USA > Missouri > Macon County > General history of Macon County, Missouri > Part 91
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married in 1868 to Miss Margaret Carpenter, a native of Maysville, Kentucky. In polities he was a Republican, in fraternal relations a Free Mason and an Odd Fellow, and in religious connection a member of the Methodist church. All who knew him esteemed him highly, and his early death at the age of fifty was generally lamented. For he had shown in Missouri the same qualities of enterprise and thrift, of self- reliance and readiness for any emergency, that had brought him across the stormy Atlantie in his boyhood and sustained him through all his subsequent struggles; and had manifested here, also, a sturdy devotion to the land of his adoption and an eager desire to do all he could to promote its welfare and enlarge the power of its beneficent institutions, political, educational, industrial and commercial.
Charles P. Shay began his scholastic training in the district schools of Ohio, continued it in the public schools of Clarence, Missouri, and completed it in a course of special instruction at the Northern Indiana State Normal School at Valparaiso, in that state, from which he was graduated in 1892. His first occupation after leaving school was that of telegraph operator at Higginsville, Missouri, and Mansfield, Texas. When his father died he returned to this state and assisted his mother in conducting the operations of the home farm until 1896. During the next three years he was engaged in general farming on his own account. In 1899 he moved to Pueblo, Colorado, to perform the duties of an important position for which he had been selected, that of department foreman in a rolling mill operated as a part of the great plant of the Colorado Fuel and Iron Company.
Mr. Shay remained in this important and responsible position until 1903. But, while there were many agreeable features in his employment, it was not altogether to his taste, and in the year last mentioned he returned to his former home in this county. Soon afterward he opened a general store at Anabel, where he has ever since been engaged in merchandising, rising steadily in rank as a merchant, building up a good and expanding trade, gaining constantly in the esteem of the people, and aiding by all the means at his command in advancing the best interests of the community. In November, 1906, he was appointed postmaster of Anabel by President Roosevelt. He is still filling this office and, what is rare, is discharging its duties with satisfaction to all the patrons of the postal service in the territory dependent for that service on the Anabel office.
Mr. Shay was married on June 30, 1896, to Miss Mae White, a daughter of William C. White, one of the leading citizens of Macon county. They have two children, their sons, Charles W. and Connor
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HISTORY OF MACON COUNTY
P., who are living at home and attending school. In politics Mr. Shay is a consistent and zealous Republican, earnest and effective in the service of his party and estecmed by its leaders in the county and state as judicious in council and very energetic in work. Fraternally he belongs to the Independent Order of Red Men and the Knights of the Maccabees. With youth, health, enterprise and good judgment as assets, with lofty ideals of citizenship as beacons for his guidance, and with a determination to make the most of his opportunities in every way, the people of Macon county expect him to become one of their best and most representative and useful men.
CHARLES P. HESS.
V
The honored subject of this sketch is a worthy representative of that sturdy and valued element which the great empire of Germany has contributed to our American social and industrial life, and, coming to the United States when a young man, he has won for himself definite success in a material way, the while he has so guided and governed his course as to merit and receive at all times the unqualified confidence and regard of those with whom he has come in contact in the various relations of his signally active and useful life. He gave to his adopted country loyal service as a soldier in the Civil war, and none could manifest greater patriotism than this. In the "piping times of peace" his loyalty has been of the same insistent order and he deserves well of the nation whose integrity he aided in perpetuating. He has served as county judge and held other offices of distinctive publie trust, is a veteran member of the bar of Macon county, and he has long wielded much influence in public affairs. His intellectual powers are of high type, though he gained his training largely in the school of experience and through effective self-discipline, and he has proved amply qualified for leadership in both thought and action. Judge Hess stands today one of the best known and most honored citizens of Macon county, and, venerable in years, he can view the dim perspective of the past and find that he has not flinched from duty and has striven ever to play his part as one of the world's noble army of workers. It is a matter of satisfaction to the publishers of this work to be able to incorporate in the same even a brief review of his career,-a record that is properly perpetuated in such a vehicle of historic import.
