A history of northeast Missouri, Vol. 2 pt 2, Part 42

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

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Mr. Marion C. Biggs, whose family and ancestry have thus been briefly sketehed, was born on the 17th of July, 1851. His family being one of the substantial ones of the ante-bellum days, when comforts and advantages were liberally provided for all the household, gave the ehil- dren mental training through the services of a tutor instead of relying upon the rather inadequate system of common schools then in vogue. His father before the war secured the services of Rev. John Eustace, a graduate of Oxford, England, who resided upon a farm near by and who continued his professional duties here until 1869, when he went to Texas and finished his life among the plainsmen-pioneers of that state. Marion C. Biggs himself began life as a teacher. At the age of seventeen he took the school at Salem, in Ralls county, and carried on the work of the dis- triet two terms. Having been trained to the practical work of the farm, he then dropped the ferrule and adopted the industry rather than the profession as his life work.

On establishing a home of his own he settled on part of the family estate and eventually acquired ownership to the land, where he spent the larger part of his active career. In 1906 he exchanged his original place for a farm of two hundred and ten acres adjoining the townsite of New London, and this with another tract of one hundred and fifty acres completes his holdings in the real estate of Ralls county. He has always enjoyed ample success in farming, and at the same time has been a stock raiser on a considerable scale.

On the 16th of May, 1871, Mr. Biggs married Miss Eliza MeCune, a daughter of Guy and Mary (Smeltzer) MeCune. Her father was one of the conspicuously successful farmers of Pike county, near Jerryville, and represented one of the pioneer families of that vicinity. More infor- mation about the MeCune family will be found elsewhere in this work under the name of Judge J. R. S. MeCune. The children of Guy McCune were : Mattie, who married James MePike and died at Bowling Green ; Henry, who died in early life; Harvey, a resident of Bowling Green. Mrs. Biggs was the oldest of the children. Three children have been born to the marriage of Mr. and Mrs. Biggs, namely: Mattie, who died at Center, Missouri, in 1897, married James L. Smith; J. Guy, a farmer at New London, married Miss Edith Holman; Hazel, the youngest, died in childhood.

In politics Mr. Biggs has followed the allegiance of his father with the Democratic party, and his church is the Baptist. He has always pre- served religion in his home and has associated with church people, and has been a deacon of his congregation for thirty-five years. He was

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superintendent for some years of the Salem Sabbath school and also of the Center Sabbath school. As a resident of New London he is a member of the Business Men's Bible Class, one of the most effective religious movements of the town. Mr. Biggs is past master of Ralls Lodge of Masons No. 33, and also sat in the Grand Lodge for three sessions.

THOMAS P. CRABB. One of the prominent figures in the journalistic world of Northeastern Missouri, and a man who has already gained a position of influence in his special line which is not always the lot of even a veteran to attain, is Thomas P. Crabb, proprietor and editor of the Renick Enterprise. Mr. Crabb, who has the best interests of his section at heart, is editing a clean, wholesome sheet which wields a great deal of influence among the people of this part of Randolph county, and may always be counted upon to support movements of a progressive nature. Thomas P. Crabb was born in the state of Ohio, October 17, 1878, and is a son of S. M. and Hannah (Duncan) Crabb, the former a native of . Ohio and the latter of Iowa. In 1888 the family moved to Shelby county, Iowa, and in 1903 to Randolph county, Missouri, the parents locating on a farm in Prairie township, where they are still living. They have had four children, as follows: Myrtle, who is the wife of P. F. Barkman, residing in Randolph county; Thomas P., of this review; Maud, who is the wife of E. F. Fainter, of Randolph county ; and Edna, who married Victor Ragsdale, of Randolph county.

Thomas P. Crabb was reared on the home farm, and was given the benefit of an excellent education, attending the district schools of Ohio and Iowa, and attended Highland Park College at Des Moines, Iowa, for one term. Returning to the home place, where he remained until maturity, he was engaged in teaching in Shelby county, Iowa, for some years, and also followed the vocation of educator after coming to Mis- souri. In 1912 he turned his attention to the newspaper business, estab- lishing the Renick Enterprise, which now enjoys a large circulation and commensurate advertising support, being known as one of the leading papers of this part of the state. Mr. Crabb has been devoted to his busi- ness interests to the exclusion of outside affairs, but has taken a public- spirited interest in the welfare of his town and county, and though never an office seeker or holder he has supported every movement which in his opinion would promote the advancement of the community or benefit the citizens of Renick in general. In addition to the operation of his newspaper, he carries on a flourishing real estate business, and is the owner of 160 acres of well-cultivated land situated about three miles east of Renick, the operation of which he superintends.

