USA > Missouri > A history of northeast Missouri, Vol. 2 pt 2 > Part 49
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George E. Mayhall was first married October 18, 1864, his wife being Therese McDonough, a daughter of Francis and Jane McDonough of Somerset, Ohio, a family of Irish origin. To them were born four chil- dren, as follows: Robert Emmet, who is with the Mobile & Ohio Railroad at Mobile, Alabama. He married Jane Megown, daughter of a well known and prominent family of this section of the country. Clara mar- ried Owen E. Guttery and died in St. Louis. Kate died in young womanhood, and Phil F. is justice of the peace of New London, and is identified with the mercantile interests of the county seat.
In 1890 the wife and mother died, and on December 22, 1892, Mr. Mayhall married Miss Kate Lavin, a half sister of his first wife.
In religious matters the Mayhall family is of the Baptist faith. Mr. Mayhall is a Mason of the Scottish Rite degree and for many years has been a student of the principles of Masonry and an effective instructor in the subject. He was district deputy grand master for twenty-three years and has served as grand junior deacon of the grand lodge. His diploma has many endorsements of eminent members of the order, among them that of Admiral W. S. Schley, the hero of Santiago in the Spanish- American war.
Among his ante-bellum acquaintances Mr. Mayhall numbers Samuel Clemens who made the world laugh as "Mark Twain." When Mr. May- hall first knew him, Mr. Clemens was employed on his brother's news- paper in Hannibal, and the genius he in later years unfolded to the world which placed him as the world's most famous humorist was in those early days successfully concealed from his friends and acquaint- ances.
JAMES T. WATSON. The distinction of thorough industry, wholesome living, steadfast integrity, and ample prosperity and public spirited
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citizenship has belonged to the Watson family throughout its dwelling within the limits of Northeast Missouri, where at least three generations of the name have been represented in active affairs.
The Watson family was founded within the territory embraeed in this historical survey by James D. Watson and wife, who came into Ralls county from Albemarle county, Virginia, during the decade of the thirties. James D. had left his native county in wagons and after passing over the slope of the Alleghenies had loaded his household goods upon an Ohio river boat at Guyandotte and thenee eame around to St. Louis, where he remained from 1829 to 1831. In that eity he was engaged with Thornton T. Grimsley, following his trade of harness maker. When he came into Ralls county he stopped at Saverton, then more of a place than Hannibal, where, it is said, at that time only one house stood.
At Saverton the pioneer entered a thousand or more aeres of land at the government price of one dollar and a quarter per acre. As a worker in leather he was an important addition to the pioneer community, for besides managing his large lands and industrial labors he occasionally turned to his trade in making harness or a saddle for a neighbor or shoes for his own household. Finally with the beginning of more settled con- ditions he left off his trade altogether and farmed on an extensive seale with slave labor. On his broad aeres he grew large quantities of hemp, tobaceo, corn and other grain, and increased his herds of eattle and sheep. From such products not only were his family provided with food but also were clothed with the manufacture of the wool and flax and hides into the eloth and leather needed for all wearing apparel in that era of homespun fashions.
On the hills near Saverton he eleared out a big farm and subsequently moved over to Salt river and still later located west of New London, where he made the farm which is still occupied by his son, Fountaine. There his death oeeurred in 1872, his wife having passed away in 1869. They were active people in the Christian church, and he was a magistrate in the countryside for many years. His polities was Whig until that name ceased to denominate a party, and he then became a Demoerat.
As a slave owner this pioneer never traded in his black people so long as they remained with him, but as soon as a runaway from his plantation was caught and returned, he was at onee sold to the negro buyers. In this part of the state during ante-bellum days the slave auetions were held on the first Monday of the year, and at the same time, as great gatherings of people came into all the principal towns, the occasion was also used for the exhibition and sale of all the fine jaeks and stallions and other fancy animals.
