USA > Missouri > Jasper County > A history of Jasper County, Missouri, and its people, Vol. II > Part 35
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Mr. Porter was married October 24, 1888, to Millie Schnur, daughter of Peter and Adaline Schnur, prominent citizens of Joplin, and in this union he found the fulfillment of his youthful dreams. His hon- ored wife and three children survive him, the latter being Paul, born October 31, 1889, now a student in the University of Missouri; Edward, born January 25, 1893, and in attendance at the Joplin High School ; and Helen, born January 17, 1896, also a pupil in the city high school.
Politically Mr. Porter gave allegiance to the Democratic party, to whose articles of faith he had subscribed since his earliest voting days. Fraternally he was a popular member of the Knights of Pythias and
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the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks. He belonged to the Episcopal church, to which his widow also belongs. Mrs. Porter is very prominent in society circles and her home is one of the attractive and cultured abodes of the city.
On other pages of this work devoted to the lives and achievements of representative Jasper county citizens will be found a biography of Mr. Peter Schnur, Mrs. Porter's father, and therein is given a history of her family.
WILLIAM H. LANYON, M. D .- For more than three decades Dr. Wil- liam H. Lanyon has been engaged in the practice of medicine and the years have told the story of a successful career due to the possession of innate talent and acquired ability along the line of one of the most im- portant professions to which man may devote his energies,-the allevia- tion of pain and suffering and the restoration of health, which is man's most cherished and priceless possession. This is an age of progress in all lines of achievement and Dr. Lanyon has kept abreast of the ad- vancement that has revolutionized methods of medical and surgical practice, rendering the efforts of physicians of much more avail in ward- ing off the inroads of disease than they were even at the time when he entered upon his professional career. Since 1899 he has been a valued and popular resident of Joplin, Misouri, where he holds prestige as one of the leading physicians and surgeons in this section of the state.
Dr. Lanyon was born in England on the 21st of February, 1852, and he is a son of Paul and Johanna (Kendall) Lanyon, both of whom were likewise born in England. The Lanyon family immigrated to the United States about the year 1869, locating on a farm near Belmont, Wisconsin, where the father continued to be identified with agicultural operations until 1892, when he retired from participation in business affairs and removed to Omaha, Nebraska, where he and his wife were summoned to the life eternal in the year 1897. Paul Lanyon had attained to the ven- erable age of eighty years at the time of his demise and his cherished and devoted wife was seventy-nine years of age. They were the parents of five children, of whom the subject of this sketch was the second in order of birth.
At the time of his arrival in America Dr. Lanyon was a youth of seventeen years of age. He had previously received a good common- school education in England, where he also attended the well known academy at Wadham, which is a preparatory school for University men. After the family had settled on the farm in Wisconsin he became associ- ated with his father in the work and management thereof, in the mean- time studying and subsequently teaching school for a period of four years, at the expiration of which he began to study medicine. He was matriculated as a student in Rush Medical College, in the city of Chi- cago, Illinois, in which excellent institution he was graduated as a mem- ber of the class of 1879, duly receiving his degree of Doctor of Medicine. Immediately after graduating he initiated the active practice of his pro- fession at Omaha, Nebraska, where he continued to reside for a period of seventeen years and where he was assistant surgeon in the St. Joseph Hospital for a number of years. In 1896 he went to Chicago, where he passed two years in post-graduate work at various colleges. In May, 1898, he came to Joplin, Missouri, where he has since maintained his home and practiced his profession. In connection with the work of his profession he is a valued and appreciative member of the Missouri State Medical Society and of the American Medical Association. He was the first president of the Joplin Academy of Medicine, which was later merged into the Jasper County Medical Society.
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In polities Dr. Lanyon accords a stanch support to the cause of the Democratic party, and he has ever been a generous contributor to all measures and enterprises advanced for the good of the general welfare of Joplin and of Jasper county at large. Fraternally he is affiliated with the time-honored Masonie order.
