USA > Missouri > Macon County > General history of Macon County, Missouri > Part 63
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JAMES F. WILLIAMS.
James Franklin Williams, one of the representative business men and popular citizens of Bevier, where he is engaged in the jewelry business, is a native of West Virginia and was nshered into the world at a time when that commonwealth was enduring the ravages of the Civil war. He was born in Harrison county, West Virginia, in the year 1862 and is a son of Isaac and Martha (Shahan) Williams, both of whom were born in West Virginia, which was then an integral portion of the Old Dominion state. They came to Missouri in 1870 and took
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up their residence in Macon county, where the father was for a number of years engaged in farming, after which he conducted a meat market in Bevier, where he continued to maintain his home until his death, which occurred in 1884. Of his four children two are living, the subject of this sketch being the younger and Isaac Richard being a resident of Bevier, where he is engaged in mining. The mother is still living and is now the wife of Jolin Bundion, of Callao. Isaac Williams was a staunch Democrat in his political proclivities and took an active part in the promotion of the party cause, though he never sought or held public office. He was a man of sterling integrity of character, was a member of the Presbyterian church, and he ever commanded the confidence and esteem of his fellow men.
James Franklin Williams was a lad of eight years at the time of the family removal to Missouri and he was reared to manhood in Macon county. His educational training was secured in the public schools of the old town of Bloomington, and after leaving school he became associated with his father in the meat-market business in Bevier. He continued the business individually after the death of his father, but in 1887 disposed of the same and established himself in the jewelry busi- ness, in connection with which he opened and conducted a barber shop. The latter department of the enterprise he sold in 1907, since which time he has continued the jewelry business, in which he has a large and substantial trade, based upon fair and honorable dealings and also upon his unreserved personal popularity. His well equipped store is one of the well equipped and attractive retail establishments of the thriving little city of Bevier and he is one of its popular and progressive busi- ness men and essentially public-spirited citizens. His success repre- sents the results of his own efforts and is well merited. Mr. Williams has marked inventive ability and has given no little time and attention to the devising of various practical devices. He is the inventor and patentee of a device which provides for the facile and instantaneous detaching of a horse from vehicle and is developing several other valuable inventions of his own.
In politics Mr. Williams is aligned as a stalwart advocate of the principles and policies for which the Democratic party stands sponsor, but the honors and emoluments of political office have not appealed to him in the least. He is affiliated with the Independent Order of Odd Fellows and the Knights of Pythias, and both he and his wife are mem- bers of the Christian church. He is found arrayed as an enthusiastic devotee of sports afield and afloat, and his chief recreation is found
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through the medium of fishing and hunting, in both of which lines he has shown not a little prowess.
In the year 1883 was celebrated the marriage of Mr. Williams to Miss Sallie E. Grimes, who was born and reared in Macon county and who is a daughter of the late Paul C. Grimes, a prosperous farmer of this section of the state. Mr. and Mrs. Williams became the parents of three children, none of whom attained to years of maturity.
DELOSS H. BABBITT.
The life story briefly recorded in the following paragraphs con- tain a strong leson for the young men of the country and presents an example that is well worthy of their close imitation. It should be a stimulus to the hesitating, a comfort to the struggling and an incitement to the daring. For it shows what thrift, enterprise and breadth of view, closely applied to agricultural pursuits in this state and county, on which Nature has lavished a bountiful share of her best gifts with free-handed generosity, bestowing fertility of soil, a favorable and delightful climate, and immense volume and variety of productiveness, can accomplish even in one generation of human life, and under circumstances largely adverse and troublesome.
Deloss H. Babbitt, who is now one of the leading farmers and most publie spirited and enterprising citizens of Lingo township, came to Missouri in 1866 with almost nothing but his health, energy and uncon- querable determination to win ont in the struggle for advancement. He had these faeulities, and he used them. He had also good judgment, and he applied it. He had, moreover, confidence in himself, and this has been his sheet anchor in every storm that has assailed him. He came to this county a young man aged twenty-three, but his fiber had been tested and his temper proven in the stern arbitrament of the battlefield, on which, in the front rank of unrolling columns, he faced death every moment, and displayed the qualities of head and heart that have been the groundwork and foundation of his success in the pursuits of peaceful industry.
