A history of northeast Missouri, Vol. 2 pt 2, Part 56

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

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In 1875, Mr. White was married to Miss Katie V. Corbett, and to Vol. III-24

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this union there have been born four children: Addie C., who resides at home; George E., living on a farm in southern Missouri; Edna, who lives with her parents; and Allen C., who is engaged in conducting a supply store in Moberly. Mr. White is a great believer in the advantages of a good education, and has given his children thorough trainings, Addie, Edna and Allen being college graduates.

JOHN H. BABCOCK. But few men have come more directly in con- tact with the monetary institutions of Northeastern Missouri, and the business men of the country, and none have commanded more com- pletely their respect and confidence than the late John H. Babcock, for years president of the Bank of Moberly, of which he was the organizer. Born in Bristol, England, he was brought to the United States by his parents before he was a year old, the family settling in New York, where the boy was reared and educated, eventually graduating from the academy at Albion, the county seat of Orleans county.

When he was nineteen years of age John H. Babcock enlisted for service in the Civil war, becoming a sergeant of Company L, New York Second Rifles, with which organization he continued to serve until the close of the war. He was wounded the morning of General Lee's surrender, and on account of his wound was not discharged until the following year, at Buffalo, New York. Immediately thereafter, Mr. Babcock came to Missouri, locating first in Macon county, where he helped survey the old trail to the Iowa state line. He was engaged in the mercantile business in Atlanta, Missouri, for fifteen years, and dur- ing this time was sent to the state legislature. In 1888, with J. R. Scovern and G. Wilson, he founded the First National Bank of Macon, of which he was president for four years, but at the expiration of that period he sold his business interests there and came to Moberly, where he went into the lumber business with his brother, William Babcock. Four years later he disposed of his interests in that enterprise, and with others organized the Bank of Moberly, of which he was president up to the time of his death. He was recognized by his associates as a man of extreme ability and untiring energy, as well as the strictest integrity and probity of character. A valued member of the A. F. & A. M., for many years he was an officer in the grand commandery of the state of Missouri and was buried by the Knights Templar of Mis- souri, of which he was grand senior warden, and was also one of the officials of the Carnegie Library Association. In political matters he was a Democrat, and throughout his life was active in behalf of the interest of his party and its candidates, and served in high places of trust and responsibility. At one time he served as the incumbent of the mayoralty chair of Moberly.

In 1872 Mr. Babcock was united in marriage with Miss Mary C. Cochrane, who was born in New York state, the daughter of William and Jane (Blanchard) Cochrane, the former being a native of New Hampshire and the latter of New York. Mrs. Babcock was one of a family of four children, and was granted excellent educational advan- tages, being a graduate of an academy, and for several years followed the profession of educator. Mr. and Mrs. Babcock had a family of three children, namely : Daisy, who is deceased; Grace, and May, who lives at home with her mother. Mrs. Babcock, who still maintains the family residence in Moberly, is a splendid business woman, and man- ages her real estate interests with ability and discretion. She still has an interest in the Bank of Moberly, as well as other investments, and is as well known in business as she is in social circles. Her husband formed a wide acquaintance during the years of his residence here,

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and among them could be numbered many warm personal friends. Successful in business and prominent in political matters, he was esteemed wherever known, and in his death Moberly lost one of its best citizens.

HUGH BOYD. To our peaceful and industrious neighbors on the north of us, the Canadians, Northeastern Missouri is indebted for many of its most prosperous, progressive and loyal citizens, and the late Hugh Boyd, of Moberly, as is well known, was no exception to this rule. During the twenty years of his residence in Moberly, he was connected with bridge construction work, always displaying the characteristics of industry and integrity, and at the time of his death, although still only in middle age, had accumulated a comfortable competency and gained the esteem of a wide circle of friends. Hugh Boyd, as before stated, was a native of Canada, and was born in Weston, March 24, 1848, his parents being Angus and Susan Boyd. The father, a native of Scotland, emigrated to Canada at an early day, and was there mar- ried to Susan Coke, who was born in the Fatherland and came to Canada in young womanhood. In 1881 they left their home in the Dominion and came to Moberly, Missouri, where both spent the rest of their lives, the father passing away in 1899, when eighty-five years of age, and the mother dying in May, 1883. They had a family of six children, of whom four are now living.

