USA > Missouri > Macon County > General history of Macon County, Missouri > Part 78
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He remained in this state then but one year, and at the end of that time went to Kansas, where he remained two years working at his trade as a carpenter. In 1867 he returned to Missouri and located in Liberty township, Macon county, where he has resided ever since. Here, soon after his arrival, he bought 120 acres of land as a base of oper- ations and the foundation of the competency which he had determined to wrest from the soil, which, though fruitful and responsive, never yields up its treasures without due effort on the part of him who seeks them. He now owns 400 acres and carries on an extensive and flourish- ing business in advanced general farming and raising stock, his special lines in the latter being jacks and jennets and sheep. All his operations in both his farming and stock industry are directed by intelligence and good judgment, and they are correspondingly successful and profitable. He is regarded as one of the leading stock men and farmers in this part of the state and deserves his rank.
While pushing his own fortunes with assiduous and wisely directed industry, Mr. Morse has not neglected the interests of the township and county in which he lives, but has given their substantial and
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enduring welfare elose and careful attention and sought by every means available to him to foster and promote it. He has been a school director for a number of years, and in many other ways has labored for the progress and development of his locality and the comfort and well being of its people. In politics he is a Republican, but while rendering his party effective service in all campaigns, he has never sought or desired a political office for himself. On March 20, 1873, he was married to Miss Lizzie Milam, a danghter of Bnise H. and Hannah (Richardson) Milam, pioneer settlers in Maeon county. Eleven children have been born of the union and nine of them are living: Alice, the wife of Darwin Salyer of this county; Mary, the wife of William Weise, also a resident of this county; Ansil, whose home is here also; Wayne, who is at school in Fayette, Missouri; Buise, who lives at Billings, Montana ; and Mattie, Josephine, Lulu and Frank, all of whom are living at home, esteemed members of the parental family circle and ornaments to the society of the township. The parents are held in high regard and number their friends by the host in all parts of this and the adjoining counties.
GEORGE R. McDUFFEE.
Born and reared on the farm which is now his home, and having passed all the years of his life on it so far, educated in this locality and taking an active interest in its industries from his youth until the present time, George R. MeDuffee of Liberty township, Macon county, has full knowledge of the region and its people, and is familiar with their needs and well posted as to all that is required for their progress and substantial welfare. He is justly taken as a representative man of his township, for he is thoroughly imbued with the spirit that ยท pervades it and in full sympathy with the aspirations of its people.
Mr. MeDuffee's life began on May 11, 1865. He is a son of John and Lucinda (Harris) MeDuffee, and the youngest of their six children. The father was a son of Dunean and Nancy (Bine) MeDuffee, a native of Scotland who settled in North Carolina when he came to this country, and in that state in Monroe county his son JJohn was born on November 26, 1813. Four years later the family moved to Tennessee, where Jolin MeDuffee grew to manhood and obtained his education in common schools and Hoke College. As manhood began to "darken on his downy check," that is, in 1839, when he was twenty-six years old, he took his father as an exemplar and plunged into the western wilderness on his own account. He came to Missouri and located in Cooper county, where he engaged in farming and raising live stock until 1846. In
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that year he moved to Macon county and took up his residence near Atlanta, but a few years later he bought the present home of his son George in Liberty township, and on that he passed the remainder of his life, which ended on July 14, 1887. He was a farmer and stock man all of his mature life, except for a short period, during which he was merchandising in Tennessee, before he came to this state.
