A history of northeast Missouri, Vol. 2 pt 2, Part 61

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

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James A. McDannold, Sr., was one of the few farmers of ante-bellum days who possessed a finished education. He was graduated in the Uni- versity of Virginia at Charlottesville, and his life as a farmer demon- strated a very substantial success. He passed through the Civil war period without taking an active part in the struggle and, although a son of slave-holding ancestry, he remained loyal to the Union. He was a Democrat in politics and a Baptist in his religious faith. His birth occurred September 19, 1832, and he died of malaria, October 20, 1865. He married Susan Gillingwater, a daughter of John Gillingwater, a master mechanic who plied his trade for many years doing repair work on Mississippi river boats; he died in Louisiana in 1875. Mr. Gilling- water married and the union was prolific of three children,-Mrs. Mc- Dannold; James, who died in Tucson, Arizona; and Mary, who died in Louisiana. Mrs. McDannold passed away June 16, 1884, and was sur- vived by two children-James A., Jr., and Mrs. C. W. Powell, whose husband is a merchant at Hartshorne, Oklahoma; they have two sons, Hurley and James.

A native of Montgomery county, Missouri, James A. McDannold, Jr., was born March 16, 1862. His father died when he was a child of but three and a half years of age and for a time the young James lived in the home of his grandfather Gillingwater. He became a mem-

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ber of the household of John Turner, one of the leading farmers and pioneer characters of the McIntosh community of Pike county. After completing the curriculum of the district schools Mr. McDannold at- tended the public schools in Louisiana, Missouri. On reaching his ma- jority he engaged in agricultural operations, which he had successfully learned from his benefactor, Mr. Turner. He prepared himself for a career at mule-raising and in that line of enterprise became eminently successful. He remained on his farm until 1907, when he came to Clarks- ville and engaged in the hardware and implement business as a member of the firm of Middleton Brothers & McDannold. He remained with that concern until February, 1912, when he resumed farming pursuits in a partnership with Judge Patterson. Together they own farming lands which are in a high state of cultivation. Mr. McDannold is financially interested in the Farmers' Elevator Company of Clarksville, in which concern he has been a stockholder since its organization.

In politics Mr. McDannold remains true to the political faith of the McDannold family as a sterling Democrat. He has been committee- man for Calumet township for fourteen years and in April, 1911, he was chosen mayor of Clarksville as the successor of L. B. Buchanan. August 5, 1912, he resigned his office as mayor in order to resume his farm work. His brief administration of the city's municipal affairs added an impetus to the former work of general street improvement, the building of stone arch being the conspicuous undertaking along this line.

September 7, 1892, was solemnized the marriage of Mr. McDannold to Miss Ella V. Scott, a daughter of James and Mary (Turner) Scott, the latter of whom was a daughter of John Turner, in whose home Mr. McDannold grew up. Mrs. McDannold was reared an only child and she was educated in LaGrange College. Mr. and Mrs. McDannold are the parents of one child, Mary Virginia, whose birth occurred July 14, 1894.

Mr. McDannold is a member of the subordinate and encampment branches of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows, in which he is past noble grand and which he has represented in the Grand Lodge of Mis- souri. His family is actively identified with the Presbyterian church, which he has frequently represented in presbyteries of the district and in which he has been an elder for sixteen years. He is a man of broad mind and is possessed of a generous heart, ever being ready to assist dependent humanity and to help those in trouble.

BREVATOR J. CREECH. Exceedingly successful in every phase of his life, Brevator J. Creech, the senior member of the law firm of Creech, Penn & Palmer, has won his way to the respect and esteem of his community, not only in his capacity of advocate, or of public official, but in the humbler role of private citizen and neighbor. Mr. Creech was born in Troy, Missouri, on October 10, 1880, the son of the late Josiah Creech, whose death in 1905 brought to an end a long and active legal career in Troy.

Josiah Creech was brought into the world in Lincoln county, Mis- souri, in the year 1840. His father was a pioneer settler of Missouri, who came west from Kentucky and settled a few miles southeast of Troy, where he died early in life. Josiah was the only boy in his parents' family. Among his sisters were Mrs. Lillie Kilkinson, and Mrs. Laura Schults, of Troy.

Having received his preliminary education Josiah Creech took up the study of law and was admitted to the bar. He developed into a most efficient advocate, able in prosecution as well as in defense. He

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was a strict adherent to the policies of the Democratic party, and his faithfulness to his faction was rewarded with the office of prosecuting attorney for the county. During his two terms in that capacity, Mr. Creech had erected the first gallows ever built in Lincoln county. On this gallows, a prisoner convicted of murder was to have been executed, but the governor's reprieve prevented the carrying out of the sentence. Another county office held with credit by Mr. Creech, was that of public administrator.

