A history of northwest Missouri, Volume III, Part 109

Author: Williams, Walter, 1864-1935 editor
Publication date: 1915
Publisher: Chicago, The Lewis publishing company
Number of Pages: 912

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Mr. Schmitz married Miss Lillian Felton, whose death occurred in 1896. She was the mother of three children, two of whom are living. Helen is her father's housekeeper and Laura is a teacher in the Chilli- cothe public schools. Mr. Schmitz is fraternally identified with the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks.

HON. FRED S. HUDSON. One of the lawyers of highest rank and standing in Northwest Missouri is Fred S. Hudson, of Chillicothe. Mr. Hudson is a former state senator, and as a lawyer has become dominant in corporation practice, and is now at the head of the legal department in Missouri for the Chicago, Milwaukee & St. Paul Railway, and is

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attorney for a number of railways, banks and other corporations in his section of the state.

Fred S. Iludson represents an old family of Northwest Missouri, and was born near Hale, Carroll County, Missouri, January 27, 1868. His parents were Milton Jefferson and Mary (Hanna) Hudson. His grandfather, William Hudson, came from Ohio to Missouri in 1852, locating near Hale. He had left his native state because of differences of opinion in the family regarding the slavery question. While he him- self was favorable to slavery, and for that reason had come to Missouri, when the Civil war began he enlisted in the Union army. Curiously enough his relatives back in Ohio identified themselves with the cause of the Confederacy. While living in Ohio William Hudson married Nancy Hurd, and their four children were: William, who enlisted in the Union army and died after the battle of Pea Ridge; Milton Jefferson; Bentley, who lives in Carroll County; and Susanna, wife of J. W. Jamison of Hale, Missouri. Grandfather William Hudson died during the early '70s.

Milton Jefferson Hudson, the father, was born in Southeastern Ohio March 3, 1845, and came with his family to Missouri at the age of seven years. He attended country schools, lived on a farm and developed his strength there, and in April, 1861, though only sixteen years of age, enlisted as a private in the Union army in the Eighteenth Missouri Volunteer Infantry, going out from Livingston County. He was mustered out as a sergeant. Few Missouri volunteers sacrificed more and endured more hardships in behalf of the Union cause. He was taken prisoner at the battle of Shiloh, and for fourteen months was confined in various Southern prisons, at Libby, Andersonville and at Macon, Georgia. He had his full share in the hardships and sufferings endured by Union prisoners in these notorious places of confinement. At the time of his exchange he weighed only ninety-eight pounds. In spite of this self-sacrificing service, for many years he refused to accept a pen- sion, saying his services were willingly offered and given, and it was only on the insistence of his family that during his late years he con- sented to apply for and received a pension of $12.00 per month. One morning after breakfast he walked out on his front porch, and died suddenly of heart failure. His wife was a native of New York State, was reared at Oberlin, Ohio, and is now living at Hale, Missouri. Fred S. Hudson was one of four children, the others being: Charles B., an attorney at Wichita, Kansas; Clyde M., an attorney at Wichita, Kansas ; and Mrs. Edna Fisk, of Colorado Springs, Colorado.

Fred S. Hudson grew up in Carroll County, attended the common schools, and in 1885 was graduated from the Northwestern Normal School at Stanberry. Several years of business experience preceded his entrance into the law, and it was while bookkeeper in a bank at Hale that he took up his law studies at such intervals of leisure as occurred, and subsequently was a student in the office of S. J. Jones at Carrollton. Mr. Hudson was admitted to the bar in 1897, and began his practice at Hale. In 1902 he came to Chillicothe, and though for a time engaged in general practice soon began specializing along the line of corporation law, and on the basis of his present connection and his general standing is without doubt one of the ablest corporation attorneys in Northwest Missouri. He was first employed by the Milwaukee Railroad Company, and his services were so valuable to that corporation that he was pro- moted in 1911 to be general solicitor for the State of Missouri. He is also an attorney for the Western Union Telegraph Company for North- ern Missouri, and for a number of banks in Livingston and other counties. He is railway attorney for the Wabash and the Burlington lines and the Bell Telephone Company. Since becoming solicitor for the Milwaukee

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road, the legal department of the company in Missouri has been reorgan- ized, and Mr. Hudson is now its head. He has ten men under him in the state, and Chillicothe, being the most centrally located city on the road, has been selected for headquarters. Mr. Hudson's office is on the second floor of the Citizens National Bank Building, where he has one of the best equipped offices and one of the most complete law libraries in the state.