In 1900 Mr. Crabb was married to Miss Mabel Philson, who was born in Iowa, daughter of J. H. and Alizana Philson, both of whom are deceased. To Mr. and Mrs. Crabb there have been born three children : Dale, born March 10, 1901; Opal, born November 28, 1904; and Samuel Lynn, born July 7, 1907. Mr. and Mrs. Crabb are consistent believers in church work and their contributions to church and religious enter- prises have been liberal.

WILLIAM D. COULTER. One of the leading financial institutions of Northeastern Missouri and one which bears a reputation for stability second to none in Randolph county, is the Jacksonville Savings Bank, much of the credit for the success of which must be given to William D. Coulter, its cashier, who has borne an important part in controlling its policy, augmenting its usefulness, popularizing its coffers and directing the investment of its revenues, and whose management of its affairs has proved to be full of wisdom and of great advantage to the institution. Mr.

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Coulter, who has had a wide and varied business experience, was born October 10, 1860, in Millport, Knox county, Missouri, and is a son of Lafayette and Frances (Bean) Coulter.

Lafayette Coulter was born in 1831, in Kentucky, from which state he was taken in boyhood by his parents to Macon county, Missouri, and many years later removed to Randolph county, where his death occurred at the age of seventy-eight years. He was a farmer by vocation, owning land in Knox and Randolph counties, and was one of his community's sterling citizens. His wife, who was a native of Macon county, Missouri, died in 1862, when William D. Coulter was but two years of age, having been the mother of five children, as follows : Richard M., who died leaving a family in Randolph county ; Marcia, who died unmarried; Isabel, de- ceased, who was the wife of George W. Coleman; John H., living in Randolph county ; and William D.

William D. Coulter secured his education in the common schools of Randolph county and was reared to the life of an agriculturists, con- tinuing to reside with his parents until he attained manhood. At that time he engaged in farming on his own account, but in 1888 turned his attention to mercantile pursuits, establishing himself in business in Jack- sonville, where he continued to do a flourishing trade for nineteen years. He then disposed of his interests here and removed to Columbia, where he was connected with the R. F. Rogers Dry Goods Company for a period of one year, at the end of which time, not being satisfied with his prospects in Columbia, he returned to Jacksonville and accepted the cashiership of the Jacksonville Savings Bank, a position which he has continued to hold to the present time. From the start Mr. Coulter evidenced an apti- tude for his new position and the traininng he had enjoyed and the ability he possessed enabled him to attend to his new duties with the same marked capacity that had characterized his former activities, firmly establishing him in the confidence of his associates and the public at large. In all of his dealings he has maintained strictness, fairness and integrity and his opinion has always carried weight in financial matters of any nature. In political matters he is a Democrat, but has not cared for public office, his spare time from the duties of his position at the bank being given to the management of his extensive timber interests. He and Mrs. Coulter are members of the Christian church, in the work of which both have been active, and at this time he is superintendent of the Sunday school.

On November 10, 1881, Mr. Coulter was united in marriage with Miss Susan B. Coleman, who was born in Shelby county, Missouri, May 20, 1860, and both of whose parents are deceased. Mr. and Mrs. Coulter have two children : Roy S., a graduate of the Columbia University, wliere he specialized in electrical engineering, and now serving a two-year apprenticeship at Schenectady, New York, in the plant of the General Electric Company; and Minnie E., because of an affliction has never attended school or college but has an education above the average, attained by her great energy and self will and the constant oversight of her mother and the association of learned people. She lived three years in Columbia, Missouri, where she received great benefit, and she is now with her parents in a new modern home in Jacksonville, Missouri, very much improved in health.

JOHN S. FITZGERRELL, a member of the firm of Tapley & Fitzgerrell, attorneys, has been a resident of Bowling Green, Missouri, since 1894. He came to the state in that year from Chicago, Illinois, where he had been perfecting himself in the knowledge and practice of the law. He was born in Lebanon, St. Clair county, Illinois, February 22, 1864, he being the only child of John S. Fitzgerrell and Mary C. (Moore) Fitz-

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gerrell. The father passed away just as he was entering the practice of law at Benton, Franklin county, Illinois, his death occurring a few months prior to the birth of his son.

