USA > Missouri > Macon County > General history of Macon County, Missouri > Part 39
Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25 | Part 26 | Part 27 | Part 28 | Part 29 | Part 30 | Part 31 | Part 32 | Part 33 | Part 34 | Part 35 | Part 36 | Part 37 | Part 38 | Part 39 | Part 40 | Part 41 | Part 42 | Part 43 | Part 44 | Part 45 | Part 46 | Part 47 | Part 48 | Part 49 | Part 50 | Part 51 | Part 52 | Part 53 | Part 54 | Part 55 | Part 56 | Part 57 | Part 58 | Part 59 | Part 60 | Part 61 | Part 62 | Part 63 | Part 64 | Part 65 | Part 66 | Part 67 | Part 68 | Part 69 | Part 70 | Part 71 | Part 72 | Part 73 | Part 74 | Part 75 | Part 76 | Part 77 | Part 78 | Part 79 | Part 80 | Part 81 | Part 82 | Part 83 | Part 84 | Part 85 | Part 86 | Part 87 | Part 88 | Part 89 | Part 90 | Part 91 | Part 92 | Part 93 | Part 94 | Part 95 | Part 96 | Part 97 | Part 98
313
HISTORY OF MACON COUNTY
of the county in general. In fact, his influence in this respect has worked well and largely throughout the state and helped materially to bring Missouri into general public notice as a producer of high grade stock and give her output a very high rank in Chicago and eastern markets. If he who makes two blades of grass grow where one grew before is to be considered a public benefactor, how much more is the man entitled to public esteem who takes an ordinary product of a fruitful region and raises its standard to the point of commanding universal commendation and the highest price in the marts of commerce and trade? Mr. Gil- breath has very largely helped to do this for the stock industry of Mis- souri and is entitled to full credit for the efforts he has made in this behalf. He owns and cultivates 900 acres of first rate land, which he has brought to a high state of productiveness by the vigor and skill with which he cultivates it. He also has his farm improved with good buildings and equipped with all the necessary appliances for the suc- cessful development of its resources and the management of his farm- ing operations according to the most approved modern methods. He devotes the same intelligence and energy to his stock industry, and both that and his farming are highly successful from every point of view, bringing him good returns for his labor and care and stimulating others to greater activity by the force of his example.
In 1882 Mr. Gilbreath bought a large block of stock in a private bank of excellent reputation, and he at once reorganized the institution into the present Savings Bank of La Plata, of which he has been presi- dent from the time of the reorganization. He has given all the affairs of the bank his close and careful personal attention and directed its wise and sound policy from the beginning. It has flourished greatly and continuously under his management, and the credit for its prog- ress is due largely to him. His study in connection with it has been to know and meet all the requirements of the community that such an institution can provide for, and keep its improving and developing resources in vigorous action and lead them to the highest and best results. In this aspiration he has been eminently successful, and in return for the good he has done the community through his bank that institution has reaped a rich harvest of profit from the spirit of enter- prise and thrift at work among the people, which it has helped to foster and develop, and the relations between it and the people have been reciprocal and mutually beneficial.
On November 14, 1871, Mr. Gilbreath was united in marriage with Miss Sarah M. Gates, a native of this county and a daughter of one of its most esteemed families. They have one child, their daughter, Olive
.
374
HISTORY OF MACON COUNTY
M., who made an extended tour of Europe in the summer of 1909, and after her return entered upon the important duties for which she had been selected as instructor of English in the State University of Kan- sas. She is a graduate of Wellesley College, and received the degree of A. M. from the University of Michigan at Ann Arbor.
Mr. Gilbreath is a Democrat in his political faith and has always taken an active part in the campaigns of his party, rendering it good service in both the council chamber and the field, although he has never consented to accept a political office for himself, either by elec- tion or appointment. Fraternally he has long been connected with the Masonic order and has climbed its mystic ladder to the height of becom- ing a Noble of the Mystic Shrine. His religious affiliation is with the Presbyterian church, and in this he finds scope for the exercise of his benevolent and philanthropie tendencies and desires. Macon county has never had a better citizen, or one for whom the whole of her peo- ple have felt a more genuine regard. In all the relations of life he has exemplified the highest and best attributes of citizenship and upright, elevated and forceful manhood.
WILLIS EZRA BRADLEY, M. D.
