Greene County Biographies


From  The History of Greene County, Missouri," 
St. Louis: Western Historical Company, 1883



William Murray
This subject is a native of McMinn County, Tennessee, born June 24, 
1829.  His parents were Renne and Anne Murray, the former a native of
North Carolina, born May 25, 1801, and living in Greene County at this
writing.  When William was a small boy his father removed to Gibson
County, Tenn., where his mother died.  From thence they moved to Monroe
County, where William was chiefly educated.  He came West in 1852, and
crossed the plains to the gold country (California) where he remained
over two years, returning to Tennessee, in the fall of 1854.  In 1855,
he came out to Missouri, locating in Greene County, and the next year
purchased the place where he now resides in Boone Township.  He has 
added to his original purchase from time, till he now owns a fine farm
of 360 acres, and is one of the best and most successful farmers of the
township.  He was married March 8, 1853, to Miss Melinda Stone, a nat-
ive of Tennessee.  Her father was James and her mother Meriline (Brow-
der) Stone, both of Tennessee.  Mr. Murray and wife have nine living
children, named: Thomas J., Mahala E., William B., Harvey, Melinda J.,
Sarah B., Mary E., Charles and George.  Both Mr. Murray and wife are
members of the Methodist Episcopal Church South.  The land, now com-
prising Mr. Murray's farm, was an unbroken wilderness when he first
came to the county.  He has, however, by perseverance and industry,
improved it into a splendid homestead, and has 150 acres of it under
fence, the most of which is in a high state of cultivation.



Abel J. Neaves
Mr. Neaves was a native of Kentucky, born October 12th, 1833.  His
parents brought him to Missouri when he was an infant.  His father,
Thomas B. Neaves, was sheriff and representative of this county. 
Abel grew to manhood and was educated in this county.  He was a farm-
er and stockdealer, and one of Greene's best citizens.  The farm he
owned is the one his surviving wife, now Mrs. S. A. Bodenhamer, 
resides upon.  He was married in Arkansas, January 29th, 1854, to 
Miss Sarah A., daughter of Phillip C. Holledger, of Pope county,
Arkansas.  They were blest with four children, three of whom still
survive, all daughters.  Mr. Neaves was a Southern man during the
war, and was a recruiting captain for Waldo P. Johnson.  He was 
killed at Yellville, Arkansas, in October, 1863.  During his lifetime
he was a member of the Cumberland Presbyterian Church.



Charles S. Neiswanger
This gentleman is the son of Isaac and Elizabeth S. (Askew) Neiswanger,
and was born at St. Clairville, Ohio, April 14, 1849.  In 1868 he went
to St. Louis, Mo., but soon after came to Springfield where he was in
the drug store of Milner & Co. for two years.  He then went back to St.
Louis, where he graduated in the St. Louis College of Pharmacy, and 
also took a private course in chemistry at Washington University under
Professors Leonardt and F. E. Nipher.  He returned to Springfield in 
1880, where, upon January 11th, of that year, he was married to Miss
Hayes.  They have one child, Helen.  Mr. Neiswanger's father is a noted
veterinary surgeon, of St. Clairville.  He and his wife reared a family
of four boys and four girls, all of whom are living.  Neiswanger Bros. 
have one of the best appointed retail drug stores in Southwest Missouri
and do the largest retail business in the city.  Charles S. and his 
wife are members of the Calvary Presbyterian church.



John W. Nelson
Was born in Montreal, Canada, March 19, 1842.  His parents were William
and Martha Nelson, the former being still alive and residing in Ray
county, Missouri, though the latter died in 1856.  He was but five 
months old when his parents came to Missouri, and located in Ray county
where, besides the father, four brothers and two sisters still reside.
He began "firing" on the H. & St. Joe R.R. in 1859, continuing till
1861, when he enlisted for the war in Company E, 13th Missouri infantry
serving therein till captured by Gen. Price at Lexington.  Being parol-
ed, he remained at home till his exchange in January, 1862, then enter-
ed the 3rd Missouri Cavalry as sergeant, and marched from Chillicothe
to Pea Ridge, via Springfield, participating in the battles of both
those places and at Prairie Grove.  In May 1864, he re-enlisted in the
13th Missouri and served till mustered out at Leavenworth, Kansas.  Go-
ing then to Rolla, Missouri, he began working for the St. L. & S.F.R.R.
company, and was brakeman on the first regular reight that ran to 
Levanon.  In 1870 he began "firing" on the same road, and in 1874 was
given charge of an engine, since which time he has served steadily as
engineer.  Mr. Nelson was married October 15, 1866, to Elizabeth 
Charles, by whom he has had four children, two of whom are still living.
He is a member of the Springfield Lodge, No. 218, I.O.O.F., the Temple
of Honor, and the Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers.



John Glenn Newbill
The eldest son of T. G. Newbill is a native of Southwest Missouri, his
birth place being in the northeast corner of what is now Webster County.
His childhood was passed on his father's farm, two and one half miles
west of the city of Springfield.  He was educated principally in the
district school and schools of Springfield, and studied three years un-
der the tutorship of Dr. Wm. V. Allen, formerly of Bates County, Mo.
For several years while prosecuting his studies, he alternately worked 
on the farm and taught in the public schools of Greene and Bates count-
ies.  Returning in 1876 from a two years' trip to the Pacific coast, he
afterwards engaged in the business of journalism.  At present he is the
editor of the Springfield Express, one of the leading and most reliable
Democratic papers in the Southwest, in which capacity he has labored
with untiring energy since the establishment of the paper on the 1st
day of April, 1881.  He is also secretary of the Democratic Central
Committee of Greene County.  He was married on the 4th day of the pre-
ceding January, to Miss Carrie Leona Rhoades, daughter of B. T. and
Ottilie Rhoades, of Montgomery County, Illinois.  Mr. and Mrs. Newbill
are the parents of one child, Albert Glenn Newbill, born to them Feb-
ruary 1st, 1882.



Tyree Glenn Newbill
Father of the subject of the preceding sketch, was born in Franklin
County, Virginia, May 17, 18??.  He was married December 1st, 1846,
to Nancy A. Johnson, only daughter of James M. and Elizabeth Johnson,
and in the following year removed to Southwest Missouri, locating on
the farm now owned by Dr. H. H. Lea, in the northeast corner of the
territory now known as Webster County.  Three years afterward he re-
moved to Greene County, where he purchased the fine farm of Samuel
McClelland, two and one half miles west of Springfield.  Here he en-
gaged largely in agriculture and stock raising, and was one of the
foremost men in the county in the importation and breeding of the
different kinds of fine stock.  In the spring of 1854 he took a drove 
of cattle and wagon train across the plains to the Golden State, re-
turning home by way of Panama and New York in the following autumn.
As will be seen elsewhere in this work, he was twice elected president
of the Southwest District Agricultural and Mechanical Association for
the two years prior to the war, at which time that association stood
in the front ranks of similar institutions of the kind in the West.
He was also prominently connected with the association as a member of 
the board of directors from its inception up to that time.  In the
political campaign of 1860 he was a staunch supporter of Douglas, but
in the late war he took the side of the Lost Cause.  In the early part
of the winter of 1860 he went to Bell County, Texas, to close up his
stock business there, after which he was never nearer his home in
Greene County than when confined for a few weeks as a prisoner of war
in the old McDowell College, St. Louis, in the summer of 1863.  After
his release he again went South to engage in cotton speculation, where 
it is supposed he lost his life in the month of December, 1864, the 
date of his last letter to his family, as nothing was ever learned of
his whereabouts afterwards.  His wife and six children are living,
five in Greene and one in Bates County.



Job Newton
This gentleman was born in the State of Delaware, July 26, 1826 and 
came to St. Louis, Mo., in 1838.  In 1849 he crossed the great plains
to California, leaving St. Louis in March and reaching California in
the following September.  The train he was with took the first merch-
andise to Salt Lake.  In 1851 he returned to St. Louis, and in 1854 
he re-crossed to California and freighted goods for John Howe, with a
large wagon train.  He returned to St. Louis January 8, 1855, and upon
the 5th of October, again started to California, going by way of the
Isthmus of Panama.  He came back to St. Louis in 1856, where he re-
mained until 1868, when he came to Springfield, and brought his family
the year following.  He was engaged in the general merchandise business
until 1872, and then embarked in the general produce trade, which he
still carries on.  He was elected to the city council in 1869, from the
fourth ward, upon the Democratic ticket.  He has always taken an active
part in the building up of the city, and was a leading spirit in the
erection of the opera house.  He was married in September, 1856, to
Miss Minerva C. Ault.  They were blest with five children, all sons,
three of whom are now living.  Mr. Newton is a Royal Arch Chapter Mason
St. John's Commandery, No. 20.  His father died when he was but an in-
fant, and his mother died in St. Louis soon after her removal to that
city.  Mr. Newton is one of the stauch business men of Springfield, and
has done much to advance her commercial interests.



Lewis A. Newton
This gentleman is the son of Henry W. and Mary (Coleman) Newton, and
was born June 16th, 1832, in Caroline county, Virginia.  He was reared
upon the farm, and attended Richmond College for three years.  After
completing his education he returned to the farm and lived there until
1859, when he moved to Lawrenceburg, Kentucky, where he taught school
two terms, and then went to Owensburg, Kentucky.  He returned to Law-
renceburg soon after, and upon the 30th of September, 1860, was married
to Miss Eliza V., daughter of Edwin Martin.  Their union was blest with
nine children, four boys and five girls.  He came to Springfield, Mo.,
in October, 1860, but soon went to Cassville, Barry County, and follow-
ed his profession of teaching.  In the spring of 1862 he returned to
Springfield, and accepted the position of first clerk in the quarter-
master's department, which position he held until November, 1865.  In
January, 1866, he went with Captain R. B. Owens to Fort Riley, Kansas,
and took charge of the abstract department.  In November, 1866, he came
back to Springfield, Missouri, and engaged in prosecuting claims again-
st the government.  He was elected upon the Democratic ticket to the 
office of county collector, in 1874, and served two years.  In 1869 he
was city assessor, and a member of the council in 1871, and has been a
member of the school board as one of the directors.  Mr. Newton is a
Mason, and he and his wife are members of the Baptist church.  His
father died in 1852 and his mother in 1876.  They had seven children,
four boys and three girls, of whom Lewis A. is the oldest.



Danton H. Nichols
Mr. Nichols has the reputation of being one of the most popular offic-
ials of the St. Louis & San Francisco Railway Company.  Thrown upon his
own resources at the age of seventeen, with a fair education, having
attended the Illinois military academy two and a half years previous, 
he came to Missouri and engaged in braking on a freight train, and has
since held various positions on the St. Louis & San Francisco railway,
which he filled satisfactorily to the company, and thereby gained their
confidence and respect, which induced them to appoint him superinten-
dent of the A. & P. division of the road in 1875, and in 1881, promoted 
him to master of transportation, which position he holds at present. He
is the son of Mathias H. and Sylvia S. Nichols, born in Allen county,
Ohio, August 14, 1849.  On the 8th day of September, 1874, he married
Miss Katie Cummings, daughter of Daniel and Mary Cummings, of St. Louis.
They have three children, Mamie, Sophia and Danton. Mr. Nichols belongs 
to St. John's commandery, No. 20, Knights Templar.  He is also past 
master of Wentworth Lodge, No. 113, A.O.U.W.  Socially, Mr. Nichols is 
an affiable and agreeable companion.  His motto, to which he has rigid-
ly adhered in business, is to do that which his sense of right demands,
leaving the consequences to take care of themselves.



William H. Noe
Mr. Noe is a son of L. F. and Catherine M. (Holmes) Noe, and was born
in Monmouth County, New Jersey.  He was educated in the public schools
of Livingston County, New York, and followed farming until his eight-
eenth year, when he dealt in horses for some time, and then he engaged
in railroad building, taking charge of the horses used in the trans-
portation of track and building material.  After this he became a 
contractor and builder of railroads, and built first the road from
Housatonic to Danbury, Connecticut.  He then took a contract upon the
old Duchess and Columbia R. R., then upon the Stanford and New Canaan
railway, and many smaller contracts upon leading roads.  He laid the
foundation for the Rockland Print Works, taking a contract to remove
seven thousand yards of "hard pan" in thirty days.  He finished the
work in just twenty days.  Mr. Noe made the beautiful and extensive
improvements upon the grounds of W. T. Garner, on Staten Island.  He
then came West, taking contracts and handling stock.  He bought land
in Greene County, and has one of the best improved farms in this sec-
tion, stocked with the finest breeds of horses, cattle and hogs.  In
politics Mr. Noe is a Democrat.



Walter A. Noleman
Mr. Noleman was born May 25th, 1848, in Jefferson County, Illinois.  In 
1868 he commenced firing on an engine on the Illinois Central railroad,
and worked at it four years.  He then ran a switch engine in the yards
at Centralia, Illinois, several months.  He then removed to Stone coun-
ty, Missouri and engaged in sheep raising for two years.  He next went
to firing upon the St. L. and S. F. railway, and was promoted engineer
upon that celebrated road, and is now running an engine.  Mr. Noleman
was married to Miss Elizabeth M. Thompson, of Centralia, Illinois.
Their union has been blest with one daughter, Sarah Ann.  Mr. Noleman
is a member of 'Frisco Lodge, Division No. 5, Brotherhood of Locomotive
Firemen.



William S. Norfleet
Mr. Norfleet is the son of David and Elizabeth (Shackleford) Norfleet,
and was born March 10, 1826, in Wayne County, Kentucky.  His parents
emigrated to Polk County, Missouri, in 1838, and at the age of eighteen
William came to Springfield, and went to school to J. A. Stephens, who
was killed by Zagonyi's men in their charge into Springfield, in 1861.
He lived here until 1848, and studied medicine in the office of Dr.
Shackleford.  In the fall of 1848 he went to Sarcoxie, Jasper County,
and practiced his profession for a time.  In the spring of 1850, he
went to California, and returned in the winter of 1854, to Springfield.
He next purchased a farm on Grand prairie, four miles northwest of the
city, where he dealt largely in stock.  He sold the farm in 1863, and
in 1868 he bought another farm upon Kickapoo prairie, a mile and a half
southwest of Springfield, where he lived until September 15, 1881, when
he moved into Springfield.  He suffered greatly during the war at the
hands of the soldiers, his stock driven off, and himself kept a prison-
er for a week in the court house.  Mr. Norfleet was married May 13, 
1858 to Miss Elizabeth C. Shultz, a native of Tennessee.  Their union
has been blest with seven children, five of whom are now living, three
sons and two daughters.  He is a Mason, and his wife is a member of the
Methodist Episcopal Church South.  His father sold goods for a while at
Ebenezer, this county, but was a farmer most of his life.  He died in
Texas, in 1868, and his mother died in 1862 at Ebenezer.  They reared
four boys, all now living, William S. being the oldest.  Mr. Norfleet
is one of Greene's affluent citizens and a thorough gentleman.



Dr. A. J. Norris
This gentleman was born in Lincoln County, Kentucky, June 24, 1836.
When he was but six years of age he walked three miles to school.  The
doctor says his teacher knew the front part of the spelling book, but
stuttered so badly the scholars could hardly understand him.  He also
states that in four days he mastered the alphabet, which had been cut
out of the book and pasted upon a shingle for his especial benefit. He
was then taken sick and lay upon a bed of pain for four years and arose
a cripple for life.  He then went to school a short time, and at the 
age of seventeen he began teaching school, which he followed for fif-
teen years.  When the civil war came on he enlisted in the 19th Ken-
tucky Volunteers, United States Infantry, and served for nine months
when he was discharged for disability.  He then entered the secret 
service and served as a spy for eighteen months.  He then assisted in
raising a battalion of cavalry, known as Hall's Gap Tigers, with which
he served until the close of the rebellion.  He was in several hard
fought battles and skirmishes, including the sanguinary battle at 
Perryville.  At the close of the war he attended school in Illinois
and resumed the occupation of teaching.  He went to Kansas in 1867 and
taught school in Council Grove, read medicine, and in 1870 went to
Fayetteville, Arkansas where he read law three years, taught school
and prosecuted claims against the government.  He then turned his
attention to one branch of the medical profession, viz.: Ophthalmia.
The doctor moved to Ash Grove, Greene County, Mo., in 1876, where he
fitted up a hotel, known as the Empire House.  To use his own words,
he is "an oculist, hotel-keeper, livery stable boss, notary public,
real estate and insurance agent, a Greenbacker in good standing, prac-
tices law for exercise and preaches for fun.  He is a whole souled,
genial gentleman and one of the substantial citizens of Greene County.



Aaron Nutt
Mr. Nutt is the son of Moses and Catherine (Haley) Nutt, and was born
in Burlington County, New Jersey, February 22, 1810.  His father was a
soldier in the War of 1812.  His parents moved to Pennsylvania, and in
1822 they moved to Clermont County, Ohio.  When Aaron was about four-
teen years of age his father was killed by the falling of a tree while
chopping in the woods.  Aaron was then bound out and learned the black-
smith's trade.  In 1831 he worked at his trade at Cincinnati, and for
about two years followed steamboating.  In 1836 he went to Fort Smith,
Arkansas, and worked at his trade.  In 1838 he went to the Choctaw 
Nation, where he followed his trade until 1852, and was said to be the
best blacksmith in the nation.  In 1852 he came to Springfield, Mo.,
and went to work for Maupin & Perkins.  He was soon made foreman and
held the position two years, and then carried on a shop for himself.
In 1857 he moved out upon the farm where he now resides, and is one of
Greene's most substantial citizens.  He was one of the charter members
of the first Odd Fellow's Society in this county.  Mr. Nutt was marr-
ied January 11, 1853, to Miss C. Blackman, daughter of Stephen and
Matilda (Campbell) Blackman.  Their union has been blest with eight
children, five of whom are now living, viz.: Stephen R., Kate, Lizzie,
Lucy and Moses.  His first wife died in 1871, and in 1876 he was again
married, to Miss Nannie Hammonds.