Hugh Boyd was reared in his native country, and there received a good education in the common schools, following which he began to learn the trade of bridge builder, the details of which he thoroughly mastered. Mr. Boyd was about thirty years of age when he came with his parents to Moberly, and here he almost immediately secured employ- ment in the bridge-building department of the Wabash Railroad, with which company he was connected up to the time of his death, July 3, 1901. He was interred at Oakland cemetery. In political matters he was a Democrat, but had no desire to enter the public arena, taking only a good citizen's interest in public matters. He and his wife were faithful members of the Baptist church and were active in its work and liberal in its support.

In 1885 Mr. Boyd was married to Miss Mary Buchanan, also a native of Canada, and a daughter of J. G. and Forbes (McNeill) Buchanan, natives of Scotland who emigrated to Canada during the early 'fifties. In 1881 they came to Moberly, Missouri, and here spent the remainder of their lives. Mrs. Boyd is one of twelve children, eight of whom are still living. Two of her sisters are Anna, wife of William Firth; and Margaret, who makes her home with Mrs. Firth in Moberly. Mrs. Boyd is the owner of two fine dwellings at Fifth and Rollins street, as well as a valuable piece of property on Concannon street, of which she has the entire management. She is an excellent business woman, and is also well and favorably known in church circles, where she has numerous friends.

WILLIAM FIRTH. The present generation has little conception of what was endured by the early pioneers of Northeastern Missouri, or. appreciation of the changes that have taken place in business methods, and which have transformed life to such an extent that today it offers greater inducements than at any time in the country's history. These conditions may be the result of the endurance and bravery of those who blazed the trail for advanced civilization. Northeastern Missouri has a most interesting history, made so by the efforts of its pioneers, and a record of their lives is appropriate and necessary in preparing a

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work that has to do with the locality. In social, business and public life, Mr. Firth was one of its most prominent citizens. His death oc- curred at Moberly, Missouri, December 9, 1899.

William Firth was a native of the Hoosier State, and was born June 17, 1838. Coming to Moberly, Randolph county, at an early time in the settlement of this section, he devoted himself to various pursuits for a number of years, gaining a prominent place among business men. He was interested in Republican politics, serving as a member of the city council, and also acting in the capacity of county abstracter at the time of his death, and postmaster for two terms. During his long and useful life he gained and maintained many warm friendships, and his death came as a distinct shock to a wide circle of acquaintances who had recognized and appreciated his many admirable traits of character.

On May 26, 1891, Mr. Firth was united in marriage with Miss Anna Buchanan, a native of Canada, and a daughter of J. G. and Forbes (McNeill) Buchanan, natives of Scotland, who emigrated to Canada during the early fifties. In 1880 they came to Moberly, Mis- souri, and here spent the remainder of their lives. Mrs. Firth was one of twelve children, eight of whom are still living. She taught school in Moberly for nine years, and during four years of that period was principal of the West Park school. A lady of culture and re- finement, she has identified herself with the social life of Moberly, and is a valued member and active worker in the Thursday Club. She is the owner of several valuable pieces of real estate in Moberly. Miss Margaret Buchanan, sister of Mrs. Firth, makes her home at the Firth residence, and has been principal of the South Park school for the past seven years.

RICHARD H. GOODMAN, cashier of the Bank of Louisiana, and one of the leaders in the financial affairs of Pike county, was born of pioneer parents on a farm some ten miles south of Louisiana on May 26, 1854. His father was William A. Goodman, a sketch of whom appears follow- ing in this history, and his mother was Elizabeth Johnston Goodman, a native of Albemarle county, Virginia.

When a youth of fourteen the subject of this sketeli left home to begin a life of urban activity, having before acquired a good school commercial training. He was first employed as clerk in the office of James A. Sander- son, then tax collector of the county, which position he held for two years, after which he was employed in the old Commercial Bank of Louisiana, where he acquired his initial banking experience. In 1875 he was offered the clerkship in the old Bartholow Bank in St. Louis, the forerunner of the Merchants-Laclede National Bank of that city, but declined the offer, preferring a prospective career as a gold miner in the far West. Arriv- ing at Bannock, Montana, he entered the employ of Grater, Kinney & Company, who operated mines, a store and a bank. His clerical experi- ence becoming known, he was assigned to the bank as general manager of the institution, just as he was beginning to enjoy out-of-door life and hard labor.

