USA > Missouri > Centennial history of Missouri, vol. 2 > Part 11
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Colonel Coward O. Stapton
took part in the building of the camp at Brest. On arriving at St. Mihiel, Colonel Stayton was placed in command of his regiment, which was held in reserve during the battle. While the division was engaged in the Argone offensive, it became necessary for the Engineers to take over the entire division front, owing to the serious losses the infantry had sustained. The line to be occupied was selected and the occupation superintended by Major Stayton, who was complimented for the prompt and skillful manner in which the posi- tion on Sehadron Ilill was occupied under the heavy shell fire. At the conclu- sion of the regiment's participation in the Argonne offensive he was promoted to the grade of lieutenant colonel and continued on duty with his regiment, and when the regiment was relieved from duty in France it was his privilege to bring the troops back home to the splendid welcome that was accorded them.
On the 26th of July, 1898, Colonel Stayton was united in marriage to Miss Estella Compton, who was reared on the farm adjoining his birthplace and who had been a playmate of his childhood days. They have become parents of a son, George Edward Stayton. Their social position is one of the utmost prom- inence and Colonel Stayton is a recognized leader in many connections. Ile has always taken an active interest in the civil and business affairs of his home town and he participated in the organization of the Home Deposit Trust Company, of which he has continuously been a director and vice president. He is also very active in Masonic circles, belonging to Independence Lodge, No. 76, A. F. & A. M., in which he has filled all the offices including that of master. He also holds membership in the Scottish Rite and Mystic Shrine of Kansas City. On the 4th of February, 1903, he became an associate member of the American. Society of Civil Engineers and was transferred to full membership in 1907. He also has membership and is active in the affairs of several other professional societies. When in December, 1919, the coal situation became serious on account of strikes, the state institutions being practically without coal and very little being available for domestic purposes and none at all for industrial purposes, the governor of Missouri took over the coal mines of the state for operation. Colonel Stayton was immediately selected to go to Barton county as the superintendent of operations for the mines located in that part of the state. In a few hours after his arrival he had all of the mining property under military guard and had begun the distribution of the skilled labor necessary to begin the operation of the mines, and in thirty hours after his arrival coal was being loaded. The strike ended in just a week after the governor's proela- mation, but in that time the mines had been put in operation by the use of volunteer labor and had almost reached the point of normal production. Colonel Stayton was highly complimented by the governor and all concerned for the energetie and businesslike manner in which he took hold of a most difficult situation and produced results without any delay whatever. The adjutant gen- eral of Missouri, in a letter conveying his own and the governor's appreciation for Colonel Stayton's work in this emergeney, used these words: "It is a great satisfaction to the governor to know that an officer of your exceptional ability and who has distinguished himself so remarkably in France was ready to answer the eall of the state regardless of the personal sacrifice entailed. A state which numbers such soldiers among its citizens is most fortunate."
In June, 1920, there occurred a vacaney in the command of the Third
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Colonel Coward e. Stapton
Regiment, National Guard of Missouri. It was the consensus of opinion of all that a service man, with a good record in France, was a necessity for the com- mand of the regiment, and when the officers of the regiment convened for the purpose of electing a colonel but one name was mentioned, Colonel Stayton be- ing unanimously elected to the command. On August 1, 1920, Colonel Stayton became city member of the board of control of the Kansas City Railway Company, a highly important position involving the operation of the street railway system of Greater Kansas City. ITis has been a most busy, active and useful life in which high purposes and capability have carried him into impor- tant relations. What he has accomplished represents the fit utilization of his innate powers and talents. He has contributed to the country's material develop- ment through his professional work, has upheld its position and honor through his military activity, and in days of peace, in every relation of life, is equally loyal to the colors. General H. C. Clark said of him: "I attribute his success to his ability, which is exceptional, to his industry and activity, his natural leadership, his faultless personal habits, his knowledge of men and affairs and his high character and integrity."
