USA > Missouri > Macon County > General history of Macon County, Missouri > Part 64
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
CHARLES F. HALE.
Among the representative members of the bar of Macon county is numbered Charles F. Hale, who is engaged in the successful practice of his profession in Bevier, where he served for more than a decade in the office of city attorney and where he is also engaged in the real estate, loan and insurance business, in which he controls a prosperous business. He is one of the progressive and loyal citizens of his native county, and here his popularity is of the most unqualified order.
Mr. Hale was born on a farm in Liberty township, Macon county. Missouri, on the 23d of February, 1872, and is a son of Charles H. and Mary A. (Ballinger) Hale, the former of whom was born in Kentucky and the latter in Macon county, Missouri. When Charles H. Hale was a child his parents came from Kentucky to Missouri, and here he was reared and educated, having long been one of the representative farmers and stock-growers of Macon county and being a citizen to whom has been at all times accorded the highest measure of popular confidence and esteem. In connection with his farming enterprise he was a suc- cessful and extensive breeder of poultry for a number of years, making somewhat of a specialty of this line of enterprise. Ile and his wife now reside in the city of Bevier, where he is living virtually retired from active business. Of their two children the subject of this sketch is the younger, the other having died in childhood. The parents are members of the Baptist church, and the father is a staunch Democrat in his political proclivities.
Charles F. Hale passed his boyhood days on the home farm, and his earlier educational discipline was secured in the public schools of the village of Callao, after which he completed a course in the North- western Business College, at Stanberry, Missouri. In the spring of 1891 he was matriculated in the Northern Indiana Law School, in the city of Valparaiso, in which institution he was graduated as a member of the class of 1891 and from which he received the degree of Bachelor of Laws. In the fall of the same year he was admitted to the bar of his native state and forthwith opened an office in Bevier, where he has built up a substantial and representative practice and gained prece-
611
HISTORY OF MACON COUNTY
denee as one of the able and successful members of the bar of his native county.
In politics Mr. Hale has rendered loyal and effective service as a stalwart advocate of the principles and policies for which the Demo- cratie party stands sponsor, and in 1891, soon after his admission to the bar, he was elected city attorney of Bevier, of which office he continued in tennre for thirteen consecutive years. He has been a notary public for eighteen years, and in the handling of his real estate, loan and insurance business he has gained a substantial business. He is a stock- holder and director of the People's Bank of Bevier, in a fraternal way is identified with the Masonic order, the Knights of Pythias, the Wood- men of the World and the Modern Woodmen of America, and he is one of the zealous members of the First Congregational church, being also a valned member of its board of trustees. He was married March 23, 1898, to Maggie G. Richardson, a daughter of John J. Richardson, of Bevier.
JOHN W. NISBETH.
Through well-directed endeavors this native son of Macon county has risen to a position of prominence and influence as a business man and as a loyal and progressive citizen. He has a fine landed estate in the county and has various business and capitalistic interests of impor- tance in his home city of Bevier, and he is held in unqualified esteem as a man of sterling integrity of character and as one well deserving of the success which he has achieved through his own efforts. He is engaged in the real estate business in Bevier, and his operations in this important field of enterprise have been large and important, and he is also president of the Bevier Hollow Cement Block Building Company.
John William Nisbeth was born in Bevier, Macon county, Missouri, on the 8th of July, 1871, and is a son of Charles and Matilda (Skinner) Nisbeth, whose marriage was solemnized in 1870. The father was born in England, where he was reared to the age of sixteen years. when he came to America. He took up his residence in Macon county, Missouri, while still a youth and here followed the trade of brick-moulder for some time, after which he turned his attention to agricultural pursuits, in connection with which he gained a large measure of success, having eventually become the owner of large tracts of land. He was a man of sterling character and was held in high regard as a citizen. His political support was given to the Republican party. He continued to maintain his home in Macon county until his death. They became the parents of three children, of whom one died at the age of twenty years.
612
HISTORY OF MACON COUNTY
The subject of this review is the elder of the two surviving, and his sister. Nettie, is now the wife of Edward E. Rogers, of Hutchison, Kansas.
