USA > Missouri > Jasper County > A history of Jasper County, Missouri, and its people, Vol. II > Part 51
Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25 | Part 26 | Part 27 | Part 28 | Part 29 | Part 30 | Part 31 | Part 32 | Part 33 | Part 34 | Part 35 | Part 36 | Part 37 | Part 38 | Part 39 | Part 40 | Part 41 | Part 42 | Part 43 | Part 44 | Part 45 | Part 46 | Part 47 | Part 48 | Part 49 | Part 50 | Part 51 | Part 52 | Part 53 | Part 54 | Part 55 | Part 56 | Part 57 | Part 58 | Part 59 | Part 60 | Part 61 | Part 62 | Part 63 | Part 64 | Part 65 | Part 66 | Part 67 | Part 68 | Part 69 | Part 70 | Part 71 | Part 72 | Part 73 | Part 74 | Part 75
Of the union of Judge and Mrs. Willoughby nine children were born, five sons and four daughters, namely Warren L., E. Franklin, William G., J. Thomas, Elizabeth Morris, Frances K., Nora A., Myra J., and Joseph F., all of whom, with the exception of Elizabeth Morris, are residents of Jasper county. All of the children were given good educa- tional advantages, the Judge, who was one of the pioneer teachers of the county, realizing the value of a good knowledge of the common branches of study. Warren and William G. both taught school for up- wards of a quarter of a century. William G. married R. Reark, and they have ten children, six daughters and four sons, and of these three of the daughters, Etta L., Maude and Pauline, are successful teachers. William G. has served for fourteen years as justice of the peace, filling the position with credit to himself and to the honor of his constituents.
Receiving his first knowledge of books in the old log schoolhouse, having attended the first school taught there, E. Franklin Willoughby was taught to work while yet young, becoming familiar with the many branches of farming. Following the independent occupation to which he was reared, Mr. Willoughby now owns a well improved farm of eighty aeres in section nine, Union township, on which he has for twelve years made a specialty of raising ginseng and golden seal, a profitable erop, in the cultivation of which he is considered an authority, his study of the plants and their culture having been quite exhaustive. Mr. Willoughby is a whole-hearted, genial bachelor, free from the cares and trials of domestic life, and is a good Christian.
JOSEPH C. ASIL .- The prosperity of a section depends in great meas- ure upon its agricultural element and Jasper county, Missouri, is by no
E. F. Willoughby
911
HISTORY OF JASPER COUNTY
means an exception. One of the most prosperous and up-to-date of Jasper county farmers is Joseph C. Ash, whose seventy-seven acres of rich bottom land is under a high state of cultivation. The soil is par- ticularly adapted to strawberry growing and Mr. Ash raises in large quantities the lucious fruit which inspired one Dr. Boteler to say : "Doubtless God could have made a better berry, but doubtless God never did." Mr. Ash is one who uses the latest and most scientific methods in agriculture with success, and he is also a good citizen who concerns himself with the affairs of the community in an admirably public-spirited fashion.
By the circumstance of birth, Mr. Ash is a Pennsylvanian, his eyes having first opened to the light of day in Chester county, that state, De- cember 1, 1847. He is the son of Samuel and Sarah Ann Ash, both na- tives of the Keystone state. When about eight years of age the sub- ject accompanied his parents to Illinois and he resided beneath the par- ental roof-tree until about the age of twenty-five years. About the year 1871 the Ash family removed from Illinois to Missouri, locating in Law- rence county, where they secured a farm. Mr. Ash followed and for several months engaged as a farm hand and then rented a farm on shares. Subsequent to this he began farming on land owned jointly by himself, his wife and his parents. In 1876 he disposed of this property and re- moved to another farm, five miles north of Pierce City, taking up his residence thereon in the fall of the year. This was to prove the Ash home for many years, for the family resided there until 1901, in which year it was disposed of and the present fertile and advantageously sit- uated farm purchased. This adjoins the city limits of Sareoxie.