Josiah Creech was united in marriage to Marie Brevator, the daugh- ter of John and Catherine Brevator, who were respectively of English and French extraction. The marriage resulted in the birth of three children, two of whom passed away in the year 1884, in which year their mother also died, and the third of whom is Brevator J. Creech, the subject of this sketch.

Brevator J. Creech received his early education in the schools of Troy. He then entered the State University of Missouri, where he took a course. In 1901, while still attending college, Mr. Creech married Miss Mary C. Richards, a daughter of John E. Richards, a banker and suc- cessful farmer and stock man of Moscow Mills, Missouri. Mrs. Creech's mother was before her marriage, a Miss Ida Carter, a daughter of the historic character, Colonel T. M. Carter, who was a pioneer of Mis- souri, served in the Mexican war under Lieutenant Price, and fought for the Confederate cause under the leadership of General Cockerell. Colonel Carter also rendered his state conspicuous service by serving as a public official in times of peace. His wife, the grandmother of Mrs. Creech, was the daughter of Malcolm Henry, a noted citizen of pioneer days in Missouri, and one of the signers of the state constitution.

After his marriage Mr. Creech decided to start at once in his study of law, and accordingly went to Washington University at St. Louis, in the law department of which institution he finished his course in 1903. He began to practice his profession in the town where he had spent his childhood and where his father had made a name in the legal profession before him. His energy and ability soon became manifest, and in 1906, just three years after he had left law school he was elected prosecuting attorney for the county. He was reelected to the same office in 1908, and during the four years of his incumbency, he tried some of the most notorious criminal cases that have occurred in the county for years. He inherited from W. O. Dudley, his predecessor in office, a murder case which he assisted in prosecuting, but which failed of conviction. Another case which came under his jurisdiction was that of the Rev. Clyde W. Gow, a Methodist preacher, who, with his accomplice, Dr. Hemphill, was charged with a felony. This case is still fresh in the minds of Lin- coln county people. The preacher was tried in Audrain county, on a change of venue, and was convicted of manslaughter, and sentenced to the penitentiary for a term of six years. Dr. Hemphill was given a two- years' sentence, but his case is still pending on account of a technicality,. before Judge Dyer, of the circuit court. Mr. Creech was also prosecut- ing attorney in the case of a Mr. Parris, who was tried for murder, was convicted, and is now serving a forty-year term at Jefferson City.

An examination of Mr. Creech's record as prosecuting attorney, will show that his dominant characteristic during the administration of that office was that of a vigorous enforcer of the law. His official service has done much toward upholding the dignity of his profession in his community, and is besides his chief recommendation as a lawyer, and his best endorsement as a citizen.

As a Democrat, Mr. Creech is one of the most influential men in Lin- coln county. He has represented his community as a delegate to the

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state convention, and has been of great aid in forwarding the interests of Champ Clark in his congressional district. He was honored by the chairmanship of the Champ-Clark-for-President Club of Lincoln county, and was one of the active speakers and workers of the Clark forces in Illinois prior to the presidential primary in that state.

Mr. Creech has many interests in addition to politics and the practice of his profession. He is the owner of an extensive farm in the rich Mississippi valley, near Old Monroe, and as one of the owners of the Troy Telephone System, has been instrumental in rebuilding the line, improving the service, and putting its patrons into touch with the various commercial centers of the vicinity. Mr. Creech is also secretary of the Lincoln County Fair Association, and the esteem in which he is held by the people of Troy is further shown by the fact that he is one of the school directors of that city. Mr. Creech has also found time to take an active interest in the affairs of Masonry. He a past master of the blue lodge of that order, a Knight Templar, and has sat in the Grand Lodge of Missouri. He is also affiliated with the Odd Fellows. He and his family take part in the spiritual life of the town, as members of the Presbyterian church.

Three children, Richard, John, and Jo, have blessed the union of Mr. and Mrs. Creech.

WILLIAM H. EWING. Scotland county, Missouri, figures as one of · the most attractive, progressive and prosperous divisions of the state, justly claiming a high order of citizenship and a spirit of enterprise which is certain to conserve consecutive development and marked ad- vancement in the material upbuilding of this section. The county has been and is signally favored in the class of men who have contributed to its development along commercial and agricultural lines and in the latter connection the subject of this review demands recognition as he has been actively engaged in farming operations during practically his entire lifetime thus far. He has long been known as a prosperous and enterprising agriculturist and one whose business methods demonstrate the power of activity and honesty in the business world. Mr. Ewing is the owner of 965 acres of most arable farming land in Scotland, Knox and Clark counties and in addition to his farming interests is president of the Gorin Savings Bank.