John O'Day, Esq.
Among those who have given Greene county its enviable reputation for
possessing men of high character, large brain, and sterling worth and
ability, is Mr. John O'Day, one of the leading members of the Greene
County bar.  Mr. O'Day was born in the city of Limerick, Ireland, on
November 18, 1843.  He was brought in infancy with his father's family
to America, his parents settling at first in the State of New York.
When he was about 12 years of age the family removed to Juneau County,
Wisconsin, where John was educated in the common schools and at an
academy.  Arriving at the years of maturity, and developing a remark-
able talent for that profession, he engaged in the study of law, under
Judge Windsor, of Maustin, Wisconsin.  In 1862 he attended the law 
school at Albany, N. Y., and in May, 1864 he was admitted to the bar
at New Lisbon, Wisconsin, before Hon. Geo. W. Cate, afterward a prom-
inent member of Congress.  Leaving Wisconsin in September, 1865, Mr.
O'Day settled in Springfield, February 14 following, and has here
since remained, engaged in the active practice of his profession, in
which he has been extraordinarily successful.  For years he was one 
of the leading criminal lawyers in the Southwest, and now is regarded
as standing in the front rank of the corporation attorneys of the
country.  Since the year 1870 he has been in the employ of the St. 
Louis and San Francisco Railway Company, and for five years past has
been the general attorney of that great corporation, as well as of
two other important western railroads, the St. Louis, Wichita and
Western, and the Joplin and Girard Railroad.  A considerable portion
of Mr. O'Day's time and attention has been given to politics.  An
active, earnest, zealous Democrat, he has performed valuable service 
for his party in Missouri.  In 1874 he became a member of the Demo-
cratic State Central Committee, and four years later he was chosen its
chairman, serving from 1878 to 1880.  In 1882 he was again selected as
chairman and served as commander-in-chief of the Democratic hosts that
won such a sweeping victory that year.  Under Mr. O'Day's management,
and mainly owing to his personal efforts, every congressional district
in the State was carried by the Democracy, four Republicans and Green-
backers retiring to have their seats filled by Democrats.  Though an
active worker in politics Mr. O'Day has always refused to become a 
candidate for any office, receiving his sole reward in the gratifica-
tion of seeing his party's triumphs and its principles vindicated.
May 16, 1865, Mr. O'Day was married to Miss Jennie Campbell, of 
Milwaukee, Wisconsin, a native of Painesville, Ohio.  They are the
parents of two promising sons, Alexander and John, Jr.  Mr. O'Day in
religion is a Catholic; Mrs. O'Day is a communicant of the Episcopal-
ian Church.  It is quite too early to write a proper sketch of Mr.
O'Day, whose future is yet so largely before him and so full of 
promise, and this apology is given for the imperfection of what is
here set down.



Samuel Odell
Mr. Odell is the son of Samuel and Ovela (Welch) Odell, and was born at
East Hartford, Connecticut, October 8, 1834, and was educated there and
in Lower Canada.  At the age of thirteen he was bound out for three
years to learn the carpenter's trade.  In 1858 he went into the "oil
regions" in Pennsylvania and Canada.  He put down the first well at
Enescilow.  He enlisted in May, 1861, in Company A, 5th Connecticut 
volunteers for sixty days, and was at the battle of Bull Run.  After
the expiration of sixty days, he and his brother Alexander joined Com-
pany A, 8th Connectiucut  volunteers, and remained three years and ten
months.  He was wounded at the battle of Seven Pines, and was captured 
before Richmond and confined six weeks at "Castle Thunder" and escaped.
In 1865 he returned to the oil regions, and was master and superinten-
dent for the United States petroleum company.  In 1866 he went to Cin-
ciunnati, and from there to St. Louis, Missouri.  In 1868 he was a
delegate to the national Democratic convention from the eighth ward of
St. Louis, that nominated Seymour and Blair, and also a delegate to
Jefferson City in the interest of John S. Phelps.  He came to Spring-
field in the latter part of 1868, and in 1871 was street commissioner,
and in 1872 was a member of the council from the fourth ward.  In 1877
he went to the Black Hills, and travelled over the great West.  He is
now proprietor of the Odell House on Boonville Street.  He was married
February 2, 1868 to Miss Victoria Bouguenot, who was born at Paris,
France.  They have one son and two daughters.  Mr. Odell's father died
at East Hartford, Connecticut, in 1846 and his mother died in 1864.
They had three children, viz.: Alexandria, Victoria and Samuel.  Sam-
uel's father was a civil engineer, and was on the government survey in
Illinois, Missouri and the one establishing the boundary line between
the United States and Canada.



William B. O'Neal
Mr. O'Neal is a son of Jesse and Annie (Brown) O'Neal, and was born 
March 30th, 1841, in Carroll County, Arkansas.  In 1861 he enlisted in
the 24th Missouri volunteers, Col. Coyd, and remained in the service
three years and four months.  His regiment was assigned to Gen. Curtis'
command, operating in southwest Missouri and Arkansas.  He was at the 
battles of Pea Ridge, Fredericktown and many skirmishes.  He was with
Gen. Baldy Smith at the charge of Fort DeRussy, Sabine Pass, and the 
various engagements of the Red river expedition.  His regiemtn was at 
the battle of Wilson's Creek, but was not called into the action.  He
was mustered out at St. Louis in October, 1864.  At the close of the
war he located upon a farm in Greene County, near Republic.  He was the
founder of the town, making the original plat.  Besides farming, he has
been engaged in general merchandise, and is a large property holder in
the town.  Mr. O'Neal has filled the office of constable of the town-
ship for ten years, and received the Greenback nomination for sheriff
in 1878.  He was married the first time, August 5th, 1865 to Miss 
Sophrina, daughter of John Luce, of Greene County.  She died August 16,
1881 and Mr. O'Neal was married upon the 30th of January, 1882 to 
Elizabeth Hainer, also of this county.



John H. Onstott
Mr. Onstott is the son of John W. and Rebecca Onstott, and was one of a
family of two sons and two daughters, born in Fayetteville, Arkansas,
July 23, 1839.  His father, John W., was a native of Kentucky, born in
Shelbyville in 1781.  He served in the War of 1812, and was in the same
company with Dick Johnson, who killed Tecumseh, enlisting as a private,
but coming out as a commissioned officer.  After the war he came to
Little Rock, Arkansas, and entered 80 acres of land, where the court
house now stands.  He sold the land for a shot gun and thirty dollars
in money.  In 1837 he moved with his family to Fayetteville, where he
died in 1863.  His wife, mother of John H., died in Springfield, Mo.,
in August, 1882.  She was a South Carolinian, and was married to the
elder Onstott at Little Rock.  The subject of this sketch was educated
at Arkansas College, located at Fayetteville, then presided over by 
Robert Graham.  At 21 years of age, he went to Illinois, whither he re-
moved his mother and family after his father's death.  After the civil
war, he came to Springfield, this county, where he has been engaged in
active business ever since.  For several years he was at the head of
the "Springfield Zinc and Lead Company," and in 1876 he opened the
"Alma" mine in Christian County, of which he is sole proprietor.  Its
name being in honor of his oldest daughter.  Mr. Onstott takes great
interest in public improvements, and was largely the means of securing
the water works in Springfield.  Formerly he was president of the imp-
lement and hardware firm of H. O. Dow & Co.  In 1882, he organized the
South Western Implement Company, with a cash capital of $10,000 and is
now the president and principal proprietor of that concern.  They work 
about 75 operatives, and have four men "on the road" as "drummers."
Their works cover half an acre of ground.  They have the exclusive
right of manufacture and sale of the Davis Automatic Hay Stacker.  Mr.
Onstott was married to Miss Veda Massey, of Springfield, February 14,
1869.  They have three children: Alma, Edna and John H., Jr.  Mr. 
Onstott belongs to the K. of P., K. of H., and Chosen Friends.  He is
also a strong temperance advocate, and labors arduously in that cause.



Charles Baker Owen
Capt. Owen is the son of Solomon H. and Mary E. (Bushong) Owen, and was
born in Marshall county, Tennessee, February 28, 1827.  At the age of
about nine years his parents came with him to Greene county, Mo., and
the father entered land four miles north of Springfield.  Charles Baker
grew up on the farm, and received his education in the neighborhood 
schools.  When he arrived at manhood he began trading in stock for him-
self, and at the age of twenty-seven was made deputy under Sheriff Sam
Fulbright.  In April, 1855 he went on "Pool's Gold Hunt" out to Kansas,
on which the party made quite a trip, killing plenty of game, but find-
ing none of the metal which is heavy to get, but light to hold.  They
were gone about four months.  In September, 1856, Mr. Owen was married
to Miss Sarah Ellen Garbrough, a native of the same county as himself.
Two sons, John S. and Stephen A. Douglas, were born of that marriage,
both of whom still survive.  His first wife died March 18, 1862, and he
was a second time married, January 31, 1865, to Nancy C. McCroskey.
Eight children were born of this second marriage, all of whom are liv-
ing at this writing.  Until the civil war began, Capt. Owen was contin-
uously engaged in farming and stock raising.  Being Union in principle,
he at once became a supporter of the national government, enlisting in
the Home Guards in the spring of 1861.  On the night of the 9th of 
August, 1861, he guided Gen. Sigel to the Wilson Creek battle ground.
On the 19th of the same month, he enlisted in 24th Mo. Infantry, U.S.A.
but saw no active service till the next year.  March 1st, 1863 Mr. Owen
was promoted to the capitancy of Company D, and thus served till must-
ered out October 14, 1864.  He was at Fort DeRussey, Pleasant Hill, and
Yellow Bayou.  At the close of the war he returned to Greene county and
engaged in farming.  In 1866, he went to Texas and soon after traded 
for a lot of cattle from the Chickasaw Indians, which herd he drove to
Leavenworth, Kansas.  In 1868, Mr. Owen was defeated as the Democratic
candidate for sheriff.  He was elected as an independent candidate in
1870, but beaten as the Democratic nominee in 1872, by only five votes.
In 1874, he was elected by 154 majority.  He again received the Demo-
cratic nomination in 1882, but his Republican opponent was elected.
Captain Owen owns 1,133 acres of land in this and Christian counties,
the best of which lies along the James river, the bottom of that stream
being exceedingly rich and productive.



J. S. Owen
Mr. Owen is the son of C. B. and Sarah E. Owen, and was born in this
county September 11th, 1857.  He received his education at Drury 
College, and since leaving school has been engaged in farming.  He was
married April 20th, 1881, to Miss Sarah M., daughter of Reuben A. M.
Rose.  Their union has been blest with one son, Charles B.  Mr. Owen
and his brother, Stephen, own two hundred and eighty-six acres of fine
land.  It is the old Owen homestead, and one of the best in the county.



John H. Paine
Mr. Paine is the son of Jessie L. and Harriet (Allen) Paine, and was
born May 14th, 1832, in Lawrence County, Tennessee.  When he was four
years of age his parents moved to Dallas County, Missouri, where he 
grew to manhood.  He was educated in Dallas County and at Ebenezer,
Greene County.  He sold goods for his father in Dallas until 1858,
when he was elected clerk of the county and circuit courts upon the
Democratic ticket, and served until 1861.  In 1863 he moved to Spring-
field and entered the quartermaster's department under Capt. R. B.
Owens, and remained in that office until the war closed.  In 1872 he
was appointed city clerk, and served until 1874.  In 1874 he was elec-
ted clerk of the circuit court upon the Democratic ticket, and held
that office for four years.  In 1879 he was appointed deputy circuit
clerk, under J. R. Ferguson, which position he held until 1882, he was
elected county recorder of Greene County, beating his opponent by 228
votes.  Mr. Paine was married upon the 19th of August, 1863, to Miss
Mary E. Cross, of Trumbull County, Ohio.  They have been blest with
six children, four girls and two boys.  His wife is a member of the 
Christian Church, and he is a member of the Knights Templar, and a
Royal Arch Mason.  His father, Jesse L. Paine, was elected clerk of 
the county court of Dallas County for three consecutive terms, and was
at one time probate judge of that county.  He died in Texas in 1868,
and his wife died in 1880.



Jacob Painter
This gentleman is the son of Samuel and Betsy Painter, and was born in
Burke county, N. C., in 1810.  When he was two years of age his parents
moved to Tennessee, and when he was fifteen they moved to Montgomery
County, Illinois.  In 1831 he came to Greene County, Mo., and settled 
at the "Big Spring," five miles southeast of Springfield.  In 1832 Mr.
Painter built a mill near his home.  He built it all himself, hewing
the timber and forging the iron for the machinery used.  This was about
the first or second mill erected in the county.  People came for fifty
miles to get their corn ground.  He also ran a blacksmith shop, and he
would fill up the hopper of the mill and start it grinding, and then
work in the shop until it was ground.  He is also a lock and gunsmith,
and carried on the business before anyone else in the county.  He made
for years, on an average of two pistols per day, selling them for ten
dollars a pair to those outfitting for trips across the plains.  Mr.
Painter was married, in 1830, to Miss Betsy Compton.  Their union was
blest with two sons and two daughters.  His first wife died in 1836,
and in 1839 he married Fannie Freeman of this county.  They had four
sons, all living.  His second wife died May 15, 1880.  Mr. Painters is
the only living of a family of six children.  He is living in the same
house built by him forty five years ago.  He is one of the old land-
marks of the county, and politically is, and always has been, a Demo-
crat.



William Palmer
Mr. Palmer was born in Boone County, Missouri, May 16th, 1848, and is a
son of James W. and Sarah Palmer, who now reside at North Springfield.
In 1869 William began firing on an engine upon the I. and St. L. rail-
road, but in a few months went on the O. & M. railroad, and fired four
years.  He was then promoted engineer, and ran a train several months.
Then he went back to the I. & St. L. railroad, and ran an engine until
1875, when he came back to North Springfield.  July 6th, 1875 he went
to work for the St. L. & S. F. railroad, and was soon given an engine,
which he ran until November 5th, 1882.  He is now running an engine on
the K. C., S. & M. railroad.  Mr. Palmer was married July 19th, 1875,
to Miss Mary A. Foltz.  Their union has been blest with two children,
Nettie and John.



William H. Park
Dr. William H. Park is a son of John and Elizabeth (Waggoner) Park, and
was born January 8, 1825, at Milton, Pennsylvania.  When he was about
six years of hage his parents moved to Tiffin, Ohio.  He was educated
at Tiffin and at the Wesleyan University, at Delaware, Ohio.  In the
spring of 1855 he graduated from Jefferson Medical College of Philadel-
phia.  He was appointed resident physician at the alms house of the 
city of Baltimore, Md., but soon after returned to Tiffin, Ohio.  In
August, 1862, he was commissioned as surgeon of the 49th Ohio Regiment,
Col. W. H. Gibson.  He was mustered out at Victoria, Texas, in Nov.,
1865.  He was at the battle of Shiloh, Stone River, Liberty Gap and 
Chickamauga.  He was captured and taken to Atlanta, and afterwards con-
fined at Libby Prison and at Andersonville.  Afterward he was at the
battle of Nashville and went with the army to San Antonia, Texas.  In
May, 1866, he came to Greene County, Missouri, and settled upon Leeper
Prairie, near Bois D'Arc, and was one of the first to settle upon that
celebrated prairie after the war.  He followed his profession and at 
one time owned about 700 acres of land.  He came to Springfield in
September, 1881.  He is now of the firm of T. E. Crank & Co., druggists
of North Springfield, and at Golden City.  He was married Nov. 9, 1858,
to Miss Clara Rupert, of Bloomsburg, Penn.  They have had six children,
one son and five daughters.  His wife is a member of the Calvary Pres-
byterian Church.  The doctor's father died at Tiffin, Ohio, in August,
1868, aged eighty, and his mother died July 12, 1881, aged eighty-four.
In 1850 Dr. Park went to California and returned in 1853.  He was min-
ing and merchandising while there.



Rodolphus G. Parker
Mr. Parker is the son of Joseph and Catherine (Adams) Parker, who were
natives of Maine.  His ancestors upon his mother's side, the Stillsons,
were the original settlers of Deer Island, now a noted summer resort
upon the shore of Maine. R. G. Parker was born in Hancock county, Maine
January 21, 1830.  In 1845 his parents moved to Ottawa county, Ohio,
where he grew to manhood, and was educated at the common schools and at
Oberlin College.  In 1853 he graduated at Bryant & Stratton's commer-
cial college, Cleveland, Ohio.  His father was a ship carpenter, and 
R. G. began learning it as soon as large enough to handle tools, and
has followed the trade most of the time since.  He taught school for a
short time when a young man.  In 1855 he went to Kankakee, Ill., where
he was foreman upon the first store building put up in the place.  In 
1857 he took up a claim in Dakota county, Nebraska, where he worked at
his trade until 1859, when he went to St. Joseph, Mo., and in 1860 went
to Pike's Peak freighting.  He returned to Ottawa, Ohio in the fall of
that year.  In 1865 he moved to Odell, Ill., where he remained until
1870 contracting and building, also owning a half interest in a boot
and shoe store.  In 1870 he came to Springfield, and worked at bridge
building for the Frisco road, and has been with them ever since, save
two years.  He is now shipping clerk in the bridge department.  Mr. 
Parker was married December 27, 1860 to Miss Elizabeth, daughter of
Barzilla and Elizabeth Dean, of Ottawa County, Ohio.  She died at Rolla,
Mo., in 1872.  They had six children, three of whom died in 1872 with
diphtheria, within eleven days.  Those living are Talba C., Frank B.,
and Clara J.  Mr. Parker married the second time, October 22, 1876 to
Mrs. Susan C. Hardin, formerly a Miss McBride, of Tennessee.  Her par-
ents were neighbors and friends of Andrew Johnson, who made her fathers
wedding coat.