Mr. Ash was happily married November 18, 1875, to Miss Mary Percy Swan, daughter of the late William Swan and his wife, Ruth (Brite) Swan, both natives of Kentucky. Mrs. Ash is a Missourian born and bred. Their union has been blessed by the birth of six children, all of whom are living. Elmer, born August 16, 1877, is an engineer on the 'Frisco Railroad ; Maud, born July 24, 1879, is the wife of Arthur Billett. of Arizona; Stella, born September 16, 1883, Jessie, born October 18, 1886, William, born November 24, 1890, and Carolina, born November 29, 1895, are all at home.
The family are affiliated with the Baptist church and all the members enjoy popularity and esteem in the community in which their interests are centered.
NOAH A. MACKEY .- An exponent of the most admirable type of citi- zenship is Noah A. Mackey, treasurer of the Joplin Trust Company, whose services with that important concern, as with all others with which he has been identified, have proved of the most valuable and progressive order. Mr. Mackey is a true and loyal American and his ancestral rec- ord blooms with the names of numerous soldiers and patriots. He is a self-made man of the most pronounced sort, and previous to the as- sumption of his present high trust he gave enlightened service in educa- tional fields and just previous to his identification with Joplin was or- ganizer and cashier of the First National Bank of Jasper.
Mr. Mackey is a native son of Jasper county, his birth having oc- curred here April 11, 1871. His father, James Mackey, was a farmer and one of the pioneer settlers of Jasper county, his homestead farm having been the north half of section 14, township 30, range 30. When a young man he followed the trade of a blacksmith and he was a veteran of the Civil war, serving during the entire period of that great conflict. He was in sympathy with the cause of the Union and enlisted in a Mis- souri regiment, from which after four years of service he received his
912
HISTORY OF JASPER COUNTY
honorable discharge in Springfield, Missouri, in 1865. In all the time that he wore the blue he was never wounded or taken prisoner, although many times in the midst of shot and shell. His record included many of the most notable engagements. He was a man of the highest, stanch- est principle, and a patriot of the finest stamp, and although eligible to pension, he would never consent to make application for the same, de- spite the fact that he lost all his worldly goods in consequence of the war. He was a thorough philosopher and hopeful and optimistic through all the buffetings of fortune. He was a native of North Carolina, born in 1828, and he died in 1889. The mother of the subject, whose maiden name was Leah J. Mitchell, was, like her husband, a native of the Southland, her birth having occurred in Tennessee. She was sum- moned to her eternal rest in 1899. The first American Mackcy was a native of Scotland, who crossed the Atlantic to elaim his share of the proffered liberty and independence with a party of French Huguenots who settled in North Carolina during the early Colonial period. The maternal grandfather was born in England and came to this country in 1811, enlisting in the following year as a soldier in the war of 1812, and the descendants of this branch of the family have served in all the subsequent American wars. Three of Mr. Mackey's uneles carried a musket in the Mexican war and several of the Mackeys were in the Spanish-American war.
Noah A. Mackey received his elementary education in the district schools of Jasper county, subsequently entering the graded schools of Lamar. After finishing at the latter institution he entered the Normal School at Chillicothe, Missouri, finishing his education at the age of eighteen years. His first experience as a bread-winning factor in the world of affairs was in the capacity of a teacher in the public schools of Barton county, Missouri. His pedagogical career covered about a decade and four years of that period he was superintendent of the city schools of Liberal, Barton county, Missouri, to which office he was appointed in 1899. In further evidence of the high standing he en- joyed in the community in which he was best known he was made deputy county elerk of Barton county, and resigned that position to go to Jasper to assist in the organization of the First National Bank of that place. He then became the cashier of the new monetary institu- tion and remained in such capacity until 1909, when he removed to Joplin, to accept the secretaryship of the Joplin Trust Company. At the end of the first year he was made treasurer, which position he still fills.
