Greene County Biographies


From:  Past and Present of Greene County, Missouri
Early and Recent History and Genealogical Records
of Many of the Representative Citizens
by Jonathan Fairbanks and Clyde Edwin Tuck




CLARENCE S. MACK. By a life of persistent and well applied industry, led
along the most honorable lines, Clarence S. Mack has justly earned the
right to be represented in a work of the character of the one in hand,
along with other progressive men of affairs of Greene county who have made
and are making their influence felt in their respective communities. He is
widely known as a wholesale dealer in tobacco and other lines, and is a
creditable representative of two of the old families of this locality.

Mr. Mack was born in Springfield, Missouri, April 7, 1876. He is a son of
James B. and Elizabeth (Shackelford) Mack, both natives of Springfield
also, the father born in April, 1854 and the mother born in May, 1855, and
here they grew to maturity, attended the local schools and have always
resided. James B. Mack started in the drug business when only thirteen
years of age, for the Hall Drug Company, and he continued successfully in
this line for many years. About thirty years ago he began traveling on the
road for the Myers Drug Company, of St. Louis, and is still thus engaged,

being one of the best known commercial travelers in this portion of the
Middle West. His family consists of but two children, Clarence S., of this
sketch, and Georgia.

Clarence S. Mack grew to manhood in his native city and here received a
high school education. When eighteen years of age he went into the retail
cigar business on his own account, and this he continued with gratifying
results until 1910, when he entered the wholesale cigar, tobacco, candy
and chewing gum business, also soda fountain supplies. His, present place
of business is 309 McDaniel avenue, where he has a neat, modernly
appointed and attractive store and is carrying on a large and lucrative
business which extends over a large portion of the Ozark region.

Mr. Mack was married on April 7, 1906, in Springfield, to Cyrena Jones,
who was born in Platt City, Missouri. She is a daughter of George T. Jones
and wife. She received a common school education.

To Mr. and Mrs. Mack two children have been born: Margaret, whose birth
occurred May 14, 1907, and Nancy Elizabeth, born August 17, 1914.

Politically, Mr. Mack is a Republican. He belongs to the Benevolent and
Protective Order of Elks, and is a member of the Christian church. He is a
sociable and genial gentleman who is well liked about town.




CLYDE B. MACK. A representative of an excellent old Greene county family
and a successful young, merchant of Springfield is Clyde B. Mack. He is a
man who would win his way in any locality in which fate might place him,
for he has sound judgment, coupled with great energy and business tact,
together with upright principles, all of which make for success wherever
and whenever they are rightly and persistently applied. He possesses many
of the sturdy traits of his father who was long a prominent and highly
esteemed citizen here.

Mr. Mack was born on December 27, 1872, in Greene county, Missouri. He is
a son of Marshall H. and Lucy (Herndon) Mack. The father was born in Maury
county, Tennessee, May 4, 1831, and the mother was born in Virginia, April
18, 1837. They were brought by their parents from their respective
localities in the South to Greene county, Missouri, in pioneer days and
here they grew to maturity, were educated and married. John A. Mack, the
paternal grandfather, was born in Maury county, Tennessee, married a
native of that locality. It was in 1853 that they removed with their
family to Greene county, Missouri, and here he became a prominent man, was
influential in public affairs and at one time was elected probate judge.
He was a great student of law. Here he and his wife spent the rest of
their lives. Their son, Marshall H. Mack, father of our subject, was
twenty-two years of age when he came to this county. He had grown to
manhood in his native state and there attended the common schools. He
studied medicine and became a successful general practitioner after the
Civil war. During that conflict he served as a member of the Home Guards.
Politically, he was a Republican. At one time he was road commissioner in
this county. He was a member of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows.
After a successful career as physician his death occurred in Springfield,
March 17, 1888. His widow survived many years, dying here on June 10,
1911, at an advanced age. Her father, William Herndon, was a native of
Virginia, where he grew up, was educated and married. He removed to
Kentucky when the mother of our subject was fourteen years old, and after
remaining there a short time came on to Greene county, Missouri in 1853
and established the future home of the family.

Eleven children were born to Dr. Marshall H. Mack and wife, namely: Lina
L. is deceased; Ali O. is living; Harriett and Z. I. are deceased; the
next child died in infancy unnamed; Ausman is deceased; Louella and Minnie
are living; Clyde B. of this sketch; Claude E. is living, and Clinton A.
is the youngest.

Clyde B. Mack grew to manhood in Springfield and here he received his
education in the public schools. He first went into the grocery business
as a clerk, later worked for the Wells-Fargo Express Company in
Springfield for a period of eleven years, giving a high degree of
satisfaction. In December, 1908, he went into business for himself at 1223
Boonville street, his place being known as the "Cash Grocery," and he was
successful from the first. His present location is 1150 Boonville street,
where he has a large and attractive store and carries at all seasons an
extensive stock of fancy and staple groceries, and, having always dealt
courteously and honestly with his many customers has enjoyed all the while
a constantly growing trade.

Mr. Mack was married in Springfield on July 25, 1892, to Flora Portser, a
daughter of L. F. and Jennie (Guthrie) Portser, both natives of
Pennsylvania, from which state they finally came to Springfield, Missouri,
and established their future home. The father is now deceased, but the
mother is still living here.

One son has been born to our subject and wife, Clyde Ivan Mack, whose
birth occurred July 8, 1893; he is attending school.

Politically, Mr. Mack is a Republican. He belongs to the Modern Woodmen of
America and is a member of Cumberland Presbyterian church.




ROWAN E. M. MACK. Another of the successful business men of Springfield
who is a native of Greene county, where he has been content to spend his
life, is Rowan E. M. Mack, well known groceryman. Much of his active life
has been spent in agricultural pursuits, alternated with the grocery
business, and in each he has made a pronounced success, owing to his
willingness to closely apply himself to his affairs, lead an honest life
and depend upon himself rather than waiting for others to assist him or
for fate, to provide for him.

Mr. Mack was born in this county, May 11, 1865. He is a son of William L.
and Armenta (Dew) Mack. The father was born in Tennessee in 1832, and the
mother's birth occurred in that state in 1836. They were brought to Greene
county, Missouri,-by their parents in the early forties and here they grew
up, attended school and were married. William L. Mack was by nature a fine
penman and was a well read man for his day and generation and was
influential in his community. His earlier life was devoted to farming and
stock raising, but he quit the farm upon being appointed deputy sheriff
under Jack Potter, and removed his family to Springfield. Later he served
as deputy under Probate Judge W. A. Lincoln for a period of eight years.
He gave entire satisfaction in both these positions. He was always a
strong Republican in his political affiliations. His family consisted of
six children, four of whom are living at this writing, namely: Maude E. is
deceased; Iona is deceased; Rowan E. M., of this sketch; Caddy S., Edward
W. and Lilly.

Rowan E. M. Mack is an excellent example of a self-made man. He received
only about six months' schooling, but he has made up for this lack of
early training by wide home study, and is now a well informed man. He
assisted his father with the general work on the farm when he was a boy,
being eighteen years old when he removed to Springfield. Here he worked in
various stores, in each of which he sought to learn something of what was
going on about him, so when he was only twenty years of age he was enabled
to launch out in the grocery business for himself, in a location at the
corner of South and Walnut streets. However, after five years in this line
he decided to return to farming, and for five years tilled the soil near
this city, then came back to Springfield and engaged in the grocery
business five years, after which he engaged in farming again for four
years. On February 28, 1904, he opened a grocery store at his present
location, corner of High and Grant streets, and the fact that he has
remained here ten years indicates that he has been successful and has
enjoyed a good trade all the while. He has a well arranged and neat store
and carries a large stock.of staple and fancy groceries, also a large line
of feed.

Mr. Mack was married on July 24, 1890, in Springfield, to Norma E. Dutton,
a daughter of H. J. and Louise (Brinsdon) Dutton. She was born in Cedar
county, Missouri, June 22, 1871. Her father was one of the early-day
merchants in Springfield.

Seven children, all living, have been born to Mr. And Mrs Mack, namely:
Lester H., born June 29, 1891, married on February 28, 1914, to Leone A.
Parnitter; Lundy A., born December 9, 1892; Harvey R., born September 31,
1895; Carl R., born June 30, 1898; Edith I., born September 20, 1901. Elva
M., born February 1, 1904, and Ernest T., born November 4, 1906.

Mr. Mack owns his store building and also a comfortable and substantial
home nearby. He also owns three farms, two of which are located in Polk
county, the other in Greene. His farms in Polk county consist of three
hundred and twenty acres, which he is maintaining as stock farms.

Politically, he is a Republican. Fraternally, he belongs to the Modern
Woodmen, the Modern Brotherhood and the Knights and Ladies of Security. He
and his wife are members of Woodland Heights Presbyterian church.




ELISHA B. MADDOX. It is a noticeable thing, to people who have formed
habits of comparison, that the people of the various states are somewhat
individualistic, each having peculiar traits of their own, and
notwithstanding the fact that the same language is spoken in all our
forty-eight states, each state has localisms of its own. Thus it is easy
to single out the true Kentuckian, principally because of his gallantry
and unfailing, courtesy, his thoughtfulness of the welfare of his friends
and those with whom he comes in contact. The late Elisha B. Maddox, for
many years a faithful employee of the Frisco system, was a typical son of
the Blue Grass state, and he was a man of praiseworthy traits of character
and he was always well liked by those who knew him.

Mr. Maddox was born in Campbell county, Kentucky, May 16, 1863. He was a
son of Charles and Barbara (Vaughn) Maddox, both natives or Kentucky also,
the father being born in 1833 and died there in 1891. The mother was born
in 1840 and died in 1882 in that state. They had spent their lives there
on a farm, and were the parents of the following named children: William,
Elisha B. (our subject), Ida, Lucy, Hettie H. and Hubbard.

Elisha B. Maddox grew to manhood on the farm in his native state, where he
did his share of the general work when growing up, and he received his
education in the rural schools of his community. He farmed in Campbell
county, Kentucky, until he was about twenty-six years old, then went to
Covington, that state, and began working on the Louisville & Nashville
railroad, in the coach department of the company's shops, and there
learned his trade--coach carpenter--at which he became quite expert. He
remained there eleven years, and removed from Covington to Springfield,
Missouri, in the fall of 1901 and at once secured employment in the coach
department of the Frisco road, in the north side shops, where he worked
until the new shops were opened, when he was transferred to them and
worked there the rest of his life.

Mr. Maddox was married on April 16, 1890, in Covington, Kentucky, to
Jennie Culvertson, who was born in Kenton county, that state, April 16,
1863. She is a daughter of George A. and Melissa (Rusk) Culvertson, both
natives of Kentucky, the father born in 1822, and the mother in 1820. They
grew to maturity in Kentucky, attended the common schools and were married
there. The father died in Ohio on August 8, 1894, after spending his
active life in farming, and the death of the mother occurred in Covington,
Kentucky, in 1892. They spent most of their lives in their native state,
but moved to Ohio eventually. They became the parents of twelve children,
named as follows: Lafayette, Isabelle, Joanna and Thomas are all living;
Jennie, widow of the subject of this sketch; Michael and Catherine are
both living; the other five are deceased. Mrs. Maddox grew to womanhood in
Kentucky and received a common school education.

Three children were born to Mr. and Mrs. Maddox, namely: Stella, born on
August 7, 1891, is a successful school teacher, and she lives with her
mother in the Maddox home, just outside the limits of Springfield on the
Fremont road; Byron, born on May 27, 1893, lives at home; and Joan, born
on December 19, 1897, is with her mother also. These children have
received good educations in the local schools.

Politically, Mr. Maddox was a Democrat and was a member of the Robberson
Avenue Baptist church, of which he was a deacon, and an active worker. His
family are also members of this church.

The tragic death of Mr. Maddox occurred on July 16, 1914, at the age of
fifty-one years. He died at the Frisco hospital from injuries he received
a few minutes after going to his work that morning, having been knocked
from the top of a coach by a crane, falling twelve feet to the floor,
which injured him internally, never having regained consciousness. He was
warned by his fellow workers, but the din in the shops prevented him
hearing the shouts of the onlookers.




JAMES G. MAGILL. Some people seem to forget that a fertile soil is a
living, breathing thing, well fed by nature or by the hand of man, with
the natural mineral elements and the organic matter necessary for the use
of the soil bacteria in the manufacture of plant food, and for a
delightful environment in which they can live and work. James G. Magill, a
farmer of Center township, Greene county, has not overlooked this fact,
and consequently he is making his farm produce good crops annually and is
living comfortably as a result of his able management.

Mr. Magill was born in Carroll county, Arkansas, March 31, 1853. He is a
son of Hugh and Rebecca (Scott) Magill, and as the name would indicate,
the family is of Irish descent. Hugh Magill was born in Greene county,
Tennessee, where he spent his boyhood and attended, school, removing to
Arkansas when a young man, and lived in Carroll county a number of years,
and there he died. The family came to Greene county during the latter part
of the Civil War. Hugh Magill served in a militia regiment in the early
part of the war, but was discharged on account of disability, and died as
a result of the sickness he contracted while in the service, his death
occurring on White river in 1862, and he was buried there. His widow is
still living, having thus survived him over a half century, being now
ninety-two years of age; she is one of the oldest citizens of Greene
county, and makes her home with her son, our subject. Politically, Hugh
Magill was a Republican and he was a member of the Methodist Episcopal
church. His family consisted of seven children, namely: John, who was a
member of Company I, First Missouri Volunteer Infantry, served three years
in the Union army and died before the close of the war; Mrs. Emaline
Redfearn is deceased; Mrs. Rachel Wade lives in, Christian county, her
husband being now deceased; Frances died in early life; James G., subject
of this sketch; Mrs. Nancy Carter lives on a farm in Greene county; Hester
is the wife of George West and they reside a mile west of the village of
Plano, this county.

John Scott, maternal grandfather of our subject, was born in Tennessee,
where he spent his early life, and from there removed to Arkansas, thence
to Missouri. He was living in Springfield at the time of the Civil war. He
devoted his active life to general farming. He enlisted in the Union army
and died while in the service. His family consisted of eight children,
four of whom are still living, namely: Mrs. Rebecca Magill, mother of the
subject of this sketch; Mrs. Susan Laslay lives in Christian county;
Samuel is a carpenter and resides in Springfield; Mrs. Polly Mondy lives
in Monett.

James G. Magill grew to manhood on the home farm, where he worked hard
when a boy, and he received his education in the public schools. He was
married in Greene county, in January, 1882, to Sarah West, a daughter of
Josiah J. West, a native of Tennessee. His wife was known in her
maidenhood as Angeline M. Mason. Mr. West devoted his life to farming. He
emigrated to Missouri in the early forties, being among the first settlers
in Greene county, and here he spent the rest of his life on a farm, his
death occurring on March 18, 1905, at an advanced age. He was buried in
the cemetery at Prospect church. He was a member of the Methodist
Episcopal church. His wife's father, Josiah Mason, was born in Tennessee,
where he resided until about 1837, when he immigrated to Greene county,
Missouri, among the pioneers. He was a blacksmith by trade, also following
farming. He spent the rest of his long life in this county, dying in 1900,
and was buried in the Squibb cemetery.

The following children were born to Josiah J. West and wife: Mrs. Ellen
Mills is living five miles north of Republic, this county; James lives at
Milton, Oregon, where he holds the office of deputy sheriff; William is
farming in Greene county; Sarah, wife of the subject of this sketch;
Rosalia, who married a Mr. Hendrix, is now deceased; John is engaged in
farming in Greene County; Mrs. Lou Redfearn lives in Greene county; three
other children died in infancy.

James G, Magill was twelve years of age when he removed with the rest of
the family to Greene county. He has devoted his active life to farming.
His father dying when he was young, he had to assume part of the
responsibilities of supporting the family, and he knew what hard work
meant from the time he was large enough to wield a hoe or axe or hold the
plow handles. He located on his present farm in 1910, and has made many
good improvements since buying it. He is carrying on general farming and
stock raising successfully. He has charge of the Magill Central Telephone
switchboard. He has no children. Politically, he is a Republican, and he
is a member of the Baptist church.




WILL J. MAJOR.

"The gay will laugh when thou art gone,
The solemn brood of care plod on,
And each one, as before, will chase
His favorite phantom; yet these shall all
Leave their mirth and their employment,
And shall come and make their bed with thee."

The above lines, penned by America's great poet of Nature, in his
incomparable "Thanatopsis," strikingly sets forth in a few phrases a
picture of death. Since the beginning of the world death has been looked
upon as "the king of terrors " Why this should be so, since it is as
common as birth or any other natural occurrence, the biographer leaves to
more philosophic minds. The manner of laying the dead away has been given
much thought by the various peoples of the earth, and many and diverse
methods have been promulgated; in fact, all times, and places and customs
are noted by the historian, from the methods of certain savage tribes, who
suspend their dead in tall trees to the present rapidly-growing method of
cremation, when all that is earthly of a mortal quickly disappears in a
wave of white heat. It has always seemed to be the prevailing desire of
most nations to preserve the bodies of the dead as long as possible, and,,
this being so, thinking men began devising means whereby this could best
be accomplished, and thus resulted the art of embalming, ages ago, and
although the methods have undergone changes from time to time, it is
doubtful if the twentieth century undertaker can do his work any more
effectively than did the Egyptian embalmer in the days of Pharaoh. The
most advanced and satisfactory methods of embalming are employed by Will
J. Major, well known undertaker of East Commercial street Springfield.

