USA > Missouri > Encyclopedia of the history of Missouri, a compendium of history and biography for ready reference, Vol. II > Part 65
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Edwards, John C., lawyer, member of Congress. attorney general and eighth Governor of the State of Missouri, was born in Kentucky in 1806, and died at Stockton, California, September 14, 1888. He received
a good education at Murfreesboro, Tennes- see, and studied law and was admitted to practice at that place. In 1828 he came to Missouri and located at Jefferson City, where his talents and capacity for public affairs were recognized, and in 1830, when only twenty- four years of age, he was appointed by Gov- ernor Miller Secretary of State, which office he filled for seven years. In 1837 he was elected to the Legislature from Cole County and proved a useful legislator. In 1840 he was elected to Congress, one of the two Representatives Missouri was entitled to at the time, and served to the end of the Twen- ty-seventh Congress. In 1844 he was elected Governor of the State and served to the end of the four years' term, his administration covering the period of the Mexican War, in which he proved an efficient and patriotic ex- ecutive, co-operating with the government at Washington in sending out the expeditions under Doniphan and Price, which brought such honor to Missouri arms. In 1849, a year after the close of his term, he went to Cali- fornia and was an honored citizen of that State until his death in 1888.
Edwards, John Newman, journal- ist and soldier, was born January 4, 1838, at Front Royal, Virginia, and died May 4, 1889, at Jefferson City, Missouri. His parents were John and Mary A. (Newman) Edwards, both natives of Virginia. The ancestral blood on either side was the purest of England and Scotland. The Edwards family went from England to Wales in the reign of Queen Mary, and their descendants were among the early colonists of Virginia. The Newmans blended with the Wyatts and Monroes, of Virginia. Colonel Conquest Wyatt, at the age of ninety years, avenged an insult by pinioning his adversary to a door with a knife thrust through his ear. Colonel Will- iam Monroe was an officer at Germantown; when offered public position by his cousin, President Monroe, he declined it, saying : "I helped my country when she needed iny serv- ices. Now I leave her to better hands than my own to guide her." John Newman Ed- wards received a common school education in Warren County, afterward studying Latin and Greek in Washington City. While but a boy he learned typesetting on the Front Royal "Gazette." and at the age of fourteen years wrote a story which won the commendation
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of his mother, a woman of strong intellect, and encouraged him to better effort. Shortly afterward, at the solicitation of his relative, Thomas J. Yerby, of Lexington, Missouri, he removed to that place, where he worked at his trade until the beginning of the Civil War. He joined the command of General J. O. Shelby, and became brigadier adjutant, with the rank of major, and was made ad- jutant general of the division, when his chief succeeded to that command. The fortunes of the two were joined throughout the war. Major Edwards participated in all the bat- tles of this famous corps, and made a bril- liant reputation as a soldier. He was engaged in some fifty actions, of more or less consequence, and was several times severely wounded. In the attack on Cape Girardeau a fragment of shell tore away the inside of his leg, and he lay all night without surgi- cal attention. He was found by the Federal soldiers and was personally cared for by Gen- eral John McNeil. Major Edwards remem- bered the kindness, and when his benefactor was most bitterly assailed, spoke well of him. He was exchanged soon after the Cape Gi- rardeau affair, rejoined his command and remained with it until the end of the war. He then accompanied Shelby and his frag- mentary "Iron Brigade" southward. They sank their battle flag in the Rio Grande river, crossed into Mexico and for more than a year acted in conjunction with the French Army. Major Edwards became a favorite
with Maximilian and the unfortunate Princess Carlotta. He assisted in establishing the "Mexican Times" newspaper, and there wrote his book, "An Unwritten Leaf of the War." In 1867 he returned to the United States, and became a reporter on the "St.