The elder Mr. MeDuffee was a very successful man and left the world improved for his having lived in it. He added to its wealth and advancement by his industry, thrift and business capacity, aceumu- lating a competency for himself while doing this, and he also gave those around him a fine example of true manliness and elevated citizen- ship. In 1846 he was united in marriage with Miss Lucinda Harris, a native of Cooper county, Missouri. She is still living at the advanced age of eighty-five and has her home with her son George. Seven chil- dren were born of their union and six of them are living: Barbara, the wife of .J. J. MeDaniel of Bloomington. this county; W'm. F., who is also a resident of Macon county; Louisa M., the widow of the late Jolin Taylor of the city of Macon; Cornelia, the wife of Richard P. Gooding of Randolph county in this state; Sarah, the wife of James A. Wright, who also lives in Randolph county; and George R., whose home is on the family homestead in Liberty township. In politics the father was a Greenbacker, in fraternal life a Freemason and in religion a Presbyterian. He was devoted to all the organizations of which he was a member and an earnest worker in each.
George R. McDnffee obtained his education in the public school at Bloomington, and after completing it worked on his father's farm and assisted the family until 1890. He then took charge of the farm himself and began farming and raising stock on his own account. He has been occupied in the same industries and on the same place ever since, and has been very successful. He has also taken a decided interest in the affairs of the township and county in which he lives, giving the people excellent service as a school director for twelve years, and in many other ways contributing to the substantial good of the locality and the benefit of its people.
In his political adherence Mr. MeDuffee is a Prohibitionist and a warm advocate of the principles of his party. He and his wife and two danghters are members of the Methodist Episcopal church South, and all are active church workers. On April 4, 1889, he was married to Miss Rosa B. White, a danghter of Webb and Margaret (Spear) White, residents of Macon county and highly esteemed by all classes of its people. Four children have blessed the union, Pauline, now deceased,
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and Ruby and Ruth (twins) now attending Macon High School, and Ward M., all of whom are still living at home with their parents.
Mr. MeDuffee inherited from his ancestry the sterling qualities of determined industry and frugality which distinguish the Scotch peo- ple, and received training in endurance and self-reliance in his resi- dence in the stirring West of this country during the stage of its emergence from its undeveloped state and the difficulties thrown in the way of its progress by the Civil war. These qualities and this train- ing have been largely his capital in making his own progress and he has used them to very good advantage. He is a man of prominence and influence in business, in social life and in the management of the public affairs of the county, and in all he has shown himself worthy of the high esteem in which he is everywhere held.
JAMES BROTHERS.
One of the leading industries of Bevier township in this county, as everybody in this part of the state knows, is coal mining. This industry has been carried on here for many years with results varying in amount at times, but always substantial in their profits and con- siderable in the volume of the output. The discovery of the coal and the continnous and successful development of the industry have been largely due to persons of Welsh nativity or ancestry, who have them- selves been connected with the same line of work in Wales, or their parents have, and who have been, therefore, well qualified for the skill- ful and profitable operation of the mines. The industry has been of great value to this portion of the state and a potent factor in its general progress and improvement, adding vastly to its commercial importance and helping to build it up in population and all the elements of modern civilization.
The men who founded this industry and those who have built it up to its present proportions are entitled to full credit for their enter- prise and sagacity, and the state owes them a debt of gratitude which all its thoughtful citizens would be free to acknowledge. Among them are the brothers, David S. and Thomas James, who live on section nine in Bevier township and work with great vigor a rich coal mine that belongs to them and their mother, Mrs. Levi James, the widow of their father, the late Levi James. The parents were born and reared in Wales. The father's life began in 1843 and the mother's two or three years later. They came to the United States in 1869, immediately after their marriage, and located at once in. Bevier township, Macon county. The home they founded is the one now occupied by the family.
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The father bought sixty-three acres of land in section nine, and on this the family roof-tree has ever since stood. The mother's maiden name was Mary Evans. On their new domain, far from the scenes and asso- ciations of their childhood and youth, in a foreign land and amid a strange people, they went to work to make a living for themselves and their offspring as farmers, and here he wrought diligently in the mines in winter and tilled his soil and pushed his farming operations in the summer, gaining headway all the time and making his way toward comfort in a worldly way and consequence among the people.
