USA > Missouri > Jasper County > A history of Jasper County, Missouri, and its people, Vol. II > Part 59
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WILLIAM LAWRENCE CALHOUN was born near Pittsburgh, Pennsyl- vania. His great-great-grandfather, James Calhoun, came to Amer- ica from the north of Ireland in 1770-71. This James was the great- grandson of Robert Calhoun (Colquhoun, qu silent), youngest son of Sir John Colquhoun of Luss, Scotland, who settled near Letterkenny, Donegal, Ireland, about 1640. Sir John Colquhoun descended in an unbroken line, minutely recorded, from Humphredus Kilpatrick, a Nor- man adventurer to whom the Colquhoun country was given by Alex- ander II. King of Scotland, in 1239, and who took the name of the land, which lies west of Loch Lomond.
The record of the Colquhoun settlement in Ireland on a grant of land made by James I of England (James VI of Scotland) is set forth in Hill's Plantation of Ulster.
James Calhoun landed at Philadelphia and went at once to the Scotch-Irish settlements in Lancaster county, where he had relations, uncles and cousins, since 1733. Within a year he married Eleanor Templeton, daughter of a Scotch-Irish pioneer. The young couple lived in Lancaster county for several years and two children, William and Samuel, were born there. Soon afterwards the mother died and the children were cared for by a neighbor family named Walker. After the outbreak of the Revolution James entered the service of his adopted country, first in a regiment of Cumberland County Militia in which he held a lieutenant's commission, and later in Captain Hugh MeClelland's company of rangers which operated against the savages in western Pennsylvania during the years 1780-81. Meanwhile the Walker family moved out to the frontier and settled in what is now Indiana county. Soon after this Mrs. Walker was left a widow with a family of Walker boys besides the two Calhoun boys to care for. Within a year James Calhoun and the widow, Mary Walker, were married. Other Calhoun boys were born,-John, in 1784, and Noah, in 1786. James Calhoun was a strict member of the Associate Presbyterian church, then called "Seceder" by those who opposed them. He is mentioned in early tax lists as farmer, schoolmaster and weaver. He was the first school- master in his part of the country.
John Calhoun, the oldest child of the second marriage, grew up in the faith of his father. He married Elizabeth, daughter of Jacob An- thony, a pioneer of German descent. She was a woman of strong in- dividuality. She did not think she and her husband ought to hold aloof from the only religious services held in their neighborhood merely because hymns instead of psalms were used at these services. But such things were life and death matters in those days. Finally the wife won. John became a Presbyterian and a founder of churches. He assisted in the organization of the Glade Run and Concord churches
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and the Glade Run Academy, all in Armstrong county, Pennsylvania. Together with Abel Findlay he organized what was probably the first Sabbath school west of the Alleghany mountains. There is yet in ex- istence an original list of questions prepared by John Calhoun for use in this Sabbath school. It is dated 1811. Technical theological ques- tions are handled with an easy familiarity that would be extremely dis- concerting to most present clergymen.
John Calhoun was lieutenant colonel of the One Hundred and Twenty- sixth Pennsylvania Regiment, taking part in the operations around Niagara in the war of 1812. His commission, signed by Governor Sny- der, is now possessed by the subject of this sketch. For many years he was associate judge of Armstrong county, commissioned by Governor Wolfe and Governor Porter.
Judge Calhoun and Elizabeth Anthony Calhoun had five sons and three daughters. The second son, William Johnston Calhoun, was born in 1809. He was a farmer, carpenter and cabinet maker. Many houses and barns and many pieces of old furniture in and around the "Cal- houn Settlement" in Armstrong county still testify to the thorough- ness of his craftsmanship. He married Mary Travis, the daughter of a neighbor. They had five children, two sons and three daughters.
The oldest, John Alexander Calhoun, father of the subject of this sketch, was born in Armstrong county, Pennsylvania, in 1834. Reared on a farm, he had the tastes and talents of a student. Educated at the Glade Run Academy, founded by his grandfather, and at Washington College, he first became a teacher. While yet in the early twenties he served as professor of Latin in the home academy and as superintendent of schools in Armstrong county. Soon afterwards he became a student of law in the office of his uncle, John Kirkpatrick Calhoun, member of congress from Kittanning district, but at the earnest solicitation of his mother he abandoned his legal studies to enter the ministry of the Presbyterian church. He became a disciple of Archibald Alexander Hodge at the then Western Theological Seminary, Alleghany, Pennsyl- vania. Here he displayed such remarkable logical and metaphysical power as to win the special attention of Dr. Hodge, who prononneed him the ablest of the hundreds of students he had known in England and America.
