A history of northeast Missouri, Vol. 2 pt 2, Part 21

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

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Selling his farm in 1890 Mr. Kissinger accepted a position with Gregory, Cooley & Company, commission men in Chicago, as solicitor and salesman and remained with that concern for fifteen months at a handsome salary. In 1892 he returned to Clarksville and entered the hardware and implement business, giving that line the benefit of his personality and popularity and bringing to his town a trade for which other cities were vainly grasping. In 1908 he disposed of his hardware stock and has since devoted his efforts to dealing in implements, and ve- hicles, his business being regarded by machine salesmen as one of the most vigorous and desirable enterprises of its kind to be found. His store room is of modern structure and semi-fireproof and is unusually well stocked. He is the owner of extensive farming tracts of farming and town property in the vicinity of Clarksville.

In his political activities Mr. Kissinger is a stalwart Republican. He is the only male charter member of the Christian church now living in Clarksville. He inherited his father's tendencies toward accomplish- ing things for the welfare of the church and has given his time and all the funds he could spare from his business toward the building of houses for God and for the promotion of the material affairs of the church. The Salem church came into being directly as the result of his determination

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to "build that church" and his appeals to neighbors resulted in the raising of a large and generous building fund.

November 6, 1859, Mr. Kissinger was united in marriage to Miss Elizabeth Stewart, a daughter of Gen. David Stewart and Margaret Jameson, representatives of two of the most prominent pioneer families of Lincoln county, Missouri. Mrs. Kissinger's mother died near Louis- ville, Missouri, in 1848, leaving five children, as follows,-Judith is the wife of James Morris, of Lincoln county, Missouri; Mary J. is the wife of Judge W. W. Shaw; Margaret married C. P. Crow, of San Jose, California; Martha Ann, deceased, married W. D. Cummins, of Clarks- ville; and Elizabeth is the wife of the subject of this review. After the death of his first wife General Stewart married Miss Mary McFarland, and they became the parents of one daughter, Ellen, who is the wife of R. P. Wells, of East St. Louis. General and Mrs. Stewart were both killed by a run-away accident in 1871.

Mr. and Mrs. Kissinger are the parents of the following children,- Nancy Margaret is the wife of J. F. McDoel and they reside in LaFay- ette, Indiana, where their two children, Marguerite K. and James F. were born; Mattie married E. A. Clifford, of Denver, Colorado, and they have two children, Benjamin K. and Ray E .; Nellie S. married J. A. Runyan, secretary of the Bay City Commercial Body (Michigan) : they have one daughter, Lillie S .; and Russie E. is Mrs. Sam Sparrow, her husband being a member of the well known law firm of Sparrow, Page & Rea, of Kansas City, Missouri.

JAMES B. MIDDLETON. A prominent and successful merchant in Clarksville, is James Buford Middleton, who has resided here during practically the entire period of his lifetime thus far. He was born in Pike county, Missouri, August 26, 1862, and is a son of John Middleton, whose birth occurred in Shepherdsville, Kentucky, in 1833, and who came to Missouri with his parents in 1837, at the tender age of four years. Thomas Middleton, father of John Middleton and grandfather of the subject of this review, after his arrival in Missouri, settled on Bryants creek in Pike county and there engaged in agricultural operations until his death at sixty-three years, a few years before the inception of the Civil war. He was born of ancestors who came from Yorkshire, England, and who settled in South Carolina and in Virginia. It is from the Virginia branch that James B. Middleton is descended. Thomas Middleton married Elizabeth Wright and they became the parents of seven children of whom John was the youngest son.

John Middleton was reared to maturity in the country and as a young man learned the blacksmith trade in .Clarksville. For a number of years he was associated with John Fern in the conduct of a blacksmith shop, which they owned and operated for some forty-eight years. During the period of the Civil war John Middleton was a lieutenant in the Home Guard of Missouri. He voted the Republican ticket and was a devout member of the Christian church. In a fraternal way he was affiliated with the Independent Order of Odd Fellows. He married Miss Margaret Price, a daughter of Bird Price, who was first cousin of General Sterling Price, of Civil war fame. Mr. Bird Price was born and reared in Kentucky, where was solemnized his marriage to Miss Sallie Ann Kissinger, a sister of the pioneer Hendley Kissinger. John Mid- dleton was summoned to the life eternal in 1905 and he is survived by his noble wife and one son, James B.

