USA > Missouri > Macon County > General history of Macon County, Missouri > Part 71
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Eleazer A. and Margaretta M. (Platt) Brock became the parents of seven children, whose names are here entered: Sidney G., David, Nathaniel P., Anna M., Sophia B., Caroline M., and Margaretta. Those now living (1909) are Sidney G., David, Sophia B., Caroline M. and Margaretta. Eleazer A. Brock became one of the pioneer business men and influential citizens of the city of Cleveland, Ohio, where he estab- lished and operated the first oil-cloth factory and where he also was engaged in the boot and shoe business for a number of years. In politics he was originally a Whig and later a Republican, and he served as a member of the city council of Cleveland, as representative of the first ward, which was at the time the richest ward in any city west of New York City. He held this office for two terms and was otherwise promi- nent in civic and business affairs in the Ohio metropolis, which repre- sented his home for many years. He was a resident of Louisville, Ken- tucky, at the time of his death, which occurred in 1878, and his devoted wife, a woman of most gracious personality, died at Cleveland, Ohio, in 1867. Both were zealous members of the Methodist Episcopal church.
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Sidney G. Brock, the immediate subject of this sketch, was reared to maturity in his native city, where he received his early educational discipline. In 1855 he was matriculated in Allegheny College, at Mead- ville, Pennsylvania, in which institution he completed the classical course and was graduated as a member of the class of 1859, with the degree of Bachelor of Arts. From the same institution he received the degree of Master of Arts in 1860, and in 1888 his alma mater conferred upon him the honorary degree of Doctor of Philosophy. At the time of his graduation Mr. Brock delivered the Greek salutatory for his class and also received first honors for an essay in English.
AAfter the completion of his collegiate course Mr. Brock returned to Cleveland, where he began reading law under the direction of able preceptors, and, in June, 1861, he was there admitted to the bar of his native state. In September of the same year he subordinated all personal interests and considerations to tender his aid in defense of the Union, whose integrity was jeopardized by armed rebellion. He enlisted as a member of Company H, Sixty-seventh Ohio Volunteer Infantry, in which he held in turn the offices of first lieutenant, adjutant, captain and major. As major he was a member, in turn, of the staffs of Generals Joshua Howell, Foster and Terry. The history of his gallant command constitutes virtually the record of his military career, which was marked by his participation in twenty-one engagements, including a number of the most important battles marking the progress of the great internecine conflict. He was with his command in the Army of the Potomac during the major portion of his period of service, and he received his honorable discharge in February, 1865, with the rank of major. He has ever retained a deep interest in his old com- rades in arms and signifies the same by his membership in the Grand Army of the Republic and Loyal Legion.
After the elose of his faithful and gallant military career Major Brock returned to Cleveland, where he remained until Spring, 1866, when he took up his residence in Macon, Missouri, where he entered into a law partnership with General Fielder A. Jones, with whom he continued to be associated under the most pleasing relations until the death of General Jones. He soon gained marked precedence as an able advocate and counselor, and the firm controlled a large and representa- tive practice up to the time it was dissolved by the death of General Jones. In 1871 Major Brock and General Jones founded the Macon Republican, which they made an effective exponent of local interests and a distinct power in political affairs in this section of the state. He continued as editor and publisher of this paper until 1888. when he
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sold the plant and business. In 1889 President Harrison appointed him chief of the Bureau of Statistics at Washington, D. C., and he continued incumbent of this governmental office until 1893, when he returned to Macon and resumed the work of his profession, in which he has since continued and in connection with which he controls a large and repre- sentative clientage. He has appeared in causes of much importance in the state and federal courts in Missouri and is known as one of the representative members of the bar of this commonwealth, where he is well known and highly esteemed by his professional confreres.
