USA > Missouri > Macon County > General history of Macon County, Missouri > Part 61
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down with relentless and immediate dismissal. His prudence and sedu- lous care in financial operations are proverbial, while his breadth of view and enterprise are just what the conditions and circumstances require for the best results in expanding the business of the bank and retaining the high place it has in public confidence and esteem.
In the affairs of the town, township and county Mr. Biggs takes an active and helpful interest, applying to them the same qualities of fore- sight, energy and breadth of view that have made him so successful in his private business. He is a cordial friend and a valuable aid to every worthy undertaking for advancing the interests or promoting the welfare of the people, and never shirks his portion of the burden involved. He served as a member of the school board for fifteen con- secutive years, winning high praise for his intelligence, enterprise and discrimination in the discharge of his official dutes from the patrons and pupils of the schools and the public in general. In politics he is a Republican, but, while always active in the service of his party, he never allows partisan considerations to overbear his sense of duty and genu- ine concern for the welfare of the community in local campaigns. Fra- ternally he is connected with the Masonic order, in which he is a Knight Templar and Noble of the Mystic Shrine, and the Knights of Pythias. His religious affiliation is with the Protestant Episcopal church. In February, 1878, Mr. Biggs was married to Miss Rosa Miller, who was born and reared in this county. They have two children, their daugh- ters, Anna L., who is the wife of Leo W. MeDavitt, and Bonnie B., who is now Mrs. Dr. Buckley of La Plata. Mr. Biggs has been eminently successful in all his undertakings and is regarded as one of the most substantial men in the township. He has also been faithful to every duty, public and private, and holds the rank throughout the county of a very prominent, influential and estimable citizen. All the members of the family enjoy universal esteem wherever they are known.
FRANK COLFAX THORNBURGH, M. D.
Like many other successful and progressive men in American history, who have dignified and adorned the professional walks of life, or reached eminence in public affairs, Dr. Frank Colfax Thorn- burgh, of the city of Macon, was prepared in part for his career by taking what may be called a post-graduate course in the great "univer- sity of the people" in this country. That is, after having himself enjoyed the benefits of a public school training, he brought them home to others by teaching school for a period of seven years, and thereby acquired a knowledge of human nature which has been of great serv-
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ice to him, and which he could scarcely have acquired in any other way.
Dr. Thornburgh is a native of the state of Iowa and was born on December 4, 1868. His parents, Amos C. and Libby (Meeker) Thornburgh are natives, respectively, of Indiana and Vermont. They are still living and have their home at Unionville in this state. The father's life began at Salem, Indiana, in 1841. From that state he moved to Iowa and was occupied in farming until the beginning of the Civil war, when he joined the Union army and offered his life on the altar of his country for three years during that terrible conflict. He participated in seven great battles, facing death on every field, for his command was in the thick of the fight in each, but escaped unharmed.
After the war he returned to Towa and again engaged in farming. In 1871 he became a resident of this state, locating in Putnam county and there continuing to till the soil for his livelihood, while his love of his fellows found expression in valuable service to them as a min- ister of the gospel. He is now living retired from all active pursuits and passing the evening of his days in the retrospect of a well spent life, during which he performed with fidelity and cheerfulness every duty whose call he heard and recognized. On December 26, 1867, he was married to Miss Libby Meeker, of Iowa, where he was then resid- ing. They became the parents of six children, five of whom are living : Dr. Frank C .; William B., a resident of Sedalia, Missouri ; Hattie I., wife of James G. Grimes, of Kansas City; Effie Luella and Harley V. The father was very successful in all his undertaking's and won his success and the general esteem in which he has been held wherever he has lived by his own merits and capacity.
