Butler County Biographies
Butler County Biographies
From Goodspeed's History
History of Southeast Missouri: Embracing the counties of Ste. Genevieve, St. Francois,
Perry, Cape Girardeau, Bollinger, Madison, New Madrid, Pemiscot, Dunklin, Scott,
Mississippi, Stoddard, Butler, Wayne, and Iron, Goodspeed Publishing Company: Chicago,
1888.
Dr. J. E. ADAMS is the son of David H. Adams, M.D., who was born
in New York City in 1790, and graduated in the Jefferson Medical
College at Philadelphia, and practiced in New York City until he
moved to Illinois, where he married Miss Cynthia Dodds, who bore
him seven children four sons and three daughters. Three of the
boys studied professions, two were doctors, and one was a lawyer,
and all were in the Union army, the youngest being thirteen years
of age at the time of enlistment. The mother died in 1863, and
the father in 1869. Both were active members of the Methodist
Episcopal Church, and the father was a Republican in politics.
Their son J.E. Adams, M.D., was born in Richland County, Ill.,
February 14, 1838, and received his education in the McKendrie
College, Illinois. Having studied medicine under his father, he
entered Georgetown Medical College, District of Columbia, and
graduated from that institution in 1860. At the beginning of the
war he was the first soldier to enlist from Richmond* County,
Ill., going out in Company D, of the Eighth Illinois Infantry, as
private. In a few days he was transferred to hospital service,
being assistant surgeon. In 1862 he married Miss Martha Snyder, a
native of Richland County, Ill. Three children were born to this
union one son and two daughters. The son, George, is a partner of
his father s, being a graduate of Missouri Medical College. In
1867 Dr. Adams went to Southeast Kansas, where he was the leading
spirit in organizing, temporarily, Montgomery County. He was
elected representative in 1869, and effected its permanent
organization. He held this position four years in succession, and
assisted in laying off Independence and Cherryvale in that
county. Moving to St. Louis, he graduated from the St. Louis
Medical College, and returned to Illinois with the intention of
practicing, but came to Poplar Bluff in 1880, and here has since
remained, engaged in the practice of his profession. Since 1880
Dr. Adams has been local surgeon of the Iron Mountain Railroad,
but failing health has almost driven him from practice. He is
deeply interested in farming, and has done much for the county,
in raising fine stock, especially Clydesdale horses. He is a
Republican in politics, is a member of the Masonic fraternity and
also a member of the K. of H. Pages 1062-63.
WILLIAM B. ADAMS, county court clerk, was born in Humphreys
County, Tenn., May 7, 1854, and when about five years of age was
brought to this county by his parents, James T. and Amanda
(Hooper) Adams, both natives of the same county as their son. In
1859 they came to Butler County. When young, the father took a
course in the Nashville Medical College, from which institution
he graduated. He then practiced for some time in Tennessee, but
coming to Missouri, was the first surgeon to locate in this part
of the State. Having practiced here until the breaking out of the
late war, he then removed to Madison County, but returned after
the trouble and turned his attention to farming. He represented
Butler County in the Legislature two different times, and during
his leisure hours studied law, being admitted to the bar a few
years later. He was Democratic in his political views, was a
Mason, and lived to be about fifty-two years of age. Mrs. A. died
previous to this, in 1837. After the death of his wife, Mr. Adams
married again. By his first marriage he became the father of four
children three sons and one daughter and by the second marriage,
four children two sons and two daughters. William B. Adams was
the eldest of the children born to the first marriage. He was
reared on the farm, and educated in the common schools. At the
age of twenty-one he began clerking in a general mercantile store
in Arcadia, Iron County, and there remained three years, when he
took a similar position in Poplar Bluff. For six years after this
he was in the drug business at this place. In 1882 he was elected
treasurer of Butler County, holding this position two terms. In
1886 he was elected to his present position. In 1881 he married
Miss Carrie M. Leach, who born him one son, Owen J. Mr. Adams is
a director in the bank at Poplar Bluff, is a staunch Democrat in
politics, and his wife is a member of the Baptist Church. Page
1063
OSCAR R. ALBRO, a well-known citizen of Poplar Bluff, was born in
Eaton County, Mich., August 3, 1852, and from a poor, uneducated
boy of ten years he has carved out a career of excellent
financial results. His parents, Sanford E.P. and Elizabeth
(Rowlee) Albro, came from New York to Ohio, and in 1851 to
Michigan. He was an adherent of the Adventist faith, while the
mother was a Methodist. His life was occupied with the
enterprises of a contractor and builder. He died in 1862, at the
age of forty-five, and left a wife and three children. After his
father s death, young Oscar never had a day s experience in any
school but that of active life, and after his twelfth year was
wholly self-dependent, working as a farm hand, railway gravel-
shoveler, or anything else that offered subsistence, until in
1868 he entered the service of a large lumber firm in Indiana. He
was employed by them for about eleven years, and it was as their
representative that he came to Butler County in 1875. After he
left their employ he dealt in lumber some time for himself, but
in 1881 he became associated with William and T.D. Ferguson in
handling general merchandise, with which he was more or less
occupied until 1886, when he withdrew, and has since turned his
attention to managing his capital. Mr. Albro believes in the
political doctrines of the Republican party, and fraternizes with
two orders, the K. of H. and K. of P. His marriage occurred in
1873, when he married his first wife, Miranda Crady, a native of
Kentucky. She died in 1886, having become the mother of five
children, four of whom survive her. The following year he married
Mrs. Emma D. May, nee Dills, a daughter of Col. Dills, and a
native of Kentucky. Mrs. Albro is a member of the Methodist
Episcopal Church. Mr. Albro has built many fine buildings in the
city of Poplar Bluff, among which is the excellent brick business
block at the corner of Main and Vine Streets, which is one of the
finest and most substantial business blocks in the city. He, with
his family, occupy one of the finest residences in Poplar Bluff.
He also built the brick business block adjoining the Morris
House, also in 1885 erected the Powell House block in Dexter,
Mo., the finest in the city. Probably no citizen has taken a more
active interest in the growth of Poplar Bluff or done more toward
her advancement that Mr. Albro. He and his family are universally
respected and held in high esteem by all who know them. Pages
1063-64
JUDGE ANDREW S. ARMSTRONG, business managers of the Farmers
Alliance Business Co-operative Association, was born in Jersey
County, Ill., August 4, 1833. His paternal grandfather, who lived
to be eighty-eight years old, was a soldier of the Revolution,
together with four brothers of his. Maurice Armstrong was born in
1800, in Kentucky, but at an early age was taken to the present
State of Illinois, then a Territory, and there devoted his life
to farming on an extensive scale. He also served as judge of
Jersey County. His wife, Elizabeth (Sims) Armstrong, also a
native of Kentucky, was born in 1805, and both lived to the age
of seventy-five years. She was a member of the United Baptist
Church. One of the twelve children born to them was Andrew S. He
was educated in the old private schools, and spent his early life
on the farm until 1861, when he went to Girard, Ill., with a
brother, and engaged in dealing in general merchandise. After
some seven years in this pursuit, he returned to Jersey County,
and began farming and running a country store. Since 1880 he has
been in Butler County, devoted to agriculture, until in February,
1888, he was chosen to his present position by the directors of
the company. From 1883 to 1885, he also served as county judge,
and was also appointed to superintend the building of the jail of
Butler County. Judge Armstrong is an ardent Democrat, and is one
of the first fraternity men of his lodge, being a charter member
of the Masonic Chapter to which he belongs. He was married in
1856 to Martha L. Everts, a native of Vermont, who came to
Illinois when a young girl. The union has been blessed with six
children. Page 1064
JAMES R. ARRENDALE, conductor on the Doniphan branch of the St.
Louis, Iron Mountain & Southern Railroad, was born in Dahlonega,
Ga., in 1848, and received a common country-school education. He
was reared on a farm, and when about eighteen he began as a
brakeman on the Memphis & Charleston Railroad. About eight months
after this he was promoted to the position of conductor on the
same road. He went from there to the Louisville & Nashville
Railroad, and ten months later, from there to the Iron Mountain,
from Little Rock, Ark., and Poplar Bluff, Mo., as freight
conductor for three years. He was then transferred to the
Doniphan branch, where he has since been, with the exception of
short intervals on other branches. As a railroad man, Mr.
Arrendale has proven himself faithful, honest, and efficient. He
was in the employ of the Memphis & Charleston Railroad for nearly
fifteen years as brakeman, quarter-master and freight conductor,
and for his faithful and meritorious services, rendered during
the yellow fever scourges of 1878 and 1879, running from Memphis,
was awarded a gold medal by the Howard Association. In 1875 he
married Miss Fannie Carr, a native of Vicksburg, Miss. Mr.
Arrendale s parents, Rice and Sarah (McElroy) Arrendale, were
natives of South Carolina and Georgia, respectively. The mother
died in Georgia, where the father is still living. He is of
Scotch-Irish descent, a farmer by occupation, and was at one time
sheriff of Lempkin County, Ga. He also served two years in the
Confederate army. His father, Thomas Arrendale, was a soldier in
the Mexican War. James R. Arrendale is successfully engaged in
agricultural pursuits and has a farm of 120 acres. He is a
Democrat, politically, casting his first presidential vote for
Horace Greeley in 1872. He is a member of he K.P., and of the
A.R.C. Page 1064
ARTHUR P. ASHER, farmer, was born on Christmas day, 1838, in
Wayne County, Mo. Martin and Rachel (Howard) Asher were both
natives of Tennessee, and were young in years when they came to
Missouri, and after their marriage settled in Wayne County. They
soon moved to Stoddard County, and there spent the remainder of
their lives on the farm. Both were members of the Baptist Church.
The father was a conservative, although he was a supporter of the
Republican party. He reached the age of sixty-four, and she lived
to be but forty-two years old. Of the six children born to them,
Arthur P. was their second child. Like many farmer youths of
those days, his education was limited to barely six months of
school. At his majority he became a farmer, but afterward engaged
in the liquor trade. St. Francisville became his next home, and
there he opened a line of merchandise and became such a leading
spirit in the place that the name was changed in his honor to
Asherville. After he left there he spent five years at the
butcher business in Poplar Bluff, moving there in the centennial
year. He is now, and has since been engaged in the lumber
business in connection with farming, in all of which he has been
skillful and successful. He served, during the late war, in the
State militia. His political opinions are generally represented
by the Republican platform. In 1860 he was united in marriage to
Miss Elizabeth Stringer, a native of Kentucky. Five children have
blessed their union, but only two are living. Pages 1064-1065.
GEORGE T. BARTLETT, M.D. A career not without interest is that of
Joseph S. Bartlett, the father of the subject of this sketch.
Born in Plymouth, Mass., he went to South Carolina, and after a
period as pedagogue in that State and North Carolina he went to
Tennessee, where he continued in those duties. While in
Williamson County he married a Miss Porter, the daughter of a
wealthy farmer. About 1842 they removed to Arkansas, and three
years later he taught the young Indian idea in the government
schools of the Territory. Although four of his sons were in the
Confederate army, he was a Unionist so well-known that his life
was in danger in Washington County, Ark., and by taking George s
advice to leave, he escaped a party who were intent on his life.
In Dunklin County, however, he was so badly treated on account of
his son s army services that he became chaplain in the
Confederate army himself. After the war he located in Butler
County, where his wife died in 1866. He afterward went to
Kentucky, and there married again, and reached the advanced age
of eighty years. Both he and his wife were members of the
Methodist Episcopal Church South, of which he was for many years
a local preacher. Nine children were the result of the first
marriage, and the mother had one child by a former marriage. Her
deceased husband was name Zachary. While Rev. Bartlett lived at
Smyrna, Tenn., his second son, George, was born September 9,
1830, and the boy was well-trained and educated by him. When
twelve years of age young George, with his brother, was placed
under the care of an uncle to learn farming, but the uncle proved
to be so severe a master that the boys rebelled, and started for
their father in the Indian Territory; but the council there
decided they could not attend the school, and our subject
returned to Arkansas, and attended an academy, taught, and after
a time as book-agent and drummer, he entered Cane Hill College.
For financial reasons he broke his course and taught and read
medicine. In 1856 he entered and the following year graduated
from Nashville Medical College, and immediately located at
Springfield, Tenn. The same year he married Mary M. Glover, a
young woman who had come there visiting, from St. Louis County,
Mo. Eight children have blessed their union. In 1861 they moved
to Dunklin County, Mo., and he enlisted in the First Missouri
Confederate State Guards, and about three weeks later was
promoted assistant surgeon, and soon after, surgeon, in charge of
a hospital at New Madrid. In 1862 he was at Helena, Memphis, Fort
Pillow, having charge of the hospital here, and then placed on
the gun-boats. He was chief of the medical staff of the hospital.
He was transferred to the department under Gen. Heinmann, and
soon disability caused him to return home. He was a prisoner at
St. Louis, but was exchanged at Little Rock, and while at the
Ironton Hospital, was taken prisoner to Richmond, Va., and
exchanged. He was active in the Price and Marmaduke raids. He
served in the medical department again, and in 1865 began civil
practice at Poplar Bluff, and his very large practice goes to
confirm the fact that he is probably the most experienced and
skillful surgeon in this part of the State. In 1883 he was
appointed a member of the State board of health by Gov.
Crittenden, and has served three times on the board of regents
for Cape Girardeau Normal School. The Doctor has also engaged in
merchandising with capital, but his own energies have been
devoted to his profession. Page 1065
GEORGE BEGLEY, manufacturer of wagons, buggies and machinery, was
born in Iron County, Mo., November 6, 1858. His parents, Anselm
and Theresa (Spitzmiller) Begley, were both born in Germany, came
to America, and located in Southeast Missouri. After their
marriage they settled at Ironton, their present home, where for a
long time he was engaged in the manufacture of brick and building
material, in which George Begley, although yet very young, took a
very active part until 1874, when his father went into the livery
and undertaking business, but now leads a retired life. He is a
strong Democrat. George and his sister are their only children.
Young Begley was educated in the public schools of Ironton, and
at the age of fifteen became a blacksmith s apprentice, serving
three years. After a short time as a journeyman he located in
Poplar Bluff, and in 1878 began business in a little box of a
shop, 14 x 14 feet. His skill and energy have steadily increased
his patronage, and have lead to his present commodious quarters.
