ing a good grade of hogs, in both branches of
stock-raising being cpiite successful.
Having realized the benefits to be derived
from drainage and tiling while living in
Douglas county, Illinois, and on the Missouri
river bottoms in Carroll county, Missouri,
Mr. Rice has been in favor of drainage for
Stoddard county from the first. The country
about Essex is of the famous alluvial deposit
of land between the Saint Francois and Mis-
souri rivers, and since its drainage has been
developed into one of the most fruitful re-
gions of this section of the United States.
^Ir. Rice married, in Carroll county, Mis-
souri, Alma Fisher, and into their pleasant
household two children have been born,
namely : Ira S., on the home farm ; and Roy
D.. employed as a clerk in a store at Essex.
Mrs. Rice is a member of the Methodist
church.
Albert Kirkmak. There are so many
would be farmers who grumble because they
have no one to help them get ahead, while as
a matter of fact there are others who have no
one but themselves to depend on and still
manage to get ahead. This has been the ex-
perience of Albert Kirkmau, of Dunklin
county, ^Missouri. He is today a prosperous
farmer and he has only his own industry and
effort to thank for it. He is greatly respected
in the community.
He was born at Chester, Tennessee, on a
farm, January 14, 1882. His parents were
both natives of Tennessee, where thej' still
live, actively engaged in farming.
Albert has very distinct recollections of
the farm where he was born and raised, of
the school which he attended for four or five
months of the .year and of the work on the
farm which he did the rest of the year. When
he was eighteen years old he left his father's
farm, came to Dunklin county and worked
for an uncle on his farm. Then he rented a
farm for a few years, coming to his present
location, five miles south of Kennett, in 1905.
He has greatly improved the fann since he
came here, having practically built the house
all over again. He now owns 80 acres on
which he grows corn and cotton. During the
few years he has been here he has made re-
markable progress.
In 1903 Mr. Kirkman married Ella Craig,
who was born in Dunklin county, Missouri,
September 15, 1885. Two children have been
born to the union, Ernest B., born February
22, 1907, and Helen, born July 17, 1908.
]\Irs. Kirkman 's father, Anderson Craig,
came to Dunklin county about 1878, settling
near what is now known as Grand Prairie,
but at that time the land was covered with
timber. They endured many hardships, the
climate being very hard on them. They suf-
fered with malarial fever, having chills and
fever, soon after they came to Missouri. Mr.
Craig was drawn to serve in the army and
after his departure he never returned. His
wife has been living with her children for
several years, having given up all hopes of
seeing her husband again. Both Mr. and
i\Irs. Craig originally came from Tennessee,
where they lived until they came to Missouri.
Mr. Kirkman is a Republican, anxous for
the party to come out ahead, but he has never
taken any very active part in politics him-
self. Heis a member of the Independent Or-
der of Odd Fellows and of the Woodmen of
the World fraternal lodges at Kennett. He
has found plenty to occupy his time since he
came to Kennett He has been busy improv-
HISTORY OF SOUTHEAST MISSOURI
1121
iug his land and building fences. He has a
farm that is thoroughly up-to-date and one
that gives him a good living. He is most in-
dustrious and has met with success entirely
by his own efforts.
William J. Hux. Beginning life for him-
self with limited means, William J. Hux has
steadily pushed his way onward, step by step,
through the pathway leading to success, and
is now one of the leading general merchants
of Essex, and a prominent farmer and stock-
man, owning large tracts of land in Stoddard
county. Born May 19, 1856, in Halifax,
North Carolina, he obtained the rudiments of
his education in the rude log schoolhouse of
his native district.
On attaining his majority, in 1877, Jlr.
Hux came to Esses. Missouri, to .join his un-
cle, the late J. J. Barnes. Mr. Barnes was a
man of much talent and culture, and when
young taught school in Georgia, South Caro-
lina, Tennessee and Missouri. In 1847 he lo-
cated in Stoddard county, Missouri, becom-
ing a pioneer of Essex, and for awhile taught
in this vicinity. He was active in local af-
fairs, serving as justice of the peace as long
as he would accept the office. Mr. Barnes im-
proved a fai'in south of Essex, and there re-
sided until his death, in February. 1889, be-
ing then 85 years of age, his birth having oc-
curred in North Carolina in 1804.
Willam J. Hux, who had lived with his un-
cle two years, began life for himself in Mis-
souri on' April 28, 1880. He had attended
and taught school from 1879 until 1881, at-
tending school summer terms and teaching
during the winters. In 1882 he began selling
dry goods in Essex. In 1884. having seven
hundred and eighty-seven dollars to invest,
he bought a half acre of land in Essex, and
in 1885 purchased the land on which he is
now located and on which he erected his
present brick, two-story building, which is
eighty by fifty feet, and is the first brick
structure erected in Essex. ^Mr. Hux has
since bought other land of value, owning land
extending along the Iron ^Mountain Railroad
a full mile, one hundred and eighty acres of
his landed property being within the corpo-
ration. He has also added other features of
vast importance, including a cotton gin and
a grist mill. He has title to eight hundred
acres of land lying within seven miles of
Essex, six hundred acres being under culti-
vation and operated as farms by tenants. For
two years Mr. Hux has operated a saw mill
in connection with general farming, making
a specialty in the latter industry of raising
grain and feeding cattle. He is a born
trader and speculator, being one of the keen-
est and most successful business men of Stod-
dard county. He gives his constant atten-
tion to his mercantile affairs, his annual bus-
iness amounting to upwards of one hundred
thousand dollars.
Mr. Hux has a pleasant home on one cor-
ner of his farm, in the heart of the village,
having erected his present fine residence in
1892. He is a Democrat in polities, but has
never been as aspirant for public office, al-
though he is a fighter in local matters, and
ever a stanch supporter of his friends. He
has advocated the drainage project where-
ever there was no great irregularity in assess-
ments if drainage is carried out, but has per-
sistently fought what he has considered in-
justice in the assessment of benefits and dam-
ages. For nine years ilr. Hux was post-
master, being appointed by President Harri-
son to succeed a Republican, receiving the
appointment without solicitation on his part,
having the distinction of being the only Dem-
ocrat in Southeastern ilissouri to be ap-
pointed under a Republican administration.
'Sir. Hux married, ]\Iarch 2, 1884, Fannie
B. Bradford, who was born in Tennessee and
as a child came to Stoddard county, Missouri,
with her father, H. J. Bradford, a farmer,
and her step-mother, in 1874, locating near
Dexter. She was educated for a teacher in
Fredonia, IMissouri, but never taught school,
preferring to become the bride of Mr. Hux.
Mr. and Mrs. Hux have seven children,
namely: Anna, a graduate of Martha Wash-
ington College, at Abingdon, Virginia, is the
wife of Dr. J. P. Brandon, of Essex; Edna,
a graduate of the same college, is the wife of
C. L. Harrison, of Essex; W^illiam J., Jr.,
was graduated from the Emory and ]\Iary
College, in Emory, Virginia, and is now at-
tending the medical department of Vander-
bilt University, in Nashville, Tennessee, be-
ing a member of the class of 1912 ; Naomi, a
graduate of the ilartha Washington College,
odist Episcopal church, which Mr. Hux as-
sisted in organizing, and whose church build-
ing and pai-sonage he practically built. Fra-
ternally he is a member and past master of
Dexter Lodge, No. 532, A. F. & A. M., and
a charter member and past master of Essex
Lodge, No. 278. A. F. & A. M., which he has
represented at the Grand Lodge and at the
State Lodge of Instruction; and of Charles-
1122
HISTORY OF SOUTHEAST MISSOURI
ton Chapter, No. 19, R. A. il. lie is active
in lodge work, and has been influential in
having as many as twent.v children sent to
the Masonic Home, in which he has a diploma
for life membership. ]\Ir. Hiix has proved
himself ever ready to lend a helping hand to
worthy persons, or to any good work, being
of a deeply sympathetic and charitable na-
ture, and animated by the broadest spirit of
humanitarianism.
David ^Marcus Ray, M. D., who is en-
gaged in the practice of medicine and sur-
gery in the vicinity of Bernie, Stoddard
county, Jlissouri, possesses all the requisite
qualities of the successful physician, for,
added to his broad and accurate learning
concerning the principles of his profession,
he has a genial manner and a sunshiny,
hopeful nature which cannot fail to have its
effect upon his patients. His courteous
sympathy as well as his professional skill
have gained him distinctive prestige during
the many years of his residence in South-
eastern ^Missouri. In addition to the work
of his profession Dr. Ray is the owner of a
great deal of valuable farming property in
Stoddard county, his present home being on
an estate of 80 acres eligibly located 31/2
miles distant from Bernie. He owns alto-
gether 240 acres, all improved land.
A native of Tennessee, Dr. Ray was born
in the city of Nashville, on the 1st of April,
1847, and he is a son of Henry and Lamora
K. (Glasgow) Ray, both of whom are now
deceased. The father was born in Bruns-
wick count}' Virginia, and being doubly or-
phaned at the age of twelve years he was
brought at that time by his guardian to Ten-
nessee. As a youth he entered upon an ap-
prenticeship al the carpenter's trade serv-
ing in that capacity for a period of six
years. Thereafter he became overseer on a
gigantic plantation, having the management
of the estate and the numerous slaves for a
period of seventeen years, at the expiration
of which he became a contractor and build-
er at Na.shville. During the latter six years
of his life he resided on a farm near Nash-
ville and his death occurred in the year
1867, aged sixty-seven years, his birth oc-
curring April 4, 1800. His cherished and
devoted wife passed to the life eternal in
the year 1873, aged sixty-seven years.
Dr. Ray passed his boyhood and youth in
the city of Nashville, to whose public schools
he is indebted for his preliminai'y educa-
tional training. As a boy he was appren-
ticed to the distiller's business, but not lik-
ing that work and having set his heart on
tlie medical profession as a boy, he eventu-
ally left the distillery in which he was em-
ployed and began a course of lectures. This
was in the year 1873, and for the ensuing
five years he was variously employed, doing
everything in his power to earn his way
through the Nashville Medical College, in
which he was graduated as a member of the
class of 1878, dul.y receiving his degree of
Doctor of iledicine. Immediately after his
graduation he came to Jlissouri, locating in
Stoddard county, where he rapidly built up
an extensive country practice and where he
has been engaged in the work of his profes-
sion for a period of some thirtj'-three years.
In the early days he was the only doctor in
this section and later one out of ten repre-
sentative physicians and surgeons. This
necessitated his traveling extensively on
horseback in the pioneer days and he cov-
ered the territory between Dexter and
Clarkston, a distance of some twenty miles.
His home being but half a mile from the
country line, he has practiced almost as much
in Dunklin county as in Stoddard and he is
everywhere recognized for his sterling in-
tegrity and unusual skill in the work of his
chosen labor. In the earl.y days the settlers
were scattered and Cotton Hill was then a
mere trading post. In 1888 Dr. Ray set-
tled on his present farm, located three and
a half miles southwest of Bernie, and here
in addition to his large patronage he has de-
voted considerable attention to farming and
stock-raising. His present farm was orig-
inally a swamp but recognizing the tine
quality of the soil in the same the Doctor
purchased a tract of forty acres, paying for
the same a sum of four hundred dollars.
Later he added a tract of eighty acres, at
fifteen hundred dollars, and still later other
tracts, paying all the way from four dollai-s
to twenty-five dollars an acre for his land.
He is now the owner of 240 acres of land
in Stoddard county and the same is devoted
to general farming — cotton, clover and hay.
At one time he was offered as much as one
hundred dollars an acre for his homestead,
Init he refused the offer. The Doctor's prac-
tice is with from one hundred and fifty to
two hundred families and he has always had
all the work he could possibly attend to in
his chosen profession.
In his political convictions Dr. Ray is a
S)A^.^'^
HISTORY OF SOUTHEAST MISSOURI
1123
stanch advocate of the cause of the Demo-
cratic party, and while he takes an active in-
terest in local politics he has never been in-
cumbent of am- public office. He is affili-
ated with a number of professional and fra-
ternal organizations of representative char-
acter and in his religious faith is a devout
member of the Church of Christ, at Bernie,
in the various departments of whose work
he has figured prominently. He is one of
the good old-style doctors, whose very pres-
ence in the sick room does more to cure his
patients than all the medicine ever pre-
scribed. For the past thirty years Dr. Ray
has been a valued and appreciative member
of the time-honored ilasonic order at Ber-
nie.
Dr. Ray has been twice married, his first
union having l)een with Mrs. Isabelle Taylor,
a widow, whose death occurred October 13,
1894. To this union were born four children,
whose names are here entered in respective
order of birth. — Georgia Pearl is the wife of
C. M. Wilkins, of Bernie, and their four chil-
dren are lone, Ray, Guy and Festus; Victor
Hugo is engaged in farming in Stoddard
county; Lamora Amelia, who married Everett
Rice, resides on a portion of her father's farm,
and their onlv child is Laurin Lee Rice ; and
Beulah ]\1., who died in childhood. In 1896
was solemnized the marriage of Dr. Ray to
Miss Letitia D. IMayes, whose birth occurred
in Sumner county. Tennessee, and who is a
daughter of J. D. and Amelia Hadley (Jones)
Mayes, representative citizens, and both of
whom died in 1873, when ]\lrs. Ray was a
child. The father was born in 1820 and the
mother in 1825. Dr. and ]\Irs. Ray are de-
cidedly popular factors in connection with
the best social activities of their home com-
munity, where their beautiful residence is
recognized as a center of refinement and most
gracious hospitality. Dr. Ray is a member
of the Southeastern ]\Iissouri Medical Asso-
ciation, of which he formerly served as
treasurer. He is also a Mason, a Knight of
Pythias and a "Woodman of the World.
John N. iMu^LER. Energetic and enter-
prising, John N. ]\liller occupies a conspicu-
ous position among the foremost citizens of
Dexter, having long been identified with the
development and growth of this part of Stod-
dard county, whether relating to its agricul-
tural, mercantile or financial interests, being
an extensive farmer, a member of two im-
portant mercantile firms, and president of
the Citizens' Bank at Dexter. A son of the
late John C. ililler, he was born December
7, 1851, on a farm lying about five miles west
of Dexter.
John C. Miller grew to manhood in Bol-
linger county, Missouri, and when ready to
begin life on his own account bought land in
Stoddard county, near Dexter, and on the
farm which he improved spent the remainder
of his life, passing away in 1871 when forty-
eight years of age, an honored and respected
citizen. He was prosperous both as a farmer
and a miller, having a gi'ist mill on his farm,
operating it in connection with his agricul-
tural labors. He married Mahala Hodges,
who was born in Tennessee, and died in
Stoddard county, Missouri, a few years after
his death, when seventy-four years old. They
were the parents of eight children, of whom
four were living in 1911, as follows: John
N. ; Sarah, wife of Rufus Culbertson, of
Stoddard county; William, of Dexter, a
farmer and stockman; and George, who is
engaged in farming near Dexter.
Brought up on the home farm, John N.
Miller succeeded to its ownership, and has
been prosperously employed in farming and
stock breeding and raising all of his life, find-
ing both profit and pleasure in his rural oc-
cupations. He has acquired large tracts of
land, at one time owning thirty-two hundred
acres of land in one body, and now, even
though he has given a farm to each of his
children, owns between two thousand and
three thousand acres. He leases a large
part of his land, his home farm lying prin-
cipally on Cranberiy Ridge, although he
owns valuable bottom lands. He devotes
much of his attention to the raising of fine
stock, a branch of industry in which he is
greatly interested and in which he has met
with much success.
In 1872 Mr. Miller first embarked in mer-
cantile pursuits. For four years he oper-
ated a general store alone, and then, in 1876,
admitted to partnership Mr. Ladd, who took
charge of the store, while Mr. Miller gave
his personal attention to his farm and stock.
Subsequently Mr. A. H. Carter, who had
been a clerk in the store for four or five
years, was made a member of the firm, the
name being changed to Miller, Ladd & Com-
pany. In 1896 ^Ir. Ladd retired, and the
firm was continued as Miller & Carter, with
the junior member as manager, until 1909,
when it was incorporated as the Miller-Car-
ter Company, with ]\Ir. Clow as general man-
1124
HISTORY OF SOUTHEAST MISSOURI
ager. This company was capitalized at
twenty thousand dollars, and handles both
dry goods and gi-oceries, having a large
trade, the building in which it is housed be-
ing owned by I\Ir. ^liller.
'Sir. Miller is also senior member of the
firm of ^Miller, Ulen & Carter, which was in-
corporated with a capital of fifteen thousand
dollars, and deals in hardware, agricultural
implements, etc., carriyng on a substantial
business, with William ]M. Ringer as man-
ager. The building in which this store is
located is owned bj' the firm, of which one of
the partners, ^Ir. Sam Ulen, is president.
Mr. ^Miller is likewise in partnership with
Mr. Dan Ulen, of the firm of Miller & Ulen,
who are carrying on an extensive general
mercantile business at ilorehouse, ilissouri.
Mr. Miller has kept out of politics, although
he invariably supports the principles of the
Democratic part.y at the polls. lie is a mem-
ber of the Knights of Pythias fraternity
and ilrs. ]\Iiller is a member of the Presby-
terian church.
Mr. Miller married, in 1872. ]Mary Sitton,
of Stoddard county, a daughter of the late
John Sitton. a well-known farmer, and into
the household thus established five children
have been born, namelv : Dora, wife of Sam
Ulen. of the firm of Miller, Ulen & Carter;
Anna, wife of Arthur "Wilcox, a prominent
farmer ; ilinnie, wife of Dr. Walters, of Dex-
ter ; Charles, a sueces.sful agriculturist ; and
Myrtle, wife of Ned Jones.
"The Citizens' Bank, of which Mr. Miller
is president, was organized in 1903, with a
capital of $30,000. the officers being as fol-
lows: John N. Miller, president; C. M. Hall,
vice-president ; and Asa Norman , cashier.
The institution has a surplus amounting to
$15,000, with assets, in March. 1911, of
$201,893, while its deposits on April 28. 1911,
were $150,089.55.
Abthue R. Emory. Throughout South-
eastern Missouri the name of Emory is syn-
onymous with thrift, entei-prise and pros-
perity, and in the mercantile interests of
Stoddard county, especiall.y, is the name well
known, A. R. Emory, of Essex, being one of
the leading general merchants of his com-
munity, and a prominent business man. He
was born at Sike.ston, Scott county, ^Missouri,
a son of J. B. Emorj', a successful agricul-
turist.
Although he was well trained in the art
and science of agriculture as a boy and youth,
A. R. Emory did not take kindly to farming,
but when ready to begin life for himself
entered a store as clerk. Subsequently com-
ing to Essex in pursuit of employment, he
clerked in the store of Mr. A. J. Mathews
for four or more years. In 1900, in com-
pany with T. S. Heisserer, ilr. Emory bought
out the store established by A. J. Mathews
& Company, and for three years carried on a
good business as senior member of the firm
of Emory & Heisserer. Buying out his part-
ner in 1903. Mr. Emory has since continued
the business alone, each year increasing it in
volume and value. He carries a fine line of
agricultural implements, hardware, saddlery
and harness, buggies and wagons, handles
flour and grains of all kinds, and deals in
cotton and operates a cotton gin. He also
has a large elevator and a large warehouse.
Mr. Emory's main store is a two-story
building, fiftj' by one hundred feet, and con-
tains various departments. His hardware
store is housed in a separate building, thirty
by one hundred and twenty feet, and con-
tains his agricultural implements, harnesses,
vehicles, etc., while his flour and grain house
is forty b.y forty-eight feet in dimensions, and
his warehouse is forty by one hundred and
twenty feet. Mr. Emory carries a stock
valued at $75,000, and does an annual busi-
ness of $175,000 employing twenty -five sales-
men in his difi'erent departments. He
handles about fifteen hundred bales of cotton
each season, at $85.00 per bale, paying out
$127,500 for cotton alone, including the seed,
which is ten dollars per bale. He has an
elevator and shellers for corn, and ships
about sevent.y-five thousand bushels per year,
paying about fort.v cents a bushel for it. or
$30,000. In addition to this Sir. Emory also
handles about fifteen thousand bushels of
oats each season, cow peas, grass seed, etc.,
and likewise ships from twenty-five to thirty
cars of live stock each year. The first year
that ilr. Emory was in business for himself
his transactions amounted to about $10,000. a
sum that has increased each year, his manage-
ment of affairs having been eminently suc-
cessful.
I\lr. Emory married, in 1903, Laura McCol-
gan, a daughter of J. M. McColgan. of Essex,
and they have three children, James, Eloise
and Evelyn. IMr. Emory is also bringing up
a nephew, Fred Emory, a lad of ten years,
the son of one of his brothers.
HISTORY OF SOUTHEAST MISSOURI
1125
Elisha 6. TS'iLLiAMS, general merchant at
Bernie, is one of those enterprising citizens
who contribute in definite mannei-* to the
prosperity of the section in which they re-
side. He is a native of Stoddard county and
the familj' has been identified with this part
of ilissouri since 1S42, when the subject's
father came as a young man to find his for-
tunes in the new country. The father, John
N. Williams, was born in Hopkins county,
Kentuck}-, in 1826, his eyes first opening to
the light of day in a rural community in the
Blue Grass state. He remained at home
until his father's death and then came to
Stoddard county, as mentioned, locating five
miles north of Bernie. He made the journey
across country with an ox team and a two
wheeled cart and crossed the Mississippi river
below Cape Girardeau. He was alreadj' a
married man, at the age, of seventeen j'ears
having been united to a young neighbor girl,
Edie Wiggs. These pluckj^ young "•squat-
ters" took up their home in the woods, John
Williams clearing his land himself. He sold
deer skins and saved money to buj' land, pay-
ing for it the exceedingly low price of twelve
and one-half cents per acre. He prospered
by dint of hard labor and thriftiness and
owned four hundred and twenty acres when
he died, and he had previously given his
eight children forty acres apiece as a start
in life. A part of his estate had cost him as
much as fifteen dollars an acre, the price hav-
ing increased as time went on. The land is
now worth one hundred and twentj'-five dol-
lars per acre. The children born to these
good pioneer citizens were as follows: Rich-
ard, Louisa, Mary Ann, John, Harmon, Eli-
sha, Irvin (who died when an infant), Eve-
line, Elvira and Susan. Of these all are now
deceased with the exception of Elisha. The
first wife died about the year 1874 and
the father subsequently married Serena
Moore, a native of Mississippi. The chil-
dren born to this union were : John and
Charlie, deceased; and Dora, wife of J. A.
Nicholls, residing five miles north of Bernie.
When the father died, in 1899, the farm was
divided among the children. He also sur-
vived his second wife, who died in 1892.
Elisha G. Williams was born November 24,
1860, on his father's farm, and received his
education in the district school. He worked
for his father until the age of sixteen years
and the year following was married to Amma
Wiggs, of Stoddard county. She lived five
miles north of Bernie and was born in Clay
county, Arkansas, May 27, 1864. Her father
died in the Southern army and she came with
her brothers to Missouri, the Ozark Moun-
tains being the scene of her early life. The
marriage of Mr. and Mrs. Williams occurred
on January 17, 1877. Following this event
IMr. Williams farmed part of his father 's land
for three years and he then removed to the
forty acres given to him by his father and
lived upon this for the next ten j'ears. He
sold this at a profit and, to make a long story
short, bought and cultivated and sold again
several fai-ms, gaining financially with each
transaction.
Mr. Williams' first experience as a mer-
chant was as the owner of a little country
store on his father's old farm. This proved
quite a profitable matter, and he continued
engaged thus for eight years. In 1909 he
decided to branch out in a more important
way and came to Bernie, where he established
a general store, carrying a general line of
groceries and clothing. His business is con-
tinually improving and is upon two floors,
the clothing being upon the second floor and
the groceries and other commodities on the
first. It is a building of good size, being
fortj'-four by twenty-six feet in dimensions.
His pleasant residence adjoins the store. Mr.
and Mrs. Williams are the parents of a
family of children. William, the eldest, was
born in 1879, is married and lives in Bernie,
working for his father. His wife was Annie
Woolridge, and of their children none are
living. Etta, born April 4, 1884, is the wife
of A. A. Copper and resides in Dexter, Mis-
souri. She is the mother of two children.
Isabella, born November 28, 1889, is the wife
of Robert Canady, and makes her home in
Bernie. Nolan, born July 1, 1897, Arlie,
born July 3, 1903, and Inez, born ilay 6,
1904, all are attending school at Bernie.
ilr. Williams is a minister of the Gospel
as well as a business man, and has been
pastor of a number of Baptist churches, his
work in this field having taken him to a num-
ber of Southeastern Missouri counties. He
has, in fact, been engaged in this work for
twenty-six years and has much ability as a
preacher and church worker. He has been
interested in and devoted to the cause of the
ilaster ever since a very young boy. Up to
the present time he has baptized one thou-
sand and one persons and has married over
six hundred couples. It is safe to say that
no citizen of the locality is held in greater
confidence and esteem than he.
11:
HISTORY OF SOUTHEAST MISSOURI
'Sir. Williams is a prominent Mason, ex-
emplifying in himself the principles of moral
and social justice and brotherly love for
which the order stands. He is a blaster
Mason and belongs to Bernie Lodge, Xo. 573.
He is also a member of the ^Mystic Workers
and several other lodges, taking much pleas-
ure in his fraternal relations. His political
faith is that of the "Grand Old Party."
Hon. Doc Brydon. Noteworthy for his
public spirit and good citizenship, Hon. Doc
Brydon, editor and proprietor of the Essex
Leader, holds a place of prominence and in-
fluence among the useful and valued residents
of Stoddard county, his activity as a mem-
ber of the State Legislature having been of
benefit to the district which he represented
in the Forty-sixth General Assembly of Mis-
souri. A son of Benjamin F. Brydon, he
was born February 22, 1881, in Hamilton
county, Illinois, but has spent the larger part
of his life in Stoddard county, jMissouri.
A native of Kentucky, Benjamin F. Bry-
don was reared to agricultural pursuits, and
first began his career as a farmer in his na-
tive state, removing to Illinois in 1870.
About 1891 he came with his family to Stod-
dard county, ^Missouri, locating about seven
miles from Bloomfield, near Aid, and there
converted a tract of raw bottom land into a
productive farm, on which he resided until
his death, in 1896, at the age of sixty-four
years. "WHiile living in Illinois he was prom-
inent in public affairs and in religious circles,
and after coming to Stoddard county was a
leading member of the ^lissionary Baptist
church. He was a Democrat in his political
views. He married Emily Oldham, who was
born in Kentucky in 1840, and died on the
home farm in aiissouri in 1892. Of their
ten children, one died in childhood, and nine,
eight sons and one daughter, grew to years
of maturity, all of whom are now, in 1911,
living with the exception of the daughter,
Nancy M., who married Thomas T. Davis
and died at the age of thirty-nine years.
In common with his brothers and sister
Doe Brydon acquired his preliminary edu-
cational training in the district schools, and
after an attendance at the Bloomfield High
School began, at the age of eighteen years, to
teach, and for four years taught in the public
schools of Stoddard county. Locating then
in Puxico, Stoddard county, he bought the
Puxico Ineh.r, and entered the field of jour-
nalism with characteristic enthusiasm, put-
ting his individuality into his work in a
noted degree, editing it successfully for four
years. He became active in local affairs, fill-
ing various public offices, including that of
mayor. Coming to Essex in 1908, ]\Ir. Bry-
don on the first day of ilay established the
Essex Leader, an eight-page, six column, local
newspaper, which he has since conducted,
wiselj' and well, having in connection a job-
bing plant, which is well patronized.
Public duties have also been added to Mr.
Br.ydon's other responsibilities, his fellow-
citizens having elected him to the Lower
House of the State Legislature in 1910. Here
he has served faithfully on various com-
mittees of importance, having been the rank-
ing member of the committee on swamps,
lands levees ; a member of the committee on
public schools and text books; of the state
printing committee ; and of the committee on
eleemosynary institutions. Mr. Brydon also
worked hard to secure the passage of the act
for the maintenance of drainage ditches,
with a ditch commissioner for each county to
see that all ditches are kept clean, the com-
missioners to act under the county court. All
details of the bill were worked out, but did
not become a law on account of a lack of en-
rollment. Mr. Brydon was likewise one of a
sub-committee to draft uniform text book
laws, which will be presented to the Legisla-
ture in its 1912 session. He has been a del-
egate to two Democratic state conventions.
His paper is devoted to the promotion of the
material interests of Southeastern Missouri,
in whose future ]Mr. Brydon has great faith.
Mr. Brydon married. April 6, 1902, Maude
Walker, who was born in Stoddard county,
a daughter of Van W. Walker, also a native
of Stoddard county, [Missouri. He lives in
Castor township, four miles north of Bloom-
field. Two children have blessed the union
of ]\Ir. and i\Irs. Brydon, namely: Blan and
Velva. Fraternally Mr. Brydon belongs to
the Independent Order of Odd Fellows; to
the Modern Woodmen of America; and to
the Mutual Protective League. Religiously
he is a member of the Baptist church, having
never swerved from the faith in which he
was reared.
E. C. ]\IoHRST.\DT. The substantial and in-
fluential citizens of Stoddard county have no
more worthy representative than E. C.
IMohrstadt, president and treasurer of the
Renter Hub and Spoke Company, of Dexter,
and president of the Bank of Dexter, prom-
HISTORY OP SOUTHEAST MISSOURI
1127
inent iudustrial aud financial organizations.
A native of Missouri, he was born March 27,
1863, in Saint Louis, where his boyhood days
were spent.
His father, J. C. Mohrstadt, was born in
Prussia, and as a boy of sixteen years immi-
grated to America, the land of promise. He
served throughout the Civil war, holding a
captain's commission aud serving as quarter-
master much of the time, being stationed at
Helena, Arkansas. He subsequently located
in Saint Louis, where he became manager of
that famous German publication, the Anzei-
ger, continuing in newspaper work the re-
mainder of his life.
Having completed the course of study in
a business college, E. C. Mohrstadt, at the
age of eighteen years, secured a position in a
Saint Louis savings bank, and when it was
merged into a national bank continued with
that institution until it failed. Mr. Mohr-
stadt was then made deputy receiver under
ex-Governor Lon Stevens, for five years hav-
ing charge of the bank's affairs, Mr, Stevens
being state treasurer at Jefferson City. In
1891, when the affairs of the defunct bank
were closed, Mr, ilohrstadt came to Dexter
to assist in the organization of the Bank of
Dexter, and was made its cashier, this being
the first bank established in Stoddard county.
It was capitalized at fifteen thousand dollars,
with Andrew P. Cooper as president. On
the death of Mr. Cooper, who was killed, ]\Ir.
A. A. Jorndt was made president of the in-
stitution, and he was succeeded as president
by Mr. Mohrstadt in 1905.
ilr. IMohrstadt is likewise president of the
Renter Hub and Spoke Company, which was
organized in 1868, at Kaukauna, Wisconsin,
by Peter Reuter, who afterwards removed it
to Rice Lake, Wisconsin, and in 1889 brought
the plant to Dexter, Missouri, incorporating
it for fifty thousand dollars. In 1900 the
plant was sold to Messrs. E. C. and A. C.
Mohrstadt, Mr. E. C. Mohrstadt becoming
president of the company, with A. C. ilohr-
stadt, vice-president, and Charles T, Brace,
secretary. This company has factories at
Dexter. Missouri, and at Marianna and
Batesville, Arkansas, and all are in a flourish-
ing condition. The plant at Dexter, cover-
ing eight acres of ground, has a pay roll
amounting to two thousand five hundred dol-
lars per month, while at ilarianna fifty men
are employed, and at Batesville about forty
men, the company's annual output being one
hundred thousand sets of spokes and one
hundred thousand sets of hubs, the
amounting auuuallj' to a sum ranging from
three hundred thousand dollars to five hun-
dred thousand dollars, ilr, Mohrstadt,
with jMr, A, L. Harty, was also one of the
promoters of the Dexter Ice Plant, which
manufactures and sells ice.
An extensive land owner, ilr. ^Mohrstadt
has one thousand acres of land under culti-
vation in Stoddard county, operated by ten-
ants, with one of whom he is in partnership,
carrj'ing on general farming with excellent
pecuniary results. He likewise has title to
two thousand acres of timber land in Stod-
dard county, and about a thousand acres on
the cut over that is rapidly being converted
into farming properties. He takes much in-
terest in the drainage work, of which he is a
strong advocate. He is not at all active in
politics, although he is a firm adherent of
the Democratic party. Fraternally he is a
Royal Arch Mason and a member of the
Modern Woodmen of America.
Mr. Mohrstadt married, in Chicago, Illi-
nois, Lizzie Brinnond, of that city, and they
have two children, John C. and Ethel B.
Daniel, O'wen Jarvis, the well known mer-
chant of Hematite, has made a substantial
record in Arkansas and [Missouri as a pro-
gressive young stockman and business man.
He is of an old Kentucts- family, his grand-
father, Thornton Jarvis having been born in
Fleming county, Kentuckj-, in 1806, He
spent his early days in Indiana and, having
married, located in Jefferson county, Mis-
souri, about 1836. On coming to that part
of the state he purchased a tract of eighty
acres for one hundred and fifty dollars,
nearly the extent of his earthly possessions,
and by hard labor and thrift, as well as
thorough business practices, made himself
one of the wealthiest men of Southeastern
ilissouri. His operations consisted not only
in farming but in hauling lead by ox-team
from the lead mines to the shipping points
or markets. Grandfather Jarvis was both
prominent in ilasonry and in Democratic pol-
itics, and at his death in 1892 was considered
one of the stalwart citizens of that section of
the state.
Daniel L. Jarvis, born at Jarvis, Missouri,
was the eldest of seven children born to
Thornton and Mary Anne Jarvis, and re-
ceived his education in the common schools
of Jefferson county. ^Missouri, and at Mc-
Kendree College, Lebanon, Illinois. He
1128
HISTORY OP SOUTHEAST MISSOURI
then, for about a .year, assisted Judge J. J.
WilliauLS as probate clerk and studied law.
ilereantile pursuits next occupied his atten-
tion, in association with Cornelius ilarsden,
but after being thus occupied for about two
years he returned to farming in Jefferson
county. At this crisis in his life he married
Miss Rosetta, daughter of William H. Per-
lina Hensley, one of the county's pioneers.
The seyen children of this marriage were
Claude T., Xowell W., Edith (Mrs. Henry
Thatcher), Daniel Owen (sub.iect), Ada F.,
Madge and Clayoma (deceased).
Daniel L. Jarvis became one of the lead-
ing citizens of his part of the state, his chief
business being the conduct of a fine farm of
tive hundred acres deyoted to the raising of
thoroughbred stock. He also conducted a
large general store at Jarvis, where he was
postmaster, a leading Democrat, and an
active member of the Baptist church and of
the Ancient Order of United Workmen and
iModern Woodmen of America, as well as a
strong advocate of temperance. He died in
1899, to the general regret and sorrow, the
widow still residing at Hematite with her
son of this biography.
Daniel Owen Jarvis was born at Jarvis,
^lissouri, ilay 3, 1886. and spent his early
life on his father's farm there. After com-
pleting a common school education he took a
course in a St. Louis business college, and
then followed the cattle and stock business
in Arkansas until 1910. In that year, on ac-
count of ill health, IMr. Jarvis returned to
Missouri and located at Hematite, Jefferson
county, where he purchased the mercantile
establishment of C. T. Bird. As proprietor
of that business he is pushing it along into a
leading establishment of this section of the
state. ;Mr. Jarvis still owns real estate in
Arkansas, but has concluded that Southeast-
ern Missouri is good enough for him. and will
eventually concentrate all his energies and
abilities toward the development of his in-
terests there. In politics he is a firm Dem-
ocrat and is . an enthusiastic f raternalist in
all that concerns the work of the Odd Fellows
and the Jlodern Woodmen of America. He
is unmarried, residing with his mother and
sister.
As to Mr. Jarvis' brothers — Dr. Nowell W.
Jarvis is a physician and surgeon at Bloom-
dale, Ste. Genevieve county, and Claude T.
is a court stenographer in this .judicial cir-
cuit, residing at DeSoto, Jefferson count}'.
David Bruce Deem, probate .judge. Poplar
Bluff, Missouri, dates his identity with south-
eastern ^Missouri back to 1880, when he came
to Butler county, primarily as a hunter.
That winter there were about twenty-five or
thirty bears killed in Butler county, and of
this number Judge Deem, then a young man
of twenty, killed two. It was about twelve
miles south of Poplar Bluff where he scored
this success. He spent that winter and the
next two winters as a hunter in this locality,
and he still takes a keen delight in the hunt,
his gun being his boon companion for a brief
season each year in the earl.v fall and winter,
when he visits Jlississippi and Louisiana. As
recently as 1905 his shot brought down a
bear.
Judge Deem was born and reared on a
farm; rural life has a fascination for him,
and he says it is his desire to spend his last
days on a farm. It was in Greene county,
Indiana, April 14, 1860, that he was born,
only child of Hiram Phillip Deem and wife.
His father, a soldier in the Union army, was
killed in April, 1862, while a member of the
Seventy-first Indiana Volunteer Infantry, at
Richmond, Kentucky. Thus orphaned, young
Deem was reared by his widowed mother. He
attended the common schools, the Normal
school at Spencer, Indiana, and had one term
in the Indiana State University, all before
he was seventeen. From the time he was
seventeen until he was twenty he taught
school in Indiana, and then, as above stated,
he came to Missouri. While spending his
early wintei-s here, as already indicated, in
the summer time he worked on the railroad,
and later was interested in farming. Finally
he bought a farm, which he has cleared and
drained and now has under cultivation.
Politically he has always been a Repub-
lican, and has always taken an active part in
local affairs. In 1894 he was made deputy
sheriff of Butler county, a place he filled for
a period of four years, two years under John
Hogg and two years under John A. Souders.
While acting in this capacity he spent his
leisure time in the study of law, and in due
time was admitted to the bar and has been
engaged in general and probate practice. He
was tirst elected probate judge in 1898, for a
term of four years ; has been re-elected three
successive times, and since January, 1911,
has been on his fourth term. As showing' his
standing and popularity in the county, it
may be stated that when he was first elected
Ard.JSu--'-^
HISTORY OF SOUTHEAST :\riSSOrRI
1129
the county was strongly Democratic. He was
a delegate to numerous Republican county
conventions, and had served as a county com-
missioner.
Mr. Deem was tirst married in 1884, to iliss.
Dora Wilson, who died in 1893. She left
two children, Claude and Roxie, now aged
respectively twentj-two and nineteen years.
In 1897 he married iliss Josephine Flaherty,
of Butler count.v, by whom he has two chil-
dren: Ina. nine years old, and Fanny, six.
l\Irs. Deem is a member of the Christian
church, which, while not a member, the Judge
attends and supports. Fraternally he af-
filiates with the M. W. A., K. of P., I. 0. 0.
F. and F. and A. M., in the last named hav-
ing membership in the Blue Lodge, Chapter
and Council. He is a past noble grand of
the I. 0. 0. F. and past chancellor of the
K. of P.
John Burten Chasteen. The prosperity
of Stoddard county depends in large measure
on its agricultural element, and one of the
representative exponents of the great basic
industry is J. B. Cha.steen, whose well im-
proved and valuable farm is situated about
four miles west of Bloomfield. He is a man
of good citizenship, interested in the progress
of the whole community and doing all in his
power to advance the same. He belongs to a
family which has long lived in this locality
and his birth occurred on the farm ad.joining
the one he now owns, his birthplace being
situated only about half a mile from his
present home. The date of his advent upon
this mundane sphere was July 14, 1849, and
his parents were John and Sarah (White)
Chasteen. both natives of Tennessee, where
they married. They came to Missouri in
1846 and bought property three miles west
of Bloomfield. on the Poplar Bluff road.
There the father remained until his demise,
which occurred in 1863, at his home, his
death being an outcome of the Civil war.
The Federal soldiers had captured him and
taken him to Bloomfield. where he was kept
over night. In the morning he was set free,
but was killed while on the road home, being
shot when half way from town. The deed
was supposed to have been in retaliation for
imagined grievances — "bushwhacking." His
sons-in-law and relatives were in the Confed-
erate army. He left a widow and seven chil-
dren, but one son, N. C, being old enough
to help. N. C. Chasteen is the present
county judge.
John B. was only about fourteen vears
of age at the time of his father's death." The
mother kept her little brood together on the
farm, and this able and courageous woman
died .just about the time the children reached
maturity. Soon after the father's taking
away the older brother married and found
the responsibilities of his own household's
support all he could shoulder. The stock
and feed had been taken by marauders dur-
ing the war and as there was no arguing
with necessity young J. B. found it incum-
bent upon him to take the head of the family.
He had only a one-horned steer for his farm-
ing operations and later, securing a horse, he
worked them separately, doing his cultivat-
ing with the steer, hitched single. When
harvest time came he had a fine crop and
had sufficient extra grain to sell to a retired
old soldier. At the age of eighteen years
Mr. Chasteen took as his wife Martha Jane
Profi'er. daughter of Peter Proifer, of the
same vicinity. Peter Proffer and his brother
iloses were pioneers of the neighborhood and
were well known, the family having come
from Cape Girardeau before 1846, and both
brothers spent the remainder of their lives in
Stoddard county, where ilartha Jane was
born. After the death of his wife Peter
Profi'er spent his last years at the home of
his son-in-law, I\Ir. Chasteen.
J. B. Chasteen. with a capital of nothing
at all at his marriage, set up for housekeep-
ing. From his father's estate he received
forty acres in the woods, and upon this tract
his present home is situated. In those early
days he built a log cabin and began the great
task of clearing his land, and to make an im-
mediate living he worked out by the day. He
had but one horse and worked with him for
eight years, putting fifteen acres into culti-
vation. And after all the work of clearing
he got nothing from the heavy timber. He
lived in the log cabin for ten years, but even-
tuallj- success crowned his well-directed in-
dustry and a fine house took the place of the
cabin, and most of the forty acres were put
into cultivation. In course of time he bought
another forty acres, at six dollars an acre,
paying about half in cash, with the re-
mainder at ten percent interest. He grad-
ually bought other stock, including a yoke of
oxen, and in a comparatively short time had
improved his additional tract and put it into
cultivation. He has in later years added to
his land from time to time until he owns one
hundred and ninety-two acres, his farm be-
1130
HISTORY OP SOUTHEAST MISSOURI
ing one of the best hereabout. His farm is
divided into two parts and has two sets of
buildings. In the breeding of high grade
cattle he has had the greatest success and he
is noted for his registered Berkshire hogs.
His home is a well-built, attractive abode. In
evidence of the success with which he has
labored for the improvement of his holdings
is the fact that the land he bought for six
dollars an acre will now sell for seventy-five.
His own concerns have ever been so engross-
ing that he has had neither time nor inclina-
tion for public office, although he is a lo.yal
Democrat and interested as a voter in public
matters. He built his present home twelve
years ago, this standing on the site of the old
log cabin in which the happy, though hard
early yeai-s were passed.
Mr. and Mrs. Chasteen are the parents of
the following family of children: Edgar, a
farmer, who died in February, 1905 ; Albert,
a merchant, residing at Oklahoma Cit,y ;
Aurilla, wife of Johu Robinson, a merchant
at Aid, ^Missouri ; ^Marzilla, wife of Rev. J.
M. King, pastor of the Methodist Episcopal
church at Alton, Missouri; Jesse, a farmer
engaged in the operation of his father's
farm; Addie, wife of Thomas Evans, a
farmer of this locality; Mary, an invalid
daughter, at home; and Letas, a farmer
located in this neighborhood.
i\Ir. and Mrs. Chasteen are consistent mem-
bers of the Methodist Episcopal church, at-
tending at Lick Creek Chapel. The former
is one of the prominent members and has
served as class leader. He enjoys hunting
and fishing and intercourse with his fellow
men, among whom he enjoys the highest con-
fidence and esteem.
John "W. Gaskin. As a hunter and trap-
per John W. Gaskin, of Hayti, Pemiscot
county, has won far more than local fame,
every year men of prominence in business,
social and political circles coming here to
share in his sports, finding him an expert
guide and an intelligent and agreeable com-
panion on their trips. A native of Illinois,
he was born January 4, 1858, in Harrisburg,
Saline county.
His father, Roy Gaskin, was born in Saline
county, Illinois, March 7, 1833, and died in
Pemiscot county, ^lissouri, August 20, 1910.
He served as a Union soldier in the Civil war,
and later, in 1872, located at Gayoso, the old
count.v seat of Pemiscot county, and for
awhile conducted the ferry at Hay's Land-
ing. He married Emeline Wilford, who was
born in Saline county, Illinois, July 8, 1836,
and died at Island Number Twenty-one in
1873.
Beginning life as a wage-earner when quite
young, John "W. Gaskin was for eleven years
employed in a grocery, afterwards working
for a year in a dry goods establishment and
a year in a saloon. In 1872 he came with his
father to Hay's Landing, two miles from
Gayoso, Jlissouri, and, though but a boy,
carried the mail for his father on horseback.
On June 8, 1873, he moved with his father
to the mouth of the Obion river, and about
1875, in company with his father, he had the
distinction of starting the first horse ferry
across the Mississippi at Riley's Landing,
just south of Cairo. Three years later Mr.
Gaskin opened a ferry at Cottonwood Point,
on the Tennessee side, and remained there
until 1882, in the meantime he and his father
furnishing two thousand dollars worth of pil-
ing for the jetty works at Plum Point, cut-
ting all of the piles themselves.
From 1882 until 1891 Ur. Gaskin lived in
Illinois, being employed as a clerk in either
a grocery or a dry goods establishment. Com-
ing from there to Pemiscot county, he worked
two years for A. J. Dorris, a dry goods mer-
chant at Gayoso. Being a keen sportsman,
especially fond of hunting, Mr. Gaskin gave
up his position with Mr. Dorris and went to
Florida. Buying a sailing vessel, he sailed
to Key "West, thence to the Thousand Islands,
and up through the Miami and Florida
rivers, for seven months being engaged in
shooting cranes for their plumage, which was
worth one hundred and fortj' dollars a pound.
Returning to Pemiscot countj', ilissouri, Mr.
Gaskin walked into Hayti penniless, having
to borrow ten cents to meet his needed ex-
penses. On the small sum of a dime he
opened a saloon, and met with such success
in his subsequent operations that he was soon
out of debt, and built and paid for a house
costing four thousand five hundred dollars.
He has now a yearly income of one thousand
two hundred dollars from his property, and
is in most comfortable circumstances. Mr.
Gaskin still retains his former love of the
chase, and keeps at his kennels eleven deer
dogs, four of which are "cold trailers." and
worth over one hundred dollars apiece. He
also owns thirty acres of land, on which his
hunting outfit is established.
Mr. Gaskin has been twice married. He
married first Sallie Garrison, of Illinois, who
HISTORY OF SOUTHEAST MISSOURI
1131
died in early womanhood. He married for
his second wife, January 4, 1903. Hattie
Hudgins, who was born January 25, 1878,
and thej' have one sou, Wilsie H. Gas-
kin, and au adopted daughter, Ruby J. Gas-
kin. A stanch Democrat in his affiliations,
Jlr. Gaskin is quite influential in political
circles, and in fraternal circles he is a mem-
ber of the Woodmen of the World.
DeWitt Clinton Langley. It is always
pleasing to the biographist or student of
human nature to enter into an analysis of
the character and career of a successful tiller
of the soil. Of the many citizens gaining
their own livelihood, he alone stands pre-emin-
ent as a totally independent factor, in short
"Monarch of all he surveys." His rugged
honesty and sterling worth are the outcome
of a close association with nature and in all
the relations of life he manifests that gener-
ous hospitality and kindly hixman sympathy
which beget comradeship and which cement
to him the friendship of all with whom he
comes in contact. Successfully engaged in
diversified agriculture and the raising of
high-grade stock, Mr. D. C. Langley is de-
cidedly a prominent and popular citizen in
Richland township, Stoddard county, Mis-
souri. He is the owner of some seven hun-
dred acres of most arable land in the vicinity
of Essex, and as a land baron is a man of
marked prominence and influence in this
progressive section of the state.
DeWitt C. Langley was born in Hardin
county, Kentucky, the date of his nativity
being" the 27th of July, 1850. His parents,
whose names were Randall Harrison and
Elizabeth (Calvin) Langley, were likewise
natives of the tine old Blue Grass state, the
founder of the family in Kentucky having
been the grandfather of him to whom this
sketch is dedicated, he having been a native
of Maryland. The father was identified with
the great basic industry of agriculture dur-
ing the major portion of his active career
and while he died in ilissouri, at the home
of his son DeWitt C, he passed practically
his entire life in Kentucky. He was sum-
moned to eternal rest February 17, in the
year 1902, aged eighty-two years, and his
cherished and devoted wife passed away in
1870, aged thirty-eight years. Mr. Langley,
of this notice, was reared to the age of twen-
ty-one years on his father's farm, in the
work and management of which he early be-
came an important factor. In 1871 he
traveled through Kansas, Nebraska and Cali-
fornia, looking for a good place to locate, and
finally he established his home in South-
eastern Missouri. This was in 1879 and for
the ensuing sixteen years he farmed on
rented ground. He purchased his present
farm in 1885, which then consisted of three
hundred and twenty acres, for fifteen hun-
dred dollars locating on the same in 1895.
With the passage of time he has continued
to add to his original acreage until he is now
the owner of an estate of seven hundred
acres. He purchased eighty acres, at five
dollars an acre, forty acres at three dollars
and a half an acre, sixty at three and a half
dollars, this making five hundred acres. In
1909 he bought one hundred and twenty-five
acres, for which he paid fifty dollars an acre,
and in 1910 he paid one hundred and fifty
dollars an acre for a tract of fifteen acres, the
latter being located in the close vicinity of
Essex. His present home farm consists of
five hundred and sixty acres and it is eligibly
located some two miles south of Essex. Since
then he has bought property at Frisco, con-
sisting of a residence, blacksmith shop and
restaurant. Wlien he first settled on this
estate two hundred acres were cleared; now
it is all fenced and nearly all under cultiva-
tion. He grows corn, wheat and cotton, the
last crop being one of four or five years' cul-
tivation and covering a tract of sixty or
seventy acres. Cotton is gi'own largely by
his tenants on shares and it has proved to be
a most profitable crop, showing up from five
to eight dollars per acre. In addition to
general farming he has also been deeply in-
terested in the raising of thoroughbred stock,
doing all in his power to introduce and en-
courage the best breeds. Mr. Langley was
the first man to secure a petition for a good
drainage sj^stem in this section and the result
of this move has been to practically double
the cultivable acreage in Southern Missouri.
He has some five or six sets of modern and
well equipped buildings on his farm and to-
gether with his sons runs the entire place.
When he first made his home here the roads
were simply blocked out. Now they are in
fine shape and the general atmosphere of
thrift which pervades this place is amply in-
dicative of the ability of the practical and
industrious owner. Clover has proved a
valuable crop on some of his land and cow
peas have also been found profitable.
In the year 1871, in Hardin county, Ken-
tucky, was solemnized the marriage of Mr.
HISTORY OF SOUTHEAST MISSOURI
Langley to :\Iiss Ellie F. Thurston, who was
born and reared in Hardin county. Mr. and
Mrs. Langley have two children of their own
and one adopted son. Randall Greenfield,
whose birth occurred on the 19th of May,
1873, married Miss Sarah Taylor and he
operates a portion of his father"'s fine estate.
Emory Lambert is a railroad conductor at
Cristobal, Panama, being in the employ of
the Panama Railroad Company. He passed
seven years in the Philippines," was in China
for two years and has visited nearly all the
big countries in the world. Eli.jah" Langley
was reared by ilr. and ilrs. Langley from
four years of age, was reared with the same
care and tenderness as the Langley bo.ys, and
he is now engaged in operating his farm of
eighty acres just southwest of Frisco. He
married Alma LaRue and they have one son,
John William Clinton Langley, an infant.
While ilr. Langley has never participated
actively in local politics in this section he is
a stanch supporter of the cause of the Dem-
ocratic party in his political afiSliations and
has ever shown a keen interest in all matters
projected for progress and improvement. He
has given generously of his aid and influence
in support of all measures affecting the gen-
eral welfare and as a citizen has ever been
decidedly loyal and public spirited. He is
connected with a number of fraternal and
social oi-ganizations of representative char-
acter and while he is not formally connected
with any religious denomination his ex-
emplary life is the best indication of his in-
nate kindliness of spirit, which prompts him
to extend a helping hand to all less fortu-
nately situated in the way of worldly goods
than himself. Broad-minded and affable, he
is universally honored and esteemed by his
fellow men and through industry and" well
applied effort he has succeeded in "carving out
a splendid success for himself.
J. R. Robertson. The little town of Aid,
Stoddard county, ^Missouri, has as the pro-
prietor of its general store the enterprising
citizen whose name introduces this sketch —
J. R. Robertson.
Although a native of Georgia, where he
was born in Cobb county June 11, 1870, :Mr.
Robertson has been a resident of Jlissouri
since his boyhood, when he came here with
his parents in 1883. An uncle of :\Ir. Robert-
son had previously made settlement' in Stod-
dard county. Arrived here, the Robertson
family took up their residence about five
miles southwest of Bloomfield. Subsequently
the father bought a place in this vicinity, on
which he lived four years, at the end of that
time selling it and buying a farm three-quar-
ters of a mile north of his first purchase.
Here he lived until his death, in November,
1910. He farmed and also worked at his
trade, that of carpenter and builder, and was
fairly successful. He was in the Southern
army all through the Civil war, as a member
of the Eighteenth Georgia Regiment, and at
the time of the surrender was in the East.
He was in many of the most important bat-
tles of the war, and five times was wounded.
In his later yeai-s these old wounds caused
him great suffering. He took an active part
in local politics, and. religiously, was identi-
fied with the Missionary Baptist church. In
his family are a son and two daughters,
namely : J. R., Eliza and Sallie. His widow
is now living alone on the home place.
In his youthful days Mr. J. R. Robertson
had no educational advantages beyond those
of the common schools, first in Georgia and
later in ^Missouri, and some of the school
houses in which he conned his lessons were
built of logs and had puncheon seats. He
assisted in the farm work when not attend-
ing school, and continued to work for his
father until he was twentj'-two years old.
Then he married, went in debt for forty
acres of land, and went to work to pay for
his propert}', which he accomplished in two
years' time. Then he sold out and bought
another forty-acre tract, which subsequently
he also sold. After this he went to work in
a general store in Bloomfield, where he re-
mained three years and gained a good busi-
ness experience. Next we find him in Avert,
with a store of his own, a small one, how-
ever, but one in which he did a good business.
From there he went to Puxico, where with
two others he formed a corporation, the Pux-
ico Mercantile Company, with which he was
connected eighteen months, at the end of
which time he sold out at an advantage. The
next eighteen months he was at Asherville,
where he opened up a stock of goods valued
at three thousand two hundred dollars and
carried on a successful business. Since Sep-
tember, 1910, he has had a general store at
Aid, where he handles a full line of dry
goods, groceries, medicines, shoes, etc., and
is agent for the International Harvesting
Company. His store room here is fifty by
HISTORY OF SOUTHEAST MISSOURI
1133
tliirty feet in dimensions, with side room,
sixteen by fifty feet, the whole lieing two
stories.
On February 18, 1892. J. R, Robertson and
Arila Chasteen, daughter of J. B. Chasteen,
were united in marriage, and their home has
been blessed in the birth of sons and daugh-
ters as follows: Lilly May, Dan B.. Jessie
R.. Lena. Paul and William, all of whom are
still at home excepting the eldest daughter.
AVhile he has never been active in politics.
]\Ir. Robertson has affiliated with the Dem-
ocratic party ever since lie has been a voter.
Both he and his wife are members of the
Methodist Episcopal church, South, and he
is identified, fraternally, with I. 0. 0. F.. the
M. W. of A., the Mutual Protective League,
and the Royal Neighbors, ilrs. Robertson
also being a member of the last named. Royal
Neighbors.
J. W. VanGilder. Practical industry,
wisely and vigorously applied, never fails of
success; it carries a man onward and up-
ward, brings out his individual character
and acts as a powerful stimulus on the ef-
forts of others. The greatest results in life
are usually attained by simple means, imply-
ing the exercise of the ordinary qualities of
eommon sense and perseverance. The every
day life with its cares, necessities and duties,
affords ample opportunities for accjuiring
experience of the best kind, and its most
beaten paths provide a true worker with
abundant scope for effort and self-improve-
ment. In the legitimate channels of sim-
ple and everyday industry, J. W. VanGil-
der has won the success which always crowns
well directed labor, and sound judgment and
untiring perseverance, and at the same time
he has concerned himself with public affairs
in a loyal and public-spirited way.
ilr. VanGilder is a native son of Bollin-
ger county, where his birth occurred in
1873. He is the son of J. F. and ]Mary Anne
VanGilder, both likewise natives of ^Missouri.
He was reared upon the farm and spent his
boyhood and youth engaged in those mani-
fold tasks which fall to the lot of the farm-
er's son. He remained beneath the parental
roof until 1900. when he gained a more in-
dependent footing by renting a farm of
over one hundred acres and farming this for
two years. He was successful in his farming
endeavors, but subsequently abandoned farm-
ing on a large scale and bought seven acres
in the town of Laflin, ^Missouri. He still
farms in a small way, and is engaged in a
trio of other occupations, owning a black-
smith shop, farming and running a livery
stable, not to mention affording a pleasant
hostelry for the guest passing through Laflin,
the VanGilder hospitality being Avell-known
and his hotel being well conducted.
Mr. VanGilder was married in 1903, Miss
Docia Hartle, daughter of Sarah Hartle, na-
tives of Missouri, becoming his wife. She
died in 1907, much regretted in the com-
munity and survived by a little daughter.
Pearl, born in 1905. Mr. VanGilder married
for his second wife Laura Winters, daugh-
ter of Benjamin and Sarah Winters, also of
^Missouri. Mr. VanGilder is Democratic in
politics and stands ever ready to give his
support to all measures likely to result in
benefit to the community as a whole.
James Booth. It is quite fitting that in
a work of this nature, devoted to representa-
tive and helpful members of societj\ should
be incorporated a review of the life of that
gifted lawyer and citizen, James Booth, a
prominent member of the bar of Franklin
county, who has i^assed his life in Pacific.
In addition to his professional activities he
is one of the standard-bearers of the Demo-
cratic party and has ever proved willing to
do anything fair and legitimate for the good
of the cause to which he is so loyal. He re-
sides in the county in which his birth oc-
curred August 1, 1864, and in which his
father, Dr. R. W. Booth, located as a pio-
neer man.y years previous to the Civil war.
He is one of the native sons and life-long
residents of the section and his loyalty is of
the most pronounced and definite type.
Dr. Richard W. Booth, father of the im-
mediate subject of this biographical record,
was born at Lynchburg, Virginia, and left
the old Dominion to come to ^Missouri in
1844, a score of years prior to the birth of
his son. He prepared himself for the
practice of medicine at McDowell Medical
College in St. Louis and was identified with
the profession according to the Regular
school until late in life. He was well-known
during his life-time and is now well remem-
bered as the kindly friend and doctor of
hundreds of families. He was a participant
in the military strife between the states at
the time of the Civil war, and for a time
previous to the termination of hostilities he
served as an officer on the staff of General
Price. He was a stalwart Democrat in pol-
1134
HISTORY OF SOUTHEAST MISSOURI
ities and served as one of the early tax col-
lectors of Franklin county. He died Au-
gust 17, 1891, at the age of seventy-two
years. Dr. Booth married Lucy Ann Ellott,
also the scion of a Virginia famity, and her
demise occurred nearly twenty years pre-
vious to his own, in 1873. The children of
their union were: ]Mary. wife of G. W.
Smith, of Akron, Ohio; Annie, who passed
away single; Miss Lucy, of Pacific, ilissouri;
Richard T., who is land and tax commissioner
of the Frisco Railway Company; Dr. H. A.,
of Pacific ; Susie, who died unmarried ; and
James, of this sketch.
James Booth passed the roseate days of
boyhood and youth in the community of his
birth and gained his first draught at the
"Pierian spring" in the country schools of
the count.y. Subsequently he matriculated
in Central College at Fayette, and attended
that institution for two years. At a very
early age he became imbued with the ambi-
tion to be a lawyer, and at the age of seven-
teen yeai-s took up the study of law alone,
and made no inconsiderable progress in his
independent study. Later he became a stu-
dent in the law department of the state
university of Missouri, at Columbia, and re-
ceived his degree in March, 1887. Well
eqr.ipped for the actual work of his profes-
sion both by diligent study and natural abil-
ity, he located at Union, Missouri, and after
a year removed to Pacific, where his career
has been of the most successful character
and where he has won personal distinction,
while at the same time contributing to the
professional prestige of the county. He has
demonstrated his prowess in both the crim-
inal and civil branches of the law and on the
occasion of the trials of the noted criminals,
Collins and Rudolph, he was special counsel
for the prosecution which secured their con-
viction of a capital crime.
As mentioned previously, Mr. Booth is a
prominent Democrat and his activities have
extended to participation in the important
work of his party in county and judicial con-
ventions and in state meetings for the pur-
pose of naming candidates for office. In
1908 he was the delegate from the Ninth
Congressional district of ]\Iissouri to the Na-
tional Democratic convention at Denver and
took part in the nomination of j\Ir. Bryan
for the presidency. He served upon the
congressional committee of the Ninth district
for some fifteen years and has, therefore.
been closely connected with many of the
campaigns of Hon. Champ Clark for Con-
gress. He possesses a convincing eloquence
and has made political speeches in local cam-
paigns for twenty years.
As a business man Mr. Booth has joined
some of his townsmen in one of the chief
financial concerns of Pacific. He is one of
the promoters of the Citizens Bank and is a
director and president of this popular and
substantial monetary institution. The bank,
which is two years old, is capitalized at fif-
teen thousand dollars and is meeting the
friendly cooperation of a wide circle of the
population tributary to Pacific.
ilr. Booth was married in Franklin coun-
ty, November -4, 1891, his chosen lady l)eing
Helen Smith, daughter of Benjamin Smith,
one of the old engineers of the Frisco Rail-
road Company and a settler from Connecti-
cut. The two young daughters of their
charming and hospitable household are Ag-
nes and Virginia.
Mr. Booth is a prominent Mason, and is
eligible to the white-plumed helmet of the
Knight Templar. He has also sat in Grand
Lodge of the Blue Lodge. Another pleasant
fraternal affiliation is with the Knights of
Pj'thias.
WiLLi.vM H. Crutchfield. At this junc-
ture in a volume devoted to the careers of
representative citizens of Southeastern Mis-
souri it is a pleasure to insert a brief history
of William H. Crutchfield, who has ever been
on the alert to forward all measures and en-
terprises projected for the good of the gen-
eral welfare and who has devoted the greater
portion of his time and attention thus far
to diversified agriculture and stock-raising.
He is the owner of some two hundred acres
of finely improved land, eligibly located three
miles southwest of Bernie, and he has resided
in this section of the state continuously since
1868.
A native of Williamson county, Illinois,
William H. Crutchfield was born on the 17th
of August, 1864, and he is a son of Joshua A.
and Izelia (DeHart) Crutchfield. The
father was born in Indiana and the mother
was a native of Kentuckj', and both of them
are now deceased, the former having died in
1879 and the latter in 1883. The Crutch-
field family removed from Illinois to Missouri
in the year 1868 and after renting a farm for
a short time Jlr. Joshua A. Crutchfield pur-
chased the improvements on a tract of forty
acres of land, with a tract of twelve acres im-
HISTORY OF SOUTHEAST MISSOURI
1135
proved. He did not live long enough to
achieve a very great success in farming, but
passed away in 1879, at the age of sixty-nine
years. He was survived by a widow and
three children, of whom Nancy is the wife of
Lewis Slunkey, of Kennett, Jlissouri; Wil-
liam H. is the immediate subject of this re-
view; and Dona married Amos Ashby but
died in early life. The mother, who survived
her husband by four years, passed to the
life eternal in 1883.
William H. Crutchfield was a child of but
four years of age at the time of his parents'
removal to Missouri, and when his father died
he had just reached his fourteenth j^ear. He
cared for the family to the best of his ability
imtil his mother, too, was called away and
thereafter he resided in the home of his
brother-in-law. Mr. Ashby, for a time. When
he had reached his legal majority in 1885,
he married and he and his wife began to farm
on a rented tract of twelve acres, with a two-
year old colt. In 1886 he bought forty acres
of land three miles southwest of where Ber-
nie is now located, this tract forming the
nucleus of his present tine estate. He paid
three dollars an acre for this land, and his
first payment consisted of twenty dollars. In
the next autumn he purchased another tract
of forty acres, at the same price, and in 1897
bought twenty acres at twenty dollars an
acre. In 1899 he bought an additional
twent.v acres for $375, making a farm of one
hundred and twenty acres, all in one tract.
In 1902 Mr. Crutchfield bought eighty acres
of land five miles southwest of Bernie, on
which he has erected good buildings, making
that estate worth sixty dollars per acre. On
the home farm he erected a fine house and
barn in 1905 and that property is now reck-
oned at seventy-five dollars and more per
acre. He is a man of practical, industrious
habits and has been decidedly successful as a
farmer. He raises good graded stock and his
fine crops include cotton, wheat, corn, peas,
hay, etc.
^Ir. Crutchfield has been thrice married,
his first union having been to iliss Addie
Nations, a native of Missouri and a daughter
of George and Callie (Herron) Nations. This
marriage was solemnized in 1885 and Mrs.
Crutchfield died on the 11th of :\Iay. 1898.
at the age of twenty-nine years. This union
was prolific of six children, as follows : Carrie
May is the wife of Charles ilayes. of Liberty
township. Stoddard count.v; Effie Ionia
is the wife of Will Craft and thev reside in
the same township ; Dollie Belle married Sam
McMillan, of the same locality ; and Cecil
Nations, Ira Cletes and Grace Myrtle, all
remain at the paternal home. On the 2nd of
July, 1908, Mr. Crutchfield wedded Mrs.
Margaret Ganu. nee Shoemaker, who was
born and reared in Stoddard county. She
had one child, of her first marriage, Thomas
Bedford Gann.
In politics Mr. Crutchfield maintains an in-
dependent attitute and in a fraternal way he
is affiliated with the time-honored Masonic
order, the Woodmen of the World and the
Modern Woodmen of America. He is a man
of high principle and generous impulses and
as a citizen and farmer is accorded the un-
alloyed confidence and esteem of his fellow
men.
John H. Rauls. The material prosperity
which has surrounded Mr. Rauls ajid family
with comforts and all the essential things of
the world is the result of his own efforts.
When he and his wife were married they be-
gan with very small means, and in subse-
quent 3'ears have relied on their own strength
and business management in order to get
ahead, and have accomplished a success that
is most satisfying to themselves.
John H. Rauls was born in Bollinger coun-
ty. August 21, 1873. About the close of the
war his parents had moved from Tennessee
to that county, and in 1880 settled in Dun-
klin countj', near Hornersville. This vicin-
ity during his boyhood was without rail-
roads and the school that he depended on for
his education was the old type of subscrip-
tion school. He lived at home until he was
eighteen, then for two years worked on
neighboring farms, and at the age of twenty
was married to Miss ]\Iittie Eavason. She
was born in ^Mississippi, in 1874, a daughter
of Thomas and Minnie Eavason, and came to
Dunklin county with her parents when she
was sixteen years old.
After their marriage they rented a farm
and began the slow and steady progress to
prosperity. Later they bought forty acres
across the line in Arkansas, sold this at a
profit, and next bought forty acres near Hor- '
nersville. There they lived four years, and
on January 1. 1905, bought their present
farm of eighty acres a quarter of a mile
north of Hornersville. It was partly im-
proved and has twenty acres of timber. In
the six years that have passed Mr. Rauls
has cleared off and brought the entire farm
1136
HISTORY OF SOUTHEAST MISSOURI
under cultivation, and raises large crops of
cotton and other products. He has a com-
fortable house, and in place of a barn that
was burned he has put up a commodious
barn for his stock and crops.
Fraternally :Mr. Rauls affiliates with the
Independent Order of Odd Fellows and
Woodmen of the AVorhl at Hornersville and
the order of Elks at Paragould. Arkansas.
In politics he is a Democrat. Three children
have been born to himself and wife, two of
them being deceased, and their living daugh-
ter, Birdie, was born August 28, 1895.
J. A. Bailey. A man is judged by his
friends and acquaintances by what he has
done. In the old country people want to
know who and what a man's father was, but
in America it is the man himself who has to
bring things to pass if he would ever amount
to anything in the eyes of others or in his
own opinion. He must either make money
or fame. J. A. Bailey, now retired and liv-
ing in Kennett. has made both. Since he
first started out in life he has accomplished
a great deal and is now widely known and
respected in the county.
J. k. Bailey was born in Dyer county,
Tennessee, October 19, 1855, the son of Wil-
liam H. Bailey, who was a native of Vir-
ginia, having been born near Richmond. He
went with his parents to Dyer county, Ten-
nessee, where he married Elizabeth Chanler.
In 1860 he came to Dunklin county, ilis-
souri. and settled near Guin Slough, seven
miles and a half north of Kennett. In the
summer of 1861 his wife died, she being his
second wife. In the early spring of 1865
William H. was killed by the Federal sol-
diere, because he was suspected of being a
sympathizer with the southern cause, a cop-
per head, as they were called who had come
from the south to the north. Thirty thou-
sand were killed the same day. After his
death his family was all broken up. His first
wife was ]\Iiss Fitz Hugh, and by her he had
three children: Sarah, who married Mr.
Dailey and died in Arkansas; Mary, who
died young; and Claibourn, who died at the
age of eighteen. His second wife had four
children: J. A., Elizabeth, who died young.
W. H.. and Cornelia, who died young. Of
these seven children only J. A. and W. H.
are living now. They were both born in
Dyer county, Tennessee. W. H. being four
years younger than his brother.
The first si.\ years of J. A."s life were
in his native state, when he went with
his parents to Dunklin county, [Missouri,
where they moved to a farm near Kennett.
When J. A. was only ten years old his father
died, thus leaving him without either parent,
as his mother has died when he was seven
years old. His uncle, Hudson Chanler, took
him into his home, where he remained until
he was sixteen, during which time he went
to school. He then started out for himself,
hiring out as a farm hand. After four years
of this life he started out for himself and
later, in company with his brother, W. H.,
went to live at the old place where his father
and his mother had both died. After a
while they sold that place and J. A. bought
land on what is called the Dairyberry farm,
which he owned until 1889. He then" bought
a farm south of Kennett. During the last
twenty-two years he has made many changes,
buying and selling, but making good trades
on every occasion. His farm which he owns
now is three miles southeast of Kennett and
consists of 108 acres. He rents this farm.
He has been in the grocery business four
times during the last twenty-two years, in
all having been in the gi-ocery trade twenty
years in Kennett. He sold out in 1911.
In 1878, when he was twenty-three years
old, J. A. Bailey was married to M. A.
Faught, of Dunklin coimty, daughter of the
late William Faught (of this county) and
Louise, whose maiden name was Boggess.
They have had no children of their own, but
they adopted a little girl when she was six
years old, Ethel E. Bailey, who has been as
dear to them as if she were their own by ties
of blood. She is now married to Douglas
Blakemore, a grocer in Kennett.
^Ir. Bailey is a member of the Methodist
Episcopal church, where he has always been
one of the main stays of the church. He is
a member of the Independent Order of Odd
Fellows fraternal ordei*. In politics he is a
Democrat and has served for four years as
deputy sheriff under Collin Morgan. Mr.
Bailey has built one of the most attractive
houses in Kennett, situated very close to
the center of the square. In looking back
over the years which have elapsed since he
first started out as a farm hand he may well
feel that he has done well. He has always
lived a most exemplar.y life, full of useful-
ness to others and full of good and worthy
deeds. He is one of Kennett 's most respected
citizens.
HISTORY OF SOUTHEAST IMISSOURI
1137
Bexjamin J. Cline, il. D. A public-spir-
ited citizen aud au able, young phj'siciau is
Dr. Benjamin J. Cline, who is one of the
loyal sons of Stoddard county and whose
family has been prominent in this section
for many years. He was born at Bloomtield,
Stoddard county, February 28, 1878. and is
a son of Nelson and Elizabeth (ilcGee)
Cline, both of whom were scions of families
having their origin in North Carolina. Nel-
son Cline was born in Stoddard county, and
his father, Benjamin Cline, owned Cline 's
Island and gave it his name, although he
made his home in the foothills. The island
was made into a fertile farm and was one of
great proportions, and slaves were brought
thither for its cultivation. The last one of
these faithful, dusky servitors died at the
home of Nelson Cline some fifteen years ago.
His name was Robert Bridgman, and he was
a well-known figure in the locality.
Nelson Cline. father of the immediate sub-
ject of this biographical record, was born in
the year 18-16 and makes his home at the
present time four miles northeast of Bloom-
field, on the noted old family homestead.
Both of his parents died at a comparatively
early age, his father at the time of the Civil
war and the mother at a much earlier date.
The name of Benjamin Cline has come down
to the present generation as that of a great
hunter. It is a matter of record that he
killed as many as thirty-six bears in one win-
ter and it was the custom of this Missouri
Nimrod to cure the meat, and so be in a posi-
tion to serve this rare delicacy all the year
around. He was assisted in his hunting by
two immense boar dogs. It is also said of
Benjamin that, like a good many other noted
hunters and lovei-s of the open, of whom one
Rip Van Winkle is an example, he found all
other work decidedly distasteful He counted
his canine friends among his most prized as-
sociates, and when the flint lock of his gun
proved stubborn and wouldn't fire, he and
the dogs would do the work without its as-
sistance, he using his knife. He was indeed
a picturesque and interesting figure — the
typical pioneer hunter.
Nelson Cline was married early in life to
Elizabeth McGee, daughter of Isaac McGee,
that gentleman being alive at the present
time at the venerable age of ninety-six years.
His mother died in 1909, when over ninety,
longevity apparently being a family char-
acteristic. Isaac McGee is a farmer, who
came to ^Missouri, about the year 1817, and
Elizabeth was born while en route to Mis-
souri in Tennessee. He and his wife became
the parents of eight children, all of whom
are living, the two sons being physicians.
The subject's brother, Dr. Jesse Anderson
Cline, practices at VanDuser, Scott county.
Benjamin J. Cline received his early edu-
cation in the public scholls of Stoddard coun-
ty and subsequently attended the Normal
School at Cape Girardeau. He taught school
in Stoddard count.y and in the meantime
came to the conclusion to adopt the medical
profession, for which he was fitted by nat-
ural bent. His preparation for this useful
work was secured in the famous old medi-
cal college, the Kentucky School of Medi-
cine, at Louisville, where he spent two years
and one year in the medical department of
the State University of Louisville. He fin-
ished with two j'ears in Barnes University
of St. Louis and after this unusually thor-
ough training was graduated with the class
of 1907. He practiced, however, as early as
1901 on a state license. He is a constant
student of the great science and finds no ef-
fort too great for the keeping abreast of the
constant progress in this field. He holds
high prestige in Esses and its vicinity and
enjoys a constantly growing practice. Dr.
Cline holds membership in the Stoddard
County and the Missouri State Medical As-
sociation.
Dr. Cline has been twice married. In the
year 1900 Miss Dona Curd, daughter of
Price and ilary E. Curd, became his wife,
but this admirable yoimg woman died in
1907, leaving two daughters, Calla Opal and
Alpha Bernice. In 1909 he was married to
one of Essex's prominent young women. Miss
Xenia Loveless, daughter of Perr.y Loveless,
and one son, Harold Hadley, aged one year,
has been born to them. Dr. Cline 's frater-
nal affiliation is limited to membership in the
Independent Order of Odd Fellows and he
holds membership in the ]\Iethodist Episco-
pal church.
John W. Vail. In the material growth
and prosperity of the town of Cardwell the
most important single factor has been the
Cardwell Stave Company, of which John W.
Vail is president. This company employs
about 150 men, a number that is a sufficient
nucleus for a thriving village. It is the
largest stave manufacturing industry, com-
prising three plants, in Southeastern ilis-
souri, and has contributed enormous values
1138
HISTORY OF SOUTHEAST MISSOURI
to the mauufaeturing assets of this region,
and in preparing the coimtry for permanent
agricultural development it has also done an
important work.
Up to 1896 ^Ir. Vail was a manufacturer
of cooperage in Indiana, where he and Mr.
J. E. Thomas had organized and conducted
the Decatur Egg Case Company. They
came to Southeastern ilissouri, where they
received a license to operate, and part of the
factory was moved to Cardwell from In-
diana. ]Most of the present factory has been
built new, however. Mr. Vail was the prin-
cipal stockliolder of the four citizens of
Dunklin county interested in the enterprise.
For several years the' factory was conducted
for the manufacture of egg cases, and then .
the Cardwell Stave Company was organized,
and the product has since been mainly
staves. The company at present consists of
John W. Vail, president; his wife, E. B.
Vail, and his brother, E. A. Vail. The com-
pany owns several thousand acres of timber
land in this vicinity, and after clearing the
timber the ground is improved for farming
purposes and then sold to agricultural set-
tlers. This process has resulted in a large
increase in the farming resources of this
vicinity, and has also been a source of large
profit to the company. The mills which are
among the largest of the kind in the state,
consume about thirty thousand feet of tim-
ber daily, and the estimated output of the
factory for 1911 is thirty million staves, be-
sides some cases.
Out of this enterprise" grew the Paragould
& Memphis Railway, which, beginning as an
industrial railroad, has become a general
transportation line for all the tributary
country. The line now extends to Manila,
Arkansas, and is drawing timber from a
tract of six thousand acres south of Cardwell.
For the past four years there has been a
steady iim of timber along this line. The
railroad will be extended as commercial need
demands. It is now operated as a common
carrier, with passenger service for the pub-
lie, and the right-of-way runs through other
people's lands. At the outset this road was
narrow-gauge, but with the increase of busi-
ness it has been standardized for general
railway service.
Ernest S. Wills. The agricultural de-
velopment of Southeastern Missouri, the his-
tory of which forms an impoi'tant part of
this work, owes a greater debt to modern
drainage enterprise than to any other fac-
tor. For many years 'the fertile lands of a
large area were unavailable for cultivation
because the facilities and enterprise were
lacking to relieve them of the superfluous
water. Modern capital and the combination
of individual ownei-s in co-operative under-
taking have solved the problems, and the
work already completed and that in prog-
ress is destined to add vast riches to the po-
tential wealth of this quarter of Missouri.
The general history of this movement be-
longs to other chapters, and attention is here
called to one of the business coi-porations
whose organization and special facilities
have performed a large portion of the drain-
age undertakings in this region. Through
several corporate companies, A. V. Wills &
Sons conduct a business in general drainage
contracting which is one of the largest of
the kind in the country, and their record of
completed and successful undertakings com-
prises some of the most noteworthy projects
of recent years in the states of the Missis-
sippi valley.
The original home of this important busi-
ness was in Pittsfield. Pike county, Illinois.
j\Ir. A. V. Wills, the founder of the business
still a resident of Pittsfield, and for many
years one of the largest farmers of that
county, first got into the contracting busi-
ness through his official connection as com-
missioner with the construction of the orig-
inal levee through Pike county along the
^Mississippi river. Mr. Wills and his son J.
R. (now deceased) began contracting twenty-
five years ago, and were .joined by the other
sons, W. V. and E. S. Wills, after their col-
lege careers were over. In addition to their
business enterprises the members of the firm
are extensive farmers in Pike county, their
old home, and own a section of land in
Greene county, Arkansas.
The members of the firm of A. V. Wills &
Sons, drainage contractors, are A. V. Wills,
of Pittsfield, where the main office is located ;
W. V. Wills, a resident of Beardstown, Illi-
nois; and E. S. Wills, the general manager.
The office for the Southeastern Jlissouri work
is at ilalden. Here also is the home of the
Maiden Machine Works which was incorpo-
rated in 1908 with a capital of $6,300. This
branch of the business comprises general ma-
chine repairing, cylinder boring, electrical
work and supplies, and all kinds of brass
work and moulding, ilr. E. S. Wills is
president and treasurer, W. V. Wills, vice
HISTORY OF SOUTHEAST IMISSOURI
1139
president, and J. W. Williams, secretarj', of
this company. Another affiliated company
is the Middle States Dredging Company,
with offices, at Jlalden, the members of which
are A. Y., ^Y. Y., and E. S. Yllls and G. E.
Myei-s and H. E. Gibbons. This company
handles the ^Mississippi river work of the
larger company, and ilessrs. Myers and Gib-
bons, both old employes of the original com-
pany, have active charge of this work. An-
other branch is the E. S. Y'ills & Company
of Paragould, Arkansas, but operating inde-
pendently in the Arkansas field. Lewis
Mayo, an expert mechanic, is the local of-
ficial of the company at Paragould.
The A. Y. Wills & Company began opera-
tions in Southeastern Missouri in 1902.
Their first contract was for dredging ditches
Nos. 1 and 2 in the Stoddard district.
These were completed in eighteen months,
No. 1 amounting to $20,000 and No. 2 to
$80,000, the first being ten miles in length
and the second about twenty-six miles. The
company have since completed No. 5 in the
Stoddard district, at a cost of $50,000 and
No. 6 for $35,000, each being about fifteen
miles long.
In New Madrid county they completed
ditches Nos. 1, 2, 3, and 4, in district No. 7,
an aggregate length of sixty-five miles, at
about $200,000.
In Dunklin county they completed Nos. 1,
2, 3, 4 and 5 at about $50,000 each. No. 19
was finished in 1911 at a cost of $60,000, and
No. IS was com'pleted at $12,000 and No. 10
at $15,000.
At the present writing they have in prog-
ress one small, six-mile job, to cost $3,600;
in Mississippi county district No. 23, of
Swan Pond lateral, a $22,000 job; and a
levee section of James bayou, at $37,000.
They also have five machines operating in
Clay and Greene counties, Arkansas, on a
contract amounting to $475,000.
In Southeastern Missouri the company
employ two boats with a crew of eleven men
to each, and have about the same number of
right-of-way workers, so that their force
amounts to forty-five men.
Mr. Ernest S. Wills, the manager of these
extensive drainage projects in Southeastern
Missouri, was born at Pittsfield, Illinois, in
1878. He attended his home high school and
the Gem City Business College, and then
joined his father and brothers in the con-
tracting business. He was local manager for
the company in the construction of the ditch
through the Kankakee swamps of northern
Indiana. This was one of the largest and
most important contracts ever undertaken
by the company, and was one of the pioneer
undertakings on a large scale in the middle
west. ilr. Wills was connected with that
project five years, and then came to South-
eastern I\Iissouri on the company's first con-
tract in this state. His brother W. Y. was
associated with him for three or four years,
but since then he has been the active man-
ager of all the eompanv's operations in this
field.
Mr. Wills, whose home and business head-
ciuarters are at Maiden, has a wife and three
sons. He married at Pittsfield Miss Ethel
Ellis, and their children are: Yernon Ellis,
aged ten; Eussell Y., aged seven; and Ken-
dall George, aged three.
Robert A. Dowdy. Among the early and
highly honored pioneer farmers of Stoddard
county, Missouri, the name of Dowdy holds
a conspicuous place. Robert A. Dowdy, to
whom this sketch is dedicated, is a son of
Joel W. Dowdy, who came to Missouri with
his pai-ents in the j'ear 1835, the Dowdy
home having been originally in North Caro-
lina. Mr. Dowdy, of this notice, is the owner
of a splendid farm of 280 acres, the same be-
ing eligibly located some six miles southeast
of Essex and one and one-half miles distant
from Frisco. He is engaged in diversified
agriculture and the raising of thoroughbred
stock and as a farmer and citizen is respected
by all with whom he has had dealings.
A native of Stoddard county, Missouri,
Robert A. Dowdy was born on the old par-
ental homestead, situated two and a half
miles east of Dexter, the date of his nativity
being the 6th of June, 1856. He is a son of
Joel W. and Jane (Norman) Dowd.y, the
fonuer of whom was born in North Carolina
and the latter of whom claimed Stoddard
county, ^Missouri, as the place of her birth,
ilr. Dowd.y's maternal grandparents were
Levi and Fannie (Crites) Norman, both na-
tives of Cape Girardeau county, Missouri.
They were farming people. Joel W. Dowdy
came as a young lad with his parents, Allen
and JMaria (Sanders) Dowdy, from his home
state to JMissouri in the year 1835. Joel W.
Dowdy was engaged in farming operations
during the greater part of his active career
and he was summoned to eternal rest in the
year 1866, aged about thirty-five years, his
wife having preceded him to the life eternal
1140
HISTORY OF SOUTHEAST :\IISSOUEI
by about eight years, she having died at
the age of about twenty-six years. He was
twice married and by his first marriage be-
came the father of three children, namely. —
Robert A., the immediate subject of this
sketch; Alice, who is the widow of A. D.
Hill and who maintains her home at Clark-
ton, Missouri ; and John W., who died in in-
fancy. After the death of his first wife Joel
W. Dowdy married Susan Hazzard, and to
them were likewise born three children, —
Henry F. resides in Texas: Joel Wesley is a
clerk" for William Hux, at Essex; and So-
phronia F. was the wife of Jim Patrick at the
time of her death, about 1889.
Robert A. Dowdy was a child of but twelve
years of age at the time of his father's de-
mise and thereafter he lived in the home of
his paternal grandfather, Allen Dowdy, un-
til he had reached the age of seventeen years.
His early educational discipline consisted of
such advantages as were afforded in the
neighboring district schools and later he sup-
plemented that training with further learn-
ing in the school of experience. At the age
of seventeen he hired out as a farm hand
and on the 14 th of February, 1874, he was
married. After that important event he
made a living for his family by working at
various odd jobs. For a time he cut cord-
wood, later was employed on a railroad and
eventuallj' turned his attention to farming
on a rented estate. His first purchase of
land was in 1886. this representing a small
farm two and a half miles east of Dexter.
In 1890 he bought eighty acres of land six
miles southeast of Essex, thus forming the
nucleus of his present fine rural estate. For
this tract he paid the sum of twelve hundred
dollars and with the passage of time he has
continued to add to his original farm until
he is now the possessor of 280 acres of some
of the very finest land in the entire county.
For his second eighty acres he paid another
twelve hundred dollars and later he paid
four hundred dollars for a tract of forty
acres. Then he paid twelve hundred dol-
lars for a tract of forty acres and eventually
bought another tract of forty acres, paying
one thousand dollars for it. At the time of
his arrival in Stoddard county any of his
land could have been had at the merely nom-
inal price of $2.50 or $3.00 per acre. Wlien
he first located on his present farm, some
twenty years ago, onlj- 65 acres of his land
was under cultivation. In 1912 he has 220
acres improved and well tilled. He devotes
his attention to growing wheat, cotton and
corn and in connection with stock-raising
makes a specialty of mules, hogs and cattle.
His modern and substantial buildings, lo-
cated in the midst of finely kept fields, are
the best indication of the thrift and industry
of the practical owner. ;\Ir. Dowdy has al-
ways figured prominently in all matters pro-
jected for the improvement of the community
iu which he resides, having helped to make
all the line roads and having exerted him-
self in every respect for the development of
this section of the state. Mr. Dowdy re-
lates man.y interesting incidents in connec-
tion with the wild game that abounded in
this county while he was still a boy. Wild
turkeys and deer were extremely common
and he killed a number of deer and much
other game as a young man.
On the 14th of February, 1874, Mr. Dowdy
was united in marriage to Miss IMartha A.
Hall, who was born and reared in Wayne and
Hamilton counties, Illinois, and who is a
daughter of Henry and Melinda (Locke)
Hall. Her father was a native of the state
of Illinois, and was killed in the Civil war,
being a Federal soldier. IMrs. Dowdy ac-
companied her mother and step-father to
Missouri, arriving on Christmas day, 1872.
I\Ir. and ilrs. Dowdj' became the parents of
nine children, four of whom are deceased:
]\larion F. died November 14, 1908, at the
age of twenty-four years. One daughter,
Birdie M., died at fifteen years of age, July
5, 1893: Myrtle Lee died when nine years
old, April 3, 1899 ; and Lura died in infancy,
January 31, 1892. Concerning the five chil-
dred who are living the following brief data
are here incorporated, — John W. married
31iss Florence A. Warren, and they make
their home on the old Dowdy estate; Ida is
the wife of Levi Boyd, residing on the
Dowdy farm ; Nancy A. married Jesse Cline,
and they also reside on the farm ; Annie M.
is the wife of W. W. Snider, farmers here;
and Lillie Estelle remains at home. In their
religious faith the Dowdy family are devout
members of the General Baptist church and
p.nd they are very popular factore in con-
nection with the best social affairs of their
home community. Mr. Dowdy is a member
of the Ancient Free and Accepted Masons,
Masonic Lodge No. 278. of Essex. ^lissouri.
In his political affiliations Mr. Dowdy ac-
cords an uncomprimising allegiance to the
principles and policies promulgated by the
Democratic part.y and while he has never
^_Ay^W<^ a\^it,^_^f^
HISTORY OF SOUTHEAST MISSOURI
1141
been desirous of public office of any descrip-
tion he has ever given evidence of loyalty
and public spirit of the most insistent order.
He is deeply interested in educational atfairs
and has been president of the local school
board for the past fifteen years. He is a
man of fine mentality and unquestioned in-
tegrity and in all the relations of life he has
so conducted himself as to command the un-
qualified confidence and esteem of his fellow
OTizens.
John L. Buck. Among the earlier settlers
of Stoddard county were many men of per-
sistent purpose and resolute spirit who de-
voted their energies to the upbuilding of the
new country in which tliey were located, be-
coming actively identified with the establish-
ment of industrial and business enterprises,
prominent among the number having been the
late John L. Buck, of Bloomfield, Missouri, a
successful merchant and a leading citizen. A
native of North Carolina, he was born in
October, 1830, a son of Br.yant and Selina
(Mjore) Buck. In 1836 his mother died in
Lauderdale county, Tennessee, whither the
family had removed in 1832, and the father
in 1843 came with his children to Scott
county, Missouri, stopping a short time en
route in Illinois, and there his death occurred
in 1844. To him and his wife five children
were born, of whom John L. was the last sur-
vivor.
John L. Buck first attended school in Lau-
derdale county, Tennessee, from there coming
with the family to Scott county, Jlissouri, in
1843. Locating in Bloomfield, Stoddard
county, in 1848, he worked at the saddler's
trade with Joel B. Kesner two years, and
from 1851 until 1856 clerked in the general
store belonging to Daniel B. Miller. Then, in
company witli his father-in-law, Henry Mil-
ler, he sold goods at Spring Hill for three
years, and in 1859 opened a store in Bloom-
field. Soon after the outbreak of the Civil
war he closed out his mercantile business and
for a few months was assistant commissary in
General Jeff Thompson's militia. At the
close of the war the firm of ]\Iiller & Buck
resumed business, and continued until 1872,
when Mr. ]Miller died, and 'Sir. Buck bought
out the interests of the Miller heirs. A few
years later, James E. Boyd was admitted to
partnership with IMr. Buck, and the firm,
which became one of the leading mercantile
establishments of the place, carried on a thriv-
ing business for raanv vears, dissolving by
mutual consent in 1901. After the dissolu-
tion of the firm of James E. Boyd & Company,
Mr. Buck was instrumental in the founding
of the Buck Store Company, of which he was
president until his death, on January 25,
1903. Mr. Buck was ever interested in the
promotion of public interests, and served in
various official positons during his life in
Bloomfield. He was at one time a member of
the town council, and has given excellent serv-
ice as a member of the school board of
Bloomfield, while for twelve years he served
as treasurer of Stoddard county, handling the
duties of his position in a manner reflecting
credit upon himself and his fellow townsmen.
Mr. Buck was three times married. He first
married Prances Miller, and of their six chil-
dren but one is now living. His second wife
was Laura Boyd, and of this marriage six
children were born, of which number four still
survive. They are: Laura, Ada, Charles and
James B. To Mr. Buck and his third wife,
whose maiden name was Lizzie I\Iiller, one
child was born, — John Thomas, who died at
the age of ten years.
James B. Buck. A native born citizen of
Bloomfield, James B. Buck was born Febru-
ary 28, 1872. He is the son of John L. and
Laura (Boyd) Buck. As a boy and j'outh
James Buck received superior educational
advantages, when his high school days were
over studying for three years in the LTniver-
sity of Illinois, at Urbana, and at the Uni-
versity of Missouri, in Columbia. He began
his active business career as a book-keeper,
and at the organization of the Buck Store
Company in 1901 he was appointed secretary
of the new concern. This company which is
one of the fine mercantile establishments of
Bloomfield, has a large double store building,
finely equipped with all modern improve-
ments, and they conduct a regular depart-
ment store business, handling almost every-
thing in the mercantile line with the excep-
tion of hardware and drugs. It is particu-
larly prosperous, employing on an average
fifteen clerks, and doing an anmial business
of about one hundred and fifty thousand dol-
lars. ITpon the death of his father, John L.
Buck, in 1903, James B. Buck succeeded to
the presidency of the firm, while his brother.
Charles Buck, was made secretary to fill his
place, and Bert Smith was elected vice-presi-
dent and general manager.
It is generally conceded that Mr. Buck is
a man of exceptional ability and rare business
1142
HISTORY OF SOUTHEAST MISSOURI
discrimination. In addition to handling tlie
business of tiie Buck Store Company in a
capable and profitable manner he has been
able to give a share of his attention to mat-
ters outside the store, and he has accumulated
a considerable property in and about Bloom-
field. He is the owner of three thousand
acres of valuable farm lauds, in three tracts,
and gives some attention to the product of
hay and grains and to the breeding of blooded
stock. Aberdeen-Angus and Duroe Jersey and
Berkshire hogs are the breeds that he most
favors and he has enjoyed a fine success thus
far with his farming venture. He conducts
his farming operations on a lease basis, he
being a partner with his tenants.
Mr. Buck is secretary of the Buck & Toole
ililling Company of Bloomfield; he is presi-
dent of the Miller Hardware Company, a
thriving concern which carries a stock of
twenty thousand dollars and which holds an
ever increasing trade; he is a stockholder in
the Bloomfield Electric Light Plant; and is
vice-president of the Tiller Lumber Com-
pany, which has yards at Bloomfield, man-
a-ged by J. E. Tiller, and a mill at Clarkton,
Missouri, under the management of W. F.
Tiller. He holds an interest in the Dexter
Lumber Company, and is vice president of
that firm. Mr. Buck is president of the
Bloomfield Bank, of which he was one of the
organizers in 1895, and its first cashier. He
filled that position until the death of his
father (who was president of the bank) in
1903. He was elected to his father's posi-
tion then, which he has held ever since, and
it is safe to say that much of the prosperity
and growth of the bank has been directly due
to the wisdom and foresight of its president.
In 1898 Mr. Buck was united in marriage
with Nina Duncan, of Lexington, Missouri,
and of their union three children have been
born, — James B., Jr., Carleton and Cather-
ine.
Timothy Dorris. Especially worthy of
mention in this biographical volume is Tim-
othy Dorris. of Hayti, a substantial, prosper-
ous and highly respected citizen who has
been associated with the commercial and in-
dustrial interests of Pemiscot county for
forty-five years or more, during which time
he has ever evinced a warm interest in its
progress and improvement. He was born in
Harrisburg, Saline county, Illinois, Decem-
ber 4, 1842, a son of Andrew and Harriet
(Gaskin) Dorris, natives of Tennessee.