To the public schools of Clarksville James B. Middleton is indebted for his preliminary educational training, which was later supplemented by a course of study in Brown's Business College, at Jacksonville, Illi-

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nois. When ready to assume the real responsibilities of life he became a member of the well-known mercantile firm of Fisher & Company in Clarksville and remained with that concern for five years, at the expira- tion of which, in 1885, he withdrew in order to recuperate his health which had become impaired as the result of too much indoor work. He spent one year ranching in the mountains of Colorado and in 1887 entered into the building and selling real-estate business in Denver, where he held various clerical positions. For a time he was office man for the Denver Wall Paper & Paint Company. In October, 1892, he returned to Clarksville, where he was induced to re-enter business. this time turning his attention to a shoe store. Subsequently he added gentle- men's furnishings and still later a line of dry-goods. He now conducts an eminently prosperous business under the style of J. B. Middleton.

In politics Mr. Middleton is a stalwart supporter of the principles and policies for which the Republican party stands sponsor. For two terms he was the efficient incumbent of the office of mayor of Clarksville and under his regime an era of macadamizing was begun, with the result that the city now boasts some of the best streets in Missouri. He was a member of the city council for two terms and in 1900 was party nominee for the state senate. He was a delegate to the state Republican conven- tion in 1908. Fraternally, he is a valued and appreciative member of the Modern Woodmen of America and is likewise affiliated with the time- honored Masonic order.

In Denver, Colorado, November 15, 1890, was celebrated the marriage of Mr. Middleton to Miss Annie Pierson, a daughter of Carl and Anna Pierson, of Lawrence, Kansas. Mrs. Middleton was born in Douglas county, Kansas, and was the fifth in order of birth in a family of five children. Mr. and Mrs. Middleton have one daughter, Mary E., born September 13, 1893.

EDGAR MCDANNOLD is engaged in the grain business at Clarksville, Missouri, and is one of the promoters and vice-president of the Farmers' Elevator Company, as well as being identified with the business interests of the city in various other ways. Mr. McDannold is a representative of the family of his name founded in Missouri in about 1830 by Judge Newton McDannold, whose grandson he is. Judge McDannold was one of the historic characters of Pike county, and his career is more amply set forth in the sketch of his son, William R. McDannold, the father of the subject, appearing elsewhere in this work.

The son of William Reuben and Frances (Bibb) McDannold, Edgar McDannold was born near Paynesville, Pike county, Missouri, August 19, 1862. He is one of the six children of his parents, here named in the order of their birth: Louise, the wife of James C. Mackey, a Pike county farmer ; Nora, married to R. N. Gilbert, of Hannibal, Missouri ; Lizzie, the wife of I. J. Mackey, a farmer near Clarksville ; Edgar, of this review ; Clay, engaged in business in Calgary. Canada, and William Roy, who is still connected with the rural home of the family.

Edgar McDannold received his education in the country schools of his native village, and later was a pupil of Prof. Williams at Louisiana, Missouri, and attending LaGrange College in that city. He finished his studies with a commercial course in St. Louis. As a farmer's son, he gave some years of attention to the work of the farm at home, and after his withdrawal from the family fireside he continued to be identified with agricultural pursuits for a number of years. In 1900 he took the steps that resulted in his becoming one of the two owners of the Farmers' Elevator Company, and in connection with that work, he has contributed toward the system which embraces plants at Kissinger, Damron and

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Anada, Missouri. He is the active office man at Clarksville and is general accountant of the company.

Mr. McDannold owns a fine farm two and a half miles south of the city, which is operated by his son and youngest child. On November 22, 1883, Mr. McDannold was married to Miss Mollie E. Willis, of Buchanan county, a daughter of William and Nancy (Miller ) Willis, whose family comprised Henry, George, James, Charles, Sidney, Amanda, Ann, Sarah and Mollie, now Mrs. MeDannold. All this family, save Mrs. McDannold, have passed their lives within the confines of Buchanan county.

The children of Mr. and Mrs. McDannold are Frances W. and Bessie L., and Earl, all of whom are yet members of the parental home. The political affiliations of Mr. MeDannold are those of a Democrat, and while he has always displayed a worthy interest in the activities of the party, he has never aspired to political offices of any variety. Like other members of his family for several generations, he is a Baptist, and is a deacon in the church in which he received his spiritual training and of which he has been a member all his life.

