USA > Missouri > Jackson County > Kansas City > A memorial and biographical record of Kansas City and Jackson County Mo. > Part 62
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souri. He is a member of Jackson County Medical Society, and a member of the Knights of Pythias and of the Masonic or- der,-Alına lodge, No. 184, in Wisconsin.
He was married in 1875 to Miss Nannie L. Furgason, of Indianapolis, Indiana, by whom he has three children: Elsa, Martha and Albert. Mrs. McVey and family are members of the Baptist church.
3 OHN W. KYGER, physician and surgeon, and professor of diseases of children in the medical department of the University of Kansas City, Kansas, was born in the Shenandoah valley, Virginia, September 4, 1848, and was a son of Nicholas and Susan (Burke) Kyger, of German and English descent. His parents settled at an early day near Lancaster, Penn- sylvania, and subsequently removed to the Shenandoah valley.
The father of our subject, a farmer by occupation, still resides in Virginia. They had six children, four of whom are living: Dr. John W .; Anna, wife of C. C. Almond, of Virginia; Dr. Millard F. and Eugene F.
The subject of our sketch was brought up on a farm in Rockinghanı county, Vir- ginia, on the banks of the Shenandoah river. He also attended the country schools till about seventeen years of age, when he en- tered the University of Virginia, where he graduated in 1868. He then came west to St. Louis and took a course of lectures in the St. Louis Medical College. Next he located in Cass county, Missouri, where, in October, 1869, he married Miss Mary E. Scholl, a granddaughter of Daniel Boone. He continued the practice of his profession in Cass county for ten years, when he re- moved to Holden, Johnson county, Missouri.
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However, just previous to his removal he took another course of lectures, in Missouri College, in 1879. While a resident of Hol- den, Missouri, he was twice elected mayor of the city. In 1888 he came to Kansas City, where he has since been in the practice of his profession.
For the past four years he has delivered a special course of lectures in the Western Dental College, has served for the past three years as secretary of the Kansas City Acad- emy of Medicine, for one year has been lec- turing at the Kansas City Training School for Nurses, and in 1895 was elected to the chair of diseases of children in the medical department of the University of Kansas City, Kansas. The Doctor is a prominent physi- cian of the city.
He is a member of the Jackson County Medical Society, Kansas City Academy of Medicine and the District Association, and is a member of the National Union. The Doctor does a general practice but pays es- pecial attention to the diseases of children. In the spring of 1895 he went to New York and took a post-graduate course in both the New York polyclinic and post-graduate schools. He has seven children: Alice T., Laura, John W., Ross, Fred, Stella and Paul. The parents are members of the Tabernacle Babtist church.
C. MORRISON, druggist, and a member of the upper council, Kan- sas City, was born in Carroll county, Maryland, September 7, 1843, and was a son of Robert and Lavina (Grimes) Morrison, natives of Maryland. The father of our subject was a farmer and died in Maryland in 1852; and his mother died in 1857. They had four children, of
whom our subject is the only survivor. He was left an orphan at an early age. He was raised on a farm and educated in the com- mon schools and at Lancaster, Pennsyl- vania, and at Gettysburg (Pennsylvania) College he spent three years. Just previous to the battle of Gettysburg, in 1863, he, in company with several other classmates, formed a company and enlisted in the emer- gency militia, at Harrisburg, and on their march from Gettysburg toward Chambers- burg he was detailed by the captain of the company to look after the camp, and while on duty was captured by the rebels and was kept in captivity twenty-four hours, when he was paroled, and by this means he witnessed the battle of Gettysburg.
In the fall of 1863 he began the study of medicine at Westminster, Maryland, but his preceptor died soon afterward and Mr. Mor- rison went to Baltimore and studied medi- cine in the Baltimore Infirmary till January, 1864, when he went into a military hospital, where he remained till March 23, 1865. He was a medical cadet in the regular army during this year; was made an acting assist- ant surgeon, and ordered to report at Gal- veston, Texas, which he did, and from there went to San Antonio, and then was ordered on duty with a small detachment at Goliad, Texas, where he remained till the following October (1865), when he was ordered on duty with two regiments, and was mustered out at Washington, D. C., as acting assist- ant surgeon. He then went into private practice in New Windsor, Carroll county, Maryland.