In 1892 Mr. Hudson married Miss Ida Fink of Hale, Missouri, daughter of Capt. C. Fink, who was one of the early settlers at Utica, Livingston County, but subsequently moved to Hale. Two children were born to Mr. and Mrs. Hudson : Arthur Carroll and Henry Walter, both of whom died in infancy.

Mr. Hudson is a member of the Christian Church and fraternally is a Mason, being past master of his lodge, past high priest of the chapter, past eminent commander of the Knights Templar, and a member of the Mystic Shrine. He has taken an active part in republican politics, and in 1904 was candidate of his party for Congress. In 1906 he was nom- inated and elected state senator from the Fourth Senatorial District, and his term of four years was characterized by much valuable work in the interests of the state and of his constituency. For several years he has served as a member of the State Central Committee, and his name has been frequently associated with the honors of a gubernatorial nomina- tion, and he is regarded as one of the strongest eligibles in North Mis- souri for that office. As he is only in the prime of his powers his future possesses much potential value and service to his state.

LEWIS A. CHAPMAN. This name is one that will be recognized over Northern Missouri as that of a highly successful lawyer for more than a generation engaged in practice at Chillicothe, and a man who has used his profession not only as a means of performing his individual work in the world, but in many ways for community betterment. Mr. Chap- man has lived in Livingston County since childhood, and has witnessed all the important developments in that section since the beginning of the railroad era.

Lewis A. Chapman was born in Rappahannock County, Virginia, October 1, 1852, and though a Virginian has for years been one of the leading republicans of his county. His parents were John and Jemima (Nolen) Chapman, the former a native of Newmarket, Virginia, and the latter of Rappahannock County. John Chapman was a cabinet maker and wheelwright by trade, and in 1856 brought his family out from Virginia to Utica, Livingston County, Missouri. The greater part of the distance was covered by passage on river boats. The father worked at his trade in Utica for a time and then moved to a farm owned by his wife's father, Gustavus A. Nolen, who was a man of considerable means, a farmer and slave owner, who had come to Livingston County, Missouri, in 1855. Thus the family was established in that section of Missouri a short time before the first railroad was constructed. Lewis A. was the second of four children : Gustavus A., formerly a lawyer at Benton- ville, Arkansas, but not now engaged in practice; Lewis A .; Oliver J., a lawyer of Kansas City; and a daughter who died at the age of two years.

In 1858 Mr. Chapman's mother died, and the family was then broken up. The father removed from the county, and died of the cholera at St. Louis in 1867. In the meantime Lewis and his two brothers had lived with their grandfather Nolen until 1860, when the grandfather died. A guardian was then appointed for the children, and for several years Lewis A. Chapman lived in the homes of several farmers in Living-

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ston County, receiving very little schooling during that time. At the age of fifteen he went to Chillicothe and entered the academy conducted by Hezekiah Ellis, attending for about a year, and when not in school working on a farm and at other employment. After this year's schooling he earned his way as a farm hand, and then returned to Chillicothe and took up the study of law with the firm of Dixon & Sloane, and subse- quently with Broaddus & Pollard. In October, 1870, when only eighteen years of age, Mr. Chapman was examined by a committee appointed by the local court and was admitted to practice, although three years under his majority. He was soon taken into a partnership with Thomas J. Dent, and for six months was at Breckenridge attending to the business of the firm.

In the meantime Mr. Chapman had decided that his education was not yet sufficient to enable him to cope successfully with his profession, and he accordingly returned to Livingston County and for six years taught school, using part of his earnings for the purchase of law books and carrying on his studies on holidays and vacation times. In 1876, when Judge Broaddus was elected to the circuit bench, Mr. Chapman became clerk and assistant in the law office of Judge Pollard. At the end of one year Judge Pollard was elected from this district to a seat in Congress, and a partnership was then formed under the name Pollard & Chapman, the business of which Mr. Chapman managed while his partner was attending to his legislative duties in Washington. This firm enjoyed the largest practice of any law firm in that section of Missouri. Following his term in Congress Judge Pollard moved to St. Louis, and since that time Mr. Chapman has had no associations. He has practiced in all the higher courts, both state and federal, and his long and prominent record can be read in the dockets of the local and district courts and in the reports of the higher court.