His two-story brick block, 65 x 54 feet, is used as a shop and
salesroom, while he also has a warehouse 65 x 28 feet. He
supplies the home demand for vehicles of various kinds, of his
own manufacture, and deals in all kinds of machinery. His present
business was begun with not more than $250 worth of property, and
has grown to its present proportions since his arrival at Poplar
Bluff. Mr. Begley is a supporter of the Democratic party, and is
identified with two secret order, the A.F. & A.M. and K. of P. He
was married in 1881 to Miss Mary Reynolds, a native of Madison
County. To them have been born five children. Mrs. Begley is a
member of the Methodist Episcopal Church. Pages 1065-1066
GEORGE H. BENTON, attorney for the Missouri Pacific Railway, is
the son of Rev. William A. Benton, who was born at Tolland,
Conn., in 1817. Rev. Benton graduated from Yale College in 1843,
and afterward took a theological course in a Congregational
institution. In 1847 he determined upon the life of a missionary,
and went to Syria for the American Board of the above mentioned
church. He had married Miss Loanza Goulding, a native of
Herbertson, Mass., who was born in 1822. They spent twenty-two
years in Syria, and then returned to Massachusetts, where the
father died in 1874, suddenly, while carrying on a conversation
with some friends. The mother lives at present in Minnesota. Five
of their seven children were born at Bhamdun, Syria, and of the
five living, Charles W. is professor of French in the University
of Minnesota, and all the sons graduated from Yale College. The
parents were living on Mount Lebanon, Syria, when the subject of
this sketch was born July 20, 1853, and on their return to
America he entered Yale College and graduated in 1875. He soon
accepted a call to St. John s College, Ark., where he taught the
ancient and modern languages. In connection with his duties here
he read law with Judge Compton, and was admitted to the bar in
1877. He entered the service of the Missouri Pacific Railway, in
a legal capacity, the following year, and in 1884 was placed in
charge of their interests in Southeastern Missouri, and located
in Poplar Bluff. Mr. Benton belongs to the Masonic fraternity,
and is a believer in Democrat principles. Page 1066
HARRY H. BLACKSTONE. Soon after the Revolution there came to
America three brothers who settled in Massachusetts, Maryland,
and Virginia, respectively. The Massachusetts branch of the
Blackstones is the one from which the subject of this sketch
descended. His parents, Jacob and Henrietta (Deavero) Blackstone
were born in Canada, and the latter was of Spanish ancestry. On
January 11, 1833, was born to them a son Harry H., on Lake Erie,
in Canada. The father had been a wealthy business man, but died
when our subject was four years old, and the mother brought the
boy to Pittsburgh, Penn. He had no advantages of education, and
soon became a newsboy and bootblack. He went on the river when
about ten years of age, but six years later he concluded to learn
the carpenter s trade. He apprenticed himself for three years,
and then returned to the river again, serving thereafter on all
the navigable tributaries of the Mississippi, in the various
capacities of steward, cook, pilot, master, and for a time owner
of a vessel. He embarked on the first Canadian bottom that ever
took square timber across the Atlantic, and visited England and
France, and returned by way of New Orleans. In 1861 he came to
Southeastern Missouri, and during the war was commissioned
lieutenant by Gen. Pike, to burn cotton. Since the war he has
been engaged in dealing in merchandise, liquor, etc. In 1883 he
began a three-story building, 40 x 85 feet. It contains twenty-
eight rooms and cost over $12,000, and is now the well known
Riverside Hotel, which he is so successfully presiding over as
mine host. His first marriage occurred in 1852 in Canada. His
wife, Miss Minerva Sperry, lived to become the mother of one
child, a son, before her death. On February 29, 1876, Miss Alice
Carroll became his wife. She was born in Missouri, and was of
Irish origin. Of the seven children born to them, four are
living. Mr. Blackstone is a Democrat, and is a member of three
fraternities: A.F. & A.M., K. of P., and I.O.O.F. He has shown
great interest and skill in collecting relics of the ancient
Mount Builders, and he estimates his collection to have reached a
value of about $10,000. pages 1066-1067.
W.W. BOYT, general merchant, timber dealer and postmaster at
Hillard, Mo., was born in Davidson County, Tenn., in 1838, being
the son of Felix G. and Elizabeth (Simmons) Boyt, natives of
Tennessee, born in 1809 and 1812respectively. They lived in
Davidson County until about 1838, when he removed to Williamson
County, Ill., and afterward to Johnson County, where they both
are now living, enjoying good health. They are both members of
long standing in the Christian Church. William Boyt, father of
Felix G., was born in North Carolina, served in one of the Indian
wars, was in the War of 1812, and was at the battle of New
Orleans under Gen. Jackson. He died prior to the Civil War. W.W.
Boyt was the second of fourteen children, three now living. He
was educated in the common subscription schools of Southern
Illinois, and attended Ewing College, in Franklin County, Ill.,
for six months, when he began teaching, and followed this
occupation for several years. In 1872 he was elected county clerk
of Johnson County, Ill., and filled this office for four years.
He had previously been deputy clerk for four years, and four
years more after he was county clerk. He was married in 1861 to
Mahala McGowen, who died about 1867, leaving one child. His
second marriage was in 1872, to Miss Ann E, Stewart. In 1880 he
removed to Butler County, where he and his wife taught school
several terms. About 1883 they located at Hillard, where they
have ever since resided, and where Mr. Boyt has been engaged in
merchandising and dealing in timber. He has been postmaster since
1886, and has been justice of the peace also since that time. He
is Democratic in his political views, and his first presidential
vote for S.A. Douglas, in 1860. He is a member of the Masonic
fraternity, also a member of the I.O.O. F., and is an excellent
citizen. During the war he enlisted in the United States army,
but was rejected on account of disability. Mrs. Boyt is a member
of the Methodist Episcopal Church. Page 1067
ROBERT A. BURKET, farmer of Black River Township, was born in
Wayne County, in 1847, and is the son of Edward and Harriet
Burket, natives of Tennessee, where they were reared and married.
In 1847 they removed to Wayne County, Mo., where Mr. Burket was
engaged in agricultural pursuits, and where they both died when
Robert A. was about ten or twelve years of age. The latter was
one of twins, and one of four sons and one daughter born to his
parents. He received a limited country school education, and,
after the death of his parents, began for himself as a farm hand.
When about sixteen years of age he enlisted in Company G, Forty-
seventh Missouri Infantry for six months, but was in service
about seven months in Southern Missouri and Tennessee. He was in
the fight at Ironton, and was discharged at St. Louis. He chose
for his companion through life, Miss Keziah C. Hedgepeth of
Butler County. She died in 1880, and the same year he married
Mrs. Louisa Keener , nee Haynes. Shortly after his first marriage
Mr. Burket settled in Cane Creek Township, but moved from there
to Black River Township, near Keener, where he has 300 acres in
two farms, all the result of his own hard work. He became the
father of two children by each marriage, and all are living. He
is conservative in his political views, and he and wife are
members of the Baptist Church. He is a prominent farmer, and a
much respected citizen. Page 1067
JOHN L. CLEVELEN, dealer in jewelry, organs, sewing machines,
books, stationery, etc., is a native of Iron County, Mo., the
birthplace of his mother, Eliza W. (Miller) Clevelen. His father,
Charles Clevelen, grew up in Albany, N.Y., his native place,
until he reached the age of eighteen, when that desire to see the
world, which often takes possession of a young man, led him to
run away from home. He came west, and for several years was
employed on the Mississippi River. He had married and was living
at Ironton, Mo., at the birth of the subject of this sketch,
April 2, 1858. He spent the most of his life in farming and
mercantile pursuits. His decease occurred in 1875, but his widow
still survives him. John L. was the fifth of eight children, and
received school training in those ruby founts of knowledge,
called the district schools, and a short time in Poplar Bluff. In
1878 he became a salesman in the store of R.P. Liles, of Poplar
Bluff, for $11 per month, and was employed there for three years.
The next three years he served as postmaster of Poplar Bluff. His
present business grew from an $85 investment in a news-stand, to
which he added from time to time, until he now has an extensive
trade in organs, sewing machines, books, stationery, and the best
stock of jewelry in the city. Mr. Clevelen holds a prominent
position in the K. of P. order as Deputy Grand Chancellor for his
district. He is a Republican in politics. Pages 1067-1068.
GEORGE H. CRUMB, attorney- at-law, and editor of The Republic, is
a native of the Empire State. His father s ancestors were early
settlers of Rhode Island, but the parents lived in New York, when
the son, Judge C.B. Crumb, was born. The Judge graduated at Union
College, New York, in the class of 1839. He practiced law in
Syracuse, N.Y., where his son, George H., was born, August 14,
1845. He also practiced at Rochester of that State, until he
removed to Illinois in 1856. About 1859 Stoddard County, Mo.,
became his home, and here he held various public offices of trust
and honor, and lived to reach the ripe age of seventy-two years.
His wife, Sarah J. Peck, also a native of New York, was of the
old Puritan stock. She died at the age of sixty-eight years, an
esteemed lady, and the revered mother of four children. The
family had the best educational advantages, and the second child,
George H., was graduated from Union College in the class of 1866.
He carried on his legal studies under his father s direction, and
was able to be admitted to the bar in 1867. He practiced his
profession from that time until 1880. In 1870 he was elected
circuit attorney of the twenty-third Judicial Circuit, and
rendered valuable service, especially in connection with the land
interests of the various counties of the circuit. In 1875 his
attention was turned to journalism somewhat, and he has been
occupied in that line more or less ever since. He was appointed
receiver of the United States Land office at Ironton, Mo., in
1881, by President Garfield, and served until his advent at
Poplar Bluff, in 1885. Here he founded The Republic, a journal
which has sprung to a prominent place, under the influence of his
facile pen and good management, and now has an extensive
circulation in Southeast Missouri. He is a Republican. In 1878
Mr. Crumb married Miss Sallie A., a daughter of F.W. May, and
native of St. Charles County, Mo. But one of their three children
is living, Nellie. Mrs. Crumb is a member of the Presbyterian
Church. Page 1068.
JAMES L. DALTON, of the firm of Wright & Dalton, dealers in
hardware, furniture and agricultural machinery, was born in
Ripley County, December 28, 1866. His father, William Dalton, was
a native of the same county, where his mother, Mary C. (Myatt)
Dalton, was brought as a child from her native place in
Tennessee. The father was a farmer by occupation, and served also
in the Confederate army during the Rebellion. He died in 1872.
The mother still lives, and is an esteemed member of the
Methodist Episcopal Church. Of her large family of ten children
our subject was the fifth child. He was about eight years old
when they went to Arkansas, and he received his education at the
La Crosse Collegiate Institute. When he reached his sixteenth
year, he went to Doniphan, Mo., and became a salesman in the
hardware store of J.R. & E.W. Wright, who opened a store in
Poplar Bluff, in 1886, and made Mr. Dalton their manager at that
point. His mercantile ability soon led him to buy out the first
mentioned partner, and the firm name at Poplar Bluff assumed its
present form. Their large and select stock fills a two-story
brick block, 36 x 110 feet, and is one of the leading business
houses in the city. To this standing Mr. Dalton has arisen from
the position of a clerk at $15 per month. In 1887 he married Miss
Clara Wright, the sister of his former employer, J.R. Wright. She
is also a native of Ripley County. Mr. and Mrs. Dalton are
members of the Cumberland Presbyterian Church. The K. of P. is
the only fraternity with which he is identified, and in political
opinions he finds congenial spirits in the Democratic party. Page
1068.
DR. HUGH C. DAVIDSON, a successful practitioner and farmer of
Black River Township, was born in Hickman County, Tenn., in 1832,
and is the son of Rev. David and Theresa (Green) Davidson. The
father was probably born in Davidson County, Tenn., in 1802, and
was married about 1823. He then settled in Hickman County, and in
1854 he removed to Butler County, Mo., Black River Township,
where he made his home until his death, which occurred in 1866,
in Iron County. He had a limited education, and from almost a
young man was a minister of the Christian denomination.
Notwithstanding his poor education Rev. Davidson was well
informed in history and Scripture, and was an eloquent and fluent
speaker. He owned a good farm, and was a good man. His father,
Josiah Davidson, was, perhaps, born in Scotland. He was reared in
North Carolina, but was one of the early settlers of Davidson
County, Tenn., that county being named in his honor. He was a
soldier in the Revolutionary War, and a stanch Jeffersonian
Democrat to the last. He died in Hickman County, Tenn., at the
age of one hundred and four. The mother of Hugh C. was born in
Shawnee, Ohio, in 1806, and died in 1864, the result of grief
brought on by war. She was a member of the Christian Church and
an excellent woman. Mr. Davidson s ministerial duties called him
all over Southeast Missouri, and he was an earnest worker for the
cause of religion, with but little compensation. Dr. Hugh C.
Davidson was the fourth of nine children, eight of whom lived to
be grown and were married. He received a fair education in the
common schools, and at the age of seventeen spent five months at
grammar school, and after leaving school, studied Latin and Greek
privately. At the the age of twenty-one he took up the study of
medicine, and after reading five or six years began practicing in
order to get means to send him to college. He then entered the
medical college at Philadelphia, and graduated from that
institution in 1866. In 1852 he married Miss Martha Ann Higgins,
a native of Maury County, Tenn. She died in 1864, and of the four
children born to this union, two are now living. Dr. Alexander W.
resides at and is practicing his profession in Poplar Bluff, Mo.,
and Dr. Josephus M. is practicing at Polk s Station, Obion Co.,
Tenn. In 1867 Mr. Davidson married Miss Eliza S. Stewart, who
died in 1869. Two children were born to this marriage, one now
living, Abraham L. Mr. Davidson was married the third time in
1871 to Miss Sarah Epley, who died in 1878. Two children were
also born to this union: Henry C. and Viola. In 1854, shortly
after his first marriage, the Doctor went to Butler County, Mo.
In 1862 he joined the secret service, and after about ten months
he was appointed provost-marshal for the Sixteenth and
Seventeenth Districts of Missouri, and held that position until
June 1864, when he moved to Illinois, and there lived until 1867,
during which time he attended college. He then returned to Butler
County, where he as since resided two miles south of Hendrickson.
He has a good farm of 533 acres, all the result of his own work,
and is also engaged in the practice of his profession, which he
has followed for thirty years with success. Twice his name has
been placed on the Republican ticket for the General Assembly,
but suffered defeat, with the rest of his party, as the county is
strongly Democratic. In 1886, he was the choice of his party for
Congress from the Fourteenth District, but owing again to the
Democratic majority in the county suffered defeat. He was reared
a Democrat, and his first presidential vote was for James
Buchanan, in 1856. Since the war Mr. Davidson has been a stanch
Republican. He is a member of the Masonic fraternity, a member of
the I.O.O.F., and is also a member of the G.A.R. His religion is
To do right because it is right, and To do unto others as you
would have them do unto you.
ISAAC M. DAVIDSON is an attorney-at-law, at Poplar Bluff. David
Davidson was born in Tennessee in the county bearing his name, in
1802, and as he reached manhood was engaged in farming, and also
preached the gospel for the Christian Church. In 1806 there was
born in Butler County, Ohio, one who became Miss Firza A. Greene,
a young lady who came to Davidson County, Tenn., with relatives,
and soon became Mrs. David Davidson. They lived in Tennessee
until 1854, when Butler County, Mo., became their home, where,
but ten years later, the wife died, only to be followed by her
husband a year later. They were devoted Christian people, and he
was in politics, a supporter of the Democracy. Among their nine
children, two boys were physicians, and one the one born in
Hickman County, Tenn., February 25, 1835 became a member of the
legal fraternity. It is needless to say this one was the subject
of this sketch. Young Davidson received the advantages of rural
Tennessee schools, and on coming to Butler County became a
pedagogue, but the war interrupted this occupation, and in 1862
he enlisted and was commissioned first lieutenant of Company D,
Thirty-first Missouri Infantry, United States army. After a time
he resigned and became connected with the enrolling service. It
was in 1867 that he returned to Butler County, and his previous
legal studies enabled him to become a member of the bar, and
since that time he has built up at Poplar Bluff, a large and
lucrative clientage. From his assets of $100 in 1857, he had
become one of the county s heaviest taxpayers. In 1872 he was
elected school commissioner of the county, and from 1876 to 1880
served as its prosecuting attorney. He also deals in real estate.
Mr. Davidson was married in 1857 to Lucinda Ross, a native of
Kentucky, who died three years later, and in 1863 Mary I.
Barfield became his wife. Two children-now deceased- were born to
them, and in 1868 her death followed. His second marriage was
with his present wife, Miss Mary McCullough, a native of
Arkansas. Six children have been born to them. Mr. Davidson s
family have always held the faith of the Christian Church. He is
a Republican and is identified with the G.A.R., K. of H., and K.
of P. Pages 1069-1070.
ALEX W. DAVIDSON, M.D. In Hickman County, Tenn. Hugh G. Davidson
grew to manhood and learned with diligence what he could in the
common schools, so that he was able to himself become a teacher.
He also became a farmer and married Miss Martha A. Higgins, also
a native of that county. In 1854 he moved to Mississippi County,
Mo., and after one term of teaching came to Butler County, Mo. He
united with the Christian Church and preached for several years.