For a short time in his boyhood days Tim-
othy Dorris attended a subscription school in
his native town, although he spent many more
hours in assisting his father in the labors at-
tendant upon an agricultural life. When
twenty years of age he began clerking in a
general store, continuing, however, to reside
with his parents during the ensuing three
years. In 1866, responding to the lure of the
"Wild West," he migrated to Pemiscot
county, Missouri, on November 19 of that
year, locating at the old county seat, Gay-
oso, where he continued his residence for
upwards of thirty years. In 1867 he em-
barked in the saloon and fur business, indus-
tries with which he was identified for a brief
period in Illinois, as a buyer and seller of
furs receiving an annual profit of thirteen
hundred dollars for the first thirteen years,
buying at times as many as seven thousand
skins a day. He also dealt in dry goods and
groceries in Gayoso, carrying on a substan-
tial mercantile trade in that line and build-
ing up a good business, also, as a dealer in
hunters' and trappers' supplies.
W^hen the town of Hayti was organized, in
1897, Mr. Dorris bought property within its
limits, and is now the owner of several valu-
able lots and houses, having erected five resi-
dences which he rents, receiving a good in-
come from his rentals. Mr. Dorris has been
identified with the Democratic party since at-
taining manhood, and as a loyal and public-
spirited citizen has never shirked the respon-
sibilities of office, having served as alderman
of Hayti, while for twelve years he was county
judge. Fraternally he is a member of the
Improved Order of Red Men.
Mr. Dorris married, in 1878, Dollie Pears-
field, who is well versed in the domestic arts,
and has proved a wise and faithful helpmeet.
Mr. and Mrs. Dorris have no children to grace
their pleasant home.
William J. Godt has been postmaster of
New Haven for so many years that it would
seem unnatural for the citizens of that com-
munity to receive mail from any other hands
than his. That he has done his work in an
able and efficient manner is proved by the fact
that since 1897. when President McKinley
first appointed him in charge of the post-
office of New Haven, he has served in that
capacity without a break. He has passed his
entire life in Franklin count.v with the ex-
ception of a few brief years, and is a loyal
supporter and enthusiastic admirer of South-
HISTOEY OF SOUTHEAST MISSOURI
1143
eastern Missouri, her people, her climate aaid
her resources.
William J. Godt was born in Brookhaven,
Mississippi, October 21, 1871, a son of Fred-
erick and Margaret (Schneider) Godt, the
former a native of Westphalia, Prussia, the
latter of Alsace-Lorraine, France. Fred-
erick Godt, though a native of Germanj', born
in 18-40, immigrated to the "land of prom-
ise" when but nineteen years old. He came
in a sailing vessel, the voyage consuming sev-
eral weeks en route, but he finally landed at
New Orleans in 1859. He had learned the
trade of lock and gunsmith in the Father-
land, and soon found employment at his trade
among the industries of the Crescent city.
When the war cloud so long lowering over the
states of the Union broke forth in all its fury
young Godt of a necessity entered the employ
of the Confederate government as a me-
chanic. He was not in sympathy with that
cause, however, and upon the fall of New Or-
leans in April, 1862. he sought and obtained
admission in the Federal forces, enlisting in
the Thirty-first Regiment, Massachusetts Vol-
unteer Infantiy, and saw active service dur-
ing the remainder of the war. The advent of
his parents' arrival in the United States about
this time induced Frederick Godt to seek a
home in ilissouri, where his fatlier and
mother had settled. Accordingly he re-
visited New Orleans, where he had previously
met Miss Margaret Schneider, with whom he
had fallen in love, and they were married and
immediately proceeded to Franklin county.
Missouri, locating at Union. In that place
some of his older children were born, and
there some of them lie buried. After a few
years ilr. Godt removed to New Haven, and
there, with the exception of a few years
passed at Brookhaven, Mississippi, he lived
out his remaining years, engaged in the tin-
ning and stove business. As above stated, Mr.
Godt married IMargaret Schneider, and to
this union were born seven children, all of
whom are deceased with the exception of Wil-
liam J., of this review, and Oscar, a merchant
of East St. Louis.
The father of Frederick Godt, and the
grandfather of our subject, was named Au-
gust, and he was a mechanic of much genius,
who located in Washington, ^Missouri, in 1865,
from Germany, and there he passed the re-
mainder of his life. ]\Iany of the older citi-
zens of Washington distinctly remember the
revered tradesman, carpenter and builder,
who most effectively demonstrated his ability
Vol. n— 2s
with mechanical tools in the building of bak-
ers' ovens, or any line requiring extraordi-
nary skill. He died in 1893, at a ripe old age,
and his wife is also deceased.
William J. Godt, the subject of this brief
sketch, grew up about as other boys do in a
rural community. He attended the village
school, assisting his father in the store after
hours, the education obtained there and in the
larger school of experience being his entire
business asset. When his father died, in
1889, William J. continued the business,
though he was still a yomig lad of but eight-
een summers. However, he believed in the
old adage, "Nothing ventured nothing
gamed, ' ' and carried on the business promul-
gated by his father in a creditable and suc-
cessful manner until 1897, when he assumed
the duties of postmaster of New Haven.
WTien the ofSce was made a presidential one
he was commissioned by President Roosevelt
twice, and is now serving his fourteenth year
in that capacity. At one time he sent in Ms
resignation, intending to engage in the bank-
ing business, having been chosen cashier of
the New Haven Savings Bank, but the de-
partment would not consider the resignation,
and he finally reaccepted the honor thus
"thrust upon him."
'Tis needless to state that ilr. Godt is an
active and enthusiastic Republican, as was his
father before him. He has served for many
years as secretary and treasurer of his county
committee, has been a member of the con-
gressional committee, and for sixteen years
has been on the township committee, and be-
fore the advent of the primary elections to
decide nominations he frequented state con-
ventions as delegate. He is a warm advocate
and liberal supporter of the cause of higher
education and has been secretary of the board
of education for sixteen years. No plans for
commercial expansion, civic improvement,
or cit.y beautifying are made without the
hearty endorsement and immediate support
of him whose name forms the caption of this
article.
On August 2.3, 1901, William J. Godt was
united in the holy bonds of wedlock with
Miss Emily Wellenkamp, whose father is a
well-known business man of Washington,
Missouri.
John Anderson Snider. It is to such men
as John A. Snider that Stoddard county is
indebted for much of its progress in recent
years, his influence having been exerted in
114-i
HISTORY OF SOUTHEAST MISSOURI
fullest measure to secure all such benefits as
are likely to prove of permanent and general
nature. For instance he has been one of the
leaders in bringing about good drainage and
to all public spirited legislation he gives
heart and hand. He is a veteran of the Civil
war and is well-known everywhere within the
pleasant boundaries of the county. His farm
is located two miles north of Essex and is a
valuable property.
Mr. Snider was born five miles east of the
court house, September 25, 1845. • His par-
ents were Benjamin and Elizabeth (Wain-
maek) Snider, the mother a native of Ten-
nessee and the father born here of North Caro-
lina parents. The sub.iect's grandparents
were John and Elizabeth Snider and they
passed to the Great Beyond when Mr. Snider
was a lad of but six or seven years. Benja-
min Snider was one of the county's leading
farmers, his five hundred acre farm being
situated upon the bluff, this at the present
time being owned by R. L. Snider, a son of
J. A. He died when comparatively young,
his son, J. A., being only about twelve when
deprived of his natural protector. The
mother was left ^vith a family of eight chil-
dren, Martha, wife of Leonard Larock, liv-
ing near the old Snider homestead, being the
only other survivor. He was the eldest child
ancl Slartha, who was a baby at the time of
her father's death, was the youngest. Mr.
Snider and his mother, with the greatest dif-
ficulty, kept the family together and managed
the farm as best they could. The mother a
woman of strong character, survived all lier
family except the two mentioned and died
in 1909, when making her home with Mr
Snider, her years numbering seventy-eight
She had been a member of the household for
ten years.
John A. Snider, who was the mainstay of
the family, remained at home until he
reached the age of twenty-seven or twenty-
eight years, and saw the rest of the family
married before he thought of establishing a
household of. his own. At the age mentioned
he took a wife and bought and sold several
places at financial profit, his improvements
always bringing a better price. In this way
he got a good start and secured a sounder
footing in the world. In 1899 he bought bot-
tom lands and cleared nearly eighty acres of
the tract, making an excellent farm. Four
years ago he sold that farm to his son and
bought his present farm two miles north of
Essex and one mile south of Idalia. This was
first owned by Christopher Bess, who had
lived on it for over thirty years. Mr. Bess is
still living in this county. Jlr. Snider 's ef-
forts at general development have been pre-
viously mentioned and his labors in the line of
improved drainage conditions have been
•liappy in their result. It was he who drew
up and circulated the petition for a ditch
which drained the entire county, and land
which, before this was effected, sold at
twenty-five and thirty dollars an acre is now
worth from fifty to over one hundred dollars
an acre. By those who best understand the
situation Mr. Snider is looked upon as a pub-
lic benefactor, for he accomplished what
others had often tried to do and failed.
When the dark cloud of Civil war ob-
scured the national horizon the life of the
subject was one of the thousands effected liy
it. He served six months in the Missouri
State Guards and then entered the Confed-
erate army, in which he served three years.
One of the important episodes of his military
career was his capture at Bloomfield. while
at home, and he was kept six weeks at Cape
Girardeau following this and then paroled.
He is a loyal Democrat, having given his suf-
frage and support to this party since his
earliest voting days.
Mr. Snider has been twice married.
When about twenty-five years of age he was
united in matrimony to Martha Wright,
daughter of William and Elizabeth Wright,
and they lived happily together for sixteen
years before they were separated by the Grim
Reaper. Mrs. Snider was the mother of five
children, as follows: Robert E., who resides
five miles east of Bloomfield; ]\Iyrtle, who re-
sides at Idalia ; Belle, wife of Dub Alman-
rode, of Wise county, Texas ; Lura, wlio mar-
ried Willard Lisby and died at the age of
twenty-four years: and Elizabeth who died at
the age of two years. Eight years after the
loss of his first wiie Mr. Snider married
again, the lady to become the mistress of his
household being Mrs. Nancy Ann Harper,
nee Roby, a native of South Carolina. The
second family consists of four children,
namely, James, Ambrose Newton, Pearl (wife
of Bob Sanford), and Bearl. Mrs. Snider
died in December, 1900, lamented by a A\ade
circle of friends. Mr. Snider is still actively
engaged in liis calling and is an intelligent
and representative citizen, held in esteem by
all who know him.
HISTORY OF SOUTHEAST :\nSSOURI
1145
August W. Hoffmann. In a record of
those who have been prominently identified
with the development and progress of South-
eastern Missouri it is imperative that definite
consideration be granted to the subject of
this review, for not only is he a prominent
representative of the flnaueial interests of
this favored section, but he has the distinc-
tion of being a native son of this state, with
whose fortunes he has been identified during
his lifetime, concerned with a number of in-
dustrial pursuits and so ordering his life as to
gain and retain the confidence and esteem of
his fellow men.
August W. Hoffmann was born in Wash-
ington, Franklin county. Mis.souri, December
2. 1864, a son of Robert and Julia (Stumpe)
Hoffmann, the latter a sister of Frederick W.
Stumpe. The father is the venerable and
well-known Judge Robert Hoffmann, who has
been a resident of Franklin county since 1853,
coming to the United States from Saxony,
where he was born in November, 1833.
Judge Hoffmann received a good common
school education in the institutions in his na-
tive country, and when he came to the United
State he became a carpenter and contractor,
which trade he followed for the first twenty
years of his life. One day while working at
"his trade a scaffold fell on which he was
standing, which resulted in the loss of his
right leg. Thus incapacitated for a continu-
ation of his work he abandoned it for the field
of local politics. Being a mar in whom his
fellow-citizens had the utmo."^ confidence, in
1876 he was elected county treasurer, which
office he filled commendably for four years.
He was then chosen county collector and held
that office for years, returning to the treas-
urer's ofRee. His public service having been
of such satisfaction to his constituents he was
selected for county judge and was on the ju-
diciary bench for four years. These offices
were all tendered him on the platform of the
Republican party, with whose principles he
had always been a staunch supporter.
Judge Hoffmann also served his country in
a more self-sacrificing manner, having been
a member of the Home Guards during the
hostilities of the Civil war. For the past
years he has lived in retirement in Washing-
ton, beloved by all his old friends and neigh-
bors, and respected and honored by the
younger generation.
Of the six children born to Judge and Mrs.
Hoffman. August W., the immediate subject
of this sketch, is tlie first born. His educa-
tion was obtained in the public schools of
Union and in Bunker Hill, Illinois. He was
an exceptionally bright lad, and learned
much from observation, than which there is
no better training. At the time he completed
his school course his father was the incum-
bent of the treasurer's office, and young Hoff-
mann became his father's deputy, at the same
time keeping the books of the county. He was
deputy collector, also, under his father, thus
beginning his public career at the age of
seventeen years. So well did he perform his
duties, however, that William M. Terry re-
tained him as deputy when he assumed the
collector's office, and during his four years
and the two years of August Goebel, the suc-
ceeding collector, he kept the public accoiuits
there, an exceedingly responsible position for
one so young. While still connected with
this public office he opened up the first set of
books for the Bank of Union, in 1888. con-
tinuing to work for this bank when business
pressure demanded for the two ensuing years,
when he entered the bank permanently. The
next year he was chosen cashier, and was hold-
ing this responsible position when, December
26, 1897, Collins and Rudolph blew open the
safe and carried off all the available cash of
the instittition, with no clews left for their
conviction, ilr. Hoffmann was gi-eatly in-
terested in this mystifying robbery and took
an active part with the detective force in
trying out certain clews, and it was his "pick-
up" evidence that resulted in the identifica-
tion and arrest of the robbers. One day while
walking on a hill overlooking the town he
came across a shoe box containing a St. Louis
daily paper of about the date on which the
crime had been committed. Always quick of
discernment, he thought it might be a clew,
— that possibly the men wanted had eaten a
lunch packed in this box while they were
making a preliminary survey of the surround-
ings. Upon this theory a search was made
for the original owner of the shoe box and it
was discovered that a merchant of Pacific
had sold shoes packed in that box to the sis-
ter of one Bill Rudolph, a man of consid-
erable notoriety as a bad character, and he
was immediately sought out as one of the per-
petrators of the crime. A warrant was se-
cured to search the premises of the Rudolph
family in Franklin county, and a posse was
made up, one of the members of which was
detective Shoemaker. Upon arrival at the
house Bill and his "pal." Collins, were dis-
covered inside, and while resisting the search
1146
HISTORY OF SOUTHEAST MISSOURI
shot Shoemaker and temporarilj' escaped cap-
ture. They were subsequentl.y arrested,
however, in Connecticut, whither they had
fled, and several thousand dollars of the
money stolen was recovered, and the men were
placed in the St. Louis jail. From that
stronghold, however, Rudolph escaped, be-
ing at large for some time, the while Collins
was tried for that and other crimes and exe-
cuted. Rudolph in the meantime had broken
the law again and was finally recognized
among the prisoners in the Kansas peniten-
tiary. His extradition was hastily effected
and his trial and execution closed the inci-
aent.
August "W. Hoffmann is a man of all-
round business ability, and besides his con-
nection with the Bank of Union is closely
identified with several other enterprises. He
has been a director of the National Cob Pipe
"Works of Union since its organization; is a
member of the Helling Manufacturing Com-
pany of this place; and is also associated
with D. W. Breid in the real estate business,
having great faith in the future of his native
county. During the excitement incident to
the proposal to build a state highway from
St. Louis to Kansas, Mr. Hoffmann took an
active interest in the location of the road upon
the south side of the Missouri river. He used
his utmost endeavor for some three months in
creating popular sentiment for the passing of
this road through certain counties and in
making and maturing plans for same, and
prepared a strong argument before the lo-
cating committee, but he and the other South-
eastern Missouri "boosters" lost the decision.
In politics Mr. Hoffman, like his father, is
a staunch and loyal supporter of the Republi-
can party and its platform, and has done
much in a quiet way to mould sentiment in
the channels of that "grand old party." His
study of economic questions and matters of
public polity has been so close, practical and
comprehensive that his .judgment is relied
on in those circles where the material prog-
ress of the state is centered, as well as among
those who guide the destinies of the common-
wealth.
In September. 1889, Mr. Hoffmann led to
the altar Miss Emily Baur, a daughter of
Antone Baur, an early German settler in
Franklin county. To the union of Mr. and
Mrs. Hoffmann have been born five children,
as follows: Clara. August, Jr., Marie, Doro-
thy and Emily.
Mr. Hoffmann's genial, optimistic disposi-
tion craves pleasant companions, and these
he obtains through his membership with the
old-time organization. the Kni-lit^ of
Pythias. All of the friends of Mr. Hoffmann
will agree that he is one of the best balanced,
most even and self-masterful of men, and he
has acted his part well in both public and
private life.
Lewis Befundy LeRoy, who all his life
since leaving school has been identified with
the cooperage business, has achieved success
by reason of his knowledge of the business in
which he is engaged and also because of his
own personality. He has religiously avoided
mixing in factions ; he has lent his ear to no
plots ; listened to no scandal ; carried no bad
news; gloried in no man's do^vnfall; and the
result is the man as he is today — the efficient
manager of the LeRoy and Danby Cooperage
Company, Proctor, Arkansas, but formerly
connected with the business life of Caruthers-
ville.
The birth of Mr. LeRoy oecm-red on the
13th of June, 1873, at Brighton, Livingston
county, Michigan. He is a son of James Le-
Roy and his wife, Ada (Wright) LeRoy,
both of whom were natives of the state of
New York, where the father was born in the
year 1827 and the mother in 1838. Soon after
their marriage, in 1852, the young couple mi-
grated to Michigan and there remained for
the residue of their days. Mr. James Le-
Roy was engaged as a sailor, and his demise
occurred in December, 1891, at Linwood,
Bay countj', and he is there buried beside his
wife, who had been summoned to her last rest
in 1884, in the month of November. Mr. and
Mrs. LeRoy had a family of nine children,
two of whom died in infancy. The names of
the living are : Jerry, residing at Cleveland,
Ohio; Mary; Rose; Alta; Lafy, born June
19, 1867, married Fanny Cora, and is now
living in Detroit, Michigan ; Lewis, whose
name initiates this biography; and Grace.
Lewis B. LeRoy obtained his education in
the Linwood public schools, and then com-
menced to work in the cooperage business in
that town. He later went to Saginaw, where
he spent two years; thence to Gaylord; from
there to Maneelona, Michigan, for a coiiple of
years ; and in the spring of 1896 he went to
Gladstone. Michigan, where ho likewise re-
mained two years. From Gladstone he went
to Iron River, and after a year's residence
there he went into the state of Ohio, where
he worked successively at Coldwater, Ashta-
HISTORY OF SOUTHEAST MISSOURI
1147
bula, Wooster, Spencer aud then Ashtabula
again, all this time for one companj-. In
1905 he went to JMound City, Illinois, where
he remained some three .years, and toward
the close of December, 1908, he located in
Caruthersville, Missouri, where he was the
founder of the Caruthersville Cooperage
Companj-. During the first two and a half
years of its existence this corporation was a
co-partnership concern, Mr. LeRoy's partner
having been a Mr. Danby, of i\lt. Clemens,
Michigan. Mr. LeRoy superintended the
erection of its buildings, situated on the river
bank, in the northwest part of the town. In
recent years these gentlemen started a plant
at Proctor, Arkansas, under the name of the
LeRoy and Danby Cooperage Compan3',
manufacturers of elm hoops, and of which
Lewis B. LeRo.y is the manager.
On Christmas eve of 1895, while living in
Mancelona. Michigan, Mr. LeRoy was mar-
ried to Miss Ida Sherman Dugalls, the
adopted daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Dugalls,
of that town. Mr. and IMrs. LeRoy have one
daughter, Gladys May.
The major portion of Mr. LeRoj-'s atten-
tion is devoted to his business; he is a Re-
publican in politics, but he has never evinced
any desire for public ofSce. He holds mem-
bership iu the Protected Home Circle. Dur-
ing the few years of his residence in Caru-
thersville he made hosts of friends, who re-
spected his character and esteemed his per-
sonalit\'.
Oliver E. Henslet, M. D. During a
number of years past Dr. Oliver E. Hensley
has been engaged in the practice of medicine
at Pevely, Llissouri, and he is accorded a
place among the leading representatives of
the profession in Jefferson county. He comes
of a family well known and highly regarded
hereabout, and he is bound to the section by
the strong ties of birth and life-long resi-
dence. Dr. Hensley was born October 7,
1874, at Pevely, Missouri. His father. Joel
M. Hensley, was born in St. Louis count j',
April 4, 1832. and there passed the first few
years of his life. As a child, in 18.39, he re-
moved to Sandy Valley, Jefferson county.
His father was Fleming Hensley, who located
in the early days in St. Louis county, near
the present town of King's Highway. In his
youth Joel Hensley taught .school and then,
following strong natural inclinations, he took
up his study for the ministry of the Baptist
church. He also engaged in agricultural pur-
suits and managed a farm in the county.
He passed the busy, strenuous life of the cir-
cuit riding minister, and throughout his life
conducted services in Jefferson, Franklin and
Saint Francois counties. As early as 1853
his name appeared on the records of Sandy
Baptist church as an active member, and he
was licensed to preach in December, 1867,
and ordained in January, 1869. He was an
able and earnest man, and his services were
marked by the grace and solemnity which it
is not within the ability of every minister to
bestow. Among his numei'ous charges were
the Baptist churches at Lebanon, Glade Cha-
pel, House Springs, Bethlehem. Swasher,
Hillsboro, Sulphur Springs, Festus and
Sandy. This worthy gentleman was married
September 24. 1856. to Miss Alice M. AY;1-
liams, a member of an old Virginia family,
and their offspring were seven in number,
five surviving at the present time, namely:
Alfred J., Felix A., Dr. Oliver E., Annie,
wife of J. H. Brown, and Murilla, wife of F.
J. Adams. The Rev. Mr. Hensley was called
to his reward while at Pevely. September 17,
1909, but the memory of his pleasant and up-
lifting personality and the influence of his
good deeds will not soon be lost. He was in
harmony with the policies and principles of
the Democratic party and was a member of
the Masonic lodge. His admirable wife sur-
vives, making her home upon the old farm
near Sandy.
The early education of Dr. Hensley was se-
cured in the public schools at Sandy and he
was graduated from its higher department at
the age of eighteen years. He attended the
Baptist College at Farmington for a short
time and then entered the Kirkville Normal
School, within whose portals he pursued his
studies for one year. His next step was to
teach school for two years, the scene of his
pedagogical endeavors being at Cedar Hill
and a school in the vicinity of Henrietta.
At the same time he devoted a share of his
energies to the great basic industry and while
thus engaged in some fashion found time also
to begin his professional studies. He com-
pleted his preparation for the practice of
medicine ■ at the IMarion Simms College,
where he finished in 1903, with the well-
earned degree of ]M. D. After his graduation
he came to Pevely and opened an office for
general practice, and here he is still located.
He is affiliated with those organizations tend-
ing to further the unity and progress of the
profession, namely: the Jefferson County
1148
HISTORY OF SOUTHEAST MISSOURI
and the Missouri State Medical Associations,
of the former of which he is secretary.
Dr. Hensley was married January 16,
1907, the young woman to become his wife
being Lillian M. Bloecher, of St. Louis, Mis-
souri. They have no children. Their home
is a hospitable abode and the}' are identified
with the best activities of the community.
In addition to the excellent practice of Dr.
Hensle}' he also holds the office of county cor-
oner, to which he was elected in 1906. He
gives sympathy and support to the men and
measures of the Democratic party; is a con-
sistent member of the Baptist church; and
enjoys affiliation with a quartet of lodges —
the Masonic, the Knights of Pythias, the
Modern Woodmen of America and the Wood-
men of the World.
John W. II.vrbin. It has been the pleasant
experience of John W. Harbin to witness the
splendid progress and development of Stod-
dard county in the past thirty-five years, and
it is to the citizens of his energetic, enterpris-
ing, altruistic tj'pe that this same prosperity
is due. He has been an active factor in the
agricultural history of the section since 1873,
when he came here and took up land, his es-
tate being now one of the highly cultivated
and improved places, bearing little resem-
blance to the uncleared wilderness which he
encountered when he first came.
Mr. Harbin is a son of James Harbin, who
was born in 1818, in North Carolina and who.
like his son, the svibject, was a farmer by oc-
cupation. His family was of Scotch origin
and the parents of Prances Martin, whom
he married at about the age of twenty-one
years, were English by birth. ^liss Martin
was also born in North Carolina. After their
union the young couple continued to reside
in North Carolina for about two years and
then decided to move westward and seek their
fortunes in the new state of Indiana, of whose
advantages they had heard good report. They
had one child at that time — a son, Jesse.
They made the .journey in the primitive man-
ner of the day, by ox team, and finally lo-
cated in Greene county, southern Indiana,
about the year 1841. The father secured
about eighty acres of land, which he pro-
ceeded to clear and cultivate, receiving with
the passage of the years the assistance of his
sons. He prospered and there passed the re-
mainder of a happy and well ordered life,
being summoned to the eternal life in 1891.
His devoted wife survived him for a number
of years — until 1902, and with the exception
of a snort time spent in Indiana immedi-
ately after his death she made her home with
her sons until her own death. The surviv-
ing children of this worthy couple are as fol-
lows: George, residing in Stoddard county;
J. A., residing in Stoddard county; Charles,
a citizen of Dunklin county, Missouri ; Sadie,
who makes her home in the Iloosier state, at
Pleasantville ; the subject of this biograph-
ical review; and David, who makes his home
in Louisville, Kentuckj'. The father was a
good and public-spirited citizen, and was an
enthusiastic worker for the cause of the Meth-
odist Episcopal church and the promulgation
of all principles likely to improve the stand-
ing of society in general.
Mr. Harbin, the immediate subject of this
review, was born in Greene county, Indiana,
in 1847 (November 6), on his father's farm.
His educational experiences were those of the
usual "Hoosier Schoolboy" of his day and
generation, and its period was about three
months out of each year for about seven win-
ters. Before he had finished the district
school course the Civil war plunged the coun-
try into desolation and the school became a
thing of the past. Three older brothers of
the subject enlisted in the Northern army
and, although they all served nearly through-
out the period of the great conflict, none was
killed and there was a happy reunion after
Appomattox. The greater part of the labor
of cultivating the farm fell upon the shoul-
ders of young John W., the younger brothers
being too small to be of much assistance. He
continued upon the paternal homestead until
the age of twenty -six years, then taking the
step which made him a citizen of Stoddard
county.
The estate upon which IMr. Harbin now re-
sides was all heavy timber when he took up
his residence upon it in 1873. He had but
forty acres at first and for this he paid tlie
modest sum of five dollars an acre. Upon it
was one tiny cabin in which he kept bachelor
hall for two months and then went back to
Sullivan county, Indiana, to "get himself n
wife." The name of this young woman was
Lina Enochs, and the date of their union was
February 15, 1874. Mrs. Harbin's parents
were James and Margaret (Hinkle) Enochs,
pioneer residents of Indiana, and their daugh-
ter was born in 1850. in Sullivan county. The
newly married couple settled on their little
Missouri farm and straightway engaged in
the many labors necessary to its improve-
7r^ //^^^/^^^^
HISTORY OF SOUTHEAST JIISSOURI
1149
ment, and their thrift and good management
met with prosperity. Unfortuntely the ad-
mirable wife and helpmeet was not permitted
long to enjoy the easier days, for she died in
Ibbo. Their living children are as follows:
Albert, general manager of a mercantile
house in Arizona; Hally, residing at Acorn
Kidge, Stoddard count}-; and Lina, who
makes her home with her brother Albert, at
Wenslo, Arizona. The subject was a second
time married, on November 15, 1889, JMiss
Dona Steward becoming his wife. Mrs. Har-
bin was reared in Stoddard county, and her
parents came from Tennessee among the early
settlers. She was born March 30, 1869. :Mr.
and Mrs. Harbin share their pleasant home
with the following children: Sherman, who
married Miss Ada Wilkinson, and lives on
their farm near Acorn Ridge, formerly the
William Wilkinson farm; Mabel, Willie,
Marie, Theodore, Aimer and Merl, all of
whom are at home.
The Harbin homestead has a comfortable
and commodious eight-room house, and the
modern barn is fifty-six by sixty feet in di-
mensions. The subject is an extensive land-
holder, the main estate consisting of two hun-
dred acres. Of this all but fifteen acres are
under cultivation and the one-time farm
which had to be reclaimed from the woods is
a highly improved estate, fine fences being
one of its advantages.
^Ir. Harbin has the distinction of having
been the only man in Asherville in 1874 who
voted the Republican ticket, but times have
changed since then. He is a member of the
Methodist Episcopal church of Puxico and
one of its officers. His fraternal affilations
are with the Woodmen of the World. Beech
Camp, No. 300, and the Independent Order
of Odd Fellows, Puxico Lodge, No. 625, of
Puxico.
Thomas C. Allen, M. D. For the past
decade Dr. Thomas C. Allen has been en-
gaged in the practice of medicine at Bernie,
in Stoddard county, Missouri, and the years
have told the story of a successful career due
to the possession of innate talent and ac-
quired ability along the line of one of the
most important professions to which man
may devote his energies, — the alleviation of
pain and suffering and the restoration of
health, which is man's most cherished and
priceless possession. This is an age of prog-
ress in all lines of achievement and Dr. Allen
has kept abreast of the advancement that
has revolutionized methods of medical and
surgical practice, rendering the efforts of
physicians of much more avail in warding
off the inroads of disease than they were even
at the time when he entered upon his profes-
sional careei-.
A native of this state. Dr. Thomas C. Allen
was born in Cape Girardeau county, Mis-
souri, the date of his birth being the 1st of
March, 1872, and he is a son of Jacob M. and
Elizabeth (Linek) Allen, the latter of whom
was summoned to the life eternal in the year
1892 and the former of whom is now living,
at an advanced age, at Advance, Missouri.
The father was born at Okawville, Illinois,
from whence he accompanied his parents on
their removal to Cape Girardeau county, Mis-
souri, in the year 1845. He became a rail-
road engineer after attaining to his le-
gal majority and for a number of
years was engaged in that line of work.
The maternal great-grandfather of Dr.
Allen was a member of a Holland settle-
ment in North Carolina, where the Linck
family was founded in the early colonial
days. In that state John Linck, grandfather
of the Doctor, was born, the date of his na-
tivity having been 1795. As a young man he
was united in marriage to Miss Catherine
Keepers, and in 1830 they set out on the long
and arduous overland trip to Missouri, lo-
cating in Cape Girardeau county, where he
became the owner of an estate of fourteen
hundred acres. Members of the Linck family
have achieved prominence in Missouri, the
noted architect of that name in St. Louis and
Mr. Linck. president of the Kirksville, Mis-
souri, Bank, being descendants of the old
North Carolina family. Mr. and Mrs. Jacob
]M. Allen became the parents of four chil-
dren, of whom the Doctor was the last in or-
der of birth and of whom three are living, in
1911.
Dr. Thomas C. Allen was reared to ma-
turity in Cape Girardeau county and his pre-
liminary educational training consisted of
siich advantages as were afforded in the pub-
lic schools of the village of Cape Girardeau
and Millerville. He also attended the State
Normal school at Cape Girardeau for two
.vears, graduating in the elementary course
in 1891. At the age of fourteen years he
entered upon an apprenticeship at the prin-
ter's trade. He set type at a number of
Southeastern Missouri points and during the
years 1893-94 he was owner of the Marble
Hill, Missouri, Press, and in 1895 and 1896
1150
HISTORY OF SOUTHEAST :MISS0URI
was the owner of the Tan Bureu Current Lo-
cal, in conuection with the publication of
which paper he took a prominent part in the
Bryan campaign of '96. Eventually becom-
ing interested in the medical profession, he
was matriculated as a student in Barnes Uni-
versity, at St. Louis, in 1897. and in 1901 he
was graduated in that excellent institution
with the degree of Doctor of ^Medicine, with
highest honors in his class. Immediately after
graduation he initiated the active practice
of his profession at Bernie, where he has suc-
ceeded in building up a large and representa-
tive patronage and where he is recognized as
one of the leading physicians and surgeons
of Stoddard county. Dr. Allen is deeply in-
terested in the educational department of his
profession and in that connection has con-
tributed a number of important papers to the
State and County Medical Societies. At the
present time, in 1911, he is a member of the
medical faculty of Barnes University. For
two days each month he goes to St. Louis,
where he lectures on hygiene and sanitary sci-
ence. Dr. Allen is a valued and appreciative
member of the Stoddard County Medical So-
ciety, the Missouri State Medical Society, the
Southeastern Missouri Medical Societ.y and
the American Medical Association. He is
ex-president of the Stoddard IMedical So-
ciety, is a member of the judicial council of
the Missouri State Medical Association and is
president of the Southeastern Missouri
Medical Society. The last-mentioned organi-
zation was established in 1877 and is an in-
dependent association which meets twice a
year.
In his political proclivities Dr. Allen is a
Democrat with Prohibition tendencies. In
1909 he was elected mayor of Bernie and
since 1907 has been president of the local
board of education. In a fraternal way he
is a repi-esentative of the Grand Lodge of the
Independent Order of Odd Fellows of IMis-
souri. He and his wife are connected with
the Daughters of Rebekah and in their re-
ligious faith are consistent members of the
Church of the Disciples at Bernie. They are
liberal contributors to all charitable and
benevolent work in their home community
and are exceedingly popular in all classes of
society.
Dr. Allen married in August, 1892, Miss
Mary L. Matthews, of Marquand, Missouri,
who died in December of the same year. Her
father was William Mathews, a merchant of
Marquand, and her mother was the daughter
of Josiah M. Anthony, a pioneer of Madison
county.
At Marble Hill, in the year 1893, was sol-
emnized the marriage of Dr. Allen to Miss
Florence Frj-mire, who was reared aud edu-
cated at Marble Hill, in Bollinger county,
ilissouri, and who is a daughter of Jasper
P'rymire, a native of the state of Indiana.
Jasper Frymire traces his ancestry back to
sterling German stock and he came "to Marble
Hill, Jlissouri, in the year 1868. There he
has served as sheriff and as probate judge,
and in all matters of public import has mani-
fested a deep and sincere interest. Dr. and
Mrs. Allen are the parents of one son. Claude
Harold, whose natal day was the 3rd of No-
vember, 1897, and who is now attending
school at Bernie.
Jacob J. Fr.\nk. A conspicuous and in-
fluential figure in the commercial circle of
Poplar Bluff is J. J. Frank, president, treas-
urer and general manager of the Frank
Livery and Undertaking Company, incor-
porated at $15,000. This is the largest in-
stitution of the kind in Southeastern 3Iis-
souri and has been established chiefly by the
able president of the business.
ilr. Frank was born in Macoupin county,
Illinois, in 1858. He grew up on a farm and
attended the high school until he was twenty-
one years of age, after which he spent twen-
ty-five years in the livery business. This has
practically been the work at which ilr. Frank
has spent his life thus far, as there have been
but three years since he began it in 1885,
that he has not been engaged in it.
Before coming to Poplar Bluff Mr. Frank
had spent one year in California, and after
he had been there some time he came to
Poplar Bluff, IMissouri, where he farmed as
well as conducted his livery. The largest
undertaking establishment in town was
formerly that of Mr. George Bagley. This
;Mr. Frank bought in 1910, on July 1, and the
following year rebought the livery, so he is
now the proprietor of an establishment more
extensive than can be found outside of the
large cities. The State Bank of Poplar Bluff
numbers Mr. Frank among its directoi-s, and
his realtj^ holdings include a store building
in the business section.
Mr. Frank's family consists of his wife,
Kathrina M. Turner Frank, and two sons,
Walter L., who is studying medicine at the
HISTORY OF SOUTHEAST MISSOURI
1151
University of St. Louis, aud J. Veruon, now
at home. "Walter is secretary of the company
of which his father is i^resident.
Politically Mr. Frank is a Republican, but
he has never been in the least attracted to
public life and has always refused to con-
sider holding any office. Pie is none the less
one deeply interested in the civic questions
of the time and eager to promote the ad-
vancement of the community in all possible
ways.
In the fraternal orders ^Mr. Frank holds
membership in the Elks aud in the iloose
lodges, besides being a ilasou and member
of the Chapter. He is highly regarded in
these organizations and has been tendered
various offices in them, but has declined to
accept.
Joseph Tuttel, engaged in agricultural
and stock-raising enterprises in Stoddard
county, Missouri, is one of the most energetic,
enterprising and successful bvTsiness men of
this section of the state. He has been iden-
tified with the great land aud farming in-
terests of ilissouri since early manhood and
it seems that he has always possessed an
"open sesame" to unlock the doors of success
in the various enterprises in which he has
been involved. He is recognized as one of
the great land barons of Southeastern ]Mis-
souri, where he is the owner of some fourteen
hundred acres of fine land, a great deal of
which is under cultivation. Diligent in bus-
iness affairs, Mr. Tuttel has carved out a fine
success for himself, and in public life he has
ever manifested a deep and sincere interest
in all matters affecting the general welfare.
A native of Jackson county, Illinois,
Joseph Tuttel was boi-n on the 31st of August,
1861, and he is a son of Alanson and Susie
("Worthing) Tuttel, the former a native of
Illinois and the latter a native of Kentucky,
ilr. and Mrs. Alanson Tuttel were married
in Illinois and in 1872 they immigrated, with
their children, to Missouri, locating first in
Dunklin count}', not far from the present
home of their son of this review. Titles
to land in Dunklin county being doubtful,
Alanson Tuttel decided not to improve a
farm only to lose it and so I'emoved to Stod-
dard county, where he began to cultivate a
farm in the vicinity of Bernie. This place
proved too wet for successful cultivation and
so he gave it up and rented for a number of
years. He died in the latter '80s. aged
eighty-seven years, in the home of his son
Joseph, his cherished aud devoted wife hav-
ing passed away in 1876.
The second in order of birth in a family
of ten children, Joseph Tuttel was reared to
the age of ten years in Illinois and after
his parents' removal to ^Missouri he availed
himself of the advantages afforded in the
public schools of Dunklin aud Stoddard
counties. He remained at home with his
father, helping him in the work aud manage-
ment of his farms, until he had reached the
age of twenty-four years, at which time he
was married. After that event he pur-
chased a tract of one hundred and twenty
acres of land in Stoddard county, near Ber-
nie, paying for the same nine dollars per
acre. This land was practically unimproved,
but about one-half cleared, and the buildings
and fence on the place were in very poor con-
dition. He paid two hundred and fifty dol-
lars down and began farming operations
with a couple of mules and a few cattle.
"With the passage of time he paid off his in-
debtedness and he now has his entire tract
in a high state of cultivation. Subsequently
he added one hundred and sixty acres to the
original tract and he now has a farm of six
hundred and eighty acres, for which he has
paid from three dollars and a half to twenty-
five dollars per acre. Most of his land is on
high ground and it averages a value of sixty-
five to seventy-five dollars per acre. He has
erected fine, modern buildings on this estate
and devotes his attention principally to
diversified agriculture, making a great suc-
cess of cotton. At different times he has
raised considerable numbers of cattle and
hogs and has been successful. He is also
developing swamp lands, of which he owns
some six hundred acres, besides a couple of
smaller farms in Dunklin county, for which
he paid about eight dollars per acre. Of
this tract four hundred and thirty acres are
under cultivation. He has been a great
advocate of the drainage canal and he gives
his support to all measures and enterprises
tending to advance progress and improve-
ment in this section of the state.
Xear Alton. Missouri, in the year 1885,
was solemnized the marriage of Mr. Tuttel
to iliss Emma Edmonds, whose birth oc-
curred in Henr.y count.v, Tennessee, January
29, 1868, but who was reared and educated
in Southeastern ^lissouri. To this union
have been born the following children, —
JMartha. the wife of Reuben Poplin, a farmer ;
Clarence married Ethel Feuwick and re-
1152
HISTORY OF SOUTHEAST MISSOURI
mains on the home farm, and they have two
children, Viola and Leota ; ilay is the wife
of Ray Blade, who is farming on a part of
ilr. Tuttel's extensive estate, and they have
one son, Lester; Edna is the wife of Cleve
Crews, who is likewise engaged in farming
on Mr. Tuttel's estate, and they have one
child, Lloj'd; and Earl, Lola, Lester, Reba
and Ruby, all remain at the parental home.
In their religious adhereney the Tuttel fam-
il.V are devout members of the Christian
church, in whose faith they are rearing their
children.
While never an active participant in local
politics, ilr. Tuttel gives an uncompromising
allegiance to the principles and policies pro-
mulgated by the Republican party. He is
deeply and sincerely interested in community
affairs but devotes most of his attention to his
multifarious business interests, which have
assumed such gigantic proportions.
William A. Spence. Few citizens of this
county can lay claim to such a record of
public service as can William A. Spence.
His work in office has always been character-
ized by conscientious and intelligent effort to
serve the best interests of the community and
his fellow townsmen have shown their appre-
ciation of his unusual ciualities by repeatedly
choosing him to fill posts of responsibility.
This is a time which demands much of the
men, from the least to the greatest, who
carry on the business of the Government.
And there is nothing so much needed now as
incorruptible public servants. We are ac-
customed to thinking of the city as the
stronghold of politics, but the real strength
of our country is still in the rural popula-
tion and in the towns of the agricultural
regions. If the youth of our land are ac-
customed to integrity in the work of those
under whom they have grown up they will
not easily fall a pre.v to the spirit of graft
even when they are sub.iected to temptations.
The admirable public records of ^Missouri's
many statesmen who were bred on the farm
and in the small towns are witnesses of the
influence of such environment. In I\Ir.
Spence. Butler county has a holder of public
office whose life contributes to the honor of
the general body of public servants.
fiercer county. Illinois, was Mr. Spence 's
birthplace. When he was four years old his
family moved to a farm in Butler county.
His father, James M. Spence. was a native
of Illinois, a farmer and dealer in real estate.
Martha J. Turner Spence, his wife, was a
Kentuckian. Both of them are buried in
this county. William Spence received his
education in the county schools and in the
Poplar Bluff seminary, besides attending the
Catholic schools in Cape Girardeau for two
years.
The public career of Mr. Spence began in
1870, when he was elected county clerk. He
spent four years in this office and was then
chosen postmaster, holding that office from
1875 to 1882. For the next eight years he
was in the real estate and abstract business,
which he left in 1890 to serve again as post-
master. While I\Ir. Spence was in charge of
the office the business increased three hun-
dred percent. His official tenure continued
four years and two mouths. From 1894
until 1898 he filled the position of county
clerk and in 1899 was elected city clerk, an
office which he has held continuously since
then except for one year.
Two daughters Emma and Mary Spence
and Mrs. Mattie Steele are still in their
parents' home, while one other, Susie il., has
gone to a household of her own. She is Mrs.
Clifford Douthit, of Texas. Mrs. Mattie Steele
is the widow of L. S. Steele. The only son
is an electrician and is unmarried, ilrs.
Spence, the mother of this family, was be-
fore her marriage, in 1884, ^liss Emma Wil-
liamson. She was an earnest worker in the
Baptist church where she was numbered
among the interested members. Her death
occurred November 5, 1908. ]\Ir. Spence is
a member and treasurer of the church and
a liberal supporter of all its activities. He
is also deeply interested in educational mat-
ters and has been school director for nine
years. He is connected with the lodges of
the Royal Arcanum and the Independent
Order of Odd Fellows.
Samuel T. Thompson. Born in Ruther-
ford county, Tennessee, in 1840, Samuel
Thompson grew up on his father's farm and
attended the subscription schools of the
county until the outbreak of the Civil war.
He was one of those whose convictions are
strong enough to prompt them to risk life to
defend their ideals, and so he enlisted, fii-st
in Douglass' Battalion under Captain Bark-
ley and then with Jack Lytle, serving three
j'ears in the ranks. After the war, Mr.
Thompson resumed the occupation of farm-
ing, first in Tennessee and in 1881 in Butler
countv, ilissouri. He continued to follow
HISTORY OP SOUTHEAST .^IISSOURI
1153
the pursuit to which he was horu until 1885.
At that date Mr. Thompson entered the em-
ploy of the Williams Cooperage Company and
remained with them for seven years. He
gave up this work temporarily to serve as city
collector in 1892, filling this post until 1895.
From that date until 1903 he did teaming in
Poplar Bluff and also worked for the Williams
Cooperage Company again. In 1903 ilr.
Thompson was again chosen city collector,
and is still holding that office.
Mary Pate was the first wife of Samuel
Thompson and the mother of his six children,
Alta, John, Jo, Nannie (deceased), Sam and
Andy. Her death occurred in 1882. Some
time later Sir. Thompson was united in wed-
lock to Mrs. Rachael Wilson, but this union
was quickly dissolved by the untimely death
of the wife, who lived only eighteen days after
the ceremony. He was married the third
time, to JMrs. Dickey, of this county. Mr.
and ilrs. Thompson are honored communi-
cants of the Christian church. He was
formerly affiliated with the Knights of Honor.
In politics he gives his support to the policies
of the Democratic party, of which he is a
loyal member. He has completed his three
score and ten years with the courage of a sol-
dier and the industry of a civilian and has
the warm regard of the community and their
hope that if by reason of strength his years
be four-score and ten. their strength may not
be labor and sorrow, as the psalmist spoke,
but filled with the renewed vigor of those who
live with all their might to the last of this
earthly life.
L. C. Cook, of Dunklin county, is a rep-
resentative citizen of the Southeastern Mis-
souri country. His individual experiences
are typical of the remarkable progress of the
country in general, and he has himself borne
a not unimportant share in the development
of this region to its present era of prosperity.
Born on a farm in middle Tennessee,
August 24, 1855, his father a Carolinian and
liis mother a Tennesseean, he came to Dunk-
lin county with his parents when he was nine
years old, and has thus been identified with
this county practically all his life and has
seen the country during all its stages of prog-
ress from a wilderness. Their first place of
settlement was a mile southwest of Senath,
where the home remained for three years,
then to a place a mile and a half northwest
of Senath, where they lived two or three
years, and finally at a place near Senath,
where the pai-ents spent their last days and
where Mr. Cook still resides, his home being
the old homestead, in the clearing of which
he helped his father when a boy. A very few
subscription schools in the country of that
period were the only sources of education,
and in the different localities where he lived
as a boy he had opportunity to attend such
a school a month or two each year.
Mr. Cook's homestead comprises the one
hundred and sixty acres which his father
bought very cheaply. When he was eighteen
he lost his mother, and his father died two
years later, leaving the farm to be divided
among the three heirs. By his industry and
economy and the business judgment which
have characterized his career, Mr. Cook was
enabled to purchase the interests of first one
heir and then the other, and for a number
of years has had the original home complete.
By his own labor he cleared thirteen acres,
and has one of the best kept farms in the vi-
cinity. His former residence was burned in
1910, and he replaced it with a comfortable
eight-room house. He has a good orchard,
barns, well kept fences, and every year raises
generous crops, mostly corn. When the family
first settled here the familiar pioneer condi-
tions obtained all over this region. They
went to mill either at Kennett, ten miles
away, or to Cotton Plant, eight miles, and as
horses were scarce oxen were the usual work
animals. In their household white flour was
used only on Sunday, and parched bran was
the substitute for coffee. In the primitive
schoolhouse which he attended he sat upon a
split log supported by two legs at each end,
this rude seat being called a "puncheon."
Perhaps no citizen of Southeastern Missouri
has a more vivid appreciation of the con-
trasts and changes that mark the present
from the earlier times than Mr. Cook. In
politics he has always been a Democrat.
When he was twentj'-six years old he
married Miss Mollie Johnson, of Dunklin
county. She died leaving one child, Melinda
E., who now lives in Arkansas. His second
marriage was with Miss Georgia Barnett, who
died eight years later. Their children were:
Bert, now attending normal school, and Ida,
at home.
Simpson Reed. Well kno^^^l throughout
the country as a stock man and also as a rep-
resentative farmer, of the self-made stamp.
1154
HISTORY OF SOUTHEAST MISSOURI
Siuipson Reed, of Stoddard county, Missoun.
is entitled to personal mention in this connec-
tion.
Mr. Reed is a native of Ai-kansas, and was
born on a farm November 9, 1S59. His lathe r.
Rev. Thomas Reed, a Methodist minister of the
frontier type, who was ordained in Arkansas,
was a native of Virginia but was reared in
Tennessee, where he received an education
above the average for his day and place.
Like most ministers of his denomination, he
moved about from place to place, being an
itinerant preacher. In Illinois he married
Miss Elizabeth Slaymacker, and for a num-
ber of years they made their home in Frank-
lin county, that state, where he farmed as
well as preached the gospel. Also he lived
on a farm in Arkansas. From Arkansas he
returned to Illinois when Simpson was three
years old, and there on a farm in Franklin
county the subject of our sketch was reared.
Until he was nineteen he worked on his fatli-
er's farm when not attending the district
school, and then for two years rented land in
that county. About the time he reached his
majority, with his brother, he came by wagon
to Stoddard county, Missouri, their first stop
being at what is now called Tilman. They
had no money, but they had youth and ambi-
tion, and the country looked good to them, so
they decided to try their fortunes here. The
first year they worked for Bob Overby, re-
ceiving as payment a part of the crop, and
the second year he and his brother rented
land, the profits of the crop being shared be-
tween them. The third year Simpson Reed
married, and his wife proved a helpmate in
the true sense of the word. He worked in
the field while she did her part in the house,
and it was not long before he bought a team,
and later he bought forty acres, a part of his
present place. Twenty acres of this land had
been cleared, and on it was a small house,
into which they moved. That was in 1888.
Since then he has bought adjoining land and
made substantial improvements on his home
farm, which now comprises one hundred and
forty-six acres, and in addition to this he
owns one hundred and twentj'-two acres near
by and has forty acres in Southern Illinois.
On his home farm he has made practically all
the fine improvements, a good, two-sto^>^ ten-
room house, and two barns, and under his per-
sonal management the place yields fair re-
turns for his labor expended. Some of lii-"-
money he has made in stock dealing. Each
vear he buvs and sells considerable stock, and
raises an average of from seventy -five to a
hundred or one hundred and fifty hogs, fort\-
to titty head of cattle, and from ten to fifteen
horses and mules. This stock business has
brought him in touch with men and markets
and has made him well known throughout
the country. He markets his stock at Easu
St. Louis.
On March 2, 1884, Simpson Reed and
jMary E. Adkins were married near Tilman,
and their home has been blessed by the pres-
ence of five children: Mellie, Oral, Bessie
(now the wife of William Hinkle), and
Aqudla, twins, and Versie, of whom only two,
Oral and Versie, are still with them, the
others being married and living in Stoddard
county, Mellie being the wife of George
Chapman.
The Reeds are members of the Methodist
church. South, in which they are active
workers, and Mr. Reed is also a Republican
and a member of the Independent Order of
Odd Fellows.
Eenest a. Green is a lawyer and the son of
a lawyer. His father, James F. Green, was
born in Missoui-i and was for years an at-
torney of note in Hillsboro, ^Missouri. When
he was elected circuit judge he moved to De-
Soto and practiced there for several years
and then, seeking a wider field, he moved to
St. Louis, where he is now living and practic-
ing his profession. Essie H. Tetley Green,
his wife and the mother of Ernest Green, is
also a native of this state.
The education of Ernest A. Green was ob-
tained in the public schools of DeSoto and
in the University of ilissouri. He graduated
from the law department of that institution in
1905 and in June of the same year came to
Poplar Blufi' and opened an office here. In a
short time he was recognized as one of the
able young attorneys of the district and the
community evidenced their appreciation of
his unusual abilities by electing him prosecut-
ing attorney two years after his arrival in
the city. He served in this capacity from
1907 until 1911 and fulfilled the duties of his
office to the satisfaction of the entire com-
munity. He was candidate of the Democratic
party for state representative at the last elec-
tion, but was defeated. The fact that he ran
far ahead of his ticket indicates not only his
pereonal popularity, but his efficiency and de-
votion to the interests of the community in
public office. He is at present practicing his
profession in Poplar Bluff.
HISTORY OF SOUTHEAST :\[ISSOURI
1155
In fraternal organizations ilr. Green is a
member of the ^Masonic lodge, No. 209. here
and also of Chapter, No. 114. He is an Elk,
having held all stations, and a Moose as well.
His church membership is in the Presbyterian
body, while that of his wife is in the Episcopal
church.
The marriage of Ernest Green to Miss ]\Iay
Wright took place in St. Louis, March 19,
1908. ]\Ii-s. Green was born in Little Rock,
A.rkansas, and later moved with her family
to St. Louis. She and "Sir. Green have one
daughter, Marjorie, born on St. Valentine's
day, 1909.
Alvin B. Pishee. a life long acquain-
tance with the lumber industry in its various
departments and strict application to busi-
ness have made JMr. Fisher remarkably suc-
cessful in his extensive enterprises in the mill-
ing end of this great trade. Alvin Fisher
was born in Miami county, Indiana, Septem-
ber 7, 1879. His father was a native of the
same state, being born in 1845. Alvin 's
mother. Louisa E. Shafer. was born in White
county. Indiana, in 1849. When Alvin was
three years old his parents moved to Fort
Scott, Kansas, where the father engaged in
the retail lumber business. Here Alvin
Fisher grew up attending the schools of the
town and assisting his father in his business.
In 1897 the family returned to Indiana, and
there ilr. Fisher and his son dealt in hard
wood, which they milled as well as sold in
the rough. Andrew Fisher died in Sullivan
county in January, 1901, after which Alvin
continued the business in his mother's in-
terest for three years. In 1904 ]Mr. Fisher
came to New Madrid and started his present
enterprise on a small scale. His mother is
still living at Idaville, Indiana.
As he has been able Mr. Fisher has grad-
ually increased his business. He now owns
saw mills here and two othei-s six miles east
of the town, also one in Calhoun county,
ilississippi. Another of his plants is a fin-
ishing factory at Cairo, Illinois, ilr. Fisher
deals chiefly in vehicle-wood, which he sells
at wholesale. He takes the material from the
stiunp and finishes it. Wlien he started seven
years ago he hired the sawing done, but now
he does everything for himself. The receipts
of his business are $150,000 yearly. This
eminent success has been attained by his own
hard work.
"Sir. Fisher is active in the fraternal organ-
izations of the country. He is a member of
the Red Men, the Modern Woodmen, the
Royal Neighbors and of the time-honored
^Masonic order, as well as of that of the Odd
Fellows. In politics he is a Republican.
In July, 1897, Mr. Fisher was united in
marriage to iMiss Emma G. Sheehan, of Fort
Scott, Kansas. Mrs. Fisher was born
October 30, 1879. Ethel Pauline, the only
child of this union, was born June 16, 1899.
In 1909 Mr. Fisher completed his residence
of nine rooms, which is one of the finest
homes in this part of the country. His con-
spicuous success in the seven years of his stay
in New Madrid is a commentary on both the
commercial advancement of the region and on
Mr. Fisher's expertness in the business he
has chosen.
Samuel Gardner came to Poplar Bliiff on
St. Valentine's day of 1886, and in the spring
of the same year was elected city marshal.
His efficient service so ' commended him to
the leading men of the town that he has been
in office almost continuously ever since. He
was not thirt.y-five when he arrived in the
town, as he was bom August 15, 1851, in
Hickman county. KentuckJ^ His parents
were Thomas and Julia Gardner, of whom
the former died in Kentucky and the latter
here in Poplar Bluff, ilr. Gardner attended
school in Clinton. Kentucky, and for seven
years after his father's death worked on the
"farm, taking care of his mother. It was at
the end of his seven years on the farm that
he moved to Missouri and began his work
for the city.
In 1888 Mr. Gardner was re-elected to the
office of city marshal and then sers'ed four
years as county sheriff, finishing that term
in 1893. Upon leaving the sheriff's office he
was elected city marshal again, without op-
position and at the request of the leading bus-
iness men of the town. He served in this
capacity until 1901. At present he is chief
of police, having been elected to that place
in the spring of 1911. He is eminently fitted
for the duties of this office, for in addition to
the long service as marshal, he had given
three years to the work of the service before
becoming chief of that branch.
After leaving the office of marshal in 1901
Mr. Gardner and ^Ir. W. G. Bort engaged in
the mercantile business together for ten years.
Mr. Gardner did not consider himself adapted
to this pursuit and was not particularly suc-
cessful in it. He owns two hundred and
eighty acres of land, half of which is cleared.
1156
HISTORY OF SOUTHEAST MISSOURI
Mr. Gardner does not farm this himself, but
rents it oiit.
The political policies which commend them-
selves to Jlr. Gardner are those for which the
Democratic party is sponsor, and he has ever
been a faithful adherent of the great party.
He is a Royal Jloose in his fraternal connec-
tions and was formerly a Knight of Pythias
and a Knight of Honor.
The marriage of Samuel Gardner occurred
October 15, 18S9, when he was united to Miss
Sadie Turner, of this county. Their union
has been blessed with five children who still
gladden the home circle. These are Nellie,
Ray and Roy, twins, Harold and Cleo. "Sir.
and Mrs. Gardner are members of the Chris-
tian church, where ilr. Gardner's work in
the Sunday school does much to increase the
power and influence of that body. His de-
voted service in public office, his fearless and
prompt performance of his every duty, com-
bined with his deep interest in all move-
ments for the betterment of the community
and his exemplary personal life make him one
of the most esteemed and popular officials of
the city.
Calvin L. Essart. Enterprising, ener-
getic and progressive, Calvin L. Essary occu-
pies a place of prominence and influence
among the leading citizens of Tyler, Pemiscot
county, and is now serving as postmaster, this
being his second term in that position. He
was born ]\Iarch 16, 1875. in Decatur count.y,
Tennessee, where his father, ]\lack Essary,
was a large land owner. Mack Essary mar-
ried Mary Ilennings. and they became the
parents of five children, namely: Green-
berry, a farmer in Scott county. Missouri, is
married and has a family; Wylie, also a
farmer in Scott county, is married: George,
engaged in agricviltural pursuits in the same
county ; Catherine, wife of N. C. Carvas, who
is engaged in fanning in Scott county; and
Calvin L.
Having acquired a practical knowledge of
agriculture on the home farm, Calvin L.
Essary came to Tyler, Pemiscot county, Mis-
souri, in 1902, and for two years had charge
of the farming interests of J. Wlieeler &
Company, the following year being overseer
for the Tyler Land & Timber Company. Mr.
Essary then assumed the management of a
mercantile establishment, and at the end of
four years became one of the organizers of
the firm of W. A. Green & Company, buying
about fifteen thousand dollars worth of its
stock. He has since been manager of the
firm's extensive interests, which are con-
stantly increasing under his wise supervision
of affairs. In ilay. 1910, he bought a tract
of land in section 10, township 16, and the
following December sold it at an advantage.
Mr. Essary was appointed postmaster at
Tyler and served in that capacity three years
and eleven months, and in the fall of 1911
was reappointed to the same responsible posi-
tion.
Mr. Essary married, November 12, 1902,
in Gibson county, Tennessee, Mallie C.
Holmes, and their only child. Helen, born
July 27, 1904, is attending school at Tyler.
Mr. Essary is engaged in the insurance bus-
iness to some extent, representing the Cen-
tral State Life Insurance Company of St.
Louis. He is an active member of the An-
cient, Free and Accepted Order of Masons,
in which he has taken the thirty-second de-
gree, and belongs to the Missouri Consistory,
No. 1, of St. Louis. He was formerly a mem-
ber of the Improved Order of Red ]\len, of
Tyler, which disbanded in 1911, and is now a
member of Lodge No. 1211, Benevolent and
Protective Order of Elks, of Bljiheville,
Arkansas. Mrs. Essary is a member of the
Christian church, in which she is a faithful
worker.
John E. Kennedy. It is the privilege of
John E. Kennedy to be one of the leading
merchants in the city where his father was
one of the first operators of a factory and to
continue to contribute to the economic
wealth and the industrial prosperity of the
town where his father worked for thirty
years.
John E. Kennedy is a son of James A. and
Mary Harris Kennedy. James A. Kennedy
was born in 1832, in Kentucky, near Mayfield.
He farmed and learned the cabinet maker's
trade by the old method of serving an appren-
ticeship, which he concluded at the age of
twenty-four. At the age of seventeen he left
Kentucky and came to Missouri, going first to
California, then to Ripley county and finall.y
in 1879 settling in Poplar Blufl:", which was his
home until he died, in 1909. During the war
he was captured at Fredericktown and piit in
prison in St. Louis. Wliile living in Poplar
Bluff Mr. Kennedy was engaged in cabinet
making and contracting. He was proprietor
of the furniture factory now owned by L. B.
Walker.
His wife was born near Libertvville, Mis-
HISTORY OP SOUTHEAST MISSOURI
1157
souri, and died in Frederiektown, in 1872.
She was the mother of seven children,
three of whom are now living. Nathan,
Mary and Anna died young. Elizabeth lived
to the age of forty-eight ; she had been
married to J. R. Jones, a former resident of
Poplar Bluff, now also deceased. . One daugh-
ter, Carrie, is living at El Dorado, Illinois.
She is married to Gentry Rollins. The other
two living members of that family are Wil-
liam J. Kennedy, who lives at Poplar Bluff
with his wife, AUie Everts Kennedy, and
John Edward, the subject of this review.
James Kennedy and his wife were members
of the ilethodist church. He belonged to the
Masonic fraternity and was a Democrat in
his political affiliation. His second wife was
the widow of George Wilkinson, whose
maiden name was Rebecca Jane Tripp. Her
marriage to ilr. Kennedy occurred in Madi-
son county. They became the parents of one
son, William J. Kennedy, who now lives at
Jlemphis, Tennessee.
John E. Kennedy was born on ]\Iarch 13,
1865. in Randolph county, Illinois. Until he
was eighteen he worked with his father both
on the farm and at the trade of cabinet-mak-
ing, attending school in Poplar Bluff.
From eighteen until twenty .years J\Ir. Ken-
nedy worked on the railroad and at other
employments and in 1885 went back to his
father's farm, twelve miles northwest of
Poplar Bluff. For a year he and his father
worked together at the carpenter business in
Poplar Bluff and environs and then John
went into the hardware store of Byrd Dun-
can, now president of the Bank of Poplar
Bluff. After a twelvemonth in ilr. Duncan 's
employ Mr. Kennedy accepted a position with
the Wright Dalton Hardware Company, re-
maining with them until he entered into a
partnership with ]\Ir. Ray, in 1893. The
firm name was Ray & Kennedy and they
handled furniture and hardware. Their
store was located on the present site of the
Lyceum Theatre. The partnership was dis-
solved in a short time and Mr. Kennedy re-
turned to the employ of the Wright Dalton
Company and remained with them until 1896.
He left them again at that time and moved to
Ash Hill, Missouri, where he conducted a
general merchandise store for two and a half
years. Returning to Poplar Bluff, he again
entered the establishment of the Wright Dal-
ton Company and has been here ever since.
The Company was incorporated in 1903, un-
der the name of the Wright Dalton Bell
Anchor Store Company, and is the largest
department store between St. Louis and Little
Rock. Mr. Kennedy is a director as well as
a stockholder in the concern.
In politics Mr. Kennedy's views are those
held by his father, who favored the policies
of the Democratic part. He was four years
city treasurer, administering the duties of
his office in a manner entirely satisfactory to
the community.
In 1892 occurred the marriage of Nannie
Kinney to John Kennedy. She lived but
twenty months after her marriage and her
child, Lela, died shortly after the mother's
demise. Her sister, Ella Kinney Wisehart,
is now the wife of John Kennedy, having be-
come Mrs. Kennedy in 1895. December 27,
1900, a son, Joseph A. Kennedy, was born.
The first husband of Mrs. Kennedy was Alfred
Wisehart. The church where she and Mr.
Kennedy worship is the Methodist, South, of
which they are both devout members. Mr.
Kennedy is a Knight of Pythias, an Odd Fel-
low, an Elk, a ^Moose and a member of the
Ancient Order of United Workmen.
William H. Johnson, who is now living
virtually retired on his fine farm of one hun-
dred and sixty acres located one mile west of
Bernie. has attained to the venerable age of
seventy-eight years and he has resided in this
section of Southeastern ilissouri for fully
two-score years. During his active career he
was engaged in diversified agriculture and
the raising of high-grade stock, and he still
gives a general supervision to his fine rural
estate. Mr. Johnson was born in Humphrey
county, Tennessee, the date of his nativity
being" the 16th of December, 1833. His
parents. .John and Susan (Lucas) Johnson,
were likewise born in Humphreys county,
Tennessee, and there the father lived and
died, his demise having occurred in the early
'60s. About the year 1866 the mother, with
a married daughter, came to Missouri, where
she passed the residue of her life. Her
daughter. Elizabeth, married Samuel Smith,
who came to Missouri in 1865, settling on
a farm ad.joining the present estate of the
subject of this review.
In the public schools of his native place
William H. Johnson received his preliminary
educational training and after reaching
man's estate he went to Mississippi, where he
learned the carpenter's trade and where he
was engaged in that line of work for a period
of thirteen years. At the time of the incep-
1158
HISTORY OF SOUTHEAST MISSOURI
tion of the Civil war he enlisted as a soldier
in the Twenty-first Mississippi Volunteer In-
fantry, Confederate army, serving under
Colonel Humphreys, in the command of Gen-
eral Barkstill. the latter of whom was killed
at the battle of Gettysburg, after which san-
guinary conflict Colonel Humphreys became
general in his place. Mr. Johnson's first
service was in the eastern army and with the
exception of the battle of Chickamauga his
entire military career was passed in Virginia.
He participated in all the heavy campaigns
of the Old Dominion and was present at Lee's
surrender at Appomattox on the 9th of April,
1865. He was wounded in his right shoulder
at Cold Harbor but after convalescing a few
weeks was back in the ranks as a private.
After the close of the war he returned to
Mississippi, where he was identified with tlie
work of his trade until 1869, coming to Mis-
souri in that year. He immediately rejoined
his sister and mother and after remaining in
Stoddard county a short time purchased a
tract of forty acres of land, for which he paid
five dollars per acre. Since clearing this
little farm ilr. Johnson has added to it until
he is now the owner of one hundred and sixty
acres of highly improved land. He paid two
and a half dollars per acre for most of his
land, all of which was heavily timbered ; he
received nothing for the timber but was
obliged to burn it. His principal crops have
been cotton, corn and wheat and he has also
given considerable attention to the breeding
of thoroughbred stock. He has figured prom-
inently in all improvements carried forward
in this part of the county and took an im-
portant part in the securing of wagon roads.
On his arrival in Stoddard county the nearest
market was Cape Girardeau and Mr. John-
son has watched the country grow from prac-
tically a wilderness, infested by bears and all
manner of wild animals, to one of the most
progressive regions of the entire southwest.
In earlier years he was a great hunter, shoot-
ing deer and wild turkey for the use of the
family.
In politics Mr. Johnson is aligned as a
stalwart in the ranks of the Democratic party
and while he has never manifested aught of
ambition for the honors of emoluments of
public office of any description he has ever
been on the qui vive to advance the best in-
terests of the community in which he has
so long maintained his home. He is not
formally connected with any religious organ-
ization Init has 1)een a liberal contributor
to the building funds of the various churches
in and about Bernie. For the past forty-
three years ilr. Johnson has been affiliated
with the time-honored Masonic order and for
a period of thirty-eight years he has been a
valued and appreciative member of Bernie
Lodge, No. 306, Independent Order of Odd
Fellows.
At Bernie, on May 25, 1873, was celebrated
the marriage of Mr. Johnson to Miss Clemen-
tine V. Smith, who was born in Humphreys
county, Tennessee, on the 13th of June, 1854,
and who is a daughter of John H. and Mary
Elizabeth (Osborn) Smith, both natives of
Davidson county, Tennessee. John II. Smith
was born on the 10th of July, 1819. and he
was summoned to eternal rest on the 6th of
March, 1873. Mrs. Smith was bom on the
18th of February, 1828, and died May 9,
1866. Their marriage was solemnized in
Tennessee, February 6, 1844, whence they
came to IMissouri in the fall of 1858. They
came to this state to get new, cheap land and
in 1859 located on a farm on the present site
of Bernie. Mr. Smith purchased a tract of
railroad land and got quite a farm started
prior to his death, which occurred before the
village of Bernie was platted out. His first
wife died in the year 1866 and subsequently
he married Mrs. Nancy E. Owens, nee Strawn,
a widow, who survived him for a number of
years. To the latter union were born three
children, one of whom, Paul H. Smith, resides
at Bernie. The others died in infancy. By
his first marriage Mr. Smith was the father
of the following children: Lucy S. is the
wife of W. T. Fonville, of Bernie ; Thompson
0. died January 15, 1876, at the age of thirty-
nine years ; Christopher C. died in childhood ;
Mary B. is the wife of James F. Higginbo-
tham, and they reside at Bernie ; Clementine
V. is the wife of Mr. William Johnson,
as previously noted; Terie E. died in child-
hood; Georgia Alice is the wife of Granville
Hefner, of Bell City, Missouri; John Ell-
dridge is engaged in farming operations near
Bernie ; Jefferson D. is likewise a farmer in
the vicinity of Bernie. Mr. and Mrs. John-
son have five children, — Robert L., of Bernie,
who is engaged in the saw-mill business; Al-
bert Sidney, engaged in the great basic in-
dustry of agriculture near Bernie, married
Anna Smith and they have one daughter.
Ruby Jewell ; Benjamin H., associated with
his father in the work and management of
the home farm; Millie F., who remains at
home, and "Winnie E., who is the wife of
HISTORY OF SOUTHEAST MISSOURI
1159
Elza Felker, of Bernie, aud they have one
son, Haskell Hale Felker.
Mr. and Mrs. Johnson have resided, the
former for about fortj'-four j'ears, the latter
for some titty-four years, in the immediate
vicinity of their present home.
John A. Hickmax. In all Stoddard county
it would be difficult to tind a man of more
diversified and important interests than John
A. Hickman, owner of Puxico's large de-
partment store, which carries on a business
approaching seventy-tive thousand dollars per
annum; president of the Bank of Fuxico, or-
ganized by him in 1898 and now incorporated
for twenty-five thousand dollars; owner of
large milling interests and one of the
county's large landholders. He has been
identified with Puxico since 1882 and has
contributed in most definite manner to its
growth and prosperitj', his splendid executive
ability and fine judgment being of the sort
which makes fine realities out of big ideas.
His fortunes have been bound up with those
of Puxico since September of the year men-
tioned and his thirty years' residence here
have seen the place grow from a hamlet to
a thriving municipality. It was the subject
who opened the first store here, when the
railroad right of waj' gave new importance
to the village newly laid out and named. He
built his store, a small frame edifice, aud with
a stock of six hundred dollars worth of goods
began his career as Puxico's first merchant.
He succeeded aud his business capacity has
more than kept pace with the town. The re-
quirements of his trade forced him into larger
quarters and in 1904 he entered his present
tine store, built the preceding year. This is
a two-story brick building, thirty-five by
ninety feet in dimension, and having a base-
ment half that large. This building is mod-
ern and substantial and was built at a cost
of eight thousand dollars. ]\Ir. Hickman oc-
cupies it all. He also deals in hardware, gro-
ceries and harness as a part of his large mer-
cantile business, but in a frame building thir-
ty-six by ninety feet, adjoining the new brick
structure, besides having two ample ware-
houses. He maintains a complete department
store, handling a little of everything, and a
great deal of most things, including dry
goods, groceries, men's clothing, boots and
shoes, undertakers' goods, hardware and ag-
ricultural implements. In short, his stock is
worth twenty-five thousand dollars, and his
annual Irasiness reaches a large fi^ire. ]\Ir.
Hickman also owns a grain elevator, with a
capacity of fifty thousand bushels annually,
and handles hay and the like. About three
miles east of Puxico he owns and operates a
saw, planing and shingle mill, and in this
concern alone employs twenty-five men in
addition to those who do piece work. In
these three thriving businesses ^Iv. Hickman
does a gross business of upwards of one hun-
dred thousand dollars annually, aud thus is
of inestimable benefit as an employer of men
and one who affords market for many things.
This is all the outgrowth of the original six
hundred dollars investment, for the subject
is a thoroughly self-made man, with no one
but himself to thank for his success.
Mr. Hickman, with others, organized the
Bank of Puxico, February 9, 1898, the insti-
tution having in the first place a capital of
ten thousand dollars, which in 1906 was in-
creased to twenty-five thousand dollars.
There is a surplus of twenty thousand dollars
and deposits amounting to eighty-five thou-
sand dollars. ^Ir. Hickman is more than half
owner of the bank and it is largely due to
his sound and well directed administrative
dealing that this monetary institution has
earned the general confidence it enjoys.
Mr. Hickman is the owner of two thousand
five hundred acres of the bottom land to
whose improvement so much attention has
been given lately in the way of drainage, and
of this vast tract about seven hundred acres
are under cultivation, much of this being un-
der his own supervision. It is largel.v devoted
to grain and hay, and a part of the land is in
the drainage district. He OAvns other town
property in addition to what has already been
mentioned, a store building being located in
the same block as the store and bank, and
this is occupied b.v a drug store, a grocery
store and the Bell Telephone offices upstairs.
Mr. Hickman also uses a portion of this build-
ing as an undertaking department. He
bought most of his land at a low price, vary-
ing from two dollars and a half an acre to
forty, and much of it is timbered, the result
of the clearing supplying his mill with mate-
rial. For seven years he maintained a branch
store at Leora, but sold this in 1897 to his
brother, W. H. Hickman, and W. F. Wliite,
who conducted it until about 1906, when Mr.
W. H. Hickman sold his interest to IMr.
Wliite. and is now associated with the Clark
Store Company, of Puxico. Jlr. Hickman,
some twenty years ago, incorporated, in asso-
ciation with ]\Ir. E. L. Hawks, the Puxico
1160
HISTORY OF SOUTHEAST MISSOURI
Milliug Compauy, and he retained his inter-
est iu this concei-n until about four years ago,
when, his business increasing rapidly in all
directions, he found it advisable to dispose
of some in order to give closer management
to the others.
John A. Hickman was born in Obion
county, Tennessee, April 25, 1858, and came
to Missouri in 1873, at the age of fifteen
years, in company with his parents, Smith
and Margaret (Glover) Hickman, both of
whom were natives of the state of Tennessee.
The father, who was a farmer, located with
his family some four miles south of Puxico
and east of the town of Asherville, and there
continued engaged in agricultural pursuits
until summoned to the Undiscovered Country
about ten years ago, at the age of sixty-one
years. The mother died, at the age of sixty-
six, several years later. This worthy couple
were the parents of eight children, equally
divided as to sons and daughters. The sub-
ject is the eldest and the others are as fol-
lows : J. ]\I., engaged in farming in Stoddard
county; T. S., Jr., a farmer in this county;
W. H., now engaged in the management of
the Clark Store Company; Parlee, wife of
Francis M. Williams, of Stoddard county;
Mollie, wife of John A. Hodge, of Stoddard
county; Minnie, wife of Matt P. Ligon, of
Stoddard county ; and Ida, wife of James Mc-
Coy.
Mr. Hickman has been twice married and
is the father of five children, two sons and
three daughters, one son having died at the
age of nineteen, and he has ten grandchil-
dren. His first wife, who died in 1895, was
formerlv Miss Emma Norrid, of this county.
On August 9, 1896, he married Miss Clara
Stapp, the present mistress of his household.
He whose name inaugurates this review is
a popular member of three lodges, these being
the Independent Order of Odd Fellows; the
Knights of the Maccabees; and the Modern
Woodmen of America. His interests are all
in Stoddard county and none is more loyal
to the general welfare of the section than he.
He gives heart and hand to the Democratic
party and is very active in county affairs, his
opinion being of profoundest weight in mat-
ters of public moment. IMr. Hickman served
a term as mayor of Puxico, in 1910.
C. A. RoBER,soN. As coi;nty superintendent
of schools of Butler county. Missouri, now in
his second term, C. A. Roberson, with his up-
to-date, progressive methods, has accom-
plished remarkable results in the line of work
in which he is engaged. Under his superin-
tendency the last log schoolhouse in the
county has given place to modern construc-
tion and equipment; parents have been
awakened to the educational needs of their
children; and teachers have been inspired to
do better work. Standing at the front in
educational activities in this locality, as he
does, a personal sketch of Mr. Roberson is of
interest in this connection, and is herewith
presented.
C. A. Roberson looks north to Indiana as
the place of his birth and the home of his
early childhood. It was in Crawford county,
that state, April 25, 1882, that he was born,
son of J. and ilary Roberson; and there he
spent the first thirteen years of his life. In
1895 the family moved south to Jlissouri and
took up their residence in the northern part
of Butler county, on Cane creek, sixteen miles
northwest of Poplar Bluff. Here his father
acquired title to a farm, a few acres of which
had been cleared, and which was the birth
place of Mr. Henry Turner, the well known
lumber man of Poplar Bluff. Subsequently
selling this farm, his father moved to a
smaller one near Poplar Bluff, where he still
lives. He has sei-ved as justice of the peace
and filled other offices, and is recognized as a
citizen of influence in the community. C. A.
Roberson passed his "teens" on his father's
farm, assisting with the work of clear-
ing and cultivating, and about four months
each year attending school in one of the
log schoolhouses equipped with rough benches.
His ambition was to teach school. He
diligently made the best of his opportuni-
ties, and at the age of nineteen he entered
one of the rural schools as teacher instead of
pupil. This was his stepping stone. He had
spent seven months in high school at Poplar
Bluff, and after he began teaching he alter-
nated teaching with attending summer school,
and in this way pursued both a normal and a
practical business course of study. He was
the first teacher in the county to receive sixty
dollars a month for his work. In 1909 he
was elected to the office of county superin-
tendent of schools, and in 1911 was re-elected.
During this comparatively brief period he has
been successful in accomplishing many things
that have contributed to the upbuilding of
the school interests in Butler county. Many
new school houses have been erected, the last
old log schoolhouse has been set aside as a
back number, and the children of the rural
HISTORY OF SOUTHEAST MISSOURI
1161
districts now have the advantage of modern
equipment in the schools. Seventy per cent
of the teachers employed in the county have
had normal school training, the patrons take
an enthusiastic interest in the schools, and
the attendance is increasing. Mr. Roberson
gives his entire time and attention to school
work, visiting each school in the county at
least once a year. He is a forceful and agree-
able speaker, and is rapidly coming to the
front among the educators of Southeastern
Missouri.
On Jlay 20, 1906, in Crawford county, In-
diana, C. A. Roberson and iliss Cordie K.
Myler were married, and the.y are the parents
of one child. Fraternallj' ilr. Roberson is
identified with the I. 0. 0. F. and the M. W.
of A.
Charles A. DeLisle. No history of the
business institutions or the growing impor-
tance of Portageville as a town could omit the
record of the DeLisle family, who have been
in this section so long and have been so in-
timately connected with every good work pro-
mulgated in the county as to be as firmly
established in the affection and esteem of the
community as the government itself. Charles
A. DeLisle, the immediate subject of this
review, was born in this county, September
16, 1877. the son of Edward and ilary (De-
Lisle) DeLisle, both of whom were natives
of New Madrid county. He is the gi-andson
of Eustace and Clemence DeLisle. of French
ancestry, who immigrated from the Dominion
of Canada and came to this country early in
the nineteenth century. Charles DeLisle was
born on his father's fann, located about five
miles notheast of Portageville. and after a
preliminary education in the public schools
of the county was sent to the state normal
school, located at Cape Girardeau, in which
place he was raised and lived for the fifteen
years preceding the year 1896. His father
had deemed it best to move his family to
that place so that his children might take
advantage of its educational opportunities.
Charles A. DeLisle after the completion of
his course at Cape Girardeau entered the
merchandise firm of his father. Besides his
connection with the DeLisle Supply Com-
pany Charles DeLisle is interested in the
Bank of Portageville. the DeLisle Lumber
Company, the Farmer's Bank, and the Pink-
ley Store Company. He is also the owner of
six hundred acres of most arable fann land,
which he lets to tenants to cultivate.
In 1909 ^Ir. DeLisle was united in mar-
riage to Miss Sarah ]\L Faherty, who was
born in Tipton. Missouri, in 1885. Mrs. De-
Lisle is the daughter of James E. and Helen
(O'Hara) Faherty. the former of whom was
born in Redbird, Illinois, in the year 1818,
and the latter of whom was bom in the same
place in 1851. Mr. and Mrs. DeLisle have
one child, Edward, born July 1, 1910. Both
are communicants in the Catholic church.
Fraternall.y ilr. DeLisle is affiliated with
the Woodmen of the World and the Modern
Woodmen of America, and he is a Knight of
Columbus. In the field of politics he may
be found beneath the standard of the Dem-
ocratic party.
Emmett C. Nickey, county surveyor and
highway engineer of Butler count.v. Missouri,
has proved himself both a competent and
popular official, fitted for the special work
he is doing, and doing it in a way to please
his constituents. Some personal mention of
him will be found of interest in this connec-
tion, and, briefly, the facts regarding his life
are as follows:
E. C. Nickey was born in Johnson county,
Indiana, March 11, 1882, son of Leander P.
and Addie (Lyman) Nickey, both natives of
the Hoosier state. Leander F. Nickey spent
most of his time in Missouri from 1879 to
1908. The first named .vear he landed in
Butler county and made settlement on a farm
about three miles north of Poplar Bluff. On
his arrival here he had one hundred dollars
in cash and very little besides, but with this
small capital he made good in a financial
way. He bought and sold and traded real
estate and other propert.v and had from time
to time various interests here, including a
meat market and grocery at Poplar Bluff.
Also for a time he operated a lumber mill.
He was active here, politically, and helped
to organize the Republican party in Butler
county. At this writing he is in western
Texas, operating a large stock farm. His
wife, Addie Nickey, died at Poplar Bluff
about twenty years ago. and their son. E. C.
Nickey. is now the only one of the family
left in Butler county.
At an early age E. C. Nicke.v showed an
inclination toward studies along the line of
civil engineering and as a boy accompanied
surveying parties engaged in field work.
After he had learned to handle engineering
instniments he decided to prepare himself
for expert work in this profession. Accord-
116-2
HISTORY OF SOUTHEAST MISSOURI
ingly he entered the Ohio Northern Univer-
sity, at Ada, Ohio, where he took a civil en-
gineering course. In 1904 he was elected
county surveyor of Butler county, on the Re-
publican ticket, and so efficient did he prove
himself in this capacity that four years later,
in 1908, he was re-elected to succeed himself.
He is the Republican candidate in 1912 for
re-election to the office of county surveyor,
and was re-appointed highway engineer in
February, 1912, this being his second re-
appointment. He is a member of the Benev-
olent and Protective Order of Elks, of Poplar
Bluff.
Mr. E. C. Nickey married at Poplar Bluff,
Missouri, February 14, 1905, Miss Bessie
Flanigan. daughter of Charles Flanigan, then
of this city. ]Mrs. Nickey is a native of
Boone county, Indiana, coming to Missouri
as a child and she was reared and educated in
this state. She is a member and treasurer of
the Rebekah lodge of Poplar BluflE.
]Mr. Nickey owns a fann of four hundred
acres, two miles north of Poplar Bluif, which
he operates as a stock and grain farm, giving
it his personal supervision. His chief time
and attention, however, are devoted to the
duties of his office, and there is probably no
man in the county better posted on lands and
highways than he.
Jonah DeLisle. An important member of
the DeLisle family with whose fortunes the
history of New Madrid county is so closely en-
twined is Jonah DeLisle, the present treas-
urer of the DeLisle Supply Company. He
is the grandson of Eustace and Clemence De-
Lisle, who immigrated from the Dominion
of Canada before the war of 1812, and whose
son, Edward, bom November 22, 1848. five
miles notheast of Portageville, in New ]\Iadrid
county, became the father and mother of
Jonah.
Edward DeLisle married his cousin. Miss
ilary DeLisle. who was also born within the
confines of New Madrid county, in the year
1853, and who passed to her eternal home
on June 14, 1904. Edward DeLisle passed
his early life amid the pleasant and health-
giving surroundings of the home farm, un-
til in 1870 he .joined his brother in a part-
nership and bought the general merchandise
stock of Dr. Haiwey. which establishment
has the honor to be one of the oldest in
Portageville. Four years later his brother
Umbra died, and Alphonse was admitted to
the partnership in his place, the business
being continued under the name of DeLisle
Brothers. The original investment was four
hundred dollars, and the success which at-
tended the enterprise can readily be seen
when it is recorded that the partnership was
capitalized in 1900 with a capital of twentj^
thousand dollars under the title of the De-
Lisle Store Company, and later, in 1906, re-
incorporated with a capital of thirty thou-
sand dollars as the DeLisle Supply Com-
pany.
Jonah DeLisle attended the district school,
and subsequentlj' attended the state normal
school at Cape Girardeau. Missouri. He
later obtained a business education by com-
pleting the course offered by the Bryant and
Stratton Business College at Saint Louis,
Missouri, in June, 1905.
After his return from Saint Louis Jonah
DeLisle went into business with his uncle
and father, and later became the treasurer
of the establishment whose history is re-
corded in a preceding paragraph, an incor-
porated mercantile company which has an
annual volume of business amounting to
about $125,000. He is also a stockholder in
the Portageville Bank, organized by his
father in 1903; the DeLisle Lumber and
Box Company; and the Pinkley Store Com-
pany.
In 1895 Miss Katie Bloomfield, a native of
New Madrid county, and the daughter of
James and ilary (Hill) Bloomfield, became
the bride of Jonah DeLisle. Her father was
bom on Erin's Isle but her mother was a
native of New ^Madrid. Four children, all
of whom are still at the parental home, were
the issue of this union, namely: Lloyd. Lil-
lian, Bernard and Elma.
Fraternally Mr. DeLisle belongs to the
Modem Woodmen of America, and he is a
Knight of Columbus. He and his wife are
members of the Catholic faith and are rais-
ing their children in the same.
Politicall.y the party of Jefferson, Jackson
and Cleveland claims the loyal support of
Mr. DeLisle, and he has served his party on
various committees. He has been an able
member of the Democratic central committee,
and also that of the court of appeals in
Saint Louis.
Captain Charles F. Hinrichs. Among
the venerable and highly esteemed citizens
whom Poplar Bluff has been called upon to
mourn within the past few years is Captain
Charles F. Hinrichs. a native of Germany,
HISTORY OF SOUTHEAST ]\IISSOURI
1163
who served liis adopted country bravely dur-
ing the Civil war and was aftenvards
equally as lo.yal in assisting in its develop-
ment and advancement. He was bom Feb-
ruary 5, 1828, in Warin, Mecklenburg-
Schwerin, Gennany. His parents, C. D.
and Louise ( Priest er) Hinrichs, came to
America at the instigation of their son,
Charles F.. in lSi7. locating in Cape Girar-
deau county, Jlissouri, where the father died
a short time later, the mother passing away
in 1861.
Brought up in the Fatherland, Charles F.
Hinrichs remained there until after attain-
ing his majority, securing a good education.
Subsequently a letter from the mayor of the
village in which he was born to the minister
of the province declaring that he was of age
permitted him to immigrate to America, and
after a voyage of thirteen weeks in a sailing
vessel he landed at Galveston. Texas, a
stranger, without means. Laboring hard, be
saved some money, and in 1847 he worked
his passage back to Germany, and on his re-
turn trip to this country brought his father
and mother to Cape Girardeau county, Mis-
souri. His father dying soon after, he be-
came the main support of his widowed mother
and her little family.
In 1861 ilr. Hinrichs enlisted in the state
militia, and the following year enlisted in
Company L, Tenth ^Missouri Cavalry, and
was mustered in as first lieutenant of his
company. In 1863 he was commissioned cap-
tain, and seiwed as such until the close of the
war, taking an active part in over sixty en-
gagements. He subsequently engaged in
mercantile pursuits, opening a country store
in Cape Girardeau county, but afterwards
removing to the southern part of Butler
county. He there engaged in shipping stock
from 1867 until 1879, making rapid finan-
cial progress in his operations. In 1879 his
house was entered by burglars, who killed his
nephew and stole all of his valuables, mate-
rially crippling him financially. He was
afterwards a resident of Poplar Bluff until
his death, September 15, 1910.
ilr. Hinrichs was well educated, a close
student of the Bible, and a prominent mem-
ber of the Seventh-day Adventist church.
He always retained a good knowledge of the
German language, speaking and writing it
correctly, and wa.s one of the best-informed
and clearest -thinking men of his time. A de-
vout. Christian, he held strictly to the teach-
ings of the Bible and made a close study and
research of its more obscure portions, espe-
cially the closing portions of The Revelation
of Saint John opening up its meaning to Mr.
Hinrichs in a distinct vision. He was dele-
gated to translate Luther's version of that
portion of the scripture into English for use
in his church, and his careful study of it led
him to conclusions at variance with many of
his fellow-churchmen, and with all superfi-
cial students. So inspired was he with the
importance of a true interpretation of the
real mission of Saint John and its far-reach-
ing influence upon the future that he wrote
his "Apocalypse Interpreted," a volume
showing keen research and great familiarity
with the Bible, and with other versions than
the one commonly used, setting foi"th his own
views with wonderful clearness, the interest
of the reader being retained from the begin-
ning to the end. No Bible student should
fail to read this remarkable exposition and
illumination of those grand visions and
prophecies. The Seventh Day Adventists'
Association of Battle Creek, Michigan, re-
quested Mr. Hinrichs to translate the last
half of the Revelation of Saint John for Rev.
Uriah Smith, editor and publisher of the Ad-
vent Review and Herald, and this led to his
other writings,
Mr, Hinrichs married, in 1861. Malinda
^Io.ye, who was born in Cape Girardeau
county, Missouri, and there died in 1879.
In 1880 he married for his second wife Belle
Cook, who survives him. He reared five chil-
dren, namely: Paul, who passed to the
higher life July 19, 1910, aged twenty-six
years; Charles F., living at home; Arvid, at
home ; Mary, wife of John A. Galvin ; and
Abraham Lincoln, living at home. Politic-
ally Mr. Hinrichs was a stanch Republican.
He was a valued member of the Grand Army
of the Republic and Captain C. F. Hinrichs
Post, of Poplar Bins', was named for him.
Russell L. Allen. The present efficient
and popular incumbent of the office of cash-
ier of the substantial monetary institution
known as the Bank of Bernie is Russell L.
Allen, who has long figured prominently in
public affairs in this city and who, in addi-
tion to his banking interests, is a member of
the legal fraternity of Missouri and is an or-
dained minister of the Christian church,
though he has never been active along either
of those lines. He is a man of splendid and
1164
HISTORY OF SOUTHEAST ^MISSOURI
vigorous mentality, is possessed of tremen-
dous energj' and in his present vocation, that
of banker, is reaping an admirable success.
Russell Lafayette Allen was born in Cape
Girardeau eount.v, ilissouri, the date of his
nativity being the 14th of April. 1868. He
is a son of Jacob ]\I. and Elizabeth (Link)
Allen, the former of whom was born at
Okawville. Illinois, and the latter of whom
was born in Cape Girardeau county, this
state. The mother was a representative of
the old North Carolina famil.v of the name
of Link, and her father. Daniel Link, was
born in 1795. He married Elenors Keepers,
of what is now Bollinger county. ^Missouri,
and there he and his wife passed the residue
of their lives. Jacob M. Allen was brought
to ^lissouri by his parents about the year
1850. In his early manhood he was a rail-
road engineer but later in life turned his at-
tention to milling enterprises. He has passed
most of his life in Cape Girardeau county,
but he now resides in Stoddard county. Mis-
souri, having reached the age of sixty-six
years, ilrs. Jacob il. Allen was summoned
to the life eternal in the year 1892. at which
time she was survived by three children.
Russell L. Allen was reared to the age of
fourteen years in Cape Girardeau county and
thereafter he attended school for a time at
Lutesville, in Bollinger county. Missouri. At
the age of twenty years he began to teach
school and he continued to teach and to at-
tend school until 1901. In 1894 he was grad-
uated in the State Normal School, at Cape
Girardeau, and thereafter he taught in Stod-
dard county. Mis-souri. He was principal of
a school at Dudley, in Stoddard county, for
three years, and for two years was principal
at Bernie. In 1899 he became clerk of pro-
bate court, serving in that capacity for a
period of two years under Judge Thomas
Connelly. He also taught in the Bloomfield
high school for one year and in 1901 became
interested in the organization of the Bernie
Bank. This reliable financial concern was
first incorporated under the laws of the state
of Missouri with a capital stock of ten thou-
sand dollars and later the capital was in-
creased to twenty thousand dollars. At the
present time, in 1911. the deposits amount
to sixty thousand dollars and the surplus
amounts to two thousand dollars. The bank
is officered as follows. — Dr. J. P. Riddle,
president ; J. L. Higginbotham. vice-presi-
dent; and R. L. Allen, cashier. The home of
the bank is in a modern, well equipped build-
ing and it is strictly a home enterprise.
In 1897 Mr. Allen began the study of law
and he was admitted to the bar of the state
in 1899, although he has never devoted any
time to the practice of that profession. He
has also pursued studies along theological
lines and in 1910 was ordained as a minister
in the Church of Christ, in which he is a
most ardent and zealous worker. In the Sun-
day-school of the church of that denomina-
tion at Bernie he has charge of the men's
class. He is deepl.y and sincerely interested
in all matters affecting the progress and de-
velopment of his home town and has ever ex-
erted his every effort to advance the general
welfare of this section of the state. In his
political convictions he is aligned as a stal-
wart in the ranks of the Democratic party,
in the local councils of which he has been a
most prominent figiire. having been selected
as a delegate to state conventions by the
unanimous choice of his fellow citizens. For
the past twenty-one years he has been affil-
iated with the time-honored Masonic order
and with the exception of one year has been
master of Bernie Lodge, No. 573, Free &
Accepted Masons, since the time it was first
chartered. He has also represented this or-
ganization in the Grand Lodge of the state.
Near Union, Missouri, in the year 1896,
on the 27th of May, was solemnized the
marriage of Mr. Allen to !Miss ]\Iary Eliza-
beth Crowe, who was born and reared in
Franklin county, Missouri. Jlr. and ^Irs.
Allen are the fond parents of one son. John
Mitchell, whose birth occurred on the 20th
of April. 1897. Mr. and ilrs. Allen are de-
cidedly popular and prominent in connec-
tion with the best social affairs of Bernie.
where their attractive and spacious home is
recognized as a center of refinement and
most generous hospitality. Mr. Allen is a
man of liberal views and broad human sym-
pathy and it ma.y be said concerning him
that the circle of his friends is coincident
with that of his acquaintances.
Emanuel Kinder. Successfully engaged
in diversified agriculture and the raising of
high-grade stock on a fine estate of two hun-
dred and forty acres near Sturdevant, Mis-
souri, Emanuel Kinder has long been known
as a prosperous and enterprising farmer — one
whose business methods demonstrate the
power of activity and honesty in the business
<-e^ V /^C<!^'^-' i^-io^
HISTORY OF SOUTHEAST MISSOURI
1165
woi-ld. His civic attitude has ever been cliar-
actenzed by mirmsic loyalty aua public spu'it
ana lie Has servea m a number oi public ol-
tices ot trust ana responsibility witu tlie ut-
most creait to bimseif and Uis constituents.
For a period ot tuirty years he was justice of
the peace m \v ayue township and tor four
years he was the popular and etncient incum-
bent of the omce ot postmaster at Sturdevant.
