A history of northeast Missouri, Vol. 2 pt 2, Part 97

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

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Frederick John Ernst was sent to the Catholic schools in St. Louis during his early boyhood years, and was then sent to St. Francis Solanus College, at Quincy, Illinois, where he took the classical and philosophical course. It had already been decided that he was to enter the priesthood, and so on the completion of his work in the above insti- tution, he entered Kenrick Seminary at St. Louis, taking up theological studies in preparation for his high calling. He was graduated from the seminary in 1895 and was ordained a priest on June 8, 1895. " His first appointment was as assistant pastor at the Church of the Im- maculate Conception, in Hannibal, Missouri. He was next appointed priest in charge of the church at New London, Missouri. His work here was arduous in the extreme, for in addition to the parish of New Lon- don, its church being St. Joseph's, he also attended St. Paul's church near Center, and Immaculate Conception church at Perry, Missouri. He was extremely successful in the work of these two parishes, so much so that his superior felt that he could handle a yet more important field, and so he was appointed to St. Joseph's church, at Salisbury, Missouri, in 1908. This is one of the most beautiful churches of any denomination in the state of Missouri and under his management the life of the parish has taken on renewed vigor.

It will not be out of place to give here a short sketch of the develop- ment of this parish that is so close to the heart of Father Ernst. The first step towards organizing a parish was taken about 1870, Father Zechenter, now of Kansas City, Missouri, visiting the little flock in Salisbury once a month. Services were conducted in Ziegler's Hotel until that was destroyed by fire and then in Mr. Valentine Geisler's farm house. In 1874 Father Busch was placed in charge and prepared to build a church. The building was a frame structure, built at about a cost of eight hundred dollars, upon a site about a quarter of a mile northeast of the present church. There were only nineteen families in the congregation, but they made up in enthusiasm what they lacked in numbers. In 1878 Father Busch was succeeded by Rev. J. Willian- brink, who in the following year was in turn succeeded by Rev. A. Pauck. He for ten years labored faithfully in the parish and succeeded in making the people feel that they must have a resident priest in their parish. The congregation had now grown, toward the close of the eighties, to about forty-five families. The church authorities finally in 1889 appointed Rev. J. L. Gadell the first pastor.

Vigorous and aggressive, the young priest soon had his parish in splendid working order and soon the old church was too small for the congregation. The present lot on Front street was therefore bought, the old church moved hither, and an addition almost as large as the original building was built, the cost of the whole being about three thousand dollars. Not content with this work, Father Gadell insisted that there must be a parochial school and so the magnificent brick building and sisters' house on the west side of the church was built. The cost of this structure was about eight thousand dollars. What sac- rifices this must have meant to the people, who were most of them new settlers, still deeply in debt for their farms, can only be surmised. The

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school was dedicated in 1891 and has meant much to the people of the parish. Father Gadell was transferred in 1896 to be followed by Rev. John Hennes. The old church had been growing rather dilapidated and it was determined to erect a new edifice. For several years, however, times were so hard that the money could not be raised, although dur- ing this period three thousand dollars was raised for the erection of the priest house on the east side of the church block. Before the idea that was so near the heart of Father Hennes could be realized, that of a permanent church, he was taken very ill. This occurred in 1901, and although he improved after a time, yet it was judged best that he be removed to an easier charge. He was therefore appointed to the church at Moberly and there he died in 1904.

The Rev. Joseph F. Lubeley was appointed to Salisbury and after paying off a debt that yet remained on the rectory, and making neces- sary repairs on the church, we find him taking up the idea of a perma- nent church with the same zeal as his predecessor. Five men each promised one thousand dollars, and with this as a beginning eleven thousand was raised. All the stone and sand was hauled free of charge and the young men of the parish did the excavating. The corner stone was laid on the 4th of July, 1904, and a year later the building was ready for occupancy. It is built of native sandstone, with the window sashes and traceries cut from Bedford stone, and is a building of unusual taste and graceful beauty. The first service was held in the new church on the 10th of July, 1904. The church was built at a cost of $30,000 and today St. Joseph's congregation can lay claim to the enviable rec- ord of having cancelled all financial obligations.

