A history of northeast Missouri, Vol. 2 pt 2, Part 12

Author: Williams, Walter, 1864- , ed
Publication date: 1913
Publisher: Chicago, New York, The Lewis publishing company
Number of Pages: 912

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On October 22, 1874, Mr. Nalley was united in marriage with Miss Jennie Johnson, a daughter of James Johnson, one of the early settlers of the Haw Creek locality in Pike county. Mrs. Johnson was formerly Miss Anna Waddell, and she and her husband were the parents of eight children. Two daughters were born to Mr. and Mrs. Nalley : Etha and May, the latter being the wife of Pearly E. Richard, a farmer near this locality. Mr. and Mrs. Richards have two children: Glenn Johnson and Clareta.

THOMAS JEFFERSON NALLEY is the son of the late Rev. James S. Nalley, who, as a farmer and local minister, was widely known through- out the Salt River community of Pike county, and whose identity with this county dates from 1840. The family came from Halifax county, Vir- ginia, where James Simpson Nalley was born on June 7, 1812. His father was Hezekiah Nalley, born of English parentage on June 7, 1781, in that same Virginia county.

The remote ancestor of this family was Aaron Nalley who married Sallie Bozzle in England and came to America while it was yet a de- pendence of the British crown. This pioneer couple passed away in the locality where they settled, and their children were Henley, born in 1772; Elkanah, born in 1774; John, born May 26, 1776; Jesse, born August 22, 1778; Hezekiah, born June 7, 1781; Priscilla, born April 1, 1783; James, September 8, 1785; Mary, July 9, 1787; John, July 4, 1789, and Aaron, born July 30, 1791.

Hezekiahı Nalley, the grandfather of the subject of this brief review, came out to Missouri, with his children and died in the Nalley neighbor- hood on May 12, 1861. He was a soldier of the War of 1812 and fol- lowed the trade of a shoemaker. He married Susana Bowie on April 22, 1810, she being born February 22, 1791. . Their issue were: Matilda, born in 1811 and died in infancy ; James Simpson, father of Thomas J., born June 7, 1812; Aaron D., born September 14, 1814; Cynthia B., born October 1, 1816; Sarah B., June 23, 1818; she married Jacob Sig- ler and died October 20, 1836; Mahala A., born May 10, 1820, married John Reading, October 28, 1841, and passed her life in Pike county ; Chloe, born December 6, 1821, and died unmarried; Jesse H., born January 31, 1824, also died unmarried; William H., born April 1, 1826,

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married Mary C. Bryson, April 11, 1850, and died at Appleton City, Missouri, October 16, 1912; John E., born September 16, 1828, died unmarried; Charles T., born September 26, 1830, was married to Rachel Jackson July 29, 1852, and died in early manhood. The wife and mother died on August 1, 1860.

James Simpson Nalley, while not a highly educated man, acquired a popular training in the country schools of his youthful days, and his later study and observations made him a well educated man. He mar- ried Elizabeth M. Rector, a daughter of Vincent Rector, whose wife was Artimacy Bowie. Mr. Rector was a native son of Fauquier county, Virginia, where he was born August 21, 1872. He married on Christ- mas day, 1809, and his wife died October 20, 1843, six years after which sad occurrence the family came to Pike county, Missouri.

The issue of James and Elizabeth M. Nalley who reached years of maturity and came to occupy forceful places among men are Charles W. Davenport and Thomas Jefferson Nalley. The family home was repre- sented by the farm upon which Thomas J. now resides, where he has passed his married life and where his grandfather Hezekiah settled in 1840, his children being the fourth generation to live on this farm. Farming ever constituted the principal interest of the family and the religious and social life of the community was augmented by a persist- ent effort on the part of the household to bring men into close relation to their Maker and to encourage the spirit of brotherly love among their fellow men. James S. Nalley was licensed to preach, being thus enabled to. perform religious rites and marriage ceremonies, and his private register of such reveals the union of many of the sons and daughters of pioneers of the Salt River locality. Rev. Nalley died Feb- ruary 22, 1875, and his widow survived him until December 4, 1889.