Fortune smiled upon their industry in an unexpected way. In 1893 the father discovered coal on his own land and at once sunk a shaft and began to develop a mine. Ever since that time the mine has yielded regularly to its full average capacity of twenty-five tons per day. The father continued to work the mine progressively until his death, which occurred in 1901. Since then it has been worked by the two sons, David and Thomas in conjunction with their mother. She and her husband were the parents of twelve children, eleven of whom are living: Mar- garet, who is living at home ; David and Thomas, the immediate subjects of this sketch; Lizzie, the wife of Iver Thomas of Bevier; Alfred, who resides in Livingston county, Missouri; Marian, the wife of David Thomas of Bevier; and Idns, Edith, Katie, Jennie and Lee, all of whom are still on the parental homestead. The father was a Republican in polities, an Odd Fellow in fraternal life and a Baptist in religions connection, being a charter member of the congregation to which he belonged. He was a man of sterling worth and was universally esteemed for his manhood and the elevated character of his citizenship.
David S. James was born in Bevier township, this county, on June 1, 1872, and his brother Thomas in the same place on April 15, 1874. They were educated at the district school in the neighborhood of their home, and as soon as they were able began to assist in the work on the home farm. After the discovery of coal on this farm they became interested with their father in the development of the mine, and with this they have been connected in a leading way ever since. They know their business in all its details and phases, for they have both practical experience in it and the intelligence concerning it which they have gained in a careful study of its possibilities and requirements. They are regarded as expert miners and they certainly are successful and progressive ones.
The James Brothers are good citizens, as well as snecessful busi- ness men. They manifest an earnest interest and take an active part in whatever seems likely to be of advantage to their township and
PAUL R. TAINTER, M. D.
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HISTORY OF MACON COUNTY
county or promote the substantial and enduring welfare of their peo- ple. No worthy enterprise in which these are involved appeals to them in vain or is allowed to go without their zealons and energetie support. They perform all the duties of good citizenship with fidelity and a conscientious regard for what is right, knowing that in all cases what is right is best. The people around them regard them with high favor and look upon them as leading men in the community, and this opinion is held concerning them wherever else they are known, and that is throughout a large part of Missouri and the adjacent states.
PAUL REVERE TAINTER, M. D.
"The labor we delight in physics pain." All human experience proves the truth of this assertion which Shakespeare puts into the mouth of one of the characters in Macbeth, and it has grown almost trite from frequency of use. Yet, it might well be doubted if those who quote it most glibly ever realize its full significance. The man or woman who finds delight in duty and performs it with free hand and constancy must be immune from overwhelming sorrows and proof against the serious inroads of cankering care. One of the calling's in life that is always likely to furnish the strongest proof of the apothegm is that of the country physician, if he is devoted to his work. In this case, not only does the labor physic pain in others, but in himself, which is the real meaning of the saying. For he becomes so absorbed in what he is doing that he forgets himself; and if he should happen at times to be recalled to recollection, the knowledge that he is ministering to the necessities of others who are unable to help themselves, and aiding in relieving the common lot of human suffering, will give him comfort in his own troubles, if he has any.
An impressive illustration of all this is found in the life and pro- fessional services of Dr. Paul Revere Tainter, of Callao, who not only has plenty to do in his large and increasing practice, but finds pleasure in doing all he can in his chosen line of endeavor. He has been prac- ticing but a short time, comparatively speaking, but he has won golden opinions from all classes of the people for his industry and skill, and his reputation is on a rapid aseent toward the first rank in the pro- fession.
Dr. Tainter was born on February 11, 1878, at the historie town of Navoo, Illinois, to which the one-time residence of the great body of the Mormon church there has given a glamor of romance and unusual inter- est. He is a son of Daniel W. and Anna (Ritter) Tainter, the father a native of Boston, Massachusetts, where he was born on February 22,
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1838. and the mother of Navoo, Illinois. They were married in 1874 and had five children, of whom four are living: George W., a prosper- ous farmer and stockbreeder of Lagonda, Missouri; Dr. Paul R., of Callao, the subject of these paragraphs, and Burrage and Flossie, who reside at Linn in this state. The mother died in 1888. The father is still living and bas his home at Lagonda, Chariton county.
