History of southeast Missouri : a narrative account of its historical progress, its people and its principal interests, Volume II, Part 1

Author: Douglass, Robert Sidney. 4n
Publication date: 1912
Publisher: Chicago : The Lewis Pub. Co.
Number of Pages: 802

USA > Missouri > History of southeast Missouri : a narrative account of its historical progress, its people and its principal interests, Volume II > Part 1

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ALLEN COUNTY PUBLIC LIBRARY 3 1833 01053 4003

GENEALOGY 977.8 D74H, V.2

HISTORY

SOUTHEAST MISSOURI

A Narrative Account of its Historical Progress, Its People and its Principal Interests.

Robert Sidney Douglass, A. B., LL. B. Professor of History, State Normal School, Cape Girardeau, Mo.

VOLUME II

ILLUSTRATED

Publishers : THE LEWIS PUBLISHING COMPANY Chicago and New York

1912

1143052

& Lipfert

History of Southeast Missouri

CHARLES E. GILBERT. In the thriving little city of Bonne Terre, St. Francois county, Mr. Gilbert is established in the real-estate and insurance business, and he is known as one of the vital and progressive spirits who are put- ting forth well directed efforts for the civic and material upbuilding of the village and county, where his operations in the real-estate line have done much to conserve this end. He is secretary of the Bonne Terre Com- mercial Club, of which he was one of the organizers and in the excellent activities of which he has been one of the most influential factors. He is well known in the county in which he has elected to establish his home and here his course has been such as to gain to him the most unequivocal confidence and esteem, as well as objective appreciation of his progres- sive ideas and well defined policies for the insurance of the industrial and commercial advancement of Bonne Terre.

Charles E. Gilbert was born in Clinton county, New York, on the 22d of May, 1868, and is the elder in a family of two children, his brother, George A., being now a resident of Virginia. His parents, George and Sarah A. (Davis) Gilbert, were both born in the old Empire state, and the latter's father, John Davis, was a valiant soldier in the war of 1812. George Gilbert was reared on a farm in New York state and was born on the 30th of May, 1836. As a young man he subor- dinated all other interests to render his serv- ices in defense of the Union, and he served during the major part of the Civil war, in the New York regiment commanded by General McCullom. He was promoted to the office of lieutenant and proved a gallant and faithful soldier. After the war he became a success- ful contractor and builder at Plattsburg, New York, and he was a man of prominence and influence in his community, in which he held various offices of public trust. He was a Democrat in his political proclivities, was

affiliated with the Grand Army of the Re- public, and both he and his wife were mem- bers of the Methodist Episcopal church. They continued to reside in New York state until their death, secure in the high regard of all who knew them.

Charles E. Gilbert very early showed an insistent predilection for business affairs and, in fact, he left school when but sixteen years of age, much against the wishes of his pa- rents, in order to initiate his independent career. The passing years have justified his course and he has proved one of the world's productive workers. From the age of six- teen years until he attained to his legal ma- jority he was employed in a general store at Mooers, New York, and he then passed about one year "on the road" as a commercial sales- man. He then engaged in the retail grocery business in the city of Boston, where he re- mained about three years, at the expiration of which he sold his business and became a traveling representative of the wholesale grocery house of Andrews, Barker & Brinton, of Boston. Later he was similarly engaged with a photographic-supply house, and in 1900 he located in the city of Chicago, where he worked the local trade in the interests of the Standard Oil Company, by which he was later assigned to service in Iowa, Illinois and Missouri. In 1909 he established his perma- nent home at Bonne Terre, where he has since been engaged in the real-estate and in- surance business, in which his operations have been constantly expanding in scope and im- portance and to the benefit of the community at large. He was one of the most influential in effecting the organization of the Commer- cial Club, of which he is secretary, and he has done much to further its high civic ideals and its policies for industrial and commercial progress. In politics, while never imbued with ambition for public office, he is aligned as a supporter of the cause of the Demo-

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HISTORY OF SOUTHEAST MISSOURI

cratic party, and he is affiliated with the Independent Order of Odd Fellows, the Knights of Pythias and the United Commer- cial Travelers. He attends and supports the Methodist Episcopal church, of which Mrs. Gilbert is a member, and both are valued factors in the social activities of their home community.

At the age of thirty years Mr. Gilbert was united in marriage to Miss Nellie Condon, and both of the children of this union are de- ceased, the younger having died in infancy and Marion at the age of five years. The devoted wife and mother passed away in 1904, and in 1909 Mr. Gilbert was wedded to Miss Ada Evans, of Bonne Terre. They have two children, Ada Marion and Mildred Earl, whose winsome presence lends brightness to the family home.