Mr. Major was born in Iroquois county, Illinois, December 19, 1861. He is
a son of Robert D. and Ellen (Hitchcock) Major. The father was born in
Tippecanoe county, Indiana, about 1839, and was a son of James Major and
wife. James Major was born in Indiana back in the days of the first
settlers and there he grew up, but finally located in Illinois where his
death occurred in 1877, after an active life as a farmer. His wife, who
was a native of Pennsylvania, preceded him to the grave by several years.
Robert D. Major learned the carpenter's trade in early life and followed
this in connection with farming for a livelihood. He remained in Illinois
until 1883 when he went to Montana and followed his trade, remaining there
until 1885, when he came to Springfield, Missouri, where he continued
carpentering practically until his death in 1896. Politically he was a
Republican, was a member of the Baptist church, and belonged to the
Independent Order of Odd Fellows, in which he passed all the chairs in the
local lodge. Ellen Hitchcock, mother of our subject, was born near
Niagara, Falls, New York, March 30, 1832, a daughter of John and Eliza
Hitchcock. She died in St. Louis, Missouri, September 4, 1914; at the age
of eighty-two years and six months.

Will J. Major received a common school education, spending two years in
the high school at Aurora, Illinois. He remained on the home farm until he
was eighteen years of age, then began learning carpentering and cabinet
making, at which he worked until 1898, having attained a high degree of
skill in each. He then spent four years as assistant custodian in the
Springfield postoffice. Then went to work for J. M. White, a pioneer
undertaker of this city, and, making a careful study of the business, he
passed the state board examination in 1909, and was duly qualified to
enter the profession, and has since been in business for himself at 230
East Commercial street, and is now one of the busiest and most popular
undertakers in Springfield, maintaining large, modernly equipped and well
furnished parlors and his treatment of his patrons is always courteous and
honorable.

Mr. Major was married April 15, 1886, to Anna B. Reynolds, who was born in
Nebraska, October 1, 1869. She was a daughter of a highly respected
family, and she received a good education, and proved to be an excellent
helpmeet. This union has been blessed with three children, namely: Mabel,
born July 4, 1890, is the wife of John Hulse, of Springfield; E'Ilene,
born in September, 1892, is the wife of Lee Donald, of Kansas City; Helen,
born July 25, 1897, is at home.

Mr. Major is prominent in fraternal circles, belonging to Springfield
Lodge No. 218, Independent Order of Odd Fellows of which he is past grand,
has been district deputy grand master for three years, and has been
secretary of the same for the past eighteen years; he is a member of the
Empire Encampment, Independent Order of Odd Fellows, of which he is past
chief patriarch; also Springfield Canton No. 23, Independent Order of Odd
Fellows. He is a member of Julia Lodge No. 72, Daughters of Rebekah. He
also belongs to the Loyal Order of Moose, Bears, Fraternal Order of
Eagles, Knights and Ladies of Security, Modern Woodmen of America, Woodmen
of the World, Modern Brotherhood, Knights and Ladies of Honor, and the
Court of Honor.




JOHN P. MALLEY. The general foreman of the Frisco System boiler shops,
John P. Malley, is evidently as well qualified for his position as anyone
whom the company could have selected, for his record shows that he has
been constantly employed about boiler shops for a period of nearly
thirty-five years, or ever since he was a boy, and during this time he has
had vast experience in many different places. He has been a close observer
and has learned many new things about his chosen calling in each shop he
has been employed, in fact, has left no stone unturned whereby he might
improve himself.

Mr. Malley is of Irish parentage and has inherited many of the
praise-worthy traits of that industrious people. He was born in Laporte,
Indiana, September 25, 1862. He is a son of John and Mary (Consendine)
Malley, both born in Ireland, where they grew to maturity, received good
educations in the common schools, but were married, in Indiana. They were
yet young when the immigrated to the United States. They established the
family home in Laporte, Indiana, where they spent the rest of their lives,
both dying there, our subject being a small boy when his father died. The
father followed railroading and for years was roadmaster for the Lake
Shore railroad, also the Michigan Southern railroad, being employed in
that capacity by the latter road at the time of his death. To John and
Mary Malley three children were born, all living at this writing, namely:
John P. of this sketch; William is a tinner by trade and lives in Chicago;
Charles is an engineer and also lives in Chicago.

John P. Malley had little opportunity to receive an education, however, he
attended the common schools in Indiana, but he is for the most part
self-taught. He was married May 24, 1900, in Kansas City, Missouri, to
Mary Glennon, a native of Independence, this state, and a daughter of
Patrick Glennon and wife, both natives of Ireland, from which country they
immigrated to America when young. Mr. Glennon was a stone Mason by trade.
His death occurred in Kansas City, as did also that of his wife. Mrs.
Malley grew to womanhood in Jackson county and was educated n the common
schools.

To our subject and wife one child has been born, Glennon Malley, whose
birth occurred May 24, 1904.

In 1870 John P. Malley left Laporte, Indiana, and worked as check clerk in
the mammoth mercantile establishment of Marshall Field's, but not desiring
to continue this line of endeavor, he began his apprenticeship to the
boiler maker's trade about a year later, when seventeen years of age, in
the plant of McFarland & Company, of Chicago. He remained in the employ of
that company for about eight years, during which time he thoroughly,
mastered his trade, then went to Dubuque, Iowa, and worked about a year,
then went to St. Paul, Minnesota, where he worked for the Great Northern
Railroad in their shops there about two years, then returned to Iowa, and
worked in Dubuque for the Milwaukee and St. Paul Railroad Company, then
went to firing on a locomotive and continued in this work a year and a
half, after which he went to Texas, and was foreman at Galveston in the
boiler shops of the Gulf, Colorado & Santa Fe Railroad from 1891 until
1900, in which year he came to Springfield, Missouri, as general foreman
of the boiler shops of the St. Louis & San Francisco Railroad Company, and
has since been connected with this shop, having been general foreman of
the same since 1910, and is still incumbent of that position, in which he
is giving eminent satisfaction in every respect.

Politically, Mr. Malley is a Republican, and he belongs to the Catholic
church.




HARRY E. MARTIN. In all ages of the world industry, perseverance and
energy, where intelligently applied, have achieved results which could
only have been gained by having one end in view, and by improving every
opportunity of ultimately attaining that object. Harry E. Martin, chief
engineer of the Springfield Furniture Company, is an example of what can
be accomplished when the spirit of determination is exercised in
connection with the every day affairs of life.

Mr. Martin was born on March 17, 1879, at Richland, Missouri. He is a son
of John H. and Mary (Young) Martin, the latter a daughter of Preston
Young, and she is now about fifty-four years of age, the former being a
year older, and they now make their home near Richland, Pulaski county,
this state, where Mr. Martin is a machinist by trade. He formerly lived in
Springfield, where he was chief engineer and master mechanic for the Davis
planing mill for a period of twenty-five years, and for ten years he
worked as a machinist at the Springfield Wagon Works. He is at this
writing building a corn-mill at Brumley, Miller county. He owns and
operates a large farm in Pulaski county. His family consists of three
children, namely: Harry F., of this sketch; Icy is the wife of Arthur
Bryant, a farmer of near Richland, Missouri; William lives in St. Louis,
where he is working as electrician for the street railway company.

The paternal grandfather of our subject was Charles Martin; he was a wagon
manufacturer by trade, an early settler of Miller county, this state, and
died there many years ago.

Harry E. Martin received his education in the public schools of Richland
and Springfield. He worked for some time in the Davis planing mill, where
he finally became fireman, but his principal work there was as an
apprentice machinist under his father. Later he worked on a farm which his
father owned. When only eighteen years old he was filling the position of
engineer for the Culver Lumber Manufacturing Company at Kansas City. In
1903 he returned to Springfield and became engineer for the Springfield
Furniture Company, and in a short time was promoted to chief engineer,
which position he still holds, discharging his duties with his usual
fidelity and ability. He is also master mechanic at this plant, and has
many hands under his direction. He is an expert machinist and does all the
machine work for this large factory. He has kept well up-to-date both as a
machinist and engineer, and has no superiors in either line in Greene
county. He has also found time to make himself an expert electrician, and
was instrumental in obtaining the new electric plant for the concern with
which he is now connected. He is a self-made man, and learned to be an
electrician through extensive home study, taking the course of the
American Correspondence School.

Mr. Martin was married in December, 1906, to Lillian Bergstresser, a
daughter of Charles and Ellen (East) Bergstresser, of Harlan, Iowa. This
union has been without issue. Mr. and Mrs. Martin own a pleasant home on
the National Boulevard, where they operate a chicken hatchery, composed of
thirty-eight incubators.

Politically, Mr. Martin is a Democrat. He belongs to the Knights of
Pythias, Woodmen of the World, and to the National Association of
Stationary Engineers. He is now serving his second term as treasurer of
the local order of the latter. Religiously, he is a member of the First
Christian church.




JAMES H. MASON. One of the old and honored families of Greene county is
the Masons, and no history of this locality would be complete without
mention of the same, one of the best known members of the present
generation being James H. Mason, who, in the practice of law, in
Springfield, has attained to a laudable position in his profession, while
yet a young man; and his reputation for integrity, stability of character,
and fidelity to his clients, and trusts committed to him, whether
professional or otherwise, is firmly established. His pathways are along
the moral levels of the world, and he preserves the symmetry of a true
moral life by emphasizing his attachment to it; by defending the truth,
the right, and by right acting and living, and especially, by aiming to
preserve the perfect proportions of truth.

Mr. Mason was born, February 19, 1874, near Ash Grove, Greene county,
Missouri, on a farm. He is a son of Robert T. and Lavina. (Thomas) Mason.
The father was a native of Loudon county, Tennessee, and was a son of
Daniel Mason, a native of Massachusetts, who emigrated to Loudon county,
Tennessee, in 1800, and there established his home on a farm, and he
enlisted in a Tennessee regiment during the War of 1812 and saw
considerable service. His family consisted of nine children. His death
occurred in Loudon county in the thirties, and in 1841, when Robert T.
Mason was ten years old, the widow of Daniel Mason removed with her family
to Greene county, Missouri, and took up a farm from the government, and
this they improved and established their home on it, Robert T. Mason
continuing to work the home place until he was twenty-two years of age,
when he came to Springfield and began learning the saddlery business,
which he continued until the breaking out of the Civil war, when he and
three of his brothers enlisted in the Union army. The father of our
subject was a private in the Eighth Missouri Volunteer Infantry, one of
the most efficient, bravest and most feared of the regiments from this
state, and he served four years in a faithful and gallant manner, seeing
much hard service and taking part in many engagements, being mustered out
a lieutenant. He was in the battles of Pea Ridge and all the important
ones of the West. He was honorably discharged, and after returning home he
taught school in Greene county and in Arkansas for a number of years, and
was a successful teacher for those days. He had received his education in
the district schools and by home study. The latter part of his life was
devoted to general farming near Ash Grove, where he was esteemed as a good
citizen in every respect, and there his death occurred, August 4 1893.
Lavina Thomas, mother of our subject, was born in Roane county, Tennessee.
She is the oldest daughter of George and Sarah Thomas, who emigrated from
Tennessee to Greene county in 1854 and located on a large farm near Cave
Spring. George Thomas and two of his sons, James and Caswell, were
soldiers in the Union army during the Civil war. Caswell was wounded and
died during the service. The mother of our subject is still living at the
age of seventy-three years, and she is beloved by her friends for her
kindness and Christian sentiment. Of her brothers and sisters, of whom
there were ten, all still survive, except two, Caswell, mentioned above,
and a sister, who died in 1913.

Six children, three sons and three daughters, were born to Robert T. Mason
and wife, namely: George, a farmer of near Claremore, Oklahoma, married
Margaret Christian, and they have nine children; Daniel C. died in 1905;
James H., of this review; Lillie married Thomas Toombs, a farmer and stock
dealer of Dallas county, Missouri, and her death occurred in 1897, leaving
two children; Martha, wife of John Christian, a farmer of Dallas county,
has eight children; Mary, who married Lon Wheelis, who is in the employ of
the United States Express Company, of St. Louis, has three daughters.

James H. Mason grew to manhood on the home farm there and did his full
share of the work when a boy. He received his early education in the
public schools of Greene and Dallas counties and at the Marionville
Collegiate Institute, then took the course in the law department of the
University of Missouri at Columbia, where he made a splendid record. Soon
thereafter he came to Springfield and opened an office for the practice of
his profession and has been very successful, having built up a large and
constantly growing clientage and is regarded as one of the most promising
of our younger members of the Greene county bar.

Mr. Mason was married, August 31, 1899, to Susie O. Alexander, a daughter
of Dr. William O. and Mary E. Crumley) Alexander, of Pulaski, county,
Missouri, a highly respected family there. She received a good education
in the common schools. She has four brothers and two sisters.

To Mr. and Mrs. Mason three sons have been born, named as follows: Robert
Oliver, born August 29, 1900; James Floyd, born January 7, 1903, and
William Chauncey, born March 26, 1905.

Politically, Mr. Mason is a Republican. Fraternally, he is a member of the
Ancient Free and Accepted Masons, the Independent Order of Odd Fellows,
the Knights of Pythias, and the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks.
Religiously, he is a member of the Christian church. He has been active in
public affairs for a number of years. He was postmaster at Phillipsburg,
Missouri, from 1898 to 1903. In 1908 he was elected city attorney of
Springfield, and in 1910 he was elected prosecuting attorney of Greene
county. As a public servant he has ever discharged his duties in an able,
conscientious and commendable manner, and to the satisfaction of all
concerned. It can not be denied that his abilities are equal to the
attainment of still greater ends than he has accomplished. Such talents as
he has shown lie upon the borders of many provinces of thought, but in the
exclusive province of the law, there would be no border land, but an
entire realm, without limit to the ecstasies and activities of the
intellect.




JOHN FRANKLIN MASON. While splendid success has come to John Franklin
Mason, he has ever been actuated by the spirit of Lincoln in his
sentiment: "There is something better than making a living--making a
life." He was formerly one of the enterprising business men of Ash Grove,
and is now the efficient recorder of Greene county and makes his home in
Springfield. Beginning in a comparatively humble position in life he has
made his way to a place of substance and honor entirely through his own
efforts and yet he has not considered his private interests only, but
rather has given greater consideration to the, public welfare, for which
he has ever been ready to make sacrifices.

Mr. Mason was born, November 26, 1868, on a farm near Halltown, Lawrence
county, Missouri. He is a son of Reuben B. and Mary E. (Richardson) Mason.
The father was born in Lawrence county, this state, on January 13, 1843,
and was a son of Abraham and Hulda (Bodenhamer) Mason. Abraham Mason was a
native of North Carolina, where he spent his earlier years, and removed to
Indiana in 1838. In 1841 he came West and settled in Lawrence county,
Missouri, where he entered a large tract of land, which he cleared and on
which he carried on general farming until his death, which occurred in
1861. He was one of the influential citizens in that county in pioneer
times. Politically, he was a Whig. His wife, who was also a native of
North Carolina, died on the home place in Lawrence county, July 25, 1880.
Reuben M. Mason grew to manhood on the home farm and he received a common
school education; he followed farming all his life, with the exception of
the time he spent in the Union army during the Civil war as a member of
the Seventy-fourth Missouri Militia, and later as a member of Company A,
Sixteenth Missouri Cavalry. He saw considerable active service and made a
good record as a soldier, and was honorably discharged and mustered out of
the service, June 30, 1865. On January 18, 1866, he married Mary E.
Richardson who was born in Lawrence county, Missouri, October 26, 1846.
She was a daughter of John W. and Maria L. (Ferris) Richardson.
Politically, Reuben B. Mason was a Republican. His death occurred on March
27, 1902, but his widow is still living on the homestead near Halltown.

John F. Mason grew to manhood on the home farm in Lawrence county where he
worked when a boy, and he received his education in the common schools. He
worked on the farm until 1898, when he went to Spencer, Missouri, where he
spent four years in the mercantile business, and in 1902 moved to
Halltown, engaging in the same line of endeavor, enjoying an excellent
trade in both places. In 1907 he went to Ash Grove, where he conducted a
drug store with success until he was elected to the office of county
recorder, November 3, 1914. He carried his township by the largest number
of votes that any candidate for county recorder ever received. He was
elected by a majority of six hundred and ninety-three votes. He is filling
the office in a highly creditable manner, being industrious, prompt and
courteous in his dealings with the public.

Mr. Mason studied pharmacy and passed the examination required by the
state board of pharmacy, November .25, 1911. He had a neat and well
stocked store and carried a full line of drugs and drug sundries and he
built up a large trade.

Mr. Mason was married, January 23, 1898, to Mina Nickel, a daughter of
James A. and Jane (Breeden) Nickel, and to this union one child was born,
James B. Mason, whose birth occurred on August 10, 1899. The death of the
wife and mother occurred September 8, 1903. Mr. Mason was again married on
April 10, 1906, to Daisy Smith, a daughter of Gaither and Melvina (Oldham)
Smith. To this last union one child has been born, John M. Mason, whose
birth occurred July 24, 1908.

Politically, Mr. Mason is a Republican, and fraternally, he is a member of
the Masonic Order, including the Ancient Free and Accepted Masons, the
Chapter and the Royal Arch, Masons, all of Ash Grove; he also belongs to
the Independent Order of Odd Fellows and the Woodmen of the World.




FRANK R. MASSEY. The prosperity and substantial welfare of a town or
community are in a large measure due to the enterprise and wise foresight
of its business men. It is progressive, wide-awake men of affairs that
make the real history of a community, and their influence in shaping and
directing its varied interests is difficult to estimate. Frank R. Massey,
a representative of one of the most prominent families of southwestern
Missouri during the past quarter of a century or more, and for a number of
years one of Springfield's most progressive merchants and business men,
who is now engaged in mining, is one of the enterprising gentlemen of the
Queen City of the Ozarks.

