USA > Missouri > Jasper County > A history of Jasper County, Missouri, and its people, Vol. II > Part 9
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Deciding then to engage in commercial pursuits on his own account, Mr. Withrow opened a store in Oklahoma, investing several thousand dollars in his stock, and eight days later, just as he had made a most brilliant start as a druggist, his store was burned to the ground and his loss was complete. Nothing daunted, however, Mr. Withrow, with ehar-
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acteristic courage and energy, came to Webb City in search of a favor- able location, and was immediately made manager of the Thomas Drug Company, a position he continued to fill ably and satisfactorily until he became the proprietor and owner of the store, with its three thousand dollar improvements. He has one of the finest equipped and best ar- ranged stores in this section of Jasper county, and in its management is meeting with rare success, his reputation for upright and honest dealings winning for him an extended and lucrative patronage.
Mr. Withrow is an earnest adherent of the Republican party and a staneh advocate of all enterprises calculated to advance the welfare of the community in which he lives. He is a member of the Woodmen of the World and of the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks, in each or- ganization taking an active interest.
COLONEL H. H. GREGG .- In summing up the lives of our distinguished fellow men it is found that some of them have accomplished wonderful results as individuals, and it would indeed be a loss should the world lose their records. A man whose individual record is worthy of preser- vation is Colonel H. H. Gregg, a retired citizen of Joplin, Missouri.
Colonel Gregg was born March 19, 1840, at the historie town of Belle- fonte, Pennsylvania, son of Matthew Dunean Gregg and wife, both of whom were descended from prominent and influential ancestry. Mat- thew D. Gregg, also a native of Bellefonte, was a graduate of Diekin- son College and by profession was a lawyer. In early life he praetieed law, but later purchased the Potomae Iron Works in Virginia and was for years engaged in an iron manufacturing business. He died in 1845. The Colonel's grandfather, Andrew Gregg, was a member of the first United States congress, being eleeted in 1790 and returned seven times; he was the third United States senator from the state of Penn- sylvania. He was subsequently the Whig candidate for governor, but was defeated by Governor Schultze. He was of Seoteh-Irish origin, his ancestors coming from County Antrim in the North of Ireland. His maternal ancestry the Colonel traees baek to Scotch Highland chief- tains. His mother, Ellen (MeMutrie) Gregg, was born in Pennsylvania and lived and died in that state, her death occurring in 1847. Her father, David MeMutrie, was a prominent Seoteh merchant of Phila- delphia in the early part of the eighteenth century. And all along the line, back to the sixteenth century, both the MeMutries and the Greggs, in this country and in the old, have figured prominently. Some of them were active participants in the wars of this country, and as such their names have gone down in history. Benjamin Elliott, a grand unele of Colonel Gregg, had charge of the fleet at the battle of Champlain, a memorable engagement which marked a period in the naval achievements of this country. David MeM. Gregg, a brother of the Colonel, was com- mander of the Second Cavalry Division at the battle of Gettysburg, and it was largely due to the conduct of this division that the great pieket charge at that battle failed.
When he arrived at the proper age, the subject of this sketch was sent to the same college in which his father had been educated-Diekin- son College, and there the younger Gregg graduated in 1861. It was during his senior year that the Civil war cloud gathered and burst upon the country, and as a member of a well drilled company of college students he tendered his services to the Union, in answer to a call for twenty-five thousand men from Pennsylvania. At that time however, an influential unele of his forestalled the plans of the students and the com- pany was not accepted. After his graduation, young Gregg entered the army and was made captain of Company HI, One Hundred and
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Twenty-fifth Pennsylvania Infantry, which regiment was enlisted for nine months service. Just after the battle of Chancellorsville, in which he took part, Captain Gregg was appointed major in the Thirteenth Pennsylvania Cavalry and was mustered out as lieutenant colonel of that regiment, April 5, 1865, by order of the secretary of war, to ac- cept appointment from Governor Curtin of Pennsylvania as secretary of State Military transportation, succeeding Colonel Quay, and he filled that position under both Governors Curtin and Geary.
