USA > Missouri > Linn County > Compendium of history and biography of Linn County, Missouri > Part 50
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In business circles he also stands high as a conscientious and upright merchant, modern in methods except as to the tricks of the trade, and enterprising and studious concerning the needs of the com- munity in his lines of commodities and in his efforts to supply them. With regard to the material affairs of the city, township and county of his home he is public spirited and progressive, always willing to aid in the promotion of any worthy project involving the betterment of his locality, and energetic and intelligent in the application of his influence and force. He has taken a deep interest in local political matters also, and served the city well and wisely as its mayor, being the second man elected to the office and receiving a majority of more than 300 votes at the time of his election.
Dr. Cater has four children. His son Roy is a physician in active practice. His son Donald is a druggist. The other two are his daugh- ter Ruth and an invalid son. For almost thirty years Doctor Cater has lived among these people, with his life an open book before them, and the universal esteem felt for him and manifested toward him demonstrates that his record is a good one, and that his life here has been useful and estimable. Bucklin township claims no better or more elevated citizen, and none for whom its people have a higher or more sincere and cordial regard.
DR. BENJAMIN B. PUTMAN
The oldest physician and surgeon in Linn county, and with a record of forty-seven years of active practical work in the profession to his credit, Dr. Benjamin B. Putman, of Marceline, has rendered the people among whom he has so long and so effectively labored services that may be estimated in the universal regard and good will of the communities which have had the benefit of them, but whose value cannot be measured by any computation of figures or mere statement of facts. He is entitled to rest from his arduous endeavors to amelior- ate the sufferings of his fellow beings for the remainder of his life, but he is as energetic in his work and as diligent and conscientious in the performance of it as he has ever been, and in this he is impelled by
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the high sense of duty that has always characterized him in everything he has undertaken.
Dr. Putman has more than an ordinary interest in Linn county and its residents, for it is the place of his birth, his academic education, his early and his later associations, and the work of his entire life to the present time. He came into being in North Salem township on June 10, 1844, and is a son of William and Sarah (Head) Putman, the former a native of Kentucky and the latter of Virginia. The father was a farmer and came to Missouri in 1840, taking up his residence in Sullivan county. Two years later he moved to Linn county and bought a tract of wild land, on which he lived until 1866. He then changed his residence to Brookfield, and later moved to Bucklin, where he died in 1888. The mother died in 1864. They were the parents of ten chil- dren, of whom the doctor is the only one now living. The father was married three times, but had children by none except the first marriage.
The doctor's grandfather, James Putman, was born and reared in Kentucky, but passed the last half or more of his life in Indiana, where he died, universally respected as a citizen and as a man. He was a farmer in his native state and also in the state of his adoption. His father, whose name was also Henry Putman, was a Kentuckian, too, by nativity, and passed almost the whole of his life in that state. But his long and useful career was closed in Indiana, where he located a few years before his death.
Dr. Benjamin B. Putman began reading medicine soon after com- pleting the course of instruction in the public school near his home on his father's farm in North Salem township. His first studies in the profession were pursued in the office and under the direction of Dr. D. I. Stevenson in Linneus, which he entered as a student in 1863. In 1864 he took one course of lectures at the St. Louis Medical College, after which he practiced until 1872. In that year he again entered the St. Louis Medical College, and before the year ended he was grad- uated with the degree of M. D.
The first year of his practice was passed at North Salem, and at the end of that period he moved to Bucklin. In that town he remained twenty-eight years, during twenty of which he was engaged in the drug business in connection with his practice. In 1894 he changed his residence to Marceline, and here he lias lived busily occupied with a large and active practice throughout the surrounding country ever since. From the time of his arrival at Marceline he has also been surgeon for the Santa Fe Railroad, and during the last fifteen years he has occupied the same professional relation to the mines.
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Feeling the need and realizing the value of organized effort in his work, in order that he might have the benefit of the knowledge and experience of his professional brethren, and give them the benefit of his own, Dr. Putman many years ago joined the State and District Medical Societies, and he has been active in his membership and fruit- ful in his contributions to the advancement and usefulness of these societies ever since, and his membership in each is highly valued by the other members.
Busy as he has been in his professional work, and ardently as he has devoted himself to it, the doctor has not allowed it to take all his time and energy. He is a man of great public spirit and enterprise, and earnestly and warmly devoted to the welfare of the city and county of his home. His interest in their progress and improvement in every way has always been active and manifested in intelligent and energetic support of all commendable undertakings for their betterment in every way, moral, mental, social and material. He has served as mayor of Marceline and looked after its needs with earnestness and zeal gov- erned by breadth of view and excellent judgment. The good of the city was his only aim in the performance of his official duties, and he discharged them in a way that was highly satisfactory to the people, beneficial to the city and creditable to himself.
