USA > Missouri > Jasper County > A history of Jasper County, Missouri, and its people, Vol. II > Part 5
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A native of the fine old Empire state of the Union. Mr. Boyd was born in Oswego county, New York, on the 17th of January, 1864. He is a son of George and Elizabeth Boyd, both of whom were likewise born and reared in New York. When the subject of this review was a child of but three years of age his parents migrated to Missouri, loeat- ing on a farm near Maple Grove, in Jasper county. The father, who was one of the pioneer settlers in this section of the state, was engaged in farming during the remainder of his life and he was summoned to the life eternal in 1868. The sudden death of the father broke up and scattered the family and subsequently the mother died in St. Louis county, whither she had gone to reside with a son and daughter. Her demise occurred in 1886.
The youngest child in a family of seven children, H. T. Boyd re- ceived his early educational training in the public schools of Jasper county. At the early age of thirteen, however, he was thrown upon his own resonrees and at that time he assumed the active responsibilities of life as a farm laborer in the employ of Fayette Veeley, near Maple
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Grove. In 1880, at the age of sixteen years, he entered into a partner- ship alliance with his brother, Larue Boyd, and together they rented a farm near Maple Grove, continuing to operate the same for the ensuing two years. The next two years were spent in threshing and other farm work and in 1884 Mr. Boyd invested his savings in a tract of forty acres of land near Maple Grove, the same forming the nucleus for his future fortune and present large holdings. This venture afforded him a convenient and safe place to invest his savings for some time. Up to 1896 he rented a number of different farms and in that year he tem- porarily gave up farming and went to Indianapolis, Indiana, where he was in the employ of a specialty concern for the ensuing three years. The saving spirit actuated him, while in Indianapolis, to send his con- siderable earnings back to Jasper county to be invested in land in the neighborhood of his old home. Just prior to going to the old Hoosier state he inherited an estate of eighty acres in Jasper county from an aunt. Returning to Missouri, in 1899, he turned his attention to wheat- growing, in which connection he achieved wonderful success. With the passage of time he purchased additional tracts of land and eventu- ally he was the owner of three hundred and twenty acres in Lincoln township. In 1907 he bought a tract of forty acres at Maple Grove, where he erected a beautiful, modern residence and where he has since elected to maintain the family home. For one year he was engaged in the mercantile business at Maple Grove but finally he disposed of his establishment to Bud Simmons, receiving in exchange therefor some valuable Red Oak property. On the 1st of September, 1905, he in- vested considerable capital in a threshing outfit, which he operated for a period of two years. Trading that, he again became interested in the general merchandise business at Maple Grove, enlarging his place of business and carrying a much larger stock than formerly. In 1910 he disposed of the store for Kansas farm lands, which, in turn, he traded for the Robb Wilson farm, an estate of two hundred and forty acres half a mile east of Maple Grove. At the present time his holdings amount to eight hundred acres of some of the very best farming prop- erty in Jasper county. Mr. Boyd is engaged in general farming and the raising of high-grade stock and as a citizen and business man he commands the high regard of his fellow men as a result of his strictly fair and honorable dealings.
At Maple Grove, in the year 1885, was celebrated the marriage of Mr. Boyd to Miss Elizabeth Alice Bye, who was born in Jay county, Indiana, and is a daughter of Dr. D. M. Bye, a prominent physician and surgeon at Fort Scott, Kansas. This union has been prolific of three children. Arthur H., whose birth occurred on the 29th of Decem- ber, 1888, married Louise Hall and they are the parents of two children, Wilma and Mildred. They reside at Maple Grove. Ilean May, born on the 2d of October, 1895, and Bernice, born on the 7th of May, 1909, are both at the parental home, the former being a pupil in the Maple Grove schools.
Religiously the Boyd family are devout members of the Methodist Episcopal church at Maple Grove, and they are most active and zealous factors in connection with all charitable matters projected in this community. In politics Mr. Boyd is a strong adherent of the cause of the Republican party. He has never had time for active participation in local politics but he has never been found lacking in that loyalty and public-spirit which characterize every true-hearted American. The greater portion of his time is devoted to his business affairs, which have now assumed gigantic proportions and his spare time is passed at his home fireside in the companionship of his family and many personal
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friends. He is a man of great kindliness of spirit and generous im- pulses, one whose charity knows only the bounds of his opportunities. Through extensive reading and association with men of affairs, Mr. Boyd has become a man of broad information and remarkable mentality.