Mr. Massey was born in Jasper county, Missouri, April 12, 1850. He is a
son of Benjamin F. and Mirah (Withers) Massey, the former being one of the
sterling early pioneers of Missouri. He was born at Massey's Cross Roads,
Kent county, Maryland, near Chestertown, in 1811, and was a son of
Benjamin Massey. He grew to manhood in his native state and received a
common school education at Baltimore, where his boyhood days were spent.
Having a desire to investigate the then little known country west of the
Mississippi river, in 1831, when about twenty-one years of age, he made
the prolix and somewhat hazardous overland journey from the Monument City
to Mound City (St. Louis), and embarked in business, but subsequently went
to Fayette, Howard county, Missouri, where he engaged in mercantile
pursuits from 1837 to 1839, but in the last mentioned year he moved to
what is now the city of Sarcoxie, Jasper county, this state, and there
laid out the town, and continued to reside there until 1856, being the
principal guardian of Sarcoxie's interests during that period, and doing
more than any other man, for her general development. He engaged
successfully in business there until he entered politics, being elected
secretary of state in 1856, becoming one of the efficient and popular
officers of the state of Missouri in that troublous period. Prior to that
time he had served his district as state senator. He was occupying the
office of secretary of state when the Civil war broke out, when he went
South with Governor Claiborne Jackson and the other officers of the state
government, and served four years in a gallant and faithful manner in the
Confederate army. After the war he returned to Missouri and published a
newspaper, The Jeffersonian at Pierce City, which became one of the most
influential and widely known newspapers in southern Missouri. He was not
only a good business man and made this a successful venture from a
financial standpoint, but was a trenchant and versatile writer and most
capable editor in every way. He continued in the newspaper business until
his retirement from the active affairs of life, whereupon he came to
Springfield to spend his last years with his son, Frank R., of this
sketch, at whose home he passed from earthly scenes a few years later, in
1887, after a useful, industrious and honorable career. His name will go
down in the history of the state as one of the most prominent, able and
enterprising citizens of southwestern Missouri a half century ago.

Benjamin F. Massey and Mirah Withers were married in Boonville, Cooper
county, Missouri, in 1838. She was born in Fauquier county, Virginia, in
which state she grew to womanhood and was educated, and from that state
emigrated with her parents to Missouri during the latter thirties, the
family locating in Boonville. She was a woman of fine mind and charming
personality, a true type of that fine Southern womanhood of antebellum
days. Her death occurred in 1864. Benjamin F. Massey and wife were the
parents of ten children.

Frank R. Massey is a fine type of the successful self-made American, and
this title is the proudest that anyone can bear in our great Republic of
the west. He never went to school a day in his life, but being a man of
natural strong endowments and ambitions he has become a well-informed man
through actual contact with the world, and by wide home reading. When a
child he went to Virginia, where he was reared to manhood, leaving there
in 1866, he came back to Missouri and began his splendid business career
as a merchant, in which line of endeavor he was successful from the first.
He organized what is now known as the Springfield Grocery Company, one of
the most successful concerns of its kind in the great Southwest. It paid
one hundred percent the first six years of its existence under the able
management of Mr. Massey, who managed it for seven years, then he retired
two years, and then organized the Massey-Herndon Shoe Company in
Springfield, which partnership continued fairly successful for five years,
when Mr. Massey purchased Mr. Herndon's interests and merged the concern
with the Keet-Rountree Shoe Company, of which large establishment our
subject was general manager for five years, during which time the company
did a very extensive wholesale business all over this section of the
country; but on account of failing health Mr. Massey was forced to retire
from the firm, and he later went into the mining business at Granby,
Missouri, and is still actively engaged there, being general, manager of
extensive mining interests at that place, and, as usual, this venture has
been a highly successful one from a business standpoint.

Politically, Mr. Massey is a loyal Democrat and influential in the party.
Fraternally he belongs to the Masonic Order.




RICHARD MASSEY. The Massey family is one of those who cast their fortunes
in the locality of which this history treats when it was little better
than a wilderness, but being courageous and resourceful people, they
forged to the front ranks and have been well and favorably known in Greene
county since the pioneer epoch. One of the best known of the family is
Richard Massey, a contractor of Springfield, who has spent his life of
over fifty-seven years here and is therefore a connecting link between the
first period of development of this vicinity and the present.

Mr. Massey was born September 15, 1857, just east of Springfield, on the
old homestead. He is a son of Capt. James and Martha (Anderson) Massey.
The father was born in Ireland, where he spent his boyhood and attended
school, and when eighteen years of age he ran away from home and sailed on
the broad Atlantic toward the United States seek his fortune. He first
settled in Knox county, Tennessee, at the foot of the Cumberland
Mountains, regarding whose picturesque inhabitants so much has been
written, and in that locality he was married and made his home until the
year 1832, when he made the tedious and somewhat hazardous overland trip
to Greene county, Missouri, bringing his family in a primitive wagon, and
thus the Masseys were among the earliest pioneers of this locality. He
secured a tract of land just east of what is now the thriving city of
Springfield, but which was at that time an encampment of the Kickapoo
Indians. He set to work with a will, cleared, broke and fenced his land,
erected a log cabin and by perseverance and hard work became very
comfortably fixed in due course of time, and was a man of influence among
the early frontiersmen, his neighbors being, however, very few and most of
them some miles distant, until more Tennesseeans followed him, the
Fulbrights, the Freemans and others. Although he devoted the major portion
of his life to farming, he was a mechanic by trade and a skilled workman.
He made the first separator, or "ground-hog" thresher, ever seen in this
part of the country. During the War of 1812, he enlisted in defense of his
adopted country, gladly fighting against the flag under which he was born,
and for meritorious conduct on the field of battle he was promoted from a
private to a captain, and served with distinction throughout the war.
Politically he was first a Whig, then a Republican after that party was
organized in the fifties. His death occurred on his farm here in 1863. His
wife was a native of Tennessee, where she grew up and received a limited
education. She lived to an advanced age, dying in Stone county, Missouri,
in February, 1899. To these parents nine children were born, only four of
whom are living at this writing: Robert, Richard of this sketch, Sally and
Emma.

Richard Massey grew to manhood on the old homestead, where he helped with
the general work when a boy, and he received his education mostly by home
study. When his father died he was a small boy, and as soon as he could,
he was compelled to work and assist in supporting the family. He followed
farming for some time, then took up carpenter work, then railroad grade
contracting and at the present time he is engaged in general contracting.
He has been very successful in his line and has handled some large jobs,
among which was the Valley water falls, the Grant street subway, did the
work for the filtering plant at the pump station for the Springfield water
works, and he built the first piece of special road that was ever seen in
Greene county. He has been very successful in a business way, and owns a
commodious home on South Campbell street, surrounded by a lot containing
five acres.

Mr. Massey was married, first on April 14, 1874, in Stone county,
Missouri, to Hannah Prier, who was born in Henry county, Iowa. Her death
occurred in Stone county. She was a daughter of Allen and Mary (Brown)
Prier, who were pioneer settlers in Henry county, Iowa. By this first
union of our subject seven children were born, namely: Clara, Guy, James
Allen, Robert E., Ernest, Laura and Sally. Mr. Massey was married a second
time in Stone county, to Mary J. Prier, a sister of his first wife, and to
this union five children have been born, namely: Floyd Glenn, Zella,
Percy, Carrol and Kenneth.

Politically Mr. Massey is a Democrat. He belongs to the Knights and Ladies
of Security, and is a charter member of the Supreme Court of Honor. The
Massey family are members of the Christian church.




WILLIAM M. MAXWELL. In writing a work of the nature of the one in hand,
the biographer is surprised at the preponderance of Greene county citizens
who were born in Tennessee or are sons of Tennessee parents. This locality
has been lucky in securing such a good class of citizens, and it is safe
to say that it would not now be nearly so prosperous had not these
courageous, industrious and law-abiding people cast their lots here.
William M. Maxwell is among the number. His earlier years were spent in
agricultural pursuits, later he engaged in the grocery business in
Springfield in various places for a period of many years, and he is now
serving as justice of the peace.

Mr. Maxwell was born in Warren county, Tennessee, October 12, 1867. He is
a son of Rufus and Jane (Vickers) Maxwell. The father was born in Jackson
county, Alabama, and there he was reared to manhood, and was educated in
the early day schools there; he was married in Scottsboro, that state, and
he spent his life engaged in general farming and stock raising in his
native state and in Tennessee, dying at Valley Head, Alabama, in 1911.
Politically, he was a Democrat. The mother of our subject attended the
common schools and she is still living in Warren county, Tennessee, being
now advanced in years.

William M. Maxwell, who was the only child of his parents, grew to manhood
on the homestead in Warren county, Tennessee, where he assisted his father
with the general farm work when he became of proper age, and there he
received a limited education in the public schools. He began life as a
farmer, which he continued successfully until 1898, when he left his
native state and came to Springfield, Missouri. He first engaged in the
grocery business, in which he was uniformly successful, and operated a
store at several different places, in later years his location being on
West Commercial street. Four years ago he moved his business to the corner
of Broad and Chase streets. He always carried a full line of staple and
fancy groceries and, dealing honestly and courteously with his many
customers retained their good will, and he continued in this business
until in. February, 1914, when he was appointed justice of the peace by
the county court for North Campbell township, and he has since been
faithfully discharging the duties of the same in a manner that reflects
much credit upon himself and to the satisfaction of all concerned. He has
a very suitable office at 212 1/2 East Commercial street. His decisions
are marked by firmness and ability as to law and justice. He owns a -good
home on West Chase street.

Mr. Maxwell was married on December 28, 1897, in Lafayette, Georgia, to
Bessie Derbery, who was born at Coal City, Georgia, and was a daughter of
John and Martha Derbery, natives of that locality in Georgia, also where
they were all reared, educated in the common schools and were married. The
death of Mrs. Maxwell occurred on August 1, 1907. She was a woman of many
of the winning characteristics of the Southern lady and was a favorite
with her many friends.

To Mr. and Mrs. Maxwell one child was born, William Rufus, whose birth
occurred in Springfield, Missouri, October 28, 1898. He is now attending
high school.

Politically, Mr. Maxwell is a Democrat and loyal in his affiliations to
the party. Fraternally, he belongs to the Independent, Order of Odd
Fellows, the Knights of Maccabees and the Modern Woodmen. Religiously, he
is a member of the Central Christian church.




HENRY G. MELLON. Having alternated the grocery business with farming
during his career as a man of affairs, Henry G. Mellon, who maintains a
well patronized grocery store in Springfield has succeeded in each of
these vocations, partly because he has liked each and partly because he
has made it a point to devote his attention almost exclusively to whatever
he has in hand.

Mr. Mellon was born near the banks of the Missouri river, about six miles
northeast of Jefferson City, August 25, 1869. He is a son of P. H. and
Martha (Bryant) Mellon, the father a native of Pennsylvania and the mother
was a native of Virginia. They each left their native states with their
parents when young and came to Boone county, Missouri, where they attended
the early-day schools and there were married. P. H. Mellon devoted his
active life to general mercantile pursuits up to the Civil war, after
which he was unable to carry on any line of active industry. His death
occurred in Boone county in 1877. His widow survived many years, dying in,
Springfield in 1911. To these parents six children were born, four of
whom, are living, namely: Mrs. Walter Copsy, Elizabeth, Mrs. H. Brooks and
Henry G., of this sketch.

Henry G. Mellon spent his boyhood in Boone county, Missouri, removing to
Springfield when a boy, where he attended the public schools, also. St.
Mary's Academy and Drury College, thus securing an excellent education. He
was thirteen years old when the family located in this city in i8821 After
our subject finished school he began in the grocery business in Texas,
which he continued there for a period of ten years. At the end of that
period he returned to Greene county and began operating a farm which the
family owned near Springfield. He continued in this line of endeavor for
five years, and in 1908 he entered the grocery business again, and has
since continued the same at 500 College street, where he has conducted a
large, well stocked and popular grocery, carrying a complete line of
staple and fancy groceries at all seasons, and his place has been a very
busy one, requiring a number of employees. Prompt and courteous, as well
as honest treatment of all his customers, has been his aim, and he has
thus built up a large and lucrative trade.

Mr. Mellon was married in 1893, in Denison, Texas, to Clara Foley, a
native of that city and state, where she grew to womanhood and was
educated. She is a daughter of D. F. Foley and wife. Her father was born
in Ireland and her mother in Canada.

Three children have been born to our subject and wife, namely: Raymond F.,
born in 1895, is now a student in St. Mary's College; Mary, born in 1902,
is at home, and Henry Sheridan, born in 1903, is at home.

Politically, Mr. Mellon is a Democrat. Fraternally, he is a member of the
Woodmen of the World and the Knights of Columbus. He and his family belong
to St. Agnes Catholic church.




CARVER O. MERCER. To ambitious, struggling youths, with only the broad,
perhaps cheerless highway of the future before them, this narrative of a
self-made man--a successful life--presents an example worthy of
consideration and earnest emulation, and might even fill a faltering heart
with strong zeal, or a youthful mind with greater determination and a
fuller recognition of those attributes which constitute true
manhood--nature's patent of nobility--industry, integrity, temperance and
right living along all lines Carver O. Mercer, who has been an
enterprising resident of Springfield for over thirty years, is a
well-known contractor and has long been identified with the affairs of the
city, consequently is well known here and over Greene county.

Mr. Mercer was born in Poughkeepsie, Dutchess county, New York, November
22, 1852. He is a son of Thomas C. Mercer, a successful pioneer physician,
who was born in Louisville, Kentucky, in 1817. He was the son of a brick
manufacturer who furnished the brick for many of the first houses built of
this material in Louisville. There Doctor Mercer grew to manhood and,
after. receiving a common school education, entered the Louisville Medical
College from which he was graduated, and soon thereafter began the
practice of his profession in that city. He seemed to specialize in
surgery for which he had much native ability. He served nine years in the
United States army, part of the time as regular physician and part of the
time as contract surgeon. After leaving the service of the government he
located in Utica, Indiana, where he engage d in the practice of his
profession for some time, later removing to Jeffersonville, that state,
where he continued practice with his usual large success until his death
in 1884. His wife, who was Katherine Orvis before her marriage, was a
native of the state of New York. To Dr. Mercer's father and mother five
sons and two daughters were born, named as follows: Thomas C., father of
the subject of this sketch; Henry, who was a printer in Louisville,
Kentucky, is deceased; James met death in a hotel in Texas when it was
destroyed by fire; Pope met death by being accidentally shot; Levi,
deceased, was among the early settlers near St. Louis, Missouri; Julia,
deceased, was the wife of Claudius Devaull, a carpet merchant of
Louisville, Kentucky; the name of the youngest daughter could not be
learned by the writer.

To Dr. Thomas C. Mercer and wife two sons and two daughters were born,
namely: Carver O., of this sketch; Elizabeth married Louis Girdler,
superintendent of the Fall City Cement Company, and they have four sons
and two daughters; Henrietta is the wife of Philip Arnold, who is engaged
in educational work in Joplin, Missouri, and to them three sons, one of
whom is deceased, and two daughters have been born; Neville, who became a
deputy clerk to the probate judge of Jasper county, Missouri, and was well
known in public affairs in his vicinity, is deceased, having died in
Greene county.

Carver O. Mercer spent his earlier years in his native city and in Utica,
Indiana, being educated in the common school in the latter place. At an
early age he began life for himself by launching out in the teaming and
transfer business. He remained in Indiana until 1873, when he came to
Missouri and located in the city of Joplin, in which he spent ten years,
then in 1883, came to Springfield. He has continued the business in which
he was first engaged since leaving Indiana, his business gradually
increasing until it reached large proportions many years ago, although it
had a modest, beginning. He has long been one of the best known transfer
men in Springfield and is quite well equipped in every respect for this
line of work, always keeping good teams, wagons and general equipment, and
keeps a number of trustworthy hands employed all the while. He has had the
contract for sprinkling the streets of Springfield since 1904, and has
also had the contract for hauling coal for the pumping station of this
city since 1906. That he has retained these contracts so long would
indicate that he has given the best of service and highest satisfaction to
all concerned. He has been very successful in a financial way and owns
considerable property here, including a commodious residence. His office
and barns are located at Chase and Camp streets.

Mr. Mercer was married on February 29, 1880, in Newton county, Missouri,
to Amanda J. Wolf. She is a daughter of George Wolf, a farmer of Fremont
county, Iowa, who is now deceased. In that county the birth of Mrs. Mercer
occurred, March 19, 1854, and there she grew to womanhood and received her
education in the common schools. She proved to be a faithful and
sympathetic helpmeet. She was called to her eternal rest on December 16,
1913.

Our subject and wife had no children of their own, but they adopted a son,
Leo Mercer, who was born March 4, 1888. He was given a common school
education in Greene county, and in early life he enlisted in the United
States army in which he served seven years, during two of which he was
stationed at Alcatraz Island, near San Francisco, California, and later
spent several years in the Philippine Islands. His record as a soldier was
an honorable and excellent one. He worked a year for the New York
Continental Jewell Filteration Company, his work being in Springfield.
After this he secured employment with the Jarrett & Richardson
Construction Company of Springfield and is still connected with this firm,
which, for two years has been engaged on a large viaduct in St. Louis.

In 1911, Leo Mercer and Mary Owen were carried in Greene county. She is a
daughter of Bill Owen, a farmer living near Springfield. She was educated
in the schools of this city. To Leo Mercer and wife, two children have
been born, a son and a daughter, namely: Orvis Leo and Mary.

Politically, Carver O. Mercer is a Democrat, but he has never been an
office seeker.




B. E. MEYER. For many years B. E. Meyer has been one of Springfield's most
progressive men of affairs and most influential in public life. Strong
mental endowment, coupled with an honesty of purpose that hesitates at no
opposition, have so entered into his composition as to render him a
dominant factor in the business world and a leader of men in important
enterprises. He is essentially a man of affairs, sound of judgment and
far-seeing in what he undertakes; and every enterprise to which he has
addressed himself has resulted in gratifying financial returns, while at
the same time he has won and retained the good will and confidence of all
classes.