Major Broek has rendered effective service in promoting the cause of the Republican party, to which he has ever accorded a stauneli alle- giance. From 1885 to 1887, inclusive, he served as mayor of Macon, and his administration has passed on record as one of the most progress- ive and well ordered in the history of the municipal government of his home city. In 1888 he was the candidate of his party for member of congress, but was unable to overcome the normal Democratic majority in the district, being defeated by Hon. William II. Hatel. The major and his wife hold membership in the Methodist Episcopal church, and, in addition to being identified with the Grand Army of the Republic, as already noted in this context, he is also affiliated with the Missouri Commandery of the Military Order of the Loyal Legion of the United States. He is a member of the National Geographical Society, whose headquarters are maintained in the city of Washington, and also of the Academy of Political and Social Science, in Philadelphia. He has retained his membership in the Phi Kappa Psi college fraternity, of which he became a member while a student in Allegheny college. Major Brock has ever continued his interest in scholastic and literary mat- ters, and in his study and reading has covered a wide realm of litera- ture. He has also contributed to varions periodical publications and is the author of a number of able and valuable books, including those designated by the following titles: "The Commerce of the Great Lakes," "History of the Hawaiian Islands," "Resources and Commerce of the Pacific Slope States and Territories," "Commerce with South America," and "Progress of the United States from 1790 to 1890."
On the 1st of December, 1861, Major Brock was united in marriage to Miss Louisa O. Williams, daughter of Professor Lorenzo D. Will- iams, who was at the time vice-president of Allegheny College, Mead- ville, Pennsylvania. The children of this union are Alson Williams, Sidney L. and Benijah B. Sidney L. is a merchant of Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, also president of Chamber of Commerce. Benijah B. is assistant manager of the Cable Piano Company, of Chicago.
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HISTORY OF MACON COUNTY
MILTON ANDREW ROMJUE.
Among the representative members of the legal profession in Macon county is numbered Mr. Romjue, who is established in successful prac- tice in the city of Macon, the judicial center and metropolis of the county. His success is the more gratifying to note by reason of the fact that it has been gained in his native county, where he is well known and enjoys marked popularity and where he is a seion of one of the honored pioneer families of this favored section of the state.
Milton Andrew Romjue was born at Love Lake, Macon county, Missouri, on the 5th of December, 1874, and is a son of Andrew J. and Susan E. (Roan) Romjne, the former of whom was born in Scotland county, this state, on the 4th of August, 1840, and the latter of whom was born in Randolph county, on the 6th of February, 1843. She was a danghter of John Roan, who rode on horseback from North Carolina to Missouri and located in Randolph county in 1836, there remaining until 1846, when he took up his residence in Macon county, where he and his wife passed the residue of their lives and where their daughter, Susan E., mother of the subject of this review, was reared and edu- cated. Andrew J. Romjue was afforded the advantages of the common schools of his native county, where he assisted his father in the devel- opment and other work of the home farm and where he continued to reside until 1857, when he came to Macon county, where he became an extensive farmer and stock dealer and where he ever commanded the esteem and confidence of all who knew him. He was a man of excel- lent business acumen and he gained a position of independence and definite prosperity through his own well ordered endeavors. He died on the 27th of April, 1904, and his widow now maintains her home in Atlanta, Missouri. He was a member of the Masonie fraternity, and in politics was a staunch supporter of the cause of the Democratic party, though he would never consent to become a candidate for pub- lic office of any description. Of the nine children in the family, two died in infancy, and of the survivors, the names are here entered in order of birth: William H., James F., Edgar, Eudora F. (wife of U. F. Ketcham), Milton A., Price, and Josie B. (wife of Hershel M. Goodding).
John H. Romjne, grandfather of him whose name initiates this article, was born in Kentucky, December 20, 1803, and there he was reared to maturity. He received good educational advantages for that time and place, and in his youth learned the trade of cabinet making. He became dependent upon his own resources for when a lad his father.
