USA > Missouri > Jasper County > A history of Jasper County, Missouri, and its people, Vol. II > Part 27
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On October 29, 1884, he was married in the Episcopal church at In- dependence, Kansas, to Miss Cora Seott, a native of that state and daugh- ter of John Scott, editor of the Osage Mission Journal and very prom- inent and influential among the newspaper men of the state. Three chil- dren have been born of the union: Frank Seott; Terence, who is mar- ried and conducts an automobile supply house in Joplin ; and Jene. The father has been very successful in his undertakings since coming West, and is recognized wherever he is known as one of Joplin's most sub- stantial and capable business men. He has a beautiful home in the city, at 614 Jackson avenue, while the Supply Company, over which he pre- sides, is located at the northeast corner of Fourth and Wall streets. His official associates in the management of the company's business are: F. C. Ralston, vice president and secretary, and N. O. Nelson, of St. Louis, a large stockholder in the company and one of its directors. Like Mr. Friekelton, they are gentlemen of high character and fine business capac- ity, and like him, also, they are held in high esteem by all who know them as potential factors in promoting the general weal of Joplin and Jasper county, and influential agencies for good in all phases of their business and social life.
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/4. T. BLACKWELL, M. D., a prominent factor in the medical profession of Joplin, Missouri, where he has been engaged in practice for nearly a dozen years, dates his birth at Fulton, this state, October 7, 1858.
The Blackwell family history traces back through several genera- tions in the Old Dominion to Scotch-Irish ancestry. The Doctor's father, Elisha Blackwell, was born at Halifax, Virginia, son of Henry
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Blackwell, and both were farmers and stock raisers. As early as 1807 Elisha Blackwell left the old Virginia home and came west to Missouri, visiting St. Louis when it had only a few houses. Ile purchased farm lands in Callaway county, and spent the rest of his life there, engaged in agricultural pursuits. After the close of the Civil war he accepted the conditions with the best grace possible and made the best of the sit- uation. He died in Fulton in 1882. His wife, Harriet (Beavins) Blackwell, died at Garden City, Missouri, in 1908. Her parents, Zadok Beavins and wife, were natives of Kentucky; the former born in 1797, died in 1889; the latter, born in 1810, died in 1875. Grandfather Beav- ins was by occupation a miller.
Dr. Blackwell passed his boyhood days on his father's farm, and received his early education in the public schools near his home and at Kirksville, Missouri. Afterward he took a course at the Missouri State University, Columbia, and still later he pursued his medical course at Louisville, Kentucky. In the meantime, before he had emerged from his teens, he taught district school. Also for a time he taught in the Fulton schools. He completed his medical course at Louisville in 1887, and immediately thereafter entered upon the practice of his profession at Bonnots Mills, Osage county, Missouri, where he remained three years. Then he sought a location in central Kansas, and at Carrington, that state, he was justice of the peace for several years and for ten years practiced in that part of the "Sun Flower" state. Returning to Mis- souri, he took up his residence at Joplin, where he has since remained and where he has been successful in establishing a large practice among the representative people of the city.
On August 1, 1885, at Fulton, Missouri, Dr. Blackwell and Miss Sarah L. Jordan were united in marriage, and to them have been given four children : Lester T., now a well known druggist of Los Angeles, California ; Earl B., in the employ of the American Express Company at Joplin; William Stone and Barbara M., high school students,-the first two natives of Fulton, Missouri, and the last two of Pratt, Kansas.
Politically Dr. Blackwell is a Democrat. While in Kansas, as before stated, he was elected and served as justice of the peace, being the only successful Democrat on the ticket there at that time. Also while in Kansas he served five years as postmaster of Preston, and for the same length of time was United States pension agent there. He is a mem- ber of the Joplin Medical Society, the State Medical Association, and the American Medical Association, and he also maintains membership in numerous other fraternal organizations, including the Ancient Free and Accepted Masons, the Mystic Circle and the Knights and Ladies of Security. He has filled all the offices in the Masonic Lodge, and in the church of which he is a member-the Methodist Episcopal church, South,-he is a trustee.
