USA > Missouri > A history of northeast Missouri, Vol. 2 pt 2 > Part 82
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James W. Mitchell was born in Hillsboro in 1831, and when he grew up, became a contractor and builder, which trade he carried on in Hillsboro until his death, which occurred in 1898. He married Mary A. Glenn, who is still living, having reached the venerable age of eighty-seven. She is a daughter of Samuel Glenn, who was born in Gallia county, Virginia, came to Hillsboro, Ohio, where he followed his trade as a brickmason until his death. James W. Mitchell and his wife had ten children, as follows: John H., of Ottumwa, Iowa; W. S., who died in Mt. Pleasant, Iowa; Belle M. is the wife of R. C. Glenn, of Mound City, Missouri; Jennie E. died unmarried ; James A. lives in Mound City, Missouri; T. Guy; Lizzie married John Crosen and resides at the same town, where Mr. Crosen is principal of the high school; Frank Q., James A. and Robert G. comprise the Mitchell Mercantile Company, of Mound City, Missouri.
T. Guy Mitchell grew up in Hillsboro and received his education in the public schools of his home town. At the age of nineteen he left home and went to Bloomfield, Iowa, where he became a member of the firm of Mitchell Brothers, a firm which was engaged in a successful drug business. It so happened that he married a girl from Paris, Missouri, and this fact induced him to give up his association with the drug business in Bloomfield and settle in Paris, that he might be near his wife's family. He removed to Paris in 1885, in the month of March and became the successor of Mr. Caldwell in the firm of Poage & Caldwell, the well known hardware merchants of that place. The firm name was changed to E. M. Poage & Company, and now since the death of Mr. Poage, Mr. Mitchell is the sole survivor of the old firm which has for so many years borne a high reputation in the busi- ness world of Paris. That Mr. Mitchell is a worthy successor to the older members of the firm is attested to by the fact that its reputation is still untarnished and its popularity still maintained.
Not content with his share in the commercial life of Paris, Mr. Mitchell entered into the civic life of the city not long after coming to reside here. He was elected a member of the council, and so popular did he become through this public service that he was chosen mayor in 1889. He was twice elected to this executive office, and during his administration the light and water plants of the city were planned and installed. Mr. Mitchell is a member of the two leading fraternities in Paris, the Masons and the Odd Fellows, and in religious matters he is a member of the Christian church.
It was in. Paris on January 18, 1882, that T. Guy Mitchell and Miss Kate E. Poage were united in marriage. Mrs. Mitchell is a daughter of the late Dr. E. M. Poage, who practiced medicine for a short time in Paris and then engaged in the mercantile business, with which he was identified up till the time of his death, in 1901. He was
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a native of Kentucky, and his wife was Miss Georgie Ann Boulware. Mrs. Mitchell and W. K. Poage were their only children, the former having been born in 1858. Mr. and Mrs. Mitchell have only one child, Glenn Dean Mitchell, who was born April 29, 1889. He was graduated from the Paris high school and then took up the mechanical engineering course in the Missouri State University, from which he was graduated on the 13th of June, 1912. He is now with the Cambria Steel Works at Johnstown, Pennsylvania. Mr. and Mrs. Mitchell adopted a young girl, Bertha Smizer, a daughter of W. G. Smizer, whom they came to love as though she were their own. They educated her and saw her graduated from the same high school in the class with their son, and then they continued her education so that she was fitted for teaching. She taught for a time and then married Grover Payton, and returned to live on the farm where she was born and where her father is now passing the years of his old age.
LOUIS QUINCY BRADNEY. For a number of years Louis Quincy Bradney has played his part in the commercial world of Paris and of Monroe county, Missouri, with an ever increasing business and an enviable reputation for industry and straightforward, honest busi- ness methods. He is a believer in all that the modern idea of progress represents, is a firm advocate of taking steps towards improving the industrial conditions of the country, and in other ways shows the broad minded thoughtfulness that is bringing a new era in public affairs into the life of the American nation.