In 1862 he became a provost United States marshal, and for over a
year acted as spy, but failing health caused him to resign. He
settled in Jackson County, Ill., in 1864, and there lost his
wife. The study of medicine next attracted his attention, and he
graduated from the medical college of Philadelphia. In 1867 he
returned to Butler County, where he practiced until age caused
the venerable Doctor to retire to the farm. His present wife is
his fourth one. To his first wife, while they lived in Hickman
County, Tenn., there was born on September 26, 1853, a son who is
the subject of this sketch, the eldest of eleven children. Alex.
W. was a babe when they came to Butler County, and here attended
school and studied medicine under his father. He then entered the
American Medical College of St. Louis, and graduated in 1876, and
at once located at Greenville, Wayne County, where in 1878, he
married Miss Lizzie C. Atkins, a native of that county. Four
children have been born to them, two of whom are living. Mrs.
Davidson is a Missionary Baptist. Since 1884 they have lived at
Poplar Bluff, where the Doctor has built up a good practice.
Although he is a young man, his experience covers about thirteen
years. His political preferences are Republican, and in fraternal
matters he supports the I.O.O.F. and K. of P. Page 1070.
JOSEPH T. DAVIDSON, prosecuting attorney for Butler County, is a
son of William R. and Eliza J. (Walker) Davidson, natives of
Pennsylvania, where they were also married. Franklin County was
the native place of the father. About 1843 he moved to Dayton,
Ohio, and became a merchant. From that time he did business
successively and successfully in Covington, Ky., Cincinnati,
Ohio, and Bloomington, Ill., living at the latter place from 1853
until his death in 1867. His wife resides there still. Both held
the faith of the Old School Presbyterian Church, of which he was
an elder for many years. His political convictions were Whig and
Republican. Eight children were born to them, and of the four
living, Joseph T. is the eldest son. He was born in Dayton,
Montgomery Co., Ohio, June 29, 1846, and, while they lived at
Bloomington, he was educated in the public schools and the model
department of the State Normal there. His school work was twice
interrupted by the war. In 1862 he served three months in the
Sixty-eighth Illinois Volunteers, and in 1863 entered the Third
Illinois Cavalry Volunteers, serving in Company I and Company D
until the close of the conflict. The most severe engagement of
the many he was in was the second battle of Nashville. The Adams
and American Express Companies made him their money-clerk at
Cairo, Ill., for about six years, and he served as teller in the
City National Bank of Cairo, for two years. He had been in Butler
County ten years, when in 1884 he was admitted to the bar, and
was elected to his present office two years later, on the
Farmer s Union ticket. His public life has been quite extensive,
serving as mayor of Poplar Bluff one term, also as an alderman.
Of the K. of H. and K. of P. he is a charter member and was
presiding officer of both the first two terms. He is Post
Commander of R.L. McCook Post No. 114, G.A.R., and secretary of
the Poplar Bluff Building and Loan Association. In 1879 he
married Lela, a daughter of Dr. James A. Greer, and to them have
been born four children. Mrs. Davidson was born in Kentucky in
1861, and has long been an esteemed member of the Presbyterian
Church. Attorney Davidson is a strong Republican. Page 1070
BYRD DUNCAN, of the firm of B. Duncan & Co., is a native of
Wilson County, Tenn., born July 20, 1846. His father, Richard M.
Duncan, also a native of Tennessee, was of North Carolina
ancestry, while his wife, Miss Alapher Breece, was a native of
the same State, but of British stock. The father was a stone-
cutter by trade, and about 1859 engaged in the business near
Bowling Green, Ky. With the opening of the war he moved to
Shawneetown, Ill., where the mother died in 1870 at the age of
sixty-two years. He still lives near there at the advanced age of
seventy-six years. Although he is now a Republican in politics
his earlier views grew from Whig opinions. Both parents held the
Baptist faith. Byrd, the youngest of seven children, received a
good common school education, and when about sixteen years of age
began the brick-layer s trade, with which he was occupied for
about seven years. He came to Wayne County, Mo., in 1873, and
turned his attention to clerking until he came to Poplar Bluff in
1878. After a year as clerk he became a member of the firm of B.
Duncan & Co. with Pat Harmon. His capital when he came to
Southeastern Missouri was represented by the munificent sum of
$85, but his ability and skill have made him one of the first
hardware men of Poplar Bluff. Mr. Ducan s public life has been on
the city council and the school board, and his clear-cut
Republican convictions led to his being a delegate from the
Fourteenth District to the National Republican Convention of
1884. He is a member of the Baptist Church. In 1879 he married
Miss Mollie Spence, a native of Butler County. Two sons and two
daughters have been born to them. Pages 1070-1071.
DR. DeWITT F. ESKEW, physician and surgeon, and present
representative in the Legislature from Butler County, was born in
Wilson County, Tenn., in 1849, and is the son of W. and M. (Van
Hooser) Eskew, natives of Wilson County, Tenn., and the grandson
of Benjamin Eskew, a native of England, who, when a young man,
together with his brother, set sail for America. The vessel was
wrecked, the brother was lost, and Benjamin was for eleven days
without food, and suffered all the horrors of being shipwrecked.
His son, the father of Dr. DeWitt, was born in 1815, and lived in
Wilson County, Tenn., until 1868, when he removed to Caldwell
County, Ky., and there died in 1884. He was a farmer by
occupation. His wife was a daughter of Valentine Van Hooser, who
is of Dutch origin. He was born in 1812, and was in the battle of
New Orleans. He was a farmer and an early settler of Wilson
County, Tenn. Dr. DeWitt F. was the fifth of nine children, eight
of whom are now living, one having lost his life in the
Confederate army. He was educated in the country schools,
attained his growth on the farm, went with his parents to
Kentucky, and in 1873 began the study of medicine. The same year
he entered the medical department of the University of Tennessee,
at Nashville, and graduated from the same in 1877. He began
practicing at Shady Grove, Crittenden Co., Ky., but in 1879 he
returned to Wilson County to assume the practice of his
preceptor. In the fall of the same year he came to Butler County,
and spent three years at Harviell, then came to Cane Creek, and
settled ten miles northwest of Poplar Bluff, where he has a good
farm of 165 acres. He was married in 1882 to Mrs. P. Rutherford,
daughter of William W. and Elizabeth Sparkeman, a prominent
family of the neighborhood. Both Mr. and Mrs. Sparkeman were born
in Maury County, Tenn., and came to Butler County in 1860, and
are now living on Cane Creek. The Doctor has an extensive
practice since his marriage, and is one of the leading physicians
of Butler County. A Democrat in his political views, his first
presidential vote was cast for Horace Greeley. In 1886 he was
elected to represent Butler County in the State Legislature, and
served the people faithfully and well. He is a member of the
Farmers Alliance and of the Christian Church. His property is
the result of his own hard work, and his parents were unable to
assist him. He paid his way through college by chopping wood and
working as a farm hand. In 1888 he removed to Poplar Bluff, where
he is now living. Mrs. Eskew is a member of the Baptist Church.
Page 1071
H.M. ESTES was born in Cape Girardeau County, Mo., in 1833, his
parents being Asa and Minerva (Long) Estes, who removed from
Kentucky to Cape Girardeau County, at an early day. About 1834
they removed from there to Wayne County, where they passed the
remainder of their days. Mr. Estes was of German origin, and a
farmer by occupation. H.M. Estes was the third of ten children.
He grew to manhood on the farm and obtained little or no
education. In 1855 he married Miss Elizabeth, daughter of Lewis
Johnson, formerly of Illinois, where Mrs. Estes was born. Eleven
children were the result of this union, five of whom are now
living: Thomas (of Madison County), Cordelia (wife of William
Allard), Jesse E., Allen, and Ida. After marriage Mr. Estes
settled near Otter Creek, Wayne County, but moved from there to
St. Francois River, where he lived for about fifteen years, then,
about 1880, moving to Butler County and settling at Hendrickson.
Here he has since been engaged in merchandising under the firm
title of H.M. Estes & Son, until very recently, when Mr. Estes
retired and now devotes his entire time to farming. He has 428
acres of fine land. He is a Republican in politics and a good
citizen. His son, Jesse E. Estes, was born in Wayne County in
1864, and was raised on a farm, and educated in the country
schools. He removed with his parents to Butler County, where, in
1885, he married Miss Laura, daughter of Joseph Campbell. She was
born in Ohio, and died in May, 1887. In January, 1888, Jesse
Estes married Miss Clara Smith, daughter of John N. Smith. Jesse
farmed until 1885, when he bought his brother s interest in the
store and has since been engaged in merchandising at Hendrickson.
He carries a general assortment, and the annual sales are about
$15,000. He, like his father, is a Republican in politics. Page
1071-1072.
THOMAS D. FERGUSON, the subject of this sketch, is the son of
James S. Ferguson, who was born is Cape Girardeau County, Mo.,
and moved to this county (then Wayne) with his father, Nimrod G.
Ferguson, a native of Virginia, and one of the first settlers of
this county. He was educated for a Catholic priest, but after
arriving at manhood became a Baptist preacher, which profession,
together with farming and hunting, he pursued the remainder of
his life. James S. Ferguson was early in life married to
Elizabeth Kittrell, of Wayne county, a daughter of Solomon
Kittrell. They were blessed with eight children six daughters and
two sons all of whom are now dead except the two youngest
daughters: Bellzora Fleming and Lizzie B. Adams (wife of Dr.
George Adams), and the subject of this article, who are living in
Poplar Bluff, the county seat of Butler County. He was engaged in
the business of farming and mercantile life prior to 1858, at
which time he was elected to the office of county and circuit
clerk and ex-officio recorder, which he held to the first year of
the war, when the civil law was suspended in this part of the
country, and he some two years later moved his family from the
county and enlisted in the United States army, and served until
the close of the war, when he moved back to the county and was
elected and served as judge of the probate court one term,
president of the county court one term, and in 1870 was again
elected clerk of the circuit court and ex-officio recorder, which
office he was holding at his death in 1872. He was a charter
member of Poplar Bluff Lodge No. 209, A.F. & A.M. and Poplar
Bluff Lodge No. 179, I.O.O.F., which are among the leading lodges
of the town to-day. He was a kind father and husband, and his
house was always open to those about him. Elizabeth Ferguson, his
wife, early in life became a member of the Baptist Church, and
remained so to her death in 1871. She was a faithful and kind
mother and wife, and none knew her except to admire her noble
traits of character. Thomas D. Ferguson, the eldest and only
surviving son, was reared on a farm, and educated in the common
schools of the country. At the death of his father, in 1872, he
was appointed to succeed him as clerk of the circuit court and
ex-officio recorder, which office he has ever since held by
election, and now has an unexpired term of two years. At his
father s death he was left with his three youngest sisters to
raise and support. It was a great burden and expense, but a duty
which he did not shirk or evade, giving the two eldest a good
common-school education, and the youngest he educated at the Cape
Girardeau Normal School. Mr. Ferguson has always been a Democrat,
and while holding the office of clerk and recorder, as mentioned,
has been mayor of Poplar Bluff, member of the County Democratic
Committee, served one term on the Congressional Committee of his
district (Fourteenth), and one term (from 1884 to 1886) on the
Democratic State Central Committee from his district, and was
also assistant door-keeper at the St. Louis National Democratic
Convention in 1888. He is a member of Poplar Bluff Lodge No. 179,
I.O.O.F., in which he holds the position of Lodge Deputy. He was
married to Miss Annie Cook in 1878, and they have been blessed
with one son and two daughters, all of whom are dead. The history
of this family and county are inseparable. They have grown up
together from the formation of the county from a part of Wayne in
1848, then almost an entire wilderness, with some twenty-five or
thirty families, to its present population of some 10,00 or
12,000 inhabitants. The county seat, Poplar Bluff, at the end of
the late war had but three families; to-day it has some 3,000
inhabitants, and is a busy growing town with a bright future.
Page 1072.
WILLIAM FERGUSON, senior member of the firm of Ferguson &
Wheeler, dealers in general merchandise and lumber, and son of
Rev. Nimrod and Nancy (Johnson) Ferguson, was born in Butler
County, Mo., August 21, 1854. His early education was almost
wholly wanting, and when eighteen years of age, he began working
on the Iron Mountain Railroad through this county. Having saved
his money, he and his brother, Martin, went to a district school,
baching in a log cabin, and sleeping on a bed of leaves. In
1873, while the epizootic raged in St. Louis, he was called there
to drive a delivery wagon, drawn by oxen, for a large wholesale
and commission house. Having remained with them for two years, he
entered a commercial college and soon became acquainted with the
rules that govern commercial transactions. Returning to Poplar
Bluff, in 1877, he entered the store of W.F. Neal, as salesman.
Two years later, he, T.D. and M.N. Ferguson opened a store, all
having about $2,200 capital. The firm title was Ferguson & Co.
until 1884, when it took its present name. They now operate one
of the largest stores in town, and, besides, own and operate
three saw-mills, handling about 4,000,000 feet of lumber, yearly.
In 1880 Mr. Ferguson married Miss Missouri Harviell, who lived
only about eight months. In 1885 he married Miss Alma Proffer, a
native of Stoddard County. Mr. Ferguson is a charter member of
both the K. of P. and K. of H. He is a Democrat, politically, and
is a director of the Bank of Poplar Bluff. He is also a director
in the Poplar Bluff Loan and Building Association. He began as a
poor boy, but is now one of the heaviest taxpayers in Butler
County. Page 1073.
MARTIN FERGUSON, treasurer of Butler County, Mo., is a son of
Rev. Nimrod and Nancy (Johnson) Ferguson, who were born in
Virginia and Butler County, Mo., respectively. When a young man,
the father came to Butler County, where he met and married Miss
Johnson. He was for many years a minister in the Baptist Church,
though farming was his chief occupation. He died in 1856.
Afterward the mother married Stephen Turner. She died in 1866.
Their son, Martin, was born March 1, 1856, and his early
education was very deficient. Upon reaching years of discretion,
he and his brother, William, worked out for the money which they
afterward employed in securing an education. When about eighteen
years of age, Mr. Ferguson ran a delivery for a wholesale house
and here remained several years. He then returned to his home and
began merchandising, but three years later he turned his
attention to saw-milling. He is also a dealer in real estate. In
1886 he was elected treasurer of the county. He is a Democrat in
politics, and, as a business man, has been quite successful;
commencing with comparatively nothing, he is now the owner of a
fine property. In 1878 he married Miss Minnie Sparkman, a native
of Butler County, Mo., and a member of the Methodist Episcopal
Church. To their union were born three children one son and two
daughters. Mr. Ferguson is a member of the K.P. and the K. of H.
Page 1073.
JAMES GARETSON, one of the old merchants of Butler County, comes
from a prominent pioneer family of Illinois. His grandfather
Garetson was a member of the first Legislature of that State, and
others of the family held prominent positions. His father, John
Garetson, was born in Illinois, in 1800, and the Indians were not
an uncommon sight to his boyish eyes. He grew up to be an
enterprising farmer, and also conducted a cooper-shop, and ran a
cotton-gin. At one time he served as colonel of the Fifth
Illinois Militia. His wife, Catherine Lemen, who was seven years
his junior, was also a native of Illinois, and bore him a son and
daughter. After his death, in 1829, she married again. James L.
was born in Monroe County, Ill., in March, 1826, and grew up with
the meager educational advantages found in primitive Illinois,
hearing that there was a thing called a pronoun, and, with a
bundle on his back, conning what little he could gather from his
geography. In his twelfth year he began living with an uncle,
and when the Mexican War broke out he joined the Second Illinois
Infantry, and served a year, acting as fourth corporal all of
that time. His next venture was in shipping cord-wood to St.