Dr. Blackwell is progressive and thoroughly up to date. He started out in life a poor young school teacher, and worked his way through college, and to-day he ranks with the foremost men of his profession. He is the author of numerous articles on public health, favors out-door life as a health measure, and is regarded as an authority on the sub- jects on which he writes. Both as a physician and as a citizen he is held in high esteem.
HERBERT C. POWERS, M. D., in his professional service has been prompted by a laudable ambition for advancement. as well as by deep sympathy and humanitarian principles that urge him to put forth his best efforts in the alleviation of pain and suffering. He has gained rec- ognition from the profession as one of its able representatives and the
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trust reposed in him by the public is indicated by the liberal patronage awarded him.
A native son of the fine old commonwealth of Missouri, Herbert C. Powers was born at St. Joseph, this state, on the 6th of April, 1880. His father, Charles Bruce Powers, was born at Cameron, Missouri, and during the greater part of his active career was a minister of the Cum- berland Presbyterian church. He was a man of splendid education and one whose every act was inspired by that broad human sympathy which is so potent an influence in the various walks of life. He was summoned to eternal rest in 1901, at the age of fifty-two years. He married Mrs. Eliza Augustine, a native of Michigan, and to them were born two chil- dren, both of whom are living, 1911. Dr. Powers received his early edu- cational training in the excellent public schools of his native place and subsequently he attended the Missouri Valley College, at Marshall, Mis- souri. In preparation for his chosen vocation he was matriculated in the Central Medical College, at St. Joseph, Missouri, in which he was graduated in 1903, with his well earned degree of Doctor of Medicine. Immediately after graduation he came to Jasper county, where he in- itiated the active practice of his profession and where he remained for a period of two years, at the expiration of which he removed to Joplin. Here he has since resided and here he has built up a large and repre- sentative patronage. Dr. Powers is decidedly a progressive man, keep- ing abreast of all advances made in the medical profession. In the winter of 1910-11 he pursued a post-graduate course at the New York Polyclinic and he is constantly studying in order to keep in touch with all the latest ideas advanced in the science of medicine and surgery.
In April, 1907, at Marshall, Missouri, Dr. Powers was united in mar- riage to Miss Beulah Sharp, who was born at Moberly and reared at Marshall, Missouri, she being a daughter of the well known Dr. Edward Sharp, of that city. Her mother is Ella (Davis) Sharp. To Dr. and Mrs. Powers has been born one son,-Edward Sharp Powers, whose birth occurred on the 9th of April, 1908.
In connection with the work of his profession Dr. Powers is affiliated with Jasper County Medical Society, the Missouri State Medical So- ciety and the American Medical Association. In a fraternal way he is a valued member of Fellowship Lodge, No. 345, Ancient Free and Ac- cepted Masons; and Joplin Chapter, No. 91, Royal Arch Masons; be- sides which he is also connected with the local lodge of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows. In their religious faith the family are con- nected with the Methodist church, South, to whose charities and benevo- lences he has been a most liberal contributor. While he has never had time nor desire for the honors or emoluments of public office of any de- scription, Dr. Powers exercises his franchise in favor of the Democratic party and he is ever on the qui vive to do all in his power to advance progress and development. He is a man of broad mind and liberal ideas and he holds distinctive prestige as one of the leading physicians and surgeons in Jasper county. 4
GEORGE W. MOORE .- Prominent. influential and popular through- out the mining district of western Missouri, widely and favorably known as one of the most extensive purchasers of ore in this part of the state, the originator and developer of large business enterprises, and with a very creditable record as a city councilor and the mayor of his home municipality, George W. Moore of Webb City has risen by natural ability to the position of leadership in the business circles of south- western Missouri, and throughout his career has demonstrated his right to his rank.
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RESIDENCE OF GEORGE W. MOORE 903 S. MADISON ST., WEBB CITY, MO.
Lemmon
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Mr. Moore is a native of Dallas county, Missouri, where he was born on September 29, 1871. He is a son of Alexander A. and Louisa (Richey) Moore, the former born and reared in Knoxville, and the latter in Chattanooga, Tennessee. The father came to Missouri in 1873 and located in Joplin, where he remained nine years engaged in mining. He next lived for some time in Dallas county, then moved to Aurora in Lawrence county, and there again engaged in mining. He remained at Aurora until 1897, when he moved to a farm north of Carthage on which he passed the remainder of his days and died in 1907, at the age of sixty-seven years.