John S. Fitzgerrell, Sr., was born in Jefferson county, Illinois, March 1, 1841. He graduated in the scientific course in law at McKendree Col- lege, at Lebanon, Illinois, and was associated, at the time of his death, with F. M. Youngblood. He was the son of James Jackson Fitzgerrell, who was born January 25, 1815, in Gibson county, Indiana.

James Jackson Fitzgerrell was born shortly after the victory of Gen- eral Jackson at New Orleans and was named for him, his father being an ardent admirer of the General. He located in Jefferson county, Illinois, at an early date and became a successful farmer and stockman near Fitzgerrell postoffice which was named in his honor. He was a staunch Democrat, a Baptist and the father of nineteen children.

For his first wife he married Patsy Ann Martin, and of that union there lived to rear families William L., John S., Evan, Sylvester, Elzina Gee, Sarah Mitchell, Eliza Mitchell. Patsy Ann Fitzgerrell died March 31, 1862. He married then Sarah M. Whitlow and of this union six chil- dren lived to rear families, Robert C., Mollie Goodner, Daniel G., Euteppe Chance, Nellie Williams and Kate Jessup. John Jackson Fitz- gerrell 'died on his homestead in 1889.

Mary Catherine (Moore) Fitzgerrell, the mother of John S. Fitzger- rell, was the only daughter of Jonathan Moore that reached womanhood ; she attended a female college at College Hill near Cincinnati, Ohio, and then the Illinois Female College at Jacksonville, Illinois, where she grad- uated in the class of 1860. After the death of her husband she returned to Lebanon, Illinois, where she still resides. Endowed with strong mental powers, and an insatiate thirst for knowledge, especially history, both ancient and modern, she stands with few equals and no rivals in conver- sant familiarity with events of bygone ages.

All of the maternal ancestors of John S. Fitzgerrell were prominent in their generations in the Revolutionary war and territorial and sub- sequent history of Illinois. The paternal family came from Ireland, to Virginia, then to Indiana and Illinois; the maternal came from Scotland to Maryland, then to Georgia and Illinois.

John S. Fitzgerrell, as his father, after finishing in the public schools, was educated at McKendree College; he taught for a brief while in Franklin and St. Clair counties; he held a position in the Internal Revenue Service, under the first Cleveland administration, and as such was located at Lebanon and Belleville, Illinois. He was replaced in 1889 by the Harrison administration and resumed the study of law, in McKen- dree College under Judge H. H. Horner, and in 1890 upon recommenda- tion of the appellate court, after examination, he was admitted to the bar, by the supreme court of Illinois. He tried his first case in Lebanon, Illinois, but seized an opportunity to further his legal knowledge by asso- ciation with a prominent firm, went to Chicago, Illinois, and became brief clerk for the firm of Ashcraft & Gordon, where he had the opportunity for pleadings, brief and court work under the coaching of able counsel, thereby acquiring accuracy and precision of detail in his legal work. He remained in the city until 1894 when he arranged a partnership with Joe Tapley, of Bowling Green, Missouri.

He prefers civil rather than criminal law. His firm has been retained in much of the important litigation of Pike and surrounding counties and has been quite successful.

In politics he has continued to affiliate with the Democratic party up to the present time ; the success of his party has been a matter close to his

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heart. He is a member of Phoenix Lodge A. F. & A. M. of Bowling Green and of the chapter at Louisiana, Missouri.

He is interested in all movements for the advancement of his home town, and has contributed substantially to the beautifying of the same. He indulges to a considerable degree his love for fine animals and his knowledge of agriculture and stock raising has been of much benefit to him in his legal work.

May 29, 1894, he was married in Carlyle, Illinois, to Mollie E. Fink, a daughter of Edwin Fink, a native of Pennsylvania, of Dutch ancestry who came to Illinois in 1857. Her mother was Beulah Ann Johnson, a native of Illinois of English-French origin. His wife is the oldest of four children namely, Mollie Fitzgerrell ; Emma, wife of J. E. Boyd, of Topeka, Kansas; William T. Fink and Edith Fink, of Carlyle, Illinois.