Mr. Mackey is a force in Republican polities and at one time held the important office of chairman of the county central committee of Barton county. He has served as delegate to several state conventions and has ever evinced a readiness to do all that was honorable and in his power to advance the interests of "The Grand Old Party." Fra- ternally he belongs to the Woodmen of America and is also a member of the Commercial Club. In religious conviction he is Methodist Epis- copal. He is especially interested in Sunday-school work and is for- mer vice president of the Missouri Sunday school Association. He is now superintendent of the Sunday school of his church.
On August 23, 1897, Mr. Mackey established an independent house- hold by his marriage at Lamar, Missouri, his chosen lady being Amanda Byers, a native of the state and the daughter of James A. Byers. Two sons have been born to them : James Ernest was born at Lamar, Decem- ber 2, 1900: and Paul Howard was born at Jasper, February 2, 1905. Their home is one of the hospitable and attractive abodes of the city. Mr. Mackey enjoys the possession of a host of friends and the respect
913
HISTORY OF JASPER COUNTY
and admiration of those who know best his benevolence, altruism, prog- ressiveness, and all those other traits which make for the best of citi- zenship.
HENRY WEYMANN .- America has been likened to a great melting pot into which all the nations of the earth are cast in a constant tide of immigration, the result being the American citizen, virile, prog- ressive, with fine ideas of freedom and independence. It is generally acknowledged that one of the most desirable elements which enter into the great crucible is the German, our nation having everything to gain and nothing to lose from the assimilation of this brainy, honest and ad- mirable stock, which has given to the world so many of her greatest geninses.
To the Fatherland is Joplin indebted for one of her representative citizens, Henry Weymann, one of the most progressive and enterprising men identified with the local mining industry and one who has the dis- tinction of having been connected with the operation of the first zinc smelter built west of the Mississippi river and of shipping the first car load of zine ore from the mines west of the Mississippi river to the smelter.
Mr. Weymann was born in Osnabrück, Germany, October 22, 1846, the son of Johann Heinrich and Ida Weymann. He received his edu- cation in the Gymnasium at Osnabrück. In 1862 Henry Weymann, being through with the Gymnasium course, chose farming for his voca- tion and entered upon a two years' apprenticeship on the estate of Baron von Münchhausen Apelern in Hessia. In 1864 he took a posi- tion for one year volunteer on the large estates of Baron von Speerken, at Lüdersburg in Hanover, then in 1865 he took a position as assistant manager of the estate Calenberg, in Westphalia. The following year, 1866, soon after the battle of Langensalza, between the Hanoverians and the Prussians, where the former was beaten and Hanover annexed to Prussia, he was called into the service of the Prussian military. Mr. Weymann's certificate of passing through the Gymnasium entitled him to the privilege of serving as a one year volunteer, and also permitted him to select the branch of the army and garrison where he would like to do his necessary military service. He selected his home town, Osna- brück, joining the Sixteenth Infantry Regiment, made up of Prussians, and he with four others were the first five Hanoverians who joined this Prussian Regiment. Mr. Weymann entered the service as a private but after a few months' service was promoted to corporal, and later to second sergeant, and at the end of his year's service successfully passed an examination for an army officer.
In January, 1868, Mr. Weymann entered the Agricultural College at Osnabrück, to take up studies connected with farming, especially chemistry, when unexpectedly an offer was made him by Mr. A. W. Flohr, of St. Louis, who in company with Mr. F. W. Meister, of St. Louis, visited their old home in Germany, and while at Osnabrück called at the Agricultural College, where Mr. Weymann showed them the work being done by the students, in which Mr. Meister felt par- ticularly interested, having had a similar career as this while formerly in Europe. The offer to accompany them to St. Louis on their return to America in the fall he accepted, after getting the necessary permis- sion and leave of absence from the army.
Thus harkening to the call of broader opportunity and independence from America, he crossed the Atlantic, arriving in New York city No- vember 2, 1868, the day on which Ulysses S. Grant was elected to the presidency. He was greatly impressed by the enthusiasm and gayety.
