USA > Missouri > Macon County > General history of Macon County, Missouri > Part 72
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
Mr. Van Cleve was born in Macon, on the 10th of February, 1880. and after duly availing himself of the privileges of the public schools he continued his studies in St. James Military Academy of this city. where he prepared for college. In 1898 he was matrienlated in the lit- erary department of Cumberland University, at Lebanon, Tennessee. In May, 1901, Mr. Van Cleve began the study of law under the able pre- ceptorship of the firm of Guthrie & Franklin, of Macon, in whose office he continued his technical reading of the science of jurisprudence until
68%
HISTORY OF MACON COUNTY
the following September, when he entered the law department of Wash- ington University, in the city of St. Louis, where he completed the pre- scribed course and was graduated as a member of the elass of 1903. with the well earned degree of Bachelor of Laws. He had secured admission to the bar of the state the year prior to his graduation and after leaving the law school he opened an office in Macon, where he has since given himself with all of ambition, zeal and devotion to the work of his profession in which his success has been of unequivocal order and in which he has a practice that is constantly expanding in scope and importance.
In polities Mr. Van Cleve is a stalwart supporter of the principles and policies for which the Democratic party stands sponsor and he has been an active worker in its local ranks. In 1904 he was made the nominee of his party for the office of city attorney, and in the ensuing election he led the entire ticket, being elected by a gratifying majority and retaining the office for two years and enjoys the distinction of being the only Democrat up to the present time that has. His adminis- tration of the same was eminently satisfactory and inured not a little to the increasing of his professional prestige. He is affiliated with the local lodge and chapter of the Masonic fraternity and also with the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks.
On the 27th of June, 1907, Mr. Van Cleve was united in marriage to Miss Florence Wardell, of this eity. In the spring of 1910 Mr. Van Cleve was elected police judge for the city of Macon, which position he is now filling (1910).
OSWALD HICKS.
Identified with lines of enterprise which are of significance and important value in every community. Mr. Hicks is one of the repre- sentative citizens of Maeon, where he is engaged in the abstraet, loan, and real-estate business and where he is held in high regard as a reliable and progressive business man and liberal and public-spirited citizen.
Mr. Hicks finds due satisfaction in claiming the fine old state of Missouri as the place of his nativity. He was born on the old home- stead farm of his father, near Thomas-hill, Randolph county, on the 26th of February, 1861, and is a son of George W. and Virginia L. (London) Hicks, the former of whom was born in Virginia in 1827, a seion of one of the old and honored families of the patrician Old Dominion, and the latter of whom was born in the state of Missouri.
688
HISTORY OF MACON COUNTY
The genealogy in both lines is traced back to English origin. George W. Hicks is a son of John Hicks, who was a child of four years at the time of his parents' removal from Virginia to Missouri. The family located in Howard county, where the father of John Hicks was engaged in farming about ten years, at the expiration of which he removed to Randolph county, where he became the owner of a large landed estate, which he developed into one of the fine farms of this section of the state and where he continued to reside until his death, which occurred in 1879. There also his devoted wife passed the closing years of her life. They became the parents of five sons and three daughters, and of the number one son and two daughters are now living.
George W. Hicks, father of the subject of this review, was reared to manhood in Randolph county, and there his entire active career was one of intimate and successful identification with the great basic art of agriculture. He became the owner of a valuable landed estate of 300 acres and was long prominent and influential as a citizen of Randolph county, where he is well known and where he is held in unqualified confidence and esteem He still owns his farm in that county, though he is now living retired in the city of Macon. He is an Independent in his political proelivities. Our subject is the only child.
Oswald Ificks, whose name initiates this sketch, passed his boyhood and youth on the old homestead farm which was the place of his birth, and he was afforded the advantages of the local schools and the public schools of Macon, after which he completed a course in Yale Business College, at New Haven, Connecticut, in which institution he was graduated as a member of the class of 1886. He then returned to Missouri, and for some time he diversified his labors in teaching school and assisting in the work and management of the home farm. For a time he was engaged in the retail grocery business in Chillicothe, this state.