John W. Nisbeth gained his early education in the public sehools of Bevier, and after leaving school he secured employment in the gen- eral store here conducted by the Loomis Coal Company. He was thus engaged for two years, after which he was identified with farm work for one year, and for the ensuing two years he was engaged in rail- road work in the state of Kansas. From that state he went to South Dakota, where he secured employment as night watchman on a railroad, and in 1893, when twenty years of age and after having had varied experiences, all marked by close application to work, he returned to Bevier and established himself in the hardware and farm implement business, in which he continued for the ensuing thirteen years. Fair and honorable dealing and careful attention to the requirements of his patrons gained to him a large and substantial trade, and through his able management of the details of the business he secured substan- tial financial returns, thus placing himself in a position of independence. Since 1906 he has been engaged in the real estate business at Bevier, handling both city and farm property and controlling a representative support in this important field of enterprise. He is also the owner of a well established hardware business at Brunswick, Missouri, is the owner of one of the best store buildings in the business center of Bevier, has two well improved farms, comprising a total of 565 acres, and also owns other valuable realty in Macon county.
Mr. Nisbeth attributes his success to perseverance and hard work, and in all his operations and efforts he has been guided and governed by the highest principles and has proved himself a man of strength and fertility of resouree and of unimpeachable character, so that he well merits the unqualified confidence and esteem so uniformly accorded him by his fellow-men. He is not a technical Prohibitionist, but believes thoroughly that the country would be better in all respects if the liquor business were eliminated. He himself has never used liquor or tobacco, and his moral code, though never paraded, is one of the highest order. Ile and his wife hold membership in the First Baptist church, and he is affiliated with the Independent Order of Odd Fellows and its auxiliary, the Daughters of Rebekah, as well as with the Modern Wood- men of America and the Woodmen of the World.
In politics Mr. Nisbeth gives an nnequivocal support to the prin- eiples and policies of the Republican party, and in 1899 he was elected a member of the board of aldermen of Bevier, serving two years and
RUDOLPH MILLER
613
HISTORY OF MACON COUNTY
doing much to promote wise administration of the municipal govern- ment. In 1904 he was again elected alderman, and he served four consecutive years, within which he advocated a progressive policy and gave his influence in the furtherance of all measures tending to promote the best interests of his home city.
On the 4th of October, 1897, Mr. Nisbeth was united in marriage to Miss Ora Powell, who was born and reared in Macon county and who is a daughter of Henry M. Powell, a successful farmer of the county. Mr. and Mrs. Nisbeth have two children, Otho and Merwyn.
RUDOLPH MILLER.
The creamery industry in the city of Macon, which began about twenty years ago, had until recently a rather calamitous history. It never succeeded in getting a permanent foothold here until the right man to conduct it came to the city, but since the advent of Rudolph Miller, who had special training for it in a number of places and on two conti- nents, it has flourished and grown strong. The first effort to estab- lish a creamery in this community was made by John J. Davis and others about twenty years ago, as has been stated. The plant they had was a small one, and for a period of two years they conducted it with success and profit under the old system of gathering cream. At the end of the period mentioned a disastrous fire entirely destroyed the plant, and as the owners carried no insurance at the time, they lost every. thing they had invested in the business and were unable to rebuild, and their experience discouraged others from making any attempt in this direction for a long time.
Nearly ten years after the fire another creamery was started, but this resulted in a complete failure, and nothing further was done in the industry in Macon until October, 1906, when the Maeon Creamery company was formed and began business. It has been a success from the very start and is now one of the soundest and most progressive manufacturing enterprises in the city. It has paid its stockholders an eight per cent dividend every year since it started, and has enjoyed a steady expansion of its business, and, at the same time, has elevated and enlarged the reputation of its output.
The success of this company has been largely if not wholly due to the skill, knowledge and business capacity of its secretary, treasurer and general manager, Rudolph Miller, who had extensive and varied experience in the business before he came to Macon. He also had the benefit of valuable experience in other lines of activity, having been a cooper, a soldier, a dairyman and a farmer, and having followed some
614
HISTORY OF MACON COUNTY
of these useful pursuits in his native land and in four other states of the American union.
