USA > Missouri > Jasper County > A history of Jasper County, Missouri, and its people, Vol. II > Part 3
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In the year 1889 Mr. MeNeal was united in marriage to Miss Mary Heinz, who was born and reared in the state of Illinois, and they have two daughters,-Lorena and Helen. Mrs. MeNeal and her daughters are valued factors in connection with the leading social activities of Joplin and the family home is a center of gracious hospitality.
JOHN A. CRAGIN .- The rapid growth and development of the city of Joplin as an industrial and connercial center has attracted to it many able and valued business men from other states of the Union, and among this number one of the leading representatives is John A. Cra- gin, who is president of the First National Bank of Joplin, of which institution he was one of the organizers, and who is recognized as one of the prominent figures in financial circles in the state. He has varied capitalistic interests and is a business man of marked executive ability, to which attributes are conjoined an impregnable integrity and the ut-
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most civic loyalty, so that he has indeed proved a valuable acquisition to the business circles of Joplin, where he has maintained his home for nearly a quarter of a century.
John A. Cragin was born in the city of Dubuque, Iowa, on the 10th of December, 1862, and is a son of Alonzo and Effie (Graham) Cragin, the former of whom was born at Weston, Vermont, August 23, 1829. and the ,latter of whom was born at Dunfermline, Scotland, February 24, 1836, she having been a child at the time of the family immigration to the United States. The genealogy of the Cragin family likewise is traced back to Scottish origin, and the original progenitors in America came to this country in the Colonial epoch of its history. They settled in Massachusetts and representatives,of the name were found aligned as patriot soldiers in the Continental army in the war of the Revolution.
Alonzo Cragin was reared in the old Green Mountain state and he admirably prepared himself for the legal profession, of which he was a pioneer representative in the state of Iowa. He was for many years engaged in the practice of his profession in that state and was one of the leading members of the bar of the city of Dubuque. He is now living in Joplin, retired, after many years of earnest and prolific en- deavor, and is eighty-two years of age. He has large capitalistic inter- ests and is one of the most venerable and honored citizens of Joplin. Of their two children John A., of this review, is the elder, and Susan E. is the wife of Peter A. Christman, of Joplin, Missouri.
Mr. Cragin was for many years prominent in connection with pro- fessional, public and business affairs in Iowa, and his name merits an enduring place on the roster of its sterling pioneers.
John A. Cragin is indebted to the public schools of his native city for his early educational discipline, which included a course in the high school. Soon after he assumed the position of shipping clerk for James Forrester, of Dubnque, and after remaining with this concern for two years he removed to Grafton, North Dakota, where he was a clerical exec- utive in the First National Bank for one year, thus gaining his initial experience in connection with the important line of enterprise in which he was destined to secure so much of priority and success. After leaving the institution mentioned Mr. Cragin returned to Dubuque. Shortly afterward he went to Weir City, now known as Weir, Kansas, where he became associated with his father in the establishing of the Weir City Bank, the entire stock of which was held by them. He assumed entire charge of the new institution and he continued to conduct the business until January, 1888, when the bank went into voluntary liquida- tion, owing to the fact that he desired and had secured a broader field of enterprise. In January, 1888, he had become one of the organizers of the First National Bank of Joplin. and early in 1888 he here estab- lished his permanent home. He was chosen the first cashier of this insti- tution, which was incorporated with a capital stock of one hundred thousand dollars. Charles Schifferdecker was the first president of the bank and he continued as its chief executive for twelve years. In 1906 Mr. Cragin was advanced to the presidency of the institution and he has since continued incumbent of this office. He has been the dominat- ing force in the upbuilding of this strong and prosperous institution, which now takes high rank among the leading banking houses of the southwest. Its operations are based upon ample capitalistic resources and upon the staunchest of administrative policies, with the result that it has impregnable hold upon popular confidence and support. Mr. Cragin is also president of the Dubuque Realty Company, of Joplin, which has accomplished much in further development and progress in Vol. II-2
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this and other sections of the state, and he is a member of the directorate of the Interstate National Bank of Kansas City.
Though well fortified in his views as to matters of publie polity and ever ready to lend his aid in the furtherance of measures and enter- prises for the general good of the community, Mr. Cragin has never de- sired or held publie office. He is primarily and essentially a business man and a firm believer in concentration rather than dissipation of ener- gies. He gives his allegiance to the democratic party, is affiliated with the Benevolent and Protectiee Order of Elks; is a member of the Joplin Commercial Club, and the Carter County Fishing and Shooting Club; and is also a member of the Improvement Company, Horton, Missouri. He is liberal in his religious views and gives support to the various churches in his home city, though not formally a member of any of these bodies. Mrs. Cragin is a prominent and popular factor in the best social activities of Joplin and the family home is known for its atmosphere, of gracious hospitality.