Emanuel Kinder was born in liollmger
county, Missouri, the date of his nativity be-
ing the 17th of June, 1810, and he is a son of
Israel S. and Sarah Kinder, both of whom
are now deceased. Mr. Kinder passed his
boyhood and youth on the old homestead
farm, in the work and management of which
he early began to assist his father. His early
educational training consisted of such advan-
tages as were afforded in the neighboring
schools of his native township and that disci-
pline has since been supplemented by exten-
sive reading and association with men and af-
fairs. In the '50s he inherited a tract of one
hundred and sixty acres of laud in "Wayne
township, Bollinger county, and for the en-
suing several years he was busily engaged in
developing the same. Eventually disposing
of that farm, in 1870 he purchased a tract of
one hundred and twenty acres in Wayne
township, a part of which he gave to one of
his sons, later selling the remainder to him.
He bought one hundred and sixty acres in
Wayne township but disposed of that farm
and later purchased an estate of two hundred
and forty acres, eligibly located in Wayne
township, adjoining the village of Sturdevant.
Mr. Kinder is engaged in general farming
and he also devotes a portion of bis time and
attention to stock-raising.
In his political proclivities Mr. Kinder is a
stanch advocate of the principles and policies
for which the Republican party stands spon-
sor. In 1874 he was honored by his fellow
citizens with election to the office of justice
of the peace of Wayne township, and with
the exception of eight years he has remained
in tenure thereof and is still serving. He
has also been postmaster of Sturdevant, serv-
ing in that capacity for four >ears. As a
young man he enlisted as a soldier in Com-
pany A, Seventy-ninth Missouri Cavalry, un-
der command of Captain Dawson, continuing
as a soldier in the Union army of the Civil
war for a period of nearly one year. He re-
tains a deep and abiding interest in his old
comrades in arms and signifies the same by
membership in the Post of the Grand Army
of the Republic at Zalma. In a fraternal
way he is affiliated with the time-honored Ma-
sonic order and his religious faith is in har-
mony with the teachings of the Baptist
church, to whose good works he is a liberal
contributor. He is a man of broad informa-
tion and deep human sympathy and he is ever
willing and anxious to lend a helping hand
to those less fortunately situated in life than
himself. His innate kindliness of spirit and
genial courtesy make him popular in all
classes of society and the list of his personal
friends is coincident with that of his acquain-
tances.
Mr. Kinder has been thrice married, his
first union having been to IMrs. Caroline Ladd,
nee Cato, of Bollinger county, ilissouri, the
ceremony having been performed in ]861.
Two daughters were born to this marriage,
but both are deceased. Mrs. Kinder was
called to the life eternal, January 21. 1864,
and on the 15th of May, 1865, Mr. Kinder
wedded Jliss jMatilda George, a daughter of
James and Jennie George, of Wayne town-
ship, Bollinger county. Concerning the four
children born to this union the following brief
data are here incorporated, — James R.. born
in 1866, married Cordelia Kinder, and they
reside on the home farm at Sturdevant, IMis-
souri ; Jesse, born in 1868, married Jane Wat-
kins, their home being at the same place:
Luther H. was born in 1872 and he married
Delia V. Fetters; and William R., born in
1888, married Iva Lay. Mr. Kinder 's second
wife died July 11, 1906, and on November 4,
1906, he married Samantha J. Sitz, whose
first husband was Abram Brantley, and they
had five children who grew to maturity.
Captaix Benjamin C. Jones, M. D., who
is also entitled to the tenu "Honorable."
having served two terms in the State Legis-
lature, has for upwards of two score years
been actively engaged in the practice of med-
icine at Poplar Bluff, Butler county, ]\Iis-
souri. where his professional knowledge and
skill have met with ample recognition. His
many years of varied practice have tended
to make his medical experience and profi-
ciency much above the average, and have
gained for him the confidence and respect of
a wide community. A son of Rev. Eli S.
Jones, he was born August 25, 1836, in May-
field, Graves county, Kentucky, of patriotic
stock, his grandfather, William Jones, who
spent his entire life in Virginia, having
served as a soldier in the Revolutionary war.
1166
HISTORY OF SOUTHEAST MISSOURI
Rev. Eli S. Jones was born in February,
1800, in Virginia, where he acquired his ele-
mentary education. Subsequently going to
Kentucky, he entered the theological depart-
ment of Transylvania University, at Lexing-
ton, where at that time Jefferson Davis was
a student in the law department. He had
previously been graduated from "William and
Mary College, in Virginia, and went to Lex-
ington, moving there at the solicitation of
Rev. Aaron Shelby, a kinsman of Governor
Shelby, of Virginia, to look after his inter-
ests. Being ordained to the Presbji:erian
ministry. Rev. Eli S. Jones first had charge
of a church in Kentucky, but later accepted
a pastorate in Tennessee, where, in 1844,
after holding a protracted camp meeting
service, he died of pneumonia, while yet in
manhood's prime.
Rev. Eli S. Jones married Mary Hubbard,
who was born in North Carolina. Her
father, Benjamin Hubbard, migrated from
North Carolina to Tennessee, and having lo-
cated in Obion county bought a large tract
of land, which included the present site of
Union City, and there improved a fine farm.
He and his brother enlisted as soldiers in the
war of 1812. and served under General Jack-
son at the battle of New Orleans. Mrs. ilary
(Hubbard) Jones subsequently married for
her second husband Mr. Charles M. Cunning-
ham, and died about 1854.
The second child of the parental house-
hold, Benjamin C. Jones remained with his
mother as long as she lived, completing the
coui-se of study in the district schools and
taking one term at the high school. Subse-
quently, b.y selling a horse given him by his
step-father, he secured means to advance his
studies at an academy, and later began the
study of medicine in the office of a local
physician. Lack of sufficient means causing
him to abandon his professional work. Dr.
Jones came to Stoddard county. Missouri, in
search of remunerative employment, and in
Bloomfield entered the store of Dr. R. P.
Perrimore as clerk, at the same time study-
ing medicine in his office and making love to
Dr. Perrimore 's daughter, whom he married
in 1860.
After the election of Abraham Lincoln as
president Dr. Perrimore, who was a loyal
Southerner, sent Dr. Jones to Gainesville,
Arkansas, with a part of his stock of general
merchandise, and aftenvards closed out the
Bloomfield, l\Iissouri, establishment. In Au-
gust, 1861, Dr. Jones closed the Gainesville
store, and offered his services to the Confed-
eracy, enlisting in a company that later be-
came a part of the Third Arkansas Battalion.
In April, 1862, Dr. Jones, then a hospital
stewai-d, under command of General Albert
Rust, was ordered to ilemphis, thence to
Shiloh to assist at the battle in progress, but
was too late, and was sent back to Corinth,
Mississippi, to join that division of Beaure-
gard's Army commanded by General Cabell,
who was under General Price He partici-
pated in the engagements at Corinth, at
luka and at Tupelo, Mississippi. Going
back to Corinth. Mississippi, in the fall of
1862, the steward, who had charge of the in-
firmarj' department, took part in the second
battle at that place. He subsequently was
at Port Hudson with his regiment for ten
months, and took part in the siege eon-
ducted by General N. P. Banks, which lasted
fifty-two days and nights, the firing ceas-
ing only under the flag of truce during that
time. On July 8, 1863, General Frank
Gardner, who had made a valiant defence,
surrendered the fort and reported a loss of
six hundred men, only, in killed and
wounded, while the Federal forces lost
eighteen thousand men. For three weeks
the Confederate soldiers had had neither
bread nor meat, and many were falling ill
when the surrender came.
Sent home on parole at the surrender.
Steward Jones was exchanged in the fall of
1863, and helped to organize a new com-
pany of cavalry, which was attached to the
Seventh Missouri Cavalry, and was chosen
by the men as its captain. He subsequently
did much scouting for General Jlarniaduke,
and at White River served under General
Joe Shelby, being constantly under fii-e un-
til the Price raid of 1864, w'hen Captain
Jones' company was attached to the Seventh
^Missouri Regiment, commanded by Colonel
S. G. Kitchen, and the Captain was given
charge of the post at Augusta and held it
for ten days, notwithstanding the Union
army had a large force at Devall's Bluff, a
short distance away. He afterwards partic-
ipated in the engagement at Pilot Knob,
scouting for General Price until reaching
Newtonia, Missouri, having skirmishes at
ITnion, Washington, Chemois, Jefferson City,
Glasgow, Booneville, Lexington, Little Blue,
Independence and Big Blue, then marching
on to Newtonia, Missouri, and en route, par-
ticipated in the battle at Jline Creek, Kan-
sas, where Captain Jones was slightly
HISTORY OF SOUTHEAST .^HSSOURI
1167
wounded. While in charge of a company
Captain Jones, while ascending a hill, cap-
tured two guns at Little Blue, while on the
above mentioned skirmishes. He continued
with his command on to the Indian Terri-
tory and Texas, meeting with many hard-
ships en route, when provisions became short
existing for twenty-six days on beef which
they obtained, eating it without bread or
salt. In February, 1865, the Captain
marched with his command to Fulton, where
with General McGruder. General Sol
Kitchen and thirty-two ranking officers he
was sent back to Jonesboro, Arkansas, oper-
ating along the Saint Francois river and
Crowley's Ridge, oftentimes coming in con-
tact with Federal soldiers from Bloomfield,
Missouri, his home town. His regiment, un-
der General Kitchen, surrendered at Wits-
berg, Arkansas, about June 1, 1865. The
Captain had a rather peculiar service
throughout the war, his regiment being so
far detached from the main Confederate
army, the four thousand men in the division
with which he was mostly connected hav-
ing been gathered together as one body, but
operating in three independent bodies. He
often made raids on the fort at Bloomfield,
and took many horses from the Federals.
He was twice slightly wounded, but received
no serious injuries, receiving one shot at
Mine Creek and having his clothing cut by
shot on four occasions, and two shots cut-
ting hairs from his horse, many of his es-
capes having been almost miraculous.
Returning home. Captain Jones studied
medicine at McDowell College and began the
practice of his profession with his father-in-
law. Dr. Perrimore, and in 1867 received '
the degree of ^l. D. In October, 1867 Dr.
Jones located at Poplar Bluff, where he has
since continued in active practice, having
built up an extensive and lucrative patron-
age.
Throughout his residence in Poplar Bluff
the Doctor has evinced an intelligent inter-
est in local affairs, and in 1890 was elected
mayor of the city, and served two years. In
1896 he was elected as representative to
the State Legislature on the Democratic
ticket, and there introduced and was in-
fluential in having passed the Drainage
Law, requiring the organization of drainage
districts. In 1898 he was re-elected to the
same responsible position, and in that ses-
sion revised the drainage law so as to make
it more effective. He also secured the pas-
sage through the House of the bill creating
the Confederate Soldiers' Home at Higgins-
ville, and when the home was completed he
was appointed by Governor Stephens as a
member of its Board of ilanagers and
served in that capacity for six years. Dr.
Jones was subsequently appointed by Gov-
ernor Folk one of the Board of ^Managers
of the State Hospital for the Insane at
Farmington, and served for two years, dur-
ing the erection of its buildings. Resigning
the position, he served as inspector under
the Pure Food and Drug act until 1909,
having control of the Southern Missouri
District, which extended to the Arkansas
line. An active and prominent member of
the Democratic party, the Doctor has been
a delegate to all state and congressional con-
ventions for thirty-five j^ears, and has been
a member of the county committee for forty
years.
Fraternally Dr. Jones was' made a ilason
in 1858, and was very active in the organ-
ization for thirtv-five years, helping to found
the Poplar Bluff Lodge, No. 209, A. F. &
A. I\L, in which he passed all the chairs, and
during the Civil war was prominent in the
Independent Order of Odd Fellows.
Dr. Jones married, in 1860, at Bloomfield,
Missouri, ilattie Perrimore, a daughter of
Dr. R. P. Perrimore. referred to above. Dr.
Perrimore sympathized with the South dur-
ing the Civil war, and soon after its out-
break he closed his Bloomfield store and
removed with his famil.y to Gainesville, Ar-
kansas, soon afterward enlisting in the Mis-
souri State Guards as a staff officer of Gen-
eral Jeff. Thompson. At the close of the
conflict Dr. Perrimore practised medicine
for quite a while, but afterwards became a
preacher in the Baptist church, and held
different pastorates, his last one having been
at Jonesboro, Arkansas, where his death oc-
curred in 1889 or 1890. Mrs. JIattie Jones
died at Poplar Bluff. Missouri, in 1888,
leaving two sons, namely: Walter, engaged
in mercantile business at Poplar Bluff, and
Charles, who died in 1908. The Doctor mar-
ried for his second wife, in 1892, at Poplar
Bluff, Susie Dukes, and they have one
daughter, ]\Iyrtle, a stenographer and typist,
living with her parents.
G. L. Roper. For many years conspicu-
ously identifled with the growth of Senath
and its material industries, G. L. Roper, a
leading lumber and shingle manufacturer
1168
HISTORY OF SOUTHEAST MISSOURI
dealer, has attained noteworthy success in
business through well directed endeavor,
and is eminently entitled to representation
in this work. He was born in Tipton coun-
ty, Tennessee, but while yet an infant was
taken by his parents to Arkansas, where,
when he was but six year old, his fatlier
died. His widowed mother returned with
her family to Tennessee and died within
six months. Left an orphan at that early
age the son had poor chances for an educa-
tion but developing the mechanical talent
with which he was so generously endowed
by nature he served a regular apprentice-
ship at the carpenter's trade when young,
and by study and practice so advanced his
artistic abilit.v that he became an expert
architect, drawing his own plans for use in
building and becoming a skilled artisan.
Seeking a favorable location, he came in
1890 to Dimklin county, having just at-
tained his ma.iorit.v, and for about three
years resided in Kennett, filling contracts
as a builder in all parts of the county, erect-
ing some of the finest residences in this part
of the state. In 1893 ilr. Roper settled in
Senath. which has since been his home, and
in which he has erected nearly all the build-
ings of prominence and importance, there
having been but two stores in the place when
he came. In 1902, deciding to enlarge his
business interests, Mr. Roper opened a small
planing mill, in his back yard, the orig-
inal investment on his present plant not
having exceeded fifty dollars. A year later
he purchased the lot on which his present
plant is located, erected a saw mill, equip-
ing it with steam power, and began work on
a much larger scale. He also continued
work as a builder and contractor, taking
contracts in both wood and brick. He like-
wise added a shingle mill to his plant in
1908, and is now carrving on a very exten-
sive and lucrative mercantile business, as
well as a large manufacturing business, be-
ing both a wholesale and a retail dealer in
lumber, sash, doors, paints, hardware and all
kinds of building materials, and making a
specialty of drawing the plans and specifi-
cations for the erection of buildings, and
then supplying all the materials needed in
the building of such.
In FebruarJ^ 1910, IMr. Roper's plant, in-
eluding the shingle mill, planing mill and
saw mill, were burned, without any insur-
ance, but the plant was at once rebuilt.
Mr. Roper married, in Dunklin count.v.
^Missouri, Delia Landreth. a daughter of the
late Dr. W. F. Landreth. who at the time
of his death was activel.v engaged in the
practice of medicine at Senath. Mrs. Roper
born and educated in Tennessee, and prior
to her marriage she was a successful teacher
in the public schools. Five children have
blessed the union of ilr. and Mi-s. Roper,
namel.v: Russell C. Edris (lived but three
years). "Winnie Davis, Evelyn and Idella. A
stanch Democrat in politics, Mr. Roper
named one of his daughters Winnie Davis
in memory of the daughter of the president
of the Confederacy.
Colonel Henry N. Phillips. A well-
known and prosperous attorney-at-law of
Butler county, Henry N. Phillips has been
actively engaged in the practice of his pro-
fession at Poplar Bluff for many years, dur-
ing which time he has won many important
suits and been associated in different cases
with many of the most able lawyers of the
count}'. He was bom November 5, 1845. in
DeSoto Parish. Louisiana, where he spent
his youthful days, obtaining his rudimen-
tary education in the common schools.
His education was further advanced by
an attendance at a Jesuit college in Spring
Hill, Alabama, and at a military college in
Alexandria, Louisiana. Entering the Con-
federate service on "Slay 5, 1861, he enlisted
in the Second Louisiana Volunteer Infantry
and was subsequently transferred to the
Crescent Regiment, Louisiana Infantry, and
served in Virginia under Stonewall Jack-
son remaining under that gallant leader's
command until after the battle at Chancel-
lorsville, where Jackson met his death, and
afterwards under General Dick' Taylor. En-
tering the ranks as a private, Mr, Phillips
was promoted for bravery until made cap-
tain of his company, which he commanded
successfully in many engagements. On Au-
gust 22, 1865, at Shreveport, Louisiana.
Captain Phillips was paroled by General
Herron. having been one of the first to hold
a commission in the Confederate army and
one of the last to be paroled.
Returning home, ilr. Phillips was engaged
in agricultural pursuits for about five years,
after which he read law for two years in
the office of Elam & "Wimple, at Mansfield.
Louisiana. Admitted to the Louisiana bar
in 1872, he came to Stoddard county, ilis-
souri, the same season, locating in Bloom-
field, where he taught school and where, in
HISTORY OF SOUTHEAST MISSOURI
1874, he was licensed to practice law. In
1881 Mr. Phillips accepted the principalship
of the high school at Westplains, Missouri,
and retained it three years, being success-
ful and popular as an educator. In 1886 he
opened a law office at Jlalden, Dunklin
count}', ilissouri, and continued there until
1895, when he located at Poplar Bluff, where
he has since been actively engaged in the
practice of his chosen profession, his legal
skill and ability bringing him a large and
valuable clientage.
An active supporter of the principles of
the Democratic party, Mr. Phillips has for
the past thirty years served as a delegate
to nearly all the county and state conven-
tions, and in 1880 was elector at large and
in 1892 was elector for the Fourteenth Jlis-
souri district. From 1896 until 190-1 he
rendered efficient service as city counselor of
Poplar Bluff, Missouri.
Mr. Phillips married, in 187-4. Alice ilont-
gomery, who was born in Scott county. Il-
linois, of Kentucky parentage, and they
have three children, namely: Samuel 'M., a
successful attorney in Poplar Bluff; Pierre
S., a lawyer in partnership with his father;
and Macean M., studying law in his brother
Samuel's office. These sons have doubtless
inherited the legal tastes and talents of their
ancestors, their father and their paternal
grandfather and great grandfather adopting
the legal profession. ]Mr. Phillips' father
was born in Virginia, spent a part of his
early life in ilississippi. from there moving
in 1841 to DeSoto Parish, Louisiana, where
he was successfully engaged in the practice
of law for many years. He married a Miss
Thompson, a sister of Hon. John B. Thomp-
son, United States senator from Kentucky'.
William L. Davis. The father of I\Ir. Davis
was a native of Georgia, born in 1809.
He was an Indian fighter and helped to
drive the Cherokee Indians from the state.
He left Georgia at about the same time the
red men did and went to Tennessee, where
he married. His wife's maiden name was
Steward. She bore him six children and
died in iladison county, Tennessee, in 1844.
Samuel Davis moved from Tennessee to Ar-
kansas, passing through ilissouri in 1851. He
located near Arkadelphia, Arkansas, where
he died in 1890.
William Davis was the second of the six
children of Samuel Davis and his wife. The
others were Mary, Robert, Jackson, James
and ^Martha. William L. was born Sep-
tember 30, 1834, in Madison county, Ten-
nessee. He came to Stoddard county, Mis-
souri, in 1851, and hired out on different
farms of that section. In 1855 he came to
New Madrid county, and this has been his
home ever since. Three years after his ar-
rival here he was "married to Emeline Knox,
daughter of Alec and Nancy Thompson
Knox. Emeline was born November 16,
1843. Only one of the three sons she bore
to William Davis is now living. Samuel,
born November 18, 1862, died at the age of
seven, and John, two 3'ears younger, died
when but five years old. James, born De-
cember 9, 1869, is living in New Madrid
county, on a farm about three miles west of
town. He and his wife, Lizzie Jont Davis,
have six children: Ruth, Colleen, George,
William, Albert and Irene.
ilr. Davis is a Democrat in matters of
political policy, but he is not active in
politics as his farm, situated some six miles
northwest of town, is his chief interest.
Mrs. Davis is a member of the Methodist
church.
J. 0. Chambers, county clerk of Butler
county, Missouri, has been a resident of Pop-
lar Bluff since 1893, and during the .years
of his residence here has gained a position
of high standing among the business men
and leading citizens. A brief review of his
life discloses the following facts:
Mr. Chambers is a native of Indiana. He
was born in Monroe county, that state, Jan-
uary 19, 1874. and there spent the firet nine-
teen years of his life. Then he came south
to Missouri, landing at Poplar Bluff in
1893. He began work here as a farm hand.
Afterward he was emplo.ved in a factory,
and for a number of years he was manager
of the Simmons Grocery company, in which
he was a stockholder and officer. For four
years he filled the office of city assessor and
for a like number of years was city treas-
urer, this being while he was in the grocery
business. In 1910 he was elected, on the
Republican ticket, to the office of county
clerk. The campaign that year was a warm
one and he had a well known and strong
man for an opponent, but he won out with
a ma.iorit.v of one hundred eighty-two votes,
and on January 1, 1911, entered upon the
duties of his office.
At Poplar Bluff, in 1895. J. 0. Chambers
and Marj' E. Smith were united in mar-
1170
HISTORY OF SOUTHEAST MISSOURI
riage, and they are now the parents of three
children: William E., Vera and Agnes,
ilrs. Chambers was born in ]\Ioberly. Mis-
souri, and is a daughter of T. A. Smith.
Fraternally Mr. Chambers is identified
with the K. of P., the B. P. 0. E., and the
K. 0. T. M., in the last named having taken
quite an active part, tilling nearly all the
offices. Religiously he affiliates with the
Christian church, in which he has been hon-
ored with the office of deacon.
Judge Alexander Ross was born at Cath-
ness, Scotland, near Skibo Castle, on August
12, 1833. He came to America in the au-
tumn of 1847, and on arriving at New
York made his way on to Canada, and he
spent one year on the farm of his father at
Cold Springs, near Coburg, Canada. His
next move took him to Hawsville, Kentucky,
and from there he went to ^Madrid Bend,
Tennessee, where he attended school under
the tuition of old Parson Brown, at the Old
Camp Ground. He then moved to Camden,
Arkansas, and taught a nine months' school
at the Judge Scott school house, near that
city, at the close of the school term enter-
ing the store of Lee, ^Morgan & Company,
one of the representative establishments of
Camden. One year later he was raised to
the sublime degree of IMaster Mason in Cam-
den Lodge, A. F. & A. M. When twenty-
two years old he went to Magnolia, Colum-
bia county, Arkansas, and there entered the
store of Hicks & Wyatt in the capacity of
bookkeeper. While thus engaged the young
man made good use of every available spare
moment and devoted himself assiduously to
the study of law, which he had determined
upon as a profession. Nights and Sundays
he gave himself to the perusal of his books,
under the preceptorship of Captain Mc-
Cowin. who for three years directed his
course of reading and examinations, and to
such good purpose did he employ his time
that at the end of the three years he was ad-
mitted to the bar by Judge Lein B. Green,
then circuit .judge. Mr. Ross then entered
the law office of Colonel Ben Johnson, and
he was almost immediately appointed as-
sistant state's attorney for Columbia county,
and a little later, a vacancy appearing.
Governor Conway appointed him justice of
the peace for Magnolia.
When the trouble between the north and
the soutli arose, Mr. Ross took a finn stand
for the Union, and he with Ed Gantt, Ben
Johnson, Ben Askew, Judge Kelso and
others of the same mind endeavored to hold
the people loyal to the Union, but a regi-
ment of Texas Rangers came and silenced
all. Mr. Ross joined the Union army under
General Grant in June, 1863, and he was
present at the surrender of Vicksburg, Mis-
sissippi, July 4, 1863. He was assigned by
General Grant for duty in the quartermas-
ter's department at Goodrich's Landing,
Louisiana, and served until he was incapac-
itated for dut.y by injuries received in seiw-
ice in 1864. In August, 1865, after he had
recovered from his wound, he was ordered
to report to Major Thomas F. Parnell, A.
Q. M., at Shreveport, Louisiana, and by him
was placed in charge of the post quartermas-
ter's office as chief clerk, under Captain
Skinner, A. A. Q. M. There he collected
the captured army property surrendered by
General Smith, had it properly scheduled
and reported to the quartermaster general at
Washington ; he then superintended the sale
of the captured property, duly reported the
same and closed the business March 24,
1866.
On April 6, 1866, Mr. Ross arrived in
Cape Girardeau, ilissouri, and opened a
law office in company with Captain Arthur,
the firm being known as Ross & Arthur.
He was appointed city attorney, and held
that office for two years. In 1867 Chief Jus-
tice Chase, upon the recommendations of
Colonel Thilenous, Genei-al Grant and Sen-
ator Drake, appointed him Register in Bank-
ruptcy for the fourteenth congressional dis-
trict of Missouri, composed of twenty-eight
counties, and in that important office he re-
mained until the law was repealed and the
docket closed, covering a period of twelve
years. He also served as a director and
treasurer of the State Line Railroad and
helped to lay the first rail and to drive the
first spike of the now vast sj^stem that passes
through Cape Girardeau. He was elected
judge of the Cape Girardeau Court of Com-
mon Pleas, and served in that capacity for
four years; he was then elected justice of
the peace, in which office he served a like
period. In 1898 Judge Elmer B. Adams ap-
pointed him referee in bankruptcy for the
district of Cape Girardeau, and he retained
that appointment until the Southeastern
Division Judicial District of Missouri was
established by Congress. He was then ap-
pointed referee in bankruptcy for that dis-
trict, which comprises sixteen counties; thus
HISTORY OF SOUTHEAST .AIISSOURI
1171
he has served under Judge Treat, as regis-
ter in bankruptcy twelve years, and under
Judge Adams, Judge Finkelnburg, and
Judge Dyer, as referee in bankruptcy of the
United States District Court for Southeast
Missouri, for fourteen years, making alto-
gether twenty-sis years; to which should be
added four years on the Common Pleas
Bench, making thirty years administering
the laws, a length of service that is surely
eloquent of the conscientious performance
of duties during the passing years.
Judge Ross is prominent in Masonic cir-
cles, holding membership in St. ^Mark's lodge.
No. 93, of Wilson Royal Arch Chapter, No.
75, of Cape Girardeau, in which he has
served as recorder, principal so.journer and
high priest of the Chapter, and of Cape
Girardeau Commandery, No. 55, Knights
Templar, where he has filled the offices of
recorder, prelate and eminent conmiander.
He is a member of Justi Post, No. 173, of
the ilissouri Grand Army of the Republic,
in which he has filled the offices of senior
\'ice and adjutant, and for the past eighteen
years he has served as post chaplain, an of-
fice which he has filled with true piet.y and
reverence, although he is a member of no
church.
The years of Judge Ross' association and
identification with Cape Girardeau have es-
tablished him firmly in the esteem and re-
spect of his fellow men, and he has won to
himself a reputation and standing in his
district that is entirely consistent with his
manly and upright character. As an hon-
orable, honest reliable business man, a val-
uable citizen, a true patriot, an earnest
Christian gentleman and a man devoted in
every way to home and family, his life in
this conununity has shed its worthy influence
over all who came in touch with him.
OLr\'ER Logan. One of the leading agricul-
turists of Stoddard county was the late Oli-
ver Logan, a native son of the state and one
whose life since earliest boyhood had been
passed within the pleasant boundaries of the
county. His estate of three hundred and
twenty acres was valuable and highl.v im-
proved and upon it he engaged successfully
in general agriculture and stock raising, his
marketing of stock being upon an extensive
scale. However, it is as a good citizen and
generous and excellent man that his memory
will longest endure, keeping green in the
hearts of the many who knew and loved him.
ilr. Logan was born in Wayne county, Mis-
souri, on November 14, 1819, and died No-
vember 14, 1908, his summons to the Great
Beyond occurring on his fifty-ninth birthday.
He was a son of James and ^Martha Logaii,
who removed after marriage to this count.y,
their home being located some five miles east
of Puxico. There the mother died and there
young Oliver passed his boyhood days, at the
age of fifteen years finding the management
of the farm upon his shoulders. This came
about from the fact that the father was killed
while a soldier in the Civil war, at an engage-
ment near Piedmont, Wayne county. Mis-
souri, and Oliver, being the eldest "of four
children, bravely assumed the responsibilities.
This spirit of unselfishness characterized his
whole life and no one more cheerfully sacri-
ficed himself to others.
The other members of the family sold out
their interest in the parental estate to him
and he added to this from time to time until
he came to have a property consisting of three
hundred and twenty acres, the old farm hav-
ing consisted of two hundred and eighty,
^luch of his property he cleared of timber
and in every way labored zealously for its im-
provement. He raised stock in large quan-
tity and it was noted for its good standard.
His excellent methods and splendid manage-
ment had their natural outcome in success,
and his demise found his affairs in good con-
dition. He was a stanch Democrat, ha^dng
ever given his support to the men and meas-
ures of the party, but he was not a politician,
the honors and emoluments of office appear-
ing very hollow to him. His faith was that
of the Methodist Episcopal church, to whose
support he contributed generousl.y.
Mr. Logan laid the foundations of a happy
married life when on JMarch 19. 1891. he was
united in marriage with Miss ^lary L. Cato.
daughter of Richard and ilartha (Logan)
Cato, she being a cousin of Mr. Logan's
mother. The mother died when ilary was a
small girl, and she resided with her father
until her marriage, at the age of twenty. He
died shortly after Mary's marriage. Mrs.
Logan, who survives her honored husband, re-
moved from the farm soon after his death
and for the past three years has resided in
Puxico. She still retains ownership of the
farm, or at least of two hundred and fort.v
acres of it. The sub.iect is also survived by
two daughters, Nellie ]Mabel and Sylvia Lee.
both school girls. ]\Irs. Logan assists in the
maintenance of the IMethodist Episcopal
1172
HISTORY OF SOUTHEAST MISSOURI
church, and enjoys high standing- in the com-
munity.
The other members of the family of Oliver
Logan are as follows: Sina, wife of Kit Nor-
rid, who resides five miles from Puxico; Nel-
lie, wife of W. H. Baker, of Oklahoma; and
Jim, also a citizen of Oklahoma. The sub-
ject's fraternal relations extended to the In-
dependent Order of Odd Fellows.
Alfred W. Greer. Prominent among
the leading citizens of Poplar Bluff is A.
W. Greer, who as a lumberman and under-
taker is carrying on a substantial business,
his practical judgment and systematic meth-
ods bringing him satisfactory success in his
chosen fields of endeavor. A Kentuckian by
birth, he was born October 11, 1874, in
Graves county, and was reared in Colum-
bus, Kentucky, where he obtained a limited
common-school education. There as a boy
and a youth he worked, receiving from fifty
cents to a dollar a day, and of this sum he
saved twenty-five cents every week until he
had the snug little sum of forty dollars in
his pocket, much to the surprise of his
father.
Then, at the age of seventeen years, Mr.
Greer decided to change his residence to
Butler county, Missouri. On reaching Pop-
lar Bluff he found himself with but twenty
dollars on hand, the other twenty having
been spent in the gambling hall. The loss
of his hard-earned dollars proved a good
lesson to him, and he forswore both drink-
ing and gambling for all time. He secured
a position with the Alfrey Heading Com-
pany for .$1.25 a day, and later entered the
employ of the Poplar Bluff Lumber Com-
pany, of which H. I. Ruth was superintend-
ent, beginning in an humble position, with
small wages, hut being promoted from time
to time until he received .$1.50 a day for his
labors. He subsequently became general re-
pair man, in that capacity working as a ma-
chinist, a boiler maker, a blacksmith and a
general millwright, his wages being raised
to .$3.25 a day. Mr. Greer remained with
the firm eight years, during which time the
superintendent apparentl.y took great inter-
est in him and his plans, and when ilr.
Greer began work as a contractor and
builder gave him the first two large contracts
which he undertook. The first one with
which he was actively associated Mr. Greer
had the nerve to attack before he really
knew very much about carpentering, but as
he hired a skilled workman he carried the
contract through satisfactorily.
As a contractor Mr. Greer bought build-
ing material at wholesale, and patronized a
sash and door factory. Perceiving the ad-
vantage of having a lumber yard of his own,
he formed a partnership with other business
men, and purchased the Turner lumber
yard. In February, 1905, Mr. Greer bought
this property, and two years later he bought
out his partners for five thousand dollars,
and has since continued the business alone,
in the meantime having established himself
as an undertaker. In order to properly fit
himself as an undertaker he subsequently
completed the full course of study at the
Saint Louis Embalming College, and suc-
cessfully passed the examination at Kansas
City, receiving an average of ninety-six per
cent on the thousand questions which he
was asked regarding embalming and under-
taking.
Mr. Greer continued alone until the in-
coi-poration of the A. W. Greer Lumber and
Undertaking Company, when he sold nearl.y
half of his stock, the company being capital-
ized at fifteen thousand dollars, and carr.y-
ing a stock valued at ten thousand dollars.
He is now carrying on an extensive and very
satisfactory business, the plant covering a
lot seventy-nine by ninety feet, and con-
taining two stores and a shed, and another,
the lumber yard, located on the Frisco
Railroad contains about two hundred and
four square feet. He is connected with
other enterprises in Poplar Bluff, being a
stockholder in the local bank and other busi-
ness entei-prises. He has also built many
houses in this locality, selling them on the
installment plan, and has never been forced
to close out a single purchaser's mortgage,
nor has he ever missed an opportunity to
buy good property.
Mr. Greer served one term in the City
Council, retiring therefrom in 1905. He
pushed public improvements, including the
laying of three thousand feet of sewer pipes
at his oAvn expense, opening and grading
streets, and putting in sidewalks. In 1908
he was elected county public administrator,
in that capacity loaning the money over
which he has control at eight per cent in-
terest, in monthly payments, so that every
minor over which he has charge as guardian
of an estate receives that interest on his
HISTORY OF SOUTHEAST MISSOURI
1173
money, ■ fifteen thousand dollars being thus
loaned out by Mr. Greer at the present
writing, in 1911.
Mr. Greer married, November 17, 1895,
Edna L. Parks, of Poplar Bluff. She passed
to the life beyond October 23, 1905. Three
children were born of their union, namely :
Lyford, who died in infaue.v; Ivan H., born
November 3, 1897 ; and Vera L., born June
19, 1900. Mr. Greer married for his second
wife, May 16, 1906, Elsie M. Ansel, and they
are the parents of three children, namely :
Revola E., born April 21, 1907; Carlois A.,
born November 7, 1908 ; and Lloyd E., born
November 22, 1910. Mr. Greer is a member
of the First Baptist church, and is one of
its trustees. He is also a member of the
Ancient Free and Accepted Order of ila-
sons and of the Knights of Pythias.
Napoleon Bonaparte Gr.\ham is a
farmer and stockman in Madison county,
ilissouri. He maintains his home at Freder-
iektown, where he is recognized as one of
the leading citizens. For a number of years
he was interested in the lumber business
with his father. Judge E. L. Graham.
Mr. Graham was born on the 28th of Au-
gust, 1857, near Fredericktown. He is the
son of Judge E. L. and ilary (Whitener)
Graham, the former of whom is now living
retired at Fredericktown.
Napoleon B. Graham passed his boyhood
and youth on the old homestead, receiving
a common-school education. After reach-
ing maturity he taught school two years
(1878-9). In January. 1881. he became in-
terested in the lumber business and in 1883
his father joined him. Later they organized
the Fredericktown Lumber Company, which
they operated for a period of years. Since
disposing of his interests in the lumber busi-
ness Mr. Graham, of this notice, has devoted
the ma.ior portion of his time and attention
to farming and stockraising.
Mr. Graham was married in 1879 to Miss
Mary A. Creasy, who was born and reared
in "Wayne county. Missouri. She is the
daughter of Rev. Charles W. and ilargaret
Ann (AVallaee) Creasy. After a qiiai-ter of
a century as a member of the Baptist clergy'
Hev. Creasy passed awa.v in 1878. at the age
of forty-eight years. His wife died in June,
1901, at the age of sixty-five. Rev. Creasy
was born in Virginia, but was reared in
Macon county, Tennessee, where he and Ann
Wallace were married. Soon after their
marriage they moved to Wajiie county, Mis-
souri. He has pastoral charges in Wayne
and Madison counties, and was pastor at
Marquand, iladison county, at the time of
his death. His father was Jesse Creasy, an
active ilethodist, who lived to a very ad-
vanced age in Macon county, Tennessee.
Ann Wallace was born in Macon county,
Tennessee. The Wallace and Welch families,
the latter her maternal ancestors, were early
ones of Kentucky and Tennessee. Mrs.
Graham was the second child of Rev. and
ilrs. Creasy, and is the eldest now living of
six children. The only brother, William,
died in 1903, at the age of thirtj'-six years,
at Fredericktown, Missouri. The other four
sisters are as follows: Nora C, wife of J.
C. Graham, of Fredericktown, Missouri;
Cora, wife of Samuel ]\Iaxwell, of Flat
River, ilissouri; iliss Emma D. Creasy, of
Fredericktown, Missouri; and Ella J., wife
of J. F. Dudley, of Wapanucka, Oklahoma.
Mr. and ilrs. Graham have four children
living. Arthur Lee was educated in Wil-
liam Jewell College and the Jem City Busi-
ness College, and he is now engaged in
farming near Sikestown, Missouri. He mar-
ried Ethel Settle, and they have three chil-
dren— Ollie, J. L. and N. B. Grover re-
ceived his A. B.' degree from William Jewell
College. Liberty, Missouri, and his M. A.
from Brown L^iversity, Providence, R. I.
He has also finished his residence work for
a Ph. D. at Brown Univereity. At present
he is teaching philosophy and political
science in Shurtleff College, Alton, Illi-
nois. Earl B. is attending high school.
Ruth E. is also a student in the Frederick-
town high school. One daughter, Ollie 0.,
was a senior in Hardin College at the time
of her death, in 1903. at the age of nineteen.
In politics ]\Ir. Graham is a Democrat and
while he has never been ambitious for polit-
ical distinction, he is ever on the alert to ad-
vance the best interests of his communit}'.
In religious matters the Graham family are
devout members of the Baptist church at
Fredericktown.
John W. Jackson. Kentueln' bears the
reputation of having given more gentlemen
and governors to the Union than any other
state, and it is interesting to note that the
parents of John W. Jackson were both of
them Kentuckians, natives of the Blue Grass
state. Mr. Jackson has the true Kentuckian
interest in public afi'airs, and during his
1174
HISTORY OF SOUTHEAST MISSOURI
long career as an office holder he has ever
held the general welfare dearer than per-
sonal glory.
Born in New Madrid county, he is the
son of John J. and Rachel (Russell) Jack-
son, both of whom, as has been already re-
corded, were natives of Kentucky, the for-
mer dying in New Madrid county in 1863,
four years after the demise of the latter.
Left an orphan at eight years, Mr. Jackson
after obtaining his earlj' education became
interested in farming and for eight years
was the proprietor of a saloon.
In 1889 ^Ir. Jackson accepted the Demo-
cratic nomination for member of the legis-
lature. He was elected and served in the as-
sembly, during the thirty-sixth, the thirty-
seventh and later the fortieth sessions. In
the thirty-sixth session he was a member of
the roads and highways committee ; of the
swamp lands committee in the thirty-seventh,
and upon his return to the legislature in
1899 he was made chairman of the commit-
tee on accounts. His bill, revising the pre-
cedure for the pa.yment of jailers, so that
they be paid by the county, which should
later be reimbursed by the state, was carried
and became a law. In 1895 he served the
city as alderman, and in 1903 was elected
circuit clerk and recorder, in which capacity
he served for three years' and two months,
being again elected to the office of recorder
in 1905, after the double office had been
divided by enactment, and he now holds the
position of county recorder of deeds.
Besides his active political life Mr. Jack-
son has installed an electric plant in the
city, putting in the same in 1896, owns a
fine one hundred and sixty acre farm, and
holds the title to his excellently situated
house and lot in New iladrid. The county
has much for which to thank ]\Ir. Jackson,
for besides his unblemished general record,
his progressive enterprise on behalf of the
county has brought about the installation of
a loose leaf recording system in the county
office.
On February 12, 1878, was solemnized the
marriage of lir. Jackson to ]\Iiss :Mary Daw-
son, daughter of Captain G. W. and Laura
(La Vallee) Dawson, a charming woman and
member of the Catholic church. The chil-
dren of this union are as follows: Laura
L. : Colwn : Clarence, who died in infancy ;
and John W., Jr.
Fraternally Mr. Jackson is a member and
actively interested in the Independent Or-
der of Odd Fellows, the Benevolent and Pro-
tective Order of Elks and he wears the
blanket of the Red ilen.
Charles B. Faris. Among the honored
and representative members of the bench
and bar of Southeastern Missouri is Charles
B. Faris, of Pemiscot county, judge of the
Twenty-eighth circuit, comprising the coun-
ties of Pemiscot, Scott, Mississippi, New
Madrid and Cape Girardeau. He was born
in Mississippi county, October 3, 1864, the
son of James White and Willie Ann (Stovall)
Faris, both of whom were born in Tennessee.
The father came to ilissouri at the age of
eleven years. His parents were Benjamin
S. and Betsy (Crockett) Faris, the latter a
cousin of the celebrated Davy Crockett, pio-
neer, hunter and politician. Benjamin,
father of Benjamin S., above mentioned,
was a native of Ireland. He crossed the At-
lantic in his youth and in 1776 came to
South Carolina. He was an enthusiast for
colonial independence and fought in the
Revolutionary war as a soldier of General
ilarion, carrying a musket throughout the
entire conflict. Of his three sons, one went
to Kentucky, one to Tennessee and one to
Mississippi. Benjamin S., grandfather of
the immediate subject, found his way to ]\Iis-
souri about the year 1843 and located twelve
miles south of Charleston in the Wolf Is-
land settlement, which, despite its name, was
on the mainland. The boyhood of Charles
B. Faris was passed amid the wholesome
rural surroundings of his father's farm, his
preliminary education being obtained at the
country schools. At the age of nineteen
years he entered the University of ilissouri,
where he pursued the regular literary course,
graduating with the class of 1889, with the
degree of B. L. He also took a course in
pedagogics, receiving his bachelor's degree
in that department in the year 1890. In the
meantime he had arrived at the decision to
become a lawyer, and to obtain the necessary
training he entered Washington LTniversity
of St. Louis, as a student in the law depart-
ment. While studying law he engaged in
teaching school for a few terms. He has
been in active practice here since April 1,
1891, and he enjoys the highest standing as
a man and a representative of the profession
he has adopted. In the fall of 1890 he was
elected to the state legislature as a represen-
tative from his county to the thirt.v-sixth
general assembly. In 1892 he was elected
HISTORY OF SOUTHEAST MISSOURI
1175
prosecuting attorney and remained in such
capacity for six successive years. He was
made a member of the board of curators of
the State University of Missouri, his alma
mater, continuing as a member for six years
and acting as president of the board from
1907 to May, 1909.
On November S. 1910, Judge Faris was
elected to the bench, being the regular Dem-
ocratic nominee. He has already held court
in. all the counties of his district and is
eminently qualified by literary attainments,
professional experience and success, integ-
rity of character and judicial qualities of
mind for the high place to which he has risen.
He has ever been an active man and has nu-
merous interests of large scope and import-
ance. For eleven years he was president of
the Bank of Caruthersville, which he helped
to organize. He assisted in organizing and
was at one time president of the Caruthers-
ville Electric Light & Ice Company, resign-
ing from the presidency upon assuming his
judicial duties. While at the bar, he was
for more than ten years associated with Sen-
ator Arthur L. Oliver, as a law-partner.
Judge Faris was married in 1894 to Miss
Anna McClanahan, of Nevada, Missouri.
They share their home with a quartet of sons
and daughters, namely: Adaline. Mary Lee,
James White. Jr. and William Bryan.
Fraternally Judge Faris is a Mason who
has attained to the thirty-second degree. He
belongs to the St. Louis Consistory. He is
also an Elk and a member of the Knights
Templar and has "traveled the hot sands"
with the Shriners.
Frank B. Nixon. For more than a dozen
years the subject of this sketch has been
identified with Poplar Bluff. Butler county,
and since 1906 has occupied his present posi-
tion, that of recorder of deeds.
Mr. Nixon is a native of Illinois, having
been born at Sandwich, that state, March 20,
1859. a son of David and Delia Nixon.
Shortly after the close of the Civil war the
Nixon family decided to seek a home in the
South, and in 1869 came by rail via the old
Kansas City. Ft. Scott & Memphis Railroad,
now the "Frisco," on the first passenger
train to enter Ft. Scott, Kansas, to Vernon
county, Missouri, and made settlement at
Nevada, this state, where Frank B. passed
from childhood to youth and grew to man-
hood. David and the son Frank B. were en-
gaged in the carriage business at Nevada,
where they lived for twenty years, a portion
of this time the son being in partnership with
his father. In 1899 Frank B. removed to
Poplar Bluff, Butler county, to continue in
the same line of business, which he did here
until 1907, the year he was elected recorder
of deeds.
Ever since he became a voter Mr. Nixon
has been an active participant in local politi-
cal affairs, affiliating with the Republican
party. From time to time he has filled va-
rious offices, including member of the City
Council at Nevada, Missouri, and for two
years being president of the Nevada City
Council, and frequently he has served as
delegate to Republican conventions. He re-
ceived a handsome majority when he was
first elected recorder of deeds, and when he
was re-elected in 1908 he also received a
flattering vote.
On his twenty-first birthday, at Nevada,
jMissouri, Sir. Nixon and Miss Josephine F.
Faulks were united in marriage, ilrs. Nixon
was a native of Tennessee. She became the
mother of the following named children:
Burton S., deputy in his father's office;
Don David, who "died at the age of three
years; Fay Isabel, wife of Watson Cover;
and Arthur F. This wife and mother died
in June, 1907, and two years later Mr.
Nixon married his present companion, who
was iliss Erma Ellis, of Doniphan, Missouri.
Thej' reside in a new home which Mr. Nixon
erected on North Main street. Poplar Bluff.
In social, musical and church circles ^Ir.
Nixon has always been a popular factor. His
favorite musical instrument is the double
bass viol, which he has played in orchestra,
and he also plays the bass horn in the band.
Fraternally he has membership in the ]\Iusi-
cians Union, the Woodmen of the World, the
Modern Woodmen, the Elks and the Knights
of Pythias, in all of which he has filled of-
ficial position and in the last named of which
he has filled official position and in the last
named of which he is now presiding officer.
In his church — the Holy Cross Episcopal
church — he has been Senior Warden since
the church was founded and he is also a mem-
ber of the vestry.
James E. DeLisle. Few families contrib-
uted so many sturdy citizens to any com-
munity as the DeLisie family, of New Mad-
rid county, citizens whose private enterprise
and public integrity and responsibility are
on a par and above reproach. So many mem-
bers of this family have established them-
1176
HISTORY OF SOUTHEAST MISSOURI
selves in the respect and affection of the
coimty that the name DeLisle itself has come
to have the same significance as standing for
what is good and trustworthy as a govern-
ment bond. James E. DeLisle a native of
the county, the date of his nativity being
October 10. 1865, the year that marked the
cessation of the Civil war. He is the son of
Amab and Nancy (Thompson) DeLisle.
As a boy James DeLisle attended the dis-
trict schools of the neighborhood, and then
went to Cape Girardeau, where he took a
three years' course in the State Normal
school, and in 1887 he finished his training
and was gi-aduated from the Bryant and
Stratton Business College of Saint Louis.
Returning home, he clerked and kept books
for a year and a half, and then went to
Gayosa. where he again kept books and
managed a general merchandise business.
With the burning of that establishment four
years later he made another change, and
came back to take charge of the books in the
firm of DeLisle Brothers of Portageville. In
1900. when that firm was incorporated under
the caption, the DeLisle Store Company, he
was elected secretary of this concern. He
became at that time a stockholder in the bus-
iness, and has since increased his holdings.
Jlr. DeLisle, besides his mercantile interests,
has made a specialty of farming implements,
on which he is an authority, and deal in the
same. His fine farm lands aggregate one
thousand acres, which are tilled by tenants.
Five years after his brother Jesse DeLisle
had married Miss Emma LeSieur, James De-
Lisle was united at the altar to her sister.
]\Iiss Frances LeSieur. She was born in New
^Madrid county in 1868, to Freeman and
Emma (Till) LeSieur. Her mother was a
daughter of the well-known Judge John Till,
and her father, who was born in New ]\Iad-
rid county, October 27, 1821, holds the unique
record of having held the office of constable
in the county for thirty-two consecutive
years, during eight of which he also held the
offices of deputy county assessor and deputy
sheriff. Her grandfather, Raphael LeSieur,
was born in Canada, in 1777. and came to
this coiintry in 1798, locating in what is now
Pemiscot county. During the quakes of the
years 1811 and 1812 a part of his farm sank
and became an inland lake. He died Decem-
ber 27, 1855.
The children born to Mr. and Mrs. James
DeLisle are as follows: Allen, Guy and
Mary Emma. All of them are attractive and
interesting children, and they are being
brought up in the Catholic faith, the church
of their parents.
Fraternally Mr. DeLisle is a member of
the "Woodmen of the World, is a Knight of
Columbus, and both he and his wife are
prominent members of the Knights and
Ladies of Honor.
]Mr. DeLisle has had the honor to be the
first elected treasurer of the city of Portage-
ville and he has been her able guardian of
the finances for over four j-ears, and he has
also rendered public service and counsel for
two years in the capacity of alderman, ilr.
DeLisle is one who has the satisfaction of
knowing that he has always stood in the van-
guard of progress, and led with honor what-
ever good movements have been afoot in the
county during his many years of residence
within her borders.
R. W. FowLKES. When Mr. Fowlkes first
came to Parma in 1886 there was nothing
here but timber and wild country. He was
at that time a prosperous farmer and stock
raiser whose home was in Union City, Ten-
nessee. At Parma he engaged in the fatten-
ing of stock for the market. This he had
shipped from Kentuckj" and Tennessee, and
kept near Parma until it was ready for the
market. In addition to his stock business
he also dealt extensively in real estate. Mr.
Fowlkes made money at both ventures until
the panic of 1893 and then, like many others,
he lost every dollar he possessed.
In 1894 Mr. Fowlkes came to Parma and
started over again. He began raising hogs,
and the mone.y on which he embarked in
this undertaking was borrowed from his
brother. After he had been in this for two
years he had also established a profitalile
business in trading in land, which brought
in several thousand dollars every year. He
was one of the first settlers in the county and
for the first seven years he "batched" as he
was unwilling to bring his family to the wil-
derness. For the last five years of his soli-
tary stay Mr. Fowlkes lived .on the Ranch
Farm, two and a half miles south of Parma
and bought this farm in 1897 for practically
nothing.
The family came to Parma in 1902, and
after their arrival Mr. Fowlkes moved into
a little house near Parma, where they lived
for two years while building the Parma
Hotel. This latter was their home for the
next three years and the business prospered
■
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HISTORY OP SOUTHEAST MISSOURI
1177
as the town grew. He now owns another
hotel building besides the original one, but
does not reside in either. The Fowlkes resi-
dence is located on a plot of seven lots, and
is one of the pleasant homes of Parma.
The Fowlkes Land & Investment Company
was organized in September, 1909, with Mr.
Fowlkes as president and general manager.
The corporation's members are aU in the
Fowlkes family and its business takes up all
Mr. Fowlkes' time. The company owns
2,000 acres of land, 600 of which is under
cultivation.
Mrs. Fowlkes grew up in middle Tennes-
see, her husband's native place. Her maiden
name was Fannie Walker and she changed
this to Fowlkes in 187-±. Four daughters
were born to her and her husband. Of these,
two are married: Carrie to W. T. IMurphy,
and Dixie E. to John R. Wood. Mrs. Wood's
daughter, Dixie Lee Cooper, is a favorite of
her grandfather, Mr. Fowlkes. Both of
the other daughters have had unusual ad-
vantages in their educational training.
Martha is a graduate of the Emerson College
of Oratory of Boston. She is now teaching
in San Antonio, Texas, where she has es-
tablished a school of oratory. Ruby is a
graduate of the State University, in the lit-
erary course.
In the Democratic party, Mr. Fowlkes
is a well known and influential figure. He
was the first mayor of Parma and served
until 1911 with the exception of a few years.
He has been for many years on the execu-
tive committee of the party organization in
the township. In all matters of public wel-
fare and of commercial enterprise he is
counted as one sincerely interested in the best
development of the community. He and his
wife are members of the Methodist church.
South.
A. L. FousT. One of the noticeable feat-
ures of the business section of Lilbourn is
the large three-story hotel of concrete blocks.
This structure is fifty-eight by fifty-eight by
eighty-one feet in its dimensions and will
have a barber shop and offices on its first
fioor. It will be managed by Mr. A. L.
Foust, who also owns another edifice of con-
crete blocks. This second building is sixty
by sixty-five by ninety-one feet. Its owner
has been in Lilbourn since 1906 ; previoiis to
that time he had lived in Charleston, ^Mis-
souri. where he was born in 1885 and where
he received his education. ]Mr. Foust makes
his home with his parents, Silas T. and
Amanda Baker Foust. Four other sons also
live at home.
Silas T. Foust was born in Tennessee, but
his wife was born in Missouri, where their
marriage took place and where they have
lived most of their lives. They came to Lil-
bourn from Charleston in 1905, at the same
time in which A. L. Foust took up his resi-
dence in this town. Silas Foust is engaged in
a general merchandise business in Lilbourn.
The son, A. L., is a Woodman of the World
in his fraternal affiliation. Politically he be-
longs to the Democratic party.
Harry Edward Denman. One of the best
known and most aggressive of the younger
newspaper men in Southeastern jMissouri is
Harry Edward Denman, senior editor of The
Farmington- Neivs, the most widely circulated
local weekly newspaper printed in the
United States in a town having a population
of less than three thousand. Mr. Demnan
has had active management of the Ne ivs since
ilay, 1900. At that time the paper had
fewer than four hundred subscribers. It
now has an average of over thirty-five hun-
dred. This wonderful growth in the pop-
ularity of the paper is the best of evidence
that a clear head and a willing hand has been
guiding its destiny. The News not only has
the greatest circulation of any purely local
newspaper in the state, but it also has one
of the finest eciuipped plants to be found
anywhere in the office of a country weekly.
It comprises a standard linotype purchased
in 1903 and one of the first of these- wonder-
ful machines ever installed in the office of a
country weekly newspaper, a two-revolution
newspaper press, two .jobbers, folders and
other modern printing machines, all driven
by individual electric motors. The plant is
located in the Neivs building, a commanding
two-story brick structure with large base-
ment, erected in 1907 on one of the best cor-
ners in the heart of the town's business dis-
trict, by Mr. Denman and his brother, Clin-
ton H. "Denman, expressly for occupancy by
The Farmington Neivs. It is a model build-
ing for the purposes for which it was erected.
Harry Denman was born on March 23,
1875, on his father's farm in Bellinger
county. Missouri. His parents are Rev.
Jabez H. Denman and Sarah King Denman.
The father was born in McClean county, Illi-
nois, in 1830, and is the son of the late Smith
and Eliza Dixon Denman. Smith was born
1178
HISTORY OF SOUTHEAST MISSOURI
in New Jersey, in 1801, and moved from that
state to Licking county, Ohio, and in 1829
to McClean county, Illinois, at that time a
sparsely settled locality. J. H. Denman was
one of a family of eleven children. Of this
family there are now only three children liv-
ing, J. H., of Farmiugton ; Smith, of Kirks-
ville, JMissouri and ilrs. ilary Benson, wife
of C. H. Benson, of Chicago, Illinois. J. H.
Denman was educated in the common schools
of Illinois and at Wesleyan College, now Wes-
leyan University, of Bloomington, Illinois.
When about twenty years of age he entered
the ministry of the Slethodist Episcopal
church. Before and during the Civil war he
preached in Northern Illinois, where in
August of 1855 he was married to Miss Jane
Odell, of Rock Island. To this union four
children were born. Only one — Mrs. George
Ellinghouse, of Marble Hill, JMissouri — sur-
vives. In 1866 Rev. Denman moved from
Illinois to Southeastern Missouri. One of
his first pastoral acts in this section was to
assist in the organization of what is now the
First Methodist Episcopal church of Parm-
ington. From Farmington he went to Bol-
linger county, where on February 16, 1867,
he married Miss Sarah Ann King, daughter
of the late George W. and Sarah Ward King.
George W. King was lieutenant-colonel of the
Forty-second Missouri Infantry and saw
much other service in the Civil war. His
father, Suggars King, was a soldier in the
Revolutionary war. To Rev. Denman 's sec-
ond marriage five children, sons, were born,
all of whom with their parents are now living
and are-: William and Walter Mathias,
farmers of Bollinger county ; Harry Edward,
Clinton Harvey and Cyrus Benson, of Farm-
ington. all connected with the Farmington
News Printing Company. Rev. and Mrs.
Denman, the parents of these sons, now live
in Farmington, to which place they moved
in the fall of 1908, after having resided on
the same farm in Bollinger county for over
forty years. Father Denman still preaches
occasionally and en.ioys remarkably good
health despite his eighty-two years. When
attending Wesleyan College at Bloomington
he met and became intimately acquainted
with Abraham Lincoln. He attended the
famous Lincoln-Douglas debate at Blooming-
ton and retains a vivid memory of it. He
was a boyhood friend of Senator Shelby M.
Cullom. Rev. Denman has been a life-long
and staunch Republican and has voted for
every presidential candidate of that part.v
since it was formed except for President
Taft, losing his vote in 1908 by reason of
change of residence just prior to the elec-
tion.
Harry Edward Denman received his edu-
cation in the public schools and at Carleton
College at Farmington, having attended the
latter institution for three years. He began
liis newspaper career with the American
Eagle at Predericktown in 1894, the first
Republican paper ever printed in Madison
county. Later be was associated in the pub-
lication of the Madison County Democrat at
Fredericktown for a few months. In Sep-
tember, 1897, he purchased the Licking News
in Texas county, which he published until
May, 1900, when he sold this paper and, mov-
ing to Farmington, bought The Farmington
News.
In October, 1898, Mr. Denman was united
in marriage to Mrs. Lou Freeman Shuck,
daughter of Mr. and Mrs. W. A .Freeman, of
Licking. To them five children have been
born, Teddie Roosevelt, Mack Freeman,
Harry King, Bessie Margaret and Earl
Smith. Two daughters by Mrs. Denman 's
former marriage, Wilma and Grace, are a
part of this happy household and bear the
present family name. Mr. Denman is an
active member of the Republican party and
he and his family are loyal members of the
Methodist Episcopal church.
Mr. Denman attributes much of his suc-
cess with The Farmington Neivs to the help-
ful co-operation of his partner and brother,
Clinton H. Denman. The latter was also
educated principally at Carleton College. He
is now chairman of the executive committee
of that institution. He is also man-ied. His
wife was formerly Miss Minnie Watts. To
them three children have been born, Paul
Watts, Carl Jabez and Lueile Ruth.
Jacob M. Swinger. A distinctively prom-
inent and influential citizen of Stoddard
county, Missouri, is Jacob M. Swinger, who
is the owner of a large landed estate in the
close vicinity of Frisco. He is a farmer and
stock-raiser by vocation and in those lines
of enterprise has been eminently successful
since his arrival in this section of the state,
in 1905. Mr. Swinger was born in Darke
county, Ohio, on the 2nd of May, 1870, and
he is a son of Samuel and Mary Swinger,
both of whom were likewise born in the old
Buckeye state of the Union and both of whom
are now deceased. The father was identified
HISTOKY OF SOUTHEAST MISSOURI
1179
with farming during the major portion of his
active career, and he was summoned to the life
eternal in the year 1905, his cherished and
devoted wife also passed into the Great Be-
yond in that j'ear. Mr. S^vinger of this re-
view was reared to maturity in the place of
his nativity and he early availed himself of
the advantage afforded in the public schools
of his home community. After his marriage,
in 1890, he established the family home in
Crawford county, Illinois, where he was en-
gaged in farming operations for the ensuing
fifteen years and whence he came to Stod-
dard county, Missouri, in January, 1905.
Due to the existing conditions in Illinois,
he was absolutely unable to make a success
of agricultural pursuits but after coming to
Southeastern Missouri he has met with suc-
cess at every turn and as a result he cannot
laud too highly the advantages of this sec-
tion of the state. When he first arrived at
Frisco he purchased a tract of two hundred
acres of land, eligibly located one mile south
of the town, and for this farm he paid forty
dollars per acre, one hundred and fifty acres
of the tract having been opened up and cul-
tivated. At the present time, in 1911, he is
the owner of a farm of two hundred and
eighty acres, in the cultivation, of which he
operates seven teams. His principal crop is
cotton, and in this line he has realized a
great profit. At the time of his arrival in
Stoddard county he had but one hundred
and seventy-five dollars and two teams of
horses as a surplus. He has now gained a
competency and his splendid farm is recog-
nized as one of the finest estates in the entire
county. In politics Mr. Swinger is aligned
as a stalwart supporter of the cause of the
Democratic party and while he has no ambi-
tion for political preferment of any descrip-
tion he is ever on the alert to do all within
his power to advance the general progi-ess
and development of the county and state at
large. In a fraternal way he is affiliated
with a number of organizations of represen-
tative character and in their religious faith
the family are consistent members of the
Brethern church.
In the year 1890, in Darke county, Ohio,
was celebrated the marriage of Mr. Swinger
to Miss ]\Iartha Walker, who was born and
reared in Darke county and who is a daughter
of George Walker, long a representative citi-
zen of that place. Mr. and Mrs. Swinger are
the parents of ten children, whose names are
here recorded in respective order of birth,—
Lawrence, Roy, Edna, Orville, Mary, Her-
schel, Palmer, Loren and Treva. One child,
Dorothy, died at the age of eighteen months,
in 1911. Mr. and Mrs. Swinger are popular
factors in the best social affairs of their home
community and their spacious and attractive
home is recognized as a center of great cheer
and most generous hospitality.
Charles Boydex, deceased, was for a num-
ber of years prominently identified with the
lumber and milling interests of Butler
county, i\lissouri, and the business to which
he gave initial impetus has since his death
been carried forward by his heirs.
ilr. Boyden was born in 1842, and was
killed February 22, 1897, in his mill, the
accident being caused by a broken pulley.
He had been a lumberman for twenty years,
in Michigan previous to his coming to Mis-
souri. As a member of the firm of the Boy-
den & Wyman Lumber Company, he started
business in 1890, at NeelyviUe, with Charles
and P. Wyman, who came here from Grand
Haven, Michigan. They built a double band
mill with a daily capacity of one hundred
thousand feet of lumber, and in this industry
fiirnished employment to two hundred men.
The firm also bought twenty-five thousand
acres of land, of which, about 1893, ilr.
Boyden became sole owner and which his
family inherited at his death. The business
was continued by the heirs. In 1900 the
Star Ranch & Land Company was organized
and incorporated, of which John R. Boj'den,
son of Charles, has since been president and
active manager. This company at once went
to work to develop the landed estate; the
five drainage ditches constructed thi'ough the
property have enabled this company to dis-
pose of about sixteen thousand acres of its
land at an average price of .$16.50 an acre to
actual settlers. The company has six hun-
dred acres in cultivation and is extending
the work of clearing. All this land is within
eight miles of Neeh'ville. The NeelyviUe
Handle Company, with mill at Neelj^'ille,
was a branch of this company, and was a suc-
cess until 1910, when its mill was burned.
It had a capacity of one hundred dozen
handles per day.
Charles Boyden 's widow is now residing at
Grand Haven, ilichigan. She was formerly
Miss Jerusha Mitchell, of Pennsylvania. Of
her children three are living: Maude, wife
of R. G. Macfee, of California; John R. and
Charles, the last named a resident of Indian-
1180
HISTORY OP SOUTHEAST MISSOURI
apolis, Indiana, where he is connected with
the American jMotor Company. In addition
to having the active management of the busi-
ness as outlined above, John R. Boyden is a
stockholder in the Dalton Adding Machine
Company of Poplar Bluff, Missouri.
Dempsey Gardner. If any class of men
are to deserve the application "the salt of
the earth, ' ' it is the men who till the soil and
year after year furnish the basic materials
that maintain all industry in business. New
Madrid county is fortunate in having so
many fine men devoting their lives to that
staunch and fundamental occupation, and
Dempsey Gardner is by no means the least
of these, whose reputation as a general
grower of grains and stockbreeder is known
beyond the confines of the county.
Born in Ripley county, Missouri, Demp-
sey Gardner was the son of Wash and Mary
(Jackson) Gardner. His early schooling
was obtained in that county, after which he
worked on the home farm. His father was
one of the thousands of brave men who gave
up their lives in the horrors of the Civil war.
He was a member of the Home Guard and
was killed by Bushwhackers in the year 1862.
When he was twenty -three years old Demp-
sey Gardner established a home of his own and
secured for himself a happy life companion-
ship by his marriage to Miss Mary Swan, a
native of New Madrid county. He started
his independent ventures on a sixty acre
farm which he homesteaded in Ripley county,
and farmed the same himself until 1885.
In that year, Mr. Gardner and his wife
moved to New Madrid county, locating five
miles south of Sikeston, where they main-
tained themselves the first year on a farm of
fifty acres. The following year the young
couple rented an additional one hundred
acres. There they remained for five years,
and then, moving to a site eight miles south
of Sikeston, they spent three years on a
rented fai-m of ninety acres. At the expira-
tion of that period they returned to their
former location, three miles to the north,
farming one hundred acres until 1895. In
that year they made another change and
rented four hundred and ninety-six acres
and owning two hundred and four acres, all
of which Mr. Gardner conducts in his able
and scientific fashion. Besides his general
farming and satisfactory crops of corn, wheat
and hay. he has gained no little reputation
as a stock grower. He owns a poll Durham
Bull, and a herd of 125 head of cattle, be-
sides forty horses and a drove of one hun-
dred hogs. His farm is in every way fitted
with best improvements, showing his wise
management and persistent care of details.
Of this union with Miss Jlary Swan five
children have been bom: Thomas W., Mary
F., Albert, Frank and Lewis. Fraternally
Mr. Gardner is a member of the Independent
Order of Odd Fellows at New Madrid, and
both he and his wife are members of the
Methodist Episcopal church. Politically Mr.
Gardner can be counted on to support the
candidates and principles of the Democratic
party.
John Wesley Felts. The late John Wes-
ley Pelts, formerly a prominent farmer and
large land owner of North Carolina, and the
father of Robert George Felts, of Poplar
Bluff, ilissouri. was born in England, in
1831, and passed away at his home in Wilkes-
boro. North Carolina, December 19, 1908.
He came to the United States as a child, with
his parents, and was later united in mar-
riage to Miss Mattie Woodruff. They be-
came the parents of four children: James
W. married IMiss Elsie Barfield and is en-
gaged in tha stock business in Poplar Bluff,
Missouri; Hattie, who became the wife of a
Mr. Smith, died in 1910, in North Carolina;
Eugena was united in marriage to J. S.
Barnes and now makes her home in Wilkes-
boro ; William, a twin to Hattie Pelts Smith,
passed away in Little Rock, Arkansas, twenty
years ago. He was unmarried. John Felts
was a veteran of the Confederate army, with
a brave and gallant record. He served
throughout the entire war and was twice
severely wounded.
Fraternally Mr. Pelts was a member of
the Free and Accepted Order of Masons,
and he belonged to the Baptist church. In
the field of politics he was to be found under
the standard of the Democracy, and upon the
ticket of that party he was elected to the of-
fice of sheriff of Wilkes county. North Caro-
lina, and in that office he served for several
veare with satisfaction to the whole county.
Robert George Felts, the son of the late
John Wesley Felts, was born on January 26,
1861, in Wilkesboro, North Carolina. He
left home at the age of thirteen, up to that
age having attended a private school in
Wilkesboro^ He went to Cincinnati, Ohio, and
at the age of fifteen entered the railroading
business as a switchman in the yards. From
LAyt\J
HISTORY OF SOUTHEAST MISSOURI
1181
Cincinnati he went to JIattoon, Illinois, and
was there connected with the railroad for
six or seven years, going from there to Texas,
where he continued in the same work for a
period of twelve years.
On December 21. 1887, Mr. Felts was
united in marriage to Miss Carrie Hulme, of
Denison, Texas. She was the daughter of
George and Mary (Swain) Hulme, the for-
mer of whom passed away in Cireleville,
Kansas, in 1901, and the latter of whom was
born in Virginia, in 1828, and passed away
in Little Rock, Arkansas, November 13, 1893.
Mrs. Felts was born July 26, 1868, in Troy,
Illinois. She and her husband became the
parents of five children, three of whom sur-
vive. Charles R.. born Septemlier 24, 1888,
died at the age of nine years, ilayme, born
November 18, 1890, is now ^ilrs. Irwin Gib-
bons, of Poplar Blutf. Robert George, Jr.,
was born September 19, 1901, and Carolyn
was born on the 26th of July, 1905.
From Texas J\Ir. Felts went to Little Rock,
Arkansas, and finally, in 1893, moved his
home to Poplar Bluflf, Missouri. He was not
unknowu in Poplar Bluff, however, for he
had run his train into this place (he was a
conductor on the Iron Mountain road) since
1888. In 1906 Mr. Felts gave up railroad-
ing and went into the telephone business. It
is interesting to note that at the time he en-
tered the business there were only sixty-one
'phones operated and that now the company
furnishes service to 765 subscribers. Mr.
Felts is half owner of the company, which is
called the Poplar Bluff Telephone Company.
Besides this he has various other interests.
He holds real estate in several places, is half
owner of the Metropolitan Steam Laundry
Company, has a farm located three miles
north of Poplar Bluff, and is a stockholder
and president of the Farmer's Saving Bank,
in all of which undertakings his keen bus-
iness sense and progressive management are
felt.
Politically Mr. Felts is a stanch Repub-
lican. He has served on the town board of
aldermen and was mayor of Poplar Bluff for
four years. He is a Thirty-second degree
]\Iason and belongs to the Benevolent and
Protective Order of Elks. He and his wife
are of the Baptist faith.
Amos B. Perkins. The three-score-and-nine
years of Amos Perkins' life have been crowded
with varied and successful activities. He was
born August 13, 1842, in Logan county, Ohio.
His parents were Sophia and Amos Perkins,
farmers and landowners. Amos followed
farming until the Civil war and then enlisted
in the Thirteenth Ohio under Captain Ash-
mead. He served three months there and then
went into the Forty-second Ohio, under Cap-
tain Gardner and Colonel Garfield. He was
in his first engagement at Middle Creek, Ken-
tucky, and from that time was almost con-
stantly in the thick of the combat. He went
through the battles at Cumberland Gap, Ten-
nessee; Charleston, West Virginia; Memphis
and Chickatato Bluff in Tennessee; then Ar-
kansas Post in Arkansas; Grand Gulf, Fort
Gibson, Raymond, Champion Hill, Black
River and the memorable siege of Vicksburg
in Mississippi. After something over two
months at Vicksburg Mr. Perkins was sent
north on a furlough and was in Indianapolis
when the war was over. His health was in a
precarious condition and the doctors gave him
little hope of living over six months when he
left the army, so he changed his place of resi-
dence often in hopes of being benefited.
After the war he went into the lumber busi-
ness at Bellefoutaine, Ohio. He had a planing
mill there and dealth in retail lumber. It was
there that he was married, in 1865, to Mar-
garet Ream. In 1868, after three years of resi-
dence in Bellefontaine, Mr. Perkins went to
Hoopston, Illinois. He changed only his loca-
tion, not his business, but continued to haucUe
lumber for four years in Hoopston and for five
years in St. Joseph, Michigan, where he was
in the wholesale trade. From Michigan Mr.
Perkins went to Sullivan, Indiana, and sold
lumber there for four years. Another four
years were spent in Memphis, Tennessee ; then
two years at Cairo, Illinois, following which
was a space of three years when he did busi-
ness in Southeastern Missouri and bad his of-
fices at Cairo. He conducted business at Per-
kins and throughout Southea.stern Missouri,
locating in lUmo six years ago.
In order to get out of the swamp, Mr. Per-
kins decided to take up his residence in Illmo
when the town was organized, as he could thus
be near his extensive land holdings and could
at the same time carry on his retail lumber
business. He deals extensively in real estate
also, and has recently began the exploitation
of the Illmo Springs mineral water.
The value of this water was first brought
to Mr. Perkins' attention in August, 1909, by
some of his neighbors' advising that he drink
it for kidney trouble, from which he was suf-
fering. It was said that the Indians bad
1182
HISTORY OF SOUTHEAST MISSOURI
prized the water for its medicinal virtues and
Mr. Perkins decided to give it a trial. The re-
sults were so beneficial that he sent a sample
to the state chemist at Columbia for examina-
tion. The analysis revealed the presence of
the following elements in one gallon :
1.9505 grains Silica
14.5207 grains Calcium Bicarbonate
1.9617 grains Magnesium
1.9567 grains Sodium
20.4200 grains Llineral Matter
5.6892 grains Halfbound Carbon Dioxide
escaping
14,7308 gi-ains Fixed residue.
The state chemist pointed out that the com-
position of this water made it especially suit-
able for removing the waste products of the
system when the natural means of purifying
tiie body have been impaired by age or disease
and that the water had great value as a reme-
dial agent because of its pui-ity.
Mr. Perkins is improving the property on
which the springs are located and intends to
make the place a resort for this entire section
of the country. There are four springs, yield-
ing a flow of four gallons a minute. Mr. Per-
kins' son Dale has also been cured of kidney
trouble and malaria by drinking Illmo water,
after having been to Hot Springs, Arkansas,
and to Selmar Springs. He had been im-
proved by his stay there, but has found Illmo
equally potent to remove the disease germs.
Dale Perkins is one of the four children of
Amos and Margaret Ream Perkins, and has
been here with his father since 1888. He re-
ceived his education in the Hoopston schools
and in the Christian Brothers' school of St.
Louis. He is man-ied, his mfe being Birdie
Galaher Perkins, formerly of Monroe, Ohio.
The other children of Mr. Perkins' first mar-
riage are Edward Allen, who died in St. Joe,
Michigan, at the age of eleven ; Margaret May,
who passed away at Danville, Illinois, in 1896 ;
and Anna Belle, who is Mrs. J. P. Curtis, of
Los Angeles, California. Mr. Curtis formerly
lived in Kentucky. The mother of these chil-
dren died in Danville in 1888. The present
Mrs. Amos Perkins was Miss Mary Dowdy, of
Dexter, before her marriage.
Mr. Perkins owns about 5,000 acres of land,
mostly near Illmo and Perkins. In Illmo he
has residence and business properties, and not
only in Illmo but in many of the surrounding
towns. He is a Blue Lodge Mason in Cape
Girardeau and also a member of the Royal
Arch and entitled to wear the plume of the
Knights Templar.
iMes. Mollie McCoy. One of the admira-
ble women of Puxico is Mrs. Mollie McCoy,
who is also one of the most prominent and
enlightened factors in the educational life
of Stoddard county. She holds a high place
in popular confidence and esteem, being rec-
ommended by a pleasing personality, rare so-
cial graces and a high degree of conscientious-
ness in her work. Mrs. McCoy was born in
Tennessee and came with her parents to Pux-
ico when a small child. Her parents were
Henry W. and Mary L. (Ho\rard) Hickman,
members of prominent Southern families.
The father was a captain in the Confederate
army, having enlisted near the beginning of
the conflict between the states as a member
of the Thirty-third Tennessee Volunteer In-
fantry. He was captured at home while on
recruiting service and was sent to Johnson's
Island, where he was kept a prisoner until
the close of the war. During his life as a
civilian he pursued the occupation of a farmer
and was a prominent and successful expo-
nent of the great basic industry. He held
for an extended period the office of president
of the Farmers' Alliance and he also enjoyed
many other preferments, among these beins
elected railway and warehouse commissioner
and serving for six years, until 1897. The
following year (1898) while en route home,
he was killed by a falling tree across the road.
He was sixty-six years of age when sum-
moned to the life eternal, and although more
than a decade has passed, his salutary influ-
ence has by no means been lost. He had one
of the best improved farms in the section and
he had built a fine home. His wife survived
him for several years, this estimable lady dy-
ing in 1909.
IMrs. McCoy was reared on the homestead
of her parents and received her early educa-
tion in the county schools. Coming to the
decision to make teaching her profession, she
attended the Cape Girardeau Normal School
and was graduated from that noted institu-
tion with the class of 1893. One of her class-
mates was R. S. Douglass, who is editor of
this work. Excellently equipped both by na-
ture and training for educational work, she
has proved one of Puxico 's finest teachers
and she has taught in the Stoddard county
schools at different times for some nine terms.
Her value to the community is by no means
HISTORY OF SOUTHEAST MISSOURI
1183
small, for it is not to be gainsaid that there
is no office carrying with it so much of re-
sponsibility as that of the instructor who
moulds and fashions the plastic mind of
youth; who instills into the formative brain
those principles which when matured will be
the chief heritage of the active man and
Mrs. McCoy was married February 6, 1900,
to Walter McCoy, a dealer in timber, mainly
veneer logs, in southeastern Missouri and
northeastern Arkansas. He purchased the
old Hickman homestead and sold it some two
years since. Mr. and Mrs. McCoy have three
children — Walter Hickman, Lois and La-
Cene. Mrs. ]\IcCoy will teach in the Puxico
schools during 1911-1912.
William Bollinger. In March, 1844, in a
hewed log house on the Bollinger homestead
farm, near where Walter Bollinger now lives
in Stoddard countj', Missouri, was born Wil-
liam Bollinger, a descendant of one branch
of the Bollinger family that came from North
Carolina to this state at an early day, where
they have lived for nearly a centurj'.
jeth Bollinger, father of William, was born
in North Carolina, September 19, 1819, and
when a small boy accompanied his father aiid
family to Missouri, the journey hither being
made according to the prevailing style of
travel at that time, namely, with ox teams.
They settled near Piketon, in Stoddard
county. Here William Bollinger's grand-
father spent the rest of his life and died, the
date of his death being 1890. Other fami-
lies of the same name, from North Carolina,
settled in other parts of Missouri. Bollinger
county, this state, was named in honor of
them. In Stoddard county Jeth Bollinger
grew to manhood and married ]Mary Hahn,
she and her parents having accompanied the
Bellingers on their removal westward. He
had probably known her in North Carolina,
although they were then only children. After
their marriage they settled near Piketon, and,
in common with the other pioneers of this
locality, endured many hardships and priva-
tions, and here they lived active, useful lives
and died.
Reared in a frontier district. William Bol-
linger had meagre educational advantages,
the local subscription schools being the only
ones he was privileged to attend. He has been
married three times. By his first wife, who
before marriage was Miss Sarah J. Goza. he
had four children: Annie, Nellie, Dora (de-
ceased), and Clara. This wife having died
in 1883, Mr. Bollinger married, in 1884, Miss
Margaret Sitz, who died in 1895, leaving three
children: Alvin, Walter and Nettie. By his
present wife, Mrs. Katie Barks, nee Hahn,
whom he wedded in 1896, he has no children.
Mr. Bollinger's first land purchase here
was one hundred and sixty acres. To this he
kept adding by subsequent purchase until at
one time he had eleven hundred acres. He
worked hard and used good judgment in the
management of his property, and thereby was
enabled to settle on each of his children a
snug little farm as they married and left him.
Indeed, he has given the most of his prop-
erty to his children, retaining for himself
only twenty-two acres at Tilman, where he
lives. Most of his land was in the northern
part of Stoddard county, between Bell City
and Tilman.
At the time war was inaugurated between
the North and the South Mr. Bollinger was
a youth of seventeen. His love of the South-
land took him into the Southern armj% the
vicissitudes of which he shared throughout
the long yeare of that memorable struggle. It
was in June, 1861, that he enlisted, at Bloom-
field, under General Price. He was a mem-
ber of Company A, Fourth Missouri Regi-
ment, Dave Hicks being captain of the com-
pany; was in nearly all the engagements west
of the Mississippi River, including both of
Price's raids, and was mustered out of the
service at Shreveport, Louisiana, in April,
1865, During his service he was twice
wounded, but never suffered capture. Re-
turning to his home, he found much of the
stock bad been either killed or driven away
from his father's farm, and on all sides de-
vastation met him. Like others, however, he
made the best of the situation and went to
work, with the successful result as above
stated.
W.;VLTER A. Bollinger, one of the highly
respected young farmers of Stoddard county,
Missouri, was born July 31, 1886, on the
farm where he now lives, the old Bollinger
homestead tract. His early education was re-
ceived in the district school near his home,
and for two years he attended high school at
Cape Girardeau. AVhen he was old enough
to assume the responsibilities of life his father
deeded him one hundred and twenty acres of
the old farm, which portion included a hoiise
and barn. He afterward built another barn,
a larger one, fiftv bv sixtv feet in dimen-
1184
HISTORY OF SOUTHEAST MISSOURI
sions, with roof fifty feet high, and by pur-
chase he added to his land sixty-six acres ad-
joining it, making a farm of one hundred and
eighty -six acres. Mr. Bollinger's mother died
some fifteen years ago, and his father, Wil-
liam Bollinger, who has since married, is now
a resident of lUman.
On September 7, 1907, at Bloomfield, Mis-
souri, Walter A. Bollinger and Miss Zella
Proffer were united in marriage, and to them
have been given two children: Mona, born
September 7, 1908, and Melba, born January
12, 1910. ]Mrs. Bollinger is a daughter of
Calvin and Lola Proffer, old residents of the
county. Jlr. Proft'er died March 8, 1900.
Mr. and Mrs. Bollinger are identified with
the Methodist church. South, of which they
are worthy members. Politically Mr. Bollin-
ger affiliates with the Democratic party and
fraternally, with the M. W. of A.
William J. Garner. The agricultural in-
terests of Stoddard county, Missouri, have a
worthy representative in this native son of
the county, W. J. Garner, whose fine farm
lies near Bell City.
Mr. Garner was born in the vicinity of Dex-
ter, Stoddard county, Missouri, December
31, 1869. At an early age he lost his father
by death, February 29, 1880, aged thirty-four
years, and thus was deprived of the educa-
tional and other advantages he would have
had if his father had lived. As soon as old
enough he lent a helping hand to the support
of his mother (who was before marriage Mary
Brown, and who resides near Bell City, Mis-
souri, aged sixty-four) and other members of
the family. Being the eldest son he naturally
assumed "the responsibility of the work at
home, and, when a little older, also looked
after his uncle's farm, of which he had charge
for five years. Wlien he was nineteen he
married the daughter of a prominent and
well-to-do citizen of the county, and he and
his bride went to housekeeping at their pres-
ent location, where her father gave them one
hundred and sixty acres of land. To this
tract has since been added one hundred and
forty acres of adjoining land, making three
hundred acres in one body. This land at the
time be came into possession of it was nearly
all cleared. He has cleared the rest, and has
the entire farm well fenced and drained and
under a bi«rh state of cultivation. He built
a good seven-room house, which he and his
family occupy, and several barns and out-
buildings. Wheat and corn are his chief
crops.
Mrs. Garner, formerly Miss Clara Foster,
is a daughter of F. T. Foster. Two children
were born to Mr. and Mrs. Garner, namely:
I\Iyrtle, born September 16, 1891, and Ellis,
April 9, 1894, the former being the wife of
William Dunlap, whom she married in Au-
gust, 1906. They have two daughters, Irie
A., born in the fall of 1908, and Dorothy,
born in the fall of 1910.
Mr. and Mrs. Garner are members of the
German Baptist church. IMr. Garner is also
a member of the blue lodge of the Masonic
order, and the Independent Order of Odd
Fellows of Bell City, Missouri.
L. E. Kelch. Both the farming and lum-
ber interests of Stoddard county, Missouri,
are fortunate in having such an enterprising,
up-to-date man identified with them as L. E.
Kelch. He has one of the largest farms in
the county and his mill and timber interests
here are extensive.
Mr. Kelch is a native of Ohio. He was born
on a farm in Miami county, that state, June
4, 1870, and in the "Buckeye" schools re-
ceived his education. When not attending
school his boyhood days were passed in as-
sisting his father in the farm work. Later
the family moved to a near-by town, where
his father had a sawmill and where he worked
until he was twenty-one. Then he went to
southern Indiana, where he owned and oper-
-ated a mill, and where he remained for two
years, doing- a successful business. From In-
diana he went to Fairfield, Illinois, where he
made his headquarters for several years while
he operated a number of mills in that local-
ity. In 1896 he came south to Missouri and
selected a location north of Bloomfield, in
Stoddard county, where he purchased two
hundred and five acres of timber land. He
cut the timber from this land and in due time
placed it under cultivation, also he bought
adjoining land which he cleared and brought
under cultivation, and now he has here one
of the largest farms in Stoddard county, one
thousand two hundred and sixty-one acres
in extent, fenced and ditched, and equipped
with buildings sufficient for his eight or ten
tenants who cultivate the soil. His crops are
grain and chiefly corn, six hundred acres on
an average beine devoted to this crop. In
the vicinity of Brownwood he o^tis about
four thousand five hundred acres, and he
HISTORY OF SOUTHEAST MISSOURI
1185
practically owns the whole town of Brown-
wood, with its sawmill and its thirty-live
houses for employes of the mill. This saw-
mill he purchased in December, 1910, and is
now busily engaged in remodeling it and in-
creasing its capacitj', which, when completed,
will be from thirty thousand to forty thou-
sand feet of lumber dailj-. A track, live miles
in length, has been constructed, which facili-
tates the transportation of timber to the mill.
On the north side of the town he has a barrel
heading factory, where he employs in the
neighborhood of forty men. At the mill he
furnishes employment to no less than one
hundred and fifty men. The hotel of the
town he built and still owns, and in addition
to the farm and timber land above mentioned
he has other tracts, making in all over seven
thousand acres, the value of which ranges
from twenty-five to one hundred dollars an
acre.
As the head of such industries Mr. Keleh
wields an influence in the community that is
far reaching and beneficial. "Withal, he is
quiet and unassuming. He has the good will
and the kindly feeling of those about him,
and balancing up the esteem in which he is
held by them is a just appreciation on his
part. I\Ir. Keleh is unmarried.
Edward Lewis Hawks. Practical indus-
try, wisely and vigorously applied, never fails
of success; it carries a man onward and up-
ward, brings out his individual character and
acts as a powerful stimulus to the efforts of
others. The greatest results in life are
usually attained by simple means, implying
the exercise of the ordinary qualities of com-
mon sense and perseverance. In the legiti-
mate channels of industry, Edward Lewis
Hawks has won the success which always
crowns well directed labor, sound judgment
and untiring perseverance, and at the same
time he has concerned himself with the af-
fairs of the community in a loyal, public-
spirited way, the section counting him one of
its leading and representative citizens. He is
proprietor of the E. L. Hawks Roller Mill at
Puxico, one of the town's most important in-
dustries. In 1891 he assisted in organizing
a milling company and erected the present
mill, with J. A. Hickman as president and
Mr. Hawks retaining the position of manager
and millwright. He has successfully man-
aged it for the twenty years intervening since
that time and three years ago he bought out
the other interests and operates it independ-
ently. The elevator, which is a part of it, is
now owned by that prominent financier and
business man, j. A. Hickman. Some years
ago an electric lighting plant was added,
which the subject owns and operates as a side
feature of the milling business. The mill,
which bears the name of the Merchant & Ex-
change jMill, has a capacity of seventy-five
barrels daily. The mill is supplied with grain
by the local farmers and its patronage is
mainly local, although large quntities of the
flour, meal, etc., are shipped away. Mr.
Hawks also conducts a small saw mill and
planing mill and operates a lumber yard.
He buys the timber for the most part from
farmers who are engaged in clearing their
land. In all these enterprises he has met with
no small amount of success.
Mr. Hawks was born in Hart county, Ken-
tucky, January 10, 1860, the son of F. T. and
Amanda M. (Overfelt) Hawks, both natives
of the Blue Grass state. The family removed
to Missouri in 1871, and remained here for
two years, then going back to Kentucky,
where they spent three years, and in 1876 re-
turned to this state, of which they had re-
tained a happy memory. In 1877 the Hawks
family located a mile and a half east of Pux-
ico, on Crowley's Ridge, and there maintained
their home for many years. The worthy wife
and mother died in 1907, in Puxico, and the
father makes his home with the subject, his
years numbering seventy-two. Mr. Hawks is
the eldest of the seven children born to F.
T. Hawks and his wife, five of this number
surviving. One of the sisters, ]Mattie, now
the wife of J. L. Glover, resides near Union
City, Obion county, Tennessee. They own
the old homestead, which is dear to all the
family with its host of memories.
Edward L. Hawks of this biographical
record remained beneath the parental roof-
tree until the attainment of his majority. He
came to Puxico when it was little more than
a prouiise and built the first residence here
in the fall of 1883, previous to the time the
"Houck" Railway, now a part of the 'Frisco
system, was completed and the town laid out
and named Puxico. As he saw a good deal
of opportunity in that line, the ambitious
young man started his career as a building
contractor, and, in truth, he constructed
nearly all the business buildings in Puxico.
He subsequently engaged in the grocery busi-
ness and continued in this line for three or
four years, only relinquishing it to engage in
milling. He still occasionally takes a eon-
1186
HISTORY OF SOUTHEAST MISSOURI
tract and has, indeed, a great deal of ability.
For instance, he rebuilt the public school
building in 1910, remodeling it and putting
on an addition. As his public spirit and
good judgment are generally recognized it
has been the general desire that he serve on
the village board, and he has held member-
ship upon the same nearly all of the time
since f'uxico has had a village board. He
has seen it grow and flourish until it is now
a city of the fourth class, with a mayor. He
is prominent in fraternal circles, belonging
to the Independent Order of Odd Fellows
and the Modern Woodmen.
Mr. Hawks was happily married in 1880,
Samantha B. Looney becoming his wife. Mrs.
Hawks is a daughter of John and Mary
(Sewell) Looney, and was born in Cape
Girardeau county, Missouri. Their union
has been blessed by the birth of a family of
nine children, as follows: Lucy, wife of
Frank Bilbry, of Puxico; Delia, who married
James Wallace, of Puxico; Susie; Pearl;
Minnie, a student in the Cape Girardeau
Business College; Flora; Lois; Lewis Ed-
mund ; and Jennie. Their home is one of the
popular and hospitable ones of the county,
the various members of the household being
well and favorably known. Mr. and Mrs.
Hawks are members of the Missionary Bap-
tist church.
John William Heeb. Among the substan-
tial citizens of the county, who have made its
interests their own and have always been
ready to aid in the development of the region
is Mr. J. W. Heeb. He is a native of the state.
Cape Girardeau county being his birthplace
and 1868, September 8, the date of his birth.
His father, John Heeb, came to Missouri in
1842 and secured a farm of one hundred and
twenty acres. He identified himself with the
country of his adoption and in the time of the
Civil war served in the state militia. His wife
was Agatha Scherer Heeb, and seven of their
children are still living. Mike married Mrs.
Carolina Sanfose, and they live at Kelso, Mis-
souri. Anna, Mrs. August Sanders, resides on
a farm near Chaffee. Katherine, too, is the
wife of a Scott county farmer, S. E. Owens.
Otto has been located near Harrisburg, Ar-
kansas, since November, 1911. He formerly
owned land in the vicinity of Chaffee. August
also lives in Scott county, owning a farm near
Chaffee, on which he resides with his wife,
Tillie Pobst Heeb. The father makes his home
with him.
John William Heeb bought his first land in
1887, when he and his brother August pur-
chased ninety acres in partnership. He kept
on buying and selling until at present he owns
a hundred and ninety -two acres in Cape Gi-
rardeau county and a hundred and thirty-one
in Scott county. He keeps some stock and his
principal crops are wheat, hay and corn. In
1905 he sold a hundred and three acres to the
Chaffee Real Estate Company, and he still
owns five houses in that town.
On June 28, 1891, JMr. Heeb was united in
marriage to Miss Rosa L. Daniels, of this
county, daughter of George and Mildred Dan-
iels. Nine children were born into the home
of John and Rosa Heeb, six of whom still glad-
den it with their presence. Nona, the oldest,
is the wife of John Hobbs, of Chaffee, who is a
blacksmith for the Frisco Railroad. Two sons
Roy and Paul, were taken from this life, the
former fourteen years ago and the latter two
years later. Arthur, the oldest son at home,
is thirteen; Bessie is eight; Rufus, seven;
Henry, five; Lucas, three; and Ruth Ora will
be one year old on July 17, 1912.
Both Mr. and Mrs. Heeb ai-e members of the
Baptist church, in which their support and in-
fluence ax-e highly valued. Mr. Heeb is a mem-
ber of the Modern Woodmen's lodge at Oran,
while at Chaffee he belongs to the Royal
Neighbors and to the Odd Fellows. The con-
fidence and esteem with which he is regarded
in the community are evidenced in many
ways. He is president of the Building and
Loan Association of Chaffee, of which he is a
stockholder ; he was formerly president of the
Farmers' Union of the county; and he has
been for nine years president of the school
board, serving three years before the town of
Chaffee was built. Mr. Heeb also oversees
some of the road building in the county. In
addition to his real estate interests he is a
stockholder in the German American bank
and in the First National of Chaffee.
A. Prank Asa. Among the localities of
Southeastern Missouri which have gained
distinction in recent years for educational
progress and a thorough modernization of
school, Stoddard county has not only fol-
lowed in the general path of advancement
but is recognized as one of the counties which
are leading in independent achievements
along the lines of public education. To no
small degree the credit for this progress is
due the present superintendent of public
schools, Mr. A. Frank Asa, who is a progres-
HISTORY OF SOUTHEAST :^^SSOURI
1187
sive, broad-minded educator, whose ability
and many years of practical experience in
the county give him an unusual equipment
for the work now going forward.
In the last two years the schools of the
county have been entirely revolutionized, and
are now being thoroughly graded and classi-
fied. It is noteworthy that the citizens of
the county have a keen appreciation of the
work which is being done in behalf of their
children, and this general moral support has
been a large factor in the successful applica-
tion of modern methods in the schools. With
a population of thirty thousand, Stoddard
county has nine thousand school children,
with over one hundred and fifty teachers.
Superintendent Asa is a native of Illinois,
bom at Fairfield, Wayne countj% December
23, 1875. He has been identified with educa-
tional work since he was twenty years old.
Up to the age of seventeen he worked on the
home farm and attended district school, and
then spent three years in the Fairfield high
school. In 1895 he accompanied his parents
to their new home in Stoddard county, locat-
ing on a farm a few miles southwest of Dud-
ley. He began teaching in this county in
1897, and since then has improved his own
equipment for the profession by attendance
at four summer schools. The record of his
experience in this county includes one year
at Edwards, one at Wilkerson, one at Tropf,
three in the Lakeville graded school, two in
Advance, and one at Puxico, while in the lat-
ter school he was elected, April 6, 1909, to
the office of county school commissioner un-
der the old system. By an act of the legisla-
ture he took the oath of county superintend-
ent of schools on August 16, 1909, so that
practically his entire administration has been
under the new law. He was re-elected April
4, 1911, being now on his second term. His
re-election was a gratifving approval of the
work he had inaugurated during his first two
years, and during his present term the
schools of Stoddard county will be placed on
a par with the best county school systems in
the state.
Daniel B. Corbin. ]\Iany of the ablest
men in America are ardent devotees of the
great basic industry of agriculture, and it is
well that this is so, because the various
learned professions are rapidly becoming so
crowded with inefficient practitioners that in
a few years it will be practically impossible
for any but the exceptionally talented man
to make good or even to gain a competent
living therein. The independent farmer who
in addition to tilling the soil cultivates his
mind and retains his health is a man much
to be envied in these days of strenuous bus-
tle and nervous energy. He lives his life as
he chooses and is always safe from financial
ravages and other troubles of the so-called
"cliff-dweller." An able and representative
agriculturist who has done much to advance
progress and conserve prosperity in Bollin-
ger county, iMissouri, is Daniel B. Corbin,
who owns and operates a finely improved es-
tate of five hundred and twenty acres in
Wayne township, one and a half miles dis-
tant from Greenbrier..