FRED C. WOOD. Though only twenty years old Fred C. Wood has so complete a knowl- edge of the mercantile business that he has attained a position of responsibility which would be an honor to a much older man, be- ing manager of the Consolidated Stores and Manufacturing Company's business in Lutes- ville. The corporation is one of the strong- est in the state. No fewer than sixteen stores are owned and operated by the Consolidated Store and Manufacturing Company in south- eastern Missouri.

Mr. Wood was born July 14, 1891, at Mine La Motte, Missouri. His mother's maiden name was Lucinda Miller and she, too, is a native of Missouri. His father, Joseph Wood, is a miner at Mine La Motte. F. C. Wood is the second of a family of eight chil- dren. He received his education in the public schools of Mine La Motte and in Frederick- town.

In 1906 he entered the employ of the Lake- side Mercantile Company, and remained with that firm until 1909. The next year he ac- cepted a position with W. P. O'Brien of Fred- ericktown, dealer in gentlemen's furnishings. Since March 1, 1911, he has had charge of the Lutesville branch of the Consolidated Store and Manufacturing Company's busi- ness.

Mr. Wood was married to Miss Maude Maze. of Fredericktown, on April 27. 1910. The M. B. A. lodge counts Mr. Wood among its members.

ROBERT D. WALLS, who is industriously en- gaged in the prosecution of a calling upon

which the support and wealth of our great nation largely depends, and in which he is meeting with pronounced success, has been a resident of Senath or its vicinity since the fall of 1874, when he came with his parents to Dunklin county. He was born, March 22, 1860, in Gibson county, Tennessee, on a farm, and as a boy had few opportunities to obtain an education. Soon after the family settled in Dunklin county, Missouri, Mr. Walls's fa- ther died, and a few year later, about 1881, his mother also passed to the life beyond.

After the death of his mother Mr. Walls en- gaged in farming on his own account, rent- ing land not far from his present homestead, and there lived for about two years after his first marriage. Buying then forty acres of his present property on credit, he devoted himself to the improvement of his land, re- deeming a farm from the forest. Meeting with encouraging success in his undertakings, he has since bought other tracts of wild land, buying first another forty-acre tract adjoin- ing his first purchase, and five years later adding eighty acres on the same side of the road. He subsequently bought eighty acres on the opposite side of the street, and forty acres in Honey Cypress slough, and has now an estate of two hundred and forty acres, all of which is cleared, mainly through his own efforts, as the land was in its pristine wild- ness when he assumed its possession.

Although the southern part of Dunklin county, in which Senath is located, is princi- pally a corn and cotton country, Mr. Walls makes a specialty of breeding fine stock, for which he raises the feed, and in addition he owns a threshing machine and a hay baler, and in operating these, and in the breeding of fine horses, he has formed a wide ac- quaintance throughout southeastern Missouri, and has a large circle of warm friends.

Mr. Walls has made improvements of note on his home farm, having a barn ninety-six by one hundred four feet, the largest in this part of the state, while his commodious twelve-room house has its own water works, and is lighted by acetylene gas from his own plant. He makes a specialty of raising a su- perior grade of stock, keeping ten head of cattle, fifty horses and mules, and forty hogs, raising sufficient hay and corn for feeding purposes. Politically Mr. Walls is a stanch Democrat. Fraternally he is a member of Senath Lodge, No. 513, A. F. & A. M .; of Caruth Lodge, I. O. O. F .; and of Senath

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Lodge, M. W. A. Religiously he belongs to the Christian church.

Mr. Walls has been three times married. He married first, in 1882, in Dunklin county, Lutie Brooks, who died in early womanhood, leaving one child, Hettie, who is married and lives on the home farm. He married for his second wife Mary Wells, who at her death left three children, namely : Alvin, Fred and Charles. Mr. Walls married, November 26, 1902, Belle Keeth, and to them three children have been born, namely : Pearlie, Lester and Bertha.

WILLIAM BRAY. Madison county, Missouri, has been and is signally favored in the class of men who have contributed to its develop- ment along commercial and agricultural lines, and in the latter connection William Bray demands recognition, as he has passed prac- tically his entire active career in farming operations. At present, in 1911, he is living retired, but he has long been known as a prosperous and enterprising agriculturist,- one whose business methods demonstrate the power of activity and honesty in the busi- ness world. He is the owner of a fine farm of two hundred and twelve acres, eligibly located two and a half miles northeast of Fredericktown, where he has resided for the past forty-two years.