914
HISTORY OF JASPER COUNTY
upon the streets, and the happy impression of the country which was to be his he never lost.
Through Mr. Flohr he secured employment with the Hesselmeyer Zinc Company of St. Louis, operated at Potosi, Missouri, and quite at the begining of his American career found himself transferred to southeastern Missouri, employed at the Zinc Smelter as before men- tioned. At that time the zine ore was obtained from old dumps of the lead mines in Washington county around Potosi, Missouri. Some of those mines were believed to date back to the old Spanish explorers.
The early smelting was frought with many difficulties, for instance, it being necessary to ship the fuel with which to operate the smelter, via St. Louis, from the coal mines of Illinois and when during the winter of 1868 the Mississippi river became frozen over and there being no bridge at that time across the river boats could not run, coal sup- plies at Potosi were exhausted and the plant had to be shut down. Mr. Weymann discerned the advantage of shipping the ore to the coal fields and advised moving the zine smelter nearer to the coal fields, as it takes about five tons of coal to smelt one ton of zinc ore. The Hesselmeyer Zine Company therefore discontinued zinc smelting at Potosi, Mis- souri.
In 1868 nearly all the spelter used in the United States was im- ported from Europe and was selling in New York at twelve cents a pound, at which price the Potosi metal was sold. But the process of smelting zine ore was very primitive and more wasteful than at present, so that when the prices of spelter gradually declined during the next ten years to seven cents a pound the smelters here thought that they could not compete any longer with Europe and some of them closed their plants.
George Hesselmeyer organized a new company at St. Louis to build a zine smelter at South St. Louis or Carondelet on the west banks of the Mississippi river. This company was known as the Missouri Zine Com- pany. In the meantime Mr. Weymann was left in charge of the old smelter at Potosi for the purpose of wrecking the plant and also looking after the company's mining business and the shipping of ore to the new smelter at Carondelet. Thus it happened that in 1869 Mr. Wey- mann had the distinction and honor of shipping the first car load of zine ore ever shipped from anywhere west of the Mississippi river, this car being shipped from the mines at Potosi to the smelter at Carondelet. In those early days of mining drybone (zinc ore) had been considered a waste or discard. Later in 1869 zine ore was also taken from the old dump piles of the Valley mines of St. Francis county, Missouri, and shipped by Mr. Weymann to Carondelet, who moved from Potosi, Mis- souri, to Polite on the St. Louis-Iron Mountain Railroad, and established there the shipping point for the ore from the Valley mines.
During the early spring of 1870 Henry Weymann made a pros- pecting trip through southern Missouri and northern Arkansas looking for zinc ore in the White river country near Batesville and Yellville, Arkansas, but found the country very rough and shipping facilities unsatisfactory, there being no railroads within fifty miles or more of the ore deposit.
In 1873, interested by the glowing report of the rich lead and zinc mines of southwest Missouri made by one of his former employes, Peter Coyle of Potosi, then at Joplin, who had traveled by wagon through southwestern Missouri, Mr. Weymann, in company with Firmen Desloge of Potosi, now a well known lead smelter man of St. Louis, and Don MeN. Palmer, then a mining man of Potosi, visited the Southwest Missouri Mining District, the Joplin and Granby mines.
915
HISTORY OF JASPER COUNTY
At Joplin these gentlemen saw the first zinc blende successfully mined, which is now the principal ore used for the production of spelter. They found the new mining district of Southwest Missouri very prom- ising indeed for mining lead and zinc ores. At the Granby mines these gentlemen were surprised to find such large quantities of zinc ore that had been for years thrown away with waste from the lead mines, the value of the zinc ore not having been known, and there being no demand for that kind of ore up to that time. Soon afterward Mr. George Hessel- meyer, learning of the large quantities of zinc ore at the Granby mines, asked permission of Henry T. Blow of St. Louis, the president of the Granby Mining and Smelting Company, to allow him to gather and ship a few carloads, about thirty tons of the ore, for an experiment to the zine smelter at Carondelet, which request was granted him. This first shipment of zinc ore proved satisfactory and thereupon the Mis- souri Zine Company made a contract with the Granby Mining and Smelting Company for a regular supply of zine ore for their plant at Carondelet.
