USA > Missouri > Encyclopedia of the history of Missouri, a compendium of history and biography for ready reference, Vol. II > Part 45
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DEACON.
he was engaged for four years upon a salary, and then, from 1863 to 1868, engaged in gen- eral merchandising and wool-buying at Waukegan with a partner, the style of the firm being Hutchinson & Deacon. In 1868 he retired from that concern and came to Harrisonville, Missouri, where he entered into partnership with his brother, Andrew G. Deacon, purchasing the interest of Mr. Crotzer, who had been a member of the firm of Deacon & Crotzer. This partnership continued until 1886, when Mr. Deacon re- tired from active business. In 1883, upon the organization of the Bank of Harrison- ville, he was chosen by the board of directors as the first president of that institution, and remained in that position until January, 1892, when he resigned the office by reason of fail- ing health. He is still a director in the bank, however, and besides this interest, is the owner of considerable improved real estate in Harrisonville and fine farming land in Cass County. He was also one of the orig- inal stockholders in the company which erected Hotel Harrisonville in 1883. Mr. Deacon has always been a staunch advocate of, the principles of the Republican party, of which he was one of the founders. The only public office which he has ever consented to fill is that of member of the City Council of Harrisonville. He was made a Mason at Waukegan, Illinois, in 1863, and has attained the degrees of Knight Templar, having been one of the charter members of Bayard Com- mandery, No. 26, of Harrisonville. In re- ligion he is a member of the Presbyterian Church, in which he holds the office of elder. Mr. Deacon has been married three times. His first marriage occurred November 8, 1852, and united him with Arabella D. Strong, a native of Williamsburg, Massachu- setts. She died in May, 1883, leaving three children-John T., who is engaged in the cattle business through the West, and is at present located in Kansas City; Andrew Strong, cashier of the Bank of Harrisonville, and Lily D., wife of W. B. Clark, of Kansas City. September 14, 1887, he married Mrs. Lucy Brison, a native of Lancaster, Ohio, who died September 14, 1895. January 16, 1899, he was wedded to Mrs. Harriet M. Haskell, a native of North Egremont, Berk- shire County, Massachusetts, and a daughter of James and Abigail (Mather) Kelsey, the latter being a lineal descendant of Cotton
Mather. Mrs. Deacon was the widow of Dudley C. Haskell, at one time a member of Congress from Kansas, and in whose honor the United States government named Haskell Institute, at Lawrence, Kansas. In I865 she removed to
Lawrence, where more than thirty years of her life were spent. Mrs. Deacon has two children - Mrs. May Holmes, of Cresco, Iowa, and Mrs. Edith Burney, wife of A. L. Burney, assistant cashier of the Bank of Harrisonville. Mr. and Mrs. Deacon occupy a handsome new residence on East Mechanic Street, in Har- risonville, where they dispense a liberal hos- pitality. Mr. Deacon is recognized as a man of sterling integrity, a broad-minded man and a useful citizen, and his wife is a lady of many rare graces of character.
Deacon, John Beverly Robinson, merchant, is one of the oldest citizens of Har- risonville, Cass County, in point of years of residence, and a pioneer of its post-bellum days. He was born in Picton, Prince Ed- ward's County, Ontario, Canada, November 26, 1826, and is a son of Andrew Gordon and Amanda (Cory) Deacon. His father, a native of Quebec, was born January 27, 1796, and his grandfather, Thomas Deacon, was a na- tive of Ireland. Thomas Deacon's wife, a native of England, born at Newcastle-on-the- Tyne, mother of our subject, who was descended from English ancestry and was the daughter of Eliakim Cory, was born in Ball- ston Spa, Saratoga County, New York, March 19, 1800, and subsequently removed to Hillier, Ontario, with her parents. Her mar- riage occurred at Hillier, April 19, 1820. In 1849 Andrew G. Deacon and his wife left Canada and located at Waukegan, Illinois, where they remained until 1853. In that year they removed to Fond du Lac, Wisconsin, re- siding there until they removed to Harrison- ville in the fall of 1869. Mr. Deacon's death occurred there April 19, 1870, in the seventy- fifth year of his age, and on the fiftieth anni- versary of his marriage. His wife died not long after, in March, 1880, aged eighty years. Until 1864 the subject of this sketch con- tinued to reside in Canada, where his educa- tion was obtained in the common schools. He had been engaged in farming, milling and merchandising in Canada, and when, in 1864, he decided to come to the
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DEAF-MUTE EDUCATION.