At the home of the bride's parents, at Strawberry Point, Iowa, on the 18th of March, 1886, Mr. Cragin was united in marriage to Miss Minnie L. Pease, who, like himself. was born and reared in the Hawk- eye state, and who is a daughter of Pliny M. Pease, a merchant by voca- tion and a resident of Strawberry Point at the time of his death. Mr. and Mrs. Cragin have one son, John Harold, who was born in Joplin, on the 10th of January, 1894, and who is now at home, attending high school.
FLETCHER T. SNAPP, the cashier of the Citizens' State Bank of Joplin, is one of the representative business men of the younger generation in his native county and the name which he bears has been identified with the history of Jasper county for more than two score of years. Mr. Snapp is recognized as one of the influential factors in connection with financial and business affairs in the county and his unqualified popularity in the community that has ever represented his home offers the most significant attest to his sterling personal characteristics.
On the old homestead farm of his father, five miles northwest of Joplin. in Jasper county, Fletcher Taylor Snapp was ushered into the world on the 12th of May, 1870. He is a son of Hiram and Mary Ann (Seal) Snapp, the former of whom was born in Sevier county, Tennessee, and the latter in Linn county, Missouri. Hiram Snapp was reared and educated in his native state, where the family was early founded, and he came as a young man to Missouri, in which state his marriage was solemnized. He thereafter continued to reside in Bates county until 1868, when he removed to Jasper county and took up his residence on the farm previously mentioned. He developed one of the fine landed estates of the county and was for many years numbered among the rep- resentative agriculturists and stock-growers of this section of the state. He was a man of ability and impregnable integrity of character and he ever held secure place in the confidence and esteem of all who knew him. He lived virtually retired during the last few years of his life and he died in the city of Joplin in 1910, at the venerable age of eighty years, his cherished and devoted wife having been summoned to the life eternal in 1902, at the age of sixty-five years. Both were zealous members of the Baptist church and in politics he gave his allegiance to the Democratic party. Of the children only one son is now living.
Fletcher T. Snapp was reared to the sturdy discipline of the farm, and after duly availing himself of the advantages of the district schools he entered the Joplin high school, in which he was graduated in 1887, as a member of the first class to be graduated in the institution. His
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class comprised thirteen members and their standing was such as to give distinct impetus to the work of the high school and to gain to the same the popular support that has been influential in keeping the schools of the city up to a high standard. After his graduation Mr. Snapp completed a course in the Bryant & Stratton Business College in the city of St. Louis, where he well fortified himself for the responsibilities which he soon afterward assumed, as one of the office executives of the Cunningham Bank, of Joplin, in which he was eventually made cashier. He retained this office for a period of seven years and then he turned his attention to the zinc-mining industry in his native county, where he became one of the interested principals in the Snapp-Warren Mining Company. He gave the major part of his time to the affairs of this company until 1901, when he effected the organization of the Citizens' State Bank of Joplin, of which he has since been the efficient and popu- lar cashier. The bank bases its operations upon a capital stock of twenty-five thousand dollars and a surplus of twenty-five thousand dol- lars, and its management is progressive, while dominated by due con- servatism, so that it is one of the stanch financial institutions of the county, with secure place in popular confidence and support. The bank had its offices at the corner of Seventh and Main streets until 1904, when it assumed its present attractive quarters, in the fine modern building erected for the purpose and owned by the institution. This structure is eligibly located at 626 Main street. Mr. Snapp takes a lively interest in all that pertains to the prosperity and progress of his home city and county and is ever ready to lend his influence and co-operation in support of measures and enterprises advanced for the general good of the community.