A native of Scotland county, Missouri, William H. Ewing was born on the farm on which he now resides, September 13, 1856, and he is a son of Capt. W. B. Ewing, whose birth occurred in Kentucky in 1820. Captain Ewing came with his father to Missouri in 1836 and the former, whose name was Elijah Ewing, settled on a farm in Lewis county, later removing to Clark county. In 1836 Captain Ewing entered a traet of 160 acres of government land in Scotland county and that is the estate on which the subject of this article now makes his home. Captain Ewing was a soldier in the Confederate service during the Civil war and was captain of a company when he participated in the battle of Sand Hill, in August, 1862. In that conflict he lost his life, nobly fighting for the cause he believed to be just. His wife, Martha J., a daughter of a Mr. Lasswell, an old pioneer settler in Scotland county, died in 1899. There were six children in the Ewing family and concerning them the follow- ing brief data are here incorporated,-Elijah died at the age of seven years ; Nannie died in childhood : William H. is he to whom this article is dedicated : Martha Brown died at the age of fifty-four years; Hettie is the wife of a Mr. Davis and they reside five miles southeast of Gorin ; Anna, aged fifty-eight years, is the wife of a Mr. Luter, of Gorin; and E. W. died in 1899 near Fairmont, Clark county, Missouri.

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William H. Ewing was educated in the Scotland and Knox counties joint school. Upon his father's demise he and his elder brother became the wage earners for the family, which they kept intact until all the chil- dren were grown. William H. Ewing came into possession of the old homestead of 160 acres. During the long intervening years to the pres- ent time, in 1912, he has prospered and has added to his original acre- age until he now is the owner of two farms-one containing 624 acres in Scotland and Knox counties and the other 341 acres in Clark county. The latter farm represents his paternal grandfather's old place. He has. 965 acres of land in all and on the same is most successfully engaged in farming and stock raising. For the past fifteen years he has been con- nected with the Gorin Savings Bank as its president. Mr. Ewing is a man of splendid executive ability and unusual initiative. His is a force- ful character-one that carries great weight in public and financial matters. In politics he is an uncompromising Democrat.

In the year 1884 was solemnized the marriage of Mr. Ewing to Miss Minnie Adams, a native of Knox county. This union has been prolific of eleven children, as follows: C. M. makes his home in Oakland, Cali- fornia; G. W. is proprietor of an hotel in Gorin; Lloyd H. resides at home ; C. A. is a restaurant man in Gorin ; J. T. remains at home ; Jason lives on his father's farm in Clark county ; Gilbert died at the age of thirteen years; Agnes, Joel and Hallie are at home; and one child died in infancy. The Ewing family is a happy one and the home is the scene of many attractive gatherings and most generous hospitality.

HON. EMMERT A. DOWELL. The character of a community is judged by the world by its representative citizens, admiration and respect being yielded to those whose works and actions constitute a state's pros- perity and pride. Among the prominent of Lewis county is the Hon. Emmert A. Dowell, who has attained success in the field of law and jurisprudence, and who is an influential member of the Democratic party, having represented his county in the state senate for twelve years, and who is honored for his ability and sterling integrity. Born February 20, 1858, he is a native of the village of Colony, Knox county, Missouri, and a son of Elijah B. and Elizabeth (Henry) Dowell.

Elijah B. Dowell was born in October, 1828, in Elizabethtown, Ken- tucky, a son of Elijah Dowell, a native of Virginia, who migrated to Kentucky and thence to Northeastern Missouri, settling in Knox county, in 1856, and here spending the remainder of his life. The maternal grandfather of Senator Dowell was Hugh Henry, a relative of Patrick Henry, and a native of North Carolina, from whence he migrated to what is now Knox county in or about 1830. In his native state he served as county judge for many years, and in Missouri became one of the best known citizens of his county. Elijah B. Dowell accompanied his parents from Kentucky to Knox county, Missouri, from whence he enlisted in Colonel Jackman's regiment, in the Confederate army, during the Civil war, serving valiantly throughout that struggle. At the close of the war he came to Lewis county, where he became a prosperous farmer, and is now living a retired life at Labelle. "He and his wife reared a family of four children, as follows: Mrs. Mary Lee Kendrick, of Labelle: Emmert A .; John H., who died at the age of twenty-one years, and one who died in infancy. The mother of these children passed away in 1886.

