USA > Missouri > Jasper County > A history of Jasper County, Missouri, and its people, Vol. II > Part 33
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agricultural pursuits and where he was summoned to eternal rest in 1891, at the age of sixty-nine years. The mother of Joseph Schneider died in 1898.
The fourth in order of birth in a family of six children, Joseph Schneider was rear to the invigorating discipline of the old homestead farm in Indiana. and his preliminary educational training consisted of such advantages as were afforded in the district schools. After complet- ing his education he entered the railroad service as telegraph operator for the Wabash system. Subsequently he went to San Antonio, Texas, where he was trainmaster for the International & Great Northern road for eighteen years, at the expiration of which he entered the service of the Frisco road. in the capacity of division superintendent, with head- quarters at Sapulpa. Indian Territory. His railroad work was of an exciting and varied nature, but his promotions in that line of enter- prise were exceedingly rapid. In 1902 he was smitten with the min- ing fever and in that year came to Joplin, where he has since main- tained his home and where he is recognized as one of the most loyal and public-spirited citizens of Jasper county. After devoting his at- tention to mining interests for a short time he concluded that the op- portunities offered in that field were not so roseate as he had pictured them and in 1903 he entered into a partnership alliance with W. G. Sergeant to engage in the mining machinery business. The firm of Sergeant & Schneider built splendid warehouses and shops on East Fourth street and from time to time enlarged the scope of their opera- tions as increased trade demanded. In 1906 Mr. Schneider purchased Mr. Sergeant's interest in the business and since that year he has con- ducted the enterprise individually. under the style of the Joseph Schneider Machinery Company.
In politics Mr. Schneider endorses the cause of the Republican party. While undoubtedly he has not been without that honorable ambition which is so powerful and useful as an incentive to activity in public affairs, he regards the pursuits of private life as being in themselves abundantly worthy of his best efforts. In community affairs he is active and influential and his support is readily and generously given to many measures for the general progress and improvement. In a fraternal way he is affiliated with the Benevolent & Protective Order of Elks. the Germania Society and the Commercial Club. He is also a valued and appreciative member of the Knights of Columbus. in which he has been grand knight. His religions faith is in har- mony with the teachings of the Catholic church, of which he is a devout communicant. Mr. Schneider is unmarried. but this fact in no way detracts from his personal popularity.
ELEVEN JENKINS .- Born and reared in very moderate circum- stances, passing his youth under the shadow of our fast approaching Civil war, beginning the struggle for advancement among men with nothing but his stout heart. clear brain and ready hands. battling for years with difficulties and adversities, and finally achieving pronounced and substantial success. Eleven Jenkins, one of the leading real estate dealers of Joplin, has been tried by both extremes of fortune and never seriously disturbed by either.
Mr. Jenkins is a native of Bullitt county. Kentucky, where his life began on September 10, 1843. He is a son of Frank and Margaret (Cravens) Jenkins, also natives of Kentucky. the father born in 1811 and the mother in 1813. Both passed away in 1907, the father at Marshall, Saline county, and the mother in Scotland county. this state. They were farmers and most exemplary and estimable citizens. per-
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forming all the duties of life with energy and fidelity, and giving long years of service to their fellow workers in the development and im- provement of the locality of their home.
Their son, Eleven Jenkins, obtained a limited education in the coun- try schools, which he attended until he was fifteen years old. At that time the trouble just preceding the great war between the sections of our unfortunate country, then so hopelessly divided in sentiment, broke up all the schools to a large extent in the neighborhood of Mr. Jen- kins' home and he never had further opportunity to pursue his studies. Ile lived and worked on his father's farm until he was twenty-one, then started out to make his own way in the world, and sought a new field of operation for the purpose, fully relying on himself and needing nothing of family influence or help of friends to further his progress.
Coming to Missouri and taking up his residence in Schuyler county, he purchased a distillery and mill, which he operated for a year. At the end of that period he sold his property and removed to Scotland county, where he was engaged in farming from the begin- ning to the close of the war, and encountered many trials and hard- ships incident to the unsettled state of the country during that memor- able contest. When "the war drum throbbed no longer" he changed his residence to Carroll county, and during the next five years he cul- tivated the fruitful soil of that portion of the state. But he still had a fondness for the more northern part of Missouri, and onee more located in Scotland county, and there he worked hard and prospered as a farmer until 1889.