Louis Republican." In 1868, in connection with Colonel John C. Moore, he established the "Kansas City Times." with which he re- mained until 1873, when he took employment with the "St. Louis Dispatch," subsequently following its chief, Stilson Hutchins, to the "St. Louis Times." While connected with the latter paper occurred his duel with Colonel Emory S. Foster, of the "St. Louis Journal." It grew out of a newspaper con- troversy, and after a harmless exchange of shots, the two adversaries became reconciled. He withdrew from newspaper work to en- gage in sheep-raising in New Mexico, but was dissuaded, and while visiting his wife's
father, wrote his book, "Noted Guerrillas." He subsequently conducted the "Sedalia Democrat," and afterward founded "The Dispatch," which was but short-lived. For a time he was managing editor of the "St. Joseph Gazette," from which he was recalled to the editorial charge of the "Kansas City Times," occupying that position until his death, which resulted from heart failure, at Jefferson City, May 4, 1889. The Legislature, which was in ses- sion, adjourned out of respect to his memory. Both houses of the General Assembly, head- ed by Governor Francis, accompanied the re- mains to the depot, and a special car, provid- ed by the Missouri Pacific Railway, conveyed the funeral party to Dover, where services were conducted by the Rev. George Platten- burg, a cousin of Mrs. Edwards. The deatlı of Major Edwards produced a profound sen- sation throughout the State, and the press of the entire country teemed with tributes to his memory. He was a peerless soldier, and, while abating nothing of his loyalty to the cause for which he had fought, or of affec- tion for his comrades in battle, he deprecated the continuance of ill feeling, and philo- sophically accepted the results of the bitter struggle. He was a surpassingly brilliant writer. His volumes of war annals present vivid scenes of the events treated upon, and will be of great value to future historians. His editorial writings have never been sur- passed in journalism. They were marked with independence of thought and expressed in vigorous English. Despising cant and pre- tense, he condemned the one in humor, and punctured the other with the keenest thrusts of sarcasm. His heart warmed to all in suf- fering and distress, and the poetic element of his nature responded to their need for sympathy in touching phrase. Mrs. Edwards has made a valuable addition to accessible literature in collating in book form a number of his most striking articles, among which are many possessed of as much interest at the present time as when they were written.
His wife, MARY VIRGINIA ED- WARDS, was born in Dover, Lafayette County, Missouri. Her parents were James S. and Laura (Yerby) Plattenburg. The fa- ther was a Virginian, descended from English and Holland ancestry ; the mother was born in Georgetown, D. C., of Virginia parents. They came at an early day to Missouri, set-
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tling in Lafayette County, where they resided upon one place for more than sixty years, the husband passing his life in mercantile business and the management of large farm- ing tracts. Their daughter, Mary Virginia, was liberally educated and developed bril- liant mental qualities. March 28, 1871, she was married to Major John N. Edwards, the ceremony taking place at the residence of General John O. Shelby, near Aullville. Bride and groom were cousins, which occasioned family opposition to the marriage, but sincere reconciliation followed shortly afterward. Of this union were born three children-John is assistant telegraph editor on the St. Louis "Republic;" James is a bookkeeper in the same city; Laura, graduated in 1899 from the Sacred Heart Convent at St. Louis, has returned to that institution to take a post- graduate course. In 1889, after the death of her husband, Mrs. Edwards edited and published a volume of his writings, which in- cluded "Shelby's Expedition to Mexico; an Unwritten Leaf of the War," and a care- fully selected chapter of his editorial writings, comprising gems of poetry in prose, philo- sophical essays and dissertations, and para- graphs of sarcasm. It also contained a sketch of his life, an account of his funeral and a compilation of tributes to his memory from the press of the country. She republished at a later day his famous war narrative, "Shelby and His Men." In 1892, Governor Francis appointed her secretary of the Missouri Ladies' World's Fair Board, and she opened an office in St. Joseph from which to direct arrangements for the exhibit made by that body. At the World's Fair in Chicago she had personal charge of the St. Joseph room in the Missouri State building, and was for one month in charge of the entire building. Governor Stone appointed her to a clerkship in the office of the commissioner of voters in St. Louis, but subsequent legislation for- bade the employment of all save qualified voters in such capacity, and she was obliged to retire. November 17, 1896, she was ap- pointed by the Supreme Court to the position of librarian, a position for which she is emi- nently qualified and which she occupies at the present time. She is the present State presi- dent of the Daughters of the Confederacy, whose great purpose has been the rearing of the monumental tribute to the memory of the Confederate dead in the cemetery at Spring-
field, which contains their remains in large numbers. To this praiseworthy cause she had devoted time and effort with all the energy growing out of a tender regard for the gal- lant men who were aligned with her soldier husband in days of battle and death. She is a lady of wide information, a ready and en- tertaining conversationalist and a pleasing writer. For a number of years leading news- papers and magazines have contained articles from her pen, which have won for her well- deserved commendation.