Louis Quincy Bradney is a son of Thomas J. Bradney, and both his father and grandfather were natives of Alexandria, Virginia. His grandfather was William Bradney, who was born in 1778, of Scotch- Irish lineage, and the son of a soldier of the Revolutionary war. He spent his entire life as a farmer, dying near Jacksonville, Ohio, in 1855. His wife was Elizabeth Gore, who died in Ohio in 1862, at the age of eighty-six. Their children were nine in number, as follows: James M., who died in Adams county, Ohio; Hiram, who passed away at Owensboro, Kentucky, where he was a tanner; Andrew was a resi- dent of Iowa when he died; William H. lived and died in Illinois; Harrison and Thomas J. are both dead; Mary J. married Henry Jack- son and died in Ohio; Oliver spent his life as a farmer and carpenter in Adams county, Ohio; and Benjamin Riley, who also died in Ohio.
Thomas Bradney was born in 1804, and was only a little fellow when his parents moved to Jacksonville, Ohio. Here he grew up, receiving what little education could be had from the country schools of that day. The family settled in Ohio in 1808, when it was still a youthful commonwealth, and Thomas J. Bradney grew up during those wonderful years of growth that followed. He began life as a merchant in Jack- sonville, Ohio, and until 1846 was thus engaged, when he gave up the mercantile business and went back to the farm, locating near Mt. Sterling, Illinois. It was just before the outbreak of the Civil war that he returned to his old home in Ohio and when the call for volun- teers was issued he enlisted as a member of Captain Robinson's battery of the First Ohio Artillery, and served under General Shields in Vir -. ginia. He was in the first battle at Winchester and served in the army for a year. After a severe attack of typhoid fever he was honor- ably discharged for disability. Three years after leaving Illinois he was back once more and remained in Mt. Sterling until 1876, when he moved further west and located in Pike county, Missouri. He only lived four years after coming to the state, dying in 1880, at Frank- ford, Missouri.
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Thomas J. Bradney married Barbara A. Morris, a daughter of Pearson Morris and his wife, who before her marriage was a Miss Davis, a native of Germany. Mrs. Bradney died in 1855. Thomas J. Bradney was a keen and close thinker on political questions and was one of the organizers of the Republican party, supporting its prin- ciples throughout his life. In spite of his keen interest in politics he never held a public office, preferring to give his time to his business and the care of his family.
Louis Quincy Bradney was born in 1851, on the 20th of September, near Mt. Sterling, Illinois. He was educated in the common schools of Illinois and when he had completed his education he took up farm- ing, because it seemed the only thing open to him. Until 1881 he pur- sued this occupation in Illinois and then moved to Shelby county, Missouri, where he spent the next three years, as a farmer. In 1883 he abandoned the plow, and began in an entirely new kind of business as a salesman of pumps, hydrants and scales throughout Northeastern Missouri. He followed this business for ten years, making Paris his home after a time. As soon as the opportunity came he gave up selling implements on the road and established a similar trade in Paris. He started his implement business in Paris in 1894 and built up a fine trade, for his journeys throughout the state had not only taught him a thorough knowledge of his business, but had also gained for him many friends, who were only too glad to continue to give him their patronage. In 1903 he added hardware to his other stock, and since that time he has continued quietly along the road to commercial suc- cess, watching his business grow year by year, until he now has the leading implement trade of the place.
Reared under the Republican influence, he clung to that party for many years, and since it was in the minority he manifested little activity in politics, save in the presidential elections. That he inherited from his father an ability to think clearly and independently along political lines and that he is not afraid to stand for what he believes to be right, is shown in that, just as his father broke away from conservative traditions to become one of the founders of the Republican party, so the son has cast aside the wornout cloak of Republicanism and donned the new one of the Progressive party, which though defeated in its first battle in 1912, is destined to be such a factor in the next genera- tion as has been the Republican party in the past. He has been identified with the Independent Order of Odd Fellows for the past thirty years, and in his religious beliefs is a member of the Baptist church.