Hany B. Havre Mamy
Major Harry B. Dames
AJOR HARRY B. HAWES was born in Covington, Kentucky, M November 15, 1869. He is the son of the late Captain Smith Nicholas Ilawes; his mother was Susan Elizabeth Simrall- both residents of the state of Kentucky. Major Hawes moved to St. Louis in the year 1887, and has resided in that city continuously. He graduated in the law from Washington University in the class of 1896, representing his graduating class as class orator. He married Elizabeth Eppes Osborne Robinson, at Good- wood, St. Louis county, the home of Joseph Lucas, November 15, 1899. Of this union he has two daughters, Peyton Elizabeth and Eppes Bartow. His brother, Richard Simrall IIawes, is the first vice president of the First National Bank of St. Louis, and president of the American Bankers Association.
Major Hawes is a member of all the leading social and business organizations of his city, including in this number the Racquet Club, St. Louis Club, Uni- versity Club, Noonday Club, Missouri Athletic Association, Algonquin Golf Club, Sunset Hill Golf Club, Century Boat Club, Mississippi Valley Kennel Club, Chamber of Commerce, Merchants' Exchange, Real Estate Exchange, Million Population Club, The Players, Cervantes Society, Kentucky Society and Missouri Historical Society. He is a member of the following legal organ- izations: The American Society on International Law, American Bar Associa- tion, Missouri Bar Association and the St. Louis Bar Association. Ilis religious faith is that of the Episcopal church.
Shortly after graduating, Major Hawes represented the Merchants' Ex- change at the Trans-Mississippi Congress held in Salt Lake City, Utah, in the year 1897. The question of the annexation of Hawaii, then an independent republic, was debated. Major Hawes' speech in favor of annexation before the convention attracted the attention of Loren A. Thurston, minister from the little republic, and he was employed by President Dole to represent that coun- try in the United States during its fight for annexation. He made speeches in the various cities favoring annexation and remained as a representative of Hawaii in this country until its annexation by the United States in the year 1898, during the Spanish war. He represented the Sons of Confederate Veterans and delivered the address of the sons at the last Confederate reunion held in Louisville, Kentucky.
When twenty-nine years of age, Major Hawes was made president of the St. Louis police department by Governor Lon V. Stephens and was reappointed to that position by his successor, Governor Alexander M. Dockery. When in his thirty-fourth year he was a candidate for the democratic nomination for governor, and received practically the unanimous support of the city of St. Louis. He was one of the chief organizers of the Lakes-to-the-Gulf Deep
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Major Darry B. Dawes
Waterways Association ; was chairman of its speakers committee; and has been actively identified with the work of Mississippi river improvements ever since.
Through his position as president of the Jefferson Club he became the democratie leader in St. Louis polities, and twice successfully managed cam- paigns for Rolla Wells for mayor. His leadership of the local democracy ex- tended over a period of ten years, during which time the democratic party was kept continuously in power. During this period the pilgrimage of five hundred Missourians to the tomb of Thomas Jefferson was made under his direction and attracted national attention. He was selected by the democratic convention on the notification committee for Judge Parker in 1904 and was the Missouri rep- resentative on the notification committee which notified President Wilson of his renomination at Shadow Lawn, New Jersey, in the year 1916.
His interest in the development of good roads in the state of Missouri led to his election to the legislature in the years 1916-17. He was made chairman of the good roads committee and introduced seven road laws which re-wrote the entire road laws of Missouri-the first time it had been done since 1873. The present state highway law of Missouri was named after him-the Hawes law. He is president of the Federated Roads Council.
For many years Major Hawes was president of the Mississippi Valley Ken- nel Club and a delegate to the American Kennel Club. His hobby has been the raising of dogs. Being invited to address the State University at Columbia and permitted to select his own subject, he delivered an address on the subject of "Dogs" which was printed throughout the United States and put in pamph- let form and reprinted in England, Canada, Australia and Spain. Dog breeders and fanciers all over the United States consult and advise with him about the breeding and training of dogs.
The Hawes law prohibiting the publication and circulation of anonymous political attacks has been copied by many of the other states of the Union. A Memorial Day address, delivered at Christ Church Cathedral in St. Louis, was given wide publicity and attracted favorable comment, as did his address on Labor Day to the labor unions of St. Louis, in which he counseled conciliation and the settlement of disputes by American methods.