In political relations Dr. Putman is affiliated with the Democratic party, and is an effective advocate of its principles in word and deed, although he cannot be classed as an active partisan and is by no means an intolerant one. In fraternal connection he is a Freemason of the Knights Templar degree, cordial in his admiration of the fraternity and ardently devoted to its welfare everywhere and in every way. The people of Linn county of all classes and conditions look upon this high- toned and honorable gentleman as one of their leading physicians and surgeons, best men and most estimable and useful citizens.
J. E. ELLIS
From keeping a little store in a small country village to being the proprietor of a big department emporium in a city which numbers its residents by the thousands, and conducting the most extensive and up-to-date business of its kind within a large range of populous and progressive country, seems a long step to the casual observer, and would in many cases be more than could be taken in a lifetime. But it is a step that J. E. Ellis, the leading merchant of Marceline, has taken
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in less than fifteen years, and without any great effort. But Mr. Ellis has that within him as part of his makeup which enabled him to do easily what others would have to strain at, or could not accomplish at all. And he has never been in doubt as to what he could do. For he has known himself and has relied on the business capacity he felt that he possessed with unfaltering faith, and this has been one great element in his success.
Mr. Ellis is a Missourian by birth, education, social training and all the experience of his life to the present time (1912). He was born near the village of Wien, in Chariton county, on June 18, 1871, and is a son of Wesley and Adelia (Doughty) Ellis, a short account of whose lives will be found in the sketch of Mr. Ellis' brother, Dr. William W. Ellis, elsewhere in this volume. The father was a merchant for a number of years and his sons appear to have inherited the mercantile instinct from him. At any rate, they possess it in large measure and of high quality, and they use it for the benefit of themselves and their community.
J. E. Ellis grew to manhood in Chariton county and obtained his education in its district schools. He began his business career in Westville in 1892, keeping a small country store there, and for four years enduring the humdrum life, narrow range and small profits of such an enterprise, while all the time his spirit longed for an under- taking of far greater magnitude and with the spice of more extensive activity and variety in a business way. But he was simpling biding his time and laying his plans, and when his hour of opportunity came he vaulted easily and gracefully to the height he was fitted and destined to occupy in mercantile circles.
In 1896 he moved to Marceline and, in company with his brother, Dr. Ellis, opened a small drug store and grocery. This expanded rap- idly in volume and value, but not rapidly enough to satisfy the desires of Mr. Ellis. Accordingly, in 1905, he built the business block he now occupies and started his present large department store, which is the only one in Marceline and has the most extensive trade in this part of the country. The block in which the business is housed is one of the most massive and imposing in the city. It is commodious in size, complete and modern in appointments, and arranged with every con- sideration for the comfort and convenience of those who patronize the business it contains.
Mr. Ellis is very enterprising in his business. He studies the wants of the community and the best methods of providing for them. He makes a specialty of buying whole stocks of goods at low rates, and is
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thereby able to supply his customers with whatever they need at mod- erate cost to them, giving them, at the same time, a comprehensive mass and wide range of commodities to select from, all first rate in material and workmanship and up to the latest turn of the factories in style and finish.
While taking all of a good citizen's part in public affairs, Mr. Ellis has never been an active partisan in politics, although a man of decided convictions in reference to public questions, and has never sought or desired a political office of any kind. He prefers to leave the manage- ment of state, county, township and city affairs to those who have a taste for the work, while he devotes himself to the line of usefulness for which he feels best fitted and most completely qualified.
But where the interests of his locality in a moral, mental, social or material way are involved, he is full of energy and wide-awake in atten- tion with a view to securing the best results from every undertaking, and helping to direct all the forces at work along lines of the most wholesome and substantial progress and development. He is very public-spirited and enterprising with reference to the improvement of the region in which he lives, and conducts his business and spares no effort possible on his part to advance it as rapidly as the circumstances allow.
On June 29, 1892, Mr. Ellis was united in marriage with Miss Hortie J. Seatt, a native of Chariton county. They have one child, their son James Ellis, Jr. The parents are reckoned among the leading people of the city and county of their home and looked upon as potent forces for good in every phase of the life of the residents of this part of the state. They are modest and unostentatious in their demeanor, but they discharge their duties to their community faithfully and fur- nish excellent examples of estimable citizenship, which are well appre- ciated by the people among whom they live and labor to such good purpose.
WILLIAM N. WHEELER
This leading business man and influential citizen of Marceline, who is one of the pioneers in the real estate business in this locality, is not a native of Linn county, but has been a resident of it from the time when he was but two years old. From the soil of Bucklin township he has drawn his stature and his strength. In its district schools he secured his education. His social habits were acquired in association with its people, and his business enterprise has been employed among
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them greatly to their advantage as well as to his own. He is therefore practically a product of this county, although his life actually began in Chariton county on December 7, 1862. Two years later his parents moved their family to Bucklin township, and he has never known any other home.