United States, he removed to Harrison- ville, Missouri, and engaged in business the following year as a general merchant, estab- lishing the first store there after the close of the war. Soon after his location in that town his parents removed there, where they spent the remainder of their lives. When Mr. Deacon first settled in Harrison- ville the place had but 800 inhabitants, with no mercantile business or banking facilities. When he reached Pleasant Hill he found he could obtain no horse to carry him the rest of the journey, and so was compelled to walk the entire distance of twelve miles, fording the unbridged streams which crossed his path. For the first four years of his business career here his goods were carted from Pleasant Hill, as the railroad was not built until 1869. The postoffice was located in the upper story of the courthouse, and was acces- sible only by means of a ladder. Harrison- ville was then a military post, 'and as the town was filled with soldiers every house was packed to its fullest capacity. In 1865 Mr. Deacon erected the house in which he now resides, the lumber for which was hauled by ox team from Pleasant Hill. The general merchandising business in which he origin- ally started gradually developed into an ex- tensive hardware and implement house, and was located on the corner on which the pres- ent store, now controlled by his brother, Andrew G. Deacon, stands. Mr. Deacon remained as sole proprietor of the establish- ment until 1869, when he admitted Andrew G. Deacon into partnership. In 1868 Eliakim C. Deacon, another brother, came to Har- risonville and entered the firm, which was known as Deacon Brothers until the retire- ment of the subject of this biography in 1887. Mr. Deacon is an attendant upon the services and a liberal contributor to the support of St. Peter's Protestant Episcopal Church, of which his wife is a member. Though he has always been a staunch Republican he has never sought office. Among the local enter- prises in which he has been interested are the Hotel Harrisonville, in which he was one of the original stockholders, retaining his in- terest to the present time, and a tile factory and a creamery, which have now ceased to exist. He was married October 26, 1853, at Brighton, Canada, West, to Flavia A. Proc- tor. They have been the parents of five children, three of whom died within ten days,
in Canada, in 1863. Those living are Allie, wife of W. L. P. Burney, an attorney of War- saw, Missouri, and John, twins. Mr. Deacon is one of the most highly respected citizens of Harrisonville and a man of the strictest integrity. He has always taken an active interest in the prosperity and welfare of the town, and for thirty-five years has shown himself to be a useful, public-spirited, broad- minded man.
Deaf-Mute Education .- The first in- stitution for the education of deaf-mutes established in America was founded at Hart- ford, Connecticut, in 1817, by Thomas H. Gallaudet, a distinguished educator, born at Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Gallaudet great- ly simplified the system of methodical signs which had been given to the world by the French philanthropist and educator, Abbe Roch Ambroise Cucurron Sicard. The suc- cess of the experiment inaugurated at Hart- ford led up, in time, to the establishment of State institutions for the education of the deaf and dumb in all the States, and many such institutions are also conducted under church and other auspices. A State institu- tion for the education of this class of unfortunates was opened at Fulton, Missouri, in 1851, and the building erected for that pur- pose was completed in 1854. In 1878 Delos A. Simpson, a graduate of the National Deaf- Mute College, of Washington, D. C., came to St. Louis, and interested various prominent citizens in a movement to incorporate deaf- mute education into the public school system of the city. As a result Jacob S. Merrell, Samuel Brandt, Rev. P. G. Robert and others petitioned the school board to make provision for such education. The petition was con- sidered favorably, and a school for deaf-mutes was opened in what was then known as the Franklin Branch School, at 1413 Lucas Ave- nue. Later it was removed to the Jefferson School Building at Ninth and Wash Streets. Mr. Simpson remained in charge of the school eleven years and was succeeded by R. P. McGregor, who had charge one year. James H. Cloud then took charge of the school, and has since been at its head, with three assistants, one of whom is a teacher of articulation. In this school, which is offi- cially designated as the "Public Day School for the Deaf," pupils are taught by means of speech, speech-reading, writing, manual
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DEAF-MUTES' CLUB-DEAN.
spelling, and the sign language. The course of instruction is remarkably thorough, and pupils are fitted for admission to the only college for the deaf in the world, the National Deaf-Mute College, of Washington, D. C. Deaf-mutes are also educated and given re- ligious instruction, in St. Louis, under the auspices of the Roman Catholic Church, at Maria Concilia Deaf-Mute Institute, located at 1842 Wash Street.