Mr. Babbitt was born on January 23, 1843, in Wyoming county, New York, and is a son of Harry and Rebecca (Gray) Babbitt, the former a native of Massachusetts and the latter of Rhode Island. The father passed his boyhood and youth in his native state, then moved to the state of New York, where he passed the remainder of his days, energetically engaged in farming until his death in 1843. Three chil- dren were born in the family of whom the interesting subject of this memoir is the only one now living. He obtained all the scholastic
MR. AND MRS. DELOSS H. BABBITT
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training for which he had opportunity in the district schools near his home in Wyoming county, New York, and ably and devotedly assisted his widowed mother on the farm until 1862. In October of that year he was moved by his love for the Union to go into the army in its defense, and enlisted in Company K, Ninth New York cavalry, under the command of Colonel Nichols. Mr. Babbitt served to the end of the war and was mustered out near Winchester, Virginia, in June, 1865. His regiment was a part of one of the great fighting corps of the federal army and was most of the time during the terrible conflict in the very heart of the contest. He took part in the battles of Berryville and Goose Run, Virginia, Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, Wiliamsport, Boons -. boro and Funkstown, Maryland, Yellow Water and Culpepper, Vir- ginia, and numerous minor engagements.
After the war Mr. Babbitt returned to his New York home and remained there until the spring of 1866. Ile then came to Missouri and settled in Lingo township, this county, where he has ever since resided and been energetically and very successfully engaged in farming and raising stock. Soon after his arrival in this locality he bargained for 120 acres of railroad land, on which he obligated himself to make small payments every year. His industry and thrift enabled him to meet his obligations promptly and also forge ahead with accelerating progress. He now owns 1475 acres of fine land, with all but sixty aeres under cultivation, and feeds 150 to 200 head of various kinds of cattle every year. He cares for his stock with every consideration of their comfort and condition, looking always to the best results, and he sends them to the markets in such a prime state that his out-put stands at the head of the list with the dealers and brings the highest prices, every precaution being taken to keep its reputation up to the high mark it has reached and held for long years.
With a mind as active, a public spirit as broad and an energy as intense as he possesses, it was inevitable that Mr. Babbitt should become a potential influence in everything connected with the advance and improvement of the locality of his home, wherever that might be. He has taken a leading part in the affairs of his township and county for many years, rendering long and valned service to the people as road overseer and school director, and giving his active, and effective practical aid to every undertaking he has deemed helpful to the people and contributory to the general weal. Although a pronounced Repub- lican in national politics, he is not a partisan in reference to local inter- ests, but works for their promotion without regard to party considerations.
HISTORY OF MACON COUNTY
On March 17, 1875, he was united in marriage with Miss Mary V. Beale, who was born in this county in 1853 and is a daughter of Wil- liam and Elizabeth (Thompson) Beale long prominent residents of the county. Five of the six children born of this union are living : Anna, the wife of Wiliam Burrows of Grand Junction, Colorado ; Bessie, the wife of N. D. Stephenson of Marceline, Missouri; and Edna, Jennie and Della, all of whom are living at home with their parents. The family is prominent in the social life of the county, and all its members are held in the highest esteem wherever they are known. They meet all the obligations of duty with fidelity and by the examples they give . stimulate others to do the same.
IVY G. MAYHEW.
This representative business man of the thriving little city of Bevier is a son of the late F. Theodore Mayhew, to whom a memoir is dedicated on other pages of this volume, so that a further review of the family history is not demanded in the present sketch. Ivy G. Mayhew is continning with success the general merchandise business in which he was associated with his honored father until the death of the latter, and he is recognized as one of the alert and progressive business men and public-spirited citizens of his native county.