A native of the fine old Hoosier state of
the Union, Mr. Corbin was born in Greene
county, Indiana, on the 14th of February,
1858. He is a son of George and Nancy (Hat-
field) Corbin, both of whom were likewise
born in Indiana, where the father was long
engaged in agricultural pursuits. George
Corbin was a gallant and faithful soldier in
the Union army during the Civil war and he
lost his life on the battlefield at Jackson,
Mississippi, in the last year of the war. D.
B. Corbin, of this notice, was reared to the
invigorating discipline of the home farm and
lie received his preliminary educational train-
ing in the neighboring district schools. He
continued to reside on the farm in Indiana
until he had reached his nineteenth year, and
at that time removed to Bollinger county,
Jlissouri, where he has continued to reside
during the long intervening years to the pres-
ent time, in 1912. In 1897 he engaged in
the mercantile and saw-mill business at
Greenbrier and in 1899 he purchased a tract
of three hundred and twenty acres of Govern-
ment land in Wayne township. In 1909 he
added a tract of two hundred acres to his
original estate and he is now most success-
fully engaged in diversified agriculture and
the raising of high-grade stock on his large
farm.
Mr. Corbin has been married three times.
In 1877 he wedded Nancy E. Cassner, of
Greene county, Indiana. She was summoned
to the life eternal in 1888, and is survived
by four children, concerning whom the fol-
lowing brief record is here offered, — Samuel,
born in 1878, married Ida Ashcroft and they
reside in Greene county, Indiana; George,
born in 1880. married Annie Ashcroft, and
they live in Greene county, Indiana ; Stella,
whose birth occurred in 1882, is the wife of
1188
HISTORY OF SOUTHEAST MISSOURI
Homer Wright, of Greene county, Indiana;
and Grover, born in 1884, married Ruth
Blackridges, their home being in Bollinger
county, ]\Iissouri. In 1890 Sir. Corbin was
united in marriage to Miss Rebecca J. Rob-
inson, who died in 1893. This union was
blessed with two children, — Nancy, born in
1891 ; and Clyde, born in 1893. In 1894 was
solemnized the marriage of Mr. Corbin to
Miss Almeta Robinson and they have three
children, as follows, — Cash, born in 1895;
Frances, in 1897 ; and Edna, in 1904.
In politics Mr. Corbin is aligned as a stal-
wart supporter of the cause of the Demo-
cratic party and, while he has never had time
for political preferment of any description,
he is ever ready to contribute to all measures
and enterprises advanced for the good of the
general welfare. In a fraternal way he is
affiliated with the Independent Order of Odd
Fellows, the Improved Order of Red Men
and the Tribe of Ben Hur. He and his wife
are valued and appreciative members of the
Knights and Ladies of Security and the
Daughters of Rebekah. In their religious
faith they are consistent and zealous members
of the Methodist Episcopal church, to whose
good works they are most generous contribu-
tors of their time and means. The Corbin
home is one of gracious refinement and gen-
erous hospitality and Mr. and Mrs. Corbin
are honored and esteemed as foremost citizens
in the community.
JoHX H. HuEBNER. Among the prosper-
ous farmers of Stoddard county, Missouri,
who claim a birthplace on the north side of
the old "Mason and Dixon" line is John H.
Huebner, who owns and occupies a fine farm
of two hundred and fifty -five acres, two miles
and a half southeast of Puxico.
I\Ir. Huebner was born on a farm in Posey
county, Indiana, October 28, 1868, and made
his home in that county twenty-five years.
When he was ten years old his mother died,
and thus his boyhood was robbed of a moth-
er's loving care, and in a measure his educa-
tion was neglected. Subsequently his father
was twice married.
When he was twenty-four years of age Mr.
Huebner married, in Posey county, Miss
Ethel Hughes, like himself a native of that
county, born in 1868. They lived at his
father's home one year, operating the home
farm, then accompanied him and his family
to Illinois, ]\Ir, Huebner having sold his farm
in Indiana and bought one in Gallatin
county, Illinois. For seven yea,rs j\Ir. John
H. Huebner operated the Gallatin county
farm, a tract of two hundred and eighty
acres. In the meantime rumors of progress
and prosperity in Southeastern Missouri
reached him, and he decided that Missouri
was the place for him, so he came south, land-
ing at Puxico, Missouri, the day before
Christmas in 1900. His first land purchase
here was one hundred and fift.y-five acres, a
part of his present farm, which had a few
buildings and which was about half covered
with timber. Bj^ subsequent purchase he has
added to this tract until now he has two hun-
dred and fifty-five acres in one body, fenced
with wire and nearly all cleared. ]\Iost of
the buildings now on the farm have- been
erected by Mr. Huebner and those that
were here when he came have been remodeled
and improved. And as , the result of his
twelve years of labor he today has a property
worth far more than he paid for it in cash.
His chief crops are corn, wheat and clover,
and, being a trading man, he deals quite ex-
tensively in cattle, hogs and horses.
]Mr. and Mrs. Huebner have two sons,
Raymond H. and Byron F.. both at home.
The only fraternal organization with which
I\Ir. Huebner is identified is the Court of
Honor of Puxico. Politically he is a Demo-
crat, not, however, taking much part in poli-
tics save as a conscientious voter. As an hon-
est man and worthy citizen he has the respect
of all who know him.
R. L. Guy. Included among the prosper-
ous farmers of Southeastern Missouri who
have made their way to success by dint of
their own efforts is found R. L. Guy, whose
new residence and broad acres are situated
two miles and a quarter northeast of Ad-
vance, Stoddard county.
IMr. Guy is a native of Kentucky. He was
born in Adair county, that state, March 12,
1868, and when he was only three weeks old
had the misfortune to lose his father by
death. When he was seven years old he was
brought by his mother to Missouri, where she
subsequently became the wife of J. G. IMills.
After his father's death the support of the
family devolved upon two brothers and a sis-
ter. They stayed together for several years,
and their first location in Missouri was in
Scotland county, where the subject of this
sketch received nearly all his schooling. He
remained a member of his mother's house-
hold until his mother's marriage, which took
HISTORY OF SOUTHEAST MISSOURI
1189
place in 1883. That year he came to his pres-
ent location. His capital when he started out
for himself consisted of one hundred and
twenty-eight dollars and a horse. He paid
one hundred dollars for another horse, and
with a good team he went to work on rented
land. For four years he cultivated rented
farms. Meanwhile, near him were one hun-
dred and sixty acres of land that belonged to
heirs, and this proved his opportunity. As
each heir became of age ]Mr. Guy bought him
out, and thus a little at a time acquired the
whole tract, and from time to time he bought
other land imtil his holdings now comprise
five hundred and eleven acres. He moved
from his first farm to the one on which he
now lives, and into a little log house, twenty
by tweuty-fo.ur feet in dimensions, which
continued to be his shelter until it was blown
down in 1909. Then lie erected his present
residence, an eight-room house with halls and
basement. He has good barns, two tenant
houses, and all these, together with his well
cultivated fields and the stock on his broad
pastures, indicate the enterprising, prosper-
ous farmer. Annually he raises several
thousand dollars worth of stock, chiefly hogs.
Realizing the advantage a good drainage
ditch would be to this locality Mr. Guy has
been active in promoting one, which has re-
cently been ordered by the county court.
This "ditch, when completed, will be of great
value of the land east of Advance.
Mr. Guy married, in 1883, in Cape Girar-
deau county. ^liss Josephine Looney. who w.is
born in that countv in 1877, daughter of
"William J. and ^Xlinerva Looney. Frater-
nally Mr. Guy is identified with the F. & A.
M.. having membership in the lodge at Ad-
vance.
Eugene G. Schkum. One of the leading
citizens of the little town of Swinton. Stod-
dard county, ]Missouri. is found in the sub-
ject of this* sketch. E. G. Schrum. a dealer in
general merchandise.
Mr. Schrum is a native of Stoddard
county. He was born March 2. 187.5. on a
farm near Piketon. and there, when he was
only two years of age, he had the misfortune
to lose his parents, his father and mother dv-
ing within a day of each other and both be-
ing laid to rest in the same grave. After this
he was taken into the home of his uncle. -Tiles
Nation, who lived on a near-by farm, ^l^^^n
the boy was thirteen this uncle moved to Bell
City, where he owned and operated a saw-
mill. Young Schrum worked in the mill for
two years, after which he began to clerk in
a general store, which his uncle also owned.
When he was twenty-one he bought a fourth
interest in the store, having at that time
come into possession of a small inheritance
from his father. A step-son of Mr. Nation's
also was a partner in the store. After two
years spent as partner there Mr. Schrum
saved enough to buy a house and lot. Then
he married, and soon afterward he built a
store of his own, into which he placed a good
stock of general merchandise and which he
conducted for a period of seven years, doing
a prosperous business and at the end of that
time selling out at a good price. Then he in-
vested in a farm of one hundred and twenty
acres one-half mile southwest of Swinton.
This farm he bought in 1905, and on it he
made his home for two years, at the end of
that time selling it. Next we find him at Ad-
vance and Greenbrier, Bollinger county,
where he ran a hoop factory which fur-
nished employment most of the time to about
fifteen men. 'On the 20th of February, 1909,
he opened a line of general merchandise at
Swinton, where he has a store, thirty by sixty
feet in dimensions, and where he is now do-
ing a successful business.
On June 20, 1897, at Bell City, E. G.
Schrum and Miss ilargaret Loekard were
united in marriage, and to them have been
given two children, the elder of whom, Edith,
an exceptionally bright little girl, died Sep-
tember 25, 1909. at the age of eight years.
The baby, Glendon, was born February 16,
1910. Mrs. Schrum is a daughter of Bed-
ford and Sarah Loekard, who came to Stod-
dard countv from their native state, Ken-
tuctv. In Stoddard county, March 19, 1878,
]\Irs. Schrum was born, and here her whole
life has been spent.
]\Ir. and Mrs. Schrum are actively identi-
fied with the Methodist Episcopal church.
South, and he fraternizes with the M. "W. of
A., liavins membership in Baker Camp at
Swinton. Politically he is a Republican, and
has always taken an enthusiastic interest in
local affairs. As a successful business man
and worthy citizen Mr. Schrum is justly en-
titled to the high esteem in which he is held
by the people among whom he lives.
AsiER J. Speer, ]\I. D. Education and
financial assistance are very important fac-
tors in achieving success in any line of en-
terprise today, but they are not the main
1190
HISTORY OF SOUTHEAST MISSOURI
elements. Persistency and determination fig-
ure much more prominently and a man pos-
sessed of these qualities is bound to win a
fair amount of success. Dr. Asier J. Speer,
■whose name forms the caption for this arti-
cle, earned his own education and during the
latter years of his life he has climbed to a
high place on the ladder of achievement. He
is one of Zalma's most prominent citizens and
since 1903 has here been most successfully en-
gaged in the practice of medicine.
A native of the old Hoosier state, Dr. Speer
was born in ]\Iartin county, Indiana, on the
10th of December, 1874, and he is a son of
William R. and Arinda (Girdley) Speer,
both of whom are likewise natives of Indiana.
The father was engaged in farming opera-
tions during the greater part of his active
career and he is now living near Zalma, Mis-
souri. The tirst in order of birth in a fam-
ily of four children. Dr. Spear was reared to
adult age on the old homestead farm and he
continued to attend school until he had
reached his sixteenth year. At that time, in
1890. he began to teach school, his first posi-
tion as a teacher being at Revelle, near Lutes-
ville. Missouri. In 1891, he entered the
Southeastern Normal School, at Cape Oirar-
deau, Missouri, completing the prescribed
course in one year and heading his class in
all written examinations. While attending
normal school he was elected by the Benton
Society to debate with two other classmates,
each representing a political party. Dr.
Speer represented the People's party. Miss
Rowena Shaner represented the Republican
party and J. C. Shaner, the Democratic
party. In 1891, after lea\ang college, Dr.
Speer came to Zalma, Missouri, where he
taught school for the ensuing twelve years.
In 1898 he began to take work in the St.
Louis College of Physicians & Surgeons, and
he was finally graduated in that excellent in-
stitution as a member of the class of 1903,
duly receiving his degree of Doctor of Medi-
cine. Immediately after graduation Dr.
Speer located at Zalma. where he initiated
the active practice of his profession and
where he has since been engaged in medical
Avork. He controls a large and lucrative pa-
tronage in this place and in the surroTinding
country and is widely renOAvned as one of the
most skilled physicians and surgeons in Bol-
linger county.
In the year 1899. Dr. Speer was united in
marriase to Miss Bertha Black, of Green-
brier, Missouri. ]\Irs. Speer is a daughter of
John and Eliza (Reed) Black and she was
reared and educated in this state. Dr. and
Jlrs. Speer are the parents of seven children,
whose names and dates of birth are here en-
tered in respective order of nativity, Charles
Vernon, boru November 20, 1900, died Sep-
tember 13, 1901 ; Ruth, born in April, 1902 ;
Grace, born in March, 1904; AValda French,
October, 1905; Hester, August, 1907; Man-
ford, August, 1909; and Justin Linn, Au-
gust, 1911.
In politics Dr. Speer accords an earnest
support to Republican jDrinciples, believing
that the platform of that party contains the
best elements of good government. He has
never had time for participation in public
affairs but is ever on the alert and enthusi-
astically in sympathy with all measures ad-
vanced for progress and improvement. In a
fraternal way he is affiliated with the Tribe of
Ben Hur and the jModern Woodmen of Amer-
ica. In their religious faith Dr. and Mrs.
Speer are consistent members of the Method-
ist Episcopal church, and they are popular
factors in connection with the best social ac-
tivities of Zalma. where they are held in high
esteem by all with whom they have come in
contact.
Robert L. Calvin. It is not without reason
that the European nations, both ancient and
modern, have considered farming the most
honorable of occupations. Undoubtedly Amer-
ica owes her present supremacy in the nations
to the fact that until the last two generations
our city population was a small per cent of
the total number of our inhabitants and that
we drew the flower of our professional men
from the farm-bred boys. Besides the train-
ing in doing so many various things which the
farmer gets, is the still more potent force in
character development, the ability to spend
time in solitude. The Anglo-Saxon rules the
world, solely because he is the one being who
can bear the discipline of loneliness. It is not
surprising then to find so many men who give
stability to the community, both morally and
financially, in the ranks of the agriculturists.
A signal example of Scott county 's farmer fi-
nanciers is Robert L. Calvin.
To the discipline of farm life another and
yet more severe training was added, for he
was left an orphan at a very early age and
was brought up by an uncle, Warren Rogers.
Wlien he could be spared from the farm he at-
tended the subscription schools in the log
school house of Mead county, Kentucky, where
HISTOKY OF SOUTHEAST MISSOURI
1191
he was born. On the twenty-third day of Jan-
uary, 1883, Mr. Calvin arrived in Sikeston.
He was eighteen yeare old and his entire
capital was three nickels in his trousers
pocket. However, he had enough energy and
ambition to make the lack of money certain
to be only a temporary inconvenience.
For five years after coming to Sikeston l\Ir.
Calvin worked on the farms in the vicinity by
the day and by the mouth, and at the end of
that time was able to begin renting. His first
farm was only twenty-five acres, but in some-
thing over twenty years he has increased this
to six hundred acres, besides three hundred
and twenty which he owns. He does not live
on his farm land but rents it out. General
farming is the line which Mr. Calvin follows,
devoting most of his attention to the raising
of wheat and corn. He uses up-to-date ma-
chinery and is not one of the farmers who
leave most of their work to Providence. An-
other industry to which he gives especial care
is the raising of Poland China hogs. He
keeps about one hundred and fifty of these
on hand, shipping some and selling some
breeders, thus promoting the raising of pure
breeds in the country near about. His other
stock comprises about thirty-three horses and
mules and twenty-five cattle.
In Sikeston Mr. Calvin owns three houses,
one of which is his fine home, and twenty-one
lots and is also one of the stockholders in the
Citizens' Bank. He is a well known and popu-
lar member of the Odd Fellows lodge here and
also a valued member of the ^Methodist church,
in which his wife was formerly a teacher in
the Sunday-school. In polities he gives his
vote and his support to the Democratic party.
ilrs. Calvin was iliss Lulu Wooldridge, who
like her husband, is a Kentuekian, although
she was born in Hardin county. IMrs. Calvin
is a daughter of the late Rev. W. S. and Sallie
A. (Crist) Wooldridge. The latter died in
March, 1911, aged sixty-four years past, the
mother of six children, all of whom grew to
maturity but one daughter, .Mi-s. Oro Thomp-
son, who died at the age of twenty-three years.
Rev. W. S. Wooldridge, who died July 3, 1907,
aged sixty-five years, was a minister of the
Missionary Baptist church, being a life mem-
ber of the" church and a minister for some ten
years of his later life. IMrs. Calvin came to
Sikeston when a young girl of twelve years,
and has grown up here. Her marriage to Mr.
Calvin took place on Christmas day. 1892.
Their family consists of four children. Robert
Lee and Talbot C, the twins, are now de-
ceased, having lived to be but three months
old. Opal, born in 1894, and Nica, four years
later, are now attending school. Both Mr. and
Mrs. Calvin stand high in the honor and af-
fection of the community because of their
sterling qualities and kindly manners.
James A. Haebin. For over tweuty-five
years the subject of this sketch has been
identified with Stoddard county, Missouri,
living in the vicinity of Puxico, where he
ranks as a representative citizen.
Mr. Harbin is a native of the "Hoosier
state." He was born in Greene county, In-
diana, October 3, 1857; was reared to farm
life, and had only limited educational advan-
tages. After his marriage he rented a forty-
acre farm in Indiana, on which he made his
home for three years, until 1885, when he de-
cided to come to Missouri. He made the
journey hither all the way by wagon, being
nine days on the road, and not long after his
arrival here he purchased his present place,
locating on the same two years later. His
wife came by rail, joining him soon after-
ward. Here he bought forty acres of land,
to which he added twenty acres by subsequent
purchase, making a tract of sixty acres, of
which fifty are under cultivation, devoted to
the various crops common to the localit}\ The
greater part of clearing and grubbing on the
land Mr. Harbin has done himself, and he
also, as a side line, works at the trade of pa-
per hanging and painting. The first house
he occvipied here was a small one, containing
only two rooms. This was long since re-
placed by a comfortable seven-room house,
and he has a good barn, thirty-two by forty
feet in dimensions.
In ^lay, 1882, in Indiana, Mr. Harbin and
Miss Paulina Gilmore were united in mar-
riage, and to them have been given two sons
and two daughters, of whom one son, Claudie,
died aged two years and five months. The
son, Elmer A., married Claudia i\IcAllister,
and lives at Barnhart, Missouri, where he is
an operator for the Frisco Railroad Com-
pany. The elder daughter, Maude, who was
a teacher for several years, married Charles
Ashbaugh, and resided at Puxico until her
death, January 2, 1912, leaving a baby daugh-
ter. Myrtle Eveline, born December 5, 1911,
while the younger daughter. Myrtle, is now
teaching the third grade at Puxico. Mrs.
Harbin was born in Sullivan county, Indiana,
January 1, 1865.
Mr. Harbin votes the Prohibition ticket
119^
HISTORY OF SOUTHEAST :\IISSOURI
aud in even- way possible supports the prin-
ciples of the party with which he votes. For
ten years he has been an officer in the ^I. AV.
of A., and also for years he has been an ac-
tive church worker, being identified with the
;\Iethodist Episcopal church, of which ilrs.
Harbin is also a member. He is a man whose
iutiuence counts for good in the community
in which he lives.
L.uRiN C. GooDiiAX. Practical industry,
wisely and vigorously applied, never fails of
success; it carries a man onward and up-
ward, brings out his individual character and
acts as a powerful stimulus to the efforts of
others. The greatest results in life are
usually attained by simple means, implying
the exercise of the ordinary qualities of com-
mon sense and self-improvement. The every-
day life, with its cares, necessities and duties,
affords ample opportunities for acquiring ex-
perience of the best kind, aud its most beaten
paths provide a true worker with abundant
scope for effort and self-improvement. A
splendid example of that typically American
product. — the self-made man — is Laurin C.
Goodman, postmaster of Advance. He is an
essentially public-spirited citizen, can be
counted upon to give his support to every-
thing advancing the welfare of the place and
is generally popular. As postmaster since
the year 1897, when appointed by James
Garry, postmaster general, under McKinley's
first administration, he has proved a faithful
and efficient servant of Uncle Sam. On the
third day of :March, 1911, he was appointed
postmaster by AVilliam H. Taft.
Mr. Goodman was born in Jefferson county,
Hlinois, on the T2th day of :\Iarch, 1868. He
is the son of R. J. Goodman and Nancy A.
Goodman.
J. Morgan- Ball. Although Jlr. Ball is a
comparatively new resident of Pemiscot
county he has identified himself with its in-
terests in a manner which is as creditable to
him as it is beneficial to his fellow citizens.
Both by his influence and by his personal ef-
forts he has been improving the public roads
and in recognition of his services in this mat-
ter he has been made road overseer of the
township, a position which he has filled for
three years. As ^Ir. Ball has only been in
^lissoiiri since 1903, it will readily occur to
the reader that he is an eminently public-
spirited person. Further evidence of this
fact is his serving the township as justice of
the peace and the four years he spent in
Biitler township in the same capacity.
Previous to his coming to ilissouri, Ten-
nessee was Jlr. Ball's home. Both he and his
parents, Daniel and ilary Cross Ball, were
born in Giles county. The year of ^Ir. Ball 's
birth was 1866. He attended the subscription
schools and also the public schools in Giles
county. He attended a writing school con-
ducted by Dr. H. ]\Iarrable, who had been edu-
cated at Bryant and Stratton's Commercial
College. ^Ir. Ball mastered the Spencerian
.system of penmanship and taught it later
himself.
As Mr. Ball's father was a farmer, he as-
sisted him to manage the farm until his death,
after which he remained with his mother until
she, too. passed to the other life, some years
after. A short time after his mother's death
]Mr. Ball moved to Lake county, Tennessee,
and engaged in farming there until he came
to Missouri.
ilr. Ball's first wife was Lucy Davis, of
Tennessee. This union was blessed with five
children : Albert. Lottie, Walter, 011a and
Otis. Their mother died, and the father mar-
ried Christina Killiou. also a native of Ten-
nessee. She bore him one daughter, Effie.
Louie Williamson, of Kentucky, was Mr.
Ball's third wife, who died without issue.
The present Mrs. Ball was Miss Bertie Casby.
Her marriage to Mr. Ball took place in 1909.
Steward, in this county, was Mr. Ball's
first place of residence in the state. Until
1909 he rented and then bought his present
farm of forty-five acres. At the time he pur-
chased it the place was mostly in woods, but
^Ir. Ball has built a new house, fenced his
place and improved it generally. He raises
cotton, corn, hay and some stock.
Mr. Ball is a member of the Odd Fellows
lodge. No. 620. at Portageville. He has at-
tained the distinction of advisor in the Dry-
byou camp of the ^Modern Woodmen's lodge.
]\Irs. Ball is a member of the Christian
church.
W. J. Davis. Xuuibered among the fore-
most citizens of ^Maiden is W. J. Davis, cash-
ier of the Dunklin County Bank, who is held
in high regard by his associates, his influence
iind assistance being alwa.vs sought in behalf
"f undertakings for the public good and the
advancement of the best interests of the com-
nuuiity. A son of William H. Davis, he was
born in 1866, in Obion county. Tennessee.
William H. Davis migrated with his fam-
HISTORY OF SOUTHEAST MISSOURI
1193
ily from Tennessee to Missouri in 1868, lo-
eating near Old Four ]\lile in Dunklin
county, where he took up laud, on which he
was engaged in general farming until his
death, at the age of forty-eight years. He
married Virginia H. Jones, who survived him
many years, passing away at the age of sixty-
four years. She brought up and educated
their four children, of whom the eldest was
sixteen years old when he died, and lived to
see them all pass away with the exception of
one son, W. J. Her children were as fol-
lows: Dona, who married William Gold-
smith, and died at the age of thirty-eight
years; W. J.; Logan, who lived twenty-four
years; and John, who passed away at the age
of twenty-six years.
W. J. Davis remained on the home farm
until sixteen years old, when he became clerk
in a store at Four Mile. Coming from there
to ]\Ialden, he was similarly employed in a
mercantile establishment until he bought out
his employer, operating a general store, in-
cluding a drug department and a clothing
department. Subsequently selling out his
mercantile interests, :\Ir. Davis accepted the
cashiership of the Dunklin County Bank,
with which he is still connected. He was one
of the original stockholders of this institu-
tion, and is a director as well as the cashier.
The Dunklin County Bank was organized in
1890, with a capital' of fifteen thousand dol-
lars, which has since been increased to twenty
thousand dollars. The surplus and profits
amount to nine thousand five hundred dol-
lars; the deposits are from one hundred and
thirty thousand to two hundred thousand
dollars, and its dividends pay fifteen per cent.
The fii-st president, H. T. Smith, was suc-
ceeded by Moses Wofford, the present head of
the institution, and Otto A. Shulte, was suc-
ceeded by W. J. Davis.
Mr. Davis married, in 1887, Cora V. Wil-
kins, of ]\Ialden, and they have one son,
Harry B. Davis. jMr. Davis is a man of
strong religious convictions, and for many
years has been an elder in the Christian
church and the superintendent of its Sunday
school, serving in the latter capacity fifteen
consecutive years. Fraternally he is a :\Ia-
son, being a member and past worthy master
of the blue lodge, and a member and past em-
inent commander of the Commandery, K. T.
A. L. BiFFLE. The little town of Bell City,
Stoddard county, :Missouri, has its quota of
up-to-date, enterprising citizens, and well to
the front among the number is found A. L.
BifHe, cashier of its financial institution, the
Bank of Bell City.
;Mr. BifHe claims ^Missouri as the state of
his nativity. He was born on a farm in Mad-
ison count}-, August 18, 1875. In his youth
he attended the Doniphan high school, later
he pursued a course of study in Bellevue Col-
legiate Institute, which subsequently became
Marvin College when it was moved to Fred-
eriektown, and for several years he was a
teacher. He taught two years in Dunklin
county and three years in the northern jDart.
of Stoddard county. Teaching, however, was
to him only a stepping stone to a business
career, and he left the school room to engage
in merchandising at Advance, where he
opened up a stock of goods, chiefiy groceries.
For a time he conducted business alone, af-
terward was associated with a partner, and
was successful in his undertakings until he
met with disaster in the form of fire. He
had no insurance and his loss w^as complete.
Then, in January, 1907, he came to Bell City
and accepted the position of cashier of the
Bank of Bell City, which he has since filled,
and since his identity with the institution its
business has continually improved. He for-
merly owned one-fourth of the stock of the
Bell C'ity Lumber Company, of which he was
the principal promoter and of which he was
secretary and treasurer.
Mr. BifBe had been in business at Advance
for four years and had bought a home there.
After the fire above mentioned he sold what
was left of his belongings and moved his fam-
ily to their present home. He and his wife
have two children: Earl, born in December,
1903, and Dorothy, in September, 1907. :\Irs.
Biftie, formerly ]tliss Nellie K. Picker of
Fredericktown, Jlissouri, was born and reared
there, the date of her birth being February
12, 1879. Her father is now a resident of
St Louis. To this union was born a son on
the 11th of April, 1912.
:Sh: and ilrs. Biffle attend worship at the
Southern Methodist church. Politically Mr.
Biffle is a Democrat, and always takes an en-
thusiastic interest in public affairs, but has
never aspired to official preferment. Frater-
nallv he is identified with the U. W. of A.,
the I. 0. 0. F. and the F. and A. M.
"\V. C. Clark is one of the foremost repre-
sentatives of the industrial and commercial
life of Puxieo and contributes in definite man-
ner to its prosperity by a well-managed gen-
1194
HISTORY OF SOUTHEAST MISSOURI
eral merchandise business. He has been
identified with the tlourishing little eity for
nearly thirty years, having come here in 188-4
as inspector for T. J. Moss, the noted tie
manufacturer and dealer. The "Houck"
Railroad, now a part of the Frisco Railroad,
had just been built through Puxieo and Mr.
Clark handled two hundred and fifty thou-
sand railway ties. These had been made by
Mr. Moss, who bought the timber and manu-
factured them, employing for the purpose no
less than four hundred men. Mr. Clark was
one of a trio of inspectoi-s, he handling the
product of about one hundred and fifty men.
He remained in :Mr. ]\Ioss' employ until that
gentleman's death in the summer of 1893,
and in truth for several months longer. Fol-
lowing the dissolution of the iloss Company
Mr. Clark engaged as a sub-contractor for
one year, and at Puxieo and other places
along the road turned out about twenty thou-
sand ties per month. Subsequently he en-
gaged with the Ayer & Good Tie Company of
Chicago and continued with them as inspector
for seven years, making his headquarters
meantime at Cape Girardeau. He was con-
cerned with the building of the Cotton Belt
Railroad in ilissouri and Arkansas, and for
five years subsequent made his headquarters
at Cape Girardeau.
]\Ir. Clark came to the decision to try out
his fortunes in another field of endeavor and
in 1903 he secured farming property, about
one mile east of Puxieo, and for four years
he engaged in agricultural pursuits, meet-
ing with much success in this line, as in all
his undertakings. His present enterprise
dates from the year 1907, when he opened a
general merchandise store, his ambition be-
ing to keep a large, desirable and thoroughly
up-to-date stock. He has built up a large and
loyal patronage and enjoys high prestige in
the business world.
Mr. Clark was born in Howard county.
ISIissouri, January 5, 1853, his parents being
Nicholas and Mary (Perkins) Clark. At the
age of twenty-two years he was united in
marriage to Mary Johnson, a native of the
same county which had been the scene of his
nativity. She died after a decade of happy
married life, on March 4, 1885, of tuberculo-
sis, leaving motherless three children, as fol-
lows: Edward L., now a farmer of Stoddard
county; George W., who is associated with
his father in the store : and Fred C, who is
interested in a mercantile business in Kansas
City, Kansas. Mr. Clark was married again,
in 1886, in Puxieo, Miss Etta Loveless,
of Stoddard county, becoming his wife
and the mistress of his household. She died
in 1894, and her only child, Edgar, died in
1899, at the age of eight years. The present
Mrs. Clark previous to her marriage was Mrs.
Eva C. Dysart, widow of Thomas Dysart, a
farmer. Her maiden name was Eva C. King
There is no issue of this union.
ilr. Clark is one of the most prominent of
Stoddard county ilasons, belonging to the
lilue Lodge, the Chapter, the Council and the
Commanderj' at Cape Girardeau. Both Mr.
and ilrs. Clark are members of the auxiliary
Masonic order, the Eastern Star, at Cape
Girardeau. The subject is affiliated also with
the ilodern AVoodmen and is especially pop-
ular in all of these organizations. Both ;\Ir.
and Mrs. Clark are valued and generous sup-
porters of the Christian church of Puxieo and
are identified in a praiseworthy manner with
the social and philanthropical affairs of the
community, in which the former represents
one of the important business interests.
Eli.vs J. ;M.s.lone. Tennessee is the native
state of Sikeston's present mayor, also where
his parents were born and spent their lives
and where his two surviving brothers and their
families are still living in the town of Pulaski.
Both the father and the mother were born in
Marshall county. Tennessee, the former in
1830 and the latter in 1835. Here, too, their
marriage was solemnized on October 21, 1851,
and their five sons, Elias, AVright M., D.
Henry, L. Calvin and John ^Y., were born.
Both "Wright :Malone and all his family,— his
wife. Molly Horn Wright, and his two sons —
are dead. Calvin, too, passed away, at the age
of twenty-one. D. Henry and Cassie Regan
ilalone have two children, a son and a daugh-
ter. John W. married Hetty :\lcilullin, and
their family numbers five boys and one girl.
AYilliam A. IMalone, the father, was twelve
months a soldier in the Confederate army.
Later he joined the L'nion army and served
until the end of the war. He belonged to the
Odd Fellows lodge and was a member of the
:Methodist church, to which his wife also be-
longed. He was a Republican politically and
held the office of collector of revenue in Giles
county, Tennessee. He was for a number of
years'on the police force in Pulaski, Tennes-
see. Both William A. IMalone and his wife,
Hattie Luna, died in Pulaski, Tennessee. Her
HISTORY OF SOUTHEAST MISSOURI
1195
demise oceun-ed in 1885, and after mourning
her ten years her husband followed her in
July, 1895.
Elias J. ]MaIone, the generous and pro-
gressive mayor of Sikeston. was born Decem-
ber 29, 1852. His early ambition was to be a
doctor and so he studied medicine under Dr.
J. C. Roberts, of Pulaski, Tennessee. He be-
gan to practice under the same physician in
1872, and continued in the profession for five
years. His last three years in medical work
were spent in Pulaski, Illinois, where he had
gone in 187-1. Upon abandoning medicine he
went into the manufacturing business in Pu-
laski, Illinois.
On October 24. 1875, ilr. Malone and Nora
Kerby, daughter of James M. and Carrie
Kerby, were united in marriage. Nora Kerby
was born July 28. 1861. She was fourteen
years the wifeof Elias J. Malone. to whom she
bore four children before her death in 1889.
The oldest child. Ollie Otis, was born in 1877,
July 24, and lived but three years, being killed
in 1880. Effie M., born January 31, 1880,
died at the age of eleven. Edna I., born :May
28, 1882, lives in Clovis, New Mexico, where
her husband. Frank R. Day, is chief dispatcher
of the Santa Fe Railway. The other surviving
child of ]Mr. :Malone's first marriage is Earl J.,
born :\Iarch 13, 1886, now married to ^laggie
^Mocabee ilalone, by whom he has one son, El-
bert. Mr. Earl J. :Malone acts as his father's
assistant, and is also city clerk.
The present ^Mrs. Elias J. IMalone is the
daughter of Lieutenant John S. Bridges, of
Carboudale, Illinois. She was born June 29,
1867, and christened Mamie Ethel. On June
30, 1890, she became ^Irs. Elias J. Malone.
Four sons and one daughter have been the
fruit of this union. Their names and dates
of birth are as follows : C. Lyle, June 7, 1891 ;
William B.. August 15, 1893; John R.. August
20, 1896 ; Albert D., October 18, 1902. The
daughter, Ruth, born September 9, 19Go, died
in infancy. . . n i , ■
:\Ir. ]*Ialone sold his interests in Pulaski,
Illinois, in the fall of 1877 and moved to
Little River, :\Iissouri. Here he erected a
large sawmill two miles north of the present
site of :\Iorehouse. This was the first sawmill
of that region and as it worked about three
hundred men all the time, it was a great
factor in the growth of the county. In 1880
ilr. IMalone moved his plant from its original
location to :Morehouse, erected an improved
mill and continued in business until 1889.
That year he sold out to the Himmelberger
interests, a company which is now the Him-
melberger-Harrison Land & Lumber Com-
pany.
After selling out his interests in ^Morehouse,
Mr. Malone built his residence in Sikeston
ajjd has lived here ever since that time, de-
voting himself to building up the city. There
is little indeed in the way of religious, com-
mercial, social or civic enterprise in which
he does not participate. He is a ]Mason and
an Odd Fellow in fraternal affiliations. The
Republican party claims his political sup-
port, but the entire community claim him as
a public officer. He has been for years a
member of the city council and thrice mayor.
During his first administration the city hall
bonds were issued and sold, sewerage system
was installed and many miles of sidewalk
were laid. Mr. Malone is president of the
Sikeston commercial clul), known as the
"Sikeston 10,000" club, and is the largest
owner of Sikeston residences.
Of his benevolences, ISlr. ]\Ialone does not
talk, follov.ing the injunction "Let not thy
left hand know what th.v right hand doeth."
But he cannot altogether conceal his gifts,
inasmuch as the recipients are bound to know
about them, and they will tell. He donated
twent.v thousand dollars for a square, called
^Malone park, and contributed two thousand
five hundred dollars to the new edifice of the
^lethodist church, of which he is a member,
and is a liberal giver to all charitable insti-
tutions. Nor must it be omitted to mention
that he keeps an active interest in puJilic edu-
cation and serves on the school board.
John W. Burrow. Among the residents
of Stoddard county, ^lissouri, who have tried
a hand at various lines of occupation and
who, after well earned success, have had a
farm home to retire to, may be included John
"W. Burrow.
:Mr. Burrow was born July 9, 1857, in the
southern part of Bollinger county, ^Missouri,
on a farm near ^Marble Hill, where his child-
hood was passed. Before he entered his 'teens
he was left an orphan, his mother having died
when he was three years of age and his father
when he was twelve, and in consequence of
this loss he had small advantage for obtain-
ing an education. His first effort in earning
his own way in the world was as a farm hand,
and he was thus employed for two years.
Afterward he carried the mail and worked
at whatever odd jobs he could find until he
was seventeen, when he went to work in a
HISTORY OF SOUTHEAST illSSOURI
Steve factory. And he coutimied with the
stave company fourteen years, advancing
right along until his ^rork commanded as high
a price as any employe of the mill. It was
while with this company, about 1882 or 1883,
that he came to Stoddard county, and for a
year longer he was in the mill at Brownwood.
Then he went back to Marble Hill and became
a barber, a business he followed for seven
years, two years of that time being spent in
St. Louis. From St. Louis he returned to
Brownwood, where he was successively in the
restaurant, barber and saloon business, and
where, when the county "went dry%" he
turned his attention to the hotel business.
From the hotel he came to his farm, a well
improved tract of fifty-four acres. Also he
owns town property, including two houses
and lots.
Mr. Burrow was fii-st married January' 1,
1884, at Marble Hill, to :Margaret Crites,
daughter of old residents of that locality.
She bore him three children; Ina is the only
one living. Of the two sons. Homer, the eldest
child, died at three and a half years of age,
in 1855; and Harry, the .youngest child, who
died at nineteen .years of age, in the fall of
1908. His second marriage was with Mrs.
Anna Bowen, in Brownwood. The only child
of this union is Arthur, born July 2, 1895,
who is now living with his father. The wife
and mother died, as also did his third wife,
who formerly was Mrs. Rosa Taylor. In
June, 1899, he married, at Zelma, Missouri,
iliss Harriet James who is his present com-
panion.
ilr. Burrow has always taken a somewhat
active interest in political matters, affiliating
with the Republican party, and fraternally
he is identified with the Independent Order
of Red ]Men and the Protective League.
IIox. W. Herbert Kittredge, representa-
tive for Butler county in the ^Missouri State
Legislature, dates his birth in Livingston
county, this .state, January 20, 1868, and is
a son of D. C. and Sarah E. (Baldwin) Kit-
tredge. natives of ^Michigan.
D. C. Kittredge came to ^Missouri l)efore
the Civil war, and his wife came in 1866.
They made their liome in Livingston and ad-
.ioining counties until they moved to Butler
county and settled on a farm ad.ioining the
one on whicii the subject of this sketch now
lives. This farm the father sold soon after-
ward and moved to Poplar Bluff, where his
death occurred in 1890, at the age of sixty-
one years. His widow resides with her son
W. H.
W. H. Kittredge, being the second eldest
son in the family and having to assist with
the farm work, had little opportunity for
obtaining an education, but he made the best
of his opportunities, and in a measure may be
said to be self-educated. When he married
which he did in December, 1892, his belong-
ings consisted of a team, some farm imple-
ments, and an interest in a piece of bottom
land, seventy-five acres, a portion of which
had been cleared. And farming has been his
occupation all these years. He has bought
other land, which he has cleared and placed
under cultivation, and he also operates eighty
acres belonging to his mother, corn and hay
being his principal crops. His land borders
Black river on one side, the I. ^I. Railroad on
the other.
Mr. Kittredge is not now and never has
been a politician, but he has proved himself
the right man for representative of his county
in the General Assembly. His selection for
this honored position came as a surprise to
him. In the middle of the campaign the
nominee for representative resigned, and
without "Sir. Kittredge 's knowledge he was
named to fill the vacancy. His election fol-
lowed, with a good ma.jority of votes, and in
due time he took his seat in the Forty-sixth
General Assembly, where he was assigned to
dut.y as a member of the committee on swamp
lands and drainage; also on the redistricting
committee. Through his efforts an appropri-
ation of fifty thousand dollars was secured in
the House to levee the east side of Black and
St. Francois rivers. He was delegated by the
Governor to attend the Mississippi River Im-
provement Association, which met at Mem-
phis in October, 1910. For years he has
been an advocate of co-operative movements
among the farmers, and he has helped to or-
ganize several Farmers' Unions. He is a
member of the Modern Woodmen of Anu^rica.
ilrs. Kittredge, formerly ]\Iiss Belle I\Iar-
tin. is a native of Scottsville, Illinois, where
they were married. Their family consists of
sixchildren, Alma, :May, Ilerliert, Ruth, :Min-
nie and Fannv, all at home, and they lost one
child, Nellie, who died in 1900. at the age
of two years.
Sajhel W. Whitehe.vd. Prominent
among the leading agriculturists of Stoddard
county is Sanniel W. Whitehead, who is pros-
perously engaged in his independent voea-
HISTORY OF SOUTHEAST MISSOURI
1197
tion on one of the most highly improved and
desirable estates of his community, his fann
being advantageously located three miles
north of Bernie. This county is fortunate in
having been settled by a remarkably enter-
prising, industrious and thrifty class of peo-
ple, noteworthy among the number having
been ^Ir. Whitehead's parents, John and
Polly iHenson) Whitehead.
John Whitehead was born and reared in
North Carolina, and was there married, his
wife having been a native of South Carolina.
Sometime in the 'thirties he came to ilissouri
in search of new and cheap lands. Finding
what he needed in Stoddard county, three
miles south of Essex, he took up a homestead
claim, and on the farm which he cleared and
improved spent his remaining days, dying in
1867. The country roundabout was in its
primeval wildness when he settled here, with
only here and there an opening in which stood
the cabin of the pioneer. Deer, wild tur-
keys and other game were plentiful, and
bears were so troublesome that John White-
head had to hire Indians to keep them away
from his stock during the daytime, while at
night all cattle, hogs and horses were penned.
Little do the people of these later generations
realize the hardships and the trials endured,
the great ambition required, and the physical
endurance demanded to secure the homes es-
tablished by the original householders for
themselves and their descendants.
Brought up on the parental homestead,
Samuel W. Whitehead assisted his father as
soon as old enough in the care of the farm,
and subsequently worked for wages for John
Prewitt, a neighboring fanner. In 1876 he
made his first purchase of land, paying
eleven dollars an acre for a tract of eighty
acres, thii-ty acres of which had been cleared,
while a log cabin had been erected, the re-
mainder of the land being heavily timbered.
Mr. Whitehead had two hundred and fifty
dollars in cash to invest, and had inherited
from his father's estate forty acres of ad.join-
ing land, valued at six hundred dollars, his
available assets, therefore, amounting to eight
hundred and fifty dollars. Farseeing and
enterprising. :Mr. Whitehead bought more
land from time to time, buying forty acres at
ten dollars an acre, paying the small sum of
eightv dollars for one tract of forty acres,
and three hundred and fifty dollars for an-
other tract of the same area. The most that
he ever gave for land was ten dollars an acre.
He had to give ten per cent interest on money
which he hired to make the payments on his
various purchases, and had no trouble in
meeting the payments, although he seldom
received more than ten cents a bushel for the
com he raised, and one season sold eight hun-
dred bushels at eight cents a bushel. His
agricultural implements and tools were of the
most primitive kind, although he was the
proud possessor of a turning plow, and later
became owner of a double shovel plow. Mr.
Whitehead began growing cotton at an early
day. and as that brought him a fair cash price
he was easily enabled to make the payments
on his place, which is now one of the best in
regard to its appointments of any in the lo-
cality, his two hundred and thirty acres of
land being well improved and highly produc-
tive. In the clearing of his land he, in com-
mon with the people of this section, burned
fine trees that would now be of great value;
the fine walnut and cherry timber then
burned would now more than pay for the
land.
In earlier days ^Ir. Whitehead devoted
from twenty to thirty acres of his land to the
culture of cotton, but of late years has from
seventy-five to a hundred acres planted to
that profitable crop, he doing the planting
himself, while his tenants do the hoeing and
picking. As a stock raiser he was also ex-
ceedingly successful, keeping his cattle and
hogs on his extensive range, and through his
exceptionally good management of crops and
stock he was only about ten years in paying
for his large farm.
Mr. Whitehead has been twice married. He
married first, at the age of twenty-five years,
Elizabeth Lee, of Kentucky. After a happy
wedded life of thirty years she passed to the
life beyond, leaving three children, namely.-
Cora, wife of Harry Askin ; Thomas: and
Artie. Another child, Bobbie, a bright little
fellow, died at the age of two years. Mr.
Whitehead married on July 26, 1909, Grace
Smith, who was born in Dexter, Missouri, her
parents being William and ]Mary (Collins)
Smith, who for forty years were residents of
Stoddard and Dunklin counties. The father
died March 26, 1896, aged about forty-nine
years, but the mother still resides, near Mr.
Whitehead, aged sixty-seven years. In his
political relations ^Iv. Whitehead is a
straightforward Democrat, while j\Irs. White-
head is a steadfast Republican in her polit-
ical views. "Sir. Whitehead is familiar with
rifle and gun. and as a young man was an ex-
pert shot, killing many wild turkeys and deer.
1198
HISTORY OF SOUTHEAST :\rissorRi
Jajies a. Glassey is the cashier of the
People "s Bank of Sullivan and was born in
St. Louis, Missouri, February 22, 1865. His
father is Alexander Glassey, now a stock man
and farmer of Cuba, Missouri, the birth of
the elder gentleman having occurred in
County Armagh, Ireland, in 1831, and his
removal to the United States at about the age
of eighteen years. En route to the ]\Iissis-
sippi Valley," where he tiually located, Alex-
ander Glassey made his way from Castle Gar-
den down through Pennsylvania, and reached
St. Louis before the outbreak of the Civil
war. During a portion of that troublous pe-
riod he was in the government ser\ace as a
laborer, and after its close he engaged in
teaming in the city, doing hauling for the
first water works constructed there. He also
hauled the first passenger coach across the
;Mississippi river on its own wheels and was
engaged in heavy team work for a number of
years. In 1876 he left the city and engaged
in farming and stock-raising near Cuba,
where he has since resided. Alexander Glas-
sey married Annie E. Slater, who died at
Cuba, Missouri, the mother of five children,
of whom James A. was the third in order of
birth.
James A. Glassey had access to the public
schools of St. Louis and Cuba and to the
Normal School at Cape Girardeau, and he
took up public school work as a teacher at
the age of nineteen years. He taught in Gas-
conade county and. following his period in
the Normal, "he engaged in school work in
Franklin county as principal of the schools of
Sullivan. Aft'er a few years Mr. Glassey
abandoned teaching and entered railroad
service as clerk in the general passenger de-
partment in the 'Frisco office at St. Louis.
He subsequently accepted a position as pas-
senger agent with the Santa Fe road at St.
Louis, retaining this for six years, and upon
the reorganization of the 'Frisco system he
became a ticket agent of the company at Mo-
nett, Missouri, and later was transferred to
Joplin. After that ilr. Glassey made a rad-
ical change of occupation and engaged in the
lumber Inisiness in the employ of the W. R.
Pickering Lumber Company, at Pickering,
Louisiana. In 190-t, after three years with
the company mentioned, he returned to Sul-
livan, Missouri, and organized the People's
Bank. This substantial monetary institu-
tion is capitalized at ten thou.sand dollars.
and its (ifficcrs arc as follows: Dr. Albert
Lane, president ; J. L. Lapee, vice-president ;
and Mr. Glassey, cashier.
In the movement for the creation of a Tri-
County Fair Association ]Mr. Glassey was
among its leading promotei-s and in October,
1911, its first exhibition of the products of
the counties of Franklin, Jefferson and Craw-
ford was made at Sullivan. ]Mr. Glassey is
treasurer of the association and has served
in a like capacity for the special road dis-
trict created near his town. In politics he is
a Republican and has taken an active interest
in public affairs. He has been a member of
the city council for six years and has had
something to contribute to the welfare of Sul-
livan in the wav of service.
On the 23d "day of September, 1891, Mr.
Glassey married in Sullivan Miss Susan Phil-
lips, a daughter of J. B. Phillips, a represen-
tative of one of the old families of this section
of ^Missouri. The children of this union are
as follows: Roland S., Agnes, Gladys, Paul
B., James A., Jr., Arthur Phillips and Zoe
Glassey.
]\Ir. Glassey is an enthusiastic lodge man,
his membership extending to the Masons, the
Odd Fellows and the ^Modern Woodmen.
Horatio Seymour Rhodes. Among the
progressive farmers of Stoddard county, Mis-
souri, is R. S. Rhodes, who has occupied his
present country home near Advance since the
spring of 1909.
Mr. Rhodes is a native of Stoddard county,
born ilareh 19, 1869, and belongs to a family
which has been identified with this section of
the country since way back in the early part
of the nineteenth centur.y. Grandfather
Rhodes moved to Stoddard county in 1830,
coming here from Perry county, this state,
where R. S. Rhodes' father was born; his
mother was born in Cape Girardeau county.
Mr. Rhodes received his early education in
the common schools. He spent fifteen months
as a student at the Cape Girardeau Normal
School, and for one term he taught school.
Farming, however, had more attractions for
him than school teaching, and soon he settled
down on sixty acres of land given him by his
father. ]\Iost of this land had to be cleared
and buildings had to be erected. After he
had it improved and nearly all under cultiva-
tion he traded this tract for eighty acres of
the farm upon which he was born, to which
he has added fifteen acres, and soon after-
ward he bought eighty acres of his present
HISTORY OF SOUTHEAST :MlSSOrRI
home place, to which he has since added until
the tract now comprises one hundred and six-
ty-five acres. This place he fertilized and im-
proved with good buildings, and for several
years he rented it, while he lived at Advance,
where for a time he was engaged in a mer-
cantile business. Then he bought out a lum-
ber company. Subsequently he sold an inter-
est in this company to his brother, and after
being connected with it for three years longer
he disposed of his interest, coming out of the
enterprise with a good profit for his time
and energy expended. Then he settled down
to farming again, and on his home farm raises
a diversity of crops, including corn, wheat,
cotton, oats and clover. And in addition to
this farm he has one hundred and twenty
acres five miles south of Advance and near
Tilman, all of which is valuable property.
On May 23, 1906, Mr! Rhodes and "Miss
Annie Goza were united in marriage, and
their home has been blessed in the birth of
two children: Freda. August 20, 1907; and
Norma, January 13, 1910.
Fraternallv Mr. Rhodes is identified with
the :M. W. of A. Mrs. Rhodes, with the R.
N. of A., and both are members of the Meth-
odist Episcopal church. South. Politically
Mr. Rhodes affiliates with the Democratic
party.
Sanford C.\to. Among the estimable citi-
zens and representative agriculturists of Bol-
linger county, ilissouri, Sanford Cato holds
prestige as one whose loyalty and public spirit
in all matters affecting the general welfare
of Wayne township have ever been of the
most insistent order. He is the owner of a
finely improved farm of over five hundred
acres, situated some two miles distant from
Greenbrier, and he devotes his attention to
general farming and the raising of high-grade
stock.
Sanford Cato was born in Bollinger
county, Missouri, on February 28, 1858, and
he is a son of Chap and Louisa (Rowe) Cato,
both of whom were natives of Missouri and
both of whom are now deceased. The father
was identified with agricultural operations
during his active career and he was called to
the life eternal in 1864, at which time San-
ford of this review was a child of but six
yeai-s of age. ]Mrs. Cato survived her hon-
ored husband for twenty-two years and she
passed to the great beyond in 1886. Sanford
Cato passed his boyhood and youth on the old
homestead farm, the same representing a por-
tion of his present extensive estate. With
the passage of years Mr. Cato has increased
his acreage until his well cultivated fields
now constitute an area of a little over five
hundred acres, all located in Wayne town-
ship. He has made an admirable success of
farming and stock-raising and his modern
residence and well equipped farm buildings
in the midst of fertile fields are the best in-
dication of his shrewdness and practical abil-
ity as an agriculturist. In politics Mr. Cato
affords an unswerving allegiance to the prin-
ciples and policies for which the Republican
party stands sponsor and while he has never
manifested aught of ambition for political
preferment of an.y kind he is ever ready to
do all in his power to advance the best inter-
ests of the comnumity and county at large.
In a fraternal way he is affiliated with the
local lodge of the Independent Order of Odd
Fellows and his religious faith is in harmony
with the tenets of the ]\Iethodist Episcopal
church.
Mr. Cato has been twice married. His first
union was to Mary E. Stepp, a daughter of
James and Nancy Stepp, of Missouri, and this
ceremony was performed in 1882. Concern-
ing the seven children born to this marriage
the following brief data are here incorpo-
rated,— Flewev Isabelle, whose birth occurred
in 1883, is the wife' of Pink Collins, of Clark-
ton, ilissouri ; Louis Wesley, born in 1885,
wedded Lilly Null, and they reside on the
home farm of the father; Adolph Franklin,
born in 1887, married Edith Adams, and he
resides at home ; Cardova, born in 1889, is
the wife of Charles Knott, residing on the
father's farm; Hobart, born in 1897, re-
mains at home, as do also Dolly May, bom in
1902. and Louise, born in 1905. Mrs. Cato
died in 1906, and subsecpiently Jlr. Cato was
united in marriage to 'Sirs. Rhoda A. Martin,
a daughter of L. W. Barrett, of Brownwood.
This union has been blessed with three chil-
dren, namely: Taft, born November 13,
1908 ; Sarah, whose birth occurred January
26, 1910 ; and Elvin, born April 5, 1911. Mr.
and [Mrs. Cato are prominent and popular
factors in connection with the best social ac-
tivities of their home community, where they
hold a high place in tlie confidence and es-
teem of all with whom they have come in
contact.
Wiixi.vM ('. IIahty. a well-known resi-
dent of Bloomfield, William C. Harty comes
of lionored pioneer stock, Stoddard county
1200
HISTORY OF SOUTHEAST MISSOURI
having been especially fortunate in being set-
tled by an industrious, thrifty and intelligent
class of people, among whom were his grand-
parents. Daniel and Fannie (Bremer) Harty^
and his father, Andrew J. Harty. He was
born on the parental farm five miles south-
west of Bloomtield. July 1, ISW. and was
there reared and educated. Daniel Harty
came with his family to Stoddard county in
1834. settling first on a tract of unimproved
land lying ten miles west of Bloomfield, but
later moving to a fann situated three miles
from Bloomfield, where he resided until his
death, in 1860.
Born in either Georgia or Alabama, Andrew
J. Harty was a young man when he accom-
panied the family to Stoddard county. Suc-
ceeding to the occupation of his ancestors,
he was a tiller of the soil during his entire ac-
tive career, and on the farm which he im-
proved resided until his death, in 1876. He
married, in Stoddard county, Elizabeth Ma-
com, who was born in Belleville. Illinois, and
died in Stoddard county, Missouri, in 1882.
They reared seven children, of whom three
were living in 1912. as follows: Frank, en-
gaged in farming near Essex, ilissouri :
Sarah, wife of Th(mias Fortner; and Wil-
liam C.
Brought up on the parental homestead,
William C. Harty served in the Second :\Iis-
souri Cavalry during the last two years of
the Civil war, under command of Colonel ^le-
Neill, being stationed principally at Cape
Girardeau. He was afterwards engaged in
agricultural pursuits near his father's farm
until thirty-two years of age. Becoming much
interested in local affairs, he subsequently
filled various official positions, from 1870 un-
til 1875 serving as county tax assessor, from
1876 until 1887, or Ave terms, being tax col-
lector ; afterwards serving as county treasurer
of Stoddard county for one term. During the
ensuing six yeai-s ^Ir. Harty was engaged in
mercantile pursuits in Bloomfield. and since
that time has carried on a successful livery
business, keeping about twelve horses. He is
a stanch Republican in politics, and though
the county is a Democratic stronghold, he was
elected as a delegate to the Judicial and Con-
gressional convention by popular vote after
an effective button-hole campaign.
Mr. Harty married. January 25, 1863,
Susan ^Moore, and they have four children,
namely: Alfred Lafayette, of whom a brief
sketch appears also in this volume: Sarah,
wife of F. A. Brannock: Robert L.. a painter:
and William, who is also a painter by trade,
and operates the auto livery between Bloom-
field and Dexter. Fraternally [Mr. Harty is
a blue lodge Mason.
Alfred L. Harty. A career that has been
prolific in results and benignant in its ob-
jective influence has been that of this essen-
tially representative business man of Stod-
dard county, and he is a citizen who has stood
sponsor for progressive enterprise along lines
that have conserved the general welfare of the
communit.y. He is a native son of Stoddard
county and a scion of one of the honored pio-
neer families of this favored section of the
state. He resides in the thriving little city of
Bloomfield, the .judicial center of the county,
and here his interests are varied and impor-
tant. He has continued to be concerned with
the great basic industry of agriculture, is en-
gaged in the real estate business, and is one of
the most influential factore in connection with
banking enterprise in his native county. It
is thus to be seen that he is conducting opera-
tions along normal and beneficent channels
of industrial and commercial enterprise and
that he is contributing much to the material
and civic prosperity of his home city and
county, the while he has so measured up to
the critical metewand of popular approba-
tion as to have impregnable vantage ground
in the confidence and esteem of a community
which has represented his home from the time
of his birth. He is a son of William C. Harty,
one of the prominent and honored citizens of
Stoddard county.
On the old homestead farm of the family,
about seven miles southwest of Bloomfield,
Stoddard county. Alfred L. Harty was born
on the 3d of November, 1869, and thus he is
in the very prime of his strong and useful
manhood at the present time, — a valued fac-
tor in civic and business activities of the com-
munity. He is indebted to the public schools
of Bloomfield for his early educational disci-
pline, which included the curriculum of the
high school, and as a j'oung man he here en-
gaged in the drug business, with which he
continued to be actively identified for a pe-
riod of five years. Popular recognition of his
eligibility for position of public trust then led
to his appointment to the dual office of dep-
uty county recorder and deput.v count.v tax-
collector which positions he assumed in 1893.
His efficiency in the ser\-ice of the county
marked him for more distinct official prefer-
ment, and in 1896 he was elected county col-
HISTORY OF SOUTHEAST MISSOURI
1201
lector, an office of which he continued the val-
ued and popular incumbent for three terms
of two years each. In 1902 he engaged in the
real estate business and his transactions in
this field of enterprise have been of large and
important order, while through the same he
has done much to foster the progress and sub-
stantial upbuilding of his home city and
county. Absolute fairness and integrity of
purpose have characterized every phase of his
business career and his reputation is his best
business asset. His success has been sub-
stantial and gratif^'ing, and so worthil.y has
it been won that none can begi'udge him his
advancement as a man of affairs. Not only is
he president of the Stoddard County Trust
Company, at Bloomfield, one of the solid and
representative financial institutions of this
part of the state, but he is also engaged in the
banking business in the towns of Dexter and
Essex, two of the progressive cities of Stod-
dard count.v. As a representative of agricul-
tural interests Mr. Hartj^ is the owner of a
valuable landed estate of about four thousand
acres, in Stoddard and Butler counties, ilis-
souri, and the state of Arkansas, and he gives
a general supervision to the same, a consider-
able portion of the land being devoted to di-
versified agriculture and special attention be-
ing also given to the raising and feeding of
live stock. Mr. Hart.v is a man of distinctive
initiative and executive ability and he is in-
defatigable in the promotion of the various en-
terprises with which he is concerned. He
brings to bear the most progressive policies
and methods and thus his success has not been
an accident but a logical result. He has been
a zealous advocate of public improvements and
other measures tending to further the general
prosperit.v of this section of ^Missouri and he
has been speeiall.v influential in the carrying
forward of effective drainage enterprise, in
connection with which he is one of the super-
visors of the Little River drainage district. In
the city of Dexter he is the President of a thor-
oughly modern ice plant, through the medium
of which he conducts a large and substantial
business as a manufacturer of and dealer in
ice. In the same city he also maintains a well
equipped laundry, which likewise controls a
prosperous business. It will thus be seen that
he has marked aggressiveness and versatilit.v
in the domain of productive business enter-
prise, and there seems to be no limit to his
capacity or his energy.
In polities Mr. Harty accords unswerving
allegiance to the Democratic party and he has
lieen an influential factor in its councils in
his native state. He is a valued member of
the Democratic state central committee of
^lissouri, and has had the distinction of serv-
ing as secretary of the same since 1908. Dur-
ing his incumbency of this important office he
has shown marked skill and discrimination in
the manoeuvering of the political forces at
his command and has gained the confidence
and esteem of the party leaders in his home
state, as well as a wide acciuaintance with its
representative men in other states of the
Union. As secretary of the state central com-
mittee he has managed local campaigns from
his business office in Bloomfield, and during
the state campaigns has maintained an office
in the city of St. Louis. He has been regularly
a delegate to the state conventions of his part.y,
was an alternate delegate to its national con-
vention in 1908 and represents his state as a
delegate to the Democratic national convention
of 1912, in the city of Baltimore.
J\Ir. Harty has been a close and appreciative
student of the history and teachings of the
time-honored ^Masonic fraternity, in which he
has received the thirty-second degree of the
Ancient Accepted Scottish Rite, as a member
of Missouri Consistory, in the city of St.
Louis. He is affiliated in his home cit.v with
Bloomfield Lodge, No. 153, Free & Accepted
Masons, in which he has passed all the official
chairs and which he has also represented in
the grand lodge of the state. He is also iden-
tified with Poplar Bluff Chapter, No. 114.
Royal Arch ilasons. and Poplar Bluff Coun-
cil Ro.val & Select blasters, being one of the
leading representatives of the Ma.sonic fra-
ternity in his home city.
Mr. Harty has been twice married. In
1892 he wedded ]\Iiss Barbara Cunningham,
of Bloomfield, who is survived by one child,
Harry, who was born November 1, 1893, and
is a student in the University of ^Missouri,
in which he is a member of the class of 1910.
Mrs. Barbara Hart.y died on August 26, 1896.
On the 2nd of -July, 1899, was solemnized the
marriage of ^Ir. Hart.v to Miss Kathryn Har-
rison, daughter of A. A. Harrison, a repre-
sentative citizen of Sikeston, Scott county,
this state, and the two children of this union
are Mary Pauline, who was born on the 31st
of December, 1904, and Alfred Jackson,
born on the 10th of July, 1906. ilrs. Harty
proves a most gracious and popular chate-
laine of the attractive family home, which is
a center of much of the representative social
activitv of Bloomfield. She is a zealous and
1202
HISTORY OF SOUTHEAST MISSOURI
valued member of the First llethodist Epis-
copal church. South, iu her home city, and is
a leader in the social life of the community.
Jesse J. DeLisle. To have maintained an
irreproachable record as a public official, as
a business man and as a father of a family is
to have attained as much of honor and re-
spect as a man can well do. Such is the rep-
utation of Jesse J. DeLisle, of Portageville,
^Missouri. He was born in New ^Madrid
county, in 1861. at Point Pleasant, at the very
beginning of the Civil war. which rent the
country from end to end and wrought sorrow
never "to be forgotten in the hearts of thou-
sands. He is the son of Amabo and Nancy
(Thompson) DeLisle, and the parents lived
on a farm in New ^ladrid county. The
father was born in that county and there he
passed his life, dying at the age of fifty-seven
years. His father was Eustis DeLisle. born,
it is probable, in France, and coming thence
to this country. The mother of Jesse De-
Lisle was born iu Dunklin county, ]\lissouri,
and died at the age of thirty-eight years.
:Mr. DeLisle obtained his early schooling in
the district schools of his home town, and
that training was supplemented by a one-
year course at the State Normal School at
Cape Girardeau. In the following year, 1883,
he set out on his independent career by ac-
cepting a position as clerk for ^Murdoch Mc-
Giloney at Point Pleasant. In 1884 he bought
out his employer and formed a partnership
to carry on the business with Olive DeLisle,
under the caption of J. & 0. DeLisle. The
partnership was maintained until 1896. when
Mr. DeLisle bought out his partner and con-
ducted the business alone until 1906. when
he merged his interests with the DeLisle Store
Company of Portageville. effecting a reor-
ganization under the title of the DeLisle Sup-
ply Company, one of the most prosperous
commercial organizations in this section.
When the Bank of Portageville was organ-
ized in 1903, J. J. DeLisle was chosen presi-
dent and he has retained that office up to the
present time. This and the Supply Company,
which does a business aggregating in volume
about one hundred and twenty-five thousand
dollars yearly, are not. however, ilr. De-
Lisle 's only enterprises, for he is a stock-
holder and second vice-president of the De-
Lisle Lumber and Bo.\ Manufacturing Com-
pany at Warden. He is also the owner of
one "thousand and eighty acres of fertile farm
land which, since his extensive interests do
not allow him time for management, he rents
out to others. Recent enterprises of Mr. De-
Lisle have raised the number of acres of land
owned by him to one thousand five hun-
dred, and he has become a stock-holder in
the Pikney Supply Company, organized three
years ago.
In 1886 Mr. DeLisle was united in marriage
with one of the most charming young women
the county has ever known, — Miss Emma
LeSieur, a native of the county and a daugh-
ter of Freeman and Emma (Till) LeSieur.
Four children have been born of this union:
Agnes, aged twenty-four, is the wife of Harry
King, of Harrisburg, Illinois ; "Walter, twenty-
three years old, is engaged as a bookkeeper;
Paul, aged twenty, is a clerk; and Andy,
twelve years old, attends school. Both Paul
and Walter were fitted for future business
careers by complete and thorough coui-ses
at the Quiucy Commercial School in Quincy,
Illinois.
Fraternally, Mr. DeLisle is a member of
the [Modern Woodmen of America, the Knights
of Columbus, and of the Knights and Ladies
of Honor, in which organization he is a pro-
tector. Both he and his entire family are
members and communicants of the Catholic
church. Politically ^Ir. DeLisle has ever
been ready to serve the interests of the Dem-
ocratic party, and his loyal .support has ever
l)een offered to the principles and candidates
it endorsed. For several years he has been
an active member of the Democratic Central
Committee, and from 1909 until 1911 he of-
ficiated as the mayor of Portageville, in which
office he has shown what worthy public serv-
ants should be. He is a member of the St.
Francis Levee District of Upper ^Missouri.
D.wiD F. W.VLSER. cashier of the Bank of
Puxico, is one of the toAvn's leading citizens
and has proven himself an able incumbent of
the office noted. In the management of the
affairs of the bank he has shown marked dis-
crimination, and the personal integrity and
high standing of the interested principals in
the institution constitute its most valuable as-
set and give assurance of its continued growth
and prosperity. The Bank of Puxico was or-
ganized in 1898. with a capital of st^lO.OOO, but
its .scope has more than doubled and since
1906 it has based its operations upon a capital
stock of .$25,000. Its present surplus is
.$20,000, and its deposits amount to .$85,000.
The building in which this substantial mon-
etary institution is housed is owned by the
HISTORY OF SOUTHEAST MISSOURI
1203
bank and it is modern in all its appoint-
ments. Its officers are J. A. Hickman, presi-
dent ; and D. F. "Walser, cashier.
Mr. Walser is a native son of the state, his
liirth having occurred in Cole county, March
7, 1873. His father was C. C. Walser, a na-
tive of Tennessee, who came as a child to a
farm in Cole county, near Jefferson City.
The elder gentleman resided there throughout
his life and had a record of more than
eighty years residence in ilissouri, his demise
occurring at the age of eighty-four years, on
February 27, 1908. Mr. Walser resided on
the parental homestead until the age of seven-
teen years, and in the manner of most country
boys Hvas called on for assistance in the mani-
fold duties to be encountered upon the farm.
Some years before attaining to his majority
he went to St. Louis and secured a clerical
position in that city. In the ensuing few
years he became familiar with conmiercial
and financial matters and eventually found
his way to California, Missouri, where he en-
gaged in the fire insurance business. He then
removed to Poplar Bluff, where he was en-
gaged as assistant cashier in the Butler county
Bank and he remained in that city until 1898.
His identification with Puxico dates from
that year, when he came here to take charge of
the bank as cashier. His coming here came
about in the following wise. The Butler
County Bank had been organized by Colonel
Pace and Judge Edwards, of Jeffer.son City,
and they had installed ^Ir. Walser in that in-
stitution. These gentlemen were among the
organizers of the Bank of Puxico and, realiz-
ing the need of an efficient officer at its head,
and knowing ilr. Walser 's ability and faith-
fulness, they brought him here and installed
him as cashier of the bank with which he
has remained for the ensuing years. He has
other additional interests, conducting the
agency for a fire and life insurance business
and also a long time loan business. He is
interested in the agricultural development of
the section and owns an excellent farm about
three miles from Puxico.
:\Ir. Walser married one of Puxico 's fair
daughters, OUie I. Hickman, daughter of J.
A. Hickman, one of the prominent citizens of
the place, becoming his wife. Their mar-
riage was celebrated at Puxico June 5, 1898.
Mrs. Walser, previous to her marriage, had
been acting as assistant cashier in the bank. '
They have a family of five young sons and
daughters, as follows: John Carroll, David
F., Emma, Pauline and Cornelia. Mr. Wal-
ser is a Democrat in his political faith and
gives to public affairs an interested consider-
ation. He holds membership in the Independ-
ent Order of Odd Fellows, the Kliights of the
Maccabees, the Modern Woodmen of Amer-
ica, the Woodmen of the World, the Redmen
and the Court of Honor. He is one to find
great pleasure in his fraternal associations
with his fellow men and is very popular in
all these organizations.
Joseph L. Jones. Farming, the oldest of
the industi'ies, is at the same time one of the
most wholesome, independent and interesting
fields of endeavor, and among those who rep-
resent it in Stoddard county is J. L. Jones,
who is one of the large land owners and who
is progressive in his methods, having brought
the greater part of his three hundred and
thirty-seven acres to a high state of cultiva-
tion. While as a farmer he has given close
attention to his private affairs, he has never
forgotten or ignored. the bond of common in-
terest which should unite the people of every
community, and he has always been ready to
promote progress in every line.
Joseph L. Jones was born in Franklin
county, Kentucky, on the 14th day of June,
1859, and is the son of Robert and Naucy A.
(Ross) Jones, both of whom claimed the Blue
Grass state as their birthplace. They came
to Stoddard county when Joseph L. was
very small, the year of their migration being
1862. Mr. Jones spent his boyhood and
youth upon his father's farm and learned
the man.y secrets of agriculture under the ex-
cellent tutelage of his father. He began farm-
ing on his own account shortly after his early
marriage in 1881, taking up his residence on
one hundred acres of land, which is still his
home. He now owns three hundred and
thirty -seven acres of rolling land, all of which
is advantageously situated and most of which
is under cultivation. On this he has built sev-
eral good buildings and he has made many
other improvements, including such items as
fences and ditches.
Mr. Jones was married on the first day of
August, 1881, in Stoddard county, to Miss
Arminta T. Smith, who was born June 1,
1866, and is a daughter of B. G. Smith. They
have an interesting family of children, which
includes the following : Myrtle, Zettie, Lloyd,
Jones, Clyde and ]\lary. In his political affil-
iation ]\Ir. Jones is a Democrat, having given
his suffrage to that party since his earliest
voting days. His fraternal affiliations are
HISTORY OF SOUTHEAST MISSOURI
with the ludepeudent Order of Odd Fellows
at Blooniiield and the Woodmen of the World
at Ardeola.
Thomas L. Hoskins. of the Himmelberger-
Harrison Lumber Company, is the only offi-
eial of that company who is in residence
here. When the company was organized, Mr.
Himmelberger was president, W. H. Harri-
son was vice-president and treasurer and
Howard Rule, secretary. In 190-4 the Him-
melberger & Friant Company was taken
into the Lumber Company and the fol-
lowing officers were appointed: ilr. Him-
melberger, president; Howard Rule, secre-
tary; W. H. Harrison, vice-president and
treasurer; and J. H. Friant, general superin-
tendent. In ilarch, 1908, :Mr. Rule severed
his connection with the company and Mr. C.
L. Harrison was elected secretary to succeed
him. The oiifice of auditor was created, to
which position Mr. Hoskins was appointed.
]Mr. Hoskins was born November 27, 1882,
in Carter county, Jlissouri. His father, Wil-
liam Thomas Hoskins, was a native of Jef-
ferson county, Tennessee. At the age o_f
fourteen he came to Carter county, .Missouri,
in the year 1854, accompanying his parents,
who were among the earliest settlers of the
county. Here he grew up on the farm and
at the outbreak of the Civil war, although
he was a Democrat, he entered the Union
army. Besides farming, ^Ir. William Hos-
kins" conducted a store in Carter county until
1883, when he sold it and moved to his farm
in Reynolds county. It was in Reynolds
countv that his marriage to Miss Rebecca
Duncan took place in 1873. She was born
twenty years earlier, in Fredericktown,
;Missoiiri. on the ninth of September. She
is still living on the old farm in Reynolds
county, where her husband died June 22,
1908." During his life Mr. Hoskins was the
holder of various offices in Carter county
and a conspicuous figure in the political cir-
cle of the community. Lee Hoskins, his eld-
est son, farms the Reynolds county home
place. He is married to Mollie Ellington.
Miss Nellie Hoskins, born May 23, 1890, lives
with her mother, and the other daughter,
Noma, now :Mrs. Harry McHenry also lives
on the home place.
Thomas L. Hoskins remained on the farm
until he was sixteen years old going to
school. At that age he went to Piedmont to
be bookkeeper in the Charles Carter & Com-
I)any Store. About three years later he
came to ^lorehouse to fill a like position in the
Himmelberger-IIarrison Lumber Company
and has remained with the company since
April 30, 1902. He is now auditor' of the
company and is a specialist in the auditing
work.
^Ir. Hoskins' business talent has identitied
him with numerous enterprises for the de-
velopment of this section. He is president
of the Hoskins Real-Estate and Mercantile
Company, of Ruble, ilissouri, and secretary
and treasurer of the Missouri Drainage and
Construction Company. In addition, he is
making extensive purchases of land in Rey-
nolds county.
In the Republican party ilr. Hoskins has
been and continues to be a popular and pow-
erful member. He is chairman of the cen-
tral committee of that party and has served
as city treasurer for more than three years.
In short, Mr. Hoskins is a man born to be
a leader in all in which he engages. Like
his father, he is a Mason. This year (1911)
he is serving as master of the lodge. He is
a trustee and steward of the ^Methodist
churcli lieing no less diligent in sacred than
in secular business. He also holds member-
ship in the Elks' lodge of Poplar Bluff.
The family of Mr. and ilrs. Hoskins con-
sists of two daughters and one son : Lucille
was born May 24, 1905; Helen, ]\Iarch 18,
1909; and Thomas L., Jr., March 27, 1911.
^Irs. Hoskins was formerly iliss Ollie Grif-
fin, daughter of Marion and Mary Grififiu.
Her marriage to ilr. Hoskins occurred
:klay 23, 1904. Her natal day is ilarch 28,
1881.
J. R. Trogdon. Morgan county, Indiana,
was the birthplace of J. R. Trogdon. He
lived on the farm where he was born until
1868, when his parents moved to southwest-
ern Missoiiri. He was three years old when
they settled in Greene county, near Spring-
field, and he lived there until he was thir-
teen. He went to school a little, but decided
that he would like a change and so ran away
from home and went to work in the iron
mines of Franklin county. He did not pur-
sue this occupation for a great while, but
secured a .job as bar tender in a small town,
which he kept for two years before return-
ing' to Greene county, his parents' home.
;Mr. Trogdon remained in Greene county
only a short time and then went to Indiana
for a year and worked on a farm in the
county' where he was born. The following
HISTORY OF SOUTHEAST MISSOURI
1205
year he spent ou a farm in Greene eounty,
Missouri. His next enterprise was a saloon
in the same district. He ran this for a year
and a half and found it profitable. How-
ever, he left the business to go to Arkansas,
where he spent a winter as a professional
lumter. The following summer, — July, 1886,
— he came to Southeastern Missouri and be-
gan hunting for the market. At that time
he had neither wife nor money. He spent
fourteen years at hunting near Parma and
was married in 1893 to iliss Alice Brevard.
In 1902 Mr. Trogdon began the saloon
business in Parma. Since that time he has
been engaged in farming and in running a
saloon, not his original one, but one he
moved to this location. His farm is a quar-
ter-section near town, and he has a residence
in Parma. He has six children living, Stella,
Grace, Joe, ^lary, Pearl and Dorsa Lee.
Irene who came between Joe and ^lary, is
dead. .Mr. Trogdon is a Republiean and
was two years constable.
Levi Garner. Success along any line of
endeavor would never be properly appre-
ciated if it came with a single efEort and un-
accompanied by some hardships, for it is the
knocks and bruises in life that make success
taste so sweet. The failures accentuate the
successes, thus making recollections of the
former as dear as those of the latter for hav-
ing been the stepping-stones to achievement.
The career of Levi Garner but accentuates
the fact that success is bound to come to those
who join brains with ambition and are will-
ing to work. Reared in the pioneer wilds of
Missouri, with practically no schooling what-
soever, the phenomenal success attained by
Levi Garner is most gratifying to contem-
plate. Beginning his active career with
practically nothing to back him except a
goodly store of pluck and a determination
to succeed, ^Ir. Garner, through shrewd dis-
cernment and keen foresight, has made the
most of every opportunity that has come his
way and to-day he is the o\raer of a tine
landed estate of some twelve hundred acres,
the same being eligibly located three miles
west of Bernie.
Levi Garner was born on his parents' old
homestead three miles west of Dexter, in
Stoddard county, ilissouri, the date of his
nativity being the 23d of October, 1847, and
he is a son of Jordan and Sarah (Lewis)
Garner, the former of whom was born in
the state of North Carolina. Jordan Garner
came to Missouri in 1828, at which time he
was a young man of twenty-one years of
age. He was extraordinaril.y fond of hunt-
ing and of frontier life in general and for
those reasons came to the far west in the
pioneer period. He had one brother and
three sisters, all of whom likewise came to
this state. David Garner located in Stod-
dard county, where he passed the major por-
tion of his life time; Rebecca married John
R. Dowdy, of Stoddard county; Betsy be-
came the wife of John Minton and the other
sister married a Mr. Leggitt, both of this
county. Shortly after his arrival in ]Mis-
souri Jordan Garner was united in marriage
to Miss Sarah Lewis, a daughter of Norman
Lewis, who came to ^Missouri with his fam-
ily a little later than 1828. After his mar-
riage Jordan settled on a farm on Crowley's
Ridge, where he became noted far and wide
as a skilled hunter and an exceedingly dar-
ing sportsman. He frequently killed black
bear with his knife while the bear was facing
a pack of dogs. On one occasion he laid
his hatchet and knife down while he crawled
into a wolf's lair to catch some of the pup-
pies. He had become excited else he would
not have laid aside his weapons. Carrying
out the puppies made a noise and he barely
had time to aim his gun as the she wolf came
up to be killed. He remained on his farm
during the remainder of his life and his
death occurred in the year 1887, at the age
of eighty years, his wife having survived
him for a period of ten years. He was a
most zealous and active member of the
]\Iethodist Episcopal church, to whose chari-
ties and benevolences he was a most liberal
contributor. He was a man of remarkable
mentality, was very outspoken in religion
and politics and by his radical views made
a number of enemies, who in spite of their
difference of opinion admired the strong per-
sonality of the man. In his political convic-
tions he was a stanch advocate of the prin-
ciples and policies for which the Republican
party stands sponsor and he was an ardent
supporter of the cause of the Union during
the strenuous period of the Civil war. His
spacious, comfortable home was a veritable
center of hospitality, being open to all com-
ers. Of his fourteen children ten reached
maturity and three are living, in 1912, —
Levi is the immediate subject of this review;
and ilartin L. and Andrew J. are both liv-
ing a few miles south of Dexter.
Levi Garner was reared to the invigorating
1206
HISTOKT OF SOUTHEAST MISSOURI
influences of pioneer frontier life and his
early schooling was of the most meager
order. He remained at home, wliere he was
associated with his father and brothers in
the work of management of the home farm,
until he had reached his twentieth year. At
that time he undertook to make rails at the
rate of fifty cents per hundred, a job of some
months duration. His pay for this work was
in com valued at fifty cents per bushel. He
held the corn until the following year,
when he was able to dispose of it at one dol-
lar a bushel. He invested his money in hogs,
which he fattened and sold at a large profit.
With his surplus money he then purchased
a horse and a mule and after marrying began
life in earnest as a farmer. During the first
year he and his wife both plowed and the
second year he worked steadily in the field
while his wife brought him a change of
horses. During the second year he sold thir-
teen hundred bushels of corn at the rate of
one dollar to one dollar and a quarter per
bushel. This crop was grown on land eight
miles southwest of Dexter, for which he paid
eight dollars per acre and on which he re-
sided for thirty -two years. From forty acres
it grew to two hunclred acres, and when he
finally disposed of it, he received forty dol-
lars per acre for it. In October, 1903, he
came to his present farm, which he had pur-
chased for from two dollars to twenty -six
dollars an acre, in 1896, and to which he
later added tracts at the rate of twenty-six
dollars an acre. With the passage of years
he increased his original acreage to an estate
of ten hundred and forty acres, all of which
is in one body, located three miles west of
Bernie. Recently he added a tract of one
hundred and sixty acres, four miles west of
the village, thus making in all a farm of
twelve hundred acres. Nine hundred acres
of this estate are under cultivation, eight
hundred having been placed so by himself.
He has strictly a first-class line of improve-
ments on his farm and his excellent stock
and meadow form his main income. He has
had outside range for his cattle and keeps
mules, cattle and hogs, making a specialty
of shipping stock. He has made a thorough
study of his business, calculating the result
of his various investments far in advance.
Farming is not a matter of chance with him
but a well ordered, systematic business that
pays in spite of unlocked for climatic condi-
tiojis. He has always favored drainage and
in that connection holds that the digging
should be to quick sand, with tile placed in
the sand so as to secure proper drainage even
though the ditch fills up in time. He holds
that all such work should be done by the
state. It is not a matter of conjecture when
it is stated that ilr. Garner is decidedly one
of the most prosperous farmers in this sec-
tion of the state, where he is prominent and
influential in all improvements projected for
the good of the country.
In the year 1869 was solemnized the mar-
riage of Mr. Garner to Miss Piety Black,
who was born in the state of ilississippi and
who was a young girl at the time of her ar-
rival in aiissouri. Mr. and Mrs. Garner are
the parents of one son, John J., whose birth
occurred in October, 1881, and who remains
at home, where he has assumed a great deal
of the responsibility connected with the con-
duct of the farm. In their religious faith
the Garner family are devout members of the
Church of Christ at Bernie, with which they
have been connected for the past thirty-seven
years.
In politics 'Sir. Garner is a loyal supporter
of the Republican party but he does not par-
ticipate actively in public affairs. He gives
freely of his aid and influence in support
of ail mattei-s affecting the general welfare
and as a citizen and business man he com-
mands the unalloyed confidence and esteem
of his fellow men. He is a man of great
kindliness of spirit and generous impulses,
one whose charity knows only the bounds of
his opportunities. Through extensive read-
ing and association with men of affairs, Mr.
Garner has become a man of broad informa-
tion and remarkable mentality. His farm
consists of reclaimed swamps, the most fertile
soil in Missouri, the same being called the
garden spot of creation.
]\I.\RK H. Stallcup. Southeastern Missouri
has lost in the passing of Mark H. Stallcup
one of her most popular, prominent and alto-
gether valuable citizens. Identified since his
boyhood with Sikeston and its civic life, Mr.
Stallcup was so closely connected with every
good and worthy project in the advancement
and development of the community that a de-
tailed history of his life must show forth
many points of similarity with a histoiy of
the growth of Sikeston during the past quar-
ter centurv. His death occurred on Januarj^
21. 1912, iii the fifty-eighth year of his life, at
the ^Missouri Baptist Sanitarium of St. Louis,
HISTORY OF SOUTHEAST MISSOURI
1207
whither he had been taken for treatment
about a month previous to his passing.
Mark H. Stallcup was a scion of one of
the finest old families in the state of Mis-
souri. He was born on January 24, 1S5-4, five
miles south of Sikeston, and was the son of
James and Katherine (Sikesj Stallcup, na-
tives of this community, also. His grandpar-
ents, Mr. and Airs. Mark H. Stallcup, came
to this section of the country early in the
nineteenth century, from their Kentucky
home, where the Stallcup family had been
established for many generations. They set-
tled in the wilderness of Southeastern Mis-
souri, and from that day to the present time
the name of Stallcup has been one of promi-
nence in this section of the state, their chil-
dren, grandchildren and great-grandchildren
having successivelj' added to the distinction
for which the name has ever stood.
Mr. Stallcup was educated in the common
schools of Arcadia, Missouri, after which he
turned his attention for some time to agricul-
tural matters. He was successful from the
beginning of his business operations, and he
conducted his farming afl:'airs so aptly that in
a few years he had gained a position of prom-
inence in the county, which increased with the
passing years until he was known as one of
the leading men of the state in financial and
political circles. Mr. Stallcup was the or-
ganizer and later for several years president
of the Citizens' Bank of Sikeston, an institu-
tion with which his son, Lynn il., has been
actively connected in recent years as cashier.
Every business venture that Air. Stallcup al-
lied himself with during his lifetime proved
a sviceessful one, and his career was marked by
the most worthy achievements from first to
last. He was a man who ever stood high in
the respect, confidence and esteem of his com-
munity, and his circle of friends was one of
goodly proportions. Always keeping the best
interests of his city close to his heart, he was
able to do much for the advancement of the
community, and was always in sympathy with
any movement calculated to enhance the civic
welfare. He was a Mason and a Democrat of
no little prominence, taking an active and
worthy part in the political afi'airs of his
county and state.
In 1876 Air. Stallcup married Miss Sue
A. Gregory, a native of Tennessee, born there
on July 3, 1857, and she, with two sons,
James and Lynn Alark, survive him. The
elder son. James A., is an attorney and resi-
dent of Hot Springs, while Lynn AL, as prev-
iously mentioned, is cashier of the Citizens'
Bank of Sikeston. The only surviving mem-
ber of the family of James and Katherine
Stallcup, parents of the honored subject of
this brief memoir, is Airs. Alollie Long, a resi-
dent of Sikeston, Alissouri.
Lynn AIaek Stallcup. One of Sikeston 's
progressive and popular citizens who, by his
own unaided efforts and individual worth, has
gone forward step by step until he now holds
the position of cashier in one of the leading
financial institutions of Southeastern Alis-
souri, the Citizens' Bank of Sikeston, is L.ynn
Alark Stallcup, a man who merits the respect
and regard of all who know him. He was
born in New Aladrid county, Alissouri, on
the 10th of January, 1885, and is a son of
Alark H. and Sue A. (Gregory) Stallcup, the
former born in New Aladrid county on Janu-
ary 24, 1854, and the latter in Tennessee,
July 3, 1857. The father of Lynn Stallcup
was a man of considerable prominence in
financial circles of Alissouri, as well as in Dem-
ocratic politics of his state, and was a man
held in the universal esteem and confidence
of his community, and wherever he was
known.
Lynn Alark Stallcup was given the advan-
tages of an excellent education, attending the
grade and high schools of Sikeston, graduat-
ing from Wallace's LTniversity School of
Nashville, Tennessee, and then attending
Vanderbilt University, Nashville. He subse-
quently took a course in the Barnes Business
College in St. Louis, and after his graduation
therefrom he accepted a position with the
Citizens' Bank of Sikeston, with which insti-
tution he has since been continuously con-
nected. Conscientious and faithful in his
duties, and possessing exceptional ability in
matters financial administration, his rise has
been rapid, and he now acts as cashier of the
bank, having formerly been assistant cashier.
He is a Democrat in his political views, but
has not been active in the political field, his
activities being confined to an interest in mat-
ters pertaining to his city's welfare. He has
not allied himself with any societies, but has
given his whole attention to the duties of his
position, and his enthusiasm and progress-
iveness have done much to further the inter-
ests of the bank and to make him decidedly
popular with its depositors.
Air. Stallcup was married at Sikeston, Au-
gust 5, 1908, to Aliss Frances Elizabeth Law-
rence, daughter of Enly A. and Addie W.
1208
HISTORY OF SOUTHEAST MISSOURI
Lawrence, of jMeCredie, Missouri, and a
granddaughter of James and Elizabeth Wise,
of the same place. ^Irs. Stalleup received her
educational training at the William Woods
College, of Fulton. Missouri, and is a brilliant
and accomplished young matron. She is
especially popular among the members of
Sikeston's younger social set. One child has
been born to Mr. and Mrs. Stalleup, — Anna
Elizabeth, born July 15. 1909.
James A. Stallcup, an attorney of promi-
nence and popularity of Hot Springs, Arkan-
sas, is the son of Mark H. and Sue A. (Greg-
orj') Stalleup, of Sikeston, Missouri. The
father is now deceased, but the mother still
lives in the old Missouri home. Mark H.
Stallcup was one of the best known and most
highly esteemed men in Southeastern Mis-
souri. He was born in Sikeston on January
24, 1854, and was the son of James and Kath-
erine (Sikes) Stallcup, and the grandson of
I\fr. and Mrs. Mark H. Stallcup, old Missouri
pioneers who came to this state in the early
.years of the nineteenth century from their
Kentucky home. Since that time the name of
Stallcup has been familiar and honored in
Southeastern Missouri, each succeeding gen-
eration adding something to the prestige of
the good old name. The death of Mark H.
Stallcup, father of James A., of this brief re-
view, occurred on January 21, 1912, in St.
Louis, Missouri, whither he had gone for med-
ical aid. He is survived by his widow and two
sons, Lynn Mark and James A. Stallcup.
James A. Stallcup was born on December
12, 1877, at the old homestead in Sikeston,
Missouri, or, more correctly speaking, five
miles south of the town of Sikeston, in New
Madrid county, Missouri. He was educated
in the common schools of his native town,
later completing his education in Vanderbilt
TTniversity of Nashville, Tennessee, and in
Columbian University (now the George
Washington University), of Washington,
D. C. He was graduated from the latter
named institution with the class of 1900, in
June, receiving at that time his degree of
Master of Law. His first practice in a pro-
fessional way was carried on in Sikeston,
where he first located, and he remained there
for about three yeai-s, en.ioying a pleasing
measure of popularity in his business and
being elected to the office of city attorney, an
office which he resigned to go to Hot Springs,
Arkansas, whither he went to take over the
management of the Garland Countv Abstract
Company of that place. He there located and
in a short time purchased a controlling inter-
est in the abstract company, in con.iunction
with the abstract business carrying on an ac-
tive general law practice. He held the posi-
tion of police judge during the remainder of
an unexpired term and was city attorney two
terms. He is a member of the firm of field-
ing & Stallcup, dealers in real estate, insur-
ance, etc., and the firm carries on a thriving
business in the city, where it enjoys the confi-
dence and esteem of the public in a most pleas-
ing degree. Mr. Stallcup has proved himself
to be that which the men of the house of
Stallcup have ever been, — a valuable citizen
and an honorable and trustworthy man, and
as such his place in the public mind in Hot
Springs is indeed secure.
In 1903 Mr. Stallcup was united in mar-
riage at Hot Springs with Miss Dorothy Wa-
ters, a daughter of W. W. Waters, a promi-
nent capitalist and present mayor of Hot
Springs. Sirs. Stallcup was born in this city
and here has spent the greater part of her life
thus far. One daughter, Dorothy Stallcup,
has been born to them. She is now in her
eighth year.
Mr. Stallcup is a loyal Democrat, and is
active in the interests of the party at all
times, being recognized as a leader in the
county in political afi'airs. He is a fratemal-
ist of some prominence, being a thirty-second
degree Mason, holding membership in the
Scottish Rite and Shriners. He is also a
member of the Benevolent and Protective Or-
der of Elks.
Judge Lafayett P. Lafont, whose father
was a merchant, a farmer and a county judge
for over twenty years in New IMadrid county,
like him has been in all these occupations, and
still continues in the first and last. The father
was born in ilississippi county in 1818, but
came to New Madrid county at the age of
three. Mr. Lafont 's mother was born in Henry
county, Tennessee, in 1839. Her parents af-
terwards moved to New Madrid county, and it
was here that she was married to ]\Ir. Lafont.
They had four sons, John, Lafayett F., of
this sketch, and R. L. and A. J., deceased.
The mother died in 1899, and the father thir-
teen years earlier. He left a farm of two
hundred and forty acres, on which L. P. La-
font was born June 23, 1863.
After completing the common schools and
attending one term at the Cape Girardeau
normal, Mr. Lafont spent seven years in
HISTORY OP SOUTHEAST MISSOURI
1209
teaching. In 1882 lie was married to Marie
Long, of Illinois, who was at that time living
in Portageville, Missouri, with her parents.
Mr. Lafont gave up teaching and farmed for
many years, but at present he is not engaged
in agriculture.
Mr. Lafont 's service as county judge began
in 1891 and has been continuous since that
date. He has been especially interested in
drainage projects for the county during his
service and has done much to promote this
and other measures for the benefit of the
eount.y.
When Mr. Lafont first invested in a place
in Conran he bought a small house and lot;
he now owns most of the land in Conran and
has built a commodious, eleven room house in
town. For twelve years prior to 1911 he had
a general store in Conran. with a prosperous
trade. The Byrd-Lafont Land and Mercan-
tile Company was organized as a corporation
in 1911, with Mr. Lafont as manager and
owner of the greater part of the stock. He
also has an interest in the Conran Cooperage
Company. Like his father before him. he is
a stanch Democrat. In addition to being
county judge he has served several years as
justice and as constable. In the venerable
Masonic order he belongs to the Blue Lodge
of Conran, of which he is a past master.
The oldest son of I\Ir. Lafont and his first
wife was born in 1887. He is an ope-
rator at Sikeston and unmarried. Two
daughters were also born of this union. Var-
ina and Hattie. The former is now Mrs.
Frank Fityinfelmer. Jlarie Long Lafont
died in 1892, and nine years after her death
Mr. Lafont married Clara Vaughn, whose
birthplace was Illinois. She, too. has borne
Mr. Lafont three children: L. F.. junior.
Clara and Harold.
BuRWELL A. DuNC.iN. M. D. Grandson
of a soldier of the Revolution, son of an
ardent South Carolina secessionist and a
member of the convention at Charleston,
brother to three officers of the Confederate
army, himself a soldier surgeon in the grew-
some fields of battle. Dr. Burwell A. Duncan
is a citizen whom ^lorehoiise is proud to claim.
Robert Duncan, the grandfather of Re-
volutionary fame, was married to Hannah
Carr. Their union wa.s blessed with twelve
children, one of whom, John bv name and
the eldest by birth, came to Missouri early
in the nineteenth century and had a family
of twentv-four children. Those were times
of large families. Perrj' Duncan, father of
Burwell, had eleven children.
The birthplace of Perry Duncan was
Greenville, South Carolina, and May 26, 1800,
was the date of his birth. His wife was
Mary Hill, of Wilkes county, Georgia, where
her father had his plantation. She was four-
teen years j^ounger than her husband, to
whom she was married when she was nineteen
years old. She was a mother fitted to "raise
up heroes" and the children were worthy
of their parents. A devout IMethodist, she
built a church in her home neighborhood at
her own expense, costing some .$5,000, and
during the war she was untiringly active in
procuring supplies for the Confederate sol-
diers.