James D. Watson was married in Fluvanna county, Virginia, in 1826 to Miss Elizabeth A. Woodson. Both of them were natives of Fluvanna county, where he was born on December 31, 1801, and his wife on May 4, 1804. Their children were eleven in number, of whom the following came to maturity : Eveline, deceased, who was Mrs. John Strange, of Louisiana, Missouri; Elizabeth, who married Dr. E. B. Strode, and both died in Ralls county; John H., who left two children by his marriage to Bettie Miller; Emily M., who married George W. Allen, and died in this part of Missouri; Samuel Thomas, whose life is sketched below; James P., commonly called "Unele Deck," whose inter- esting career is also outlined in subsequent paragraphs; Mary, who died young; Davilla A., who married F. K. Lynch and died near Center, Missouri, in 1912; Susan F., who died in early life, was the wife of Prof. Boyle Gordon, of the state university; Fannie, who became Mrs. Mar- shall Glascock, of Oakwood, Missouri; and Fountaine, a farmer of Ralls county, who married Sallie Priest. Of this numerous family about
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seventy-five attended the reunion on "Watson day" at the New London fair in August, 1912.
Noticing briefly a still earlier generation of this remarkable family, the father of James D. was John Watson, a Scotch-Irishman, a native of Little Mountain in Albemarle county, Virginia. He was an educated man and educated some of his children in the University of Virginia. Specimens of his correspondence now extant show the trained and culti- vated mind of the old gentleman. He died near Franklin, Tennessee, about 1841, at an advanced age, and his son, James, rode on horseback from Ralls county to aid in the settlement of his estate. He was living among his children at the time of his death. In the War of 1812 he had furnished a substitute. Of his children besides James D., there is men- tion of: William, who spent his life in Kentucky; Overton, who died in Tennessee ; Dr. Fountaine, who also lived in Tennessee; Emily who mar- ried a Mr. Sargent and lived in Tennessee; while another daughter married a Brockman and still another married a Poulson.
Returning now to the original Watson household in Ralls county, there are many interesting items that might be related of its people and the pioneer customs. Grandmother Watson was a splendid type of that pioneer housewife who has been so often celebrated in story and remi- niscence. Besides keeping a watchful eye on all the house and kitchen servants, carrying the keys and giving out the supplies, she also did spinning, weaving, sewing and knitting, planned dresses for special oc- casions and weddings, and, with the aid of her Thompsonian medicine box, waited on the sick and gave such valuable attention as to win the title of doctor and nurse in the community. Grandfather James D. was none the less a personage of distinction and valuable in social service. He was the country squire, was busied with the multitudinous details of his farm management, made and mended the shoes of family and slaves, did the legal business of the countryside, and gave advice and married the lovers.
James Poindexter Watson, one of the sons of James D. and the one referred to above as "Uncle Deck." has himself had a career of more than ordinary activity and experience. Like his brothers and sisters he attended the primitive country schools that existed during his boyhood, and all his life has had a thirst for information. His voracious reading of literature has become proverbial among his large acquaintance, and he is especially fond of history. He is also a close student of politics, and his political ideal is Tom Watson, the Georgia politician and editor. "Uncle Deck" Watson at the beginning of the war entered the Con- federate service as a private in Company A, under Captain Poindexter, in Colonel Major's regiment, and was under the command of General Price while that commander remained in Missouri. He participated in the Carthage fight in the battle of Wilson Creek, and was with Price's army when it made the first raid through central Missouri. At Lex- ington he was furloughed for a month, at the end of which he rode to the army at Springfield and accompanied it to Memphis, where his term of enlistment expired and he was discharged. He did not again enter the service.
On returning home Uncle Deck became a farmer near New London, and has been prospered and has long been a substantial and honored resident of this vicinity. Previous to the war he had unusual business experience. Engaged in the horse and mule importation business, he had carried his traffic far into the southern markets and even into Old Mexico. He bought large numbers of stock around Tamaulipas, and then drove them fifteen hundred miles or more across Texas, Indian Territory and Missouri. This was a profitable trade until broken up by the Civil war.
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The maiden name of his first wife was Jennie Mills, a daughter of James Mills. The children of this union were: Charles T., who has spent twenty years as a contractor of public work in Mexico and Central America, and is now on government work at Panama; William E., a resi- dent of Spokane, Washington; and Mayme, wife of Judge Ragland. Uncle Deck's second marriage was with Eliza Tutt, a daughter of James R. Tutt. Her death occurred in 1908, and she was the mother of the following children: Virginia, wife of Thomas Carstarphen; Laura, wife of Virgil D. Fisher, of Saverton; Richard P., of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, in the employ of the Pierson Company ; Emma M., of New Lon- don; Joseph B. and Miss Georgia, both at the old home with their father.