In the year last mentioned he became a resident of Jasper county, making his home and farming for a short time in Galena township. He had aspirations, however, for a more active career and one in busi- ness lines. He therefore moved to Joplin and entered the retail grocery business, with a store at the corner of Sixth and Main streets, which he conducted for nine years. He then formed a partnership with J. C. Faulkender, and together they carried on a flourishing real estate business under the firm name of Jenkins & Faulkender during the succeeding four years. At the end of that time the partnership was dissolved and Mr. Jenkins started in the business for himself, building his home and office at Twelfth and Main streets, which has been the seat of his operations ever since.
He has been very successful, handling many of the leading proper- ties in the city and steadily increasing the magnitude of his opera- tions by studious attention to his business and the wishes of his patrons, always finding for them just what they wanted if he did not happen to have it on his list. This kind of exhaustive enterprise, and his ex- tensive and accurate knowledge of the trade and what is available in the market at all times have been potential elements in winning the suc- cess he has achieved and giving him the high rank he holds in the business.
In his continual and serviceable interest in the welfare of his city and county Mr. Jenkins has shown himself to be one of their best and most useful citizens. He is always at the front in all matters of progress and improvement, and does his full share in every way to give proper trend to the spirit of development. He is a director of the Building and Loan Association and connected with other promoting agencies of value to Jasper county and its people in a leading way. In politics he is a Democrat, with firm faith in the principles of his party and zeal in its service. His religious connection is with the First Christian church.
On March 22, 1868. Mr. Jenkins united in marriage with Miss
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Mary F., McAntire, a daughter of Sanford McAntire, a native of Ken- tucky. Three sons were born of the union: William F., Boone and Joseph Seldon, the latter now deceased. William F. and Boone are natives of Scotland county and residents of Joplin. The former is a contractor in railroad construction work, and the latter has been for years city salesman for the Interstate Grocery Company of Joplin. They are gentlemen of high character, great intelligence, fine business capacity and most estimable citizenship, and are universally esteemed as among the leading and most representative men in the community. They are noted for their filial devotion to their parents as well as for their business qualifications and engaging social qualities.
The ancesters of Mr. Jenkins were Scotch, and the forbears on both sides of his house were resident in Scotland for many generations. His paternal great-grandfather was one of the early immigrants from Scotland to Virginia, where he rose to consequence as a planter and in public life. David Carlisle, the great-grandfather on the mother's side, also presumably of Scotch nativity, fought in the Revolutionary war under General Washington. His daughter. the grandmother of Mr. Jenkins, lived to the age of ninety-seven years. To the examples and traditions of its earlier members the family has ever been true and faithful, exemplifying as each generation has come and gone the ster- ling manhood and womanhood and the devoted patriotism and constancy to duty long years ago established as its standard and embodied in all its record.
PERLEE E. BURTON .- One of the men who have found journalism an appropriate field for the expression of their activity. Perlee E. Bur- ton is carrying on a successful work as editor and proprietor of the Joplin News-Herald, one of the leading papers of Jasper county. A native of Indiana, he was born September 30, 1875, at Irvington, a son of J. T. Burton and grandson of William Burton, who is still living at Goldsmith, Indiana, being a hale and hearty man of eighty-six years.
.J. T. Burton, born November 27, 1849, in Indiana, was for many years engaged in business as a real estate broker in Rush county, that state, and is now similarly employed in Emporia, Kansas, where he is an extensive dealer in realty. His wife, whose maiden name was Allie Hume. was born in Rush county. Indiana, June 30, 1855, and died at Emporia, Kansas, July 5, 1885.