SAMUEL L. ZANE .- As one of the earlier members of the city car- rier force of Carthage, Missouri, Samuel L. Zane has rendered efficient service as a Government employe for upwards of twenty years, during which time he has become well acquainted with his fellow-citizens, and through his fidelity to his duties, his promptness and his pleasant and genial manners has won a host of friends, being very popular with the patrons along the route through which he so frequently traverses. A native of Illinois, he was born in 1861, in Menard county, about six- teen miles west of Springfield, the capital city.
His father, James S. Zane, was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, and in his early life spent a number of years in Illinois. From there he came with his family, in 1869, to Missouri, locating in Jasper county, where he engaged in agricultural pursuits for a time. He lived in Carthage five years and then returned to the farm, where his death occurred in 1883. He married Rachel M. Purvines, who was born in Sangamon county, Illinois, and they became the parents of four children, as follows: Samuel L., the special subject of this sketch; John N., of Kansas City, Missouri ; Frank H., who lives in Sheridan township ; and Mrs. Mollie Kmentzer, of Pawnee. Oklahoma. A man of great in- telligence and ability, Mr. James S. Zane became prominent in local affairs, and from 1872 until 1874 served as sheriff of Jasper county. He was a member of the Ancient Free and Accepted Order of Masons, and past master of his lodge.
Brought up on the home arm near Carthage, Samuel L. Zane acquired his early education in the public schools, and when ready to begin the battle of life on his own account entered the employ of the McCormick Machine Company, with which he was connected as sales- man and solicitor for some time, being very successful in his work. On August 10, 1890, Mr. Zane was appointed city carrier for Carthage, and for several months after assuming the position delivered mail throughout the city on horseback, in this way traveling about four thousand, eight hundred miles a year in covering his daily route. As the city has grown, the carrier force has been increased, the use of horses in the delivering of mail has been discontinued within the city limits, and various other changes in the system have been made.
Mr. Zane married, May 22, 1907, Mary B. Gladden, who was born in Pennsylvania, a daughter of B. J. Gladden, and their pleasant home on Cooper street is the center of a generous hospitality, their many friends and acquaintances ever finding a warm welcome at their fire- side. Politically Mr. Zane is a Republican, and fraternally he belongs to Carthage Lodge, No. 14. Knights of Pythias. Mrs. Zane is a member of the Presbyterian church.
DAVID E. BLAIR .- Judge Blair, who is presiding with marked efficiency on the bench of the circuit court of Jasper county, has gained prestige as one of the representative legists and jurists of this section of the state and holds commanding place in the confidence and esteem of the community, which has been the stage of his activities during his entire professional career. He is one of the progressive and public- spirited citizens of the city of Joplin, where he has an attractive home, and it is interesting to record that this also is the home of his parents, while his father likewise is one of the honored and essential represen-
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tative members of the bar of Jasper county. The family is one long founded in the United States, its record being rich in soldiers, patriots, statesmen and the like, and more of it will be given in succeeding para- graphs.
Judge Blair claims the Sunflower state as the place of his nativity and has well exemplified the progressive spirit of the west. He was born at Salina, the judicial center of Saline county, Kansas, on August 16, 1874, and is a son of Edgar W. and Emma McClure Blair. Judge Blair is indebted to the public schools of his native eity for his early educational discipline, which was effectively supplemented by a course of study in Wesleyan University, located in Salina, the eity of his birth. In preparation for his chosen profession he entered the Kansas Uni- versity Law School in the city of Lawrence, Kansas, in which he was graduated as a member of the class of 1899 and from which he received his well-earned degree of Bachelor of Laws. He was admitted to the bar of the state of Kansas in June, 1899, at the time of his graduation, and in September following he secured admission to the bar of Missouri, upon establishing his home at Joplin. In this city he initiated the work of his profession in association with the firm of Galen & A. E. Spenser, whose prncipals had secured high place at the local bar, and later he entered into a professional partnership with Honorable Perl D. Decker, after whose withdrawal from the firm he became associated in practice with his honored father, this alliance continuing until his elevation to the eireuit bench.
