USA > Missouri > Jasper County > A history of Jasper County, Missouri, and its people, Vol. II > Part 41
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For relief from the cares and burdens of business Mr. Etter seeks periodical recreation in hunting and fishing, of which he is very fond.
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He is skillful in both, and always enters upon the enjoyment of them with his whole being, giving his sports the same careful attention that he bestows upon his business when he is occupied with that. In all things he is zealous.
BERT STARKWEATHER is one of the most successful merchants in Webb City and also one of its most representative citizens. He has come to be known as a tradesman who is thoroughly reliable. His customers feel that his goods are absolutely what he represents them to be. His aim is to satisfy his customers, so that they will return again and again, which indeed is what he has accomplished.
His father, John M. Starkweather, was a native of Albany, New York. He came to Kansas in 1862. He had a hardware store in Lawrence, Kansas, and died in 1871. His wife was Mary J. Moore, a native of Independence, Missouri. She died in 1883, having been a widow twelve years.
Bert Starkweather was born in Lawrence, Kansas, April 20, 1865. His father died when he was only six years old, so that he is indebted to his mother for his boyhood training. He attended the public schools in Lawrence, and stayed in school as long as his mother could afford to keep him there. Then he became a clerk in a clothing store in his native town. In 1883 his mother died and he was left on his own re- sources. In 1885 he went to Pueblo, Colorado, and clerked in a cloth- ing store there for four years. In 1889 he came to Webb City and clerked for Humphreys Company for five years and then for Sam Morris until he decided to go into business for himself, in 1906. He entered into partnership with John T. Albert and they opened their store under the firm name of Starkweather & Albert, in the Steven- son Building on North Alden street. In September, 1910, they re- moved to their present location, where they have the finest store in Jasper county, carrying a line of clothing and men's furnishings. Their stock would do credit to any high class store in a much larger city. From the very start they were successful, so much so indeed that in March, 1911, they felt justified in opening a branch store in Inde- pendence, Kansas. The new store is prospering.
In 1890, soon after he came to Webb City and while he was clerk- ing for Humphreys, Mr. Starkweather was married to May Turnpaw, a young lady who was born six miles east of Webb City. She is the daughter of Solomon Turnpaw and his wife Fannie, formerly F'annie Snodgrass. The Turnpaws are an old county family.
Mr. Starkweather is a Democrat, but he takes no active part in politics. He devotes his time to his business and leaves politics to others. IIe is a member of the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks, of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows and of the Woodmen of the World. He is a member of the Christian church in Webb City and is a most active church worker among that little body of disciples. He is well thought of in business and in church. He stands very high in the community. So many men change their lines of business many times before they finally settle down to their life work, but Mr. Stark- weather has been in the clothing business ever since he left school and his friends would say that whatever he does not know about the bus- iness is not worth knowing.
ROBERT M. SLOAN .- Most of us have an unreasonable feeling of re- sentment towards collectors of all sorts and we do not stop to reason whether the collector derives any benefit from the money we pay or not. If he can secure not only the good will but the positive liking of peo-
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ple, he must be an exceptionally tactful man. R. M. Sloan, county collector for Jasper county, has achieved this eminence, and it would be impossible to find a man better fitted for the position.
His father was R. G. Sloan, born in 1848, in Illinois. He died in Jasper county in 1898, when he was just fifty years of age. He had been a successful farmer and stock raiser. He had married Amanda Bear, who was born in 1850 and died in Jasper county, Missouri, in 1885, when she was thirty-five years of age. Mr. and Mrs. Sloan had three children, Charles G. Sloan, who is employed in the collector's office ; Lily, who married Wise Keller and is living in the state of Wash- ington ; and Robert M.
Robert was born in Jasper county, Missouri, August 5, 1874. He received his education in the grammar and public high schools of Jasper county and then took a course in the Gem City Business College at Quincy, Illinois. After he left the business college he went into the stock and grain business, in which he was very successful for a num- ber of years. He also became interested in mining and has been very fortunate in his mining ventures. He is a large stockholder in a very successful mine. At present Mr. Sloan is serving his second term as county collector. He is very anxious that the tax payers shall know just what is done with the money they pay and he has gotten out an itemized statement of collections and disbursements. The statement shows the net amount and the sources from which collections have been made, together with the amount paid to the state treasurer, the county treasurer, the treasurers of the city school districts and an itemized table showing the amount placed to the credit of the country school districts, in cases where the same is apportioned in the office of the collector and as per receipts on file in the office.