At the expiration of his government service in 1868, Colonel Gregg directed his course westward to the then undeveloped prairie state of Nebraska to engage in the cattle business. The following year he came to southwestern Missouri and bought farm lands in Newton county, where he was settled until 1883. Then he came to Joplin. Convinced in his own mind of the bright future of the city, Colonel Gregg was not slow to act and at once made investment in land at this place. Joplin's growth and the development of the surrounding country have proved that his judgment was correct. In addition to investing largely in real- estate, which increased in value many fold, the Colonel has also at dif- ferent times invested in mining enterprises. His present holdings at Joplin inelnde his handsome home at 818 Byers Avenue, where he is now living retired, enjoying the fruits of his years of well directed effort.
On September 1, 1870, at the Quapaw Indian Agency, Colonel Gregg and Miss Rose M. Mitchell, daughter of George and Sarah Elizabeth Mitchell, were united in marriage and with the passing years sons and daughters to the number of six have come to bless their home. Their children in order of birth are as follows: Thomas Jackson, born in 1871, at the Quapaw Indian Agency ; Mitchell Duncan, born in 1873, died at Seneca, Missouri, in 1877; Charlotte Elizabeth, born at Seneca in 1875, is now the wife of T. F. Lennan, of Webb City; Jeane Scott, wife of Delmar C. Wise, of Joplin, was born at Seneca in 1879 and died at Joplin in 1905: David MeMutrie, born at Seneca in 1881, married the widow of George Redell and is a prominent farmer and stock-raiser of Harrisonville, Missouri; and Arthur Mitchell, born in 1884 is now a prominent physician of Joplin and its present city physician.
As one of the leading citizens of Joplin, Colonel Gregg was for years an active and influential member of the Commercial Club and twice served as its president. He was vice president of the Zinc Producers As- sociation. While never having been active in politics, so far as seeking official preferment for himself, he has always been a staunch Democrat. A veteran of the Civil war, he has long maintained membership in the Grand Army of the Republic. His religious creed is that of the Episco- pal church, of which he is an attendant.
F. C. RALSTON .- After an interesting and instructive experience of some years in construction work, in which the conceptions of the lofty and far-seeing intellects with which he was associated grew to creations of magnitude, imposing beauty and many-sided usefulness before his eyes, and stood forth before all observers as monuments to the artistic taste, mechanical skill and business enterprise that called them into be- ing, F. C. Ralston came to Missouri and located in Joplin well prepared for large affairs and capable service in connection with the manage- ment of them.
His change of base and occupation was wholly in accord with the bent of his mind and a long cherished desire for the free life and multi- form requirements of a western mining region, and the opportunities for advancement which its undeveloped state offered to all men of high capacity and determined industry, and he has never regretted making it.
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It led him into a congenial field of effort, in which he has won the guerdon of his firm faith in himself, lofty courage and resourcefulness for any emergency.
Mr. Ralston is a native of MeHenry county, Illinois, and was born on March 28, 1862. Ilis parents were John and Celeste (Bresee) Ral- ston, the former a Pennsylvanian and the latter a Vermonter by nativity. They were farmers in Illinois, where the father died in 1904, aged seventy years, and the mother in 1906, aged seventy-two. Of their off- spring three are living, and of these the subject of these paragraphs is the oldest. He passed his life to the age of twenty-one on his father's farm and obtained his education in the public schools of MeHenry in his native county, being graduated from the high school in that city in 1880. After leaving the high school he pursued a course of special training in the Bryant & Stratton Business College in Chicago.
At the age of twenty he abandoned all attempts at further scholastic instruction and began to look about him for a business engagement in which he might begin the career he had determined to carve out for him- self. He secured employment as a bill clerk with the Meriden Britannia Company of Chicago, and during his nine years' connection with the company rose to the position of assistant cashier, which he held when he abandoned the service.
His next engagement was with the F. J. MeCain Company, contrac- tors for the erection of structural iron and bridge work. He had charge of the company's office for a year, then secured an interest in its busi- ness, which was enormous in extent and dealt with works of colossal magnitude. This company erected the Ferris Wheel, which was one of the wonders of the Columbian Exposition in Chicago in 1893, Machinery Hall in the same great world's fair, and many other gigantie structures of various kinds in many different localities. It was one of the largest erecting organizations in the world, and had equipment for any kind of a structure required for the service of mankind if made of the materials it used in its work. Mr. Ralston remained with this company five years.