Deaf-Mutes' Club .- A social organiza- tion of deaf-mutes, organized in St. Louis, about the year 1889, by Delos A. Simpson and others. Rooms were opened at 919 Olive Street, at which members and their families came together for social intercourse. The club was a prosperous institution for several years, but finally passed out of existence in 1897.
Dean, Oliver H., lawyer, was born De- cember 7, 1844, near Washingtonville, Mon- tour County, Pennsylvania. His parents were members of old and prominent families of the Keystone State. The father, Joseph Dean, was a captain in the War of 1812 and afterward held a commission under General Winfield Scott. One of his ancestors com- manded the army against the Dutch during the time of Cromwell, the paternal great- grandfather was attached to General Wolfe's staff at Quebec at the time that noted com- mander fell, and other members of the family have had their deeds preserved in history, worthy of perpetuation in the minds of men. The Deans came to this country during the Revolutionary War and participated to a con- siderable extent in the important affairs of the struggling country's formative period. Oliver H. Dean was a pupil in the common schools of his native State and attended Tus- · carora Academy, in Juniata County, Penn- sylvania. Later he entered the academic department of the University of Michigan at Ann Arbor, taking a degree in 1868, and receiving a degree from the law department in 1870. Immediately after his graduation in 1870 he removed to Missouri, located at Kan- sas City, and has since been a continuous and prominent resident of that place. He was one of the first members of the Kansas City Bar Association, and was active in the estab- lishment of the existing law library in that city, counted among the best of its kind in
the country. He has served as president of the bar association and has always been active in the efforts that have been made to elevate the standard of the profession in western Missouri. Mr. Dean was one of the founders of the Kansas City School of Law, and is vice president of that institution. A portion of his time each week is devoted to the duties devolving upon him as a lecturer, his subject being "Corporations." He also lectures before the Kansas City Medical Col- lege on the subject of "Medical Jurisprud- ence." His addresses before the bar asso- ciations of Missouri and Kansas have been most highly praised on account of their depth and practical value, and as a public speaker his services are frequently sought and secured. Mr. Dean was one of the thir- teen freeholders appointed by the mayor of Kansas City in 1889 to write the charter of that city under the Missouri Constitution of 1875. This work was delegated to three of the most able members of the chosen board, and the construction of the charter, which has proved to be a strong and judicious com- bination of municipal articles, was largely · given over to the capable care and manage- ment of Gardiner Lathrop, E. L. Scarritt and the subject of this sketch. Mr. Dean first practiced law in Kansas City under the pre- ceptorship of Judge William Holmes and Judge Francis M. Black, two men who de- serve classification among the strongest of Missouri's jurists and attorneys. Later he formed a partnership with Judge Holmes, under the firm name of Holmes & Dean. This association continued until Mr. Dean united with Major William Warner and C. O. Tichenor. In 1881 Mr. Tichenor withdrew from the general practice, but the associa- tion of Mr. Warner and Mr. Dean has continued up to the present time. The prac- tice of the firm has been very large in the trial courts of Jackson County, and also in the Appellate Court, the Supreme Court of Missouri and the United States Court. Mr. Dean has never been a candidate for political honors, preferring to devote his time and talents exclusively to the practice of his pro- fession. He is counselor to the Union National Bank, of Kansas City, and is also a director of that institution. He is author of the articles on "Courts and Laws of Mis- souri," and "Courts of Jackson County," in the "Encyclopedia of the History of
Dran
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DEARBORN-DEARDORFF.
Missouri." In June, 1874, Mr. Dean married Miss Frances Davenport Mason, daughter of A. L. Mason, a well known resi- dent of Kansas City, who came to Missouri from Michigan. Two children, a son and a daughter, have been born of this union. The daughter, Alice Dean, who received a finished education through study and travel, was mar- ried August 29, 1900, to Alvah Sherman Green, a member of the bar of Galesburg, Illinois. The son, Mason L. Dean, is at the present time (1900) a student in the literary department of the University of Michigan.
Dearborn .- A town in Green Town- ship, Platte County, on the Atchison branch of the Chicago, Rock Island & Pacific Rail- road. It was laid out by A. H. Burgess in 1883, and in 1888 was incorporated as a village, with E. E. Pumphrey as chairman of the board of trustees. It has three churches -Baptist, Cumberland Presbyterian and Methodist South-a creamery, two banks and a Democratic newspaper, the "Demo- crat." It is an important shipping point. Population, 600.
