USA > Missouri > A history of northeast Missouri, Vol. 2 pt 2 > Part 118
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In 1879 Mr. Jackson was married to Miss Ada Baldridge, a young woman of the finest character, who has proven her fitness to be the help- mate of such a man as her husband. She was a daughter of J. N. Bald- ridge, of Milan, Missouri, and was born and reared in Sullivan county. Two sons and two daughters have been born to Professor and Mrs. Jack- son, all of whom have received the benefits of excellent educations. supervised and directed by their father, and all of whom are prepared to fill useful places in the world's work. The Kirksville Normal College afforded them their higher education. their earlier training being in the common and high schools of their community.
Professor Jackson is a Democrat, and a member of the Methodist church, with others of his family. His political affiliations are with the Independent Order of Odd Fellows, and he is popular and promi- nent in social and other circles wherever he is known. A man of the most pleasing personality, genial manner and kindly ways, prompted by the many gentle qualities of heart and mind that characterize the man, he finds friends wherever he turns, and his success as an edu- cator has been greatly enhanced by his understanding knowledge of young people and their needs. He has ever identified himself with all movements calculated to advance the best interests of his fellows. and has taken a leading place in the best citizenship of his community.
R. E. WILSON, M. D. As an able and worthy representative of the medical profession of Northeastern Missouri, mention must be made of Dr. R. E. Wilson as one of the progressive young men who con- tribute to the advancement of the commonwealth through great activity in their respective fields of endeavor. He occupies a distinguished posi- tion in the professional life of LaBelle, having contributed largely to the development of his section through well-directed individual effort. Dr. Wilson was born in the city of St. Louis, Missouri. August 29. 1875. and is a son of Charles F. and Elizabeth (Glenn) Wilson. who both
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died when he was a small child, and he was reared in the home of his grandparents, George and Mary Wheaton, of St. Louis.
Doctor Wilson received his preliminary education in the St. Louis public schools, following which he took up the study of medicine in the Missouri Homeopathic College of St. Louis, graduating in 1897, after three years of study and receiving the degree of Doctor of Medi- cine. For three years he served as assistant physician in the St. Louis city dispensary, and in 1901 located in LaBelle, where he has since been engaged in practice, having a large and representative professional business in this city and the vicinity. In 1905 he took a post-graduate course in the Chicago Polytechnic Medical College, and has since kept abreast of the various discoveries and inventions of the profession by attendance at lectures and subscription to the leading medical jour- nals. From 1905 until 1912 he served most capably and acceptably as county physician of Lewis county. He is recognized as a physician of great skill and capacity, thoroughly scientific in his theoretical knowl- edge and eminently practical in its application. The work of the or- ganizations which have for their object the advancement of medical science has found in him an attentive spectator and active participant, and he is a valued member of the Lewis County Medical Society, the Mis- souri State Medical Society and the American Medical Association. The doctor has found time to interest himself in fraternal work and is a pop- ular member of the Masonic order, belonging to the blue lodge at La- Belle, the chapter at Edina, the commandery at Canton and the Mystic Shrine at St. Louis, and also belongs to the Odd Fellows. He attends the Christian church, while Mrs. Wilson is a member of the Episcopal faith and is well known in church and social circles.
Doctor Wilson was married in January, 1897, to Miss Catherine H. Negus, of St. Louis, and they have one son, Roy Edward, Jr., who was born July 14, 1898, and is now attending school.
DAVID P. DYER. If those who claim that fortune has favored cer- tain individuals above others will but investigate the cause of success and failure, it will be found that the former is largely due to the im- provement of opportunity, the latter to the neglect of it. Fortunate environments encompass nearly every man at some stage of his career, but the strong man and the successful man is he who realizes that the proper moment has come, that the present and not the future holds his opportunity. The man who makes use of the Now and not the To Be is the one who passes on the highway of life others who started out ahead of him, and reaches the goal of prosperity in advance of them. It is this quality in Judge D. P. Dyer that has won him such distinctive pres- tige as legist and jurist in Missouri, where he is incumbent of the impor- tant position of United States district judge, his headquarters being in the city of St. Louis.