At the end of that period he came to Missouri and located in Joplin, arriving in that city in January, 1898. He soon formed a partnership with C. N. Stark of Joplin, and J. M. Stauffer of Scottdale, Pennsylvania, and began operations in the mining industry. In company with these gentlemen he followed mining two years with great success, then turned his attention to mercantile life with the same avidity he had shown at every change in location, business connection and occupation.
In 1901 he purchased an interest in and was elected secretary and treasurer of the Joplin Supply Company, a position which he is still filling with great acceptability and in which he has rendered highly com- mendable service to the company and also to the community in which it operates and the territory covered by its extensive trade. He is well qualified for the work in which he is engaged by both inheritance and training. His paternal ancestors were Scotch-Irish people, and sturdy adherents of the Presbyterian Kirk in Scotland. His grandparents on this side of the house settled in Pennsylvania, where his grandfather, Thomas Ralston, was one of the earliest of the great railroad contractors, doing all the important work in the construction of the Reading railroad. On the mother's side the ancestry was a combination of French vivacity and ingenuity and German solidity and persisteney. The Ameriean progenitors of that branch of the family located in Vermont and followed farming. The mother's parents moved from their Vermont farm to Me- Ilenry county. Illinois, in 1855, and were pioneers in that county. It will be seen that many elements of strength and flexibility are com- mingled in Mr. Ralston's make up and contribute to his versatility and
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resourcefulness, and his great adaptability to requirements. He is also vice president of the Joplin Transfer and Storage Company, another large enterprise to which he is very serviceable.
Mr. Ralston has been and is very energetic and progressive. But all his activities have not been employed in peaceful pursuits. During his residenee in Chicago he belonged for five years to the First Infantry, Illinois National Guard, and was called into active service to aid in quell- ing the Chicago stock yards riots in 1887. This experience was far from agreeable to him, but he did not shirk his duty in the matter or perform it in a hesitating or half-hearted manner. Although of a retiring dis- position, he is a very determined man, and never abandons an enterprise he takes hold of with interest, or turns his baek on a plain duty.
Being without ambition for publie life or official station, the political contests which ferment and seethe around him do not interest him ex- eept in so far as they involve the welfare of his city, county, state and country. He is a Republican in his political faith, but has never been an active partisan. In fraternal life he is a thirty-second degree Freemason, past master of Siloam Lodge, No. 780, Chicago, Illinois, and a member of the Order of Elks. His social activities in a practical way are ex- hibited in zealous membership in the Commercial and Country Clubs, and his religious feelings are sustained and cultivated by active connee- tion with the Presbyterian church.
On October 22, 1885, at Princeville, Illinois, Mr. Ralston was united in marriage with Miss Elgie Slane, who was born in that town on July 4, 1862, and is a daughter of B. F. and Elizabeth (Henry) Slane, pioneers of Peoria county, Illinois, and emigrants to that county from Virginia. They celebrated the silver anniversary of their wedding in 1910.
Mr. and Mrs. Ralston have had two children: Gladys, who was born in Chicago October 23, 1886, and John, whose life began in Joplin in 1889 and ended there on December 1, 1903. Miss Gladys is a graduate of Smith College at Northampton, Massachusetts, having previously spent three years in the Capen Preparatory school in the same city. She is a young lady of high culture and very popular wherever she is known.
CHARLES A. WEED .- At this point it is a matter of marked pleasure to turn the reader's attention to a brief review of the career of the Rev. Charles Albert Weed, who is the rector of the Episcopal church at -Jop- lin and who is dean of the Southern Convocation and a missionary of the diocese of Kansas City. Rev. Weed was born at Plattsburg. New York, the date of his nativity being the 24th of November, 1862. His father, William B. Weed, was also born at Plattsburg. New York, and was prominent in the general mercantile business during the greater part of his active career. He married Miss Fannie L. Buck, whose birth oc- eurred at Plattsburg, New York, and who died at Sharon Springs, New York, in the year 1894. William Weed was summoned to eternal rest in 1865. He and his wife were the parents of but one child.