Mr. Wheeler is a son of Judge Robert J. and Martha Ann (Brooks) Wheeler, the former born in Prince Edward county, Virginia, on March 30, 1829. The father was an early arrival in Chariton county, Missouri, being brought there by his parents when he was only two years old. He was a prosperous farmer in Chariton county, and as such accumulated a good estate. In 1864 he moved to Bucklin, and for many years thereafter was actively engaged in merchandising. He first dealt in leaf tobacco, and after selling his business in this line of trade, be- came a general merchant, and also owned and operated a lumber yard, and a flouring, saw and carding mill. For three years after his arrival at Bucklin he was the agent for the American Express Company at that place.
During the Civil War, owing to his neutrality in the great sec- tional conflict, he suffered severely from the depredations of both the Union and the Confederate soldiers, and because of the unsettled con- dition of the country during the strife and for some years afterward, he lost heavily through bad and absconding debtors. His establish- ment was also twice destroyed by fire, and he had no insurance to cover the loss. Yet, notwithstanding these reverses and business hard- ships, he became a wealthy man, at one time owning valuable land in Linn, Chariton, Macon and Sullivan counties in this state and some in Kansas.
For a time he was one of the judges of the county court, and was always an enterprising, public spirited and progressive citizen, ear- nestly and actively interested in the growth and development of his township and county, and doing his full share to promote their advance- ment. He belonged to the Methodist Episcopal church, and for many years was a member of the Masonic order. His religious usefulness and generosity were not, however, limited to his own sect, for he aided liberally in supporting all denominations and charities of every kind. Linn county has known no better citizen, and its people have held none in higher esteem throughout its history.
William N. Wheeler may properly be said to have inherited the mercantile instinct, and to have cultivated his natural gift for it by force of habit from his childhood. For he was constantly in the atmos- phere of trade while growing to manhood and attending school. He
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began business for himself in association with A. J. Stone, conducting a general store at Bucklin. The partnership lasted eighteen months, and after that Mr. Wheeler was in business alone for four years at the same place.
In 1888 he moved to Marceline and started the Bank of Marceline, which he conducted for three years, at the same time carrying on a flourishing real estate business, in which he is still actively and exten- sively engaged. In this line of mercantile operations he is in the front rank in this part of the state, and deserves to be. He is wise to his business and all its requirements, and he conducts it on a high plane of integrity, with great enterprise and breadth of view, and with an eye always to the substantial and enduring welfare of the region in which he operates. He is also, at this time (1912) agent for the Maxwell automobile in Marceline.
On February 17, 1885, Mr. Wheeler was united in marriage with Miss Stella Price, the daughter of James and Mary A. Price, esteemed residents of Chariton county, Missouri. One child has been born of the union, a daughter named Esther B. The head of the house has long been active in local public affairs as a Democrat, and has ren- dered his party excellent service in its campaigns for a long time. He has also given his home city good service as one of its leading men, and as a city councilman for a period of eighteen years. He came to Marceline in the infancy of the city and has been one of the potential forces that have made it what it is. He is a fine representative of its best and most elevated citizenship, and is esteemed by the people of the whole county as one of their wisest and most progressive business men, most hightoned and upright gentlemen and most serviceable agencies for promoting the general welfare of all.
EDMUND D. STANDLY, M. D.
Born and reared on a farm, and acquiring strength and flexibility of body and resoluteness and self-reliance of spirit by participation in its useful but exacting labors; laying the foundation of his academic education in the district schools, and completing it in a good college in which practical instruction leading to serviceable ends is the rule and specialty instead of the frills and furbelows of mental culture; and then thoroughly trained in both the theory and the practical work of his profession at a leading medical college and in hospital service, Dr. Edmund D. Standly of Brookfield entered upon his life work well pre-
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pared for its duties, and in his career since starting in it, he has demon- strated that the time he passed in preparation was well and wisely employed.
Dr. Standly was born in Coles county, Illinois, on January 28, 1872, and is a son of William S. and Phama J. (Dawson) Standly, who were farmers in that county. The father was a brother of Dr. Zachary T. Standly, in a sketch of whom to be found in this volume a brief resume of the history of the family will be found. Both parents of Dr. Edmund D. Standly are dead and he is the only one of their children now living. He attended the district schools in his native county and completed his academic training in the college at Westfield, county of Clark, from which he was graduated in the summer of 1894.
In the autumn of the same year he began the study of medicine in University Medical College in Kansas City, Missouri, and from that institution he was graduated with the degree of M. D. in 1897. He then passed one year and a half as interne in the general hospital in the same city, and near the close of 1898 located in Linneus and began the general practice of his profession, remaining in that city until November, 1909. He then spent three months more in hospital work in Kansas City, and in February, 1910, came to Brookfield and formed a partnership with his cousin, Dr. Catherine Standly under the firm name of Standly & Standly.