JOHN CALVIN SIGARS .- Starting in life for himself with next to noth- ing in the way of worldly possessions, and gradually making his way forward through his own unassisted capacity and perseverance, John . Calvin Sigars, of Joplin, has a very creditable record marking his prog- ress from poverty to substantial competence and from obscurity to good and widespread repute. As a farmer, a teamster in the mines and a publie official he has distinguished himself by his industry and fidelity to duty and his ability in the performance of whatever he had at any time to do. And now as a business man he exhibits the same qualities that were so nseful to him in other lines of activity.
Mr. Sigars was born in MeDonough county, Illinois, on April 7, 1859, and is a son of Lewis and Jane F. (MeCord) Sigars, the former a native of New Jersey, born in February 16, 1807, and the latter of Virginia, born in 1821. The father was a farmer, and began his residence in what was then the distant West at an early age. In 1867 he moved from Il- linois to Kansas and located in Cherokee county, where he continued his farming operations until his death in 1879. The mother died in 1881. Of the four children born in their household one died in infancy.
John Calvin was the last in the order of birth. He obtained his edu- cation in the country schools of Cherokee county, Kansas, which he at- tended until he reached the age of seventeen. During the next three years he worked on his father's farm, then married at the age of twenty and began farming on his own account in Cherokee county, Kansas. He remained there until 1892, when he moved to Joplin, after which he passed four years teaming in the mines, working hard but steadily forg- ing ahead in the race for supremaey among men, living frugally and filling all his hours of labor with fruitful industry.
In the spring of 1897 he was appointed street commissioner of Jop- lin, and this office he filled acceptably for four years. At the end of his term he was made a member of the Joplin fire department. He passed four years and a half as a member of the department in the ranks, but during two years of the time served as assistant chief. He was then chosen chief of the department and served it well in that capacity two years and a half, braving many dangers and doing some very heroic work.
When Mr. Sigars left the fire department he turned his attention to contracting in cement work, in which he has even since been actively and profitably engaged. In this line of construction he has put up a large number of buildings, done a great deal of work for the city, and successfully and satisfactorily carried out sub-contracts on portions of the new $750,000 union railroad station in Joplin. He has given his work close and careful attention and made a striking success of it, being now recognized as one of the leading and most reliable contractors and build- ers in this part of the country, and well deserving the reputation he en- joys as such.
In the fraternal life of the community he has manifested a lively in- terest and taken an active part, and in its social life he is also a potential and esteemed foree. Ile belongs to the Independent Order of Odd Fel- lows. the Knights of Pythias, the First Ward Improvement Club (of which he is now president). and the Commercial Club. In the service of each of these organizations he is zealous and effective as a worker and
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leader, and his membership in them is highly valued, both for the sub- stantial benefits it brings and the good it does as an example to other men.
Mr. Sigars was married in Jasper county, Missouri, on October 27, 1878, to Miss Clare E. Elam, a native of Nebraska and a daughter of old settlers in Cherokee county, Kansas. She and her husband have three sons and six daughters living : Albert M. and Lulu B., twins, who were born in Cherokee county, Kansas, on July 26, 1879; Ira E., a native of Jasper county, Missouri, born on December 18, 1883; James Earl, born in Cherokee county. Kansas, on March 19, 1885; Myrtle and Maud E., also natives of that county; and Amy I., Lola May and Grace, all of whom were born in this county.
The father of these children is very prominent socially and very popular. He is also an excellent business man and exhibits great public spirit in behalf of the advancement and development of his city and county. His attractive and comfortable home at 324 North Mineral street is a center of social life and graceful and cordial hospitality. It has extensive grounds plentifully and tastefully adorned with trees, shrubbery and flowers, making it, with its interior appointments, one of the most pleasing homes in the city, and a choice resort of the hosts of friends who hold the family in the highest esteem and good will.
In his ancestry Mr. Sigars unites the shrewdness of the Scotch with the cavalier spirit and training of the Virginians, and in his own person and demeanor he exemplifies the admirable traits of both. His maternal ancestors were for many years domesticated in the Old Dominion, where their American progenitors settled when they came to this country in colonial days from Scotland. Although he was but a child when the Civil war began, he saw much of its bitterness and hardship, and his family was seriously handicapped by the unsettled condition of the border which it engendered and kept up for some years after the san- guinary struggle was over. They were people of pluck and endurance, however, and made their way through all difficulties, as Mr. Sigars has done in everything he has undertaken. For, while he has not suffered any crushing reverses, he has had many severe trials, which proved his mettle, and he has shown his manhood by triumphing over them all.