Mr. Mayhew was born on the homestead farm of his father, in this county, on the 28th of March, 1870. His educational advantages were those afforded by the public schools. After leaving school he became a clerk in a general merchandise store in the village of Callao, Macon county, where he was thus engaged for a period of six years, at the expiration of which he took up his residence in Bevier, where he became associated with his father in the mercantile business, in which he has since continued, being sole proprietor of the business since the demise of his father. He is enterprising and progressive, has a well appointed and well stocked establishment, and controls a large and substantial trade, which is drawn from the excellent territory normally tributary to Bevier. Ilis careful and honorable business methods and genial personality have gained to him the unqualified esteem of the people of his native county, where he enjoys unalloyed popularity. Though never active in the field of practical polities he is aligned as a staunch sup- porter of the cause of the Republican party, and both he and his wife hold membership in the Christian church. He is affiliated with Callao Lodge, No. 326, Knights of Pythias.
On the 26th of April, 1899, Mr. Mayhew was united in marriage to Miss Susie A. Taylor, who like himself is a native of Macon county,
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being a daughter of Daniel Taylor, a successful farmer of Callao township. Mr. and Mrs. Mayhew have one child, Theodore D., who was born on the 22nd of November, 1906.
GEORGE N. DAVIS.
The legal profession in Macon county has as one of its able and popular representatives George Newton Davis, who is engaged in active general practice as an attorney and counselor in the thriving little city of Macon, where his marked success stands as the most effective voucher for his ability and his devotion to his profession.
Mr. Davis is a native son of Missouri, having been born at Mar- shall, the judicial center and metropolis of Saline county, on the 26th of November, 1876. His father, Judge Samuel Davis, was likewise born in Marshall and is a scion of one of the old and honored families of this commonwealth. He was reared to maturity in his native town, in whose schools he secured his early training, which was supplemented by a course of study in Kemper Family School, now known as Kemper Mili- tary Academy, at Boonville, Missouri. After leaving school Judge Davis took up the study of law under the direction of Judge John P. Strother, of Marshall, and in due course of time he proved himself elig- ible for and was admitted to the bar. He initiated his professional work in his native place and he has long hield prestige as one of the able legists and jurists of the state, and also as a citizen of prominence and influence. He has ever accorded a stalwart allegiance to the cause of the Democratie party, and has rendered yeoman service in its behalf. In 1877 he was elected to represent Saline county in the state legislature, and at the expiration of his term was chosen as his own successor, having proved one of the resourceful and loyal legislators of the state and having done all in his power to further and foster the interests of its people as a whole. In 1879 he was elected prosecuting attorney of Saline county, and of this office he continued inenmbent for two terms. In 1899 he was elected to the bench of the circuit court and he has since presided in this tribunal, in which connection he has shown great discrimination and judicial acumen in the handling of the causes presented before him, and few of his decisions have met with reversal by the superior courts. He is affiliated with the Benevolent and Pro- tective Order of Elks and he and his wife hold membership in the Presbyterian church of Marshall, where they still maintain their home.
As a young man Judge Davis was united in marriage to Miss JJulia S. Newton, who was born in the city of Louisville, Kentucky, from which state she came with her parents to Missouri when she was a child.
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Of the four children of this union, George N., subject of this sketch, is the only one living.
After attending the public schools of his native place George N. Davis was matriculated, in 1889, in the academy of Missouri Valley College, at Marshall, Missouri, and in the college proper in 1893, in which institution he was graduated as a member of the class of 1896, with the degree of Bachelor of Arts.