Rev. John Alexander Calhoun settled in Illinois, where he married Elizabeth Walker, daughter of Lawrence Walker and Nancy Roberts, who had come to Illinois from Kentucky. The Walkers were originally from the Mecklinburg neighborhood in North Carolina and were of Ulster Presbyterian stock. Ten children were born of this marriage and four grew to maturity. Elva (Mrs. T. T. Linkhart, Coleridge, Neh.), William L. (Carthage, Mo.) James H. (Carthage, Mo.) and John K. (Los Angeles, Cal.)
After a brief but fruitful ministry the father died in Iowa in 1880. By heroic exertions the mother held her family together until all the children were grown. Her later years, until her death, were spent with her son, the subject of this sketch.
William Lawrence Calhoun, born in Pennsylvania, came to Iowa with his parents at the age of four. Since then he has resided con- timmonsly in Iowa and Missouri, except three years spent in European study. Educated at first by his father, he was afterwards a student at St. Paul's School at Pahnyra, Missouri, and at Parsons College, Iowa, where he graduated in 1888. Immediately after graduation he came to Carthage, where for three years he served as professor of Latin and Greek in the (then) Carthage Collegiate Institute. Trained in music from childhood, he soon found in Carthage a strong demand for
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his services as teacher of piano, in which work he had been almost con- stantly engaged since his sixteenth year.
This work grew in Carthage until it so occupied his time that he gave up the position in the Collegiate Institution and devoted himself exclusively to music. He organized the Calhoun School of Music, which has steadily grown in reputation and influence. For several years the school has had two branches, one in Carthage and the other in Joplin. It draws support from a region extending a hundred miles in every direction and its students have won distinction in Europe and America.
In January, 1911, William Calhoun was married to Miss Mary Pat- terson, of Neosho, Missouri. She is the daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Sam- nel R. Patterson, of Harrisburg, Pennsylvania. The Pattersons are a Scotch-Irish family. An ancestor, Major Patterson, was a member of Washington's staff, and the National Archives contain the record of a vote of thanks extended by the Continental Congress to Major Patterson for his services in the Pennsylvania campaign.
Mr. and Mrs. Calhoun reside in Carthage, where they have a hand- some home on Macon and Maple streets.
MILTON H. EVANS, M. D .- The best ethics and ideals of an Amer- ican gentleman find exemplification in the life and labors of this honored and representative physician and surgeon of Jasper county and his pro- gressive ideas have been significantly shown in his establishing and main- taining in the city of Joplin the first private sanitarium and hospital and the first ambulance. The affairs of the institution mentioned demanded the major part of his time and attention, although he retained a gen- eral practice of noteworthy order. He is recognized as one of the lead- ers of his profession in this section of the state and is eminently en- titled to recognition in this history of Jasper county.
Dr. Milton H. Evans was born in Plainfield, Will county, Illinois. on April 21, 1861, and is a son of Milton H. and Hannah Cass (Tenney ) Evans, the former of whom was born in Kentucky and the latter in New Hampshire. The genealogy of the Evans family is traced back to staunch Welsh origin and the family name has been identified with the annals of American history since the colonial epoch. When Milton H. Evans, Sr., was a child of four years his parents removed from Kentucky and numbered themselves among the pioneers of Crawford county, Illinois. whence they went to Will county. There he was reared to maturity un- der the sturdy discipline of the farm. He eventually became one of the prosperous farmers and honored and influential citizens of Will county. that state, where he continued to reside until his death, which occurred when he was about sixty-five years of age. He was a man of broad views and of noble character, so that his life counted for good in all its relations. Of the strongest religious faith and convictions. he was long a most zealous member of the Methodist Episcopal church, as was also his wife, and for a number of years prior to his death he gave much of his time to kindly ministrations in behalf of those in affliction and distress. Gifted with a fine and well-trained voice, he visited the sick and sung and prayed with them, with the result that many were brought into the fold of the Good Shepherd through his earnest and devoted labors. On the evening of his death there were present at a union meeting in the Methodist church of his home town,-Plainfield, Illinois,-one hundred and fifty persons who declared that they had been led to honorable living through him. His wife was a niece of the great statesman, General Lewis Cass, for fifteen years governor of Mich- igan, and who served as secretary of state and secretary of the war and was three times candidate for President. She was educated in the old
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Fort Dearborn school in Chicago, which great western metropolis was then scarcely more than a struggling village. She, as a pioneer teacher, was engaged in teaching in the public schools for eight years; was a woman of much culture and gracious personality ; and, like her hus- band, she was ever zealons in church work as well as in kindly ministra- tions to those in need or distress. She was about sixty-seven years of age when she was summoned to the life eternal and of eight children, three sons, all university graduates, and one daughter are now living.