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whose name was also John HI. Romjue, was a wealthy physician, but lost his fortune of $40,000 paying the obligations of friends for whom he was security, and bravely did he, the son, fight the battle of life, in which it was his to win a victory worthy the name. He had prae- tically no financial reinforcement when he came to Missouri, but he eventually became not only one of the representative farmers and stock- growers of Scotland county, but also a citizen of prominence and dis- tinctive influence in the community. He served for some time as judge of the county court of that county and he was called upon to serve in other offices of publie trust. In 1858 he purchased land in Macon county and here he continued to be identified with the great basic art of agri- culture during the remainder of his active career. He died in this county in the year 1878. His wife, whose maiden name was Speer, was summoned to the life eternal in 1857. They became the parents of twelve children, and of the number two are living at the time of this writing, in 1909.
Milton Andrew Romjue passed his boyhood and early youth on the old homestead farm, which was the place of his nativity, and after duly availing himself of the privileges of the public schools of Macon county he continued his studies in the Missouri State Normal School at Kirksville, for three years. He later was matriculated in the law department of the University of Missouri, at Columbia, where he com- pleted the prescribed technical course and was graduated, with the high- est honors of his class, in June, 1904, duly receiving his degree of Bach- elor of Laws. In the same month, upon examination before the supreme court, in Jefferson City, he was admitted to the bar of the state, and to the federal bar at St. Lonis. Prior to thus fortifying himself for the practice of law, he had been a successful teacher in the public schools, having devoted his attention to the pedagogie profession at intervals for about three years. After his admission to the bar he engaged in the practice of his profession in Macon, where he was not denied recogni- tion of his splendid equipment for successful work as an advocate and counselor, and he continued to devote his attention to general prac- tice, with marked success, until 1906, when he was elected judge of the probate conrt of Macon county, of which position he has since continued incumbent and whose important and diversified affairs he has minis- tered with signal discrimination and ability. In politics Indge Romjuc is a staunch advocate of the principles of the Democratic party, and as a specially effective public speaker he has rendered yeoman service in the cause of his party. He is affiliated with the Masonic fraternity, the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks, and the Modern Wood-
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men of America, besides which he is identified with the Phi Delta Phi college fraternity and the Phi Lambda Epsilon, Missouri University, While in the law school Judge Romjue was valedictorian of his class, besides which he delivered the class oration at the graduating exercises. He was president of his class in the junior year. While a student in the normal school at Kirksville, in 1899, he won the declamatory medal, and the following spring he won in the oratorical contest between the debating societies of the school. In 1900 he represented Kirksville in the oratorical contest participated in by representatives of the three normal schools of the state, at Cape Girardeau, and succeeded in car- rying off the honors for the school he represented. He and his brother, Price, were students in Kirksville at the time of the cyclone which swept that place on the 27th of April, 1899, and thirty-one persons were killed. He and his brother were driven for a distance of sixty yards and were covered with debris. It was thought they also had lost their lives, but both were fully recovered from their injuries within a few weeks. After the disaster, Judge Romjue facetiously states, several letters of his brother's sweethearts were found at a point twen- ty-five miles northeast of Kirksville and were returned to him, much to his discomfiture, as his attention had previously not been accorded in "assembly" form.
On the 11th of July, 1900, was solemnized the marriage of Judge Romjue to Miss Mand N. Thompson, who was born in Macon county and who is a daughter of Dr. L. M. and Alice (Niekell) Thompson, well known residents of this county. Her father is a well known physician in Macon county. Judge and Mrs. Romjue have one child, Lawson Rodney, who was born May 6, 1907. Milton A. Romjne and wife are members of the Baptist church.
GENERAL WILLIAM M. VAN CLEVE.
A distinguished and honored citizen of Macon county was he to whom this brief memoir is dedicated. He served as brigadier-general in the state militia, represented Macon county in the lower house of the state legislature and later became a member of the senate of this com- monwealth, and in the city of Macon, where he maintained his home, he was known and esteemed as a reliable and progressive business man and as a citizen ever animated by the utmost integrity. His generous attributes of character and his genial personality gained to him a wide circle of loyal and appreciative friends, and in all the relations of his signally noble and useful life he was a man worthy of unqualified esteem.