In July, 1914, while visiting Ireland, the great European war broke out. He went to London and there participated in the formation of the American committee, remaining in England for a period of two months watching and studying the development of the war. Returning home, he delivered several notable addresses on the subject of International Law, defending the right of neutral citizens in the time of war to lend money and furnish arms to the belligerents. This was in answer to the German propaganda which in that year was spreading through the United States. The chief one of these articles was printed in the Congressional Record.
Returning to Europe in November, 1917, he spent seven and one-half months in England, France, Switzerland and Spain. Upon his return to the United States he was given the rank of captain in the psychologie section of the military intelligence department and assigned to service with the general staff. In No- vember, 1918, he was assigned for military intelligence work to France and Spain and subsequently became the assistant military attache assigned to the United States embassy at Madrid. He has established at his home in the city of
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Major Darry B. Dawes
St. Louis a complete Spanish room of the 16th century period and furnished it with tiles, paintings, furniture and fittings brought from Spain. IIe has the largest collection of the works of Cervantes in the United States and has special- ized in the study of the master's great work-Don Quixote.
Upon resigning from the army Major IIawes resumed the active practice of law, in which profession he has been continuously and successfully occupied, interrupted only by his interest in public affairs. An address delivered by him on the subject of the League of Nations was inserted in the Congressional Record and two hundred thousand copies distributed through the various states. In 1920 he was elected to congress, being the only democrat in St. Louis elected that year in an overwhelming republican landslide of one hundred and fifty-five thousand majority.
Major Hawes' country home, "Faireroft," in St. Louis county, is the gather- ing place of many brilliant minds, and he has given personal attention to garden- ing and the breeding of faney live stock. The ancestors of both Major and Mrs. IIawes originally came from Virginia. IIe is descended from the Nicholas, Carter and Cary families of that state.
George Nicholas is described by Senator Beveridge as follows: "George Nicholas had been a brave, brilliant soldier and was one of the ablest and best- equipped lawyers in the state. He was utterly fearless, whether in hattle on the field or in debate on the floor. His family and connections were powerful. In argument and reasoning he was the equal if not the superior of Madison him- self; and his grim personality made the meek one of Madison seem tender in comparison. Nothing could disconcert him, nothing daunt his cold courage. He probably was the only man in the convention whom Henry feared."
At this same period in our history, William B. Giles, an ancestor of his wife's, was a conspicuous figure and the spokesman of Thomas Jefferson in the great debates and fights with Alexander Hamilton. Nicholasville and Nicho- las county, Kentucky, are named after his grandfather Nicholas, and IIawes- ville, in Davies county, Kentucky, was the early settlement of the family in that state. His grandfather, Richard Hawes, was the Confederate governor of Ken- tueky, represented the Ashland district in congress, was a captain in the Black Hawk war and was judge upon the bench at the time of his death in his eightieth year.
His father was Captain Smith Nicholas Hawes, who became a lieutenant in a Confederate company at the age of seventeen ; later was made captain of Missouri Confederate troops, was twice wounded and served during the entire four years of the war. Ilis father's brother, General Morrison Hawes, com- manded the Texas Division of the Confederate forces. Two of his father's brothers were killed during the war. Ilis wife's father and his brothers, and his mother's brothers were all in the Confederate army. On his father's side Major Hawes is descended from the Bartow family, originally Huguenot settlers in Georgia. His wife's family are Virginians, related to the Eppes, Washington, Robinson, Branch and Giles families of that state. The English coat-of-arms of the Hawes family contains the motto: "Know thyself."
