USA > Missouri > Jasper County > A history of Jasper County, Missouri, and its people, Vol. II > Part 65
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tendants of the Episcopal church and they are popular and prominent in the best social circles of Joplin, where they are accorded the unal- loyed confidence and high regard of their fellow citizens.
HERBERT SCHNUR .- Through what has been practically one line of effort although developed in several different positions and under the direction of a variety of employers, Herbert Schnur has risen to a posi- tion of great influence and responsibility in the business life of Joplin and the surrounding country, and has gained great esteem and popu- larity among the people of this section of our wonderful and highly progressive nation. He has shown traits of character, business methods and breadth of view exactly adapted to the time and locality in which he lives and labors, and both through his own efforts and his influence on others has been of considerable service to the city and county of his home and all their interests.
Mr. Schnur was born at Carthage in this county on March 20, 1870, and is a son of Peter and Adeline (Coffeen) Schnur, an account of whose interesting lives will be found in a sketch of Harry A. Schnur elsewhere in this volume. Herbert passed through the common, gram- mar and high school grades of the public schools, attending them until he was sixteen years old. Soon after leaving school he secured employ- ment as bookkeeper for the Joplin Water Works Company, in whose service he remained three years. His succeeding engagements were with the Joplin Gas Company, and the Gore & Glover Insurance Com- pany in a similar capacity, with each of which he was connected for a short period. He then passed five years as bookkeeper for the Oswego Mining Company, and at the end of that time he became an employe of the Rex Mining and Smelting Company, in which he has risen on demonstrated merit to his present position of superintendent and gen- eral manager. He began his service with this company as an office man, and during his connection of sixteen years with it has filled every position of importance between the humble station in which he started and the exalted and exacting one which he now occupies in the working force of the company, earning every promotion he has had and fully justifying the confidence of the directorate in advancing him at every step of his progress. He has been the superintendent and general man- ager of the company's business during the last four years, and is also one of its stockholders and directors. In addition to his stock in this company he has other mining interests and connection with outside business enterprises of magnitude.
Mr. Schnur has not, however, busy as he has been in connection with the industrial activities of the community, given all his time and energy to business. He has taken an earnest interest and an active part in all matters involving the welfare of the people and exemplify- ing the high character of their eitizenship. He has been a member of the Joplin Rifles and the Joplin Zouaves, military organizations con- taining the flower of the city's and county's young manhood and re- fleeting great credit on their inhabitants. He is also a Freemason of the thirty-second degree and a member of the Order of Elks, and in both fraternities he has manifested his deep and serviceable interest in the benevolent and social forces of his locality. He is also a mem- ber of the North Heights Tennis Club and the Joplin Athletic Club. In the last named organizations his love of outdoor sports, particularly tennis and fishing, finds expression and scope for action. It is his cus- tom to make a fishing trip to the lakes every year.
On February 21, 1900, Mr. Schnur and Miss Clara Evans were united in marriage. Mrs. Schnur is a daughter of the late O. C. and
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Jessie (Lamb) Evans, old settlers in Joplin, where she was born on October 19, 1879. She and her husband have two children: Agnes Margaret, who was born on March 10, 1904, and Herbert, Jr., whose life began on July 20, 1906. Both were born in Joplin. The parents are now (1911) erecting a beautiful new home on East Fourteenth street in Campbell's addition to the city, which is one of its most at- tractive residenee sections. The well known hospitality and social cul- ture of its occupants will doubtless make this dwelling a very popular resort for the hosts of admiring friends who always find pleasure and profit in their company, and a readiness to aid in every worthy and commendable undertaking to augment the power, increase the re- sources or give direction to the energy of the intellectual, moral, social and religious agencies at work in the community.
Mr. Schnur follows the fortunes of the Republican party in politi- cal affairs but takes no part in the work of its campaigns, being too mueh occupied with his business and the other claims on his time and attention to be drawn into political contentions, and too free from po- litical ambition to desire any office of any rank or degree for himself. He and his wife attend the Episcopal church and are highly appreciated factors in all its benevolent and improving activities.