RICHARD RAY CORRELL, editor and publisher of the Clark Chronicle, is a native son of Missouri, born in Richmond, this state, May 23, 1884. He has been identified with the newspaper business since his boyhood, having begun to learn the trade at Armstrong, Missouri, when he was a lad of cleven years. Mr. Correll is the son of James Grigsby and Jane Rebecca (Nelson) Correll. The father was born in Johnson county, Missouri, in 1855 and died on Christmas day, 1886. He was connected with various enterprises during his lifetime, and when he died had been for some time engaged in farming. He was a Democrat and took an active part in the political affairs of his district. He was a member of the Christian church. His wife was born in Cambridge, Indiana, in 1862, and she was the daugh- ter of Mr. and Mrs. Edward Nelson, who were among the Indiana pioneers, and who later moved to Missouri and located in Howard county.

Richard Ray Correll received his education in the schools of Arm- strong, and was graduated in due season from the Armstrong high school. As mentioned in a previous paragraph, he learned the trade of a printer in his boyhood, and all his life thus far has been connected with the news- paper business in one way or another. In 1905 he located in Clark, there purchasing the Clark Chronicle, also becoming the owner of the Clifton Hill Rustler. At present he is owner and editor of the Chronicle, a repre- sentative publication of the community.

Mr. Correll has been active in public life, and in August, 1912, was elected representative of Randolph county for a two years term, as the candidate of the Democratic party. He is secretary of the Clark Fair Association, and treasurer of the Randolph County Press Association. In 1908 he was elected to the office of elerk of the city council, and later served as a member of the board of education of his city, and is a member of the Democratic Press Association of Missouri. He is a member of the Christian church, the faith of his parents, and his fraternal relations are indicated by his membership in the Clifton Hill Lodge No. 161 of the A. F. & A. M., the Knights and Ladies of Security and the Loyal Order of Moose, in all of which he is popular and prominent.

On May 12, 1906, Mr. Correll was united in marriage with Miss Susie Burke, at Huntsville, Missouri. She is a daughter of William Burke and his wife, of Higbee, Missouri, and was educated in the public schools of her home town, and in Higbee College. Her father is a retired rail- road man and owns much land in Randolph and Chariton counties.

ARTHUR T. BONEY. There is probably no family in Randolph county, Missouri, better known and more highly respected than the Boney family and as several of its members receive special mention in this work it will be noted that in whatever vocation or calling each adopted there has been displayed that aggressive spirit and determination of purpose which in this progressive age spells success.

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Arthur T. Boney was born on the family homestead in Randolph county on July 30, 1864, a son of William J. Boney, one of the best known pioneers of this county. There he was reared to farm life and received his education in the local schools. He remained on the homestead until twenty-five years of age and then for one year was independently engaged in farming. Following that he, with his brother Walter G. Boney, became co-partners in a hardware business at Jacksonville, this county, but this business association was severed when our subject came to Cairo in 1891 and purchased the established hardware business of his grandfather, James T. Boney, whose advanced age and ill health compelled him to retire from business. The sale had been consummated but one week ere the grandfather passed away, this transfer to his grandson being his last business act prior to his death. Mr. Boney has not only sustained the former business prestige of the family name but has strengthened it, for the establishment which carried a $2,000 stock at the time he took charge of it is now equipped with a stock valued at $8,000 and is unusually com- plete for a town the size of Cairo, carrying a full line of implements, stoves and shelf hardware. All of this bespeaks the enterprise and busi- ness acumen of its present proprietor. He is also of an inventive turn and has invented two patents on agricultural implements, which he manufactures.

Mr. Boney has been twice married. His first wife was Missouri Bobbett, daughter of James E. and Sarah (Carroll) Bobbett. By maternal descent the lineage of Mrs. Boney led back to Charles Carroll, one of the signers of the Declaration of Independence from Maryland. The Bobbett family is one noted for longevity, Dicy Bobbett, the grand- mother of Mrs. Boney, having lived to the remarkable age of one hundred and three years. Two children were the issue of this union: Herbert, born October 22, 1892, and Emily, both of whom are now students in the high school at Moberly, Missouri. The mother of these children died in 1894 and for his second wife Mr. Boney wedded Margaret Bobbett, a sister of his first wife. No children have been born to this marriage.

While Mr. Boney is essentially a business man, he also has taken an active interest in the public life of his locality and has served as mayor of Cairo fifteen years and has also served as a member of the Cairo school board. His religious faith is indicated by his membership in the Baptist church, the denomination of which his father and mother were devoted members. The sketch of William J. Boney, the father of our subject, which appears on other pages of this volume contains a brief outline of the history of this family since it was first established in this country and therefore ancestral data in this connection need not be repeated here.