W. D. Parker
This gentleman was born in the province of Ontario, Canada, county of
Middlesex, November 21, 1849.  He is a son of Robert J. Parker, of
Toronto, Canada West, who was a successful surveyor for many years in
Canada and Michigan.  He died in 1865.  W. D. Parker was educated in
the best public schools of his native province, and was employed as
clerk in a store in Strathroy, Ontario, for four years.  He then took
a course of telegraphy, at the telegraphic school at that place, which
he completed in August, 1870.  Since then he has been engaged in oper-
ating for the Tominion Telegraphic Company, and for 'Frisco Railway
Company, now being under the employ of the latter.  Mr. Parker was
married in 1878 to Miss Frances A. Steer, daughter of Stephen and 
Sarah Steer, of Middlesex, Ont.  They have one child, Ferdinand Bruce.



Dr. Horace Monroe Parrish
Dr. Parrish is the son of Peyton and Mary A. (Porter) Parrish, and was 
born at Russellville, Logan County, Kentucky, March 18th, 1823.  In
November, 1837, he, with his brother Edwin R., and his uncle William
Parrish, came to Greene County, Missouri, and settled nine miles north-
west of Springfield, on Grand Prairie.  In March, 1840, he began the
study of surveying under County Surveyor J. L. McCraw, and then under
J. C. Farmer.  Upon the 9th of February, 1841, he entered the office of
Dr. G. P. Shackleford, and graduated in the medical department of 
Kemper's College, March 1st, 1845.  Nine years after he was given the 
degree at Nashville, Tennessee.  He followed his profession until 1866,
and from 1867 until 1880, followed surveying.  He did a large practice 
in medicine, often riding fifty or sixty miles to see patients.  He is
a Royal Arch Chapter Mason, and of the United Order, No. 5.  He is a
member of the Cumberland Presbyterian Church, and his wife of Calvary
Presbyterian Church.  Besides his town property, the doctor owns about
twelve hundred acres of land in the county.  He was married July 17th,
1849, to Mrs. Sarah J. Collins, nee Carson.  They had five children,
viz.: Albana C., wife of Dr. Clements; Mary B., wife of E. E. Adams, of
Chicago; Sarah E., Joseph E., and Frank M. (deceased).  The doctor's
grandfather, Joseph Parrish, was an Englishman, and came first to Vir-
ginia, and from there to Kentucky in 1793.  He was a soldier in the 
Revolutionary War, and was wounded at Guilford court house in the hip.



George Washington Patterson
George Washington Patterson, M. D.  Dr. Patterson is the twelfth son of
Lewis and Mary Y. (Pearson) Patterson, and was born in Hamilton County,
Tennessee, March 7th, 1850.  He was educated at the Sale's Creek Acad-
emy.  He was engaged in farming until 1875, when he began the study of
medicine under Dr. H. C. Rose, of Rhea County, Tennessee.  In 1876 he
entered the Kentucky school of medicine, at Louisville, and afterward
practiced under Dr. Rose, and graduating from the Nashville medical
college in 1878.  He then started west, overland, making a short stop
at Sprinfield, Missouri.  Then continued west, and when the party got
to the head of Clear creek they were stricken with malarial fever.  As
soon as they were able to travel they went to Newton, Kansas.  The doc-
tor returned to Greene County and began the practice of his profession
at Cave Spring, where he remainded a year and then removed to Bois 
D'Arc, and in partnership with Dr. E. D. Robinson practiced for a year.
He next moved to Republic, where he practiced a year, and then went to 
Bellevue hospital medical college and graduated in the class of 1881-82
and returned to Republic, where he is gaining the professional reputa-
tion he so well deserves.



John A. Patterson
Mr. Patterson is the son of Louis and Mary (Pearson) Patterson and was
born in Hamilton County, Tenn., November 24, 1830.  He was educated at
home and at Cleveland College.  In 1853 he came to Wright County, Mo.,
and in 1855 he came to Greene County, and settled near Walnut Grove,
where he farmed until 1861.  He then came to Springfield and went into
Capt. J. E. Smith's company of militia.  In November, 1864, he was 
elected sheriff of the county upon the Republican ticket, and re-
elected in 1866 and 1868.  He had been United States deputy marshal in
1863-4.  In 1871-2 he was deputy county clerk.  He was city marshal in
1873-4 and 6.  In 1877-8 and 9 was deputy sheriff under A. J. Potter.
In November, 1880 he was elected sheriff, and re-elected in 1882.  Mr.
Patterson was married February 8, 1853, in Monroe County, Tennessee, to
Miss Sarah C. Heiskell.  They have had ten children, all of whom are
living.  Mr. Patterson is a member of Masonic and Odd Fellow's societ-
ies, and has made one of the best county officers the county ever had.
His father was born in 1797, in Virginia, and moved to Tennessee when
young, and died there in 1866.  He was a farmer and a tanner.  His 
mother was born in 1800, and died in 1878.  They had thirteen children,
John A., being the fourth child.  Mrs. Patterson's father, Daniel Hei-
skell, was born in Shenandoah County, Virginia, March 7, 1799 and died 
in Monroe County, Tenn., July 22, 1875.  He was a great religious work-
er, and built a church at Sweet Water, Tennessee, costing him six thou-
sand dollars.  Her mother was born in Greene County, Tenn., April 15,
1803 and died August 1, 1841.



John A. Patterson
Mr. Patterson is the son of Joseph A. and Martha (Alsup) Patterson, and
was born in what is now Webster County, Missouri, September 11, 1848.
He was educated in the common schools and at Dansville, New York semi-
nary.  In 1870 and 1871 he was elected to the office of school superin-
tendent of Webster County, upon the Liberal Republican ticket.  He was 
admitted to the bar at Marshfield, Missouri, in September, 1875, and in
October of that year came to Springfield.  He was elected city attorney
in 1877-8 upon the Republican ticket.  Mr. Patterson was married to 
Miss Lou M., daughter of Rev. J. P. Bridwell of Webster County, Mo.,
formerly of Louisville, Kentucky.  Their union has been blest with 
three sons and one daughter.  Mr. Patterson's father came from Nash-
ville, Tennessee, to Webster County in 1840.  They both died the same
year, 1881.  They had two sons, John A. and Gideon M., a dentist in
Springfield.



Ely Paxson
Mr. Paxson is the son of M. and Maria (Shipman) Paxson, and was born
January 17, 1847, in Hancock County, Ohio.  He was educated in the 
public schools, and learned the cabinet-maker's trade in his native
county.  He came to Springfield, Missouri, October 24, 1868 and work-
ed for J. Kassler at the undertaking business for two and one-half
years.  He then went into partnership with Mr. Kassler and in March,
1880, bought his partner's interest and since that time has carried on
business alone.  He has the largest establishment in the city, and is
one of the staunch business men of the city of Springfield.  He was
married March 20, 1873, to Miss Anna Belle Keet, daughter of Thomas
Keet, of Springfield.  He is a Mason and a Knight of Honor.  Himself
and wife are members of Grace Methodist Church.  Mr. Paxson's parents
are living in the city.  They came to Springfield, May, 1867, and his
father is now in the shop with his son Ely.



James W. Peacher
Mr. Peacher is the son of Alexander and Nicy (Brightwell) Peacher, and
was born in Orange County, Virginia, September 26th, 1830, and was ed-
ucated in his native county.  He worked upon the farm, until the age of
twenty-one, and then learned the trade of plasterer.  April 11th, 1857,
he came to Springfield, Missouri, and followed his trade until the war.
During the war he remained in town selling goods as a clerk and for 
himself.  In the years 1868-9 he lived upon his farm near Springfield,
but returned to town, and for a year was in the grocery business, and
next in the dry goods trade.  In October, 1877, he opened out a stock
of boots and shoes, and has the only exclusive, and the largest, retail
boot and shoe house in Springfield.  He was married January 15th, 1865,
to Miss Juliet Ingram, daughter of S. N. Ingram.  She died in 1872, and
on the 14th of January, 1875, Mr. Peacher was married, the second time,
to Miss Jimmie, daughter of J. T. Campbell.  Their union has been blest
with two sons and one daughter.  Mr. Peacher is a member of the A. F. &
A. M., and his wife is a member of the Christian Church.  His father
died in 1865, and his mother in 1877, in Virginia.  Both were over 
eighty years of age.  They had seven children, four sons and three dau-
ghters, James W. being the third child.



Leonard B. Perkins
Mr. Perkins was born in Parishville, St. Lawrence County, New York,
March 12, 1840, his father bearing the Christian name of Cyrus G., and
his mother, Martha A.  He remained at home and attended school until he 
was fourteen years old, then went to Lowell, Massachusetts, and worked
in a cotton factory for a year or two.  Returning home, he learned the
painter's trade, serving an apprenticeship of three years, following
that vocation till the commencement of the war.  He enlisted for U. S.
service in April, 1861, going to Albany, where he was sworn in for 
three months.  He next enlisted in the 6th New York infantry for two
years, which period he served out, participating in all battles in 
which his regiment was engaged.  After returning home, he married Miss
Emma L. Dervey, on June 4, 1863.  Three children have been born to them
of this union, one only of whom survives at this writing.  After his
marriage he lived six months in Washington City, going thence to Alex-
andria, Virginia, where he remained three years.  Subsequent to this he
was in Baltimore, and his native county, Iowa, Woodstock and Muscatine,
in which latter place he had charge of the largest creamery in the 
world.  He next went to Kansas, where he remained a short time, coming
to North Springfield, this county, in June, 1880.  Here he opened a
restaurant, and in the spring of 1882, erected his brick house.  He is
a member of St. Mark's lodge, No. 63, A. F. & A. M., and also of Inde-
pendence lodge, No. 77, I.O.O.F., Baltimore, Maryland.



John G. Perryman
John G. Perryman is the son of Benjamin and Sarah (Wood) Perryman, and
was born December 13th, 1821, in Rutherford County, Tennessee.  His
father was a Tennessean and his mother a native of Virginia.  They had
nine children, viz.: Thos. J., Jacob G., Owen Wood, Benjamin F., Jane,
Louisiana, Martha and Harriet, four of whom are now living.  John G. is
the oldest of the nine children.  He came with his father to Greene
County, Missouri, in 1837, and settled in the northern part of the 
county upon Grand Prairie.  He lived with his father upon the farm un-
til he was twenty years of age, when he learned the blacksmith trade,
and carried on the business for fifteen years in this county.  He then
abandoned it for farming and stock trading, which he has carried on 
until the present.  In the year 1871 he bought the old Hosman homestead
adjoining Ash Grove, where he now lives.  Mr. Perryman married the 
first time, August 10th, 1848 to Miss Mary Lemon, by whom he had six
children, four of whom lived to be grown, viz.: Jacob L., Owen Wood,
Sarah and James G.  His first wife died in November, 1860, and is bur-
ied at Cave Spring, this county.  He married the last time Cassandra
Gresham, of Dade County.  By this union he was blest with seven child-
ren, viz.: Mary, Burton, Nancy, Emma, George, Walter and Lura, all of
whom are now living.  Mr. Perryman owns one of the best farms in his
section, well stocked, in a high state of cultivation, and the best
orchard in the township.  He and his wife are members of the Missionary
Baptist Church at Ash Grove.  He is regarded as one of Greene's most
substantial citizens, and is a gentleman of integrity.



J. G. Pettitt, M.D.
Dr. Pettitt is the son of Dr. B. M. Pettitt, and was born at Auburn,
N. Y., June 10th, 1846.  His father was a graduate of Jefferson Medical
College, Philadelphia, and afterwards studied homoeopathy, and was one
of the first and oldest homoeopaths in the United States.  He is still
living.  J. G. Pettit was educated at Monroe Collegiate Institute, near
Syracuse, N. Y.  He followed the avocation of civil engineering for
seven years, on the A. and P. R. R., now the 'Frisco.  He studied medi-
cine with his father, and took two courses of lectures at Rush Medical
College, Chicago, leaving the senior class to enter the army.  He was 
in the 6th New York Cavalry, Col. Harris.  He practiced medicine two
years in New Mexico, and came to Strafford late in the summer of 1879,
where he has since practiced his profession at Strafford and Cedar Gap
as surgeon of the railroad.  Dr. Pettitt was married June 25th, 1871,
to Miss Anna M., daughter of Col. R. M. and Mary M. Jones, of this
county, formerly of Giles county, Tennessee.  Their union has been 
blest with three children, two girls and a boy.



Col. John E. Phelps
This gentleman, who was an active participant on the Union side during
the civil war, is a native of Greene County, born April 6, 1839.  He
was the first born of five children of Gov. John S. Phelps, whose biog-
raphy is given at length in this volume.  There were two sons and three
daughters of these children, of whom John E., and Mrs. Mary Montgomery,
of Portland, Oregon, still survive.  Those deceased were, Thomas H. B.,
Lucy Jane, and a second Lucy Jane, born after the death of the first of
that name, and christened in honor of her memory.  Col. John E. Phelps
was educated partly at Fayetteville, Arkansas, completing his course at
the private school of Charles Carleton at Springfield.  He began busi-
ness for himself at the early age of 13, when he made quite a specula-
tion on a cattle trade, selling his purchase to Indian Agent A. J. Dorn
at a profit of $1,500.  He continued in the cattle trade, and driving
mules to the Southern market till 1859, when, in partnership with A. J.
Dorn and J. L. French, he went into the wholesale grocery business, and
was the first commercial traveler "drummer" that represented a Spring-
field house and he carried his samples in his saddle bags, his mode of
locomotion being on horseback.  This business he continued till cleaned
up by the Confederates after the battle of Wilson's Creek.  He then 
proceded to Rolla, and did scouting duty for Gen. Curtis, furnishing 
his own horse, and receiving no compensation.  At the battle of Pea
Ridge, he was a volunteer Aid on the staff of Gen. E. A. Carr.  Subse-
quently, he received an appointment as second lieutenant in the regular
army, and went to Helena, Arkansas, and reported to Gen. Carr as Aid on
his staff.  He served eighteen months of that staff partly in St. Louis
and partly on the campaign in he rear of Vicksburg.  He was then order-
ed home on account of physical disability, and arrived there July 4,
1864.  The very next day he began organizing a volunteer regiment, 
which was mustered in March 18, 1864, as the second Arkansas Cavalry,
and was ordered to Memphis, Tenn., which place they reached by an over-
land march of forty-two days, reaching there January 25, 1865.  There
the regiment did duty till May, when it was ordered to Lagrange on out
post duty.  There Col. Phelps was mustered out at his own request, his
rank then being Brevet Brigadier General of volunteers; and the board 
of examiners pronounced him physically incompetent.  He requested to be
sent on frontier duty at Fort Laramie, but instead of having his re-
quest granted, he was ordered to his regiment at Little Rock.  This was
the 3rd regiment U. S. regulars, in which Phelps held the rank of first
lieutenant, and brevet captain, major and lieutenant colonel.  He was
then at home, sick and disgusted with scenes of war, and so closed his
military career by tendering his resignation, which was accepted in
September, 1865.  Since then, he has lived in private life, except be-
ing for a time receiver of the U. S. land office, under President John-
son.  At this writing he is traveling for the machine house of D. M. 
Osburn & Co., Auburn, N. Y.  Col. Phelps was married July 21, 1864, to
Margaret J., daughter of William White, of Greene County.  They have 
two daughters and one son, who are at school in Springfield.  Politi-
cally, Col. Phelps is a Democrat, and during the war fought to save
the Union...not to free the negro.  Few men have done more public ser-
vice for a less compensation than Col. John E. Phelps.