Judge Blair soon proved his admirable equipment for the work of his chosen calling and his professional novitiate was therefore of com- paratively brief duration. He gained reputation as a skillful and versatile trial lawyer and in 1903-4 he served as assistant prosecuting attorney, under Andrew H. Redding. His successful work in this position and his personal popularity soon marked him for higher official honors in the gift of the voters of the county, and in 1908 he was eleeted to the beneh of the circuit court, as the candidate on the Republican ticket. His rulings on the bench have been marked by true judicial acumen and have also given evidence of his broad and aecurate knowledge of law and precedent. His term of office will ex- pire on the 1st of January, 1915.
Well fortified in his opinions as to matters of public polity and known as a man of broad and liberal views, Judge Blair accords a stanch allegiance to the Republican party, of whose principles and policies he is an effective advocate, and as a citizen he is loyal and pub- lic-spirited in every way. In the time-honored Masonic fraternity he has become affiliated with the Scottish rite bodies, in which he holds membership in Fellowship Lodge, No. 345, Ancient Free and Accepted Masons, in Joplin. He is a valued member of the Commercial Club, one of the representative civie organizations of his home eity. Both he and his wife are popular factors in connection with the best social affairs of the community and their circle of friends is coincident with that of their acquaintance.
On the 1st of May, 1902, was solemnized the marriage of Judge Blair to Miss Nellie Henley, daughter of D. W. and Myra Henley, well known citizens of Joplin. Mrs. Blair is a native of Joplin and was accorded the best of educational advantages, so that she proves a most gracious chatelaine of the attractive family home, whose hospitality is generous and unostentatious. Judge and Mrs. Blair have two chil- dren,-Henley, who was born on July 23, 1903. and Mabel, who was born on September 24, 1906.
Edgar W. Blair, father of the subject, was born in Yellow Springs Vol. II-3
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township, Des Moines county, Iowa, May 12, 1847. He was educated in the district school of that county and subsequently entered Man- hattan College, following this with two years experience as a teacher. In 1870 he entered the United States civil service in the interior de- partment and was stationed at Junction City at first and subsequently to Salina, Kansas. He continued in the service twelve years, in the meantime studying law and in 1883 was admitted to the bar, beginning his practice in Wakeeney, Trego county, Kansas. Later he served two years as prosecuting attorney in Salina county, Kansas. In 1903 he came to Joplin and has been in practice here ever since. He was mar- ried in 1872 to Emma A. MeClure, a native of Columbus, Ohio. and
a daughter of William and Cynthia (Evans) MeClure, natives of Penn- sylvania and settlers in Louisa county. Lowa. Mr. and Mrs. E. W. Blair have reared four sons,-David, William, Herbert and Sumner. William and Herbert are Presbyterian ministers, now engaged in mis- sionary work in Corea. Sumner is an electrician. Edgar W. Blair is one of the sterling and able members of the bar of Jasper county and he maintains a beautiful home in Joplin, which is a center of gracious hospitality under the direction of Mrs. Blair, a woman of cul- ture and refinement. They are zealous members of the Presbyterian church and the father has long been an earnest and effective advocate of the principles and policies for which the Republican party stands sponsor.
CHARLES E. ELLIOTT .- Judge Elliott has maintained his home in Jasper county for more than two score years, and few have been more prominently and worthily identified with the civie and industrial devel- opment and upbuilding of this section of the state. He came to Mis- souri fifty-three years ago, when a young man, and here his record has been marked by large and definite achievement along normal lines of enterprise, the while he has stood exemplar of the highest type of civic loyalty and has wielded much influence in public affairs, especially those of a local order. A native son of England, it was his to show his loyalty to the land of his adoption when the integrity of the nation was men- aced by armed rebellion and in the elimacterie period culminating in the Civil war he was one of the few men in southwestern Missouri who stanehly and fearlessly opposed secession, and was implacable in his atti- tude toward the institution of human slavery. It can well be under- stood that at this time his opinions, freely voiced, gained him the ani- mosity of the majority of his neighbors in Missouri, and he was liter- ally compelled to leave his home or sacrifice his life. He subordinated all other considerations to his loyal zeal and gave valiant and faithful service as a soldier of the Union. In evidence of his sterling character it is not necessary to say more than that many of those men who were his bitterest enemies when he boldly opposed the cause of the Confed- eracy just prior to the outbreak of the war became in later years among the stanchest in his cirele of friends. Now venerable in years, Judge Elliott is living virtually retired in his attaetive home in Oronogo, and he has not only been one of the most influential factors in the upbuild- ing of this village but also of the eity of Joplin, of which it may eon- sistently be said he was one of the founders, having been one of five who bought the land and laid out the town and the only one of the five now alive. No citizen of Jasper county holds more secure place in pop- ular regard, and it is but in justice due that in this publication definite recognition be accorded him.