F. Y. HEDLEY.
Edwards, Samuel Martin, was born in Henry County, Virginia, in 1832, the youngest of ten children, son of John Ed- wards and Martha (Johnstone) Edwards. John Edwards was born in Albermarle Coun- . ty, Virginia, and was a captain in the War of 1812, in Colonel Joseph Martin's regiment. His grandfather on his mother's side was one of Washington's bodyguard in the Revolu- tionary War, and was wounded at Bunker Hill. Young Edwards was educated in the common schools of his native county and in his early manhood taught school. He fin- ished his law course in the University of Virginia, in Charlottesville. He came to Missouri in the fall of 1840, settling in St. Charles County, and in 1856 he located for the practice of his profession at Mexico, where he has since resided. He has been twice married, the first time to Miss Lucy Shryock, by whom he had three children. The second time he was married to Miss Hat- tie Lakenan; by this union there is one son. He served one term as attorney for the city of Mexico, and was county attorney by ap- pointment one year. In 1875 he was, by Gov- ernor. C. H. Hardin, appointed probate judge of Audrain County to fill a vacancy created by the resignation of the late George B. Mac- farlane. Since that time he has held that office continuously by election. Judge Ed- wards was a successful practitioner, and is a man of more than usual ability and literary attainments. His hold upon the people of Audrain County is due to his fairness and uprightness as a judge, his unwavering hon- esty, and sterling character. He united with the Presbyterian Church in 1867 and is an active and useful member of that body. He is a Master Mason and a Knight Templar, and in his early manhood was quite active in
Yours truly Charles &. Eizen
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that order. He was for thirty years high priest of the Mexico Chapter, and for eight years was eminent commander of Crusade Commandery. In his political faith he is of the pure Jeffersonian type of Democracy.
Eichbaum, George Calder, artist, was born in the year 1837, in Bowling Green, Kentucky. His father, George R. Eichbaum, who was a prominent civil engineer, was born in Pittsburg, Pennsylvania. The elder Eich- baum was long in the service of the United States government, and had charge of the im- provements of the Osage River at the time of his death, in 1873. The mother of George C. Eichbaum, whose maiden name was Helena Calder, was a native of Aberdeen, Scotland. Mr. Eichbaum attended, as a youth, the schools of Pennsylvania and Ohio, and in early life followed civil engineering in west- ern Pennsylvania. A love of art was, however inherent in his nature, and he abandoned civil engineering to receive art instruction under the preceptorship of David R. Smith, of Pittsburg, Pennsylvania. In 1859 he came to St. Louis and opened a studio in the Switzer Building, at the corner of Sixth and Pine Streets, and ever since that time he has been closely identified with art development in that city. He has painted portraits of rare beauty and excellence, and has devoted hin- self mainly to this branch of art, painting only an occasional figure piece. His paintings have been exhibited at various times in the National Academy of Design, of New York, and for some years he had a studio in the Sherwood Studio Building, at the corner of Fifty-seventh Street and Sixth Avenue, in that city. In 1878, at the time of the Univer- sal Exposition in Paris, he visited Europe and passed some time in the art centers of the old world. In beauty of coloring and truthfulness of likeness his portraits rank among the best painted by Western artists.