Fountaine Watson, another of the sons of the pioneer James D., by his wife Sallie Priest, had the following family of children: Dr. Frank, of Texas; James Urton, a farmer of Ralls county ; Dr. George F., of New London; Murray Drake, a lawyer and now representative in the lower house of the Missouri legislature; and Miss Elizabeth.
Samuel Thomas Watson, who was older than either of his two brothers mentioned in the preceding paragraphs, was born in July, 1834, and died at New London in 1909, after a long and honorable career as a farmer and citizen. His early education was limited, and he took no part in the Civil war except in so far as his sympathies were with the South. His entire career can be summed up in a devotion to the quiet pursuits of his estate near New London and in the substantial provision he made for his family. Though a Democrat, he had little concern with politics. He was a strict member of the Christian church.
He married Miss Margaret, a daughter of Taylor Jones, one of the notable old residents of Ralls county. The Jones family, originally from Virginia, was founded in Missouri by Dabney Jones, whose home was on the line between Ralls and Pike counties. Dabney Jones came within one vote of election as governor of the state of Missouri. He was several times an official of Ralls county and also represented the county in the lower house of the general assembly. Samuel T. Watson and wife had the following children : Dr. T. J., a physician of New York City ; Julia, the wife of Gentry Fuqua, of Monroe county, this state; Bettie, who married Thomas Moore; of Hickmans Mills, Missouri; James T., whose career is sketched below; William T., a farmer near New London; Olivia, wife of Dr. W. T. Waters, of New London; and Margaret, of New London.
Mr. James T. Watson, whose name introduces this sketch of the Wat- son family, was born on his father's farm near New London, August 9, 1867. The home farm where he grew up is a mile and a half southeast of New London, and during his boyhood he attended the public schools of the county seat, and later was a student in the old Christian Univer- sity at Nevada, Missouri. Since that time he has given all his business attention to farming and the stock business, and his career has been spent chiefly upon what is known as the old John Megown farm, adjoin- ing the limits of New London. This place of one hundred and eighty- nine acres, besides another farm in Marion county, represents his sub- stantial achievements during the twenty-five years of his active career. For a number of years he has been a Hereford cattle raiser and has also kept a number of jacks in his stables, and this feature of his enterprise has earned for him the familiar appellation of "Watson, the Jack Man."
Mr. Watson was married on March 21, 1902, to Miss Cora Mc Williams, a daughter of James and Sarah (King) McWilliams. They have one son, Elmer Hampton, born January 26, 1913. They have a comfortable and delightful home near and also one in the county seat. Mr. Watson
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is a Democrat, but has never aspired to public office, and he and his wife are members of the Christian church.
DR. WHITLEY GRAY HENDRIX has practiced medicine in Ralls county for more than forty years and has passed almost his whole professional life in New London. He was born in Callaway county, Missouri, Jan- ary 1, 1843, on Sunday,-the first day of the week, month and year, and is the son of William and Judith Ann (Bourn) Hendrix. The father was born in Oldham county, Kentucky, in 1805, married there in 1830 and seven years later came to Callaway county, Missouri. He moved into the forest, built a house of logs, cleared up a space in the midst of the wilderness and began to till the soil with all the energy and determination born of a strong will to make a home for his fam- ily where independence might be their lot. He remained there until 1849, then removed to Audrain county, and in 1856 he was elected sheriff and collector of the county. He served out his term and in so doing proved himself an able and efficient officer and he died in 1873 on the 16th of December. He was the son of Rudy Hendrix, of German antecedents, and a native North Carolinian, who came into Kentucky during the early years of her statehood and died in Oldham county, that state. The mother of Dr. Hendrix was born in Franklin county, Ken- tucky, and her people likewise were from Virginia. She was born on June 14, 1814. They became the parents of ten children as follows: James D., of Nevada, Missouri; Richard, deceased; Franklin of Canon City, Texas; Thomas, of Audrain county, Missouri; Lawrence M., de- ceased ; Dr. Whitley G .; Ellen, who married David M. Ward and resides in Kansas City ; Mary, the wife of Columbus Wisdom, of Marshall, Mis- souri ; Affie, who died single, and Miss Lizzie of Mexico, Missouri.