J. HERMANN ECKART .- A well-known and respected resident of Jop- lin, J. Hermann Eckart is actively identified with one of its prime in- dustries, being secretary and general manager of the Home Brewery and Ice Company. A native of Germany, his birth occurred August 14, 1862, in Elberfeld.
His father, J. Hermann Eckart, Sr., a prosperous shoe manufacturer in Elberfeld, Germany, for many years, won distinction in the Prussian army during the war with Austria in 1866 and also in the Franco- Prussian war of 1870-1871. He died in the Fatherland, February 12, 1882. His wife, whose maiden name was Sophie Schepp, died in 1867, in Elberfeld, in early womanhood.
Receiving his training and education in the German schools, J. Her- mann Eckart had mastered the baker's trade at the age of sixteen years, and subsequently, as a journeyman, visited the principal cities of northern Germany, Holland and Belgium. Immigrating then to the United States, he first followed his trade in Toledo, Ohio, from there going to Saint Louis, and a few months later, in 1883, coming to Jop- lin, where, he had been told, there was great need of a skilful baker. Securing a position, Mr. Eckart here worked at his trade six months, and then went to Galena, Kansas, where he was in the employ of Fred Weber for a year and a half. Returning then to Joplin, he spent a
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short time in this vicinity, and then went to Colorado, where he remained three months. Again locating in Joplin, Mr. Eckart was for a while engaged in mercantile pursuits with Henry Sapp. He afterwards se- cured a position with the Joplin Brewery Company, which was owned by Messrs. Mnennig & Zentner, who founded it in 1881. Mr. Muennig sold his interest in the concern in 1888, and on September 1 of that year Mr. Eckart severed his connection with it and established himself in the bakery business at Webb City. Selling out in the spring of 1890, he came back once more to Joplin, and, in partnership with George Muennig, started in the liquor business, becoming agent for the Pabst Brewing Company. Disposing of his interests in the firm in 1893, Mr. Eckart made a trip to Texas, and while there was taken so seriously ill that he was forced to return to his home in Joplin. Ambitious and energetic, he soon made another start in business, but in ten days was again taken sick and had to sell out, being unable to attend to his af- fairs. The succeeding three and one half years Mr. Eckart's health was in such a precarious condition that at times his life was despaired of. Through the exercise of his vigorous will power, he slowly recuperated, and in March, 1907, he secured a position with the Middle West Brew- ery Company, and when, in August, 1907, the company was reorgan- ized under its name of the Home Brewing and Ice Company, he was made secretary and general manager, and has since retained the posi- tion.
Mr. Eckart married, in January. 1885, in Empire City, Kansas, Lucy Kronschnabel, a daughter of George and Mary Kronsehnabel, neither of whom are now living. Three children have been born to Mr. and Mrs. Eckart, namely : J. Hermann, born in 1889, died in 1891; Harry J., born June 28, 1892, is a pupil in the Joplin High School; and Anna Marie, born May 15, 1901. Politically Mr. Eckart is an adherent of the Democratic party. Fraternally he belongs to the Order of Eagles; to the Traveling Men's Protective Association; to the Liederkranz, of which he was secretary for eighteen years; and to the Germania Turn Verein, of which he was president from 1896 to 1901. He is also a mem- ber of the Joplin Commercial Club, and, with his associates, takes an active interest in advancing the welfare of the community.
JAMES M. LEONARD .- Worthy of classification among the progressive business men of Joplin is James M. Leonard, who has ever felt it a privilege to do what was within his power for the upbuilding and ad- vancement of his home city. Mr. Leonard believes that patriotism should not be limited to love of country alone, but should also be ex- tended to the state and city one has chosen for his place of residence. By his generosity to home institutions and his substantial investments in Joplin realty, he has undisputedly verified his interest and faith in his home city. James Miller Leonard was born at Beardstown, Cass county, Illinois, on the 22nd of February, 1852, and is the son of Eb- enezer B. and Mary Roxanna ( Miller) Leonard.