Mr. Bradney married at Timewell, Illinois, Brown county, on the 24th of December, 1873, Martha M. Nokes, a daughter of Capt. S. D. Nokes, who was captain of Company E of the One Hundred and Nine- teenth Regiment of the Illinois troops during the Civil war. He was originally from Vermont and settled in Illinois during the early days. Mrs. Bradney died in 1880, leaving two children, Iver C., who was · accidentally killed at the age of fifteen, and Nellie Grant, who is Mrs. James R. Moffett, of Clayton, Illinois. Mr. Bradney married as his second wife, Carrie Nokes, a sister of his first wife, the ceremony taking place on the 28th of January, 1884. One daughter, Erman V., was born to Mr. and Mrs. Bradney and she is the wife of Howard Harris, of Paris, Missouri. Mrs. Carrie A. Bradney dying in 1893, Mr. Bradney was again married in 1895 to Miss Lizzie M. Evans, of Shelby county, Missouri, who is still living.
WALLACE D. CHRISTIAN of Paris, Missouri, is the oldest superintend- ent of city schools in point of years of continuous service in Northeast
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Missouri. During all the years that he has resided in Paris, giving his time and ability to the training of the children of the city, he has naturally acquired a wide influence. His graduates are many of them now men of prominence and active in public affairs, and he is able to look back upon his earlier years and view the results of the work which he did at that time. There is no greater reward than that which comes to a teacher when he can point with pride to a man and say "That man was a pupil of mine once," for everyone knows that the influence of a strong personality at the impressionable age of high school chil- dren, is likely to last through life.
Wallace D. Christian was born in Cassville, Barry county, Missouri, on the 28th of June, 1855. He was descended on the paternal side from men who were identified with eastern Tennessee during the early days of this section. They took an active part in the Indian warfare that raged there during the early days. It was near Knoxville, Ten- nessee that Harvey Christian, the paternal grandfather of Wallace D., lived, and here it was that he married Polly Ann Porter. In about 1840 they came to Missouri and settled near Cassville, where Mr. Christian became a prominent member of the community. He taught during his early life when he was living in Tennessee, and must have been a man of strong force of character for he was made justice of the peace in Missouri, serving in this office until he died in 1859, at the age of sixty-five. His wife died in 1879, and their children were Robert, who was a soldier in the Federal army and was shot from ambush by bushwhackers at Rocky Comfort, near the close of the Civil war; Elizabeth married Littleberry Shirley, and died in Eureka Springs, Arkansas; Dr. William C., father of the subject of this sketch; Isabella became the wife of Jarvis Barker, a Confederate colonel, who was killed by political enemies in Texas about the time his brother-in-law was slain in Missouri.
Dr. William C. Christian was born in Knoxville, Tennessee, in 1832, and with only a country school preparation began the study which he desired to make his life work. He read medicine at Cassville with Dr. Means, a physician of considerable local fame, and undoubted ability, · and after studying and working with him for some time, he entered upon the practice of his profession at Cassville, watched over by his more experienced preceptor. He was not long in winning the confi- dence of many people and had succeeded in establishing quite a practice when the Civil war broke out. He was convinced that the South had a grievance that should be adjusted, and was out of harmony with the attitude of the Union, yet he did not feel that he could conscientiously fight against the Union or that he could support her in committing a wrong, so he endeavored to remain neutral. He failed in this however, for when surgeons were so badly needed he could not refuse his serv- ices and so he accompanied a detachment under the command of Gen- eral Price, as a citizen, not a soldier. He was with the Confederate forces for some months and on his return to his home, he was seized by the Federals, who were then in control of the locality, and thrown . into prison, with others, in the court house in Cassville. Feeling ran high against these prisoners and a mob was organized to kill them over night. Dr. Christian's Masonic membership stood him in good stead at this critical moment, and certainly saved his life. The Federal officer in charge of the prisoners was a Mason and he saved his "brother Mason" by arming the prisoners and giving them instructions to de- fend themselves if the court house was attacked. When the mob saw confronting them, not helpless prisoners, but steady-eyed, resolute men, with guns in their hands, they slunk away, cowards as mobs ever are.
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After this incident Dr. Christian was taken to Springfield, Missouri, where he was imprisoned for several months. He was eventually taken before Judge Advocate General Ingalls, who was later the brilliant United States senator from Kansas, and the doctor and the court came to an agreement whereby the doctor obtained his freedom on condition that he make his residence north of the Missouri river. This he con- sented to do and after remaining temporarily at Millersburg for a short time he removed with his family to Fulton. Leaving his family here he attended medical lectures in McDowell College, St. Louis. He then took up his residence in New Bloomfield and passed the remainder of his life there.