JOHN HENRY THOLE. A pioneer settler of Vandalia, and identified with the early history of the city, not only in a business way, but in official capacities, John Henry Thole has lived to see the city grow from a strug- gling village with but few houses and fewer business buildings to a center of educational and industrial importance, and has done his full share in bringing this desirable state of affairs about. Mr. Thole was born February 22, 1839, in New Orleans, Louisiana, and is a son of Bernard and Catherine (Kuhl) Thole, natives of France.

Bernard Thole as a lad had the distinction of serving under Napoleon the Great, for whom he carried messages. He was a "Shipsmith," by trade, and in 1839 came to the United States with his family, first spending a short time in New Orleans, and then going to St. Louis, where he spent several years. The remainder of his life was passed in Quincy, Illinois, where he died in 1868, at the age of seventy-five years, and where his wife passed away in 1879, when nearly seventy years of age,

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and all of the deceased members of the family are buried there. In politics he was a Democrat and a strong southern sympathizer, and his religious belief was that of the Catholic church. He and his wife had a family of nine children, of whom three reached maturity : John Henry ; Henry A., a carpenter of Vandalia, who married Elizabeth Kissel; and Mollie, who married Henry Sanders and makes her home in California.

John Henry Thole was born in New Orleans, Louisiana, just after the landing of his parents, and was still a child when he accompanied his parents to St. Louis. There he was married to Elizabeth Stephan, born January 1, 1839, in Germany, daughter of Lawrence and Margaret Stephan, who came to the United States alone when she was eighteen years of age. Mr. and Mrs. Thole have one child : Stella, who married William M. Ralston, and lives in Vandalia. After his marriage John H. Thole worked at whatever occupation presented itself for some time in East St. Louis. It had been his ambition in his youth to become a physi- cian, but circumstances were such that he was compelled to forego any idea as to a professional career. He was extremely fond of hunting, however, and in 1866 came to the present site of Vandalia, having heard that the sport here was good. Prior to that time he had worked at black- smithing, and also acted in the capacity of engineer on the Quincy & Palmyra Railroad for about four years, but eventually took the train as far as Martinsburg, and then drove the remainder of the way to Vandalia, which point the rails had not yet reached. Buying ten acres of land, about five miles west of the present site of Vandalia, at $5 per acre, he opened a blacksmith shop, and there commenced to ply his trade with uniform success. In 1873 he moved to Vandalia, where he started a blacksmith shop one block north of the Farmers and Merchants Bank, and continued to remain in that shop for nearly thirty-nine years. In 1873 he also erected his residence, in which he still remains, and recently he has built a new shop near this house.

Politically a Democrat, Mr. Thole was the first tax collector of Vandalia, his salary being $10 per year, and the first tax collected being that of $1.75 for the town of Vandalia. He was also the first town mar- shal, and it was he who accepted the dare of Aaron McPike, the founder of the town and bondsman for Mr. Thole in the office of marshal, to arrest him for discharging firearms within the city limits. Mr. McPike was the first man to be arrested in Vandalia. Mr. Thole is extremely popular with all classes of people, and has many friends in the Masonic fraternity and in the Odd Fellows, having been the secretary of his local blue lodge of the former for the past twenty years.

THOMAS V. BODINE, editorial writer on the Paris Mercury, one of Mis- souri's oldest and most influential country newspapers, is a native of the town where he makes his home. He was born December 14, 1869, in Paris, and none of the attractive offers from city newspapers which come to him from time to time have tempted him away from the Paris Mercury, to which his writings have given more than statewide reputation. The Bodines are of French Huguenot descent, coming from Europe to the Carolinas, and were pioneers of Monroe county, Missouri. Of large family, so interwoven with all the important history of Missouri, "Tom" Bodine, as his friends delight to call him, is an illustrious member. His father, Martin Bodine, was born in Jessamine county, Kentucky, in 1830, went to California in 1849 with the gold seekers and later became and remained a merchant for many years in Paris. He married Melissa Vaughn, who was born in Madison county, Kentucky, the daughter of Thomas and Elizabeth (McWilliams) Vaughn. Both were in early life members of the Presbyterian church, but afterward united with the

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A history of northeast Missouri, Vol. 2 pt 2, Part 42

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