PPA le ampliles
hon. Robert Alexander Campbell
3N a beautiful home at Bowling Green, Missouri, resides the I IIon. Robert Alexander Campbell, lawyer and lawmaker, jurist, lieutenant governor, railroad builder and prominent business man, to whom have come "the best accompaniments of age-honor, riches, troops of friends." He is now nearing the eighty-ninth milestone on life's journey and for some years has enjoyed that well earned rest which is the fitting crown of a life of great activity and usefulness. There are many incidents in the record of Governor Campbell which will cause his memory to be revered for generations to eome, but one of his most notable and brilliant acts was in restoring, through the opinion of the United States supreme court, the franchise to hundreds of previously disfranchised Missouri citizens. It seems most fitting that in the evening of his life, when crowned with years and honors, he should return to the attractive little city in which he first opened his eyes to the light of day. Ile was born in Bowling Green on the 2d of September, 1832, his parents being the Rev. James W. and Sophia (Henry) Campbell. He is di- rectly descended, as his name indicates, from Scotch ancestors, although the family was founded in America while this country was still numbered among the colonial possessions of Great Britain. One of his ancestors, Alexander Camp- bell, with the outbreak of the war for independence, joined the Continental army and became colonel of a Virginia regiment, with which he took part in various hotly contested engagements which had decisive bearing upon the final victory that erowned the American arms. He led his troops in the battles of Kings Mountain, Guilford Courthouse and Cowpens and was always among the leaders in courage and daring. He did not live to enjoy the fruits of vie- tory, for ere the war closed he had been ealled to his final rest. In 1785 his widow removed with her family to Kentucky, where she passed away many years later but had lived to see her children become prominent and respected citizens of that state. One of the sons, Alexander Campbell, became a physician and surgeon, practicing successfully in Harrison county, Kentucky, during the elos- ing years of the eighteenth century. He also won distinction in other connec- tions, for in 1800 he was a member of the Kentucky house of representatives, and following his removal to Ripley, Ohio, in 1803, he was elected to the state legislature in 1806. He became suceessor of Senator Tiffin in the United States senate, sitting in the upper house of the national assembly until March 4, 1813, and thus leaving the impress of his individuality and ability upon the history of the country during its formative period. The daughters of the family be- came wives of young men of the pioneer period in Harrison county, among whom was an ancestor of Adlai E. Stevenson of Illinois, at one time vice president of the United States. No record of Robert Campbell, the second son of the family,
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Don. Robert Alexander Campbell
is obtainable. William Campbell, the third son, became the founder of the Missouri branch of which Robert A. Campbell of this review is a representative. In Kentucky, William Campbell wedded Jane Gouge, a native of Virginia, and she, too, was of Scotch lineage. Several years after his mother's death, William Campbell eame to Missouri with his family and his slaves, settling near Bowling Green. He was a planter throughout his entire life and passed away in 1846, while his wife survived him for but a brief period. They reared a large family and many of their descendants are still numbered among the residents of this state. Several of their sons figured prominently in connection with the official life of Missouri and in professional activities as well. One of the grandsons of William Campbell was John F. Swift, son of Nathan and Sallie (Campbell) Swift, who in 1852 went to California in company with his uncle, James W. Campbell, and Governor Campbell, making the trip across the country with mule teams. There he won sueeess and prominence in business affairs and as a member of the bar and beeame one of the recognized political leaders of that state. Supporting republiean principles, he served as a member of the Cali- fornia legislature and at one time was candidate for governor. President Ben- jamin Harrison named him a member of the commission of three, his colleagues being Denby and Angell, to consider the question of Chinese exelusion, their labors resulting in the negotiation of a treaty of exelusion of the Chinese emi- grants. Mr. Swift was afterward appointed by President Harrison ambassador to Japan and died while filling that office. Aside from his prominenee as a member of the bar and as a statesman, he was termed by Bret Harte "the greatest genius of the three humorous writers-Twain, Miller and Swift." He was the author of two most interesting volumes-"Robert Greathouse," the plot of which was laid in the mining distriets of California, and a second work entitled "Going to Jericho."