At the end of a year in the West, Mr Goodman returned to Missouri and for a while worked as a merchant's clerk. He later engaged in the livery business for a short time, and was then employed by Ray & Block, bankers, in Louisiana, subsequently going to the Mercantile Bank, where he remained for nearly seven years. Encouraged by ex-United States Senator J. B. Henderson, and other men of capital, he organized the Bank of Louisiana in 1887, chartered for $15,000 but soon increased to $20,000 in accordance with the increased business demand.

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General Henderson became president of the institution and Mr. Good- man cashier and manager.

The commercial value of the stock will alone give a strong intimation of the successful management of the institution, when it is stated that there is no stock on the market at $400 per share. Since 1887 prae- tically all of Mr. Goodman's time and attention have been devoted to the conduet and welfare of this bank. He is at present also secretary and treasurer of the Crystal Carbonate Lime Company of Elsherry, Missouri, in which he is a stockholder, and was a stockholder in the Buffum Tele- phone Company from its inception until it was sold, and since that time he has been its treasurer.

He has kept in close touch with the business interests of Louisiana, and responded to the sentiment for the organization of a business men's club, of which he is a member. He is a Knights Templar Mason, and a member of the Temple Association ; also a member of the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks, and a member of the Episcopal church, though raised in a Baptist home.

Mr. Goodman was first married in 1879 to Miss Emma Bright, daugh- ter of E. C. and Martha (Biglow) Bright. From this union there were no children. His wife dying, he was married in 1884 to Miss Eleanor Sombart, from which union there was one ehild, Louise. In 1904 he was united in marriage to Mrs. Agnes Thomas, daughter of Elijah N. Samp- son, a silk dealer of St. Louis, and a manufacturer of Boston, Massa- chusetts. The only child of the Goodman household is Miss Agnes Thomas, Mrs. Goodman's daughter, who is at present a student in Waterman Hall at Sycamore, Illinois.

But past fifty-nine years of age, of robust stature and with perfeet health, Mr. Goodman has the prospect of a goodly number of active and useful years still before him.

WILLIAM A. GOODMAN, father of Manoah S. and Richard H. Good- man, an outline of whose lives and work appears elsewhere in this history, was born in Albemarle county, Virginia, within two miles of Charlottesville, the University City of the Old Dominion State, in April, 1813. His parents were Jeremiah Augustus Goodman and Mary Clarkson Goodman, each of whom lived to be very old, attain- ing approximately the Bible limit of four score years. The children of Jeremiah A. and Mary C. Goodman were, in the order of their birth, Charles Granison, Margaret Clarkson, James Washington, Manoah Summers and William Anselm Goodman, the subject of this sketch. The fourth child, Manoah S., died when a very young man; Charles Granison moved to Louisa county, Virginia, and beeame an extensive farmer and leading citizen of that very fertile section of the state, speeulating in land, investing in early railroad stocks, interested in stage lines and for years supplying the university with the wood used by the students, boarding house keepers and others. James W. Goodman was a graduate of Dartmouth College, a minister of the Baptist church and for many years, and until his death, president of Kentucky Female College, located at Shelbyville. Margaret Clark- son Goodman married Ansel Jones, moved to St. Genevieve county, Missouri, and subsequently to Texas, where she died many years ago. William A. Goodman married his cousin, Malvina Dunreath Ham- ner, of Buckingham county, Virginia, in 1836 and the same fall, with his slaves, household goods and other property, moved by wagons to Pike county, Missouri, where he bought one hundred arpents of land and began the life of a farmer in a wild and thinly settled country. Industrious by nature, of economic habits and possessed of sound judg-

