Encyclopedia of the history of Missouri, a compendium of history and biography for ready reference, Vol. II, Part 8

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: 800

USA > Missouri > Encyclopedia of the history of Missouri, a compendium of history and biography for ready reference, Vol. II > Part 8

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Cobb, Seth Wallace, Congressman, son of Benjamin and Margaret (Wallace) Cobb, was born in Southampton County, Virginia, December 5, 1838. He lived on a farm until he was seventeen years of age, receiving in the meantime what education he could get at intervals in the public schools, and then took up the business of saddle and harness-making, which he followed for four years. During this period he also served as deputy postmaster at Jerusalem, the county seat, pursuing his studies at night and vary- ing these occupations by sending local news items to the Petersburg "Express," which re- sulted in his becoming a correspondent of that paper, continued after the war, under the pen name of "Black Eagle," by which title he is still known among his friends in Virginia. Mr. Cobb entered the Confederate Army as orderly sergeant with one of the first com- panies raised under the call of Governor Letcher for volunteers. His family had been strong Whigs and opposed to secession, but when his native State seceded he was prompt to enlist. He served in the artillery of the Army of Northern Virginia during the entire war, reaching the rank of major by brevet toward its close. When General Lee sur- rendered, Major Cobb returned to his home with the view of resuming life on the farm, but after only a short experience he went to Petersburg, where he was employed as a clerk, first in a grocery and commission house, and then in a clothing store. An op- portunity was offered him by friends to be- come associated in the editorship of the "Index," the successor of the "Express," which had been suppressed by the military authorities, and Major Cobb embraced it, serving on that paper with William E. Cam- eron, afterward Governor of Virginia. In December, 1867, he came to St. Louis, with- out money and among strangers, and demon- strated by his subsequent career that merit and perseverance can wrest success from the most unpromising surroundings. By the aid of Colonel Thomas Richeson, thien of the Collier White Lead Company, he obtained a situation with the late Ira Stanbury, which he held for a short time and then went with the grain commission firm of James G. Greer & Co., afterward with E. E. Ebert & Co., working through all the lower grades of clerkship. In 1875, with a few hundred dol- lars, alone and unaided, he started the firm

COCHRAN-COCKERILL.

of Seth W. Cobb & Co. This house at this date-1899-stands as high as any in St. Louis, and is equaled by few in the volume of its business. Few enterprises for the ad- vancement of that city's interests have been inaugurated during a period of almost a quar- ter of a century, in which Mr. Cobb has not been a factor. During his presidency of the Merchants' Exchange the Merchants' Bridge was projected, and he was the president of the company that built it until 1889, when he was first elected to Congress. Though not a seeker for office, his abilities and popularity early indicated to his fellow citizens his avail- ability for the public service, and he was easily elected. He represented the Twelfth Missouri District as a Democrat in the Fifty- second, Fifty-third and Fifty-fourth Con- gresses, refusing a renomination which was offered him for the Fifty-fifth.

Cochran, Charles Fremont, editor and member of Congress, was born at Kirks- ville, Adair County, Missouri, September 27, 1848. His parents were Dr. W. A. and Laetitia Cochran. The father located at Lan- caster, Schuyler County, Missouri, in 1852, and was one of the substantial residents and prominent professional men of northeast Missouri. The mother was the daughter of a South Carolina farmer. Charles received a solid education in the common schools of the localities where his parents resided dur- ing his boyhood, and from his youthful days down to the years of maturity has shown a preference for political economy, biography and history, choosing these branches above all others. He has in his library the works of most of the great authors on these sub- jects and the studied pages are thumb- marked by frequent handling and are still his favorites. The family removed to Weston, Platte County, Missouri, in 1857, and re- mained there until 1859, when there was a removal to Atchison, Kansas. At the age of sixteen Charles was left to make his own way in the world, on account of the death of his father, and was henceforth to fight life's battles alone. He learned the printer's trade and followed it faithfully for seven years. He set type during the long days and studied the books of legal authorities at night, without the advantage of the precep- tor or the opportunities of the class room. Notwithstanding the unfavorable circum-

