USA > Missouri > Jasper County > A history of Jasper County, Missouri, and its people, Vol. II > Part 67
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
Mr. Decker was married in 1904, to Bertha Greer, who is a native of the state of Illinois and a daughter of Richard Greer. They main- tain a cultured and hospitable home. Mr. Decker's fraternal affilia- tions are with the Independent Order of Odd Fellows, the Knights of Pythias and the Woodmen of America.
CLYDE R. WALLAR .- An essentially progressive and enterprising citizen of the younger generation at Sarcoxie, Missouri, is Clyde R. Wallar, who is intimately concerned with a number of important busi- ness projects in this city. He is the cashier of the First National Bank, in addition to which he is interested in a flourishing insurance agency with Mr. H. B. Boyd and in a strawberry culture with Dr. Salem Goodner. He is decidedly loyal and public-spirited in his civic attitude
1020
IHISTORY OF JASPER COUNTY
and is ever ready to do all in his power to advance the best interests of his home city and of the county and state at large.
Mr. Wallar was born at Jasper, this county, on the 15th of August. 1875, and he is a son of N. G. and Demarius (Irwin) Wallar, both of whom are now deceased. The father was born and reared in the state of Ohio, whence he removed to Missouri, locating at Jasper, where he was one of the early pioneer merchants. After completing the cur- riculum of the graded schools of Jasper Clyde R. Wallar attended the local high school and was a member of the first class to be graduated therein-the class of 1893. Thereafter he pursued a commercial course in the Gem City Business College, at Quincy, Illinois, and returning to his home town he filled the position of bookkeeper in the Bank of Jasper for the ensuing five years, at the expiration of which he came to Sarcoxie as bookkeeper in the First National Bank. He was soon installed as assistant cashier in this substantial and reliable financial institution, retaining that position till September, 1911, when he was promoted to cashier. In partnership with Mr. H. B. Boyd he conducts an insurance business, the same being known under the firm name of Boyd & Wallar. This enterprising concern controls an extensive busi- ness and represents a number of the most prominent insurance com- panies in the United States. With Dr. Salem Goodner Mr. Wallar is part owner of a thirty-five acre strawberry farm, from which he realizes a good profit.
In September, 1897, was celebrated the marriage of Mr. Wallar to Miss Elizabeth Hendricks, a native of Jasper county and a daughter of H. Hendricks, a prominent citizen at Jasper, Missouri. Mr. and Mrs. Wallar have no children of their own but they are raising an adopted son, Leroy, whose birth occurred on the 8th of March, 1903.
In his political convictions Mr. Wallar accords a stanch allegiance to the principles and policies promulgated by the Republican party. He is too busy to participate actively in political affairs but is a liberal contributor to all measures tending to forward progress and develop- ment. In a fraternal way he is affiliated with Sarcoxie Lodge, No. 293. Free and Accepted Masons, and in their religious faith he and his wife are devout members of the Methodist Episcopal church, North, in whose philanthropical work they take a deep and sincere interest. Mr. and Mrs. Wallar are kindly. and affable and those who know them per- sonally accord them the highest degree of confidence and esteem.