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General Van Cleve was born in Clark county, Virginia, on the 4th of November, 1840, and was a son of John and Martha MI. Van Cleve, both members of old and representative families of the patrician Old Dominion. He received his early educational training in his native state and when he was fifteen years of age, in 1855, his parents removed to Randolph county, Missouri, where his father purchased a large tract of land and became a successful farmer and influential citizen. Both of his parents continued to reside in Missouri until their death. General Van Cleve assisted in the work and management of the home farm after the removal to Missouri, and here he also became a successful teacher in the common schools, having followed the pedagogie profes- sion for some time, in Randolph and Chariton counties. Later he returned to Virginia and completed a course of study in Winchester Seminary, a well ordered institution of higher academie lines. While in Virginia he was married, on March 11. 1862, to Miss Frances N. Van Cleve, only daughter of Elijah and Eliza Van Cleve, of Berkeley county, same state. He continued to reside in his native state until 1871, when he returned to Missouri and took up his residence in Macon, where he engaged in the general merchandise business in company with his brother, James G. Van Cleve. Later he was interested in the tie and grain business. He was an energetic, progressive business man and as a citizen he did much to further the development and civie and industrial advancement of his home city and county. He was the soul of gener- osity and, in addition to making liberal contributions to religious, char- itable and educational institutions and objeets, his private benefactions were many, though ever unostentatious. He was a man of distinctive culture and represented the courtly type designated as gentlemen of the old school.
In politics General Van Cleve gave a staunch allegiance to the Den- ocratie party as exemplified by Jefferson and Jackson, and he was well equipped for leadership in thought and action. In 1878 he was elected to represent Macon county in the state legislature, and in 1884 he was chosen a member of the state senate, as representative of the distriet then comprising Maeon, Randolph, Adair and Schuyler counties. He also took a deep interest in military affairs and was an able tacti- cian. He organized the First and Second Regiments of the Missouri State Militia, and during the administration of Governor Crittenden he held, by appointment, the distinguished office of brigadier-general of the militia of the state, being incumbent of this position as well as that of state senator at the time of his death, which occurred on the 15th of May, 1886. He and his wife were both zealous members of the Baptist
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church, and he was affiliated with the Masonic fraternity, in which he attained the chivalric degrees, having been a valued member of the commandery of Knights Templars in Macon. He was also identified with the Independent Order of Odd Fellows and the Knights of Pythias.
General Van Cleve's wife was summoned to the life eternal on the 17th of February, 1880. They became the parents of three children, Lucy, who is the wife of H. Waitman Doneghy, of Macon; Frances, who died in 1896, and William M., Jr., of whom specific mention is made on other pages of this work.
HENRY M. POWELL.
For about sixty-nine years this venerable man and most highly esteemed citizen of the city of Macon has been a resident of Macon county, and in that period his contributions to its welfare and progress have been so considerable that he is one of the best known men in the county, and stands as high in the regard and good will of its people as any man within its borders. He is not a native of the county or the state, having been born in Caswell county, North Carolina, on December 9, 1833, but he was brought to this locality by his parents in 1841, when he was but eight years old, and he has lived here ever since. In all his long years of active and productive life he has been a potent force in the social, industrial and political affairs of the township and county of his residence, and has left his mark in enduring phrase and creditable inscription on its civil and educational institutions and all elements of its progress.
Mr. Powell is a son of Henry A. and Nancy (Poteet) Powell, natives of the same county as himself and descendants of families resident in the Old North State for many generations. Their forefathers were prominent in the history and development of that state, dignifying and adorning almost every walk in life among its people in peace and war, and it was vouchsafed to them to bear the same relation to the progress and development of Missouri that their ancestors did to that of North Carolina. The father was born on June 23, 1803, and remained in his native state until 1841. He then moved his family to Missouri and located in Macon county, where he bought 300 acres of land and began raising tobacco. As his prosperity increased he kept on entering gov- ermment land until he owned 1,000 acres. He was very enterprising and successful, and, as he managed his undertakings with intelligence and good business capacity, he profited by them all, and became a man of considerable wealth as well as one of prominence and influence in the state.