In 1869 he went to Baltimore and practiced one year. On January 26, 1870, he landed in Kansas City, Missouri, and practiced medicine until May, 1874, when he engaged in the drug business on East Twelfth
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street, near Cherry, where he remained un- til 1883. Then lie sold out, and being in failing health he made a tour of Europe, visiting England, France, Switzerland, Ger- many, Holland and Belgium, being absent several months, returning much benefited, and engaged in the real-estate business, which he carried on about a year. He bought his present place in 1894, and has since been engaged in the drug business. He was engaged in the drug business on Main street for about three years.
He was a member of the city council from 1878 to 1880. In 1887 he was nomi- nated for city treasurer on the republican ticket, but was defeated with the rest of the ticket. Was elected to the upper house of the city council in the spring of 1894. He is a member of the Masonic fraternity and a Knight Templar.
He was married November 25, 1886, to Miss Carrie L. Morrison, of Laporte county, Indiana. The Doctor is a member of the G. A. R., and is one of the prominent inen of the city.
0 R. T. J. EATON, one of the old practitioners of Kansas City, was born in Circleville, Ohio, August 27, 1840, and was a son of John E. and Frances (Barnhill) Eaton. His father was a native of New York city and his mother of Ohio. The family came from England, although the name originated in Wales. His paternal grandfather was a sea- faring man, and he and another man owned a schooner, of which he was captain, and at the breaking out of the war of 1812 they had their vessel loaded with a cargo bound for Havre de Grace, and while on the Medi- terranean sea was captured by a man-of-
war and confined in prison till peace was declared. He lost his cargo, vessel and all he had. He returned to New York city, and he and his partner bought another vessel, loaded it and was about to put out for Sa- vannah when his wife prevailed on him not to go; and he relented. His partner took out the vessel and all was lost at sea! The grandfather never went to sea again but fol- lowed ship carpentry the remainder of his days. He died in New York city.
The father of our subject was a carriage- maker by trade and removed to Circleville, Ohio, at an early day, where he carried on the business for a number of years. He and his wife are still residents of that city, both being quite aged. They had a family of four sons and one daughter who grew to ma- turity. The four sons are still living, viz. : Dr. T. J. and William H., of Lima, Ohio; Marcus, of Circleville, Ohio; and Charles F., also of Circleville.
Our subject was brought up in his native town, where he graduated at the high school. He began the study of medicine when he was about twenty, but war coming on, in 1862, he enlisted as hospital steward of the one hundred and fourteenth Ohio volunteer infantry, and served as such through the war. He was always " on the go," and with the Army of Tennessee, till after the fall of Vicksburg, and was then with the Army of the Gulf. He was in the battles of Arkan- sas Post, Grand Gulf, Port Gibson, Ray- mond, Champion Hills, Black River bridge and all the sieges and battles leading up to the capture of Vicksburg; was in the Red river campaign under General Banks, in the assault on Fort Blakely and in numerous skirmishes.
After the close of the hostilities he re- turned to his home and entered the Uni-
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A MEMORIAL RECORD OF KANSAS CITY
versity of Michigan, and graduated in the medical department in the spring of 1867. He located at Dalton, Indiana, for one year. He then went to Baldwin City, Kansas, for five years, and here he stood the examina- tions and took the degree of B. S. in Baker University, and also taught natural sciences in the same school for three years. In 1873 he located in Kansas City, Missouri, when it had a population of 30,000, and has been practicing for a period of twenty- three years. He was one of the original faculty of the Kansas City Medical College, holding the chair of chemistry for thirteen years, materia medica two years, and dis- eases of children one year. He was one of the trustees of the School of Pharmacy for some time. Was president of Jackson County Medical Society in 1894, and physi- cian to the Foundlings' Home for one year. For one year he was a member of the board of health. He is a member of the Masonic fraternity and the G. A. R. Po- litically he is a republican, although not a partisan.
He was married December 25, 1866, to Miss Henrietta Rathwell Dodsley, a native of Nottinghamshire, England, by whom he had one child, Mrs. Thirza E. Chambliss, wife of Dr. Edward L. Chambliss. Mrs. Eaton is a member of the Baptist church.
a E. CLARK, M. D., was born in White Hall, Greene county, Illinois, May 10, 1864, a son of Frank H. and Mary A. (Sperry) Clark. His father was a native of Potsdam, New York, and his mother of Illinois. Some of his an- cestry were soldiers in the war of 1812.