stances under which he struggled he mas- tered the study sufficiently to secure speedy admission to the bar, and within a few years was recognized as one of the leading mem- bers of the profession in the State of Kansas. His health failing, on account of injuries re- ceived accidentally, Mr. Cochran was con- pelled to retire from the legal profession. He removed to St. Joseph, Missouri, and became the editor and publisher of the St. Joseph "Gazette," a newspaper that has long battled for the political principles to which it stead- fastly holds, and which is counted among the oldest, most reliable and most influential pub- lications of the State. Mr. Cochran contin- ued in the editorial chair until he was elected to Congress. He has enjoyed a political ex- perience that is brilliant on account of its steady and rapid advancement. He was county attorney of Atchison County, Kansas, for four years, being twice elected to that office. In 1890 he was elected State Senator from Buchanan County, Missouri. In 1896 he was elected to Congress from the Fourth District of Missouri. In 1898, and again in 1900, he was renominated and re-elected. As a legislator Mr. Cochran is known as a tire- less and conscientious worker, a man who pays close attention to the welfare of his dis- trict and of his constituents, and who is nota- bly brilliant in debate and while on the plat- form expounding the principles in which he has abiding faith. He is generally recognized as a forceful writer, a logical reasoner and a consistent advocate of that which he holds to be right. Mr. Cochran was married April 27, 1874, to Miss Lonise M. Webb, of Leav- enworth, Kansas. To this union one child has come, Charles Webb Cochran, a promis- ing young man of the age of twenty-four.

Cockerill, John A., was born in Ad- ams County, Ohio, in 1846, and died at Cairo, Egypt, April 10, 1896. His father, J. R. Cockerill, was a member of Congress and colonel of the Seventeenth Regiment Ohio Volunteers in the Civil War. Jolin A. Cock- erill served in the Union Army, also, enlisting at the age of fifteen years as a drummer in the Twenty-fourth Ohio Regiment, and serving under Rosecrans and Buell. After the war he was associated with C. L.Vallandigham, of Ohio, in the "Dayton Ledger," and in 1870 became connected with the "Cincinnati En- quirer," beginning as a reporter, and rising

Jorge O Coffin 4.

COCKRELL-COFFIN.

rapidly to the position of managing editor. In 1876 he went to southeastern Europe and served the "Enquirer" as correspondent on the field in the Russo-Turkish War. On his return, he became connected with the "Wash- ington Post," and the "Baltimore Gazette," and in 1879 came to St. Louis and took a position on the "Post-Dispatch." In 1882 the "Post-Dispatch" became involved in an acri- monious personal quarrel with Colonel A. W. Slayback, a prominent lawyer and public man of St. Louis, which resulted in Slayback, in company with a friend, going to the editorial room of the "Post-Dispatch," and in the en- counter that followed being shot and killed on the spot by Cockerill. The tragedy provoked intense feeling, for both the combatants were prominent and influential, each with a back- ing of prominent and influential friends-it being asserted on the Slayback side that Cockerill had goaded his antagonist beyond endurance and then wantonly slain him-and, on the Cockerill side, that Slayback had come to the office armed, with a mortal purpose, and Cockerill had only killed him in self- defense. Cockerill stood an examination and was discharged. He afterward went to New York and became editor of the "World," and was subsequently connected with the "Commercial Advertiser." During the Japan- China War he went to the scene as war cor- respondent for the New York "Herald," and on the way home, after the war, died at Cairo, Egypt. He was a brilliant writer, equally at home in the editorial office, in the field or at Washington as correspondent. He was high- spirited and warm-hearted, and was affection- ately esteemed by his friends.

Cockrell, Francis Marion, lawyer, soldier and United States Senator from Mis- souri, was born in Johnson County, Missouri, October 1, 1834, and raised to farm work, receiving the best part of his education at Chapel Hill College, in Lafay- ette County, Missouri, where he graduated in 1853. He studied law and began the practice at Warrensburg. When the Civil War came on he espoused the Southern cause and entered the Confederate Army, serving with distinguished gallantry to the end of the strife. He rose rapidly to colonel and brigadier general, taking part in the battles of Wilson's Creek and Pea Ridge, the siege of Vicksburg and the bloody battle

of Franklin, besides many other smaller en- gagements. "Cockrell's Brigade," com- posed entirely of Missourians, was recog- nized as one of the best disciplined, best fighting and most efficient bodies of soldiers in the Confederate Army. When the war was over he came back to Missouri and set- tled down to the practice of his profession. In 1875 he was chosen to the United States Senate as successor to Carl Schurz. It was the first civil office he had ever held, and he was the second native-born Missourian, Lewis V. Bogy being the first, chosen to that august position. Senator Cockrell's record at Washington has been in the high- est degree honorable and acceptable to the people of Missouri, an evidence of which is that, without encountering a competitor for the honor in his own party (the Democratic), he has been re-elected four times. Fidelity to duty, loyalty to his country, the highest sense of honor and a watchful regard for the interests of his State, mark his senatorial career, and there is no one of his compeers who commands a larger measure of personal influence and a higher respect from his polit- ical opponents than Senator Cockrell, of Mis- souri.