Eiseman, Benjamin, merchant, was born in Baden, Germany, in the year 1833. His father, Joshua W. Eiseman, died when the son was but fourteen years of age, and on this account he was compelled to leave school and begin earning his own living. He did not, however, cease making efforts to better his education, and after working hours ap- plied himself to his books and thus broadened' his intelligence and added to his store of
knowledge. For five years he clerked in a banking and mercantile house in Baden, and then decided to come to this country, the city of Philadelphia being his objective point. He arrived there unacquainted with the language and customs of the country and first attended school a year, mastering, in the course of that time, the English language. At the end of that year one of his uncles, who was engaged in the dry goods business at Davenport, Iowa, offered him a clerkship, and the acceptance of this offer brought him to the West. After he had been some time at Davenport, he was offered a more satisfactory position at St. Joseph, Missouri, and going to that city he remained there until the beginning of the Civil War. About that time he went to Mem- phis, Tennessee, an accomplished salesman and capable merchant, and forming a copart- nership with Henry Rice and William Stix, they established a wholesale and retail dry goods store in that city. This proved a pros- perous venture, and, besides attaining prom- inence as a merchant, Mr. Eiseman helped to organize several insurance companies and also the First National Bank of Memphis, of which he was a director while residing in that city. Their wholesale business having grown to large proportions, they abandoned the retail field in 1867, and thereafter, until 1881, their house was one of the leading wholesale houses of Memphis. The yellow fever epidemic which prostrated the business of that city in 1879 made it necessary for Mr. Eiseman and his associates to establish a branch house in St. Louis, and two years later they removed to that city to occupy the larger field which it opened up to them. In St. Louis the firm of Rice, Stix & Com- pany has constantly expanded its operations and its trade, and is now numbered among the great wholesale dry goods houses of the West, and among the leading institutions of its kind in the United States.
Eitzen, Charles D., was a distin- guished citizen of Missouri, who, although not a resident of St. Louis, was so closely identified with many of its most important business interests that his history is a part of the history of that city. He was born in Bremen, Germany, August 20, 1819, and from there emigrated to the Isle of St. Thomas, West Indies, coming later to this country. When a colony of sturdy Germans of Phila-
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delphia selected a settlement in Gasconade County, on the Missouri River, and named it "Hermann," young Eitzen, then only eigh- teen years of age, was one of the first to reach the place which they proposed to make their future home. He arrived there in 1837, about the time the first plat of the town was made, and from the time this town of Her- mann was carved out of a portion of Gas- conade County until his death he was one of its ruling spirits. For three years he was a clerk in the first and only store in the town, kept by Mr. D. Widersprecher, and in 1841, when but twenty-one years of age, he purchased this store and the building in which it was conducted from his principal, with borrowed capital-which, however, he repaid with interest in less than two years' time-and began, on his own account, a bus- iness which he continued until 1891. He carried on a general merchandising business, keeping for sale practically everything which the people of that region needed to buy, and in 1855, before the completion of the Missouri Pacific Railroad to Hermann, he engaged largely also in the lumber business, in which he was remarkably successful, shipping great quantities of yellow pine to points on the Missouri River, besides supplying the local trade. At the same time he was agent of an iron company, which operated mines near St. James, Missouri, and hauled its product to Hermann with teams. He was a large owner in two steamboats, one of which was named the "James H. Lucas," and the other "El Paso," and the iron ore, or "blooms," were shipped under his direction.by these boats to points on the Mississippi and Ohio Rivers. In the year 1848 he established the first ferry which made regular trips across the Missouri River between Hermann and the north side of the river, and which was operated by horse power. This ferry brought to Hermann å considerable amount of trade from Mont- gomery County on the opposite side of the river, and aided materially in building up the town. In all business transactions he was scrupulously exact in discharging every obli- gation and meeting the full measure of his responsibility, and his word was as good as his bond, in all public, as well as private, bus- iness affairs. Politically he was identified with the Republican party from the time that organization came into existence, after the Whig party. In 1841 Mr. Eitzen cast the