His parents were people of culture and probity, and were among the pioneer families of Illinois. The father, who for years was engaged in mercantile pursuits, always found time to devote to the stirring politi- cal questions of early ante-bellum days. He was at heart an ardent and enthusiastic Democrat, feeling it his duty at one time to "stump the state" for Stephen A. Douglas who was "running" on the National ticket against Abraham Lincoln. After removing with his family to Joplin in the year 1876, Mr. James M. Leonard, together with his father, continued his former occupation along mercantile lines.
The firm was known as E. B. Leonard and Son, and was for many
M. Sunand
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years one of the leading dry goods concerns of Joplin. In the year 1898 Mr. Leonard retired from the mercantile business, and has since devoted his time to opening up and developing mineral lands in and about Joplin, also in other commercial ventures, not altogether but principally confined to his own state. He is a director in the Joplin National Bank.
In politics he is a progressive Republican, although not imbued with office-seeking proclivities. In business he is considered fair and just, one whose word men have grown to trust. He enjoys an active business life as an artist enjoys his art. In religion he makes few professions, but with Ben Adhem desires to be written "As one that loves his fel- low men." In the year 1891 Mr. Leonard was married to Miss Helene Arnold. He has one son, Arnold.
"If you are to write me up," he remarked, "remember that I am a very plain man, and no hero. I share the common fate of all. For no man is so bad that he might not have done worse; nor so good that he might not have done better. Life is a school,-the world only a school- house, and we-but children, who through our successes and failures are constantly gaining much needed wisdom."
FRANK A. FUNK .- The well established mining and civil engineering firm of Sansom & Funk, at Joplin, Missouri, controls an extensive pat- ronage, the same including a number of important firms and corpora- tions in this section of the state. Mr. Funk is an essentially representa- tive citizen of the younger generation at Joplin and he has ever mani- fested a deep and sincere interest in all matters affecting the general welfare. He is extensively known as a business man of sterling integ- rity and worth and his success in life has been on a parity with his well directed endeavors.
A native of Kansas, Mr. Funk was born at Peabody on the 4th of August, 1881. He is a son of J. J. Funk, who was born and reared in the great Empire of Germany. He visited the United States as a young man in the year 1870, accompanied by an uncle who was looking for land for a German colony. Mr. J. J. Funk did not intend to remain in the United States at that time but was so favorably impressed with the country that he decided to make it the scene of his future endeavors. He was then matriculated as a student in a college in Ohio, which he attended for two years, thereby better fitting himself for a career in a new country. In the meantime his parents had come to America and had located in Kansas, where the father was engaged in agricultural pursuits during the remainder of his life time. After leaving college J. J. Funk went to Kansas where he organized and conducted the Bank at Hillsboro before he had reached his twenty-second year. He came to Missouri in 1890, settling at Webb City, where he accepted a position in the Exchange Bank. He had acquired considerable property and wealth in Kansas but the panic of 1893 proved very disastrous to him. A short time thereafter he engaged in the real-estate and insurance busi- ness at Webb City, continuing to be identified with that line of enter- prise during the intervening years to the present time. He married Martha Lackey, who was born and reared in the state of Illinois, and they have one child, the subject of this review. Mr. J. J. Funk is rec- ognized as one of the most influential citizens and business men at Webb City, where he is accorded a high degree of popular confidence and es- teem.
Frank A. Funk was a child of nine years of age at the time of his parents' removal to Webb City, in whose public schools he received his preliminary educational discipline. Susbequently he attended the Uni-
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versity of Missouri, at Columbia, in which excellent institution he was graduated as a member of the class of 1903. He then took up engineer- ing as a profession and for a number of years was a member of the engineering staff of the M. K. & T. Railroad Company, later working for the Missouri Pacific Railroad. In 1903 he began to work for the government in connection with the World's Fair at St. Louis and thereafter he was in the employ of a number of roads in Illinois and Michigan. For a period of four years he served as city engineer of Carterville, Missouri, and in 1905 he formed a partnership alliance with W. E. Smith, under the firm name of Smith & Funk, and opened offices as civil and mining engineers. In 1907 he became associated with F. W. Sansom and they purchased the Sam MeKee engineering busi- ness at Joplin and the firm of Sansom & Funk was formed. This con- cern has offices in the Miners' Bank Building and it has gained pres- tige as one of the best and most successful mining and civil engineering firms in Jasper county.