Judge Dyer was born in Henry county, Virginia, the date of his nativity being the 12th of February, 1838. He is a son of David and Nancy (Salmon) Dyer, the former of whom was a soldier in the War of 1812. The father was born in the Old Dominion state and there re- sided until 1841, when he removed, with his family, to Lincoln county, Missouri, where his death occurred some three years later. His wife long survived him and passed away in 1890, aged ninety-five years. The original progenitor of the Dyer family in America came hither from England and settled in Virginia in the early colonial epoch of our na- tional history. George Dyer, grandfather of the judge, was a gallant and faithful soldier in the Continental line of the War of the Revolution.
The youngest in order of birth in a family of twelve children, Judge
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D. P. Dyer was a child of but three years of age at the time of his par- ents' immigration from Virginia to Lincoln county, Missouri, in 1841. He was reared to the invigorating influences of the old homestead farm in Lincoln county and as a young man was matriculated as a student in St. Charles College, which he attended for two years. Later he was engaged in teaching school for one year in Lincoln and Warren counties, Missouri, and at the expiration of that period he began to read law in the office of James O. Broadhead, at Bowling Green, Pike county, Mis- souri, under whose able preceptorship he made such rapid progress that he was admitted to the bar of the state in 1859. In the following year he was elected circuit attorney for the counties of Pike, Lincoln, Warren, Montgomery and Callaway. In 1862 he became associated with Gen. John B. Henderson in the practice of law at Louisiana, Missouri, and this mutually agreeable alliance was continued for two years. In 1862 he was likewise elected to the state legislature to represent Pike county and two years later he succeeded himself in that office. A warm Union- ist from the time of the inception of the war he was unusually influential in keeping Missouri in the Union. He Recruited the Forty-ninth Regi- ment of Missouri Volunteers, in which many conservative men, who had known Colonel Dyer as a Douglas Democrat, enlisted. As colonel of the above regiment, Judge Dyer participated in the more important mili- tary movements in Missouri, the same including a vigorous pursuit of General Price and his forces. Subsequently he was sent to the Depart- ment of the Gulf, his regiment taking part in the battles about Mobile. Together with his regiment he was mustered out of service in August, 1865.
After the close of hostilities and when peace had again been established, Judge Dyer resumed the active practice of law and soon gained recogni- tion as a man of affairs in Missouri, where he became a leader in the ranks of the Republican party. In 1868 he was elected to congress for one term and in 1875 President Grant appointed him district attorney for the eastern district of Missouri. It was at this time that his prose- cution of the notorious "whiskey fraud" cases won him the commenda- tion not only of the government but of all lovers of good government. In 1880 he was candidate, on the Republican ticket, for the office of gov- ernor of Missouri, but as there was but a handful of acknowledged Re- publicans in the entire state at that time he met with defeat.
In 1875 Judge Dyer became a citizen of St. Louis, where he has since resided and where he has gained precedence as a lawyer and jurist of unusual repute. Since 1907 he has been judge of the United States district court for the eastern judicial district of Missouri and as such his work has been characterized by the utmost diligence and marked devotion to duty. Endowed by nature with high intellectual qualities, to which have been added the discipline and embellishments of culture, his is a most attractive personality. Well versed in the learning of his profession, and with a deep knowledge of human conduct, with great sagacity and extraordinary tact, he stands today almost without a peer at the Missouri har, honoring the state which has so honored him. Hc is affiliated with the Grand Army of the Republic and with the Loyal Legion and in both organizations is a man of prominence and influence. As a jurist he never hesitates to administer severely the law to all old offenders and born criminals but to those who have been temporarily misled he gives a kindly word of encouragement that has frequently re- sulted in replacing the man of evil associations on the right road to pros- perity and happiness.
In Pike county, Missouri, in the year 1860, Judge Dyer was united in marriage to Lizzie Chambers Hunt, a daughter of Judge Ezra Hunt
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and granddaughter of Judge Rufus Pettibone, one of the first supreme judges of Missouri. There was born to Judge and Mrs. Dyer six children, to wit: Ezra Hunt; Emma Grace, now Mrs. E. W. Hunting; David P., Jr. ; Elizabeth Logan ; Horace L., and Louise M., the latter being the wife of Amos F. Fay, Jr. There are seven grandchildren.