In June, 1887, Mr. Hicks established his present business enter- prise in Macon, and in each of the departments of the same he controls a representative business. He has a complete and authoritative set of abstracts of titles to all real-estate holdings in Macon county, and in the handling of realty his books show at all times most desirable invest- ments in both city and farm properties. He has also properties for exchange and rent, and makes a specialty of financial loans upon approved real-estate security. His agency is one of the most important of its kind in this section of the state and through his honorable methods and progressive policy he has built up this flourishing and substantial
689
HISTORY OF MACON COUNTY
enterprise. He is recognized as one of the loyal and public-spirited citizens of Macon and is ever found enlisted as an earnest supporter of all measures and enterprises that tend to advance the material and civie welfare of his home city and county. His political support is given to the Populist party, but he has never been animated by aught of ambition for the honors or emoluments of public office. He is affiliated with the local organizations of the Knights of Pythias and the Benevolent & Protective Order of Elks.
In the year 1899 Mr. Hicks was united in marriage to Miss Mabel V. Williams, who was born in the state of California, and they have one daughter, Jennie Mabel.
WILLIAM G. WALKER.
One of the oldest business men and most honored and popular citizens of Macon is Mr. Walker, who is a scion of one of the sterling pioneer families of Macon county, which has represented his home from the time of his birth and with whose annals the family name has been identified for fully three-fourths of a century. He is engaged in the real-estate business in the city of Macon, and is also the owner of valuable farm property in his native county.
Mr. Walker was born in Round Grove township, Macon county, Missouri, on the 30th of November, 1845, and is a son of John P. and Mary (Brown) Walker, both of whom were born in the state of Virginia, where the respective families, of English lineage, were early founded. John P. Walker was reared and educated in the Old Dominion, where his father was a successful planter and a man of prominence and influence, having been a native of Virginia and having there passed his entire life. John P. Walker came to Missouri in the year of 1839, making the trip from New Orleans up the Mississippi river to St. Louis and thence coming overland with team and wagon to Macon county, where he secured a tract of government land and reclaimed a good farm. He was one of the pioneers of Round Grove township and was one of the most progressive citizens of the county, where he wielded much influence in public affairs. He was a man of strong individuality and excellent intellectual attainments, so that he was admirably equipped for leadership in thought and action. During the early period of his residence in this county his services were in requisition as a school teacher, and he proved a most able and successful instructor in the pioneer schools. He served for twelve years in the office of county surveyor, and while incumbent of this position did much impor- tant work which has effectually stood the test of time. He was also
690
HISTORY OF MACON COUNTY
elected to the bench of the county court, and was presiding judge of the same for a number of years. He was a man of most gracious person- ality and of impregnable integrity, leaving an indelible and beneficent impress upon the history of Macon county, on whose roll of honored pioneers his name merits an enduring place. He continued to reside on his fine homestead farm until his death, and his devoted wife was summoned to the life eternal, later. She was a consistent and active men- ber of the Baptist church, and in polities Judge Walker was ever a stalwart advocate of the principles and policies for which the Demo- cratie party has stood sponsor in a generic way. Judge and Mrs. Walker became the parents of five sons and four daughters, and all save one of the daughters attained to years of maturity. The five sons and two of the daughters are now living. Mrs. Walker's father, a Virginian by birth, was a valiant soldier in the war of 1812.
William G. Walker, whose name initiates this review, passed his childhood and youth on the old homestead which was the place of his birth, and his earliest experiences in connection with the practical affairs of life were in connection with the work on the farm. He was afforded the advantages of the common schools of the locality and period and also had the gracious surroundings and influences of a home of distinctive culture and refinement. After the close of the war between the states he became identified with the civil engineering work in connection with railroad construction. In this line of work he was identified with the building of the Missouri & Mississippi Rail- road, the Santa Fe system and other lines. He has been to a greater or less degree actively identified with agricultural pursuits in his native county from his youth to the present time. He has maintained his residence in the city of Macon sinee 1901.
