Encyclopedia of the history of Missouri, a compendium of history and biography for ready reference, Vol. I, Part 57

Author: Conard, Howard Louis, ed. 1n
Publication date: 1901
Publisher: New York, Louisville [etc.] The Southern history company, Haldeman, Conard & co., proprietors
Number of Pages: 856

USA > Missouri > Encyclopedia of the history of Missouri, a compendium of history and biography for ready reference, Vol. I > Part 57

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Carolinians, who settled near White Water Creek. In 1805 Rev. Samuel Weiberg (or Whybark, as it is now spelled) came from North Carolina upon the invitation of Major Bollinger and fellow members of the German Reformed Church. Up to the time of his death, in 1833, he attended to the spiritual wants of the colony, and also preached in dif- ferent section of southeastern Missouri and Illinois. Members of the colony were thrifty, and from the first all prospered and some be- came prominent in business and political affairs. Major Bollinger was a member of the first Territorial Assembly, and a member of the State Senate for a mimber of terms, and in 1828 was made president pro tem. of that body. In 1836 he was one of the presi- dential electors. He died in 1842. Soon after his settlement on White Water his wife died. leaving one daughter, who married Joseph Frizel, and after his death she became the wife of Ralph Dougherty. She was the owner of the first piano in Cape Girardeau district. On March 24, 1851, the first county court was organized at the house of John Stevens, on Hurricane Creek. The judges appointed were Reuben Smith, John Stevens and Drury Massey, with William C. Grims- ley, sheriff, and Oliver E. Snider, clerk. Soon after a brick courthouse was built at Dallas- now Marble Hill. The building was thirty by thirty feet, two stories. This was de- stroyed by fire March 2, 1866, and with it were burned some of the records of the county. The same year another brick court- house was built. This, too, was burned in March, 1884. It had been condemned, and at the time was occupied only by the office of the clerk of the courts. Lutesville, which had been laid out a mile southwest of Marble Hill, was ambitious to become the seat of justice, and a proposition to change to that place was voted upon at the general election in Novem- ber, 1884. The town corporation of Marble Hill voted $1,000, and by private subscrip- tion $1,620 additional was raised, and the proposition was overwhelmingly defeated. The county court appropriated $7,000, and. with this and the subscriptions raised in Marble Hill, the present courthouse was built the following year. The first members of the bar of Bollinger County were A. C. Ketchum, who remained but a short time, and Judge George H. Green, James McWilliams, F. Quimby and Alexander Barrett. In 1827,

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when the territory now comprising Bollinger County was part of Cape Girardeau County, a quarrel between two early settlers, Conrad Cothner and Charles Hinkle, resulted in the murder of Hinkle. Cothner was tried in the Madison County Court, was found guilty of manslaughter, and was sentenced to one year's imprisonment at hard labor and fined $500. During the Civil War the county was the scene of a few small skirmishes. August 24, 1862, Confederate Colonel W. L. Jeffers, with one hundred men, attacked four com- panies of the Twelfth Cavalry, Missouri State militia, under Major B. F. Lazear, on Crooked Creek, and routed them. Lindsay Murdock, a resident of the county, was com- missioned lieutenant colonel by General Fre- mont, and raised four companies, many members of which were from the county. Levi C. Whyback was captain of Company "F," which was recruited in Bollinger and Perry Counties, and the county also fur- nished many members to Company "G." The townships in the county arc Crooked Creek, Cedar, Filmore, German, Liberty, Lorance, Union, Wayne and White Water. The prin- cipal towns are Marble Hill, the county seat ; Lutesville and Zalma. The number of pub- lic schools in the county is 79; teachers, 81 ; pupils, 5,167. The estimated total value of the taxable property in the county is $3.765,000. The population in 1900 was 14,650.

Bollinger, George Frederick, pioneer and State Senator, was born of Ger- man-Swiss parentage, in North Carolina, about 1770, and died in Cape Girardeau County, Missouri, in 1843. He was a son of Henry Bollinger, a Revolutionary soldier, who was shot and killed at his home by Tories. George Frederick Bollinger, in 1796, came to Louisiana, as Missouri was then known, and settled on White Water River, near where the town of White Water is now located. Ile was given concessions by the Spanish government on condition that he locate a colony. In 1799 he returned to his former home, and on New Year's Day, 1800, arrived at Ste. Genevieve with a colony of about twenty families, which settled upon land on the White Water River. The mem- bers of the colony were organized into a company of militia, of which Bollinger was made captain by Don Louis Lorimier. Bol-

linger erected a log mill, and for years the place was called Bollinger's Mill. He was a meniber from Cape Girardeau district of the first Territorial Assembly, and was subse- quently re-elected, and when Missouri be- came a State was elected several times to the State Senate. In 1828 he was elected presi- dent pro tem. of the Senate, and in 1836 was a presidential elector on the Jackson ticket. The County of Bollinger was named in his honor.