Of the high character, general resourcefulness, extensive and accurate knowledge and skill in the application of it which distinguishes the professional men of Northeastern Missouri, Dr. Willis Ezra Brad- ley of Ethel, Macon county, furnishes a fine illustration. He ranks high in his profession because of his mastery of it in theory and practice, the zealous devotion he bestows upon his work, and his eminent success as a practitioner. He also stands high as a citizen, displaying com- mendable breadthı of view and public spirit in reference to everything involving the progress and development of the township and county in which he lives and the enduring welfare of the people among whom he labors with such signal success.
Dr. Bradley was born on August 13, 1870, in White township, Macon county, and is a son of R. F. and Adeline (Greenstreet) Bradley, who was born in Kentucky. The father came to Missouri in 1856 and took up his residence in this county. He followed farming from the time of his arrival and is still engaged in it on the tract of land on which he first "stuck his stake" here. This tract he redeemed from the waste and has made over into a very productive and valuable farm and a most comfortable and attractive country home. What it is now is the result of his energy and skill-the fruit of his systematic and well applied industry and ability. His wife died in 1894. They were
375
HISTORY OF MACON COUNTY
the parents of nine children all of whom grew to maturity and eight of whom are living: Dr. Willis E., N. W., who lives in Drake township; Sallie, the wife of J. S. Hayden of Rutledge, Missouri; Edwin L .; Nathan E .; Millie, the wife of Dr. Abbott of Goldsberry; and Grover C. and Dee M. The father has always been a Democrat in polities and always active in the service of his party, but he could never be induced to accept a political office of any kind.
Dr. Willis E. Bradley was reared on his father's farm and secured the basis of his seholastie training in the country schools of the neighbor- hood. A prime element in his mental development, which gave him self knowledge and knowledge of others, was his experience of four years as a school teacher, which he had soon after leaving school himself. In 1890 he began the study of medieine in Beaumont Hospital Medical College, which is located in St. Louis, and from which he was graduated with the degree of M. D. in 1893. He started the practice of his pro- fession at New Boston in our sister county of Linn, which borders Macon on the west, and remained there about one year. At the end of that period he moved to Ethel, and here he has been living ever since and actively engaged in a large general practice, with an increasing body of patients from year to year and a steady gain in the confidence and esteem of the people.
The Doctor is studions and industrious in his efforts to keep abreast with the latest thought and discovery in his very progressive profession, reading all the best literature bearing on his work, and mingling freely and actively with the American, the Missouri State and the Macon county Medical associations, of each of which he is a zealous and valned member. He has acquired a thorough and compre- hensive knowledge of the theory of the medical profession and has shown great intelligence and skill in the practical work of his daily rounds among his patients. He also takes an active and helpful interest in other matters of importance, being a stoekholder and director of the Citizens Bank of Ethel and connected with other institutions of value in the financial and industrial life of the community. He also owns and has been condneting sinee 1899 a fine drug store whiel is recognized as one of the established benefactions and vital neces- sities of the town. Fortune has smiled on his efforts for advancement to such an extent that he owns in addition a considerable body of good land in the state of Wyoming, and has interests of different kinds in sev- eral places. His personal acquisitions give evidence of the vigor of his management of his affairs, his thrift in condneting his operations and his ability in making everything count to his advantage. The same qualities
·
316
HISTORY OF MACON COUNTY
displayed plentifully in reference to the public affairs of the township and county have been of signal service to them and given him high rank as a publie-spirited and progressive citizen, and made him popular and well esteemed in all portions of the county, and throughout much of the surrounding country.
Dr. Bradley has been a life-long member of the Democratic party and from the dawn of his manhood an active worker for its success in all its campaigns. He is averse to public life, but for the good of the community has served as clerk and director of the Ethel school board for more than fourteen years. His fraternal relations are with the Masonic Order, the Odd Fellows, the Modern Woodmen of America, the Woodmen of the World and the Order of Yeomen. He has been a Freemason for fourteen years, and has aseended the mystic ladder of this noble fraternity through Blue Lodge, Royal Areh Chapter and Knights Templar Commandery and is now a Noble of the Mystic Shrine. On June 12, 1895, he was united in marriage with Miss Alice E. Hizer, a native of La Plata, Macon county, but whose parents came to Missouri from Iowa. She presides over their attractive home with a grace and dignity entirely in keeping with their elevated position in the social and general life of the community.
JOHN F. L. BRANHAM.