Emmert A. Dowell was reared on the home farm and received his primary education in the country schools, subsequently attending Monticello Seminary and the Kirksville Normal School. During two terms, 1881 and 1882, he taught school, after having spent one year in the West, and then began to study law, being admitted to the bar in

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1884. Since that time he has been in continuous practice in Labelle with the exception of six years, when he was serving in the capacity of prosecuting attorney of Lewis county, a position to which he was elected on the Democratic ticket in 1888. In 1898 he was sent to the state senate from the twelfth district, was reelected in 1902 and again in 1906, and during these three terms was known as one of the most active workers in that distinguished body. He served on the judiciary and jurisprudence committee; was chairman of the committee on rail- roads during his last session; chairman of the insurance committee one session and served on the appropriations committee. He was the author of the bill taxing all board of trade transactions in stocks and a bill to license all manufacturers, blenders and distillers of liquors, both of these bills being revenue producers, it being estimated that they added $300,000 annually to the state revenues. In 1900 he was a member of the revisions committee on general measures. Senator Dowell's career throughout was above reproach and he gained a reputation for honesty of purpose and loyalty to the interests of his constituents. Every vote cast by him was above suspicion, and during the infamous and notori- ous "pool" days, he was known as a man whom it was dangerous to approach with a proposition of any kind to unduly influence him. Fraternally, the senator is a Royal Arch Mason and a member of the Order of the Eastern Star, and his religious belief is that of the Meth- odist Episcopal Church, South.

On December 24, 1885, Mr. Dowell was married to Miss Minnie O. Glover, daughter of Joseph Glover, of Newark, Missouri, and two chil- dren have been born to this union: Glover, born May 21, 1891, and now a senior student in the State University, Columbia, where he is taking a law and literary course; and Lucille B., born December 31, 1896.

GLEN HILLS. It might be said not inappropriately of Glen Hills, the hustling editor and publisher of the Hustler, the bright and enter- taining newspaper of Ewing, Missouri, that he was born to the life of a journalist, for he has been connected with newspapers in one capacity or another since boyhood, and it is certain that he inherits his inclina- tion for his chosen calling from his father, Frank Hills, the well- known editor of the New Homestead, of Wayland, Clark county, Mis- souri. The editorship of a periodical that enters as many homes as the Hustler is a grave responsibility to place upon the shoulders of so young a man as Mr. Hills, but his many friends insist, and present indications are bearing them out in their assertion, that he is fully capable of satisfactorily taking care of its interests and of advancing public welfare.

Glen Hills was born April 24, 1888, in Wayland, Clark county, Mis- souri, and there received his education in the public schools. As a lad of fourteen years he began to be identified with newspaper life, enter- ing the office of his father, where he learned the trade of printer. Dur- ing the years that followed he worked at his trade in various of the large cities and towns of Northeastern Missouri and in other states, traveling as a journeyman and acquiring much experience and valuable informa- tion that only travel can bring. It had always been his ambition, how- ever, to be the editor and publisher of a paper of his own, and in 1910 the time seemed ripe for the establishment of a newspaper at Ewing. Accordingly. on March 23d of that year the Hustler was launched by Mr. Hills and his father, and the success which has rewarded the efforts of the capable young journalist makes evident the fact that the time and location were well chosen. The Hustler is a four-page, five-column sheet, with a circulation of five hundred subscribers, and as its name

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suggests stands for the principles that makes for progress. It has been given hearty support by the people in and around Ewing, and its editor has not only gained a name for himself in his chosen field, but has made and retained numerous friends who realize that the young man has a brilliant future before him.

FRED NORRIS. Among the country estates in Audrain county that have long been pointed out by reason of their improvements, produc- tivity and many evidences of modern business-like management, one of the best is the Norris homestead near Mexico. Forty years ago its lands were bare prairie, almost a desert so far as producing the fruits needed for mankind's use was concerned. Many years of careful hus- bandry and cultivation have transformed it all, and to this transfor- mation both a father and son of the Norris name have given their best energies.

Fred Norris, the present occupant and proprietor of this fine farm, was born in Stark county, Illinois, February 24, 1870, and at the age of six years came to Audrain county and the site of his present home- stead with his parents, Elias B. and Mary E. Norris. The father paid six dollars an acre for about a section of land, and was engaged in its development and improvement until about 1895, when he and his wife moved to Mexico, where he resided until his death. He was one of the leading farmers of the county, and held a high place in the esteem of his many friends and neighbors.