Dr. Milton H. Evans gained his earlier educational discipline in the public schools of Plainfield, Illinois, and supplemented this with a course of study in Northwestern College, Naperville, that state. He was for seven years librarian in the Methodist Sunday School. He began the study of medicine, to be able to help a sick sister, under the able preceptor- ship of Dr. Horace Spencer, of Plainfield, former professor of anatomy in St. Louis, and eventually entered Rush Medical College at Chicago, where he attended two years. He then went to Cleveland (Ohio) and graduated second in his class in the medical department of Wooster Uni- versity, now Western Reserve University. He was graduated in this institution as a member of the class of 1890 and received therefrom his degree of Doctor of Medicine. To fortify himself still further for the work of his chosen calling, he then returned to the celebrated Rush Med- ical College, in Chicago, and in 1891 received from this institution the second degree of Doctor of Medicine, with a special degree of honor, the highest degree conferred by the college. For one year thereafter he was engaged in professional work in Chieago, after which he passed a year in effective post-graduate study in leading medical institutions in the cities of Berlin and Vienna, among his teachers being: Von Virchow, Bilroth, Frenkle, Von Esilburg, Gerhardt, Lyden, Shroeder. Kroback, English and others. While in Berlin Dr. Evans had the honor of bring- ing about a reciprocity treaty between Germany and the United States. He proposed to the Society of American Physicians in Germany, that the society should give a banquet Thanksgiving day and invite the German Reichstag and feed on corn. The banquet was held and the Germans were taught the corn was an accepted food for physicians. At a great International Banquet the treaty was ratified and passed within two weeks and corn jumped 20 cents per bushel. Dr. Evans returned to the United States in 1893 and engaged in active praetiee in Joliet, Illinois, and removed in September of the following year to Spring Valley, Bureau county, that state, where he continued in successful practice for the ensuing seven years, within which he served for several years as county physician. At the expiration of the period noted, in 1889, Dr. Evans came to Missouri and established his permanent home in Joplin, where his success has been on a parity with his splendid pro- fessional talents and his assiduons devotion to his chosen work. Soon after his arrival in JJoplin he opened a private sanitarium and he brought the same up to a high standard in all departments of its service and in its facilities and accommodations. In connection with this institution he established the first confinement ward in the city and also placed in com- mission the first ambulance, as no regular hospital had at that time been opened here. His sanitarium has received.a large and appreciative patronage and he gained secure prestige as one of the leading physi- cians and surgeons of this section of the state. He closed the sanitarium upon the opening of St. John's hospital. He takes advanced ground as a student and investigator and has recourse to the best literature of his profession. in addition to which he has accomplished much in the line of original research. He is a valued contributor to leading medical periodicals, principally along the lines of sanitation and preventative
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agencies, tuberculosis and the consideration of important surgical topics. He is the inventor of special surgical instruments and his skill as a sur- geon reaches to several states. He is not actively identified with the American Medical Association, the Missouri State Medical Society, or the Jasper County Medical Society, though he was the organizer of a medical society and has three times refused a professorship in medical colleges, and while his popularity bears evidence of his ability, his close observance of a higher ethical code, based on American liberty and his genial and gracious personality, have won to him stanch friends in all classes. The doctor takes a lively interest in all measures tending to advance the social and material well-being of the community, is a valued member of the Joplin Commercial Club, and is arrayed as a stalwart sup- porter of the principles and policies for which the progressive party stands sponsor. He advocates the referendum of decisions of the United States Supreme Court by Congress and of State Courts by the Legislators. He is affiliated with the local organizations of the Modern Woodmen of America, the Royal Neighbors of America and the Knights and Ladies of Security. He took his first degree in Masonry in Chicago. He and his wife belong to the Congregational church, but for several years his professional duties have taken all his time.