Crowned with years and with the universal esteem of the people, and walking among them even yet with vigor and energy although he is ninety-one years of age, John F. L. Branham of Atlanta is one of the worthy patriarehs of Macon county and is highly revered as suel. 'The good opinion of the people, which is freely bestowed upon him, is no accidental circumstance, and is not due only to his advanced age. It is based on his real and sterling manhood, demonstrated for a long time in their midst in all the relations of life, and to his substanial contributions to the growth and development of the county, as witnessed in its educational, moral, industrial and commercial forees, in the building and strengthening of all of which he has borne a useful part and taken a very active and serviceable interest.
Mr. Branham was born in Scott county, Kentucky, on October 5, 1819, and is sprung from heroic strains. His father, James Branham, was a native of and might have been an extensive planter in Virginia, and he was also a valiant soldier in the War of 1812. He has a taste for merchanical pursuits and gratified it by working as a stone mason in connection with the management of his plantation. As a young man, however, he left the home of his ancestors and strode boldly into
377
HISTORY OF MACON COUNTY
the wilderness of Kentucky to make a name and establish a home for himself by his own capacity and industry. He became the husband of Eli- zabeth Landrum, a native of the state last named, and they had eight children all of whom they reared to maturity. Of these John F. L. is the only one now living. The father died in Kentucky and the mother in Macon county, Missouri.
Their son John F. L. was reared on the parental homestead in Kentucky and secured a limited common school education in the country schools of the neighborhood. At an early age he took his part as a workman on the farm and performed his duties faithfully. After leaving school he began farming on his own account in his native county. But having inherited the adventurous spirit of his ancestors, in 1838, at the dawn of his manhood, he came to Missouri to look the country over with a view to repeating on its wide domain of undeveloped possibilities what his father had done on that of Kentucky. He had learned the trade of carpenter and for a short time he worked at it here, then returned to Kentucky and resumed his farming operations, diong something at his trade in connection with them.
But the Western fever that had got into his blood would not yield to any other treatment than the satisfaction of its demands. In 1849 he came again to this state and opened an establishment as a gunsmith in Monroe county. The next year he moved to Macon county . and tried his hand at merchandising, which occupied him fully for five years. Then he passed three years as the proprietor and manager of a hotel in Bloomington, perhaps three years and a half. But the voice of Nature within him called him loudly to become a tiller of the soil, and he finally yielded to the call. He bought a farm and from then until 1894 he was actively engaged in general farming and raising live stock, succeeding finely in the undertaking and growing into con- sequence and influence among the people as the country developed and improved around him under the impulse of his spirit of progress and that of others like him.
In 1894 the weight of accumulating years induced him to retire from active pursnits and pass the remainder of his days in the enjoy- ment of a well-earned rest and the beneficient use of the competency he had wrung from unwilling fate by his own determined energy and his skill and ability in the application of it. He then learned that there is even on this side of the grave a haven where the storms of life break not, or are felt only in gentle undulations of the unrippled and mirroring waters, and that it is a serene, a genial and hale old age, in which the tired traveler abandons the dusty, crowed and jostling high-
378
HISTORY OF MACON COUNTY
way for a shady and but little noted by-lane in which he may enjoy unharassed and with tranquillity the splendor of the sunset, the milder glories of late evening.
Mr. Branham has not, however, been content to sit still and dream away the remaining years of his life in idleness. He is still vigorous and active and the fires of energy still burn within him with an ardor that requires exertion of some kind on his part to satisfy them. Even at his advanced age he is yet very fond of hunting, fishing and outdoor sports, and he indulges in them freely for his own enjoyment. He was married in 1844 to Miss Lyda Jane Hockensmith, a native of Franklin county, Kentucky. They had nine children and six of them are living: Dr. George Branham of New Mexico; James, who lives in the new state of Oklahoma; and Isaac O., Katharine, Franklin and Anna, who are residents of Macon county. The wife died September 9, 1898.
In polities Mr. Branham was a Whig until near the death of the party. When is was succeeded by a sectional party bent on the crea- tion of a sectional issue, he became a Democrat, and during the dark days which followed, when Civil war cast its withering blight over our fair land, his sympathies were with the South. He has adhered to the Democratic party ever since, but he has never accepted a political office of any kind although frequently and urgently solicited to do so. For seventy-two years he has been a devout and consistent member of the Baptist church, and since 1853 has belonged to the Masonic Order. No citizen of Macon county stands higher in the regard of the people and none is more deserving of their esteem and good will.