Though never imbued with desire for political preferment, Mr. Snapp is found aligned as a stanch supporter of the cause of the Democratic party, and he takes a specially active interest in local affairs of a pub- lic order. He has attained to the thirty-second degree of Ancient Ac- cepted Scottish Rite Masonry, in which he is affiliated with Sovereign Consistory No. 3, in the Valley of Joplin. He is also identified with Ararat Temple, Ancient Arabic Order of the Nobles of the Mystic Shrine, of Kansas City. In the York Rite division of the great and time-honored fraternity he is affiliated with Joplin Lodge, No. 335, Ancient Free and Accepted Masons; Joplin Royal Arch Chapter, No. 91; Jasper Council, No. 30, Royal and Select Masters; and Ascension Commandery, No. 39, Knights Templars, of which last body he has the distinction of being eminent commander in 1911. He also has the honor of being a member of St. Andrew's Conclave of the Red Cross of Constantine and appendant orders of Free Masonry, and is a member of the Eastern Star. In his home community he is also a valued member of the Country Club and the St. Nicholas Club and is president of the Auto Club. His wife is a mem- ber of the Presbyterian church.
In the city of Springfield, Missouri, on the 21st of September, 1898, was solemnized the marriage of Mr. Snapp to Miss Effie Loraine Daigler, daughter of George Daigler, a representative citizen of that place.
LUTHER MCGEHEE is now serving his third consecutive term in the office of postmaster of the city of Joplin, and this statement bears its own significance as indicating the confidence reposed in him by the people of the community. He is one of the loyal, progressive and pub- lic-spirited business men of this thriving industrial city and as an offi- cial his administration of the affairs of his important position has been marked by discrimination, unvarying courtesy and progressive
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policies, so that the service of the local postoffice is maintained at high standard in all departments.
Luther McGehee was born in Christian county, Missouri, on a farm near the city of Springfield, and the date of his nativity was June 13, 1864. He is a son of Lafayette and Adeline (Miller) McGehee, both of whom were born and reared in the state of Tennessee, but they were married in North Arkansas, where they continued to maintain their home until the spring of 1864, when they came to Missouri and estab- lished their residence in Christian county. In Tennessee the father had devoted his attention to agricultural pursuits, but after his re- moval to Missouri he identified himself with the zinc-mining industry. In 1867 he located in Granby, Newton county, and he continued to be engaged in mining enterprises until his death, which occurred at Jop- lin, in 1885, at which time he was 51 years of age. His widow is still living here. Of the children two sons are now living.
Luther MeGehee was about ten years of age at the time when the family home was established in Joplin, and here he was reared to maturity, in the meanwhile duly availing himself of the advantages of the common schools of the day. For a short time after leaving school he was employed in a local drug store, and at the age of twenty-one years he became concerned with the zinc-mining industry in Joplin. He thus continued until 1892, when he was elected city collector, in which office he served two terms, of two years each. He then resumed his association with the mining industry, with which he continued to be actively identified until 1902, when he was appointed postmaster of Joplin, by President Roosevelt, who re-appointed him in 1906, at the expiration of his first term. In 1910 President Taft appointed him as his own successor, and he thus entered upon his third term in that year. He has made many improvements in the service and facilities of the local postoffice, and every department of the same receives his seru- pulous supervision. He takes a lively interest in all that touches the welfare of his home city and gives his support to measures and enter- prises projected along the line of civic and material progress. As may naturally be inferred Mr. McGehee is a stalwart in the camp of the Republican party, and he has given yeoman service in behalf of its cause. He is a valued member of the Joplin Commercial Club and is affiliated with the local organizations of the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks and Knights of Pythias.
On the 25th of July, 1909, in Joplin, was celebrated the marriage of Mr. McGehee to Miss Lola M. Seanor, who was born in Boulder, Colo- rado, and who is a daughter of John and Clarissa (Wilder) Seanor. She was a child at the time of the family removal to Joplin, where her parents still maintain their home. Mr. and Mrs. McGhee have no chil- dren.
FREDERICK II. BARBEE .- It will scarcely be gainsaid that no profes- sion is more honorable, dignified and farther-reaching in effect than that of the instructor of the youthful mind, and Frederick Hindman Barbee, principal of the high school of Joplin, Missouri, is to be num- bered among the most enlightened of the representatives of the pedagog- ical profession in the southwest. Although still a young man, he can look in retrospect over a career of fourteen years in the field, and every educational institution with which he has been associated has felt the influence of his broad, well-chosen methods, which could be possible only with a man of his fine training and innate progressiveness.