Bond and Stock Brokers' Asso- ciation, St. Louis .- An association com- posed of brokers dealing in stocks and bonds, for the regulation of the business, the estab- lishment and maintenance of rules governing it, the protection of it against disreputable persons and practices and the support of a recognized standard of honor. It was organ- ized in 1894, with H. W. Wernse as president, A. D. Grant as secretary, Charles Hodgman as vice president, and B. C. Jenkins as treas- urer.

Bond, Henry Whitelaw, lawyer and jurist, was born near Brownsville, Tennessee, January 27, 1848, son of Thomas and Ellen (Whitelaw) Bond. His more remote an- cestors in the paternal line were North Caro- linians, while his mother's family went from Virginia to Tennessee. Both the Bond and Whitelaw families belonged to that physically and mentally vigorous Scotch-Irish element of the population of the Southern States, which has been a potent factor in advancing the civilization of this country and a domi- nant influence in governmental affairs. Until he was sixteen years of age Henry W. Bond resided in Tennessee, and attended the public schools of that State. Coming then to St. Louis, he continued his studies at the City University, popularly known in those days as "Wyman's School," and later completed his scholastic education at Harvard College. After leaving Harvard he returned to Ten- nessee, where he studied law under the pre- ceptorship of Judge Thomas J. Freeman, one of the noted lawyers of that State. In 1870, soon after he attained his majority, he was admitted to the bar in his native State, and began the practice of his profession there. At the end of nine years of active practice in Tennessee, in the course of which he demon- strated that he was admirably fitted for the

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conduct of litigation by natural endowments and educational attainments, he removed to St. Louis, and, although only thirty years of age, almost immediately impressed himself upon the bar of that city as a well rounded and well equipped lawyer, thoroughly at home in every department of professional work. Within a year after his coming to St. Louis he became associated professionally with Judge James J. Lindsley, and the law firm thus constituted was one of those most prominent at the St. Louis bar for a period of six years thereafter. In 1885 he was elected to membership in the State Legisla- ture, and served during the session of the Thirty-third General Assembly, distinguish- ing himself as a legislator of practical ideas, forcefulness in debate and large influence in promoting the best interests of the State, as well as of his immediate constituency. At · the close of his term of service in the Legisla- ture he formed a law partnership with Charles Gibson and Charles Eldon Gibson, under the firm name of Gibson, Bond & Gibson, which continned in existence until 1892, at which time he entered upon the discharge of judicial duties. While practicing in this connection he was identified with many cases involving interests of large magnitude, and gave special attention to that branch of the practice deal- ing with corporate bodies and corporation law. As a practitioner he was noted for being exceedingly careful in the preparation of his cases, for the readiness and facility with which he comprehended every phase of a controversy, and his apt interpretations of the law. While he was an able jury lawyer, his clear and lucid arguments were peculiarly effective when addressed to the courts. These arguments, as well as his general methods of practice, evidenced the judicial cast of his mind, and impressed upon his as- sociates at the bar his eminent fitness for the exercise of judicial functions, and in 1892 he was elected a member of the St. Louis Court of Appeals. As a jurist he has justified the expectations of his warmest friends and ad- mirers, and has not only been a conspicu- ously able judge, but a thoroughly upright and impartial arbiter of affairs submitted to his judgment. Judge Bond married, in 1880, Miss Mary Miller, daughter of Judge Austin Miller, of Bolivar, Tennessee, and has four children, named, respectively, Thomas, Irene, Whitelaw and Marion Bond.

Bonham, David, was born in Oneida County, New York, February 7, 1834. He came to Missouri with his father in 1856, and was raised on a farm and educated in Wis- consin, where his father lived for a time. He served as a Union sollier in the Civil War and was promoted to regimental quarter- master, which position he held until he was mustered out at St. Louis, April 17, 1865. In 1869-70 he served as county judge of Andrew County, and in 1879 was elected to the Legis- lattre and was re-elected for four successive terms.