John S. Phelps
Hon. John S. Phelps.  The prominence, both State and national, of this 
most distinguished citizen of Greene County, may well serve as a reason
why this sketch is given at greater length than that of other citizens
mentioned; however, even this is but the merest outline of a life whose
long public service makes up a history which would require a volume in
itself, if given in a manner anything like that merited by the disting-
uished subject.  John S. Phelps is the son of Elisha Phelps, and was 
born in Simsbury, Hartford County, Connecticut, December 22, 1814.  The
father, Elisha, was a lawyer of great prominence in that State, who
served his fellow citizens in the Legislature, in State offices, and
three terms in the national Congress.  Noah Phelps, father of Elisha 
and grandfather of John S., was a captain in the Revolution and a most
successful scout and spy.  He was one of the "committee of safety" that
planed the capture of Ticonderoga.  Like his son and grandson, he too,
served the people in legislative and other capacities of public trust.
Mr. Phelps was reared in his birthplace, receiving his education in the
public schools and in Washington (now Trinity) college at Hartford, 
completing his course there in 1832. Subsequently, he studied law under
his father for three years, and was admitted to the bar on the twenty-
first anniversary of his birth. After two years of practice in Hartford
he determined to come West and seek a better and wider field for an 
ambitious young lawyer.  Acting with that wisdom and foresight which 
has ever characterized him in both public and private life, he chose 
the newly admitted State of Missouri, and in 1837, set foot upon her
soil.  It was necessary to be re-examined, before being enrolled as a
member of the Missouri bar, and young Phelps went to Boonville, where
Judge Tompkins of the Supreme Court had agreed to meet and examine him;
the judge, however, failed to come, and Mr. Phelps mounted a horse and
proceeded to Jefferson City, where the judge resided.  Here again was a
disappointment, for he of the gown and peruke was some distance in the
country at a saw mill where the seeker finally found him; but "all is
well that ends well," and there, sitting on a log in the woods of Cole
County, Missouri's future Governor was examined and license being
written on a leaf torn from an old blue ledger, that being the only
paper in the mill camp.  Armed with this document, with his heart full 
of enthusiasm, this youth of twenty-three started for the great South-
west, locating at Springfield, then a mere hamlet, but rapidly becoming
the trade center of a vast scope of country.  He at once entered upon a
lucrative practice, and rapidly rose to the head of the profession, 
practicing over a district of country extending from Warsaw on the
north to Forsythe on the south, and from Waynesville on the east to 
Neosho on the west.  He was soon recognized as the leading member of 
the bar in that section, for young as he was, his great legal attain-
ments enabled him to cope successfully with the most experienced 
lawyers; and during the whole course of his professional career, never 
once did he violate the courtesies that should always exist between
members of the legal fraternity.  His public life began at an early age.
In 1840 he was chosen to represent Greene County in the General Assem-
bly of Missouri, and but little of his life has been spent in retire-
ment since then.  In 1844, he was elected to Congress, that being the
last election under the then existing system of a general ticket; and
for eighteen consecutive years, served in the same high position of
public trust.  Any attempt at a full statement of his acts comprised in
those years, his many valuable services, would far transcend the limits
of this work; but the bare fact, that for twelve years he was a member 
of the committee on ways and means, always the most important committee
of a legislative body, and part of the time its chairman, is, in itself
the best evidence of the esteem and confidence reposed in him on the
part of his co-workers in Congress.  A brief summary may here be given
of some of the great questions of public interest then agitating the
country, in each of which Mr. Phelps actively participated, always 
guided by those principles of unswerving Democracy which had been his
from early boyhood: The Oregon Question; Establishment of an Indepen-
dent Treasury System; Revenue Tariff Question; Mexican War, and terri-
torial acquisition consequent thereon; Admission of California; Postage
Reduction; Establishment of an Overland Mail Route (by coach) to Cali-
fornia; Land Grants to Missouri for Rail Road Purposes; Kansas-Nebraska
Bill; The Civil War, and a long series of other questions of greater or
less interest, those enumerated being the most important.  Only the
briefest outline can here be given of Mr. Phelps' position on the weig-
htiest of these grave questions; but those desiring to post themselves
more fully are referred to the Congressional Record extending over
those periods of time.  The acquisition of California and other terri-
tory west of the Rio Grande, led to an active discussion of the slavery
question, when the proposition to admit California and establish terri-
torial governments in other districts came up in Congress.  Mr. Phelps
favored the admission of California, for which Congress had provided no
territorial government, and which had so rapidly filled up after the
discovery of gold there in 1848.  The thousands of people who flocked
to that Eldorado, finding themselves without any law for protection,
and having the spirit of self-government strong within them, proceeded
to organize as a State government, adopting a constitution and sending
Gwinn and Fremont as Senators.  Her admission was strongly resisted in
Congress, but Mr. Phelps made a powerful speech in favor thereof, and 
with the able assistance of others who favored it, succeeded in passing
the bill admitting California.  When the slavery phase of the question
was broached, he urged the non-intrevention policy, preferring to leave
it to the people themselves to speak their will in this regard.  He
advocated postage reduction, and voted for the bill reducing it to 
three cents on prepaid and five cents on upaid letters.  Any further
reduction he thinks unwise, as the system is now on a good, self sus-
taining basis.  Mr. Phelps believed in a tariff for revenue only, and
voted for the tariff of 1846, a measure denounced by the protectionists
as one fraught with destruction to the manufacturing interests of the
country.  In about ten years thereafter, when a further reduction of
duties was advocated and carried, the leading manufacturers of the
country besought Congress not to interfere with the rates of duties
established in 1846.  Mr. Phelps favored the measure granting bounty
lands to soldiers and extending pre-emption privileges to actual sett-
lers.  He also favored the granting of lands by the general government
to Missouri to aid in building a railroad from Hannibal to St. Joseph,
and from St. Louis to the southwest corner of the State.  In 1853, when
Congress was discussing the building of a trans-continential railway,
Mr. Phelps favored the construction of a road on or near the thirty-
fifth parallel of north latitude, through the Indian country via Albu-
querque to San Francisco, on which route the Atlantic and Pacific is 
now in part constructed.  He was always opposed to national banks, and
lost no opportunity to fight any and all measures favoring those vamp-
ire like institutions.  During his last term in Congress, which was in
Mr. Lincoln's first administration, he was part of the time in the 
field, the war being then in progress; and he was appointed on the 
committee of ways and means before tendered to any other citizen. While
he advocated measurers raising men and money to prosecute the war, he
opposed the confiscation act as unconstitutional, and strongly opposed
the practice of military arrests of private citizens and confining them
without due process of law.  He was still a member of Congress, as we
have seen, when the war came on, and was opposed, both on principle and
policy, to secession, and did all in his power under the consitution, 
to aid in suppressing the rebellion.  In 1861, he raised a regiment, 
known as the "Phelps Regiment," which did valiant service for six 
months, and was commanded by Col. Phelps in person at the memorable en-
gagement at Pea Ridge, in which it suffered such heavy loss.  Without
solicitation on his part, Col. Phelps was appointed military governor
of Arkansas, in 1862, which he accepted at the earnest request of his
friends.  Ill health, however, soon necessitated his return to St.
Louis.  In 1864 he resumed the law practice at Springfield, his con-
gressional career having closed in 1863.  His party, the great Missouri
Democracy, nominated him as their candidate, in 1868, for the office of
Governor.  Having been a Union soldier, he could the more safely make
the canvass as the Democratic candidate.  He went into the campaign
claiming his constitutional right to discuss any and all political
questions, and he fearlessly did so.  But the hated "Drake Constitu-
tion," to which Phelps was always opposed, had disfranchised so many
citizens of the State that the Democrats, though greatly in the major-
ity, failed to elect their man; and a Governor, whom only a minority of
the people favored, was declared elected.  The Phelps canvass, however,
had an inspiring and salutary effect on the party, and eight years 
afterwards he was nominated and elected Governor of Missouri by a larg-
er majority than any preceeding Governor had ever received.  He was the
centennial (1876) candidate, and was the first to warm the gubernator-
ial chair under the long term, four years, provision of the new consti-
tution of 1875.  No man has ever done greater honor to that highest 
State office than John S. Phelps, and no lady has ever done the honors 
of the Governor's mansion with more becoming grace than did his daugh-
ter, Mrs. Mary Montgomery.  Had not the constitution fixed the one term
limit on the Governor's office, there is no manner of question but that
Gov. Phelps (had he been willing) would have again been called to that
great civil trust.  In the convention of 1876, no less a person than 
the Hon. George G. Vest, Missouri's greatest Senator since the days of
Benton, was defeated by Governor Phelps for the Democratic nomination.
It may here be said of Gov. Phelps, that notwithstanding the many posi-
tions of official trust he has filled, yet, aside from the military, he
has never held any office except by the votes of the people.  Since the
expiration of his gubernatorial term, Gov. Phelps has lived in greater
retirement than for years previous, only occasionally giving legal ad-
vice in some very important cases.  He has spent considerable time in
travel, and in 1882, made a trip for pleasure and recreation to New
Mexico, Arizona, and Chihuahua, Mexico.  He also gave much of his time
and attention to his invalid sister, Mrs. Eno, who never recovered from
the illness with which she was taken down soon after her return from 
Europe.  Few men have greater conversational powers, or enjoy more
keenly the social intercourse of friends, than does Missouri's ex-Gov-
ernor, when in company of some of those that constitute his large 
circle of distinguished acquaintances from various parts of this broad
land.  Great, genial, magnanimous, as easy of approach as a child, and
yet dignified withal, Gov. Phelps is just that style of a man that a
whole people would love while they revere him, following his lead with
that implicit confidence which is the surest criteron in pronounceing
him a noble man as well as great statesman.



Mrs. Mary Phelps
Mrs. Phelps was born in Portland, Maine, in the year 1813.  Her maiden 
name was Whitney, her father being a sea captain.  While she was yet
young he lost his life at sea during a storm, and shortly afterward the
death of her mother left her an orphan in the full sense of the word. 
In 1837 she was married to John S. Phelps, who had but recently been
admitted to the bar, and in the fall of the same year they concluded to
cast their lot in the then far West.  After arriving at St. Louis, and
profiting by the advice of friends in that city, they determined upon
Springfield as their future home, and from that year until the day of
her death, with the exception of occasional visits to relatives, she 
was prominently identified, in a woman's sphere, with all that went to
make up the history of our city.  Mrs. Phelps possessed characteristics
which pre-eminently fitted her for the arduous duties which devolved 
upon the wives of Southwest Missouri in those early days.  Added to a
cultured mind, which served to temper the asperities of frontier life,
she brought a will that never failed in the accomplishment of the many
prominent undertakings in which she engaged.  Hundreds of instances 
corrobating her monaly enterprise are upon the lips of those of our 
older citizens whose intimate acquaintance with the deceased dated back
forty years, but one will serve to illustrate, the hearty spirit with
which she entered upon the new life into which she had been ushered. It
occurred about a year after their arrival in Springfield.  Her husband
was then struggling practitioner, and from his scant fees had saved
sufficient to purchase a lot at the corner of what is now St. Louis 
Street and Benton Avenue.  The circuit at that time embraced as much
territory as is now contained in two or three Congressional districts,
and in his arduous practice he was frequently absent from home for 
months at a time.  They were then boarding with "Uncle Joel" Haden, and
it was after one of those long jaunts over the circuit, that returning
to his boarding house in the evening, Mr. Phelps missed his wife, and
upon inquiry the landlord called his attention to a newly erected log
cabin upon his lot, with the remark that he guessed she would be found
over there.  He at once proceeded to the place indicated and was wel-
comed by his young wife to the first home he ever owned.  During his
absence she had the cabin built, and had furnished it in accordance
with the demands of those primitive times, having conceived and execut-
ed the plan as a pleasant surprise for her husband.  During the civil
war the active and philanthopic efforts of Mrs. Phelps will ever remain
inseparable with the history of the sad strife in the Southwest.  Like
her husband she espoused the Union cause, and labored unremittingly in
support of her convictions.  When friends and neighbors had fled, 
terror-stricken, from the country which was almost a constant scene of
strife, she remained at her post nursing and caring for the sick and
wounded soldiers.  The day before the battle of Pea Ridge, in which 
both her husband and son were engaged, she left the city for the camp,
with several wagons laden with provisions, lint, bandages, etc.  Arriv-
ing on the ground just as the second day's fight began she inspired the
troops with courage by the fearlessness and enthusiasm with which she
entered into the work of caring for the wounded of her husband's regi-
ment.  During the entire day she was exposed on the field of battle
attending in person to the removal of those who required attention, and
many a wounded soldier on that hard won day, had reason to bless Mary
Phelps for her thoughtfulness and patriotism in providing comforts 
which otherwise would have been unattainable.  At the battle of Wilsons
Creek, when the panic-stricken Federal troops abandoned the field and
their leader, the brave Lyon, to the triumphant enemy, Mrs. Phelps sec-
ured the body of the dead chieftain, removed it to the homestead, and
had it properly cared for.  At the close of the war, Congress, in rec-
ognition of the services which she had rendered during the war, placed
at her disposal a large appropriation, for the purpose of establishing
a soldiers' orphan home.  A building was erected near the city, in 
which were gathered a number of these "wards of the nation," who were
cared for until they were claimed by relatives, or found homes.  Al-
though advanced in years she was physically vigorous until she contrac-
ted a severe cold, which caused typhoid pneumonia and resulted in her
death on Friday morning, January 15th, 1878.  Her mental faculties re-
mained unclouded to the last, and she crossed the "dark river" with a
full consciousness of all that was going on around, giving directions
to her attendants with that firmness and decision which had character-
ized her entire life.  The funeral services were held on Sunday after-
noon, at two o'clock, at Christ (Episcopal) church, Rev. Thomas F. 
James officiating.  The very large attendance proved the high esteem in
which the deceased was held in this community.  The church was densely
packed, and hundreds were gathered around the entrance, unable to gain
admission, half an hour before the arrival of the corpse.  The chief
mourners were Gov. Phelps, Mrs. Montgomery, his daughter, and Col. John
E. Phelps and wife.  The pall bearers were C. B. McAfee, J. T. Morton,
C. B. Holland, R. J. McElhany, L. A. D. Crenshaw, Mr. Epperson, Capt.
Julian and John S. Waddill, being from among our oldest citizens, who,
for more than a quarter of a century, had been intimate friends of the
family.  The exercises at the church were brief, consisting of a burial
chant, rendered by the choir, the reading of the burial service, and 
the singing of the hymn, "Rock of Ages," by the choir and congregation.
A large concourse followed the remains to their final resting place, in
the Hazelwood Cemetery.  In the death of Mrs. Mary Phelps an active and
useful life was suddenly brought to a close.  The poor, and those cast
down by misfortune, lost a large hearted and sympathizing friend, whose
place was not easily filled, and citizens in every station will, for 
many years, miss one whose busy life reflected such earnest, practical
Christianity, inasmuch as she "visited the sick," "comforted the weak
hearted," "raised up those who were cast down," and, as far as in her
power lay, went about "doing good unto all men."  Such a life is not
without its reward.



Dr. Charles E. Pierce
Dr. Pierce is the son of Samuel W. and Mary O. (Loomis) Pierce, and was
born at Lafayette, Indiana, September 15, 1853.  He was educated at
Battle Ground High School and at Valparaiso, Indiana.  In 1874 he ent-
ered the E. M. College at Cincinnati, and graduated at the winter term,
January 22, 1878.  He then went to Shelby County, Tenn., and followed
his profession until 1880, when he went to Arkansas and remained until
January, 1883, when he came to Springfield, Missouri.  He was married
January 16, 1883, to Miss Grace A. Young.  He is a member of the I. O.
O. F., and his wife is a member of the Presbyterian Church. His father,
Samuel W., was a son of Rufus and Polly Pierce, and was born in Spring-
field, Ohio, July 9, 1828 and died at Lafayette, Indiana, January 28,
1860.  His parents were married July 4, 1852, at Lafayette, Indiana.
They had four children, viz.: Charles E., George T., born August 14, 
1855; Otho, born March 8, 1858 and died July 23, 1858; and Mary Olive,
born March 23, 1860.



George S. Piper
Mr. Piper was born in Washington County, Virginia, July 16, 1828, and
is the oldest child of Samuel Piper, a prominent farmer of that county.
George S. was brought to Greene county, Missouri, by his parents when
he was twelve years of age.  He grew to manhood upon the farm, and has
since made that his vocation in life.  Mr. Piper married March 4, 1856,
to Miss Margaret J., daughter of Henry C. Morrison, of this county who
came to Ebenezer, Greene county, Missouri, about 1830.  Their marriage
has been blest with twelve children, eight sons and four daughters,
seven of whom are yet living, six sons and one daughter.  Mr. Piper has
one hundred and ninety acres of land in the farm upon which he lives.
In August, 1862, he enlisted in the enrolled Missouri militia, in Cap-
tain George A. Dillard's company E, Col. C. B. Holland.  Being absent 
on a sick furlough he was not at Springfield when the town was attacked
by General Marmaduke upon the 8th of January, 1863.  When the war clos-
ed Mr. Piper was honorably discharged, and is now one of the most sub-
stantial citizens of the county.



L. T. Piper
Mr. Piper was born in Washington county, Virginia, August 30, 1837.  He
is the oldest of a family of eight children, three boys and five girls,
five of whom were born in Virginia, and three in Missouri.  He was bro-
ught to Missouri by his parents, who settled near the headwaters of the 
Dry Sac river.  Here Mr. Piper grew to manhood, receiving such educa-
tion as the schools of that day afforded.  He has always enjoyed the 
best of health, and never had but one accident happen him in his life.
When he was about fourteen years of age, a wagon ran over his leg, 
breaking the bone.  He was taken home, and his leg set by his father,
without the aid of a physician.  He was not able to resume active work
for about three months.  He was, at the beginning of the war, in Capt.
Piper's company, afterwards commanded by Capt. John A. Mack.  After the
battle of Wilson's Creek, he went to Rolla and joined Capt. C. B. Holl-
and's company.  In 1862 he joined Capt. Geo. A. Dillard's company E,
72nd regiment, under Col. Holland, who was promoted, and the regiment
was then commanded by Col. Henry Shepard.  They were in the battle of
Springfield, upon the 8th of January, 1863, when the town was attacked
by Gen. Marmaduke.  Mr. Piper served until the close of the war, par-
ticipating in all the actions of his regiment.  After being honorably
discharged he returned to his old homestead, where he still resides. 
He was married January 1, 1866, to Miss O. M. Pipkin, of this county.
They have had five children, three of whom are still living.  He is one
of the best citizens of the county.



Peter Piper
Mr. Piper was born June 18th, 1810, in Pickaway County, Ohio, and is
the son of Philip and Sarah (Gay) Piper.  His parents were both natives
of Pennsylvania.  Mr. Piper removed to Vermillion County, Indiana, in
1838, and followed farming until 1872, when he came to Greene County,
Missouri, where he has since resided.  Mr. Piper has been married five
times.  His present wife was Miss Jane, daughter of Jesse Hines, Esq.,
of Kentucky.  Although Mr. Piper is in his seventy-third year, he is
hale and vigorous as a man twenty years his junior.  He has seen many
changes come over the land since his youth, and yet has promise of many
years to come.  One of his sons is a prominent farmer near Ash Grove.



Samuel Piper
Mr. Piper was born October 11, 1802, in Washington County, Virginia,
where he grew to manhood and received his education.  He was married to
Miss Sarah Smith, of his native county.  She was of German descent; her
ancestors were early settlers of Virginia.  They had eight children,
seven of whom are still living.  Mr. Piper emigrated to Greene county,
Missouri, in the fall of 1839, and upon the first of January, 1840, he
settled on section 6, township 29, range 20.  His children were George
S., Mary E., Theophilus C., Sarah A. (deceased), L. T., Harriet, Nancy
A. and Margaret C.  Mr. Piper endured all the hardships incident to a
pioneer's life.  He frequently made trips to St. Louis by wagon for
goods, supplies, etc.  During the civil war his sympathies were strong-
ly with the Union, though too old to take active part.  In 1874 he was
stricken with paralysis, and after three weeks died at the advanced age
of seventy-two.  He was one of the old landmarks of the county, and a
man who enjoyed the confidence of all.