Thomas J. Nalley was born on January 27, 1856, and the brick resi- dence which houses him today is the one whose roof sheltered his parents in their latter years. His education in the country schools was not different from that of other youth of his time and calling. He pos- sessed a strong tendency toward cattle raising and he fostered that industry until it became chief among his mixed interests in an agricul- tural way. He came to be a feeder and shipper and for a quarter of a century was one of the conspicuous figures in the East St. Louis mar- ket. Eventually Mr. Nalley saw an opening to embark in the commis- sion business in East St. Louis and his ambition was strengthened by his desire to aid a son of worth and promise, and he joined his brother in the purchase of the Steel-Wells-Mockey Commission Company, and for a few years remained a partner in the firm, now one of the popular com- mission houses of the East St. Louis market, and known as the Nalley- Wells Commission Company. The concern is owned and exploited today by J. W. Nalley, the son whom he wished to establish in business.

Although Mr. Nalley was reared in the Methodist church, and was a member of the little church at the "three churches" near his home, he, with his family, later united with the Presbyterian church. His political privileges have been exercised as a Democrat, and his concern in the matter of party success has manifested itself in attendance upon the preliminary work incident to nominations for office and to voting the ticket when the nomination was made.

On October 11, 1876, Mr. Nalley married a neighbor girl, Miss Clar- issa Duffie Bryson, a daughter of William and Eliza A. (Yeater) Bry- son, a record of which family appears under the Judge William N. Bry- son sketch in this work. Mrs. Nalley was born October 10, 1856. The children of their union were James William, born October 12, 1877; he married Blanche Goodman and is the young live stock commissioner

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mentioned above; Thomas Jefferson, Jr., was born February 15, 1880; he was graduated from the Washington Medical University, St. Louis, Missouri, practicing in St. Louis; he married Nellie McCaskey. Anna, born February 27, 1887, is a graduate from the Louisiana, Missouri, high school and is a strong factor of the hospitable and popular home of her parents. Both she and Mrs. Nalley are members of the D. A. R., Carl Jonathan Pettibone Chapter of Louisiana.

JAMES LEE READING is one of the extensive farmers and stock men of Pike county, and is well known and highly esteemed in his com- munity. He is a member of the fourth generation of the family to occupy a place among the citizenship of the county, his forbears being among the primal settlers of the district. His genealogy begins with George Reading, the old Virginia patriot, who served under General Greene in our war for independence, and who came to Missouri from Bath county, Kentucky. He was born in 1757 and settled on the head of Grassy creek where he finished out his long and useful life. He came into that locality in about 1820, and the child of his household from whom our subject is descended was William Reading, who spent his life among the pioneer slave-holding farmers of the community, and is buried in the Reading cemetery on Grassy creek.

William Reading married, and among his children was John, the grandfather of James Lee Reading of this review. John Reading was born in 1821, and the farm now owned by Charles L. Reading was his lifetime home. He and his father were men of especially good business attainments, independent and fearless, and their movements were never actuated by political motives, that being a subject to which they ren- dered only the allegiance due from good citizens. They were members of the Methodist church. John Reading married Miss Ann Nalley, a sister of Rev. James Nalley, of whose life and work more extended mention is made on other pages of this work, the Nalley family being one of the well known and prominent ones of that time. He died on December 31, 1899. His son, James LaFayette Reading and the father of the subject, was one of eight children, and he was born in Pike county, in August, 1847. He received such education as the country schools then afforded, and upon reaching years of manhood engaged in the business to which he had been reared, that of farming. He attained prominence in Pike county as a farmer and stock man of the Salt River valley and died in 1897. His wife was Lois E. Stark, a daughter of Thomas and Elizabeth (Goldsberry) Stark and a granddaughter of Judge James S. Stark, the founder of that noted family in Pike county, of whom mention is made on other pages of this work.

Of the issue of James L. and Lois E. Reading, John Thomas died in 1903, leaving one child, Isabel, by his wife, Maggie (Unsell) Reading; James Lee Reading is the only surviving child of his parents. He was born February 27, 1881, and after his primary education in the schools of his native village, was entered as a student in LaGrange College, in LaGrange, Missouri, after which he returned to the estate of his father where he became a prominent factor in its management. Since becom- ing thus identified with his father's interests he has built up an exten- sive business as a feeder in car lots. The ranch and farm embraces fourteen hundred acres and more than a thousand acres of it is culti- vated under the direct supervision of its young manager.

On October 1, 1902, Mr. Reading married Miss Ethel Wiseman, a daughter of John and Ellen (Creacy) Wiseman, of Lewis county, Mis- souri. The other children of the Wiseman household were David J. and

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John C., now deceased. Eula Lee and James L., Jr., are the issue of Mr. and Mrs. Reading.