Judge Dyer is a man of broad human sympathy and great benev- olenee. Charity in its widest and best sense is practiced by him and his kindness of heart has made smooth the rough way of many a weary traveler on life's journey. In his private life he is distinguished by all that marks the true gentleman. His is a noble character-one that sub- ordinates personal ambition to public good and seeks rather the benefit of others than the aggrandizement of self.
WIGHT FAMILY OF RANDOLPH COUNTY. Among the notable North- east Missouri families none has been more conspicuous in the dignity and social service of the members in the three generation resident in Randolph county since 1840 than the Wight family, now represented in this county by James William Wight, one of the oldest native sons of Randolph county, and his son James Winter Wight, a prominent attor- ney and farmer of the county.
The founder of the family in America and head of the first genera- tion to be described in this article was James Wight who was born at Ormiston, near Edinburgh in Scotland, February 24, 1789. In 1794 he eame to America with his parents, James and Jane (McConaehee) Wight, and settled near Richmond, Virginia. He subsequently removed to Fleming county, Kentucky, and then to Frankfort in the same state, where he was married on November 15, 1815, to Sarah Rateliff, eoneern- ing whose family further mention is given in the following paragraph. To these parents were born eight children. While residing in Frankfort James Wight was a cabinet workman and contraetor and built the state house or capital. In 1836 he took his family to Shelby county, Ken- tucky, and ever after lived as a farmer until his death at the home of one of his daughters in Normal, Illinois, April 22, 1871. He was a soldier in the War of 1812. His early education was attained in the common schools of the country district. He was in religion a Southern Method- ist, and took mueh interest in ehureh affairs, giving liberally of his means to the support of church and benevolence.
Sarah (Ratcliff) Wight, wife of James Wight, was born in Richmond, Virginia, May 10, 1790. She was the daughter of Francis Rateliff, who was born in Chesterfield county, Virginia, in 1755, and the maiden name of her mother was Rebecca Bridges, who was born in 1758. Francis Ratcliff was a corporal in Capt. William Pierce's company in the First Artillery Regiment of Continental Troops commanded by Col. Charles Harrison during the Revolutionary war. This regiment was assigned to the state of Virginia. The records of the land office at Richmond, Virginia, show that Francis Rateliff was allowed the portion of land allotted the corporal of the Continental line for three years' service. Sarah Rateliff received her education also in the common sehools, and was a members of the Southern Methodist church.
James Francis Rateliff Wight, son of James and Sarah Wight, and founder of the family in Randolph county, was born in Frankfort, Ken- tucky, May 26, 1819, and died October 26, 1905. He married Frances Ann Burton in Oldham county, Kentucky, June 6, 1839. She died September 3, 1843, leaving one child, James William Wight. His second marriage December 8, 1846, was to Harriet Amanda Head. He had no children by this marriage. He was a farmer and stock-raiser, taking much interest in fine horses and cattle, and was a promoter of agrieul-
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tural fairs. He owned about one thousand acres of land in Randolph county, upon which he had resided for more than sixty years, and to which he had moved in the fall of 1840 from Shelby county, Kentucky. In religion he was a Methodist, and in politics a Whig. As a .Whig he was elected about the year 1854 to the state legislature from Randolph county, a county in which the division between the Whigs and the Demo- crats had always been very close. After the dissolution of the Whig party, he allied himself with the Democrats and again represented his county in the state legislature at Jefferson City in 1876, defeating after a spirited contest one of the most popular men of the county. During the Civil war he was a strong Southern sympathizer, and while he did not enlist as a soldier he rendered the cause much help by his counsel and means. Concerning this interesting phase of his life, the reader is referred to the following paragraph :
"The late Mr. Wight was a man of strict integrity, a close observer of men and affairs, a good judge of human nature, wise in council, and his advice was often sought in matters financial and judicial. He was very charitable, having reared six orphan children."
Frances Ann (Burton) Wight, wife of James F. R. Wight, and mother of James William Wight, was born in Oldham county, Kentucky, January 21, 1820, and was the daughter of William and Ann Burton. She came with her widowed mother and husband to Randolph county in 1840. They made the trip in wagons, there being eight white souls and thirty negro slaves in the company. In coming through Illinois a negro girl was kidnapped by abolitionists which detained them several days. The mother of the girl was frantic with grief because of the kidnapping and wild with joy at the rescue.