Coffeysburg. - A village on Grand River, in Daviess County, sixteen miles north of Gallatin, the county seat, on the Omaha, Kansas City & Eastern Railroad. It has Baptist, Christian and Methodist Episcopal Churches, a bank, two hotels, a weekly paper, the "Sun," and about twenty-five miscellaneous stores and shops. Population, 1899 (estimated), 400.

Coffin, George Oliver, physician, was born August 4, 1858, at Danielsville, North- ampton County, Pennsylvania. His parents were Samuel T. and Lavina (Seigenfuss) Coffin. The father was directly descended from Tristram Coffin, the founder of Nan- tucket, and originator of whaling industries in Nantucket and New Bedford, Massachu- setts. The mother was great-granddaughter of John Boyer, whose parents were among the earliest settlers of Pennsylvania, living in the Wyoming Valley. At the time of the famous massacre the Boyer mother and three children found protection in the fort. The father was killed and scalped by the Indians, who took two of his children to Canada. The

COLE.

daughter remained in that country. When John, the son, was of age he walked back to Pennsylvania, where he married and founded a family. George Oliver Coffin, fifth in descent from him, was educated in the common schools of his native town and at Williamsburg Academy. When nineteen years of age he entered the Penn Medical College at Philadelphia, from which he was graduated in March, 1879. He engaged in practice at Frankfort, Kansas, where he re- mained for five years. In 1884 he removed to El Paso, Texas, where he passed the winter, and then entered the Marine Hos- pital service as contract surgeon and quar- antine officer. He was in Mexico during the winter of 1885-6, and in the spring of the latter year removed to Silver Cliff, Col- orado, where he remained in practice for about eighteen months. In the fall of 1887 he located in Kansas City, where he is now usefully and successfully engaged. Soon after arrival he took a course of study in the Kan- sas City Medical College, and in 1891 a second course, receiving the degree of doctor of medicine for the second time. In May, 1894. Mayor Webster Davis appointed him house surgeon of the City Hospital, which position he held until his appointment as city physi- cian, May 1, 1895. Upon the expiration of the latter term he was reappointed in 1897. and was again reappointed in 1899, for a term expiring April 20, 1901. During his occupancy of this position he has received high commendation for marked improvement in the hospital service. In the first year of his administration he secured from the city council an appropriation of $25,000, with which he constructed the second of the brick buildings, the first at all adequate for hos- pital purposes. This was two stories, with full basement, and contained the offices, in- sane ward, female wards, male surgical de- partment, and female sick and surgical department, all provided with modern equip- ments. In 1897 he secured a further appro- priation of $7,000, and remodeled the original brick building, constructing a modern operat- ing room, provided with necessary accesso- ries. an amphitheater accommodating two hundred students, and sanitary bath rooms, making the building and furnishings as com- plete as any new hospital. In 1899 he pro- cured $3,500, with which he erected a ward for tuberculosis and infectious cases, practi-

cally establishing the first isolation for tuber- culous cases, with accommodations for forty-four patients. In 1897 he was elected professor of surgery of the Medico-Chirur- gical College, which position he continues to hold, as well as that of dean of the faculty, to which he was elected the year following, and re-elected in 1899 and 1900. He is also professor of clinical surgery in the Woman's Medical College, of Kansas City. He is a member of the medical staff of the Kansas City, Fort Scott & Memphis Railway Hos- pital, consulting surgeon to the Kansas City Southern Railway and the Metropolitan Street Railway, surgeon on the staff of the German Hospital, consulting surgeon to the Douglas Hospital, at Kansas City, Kansas, and medical director for the Kansas City Life Insurance Company. He is a member of the Kansas City Academy of Medicine, the Jackson County Medical Society, the Mis- souri State Medical Society, and the Ameri- can Medical Association. From 1876 to 1879 Dr. Coffin served as a private in Company K, of the Fourth Pennsylvania Regiment, Na- tional Guard. His political affiliations have always been with the Republican party, but his conduct has been marked by independ- ence and freedom from political aspirations. He is a thirty-second degree Mason, a Noble of the Mystic Shrine, a past chancellor in the order of Knights of Pythias and a member of the order of Elks. In 1883, Dr. Coffin married Miss Minnie A. Deane, daugliter of Colonel G. A. A. Deane, of Frankfort, Kan- sas, present land commissioner of the Mis- souri Pacific Railway. Their children are Deane Oliver and Bertha M. Coffin. Edward Carl Coffin is a son of Dr. Coffin by a former marriage, his first wife having been Miss Lucy Brady, of Frankfort, Kansas.