William Bray was born in Lincoln county, Tennessee, the date of his nativity being the 2d of November, 1842. He is a son of Andrew and Elizabeth (Brown) Bray, who came to Perry county, Missouri, in 1854, and who settled in Madison county, this state, in 1857, locating, in the latter year, on a farm near Fredericktown, where they resided during the residue of their lives. The mother died in 1863, at the age of sixty years, and the father passed to the life eternal in 1895, at the age of eighty-six years. Andrew Bray was a son of Peter Bray, a native of North Carolina, whence he removed to Lincoln county, Ten- nessee, as a young man, there residing until his death. Elizabeth (Brown) Bray was born in North Carolina and was a daughter of John Brown, who, journeyed to Tennessee in an early day. Mr. and Mrs. Andrew Bray be- came the parents of eight children, of whom two are living, in 1911, namely,-Iradel, who is a retired miner and who lives in Euba county, California; and William, the imme- diate subject of this review. Concerning those who are deceased,-Joseph, James and Carroll married sisters and became farmers,

residing in Missouri until their respective deaths; John was long a merchant at King's store, Bollinger county, Missouri, and two children, a boy and a girl, died in Perry county.

Mr. Bray, of this notice, was twelve years of age at the time of his parents' removal to Missouri, where he was reared to maturity, his early educational discipline consisting of such privileges as were afforded in the public schools of Perry and Madison counties. He grew up under the invigorating influence of the old homestead farm, in the work and management of which he early began to assist his father. As a young man he launched out into farming enterprises on his own account, settling on an estate two and half miles north- east of Fredericktown. With the passage of time he became decidedly prosperous and he is now the owner of a finely improved estate of two hundred and twelve acres, the same be- ing now operated by his children. He is strictly self-made and the fine, substantial buildings in the midst of well cultivated fields are the best indications of the practical ability and industry of the owner. Most of his atten- tion has been devoted to diversified agricult- ure and the raising of high-grade stock. He . served for one year as a member of Jeff Thompson's command, White's battalion, of the State Guards, in the Confederate army, ac- quitting himself with all of honor and dis- tinction as a soldier.

In the year 1868 was solemnized the mar- riage of Mr. Bray to Miss Rebecca Gosney, a daughter of Dr. James H. Gosney and Mel- vina (Burdett) Gosney, long representative citizens of Fredericktown. Dr. and Mrs. Gos- ney reared a large family of children, of whom Mrs. Bray is the only survivor, she be- ing sixty-three years of age, in 1911. Dr. W. H. Gosney, a brother of Mrs. Bray, was engaged in the practice of medicine at Fred- ericktown for a number of years and he was a gallant soldier in the Confederate army, as was also J. Franklin Gosney, who died in young manhood. Mrs. Bray's father was a native of Virginia, whence he migrated to Madison county, Missouri, at an early day, and for a number of years he conducted a drug store at Fredericktown. Mr. and Mrs. Bray became the parents of seven children, as follows,-Elizabeth is the widow of Frank Price and she resides at the parental home ; Jennie died as a young girl; Josie is the wife of R. W. Howard and they reside on the home farm; Maggie is Mrs. H. C. Horn, her hus-

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HISTORY OF SOUTHEAST MISSOURI

band being a blacksmith at Fredericktown; James, who operates part of the Bray home- stead, wedded Elizabeth Gregory; Willis, who is teaching chemistry in the normal school at Kirksville, Missouri, was graduated in the University of Missouri, in 1909, and he mar- ried Miss Virginia Graham, a daughter of the late John Graham and a niece of N. B. Graham, a sketch of whose career appears elsewhere in this volume; and Ezel died at twelve years of age.

In politics Mr. Bray is aligned as a stanch supporter of the cause of the Democratic party, and while he has never been incum- bent of any public office he has often been urged to run for county judge and other im- portant offices. His religious views coincide with the teachings of the Christian church, in whose faith he has reared his children and to whose philanthropical work he is a gener- ous contributor. Mr. Bray has lived a life of usefulness such as few men know. God- fearing, law-abiding, progressive, his life is as truly that of a Christian gentleman as any man's can well be. Unwaveringly he has done the right as he has interpreted it. Pos- sessed of an inflexible will, he is quietly per- sistent, always in command of his powers and never showing anger under any circum -. stances. In every sense of the word he is well deserving of the unalloyed confidence and esteem accorded him by his fellow citizens.