Rev. James W. Campbell, who for sixty-five years devoted his life to the work of the ministry and who was the second son of William Campbell, was born near Cynthiana, Kentucky, January 13, 1801. He had reached the age of seventeen years when the family home was established in Missouri. He shared with the other sons of the family in performing the arduous tasks relative to pioneer settlement in any community and whenever leisure permitted he em- braeed his opportunity to promote his education by study in or out of sehool. Ile thus qualified himself for teaching, which he followed for a brief period and then took up the work of the ministry, having united with the Presby- terian ehureh at Antioch in 1822, while the following year he became connected with the MeGee Presbytery at New Lebanon, Cooper county, Missouri. He was licensed to preach in the Bethel ehureh of Boone county in 1824 and two years later was ordained in the full work of the ministry at Judge Perry Erieson's near Glasgow, Missouri. His influenee as a potent factor in the moral progress of the state is immeasurable and there are today still many whose lives have been quiekened and directed by his teachings, so that his good work goes on in the activities of others. IIe was twenty-six years of age when he married and left home, taking up his ahode on a traet of timber land on Calumet ereek, where he developed a small farm. In 1836 he removed to Bowling Green and at differ- ent periods was associated with Harvey T. MeCune, G. B. Crane, William Watts and J. G. Campbell in the conduet of mercantile pursuits, whereby he sup-
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Don. Robert Alexander Campbell
plemented the somewhat limited salary which he received as a minister of the gospel. However, his kindliness and generosity led him to go security for many supposed friends who did not meet their financial obligations and brought upon him great financial hardships. In order to retrieve his fortunes he crossed the plains in 1852 with his son and nephew, but the death of his brother and partner in business forced him to return to Missouri in 1853. IIe sold his land in order to meet the indebtedness which he had incurred and then rented a farm near Spencerburg. He afterward carried on farming at various places in Pike county, owning at different times several farms, until in 1871 he went to live with his son-in-law, William Pieken. Following the death of his daugh- ter, Mrs. Pieken, a year later, he took up his abode in the home of his son, Ben M. Campbell, in Louisiana, Missouri, and there passed away in 1889. The Rev. Pearson, an old-time friend and associate in church work, said in the course of the funeral services of Rev. Campbell : "As a minister he was owned as one of the first in ability in the state, of all denominations. Such was his ability in the pulpit that he was called 'the old man eloquent.' His preaching was not inferior to that of Ewing, King, Sloan, or the Morrows of our own church, or of Drs. Nelson, Ely and Gallagher of the old school and new school Presbyterian church. As a theologian he was clear and logical and eminently biblical. Few men had clearer ideas or deeper convictions of the Bible system of salvation, or were better able to detect errors and to contend for 'the faith once delivered to the saints.' Ilis first circuit extended from St. Charles through Lincoln, Pike, Ralls, Marion, Audrain, Boone and Montgomery counties. For several years he averaged a sermon a day, and for this service he received comparatively nothing. He either organized or assisted in organizing all of the congregations in Salt River presbytery. For forty years or more he regularly supplied Antioch, Ashley, Buffalo and Frankford with a sermon once a month. On the plains and while in California he continued to preach as the opportunity came, and in the boarding houses or the camps of the miners he told the old, old story of Ilis love."
It was in early manhood that Rev. Campbell wedded Sophia Henry, daugh- ter of Malcolm Henry, who removed from York county, South Carolina, to Mis- souri. The children of Rev. and Mrs. Campbell were: William II., who wedded Mary Taylor and after fifty years spent in Bowling Green as merchant, post- master and justice of the peace died in 1893; James, who died in childhood; Robert A .; Mary Jane, who became the wife of William C. Pickens and is now deceased ; Margaret, who married George Estes and both have departed this life; James H., who died in childhood; John Tyler, who joined the Union army in the Civil war as a lieutenant and was soon after promoted to captain of a company in the Thirty-second Missouri Volunteers of General Blair's brigade ; Richard B., who followed merchandising in Clarksville and afterward removed to St. Louis, where he was a partner in the firm of Bodd, Brown & Company until his death ; and Ben M., who after living for many years on the home farm removed to Louisiana, Missouri, in 1888 and there served as secretary of the board of education. The son, John Tyler, following the Civil war, married and settled in Versailles, Missouri. He was later city attorney of Kansas City and several years afterward removed to California, where he became a leader in democratic circles and was elected to the legislature, becoming speaker of the
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