John W. Plank
Mr. Plank is the son of Jacob and Barbara (Zook) Plank, and was born in
Wayne County, Ohio, January 27th, 1824.  His parents were originaly 
from Pennsylvania.  John W. grew to manhood in his native county, and
learned the cabinet maker's trade with his brother-in-law, but worked
for a number of years at the carpenter's trade.  In 1847 he moved to
Elkhart County, Indiana, where he lived until 1868.  He then came to
Greene County, Missouri, and purchased the farm upon which he now re-
sides.  It is a splendid place of four hundred and eighty acres, and he
is also the owner of an improved farm in Cedar County, containing two 
hundred and eighty acres, all of which was made by his industry and 
perseverance.  He is one of Greene's most substantial citizens, and 
enjoys the confidence of all.  Mr. Plank was married March 30th, 1848,
to Miss Mary, daughter of Michael and Elizabeth (Blough) Stutzman, of 
Elkhart County, Indiana.  Their union was blest with eleven children,
nine of whom are living: Chancy M., Lavinia A., Amanda J., Lucy A., 
Milo J., James M., Harvey A., Leander D., and Jerome N. C.



Joseph Pollack
Mr. Pollack was born in Reidseitz, Province of Alsace, France, October
30, 1842.  When he was about eighteen years of age, he emigrated to
America, landing in New York city in November, 1860.  He came straight
on to Dayton, Ohio where he remained six months, and then moved to
Springfield and embarked in the clothing business, and sold goods until
1866.  He then sold out and went to farming, which occupation he has
since followed.  Mr. Pollack was married March 1, 1866, to Miss Bettie
Skeen, of Greene county.  Their union was blest with nine children, six
of whom are now living.  Mr. Pollack is a member of St. Nicholas lodge,
No. 435, A. F. & A. M.  He is a Democrat in policits, and is one of
Greene's most substantial citizens.  His wife is a member of the Metho-
dist Episcopal Church South.



Felix R. Porter
This gentleman is the son of William C. and Judith R. (Owen) Porter,
and was born in Weakley County, Tenn., March 7, 1841.  His parents mov-
ed to Springfield, Missouri, in June, 1856.  They lived some little
time in town, but his father soon purchased a farm three miles east of
Ebenezer, this county.  It was here that Felix was educated and grew to
manhood.  At the commencement of the civil war he enlisted in the Con-
federate service under Capt. Bradford, whose company was then attached 
to Gen. Price's body guard.  After the battle of Pea Ridge he was taken
sick, but in the fall of 1862, he joined Company A, 3rd Missouri Cav-
alry, Col. C. E. Green.  The regiment was attached to Gen. Marmaduke's
brigade upon the 12th of January, 1863.  They surrendered at Shreveport
Louisiana, June 7, 1865.  Mr. Porter was in the battles of Helena,
Little Rock, and Poison Springs.  At Little Rock, he had his gun shot
from his hands, and was wounded in the left leg.  At Poison Springs he
was wounded in the right shoulder.  He was married January 17, 1867,
at Smithville, Arkansas, to Miss Sadie Fields.  Their union has been
blest with two sons and two daughters.  He was elected by the city 
council in 1873, to the office of street commissioner, and has been to
a considerable extent engaged in mercantile business.  He was elected
justice of the peace upon the Democratic ticket for Campbell township,
in 1882.  His father was born in Rockingham County, North Carolina, in
1803, and came to Williamson County, Tennessee, in 1811, where he marr-
ied and reared a large family, all sons.



William G. Porter
Mr. Porter is the son of William C. and Judith R. (Owen) Porter, and
was born January 30th, 1829, in Williamson County, Tenn.  In 1836 his
parents moved to the western portion of that State, and in May, 1856,
came to Greene County, Missouri, and settled upon a farm ten miles 
north of Springfield.  William G. soon after purchased a farm of his
own several miles east of Springfield, where he lived until after the
civil war.  Just before the battle of Pea Ridge a detachment of Gen.
Curtis' men and some of Gen. Price's pickets had quite a little fight
at his place.  Mr. Porter had a small stock of merchandise which the
soldiers unceremoniously appropriated to their use, besides taking
everything of value in the house.  He is the oldest tobacconist in the
Southwest, having followed it since coming to the State.  He was marr-
ied in Weakley County, Tenn., February 5th, 1850, to Miss Mary A.
Stubblefield.  Their union was blest with five sons and two daughters,
all of whom are living save one son.  His father was born in Rocking-
ham County, N. C., in 1803 and was taken to Tennessee in 1811.  He 
died at his home in Arkansas in 1878, and his wife died in 1881. They
had a large family, all of whom were boys.



John Potter
Mr. Potter was born in Eurzig, Prussia, and emigrated to America in 
1857, and located at Jefferson City, Missouri.  He moved to Greene 
County in 1860, locating where Brookline now stands, where he remained
until 1862, when he went to Springfield and worked in the government
wagon shops until 1865.  Mr. Potter was married upon the 30th of March,
1862, to Elizabeth Phillips.  Their union has been blest with four 
children, one girl, Mary Josephine, and three boys, Frederick William,
Lyman Theodroe and Roy.  Mr. Potter was the first man sworn in Captain
Abernathy's Home Guards and his sympathies were always with the Union.
When General Marmaduke attempted to enter Springfield in the fall of 
1863, he with all the hands of the shop, was called out to repel the
attack.  At the close of the war he engaged in the manufacture of 
wagons at Springfield, but at the end of a year removed to Little York,
one and one-half miles from Brookline, where he embarked in the grocery
business until November, 1871, when he moved to Brookline and engaged
in general merchandise.  He has been postmaster of Little York and
Brookline for sixteen consecutive years, and station and express agent
at the depot for eight years.  In politics Mr. Potter is a Republican
and has the confidence of all.



Benjamin B. Price
This gentleman is the son of Hon. William C. Price, and was born in
Springfield, Missouri, January 1st, 1848.  He was educated at Salisbury
Institute at Batesville, Arkansas, and at Mountain Home, Arkansas.  He
studied law in St. Louis in his father's office, and at Springfield. He
was admitted to the bar in February, 1873 before Judge Geiger, and was
also admitted at Mountain Home, Arkansas, in 1875, and at Dallas, Texas
in 1881.  He was for several years probate judge of Ozark County, Mo.
He returned to Springfield in February, 1882, and formed a law partner-
ship with Thomas W. Kersey.  December 8th, 1882, he was married to Miss
A. H. Beal, of Ellis County, Texas.  Mr. Price is a member of the 
I. O. O. F.



George Price
Mr. Price was born in Grundy county, Tennessee, July 1, 1844.  He came 
to Missouri in 1861, and soon after his arrival he enlisted in the 2nd
Missouri artillery and served until the close of the war.  In 1866 he
commenced upon an engine on the Missouri Pacific railroad, and worked
upon that road until 1870.  He then came on the St. L. & S. F. railroad
and fired until 1876, when he was promoted to engineer and has been 
running as such ever since.  July 4, 1869, he was married to Miss Mary
A. Maugan, of Jefferson County, Missouri.  Their union has been blest
with three children, viz.: Mary A., Matilda J. and Eunice V.  Mr. Price
is a member of the following benevolent societies: Springfield Lodge,
No. 218, I.O.O.F.; Pacific Division No. 83, Brotherhood of Locomotive
Engineers, and of the Locomotive Engineers Mutual Life Insurance Assoc-
iation.



Isaac Price
Mr. Price is a son of William and Matilda Price, and was born in Grundy
county, Tennessee, September 17, 1849.  In 1858, his parents moved to 
Rockport, Arkansas.  His father dying there, he and his mother moved to
St. Louis, Missouri, in 1862.  In 1863, when he was but fourteen years 
of age, he enlisted in Company M, 2nd Missouri artillery, and served
until the end of the war.  In the winter of 1865 he was put into the
cavalry, and sent to the plains, where he fought Indians in many skirm-
ishes.  After the war he went to work in the Pacific Flour Mills, St.
Louis, and then worked a while for the Missouri Pacific railroad.  In 
1872 he commenced working for the St. Louis and San Francisco railway,
and has now been foreman of the paint shops of that road for eight 
years.  Mr. Price is a member of the A.O.U.W., and is a Select Knight.
He is a self-made man, having been left fatherless when he was twelve
years of age.  He was married in 1872 to Miss Margaret, daughter of 
Thomas and Mary Mangan, natives of Ireland.  Their union has been blest
with six children, five of whom are living.



Col. John H. Price
Col. Price was born in Russell county, Virginia, in July, 1822.  He 
went to the common schools of that county until he was fourteen years
of age, when his parents emigrated to Greene county, Missouri and sett-
led in Taylor township.  His father becoming afflicted with rheumatism,
the care and cultivation of the farm devolved upon John until 1843, 
when he commenced the study of law.  His health becoming impaired he 
resumed active business and made several trips to Texas in 1844.  In
1854 he took five hundred head of cattle to California, and returned to
Missouri in 1855.  At the beginning of the civil war, in 1861, he es-
poused the cause of the South.  He was captured at the battle of 
Wilson's Creek and taken to St. Louis, where he was soon afterward ex-
changed for Major White.  He resumed service and was at the battle of
Elk Horn.  He was recaptured upon the 8th of March, and taken to the
Alton military prison, where he was confined six months and released
upon the 21st of September.  Again he sought the armies of the Confed-
eracy and was in Price's raid into Missouri.  At the close of the war
he went to Batesville, Arkansas, and lived there two years and then
returned to Missouri, and resumed control of the farm, where he has
since resided.  Col. Price was married in September, 1869 to Mary, the
daughter of Samuel and Eliza Caldwell.  Their union has been blest with
two children.  He has one of the best farms upon the James river, and 
is one of the most prosperous farmers in that section.  Col. Price is a
gentleman of the old school and has the respect and confidence of all.



William C. Price
Judge William Cecil Price was born in Russell County, Virginia, April 
1, 1816, and is the third child of Crabtree and Linny C. Price, the
family being of Welsh descent.  His father was a farmer, who emigrated
to Greene County, Missouri, in 1836.  William had the advantage of a
common English education in boyhood, and at twenty years of age was 
sent to Knoxville College, Tennessee.  On returning from college he
taught school in this county, and subsequently clerked in a general
merchandise store, reading law whenever he had any spare time.  In 1840
he was appointed deputy sheriff of Greene County, and one year later 
was appointed justice of the Greene County court, filling out an un-
expired term.  He was admitted to the bar in 1844, practiced law till
1847, and was then elected probate judge, holding the position for two
years.  In 1854 Judge Price was elected to the State Senate, but re-
signed in 1857 to accept appointment as judge of the 27th judicial 
circuit.  In 1859 Gov. Stewart appointed him to represent Missouri as
agent at the general land office at Washington, on the subject of swamp
and overflowed lands, in which service he saved several hundred thou-
sand acres of land for his State.  President Buchanan appointed Judge
Price, in 1860, to fill the unexpired term of Judge Casey as U. S.
Treasurer, which postion he held till the inauguration of Lincoln. When
the civil war came on, Judge Price being Southern in all his sentiments
and interests, entered the Confederate service as private under Gen.
Price, in McBride's brigade, Missouri volunteers.  He was captured at
Pea Ridge, taken to Alton, imprisoned eight months and then exchanged
at Vicksburg.  President Davis assigned him to the adjutant general's
department, with the rank of major, and he did duty as recruiting offi-
cer in Missouri.  In the spring of 1864 he resigned, and being finan-
cially ruined by the war, he began farming in Arkansas, where he re-
mained till 1867, when he removed to St. Louis and there practiced his
profession.  He located at Springfield in 1869, where he has ever since
continued to reside.  In June, 1842, he married Miss Sarah J. Kimbrough
of Kentucky.  She died in August, 1859, leaving four sons and three
daughters.  Judge P. was again married, August 27, 1860, to Lydia C.
Dow, daughter of Ira M. Dow, of Vermont.  She was born March 15th, 1836
and educated at Fairfax, Vermont.  Of the last marriage there were born
three children.  Judge Price takes little interest in politics of late
years, preferring private life.  Formerly he was connected with the
M. E. Church South, but does not now join in religious services with
that body. 



William T. Prigmore
This gentleman is a Missourian, born in Jasper County, March 15, 1854.
He is a son of Dr. L. Prigmore, who resides at Rolla, Missouri, and his
mother is also still living.  In 1871 he began "braking" on the St. L.
& S. F. railraod and has been in the employ of the same road, off and 
on, ever since.  July 29, 1879, he was promoted to the position of
freight conductor which he has held ever since.  Mr. Prigmore was marr-
ied June 13, 1877, to Miss Norah S. Robberson, of Dixon, Missouri.  He
is a Free Mason, and a member of Arlington Lodge, No. 346, A.F. & A.M.,
at Dixon.



Pleasant T. Prophet
The subject of this sketch is a son of Arnton and Jemima (Brigham) Pro-
het, and was born in McMinn County, Tennessee, August 31, 1835, where
he continued to reside till 1852, when he moved with his parents to
Greene County, Missouri and settled at the head of Clear Creek.  Here
he engaged in farming till 1881, when he sold his farm and embarked in
the mercantile business at Bois D'Arc of which place he is one of the 
leading business men, as well as a highly respected citizen.  He joined
the Methodist Episcopal Church South, at twelve years of age, and has
constantly adhered to the faith since then, filling creditably the sev-
eral functions of steward, secretary, class leader, and trustee of the
church.  He was one of the original members in the organization of the
church on Clear Creek.  He was married in 1858, to Miss Nancy Barrett,
of Greene County.  She died in 1862, having had two children, one Sarah
J., still survives her.  Mr. Prophet was a second time married in 1868,
to Miss Blackwell, daughter of Sylvester and Martha Blackwell, of this
county.  Seven children have been born to this union, all of whom are
still living, and are an honor to their parents.



Robert Coats Prunty,M.D.
Dr. Prunty is the son of Thomas and Sarah (Rives) Prunty, and was born
in Warren County, Kentucky, July 7, 1820.  His grandfather, Robert
Prunty, was born in Franklin County, Virginia, and emigrated to Kentuc-
ky in 1806.  His grandfather, upon his mother's side, Burwell Rives was
also of Franklin county, Virginia, and came to Kentucky about the same
year.  Robert Coats Prunty lived in that State until he was nineteen
years of age, receiving his education at Bowling Green.  In 1839 his
parents moved to Greene county, Missouri, and purchased the place upon
which the doctor is now living.  His father died September 10, 1860, 
upon the homestead, and his mother died in McLean county, Illinois,
March 18, 1864.  Robert read medicine under Drs. Shackleford and Perham
and began the practice in 1845 at Ash Grove.  His health failing he 
went to Virginia, and on his return stopped in Warren County, Kentucky,
and practiced four years in the vicinity of his birthplace.  While mak-
ing his home in Kentucky, he attended the medical department of the
Missouri State University, at St. Louis, that department of the Univer-
sity being then in that city, and graduated in 1847.  He was married
January 18, 1848, in this county, to Miss Mahala S., daughter of Col.
Nathan Boone, who was the eighth child of Daniel Boone.  She died Nov-
ember 2, 1849, leaving one child, now Mrs. Belle Boone Cowden, of 
Springfield.  The doctor was married the second time to Miss Olevia
Shipp, of this county, in January, 1854.  She died in 1859, and he 
married Mrs. Mary F. McGown, on the 22nd of March, 1863.  Their union
has been blest with four children, viz.: Burwell R., Matilda P., Amanda
J., and Mary F.  In 1863, Dr. Prunty went to McLean county, Illinois,
and sold goods at Leroy for some time.  He then sold out and practiced
medicine at Down's Station until his return to this county in 1868.  He
practiced two years at Ash Grove, and then moved back upon the old 
homestead, where he has since been engaged in farming and stock trading.



Rev. Douglas P. Putnam
Mr. Putnam is the son of Rev. Charles Marsh and Abbie S. (Edgerton)
Putnam, and was born at Jersey, Ohio, February 8th, 1844.  He gradua-
ted from Wabash Indiana College, at Crawfordsville, Indiana, and re-
ceived his theological education at Union Theological Seminary, New
York City, and at Lane Seminary, Cincinnati, Ohio.  He was ordained to
preach in the Presbyterian Church at Portsmouth, Ohio, where he was
assistant pastor for one year.  In 1871 he went to Monroe, Michigan,
where he had charge of the church until 1881.  He then came to Spring-
field, Missouri and took the pastorate of Calvary Presbyterian Church.
In 1862 he enlisted in the 92nd Ohio Infantry, as a private, and serv-
ed as adjutant's clerk.  There were five great-great-grandsons of Gen.
Israel Putnam in the regiment, viz.: Col. B. D. Fearing, Douglas Put-
nam, Jr.; Daniel E. Putnam, David Putnam and our subject.  The first
four were wounded.  Our subject was married June 22nd, 1870, to Miss
Jeannie H. Williamson, daughter of John A. Williamson, prominently 
connected with railroads in New York, but now of Lafayette, Indiana.
They have five children, four girls and one boy.  Mr. Putnam has in
his possession several very old letters written by General Washington,
General Putnam and John Hancock.  They bear dates of 1776 and 1777.
The father of our subject was born in February, 1802, in Marietta, 
Ohio, and graduated from Yale College in 1826, and at Andover Theolog-
ical Seminary in 1829.  He then took charge of the Presbyterian Church
at Jersey, Ohio, where he remained until 1869, just forty years.  He
died in 1870, and his wife died in March, 1878.