J. P. HAMMETT, whose combination of business enterprises makes him one of the best known business citizens of Northeastern Missouri, also has the distinction of being the leading breeder of jacks in the state of Missouri. From the time he was fourteen years of age, Mr. Hammett has been connected with farming and stock raising ventures, and at one time was the owner of sixteen thousand acres of land, in addition to which he devoted his attention to the development of coal lands and other extensive enterprises. Mr. Hammett was born in Macon county, Missouri, December 23, 1861, and is a son of J. W. and Mary (Haines) Hammett, natives of Randolph county, both of whom are deceased.

J. W. Hammett was a graduate of Mount Pleasant College, and in early life devoted himself to farming and stock raising, becoming one of the large land owners of this section and also dealing extensively in horses, mules and cattle. In 1874 he was one of the organizers of the Hammett Bank, at Huntsville, and for many years acted in the capacity of director thereof. In politics a Democrat, he was serving as school director at the time of his death, which occurred June 30, 1910, while his wife passed away June 9, 1911. They had a family of seven chil- dren, five of whom are deceased, the survivors being: J. P., and Re- becca, who is the wife of C. K. Dudden of Moberly.

When he was fourteen years of age J. P. Hammett was given a tract of four hundred acres by his father, and there he began farming and stock raising when he had finished attending the public schools, but later he attended college. Returning to his farm, he began buying and shipping stock and this occupation he has successfully followed ever since, being at this time the largest breeder of jacks in the state, in addi- tion to which he buys and ships horses and mules to the South, most of his stock being disposed of in Georgia. At one time he possessed sixteen thousand acres of land, and at this time owns the old tract of four hundred acres, and one thousand five hundred acres of land in Texas.

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He was the organizer of three companies formed to sink coal shafts, and is still interested in a mine at Higby, and was formerly president of the coal company at Yates, at which place he was engaged in the farm ma- chinery business for a period covering eighteen years. Like his father, Mr. Hammett is a Democrat and has served as school director. His fraternal connection is with lodge No. 30, A. F. & A. M., at Huntsville, and he and Mrs. Hammett are members of the Baptist church.

In September, 1884, Mr. Hammett was united in marriage with Miss Ella D. Pitts, daughter of the Rev. Samuel and Anna (Winston) Pitts, the former a native of Kentucky and the latter of Pennsylvania. Mrs. Hammett's mother is now deceased, but her father still survives and makes his home at Salisbury, Missouri. Mr. and Mrs. Hammett have had a family of eight children: Mary W., who is the wife of Theodore A. Bates, of Lexington, Missouri; Wiley, who is deceased; J. W., who resides with his parents; Anna D. and Evan H., who also live at home, and three who died in infancy.

JUDGE JOHN S. CLEAVER. The popular and well known citizen and farmer, Judge John S. Cleaver, is a native of Ralls county and came into the community of Perry just prior to the opening of the Civil war. He was in the bloom of youth and vigor when he settled upon a portion of the wide domain he now owns, but the civil strife of the times soon culminated in war and the young farmer became a soldier and spent nearly four of the best years of his life in aid of the "Lost Cause."

The Cleavers belong to the first settlers of Ralls county. The pioneer ancestor, Stephen Cleaver, the grandfather of Judge Cleaver, took up land five miles south of New London in 1817 and consequently his were some of the first activities in all that country toward the making of a civilized community. Stephen Cleaver brought his slaves out with him from Kentucky, and the move seems to have been made by the water route to Louisiana, Missouri. He was just the type of man to blaze the way in a new country, for he was an old Indian warrior, used to hardships and equal to the generalship necessary to pilot a frontier family through the dangers and difficulties of that day. Stephen Cleaver, son of William Cleaver, the great-grandfather of the judge, was born in 1760 and reared two sets of children by three wives. His last wife, whom he married in Missouri, was Mrs. Hays, and his chil- dren, in the order of their birth, were: William, who served in the United States volunteers during the War of 1812, finally moved to Arkansas and died near Camden, Arkansas; Charlotte, who married William Jones and died in Pike county, Missouri; Henry, who passed away near Camden, Arkansas; Thomas, the father of Judge Cleaver; and Jacob, who died near Hannibal, Missouri. Of the second family, Rebecca became the wife of Anderson Briscoe ; and Ellen was Mrs. John Cobb, of Waco, Texas, when she died. As stated above, Stephen Cleaver was an old military man. He was more than fifty years old when he entered the army for the War of 1812, in which both he and his eldest son took part. He was an Indian fighter on the frontier of Ohio, was wounded and captured by the tribesmen and kept a prisoner for three years,. after which he was exchanged. His vivid experience recom- mended him as a commander of troops for further service in that coun- try and he was commissioned a brigadier-general and sent against the redmen, his command capturing the very fortress in which he had been a prisoner for so long. He died on the farm he settled between New London and Frankford in 1844.