On November 4, 1897, Mr. Sloan married Miss Floy A. Miller, daugh- ter of Mr. and Mrs. W. P. Miller of Carthage, Missouri. They have no children.
Mr. Sloan stands high with the Masons, having taken the thirty- second degree and is a member of the commandery, the shrine and the chapter. He is also a member of the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks and of the Knights of Pythias. He is very loyal to all of these orders and attends the meetings as much as his business duties will permit. Mr. Sloan's main idea in connection with his official work is to give the people what they pay for. He is known all over the county and state and is universally respected.
JULIUS E. MEINHART .- A recent acquisition to the substantial business element of Webb City, Missouri, is found in the proprietor of the largest greenhouse in Jasper county, Julius E. Meinhart, who pur- chased the Brenneman green-houses here in the early part of 1910.
Mr. Meinhart is a native of Chicago, Illinois, born August 20, 1869, though he was reared in Kansas, to which state his parents moved at the time of the great Chicago fire. His father, Ernest M. Meinhart, a German by birth. immigrated to this country in 1855 and settled in Chicago, where he made his home until his removal to Kansas. He married in Chicago, in November, 1868, Miss Minnie Mueller, also a native of Germany, and they became the parents of six children. On the removal of the family to Kansas the father found employment as stage-driver, and followed this line of work for several years. Later he turned his attention to the wall paper and painting trade, and estab- lished a store in Atchison, which he conducted up to the time of his death, November 19, 1908.
At Atchison Julius E. grew to manhood, receiving his education in
A . E. Afewchart
THE NEW! NO TIPLIC LINDAS
TVY LENE
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the public schools and the Monroe Institute. Leaving school at the age of eighteen, he went to Omaha, Nebraska, and entered the employ of the S. A. Orchard Carpet Company, with which he remained only about nine months. Drapery work and hanging shades not being to his lik- ing, he sought other employment and engaged as traveling salesman for a paint and wall paper house, and for twelve years was on the road, traveling out of Chicago as representative for the Lartz Wall Paper Company and the Coit Manufacturing Company. Twelve years of this time he made his home at Leavenworth, Kansas, having a southwestern territory. Next he entered the retail wall paper and painting business, at Leavenworth, in which he was engaged for several years. From that he turned to the cut-flower business. He remained in Leavenworth un- til February, 1910, when he came to Webb City and purchased the Brenneman greenhouse plant. This establishment is the largest of its kind in the county. It has seven greenhouses, and fifty thousand feet of glass, and in addition to its main office at Webb City, it maintains a retail establishment at 408 Main street, Joplin, Missouri. Its product is shipped to all parts of the United States.
Mr. Meinhart is identified with numerous fraternal organizations, including the following: Elks, Eagles, Maccabees, Fraternal Aid, Knights and Ladies of Security, Germania Society, and Webb City Commercial Club. He has never been active in politics, but has always kept himself thoroughly posted on the issues of the day, and is classed with the Independents.
On June 30, 1890, at St. Joseph, Missouri, he married Miss Mar- garet Foster, a native of Kansas and a daughter of F. W. Foster. Mrs. Meinhart died at Leavenworth, November 18, 1900, leaving two chil- dren : Ruth, born in Atchison, May 13, 1893, and Foster, in Leavenworth, September 28, 1897. Mr. Meinhart is a member of the Lutheran church.
R. A. MOONEYHAM .- The bar of Jasper county, Missouri, is adorned with the names of many able and brilliant men, and among those prom- inent and favorably known is Robert A. Mooneyham, who has been identified with Carthage since October, 1899. His standing as a lawyer was stamped with approval by his election to the office of prosecuting attorney at the November election in 1900. At the end of the term he opened an office in Carthage and has since been engaged in the prac- tice of law.