On the 15th of September, 1891, Dr. Evans was united in marriage to Miss Ada McAllister, of Plainfield, Illinois. Her father, Captain Edward McAllister, served as a gallant officer in the Civil war, command- ing the famous McAllister Battery of thirty-two pounders, and his brother King McAllister, long presided on the bench of the circuit court and court of appeals in Illinois. Noted characters on her mother's side were General Wolfe and Benedict Arnold. Dr. and Mrs. Evans passed their honeymoon in Europe, where he pursued his medical studies for some time, as has already been noted, and during their residence in Joplin they have been popular factors in connection with the best social life of the community. Mrs. Evans has assisted her doctor husband until she is an expert assistant. They have three children,-Francis Edward, Harvey Cass and Laura C. Francis is a graduate of the Joplin high school and is a student of medicine. Since childhood he has shown a liking for surgery and though only nineteen years of age is a skilled assistant of his father, assisting in amputations, and abdominal, lung and brain surgery, in which his father is particularly noted. Francis is also an expert shot and well-versed in woodcraft. Harvey Cass is a student in Joplin high school and shows strong literary tendencies like his mother, having already written acceptable articles for literary jour- nals and local papers. Laura has dark blue eyes and shows the Cass blood, as well as her father. She is in school and is captain of the basket ball team.
MRS. MARY B. (LESLIE) MCKELVEY .- A woman of intelligence and culture, belonging to a family noted for its literary tastes and ability, Mrs. Mary B. McKelvey, widow of the late Thomas E. McKelvey, of Union township, well merits the respect and esteem so uniformly ac- corded her by her neighbors and friends. She was born in Shelby county, Missouri, but was reared and educated in Jasper county, Mis- souri. Her father, James Leslie, was born in Pennsylvania, and died, at the age of forty-five years, in Butler county, Missouri. Her mother, whose maiden name was Henrietta Bibee, was born in Shelby county, Missouri, and died in the same county.
Receiving excellent educational advantages as a girl, Mary Leslie, now Mrs. McKelvey, taught school when young, being very successful in her professional labors. On the 24th of August, 1887, she was united Vol. II-26
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in marriage with Thomas E. McKelvey, who was born in Erie county, Pennsylvania, in 1853.
Mr. McKelvey came to Missouri when young, and for a number of years taught school in Jasper county, being one of the most thorough and popular educators of his day. Subsequently turning his attention to agricultural pursuits, he invested in land, becoming the owner of two valuable and well improved estates, on which he was successfully engaged in general farming and stock raising for many years. The home farm, now occupied by Mrs. McKelvey and the children, has improvements of much value, there being a large, conveniently arranged dwelling house, a substantial barn and a finely-bearing orchard upon it. Mr. MeKelvey was an active member of the Christian church, and was much interested in both religious and educational matters. A man of honest integrity, broad and enlightened in his views, he was noted for his good citizenship, and his death, which occurred March 28, 1910, was deeply deplored throughout the community. Fraternally he was a member of the Ancient Free and Accepted Order of Masons.
Two children were born of the marriage of Mr. and Mrs. MeKelvey, Frank, who has the care of the farms, and Ethel.
JACOB JOHNSON .- Conspicuous among the venerable and highly es- teemed citizens of Jasper county is Jacob Johnson, of Marion township, a hale and hearty man, who bears with ease and graciousness his burden of four score and two years, being as active and vigorous as many a man of seventy years. He came to Jasper county nearly thirty-five years ago, and has been an important factor in developing its agricul- tural resources and advancing its publie welfare, and has acquired note as an extensive land owner, his home estate, "Wolverine Farm," being a choice piece of property. He was born April 7, 1829, in New Jersey, which was the birthplace, also, of his father, James Johnson.