Dr. Frank C. Thornburgh grew to manhood at Unionville, Missouri. He began his education in the public schools of that town and com- pleted it in a three-years' course at the Kirksville Normal School. After leaving the institution at Kirksville he taught school seven years. In 1899 he matriculated at the Homeopathie College of Missouri. which is located in St. Louis, and from which he was graduated in 1904. Armed with his professional degree and his own self-reliance and readi- ness for any emergeney, he at once began the practice of medicine at Unionville. But he deemed it advisable to seek a larger field of opera- tion, and accordingly, in July of the same year, moved to Macon. In this city he has ever since been steadily engaged in general practice and by assiduous industry, close attention to business and skill in the application of his large and varied fund of professional knowledge. has built up a very extensive practice and won for himself a high place in the esteem and good will of the community.
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In politics the Doctor is a Republican. He takes an active and serviceable interest in the affairs of his party, bears in every campaign his full share of the burden of work and responsibility, and aids in every way he can, both by wisdom in counsel and active efforts in the field, the cause in which he believes and to which he is devoted. In fraternal life he is connected with the Knights of Pythias, the Wood- men of the World and the Brotherhood of American Yeomen. In the organizations devoted to the advancement of the science of medi- cine he also takes an active interest, being a member of the State Med- ical Society and the American Institute of Homeopathy. He was married in 1904 to Miss Losie Clark, who was born and reared in Missouri. Their home is a center of refined and gracious hospitality and all the bland amenities of life. Like his father, the Doctor is a member of the Methodist Episcopal church, and he takes a great inter- est in all the work of the organization and gives every portion of it his active and intelligent support. He is also an active worker in the tem- perance canse and follows the teaching of the Bible in his practice and in all the walks of life.
JOHN WILLIAM THOMPSON.
V
Without the aid of fortune's favors or adventitious eirenmstances of any kind, but by steady application and the sensible and judicious use of his faculties in hard and unremitting toil, John William Thomp- son, one of the leading business men of Macon, has won his way in the world to his present position of consequence and public esteem. He is essentially the architect of his own fortune, and the work he has made of it is highly to his eredit. In every field of activity to which he has been called he has met the claims of duty faithfully, though arduous labor, personal peril and even death itself might be in the stake, and has never shirked or turned his back upon the obstacle that confronted him. whatever it might happen to be.
Mr. Thompson was born on November 26, 1841, in Monroe county. this state, and is the son of Harvey and Sarah A. (Ballard) Thompson, the former a native of Rockingham county, Virginia, and the latter of Lexington, Kentucky. The father was born on April 11, 1810, and became a resident of Missouri in 1832. He located at Marion City and later moved to Macon county, where he farmed and carried on a profit- able mercantile business. He and his wife were the parents of seven sons and three daughters. Of these the following are living: John William; Richard A., of Ames, Oklahoma; Thomas J., of Gunnison, Colorado ; Mattie E., of Kirksville, Missouri; Fannie E., wife of Dr.
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William Watson, of Mound City, Missouri, and Robert Emmet, of Meeker, Colorado. Harvey P. died August 11, 1909.
The father was a contractor and builder, and pursued his chosen line of enterprise from his early manhood until his death. He was an early settler in this part of the state and built the first houses in the present city of Macon. He was also prominent in the public affairs of the community and rendered excellent service to the people for a number of years as a justice of the peace. He was a Democrat in politics and a member of the Methodist Episcopal Church, South, in religious affiliation.
John William Thompson was reared and educated in Randolph and Macon counties, Missouri, and reached the dawn of his manhood just when the long gathering storm of civil war burst upon the conn- try with all its violence. In his young and enthusiastic vision the path of duty led to the field of conflict in defense of what he had been taught to believe the correct theory of government, and he joined the Confederate army in 1861. He served four years in the awful struggle, facing death on many a gory field, and finally saw the tattered banner under which he had fought go down in everlasting defeat. Among the leading engagements in which he took part were the battles of Lexing- ton, Pea Ridge and Baker's Creek and the sieges of Corinth and Vieks- burg. He was once made prisoner and then suffered the privations and hardships of elose confinement for a period of seventeen months.