Louis, then engaging in milling and merchandising, which, at the
end of seven years, proved so disastrous as to sink for him and
others, $30,000. He next opened an unpretentious peanut stand,
and finally prospered in farming and hotel-keeping, until he was
able to cancel all his indebtedness. In 1862 he enlisted in
Company G, Sixty-second Illinois Infantry, as captain, and after
two and one-half years was honorably discharged at Little Rock.
The peanut stand again served him a good turn after the war, and
in this connection he was postmaster at Odin, Ill., for ten
years. He soon changed peanuts for the news business. In 1868
he was elected assessor and treasurer of Marion County, Ill. a
Republican in a Democratic county. He served two years, and
then, with assets and liabilities about equal, he came to Butler
County, in 1870, and began farming, which he carried on,
exclusively, three years. In 1873 he opened a store at Harveill,
Butler County, where he was also station agent for about six
years, but in 1887 he moved his stock to Poplar Bluff, when his
youngest son, Robert L., became a partner. He now owns a large
stock and a good farm. Sarah A. Harlow, a native of Monroe
County, Ill., became his wife in 1847, and has borne him twelve
children, eight of whom are now living. She is a Missionary
Baptist, of which church he has been a member forty-two years.
He is a Republican, and a member of the A.F. & A.M. and G.A.R.
orders. Pages 1073-1074.
CHARLES GIESE, the oldest merchant tailor of Poplar Bluff, was
born in Baden, Germany, March 28, 1861, and is the son of Christ
and Kate Giese, both natives of Baden. The father was a mechanic
in his native country, and remained there until 1874, when he and
family came to America, locating at St. Louis, where the mother
still lives. The father died in 1882. The family consisted of
four children, all sons, the eldest being our subject. He was
educated in the old country, but since coming to America has
become quite conversant with the English language. At the age of
fourteen years he began learning the tailor s trade, and served
an apprenticeship of three years. After working for others until
1882, he came to Poplar Bluff, where he opened a shop and
employed one man. Since then he has increased his business until
he works seven men, and is doing well. In 1882 he married Miss
Jennie Cole, who was born in St. Francois County. The result of
this union was the birth of two children a son and daughter. Mr.
Giese is a Democrat in politics, is a member of the K. of P.,
also the A.O.U.W., and he and wife are members of the
Presbyterian Church. Although commencing with very small
capital, Mr. Giese has become one of the leading tailors of
Poplar Bluff. Page 1074.
DR. EDMUND GLASS, a Methodist minister, physician and surgeon,
also a farmer, was born in Hardin County, Ill., in 1822, and was
one of eight children born to Dudley and Jane (Givens) Glass.
The father was a native of Georgia, born in 1760, and was married
twice, his first wife being Margaret Russell. He soon removed
with her people to Kentucky. After his first wife s death he
married Edmund s mother in West Kentucky. He was one of the
pioneers of Pope, now Hardin County, Ill., and was interested in
lead mining. He lost his property, and afterward removed to
Fayette County, Ill., where he died in 1840. He was a tanner in
early life, later a farmer, and was a soldier in the War of 1812
under Jackson. His father, Hiram Glass, was probably born in
Dublin, Ireland, and when a boy came with his parents to America,
and served through the Revolutionary War. The wife of Dudley
Glass and the mother of Dr. Edmund V. Glass, was born in South
Carolina, and died in May, 1830. Her parents were both of
English descent. They were married in London, and their bridal
tour was their trip to America. Their son, John Givens, was a
well known Methodist minister of Southern Illinois for many
years. Dr. Edmund V. Glass was reared at home, and received
limited educational advantages, but made up for this to some
extent by self-study and close observation. At the age of
fifteen he entered the store of Ebenezer Capp, at Vandalia, Ill.,
where in 1842 he married Miss Ella Gambill, who died eighteen
months afterward, leaving one child (deceased). He was again
married in 1844 to Miss Elizabeth E. Biggs, a native of Kentucky,
who came with her parents, Elijah and Mary Biggs, to Williamson
County, Ill., when a child. One child was born to this union,
Joseph W. The second wife died in 1858, and in 1859 Mr. Glass
married Mrs. Harriet Lenhart, widow of John Lenhart, and daughter
of Nathan Hull. Two children were born to this union, only one
now living, Rev. William Thomas, a Methodist minister of the St.
Louis conference. The Doctor was engaged in farming and the mill
business in Illinois until 1852, when he removed to Butler
County, and settled where Neelyville now is, this being the first
land purchased in that vicinity. He immediately entered the
ministry as an itinerant, having been licensed by the Methodist
Episcopal conference in Pope County, Ill;, in 1850, and has since
had a successful ministerial career. He was ordained a deacon in
1853, and an elder in 1866. In 1864 he returned to Illinois, and
lived there about three years, when he returned to Missouri, and
soon after to Newton County, Mo., as a supply minister. Here he
remained about five years, preaching the gospel and practicing
medicine, etc. Prior to his first return to Missouri he had
spent some time studying medicine, which he continued after
coming to Missouri. He spent a part of two consecutive years in
the McDowell Medical College at St. Louis before the war, and has
since had an extensive practice. He keeps along with the times,
and has one of the most complete medical libraries in Butler
County. The Doctor was formerly a Whig, and his first
presidential vote was for Henry Clay in 1844. Since the war he
has been a Democrat. He is a member of the Farmers Alliance,
and has a fine farm of 120 acres. During the war the Doctor went
to Arkansas, was made captain of a company, and served a short
time in the Confederate army in that capacity. He was afterward
assistant surgeon a short time. Upon leaving the army he went to
Illinois. Although born in a Northern State the Doctor s people
were of Southern birth, and as he had lived for some years in a
Southern State his sympathies naturally went that way, although
he was opposed to the war and preferred not to participate.
After a great many narrow escapes in eluding the enemy he made
his way to Illinois, sent for his family, and remained there
until the close of the war. Pages 1074-1075.
GEORGE W. GLASS, dealer in timber, bolts, piling, logs, etc. and
farmer, of Neelyville Township, was born in Williamson County,
Ill., in 1841, and is the fifth of ten children born to George W.
and Salina (Phipps) Glass. George W., Sr., was born in Pope
County, in 1805, and married in Fayette County, Ill. After
living in various places in Illinois, they removed to St. Louis
County, where he lived about seven years, engaged in teaming.
They came to Butler County in 1851, but in 1859 they settled four
miles south of Neelyville, and there the father died, January 17,
1884. He was an industrious, upright citizen, and was a pioneer
settler of Butler County. He served a short time in the
Confederate army, under Capt. Reeves. He was of Scotch-Irish
descent, and, of the nine children born to his marriage, only
four are now living: Anna, widow of Robert Suggs; Nancy, wife of
John W. Roberts; Missouri, wife of Lewis Maize, and George W.
The mother was born, perhaps, in Fayette County, Ill., and died
about 1875, aged sixty-three years. She and her husband were
members of the Methodist Episcopal Church, and were among the
esteemed citizens of the county. George W., Jr., received a fair
education, and came with his parents to Butler County when about
ten years of age, and has witnessed many marvelous changes from
that time to the present. Since about eleven years of age he has
been crippled, the result of sickness. He has always devoted
himself to farming, and for about four years he has been engaged
in the lumber business. He owns the old farm of 240 acres,
besides 320 acres of timbered land near by, at Hathaway Station.
Politically a Democrat, his first presidential vote was for
Seymour in 1868. Page 1075.
WILLIAM C. GRADDY, pharmacist, at Poplar Bluff, was born in
Marshall County, Ky., January 13, 1854. His father, Lewis W.
Graddy, was a native of the same county, and it was there that he
married Miss Eliza Carpenter, a native of Mississippi. The
father was engaged in agriculture up to within two years of his
death, when he turned his attention to mercantile pursuits. He
died in 1857, at the age of thirty-six, his wife surviving him
until 1885, at the age of sixty-one. Of the seven children born
to them William is the sixth child. Left fatherless at so early
an age, his education was rather limited, and when but nine years
of age he began working on a farm for his uncle. He spent some
years, also, in a heading and tobacco factory, and at the age of
twenty-two began clerking in a general store. In 1879 he came to
Poplar Bluff, and, with his brother, opened up a stock of
groceries and drugs, and has been engaged in some similar line
ever since. Several changes have been made in the firm name, but
Mr. Graddy has been the leading spirit, until, in 1887, he became
the sole proprietor of what is now one of the best drug houses in
the place. This has been acquired, too, from a beginning of
about $300 when he became a citizen of Poplar Bluff. He was an
active organizer of the Poplar Bluff Loan and Building
Association, and now serves as director and treasurer. He was
mayor of the city for two years. His political preferences are
Democratic, and he is a member of the K. of H. fraternity. In
1881 he married Miss Ella De Lapp, a native of Saginaw County,
Mich. One child has been born to them, Grover B. Mr. and Mrs.
Grady are members of the Methodist Episcopal Church South. Page
1075.
A. HEWITT GREASON, junior member of the firm of Garetson &
Greason, dealers in piling, timber and ties, is a native of the
Keystone State, born in 1852, in Cumberland County. John Greason
was a wide-awake Pennsylvania, engaged in agriculture, and
dealing in merchandise and grain. He was married to Margaret
Monroe, a native of the same State, and in 1866 they removed to
Iron County, Mo., where, besides being a merchant and a farmer,
he ran a saw mill. The father and mother lived to be about
fifty-six and fifty-four years, respectively. The subject of
this sketch was the fifth of a family of eleven children, and was
well educated in ordinary schools, and also at Arcadia Seminary.
After his school days he devoted himself to agriculture
exclusively until 1881. He then came to Poplar Bluff, and opened
its first feed store, but soon turn to railroading, and became
freight agent for the Iron Mountain Railroad at Poplar Bluff. He
soon after became bill clerk and baggage master, and finally was
promoted to foreman of the Iron Mountain Railroad stock yards, a
position which he held for three and one-half years. He became a
partner with Mr. Garetson in 1887, and in this, as in his other
enterprises, he has been eminently successful. The firm does an
extensive business. Mr. Greason is a Republican, and has served
the city as alderman. He is a member of the K. of H., and
belongs to the Presbyterian Church. In 1884 Miss Alice Metz, a
native of Illinois, became his wife. They have a son and a
daughter. Pages 1075-1076.
JOSIAH HARPER, another successful and prominent farmer of Poplar Bluff
Township, and the son of Joseph and Polly Ann (Stitt) Harper, was born in
Hamilton County, Ind., in 1833. Joseph Harper was born in Virginia, and
when a young man went to Indiana, where he was married to the mother of
Josiah Harper, who was about five years old at the time of his mother s
death. The father was again married, in 1843, and removed to Clinton
County, Ill., but removed from there to Butler County, Mo., in 1851, where
he died, six years later, at the age of fifty-two years. He was a farmer
by occupation, and reared a large family. Josiah Harper received very
limited educational advantages, and came with his father to Butler County.
He was married, in 1866, to Mrs. Louisa Price, daughter of James Branham,
and a native of Missouri. Mr. Harper, since his marriage, has lived in and
near Poplar Bluff, and has over 400 acres of good land. In 1876 he was
appointed county treasurer, and has been twice elected to the same
position. He served until 1882. A Democrat, politically, his first
presidential vote was for Douglas, in 1860. Mrs. Harper is a worthy member
of the Baptist Church. Page 1076.
G.W. HILL, farmer of Black River Township, was born in Washington County,
Ark., December 14, 1838, and is the son of James W. and Margaret J. (West)
Hill. Mr. Hill was born in Tennessee, about 1809, and went with his
stepfather and mother to Washington County, Ark., where he was married at
the age of twenty-six. He was a farmer by occupation, and died in 1849.
The mother was born in Macoupin County, Ill., about 1813; then she went
with her parents to Washington County, Ark., where she married. After the
death of her first husband she married John W. Robbins, who removed to
Greene County, Ill., in 1850, and in 1851 to Franklin County, Mo., and from
there to Butler County, Mo. in 1854. He removed to Howell County, in 1858,
where the mother died in 1863. Her father, James West, was born in North
Carolina, but was an early settler of Macoupin County, Ill. He died in
Arkansas. Thomas Hill, father of James W., was a native Virginian, and of
Scotch-Irish descent. He was a soldier in two Indian wars, and died in
Tennessee. G.W. Hill was the second of five children. He received but
little education, and moved with his parents from place to place until he
came to Butler County, where he worked by the month until the war. In
July, 1861, he joined Company H, Sixth Missouri Volunteer Infantry, United
States army, with Gen. Grant, in Missouri; was at the battles of Shiloh,
Corinth, all through the siege of Vicksburg, Arkansas Post, Jackson, Miss.,
Chattanooga, Missionary Ridge, and all through the Georgia and Atlanta
campaign. He was mustered out at Gen Howard s headquarters, near Atlanta,
Ga., August 1, 1864, and after three years and eleven days hard service,
he was the only man in the company not arrested not in the guard-house.
And out of about 108 he was one of twenty-seven to come out able for duty.
He was never captured or wounded. He returned to Cape Girardeau County,
and was there married, September 29, 1864, to Mrs. Mary J. Holt, nee
Northcut. To them were born four children, one now living, named Rudolph.
Mrs. Hill died in Butler County, April 1, 1876, and October 4, 1877, Mr.
Hill married Miss Susan Agee, who died April 2, 1884, leaving three
children: James W., Margaret F., and Sarah B. Mr. Hill was married the
third time September 12, 1886, to Mrs. Sophronia A. Mosley, a native of
Tennessee and daughter of John Dillyard, formerly of North Carolina. In
1866 Mr. Hill returned to Cape Girardeau County, where he lived two years.
Since 1869 he has lived where Hillard now stands, the town being named for
him, as he ran a woodyard at that place. He has 195 acres of as good land
as is to be found in the vicinity, all the result of his energy and good
management. Soon after marriage he was appointed registering officer, but
declined to serve. He was reared a Democrat, and his first presidential
vote was for Douglas, in 1860. Since the war Mr. Hill has been a
conservative Republican. He is a member of the Farmers Alliance, of the
G.A.R., and of the Baptist Church. He is one of the county s best
citizens, and has the respect of all. His parents were members of the
Cumberland Presbyterian Church. Page 1077.
LEVI HILLIS. Prominent among the early settlers of Butler County, who
suffered all the privations incident to pioneer days stands the name of
Levi Hillis. He was born near Nashville, Tenn., in 1823 and is the son of
Samuel and Elizabeth (Osborne) Hillis. The father was reared in Tennessee,
and lived there until about 1827, when he removed to near Albion, Ill., and
in about 1832 came to what is now Butler County, where he made his future
home. He died about 1860. He was a farmer and served in two campaigns
under Gen. Jackson. He was twice married, the second time in Butler
County. His first wife died in Illinois. His father, Samuel Hillis, was a
native of Ireland. Levi Hillis was the third of seven children. He
received no education, and was nine years of age when he came to Butler
County, then a wilderness, with no schools, and when wild game of all kinds
abounded. Here he was reared, and has lived in this county for about
fifty-six years, perhaps the oldest settler now in the county. In 1842 he
married Sallie Huskey, a native of Indiana, whose people were early
settlers of Butler County. She died about 1851, and the two children born
to this union are both deceased. Mrs. Hillis was again married, in 1852,
to Mrs. Narcissus Duff, nee Talton, who died in 1862, leaving two children,
only one now living, Thomas. Since 1856 Mr. Hillis has lived on his
present farm of 169 acres, which is situated one mile north of Hillard. He
is one of the county s best citizens and an honest, upright man. He has
always been an earnest worker for the cause of education, and for the
general upbuilding of the country. He has been a member of the school
board for some years, and has been a Democrat in politics all his life. He
is a member of the Masonic fraternity, and also a member of the Missionary
Baptist Church. Page 1077.