Mr. Miller was born in Denmark on April 3, 1858. His parents, Christian and Johanna (Hendrickson) Miller, were also natives of that country, and there their forefathers lived for many generations before them. The father was chief of police in the Danish city of Nakskov for more than a quarter of a century, and was a man of consequence and influence in that thriving and progressive municipality. For his ability and fidelity in the public service the King of Denmark decorated him with a badge of honor known as "The Dannebrogs Cross." He was born in Nakskov in 1820 and died there in 1897. He and his wife were the parents of ten children, of whom those now living are Rudolph, George, Harriet (the wife of Christian Mortenson), and Laura, the two daughters being still residents of their native land and living in that portion of it in which they were born.
Rudolph Miller was reared and educated in Nakskov. He left school at the age of fourteen and was apprenticed to a cooper, with whom he passed four years. At the end of that period he enlisted in the Danish army, which he left after a service of sixteen months. In 1877 he learned the dairy business under the direction and in the employ of the Danish Land association, and in 1882 came to the United States, taking up his residence in a Swiss cheese manufacturing colony near New Philadelphia, Ohio. During his residence of eight months in that settlement he acquired a good practical knowledge of the German language, and thus added another weapon to his armour for the battle of life.
He moved to Chicago and there found employment in various occu- pations, and finally engaged as a milker on a farm near New Hampshire in Illinois, milking twenty-five cows night and morning. Following this he entered the service of the renowned Elgin Butter company at Elgin in the same state. One year later he paid a short visit to his native land, and on his return to Illinois he again worked for the Elgin But- ter company, and is at this date (1910) a member of the Elgin Butter board of trade, in 1885 he secured employment in the dairy business with E. Buchanan of Johnsburg, Illinois. He passed the years 1886, 1887 and 1888 in the service of Fitzsimmons & Evans at Barryville, Illinois.
In 1889 Mr. Miller found himself with sufficient capital to go into business for himself, and became a member of the firm of Evanson & Buchanan, the firm name being changed to Evanson, Buchanan &
615
HISTORY OF MACON COUNTY
Miller to suit the new arrangement. The business was located at Crystal Lake, Illinois. In 1890 he sold his interest in it to his partners and bought a creamery in Iowa, which he operated until the plant was destroyed by fire. In 1894, in company with his former employer, J. Fitzsimmons, he built a new creamery at Dunbarton, Wisconsin, where he remained three years. The next three years he passed in a creamery at Beloit, Wisconsin, and on March 28, 1900, came to Macon, Missouri. Ilere he followed the same line of industry for three years more, then leased his business to the Blue Valley Creamery company of St. Joseph, Missouri, and became the traveling representative of the company.
In 1906, at the solicitation of citizens of Macon, he founded the Macon Creamery company, which was organized as a stock company with a capital of $10,000, and incorporated under the laws of Missouri. He was elected secretary, treasurer and general manager of the com- pany, and is still acting in that capacity. Under his vigorous and skillful management the company has doubled its output, and in 1908 it paid out upwards of $50,000. Its goods are not only shipped to all parts of Missouri, but find a ready and profitable market in the large cities on the Atlantic coast and in many parts of the South, having a high reputation for excellence everywhere.
In politics Mr. Miller is a zealous working Republican, always taking an active part in the campaign of his party but never seeking or accepting a public office of any kind. His fraternal relations are with the Western Travelers' association and the Knights of Pythias, and his religious connection is with the Baptist chinreli. In March, 1887, he was united in marriage with Miss Wilhelmina Carolina Augusta Daugs, a native of Berlin, Germany. They have seven children, Hulda, Ethel, Edwin, Rudolph, Jr., Clarence, Vera and Paul. The father is a true and progressive American citizen, as ardently devoted to the welfare and institutions of the land of his adoption as he ever was to those of the land of his nativity, and works as earnestly for the promotion of the former as he ever could have done for that of the latter.
DAVID M. WILLIAMS.
There is ever a large measure of satisfaction in entering incidental record concerning the man who has achieved success through his own well-directed efforts and by worthy means, and such a man is the rop- resentative business man and influential citizen of Macon county whose name initiates this article. He is the owner of considerable land in Macon county and his capitalistic interests, aside from this, are of
616
HISTORY OF MACON COUNTY
important order, indicating the judicious use of the resources which he has acquired through his own energy and ability, the while so order- ing his life as to hold the implicit confidence and unreserved esteem of his fellow-men. There is both lesson and incentive in his career. and it is most consonant that in this history be incorporated a brief review of the same.