The father of our subject was a farmer in his early life. Coming west he settled in
Sangamon county, Illinois, about 1858, and subsequently removed to Greene county, that state. In 1869 he came to Cass coun- ty, Missouri, and first located where Garden City now is, which was then all wild prairie, and there he followed .farming for about ten years. Next he engaged in the banking bus- iness at East Lynne for four or five years, and then organized a bank at Harrisonville, Missouri, and followed banking until his death in 1891. He was a member of the county court for several years, and was the first presiding judge after the Gun City riot. His wife died in 1871. They had six chil- dren, of whom three are living, D. W. and Fred and Dr. C. E.
Our subject was reared on a farm until eighteen years of age, attending also the country school. He attended high school at Harrisonville one year, and the State Normal School for some time. When nine- teen years of age he took up the study of medicine and entered Rush Medical College, of Chicago, and graduated in the spring of 1886. He immediately went to Pittsburg, Pennsylvania, and practiced in connection with Dr. W. H. Daly, a prominent throat specialist, remaining about one year. In 1887 he came to Kansas City, Missouri, where he has built up a very lucrative busi- ness. In 1889 he was assistant city physi-
cian. For three years he had the chair of materia medica in the Kansas City Medical College, and for the past four years has had another chair in the same college. He is the medical examiner for the Metropolitan Life Insurance Company, Des Moines Life, Independent Order of Foresters and Knights and Ladies of the Fireside.
He was married in 1889 to Miss Mattie Metzler of Kansas City, by whom he has one child, Ross M. The Doctor is a member of
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the Presbyterian church. Politically he is a republican, however taking no active in- terest in politics with the exception of vot- ing the straight ticket. He is a highly edu- cated young man and is onc of the ablest young physicians of the city.
S. MARLEY, an attorney at law of Kansas City, was born at Mitch- ell, Lawrence county, Indiana, May 18, 1861, and was a son of Harvey H. and Jennie (Sheeks) Marley, na- tives of the same county. His grandparents were pioneers of that county, having arrived there when it was but a wilderness. Henry Marley was a soldier in the Revolutionary war. The family were distinguished people in the pioneer days of Indiana. They en- tered land, and the Sheeks family at one time owned the town of Mitchell. The grandfather Sheeks was a colonel in the militia at an early day. Benjamin and David Sheeks were lawyers, and David Sheeks was at one time on the supreme bench of Texas, and Bemjamin Sheeks was Brigham Young's counselor.
The father of our subject is the travel- ing passenger agent of the Michigan Central Railroad, with which road he has been con- nected for ten years. He was for some years the representative of the old St. Louis & Iron Mountain Railroad. He is widely known as a railroad man, and now resides in Olympia, Kansas. They had three chil- dren: Albert S., Harvey G. and Florence, besides a half sister, Gertrude.
Mr. Marley, our subject, was in various places during his childhood and youth. He went to New York city with his parents, and then to Evanston, Illinois, where he was educated in the high school and graduated in
the class of 1880. The same year he came to Kansas City. His health giving out he sought other employment, and was from 1881 to October, 1892, assistant ticket agent in the Union Depot at Kansas City, in the mean- time reading law, and he was admitted to the bar in 1891. He began the practice of his profession in 1892 and was for a short time in partnership with James H. Harkless. He is now alone, and has built up a nice business, receiving his share of the legal docket. He has taken an interest in matters pertaining to the city; is a member of the Masonic fraternity and Knights of Pythias, and is politically a republican.
He was married in 1889 to Miss Kath- erine Jacobs, a native of Shelby county, Missouri, and by whom he has three chil- dren, -- John S., Jennie and Albert S., Jr. Mrs. Marley is a member of the Methodist Episcopal church, south.
G. VAN SCOYOC, M. D., was born in York Sulphur Springs, Adams county, Pennsylvania, May 14, 1853, a son of Moses and Jane (Schull) Scoyoc, also natives of that state, and of Holland Dutch descent, their first American ancestry coming to this country at an early day. One branch of the family went to Long Island and the other to Penn- sylvania. The father of our subject was a carpenter by trade, which he followed in his early life, and later he was a farmer. He died on the farm on which he had lived for fifty years in Adams county, Pennsylvania, in 1890. His wife had died several years previously. There are seven children living of the family.