Mr. Meyer was born in Columbus, Ohio, on December 27, 1863. He is a son of
B. E. and Mary L. (Fisher) Meyer. The mother was born in Reading,
Pennsylvania, and the father was born in Baden, Germany. They emigrated to
America in 1849. The father's birth occurred in 1834 and the mother's ten
years later, in 1844. These parents grew to maturity in their native
locality, received good educations and were married in Allentown,
Pennsylvania, and there established their home, Mr. Meyer engaging in the
brewery business in Allentown for a number of years, later removing to
Columbus, Ohio, and from there to Urbana, that state, continuing in the
same line of business. Selling out in the last named city in 1866, he came
to St. Louis and was connected with the Phoenix Brewery for some time.
During the Civil war he served several months in the Union army, being
sent home from the front on account of sickness. Politically he was a
Republican in his earlier life, but later was a Democrat. He belonged to
the Independent Order of Odd Fellows and to the Knights of Honor. He was a
good business man and always provided well for his family, which consisted
of seven children, all of whom are still living but one, namely: B. E.,
Jr., of this sketch; Nellie, Charles D., A. E., Mary, Jane and Louis, the
last named being deceased. The parents of the above named children finally
located in DeSoto, Missouri, where the death of the father occurred in
1894, and there also the mother passed away in 1896.

B. E. Meyer, of this sketch, received a practical education in the public
schools, and when a boy went to work for the Anheuser-Busch Brewing
Association, with which he has remained continuously to the present time,
this being his thirty-seventh year with this concern. His long retention
would indicate that he has been faithful in the discharge of his duties
and has been reliable and industrious, looking well to the company's
interests in every respect. He came to Springfield in 1895 and took charge
of the Springfield Ice & Refrigerator Company, with which he is still
connected as manager and secretary, and he is also manager and
secretary-treasurer of the Ozark Ice & Storage Company, and is general
manager at Springfield for the Anheuser-Busch Brewery Association. Thus it
will be seen that he has a vast amount of business to claim his attention,
but being a man of rare business acumen and industry, he manages his
affairs in a successful manner without friction and worry and whatever he
turns his attention to brings gratifying results. The plants with which he
is connected are well equipped in every respect, employing a large number
of men and doing a mammoth annual business which extends over a vast
territory.

Mr. Meyer was married on June 5, 1889, in St. Louis, to Louise A. Meyer
(no relation), who was born in Berne, Switzerland; she is a daughter of
Gustav and Anna Meyer. Her father, who was a tailor by trade, is now
deceased. He and his wife grew up in their native land, were educated and
married there, and when our subject's wife was a child immigrated to
America and located in St. Louis, where Mrs. B. E. Meyer received her
education. Her mother is living at St. James, Missouri.

The union of our subject and wife has resulted in the birth of five
children, namely: Charles A., born on June 8. 1890, died in 1902; Lydia
M., born on February 19, 1892, died in 1892; Lelia, born on July 16, 1893,
died in 1894; Bert E., born on October 14, 1895, grew up in Springfield
and was educated in the local schools and is now foreman of the storage
house with which his father is connected; Irena A., born on November 24,
1897, was educated in the Springfield schools and is at home with her
parents.

Politically Mr. Meyer is a Democrat and has long been active in party
affairs, in fact, a leader. He was a member of the city council in 1902-3,
and was elected mayor of Springfield in 1904, and having made an excellent
record during his first term, was re-elected in 1906, his administrations
being marked by a comprehensive idea of what the city needed for its
general development, and all parties regarded him as one of the best chief
executives the city has ever had, his being a straightforward,
conservative and yet most effective administration. He is a member of the
Springfield Club and the Country Club, and is prominent in fraternal
circles, being a member of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows, the
Knights and Ladies of Security, Royal Arcanum, the Improved Order of Red
Men, the Fraternal Order of Eagles, the Benevolent and Protective Order of
Elks, having been exalted ruler three consecutive times of Florence Lodge,
No. 409. He is also a. member of the Knights of Pythias.




THE JOHN F. MEYER & SONS MILLING COMPANY. This corporation, which conducts
the largest flour milling business in Springfield, is composed of a father
and his four sons. John F. Meyer, the father, and the founder of the
business, began making flour in St. Louis in 1864, half a century ago, and
continued in that line in that city steadily until 1894, a period of
thirty years.

In the last mentioned year Mr. Meyer took into partnership with himself,
his four sons, Ferdinand P., H. J., H. A., and Louis S. Meyer, and
established the firm under the name of John F. Meyer & Sons. As soon as
this partnership was formed the large three-story brick milling plant,
known at the time as the "Queen City Mills," and located on the northwest
corner of Booneville street and Phelps avenue, Springfield, was purchased.
This corner had been the site of a mill for many years prior to the date
of the Meyer purchase. John Schmook, one of the most prominent builders of
the early day Spring-field during and immediately after the Civil war, had
here for years a grist mill, and a planing mill adjoining. That was
afterward succeeded by the Queen City Mills, the first of the large
flouring plants of the city, and this was the building that in 1849 was
purchased by the new milling partnership of John F. Meyer & Sons.

They at once remodelled the whole interior of the building, refitted it
with the latest and most effective machinery, and increased its capacity
to seven hundred barrels of flour per day. A large elevator was also added
at the east of the mill building, and smaller elevators were built at
different points in the region, where the soft Missouri wheat for use in
the mill was bought direct from the farmers who raised it.

The business grew and prospered. Every sack of Meyer flour that went to a
consumer was an advertisement more effective than columns in the papers.
The best wheat obtainable, the best machinery with which to reduce it to
flour, and. the most skillful men in the, trade to operate that machinery;
these, and strict business management, and fair treatment, built up,
extended, and established the business, and sent its products not only in
all directions into neighboring states, but in no small quantities entered
the foreign market and established a demand for it beyond the sea.

Meanwhile the partnership had been made into a corporation under the name
which still exists of the John F, Meyer & Sons Milling Company. In 1901,
after seven successful years at the original Springfield location, the
demands of the trade justified large expansion, and a fine site was
purchased at the corner of the National Boulevard and Pine street, in the
manufacturing district, in the eastern part of the city. Here a thoroughly
modern mill was erected, furnished throughout with the latest machinery,
and of capacity of eight hundred barrels per day of hard wheat flour and
four hundred barrels of soft wheat flour. A fine elevator was also added
to the equipment of the new mill, the combined capacity of the elevators
at the two mills and country stations aggregating five hundred thousand
bushels. The smaller elevators for purchasing wheat direct from the
growers, are scattered through Greene, Dade, Lawrence and Barry counties.

The business is stocked for one hundred thousand dollars capitalization,
and has a surplus of two hundred and fifty thousand dollars. The company
has some sixty employees, and a weekly pay-roll of a thousand dollars. The
two most popular brands of flour turned out by the concern, are the
Albatross, "Best on earth" soft wheat flour, and the Meyer's Model,
"Always reliable," hard wheat flour. The reputation established by these
brands is such that the copyright of the names is no small asset in such a
business.

The general offices of the company are in suites 722, 723 and 724
Merchants-Laclede Building, St. Louis. The president, John F. Meyer, and
the secretary, Ferdinand P. Meyer, have charge of the St. Louis office,
while the vice-president, Herman J. Meyer, the treasurer, Henry A. Meyer,
and the general manager, Louis S. Meyer, are residents of Springfield and
attend to the manufacturing end of the business.

In giving the story of such a successful business enterprise, it should
not close without some slight sketch of the men behind the concern, who
made the success possible, and we will close this story with a few words
of personal history.

John F. Meyer, the head of this company, was born in Westphalia, Germany,
on the 16th day of July, 1830. He spent his boyhood upon his father's
large farm in Westphalia, and after the good old German fashion, he was
given a thorough education. When a young man he learned the milling
business, and followed it in Germany until he was thirty years of age. In
1860 he joined that great company of his fellow countrymen, who saw a
better outlook for themselves and their children in the great republic of
the west than in their native land, and he emigrated to the United States.
He located in St. Louis, Missouri. For four years he was in the grocery
business, but in 1864, he formed a partnership with J. F. Imbs, under the
name of Imbs, Meyer & Company and entered into the trade which he had
learned in Germany, and which he was to follow for life.

He married in St. Louis, in 1862, Miss Katherine Fechtel, who was also a
native of Westphalia, Germany. The St. Louis milling business prospered,
through the same means that have later made the Springfield concern one of
the institutions of the Southwest. As Mr. Meyer's sons grew up they were
most of them taught their father's trade of milling, and thus when the
proper time came, were prepared to assume the responsibilities of the new
company in Springfield. For just half a century John F. Meyer has followed
his chosen business of milling. No man is better posted in all the
intricacies of the trade; no man is better known as an expert on all
questions connected with it, and at eighty-four years of age, he is still
a clear headed, and most highly respected business man.

Of the four sons who with the father form the company, it need only be
said that their twenty years in Springfield have demonstrated their entire
ability to meet any competition, and all the demands of trade. Steadily
and without any parade or sounding of trumpets, the John F. Meyer & Sons
Milling Company has pursued the even tenor of its way. Starting with the
highest ideals of furnishing as perfect a product as was humanly possible,
they have held strictly to that plan, and the years have proved the
correctness of the theory by crowning the work with the greatest success.




WILLIAM S. MILLER. One of the best methods to keep the soil from becoming
depleted of its natural strength is by proper rotation of crops. Some of
our farmers grow too much grain and not enough grass on their land,
especially if it is old land. With a little study and experience it is
always possible to determine exactly what particular crop should succeed
another. This problem seems to be well understood by William S. Miller,
who is engaged in general farming in the western part of Greene county. He
has spent his life in this vicinity and has watched closely the best
methods of farming.

Mr. Miller was born in Pond Creek township, Greene county, Missouri, March
27, 1851. He is a son of James and Ellen (McDaniel) Miller, and is the
youngest of two children; his sister, Sarah T. Miller, married Edward
Potts, of Republic, and they have five children. James Miller, the father,
was born in Tennessee where he spent his early life on a farm and was
educated in the rural schools. He remained in his native state until the
breaking out of the Civil war when he removed to Greene county, Missouri.
He enlisted in the Confederate army and served faithfully. He engaged in
farming here until his death, which occurred when our subject was a child,
and the mother of our subject also died when he was young. So he was
reared by his grandparents on the mother's side, William and Sarah Ann
(Glades) McDaniel, who were also natives of Tennessee, from which state
they came to Greene county, Missouri, in 1830, among the earliest
settlers, and here spent the rest of their lives on a farm.

Mr. Miller spent his boyhood on his grandfather's farm and there worked
hard during the crop season, and in the wintertime he attended the
district schools. When twenty years of age he left the home of his
grandparents and purchased eighty acres nearby and here he has since
resided. He is making a specialty of raising shorthorn cattle and keeps a
fine herd.

Mr. Miller was married in April, 1880, to Nancy E. Jackson, a daughter of
William Jackson, a farmer and school teacher, who came from Georgia to
Greene county, Missouri, in 1854, making the long overland journey, with
wagon and team, and began life here in typical pioneer fashion as did the
parents of our subject, and his grandparents. Mr. Jackson's death occurred
a number of years ago, but Mrs. Jackson is still living at the advanced
age of seventy-eight years.

The following children have been born to Mr. and Mrs. Miller: Ritta.
Ethel, born November 17, 1888, is at home; Bertha Alma, born September 8,
1891, is at home; Emmet Clarence, born on July 11, 1893, has a taste for
mechanics; Alpha Ellen, born July 7, 1895, married William Carter, a.
farmer living in Center township, Greene county; Tressie Marie, born
December 1, 1898, died June 13, 1899; Ernest Lester, born October 29,
1901.

Politically, Mr. Miller is a Republican, and he is liberal in his
religious views, attending no particular church, being a friend of all
denominations.




ANDREW DURYEA MILLS. Andrew Duryea Mills, chief clerk to J. R. Dritt,
freight agent of the Frisco System at Springfield, was born in Brooklyn
Borough, New York City, March 7, 1881. He is a son of Simeon Drake Mills,
who was for many years engaged in business for himself in Brooklyn as a
manufacturer of jewelry. In 1883 he removed with his family to Kansas
City, Missouri, soon thereafter opening the S. D. Mills jewelry Company's
place of business, which he conducted until his death in 1890 at the age
of thirty-two years. Politically, he was a Republican. He belonged to the
Knights of Pythias, and was a member of the Baptist church. He was twice
married, first, to Ella B. Duryea, a daughter of Andrew Duryea, who was a
merchant in Brooklyn, New York. Her death occurred in 1883, leaving two
children, namely: Ralph, who is agent for the Union Pacific railroad at
Tonganoxie, Kansas, and Andrew D., of this sketch. His second marriage was
with Alice Dewey, a daughter of Dr. John Dewey, of Kansas City, Missouri.
This union was without issue.

Andrew D. Mills was a small child when his parents brought him to Kansas
City, and there he grew to manhood and received his education, including
the public schools and a business college. He began his railroad career
when nineteen years of age, and has worked for the following roads: Kansas
City, Ft. Scott & Memphis, now operated by the Frisco; the Missouri,
Kansas & Texas, Kansas City Southern; Missouri Pacific & Iron Mountain;
the Kansas City, Clinton & Springfield; the Texas & Pacific; Union
Pacific; Denver & Rio Grande; Missouri Pacific; Chicago, Burlington &
Quincy; later to the Missouri Pacific, then the Atchison, Topeka & Santa
Fe, after which he went with the St. Louis & San Francisco road, with
which he has since been connected. He was telegraph operator and station
agent for the above named roads. In January, 1913, he was promoted to the
position of chief clerk to the Frisco's freight agent at Springfield,
which position he still holds.

Mr. Mills was married in 1902 to Nellie Wilson, a daughter of Joel Y. and
Josephine (George) Wilson, of Osceola, Missouri. Mr. Wilson has for many
years been a druggist at that point. There Mrs. Mills grew to womanhood
and was educated in the common schools.

Four children have been born to Mr. and Mrs. Mills, namely: Wilson,
Charles, Alice M. and Josephine G.

Politically, Mr. Mills is a Republican in principle, but votes
independently, more for the man than for the party, as many other sensible
people are doing today. Fraternally, he belongs to the Masons, the Royal
Arcanum, Royal Neighbors and the Modern Woodmen of America.




EMMETT McDONALD MING. How shall we recall the fond memories that cluster
about our beloved dead? How shall we portray the nobleness of his
character, the purity of his life, the gentleness of his disposition? How
shall we describe his affection as father, his tenderness as son and
brother, his devotion as husband, his sincerity as friend? How shall we
impart the patience of his suffering, the unfailing fidelity of his trust
in the great Healer of all our infirmities, the sorrow and desolation
that, at his death fell like a dark pall upon the hearts of the loved ones
left behind? We know that all that is must share his destiny; that the
brief term of mortal existence is but a passing dream--a story that is
briefly told--and man's spirit drifts away on the bosom of that tranquil
river that winds with noiseless murmurs through the gloom shaded shadows
of the Valley of Death. To eulogize the deeds and preserve the memory of
our dead from oblivion is at once our privilege and our sacred duty. Since
the dawn of civilization men have made expression at the death of their
fellows, whether such dead were citizen, statesman or soldier. Realizing
that "all flesh shall perish together, and men shall turn again unto
dust," we are naturally inspired with the desire that we may be remembered
after death; that after our earthly remains shall have been laid away to
sleep throughout the silent centuries yet to come, awaiting the final day,
we are fed by the hope that some human heart that yet beats may cherish a
memory of us, may yearn for one touch of "a vanished hand and the sound of
a voice that is still." Prompted by such feelings we come to chronicle the
lamented death, "in that he died so young," of Emmett McDonald Ming.

Mr. Ming was born at Gray's Summit, Franklin county, Missouri, December 3,
1860. He was a son of Judge James Morris and Jemima (Osborne) Ming, the
father a native of Virginia and the mother of Missouri. Judge Ming was a
descendant of that chivalrous race of men who peopled the Old Dominion,
but in an early day he emigrated to Franklin county, Missouri, and there
became one of the leading and influential citizens of that section of the
state, and he at one time represented that county in the state legislature
and later was elected judge, serving as such for a number of years. His
wife belonged to that class of noble Christian women and true type of
womanhood found in the South in the happy days before the Civil war. Both
the judge and his wife reached ripe old ages and spent their declining
years serenely in their cozy home at the quiet town of Washington,
Franklin county, where they were ever known as good neighbors, hospitable
and helpful. They reared a large family of sons and daughters, Emmett M.
of this review having been the youngest.

The subject of this memoir grew to manhood at the town of Washington, and
spent his boyhood days upon the farm, close to nature. As a young man he
was industrious, honest and everybody liked him, for even at that tender
age he had a kind word for everybody, a helping hand for those in need,
and a word of cheer for the disconsolate. He had the advantage of an
excellent education, having passed through the common schools in Franklin
county, and later took a regular course in Central College, Fayette,
Missouri.

Mr. Ming began life for himself on a cattle ranch in Arizona, which he
owned, but after his marriage he engaged in the lumber business, and later
in the hardware and furniture business at Vinita, Oklahoma (then Indian
Territory), having selected Vinita as his future home. He built up a large
and lucrative trade with the people of that town and locality and was
doing much for the material welfare of the same, and at the time of his
death his furniture establishment there would have been a credit to any
city. He was a stockholder and promoter of the first artesian well at
Vinita, and was regarded by all who knew him as a business man of rare
foresight and acumen.

Mr. Ming was married November 18, 1891, to Emma Wallis, a daughter of
Christopher and Elizabeth (Hoover) Wallis, a well-known family of
Marshfield, Missouri, where Mrs. Ming grew to womanhood and was educated.
After their marriage they established their home at Vinita, in the
Cherokee nation. Their union was blessed by the birth of two children,
namely: Christopher, who Was born at Vinita, October 20, 1892, and who is
now a prominent young business man of Springfield, Missouri; and Martha
Lelia, whose birth occurred at Vinita, July 18, 1896.

In 1899 Mr. Ming built a comfortable home for his family in Vinita,
surrounding them with all the comforts of life and preparing a place for
them and for himself in his old age. No man was ever more happily married
and his affection for his wife and children was tender and strong. He was
never happier than when at home with his family. His devotion to his
father and mother was genuine as well as was his love for his brothers and
sisters, and he was never known to falter in his loyalty to a friend. He
was an active member of the Knights of Pythias, and belonged to the
Methodist Episcopal church, South, at Vinita. His life was ever an open
book, and no one ever heard him say anything derogatory regarding his
fellow man.