His political career has been one of large service and activity. Mr. Chapman was a member of the Republican State Central Committee, and has been chairman of his congressional, county, city and township com- mittees. For eighteen years he served as United States commissioner, has been a member of the city council of Chillicothe, was city attorney three times, and a member of the school board fifteen years, three years its secretary and eleven years its president. On three different occa- sions he was the nominee of his party for prosecuting attorney, and while receiving a very complimentary vote was unable to overcome the large democratic majority. In 1910 he was tendered the nomination for justice of the Supreme Court, without opposition, but declined that honor, which was paramount to election, since the candidate of his party was chosen to the bench in that campaign.

Mr. Chapman has been identified with the Baptist Church since he was fifteen years of age. He has served as a deacon and trustee, and has devoted the first day of every week for years to the work of the Sunday school, having served as superintendent, for forty years as a teacher, and at the present time is Sunday school treasurer. Mr. Chapman was one of the organizers and the first vice president of the Citizens National Bank of Chillicothe, in which he is now a stockholder and its attorney.

On March 13, 1877, soon after beginning his professional career, Mr. Chapman married Miss Luella Florence Benson, daughter of Ira Benson, a pioneer farmer of Livingston County. To their marriage have been born a family of eleven children, most of whom are already established in vocations and homes of their own. Lewis A., Jr., the oldest, is married and lives in Liberty, Missouri; Charles H., who is married, is an engineer living at Sheridan, Wyoming ; John B., lives at home; Nolen

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M. is a graduate in law from the University of Missouri and now in practice at Chillicothe; Donaldson, a graduate from the collegiate de- partment of the University of Missouri, is now taking his law course in the same institution; Van is in the Chillicothe High School; Thomas H. is a student in William Jewell College at Liberty; Marion is attend- ing the Central College for Women at Lexington, Missouri; Arthur G. died at the age of two years; Grace when nine years old, and William at birth.

SCOTT J. MILLER. Though for more than a quarter of a century recognized as one of the foremost trial lawyers of North Missouri, Scott J. Miller has been content to confine his abilities entirely to one line of work, has given much public service to his home county and state, and some years ago, having ventured as a diversion into a special field of live stock husbandry, is now pronounced the leading breeder of Mis- souri jacks and mules and has one of the largest industries of the kind in the Middle West if not in the entire country.

Col. Scott J. Miller was born in Columbus, Ohio, December 29, 1867, a son of J. W. and Mary Elizabeth (Bland) Miller. The Millers were originally from Germany, first locating in Pennsylvania, and from there moving to Ohio. Colonel Miller's father was a farmer, and in 1869 brought his family to Caldwell County, Missouri, and in 1872 to Livingston County, locating in Jackson Township, where he was engaged as a farmer and stock raiser until shortly before his death, when he retired and lived in Chillicothe, until his passing in 1909. His widow still survives. There were four sons and three daughters in the family.

Scott J. Miller spent his early life in the country and its associations established in him a thorough love of rural life and its activities. He attended country schools, taught for a time, and in 1883 entered the University of Missouri, taking an elective course and devoting his time principally to the study of languages for two years. The following year was spent as teacher in the tenth grade of the Chillicothe public schools. He began the study of law in the office of Judge Elbridge J. Broaddus, who afterwards became a justice of the Court of Appeals at Kansas City. He also studied law with Hon. Charles H. Mansur, who was subsequently elected to Congress.

Admitted to practice in 1888 by examination before a committee appointed by the local courts, Colonel Miller at once opened an office in Chillicothe and the succeeding years have brought him an enviable fame and position as a lawyer. He has always preferred independent practice, and his only associate in all this time was his brother Frank for two years. He has been admitted to practice in all the state and federal courts and has tried cases in fifteen different states. A large share of his practice has been damage cases, and his ability has shown itself most conspicuously as what may be called a jury lawyer. In criminal cases he has attended nearly all the murder trials in Livingston County for twenty years or more. His practice is not confined to one county, but extends all over the northern part of Missouri, and as a trial lawyer it is doubtful if any other member of the North Missouri bar has so extended a clientele. He is one of the scholarly members of the bar, and has a very complete law library.