George W. Moore obtained a limited common-school education in the public schools of Joplin and Dallas county, attending them until he reached the age of fourteen years, when he was forced by circum- stances to go to work and earn his living. In 1896 he entered upon his present line of business as ore purchaser at Aurora for W. J. Lan- yon, and soon afterward began work in the same capacity for the Lan- yon Zinc Company, which he served faithfully as ore purchaser for ten years. In 1908, however, he became connected with the American Metal Company, which owns the Lanyon Starr Smelting Company's zinc plant at Bartlesville, and the Bartlesville Zinc Company, and he is also president of the Webb City Smelting and Manufacturing Com- pany's lead plant. Mr. Moore has entire charge of the ore buying for these plants, and the company finds his services in this work highly satisfactory and beneficial to it.
But this is not all this energetic man of affairs does. In Decem- ber, 1909, he organized the Webb City Smelting Company, an exten- sive manufacturer of pig lead, of which he has been president from its start. This company has on its list of stockholders many of the best known capitalists and mining men in the district and is one of its most important industrial institutions. Its main office is in Webb City, but it has branch offices in Joplin and Galena, proving that its operations are extensive, and that its business is active and vigorously managed.
Mr. Moore is also interested in mining, but does not take an active part in the work of the mines with which he is connected. In politics he is a staunch Republican and an earnest and effective worker for his party. The public affairs of his locality have always interested him deeply and enlisted his loyal and zealous service. In 1896, when he was but twenty-five years old, he served a term in the city council of Aurora, being the only Republican elected to it. He also served Webb City as a city councilman until 1904, when he was elected mayor, and was chosen for a second term in that office in 1906. Webb City is normally Democratic by a majority of three hundred votes. Mr. Moore was only the third Republican ever elected mayor of the city. His commanding breadth of view and manifest capacity for official duties of a leading kind caused party lines to be ignored in the elec- tion, and his usefulness to the city while he occupied the office fully justified the public confidence which resulted in his being chosen to it. He was the candidate of the people without regard to party con- siderations, and as mayor he was the servant of the people without re- gard to any consideration except the faithful performance of his duty.
During his tenure of the mayoralty many improvements were made in the city. Twenty-one blocks in business streets and a number in residence sections were paved with vitrified brick. The Alba street car franchise and the gas franchise were granted, but only for valu- able returns to the city. By the terms of its franchise the street car
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company was obliged to remove its tracks from Main to Daugherty street and build a viaduct between Webb City and Carterville, at a cost of one hundred thousand dollars. As an additional compensation for the concession granted it the company put down seven thousand dollars worth of paving on Main street and appropriated two thousand, five hundred dollars toward building a sidewalk to Carterville and other improvements. It also double-tracked West Daugherty street and paved five blocks of it at a considerable expense.
Another valuable improvement made in the city during Mr. Moore's administration was the installation of the first street lights in the resi- dence district, as well as arc lights in the business street. Everything was prosperous at the time and business was booming. With charac- teristie publie spirit and enterprise, Mr. Moore took advantage of the conditions to start improvements which have been kept up ever since, and all classes of the people cheerfully acknowledge their obligation to him for the new era of advancement which he inaugurated.
The fraternal life of the community has for many years received very cordial and serviceable attention from this far-seeing, progressive and benevolent gentleman. He is a member of the Masonic order, the Order of Elks, the Knights of Pythias, the Knights of the Maccabees and the Knights and Ladies of Security. In Freemasonry he has as- cended the mystic ladder through lodge, chapter and commandery in the York rite and the various stages of advancement in the Scottish rite, and has also been enrolled as a Noble of the Mystic Shrine in Abou Ben Adam Temple at Springfield, Missouri. In the other fraternities he has also been prominent and held many important offices, performing their duties with the ability and fidelity that mark his work in every department of activity.
On June 19, 1891, Mr. Moore was united in marriage with Miss Ida Watson, a native of Illinois, the nuptials being solemnized at Aurora. They have had two children, their daughter Nanna Mae, who was born on April 16, 1895, and their son Clyde Earl, whose life began on Octo- ber 14, 1906, and ended on July 27, 1909. In social life the parents are genial sunbeams, warming and brightening everything they come in contact with, and they are always most cordially welcomed in any gath- ering for social enjoyment. In the support and development of every intellectual and moral ageney at work among the people they are ear- nest, effective and constant. In all the duties of citizenship they render their full share of devotion and service to the general welfare, richly deserving in every respect the universal popularity and abiding esteem in which they are held.