As incidents in the life of the late James Francis Rateliff Wight, the following paragraphs are added to this sketch in the belief that no more interesting contributions concerning the war times in this section of Missouri will be read on other pages of this history than the following memoirs which are part of the history of this state.
One bleak cold day during the late Civil war, a wagon accompanied by two strangers was observed making its way slowly along the muddy highway known as the state road, leading from Huntsville to Hannibal. and as it came near the little village of Milton, in the eastern part of Randolph county, and near where Mr. Wight lived, the wagon broke down. As it contained only a few trunks and other light articles and seemed to be lightly loaded, the event started some comment as to what the trunks contained that they should cause the wagon to break down. Upon inquiry it was found that they contained gold and silver coin. One of the men, who rode in a buggy in front of the wagon, acting as pilot, was Adam Hendrix of Fayette, Howard county. the father of E. R. Hendrix, who was afterwards and is now a bishop of the Meth- odist Episcopal church, South. Mr. Hendrix stated that the money belonged to various persons who had deposited it in the bank at Fayette. and as times were very squally by reason of the war and marauding bands all over the country, the directors of the bank felt that it was not safe in the vaults, therefore Mr. Hendrix, as president, was aiming to get the deposits into Illinois for safe keeping.
Colonel Poindexter, a Southern chieftain. who lived in the neighbor- hood before the war, and who at this time was in the vicinity recruiting for the Southern army, was notified of the discovery. and he seized the money thinking it might be contraband of war. belonging to the United States government. Mr. Hendrix knew Mr. Wight, and asked if he did not live near, and so going to his home sought his aid in the premises. relating to him the same facts as above stated. Mr. Wight believed the
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story, knowing Mr. Hendrix to be a man of honor and integrity. He went to Colonel Poindexter and asked that the money be returned to Mr. Hendrix, at the same time saying that while he was a Southern man in principle and sympathy, he thought it would harm the cause very much if he did not. Colonel Poindexter at the instance of Mr. Wight returned the money, and the parties went on, reaching their destination in safety. In addition Mr. Wight furnished a conveyance to help them on their journey. For this kindness Mr. Hendrix was so grateful that he said to Mr. Wight, if at any time he or any of the directors of the bank could serve him in any way to command them. Well, the time eame later.
The war continued with rigor and bloodshed, the Southern soldiers being crowded out and moving further south. The state was overrun with Federal soldiers from other states. Among them was one Colonel Merrill of Merrill's Horse, from Iowa. He was stationed for a time at Huntsville, the county seat of Randolph county. During his stay he became acquainted with Mr. Wight and learned something of his South- ern proclivities, and although Mr. Wight remained in the peaceful pur- suit of his vocation, that of a farmer at his home, the eolonel longed for an opportunity to lay his hands upon him, but was unable to do so. After a stay of some months, he and his eommand were moved to Colum- bia in Boone county. Not long after this Mr. Wight received a communi- eation from Colonel Merrill to report to him, stating the time, about a week off, and further saying "if he had any business affairs to arrange to do so, as it might be necessary to protraet his stay in Columbia." Mr. Wight construed that to mean that he was to be thrown into prison or maybe his life forfeited, for he knew how lightly the lives of men were held in those trying days.