CHARLES F. HINRICHS, dealer in real estate at Poplar Bluff, has had a life
more eventful than the generality of men, the details of which can but be
briefly referred to in a sketch of this nature. He was born in Warin,
Mecklenburg-Schwerin, Germany, February 15, 1828, and is the eldest of two
living children of a family of six born to his parents, C.D. and Louise
(Priester) Hinrichs, the former of whom died soon after coming to America,
in 1847. He was a butcher by trade. His widow died in 1861. Young
Hinrichs received a good education in the fatherland, and at the early age
of sixteen his independent spirit manifested itself in a particularly
strong manner. Having determined to start for America, and making several
fruitless attempts to go, he was favored with a letter of recommendation
from the burgonmaster of his native city, to the minister at the capital,
Schwerin. A minute account of the meeting with that official, the
experience through which he passed, his embarrassment, etc. cannot be
justly treated in the space to which this sketch is limited, but suffice it
to say that with such earnestness did he plead his cause, that, shortly
after returning home, news was sent him that he had been declared of age
and that consent had been given him to emigrate to America. He started,
and after thirteen weeks of ocean travel, landed in Galveston, Tex.,
without means, and a stranger in a strange land. It was a darkness before
dawn, however, for he was soon employed by a butcher. He was enabled to
return home, in 1847, by working his way as ship boy, and bring back his
parents. They settled in Cape Girardeau County, Mo., where, owing to the
father s death, the care of the family fell upon Charles. In 1861 he
enlisted in the Missouri State Militia, and the following year joined
Company L, of the Tenth Missouri Cavalry, United States army, as first
lieutenant. In August, 1863, he was promoted captain, and served to the
close, having participated in over sixty engagements. After the war he
kept a country store in Cape Girardeau County, until he moved to southern
Butler County, in 1867. He also shipped stock, and made money rapidly.
His prosperity was interrupted by a great misfortune, in 1879, when a band
of robbers entered his house, killed his nephew, and stole all his money
they found. He then came to Poplar Bluff, where he has since resided. Mr.
Hinrichs is a Republican, and a member of the G.A.R. In 1861 he married
Malinda Moye, a native of Cape Girardeau County, Mo., and of the two
children born to them, the son lives. His wife died in 1879, and the
following year he married Miss Belle Cook. Two of their four children are
living. He and his wife are Seventh-Day Adventists. During the war, and
while marching through some southern mineral countries, the information
obtained by him concerning the Indian silver mines situated in Butler
County, Mo., determined him to hunt them up if his life was spared. This
he did, finding them and now owning them; and it is his intention to work
them at the earliest possible moment. Page 1076.
EMLEN W. HOAG, the editor of The Citizen, at Poplar Bluff, is a native of
the Empire State, born in Chatauqua County, May 26, 1852. Isaac Hoag, his
father, was a farmer in his native State, New York, and was one of those
earnest Republicans of the abolitionist branch. He had first married a
lady named Sarah Badgley, by whom he had one son, but after her death
another New York lady, Miss Nancy Ballard, became his wife, and the mother
of Emlen. She is now sixty-one years of age, surviving her husband, who
died in 1881 at the age of sixty-six. She is an esteemed member of the
Baptist Church. Young Hoag showed his journalistic inclinations and
abilities before he had scarcely completed his education at the high school
of Jamestown, N.Y., when he became connected with The Warren County Press,
in Pennsylvania, and proved so accomplished in that line that he was soon
the sole proprietor. His experience of two years in that enterprise led to
his establishing the Chautauqua News, and four years later he became the
founder of The Sunday News-Letter (now) The Sunday World, of Titusville,
Penn. It was about this time that he sold out and took a vacation from his
editorial toil, by selling out and dealing in stock in the west for about
two years. Mr. Hoag resumed newspaper life in 1883, when he came to Poplar
Bluff and became the editor of the newsy sheet which he has since
controlled with so much success. In 1872 Miss Stella Whitaker, a native of
New York, became his wife, and the union has been blessed with two
children. Mrs. Hoag is a Presbyterian. Mr. Hoag is a thorough supporter
and able advocate of Democratic principles, and served in the capacity of
alderman during the years 1885-86. He is a member of the Masonic Relief
Association. Page 1078.
JAMES R. HOGG, dealer in meats, country produce, etc., was born in Jennings
County, Ind., January 4, 1863, and is the son of Marion and Mary B.
(Winslow) Hogg, natives on Indiana and South Carolina respectively. They
were married in Indiana, and in 1868 moved to Missouri, and to this county
in 1870, where they have since resided, the father engaged in farming. He
is Democratic in his politics, and a good citizen. To their union were
born four children two sons and two daughters. James R. was reared on a
farm and educated in the common schools. In 1884 he abandoned the farm and
engaged in his present business, at which he has been quite successful. In
1880 he chose for his companion for life, Miss Ida Dillard, who is the
daughter of J.L. Dillard. This union resulted in the birth of two
children, only one now living, Marion L. In connection with his store Mr.
Hogg is opening up a farm with a view to stock raising. He is a member of
the K. of P., is also a member of the I.O.O.F., and in politics affiliates
with the Democratic party. His wife is a member of the Baptist Church.
Page 1078.
JUDGE ANDREW HOLT, present judge of Butler County, brickmaker and farmer,
was born in Dayton, Ohio, in 1829, being the son of Philemon E. and
Permelia (Parsons) Holt, and grandson of Jerome Holt, who was born at
Tolland, Conn., and who, when a young man, went west with a Mr. Simms, who
made a large purchase of land in Ohio, which Jerome Holt, assisted in
surveying. Jerome was a man of education, and an officer with Gen. Anthony
Wayne during the Indian War and War of 1812. He was also with Gens. St.
Clair and Harrison, and was wounded at Fort Recovery, Ohio. He was married
in Cincinnati, Ohio, and was one of the first settlers of Dayton, being
there before there was any settlement. He was of English descent, and his
people came to America soon after the first settlement of the Northeast.
He was for some years sheriff of Dayton, Ohio, and was postmaster at the
same place for perhaps twenty years. He also organized the first Masonic
lodge west of the Allegheny Mountains, in Gen. Wayne s army. He was known
as Gen. Holt. Philemon E. Holt, whose birth occurred in 1804, was the
third child in Dayton. He was a brickmaker, contractor and builder, and
spent his entire life in his native city. He died in 1848. His wife was
born in Harrison County, Ohio, in 1813, and was the daughter of Andrew
Parsons, a Virginian, and an early settler of Harrison County. He was of
English descent, and a farmer by occupation. Judge Andrew Holt was their
eldest child. He secured a fair education in the Dayton schools, and by
his own efforts and at the age of twenty began taking charge of his
father s business. In 1852 he married Miss Hannah Reed, who died in 1877.
Six children were born to this marriage, all now deceased. In 1878 Mr.
Holt married Eliza Pilcher, who bore him three children, only one now
living, Pearl. For many years Mr. Holt was engaged in the brickmaking,
contracting and building business at Dayton, Ohio, and was for several
years traveling salesman for the Dayton Nursery. In September, 1861, he
enlisted in Company G, Seventy-fifth Ohio Volunteer Infantry, as
lieutenant, in the army of West Virginia, and in January, when the two
regiments consolidated, he resigned and went to recruiting. He joined
Company H, One Hundred and Twenty-fourth Ohio Volunteers, as sergeant, and
the last eight months commanded the company, but was not commissioned. He
operated in nearly all the engagements of the Army of the Cumberland, and
was twice severely wounded, at Resaca, Ga., and at Nashville, Tenn. He was
with Sherman in his march to Atlanta, and returned with Thomas to
Tennessee. He was mustered out at Nashville in July, 1865, and returned
home. His colonel was O.H. Payne, now treasurer of the Standard Oil
Company. He remained in Ohio until 1882, when he removed to Butler County,
and settled on Black River. He has a good farm within two miles of the
city. In 1886 he was elected county judge from the Eastern district, and
has since held the office. He is a Republican in his political views, and
his first presidential vote was cast for Gen. Scott in 1852. Although
Butler County is largely Democratic he was popular enough to be elected.
He is a member of the G.A.R. and also the Farmers Alliance. Pages 1078-
1079.
DR. J.L. HORN, physician and druggist at Keener, was born in St. Francois
County, Mo., in 1863, and is the son of Josiah and Jane (Sutherland) Horn,
natives of Tennessee and Virginia, respectively. They were married in St.
Francois County, and there the mother died in 1882. The father is living
at Farmington, and is engaged in agricultural pursuits. He served in the
United States army during the late war and participated in a great many
battles. Dr. J. L. Horn was the youngest of eight children. He was
educated at Carleton Institute at Farmington, and grew to manhood on the
farm. In 1882 he began the study of medicine with his brother, Dr. A.J.
Horn, of Farmington, and graduated from the Missouri Medical College at St.
Louis in 1885. He practiced in the vicinity of Farmington until 1888, when
he came to Keener and there he has since remained. He is engaged in the
drug business in connection with his practice and is a promising young
physician. He is a Democrat in his political views, and his first
presidential vote was cast for Grover Cleveland in 1884. He is a member of
the Christian Church. Page 1079.
MILTON C. HORTON, cashier and a director of the bank of Poplar Bluff, was
born at Ridgeway, Penn., August 6, 1857. His parents, Isaac and Sarah
(Sherwood) Horton, lived in the State until the death of the former in
1887, and it is still the mother s home. She was born in New York, but
spent the most of her life in the native State of her husband. His
occupation was dealing in lumber. Milton C. was the second of their eight
children. His education was gained by first taking a daily walk of six
miles to the district school, and later in attending the Lake Shore
Seminary. Mr. Horton has grown up in the banking business, and is familiar
with every branch of it from the duties of an errand boy, where he began at
the age of sixteen, to the chief management of the whole scheme. His first
experience was with a banking house called the People s Saving Institution,
in which he worked up form messenger to the position of secretary. He came
to Poplar Bluff in 1886, and set on foot the banking house with which he
has since been connected as a director and cashier. His success as a
financier has been so marked that the institution has not lost a dollar
through bad debts. Mr. Horton is a member of three fraternities, the
Masonic, the A.O.U.W. and K. of P., while his political affiliations are
with the Democracy. Page 1079.
M.A. JOHNSON, general lumber manufacturer, merchant and general
businessman at Keener, was born in DeKalb County, Tenn., in 1845,
and is the son of C.A. and Alice (Bennett) Johnson. The father was
a native Virginian and removed with his parents to Tennessee, where
he was married. He lived in DeKalb County, Tenn., until 1853, when
he removed to St. Francois County, Mo., and there made his future
home. He died in the hospital at Nashville, Tenn., during the late
war. He had served about six months in Company H, Forty-seventh
Missouri Infantry. He was a carpenter and builder by trade, and had
held various town offices in Farmington. He was of English descent
on one side, and had a remote trace of Indian blood in his veins.
Mrs. Johnson is still living and is a resident of Ste. Genevieve
County. Of the thirteen children born to their marriage M.A.
Johnson is the sixth. He was educated in the common schools and
came with his parents to Missouri when eight years of age. At the
age of twenty-one he began working for himself as a farmer, and in
1868 he was united in marriage to Artemisia McHenry, who died in
November, 1877, leaving three children. In May, 1882, he married
Nannie Haynie, who bore him two children, only one now living. Mr.
Johnson farmed until 1871, and then removed to Wayne County, where
he followed teaming until 1879, but was also engaged in farming.
They then came to Butler County, locating near Shiloh, and Mr.
Johnson engaged in the lumber business. In 1885 he removed his mill
to Keener, where he has since carried on an extensive business,
sawing and planing general lumber, shipping about 600 car loads per
annum. He employs about 100 men, seventeen teams of two and four
mules each, and about sixty-five horses and mules in all of his own,
and keeps about ten to twenty teams hired all the time. Beside this
he has a two-thirds interest in a general store of about $10,000
value, and has a saw mill on Ten Mile, nine miles from Keener, also
a store at the same place. He has about 5,000 acres of land and has
a fine residence at Keener. When Mr. Johnson first came to Butler
County he was short of funds and was obliged to buy the mill on
credit. He is now one of the wealthiest and most practical business
men in the county. For the first nineteen months after starting in
business he had a partner in the mill business. He is a member of
the Masonic fraternity, a K. of H., and is a Democrat in his
political views, casting his first presidential vote for Seymour in
1868. Pages 1079-1080.
H.E. JOHNSON, attorney at law, at Poplar Bluff, was born in Richland
County, Ill., August 27, 1847. His father was born in the year
1798, when Indiana and Illinois, etc. were all a territory. His
father s was one of the first families to settle at Old Port (now
Vincennes, Ind.). Their mode of travel was down the Ohio River in a
keel boat, and then up the Wabash to the point when Vincennes now
is. The mother of the subject of this sketch was born in 1811; her
maiden name was Eckley. The Eckleys, so far as known, mostly lived
in Carroll County, Ohio, where a great many of them still reside.
When twelve years of age young Johnson was taken to Gibson County,
Ind., where he attended school. He took all but his senior year in
Merom College, Ind., and when sixteen years of age began in the
employ of the E. & T.H.R.R., with whom he was engaged for nine years
in the various capacities of newsboy, brakeman, fireman and finally
train dispatcher. He then went to Ohio, and for one year was
superintendent of the Ohio & Toledo Railway. For the next five
years he was in the service of the Iron Mountain Railway as station
agent at different places. In 1880 he was elected justice of the
peace, and during his six years of duty became so well acquainted
with law that in April, 1884,he was admitted to the bar, and now has
a good practice. In 1885 he became interested in a jewelry store
with a Mr. Brill. In 1869 Mr. Johnson was married to Miss Allie
Hazleton, a native of the town by that name in Indiana. Two sons
have blessed the union, one of whom, Gervasi, is studying medicine.
Mr. Johnson is a member of the Christian Church. Mr. Johnson holds
Democratic views on political questions, and is a prominent
fraternity member, being at the present time Master of the Masonic
lodge at Poplar Bluff, and a member of the K. of H., I.O.O.F. and
A.O.U.W. lodges. Page 1080.
BENJAMIN C. JONES, M.D., of Poplar Bluff, is the son of Rev. Eli
Jones, a native of Virginia. Eli Jones experience is of
considerable interest. In his early life he came to Kentucky with a
crowd of horse racers and sporting men, but circumstances led to his
religious conversion, and he devoted his life to the ministry. He
prepared for it by entering the theological department of
Transylvania College, of Kentucky. He was a Presbyterian, and also
was engaged in teaching for a time. While engaged in his work he
met and married a Miss Hubbard, a native of Sumner County, Tenn.
Years after they located permanently in Obion County, where he lived
to be half a century old. Four children were the result of this
marriage. After his death she married again, becoming the mother of
three children by the second union. She died at the age of forty
years, an esteemed (Presbyterian) Christian woman. At Mayfield,
Ky., August 25, 1836, Benjamin C. was born, and losing his father in
his seventh and his mother in his sixteenth year, he had few
advantages. He worked in Kentucky after his mother s death, and
spent his scanty earning in school. But when twenty years old he
located at Bloomfield, Mo., and began the study of medicine with Dr.