The Doctor grew to manhood at Chariton county and was started in his educational training in the public schools of that county. He completed this at the North Missouri academy at Salisbury. After finishing the academic course he began the study of medicine, and at the opening of the next term matriculated at the Hospital College of Medicine in Louisville, Kentucky, from which he was graduated in 1902 with the degree of M. D. Armed with his diploma, enthusiasm in his profession and a determination to make the most of his powers and opportunities, he began his practice in Osage county, this state, where he remained three years. In 1905 he located in Callao and here he has been practicing ever since. He has built up a large practice, which steadily increases from year to year, and by close attention to his duties and the skill and ability he has shown in his profession has won the regard and good will of all the people. The Doctor is a member of the following medical societies and associations: Macon County Medical Association, Missouri State Medical Association and the Tri-State and American Medical Associations.
In connection with his practice he is also interested in the drug business in Callao, and he also owns and operates a large farm. To the drug business and his farm he gives the same careful attention and uneeasing industry that distinguish him in his professional work, and from each he reaps a similar reward for his diligence and intelli- gence. He was married in 1905 to Miss Ethel Summers, a native of this county. They have one child. their daughter, Frances Willis.
In politics the Doctor is an ardent Republican with an abiding inter- est in the welfare of his party and a constant willingness to do what he can to aid in promoting its success. He takes an active part in all its campaigns and his services in its behalf are always effective and highly appreciated. He has not, however, sought the enjoyment of its honors or emoluments for himself. The only office he has ever held was that of postmaster for two years at Freeburg, Osage county. In fraternal life he is allied with the Masonie order and its adjunet, the Order of the Eastern Star. He also belongs to the Order of Woodmen of the World. Professionally he is medical examiner for the New York Life, the Pru-
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dential Life and Accident and the Northwestern Mutual Life Insurance Companies.
HON. W. J. OWINGS.
Having lived in Macon county all his life to this time, which covers a period of fifty-three years, and during the greater part of the time been, as man and boy, a contributor to its advancement and commercial importance, and for a considerable part of it a publie servant of the people in various capacities, Hon. W. J. Owings of Valley township, is justly regarded as a representative man in the county and an orna- ment to its citizenship. He has met all the requirements of publie and private duty in a straightforward and manly manner, and given a fine example of industry and thrift in his business and of uprightness, ability and devotion to the public welfare as an official.
Judge Owings was born in the locality of his present home, Valley township, Macon county, on July 12, 1857, and is a son of Waller C. and Mary Jane (Rose) Owings, the former born in Randolph county, Missouri, in 1835, on October 15, and the latter a native of Macon county. The father moved to Macon county in 1850 and located in Valley town- ship. Here he has been actively and successfully engaged in farming and raising live stock ever since. He now owns a fine farm of 240 aeres of land, which is well improved and fully supplied with the means of cultivation according to the most approved present day methods of farming. His marriage oeenrred on December 17, 1855, and he and his wife became the parents of two children both of whom are living, the subjeet of these paragraphs and his sister Alice A., who is the wife of W. O. Clarkson of Macon county. In his political alliance the father has always been a member of the Democratic party, and in reli- gious connection he has long been affiliated with the Primitive Baptist church. He is a deacon and a very active worker in the congregation to which he belongs.
His son, W. J. Owings, was educated in the public schools and at the Kirksville State Normal school. After leaving this institution he taught in the district schools for a few terms, then bonght 100 aeres of good land on which he located and became a farmer and stock man of enterprise and progressiveness. His farming and stock raising indns- tries have been interrupted to some extent at different times by other pursuits, but they have never been abandoned by him, and they have been condueted with a spirit and skill that have made them highly successful and profitable. His farm now comprises 180 aeres and is nearly all under cultivation, yielding good returns for the labor and
HISTORY OF MACON COUNTY
intelligence bestowed upon it, and bountifully supporting the large herds and Hoeks to which it is mainly devoted.