C. M. SPRING .- Among those commercial captains who have made great ideas splendid actualities and have done more than their share towards the making of Joplin into one of the most thriving and progres- sive of the cities of the southwest, assuredly must be numbered C. M. Spring, president of the C. M. Spring Wholesale Drug Company, one of the largest and most important concerns of its kind in the south- west. with a capital stock of $100,000. Not only is he a force in the business world, but he stands as an exponent of the most useful and enlightened type of citizenship and can ever be depended upon to sup- port all measures likely to result in the greatest good to the greatest number. Although his forebears came from New England, that cradle cf so much of our national history, Mr. Spring is a native of the state of Illinois, the place of his birth having been Pittsfield, Pike county, and its date March 29. 1851. Mr. Spring is an admirable representa- tive of that typically American product,-the self-made man, for at a very early age he found it necessary to face the serious issues of life and there was no helping hand to give him impetus in his ascent of the ladder of life. At the age of thirteen years he secured a position as a
1021
HISTORY OF JASPER COUNTY
clerk in a retail drug store and by that circumstance was no doubt determined the entire course of his future career. In addition to the work above referred to he also assisted in the office of the postal and express clerk and postoffice, and continued in that double capacity un- til the attainment of his majority. By the exercise of much previous thrift and good management he now found himself in a position to place himself upon a more independent footing and he purchased his first stock of drugs and hung up his shingle at Beardstown, Cass county, Illinois. In that place he remained for thirty years, continu- ally increasing his business and gaining a patronage of large extent, for he was noted over a wide extent of territory for excellent, honest and thoroughly up-to-date business methods. In 1902, Mr. Spring took a most radical and important step by his removal from Illinois and his purchase of a large wholesale drug business-The Caffee Drug Com- pany-offered for sale in Joplin. For two years after this great trans- action, he retained his retail store in Beardstown, leaving it in the hands of a trusted employe, but at the end of that time he disposed of the Illinois property and has ever sinee devoted his entire time and attention to the management of his extensive wholesale interests. He became the largest stockholder of the C. M. Spring Wholesale Drug Company in March, 1902, and sinee that time its capital stock has in- creased from $51,000 to $100,000. He employs a force of twenty men and women, seven of whom are traveling salesmen and thirteen are inside of the wholesale house. The territory traversed by the former extends for a radius of one hundred miles in every direction, and the stock available is the largest in the southwest. The company has lately purchased the building and grounds of the concern as well as the busi- ness and another large three story brick building is now under con- struction. Mr. Spring is known throughout this part of the state, and indeed far beyond its boundaries, as a keen and progressive business man, while his high civic loyalty is recognized as even more admirable.
Politically Mr. Spring gives allegiance to the articles of faith of the Republican party, to which he has given enthusiastic support since his earliest voting days. He is a Presbyterian in religious conviction and very zealous in the affairs of the church of that denomination.
On June 28, 1876, Mr. Spring was united in marriage to Miss Maria Leonard, daughter of E. B. Leonard, of a prominent and much esteemed Illinois family. Her mother was Roxanna A. (Miller) Leonard, and both parents are now deceased, the mother dying in 1888 and the father in 1903. To their union one daughter was born,-Anna Berniece, -- born on the anniversary of her parents' marriage, in 1877, and dying on the same date in the year 1897. She was a most charming and well- beloved young woman, and was taken from scenes to which she was dear in the very springtide of life.
Mr. Spring is the son of Joseph M. Spring, who was born in Massachusetts and came to Pike county, Illinois, when a young man, in the pioneer days of that section of the country. He was very well known and played a prominent and active part in the affairs of his community. He several times made a change of location, once to Naples, where he lived for a number of years, and then to Beardstown. In the latter place he engaged in the hotel business, being host of the Park House, and he was well known and extremely popular with the traveling public. He continued to be identified with that calling, and with success, for a great many years, retiring only a short time previous to his death, which occurred in 1898, at Delavan, Illinois. The mother, whose maiden name was Hannah E. Fiske, was a native of Massachu- setts and came to Pike county shortly before her marriage. This
1022
HISTORY OF JASPER COUNTY
worthy lady, whose demise occurred in Delavan in 1907, was the seion of a well known family. Mr. Spring has two brothers and one sister who survive. S. O. Spring is a prominent citizen of Peoria, Illinois, and Frank H. is associated with the subject in business, being vice- president and secretary of the C. M. Spring Drug Company. The sis- ter, Mrs. H. G. Unland, resides at Delavan. Illinois. Several organi- zations are happy to claim the affiliation of Mr. Spring, these being : the Woodmen, the Workmen, the Knights of Pythias, and the Knights of Security. The home of Mr. and Mrs. Spring is one of the well- known social centres of the city.
J. M. WINCHESTER, M. D .- It is gratifying to be able to present within the pages of this work specifie record concerning many of the prominent and successful representatives of the medical profession in Jasper county, and among the able and popular exponents of the sciences of medicine and surgery in the city of Joplin is found Dr. Winchester, who is one of the younger members of his profession in the county.