At this juncture Mr. Wight bethought himself as to what he had best do to thwart the plans of the offieious Colonel Merrill. So he determined to appeal his case to his friend of other years, Col. James O. Broadhead of St. Louis, who was a loyal man and at that time was provost marshal general, and as such was in charge of the military forces of the state. However, before going to St. Louis, he determined to call for aid from some of the bank officials of Fayette, to whom he had given such efficient help in the earlier years of the war. So he went to Fayette, secured the friendly services of Robert Prewett, a lawyer, director in the bank and a staunch Union man to vouch for him, in that while he was a South- ern sympathizer, he had remained at home and had never taken up arms against the government. Thus armed and panoplied, he laid his ease before Colonel Broadhead, who unhesitatingly gave him immunity from the designs and machinations of Colonel Merrill. In addition to this, at the request of Mr. Wight, he gave him written authority to bear side- arms for his own personal safety, thus demonstrating his confidence in the integrity and honor of Mr. Wight. However, he told him to report at the time ordered by Colonel Merrill, and that he would notify him not in any way to detain, harass or molest him. On his arrival in Co- lumbia, he reported to Colonel Merrill at headquarters, who seemed much put out and told Mr. Wight "that by reason of a combination of circumstances over which he had no control, he had no further use for him." Thus he slipped through his clutches and escaped from what seemed at first, and really was, a very serious matter to Mr. Wight. Thus we see exemplined again how dependent we are upon our friends and how closely are we linked together and how we may be of mutual benefit as we journey to our home beyond.
Here we turn again to Colonel Poindexter, of whom we spoke a moment ago. After his release of the money belonging to the Fayette bank he turned his steps southward, and after a time of the varied and
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changing fortunes of war, or rather, may we not say, misfortunes to him, he was captured, put into military prison at Macon City, where he was court-martialed and condemned to be shot. He determined at all hazards to make his escape, if possible. His wife was permitted to see him occa- sionally while in prison, and while on one of her visits secretly con- veyed to him a quantity of cayenne pepper which served him most effec- tually later. He was very closely watched, and every avenue of escape seemed closed. However, the evening of the day before he was to be executed, he prevailed upon his guard to take him out for a walk that he might once more behold the blue sky and have his brow fanned by the breezes of heaven before he should die. He was taken out about sunset, walking between two guards. He simultaneously with each hand dashed the pepper into the eyes of his guards and made a run for liberty. Thus he made his escape. The alarm was given, and soon the whole post turned out to hunt for him. Here heaven seemed to favor him for the sky was almost immediately overcast with clouds, it began to rain, and darkness settled over the face of nature. He made his way to a clump of timber as a hiding place, crouching under bushes or whatever could afford him shelter from his pursuers, who scoured the thickets with torches and lanterns; at one time some of them were so near him he could have touched them from under the bush where he was hiding. His pursuers caught a glimpse of him, revealed to them by a flash of lightning, and he received a gunshot flesh wound in his thigh. After a fruitless endeavor his would-be captors gave up the chase for the time being.
Notwithstanding his wound, he made his way to friendlier surround- ings about twenty miles away and took shelter in a heavily timbered region known as the Rock House Hills, where for a time he was minis- tered to by friendly hands, in secret, of course, for the whole country around about was occupied by Federal soldiers. After a short stay here he sent for Mr. Wight to advise with him as to what he ought to do. Mr. Wight, after some difficulty, located him, and seeing his condition, wounded as he was, and knowing the proximity of the soldiers from Macon City, felt that he would surely be captured before he could get off south, hence he advised him to surrender to Colonel Denny, who was in command of the military post at Huntsville. This he was very loath to do, for he was afraid his life would pay the forfeit. However, after a a time he consented for Mr. Wight to go to Huntsville and see what terms he could make; then to report to him. Mr. Wight rode to Hunts- ville, some fifteen miles distant, and made his mission known. After a long parley Colonel Denny gave his word that if he would surrender, his life should be spared; and he should never be turned over to the mili- tary authorities at Macon City, of whom he was much afraid.
Mr. Wight returned to Poindexter, told him the result of his con- ference with Colonel Denny, and Poindexter agreed to make the venture. After some time consumed in trying to get a horse, such was the state of affairs that southern men were afraid to do anything that might be construed as disloyal, Mr. Wight found a friend, Israel White, who would lend him a horse, but not Poindexter, so he mounted the colonel on his own horse, which he had ridden since very early in the morning. They started, and while it would be out of the way, Mr. Wight thought best to go by his home and secure a fresh horse. While this arrange- ment for the surrender of Poindexter was being made, a detachment of soldiers from the post at Macon City, under the command of Colonel Gilstrap, came down in the vicinity of Colonel Poindexter's old home looking for him: and, as was the custom in those days. the citizens in the neighborhood where they stopped were compelled to feed them and their horses. Some of these soldiers had taken supper at the home of
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