Bonne Terre .- A city in Perry Town- ship, St. Francois County, twelve miles northwest of Farmington, on the Mississippi River & Bonne Terre Railroad, fifty-eight miles from St. Louis. Early in the history of the county, lead and zinc were found at Boone Terre, to which the name was given by French settlers, meaning "good earth," as much disseminated ore was found there, which required only washing to render the mineral marketable. Up to 1860 there were not more than half a dozen families located at the place. In 1864 the richness of the ore attracted the attention of Eastern capitalists, a company was formed, lands purchased and mills for the reduction of ore were built. About the mines a village sprang up which rapidly increased in size as the business of the mines developed. In 1882 a town was laid out and outside its limits little villages were started and called Settletown, Bogy- town, Moontown, Hilltown and Elvinstown. Upon the organization of the town the name Bonne Terre, which had been given pre- viously to a postoffice established, was adopted. In July, 1883, fire destroyed the works of the St. Joseph Lead Company, and in March, 1885, the plant of the Desloge Lead Company was destroyed. These fires, while temporarily stopping work at the mines, resulted in a benefit, as larger works were erected, and a greater number of hands employed. From the first mining has been the main industry of the town, and Bonne Terre is one of the principal markets for the agricultural products of the tributary country. Besides the mining plants, one of which em- braces the largest lead smelters in the United States, there are nearly one hundred bus- iness concerns, large and small, including two banks, flouring and planing mills, brick

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yard, machine shop, three hotels and many well stocked stores of various kinds. There are four schools, one of which is for colored children ; six churches, Catholic, Congrega- tional, Methodist Episcopal, and three Methodist Episcopal, South. The Catholics have a select school-St. Joseph's-which is in a flourishing condition. The town has electric lights. The Masons, Odd Fellows, Knights of Pythias and other orders have lodges in the town. The first paper pub- lished in the town was the "Register," started in 1885, by J. M. Kirkpatrick; the second was the "Critic" in 1887 by John La Chance. They were succeeded by the papers now published, the "Star." edited by H. M. Butler, and the "Democrat Register," by B. A. Ray. The population of the town, in- cluding near by hamlets, in 1890 was 3.719. Estimated population (1899), 4,000.

Bonneville, Benjamin Lewis, an officer of the United States Army, born April II, 1796. His father was highly educated, and controlled a press in Paris, which was an adjunct of Thomas Paine's Republican Club. Paine escaped from France with Mme. Bonne- ville and her son, Benjamin, then a lad, but the elder Bonneville was not permitted to go at that time, though afterward released, when he joined his family in New Rochelle, New York. Paine, whose writings on the side of the American Revolution had attracted much attention, secured the appointment of young Bonneville to the West Point Academy, where he graduated in 1819. By appoint- ment of the War Department he accom- panied Lafayette on his last visit to this country in 1824, and returned with him to France as his guest, and was domiciled in his family for a time. On his return home he was appointed a lieutenant in the army and assigned to frontier duty, soon attaining the rank of captain. Fond of adventure and de- sirous of exploring the Rocky Mountain region, he applied for and received a two years' leave of absence, or until October, 1833. and organized an expedition with a company of one hundred and ten men, in- eluding a number of Delaware Indians, out- fitting at St. Louis and starting overland May 1, 1832, from Fort Osage, on the Mis- souri River. llis was the first wagon train that ever crossed the prairie. The story of