Mr. Reading has found time to become interested in affairs outside his immediate business concerns, and is one of the stockholders and a member of the directorate of the Mercantile Bank of Louisiana, Mis- souri. He is a Democrat, as were his forefathers, and his religious affili- ations are maintained as a member of the Sugar Creek Baptist church, of which he is a deacon.

PHENICIOUS S. WADDELL is a well known farmer of the Grassy creek community of Pike county, and is a grandson of one of the pioneer set- tlers of that place, William W. Waddell, Sr., who was the founder of the Waddell family in Missouri and whose life and posterity is to be found in the sketch of W. P. Hawkins in this volume.

William W. Waddell, one of the sons of the pioneer ancestors of the same name, was born in Pike county, Missouri, in 1830. He, as a boy, had the advantage of such training as the frontier schools of his day afforded, and passed his life as a modest farmer. During the gold ex- citement of "49" he crossed the plains, but failing to make his fortune in the gold mines of California, returned to his native state and gave the remainder of his long life to the business of agriculture, his activities being centered upon the identical farm which his son Phenicious now occupies. He married Elizabeth Biggs, a daughter of Morris Biggs, and the Biggs family also will be found represented elsewhere in this bio- graphical work. Mrs. Waddell was a granddaughter of Rev. David Biggs, and she was one of a family of five children. The others were Mary, who became the wife of Capt. Austin McGarry and spent her life in Pike county, leaving a family upon her death ; Sallie married Will- iam Beauchamp, and died in Pike county; Robert passed his life devoted to agricultural interests ; William was drowned in a well, caused by damps, as a young man, and Rebecca married William South. The father, William Waddell, Jr., spent his boyhood days on Sugar creek, where he was born, and in early manhood settled in the Grass Creek valley. He was something of an enthusiast in Democratic politics, his interest being strongly partisan, and he was a member of the Baptist church. He died in 1889, while the death of his wife occurred in 1883. They were the parents of six children, named as follows: Lanious L., of Montgomery county, Missouri; Ovy T. of Pike county; Sallie, the widow of Rev. S. G. Givens, living in Louisiana, Missouri; Phenicious S., of this personal review; Hannah, the wife of Ed. Sparks of Pike county, and Mollie, who became the wife of Curtis Edwards and died in Roodhouse, Illinois, 1895.

Phenicious S. Waddell acquired such education as the country schools afforded, and though considerably advanced from the boyhood days of his father, they still left much to be desired in the way of complete- ness of instruction. With the close of his school days, he continued on the farm, and is now a part owner in the parental home where he was born and reared. He has identified himself with diversified farm- ing, and with the breeding of blooded poultry and hogs, and has done a good work thus far in the matter of raising the standard of farm animals in his community, and rousing considerable interest in thor- oughbred fowl, while his flocks of Barred Rocks and his pens of Poland Chinas are two of the distinguihsing marks of his farm.

On December 21, 1880, Mr. Waddell married Maggie Caverley, a daughter of Philip and Nancy (Parks) Caverley, who became the par- ents of seven children. They were: William, Charley, Fannie, Lizzie, Nelson, Edward, and Maggie, who became Mrs. Waddell. Nine

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children were born to Mr. and Mrs. Waddell, here named in the order of their birth: Francis, who married Mildred Howdyshell; Nannie, the wife of J. W. Dent; Clarence, who married Lucy Griffith; Curtis, James, George, Ruth, Philip and Margaret at home.

The churchly interests of the Waddell family are centered in the Baptist church, and Mr. Waddell is a Democrat in his political faith. Like others of his family, he has never evinced any desire for political office or preferment, being wholly without ambition in that respect, and well content to devote his energies to his personal affairs and to such duties as come within the bounds of good citizenship.

J. S. PRESTON was born on a farm in Boone county, Missouri, on July 4, 1843. His parents, S. J. and Cassie J. (Robinson) Preston, moved to Fayette, Missouri, when their son, J. S. of this review, was one month old. Here he was raised and educated in the public schools and Central College until the spring of 1863, when he entered the University of Missouri, where he remained until graduation in June, 1865, receiv- ing the degree of B. S. at that time. In the fall of 1865 he matriculated as a student in the St. Louis Medical College and was graduated with the degree of M. D. in March, 1867.