SHERMAN VAUGHAN .- The manufacturing interests of Joplin, Mis- souri, have a well known representative in Sherman Vaughan, who has been identified with this place since he was a small boy.
Mr. Vaughan is a native of Kentucky. He was born in Monroe county, that state, August 29, 1867. and when a child was brought by his parents to Missouri, their settlement being at Joplin. Here he at- tended the grade schools and one term was a high-school student. Then he left school to go to work in the foundry of J. W. Freeman, where he learned the trade of boiler maker. After eighteen years of continuous service for Mr. Freeman he decided to try a hand at business on his own account and, with Mr. Gus James, like himself a practical boiler maker, as partner, he launched out in a small way with limited capital. From the start success has attended their efforts. Their small plant has been increased to large proportions, and at this writing the product of their foundry finds a market in all parts of the United States.
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Mr. Vaughan's father, I. N. Vaughan, was born in Monroe county, Kentucky, December 26, 1843, and died at Joplin, December 26, 1910. He was a prominent farmer and stock raiser in the blue grass region of Kentucky before he came to Missouri, which was in 1876, and he was one of the early pioneers of Joplin, this being then only a mining camp. Here his energies were first directed to mining. Later he turned to merchandising, opening one of the first grocery stores at Joplin or, rather, in what was a suburb of this city, called Lone Elm, now oblit- erated. After a time he moved his store to Byersville, where he re- mained for a number of years, and where his widow still resides. Dur- ing the Civil war he showed his patriotic spirit by enlistng as a mem- ber of Company G, Ninth Kentucky Regiment, of which he was ser- geant, and with which he participated in numerous notable engagements. He was in the army until the close of the war, often in the thickest of the fight, but was mustered out at the close of the conflict without a scratch. His wife, Susana (Richards) Vaughan, belongs to a well-con- nected Kentucky family. Her father was killed in battle in the Civil war. Seven children were born to I. N. and Susana (Richards) Vaughan, including Sherman, the subject of this sketch, the others being: Ed- ward, Jesse and Charley Vaughan, and Mrs. John O. Johnson, Mrs. C. C. Galpin and Mrs. Henry Ornduff, all of Joplin.
Sherman Vaughan was married on October 28, 1888, at Joplin, Mis- souri, to Miss Maggie McDonald, sister of Sheriff McDonald of Jasper county. They have three children: Ellis Vaughan, born October 6, 1890, is in his father's employ; Ula May Vaughan, born in 1897, and John Paul Vaughan, born in 1903, are students in Lafayette School, Joplin.
Fraternal organizations with which Mr. Vaughan is identified are the Modern Woodmen and the Odd Fellows. He takes an interest in political affairs, always supporting the Republican ticket, and his re- ligion is the simple faith of the Christian, he being a consistent mem- ber of the Christian church.
CHARLES A. MORSMAN, D. D. S .- This is an age of progress and America is the exponent of the spirit of the age. In the beginning of the nineteenth century our country was in its infancy and history shows no parallel for its growth and achievements. No other country has made as great advancement in the lines of science and mechanical in- vention and the superiority of her inventions has been widely recog- nized throughout the civilized world. In this steady growth and de- velopment which has characterized the age, the science of dentistry has kept pace with the general progress and Dr. Morsman stands among the most eminent.
Dr. Morsman is still to be numbered among the younger generation, his birth having occurred at El Paso, Illinois. February 25, 1875. Hav- ing received his education in the public schools of Bloomington, Illinois, he learned the printer's trade and for three years worked at the same, under the old method, which in the larger offices was supplanted with the linotype machines when they were introduced. When the change came, he decided to look about him for a new vocation and a more lucra- tive one and his choice fell to dentistry. He accordingly became an apprentice to Dr. George D. Sitherwood, a prominent practitioner of Bloomington, and after remaining with him for three years he completed his preparation as a student at the Louisville College of Dentistry, and later at the Northwestern Dental School of Chicago, where he took the junior course of one year.