Coming from English ancestry, James Johnson belonged to a New Jersey family who were in humble circumstances, but were noted for their industry, honesty and good moral principles. He served as a soldier in the war of 1812, subsequently living in his native state until his death, at the age of forty-eight years, in 1843. His wife, whose maiden name was Mary Cregar, was born in New Jersey, of German stock, and lived to the age of eighty-seven years. Four children were born of their union, Jacob, being the only son. Two of the daughters have passed to the life beyond, and one, Mary, is now living, being seventy-seven years old.
But fourteen years of age when his father died, Jacob Johnson immediately began assisting his mother in the care of the family, in the meantinie learning the cooper's trade in Pennsylvania. After learn- ing the trade he went to Michigan, and in that state erected a factory and for twenty-four years carried on a successful business as a cooper, employing a number of men in manufacturing flour barrels and the other productions of his plant. Coming from Michigan to Missouri in 1878, he located in Jasper county, buying land in Marion township, his home farm being located in section seventeen. It is one of the best improved estates in the neighborhood, and very attractive, its eight- room house being surrounded by a beautifully shaded lawn, while he has a substantial barn, thirty-eight by forty feet, and a good orchard. Just across the road from his home farm Mr. Johnson has another farm of one hundred and sixty-four acres, on which he has a substantial house and a large barn, while in section sixteen, one mile east of Wol- verine Farm, he has a valuable farm of one hundred and sixty acres, on which he has excellent improvements, including a good house, barns
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and an orchard. His farms are all composed of rich and fertile soil, and are exceedingly productive, yielding abundant harvests each year.
Mr. Johnson has been twice married. He married first Rebecca Majors, who was born in Northampton county, Pennsylvania, the na- tive place of her parents, James and Hester (Bitters) Majors. Hester Bitters was the daughter of John and Mary (Nye) Bitters. Edward Majors, maternal grandfather of Mrs. Johnson, lived at Lower Moun- tain, in Bethel township. She died in Kalamazoo county, Michigan, at the early age of thirty-seven years. She was a true Christian wo- man and a consistent member of the Methodist Episcopal church. Of her six children, two died in childhood, the others being as follows: Harrold I., living on the homestead farm; Willis S., of Carthage; Mil- lard R., a traveling salesman for the International Harvester Com- pany ; and Alvin E., who died at the age of twenty-three years.
Mr. Johnson married for his second wife Sallie Majors, a sister of his first wife. She was born and educated in Pennsylvania, and prior to her marriage was a successful dressmaker, having a large patronage. She was exceedingly kind to her nephews, giving them most tender care while they were young, watching and guiding them with a mother's love and attention. True to the religious faith in which he was reared, Mr. Johnson is a member of the Methodist Episcopal church, to which his parents belonged, and of which Mrs. Johnson is a valued member. HIe stands high in Masonry, belonging to the Lodge, Council, Chapter and Commandery, and having the distinction of being the only living charter member of Carthage Commandery, No. 31, K. T. He is also a member of the temple, A. A. O. N. M. S., and his sons, Millard R. and Willis S., are both Knight Templar Masons. Willis S. Johnson married Jennie Driden, of Indiana, and they have three children, Minnie May, Bessie F. and Ethel. Millard R. first married Fanny Jones, who left one son, Roy. He married for his second wife Ida Reese, and they have three children, named Mildred, Freeman and Milo.
DAVID A. NORDBERG .- As one of the leading contractors and build- ers of Carthage, D. A. Nordberg, residing on the Carlson farm in Union township, has long been prominently identified with the upbuilding of this section of Jasper county, in company with Mr. John Carlson hav- ing erected many of the most substantial buildings, including resi- dences, business blocks, and public buildings, in Carthage and vicinity. He was born in Sweden forty-four years ago, in 1867, and when he was a child of six years his parents immigrated to this country, set- tling on a farm in Lawrence county, Missouri, where they are still living, honored and respected by the entire community.
Brought up on the home farm, D. A. Nordberg was educated in the district schools, at home being trained to habits of industry, thrift and honesty. Making use while young of his native mechanical ability, he served an apprenticeship at the carpenter's trade, and was after- wards in business with his employer, John Carlson, for many years. Mr. Nordberg has been very successful in his chosen industry, and has acquired an extended reputation as a builder, his work as a contractor and builder being extremely satisfactory to his numerous patrons, who place implicit confidence in his taste and judgment.
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