HENRY STARK .- Education is the capital which every man or woman must have in order to succeed, but education does not consist alone or even chiefly in book knowledge. It comprises a bringing out of the best that there is in one. Henry Stark was a poor boy, as far as material wealth was concerned; he had very little schooling, but he studied to do everything faithfully that was laid to his charge. A man perfects himself much more by work than he does by reading, and thus it has been with Mr. Stark. He has made the best possible use of the oppor- tunities which came to him, nor has he always waited for them to knock, but has gone out to meet them. He has become a man who is honored and admired in Joplin. His fellow citizens would say that he has achieved success entirely through his own efforts, but he gives his good wife a large share of the eredit. There are many wives who inspire their husbands to right living, to noble thinking and to Hereulean ef- forts, but they too often receive no credit for the part they play in their husbands' lives. It is not so with Mr. Stark ; he appreciates to the full everything that his wife has done to assist him in his career.
Henry Stark was born at Springfield, Illinois, April 25, 1861. His father was George Stark, born in Germany in 1822. After he had served his time in the army of his native country he came to America to make his fortune. He was for a time engaged in freighting in Illi- nois before there was a railroad in the state. When the railroad was built in that state he put his teams to work grading and later worked as a wrecking boss, being one of the first the Wabash railroad ever had. He was in their employ for a number of years. He fought in the Civil war and also in the Mexican war and with his command marched all the way from St. Louis to the City of Mexico. He returned to Missouri after the close of the war and was a contractor there for a number of years. He died in Decatur, Illinois, December 13. 1894, at the age of seventy-two. His wife was Elizabeth Yeager, also a native of Ger- many. They had eight children, four sons and four daughters, two sons and two daughters are living at this time (1911). Henry is the youngest of the family. His mother died in 1881.
Henry Stark attended the public schools in Springfield, but was obliged to leave school and go to work at the age of fourteen. It was perhaps accident rather than deliberate choice which was the cause of
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his learning the trade of boiler making. His tastes and abilities both pointed towards a mechanical line of work. He went to work in the shops of Drake & Palmer, of Springfield, Illinois, and became an ex- pert in the business of boiler making. He worked as a journeyman for this company for nine years. At this time the firm dissolved partner- ship and he went with E. E. Palmer to Kansas City, working for him for about five years. In 1888 he came to Joplin, Missouri, and took a position with the Joplin Machine Works. He remained with this company for about eighteen months and then decided to go into busi- ness for himself. In all these years he had made fair wages and had been very prudent in expenditures, but he had not saved money until he came to Joplin. He bought out the pioneer boiler shop in Joplin, the George Graves Boiler Works, then located on Eleventh street and Virginia avenue. He continued in this spot for about three years, when he removed to Eleventh and Joplin streets and later he came to the location he occupies at present, Twelfth and Wall streets. The pres- ent title of the firm is Henry Stark & Son Excelsior Works and they have the largest boiler works in southwestern Missouri. They employ on an average twenty-five skilled workmen and they do business all over the southwestern states.
On June 22, 1881, he was married in Springfield to Miss Katherine Malter, who was born in that eity December 10, 1864. She was the daughter of John and Mary (Kern) Malter. Mrs. Stark's father was born of German parents and her mother was born in Germany and came to America with her parents and brothers and sisters. They have three children, two of whom are still (1911) living. The eldest, George H., who was born in Springfield, Illinois, in 1882, is a member of the firm with his father. On February 22, 1911, he was married to Lula E. Orton. From all indications his business ability is equal to that of his father, but his technical knowledge is not as great, for he has not had the experience. His sister, Elizabeth Lucinda, is married to Augustus Stempke and now resides in Joplin. They have one little daughter. Edris. Mrs. Henry Stark has been dignified by the well performed duties of a good mother and a good wife. She is a woman of virtue and of good understanding. She is skilled in and delights to perform the duties of domestic life and she needs no fortune to recommend her to her friends.
Henry Stark is a Democrat, but takes no active part in politics. He has several times been urged by his friends to become a candidate for office on the Democratie ticket, but he has persistently refused. He has no ambition for politieal office or honors. He is a member of the Modern Woodmen of America, of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows and of the Germania Society. He is a prominent member of the Commercial Club and his religious beliefs have not swerved from the faith of his fathers, for he is a member of the German Lutheran church, of which Mrs. Stark is also a member. When he first came to Joplin, twenty-three years ago, he had only enough money to pay for a week's board. In twenty-three years he has become a man of position in the city, has educated his children and built up a fine busi- ness. He is very hospitable and he and his wife are always glad to welcome any who call to see them in a spirit of friendliness.