When Charles A. Weed was a small boy his mother removed to Bur- lington, Chittenden county, Vermont, in the public schools of which place he was educated. He was a member of the class of 1882 and for the ensuing three years he was a traveling salesman for an eastern firm. Through diligence and hard work he managed to secure a higher educa- tion. He studied for the ministry. and during the first years of such studies he was located in his old birthplace. There he organized the first Y. M. C. A. in that section of Northern New York and became its first secretary. After a year of such labor he entered the ministry of the Methodist Episcopal church, and gave to that body eight years of faith- ful service. During that time he served charges at Upper Jay. Warrens-
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burgh, Patten Mills and Sharon Springs, New York. He was then ad- mitted to the ministry of the Protestant Episcopal church and served his first parish in Sharon Springs, New York. He was ordained to the diaconate and priesthood by Bishop W. C. Doane of Albany. In 1896 he removed to Columbus. Nebraska, where he took charge of Grace church and where he was instrumental in the erection of three other churches. Thence he removed to Nevada, Missouri, where he was arch- deacon and where he remained until 1902. in which year he came to Jop- lin, where he has since maintained his home. Since his advent here he has erected a beautiful Protestant Episcopal church edifice. and he has charge of a very large and appreciative congregation.
On the 1st of September, 1887, was solemnized the marriage of Rev. Weed to Miss Vilera DeLong, the ceremony having been performed at West Chazy, New York. Mrs. Weed is a daughter of Edgar Lawrence and Elizabeth (Walker) DeLong, the former of whom was born at Ban- gor, New York, on the 15th of Deeember, 1844, and the latter of whom was born at Keesville, New York, on the 18th of December, 1848. E. L. DeLong was a prominent real-estate dealer and a successful farmer in the old Empire state during his life time. His demise occurred on the 26th of September, 1876, at the early age of thirty-two years. Rev. and Mrs. Weed became the parents of two children,-Celeste Beatrice, who was born on the 24th of May, 1889, and who died on the 31st of August 1908; and Madeline, who died in January, 1894.
In politics Rev. Weed maintains an independent attitude. In the grand old Masonie order he has passed through the circles of the Scot- tish Rite and the York Rite branches, in connection with the former of which he is a member of the Consistory, having attained to the thirty- second degree. In the latter he is connected with Fellowship Lodge, Free and Accepted Masons; Joplin Chapter, No. 91, Royal Arch Masons; and Ascension Commandery. No. 59, Knights Templars. He is also affiliated with the local lodge of the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks; and of the Knights and Ladies of Security. Rev. Weed is a speaker of pow- erful eloquence and magnetie personality. He is very influential in re- ligious cireles and in connection with his work is dean of the Southern Convocation of his Diocese and is a member of the missionary board of the same. His mind is broad and clear and he is interested deeply in the material as well as the spiritual welfare of his neighbors. Other men's services to the people and state can be measured by definite deeds, by dangers averted, by legislation secured, by institutions built, by com- merce promoted. What he accomplishes is through the influence of speech and written words and personal character-an influence whose value is not to be reckoned with mathematical exactness but which may be worth more by far than material benefits to the one affected by it.
DELLA A. SHARP .- In all ages of the world women have been a factor in the history of every nation. No monarchy but has yielded to the tact, talent and intuition of women. The most memorable exploits under the Roman Caesars were inspirations of women. Feminine sagacity was as potent as male valor in the great enterprises known to history. from the conquests of Alexander to the overthrow of Napo- leon. Queens, from Semiramis of Assyria to Boadiea of ancient Britan- nia. from Catherine of Russia. to Victoria of England, have been as able rulers as men ; even the discovery of America was due to a woman -Isabella, the patroness of Columbus.
Nor can a history of JJasper county be written withont bringing in the names of women, for they have taken an active part in that history. Illustrious as are the names of the men who have made
Della a Shark.
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Jasper county famous, equally illustrious are the names of the noted women who have borne their share in it. From its inception women have been sharing with men in the development of Jasper county. Neither have they ceased their labors, for today Jasper county women are standing shoulder to shoulder with their brothers in making this the greatest county, in the greatest state, in the Union. The present clerk of the Circuit Court of Jasper county is one of these women, and she stands prominently forward in every movement for the progress of this community.