Deardorff, Lewis, for many years one of the most useful and highly honored bus- iness men of Kansas City, was born February 14, 1830, near Dillsburg, Pennsylvania. He was descended from Anthony Deardorff, a German Dunkard minister, who left his native country on account of religious perse- cution, and immigrated to America in 1729, settling near Germantown, Pennsylvania. Lewis Deardorff served a regular apprentice- ship with a carpenter, and when about twenty years of age removed to Springfield, Ohio, where he followed his trade in association with an elder brother, who was a contractor. Having accumulated some means, he after- ward removed to Iowa, locating at Tipton, where he purchased land and manufactured brick. In 1856 he took up his residence in Kansas City, Missouri, and from that time until his death there were none more conspic- uously identified with its upbuilding and the development of many of its enterprises. Until 1865 he was principally engaged in contracting and building; during one year of this time, however, he was in- terested in a lumber business at Leav- enworth, Kansas, under the management of his partner, Mr. Smith. Of the many
edifices erected by him in Kansas City dur- ing this period, spacious and ornamental at the time, but few remain, the greater number having been succeeded by more modern structures. In 1865, in association with his brother, John M. Deardorff, he founded the lumber business now under the management of his son, F. M. Deardorff. The original firm was known as Deardorff Brothers, with Lewis Deardorff as manager, the brother re- taining his residence at Springfield, Ohio. In 1866 the latter retired his capital and Lewis Deardorff became sole owner. His yards were first located at the corner of Eleventh and Main Streets on the site now occupied by the business edifice which bears his name. There were then two smaller yards in the city, but he controlled the larger and more desirable portion of the trade, and enlarge- ments and removals became necessary from time to time. He gave personal attention to the business until his death, March 5, 1881. For three years afterward, the business was managed in the interest of the estate by William O. Shouse, father of Mrs. Deardorff, as administrator. In 1885 F. M. Deardorff, the present owner, succeeded to the manage- ment. During a long and busy life, Lewis Deardorff displayed all the traits of a sagacious, farseeing business man, and en- gaged in various enterprises which at once benefited the city, and advanced his own fortunes. He was entirely honorable and upright in all his business transactions, and no suspicion of duplicity or trickery ever attached to his name. He was an organizing stockholder in the Mechanics' Bank, one of the early financial institutions, and when it was succeeded by the Bank of Kansas City he became a director in the new house. He built one of the first large modern buildings, opposite the Union Depot in Kansas City, a double brick five-story edifice for business purposes. When municipal rule in Kansas City was being first well established, Mr. Deardorff rendered efficient aid as a member of the City Council ; entirely destitute of polit- ical ambition, he declined all preferment when he discerned that necessity for his service no longer existed. His political affiliations were with the Democratic party. Not a pro- fessor of religion, he was a reverent attendant of the First Baptist Church, of which his wife was a member, and his contributions to its maintenance, as well as to other laudable
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DEARING.
purposes, were generous and cheerful. Mr. Deardorff was married to Miss Carrie W. Shouse, daughter of Judge William O. and Harriet (Bryan) Shouse, who were natives of Shelby County, Kentucky. In 1837 they located in Jackson County, Missouri, near Kansas City. Judge Shouse died in August, 1892, aged eighty years; he was a man of high character and unquestioned integrity ; he was among the early county judges of Jack- son County. His wife died in 1893. Mrs. Deardorff was born on the parental farm adjacent to Kansas City, and was educated at the Female Academy at Liberty, Missouri. Six children were born of her marriage with Mr. Deardorff. They were Frank M., Myrtle M .- wife of T. J. Brodnax-Hattie V., de- ceased; Harvey L., Lewis J. and Martha S., wife of E. W. Shields. The old family resi- dence, at the corner of Twelfth and Central Streets, which the family occupied for over thirty years, and where the children were mostly reared, has been torn away to make room for a modern building. The name of Mr. Deardorff is preserved in that of the large office building at the corner of Eleventh and Main Streets.
Dearing, Frank R., judge of the cir- cuit court of the Twenty-first Judicial Dis- trict of Missouri, was born December 25, 1863, near Blackwell Station, Washington County, Missouri. His parents were Richard H. and E. C. (Cole) Dearing, natives of the same county. The father was of a Ken- tucky family which settled in that neigh- borhood in 1824. He was a farmer by occupation. For twelve years he served as justice of the peace in Kingston Town- ship, Washington County, and for four years as presiding judge of the county court. He died January 27, 1893. The mother is also descended from a Kentucky family. She is yet living, and makes her home with her son, Judge Dearing.