Dr. J. M. Winchester was born in Calloway county, Kentucky, on the 12th of July, 1878, and is a son of William A. and Martha J. (Winn) Winchester, both of whom were born and reared in the state of Tennessee, where the respective families were founded in an early day. Upon removing to Kentucky William A. Winchester established his home in Calloway county, where he became a prosperous farmer and highly esteemed citizen and where he continued to reside until his death, in February, 1905, at the age of fifty-six years. His widow still resides in Calloway county. To the public schools of his native county, Dr. Winchester is indebted for his early educational discipline, which included a course in the high school at Murray, the county seat. In 1901 he was graduated in the normal school at Dickson, Tennessee, and for a time thereafter he devoted his attention to teaching. He had, however, determined to prepare himself for the medical profession, and with this purpose in view he finally entered the medical department of the Vanderbilt University, in the city of Nashville, Tennessee. In this institution he completed the prescribed course, proving a close and appreciative student, and he was therein graduated as a member of the class of 1906, with the degree of Doctor of Medicine. In the same year he came to Joplin, Missouri, and became associated in practice with his unele, Dr. A. N. Winchester, concerning whom individual mention is made elsewhere in this work. This alliance continued until March, 1910. when Dr. J. M. Winchester engaged in practice in an individual way. He has thus continued his earnest and successful efforts in his profession and he now controls a substantial general practice of repre- sentative order. Ilis professional ability and attractive personality have gained to him confidence and high regard in the community, and his success shows cumulative tendencies of no equivocal order. Dr. Winchester is a staunch supporter of the cause of the Democratic party but is unswerving in his allegiance to his profession and thus has no desire for publie office. He is affiliated with Joplin Lodge, No. 335, Free and Accepted Masons, and both he and his wife hold member- ship in Bethany Presbyterian church in their home city, with whose leading social activities they are closely identified.
On the 24th of November, 1909, at Taylor, Texas, Dr. Winchester was united in marriage to Miss Edith Cooper, who was born and reared in that state, where her father is a prosperous business man and repre- sentative citizen of Williamson county.
1023
HISTORY OF JASPER COUNTY
THE INDEPENDENT CANDY AND MANUFACTURING COMPANY .- Among those thriving and well-managed concerns which contribute in very ma- terial fashion to the prosperity of Joplin and Jasper county is the In- dependent Candy & Manufacturing Company, the only large manufac- turer of candy and confectionery in the Southwest. This up-to-date enterprise, whose prodnet is so widely and favorably known, employs reg- ularly fifty workmen on an average, and has eight traveling salesmen representing it in different parts of the extensive territory tributory to its trade, its market and business connections covering the whole South and West, and its operations being very active and exacting.
The Joplin plant is located at the corner of Fourth street and Missouri avenue. It is very commodious in area and complete and modern in equipment. Its machinery embraces the most approved devices for its work and each is managed with the upmost skill known to the business. All parts of the establishment are kept serupulously clean and in all departments the most satisfactory sanitation is pro- vided for. The great success of the company has been won by the skill and business capacity of the men at the head of it. Together they form an unusual combination of different qualifications, each man be- ing well adapted for his particular branch of the work, and all work- ing in unison and harmony for their mutual welfare and benefit.
The officers of the Independent Candy Company consist of Charles MeAbee, president ; Eugene A. Potts, vice president and manager; O. P. M. Wiley, secretary and treasurer; James E. Potts, sales manager ; H. L. York, superintendent; and Charles Melin, who has charge of the shipping department. The Messrs. Potts first founded and con- ducted a candy factory in Webb City, this county. The brothers worked together in that city ten years, steadily increasing their business and enlarging their facilities until their plant became one of considerable magnitude and their trade large in both retail and wholesale depart- ments. In 1905 they sold their business interests in Webb City and removed to Joplin, where they bought stock and working interests in the Independent Candy Company, which had been founded about two years before their arrival. The business has experienced the best of fortunes, owing to the splendid quality of executive ability vested in its official staff and is constantly growing in scope and importance. Founded here in 1903, it is now nearly a decade old and is advertised in most potent fashion by its excellent product. Wherever "Ye Olden Tyme Pure Candies" are known, great enthusiasm attends the mere mention of them, for they are as delightful and palatable as they are wholesome and pure. The mere sight of their familiar red, white and blue exteriors, some of them decorated with the "Seal of Purity" and some with the quaint figure of an "Olden Tyme" philosopher of the Benjamin Franklin type, creates instant demand on the part of youth- ful consumers and, let it be immediately added, on the part of all their older relatives. From the first it found instant favor, the ex- cellent materials used and its delightful flavor gaining for it an enor- mous sale. The original sanitary display package designed by the company in the interest of the National and State Pure Food Laws is not only attractive in exterior but keeps the candy absolutely elean and fresh. The honesty of the methods employed by the Independent Candy & Manufacturing Company is reflected in the motto, which, written upon a blue scroll, adorns the package; "Do ye unto others even as ye would they should do unto thee." These particularly fine cartons have been generally approved and imitated.