Cole, Amadee, a leading representative of the younger generation of business men in St. Louis, was born in that city, September 21, 1855, son of Honorable Nathan and Re- becca (Fagin) Cole. He was educated in the public schools of that city, at Washington University, and at Shurtleff College, of Upper Alton, Illinois. Soon after leaving college lie became interested with his father in the com- mission business, and is now rounding out a quarter of a century of successful operations in that field of enterprise. As the elder Cole sought to withdraw from the business to

COLE.

which he had devoted so many years of his life, he shifted its burdens and responsibil- ities to the shoulders of the son, who has not only maintained the high reputation which the house had previously established for integrity and correct business methods, but has added to its prestige and promi- nence. When the business was incorporated he became vice president of the corporation, and for a decade or more he has had entire charge of the conduct and management of its affairs, transacting annually a large vol- ume of business, having numerous ramifica- tions and extending over a wide area of territory. No higher compliment can be paid to him than to say in this connection that he has proven himself a worthy successor to one who has always enjoyed to the fullest extent the confidence of the people of St. Louis, and whom it has been their pleasure to honor in numerous ways. For many years Mr. Cole has been a member of the Mer- chants' Exchange, has served as vice presi- dent of that organization, has been solicited to accept the highest office in its gift, and has enjoyed at all times the unqualified es- teem of those with whom he is brought into contact in the affairs of everyday life. A member of all the Masonic bodies of the city, he has attained high rank in that order, and is one of a comparatively small num- ber of thirty-second degree Masons in Mis- souri.

Cole, Nathan, merchant, ex-mayor and ex-Congressman, was born in St. Louis, July 26, 1825. His father, Nathan Cole, had emi- grated from Ovid, Seneca County, New York, to St. Louis in 1812. In 1837 he removed his 'family to Chester, Illinois, and made a deter- mined but fruitless stand against the finan- cial ruin of that year. He died in 1840, leaving nothing to his children but the in- heritance of an honorable name and a repu- tation for great energy of character and unsullied integrity.

In such a school of discipline young Cole grew up, and while the teaching was bitter, it no doubt contributed to strengthen his character to a degree attainable in no other way. In 1845 he went to St. Louis and began the search for employment. He had neither money nor friends, and no acquaint- ances even. For some time he canvassed the city in actual privation, but eventually

a position was offered him at ten dollars a month, and he gladly accepted it. His salary was rapidly advanced, and so efficient and valuable had he become to his employers that in a comparatively brief period he was earn- ing fifteen hundred dollars a year, no small compensation in those days for the salary of an employe.

In July, 1851, Mr. Cole was admitted as a junior partner in the house of W. L. Ewing & Co., wholesale grocers, and during the fourteen years of this connection he contrib- uted his full share toward giving the house its reputation as one of high character and remarkable success. On January 1, 1865, this partnership was dissolved, when, in con- junction with his brother, the house of "Cole Brothers, commission merchants," was es- tablished. From that day to this the firm and succeeding corporation has enjoyed a continuous success, amid all the vicissitudes of the war and the panic that followed it, and to-day it stands among the first in St. Louis in credit and reputation for fair and honor- able dealing, and for the faithful discharge of all trusts confided to its care by its nu- merous patrons.

In 1869 Mr. Cole's fellow citizens pressed him into public service and (much against his personal inclination) elected him mayor of the city to deal with certain evils that had been inflicted upon the people by "rings" in the municipal government.

In 1876 he was summoned to a more im- portant service, to represent his district in the Forty-fifth Congress, and in this case also against his will. He discharged the du- ties of the office, however, to the general satisfaction of his constituents. He went to Washington as a business man, and devoted himself specially to the commercial interests of St. Louis and the Mississippi Valley. He was an ardent advocate of closer business relations with Mexico and South America, and delivered a speech on our commercial relations with Mexico which was highly praised, and in Mexico was hailed as the commencement of a new era. It was widely reprinted in the Spanish language, and Mr. Cole had the pleasure of receiving copies of it elegantly printed and bound.