In polities Mr. Funk is aligned as a stanch supporter of the cause of the Democratic party, and in a fraternal way he is affiliated with the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks. He is a popular and prominent factor in connection with the best social affairs of Joplin. where his geniality and unfailing courtesy cause him to be in great demand. A thorough business man, a true friend, a jolly fellow and a gentleman,-such will deseribe the marked characteristics of Mr. Funk.
WILLIAM L. LAUDERBACH .- In this land of boundless wealth of re- sources and practically unlimited opportunity, industry, frugality and perseverance are always bound to win a large measure of success for the man who has them and has intelligence to apply his energies in the right direction. This truth is impressively illustrated in the career of Will- iam L. Lauderbach, one of the leading contractors and builders of Jop- lin and a mechanic of a high order of skill. Beginning life for himself with nothing but his native ability and determined spirit, he has pro- cured for himself worldly comfort and consequence by his own efforts, and won an elevated place in the regard and good will of all classes of people in the city and county of his home. Mr. Lauderbach was born in La Salle county, Illinois, on November 9, 1863, and when he was thirteen years old came with his parents to Joplin, where he has ever since re- sided. He is a son of Theodore B. and Morgena (Vondersmith) Lauder- bach, natives of Philadelphia. The father was a carpenter and con- tractor in construction work and one of the pioneers of his craft in this part of the state. He built the old Blockwell Theatre and many others of the earlier structures in Joplin. He died here in Joplin, as did also his wife.
Of their offspring four are living, William L. being next to the last born. He attended the public schools in Joplin till he reached the age of sixteen, and was then a delivery boy for C. W. Dykeman, who conducted a large retail grocery store in the city at that time. His compensation for this service was but eighteen dollars a month and his board. Neither the work nor the wage was agreeable to him, and he turned his atten- tion from mercantile to mechanical pursuits. He became apprenticed to the carpenter's trade, and with that he has ever since been connected, except during seven years which he passed in the service of the govern- ment. His apprenticeship was completed in the employ of Hoyt & Chickering, they being then the leading contracting carpenters in the city, and he remained with them twelve years.
At the conclusion of that period he was appointed one of the first, letter carriers in Joplin. In this capacity he served the government dili-
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gently and faithfully for seven years and seven months, then resigned his position and returned to his trade. He now does carpenter work of a high order and carries on contracting and building on an extensive scale. His reputation for strict integrity and superior skill in his work is first class and widely extended and in all his transactions he lives up to his lofty ideal in his endeavors.
But, while earnestly devoted to his craft and sedulous in the perform- ance of its duties, Mr. Lauderbach has not been wholly satisfied with a monotonous allegiance to one occupation. He has taken a zealous and helpful interest in the welfare of his community and gratified his taste for military life by membership in the National Guard of Joplin. He joined Company G of the first local organization of the Guard and re- mained in it for a time. He then transferred his membership and the stimulus of his activity to the Joplin Zouaves, to which he still belongs.
He has also been energetic in political affairs as a staunch member of the Republican party and is one of its effective workers in this part of the state. On March 9, 1911, he was nominated for membership in the city council of Joplin.
In fraternal circles Mr. Lauderbach is a member of the Order of Elks and the Knights of Pythias. In the latter he is a past chancellor of his lodge. He is also an enthusiastic disciple of Izaak Walton, and every year makes a trip to the lakes on a fishing expedition, bringing home many trophies of his skill as an angler, and gaining rest and recuperation from his heavy labor by the sport. In his fishing, as in his business and the performance of his official duties, he is enterprising and animated, acting always on the principle that it is a waste of time and effort to not do everything he undertakes as well as he possibly can. This principle is one of the strong elements of his success in life and one of the best rules of all his endeavors as a citizen.
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