JUDGE FREEBORN E. BARTLETT, a retired farmer of Clarksville, Mis- souri, was born in Pike county February 1, 1839, and has passed his life in the state. He has ever been prominent and popular in Pike county, and has done his full share in the development of the agricul- tural interests of the district which has represented his home, as well as winning a place for himself in the political life of the county. As judge for the eastern district of the county, he attained a goodly share of prominence, and he later served a term as the associate of Judges J. R. S. McCune and Simeon Robertson.

Judge Bartlett is the son of the noted Missouri surgeon, Dr. Ezekiel M. Bartlett, who came to this state and county from Blair county, Pennsylvania in 1836. He was born in the state of Maine, and obtained his medical education in a Maine college. He went from Maine to Hol- lidaysburg, Pennsylvania, engaged there in practice for a few years, and there married. His location in Missouri in 1836 caused a revival of interest in the subject of surgery, for he was a pioneer in that branch of his profession. He seemed to be naturally endowed with surgical skill, and took the initiative in many a case which had baffled the skill of the leading surgeons of St. Louis, and effected some remarkable cures. One particular case is worthy of mention : a man with a bone tumor in his shoulder came to him as a last resort, two noted surgeons of St. Louis having pronounced his case helpless. When Dr. Bartlett examined the shoulder he assured the patient that he could remove the abscess success- fully and save his life. When the patient reported to the St. Louis doctors what Dr. Bartlett had said, they both declared with an oath that "the old fool would kill him." However, Dr. Bartlett was permitted to perform the operation at Louisiana, and when the patient had fully recovered, he sent the abscess to the St. Louis surgeons with his compli- ments and the message: "This is what a d-d old fool can do." For this operation and other like demonstrations of his unusual ability, the St. Louis surgeons issued him a diploma, reciting among other things, his eminent ability in his profession. Dr. Bartlett was for years one of the striking figures of Pike county. He was rough and rugged, and as abrupt as the bounds of ordinary civility would permit. He seemed to have no place in his makeup for policy or diplomacy, and whatever he thought about a proposition came out in words that permitted of no misunderstanding. Notwithstanding his harsh manner, however, his heart was easily touched. He lived in the love of God and died a member of the Methodist church. He was a Union man, and was a Republican

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from the organization of that party until his death. He came of a family which on his mother's side was noted for its longevity, that good lady having passed her 113th birthday when she died. She was the mother of fifteen children. The ancestors of Dr. Bartlett were New England stock contributed from Scotland and some of his forefathers rendered active aid as members of the Continental army and in other service in the winning of American independence. Among his brothers were Solon, who died in St. Joe, Missouri, and Freeborn G., who spent his last years near Nachitoches, Louisiana, and died without issue. His sisters passed their lives in Maine. He married Mary A. Jones, a daughter of Joseph Jones, of Hollidaysburg, Pennsylvania, who was the father of two sons and one daughter. Mrs. Bartlett died July 20, 1883, at the age of sixty-six years. Their children were Judge Freeborn E., of this review ; Ione, the widow of James N. Henderson, of Louisiana, Missouri, and Dr. Solon Angus Bartlett, born March 21, 1841. He practiced medi- cine about three years, was a major in the Union army, and died in Louisiana, Missouri, at about twenty-six years.

Freeborn E. Bartlett has passed his seventy-four years in Pike county. He came to mature years with a liberal education for a youth of his day and age, and served during the war as a captain of Company G of the Provisional Regiment. His company was in the service only when local work was needed as a guard for railroad property and in thinning out bushwhackers in the state of Missouri. The command became unnec- essary as the close of the war approached and it was disbanded early.

As he came of age, Judge Bartlett engaged in the grocery business, and spent two years in that business before the Rebellion came on. When the war was over, he engaged in farming between Louisiana and Clarks- ville, and continued in that occupation with success until 1906, when he retired to Clarksville, where he has since resided. Two and a half miles south of Louisiana lies his grain and stock farm and to the operation of it he gave the best years of his vigorous body and active mind, and there he trained his children in the principles of industry and right living.