R.P. Parrymore, whose daughter, Mattie E., he married in 1860. In
1861 he enlisted in Capt. G.S. Murray s company, of Arkansas,
Confederate States army, and after three months under the
quartermaster was transferred to the medical department. In July,
1863, he was taken prisoner and paroled. In 1864 he raised Company
E, Seventh Missouri Cavalry, Confederate States army, and was
elected first lieutenant and afterward promoted captain. He held
the position until June, 1865. He then practiced in Arkansas, but
since 1867 has been in Poplar Bluff. His twenty-three years of
active practice have been crowned with success, and he stands high
with his profession. The Doctor is county coroner, and is president
of the Poplar Bluff school board. He is a member of the Masonic
order. He is prominent in political circles, having served on the
Democratic, Senate and Congressional Committees, and being now
chairman of the County Democratic Committee. Pages 1080-1081
JUDGE ELI LACKS, probate judge and president of the county court,
was born in Jackson County, Ala., July 26, 1838. The career of his
father, John Lacks, is interesting. Born in Middle Tennessee, he
married a Miss Elizabeth Hill, of Madison County, Ala., and lived
there until their son was five years old, when they came to Butler
County. By trade he was a blacksmith, and of such renown that a
radius of twenty and thirty miles covered his patronage. Soon,
however, he drifted into political life and became the first
assessor of Butler County, and held the office for four years. He
was next elected to a term of four years as sheriff and collector,
and was always an earnest supporter of the Democracy. Both he and
his wife were Methodists, of which denomination he was a licensed
local minister. He died in 1862, having survived his wife for six
years. Of the nine children born to them, Eli C. was the third, and
the rural life of those early days gave him only the meager
advantages of six months of school; but the sturdy energy and self-
reliance developed by such a life made up for all deficiencies in
education. It was in 1858, when he was twenty years of age, that he
began independently, and also was married to Miss Catharine
Wisecarver, a native of Greene County, Tenn. The union has resulted
in seven children. The war turned the attention of Judge Lacks to
military affairs, and from June, 1861, he served four years in the
Confederate army. He was first lieutenant of Jennings company
about six months and adjutant of Reare s regiment a short time, also
receiving a commission as captain in the recruiting service. After
the conflict closed he engaged in teaching, sold patent medicines
three years, farmed, and afterward was occupied with merchandising.
He was elected assessor in 1872, and in 1884 became coroner. The
Judge was chosen to his present position in 1886. His career has
been accompanied with success in a financial sense as well as
otherwise. For ten years he was Master of the Poplar Bluff Masonic
Lodge No. 209, and now holds the office of secretary. He is also a
member of the K. of H. His political convictions are thoroughly
Democratic. Judge and Mrs. Lacks are members of the Methodist
Episcopal Church South. Page 1081.
HON. ROBERT P. LILES, a retired merchant at Poplar Bluff, was born
near Nashville, Tenn., October 4, 1835. His father, Jesse Liles,
was a young man when he left his native place in Georgia to live in
Tennessee, to follow his occupation as a house carpenter and farmer.
His public sentiments were strong, and led to a life-long adherence
to union and Democracy. His military service was under Gen. Jackson
in 1812. He married Miss Martha E. Gilbert in Tennessee, and in
1838 moved to Cape Girardeau County, Mo., where they died in 1866
and 1878, respectively. Both were esteemed members of the Methodist
Episcopal Church. Ten children were born to them, of whom Robert P.
was the eighth, and but three years old when they settled in
Missouri. His early life up to his twenty-second year was spent on
the farm and in the log schoolhouse hard by. His desires led him to
become a clerk, but this was interrupted by the war, and June 4,
1861, he joined for six months service in the Missouri State
Guards, and after that enlisted in Company F, Eighth Missouri
Cavalry, Confederates States of America. He served as first
lieutenant in the Missouri State Guards, but after enlisting in the
Confederate service, served as a private during the war. He was
with Gen. Sterling Price on his raid through Missouri in 1864,
fighting more or less day and night. He was in the actions at
Little Rock, Poison Springs, Saline River, Jenkins Ferry, Marks
Mill, Ditch Bayou, Helena, and other places. He surrendered in 1865
at Shreveport, La., and following that lived in Farmersville, La.,
two years, after which he moved to Missouri. In 1865 he married
Louise McLawchlin, a native of Louisiana, but of Scotch extraction.
Their only son died in infancy. In 1867 Cape Girardeau County, Mo.,
became their home, and after two years at farming, they moved to
Bloomfield, Stoddard County, and entered mercantile life. Since
1877, when worth less than $1,000, he has been in Poplar Bluff,
closely devoted to his interests as a merchant, until failing health
compelled him to retire from active life, but not before he had
become one of the wealthy residents of his adopted home. He was
chosen in 1880, by a large majority, to represent Butler County in
the Legislature. This is his only public experience as an officer,
except as councilman of Poplar Bluff. He is a Democrat, and a
member of the K. of H. Both Mr. and Mrs. Liles are Presbyterians.
Pages 1081-1092.
DR. JAMES C. McCOWN, farmer of Beaver Dam Township, was born in Woodford
County, Ky., in 1827, his parents being John and Eliza J. (Easton) McCown,
natives of Musser and Woodford Counties, Ky., respectively. They were
married in 1825, and the father died about four years later. He was of
Scotch-Irish descent and a farmer by occupation. The mother was married
the second time and lived some years in Missouri, but died in her native
county in 1863. The Doctor was the only child born to his parents. He
secured a good education at Central College, Danville, Ky., and in 1843 he
began the study of medicine and practiced some until 1850, when he
graduated at the Transylvania University, at Lexington, Ky. He practiced
without interruption for ten years, when failing health caused him to
abandon the same, and in 1864 he removed to Ralls County, Mo., and then to
Monroe, where he engaged in farming and stock-raising until 1878, when he
removed to Butler County, on Cane Creek, six miles west of Popular Bluff.
There he has since remained on a good farm of 343 acres. He was married in
1854 to Mary, daughter of John and Susan Jutty, of Clark County, Ky. Three
children were born to this union: Thomas, James and Georgia. Dr. McCown
is an earnest worker for the cause of education, and is a Democrat in his
political views, his first presidential vote, being for Lewis Cass, in
1848. He is an active worker for the Democratic party and is also foremost
in all enterprises that tend toward developing the resources of the country
and toward the advancement of the general public. He is a good farmer and
makes a specialty of improving the grade of his stock. He is a member of
the Baptist Church.
JOHN MANGOLD, manufacturer and dealer in all kinds of oak staves and
headings, was born in Dearborn County, Ind., in 1857, and is the son of
Joseph and Christina (Hoff) Mangold, natives of Alsace, France, who, when
children, came with their parents to the United States, and lived some time
at Pittsburgh, Penn., where they were principally reared. They afterward
went west to Dearborn County, Ind., where they were probably married, and
where Mr. Mangold died about 1883. The mother is still living there. Mr.
Mangold was a farmer and also followed the shoemaker s trade. They reared
nine children, seven of whom are now living. John Mangold was the youngest
child born to this union. He was educated in the schools of Dearborn
County, Ind., and at the age of nineteen began for himself. He went to
Butler County, and was in the saloon business at Harviell about five years.
He then kept a supply store for four years and was in the meantime engaged
in the stave business with eight or ten men, shipping to St. Louis and
various other points. This business he has since continued and now employs
from seventy-five to eighty men. He has a prosperous business which is
rapidly increasing. His shipment in 1887 was nearly $50,000, finding a
ready sale in all States, but principally in California. His staves and
headings are principally for large casks. This is the only enterprise of
the kind in Butler County. He has about 1,500 acres of choice timber land
and is one of the most prominent business men of Butler County, all this
property being the result of his own efforts. He was married in May, 1880,
to Miss Sophia, daughter of John and A.M. Hampel. She was born in
Jefferson County, Mo., and to their marriage were born three children. Mr.
Mangold is a Democrat, politically, and his first presidential vote was for
Gen. Hancock in 1880. He owns the most of Harviell, and considerable real
estate in Poplar Bluff. It might properly be mentioned in this connection
that Harviell is seven miles south of Poplar Bluff on the main line of the
Iron Mountain & Southern Railroad. It has a Western Union Telegraph
office, and express office and postoffice, and three general stores, one
drug store, one blacksmith shop, three saw mills and lumber yards, one
stave yard. It has 300 inhabitants. Mr. Mangold is a member of the
Catholic Church and is a prominent citizen. Page 1082.
HENRY H. MILES, sheriff of Butler County and the son of William and Rebecca
(Gaskin) Miles, was born in Spartenburg, S.C., April 10, 1841. The parents
were reared and married in South Carolina, and here the father spent the
greater part of his life engaged in farming. Having lived in his native
State until 1872, he and wife moved to Mississippi, where he died in 1877
at the age of eighty-four. He was a member of the Baptist Church, as is
also his wife, who is still living and is eighty years of age. The father
had, by a previous marriage, five children, and by his last marriage also
became the father of five children. He was Democratic in his political
views, and was a major in the War of 1812. Henry H., who was one of the
children born to the second marriage, grew to manhood on the farm and
received his education in the old Field School. At the age of twenty he
went to Mississippi and was overseer on a plantation until the breaking out
of the War, when he enlisted in the Confederate army as a private, under
Capt. T.H. Shackleford s company, and served until the close of the war.
He was promoted to the rank of captain of his company and was in the battle
of Fort Pillow, Island No. 10, where he was taken prisoner and held at Camp
Douglas and at Camp Randall. Being exchanged, he re-entered the service
and was in the battles of Champion s Hill, Vicksburg, Jackson and in the
Georgia campaign. He had two brothers killed in the army but he was never
touched. He returned to his home in South Carolina, and while there, in
1867, married Miss Laura Hollis, a native of Union County, S.C., born in
September, 1841. To this marriage were born four children, three now
living, two sons and one daughter. Having returned to Mississippi Mr.
Miles farmed until 1878, when he came to Butler County and here followed
the same occupation for three years. He then moved to Poplar Bluff, opened
a livery stable, and after running that a time, was chosen street
commissioner and then marshal of the city. In 1886 he was chosen sheriff
and is now one of the aldermen of Poplar Bluff. In his political views he
has affiliated with the Democratic party all his life and is a K.P. and a
K. of H. Pages 1082-1083.
LEONARD O. MILLS, a farmer of Epps Township, who was born in Jefferson
County, Tenn., in 1835, is the third of eight children born to Jaresiah and
Elizabeth (Hutcheson) Mills, natives of East Tennessee, where they lived
until 1852, when they moved to Butler County, and settled four miles
northwest of Poplar Bluff. About 1856 they moved to Cane Creek, where the
mother died in 1862 and the father in 1864. The father was a member of the
Missionary Baptist Church. The mother s people were natives of Virginia.
Thomas Mills, grandfather of Leonard O., was born in England, came to
America at the age of twenty-one and settled in Tennessee. Leonard O.
Mills received but a limited common school education and came with his
parents to Butler County. In 1862 he joined Company C, of Col. B. Jeffers
regiment under Gen. John L. Marmaduke, and operated in Arkansas and
Louisiana. He was captured at Cape Girardeau in May, 1864, and imprisoned
in St. Louis for about one month, when he was taken to Virginia and
exchanged in Demopolis, Ala., in June. He soon after rejoined his command
in Stoddard County, Mo., and remained in service until the close of the
war. He then spent a year in Arkansas, but returned to Butler County,
where he has since resided, engaged in agricultural pursuits, principally.
He was married in 1880 to Mrs. Susanna J. Spurlock, widow of N.B. Spurlock
and daughter of Thomas and Anna Mills, natives of Tennessee, where Mrs.
Mills was born. To this union were born two children, Jesse E. and William
Thomas. Mr. Mills, since his marriage, has lived on the old farm, which
consists of 188 acres of good land, all the result of his own labor and
good management. Mr. Mills is an earnest worker for the cause of education
and general upbuilding of the community. Politically a Democrat, his first
vote was cast for James Buchanan in 1856. He is a member of the Farmers
Alliance and of the Missionary Baptist Church. Soon after the war Mr.
Mills was registering officer and for many years road overseer. He had the
misfortune to lose his wife in 1886. Page 1083.
LEMUEL MILLS, a popular grocer of Poplar Bluff, was born March 28, 1839.
the lives of his parents, Thomas and Anna (Carmichael) Mills, ran along
evenly, the former from 1816 to 1875, and the mother s from 1815 to 1877,
and both were natives of Jefferson County, Tenn., where Lemuel was born
also. Both were members of the Baptist Church. They came to Butler County
in 1853, and here they spent the rest of their lives engaged in
agriculture. The father was one of the Georgia volunteers to assist in
removing the Indians from that State. In politics he was a Democrat. The
subject of this sketch was the eldest of eight children, and had few school
advantages. He joined the Missouri State Guards in 1861, and after serving
his time there enlisted in Company C, of Col. Jeffers regiment,
Confederate soldiers, where he served until the close of the conflict.
After some three years spent on a farm in Louisiana he returned to Butler
County, and, notwithstanding his early educational deficiencies, he made up
for it in personal application, and was enabled to become a teacher. He
alternated farming and teaching for a long time. In 1874 he began public
life as clerk of the county court, and served four years. He is now the
treasurer of Poplar Bluff. In 1883 he turned his attention to mercantile
life, first in conducting a harness store, and about a year later as
partner with M. Ferguson in the grocery business. The stock and building
were destroyed by fire in 1885, and with a capital of $166 Mr. Mills began
again, and now has a good stock and increasing trade. In politics he is a
Democrat. In 1877 Miss Hester O., a daughter of John Eudaley, an old
settler of Butler County, became his wife, and the union has been blessed
by five children, three of whom are living. Mrs. Mills is a Methodist.
Pages 1083-1084.
THOMAS H. MOORE. Among the earliest pioneers of Washington County, Mo.,
were James and Amanda (Williams) Moore. The former was born in North
Carolina in 1801, and the latter was a native of Virginia, born in 1806.
They reared a family of ten children on the old homestead, and lived to a
good old age, passing away in 1885 and 1887 respectively. Both were
esteemed members of the Presbyterian Church. The father s political
opinions changed with the war from Democratic to Republican. His youngest
son, Thomas H., was born at Caledonia, Washington County, September 1,
1846, and grew up with the usual rural advantages of a pioneer community,
and devoted himself to farming until his twenty-sixth year. He then, in
1872, came to Poplar Bluff, and engaged with W.F. Neal as clerk for $20 a
month and board. A season of illness led him to Ironton, where, after four
years clerkship, he returned to Mr. Neal s employ, and, except an interval
at Louisville, Ky., in a wholesale house, he remained with this gentleman
for ten years, four of which he was partner in the receipt of profits.
His ability and financial success have been such that in 1887 he withdrew
and formed the present firm, T. H. Moore & Co., one of the most
enterprising firms in the place. In 1880 Mr. Moore married Jennie Harvey,
a native of New York, but at an early age was brought to Iron County, Mo.
Of their four children three are now living. Mr. Moore is a strong
Democrat, and is now mayor of Poplar Bluff. He is a Mason and a member of
the K. of H. Page 1084.
JOSEPH W. MORRIS was born in Anderson District, S.C., in 1832, and is the
son of John and Rachel (Hopkins) Morris, natives of South Carolina, where
they resided until 1846, when they removed to Cherokee County, Ga., and
there the mother died in 1876, at the age or sixty-six. The father died in
1887, nearly eighty-eight years of age. Both were members of the Baptist
Church. Samuel Morris, grandfather of Joseph W., was born in Abbeyville
District, S.C., and was a soldier in the Revolutionary War. The subject of
this sketch was the sixth of fourteen children, ten of whom are living,
born to his parents. He never attended school but about three months, and
that was after attaining his majority. He went to Georgia with his
parents, and in 1854 married Miss Margaret E., daughter of John N. and
Rebecca Swords. She was born in South Carolina, and by her marriage became
the mother of four children, one now living, John Howard. Mr. Morris
served four years in Company F, Third Georgia Cavalry, and operated mostly
in East Tennessee, the last two years as lieutenant. In 1867 he removed to
Butler County, and settled on Wolf Creek, six miles west of Poplar Bluff,
where he has 300 acres. Although starting with nothing, he is now one of
the leading farmers of that county. Formerly a Whig, his first
presidential vote was for Gen. Taylor in 1848. He now affiliates with the
Democratic party. He is a member of the Masonic fraternity. Page 1084.