By the circumstance of birth Professor Barbee is a native of the state of Illinois, his birth having occurred at Gifford, Champaign county,
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March 25, 1877. Glancing over the ancestral history of this gentleman we find that in him are united two diverse elements, the French and Yankee. His father, Ira Alvah Barbee, was born in Kentucky, his an- cestors having come to America from France at an early day. The maiden name of the mother was Rhoda Matilda Knight, whose family was founded in the land of the stars and stripes at an early epoch of our history, and was located in New England, the cradle of so much of our national history. These worthy people were united in marriage in 1868 and became the parents of three sons and five daughters, three of the number dying in infancy. The little family resided in Illinois for a number of years, but came to this section in the '80s, and for several years resided in Kansas, eventually removing to Webb City, Jasper county. The father after a life of usefulness went on to the Undis- covered Country on April 21, 1898, and his cherished and devoted wife survived him for a number of years, her death occurring July 17, 1910.
With Professor Barbee the roseate days of youth were divided be- tween Illinois, Kansas and Missouri. His first educational adventures were as a student in the rural schools of Cherokee county, Kansas, and after the removal to Missouri he entered the public schools of Webb City, from whose high school he was graduated with the class of 1895. At an carly date his natural inclinations were somewhat in the direction of the educational field and accordingly he matriculated in the Normal School at Warrensburg, Missouri, and later pursued his higher educa- tion in the Missouri State University at Columbia, from which he re- ceived the degree of Bachelor of Sciences in June, 1910. However, Pro- fessor Barbee's first adventures as an active factor in the world of af- fairs was as a clerk in a mercantile establishment, in which he secured sufficient business training to convince him that his talents lay in an- other direction.
The subject's first experience in the direction of the young idea was shortly after his graduation from the Webb City high school, when he taught the rural school in 1895-1896 in the Blackberry district of Jas- per county. A glance at his subsequent career shows a gratifying record of constant progress. From the rural school he became a teacher in the graded school in Galena, Kansas, in 1898-99; and from that position was advanced to the high school, where his services covered the years in- cluded between 1899 and 1904 and resulting in his elevation to the principalship of the Galena high schools. In 1904 he came back to labor amid familiar scenes and for the ensuing two years was principal of the Webb City (Missouri) high school. In 1907 he removed to Ne- vada, Missouri, where he had been proferred the principalship of that high school and his highly satisfactory incumbency of the office con- tinued until 1910. In 1910 the Joplin high school was fortunate enough to secure Professor Barbee as its head, and his brief career here has been of such a character as to prove the wisdom of the choice of those in authority. He is affiliated with those organizations tending to the unification and advancement of education, being an active member of the Missouri State Teachers' Association and vice president of the Missouri Society of Teachers of English and Modern Languages.
In Webb City, on November 27, 1901, Professor Barbee established a happy and congenial life companionship by his marriage to Clara Narcissus Long, daughter of W. J. Long, a prominent citizen of Webb City, resident at 314 Ball street. Mrs. Barbee is particularly interested in the profession of her husband and by no means from the viewpoint of an outsider, for several years having been one of the most successful teachers in the Webb City schools. She is a sister of G. A. Long, lately in business in Webb City, and one of the best-known workers in the In-
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dependent Order of Odd Fellows in this section. Professor and Mrs. Barbee have one son Frederick Herbert, Jr.
In the matter of political allegiance Mr. Barbee pays fealty to the policies and principles of the Republican party, nationally, but in local polities his support does not follow party lines, his partisanship not preventing his giving his vote to the man and measure he believes su- perior. Fraternally he is an Odd Fellow and he also holds member- ship in the Knights of Pythias. He also finds great pleasure in his affiliation with the Niangua Club of Joplin and the Commercial Club, of whose athletic committee he is a member. He is a zealous member of the First Christian church, in which for a number of years he has been an elder and at the present time he is superintendent of the Sunday- school.
Professor Barbee comes of a family of musicians and, as for himself, Nature has by no means made him "Fit for treasons, stratagems and spoils," the love of things musical being shared by him. His father's family was one of musicians and his father and brother were conspicuous in fine band and orchestra organizations. His grandfather could re- produce upon fife, flute, horn, etc., any air after hearing it once. In her younger days his mother was a beautiful singer and almost every member of the family is a worshipper of "the heavenly maid."
WILLIAM N. ANDREWS .- The personnel of the bar of Jasper county is one of noteworthy order, and within the pages of this publication will be found specific mention of many of the representative practitioners, prominent among whom is Mr. Andrews, who is now incumbent of the office of prosecuting attorney of the county and who hold secure van- tage ground as one of the strong and versatile members of the bar of this section of the state. His official preferment adequately indicates his professional ability as well as the strong hold which he has upon popular confidence and esteem in his home county. He resides in the city of Joplin and here he has built up and controlled a large and representative practice.