But a child when his parents moved to Kansas, Perlee E. Burton acquired his rudimentary education in the public schools of Emporia, afterwards continuing his studies at the State Normal School, and in 1897 being graduated from the College of Emporia, the state Presby- terian school. Immediately commencing his work as a newspaper man. Mr. Burton worked for a year and a half on the Emporia Gazette, and the following two years was reporter on the St. Louis Globe-Demo- crat. He was then for five years associated with the St. Louis Republican as editorial writer and staff correspondent. Foreseeing the opportunities offered a man of his profession in Joplin, Mr. Burton came here in 1905. and having organized the News-Herald Publishing Company, has since helped to build the News-Herald up to be one of the leading newspaper of the state.
On October 29. 1903. at St. Louis, Missouri. Mr. Burton was united in marriage with Cordelia M. Gamble, a daughter of John A. Gamble of St. Louis, Missouri. superintendent of the Southern Lead Company in St. Louis. John A. Burton, the only child of Mr. and Mrs. Bur- ton, was born in Joplin. August 11. 1908. In his political affiliations Mr. Burton is a Republican. He belongs to various organizations, in:
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eluding the Country Club. the Joplin Tennis Club and the Saint Nicholas Club, while fraternally he is a member of the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks. In 1907 he was appointed by Governor Folk curator of the University of Missouri. Religiously he belongs to the Methodist Episcopal church, Sonth.
ALBERT N. WINCHESTER, M. D .- Jasper county is signally favored in the personnel of its representatives of the medical profession, and among those who are well upholding the prestige of this exacting voca- tion in the county is numbered Dr. Winchester, who is engaged in ac- tive general practice in the city of Joplin and whose success has been on a parity with his recognized ability and his personal popularity.
Dr. Winchester is a scion of an old and honored southern family of English lineage and the early representatives in America established homes in Virginia and North Carolina, in which latter state was born Willington Winchester, father of him whose name initiates this review. Willington B. Winchester was a child at the time of his parents' re- moval from North Carolina to Kentucky, and he was reared to man- hood in the latter state, the family home having been established in C'alloway county. He gained success and independence through his own efforts as an agriculturist and stock-grower in that county, and he was at one time the heaviest tax-payer in the county. though he met with losses incidental to the ravages of the Civil war, as did nearly all other citizens of the old Blue Grass commonwealth. He was a man of strong character and marked ability and he made his life count for good in all its relations. He attained to the venerable age of eighty- three years and continued to reside in Kentucky until his death, which occurred in 1903. Ann (Jackson) Winchester, mother of the Doctor, was born and reared in Kentucky, and there she died when he was a child.
. the University of Nashville with the same degree. For the ensuing three
Dr. Winchester found his boyhood and youth compassed by the be- nignant environment of the home farm, and after availing himself of the advantages of the public schools of his native county he continued higher academic studies in Vanderbilt University, at Nashville, Ten- nessee. In this fine institution he also prepared himself admirably for . the work of his chosen profession and in the medical department of the same he was graduated as a member of the class of 1891, with the well- earned degree of Doctor of Medicine, one year later graduating from years he was engaged in active practice in his native county, and he then returned to the city of Nashville, where he continued in profes- sional work until 1897, when he came to Missouri and established his permanent home in Joplin, where he has built up a very substantial and gratifying practice of representative order and where he is held in high esteem as a loyal, liberal and public-spirited citizen, as well as a physician and surgeon of well-proved ability. He gives special atten- tion to surgery and has been notably successful in abdominal surgery, in which he has no superior in this section of the state. To qualify him- self adequately for this special branch of practice he has taken effective post-graduate courses in leading medical institutions in New York city and he holds a certificate for operative surgery given by Dr. Dawbarn. of New York, as well as one for gynecological surgery from Dr. Burten- shaw, of the same city, both of whom are recognized authority in their special field. Dr. Winchester is identified with the American Medical Association, the Missouri State Medical Society and the Jasper County Medical Society, and he has gained and retained the high regard of his professional associates in Jasper county.
a. A. Winchester
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In the state of Tennessee in 1893 Dr. Winchester was united in mar- riage to Miss Hinda Etheridge, who was born and reared in that state and they have two children,-Mary E. and Willington Lafayette. Mrs. Winchester is a daughter of C. L. and Ella (Brown) Etheridge, the father a native of Henry county, Tennessee, and came here at the same time as the Doctor, and he and his wife are still residents of Joplin. Mrs. Winchester was the first born in a family of two children. The other, Walter B., is a business man of Galena, Kansas. The father's business through life has been that of a farmer and speculator, and he is still an active business man of St. Louis and Chieago. Fraternally he is a Mason and in politics is Democratic. He was reared by poor parents in Tennessee and through his own well directed efforts has amassed a comfortable fortune. Mrs. Etheridge is a member of the Christian church.