Perry Duncan had been prominent for
years in the legislature of his state and he
was a member of the secession convention
held at Charleston, South Carolina. His
name is carved on the marble tablet at Co-
lumbia, South Carolina. It was to be ex-
pected that his sons would go to the front
as they did. Robert P. was an adjutant and
served on General Dick Anderson's staff.
Wiley was one of Butler's guards in the
Fourth South Carolina. James was a cap-
tain and Burwell surgeon of the Second Mis-
sissippi Regiment.
The Doctor was born at Greenville, South
Carolina, March 24, 1835. He attended the
academy at Greenville and then went to Fur-
man University. In 1855 he began the study
of medicine and graduated in 1857 from the
Medical College of South Carolina, located
at Charleston. After his graduation Dr.
Duncan went to Mississippi and practiced
his profession in that state until he came to
Jlorehouse in 1906. It was in Mississippi
that his mother, Mrs. Perry Duncan, died in
1868, three years after her husband had
passed away on his plantation in Georgia.
Dr. Duncan's first marriage took place
in 1858 at Aberdeen, Mississippi. The bride
was Miss Celestia Strong, daughter of Gen-
eral Elisha Strong. She was two years
younger than Dr. Duncan and their union
lasted over thirty years, until it was dissolved
by Mrs. Duncan's" death in 1890. Their son.
Rev. Perry E. Duncan, was born in 1862.
He became a Methodist minister of note and
was married to Mary, daughter of Lafayette
Smith, who bore him five children. " His
death occurred February 9, 1905, at luka,
^lississippi, where he was one of the most
prominent men of his denomination. The
1210
HISTORY OF SOUTHEAST MISSOURI
daughter of this marriage, Anna Duncan, be-
came Mrs. Thomas G. Blackwell, wife of the
present judge of county court in New Madrid
county, Missouri. She has two children.
On January 30, 1904, Dr. Duncan was
married to Mrs. Julia Watson Manning,
daughter of Asa Watson and widow of Pay-
ton Manning, a colonel on General Long-
street's stafE.
Dr. Duncan is a well known figure in med-
ical circles, where he is much esteemed for
his knowledge of the science of medicine and
for his skill in its practice. He has been a
frequent and valued contributor to various
medical publications. Though registered in
St. Louis, Dr. Duncan has practiced in More-
house for the past tive years. He is a member
of both the state and the county medical as-
sociations in addition to holding membership
in the American Medical Association. Until
very recently the Doctor has been active in
his lodge, the Royal Arch Masons. His
church is the Methodist, South.
Herbert L. Boaz was born in Fulton, Ken-
tucky, October 15, .1876. His father was a
merchant who died when Herbert was nine-
teen. The son had started out in the livery
business, but at his father's death he took up
his work in the mercantile line and for five
years carried this on successfully. The
mother died when Herbert was twenty-two
years old, and he received one-half of the
estate. He subsequently lost his money in
business and in trading.
In 1902 Mr. Boaz came to Parma and be-
gan business with a three-hundred-dollar
stock of goods which he had bought in Dex-
ter. He had lived in the latter place for sev-
eral years. Since coming to Parma Mr. Boaz
has built up a flourishing trade. He now
owns one of the best general merchandise
establishments in Parma and has a two-story
building, one hundred and fifty by thirty-
six feet in dimensions, constructed of con-
crete blocks. He built this in September,
1905. He also owns the vacant lot next to
his building. His business is constantly in-
creasing and he is dealing in hogs and cattle
in addition to operating his growing mer-
cantile concern.
Mr. Boaz has served the town in the ca-
pacity of alderman, for although he is prima-
rily a business man, he is not indifferent to
the claims of public duty. He belongs to
the Independent Order of Odd Fellows and
to the Knights of Pythias. Mrs. Boaz is a
member of the Methodist church. He has
no children of his own, but Maurene, Mrs.
Boaz' daughter by her former marriage, lives
with them. This child was born in 1902.
Her mother 's marriage to Mr. Boaz took place
at Cairo, in March, 1906. She had previously
lived at Essex and at Sikeston, and was Mrs. J
Alma McMullen when she met Mr. Boaz. |
John W. Stricklin. An essentially repre-
sentative farmer and land dealer in Stoddard
county, Missouri, is John W. Stricklin. who
has resided in this section of the state since
the strenuous period of the Civil war and
who is now the owner of a finely improved
farm of ninety-nine acres adjoining the vil-
lage of Bernie, some of his property being
inside the city limits. Mr. Stricklin is a cit-
izen whose loyalty and public spirit have
ever been of the most insistent order and
who on account of his square and honorable
dealings is accorded the unalloyed confidence
and esteem of all with whom he has come in
contact.
A native of the commonwealth of Tennes-
see, John W. Stricklin was born in Decatur
county, that state, the date of his nativity
being the 27th of June, 1842. He is a son
of John and Eliza (Woodall) Stricklin, the
former of whom was born in eastern Ten-
nessee and the latter of whom claimed Ala-
bama as the place of her birth. In the fall
of 1860 Mr. and Mrs. John Stricklin came
to Missouri, but three years later they returned
to Tennessee, where they passed the residue
of their lives, their deaths having occurred
in about 1897, aged ninety-three, and in 1877,
aged fifty-five, respectively. John W. Strick-
lin was reared and educated in Tennessee
and in the fall of 1860 accompanied his par-
ents on their removal to Missouri. Settlement
was made first in Pemiscot county, at Cotton-
wood Point, whence removal was made in the
following year to Stoddard county. When the
dark cloud of Civil war cast its gloom over the
country Mr. Stricklin enlisted as a soldier
in the Missouri State Guards, under General
Jefi' Thompson, and in that connection saw
active service in the battle at Fredericktown.
Being in Missouri in the fall of 1862, he
served again for a short time with Dave Hicks
and when his command left that state he
decided to remain. But in the sjiring of 1863
he was taken from his home and put in Col-
onel Kitchen's regiment; he was soon fur-
loughed, however, and went into the Federal
lines at Cape Girardeau. Soon thereafter he
HISTORY OP SOUTHEAST MISSOURI
1211
returned to Tennessee, where lie remained
until the close of the war. He then ventured
again into Missouri, where his crop of that
year, 1865, gave him a start. He located on
a farm on Crowley's Ridge, where he re-
mained until 1877 and whence he removed in
that year to the bottom lands, living for fully
a decade in the vicinity of Fish Pond. In
1887 he secured his present farm, on which
he resided for a time but which he eventually
traded. In the course of twelve years and
during his many land transaction he again
became the owner of this splendid estate,
which is recognized as one of the very best
farms in the entire county. The same con-
sists of ninety-nine acres and is located nine
miles south of Dexter, including a portion
of the village of Beruie, as previously noted.
Mr. Stricklin has been trading and dealing
in land for a number of years and has real-
ized a great deal of profit on some of his trans-
actions. He has purchased land at five dol-
lars per acre from Chouteau, the owner of
extensive tracts of land formerly in the pos-
session of the railroad. He has dealt mainly
in improved land and his property is now
worth about $100 dollars per acre. At one
time he was the owner of several hundred
acres of this fertile valley land. At present
he is engaged in diversified agriculture and
the growing of thorough-bred stock. His
principal crops are cotton and corn, the
former being his main cash crop. He is con-
stantly making improvements on his place
and he now devotes the major portion of
his time and attention to agricultural pur-
suits.
Mr. Stricklin has been thrice married. As
a boy he was united in wedlock to Miss Mary
Jane Beavers, who died nine years after their
marriage. There were no children born to
this union. In the early '70s was recorded
the marriage of Mr. Stricklin to Miss Melinda
Dyer, and this union was blessed with two
children, namely, Martha, who is the wife of
Robert Potter, " of Maiden, this state ; and
Clara, who married George Ray and who
resides at Bedford, Arkansas. Mrs. Strick-
lin was summoned to the life eternal on the
7th of March. 1903. On the 15th of Decem-
ber, 1903. Mr. Stricklin was united in mar-
riage to Miss Elizabeth Crawford, nee Gowin,
who was bom in Lawrence county, Illinois,
and who came to Missoiiri about the year
1894, as the wife of Newton Crawford, their
home having been near Bernie. By her
former marriage Mrs. Stricklin became the
mother of six children, of whom five are liv-
ing at the present time, and concerning whom
the following brief data are here incor-
porated, Ida married Frank Gibson, of Idalia,
Missouri; Fay is the wife of Dave Walker,
who is a farmer near Bernie; Flora is now
Mrs. James Voliva, of Dalgreen, Illinois;
Sherman Ray is engaged in farming in Stod-
dard county ; and Cora remains at the Strick-
lin home. Mr. Stricklin has no children by
his present marriage.
In his political proclivities ilr. Stricklin
is aligned as a stalwart supporter of the
cause of the Democratic party and while he
never participates actively in politics he is
always ready to give his aid and influence
in behalf of all pro.iects advanced for the
good of the general welfare. When remi-
niscent he recalls the days when all kinds of
wild game were plenteous in Stoddard county.
He has counted as many as eighteen deer at
once feeding in the open glades. He has
killed dozens of turkeys, at one time bring-
ing down as many as seventeen — four old
ones and thirteen young ones. In fraternal
circles he is affiliated with the Knights of
Pythias and in their religious faith he and
his wife are devout members of the Chris-
tian church, to whose charities and benev-
olences is a most liberal contributor. The
Stricklin home is one of most generous hos-
pitality and Mr. and Mrs. Stricklin are re-
spected and beloved throughout a wide area
in Stoddard county, which section has so
long represented their home.
W. H. Johnson. A man of scholarly at-
tainments, W. H. Johnson is widely known
in educational circles for the good work which
he is so ably carrying on as superintendent
of the Essex public schools. In connection
with his professional work he has proved him-
self a man of practical judgment and sound
sense, and well worthy of the high esteem in
which he is held throughout the community.
He was born on a farm near Raleigh, Saline
county, Illinois, March 9, 1883, and obtained
his elementary education in the common
schools. He afterwards attended the high
school at McLeansboro. Illinois, and subse-
quently taught school three or more terms in
his native state.
When twenty years of age Mr. Johnson
came to Missouri, and as a "member of the
senior class at the State Normal School, in
Cape Girardeau, continued his studies. He
afterwards taught school eight 3'ears in Mis-
1212
HISTORY OF SOUTHEAST MISSOURI
souri, teaching in Stoddard county all the
time, with the exception of one term. Very
suecessful as a teacher, Mr. Johnson was
called to higher positions in the profession,
and for one year served as superintendent
of the schools at Morley, Soott county. Re-
turning to Essex, where he had previously
taught, in 1910, Mr. Johnson has been em-
inently successful in his efforts to raise the
standard of the schools of which he has
charge. When he began teaching in Essex
there were but two schools in the village, and
no high school. In 1906 the present brick
high school building was erected at a cost
of $5,000, and it has now two hundred and
fifty pupils, being filled to its highest ca-
pacity, and four teachers are employed. Mr.
Johnson is a constant student, a member of
the Institute, and is doing special work in
History and English, and taking a four years'
course in pedagogy. He is a strong advocate
of school athletics, and endeavors to inspire
his pupils with a love for clean and health-
ful sports.
On May 6, 1909, Mr. Johnson was united
in marriage with Zelzie Dowdy, a daughter of
Joel W. and Cora Dowdy, and they have
one child, Juanita. Fraternally Mr. John-
son is a member of the Ancient Free and
Accepted Order of Masons and of the Inde-
pendent Order of Odd Fellows. He is one
of the leading members of the Methodist Epis-
copal church, and is superintendent of its
Siinday-school.
Col. Cornelius Larkin Keaton. Among
the men who have conferred honor upon the
Missouri bar especial mention should be made
of Cornelius Larkin Keaton, of Dexter, who
has successfull.y practiced his profession for
many years, and has also been prominent in
public affairs. A son of Cornelius W. Keaton,
he was born Jiily 12. 1833, in Carroll county,
Tennessee, of old Virginia stock.
His father, Cornelius W. Keaton, was born
in Virginia, in 1796, and migrated to middle
Tennessee in 1818, but five years later, in
1823, he moved to west Tennessee and pur-
chased a home in Carroll county. And, on
the farm which he wrested from its primeval
wilderness, he spent the remainder of his
life, passing away in March, 1890. His wife,
a life-long resident of Tennessee, survived
him about two years, passing away in her
seventy-fifth year. She was born in middle
Tennessee, a distant relative of President
Haves.
Cornelius L. Keaton grew to manhood on
the parental farm, and was educated at
Bethel College, a nearbj' educational institu-
tion controlled bj' the Presbyterians, being
there gi-aduated in the class of 1858, with the
degree of A. B., which he took in preference
to that of M. A., which might have been his.
He subsecjuently taught school and read law
until the breaking out of the Civil war, when
he offered his services to the South, enlisting
in Company H, Ninth Tennessee Confederate
Regiment, afterward consolidated with the
Sixth Tennessee Regiment, each regiment be-
ing reduced about one-half by the vicissitudes
of war.
On October 8, 1862, the Colonel was
wounded in the righ thigh, and as he turned
to tell the captain of the wound his right
hand was shattered by another minie baU.
This occurred at Perryville, Kentucky. He
was taken to the hospital at Harrodsburg.
He was there captured and, afterward, was
taken by the Federal soldiers to Camp Doug-
las, Chicago, Illinois, in February, 1863. He
was exchanged at Fortress Monroe, April 7,
1863. After an absence of six months he
rejoined his command at Bellbuckle, Ten-
nessee, and with his regiment marched to
Atlanta, Georgia, where, on August 24, 1864,
he was again wounded by a stone driven by
a two hundred pound solid shot, the stone
taking away part of his left foot.
While still in direct line with these deadly
shots, small stones and gravel were thrown
against his bodj' with such force that he was
seriously bruised. These wounds necessi-
tated his removal to the hospital at Columbus,
Georgia.
He had several other narrow escapes from
death while in the army. At one time, while
marching beside a fellow soldier, a shot
passed directly toward his body — just one
step carried him out of its line — that one
step saved his life. The same ball took off
his comrade's right arm. He was furloughed
from the hospital and spent his furlough at
the home of a Mr. Harris, who after the war
became his father-in-law. He was afterward
furloughed and visited his home in West
Tennessee, returning to his duties in the
army in February, 1865. He was stopped
at Macon, Georgia, and while there the war
ended. Wliile at Macon, Georgia, a Federal
command approached and he was ordered
with others into the redoubts to defend the
city. But soon the commanding officers di-
rected the soldiers to surrender, as they de-
HISTORY OF SOUTHEAST MISSOURI
1213
elared the war was over. But he aud a few
of his comrades refusing to believe the report,
left their guns in the redoubt, went to the
rear, swam Ocmulgee river, and escaped and
did not surrender. Afterward, however, he
took the oath of allegiance at Columbus,
Georgia.
Locating in Stewart county, Georgia, he
resumed teaching and for two years he was
president of the Lumpkin Masonic Female
College, an educational institution under the
control of the Masonic order. Returning to
Tennessee in 1867, he was elected president
of the Masonic Co-educational Institute at
Trezevant, Carroll county, Tennessee, but
four miles from his parental homestead. He
had charge of that Institute for three years.
Continuing his law studies in the meantime,
he was admitted to the bar in 1869. In 1871
he began the practice of his profession at
Humboldt, Tennessee. On September 22.
1872, he located at Bloomfield, ilissouri. form-
ing a law partnership with H. H. Bedford,
with whom he was associated for two years.
Afterward he became probate clerk of the
county under judges Henson and P. G. AVil-
son. On January 22, 1888, he came to Dexter,
having previously formed a partnership with
Mr. George Houck. They opened a law office
in Dexter, where the Colonel has practiced
law, principally real estate, ever since. In
1894 Judge J. L. Fort entered the partner-
ship. For the past twelve years, however,
he has not been in partnership with any one.
He was prosecuting attorney for the county
one term, and made a lasting reputation. He
has served as special judge many times.
* As a leading expansion Democrat he be-
came active in politics. He attended several
state conventions, and was a member of the
convention that nominated Judge Bond when
he was elected to the St. Louis court of
appeals, who in 1911 was appointed commis-
sioner of the supreme court of Missouri. He
has dealt considerably in real estate and has
been active in securing drainage for the low-
lands of Southeast Missouri.
Since 1853 the Colonel has been an active
member of the Cumberland Presbyterian
church. When he went to Bloomfield in 1872
he was instrumental in organizing a church
of that denomination there. When he moved
to Dexter he became and still is a faithful
member of said church, which is now reunited
with the Presbyterian church U. S. A. He
is a strong supporter of said reunion. He
has served as a commissioner to the General
Assembly of the church twelve times. He
was commissioner to the General Assembly
on the part of the eldership of the reunited
Presbyterian church, U. S. A., at its first
General Assembly at Columbus, Ohio, in May,
1907. He has been president of the corpor-
ation of the Presbytery since 1894, aud has
been at all times efficient as such officer. He
has been a contributor to the church journals
for many years, and insists that the union be-
tween the churches is Constitutional and has
a sublime future. He is a strong believer in
tithing, and for years he has strictly given
one-tenth of his gross income to the services
of the true and living God.
In 1854 he became a Mason and arose to
the eleventh degree in the order. He was
thrice illustrious grand master of the Council
at Trezevant. Tennessee, when he left there.
He has served in the Grand Lodge Chapter
and Council a number of times.
On May 3, 1866, he married Miss Sallie J.
Harris, who died near Lumpkin, Georgia.
November 25, 1866. On August 6. 1868, he
married Miss Sallie E. Fuqua, of Trezevant,
Tennessee. Both these ladies were college
graduates of culture and refinement. Miss
Fuqua was of old Virginia parentage and
became the mother of his six children, three
of whom died in childhood. He has three
sons, William C. Keaton, a lawyer and real
estate dealer of Bloomfield, Missouri ; Clar-
ence L. Keaton for the past ten years has
been president of the McKnight-Eeaton
Grocery Company, of Cairo, Illinois ; Charles
L. Keaton is a member of the Blakemore Mer-
cantile Company, of Kennett. Missoiiri, and a
traveling salesman for the McKnight-Keaton
Grocery Company of Cairo, Illinois.
Their mother died at Bloomfield, Missouri,
February 28, 1887, aged forty-three years.
On October 10, 1888, he married Mrs. Frances
E. Shannon, nee McFarland, who was a niece
of the late Judge McFarland, of the supreme
court of Missouri. On January 30, 1901, he
married his present wife, who was Mrs. J.
E. Dudley, of Princeton, Kentucky, who at
the time of her marriage with Colonel Keaton
and for several years prior thereto was a resi-
dent of St. Louis, Missouri.
Joseph H.uivey Moore is the grand old
man of Commerce, and a very young old man
he is. Both his ancestors and his descendants,
not to mention his brothers and sisters, are
the sort of folks who make the sinews of a
republic; good fighters for their convictions.
1214
HISTORY OF SOUTHEAST MISSOURI
public-spirited and progressive, successful in
business, the friends of education and good
home-makers.
J. H. Moore's father was Charles iloore,
born in Somerset county, Maryland, in 1788 ;
his mother was Elizabeth Chalfant, born in
1797, and a native of Indiana. She was mar-
ried to Charles jMoore in Nelson county, Ken-
tuckj', in 1821. They had seven children,
most of whom lived to a ripe old age. Their
eldest, Eliza, who married Alexander God-
dard, resided in Scott county, where she died
in 1903, at the age of eighty-two years. Ben-
jamin J. was a physicain in IMississippi
county, which he represented several terms in
the state legislature. He died in 1864. Eliza-
beth A. is now eighty-six years old, and is liv-
ing at Charleston, the widow of James Smith.
In the same town lived Nancy, who married
aiilton Newman, of that city, and later was
united in marriage with Beverly Parrott.
Charles C. married Josephine Bridewell. She
lives in Bullitt county, Kentuclry\ Susan A.
became the wife of Abraham Swank, also of
Charleston, and is now living.
Charles Moore was a man of learning in
his time and was much respected by all his
neighbors. He was a veteran of the War of
1812, serving throughout with the rank of
captain. After coming to Missouri he de-
voted the remainder of his life to farming
interests, and became the owner of a fine
estate of about eight hundred acres, of which
a large part was under cultivation, and the
remainder heavily timbered with valuable
forests. Previous to the war Mr. Moore was
a large slave holder, and was at the time of
his demise, as he did not live to witness the
fall of the family fortunes, his death occur-
ring in August, 1857, in Scott county, near
Commerce. His wife, Elizabeth, had passed
to her reward twenty years before, in Bullitt
county, Kentucky.
Joseph H. ]\Ioore was born in 1836, in. Bul-
litt eount.v, and was the youngest child of the
family. At the age of fourteen he was sent
to the Arcadia high school in Arcadia, Mis-
souri. This high school, as it was called, was
in reality a I\Iethodist academy, ofifering an
excellent course of instruction, and here Jo-
seph pursued a literary course of study. At
the age of nineteen he entered the Cumber-
land I^niversity and .studied law. He was
graduated after one year of work there and
was admitted to the ^Missouri bar before he
was twenty-one years old. He received his li-
cense in 1857 and is still engaged in the prac-
tice of his profession. He is now in business
with his son and V. L. Harris. Mr. Aloore
began the abstract work, which gives the name
to the business of the firm, kno\^Ti as the
^loore-Harris Abstract Company, in 1865, and
he has continued it since that early date.
ilr. Moore's business career has not all
been plain sailing. He lost everything at the
close of the war and had to start over again.
During the conflict he held, a commission as
lieutenant, but was never called into active
service. Since that period he has been emi-
nently successful ; his law practice has proved
lucrative and he has branched out into other
lines of business, and among other things is
connected with the tiling factory at Com-
merce, which has produced immense quanti-
ties of tile. Mr. Moore is the owner of sev-
eral thousand acres of valuable land, and is
especially active in matters pertaining to the
reclamation of the swamp districts of this
section of the country.
Business, however, has not absorbed all of
Mr. ]\Ioore's attention. He is an influential
member of the Methodist church and also has
been superintendent of schools for the eountj^
a work for which his educational training
especially fitted him, and he has been prose-
cuting attorney of the county, and is one of
the very few men so qualified that on a day's
notice he might step in and successfully fill
any office in the county.
Mr. Moore's first marriage took place on
December 8, 1857, when he was united to ]Miss
Annie E. Hunter, bom April 21, 1839. Eight
children were born to Joseph H. and Annie
Moore. These included Lizzie Hunter, wh(j
is Mrs. Charles I. Anderson, of Commerce;
Charles A., who died in 1884, at the age of
twenty-three; Susan, who married Colan
Threadgill, a minister, and who later became
a lawj-er of St. Louis, and she died in 1892;
Anna E., born in 1871, died while at college
in Nashville, Tennessee; Bertie N., born Feb-
ruary, 1874, married Dr. H. A. Davis, of
Cairo, Illinois; one son died in infancy, and
the other child, Joseph Lee, is in partnership
with his father.
The younger Joseph Moore was born July
19, 1867. After attending school in Bellevue,
Institute at Caledonia he took a collegiate and
a law course. He was admitted to the bar in
August, 1900. The following year he was
elected prosecuting attorney of Scott county
and held the office for eight years. During
that time he sent fifty-seven men to the peni-
tentiarv and handed one. His wife was for-
HISTORY OF SOUTHEAST MISSOURI
1215
merly Miss Julia Haw, daughter of ilollie
Vernon and Dr. Joseph Haw, of Kentuckj-.
The marriage of iliss Haw and Mr. Moore
took place at Farmington, November 14, 1894.
Thev have four children: Ella R., born Sep-
tember 10, 1896; Martha E., born May 1,
1900; Joe Haw, born August 28, 1904; and
Anna Lee, born November 14, 1908. The
younger generation of the house of Moore is
also Methodist in religion and Democratic in
politics.
Annie Hunter Moore died in June, 1874, at
Commerce, and is there buried. Two j-ears
later Mr. Moore was united with ilrs. Emma
Prince Ross, a daughter of William and Eliza
Prince, and wife of a former merchant of
Commerce, William Ross. She had one child
by her first marriage, who died very young.
One son was born of the latter union, —
Brumfield C. Moore. His birth took place on
January 10, 1879, and his mother died in the
same month. In 1899 Brumfield IMoore mar-
ried Susie Marshall, and they have three chil-
dren.
Mr. Moore, despite his years, is active and
interested in all mattei-s pertaining to the
growth and advancement of Commerce. He
has ever been a citizen of the most admirable
tj'pe, and advancing years have not dimin-
ished his zeal for the civic welfare. One pro-
ject which has always claimed a generous
share of his attention is the drainage problem,
and he and his son are both leaders in drain-
age acti\'ities. Mr. Moore and one of his
neighbors at one time dredged a ditch three
and a half miles long at their own expense,
building what is known as the Moore Levee,
across a hitherto impassable
James T. Camren. During the greater
portion of his active career thus far James
T. Camren has been identified with the great
basic industry of agriculture and with the
general merchandise business, his present
fine store at Greenbrier, Missouri, being one
of the finest concerns of its kind in Bollinger
county. At different times Mr. Camren has
served as postmaster of Greenbrier and he
is the efficient incumbent of that position in
1912. He is a man of remarkable executive
ability and all his dealings have been char-
acterized by fair and honorable methods.
A native of Barry county, Missouri, Mr.
Camren was born on the 1st of January, 1856,
and he is a son of Alexander and Katherine
(Kelley) Camren, both of whom were born
and reared in the state of Tennessee, whence
the}- removed to ilissouri in the year 1854.
The father was identified with farming ope-
rations during the greater portion of his ac-
tive career and he and his wife became the
parents of thirteen children, of whom James
T. was the third in order of birth and of
whom eight are living, in 1912. Mr. Camren,
of this notice, accompanied the family to
Texas county, Missouri, in 1858 and in 1860
to BoUiuger county, Missouri. In 1884 he
initiated his independent career as a farmer,
the scene of his operations being on a rented
estate in Cape Girardeau county. In 1887
he came to Bollinger county, locating at
Greenbrier, and some months later he en-
gaged in the sawmill business in Wayne
county, Missouri, for two years. In 1889 he
again became interested in agricultural pur-
suits and in that year he also purchased a
general store at Greenbrier, continuing to
operate the same during the long interven-
ing years to the present time. In 1909 Mr.
Camren purchased a farm of seventy acres
in the close vicinity of Greenbrier and on
that estate he is engaged in diversified agri-
culture and the raising of high-grade stock.
In 1890 he was appointed postmaster of
Greenbrier and he continued to serve as such
until 1896. In 1897 he was again given
charge of the local postoffice and he con-
ducted the same with the utmost efficiency
until 1903, when he resigned. In 1910, how-
ever, he was again urged to become post-
master and he is the popular and able in-
cumbent of that office at the present time,
in 1912.
Mr. Camren has been twice married. In
1884 he wedded Miss Dora Miinch, who was
born and reared in Bollinger county and who
was a daughter of John Miinch, long a repre-
sentative citizen of Bollinger county, Mis-
souri. Mrs. Camren was summoned to the
life eternal, and she is survived by four chil-
dren, concerning whom the following brief
record is here inserted — Orpah, born in 1887,
is the wife of Ed. Waits, now of Deadwood,
South Dakota ; Audie, born in 1893, remains
at the paternal home; and Opal and Odel,
twins, were born in 1899. In 1908 ilr. Cam-
ren was united in marriage to Miss Ada B.
Null, a daughter of John Null, of Bollinger
county. There have been no children born
to this union.
In religious matters the Camren family at-
tend the ^lethodist Episcopal church and in
a fraternal way Mr. Camren is affiliated with
a number of local organizations of representa-
HISTORY OF SOUTHEAST MISSOURI
tive character. His interest in political ques-
tions is deep and sincere and he gives an
earnest support to Republican principles, be-
lieving that the platform of that party con-
tains tlie best elements of good government.
He is decidedly loyal and public spirited in
his civic attitude and in the various avenues
of usefulness has so conducted himself as to
command the unqualified confidence and es-
teem of his fellow men.
Louis McCutchen is too well known to the
residents of Campbell, Dunklin county, Mis-
souri, to require many words of introduc-
tion. Beginning life on his own responsi-
bility in a very humble way, he has advanced
step by step until he attained the prominent
position which he today enjoys in the com-
munity. In considering the sources of his
efficiency it is evident that Mr. McCutchen
has not regarded trade as a privileged pro-
fession in which the buyers and sellers are
entitled to moral latitude. With Mr. jNIc-
Cutchen there is no such thing as approx-
imate reliability — a man either delivers the
goods according to his specifications or falls
short; he has alwaj's "delivered the goods."
Born in Jackson county, Alabama, Louis
McCutchen began life on the 27th of June,
1848. He is a son of William W. McCutchen,
also born in Alabama, and of Margaret (Har-
rison) McCutchen, whose nativity occurred
in Tennessee. The father spent practically
his entire life in the commonwealth to which
he owed his birth, was there given the ad-
vantages of a fair education, there followed
the calling of a surveyor and occupied the
position of justice of the peace; and there
his life ended, as he was drowned in the
Tennessee river, Marshall county, Alabama,
in 1878.
The first twenty-one years of Louis Mc-
Cutchen's existence were spent under the
parental roof in Jackson county, Alabama,
and during those years he received the ad-
vantages of a common school education. On
attaining his majority he left home to make
a visit to Dunklin county, Missouri, with his
brother Charles, who was back home on a
visit and loaned him the money to pay his
expenses to Dunklin county, where the elder
McCutchen brother had settled three years
earlier. In 1870 Louis McCutchen took up
his residence at what was then known as
Four Mile, because of its being situated at
a distance of four miles from three villages.
He worked for two years for his brother, and
the following four years for Messrs. A. D.
Bridges and Son, at a salary of $25 a month
and board. To Messrs. Bridges and Son, as
well as to his brother, Mr. McCutchen owes
much of his success. During these years he
laid the foundations of his later commercial
prosperity and in 1876 he engaged in the
drug and grocery business, in partnership
with Dr. Given Owen, his store being located
at Four Mile until the fall of 1882. At that
nine Campbell was beginning to be built up
and Mr. McCutchen, foreseeing the oppor-
tunities which the town promised in the fu-
ture, built a store at Campbell, and thither
moved his stock of goods. He became a reg-
istered pharmacist and continued to operate
his drug store until 1897, when he sold out
to Cyrus Bray. From the lith of July, 1875,
until November 20, 1889, Mr. McCutchen held
the office of postmaster, his first appointment
having been received under Grant's adminis-
tration. In 1883 the postoffice at Four Mile
was discontinued and on the 6th day of De-
cember of that same year he received the ap-
pointment to the Campbell postoffice, serv-
ing under Harrison until November 20, 1889.
On the 31st of March, 1892, he was re-
appointed and served under Cleveland and
under McKinley until 1897, having served
under all presidents between Johnston and
Roosevelt.
In 1900 Mr. McCutchen organized the Mc-
Cutchen Mercantile Company, of which con-
cern his brother George was the general man-
ager until 1909. At the present time Louis
McCutchen is the president, Robert Whit-
taker, who gained his business experience in
the store of Mr. William Bridges, is the gen-
eral manager and C. H. McCutchen is the
secretary and treasurer. When the company
was incorporated it had a capital stock of ten
thousand dollars; later its capital was fifteen
thousand dollars and now it is capitalized
at twenty-one thousand dollars. It handles
groceries, dry goods, hardware and farm im-
plements and its annual business amounts to
over one hundred thousand dollars. While
occupying three rooms, two of which belong
to Louis McCutchen and the other to his
brother, the company owns the whole of the
building in which the store is situated, erected
on a lot one hundred and four by one hun-
dred and four feet, right in town. It also
owns a half interest in the McCutchen Gin
of Campbell.
In 1897 Mr. McCutchen helped to organize
the Bank of Campbell, was its first president
HISTORY OF SOUTHEAST MISSOURI
1217
and has held that position ever since its in-
ception. He is vice-president of the Mill
and Light Company of Campbell, a corpora-
tion which furnishes light and mill power to
its members. He was one of the organizers
of the Bank of Kennett and was a director
of that bank until he assumed the responsi-
ble position above mentioned in connection
with the Campbell bank. He served as agent
for the Cotton Belt Railroad at Campbell sev-
eral years, until the office was made into a
telegraph station. He received the first con-
signment that was ever shipped to the place —
a car of corn which came from St. Louis via
Cairo. He was one of the organizers and
original stockholders of the Campbell Lum-
ber Company which operated here for sev-
eral years, then moved to Kennett, Missouri.
In the year 1877, while Mr. MeCutchen was
living at Four Mile, he was united in mar-
riage to Miss ^lartha E. Owen, daughter of
Judge Given Owen. She has passed her whole
life in Dunklin county, was there born, edu-
cated and married, being known as an ex-
cellent housekeeper. She bore seven children,
whose names are as follows, Fannie, who mar-
ried H. V. Merritt, a bookkeeper in Camp-
bell; William W., manager of the hardwai-e
department of his father's business, married
to Lannie Overall, of Campbell; Beulah, wife
of C. L. Overall, whose father had the sale
of the Campbell paper; Owen and Louis,
who live at home ; and Claudie and Ella, who
are deceased.
Mr. MeCutchen lives a quarter of a mile
west of the Bank of Campbell, in a beautiful
frame building, containing thirteen large
rooms. He owns sixty acres of ground in
the neighborhood of his own lot, four hun-
dred by four hundred and eighty feet. He
has given to each of his sons-in-law a lot two
hundred by four hundred and eighty feet,
located one on each side of his own place.
The three lots comprise a whole block and are
called the Plain View Place. He has two
sections of land near town, both farm land,
and one, containing one hundred and twenty
acres, adjoins the town. In all Mr. Me-
Cutchen owns about eighteen hundred acres
of land, of which about six hundred acres are
cleared, and he has erected several houses for
his tenants.
Politically Mr. MeCutchen is a Democrat,
has been central committeeman of the town-
ship for several years and when he was
younger he served as delegate to the state
convention several times. For two terms he
served as coal oil inspector of Campbell under
Governor Folk, from 1905 to 1909. He
served on the board of education for about
thirty years and was secretary during most
of this time. He has seen the educational
facilities of Campbell grow from a little box
of a house, sixteen by twenty-five feet, to a
fine building, with equipment worth $25,000.
In 1906 the county coiirt of Dunklin county
appointed a levee board for Levee District
No. 2 and Mr. MeCutchen was named as presi-
dent of the board. The district was bonded
at sixty thousand dollars and the levee was
planned to be fifteen miles long, commenc-
ing a quarter of a mile south of the St.
Francois village in Missouri, then continued
south. At present about eight miles is com-
pleted ; the levee is ten feet high at the head
end and twelve feet at the lower end. The
other members of this levee board, which still
exists, are S. E. Bage, of Holcomb, and James
McHaney, of White Oak, who was elected
president of the board in 1911. Mr. Me-
Cutchen's latest interprise is a $25,000 hotel
at Campbell, Missouri, erected by himself
and a business associate, which is a valuable
institution for the city and a monument to
his name.
The MeCutchen family is connected with
the Baptist church and in fraternal affiliations
Mr. MeCutchen is a member of the blue lodge
of Campbell, Ancient, Free and Accepted
Masons, and of the Independent Order of
Odd Fellows. Forty-two years have elapsed
since Louis MeCutchen first came to Dunklin
county, penniless. He, in his modest way,
attributes his first start in life to his brother's
help when he first came to Missouri, but the
brother and numerous friends know that Mr.
MeCutchen is a man who is bound to rise to
the top, partly because of his good judgment
and executive abilities, but mainly on account
of his stability of character. There are a few
men of remarkable attainments who have
dragged themselves to the top despite the
handicap of instability, but without the hin-
drance of their record in every instance they
could and would have fared farther and
fairer. In the case of Mr. MeCutchen. his
gradual, steady progress has been based on
staunch foundation, and the highest prin-
ciples hav'e characterized his every act.
William T. Fonville, an honored veteran
of the Civil war and one of the most promi-
nent farmers and land owners in the vicinity
of Bernie, in Stoddard county, Missouri, has
1218
HISTORY OF SOUTHEAST illSSOURI
attained to the venerable age of sixty-nine
years. He has long been engaged in agri-
cultural pursuits in this section of the state
and is now residing at Bernie, his fine home-
stead of two hundred and forty acres being
eligibly located some two and one-half or
three miles northwest from Bernie.
A native of the old Blue Grass state, Wil-
liam T. Fouville was born in McCracken
county, Kentucky, the date of his nativity
being the ISth of August, 1842. He is a son
of Thomas J. and Fannie (Murphy) Fonville,
both of whom were born in North Carolina,
whence they accompanied their respective
parents to Kentucky in an early day. The
father was of French descent. Mr. and Mrs.
Thomas J. Fonville became the parents of
eight children, of whom William T. of this
review was the seventh in order of birth.
Both parents died when William T. was a
young boy and after completing his educa-
tional training in Kentucky he decided to
make an investigation of conditions in Mis-
souri. He came to this state in February,
1861, and in the following May enlisted as a
soldier in the Missouri State Guards, becom-
ing a member of Colonel Brown's battalion.
Six months later he received his honorable
discharge from the state guards and he then
enlisted in Kentucky as a member of Colonel
Faulkner's Regiment. He was present at the
battle of Fredericksburg and after the close
of that sanguinary conflict returned to Ken-
tucky, where he served in General Buford's
command, under General Forrest, becoming a
soldier in the First Kentucky Cavalry of the
Confederate army. In 1864 his regiment
made a raid to Paducah and Columbus, Ken-
tucky, and, being near his old home, Mr.
Fonville applied for and was granted a fur-
lough. While he was visiting his old home
friends his regiment was commanded to re-
turn to Tennessee and Mr.. Fonville, not be-
ing able to rejoin his command, crossed the
state line and under a Federal transfer was
enabled to join Price's army in Missouri. On
the ensuing raid into Missouri he was
wounded at Glasgow, was taken prisoner on
the field and was sent to Alton (111.) prison,
where he was held in duress until the close
of the war. Then he was sent with others
to Paducah, Kentucky, and was then paroled.
He is still carrying the musket-ball received
at Glasgow, the same having shot through
his clothing and entered his right leg.
With the exception of a period of two months
Mr. Fonville served with all of honor and
distinction throughout the Civil war. In the
summer of 1866 he was again in his native
place in Kentuckj% but finding that his friends
and relatives had scattered he returned to
Missouri, where he met an old friend George
Priddy, then living in Stoddard county.
Mr. Priddy and Mr. Fonville had been old
friends during the war times in Arkansas
and on this occasion the friendship was re-
newed. Priddy then resided on a farm two
miles northwest of Bernie; he was formerly
from Illinois and had come thence to Mis-
souri in time to pre-empt his land ; later he
went to Arkansas, where he passed the clos-
ing years of his life. During his visit in
the home of George Priddy Mr. Fonville met
and became very much interested in Mary
Priddy, a daughter of his host, and in the
fall of 1866 they were married. Immediately
after that even they squatted on a tract of
railroad land, which Mr. Fonville afterward
purchased, paying for the same thi-ee and a
half dollars per acre. He continued to add
to his original tract until he was finally the
owTier of a farm of four hundred acres of
some of the best land in the county. In con-
nection with other tracts he became the owner
of half of the old Priddy homestead, and
at one time he had as much as three hun-
dred and twenty-five acres under cultivation.
He has recently given a great deal of his land
to his children, so that he is now farming on
a tract of two hundred and forty acres.
In his political proclivities Mr. Fonville is
a stanch supporter of the principles and pol-
icies for which the Democratic party stands
sponsor. For a period of six j^ears he was
deputy sherifi' and constable in Stoddard
county and during that time he was in the
saddle almost day and night. He was suc-
cessful in running down a large number of
criminals and he won the reputation for be-
ing one of the most energetic constables the
county has ever had. As a young man he
was decidedly a sportsman and for years kept
hunting horses and a pack of dogs, he and
his friends killing many deer, turkey and
foxes. At times so interested would he be-
come in the chase that he would spend the
entire night in the saddle on a fox-hunt. He
. recalls the days in which bears would wander
\vp close to the house and when it was a
common thing for wolves to kill pigs. He
has killed as many as four deer in one day
and on one occasion killed three deer with a
single shot, all being in range and the buck-
shot having scattered enough to kill three out
HISTORY OP SOUTHEAST .^HSSOURI
1219
of seven which were together. On many oc-
casions he has kill two deer at a time. Mr.
Fonville has been a valued and appreciative
member of the Independent Order of Odd
Fellows since 1872. In this connection he
was formerly a member of Cotton Hill Lodge,
No. 306, but later he was demitted to Bernie
Lodge, No. 682. While he is not an office
seeker he is very active in local politics and
is a strong worker for his friends. In his
religious faith he is a consistent member of
the Church of Christ and he is a liberal con-
tributor to all philanthropical movements.
Mr. Fonville has been twice married. As
previously noted, he was united in wedlock
to i\Iiss Mary Priddy in the fall of 1866. She
was summoned to the life eternal in the
spring of 1871, at which time she was sur-
vived by two children, Alonzo, who is now
farming on a portion of the old Fonville
homestead ; and Mary Arabell, who died at
the age of nine years. In the fall of 1871
was solemnized the marriage of Mr. Fonville
to Miss Lucy Smith, a daughter of John H.
Smith and Mary Elizabeth (Osborn) Smith.
Mr. and Mrs. John H. Smith were born in
Humphrey county, Tennessee, whence they
migrated to Missouri in an early day, locat-
ing on land near Bernie. Mrs. Fonville was
likewise born in Tennessee and she was a
mere child at the time of her arrival in this
state. Mr. and Mrs. Fonville became the
parents of the following children: Fannie,
who is the wife of Alfred Morgan, of Dexter,
Missouri ; Willie is engaged in farming near
Bernie ; Cornelia is the widow of Mack Ram-
sey and she resides at Bernie; Dora married
William Piatt, of Bernie ; Laura is the wife
of Monroe Hopkins, of Bernie ; Ella is the
wife of Dr. John Riddle, of Bernie ; Minnie
married George Jones, of Bernie ; and Myrtle
remains at the Fonville home in Bernie.
Mr. Fonville is a man of broad human sym-
pathy and great benevolence. Charity in its
widest and best sense is practiced by him,
and his goodness has made smooth the rough
way of many a weary traveler on life's jour-
ney. In his private life he is distinguished
by all that marks the true gentleman and
in every sphere he is honored and esteemed
by his fellow men.
Christopher C. Fly. Although not at
present in business, Mr. Fly has been one of
the well known merchants of this region for
over a quarter of a century and several of
the enterprises which he inaugurated are still
in operation. He was boi'n in Gibson county,
Tennessee, in 1851 and lived there until he
was twenty-four. He had no more educa-
tional advantages than the poor schools of
the region afforded at that time. AVhen he
came to Missouri he settled in Dunklin
county, near what is now ]\Ialden, but was
then only a corn field without even a rail-
road through it. The trading point for the
farmers was Dexter, seventeen miles awaj'.
After a year at Maiden Mr. Fly went back
to Tennessee and stayed two years. By that
time Maiden had begun to build up and he
came to the new town and started a saloon.
For some reason — perhaps because there were
too many very ambitious people intent on
making good in the new place — the venture
was not a success, so he went into the restau-
rant business and in the seven years he
worked at that, made enough to go into the
grocery business.
Mr. Fly conducted his grocery alone for
some time and then combined with Mr. ^^. L.
Craig, of Maiden, who is now in the lumber
and undertaking business there. After five
years of partnership Mr. Fly bought out Mr.
Craig's interest and went into general mer-
chandise business with his brother-in-law, the
firm name being Fly & Company. For a
time the concern made money, as they carried
a good stock of wares, but later the busi-
ness was discontinued, Mr. Fly selling his
interest, and he then moved to Lotta, near
Parma, in 1902, having some six hundred dol-
lars, which amount he had borrowed to go
into business again.
At Lotta Mr. Fly spent a year and three
months in the grocery trade and he was very
successful. In 1904 he moved to Parma, where
he has since resided. Here he built another
store and went into the handling of general
merchandise alone. This venture was un-
usually profitable and in 1905 he sold it out
to F. P. Wrather, who is no longer in business.
Another successful enterprise of Mr. Fly's
was a furniture and hardware establishment,
which is now operated by Leigh Brothers.
They bought out the business in February,
1911.
Mr. Fly now owns a hotel, a half-interest
in a two-story brick building, two desirable
residences and several other houses. He has
also a number of vacant lots and a half-in-
terest in the only gin in town, a three thou-
sand dollar plant. He was one of the pro-
moters of the Parma Bank and is now the
president of it, being the second to occupy
1220
HISTORY OF SOUTHEAST MISSOURI
that position, succeeding Dr. J. T. Blaekman,
resigned.
In the lodges of Parma ^Ir. Fly is a promi-
nent member. He is affiliated with the In-
dependent Order of Odd Fellows, the Knights
of Pythias, the "Woodmen of the World and
with the Ben Hur. His church membership
is at Maiden in the Missionary Baptist de-
nomination. At Maiden in 1883 occurred
the marriage of Christopher C. Fry and Mary
Etta Davis. She was born in Tennessee but
grew up in Dexter, where her ialher, R. W.
Davis, was the first marshal of the town.
They have one child, Beatrice, born in 1897,
at home. Mr. Fly is not in any sense a
politician, but he is an adherent of the pol-
icies of the Democratic party, and served two
terms as mayor of Parma, being the first in-
cumbent of that honorable position.
H. A. Bollinger. Among the pioneer fam-
ilies of the vicinity of Bell City, Stoddard
county, Missouri, was the Bollinger family, a
worthy representative of which is the sub-
ject of this sketch, H. A. Bollinger, who was
born and reared and has since maintained
his home four miles west of Bell City. It
was on his father's farm, about a quarter of
a mile west of his present home, November
20, 1879, that he was born, son of William
Bollinger. He attended the local schools, and
until he was twenty years of age he worked
on the farm for his father. Then he took
to himself a wife, and engaged in farming
on one hundred and twenty acres of the home
farm, which his father deeded to him. To this
he subsequently added by purchase forty
acres of adjoining land, making one hundred
and sixty acres, and still later, in 1904, two
hundred and six acres of land three-quarters
of a mile east of Bell City, all of which he
now owns and nearly all of which is cleared
and under cultivation, corn and wheat be-
ing his chief crops. Also he is interested in
the stock business, specializing somewhat in
stock. He keeps on an average of ten to fif-
teen horses, seventy-five to one hundred hogs,
and about a hundred head of cattle. On his
home farm he built at the time of his mar-
riage a seven-room house, in which he and
his family still live. Here he has two barns,
one forty by sixty feet in dimensions and the
other forty-five by seventy feet. His other
farm also has good buildings, including a five-
room house, three small tenant houses and one
barn.
On January 2, 1900, at the Bollinger home-
stead, H. A. Bollinger and Miss Mary Barks
were married, and their union has been
blessed in the birth of six sons, namely : Wil-
liam Linnie, born September 10, 1900 ; Charles
Glen, October 25, 1902; Phillip H., July 23,
1904; Alvin H., April 12, 1906; Wilson E.,
January 25, 1908; Noble Paul, October 30,
1909. Mrs. Bollinger was born in Bollinger
county, Missouri, October 17, 1883, daughter
of Philip and Katharine Barks, who had
moved from Bollinger countj' to Stoddard
county about 1896.
Mr. Bollinger maintains membership in the
F. L. T. lodge at Bell City, and politically
he affiliates with the Democratic party.
Charles L. Sigler came to Parma in 1904
and went into the sawmill and veneer busi-
ness. In 1910 this mill burned down and
since that time he has been engaged only in
the veneer business. His mill has a capacity
of 6,000 feet of logs a day and makes from
40,000 to 50,000 feet of veneer in that pe-
riod of time. The plant is situated in the
town on a tract of seven and a half acres;
thirty men are employed in the mill and its
products are shipped to all parts of the coun-
try.
Mr. Sigler has large realty interests in the
county aside from his mill. He owns 1060
acres of land north of Parma, which he is
having cleared and put under cultivation as
fast as possible. Two hundred acres are now
being farmed, seven different families renting
parts of the tract.
Before coming to Parma Mr. Sigler 's home
was in Ohio. He was born in Springfield,
January 19, 1863. His parents had come to
Ohio from Maryland and settled in that town.
Here Mr. Sigler lived until he was thirty-five,
farming and buying and selling cattle. In
1898 he was married to Minnie Swartzbaugh,
a young lady of German descent who grew up
near Springfield, and almost immediately af-
ter his marriage moved to a farm near Lima,
Ohio, where he bought one hundred acres.
Six years later he came to Parma.
Mr. Sigler is a Democrat in political pref-
erence. He belongs to the Methodist church
and is connected with two lodges in Parma;
that of the Knights of Pythias and of the
Odd Fellows. Although he and his wife have
no children, their marriage is a singularly
happy one.
Emil M. Weber was born at Kamen. Ger-
many, February 14. 1831. After completing
^-,
•77^'^^^
HISTORY OF SOUTHEAST MISSOURI
1221
hfi education in Germam-, about the year
1853, he and his brother Rudolph moved to
America, and after making a short stay in
New York and New Orleans, he went to the
city of St. Louis, which place he decided to
make his home. "V^Hien the Civil war broke
out he at once adopted the cause of the Fed-
erals and joined Buell's battery, and was soon
elevated to a lieutenant. He stayed in the
service to the end of the war, making an hon-
orable record. He was at the battle of Shiloh
(Pittsburgh Landing), Corinth and others,
and received honorable mention by General
Sherman in hi.s memoirs for his good work.
He assisted in the organization of the
Fourth National Bank of St. Louis, Missouri,
which for years was one of the strongest and
most conservative of the city. In the year
1865 he and his brother Rudolph organ-
ized a mercantile business at Bloomfield.
Stoddard coimty, Missouri, under the firm
name of E. & R. Weber, which business was a
success and the largest in the state south of
St. Louis. In the year 1869, his mercantile
business having bui-ned and many other com-
mercial houses having sprimg up, he decided
not to rebuild, but in the year 1871 he went
into the real estate and abstract business and
amassed a handsome fortune thereby. On
November 21, 1875, he married Mrs. Elizabeth
A. Weber, the widow of his brother Rudolph.
Four children were the result of this union :
Franz Weber, a successful farmer; Carl
Weber, president of the Weber Abstract, Land
and Loan Company (a corporation) ; ]\Irs. J.
L. Ashley, of Bloomfield. Missouri, and ]Mrs.
B. T. Harve.y, of Eldon. ^Missouri.
Mr. W^eber gave little attention to politics,
favored the Republican party, but did not
aspire to office. He was a man of public spirit
and was a liberal contributor. He organized
the Weber Abstract, Laud and Loan Com-
pany, and was its president at his death, on
January 21, 1908.
Carl Weber. One of the mo.st difficult posi-
tions that a man is called upon to fill is that
of living up to an illustrious father. People
either say, "He ought to do great things, look
at his father," or "It's against human nature
for him to be as great as his father was."
Either attitude is hard to face, and Carl
Weber has had to endure both of them. Feel-
ing the necessity of living up to the expecta-
tions of those who believed in him, and
striving to prove that he was capable of
accomplishing things, he is now, though only
a young man, one of the most important fig-
ures in the business world in Southeastern
Missouri. He is president of the Weber Ab-
stract, Land and Loan Company, and holds
other important positions, both in business
enterprises and in the political field.
Carl Weber was born at Bloomfield, Mis-
souri, on the 4th of February, 1881, a son of
the late E. M. Weber. He was reared at
Bloomfield and until the present date has re-
sided here. He first attended the public
schools, and at the age of fifteen was sent to a
college at Farmington, Missouri. Later he
attended a business college in St. Louis, re-
maining there imtil he was about nineteen
years old. It was in January, 1900, that he
came home to go into the abstract, loan
and real estate business with his father,
and he has been closely connected with
this business ever since. The abstract books
were started in 1871, by the father of
Carl Weber, and are now the only com-
plete set of abstract books in Stoddard
coimty. The Weber Abstract, Land and
Loan Company was incorporated in Februarj^
1907. The officers are Carl Weber, president ;
Jolm L. Ashley, secretary and treasurer, and
in addition to these gentlemen the board of
directors includes Elizabeth A. Weber, Emma
Weber Ashley and Emil Weber. The corpora-
tion does an extensive loan and real estate
business, handling the greatest amoimt of loan
business of any firm in the county. For the
pa.st twelve years Mr. Weber has devoted his
entire attention to his business affairs, and
especially to the interests of this corporation.
He is also a director in the Stoddard County
Trust Company and is vice-president of the
Little Valley Land Company, having its head-
quarters at Cape Girardeau, ilissouri.
A Republican in polities, ]\Ir. Weber was
appointed by President Roosevelt in 1908 as
postmaster at Bloomfield, but after serving for
a year he resigned, not being able to do justice
to the work and to his business at the same
time. He is a highly valued member of the
party, however, and has served as a member
of the Republican county central committee,
where his advice is listened to with respect.
Socially Mr. Weber is a member of the
Knights of Pythias, affiliating with Purity
Lodge, No. 333.
No man in the coimty is more highly
thought of than is this young business man.
Having a natural ability for the work which
1222
HISTORY OF SOUTHEAST MISSOURI
he has made his own, and having liad the
splendid training which his father was able
to give him, one can easily aceoimt for his
business success, but his popularity is largely
due to the strength of his character and to
the charm of his personality.
W. J. Webb was born in Stoddard county,
Missouri, in 1866, near the present site of
Dexter, a town which at that time was not
on the map. After finishing school he taught
school for six years, studying law during the
time. He was admitted to the bar in 1895,
and began to practice in New Madrid county
in 1896.
After his admission to the bar Mr. Webb
practiced one year in Franklin county and
then in Pemiscot county another year, until
the county seat was moved, after which he
spent a twelvemonth in Hayti before locat-
ing in Parma, which has been his home since
1904.
One year before he was admitted to the
bar Mr. Webb was married to Miss Esther J.
Huston, of Sullivan, Missouri, Miss Huston
had been a teacher in New Madrid county
and the wedding was celebrated in Cairo, Illi-
nois. She and Mr. Webb have three chil-
dren, William, born June 22, 1906; Ruby
Elizabeth, February 7, 1909 ; and Elsie,, Au-
gust 1, 1910.
When Mr. Webb came to Parma he had
no capital and the town had almost no popu-
lation but both have added numbers and re-
sources in the last seven years. Mr. Webb
began doing law and notary work and also
engaged in the real estate business in a small
way. Later he added insurance to his other
list of enterprises in the commercial field.
He gradually gave up his law practice and
devoted himself more and more to real es-
tate. At present he owns a fine residence in
Parma with two lots, and two more lots in
the business section of the town. He also has
an interest in a block of fifty residence lots
in Parma and owns a quarter-section of land
near the town, which is partly under culti-
vation. For two and a half years he was in
the mercantile business, and disposed of his
establishment at a good profit. Ever since
the Bank of Parma was organized Mr. Webb
has been on its board of directors and a
stockholder in it. He is now vice-president
of the institution.
He is not unknown to public office and is
prominent in the Republican party organi-
zation of the county. He is at present secre-
tai-y of the county central committee. He
has been a candidate for prosecuting attorney
both in Pemiscot and in New Madrid coun-
ties and also once ran for state representa-
tive. For three years he was city attorney of
Parma, but resigned from that office in 1908.
He is at present mayor of the town, elected
in 1911.
In the fraternal orders Mr. Webb belongs
to the Masons, to the Odd Fellows and the
Modern Woodmen, besides being a Knight of
Honor, a Mystic Worker and a Rebekah. He
and i\Irs. Webb are communicants of the
Presbyterian church.
Mr. Webb's father was born on the same
farm in Stoddard coimty as was his son Wiley
twenty years later. Here he lived until
W. J. Webb was six years old. Another son,
James W. Webb, was also born in Stoddard
county. At present the father and his wife,
Angeline Pearson Webb, are living in Parma.
Mr. Webb is in partnership with Mr. Hyde
in the real estate and insurance business.
The firm is in a prosperous condition.
A. C. Thrower, whose postoffiee
is Advance, R. R. No. 2, Stoddard county,
Missouri, ranks with the representative farm-
ers of this locality.
Mr. Thrower was born in the neighboring
state of Arkansas, in Johnson county, August
6, 1860. When he was five years old his par-
ents moved to Kansas, thence to Missouri (to
Lawrence county), next to Arkansas again,
and finally back to Missouri, this time to
Stoddard county. That was in the winter
of 1865. The greater part of this traveling
was done with an ox team, the rest with
horses. The first of their residence in Stod-
dard county was on a rented farm. Then
the father bought eighty acres north of
Bloomfield, but at the time of his death, a
few years later, he owned only sixty acres,
which constituted the homestead on which
the mother lived. She married a second time.
A. C. Thrower had meagre educational ad-
vantages in his youth and, being the only boy
in the family, early in life worked hard in
order to assist in the support of his widowed
mother. Years afterward he purchased most
of the old home place. He continued to live
with his mother until he was twenty-three
years of age, when he married and started
out in life for himself. For three years he
lived near Tillman. Then he bought forty
acres of land, to which, four or five years
later, he added eighty acres. He cleared
HISTORY OF SOUTHEAST :\IISSOURI
1223
seventy acres of this tract and built a barn,
and was fairly successful in his farming ope-
rations. For ten years he made his home
there, and when he sold that place he pur-
chased eighty acres on which he lived for six
years, and which he still owns. This land he
cleared. His next purchase was the eighty
acres of cleared land, to which he moved Oc-
tober 18, 1905, and on which he now lives.
Here he has built a good barn, done consider-
able fencing, and made various other im-
provements. Wheat and corn are his chief
crops. Altogether, he now owns two hundred
and eleven acres.
On December 2, 1884, Mr. Thrower and
^Irs. Mary Pinuington, of Illinois, were united
in marriage, and they are the parents of
six children, namely: Ada C, Marion R.,
William L., Fern, Orbay and Esther. Polit-
ically Mr. Thrower is a Republican. He and
two of his sons have membership in the I.
0. 0. F. at Advance, two of the sons belong
to the W. 0. W., and Mrs. Thrower is a
member of the ilystic Workers at Bell City.
Patrick Ferguson, M. D. It is not alone
the great material resources, so nearly inex-
haustible and so slightly developed, in our
great land which have won for us our indus-
trial supremacy. Great as these are, they
would be ineffective without the spirit to in-
fuse life into them, and this is supplied from
the strong hearts of the older civilizations who
have been moved to seek the newer country.
Northern Europe, where the flower of modern
civilization has come to its fairest perfection,
has contributed most richly of all to us and
no element is more admirable than the sturdy
independence and unswerving rectitude of
the Scotchman. It is of this stock that Pat-
rick Ferguson comes, and all its sterling
qualities are exemplified in him.
William D. Ferguson was the father of the
physician, Patrick Ferguson. He was born
in "the land of heathery hills on March 12,
1836. Wlien only a lad he left that fair lit-
tle country, whose sterile soil raises such
mighty men, and came to America with his
parents. His father settled on a farm in In-
diana and when the son William grew up he
married a young woman born in Lynville, his
adopted home, and settled in the same place,
where he lived the rest of his life, an honored
and prosperous member of the community.
He was a member of the Masonic fraternity
and justice of the peace for some thirty years.
In polities he was and advocate of the policies
promulgated by the Democratic party and
in his religious views he was a Baptist. He
died in Lj-nville, Indiana, in 1900.
William Ferguson's wife was Mary iMiUer
Ferguson, born in 1838. She died in Lyn-
ville, Indiana, in 1879, the mother of six chil-
dren. Two of these died in infancy; Rufus
was called from this mortal life at the age
of six and Homer when he was twenty-six.
Bernard came upon his death in a tragic
fashion, for he was murdered in Luxora, Ar-
kansas. He had lived in Pemiscot county
and left a wife bereaved by his untimely end.
Patrick Pratt Ferguson is the only survivor
of that family.
Lynville, Indiana, was Dr. Ferguson's
birthplace and his home until he entered the
St. Louis Medical school, the Barnes Medical
College. This was in 1892, when he was
twentv-three years old, as he was born on
June 'l8, 1869. On March 15, 1895, he re-
ceived his diploma and began his practice at
Belle Rive, Illinois.
After one year in Belle Rive, Dr. Fergu-
son moved to Tamaroa, Illinois, and practiced
medicine there for several years, leaving the
town in 1900, when he came to Missouri. For
six years Steele, in Pemiscot county, was the
scene of his labors, and then he was called to
Blj'theville to assume the management of
the People's Hospital of that place. In 1909
he came to Sikeston, where he has continued
his practice. His office is in the popular of-
fice building of Sikeston, the McCoy-Tanner
building on Malone street. Dr. Ferguson has
kept abreast of the advances in his profession
not only by independent study and reading
but by attending the New York Post Gradu-
ate School of Medicine, where he pursued
graduate courses in lines in which he is spe-
cifically interested. The Frisco Railway has
made him surgeon of its third division, recog-
nizing in him a physician of ability and
promise, as well as one thoroughly grounded
in the theories of therapeutics. He is a Re-
publican in his political convictions. He is
a Blue Lodge Mason, member of the chapter
and eommandery.
It was in Lynville too that Mrs. Ferguson
was born and grew up from childhood a
friend of the man she married at twenty-two.
The marriage of Patrick Ferguson and
Katherine Zimmerman occurred at Lynville,
April 20, 1892. Her parents are well known
citizens of Lyn\dlle, Indiana, Clinton D. and
Agnes Kerr Zimmerman. Three children,
Russell, Carmen and Helen, gladden the home
of Dr. and Mrs. Ferguson. The eldest was
1224
HISTORY OF SOUTHEAST MISSOURI
born in January, 1893 ; the second on May
15, 1895 ; and the youngest, January 15, 1899.
Mrs. Ferguson is a member of the Methodist
church.
Benjamin F. Anderson. Seott county
has been the home of Mr. B. F. Anderson
ever since he was born. His parents were
Virginians who migrated first to Kentucky
and then to Missouri. Both James and Char-
lotte (Olds) Anderson were born about 1810
and both died in Scott county, James at the
age of sixty-five and Charlotte at forty-four.
They had come to Scott county in about 1844
— following the course of empire.
Benjamin F. Anderson was born near
Sikeston in 1852. In his early youth he at-
tended the subscription schools of the county
and helped on the farm. The mercantile
business was more attractive to him than
agriculture, so at the age of fifteen he left
home and came to Commerce to clerk in a
store. The establishment in which he went
to work belonged to his brother, Joseph An-
derson, and he remained in the employ of his
brother until 1874. At that date he was mar-
ried and followed the custom of those who
thus lay the foundation of a home by also
going into business for himself.
Mr. Anderson's hazard of new fortunes was
a felicitous one and the ten years in which he
conducted his store were profitable ones. In
1882 he went into the grain business with an-
other brother, "W. B. Anderson. In addition
to buying and selling grain, they carried on
a milling business and also dealt largely in
produce on the commission basis. Their zeal
and untiring devotion to their work made
them eminently sixecessful. At present Ben-
jamin F. owns two elevators, which have a
capacity of one hundred thousand bushels.
He ships car load lots of grain to the markets
of the country and their large store bouses
enable them to sell to best advantage. Nor-
well Anderson, the son of B. F., is in business
with his uncle, the firm being The Anderson
Mercantile Company. A farm of two hun-
dred acres is another of Mr. B. F. Anderson's
interests. He rents this out and the improve-
ments he is putting on it are constantly in-
creasing its value.
Mrs. Anderson was formerly ]\Iiss Mary E.
Wylie. She was born in Scott county in 1853.
Of their children, Norwell. the oldest, is not
married. "Wade is a stock man of Commerce,
whose wife was formerly Miss Pauline Mau-
pin. Fannie is Mrs. J. B. Stubblefield, and
Tilman, also a bachelor, lives in the county
and is a dealer in horses.
The Democratic party has availed itself of
Mr. Anderson's talents by selecting him to
serve the party in numerous capacities. He
is at present chairman of the township com-
mittee of the organization of that faction.
From 1870 to 1874 he was deputy sheriflt' and
deput.y collector, his brother, J. T. Anderson,
being sheriff and collector. In the office of
marshal he has served a number of times and
has been chairman of the town board. An-
other post he has filled with honor to himself
and satisfaction to his constituents is that of
county judge. He is known as one truly in-
terested in the public welfare and at all times
ready to bear his part in the conducting of
such measures as promote the good of the
people. He is as highly esteemed for his
merits as a private citizen as for his faithful
work in public office and his sagacity in af-
fairs of business.
Joseph A. Legrand. Born in Scott
county, in 1868, October 2, Mr. Legrand has
spent the forty odd years of his life in this
region and has added his generous share of
hard work to its development and prosperity.
His father was IMichael Legrand, a native of
Belgium, who became a landowner and a
farmer of Scott county, where he was living
at the time of his death in 1871. He married
Angeline Dumey, and they became the par-
ents of a large family of children, nine of
whom are still living. Three daughters died,
two, Katherine and Clementine, in infancy
and Josephine fourteen years ago. She was
the wife of Frank Heiserer and left three
children Three other daughters are still
living. Mary is the wife of John Wetter, a
retired farmer of Sikeston; Louisa also re-
sides in the county and is IMrs. Hieserer;
Katherine lives in San Francisco, California.
Five sons beside Joseph have grown to ma-
turity and settled in various parts of the
country. Emil lives in El Reno, Oklahoma.
Frank lives on a farm near Kelso, Missouri.
He married Rosa Diebold, and they have a
place of two hundred and seventy-five acres.
John lives on one of the home places near
Hamburg; he married Lena Scherer, of Scott
county. William and his wife, Lucy Grog-
ian Legrand, live on the old home place near
John. George is a landowner near Oran. He
married Edith Witt. The mother of this ad-
mirable and enterprising family lived until
HISTORY OF SOUTHEAST MISSOURI
1225
March 3, 1908, when her death occurred at
New Hamburg, Missouri.
Joseph Legrand obtained his first property
twelve years ago wlien he came into possession
of one hundred and sixty-live acres. Later
he purchased eighty-four acres adjoining the
original place and fifty acres of swamp land,
not yet cleai'ed or drained. Beside these
tracts he owns twenty acres up in the hills.
But farm lands do not represent all of Mr.
Legrand 's real estate interests, as he has a
house and six lots in Chaffee. He is also
a stockholder in the German American Bank
of Chaffee.
In 1895 Mr. Legrand was mai-ried to Miss
Clara Witt, the daughter of John and Mary
(Popst) Witt, old residents of this county.
Three children have been born of the union:
Steve, on November 16, 1897 ; Edith, Janu-
ary 17, 1903, and Cornelius, on Sepember 27,
1909. Mr. Legrand is a member of the Cath-
olic church of Chaffee and is one of the rep-
resentative men of the county.
Dr. Henry L. Cordrey is the son of a
Methodist minister, Rev. John Cordrey, of
Madison, Indiana. Henrj' Cordrey was not
fourteen years old when he lost his father in
1871, as the date of his birth was December 15,
1857. When fifteen years of age, the boy
went to Kansas, locating in Humboldt, Allen
county. There he went to school, and when
he had gone as far as the course of study
there permitted he took higher courses in
Keokuk, Iowa, and in Chattanooga, Tennes-
see. Dr. Cordrey graduated from Grant Uni-
versity in Chattanooga.
For five years the Doctor practiced medi-
cine in Denver, Colorado. He then spent five
years in Rocky IMountain, Missouri, but left
this place to go to Pioneer, where he also
spent five years. From Pioneer, he came to
Chaffee, and has now been in business here
for five years.
In addition to his professional work, Dr.
Cordrey started a drug store in Chaffee and
became the proprietor of the finest establish-
ment of the sort in the town. In 1911 he sold
his drug store and has since devoted his entire
time to practice. His skill in his profession
has gained him a large practice in this region
and has caused him to be selected as presi-
dent of the board of health. Beside being a
graduate of a medical school, he is a regis-
tered pharmacist.
Dr. Cordrey is a prominent lodge man of
Chaffee. He holds membership in the Knights
of Pythias, the Odd Fellows, the Modern
AVoodmen and the Eagles of Chaffee.
The Doctor has six children, three sons and
three daughters, Henry, Minnie, Maud,
George, Arthur and Ida. Their mother was
Minerva J. Lobach, whose marriage to Dr.
Cordrey took place at Humboldt in 1877.
She died in Burlington, Iowa, in 1887. In
1902 Dr. Cordrey was married to iliss Delia
Russel, of Missouri. They have no c/hildren.
I\lATTHEVvf J. Williams. Among the native-
born citizens of Stoddard county who have
spent their lives within its precincts, aiding
in every possible way its growth and develop-
ment, especially as regards its agricultural
advancement, is Matthew J. Williams, the
o^^-ner of a rich and highly productive farm
lying six miles southwest of Dexter, on Crow-
ley's Ridge, where he has been a resident for
upwards of twenty years. A son of Abner
Williams, he was born not far from his pres-
ent home, October 17, 1851, of pioneer
ancestry.
Three members of the Williams family to
which Matthew J. belongs came from Ken-
tucky to Missouri in pioneer times, Thomas
Williams; John N. Williams, father of Mrs.
James A. Nichols; and Abner Williams. All
three located on Crowley's Ridge in Stoddard
county. Thomas was probably married when
he came here. He settled on the land now
o-\\Taed by Matthew J., but he later sold it and
located at East Bottom, where he cleared and
improved a homestead, on which he resided
rmtil his death, at a good old age.
Abner Williams married soon after coming
to Stoddard coimty Elizabeth Dowdy and
began farming on his homestead of one hun-
dred and twenty acres. He cleared a few
acres of his land only, his death occurring
while he was yet in manhood's prime. He
left two children, namely : John H., now liv-
ing near the village of Pyle, two miles from
the old home farm; and Matthew J., who was
but two years old when his father died. The
mother was subsequently twice married,
marrying for her second husband Isaac
Shelby and for her third hu.sband, Lewis
Layer. She lived to a good old age, spend-
ing her last years in Parma, ^Missouri.
JIatthew J. Williams lived with his mother
until nineteen years of age, when he assumed
possession of the sixty acres of land left him
by his father. He subsequently bought forty
acres of adjoining land and put it nearly all
1226
HISTORY OP SOUTHEAST MISSOURI
under cultivation, in addition erecting a good
set of farm buildings and otherwise improv-
ing the place, which is now occupied and
owned by his son, LeRoy Williams. In 1890
Jlr. Williams bought one hmidred and sixty
acres of land now included in his present
farm, which is quite near his old homestefld
farm. Fifty acres of the farm had been placed
imder tillage when he purchased it. and he
has since cleared seventy acres more, burning
the timber in order to get rid of it. that having
been long before the conservation of forests
became a national problem. His estate is a
fine piece of rolling land, with a gentle slope ;
while his house stands on rising groimd, about
fifteen feet above the public highway, and one
hvmdred feet above the bottoms, and com-
mands an extensive view towards the east.
The Chalk Bluff road passes between the
house and barn, both of which are substantial
and conveniently arranged buildings. ]\Ir.
Williams devotes his land principally to the
raising of stock and grain, although he grows
some cotton each season, and as a skilful and
practical farmer has met with most satisfac-
tory pecuniary results in his imdertakings.
For twelve or fourteen years he operated a
threshing machine for the benefit of himself
and his neighbors, doing all the threshing
within a radius of a mile.
Mr. Williams married, at the age of nine-
teen years. ]\Iary Elizabeth Stevenson, who
was born in Tennessee eighteen years before,
and at the age of three years came to Stod-
dard county with her parents, William and
Elizabeth Stevenson, who located at East
Bottom and there spent the remainder of
their lives, the father dying at the age of
sixty -six years. Nine children have been born
to Mr. and Mrs. Williams, namely: Addie
Rosetta, wife of Andy Shadd : Laura, wife of
George Petty ; Daisy, wife of Joseph Ken-
nedy; LeRoy. o\\-ning and occupying the old
home farm, married Leila Harris ; Willie died
at the age of twenty-four years; Roscoe died
when eighteen years old; Rufus, owning a
part of his father's farm, which at one time
contained three himdred acres, married Birdie
Wiggs ; Edgar, who manages the home farm ;
and Elme-r. living at home. Politically Mr.
Williams is a staunch Republican.
James A. Nichols. The industrious and
progressive agriculturists of Stoddard coimty
have no more worthy representative than
James A. Nichols, who holds high rank among
the business-like farmers who are so ably con-
ducting the extensive farming interests of this
part of Southeastern Missouri. Born October
28, 1868, in Polk county, Arkansas, on the
border of the Indian Territory, he grew to
manhood in the Territory, in his boyhood days
receiving limited educational advantages com-
pared with those of the boys of the present
day. His parents. Levanda and Mary A.
Nichols, were married in Arkansas, his father
going to that state from Virginia, where his
birth occurred, while his mother moved from
North Carolina, her native state, to Arkansas.
Both parents died in the Indian Territory at
a comparatively early age, the father's death
occurring in 1882 and the mother's a few
years later.
After the death of his mother James A.
Nichols remained in the Territory for two
years, and then took up his residence in Stod-
dard coimty, Missouri, where he was employed
as a farm laborer until his marriage, when he
assumed possession of the farm where he now
lives, it being located six miles southwest of
Dexter, on Crowley's Ridge. Mr. Nichols
married, at the age of twenty-five years, Dora
M. Williams, a daughter of John N. and
Serena (Moore) Williams, who reared a large
family of children, of whom but two are now
living, namely: E. G. Williams, her half-
brother, a well-kno\Mi resident of Bernie and
an elder in the Regular Baptist church ; and
Mrs. Nichols, the yoimgest of her father's
children. Her father, who died at the age of
eighty years, was one of the leading agricul-
turists of this part of Stoddard coimty, own-
ing a large tract of land, a part of- which was
included in the farm now o^^-ned by Mr.
Nichols. He was four times married, his last
wife, the mother of Mrs. Nichols, surviving
him.
When Mr. Nichols married Miss Williams
her father deeded her sixty acres of the farm
on which they now reside, all of which was
tillable but had no buildings upon it, with
the exception of a small shack. She subse-
quently inherited eighty acres of the parental
estate and one thousand dollars in money, not
receiving this legacy, however, until after Mr.
Nichols had made a good start in life. Mr.
Nichols afterward purchased one hundred and
eighteen and one-fourth acres of the old Wil-
liams estate on Crowley's Ridge, and likewise
bought one hundred and eighty-seven and
one-half acres of bottom land, paying $32.50
an acre for the piece. As a farmer he has met
MR. AND MRS. JAMES A. NICHOLS
HISTORY OP SOUTHEAST MISSOURI
with eminent success, having the greater part
of his hmd under cultivation, while his im-
provements are of the most practical and sub-
stantial character. He raises abundant crops
of corn, wheat a?-d oats, and pays much atten-
tion to raising stock, while for twelve or more
years he shipped stock to the near-by markets,
an industry that was formerly quite profit-
able.
Politically ]\Ir. Nichols is a staunch sup-
porter of the principles of the Democratic
party; religiously both JMr. and Mrs. Nichols
are valued members of the Pleasant Grove
Baptist church. They have no children of
their own, but are bringing up a nephew,
William R. Thomas, a sturdy lad of eleven
years, who has lived with them since infancy,
having been but a year old when he became
an inmate of their household.
John A. Young. The wide-awake and ef-
ficient president of the Sikeston Concrete Tile
and Construction Company is one of the ten
children of John William Young, born in
Woodbury, Kentucky, in 1S4.3 and Sophronia
Orange Young also a Kentuckian, whose
native place is Butler county and the year
of her birth, 1849. After forty-one years
of wedded life she and her husband are still
living, hale and hearty, at Bertrand, Missouri,
with several of their children settled in
homes of their own in the same town. Here
reside Guy and his wife. Josephine Robinson
Young; Annie, Mrs. Eugene Lassiter; Maud,
now Mrs. Claude Bowman ; and Carr, who is
unmarried. Here, too. lies buried a beloved
daughter, IMaggie, the wife of A. T. Lang-
ston. Three other children passed into the
other life while yet onlj' on the threshold of
this one. These were Alphia, Tulia and
Clyde. Willie married Parham Stone and
lives at Diehlstadt.
The parents left Kentucky in 1875, set-
tling fii-st in Millersville, Cape Girardeau
county. Here John W. Young ran a black-
smith shop for fourteen years and also had
wagon works in connection with his black-
smithing. He moved to Bertrand in 1889 and
has continued the same occupation there. He
is a member of the time-honored Masonic fra-
ternity and both he and his wife are active
in the work of the Christian church. Politic-
ally his views and policies are those of the
Democratic party.
Until John A. Young was eighteen he as-
sisted his father in the blacksmith shop. He
was but three years old when his parents
came to Missouri, so he has obtained his edu-
cation and experience in this state. From
the age of eighteen until he was twenty-one,
he clerked in a general store at Bertrand.
Here he was married on May 18, 1893, twelve
days before his twenty-first birthday. His
bride was Lillie Bush, born May 10, 1874, in
Bertrand.
For three years after his marriage Mr.
Young conducted a drug store in Bertrand,
of which he was the proprietor. He gave this
up to accept a position as traveling salesman
for the McCormiek Harvester Company. Af-
ter seven years' work for this corporation he
came to Sikeston and worked five years for the
Sikeston Mercantile Company. In 1909 Mr.
Young organized the Sikeston Concrete Tile
and Construction Company. This concern is
incorporated for five thousand dollars. Its
officers are : John A. Young, president ; J. W.
Sehroff, vice-president; J. H. Stubb, secre-
tary; and J. N. Chaney, treasurer. The ever
increasing demand for concrete products
makes the organization of this plant a most
timely addition to the industries of Sikeston
and one which cannot fail to contribute ma-
terially to the economic advancement of the
city.
Politically Mr. Young favors those princi-
ples and policies for the conduct of national
affairs set forth by the Democratic party. He
is deeply interested in public affairs and is
now serving his sixth year as alderman, be-
ing chairman of the board. He holds mem-
bership in the lodges of the Odd Fellows and
in the Ancient Order of United Workmen.
Mrs. Young is a devout believer in the doc-
trines of the Methodist church. South, of
which body she is a communicant. The only
child of John and Lillie Young is a son,
Harry C. Young, born March 15, 1894, and
still in school.
Lee Williams. IMauy of the ablest men
in America are ardent devotees of the great
basic industry of agriculture, and it is well
that this is so because the various learned pro-
fessions are rapidly becoming so crowded with
inefficient practitioners that in a few years
it will be practically impossible for any but
the exceptionally talented man to make good
or even to gain a competent living therein.
The independent farmer who, in addition to
tilling the soil, cultivates his mind and re-
tains his health is a man much to be envied
in these days of strenuous bustle and ner-
vous energ>'. He lives his life as he chooses
1228
HISTORY OF SOUTHEAST MISSOURI
and is always safe from financial ravages and
other troubles of the so-called '"elift'-dweller. "'
An able and representative agriculturist who
has done much to advance progress and con-
serve prosperity in Stoddard county, Mis-
souri, is Lee Williams, who is a very exten-
sive land owner in this section of the state and
who in connection with diversified agricul-
ture and the buying and shipping of stock
conducts a modern and well equipped meat
market at Dexter, where he maintains his
home.
Lee Williams was born in Lyon county,
Kentucky, on the 13th of May, 1866, and he
is a son of Samuel and Harriett (Doom)
Williams. The father was born in Wales and
came to the United States when five years
old. He lived in Ohio until twenty-three,
when he went to Kentucky. The mother was
born in Kentucky, and both are now deceased.
On the old home plantation in the Blue Grass
commonwealth Lee Williams was reared to
adult age and his early educational training
consisted of such advantages as were afforded
in the neighboring district schools. In De-
cember, 1891, at the age of twenty-five years,
he decided to establish his home in Missouri
and located in the vicinity of Dexter, where
he engaged in farming operations. In com-
pany with his brother, Charles A., he pur-
chased a tract of three hundred and seventy
acres of land four and a half miles southeast
of Dexter, paying for the same thirteen dol-
lars and eighty cents per acre. Two hundred
acres of this tract were under cultivation and
the farm was considered one of the very finest
in the entire county. Another brother, D. K.
Williams, had opened up eight hundred acres
just east of Dexter some three yeaj's pre-
viously. The three brothers at once began to
agitate the drainage question but the insti-
tution of proper drainage was so violently
opposed by the various land owners that a
number of years passed before any action was
taken. Persistency finally won the day, how-
ever, and good hydraulic tiling was laid in
the various farms. Lee Williams and Mr.
A. H. Carter put in the first successful tiling
in Stoddard county, this being in 1907. Since
that time Mr. Williams has put in some ten
miles of tiling. He sold his first farm about
1897 and is now the owner of a splendid es-
tate of seven hundred and thirty-five acres
eligibly located a mile and a half northeast
of Dexter. He is also the owner of a half
section of land near ]\Iarko. Missouri, which
is being opened up for cultivation. In addi-
tion to general farming Mr. Williams is en-
gaged in the raising of high-grade stock,
breeding thoroughbred cattle and hogs and
making immense annual shipments of stock to
the various large markets. In 1903 he estab-
lished a meat market at Dexter, which he has
since conducted in company with his nephew
and which is proving one of the most profit-
able enterprises in this city. The home of the
Williams family is at Dexter.
In the state of Florida, in the year 1888,
was celebrated the marriage of Mr. Williams
to Miss Fannie R. Martin, of Starke, Florida,
who died in 1894, at the age of twenty-five,
her two children both dying when young.
Mr. Williams married for his second wife
Miss Sybil J. Cooper, who was born and reared
at Dexter, Missouri, and who was a daughter
of Andrew F. and Betty Cooper. In company
with A. R. Jorndt Mr. Cooper built the first
flouring mill at Dexter, where he located
about 1887, and where he passed the remainder
of his life. In 1892 he was killed by a band
of desperadoes, this event forming one of the
incidents of Dexter history. He was killed
while assisting the city marshal. He was the
founder and first president of the Bank of
Dexter, was at the head of many enterprises
and was one of the pioneers of the county.
He was progressive and enterprising and a
leader of men. The Cooper residence, erected
by Mr. Cooper in 1889 at Dexter, is now oc-
cupied by the Williams family. Mr. and Mrs.
Williams became the parents of four children,
whose names are here entered in respective
order of birth, — Marlew and Mabel are twins;
and Myrtle and Lee A., all of whom remain
at the parental home.
For the past ten years Mr. Williams has
opened up a hundred acres of new land each
year and all of this property is ditched, fenced
and partly tiled. He is a man of splendid
executive ability and tremendous vitality and
his citizenship has been a most valuable ad-
junct to this section of the state, where he
has aided so materially in progress and de-
velopment. In his political convictions he ac-
cords an unswerving allegiance to the princi-
ples and policies promulgated by the Demo-
cratic party, and while he has never had time
for active participation in local politics he has
ever been ready to give of his aid and influ-
ence in support of all measures and enter-
prises projected for the general advance-
ment. He is a man of liberal tendencies and
deep human sympathy and while much of Ids
time is devoted to the conduct of his affairs
HISTORY OF SOUTHEAST MISSOURI
1229
he is never too busy to lend a helping hand to
those in distress. He is a member of the
Masonic order, lodge No. 532, of Dexter,
Missouri.
C. A. SCHONHOPF. One of those thriving
and well managed businesses which add in
material fashion to the general prosperity and
commercial prestige of Advance, Stoddard
county, Missouri, is that of C. A. Schonhoff,
who deals extensively in lumber and other
building materials and in hardware. From
the beginning his business has experienced a
sound and wholesome growth and Mr. Schon-
hoff has become one of the considerable
property holders of the place. In the legiti-
mate channels of trade he has won the suc-
cess which always crowns well directed labor,
sound judgment and untiring perseverance,
and at the same time he has concerned him-
self with the affairs of the community in an
admirably public-spirited fashion.
Mr. Schonhoff was born at Cape Girardeau,
and is of German descent. He received a
common school education and is to be counted
among the pioneers of Advance, coming here
when the municipality was in its infancy. He
and his brother, J. H. Schonhoff, embarked in
the hardware business, the subject being
among other things well versed in wagon
making. They continued in association until
Mr. Schonhoff established an independent
business, still dealing in hardware and adding
building material. He has bought property
from time to time and it is unnecessary to
state that his fortunes have risen with the
growth of Advance. He is a stockholder in
tlie bank of Advance, of which substantial
monetary institution his brother is president
and he is helpfully interested in all matters
of public import. He is a communicant of
the Catholic church and is a stanch sup-
porter of the men and measures of the Demo-
cratic party, to which he has given his suf-
frage from his earliest voting days.
Riley Willis. One of the most energetic,
enterprising and busy men of Essex, Riley
Willis is well known as a lumber manufac-
turer, the operator of a threshing machine,
an extensive agriculturist and as the owner
of the Willis addition to Essex. His home
farm, adjoining Essex, is under an excellent
state of cultivation, and, with its comfortable
and convenient set of buildings, and their
neat and tasteful surroundings, invariably
attracts the attention of the passer-by, and is
strongly indicative of the good use the pro-
prietor has made of liis time and means. A
son of the late Levi Willis, he was born No-
vember 22, 1862, in Pike county, Indiana,
where he was brought up and educated.
Levi Willis came to Missouri with his fam-
ily from Indiana in 1889, locating in Stod-
dard county. He first bought a tract of land
lying one mile west of Essex, but later sold
that and bought a tract of land adjoining the
village of Essex, and immediately began its
improvement. He lived but ten years after
purchasing his homestead, passing away while
yet in manhood's prime, at the comparatively
early age of fifty-three years. He was not
active in politics after coming to Missouri, al-
though in Indiana he had held various local
offices. His widow, whose maiden name was
Rhoda De Jarnett, is now a resident of Indi-
ana. Four children were born of their mar-
riage, as follows: Riley, the special subject of
this brief biographical record ; Julia, who
married P. B. Cupp, died in Indiana ; Edna,
wife of George Mayo, of Indiana ; and Char-
ley, residing at Vincennes, Indiana.
Marrying at the age of twenty-four years,
Riley Willis brought his bride to Missouri
and settled in Stoddard county, buying a tract
of wild land situated about four miles south of
Essex, giving four dollars an acre for it, and
paying one-third of the sum in cash and run-
ning in debt for the remainder. It being heav-
ily covered with timber, Mr. Willis began
clearing the land, and having erected a saw
mill on the place built up an excellent business
as a lumber manufacturer and dealer, shipping
some of the products of the mill and .selling
some to the home trade. During the eight
years that he lived there he cut all the tim-
ber from the one hundred and sixty acres of
land, and put eighty acres of it under culti-
vation. Selling out at twelve dollars and a
half an acre, Mr. Willis came to Essex about
the time of his father's death, and having
bought the interest of the remaining heirs in
the parental homestead has since carried on
general farming most successfullj% and hav-
ing erected another saw mill has continued
his business as a lumber manufacturer and
dealer. In connection with his farming, he
has also conducted a threshing machine for
about twenty years, doing most of the thresh-
ing within a radius of eight or ten miles,
turning out from sixteen thousand to twenty-
four thousand bushels yearly. ]\Ir. Willis,
formerly owned eighty acres of land adja-
cent to the village, and of that tract he platted
1230
HISTORY OF SOUTHEAST MISSOURI
forty-five acres, making the Willis additiou
to the village, and on the many lots which he
has sold attractive houses have been erected.
He has also bought and sold other tracts of
land, in the transactions finding profit. He
is an earnest advocate of drainage, realizing
the immense benefits to be derived from a
thorough system of tiling or draining. He is
a stanch Republican, but not a politician in
the common sense of the term.
^Ir. Willis married, in Indiana, Emeline
Burkhart, and into their household six chil-
dren have been born, namely: Stella, wife
of "Doc" Lovelace, of Esses; Herschel;
Edna; Icel Ira; and Ruth. Mr. and Mrs.
Willis are active members of the Brethren
church at Frisco, generally called the Dun-
kard church, being among the first to unite
with that church.
William J. Liles. Not only is William J.
Liles entitled to credit as a public-spirited
citizen and an up-to-date farmer and stock
breeder, but he is a self-made man in the best
sense of that term and whatever of success
he has achieved in this world has been due to
his own presistent and well-directed efforts.
It was his portion to face the serious issues
of life at the age of nine years, and the splen-
did way in which he surmounted his difficul-
ties is indeed worthy of praise. He now has
achieved independence and owns a fine farm
of two hundred acres, located three and one-
half miles west of Bloomfield, where he en-
gages in general farming and stock-raising.
Mr. Liles was born in Bloomfield, March
16, 1868, and is the son of John E. and Mandy
(Miller) Liles. The mother was a daughter
of Henry Miller, a farmer and merchant of
Bloomfield. He was a native of Tennessee,
who found his way to Bollinger and Cape Gi-
rardeau counties and eventually to Bloom-
field. During the war a cannon ball was shot
through his house and throughout that stormy
period he pursued his mercantile operations.
He died in the early '80s and his devoted wife
survived him until 1889.
John E. Liles, father of William J., was
born in the state of Tennessee, and when
three years of age he with his parents, Jesse
and Martha Elizabeth (Wilson) Liles, started
out intending to locate in St. Louis. The
father was a native of West Virginia and
the mother of Wilson county, Tennessee, and
John E. was bom in Tennessee on November
16, 1827. On the way to the metropolis of
Missouri, the captain of a river boat per-
suaded him (the father) to stop at Cape Gi-
rardeau, and he workecl at the carpentering
trade and farming, his old farm being three
miles east of Jackson, the county seat. He
died at the age of seventy-two years and his
wife the following year, at the age of seventy-
five. John E. was the fourth in a family of
ten children, of whom three sons and two
daughters survive. E. G. Liles owns an
orange plantation in Florida and R. P. Liles
is a merchant at Poplar Bluff. John E. Liles
remained upon the farm until the age of
twenty years andjhen sold goods at Smith's
Landing in association with his brother, E. G.
Later he conducted a general retail dry goods
store, continuing thus employed until the
war. When his brothers, E. G. and R. P.,
enlisted in the Confederate army service,
John E. became a sutler for Colonel Hiller
and remained in this field until the year 186-4.
Both his brothers were in the Confederate
army and served until the close of the war.
Afterward E. G. started a general store at
Bloomfield and R. P. clerked for him, selling
goods at Bloomfield for eighteen or twenty
years. They built the first store at what is
now Dexter, this being on the site of the new
hotel. He sold Mr. McCollum his first barrel
of whiskey and started him in business. The
Liles store continued until it was burned out
and R. P. Liles went to Pine Bluff. While
there they conducted a large business. John
E. Liles subsequently clerked for Joseph N.
Miller, his brother-in-law, at Bloomfield. He
was married at Bloomfield at the age of
twenty-seven .years, while working as sutler,
and he and his wife reared three sons: John
Henry, a farmer at Bernie ; W. J. the immedi-
ate subject ; and Charles E., an attorney at
Dexter. John E. was always an active Dem-
ocrat and a member of the Methodist Epis-
copal church. South. He was the first mem-
ber of his family to die, and at the time of
his demise, the youngest of the number was
fifty years of age.
Wiiliara J. Liles began his business career
at the early age of nine years, but this was
chiefly through his own volition, for he ran
away from the shelter of the parental roof
and also the parental discipline under which
he chafed and went to Cape Girardeau county,
where he worked on a farm for five years,
during the latter part of his association there-
with receiving twelve dollars per month. He
had no education and what money he received
went as he earned it. He eventually secured
work in a livery stable and remained thus
HISTORY OF SOUTHEAST MISSOURI
1231
engaged for no less than tweutj- years, earn-
ing day wages. He was then located at JMa-
riou, Illinois, for five years and at Cairo, that
state, for two years, which brought him to the
year 1907. In March of that year he bought
his present farm, formerly known as the Jacob
Moore farm, the same consisting of two hun-
dred acres and possessing an unusual number
of advantages. He has built an excellent
house and barn and pursues mixed farming,
also raising stock and horses and breeding
with renowned success Duroc hogs and Here-
ford cattle. His Standard bred horses are
one item in which he takes justifiable pride.
He has done a good deal of fencing and has
made numerous improvements, and whereas
four years ago he bought his farm at thirt\'
dollars an acre he has alreadj- refused twice
that much.
Mr. Liles was happily married October 12,
1897, at Jackson, Cape Girardeau county,
to Louisa Miller, a daughter of George Miller,
of Bloomfield, a blacksmith recently deceased.
Mrs. Liles was born at Bloomfield, October 12,
1878. Mr. Liles and his wife share their
pleasant home with two sons, whose names
are Opie Reid and Baxter Blair.
James V. Conran. If there has been one
strain of blood preeminent in the endowment
of American commonwealths with those qual-
ities which infuse vigor, stability and enter-
prise into the growing nation, it is the sturdy
Scotch-Irish, whose innate talent for over-
coming the hardships of pioneering has every-
where been felt to be a blessing to this nation.
Industrially, politically, professionally, it is
impossible to sum their contributions to the
prosperity of the land. Of such noteworthy
stock comes James V. Conran, of New Madrid.
His father, Matthew J. A. Conran. was
born in New York City, on January 31, 1836.
It was he who contributed the Scotch-Irish
strain to the subject of this brief personal
record. His mother, was of French and
Scotch ancestrj-, and prior to her marriage
to Matthew Conran was Miss Sarah A. But-
ler. Her birth occurred in this county in
1844, and she still makes her home in this
place, her husband having passed away No-
vember 7, 1896. Matthew Conran was, dur-
ing his lifetime, one of the most prominent
members of the legal fraternity in the county,
his preparation for the bar having been ob-
tained at Old Barren, a college in Perry
county, Missouri. Besides James V., he was
the father of the following children: Mat-
thew; William, who makes his home in the
Dominion of Canada ; and Efde, a resident
of New Madrid.
James V. Conran received his early educa-
tion in the public schools of his home town,
and supplemented this preparatorj' training
by a three 3'ears course in St. Vincent's Col-
lege at Cape Girardeau, ilissouri. At sixteen
he left school, for the reason that safely may
be regarded as the oldest and most irrevocable
in the world, low finances. He then entered
the mercantile business, in which he stayed
for eight years prior to accepting a position
as traveling salesman for a large grocery
firm. He remained "on the road" until the
summer of 1891, when he received the nomi-
nation of his party for the office of prosecut-
ing attorney, and he set about the business of
qualifying for the bar with his customary
energetic perseverance, and passed the exam-
inations. As had been expected, he easily
carried the election, and so successful was the
young attorney that he retained the prose-
cutor's office for six years and has been an
active and able practitioner ever since. He
holds the unicjue record of having taken part
in over one hundred murder cases in the dis-
trict, and has gained an enviable reputation
for keenness in criminal law.
Besides his activities at the bar, Mr. Con-
ran is an extensive property owner, holding
title to twelve hundred acres of farm land
and considerable real estate in his home county
and the town of Portageville. He owns a
brick block in that place with a frontage of
three Imndred feet and a depth of one hun-
dred and fifty feet, one and two stories high.
He is the largest stockholder in the Farmer's
Bank at Portageville, one of the most reli-
able monetary institutions in the part of the
county. He is a stockholder and director of
the Commercial Realty Company of New
Madrid, and holds the same relations to the
Portageville Building and Loan Association,
and he also has interests in the Farmer 's Mer-
cantile Association at the same place.
On July 2, 1896, Mr. Conran established
his present charming and attractive home by
his union with Miss Susan Robbins, who was
born in New Madi'id county in 1874, a
daughter of James and Emma (Lesieur)
Robbins. This marriage has been blessed
with one child, James V., Jr., born November
20, 1899, who remains at home with his par-
ents.
Mr. Conran is a popular fraternity man,
and maintains affiliations with the following
1232
HISTORY OP SOUTHEAST MISSOURI
organizations : the Woodmen of the World ;
the Modern Woodmen of America ; and the
Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks.