Mr. Ming was called to his eternal rest in St. Anthony's hospital, St.
Louis, Missouri, August 2, 1900, when lacking a few months of his fortieth
birthday. He had been in failing health for some time. He was buried at
his old home near Washington, Franklin county, on the old Ming homestead,
on a beautiful bluff overlooking the Missouri river.

Something of the high standing of Mr. Ming in the community honored by his
citizenship, may be gained from the following resolutions, passed by the
Knights of Pythias at Vinita, Oklahoma, shortly after his death:

Whereas, God in His infinite wisdom has deemed it best to remove from the
scenes of his earthly home our beloved friend and co-worker, Brother E. M.
Ming, be it

Resolved, That while we bow in humble submission to His supreme will, yet
we mourn the death of our fellow-worker, fully realizing our lodge has
lost a faithful member, the community a true patriotic citizen and his
family a good husband and father. His many sterling qualities of head and
heart, the blameless character, and pure name won the love and admiration
of all who knew him.

Resolved, That we extend to the sorrowing family our heartfelt sympathy in
their bereavement, praying the all-wise Father to lighten the deep sorrow
that has fallen upon them, by shedding into their hearts and lives that
blessed peace and comfort which man can not give.

Resolved, further, That a copy of these resolutions be spread upon the
minutes of the lodge, that a copy of the same be sent to the local
newspaper and also a copy to his bereaved family.




ROBERT MINTO. One of the best-known railroad men of Springfield during the
past generation was the late Robert Minto, who maintained his residence in
Greene county for a period of nearly three decades, during which time he
formed a very wide acquaintance and was rated among our best citizens, and
his unfortunate death occasioned wide-spread regret. Like all men of
positive character and independence of mind, he was outspoken in what he
considered right, and his convictions were such that his neighbors and
fellow citizens knew well his position on all questions of a political,
social or religious nature. His private life was exemplary and his amiable
disposition and many virtues made him widely popular.

Mr. Minto hailed from England and he was the possessor of the many
admirable traits of the great Anglo-Saxon people. His birth occurred in
Durham, England, June 22, 1853, but he spent practically all of his life
in America, having been but six months old when he was brought to the
United States by his parents, Thomas and Sarah Minto, both of whom were
born, reared, educated and married in Durham, England, the birth of the
father having occurred in 1830 and the mother was born in 1831. Thomas
Minto was educated for a bookkeeper in which he became quite expert. After
immigrating to America the latter part of the year 1853 he became a mine
owner in Illinois, but while he remained in his native land he followed
mercantile pursuits. He is now living in retirement on a fine farm near
Shelbyville, Illinois, having accumulated a comfortable competency through
his good management. He has reached his eighty-fifth year. His wife also
attained a ripe old age, and was called to her eternal rest at the
homestead at Shelbyville in 1913. Politically he is a Republican, and
belongs to the Masonic order. He is a grand old man and is highly
respected in his community.

Twelve children were born to Thomas and Sarah Minto, but only two survive
at this writing, namely: Elizabeth, Thomas, Robert (subject); Clement, are
all deceased; Henry lives in Cleveland, Ohio, and Mrs. Bertha Cook still
makes her home in Shelbyville, Illinois; the other six children died in
infancy or early life.

Robert Minto spent his early childhood in Alton, Illinois, where his
parents resided until he was about ten years old. He received his
education in the schools of Shelbyville, that state, and by wide home
reading in later life. He was married in Shelbyville on December 24, 1874,
to Annie Lane, who was born in Ohio, February 27, 1857. She is a daughter
of Marcus D. and Colista (Benadum) Lane, both natives of Baltimore, Ohio,
the birth of the father having occurred in 1833, and that of the mother in
1834. There they grew to maturity and received good educations. Mr. Lane
followed teaching and became a well-known educator in Shelbyville,
Illinois, and there his death occurred in 1880, and there his widow, now
advanced in years, is still living, having survived him thirty-four years.
To Mr. and Mrs. Lane thirteen children were born, nine of whom are still
living. Mrs. Minto grew to womanhood in Shelbyville, Illinois, and there
received a good education.

To Mr. and Mrs. Minto one child was born, Robert Minto, Jr., whose birth
occurred in Shelbyville, Illinois, October 11, 1880. There he spent his
early childhood, being six years of age when he removed with his parents
to Springfield, Missouri, where he grew up and was educated. He married
Belle Keet in Springfield. They now reside in Kansas City, Missouri, and
to their union two children have been born, namely: Virginia Lane, and
Robert Keet.

Robert Minto, of this memoir, first began his railroad career in
Beardstown, Illinois, soon after his marriage, as brakeman on the
Baltimore & Ohio, later was promoted to freight conductor on this road. He
removed with his family to Springfield, Missouri, in 1886, and went to
work as freight conductor on the Kansas City, Fort Scott & Memphis
Railroad, which is now operated under lease by the Frisco System. His run
was from Springfield to Thayer and that continued to be his run until his
death. He could have become passenger conductor but preferred to remain on
a freight train. He performed his duties most faithfully and stood high in
the estimation of the company and his fellow employees.

The death of Mr. Minto at St. Joseph's Hospital, Springfield, on June 13,
1914, was the result of an unfortunate accident at Cabool, Missouri, while
on his regular run. He was injured while assisting in unloading freight,
receiving a severe blow on the head; however, he lingered for seven weeks
before death came to his relief. He was sixty-one years of age, and had
been a resident of Springfield twenty-eight years, during which time he
had been a freight conductor on the Ozark division continuously.

The pleasant Minto home, where Mrs. Minto still resides, is on Guy street,
Springfield.

Politically, Mr. Minto was a Republican. He belonged to the Masonic order
and to the Order of Railway Conductors. Religiously he held membership
with the Methodist Episcopal church, in which he was an active worker, and
was a trustee of one of the local churches for a period of twenty years,
and was one of the most active and influential members of the congregation
that built the Daly Methodist church in this city. When such men are
removed from any community their loss can not but be keenly felt for a
long time to come.




HARRY H. MITCHELL. We should indeed be proud of the fact that there is no
limit in this country to which natural ability, industry and honesty many
not aspire, whether born here or in some foreign clime--the opportunities
are open to all, the individual being largely responsible for his success
or failure in this land of free thinking and comparatively free action.
One born in the most unpromising surroundings and reared in the most
adverse environment may nevertheless break from his fetters and rise to
the highest station in the land, and the qualities do not have to be of
transcendent character to enable him to accomplish this result. It is more
the way he does it and his skill in grasping opportunities possessed by
him. The late Harry H. Mitchell, well-known publisher and politician of
Missouri, who stood high as a man of affairs and public-spirited citizen,
although born under another flag, was an excellent example of how one with
ambition, determination and force of character may rise from humble
surroundings to a position of influence in his community.

Mr. Mitchell was born in Horsforth, England, August 7, 1850, and was the
eldest son of George and Mary (Armitage) Mitchell, also natives of
England, where they grew up and were married and established their home,
but eventually came to the United States, in 1855. George Mitchell was
educated both in the ministry and as a physician at Edinburgh', Scotland,
and became a man of ability and learning, and his chief life work was as a
preacher. When the subject of this memoir was five years old the family
immigrated to America, first locating in New Jersey, later came to St.
Louis, Missouri, where the father was for some time pastor of the Fourth
Baptist church. From there he went to Lebanon and was pastor of the church
in that city when the Civil war broke out. He sympathized with the Union,
and was president of the first Union league formed in Missouri. He
continued his pastorate work in this country, becoming popular in his
denomination and built up the various churches to which he was called. His
death occurred in Bolivar, Missouri, May 27, 1879, and his wife passed
away at Hiawatha, Kansas, September 26, 1911. Their family consisted of
eight children.

Harry H. Mitchell had little chance to receive an education, but he
attended school a short time in St. Louis, also went to night school
there. He was a type of the successful self-made man, having become a
well-educated man through long years of home study and contact with the
business world. Although but a mere boy he enlisted for service in the
Union army during the latter part of the Civil war and served a few months
under Capt. John Long, of Miller county, Missouri.

By nature a splendid penman, Mr. Miller began life for himself by teaching
penmanship in several schools, but his principal life work has been in the
field of journalism. He did his first newspaper work in Bolivar, Polk
county, where he remained five or six years, and there he also worked in a
merchandise store. From there he and his wife moved to Springfield in
1881, and here he found employment with Havens and Bentley, publishers of
The Herald, remaining with them a few years, then took a position with the
Sitsby Hardware Company, for which he traveled for thirteen years
throughout Missouri, then traveled for some time for the W. F. O. Bair
grocery house of St. Louis, having given both firms most satisfactory
service as a traveling salesman, doing much to increase the prestige of
each over the territory assigned him. In 1892 he went to Henry county,
this state, and purchased The Henry County Republican at Clinton. After
conducting it successfully for a time he returned to Springfield and
purchased a share of The Springfield Republican, which has for many years
been one of the leading dailies of southern. Missouri, mention of which is
made on other pages of this work. Later he became owner of The Central
Missouri Republican, at Boonville, which paper is now the property of his
widow. He was very successful as a newspaper man and did much to build up
the various newspapers with which he was connected, being a man of keen
foresight, sound judgment and indefatigable energy; he had the tact of
knowing what his subscribers wanted and tried to give them a good paper
and his advertisers full value for their patronage.

Politically, Mr. Mitchell was a strong Republican and a great worker in
the party, for many years was one of the influential men of his party in
the southern part of the state and was not unknown throughout the state to
Republican politicians, many of whom relied on his judgment and advice. He
was secretary and treasurer of the Missouri State Editorial Association
for life and held that responsible position with much success until his
death. He also served for some time as a member of the Republican State
Central Committee and did much for the success of the party in Missouri.
He was a member of the Springfield Club, and fraternally belonged to the
Knights of Pythias and the Independent Order of Odd Fellows.

Mr. Mitchell was married in Buffalo, Missouri, March 5, 1876, to Tabitha
E. Morrow, who was born June 7, 1856, in that city, and is a daughter of
William L. and Sarah L. (Brown) Morrow, the father a native of Tennessee
and the mother of Georgia. Mr. Morrow was a pioneer in southwest Missouri,
having come to Greene county when only two or three houses had been built
where the city of Springfield now stands. He went, on to Buffalo, Dallas
county, and entered land from the government, which he improved and on
which he established the future home of the family and there reared his
children. He also en aged in the mercantile business here in connection
with farming and became one of the leading citizens of the county.
Politically he was a Republican. During the Civil war he was a member of
the State Militia but was not called into actual service. His family
consisted of seven children, six of whom are still living. Mrs. Mitchell
grew to womanhood in Dallas county and there received a common school
education. She is a member of Grace Methodist Episcopal church, also
belongs to Grace Reading Circle. She owns a beautiful and neatly furnished
home at 1307 Benton avenue.

To Harry H. Mitchell and wife six children were born, named as follows:
Maude, born November 8, 1877, married Charles Wilder, editor of The
Gazette of Colorado Springs, Colorado, in which city they live. They have
two children, namely, Charles Townsend, Jr., born February 15, 1907, and
Mitchell, born August 19, 1913; George A., born December 22, 1879, is
unmarried and at this writing lives in Alaska; Helen E., born April 15,
1882, married Carl Crone, a wholesale groceryman of Clinton, Missouri, in
which city they live; they have one child, Helen Elizabeth, born April i2,
1912; Harriet, born November 12, 1884, is the wife of O. C. Kisley, and
they live in St. Louis; Harry H., born April 15, 1891, lives in Boonville,
Missouri, where he runs the newspaper left by his father; Edith Marie,
born January 8, 1895, lives at home. These children were all given
excellent educational advantages and are well situated in life.

The death of Harry N. Mitchell occurred July 24, 1913, when nearly
sixty-three years of age. He was a man of fine mind and exemplary
character, widely known throughout the state and highly respected by all.




OBADIAH CLARK MITCHELL. Few can draw rules for their guidance from the
pages of Plutarch, but all are benefited in one way and another, by the
delineation of those traits of character which find scope in the common
walks of the world. The unostentatious routine of private life, although
in the aggregate more important to the welfare of the community, than any
meteoric public career, cannot, from its very nature figure in the public
annals, though each locality's history should contain the names of those
individuals who contribute to the success of the material, civic and moral
welfare of the community and to its public stability; men who lead
wholesome and exemplary lives which might be profitably studied by the
oncoming generation. In such a class must consistently appear the name of
Obadiah Clark Mitchell, the present efficient and popular Postmaster of
Springfield, Missouri, a man who has led a plain, industrious life, a
large part of which has been in government service, and suffice it to say
that his record is without blemish, for he has always endeavored to do his
duty faithfully, deal honestly with everyone and contribute somewhat to
the general public good in an unobtrusive manner. He is one of the best
examples in Greene county of the successful self-made man and is deserving
of a great deal of credit for what he has accomplished in the face of
obstacles, having climbed, step by step, from an environment none too
promising in his youth to a position of prominence in the affairs of the
capital city of the Ozarks. His example might be studied with profit by
the youth, discouraged and hesitating at the parting of the ways.

Mr. Mitchell was born in Dallas county, Missouri, October 20, 1858. He is
a son of Greenberry Mitchell and Sarah (Williams) Mitchell, both natives
of the state of Tennessee, the father born in 1819 and the mother in 1822.
They each represented fine old families of that state. There they grew to
maturity, received such educational advantages as the early days afforded
and there they were married. At the age of twenty-three years Greenberry
Mitchell began the ministry of the Missionary Baptist church. About the
year 1850 he moved to Missouri as a missionary of his church, and was one
of the pioneer ministers of this section of the state. He was man of
sterling character, a powerful preacher of the old school and he did an
excellent work among the frontier settlers here, some of the older
citizens yet remember him and revere his memory for his kind, helpful and
unselfish life. He was called to his reward in the Silent land in 1888.
His wife died in Greene county in 1882. They are both buried at the Union
Grove cemetery, near Fair Grove, Missouri.

To Rev. Greenberry Mitchell and wife nine children were born, six sons and
three daughters, two of the sons and one of the daughters being now
deceased. Those living are, Samantha is the wife of H. A. Highfield, and
they live at Highfield, Arkansas; David H. lives at Marshfield, Missouri;
Rebecca A. is the widow of George W. Cooksey, of Strafford, Missouri;
Robert G. lives in Cassville, Missouri; Allen J. makes his home at Pladd,
this state; and Obadiah C., of this review.

The subject of this sketch received a common school education and spent
one year in Morrisville College, in Polk county, Missouri, after which he
engaged in farming until March 9, 1887, when he came to Springfield and
secured employment with the Frisco railroad with which he remained two
years, then secured a position on the police force under Mayor Walker,
which he held for two years, discharging his duties most faithfully, then
engaged in the grocery business for a year. In 1893 he was appointed mail
carrier, in which capacity he served in a highly satisfactory manner to
all concerned until in February, 1914, when he was appointed postmaster at
Springfield, and he is proving to be a most faithful, conscientious and
capable public servant, giving eminent satisfaction to both the department
and the people. He has served the government faithfully for a period of
twenty-one years.

Mr. Mitchell was married October 2, 1878 to Elizabeth Donnell, who was
born in Greene county, Missouri, March 26, 1858. She was reared to
womanhood and educated in the public schools of her native community and
she has proven to be a most faithful helpmate. To Mr. and Mrs. Mitchell
one child has been born, John E. Mitchell, who is employed in the Frisco
shops at Springfield.

Politically, Mr. Mitchell is a Democrat and has been a worker in the party
since attaining his majority. He has been a member of the Baptist church
since 1877. He is a member of the Ozark Mountain Branch, No. 203, National
Association of Letter Carriers. He has been president of the same for ten
years, and has been a delegate to the state and state and national
conventions of the order. He is a member of the Knights of Pythias, the
Royal Arcanum and the Woodmen of the World.




H. M. MOOMAW. Among the substantial farmers living in Brookline township
is H. M. Moomaw, a man who has an interesting life record. He originally
came from the Old Dominion, his people on both sides of the house having
been among the residents of that grand old state in the early days, but
little of our subject's life has been spent there, he having been lured
across the continent when a boy to the far West, where he sought that
elusive yellow metal--gold--that has both made and ruined its thousands,
and the last forty-five years of his life have been devoted to general
agricultural pursuits in Greene county, Missouri, where he started in a
modest way and eventually has become one of the leading farmers of this
locality.

Mr. Moornaw was born in Virginia, December 13, 1841. He is a son of
Christian and Frances (Noffsinger) Moomaw, both natives of Virginia but of
German descent. They grew to maturity in their native state and were
married there, and established their home on a farm and lived there until
their son, H. M., was six years of age, when they removed to Northern
Indiana, where the family resided about seventeen years on a farm, and
there our subject grew to manhood and received his education in the public
schools of his district. In 1864 our subject left his parental home in the
Hoosier state and made the long, hazardous overland journey across the
plains to Virginia City, Montana, where he remained six months, then went
on to Portland, Oregon, remaining there about seven months, and then went
to Idaho, where he spent about four years, during which time he did
considerable prospecting for gold, then went back to Portland, Oregon, and
from there to San Francisco. After remaining in California awhile he took
a ship on the Pacific ocean for the Isthmus of Panama. After crossing the
isthmus he took ship for New York City, and from there went to South Bend,
Indiana. Remaining at home about six months, he came in 1869, to Greene
county, Missouri, and located permanently, after his extensive wanderings,
during which he gained a vast knowledge of the world. He located on a farm
about seven miles northwest of Springfield, purchasing one hundred and
twenty acres of railroad land on which he lived about four years, then
sold out and moved to Brookline, this county, and in 1881 bought a fine
farm of two hundred and twenty acres, all tillable but a few acres, which
embrace a small oak grove. He made many important improvements here with
advancing years, and carried on general farming and stock raising on an
extensive scale, rotating his crops scientifically and becoming known as
one of the most progressive farmers of his township. In November, 1913,
his four thousand dollar home was destroyed by fire.