In 1872 Mr. Walker was elected county surveyor, and in this office he ably carried forward the work which has previously been assigned to the care of his honored father. He held this incumbeney for a period of eight years, and since that time he has devoted his attention largely to the real-estate business, in which his operations have been of wide scope and important order in a relative way. To him was assigned the disposing of the lands owned in Macon county by the Han- nibal & St. Joseph Railroad Company, and he has had much to do with the material and civie development and progress of his native county, where his name has ever stood exponent of integrity and honor in all the relations of life and where his circle of friends is limited only by that of his acquaintanceship, which is exceptionally wide and repre- sentative. He served as county superintendent of schools from 1869
691
HISTORY OF MACON COUNTY
to 1871, and has ever taken a deep interest in providing the best of school facilities in the county, as well as in all other matters that touch civic prosperity and social well being. He is aligned as a staunch sup- porter of the cause of the Democratic party and is strongly fortified in his opinions as to matters of public policy. He is affiliated with the Macon lodge of Free & Accepted Masons, and with the local lodge of the Benevolent & Protective Order of Elks. Both he and his wife have long been zealous and valued members of the Presbyterian church in Macon.
In the year 1871 was solemnized the marriage of Mr. Walker to Miss Sarah C. Thompson, who was born and reared in Macon county and who is a daughter of the late Granville Thompson, a farmer by vocation and one of the honored citizens of the county. Mr. and Mrs. Walker have one son and six daughters: Fannie and Maude who now resides in Lethbridge, Canada; Stella, who resides in Seattle, Wash- ington ; Lela, who resides in Chicago. Nellie and Norma live with their parents in Macon, as also the son Clyde, who at this writing is attending school at Columbia, Missouri.
WILLIAM E. MOSS.
The able and popular superintendent of schools in Macon county is undoubtedly one of the youngest incumbents ever called to this respon- sible position in this county, and in his administration of the affairs of his important office he has fully justified the wisdom of those through whose suffrages he was chosen. Mr. Moss is a native son of Macon connty and a scion of one of its old and honored pioneer families. The name which he bears had been indissolubley identified with the annals of this section of the state from a very early period in its history and has ever stood exponent of sterling character and loyal citizenship, as one generation has followed another on to the stage of life's activities.
Mr. Moss was born in Round Grove township, Macon county, Mis- souri, on the 15th of May, 1880, and is a son of Francis M. and Sarah J. (Hutton) Moss, both of whom are likewise natives of this county; the father was born in Round Grove township and the mother in Middle Fork township. Francis M. Moss was reared and educated in Macon county and his entire active career has been one of elose identification with the great basic art of agriculture, under whose influences and labors he grew to maturity. He is now the owner of a finely improved landed estate in his native township, and is one of the representative farmers and highly honored citizens of the county. He is a Democrat in his political proelivities but has never desired public office. The
69-2
HISTORY OF MACON COUNTY
only position of this order of which he has ever been incumbent was that of road overseer. His wife is a zealous member of the Christian church. To them have been born five children-two sons and three daughters- all of whom are living.
James Moss, the paternal grandfather of the subject of this review, was likewise a native of Round Grove township, this county, where he became a successful farmer. At the inception of the Civil war he tendered his services in defense of the cause of the Confederacy, and enlisted in the Regiment of Missouri Volunteer Infantry. He was with his command in a number of important engagements and served under General Price. He was captured, and was confined for a con- siderable period in the federal prison at Alton, Illinois. After his release he started for his home but died en route, while in the city of St. Louis. His wife survived him by many years and died in Macon county. They became the parents of three sons and two daughters, all of whom still maintain their home in Macon county except one of the sons, who resides in Monroe county. James Moss, the honored veteran of the Civil war, in which he sacrificed his life, was a son of Carlos Moss, who came from Kentucky to Missouri, becoming one of the early settlers of Macon county, where he secured a tract of government land and eventually developed a productive farm. Here he continued to reside until his death.