Thomas Cleaver, the father of Judge Cleaver, was born in Kentucky in 1806, and was the product of frontier parents, who settled in Ken-

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tucky during its territorial days. His education was in keeping with his frontier environment. He remained in the community of the fam- ily settlement and followed his father's vocation, achieving modest suc- cess as a stockman and farmer. He married Margaret McCune, daugh- ter of John McCune, of Peno Creek, Pike county, Missouri, a history of which family will be found on other pages of this work. They had children as follows: John S., of this review; Lou, who married Dr. McKee of Clark county, Missouri; Sue, who became Mrs. G. W. Stewart, of St. Louis; Nannie May, who married Irving Hickman and died in Chicago; Harry, of Florida, Missouri; and Ruth, the wife of Leslie Combs, of Wichita, Kansas. Thomas Cleaver joined the throng bound for California in 1849, followed the Sante Fe trail out to where the Utah trail left it, and continued his journey, with other gold seekers, to Sacramento. He prospered for a time, and failing to uncover ore in sufficient quantities, he turned his attention to the business of mer- chandising and gathered in the yellow metal on top of the ground. After an absence of eighteen months he cashed in his gold for Missouri bank paper and returned by the Isthmus of Panama and up the Mississippi river. Here an incident occurred which shortened up his bank account somewhat and disturbed his peace of mind, and serves to indicate to what extent the "confidence man" was operating at that early date. Soon after he deposited his Missouri currency in the bank of St. Louis, he was notified by the institution to report there and look over his bills. He went to the bank and was handed the identical roll of money he had left with the bank, as proved by the marks of the band which encircled it on the journey home, and on going over the bundle it was pointed out to him that $1,800 of it was counterfeit. While the counterfeit looked as good to him as the genuine, he was compelled to submit to the loss. The rural life of Thomas Cleaver was without special incident. He participated in the neighborhood affairs of his community, as all ear- nest and sincere citizens do, and gave more thought to living right and serving his Master and his friends than to serving himself. He was a member of the Cumberland Presbyterian church.

Judge John S. Cleaver began his life with a country school educa- tion. He purchased the nucleus of his present farm in 1858 and was busy with the preliminary work of a homestead when the call to arms persuaded him to leave the farm and his cattle to help settle the fate of the nation. He enlisted in June, 1861, in the Confederate State Guard under Clabe Jackson and Sterling Price, and as a militiaman took part in the battle of Dry Fork on Spring river, helped capture Colonel Mul- ligan's troops at Lexington and was in the battle of Wilson Creek. Following this historic Missouri engagement, Judge Cleaver was mus- tered into the Confederate service regularly, becoming a member of Company H, Fourth Regiment, Missouri Volunteers, and reinforced the army after the battle of Shiloh, opening the career of this command in the regular service, this being followed by the campaign in the defense of Vicksburg, Grand Gulf, Champion Hills, Raymond and Big Black, these latter all being fought before the siege of Vicksburg. In this campaign his regiment was under General Pemberton, and when Vicks- burg was taken the army was sent west and preceded Sherman on the Atlanta campaign. The vigorous defense of the Confederate capital was participated in clear down to its capture by the Union forces, and when Hood superseded Johnson and turned back into Tennessee, Judge Cleaver's regiment was a part of the fugitive army. After the battle at Nashville his command turned back to Mobile, Alabama, where most of the command was captured and taken to Ship Island, and from there sent to Jackson, Mississippi, and paroled by General Canby in May, 1865.

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Judge Cleaver reached home in July, 1865, and resumed farming as near where he left off as four years of absence would permit. His life since the war has been an unbroken series of industrial campaigns. Like the leading farmers of his time, he embarked extensively in the stock raising and feeding industry and came to be widely and favorably known in the business. He continued this, expanded his domain by suc- cessive purchases, established a reputation as a farmer and abandoned active and strenuous money-making efforts only when the encroachments of age started natural decline. His farm and its improvements form one of the conspicuous estates of Ralls county and is the chiefest of all on the head waters of Lick creek.

It seems but natural that Judge Cleaver should be a Democrat. He has manifested that interest in public affairs at home and abroad that prompted him to the exercise of his elective franchise in support of Democratic candidates and policies. He never lost valuable time in seeking service in conventions and his only public service of note was given as a county judge during the last administration of President Cleveland. He was elected in 1892 and served on the bench with Judges Marsh, Smith and Cline, and was succeeded by Judge Fields.