Missouri, and here the parents spent the rest of their lives on a farm,
dying several years ago, and here their daughter, Mary, grew to womanhood
and attended the public schools. Mrs. Moomaw died on April 28, 1914.

To Mr. and Mrs. Moomaw eight children were born, all of whom are living at
this writing, namely: William, Lottie, Arthur, Dot, Effie, Homer, Curtis
and Earle.

Politically, Mr. Moomaw is a Democrat, but he has never been active in the
affairs of his party, devoting his attention to his farm and his home.




JAMES A. MOON. It has been said that it is difficult for lawyers to be men
of wholesome character in view of the fact that they have to deal so much
with criminals, see so much of crimes and immoralities of every grade,
have their attention called to fraud and rascality in every form,
perpetrated by all classes of society, and which familiarity is said to in
a measure induce vice and crime, yet observation by a fair-minded person
invariably leads to the conclusion that lawyers stand, as a class of men,
as high for right living, honesty and fair dealing, as any other engaged
in active business life. This is no doubt, in some measure accounted for
by their general intelligence, for ignorance is said to be, and is, the
mother of vice. James A. Moon and his son, Fred A. Moon, who are engaged
together in the practice of law in Springfield, Greene county, are two
attorneys whose lives have been above idle cavil and who lend dignity to
their profession.

James A. Moon was born in Iowa City, Iowa, December 22, 1859. He is a son
of William E. and Sarah (McCollister) Moon, the father a native of the
state of New York, but when a young man he removed to Iowa, where he
established the permanent home of the family and became a successful
farmer and stock raiser and an influential man in his community, and there
his death occurred August 23, 1909, at the advanced age of eighty-three
years. These parents were married in 1854. The mother, a woman of old-time
Christian attributes and hospitality, is living with her son, the subject
of this sketch. This family is of Scotch-English ancestry.

James A. Moon grew to manhood on the home farm in Iowa, and there assisted
his father with the general work during the crop seasons and in the winter
time attended the neighboring public schools, later entered the University
of Iowa, and was graduated from the literary and law departments. He
commenced his professional practice at Miller, South Dakota, in 1882, and
remained there enjoying a good practice until 1888, when he came to
Springfield, Missouri, where he has been constantly engaged in the
practice to the present time, and during his residence here of a quarter
of a century his reputation as an able, conscientious and successful
lawyer has gradually increased. He formed a partnership about six years
ago with his son,, Fred A. Moon, under the firm name of James A. Moon &
Son, and they are doing a good business.

James A. Moon was married March 2, 1886, to Sarah E. Adderly, a daughter
of William Adderly, a.well-known dealer in general merchandise at Mt.
Morris, Michigan, who died many years ago. Mrs. Moon's mother was Mary
Hughes, whose father, Christopher Hughes, was one of the early pioneers of
Michigan. He lived to the unusual age of ninety-three years. He came to
this country from Ireland when a boy, located on a farm and spent the rest
of his life on the same place dying there. His early life record goes back
to the Indian times, when his only neighbors were the red men and wild
beasts. Mrs. Sarah E. Moon's great-great-grandfather was Lord Mayor of
London, England. Her mother died in 1911, leaving two daughters, Mrs. Moon
and Mary Adderly, who lives in Miller, South Dakota.

Politically James A. Moon is a Democrat and has always been loyal in the
support of the party. He belongs to the Episcopal church, and fraternally
he is a member of the Modern Woodmen and the Eagles.

Two children, a son and a daughter, have been born to our subject and
wife, namely: Edith, who is the younger of the two, was born April 7,
1889, was educated in the Springfield ward and high schools, being
graduated from the latter; she lives at home and is a stenographer in her
father's law office. The son, Fred A. Moon, was born in South Dakota,
January 4, 1887, and was about a year old when his parents removed to
Springfield, w here he grew to manhood and received his early education in
the ward and high schools, being graduated from the latter, after which he
entered the Missouri State University at Columbia, where he took both the
literary and law courses, making a good record there. After his graduation
he returned home and began the practice of his profession at the age of
twenty-one, in partnership with his father, and he has made a splendid
record for one his age at the local bar, ranking among the most promising
of the younger generation of lawyers in Greene county. He has held the
office of assistant city attorney Since 1912, the duties of which he has
discharged in an able and satisfactory manner, and in 1914 he was a
popular candidate for the office of city attorney He married Clara Parker,
November 19, 1908, and to this union four sons have been born, namely:
Charles Arnold, born February 4, 1910; Robert James, born February 14,
1911; William Adderly, born April 8, 1912 and Parker Fred, born November
12, 1913.




ANDERSON T. MOORE. One of Springfield's representative business men of a
past generation was the late Anderson, T. Moore, for many years a well
known traveling salesman, later a successful merchant on Commercial
street. He was a busy and enterprising man, one of the kind that can be
relied upon as a helpful citizen. His was a kind of life that does not
attract especial attention for any picturesque quality or daring deeds,
having been led along prosaic lines of useful endeavor, but was of the
kind that goes to make up the continuous achievements of humanity, and his
example was no doubt imitated by others, for many admire a life like his
in preference to a quiet, unobtrusive, yet withal, useful and, successful
one, and when he passed away regret was freely expressed on every hand by
the many who knew and admired him as a man of affairs, a neighbor and
citizen.

Mr. Moore was born in Waterloo, Monroe county, Illinois, June 5, 1857,
where he was reared and received a good practical education in the public
schools. He came to Springfield, Missouri, in the early eighties, and for
twenty-eight years he was a commercial traveler, giving the firms which he
represented every degree of satisfaction and becoming popular with the
trade in his territory; in fact, few traveling men were better known in
southwestern Missouri, for nearly three decades is a long time for one to
travel, and during such a long period one would necessarily meet a great
number of people, and, being a good mixer and genial, our subject
necessarily made many acquaintances and friends everywhere he went. He,
finally retired from the road in 1911, and went into the dry goods
business on Commercial street, Springfield, but shortly thereafter he was
disabled and was not in his usual health for some three years. He
understood thoroughly every phase of his business and had he not been
somewhat handicapped by ill health would have made a great success as a
dry goods merchant.

Mr. Moore was married on October 8, 1894, to Aetna Risser, who was born in
Mt. Pleasant, Iowa, in 1875. She is a daughter of Daniel and Martha
Risser. The father was born in Germany, from which country he emigrated to
America when a child, with his parents, and the family settled in Ohio,
but soon came on to Iowa, establishing their future home at Mt. Pleasant,
where Mrs. Moore grew to womanhood and received her education. She is the
youngest of a family of eleven children.

Three children were born to Mr. and Mrs. Moore, named as follows: Martha,
born on July 10, 1900; Helen E., born on August 25, 1907; and Thomas, born
on February 12, 1911 They are all at home and attending school.

Mr. Moore was a member of the First Baptist church of Springfield for many
years. His widow belongs to the Episcopal church here. He was a member of
the Travelers' Protective Association and a director of the same for a
number of years. Politically he was a Republican all his mature years.

Mr. Moore was summoned to his eternal rest on December 22, 1913, at the
age of fifty-six years, and after a protracted illness.




GEORGE W. MOORE. To successfully discharge the duties of general car
foreman for the great Frisco shops of Springfield, as George W. Moore is
doing, indicates that such a man has improved well his every opportunity
in his chosen vocation, and also that he is reliable and energetic. It is
a position that not everyone, although skilled in this line of work, could
successfully fill, for it requires something more than technical knowledge
to superintend a large shop and handle a number of employees so as to get
the best results promptly and at the same time retain the good will of all
connected with the establishment, but our subject has done this for some
time.

Mr. Moore was born in St. Joseph, Missouri, January 1, 1874. He is a son
of Charles and Josie (Newman) Moore. The father was born in Indiana in
1841, and he died in Kansas City, Missouri, in 1893. The mother was born
in St. Joseph, Missouri, in 1853, and her death occurred in December,
1910. Charles Moore left the Hoosier state when young and came to St.
Joseph, Missouri, where he and Josie Newman were married. He was a cooper
by trade. When our subject was two years old he removed with his family to
Kansas City, Missouri, where he continued his trade, and for some time was
assistant foreman of the cooper shop for the Armour Packing Company. His
family consisted of eight children, namely: Frank is the eldest; George
W., of this review; Maud is living; Claud is living; Charles, deceased;
Hettie, deceased; Jesse and Josie are the two youngest.

George W. Moore grew to manhood in Kansas City and there received his
education in the public schools, which has been supplemented in later life
by self-culture. He was only seventeen years of age when he went to work
for the old Kansas City, Wyandotte & Northwestern Railroad Company (now a
part of the Missouri Pacific), in the shops, serving his time as an
apprentice there, then went to the Armour Car Lines Company in the same
capacity, remaining with the latter firm until October 3, 1897, then went
to work for the Frisco System as car repairer and car inspector, and as
checker of piece work. Leaving Kansas City, he went on the road as
traveling car inspector, July 30, 1909, and remained in this work until
May 10, 1912, when he was transferred to Memphis, Tennessee, as general
car foreman. October 9 of that year he was sent to Kansas City in the same
capacity, remaining there until May 22, 1914, when he was transferred to
Springfield, where he is now engaged in the same work in the North Side
shops. He has given eminent satisfaction in all the above named positions
being a skilled workman, faithful and industrious. He is regarded here as
one of the most efficient general car foremen the Frisco has ever had.

Mr. Moore was married May 30, 1895, in Kansas City, Missouri, to May E.
Stewart, who was born in Boonville, Missouri, December 27, 1873. She is a
daughter of William H. and Maggie E. (Brown) Stewart, natives of Wisconsin
and Boonville, Missouri, respectively. Mr. Stewart is a pattern maker by
trade and is a noted inventor, his best known invention being the "Monarch
scales." He also invented many other things of use to humanity. He lives
in Kansas City.

To Mr. and Mrs. Moore one child has been born, Ward C. Moore, whose birth
occurred April 21, 1896. He is at this writing an apprentice to the
machinist's trade in the Kansas City shops of the Frisco company.

Fraternally, Mr. Moore is prominent in the Masonic order, having attained
the thirty-second degree in the same. He belongs to the blue lodge, No.
522, at Kansas City; the Scottish Rite, No. 21, of Memphis, Tennessee the
Ancient Arabic Order of Nobles of the Mystic Shrine, of Kansas, City. He
also belongs to the Knights of Pythias, the Ancient Order of United
Workmen, the Royal League and the Iowa State Travelers' Association.
Politically, he is a Democrat.

Although Mr. Moore has not long been a resident of Springfield, he is
winning friends rapidly by his pleasing manners and general attitude of
brotherly kindness.




ROBERT A. MOORE. Eminent business talent is composed of a combination of
high mental and moral attributes. It is not simply energy and industry;
there must be sound judgment, breadth of capacity, rapidity of thought,
justice and firmness, the foresight to perceive the drifting tides of
business and the will and ability to control them, and, withal, a
collection of minor but important qualities to regulate the details of the
pursuits which engage attention. Robert A. Moore, superintendent and
manager of the Moore Manufacturing Company, of Springfield, affords an
exemplification of this talent, if not in its highest development, yet an
extraordinary character, and notwithstanding the somewhat limited theater
of his operations he has achieved a reputation which places him in the
front rank of Greene county's progressive successful men of affairs. Mr.
Moore was born in Wayne county, New York, May 11, 1846. He is a son of
Robert N. and Sarah (Pollok) Moore. The father was born in Duchess county,
New York, in 1818, received a good education in his native state and there
married and engaged in farming, later becoming a capitalist and was a
promoter in agricultural lines in the South until the war. His death
occurred at Burlington, Iowa, in 1876. His wife was a native of Wayne
county, New York, and the date of her birth was 1823. She grew to
womanhood in her native locality and received an excellent education,
including a course in the Elmira Seminary, from which institution she was
graduated. She was a woman of culture and many praiseworthy attributes.
Her death occurred in Richmond, Virginia, in 1858, when still a young
woman. To Robert N. Moore and wife four children were born, namely: James
Z., Robert A., Frank P. and Mary.

Robert A. Moore received a limited education in the public schools of his
native state, but this early deficiency has more than been made up by wide
home reading and contact with the world in later years. He found it
necessary to leave school when he was sixteen years old, and, taking
Horace Greeley's advice, went West to seek his fortune. He located in
Burlington, Iowa, in 1863, and there began railroading with the bridge and
civil engineering department of the Chicago, Burlington & Quincy Railroad
Company, with which department he remained for five or six years, then
took up contracting, which he followed until the death of his father in
1876. He remained in working as a millwright and superintendent until
1886, when he to Springfield, Missouri, where he continued to work as
millwright. In 1892 he opened a manufacturing business at 600 East Phelps
avenue, beginning the manufacture of school and church furniture. The
business was a success from the first and it was incorporated in 1893. He
has continued in this line of endeavor to the present time with ever
increasing success, and Moore Manufacturing Company is now widely known
throughout the Southwest and has a capital stock of twenty-five thousand
dollars. Its products find a very ready market owing to their high-grade
workmanship, finish and quality, seating, fine cabinet work and machinery
being specialties; also school and church furniture, office fittings,
tables, desks, law cases, opera chairs, assembly chairs, hall seatings,
railroad seatings, lawn seatings, etc. In connection with the wood work
the company handles machinery for various kinds of wood work manufacturing
and a large trade is also enjoyed in this department. The plant is a
large, well equipped and substantial one, modern in its various
appointments, and a large number of skilled mechanics are constantly
employed. Only the best grade of material is used and only the highest
grade of workmanship is permitted to go out of the factory. The officers
of the company are: Flora L. Moore (wife of our subject), president;
Robert A. Moore, superintendent and manager; H. A. Hutchins, secretary;
Charles I. Moore and Frank P. Moore, directors.

Robert A. Moore was married twice, first in 1871, to Christiana.Morgan,
whose death occurred in 1879. To this union three children were born,
namely: Charles I., born in 1872, lives on a farm in Laclede county,
Missouri; Frank P., born in 1877, is in business with his father; Julia
L., born in 1879, died in May, 1900. In October, 1888, Mr. Moore was
united in marriage to Flora Hutchins, in Springfield, Missouri. She was
born in Greene county, this state, March 5, 1868, and was reared and
educated here. She-is a daughter of Thomas A. and Elizabeth A. (Bowker)
Hutchins, both natives of Massachusetts, the father born in. June, 1824,
and died in Arizona in February, 1893; the death of the mother occurred in
Springfield, Missouri., July 11, 1901. Eight children were born to Thomas
A. Hutchins and wife, namely: Howard B. is deceased; Mary E., Edward W.,
Angeline, Harriet, Flora L., Clara E. and Francis S.

Four children were born to Mr. Moore's second marriage, namely: Fred N.,
born in 1889, lives in Oklahoma and is in the employ of the Frisco Lines;
Ester I., born in .1892, is principal of the high school at Miller,
Missouri; Ruth W., born in 1895, is attending Drury College, and Katherine
S., born in 1901, is also attending school.

Politically, Mr. Moore is a Democrat, and he and his family are members of
Calvary Presbyterian church.




CHARLES WESLEY MORCKEL. We are told by the ancient philosophers that all
in this world is in ordained form, some maintaining that in nature nothing
develops with the help of man's hands. The charm that is charm is that
which has become an existing object by an unhampered, ungoverned process
in a natural manner. While many who love to spend their lives close to the
soil, with the sustaining touch of nature on every hand, may not
understand her workings, but they feel a kinship nevertheless which
renders the life of the outdoor person better in every way than that of
his city brother. Some, of course, not feeling that sense of harmony, do
not think so. The Morckel family, of whom Charles Wesley Morckel, a farmer
of east Center township, Greene county, is a creditable representative,
have preferred to spend their lives in agricultural pursuits, getting both
pleasure and profit from the close contact with Mother Nature.

Mr. Morckel was born March 11, 1869, in Cooper county, Missouri, near
Boonville. He is a son of John Christian and Rosanna (Bandy) Morckel. The
father was born in Bavaria, Germany. The mother was of French parentage,
but was born in Switzerland. These parents emigrated to the United States
about 1834, before their marriage; the father first located in Stark
county, Ohio, and the mother in Columbiana county, that state, and they
were married in the latter county about 1858, and some two years later
they moved to Marshall county, Indiana, remaining there six years, then
went to Illinois for two years, and from that state went to Cooper county,
Missouri, locating on a farm near Boonville, where they made their home
for a period of eighteen years. After spending a few years each in Vernon
and Jasper counties this state, they established their home in Greene
county on the farm where our subject now lives, in section 1 and 2, east
Center township, in 1892, and here they spent the rest of their lives, the
father dying on August 9, 1908, and the mother's death occurred on April
2, 1908. They were the parents of five children, four of whom are still
living, namely: John Wesley is farming in New Mexico; William Edward is
farming in Idaho; Mary Louise is the wife of Paton Gallagher and they live
in Tipton, Missouri; and Charles W. of this sketch.

The subject of this review was reared on the farm and worked thereon when
he became of proper age, and he received a common school education in
Cooper and Jasper counties. He remained on the farm with his parents until
his marriage on December 25, 1895, to Belle Young, a daughter of Charley
and Kittie Young, of Murray township, this county. After his marriage he
bought eighty acres adjoining his father's farm and lived on this place
one and a half years, when, upon the death of his wife On July 23, 1899,
he returned to the home of his parents and has since remained on the
homestead. He again married in 1901, his last wife being Francisca
Melkesswan. To the first union two children were born: Almeda, born on
November 14, 1896; and Harry, born on May 7, 1899.

In addition to carrying on general farming Mr. Morckel devotes
considerable attention to raising and handling live stock, and no small
portion of his success has been derived from this source. His farm is one
of the best in the township. It consists of two hundred acres, all under a
high state of cultivation and improvements, including good drainage into a
spring branch. The bottom land is of a soil known as black loam, the
higher portions, red limestone land. In addition to the homestead he owns
thirty acres of timber, not far away.