his achievements, rivaling those of Lewis, Clark, Ashley and Fremont, engaged the graphic pen of Washington Irving, and are told in his "Tour of the Prairies," published about the year 1836. Bonneville outstayed his leave by several months. No report had reached the war office, and, supposedly dead, he was dropped from the rolls, but August 22, 1835, he and the remnants of his band strolled into Fort Gibson. There was some difficulty concerning his reinstatement, but on his production of his maps and tracings of the mountain routes and passes, with full descriptions of the country, President Jack- son ordered that he be restored. In Florida, whence he was detailed from Fort Smith at the breaking out of the Seminole War, he gained distinction as an Indian fighter, his knowledge of the methods of savage warfare being invaluable. Not long after the close of that incident he was ordered to Mexico, where he was in several engagements, and where he received a severe wound in the side. Subsequent to the Mexican War he was stationed successively at various mili- tary points. He was at San Antonio, Texas, when the Civil War opened, but, although previously a Southerner in feeling, he came to St. Louis and appealed to General Grant to be assigned to a suitable command in the Union Army. Through the influence of Gen- eral Grant, who had known Bonneville in Mexico and appreciated his military qualities, he was promoted from captain to be a brevet brigadier general, and was placed in com- mand of Benton Barracks, on the St. Louis fair grounds, where he remained during the war as mustering and inspecting officer. It was here that his wife and daughter died. His daughter was a charming young lady of eighteen years. The grief-stricken mother, who was a daughter of Judge Lewis, of Car- lisle, Pennsylvania, survived but a few days, and was buried by her side. At the close of the war General Bonneville was retired from service, and, returning to Fort Smith, built a handsome residence on his farm in the neigh- borhood. In 1870 he married Miss Susan Neis, of Fort Smith, who is now-1898-liv- ing there. General Bonneville died in 1878, and his remains now lie, with those of his first wife and his beautiful daughter, in Belle- fontaine. An imposing monument marks the spot.

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BOOGHER-BOONE.

Boogher, John P., merchant, was born at Mount Pleasant, Frederick County, in the State of Maryland, October 8, 1835, and died at his residence on West Pine Boulevard, St. Louis, December 27, 1893. He was educated at Frederick College, of Frederick City, Maryland, and then turned his attention to mercantile pursuits, engaging first in the retail dry goods business at Frederick City. Coming west in 1856, he connected himself the same year with the wholesale dry goods house of Pomeroy, Benton & Co., St. Louis. With this house he remained six years, thoroughly familiarizing himself in the course of that term of service with all the details of the wholesale trade, and obtaining a broad knowledge of Western trade in gen- eral. Severing his connection with the firm of Pomeroy, Benton & Co., in 1862, he be- came associated with what was then the well known commercial house of Henry Bell & Sons, and continued his connection with that house until it went out of business. In 1878 he became a member of the Wear-Boogher Dry Goods Company, and was made treas- urer of the corporation. The new enterprise was successful from the start, and soon took a leading place among the wholesale dry goods houses of St. Louis, as did Mr. Boogher among the merchants of the city. He continued to be actively and prominently identified with the wholesale dry goods trade until the end of his life, and died lamented by all his associates in commercial and social circles. Pleasing in his manners, genial and kindly under all circumstances, he had a host of warm personal friends, and those who knew him less intimately appreciated no less his business ability, and his sterling worth as a man and a citizen. He was identified polit- ically with the Democratic party, but was not active in politics, and never sought nor held political office. He was a Methodist church- man, and for thirty-five years was a loyal and zealous member of Centenary Methodist Episcopal Church, South. He married, in 1871, Miss Eliza B. Silver, daughter of Joseph Silver, a wealthy cotton planter of the State of Alabama.

Boomer .- See "Lamonte."

Boone, Banton Gallitin, an eminent lawyer, was born October 23, 1838, in Callaway County, Missouri, and died at 21

Clinton, Missouri, February 11, 1900. He was descended from the famous pioneer, Daniel Boone, through both his parents, Banton Gallitin Boone and Elizabeth Boone, and the maiden name of the mother was the same as was her married name. The father was a physician, who came to Missouri in 1818, first locating in Callaway County, thence removing to Pike County, and finally returning to Callaway County, where he died. The son, Banton G. Boone, was but three months old when his father died. Until he was twelve years of age he lived with his maternal grandparents, and when sixteen years of age he began work in a printing office at Troy, Missouri. In 1856 he went to Clinton, Missouri, and although without friends or means, he there began a career which became eminently successful. He soon obtained appointment as deputy circuit clerk, and occupied the position for about four years. At the end of this time, although he had never attended school a single day, he was a well informed young man, who had devoted his night hours not only to the acquisition of an English educa- tion, but to reading law. In 1860 he was admitted to the bar, at Clinton, by Judge Foster P. Wright. He had scarcely begun practice when the Civil War began, and he entered the Confederate service. When peace was restored he returned to Clinton, and resumed practice, soon coming to be recognized as one of the foremost lawyers of western Missouri. In 1884 he was elected Attorney General of the State of Missouri, and acquitted himself in a manner which brought him the highest encomiums from the most distinguished jurists. During his term of service he represented the State in the Maxwell murder case, in the Supreme Court of Missouri, and in the Supreme Court of the United States. In his official capacity, he was of counsel in the Hannibal & St. Joseph Railway bond case, and appeared before the Supreme Court of the United States, where a judgment was rendered which saved to the State about one-half a million dollars. Well read in all departments of his profession, he particularly excelled in that of constitutional law. He was a force -. ful speaker, and at times rose to flights of eloquence. One of his most masterly efforts, for which he was warmly complimented by Chief Justice Henry, and Judges Ray, Sher-