In politics he has affiliated with the democrats, but has never sought nor desired any of the honors of public office. However, in 1912, he consented to become a candidate for nomination for judge of the Court of Appeals, and received a highly complimentary vote from his party. He was appointed and served as first aide on the staff of Governor Stone, and by that governer was appointed a member of the board of

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regents of the State Normal School at Kirksville, and was reappointed at the same position by Governors Stephens and Dockery. This was his longest and most important public service, continuing for ten years, eight years of which he was president of the board. In this time he sacrificed his professional interests in many ways to give his time and attention to the upbuilding and improvement of the Normal. Much of his own time and money were spent in planning a model country schoolhouse during the last two years of his administration, and this building is now on exhibition at the State Normal in Kirksville. Dur- ing his absence the other members of the board gave it the name by which it is known, the Scott J. Miller Model School.

Colonel Miller in the course of his career has acquired large tracts of land in Livingston County. A number of years ago he began the breeding of thoroughbred stock, taking his avocation as a means for recuperation and diversion from the exacting duties of his profession. He was peculiarly successful, and what had been begun as a pastime developed into a large and profitable industry, so that he is now the largest breeder of Missouri jacks in the state. He also breeds thorough- bred Poland-China hogs and Percheron horses. While thus a general stock man, Colonel Miller has a national reputation for having developed a particular strain and marking of mules. In 1905 he undertook to breed mules with the object of producing black mules with white faces. It took four generations to produce such an animal, which was the first of its kind, and the oldest animal with these markings was two years old November 1, 1912. Since that time he has continued his efforts and now has the black white-faced mule practically a fixture. It is his intention to continue the breeding of this animal until it shall become known the world over. He is now planning to extend the market for his jacks to Argentine, South America, which promises an exceptionally good market for such animals.

On January 6, 1897, Colonel Miller married Miss Oakland Leeper of Chillicothe. They have one son, Roger Stone. Fraternally Mr. Miller is a Knight Templar and thirty-second degree Mason, and is chairman of the board of stewards in the Methodist Episcopal Church South. Professionally he is a member of the State and National Bar Association. For a man who has accomplished so much in his profession and in other ways, it is only natural that he should be a big man both physically and mentally.

REUBEN BARNEY, SR., M. D. A man of the highest professional attainments was the late Dr. Reuben Barney, Sr., who for thirty-five years was engaged in the active practice of medicine and surgery at Chillicothe. That city never had a citizen more loved and respected than Doctor Barney. This esteem was shown him in many ways during his lifetime in honors and responsibilities heaped upon him by his fellow men, and at his death a final tribute was paid him when every business house in the city closed its doors, a thing, it is said, never before done for any other departed citizen.

Reuben Barney, Sr., was born in the State of Vermont and received his medical education at the Albany Medical College in Albany, New York. He enlisted in the Union army during the Civil war, and served as a surgeon in the Massachusetts General Hospital during the last year of the conflict. Following that he engaged in active practice at Hoff- man's Ferry, New York, three years and in October, 1868, arrived in Chillicothe, Missouri. From that time until his death, on July 15, 1903, he was continuously associated with his profession in Livingston County.

The late Doctor Barney was a member of the Chillicothe Episcopal

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Church and served as its senior warden more than thirty years. Politi- cally a republican, with the exception of the Cleveland administration, he served almost continuously as president of the United States Board of Pension Examiners in his district. He was also for eight years president of the Chillicothe Board of Education.

The late Doctor Barney was one of the organizers of the Chillicothe Building Association, and from its origin to the time of his death its president. He was surgeon for the Chicago, Milwaukee & St. Paul, the Chicago, Burlington & Quincy and the Wabash railroads. His pro- fessional relations were with the Livingston County, the Grand River Valley and the Missouri State Medical societies and the American Medi- cal Association. He was one of the organizers of the Grand River Valley Society, and was honored as president both of that society and of his county society. Fraternally he had a high standing in Masonic circles, was grand commander of the state, grand high priest of the Royal Arch Chapter, a grand patron of the Order of the Eastern Star, and had taken thirty-two degrees in the Scottish rite.