DANIEL R. RENCH. The history of a nation is nothing more than a history of the individ- uals comprising it, and as they are character- ized by loftier or lower ideals, actuated by the spirit of ambition or indifference, so it is with a state, county or town. Success along any line of endeavor would never be properly appreciated if it came with a single effort and unaccompanied by some hardships, for it is the knocks and bruises in life that make suc- cess taste so sweet. The failures accentuate the successes, thus making recollections of the former as dear as those of the latter for hav- ing been the stepping-stones to achievement. The career of Daniel R. Rench, who is a self- made man in the most significant sense of the word, but accentuates the fact that success is bound to come to those who join brains with ambition and are willing to work. For the past two years Mr. Rench has been a prom- inent and influential citizen of Cape Gir- ardeau, where he has extensive interests in the Riverside Lumber Company.

Daniel R. Rench was born in Bond county,

Illinois, the date of his nativity being the 8th of June, 1862. He is a son of Daniel and Savannah (Woodland) Rench, both of whom were born and reared in Germany, where was solemnized their marriage and whence they immigrated to the United States at an early day. Mr. and Mrs. Daniel Rench became the parents of nine children, of whom the subject of this review was the fourth in order of birth. After arrival in this country the Rench family located in Bond county, Illi- nois, where the father turned his attention to farming operations and where he passed the closing years of his life, his demise having occurred about 1865, at which time Daniel R. was a child of but three years of age. Being thus early bereft of parental care and guid- ance he was placed in the home of an Ameri- can family to be reared and educated. So badly was he treated in this family of strang- ers that he soon ran away from home and be- gan to shift for himself. His early educa- tional training consisted of the most meager advantages, three months representing the en- tire period of his actual schooling. When fourteen years of age he began to work in a lumber yard in Illinois, where he became thoroughly familiar with the ins and outs of that line of enterprise. Among other things he learned bookkeeping and to-day he is an expert accountant. For a time after reach- ing manhood he was in the lumber and hard- ware business at Raymond, Illinois, where he was a heavy stockholder in the E. R. Darling- ton Lumber Company. In 1908 Mr. Rench disposed of his interests in Illinois and came westward to Missouri, locating at Cape Girar- deau, where he is now a member of the firm which conducts a large and prosperous build- ing-material business, under the firm name of the Riverside Lumber Company. This con- cern is one of the important business enter- prises in this city and one of its best assets is the substantial and wholly reliable character of its managers. Mr. Rench is possessed of remarkable executive ability and tremendous vitality, both of which qualities have been such important factors in his rise to promi- nence and influence in the business world of Cape Girardeau.

In the year 1887 Mr. Rench married Miss Eliza Costley, who was born and reared at Raymond, Illinois, and who is a daughter of William and Maria (Mayz) Costley. Mr. and Mrs. Rench have three children, concerning whom the following brief data are here in- corporated,-Lelia May is the wife of Ed

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HISTORY OF SOUTHEAST MISSOURI

Hendricks, of Carlton, Illinois; Walter E .; and Elma Drucille, who is bookkeeper for the Riverside Lumber Company.

While not greatly interested in politics Mr. Rench exercises his franchise in favor of the Republican party and he is a liberal contribu- tor to all measures and enterprises forwarded for progress and development. In a fraternal way he is affiliated with the Independent Order of Odd Fellows and in their religious faith the family are stanch Presbyterians. Mr. Rench was originally a German Baptist, a branch of the Lutheran church.

GRIFFIN WATKINS. Among the newer cit- izenship of Washington is Griffin Watkins, who in the short time of his residence here has manifested certain traits and ideals which made him a distinct acquisition from the civic and social viewpoint, as well as the business, and it is consistent with the purpose of this volume that a resume of his life and achieve- ments be incorporated in this volume. He is superintendent of the Washington factory of the Roberts, Johnson & Rand Shoe Company of St. Louis, and he has been identified with the state since February, 1907, when he went to St. Louis. A few months later he was placed in charge of the Washington factory of the above house and has ever since served them here.