1024
HISTORY OF JASPER COUNTY
W. G. KING .- An honored and respected citizen of Jasper county, who bears with ease and dignity his eighty-one years, W. G. King has for many years been intimately associated with the advancement of the agricultural prosperity of Union township, being owner of Elm- wood Farm, which is finely located on section 4, and which has been his home for nearly forty years. He was born, July 29, 1830, at Hunt- ingdon, Carroll county, Tennessee, a son of Thomas W. King, com- ing from excellent ancestry.
Born in Tennessee, on the Cumberland river, Thomas W. King be- longed to a family of much prominence, one of his brothers, having served as governor of Mississippi. In 1834 he came with his family to Bolivar, Missouri, but later located in Howard county, where he lived until his death, at the age of seventy-seven years. He was an extensive farmer, carrying on farming with the help of slaves. In polities he was a stanch Democrat, and in religion was a member of the Methodist Episcopal church South, to which his wife, likewise, belonged. He married Ada Batten, who was born in North Carolina, of pure Scotch lineage. She died in Cedar county, Missouri, aged seventy-seven years. They were the parents of seven children, three daughters and four sons, and of these children one son died at the age of eighteen years.
After completing his studies in the public schools, W. G. King, who was endowed with much native mechanical ability and ingenuity, learned the trade of a wagon maker, which he afterwards followed for many years in Sarcoxie, being considered a very skilful workman. During the Civil war he left his work shop, and for sometime served in the State Militia. enlisting in that organization at Springfield, Missouri. Locating in Union township in 1873, Mr. King bought the farm he now owns and occupies, "Elmwood Farm," and in its management has met with eminent success, his estate being one of the best in its appointments and improvements of any in the neighborhood.
Mr. King married, in Sarcoxie, Elizabeth Davis, a successful and popular teacher in the Jasper county public schools for a number of terms. Her father, Morgan L. Davis, for many years a prominent citi- zen of this part of Missouri, migrated from New York city when young 10 Illinois, and was there engaged in mercantile business for a time. Subsequently coming to Jasper county, Missouri, he bought land on section 4, Union township, and by dint of persevering toil and wise management improved the old Davis homestead. which has come into the possession of Mr. King, and is known as Elmwood :Farm. Mrs. King, who was a woman of great beauty of character and amiability of disposition, was greatly beloved by all who knew her, and her death. April 7. 1911, at the age of sixty-four years. was a loss not only to her household, but to the community. Three children were born of the union of Mr. and Mrs. King, namely: Lee, who was aeci- dentally killed in a boiler explosion, at the age of twenty-seven years, left a widow and one child; Morgan L., travelling salesman ; and Dell. a young man of twenty-three years, who superintends the manage- ment of Ehnwood Farm, and is assistant manager of King Brothers Implement Company.
NEWTON M. FORSYTH .- Among the distinctively representative citi- zens of Sarcoxie township, Jasper county, Missouri, Newton M. Forsyth holds prestige as one whose splendid business success has been the outcome of his own well directed endeavors. At the present time (1911) he is engaged in the live stock and grain business at LaRussell,
1025
IIISTORY OF JASPER COUNTY
where he is a heavy stockholder and a director in the bank of La- Russell. In addition to his other interests he is the owner of a tract of two hundred and eighty-five acres of land in Lawrence county, Mis- souri.