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ment and an abiding faith in the future of the country to which he had come, he husbanded his earnings from year to year until he found profitable investments in the lands of his dissatisfied neighbors. By this process of slow accretions he got together between four hundred and five hundred acres of the best land in the county from which he annually derived good returns until at his death, in 1858, he bequeathed · his children a large estate and left as a demonstration of his untiring energy and persistence one of the most desirable as also one of the best equipped farms in Pike county. As a man Mr. Goodman was of strong will, great decision of character, quick to see the salient points of any proposition and prompt to act. He investigated every subject with which he had to do, saw it from all viewpoints and then acted upon his own judgment. He was a law-abiding citizen filled with a love of order and opposed to any infraction of the laws under which he lived. He was honest, just and upright, according to all men their own; conceding to others all the rights and privileges he demanded for himself and recognizing and applying the Golden Rule in his deal- ings and intercourse with his fellowmen. He loved peace and sought to bring about the best social relations possible in a country so new and thinly settled and where education and refinement were at a dis- count. He did much to prevent discord among his neighbors and where there were disagreements he sought a peaceable adjustment, and if differences of a financial character arose he generally contrived to bring about a satisfactory and permanent settlement of the same with- out resort to the law. He recognized the dire needs of many of the "new comers" and devoted himself assiduously to their relief. Recog- nizing the lack of educational facilities he labored hard and, in a way, successfully to stimulate greater efforts in the establishment of better schools and aided and encouraged every effort put forth for the build- ing and sustaining of churches in his community.

By his first wife Mr. Goodman had two children, Manoah Summers and Mary Malvina; the first he educated at the University of Vir- ginia, the second at Kentucky Female College, located at Shelbyville, Kentucky, and presided over by his brother, Rev. James W. Goodman, as mentioned before. The son's history appears elsewhere in this his- tory. The daughter married William F. Oglesby, an active and popular citizen and twice sheriff of Pike county. Losing his wife in 1841 Will- iam A. Goodman married again in 1847 or 1848, his second wife being Mary Elizabeth Johnston of Albemarle county, Virginia. To this union four children were born: William B., who died in Louisiana, Missouri, in 1912; James A., a farmer of Calumet township; Richard H., for years cashier of the Bank of Louisiana, and Martha A., who married Dr. J. H. Story and who died November 19, 1912, mourned by the entire community of which she was a member. At the time of her death she was, and for years had been, president of the Clarksville Library Association and had several times held the same position in the Fort- nightly or Ladies Literary Club, of which she was a charter member.

Mr. Goodman was a man of deep religious convictions, a member of the Baptist church and devoted much of his energy, time and means to the moral uplift of the people amongst whom he lived and to the advancement of the cause of religion.

He died in August, 1858, when but little more than forty-five years of age and with the profound esteem and sincere affection of all who knew him.

JOE CONSIDINE, whose combination of business interests makes him one of the leading business citizens of Audrain county, belongs to

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that class of citizens who have spent their entire lives in the vicinity of the place of their birth, finding therein ample opportunities for the exercise of their abilities and energies. Mr. Considine was born near the village of Gant, in Audrain county, Missouri, February 11, 1871, and is a son of Patrick and Eva (Sperry) Considine.

Patrick Considine, as his name would suggest, was born in County Clare, Ireland, and as a lad of thirteen years was brought to the United States by an aunt. Securing work as a railroad man, he was so occupied until the discovery of gold in California lured him with thousands of others into making the perilous trip across the plains, and in 1849 he joined a party that negotiated the journey in safety. Mr. Considine was not particularly successful as a miner, but man- aged to accumulate a band of western horses which he brought back to Pike, county, Illinois, and while living there met the lady who after- ward became his wife. He continued to reside in the Prairie State, engaging in farming, until 1868, in which year he came to Audrain county, and here spent his remaining years as an agriculturist, dying on his farm near Centralia in 1904, at the age of sixty-nine years. His widow still survives him and lives with her son Joe, beside whom they had a daughter, Lottie, the wife of J. W. Skaggs, of Kansas City, Missouri.

Joe Considine remained on the home farm and was married at the age of twenty-two years, following which he continued to work with his father for two more years, and his entire life has been spent within eight miles of his birthplace. In 1902 he removed to his pres- ent location, one-quarter mile east of the Thompson railroad station, on the old I. J. Sims place, whose daughter Polly he had married, February 22, 1893. I. J. Sims was a son of William Sims, who is remembered as "Trembling Bill," to distinguish him from another William Sims, and was related to O. B. and J. E. Sims, whose sketches appear elsewhere in this work. I. J. Sims was married to Bettie Waldron, and they resided on a part of his father's homestead, just northeast of Thompson, which he purchased in 1884. He had a farm of one thousand three hundred and four acres, and there lived until his death in 1900, when he was sixty-four years of age, his widow following him to the grave two years later. They had three children : Garland, who lives in Kingsville, Texas; Mattie, who married C. R. Brown, of Mexico; and Polly, the eldest who, was nineteen years of age at the time of her marriage to Mr. Considine.