only Whig vote in Gasconade County, and during the Civil War he was an ardent sup- porter of the Union cause, acting a part of the time as captain of a company of militia which was in active service in the field at the time of the raids into Missouri made by General Price and General Marmaduke. In 1861 he was elected a member of the Consti- tutional Convention from the district com- posed of the counties of Franklin, Gasconade and Osage, and as a member of that body did all in his power to prevent the secession of the State of Missouri. In 1875 he again rep- resented the same senatorial district in the Constitutional Convention of that year, and in 1876 was elected a member of the Twenty- ninth General Assembly of Missouri. In 1871 he became identified with the management of the public schools of Hermann, and under his direction, and as a result of his inspiration, the present commodious schoolhouse was built in that place. A lot of ground adjoin- ing the school building was purchased and donated by him to the school to be used as a play ground by the pupils. Thereafter until his death he took a deep interest in the edu- cational affairs of the town which he did so much to build up, and was a member and presiding officer of the school board up to the time of his death. For twenty-five years he was a member of the town board of trustees, and during most of that time acted as mayor of the city. The vivifying effects of his en- terprise, activity and progressiveness were felt by all the business interests of Hermann and the surrounding country, and for many years he was the foremost citizen of Gascon- ade County, a man of whom any community might well be proud. Very early in his career in Missouri he became intimately asso- ciated in a business way with some of the leading citizens of St. Louis, and during the later years of his life he had very large in- terests in that city. In the year 1841 he was commissioned by Mr. Charles P. Chouteau to sell his lands bordering on the Missouri River, between Washington, Missouri, and the Gasconade River, and he had some inter- esting experiences in this connection. It was his custom to turn over to Mr. Chouteau the proceeds of such sales as he had made when the famous fur trader visited him in the course of his trips up and down the Mis- souri River on fur trading expeditions. There were no banks or depositories for
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money in Hermann in those days, and Mr. Eitzen used to bury the gold coin which he received, in different places-known to him- self only-in the hills or bluffs of the river bank, until an opportunity presented itself for paying it over to Mr. Chouteau. At one time he took from these secure hiding places over $10,000, which he handed to Mr. Chou- teau, who expressed great surprise at re- ceiving so much money at one time from the sale of lands which he had considered of com- paratively little value-lands called "Chou- teau's Claim." At the time of his death Mr. Eitzen was the largest shareholder in the Laclede Gas Light Company, of St. Louis, and also in the Boatmen's Bank, and was largely interested as a stockholder in the National Bank of Commerce, the Merchants'- Laclede National Bank, the Mechanics' Bank, the Third National Bank, the State Bank of St. Louis, and other corporations of that city, and was regarded by local capitalists as one of the best judges of investments and securi- ties and one of the ablest financiers in the State. On the 23d of April, 1844, Mr. Eitzen married Miss Jane Elizabeth Kehr, theirs be- ing the first marriage ceremony which took place in the then new settlement of Hermann. On the 23rd of April, 1894, they celebrated the fiftieth anniversary of their wed- ding at their home in Hermann, and the occasion was one which will long be remem- bered by the people of that city. All the residents of the town were their guests on that day, and many friends came from other cities to participate in the festivities which gladdened all hearts. Of seven children born to them two daughters and one son were liv- ing in 1898. On the afternoon of New Year's Day, 1896, Mr. Eitzen sat in his office in his store building writing letters and chatting pleasantly with his wife. The household servants having been granted a holiday, Mrs. Eitzen repaired to their home to prepare sup- per, Mr. Eitzen promising to follow her soon. As he did not come when she expected, Mrs. Eitzen returned to the store, and upon en- tering the office was horrified to find her husband lying lifeless upon the floor, he hav- ing fallen a victim to a sudden stroke of apoplexy, of which there had been premon- itory symptoms twice before. Never in the history of Hermann were there such general expressions of sorrow and regret, as when the news of his death was given to the public.
His funeral took place on Saturday, January 4th following, under the auspices of the Masonic lodge, of which he had been a mem- ber for forty-five years. He had been, also, for almost as long a time, an active, working member of the Grand Lodge of Masons of Missouri, and a feature of the obsequies was the reading of the beautiful burial ritual at his grave by Rev. John D. Vincil, of the Grand Lodge. The religious services were conducted by the Rev. W. F. Bek, who paid an eloquent tribute to the memory of the de- ceased at the family residence, and afterward offered up a fervent prayer at the tomb. The Harmonie Singing Society sang an impres- sive anthem at the residence, and the cere- mony was deeply impressive throughout. The funeral cortege, headed by the "Apostle Band," was very imposing, and to those pres- ent it seemed that the spirit of Charles D. Eitzen lingered lovingly in the town which he had seen spring into existence, and of which for fifty-seven years he had been so large a part. All felt that the remains of the chief benefactor of the town were that day laid in the family tomb, although his mem- ory and his good deeds will live in the minds of men and in the history of the place for generations to come. In his last will and tes- tament he bequeathed to Hermann the sum of $50,000 in bonds, to be used for the pur- pose of building a new courthouse in that city, and this is said to be the only instance of present record in the annals of our country where a private citizen contributed the funds to erect a courthouse for a county or State. The new courthouse thus provided for was built in due course of time, and on the 25th day of May, 1898, was publicly and formally dedicated to the uses for which it was de- signed.
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