By the circumstance of birth Mr. Mooneyham is an Illinoisan, his eyes having first opened to the light of day at Benton, Franklin county, Illinois, the date of this event being September 5, 1869. However, the decade and more of his residence in this state has served to make of him one of the most loyal of adopted sons. Mr. Mooneyham is a son of T. M. Mooneyham, likewise a native of Benton, Franklin county, Illinois, and at the present time an honored citizen and a lawyer in active practice, at Berryville, Arkansas. The mother, whose maiden name was Mary Frances Threlkeld, is a native of Kentucky, and is of Scotch descent.
Mr. Mooneyham received his preliminary education in the public schools of Benton and when a youth he decided to follow in the pa- ternal footsteps in the matter of a vocation. He receievd his profes- sional training in the law department of Wesleyan University, at Bloom- ington, Illinois, and was graduated with the class of 1892. In associa- tion with his father he began the practice of law at Benton in the same year and the following year removed to Belleville, St. Clair county, Illi- nois, where he entered the professional lists independently. He proved successful in an unusually short time, and a year later was elected dean
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of the law department of McKendree College, at Lebanon, Illinois, and continued in this position for two years. Although successful as a pro- fessor, he preferred the actual practice of the law to dealing solely with its theories, and he resigned to return to Belleville again to open an office. In October, 1899, he removed with his family to Carthage, Missouri. He very soon made his presence felt in Carthage and at the November elec- tion in 1900 he was elected prosecuting attorney. At the end of his term he continued the practice, having his office at Carthage.
Mr. Mooneyham was married, May 15, 1896, to Miss Betty Stookey, of Belleville, Illinois. They share their hospitable and delightful home with two sons, Daniel, aged twelve, a student in the Carthage high school, and John, aged three. Mr. Mooneyham is a loyal Democrat, having sup- ported the policies and principles of the party since his earliest voting days.
ERNEST H. BAIRD, M. D., 409 West Second street, Webb City, Mis- souri, has been identified with the medical profession of this place since 1904, and is recognized today as one of the its leading practitioners.
Dr. Baird is a native of Missouri. He was born at Marionville, Law- rence county, August 31, 1879, one of the seven children of Edward Houston Baird and Sarah Jane (Bracken) Baird, the former a native of Ohio and the latter of Pennsylvania. His ancestors, both paternal and maternal, were Scotch-Irish, and his great-grandparents Baird and Braeken on coming to this country made settlement in Pennsylvania. Grandfather Baird was among the pioneers of Ohio, and it was from the "Buckeye state," about 1849, that Edward Houston Baird came to Missouri and settled at Marionville. He was a Methodist minister, and his life was devoted to the work of the ministry and to educational work. He was one of the founders of the Marionville Collegiate Institute, in which he was a teacher for a number of years, until about 1885. Also for a number of years he had charge of the American Bible Society's work in southwestern Missouri. IIe died at the age of seventy-eight years. His wife, who was a native of Johnstown, Pennsylvania, and was a resi- dent of that place during the flood, died at the age of fifty-eight years, in Marionville, Missouri. Of the seven children composing their family, three are physicians and one, Archie M., is a lawyer, at this writing being city attorney of Cartersville.
Ernest H. Baird is next to the youngest in his father's family, and he is a graduate of the collegiate institute which his father helped to found. Like many ministers and college professors, the senior Baird had limited means, and it was necessary for his sons to earn their way while they pursued their studies. Ernest II. worked his way through college, graduating in 1898, after which he went to Beatrice, Nebraska, and spent one year in the office of his brother, Dr. Charles W. Baird. The following year he entered the Homeopathic Medical College of Mis- souri, where he graduated April 9, 1903. Immediately thereafter he began the practice of his profession in St. Louis, Missouri, where he remained, however, only one year, and since 1904 he has conducted a general practice in medicine and surgery at Webb City, meeting with marked success in his field of labor here.
Politically the Doctor is a Republican, active and enthusiastic, and is what may be termed a "stand-patter." In 1905 he was appointed county physician for the central district, and the following year was the choice of his party for the office of county coroner. At the expira- tion of a term of two years he was re-elected for a four-years' term, and he is now the incumbent of this office. Also he is register of vital sta- tisties, this being a state office.