After the elose of the war he returned to Macon and soon afterward went to Montana, where he remained nine years engaged in mining. In December, 1873, he came again to Macon, and for several years there- after was employed by the firm of T. E. Sharpe & Co. in shipping leaf tobacco. In 1879 he began a four years' service as manager of a grain elevator in which he was also a stockholder. In 1888 he moved to Marceline, in this state, and engaged in the lumber business. The next year, however, he transferred the seat of his operations in this line to Macon. He continued dealing in lumber in that city until 1891, when he changed to the grocery trade, which he conducted until Janu- ary, 1901. He then became general manager of the North Missouri Lumber Company, of Macon, and he is still acting in that capacity.
Mr. Thompson was married on June 27, 1876, to Miss Lida E. Horn back, of Macon. They have three children, their daughters, Eugenia E., who is the wife of P. A. Thomas, of Palmyra, Missouri; Nanny E. and Bernice H. The head of the house is an ardent Democrat in polities and always takes an active part in the campaigns of his party. He has served it well and wisely in counsel, most effectively in action and with
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decided eredit to himself and benefit to the people in official station, having been a member of the city council for four consecutive years and also a member of the board of public works. He is connected with the business of the community in a variety of ways, one of them being as a stockholder in the building and loan association. In religions faith hie follows the teachings of the Methodist Episcopal Church, South. But, while he is loyal to his church, he is not ostentatious in proclaim- ing the faet, or in any way intolerant toward the views of those who differ with him in religious opinions.
Mr. Thompson has been very successful in his undertakings and he owes his success to his own capacities and energies. He is regarded as one of the best and wisest business men of Macon county, and he has won this reputation by demonstrating in his career that he deserves it. He is highly esteemed as a citizen, also, and in this relation stands second to none, and for the same reason. He has met all the obliga- tions of citizenship in a straightforward and manly manner, proving on all oeeasions that his interest in the community is earnest and is based on a high sense of duty and local patriotism.
CHARLES WILLIAM REAGAN, M. D.
The life of a country physician, always full of sacrifices and priva- tion, is especially a destiny of hardship and trial on the frontier or in any new or undeveloped country. Climatic and other conditions increase and intensify his duties, and the very circumstances of the case render them mneh more difficult of performance than in older and more populous .communities. Yet his life is one of the most useful to his kind, its value being augmented in proportion to the exac- tions laid upon it. He ministers directly to the relief of suffering humanity, and often when it has no other means of relief or assistance.
The early professional career of Dr. Charles W. Reagan, of Macon, is an apt and foreible illustration of this faet. He began his pro- fessional work in this part of the world at a time when the country was comparatively new and practically unsettled, and he was obliged to undergo all the hardships and privations of such a condition, and submit to all its exactions. But he bore his lot bravely and cheerfully, and in time secured the guerdon of his fidelity in the regard and good will of all the people, to say nothing of more material returns and the approval of his own conseience for the faithful and unremitting per- formance of his duty.
Dr. Reagan was born on June 30, 1856, in Andrain county, this state, and is the son of William A. and Agnes E. (Reid) Reagan. the
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former a native of Georgia and the latter of Virginia. The father was born on June 13, 1830, and in 1853 moved to Missouri, where he gave his attention to farming. He was married on March 17, 1853, to Miss Agnes E. Reid, not long before he set his face toward the setting sun and journeyed to a new home amid its still almost primeval natural con- ditions. He and his wife became the parents of seven children, four of whom are living: Charles W., Nathaniel R., Mrs. Mamie E. How (a widow), and Dr. Sterling M., now a resident of Oregon.
Dr. Charles W. Reagan was reared in his native county and began his edneation in its public schools. Later he attended New Windsor college in the town of that name in Carroll county, Maryland. In 1882 he entered the State University at Columbia, Missouri, from the med- ical department of which he was graduated in 1884 with the degree of M. D. He at once entered upon the practice of his profession in Macon county, where he continued it three years, then moved to Andrain county, in which he was an active practice nine years. At the end of that period he took up his residence and pursued his professional duties in the city of St. Louis for four years. In October, 1899, he settled in this county, making his home in the city of Macon, and here he has ever since resided and been in active practice.