Newton M. Forsyth was born in Monroe county. Tennessee. the date of his nativity being the 12th of August. 1849, and he is a son of Beaty and Isabel (Stancell) Forsyth, the former of whom was born in the state of Georgia and the latter claimed Tennessee as the place of her birth. In the fall of 1853, at which time the subject of this review was a child of but four years of age, the Forsyth family migrated to Jasper county, Missouri, where the father later purchased a large farm on Spring river in Lawrence county. Mr. and Mrs. Beaty Forsyth became the parents of eleven children, nine sons and two daughters, of whom Newton M. was the eighth in order of birth. The father was engaged in agricultural pursuits and the live stock business during the greater part of his active career, and he was called to the life eternal in the year 1872, his cherished and devoted wife passing away in 1891. Newton M. Forsyth received his early educational train- ing in the public schools of the locality and period. and as a youth he was associated with his father in the work and management of the old homestead farm. In 1869 he launched into business on his own ac- count. Having inherited some land as a nucleus for his operations, he accumulated. all told, some three hundred and ninety-seven acres of land in Lawrence county. He held this land and farmed the same until 1899, when he disposed of it, later purchasing a tract of two hundred and eighty-five acres in that county. In recent years Mr. Forsyth has made a specialty of raising, grazing, feeding and deal- ing in live stock and in buying and shipping grain. He has one of the finest residence properties in the village, and he is a director and stockholder in the bank of LaRussell, one of the most substantial mone- tary institutions in this section of the state. He is a man of splendid executive ability and his shrewd discernment and close adherence to business affairs have won him an enviable place as a captain of in- dustry.
On the 25th of December, 1872, was solemnized the marriage of Mr. Forsyth to Miss Ella A. Vititow, who was born on a farm one mile west of the old Cave Spring in Jasper county and who is a daughter of Stephen Vititow. Mr. and Mrs. Forsyth are the parents of two sons. concerning whom the following brief data are here incor- porated : Albert II., born on the 27th of October, 1873, is engaged in the manufacture and sale of wagons and all kinds of light vehicles at Joplin. Missouri, and Jesse E., born on the 27th of March. 1876. is a grain buyer for Cowgill & Hill, a milling company of Sarcoxie, Mis- souri. In their religions faith the Forsyth family are devout mem- bers of the Methodist Episcopal church, in which they figure promi- nently as most zealous workers. Mr. Forsyth while a Methodist is not sectarian in a strict sense, for he has put money in all churches in the community in which he resides and more in the Presbyterian church than his own, aggregating in five churches one thousand dollars. In politics Mr. Forsyth is a stanch advocate of the principles of the Democratic party, and in a fraternal way he is affiliated with Sar- coxie Lodge, No. 293, A. F. & A. M., and with Lawrence Lodge, No. 239. I. O. O. F.
EUGENE A. DAVIS .- Among the prominent and promising citizens of the younger generation at Sarcoxie, Missouri. Eugene A. Davis.
1026
HISTORY OF JASPER COUNTY
whose name forms the caption for this article, is rapidly gaining pres- tige as a business man of splendid executive ability and tremendnous energy. A native of Sarcoxie, he was born on the 23d of August, 1890, and he is a son of George F. and Melissa (Dunfee) Davis. The father, better known as Judge Davis, was a successful practicing attorney who came to Sarcoxie from Livingston county, Missouri, in 1889. He was widely renowned as a brilliant and versatile lawyer. Judge Davis married Miss Melissa Dunfee, who was a native of the state of Iowa and they became the parents of six children, of whom but two are living at the present time, namely,-Eugene A., the immediate subject of this review; and Maude L., who is now Mrs. W. T. Sabert and who maintains her home at Sarcoxie. Judge Davis was a man of marked business ability and in addition to controlling an extensive and lucra- tive law elientage he was the owner of a number of fine farms in the vicinity of Sarcoxie and of a great deal of real estate in the city. He was summoned to the life eternal on the 18th of August, 1904, and his cherished and devoted wife, who survived him for a number of years, passed away on January 19, 1909. Judge and Mrs. Davis ranked among the foremost citizens of Jasper county during the period of their residence here and their respective deaths were mourned by a wide circle of admiring and loving friends.
Eugene A. Davis, of this notice, received his elementary educa- tional discipline in the public schools of Sarcoxie and he was grad- uated in the local high school as a member of the class of 1906. Sub- sequently he was matriculated as a student in Morrisville College and in 1908 lie entered the University of Missouri, at Columbia, continuing to attend the latter institution for a period of two years, from 1908 to 1910. In the latter year he returned to Sarcoxie, where he was proffered a position as assistant cashier in the State Bank of Sarcoxie. He ac- cepted and has since been incumbent of the above position. With his sister, Mrs. Sabert, Mr. Davis is heir to the extensive estate left by his father, at the time of the latter's death. The same consists of some eight farms, aggregating four hundred acres of most arable land, and of fifteen residence properties in Sarcoxie, besides fifteen or more lots.
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.