WILLIAM F. NEAL, one of the leading merchants in Poplar Bluff, is
a son of James W. and Nancy H. (Ford) Neal, natives of South
Carolina and Virginia, respectively. They were married in
Georgia, and here made their permanent home. He was a farmer by
occupation, and both were members of the Baptist Church. While
visiting his son in Butler County, Mo., the father died in 1878.
The mother then broke up housekeeping, and now lives with her
son. She is sixty-one years of age. In their family were six
children, three now living two sons and one daughter. The eldest
son, William F., was born in Dawson County, Ga., in October,
1846, and was reared in Whitfield County, on a farm. He secured
a fair education in the subscription schools, and in December,
1862, he enlisted in Company A, Fourth Georgia Cavalry,
Confederate States army, and served until the close of the war.
He was in the battle of Chickamaugua, was taken prisoner near
Knoxville, Tenn., and held fifteen months at Rock Island, Ill.
He then returned to his home, and engaged in agricultural
pursuits. In 1868 he married Miss Sarah J. Keith, a native of
Whitfield County, Ga., who was born, reared and married in the
same house. In 1870 Mr. Neal moved to Missouri, located at
Poplar Bluff, and in partnership with John F. Lane opened a
store, which he has since continued. He has had a number of
partners, but for the past twelve years has been principally by
himself. To Mr. and Mrs. Neal were born four children, two
living, both daughters. Although starting with comparatively
little means, Mr. Neal has succeeded well, and is now one of the
heaviest taxpayers of the county. He is a Democrat in politics,
is a member of the Masonic fraternity, belonging to the Chapter,
and he and wife are members of the Presbyterian Church. Pages
1084-1085.
WILLIAM W. NORMAN, proprietor of a saw and planing mill,
established his business at Ash Hill in 1887, and employs about
twenty men. They cut about 10,000 feet per day, and are doing a
thriving business. Mr. Norman was born in Scott County, Mo., in
1853, and is the son of Elias and Telitha (Matthews) Norman, who
died when William W. was but a boy, the father when he was two
years old and the mother when he was ten. He is the only child
living. After the death of his parents William W. hired as a
farm hand, with the promise of five months a year at the common
school. At the age of twenty-one he purchased a team and went to
logging, which occupation he continued for four years. Then he
and Mr. J.G. Scholz purchased a saw mill in Cape Girardeau
County, which he operated with success for four years. He then
purchased another, and at the end of a year Mr. Scholz retired,
and Mr. Norman continued the business. He as 680 acres of timber
land at Ash Hill, also has 200 acres in Scott County, and 700 or
800 acres in Cape Girardeau County, all the result of his own
hard work. He is one of the best business men in the county. He
was married in 1879 to Miss Mena Nussbaum, daughter of J.J. and
Wilhelmina Nussbaum, natives of Germany. Mr. Nussbaum died, but
Mrs. Nussbaum is still living, and is now a resident of Scott
County, Mo. To Mr. and Mrs. Norman were born three children:
Floy T., Lyman E. and Rosy L. Mr. Norman is a member of the
Masonic fraternity, and of the I.O.O.F., also of the A.O.U.W.,
and is a Democrat in his political views. He cast his first vote
for Rutherford B. Hayes. Page 1085.
GEORGE C. ORCHARD, dealer in groceries, provisions, and feed, was
born in Salem, Mo., September 1, 1860. William A. Orchard, after
his marriage with Rebecca S. Welborn, located at Salem, where he
carried on a line of merchandise, and also engaged in railway
contracting. He served in the late war as a captain in the
Confederate army. He died in 1882. His wife still survives him.
Both belonged to the Baptist Church. George C. is the second of
their three children. The Salem schools furnished his
preparatory education, and in 1883 he graduated from Bryant &
Stratton s Business College, at St. Louis. Thereupon he came to
Poplar Bluff and became a salesman and bookkeeper for Ferguson &
Co. he afterward clerked for R.P. Liles, and soon became his
partner. This continued until 1886, when he opened his present
establishment. Mr. Orchard s ability as a general dealer has
given him a first-class trade accompanied by the confidence of
the community. His political interests are with this Democratic
party. He now serves the city as clerk and assessor. In 1887 he
married Maggie Smith, a native of Illinois. He is a member of
the K. of P. Page 1085.
HON. WILLIAM L. OURY, proprietor of the Butler County Advocate,
is a Virginian, a native of Wythe County, where he was born June
29, 1840. His father, John M. Oury, still lives in Carroll
County, Miss., at the advanced age of seventy-eight years, and
has, during his varied career, been an earnest, progressive man.
He came from his native State of Virginia in 1844 to Mississippi.
His political views have passed through the changes of Whig,
Unionist and Democrat. In the Mexican War, he served in the
First Mississippi Regiment, and his former skill with the shears
and needle was gained on the same bench that taught President
Johnson that trade. His wife, Elizabeth (Duncan) Oury, a native
of South Carolina, died at the age of seventy-six years. Both
were members of the Christian Church. Nine children were born
to them, and the eldest but one is our subject. Young Oury
enjoyed the common school privileges, and spent a term in the
University of Oxford, Miss. His journalistic career began with
his printer s apprenticeship, at the age of sixteen years, but
this was interrupted in 1861 by his war service in Company I,
Eleventh Mississippi Infantry, Confederate States army. Both
battles of Manassas, Fredericksburg, Antietam, Wilderness,
Gettysburg, Spottsylvania Courthouse, and nearly all of Jackson s
Shenandoah Valley engagements witnessed his services, and
although he entered as a private, he received a captain s
commission before the close of the conflict. With the return of
peace he resumed his newspaper connection, and published the
Mississippi Conservative, and afterward the Brownsville (Tenn.)
Bee. After Missouri became his home, in 1882, he owned the West
Plains Gazette for about three years, but in 1887 purchased his
present paper. His journal is a bright and wide-awake sheet, and
represents its editor s views with fidelity. Mr. Oury is a
strong and uncompromising Democrat, and his qualities led to his
representing Carroll County, Miss., in the Legislature of that
State, while he was yet a resident. In fraternal matters he
supports the K. of H., A. O.U.W. and I.O.O.F. In 1864 he married
Miss Emma Hansbrough, a native of Mississippi. Eight children
have been born to them, and five are now living. Pages 1085-
1086.
F.G. OXLEY, president of the F.G. Oxley Stave Co., is the son of
Clare and Philadelphia (Oliver) Oxley, natives of Virginia.
Clare Oxley became a lawyer, and, soon after his marriage, began
the practice of his profession in Kentucky where he remained
until 1833. He then went to Boone County, Mo., where he was
associated as law partner with Sterling Price, the gentleman with
whom he served in the Mexican War, under a colonel s commission.
Soon after the close of the war he died. His political
predilections were of the Clay-Whig order. His widow lived to be
eighty-four years old. Six children were born to them, but only
two now are living. The subject of this sketch was born in Boone
County September 21, 1834, and received but few advantages in the
old country schools. After his father s death he became the main
support of the family. He has engaged extensively in the real
estate business, both in Eastern Kansas and Western Missouri,
aiding in the laying out of Leavenworth and Atchison. He was
engaged in the same line at Cincinnati, Ohio, in 1857, and
afterward became a druggist at Louisville, Ky. During the war
his attention was given to contracting to furnish beef for the
Union army. Since the war, however, he has been vigorously
pushing the stave business, and with such unexampled success that
his present company is probably the most extensive one of the
kind in existence. The firm has passed through many changes, but
Mr. Oxley always remains the leading spirit of it and established
the present firm in 1886. They have an extensive plant at Poplar
Bluff, one at Cincinnati, Ohio, and one at Junction City, Ky.
They employ vast resources and men, and ship to California, Cuba,
Liverpool, England, and many foreign ports elsewhere. Mr. Oxley
was married in 1867 to Miss Margaret J. West, a native of
Kentucky. Their two children, Robert F. and Mary E., are both
attending college in Kentucky. Mr. Oxley and his wife are
members of the Southern Methodist Episcopal Church. He is a
Democrat. Page 1086.
JUDGE JOHN C. PATTY, farmer and stock raiser, of Epps Township,
was born in Union District, S.C., in 1823, and is the third of
thirteen children born to Rev. Joshua and Nancy (Walker) Patty,
natives of South Carolina. The father was born during the
Revolutionary War, and was twice married. Five children were
born to his first marriage. He was of English-Irish descent, a
farmer by occupation, and was a soldier in one of the Indian
wars. He was also a Baptist minister, and followed his
ministerial duties nearly all his life. He removed to Sevier
County, Tenn. in 1831, and there died in 1862. His father, John
Patty, was born in South Carolina, and was a soldier in the
Revolutionary War. Mrs. Nancy Patty was born in 1805, and died
about 1873 in North Carolina. Her father, Robin Walker, was born
in South Carolina, of Irish descent, and was a soldier in the
Revolutionary War. He died in South Carolina. Judge John C.
Patty had very meager educational advantages, having never
attended school more than a few months in his life. He went to
Tennessee with his parents at the age of eight, and in 1844
married Mary Ann, daughter of Emanuel G. and Mary Jones, natives
of Tennessee. To Mr. and Mrs. Patty were born nine children,
five of whom are now living: Sallie, wife of John Whitsel;
Joshua; Johanna, wife of Enoch Langley; Lovey J., wife of Charles
Scarsgall, and Calodonia, wife of Albert Scarsgall. After
marriage, Mr. Patty settled in Blount County, Tenn., where he
remained until 1852, and then removed to Butler County, on Cane
Creek, where he purchased forty acres of land. He now has 980
acres of excellent land on Beaver Dam, all the result of his own
industry. He is a farmer, also a blacksmith and wagon-maker, and
is a natural mechanic, and one of the prominent citizens of
Butler County. He was a staunch union man during the war,
although he took no part in that struggle. Soon after that event
he was elected county judge, which position he held for six
years, and was then re-elected, but was legislated out, and
afterward served as probate and ex-officio county judge. At the
end of two years Mr. Patty was again elected, and served two
years with credit and distinction. Politically a life-long and
consistent Democrat, his first presidential vote was cast for
James K. Polk in 1844. Although not a member of the church, he
is a church worker and a moralist. Mrs. Patty and children are
members of the Missionary Baptist Church. Page 1086.
JOSEPH P. PORCH, another successful farmer and stock raiser of
Black River Township, was born in DeKalb County, Tenn. about
1842, and is the son of William and Sarah (Waldon) Porch. The
father was born in Sussex County, Va., and, at the age of nine
years, left the parental roof, and went with a neighbor to
Tennessee, where he was married. He settled in DeKalb County,
but removed from there to Smith County, and from there to Butler
County, Mo., in 1851. After reaching the last named county, he
settled in Black River Township, near where the town of
Hendrickson now stands. He passed the remainder of his life in
Butler and Wayne Counties, and was a life-long farmer. He was in
one of the early Indian wars. The mother was born in Wilson
County, Tenn., and died when Joseph P. was fourteen years of age.
He was the eldest of ten children, and knows very little about
any of his brothers and sisters. He received little or no
educational advantages, and at the age of ten years began working
as a farm hand, giving his wages to his father until twenty-one
years of age. He then enlisted in Company H, Thirty-first
Missouri Volunteer Infantry, and operated in nearly all the
Confederate States. He was in the siege of Vicksburg, Jackson,
Miss., Chattanooga, and all through the Georgia and Alabama
campaigns, and was also with Sherman in his famous march to the
sea. After the surrender at Raleigh he went on foot to
Washington, D.C., and participated in the grand review. He
returned to St. Louis, and was discharged in June, 1865. During
his whole experience of the war he was never wounded or captured.
In June, 1866, he married Miss Elizabeth Sandlin, a native of
Butler County. She died about 1878, and was the mother of four
children, only one now living. His first son, William, was born
February 6, 1867; Nancy was born May 7, 1869, and Dora Isabelle
was born June 2, 1871. Mr. Porch was married the second time, in
1880, to Miss Nancy, daughter of Lewis Johnson, and to this union
were born three children. Since his first marriage Mr. Porch has
lived on his present farm, which consists of 176 acres, all the
result of his own work, having started as a farm hand. He is an
industrious and enterprising citizen, and has the respect of all
who know him. He is a Republican in his political views, and his
first presidential vote was for Abraham Lincoln in 1864. he is a
member of the G.A.R., and he and wife are members, in good
standing, in the Missionary Baptist Church. Page 1087.
JOHN W. REED, farmer and stock raiser of Poplar Bluff Township, was
born in Hampshire County, Va., August 4, 1818, and is the son of
Abraham and Sallie (Hood) Reed, natives of Hampshire County, where
they lived until about 1832. They then removed to Clark County,
Ohio, and two years later to Princeton, Ind., where they passed their
last days. Both were of Dutch extraction, and members of the
Cumberland Presbyterian Church. Mr. Reed was a farmer and miller by
occupation, and was a soldier in the War of 1812 under Gen Harrison.
John W. Reed was the third of a family of eleven children. He never
attended school, but was obliged to stay at home and aid in supporting
the rest of the family. At the age of twenty-four he left the
parental roof and engaged in flat-boating on the Ohio and Mississippi
Rivers, where he remained about four years. He then started for
Galena lead mines, but stopped on his way in Jackson County, Ill., and
went to work on a farm, and was married here, in 1846, to Miss Sallie
Ellis, daughter of Stephen and Betsey Ellis, formerly of North
Carolina. This marriage resulted in the birth of five children, only
one, Richard, now living. Mr. Reed remained in Jackson County, Ill.,
until 1874, when he removed to Butler County, Mo., and there he has
since lived. He has lived on his present farm of 200 acres, situated
four miles north of Poplar Bluff, since 1884. It is a good tract of
bottom land. In August, 1861, he joined Company H Twenty-seventh
Illinois Volunteer Infantry, and at the battle of Belmont was severely
wounded, which disabled him for further service, and nearly resulted
in his death. He was discharged October 27, 1862. He is an earnest
worker for the cause of education, and for the general upbuilding of
the country. He is a conservative Republican in his political views,
was reared a Whig, and his first presidential vote was for Gen.
Harrison. He is a member of the Farmers Alliance, of the G.A.R., and
also a member of the Christian Church. Mrs. Reed died April 25, 1888,
at the age of seventy-two years. She was a member of the Methodist
Episcopal Church for many years and was formerly a Baptist of good
standing. Page 1087.
GEORGE W. REGISTER, notary public, real-estate agent and insurance
agent at Poplar Bluff, was born in Sullivan County, Ind., in 1844, and
is the son of Richard J. and Elizabeth P. (Davis) Register. The
father was born in Delaware in 181, and when young came to Indiana
with his mother. He was married in Sullivan County about 1843, and
was one of the pioneers. He spent all his life as a farmer, until two
years prior to his death, when he engaged in merchandising. He died
in 1868. His father was of French extraction, and died when Richard
was quite small. The mother of George W. was born in Sullivan County,
Ind., where she still lives, aged about sixty-two. Both parents and
grandparents were members of the Methodist Episcopal Church. George
W. was the eldest of three sons and one daughter. He attended the
common school until about sixteen years of age, when he spent four
years at New Lebanon Academy, one year at the State University and one
year, 1867-68, at the national Normal at Lebanon, Ohio. He began
teaching at the age of eighteen, and followed that occupation until
after he came to Missouri. He was principal of the Paxton graded
schools for five years, and principal of the Carlisle Seminary for two
years. From 1871 to 1875 he was superintendent of public schools of
Sullivan County, and was a member of the first County Superintendents
State Convention held at Indianapolis in 1873. He had the honor of
being chosen as one of the 100 eminent educators of Indiana, who
were asked to furnish their photos and autographs for an album, to be
placed in the educational department of that State, at the Centennial
at Philadelphia in 1876. He was married in 1868 to Miss Belle St.