Until he was eighteen years of age, the son worked on the farm, and during the winter seasons attended the district school, in which he acquired a serviceable knowledge of the essential branches of an education, but not sufficient to satisfy his desires. During the scholastic year 1883-4 he attended the State Normal School at Cape Girardeau, taking up such a course as would supply his immediate deficiencies. So well did he apply himself
that his instructors certified him as entirely capable of taking up the work of a teacher. Accordingly, in the winter of 1884-5, he taught a four-months' school at Pond Creek, in Washington County, and for six months of the year following, a larger school at Vine- land, in Jefferson County. Through this effort he was enabled to engage in the study of the law, a purpose which had continually been in his mind during all his struggles. In September, 1886, he entered the law de- partment of the University of Missouri, from which school he was graduated the next year. He at once located at De Soto and engaged in the practice of his profession, meeting with a most gratifying degree of success. In 1890 he was elected prosecuting attorney of Jeffer- son County, and this necessitated his removal to Hillsboro, the county seat. He discharged the duties of this position with such credit to himself, and satisfaction to the people, that on the expiration of his term he was re- elected. In 1894 he was renominated for a third term, but was defeated at the polls with the remainder of the Democratic ticket in the contest which was so disastrous to the party throughout the State. In 1896 he was a candidate for the Democratic congressional nomination and was beaten, at the end of a three days' session of the convention, by only three votes. In 1898 he was nominated for the position of judge of the Circuit Court of the Twenty-first Judicial Circuit, after an un- precedented struggle. The nominating con- vention was in session nearly two weeks, and he was nominated on the 1,885th ballot. In the election which followed, he was success- ful, receiving a majority of about 700 votes. His term of office is for six years, beginning January 1, 1899. His circuit is composed of the five counties of Jefferson, Washington, Iron, Reynolds and Wayne, and he holds court all the months of the year except June and July. Although he comes to this high position without previous experience, his long service as prosecuting attorney gives ample assurance of his qualifications, and his eleva- tion to the bench is regarded with approba- tion by bar, as well as people. In politics Judge Dearing has always been a Democrat, and has rendered valuable service to the party in many a campaign where his logical reasoning and vigorous oratory have been effectively employed. He is a member of the Missionary Baptist Church, and of the
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DE ARMOND-DEARMONT.
subordinate lodge in the Masonic fraternity. He was married, at De Soto, Missouri, July 10, 1888, to Miss Fannie D. Miller, a native of St. Francois County, Missouri. She died August 30, 1895, leaving two little sons, Frank Raymond and Elbridge Carlisle, aged nine and seven years, respectively. Mrs. E. C. Dearing, mother of Judge Dearing, then took charge of his household, over which she still continues to preside, extending watchful and affectionate care to her mother- less grandchildren.
De Armond, David A., lawyer, legis- lator and Congressman, was born in Blair County, Pennsylvania, March 18, 1844. He was brought up on a farm and received a common school education, supplemented by a course at a seminary in Williamsport. He removed to Missouri at an early age, and began the practice of law, and with it a public career which his friends point to with pardon- able pride. In 1884 he was a presidential elector, and in addition he has been elected to the State Senate, and to the circuit judge- ship, exhibiting in all these positions a high capacity for public affairs and an ambition for usefulness which have won for him an enviable influence in the State. In 1892 he was elected to Congress as a Democrat, in the Sixth District, and was re-elected three times in succession, serving in the Fifty-third, Fifty-fourth, Fifty-fifth and Fifty-sixth Con- gresses.
Dearmont, Washington Strother, educator, was born September 22, 1859, in Clarke County, Virginia, son of Peter and Mary Eliza Ferguson (Bell) Dearmont. His parents were married at St. Joseph, Missouri, in 1858, his maternal grandparents having re- moved to that place from Virginia shortly before that time. After their marriage they returned to Virginia, and in 1861 his father entered the Confederate army with his com- pany, which was attached to General Thomas J. ("Stonewall") Jackson's command, serving with the Army of Northern Virginia, par- ticipating in all the principal battles in which it took part during the following four years, and was with General Robert E. Lee at the surrender at Appomattox. In 1871 the elder Dearmont removed with his family to Holt County, Missouri, where he has since resided on a farm five miles from Mound City. Mr.
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