In his political affiliations Judge Bartlett allied himself with the Democratic party from the first and has remained a staunch supporter of its every presidential candidate from Stephen A. Douglas in 1860 to Wilson in 1912, including Horace Greeley, who led the forlorn hope in 1872. In 1906 he was elected county judge for the eastern district of the county and served one term as associate with Judges McCune and Robertson, as mentioned in a previous paragraph Judge Bartlett was appointed one of the trustees of the soldiers' home in St. James, the appointment coming from Governor Folk. He is a member of the Pres- byterian church.

On February 19, 1861, Judge Bartlett was united in marriage with Miss Mahala Ann Field, a daughter of John D. and Eunice (Hostetter) Field, whose family comprised, besides Mrs. Bartlett, Virginia, the wife of James W. Neal of Ralls county, Missouri. The children of Judge and Mrs. Bartlett are Dr. John N., of Clarksville, Missouri; he was born in Louisiana, Missouri, September 5, 1862, attended the Episcopal Academy at Cheshire, Connecticut, studied medicine with his grandfather, Dr. Ezekiel Merril Bartlett, and graduated from the Keokuk Medical College in 1887. He passed his life in the profession in Louisiana and Clarks- ville, is a member of the county and state medical societies, and was married November 7; 1889, to Miss Ione, daughter of Silas and Mary (Connors) Carr. He has a son, Carr L. Bartlett, who is engaged as the traveling representative of The American Tobacco Company, with head- quarters at Wichita, Kansas. Maggie E., the wife of William Jordan of Colorado Springs, Colorado, is Judge Bartlett's second child, and Dr. .

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Ezekiel M., the youngest, who was named for his grandfather, was born in 1877, and is engaged in the practice of the profession which has found favor with many of his family. He is located in Clarksville, and is mar- ried to Miss Myrtle Walton, a native of that place. Mrs. Bartlett died November 27, 1912. She was a member of the Methodist Episcopal church, South.

JOSHUA E. BRIGGS is a retired farmer of Center, Missouri, near which place he was born on the 24th of September, 1841. His father, John C. Briggs, came hither from the vicinity of Crab Orchard, in Bourbon county, Kentucky, where he was born on August 5, 1817. The family was established in Missouri in 1823 by Robert Briggs, the head of the family, who settled in the Bethel neighborhood of Ralls county. There he remained, contributing generously to the material improvement and the substantial development of the community throughout the remainder of his life. Robert Briggs was the grandfather of Joshua E. Briggs of this review, and he had a brother, Ebenezer by name, who settled near Booneville, Missouri, and who was a soldier in the Revolutionary war. Another of his brothers went to California during the early rush of settlement in that far distant state, and there established another branch of this widespread family. Robert Briggs was married in early life to Mary Cook, who died soon after the advent of the family into Missouri, and her husband followed her in 1848. They were the parents of seven sons and daughters, as follows: Polly, who married Marshall Kelley and died in Mississippi; Maria became the wife of John Wise and died at Palmyra, Missouri; Peggie became Mrs. Chappel Carstarphan and died at Oakwood. Missouri; Judith married Robert Hagar and passed away in Monroe county, Missouri; Robert passed his life in California, and Thomas lived and died in Ralls county, Missouri. The father married in later life, but this union was without issue.

When Robert Briggs came from Kentucky into Missouri he brought his few slaves with him as a part of the caravan, and among them was a quarter-breed Indian negro, who he set free prior to his death. His son, John C., followed the vocation of his father and died possessed of a good estate of lands and personal property. He was an extensive dealer and feeder in mules and horses, and was the owner of some slave property when the proclamation of 1863 despoiled him of that portion of his property. He was a member of the Presbyterian church and one of the early Masons of the Junior order. His wife was Davidella Ely, a daughter of Joshua Ely and a niece of Thomas, Isaac and Benjamin Ely. His wife died in 1856, leaving children: Mary J., who married Andrew J. Rice and died in California ; Joshua, the subject of this brief review; Margaret, the wife of James Daniel; Benjamin C., of Center, Missouri ; William, who died in Ralls county as an infant ; Susan married Irvin Treadway and lives in Vandalia, Missouri; Louisa became Mrs. William A. Mason, and is a resident of Nevada, Missouri. John C. Briggs married again in later years, his second wife also coming from the Ely family. She was Elizabeth Ely, the daughter of one John Ely, and became the mother of four children: Della, of Bizbee. Arizona, who has been twice married; Edward W., of Center, Missouri; John K., of Hope, Arkansas; and Ada Lee, the wife of James McPike, of Tando, North Dakota.