In 1902 Mr. Owings was elected county judge, and at the end of his first term, was re-elected, serving two full terms in all. He has also been township trustee and long a member of the school board. He is now a justice of the peace and clerk of the Yellow Creek primitive Baptist Association. His political faith is anchored firmly to the Democratic party, in which he has been a zealous and efficient worker all of his mature life, and he and his wife are active working members of the Primitive Baptist church. The maiden name of the latter was Mary E. Goodson, and she is a daughter of Dr. John E. and Mary (Elsea) Goodson, the former a native of Kentucky and the latter of Virginia. Mr. and Mrs. Owings were married on August 8, 1878, and have two children : Ola B., the wife of Frank Z. Williamson of south- western Oklahoma, and Grace G., the wife of William S. Bricker of Callao, Missouri. All the members of the family rank high in public esteem and are looked upon by all who know them as most worthy and estimable citizens, full of zeal for the general welfare and earnest in promoting it.
JOHN SALYER.
V
Approaching the verge of four score years of earthly existence, and during the last four leading a retired life, free from the cares of active work and securely comfortable through the competence he gained by his long term of sedulous industry, John Salyer of Liberty township, Macon county, has witnessed the march of mighty events in this country, and has also had leisure to reflect over them and rejoice in the opportunity that was given him to contribute to the advance as a part of the glorious procession. He is venerable in years and is venerated by the people among whom he has so long lived and labored for the nprightness of his life and his continued usefulness to the locality in which he has had his home.
Mr. Salyer was born on October 2, 1830, in Fayette county, Indiana. He is of South Carolina ancestry, his grandfather, John Salyer, having been born in that state and having helped to defend it during the Revo- Intion, and his father, James Salyer having also been native there, where his life began in 1797. In 1803 the adventurous spirit of the grandfather led him to gather his household goods about him and make what was then a long and dangerous journey into the western wilderness. The way was long and the progress necessarily slow, as the only means of transportation for the most of the trip was by teams
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through the unbroken wilds. In much of it roads were unknown, streams were unbridged and every mile was beset with perils. And when the adventurers arrived at their destination they found almost the same conditions that attended them on the way. But they were of heroic spirit and, meeting the requirements of their frontier life with forti- tude, they triumped over every difficulty by persistent industry and endurance.
In that then new country James Salyer grew to manhood and obtained a limited country school education. At an early age he became a farmer on his own account and he continued his operations in this line of industry in Indiana until 1858, when he followed his father's example and took a flight into the farther West, coming to Missouri and locating in Macon county. Here he renewed his farming industry and kept at it until 1863. In that year he made a visit to Indiana, but soon after arriving met with an accident that resulted in his death.
He was married on March 8, 1821, to Miss Elizabeth Arnott, a native of Kentucky. They had nine children but two of whom are now living, John and his sister Margaret, who is the wife of Samuel Jeneson of Fayette county, Indiana. Their mother died in 1839, and on March 10, 1842, the father married again, being united this time with Miss Mary Shepard, who was also a native of Kentucky. In politics he was a life-long Democrat, but, while energetic in the service of his party, had no desire for public honors of official station for himself.
His son, John Salyer, the immediate subject of this brief memoir, obtained his education in the district schools of Fayette county, Indiana. After completing his own scholastic training he began to serve the next generation in the acquirement of its mental development by becoming a teacher in the public schools. He taught in Fayette, Franklin and Wayne counties, Indiana, until 1858, then accompanied his parents to Missouri and found a new home in Macon county. Here he taught fourteen months, then abandoned the profession altogether. During the Civil war he was captain of a company of Missouri militia which volunteered its services to the Federal government in defense of the Union as a part of the Sixtieth Missouri regiment. The company served a short time and was then discharged.
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