Our subject, the sccond eldest in the above family, was reared on the farm, where
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A MEMORIAL RECORD OF KANSAS CITY
he helped to till the soil. He was educated in the country public schools and at a board- ing school at VanAllen for two sessions. He also attended a normal school at Gettys- burg. He then taught school and worked on a farm during vacations in order to raise funds to take a medical course. He de- voted four years to the study of medicine and attended one term at Detroit, Michigan, in the homeopathic department of the Uni- versity of Michigan. He then entered Cleve- land Homeopathic College, at which he graduated in the spring of 1876. He then entered the office of Dr. William H. Cook, of Carlisle, Pennsylvania, who was in ill health at that time, and owing to the rela- tionship Dr. Van Scoyoc was asked to take charge of his practice, which he did and re- mained several months. He then located at Mechanicsburg, Pennsylvania, where he remained three years, and there married the only daughter, Virginia, of Jacob Eminger, September 10, 1877. His health failing he came west and located at Osborn City, Kan- sas, where he remained for five years, and thence he removed to Abilene, Kansas, re- maining about five years. In 1890 he located in Kansas City, where he has built up a good practice.
He filled the chair of minor and orificial surgery in the Kansas City Homeopathic College for some time, and is now filling the chair of orificial surgery. He was one of the organizers of the Hahnemann Union Medical Society, in which he took active in- terest and was its president for five sessions, and he is recognized by the profession as an honor to them. He has built up a nice practice and is one of the leading physicians in the city.
He is a member of the Knights of Pyth- ias, also of the First Lutheran church; is
a member of the Kansas City Medical So- ciety, Missouri Institute, Missouri Valley Society and the Kansas City Homeopathic Club. He and his wife have become parents of three children, two of whom are living,- J. H. Marsten and Floyd W.
The Doctor is a stanch republican.
LEORA NORRIS, M. D., is en- gaged in the practice of medicine in Kansas City. In this progressive age, in the latter part of the nine- teenth century, almost every avenue of busi- ness life is open to woman, but to none does she seem more especially adapted than to the medical profession. There is a sympathy, a kindliness and an understanding which probably grows out of these characteristics that men often seem to lack and that bring to woman her peculiar power and success. Dr. Norris seems specially adapted to her chosen calling, and as a member of the medical profession in Kansas City occupies a high place.
She was born in Hillsdale, Michigan, December 21, 1848, and removed thence to Leonidas, Michigan, where she acquired her literary education. Her maiden name was E. Leora Howe, and in 1865 she became the wife of David H. Norris, a native of Monroe, Michigan, who in his early life learned the tinsmith's trade, which he fol- lowed until the breaking out of the war, when he enlisted in the seventh Michigan regiment and served for three years as a defender of the union. His father, Charles B. Norris, a native of New York, was a lawyer by profession and became a member of the bar of Monroe, Michigan. He is still living there, at an advanced age, al- though retired from active practice.
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Soon after their marriage, Mr. and Mrs. Norris removed to Stockwell, Indiana, where the former engaged in the hardware business. In 1875 they took up their resi- dence in Monroe, Michigan, and from that place came to Kansas City, where Mr. Nor- ris opened a hardware store, and associated with him in business their only son, Harry, under the firm name of Norris & Son. They are now successful hardware dealers and are doing a good business.
Mrs. Norris began the study of medicine in Monroe, Michigan, for ten years of suc- cessful nursing had taught her that she was well fitted for the business. After locating in Kansas City she resumed her studies under the direction of Dr. W. A. Forester, and later attended lectures at the Kansas City Homeopathic Medical College, being graduated at that institution in 1890. She at once began practice here, and now de- votes her attention to every department of practice, but has made a specialty of obstetrics and gynecology. She is a mem- ber of the leading homeopathic societies of Kansas City, is a constant student of her chosen science, always on the progressive side, and in her religious relations is a mem- ber of St. Mary's Episcopal church.