After the death of Mr. Sims, his daughter inherited one hundred and forty-six acres of the home land, and here Mr. Considine has re- modeled the residence, put the buildings into the finest of condition, and added to the property until he has nine hundred and sixty acres, of which three hundred and fifty-three were originally a part of the Sims homestead, all being in one farm adjoining Thompson. Mr. Con- sidine feeds twenty-five cars of hogs, cattle, mules and sheep, and also engages in buying and shipping. He has annually from two hundred and fifty to four hundred acres in corn, and is known as one of his community's leading agriculturists. In company with H. T. Gant, of Thompson, he owns several store buildings at Thompson, and also has a store at Elgin, Kansas, which he conducts with his son-in-law in charge. Mr. Considine is a Republican in his views, and although not a politician or office seeker, has served very acceptably in the ca- pacity of postmaster of Thompson, which has two rural free delivery routes. Fraternally he is connected with the Masons and the Modern Woodmen, and his religious belief is that of the Baptist church, he hav- ing been instrumental in securing the church at Thompson.

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Mr. and Mrs. Considine have two children: Bettie May, who mar- ried Frank Wales, who is in charge of the Elgin, Kansas, store, and Sims, who is eight years of age and attending school. Ollie Bonsall, an orphan lad, was adopted by Mr. and Mrs. Considine when he was eleven years of age, and now, at the age of twenty-one, he is an in- dustrious, manly young fellow, who may be depended upon to ably conduct the business of the farm.

ROBERT HENRY GOODIER, M. D., is the son of that pioneer physi- cian, Dr. James Goodier, the major part of whose professional life was passed at Florida, Missouri, where the subject of this sketch was born May 12, 1861.

James Goodier was a native of Lancashire, England, born in 1825, and came with his parents, James and Alice (Willett) Goodier, and brother Robert to America in 1831.

The family first located in this country at Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, where they resided for six years, and from thence to Ralls county, settling on a farm near Hydesburg, Missouri.

Dr. James Goodier received a common school education, but cour- ageously supplemented that knowledge with self-helps and close ap- plication to study until in middle and later life he was recognized as a man of broad, liberal culture. He was always a close student of men, books and nature.

Preparatory to the study of his chosen profession he taught school and earned the money to enable him to prosecute the study of medicine. He read medicine in Hannibal, Missouri, and attended lectures at the McDowell Medical College at St. Louis, graduating with distinction from this school in 1851. He began the practice of medicine at Hydesburg, his old home, but after a year or so removed to Florida, Missouri, at which place he continued to practice his profession until the fall of 1885, when he removed to Monroe City, Missouri, forming a partnership with Dr. J. J. Norton. This partnership existed until the death of Jamies Goodier in 1894, aged sixty-nine.

Dr. James Goodier loved his profession, and was zealous of his professional honor and studied to show himself a workman who need not be ashamed.

He was married to Miss Martha E. Holmes, a daughter of Amasa and Emily P. Holmes, nee Cox, in 1853. Two children were born to this union, Robert Henry, now of Monroe City, Missouri, the sub- ject of this review, and Alice, the wife of W. H. Pritchett, president of the Vanderbilt Training School for boys.

The wife and mother, Mrs. Martha E. Goodier, still survives and lives with her daughter at Beechmont, Kentucky.

Dr. Robert H. Goodier attended Central College at Fayette, Mis- souri, and took his professional work in the Missouri Medical College, St. Louis, from which he was graduated in 1883. After practicing in Monroe county for four years he located in Hannibal and made that city his home and center of his professional activities from 1887 to 1910. In 1897 Dr. Goodier took a post graduate course in the New York Polyclinic and has been prominent in the work of the various professional societies of county and state for a number of years.

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A history of northeast Missouri, Vol. 2 pt 2, Part 56

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