Dr. Hendrix was born in the log cabin his parents built upon their arrival in Callaway county, Missouri. Conditions of agriculture during his boyhood were sufficiently unfavorable to inspire in him a desire for a life other than that of the farm, and he early turned his attention toward the medical profession as an outlet for his energies and ambitions. Teaching offered the best opportunity to continue his private studies and to give him a living at the same time, and he taught his first school in the Grant community of Audrain county before the Civil war troubles affected or reached him. When the authority of the government called upon him to declare his loyalty to the Union by taking what was known as the "test oath," he declined and saved himself the ignominy of imprisonment by fleeing the state. He located in Pike county, Illinois, while the troubles of war time were adjusting themselves at home and there also engaged in teaching school. About the close of the war period he returned to Missouri and resumed his work in the school room near Louisiana on Noix creek. He continued to teach in Audrain county and to do the preliminary work of his medical course as well. In the winter of 1866-7 he attended the College of Physicians and Surgeons in Keokuk, Iowa, and was granted a certificate to practice medicine before his gradua- tion. He conducted his first practice with an established physician in Boone county and in 1868 located at St. Vrains Mills in Ralls county.
His beginning at this time was about as humble as it might well be imagined, his possessions being thus enumerated: Young wife, pill pockets, pony, saddle and bridle, primitive furnishings in a frontier house and less than a dollar in change in his pockets. In the winter of 1869 he entered upon the final work of his professional preparation at Keokuk and was graduated in 1870. He reached Quincy enroute to join his wife, with ready cash limited to a twenty-five cent piece,-a circumstance which threatened a serious menace to his homeward progress. He
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decided to pledge his silver watch,-a present to him, but when he approached a silversmith for the purpose the latter called in an officer, thinking he had found a thief. After answering innumerable questions put by the officer, the young doctor produced his diploma and satis- fied his questioners that his case was genuine. Refusing then to part with his watch he searched the city for some possible acquaintance who would aid him, and meeting with success in that quest, he finished his trip home and resumed his professional work.
In 1875 Dr. Hendrix moved to Madisonville and entered into prac- tice with Dr. M. L. Catron, and later he took a course of lectures in Rush Medical College in Chicago. He located in New London in 1877 and has since been active in his good work in this community.
During his long career in medicine the doctor's office has been open to many young men who have entered the same profession. Those who went out of his office and subsequently pursued courses in medicine were : Dr. W. W. Rodman, of Pierce City, Missouri; Dr. J. P. Neeley, of New London, Missouri ; Dr. J. F. Hendrix, of Howell county, Missouri; Dr. J. O. Phelan, of Oklahoma City ; Dr. John Phelan, of Marshall, Missouri ; and his own son, Dr. John W. Hendrix, now engaged in the drug busi- ness in New London.
In November, 1888, Dr. Hendrix married Miss Mollie Boaz, a daugh- ter of David Boaz, a Virginia man and a farmer, whose wife was Miss Polly Brown. The other children of Mr. and Mrs. Boaz were Robert, of Callaway county, Missouri; John, of Cole county, Missouri; Thomas, deceased ; Agnes, also deceased; Mrs. Hendrix, born in 1848; Hattie, the widow of a Mr. Armstrong; Nannie died as the wife of Samuel McElroy.
Dr. and Mrs. Hendrix have three children. Logie L. is the wife of Charles Weaver, a farmer near New London; they have two sons, Harry Weaver, a young attorney at the county seat, and Lloyd now attending high school; Rosie, the wife of Dr. F. E. Walters, of Bowling Green ; Dr. John W., the only son of Dr. and Mrs. Hendrix, married Miss Maud Lair, and they have a daughter, Madeline.
Dr. Hendrix, the elder, entered the Christian church when a youth of eighteen years at Mexico, Missouri, and notwithstanding the growing tendency of physicians and surgeons towards the ranks of doubters, he has continued a follower in the faith, and maintained his household a Christian home. Fraternally the doctor is a Master Mason and he is a Democrat in his political opinions.