Politically he gives his allegiance to the party
of Jefferson and Jackson, and has been a
prominent and serviceable member of his
party for twenty years, bringing the same en-
thusiastic interest to public affairs that has
wrought his success in his private enterprises.
He has been chairman of the New Madrid
county Democratic committee, the Democratic
committee dealing with the congressional dis-
trict, and the Saint Louis court of appeals
committee. He had personal charge of the
campaign of William S. Coward for gover-
nor, and succeeded in placing his candidate
at the head of the Democratic ticket.
De Witt L. Burnside. Few men in a
community have such a profound influence
on the trend of affairs for better or for worse
than the editor of the paper, and a town or
city is indeed fortunate that has behind its
newspaper a man of honor, a clear headed
thinker who respects his trust as the chief
informer of the public. De Witt L. Burnside,
for the last eight years proprietor and editor
of the Poplar Bluff Republican, is such a
man, and he has been an influential factor
whenever anything dedicated to the general
welfare has been put forward.
De Witt L. Burnside was born on the 5tli
of July, 1872, in New Berlin, New York state.
He is the son of William W. Burnside, who
is likewise a native of New York state, having
been born on the 17th of July, 1842. Wil-
liam W. Burnside was onlj' a lad when the
Civil war broke out, but he enlisted in a New
York regiment and served throughout the
long conflict. During his long life he has
had various occupations. At one time he was
superintendent of bridges for the Delaware-
Hudson Canal Company, and until a recent
date he has been a photographer. He was
married in 1870 to Miss Mary E. Wilcox, of
Maryland, New York, where she was born on
the 19th of July, 1842. The young couple
lived in New York state until 1882, when
they determined to come west, and located
at Hloomington, Illinois. Here they remained
until 1895, when they moved to Iowa, and set-
tled in Cedar Rapids. Both Mr. and Mrs.
Burnside are still living in this city. Mr.
Burnside has always been a staunch Demo-
crat, and during his residence in New York
state served as an assemblyman in the state
legislature. Fraternally his affiliations are
with the Knights of Pythias. Mrs. Burnside
is a member and active worker in the Epis-
copal church.
De Witt L. Burnside is the only child of
the above coui^le. He grew up in New York
state, and his education was obtained first at
the public schools in his home town and then
at Colgate Academy at Hamilton, New York.
After his education was completed he went
west and joined his parents in Illinois. The
next few j'ears were spent in various enter-
prises, many of the positions which he held
iDcing ones of trust and responsibility. His
health did not appear to be very good and
so the year of 1903 was spent by him and
his wife in Arkansas, and with his health
much improved he came to Poplar Bluff the
following year and purchased a half interest
in the Poplar Bluff Republican. L. F. Trom-
ley became the owner of the other half, and
for ten months the paper was run by the two
men in partnership. Then Mr. Burnside pur-
chased the other half interest and since that
time has been the sole proprietor. When
he first came to Poplar Bluff the paper was
just beginning to be piiblished as a daily. He
continued to issue a daily edition and has
since established a weekly issue, also. The
printing and advertising business of the paper
has been greatly increased, and the circula-
tion has more than doubled since Mr. Burn-
side took hold of the paper. He now employs
a force of sixteen men, not including himself.
In politics Mr. Burnside is a loyal Republi-
can, and has a powerful influence in local po-
litical affairs. He is a member of the Elks,
the Maccabees and the order of the Moose.
Both he and his wife are communicants of
the Protestant Episcopal church. He was
married on the 19th of December, 1902, at
Cedar Rapids, Iowa, to Miss Leola Alcorn,
the daughter of Mr. and Mrs. David Alcorn.
K^er mother's maiden name was Brewer. Mrs.
Burnside was born in Vinton, Iowa, on the
19th of June, 1872. She and Mr. Burnside
have no children.
I. R. Kelso, one of the most prominent
lawyers in Cape Girardeau county, is a man
who has made his presence felt. And, indeed,
that is no cau.se for wonderment considering
that he has the blood of Scotland. Ireland,
Wales and America in his veins. He seems to
have retained the good qualities of each na-
tionality and let the less worthy characteristics
go. He has the shrewdness and caution of th.>
Scotch, the humor and repartee of the Irish,
-^^^^^^
HISTORY OF SOUTHEAST MISSOURI
1233
the eloquence of the Welsh and the enthusiasm
and practicability of the American.
He was born in Callaway coimty, IMissouri,
September 13, 1871. His "grandfather, J. W.
Kelso, was of Welsh descent and possessed of
the Wel.sh enterprise. He came to Missouri
from Virginia, being one of the pioneers of
Missouri, and has seen the state grow up and
prosper. He settled in Callaway coimty and
there his son J. W. was born and received his
education. He became a successful contractor
and manufacturer and is now a resident of
Springfield, Missouri, aged sixty-seven years.
He married Virginia C. Rodgers, who was also
a native of Callaway coiuitj', and a daughter
of Captain Charles Rodgers, who came to
]\Iissouri from Virginia when he was a young
man. He was of Scotch-Iri.sh descent. Mrs.
Kelso is still living in Springfield, Missouri.
Mr. and Sirs. Kelso were the parents of four
sons and one daughter who lived to maturity.
The daughter is the eldest of the family, the
son I. R, being next in order of birth.
The boyhood days of I. R. Kelso were spent
in his native county, where he was educated
in the public schools. He then attended the
Westminster College at Fiilton, Missouri, the
Missouri State Normal at Kirksville, ilissouri,
and later a private school at Bushnell, Illinois.
After completing his normal course he taught
for two terms, which seems to have given him
all the experience in the pedagogical field for
which he eared. He felt that the profession
of law suited both his tastes and his capabili-
ties, and in order not to lose any time he
entered the law offices of Crews & Thurmond
at Fulton, JMissouri. In 1892 he was admitted
to the bar at Fulton and practiced there for a
time. He later formed a partner.ship with
General D. H. Mclntyre at Slexico, Missouri,
contmuing in practice there for about two
years. In 1896 Mr. Kelso came to South-
ea.stern Missouri, locating at Kennett in
Diuiklin county, where he formed a partner-
ship with General T. R. R. Ely. After the
expiration of ten years he came to Cape
Girardeau, where he engaged in general prac-
tice as a member of the firm of Ely, Kelso &
Miller.
In 1893 Mr. Kelso married INIiss Nellie S.
Kilgore. the daughter of N. F. and M. J.
(Eller) Kilgore, of Audrain coimty, Missouri.
Iklrs. Kelso was born and educated in Audrain
county. One daughter, Ruth, has been born
to ^Ir. and Mrs. Kelso.
]Mr. Kelso is a Democrat and has always
been active in politics and in public affairs
generaUj'. He was president of the Cape
Girardeau Commercial Club for two years
and in 1907 was president of the convention
of Christian churches in the state of [Missouri.
He is president of the St. Louis-Hot Springs
Good Roads Association, an interstate associa-
tion organized in Jime, 1911. He is a mem-
ber of the Masonic order and has served as
master in the Blue Lodge and high priest in
the Chapter. He is also a member of the
Commandery. He is at the present time a
member of the county central committee, and
he has done such excellent work for the party
that it is certain they will not let him rest
on his oars. A man who is capable, willing
and honest is always sure to have honors
thrust upon him. Mr. Kelso is not seeking
honors, but he is ready and anxious to do his
share in the betterment of conditions in the
state in which he has spent his whole life and
the county which he has made his ovra.
Grover Cleaveland Montgomery. On
March 4, 1851:, in Martin county, Indiana,
was born Samuel Montgomery, the father of
G. C. Montgomery. Samuel was a farmer,
and in 1878 he married Jane Cannon, of the
same county, born March 17, 1861. They
brought up a large family and now have nine
living children. Two, Mayme and Floyd, are
still living with their parents. Ida, Mrs.
Elisha Crays, and OUie, Mrs. W. A. Crane,
live in Martin county, where they were born.
Jasper, too, has established his home there.
Two sons. Willis and John, live in Stark
county, Illinois, and Robert resides in South
Dakota. The other son is Grover C. the ris-
ing law.yer of Sikeston.
Mr. Montgomery was twenty-six on the
fourth day of April, 1911. He has been a
resident of Missouri only since December 14,
1910. He was born in Martin county, Indi-
ana, and received his education in that state.
After a course in Vorhees Business College
at Indianapolis he entered the Indiana Law
School and graduated in 1906.
As soon as he left school ]Mr. Montgomery
located at Loogootee. Indiana, and practiced
there for two years. He then moved to Mount
Vernon, and spent the same length of time
there. From Mt. Vernon he came to Sikes-
ton and after practicing two months alone
went into partnership with R. E. Bailey. The
firm have offices in the City Hall building.
Mr. Montgomery was married on December
1234
HISTORY OF SOUTHEAST MISSOURI
23, 1908, to Mary, daughter of William J.
and Etta Rayhill McCord, of Davis eoimty,
Indiana. Mrs. Montgomery was born August
18th, 1885. A sou, Donald, was born to ^lary
and Grover C. Montgomery September 17,
1910, but whose death occurred December 1,
1911.
The church home of Mr. and Mrs. Mont-
gomery is the Methodist, in which they are
valued members. Mr. jMontgomery 's politics
are those of the illustrious statesman whose
name he bears. He is one of the young law-
yers whose star is in the ascendant and in
Sikeston he has chosen a fitting field for his
talents.
Captain Robert B. Heuchan. ]\Ir. Heu-
chan's father was a cabinet maker, born in
Scotland, at historic Castle Douglas, that
place so inextricably bound up in our mem-
ories of the gallant romances of bonny Scot-
land and so fateful in the history of that
country. James Heuchan came to America
when only nine years of age, in the year 1812
so he knew little of fair Scotia. But none
the less he bore the heritage of his race, its
austere virtues and its all conquering per-
sistence. His parents settled in Quebec, Can-
ada, and here he lived until he was sixteen.
He learned the trade of cabinet making and
taught it to his son Robert. James Heuchan
came into the United States in 1819, going
to New York state. Later he went to Jack-
son, Tennessee, and thence to Richmond, In-
diana, and it was here that Robert was born
in 1844. His mother was Elizabeth Lynton,
a native of Yorkshire, England, and so the
boy had the English love of liberty added to
the Scotchman's independence and was,
moreover, an American born. Her parents
settled first in Baltimore, Maryland, and then
came west to Richmond, Indiana.
In 1868, Mr. Heuchan came to Missouri
from Indiana, desiring to be in a newer coun-
try. He had been married two years before to
Mary E. Arnold, of Covington, Kentucky.
Most of the children of this union are living
in this county at present. Lily, born in 1868,
is Mrs. C. P. Bondurant, of this county.
Emma's husband is H. W. Dodge, a carpen-
ter in Commerce. Jloses, who celebrated his
thirty-eighth birthday on August 5, 1911, is
a farmer at Keatsville. He is married to
Dela Drace. Charles, two years younger than
Moses, is in business with his father. He is
also serving his fifth year as postmaster. His
wife was Miss Oda Davis, of Keatsville. He
is a Mason and a Modern Woodman. Marvin
R., born in October, 1878, is stock buyer for
the Hamilton-Brown Shoe Company, of St.
Louis. He is also married to a young lady of
St. Louis, whose maiden name was Mary
O'Connor. Floy married Jo F. Ellis and
lives on a farm in Scott county.
For two jears after his arrival in Com-
merce Mr. Heuchan rented a farm. He then
moved to town and worked by the day. He
continued this for six years. In 1872 he
turned his attention to the undertaking and
cabinet-making trade and he still continues to
follow that line of work. He has made the
business signally successful and its receipts
are from $500 to $800 every year. He has the
only undertaking shop in the village and
has been in the business longer than any
other undertaker in Scott county. The Oak
Dale cemetery is owned by him. He laid it
out in 1889 and sells lots therein.
Besides being a Mason, a member of Lodge
No. 336 here, and having been through chairs
in Ashley lodge, Mr. Heuchan is an active
worker in the Methodist church. He was
formerly steward and trustee and ever since
1870 has been superintendent of the Sunday-
school. His influence is as widely extended
as it is salutary and his integrity of life and
genuine devotion to the cause of uprightness
and righteousness make him an invaluable
member of his denomination and a true
benefactor of the entire community. Not only
he but all his family are communicants of this
church.
Mr. Heuchan is a Republican in politics.
He has becL ^ustice of the peace for eighteen
years and has served several terms on the
town board, of which he was chairman for
two terms. It is not only in the duties of
peace that he has fulfilled his part as a servant
of the public, but he has given even more loyal
devotion to his country in the dark time of
war. In 1861 he enlisted in the Fifty-seventh
Indiana and served until the end of the war.
He was twice wounded, the first time at
the battle of Missionary Ridge, when he was
shot in the neck. At Franklin, Tennessee,
he was wounded in the head and captured,
but he escaped that night. For two weeks
he was confined in Hospital No. 16 at Nash-
ville, Tennessee, with lung fever. iMr. Heu-
chan enlisted as a private and was promoted
to the rank of captain in January, 1864. He
was in the battles of Perryville, Kentucky, at
Stone River, Murfreesboro, Buzzard Roost,
Dalton, Resaca, Altamont, Big Shanty, Mari-
HISTORY OF SOUTHEAST MISSOURI
1235
etta, Atlanta, Joiiesboro and Nashville. He
did his soldier's duty in soldiery fashion, as
his ancestors had done for centuries before
him, those tall Highlanders, whose majestic
march with swinging plaids and shrilling
pipes, fifty convey a picture of their indomit-
able courage. And his was the soldier's re-
ward. Like the truest warriors who battle for
principle and not for the glory of war, he
has been as loyal a soldier of peace as of
strife and his reward is attained in the uni-
versal regard of his fellow townsmen as
well as in the prosperity of his undertakings.
Jacob A. Milem, M. D. As a general rule,
the sons of the veterans of the Confederate
army are inclined to favor the policies of the
Democratic party, although nowadays when
men do so much independent thinking, this
is less frequently the case than formerly.
However, Dr. Milem is an exception to the old
rule, for though his father was a captain in
the Southern army for the entire four years,
his son is a Republican. In the fifteen years
of his residence in Sikeston he has made a
place for himself both in his profession and
in the life of the town, where he has allied
himself with every movement for its advance-
ment.
Russel J. Milem, the father, was also a phy-
sician. He was born in Lee county, Virginia,
in February, 1827. He received his medical
education in Nashville, but practiced during
his life, except while serving in the army, in
Lee county, Virginia. In 1866 Dr. Russel J.
Milem was married to Nancy Graybeel, who
was also a native of Lee county, Virginia, born
in 1837. This lady was the widow of a Con-
federate soldier who died in prison in Camp
Douglas during the war. She had five child-
ren by her first marriage, only one of whom,
John J., is living. He resides in Lee county,
Virginia, and has been twice married. Six
children were born to Nancy and Russel
Milem. These are : Jacob Allen, of this re-
view ; Lorenzo D.. now living in Oklahoma ;
William J., living on a farm near Sikeston,
with his wife, Molly Carter Milem ; Atha J.,
who died at the age of twelve; Andrew P.,
also a farmer near Sikeston, married to Mayme
Desager ; and Francis A., who is unmarried.
Russel ^Milera died in Lee county, Virginia,
in 1889, in the place now known as Hagan.
Jacob Allen Milem was born October 16,
1867, in Lee county, Virginia. He grew up on
the farm and when he had finished the course
in the school of the county he entered the
University of Louisville, completing the course
and receiving the degree of j\l. D., in March
1896.
He came immediately to Sikeston, where
he has remained. He arrived on April 2,
1896, and at that date his wordly wealth was
represented completely by the nine dollars in
his pocket. However, he had assets not visible,
in the way of education and faculty. For the
first few mouths of his stay in Sikeston Dr.
Milem was associated with Dr. Wyatt, but
later he practiced alone. For several years
he has been chairman of the board of health,
as his interests in the public welfare is no less
well known than his skill in his profession.
Two years after his arrival in Sikeston Dr.
Milem was married to ]\lary F. Battle. Her
parents are Charles and Frances Marian
(Jackson) Battle, who reside at Commerce,
Missouri, where Mary Battle Milem was born.
Three sons, Jackson A., Charles Russel and
Donald A., complete the home circle of Dr.
and Mrs. Milem. The boys are aged twelve,
ten and four, respectively. Mrs. Milem is a
member of the Christian church, while the
Doctor is of the Baptist faith. He is a promi-
nent anti-saloon worker and a firm believer
in the temperance movement, which is mak-
ing such headway these later years. In his
lodge connections Dr. Milem belongs to the
Odd Fellows. Besides his medical practice he
is the owner of a farm more than a half sec-
tion in area, upon which he raises corn.
William Ppeffekkobn is one of the powers
of the business world of Chaffee, an extensive
property holder in addition to being con-
nected with several of the leading business
concerns of the town. He is one of a family
of seven children of Louis and Catherine
(Thomas) Pfefferkorn, whose home is near
Benton. The father is an extensive land-
owner and was a farmer and stockman. He is
now retired and lives at Oran with his wife
and three younger children, Leo, Otto and
Iva. The other children are : Anna, wife of
Frank Enderle. a farmer and landowner near
Oran ; Joseph, living on the old farm, married
to Mary Halter ; Rosalia, Mrs. Frank Arnold,
living near Commerce; and William of this
review.
The year of Mr. Pfefferkorn's birth is 1880,
the day being September 5. He lived at
home until 1901, when he went out west.
There he was a contractor and worked
in many different places for four years. In
1906 he came to Chaffee and continued in the
1236
HISTORY OF SOUTHEAST MISSOURI
business of eoutracting. He has had a hand
in the building of most of the important edi-
fices of ChaiJee. For three years he was in the
lumber business alone, and he is still interested
in that trade, being president of the ChafEee
Lumber Company. Other organizations with
which Mr. Pfefferkorn is connected are the
Chaffee Ice and Cold Storage Company of
which he is vice president ; the First National
Bank, of which he is president and director;
and the Building and Loan Association of
Chaffee, of which he is also a director. The list
of his holdings in the real estate of the town in-
cludes five houses and seven or eight vacant
lots.
Mr. Pfefferkorn 's marriage to Miss Helen
Enderle, daughter of Mike Enderle, of Scott
county, took place October 21, 1906. Their
three children are Anita, Raymond and
Ralph Pfefferkorn, aged respectively two
years, four years, and ten days. The family
belong to the Roman Catholic church.
Emil Steck. Although Mr. Emil Steck
will not celebrate his thirty-fifth birthday un-
til September 15, 1911, he has achieved a lead-
ing place in the commercial circles of the
county and is recognized as one whose power
and influence is steadily increasing. Cape
Girardeau was his birthplace, but when he
was seven years old his parents. Prank and
"^'ilhelmina Steck, moved to Benton, where
his father started a flour mill. He bought
property in Benton and lived there until his
death, in 1892. His widow still resides there
with her sons. R. F. Steck is a dealer in live
stock and conducts a butcher shop in Benton,
where he also owns city property in addition
to his farm on the outskirts of the town.
Alva, aged twent.y, is at home with his mother.
Lena Steck married William F. Damon, a
flour miller of Elkton, Kentucky.
Emil Steck worked with his father until the
latter 's death. He attended the high school
in Benton and after graduating from the
school went several terms to the Cape Girar-
deau Normal. In 1897 he graduated from the
commercial and banking department of the
Gem City Business College of Quincy. Illi-
nois. After coming home from school Mr.
Steck was for two .vears associated with W.
H. Heisserer in the mercantile business in
Benton and then spent three years there in
the same line of work by himself. In 1905 he
came to Fornfelt and helped to organize the
First State Bank of Fornfelt. This organiza-
tion was organized by local promoters and
has been an eminently successful venture.
The present officers are A. Baudendistel,
president ; E. A. Wells, vice president ; Emil
Steck, cashier; and M. Nelsmann, assistant
cashier. The bank has deposits of $74,000,
with $2,000 surplus and profits. Ever since
its organization it has paid a dividend of four
per cent annually and its business is con-
stantly increasing.
Mr. Steck owns city property in Benton
and also one hundred and twenty acres in
Pemiscot county. In Fornfelt he has both
residence and business lots. His home, now
being erected, is one of the finest residences
in the township, being a seven-room struct-
ure, brick veneered. He also has stock in
the Benton Bank. The community has given
evidence of its high opinion of Mr. Steck 's
administrative ability bj- choosing him chair-
man of the village board. He is no longer in
this office, but is treasurer of the Fornfelt
school district Number 3. In the Masonic
order he is treasurer of Illmo Lodge, No. 581,
and he is a past master in the A. F. & A. M.
In Cape Girardeau he belongs to the Knights
Templars. His church membership is in the
same city, where he is affiliated with the
Lutheran church.
J. R. Young, the city attorney of Illmo,
was born on his father's farm in St. Francois
county, near French Village. Jlay 1, 1865.
His father, James Young, was at the time of
his death the owner of 1,200 acres of land.
He was twice married, his first wife being
Susan Allen. She bore him four sons who
are still living. Of these, William is an at-
torney in Farmington, Missouri ; Henry E. is
a farmer in Ste. Genevieve county, li^'ing on
the land his father gave him before his death ;
-Joseph Young, too, is at present residing on
a place in the same county, which was also a
gift from the father ; John, the oldest son, fol-
lows the pursuit of his father and his two
brothers in Texas. J. R. Young's mother was
Susan Porter Young. She had two other chil-
dren, Edwin, now married to Anna Phur-
man, with whom he is living on the old home
place, and Lilian, who married J. B. Phur-
man, a brother of Mrs. Edwin Young. Mr.
and Mrs. Phurman are located on a farm
which was owned by Mrs. Phurman 's mater-
nal grandfather, Mr. Porter. James Young's
death occurred twenty-three years ago on the
farm where he had lived the most of his life.
Susan Porter Young, his widow, died on the
same place fifteen years later.
HISTOKY OF SOUTHEAST MISSOURI
J237
ilr. J. R. Young attended the high school
in Farmington and also Carlton College in
the same place. He took further work in the
Cape Girardeau Normal and upon complet-
ing his course there taught school near Val-
ley Mines and French Village. He began the
study of law in Farmington, under Jude
Carter and Merill Pipkin, of that city. In
1888 he was admitted to the bar at Frederick-
town, Madison county. For one year he was
assistant prosecuting attorney at Ste. Gene-
vieve county; then he practiced three years
in St. Francois. Seeking a larger field, he re-
moved to Springfield and staj'ed there for
three and a half years. Following this, he
spent two years in St. Louis and from there
went to Stoddard county, locating at Bloom-
field. Here he remained for an extended pe-
riod and five j'ears ago came to Illmo, where
he is now counselor and city attorney and
where he has a large practice.
Mr. Young has identified himself with the
interests of Illmo in various ways. He holds
stock in several of its enterprises and owns
several houses and lots in the town. He has
farm propertj' in this vicinity in addition to
two farms in Stoddard county, near Bloom-
field.
Mrs. Young was formerly Miss Lizzie Rad-
cliffe, daughter of John and Katherine Rad-
clifl'e, of Washington Court House, Ohio.
Her marriage to Mr. Young took place on
February 1. 1893.
Mr. Young's fraternal affiliations include
the Royal Arch IMasons at Poplar Blul¥ and
the Knights of Pythias at Bloomfield.
Though he has been a resident of Illmo but a
comparatively short time, he has gained the
place of a leading citizen in the community.
Eli Wilson, M. D. A man of high pro-
fessional attainments and one whose great
heart and kindly sympathy endeared him to
all with whom he came in contact. Dr. Wilson
was distinctively one of the representative
physicians and surgeons of Southeastern Mis-
souri and, though his personal presence and
marked ability would have given him prestige
in any metropolitan center, he was loyal to
the people among whom he had been reared
and found pleasure in working among them,
for the alleviation of suffering and distress.
He was in the very prime of his strong and
useful manhood at the time when he was sum-
moned from the stage of his mortal endeavors,
and he controlled a large and appreciative
practice in his native county, where his circle
of friends was coincident with that of his
acquaintances, and where his name will long
be held in reverent memory by those to whom
he ministered with so much of ability and
unselfishness. He achieved much in his chosen
sphere of endeavor and as one of the loved
and honored citizens of Stoddard county his
status was such that it is most consonant that
in this publication be accorded a tribute to
his memory.
Dr. Eli Wilson was born on a farm near
Leora, Stoddard county, Missouri, on the 30th
of July, 1867, and his death occurred at Hot
Springs, Arkansas, on the 15th of October,
1910. He had maintained his residence in the
village of Puxico, in his native county, for
about two years prior to his death, and his
entire active career in his profession was de-
voted to practice in Stoddard county. He
was a son of Alexander il. and ilargarette
J. Wilson, who were numbered among the
sterling pioneers of Stoddard county, where
they continued to reside until their death and
where the father devoted his attention to agri-
cultural pursuits. Dr. Wilson was indebted
to the public schools of his native county for
his early educational discipline, and his ambi-
tion for high academic advantages was early
(piickened to definite action. His father was
unable to give him more than nominal finan-
cial assistance and as a means to an end he
began teaching in the schools of Stoddard
county. For a number of years he was one
of the successful and popular representatives
of the pedagogic profession in this county,
and in the meanwhile he devoted all of his
leisure time to study of medical text-books,
in order to pave the way for fitting himself
for the profession to which he had deter-
mined to devpte his life and in which he was
destined to gain unqualified success. At inter-
vals during his period of teaching he attended
medical schools, and it was through his own
exertions that he gained the means for com-
pleting his technical education. His first
course of lectures was taken in a medical col-
lege at Louisville, Kentucky, in 1891, and in
the following year he was graduated in a
medical college at Atlanta, Georgia. He be-
gan practice in that year, but in order to
fortify himself further for the work of his
chosen calling he entered the Barnes Medical
College of St. Louis, in which he was grad-
uated as a member of the class of 1896 and
from which he received a supplemental de-
gree of Doctor of Medicine. Opening an
office in Leora, his success and popularity as
1238
HISTORY OF SOUTHEAST MISSOURI
a phj'siciau in the community in which he had
been reared set at naught any api^lication of
the scriptural aphorism that a prophet is not
without honor save in his own countrj'. For
more than ten years Dr. Wilson continued in
active practice near his old home and he built
up a large and representative business. He
was essentially a student and ever put forth
everj' effort to keep in touch with the ad-
vances made in both departments of his pro-
fession. Had he chosen to locate in a large
city, where he might have the advantages of
hospital practice and association with leaders
in the ranks of his profession, it is altogether
probable that he would have gained high repu-
tation in original research work, as such appli-
cation was of distinct interest to him. Denied
the incidental advantages noted, he made
good the handicap by constant and well di-
rected study of the best in standard and
periodical literature of his profession, besides
which he explored special lines of professional
work. In 1898 he passed the examination that
entitled him to practice electro therapeutics,
and in 1901 he was graduated in a college of
science at Philadelphia. The following year
he was granted a license as a pharmacist by
the IMissouri state board of pharmacy.
In 1908, in order to broaden his field of
professional labors, Dr. Wilson established
his home in the village of Puxico, and here
he continued in active general practice until
the close of his earnest and worthy life, his
ability and high reputation having enabled
him to build up in the new location a prac-
tice which far exceeded in scope and impor-
tance that which he had previously controlled.
In the early part of the year 1910 Dr. Wilson
went to New York City for the purpose of
special post-graduate work along certain lines
of surgery, and in his trip to the national
metropolis he was accompanied by his family,
to whom his devotion was ever of the most
ideal order, so that even temporary separa-
tion was not to be considered. He completed
a post-graduate course in the College of Phy-
sicians & Surgeons, which is the medical de-
partment of Columbia University, in New
York City, but his enthusiasm for study led
liim too far, with the result that he broke
down from the strain entailed. He never
recuperated his physical energies and lived
only a few months after his return to his
native state. The general esteem and affec-
tion in which Dr. Wilson was held by the
entire community was shown in a most strik-
ing manner at the time of his funeral. His
remains were laid to rest in the Union ceme-
tery, two miles east of Leora, and more than
a thousand persons were present to pay a
last tribute of honor. A train of seventy-
eight carriages followed to the cemetery and
a number from abroad, besides sorrowing
friends proceeded on foot. It was one of
the largest funerals ever held in Stoddard
county, and the entire community manifested
a deep sense of personal loss and bereavement
when the loved and honored physician passed
to the life eternal in the very zenith of his
strong and noble manhood.
In physical appearance Dr. Wilson was a
perfect type of manhood, and his classical
features and fine bearing invariably attracted
attention to him when he appeared on the
streets of even the largest cities, such as New
York and Chicago. No photograph or other
depicture could do justice to the splendid ap-
pearance of Dr. Wilson, and it is worthy of
note in this connection that on one occasion
he was in conversation with one of the mem-
bers of the faculty of a New York medical
college, when the professor said to him: "If
I had your commanding presence I would
establish myself in practice in Paris, London
or some other large city, as your looks would
bring you success anywhere j'ou might choose
to locate. But Dr. Wilson, with the char-
acteristic modesty of a strong and gentle na-
ture, had no desire to leave the county in
which he had been born and reared, and he
often said that he liked the fine old farmers
and liked to do them good, besides which he
could thus enjoy turnip greens and corn-
dodgers, with no wish to "get above his rais-
ing." His buoyant, generous and genial na-
ture made him ever welcome, and no one
could indulge "the blues" when he w-as
about. He was always trying to cheer and
aid others, and his optimism never failed.
Young and old were attracted to him and for
all he had a cheerful greeting on all occasions,
so that it can not be a matter of w^onderment
that he was loved by all classes in his home
community, where his name will be venerated
as long as there remain those who knew him
in life. At the time of his death the following
estimate was published in the Puxico Index,
and the same is well w^orthy of perpetuation
in this connection: "In the death of this
eminent physician the editor of this paper
has lost a personal friend, one with whom we
spent many hours in pleasant social inter-
course. His learning in the speculative sci-
ences was very great, and he could discuss
HISTOKY OF SOUTHEAST MISSOURI
life in its many and varied phases, always
from the optimistic point of view. The laws
of mind, soul and being occupied his atten-
tion as well as the ills of the body. He car-
ried sunshine into the sick-room and brought
cheer and hope to the patient."
Dr. Wilson was an active member of
American Medical Association and was elected
a delegate from Southeastern Missouri to
the convention of this organization at Los
Angeles, California, in June, 1911, but he did
not live to attend. He also held membership
in the Missouri State iledical Society and
the Southeastern JMissouri iledical Society,
and he commanded at all times the confidence
and high regard of his professional confreres.
In a fraternal way he was affiliated with the
Independent Order of Odd Fellows, the Mod-
ern Woodmen of America and the Woodmen
of the World. He was well versed in the
scripture, and one of his greatest pleasures
was conversing on biblical subjects. He spent
many happy hours thinking and talking of
the "Great Beyond."
On the 23d of July, 1896, was solemnized
the marriage of Dr. Wilson to iliss I\Iattie
Grant, who was at the time only fourteen
years of age, but who proved to him a de-
voted wife and helpmeet and of whose love
and solicitude he ever manifested the deepest
appreciation. Significantly was this shown
in virtually his last words, when he said to
his devoted wife : ' ' Darling, my happy hours
are unnumberable, for they were all happy
with you. Let me die in your arms." Mrs.
Wilson, who still maintains her home at
Puxico, was born at Fulton, Kentucky. No-
vember 22, 1881, and is a daughter of James
H. and ]Mary (Stanley) Grant. Her grand-
father was a second cousin of General Ulysses
S. Grant, whom he resembled closely in ap-
pearance, and her father also resembles that
revered personage so much that he is always
called General by all of his acquaintances.
His birth occurred February 22, 1836, at
Knoxville, Tennessee. The parents of Mrs.
Wilson came to Stoddard county, ilissouri,
in 1886, and her father established a nursery
in Dunklin county, near Maiden, although his
home was near Puxico, in Stoddard county.
The mother died when ]Mrs. Wilson was but
one month old, December 22, 1881. Dr. and
Mrs. Wilson became the parents of two chil-
dren, both of whom survive the honored fa-
ther: Elsie, who was born on the 19th of
November, 1897, and Ettie, who was born on
the 3d of August, 1899. Mrs. Wilson was
in close sympathy with her husband in all
his activities and her greatest measure of con-
solation is gained from the gracious memories
and associations of their ideal married life,
the bonds of which were severed all too soon.
She is a popular factor in the social activities
of her home village and has a wide circle of
friends who sj^mpathize in her great loss.
She is a member of the Methodist Episcopal
church.
il. T. James. It is singularly fitting that
men in the employ of the railroads, which are
such promoters of the country 's development,
should as a class be among the broad-minded
and progressive elements of our social fabric.
This condition has been frequently com-
mented upon, especially in the western por-
tion of our country, and in Scott county Mr.
il. T. James is one who upholds the reputa-
tion of his profession for the qualities that
are the foundation of democracy.
Charleston, Missouri, was the birthplace of
M. T. James and his life began on June 1,
1877. His parents were H. C. James and
Alice Courtway James. His father had in
his youth inherited from his mother a large
farm near Charleston. He was the sole heir
and his guardians sent him to school at Ste.
Genevieve. When he attained his majority
he sold his farm and went into the saloon
business, which he followed until his death,
in 1883. He left a daughter, Beulah, besides
his wife and M. T. James, the subject of this
sketch. Mrs. James later married John Mil-
ler, of Gordonville, Missouri. By her second
union she had three sons and one daughter.
The latter, Margaret by name, is now the wife
of a Mr. Boyd of Kansas City, in which city
Mrs. Miller makes her home with her sons,
Herbert and Otto Miller. Herbert is in the
newspaper business and Otto is in the employ
of the Western Union. Charles Miller is a
musician in Billings, Montana. Mr. James'
own sister, Beulah, is Mrs. Kinzley, of
Kevtesville, Missouri. Mr. Miller died in
1899.
Mr. James received a common-school educa-
tion at Allentown, Jlissouri, and upon com-
pletion of that course went to work, first at
farming and then at public work for the
county and towns. When he was twenty he
entered the employ of the Iron Mountain
Railroad Company at Jackson, Missouri. In
1899 he left that road and accepted a position
in the scale department of the Rock Island
Railway at Toj^eka, Kansas. He remained in
1240
HISTORY OF SOUTHEAST MISSOURI
this branch of the service from January un-
til September and then began braking for the
same road. He stayed with them in the ca-
pacity of brakeman for four years and then
spent two years in the same work for the Cot-
ton Belt, having his headquarters at Jones-
boro, Arkansas. At the end of that time he
was promoted to freight conductor. His next
position was with the Frisco, after a year as
freight conductor on the Cotton Belt. In
January, 1906, he came to Chaffee, where he
has since been at different times switchman,
engine foreman, night and day yardmaster
and conductor for the Frisco. He is now gen-
eral yardmaster at Chaffee.
The community has signified its apprecia-
tion of Mr. James' administrative abilities, as
well as of his other good qualities, by electing
him mayor of Chaffee. He entered upon this
office in April, 1911. In the Brotherhood of
Railroad Trainmen he is a popular and influ-
ential member. He has tilled all the offices in
that organization, including that of president,
and is now serving his third year as treas-
urer. He is local chairman of the Grievance
Committee.
Other lodges in which Mr. James holds
membership are the Masons, at Illmo, Mis-
souri, and the Ben Hur of Chaffee. In the
latter he is master of ceremonies. To his
other activities Sir. James adds that of a
worker in the Baptist church, of which he and
his wife are members. He is president of the
B. Y. P. U.
Mrs. James was formerly Miss Katie Sum-
merlin, of Cape Girardeau county, and is the
daughter of L. J. Summerlin. She was mar-
ried to Mr. James November 8, 1900. They
have two children, Lucile, born August 26,
1903, and Louis, on December 19, 1905.
Ralph E. Bailey, the former versatile su-
perintendent of the Sikeston schools and an
attorney of unusual knowledge of law and
jurisprudence, was born in Harrison county,
Missouri, July 14, 1878. He grew up on the
farm and attended the common schools, but
this was only the beginning of his schooling.
He graduated from the high school of Burton,
Illinois, and later from the normal at Cape
Girardeau. Upon completing his course in
the State Nonnal he took a special course in
the State University. Mr. Bailey began teach-
ing before he finished his training in the
schools and colleges. His work in South-
eastern Missouri began in Stoddard county,
where he came to teach in 1897. Cape Gi-
rardeau and Scott counties were also the
scenes of his labors in the field of education.
After graduating from the normal in 1901,
ilr. Bailey was principal of the Bloomfield,
Missouri, high school and later was tendered
the superintendency in the same town. From
Bloomfield he was called to Sikeston in 1906
to take charge of the schools here. After serv-
ing as superintendent for two years he re-
turned to Bloomfield to practice law and spent
two 3'ears there in the legal profession. How-
ever, the board and the people of Sikeston pre-
vailed upon him to come back to their city and
resume the management of the schools, so from
1910 to 1912 ilr. Bailey was city superin-
tendent again in Sikeston, but has now gone
into the law permanently and is the present
city attorney of Sikeston.
Mr. Bailey is married and has three chil-
dren, Roger, Honora and Mildred. His wife
was formerly Miss Agnes "Williams, of Mt.
Vernon, Illinois. He and Mrs. Bailey are
members of the Christian church.
As a lawyer Mr. Bailey enjoys an enviable
reputation for learning, being one of the few
lawyers of Scott county who have passed the
strict examination required for admittance to
the bar of the supreme court. He was admit-
ted to that bar in 1907. The Odd Fellows
count him among their most honored members,
and he is now district deputy grand master,
and he is a past noble grand of lodge No. 358
at Sikeston.
W. E. Finney. During the past twelve
years the business interests of Advance, Stod-
dard county, Missouri, have had a potent fac-
tor in W. E. Finney, who came here from Chi-
cago in 1898. Since that time the town has
enjoyed a remarkable growth; the flour mill
has been built, the telephones have been in-
stalled, and buildings of various kinds have
been erected, in all of which work Mr. Finney
has had a share. Some personal mention of
him is therefore pertinent in this biographical
record, devoted as it is to a portrayal of the
lives of the leading citizens of Southeastern
Missouri.
W. E. Finney was born February 12, 1859,
in St. Louis, Missouri, and there passed a por-
tion of his boyhood. Wlien in his teens he was
sent to a German Moravian school in Pennsyl-
vania, and later he took a commercial course in
New York City, where he spent one year. He
was then about eighteen, and the death of his
father made it necessary for him to leave
school and take up the responsibilities of life
HISTORY OF SOUTHEAST MISSOURI
1241
in the way of work to help support his mother
and younger brother. Soon after this he went
to New England, where he became identified
with a lumber concern, and where he re-
mained ten years, being fairly prosperous
during this time. At the end of this period
family interests brought him back to St. Louis.
The next few years he was connected with a
bridge and tunnel company of that city, and
from there went to Chicago, where he was pay-
master for an electric light company. He
spent nine years in Chicago, and in 1898 came
from there to Advance, as already mentioned
in the beginning of this sketch. Here he as-
sociated himself with SchonhofE Brothers, in
a hardware business. With others he helped
to promote the flour mill of Advance, and was
also identified with the organization of the
telephone company at this place. The past
five years he has been engaged in the real es-
tate and insurance business, at present having
his office in the Exchange Bank Building. He
owns the residence he and his family occupy,
and as a real estate man he has been instru-
mental in having others build good homes
here.
Mr. Finney has been twice married. By his
first wife, Eva (Young) Finney, whom he
married in Maine, he has one child, Jameson,
of Bethel. Maine.' On July 3, 1900. he was
married at Advance to Miss Josephine Schon-
hoff, a sister of Schonhoff Brothers, with
whom he was associated in business. The chil-
dren of this union are as follows: John Lee,
born in 1902 ; Bessie, in 1903, and William, in
1909.
Politically Mr. Finney is a Democrat. Re-
ligiously he is an Episcopalian, while his wife
is a Catholic.
John W. McColgan. One of the new and
thriving industries which are contributing so
materially to Stoddard county's wealth and
prosperity is the stave manufactory of J. W.
McColgan, of Dexter, this concern being op-
erated at Gray's Ridge, a hamlet set in the
midst of a fine farming district. This is, in-
deed, the town's only industry and it is of
recent establishment. Mr. McColgan is a ben-
efactor to the commiinity, as every industrial
captain must needs be, for he gives employ-
ment to forty men and affords a market for
material. His name is prominently identified
with the drainage movement which redeemed
so many acres in Stoddard county and he him-
self owns twelve hundred acres. He estab-
lished a general store at Gray's Ridge in 1901,
and conducted it until two years ago, at the
same time operating a spoke mill and engag-
ing in other business. He has been particu-
larly interested in the development of land and
his was the remarkable achievement of clear-
ing, ditching and fencing five hundred acres
of bottom land. Of the 1,600 acres of which
he is the owner over half is under cultivation.
He bought out the stave mill in 1909 and he
has improved and widened the scope of this
industry. This turns out about $125.00 worth
of staves per day and from fifteen to forty
men are employed and occasionally seventy-
five. He is a man of the most comprehensive
executive abilitj' and in addition to his other
important concerns he has conducted a store
at Idalia for a year. He is not in polities, hav-
ing no desire for the honors and emoluments
of office, but giving to public matters the con-
sideration of the intelligent voter.
John W. McColgan was born in Hamilton
county, Illinois, on the 1st day of May, 1862.
He is a son of John and Mary (Davis) McCol-
gan, the former a native of Kentucky and the
latter of Illinois. The young McColgan re-
moved to Oklahoma when it was still the In-
dian Territory, and there he engaged in the
stock business. He then went to Wayne
county, Illinois, and established a store, while
at the same time farming, and after a time he
came on to this state, where good fortunes
awaited him. During his residence in Mis-
souri he has always made his home in Dexter.
Mr. McColgan is a self-made man and when
he came here had very little capital with
which to start. He would buy land cheap and
await his opportunity to sell at a profit and
thus soon came into the possession of ampler
means. On the whole he has made most satis-
factory progress. Gray's Ridge, the village
in which his factory is located, is a station on
the Cairo branch of the Iron Mountain Rail-
way, ten miles east of Dexter in the famous
East Swamp. It has two stores and a stave
mill, the latter being its only industry.
Mr. McColgan was married in White county,
Illinois, in the year 1892, to Miss Delia Big-
gersteff, daughter of Albert Biggersteff, and
their marriage has been blessed by the birth
of a family of four children, as follows : Reba,
Erie, Ruth and Lee. Erie was graduated
from the Dexter high school in 1910 and is
now a student in the Hardin College of Mex-
ico. Missouri. Reba graduated from the high
school in 1911. and is now attending the state
university at Columbia, Missouri. Mrs. Mc-
Colgan is a member of the Methodist church.
1242
HISTORY OF SOUTHEAST MISSOURI
Mr. and Mrs. McColgan stand high in the
fommunit}', in whose affairs they take a use-
ful part.
Winifred Johnson. One of the most val-
ued members of the faculty of the Missouri
State Normal School at Cape Girardeau, and
one of the leaders in the progressive move-
ments in the town, is Miss Winifred Johnson.
She is the descendant of a long line of an-
cestors who distinguished themselves in many
fields. Some of them were gfted and capable
teachers, and early in her life she determined
to fit herself for this honorable profession.
She has given many of her years as a teacher
to the service of the school in which she is at
present teaching, and her fine qualities of
mind and heart, as well as the loyal service
which she has given to the school, have won
for her the admiration and regard of teach-
ers, students and townspeople.
Winifred Johnson was born in Monroe
county, Ohio, not far from Sistersville, West
Virginia. She is the daughter of Enoch
Dye Johnson, whose family was founded in
the United States by Abraham Johnson. The
latter was a native of New Jersey, and was
born about 1700, of English ancestry and
parentage. It was during the year 1740 that
he came to Virginia, where he settled in the
Patterson's Creek region. This part of the
country was still frontier country, and In-
dians were numerous. Abraham Johnson
was unafraid, however, and settled on land
which he bought of Lord Fairfax, the original
deed of which is still in existence. He
set to work and improved his land, though
he had more than one skirmish with the
Indians, and on one occasion would have
probably been surprised and mas.sacred
had it not been for the warning of a
friendly Indian. He built a spacious
dwelling house, a fine example of the manor
house that was erected with future genera-
tions in mind. Men had not yet drifted away
from the ideas and traditions of the mother
country. Here George Washington was once
entertained, and to-day the old house is still
inhabited by the descendants of the original
builder. He was a well educated man, and
was an Episcopalian, being of a strong re-
ligious nature and a staunch supporter of the
Apostolic faith. He was prominent in the life
of that region, as is shown bj^ his position as
justice of the peace and as high sheriff of the
county, which were of much more importance
and honor than they are to-dav. His wife.
Rachel Johnson, was born in New Jersey and
was also purely English in parentage and
ancestry. She was a member of the Episcopal
church, and was a woman of great strength of
character, and with as strong religious views
as her husband. This couple left two sons and
one daughter, whose descendents settled in
Maryland, Virginia, Ohio and Indiana.
The eldest of the sons, William, was born in
Virginia in 1762. The homestead came to
him by inheritance, and after the death of
his father he filled the same place in the life
of the section that his father had filled before
him. He was an Episcopalian, and filled
many positions of responsibility, becoming
one of the leading men of the community.
He married Catherine Parker, who was bom
on the 27th of November, 1764. Her ances-
tors had come from England in the early
days and had settled on the south branch of
the Potomac river. They were a family of
education and had a wide influence in the
life of the community. William and Cather-
ine Parker had a family of nine children, of
whom seven married and reared large fam-
ilies, many of whose descendants are to-day
residing in this section.
One of their sons, William Johnson, born
in Hampshire county, on the 25th of October,
1789, was one of the early settlers on the Ohio
river. He came to the banks of this river in
1812 and here purchased land in what was
later organized into the county of Tyler, Vir-
ginia. He turned from the creed of his
fathers and became a member of the Baptist
denomination in 182S. Since there was no
church in that part of Tyler county, he built
an addition to his house which contained a
room large enough for religious services, and
it remained a regular preaching .station until
the time of his death. The Long Reach Bap-
tist church was organized in tliis room and he
gave most of the funds for the erection of the
meeting house that was later built in the town
of Sistersville, distant about seven miles. lie
was probably the most influential layman in
the history of the Baptist denomination in
northwestern Virginia. He was very promi-
nent in the political life of the region, p^-'^
held various county and other offices. He
was the leader in the development of the coun-
try agriculturally. He was the first to plant
orchards and to introduce new methods into
the farming life of the region. He shipped
farm products by flat boat to New Orleans
and sent his cattle overland to the markets
at Pittsburg and Baltimore. He lived, how-
HISTORY OF SOUTHEAST MISSOURI
1243
ever, to see other transportation made pos-
sible. Shortly after coming to the Ohio river,
in 1813, he married Elizabeth Taylor, of South
Branch Valley. She was born in 1795, on
the 25th of January, and was a member of the
well known family of the Old Dominion to
which President Zachary Taylor belonged.
She was a quiet, earnest woman, helpful to
all, be they friends or strangers, and her
death on the 4th of April, 1828, was a loss to
the community. On the 18th of November,
1830, Mr. Johnson was re-married, his second
wife being Elizabeth Dye, who was born in
Monroe county, Ohio, ou the 10th of Decem-
ber, 1807. She was the grand-daughter of
Daniel and Abigail Dye, who were among
tJie first to brave the terrors of the wilderness
in what was then the Northwest Territory.
They came to Ohio from the region of Manas-
sas, Virginia, and had a prominent part in
the early life of this section of the frontier.
Mrs. Johnson's father and mother were Dan-
iel and Teresa Dye, both of Ohio. Elizabeth
Dye Johnson was ' ' a wise and careful mother,
an earnest religious worker, and a warm
friend to all." She died on the 13th of Oc-
tober, 1869. Eight children were born to the
first wife, and to the second wife eleven chil-
dren were born, fourteen of whom married
and reared families. The family of William
Johnson has numbered altogether about
three hundred and fort.y, of whom more
than two-thirds are now living. Many
of these, both men and women, have been ac-
tive in educational work, and the faculties of
Harvard and Columbia Universities. Denison
University, the Universities of West Virginia
and Georgia, and of the normal schools of
four states, number representatives of this
family among them.
Enoch Dye Johnson, the son of William
and Elizabeth Dye Johnson, was born on the
24th of November, 1832, at Long Reach, Vir-
ginia. He was educated at ilarietta, Ohio,
and has spent the greater part of his life in
Monroe county, Ohio, near Sistersville, West
Virginia. Here he led the life of a farmer,
and was prominent in all the religioiTS, char-
itable and educational work of the section,
spending much of his time in the service of
his fellow citizens. For many years he was
clerk of the Long Reach Baptist church at Sis-
tersville, West Virginia, and superintendent
of its Sunday-school. He is "a man of the
highest integrity, well-known and honored
throughout all the region where his life has
been spent, beloved and trusted by all. ' ' He
reared his family in Monroe county, but he is
now living in :\larietta, Ohio. It was on the
12th of November, 1855, that he was married
to Charlotte Dibble, who was born in Mari-
etta, Ohio, on the 24th of August, 1832. She
was educated in Marietta, Ohio, and taught in
the public schools, both in her home town and
in other places. She was a Baptist, and "a
woman of quiet but strong and winning per-
sonality and of much influence, active in all
religious and charitable work." She died in
Monroe county, Ohio, on the 26th of August,
1873, at the early age of forty-one. She was
a direct descendant of Captain Myles Stan-
dish and of John Alden through the follow-
iiig line of descent: Myles Standish married
his cousin, Barbai-a Standish, and their son,
Alexander Standish, married Sarah Alden,
the daughter of John Alden and Priscilla
Mullins. Elizabeth Standish, the daughter of
Alexander and Sarah, married Samuel De-
lano, of the old French family of De La No.ye.
Her daughter, Elizabeth Delano, married
Joseph Chandler III, of Pembroke, and had a
son, Benjamin Chandler. The latter lived in
Vermont, where he married Elizabeth Geof-
freys, a native of that state. • He was killed in
the battle of Bennington, and his son, Joseph
Chandler, who was with his father at the bat-
tle of Bennington, continuetl the line, through
his marriage with Patient j\Iary Andrews, of
Vermont. Their daughter, Hannah Chandler,
married David Bingham, the son of Solomon
axid Rachel Bingham, of Rutland county,
Vermont, and her daughter, Edna Harkness
Bingham, married Collis Dibble, of Walling-
ford, Connecticut, whose father and grand-
father were soldiers in the Revolutionary
war. These two were the grandparents of
Winifred Johnson, Charlotte Dibble being
their daughter. It is an interesting ancestry
and one of which Miss Johnson should be
proud, not because of what her forefathers
were, but of what they did.
Winifred Johnson received her elementary
education in the schools of Monroe county,
Ohio, later attending the high school in Park-
ersburg. West Virginia. She took her college
work at Denison University, Ohio, and in
Waynesburg College, Penns.ylvania. She re-
ceived an A. B. degree from the latter institu-
tion in 1890, and in 1893 the same college con-
ferred the degree of A. M. upon her. Before
she had completed her college work she taught
for short periods in the public schools of Ohio
and West Virginia, and in the West Virginia
Academy at Buckhannon, West Virginia. In
1244
HISTORY OF SOUTHEAST MISSOURI
1890 she was made a member of the faculty of
the State Normal School at Cape Girardeau,
IVIissouri, and has remained there since that
time. She has been on leave of absence dur-
ing two years of her connection with the
normal school and has spent these in study
at Leland Stanford University in California
and at the University of Chicago.
Miss Johnson is a member of the Baptist
church, and is active in the church work. She
is a teacher in the Sunda3'-school and is con-
nected witli all phases of the charitable and
religious work of the city. She is a member
of the Nancy Hunter Chapter of the Daugh-
ter of the American Revolution, of the Alden
Kindred of America, of the Massachusetts So-
ciety- of ilayriower Descendants, of the Amer-
ican Historical Association and of the State
Historical Society of Missouri. She is also
a member of other patriotic, civic, educational
and religious organizations, to all of which she
brings keen interest and enthusiasm.
Louis Franklin Dinning is a son of David
M. and Sophia Dinning: his mother's maiden
name was Jlilliken. His grandfather Milli-
ken and family moved to Jackson county. Mis-
souri. Sometime afterward his father moved
to the same county in Missouri, where he and
the mother of the subject of this sketch
were married, settled down on a farm,
and where Louis F. was born. The par-
ents were born in Simpson county, Ken-
tucky. When Louis F. was about four
years old his parents moved back to Simp-
son county, Kentucky, where their son was
reared on a farm; he has no recollection
of ever being in Missouri until he returned to
the state after he was grown. He was edu-
cated in tlie common schools of Simpson
county and in Little Springs Academy, a
school founded b.y Professor John Alexander,
in which school quite a number of prominent
men in that part of Missouri were educated.
The school was located near the village of
Middleton, Logan county, Kentucky. Mr.
Dinning from a hoy up always said that he
intended to return to Missouri when he was
grown and study law. In February, 1861, he
returned to the state of Missouri and located
in Ste. Genevieve county, in which he taught
school ten months. He then got a school at the
Brick church, near Big River Mills, in St.
Francois county, Missouri: he taught school
in that church three years. During the time
he was teaching school at the Brick church
he was studying law at nights and Saturdays.
When he commenced to study law he went to
the Honorable William Carter, then of Farm-
ington, for advise and instructions. Mr. Car-
ter gave him all the information he could
concerning the study of the law ; advised him
what books to study and loaned him the books.
xVs a rule young Dinning went to Farmington
not less than once in two weeks and generally
one a week and returned the book he had to
Mr. Carter and borrowed the next one. The
Honorable William Carter was elected judge
of the twentieth judicial circuit.
In November, 1864, Mr. Dinning married
Rushie Lee Tyler, daughter of John V. and
Amanda Tyler, of Big River ilills, St. Fran-
cois county, Missouri. In May, 1865, Judge
Carter gave ilr. Dinning a license to practice
law and administered him the oath required
under the law to be taken by all lawyers in
Missouri. Mr. Dinning, after he was married,
taught a school for one term in Irondale,
Washington county, Missouri. Judge Carter
had for many years lived in Potosi, ilissouri,
and was a law partner of Hon. David E. Fer-
ryman, of that town. The firm name was Fer-
ryman and Carter. Through the influence
and friendship of Judge Carter, Mr. Dinning
was enabled to enter the law offices of Mr.
Perryman, who had been for some time prac-
ticing law with Mr. Israel McGrady, under the'
name of Perryman & McGrad.y. But what
was known in that time as the test oath barred
Judge Perryman from the practice, for he
would not subscribe to the same. Mr. Din-
ning moved to Potosi in November, 1865.
Judge Perryman at that time had a fairly
good law library. Mr. Dinning and Mr. Israel
McGrady formed a partnership under the
firm name of ilcGrady & Dinning. This firm
did a good local practice. Mr. McGrady was
an old citizen and had been clerk for many
years of the circuit court of Washington,
count3% ]\Iissouri. He was a first class busi-
ness man. not rich, but well to do and respon-
sible for any collections that might be placed
in the hands of the firm. At that time most
all the collections were made through attor-
neys and it was very important that the firms
of lawyers should be thoroughly solvent and
financially good. Mr. McGrady possessed
these qualifications and was of great aid in
bringing clients to their office. After the test
oath had been declared unconstitutional b.y the
supreme court of the United States. Mr. Mc-
Grady retired from the practice and Mr. Din-
ning formed a copartnership with Mr. Perry-
man, under the firm name of Perryman &
HISTORY OF SOUTHEAST MISSOURI
1245
Dinning. Judge Ferryman at that time was
well known all over Southern ;\Iissouri as a
good lawyer, and this firm did a good business.
In 1866 Dinning was nominated by the Dem-
ocratic party for the office of circuit attorney
and was elected; that year the Republican
party got into a row and nominated two can-
didates for that office and either preferred
Dinning to the rival candidate of his own
party. Charges of disloyalty, etc., were lodged
against Dinning with the Governor, who for
quite a while refused to issue a commission to
Dinning. After Dinning gave up hope of
getting a commission it was then that he
formed the copartnership with ilr. Perrj-man.
Some time in the year 1867 the governor of
Missouri issued a commission to Dinning as
circuit attorney under his election to that of-
fice. Dinning could not serve as circuit at-
tornej- without dissolving his relations with
Mr. Ferryman, so he resigned the office of
circuit attorney and the Governor appointed
Hon. Ira E. Leonard to serve out the time.
In 1868 he was nominated by the Democrats
of the Fifteenth judicial circuit for judge of
that circuit. At the election following in
November Dinning was elected and his election
was certified to the Governor by Hon. Francis
Rodman, then seci-etary of state. James H.
Vail, who was the Republican nominee for
judge at the same election, filed in the su-
preme court of Missouri a petition contesting
Dinning 's election. This petition charged
Dinning of disloyalt\' and of aiding and abet-
ting the rebellion; that he was not thirty
years old and many other reasons. Dinning 's
attorney, the Hon. Samuel T. Glover, filed a
inotion to dismiss this contest proceedings for
the reasons that the supreme court had no
jurisdiction to hear and determine the same.
The supreme court sustained this motion and
dismissed the case. Mr. Vail and his attor-
neys went before the governor of the state and
filed these charges against Dinning with that
official. The Governor (Joseph W. MeClurg)
who entertained jurisdiction of the case and
without notice of any kind to Dinning sat in
solemn judgment upon the rights of Dinning
and more especially upon the rights of the
people of the Fifteenth circuit. His Excel-
lency found the issues for 'Sir. Vail and issued
to him a commission as judge of the Twenty-
sixth judicial circuit. Frior to this the legis-
lature had redistricted the state and renum-
bered the circuits and this, the Fifteenth, was
called the Twenty-sixth in that revision.
"When Hon. B. Grafts Brown was elected
governor he issued a commission to Dinning as
judge of the Twenty-sixth judicial circuit, and
under that commission Dinning held a term of
court in Iron county and one in Reynolds
county. Judge Vail sued out of of the su-
preme court a writ of mandamus to compel the
auditor to pay Vail the salary. The supreme
court sustained the application and issued an
order to allow the salary in favor of Vail, and
also in that opinion held that Governor Brown
could not issue a commission after his prede-
cessor had issued a commission to the opposite
candidate. Dinning then went to work and
tried to get the matters before the courts of
the state, as no one but a circuit attorney or
the attorney general at that time could "pre-
sent a petition for the writ of quo warranto.
The circuit attorney refused to sign a petition
for this writ ; Dinning then applied to the at-
torney general, who also refused to sign a peti-
tion for the writ. The matters stood still then
until in 1872, when the voters elected a Demo-
crat to the office of attorney general of the
state (Hon. H. Clay Ewing). General Ewiug
on the part of the state applied to the supreme
court for a writ of quo warranto against
James H. Vail, asking him to show by what
authority he held the office of judge of the
Twenty-sixth judicial circuit and in July
1873, the supreme court rendered a judgment
ousting Judge Vail from the office to which
he had no title except a void commission is-
sued him by Governor .AlcClurg. Right after
this decision the governor of the state of Mis-
souri gave Dinning a commission as judge of
the Twenty-sixth judicial circuit based upon
the certificate of his election as given by the
secretary of state. Judge Dinning during
this contest was a very poor man and would
never have prosecuted it except for the fact
that he felt under obligations to the people
of the circuit and knew that their rights had
been shamefully trampled under foot and
that he. Dinning, was the only person in a
position to assist the people in a restoration
of their rights, which had been taken from
them by mere force of power. In 1876 Din-
ning was again nominated for judge of the
Twenty-sixth judicial circuit. His two years
on the bench had convinced the Republicans
that there had been many things said about
Dinning that was untrue, and his record made
on the circuit bench met the approval of the
Republican party. When that party's con-
vention met for the purpose of nominating a
candidate for circuit judge, instead of nomi-
nating a candidate they passed a resolution
1246
HISTORY OF SOUTHEAST MISSOURI
to the effect that they would make no uomiua-
tion for that office but vote foi- Louis F. Din-
ning, which the Republicans did as nearly
unanimous, doubtless, as thej' did for any can-
didate of their own party. At that time it will
be borne in mind we had no Australian ballot.
Judge Dinning was the youngest man ever
elected to the circuit bench in Missouri; and
he had fewer cases reversed by the suj)reme
court than anj^ judge ever had who occupied
that position. Since his retirement from the
circuit bench, in ISSl, he has still held the
i-ecord. No circuit judge since that time has
had fewer cases reversed than Judge Dinning
had for the same length of time. The opinion
of the supreme court, which finally ended
this long controversy in the judgment ousting
Judge Vail, will be found in the 53rd Mo.
Rep. page 97.
At the time Dinning was judge the salary
was oul}^ two thousand dollars per year, he
paying his expenses out of that. After he got
into the contest with Judge Vail, who was on
the bench at that time, of course Dinning lost
all the practice he had or very nearly all,
for whether there is any thing to it or not
there are few people who want to employ a
lawyer to attend to their case who is litigating
the judge on the bench as to his rights to oc-
cupj^ that seat. When he had served this
second term in office he had not paid all the
debts he had contracted during the contest.
For him and his little family to live during
these years he was forced to borrow money.
His friends stood loyally by him to this ex-
tent, they would sign his note to anybody who
had the money to loan. No one ever assisted
him in a financial way in this contest to the
extent of one cent except Hon. Samuel T.
Glover, of St. Louis, who rendered him much
valuable assistance in a legal way, for which
he made no charge. On account of the small
salary paid the circuit judge he was com-
pelled to decline a re-election and seek some-
thing that would enable him and his family
to live and pay his debts ( move the mortgage
from off his little home at Potosi). After he
retired from the circuit bench, he and the
Hon. Sam Byrns, of Jefferson county, formed
a partnership to practice law. under the firm
name of Dinning & Byrns. This firm lasted
for sixteen years and did a large and lucra-
tive practice. Mr. Byrns at the time was a
member of the senate, had served a term in
the lower house of the Missouri legislature and
later was elected a member of congress from
the tenth district. This law firm was ap-
pointtd assistant attorneys for the St. Louis
Iron Mountain & Southern Railroad Company
by the Hon. Martin L. Clardy as soon as he
was made general attorney of that company.
The firm was dissolved the first of January
1897, and Judge Dinning continued to repre-
sent the railroad as assistant attorney until
1907, when he resigned. His home was in
Potosi from the fall of 1S65 to 1910, when he
moved with his family to Poplar Bluff, Butler
county, Missouri. In 18SS Judge Dinning
made an active canvass for judge of the St.
Louis court of appeals and was beaten in the
convention bj' one vote. He never ran for a
political office nor had any inclination to hold
one. Has always admired the country, the
farm and the woods; he never has taken any
stock in many of the new things and ways of
the people of modern times. He has never had
any desire to read novels of any kind, main-
taining always that there were enough of
realities of life to occupy the mind. With the
exception of two or three novels he never read
any, and these he did read were connected
with the law. When he left the circuit bench
he determined to devote his attention especi-
ally to corporation and real estate law ; and
so he has and has done a large amount of
business, especially concerning land titles in
Missouri.
Few men are better known in Missouri than
Judge Dinning. His practice has extended
to most of the counties in Southeastern Mis-
souri. His reputation as a lawyer is coexten-
sive with the state. There were born of his
marriage eleven children. His wife died in
November, 1889, and they had seven daughters
and four sons ; three daughters and two sons
have died, leaving six children: Loulee, who
married Frank X. Teasdale, a druggist of
Louisiana, Pike county, Missouri; Louis F.,
Jr., who married Miss Florence Marriott, of
Sulphur Springs, Missouri, and who is living
and practicing law in Poplar Bluff; i\Iadge,
who married Frank J. Flynn, is assistant
cashier of the Washington Bank, and they
live in Potosi, jMissouri, and have had two chil-
dren, a little boy who died and one, a girl
named Rushie Lee, after her grandmother;
Katherine T., Genevieve and Sara B. are liv-
ing at home with their father at Poplar Bluff,
Missouri. Judge Dinning gave his children
a liberal education, Louis F. Dinning, Jr.,
was educated at Christian Brothers College,
of St. Louis, Missouri, and in the law depart-
ment of the University at Columbia. Sam
Byrns Dinning was educated at St. Marys
HISTORY OF SOUTHEAST MISSOURI
1247
College, St. Marys, Kansas, and at Gem City
Business College, Quiney, Illinois. His daugh-
ters were educated at Arcadia College, Ar-
cadia, Missouri.
Judge Diuning wlieu he started his little
school in Ste. Genevieve county, was as poor
as one will get. He has always maintained
that no one can succeed in law if he has any
other business to carry on with it. He is a
firm believer in Lord Bacon's opinion on this
subject: "The law is a jealous mistress and
if you wish to win her favors you must court
her alone." B.v economy, industry and fru-
gality. Judge Diuning has acquired a compe-
tency, and is in easy circumstances, but by no
means rich. He and his family belong to the
Roman Catholic church. He and his wife
when they were young became converts to that
church and raised their children in that faith.
While the Judge admits that some men
may be born poets, he has always insisted
that no man was born a lawyer. For a num-
ber of years his practice had been chiefly in
the southeastern part of the state, where he
has represented large corporations and large
land interest, all the time retaining his home
at Potosi, Missouri, though for a number of
years his offices were kept in De Soto, Mis-
souri, and in 1910 he decided to make his home
in Poplar Bluff, where he now resides in a
beautiful home, 621 Cynthia street.
Politically Judge Dinning was always a
Democrat. He took no part in the late Civil
war. He was a great friend of the late Rich-
ard P. Bland, and endorsed that statesman's
views on the silver question. Dinning has al-
ways insisted that Congress had no power to
destro.y or demonetize silver. Judge Dinning 's
career is one in which all who know him may
well feel a personal pride and the exalted place
he holds in the hearts and minds of his fellow
citizens is but the inevitable result of an up-
right and honorable career.
J. H. ScHONHOFP, of Advance, Stoddard
county, Missouri, was born at Cape Girardeau,
this state, November 6, 1860, and, as his name
indicates, is of German descent. In his youth
he had the advantage of the public schools,
after which he was sent to a private German
school, and he also took a course of study at
Chambers' Commercial College in his native
town.
In the spring of 1884, at the age of twenty-
four, he came to Advance, and it may be said
of him that he got in on the "ground floor."
While he had no financial capital with which
to make an entering wedge, he had a fine
physique and good judgment, and he was
equipped with a knowledge of the blacksmith's
trade that is gained only by work in the shop.
This was just before the arrival of the rail-
road. While it was being built T. J. Morse
opened extensive tie works here, and J. H.
Schonhoff was employed as blacksmith. The
work was so heavy that it reciuired an assist-
ant, and he employed a man. Also about
this time his brother, the wagonmaker, came,
and together the two Schonhoffs branched out
into a hardware business. In the meantime,
in May of the year he came to Advance, J. H.
Schonhoff married, and the first year of his
married life was spent in a little three-room
box house. Then he built a larger house, but
a cheap one, into which he moved, and while
he had some discouragements, in the way of
losing money through dishonest lawyers, yet
he worked away and planned ahead, with the
result that his j'ears of labor and his various
investments have netted him not only a com-
fortable competency but have placed him at
the head of the financial interests in the town.
The lots he bought on the installment plan
and the farm lands he put his money into have
increased in value and thus show the wisdom
of his investments. He has been engaged in
his present business — hardware and imple-
ments— since about 1890, when he opened up
a stock in a little shed, which he occupied
seven or eight years, and from which he moved
to his present store about 1898. Here he car-
ries a first-class line of implements and all
kinds of hardware. In connection with his
brother he is interested in nearly everything
of importance in the town. He helped to or-
ganize the Bank of Advance, of which he has
been president most of the time since its or-
ganization, and he also helped to promote the
Telephone Company, of which he is president.
One of Mr. Schonhoff 's farms, one hundred
and eighty acre, extends into the town of Ad-
vance, and his ten-room, frame residence is
one of the best here, it being equipped with
private electric light and water-works systems,
and having every modern convenience.
On May 20, 1884, at Cape Girardeau, J. H.
Schonhoff and Miss Theresa Whitelak were
united in marriage. Mrs. Schonhoff shared
with her husband the many disadvantages and
privations incident to life in a new town and
now enjoys with him the comforts of their
modern and commodious home. They have
two children : Clarence, born in May. 1889,
and Joseph, in February, 1894. Personally
1248
HISTORY OF SOUTHEAST :\IISSOURI
Mr. Schonhoff is quiet and unassuming in
manner. He is a man of action rather than
words. He was reared in the Catholic church,
of which he is a devout member, and politic-
ally he affiliates with the Democratic party.
Samuel L. Ramsey. The march of im-
provement and progress is accelerated day by
day and each successive moment seems to de-
mand a man of broader intelligence and a
keener discernment than the preceding. The
successful men must be live men in this day,
active, strong to plan and perform and with
a recognition of opportunity that enables them
to grasp and utilize the possibilities of the
moment. Such a class finds a worthy repi-e-
sentative in Samuel L. Ramsey, who has been
identified with a number of important busi-
ness ventures in Stoddard county, Missouri,
since the initiation of his active career, and
who is now living on his fine rural estate of
one hundred and sixty acres, some miles dis-
tant from Frisco.
Samuel L. Ramsey was born in Union
county, Kentucky, on the 2nd of Februarj-,
1868, and he is a son of John L. and Susan
A. (Lay) Ramsey, the former of whom was
born at Bolivar, in Hardeman countv, Ten-
nessee, on the 23d of March, 1837. John L.
Ramsey is a son of William Ramsey, who was
reared in eastern Tennessee. The Ramsey
family removed from Tennessee to Missouri
in the year 1872, at which time Samuel L.
was a child of but four years of age. Loca-
tion was made on a farm three miles west of
Bernie, on Crawley Ridge, and there the fam-
ily home was maintained until 1886, when the
father retired from active participation in
active business affairs. He is now living with
his son Samuel L. He served as deputy
sheriff and as constable in his native place in
Tennessee and at the time of the inception of
the Civil war gave evidence of his in-
trinsic loyalty to the cause of his beloved
southland by enlisting as a soldier in the
Confederate army. He served with all
honor and distinction as a gallant soldier
from May 15, 1861, to the final surrender,
on the 9th of April, 1865, having been
mustered out of service at Gainesville,
Alabama. He was a member of the regiment
commanded by General Forrest and from the
rank of private was raised to the office of lieu-
tenant of his company. He was never
wounded or captured but at Franklin, Ten-
nessee, bad the experience of being severely
shocked by the explosion of a .shell. He is a
tine old man and his innate kindliness of spirit
and exciting war stories make him an exceed-
ingly interesting character.
On the old homestead farm in Stoddard
county Samuel L. Ramsey was reared to the
age of twenty years. At that time he pur-
chased a tract of one hundred and sixty acres
of land, the same being located ten miles south
of Essex and eleven miles southeast of Dexter.
For this property, which was heavily wooded,
he paid six hundred dollars. The best timber
was cut off and Mr. Ramsey began the arduous
work of clearing. He lived alone in a little
pole shanty that had been built by trappers
and worked on his farm for two years, at the
expiration of which he began to work out by
the month. At the age of twenty-six years he
decided that he needed a better education and
for the succeeding two years he was a student
in the Bernie school. Later he attended train-
ing school at Bloomfield and for four years
he was a popular and successful teacher in
the public schools of Stoddard county. After
his marriage, in 1896, he opened a hardware
store and an undertaking establishment at
Bernie and he continued to be engaged in that
line of work for two years. He then, in 1898,
returned to his farm, where he remained for
four years, at the end of which he had eighty
acres under cultivation. In 1902 he removed
to Essex in order to give his children better
educational advantages and for three years
thereafter he was in the real-estate business,
being in the employ of A. R. Ewing. He made
the race for the nomination for the office of
county assessor, bvit owing to political exigen-
cies he was defeated by about eighty-nine
votes. During 1909-10 he devoted his time
and attention to farming and then he lived
for a short time at Essex, returning to his
country estate in the spring of 1911. He now
has about one hundred acres of his land cleared
and under cultivation and he is engaged in
diversified agriculture and the raising of high-
grade stock.
On the 20th of March, 1896, was recorded
the marriage of Mr. Ramsey to Miss Vera C.
]\Iorris, who was born and reared in Saline
county, Illinois, the year of her nativity hav-
ing been 1876. This union was prolific of nine
children, whose names are here entered in
respective order of birth, — Fern, "Wyman,
Audry, "Willis, Samuel L., Jr., Ivan "Wise,
Loyce, "Vera May and James, the latter two
of whom are twins. The mother of the above
children was called to the life eternal on the
22nd of September, 1910, and the oldest
HISTORY OF SOUTHEAST MISSOURI
1249
daughter, Fern, is now keeping house. The
Ramsey family are popular and prominent in
connection with the best social activities of
their liome community. Jlr. Ramsey is a man
of tine intellect and sterling integrity.
Through his own well directed endeavors he
has carved out a fine success for himself and
as a citizen and business man he commands
the highest regard of his fellow men.
James S. Miller. Endowed with much na-
tive talent and well versed in legal lore, James
S. Miller holds an assured position among the
able and successful attorneys of Bloomfield,
where he is enjoying a substantial law prac-
tice. He was born March 25, 1869. in West-
moreland county, Pennsylvania, where he re-
ceived his elementary education. He was
graduated from the Indiana City Normal
School, in his native state, and subsequently
taught school in that vicinity three terms.
In 1889 ilr. Miller came to Stoddard county,
Missouri, to join his brother, George W. Mil-
ler, who had located on a farm lying six miles
west of Bloomfield in 1879, and is still occupy-
ing it, being one of the prosperous agi'icultur-
ists of his community. After teaching school
in or near Bloomfield for three terms Mr.
Miller read law with George Houck, and in
1892 was admitted to the bar. He began the
practice of his profession in Bloomfield, and
continued his legal work here until 1900,
when he assumed the editorship of the Bloom-
field Cosmos, a Republican paper established
b}^ B. H. Adams, editing during the McKin-
ley campaign. On' account of the ill health of
his wife, Mr. Miller sold his paper in 1902, and
spent sometime in the Ozark Mountains and
in the south. In 1903 he returned to Bloom-
field, where he has since been actively and
successfully employed in the practice of his
profession, having a large and lucrative cli-
entele.
Mr. Miller is a steadfast Republican, and
prominent in party ranks. He has been a
delegate to all state conventions since 1892,
and likewise to congressional conventions. He
is also active in local campaigns, stumping the
county and writing effectively for the Saint
Louis Glohe-Democraf. He has ser^^ed with
distinction on the Republican state committee,
and has been a member and secretary of the
county Republican committee, in the latter
capacity exerting much influence, a Republi-
can, notwithstanding the county is Democratic
by a majority of seven hundred or more vot-
ers, occasionally being elected in office.
In September, 1894, Mr. Miller was united
in marriage with Kate C. Lynch, of Cape Gi-
rardeau, who presides over his household with
a most gracious hospitality. Fraternally Mr.
Miller is a member of the Knights of the Mac-
cabees, and is an active worker in the Knights
of Pythias, being familiar with its lodge work.
He is fond of life in the open, especially en-
joying hunting.
Lewis F. Hunter. Mr. Hunter's life was
spent in the county where he was born and in
its brief span of forty-five years it was his
happy lot to attain success in his chosen work
and the honor and friendship of neighbors
and fellow citizens. He was born August 2,
1851, four yeai-s before his brother Albert E.
He attended Caledonia College and took a
commercial course at the Christian Brothers'
College in St. Louis. After this he came home
and engaged in farming.
Mrs. Lewis Hunter is a sister of Mrs. Albert
Hunter, and is a daughter of the Quaker phy-
sician, John Calvin Pack, and Amanda (Le-
Sieur) Pack, his wife, well known citizens of
New Madrid county in the first half of the
nineteenth century. One son, John Hunter,
born in '1894, two years before his father's
death, is still with his mother, Mrs. Eva Pack
Hunter. Three other children are married;
Mary is Mrs. Joseph Schmuke, of Jackson,
Missouri. The sons, Samuel and Shapley, are
both residents of New Madrid county.
Lewis Hunter was a member of the Ancient
Order of United Workmen, in which order,
as well as in other relations, with his fellow cit-
izens, he was a person of influence and popu-
larity. The cutting oft' of his life on May 9,
1896, in its very prime, deprived the county
of a valuable and esteemed resident.
E. Morrison. Our Middle-West has been
largely settled by men whose fathers were pi-
oneers of the eastern section of our country
and by the sturdy people of northern Europe
who brought their patient thrift to add to the
American "push." Though rapidly passing
from the status of a new country, the oppor-
tunities of this region continue to attract en-
terprising men from the older sections, and
one such in Poplar Bluff is E. Morrison.
Bom in York countj', Pennsylvania, in 1864,
Mr. Morrison early moved with his parents
to Nebraska, attending school in Ashland of
that state and graduating from the high school.
It was in this state that he met and married
Miss Alice Snyder, of Havs countv. The mar-
1250
HISTORY OF SOUTHEAST MISSOURI
riage took place in 1890, the year before Mr.
Morrison came to Poplar Bluff. Mrs. Mor-
rison's parents, Jacques aud Mary Snyder,
also reside here at present. When Mr. Mor-
rison graduated from high school he became
traveling agent for the Iron ilouutain Rail-
way, and was six years with them in that ca-
pacity. He had previously served them as
brakeman. He left the railroad work in 1891
when he came here and went into the manu-
facture of hoops. He entered upon this en-
terprise alone and has now a mill whose daily
output is forty thousand hoops. These are
shipped all over the country from Pennsyl-
vania to California. Mr. Morrison has an-
other mill which employs twenty-five men. He
has at various times been the owner of other
plants of this kind, but at present is conduct-
ing only these two. In city property he has
a number of houses which he rents besides
his own home.
The two children of Mr. and Mrs. Slorrisou
are at present enjoying the advantages of
collegiate training, Eddie C, at Oberlin,
Ohio, that school which has done so much to
preserve high ideals of scholarship and of
the high calling of the college-trained men
and women, and Ethel M., at Columbia, whose
achievements need no introduction to the citi-
zens of the commonwealth whose educational
system it completes.
Mr. Morrison is a man noted for his civic
pride aud devotion. From 1899 until 1910 he
was councilman from the second ward, and iu
that period was unremitting in his efforts to
render the best possible service to the city.
He was eight years chairman of the board of
street commissioners and served two years on
the school board. In all these positions his
work was performed with the single purpose
of advancing the interests of the city.
The fraternal organizations with which Mr.
Morrison is affiliated are the Elks and the
Masons. He has held office in both of these
lodges. The Presbyterian church counts the
Morrison family in the number of its faithful
and interested members. Mr. Morrison's place
among the citizens of influence in Poplar Bluff
is due no less to his public-spiritecl attitude
and sterling personal worth than to his con-
spicuous success in the commerce field.
Claude L. Clary. The manager of the
Sikeston Ice, Light and Power Company, was
born in Carthage, IMissouri, thirty-one years
ago, 1911, on the last day of April. The pro-
which he follows so successfullv was
also that of his father, Albert W. Clary, an
electrical and mechanical engineer, who lost
his life in the power plant of the Southwestern
Missouri Electrical Company at Webb City.
Mr. Albert Clary was chief engineer at the
time of his death and was residing in the
neighboring city, Carthage. His widow Mrs.
Emma Nail Clary, still resides in that city and
is now in her fifty -first year. She was born in
Hardin county, Kentucky, in 1861. Her hus-
band was one year her senior and his birth-
place was Mississippi. His career was cut off
in its verj' midst, as he was only forty at the
time of his tragic death.
Claude Clary graduated from the Carthage
high school in 1897, two years before his
father was killed. He went to work immedi-
ately in the electrical department of the South-
western Missouri Electric Railway Company,
in the Webb City office, supplementing his
practical experience by taking two courses in
the American Correspondence School at Chi-
cago. From there Mr. Clary went to Crystal
City, to accept a position with the Pittsburg
Plate Glass Company, as chief engineer. He
had spent four years with the Southwestern
Missouri Electric Railway Company and was
assistant engineer when he left the concern.
After one year in Crystal City Mr. Clary's
proficiency in electrical chemistry brought
him into the employ of the Magnetic Separat-
ing Company of Joplin, Missouri. He did re-
search work for this firm and traveled through
Colorado and Utah, getting samples for their
work. The Western Electric Company of St.
Louis secured his services in 1903, and for
three years he traveled for them as a sales-
man and did engineering work. In 1906 he
became manager of the Sikeston Ice, Light and
Power Company, and since that time has re-
sided here.
No plant in Missouri pays so high a revenue
per capita as the Sikeston establishment. It
has an electrical capacity of 400 kilowatts and
and turns out eleven tons of ice per day. The
equipment is of the latest and most approved
pattern and the entire plant was designed by
Mr. Clary and erected under his supervision.
His unusual skill and scientific knowledge
have been brought to bear on the construction
and operation of the plant with the most grati-
fying results.
One year before moving to Sikeston Mr.
Clary laid the foundation of a domestic estab-
lishment and a life-long companionship by his
marriage to ]\Iiss Grace Philipps, of Joplin,
Missouri. She is the daughter of Alice and
HISTORY OF SOUTHEAST MISSOURI
1251
Hiram Philipps, of that city. This union has
resulted in one child, William P., born April
18, 1908.
Although Mr. Clarj' is an honored member
of the Masonic fraternity and of the Modern
Woodmen's lodge, his chief interest is in his
professional fraternity, that of the American
Institute of Electrical Engineers. He is prom-
inent in the Missouri Public Utility Associa-
tion, of which he was two years secretary and
treasurer and is now vice-president.
It is only because we are so accustomed to
the wonders of science that we fail to recog-
nize the greatness of the service rendered to
us by those who devote themselves to increase-
ing the powers of the two great wizards of
modern times, steam and electricity. The
achievements of the modern chemist make the
dreams of the old alchemist poor affairs in-
deed. The utmost the.y hoped was to turn
something valueless into gold. But to enable
people to obtain the comforts which make life
easier was something that did not enter their
minds. ]\Ioney could buy them gold-embroid-
ered, jewel-bedecked clothing and slaves to
fan them — and incidentally to spoil their tem-
pers by laziness and disturb their slumbers by
fears of poison or violence. Magnificence they
might know, but never comfort. When we
obtain light by the touch of a switch, talk to
our friends a hundred miles away, and enjoy
all the comforts and benefits for which we are
dependent upon the ice manufactory, let us
contrast our happy lot with the uncomfortable
kings and caliphs of the past and pay honor
to those who have brought us to this pleasant
mode of life, the scientists and mechanicians.
GroEON Anderson Lumber & Manufac-
turing Company is perhaps the largest manu-
facturing concern in this section of Missouri,
and has been a factor of incalculable import-
ance in the development of the region in which
it is situated. The town of Gideon owes its
existence to the company and the company in
turn is the result of the enterprise of W. P.
and M. S. Anderson, combined with the able
efforts of M. V. Munna. C. F. Muntemeyer and
M. C. Johnson, all residents of Gideon with the
single exception of William P. Anderson, who
makes his home in St. Louis, ]\Iissouri. At
present the latter named is president of the
company and M. S. Anderson is vice-presi-
dent and is in charge of the various plants
which the growing scope of the company's
activities have caused to be established.
This lumber company originated in Deca-
tur, Indiana, and came to Gideon in 1900. At
this time there was only a little clearing in the
all but impassable swamp and the country
around about was virgin forest. The few
farms on the ridges were of the poorest sort
and the country was altogether undeveloped.
The saw mill was a sort of entering wedge for
the development. There was no railroad, but
this did not deter the promoters from be-
ginning work. Their mill had a capacity of
10,000 feet per day and until they could se-
cure other transportation they hauled the out-
put to Gibson, the nearest point on the rail-
way. Meanwhile the company was busily ne-
gotiating with Houch for an extension of the
railroad and by 1902 the tap line was running
from Gibson to the lumber camp and in 1903
it was extended to ]\Iorehouse and thus a
more direct outlet for the product was se-
cured. Later the company built a road of
their own, the Gideon & North Island Rail-
way, and so has all the advantages of inter-
railway connections, north and south. The
branch of the Frisco system built in 1902 has
been paid for several times by the freight
charges levied upon the company who secured
its construction.
The increa,sing demand for lumber neces-
sitated the enlargement of the mill and about
the same time a handle plant was added.
This factory turns out all kinds of ash and
hickory handles and has a capacity of six hun-
dred dozens in smaller sizes daily. Fifty men
are employed in this plant. A planing mill
which emplo.vs about the same number of
men as the handle plant is another depart-
ment of the company's enterprise. The saw
mill, whose capacity was 15.000 feet, proved
too small for the demands of their trade and a
still larger one was constructed. A stave mill
with a capacity of 45,000 staves per day was
the next addition and their wooden trams
were replaced by a standard gauge railroad,
upon which four locomotives and a hundred
logging cars are kept busy handling the out-
put of the mills. The company has its own
shops in which they have built three steam log-
loaders, besides other equipment, and pos-
sesses everything required to run a model lum-
bering plant. Another feature of their prog-
ress is represented by the construction of a
modem band mill now in course of erection.
Wlien completed this mill will have a capac-
ity of from eighty to one hundred million feet
of hard wood lumber daily. The entire oper-
ations of the company calls for a force of
three hundred men, including those connected
1252
HISTORY OF SOUTHEAST MISSOURI
with the mercantile business of the firm, — a
flourishing branch which transacts an annual
volume of business aggregating $100,000.
The town of Gideon was platted in May,
1903. Previous to this the company had built
a school house and employed a teacher.
Shortly afterward the county board estab-
lished a district and continued the work
which the company had begun. The interest
the directors take in the welfare of their em-
ployes, of which the building of the school
house was but one manifestation, has had
much to do with the success of the project.
The town has a rapidly growing population
and the development of the agricultural re-
sources of the surrounding country will as-
sure its continued advancement. The land
cleared of the timber is rapidly being brought
under cultivation and is proving a source of
great wealth to the community. The Gideon
Anderson Company also owns mills at Mai-
den, Missouri, and stave mills at Jacksonport,
Arkansas.
The holdings of the company have in-
creased from 4,000 acres to about 18,000
acres. The timber is oak, hickory, maple and
gum, and the supply will probably last for
ten years. As the land is cleared it is being
reclaimed from its swampy condition by
drainage ditches and is found to be highly
productive, and so promises a continued pros-
perity to the country when the timber supply
is exhausted. The credit due to the men who
have devoted themselves to conducting this
enterprise cannot be overestimated. They
did not accomplish the great things that may
be placed to their credit by sitting in a ma-
hogany furnished oiifice and issuing orders,
but by actual work in the wild country. The
head of this business, which is rated in the
commercial agencies as worth somewhere be-
tween $300,000 and $500,000, with a high
credit standing, has often waded the swamp
carrying provisions for the workers in the
early days of the development of the com-
pany, and throughout the later years has
never avoided any of the hardships which in-
variably fall to the lot of those who enter a
new and untried country.
Levi Burris. Burris is a name that has
been a familiar one in Puxieo and vicinity for
more than two decades. A drug store, a mil-
linery establishment, a hotel, a business block
and a public hall — all bear the name, and all
are a credit to the town.
Levi Burris was born in Daviess county, In-
diana, and in his native state was reared and
educated. He prepared himself for the med-
ical profession, and for twelve years was en-
gaged in the practice of medicine in Indiana.
Then he moved to Missouri. That was in
1888. Here he and his good wife at once be-
came identified with the best interests of the
pioneer settlement, and it is largely due to
their efforts that the town is what it is today.
While Doctor Burris has been engaged in the
practice of his profession and has conducted a
drug store, Mrs. Burris has carried on a mil-
linery business and run first a boarding house
and later the Burris Hotel. As the years
passed by they prospered and invested their
earnings in substantial buildings. The Burris
Hotel, which they erected in 1897, was the
first good building in the town and was put
up at a cost of $6,000. It has since been im-
proved and added to. In 1909 they erected a
business block, fifty by seventy feet in dimen-
sions ; its first floor contains three store rooms,
its second floor is used for office purposes, and
on the third floor is a public hall, fifty by
fifty feet, used for lodge meetings. This
building was erected at a cost of $10,000, and
would do credit to a city. In this building
is the Doctor's drug store and office. He also
has farming interests in this vicinity, having
invested extensively in farm lands.
Mrs. Burris has her millinery store in the
hotel building. As an early pioneer here she
began both the boarding-house and millinery
business in a small way. She trimmed hats
not only for the immediate local trade, but
also for the merchants in this and adjoining-
counties. Indeed, she sold her trimmed hats
to stores in nearly all the towns in Southeast-
ern Missouri, traveling over the territory her-
self and selling her own goods. She recounts
many interesting experiences illustrating the
crudeness of society during her early life
here, and takes a pride in being one of those
whose efforts have done much to make condi-
tions in this region conform more nearly to
those of society elsewhere. And besides con-
ducting her millinery business, .she gives her
personal attention to the supervision of the
hotel, which compares favorably with the very
best in similar towns in Missouri.
Dr. and Mrs. Burris have two children:
Lou, wife of J. Shoemaker, and Cora M. The
Doctor is identified as a member with both
the County and State Medical Societies, and
both professionally and as a business man
stands high in the esteem of the people among
"-0
(^Jj^(^^r^^i^-<J^,
HISTORY OF SOUTHEAST MISSOURI
1253
whom he lives. He takes little interest in poli-
tics.
Leo Dohogne. The proportion of our pop-
ulation who are of Belgian ancestry is not a
very large one, but it may be said that its
members make up in quality what they lack
in numbers, bringing as they all do such lofty
standards of industry, loyalty and pietj'. A
good representative of that stock is Mr. Leo
Dohogne.
Constantine Dohogne, his father, came to
America from Belgium when he was twelve
years of age. His native city was Liege. The
family settled near New Hamburg, ilissouri,
and Constantine at once was put to work for
the support of the family with strange people.
He joined the Union Army at age of nineteen
and served three j-ears or more ; after the
Civil war he returned to Scott county, and at
the age of tweut.y-five married iliss Rosina
Heisserer who was a daughter of Anton Heis-
serer. The latter, who came to America in
1848, was l)orn in Alsace, Germany, and lo-
cated near New Hamburg, Missouri. He lost
his eye-sight two j'ears later, and lived thirty-
six years longer in blindness. Constantine and
Rosina continued their occupation of farming
with such success that they acquired two hun-
dred and twenty-five acres of land. In August,
1907, they retired from the farm and are now
living at hearty old age at Kelso, ilissouri.
The family consisted of five sons and seven
daughters, nine of whom grew to maturity.
In rotation of birth they are as follows : Katie,
who died at the age of four; Annie Rosa, the
wife of Andrew Robert, lives on a farm (one
hundred and seventy acres), which they own,
about one mile north of Benton (Scott
county), Missouri; Louisa died in her in-
fancy— onl.v two weeks old ; Frank is now a
carpenter, and makes his home with his
brother Emil Edward in the old home about
one mile northwest of Kelso ; Mary is ]\Irs.
John B. Enderle and they live about one-
fourth of a mile north of Kelso, on the J.
(Harve) Ancell farm which they now own,
consisting of one hundred and twenty acres.
Leo was born June 29. 1880. "Willie died in
infancy — only two weeks old; Miss Amanda
makes her home with her father; Emil Edward
owns the old homestead ; his wife is iliss Dora
(Welter) Dohogne; Alvina Christine is Mrs.
Philip J. Seyer and resides in Stoddard coun-
ty, having recently purchased a part of the
J. M. Richmond farm, which they now oc-
cupy and own ; Miss Pauline Josephine makes
her home with her father; Benjamin — the
baby of the family, nineteen years old, works
for (and lives with) his brother, Emil Ed-
ward.
In May, 1906, Leo Dohogne secured an in-
terest in about seventy-two acres of land, ad-
joining the towns of Ancell and Fornfelt, Mis-
souri. He owns four lots in Fornfelt, and also
one-half interest in five other lots in the same
town. He has extensive interests in bank
stock in various places. In the Vanduser
Bank (Scott county), he owns five shares; in
the Southeast ]\Iissouri Trust Company of
Cape Girardeau, Missouri, he owns five
shares; in the Bank of New Hamburg, Mis-
souri, he owns five shares; in the Farmers &
Merchants Bank of Kelso, where he is the
cashier, he owns twelve shares; he has been
cashier of the last named bank since Decem-
ber 20, 1904, when he succeeded Lee L. Al-
bert of Cape Girardeau. In the fall of 1910,
he served six weeks as county treasurer, when
he was appointed by Governor Herbert S.
Hadley to fill the vacancy caused by the resig-
nation of Joseph S. Norrid. While his term
of office was short, yet he filled it with much
credit. County Clerk James McPheeters
(Democrat), June 6, 1912, in speaking of Mr.
Dohogne 's work, voluntarily stated that:
"The Final Settlement as Out-going County
Treasurer of Leo Dohogne was one of the
neatest, and most systematic pieces of work
that has ever been turned in to the county
clerk's office. He is a staunch Republican,
and noted for his interest in public affairs,
and an admirer of beautiful homes and neat
bookkeeping work.
Mr. Dohogne attended the Cape Normal
school in 1901 and 1902, (having prior to that
time worked on the farm with his father) ; the
following year he attended the Gem City
Business College of Quincy, Illinois, gradu-
ating from the commercial banking and
shorthand department on October 17, 190.3.
He handles life, fire and tornado insurance,
and is a notary public ; these being side-issues
to his position as cashier in the bank. In the
life insurance field he takes pleasure in show-
ing the public what a good thing it would be
to insure in the Northwestern Mutual of Mil-
waukee, Wisconsin — the company he repre-
sents here, while in the fire and tornado in-
surance department he handles only good re-
liable companies such as the Aetna of Hart-
ford, Connecticut, the American Central of
St. Louis, Missouri, and others — continually
1254
HISTORY OP SOUTHEAST MISSOURI
seeking good protection for his people in gen-
eral.
The union of Leo Dohogne and Miss Louise
Rosa Diebold took place on May 19, 1908.
Mrs. Dohogne is the daughter of Frank L.
Diebold, — a well known and tlirifty farmer
residing at and adjoining the county seat of
Scott county, on the north. There have come
into the home of Louise and Leo Dohogne a
daughter, (Eva Jlary) born February 28,
1909 ; two sons, namely : Cletus Joseph, born
June 15, 1910; and Linus Emil, born Decem-
ber 22, 1911. All are good Catholics.
A. Frank Seabaugh. The Missouri branch
of the Seabaugh family came from North Car-
olina in the very beginning of the nineteenth
century. In 1800 the paternal great-grand-
father of Mr. A. F. Seabaugh moved from
that state to Bollinger county, where his de-
scendants have continued to live since that
time. So Mr. Seabaugh is a representative of
the third generation of his race bom in the
county. His father, Reuben Seabaugh, was
one of the six children of Peter Seabaugh.
The others were Susanna, Matilda, Alexan-
der, Hosea and Emerson. Peter was married
to Susan Drum, of Cape Girardeau county.
He is still living in Bollinger county.
A. F. Seabaugh was born October 27, 1864,
near Sedgwiekville. He received his educa-
tion in the schools of this town and remained
at home working on the farm until he was
twenty-two years of age. At this time he
went to farming for himself and in 1889 was
married to the daughter of Henry S. Hartle,
Elizabeth by name. His tirst farm was a
tract of one hundred and sixty acres and he
lived on it for twelve years. In 1897 he
traded his farm for a stock of merchandise
at Alliance, Bollinger county. This business
Mr. Seabaugh conducted until 1900. when he
sold it and went to Elvin, in the mining dis-
trict of St. Francois county. After eight
months there, which he spent in the livery
business, Mr. Seabaugh returned to the mer-
cantile line, which he carried on in Patton.
Here he remained about four years. In 1906
he sold the store and bought the Bollinger
mill.