HENRY M POWELL
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HISTORY OF MACON COUNTY
In polities the father was a Democrat of the old school, and he held to the principles and governmental theories of his party with the utmost tenacity. In religion he was a Presbyterian and as loyal to his church as he was to his political party. By his marriage to Miss Naney Poteet, which occurred in 1827, he became the father of seven children. Only two of them are now living, Henry M. and his older sister Nancy. who is the wife of Captain Turk of Macon. Their mother died in 1839, and the father afterward married Miss Mary Shepard, who was also a North Carolinian by birth. They had three children, all of whom are living: Shepard, who resides in Macon county : Baswell, whose home is in Dallas, Texas, and Martha Sarah, the wife of Benjamin Stone, who lives in the city of Macon. His second wife died in 1865, aged sixty-two years.
Henry M. Powell was educated in the district subscription schools of Bevier township, and as they were primitive in character, limited in seope, erude in appliances and of short duration every year, his instruction necessarily covered only the rudiments of learning. But it at least gave him an idea of the value of extensive information and taught him how to acquire it. He has used all his advantages since leaving school to good purpose, and by judicious reading and reflection has become one of the best informed men in Macon county. After leav- ing school he worked on his father's tobacco farm and generally assisted the family until 1855. He then rented a farm and began raising tobacco on his own account, continuing his operations on this basis until 1857. Then, with some money he had made and a legacy from his grand- parents, he bought 300 aeres of land as a permanent investment and the foundation of the fortune he had determined to win. He lived on this land for forty-nine years, adding to his domain by additional purchases from time to time until he owned 800 acres. Here he spent his strength in vigorous and intelligent farming on a large scale and in raising live stock very extensively. He took great pride in this branch of his industry and was the first man to introduce Shorthorn Cattle into this part of the country, and later, the first to introduce the Polled Angus breed. In the latter years of his activity in the stock industry he made a specialty of mules. In 1906 he retired from active business and, dividing his land among his children, moved to Macon, where he now resides.
Mr. Powell is a stockholder in the Citizens Bank of Macon and takes an earnest interest in its affairs. To the progress and development of the community in which he had his home he has always been ardently devoted, and he has spared no effort possible on his part to aid in pro-
HISTORY OF MACON COUNTY
moting its advancement. In political matters he has always voted and acted with the Democratic party, and he is firm and unyielding in his loyalty to it and its principles. During the township organization he rendered excellent service to the public as collector, but this is the only political office he ever held, as he always preferred private life. Dur- ing a portion of the Civil war he was a member of the State Guards in the service of the Confederacy, and served under General Price in Gen. John B. Clark's division, for a period of eighteen months. He took part in the battles of Lexington, Pea Ridge, Dry Wood, Springfield or Winson's Creek and others of importance, and numerous minor engagements.
On November 15, 1855, Mr. Powell was married to Miss Artelia Mathis, a native of Macon county and a daughter of Drewry and Delaly (Jackson) Mathis, the former born in North and the latter in South Carolina, but for many years residents of this county, where they were among the early settlers. Mr. and Mrs. Powell had nine children, of whom five are living : Susie, the wife of William Hyde, who resides in Macon county ; Robert Lee, who is also a resident of this county; Stone- wall Jackson, who lives in Arkansas; Orie, the wife of William Nesbeth of Bevier, and Ethel, the wife of Leonard Skinner, whose home is in St. Joseph, Missouri.
The wife and mother died August 6, 1907, aged seventy-two years. She was a life long member of M. E. church southi.
WILLIAM M. VAN CLEVE. V
One of the representative younger members of the bar of Macon county is William M. Van Cleve, who is engaged in the successful prac- tice of his profession in his native city of Macon and whose labors in his profession have been attended with results that give ample justifica- tion to his choice of vocation. He is a son of the late General William M. Van Cleve, to whom a memoir is dedicated on other pages of this work, so that a repetition of the data is not demanded in the present article.
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