Thomas E. Quicksell
Was born in Montezuma, New York, August 8, 1834.  When fourteen years 
old he began working at a saw mill, at which he continued four years.
He next went on a farm and remained till July, 1862, when he joined 
Company C, of the 74th Indiana Volunteer Infantry, serving in the civil
war till July, 1865.  He had been in the battles of Stone River, Mun-
fordsville, Mission Ridge, and several other fights and skirmishes, and
was once captured at the battle of Munfordsville.  He was exchanged, 
however, and finally mustered out at Camp Norton, Indianapolis.  After
the war, he began "firing" on the Pittsburg, Ft. Wayne & Chicago R.R.,
where he fired till 1871, then was put in charge of an engine, which he
ran until 1876.  He then ran twenty months on the Michigan Central, 
after which he came to North Springfield, and in April, 1879, took an
engine which he is now running.  He has been twice married.  First, in
1859, to Angeline Sult (who died in 1861), by whom he has one child. On
July 4, 1869, he married Mrs. Mary E. Hill, by which marriage he has 
four children.  Mr. Quicksell is a member of the Odd Fellows Order at 
Ft. Wayne, and also belongs to the A. O. U. W.



Elkanah Quisenberry
(Deceased).  This gentleman was born in Clarke County, Kentucky, July
15th, 1830.  His father was Colby B. Quisenberry, one of the early
settlers of Clarke county.  Elkanah spent the greater part of his life
in Kentucky.  He was educated in the colleges at Winchester and Lexing-
ton, and followed farming as an avocation the most of his life.  He
spent some five years in Texas and New Mexico ranching, and returned to
Kentucky in 1860.  When the war broke out he joined Morgan's Confeder-
ate cavalry, and was taken prisoner in Ohio, on the famous Morgan raid,
and held twenty-five months.  When released he returned home and re-
mained in Kentucky until 1875, when he came to Greene county, Missouri,
and bought a farm.  Mr. Quisenberry was married November 5th, 1867, to
Ellen, a daughter of John and Mahala (Adams) Thornton, of Henry county,
Kentucky.  Their union was blest with six children, viz.: Florence B.,
Arthur T., Charles D., Mattie L., Gracie E. and Gertie E., twins.  Mr.
Quisenberry died November 13th, 1880, and his widow lives upon the home
place two and one-half miles west of Springfield.



Henry T. Rand
Mr. Rand is a son of John H. and Irene (Trumbull) Rand, and was born at
Manchester, New Hampshire, November 4, 1848.  He grew to manhood in his
native town, and in 1865 entered Darmouth College, from which he gradu-
ated in 1869.  The same year he accepted a position as civil engineer
upon St. Louis & San Francisco railroad, and remained in the offices at
St. Louis a year.  He then engaged in merchandising at Pacific City, 
being postmaster and city clerk.  In 1873 he located at North Spring-
field where he has since been engaged in the grocery business, doing a
business of twenty thousand dollars a year.  He is the present secre-
tary of the school board.  Mr. Rand was married April 30, 1871, to Miss
Sarah O., daughter of William C. Inks, of St. Louis County, Missouri.
They have four children, Florence J., Willie M., Harry T. and Walter H.
Mr. Rand is a member and trustee of the Congregational Church.



Thomas Rathbone
This gentleman is the son of John and Sarah Rathbone, and was born in
England, July 19, 1827.  At the age of thirteen, he was apprenticed for
seven years to learn the tinner's trade.  After completing his trade he
worked at it in his native town until 1852, when he came to the United
States and located at Williamsburg, N.Y., where he worked at his trade.
In 1858 he moved to Springfield, Mo., where he worked at his trade and 
farmed until 1875.  He then went into the stove, hardware, and tinware
business, doing the leading business in the place, carrying a large
stock, and is one of the best practical tinners in the Southwest.  Dur-
ing the war he served in the Home Guards, and was in the fight against
Gen. Marmaduke.  He and his teams were pressed into service when 
Fremont retreated to Sedalia, and had many narrow escapes upon his re-
turn.  He is a member of the Temple of Honor, No. 23, and has filled
the various offices connected with it.  He was married in 1847, to Miss
Sarah Warr, of his native town.  Their union has been blest with four
sons and one daughter.  Mr. Rathbone is one of the best citizens of the
county, and enjoys the friendship of a large circle of acqaintances.



Richard F. Rawdon
Mr. Rawdohn was born in Warren, Ohio, August 29, 1845.  At the age of
sixteen he commenced railroading, doing his first work at braking upon
the Atlantic and Great Western railroad in Ohio, which he followed for
six years.  In 1869 he came West and braked on the 'Frisco road for six
months, and then went with the engineer corps, and was on the survey 
from Pierce City to the Arkansas river in the Indian Territory.  He 
then went to St. Louis and braked upon the Missouri Pacific road for 
six months, and was then promoted conductor, and ran a train five years.
When the Missouri, Pacific and 'Frisco separated, he came on the latter
road, and has been running a train ever since.  For the last two years
he has been running a passenger train, and is considered one of the 
most reliable upon the road.  Mr. Rawdon was married to Miss Kate 
Griffith, of Cincinnati, Ohio.  Their union is blest with three child-
ren, viz.: George, Alice and Charles.



James H. Rea
Mr. Rea was born in Franklin county, Illinois, June 29th, 1845.  His
father, Thomas Rea, was a native of Bedford county, Tenn., born June
11th, 1811, and died in Franklin county, Illinois, in April, 1861. 
His mother was Miss Thenia Brashers, born in Tennessee, July 14th,
1811 and is still living in Franklin county, Illinois.  James was ed-
ucated in the common schools of that county, and began farming at an
early age.  In February, 1862, he enlisted in Company K, 30th Illinois
Infantry, and afterwards in Company A, 136th Ill. Infantry, and served
until mustered out in October, 1864.  He was at Chickamauga, Moscow,
the seige of Vicksburg and Lookout Mountain, besides many minor engage-
ments.  He was wounded at Chickamauga.  At the close of the war he
returned to Illinois, where he lived until the fall of 1877, when he
moved to this county.  Mr. Rea was married January 7th, 1865, to Miss
Nancy Eubanks, of Franklin county, Illinois, born January 14th, 1843.
Their union has been blest with eight children, viz.: Emma D., born 
November 16th, 1865; Harvey, born October 11th, 1867; Rosanna, born 
April 6th, 1870; Benjamin F., born August 7th, 1872; Thomas E., born
September 19th, 1874; Harry, born August 10th, 1876; Maurice V., born
February 29th, 1880; and Abram, born May 24th, 1882.  Mrs. Rea was the
daughter of John D. Eubanks, M.D., born in July, 1800.  He was a chap-
lain and surgeon in the Mexican War, and died at Tampico, Mexico, in
December, 1847.  Her mother was Annie Smothers, born in Tennessee, on
July 16th, 1801 and died in Franklin County, Illinois, August 15th,
1875.  Mr. Rea lives five miles east of Springfield, on the Martin
Ingram place, where he carries on farming and deals largely in live
stock.



Jesse O. Redfearn
Mr. Redfearn is the son of Josiah and Lucy K. (Bennett) Redfearn, old
settlers of Greene County, the former a native of Tennessee, and the
latter of North Carolina.  Jesse was born in this county, April 10, 
1856, and was reared on the farm and educated in the common schools.
Like his father, he too, became a farmer, and continued this vocation
till 1882, when, moving to Bois D'Arc, he engaged in the mercantile
business with Messrs. Hoyal and Johnson, the firm style being Hoyal,
Redfearn & Johnson.  Mr. Redfearn was married December 21, 1877, to
Miss Catherine H., daughter of Benjamin R. and Celia D. Johnson, of
Greene County.  Mr. and Mrs. Redfearn have had three children, named
respectively, Bertha C., Carrie J. and William R.  Mr. Redfearn has 
amassed what he possesses by his own industry and thrift, and owns,
besides other property, a well improved farm of sixty-five acres.



Josiah F. Redfearn
Mr. Redfearn is the son of Townley and Sarah (Mason) Redfearn, and was
born in Robertson County, Tenn., July 23, 1830.  His parents were nat-
ives of North Carolina, but were reared in Tennessee.  They emigrated
to Greene County, Missouri, in 1837.  His father died in 1838, leaving
his mother with a family of six children.  His mother died in 1880, 
being eighty-three years of age.  His grandfather, Jesse Mason, preach-
ed the first sermon in the western part of the county, at the house of
Josiah's father.  Josiah received his education in the county, going to
the first school taught in the township.  He has always followed farm-
ing, and served as school director several terms.  He saw six months'
active service in the militia in his brother's company.  He owns 160
acres of good land, the result of his industry and perseverance.  Mr.
Redfearn was married February 3, 1848 to Miss Lucy K., daughter of Per-
minter and Sarah (Kelsey) Bennett.  They were natives of South Carolina
but moved to Greene County, Mo., in 1840.  Mr. and Mrs. Redfearn have
had ten children, seven of whom are now living.  Mr. Redfearn is one of
the best citizens of Center Township.



John Reynolds
John Reynolds (deceased).  Mr. Reynolds was the son of David D. and
Polly (Kelly) Reynolds, and was born in Monroe County, Tennessee,
November 28, 1824.  His parents were natives of that State, and emi-
grated to Greene County, Missouri, in 1834, and settled in Pond Creek
township.  At their house was held the first religious services in 
that part of the county.  It was here that John grew to manhood upon
the farm.  He was married October 31, 1850, to Miss Hannah E., daugh-
ter of William and Sarah (Squibb) Likens, of this county.  Their union
was blest with six children, four of whom are now living: William F.,
James H., Thomas B. and Susan J.  Mr. Reynolds was one of the pros-
perous farmers of his neighborhood, owning a farm of two hundred and
thirty-four acres.  He was a member of the Methodist church, and was
a quiet, peaceable citizen.  He was a member of the Home Guards, and
was the first man murdered in that part of the county.  He was killed
in his own house on the night of November 22, 1861.  About eight
o'clock a party of men, three or more, came to his house and one of 
them came in, saying, "We've come to hang you for voting for Lincoln!"
Mr. Reynolds hit him upon the head with a shovel and put him out, and,
while holding the door he was shot through the window, dying in a few
seconds.  His widow is yet living, and reared her little ones under
difficulties which only a fond mother and noble woman could surmount.



B. C. Rice
B. C. Rice was born in Polk County, Missouri, December 15, 1844.  His
father, Jonathan Rice, was a native of Logan County, Kentucky, and came
to Polk County, this State, in about 1830.  The subject of this sketch
was educated in the common schools of his native county, and at an 
early age began farming.  In 1863, he enlisted in Company L, 15th Miss-
ouri Cavalry, of Confederates, under Col. John Allen, and was on Gen.
Price's last raid through Missouri and participated in the battle of
Big Blue, and other engagements.  After the war, he returned to Polk
County and went to farming on the old homestead, and also engaged in
buying mules for the Southern market.  Mr. Rice came to Walnut Grove in
1878, and clerked for B. Y. Acuff and J. Brown till August, 1880, when
he opened up a drug store for himself, the firm being Rice & King.  The
firm was dissolved by mutual consent in October, 1882, and Mr. Rice 
made a trip to Texas, returning in December following.  Mr. Rice was
married December 5, 1880, to Miss Barbara McMehen, daughter of James
McMehen, one of the most prominent citizens of the northwest part of 
Greene County.  Mr. and Mrs. Rice have one child, a boy named James B.,
born May 12, 1882.  Mr. Rice is a Freemason in good standing, and his
wife belongs to the Methodist Episcopal Church South.  They have many
warm friends, and are highly esteemed by all who know them.  Mr. Rice
has been quite successful in business, and retains the confidence of
the people among whom his business career has been known.



W. D. Rice
This gentleman is the son of Jonathan and Elizabeth (Porter) Rice, and
was born in Polk County, Missouri, February 11, 1857.  His father was a
native of Logan County, Kentucky, born in March, 1801 and died in 1860,
in Polk County, Missouri, upon the old homestead.  His mother was the
widow of James Chastine, who was married to her in Kentucky.  Mr. Chas-
tine was one of the early settlers of Greene County, and entered the
land where Walnut Grove is now located.  He died about the year 1838,
and Mrs. Chastine was married to Mr. Rice in 1839.  She died November
6, 1880.  W. D. Rice was educated at Morrisville Institute, and taught
school in Polk and Greene Counties about two years.  He then followed
civil engineering in Texas for two years, and returned to Greene County
in January, 1880, and went into the drug business in Walnut Grove.  He
followed it about six months, and then embarked in the general merchan-
dise business of Brown & Rice, and at once took the lead in the busi-
ness of that place.  Mr. Rice was married about June 5, 1881 to Miss
Maggie, daughter of Josiah Brown, Esq., one of the prominent citizens
of this county.  Their union has been blest with one son, born March
23, 1882.  Mr. Rice is one of the substantial business men of the
county, young as he is, and already ranks well in the mercantile world.



William S. Riggs
Mr. Riggs was born February 26, 1829, in Maury County, Tennessee.  He
was educated in his native county, and in 1855 he came to Greene Coun-
ty, Missouri, and settled six miles north of Springfield.  Here he was
engaged in farming until 1867, when he moved into the city, where he 
has since been engaged in carpentering and hotel keeping.  The hotel 
is on the corner of Boonville and Water streets, is a two story frame,
52x31, and contains thirteen rooms and basement.  Mr. Riggs was marr-
ied in March, 1856, to Miss Emily McCracken.  Her family were among 
the earliest settlers of the county.  They are blest with three sons
and one daughter.  Mr. Riggs' parents were natives of North Carolina.
His father died in 1849 and his mother is yet living in the county. 
They had seven sons and two daughters, William S. being the second 
child.



David M. Ritter
Mr. Ritter is the son of Jacob and Elizabeth (Miller) Ritter, and was
born in St. Joseph County, Indiana, February 10, 1843.  His grandfather
was a soldier of the Revolution, and was one of the men who threw the
tea overboard in Boston Harbor.  David grew to manhood upon the farm,
and in July, 1862, he enlisted in the 21st Indiana Battery, and was at
the battles of rome, Gainesboro, Carthage, Hoover's Gap, Cattle Gap,
Chickamauga, Nashville and Columbia, besides many smaller engagements.
He held the rank of corporal, and was mustered out June 26, 1865.  He
came to Greene County, Missouri, in 1866 and located upon Leeper
prairie, where he lived two years, and then came to the farm upon which
he now lives, containing two hundred and seventy acres, well watered 
and stocked.  It has fourteen hundred bearing apple trees, one thousand
of which were of his own planting.  Mr. Ritter was married May 30, 1872
to Miss Josephine, daughter of Joseph and Lucinda Martin, of Greene
County.  Her father was a soldier in the Mexican War.  Mr. and Mrs.
Ritter have three children: Howard J., Clara L. and Ethel.



Dr. Edward A. Roberts
Dr. Roberts was born and brought up in the State of Georgia.  In May,
1866, he came to St. Louis, from there to New Orleans, but returned to
St. Louis, July 11, same year, and passed through the terrible cholera
ordeal of that year.  In August took the cholera, after partial recov-
ery became a patient of St. Luke's hospital (Episcopal) and remained
one month until fully restored to health.  November 1, 1866, he was
appointed superintendent and resident physician of St. Luke's hospital,
where he remained over six years, resigning December 1, 1872.  He was
then appointed visiting physician upon a salary, but after four months
he came to Springfield where he has practiced his profession.  In 1877
he was appointed Alms-house and jail physician and holds that position
for 1883.  He was a member of the city council from the third ward upon
the Democratic ticket during the years of 1876-7-8 and 9.  He was the
Democratic candidate for mayor in 1881, but was defeated by James 
Abbott, by thirty-five votes.  He was also defeated in 1882 by Geo. S.
Day.  He is now councilman from the third ward, elected April 3, 1883.
In 1882 he was appointed city engineer and street commissioner.  He is
a member of the board of health, and is chairman of the Democratic 
county central committee.  The doctor has always taken an active part 
in public enterprises, and is one of the most useful citizens of the
county.  He was married February 28, 1868 to Miss Minnie B. Coleman.
They are blest with two children, Roberta Lee, born July 4, 1870 and
Susie, born June 1, 1875.  He and his wife are members of the Episcopal
Church, and he has been junior and senior warden of the church at 
Springfield.  Dr. Roberts' parents were natives of Virginia.  His 
mother died in 1852, and his father died in 1856.  They had a family of
ten children, Edward A. is the oldest.



Benjamin J. Robertson
This gentleman was born in Greencastle, Indiana, February 13, 1844.  At
seventeen years of age he joined Company G, 63rd Illinois volunteer in-
fantry, and served one year as second sergeant.  He was then promoted 
to quartermaster sergeant.  In 1863 he was advanced to rank of first
lieutenant and regimental quartermaster, which he held till the close 
of the war.  He served through the siege of Vicksburg, also at Black
River, Champion Hill, Chattanooga, the campaign before Atlanta and 
Sherman's march to the sea.  He returned to Illinois after the war,
and was employed over two years in the office of the Illinois Central
railroad at Tuscola.  Next he was engaged in the American express com-
pany's office at Mattoon.  A year later he began braking on the C. & A.
R.R., and continued nine months, when he was made freight conductor,
and ran a train five months.  The machine shops at Bloomington were his
next field of a labor, where he remained three years.  In September,
1879, he went to Pierce City and began braking on the Kansas division 
of the "Frisco" line.  He was again given charge of a train in May, 
1881, which he has conducted since then.  His removal to North Spring-
field was in 1880, where his family now reside.  Mr. Robertson was 
married March 30th, 1868, to Miss Mattie Blake, of Charleston, Illinois
and has at this writing a family of four children.