ORLOFF WILLIAM HOWE.
Although he has been for only fourteen years a resident of Mis- souri and for that length of time directly connected with its industries and a contributor to its progress and development, Orloff W. Howe of Walnut township, Macon county, has been all his life a resident of the great Middle West of this country, as it is still called, and is thoroughly representative of the spirit and enterprise of that portion of the Union and the charactericties and tendencies of its people.
Mr. Howe was born in the state of Illinois in 1865, and is a son of William and Mary (Hill) Howe, the former a native of New York state, and the latter of Illinois. He therefore inherited from his parents the shrewdness, adaptability to circumstances and resourcefulness of New England and the all-daring sweep of enterprise characteristic of the Mississippi valley region, and in his career he has employed all the traits of both sections with great advantage to himself and pronounced
329
HISTORY OF MACON COUNTY
benefit to the communities in which he has lived and operated. The parents came to Missouri in 1898 and took up their residence in Macon county, where they were actively engaged in farming and raising stock for a number of years. They are now living in Macon retired from active pursuits, but mingling serviceably in the social, intellectual and public life of the city, and highly esteemed by all classes of its people. Of the five children born to them four are living, Edward A., Orloff W., Charles L. and Ma Nettie, the wife of B. V. James of Decatur, Illinois.
Orloff W. Howe grew to manhood on his father's farm in Illinois and secured his academic training at the district schools in the neigh- borhood. After leaving school he passed five years working at the carpenter trade, then turned his attention to farming in his native state. He cultivated the rich prairie soil of that great state with success and profit until 1896, when the vast domain across the Mis- sissippi from his former home attracted him beyond the power of resistance, and he became a resident of Missouri and Macon county. Here he has continued his activity and his success as a farmer and has risen to the first rank in his business in this county. He now owns 390 aeres of first rate land and carries on an extensive and profitable business in raising stock for the markets. All of his land that is not required for grazing purposes for his large and valuable herds of cattle and other live stock, is under advanced cultivation and yielding abundantly to the faith, industry and skill he bestows upon it. He is a progressive farmer and studies the needs of his business in this line, as he does also in his stock industry, and applies the results of his read- ing, observation and reflection intelligently to every step of every department of his work, aiming in all to secure the best results attain- able, and succeeding in doing this by keeping at all times the command of the situation.
Mr. Howe is also one of the leading stockholders in the Elmer Creamery Company, and is connected with other enterprises of value to the county and its people. In their welfare he has always been deeply interested from his arrival in the county, and to the promotion of it he has devoted both intelligence in council and great energy in action. In political faith he adheres to the Republican party with loyal and unwavering devotion and is ever ready to serve his party along whole- some lines of development with his utmost ability and best judgment. He has rendered the people excellent service as a member of the school board for a number of years. In fraternal life he is allied with the Order of Modern Woodmen of America and in religions connection with the Missionary Baptist church. Both his lodge and his church
380
HISTORY OF MACON COUNTY
feel the force of his influence for good and his active assistance, and his membership is highly appreciated in each.
In 1891 Mr. Howe was united in marriage with Miss Alice M. Alexander, a native of Illinois. Of the ten children born to them five died in infancy. Those living are Harry O., Nellie, Myrl W., Forest E. and Opal M. an infant, all of whom are still living at home and adding brightness and cheer to the family circle. The home is a favorite resort for the hosts of friends of the family, who find it a center of refined and gracious hospitality and of all the courtesies and amenities of life. The parents are held in the highest esteem wherever they are known, and regarded throughout the county as fine exemplars of all that is strong, useful and worthy in American citizenship. V
SAMUEL GLADDEN BEATTY.
Born and reared to the age of seven years in the great state of Pennsylvania, where his father's family had been domesticated for gen- erations, and where its members were participants in many of the countless industries conducted with conquering enterprise in that enormous bee hive, Samuel G. Beatty of Walnut township, this county, seems to have acquired by inheritance and absorbtion the salient char- acteristics of its people, as he has exhibited them on many a field of endeavor and in many places in other parts of the country, and with the usnal results of material advantage to himself and substantial benefit to the people around him.