Dr. Winchester is a member of the Southern Methodist church, while his wife is affiliated with the church of her fathers,-the Chris- tian. In politics the Doctor is aligned with the policies of the Demo- cratic party.
FREDERICK S. COOK .- Enterprise and determination are strong ele- ments in prosperity, and they are found among the salient characteris- ties of Frederick S. Cook, a member of the mining engineering firm of Bendelari & Cook, at Joplin, Missouri, and secretary of the Zinc Ore Producers Association. He is one of the city's most progressive and capable business men and today he is enjoying a richly merited success as the result of his own well directed efforts, while the future is bright with promise.
A native of the fine old Gopher state, Mr. Cook was born in the city of St. Paul, Minnesota, on the 17th of February, 1882. He is a son of Stephen C. and Rosa D. (Kendrick) Cook, the former of whom was born at Erie, Pennsylvania, and the latter of whom claims the state of Louisiana as the place of her nativity. Stephen C. Cook re- moved from the old Keystone commonwealth to St. Paul, Minnesota, in the year 1855, and there engaged in the general merchandise busi- ness. For many years past he has been one of the leading merchants in that city, where he is now residing at a ripe old age. Mr. and Mrs. Cook became the parents of two children and of the number the sub- jeet of this review was the first born.
Frederick S. Cook is indebted to the public schools of St. Paul for his elementary educational training, which he later supplemented with one year's attendance in the University of Minnesota, at Minneapolis. He then, in 1900, became assistant engineer on construction for the Chieago & Great Western Railroad Company, later being employed in the same capacity by the Great Northern & Montana Railroad. In 1902 he decided to take up a course in mining engineering. and in that year was matriculated as a student in the University of Columbia, in New York city, in which excellent institution he was graduated as a member of the class of 1905, duly receiving his degree of Engineer of Mines. Immediately after graduation he came to Joplin, where he initiated the active work of his profession. For six months after his advent in this city he was with the firm of P. C. Campbell & Com- pany and at the expiration of that period he was in business for him- self for one year. In 1906 he entered into a partnership alliance with A. E. Bendelari, opening offices as mining and civil engineers under the firm name of Bendelari & Cook. This concern is largely interested in mining operations, handling valuable properties for outsiders and do- ing a considerable business on their own account. Mr. Cook has been Vol. II-15
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very active in the organization and work of the Zinc Ore Producers Association, of which he is serving in the capacity of secretary. The object of the association is to accumulate all the information in re- gard to the zine business and to disseminate the same among its mem- bers. It is a very important factor in the mining world of Jasper county.
At Tampa, Florida, on the 1st of January, 1911, was celebrated the marriage of Mr. Cook to Miss Mary L. Boardman, who was born and reared in the city of Minneapolis, Minnesota, and who is a daughter of A. J. Boardman, a prominent citizen of that place. Mrs. Cook is a woman of rare charm and most winning personality and she is a popu- lar factor in connection with the best social activities of Joplin. Mr. and Mrs. Cook are communieants of the Protestant Episcopal church, holding membership in the parish of St. Paul's church at Joplin, in which he is secretary of the vestry.
Fraternally Mr. Cook is affiliated with the local lodge of the Benevo- lent and Protective Order of Elks, and he is also connected with the time-honored Masonie Order, in which he is a valued member of Fel- lowship Lodge, No. 335, Aneient, Free and Accepted Masons. IIe has passed through the circle of Scottish Rite Masonry, having attained to the thirty-second degree. Mr. Cook is a man of quick perception and remarkable executive ability and he is decidedly active and sue- cessful in the business life of Joplin. In polities he accords a stanch allegiance to the principles and policies for which the Republican party stands sponsor, and while he has never had time nor ambition for politi- eal preferment of any kind he is ever on the qui vive to do all in his power to advanee the general welfare of this eity and of Jasper ,county at large.