Upon leaving college Mr. Davis began reading law under the able preceptorship of his honored father, and in 1898 he was duly admitted to the bar of his native county. At the advice of his father, and in harmony with his own wishes, he decided to fortify himself more fully for the work of his chosen profession, and with this end in view he was matriculated, in October, 1898, in the law department of the celebrated University of Michigan, at Ann Arbor, in which he completed the pre- seribed course and was graduated in 1900, with the degree of Bachelor of Laws. He then returned to his home city of Marshall, where he became associated with Joshua F. Babee, under the firm name of Davis & Babee, and where he continued in the practice of his profession until 1902, when he transferred his residence and professional headquarters to the city of Macon, where he has since practiced his profession and where he has gained distinctive snecess and precedence as one of the able and aggressive younger members of the bar of Macon county. Soon after loeating in Macon he was appointed official court stenog- rapher for the second judicial cireuit, and he still retains this position. In 1904 he was associated in practice with William Van Cleve, under the firm name of Davis & Van Cleve.
In political matters Mr. Davis elings to the faith in which he was reared, and he is found arrayed as an uncompromising advocate of the generic principles for which the Democratic party stands sponsor. Ile has been active in the work of his party and is vice-president for the first congressional district of the Young Men's Democratic Club, which has elose affiliation with the Missouri Democratie state central commit- tee. In a fraternal way Mr. Davis is identified with the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks, being one of the popular members of the lodge in Macon, and he also holds membership in the Sigma Nu College fraternity.
On the 24th of March, 1909, Mr. Davis was united in marriage to Miss Helen D. Mason, who was born in Kentucky, but who was reared and educated in Marshall, Missouri, where her father, George L. Mason, was engaged in farming, being one of the influential citizens of Saline
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county. Mr. and Mrs. Davis are popular in the best social life of their home city and they find the relations here altogether pleasing.
JOHN D. WATKINS, D. D. S.
Modern dentistry represents both a science and a mechanic art and among those who have attained to distinctive snecess in its practice and who are exponents of the most advanced methods and manipulations in both the laboratory and operative departments is Dr. Watkins, who is engaged in successful practice in his native city of Bevier and who is a member of one of the well known and highly esteemed families of Macon county.
Dr. Jolin Delbert Watkins was born at Bevier, on the 13th of Decem- ber, 1879, and is a son of Thomas D. and Sarah (Thomas) Watkins, both of whom were born in Wales, whence they came to America with their respective parents as children. Thomas D. Watkins was eleven years of age at the time of the family immigration to the United States, and soon after their arrival in America his parents settled in Macon county, Missouri, where he was reared to manhood and where for twen- ty-two years he was identified with the coal-mining industry. He now devotes his attention to agricultural pursuits and is one of the substan- tial citizens and representative farmers of Macon county, where he has gained a large measure of success through his own well-directed endeavors. His marriage to Miss Sarah Thomas, whose father was a miner at Scranton, Pennsylvania, was solemnized in 1870, and of their two children the subject of this sketch is the elder; the daughter, Mary Elizabeth, is now the wife of Thomas Hill, of Huntsville, Missouri. Thomas D. Watkins is the owner of a fine farm of 110 acres. He and his wife live on their attractive homestead farm, midway between the cities of Macon and Bevier, and they are held in high regard by all who know them. They are members of the Congregational church, and in polities the father is a staunch Republican.
Dr. Watkins secured his early education in the public schools of his native county, completing a course in the Bevier high school, after which he continued his studies in the literary department of Washing- ton University, in the city of St. Louis. He was matriculated in the dental department of the same institution, where he completed the pre- scribed technical course and was graduated as a member of the class of 1902, receiving his well-earned degree of Doctor of Dental Surgery. In the same year he opened a well equipped office in Bevier, and here he has amply demonstrated his professional skill and has built up an excellent practice of representative character.
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Dr. Watkins is one of the progressive and public-spirited citizens of Bevier, where he enjoys unstinted personal and professional popu- larity. He is a Republican in his proclivities, is affiliated with the local organization of the Modern Woodmen of America, and he and. his wife hold membership in the Congregational church. He is the owner of a considerable amount of improved real estate in Bevier, and . takes an active interest in all that tends to promote the civie and mate- rial advancement of the city and county of his birth.
On the 1st of November, 1905, Dr. Watkins was united in mar- riage to Miss Minnie J. Evans, of New Cambria, Missouri, a daughter of Thomas R. Evans, a well known citizen of that place.