J OHN SCOTT HARRISON .- The history of a state, as well as that of a nation, is chiefly the chronicle of the lives and deeds of those who have conferred honor and dignity upon so- ciety. The world judges the character of a community by that of its representative citi- zens, and yields its tributes of admiration and respect for the genius, learning or vir- tues of those whose works and actions con-
stitute the record of a state's prosperity and pride; and it is in their character, as exem- plified in probity and benevolence, kindly virtues and integrity in the affairs of life, that they are ever affording worthy examples for emulation and valuable lessons of incen- tive. To-day the gentleman whose name introduces this review is regarded as one of the most prominent and influential citizens of the metropolis of western Missouri, not alone a leader in business circles but also a conspicuous figure in politics, as his family has been through so many generations.
There is no name that stands forth more prominently, honorably and proudly on the pages of American history than that of Har- rison, and in this connection it will be inter- esting to note something of the origin of the family and its connection with affairs of state in America.
There lived in England in the seven- teenth century, one Thomas Harrison, who, at the time of the trouble between King Charles I and his subjects, put aside the cares and responsibilities of his business and joined the forces of Oliver Cromwell, be- coming a lieutenant general in the service, greatly trusted by the leader of the " Round- heads." He was also a member of the parliamentary court which tried and con- victed the king. When monarchical rule was once more established, he was arrested and executed. It is not a certainty that this gentleman was an ancestor of the im- mediate subject of this review, but the probabilities in this direction are very strong. It was a period when those who were denied religious and political liberty in their own lands availed themselves of the opportuni- ties to secure the coveted freedom in the newly settled western hemisphere, and the Harrisons were probably among the number
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who crossed the Atlantic in the seventeenth century or the early part of the eighteenth.
The identity of an ancestor of the family in the latter century, however, is a certainty. Records show that Benjamin Harrison lived in Berkeley, Virginia, and became the father of a son to whom was also given the name of Benjamin and who became an eminent man in the councils of the nation. The latter in 1764, when little more than a boy, became a member of the Virginia house of burgesses, of which he was shortly afterward made speaker. At the time when the pas- sage of the stamp act was awakening the resistance of the colonists he was offered a seat in the executive council by the gov- ernor appointed by the crown, but the honor he declined and he announced himn- self as a republican, strongly opposed to British oppression. In 1774 and 1775 he was delegate to the continental congress; in 1776 signed that immortal document, the Declaration of Independence; in 1777 he resigned his seat in congress and was soon made speaker of the house of burgesses of Virginia; and later he took the field against Cornwallis, and his military record was alike conspicuous for fidelity to duty. He was three times elected governor of the new state of Virginia, but died before the third inauguration. His wife was a Miss Bassett.
The third son of this marriage was Will- iam Henry Harrison, the ninth president of the United States. He had won high mili- tary distinction when nineteen years of age. In 1798 he resigned from the army and was Inade secretary of the Northwestern Terri- tory and ex-officio lieutenant governor. In 1798, when but twenty-five years of age, he was sent to congress from the territory, and was appointed governor of Indiana, when it was made a territory. He was given un-
limited authority over the vast district which comprised several of the now greatest states of the Union, and it was his duty to reclaim them from wildness and from the Indians. A monarch has hardly more power than was given this young man, but he exercised it wisely and well and the nation is indebted to him for the policy and methods which made the settlement of that vast region of the country habitable. His successes in the war of 1812 are matters of history, and added new luster to a name already bright. He was lovingly and gratefully called the Father of the Northwest. In 1824 he was United States senator from Ohio; in 1 840 he became the candidate of the whig party for the presidency, and after one of the most exciting campaigns in the history of the country he was elected. For only one month he was the chief executive of the nation, when death terminated his career. He married Anna Symmes, also of a very prominent family, of honorable connection with public affairs.
John Scott was their third son, and was both the son and father of a president. He has been called "a plain farmer," and one distinguished writer goes so far as to speak of him as a man "who was no reader, whose son only had access to books when he vis- ited his grandfather's home." This was not true in any sense, and can be excused only from the fact that in writing a campaign story the principal character must be held up as the one shining light of an otherwise obscure family. The writer was in no wise conversant with Mr. Harrison's habits of life.
Mr. Harrison was a graduate of Cincin- nati College at the time Bishop Chase was its president, and although among the youngest of his class, he took the first hon-
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