Dr. Hendrix occupies a high place in the popular confidence and esteem of all who come within the circle of his acquaintance, and he is known and loved as a man of generous heart and high ideals. He has been a successful man in his profession from every view point, and is known to be one of the financially independent men of the city, his holdings of valuable lands in Missouri and Texas being large and his other interests in a property way being of an extensive nature.
CLAUDE P. PRITCHETT is the mechanical genius of Frankford and is the father and developer of a varied and important industry which contributes in no small way to the prosperity of the town. His mechanical achievements are the outcome of a nursing of talent exhibited as a youth and they have brought to his native town a cluster of indus- tries which work in harmony together and maintain the whirr of continu- uous business on one spot of Frankford's townsite.
Mr. Pritchett was born two and a half miles from Frankford on April 29, 1873. He grew up on his father's farm; the father owned and de- voted his life to intensive stock dealing, and his reputation in that busi- ness was bounded only by the limits of Illinois, Missouri and Iowa. He
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embarked in the blooded cattle industry in early life and established the practice of "sale day" about the beginning of the Civil war period. With the passage of years his sales covered other stock and before he died he had built up a business which attracted buyers far beyond the limits of his own state and which covered the sale of horses, mules and cattle and mounted into the thousands of dollars. Colonel Judy, the famed auctioneer of Illinois, officiated at his earlier transactions and "Dock" Biggs, Pike county's celebrated sale-crier, conducted his later and more extensive sales. It was his ambition to live to hold his fiftieth annual sale, but he died a few months too soon to realize that hope.
William Pritchett was born in Pike county, Missouri, in 1838. His father, Alexander Pritchett, the grandfather of the subject, pioneered to Missouri from Kentucky in about 1812, and settled near Frankford, the city being founded in 1819. He died soon after the birth of his son William, who was one of ten children. The mother was Elizabeth Wad- dell before her marriage to Alexander Pritchett, and their children were : Mary, born in 1810 in Kentucky, married Caleb J. T. Medford and passed her life in and about Frankford; then followed four sons,- Gabriel, Thomas, Sidney A., George; Jemimah married Daniel Stark; Wilmoth became the wife of Hathe Jones; Kate married John Fisher ; Emily ; and William, the father of Claude Pritchett, was the youngest of the ten.
A strong character was William Pritchett, and a remarkable man in many respects. He came to manhood with but little knowledge of books and literally made himself as a result of the experiences he passed through. He was a mountain of energy and a splendid example of honorable ambition. He planned a successful career in breeding blooded cattle and was one of the first importers of Shorthorns in this section of the country. In this industry he made a name which reached out into the cattle market of the middle west, and he added to its lustre with each annual sale in its increased importance. He was a broadcast advertiser of his events, and his dates came to be treated as a holiday around Frankford. He was active in politics at one time, and was elected by the Democratic party to the office of county collector two terms. He was not a member of any church, but he practiced the more substantial forms of Christianity, and his aid reached those persons and objects most deserving of material support. He gave the ground for the site of the Baptist church of Frankford and the other denominations felt the sub- stantial uplift of his liberal hand.
William Pritchett married Miss Martha O. Johnson, a daughter of Rev. M. Johnson who was a pioneer and a noted local preacher of frontier times here. Rev. Johnson, too, was a self-made man. His family needs made industry on his part most necessary, and while he toiled in the field or elsewhere he carried a book about with him that he might enjoy his rest time in study of practical lesson or in the preparation of his coming Sunday sermon. He organized many of the. Baptist churches of Pike, Ralls and Marion counties and remained at his post until the even- ing of his life. He collected toll from his congregations according to their will. In the earlier times, a pair of shoes, a coat, hat or socks, or some article for other members of the family or for his home were some of the donations that came from members of his flock. Contrary to the custom among the usual pioneer preachers, he demonstrated a fine busi- ness ability in the management of his affairs, and died, possessed of several hundred acres of land. He passed away in 1870 and his wife, who was Miss Sallie Kelley, died about 1875. They were the parents of fifteen children, one of whom was a soldier in the Mexican war, and sev- eral of the sons were participants in the War of the Rebellion. The
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family were Republicans, and although slave holders, they were in sympathy with the Union in the issues of war.
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