In December, 1869, Judge Cleaver married Miss Kate Richards, a daughter of James Richards, who came to Missouri from Kentucky and she died in 1887, leaving these children: Maggie Lee, who died single ; Rev. Ben Hill, of Shelbina, Missouri, pastor of the Christian church there, married Miss Mabel Lewis, and is the father of Elizabeth, Mar- garet and Helen; and Harry, who resides on the family homestead, mar- ried Miss Pauline Dunbar, of Canyon City, Texas, a daughter of J. H. Dunbar, and has two children, James Richards and May. Judge Cleaver was married for the second time in September, 1889,. to Mrs. Roberta Clapper, a daughter of a Mr. Dickey, of Stoutsville, Missouri. His wife died on November 8, 1904, her children being: Kate, the wife of Harry Coil, of Perry ; Bessie Marie, a teacher of the district school near her home; John D. and Ruth.

Judge Cleaver joined in the promotion of the Perry Bank, was elected its president for thirteen years and is a member of its board of directors still. His religious activities have been given in the Christian church, which has long held his membership, and his fraternal spirit has been exemplified in the halls of Masonry, as well as elsewhere.

JOSEPH RITZENTHALER. A newspaper which has had a fine and vitalizing influence in its community is the Press-Spectator of Salis- bury, and a publisher and editor who is a journalist from the ground up, and one of the prominent citizens of that section of the state, is Joseph Ritzenthaler, who began running the printing and newspaper business in Missouri when a boy, and finally succeeded to the ownership of one of the best little papers in Northeast Missouri.

Joseph Ritzenthaler was born in Hartheim, Germany, on November 7, 1873. His parents, Charles and Rosa Ritzenthaler, came to America in June, 1880, and the son Joseph was reared and received his early schooling at Brunswick, Missouri. In the same town, while a boy, he entered a newspaper office and learned the trade of printer and every thing that goes with that comprehensive vocation. While there he laid the solid foundation for his subsequent career and then came to Salis- bury where he bought the Press-Spectator from J. G. Gallemore. He has continued the Press-Spectator with excellent success, has given the paper a large circulation, maintains a high standard of advertising, and both his paper and himself are decided influences for the welfare and prosperity in this locality.

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Mr. Ritzenthaler married in 1889 Mrs. Jane Holeman Hall. They are the parents of two children, Lillian Judson and William Holman.

MRS. CLIFTON ENYART DENNY. One of the oldest and best known families of Howard county is represented by Mrs. Belle Denny, widow of the late Clifton Enyart Denny. Mr. Denny was born in this county on January 24, 1842. His father, James Denny, who was a native of Madison county, Kentucky, the source of so many of the early settlers of this section of Missouri, became a settler of Howard county in 1818 and continued to reside here until his death at the age of sixty-nine years.

James Denny married Elizabeth Best, also a native of Madison county and daughter of Humphrey Best. Their children were as fol- lows: Catherine, who married Squire Titus; Amanda, wife of James Walden, of Moberly; Charity, wife of John Alexander; Capt. Alex- ander Denny, who became an officer in the Civil war, later a leading banker at Marshall, Missouri, died at Roanoke; Humphrey; James M .; Rachael, wife of Capt. T. B. Reed, of Huntsville, who had been a provost marshal of Missouri; Celia Denny, who died unmarried at the age of seventy-four; David R .; John A., a resident of Howard county ; Clifton Enyart ; and Mary H., deceased.

Clifton E. Denny was reared on the old plantation and received his education in the local schools. During the war he served with the Home Guards, and on the 15th of October, 1865, he married Miss Mary Belle Enyart. The name Enyart has been long identified in various worthy ways with Northeast Missouri. Mrs. Denny, who was born in Howard county, January 30, 1850, and was reared and educated near Armstrong, was a daughter of Humphrey Enyart. Her father was born in Madison county, Kentucky, February 17, 1803, a son of Silas and Celia Enyart. The Enyarts joined the early tide of emigration to central Missouri, and Silas acquired a large estate here during the early period. Silas Enyart died at the age of seventy and his wife in 1860 at the age of seventy-five. Humphrey Enyart, who married Mary E. Wood of Nashville, Tennessee, was one of the prosperous planters of Howard county, conducting his estate with the aid of numerous slaves until the war, and he also had a reputation as a successful trader. He died Jan- uary 19, 1860.