Wiliam E. Moss, whose name initiates this article, passed his boy- hood days on the old homestead farm in Round Grove township, and after duly availing himself of the advantages of the public schools of his native county he contuined his studies in turn in McGee College, at College Mound, and in the Chillicothe Normal School, at Chillicothe. After leavig this institution he devoted his attention to teaching in the schools of Macon county, and he continued to be successfully engaged in pedagogie work of this order for a period of nine years. In 1897 he was elected to his present responsible office of superintendent of schools for Macon county, and his administration has been one of energy, careful system and marked discrimination, so that he has clone much to further the efficiency of the work of the schools of the county. His term of office will expire in 1911. Mr. Moss is aligned as a staunch advocate of the principles and policies of the Democratic party, is affiliated with the Knights of Pythias, and both he and his wife hold membership in the Methodist Episcopal church. He is well known throughout his native county, and his circle of friends is limited only by that of his acquaintanceship.
On the 26th of ,June, 1903, Mr. Moss was united in marriage to Miss
693
HISTORY OF MACON COUNTY
Bertha Cook, who likewise was born and reared in Macon county and who is a daughter of Jeremiah L. Cook, a representative of Liberty township. Mr. and Mrs. Moss have three daughters,-Lucile, and Hazel and Helen, who are twins.
JOHN T. DONEGHY.
Among the men of Maeon county who are known as self-made men there is none more justly deserves the title than the subject of this brief sketch, Mr. John T. Doneghy, who was for many years actively engaged in merchandising and banking at La Plata, but who is now living practically retired in the city of Macon, Missouri. Mr. Doneghy is a native of Danville, Boyle county, Kentucky, where he was born on February 18, 1852, and is a son of James and Kate (Campbell) Doneghy, who were also born and reared in that state. The family from which Mr. Doneghy sprang was among the old and well known ones in Kentucky and Maryland. . The first of them to become a resi- dent of Missouri was the father of our subject, who emigrated to this State in 1855. He located on a tract of land near Independence, and continued to reside there until his untimely death in 1862, when he became one of the first victims of that great Civil war that darkened this land from 1861 to 1865.
John T. Doneghy obtained his education at Bryant's Academy, Independence, Missouri. He was obliged to begin life for himself at a very early age, and began making a meager living for himself when he was but fourteen, by working as a clerk in a general store at Inde- pendence. He continued his industry in this capacity until he reached the age of twenty. In 1874 he moved to La Plata accepting a position as elerk for his unele, T. C. Campbell, who was operating a store there. Some time afterwards he and his brother purchased their uncle's interest in the business and formed a partnership under the firm name of "J. C. Doneghy & Brother." The business flourished under the wise and productive management they applied to it, and they continued to carry it on successfully for more than twenty years. In 1894, J. T. Doneghy purchased his brother's interest in the establishment, and from then until 1900 he continued the business alone. In the year last named he disposed of the stock and all that went with it, and six years later he became a resident of Macon, where he has ever since resided.
Although seemingly retired from the daily exactions of a large business, Mr. Doneghy is by no means an idle man. He is vice-president of the Savings Bank of La Plata, and still has large interests in the locality of that town which requires his close and diligent attention.
694
HISTORY OF MACON COUNTY
He is also a director of the State Exchange Bank of Macon, and is con- nected with other productive activities of this city. His active mind and strong physique could not be satisfied with a life of ease and leisure, and although he has changed the form he has not lessened the volume of his engagements or diminished the intensity of his energy. The affairs of the city, county, state and nation enlist his earnest and serv- iceable attention and command his active and intelligent support in whatever he believes to be right. No movement for the advancement of the county or eity goes without his co-operation in the most sub- stantial way, and no project for the general welfare of the people escapes his notice or lacks his energetic assistance. He is an ardent Democrat in politics, but while he always gives his party loyal and effective support, he has steadfastly refused to accept a political office of any kind, or rank, having no fondness for the distinction of official station and being very averse to its exactions and responsibilities.