Soon after his graduation Dr. Preston located in Huntsville, Mis- souri, where he practiced medicine for several years, then removed to Fayette and continued in practice until he changed his location to Arm- strong, Missouri, in August, 1885. Settled in Armstrong he engaged in the drug business in connection with his regular practice, and in January, 1888, he established the Armstrong Herald, which he published for three years. He then retired from his journalistic efforts and entered the drug business once more, but soon, on account of failing health, he retired from active business of all kinds.

In October, 1868, Dr. Preston was married to Miss Sarah A. Smith, the daughter of Robert Smith, of Randolph county, Missouri. To this union seven children were born,-three sons and four daughters as follows : Mrs. R. S. Walton, wife of county representative R. S. Walton; Mrs. Wallace D. Chesney of Kansas City, Missouri; J. E. Preston, edi- tor of Bosworth Sentinel, Carroll county, Missouri; J. S. Preston, Jr., agent C. & A. R. R., Laddonia, Missouri; Mrs. Mona B. March, wife of Prof. J. G. March, of Wapanucka, Oklahoma; and Miss Valentine Pres- ton, teacher of music in Hargrove College, Ardmore, Oklahoma. One son died in infancy.

Dr. Preston is a member of the Christian church, and a Jeffersonian Democrat of the most emphatic type. .

HON. EDWIN R. McKEE. Having reached the limit of human life as indicated by the psalmist, and being still in active health and vigor of both body and mind; having passed along the rough and stony path- way of a personal and professional career to a condition of comfort in a worldly way and distinction among his fellows in his profession and all the other relations of life; having started his struggle for advance- ment with little or nothing in the form of money capital, and having made his way forward solely through his own ability and efforts, unas- sisted by the favors of fortune or adventitious circumstances, and living now universally admired and esteemed wherever he is known, Judge Edwin R. McKee of Memphis, Scotland county, presents in his record an unusually interesting theme for the pen of the biographer, and one it will be profitable to review for the benefit of the rising generation, no member of which can but be moved to greater exertions by the force of the example thus set forth into public view.

E.R. Mcker.

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Judge McKee was born in Knox county, Illinois, on August 31, 1842, and is a son of Thomas and Maria (Rice) McKee, the former born in Harrison county, Indiana, on August 22, 1810, and the latter in Craw- ford county, Indiana, on February 4, 1814. The father was a son of Thomas McKee, a scion of Scotch ancestry and a pioneer in Kentucky, where he was an intimate associate and companion of Daniel Boone, and worked, hunted and dared death with that resolute man for many years.

His son Thomas, the father of the judge, was a very studious boy and youth and became a widely informed man. In 1821 an older brother moved to Sangamon county, Illinois, and in 1824 to Schuyler county in that state. He sent back home glowing accounts of the promise and wealth of opportunity of the new region in which he lived, and in 1827 Thomas, then a youth of seventeen, determined to seek his own fortune somewhere in the same region. In November, 1828, he arrived in Knox county, Illinois, where he was one of the first settlers. He passed the early years of his life in that county in the woods, mauling rails, clearing land and farming. He also rose to con- siderable local influence and prominence there, filling many offices, among them those of assesor, constable, justice of the peace and super- visor, and from 1852 to 1854 being a member of the legislature.

He also took part in the Black Hawk war as a lieutenant, captain and major of militia. While he was in school his father, the first Thomas McKee, was elected sheriff of Harrison county, Indiana, and being unable to read and write, he left his work and went to school with young Thomas long enough to acquire the power to do both before he entered upon the duties of his office. It is almost needless to add that a man of that caliber made an excellent sheriff and won high commen- dation by the ability and fidelity with which he discharged his official duties.

The marriage of the second Thomas McKee with Miss Maria Rice took place on March 4, 1832. They were the tenth couple married in Knox county, and fifty years later they were the first to celebrate a golden wedding in the city of Galesburg. Two thousand guests were present at this celebration, coming from all parts of the United States and making the event one of the most notable in the social life of that city and the surrounding country for many miles on every side.

They became the parents of ten daughters and three sons, all of whom grew to maturity but one, but only four of them are living now. These are the judge, his sisters, Sarah and Lucinda, and his brother, Thomas Alexander. Sarah, who is the wife of E. H. Vance, a promi- nent lawyer, lives at Malvern, Arkansas. An adopted son of hers, Judge Roland Vance of Malvern, was a candidate for governor of Arkansas in 1911. Lucinda, who is the wife of George Wallace, resides in Prescott, Arizona, and is a prominent practicing physician and surgeon there. Her reputation in the profession is high and her prac- tice is very extensive. Alexander also has his home at Malvern, Arkan- sas. Rachel, who married Joseph French; Jane, who married John Tate; Catherine, who married William Howey; Helen, who married Frank Sears; Ann, who married William Hardenbrook; and Isabelle, Margaret and Hannah have died, the latter three each passing away at the age of about twenty-three years. The father of these children died in Galesburg in 1892, and the mother who was of German and Welsh descent, died eleven days later.