GEORGE W. BURGESS .- The business activities of Joplin, Missouri. have long had a hustling factor in George W. Burgess. who established and is still at the head of the largest storage and warehouse business in the Southwest. As such a personal sketch of him is of specific im-
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portance in this work, devoted as it is to picturing the lives of repre- sentative citizens.
George W. Burgess was born January 10, 1863, in Newton county, Missouri, the son of John W. and Ruth (Cox) Burgess, both natives of Albany, Missouri. His father was born in 1831 and died at Joplin May 30, 1907. At the age of thirty he moved to the southern part of the state, but soon afterward, on account of the Guerilla warfare which was practiced to great extent in this section of the country during the rebellion, he went to Kansas. After spending eighteen years at Oswego, that state, he returned to Southern Missouri and resumed farming and here he maintained his residence the rest of his life, rank- ing with the prominent and highly respected farmers of his community. His wife died at Joplin in June, 1894.
The vicissitudes of war and the removal to Kansas, as above out- lined, took the subject of this sketch to Kansas when he was a small boy and in the country schools at Oswego he received his early educa- tion. The greater part of his education was secured in the school of actual experience, for when he got as far as the third reader he was taken out of school and put to work to help support the family. At the age of twenty he was fortunate to find as employers the well-known firm of millers, Redding & Clark. Here he went to work as driver on one of their wagons, hauling flour from their mills to their warehouse in Joplin. And as showing his pluck and perseverance, it is worthy of note that in the ten years he worked for this company, driving a four-mule team through all kinds of weather, winter and summer, he never lost a day's pay. During all this time he was specially favored by having the friendship of Mr. Clark, and it was with reluctance that he went to him one day and said he was going in business for himself.
Forthwith he purchased a horse and wagon, and this proved the beginning of the largest storage and warehouse business in the South- west. The first year his profits were hardly enough to keep soul and body together, but he was not made of the material which gives up easily and, adhering to his purpose through all discouragements. in the next two years he was able to acquire more horses and wagons. He then met another set-back, for disease attacked his horses and all but one died, this forcing him to begin anew. From that time on his busi- ness thrived and in 1903 he consolidated with another transfer man and the business was incorporated as the Joplin Transfer & Storage Company. A building of extensive size was rented for storage. Mr. Burgess took no part in the management of the business and two years later sold his interest. The business did not pros- per after his termination of his association with it and six months later the owners sold the entire plant, Mr. Burgess becoming the purchaser. He thereupon formed a new company, with a capital of fifty thousand dollars, and purchasing a tract of land on East Fifth street erected a commodious fire-proof building for storage and stable. Under Mr. Burgess' able management the business was soon on a paying basis and it is today one of the most flourishing concerns in the Southwest. It employs about sixty-five men and twenty-five teams and a traction engine to do the hauling. Mr. Burgess is also interested in farming, being the owner of a large farm two and one-half miles north of Carl Junction, which he operates with the same broad-gauge business prin- ciples that he uses in the management of the transfer and warehouse business.
On October 10. 1886, at Redding Mills, Missouri, Mr. Burgess and Miss Cora Osborn were united in marriage. Their happy union has been blessed by the birth of six children, as follows: Clarence, born
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October 12, 1887; Albert, January 9, 1895; Clyde, March 20, 1900; Ray and Roy, twins, born November 10, 1902; and Ethel, August 17, 1909. The eldest child, Clarence, is a graduate of the State University, class of 1911, and has on several occasions won distinction as an orator, on March 17, 1910, winning the state contest. He is now preparing for the ministry.
Mr. Burgess is classed politically as a Democrat and fraternally as a Mason. He is both a thirty-second degree Mason and a member of the Mystic Shrine, and on him was conferred the distinguished honor of being sent as a delegate to assist in the initiating of General Diaz, President of Mexico, into the higher degrees of Masonry. A genial, whole-souled fellow, fond of wholesome, outdoor sports, and especially of automobiling, he is held in high esteem not only by his immediate circle of associates, but also by all who know him.