William J. Robertson
Mr. Robertson was born in Tennessee in 1806, and grew to manood in his
native State.  He was married in 1836 to Miss Mary A. Lotspeich, of
Monroe county, Tenn., and in 1839 they emigrated to Missouri, and sett-
led in Greene county, where he entered three hundred and sixty acres of
land.  He was one of the pioneers of the county, and helped to "make
the wilderness bloom as the rose."  During the late war farming in his
neighborhood was carried on under difficulties.  The girls would act as
sentinels, and give the alarm at the approach of the soldiers, and the
men would hide themselves.  Mr. and Mrs. Robertson reared a family of
nine children, seven girls and two boys.  He died October 12, 1877, be-
ing nearly seventy-one years of age.  His widow still survives him, 
living upon the farm with her daughter and son-in-law, Mr. and Mrs.
David Snider.  One by one the fathers of the county are being called
home, and their hardy descendants become the life-blood of the land.



Edwin D. Robinson, M.D.
The professional gentleman whose name heads this sketch is a native of
this State, and was born in Chillicothe, November 2nd, 1854.  His par-
ents were Edwin and Eliza (nee Cravens) Robinson.  He grew up in the 
town of his birth, and there acquired his elementary education.  Sub-
sequently he attended Central College at Fayette, Missouri, and in 1875
commenced the study of medicine under Dr. Ross of Springfield.  He then
entered the Missouri Medical College, of St. Louis, in 1877, graduating
with the degree of M. D., in 1879.  Soon after he located for practice 
at Bois D'Arc, this county.  In 1881, he entered Bellevue hospital med-
ical college of New York, graduating from there in March, 1882.  After
practicing three months, in the hospital department he returned to Bois
D'Arc, where he is enjoying a fine practice and taking a leading rank
among the M. D.'s of the Southwest.



John B. Robinson
This gentleman is the son of Charles and Sarah (Barham) Robinson, and
was born in Stokes County, North Carolina, March 2, 1810.  His parents
were natives of that State, and his grandfather was a soldier in the
Revolution.  The parents of John B. moved to Lyon county, Kentucky, the
same year he was born.  It was here he grew to manhood upon the farm 
and received his education.  For some time after he was grown he drove
the stage between Russelville and Bowling Green, Kentucky.  In 1837 he
came to Polk County, Missouri, and engaged in farming.  In 1844 he 
moved to this county and settled upon the place where he now resides.
He is one of the pioneers of the county and has seen many changes come
to the people and the face of the country.  He owns a fine farm of four
hundred acres, and has accumulated it all since coming to this county.
Mr. Robinson was married in 1840 to Miss Louisa E., daughter of Geo. H.
and Susan (Gee) Irwin, of Polk County, Missouri.  Her parents were 
natives of North Carolina, and her father was a soldier in the War of
1812, and was at the battle of New Orleans.  They have had seven child-
ren, five of whom are now living, Geo. W., James F., Sarah S., Mary L.,
and Martha J.  They are all married and living in Greene County.  Mr.
and Mrs. Robinson have been members of the Baptist Church for over 
forty years.  He is regarded as one of the best citizens of the county.



Charles Warrington Rogers
This distinguished gentleman and successful railway manager was born at
Exeter, N. H., Oct. 7, 1834.  His parents were of English parentage, 
and he is a lineal descendant of the martyr John Rogers.  His maternal
grandfather, Enoch Poor, was a general in the Revolutionary army.  His
father, a banker, died when Charles was two years of age, and his mot-
her died eight years later, thus leaving him an orphan at that tender
age; nevertheless his early education was not neglected, as his native
New England is proverbial for good schools.  At the age of fifteen he
went to sea as a sailor boy, and when sixteen years old he made the 
voyage to California round Cape Horn.  He remained in California three
years and then resumed seafaring and engaged upon a vessel trading be-
tween the State and the East Indies.  He afterwards became captain of
the merchant-ship "Winfield Scott," and upon that vessel circumnaviga-
ted the globe.  In 1863 he placed his services at the disposal of the
Federal government and was appointed acting ensign and commander of the
gunboat "Hydranga," remaining in the service until November, 1865, 
participating in the naval operations in the vicinity of Charleston, 
S.C.  After being promoted to the grade of acting master, he within 
four months embarked again in the California and East India trade as
captain and part owner of the merchant-ship "Templar."  He spent four
years in this trade and returned to New England.  In 1871 he came to
Missouri to accept the position as wood agent upon the Atlantic and
Pacific Railroad.  In Oct., 1872, he was promoted to be fuel and claim
agent of that road and its leased lines, including the Missouri Pacific
railroad.  In May, 1874, he was appointed purchasing agent of the whole
system embraced under the A. & P. management.  In March, 1876, when the
lease of the Missouri Pacific and its joint management with the Atlan-
tic and Pacific was formally abrogated by the U. S. district court, Mr.
Rogers was placed in immediate charge of the road between Pacific and
Vinita by the receiver as its general superintendent.  Retaining this
position he became, on the reorganization of the company, one of its
incorporators and general superintendent, and in May, 1879, was gazett-
ed as general manager under its new title of the St. Louis and San
Francisco Railway.  March 9, 1881, he was unanimously elected to the
position of 2d vice president and general manager, from which position
he was advanced on the 4th of March, 1882, to that of 1st vice presi-
dent and general manager, and upon the 13th of March, 1883, he was un-
animously re-elected to the same position.  Thus step by step, by his
splended executive ability and practical knowledge of railway manage-
ment he has risen from wood agent to the high and responsible position
of vice president and general manager.  When he assumed charge of the
road in 1876 it only operated 327 miles of road, and since that time
550 miles of new railroad have been added to the system, most of which
was under immediate direction of the general manager.  Mr. Rogers was
married in April, 1863, to Miss Mary, daughter of Hon. Tristram Shaw,
M. C., from New Hampshire.  Their union is blest with one son living.
No man in the last decade has, by brain and action, done more for the
material advancement of Greene County, and the State of Missouri, than
Charles Warrington Rogers.



Jake Rothschild
This prince of Springfield's merchants is the son of Leopold Rothschild
and was born February 12, 1850, upon the beautiful and historic Rhine,
in Germany.  He was educated in the country, and in August, 1868, he
came to America, landing in New York.  He soon after removed to St.
Louis, but only lived in that city a short time, and then went to Mar-
shfield, from where he moved to Springfield, and opened out one of the
largest stocks of clothing ever brought to this part of the State.  He
is well and favorably known all over the country, having traveled sev-
eral years for wholesale houses of Cincinnati and Chicago.



Bentley J. Rountree
Mr. Rountree is the son of M. J. and Mary L. (Winton) Rountree, and was
born in Greene County, Mo., January 2, 1849.  He was educated here in
this county and remained at home upon the farm until the civil war.  In
1864-5, was in the quartermaster's department at Springfield, under
Capt. C. B. Owen, as post messenger.  When the war closed he went to
school for two years, and then acted as salesman for his father in the
nursery business.  He was married September 30, 1868, to Miss Eva Hovey
daughter of E. Hovey, of Springfield.  They were married at Buffalo,
Mo.  They have three children, Hattie, Minnie, and Herman.  From 1872
to 1874 Mr. Rountree was in the drug and grocery business, and was also
a teacher of music for some time.  From 1875 to 1879 he was traveling
salesman for H. D. Brown, dealer in musical instruments, etc.  Upon the
first of January, 1880, commenced traveling for Jacob Strauss & Co.,
wholesale saddlery, etc., St. Louis, and so far has done well.  Mr.
Rountree belongs to one of the most respected of the pioneer families,
and deserves the success with which he has met.



Joseph Rountree
Joseph Rountree was the son of Thomas and Eva (Sturgess) Rountree, and
was born in Orange County, North Carolina, in April, 1872.  He was the
youngest of a large family, and received a good education for that 
early day, being very proficient in mathematics, and a good scribe.  He
taught school for many years in North Carolina, Tennessee and Missouri.
He moved to Maury county, Tenn., in 1819, where he lived for about ten
years, and then with several friends came to Missouri, and traveled
about for nearly a year, looking for suitable lands upon which to 
locate.  They finally selected Greene county as their future homes, and
in 1830 Mr. Rountree brought his family and located three miles south 
of Springfield, upon the afterward famous Wilson's Creek.  He owned 
several hundred acres of choice lands in different parts of the county.
He and another gentleman went to Boonville, Cooper county, and got a 
lot of fruit trees and set them out, and grew the first orchards in the
Southwest.  He next built a large store house and stocked it with gen-
eral merchandise in 1833, and sold goods for three years.  He then sold
the building to some parties at Springfield who moved it to where the
court house now stands.  It was used for many years as a land office.
Mr. Rountree taught school in the old log school house, three miles
southwest of Springfield for two sessions, and it was probably the 
first school house built in this part of the State.  Mr. Rountree was
married in Caswell county, North Carolina, in 1806, to Miss Nancy Nic-
hols, by whom he had ten children, six boys and four girls, two of whom
died in infancy.  Those wo lived to be grown or nearly so, where Junius
M., living in Greene county, aged seventy-three; Zenas M., Lucius A.,
Louisa A., wife of Dr. Slavens, of Dallas county, Mo.; Caroline, who
died when quite young; Judge M. J., Almus L. of California, who has 
been sheriff of Santa Cruz county for many years; Allen J., who died in
his twenty-second year; and Almarinda C., the late wife of Wm. Massey,
of Springfield.  Mr. Rountree died upon the 26th of December, 1874, at
his home on Wilson's Creek, near Springfield.



Judge M. J. Rountree
Judge Rountree is the son of Joseph and Nancy (Nichols) Rountree, and
was born March 24th, 1820, in Maury County, Tennessee.  He received his
early education from his mother, an intelligent, cultivated lady, and
from the common schools of his section.  At the age of twenty he went 
to work upon a farm by the month, working in the summer and going to
school in the winter.  In December, 1829, the parents of our subject
moved to Missouri and settled upon Wilson's Creek, within two miles of
Springfield.  Judge Rountree was married upon the 7th of March, 184-,
to Miss Mary Winton, of Polk County, Missouri.  They have had eight
children, four of whom are now living.  Their first born died in infan-
cy.  Sarah F. died in her nineteenth year, Bentley J. is a traveling
salesman, Joseph W. is in the nursery business with his father, Mary E.
is at home with her parents, Thomas J., is a tobacconist at Carthage.
In 1845 he bought a small farm three and one-half miles southwest of
Springfield, where he lived about six years, when he sold out and
bought a place of two hundred acres southeast of Springfield, where he 
lived until the war closed.  He then sold his farm, and went to Spring-
field temporarily, but soon purchased an eighty acre tract of land east
of the city, and started a nursery in 1867.  In 1870 he traded for the
house where he now lives on East Elm street, which is upon a four acre
lot.  He was a justice of the peace for four years.  In 1872 he was
elected judge of the county court, and held that position six years.
In 1880 he was elected upon the Democratic ticket to the mayoralty of
the city of Springfield.  Judge Rountree is a self-made man, and no man
in this county stands better in the estimation of his fellow citizens
than he.



Newton M. Rountree
Mr. Rountree is the son of Z. M. and Elizabeth (Massey) Rountree, and
was born November 5th, 1838, on his father's farm three miles northeast
of Springfield, Missouri.  He was educated in the county, and in 1860
entered the store of Massey & McAdams, as clerk, and in 1864 became a
partner in the house and so remained until 1869.  From 1869 to 1871 he
was of the firm of Keet, Massey & Co., and when the firm reorganized in
1871, it became Keet, Rountree & Co., and so continues.  Mr. Rountree
was married in 1867 to Miss Grabella, daughter of Hon. Charles Haden,
of this county.  Their marriage is blest with three sons and two daugh-
ters.  Mrs. Rountree is a member of the Christian Church.  They are 
both of the pioneer families of the county, and none are more honorable
or more highly respected in Greene County.



William Jones Rountree
This gentleman is the son of Almus L. and Delina (Mitchel) Rountree, 
and was born October 17th, 1847, on the farm now owned by Z. M. Roun-
tree, near Springfield, Missouri.  He was reared by his grandfather
upon the farm, and was educated at the public school of Springfield.
At the age of seventeen he accepted a clerkship in the store of Massey,
McAdams & Co., of Springfield, where he remained until March, 1865, 
when he enlisted in Company F, 14th Missouri Volunteers, U. S. A.  He
was mustered out at Leavenworth, Kansas, the same year, and returned to
Springfield, where he attended school until 1867.  He then engaged with
Massey, McAdams & Co., and sold goods for them for eighteen months.  In
the fall of 1869 he went to California, and returned in 1870 and took a
position as clerk in the St. Louis and San Francisco freight and ticket
office, where he continued until 1873.  In the spring of 1874 he went
to Texas, and was chief clerk on the Houston and Texas railroad.  He 
was next appointed agent at Calveras, Texas, where he remained until
1876.  He returned to Springfield in the fall of that year, but soon
afterwards went to Joplin, Missouri, where he sold groceries for nine
months, when he returned to this city and took the position of conduc-
tor on the popular Gulf railroad.  Mr. Rountree is a member of the 
I. O. O. F., K. T and Brotherhood of Railway Conductors.  He was marr-
ied on September 15th, 1876 to Miss Fannie E. Massey.  They have three
children, viz.: Frank M., John F. and Etta.  The Rountrees are some of
Greene's earliest and best settlers.



Zenas Marion Rountree
'Squire Rountree is the son of Joseph and Nancy (Nichols) Rountree, and
was born June 8, 1812 in Orange County, North Carolina.  He remained 
with his parents until April, 1832, when he came to Greene county, Mo.,
and settled on a farm three miles southwest of Springfield, on Wilson's
Creek, and there followed shoe-making, which trade he had learned in
North Carolina.  He moved into Springfield in 1834, and started the 
first shoe shop in the town.  He followed his trade until 1835, and 
then entered the store of Fulbright & Carter, as clerk, and next sold
goods for D. D. Berry.  On the 24th of August, 1837 he married Eliza-
beth Massey, who was but fifteen years of age at the time.  After his
marriage he entered lands in different parts of the country, and made
his home and reared his family upon Grand prairie.  They were blest
with eleven children, five boys and six girls, two of the girls are
dead.  In 1861 Mr. Rountree, commonly and familiarly called "Uncle
Buck" moved to St. Louis, and was there appointed by Sample Orr, as 
first clerk of the register of land's office, at Jefferson City.  He
retained that position until 1862, when he returned to Greene County.
Mr. Rountree was elected justice of the peace in 1857 and served until
1861.  He was again elected in 1878.  In 1880, he was elected city
recorder, and served for one year.  He is at present a justice of the
peace in this township.  His father died in 1874 and in 1876 "Uncle
Buck" moved upon the old homestead where he now lives.  No man in the
county is more respected than he, and he has promise of many years yet
to live.



Henry C. Ruby
Henry C. Ruby was born in Sangamon County, Illinois, July 15, 1842, re-
ceiving his education in the common schools of that county, where he
grew to manhood.  His parents were S. S. and Mary Ruby, the former a
native of Knox County, Indiana, and the latter of Franklin, Kentucky.
His first business venture was that of mining in Dade County, Mo., in
1874, where he was quite successful.  He continued there till 1880, 
then came to Ash Grove and opened a first class restaurant and boarding
house.  In July, 1867, he married Miss Elizabeth Simpson, who was born
in St. Clair County, Illinois, September 5, 1842.  They have four chil-
dren, two sons and two daughters, named, Mary I., born January 4, 1869;
Clyde, born November 8, 1872; Myrtle, born January 22, 1878; and Char-
les, born February 6, 1882.  During the civil war Mr. Ruby enlisted in
the government service in September, 1861, joining company I, of the 
7th Ill. Cavalry, under Col. W. P. Kellogg, and served till mustered
out, November 3, 1865 during which time he was once taken prisoner.  He
is a member of the A. O. U. W., and himself and wife both belong to the
Cumberland Presbyterian Church, of which denomination Mr. Ruby is a 
local preacher.



J. Chris. Rule
John Christopher Rule is the son of Raymundes and S. J. Rule, and was
born in Baltimore, Md., November 20th, 1844.  In the fall of 1866, Mr.
Rule came to Springfield, Mo., and opened a saloon, where he remained
until 1872.  In May, 1875 he opened a saloon on Commercial street in
North Springfield, where he is still doing business.  He was married 
June 9th, 1869, to Miss C. W. Heffernan.  Their union has been blest
with seven children, six of whom are now living.



John G. Russell
This gentleman was born in Stockholm, Sweden, January 1st, 1842.  He
learned the trade of cabinet-maker, serving some six years apprentice-
ship.  In 1869 he came to the United States, landing at New York City.
In the spring of 1874 he came to Springfield, Missouri, and has ever
since been engaged in the furniture trade.  His store is at 219 Boon-
ville street, and is a two story and basement building, 100x21 feet.
They carry a general stock of furniture, carpets, picture material, 
etc., and do a wholesale and retail business.  Mr. Sander was married
in New York City, to Miss Alice Ashman.  She died in 1876, and in 1881
he was again married to Miss Mary Swansen, of Wright county, Missouri.
Mr. Sander has been very successful in business here in Springfield,
and promises to be one of the leading mercantile men of the Southwest.



John G. Russell
Mr. Russell is the son of James and Lucy (Bent) Russell, and was born
in St. Louis County, Missouri, November 6th, 1830.  He was educated at
St. Louis and at Yale College, but was called home by the death of his
father before he completed the college course.  He held several minor
positions in St. Louis, and in 1863 became one of the firm of Park,
Russell & Co., or Oak Hill Fire Brick Co., and so remained until 1875.
He came to Springfield in the fall of 1879, and since 1880 has been one
of the proprietors of the Queen City Mills.  Mr. Russell was married
November 8th, 1853, to Miss Pauline Parker, of St. Louis, formerly of
Rocheport, Boone County, Missouri.  They have had nine children, six
girls and three boys, five girls and one boy living.  Mr. Russell is a
member of the Knights of Honor, and he and his wife are members of the
Calvary Presbyterian Church.  His father died in St. Louis County, in
1850, and had been for many years a judge of the county court.  He was
born in Rockbridge County, Virginia, and emigrated to Cape Girardeau
County, Missouri, in 1825, and moved from there to St. Louis County. 
Mr. Russell's mother died in 1870.