Mr. Cole has also held many minor offices and positions in the public service, always, however, unsought on his part. Among the institutions with which he has been promi-

COLE CAMP-COLE COUNTY.

nently connected are the St. Louis National Bank and National Bank of Commerce.

Cole Camp .- A village, in Benton County, on the Sedalia, Warsaw & South- western Railway, twenty miles northeast of Warsaw, the county seat. It has a public school, Baptist, Methodist, South, and Catlı- olic Churches, the latter with a parochial school; a Republican newspaper, the "Cour- ier"; a bank, a flouring mill and a cream- ery. In 1900 the population was 700. The first settler was Hosea Powers, in 1839; he was an educated man, a lawyer, and a practi- cal surveyor, who established the lines for his own claim. In 1846 V. G. Kemper set up a store, and others followed. A post office was established by removal from a location on Cole Canıp Creek, and from this the new settlement took its name. It is believed that the name originated from the fact that some of the Cole family, from Cooper County, had camped in the vicinity while on a hunt.

Cole Camp was the scene of one of the most bloody conflicts of Civil War days, in which the loss of life, for the numbers en- gaged, exceeded that of many greater engagements. Early in 1861 Captain A. H. W. Cook organized here a force of some 300 loyal Home Guards. This command was occupying the barns of Harman Harnes and Henry Heisterburg, two miles east, on the night of June 18th. At nearly daybreak next morning they were attacked by two compa- nies of Confederates organized at Warsaw, led by Captains O'Kane and Hale, who, on their way, had captured one Tyree, whom they charged with being a spy, and killed. As they approached the first barn the doors opened and they met a heavy fire, which killed six of their number, but the Home Guards failed to follow up the advantage. The Confederates then turned to meet the Guards issuing from the second barn, who broke under their fire, and in their retreat were met by a party of Confederate horse- men, who hastened their retreat with further loss. Of the Home Guards nineteen were killed and twenty-two wounded; the attack- ing party lost six killed and numerous wounded. This affair broke up the Home Guard organization for the time, but most of them soon found service in other com- mands.

Cole County .- A county in central Missouri, of irregular shape, bounded on the northeast by the Missouri River, on the east by the Osage River, which joins the Missouri at the eastern extremity of the county ; on the south and southwest by Miller County, and on the west by Moniteau County. It is drained by Moniteau and Moreau Creeks, and numerous other small streams. It com- prises 234,466 acres, of which 70,000 acres are under cultivation. Considerable portions are untillable, but afford excellent grazing. The upland soil is rich and warm, producing grain and small fruits of superior quality, while the low lands yield a rank growth of nearly all products known to the latitude. The crops are wheat, corn, oats, barley and hay, with tobacco of peculiar excellence. Peaches and apples are abundant, and per- fect in quality. Hogs and cattle are large and profitable products. The broken lands are rich in lead, iron and bituminous coal, with some deposits of cannel coal. The native woods are oak, hickory, walnut, elm, ash, sugar maple and cottonwood. In early days there were many relics of the Mound- builders, which have all but disappeared. The most numerous and perfect mounds were at the junction of the Missouri and Osage Riv- ers and on Moreau Creek, some containing stone sepulchers enclosing human skeletons, with war and hunting implements. The late Elias Elston, of the village named for him, made a collection of these relics, which in- cluded specimens before unknown, now in possession of the Missouri Historical Society, in St. Louis. Cole County was originally contained in the tract occupied by the Osage Indians, and was in the St. Louis district of Louisiana Territory. It became a part of Howard County upon its organization, in 1816, and of the new county of Cooper in 1818. In 1820 it was organized as a county, and named for Captain Stephen Cole, a pio- neer, who built Cole's Fort, where Boon- ville now stands. The first whites came from Tennessee, in 1815-16, settling at the mouth of Moniteau Creek. John Inglish located west of that point, and Henry McKenney op- posite, with James Miller, James Fulkerson, John Mulkey, David Chambers, Joshua Chambers, John Harman, David Young, William Gooch and Martin Gooch near by. Harman brought one son, and all the others

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Encyclopedia of the history of Missouri, a compendium of history and biography for ready reference, Vol. II, Part 8

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: 800

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: 800