Thereupon, in 1874, Mr. Weymann left the mining district of South- east Missouri and entered the Southwest Missouri mining field, loeating in Dade county, where he opened new zine mines, at Pemberton and at the MeGee Farm on Sack river, where he found zinc ore cropping out on the surface, and some of the ore among other rock was used for building a stone fence around part of the farm near the farm house. The hauling of the ore by wagon was more expensive than the mining, the distance from the 'Frisco Railroad to Dorchester Station being thirty-five miles. The mining of the ore was done in a very primitive way, mostly by open eut and near the surface above water level, no mining machinery being used.
During 1875 Mr. Weymann made his headquarters at Springfield, Missouri, and from there branched out his mining operations in the neighborhood of Springfield on James River and at Brookline in Greene county, Missouri, also having some prospect work done near Yellville and Dodd City in Marion county, Arkansas, but found hauling ore from there too expensive, it being about one hundred miles from the railroad at Springfield, at a cost of one cent a pound.
In November of 1876 Mr. Weymann located at Joplin, as ore buyer for the Martindale and Eddy Zine Company of St. Louis. There he met Messrs. Chris Guengerich, ore buyer for the Mathiessen-Hegeler Zinc Company of La Salle, Illinois, and John Immel, the ore buyer tor the Illinois Zinc Company, of Peru, Illinois, at that time the only other two zinc companies represented in this district, and it is indeed noteworthy that ever since, for the long period of thirty-five years, these three well known German gentlemen have continued in the zinc business as the pioneer ore buyers of the Joplin distriet and as promi- nent citizens of Joplin.
In 1878 Mr. Weymann entered the service of the Mathiessen-Hegeler Zine Company, of La Salle, Illinois, mainly for the purpose of making a zine ore prospecting trip through the southern states: Kentucky, Virginia, Tennessee and Carolina, passing through Memphis during the time of the yellow fever epidemie. The prospecting tour, however, did not prove of great advantage, the expenses connected with mining and shipping of the ore being too great, no railroads being near the ore deposits. Well pleased with Mr. Weymann's report, the Mathiessen- Hegeler Zine Company offered him on his return the position as ore buyer in the mining district east of Joplin, which he accepted.
Mr. Weymann, in 1879, tried a more independent venture. In com- pany with S. C. Edgar and Hugo Reichenbach, of St. Louis, he or-
916
HISTORY OF JASPER COUNTY
ganized a new zinc smelting company at Carondelet, changing its name and the brand of the spelter to Glendale, by which it is still known. The management of the smelting business was satisfactorily divided among the three gentlemen, Mr. Weymann supplying the ore, Mr. Ed- gar managing the smelting department and Mr. Reichenbach looking after the office. In the course of natural events, after running the plant for two years, the company decided to dissolve and close. Later in 1881 Mr. Weymann, in association with Hugo Reichenbach, O. F. and H. C. Meister, engaged in the zinc smelting at Collinsville, Illi- nois, in the midst of the coal field. This plant is still in existence but Mr. Reichenbach retired in 1882, and Mr. Weymann severed his con- nection with the Collinsville Zinc Company in 1907, after twenty-five years' service as its president.
In 1880, Henry Weymann associated with Chris Guengerich and Ferd de Stwolinsky, built the first concentrating plant at the Joplin mines being the third mill built in the Southwest Missouri mining dis- trict. The mill was located on the Porter land on East Seventh street, about six blocks east of main. Unable to find here a sufficient supply of ore for running the mill regularly, Mr. Weymann caused the same to be moved in 1881 from Joplin to Carterville, onto the Gaston and Company mine, where the cleaning of the ore by this mill proved very satisfactory and was the cause of erecting many other mills in various parts of the mining district.