LEWIS NOWLAN.
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The popular general agent for the Chicago, Burlington & Quincy railroad in Bevier, Macon county, has been identified with railroad interests from his youth to the present time and has won advancement through the various grades of promotion by reason of his able and faith- ful service. Mr. Nowlan is one of the well known and highly esteemed citizens of Macon county, had the distinction of being the first mayor of his fine little home city of Bevier, and is the owner of a well improved landed estate in the county, devoting the same to diversified farming and stock-growing.
Lewis Nowlan reverts to the picturesque old Green Mountain state as the place of his nativity, having been born in Montpelier, the capital of Vermont, on the 31st of March, 1852. His father, James Nowlan, was born in Ireland and was a child at the time of the family immi- gration to the United States. He was reared to maturity in the state of Vermont, where he received his limited educational discipline in the common and parochial schools, and where was solemnized his marriage to Miss Catherine Donaghue, who likewise was born in the Emerald Isle but who came with her parents to America when she was a child. James and Catherine Nowlan became the parents of six children, of whom five are living, namely : Lewis, who is the immediate subject of this sketch; Daniel, who is a resident of Frankfort, Indiana; Margaret, who is the wife of Richard O'Connor, of Mt. Sterling; Mary, who is the wife of John Holland, of Fort Wayne, Indiana, and Patrick, who is a resi- dent of Portland, Oregon. The father was actively identified with railroad interests during practically his entire mature life. He removed from New England to the state of Illinois, where the family resided for a number of years and where he served one term as tax collector of Brown county. In 1878 he removed with his family to Missouri and
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established his home in Brookfield, Linn county. He became road- master for the Hannibal & St. Joseph Railroad and was incumbent of this position until his death, which was the result of injuries received in the well remembered railroad wreck at Brush Creek this state, 1881. His wife survived him and resides at Mt. Sterling, Illinois. Both were devout communicants of the Catholic church, and in politics he was originally a Whig and later a Democrat.
Lewis Nowlan, whose name initiates this review, was a child at the time of the family removal to Illinois, and at Mount Sterling, that state, he was afforded the advantages of the parochial and public schools. That he made good use of the opportunities thus afforded him is evident when we revert to the fact that he proved himself eligible for pedagogic honors, having been employed as a teacher in the public schools of Illinois for some time. Thereafter he turned his attention to the rail- road business, beginning in a modest capacity and finally winning his way upward in positions of increasing trust and responsibility until he was appointed to his present office,-that of general agent for the Chicago, Burlington & Quincy Railroad at Bevier. He established his home in this city in 1878 and here his interests have since been centered. He has accumulated a competency through his own well directed endeavors, and his fine farm property, located in Bevier town- ship, comprises 160 aeres. He gives a general supervision to the prop- erty and the same yields good returns, being, as already stated, devoted to general agriculture and the raising of high grade live stock.
In politics Mr. Nowlan is found arrayed as a staunch supporter of the generic principles of the Democratic party, to which he gives his support where national and state issues are involved, but in local affairs he is independent of strict partisan dictates, giving his influence and utilizing his franchise in support of the mean and measures meeting with the approval of his judgment. He has long maintained inviolable hold on popular confidence and esteem in his home community and in 1889, upon the incorporation of Bevier as a city, he was chosen its first mayor. That his administration of municipal affairs met with unstinted popular approval is shown in the fact that he was retained in the office of mayor for eight consecutive years. For two years he served as clerk of the board of education, and his co-operation and influence have ever been extended right loyally in the support of measures and enter- prises tending to advance the material and social welfare of the con- munity. In 1903 he served in the office of school director, and in the cause of education finds in him a staunch advocate. He and his wife are
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communicants of the Catholic church and he is affiliated with the Knights of Columbus and the Modern Woodmen of America.
On the 28th of April, 1902, was solemnized the marriage of Mr. Nowlan to Miss Catherine McGoon, who was born at Mount Sterling, Illinois, and they have one child, Lewis, Jr.
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