The late Clifton E. Denny, whose death occurred at the age of sixty- one on May 5, 1903, was always considered one of the ablest farmers of his vicinity and a citizen whose good works often extended beyond the boundaries of his family and household. The estate of seven hun- dred and fifty acres now occupied by Mrs. Denny has few superiors for comfort and productivity anywhere along the Missouri valley. Mr. and Mrs. Denny were the parents of four children: Mrs. Cecil M. Fife, of Redstone Hall; J. Humphrey, an attorney of Glasgow; Alexander, who lives on the homestead; and Elizabeth, wife of Edmund Brown, of Marshall, Missouri. The late Mr. Denny took a prominent part in the work of his church, and was a master Mason. Mrs. Denny occupies the old homestead during the summer, but spends her winters either in Pasadena, California, or in Florida.

Alexander Denny, who continues his father's associations with the substantial agricultural interests of Howard county, was reared and educated at the old home. He was married December 28, 1898, to Miss Anna F. Brown, daughter of Charles R. Brown. Mrs. Denny passed away July 18, 1901, leaving one child, Charles C. He was again married on August 1, 1902, to Miss Rosamond Belle Brown, who died July 5, 1911, leaving two children, James H. and R. B.

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DR. CHARLES A. MACKEY, a recent addition to the medical profes- sion in Milan, Missouri, is a valued acquisition to the town, both as a physician and a citizen. In the brief period of his residence here he has worn a generous practice, and is well established in the city in every way.

A native of Clark county, Missouri, born there on October 14, 1868, Dr. Mackey is descended on his paternal side from Virginia ancestry that had its origin in Scotland, as the name strongly suggests. His father was Dr. Albert Sisson Mackey, who was born in Hancock county, West Virginia, on August 21, 1844. He was the son of Joseph Mackey, born in Ohio, on the 22nd day of September, 1816. Joseph Mackey was a pilot on the lower Ohio and Mississippi rivers for many years, and after giving up his connection with the river life he located on a farm in Clark county, Missouri, where he made his home for several years. Later he purchased another place in Pike county, near Louisiana, and there he died on March 3, 1884. He was a son of James and Jane (Quinn) Mackey, of whom little of an authentic nature is known beyond the facts that they were sturdy and honest people who lived lives of usefulness in their home community, and reared their offspring in paths of recti- tude and honesty, making of them citizens of the same caliber as they themselves had been.

Albert Sisson Mackey, after following the work laid down by the local schools, entered the College of Physicians and Surgeons at Keokuk, Iowa, from which he was duly graduated with the degree of M. D. in 1879. He located at Louisiana in Pike county and there he continued in the practice of his profession for about thirty years. He was promi- nent in medical circles in the county and took a prominent place in the profession in his section of the state. He was secretary of the pension board for fifteen years, also a member of the Missouri State Medical Society and Tri-State Medical Society and was long a member of the Pike County Medical Society. In 1904, after long years of successful activities in his profession, he sold his practice in Louisiana, moving thence to Enid, Oklahoma, where he engaged in the drug store business, as well as conducting a general practice in connection therewith. He married, on January 18, 1868, Miss Caroline V. Young, who was born at Farmington, Iowa, on December 28, 1847, and who died on Novem- ber 24, 1871, in Louisiana, leaving two children, one of whom, Dr. Charles A. Mackey, is the subject of this review, and Mabel Martha, born at Mt. Rose, Iowa.

At Louisiana, Missouri, Charles A. Mackey had good educational advantages and there laid the foundation for his later medical training. He is a graduate of Barnes Medical College of St. Louis and a member of the class of 1902. He associated himself with his father at Louisiana and there was engaged in professional work for some years, at the same time keeping up his studies and research work in the greatest possible degree, and made an especial study of the diseases of the pulmonary organs. He then went to Boulder, Colorado, for a year, after which he located in Hannibal, Missouri, for several years, which he followed by a two years' post-graduate course in Kansas City, Missouri. In 1912 he located in Sullivan county and took up his residence in Milan, where he has since been successfully engaged in practice and bids fair to occupy a foremost place in the profession in this district within a very brief time. He is a member of the Missouri and American medical societies and keeps in the closest touch with all modern methods in medi- cine and surgery.

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A history of northeast Missouri, Vol. 2 pt 2, Part 97

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