This is a historic structure which has been
in operation since the early days. It was
built by the Statler family when the country
was very new. It has been rebuilt by Mr. j.
M. Bollinger, who put up a plant to take the
place of the original mill in 1876. It runs
i)y water power and has a capacity of sixty
barrels of flour per day. The present owner
has a residence of ten acres of land near the
mill.
Mr. Seabaugh 's second marriage occurred
in 1907. The bride was Elizabeth, daughter
of William Barnes. The child of this mar-
riage, William Jennings Seabaugh, born
March 9, 1909, died at the age of two years.
The three daughters of his first marriage,
Rosa, Grace and Meta, are still at home. Mr.
Seabaugh is a member of the Methodist
church and votes the Prohibition ticket. He
has never been interested in politics as a busi-
ness or even as an avocation although he is
deeply interested in the public welfare and
does much to promote it in a private capacity.
Trentis V. Miller, M. D., who has for
eight years past been identified with the com-
munal life of Sikeston in his professional ca-
pacity, is a native born Missourian, his birth
occurring on April 17, 1881, in Cape Gir-
ardeau county. He is the son of James Henry
and Marie E. (Edinger) Miller, both natives
of the state of Missouri. The father was born
in 1842, at Millersville, Cape Girardeau
county, and passed his life in the pursuit of
farming interests in that county. He saw
service in the Civil war as a lieutenant in the
Southeastern Missouri Militia. His wife,
whom he married on April 21, 1878, was born
in Bollinger county, Missouri. They became
the parents of five sons, all of whom are liv-
ing today. The second son, William C, was
born on February 10, 1883. He married
Marcia Tuckett, and they live at Millersville,
Missouri; James Edgar, born in November,
1884, married Tady Call ; they also are resi-
dents of Millersville. George A., born in
1888, is a member of the teaching profession,
and is now attending the Wa.shington Uni-
versity Dental College; Truman, born in
1892, is still in the parental home, and is at-
tending the State Normal at Cape Girardeau,
Missouri, and also looking after the interest
of the farm for his aged father. James H.
Miller in earlier years had married one
Fannie Cawvey, and to them four children
were born, of which number two girls died in
infancy, Thorton died at the age of ten or
eleven years, and Sylvanus lived to be twenty-
eight, leaving at his death a wife and five
babies. The wife and mother died in 1875,
and Mr. Miller married again, Trentis V. and
the others mentioned above being bom of his
second union. Mr. Miller was county .iudge
for a term, and has been more or less eon-
HISTORY OP SOUTHEAST MISSOURI
1255
nected with Republican politics iu his district
all his life. He and his wife are now living
at Millersville, ilissouri.
Trentis Miller attended school in his native
district, later graduating from the high school
at Millersville, and followed that with a two
years' course of study at the State Normal at
Cape Girardeau. When he was nineteen
years of age he was ready to begin the study
of medicine, upon which he had early settled
as the profession most suited to his abilities
and inclinations, and he accordingy entered
Barnes iledical College at St. Louis, Missouri,
from which he was graduated on j\Iay 3, 1904,
receiving at that time his degree of M. D. He
immediately located in Sikeston and began
an independent practice, in which he made
steady and consistent progress from the be-
ginning. He has in the passing years won a
high standing in this community, both as a
citizen and as a physician, and his popularity
is of a most pleasing order. In 1911 Dr.
Miller entered a partnership with his cousin.
Dr. Otis W. jMiller, and they have since con-
ducted a joint practice in the city. Dr.
Miller, of this review, is a member of the
Sikeston board of health, and has done ef-
ficient service in that capacity.
Dr. Miller is a Republican, and in a fra-
ternal way is connected with the Maccabees,
the Woodmen of the World, the Mutual Pro-
tective League, the Mystic Workers and the
Mason.s!-
On July 30, 1902. Dr. Miller was united in
marriage with Miss Lillian May Shanks, the
daughter of Frank and jMalvina (Grey)
Shanks, of Sikeston. ilrs. Miller was born
in ]\Iay. 1883. Pour children have been born
to Dr. and Mrs. Miller, — Dorothy JI., born
January 21, 1904; Justine G., born Septem-
ber 13, 1906 ; Trentis V., Jr., bom September
14, 1908; and Pranklin H., born July 18,
1910. All are living with the exception of
Trentis V., Jr., who died at the age of eight
months and four days.
Alonzo D. Hill, M. D. One of the longest
established and most prominent physicians
and surgeons of Stoddard county, Alonzo D.
Hill, ]M. D., passed away at the home of his
daughter, at Dexter, Missouri, on March 24,
1912, at 9:15 A. M. He had obtained dis-
tinction in a profession which is one of the
most exacting in its demands to which a man
may lend his energies, requiring not only a
good preliminary training, but constant study
and a nicety of judgment little understood
by the people in general. A native of New
York state, he was born on August 24, 1836, in
Havana, Schuyler county, coming from a
family of prominence and influence, one of his
younger brothers having been the late David
Bennett Hill, of New York, a noted lawyer,
who acquired much fame in the political
arena, serving as governor of his native state
and as United States senator.
Another brother, Erastus W. Hill, bom
June 17, 1833, in New York state, died in
Maiden, Missouri, July 11, 1888. A civil en-
gineer by profession, he helped survey the
Illinois Central right-of-way and made the
survey as far as Sikeston for a branch of the
Iron Mountain Railroad, doing the work prior
to the Civil war. He settled in Bloomfield,
ilissouri, and soon after the outbreak of the
war enlisted in the Confederate army, receiv-
ing a commission as sergeant in the state mi-
litia and serving under General Jackson. He
was captured during an engagement with the
Pederal forces, and held as a prisoner until
exchanged. He was afterwards engaged in
mercantile pursuits at Bloomfield, Missouri,
until his removal to Maiden, Missouri, where
he spent his last years.
Talented and scholarly, Alonzo D. Hill
acquired a good education in the public
schools, and in 1859 and 1860 took a course
of stud.y in the medical department of the
University of jMichigan. When read.y to de-
cide upon a location Dr. Hill wisely chose the
west as a field of labor, in the fall of 1860
settling at Bloomfield, Missouri. At the out-
break of the Civil war he enlisted in General
Jackson's regiment, and was subsequently ap-
pointed assistant brigade surgeon, a capacity
in which he served until the expiration of his
term of enlistment, his labors being chiefly
confined to Southeastern Missouri. On leav-
ing the anny he. with about thirty others,
was arrested by a scout from Cape Girardeau,
taken to the Pederal post at the Cape, and
at the end of two days was released on parole.
The next summer Dr. Hill returned east and
enlisted in the Volunteer New York Heavy
Artillery, in which he served until the close
of the conflict, receiving his honorable dis-
charge in the fall of 1865. Going then to
Cincinnati. Ohio, he was graduated from the
Miami Medical College with the class of 1866,
after which he resumed the practice in Bloom-
field, Missouri. Coming to Dexter, Stoddard
county, in 1873, the Doctor met with good
success as a practitioner, being the first physi-
cian to locate permanently in this part of the
1256
HISTORY OF SOUTHEAST MISSOURI
county. He had a wide, old fashioned horse-
back practice, his patronage extending over
a territory including anything within a ra-
dius of twenty miles, the diseases with which
he had to battle in those early days having
been principally pneumonia and malaria, al-
ways the bane of the newly settled country.
Dr. Hill married, in Dexter, Missouri,
Emily E. Montgomery, a native of Tennessee,
who sui-vives him, and their only child, Zoe
E., is the wife of Ira White, one of the sub-
stantial merchants of Dexter. Mr. and Mrs.
White have one child, Ira Hill White.
For twenty-five years Dr. Hill was con-
nected by membership with the Methodist
Episcopal church, but in later years he affili-
ated with the Christian church. At Bloom-
field, Missouri, in 1868, he was made a mem-
ber of the order of Ancient Free and Ac-
cepted Jlasons, and at the time of his death
had the distinction of being the oldest living
member of that lodge. He also belonged to
the Royal Arch Chapter.
Hon. L. W. Danforth. It is a happy lot
to be able to witness the development of a
wild country into one of industrial eminence
and prosperity; and to be able to claim a
large and honorable share in such growth is a
joy comparable only to that of having given
to the world sons and daughters who have
served their age and fulfilled the high calling
whereto we are all called, of passing on the
fair inheritance we have received from our
forefathers increased in power and goodness.
It is Judge Danforth 's fortune to have
achieved both of these satisfactions.
Leander F. Danforth, the father of L. W.,
was a native of New York. His ancestry was
of that sturdy English stock which bequeathed
to America her love of liberty. Jane W.
Jones Danforth, his wife, was a Virginian,
and their son, L. W., was born in Henderson,
Kentucky, June 10, 18.37. He grew up in the
town of his birth and received a good educa-
tion. His father was in the marble business
and imtil he was twenty-two L. W. worked
with him. In 18.59 the family moved to Mis-
sissippi county, Missouri, and settled on a
farm. Mr. Danforth stayed there until 1862,
when he came to Charleston.
It was in the mercantile business that Mr.
Danforth first engaged upon coming to this
city, and in this he was in partnership with
his brother until 1885. His interest in civic
and political matters early brought him into
public life and in 1882 he was elected to the
general assembly and reelected in 1884.
While serving as representative of the county
Mr. Danforth was chairman of the swamp
lands committee and served on that of edu-
cation and normal schools also. In the county
he has acceptably filled the offices of collec-
tor, deputy sheriff and coroner. At different
times he has been mayor of the city and has
served in all about twelve years. He has been
a member of the city council and is now pre-
siding judge of the county, to which position
he was reelected in 1910 for four more years.
Since 1901 he has conducted a retail lumber
yard, which does a business of from twelve
to eighteen thousand dollars a j'ear.
Not only business and politics engage Judge
Danforth 's interest but also those influences
which make for the higher life. He was for-
merly an active worker in the church and
Sunday-school of the Christian denomination,
to which he and his family belong, and he has
always been deeply interested in educational
matters. He has served nine years as school
director and was for four years a member of
the board of regents of the Southeastern Nor-
mal school of Cape Girardeau.
Judge Danforth has been a Mason since
1859, when he entered the order in Kentucky.
He is a member of lodge No. 407 here and also
of the Chapter, which he serves in the ca-
pacity of high priest. It was his privilege to
help to organize the Chapter at Cape Gir-
ardeau.
The marriage of L. W. Danforth and Miss
Mary J. Yates at St. Louis took place in 1860.
Ten children have been born of this union,
six of whom are now living. These are Lieu-
tenant George W. Danforth, instructor in
the drawing department of Annapolis, ]Mary-
land, in the naval academy; Mrs. Kennison,
nee Nettie Danforth, now the wife of Captain
Kennison of San Francisco; Emma, Mrs. Wil-
liam Mattingly, of Charleston; Gussie, Mrs.
Joslyn, also of Charleston; Henry A. Dan-
forth and Miss Grace, living at home.
Judge Danforth is a large property owner
in Charleston, having thirty or more dwelling
houses in town which he rents besides his own
spacious and beautiful home property. He
is not only one of the most popular of Charles-
ton's citizens, but one sincerely esteemed for
his genuine interest in the advancement of
the country and his zealous work in promoting
such advancement. He has always been a
loyal member of the Democratic party, but his
views are liberal and are his own, carefully
thought out and as fearlessly promulgated.
HISTORY OF SOUTHEAST MISSOURI
1257
Ulysses Grant Holley. The able president
of Sikeston's leading establishment, the Hol-
ley-Matthews Manufacturing Company, was
born on the first of March, 1869, in Folsom-
ville. His father William liolley, was a native
of Ohio and a soldier in the Union army. The
boy, who was named for the General whom
his father so admired, grew up on a farm with
little opportunity for schooling. In his
twenty-tirst j'ear he was married to Sarah E.
West and came to Scott county, where he
spent one season on the Greer homestead, two
miles from Sikeston. They returned to Indi-
ana, as Mrs. Holley 's mother and sister were
sick, and during their stay of a few months
both of these relatives were claimed by death.
In February of 1892 Mr. Holley returned
to Missouri and in partnership with his old
friend, Mr. G. B. Greer, purchased a small
corn and feed mill in the south part of Sikes-
ton, half a mile from the railroad. Mr. Hol-
ley's share of the business was bought on an
I. 0. U. The mill soon did a thriving business
under the prudent management of its owners
and not only made them a living but paid
for itself in one year. Mr. Holley supple-
mented his income by operating a threshing
machine in the harvest season, although his
wife was sick and his presence at home was
greatly needed.
In his need Mr. Holley received that gen-
erous aid which the rural population is so
ready to extend to men of enterprise and
kindliness. Among those who stood loyally
by the yoi;ng couple were a Mr. Lesher and his
family. Another neighbor in the scriptural
sense was Dr. IMoore, for whom Mr. Holley
had threshed. The Doctor accommodated the
young miller with corn at a time when feed
was scarce and when Mr. Holley had not
funds to pay ca-sh. Such confidence was in-
spired by Mr. Holley 's intelligent efforts in
It was decided to build a larger mill and
Mr. W. C. Bowman, a practical flour miller
from Cape Girardeau county, became a part-
ner in the new enterprise. A modern roller
mill having a capacity of a hundred barrels
of corn and of wheat flour was erected in
Sikeston, on the railroad track. Mr. Holley
was superintendent of the the plant. Mr. Bow-
man was head miller and G. B. Greer was
general manager. The mill had an elevator
capacity of fifty thousand bushels and repre-
sented an investment of eighteen thousand
dollars. It was opened for business June 23,
1893, its working capital being mostly bor-
rowed. The history of the next two or three
years was the duplicate of nearly every indus-
trial concern during that trying time of busi-
ness depression. Any and all of the stock-
holders would have disposed of their inter-
ests at any time, but no one was in the market
to buy anything. Prices were such as this
generation can scarcely conceive, wheat going
to forty cents a bushel, bran sold at the rate
of three hundred pounds for a dollar and flour
was proportionately low.
In 1896 the business was reorganized as
the Greer-Bowman Milling Company, C. D.
Matthews becoming a stockholder. As he was
the wealthiest and most successful man in
Southeastern Missouri, the new corporation
acquired prestige and business began at once
to improve. It took over also the former ex-
tensive grain business of Mr. Matthews, and at
the end of the fourth year the concern showed
a profit of one hundred percent.
On June 1, 1897, Mr. Holley retired from
the mill company to accept the position of
postmaster of Sikeston, remaining in the of-
fice for nine years. Under his administra-
tion the office made a rapid growth, increasing
from a place of one thousand dollars to one
of sixteen hundred dollars salary annually.
In 1899 Mr. Holley bought a tract of
swamp land three miles west of Sikeston,
for which he paid five dollars an acre. It
was situated near the site of the first dredge
ditch constructed in the vicinity. Wlien this
was -brought into operation Mr. Holley de-
veloped his farm and later sold it for seventy-
five dollars an acre. There was a fine growth
of timber on the land, and to utilize this Mr.
Holley put up a saw mill and began the manu-
facture of elm barrel hoops. Later timber
became scarce and in 1903 he removed the
mill to Sikeston, where the railroad facilities
were good, and developed it into the Holley
Cooperage Company. Machinery was added
for making veneer and barrel staves.
About this time there arose a great demand
for egg cases, Mr. Holley secured a contract
to make a number, constructing them out of
the Cottonwood lumber and using the veneer-
cutting machinery in making them. Their
manufacture became a feature of the busi-
ness, which was one of its most profitable
undertakings. In 1907 the mill was destroyed
by fire, at a loss of twenty-five thousand dol-
lars. The saw mill and the box factory were
at once rebuilt, the capital was increased and
the company became the Hollev-lMatthews
1258
HISTORY OF SOUTHEAST MISSOURI
Manufacturing Company, Mr. HoUey contin-
uing as president.
A similar plant was erected at Greenville,
Mississippi, in the heart of the cottonwood
timber district. This company employs from
four to five hundred men in the mill and in
the yards and its annual output runs into
the hundreds of thousands of dollars in sales.
Their market includes every state from the
Atlantic to the Rocky mountains. In com-
pany with some former employers Mr. Holley
became interested in a barrel-stave plant at
Yarboro, Arkansas. This company is called
the Yarboro Cooperage Company, and Mr.
Holley is president of it. Another of his en-
terprises is the Holley-Baker Lumber Com-
pany, of Sikeston and Thebes, Illinois. The
yards are in the latter town and the offices at
Sikeston. This is a wholesale company, re-
cently incorporated in the Holley-Matthews
Company. Mr. Holley is also president of the
Rinnell store, the third largest mercantile
concern in Sikeston.
Originally an uncompromising Republican,
Mr. Holley has come to believe that the su-
preme wisdom of statesmanship is not to be
found in the old or Regular, bvit rather in the
new or Progressive wing of the party. He
is liberal in his views and holds some ad-
vanced ideas regarding a more equitable sys-
tem of taxation. He keeps abreast of the
times and while his education has been ac-
quired in the course of his experience his
views are clear and not restricted by narrow
habits of thought. There are three children
in his family, Herbert, aged nineteen, Mary,
seventeen, and Ida, twelve.
"W. W. Ellis. "The harvest is ripe and
the laborers are few" is an appeal that is of
especial eloquence to one who labors in the
fertile fields of this wonderful country in
which we are living while his thoughts are
upon the harvest of .souls which he yearns to
gather into the "city not made with hands."
Such a laborer is William W. Ellis, farmer
and preacher of the gospel. For forty-five
years he has farmed and preached — more than
half of his life, which began in North Carolina
seventy-three years ago. Both of his parents
were natives of that state and it was there that
his father. Nichols Ellis, died. His mother,
Nancy Sparkman Parker, moved to Tennessee
in 1841, when William was but three years
old, and spent the rest of her years in that
state. Her death occurred in 18.53.
Mr. William Ellis' work in the ministry
began in 1866, when he was licensed to preach
in the Baptist church of Tennessee. For two
years before he was ordained, he had been a
deacon. He spent five years in Tennessee,
preaching and working on the farm. Since
1874, Pemiscot county has been Mr. Ellis'
field of operation, with the exception of four
years spent in New Madrid county. He now
owns four acres of land and rents thirty
more, farming the entire lot. He preaches
here and there as he chooses.
Mr. Ellis' first marriage took place in Ten-
nessee. His bride was Miss Mary Vaughn,
who died in New Madrid county in 1885. Of
her nine children only two are living, William
H., and John A., both farmers in this county.
The others were Emma J., Anna, Mattie,
George J., Susan, ]\Iar.y, and James. Susan
lived to grow up and was married at the time
of her death, as was also Emma J. The
others died in childhood or infancy. After
the death of Mary E. Vaughn, Mr. Ellis mar-
ried Mrs. Mary E. Lemberry, also of Tennes-
see. She lived only thirteen years after her
marriage. JMr. Ellis was married a third time,
in 1901, to Mrs. Catherine A. Malony. She
had six children by her former marriage :
Lease, Herbert, Augustus (now dead), Nellie,
Elsie and Clyde. Two children were born
of her marriage to Mr. Ellis, Hazel, at home
with her parents, and Rena, deceased.
David B. Young. Missouri is indebted to
her sister Tennessee for some of her most truly
representative men, and one such in Ripley
county is David B. Young. Like so many
other Tennessee-Missourians, Mr. Young
came here as a boy and has grown up in the
county. It was in September, 1858, that his
father, Benjamin F. Young, moved from Gib-
son county, Tennessee, to Riple.y county, Mis-
souri. David was but eight years of age at
that time, as he was born on June 1, 1850.
His mother, Harriet Young had died three
months after his birth.
The education of the boy was the usual one
obtained in the district schools, usually of
the subscription order. One can but reflect,
when he contemplates the meagre advantages
at the command of the earlier generations,
that important as equipment is, it counts for
far less than native talent and sincere desire
for learning. With facilities which we should
consider utterly inadequate, these students
managed to secure not merely considerable in-
formation, but the far more valuable accom-
plishment of concentration and a respect for
HISTORY OF SOUTHEAST MISSOURI
1259
learning which keeps one adding always to
his store of knowledge.
At the age of twenty-one Mr. Young be-
gan to farm for himself and continued in that
occupation until 1874, when he was elected
sheriff and collector. He spent six years in
office, two as sheriff and four as collector.
After leaving this post there ensued a period
of four years during which he farmed, and
also conducted a mercantile business. Public
office again claimed him in 1884, when he was
a second time elected to the office of county
sheriff. After filling the office for another
term, jMr. Young refused to accept it for an
additional two .years, and resumed his busi-
ness as a private citizen for another four
years. The six years following 1888, he acted
as county collector, and since 1902 he has
filled the office of probate .judge, with still
two more .years to serve. His public record
has been such that he has won the confidence
of the entii-e communitj' and the.v have testi-
fied their appreciation of his whole-hearted
devotion to the general welfare by repeatedly
choosing him to fill positions of responsibility.
To his services for the count.y he has added
that of eit.v alderman in 1910.
The ]\Iethodist church has in Mr. Young a
devout and an active member. He is a con-
spicuous figure in the Llasonic fraternit.v of
Doniphan, in which he has held various offices.
In 1870, occurred the marriage of David
Young and Sarah V. Kittrell, born in this
count.y. This union was dissolved bv death
when Mrs. Young passed awa.v. Her onl.v
child. Prank, is now a landman for the Louisi-
ana Navigation Railroad Compan.v. Mr.
Young contracted a second marriage in later
years, when Miss Mar.y Jones of the cit.v of
St. Louis, Missouri, became his ^vife. Four
daughters have been born to them, one of
whom died in infanc.v; Helen is at home;
Margaret is married to Mr. T. L. Wisdom,
secretary of a well known lumber company;
and Dora is the wife of Otto Harmon.
Mr. Young is still a farmer, notwithstand-
ing his almost continuous service in the office
of the county. He owns a farm of twenty-
five acres under cultivation which he rents.
William Herman Latimer is one of the six
children of R. T. and Amanda Hickman Lati-
mer, of Obion county, Tennessee. Here W.
H. Latimer was born in 1886 and began his
education in the rural schools, then came to
Missouri and attended the normal at Cape
Girardeau. After obtaining his certificate, he
spent five years in teaching. His first two
years in this profession were spent in Pemis-
cot county and the last three in New Madrid
county. In the latter county he taught two
terms in Marston and the first high school
work in that town was done under him.
At the close of school in 1911 Mr. Latimer
went into the mercantile business in Marston,
where he is a propert.y owner, besides having
some land in the country near by. He is a
follower of Jefferson, Cleveland and the host
of others who have given glory to the Demo-
cratic party in his political convictions, and
is a member of the lodges of the Modern
Woodmen and of the Independent Order of
Odd Fellows.
On October 2, 1910, the marriage of Her-
man Latimer and Maud Litzelfelner, daugh-
ter of the late Judge Joseph Litzelfelner, of
Cape Girardeau county was solemnized at
Cape Girardeau, the home of the bride. Dur-
ing the four yeai"s of his work in Marston Mr.
Latimer has made a host of friends who heart-
ily wish him the success in his new venture
which they feel assured his industry and sa-
gacity will achieve for him.
R. T. Latimer has been in Marston only
since 1910, although he came to ]\Iissouri in
1901. Conran, New Madrid county, was his
first place of residence in the state and con-
tinued to be his home until he came to Mars-
ton. He is now farming fort.v acres which he
rents. He owns some propert.y in town. All
his children were born in Obion county, Ten-
nessee, where he, too, began this life in 1854,
on December 20. His. father and mother
died when he was very young and he was
brought up by Dr. Charles P. Glover, with
whom he lived for nineteen years. This same
gentleman also gave a home to Clarinda
Hickman for five years, an orphan who be-
came the wife of R". T. Latimer in 1877. She
was born in Mississippi county, Missouri, in
1857. Her father was killed in the Soiithem
army and the widowed mother moved to
Obion count.y when Clarinda was ten years
old. Afterwards, Dr. Glover took the daughter
into his family and she remained with him
until her marriage.
After his marriage, Mr. Latimer farmed on
rented land. ]\Ioney was scarce but by careful
management he was able to buy a small farm
in Tennessee. For several years he taught
school in the winter in addition to operating
his farm. Two of his children, Heimian and
Hertle, have followed that profession, both of
them in this county. Charles and Alonzo are
1260
HISTORY OP SOUTHEAST MISSOURI
both living in Marston ; the former is married
to Minerva Lusk, the latter to Eva Latimer, of
Marston. Hertle, Elmer and Esther are still
at home. Mr. Latimer is a Democrat and a
member of the Missionary Baptist church.
John T. Gee was born April 12, 1866, in
Crittenden county, Kentucky. His parents
were also natives of Kentucky-, which state
was John Gee's home until he was eight
years of age. At that time the family moved
to Pope county, Illinois, from Crittenden
county, Kentucky, and there John lived for
the next twenty-nine years of his life. His
business was farming and stock raising, but
it was not very profitable in that section.
In 1890, at the age of twenty-four, Mr.
Gee was married to Emmeretta Williams, of
Hardin county, Illinois. Twelve years later
they moved to Missouri and rented sixty acres
from Mr. R. W. Fowlkes, of Parma. Six
years of diligent work on this farm enabled
Mr. Gee to accumulate enough to buy a tract
of one hundred and sixty-eight acres, which he
has partly cleared and put under cultiva-
tion. The land is worth about seveutj'-five dol-
lars an acre when cleared; the main crops
grown on it are corn and peas.
In 1908 Mr. Gee moved to Parma, where
he has bought and remodeled a ten-room
house, situated on a lot two acres in extent.
His holdings in town property includes four
lots in the business section and a store build-
ing, forty 1iy forty feet, occupied by a grocery
and a butcher shop. Besides this he owns
six other lots in town and has a half interest
in another farm of eighty acres, of which Mr.
Fowlkes is .joint owner. For a year Mr. Gee
ran a butcher shop, but now he rents this and
devotes himself to farming and stock raising.
He has two thousand dollars worth of live
stock, chiefl.v cattle and hogs.
With all his work Mr. Gee finds opportu-
nity to maintain bis relations with the frater-
nal orders of the Knights of Pythias and with
the Court of Honor. He is a member of the
Methodist church and a Democrat in his poli-
tics. His three children, Solon, Everett and
Laura, are all at home attending school. Mr.
Gee belongs to the goodly number of the
county's citizens who have attained a compe-
tence by aiding its development and who pur-
sue what that ancient worthy, Xenophon, de-
clared was "the most fitting employment for
men of honorable birth," — agriculture.
Allan James Harrison is a native of
Clarksville, Tennessee, bom January 19, 1866.
He came to Missouri on the 15th day of April,
1S75, locating in Morley, Missouri, with his
parents, and until he was twenty-one he at-
tended the public schools. He studied one
year in Belleview Institute at Caledonia, Mis-
souri, then attended the Ashland City Insti-
tute in the year 1886-7, and in 1889 went to
the State Normal at Cape Girardeau, Mis-
souri, where he studied bookkeeping in addi-
tion to pursuing the academic course.
Upon completing his work in the Normal
Mr. Harrison came to Morehouse, Missouri,
and spent one .year as manager of the Sikes-
Winchester Company. From Morehouse he
went to Sikeston, Missouri, and engaged with
the same firm. He remained in Sikeston until
1899, when he returned to Morehouse and
joined with J. H. Vanausdale in the firm of
Harrison & Vanausdale, but three years after
this the firm of Marshall, Harrison jMercantile
Company, was organizecl, a concern of which
Mr. Harrison was made president from its
beginning, in 1902. This store was destroyed
by fire in 1908 and business was suspended
for eight months, but after that interval the
enterprise of the owners enabled them to re-
sume business with an unimpaired equipment.
Mr. Harrison has large interests in real es-
tate and lumber, besides being a practical
farmer.
He has been twice married. His first wife
was Julia Young, of Paducah, Kentuckj-,
where she was born May 14, 1874, the daughter
of Thomas and Mollie Young. Two children,
Rita and Julia, were born to this imion, one
of which died at four years of age. The
mother died February 29, 1897. On Decem-
ber 9, 1900, Miss Ella Beasley, daughter of
David and Jennie Beasley, of Omaha, Illinois,
was united in marriage to Mr. Harrison.
Their children are : Allan J., Jr., born in Sep-
tember, 1902 : Maxine E., born in April, 1905 ;
Mary F. and Frederic, twins, born in April,
1909, but the son Frederic died in infancy;
and Virginia B. was born in August. 1911.
Mrs. Harrison confessed faith in Christianity
in early girlhood and holds membership in the
Methodist Episcopal church at this place. Be-
ing interested in educational work, she taught
school two years in her home state and three
years in the public schools of Morehouse, Mis-
souri.
In a fraternal way Mr. Harrison holds mem-
bership in the Independent Order of Odd Fel-
lows, in the Masonic fraternity and in the
Ben Hur Lodge. He is regarded as one of
the public spirited men of the community, as
HISTORY OF SOUTHEAST MISSOURI
1261
■well as one of its substantial commercial fac-
tors. He is not without record as a public of-
fice holder, having served as country assessor
from 1894 to 1896. His political support is
given to the Democratic party, as his father's
was before him. The latter gentleman, Allan
James also, was born at Branchville, Virginia.
His wife was Martha Gupton, of Henrietta,
Tennessee, to whom he was married in 1860
in her native town. Two sons and two daugh-
ters were born of this union, Henrietta C,
Robert L., Allan James (of this review) and
Virginia. Allan James, Sr., was a civil en-
gineer of recognized ability. He moved from
Virginia to Tennessee about 1855. Among
his achievements was the building of the bridge
over the Cumberland river for the railroad
at Clarksville, Tennessee. It was in this city
that his death occurred in 1869. His wife
lived i:ntil March 4, 1882, when she passed
away at Caledonia, Missouri. Like the pres-
ent Mrs. Harrison, she was a member of the
Methodist Episcopal church, and was also
interested in educational facilities.
ilRS. Claea Edwards Graham. Mississippi
county is proud of her schools, and hers is not
a pride that rests on the laurels of bygone ac-
complishments, but rather one that keeps her
always up and doing all in her power to keep
in the forefront of the march of progress. It
is her good fortune to have in charge of her
campaign for educational excellence a woman
whose enthusiasm for her profession and her
sound scholarship, added to a comprehensive
experience in teaching, make her ideally fitted
to direct the work of striving for ideal educa-
tional conditions.
Clara Edwards Graham was bom in Saline
county on her father's farm. Here she grew
up, attending the Fairview Academy until
she had completed the high school course, and
then going to Woodland College at Independ-
ence, ^Missouri, for collegiate work. To this
foundation of scholarship she added the pro-
fessional training of the normal school which
she secured at Cape Girardeau. Her expe-
rience in the educational field began in 1880.
She was married at her home in Saline count.v,
Missouri, on April 30, 1880. to Professor E.
R. Graham, then in charge of the Bonne Terre
public schools, and here, as a bride of two
weeks, Mrs. Graham began her work in the
school room, acting as a substitute for one
of the teachers who had been stricken with a
fever, from which she never recovered. Prom
that date until 1897 she was engaged at in-
tervals in the work, and thereafter was con-
tinually occupied in the work until her elec-
tion to the superintendency of the county
schools in 1909. While she was instructor in
English in the Charleston (JIo.) high school,
it was put on the accredited list of the State
University, with sixteen points credit in its
English department.
When Mrs. Graham took charge of the
county schools she set to work straightway to
bring them to the standard set for approval,
and wherever conditions permitted she ptished
the work in that line with the result that five
schools in the county have been added to the
list of schools approved by the state require-
ments within the last two years. These are
Bird's Point, W.vatt, Dirk, Gravel Ridge and
Dogwood. Wyatt school won the banner of-
fered by Airs. Graham for the school which
could show the most attractive and sanitary
surroundings. The effect of this was to stim-
ulate all the county to gi-eater effort in this
line. Bird's Point was a close second in the
race for the banner, and many others made
marked advancement.
Five new districts have been created within
the county since Mrs. Graham was elected and
several school houses built. These edifices
are models of the best modern types of rural
school buildings and their attractive equip-
ment will add materially to their efficiency
and thus to the prosperity of the county by
increasing its desirability as a place of resi-
dence. The buildings in Russell, Holloway
and Armour districts are structures in every
way an ornament to the community.
Mrs. Graham has been active in many ways
in the furtherance of educational advantages
in the county since her election to the office of
superintendent, and has very materially in-
creased the facilities for learning in the more
remote sections of the county.
In 1851 the Wolf Island Educational So-
ciety was chartered, that being the first school
established in Mississippi county. It directed
the educational affairs in a territory compris-
ing about thirty square miles, holding school
for from four to six months each year in two
very poorl.v equipped and altogether inade-
quate school rooms. IMrs. Graham has suc-
ceeded in having this territor.v divided into
four school districts, in each of which an eight
months school is conducted. Two new school
houses have been built in the territory, one
of which is on the site of the old "Seminary,"
built in 1851.
Another work which has seen noticeable pro-
1262
HISTORY OF SOUTHEAST MISSOURI
gress since Mrs. Graham's identification -with
administrative affairs of the educational inter-
ests of the county is that of the grading of
the schools. Almost all are now graded and
in line for state approval; hut it is possible
that the greatest accomplishment of JMrs.
Graham is her success in the awakening of
parents and pupils to an interest in improve-
ment of conditions, and in an enthusiasm for
matters of educational import, which must
inevitably bear rich fruit in increased effi-
ciency and general enlightment.
Jlrs. Graham is the mother of two children :
Mildred Virginia, the wife of Dr. J. K.
Thrower, of Lake Charles, Louisiana, and
Robert Edwards, who died in 1902. ilrs.
Graham is descended from Colonel William
Ball, of Virginia, who was also the ancestor of
George Washington. Through Colonel Spen-
cer Ball she is eligible to membership in the
Colonial Dames, and through her father, J.
D. Edwards, to membership in the U. D. C.
J. N. Mills. The account of Mr. J. N.
Mills ' life is a story of achievement : of a for-
tune acquired by industry and foresight ; of
lands reclaimed from worthless swamps to
valuable farms ; of a thriving mercantile busi-
ness built up from a small beginning ; and all
this has been accomplished with no capital to
start on except health and ambition and a
reputation which enabled him to borrow
money from Mr. Matthews.
]\Tr. Mills was born in New York state in
18.56, on ]\Iarch 27th. He obtained a common
school education and eai'ly in life started out
for himself. He went from New York to
Pennsylvania and from there to Pulaski
county, Illinois. He was twenty-one when he
came west. His stay in Illinois was brief, for
while there he fell in with a Mr. H. H. Spen-
cer, who was coming to New Madrid county,
and Mr. IMills accompanied his new acquaint-
ance to the new country. This gentleman put
up a saw mill near the present site of More-
house, then only a dense swamp, and I\Ir.
Mills worked in this mill until it was sold in
1877. After leaving the mill he worked on
a farm at Big Prairie for a year and shortly
afterwards was married to Ellen "VVlaitworth.
]\Irs. IMills was born in New Madrid county
in 1862 and has spent her life in it.
After his marriage ]\Ir. IMills started to
■work for himself. His first move was to rent
a farm, but farming methods were poor at
that time and he presently bought a mill, con-
tinuing all the time to improve his farm,
which he had also purchased. He built a
good house upon it, and kept adding to his
original acreage until he owned four hundred
acres. He has disposed of all but forty acres
of this, but he farms four hundred and twenty
acres, part of which he rents. On it he raises
wheat and corn.
In the town of Matthews ]\Ir. IMills owns
several dwelling houses and a small grist mill
besides the store building and three-fourths of
the stock of the largest mercantile establish-
ment in the town. The present worth of the
young man whom the Sikeston merchant, Mr.
Matthews, started on a rented farm is some-
thing like twenty-five thousand dollars.
]Mr. Mills has always been a Democrat in
political policy and he is not unknown to pub-
lic office. He has been justice of the peace for
a score of years and was elected to the state
legislature in 1910. While representing New
I\Iadrid county at the capital, he was active
in working for the amendments to the game
laws and introduced several other measures,
but the legislative work was interrupted by
the burning of the capitol biiilding.
'Sir. IMills holds membership in both the
Modern Woodmen of America and in the
Woodmen of the World. He also belongs to
the K. 0. T. IM. In religious matters his
faith is that of the Methodist church South.
It is Mr. Mills' good fortune to have the
assistance of his sons in conducting his busi-
ness. Tom works for him in New jMadrid
countv, and Oscar manages the store, where
Ben also works. Four younger sons, Walter,
Earnest, Burr and Mitchell, and two daugh-
tei-s Virginia and Cozette, are at home. The
eldest daughter, Eliza, is the wife of George
Butler of New JMadrid county, and they have
two daughters, Estelle and Vivian.
John Elliott Warner. Scott county con-
sidei's itself fortunate in securing Mr. John
E. Warner's services as county surveyor, for
he is a civil engineer of wide experience and
excellent training.
Elias F. Warner, father of the present
county surveyor, was a school-teacher and
bookkeeper in Ohio, in which state he passed
his entire life. He was born February 28,
]828, near Salem. Ohio. The vicinity of
Salem was also the birthplace of Rachael
Lea.sure, his wife, born January 15, 18.36.
They were married in 1863, and their six chil-
dren were born in their parents' native state,
where most of them are still residing at pres-
ent. Of the four daughters, Sylvia died un-
HISTORY OP SOUTHEAST MISSOURI
1263
married; ]\Iinnie lives in Dayton, Ohio, the
wife of S. T. Carver; Carrie is ilrs. Lewis E.
Smith, of West Milton, Ohio ; and iliss Edith
is still single, living in Dayton, Ohio. John
E. Warner's only brother, Arthur, is unmar-
ried and lives at Dayton, Ohio. Elias F.
Warner died at Dayton February 20, 1900.
Rachael, his widow, is still living in that city.
She is a devout member of the United Breth-
ern church. In his lifetime Elias Warner
was affiliated with the Odd Fellows. In pub-
lic office he acted as justice of the peace.
John Elliott Warner was born at Salem.
Ohio, December 9, 1871. He obtained his
education in the public schools, but he learned
his profession working in the offices of differ-
ent ci\il engineers of Salem. He was em-
ploved in the office of Herman S. Fox, of R.
P. "C. Bold, of E. C. Baird and of William
Caldwell. He remained with these men and
with bridge contractors until 1900.
In October, 1900, ^Ir. Warner came to New
Madrid county, ]Missouri, to work on one of
Louis Houck's railroads. He spent a j-ear at
this work, acting as assistant engineer. In
1901 ]\Ir. Warner came to Scott county as
deputy sur\^eyor of the countj' and in August,
1902, was appointed county surveyor, an of-
fice which he has filled ably and acceptably
ever since, as his continuance in itself testi-
fies. The numerous organizations of his pro-
fession to which Mr. Warner belongs indicate
his interest in the advance of engineering,
both from a scientific and an economic stand-
point. He holds membership in the National
Association of Cement LTsers; in the High-
way Engineers' Association of Missouri; is
a charter member of the American Society of
Engineering Contractors; and is an associate
member of the American Society of Civil En-
gineers.
Not only in the fraternities of his profession
is Mr. Warner active, but he has equal in-
terest in social societies. He is a member
of the Independent Order of Foresters, also
of the Odd Fellows and of the Knights of
Pythias. In the time-honored -Masonic order
he has the distinction of being a thirty-second
degree, a member of the Blue Lodge of Com-
merce, Missouri, Ashlar No. 306; Llissouri
Consistory, No. 1, M. R. S., of St. Louis,
Scottish Rite ; and of IMoolah Temple, A. A.
0. N. M. S., of St. Louis, Missouri.
Mr. Warner has been married twice. His
first wife was Alvers Harper, daughter of
David and Mabel Harper, of Benton, Mis-
souri. She died August 21, 1903, at the age
of twenty-four, leaving an infant daughter,
Sylvia, born February 2, 1903. The present
ilrs. Warner's maiden name was Mary M.
Davis. She became Mrs. Warner August 30,
1905, the wedding being celebrated in her
home in Bellbrook, Ohio. Thev have three
children, Mabel I., born October 23, 1906;
Donald E., March 9, 1908; and Russell E.,
October 27, 1909. ilrs. Warner is a member
of the Christian church, while Mr. Warner
continues in the faith of his mother, that of
the United Brethern, while in politics he fol-
lows his father's convictions, embodied in the
Democratic policies — not because they were
his father's, but because they happen to em-
body his views.
Theodore F. Frazer. For more than a
quarter of a century Dr. Frazer has been a
resident of Commerce and in that time it has
been his lot to serve the Democratic party,
of which he is an enthusiastic supporter, in
various capacities; and not his party alone
but the community as a whole have had their
welfare as carefully considered as the en-
lightened and conscientious attention of Dr.
Frazer could compass.
A Kentuekian by birth. Dr. Frazer attended
the University of Nashville, which has so
many distinguished alumni in its medical de-
partment. He graduated from this institu-
tion in 1868, at the age of twenty-two. Later
he took graduate work at Vanderbilt Univer-
sity, finishing his course there in 1881. He
selected ^Missouri as his field of work, locat-
ing first at ]\Iorley, where he spent three years.
Dr. Frazer then came to Commerce, where he
has since resided and where he still practices.
His only son, Thomas R. Frazer. is associated
with his father, partaking of the advantages
of his parent's long and successful experience.
The demands of his profession have not
hindered Dr. Frazer from responding to the
claims of civic duties. He was representa-
tive of the county in the state legislature in
1886. Wliile at the Capitol, he served on
the internal inrprovements, and on the swamp
lands committees. He was an advocate of
the stock law bill apph-ing to townships on
the river or riparian owners. For several
years he was chairman of the Democratic
central committee and has been mayor of the
town, serving many years as chairman of the
township board besides. At present he is
county .judge, elected in November, 1910.
In Masonry Dr. Frazer has attained con-
siderable honor, as he has been master in that
1264
HISTORY OF SOUTHEAST MISSOURI
venerable order several times. He was for-
merly eoimected also with the United Work-
men. His church membership, as well as that
of his wife, Jennie ]\IcPheeters Frazer, is in
the Baptist church. His union with Miss
McPheeters occurred in 1876.
Farming is also an avocation of Dr. Frazer,
but he does it by proxy, renting out his four
hundred acres. He is a citizen of wide in-
terests and always eager to promote all good
works. His is a record of faithful service,
heartily rendered and one upon which all may
look with pride.
Pleasant M. Malcolm, M. D. Sikeston has
many professional men who contribute not
merely the services of their calling to her
progress and prosperity but also interest
themselves in the conduct of municipal affairs
and bring to the problems of city administra-
tion the trained minds of students. An em-
inent example of such a citizen is Dr. Pleas-
ant il. Malcolm.
The doctor is a son of "William Malcolm, a
North Carolinian, born on the anniversary
of the Declaration of Independence, in 1822,
on a farm in Rockingham county. In 1858
he moved to Tennessee, settling in Henry
county, and there he had his home until his
death, in 1899. During the war he served
under General Forrest, .ioining the army dur-
ing the siege of Fort Donelson and serving
until the end of the war. He was wounded
and captured at Franklin, Tennessee. Before
leaving North Carolina he had married Mary
Angel. They became the parents of four chil-
dren, John F., James, William R. and Re-
becca J. Mary Malcolm died in Henry county,
Tennessee, in 1864. Two years later ]\Ir. Mal-
colm was wedded a second time. Cassandra
White Wilson was a native of Richmond. Vir-
ginia, where she was born on January 7, 1826.
She came to Tennessee in 1854. and twelve
years later became the vnie of William Mal-
colm. Her children were Susan J., now Mrs.
J. H. Oreen. of Paris, Tennessee, a farmer,
and Pleasant M., of this sketch. The mother
died October 4, 1906, at Paris, Tennessee.
She and her husband were communicants of
the Christian church. He was allied with the
Democratic party.
Pleasant M. Malcolm was born June 19,
1867, in Henry county, Tennessee, near the
town of Paris. Until he was seventeen he
worked on a farm and went to the public
schools. He taught for one year and then at-
tended the Paris high school for a year. He
began his study of medicine with Dr. A. J.
Weldon, of Paris Landing, and remained un-
der his tutelage nearly two years. In October,
1888, he entered the University of Tennessee
and in 1893 graduated from its medical de-
partment.
When Dr. Malcolm finished his course in
the University he began to practice in his na-
tive county and remained there seven years.
During this period he continued his studies
at intervals, taking a graduate course at Van-
derbilt University in 1904, and two years later
attending the New York Pol.yclinic School for
a year. He had moved to Sikeston in June,
1900, and has practiced here ever since.
Mrs. Malcolm, too, is a native of Henry
county, Tennessee. She is the daughter of
R. E. and Ann Roberts Perry, of that place,
where she, Martha J. Perry, was born Novem-
ber 7, 1869. Her marriage to Dr. Malcolm
took place in 1890, on January 8. Seven chil-
dren were born to them, who are all living ex-
cept Perry, who died in 1907, at the age of
three, and Melissa, who was born in 1894 and
lived to be but six. The eldest daughter, Lola,
born November 26, 1890, is married to James
Smith, Jr., a real estate dealer of Sikeston.
Roland, two years her .junior, is a farmer.
Earley, Wade and Pleasant, Jr., are still
schoolboys, being aged fifteen, twelve and
ten respectively.
Dr. Malcolm has served two years as alder-
man and was mayor from 1908 to 1910. Dur-
ing this period the city hall was built and the
city water works installed. Another accom-
plishment of Dr. Malcolm's was putting the
cemetery into good condition and placing its
maintenance on a sound financial basis.
Three miles southeast of town is a farm of
two hundred and sevent.y acres which is the
propert.y of Dr. Malcolm. General farming
is what is practiced on this place. The resi-
dence of the famil.y is in town, where Dr. and
Mrs. Malcolm are interested members of tlie
Baptist church and where he is affiliated with
the Masons, the Odd Fellows and the Ben Hur
lodges. The Doctor is in every respect a rep-
resentative citizen of Sikeston, esteemed
equall.v for his eminence in his profession and
for his many admirable qualities as an indi-
vidual.
Warren Catonder Lambert. One of the
best known of Benton's citizens, both in pri-
vate enterprise and in public office, is Mr. W.
C. Lambert. Perhaps Mr. Lambert inherits
his progressive spirit from his father, Ira B.
HISTORY OF SOUTHEAST MISSOURI
1265
Lambert, whose early death cut off a life of
marked usefulness and varied activity. Ira
B. Lambert was a Kentuckian by birth. He
was born in 1818 and moved to Scott county,
Missouri, at an early age. Here he married
Louisa Berry, born near Benton in 18.31.
Three sons were the issue of the union, of
whom only Warren C. of this sketch, is now
alive. The father died in 1852, at the early
age of thirty-four. His wife survived him
nearlv fiftv vears, passing awav in Benton in
1891.'
Warren C. Lambert was born October 18,
1849, in Scott county, on the farm which he
still owns and tills. His has been a career of
success and he has been closely connected with
the development of this section of the country.
He has accumulated six hundred acres of
land, paying from five to twenty-five dollars
an acre for it and it is now valued at one
hundred dollars an acre. Besides having fol-
lowed farming all his life, Mr. Lambert has
been engaged in the mercantile trade. He is
now the owner of a general merchandise store,
incorporated for ten thousand dollars.
In 1874 ]Mr. Lambert was married to Mrs.
Amanda Seaford, and their daughter, Ida
Thompson, now living in Minnesota, was born
March 22. 1875. When Ida vras a year old
her mother died, and two years later Mr.
Lambert married a second time, the bride in
this union being Miss Mary MeCorkel, of
Scott county. In 1881 occurred the marriage
of Mv. Lambert to IMiss Josephine Sewell.
They had eight children : Bertie L., born Jan-
uary 10, 1882 ; Warren C, Jr., bora July .30,
1883, married to Julia Adams and now living
on a farm near Benton; Charley. January 3,
1885, married to Clara Peters, with whom he
lived in Bollinger county iintil July 16, 1907.
on which date he was dro\^'ned ; Claude, boi-n
October 30, 1886, now married and living in
St. Louis; William J., bom October 29, 1888;
Roly Raymon, born October 8, 1890; and
twins, Nanna Jessie and Anna Bessie, born
August 4, 1892. Josephine Sewell Lambert
died, April 19, 1908. Mr. Lambert's fourth
marriage was solemnized February 25, 1910,
when he was united to Mrs. Louise Cloar Mil-
ler, daughter of Elijah and IMary Harrison
Cloar. and formerly wife of Jesse E. Miller.
Mrs. Lambert M-as born in 1862. on October
17. She has two daughters. Hattie Maud and
Masgie IMay Miller.
The Woodmen of the World and the Con-
catenated Order of the Hoo Hoos are Mr.
Ijambert's lodges. In church affiliation he
is a Methodist. Few men have such a record
as office holders, and Mr. Lambert's popular-
ity in the Democratic party may be judged
from the fact that he has held office for thirty-
five years. He has served as deputy asses-
sor, collector, justice of the peace, coroner,
treasurer and presiding judge of the county
court, not to mention fifteen years on the
school board.
For the past fifteen years Mr. Lambert has
been a grain dealer ; nor does this complete the
list of his business connections in Benton. He
was vice-president of the Benton Bank from
the time of its organization until he moved to
Cape Girardeau.
Chaeles Norman Mozlet is a native of
Illinois, in which state his father, James ]M.
Mozley, was also born, near Vienna. In
1863, though not seventeen years old, James
Mozley entered the Union army and served in
the Si.^th Illinois Cavalry until the close of
the -nar. His marriage to Susan J\I. Webb
took place January 31, 1866, in Johnson
county, Illinois. His bride was not eighteen
years old at the time, as slie was born Decem-
ber 30, 1848, near Dexter, Missouri. The
young couple lived on a farm in Elvira
county, in Illinois, and James Mozley ran a
general store besides cultivating the soil. In
this way the family lived until 1884, when
the father was appointed guard at the state
penitentiary and they moved to Jonesboro.
Mr. Mozley held this position for about two
years. He was a Republican in politics and
both he and his wife were members of the
Christian church. His death occurred at
Jonesboro in 1890. His wife is still living, at
Benton, ]\Iissouri, where her unmarried daugh-
ter, ]Maggie, resides with her. Three other
children of the five born to James and Susan
Mozley are still siirviving. These are Samuel
T., married to Helen Williford and living in
Oklahoma : Louisa, the wife of Dr. J. J. Robin-
son, of Ridgeway, South Carolina, and
Charles Norman, of Benton, whose life is
briefly outlined in this sketch.
On September 5, 1870, Charles N. Mozley
was born at Elvira. Illinois. He attended the
common schools of Jonesboro and in that
town besran his business career. His first work
was offered him as the result of an accident
in which he smashed a plate-erlass window for
Mr. Ury, one of Jonesboro 's leading mer-
chants. Mr. Mozley remained in school imtil
he was eighteen, clerking during his vacations
for Mr. Ury and for another merchant in
1266
HISTORY OF SOUTHEAST MISSOURI
Jonesboro. At eighteen he taught one term
of school and then went back to clerk in the
same building where he had his tirst job.
Later he bought a stock of groceries in the
adjoining room and went into partnership
with William Hoss. His partner did not stay
long in the firm, but IMr. Mozley continued
to conduct his grocery business alone for about
a year. By that time he was read}' to branch
out in the mercantile work, so he moved into
the building where he had begun to work,
added a stock of general merchandise and car-
ried on a thriving business until 1903. All
this time he was continuing his education by
reading law. "While a clerk he borrowed law
books from the lawyers of Jonesboro and spent
his evenings in study. Later he took a cor-
respondence course from the Sprague Corres-
pondence School of Detroit. He was admitted
to the Illinois bar in 1903.
After going out of business in Jonesboro,
Mr. Mozley sold his home there and moved to
Thebes, Illinois. This was at the time of the
building of the bridge in the river town and
Mr. Mozley remained there practicing law
until August, 1905, when he moved to Benton.
He was admitted to the iMissouri bar in Oc-
tober. 1906, the same year in which he was
first elected prosecuting attorney. He took
the oath of office in January, 1907. In 1908
the Democratic party again selected him as
their candidate for this office and he was re-
elected, serving until January 1, 1911. Mr.
Mozley has never had a partner in his legal
business.
Mrs. IMozley was formerly Miss Allie Lee,
of Jonesboro, Illinois, daughter of Isaac and
Adalia Lee, of the same place. The date of
her birth was Januarv' 1, 1877. Her sister
Clara is also a resident of Benton, the wife
of Thomas E. Sitton. Mr. and IMrs. Mozley
have three children. Norman, Donald and Tod-
die, aged sixteen, fourteen and twelve years,
respectively. Miss Lee became Mrs. Mozley
March 29, 1895. The Mozleys are members
of the Methodist church. South.
Albert De Reign. Herman De Reign,
father of Albert De Reign, of Benton, was
a native of Germany. He left the fatherland
when but a young man to try his fortune in
America and settled in Peoria, Illinois, in 1848.
Seven years afterward he was married to
Marie Kline, widow of Prank Urban, who
had emigrated to America when about six-
teen years of age. Her birthplace was Col-
mar, a city of Alsace, France. She had had
six children by her first marriage and three
more were born to her and Mr. De Reign:
Albert, born in 1856 ; Minnie, now Mrs. J. R.
Brewer, born in 1858 ; and Emma, two years
younger, now married to I\Ir. Ira Neal. The
father, Herman De Reign, died about 1861 or
1862, before the children were grown up,
and Mrs. De Reign became the wife of Joseph
Kosminski, a fresco and scene painter, who
brought up Albert and his sisters, beside four
children of his own of whom she was the
mother. The family lived a short time in St.
Louis after they left Peoria and then moved
to Marion, Kentucky, where both the father
and mother died, the father in August, 1879,
and the mother, June 5, 1880.
Albert De Reign was born May 27, 1856,
in Peoria, Illinois. At the age of fourteen
he was apprenticed to his step-father as a
fresco painter and learned that trade, working
at it until he was twenty-four years old.
Four years earlier he had begun to read law
with ]\Ir. J. W. Blue, of jMarion, Kentucky, so
when he left his trade of painting he was ready
to practice law and on the twelfth of June,
1880, he was admitted to the Kentucky bar.
Mr. De Reign's practice of his chosen pro-
fession has been in Southeastern ]\Iissouri, and
almost entirely in his office in Benton, as he
came here in the October after his admission
to the bar, and the community has given fre-
quent evidence of its appreciation of his su-
periority in legal and civic matters. In law
business Mr. De Reign has always worked
alone. The nearest he has ever come to hav-
ing a partner was when he shared an office with
Marshall Arnold at the time of his coming to
Benton.
The Democratic party was quick to recog-
nize the value of the young lawyer to its con-
stituency, and before he had been a resident
of Benton three years he was elected prose-
cuting attorney of the county. To this office
he was twice reelected, serving three terms in
all. Later his party availed themselves of
his prestige and genius for organization in
the Democratic state central committee, of
which he was chairman for several years. In
1895 he was elected to the legislature and
served one term. In 1904 he received the en-
dorsement of the county for circuit judge, but
was defeated by Judge Riley.
]\Tr. De Reign's son, Morrell, is preparing
to follow the profession in which his father
has won distinction, being now engaged in
studying law at the State University of Mis-
souri. Morrell De Reign is the only living
HISTORY OF SOUTHEAST 5IISS0URI
1267
child of Albert and Mary ilcPliewters Wiley
De Rei^, the latter a daughter of James and
Amelia Burnham MePhewters and formerly
wife of William Wiley. Mrs. Wiley became
Mrs. De Reign, May 4, 1885, and Morrell was
born four years later. Mrs. De Reign has
three children by her first marriage. These
ai'e Charles Wiley, cashier of the Farmers
Bank, of Commerce, Missouri; Fanny, who
married Professor Goodin, of Jackson, Mis-
souri; and Addie, now Mrs. V. L. Harris, of
Benton.
Being one of the old members of the state
bar association Mr. De Reign has witnessed
marvelous changes in conditions in this por-
tion of Missouri. At the time he located in
Benton the land in Scott county which now
sells from seventy-five to one hundred and
fifty dollars an acre was practically wortliless,
being an area of extensive swamps at that time.
Mr. De Reign has utilized his wide and inter-
esting experiences in his literary work, for
which he has no little aptitude. His contribu-
tions to the different magazines include
articles on special subjects, sketches and short
stories.
The De Reign family are cosmopolitan in
matters of religion. Albert De Reign is a
Presbyterian, while his wife belongs to the
Methodist church. South. Herman De Reign,
Albert's father, was a Lutheran; his wife,
Marie, a Roman Catholic ; and Kosminski, Al-
bert De Reign's step-father, was a communi-
cant of the Greek church. Mr. De Reign
holds membership in the Masonic order.
Amos L. Drurt. The present county treas-
urer was born in Ste. Genevieve county of this
state. The same county was the birthplace of
his father, Jules C. Drury, and of his mother,
Mary (Hipes') Drury. The father, Jules, was
bom in 1847, July 14, and the mother two
days and seven years later. They were mar-
ried in 1869, and are still living at Illino.
They had nine children, who are all alive ex-
cept Peter, who died in infancy. Two daugh-
ters, Gussie and Jennie, are living at Illino.
Mary E. is Mrs. L. J. DannenmeuUer of
Kelso. Landra married Dory DannenmeuUer
and lives at Ancell. Bertha, Mrs. F. Clark-
son, resides at Charleston. The sons are Moses
B., of St. Louis: Eugene, of Poplar Bluff;
and Amos L. of Benton, all married. Anna is
Mrs. Charles Hunter, of Forrenfeldt.
Amos Louis Drury is just forty years old,
born November 19, 1871. His father, a mer-
chant farmer, sent him to the common
schools and later to Jones' Commercial Col-
lege of St. Louis. After graduating from
this school Mr. Drury came to Scott county
and engaged in farming. He continued to
farm until 1906, when he moved to Kelso and
ran a hotel and a barber shop. He resumed
his farming very soon and continued his other
business enterprises as well. While residing
in Kelso he was mayor of the town, serving
his fifth term. When elected to the office of
county treasurer in 1910, he moved to Ben-
ton.
Mr. Drury is married and has eight chil-
dren. His wife was formerly Bertha E. Heis-
serer, daughter of Magdalena and Charles
Heisserer, of Kelso. Mrs. Drury was born in
1876. Her marriage to Mr. Drury took place
October 29, 1896. The names and dates of
birth of their children are as follows: Benja-
min, October 9, 1897 ; Stella, who died in in-
fancy ; Lambett, born August 12, 1902 ; Sadie,
January 25, 1904; Gregory, November 4,
1905 ; Enos, September 14, 1907 ; Lena, June
10, 1909 ; and Emmet, April 10, 1911.
All the Drury family are Roman Catho-
lics and both Amos and his father are up-
holders of the policies of the Democratic
party.
Charles Harris. In appointing, on Sep-
tember 8, 1910, Charles Harris to the super-
intendeney of the county schools, Governor
Hadley selected a citizen of Scott county who
brings to that responsibility not merely a
broad education and experience in teaching,
but one who has come up with honor through
the hard discipline of toil and privation. He
knows how to value both learning and knowl-
edge, for he has bought them with a price.
In April, 1911, Mr. Harris was elected county
superintendent for a term of four years.
Both of Mr. Harris' parents were born in
Missouri; his father, Benjamin T. Harris, in
Ripley county, in 1835, and his mother in
Cape Girardeau county, in 1849. Her maiden
name was Sarah Masterson. She was mar-
ried to Mr. Harris about 1870. and they had
three childen. One of these died in infancy;
the other two were Charles, the present sup-
erintendent of the county schools, and a
brother, two years younger, named for his
father, Benjamin T. Harris. The younger
son married Addie Spradling and lived in
Scott county.
Charles was born November 11, 1873, in
Commerce, Scott county. When he was two
years old his father died and at the age of
1268
I-IISTORY OF SOUTHEAST MISSOURI
four the mother also passed away. At the
age of sixteen Charles came to Benton to at-
tend the common schools. By working nights
mornings and Saturdays he was alile to make
his way. During the summers he worked on
the farms and thus earned money for clothes
and got a little ahead for the winter. An edu-
cation was for him
"The spur that the clear spirit doth raise
To scorn delights and live laborious days."
By indomitable ambition and ceaseless indus-
try he managed to complete not only the
course in Benton, but to attend Marvin Col-
lege at Fredericktown and the normal at Cape
Cirardeau. When Mr. Hugh Smith resigned
from the position of county superintendent
in August, 1910, Mr. Harris was selected to
fill the vacancy.
]\Ir. Harris is a member of the Odd Fellows
lodge. Though not a politician, he belongs to
the Republican party. In his religious pref-
erences he favors the l\Iethodist church,
South.
Van Leslie Harris Avas born in Obion
county, Tennessee, the eldest of twelve chil-
dren. The parents, Martin Van Buren and
Martha Bro^ATi Harris, moved to IMissouri in
the fall of the year in which Van Leslie was
bom and settled in Scott county. This
1S71, when the father and mother were thirty-
five and twenty-three years old, respectively.
Martin V. Harris carried on a mercantile
business in addition to farming. He was
thirty years in business at Morley, and the
store he established is still running under the
name of the P. H. Bovce Mercantile Com-
pany. Seven of his children are still living
and most of them live in or near Morley, the
scene of their childhood. They are : Clarence
T). Harris; Etna, Mrs. S. P. Marshall; Pau-
lina, Mrs. L. J. "Welman; Lillian Harris;
Ac]p]] Wiley Harris; and Estella Gr., the wife
of 0. V. Elmore. Van Leslie has lived in
Benton since 1896.
The iunior partner of the Moore-Harris Ab-
stract Company went to school until twent.y-
one years of age. In addition to the course
of study of the public schools Mr. Harris
had the advantage of training at Bellview In-
stitute and at the State University. In 1891
he was married to Miss Virginia Harrison,
who died at the birth of their son Maurice,
January 11. 1892. She had received her edu-
cation at the Cape Girardeau Normal. Some-
thing over ten years after her death Mr. Har-
ris married Addie, daughter of William and
Alice McPheeters Wiley. She was born in
Scott county, in the year 1881. Mr. and Mrs.
Harris have had three children : Mary M. died
at the age of two, Mildred A. was born Au-
gust 4, 1908, and Leslie M., two years later,
on the fourteenth of the same month.
After his first marriage Mr. Harris went
into mercantile business for himself at Mor-
ley, but discontinued it after two years. In
1896 he was made deputy recorder of Scott
county and at the next election became re-
corder, an office which he held until 1906.
Since that date he has been associated with
Mr. Moore in the abstract business, although
his interest in real estate antedates his en-
trance into the Moore-Harris firm by many
years. The swamp lands in particular engage
Mr. Harris' attention.
Mr. Harris belongs to the Democratic party
in politics. His father, Martin Van Buren
Harris, was a staunch Democrat.
George A. Reaves. The father of George A.
Reaves, Felix G. Reaves, was born in Umphus
county, Tennessee, in 1818. When seventeen
years old he came to New Madrid county,
where he worked by the day and by the mouth
until he got a start. He was married to
Parilee Cormack, who was also born in Ten-
and was four years his junior. Both
died in this county, the former in 1895 and
the latter in 1882.
George A. Reaves was born in New Madrid
coimty, in 1852, and passed his boyhood in
the customary fashion of farmers' sons of
those days. His education Avas obtained al-
most exclusively in subscripton schools and
he helped on the home farm imtil he was
married. This was when he was twenty-three
and a half years old, and his first bride was
Mary C, daughter of William R. Carson, born
in Dunklin county, but reared in New Madrid.
For three years after his marriage Mr.
Reaves rented forty acres of land and then
bought one himdred and fifteen acres on
credit. Later he purchased five acres more,
at a cost of $1,100 for the one hundred and
twenty. At present he owns four hundred
and twenty acres of valuable land and raises
wheat, com and cotton as his chief crops. In
live stock he has seventy-five hogs, eighteen
horses, thirty cattle, thirty-five geese and
seventy sheep. His farm is well improved
and he uses up-to-date machinery.
William A. Reaves, George Reaves' son by
his first man-iage, is married and lives on a
farm near Hayward Pemiscot county. He
HISTORY OF SOUTHEAST MISSOURI
1269
owns seventy acres and rents seventy more.
Four children of his second wife, Bettie Nolan
Reaves, are married and one, Dixie Neville,
is at home. The married ones are George A.,
junior, who lives in Portageville with his wife,
Margaret Hinman Reaves. He rims a saw
mill in Arkansas. Ernest B. Reaves also re-
sides in PortageviUe, where he has a farm and
is also a drug clerk. His wife was formerly
Miss 0 'Kelly. Velma, Mrs. J. D. Parks, lives
at Newport, Arkansas. The present Mrs.
George A. Reaves, senior, was formerly Miss
Dixie Ellington, of Kentuckj^ where she was
born on Jime 12, 1871. Her one daughter,
Gladys, is with her parents.
Mr. Reaves is a Democrat, but has never
desired any offices in the gift of his party.
He is a member of the J\Iasonic order at Point
Pleasant and of the Odd Fellows at Portage-
ville. He has been treasurer of the latter
body for six years. He holds membership in
two other lodges of Portageville, the Wood-
men of the "World and the Knights and Ladies
of Honor. He is a valued member of the
South Methodist church, in which he has
served twentj' years as steward and three
years as Sunday-school superintendent.
Walter Gary. It is the fortimate portion
of J. W. Gary not only to have contrib-
uted to the material development and the
moral advancement of the community, but to
witness his children carrying on with even
increased zeal the work of adding to the power
and righteousness of the country..
J. W. Gary was born in Graves county,
Kentuckj', February 27, 1848. His parents,
Sabe and Adeline Gary, were born in that
state, in Logan county. The son grew up in
the state of his birth and married Martha
Cartwright, and with his bride moved to
southwestern Missouri, where they remained
for three years, after which they took up their
permanent residence in this coimty. Ten
children were born of their imion, five sons
and five daughters. James Elbert Gary is.
depot agent in Doniphan, in which place the
two other sons, Walter and Otis, also are in
business. The daughters are Addie L., Nora
A., Hattie B., Emma G. and Clara.
J. W. Gary is a member of the Masonic fra-
ternity, as well as a Knight of Pythias and a
member of the Ancient Order of United Work-
men. He is a deacon in the Missionary Bap-
tist church, of which his family are all
interested members. In politics he is an un-
compromising Republican and was one of the
first seven voters of that ticket in the county.
Walter W. Gary, his son, was born in
Graves county, Kentucky, in 1876, May 27th
being the date of his birth. His schooling
was received in this county, where he attended
the high school after completing the common
school course, and when he left the high school
he entered the Ripley County Bank as book-
keeper and is still connected with that institu-
tion, where his faithfiil and efficient work has
brought about his promotion to the post of
assistant cashier. He owns residence property
in town and a tenant house as well.
Like his father, Walter Gary is a Republi-
can, and, like him too, he is a worker in the
Baptist church of the city. He contributes
generously to all its activities and has been
for some time the secretary of the Sunday-
school. His lodge affiliations are with the
Modern Woodmen and the Independent Order
of Odd Fellows. His high place in the esteem
and admiration of the community is due to
his many fine qualities of mind and heart, as
well as to the many traits which have made
him a power and influence in the business life
of the city.
On December 6, 1899, Mr. Gary married
Miss Nona Vincent. They have two children,
both born in the month of November, Ray-
mond, in 1906, and Joseph L., born three
years later.
A no less prominent member of the Gary
family is Otis M., who was born in western
Missouri, Barry coimty, in 1878. He was but
one year old when his parents came to this
county. Until sixteen years of age he attended
the district schools of this vicinity, and then
began working for the Wright Hardware
Company, at a salary of $7.50 a month. He
remained with this firm for five years, con-
stantly increasing his business knowledge and
efficiency, and becoming a valuable employe
of the house.
When he was twenty-one years of age Mr.
Gary took a course of instruction at the Gem
City Business College at Quincy, Illinois. His
record here was one of singular excellence.
One of his examination papers was sent to
the Omaha exposition as one of the five best
papers in tlie school. After completing his
course at Quincy, Mr. Gary went into the
Eaton Lumber Company as a bookkeeper, re-
maining in the employ of that firm imtil 1901.
He then closed out the business for Mr. Eaton
and took a pleasure trip in a laimch, the
1270
HISTORY OF SOUTHEAST MISSOURI
journe.y being one of several himdred miles
do\\-n Current river to Black river and thence
up White river to Buffalo, Marion county,
Arkansas.
The Roller Mill secured Mr. Gary's services
as bookkeeper next, but his work with them
was terminated at the end of three months,
when he was attacked with typhoid fever.
His illness lasted three months and when he
recovered he entered the drug business, re-
maining until 1905. In that year he was
appointed postmaster of Doniphan. The sal-
ary then was $1,200, but it was raised to
$1,300 the same year in which he began his
service, and is now $1,700. The sales were
$2,000 the first year, but are now two and a
half times that amount. Mr. Gary has made
arrangements which make it possible to handle
the mail faster, and expects to secure new
fixtures as well as a new location by October
1, 1911.
In 1905 ]\Ir. Gary was united in marriage
with Miss Pearl McLeod, of Grenada, Missis-
sippi.
In the Masonic order Mr. Gary has been
master of Composite Lodge, No. 369, and has
also served as secretary. He has held offices
in the Order of Odd Fellows and is a member
of the Modern Woodmen. He finds time in
his active life to devote, to the work of the
church of his fathers, of which he has been
a member since his boyhood, and is actively
interested in the Sunday-school, of which he
was secretary for several years. The finance
committee of the church has in him one of its
most efficient workers. In polities he holds
to the policies of the party to which his father
has ever given unswerving allegiance and was
its nominee for the office of county collector.
In all his relations with his fellow townsmen
Mr. Gary is accoimted a worthy representative
of an admirable family, to whose stainless
history his is a desirable chapter.
Henry A. Workman. The career of Mr.
Workman, like that of his brother, E. S. Work-
man, is a refutation of the old theory that
ministers' sons are ne'er-do-wells. Henry
Workman was born in Indiana, in 1870. Here
he attended the district schools and also those
of the towns of Rockport and Richland. .At
the age of ten he accompanied his parents to
Missouri, and he subsequently moved to Ken-
tuck>- and lived there seven years. He con-
tinued to go to school and to farm, first with
his father and later for himself.
Mr. Workman began by renting a farm. He
continued this for twelve years and then
bought eighty acres. His land cost him from
twenty to fifty dollars an acre and is now
worth fifty dollars an acre as a whole. He has
improved the land and fenced it in and built
two dwelling houses upon it. He does general
farming and keeps a few horses, cattle, hogs
and sheep. He cultivates corn, hay and cot-
ton, and is a stockholder in the Farmers'
Union Gin at Portageville. His family con-
sists of his wife, Mattie A. Johnson Work-
man, born in Kentucky' and married to Mr.
Workman in 1896, and their children, Lee,
Guy, Mabel, Irene, Carl, Mar.y and O'Neal,
all at home. Mrs. Workman is a member of
the Mutual Protective Association and her
husband of the Jlodern Woodmen of America.
He was formerly connected with the Wood-
men of the World.
Mr. Workman is a Democrat in politics and
though not eager for office he has not shirked
the responsibilities of civic duty. For seven
years he was school clerk; he is now judge of
elections and has served in that capacity be-
fore ; he was appointed constable and refused
the office of deputy sheriff, and lastly, he
served on the central Democratic committee
of the county for seven years.
William A. Barnes, son of Seth S. Barnes,
was born in Henderson county, Illinois, Aug-
ust 7, 1869. This was his home imtil he was
three years old, when his parents moved to a
farm near New Madrid. Until the age of
twelve he lived on the farm, and from that
time to 1899 alternated between New Madrid
and the place in the country. He assisted his
father in the store in New Madrid. When
Mr. Barnes came to IMarston in 1899 there
was no town here, but the company moved its
store from New Madrid to Marston and began
operations. Mr. Barnes sold out all his inter-
ests in New Madrid and came to Marston to
work for the company of which he is now one
of the directors. He has charge of the grocery
and hardware departments of the establish-
ment. In the to^vn he has several lots and
houses and he is a stockholder and director
of the Bank of IMarston.
In 1904, at Lilbourn, IMr. Barnes was mar-
ried to Miss Marguerite Carmack, of Union
county, Illinois. They have four children ;
]\Tabei Lois, Laura W., Rosalind M. and Mor-
ris N. Both Mr. and Mrs. Barnes are members
of the Presbyterian church.
HISTORY OF SOUTHEAST MISSOURI
1271
la societies Mr. Barnes is a member of the
Masonic order, of the Independent Order of
Odd Fellows, of the Woodmen of the "World
and of the order of Ben Hur.
John H. Kohl. The able president and
manager of the John H. Kohl Company, John
H. Kohl, has spent his life in the business in
which he is now engaged in ^Morehouse, having
begim it in Illinois imder his father, Louis
Kohl. He has been highly successful in a
business in which the keenness of competition
weeds out all who are not men of splendid
business capacities and in possession of a
thorough knowledge of the business both from
the manufacturer's standpoint and from the
standpoint of the lumberman.
Jolm H. Kohl was born in Akron, Ohio, in
1858, on the 4th of September. His mother
was Mary Bowman Kohl of that city, and his
father, as has been mentioned, was Louis Kohl.
When Jolin -was six years old, his parents
moved to Cleveland, Ohio, where they re-
mained for two years. They then moved to
Marshall, Illinois, and here the father went
into the cooperage business. After acquiring
as much schooling as he thought necessary,
young John went into his father's business
and worked with him imtil he had learned
the business so completely that he was put in
charge of the factory as superintendent.
At the age of twenty-three John H. Kohl
decided to go to the city. Selecting Terre
Haute as the field of his endeavors he went
there and secured work, subsequently going
fo Chicago. Here he stayed for six years,
working in the cooperage business of John
Eizner. At the expiration of this time he
returned to IMarshall to assist his father. He
was associated with his father for one year
and then started in business for himself at
Martinsville, Illinois. He was successful in
his venture and as the years passed began to
acquire considerable. He remained at Mar-
tinsville for thirteen years, and then feeling
that he had both the capital and experience
necessary for the management of a larger
business, he began to look about him with the
idea of making a change. He finally located
in Greenville, Kentucky, and established a
heading mill, at Greenville, imder the name
of the John H. Kohl Company, Incorporated.
This plant was in operation from October,
1903, until Jime, 1908. when Jlr. Kohl re-
moved to Morehouse. Here he bought the
Morehouse cooperage factory, moved his
Greenville equipment to this citj' and started
the present business, dealing in staves and
headings, as well as lumber.
The company owns 282 acres of land. The
stave mill has a productive capacity of thirty
thousand slack barrel staves; ten thousand
tight staves; three thousand sets of slack
heading and five htmdred sets of tight head-
ing. The saw-mill capacity is about ten thou-
sand feet a day. The other members of the
firm beside the manager-president are A. W.
Eiszner, of Chicago, and his wife and daugh-
ter. Mr. Eiszner acts as secretary and
treasurer.
Mr. Kohl was married on the 13th of April,
1900, at ]\Iarshall, Illinois, to Miss Elizabeth
Viola Atkinson. Four children were bom to
Mr. and Mrs. Kohl, one of whom died at the
age of two days. Another, IMary Katherine,
died in Greenville, March 1, 1906. She was
thirteen years old at the time of her death.
Sidney J. Kohl, born on the 30th of Decem-
ber, 1894, is still going to school in More-
house in the winters, but he spends the sum-
mers working in his father's establishment.
Esther May, three years younger, is also in
school in Morehouse. The mother of these
children died nine years after her marriage
to Mr. Kohl, who was wedded to his present
wife on the 24th of July, 1901. Previous to
her marriage Mrs. Kohl was Mrs. Anna Croll
of Clark county, Illinois. She is still affiliated
with the Presbyterian church of her home
town and Mr. Kohl is still a member of the
Slethodist church in the same county, in the
city of Martinsville.
Mr. Kohl's lodge connections are all in his
old home town of IMartinsville. There he is a
staimch member of both the Odd Fellows and
of the Modern Woodmen of America.
R-VLPH BRISSE^^DEN has lived in Fornfelt
only since 1905, but in that comparatively
short time he has won a place in the commu-
nity, both as a business man and as an indi-
vidual, which few citizens who have spent
their lives here would not be proud to occupy.
He was born in Clay City, Clay coimty, Illi-
nois, and grew up there. His father, Henry
Brissenden. was in the manufacturing busi-
ness in Clay City and later in Pigott,
Arkansas. In 1905 father and son came to
Fornfelt and went into the furniture trade.
After two years Henry Brissenden moved to
Cape Girardeau, where he resumed his former
occupation of manufacturing base-ball bats.
1272
HISTORY OF SOUTHEAST MISSOURI
Ralph is still in the furniture concern, of
which he is the jimior partner, as well as
general manager. He is, in addition, luider-
taker and licensed embalmer. At present,
Mr. Brissenden is serving his first term as
postmaster of Fornfelt.
In the Republican party organization, Mr.
Brissenden is an influential member. He is
now chairman of the county committee of that
party. His fraternal connections include
mem"ber.ship in the ^Modern Woodmen of Forn-
felt lodge, the Independent Order of Odd
Fellows, of Clay City, Illinois, and the Masons,
at Illmo, Missouri.
During the Spanish-American war he was
a member of troop K of the First Illinois
volimteer cavalry.
On Jime 6, 1906, Miss Ida Gill of Clay City,
Illinois, became Mrs. Ralph Brissenden. They
had two children, but only the boy, Ralph Jr,,
is now living. The daughter, Dorothy, was
called to the other life in 1908. on July 10th.
]Mr. Brissenden is recognized as one of the
rising citizens of this district, and he well
deserves the esteem in which he is held by
his large circle of friends and acquaintances.
James A. Finch. In James A. Finch,
Fornfelt has an attorney of imusual talent.
Perhaps he inherited some of his aptitude
for the legal profession, for his father, James
A. Finch, was a laA\yer who practiced his pro-
fession in Louisville, Illinois, imtil his death
in 1883. James is the yoimgest of three chil-
dren and was born the year of his father's
death. His mother, Mrs. Florence B. Finch,
is now living in St. Louis with her son W. B.
Finch.
James A. Finch graduated from the Louis-
ville high school and then attended Austin
College. Later he attended ]McKendree Col-
lege, the oldest institution in the west and one
which has many distinguished alumni, includ-
ing Governor Deneen of Illinois. In St. Louis,
Mr. Finch attended the Benton College of
Law and although the youngest member of the
class graduated at the head of the class of
1903. For two years after his graduation,
Mr. Finch practiced in St. Louis alone. In
1905 he came to Fornfelt, Scott county, where
he still resides.
In the brief time of his residence in Forn-
felt, Mr. Finch has built up an extensive legal
practice.
His abilities as an executive are greatly
appreciated in the eoimcils of the Republican
party, in which he is an influential member.
He is at present secretary of the Republican
state committee and in 1911, as secretary of
the Missouri capitol re-building committee, he
managed the campaign in Missouri for the
$3,500,000 bond issue to build a new state
capitol.
One year after coming to Scott county,
Jlr. Finch married Miss Carrie Lehman of
Lebanon, Illinois. Their son James A. Jr. is
four years old and the daughter KathrjTi
Mildred two years old.
G. R. Daugherty is one of the two living
children of the four born to Joel and Callie
Fausett Daugherty of Stoddard county. The
other surviving member of the family is Mr.
James E. Daugherty. of Puxieo, associated in
business with Godwin & Jean. ^Irs. James
Daugherty was Miss Roberta Scott. Joel
Daugherty was a farmer whose home was near
Bernie. This place was the scene of his death,
as well as that of his wife and two children
who M-ere taken from this life at its very be-
ginning, ilrs. Joel Daugherty died in 1877,
and after mourning her two years her husband
also passed away.
G. R. Daugherty was born February 9, 1871.
He attended the common schools and studied
law in Stoddard county. His admission to
the bar took place in Bloomfield in 1901. Mr.
Daugherty practiced in Stoddard coimty luitil
1905, when he came to Chaffee and went into
partnership with Mr. ^Marshall Arnold. He
continued in the legal profession here until
three years ago, when he abandoned it to go
into the ministry. The Baptist church of
Portageville, Missouri, was the scene of his
labors in the field of the church. He followed
that calling for two years and then ill health
obliged him to give it up. The necessity of
leaving the pulpit was a matter of deep regret
to him, as he is profoundly interested in min-
isterial work.
Upon leaving the ministry Mr. Daugherty
established his residence in Chaffee and re-
sumed his law business. In addition to his
legal work he is interested in real estate and
insurance. He was formerly a property
owner in Benton. He maintains his connec-
tion -^vith the ilutual Protective League of
that city. Other fraternal organizations with
which he is affiliated are the Masons (Blue
Lodge), the Odd Fellows and the Ben Hur
lodge, all of Morley.
Mrs. Daugherty was formerly Miss Ida
HISTORY OF SOUTHEAST MISSOUEI
1273
Garner, of Stoddard county. Her parents
were Matthew and Mary L. Garner. She
became Mrs. Daugherty June 30, 1892.
Eight children have been born of the union,
six of whom are living. James Otto, nineteen
years of age, Robert Lester, seventeen, Anna
Lee, thirteen, Joel Bennett, ten, and Garner
Reed, eight, are all still in school. The baby
is Marshall Arnold, aged three. Norman R.
died in July, 1899, at the age of two, and a
daughter, Elsie May, in 1908, aged one year.
Chakles 0. Booker. President Eliot of
Harvard in com&enting upon his singularly
happy life said it had been his good fortune
to have spent his j-outh and the best years of
his prime in "a profession which has no
equal." The stern old Calvinist. John Knox,
declared that every scholar was wealth to the
eommimity, and it is only because we have
become so accustomed to the good conferred
upon us by universal education that we are
sometimes careless in our estimate of its value.
We cheer the uniformed soldier as he marches
forth to fight and the tale of deeds of daring
warm our hearts. It is well that this should
be so, for a people who could not be thrilled
by the sight and thought of daring for a sacred
cause would be a poor and mean one. But
the teacher's work is that of the soldier of
peace. He it is who trains up those whose
discoveries add to the comfort and prosperity
of the world. It would be great enough sim-
pl3' to open one child's eyes to the wonders
of the worlds of literature and science, but
the teacher does more than this. It is he who
makes it possible for us to profit by the intel-
lects of those who chain the powers of elec-
tricity and who cause the earth to yield her
fullness. To be a part of the educational sys-
tem of our land is to contribute more to its
peace and prosperity than to serve on battle
fields or to sail on our men-of-war.
In ilr. Charles 0. Booker Ripley coimty
has a citizen who has given seventeen years of
his life to the lofty calling of the teacher.
He was born in Carroll coiuity, Missouri, on
St. Valentine's day of the year when our land
celebrated the one hundredth anniversary of
her independence. His father was John S.
Booker, a native of Indiana, born in 18-41, and
later a resident of this coimty. Nancy E.
(Gentry) Booker, his wife, was born in this
state. 'Both are still living on their farm
here.
Ripley county became the home of the
Booker family in 1886, when Charles Booker
was ten years of age. He attended both the
district schools and the Doniphan high school
before beginning the work in which he is still
engaged. In January, 1911, ilr. Booker was
elected clerk of the circuit court to serve four
years. "While he has been working in this
county he has not confined his interests to
purely local matters, but has kept abreast of
all educational movements, and in recognition
of his intelligent interest in matters of such
import he has been called to serve on the
board of education and on the text-book com-
mission for six years.
In 1904 Mr. Booker was married to Miss
Frances Hufstedler, of Bennett, Ripley
coimty, Missouri. The only child of this union
is Vernie, born in October, 1906. Mr. and
Mrs. Booker reside in Doniphan, although
Mr. Booker o-mis a farm of one himdred and
ninety acres near to the cit.y, ninety acres of
which are cleared and imder cultivation, and
which he rents. The remainder is heavily
timbered and is a valuable piece of property.
The service Mr. Booker has done the coimty
is not one to be measured by any finite means.
He has stamped the lives of his pupils with
the lofty ideals of citizenship and enlighten-
ment which are the guiding forces of his own
career, and which are destined to increase
indefinitely and find expression in lives of
usefulness, learning and benevolence.
John Harrison Timberjian. ]M. D., who
from the beginning of his identification with
the city of Marston as a yoimg physician has
been one of the foremost members of society
in that place, both from a professional and
civic viewpoint, is a native of Missouri, born
in Cotton Plant, Dunklin county, on Decem-
ber 16, 1876. His professional experiences
have covered but a brief period of years, but
in that time he has made most worthy progress
in his chosen work and is known as one of the
leading members of his profession in New
Jladrid county.
Dr. Timberman is the son of John Davis
Timberman and Mary E. (Bishop) Timber-
man. The father was born on New Year's
day of 1849, in Obion county, Tennessee, and
was educated in the Clarkton public school,
followed by a collegiate course at Arcadia,
Missouri, and he was later graduated from the
College of Medicine and Surgery at Keokuk,
Iowa, from which institution he received his
degree of Doctor of Medicine. Dr. Timberman
1274
HISTORY OF SOUTHEAST MISSOURI
practiced medicine at Cotton Plant, Missouri,
for eight years, then removing to Clarkton, in
Dunklin county, where he remained for two
years, and where he was located at the time
of his death, which came on his thirty-sixth
birthday, January 1, 1885. The yoimg life,
so full of promise and already productive of
so much of good, was thus cut off, and his son,
who was but nine years of age when the father
died, is now carrying on the work in which his
father was not permitted to continue. Dr.
Timberman was the son of John Timberman
and his wife. Dilemma Hogan, and both father
and son were Master Jlasons. The mother of
Dr. Jolin Harrison Timberman is the eldest
daughter of Pleasant and Eliza E. (Wright)
Bishop and a native of New iladrid county.
Her parents were of English blood, the father
being the son of Henry and ilartha (Mayo)
Bishop, the former born in 1782 and dying in
1841, and his wife, who was born in 1800,
passing away in 1859. Pleasant Bishop was
bom on February 18, 1820. and died in 1900.
He, also, was a IMaster Mason. His wife,
Eliza E. Wright, was born in 1828. and she
died in 1860. Their daughter, ]\Iary E.
Bishop, the mother of Dr. Timberman of this
brief review, was born on July 31, 1856, at
Movmt Pleasant, Missouri.
As a boy Dr. Timberman attended the pub-
lie schools of Clarkton, Sit. Pleasant and the
West Plain high school. He also attended
West Plain College, and entered the medical
department of the St. Louis University, from
which institution he was graduated in May,
1906. Previous to his entering upon the study
of medicine, however, the yoimg man was em-
ployed as a clerk in a West Plain grocery
store for five years, after which he engaged
in an independent grocery business and con-
tinued in the same for three years. It was
not until 1902 that he began the study of
medicine, having with the passing years de-
cided that the profession of his father was
the only one in which he would achieve suc-
cess, and immediately upon his graduation in
1906 Dr. Timberman began the practice of his
profession at IMar.ston, Missouri, where he has
remained continuously and which represents
his present home.
Dr. Timberman has identified himself with
the commimal life of ]Marston in a manner
which freely evidences his free-heartedness
and his genuine public .spiritedness. He is
president of the Marston school board, and is
likewise a member of the Marston board of
trustees, and has in numerous ways shown his
willingness to bear his share in the civic bur-
dens and in the communal life of the city.
He has always supported the Democratic poli-
cies, platform and nominees, but has never
held ofSce. He is a member of the Methodist
Episcopal church of South Marston, and is a
member of the board of trustees of same.
Fraternally he is afSliated with Point Pleasant
Lodge, Ancient Free and Accepted Masons;
Marston Lodge, No. 719, Independent Order
of Odd Fellows, in which he is a past grand;
Star Camp, No. 7314, Modern Woodmen of
America, of which he is a pas't consul ; Marston
Grove, No. 168, Woodmen Circle; Marston
Camp, No. 502, Woodmen of the World;
Mazeppa Lodge, No. 231, Ancient Order
United Workmen. In the line of his profes-
sion Dr. Timberman is a member of the New
Madrid County Medical Society, of which he
is secretary, and he is likewise a member of
the State and American ]\Iedical Associations.
On June 14, 1903, Dr. Timberman was
imited in marriage with Edna Belle Ham-
mond at Slexico, Missouri. She is an only
daughter of Charles W. and ilattie Hammond,
the father being a veteran of the Civil war, in
which he served from its inception to the
return of peace. Mrs. Timberman was edu-
cated in the schools of Paducah, Kentucky_
and West Plain, Missouri. She has been
active in church work ail her life and since
her coming to Marston has been prominent in
social circles of the city. Dr. and i\Irs. Tim-
berman have one child, a daughter. Lucile
Frances, aged six years. She was born in
St. Louis, ilissouri, on October 1, 1905, and
is now attending the ilarston schools.
J. F. Riddle, M. D., who is most success-
fully engaged in the practice of medicine at
Bernie, Missouri, has during his seventeen
j'ears' residence in this place won recognition
in a liberal and constantlj^ growing practice
by reason of his innate talent and acquired
ability along the line of one of the most
humanitarian professions to which man may
devote his energies. In addition to his medi-
cal work he is the owner of a fine rural estate
of some five himdred acres, on which special
attention is given to the raising of high-grade
stock, and in the town of Bernie he has erected
a number of large business buildings and
residences.
Dr. Riddle was born in Dimklin county,
Missouri, on the 5th of March, 1869, and he is
HISTORY OF SOUTHEAST MISSOURI
1275
a son of Jolm and Ella (Beckwith) Riddle,
the former of whom was a native of Kentucky
and the latter of whom claimed Virginia as the
place of her birth. :Mrs. Riddle accompanied
her parents to ^Missouri about the year 1840,
location having been made -in Dunklin county,
where she grew to j^ears of maturity and where
was solemnized her marriage in the early '50s.
John Riddle came to Jlissouri in 1848 with his
father, George Riddle, who died in Dunklin
county. Of the ten children born to ilr. and
Mrs. Riddle the subject of this review was
the ninth in order of birth and of the number
eight are living in 1911, most of them being
in Dimklin coimty. Jolm Riddle virtually
hewed a farm out of the virgin wilderness, the
same having been located six miles west of
Maiden, on Crowlej''s Ridge. He devoted the
major portion of his active career to farming
operations and passed the residue of his life
on the farm referred to above, where his death
occurred in August, 1904, at the venerable
age of seventj'-seven years. His cherished and
devoted wife, who preceded him to the life
eternal, passed away in 1897, at the age of
sixty-six years.
Reared to the invigorating influences of the
old homestead farm. Dr. J, F. Riddle received
his preliminary educational training in the
neighboring district schools. "While still a
youth he pursued a two-year course in the
State Normal School, and when he had reachecl
his nineteenth year he began to teach school.
His first pedagogic work was in the winter
sessions of the country .schools and in the
'summer seasons he assisted his father in the
work and management of the old home farm.
Deciding upon the medical profession as his
life work, he entered the University of Ten-
nessee, at Nashville, in which excellent insti-
tution he was graduated as a member of the
class of 1893. with his well earned degree of
Doctor of Medicine. Since that time Dr.
Riddle has pursued post-graduate work in
Washington University, at St. Loiiis. He in-
itiated the active practice of his profession at
Bemie, in 1894, and here he has resided dur-
ing the long intervening years to the present
time. He has won recognition as one of the
most skilled physicians and surgeons in Stod-
dard county and he controls an extensive pat-
ronage in Bernie and in the territory normally
tributary thereto. He is a great student of
the profession and is constantly keeping in
touch with the advances made along the line
of his chosen field of labor. He is interested
in politics only inasmuch as it aifects the wel-
fare of the commimity and country at large.
He was one of the promoters of the Bank of
Bemie, and is its president. In addition to
his other interests he is the owner of a twelve-
story concrete business block at Bernie and
during his active career he has built eight or
ten fine residence buildings, all of which he
has disposed of to eager purchasers.
Dr. Riddle is the o-mier of a tract of five
hundred acres of improved bottom land in
Stoddard coimty, and on this estate, iu addi-
tion to diversified agriculture, are kept one
hundred and fifty head of stock. The Doctor
is possessed of remarkable executive ability
and is conducting his multifarious business
interests in a most creditable manner. He has
witnessed land in this section advance from
one dollar and a charter per acre to the pres-
ent good prices. In connection with the work
of his profession he is affiliated with a number
of representative organizations, and frater-
nally he is a valued and appreciative member
of the local lodges of the Knights of Pythias
and the Independent Order of Odd Fellows.
Dr. Riddle has been twice married. In 1895
was solemnized his marriage to Miss Rose
Evans, a daughter of Squire Evans, of Bernie.
She died, without issue, in 1899. In 1904 the
Doctor was imited in marriage to Jliss Ella
Fonville, who was born and reared in Stod-
dard coimty and who is a daughter of W. P.
Fonville. Dr. and ]\Irs. Riddle have two
children, Franklin and Halcyon.
Louis L.arson. The state of Missouri has
within its limits representatives from almost
every eoimtr.y in the world, and among those
who have settled here and who look back to
Denmark as the place of their birth is Louis
Larson, whose identity with Stoddard county
covers a period of thirty years.
Louis Larson was born in Yutland, Den-
mark, February 24. 1857, a son of fuU-blooded
Danes. His father was a North Sea fisherman,
and the boy was brought up to be a sailor. He
had the usual amoimt of schooling customary
in Denmark until he was fourteen years of
age. Then he ran away from home and went
to Norway. For two j'cars he sailed on Nor-
wegian ships, he studied navigation and
reached the rank of second mate. At the age
of sixteen he came to America. For five years
he sailed the ocean on English and South
American trade vessels, visiting various ports
in both the new and the old world. At the age
1276
HISTORY OF SOUTHEAST MISSOURI
of twenty-one, in Boston, he joined the Ameri-
can navj% enlisting as an able seaman and for
twenty-nine months was on the U. S. S. "Van-
dalia;" afterward on the "Wabash," the
"Colorado," and the "New York," all of
which were in the North Atlantic fleet. It
was in August, 1878, that he joined the navj',
and he was in the service nearly two years,
when he was honorably discharged, having
meantime been promoted to chief petty officer.
Following his discharge from the na\'j^,
young Larson returned to Norwaj^ where he
met the sister of his shipmate, Lena ToUeb-
sen whom he married after a brief courtship,
and who returned with him that same year,
1881, to America. She was born in Norway,
February 11, 1860. Her parents also came to
America, and are now residents of Providence,
Rhode Island. Of Jlr. Larson's family, one
sister and three brothers are now living, all
in the old coiuitry except one brother who
resides in McAlester, Oklahoma. He had an
uncle living in Missouri, and after returning
to America with his bride ilr. Larson decided
to settle down on land, and, as he says, "to
get as far awaj^ from the ocean wave as pos-
sible, " so he came to Missouri. Arrived here,
he was completely "broke," as he had spent
all the mone.y he had to make the joui-ney, but
he was ambitious and willing to work, and took
the first thing that offered, which was farm
work at ten dollars a month, on land near the
farm he now ownf^. For nearly three years
he was a wage worker. Then he bought forty
acres of land, covered with timber, built a lit-
tle shack, and at once went to work, chopping,
grubbing and clearing. Seven years later he
bought forty acres of adjoining land, which
he also cleared, and of the eighty acres he now
owns sixty-seven acres are imder cultivation.
Nearly all this work of clearing has been done
by his own hands. His chief crop is corn,
which he feeds to his stock. He annually
raises from forty to fifty head of hogs, keeps
an average of fifteen head of Hereford cattle,
and always has several horses.
To Mr. and Mrs. Larson have been given
twelve children, of whom six are now living,
as follows : Lydia, wife of Fred iloore ; Mary,
wife of Oscar Clark; Martin E., who married
Marj' Kirby, cultivates a part of his father's
farm and another one; Carrie, widow of Lil-
born Clark ; Thomas B. and Lewis C. — all res-
idents of Stoddard county. At this writing
the grandchildren of Louis and Lena Larson
number nine.