Judge Charles B. Elliott was born at Morwinstown. Devonshire. England, on the 28th of December, 1833, and is a seion of one of the
C. E. Ellis
THE
TILD OF
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old and honored families of that section of the "right little, tight little isle." He is a son of John and Mary (Trick) Elliott, both of whom passed their entire lives in Devonshire, where the father followed the vocation of a farmer during the major part of his active career. Judge Elliott is indebted to the private or pay schools of his native land for his early educational discipline, which has been effectively supplemented by the lessons gained in the broad school of experience, and as a youth he served an apprenticeship at the trades of shoemaking and harness- making, in each of which he became a skilled workman. In 1853, when nineteen years of age, he severed the gracious ties that bound him to home and fatherland and set forth to seek his fortunes in America. He first located in the province of Ontario, Canada, where he remained until 1856, when he came to Missouri and engaged in the work of his trade at St. Charles. In the following year he made his first visit to Jasper county, and remained a short time at Carthage, but he estab- lished his home at Neosho, the judicial center of Newton county, where he built up a prosperous business in the manufacturing of shoes and harness and where he also operated a tannery, principally for the sup- plying of stock used by him in his manufacturing. This section of the state was the stage of virulent contentions when it became evident that the nation was to be plunged into civil war, and Judge Elliott was one of only seven men in his home county to have the temerity to vote for Abraham Lincoln for the presidency in 1860. Being fearless and out- spoken and sincerely opposed to the secession of the Southern states, Judge Elliott found his position one of unpleasant order at the out- break of the war. His opinions caused his life to be threatened by Con- federate sympathizers in his home community. and soon after war was declared he was visited by a committee, which peremptorily gave him the option of leaving the county within five days or otherwise of en- listing in the Confederate army. His refusal to comply with either one or the other of these conditions would, it was gravely stated, be fol- lowed by his death by hanging. The captain of a Confederate company that had been organized in the locality secured for him an extension of penalty, in setting a limitation of thirty days within which to make his decision. On the twenty-eighth day, in company with another Union man, he left Neosho and by this action sacrificed completely his worldly possessions in the town. The two refugees made their way to Ft. Scott. Kansas, and within fifteen minutes after his arrival Judge Elliott had enlisted as a private in the Union ranks. He became a member of Com- pany C, Sixth Kansas Volunteer Infantry, and with this gallant com- mand he continued in active service for three years and seven months. compassing practically the entire period of the great conflict through which the integrity of the nation was perpetuated. It is worthy of record at the present time that Judge Elliott is only one of two men re- siding in southwestern Missouri who lived and voted for Lincoln in 1860, and the other is Mr. Gillett, a well known resident of Joplin. When he left Neosho to enter the Union service Judge Elliott was pre- sented with a gold watch, which was given to him by his former part- ner, Judge Morse, who passed the closing years of his life at Rolla, this state. This watch has been carried by Judge Elliott during the long intervening period of fully half a century and is one of his most valued treasures. While a soldier of the Union he assisted in the capture of some of the men who had given him naught but obloquy and insult when he stood forth in defense of his honest convictions and opposed the dis- solution of the Union, and he recalls many interesting episodes in con- nection with his association with these men at that time and in later
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years. One of the number, Benjamin Ellis, to whom he owed the pres- ervation of his life on one occasion, eventually became a clerk in his store at Oronogo, where he continued to be thus associated with the Judge until he died, venerable in years, he having been for many years one of the stanchest friends and most valued employes of Judge Elliott.