Dr. Morsman received his degree in 1899 from the Louisville insti-
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tution and then started home on a bicycle, making the trip. of six hun- dred miles to Bloomington in eight days and quite without mishap. He hung out his shingle at Bloomington in September, 1899, and had begun his practice auspiciously, but in a fire occurring June 20, 1900, he lost all his belongings. Nothing daunted, he opened up temporary offices and continued his practice there until 1901, when he came to Joplin, Missouri. His success in the new location was immediate and in the first month he took in over four hundred dollars. He maintained an office at 303 Main street and remained there for one year; his next move was to 521 Main street, where he was established for five years and his present location is at 514 Main street. His practice has encoun- tered steady growth and from time to time he has had to increase the size of his office. His present quarters are spacious and commodious and admirably equipped with all the most modern and effective of den- tal appliances.
Dr. Morsman is the son of John B. Morsman, a native of Peoria county, Illinois. Up to the age of thirty years that gentleman engaged in farming and after that time he devoted his energies to traveling. He recently came to Joplin and has mining interests of considerable im- portance here. The mother, whose maiden name was Laura Masters, was a native of Indiana and her demise occurred in 1881.
Dr. Morsman was married September 8, 1907, at Columbus, Kansas, to Miss Nannie Humphries, daughter of A. D. Humphries. Their son, christened for his father, Charles A., was born in June, 1909, and their daughter, Myrtle Elizabeth, was born August 22, 1911. They enjoy an assured place in Joplin society and their home is an attractive and hos- pitable abode.
The subject's various fraternal associations are with the Redmen, the Anti-Horse Thief Association, and the Motor Club, in all of which he finds much enjoyment. His politics are Republican, and he has given his heart and hand to the policies of that party since his earliest voting days. He has charitable instincts, his sympathies being ever enlisted with less fortunate brothers and he is very fond of society. He is a motor enthusiast, being known throughout the state as a daring driver. The following description of his remarkable car and the genuine pleas- ure he derives from motoring appeared in a local publication :
"An hour's spin in an automobile will carry one far from Joplin to regions wild and wierd, where game and fish abound, and where the beauties of nature are unsurpassed anywhere in the country. And if one's automobile be equipped with a camp trailer, ready packed for an outing, the trip may be prolonged days or even weeks. At an instant's notice of Dr. Charles A. Morsman, owner of the first and only automobile trailer in Joplin, could be ready for a jaunt from Joplin to New York. Dr. Morsman's trailer is unique. It is an invention of his own, is sub- stantial and practical and made to withstand the roughness of usage. Many autoists of this district have admired his creation and as it is not patented, it is safe to predict that the coming spring and summer will see other automobile trailers introduced into Joplin amusement circles.
"Resembling a sturdy, two-wheeled cart, Dr. Morsman's trailer, at- tached with ball and socket connection to his big forty-horse power Sterling machine, cannot but attract attention as it reels down the high- way in the wake of the whizzing automobile. It attracted unusual at- tention on its tour through Missouri, Kansas and Oklahoma last sum mer, when Dr. and Mrs. Morsman and their little son and Mr. and Mrs M. T. Miller journeyed into the wilds of the Rocky Mountains on a fish. ing expedition.
"The wheels of the trailer are forty-two inches in diameter and are
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equipped with the best of rubber tires and rotate on the best auto steel bearings. The bed or box, in which is carried the camping equipment, is five feet long, twenty-eight inches high and three feet wide. A por- tion of the bed has been converted into an ice box with a capacity of one hundred pounds of the congealed liquid. Another partition, adjoin- ing the ice box, has a capacity of seven gallons of water, while a faucet in the rear permits the thirsty excursionists to draw forth a goblet of the icy, sparking water with the loss of only a moment's time.
"If stranded in a scorching desert, with miles of quivering sands stretching level as a checker board in every direction, the traveler, if equipped with such a trailer, well stocked with drink and provisions, could laugh in defiance at the apparent peril of the situation. Or, if the day be biting cold and the little camp stove be out of fuel, still the wayfarer would not be forced to munch on cold food, for the trailer is equipped with a three compartment fireless cooker, and the victuals in the cooker will be as steaming hot at nightfall as they were when placed, smoking, into the compartment in the early morning.
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