While Dr. Christian had an extensive practice and was a very successful physician, he did not gain wealth through his professional · work, for the fees of a physician in those days and in that locality were notoriously small. The doctor was a naturally good judge of horse- flesh and was extremely fond of the animal, and his fondness for horses led him to take up the business of dealing in mules, which were then as now very valuable animals. He began this business even before the war, and was a fairly well known drover in some of the largest markets of the south, when the war severed the commercial relations of the two sections, and Dr. Christian lost much money that was due him for stock he had sold. After the war was over there was little hope of collecting these outstanding accounts, for those who were in affluence were now reduced to practically nothing. He came in time to be an authority in judging mules, and was regarded as one of the best "mule men" in the state, which means a great deal in Missouri. He loved a horse like a Kentuckian, and in spite of his two hundred and twelve pounds avoirdupois sat his horse with the ease and grace of the natural horseman. He was determined that his children should have a good education and he spent considerable sums of money in order that his ambition should be gratified. That this was a wise expenditure was proved by the honorable positions that he lived to see them fill. He was forced to give up his professional work for some time before his death, and lived quietly during the last few years, dying at New Bloomfield, on the 8th of March, 1908.
He was always keenly interested in politics, although he never cared to play an active part himself. He was a close observer of the political game, and was a deep admirer of some of those men who were playing the game cleanly. He had a strong liking for some of our modern political characters, among his ideals being, Governor John S. Phelps, of Missouri; Grover Cleveland, David R. Francis, Theodore Roosevelt and Joseph Folk. He was a Democrat until 1896, when he supported William McKinley and neither his friends nor his family could prevail upon him to desert the party which he had thus allied himself with; henceforward he was a staunch Republican. He was a member of the Cumberland Presbyterian church, which his uncle Porter, had helped to found, and in the fraternal world there could be found no more enthusiastic Mason than Dr. Christian.
Dr. Christian married Mary Ann Barker, a daughter of James Barker, who came to Missouri from Tennessee and settled near Pierce City, where he lived until his death. Mrs. Christian became the mother of eight children and died in 1904. The children who grew to maturity are Wallace D .; George M., a farmer of Callaway county, Missouri ; Laura, wife of W. H. Lynes of New Bloomfield, Missouri; Dr. C. H., of Fulton, Missouri ; Robert E., a merchant in the latter place, and Stella, who died at Center Point, Texas, as the wife of Robert Hunter.
Wallace D. Christian began school on the day he was eight years
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old, in Springfield, Missouri. His family moved several times during his boyhood and he secured his education during those stormy days as best he could. Eventually he entered Westminster College, where he took academic work and later entered collegiate work in the same insti- tution, the Reverend Joseph Flood being principal of the academy and M. M. Fisher acting president of the college at this time. He was graduated in 1877 with the bachelor's degree and received his master's degree in 1881.
He began his first work as a teacher in Sheely district, his first school being a country school near New Bloomfield. When he became the possessor of a diploma, however, he was offered and accepted the superintendency of schools in Weatherford, Texas, and there he taught during 1877 and 1878. Returning to Missouri he taught a year in Ashland and then an invitation came to him to take a position in Foster's Academy in St. Louis. He accepted and was a member of the faculty there during 1881, 1882, and 1883, accomplishing much good work and winning a reputation for pedagogical ability that caused the school board of Paris to offer him the position of city superintend- ent of schools. He came to Paris in 1884, and is now passing his twenty-ninth year in the service of the public of this city. He is now and has been .for the past four years, graduating the children of his first graduates, and the second generation give him the same reverence and love that their fathers and mothers did.
When the summer normal institutes were in vogue, Mr. Christian did considerable institute work in various counties in the state, and he is now deeply interested in the State Teachers Association and in any move that tends to draw his fellow teachers closer together. He was secretary of the State Teachers Association at one time, and for more than a dozen years was superintendent and teacher in the Sunday school of the Presbyterian church of which he is a member. He is active in religious matters and is an elder in his congregation. His political affiliations are with the Democratic party.