Judge Elliott participated in the engagement at Prairie Grove, to which point he had been sent by General Blunt, in company with six other men, to bear a message to General Hering, who was in the vicinity of Springfield at the time and who was urged to hasten to the assist- ance of Blunt's forces. Through his effective response to this call Her- ing gained his rank of major general. Judge Elliott was a participant in the conflict at Cane Hill, Arkansas, in November, 1862, at which the Lieutenant. Colonel Jewell of the Sixth Kansas Volunteer Cavalry was killed. Other noteworthy engagements in which he was actively con- cerned were those at Port Gibson, Newtonia and Saline River, and in the battle of Poison Spring, Arkansas, on the 18th of April, 1864, he was reported as killed. He had, however, given his horse to a wounded comrade, and after the engagement he succeeded in escaping into a swamp and finally made his way back to the Union lines. He received his honorable discharge at Ft. Leavenworth, Kansas, in 1865, and his record as a loyal and faithful soldier of the Union will ever lend honor to his name and his memory. His continued interest in his old com- rades in arms is signified by his active affiliation with the Grand Army of the Republic.
After the close of the war Judge Elliott engaged in the grocery busi- ness at Springfield, this state, but he soon afterward removed to Granby, Newton county, where he erected the first house to be built at that place after the war. There he continued to reside until 1867, when he came to Jasper county and established his home at. Oronogo, which was then a little mining town known as Minersville. Here he opened a gen- eral store and eventually built up a large and prosperous business to which he continued to give his personal supervision until 1893, when he sold the same and retired. He was at that time the oldest merchant in Jasper county in point of continuous business activity, and it is doubt- ful if there was another in this section of the state whose record equalled his in this line. In the meanwhile JJudge Elliot had been zealous in the support of all measures tending to advance the social and material wel- fare of his home town, and he has long been one of its honored and in- fluential citizens. In 1871 he also became associated with five others in the platting of the town of Joplin, and he has continued to be closely identified with its various interests, as he has aided materially in the upbuilding of this prosperous city. Though not interested in mining operations in a direct way, he has contributed to the development of this great industry in Jasper county and has received very appreciable roy- alties from mining operations conducted on lands belonging to him. Ile sold. on deferred payment, to the firm of Moffett & Sergeant the horse that ran the first pump that was put into commission in this now important mining district of the state, and he sold in the St. Louis market the first load of lead produced in the mines of Joplin. It will be recalled that in the early days the district was given over entirely to lead mining, and the exploiting of the great zine resources came later. Associated with Mr. Bowman, known as the "Flyman Dutchman," Judge Elliott purchased the first load of zine ore that was shipped to Collinsville. Illinois, but as the product had to be transported by wag- ons to the city of Sedalia, the nearest railroad point, the profits on the sale were of negative order. Prior to this lead had been shipped from
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the mines at Granby and other points to Boonville, on the Missouri river, for further transportation by water.
As a member of the school board of his home district Judge Elliott had charge of the erection of the first school house in Oronogo, and he served for twenty consecutive years as postmaster of the town, having been appointed to this office under the administration of President Grant and having retained the same until the election of President Cleveland, when his retirement naturally ensued. He is well fortified in his political convictions and has ever been aligned as a stalwart sup- porter of the cause of the Republican party, with which he has been identified during practically the entire period of its existence. In 1895 he was elected to represent Jasper county in the Lower House of the State Legislature, and evidence of his popularity in the county was given at this time, as his election was compassed in a district that has long been a Democratic stronghold. He served during two legislative sessions and proved a most efficient working member on the floor of the House and in the deliberations of the committee room. He was made chairman of the committee on mines and mining, and thus was able to do much to promote the best interests of his home county, whose mines have constituted its most important industry. While a member of the legislature he stood stanchly in support of the candidacy of Colonel Robert C. Kerens for election to the United States Senate, but when it became evident that the election of the Colonel could not be compassed he turned the Kerens forces over to the support of Major William Warner, who was elected. This action was taken by Judge Elliott only a half hour before the final adjournment of the legislature. He also put forth most vigorous and timely efforts for the securing of a state normal school in southwestern Missouri, being the father of the bill, and while he was successful in compassing this end he met with disappoint- ment in the locating of the school at Springfield instead of Jasper county. In 1895 he was elected presiding judge of the county court of Jasper county, and he continued to preside on this bench for two con- secutive terms, with marked ability and discrimination. Within his regime was completed the fine new court house a Joplin, and the one at Carthage, the other county seat, was erected. In the time-honored Ma- sonic fraternity Judge Elliott is affiliated with Mineral Lodge, No. 471, at Oronogo, of which he is a charter member, and his maximum affilia- tion is with Ascension Commandery, No. 39, Knights Templars, in the city of Joplin. He is helpfully interested in all churches.
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