Judge McKee obtained part of his scholastic education in the public schools of Knox county, Illinois, which he attended until 1859. In that year he entered Western College, a manual labor institution in western Vol. 111-6

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Linn county, Iowa, working his way until 1862, except for six months, during which he was in the Union army and recovering from wounds received in battle. He enlisted May 9, 1861, in Company K, First Iowa Volunteer Infantry. With his regiment he took part in the battles of Forsythe, Doug Springs and Wilson's Creek. At the last named battle he was shot through his left arm and received a flesh wound in the left leg and disabled for further service. In that battle he was near General Lyons when that resolute commander who was leading was killed, and in the charge, he was wounded.

After receiving his wound the judge was taken to his home and lay ill for many weeks. When he recovered he renewed his studies at Western College and continued them there until 1862, when he then went to Lombard University, in Galesburg, Illinois, and finished there in 1864. He then studied law in the office of Messrs. Lamphere & Williams of that city and was admitted to the bar in 1865. He came to Clark county in this state and began the practice of his profession there, that year locating for the purpose at Athens. His practice was slow at first and the returns it brought him were small. So he taught school one year to help out, then located at Old Waterloo in Clark county. When the county seat was removed to Kahoka he changed his residence and base of operations to that city. He practiced his profession at Kahoka until 1875, then moved to Memphis, where he has ever since resided. He had previously passed eighteen months in Memphis in 1868 and 1869, but had returned to Waterloo at the end of that period, when he married.

Judge McKee has always adhered to the Democratic party in his political relations, and as a Democrat, has taken an active part in the public affairs of every community in which he has lived. He served as prosecuting attorney of Clark county in 1871, 1872 and 1873. His first tenure of this office was secured by appointment before an election for prosecutor was held, and he was elected at the first election to fill the office. He was a district presidential elector in 1884, and elector at large for the state in 1892. In those times and for years afterward he was a very energetic and effective campaigner.

In 1896 he was appointed to fill a vacancy on the bench of the circuit court, and at the election a few months later was chosen to fill out the unexpired term of his predecessor. In 1898 he was re-elected for a full term of six years. The circuit comprises Scotland, Clark, Lewis and Knox counties, and the duties of the office are extensive and exacting. But he performed them with promptness and a degree of ability, fairness and high judicial temperament that won him universal commendation and brought him state-wid edistinction as a jurist. Since retiring from the bench the judge has devoted himself to the practice of his profession.

Judge McKee has long taken an earnest interest and an active part in the fraternal life of his state as a member of the Masonic order, in which he has ascended the mystic ladder to the top in the York rites. He in a Noble of the Mystic Shrine. His religious connection is with the Christian church, in which, also, he takes a very active and helpful inter- est, as he does in everything that makes for the progress and improvement of his town and county and the substantial and enduring welfare of their residents.

The judge has been twice married. His first marriage took place December 22, 1868, and was with Miss Frances Givens, a daughter of Judge N. F. Givens, one of the framers of the Missouri state consti- tution and an eminent lawyer. This Mrs. McKee died on March 31, 1895, leaving three children: Harriet Maria, an accomplished woman,

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who is the wife of John Brann, a leading citizen, a banker and planta- tion owner and manager of Memphis; Thomas Nathaniel, who is an expert abstracter in Phoenix, Arizona; and Edwin R., Jr., who was a lawyer and died at the age of twenty-six years. He was a highly educated and very thorough young lawyer and gave great promise. The grandchildren of Judge McKee are Horace and Frances, son and daugh- ter of Thos. N. McKee and Faith Adams.

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A history of northeast Missouri, Vol. 2 pt 2, Part 12

Author: Williams, Walter, 1864- , ed Publication date: 1913 Publisher: Chicago, New York, The Lewis publishing company Number of Pages: 912

Author: Williams, Walter, 1864- , ed
Publication date: 1913
Publisher: Chicago, New York, The Lewis publishing company
Number of Pages: 912