In this community he has given close and careful attention to his calling, and at the same time has taken a zealous and helpful interest in the public affairs of the county, being among the foremost in every worthy undertaking for the advancement of the county and the welfare of its people. In 1907 he was appointed health officer of Macon county, a position in which he is still rendering excellent service and winning good opinions from all classes of the citizens for the efficiency and fidel- ity of his work. He is also physician to the county jail, and as health officer has charge of all cases of infectious and contagious diseases in the county.
Dr. Reagan's technical instruction and training at the State Uni- versity did not complete his professional education. During the whole of his practice he has been a thoughtful student and reflective observer in the wide domain of medical science, and has also kept in touch with the most advanced thought and practical experience in connection with it by a diligent perusal of its literature. He has, in addition, mingled freely with his professional brethren and had intimate intercourse with them in the associations formed among them for the purpose. He is a member of the county. state and national medical associations, and counselor for the Tenth District for the Missouri State Medical Asso- ciation for past four years, and takes an active part in the proceedings
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of each, contributing to their discourses and drawing what information and inspiration he can from their deliberations.
In fraternal life the Doctor is a member of the Masonie order, the Woodmen of the World and the Knights of Pythias. He was married in 1886 to Miss Maud Landree, who was born in Bloomington, Missouri. They have three children, their sons, Charles W., Jr., and Cody S., and their daughter, Agnes Lucille. Dr. Reagan has been eminently suc- cessful in his practice and has reached the first rank in his profession in this part of the country. He is looked upon as one of the leading and most representative men in the community and is held in the highest esteem in all parts of the county. Moreover, he has richly earned the laurels he so modestly wears, for he has, in all respects, been an exemplary citizen-an upright, serviceable, manly man.
OSCAR SANDUSKY.
Earnest and energetic from his youth in the stirring activities of life, whether as employe or employer, mechanic, merchant or general business man, faithful and true to every requirement in private life and official station, Oscar Sandusky, of Macon, has honestly won the esteem in which he is universally held and the place he occupies as one of the leading and most representative citizens of the community in which he lives.
He was born on January 31, 1871, in Sullivan, Indiana, and is a son of the late Samuel and Sarah A. (Knotts) Sandusky, a sketch of whom appears elsewhere in this volume. At the age of six he came with his parents to Missouri, finding a home in Marion county, and there receiving his education and remaining until he reached the age of fifteen. After leaving school he assisted his father on the farm for a time, then took up his residence in Kansas City, this state, where he was employed in various capacities for a time.
In 1886 he became a resident of Macon county, and for eleven years thereafter operated a barber shop on his own account. There were, however, aspirations and activities within him which cried alond for larger affairs and more fruitful opportunities, and in due time he vielded to them. In 1905 he formed a partnership with T. E. Wisdom to engage in the real estate, loan and insurance business, which con- tinned until 1909. He also conducted a grocery establishment under the firm name of Sandusky & Co. The success which followed his entrance into the mercantile field has fully justified his faith in making the change and demonstrated that the voice of nature, in selecting the ocenpations of men, if properly interpreted, should always be heeded.
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Mr. Sandusky has risen to the first rank among the business men of the county, and has won the place by his own capacity, energy and acumen, without any favors of fortune or adventitious circumstances. His suc- cess, which has been pre-eminent, is all his own and all the more creditable to him on that account.
But his achievements in mercantile pursuits are not the only fac- tors in his general popularity and the high respect in which he is held. He lias at all times taken a very active interest in the affairs of the county, and been foremost in the promotion of every commendable enterprise for its advancement and the good of its people. No work of public improvement and no effort for the enlargement of the moral, mental or educational forces of the community has ever gone without his active aid or been left without the benefit of his influence and wise counsel.
His political affiliation is with the Democratic party, and in the service of that organization he has for many years been diligent and zealous to the full extent of his powers. In 1900 he was elected treas- urer of Macon county, filling the office with great acceptability and fidelity until 1904. Since 1905 he has been county committeeman of his political party and as such has been one of the most forceful potencies in conducting the affairs of the party. Fraternally he belongs to the Order of Elks, the Knights of Pythias, the Eagles, the Modern Woodmen and the Court of Honor.