The doctor is now practicing alone, and gives attention to all departments of work in the line of his profession. He has been very successful in his practice, being recognized by his professional brothers and the general public as a wise, judicious and skillful practitioner, and making every effort to keep on deserving in full measure the reputation he enjoys. To this end he studies diligently the best litera- ture on medical science and takes an active part in the proceedings of the Linn county and Missouri State Medical Societies, to both of which he belongs.
On May 28, 1901, Dr. Standly was united in marriage with Miss Ida M. Williams of Linneus, and since then has maintained an attrac- tive home in the city of his residence, making it a center of social cul- ture and genuine but unostentatious hospitality. He has taken a very active and helpful part in the public affairs of Linn county, serving four years as county physician and seven as a member of the pension board. He has also been earnest and serviceable in his support of all undertakings designed to promote the progress and improvement of the county and the enduring welfare of its residents.
Fraternally Dr. Standly is connected with the Independent Order
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of Odd Fellows and the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks, Masonic order, 32 degree York Rite and Shrine. Socially he moves in the highest circles and is an ornament to them. Professionally he is in the front rank in this part of the state, and in citizenship he is ele- vated, public spirited and attentive to every duty, giving all public questions discriminating examination, and acting on all with unalloyed consideration for the general welfare. Throughout the county he is highly esteemed.
DR. THOMAS P. FORE
Having been engaged in an active and exacting general practice of his profession, with special attention to affections of the nose, ears, eyes and throat, and having also taken an energetic part in the affairs of his township and county during the last seventeen years, Dr. Thomas P. Fore of Brookfield has endeared himself to the people of this por- tion of the state by the great services he has rendered them. They have found him highly capable in his professional work, with a mas- tery of both the theory and the practice of the science of medicine, and great skill and excellent judgment in the application of his knowl- edge. They have found him also upright, progressive and judicious in the exercise of his citizenship, with a warm practical interest in the welfare of his locality, and highly commendable energy in giving it expression in work of value. They therefore have many reasons for holding him in high esteem, and they do in all parts of the county.
Dr. Fore was born on July 3, 1871, on a farm northeast of Linneus in this county. His parents, Peter T. and Mildred E. (Brown) Fore, moved to this locality from Howard county more than forty years ago. The father's parents were born, reared and married in Virginia, and came to Missouri early in their married life. They made the journey from the Old Dominion overland in a wagon, and found it long and tedious, with danger from various sources at numerous places along the route, and privations and burdensome conditions in every mile. It was while making this journey that the doctor's father was born, so the state and place of his nativity would be difficult to determine but the year of his birth was 1833.
The family located in Howard county and remained there, the parents passing the rest of their lives in that county. There the son grew to manhood, obtained a common school education and acquired a knowledge of farming, which he made his occupation through life. He was married, too, in that county, but soon afterward located in
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Linn county, and here he has passed all the subsequent years of his life, doing general farming, raising some live stock, and performing his duty to the people as a worthy, estimable and useful man in all the relations and requirements of upright and progressive citizenship and devoted to the general weal of his community.
Dr. Thomas P. Fore began his academic education in the district schools and completed it at the high school in Linneus. He began the study of medicine in the office and under the instruction of Dr. A. J. Berry of Purdin. In 1891 and 1892 he attended the medical depart- ment of the University of Louisville, Kentucky, and in 1892 and 1893 Barnes Medical College in St. Louis, Missouri, from which he was graduated with the degree of M. D. in 1893. He located at Lemonville, Putnam county, and began his practice there immediately after his graduation.
In 1894 he came to Brookfield and purchased the practice and good will of Dr. B. B. Putman, and here has lived ever since, giving his attention without reservation to his patients, who have increased in number from year to year as his skill has grown and become more widely known. But he has not devoted himself wholly to the general calls on his faculties and professional attainments. Realizing at an early period in his work that there was need of special knowledge for the relief of many of his cases, he took a post graduate course on dis- eases and treatment of the eyes, ears, nose and throat, and he has since made a specialty of that branch of the practice. His post graduate course of instruction was pursued at the St. Louis Medical College, and was of decided advantage to him, as it has been of great benefit to the people of this county.
Dr. Fore has been studious of his profession in a general way also, employing all means at his command to keep abreast with its progress and himself informed as to all its continuous discoveries of value and its advances in every way. He is an active member of the Linn county and the Missouri State Medical societies, and an industrious and reflective reader of the best literature bearing on his work, giving close attention to everything that is revealed in the science of medicine and all that is taught or suggested with reference to improvements in practice.
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