ARCH M. BAIRD, assistant prosecuting attorney, is one of the rising young lawyers of Jasper county. He resides at Carterville, where he maintains an office, the work of which he looks after in addition to official duties in his office in the Unity Building at Webb City.
Mr. Baird was born in Marionville, Lawrence county, Missouri, June 1, 1883, youngest of the seven children of Edward H. and Sarah J. (Bracken) Baird, the former a native of Ohio and the latter of Penn- sylvania. both of Scotch-Irish ancestry. Edward H. Baird was a min- ister of the Methodist Episcopal church, North. He and his wife came to Missouri in 1866, just at the close of the Civil war, and settled in Lawrence county, where as a Methodist circuit rider he soon made his influence felt for good among the pioneer settlers of the locality. The first services he held were in his own home. He lived to a ripe old age, and died at Marionville, Missouri, in 1909. His wife died in 1905.
After finishing his studies in the public schools, A. M. Baird en- tered Marionville College, a Methodist institution, where he graduated with the class of 1901. Later he took a course in the State University of Missouri, from which in 1908 he received the degree of LL. B. Im- mediately after his graduation from the State University he opened an office for the practice of law at Columbia, Boone county, Missouri, but remained there only one year. In October, 1909, he came to Jasper ounty and took up his residence at Carterville. The following year he was appointed city attorney for Carterville, and in January, 1911. he was appointed for a term of two years to the position he now holds. that of assistant prosecuting attorney for the Central District.
Mr. Baird's political affiliations are with the Republican party. He is a member of the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks.
At Columbia. Missouri, April 4, 1908, he married Miss Marguerite Hunt. a native of that place and a daughter of Mrs. George Hunt, of Columbia. They have two children, Walter H. and Max C.
WILLIAM R. GADDIE. M. D .- A rising young physician and surgeon of Duenweg. Missouri, W. R. Gaddie, M. D., has built up a good general practice, and is fast winning for himself a prominent and honorable name in the medical profession of Jasper county. A son of the late Taylor Gaddie, he was born and reared in Bonnieville, Kentucky, com- ing from honored Scotch ancestry and of Revolutionary stock.
Taylor Gaddie inherited the sterling traits of character of his Scotch ancestors, who were among the colonial settlers of Virginia. and was for many years one of the most highly respected and esteemed residents of Hart county. Kentucky. where he was successfully engaged in agricultural pursuits. During the Civil war he served as a soldier
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in the Union Army, being a member of Company F, Twenty-sixth Ken- tucky Volunteer Infantry. He was a stanch Republican in politics, and a worthy member of the Baptist church, his death, at the age of sixty-five years, being a loss not only to his immediate family, but to his church and to the entire community. He married Maria Dawson, a native of Kentucky, and she is now living on the old home farm in Kentucky. Of the eight children born of their union, six are living, namely : William R. ; J. ; B. ; F. H. ; Callie M. and Laura McDonnell.
Obtaining the rudiments of his education in the public schools of Upton, Kentucky, William R. Gaddie continued his studies at Auburn College, in Auburn, Kentucky, and subsequently taught school in his native state for five years, being quite popular as a teacher. Desirous then of entering upon a professional career, he read medicine with Dr. J. H. Clark, one of the most talented and cultured physicians of Bon- nieville, Kentucky, and when ready to settle in life began the practice of medicine, remaining at his first location eighteen months, gaining in the meantime experience of great value and most encouraging success. Coming from there to Duenweg, Missouri, Dr. Gaddie has here won a large and highly remunerative patronage, his success as a physician and surgeon having been assured from the first, and he likewise established a large and profitable trade as a druggist, becoming one of the active and successful business men of the place. In 1911 he erected the hand- some brick building, twenty-eight by fifty feet, in which his drug store is located, and he furnished it with all the equipments and appliances to be found in the more modern establishments of the kind, and has it well stocked with all the drugs used by the leading pharmacists, as well as with a fine assortment of fancy goods and novelties.