On the 6th of October, 1904, Mr. Christian married Miss Blanche Adams, one of his students whom he had graduated, and a daughter of Thomas Adams. Her mother was Mary Josephine, a daughter of the well known character, Judge Nugent, of Paris, and his wife, who was Elizabeth Wise, early settlers of the county. She and her husband are the parents of Mary Josephine and Laura Isabella. Mr. Christian, like his father, is deeply interested and very active in Masonry, being past master and past high priest.
JAMES FRANKLIN MATCHET. It is a fine thing for a community to count among her membership a man of strong character and high ideals, who through many years of close comradeship with men, has worked those ideals out along practical lines. Such a man is James Franklin Matchet, of Paris, Missouri, who having wandered far, in search of a place where he would care to locate at last returned to Paris, his boyhood home, and has spent the greater part of his life doing his share toward upbuilding the town and in earning a com- fortable livelihood.
James Franklin Matchet was born in Nicholas county, Kentucky, on the 1st of March, 1841. He lived not far from Carlisle, and received his education in the public schools of the town. He is the son of John Matchet, who was born in that locality in 1805, and his grand- father is believed to have been of Irish birth. John Matchet was the eldest of his family, his brothers being James and Franklin, who were twins, and died in Kentucky, and his sister Miranda, who married
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Reuben Heflin, and lived her life out in Decatur, Illinois. John Matchet was not an educated man, schools were scarce in his boyhood days in the backwoods districts. He, however, made up for his lack of education by being very proficient at his trade which was that of a wagon maker. He took no part in politics or in the war, but being in sympathy with the south, he, like most of his neighbors, had to suffer suspicion and sometimes arrest by the Federal officers. His political affiliations were first with the Whigs, then with the Know Nothings, and lastly with the Democratic party. He was a deeply religious man, and was a strict observer of the teachings of the Bible, being one of the first to attach his name to the roll of membership of the Christian church, under the leadership of Rev. Barton Stone at Cane Ridge, Kentucky. He was a member of no societies, except a temperance organization, and he was always a vigorous opponent of the liquor traffic. John Matchet married Malinda Archer, a daughter of Sampson Archer, whose forefathers were natives of the Emerald Isle. His wife died in 1878, at the age of seventy-six years, while he lived till 1883. Their children were John, who died unmarried, in Quincy, Illinois, of cholera, in 1849; Mary, Sarah and Samuel died in Kentucky, and James F. was the youngest child.
James Franklin Matchet was only a small lad, two years of age, when the family moved to Quincy, Illinois. After finishing school in Paris at the age of sixteen years, the lad went to work for Ashcraft and Brother, and under them became master of the blacksmith trade. With the outbreak of the Civil war, and the unsettled state of the country that made his trade almost useless he determined to try his fortune elsewhere, and so with a company of emigrants, turned his face towards the west bound for California. They left Paris on April 8, 1861, and crossing the Missouri river at Nebraska City, continued on up the Platte river until they came to Independence Rock. From here they pushed on past Laramie, Wyoming, and passing some distance to the north of Salt Lake City, Utah, followed the Snake river in Idaho, to the west until they reached the mountains. Crossing over, they came upon the Humboldt river, which they followed until they reached the first "sink." Here they turned aside and struck bravely forth for the desert of northern Nevada. They crossed this stretch of sand in the night, and before they reached Dayton, Nevada, Mr. Matchet was stricken with the mountain fever. Determined that now when he was so close to his destination he would not give up, he managed to strug- gle on, with the assistance and encouragement of his companion and friend, Hugh Glenn. At last their goal was reached, and they saw the streets of Sacramento on the 1st of July, 1861,-nearly three months from their time of starting.
Mr. Matchet located at Suttersville, not far from Sacramento, and was soon ready for business. His little blacksmith shop prospered, but the floods of the following fall washed away his shop and so he had to begin over again at Buckner' ranch, on the Stockton and Sacramento road. In the spring of 1863, he went into Idaho and engaged in min- ing at Bannock City, continuing in this occupation until the fall of 1864, when he went into Oregon. Here he again took up his trade at Grand Round Valley, near Hendershot Point. In December of that year the desire for home and the quiet Missouri valleys became too strong for him and so he took a vessel bound for the Isthmus of Panama and after making a short stop at San Francisco, reached the Isthmus, crossed it and embarking on the other side, reached New York and on the twenty-fifth of the month found himself once more at home.
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