Clair, who died in 1879. Three children were born to this union. In
1880 Mr. Register married Miss Dona Dickey, formerly of Montgomery,
Ala., but at that time living in Butler County, Mo. to them were born
four children. In 1881 Mr. and Mrs. Register removed to Woodruff
County, Ark., where he taught school. The same year he removed to
Ironton, Mo., and in 1882 came again to Poplar Bluff, and for two
years was principal of the public schools at that place. In 1884 he
again taught school in Woodruff County, Ark., but since 1886 has been
notary public. He has a good farm of fifty acres, one and a half
miles north of Poplar Bluff, where he resides. In politics Mr.
Register is a Democrat, casting his first presidential vote for
Horatio Seymour in 1868. He is an earnest worker for the triumph of
Democratic principles as expounded by Thomas Jefferson, and for the
elevation of the working classes to that condition in life in which
they may be able to share in the gains and honors of advancing
civilization. He is a member of the Masonic order, K. of L. and is
also a member of the Farmers Alliance. Mr. Register is a Methodist.
He was admitted to the Sullivan County bar about 1868, and again in
butler County in 1886, but never practiced law as a profession. He
was a prominent member of the Indiana Horticultural Society, and is a
member of the same society in Missouri. He organized the Wabash
Valley Normal School in 1873, which was of great utility for the
advancement of the educational interest. During the campaign of 1876
Mr. Register was editor of a campaign paper at Carlisle, Ind. Page
1087-1088.
DR. S.N. RUBOTTOM, a practicing physician and surgeon of Cane Creek
Township, was born at Greenville, Wayne County, in 1833, and is the
son of Ezekiel and Amelia (Parish) Rubottom. The father was born in
Chatham County, N.C., in 1770, and was married first in North Carolina
to Miss Bettie, daughter of Dr. Bettis, a survivor of the
Revolutionary War. Mr. Rubottom brought his family to Tennessee in
1803, and he was married the second time in 1810 to the mother of Dr.
S.N. He was a gunsmith and blacksmith by trade, and worked some for
the Indians. He died in 1857. He was once or twice a member of the
Legislature, when it convened at St. Charles. He was also for several
years county judge and justice of the peace, etc. He was a life-long
Democrat, and a man of considerable influence. His father was a
native of Wales, and a soldier in the Revolutionary War. Mrs. Amelia
Rubottom was born in Richmond, Va., and was the daughter of John
Parish. She died in 1844. Dr. S.N. Rubottom was the seventh of eight
children. He attended the common schools in Missouri, and from the
age of fourteen to twenty lived with Dr. V.M. Capp, a brother-in-law.
Subsequently he began the study of medicine, and took one course at
the St. Louis Medical College. In 1861 he began practicing at
Greenville, and has continued practicing ever since with success. He
was married in 1859 to Miss Eliza, daughter of John and Elsie
Wisecarver, and a native of Cape Girardeau County. Her people were
early settlers of Butler County. To this union were born seven
children. In 1866 the Doctor settled on his present farm, which
consists of 120 acres of Cane Creek, sixteen miles northwest of Poplar
Bluff. He is an earnest worker for the cause of education, is a
Democrat in politics, and a member of the Farmers Alliance. Pages
1088-1089.
HARVEY I. RUTH, manager of the Poplar Bluff Lumber & Manufacturing
Company, was born near Reading, Pa., September 24, 1864. He is a son
of Isaac and Elizabeth (Ruth) Ruth, both of whom were also natives of
the Keystone State. The elder Ruth was a man of extensive means, and
was devoted to its careful management and investment. The parents
both died within a month of each other in the year 1871, leaving eight
children. Harvey, then but a boy of seven years, was adopted by an
uncle whose interest in him has always been of the kindest. He was
educated in the public schools, and spent some time at Wellison s
Seminary in Western Massachusetts. He was but nineteen years of age
when he was sent to take charge of the extensive interests of the
company he now represents, but the skill he has displayed in carrying
it on indicates that his employers had been careful to choose a master
hand. A large stationary saw-mill, with two portable mills as
feeders, and a large planing-mill, fall under his care. He employs in
all about three hundred men, and turns out an annual product of about
three and a half million feet. Mr. Ruth is a Republican, and is a
member of the K. of P. page number 1089
MARSHALL E. SHELTON, D.D.S., is the son of James M. and Elizabeth
(Cooper) Shelton, the latter a cousin of Gen. R.E. Lee, James
Fenimore Cooper and Peter Cooper. James Shelton was born while
his parents were passing through Ohio, en route from Virginia to
Indiana, where at Knightstown, he settled after his marriage and
engaged in horticulture, producing an extensive variety of
fruits. Both were earnest Christians, he belonging to the
Methodist Episcopal Church and she holding the Presbyterian
faith. His political views were Republican. Both parents were
born in 1822, but the father died in 1883. The mother, a native
of Milton, Ind., now resides at Knightstown, that State, and has
lived to see five of her seven children mature. Her two sons are
engaged in the legal and dental professions. Marshall E. was
born near Knightstown, Ind., March 12, 1858, and received his
literary training in the high school of that place. In 1879 he
entered the profession of dentistry and graduated at the dental
department of the University of Tennessee in Nashville. He at
once located at Cape Girardeau, Mo., and while there was married
to Mrs. Emma Duncan (nee Block), who was born at New Orleans in
1858. They have one daughter, Matilda. He is a member of the
Christian Church, while his wife is a Presbyterian. The Doctor
is a Mason, and holds the political faith of the Republican
party. He has been especially successful in the line he has
chosen, so that he was, in 1885, invited to lecture on the
diseases and surgery of the mouth, in the College of Physicians
of St. Louis. Since 1886, however, he has been the possessor of
a large and lucrative practice at Poplar Bluff, and is now in the
seventh year of his professional life. Page 1089.
ANDREW JACKSON SIMMS, farmer, was born in Perry County, Tenn., in
1853, and is a son of William and Jemima (Lisco) Simms. The
father was born in Mississippi in 1804, and when quite small
removed with his parents to South Carolina, where he was reared.
He then went to Perry County, where he was married about 1830,
and lived there until 1857, when he removed to Butler County,
Mo., and settled near Neelyville. He died there in 1864. He was
a farmer and the father of thirteen children. The mother was
born in Perry County, Tenn., and died the winter before the death
of her husband. Both were members of the Methodist Episcopal
Church South. After the death of his parents, Andrew J. Simms
began for himself, and traveled through Arkansas, Tennessee and
Texas. After attaining his growth, he attended the West Plains
school two years, and after that farmed, with the exception of
three years prior to 1884, when he was engaged in the saloon
business at Neelyville. He was married in March, 1881, to Miss
Dora E., daughter of Dudley and Lovina Lamdin, formerly of
Illinois, where Mrs. Simms was born. This union resulted in the
birth of three children, two now living: Lewis Edgar and William
Alonzo. Soon after marriage Mr. Simms settled one mile southwest
of Neelyville, where he has eighty acres, sixty of which are
improved. He is a Republican, politically, and occupied the
position of justice of the peace from 1880 to 1881. He is a
member of the Christian Church, and an earnest worker for the
cause of education and for the general welfare of the country.
Page 1089.
JOHN SOUDERS, another successful farmer of Poplar Bluff Township,
was born in Edmondson County, Ky., in 1852, and is the son of
Isaac and Avan (Amos) Souders, natives of Kentucky, born in 1828
and 1830, respectively. Soon after marriage, they settled in
Butler County, Ky., and in 1881 he came to Butler County, Mo.,
where the mother died in 1884. The father is still living, and
follows agricultural pursuits for a livelihood. John Souders was
the third of eight children. He was reared in Butler County,
Ky., with little education, and in 1872 married Miss Martha,
daughter of John Gamble. She was born in Warren County, Ky., and
by her marriage became the mother of two children: Martha F. and
Anna F. Mr. Souders removed to Butler County, Mo., in 1880, and
settled on Black River, near Hillyard, with about ten acres
cleared. He first rented for two years, but now has 120 acres of
good land, ninety of which are cleared, and has a fine residence.
He has always followed agricultural pursuits, and has been
reasonable successful at the same. He is a Republican,
politically, and a member of the Farmers Alliance. Mrs. Souders
is a member of the Christian Church. Mr. Souders has held many
minor offices in his county, and is a good citizen. Pages 1089-
1090.
MILTON S. SPRADLING, farmer, and son of Obadiah and Lucinda
(Milan) Spradling, was born in Henry County, Tenn., in 1827. His
parents were born in Indiana and Virginia, respectively. The
father was in the War of 1812, was at the battle of New Orleans,
and afterward went to Virginia, where he was married. He then
removed to Henry County, Tenn., and here followed the occupation
of a carpenter and millwright. He died at Charlotte, Tenn., in
1862. His father was a native of England, was in the
Revolutionary War, and died in Indiana. His weight was 480
pounds. The mother of Milton S. died in 1845. Her father,
Thomas Milan, was a Frenchman, and a light horseman in the
Revolutionary War. The subject of this sketch was the seventh of
ten children. He received but little educational advantages, and
at the age of fourteen began business for himself as a
blacksmith, which occupation he followed for eight years. He has
followed the occupation of a carpenter and millwright off and on
ever since. In 1854 he married Mary Ann Beasley, a native of
Humphreys County, Tenn., and to this union were born ten
children, seven now living: William and Barney (twins), Mary J.
(wife of William Helens), James, Joseph U., Bettie Ann (wife of
Wilson McIlwain) and Thomas. In 1860 Mr. Spradling removed to
Butler County, Mo., and settled near Poplar Bluff. He has
resided in this place for about twenty years, and has a good farm
of 400 acres. He is a good citizen, and has the respect of all.
He has spent considerable time in the study of minerology, and
has had some practical experience of the same on his own farm.
About 1882 he was informed by a Choctaw Indian, who had formerly
lived in Butler County, that rich gold fields were on his farm.
Investigation by a California gold digger proved this to be the
case, and Mr. Spradling is making preparations for developing
this hidden wealth. Mrs. Spradling died about 1876, and in 1883
Mr. Spradling married Mrs. Lucinda Harrison, nee Clements. Mr.
Spradling is a Democrat politically, and his first presidential
vote was cast for Taylor in 1848. He is a member of the Farmers
Alliance, and also a member of the Methodist Episcopal Church.
Page 1090.
G.A. STANDARD, attorney at Poplar Bluff, is the son of Thomas M.
and Temperance (Osborn) Standard. The parents were born, reared,
and married in Illinois, and are of English descent. The father
is a farmer by occupation, he is a member of the Presbyterian
Church, as was also his wife, who died when her son G.A. was a
small boy. The father married again, and in 1887 moved to this
county. He was the father of two sons by his first marriage,
only one now living, and five children by the second marriage,
only two now living. He was a Democrat in his political views.
G.A. Standard was born in Union County, Ill., April 15, 1852, and
received his literary education in the common schools and at
Ewing College. He educated himself, teaching and going to school
by turns, and after finishing his education continued to teach
for some time. After reading law at Vienna, Ill., and having
prepared for an examination for legal license, he decided to come
to Missouri, and in 1880 came to Poplar Bluff, where he took
charge of the city schools, holding the position of principal for
three years. In 1882 he was admitted to the bar, and in the fall
of the same year was elected prosecuting attorney for Butler
County, holding the office four years. In 1882 he married Miss
Emma Varner, a native of Butler County, who bore him two
children, both sons. Mr. Standard has been a member of the
Poplar Bluff bar for six years, and is also interested in farming
and stock raising. He is a member of the I.O.O.F., and is a
Democrat in politics. Page 1090.
MICHAEL D. TREECE, dealer in general merchandise is a native of
Perry County, Tenn., born November 30, 1833. His paternal
grandparents came from Germany, but his parents, Samuel B. and
Sarah (Ketchersides) Treece were born in Bedford County, Tenn.
Perry County became their home after marriage, until in 1835,
when they moved to Alabama. They returned, however, after the
war, and there spent the remainder of their lives. The father
was a blacksmith by trade. Their religious home was the
Methodist Episcopal Church South, and his fraternity spirit found
expression in the Masonic order. He was a Democrat. Seven
children were born to them, of whom Michael D. was the fourth.
Young Treece gained enough of an education to do business after
he had reached the age of nineteen years. Soon after this he
began in a harness and shoe shop, where he spent the next fifteen
years of his life. He had charge of a government shop for a time
during the Civil War, and after some time in his trade in Alabama
and Tennessee, he came to Poplar Bluff. He worked by the day for
a short time, and purchased a small stock of goods, chiefly on
borrowed capital, owning about $20 worth in a stock of $200. To
this he added a repair shop, and his business has so increased
and prospered that it now occupies a two-story block 26x52 feet.
He is a Democrat, and has served both as justice of the peace
and city alderman. In 1855 he married Mariah J. Holley, a native
of Tuscaloosa County, Ala., and their union has resulted in three
sons and two daughters. Mrs. Treece is a Baptist. Page 1090-
1091.
B.F. TURNER, another successful farmer of Butler County, was born
in Logan County, Ky., in 1828, and is the son of Willis and Sarah
(King) Turner, natives of Fairfax County, Va., where they were
reared and married. They afterward moved to Kentucky, thence to
Illinois, and from there, in about 1856, to Butler County, Mo.,
where they both died about 1860. The father was a soldier in the
War of 1812, and a farmer by occupation. B.F. Turner was the
eighth of eleven children. He was educated in the common
subscription schools and went with his parents to Massac County,
Ill., but in 1857 came to Butler County, where he married in
1859. He has seven children. Mr. Turner has since lived in
Butler County, one mile northwest of Poplar Bluff, and has 3,000
acres of land, also owning land in Kentucky. After serving one
term as public administrator, he was elected sheriff in 1868 and
served two terms of two years each. He subsequently filled the
position, two terms, a few years afterward. He is now engaged in
farming and stock raising, and his property is the result of his
own labor and good management. Politically, a Republican, his
first presidential vote was for J.C. Bell in 1860. Mr. Turner is
a member of the Masonic fraternity, the I.O.O.F. and the K. of P.
Page 1091.
MILTON J. WYATT, druggist Poplar Bluff, was born in Gibson
County, Tenn., April 4, 1848. He is the son of Alfred and
Narcissa (Banks) Wyatt, both born, reared and married in North
Carolina. They afterward moved to Tennessee, and in 1858 to
Ripley County, Mo., where they are both living at the present
time, the father engaged in agricultural pursuits. When Price
made his raid through Missouri, Mr. Wyatt was caught up and taken
along. He served a term as public administrator of Ripley
County, and is a much respected citizen. Both he and wife are
members of the Southern Methodist Church. Of the nine children
born to their union, five are now living, one son and four
daughters. Milton J. Wyatt was reared a farmer boy, and received
a limited education, owing to the scarcity of schools at that
time. He was about nineteen years of age when Price made his
raid through Missouri, and was taken with his father. He began
business for himself as a bar-tender, and some time after he kept
a saloon of his own. Subsequently he turned his attention to
farming and then to the timber business. In 1886 he engaged in
the drug business, and after a partnership with O.P. Adams of
short duration, he became sole proprietor. He came to Butler
County, Mo. in 1886. In 1873 he married Miss Theressa Cook, a
native of Illinois, and a member of the Methodist Episcopal
Church. Mr. Wyatt is a member of the Masonic fraternity, is a
Democrat in politics, and is a man who will succeed in any
undertaking. Page 1091