David Morgan Williams claims the fine old Keystone state of the Union as the place of his nativity, since he was born in Pottsville, Schuylkill county, Pennsylvania, on the 30th of April, 1867. He is a son of John T. and Elizabeth (Morgan) Williams, both of whom were born in Wales and whose marriage was solemnized at Harrisburg, Penn- sylvania, on the 4th of July, 1866. Their choice of marital date, the anniversary of our national independence, may be said to have well indicated their loyalty to the country of their adoption. John Thomas Williams was born in the southern part of Wales, on the 10th of August, 1841, and was reared to maturity in his native land, where he received a fair common school education. At the age of eighteen years he accom- panied his parents on their immigration to America and the family settled at Danville, Pennsylvania, where he secured employment as an iron-worker, in which trade he became a skilled artisan. Later he was identified with the eoal-mining industry in various parts of Pennsyl- vania and Illinois, where he continued to reside until 1875, when he removed with his family to Illinois, and then to Missouri and took np his abode in Macon county. In this section he continued to be identified with coal-mining during the greater portion of his subsequent active career, though for a number of years he did a profitable business as a manufacturer of cement walks. He located in Bevier in 1878, and here passed the remainder of his life, which was marked by honest industry and attended by a due measure of temporal success. He was a man of impregnable integrity and his life was guided and governed by sterling principles. He was a member of the Church of Latter Day Saints, with which his wife also is identified, and his political alle- gianee was given to the Republican party. He had distinctive musical talent and was enthusiastic in all that related to the "divine art," besides which he was the composer of a number of musical scores of much attractiveness. In a fraternal way he was long identified with the Independent Order of Odd Fellows. His death occurred on the 3d of May, 1908, and his widow died October 24, 1909. Of their seven chil- dren, five are living, the subject of this sketch being the eldest of the number; JJohn L. is engaged in business at Bevier; Thomas II. resides
61%
HISTORY OF MAACON COUNTY
in Bevier and is a blacksmith by vocation ; Ann is the wife of Dr. Lee O. Mason, of Bevier; and Hattie P. remains with her sister.
David M. Williams, the immediate subject of this review, gained his early educational training in the public schools of Pennsylvania, and was about eleven years of age at the time of the family removal to Missouri, where he continued to attend school as opportunity afforded. When nineteen years of age he returned to Pennsylvania, where he learned the trade of blacksmith in the shops of the Bethlehem Steel Company. 'In 1889 he returned to Missouri and found employment as a journeyman blacksmith, and in 1891 he established himself inde- pendently in the blacksmithing business in Bevier, where he has since continued operations in this line. He has made every effort count materially in the furtherance of his ambition to gain snecess and inde- pendence, and well has he realized his ambition. In evidence of this fact we need but state that he is now the owner of 360 acres in Macon county, is a stockholder and director of the State Bank of Bevier, and a stock- holder and director of the New Cambria Land Company. His advance- ment also indicates good business judgment, energy and executive abil- ity. He is a member of the board of supervisors of drainage, district No. 1, Macon county, within which district his farming property lies. It may be stated, incidentally, that he is the first person who has suc- cessfully exploited the propagation of alfalfa on Chariton river valley lands in Macon county. Mr. Williams is always to be counted upon to . lend his aid and co-operation in the promotions of enterprises and measures tending to enhance the eivic and material prosperity of his home city and state, and his political allegiance is given to the Repub- lican party, in whose cause he takes a deep interest. He is affiliated with Bloomington Lodge, No. 102, Free and Accepted Masons, of which he is secretary, and with Eskridge Lodge, No. 253, Independent Order of Odd Fellows, of whose board of trustees he has been a member for fully sixteen years, also Bevier Camp, No. 324, W. O. W .; clerk of same. He is now treasurer of the Bevier volunteer fire department, and had the distinetion of being the first chief of the same, holding that office for one year. It may further be said that he has been most active in the work of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows, in the Missouri grand lodge of which he represented his district for ten years.