In June, 1894, he was married to Miss Mary M. Weakley, a resi- dent of Macon. They have two children, Mionette, who is thirteen years old, and Robert Oscar, who has reached the age of five. Their home is a center of genial and refined hospitality and an exemplification of every domestic and social virtue.
SAMUEL SANDUSKY.
The life story of this estimable man, who dignified and adorned the citizenship of his country by usefulness and manly industry in three of its great commonwealths, is full of interest at every period from the dawn of his manhood to the close of his suggestive and instructive career. True, it is, in the main, an oft-told tale, especially in the mid- dle and western sections of the land, but it has individual and personal features which give it special distinctiveness and importance.
Mr. Sandusky was born in Missouri when the whole of what now forms one of the great and progressive states of the American union was almost an unbroken wilderness, not yet aroused from its sleep of ages by the voice of American progress, and when its people were
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obliged to undergo all the perils and hardships of pioneer life. But he was a worthy representative of the hardy and enduring race to which lie belonged and the heroic time in which his life began.
At an early age he removed with his parents to Sullivan county. Indiana, where he was reared and educated. That state was also, dur- ing his boyhood and youth, a frontier locality and still very largely undeveloped. So that he entered at once upon the trying duties to which he had been born, and continued in the discharge of them almost until his earthly career ended.
In 1849, when the golden music of California enraptured all lands and peoples with its seductive charms, he joined the argonauts who crossed the plains to the promising Eldorado of the period, and became one of the heroic band of courageous adventurers whom history has embalmed in the significant and poetic name of "The Forty-Niners." He remained in California until 1854, when he was united in marriage with Miss Sarah A. Knotts, a native of Indiana, who is still living and has her home in the state in which her life began. They became the parents of eleven children, ten of whom are living.
In 1877 the family moved to Missouri, locating in Marion county. where it remained until 1885. In that year the parents, with the chil- dren who were still at home, took up their residence in this county, where they continued farming, the industry in which they had engaged in Marion county. By thrift and industry they made their way in the world, and by the uprightness, consistency and usefulness of their daily walk among the people they won the confidence and high regard of all who became acquainted with them. They performed with fidelity every duty to which they were called, and exhibited at all times the freedom of intercourse with an open-handed hospitality toward all comers for which the West has ever been noted.
The father passed away, esteemed by the whole community in which he lived and deeply mourned by hosts of friends who admired and revered him. The children who are living are : John F., a resident of Spokane. Washington; Samantha, wife of T. B. Springer of Sullivan county, Indiana ; Ella, wife of T. E. Wyne of Sullivan, in the same county; Alice, wife of John Claggett, also a resident of Indiana ; Charles W., who lives in Quincy, Illinois; Murray E., treasurer of Macon county, Missouri ; Oscar, who lives in this county and is engaged in the real estate, loan and insurance business, a sketch of whom will be found on another page of this work ; Katherine, wife of Finley Pugh of Sullivan, Indiana ; Louise, wife of George A. Davis of Kansas City,
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Missouri ; and Nannie P., wife of Edward Thompson, also of Kansas City, Missouri. .
In polities the father was a firm and faithful Democrat. In fra- ternal life he was a member of the Masonic Order; and in religious affiliation he was allied with the Southern Methodist church. Exem- plifying throughout his career the best traits of sturdy and upright American citizenship, meeting with self-reliance and independence every proper claim on his time and faculties and dealing with all men in strict accordance with the Golden Rule, his life is an example to all who know of it, and his memory is warmly cherished by all who knew him. He lived in the stirring times and bravely he met their responsibilities. He dwelt amid the seenes and activities of peaceful industries, and dili- gently he took his part and performed his duty in connection with them. In every situation he was a strong, resourceful and manly man, without ostentation in his daily life, but without fear in any crisis.
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