Politically he is a Republican, but is not a seeker after political
honors, but is a booster for the general good of his community.




HARRY CARRIGAN MORGAN. In few branches of art or science have such
developments or perfected Improvements been made as in photography and few
establishments in Greene county and this section of Missouri show more
conclusive proof of this assertion than that of Harry Carrigan Morgan,
whose studios are located on West Commercial street, Springfield. He has
long been a close student of art, and his splendid work is pronounced by
those best capable of judging, to be fully equal to that of his co-workers
in this field of endeavor in this locality. He has won a growing
reputation over this country for securing for those who sit before his
camera, a natural pose and pleasing expression and in all his work is
shown the skilled hand of the adroit artist. No one is more qualified to
execute work in this direction than Mr. Morgan and no one has the happy
faculty of meeting the requirements of all more than he.

Mr. Morgan was born near Logansport, Indiana, February 29, 1872. He is son
of Rees and Alice (Carrigan) Morgan. The Morgan family is of Welch descent
and the first emigrant took up his residence in America several
generations ago. Rees Morgan was born in the same locality in the Hoosier
state as was our subject, the former's father having been a pioneer
citizen of Cass county and there he developed the home farm on which the
father of our subject was born in 1847 and on which he was reared to
manhood. He received his education in the common schools of his community,
and when a young man learned the carpenter's trade and followed this and
contracting for a livelihood. He remained in Indiana until 1883, when he
removed to Rolla, Missouri, where he carried on his line of business with
success for a period of seventeen years, meanwhile engaging in farming
also. In 1900 he came to Springfield, where he lived until 1908, working
as a builder, then he and his wife located in California, where they now
make their home. Politically he is a Republican, and religiously is a
member of the Christian church.

Harry C. Morgan was eleven years old when his parents moved from his
native state to Missouri, and grew to manhood on the home farm near Rolla,
Missouri, where he worked when a boy, and received his education in the
district schools there, and also studied photography, having manifested a
decided natural talent in this direction when but a child. He remained
with his parents on the farm until he was twenty-one years of age. He
worked in the city of Rolla a year, then came to Springfield and formed a
partnership with S. H. Wickizer, and they conducted a studio for two
years, but since that time Mr. Morgan has been in business alone, and is
now located on West Commercial street, where he has a neat and modern
equipped studio and is doing a good business, many of his customers coming
from neighboring towns and adjoining counties.

Politically, Mr. Morgan is a Republican, and religiously he holds
membership in the Christian church.

Mr., Morgan was married, August 12, 1897, to Minnie E. Pierce, of
Shelbyville, Illinois. She was born in 1878. She received a good public
school education. To the union of our subject and wife two children have
been born, namely: Harold, born March 28, 1899 and Edgar, born January 2,
1905; they are both attending school.




LEON MORICE. The close friendship which has existed between the United
States and France since the infancy of the former has been mutually
helpful and pleasant to both nations and it has been especially fortunate
for America, the younger nation having received many valuable lessons in
statesmanship, art, science and other things from the older republic
across the sea. And these two peoples, though speaking a different
language and having, in a large measure, different aims in life, have ever
harmonized and fraternized. It has been principally our idle rich and our
students who have taken up their abodes in France, but all classes have
come to our country from there, and here the peasant, tradesman, in fact,
most everyone of the middle, working classes have found good homes and
remunerative businesses, by the thousands, in our different states. We
have welcomed them, not alone on account of the friendship existing
between our governments, but because her people are invariably
industrious, courteous, agreeable to associate with, and, for the most
part, honorable and trustworthy. One of the vast army of emigrants from
that sunny clime to this country was the late Leon Morice who, for a
period of twenty-nine years was a well known business man in Springfield
and a good and useful citizen who deserved the high respect which was
accorded him by all.

Mr. Morice was born in France, April 16, 1845. His parents were natives of
that country where they spent their lives, and there our subject grew to
manhood and received his education, and when a young man learned the
lithographer's trade, also worked for some time as bookkeeper. When
eighteen years of age he emigrated to the United States, first locating in
Fort Wayne, Indiana, and from there came to St. Louis, where he engaged in
his trade of lithographer, at which he was exceptionally skilled,
consequently found ready employment wherever he desired to work. Remaining
in St. Louis until in May, 1876, he came to Springfield and here
established his permanent home. He engaged in the candy manufacturing
business with his wife's brother, E. J. Bourquenot. They were successful
from the first, their trade increasing with advancing years, and they
became the best known and most extensive candy manufacturers in the city
and continued in this business until the death of our subject. Everyone
knows their neat, inviting and pleasant store on South street, and it is
still maintained by Edmond L., son of our subject, who has added a bakery
and does a large retail business.

Leon Morice was married while living in St. Louis, January 6, 1876, to
Aurelia Bourquenot, who was born in Richmond, Virginia, January 1, 1851,
and is a daughter of Xavier and Anna (Weinman) Bourquenot, both natives of
France, the father born on June 17, 1815, died on September 13, 1885; the
mother was born on February 28, 1819, and died in 1908. These parents grew
up in their native land, were educated and married there, and emigrated to
the United States in 1850, landing in New York City on September 13th of
that year, but they went direct to Richmond, Virginia, where they
established their home. The father of Mrs. Morice was a machinist by
trade, was highly skilled, and he was also a locomotive engineer. His
family consisted of four children, three of whom are living at this
writing, namely: Eugene, Melanie, Aurelia, who became the wife of Mr.
Morice of this memoir, and Victoria, who is deceased. Mrs. Morice received
a good common school education, spending her girlhood in Richmond and St.
Louis. She lives in her pleasant cottage on Dollison street, Springfield.

To Mr. and Mrs. Morice four children were born, all of whom survive,
namely: Edmond L., born on January 21, 1879, married on January 8, 1902,
Ann J. O'Byrne, a daughter of James and Margaret (Hayse) O'Byrne, and he
is managing the candy store formerly owned by his father, which place he
now owns and is running same successfully and up to his former high
standard of excellence; he has two daughters, Josephine, born on November
1, 1908, and Margaret Aurelia, born on July 19, 1908; Eugenia, born April
4, 1881, married H. T. Ford, and they live in Springfield; Leonie, born on
October 8, 1884, is single and living at home; Adele, born on December 4,
1886, married William O'Byrne, and they also live in this city.

Politically, Mr. Morice was a Democrat. He and his family were reared in
the Catholic faith and have ever been faithful to the same.

The death of Leon Morice occurred on July 11, 1905, when nearly sixty
years of age.




WILLIAM M. MORTON. One of the famous lines of "The Old Homestead," a
popular play a generation ago, was "Young blood tells." This expression
applies not alone to a man's social advancement, but in business life
particularly, where the old men are dropping out and the younger
generation stepping into their shoes. In Springfield it would seem that
the young men are in the lead in almost every calling or vocation,
especially in the trades. In looking over the list of engineers at the
various industrial plants of the city one finds many of them mere youths,
in which list occurs the name of William M. Morton, engineer at the
Marblehead Lime Works. But although young according to the calendar, they
have studied and wrought faithfully to become proficient in their line and
are doing their work satisfactorily.

Mr. Morton was born August 20, 1880, in Knoxville, Tennessee. He is a son
of Frank and Tenie (Shield) Morton, natives of Tennessee. The father
received a common school education and when a young man learned the
blacksmith's trade, which he made his chief life work, and was regarded as
an expert. He and his wife grew up in their native state and were married
there, and established their home in that country. After following his
trade there many years Frank Morton removed with his family to Wright
county, Missouri, where he continued his trade. His family consists of
five children, names as follows: Minnie married G. H. Morton and they live
in Aurora, Missouri; William M. of this sketch; Fred lives in Springfield;
Walter has remained in Wright county, this state; Charles is deceased.

William M. Morton assisted his father With his work when a boy, and during
the winter months he attended the common schools in Wright county, and
when he began life for himself it was as a farmer, which he followed with
success for eight or ten years. However, he was more or less a rover in
his youth and did not stay in one place long at a time, but this traveling
around was beneficial to him in an educational way, for he learned by
coming in actual contact with the world, having been by nature a close
observer. He always had a liking for stationary engineering, and, upon
coming to Springfield a number, of years ago he secured employment as
engineer at the Marblehead Lime Works, which position he has filled ever
since. This would indicate that he is not only a capable man in his line
of endeavor but that he is entirely trustworthy and reliable.

Mr. Morton was married in Springfield December 24, 1910, to Mary Cheatham,
who was born in the year 1892, in Greene county, Missouri, and she
received a common school education. She is a daughter of James and Maggie
(Reynolds) Cheatham, of Springfield. The father is dead and the mother is
still living here.

To Mr. and Mrs. Morton one child has been born, Harvey Morton, whose birth
occurred September 19, 1911. Politically our subject is a Republican.




JOHN A. MOSER. The Swiss have ever been known as a liberty-loving and
independent people. As a rule the peoples of the world in mountainous
countries are. This little republic has furnished an admirable example to
many of the larger nations of the earth and her government and
institutions might be emulated with profit by the kingdoms and monarchies
whose subjects do not seem to be as fortunate as the Swiss. A large number
of them have immigrated to America, where they have broader opportunities,
and they have been welcomed everywhere for reasons too obvious to detail
here. Greene county, Missouri, has not been so fortunate as some
localities in securing these aliens, for not a large number have cast
their lots with us; but among those who have is John A. Moser, foreman of
the frog department of the reclamation plant of the South Side Frisco
shops, Springfield.

Mr. Moser was born in Canton Bern, Switzerland, May 5, 1875. He is a son
of August and Lizette (Lowrie) Moser, both natives of Switzerland, also,
where they grew to maturity, attended school and were married. They
remained in their native land until 1880, when they immigrated to the
United States, landing in New York City. From there they came direct to
Springfield, Ohio. In Switzerland, August Moser learned the miller's
trade, which he followed until he left there. Upon locating in
Springfield, Ohio, he secured a position as grinder for the Ohio Knife and
Bar Works, and remained there six or seven years, then moved to Arkansas,
and, six months later, came to Springfield, Missouri. He located on a farm
three miles from here and carried on farming, gardening and trucking until
his death, in November, 1900, at the age of fifty-five years. His widow
survives, is now sixty-five years of age and makes her home in
Springfield. He was a Democrat, and belonged to St. John's Lutheran
church. His family consisted of nine children, named as follows: John A.,
of this sketch, is the eldest; Minnie married a Mr. Whittaker, who
conducts a restaurant at the new Frisco shops, Springfield; Rosa is the
wife of John Fridley, a farmer at Symerton, Illinois; Ada married Rudolph
Messerli, who is employed in the coach department at the new Frisco shops
here, and with this daughter the mother makes her home; Mrs. Lucy Knowles
is the wife of the master mechanic of the American Creosoting Company;
Charles is a machinist in the new Frisco shops; Fred is farming near
Symerton, Illinois; Ernest is a clerk in the bridge and building
department of the North Side Frisco shops; Lillian is deceased.

John A. Moser was five years of age when his parents brought him to
America, and he grew to manhood in Ohio and Missouri and received a common
school education, but his schooling was limited, for when only eleven
years of age he began working in the knife and bar shops at Springfield,
Ohio, as a rivet hand. He remained there until 1890, when he came to
Springfield, Missouri, and here worked in a cooper shop for a short time,
then learned the trade of stonemason, and worked here as a journeyman
stonemason until April, 1896. He worked in Chicago for some time, where he
was fire inspector for Marshall Field & Company, and had charge of the
fire apparatus there a little over a year. In 1900 he went to work for the
Frisco Lines in Springfield, in the car repairing department in the old
North Side shops, later worked in the coach department in the South Side
shops. Later he was sent out on the road as frog and switch repairer as
foreman on all the lines of the Frisco system. This position he held until
November 15, 1913, when he began work in the reclamation department of the
South Side shops, as foreman of the frog department, and this position he
still holds. He has shown himself to be capable and trustworthy in all
positions which have been assigned to him. He also owns and looks after a
grocery store at Park and Atlantic streets, Springfield, and has built up
a good trade here. He owns five houses and lots in this city and owns
considerable lands, and is a speculator of ability. He has been successful
above the average in a business way.

Mr. Moser was married, in 1909, to Katherine Rees, of, McAlester,
Oklahoma. This union has been without issue.

Politically, Mr. Moser is a Republican. He belongs to the Lutheran church,
and is a member of the Masonic order and was formerly a member of the
Eagles.




HARVEY MURRAY. The name of the late Harvey Murray stood out distinctly as
one of the central figures in professional circles in Greene county.
Continuous application through many years gave him a clear and
comprehensive insight into the philosophy and basic principles of
jurisprudence, and the largest wisdom as to the method and means of
attainment of ends, and he achieved success in the courts when most young
men are just entering upon the formative period of their lives. A high
purpose and a strong will, together with virile mental powers, close
application to books and devotion to duty made him eminently useful. His
individuality was impressed upon any work with which he was connected, and
he was always ready to assume any amount of responsibility and labor
incurred in accomplishing his ends, when once he decided that he was
right. He is remembered as a broad-minded, manly man, a credit to his
profession And one of the leading citizens of Ash Grove, during the
generation that is past.

Mr. Murray was born on a farm near Ash Grove, Greene county, Missouri,
February 6, 1864, and he was a scion of one of the prominent old families
of this part of the county. He was a son of William and Malinda (Stone)
Murray, natives of Tennessee. The father died in Ash Grove and the mother
lives in Ash Grove. The father was a farmer.

A sketch of T. J. Murray, of Springfield, a brother of our subject, will
be found on another page of this work.

Harvey Murray grew to manhood on the home farm and there assisted with the
general work when a boy. He enjoyed good educational advantages in the
schools of Ash Grove, later studied law and was in due course of time
admitted to the bar and established himself in the practice of his
profession in Ash Grove. He was successful from the first and his business
increased until it assumed large proportions and he ranked among the
leading lawyers of the county. He was painstaking, earnest and diligent,
kept fully abreast of the times in all that pertained to his profession
and all fully recognized and appreciated his character for personal and
professional integrity. He never failed to fulfill all proper obligations
and appointments in all the relations with his fellow men, and he was ever
ready to identify himself with his fellow citizens in any good work and
extended a cooperating hand to advance any measure that bettered the
material, civic and moral condition of his home community.

Mr. Murray was married in Bois D'Arc, Missouri, October 19, 1898, to
Fannie Lambeth, who was born in Lawrence county, Missouri. She is a
daughter of Jennings W. and Julia (Bymaster) Lambeth, a highly esteemed
family, who finally removed from Lawrence county to Bois D'Arc, where the
father of Mrs. Murray became a prosperous merchant, and there he and his
wife spent the rest of their lives, both dying a number of years ago. And
it was there that Mrs. Murray grew to womanhood and received a good
education in the common schools. She has an attractive home in
Springfield, which is a favorite gathering place for her many friends,
who, never fail to find her a genial, entertaining and charming host.

The union of Mr. and Mrs. Murray was blessed by the birth of one child,
Marjorie Murray, whose birth occurred on December 25, 1899. She is
attending high school at this writing, and is a young lady of much
promise.

Politically, Mr. Murray was a Republican, and influential in local party
affairs. Fraternally, he belonged to the Masonic order.

The lamentable and untimely death of Harvey Murray occurred on September
5, 1899, by accident, resulting from a fall from a stairway in the
business section of Ash Grove. His death was a shock to the people of this
community where he was regarded as a leading citizen and an able and
successful attorney, a man who was universally liked and respected.




THOMAS MURRAY. Recurrence to the past, with reflections and associations
which make it appear in life-like review before our mental vision, will
continue as "long as the heart has sorrows, as long as life has woes" to
be a source of satisfaction; and especially when our personality and
former friends, happily interwoven in some pleasant incident, will the
picture thus reflected be more pleasing. These reminders, however, often
vanish and pass away with the life of the participants when no landmarks
remain to serve as a background for the picture engraved on the tablets of
memory, the impressions of which are but remodelings of others. To
preserve these from oblivion before they have lost their distinguishing
originality is the work devolved upon the writer of local history and
biography. These both fail in their mission when they fail to preserve the
life features connected with their trust. Biography, more than anything
else, commands the most interested attention for the reason that it is a
record of those who in times gone by, traveled the thorny pathway of life
as companions, acquaintances, friends or relatives. To preserve from
forgetfulness the simple story of their experiences and record their acts,
however uneventful, is a task attended with much pleasure and fraught with
great good to humanity. Especially is this the case when the subject, like
that of the well remembered pioneer engineer whose name forms the caption
of this article, has led a useful and honorable life.

Thomas Murray was born in Ireland in 1842. He was a son of Thomas Murray,
a native of the Emerald Isle, where he grew up, attended school and was
married, and from there immigrated to America when comparatively young and
located in Clyde, Wayne county, New York, and when about forty years of
age he was killed on the Erie Canal in New York. His family consisted of
six children, all of whom are now deceased.

Thomas Murray, of this sketch, was a child when his parents brought him to
the United States from Ireland, and he grew to manhood in the state of New
York, receiving a limited education in the common schools of Wayne county,
that state. When a boy he worked awhile on the Erie Canal, later began
working for the Pennsylvania Railroad Company as fireman out of Meadville,
Pennsylvania, which position he held two years, then came West and located
at Pacific, Missouri, when the St. Louis & San Francisco Railroad Company
was being built in that part of the state, and there he began firing for
this company. This was about the time this road was being built into
Springfield. Later he was promoted to engineer, and he removed from
Pacific to Springfield. He remained a locomotive engineer the rest of his
life and was in the service of the Frisco system for a period of forty-six
years, during which he was regarded as a capable and trustworthy engine
driver. He found but a straggling village when he first came to
Springfield, and he saw the place grow into the important city it is
today. He was married in St. Louis in 1872, to Julia Hailey, who was born
in 1849. Her death occurred in 1895. She had received a common school
education, and she was a member of the Sacred Heart Catholic church.