In 1883 Mr. Weymann, at that time being the only ore buyer in the Joplin district for buying also silicate and carbonate of zinc ore as well as zine blende and lead ore, had his attention called to a peculiar look- ing rock out-cropping in the bed of a small ravine running from the little town of Alba to the nearby Spring river. On closer examination Mr. Weymann recognized the supposed rock to be carbonate of zinc, whereupon he leased the land of Mr. Fox at Alba and organized a small mining company for further prospecting and developing the land. This discovery resulted into the opening of the Alba mines, adding a new mining camp, the farthest north to the Joplin mining district. In this same year, 1883, Mr. Weymann commenced buying zinc ore for Southwest Lead and Zinc Company, a new zinc company composed partly of Joplin citizens, who erected a zinc smelter at Rich Hill, Mis- souri, at the coal mines located on the Missouri Pacific Railroad.
In connection with the buying of zinc ore Mr. Weymann was en- gaged also in the buying of lead ore at the different mining camps of the Southwest Missouri mining district, shipping the lead ore to the various smelting and refining companies located in the United States. He continued to be the heaviest lead ore shipper from this district for many years until 1906, when a general change was made in the operat- ing of the lead smelters.
Since 1906 this gentleman, who is one of the best known in this particular field, has devoted his attention principally to his extensive personal interest, owning a large amount of farming and mining land in this district. His public spirit has ever been such that he has proven an important factor in every campaign of improvement and has ac- complished much toward the betterment of local conditions.
An enumeration of his principal interests will better than anything else give an idea of Mr. Weymann's ability, executive capacity and of the important part he plays in the life of the section in which he has resided so many years. He has been a director in the Carterville Bank since its organization, and is now its vice president; president of the Joplin Theatre Company; is president of several mining companies; was in 1910 president of the Joplin Commercial Club; and is also in-
917
HISTORY OF JASPER COUNTY
terested in several other Joplin enterprises. He served with great pro- ficiency and initiative as a member of the committees of public improve- inents, always taking great interest in good roads, streets and high- ways and parks, and has been for several years and still is president of the Civil Improvement Association of Joplin.
Mr. Weymann has always shown great interest in the collecting of ore specimens of this mining distriet and has one of the best collee- tions of lead and zinc ore specimens and calcite crystals in the country.
In 1893 Mr. Weymann purchased of J. A. Johnson and Son their mining rights and claims to a mining lot on the M. L. Gray land lo- cated between Third and Fourth streets and Gray and Melvin avenue in the city of Joplin, and also secured the title to this land of M. L. Gray, of St. Louis, to preserve the large Cave lined with beautiful eal- cite crystals, the largest erystals known to be found anywhere in any country, therefore being of the greatest interest to geologists and min- eralogists, as well as any person taking any interest in such a wonder- ful formation and grand sight. The miners while working at the depth of about sixty-five feet below the surface on the run of lead and zinc ore, unexpectedly found, after firing a shot in the bottom of the drift, that the shot had broken through into a large opening filled al- most to the top with clear water, but on closer examination noticed the opening lined with beautiful large calcite crystals, of which they se- cured several nice specimens, offering them to Mr. Weymann, who is living on the corner of Fifth and Sergeant avenue, within four blocks of the crystal cave, and who had been buying the ore of then. After looking at this wonderful sight Mr. Weymann at onee took steps to have this large cave preserved by securing the title to the land, and agreeing with the owner of the adjoining town lot, under which a part of the cave extended, to join him in the preservation of the cave and allow no further mining in the immediate neighborhood of the same. This agreement was kept by Mr. Weymann, but the neighbor later on cut a passageway from his town lot into the part of the cave extending under and onto his property, in order to have the cave opened to the public in general for an admission fee by which he might gain a pecun- iary benefit. Mr. Weymann did not join in this undertaking, and re- grets that this cave has not been better protected from destruction of many of the rare and beautiful crystals found there at the time of the opening of the cave, which had been his desire and intention to pre- serve in its original state for the future generations.
Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.