Mr. Watkins is still a young man, his birth having occurred in Nashville, Tennessee, Feb -. ruary 13, 1877. He is a son of W. E. Wat- kins, a farmer of Davidson county of the Big Bend state. The senior Watkins was born in that locality, as was also the grandfather, W. E. Watkins, Sr., who was a pioneer or at least one of that early company's immediate successors. The subject's maternal ancestors, the Cockrills, were likewise early Tennesseans. The grandather married Jane Cockrill and their large estate was operated by slave labor, in fact, the family in ante-bellum days was a successful and affluent one. The Watkins family, it is scarcely necessary to state, be- lieved in the supreme right of the states to sever their connection with the national gov- ernment, and Mr. Watkins' father served un- der the flag of the Confederacy in the First Tennessee Regiment of Infantry. The mother of the subject was Miss Jennie G. Griffin and she and her husband reared their fam- ily of seven children to lives of industry and usefulness in the free and open atmosphere of the country about Nashville, and there Mr. Watkins died in 1892, at the age of forty-

eight, while his widow survived until 1911. The surviving children are as follows: Hor- ton, who is one of the superintendents of the St. Louis factory of the Johnson, Roberts & Rand Shoe Company, and also one of its board of directors; Mrs. W. H. Moulton, of St. Louis; the Misses Jane, Rachel and May Watkins, of St. Louis; Mrs. Frank Miller, of Memphis, Tennessee; and Griffin Watkins, the immediate subject of this review.

The common schools in the vicinity of the cities of Nashville and Memphis afforded Griffin Watkins his preliminary education and he subsequently took a commercial course in these places. His business life almost from the first has been in connection with the shoe trade and when a very young man he entered a shoe factory in Memphis. His first employment was of the primary kind and as an employe in the office and in the packing-room. He subsequently was advanced through the different departments, becoming familiar with the various details, and, proving faithful and efficient in small things, he was given more and more to do. His Memphis employers were the Goodbar Company and he went from them to the Tennessee Shoe Manufacturing Company at Nashville, where he worked in the finish- ing room. From this factory he went to Eddyville, Kentucky, and took a position with the Kentucky Shoe Company as super- intendent of the factory. Leaving there he came to the Roberts, Johnson & Rand Com- pany, where his fortunes have been of the highest character.

Mr. Watkins has never lost his liking for the rural life of his boyhood and he spends his vacations in the country, enjoying the sports of rod and gun and liking nothing better than indulgence in a little farming. He owns a small farm in the Missouri river bottom, near Washington, and his vacation period finds him engaged in its supervision. He is unmarried. He fraternizes with the order of Elks and holds membership in the Missouri Athletic Club.

THOMAS WILSON COOPER. Prominent in the community both as a representative of that great basic industry and as a former mem- ber of the state legislature, in which he suc- cessfully stood for the best interest of Bol- linger county in the period included between the years 1900 and 1904, is Thomas W. Cooper. Bollinger county is particularly for- tunate in possessing as citizens a great many

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native sons, it being generally conceded that the greatest compliment a man may pay to a section is to elect to remain permanently with- in its borders, and among those who find the county's charms and advantages superior to those of other places is the subject. He was born here on the 4th day of January, 1850, and is the son of Kinion and Charity (Rash) Cooper, natives of Tennessee and Alabama, respectively. The paternal grandparents were Raford and Mary (Frasure) Cooper, na- tives of North Carolina, and they came with their families to Bollinger county in 1845 and took up government land. Here the subject's parents were married and reared a family of six children, the other members being : Kinion, of Arkansas; John M., of Bollinger county, Missouri ; Amanda Jane, wife of D. M. Robins, of this county ; Elizabeth, wife of E. M. Myers, and Polly Ann, wife of R. C. Aker, all of this county.

Mr. Cooper was reared upon the farm and like most farmer's sons early became fam- iliar with the manifold labors that make up an agriculturist's life. The mysteries of seed-time and harvest were revealed to him and when not seated behind his desk in the district school room or engaging in such boy- ish sports as fell to his share he was learn- ing to become a farmer. In 1871, the year in which he attained to his majority, he made an independent start in life and rented a farm which he operated. In 1876 he found himself in a position to purchase eighty acres of land, near Grassy, Bollinger county. Of this he eventually disposed and bought two hundred and fifty-eight acres of land in this locality,-his present homestead. This is a valuable property and has been brought to a high state of improvement by the diligence and executive ability of its owner. In addition to general farming, Mr. Cooper raises high grade stock with great success and has at present four head of horses, ten head of cattle, twenty-five head of hogs and fifty head of sheep.

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History of southeast Missouri : a narrative account of its historical progress, its people and its principal interests, Volume II, Part 1

Author: Douglass, Robert Sidney. 4n Publication date: 1912 Publisher: Chicago : The Lewis Pub. Co. Number of Pages: 802

Author: Douglass, Robert Sidney. 4n
Publication date: 1912
Publisher: Chicago : The Lewis Pub. Co.
Number of Pages: 802