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Dr. Baird is a member of the Nebraska State Pharmaceutical Asso- ciation, the Jasper County Medical Society and the Missouri State Med- ical Association. He is civil service examiner, and examining physician for a number of fraternal organizations, including the following : Knights and Ladies of Security, Modern Woodmen of America, Woodmen of the World, and other insurance companies. Also he is a Mason of high rank, having received the degrees of both the York and Scottish Rites, and belongs to Webb City lodges of Elks. His creed is that of the Methodist Episcopal church, in which he was reared.
On March 26, 1903, at St. Louis, Dr. Baird and Miss Bessie May Spafford were married, and to them have been born two children, but the elder, Ernest Houston, Jr., died when only fourteen days old. Eliz- abeth Arlyne was born at Webb City, March 16, 1909. Mrs. Baird is a native of this state and a daughter of I. J. and Elizabeth Spafford.
AMOS H. CAFFEE, JR .- Whether the elements of success in life are innate attributes of the individual, or whether they are quickened by a process of circumstantial development, it is impossible clearly to de- termine. Yet the study of a successful life is none the less profitable by reason of the existence of this uncertainty and in the majority of cases it is found that exceptional ability, amounting to genius, perhaps, was the real secret of the pre-eminence which many envied. So it appears to the student of human nature who seeks to trace the history of the rise of Amos HI. Caffee, Jr., a typical American of the best class. He is yet a young man but has achieved a success that many an older res- ident might envy. Mr. Caffee is conducting the Owners' Garage Com- pany at Carthage, where he has lived during the major portion of his life thus far and where he is accorded recognition as one of the most en- terprising and energetic business men of the younger generation.
Amos Henry Caffee, Jr., was born at Carthage, Missouri, on the 23d of May, 1886, and he is a son of Dr. Amos H. Caffee, who long held distinctive prestige as a physician and surgeon of note in Jasper county. Dr. Caffee was a native of Newark, Ohio, where his birth occurred in the year 1834, and he was a son of M. M. and Elizabeth (Warden ) Caffee, the former of whom was born and reared in Pennsylvania and the latter in the old commonwealth of Virginia. The doctor was reared and educated in the old Buckeye state of the Union, his preparation for the medical profession having been obtained under the able preceptor- ship of Dr. J. N. Wilson, of Newark, Ohio. Subsequently he attended a course of lectures in Cincinnati, Ohio. In 1857, after Dr. Caffee had been lieensed to practice medicine, he came to Jasper county, Missouri, where he made permanent location some two years later. He was en- gaged in the active practice of his profession in the western part of this county until after the inception of the Civil war. After the battle of Pea Ridge he went to Cassville, Missouri, where he served as assistant surgeon in an hospital. At the organization of the First Arkansas Cav- alry he was commissioned its surgeon and he continued the able incum- bent of that position until January, 1864, when he was transferred to the general hospital at Fort Smith, Arkansas. In the spring of 1864 he was promoted to the position of surgeon of the Thirteenth Kansas Infantry, continuing as such until the close of the war. He was mus- tered out of service at Fort Leavenworth, Kansas, in July, 1865.
Shortly after the close of the war and when peace had again been established throughout the country Dr. Caffee returned to Jasper county, where he ever afterward maintained his home and where his co-opera- tion in all matters projected for the well being of the community and county at large were of the most insistent order. In the spring of 1866.