To Thomas Murray and wife four children were born, namely: Ellen is
deceased; J. D., our subscriber, is mentioned at the close of this sketch;
Julia is deceased; Thomas is also deceased.

Politically, Thomas Murray, the immediate subject of this sketch, was a
Democrat. He belonged to the Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers, having
been a charter member of the Springfield branch of the order. He was a
member of the Sacred Heart Catholic church. His death occurred at the
family residence in Springfield on September 12, 1908, at the age of
sixty-six years.

J. D. Murray, son of our subject, was born in Pacific, Missouri, November
19, 1876, and he was an infant when his parents brought him to
Springfield, in which city he grew to manhood and was educated in the ward
and high schools. After leaving school he worked eighteen months as
machinist apprentice in the north side Frisco shops, later was sent out on
the road as brakeman for the Frisco out of this city, and was in the
service nine years as freight brakeman. In 1907 he met with misfortune,
losing a limb which incapacitated him for further road service.

J. D. Murray has remained unmarried. Politically, he is a Democrat. He
belongs to the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks. He is also a
member of the Brotherhood of Trainmen.




WILLIAM C. MURPHY. There was a valuable acquisition to the Greene county
bar when William C. Murphy began the practice of his profession in
Springfield. Although young in years, he has had the proper preliminary
training for a lawyer and also possesses the required natural
characteristics. He is deserving of the highest degree of success in his
chosen vocation, for his ambition is a laudable one and be has fought his
way upward from an early environment that was none too auspicious.

Mr. Murphy was born at Festus, Jefferson county, Missouri, July 11, 1879.
He is the son of John J. and Delia Iola (Bradfield) Murphy. The father was
born in New Albany, Indiana, of Irish parents. He grew to manhood at New
Albany and there received his education in the public schools and learned
the glass workers' trade. In 1876, when twenty-one years of age, he went
to Crystal City, Missouri, where he met and married the mother of the
subject of this sketch. She is a daughter of Charles R. Bradfield and
wife, whose family consisted of five children. To John J. Murphy and wife
ten children were born, namely: William C., of this sketch, and John
Patrick, twins; Elizabeth married Albert Welch, a merchant, farmer and
stockman of De Soto, Missouri, and they have one child, Lynn; James C.,
who lives in Festus, this state, married a woman from Tennessee and they
have three children; Daniel L. is a stenographer and lives at Festus;
Nellie died in infancy; Thomas Lee was accidentally killed at the age of
seventeen; Francis H. is farming on the old home-stead in Jefferson
county; Dennis, born on February 22, 1899, lives at Festus and is by
nature an artist of ability; Edgar W. was born in 1905.

William C. Murphy was reared on the home farm and there did his share of
the work when of proper age, and in the winter he attended the public
schools at Festus, Missouri, and was graduated from the high school there,
also was graduated from the high school at Crystal City, this state, after
which he entered the State Normal at Kirksville, borrowing money in order
to do so, and graduated from that institution in 1905. He subsequently
entered the law department of Vanderbilt University, Nashville, Tennessee,
also took other studies, such as political economy, and was graduated from
that institution in 1907 with the degree of Doctor of Laws. Returning
home, he took the state bar examination in 1907, which he successfully
passed. But instead of beginning at once the practice of his profession he
taught school two years with success. In 1909 he went to Malvern,
Arkansas, where he became superintendent of city schools, after which, he
went to Stuttgart, that state, and taught a year. In 1910 he came to
Springfield, Missouri, opened an office in the Woodruff building in
partnership with his twin brother, J. Patrick Murphy, and here they have
been engaged in the practice of their profession with ever-increasing
success, and are regarded as among our most promising young lawyers.

William C. Murphy was married on May 23, 1908, to Elizabeth Heddell, a
native of Festus, Missouri, where her family has long been well known and
highly respected, and there she grew to womanhood and received a good
education. To this union three children have been born, namely: Ruth
Elizabeth, born on March 1, 1909; Esther Heddell, born on December 9,
1910, and Major Wilson, born on November 4, 1913, was named after the
governor of Missouri and the President of the United States.

Politically Mr. Murphy is an ardent Democrat and is active in political
affairs. He was appointed city tax attorney of Springfield in 1912 and he
made such a commendable record that he was re-appointed to the same office
in 1914, and is now serving his second term in a manner that reflects much
credit upon himself and to the satisfaction of all concerned. Fraternally
he is a member of the Knights of Pythias and the Ancient Free and Accepted
Masons. Religiously he is a member of the Presbyterian church.

Mr. Murphy and his twin brother have been very closely associated with
each other all their lives, and doubtless the friendly rivalry that has
always existed between them has been in no small manner instrumental in
their success. They are deserving of a great deal of credit for what they
have made of themselves, possessing the characteristic thrift, wit, keen
discernment, broad-mindedness and high sense of honor of the Celtic race,
from which they descended.




WILLIAM PENN MURRAY. The deft shuttle which weaves the web of human life
and human destiny, constantly and ceaselessly flies backward and forward,
and into the vast and checkered fabric is woven the individuality, the
efforts, ambitions and achievements of each man--of all men. Within this
web may be defined the lines of personality, be they those that lend the
beautiful crystal sheen of honest merit and worthy effort, or dark,
curving and deflecting ones, which penetrate warp and woof, and mar and
efface the composite beauty of their darkened threads. The life record of
the late William Penn Murray, for many years one of the most progressive
agriculturists and stock men of Franklin township, Greene county,
indicates that the fabric of which his individuality was woven was of the
best and purest, and consequently he left behind him "that which is rather
to be chosen than much riches--a good name."

Mr. Murray was born in Wyandotte county, Ohio, June 4, 1867. He was a son
of David C. and Hulda (Dow) Murray. David Murray, who was also a native of
the locality in which our subject was born, grew to manhood, was educated
and married there, and in 1869 he removed from the old Buckeye state to
Greene county, Missouri, with his family, locating in Robberson township,
on a farm of three hundred and twenty acres which he purchased and on
which he followed general farming and handling live stock in a successful
manner. He became well known here and was considered a man who was
uniformly fair in all his dealings with his fellow men, and here his death
occurred in 1873, when our subject was six years old. His wife, who was
also, a native of Wyandotte county, Ohio, also died on the home farm in
Greene. county, being summoned to her rest in 1879.

William Penn Murray was two years old when his parents brought him to
Greene county and here he grew to manhood on the homestead where he worked
when a boy, and he received his early education in the common schools.
February 18, 1891, he married Jennie Stiver, who was born January 5, 1870,
a daughter of Isaac and Susannah (Horner) Stiver. Isaac Stiver was born
March 16, 1826, in Pennsylvania. After his marriage he moved to Elkhart
county, Indiana, and was living there when Mrs. Jennie Murray was born,
and there he engaged in farming for twenty-two years, then sold out and
removed with his family to Greene county, Missouri, locating seven miles,
northeast of Springfield, buying one hundred and twenty acres of good
land, and here followed general farming until his death, July 24, 1897. He
was a Republican and a Lutheran. His wife was born December 30, 1835, near
Dayton, Ohio, and her death occurred on the home farm in Greene county,
June 20, 1908. To Isaac Stiver and wife twelve children were born, namely:
Daniel J. lives in Newcastle, Indiana; Jacob M. is deceased; Louis J is
practicing dentistry in Ft. Wayne, Indiana; Mrs. Mary L. Risk, of
Amsterdam, New York; Isaac N. is deceased; Wesley M. lives in Campbell
township,. Greene county; William H. lives in Indianapolis; Jennie, widow
of the subject of this memorial review; Harrison G. lives in Springfield,
Missouri; James, is living but his address is not known at this writing;
Edward and Calvin J. are both residing in Springfield.

William P., Murray devoted his active life to general farming and handling
live stock. He owned a valuable and well kept place of one hundred and
twenty acres in Franklin township; however, his principal business was
raising, buying and trading in livestock, especially cattle, and in this
he was very successful, being an exceptionally good judge of all kinds of
stock and dealing honestly with his fellow men so that he retained their
confidence and good will. He owned over one hundred head of good cattle at
the time, of his death, March 9, 1911.

Mr. Murray's family consisted of three children, namely: Mrs. Mazie
Newton, born November 20, 1891, wife of R. H. Newton, first lieutenant of
No. 2, Springfield fire department, of Springfield; Ralph, born January
15, 1893, died October 16, 1893; and Norman B., born September 23, 1895,
who is living with his mother on the home farm which he operates.

Politically, Mr. Murray was a Democrat and served for some time on school
board. While he was not a member of any church he was religious at heart
and a good honest man in every respect, a kind husband and an indulgent
father and a man whom his neighbors admired and respected. He was
superintendent of Sunday school at Pleasant Valley for, several years and
a man who delighted in extending a helping hand to those in need, and he
will long be greatly missed from his neighborhood.




LAWRENCE J. MURPHY. There is a great deal of satisfaction to the
biographer in contemplating a life like that of Lawrence J. Murphy, former
superintendent of the Springfield Wagon Company, the prestige of which he
has done much to augment, having been connected with the same for over a
quarter of a century or ever since he cast his lot with the people of
Greene county. He seems to have inherited many of the traits that win in
the battle of life from his sterling Irish ancestors and there is added
interest in his career in view of the fact that he is one of our honored
veterans of the Civil war, having fought gallantly for the Union during
its great crisis a half century ago. Having lived a wholesome life, kept a
clear conscience and thought rightly as well as kept busy, he is still
hale and active although well past his allotted three score and ten years,
which limit was set by the great Psalmist on man's mortal life.

Mr. Murphy was born, March 25, 1937, in Seneca county in the state of New
York, and he is a son of Timothy and Margaret (Desmond) Murphy, both
parents born in Ireland, where they grew to maturity and were educated and
married in the city of Cork. They remained in the Emerald Isle until 1827
when they emigrated to the United States and settled in the state of New
York. The father devoted his life to farming and became well established
in the New World through his industry. Politically, he was a Democrat. His
family consisted of seven children, only two of whom are now living,
namely: William died in 1900; John is deceased; Mary died in 1850; Daniel
is deceased; Lawrence J., of this review; Abby is deceased; Timothy is the
youngest and lives in Dubuque, Iowa, and is secretary of the school board.

Lawrence J. Murphy was reared partly in the Empire state and there
assisted his father with the general work on the farm when he was a boy
and he received his education in the common schools. However, he was only
eleven years old when he removed with the family to Illinois in 1850, and
on to Iowa in a short time, and in that year the father died.

Our subject learned the trade of wagon maker in the factory of Hartsock &
Welsh at Dubuque, Iowa, where he went to work when a boy, remaining there
until August 26, 1862, when he enlisted in Company F, Twenty-first Iowa
Volunteer Infantry, under Captain Hoar, and during the three years Mr.
Murphy was at the front in the South he saw much hard service, taking part
in a number of important campaigns and battles, including Hartsville,
Missouri, Port Gibson, Baker's Creek, Black River, siege of Vicksburg, all
in Mississippi, also Fort Blakely and Spanish Fort in Alabama. He proved
to be a faithful and brave soldier, and was honorably discharged on July
15, 1865, with the rank of second sergeant, Which had been conferred on
him for meritorious conduct. After the war he returned to Iowa and secured
a position in the Cooper Wagon Works at Dubuque and remained there for a
period of seventeen years, during which he. mastered the various phases of
the wagon manufacturing business. He came to Springfield, Missouri, in
1884 and at once secured a position with the Springfield Wagon Company,
one of the largest and best known concerns of its kind in the Southwest,
and he has been connected with the same to the present time, Having done
much to build up the vast trade of the company and make their output
eagerly sought, for the high grade workmanship and superiority of this
wagon in every respect is, well known over Missouri and adjoining states.
He long occupied the position of superintendent, the responsible duties of
which he discharged in a manner that reflected much credit upon himself
and to the satisfaction of the other officers and stockholders of the
company.

Mr. Murphy was married, January 22, 1867, to Maria F. Crowley, who was
born in 1851 in Dubuque, Iowa, and there she was reared and educated. She
is a daughter of William and Mary (Harrington) Crowley, both natives of
Ireland. Mr. Crowley has devoted his life, successfully to farming.

To Mr. and Mrs. Murphy four children have been born, namely: William,
formerly engineer on the Frisco Lines out of Springfield; the second child
died in infancy; Mary, who married John Irwin, division superintendent of
the Canadian Northern Railroad, with headquarters at Dauphin, Manitoba,
and Lawrence Albert, who is with the Canadian Northern Railway, at
Dauphin, Manitoba.

Politically, Mr. Murphy is a Democrat, and he is a faithful member of the
Catholic church.




MICHAEL J. MURPHY. It is indeed hard to find among our cosmopolitan
civilization, people of better habits of life, taking it all in all than
those who originally came from the fair Emerald Isle or their immediate
descendants. They are distinguished for their thrift, wit, consecutive
industry, patriotism and loyalty, and these qualities in the inhabitants
of any country will in the end alone make that country great. One of the
well-known engineers of the Frisco is Michael J, Murphy, who has long
resided in Springfield, a man, of Celtic blood and of the second
generation of Irish in America. He hails originally from the Crescent City
of the far South.

Mr. Murphy was born on January 1, 1861, in New Orleans, Louisiana. He is a
son of Michael D. and Dorothy Ann (O'Dwyre) Murphy, both born, reared and
married in Ireland and there resided until 1854, when they emigrated to
the United States, first locating in New York state, then, in 1859, went
to New Orleans, and in 1861, when the Civil war began, they came north to
Rolla, Missouri, when our subject was an infant. In 1847 Michael D. Murphy
took part in the Smith-O'Brien rebellion. He escaped and went to
Australia, and after a separation of seven years rejoined his wife, and
they came to America. He was a railroad levee contractor. His death
occurred in September, 1872, at Rolla, this state. His widow subsequently
removed to Springfield, where her death occurred in 1892. To these parents
four children were born, namely: Jeremiah, Charles E., Mary, are all
deceased, and Michael J., of this sketch.

Mr. Murphy, our subject, had little chance to receive an extensive
education. However, he is a self-made man. On April 1, 1879, he went to
work for the St. Louis & San Francisco Railroad Company in a stone quarry
at Rolla, later coming with an extra gang to Springfield and helped put in
the foundation for a turntable and roundhouse at the North Side shops. In
1880 he was given a position as fireman out of Springfield and was
promoted to freight engineer in 1889, and to regular passenger engineer in
1901, and has retained this responsible position ever since, being
regarded by the company as one of its most efficient and trustworthy
engineers. His present run is between Springfield and Newburg.

For three years he traveled as special representative of the Frisco in
fourteen different states, and did his work most acceptably. Since August
15, 1914, Mr. Murphy has been devoting his time on the "Safety First"
movement in accident prevention for the conservation of human life and
limb of the employees and patrons of the Frisco system, and because of the
increased cost of materials used and consumed by the railroads and the
increased cost in taxes, interest and wages and the decrease of 33 1/3 per
cent in passenger revenue and decrease of 21 per cent in freight revenue,
due to the two-cent passenger fare and the maximum freight rate in
Missouri, resulting in placing the Frisco and other Missouri railroads in
a position where their earnings are not sufficient to meet cost of,
operation and maintenance, interest and taxes, the roads are forced to
retrench and cut down expenses. This could only be done by the laying off
of men in shops, in the office and in the bridge and building departments
and the purchase of less material, such as ties, ballast, steel rails,
bridges, and building materials. This retrenchment on the part of the
railroads placed over forty thousand wage-earners, skilled and unskilled,
idle, leaving them unable to purchase the necessaries of life, which in
turn affected the retail and wholesale merchants and producing classes of
the state. To overcome those conditions and to start the wheels of
progress moving, to find employment for the idle men, Mr. Murphy on
February 3, 1915, organized the Railway Employees Protective Association,
and by and through this organization in the state of Missouri secured the
signatures of bankers, farmers, merchants, manufacturers, and members of
organized labor to petitions aggregating in the whole the signatures of
over 750,000 of the above citizens of Missouri and mailed those petitions
and signatures to the members of the Forty-eighth General Assembly of
Missouri asking for a repeal of the maximum 2-cent passenger fare,
restoration of the 3-cent passenger rate, and that the public service
commission of Missouri to adjust and grant a fair equitable equalization
of rates in Missouri, and for the future Mr. Murphy will be engaged making
this movement nation wide in its scope, so that capital will be encourage
to invest in railroad securities, so that the credit of the railroads will
be restored, so that capital and labor will be in a position under wise
and just laws, state and national, to furnish the transportation
facilities so essential to the future development of the internal
resources of Missouri and of the nation as a whole.

Mr. Murphy was married on September 27, 1887, in Rolla, Missouri, to Mary
A. Powers, a native of that city. She is a daughter of James and Winifred
C. (Condron) Powers, both natives of Ireland. They spent their early days
in their native land and finally emigrated to the United States. Mr.
Powers was in the employ of the Frisco Railroad for a number of years. His
death occurred on July 10, 1878, in Rolla. Mrs. Murphy's mother died in
Springfield on May 19, 1900. The wife of our subject was reared and
educated in Rolla, attending the public and Catholic schools.

To Mr. and Mrs. Murphy two children have been born, namely: Charles
Edward, born on August 20, 1888, in Springfield, was educated in the
public and high schools here; he is a machinist by trade and is living at
home. Blanche May, born on January 11, 1890, in Springfield, attended the
local public and high schools and later business college; she married C.
N. King, who is with the International Harvester Company, and lives in
Little Rock, Arkansas. Mr., and Mrs. King were married on May 10, 1910,
and one child has been born to them, Jack Weldon, whose birth occurred on
January 19, 1911.

Politically Mr. Murphy is a Democrat. He is a member of Ozark Division,
No. 83, Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers. The Murphy family are members
of the Roman Catholic church. They own a fine and neatly furnished home on
North Main street, Springfield.







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