The memory of the late Doctor Barney is cherished by many men and women in Northwest Missouri, and his character and ideals are continued to the active benefit of mankind through his sons, all of whom are professional men. Doctor Barney married Miss Mattie Prin- dle, who is still living. She has served as state grand matron of the Eastern Star, and is now one of the board of control of the Masonic Home at St. Louis. Of their four sons, three are physicians and one a civil engineer. Dr. Reuben Barney, Jr., lives in Chillicothe, and a sketch of him follows. P. C. Barney, the second son, attended the Missouri State University, later graduated in civil engineering at the Rensselaer Politechnic Institute in Troy, New York, for a time served in the engineering department of the United States navy, but for several years past has been a civil engineer connected with the water supply depart- ment of New York City. Dr. M. D. Barney, the third son, is a graduate of the Bellevue Hospital Medical College at New York City, but is now retired from practice and is operating a farm and creamery at Powell, Wyoming. The youngest son, Dr. H. N. Barney, graduated from the Bellevue Hospital Medical College and is engaged in practice at Rich- mond, California.

REUBEN BARNEY, JR., M. D. For more than forty-five years the City of Chillicothe has enjoyed the professional services in the field of medicine and surgery of a Doctor Barney, and Dr. Reuben Barney, Jr., has made a name and reputation in the sphere so highly dignified by the late Doctor Barney, Sr.

Reuben Barney, Jr., was born in Chillicothe, a son of Dr. Reuben and Mattie (Prindle) Barney. His early education was received in the local schools, and after leaving high school he entered the St. James Military Academy at Macon, Missouri, and pursued his medical studies in the University Medical College at Kansas City. As soon as he graduated he took up practice at Chillicothe, and was associated pro- fessionally with his father until the latter's death twelve years ago. Since that time he has practiced alone. Doctor Barney is especially proficient in the field of surgery, and a large part of his practice is of that nature. Since his first graduation he has taken post-graduate work in the Bellevue Hospital Medical College of New York City, from which noted institution he has a degree, and has done other post-graduate work in New York City and Chicago.

Doctor Barney married Miss Anna Reynolds of Chillicothe, daughter of R. W. Reynolds. They are the parents of two children: Reuben Vol. III-47

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Reynolds and Olive. Doctor Barney is a member of the Episcopal Church and politically is a republican. His public service includes work as a United States pension examiner, as county coroner, and for several terms as president of the city board of health. He has also been interested in military affairs, and was one of the organizers of the Leach Rifles, which became Company H of the Fourth Missouri National Guard. At the organization of the company he was its first sergeant, and was later transferred to the regimental staff, being commissioned assistant surgeon of the regiment. Fraternally he is affiliated with the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks and the Masonic Order.

Doctor Barney has been particularly active in the Livingston County and the Grand River Valley Medical societies, and like his father has been honored as president of both these organizations. He also is a member of the Missouri State Medical Society and the American Medical Association. He is surgeon of the Chicago, Burlington & Quincy, Chicago, Milwaukee & St. Paul and the Wabash railroads.

GEORGE EMMETT WALTER. One of Northwest Missouri's successful men is George Emmett Walter, who laid the foundation for his pros- perity as a farmer out in Holt County, and who for the past ten years has been identified with the management of the Farmers Bank of Rock- port, and in general financial judgment and business ability he is accounted one of the strongest men in that section of the state. While energy and judgment are important factors in the business of banking, the foundation of confidence is in integrity of character, and it is his unsullied reputation for absolute honesty and fair dealing that has made Mr. Walter so influential a factor in local business circles.

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A history of northwest Missouri, Volume III, Part 109

Author: Williams, Walter, 1864-1935 editor Publication date: 1915 Publisher: Chicago, The Lewis publishing company Number of Pages: 912

Author: Williams, Walter, 1864-1935 editor
Publication date: 1915
Publisher: Chicago, The Lewis publishing company
Number of Pages: 912