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in partnership with J. W. Young, he established the first drug store in Jasper county. In 1870 he abandoned the practice of medicine and, purchasing the interest of his partner in the drug store, conducted the business, his establishment being one of the best equipped and most modern concerns of its kind in this section of the state. In 1898 he organized the Caffee Drug Company, of Joplin, and embarked in the wholesale drug business, conducting a tremendous business, which is handled by a number of traveling salesmen. In 1890 Dr. Caffee was one of the organizers of the Central National Bank of Carthage, of which substantial monetary institution he was president at the time of his death, having been incumbent of that position for twenty years. In addition to his other interests he was the owner of a great deal of val- uable city real estate at Carthage. In May, 1867, was solemnized the marriage of Dr. Caffee to Miss Lacie A. Burham, of Washington, Iowa. This union was prolific of four daughters and two sons, concerning whom the following brief data are here incorporated : The oldest ehild, Warden, died at the age of twelve years; Edna C. is the wife of W. H. S. Brown, a pharmacist at Carthage; Jessie is the wife of J. P. Newell, a real-estate dealer at Carthage; Flora C., who is now Mrs. W. W. Wright; Amos H., who is the immediate subject of this review; and Lacie B. Dr. Caffee was very prominent in Masonic circles in Jasper county, having passed through the circle of the York Rite branch and being a member of the lodge, chapter and commandery. He served as mayor of Carthage on two different occasions and was also the efficient incumbent of the office of county treasurer, acquitting himself with honor and distinction in discharging the duties of both offices. The foregoing facts are sufficient evidence concerning Dr. Caffee's promi- nent position in the business and political world of Carthage and Jasper county, so that further remarks in that connection at this point would be superfluous. However, it may be stated that in addition to being a splendid type of the best American citizenship he was genial and kindly in all his associations and was highly honored and deeply beloved by all with whom he has had dealings. He passed to the higher life October 23, 1908
Amos H. Caffee, Jr., whose name forms the caption for this article, was educated in the public schools of this city and in Carthage College. Subsequently he attended the Ohio Mechanical Institute, at Cincinnati, Ohio, in which excellent college he was graduated as a member of the class of 1908. After completing his collegiate course he returned to Carthage, where he immediately engaged in the automobile business. opening up an agency for the Chalmers, Hudson and Rio cars. This enterprise was known under the name of the Bryant & Caffee Garage and it continued business as such for a period of six months, at the ex- piration of which Mr. Caffee disposed of his interest therein and launched out into the automobile business on his own responsibility. He is now the manager of the Owners' Garage Company, where was incor- porated under the laws of the state of Missouri in 1910, with a capital stock of five thousand dollars. This is one of the principal garages in the county and it controls a very extensive business. Mr. Caffee is a young man of keen perception and unusual executive ability. He has gained wide recognition for his fair and honorable dealings and is everywhere accorded the unalloyed confidence and esteem of his fellow citizens.
He is a valued and appreciative member of the Automobile Associa- tion of Carthage, is affiliated with the Road Club and in his political convictions is a stalwart advocate of the principles and policies promul- gated by the Republican party. He has not as yet had aught of time or
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ambition for political preferment of any description but nevertheless, manifested a deep and sincere interest in all matters affecting the gen- eral welfare. He is specially fond of out-of-door life, is a fine sportsman and an all-round good fellow, being popular with and amongst all elasses and conditions of people. In his religious affiliations he is a consistent member of the Protestant Episcopal church, in whose faith he was reared, and to whose good works he is a liberal contributor. Mr. Caffee is not married.
I. C. WHEELER BUILDING MATERIAL AND FUEL COMPANY .- The his- tory of this fine, enterprising and successful business institution is but a repetition of the oft-told tale of American manhood triumphant over difficulties by force of character, steady growth from a small beginning to large development, and satisfactory service to the public through the application of all possible means to render it. Handling coal and wood; red press, buff, building and fire brick; and fire clay, sand, sewer pipe and drain tile, the company does a very large business, and takes rank as one of the leading industrial and mercantile factors in the trade life of Carthage, where its principal offices and yards are located, occupying the corner of Eldorado and Meridian streets.
The business was started by Isaac C. Wheeler, who was born in North Carolina in 1844. In early life he was a planter and fariner, but after the close of the Civil war, when all the resources of the South were devastated and all the industries were seriously crippled, he learned the brick masons' trade, and also did business as a contractor. The undeveloped West seemed to him a better field for his operations than his native state, and soon after the war he came to Missouri and located at Carthage. Here he worked at his trade and did considerable building on contracts, erecting some of the most substantial and impos- ing structures in the town.
His experience in these lines of endeavor showed him the necessity for a better and more accessible supply of building material, and the opportunity for conducting a large business in it. He therefore turned his attention to that line of commodities and at once gave it a wider range in variety and a higher standard of excellence. He succeeded in his undertaking from the start, and accumulated a comfortable com- petency from it.
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