Mr. Fred Norris has continued on the homestead, where he had grown to manhood. When his father left it, the farm contained about eight hundred acres, and the son has since increased it to nine hundred and forty acres. He.raises both grain and stock, and has had a very prosperous career.

JOSHUA THOMAS ROWLAND, of Woodlandville, Missouri, who now holds the honorable and responsible position of judge of the south dis- trict of the Boone county court, is not one of Boone county's wealthiest men, but he has a better distinction, that of being one of its most useful and worthy men and one who, in an indirect way, has, probably, had more influence on the life of Boone county than all its wealth has had. As a teacher for about seventeen years he had under his charge many of the boys and girls that are now the men and women of affairs in this community. He was conscientious in his work, impelling the minds of the youth to useful and practical studies, forcing upon them the realization that character is the most valuable asset in life, and encourag- ing each to take a worthy and noble place in the ranks of the world's workers. Judge Rowland can recall the names of many of his pupils that are now of the professions, doctors, lawyers and ministers, but he takes no less pride in those who have become worthy members of society in other vocations. He has been successful also as a business man and agriculturist.

Judge Rowland was born near Harrisburg, Boone county, Missouri, January 24, 1852, a son of William J. and Martha (Fenton) Rowland, both natives of Boone county. William J. Rowland was born in the same neighborhood as his son in 1823 to Thomas and Elizabeth ( Alex- ander) Rowland, very early settlers here, the former of whom bought eight hundred acres at $10 per acre, which estate was finally heired by his sons. The farm on which Judge Rowland now resides was a part of this plantation and is from an uncle's portion of the estate. These grandparents were both native Kentuckians, born in Mercer county of the Blue Grass State, and came to Missouri about 1818 a young married

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couple. They first located near Smithton, Missouri, but soon afterward bought their large farm near Harrisburg. Thomas Rowland died in 1870 when about seventy-two years of age. Martha Fenton, the mother of Judge Rowland, was a daughter of James Fenton, also a Boone county pioneer from Kentucky, who was located near Hinton. She died in 1852, nine days after the birth of her only son and child, Joshua Thomas, as a result of that event. William J. Rowland, whose life occupation was that of a farmer, died in the Federal prison at St. Louis, Missouri. He had gone out under General Price at the beginning of the Civil war and was captured while under the service of General Poindexter, being taken prisoner at his own home and then transferred to the prison at St. Louis. His second wife was a Miss Thompson, from Howard county, Missouri, who survived him but a short time and left two daughters: Alice C., now the wife of J. W. Whitesides, of Columbia, Missouri, and Julia, who died a young maiden. Judge Rowland was reared by his grandparents, Thomas and Elizabeth Rowland. He attended the common schools of his locality until seventeen years of age, when he took up teaching and taught two terms in Boone county. He then entered William Jewell College at Liberty, Missouri, where he took a three years' course, having in the meantime received a portion of his father's estate. The next twelve or fifteen years were spent as a teacher in the district schools of Boone county, teaching several terms in the same district, where he was returned year after year and had a very pleas- ant experience. During this time he had also taken a business course in the Jones Commercial College in St. Louis and was graduated in book- keeping and commercial law. After this long experience as a teacher he spent two years as manager of a cooperative store at Harrisburg and then took up farming. He had already bought land, for which he had paid by teaching and raising stock, and to his original purchase he kept adding until he held about four hundred acres, for which he had paid from $25 to $30 per acre. He continued to operate his large farm and to raise and feed considerable stock until about the time he took up his present duties as judge. He disposed of part of his holdings but still retains 145 acres and has a very comfortable homestead, on which he has placed all of its improvements. In 1910 he decided to become a' candidate for the office of district judge of the Boone county court. He won his nomination over three strong opponents and was elected. His associates on the bench are Judges W. T. Johnson and Benjamin Tate, both of whom receive individual mention in this work. He is a Democrat in party affiliations and has served frequently as a delegate in the county conventions. Fraternally he is a Free and Accepted Mason, a member of Ancient Landmark Lodge, No. 356, at Harrisburg since 1880, and has filled offices in the blue lodge. He is a member of the Bethlehem Missionary Baptist church, which is but a quarter of a mile from his home, and has served as church clerk several years. He has also served as superintendent of the Sunday-school for several years. All of his different relations to society have been characterized by the most conscientious and careful effort on his part and as his experience has broadened he has realized more and more the immense responsibility of man's influence with his fellow men.

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A history of northeast Missouri, Vol. 2 pt 2, Part 61

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