Dr. Gaddie married January 1, 1901, Olive Bevill, who was born in Kentucky, a daughter of Thomas Bevill, and who, prior to her mar- riage, was a successful school teacher in her native state. The Doctor and Mrs. Gaddie have two children, namely: Mildred, born in 1904; and Marjorie, born in 1907. Politically Dr. Gaddie is an earnest sup- porter of the principles of the Republican party, and fraternally he stands high in the Independent Order of Odd Fellows, being a past grand of his lodge.
WILLIAM H. BROOKSHIRE, M. D .- Noteworthy among the active and best-known physicians and surgeons of Jasper county is W. II. Brook- shire, M. D., of Duenweg, whose quick observation and conception of disease in its ever varying phases, and his promptness in meeting and successfully combating them, has gained him an excellent reputation for professional ability and won him a large and lucrative patronage. He was born February 15, 1874, in Pettis county, Missouri, a son of Dr. H. C. Brookshire, a physician of high standing.
A native of Tennessee, H. C. Brookshire, M. D., was born sixty-seven years ago in the city of Nashville, where he acquired his preiminary edu- cation. Taking up the study of medicine when young, he was graduated from the Keokuk Medical College, in Keokuk, Iowa, with the degree of M. D., and for many years was the leading physician and surgeon of Joplin, Missouri. He is now a resident of Hickory county, Missouri, where he has an extensive and lucrative general practice. He married Vina Woolery, of Pettis county, Missouri, and into their household four children have been born, as follows: Joseph; Charles, a druggist at Weaubleau, Missouri; William H., the special subject of this brief sketch ; and Rosa, wife of John Montgomery.
William H. Brookshire obtained his first knowledge of books in the public educational institutions of Missouri, and after his graduation from
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the high school entered the Kansas City Medical College, from which, after taking a course of four years, he was graduated with the class of 1900, having while there gained an excellent record for scholarship. He has since been a constant student, and in 1905 took a post graduate course at the Chicago Medical School, his aim being to keep up with the times in regard to the advancement being continually made in the use of medicine and surgery. Since coming to Duenweg, Missouri, the Doc- tor by means of his acknowledged skill, close attention to his profes- sional duties, and unblemished personal character, has here built up a large and eminently satisfactory practice. His genial manners and pleasant words make him a welcome visitor to the well and strong as well as to the sufferer to whom he ministers, and, if life and health be spared him, he has before him many years of usefulness in his noble calling.
Dr. Brookshire has been twice married. He married first, February 9, 1893, Nellie Mallory, a young lady of refinement and culture. She passed to the life beyond July 9, 1906, at her death leaving one daugli- ter, Josephine Brookshire. The Doctor married for his second wife Mrs. Maria (Clary) Chenoweth, who was born in Kansas City, Missouri. a daughter of Thomas Clary, and they are the parents of two children. namely. William Henry and Agnes.
WILLIAM STAGG .- Conspicuous among the foremost citizens of Pros- perity is William Stagg, who has long been prominent in local affairs, and is now rendering efficient service as justice of the peace, his decis- ions being invariably just and impartial. He was born, November 22, 1861. in Alamance county, North Carolina, during the stirring times of the Civil war, coming from an old and honored Southern family.
His father, Burd Goodman Stagg, was born, bred, educated and mar- ried in North Carolina, and was one of its most loyal and public-spirited citizens. During the Civil war he served as a soldier in the Union army, wearing the blue and fighting gallantly for his country. He took an active part in many battles, and for awhile was confined in a hospital at Rolla, North Carolina. About 1871 he responded to the lure of the West, and started for Jasper county, Missouri, coming as far as Pierce city by rail, that being the railroad terminus, from there traveling by team to Alba, Jasper county. He bought a tract of land in that vicinity, and began the improvement of a home for his family, but at the end of a year or so he fell a victim to malarial fever and congestive chills and died at the age of forty-five years, his death being a sad loss not only to his immediate family, but to the growing community in which he had located. He was a man of sterling qualities of heart and mind, a Quaker in religion, and a member of the Grand Army of the Republic. His wife, whose maiden name was Jane Allen, died at the early age of thirty- two years, leaving five children, as follows: Mrs. Sadie Knight, Robert Green, David M., Andrew Jackson and William.
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