Daniel Boone Savage
Mr. Savage is a son of Thomas B. and Frances S. (Robinson) Savage, and
was born April 6th, 1838, in Madison County, Illinois.  He received his
education at Highland, Illinois, and lived upon the farm with his 
father until the war commenced.  He enlisted in Company C, 117th Illi-
nois Infantry, as a private, but was afterward promoted to corporal. He
participated in the battles of Clinton, Mississippi; Fort De Russey, 
Louisiana; Pleasant Hill, Louisiana; Yellow Bayou, Louisiana; Lake Chi-
cot, Arkansas; Lupelo, Mississippi; Hurricane Creek, Mississippi; 
Franklin, Missouri; Nashville, Tennessee, and Blakely, Alabama. In 1865
he returned home and engaged in farming.  In 1869 he came to Missouri
and settled in Greene County.  He was a member of the police force of
Springfield in 1873, and deputy constable in 1874-6.  In 1876 was elec-
ted constable of Campbell township, and re-elected in 1878 and served
until 1880.  He is now of the firm of Winkel & Savage, on St. Louis
street.  They have the largest meat market in the city.  Mr. Savage was
elected a justice of the peace of Campbell township in November, 1882.
He was married November 29th, 1865, to Miss A. L. Hanptly, of Madison
County, Illinois.  Their union has been blest with nine children, seven
of whom are living.  He is a member of the Methodist Episcopal Church
South, an Odd Fellow and a Knight of Pythias.  His father was killed by
a team running away in St. Louis in 1858.  His mother died in 1871. 
They had ten children, five boys and five girls; seven are yet living,
Daniel being the third son and fifth child.



John Schmook
Mr. Schmook is a son of Michael and Fredricka (Zeuner) Schmook, and was
born in Berlin, Prussia, August 29th, 1825.  He was educated in his 
native city, and learned the cabinet maker's trade under his father,
serving some four years.  From April 1st, 1846 to April 1st, 1849 he
served in the Prussian army in the engineer corps.  In 1850 he returned
home to civil life and started in the cabinet business, which he follow-
ed until 1854.  In September of that year he crossed the Atlantic and
landed at New York, where he lived for a year and a half, and then he
"came West."  He first stopped at Iowa City, where he lived until 1856,
and then went to New Orleans, then to Leavenworth, Kansas City and St.
Joe.  Not liking the business outlook in the places he visited, he re-
turned to Iowa City, and remained there until 1859, when he came to 
Springfield, Missouri, and worked for Ebert, Hurst & Co., furniture
dealers and manufacturers.  He next went into business for himself. He
accumulated quite a competency, and is and has been identified with all
the leading industries and enterprises of the city.  He has represented
the third ward in the city council twice.  He was married in St. Louis
in 1865 to Miss Anna Kirfer.  Their union has been blest with thirteen
children, ten boys and three girls; five boys and one girl are living.
Mr. Schmook is a substantial citizen and a public-spirited gentleman.



Valentine Schuller
The subject of this sketch was born in Chilicothe, Ohio, February 20,
1852.  He began "braking" on the 'Frisco in 1874, and was advanced to
a conductorship on October 4, 1878, and has been running a train ever
since.  Mr. Schuller belongs to Ozark Division, No. 30, O. R. C.  Nov-
ember 25, 1879, he was married to Miss Alla D. Lawson, by whom he has
one child, a son, named Verner, born October 15, 1882.



W. M. Schultz
W. M. Schultz was born in Claiborne county, Tennessee, December 7th,
1845.  His father, Jacob Schultz, came to this county in 1858, and
settled on a large farm two miles southwest of Springfield, where he
resided until his death, in 1865.  Here the subject of this sketch
still lives, having made farming his vocation in life.  In February,
1863, he enlisted in the cause of the Sunny South, joining Capt.
Brown's comany, of Green's regiment and Marmaduke's division.  Sub-
sequent to this, he was on Gen. Polignac's escort, and still later
was transferred to Waller's Texas regiment.  He was through the Banks
campaign in Louisiana, and surrendered at Marshall, Texas.  Returning
to his Greene county farm, he has since paid his attention to farming
and stock raising, and owns a place of two hundred acres of fine land.
Mr. Schultz was married June 4, 1881, to Miss L. E. Payne, a native of
this county, and a daughter of Jacob Payne, one of the early settlers 
of Greene.  One child has been born of this union, a son, named Jacob
P. Schultz.  Mr. Schultz is one of the steady, substantial men of the
county, and does well his part in life as a tiller of the soil.



Prof. Edward M. Shepard
Professor Shepard is a son of Samuel and Mary (Dennis) Shepard, and was
born at Winsted, Conn., May 15, 1854.  In 1871 and 1872 he followed
civil engineering on the Chicago and Northwestern, and the Boston and
New York railroads.  He graduated from Williams College, Massachusetts,
in the class of 1878, receiving the degree of A. M.  He arranged the
museum at Roanoke College, Salem, Virginia.  In 1878, he was called to 
the chair of natural science at Waynesburg College, Pennsylvania, but
resigned to accept a similar call from Drury College, at Springfield,
Missouri.  He was married June 28, 1881 to Miss Harriet E. Ohlen, of
Madison, New York, a graduate of the Vassar College in the class of 
1874.  She was lady principal of Drury College for three years.  Prof.
Shepard's father died in 1872 at Norfolk, Connecticut.  His mother is
living here with him.  They had three children, the professor being the
oldest.



Henry Sheppard
Henry Sheppard, among the early people of Greene County, was the man
who made and left the best impression.  He was born in Cumberland coun-
ty, New Jersey, on November 8th, 1821, of the seventh generation from
the original settler of his name.  His father was a quiet man of moder-
ate means who gave to his sons what education he could in schools and
at home taught them, by precept and by example, industry, self-reliance
and truth.  The mother was a deeply religious woman.  Henry, the oldest
son, an ambitious and independent boy, supported himself from the age
of fifteen. He was trained in business by an old-fashioned Philadelphia
firm; and he learned well their lessons of judgement and labor.  During
these years of youth his chief recreation were a literary society and
the volunteer fire company to which he belonged.  Often after a hard 
day in the store he would run miles with his engine and work for hours
at night, sometimes in stations of danger.  A vent for his superabun-
dant energy was necessary, and he found it in this innocent excitement.
During this period he joined the church of Dr. Albert Barnes, whose
influence on his life was great and good.  Leaving Philadelphia with
the savings of his salary and full credit on his late employers' book,
he went in 1843 to Camden, Ark., where he remained about a year.  The
place was good for trade, and he always spoke warmly of the simplicity
and honor of the people among whom he dwelt; but he was unwilling to
take his promised wife to so unhealthy a country.  He came to Spring-
field in 1844 and went into business with his friend Clement Jaggard, 
now a wealthy citizen of Altoona, Pa.  He found a good climate and
agreeable people.  The place, though a mere hamlet, was promising, and
his business prospered.  In 1845 he went to New Jersey and married Miss
Rhoda Nixon, the young lady to whom he had been attached from early
youth.  For the next sixteen years his life was a busy one.  A thriving
trade, droves of stock collected and sent to other places as distant as
California, a temporary business in Fort Smith, Ark., preparations to
take part in the Mexican War ended by the sudden peace, and other like
things, occupied him closely; but this material life was softened by a
happy home, by sociality, by friendship, and by charity; it was made 
honorable by his uprightness, by his ever developing intellect, and by
his courage.  Mr. Jaggard returned to Pennsylvania in 1850 and Mr.
Sheppard formed a partnership with John S. Kimbrough, now of Clinton,
Mo., which continued until the war separated them.  The friendship thus
begun was ended only by death.  In 1861, Mr. Sheppard threw himself
with all his heart into the cause of the Union.  He was a Democrat and
a slaveholder, owning a few domestic servants and satisfied that it was
right to own them, but he was none the less a Union man.  He served in
the army in various grades from private to brigadier general.  When he
reached the latter rank his small stock of strength had all been given
to his country, and he resigned, never to enjoy health again.  On the
8th of January, 1863, with his regiment, he greatly assisted in repell-
ing Marmaduke's attack on Springfield, which saved immense stores of
food, clothing, and ammunition to the United States.  This success pre-
served the fruits of the war in Southwest Missouri, which would other-
wise have been lost.  That day's fight was as heroic as Corse's defense
of Allatoona, for it was made with but little shelter of fortifications
and with no hope of succor.  After the war Col. Sheppard was engaged in
active business till 1868, when he retired.  Thenceforth he attended to
the light duties of a bank director, and he managed his property; but
most of the time he passed at his beautiful home, occupied with reading
writing, and horticulture.  He was very fond of trees and of gardening,
and in his success with fruit took more pride than in any other thing.
In 1874 he was attacked with pneumonia, which assumed a chronic form.
The loss of a dear daughter in 1875, so depressed him that he was un-
able to rally, and thenceforth he gradually declined.  Yet his illness,
though painful, was not dark.  He recovered his spirits in a great de-
gree, he traveled, he read, he enjoyed the society of his friends, and
his unselfish tenderness to his family grew with the passing years.  At
last on December 19th, 1879, in the City of New Orleans, among his 
nearest and dearest, with sunshine and flowers about him, he fearlessly
almost gayly went out of the painful prison of his body into the pres-
ence of his long loved Father.  He left one son and one daughter, 
Francis, a retired officer of the navy, and Margaret.  His other two
children died before him.  Col. Sheppard was six feet tall and very
slender, with black hair, gray eyes and a striking appearance.  His
manner, though decided, was kind and engaging; but he became stern in
the presence of anything offensive to his moral sense.  He never filled
a political office, though interested and influential in politics; and
he was not affiliated with any of the secret societies.  He was an ex-
cellent writer, mastering his subject, treating it originally, putting 
his personality into the lines, knowing what to bring out and how to
arrange, and possessing an easy and rapid but pointed and epigrammatic
style.  He was logical and clear, in speech or on paper; and he was
strong in a playful sarcasm that convinced without wounding.  His style
was formed and maintained by careful reading through life of Shakes-
peare, Macaulay, Scott, Irving, Motley, Prescott, Bancroft and Thack-
eray, besides the standard poets and a great miscellany.  He had a 
large fund of information which he constantly increased.  Though he 
always regretted that he had not a college training, it is doubtful if
many graduates are, at forty, better mentally equipped than he was;
while in the careful and sympathetic courtesy which was born with him
he had something no school ever gave.  He was a natural gentleman.  He
was also a delightful social companion, reassuring, appreciative, full
of gayety, unassuming knowledge and pleasant humorous talk; and he had
the faculty of inducing his comrades of the hour, were they high or low
to show only their good qualities.  His personal purity was unquestion-
ed; he hated meanness, and he lived the poor.  None but himself knew
the extent of his charity, but some persons knew it was large.  A vol-
ume could be written on the excellencies of this man, for he was most
noble in nature.  He was widely known and honored; and the better men
knew him, the more they respected him.  Doubtless he had faults; he was
a man, but the memory of his virtues shine so brightly in the minds of
those who knew him well, that its brilliancy either hides his defeats
or else makes them seem to be adornments, even as the sun turns the 
near clouds to gold.  In him, will and courtesy, resolution and defer-
ence, purity and humor, tenacity and integrity, bravery and modesty,
justice towards man and duty towards God, were so beautifully blended
and harmonized that no person could name the one thing that gave him so
much influence and love.



T. A. Sherwood
Hon. Thomas Adiel Sherwood was born at Eatonton, in Putnam County, 
Georgia, June 2, 1834, where he spent his early life.  His father, Rev.
Adiel Sherwood, D. D., was a Baptist clergyman of great learning and
prominence, who was born and reared at Fort Edward, in the State of New
York.  The family were of English extraction.  Dr. Thomas Sherwood, and
Andrew, his brother, immigrated to this country during its colonial
period, from Nottinghamshire, England, and settled in Connecticut.  Dr.
Thomas Sherwood was the grandfather of Major Adiel Sherwood, who served
in the war of the Revolution under Gen. George Washington, and was pre-
sent with him at Valley Forge, and in several of the battles of that
memorable war. Major Adiel Sherwood was the father of Rev. Doctor Adiel
Sherwood, and grandfather of the subject of this sketch.  In 1852 Rev.
Doctor Sherwood, for several years president of Shurtleff College, and
the author of several theological works, removed from Alton, Illinois,
whither he had removed from Georgia, and settled at Cape Girardeau, in
the State of Missouri, and with him came his son, Thomas Adiel, then a
young man 18 years of age.  Young Sherwood had already acquired a good
education at Mercer University, Georgia, which he completed at Shurt-
leff College, Alton, Illinois.  After leaving college he studied law,
occasionally teaching school, until he graduated at the Cincinnati,
Ohio, Law School, April, 1857.  At school and college he was a thorough
and diligent student, and completely mastered whatever he attempted to
learn.  After his graduation he received a license to practice law in
Missouri, from the Hon. Harrison Hough (then Judge of the 10th Judicial
circuit), at Charleston, Mississippi County, in May, 1857.  In January,
1858, Mr. Sherwood removed to Neosho, the county seat of Newton County,
Missouri, where he located and practiced his profession until 1859,
when he removed to Mount Vernon, Lawrence County, Missouri, where he
remained until 1863.  On the 18th day of June, 1861, he married Mary
Ellen Young, daughter of G. R. and N. Young.  In December, 1863, Mr.
Sherwood moved to Springfield, Greene County, Missouri, where he re-
sided until January, 1868, then removed to his farm about two and one
half miles southwest of that city, where he has since resided, although
from August, 1876 to the fall of 1882, he and his family resided temp-
orarily in St. Louis.  While he was engaged in the practice of law at
Springfield, his extensive business led him to visit the circuit courts
of most counties in Southwest Missouri, nearly all of which at that 
time could be reached only on horseback or by carriage.  And many were
the hardships endured, and diversified and sometimes amusing the occur-
rences encountered, by the attorney of that day in this part of the
State.  Mr. Sherwood, although by nature of a retiring disposition, was
soon recognized by his associates at the bar as a young man of unusual
ability and untiring industry.  He was from the beginning eminently de-
voted to his profession, and sought not only to know the rules of law
but the reason therefor.  And his arguments were uniformly marked by 
unusual care and research, and by a skill and knowledge of the law
rarely possessed by one of his experience.  In 1872, Mr. Sherwood was
nominated by the Missouri Democrats for Judge of the Supreme Court, to
which office he was elected for ten years at the general election 
following.  He presided as chief justice of the Supreme Court of Miss-
ouri, from January 1, 1876 until the expiration of his first term of
office January 1, 1883.  In 1882, he was again nominated for the same
position and duly elected at the general election in that year, as his
own successor, for a second term of ten years; which office he now 
holds.  In the performance of his official duties, Judge Sherwood has
even more than sustained his reputation as a lawyer.  Careful, learned,
painstaking, and first of all, his published opinions have made a 
record which places him among the foremost jurists of the land.  Judge
Sherwood is progressive in his style of thought; holding enlarged and
liberal views on all subjects, and fully alive to the changes that are
constantly taking place in the business methods and relations of men.
In his hands we may be assured that our system of jurisprudence will
ever keep pace with the growing necessities of the times, and the real
progress of the country.  Still in the prime and vigor of manhood, a 
man of real merit, devoid of ostentation, dignified in manner, possess-
ing eminent legal learning, an iron will, and earnestly devoted to the
faithful performance of the duties of the office which he holds, Judge
Sherwood has fully realized the fondest expectations of his friends
and fully merits the honors he has so fairly won.



Frank A. Shipman
Mr. Shipman is a son of Jesse P. and Lydia (Huber) Shipman, and was
born at Findley, Hancock County, Ohio on April 13, 1858.  He came to 
Springfield in May, 1866, where he was educated in the public schools.
He clerked one year in a queensware house, and then for ten years was
clerk in the bookstore of A. R. Fearn.  He became a partner in the
house February 1, 1882 and the firm is now A. R. Fearn & Co.  They 
have the largest book, stationery and wall paper store in Southwest
Missouri, and do both a wholesale and retail business.  Mr. Shipman is
a member of Grace Methodist Episcopal Church.  Jesse Shipman, the 
father of our subject, was born at Bloomington, Pennsylvania, August
15, 1827.  He first moved to Ohio, from there to Chillicothe, Mo., and
in 1866 to Springfield, Missouri, where he died September 24, 1876.
His widow is still living in Springfield.  They had three sons and one
daughter.



Dewitt Shockley
This gentleman is the son of Benjamin and Lilly (Beal) Shockley, and
was born in Giles county, Tennessee, August 9th, 1839.  His parents
came to Greene county, Missouri in 1841, where Dewitt grew to manhood
and was educated.  When he was quite young he began farming, settling
upon a farm near the Shockley homestead.  In August, 1862, he enlisted
in Company D, 8th Missouri Cavalry, under Col. Geiger.  He was at the
battles Prairie Grove and Little Rock, and participated in many skirm-
ishes.  He was mustered out of service in November, 1865, and in the
same year was married to Miss Clarissa Brown.  She was born in Tenn.,
May 7th, 1848.  She was reared in Searcy county, Arkansas, and lived 
there until 1862, and then came to this county.  They are blessed with
a family of five children, three girls and two boys.  Mr. Shockley 
owns a farm of two hundred and ten acres of good land, and is one of
the substantial citizens of the county.  He and his wife are members
of the Christian church.








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