This somewhat extended, though necessary recital of the family of the subject brings us to Joshua E. Briggs, whose name heads this sketch. He was a rural youth in training and education, and achieved his greatest success in life as a farmer and stockman in after life. The outbreak of the Civil war found him ready and eager to give his services in the

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defense of the South and in 1861 he went into the army, joining the company of Captain Splawn in Colonel Brace's regiment, serving under General Price. He assisted in the capture of General Mulligan's troops at Lexington, after which the Confederates moved south to Neosho, Mis- souri, following and defending the government of Clabe Jackson, and it was there Mr. Briggs was discharged from the service. Knowing the violent conditions existing at home, he went to Fayettsville, Arkansas, but subsequently proceeded farther south to Vicksburg, Mississippi, and finally to Hazelhurst in the heart of the Confederacy, where he spent a year. Notwithstanding that he was in the midst of political friends down in Dixie, Mr. Briggs longed for home, and he decided to "run the blockade" as it were, and expose himself to capture and possible death, if necessary, in order to reach them. A band of some two hundred ex-soldiers and Confederate sympathizers, to which he added his presence, started to cross Arkansas and Missouri, scattering themselves through the country as they neared their respective homes. They were variously armed and equipped for defense against anything but the formidable attack of the Federals, and they hoped to accomplish the journey without encountering the Federal troops. They were commanded by one Hayes, who assumed the part of an officer in command of Federal recruits, but while passing through southern Missouri at Osceola, the thin disguise proved insufficient for their protection and the entire band was scattered by an onslaught by Union troops. At this juncture every man became a separate command of his own, and Mr. Briggs crossed the Missouri river at Wellington in a skiff and swam his horse, eventually reaching his home without undue hardships after that experience.

His narrow escape and the still unsettled and unsafe conditions at home for Confederates made it necessary for Mr. Briggs to seek another locality and as many of his associates with like sentiments had gone west, he decided to follow and accordingly joined a company bound for Cali- fornia across the plains. They took the Platte river route from Omaha and passed through Forts Kearney and Laramie and reached Sacramento, their destination, without material mishap. He returned home in the following spring by the Panama route, but soon started back with a drove of mules. On this trip he found the Indians becoming more hostile than they had previously shown themselves, and their trip through the plains and mountains were beset by many difficulties as a result of the unwel- come attentions which the redmen tendered them. At a point in Nebraska they were openly attacked by a hostile band and in the skir- mish that ensued Mr. Briggs was so unfortunate as to receive two buckshot wounds in the breast, which he still carries, but he killed the Indian that shot him. The defense of their party, however, was so effective that the Indians shied off and the journey was continued with its wounded, reaching Sacramento safely. Mr. Briggs lost a fine jack and horse. He remained there until the close of the war and the re-establishment of peace and returned home in December, 1865. His cross plains excursions and his trading had brought Mr. Briggs a meas- ure of profit, and when he returned home he took possession of the land he had exchanged for other property and proceeded to improve and cultivate it, making a fine farm out of the place. He steadily advanced in the scale of prosperity until he found himself a substan- tial farmer and stockman in his district, and he lived an active country life until 1903, when he retired to the town of Center, where he is living today. Those who knew him a score of years ago remember him as dealing especially in jacks and mules, while his place carried quantities of other stock as well.

Mr. Briggs is a Democrat, but he never entered politics. He is a

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Methodist in his religious affiliations. He owns a splendid home in Center, and is a stockholder and vice president of the People's Bank of Center.

On January 4, 1866, Mr. Briggs married Miss Sarah M. Flowerree, the daughter of French and Elizabeth (Neal) Flowerree, one of the oldest families of Ralls county, whose membership is among the most numerous. Three daughters were born to Mr. and Mrs. Briggs: Lizzie, now the wife of Moses Flowerrcc, of Center, and they have four chil- dren, Pauline, F. Ruth, Gladys E., and James Briggs; Della, who died in Phoenix, Arizona, as the wife of George Graham, leaving one son, Leroy, who died at sixteen; and Miss Stella Briggs, of Center.

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A history of northeast Missouri, Vol. 2 pt 2, Part 21

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