On May 20, 1885, Mr. Doneghy was united in marriage in Mexico, Missouri, with Miss Mary M. Craddock, a daughter of Samuel F. Crad- doek, a prominent lawyer of that town. Mrs. Doneghy is a native of this state, but her father was born and reared in Munfordville, Ken- tucky. One child has been born to them, their son John T. Doneghy, Jr., who is now (1910) a senior in Yale University, where he is preparing himself for a business career.
In conclusion we can truly say that Mr. Doneghy is in every sense a self-made man. The Civil war stripped him of all possessions that would have been his by inheritance, yet he rose from the ruin and rebuilt his estate to proportions surpassing those which dignified it before the disaster came. He has ever been a man of peace, settling all controversies by persuasion and concession in conferences of reason, never appealing to force of any kind, never suing anybody or being sued in his life. By those who know him well he is admired and esteemed as few men are, and by all that know him slightly or have knowledge of his record and career, he is regarded as a fine type of the most exalted American manhood. Both his private life and business career are above reproach and universally acknowledged to be altogether creditable to him.
FRANCIS DUNN JONES.
Miner, music teacher, editor, poet, preacher and man of affairs, Francis Dunn Jones of Bevier, this county, has contributed to the land of his adoption a stimulus for good and an artistic inspiration in many lines of endeavor, and has also aided in its material development and
695
HISTORY OF MACON COUNTY
moral and mental uplifting in ways and to an extent that has won him the esteem of all who know him and a high rank in the citizenship of the county and state. He has given to the productive forces of Mis- souri both brawn and brain, and has made an excellent record as a worker in all the departments of industry in which his faculties have been employed.
Mr. Jones is a native of South Wales and the son of David W. and Elizabeth (Jones) Jones, also natives of that part of the Welsh country. He was born in 1859, and when he was but a year old his father came to this country and located in Pennsylvania, where he was foreman of a mine for a number of years. In 1881 he came to Missouri and took up his residence at Bevier in Macon county, where he died in November, 1893. His marriage with Elizabeth Jones occurred in 1838, and by it he became the father of eleven children. Four of these are living : William, whose residence is at Reading, Pennsylvania; Watkin, who lives at Donaldson in the same state; Mary A., the wife of Jonathan Davis, a citizen of Iowa, and Francis Dunn. The mother of these children died in 1868, and in 1869 the father married a second time, uniting himself with Miss Elizabeth Thomas, who was also born in South Wales. They had one child, their daughter Elizabeth, who is now the wife of David G. Thomas, at one time state mine inspector of the state of Wyoming. After his arrival at Bevier the father engaged in mining there during the remainder of his life.
Francis D. Jones was educated in the public or state schools of his native land and thoroughly instructed in music there by Prof. T. Price, a renowned musical teacher and composer of that country. After completing his education, the young man, the theme of this writing, whose parents were far distant from him, making their way to com- fort and consequence in a foreign country, worked in the mines in Wales for a few years. He, also, came to the United States with a view to bettering his fortunes, making the trip in 1880 and living for a time in Pennsylvania. He became a resident of Missouri and Macon county, 'finding a home in a region somewhat similar to his native heath in the mining district of Bevier, where he located. Here he mined coal and taught music for a period of about eight years, mak. ing headway in the world in the accumulation of some means and gaining in favor and popularity among the people.
In September, 1889, he founded The Bevier Appeal, of which he is still the editor and proprietor, being the oldest newspaper editor in continuous service in Macon county. He is especially well fitted for his work in the field of letters, having considerable scholastic attainments,
696
HISTORY OF MACON COUNTY
a ready and fluent pen, a comprehensive grasp of public affairs and a high sense of duty. He is an accomplished musician and a great lover of music. And he has another gift of intellectual power among the ornamental and more graceful lines of literary ability. His father was a poet of ability and celebrity in the Welsh language, and the son has inherited the talent and uses it in a different tongue. He has written many English sonnets and other poems which are esteemed as productions of high merit and have given him a wide reputation as a refined and graceful writer of verse.
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.