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wood, Black and Norton, was a memorial address delivered upon the death of Judge Waldo P. Johnson, before the Supreme Court of Missouri. His address on the celebrated Birch vs. Benton slander case was a unique production, and has an enduring place in professional literature. He was a man of broad and liberal information, courte- ous in his bearing, and while tenacious of his views in upholding Democratic principles, he was tolerant of the opinions of others. In 1874 he was elected to the Legislature, from Henry County, by the largest majority ever received by a candidate in that county, and upon taking his seat was elected Speaker, defeating General James Shields. In 1887 he was appointed by Governor Marmaduke as a commissioner to the Centennial Anni- versary of the Adoption of the Federal Con- stitution, at Philadelphia, Pennsylvania ; and in 1889 he was appointed by Governor More- house as a delegate from Missouri to the Centennial Anniversary of the Inauguration of President George Washington, at New York. He was married June 4, 1874, to Miss Irene Rogers, a daughter of Dr. John A. Rogers, of Clinton, Missouri. Her mother was a sister of Major General Gorman, once Governor of Minnesota, and United States Senator from that State, and a cousin of Senator Gorman, of Maryland.

Boone, John T., at the head of the New York Life Insurance Company's interests in Kansas City, having the valuable association of his brother. Daniel Boone, in that capac- ity, was born in Howard County, Missouri. Their father, a man prominent in the social and political affairs of his community and taking a deep interest in educational matters, was State librarian of Missouri at the time of his death and no man was esteemed more highly by those whose duties called them to the State capital than was William C. Boone. He was a native of Kentucky and his family ties are traced to direct connection with those of the noted pioneer whose name has been given an imperishable place in the records of history. John T. Boone, after com- pleting his education and serving a probation .in business circles, represented the New York Life Insurance Company in California before he went to St. Louis under the direction of William 1. Hill, the general agent. Prior to that time Daniel Boone was

a bank official in Jefferson City, Missouri, and had attained prominence in the business associations which he formed. The New York Life, now one of the greatest parts of the splendid financial scheme which adds to the richness and importance of Missouri, first entered this State for the transaction of business in 1855. St. Louis was its prime field of operations, and there, in that early day, a flourishing business was rapidly built np. The men whose names appear in the introductory lines of this article entered upon their careers as representatives of this company in Missouri in 1876. They traveled out of St. Louis as traveling agents for the western department and the term of their service in St. Louis and tributary territory covered about sixteen years. At the end of that time they removed to Kansas City, where the company had already made important investments, and where the business was approaching a degree of such magnitude that shrewd management and wise supervision were required. In 1896 they were given entire charge over the Kansas City branch, and the growth of the business is sufficient evidence of the wisdom demonstrated by the heads of the company when this step was decided upon. In 1885 the New York Life completed its magnificent office building in Kansas City, erected at a cost of $1.450,000 and said to be the finest structure for commercial purposes in the West. The business over which these men have control covers a territory embracing several hundred square miles, and about one hundred and fifty men are under their direction. During the last four years the growth of the company's operations has been nothing short of marvelous, the amount of business written in the Kansas City territory increasing from one million to nearly seven millions of dollars annually during that time. In addition to the elegant office building owned by the New York Life in Kansas City, the company has a splendid piece of property in Heist Building and owns other invest- ments to the value of one million dollars. The New York Life has always stood for a greater Missouri and has done a loyal part by the metropolis of the western part of the State. Its investments are stable and sub- stantial and its methods so well known that the wonderful growth of business, surpassing all other records and execeding all other

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Encyclopedia of the history of Missouri, a compendium of history and biography for ready reference, Vol. I, Part 57

Author: Conard, Howard Louis, ed. 1n Publication date: 1901 Publisher: New York, Louisville [etc.] The Southern history company, Haldeman, Conard & co., proprietors Number of Pages: 856

Author: Conard, Howard Louis, ed. 1n
Publication date: 1901
Publisher: New York, Louisville [etc.] The Southern history company, Haldeman, Conard & co., proprietors
Number of Pages: 856