Miss Della Anna Sharp, although a Kansan by birth, is a Jasper county girl by adoption; and was reared from childhood to maturity in this county. Every interest, tie and kindred, both living and dead, binds her to this community, wherein she was brought up and edu- cated. Almost within the shadow of the dome of the county's capitol lie the remains of her father, mother and sister.
Her father, Robert Milton Sharp, was born in Pennsylvania, coming from a long line of purely American ancestry. His father was a soldier in the war of the Rebellion, serving with a Pennsylvania regiment connected with the Army of the Potomac ; his grandfather served through the war of 1812 under General Harrison; and his great-grandfather was a soldier under General Washington in the war of the Revolution. Thus is the name of Sharp connected with every history-making epoch of this great nation. Some of the name remained in Pennsylvania. some went to Kentucky, and one, the father of Robert M., came to Kansas, settling in Labette county.
The mother of Miss Sharp, Anna Frances Burns, was of English descent, and was born in Canada. However, she came with her parents to the United States when but a mere child and was reared in Illinois. Later the family moved to Ottawa, Kansas, and it was there that Robert M. Sharp first met her, and they were married in 1874. In 1881 they moved to Carthage, Missouri, where Mr. Sharp engaged in business. Mrs. Sharp was a member of the Congregational church. and was active in church work. At her death Mr. Sharp made his home with his daughters. He survived his beloved wife but a few years, and their remains now rest side by side in beautiful Park Ceme- tery in Carthage.
Miss Sharp received her early education in the Carthage public schools. After leaving the high school she entered a business college and fitted herself for a business career. So proficient was she that her work attracted the attention of Frederick Norton, then clerk of the Circuit Court of Jasper county. He appointed her to a deputy- ship, and, rigorous as are the requirements of that office, she not only qualified before the Circuit Judge but was retained as deputy under the succeeding clerks for eleven years. It was while acting in this capacity that she, in company with her friend, Miss Anna Camp- bell, now deceased, at that time court stenographer, read law, and the two young women were admitted at the same time to practice at the Jasper County Bar.
Ever an enthusiastic Republican, Miss Sharp took an active part in local politics. Not as an offensive partisan nor as a blatant reformer, but as a worker in the ranks for the good of the party generally. This work was appreciated by Republican leaders, and, in the campaign of 1910, she became the only logical candidate for the office of clerk of the Circuit Court of Jasper county. At the August primary elec- tion that year she received an overwhelming endorsement from the Republicans, and at the succeeding November election she was not only elected ,to that office, but was among the leaders on the Repub-
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lican ticket, defeating one of the most popular men the Democrats had ever nominated for that office.
Miss Sharp is an active member of Grace Episcopal church of Carthage and treasurer of the Parish Guild. Her well known charity has given her a prominent place in the affections of the poor and un- fortunate. Without show or demonstration she has obeyed the serip- tural injunction of giving in secret; and so wisely has her largess been bestowed that many a little boy and girl have received a chance for a fair schooling who otherwise might have grown up in ignorance, to later drift, perchance, into crime. Her endeavor has been to ele- vate the ideals of the more unfortunate children, to whom her atten- tion has been called, giving them school guidance and thus making a better citizenship and lowering the juvenile crime record, that follows so closely upon the environs of poverty, ignorance and viciousness. In her official capacity she is brought into contact with the crime records of Jasper county. With this for a stimulus she combines with her philanthropy a broad philosophy that is bringing good results. But of the extent of this only she, herself, knows, as she is working in the interests of the boys and girls who are handicapped in the start in life and not for praise from the public. .
Miss Sharp has recently completed a beautiful home in Carthage, and has placed the same in the hands of a thoroughly competent house-keeper (for she remains single from choice). Here she is sur- rounded by her flowers, music and books. Her library is one of the largest private libraries in Jasper county and the volumes show wear and usage. Added to her natural talents, Miss Sharp has cultivated a close acquaintance with the world's greatest writers on science and philosophy ; generous and pleasing, with her wide reading and fam- iliarity with the best and most advanced writers, she possesses a broad- ness in her views that gives her a rare personality, and this. com- bined with her acquaintance with the world at large, makes her a woman whom all must admire, respect and honor. In a fraternal way she is affiliated with the Degree of Honor, the auxiliary of the Ancient Order of United Workmen.
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