JOHN H. TAYLOR .- With the demise of John Henry Taylor on the 30th of August, 1902, there was lost to the city of Joplin one of her finest and truest citizens. It means much to a city to number among its inhabitants men of the type of Mr. Taylor, in whom the pure fire of philanthropy and publie-spirit burns so serenely; who, if need be, are able to sacrifice personal advantage for the good of the many. Such men are of necessity rare and all honor is due to them when they are found. Mr. Taylor was an important factor in several fields; in bank- ing affairs; in the development of the natural resources of Jasper county in the capacity of organizer and officer of important mining and smelting companies, in which his executive ability, tireless energy and genius in the broad combination and concentration of applicable forees came into play; in legislation, in which he showed superior qualities of statesmanship; as a gifted attorney and as a just and progressive publie official. It may truly be said that there was nothing of publie import in Joplin during his long residence here in which he was not helpfully interested and he was an exponent of the progressive spirit and strong initiative ability which caused the city to forge forward so rapidly.
The usual student of biography confesses to an eager desire to trace the ancestral forces that are united in every son and daughter of un- usual foree and ability. No fine soul appears suddenly ; the foothills słope upward and mental and moral capital are treasures invested for us by our forefathers. John Henry Taylor was born at Leesburg, Virginia, January 26, 1837, the son of William and Mary (Ross) Tay- Jor. The father was a native of London, England, and was educated in one of the institutions carried on by the Church of England. When a young man of twenty-one he hazarded new fortunes and erossed the
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sea to the country of whose independence and superior resources he had heard so much. He located in the Old Dominion and there mar- ried, his bride being a daughter of that romantic state. In 1833 he removed to Ohio and a few years later came to Missouri. He was a prominent educator and in 1858 was elected school commissioner of Jackson county. His death occurred in 1862 and his wife passed away in 1877, while residing at Independence, Missouri. They were mem- bers of the Baptist church and their many good gifts of mind and heart won for them the unqualified confidence and affection of all with whom they came in contact. William Taylor was one of the first members of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows.
John Henry Taylor received his early education in a school con- ducted by his father and afterward continued his studies in an academy. With his parents he removed to Hannibal, Missouri, in 1844, and subsequently to Paris, where he attended school and also clerked in a store. He had also an experience as a printer in the office of the Paris Mercury, which those who know declare is in itself equal to a liberal education. In 1851 the family removed to Independence, Mis- souri, where he further pursued his studies and again engaged in clerking. He served in public capacity and gained credit for himself and benefit for his constituents in several offices, among them those of deputy circuit clerk and ex-officio recorder of Jackson county, Missouri, under General Lucas. He was drawn to the legal profession and took up the study of law under the direction of the firm of Christman & Comingo, and in September, 1857, was admitted to practice. In 1858 he was elected city attorney of Independence and his success in the capacity of chief municipal officer was manifestly recognized by several reelections. In 1860 he received an appointment to the office of county school commissioner.
In the early '60s Mr. Taylor was in Shreveport, Louisiana, and about the time of the close of the Civil war he returned to Independence, Mis- souri, where he successfully resumed the practice of the law. In De- cember, 1871, he effected the organization of the first company formed at Joplin to develop the mineral resources of southeastern Missouri, the same being known as the Joplin Mining & Smelting Company, of which he held the three-fold office of treasurer, secretary and manager. Sub- sequently he became the president, acting in that capacity until the charter of the company expired. In 1872 he organized the East Joplin City Mining Company, of which he was president, and in 1874 he was instrumental in organizing the North Joplin Mining & Smelting Com- pany. About this time the Joplin Savings Bank, the first bank of the city, was founded and he also became its chief executive officer. In 1894 he organized the Taylor Land & Mining Company, of which he was president, while his son, Wilkins Taylor, was the secretary. The enterprises with which Mr. Taylor was associated met with success, for he was one of the men who have big ideas and are capable of making them realities.
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