Politically Mr. Larson is a Democrat. Fra-
ternallj' he is identified with the M. W. of A.
at Bloomfield, and both he and his wife belong
to the R. W. of A. at Aid.
MiLO Gresham. Early in the nineteenth
centurj' the grandparents of ililo Gresham
on both his father's and his mother's side,
moved from Smith county, Tennessee to Pope
county, southern Illinois, where they were
among the pioneers. There in 1836 Elijah
Benjamin Franklin Gresham was born on
November 22d, and two years later, in the
same coxmty, Sophia Delilah Ellis, afterwards
his wife and the mother of his five children
who grew to maturity. Four of these have
settled in Missouri. One, Joshua A., lives in
Metropolis, Illinois. He has been twice mar-
ried. The vicinity of Sikeston is the home
of ]\Irs. William R. Barnes, nee Matilda
Gresham, and of Ella, who married Oscar L.
Whiteside. ]Mayme C. is the wife of Claude
Boyer, a dredge-boat craneman, living at
Morehouse, ililo is one of the leading attor-
neys of Sikeston. E. B. F. Gresham was a
carpenter by trade and he also worked at
farming and in the mercantile business. His
church was the Universalist, while his wife
was a Baptist. She passed away about 1888 ;
her husband still lives in Illinois, at Creal
Springs.
Milo Gresham was born April 18, 1867, on
a farm seven miles northwest of Golconda,
Illinois. Until he was twent.y-one he went
to school and taught. He attended the school
in Valparaiso, Indiana, where he took pen-
manship and a commercial course. After fin-
ishing school Mr. Gresham worked in a drug
store in Elizabethtown, Illinois, for some time.
On July 15, 1890, he came to Sikeston. and
one month later his marriage to iliss Emma
J. Whiteside took place. Emma was born in
Pope county, Illinois, in 1869, her parents
being John and Martha Harper Whiteside.
She had gone to school to Mr. Gresham when
he taught in Illinois. One son, Murray, and
three daughters, Ruth, Emma and Martha,
born to Milo and Emma Gresham are still
living. ]\Irs. Gresham is a member of the
Methodist church. South.
Mr. Gresham came to Sikeston intending
to teach, but the principalship he expected to
get had been filled, so he turned to other
means of livelihood. Sikeston had never had
a jewelry store up to this time, so he started
one, besides setting up a barber shop with the
HISTORY OF SOUTHEAST MISSOURI
1277
first revolving chair ever seen in town. It
is Mr. Gresham's habit to be the first to in-
troduce new appliances.
Soon after coming to Sikeston he became
identified with the newspaper business of the
city and has maintained his connection with
it until the last two j-ears. Characteristically
he was the first person to bring a power press
to Sikeston.
While running his newspaper Mr. Gresham
began to read law and was soon admitted to
the bar at New Madrid. Until two j'ears ago
he was always without a partner, but at that
time he went into business with Mr. T. B.
Dudley, ilr. Gresham bought the first su-
preme and appellate reports ever in any Sik-
eston library. He and Mv. Dudley have the
best equipped law office in Scott coimty.
Mr. Gresham is a Democrat and has held
various city offices. He has been city clerk,
city collector and city attorney, which last
office he has held the past twelve years. He
is now city collector.
In practice Mr. Gresham has the remark-
able record of never having a client convicted
whose ease he undertook to defend. He has
defended a dozen men charged with murder
in the first degree.
F. P. Foster, one of the fmaneially substan-
tial citizens of Ardeola, Stoddard coimty, Mis-
souri, divides his time between this place and
Cape Girardeau, at both of which points he
has extensive interests.
Mr. Foster is a native of Cape Girardeau,
born August 5, 1851. In 1856 the family
home was changed to Stoddard coimty, where,
on a farm, he was reared and reached his ma-
jority, leaving the old home then to become
the head of a household of his own. This lo-
cality was sparsely settled then and schools
were poor and few, and so his opportunity
for obtaining an education was of a neces-
sity limited. Besides, his boyhood days were
full of work, work that left him little time
for books. His father died when he was two
years old; his mother subsequently married,
and his stepfather, William Hicks, died a few
months after coming into the family. Then
the Civil war came on, and young Foster's
older brothers (he being the fourth in order
of birth of his mother's children living at
that time, six having died in infancy) went
to the front as soldiers in the Southern army.
Being too yoimg for the ranks, he remained
at home with his mother, and, as he
it, it was a case of "root hog or die." The
Northern soldiers raided this part of the
country ; thej' took away all the stock on the
widow Hicks' farm and completelj^ demol-
ished everything on the place. Young Pos-
ter remained with his mother, and after the
war was over continued to cultivate her
eighty-acre farm imtil he was twenty-one,
when he married.
Not long after his marriage Mr. Foster
bought a farm of one himdred and sixty
acres near Ardeola, on which he lived from
1873 imtil 1882, during which time he cleared
all this land with the exception of about
twenty-five acres ; erected barn and eight-room
house and made other improvements and de-
veloped a fine farm, worth today about fifty
dollars an acre. Also he helped to build all
the roads in this immediate neighborhood. In
the meantime he also became interested ia
business. In 1878 he opened a general store
at what was known as Piketon, and which
the following year he moved to Ardeola,
where he has made most of his money. His
business career here began before the advent
of the railroad. He has prospered as the
coimtry has prospered, and today he is the
owTier of a large amoimt of real estate in
various parts of the country, as well as at
Cape Girardeau, where he has made his home
a part of the time since 1893. At one time
he practically owned the whole of the town
of Ardeola, and he still has large holdings
there, including his own residence, six dwell-
ings which he rents, store buildings and black-
smith shop, and about three hundred acres
of land just south of the railroad. At Cape
Girardeau he owns three brick houses and
several frame ones, besides other property
there and elsewhere, and at this writing his
farm land scattered about in various places
totals 1,010 acres. And while he has all this
property in his own name, he has at different
times given to his children to the amount of
720 acres of land, all cleared and valued at
fifty dollars an acre.
'Sir. Foster's first marriage, October 1, 1872,
near Ardeola, was to Miss Margaret A. Smith,
whose death occurred March 8, 1876. She
left one daughter, Clara, who married W. J.
Garner, and who now lives near Ardeola. On
October 20, 1876, ilr. Foster and Nancy J.
Taylor were united in marriage, near Equilla,
and the fruit of this union was one daughter,
Ara Adkinson, of near Ardeola. His second
wife having died April 11, 1881, Mr. Fo.ster
1278
HISTORY OF SOUTHEAST MISSOURI
on Maj' 20, 1882, married her cousin, Marj'
Taylor, who bore him four children : Harry
W.', Fred, Ernest B. and Moses F.. the last
two named now being residents of Cape Gir-
ardeau. This wife and mother was killed in
a nmaway accident near Ardeola. August 7,
1905. His present companion, ^h: Foster,
married at Dexter. Jime 6. 1906. She was
formerl.y Miss ilartha E. ilcQueen, and his
children by her are Robert T. and Frank P.,
both at home.
Politically Mr. Foster is a Democrat, and
fraternally he is an Elk, having membership
in the B. P. 0. E. at Cape Girardeau.
E. F. Sharp is a citizen of many interests
as befits one of his broad education and large
experience. He was born in Iowa, in 1876, on
January 21:th, near Masonville. His father
was a farmer at that time and his son had
the advantages of the excellent schools for
which that state is justly famed. ]Mr. Sharp
attended the high school in Dexter and the
Normal in the same to^\Ti, graduating in 1895.
While studying in school he pursued the lit-
erary course. For a year after his graduation
he taught mathematics in the Dexter Normal
and also taught in the coimtry. He then went
to the State University at Iowa City and took
a law course, graduating in 1898.
Mr. Sharp began his career as a la^^yer in
Dexter, Iowa, his home town. He stayed there
two j-ears and then spent another year in Ne-
braska before coming to New iladrid in 1901.
In New Madrid he continued to practice law
and was also auditor of the St. Louis and
Memphis Railway for three years.
In 1900, at New Jladrid, occurred the mar-
riage of Mr. Sharp and ilabel, daughter of
Seth Baraes. Mrs. Sharp was born on St.
Valentine's daj' of the centennial year of our
nation's history. The four children of her
imion with Jlr. Sharp are all at home. Their
names are Byron, Laura, Selma and Edwina.
The bank of IMar.ston was organized in 1906,
Mr. Seth Barnes and his son-in-law, E. F.
Sharp being the chief promoters of the enter-
prise. Ever since its organization Mr. Sharp
has been the cashier, and is now one of the
directors. He o^^'ns four himdred and sixty
acres of land near ]\Iarston, which he rents.
This land is cleared and has six houses on
it. Some town property and interests in the
Barnes Store Company and the Marston Coop-
erage Company fill up the coimt of 'Sir.
Sharp's commercial undertakings in Marston.
The cashier of the Bank of Marston does
not confine himself exclusively to financial en-
terprises. He is active in the work of the
^Methodist church, South, of which he is one
of the influential members and superintendent
of the Simday school. He holds membership
in four lodges, the Masons, the Odd Fellows,
the Elks and the Woodmen of the World. In
politics he is a Republican, as one would ex-
pect of an lowan. He is prominent in the
coimcils of his partj% who have been quick to
avail themselves of his influence and exper-
ience in legal practice. He has been a candi-
date for coimty judge and for state repre-
sentative.
William Grahaii is a native of New Mad-
rid coimty, as was his mother, Amanda Town-
send Graham. His father. James S., was not
so fortimate, but his parents came from Ten-
nessee when he was a very small boy and he
spent all the rest of his life in the coimty.
William was born November 18, 1857, on a
farm which he now owns, situated just three-
quarters of a mile east of the one on which
he now lives. His father died when he was
but twelve years old and as he grew older he
assumed the care of the family. Schools
were poor in the coimty at the time when
he was a boy, and as he was eager for an edu-
cation he attended the Cape Girardeau Nor-
mal for one year and afterwards the Chris-
tian Brothers' School, a Catholic institution
in St. Louis. Mr. Graham remained on the
farm after finishing his schooling, helping to
support his mother and the family of five,
until the death of Mrs. Amanda Graham in
1879.
The year following his mother's death, Mr.
Graham was married to Miss Laura Ross. She
was born in Tennessee, came to Scott county
when between five and six years of age, spent
seven years in that coimty and then came to
New Madrid coimty. Two sons and two
daughters have been born to Mr. and Mrs.
Graham. John is married to Lillie Stacy, of
New ]\Iadrid coimty, where the couple reside,
and John works part of his father's farm.
The other three children are still at home:
Fred, assisting his father on the home place;
Effie going to school in Matthews, and Pauline,
attending the normal at Cape Girardeau.
Mr. Graham inherited one hundred and
twenty acres of land from his mother at her
death, upon which he lived after his marriage
for ten years. He improved the old place in
HISTORY OF SOUTHEAST MISSOURI
1279
numerous ways and bought more land as his
farming prospered, imtil 1890, when he moved
to New Madrid. He spent three years in to\^'n,
continuing to farm, and then moved back to
the country, to a place near his present resi-
dence. At the end of three more years Sir.
Graham had built on the farm where he is
now living, and in 1906 he took up his resi-
dence there. This estate consists of four lum-
dred and sixty acres ; the farm on which he
lived previous to settling on this one is sit-
uated seven miles north of New Madrid and
contains two hundred and sixteen acres. This
has been in his possession for about twenty
years.
An influential and popular member of the
Democratic party, Mr. Graham served his
party six years as coimty judge. He resigned
from this office when he moved to his farm in
1903. In fraternal organizations he is a mem-
ber of the Red Men and of the Knights of the
Maccabees.
Robert J. Millee. Like several other of New
Madrid county's prominent citizens, Mr. Mil-
ler is a native of Tennessee. His father, Ruf us
K. Miller, was born in Obion coimty, Tennes-
see, and his mother, Alice H. IMiller, in Maury
count.v of the same state. His parents re-
moved to Portageville, where the mother died.
Mr. Ruf us Miller still resides in the town and
has served it in the capacity of justice of the
peace for eight years.
Robert J. IMiller was bom in Obion county,
January 11, 1877. He began his education in
the district schools of Tennessee and later
spent a year in medical college at Memphis,
but decided that he preferred business rather
than medicine as a career, a decision which
his subsequent history has proved a wise one.
Mr. Miller came to New Madrid county in
1891 and engaged in real estate business, in
which he is still interested. He has been emi-
nently, successful not only in his ventures in
land, but in other concerns. He is president
of the DeLisle Lumber and Box IManufaetur-
ing Company at Wardell. in which place he
also conducted a mercantile establishment for
two years. He disposed of this in 1910. The
list of stockholders of the Portageville Bank
includes Mr. Miller's name, and he owns a
thousand acres of land which he rents. In
his realty business he is associated with R. H.
Truitt. of Chillicothe. Illinois.
Mr. Miller's wife, Cora E. Basham Miller,
is a Kentuckian of Mead county. Their mar-
riage occurred December 12, 1899. Their
children are Robert C. and Robetta E., both
at home. Henrietta died at the age of five.
The family are communicants of the Roman
Catholic church. Jlr. ililler is a member of
the Woodmen of the World and of the Mutual
Protective League. He also belongs to the
K. of C. at Cape Girardeau.
Mr. Miller is a Democrat and has been
called upon to serve his party as candidate
for the office of county surveyor. He was
elected and his able discharge of the duties
of the position secured his re-election. Mr.
ililler has served as city marshal for several
years.
Jefferson Davis Adams. Jlr. Adams ' par-
ents came to this county when they were
very yoimg, his father, Jefferson Adams, from
Tennessee, and his mother, Lucetta (Gibson)
Adams, from Indiana. They were married in
this county, where the father died. I\Irs.
Adams afterward married a Mr. Bell, and
Jeffenson helped his stepfather on the farm
and in his blacksmith shop. He received his
education in the district schools.
When twenty-one years of age Mr. Adams
made his first crop for himself on eighteen
acres of land which he rented. He has con-
tinued to rent ever since and now farms one
himdred and twenty acres. Beside raising the
usual crops of cotton, hay and corn, he trades
in livestock.
In 1881 Mr. Adams married Miss Mary
Arbuckle from southeastern Llissouri. Their
family consists of eight children, four of whom
are still at home. These are Homer, Himtley,
Kittie L. and Gerald. Jefferson Davis, Jun-
ior, is deceased. Byrle is in charge of the
recruiting office for the United States Army
at Joplin, Missouri. Albert is married to
Maud Dollar, and they live on a farm, while
Ruth, the eldest daughter, is Mrs. A. Bran-
ham of Poi-tageville.
ilr. Adams is an enthusiastic upholder of
the policies of the Democratic party. He has
served as constable and is now road over,seer.
He is an Odd Fellow and a Woodman of the
World. In this latter lodge, he has been man-
ager ever since entering the order.
J. R. Joyce. Although he has retired from
active business, J. R. Joj-ce is a power in the
business of Vanduser. He is one of those
men who have achieved success by their own
imaided efforts and whose lives are a record
1280
HISTORY OF SOUTHEAST MISSOURI
of the triumphs of industry and foresight.
Most of his life has been spent in Scott
county, although he was born in Cape Gir-
ardeau. The date of his birth was February
28, 1857. After living a few years in Cape
Girardeau county, Mr. Joyce moved to a farm
near Sikeston where he lived for twenty-five
years. He was married in 1881 to Amanda
Finley, born and reared at Kelso. Four chil-
dren were the result of this imion, Ada, Ethel,
James and Robert. Both the girls are mar-
ried; James is in North Dakota and Robert
still at home.
When Mr. Joyce left his father's home he
had no capital, but by dint of unremitting
efforts he accumulated a competence. The
bank of Vanduser was organized in Decem-
ber, 1906, Mr. Joyce being one of the pro-
moters of the enterprise. He has been presi-
dent ever since the beginning, and Jlr. Wood-
win is vice president. Another establishment
which Mr. Joyce was instrumental in getting
started in Vanduser is the hoop factory. He
is also president of this concern which has
been in existence since 1908. In real estate
Mr. Joyce's holdings include one hundred and
thirty acres of farm land besides a number of
houses in Vanduser and twenty-eight lots in
town. His residence is one of the finest homes
in the place and is one which he built.
I\Ir. Joyce is a valued member of the Metho-
dist church and also of the Ben Hur lodge.
He is deeply interested in all that makes for
the welfare of the commimity, either economi-
cally or socially, and it is his privilege to
have assisted materially in the upbuilding of
the region.
C. S. DeField. Of all East Prairie's enter-
prising and progressive men, no one enjoys a
wider popularity or more respect for his busi-
ness sagacity than the president of the Farm-
ers' Bank, Mr. C. S. DeField. He was born
in Michigan, nine miles south of St. Joseph,
in January, 1874. When he was fourteen, his
parents moved to Kentucky and the following
year to Scott county, ^Missouri. Until he was
married he lived with his parents.
In 1894 Mr. DeField was wedded and be-
gan life for himself. He received no assist-
ance from his familj% but he was competent
to achieve success unaided. His fir.st location
after his marriage was at Wyatt, east of
Charleston. Here he conducted a lumber
business and did a profitable trade for several
years. When he came to East Prairie he con-
tinued for seven years in the same line of work
and also farmed. Here, too, he was success-
ful, as his judgment in commercial matters
is excellent and his personality such that cus-
tomers like to trade with him.
When the Farmers' Bank was organized,
Mr. DeField was one of its chief promoters,
as he is now one of its heaviest stockholders.
His interests in town and country property
are extensive and he is one of the richest men
in East Prairie.
Mr. DeField is a member of the Masons and
of the Odd Fellows. In these lodges, as every-
where else, he is an influential member, popu-
lar becaiise of his vmassuming disposition and
his hearty kindliness of manner.
Otis W. Miller is the older son of Jasper
Wilson and Nancy Lanpher Miller, of Mil-
lersville, Missouri. Jasper Miller was born
May 15, 1850, at IMillersville. At eighteen he
went into the mercantile business in the town
of his birth and continued in that occupation
until his death, on February 15, 1906. He
was a Democrat in political bias and at the
time of his death was county clerk of Cape
Girardeau coimty. In his religious faith he
was a Universalist and he belonged to the
Masons and to the Modern Woodmen. Nancy
Lanpher was born in the same town as her
husband, just four years and three months
later. She was married to Jasper Miller in
January, 1876. The children of the marriage
were Otis, born March 10, 1877, and Ernest
L., October 30, 1883. The latter married
Myrtle Hartte and still lives in Slillersville.
Otis Miller completed the course of the pub-
lic school at about tweuty-one years of age
and then for three years attended the normal
at Cape Girardeau. In 1897 he entered the
St. Louis College of Physicians and Surgeons,
graduating three years later. For a year after
his graduation he was house phj'sieian at Jef-
ferson Hospital in St. Louis. He then opened
an office in the city, at 2401 South Broadway,
and practiced there for a year.
Dr. Miller's marriage to Miss Helen Zalm
was solemnized on December 23, 1901. Mrs.
Miller is the daughter of Philip and Lucy
Zahn. No children have resulted from this
vinion. Ill health obliged Dr. Miller to seek
a different climate and accordingly he went
to New Mexico, and was for seven years rail-
way physician for the El Paso and North-
eastern Railway, having his headquarters at
Alamogordo, New Mexico. In addition to his
HISTORY OF SOUTHEAST .AlISSOURI
1281
duties on the railroad, he was health officer
for the city while living in Alamogordo.
The partnership between Dr. Miller and
his cousin Dr. T. V. Jliller, was entered into
in January, 1911. The offices of the firm are
in the McCloy-Tanuer building, where they
have a suite of three rooms, fitted up in the
best fashion of the time. In politics, Dr. Mil-
ler holds the views of the Democratic party.
His lodge connections include the Jlodern
Woodmen, the Knights of Pythias, the An-
cient Order of United Workmen, the Elks and
the Fraternal Brotherhood. Dr. Miller's pro-
fessional record has been one of admirable
achievement and it is an assured supposition
that the new firm will continue to discharge
the duties of the lofty calling of the physician
in the same fashion and spirit which have
gained its members their well deserved repu-
tations.
A. A. Ebeet. The name of Ebert has been
a familiar one in this section of the country
for man}' years, and those who have borne it
have been among those valuable citizens whose
enterprise has been of so much worth in the
development of the coimtry. Charles Ebert
was the founder of the Missouri branch of this
familj'. He was a native of Germany who
came to this coimtrj' when a young man. Here
he was married to one of his countrywomen,
who had left the Fatherland at about the same
time as he had. They first located in Cape
Girardeau and later bought a farm in Com-
merce. Two sons were born to them ; August,
who still lies in Cape Girardeau, where he has
been for many years a farmer ; and John, tlie
father of Alfred Ebert, the subject of this
brief review.
John Ebert was born in Commerce. He
worked on a farm until he was fourteen and
then he was sent away to school to prepare for
the ministry in the Lutheran church. His
health failed and he was obliged to give up
his career, so he learned the bakery business
in St. Louis, and when he was about eighteen
he came to Sikeston to go into business and
set up his shop where the 0. K. drug store now
stands. His parents were with him in this ven-
ture, but they presently sold out to their son
and ilr. Canoy. The establishment increased
its lines of wares, and grew to be one of the
largest general stores in the county.
John Ebert was married to Augusta Cook
of Commerce. They became the parents of
four children, of whom Alfred Alonzo is the
only survivor. Two of the children died in
infancy, and the third child, Arthur, lived to
be only four years old. The mother died in
1S83, and at her death ]\lr. Ebert sold out his
interests in Sikeston and ' went to McCune,
where he engaged in the grain busi-
From McCune Mr. Ebert went to Jonesburg,
Missouri, and here he met and married Miss
Wardie Jones. He spent two years in the
mercantile business in Jonesburg in partner-
ship with a Mr. Dixey, and at the end of that
period he returned to Sikeston and continued
in the same line of work, the firm name being
Ebert & Emery. The store was then located
where the Farmers' Supply Store now stands.
Some time later this store was incorporated
imder the name of A. J. jMatthews & Com-
pany, and although Mr. Ebert retained his
stock in it, he gave his time to the grain busi-
ness, in which he was engaged in the firm of
Ebert & Matthews. This establishment later
became the Greer-Ebert Milling Company,
which in its turn was taken into a corpora-
tion with two other mills, forming the Scott
Milling Company. This is one of the large
milling establishments of the state and Mr.
Ebert was president of the company, holding
the ofSce imtil his death in 1906. Mr. Ebert
was the owner of eight himdred acres of
swamp land which he had bought up at differ-
ent times, and at the time of his death he was
living in the house he had built, which is now
the residence of R. C. Matthews. Mr. Ebert
was a Republican and a member of the Luth-
eran church. I\Irs. Ebert, who still resides in
Sikeston, is a ilethodist.
Alfred Alonzo Ebert was born October 27,
1879, in Sikeston. He was not yet four
years old when liis mother died and when his
father -went to Kansas the little son was left
with his grandparents, Mr. and Mrs. Charles
Ebert, of Cape Girardeau. Here he attended
the German Lutheran school, but when his
father returned to Sikeston, Alfred came with
him and continued his education in the public
schools of the city and in a small college then
conducted here. As his health was not robust,
he spent a year in the west on a cattle ranch
with a cattle outfit. After returning from
the west, Alfred Ebert attended the Christian
Brothers College in St. Louis and the Barnes
Business College in the same city. He .joined
the Amateur Dramatic Club while in St. Louis
and put on a play every week in Lemp's Hall.
He was making a fine reputation for himself
1282
HISTORY OF SOUTHEAST MISSOURI
in the dramatic work, but he abandoned it
after three years and went into farming and
stock raising. He has built a fine home about
a half mile west of Sikeston, and he owns ex-
tensive farm lands which he rents in addition
to that which he farms himself. He was the
originator of the Sikeston Horse Show, which
has since been incorporated into the Tri-
county Fair Association, Mr. Ebert being pres-
ident of the organization.
Mr. Ebert was united in marriage with
Miss Verda Tuck. They have one daughter,
Augusta, born November 13, 1909.
Mr. Ebert is a Republican, which was also
the political faith of his father, and he is a
member of the Benevolent and Protective
Order of Elks, affiliating with the Sikeston
lodge, and is ia all respects a deservedly pop-
iilar and prominent citizen, sincerely and
heartily interested in all that promotes the
advancement of the commimitj'.
Cox Sheppard. Toward the end of
Jefferson's administration John Sheppard. a
lo.yal "Whig of North Carolina, came to Cape
Girardeau coimty and foiuided the family
which has been for a century identified with
the history of Southeastern Missouri. In the
year 1808 conditions were primitive here be-
yond anything that our country now affords
in its remotest portions. Then no network
of steel paths made the question of reaching
the centres of population merely a matter of
riding at most a day's joui-ney to a railroad.
John Sheppard was about seventeen years of
age when he came to the new territory, and
his was the life of a pioneer. He married
Elizabeth Greene, of this county, and they be-
came the parents of six children. These were :
Reeder, who died in Memphis about fifteen
j'ears ago; Robert, who died immarried;
Sarah J., whose husband was a Fenimore of
Cape Girardeau county; Maria, who died
when a child; Mary, who ended this life in
Texas as the wife of a Mr. Kemp ; and Lemuel,
who became the father of Jesse Cox Sheppard
of this review.
It was on the last day of October in 1821
that Lemuel Sheppard was born in what is
now Cape Girardeau count.v. On December
9, 1850, was solemnized his marriage to ]\Iar-
tha J. Groves, who was bom in Cape Girar-
deau county in 1830, on March 19. Their
two cliildren are Elsie, born on her mother's
birthday, in 1852, now the wife of Thomas A.
Jenkins, of Oklahoma, and Jesse Cox. The
father, Lemuel Sheppard, was a farmer all
his life. In 1883 he moved his family to
Doniphan, Ripley county, buying property
here, and he is still living here at the age of
four score years, in the home of his son. His
politics are those of the Democratic faction
and in his religion he is a member of the
Presbyterian church.
Jesse Cox Sheppard was born in that year
which closed Pierce's administration, and
which marked the organization of the Repub-
lican party. That was a time like the present,
in that the old issues upon which party lines
had been drawn were giving place to newer
ones, and consequently the old order was
changing. But at that time men were not
united by the daily newspapers, the fast mails
and the telegraph, and misimderstanding
grew apace with estrangement, so soon to cul-
minate in the fearful strife of the Civil war.
It was on April 8, 1856, that Jesse Cox Shep-
pard began this life in Cape Girardeau
coimty.
Until he was twenty-one Jesse Sheppard
attended the public schools and worked on his
father's farm. He then continued his school-
ing in a private high school and later in the
State Normal at Cape Girardeau. In pur-
suance of the profession which has ever en-
gaged so large a proportion of our best in-
tellects he began to read law with Mr. San-
ford of Cape Girardeau, a well known law-
yer of that day. Mr. Sheppard finished his
preparation in the State University Law
School from which he was graduated in 1880
and was admitted to the bar in the same year.
Immediately after his graduation he came
to Doniphan and began the practice of his
profession, for a short time in partnership
with T. A. Jenkins, but now, and for the
most time, alone. His talents received prompt
recognition, as indicated by his election to the
office of prosecuting attorney in 1880, when
he served four years in that capacity. He
was chosen to fill the same office again in 1890
and again spent four years at that post. In
1900 he was presidential elector, chosen to
cast the vote of his constituents for William
Jennings Bryan, to whose party he has ever
given his loyal and efficient support. When
the Thirty-third circuit was created, includ-
ing Butler and Ripley counties, ]\Ir. Sheppard
was appointed judge by Governor Folk on
the same day, March 18, 1905. In November,
1906, he was elected judge of the circuit court
for a term of six years. His career in his pro-
HISTORY OP SOUTHEAST :\IISSOURI
1283
fession has been one of distinction and of un-
tarnished honor and he is in all respects
worthy of the high esteem and affection ac-
corded him by his fellow townsfolk.
Not only in polities but also in religion
Judge Sheppard follows in the path of his
forebears, and is a comnnuaieant of the church
of the old Scots, curiously enough known as
""Whigs" in the earlier days, now the schol-
arly Presbyterian body. His fraternal affilia-
tions include the Masons, the Odd Fellows and
the Knights of Pythias.
Mr. and Mrs. Sheppard have attained the
dignity of being grandparents at the compar-
atively early ages of fifty-three and forty-
eight, respectively. The grandchild is Laura
Sue Sheppard, daughter of Arnot L. and
Laura Sue (Whitworth) Sheppard. Her
father is the eldest child of Judge Jesse Cox
and Olive A. (White) Sheppard, and was
born March 16, 1886, in Doniphan. He is at
present a court reporter for Ripley county
and is studying law. In 1904, '05 and '06 he
was a student at the State University in the
literary department. Albert Sheppard, the
second child of Judge and Mrs. Sheppard, was
born September 7, 1896, and is still attend-
ing school in Doniphan. Robert, some fifteen
months .yoimger than Albert, died in infancy.
Mrs. Sheppard is a native of St. Louis and
is a daughter of Eleanor (Buck) White. She
•was born August 28, 1861, and was wedded to
her husband on Jime 3, 1885. She is no less
popular in Doniphan than is her distinguished
husband, to whom she is a fitting companion
and helpmeet.
Oscar Arenz, a retired citizen of Plat
River and justice of the peace, is one of the
oldest residents of Southeastern Missouri He
located at Bonne Terre when but three log
houses marked the site of that to^^Ti, and for
over forty years he followed farming near
there, being one of the pioneers who helped
develop this part of Missouri in prosperity
and wealth. As a citizen he has contributed
worth and integrity to his community, and
the record of his career deserves permanence.
He was born in Cass county, Illinois, Aug-
ust 7, 1843. The village where he was born
Avas Arenzville, which took its name from his
father, Prancis Arenz, who was one of the
prominent citizens of that portion of Illinois
during the first half of the last century.
Prancis Arenz, who was born in Germany, in
1799, came to America when a young man.
and after a brief residence in Virginia be-
came associated with a j\Ir. Beard in the con-
duct of a store at St. Louis. They afterward
located on the Illinois river and started the
town and trading post which has since been
known as Beardstown. Mr. Arenz leaving
that place bought a tract of land from the
Indians in Cass coimty and founded what is
now the prosperous village of Arenzville,
where he lived until his death, in 1855, and
where he was the owner of a store and mill.
A Whig in politics, he took a prominent part
in the public affairs of the time. He was a
member of the state legislature with Abraham
Lincoln, served his locality as justice of the
peace, and as a speaker and business man
made his influence widely felt. Many of the
German settlers of his locality came through
his influence. Though reared in the Catholic
church, he afterwards joined the Lutheran
faith. While in Virginia he married Miss
Louisa C. Boos, daughter of Jacob Boos, a
farmer and land owTier. She died in 1870,
having been the mother of nine children, of
whom Oscar was the fifth.
The latter during his boyhood attended the
public .schools of his native village and at the
age of fifteen attended a graded school in
Berlin, Illinois, for one year. He lived in
Arenzville until 1861, when he joined an Illi-
nois regiment and was under the command of
John M. Palmer at the crucial battle of Wil-
son Creek. He was in the regimental band,
and after two years' service was discharged
at Corinth, when he returned to Illinois. On
March 15, 1869, he located as one of the
pioneer settlers at Bonne Terre, Missouri, and
for forty years followed the occupation of
farming. In 1910, on account of his wife's
health, he moved to Plat River and has since
lived somewhat retired from active business.
In the fall of 1910 he was elected a justice of
the peace. In politics he is a Republican, and
is a member of the Missionary Baptist church.
In 1864 he married Miss Lorinda Garrett,
a daughter of Richard Garrett, a saddle
maker of Rushville, Illinois. All of their
nine children are still living, as follows:
Henry R. ; Edwin P. ; Mary Ellen, Mrs. Wil-
liam Covington ; John A. ; Prank Norris ; Al-
bert: George; Perry, and Bertha Belle. Mrs.
William Fortner.
A. P. Parker. There used to be a preval-
ent notion that the farmer spent most of his
time in winter asleep, but nowadays the agri-
1281
HISTORY OF SOUTHEAST MISSOURI
culturist is very likely to follow some other
vocation, or avocation, when not busj' on his
farm. Missouri draws some of her most suc-
cessful merchants and some of her best and
most brilliant professional men from the
ranks of her active farmers. In Mr. Archie
F. Parker, Pemiscot county has an example
of a citizen who cultivates the soil and de-
votes himself also to the cultivation of the
minds of the young, for he is a farmer and a
teacher.
Born in 1846, in Trousdale county, Tennes-
see, Mr. Parker spent the early part of his
life in the state where his parents, Frank and
Elizabeth A. Common Parker, lived and died.
His education was obtained in the district
schools and in the State University at Leba-
non, Tennessee. In this institution he took a
course eighteen months, preparatory to enter-
ing upon the profession of teaching. His
first school was in Poland county, Kentucky,
where he taught two terms. ]\Ir. Parker has
taught in many different places and alto-
gether has given twenty years to the profes-
sion. Part of this time has been spent in
Pemiscot coimty, whither he came in 1879.
He continued to farm all the while and now
owns fifteen acres of Pemiscot county land.
Not only teaching, but law, too, engages Mr.
Parker's attention. He practices in Portage-
ville, where he was admitted to the bar in
1901. "While in Union City, he studied in
Mr. Joseph McCaul's law office, and has con-
tinued to pursue his legal studies ever since.
He is a well kno\\Ti and influential member of
the Democratic party of the covmty, of whose
central committee he is a member. In 1892,
he was the Democratic candidate for repre-
sentative of the county, but he did not carry
the election. Since this same year he has
been justice of peace, and is still filling that
office. He has also served the county as
school commissioner, taking the place of J. F.
Gordon, who was clerk of the circuit court.
In 1884, Mr. Parker was united in marriage
to Miss Mary Suttle, of Tennessee. Three
children, Eugie, Anna and Lela, were the
issue of this union. Mrs. Parker passed to
the other life in 1902,
LEwas F. Lesieur was born in this county
and has spent most of his life in it. He has
not only grown up with the country, but has
identified himself with all influences for its
betterment. His father was Gustavus Adol-
phus Lesieur, bom in this coimty. His mo-
ther, Emma Severain Lesieur, was a native of
Ste. Genevieve, Missouri. Her marriage to
Gustavus Lesieur took place at Point Pleasant
and it was here that Lewis Lesieur was born,
December 17, 1849.
Gustavus Lesieur had a store at Point
Pleasant, and his son Lewis worked in it and
attended the subscription schools luitil he was
eighteen j-ears of age. At that time his father
died and Lewis rented a farm and ran it for
several years. He was married in 1868 to
Julia Brookham, daughter of Harvey and
Julia Christy Brookham, of this county. She
lived but two years, and for the decade fol-
lowing her death Mr. Lesieur spent the time
alternately in Missouri and Texas, farming
and working in stores.
In 1873 he went to Osceola to take charge
of a store there. He managed this for a year
and then went to Texas to clerk. He stayed
but a few months on this trip, but when he
left Missouri later in the same year, a second
time, he again went to the Lone Star state
and farmed there for three years. In 1876
Mr. Lesieur came back to his native state and
took up agriculture here. After making one
crop he clerked for three years.
Farming again claimed his attention in
1880, when he bought a place of forty acres
and farmed it for four years. In 1881 he was
married to Emma, his deceased wife's sister.
"When they sold the forty acre farm Mr. Le-
sieur rented another one for two years, and
then again went into mercantile work at New
Madrid for Mr. Lewis, continuing in this posi-
tion for two years. In 1892 he moved to his
present farm of sixty-seven acres, a well im-
proved place and one of the best pieces of
land in this section. He raises cotton, corn
and some stock.
Jlaggie, Mr. Lesieur 's daughter by his first
wife, is married to Charles Scott, a farmer of
this county. One of the three children of his
second marriage, Philo, is still at home. Julia
is Mrs. Charles Hawkins, of this county, and
Godfrey works in a store at Marston.
Mr. Lesieur is an honored member of the
venerable Masonic fraternity. He has been
secretary of the Point Pleasant lodge for
many years and is junior warden. He and
Mrs. Lesieur are members of the IMethodist
church, where he is an energetic worker, a
steward of the church and superintendent of
the Simday school. Interested as he is in all
matters pertaining to the higher life, it is not
surprising that Mr. Lesieur should have spent
several years serving as school director. In
politics "he holds with the Democratic party.
HISTORY OF SOUTHEAST MISSOURI
1285
Mike Edwards. The ancestors of Mike
Edwards lived in Kentucky previous to com-
ing to Missouri. His father, Allen Edwards,
was the son af Stephen and Di-ucilla Edwards,
both of whom died when he was very young.
Allen was brought up by his foster parents,
with whom he came from Washington county,
Kentuekj', in 1873, being nineteen years old at
the time. He never had an opportunity to
attend school and for two years after he came
to Missouri Allen Edwards worked by the
month, receiving fourteen dollars a month as
wages.
In Januai-y, 1875, he was united in marriage
to Mary, daughter of Mike and Mary E.
Fisher. For two years after his marriage Mr.
Edwards raised crops on shares and then his
father-in-law gave him forty acres of wooded
land. This Mr. Edwards cleared and bought
forty more acres. He still owns one himdred
acres, which he farms. For a time he gave
his attention to stock-raising. On March 10,
1903, he moved into town and seven years
later, in the same month, his wife's death
occurred. Two sons, Landon, born February
22, 1892, and Stanley, five years his jimior,
and one daughter, Ida, are at home. The
oldest child, Inez, is the wife of P. E. Boone,
and the other son, Llike, is a general farmer,
working sixty acres of his father's estate.
Mike Edwards was born on the farm which
he now operates in 1880. He attended the
district school and imtil his marriage helped
his father. In 1902 he married Miss OUie
Byers, born in Indiana, also the home of her
parents, William H. and ~Slary Allen Byers.
The issue of this imion has been three chil-
dren: Ruth, born September 22, 1905; Bon-
nie M.. March 6, 1907, and Harry A., August
21. 1910.
Jlr. Edwards is a Democrat, as is also his
father. He has served his lodge, the Wood-
men of the World, as sentry.
Wn.LiAM H. Ellis has lived in this county
since he was six years old. He was born in
Tennessee, in 1868, and grew up on his
father's farm in this county, attending the
subscription schools.
In 1887 Mr. Ellis was married to Miss Ora
Adams, of this county. ]\Irs. Ellis is the
daughter of Samuel Adams, and was but six-
teen years old at the time of her marriage.
After his marriage ]Mr. Ellis share-cropped
for ten years and then rented for a time. At
present he is again farming on shares, being
a general farmer.
The oldest of the children of Mr. and Mrs.
Ellis, Charles, is married to Lennie Burch
and lives in this county. The other seven of
their familj' live at home. These are John,
Milbourn, Stanley, Hetty, Jleda, May and
Gertie.
]Mr. Ellis is a Democrat and while not a
seeker of office, has served the towTiship as
constable for six years. He has held offices in
the lodges to which he belongs, the Woodmen
of the World and the ilodern Woodmen of
America. He is active in the work of his
church, the Baptist, in which he is a deacon
and at present the clerk of the church.
William Davis Dean is a Tennesseean by
birth and since 1847, the year of his nativity,
he has enjoyed a variet.y of experiences both
in the state of his birth and in Missouri. His
earlj' life was like that of most of the farmers'
sons of that generation. He worked on the
home place and went to school. When but
sixteen he enlisted in the Confederate army
and served one year in Colonel Jacob Biffle's
regiment, then in the field in Tennessee.
At the close of the war Mr. Dean spent
three years working by the month. Then he
rented a farm and later purchased one. He
owned ninety acres in Obion county. In 1903
Mr. Dean came to this coimty, settling first
at Point Pleasant. From here he moved to
the eighty-seven and a half acre place on
which he now lives as a renter. While in
Point Pleasant he conducted a blacksmith
shop. He learned this trade in Tennessee —
just picked it up — he says.
Mr. Dean has been twice married. His first
wife was Nettie Arnold, of Tennessee, to
whom he was vuiited in 1869. Their one child,
Loremya, lives in Blysville, Arkansas. The
present Mrs. Dean was born in Benton eoimty,
Tennessee, in 1859. Her parents were Manuel
and Elizabeth Carter Lee, both natives of
Tennessee. Her marriage to Mr. Dean took
place in 1880. Their children are Arthur,
Lula, Georgia, Ida, Pearl, Mary, Vergie and
Leonard. Both ]Mr. Dean and his wife belong
to the Christian church.
Until eight years ago Mr. Dean was a
Democrat, but at that time, as he did not find
himself any longer in sympathy with the poli-
cies of the party, he entered the Republican
constituency. His fraternal connections are
with the Red ]Men and the Farmers' Union.
William N. Gilbow is a descendant of the
race who are the best farmers in the world.
1286
HISTORY OF SOUTHEAST MISSOURI
We grow bigger crops in America, because
we have more room, but for knowledge of
how to produce the maximum yield on the
minimum of land we must go to France, the
native coimtry of Tensant Gilbow, the grand-
father of William N. The former came to
this covmtry when a young man and married
Becky Summers, a native daughter of South-
eastern JMissouri. Their son William was
bom in this coimt.y in 183i, and died here in
1865. Eleven years later his wife, Jeanette
Bartholomew Gilbow, who was also born in
1834, passed to the other world. William N.
was fourteen at the time of his mother 's death,
as he was born Januarj^ 20, 1862.
Until bereaved of both his parents William
Gilbow lived with his mother at home and
attended such schools, public and subscrip-
tion, as the coimty afforded. At her death
he went to work on the farms of the region,
by the day and by the month. At nineteen
he was married to Victoria Arbuckle, who
was born in Ste. Genevieve county.
After marrying J\Ir. Gilbow rented and
farmed on shares until 1901 — twenty years —
when he bought eighty acres of his present
farm. At that time it was all in timber, as
well as another eighty which he bought a little
later. He has now cleared all but twenty
acres of this tract and does general farming,
dealing quite extensively in live stock besides
raising the usual crops of hay, cotton and
corn.
A saw mill on his farm is another of Mr.
Gilbow 's enterprises. He is a stockholder in
the cotton gin at Portageville and in the
Farmers' Warehouse in the same place. In
the Farmers' Union he is an influential and
popular member and is now acting as vice-
president of that body.
The eldest of the family of four children
who made up the home circle of William and
Victoria Gilbow is Mary J. Gilbow Click, liv-
ing in this coimty. The younger members,
Leoana, ]Minnie and Lilbourn, are still with
their parents. The Methodist church is the
denomination to which Mr. Gilbow and his
wife belong. He is a member of two lodges,
the Modern Woodmen and the Independent
Order of Odd Fellows. His political con-
victions are embodied in the platform of the
Democratic party.
John M. Downing is accounted one of the
progressive farmers of the county. Here he
was born in 1863, August 2, and here he re-
ceived his education in the public schools.
Left fatherless at the age of thirteen, he early
had to shoulder heavj' responsibilities. He
helped his mother run the farm until her
death. Since his marriage to Miss Maggie
Leighton, of Kentuckj% which took place in
1888, Mr. Downing has been engaged in trad-
ing farm property. He has bought and sold
many farms in this coimty and now rents
sixty-five acres, upon which he raises cotton
and some stock. Buying and shipping cattle
and hogs also engages part of his attention.
In the Woodmen of the World of Portage-
ville Mr. Do\\'ning is a prominent member,
and he is now serving as one of the managers
of the order. He holds membership in two
other of the great fraternal organizations, the
Masons and the Odd Fellows. The educa-
tional advancement of the county is a matter
in which he is especially interested, and he
has shown his interest by eight years' service
as school director.
]\Ir. Do-s\-ning's father came here when a
young man and was married here to Nancy
Branham, a native of this county. His for-
mer home had been in Kentucky. Both Mr.
George Do^^Tiing and his wife died here.
Mrs. John Downing is the daughter of
Joseph Leighton, born in Indiana, and La-
vinia (Hall) Leighton, a native of Canada.
Both of her parents are dead. She is a mem-
ber of the Missionary Baptist church and is
connected fraternally with the IMutual Pro-
tective Association. One of the eleven chil-
dren she has borne IMr. Do-\vning is dead ; the
others are all at home. Their names are Cul-
lon, John, David, Madie, WiU, Vivian, Harry,
Cloudy, Arthur and Lydian.
Alfred DeLisle is another of Pemiscot
county's farmers who has spent his life with-
in its borders. He was born in 1863, and re-
mained in the paternal home imtil his mar-
riage to Lizzie Stone in 1886. Mrs. DeLisle
is the daughter of E. H. and Luciana Todd
Stone. After his marriage, Mr. DeLisle
worked in a store for one winter and then
resumed his present occupation of farming.
From forty acres he has increased the area of
land he cultivates to one himdred and thirty-
six acres. This is rented land, upon which its
manager raises crops of corn, cotton and hay,
as well as stock. Mr. DeLisle owns nineteen
horses and mules, fifty hogs and twenty-three
cattle.
In the Red Men's lodge he is secretary of
the order. Both he and Mrs. DeLisle belong
to the Mutual Benefit Association and to the
HISTORY OF SOUTHEAST MISSOURI
1287
Knights and Ladies of Security. Tiie family
are members of the Catholic church. Three
children have been born of the union of Al-
fred and Lizzie DeLisle, Elmer, Homer and
Lizzie, all at home. In politics, IMr. DeLisle
holds with the Democratic party.
William L. C.\eroll. The story of Mr.
Carroll's life is the realization of those hopes
which lure the aspiring immigrants fi-om the
crowded counti-ies of Europe to the greater
opportunities of a land where there is yet
room for all who will come out to its fertile
fields and pay to the land its toll of toil.
Matthew Carroll, his father, was born in Ire-
land, about 1793. He came to America after
his marriage, settling first in Indiana and
later going to New iladrid eoimty. This was
about 1860, and his removal to Stoddard
county occurred in a few years from this date.
It was here that he died in 1870. His first
wife, Anna Barnes, was born in Ireland. She
was the mother of five children, including
Patrick, who remained in Erin's Isle until
after the Civil war and now lives in New
York. Only one other child, "William, of
Sikeston, is now living. Mary became Mrs.
William P. White, of Stoddard county, where
her death occurred. Hannah was Mrs. A. W.
Brown of New Madrid county. Nicholas died
in Scott county in 1875. Anna Barnes Car-
roll died in Stoddard coimty in 1863. Mat-
thew married Mary Leighton, of the same
county, and they became parents of one child,
Samuel, who lived only one year. Matthew
was a contractor and a farmer. In his re-
ligious faith he was a devout commimicant of
the Roman Catholic church.
William L. Carroll was bom on that most
important day of our history, July i. 1S56.
in Indiana near Liberty and Indianapolis.
He worked on different farms and when he
was not seventeen years of age came to Sikes-
ton in search of work, walking across the
swamp from Stoddard county. After work-
ing five and a half days for Lewis Baker, he
went back to Stoddard eoimty to bring his
brother Nicholas, now buried in Sikeston. For
seven years he worked on farms by the month
but in 1879 he married and the same year
went to farming for himself.
It was as a renter that ilr. Carroll began
his independent work of agriculture and he
continued to rent for seven years before buy-
ing his first one hundred and twenty acres.
Since that time he has bought a quarter sec-
tion more in that vicinity and also the old
Marshall farm of two hundred and forty
acres. In Sandalwood township he has pur-
chased four hundred acres, making nearly a
thousand acres acquired hi a quarter of a cen-
tury. In addition to his holdings in real es-
tate he is a director and a share holder in the
Citizens Bank, with which he has been con-
nected since its organization.
Mrs. Carroll, nee Susan M. Marshall, was
born December 17, 1860, her parents being E.
Frank and Parthenia Carrico ilarshall, well
known citizens of the county. The eldest
child of the union, Parthenia, lived less than
five years and a son Oscar, born July 20, 1887,
was claimed by the grim reaper at about the
same age. The other children are all living
in Scott county. Frank M., born September
28, 1881, has set up his own home with Maggie
Carroll as his wife. William N., a year and
two days younger than Frank, farms for his
father. Anna, born January 21, 1885, Ar-
nold, Jime 15, 1890, and Benjamin, whose
natal day was February 5, 1892, live with
their parents; so also does Marvin, born Sep-
tember 15, 1902.
In politics Mr. Carroll is a Democrat. He
has served as judge of the county court in
1880 and again in 1890. The lodges to which
he belongs are the Modern Woodmen, the Odd
Fellows and the Masons.
James D. Clifton has been a resident of
this section of the coimtry for over a quarter
of a century and is counted one of the suc-
cessful and substantial farmers of the com-
munity. He lived in Tennessee before coming
to Missouri, Arden county being his birth-
place. Mrs. Clifton is a native of Wayne
county. Her maiden name was Mary Line-
berry. She was wedded to Mr. Clifton twenty
years ago, and it is their good fortune to still
have all of their children. These are Sam,
Thomas, Cordia, Rosy and Gertie, still at
home, while Will and Addie are married.
Both Mr. Clifton and his wife are members
of the Methodish Church South. He is a
popular member of the Odd Fellows, the IMa-
sons, the Modem Woodmen and the Royal
Neighbors of Portageville, and also of the Ben
Hur lodge. He has been chosen to serve in
different offices in all these lodges.
Upon coming to Pemiscot county Mr. Clif-
ton first leased a farm for five years. Later
he bought a tract of the same extent — forty
acres. Six years ago he sold that and now
owns fifty-four acres. Mr. Clifton has put
considerable improvement upon this farm and
HISTORY OF SOUTHEAST MISSOURI
ib a general farmer in practice. Cotton and
corn are his principal crops and he raises both
hogs and cattle. ]\Ir. Clifton casts his politi-
cal lot with the Democratic party, but he
spends his time at farming.
PiNKNEY E. Boon. Although Tennessee
is the native state of Mr. Boon, his parents,
Harrison and Malinda Kirtner Boon, moved
to Missouri when Pinkney was a baby, so he
has spent his life in the coimty. His early
life was like that of so many of our eminent
citizens; he assisted his father on the farm
and attended the district .school. When he
grew up he gave his attention to farming
first, renting thirty-five acres besides the forty
which he owns. In 1906 Mr. Boon and his
brother built a saw mill, which has a capacity
of seven thousand feet per day. They are
engaged in cutting and marketing custom
lumber and also in shipping quite a large
quantity. Mr. Boon continues to farm as
well as conducting his lumber business.
The fraternal organization of the Woodmen
of the World coimts Mr. -Boon among its val-
ued members. In politics his convictions are
those of the Democratic party. Both ]\Ir. and
ilrs. Boon are communicants of the Baptist
church. Mrs. Boon's maiden name was Inez
Edward, and she was born in this coimty.
They have a family of eight children : Fran-
cis, Henry, Goah, Amelia, Daisy, Norvil, Nel-
lie and Granvil.
George E. Randolph. Point Pleasant was
the birthplace of Mr. Randolph and it was
here that he received most of his education.
He was born in 1866, on a farm, and went to
school at Point Pleasant and one year at Cape
Girardeau. When he came home from this
city he spent one year on the farm and then
went to Arkansas on business for the govern-
ment. He remained there two years, and
then again came back to the farm, where he
stayed until, 1894.
in June of the above year Mr. Randolph
went into the sewing-machine business and
worked at that for three years. Following
this he spent a year tending bar for Mr.
Yount. The next four years he was in busi-
ness in Holcomb, Missouri, and then went into
the saloon business at Point Pleasant. At
present he owns the only saloon in towni.
Mr. Randolph's holdings in real estate in
the region are quite extensive. He has sev-
eral store buildings and three houses besides
his residence. A saw mill is another of his
enterprises and he rents a farm of about one
himdred acres. He also runs a pea thresher,
which is operated by a gasoline engine, and
makes concrete blocks.
Three children have been born to ilr. Ran-
dolph 's imion with Electa Boweu : Arthur,
Shirley and Oligar. He is a member of the
Woodmen of the World and a Democrat in
politics.
William P. Robinson. Livingston county-,
Kentucky, is the native home of Mr. W. P.
Robinson, who began his course in this life in
the year 1865, remembered still by a fast dis-
appearing generation fis the close of the war.
Jlr. Robinson 's parents came to this county in
1890 and bought the farm on which William
still resides with his mother, Mrs. Charity
Bradon Robinson, and another of her sons,
Sidney Robinson.
The Robinson farm is a well improved es-
tate of one hundred and twenty acres, with
fences all in good condition and an eight
room house built in 1906. Fine barns and a
windmill add to its facilities for stock raising,
which occupies a part of ilr. Robinson's at-
tention as well as shipping carload lots of it
and doing some retail business in that line.
He also handles logs for several parties in the
district and raises good crops of cotton and
corn.
Mr. Robinson's politics are Democratic, but
his attention has always been given to farm-
ing and kindred pursuits. He was educated
in the public schools and is interested in edu-
cational matters. He holds membership in
the Red ilen and in the IModern Woodmen of
America.
James H. Robinson, father of William P.,
was born in Kentucky and died there in 1909.
His wife was bom in Tennessee and is still
living here. Only one of their four daughters
is living, Inez, the wife of Sam Welsh, a
farmer. Nannie and Amy died here and
Lizzie in Kentuckj', where the other son,
Charles, also passed away. To James Robin-
son this simple and eloquent tribute is ac-
corded, "He had many friends and was al-
ways well thought of."
Charles ]\IcGee. Though still so young a
man, I\Ir. ]\IcGee has made a place for himself
in the agricultural circle of the coimty. He
was born in Pemiscot county, where his moth-
er and father were born, lived and died.
Paul K. McGee, his father, was born in 1860
and died in 1886. His mother. Cora Butler
HISTORY OF SOUTHEAST MISSOURI
1289
jMeGee, was two years younger than her hus-
band and outlived him eighteen years, pass-
ing away in 1904.
Charles attended the district schools and
worked on the farm while a boy. For six
years he worked on a neighbor's farm by the
month and then went into business for him-
self. His fli-st venture was in 1907, when he
put in a crop on twenty acres of land on
shares. After this he bought forty acres and
cultivated that for a time, but later sold it
out. He now rents eighty-seven acres, on
which he raises cotton and corn and keeps
some stock, five horses, forty hogs and fifteen
cattle.
His marriage took place in 1907. Mrs. ilc-
Gee is the daughter of William Whitten. Mr.
and Mrs. McGee have one child, Clarence,
born December 24, 1908. Mr. JIcGee is a
member of the Modern Woodmen of America.
Cn.iRLES J. Mason is the oldest of the seven
children of Joshua and JIartha ]\Iiller ]\Iason.
His father was born in Illinois and came to
Southeastern ilissouri when he was a boy,
leaving home to find work. He had no money,
but hired out on the farms, working by the
day or by the month. He married Martha
;\Iiller, a native of Scott coimty, who grew up
near Sikeston, where Charles was born. The
mother died in 1904; one son, Emory, is at
home with his father; Bertha and Isabel are
married and live in Scott county. Two other
sons. Will and Reese, are also married, and
the other daughter, Lina, is at home.
Charles Mason was born July 22, 1876, on
a farm sis miles north of Sikeston. Here he
lived imtil he was twenty years old, attending
the common schools when not busy on the
farm. At twenty he began renting, taking
up three hmidred acres, which was owned by
Steve Hunter. His diligence was rewarded
by success and the seven years he spent here
were prosperous ones.
When Charles ]\Iason was twenty-one he
married Miss Ida Joyce, who has lived in
Scott county all her life. Two of the four
children of this imion are attending school,
Orville and IMabel ; the others, Era and Urban
are not yet of school age.
In 1903 Mr. JIason moved to his present
home. He had bought two himdred acres of
it while living on Jlr. Hunter's place, when
he was twenty-one, but he rented it out until
the above date. The commodious nine-room
house on the place was built by j\Ir. Mason,
also the other buildings. His present acreage
is three himdred, all but sixty of which he
has cleared. Indeed, all the improvements
on the place are his work, and it is a monu-
ment of his thrift and his intelligent labor.
Mr. and Mrs. Mason are members of the
Methodist church. The fraternal connections
of Mr. Mason are with the ^Modern Woodmen
and the Odd Fellows.
John 0. Wilson. Many people gain wealth
in this world, many gain distinction in the
learned professions, and many are honored
with public offices of trust and responsibility,
but to few is it given to attain so high a place
in the esteem and affection of their fellow
citizens as that enjoyed by John Oliver Wil-
son, a prominent and influential farmer four
miles west of Bernie. He and his wife, who
passed to the life eternal on the 3d of March,
1910, were known throughout Stoddard comi-
ty, their spacious and comfortable residence
near Bernie being widely renowned for its
generous hospitality and being frecjuently re-
ferred to as the "Orphans Home," hospice
having often been given to those unfortu-
nates who, at an early age, have been bereft of
their parents. Farming and stock-raising
have ever been Mr. Wilson's chief occupation
and he is the owner of a fine rural estate of
two himdred and twenty-six acres, the same
being located on Crowley 's Ridge.
John Oliver Wilson was born in the city of
Memphis, Tennessee, the date of his nativity
being the 16th of November. 1857. When
two years of age he was brought to Dunklin
county, Missouri, by his parents, Samuel and
Annie (Mayfield) Wilson, both of whom are
now deceased. The father was born in St.
Louis, Missom-i, and the mother claimed
South Carolina as the place of her nativity.
Samuel Wilson was a molder by trade, and
he was engaged in the work of his profession
at St. Louis and at IMemphis for a number of
years. During tlie strenuous period of the
Civil war he was in Dunklin coimty, Missouri,
and for a short time he served as a molder of
shot and shell in the ranks of the Confeder-
ate army. In 1864 he returned to St. Louis,
where he passed the residue of his life, his
demise having occurred in 1875, at the age
of forty-five years. He was survived by a
widow and six children, of whom three were
grown sons. The family, after the death of
the father, settled on the farm where the
subject of this review now resides, the estate
then consisting of eighty acres, worth about
four himdred dollars. The mother continued
1290
HISTORY OF SOUTHEAST MISSOURI
to reside in Missouri for a number of years,
but later went to Arkansas with her son Al-
bert and there passed away, at the age of
seventy-two years. Concerning the children
born to Mr. and Mrs. Samuel Wilson the fol-
lowing brief data are here incorporated : Al-
bert ; Walter ; John 0., the inunediate subject
of this review; Frances, who married Elijah
Smith and died in middle life, and Anna and
Laura, who are now living in Arkansas.
Mr. Wilson, of this notice, received his early
educational training in the public schools of
St. Louis, the same being of but meager order,
and he was a youth of eighteen years of age
at the time of his father's death. When his
mother removed with some of the children to
Arkansas he bought out the shares of the
others in the farm he now owns and with the
passage of time has increased his estate to
two hundred and twenty-six acres. He is en-
gaged in general farming and the raising of
high-grade stock, wheat and corn being his
principal crops. He erected his present beau-
tiful home in 1894, and his attractive place is
now recognized as one of the finest farms in
this section of Stoddard county. Mr. Wil-
son's splendid success as a farmer and busi-
ness man is the direct outcome of his well
applied endeavors and as such it is the more
gratifying to contemplate. In a fraternal
way he is affiliated with the Dexter lodge of
the Independent Order of Odd Fellows. He
has lived an exemplary, upright life, guided
by faith, love and charity, and is everywhere
accorded the imqualified confidence and es-
teem of his fellow men.
In the year 1872 Mr. Wilson was imited in
marriage to Miss Julia Higginbotham, a na-
tive of Dimklin county and a daughter of
Marion and Agnes (Riddle) Higginbotham.
Mrs. Wilson passed to the great beyond on
the 3d of March, 1910, and her death was uni-
versally mourned by a wide circle of devoted
and loving friends. Mr. and Mrs. Wilson had
no children of their own but reared four or-
phans, three of whom are now married,
Birdie Wiggs is the wife of Rufus Wilson, of
Stoddard county; William Smith, taken at
the age of five years, is a prominent lumber
man in Arkansas; Lann Blackwell is now a
business man, and Myrtle Williams, who came
to the Wilson home at the age of fourteen
months, is now a child of six years. Mr. Wil-
son centers all his affection on the last-men-
tioned child now that his cherished and de-
voted wife is deceased and the other children
settled comfortably in homes of their own.
Thomas D. McCown has been a resident of
^Missouri for half a century; he has lived in
Butler county for thirty-two years and has
created for himself an eminent place in the
affairs of the coimty, both civic and indus-
trial. He was born in Louisville, Kentucky,
in 1859. When he was two years old his par-
ents. Dr. James C. and Mary Judie McCown,
moved to Rawls, Missouri, where they re-
sided imtil Thomas was twelve. He attended
school in Rawls and also in Monroe county,
where the family lived from 1871 imtil 1879.
At this date they came to Butler county and
took up their residence on a farm.
Thomas had served an apprenticeship at
the blacksmith and carpenter's trades under
James Mattchett, at Parish, Missouri, and at
the age of twenty he began to work for him-
self. While the father practiced medicine he
ran the farm and also plied his trade of car-
pentry. For sixteen years he continued to
farm in this manner.
At the age of twenty-six Mr. McCown was
married to Miss Allie Bullock, and as their
children, Ethel and Ruby, grew to be of
school age the parents decided to move to
town to give them better educational advan-
tages. For six years after moving to Poplar
Bluff Mr. McCown had charge of Walker's
Manufacturing Company. In 1902 he was
elected marshal and served two terms. At the
completion of this term of service in the office
of marshal he was elected sheriff and has
served five years. It was due in part to his
efforts that the $25,000 jail was erected dur-
ing his tenure of the office of sheriff.
A well cleared farm of two hundred and
forty acres besides a house and four lots in
town are Mr. McCown 's valuable assets in
real estate. He is a practical farmer and
raises corn and peas as his principal crops,
giving especial attention to the raising of
Jersey Duroc hogs, of which he has a hundred
and fifty head. Forty cattle and seven horses
complete his assortment of live stock.
In the family circle of Mr. McCown are
three daughters, Eva, aged five, Ruth, two, •
and Ruby, mentioned previously. Ethel is
married to 0. B. Burnett of Dexter, Missouri.
Eva and Ruth, as well as Ray, now seven, are
the children of Mr. McCown 's second mar-
riage, their mother being Hattie G. McCown,
who was formerly the wife of Mr. Graham.
In matters of education and of religious im-
port Mr. McCown takes an active interest.
While in the country he served as school di-
rector and he is an energetic worker in the
HISTORY OF SOUTHEAST MISSOURI
1291
Christian clinreh, of which his wife, too, is
im active nieinber. He has held office in the
lodges of the Woodmen of the World and in
tlie Red ]\len. He is, besides, connected with
the Order of Moose.
Ulysses Grant Totty. like his illustrious
namesake, has achieved his education and
his material possessions by patient effort and
by gallant struggles against heavy odds. He
was born in Butler county, Missouri, in 1864.
Both of his parents were born in Hickman
county, Tennessee, and both died in Cape
Girardeau eoimty, ilissouri. The father was
taken away when Ulysses Totty was only three
and a half years old. His school course did
not even teach him to write, but he sent him-
self to a school in which he was both pupil
and taskmaster and acquired a fair knowledge.
"When U. S. Totty was sixteen his mother
was taken ill with a chronic disease and the
boy worked to earn money to send her to her
old home for treatment. He wished to write
to her while she was gone and so he set to
work to master that art. The recipients could
not read all of the first letter, but the second
missive was entirely legible and now he is a
good writer. For five or six years Mr. Totty
worked by the day or month and later went
into the logging business.
In 1896, ten years after his mother's death,
Mr. Tottj' was married. The first year after
that he rented twentj'-five acres of land. The
next year he increased this to forty, then to
ninet}^ and the fourth year to one hundred.
The next two years he farmed only fifty acres
and worked at logging, and in 1903, devoted
all his time to the latter occupation. The fol-
lowing year he bought a farm of forty acres
and two years later purchased another tract
of the same extent. All of this land is cleared
except twenty acres, and its owner devotes
himself to general farming.
Mr. Totty 's political party is that of the
General whose name he bears. He belongs to
the Red Jlen 's lodge and to the Royal Brother-
hood of America. His wife is also a member
of the latter body. Mrs. Totty was formerly
Miss Coar Dowdy, daughter of William
Dowdy, of this county. She was born June
23, 1872, and has lived here all of her life.
She and Mr. Totty have no children.
Mrs. M. K. Cook, of Hornersville, the
widow of the late Dr. Ralph Guild Cook, for
many years one of the best and most popular
physicians of Dunklin county and South-
eastern Missouri, is a lady widely and favor-
ably known in this locality, where her resi-
dence has so long been maintained. She is
the scion of an excellent southern family and,
like her late husband, is the friend of all
such measures as seem likely to prove of gen-
eral benefit to the community.
Dr. Cook was born August 5, 1837, and
died at his old home near Hornersville, Feb-
ruary 5, 1882. He was reared in Cape Girar-
deau count}% Missouri, and. early coming to
a decision as to his work in life, entered a
medical college in Cincinnati, Ohio, where he
received his professional training. He came
to Arkansas to begin his practice and was in
that state at the outbreak of the Civil war.
Being very loyal to the institutions of the
South, he enlisted in the Confederate army,
and served two years as a soldier and two
years as surgeon, his military experience being
of eventful character. When the war closed
and he had returned to the routine of pro-
fessional life he was married at Hornersville.
Mrs. Cook's maiden name was Keelin, and
she is a daughter of Crittenden and Kiddy
(Wagester). The father was a native of Ten-
nessee and the mother of South Carolina, and
their arrival in Dunklin county was in the
year 1846. Mrs. Cook's birth occurred in
Troy, Tennessee, April 26, 1849.
Dr. and Mrs. Cook began their married life
at Hornersville, but two years later removed
to Cotton Plant. There the remainder of the
Doctor's life was spent and his death marked
the passing of a kindly physician and friend
to a large number of the county's residents.
He was prominent and greatly respected and
beloved, doing much to the building up of
this section, and his memory and influence
will not soon be obliterated. He was one of
the extensive land holders, owning two good
farms, and Mrs. Cook now resides on one of
a hundred and forty acres near Hornersville.
Since the demise of her husband she has man-
aged these properties very efficiently and suc-
cessfully. The fine old home, which was built
thirty-seven years ago, stands in an oak grove,
and the estate is at once valuable and
attractive.
The union of Dr. and Mrs. Cook was
blessed by a number of children: Averla,
Amasa Summers, Thomas J., Mary Kitty,
Van, Guild D. and Zelza. Thomas J. died
at the age of twenty-eight. Mary Kitty is
the wife of Bev Hunter, of Maiden, Missouri.
Zelza is the wife of John Knight, of Pemiscot
county, Missouri. Guild D. died at the age
1292
HISTORY OF SOUTHEAST MISSOURI
of nineteen. Van lives on the old homestead
and works part of it.
Dr. Cook was a self-made man. his prestige
and good fortunes being wholly the result of
his own well directed efforts. He was a
valued member of the Christian church, and
fraternally was affiliated with the Independ-
ent Order of Odd Fellows and the Royal Arch
Masons, exemplifying in his own life the ideals
of moral and social justice and brotherly love
for which these orders stand.
Ambrose S. Steward. Until he was twenty-
seven years of age Mr. Steward did not go
into business for himself, but devoted his time
and energy to helping his father run his farm
in New Madrid county. It was in that section
of Missouri that Mr. Ambrose Steward was
born in 1870 and there that his parents,
George Washington and Puss Brinkley Stew-
ard, lived until they passed from this life.
Mrs. Steward had formerly been the wife of
a Mr. Brinkley, a farmer of New Madrid
county.
Ambrose Steward attended school in the
rural schools of New Madrid county and sub-
sequently farmed in that county. It was
here that his marriage to Miss Jane Hogan
occurred in 1897, the same year in which Mr.
Steward went into business for himself. Jane
Steward died, leaving one daughter, Elsie,
born in 1902. Mr. Steward came to Pemsicot
county in 1907, and the same year married
Mrs. Meatt, born in this county in 1873. Her
parents were John W. and Clotilda Harris
Jacobs. By her former marriage Jlrs. Stew-
ard has four children : John F., born in 1898 ;
Laura, in 1900; Fannie, in 1902; and Ruth,
in 1904. She and Mr. Steward have one
child, Claudie, born February 14, 1908. For
six years after his first marriage ilr. Steward
raised crops on shares and then for four
years he worked by the month. Since coming
to this county four years ago he has pur-
chased forty acres of land, which he has im-
proved more than ordinarily and has fenced
completely. His crops are chiefly cotton and
corn.
Mr. Steward's lodge affiliations are with
the Woodmen of the World and with the Red
Men, in which latter order he is one of the
Braves. He gives his political support to
the Democratic party, and both he and ^Irs.
Steward are members of the Baptist church.
Thomas IMabrey. The most precious her-
itage of the great middle class is its long
inheritance of "plain devoteduess to duty,
steadfast and still, nor paid with mortal
praise, but finding ample recompense in work
done squarely and unwasted days." Such a
heritage was Thomas Mabrey's, and it has
been received and amplified, so that he passes
the torch of progress undimmed to those who
shall follow.
Thomas Mabrey was born at Franklin, Ten-
nessee, on June 2, 1835. His parents, Fred-
rick and Nancy ilabrey, removed to Cape
Girardeau county when Thomas was three
years of age. He grew up in Cape Girardeau
county, attending school there and later teach-
ing for two years at Jackson. His spare time
was spent in reading law and in 1858 he was
admitted to the bar in Cape Girardeau county.
For a year thereafter he was deputy circuit
clerk in the county and then began the prac-
tice of his profession in Doniphan. In addi-
tion to his law business Mr. Mabrey handled
real estate.
Recognition of his unusual abilities soon
brought business to the young lawyer and he
was retained in many of the most important
eases in Ripley county, not a few of which
went to the supreme court. He became a
power in the Democratic party and in 1876
was chosen representative of the county.
Three years later he was called upon to act
as state senator and then, as when representa-
tive, he was active in working for the meas-
ures advocated by his constituents. He served
on the judiciary committee and was chairman
of the committee on accounts, besides working
on a number of other committees, including
that of schools.
It is interesting to note that William C.
Mabrey, son of Thomas Mabrey, has served
two terms as circuit clerk in Riple.v county
and is at present representative of the county,
thus following in the path of his honored
father. The other children of the family are
Bessie Mabrey ; Sallie, now Mrs. Johnson ;
Nora, wife of Mr. Malvogin, of Wayne county ;
Pinkney, whose residence is in Arkansas;
Annie Mabrey, who married Professor W. M.
Westbrook; and Edna and Irene, still at
home with their parents. Mrs. Mabrey was
formerly Miss Sallie J. Carter. Her father
was Zimmry A. Carter, for whom the county
where his daughter was born was named.
Miss Cai-ter became Sirs. IMabrey in 1870.
The Mabrey family worship in the Method-
ist church, of which they are active members.
Mr. Mabrey is especially interested in the
Sundav-school, where his trained intellect is
HISTORY OF SOUTHEAST MISSOURI
1293
no less valuable in attracting the young- peo-
ple than his religious enthusiasm.
Albert J. Gorg. To the larger and surer
vision there is no such thing as luck. No man'
achieves anything worthy until he learns the
power of conviction and, appreciative thereof,
bends his energies to the accomplishing of a
definite purpose. Among the representative
citizens and influential business men of South-
eastern Missouri is Albert J. Gorg, who has
risen to a position of marked precedence in
the industrial and conunercial world by the
vigorous assertion of courage, pluck, determi-
nation and staying power. His has been the
conviction born of the consciousness of
strength and of integrity of purpose, and thus
has his success-position been amply fortified.
He has been in a significant sense the archi-
tect of his own fortunes and has made of suc-
cess not an accident but a logical result. He
has shown marked facilit.y in meeting con-
tingencies and wielding forces at his com-
mand with effectiveness, and he is now one of
the dominating factors in the business activi-
ties of the section of the state in which he was
born and reared. His industrial and capi-
talistic interests are many and varied, and his
business career, covering a period of a third
of a century, has illustrated in a very marked
degree of power of concentrating the re-
sources of the entire man and lifting them to
the plane of high achievement: of supple-
menting admirable natural endowments by
close application, impregnable integrity and
distinctive tenacity of purpose. ^Maintaining
his home at Union. Franklin county, the busi-
ness interests of Mr. Gorg cover a wide field,
and he has ofSce headquarters in the city of
St. Louis, from which point he directs his
large activities in the domain of industrial and
commercial enterprise. His secure status as a
man of affairs and as a citizen of utmost loy-
alty and public spirit rendere most consonant
the brief review of his career presented in
this History of Southeastern Missouri.
Albert J. Gorg was born on a farm situated
about midway between the towns of St. Clair
and Union, Franklin county, Missouri, and
the date of his nativity was August 5, 1861.
He is a son of Paul and Margaret (Schiller)
Gorg. the former a native of Germany. A
scion of the staunchest of Teutonic stock. Paul
Gorg was born in Germany, in the year 1824,
and he was about fifteen years of age at the
time of the family immigration to America.
His father became one of the pioneer settlers
of Franklin county, Missouri, where he se-
cured a tract of land in the clay hills and de^
veloped a productive farm, upon which he
continued to reside until his death. He was
twice married, and his second wife was the
mother of the well known Louis Gorg, who is
one of the svibstantial capitalists and repre-
sentative manufacturers in Kansas City, Mis-
souri. Paul, father of Albert J., of this re-
view, was one of the children of the first
marriage, and others of the number were
Peter, Casper, Mrs. Fink and ilrs. Kraets-
meyer. Paul Gorg was reared to maturity in
Franklin county, Missouri, his rudimentary
education having been secured in the schools
of his native land. As a young man he be-
came overseer of slave labor on the plantation
of Charles Jones, of Franklin county, this
position having been assumed a number of
.vears prior to the inception of the Civil war.
He finally engaged in agricultural pui'suits in
an independent way, and he eventuall.v be-
came one of the representative farmers and
stock-growers of Franklin count.v, where he
has ever held secure vantage ground in popu-
lar confidence and esteem. When the dark
cloud of civil war cast its pall over the na-
tional horizon he followed his earnest convic-
tions and became a staunch supporter of the
cause of the LTnion. He served as a member
of the ^Missouri militia and did all in his
power to aid in maintaining the integrit.v of
the nation. For many years of his active ca-
reer Paul Gorg was one of the prominent and
influential citizens of Franklin county and
was specially zealous in the promotion of
measures and enterprises tending to advance
the general welfare along both civic and ma-
terial lines. He was particularly active in
championing the cause of good roads in this
section of the state and did much to foster
improvements in this important line. In fact
for many years he had personal supervision
of the building of country roads, a position
to which he was chosen without regard to
political allegiance, as he was the choice of
Republicans and Democrats alike. He lias
long been a stalwart adherent of the Repub-
lican party and has given yeoman service in
support, of its principles and policies. Now
venerable in years, he is passing the gracious
evening of his life in the home of his son,
Albert J., and he Ls one of the honored pio-
neer citizens of the count.v in which he has
long lived and labored to goodl.v ends. His
cherished and devoted wife, who was loved by
all who came within the compass of her gentle
1294
HISTORY OF SOUTHEAST MISSOURI
influeuce, was summoned to eternal rest in
1903, and concerning their children the fol-
lowing brief data are entered: Elizabeth is
the wife of Mr. Angerer, of St. Clair, Frank-
lin county ; James died at St. Clair, at the age
of thirty-sis years; Fannie is the wife of a
Mr. "Weekerly, of Newburg, Phelps county,
this state ; Annie is the wife of Joseph Harris,
of Springtield, JMissouri ; ilrs. A. F. ]Mauthe,
of Union ; Albert J., of this sketch, was the
nest in order of birth ; Mrs. A. L. Wilson of
St. Louis; and Charles A., who died in child-
hood.
Reared under the benignant influences of
the farm and early learning the lessons of
practical industry, Albert J. Gorg continued
to be associated with the work and manage-
ment of the old homestead until he had at-
tained to the age of twenty-two years, and
in the meanwhile he had duly availed himself
of the advantages of the public schools at
North Bend. At the age noted he secured a
position as clerk in the general store con-
ducted by his brother-in-law, Mr. Angerer, of
St. Clair, and while his salary was small he
gained much in esperience and ciuickened his
ambition for independent enteriDrise along
business lines. Finally, with a capital of one
thousand dollars, he associated himself with
Buren Duckworth and engaged in the general
merchandise business at St. Clair. The suc-
cess of the venture was made somewhat nega-
tive bj' the action of the Farmei-s' Alliance,
under the auspices of which a rival store was
opened in the town. Mr. Gorg found condi-
tions unpropitious and accordingly sold his
interest in the business at St. Clair and re-
moved to Union, where he bought a half in-
terest in the general store of Mr. Hibbard.
The firm of Hibbard & Gorg thereafter con-
ducted a prosperous enterprise until the
Farmers' Alliance again threw down the
gauntlet and endeavored to kill the Inisiness
b.y competition, ilr. Gorg was older, stronger
and wiser than he had been at the time of the
prior action on the part of the Alliance, and
he decided that he would prove a foeman
woi-thy of the steel of his formidable antago-
nist. He instructed his assistants to maintain
a quiet attitude and indulge in no discussion
of conditions, but to sell goods for cash and
at such prices as would secure the trade.
Within a few months he found himself a vic-
tor in the field, for his competitor disposed of
his stock at eighteen cents on the dollar. This
early and successful conflict with opposing
forces did much to fortify Mr. Gorg in self-
reliance and mastering of espedients, — the
discipline having been such as to give him the
greater acumen and facility in the handling
of ali'airs of greater scope and importance.
While thus engaged in the mercantile busi-
ness at Union Mr. Gorg here purchased a
grain elevator, and from this nucleus has been
evolved a system of elevators which he con-
trols at various points along the line of the
Chicago & Rock Island Railroad in Southeast-
ern Missouri. His powers rapidly matured
with the passing years and he found new
channels along which to direct his energies.
He engaged in the buying and shipping of
live stock and in connection with his well
eciuipped hardware establishment in Union he
built up a successful business in the handling
of farming implements and machinery, as
well as lumber. His original partner, 3Ir.
Hibbard, was succeeded by J. G. Moutier, and
the firm of Gorg & Moutier conducted a thriv-
ing mercantile business at Union until the
construction of the line of the Chicago & Rock
Island Railroad through this part of the state
was instituted. Discerning an escellent op-
portunity for profitable enterprise in this
connection, Mr. Gorg secured contracts for
the construction of bridges and culverts along
the line and also for the supplying of ties.
This contract was made with Scullin & Fran-
cis, the original promoters of the line, and
after the Chicago & Rock Island Company as-
sumed control ilr. Gorg continued his con-
tracting association, through the influence of
ilr. Sands, the general manager. His contract
was enlarged to include the construction of all
tl^e depots and section houses from St. Louis
to Kansas City, and since the completion of
the road he has retained the confidence and
esteem of its officials, the company today be-
ing one of his largest patrons in the buying of
ties and timber.
His success in this connection caused Mr.
Gorg to realize the possibilities of developing
a large and prosperous business as a contrac-
tor for the supplying of ties and timber for
railroads, and in 1907 he established an office
in the city of St. Louis for the purpose of en-
gaging in such contracting on an estensive
scale. It will be recalled that this was a
year of financial stringenc.y, and just when
the prospects of Jlr. Gorg seemed brightest,
conditions became such that a number of his
customers notified him that they could not
meet their obligations to him, the final result
being the disrupting of the entire market in
this field of enterprise. One of the wise and
HISTORY OF SOUTHEAST MISSOURI
1295
careful proYisions that have made the busi-
ness amior of Mr. Gorg practically invuhier-
able is that he has always ordered his att'aii-s
in such a way as to have available such sums
of ready money as have been demanded in
meeting such emergencies, and to this pro-
vision is due the fact that he was able to
weather successfully the financial storm which
swept the country at the time noted. Under
the conditions existing, he showed his versa-
tility by turning his attention to contracting
for the erection of buildings in St. Louis, and
he made this venture a successful one by his
careful and conservative policies. He thus
erected a hospital, a few apartment buildings
and a number of houses, and in time he found
himself ready to take advantage of the oppor-
tunities afforded in connection with the re-
habilitated and substantial timber market.
The firm today controls one of the most exten-
sive and prosperous enterprises in the ]Missis-
sippi valley in the handling of ties and other
railway timber. The general offices of the
firm are maintained in the Frisco building, in
the city of St. Louis, and in 1911 the firm
furnished to its various patrons two and one-
half million ties. Among the railway com-
panies thus supplied have been the Wabash,
the Cincinnati, Hamilton & Dayton, the Chi-
cago & Eastern Illinois, the Baltimore & Ohio,
the Chicago & Rock Island, the Iowa Central
and the Big Four.
I\Ir. Gorg still controls a large and impor-
tant industrial business in the buying and
shipping of grain, and he has for this pur-
pose well equipped elevators at LTnion, Ger-
ald, Rosebud, Argj-le, Meta and Barnett. His
capacity along constructive and executive
lines seems unlimited, and he has other im-
portant business interests aside from those
already noted. — associations that make him
one of the really representative business men
of his native state. He is president of the
Gorg-JMurphy Timber & Grain Company;
president of the Citizens' Bank of Union, his
home village: president of the Hope ilanu-
facturing Company of Union ; and is treasurer
and the largest stockholder of the Maramec
River Land Company, which has large and
valuable holdings in Missouri. He is a stock-
holder of the Merchants-LaCIede National
Bank of St. Louis, and is individually the
owner of several thousand acres of timber
land in Missouri.
Loyal to his home town of Union and inter-
ested in all that touches its welfare, he has
done much to further its civic and material
advancement and is one of its most popular
and mduential citizens. He served four years
as a member of the village council and further
evidence of popular confidence and esteem
was then given when he was elected president
or mayor of the town. This honor was con-
ferred upon him at a time when he was absent
from home and he gave himself, with char-
acteristic energy, to bringing about a vigor-
ous and progressive administration of munici-
pal affairs. With the privilege of naming
the members of his council, he launched a plan
of general impi'ovement, unexpected and soon
viewed with disfavor in the old town, whose
conservatism was not easily to be dislodged.
Protest was so general and emphatic that the
council weakened under the pressure brought
to bear, but, nothing daunted, the mayor stood
firm in his position and said "These things
must be done. ' ' For a time it seemed that his
career as chief executive of Union would ter-
minate with the one term and that he would
not be able to accomplish the desired ends.
But results have amply justified his course
and the citizens in general are proud of the
work accomplished under his effective admin-
istration. His courage and tenacity brought
order out of chaos in the coimcil ; his policies
were endorsed and the town has reason to con-
gratulate itself on the many improvements
instituted, including the proper care of
streets, the construction of sidewalks and the
installation of an effective waterworks system,
which ]\Ir. Gorg himself built under contract,
as did he also the fine high-school building.
He was chosen as his own successor in the of-
fice of mayor. Mr. Gorg served as president
of the local board of education for several
years and has been most zealous in bringing
the schools of Union up to a high standard.
In politics Mr. Gorg gives allegiance to the
Republican party, but in the filling of public
offices he esteems the man above the part.v and
gives his support to candidates and measures
meeting the approval of his judgment. He is
a fine judge of men and demands for the pub-
lic service the same efficiency and honesty of
purpose as he insists upon in connection with
his own business affairs. His interest in pub-
lic affairs has prompted him to do his part in
furthering the nomination of worthy and effi-
cient candidates for office, and he is admir-
ably fortified in his opinions concerning mat-
ters of economic and political import. He is
essentially a bu.siness man and thus has had
no inclination for the activities of practical
politics or for the honors or emoluments of
1296
HISTORY OF SOUTHEAST MISSOUEI
public otSce. His experience as mayor gave
him satisfaction in that it enabled him to
serve his home town and to accomplish some-
thing worth while. He accepted the office in
the face of personal disinclination and at no
inconsiderable sacrifice in connection with his
private business affaii"s. He has been spe-
cially alert and vigorous in his advocacy of the
improvement of the public highways and was
chosen vice-president of the Southern Route
Highway Association, which assumed charge
of fostering the construction of the highway
from St. Louis to Kansas Citj- along the
southern route, traversing the section in
which he is most interested. When the con-
vention assembled in Kansas City to shape
matters for the contest as to the route to be
adopted, Mr. Gorg took a prominent part in
the deliberations and discussions and spent
much time in securing the support of the
counties along the route which he favored.
Although the decision of the locating board
was adverse, ilr. Gorg believes that the con-
struction of an excellent highway along the
southern route will be pushed through with-
out state aid and that it will be the first to be
built across the state.
jMr. Gorg has long been afSliated with the
Ancient Order of United Workmen and for
many years has represented the same in the
Grand Lodge of the state. He has been a
valued and influential factor in the ordering
of its affairs and had much to do with estab-
lishing the order upon a substantial financial
basis in ^Missouri. He also holds member-
ship in the Knights of Pythias and has served
as a member of its Grand Lodge in Missouri,
besides which he is affiliated with the Ma-
sonic fraternity.
At Warrensburg, Johnson county. Mis-
souri, in February, 1891, was solemnized the
man-iage of ^Ir. Gorg to Miss Emma C. Dun-
bar, the daughter of a representative physi-
cian and surgeon of that county and a scion
of a sterling old Virginia family. Mrs. Gorg
is a gi-acious chatelaine of the beautiful fam-
ily home at Union and is a leader in the social
activities of the community. ^Ir. and ]Mrs.
Gorg have three children, — Raymond, Lillian
and Harold. The elder son was graduated in
the Union high school and is now a student
in Drury College, at Springfield, ^Missouri.
Charles Worth. Numbered among the
agriculturists of New Madrid county is
Charles Worth, who was born within its bor-
ders June 27, 1862. He is a son of Jerome
Worth, who was born in JMeigs county, Ohio,
April 26, 1833, and when thirty years of
age he came to ilissouri, where he first
worked as a riverman on the Mississippi and
later engaged in farming. He married Ma-
linda Adams, who was born in New Madrid
county, April 4, 1839, and who died in this
county in 1884. On the 25th of July, 1885,
Jerome Worth was married to Elizabeth
Strauglen. and his death occurred July 21,
1905.
Charles Worth received his limited educa-
tion in subscription schools and in the public
schools of the county. His parents were
poor, so his chances for learning were even
more limited than the poor educational ad-
vantages of the new country afforded. He
worked on his father's farm until he was
eighteen, and then hired out by the month
at a wage of twelve dollars for that period ot
service. After three j-ears of this he share-
cropped for three more years. From 1886
until 1909 he rented land, and then bought
his present farm. This is a piece of eighty
acres, all fenced and well improved. He
raises wheat, hay, cotton, corn and pumpkins.
His stock comprises eleven horses, fifteen
cattle, fifty hogs and six goats. He does gen-
eral farming and also has stock in a gin at
Portageville.
Bell Everett, of Kentucky, was IMr. Worth 's
first wife, and they were married in 1883. Mr.
Worth became the father of twelve children,
seven of whom are deceased, and the five
living, two sons and three daughters, are :
R. M. AVorth, C. L. Worth, Ella? Stella and
Ethel Worth. The wife and mother died in
1905, and four years later Mr. Worth was
imited in marriage to ]\liss Lucy LaFont, of
this county.
;Mr. Worth is not an active politician, but
is a good Democrat. His lodge affiliations in
Portageville include the Woodmen of the
World, the Red Jlen, the Odd Fellows and
the ilutual Benefit Association.
William Robert Fields, now passed four
score years of age, has lived a life of singular
usefulness and success and now enjoys the
fruits of his labors, being a retired farmer.
He was born in Greys county, Kentucky, in
1829, and followed the occupation of farming
all his life. He spent two years in Obion
county, Tennessee, upon leaving Kentuekj',
and one year in Arkansas, after which he
came to Missouri. Thirty-six years ago ^Ir.
HISTORY OF SOUTHEAST MISSOURI
1297
Fields purchased the eighty-acre farm he still
owns for six hundred dollai-s. It is now val-
ued at nearly six times that amount. He is
occupied in general farming.
Jlr. Fields was married in 1850 to Miss
Liza Jones, of "Weakley county, Tennessee.
They had four children, Anna E., Sara V.,
Eliza J. and Desdemona L. ilrs. Field is de-
ceased.
In a fraternal way 'Sir. Fields is connected
with both the Masons and the Odd Fellows of
Portageville. His interest in education is evi-
denced by his service of eighteen years on the
school board. In political matters he has al-
ways stood with the Democratic party. He
was nominee for representative of this county,
but withdrew before election.
Mr. Fields is not only interested in all that
promotes the material welfare of the commu-
nity, but in spiritual matters also. He has a
record of forty-four years' service as deacon
in the Baptist church and the added distinc-
tion of having organized the second church of
that denomination in the county.
William Thomas Jones was left an orphan
at the age of six and since he was sixteen has
taken the full responsibility of his fortunes.
From a poor orphan boy he has become an
extensive land holder and a successful farmer,
well and favorably known throughout the
county. Wiley Jones, the father of William
T.. was a Tennesseean, born about 1844. He
was married in 1869 to Caroline Clack, also
a native of Tennessee, born in 1846. Both
died in New Madrid county, the father in
1876 and the mother a year later. Of their
four children, William and 'Mary Alice are
still livinar, the latter being ]\Irs. Albert Cox
of New IMadrid county. She was previously
married to F. N. Williams, now deceased.
John N. died at the age of six years and
Ben at eighteen. The father was a soldier in
the Southern army and a stanch Democrat in
politics. His religious convictions were em-
bodied in the doctrines of the Baptist church.
of which both he and his wife were loyal
membera.
William T. Jones was born October 20,
1870. After the death of his parents he lived
with an uncle in New Madrid county until he
was sixteen. Following this he spent six
years working by the dav for J. A. Lefturch.
When he was married. November 1. 1891. he
rented land and engaged in farminar. The
young woman whom he chose for his life
companion was Miss Dora Acord, daughter
of Jonas and Lodine (Walker) Acord. She
was born in Hamilton county, Illinois, on
November 14, 1877. She was the mother of
nine children, as follows-. William L., born
September 20, 1892; Edal, September 27,
1894 ; Edward S., September 28, 1896 : Ethel,
October 26, 1898; Eva May, Januarv 25,
1900 ; Cecil, ]\Iareh 26, 1902 ; Willie, July 7,
1904; John Paul, October 21, 1907; and
Wiley S., March 6, 1911.
Mr. Jones is the owner of a half section of
land. In 1910 he moved to Sikeston, buying
a home on the corner of School and Daniels
streets. Here his children will receive the
benefits of the Sikeston schools, and the town
will benefit in the acquisition of an enterpris-
ing resident. Mr. Jones is fraternally affil-
iated with the Independent Order of Odd Fel-
lows, and his political ideas are those of the
Democratic party, to which he has always
rendered allegiance.
Will E. Davis. It is our boast in America
that each man ma.y choose his own destiny,
irrespective of the calling of his fathei-s or
of their status in this life. Our country is
yet so rich in opportunity that no economic
pressure obliges one to step into the niche his
ancestors have carved in the over-crowded
temple of commerce, as is the case in Europe,
where the field for new enterprise is practi-
cally closed to all except the very wealthy.
And yet, although we have room to develop
as we list, we are in our possibilities the sum
of the accomplishments of our forebear.?, and
so it is interesting to look at the lineage of
the present generation which is making such
strides in industrial development.
Mr. Will Davis' ancestry was of the sturdy
pioneer stock who hewed down the prime for-
ests and fought the savages of the new terri-
tory. His paternal grandfather came from
Ohio to Point Pleasant in the first half of the
nineteenth century and died of yellow fever
at Memphis in 1878. On his mother's side
Mr. Davis is descended from the sister of
Daniel Boone. This lady was her great-great-
grandmother and so she was the great-grand-
niece of the famous frontiersman.
Point Pleasant was the place of Mr. Davis'
birth and the year was 1872. January 13th
the day. The place where he was born is now
in the river, but the town has been his home
all his life. When he completed the school
coui-se here he went for one year to the nor-
mal at Cape Girardeau, but his health did not
permit him to continue the indoor life of a
1298
HISTORY OF SOUTHEAST MISSOURI
student, so he returned to Point Pleasant and
worked on different steam-boat lines. He was
connected with the old Anchor Line, with the
Cincinnati and Memphis Packet Company and
with the Lee Line.
In 1892 Mr. Davis was elected county sur-
veyor. After election he went to the State
University and took a course in engineering
and then served as surveyor for ten years.
He did not finish his third term as he had
other interests to which he desired to give
his attention.
While engaged in surveying, Jlr. Davis had
bought up land all over the county and when
he resigned his office as county surveyor he
devoted himself to looking after his land in-
terests and also did private surveying. He
was engineer of the first drainage disti'ict of
the county and while working for the govern-
ment surveyed the levee route through New
Madrid and part of Pemiscot county. A part
of the time he was engaged in this work he
made his home in New Madrid, the county
seat.
Mr. Davis has bought and sold a great deal
of land, mostly in his own county. At pres-
ent he is living on a thousand-acre farm south
of Point Pleasant. This place belongs to ilr.
Sam Hunter, of New Madrid. Most of the
land is cleared, the work being done under
Mr. Davis' direction. He is now the general
manager of this farm, and owns two acres of
his own in the town of Point Pleasant.
Mrs. Davis was formerly ]\Iiss lona Yount,
of Cape Girardeau. She was born in this
county November 27, 1872. and is the daugh-
ter of Fred and Julia Yount. Her marriage
to ]\Ir. Davis was solemnized at Cape Gii-ar-
deau in February, 1906. She is a member of
the Presbyterian church. Mr. Davis is a
member of the Independent Order of Odd Fel-
lows, of the Woodmen of the World and of
the Modern Woodmen of America. In his
political beliefs he is a Democrat.
Virgil 1\IcKay was born in New Madrid
county. July 24. 1858. His father. John Mc-
Kay, was one of the pioneers of that county
and a most useful and estimable man. The
family came to Dunklin county in 1878. Here
the father taught school for many years and
was a well known and universally beloved
teacher. Virgil McKaj' farmed for a time,
attended the public schools and the State Nor-
mal at Cape Girardeau and then began to
.teach. He was a successful teacher, exercising
an inspiring influence upon those under his in-
struction. He became very popular in many
communities in his county and was finally in-
duced to make use of his wide acquaintance
and gift of making friends in a political way.
At first he took an interest in the campaigns
of personal friends, then became a candidate
himself. He was elected assessor of the coun-
ty and later county clerk, serving a number of
terms. Here he acquired an acquaintance
with people of the county which gave him an
immense influence. He became thoroughly fa-
miliar with count.y affairs and since that time
has always exercised a gi'eat influence upon
political events and also upon county business.
During his terms in office he studied law,
was admitted to the bar, and has for a number
of years been engaged in the active practice of
his profession. Here, as elsewhere, he has
been very successful, as his acquaintance with
men and affairs makes him peculiarly quali-
fied for the transaction of certain lines of legal
business. His attention has by no means been
confined to legal matters, however. He was
one of the first men in Dunklin county who
saw the inevitable increase in the value of the
swamp lands of the section. This foresight
enabled him to secure large tracts of valuable
lands at a low price, out of which he has ac-
quired a competence. In connection with the
late R. H. Jones and others he became inter-
ested in the building of the St. Louis. Ken-
nett & Southeastern Railroad from Campbell
to Kennett. He still retains his interest in this
road, which is becoming a prosperous line.
Mr. McKay has been twice married. His
first wife was Miss Annie Marlow. a member
of one of the pioneer families of Dunklin coun-
ty. Two sons. Clyde and Landreth, children
of this union, survive. After the death of his
fir.st wife Mr. McKay married ]\r. Kathleen
Wiekham, a daughter of General Wickham, of
Kennett. They have a beautiful home in
Kennett and enj^A the esteem of a large
circle of friends.
Bi^J^-^
Heckman
BINDERY, IN
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