Mr. Beatty's life began in Washington county, Pennsylvania, in 1860, and he is a son of Benjamin and Sarah M. (Gladden) Beatty, the father of the same nativity as himself and the mother born in Jefferson county, Ohio. They had nine children and seven of them are living: Edwin, who resides in Alaska; Park B., whose home is in Oregon; Samuel G., who has lived in several states and still has interests in at least two ; James W., an esteemed citizen of Montana ; Ulysses G., who lives in Kansas; Frank W., a prosperous and progressive resident of Oregon, and Fannie, the wife of J. J. Dye of Macon county. They are distributed over an enormous extent of country and engaged in a variety of industries, but wherever they are and whatever they are doing, they are exemplifying in their daily lives the lessons of thrift, uprightness and industry they received by precept and example around the parental fireside, and multiplying in their activity the fruits of worth and integrity, as their forefathers did for generations before them. Their mother died in 1905. The father is still living and has
381
HISTORY OF MACON COUNTY
his home in Macon county. He is a Republican in politics and served as a justice of the peace many years.
Samuel Gladden Beatty grew to manhood on the family homestead in this county and secured his academic training in its district schools. He then followed a course of special training in the Jacksonville Busi- ness College from which he was graduated. After leaving that insti- tution he taught in the public schools two years, and at the end of that period went to Colorado, where he engaged in mining for fourteen years, and was successful in the venture. He still owns a silver mine in San Juan county, that state, which is very productive, and also has an interest in a gold mine in another part of the state.
At the end of his mining period he returned to this state and again located in Macon county. Once more he turned his attention to farm- ing and in this profitable but often very exacting occupation he has been actively at work ever since. He owns and cultivates 460 acres of land, and, in connection with this industry, also carries on an exten- sive and flourishing enterprise in general stock-raising. He takes a very active interest and a leading part in public affairs as a Democrat, being always ready to assume the harness as a wheelhorse in the service of his party, and although by no means desirons of the honors or emoluments of public office, has served as road commissioner six years for the good of the township. While living at Creede, Colorado, he served as coroner for a number of years and also as a justice of the peace. Fraternally le is allied with several benevolent associa- tions, among them the Masonic Order, the Odd Fellows, and the Modern Woodmen of America. He is deeply interested in the welfare of all his lodges and helps to promote it by every means at his command. Everything to which he puts his hand receives an impulse to enlarged activity, and in matters involving the progress and improvement of the township and county, and the enduring welfare of their people, he is particularly active, broad-minded and enterprising, giving much stimn- Ins by the wisdom of his counsel and following that with an energy in action that accomplishes a great deal itself and sets in motion helpful forces in others by the force of its influence and example.
Mr. Beatty was married in 1897 to Miss Ella D. Witt a native of Platte county, Missouri. They have one child, their son Samuel G., Jr., who is now eight years old. The parents stand well in social circles and are recognized as helpful forces in the activities of all the intellectual, moral and spiritual agencies at work in the community. They are animated by lofty ideals of citizenship and daily duty, and they strive to realize these in all their relations in life. The people
382
HISTORY OF MACON COUNTY
who know them hold them in cordial regard, and the community in general in which their activities are employed, esteem them highly as fine examples of high-toned and useful American manhood and womanhood.
JOHN MICHAEL SURBECK.
Although a native of the land of William Tell and Arnold Winkel- reid, and proud of its inspiring history, majestie scenery and pure and progressive government, John Michael Surbeek of Elmer, this county, is earnestly devoted to the land of his adoption and profoundly grateful for the opportunities it has given for the exercise of his rare faculites of aggression and good judgment in business and his lofty and exemplary characteristies as a citizen. He believes in American institutions and does all in his power to raise and keep them up to the highest standard of excellence. All of the sixty-five years of his life that have passed have been spent in this country, and he may therefore be classed almost wholly as an American produet. Mr. Surbeck was born in Switzerland on October 12, 1844. His parents, Jacob and Eliza- beth (Ochnar) Surbeek, were also natives of Switzerland, and their forefathers lived in that country for many generations. They brought their family to this country in 1852 and took up their residence in Toledo, Ohio. The father engaged in farming in that neighborhood, winning his way to prosperity and worldly comfort, rearing his family with a view to the enduring welfare of all its members, and gaining the confidence and respect of the people in a marked degree. He died in 1875 and his widow passed away in 1883. She also was highly respected by everybody who had the benefit of acquaintance and association with her. They were the parents of seven children, all of whom are living: John C., Jacob, Elizabeth, Jolmn Michael, Barbara, George and Samuel.
Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.