On the 29th of October, 1894, Mr. Williams was united in marriage to Miss Eliza Hamer, who was born and reared in Macon county, being a daughter of John and Sarah Hamer. He and his wife are members of the Church of the Latter Day Saints.
G1S
HISTORY OF MACON COUNTY
JAMES G. EDWARDS.
One of the prominent business men and representative citizens of Bevier is James G. Edwards, who has been a resident of Macon county since his childhood days, being a member of a family whose name has been identified with the annals of the county for nearly half a century, and here he has won for himself a secure place in popular confidence and esteem, while he lias so directed his efforts in connection with business affairs as to gain marked sueeess. He has served as mayor of the city of Bevier and is now presiding judge of the county court at Macon.
Judge Edwards claims the fine old Buckeye state as the place of his nativity, as he was born in the village of Pomeroy, Meigs county, Ohio, on the 29th of June, 1859, being a son of Robert and Catherine (Michael) Edwards, both of whom were born in Wales and whose marriage was solemnized in Ohio, in 1849. They became the parents of nine children, of whom five are living, namely: Thomas, who is associated with the subject of this sketeh in the mercantile business and who is individually mentioned on other pages of this publication; James G., whose name initiates this article; Elizabeth, who is the wife of James Evans, of Kansas City, Missouri; Margaret, who is the wife of George Keeley, of the same city, and Amelia, who resides in Bevier, as does also the widowed mother, who makes her home with her sons and is by them accorded the deepest filial solicitude.
Robert Edwards was reared and educated in his native land in 1837, when a young man, he immigrated to America and took up his residenee in Ohio. For a time he was located in Jackson county, that state, and he thence removed to Pomeroy, Meigs county, where he was identified with the coal-mining industry until 1865, when he removed with his family to Macon county, Missouri. He purchased a farm in Bevier township and turned his attention to its development and eulti- vation. In 1871 he engaged in the general merchandise business in Bevier, continuing operations in this line until 1878, when he resumed his active association with the great basic industry of agriculture, with which he was successfully identified during the residue of his aetive career. He was a man of impregnable integrity and of strong men- tality, and his course was so guided and governed that he won and retained the high regard of all with whom he came in contact in the various relations of life. He was a Republican in his political procliv- ities and his religions faith was that of the Congregational church, of which his widow also has long been a devoted member. He died on the
619
HISTORY OF MACON COUNTY
17th of December, 1892, at the age of seventy-three years, leaving the priceless heritage of a good name.
James G. Edwards was about six years of age at the time of the family removal from Ohio to Missouri, and he was reared on the home farm and in the village of Bevier, in the meanwhile being afforded the advantages of the common schools of the locality and period. After leaving school he continued to be identified with farming and also found employment in the coal mines of this section, and he is still the owner of valuable property in Macon county.
In 1882 Judge Edwards became associated with his elder brother, Thomas, in the general merchandise business, in which they have since continned, under the firm name of Edwards Bros. Their establish- ment is recognized as one of the best in Bevier, a large and select stock being carried in each of the several departments and the facilities being of high standard. Through fair and honorable dealings the firm has built up a large, substantial and representative trade, and its members are recognized as being progressive and straightforward business men of distinctive ability.
In politics Judge Edwards was originally aligned as a supporter of the principles of the Republican party, but he transferred his alle- giance to the Populist party, with which he continued to be identified until its dissolution, since which time he has given his support to the cause of the Democratic party, whose principles and policies best rep- resent his convictions as to matters of public import. He has been a zealons worker in the party ranks, has served as delegate to its state conventions, as well as to its congressional and county conventions in his district, and he has twice been a delegate to the national conventions of the party. He was the second man to be elected mayor of Bevier after its incorporation as a city, and he served two years in this office, giving an excellent administration and doing much to perfeet the new system of municipal government. He has several times been elected a member of the board of aldermen, and has also served as a valued member of the board of education, in which position he advocated a broad and progressive policy in the advancing of the interests of the public schools of his home city. In 1907 he was elected presiding judge of the county court, of which office he has since remained incumbent, proving himself well qualified for the adjudication of canses brought before his court and showing an essentially judicial attitude. In a fra- ternal way he is identified with the Knights of Pythias, and his wife holds membership in the Congregational church.
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.