Mr. Andrews may be said to have a native predilection for the county in which he now resides, as he was born in one that bears the same name, though in another state. He was born at Farmington, Jas- per county, Illinois, on the 30th of August, 1863, and is a son of Rev. William N. and Perdelia (Crowder) Andrews, the former of whom was born in Indiana and the latter in England. The father was a regu- larly ordained clergyman of the Methodist Episcopal church and was a man of exalted ideals and great personal abnegation. He removed to Illinois when a young man and there labored long and zealously in the vineyard of the divine Master. He was one of the pioneer ministers of his church in Illinois and lived up to the full tension of arduons labor involved under the old-time itinerant system of his church, whose "cir- cuit-riders" found a plethora of toil and endeavor with a minimum of financial recompense and temporal comforts. The clergy of the pres- ent day, though many bear heavy burdens at inadequate compensa- tion, can little understand how great were the cares and exactions, how onerons the labors of these noble pioneers who lived lives of signal con- seeration and unselfishness in carrying the gospel to the isolated sec- tions of a new state. After long years of faithful service in the min- istry Rev. William N. Andrews was summoned to the life eternal, in 1903, at the venerable age of seventy-nine years. He left an impress for good upon all who came within the sphere of his benignant in- finence and now that he has passed to his reward it may well be said that "his works do follow him." He was a resident of Decatur, Illi-
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nois at the time of his death, where his cherished and devoted wife still maintains her home. Of their children a son and a daughter survive the noble father.
The present prosecuting attorney of Jasper county attended the public schools until he was nine years of age, when he assumed the exalted office of printer's "devil" in the office of a weekly newspaper at Mattoon, Coles county, Illinois. The discipline of a newspaper of- fice has been consistently designated as equivalent to a liberal education, and Mr. Andrews fully availed himself of all opportunities presented in this connection, as he was ambitious to learn all details of the busi- ness and directed his efforts to this end. There has been no vacilla- tion of purpose in the career of Mr. Andrews, as he has formulated his plans clearly and then pressed forward to the goal set for himself. In the field of journalism he advanced from the position of apprentice at the "art preservative of all arts" to that of editor and publisher of a paper of his own. For a number of years he was an employe in the office of the Bloomington Pantagraph, at Bloomington, Illinois, and there he worked from the foot of the ladder to an executive and edi- torial position of importance. While thus engaged he entered the law department of Illinois Wesleyan University, at Bloomington, in which he was graduated as a member of the class of 1893 and from which he received the degree of Bachelor of Laws. He was forthwith admitted to the bar of his native state and there initiated the practice of his profession in the city of Decatur, where he continued to reside until 1901, when he left there and removed to Joplin, Missouri, where he has so exercised his native ability and technical powers as to build up a practice that has amply justified his change of residence. In 1903 he formed a partnership alliance with Charles S. Walden, and they have since been associated in active general practice, under the firm name of Walden & Andrews. In 1905 Mr. Andrews was elected prosecuting attorney of Jasper county, and he continued incumbent of the office for two years. His administration was characteristic of the man, as he boldly fared forth to protect the interests of the county without fear or favor. He made no compromise for the sake of personal ex- pediency and where he discerned wrong and injustice he was impla- cable in overthrowing the same, no matter how strong and powerful the influences brought to bear against him. His course naturally created certain antagonisms, but it also brought the approval of the people in general, as was emphatically shown when he was again elected to this office in November, 1910, for another term of two years. The citizens of the county have thus manifested their confidence in his integrity, his ability and his fidelity, and as a public prosecutor his fame is secure in the record already made,-a record marked by scru- pulous care and efficiency in every particular. Schooled in the les- sons of life from the time of his boyhood and placing true valuations upon men and affairs, Mr. Andrews has never lacked the courage of his convictions and is essentially independent, sincere and frank. He has made his own way to the vantage ground of definite success and while the foe of chicanery. double-dealing and all other wrong, he is kindly and tolerant in his judgment and ever ready to aid those in need or those whom he believes can be brought to higher standards of living. He is a man of broad intellectual ken, has known fellowship with adversity and has never lowered the standard of his ideals. Discern- ing the right of any question or matter, he is ever ready to defend his cause, no matter what the popular dictum may be at the time, for he realizes that right is right and must eventually justify itself and there- fore his attitude in its upholding. In politics Mr. Andrews is found
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