Charles Philip Hess was born in Langenlonsheim bei Kreuznach, Prussia, on the 9th of September, 1837, and there his parents, Johannes and Katherine (Stern) Hess, passed their entire lives, secure in the esteem of all who knew them. The father was a farmer by vocation
CHARLES P. HESS
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and served the prescribed term in the Prussian army when a young man. Judge Hess secured his early educational discipline in the schools of his native place, where he was reared to maturity. As a youth his ambition prompted him to sever the gracious ties which bound him to home and fatherland and to seek his fortunes in America, which had proved a veritable land of promise to many of his countrymen. Accord- ingly, in 1854, when but seventeen years of age, he came to the United States, making the voyage on a sailing vessel, from the port of Havre de Grace, and being on the ocean for a period of thirty-two days before landing in the port of New York city. He soon made his way to the city of Buffalo, where he entered upon an apprenticeship to the trade of carriagemaker, in which he became a skilled workman and to which he devoted his attention until he felt the call of higher duty, when the dark cloud of Civil war obscured the national horizon. He was one of those who responded to President Lincoln's first call, he became a member of the regular army by proceeding to the city of Philadelphia, where, in October, 1861, he enlisted as a private in the Sixth United States Cavalry. He was in service during three years of the great internieine confliet and proved a gallant and faithful soldier of the republic. Among the more notable engagements in which he took part may be mentioned the following: Williamsburg, Hanover Court House, Chiekahominy Swamp, Savage Station, Glendale and Malvern Hill, Antietam, the first and second battles of the Wilderness, and Appo- mattox. Besides these he took part in many skirmishes and minor engagements. For efficient service he was promoted to the office of sergeant of Company A of his regiment, and in 1862 he was transferred to Company C, of which he was made first sergeant. In the engagement at Fairfield, Pennsylvania, he was severely injured, on the 4th of July, 1863, his left knee having been dislocated by his horse falling upon him after the animal had been shot from under him. He was confined to the hospital for a period of nine weeks, at the expiration of which he rejoined his command, at Fairfax, Virginia, where he was detailed as forage master at the headquarters of the cavalry corps of the Depart- ment of the Potomac. He received his honorable discharge at Harrison- ville near Winchester, Virginia, on the 10th of October, 1864, after which he was appointed second lieutenant of the Twenty-seventh United States Reserves, at Alexandria, Virginia. He has ever maintained a deep interest in his old comrades of the Civil war, and signifies the same by his membership in F. A. Jones Post, No. 23, Grand Army of the Republic, in Macon, of which he has served as commander and also as Jr. Department commander of the state of Missouri.
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In 1865 Judge Hess returned to his native land, where he remained about six months, renewing old associations and enjoying once more the hospitality of his boyhood home. He returned to America in October of 1865 and was accompanied by his sister Katherine and her husband Frederick W. Muff and family and who are now dead. Soon after his return to the United States Judge Hess came to Macon county, Mis- sonri, and settled on a farm in Eagle township. He improved the property and continued to be actively identified, with agricultural pur- suits for two years, and then he took up his residence in the city of Macon, which was then a mere village, in 1867. He gave careful attention to the study of approved law textbooks, and in 1868 was admitted to the bar of the state. His knowledge of the science of jurisprudence is exact and comprehensive and while he has not given much attention to the active work of his profession his technical learn- ing has been of great value to him on the bench and in connection with other offices of which he has been incumbent.
Judge Hess has ever been an able and uncompromising advocate of the principles and policies of the Republican party, and has been influential in his councils in his home county and state, where he has given active and efficient service in the promotion of its cause. In 1868 he was elected to the bench of the county court of Macon county, and prior to this he had served as justice of the peace. He continued on the county bench until 1873, and in 1876 he was elected city attorney of Macon, of which office he continued incumbent for the long period of fourteen consecutive years, within which he ably safeguarded the interests of the city. For twelve years he was secretary of the Macon board of education, and he has always taken a zealous part in the furtherance of the cause of popular education. In 1888 Judge Hess was fittingly honored in being chosen a delegate to the Republican national convention, in Chicago, in which General Benjamin Harrison was nominated for the presidency. In 1892 he received the Republican nomination for circuit judge of his circuit, but was unable to overcome the normal Democratic majority in the circuit, through he received a flattering support at all the polls. Judge Hess has done much in the way of directing publie opinion in this section of the state and in 1899 he became associated with the late F. W. Blees in the publication of the Macon Citizen, of which he became manager and editor. Under his direction and able editorial policy the paper wielded much influence in political affairs and was made an effective exponent of local interests. He continued as editor in chief of this paper, which is issued weekly, until 1902, when he severed his connection with the same. Since that
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HISTORY OF MACON COUNTY
time he has lived virtually retired, secure in the high regard of the com- munity in which he has long made his home and to whose best interests he has given unreserved service of promotion. He is identified with the local lodge of the Knights of Pythias, as well as with the Grand Army of the Republic, as already noted. On the 29th of October, 1869, Judge Hess was united in marriage to Miss Catherine Sophia Maffry, who was born in Germany but who was at that time a resident of Macon, and of their eight children six are living, namely: Alma, who is the wife of Edward A. Dumeter, of Macon; Caroline, who is the wife of Burlis HI. Collins, of Pittsburg, Pennsylvania ; Bertha, who is the wife of Clarence Henley, of Oklahoma City; Ammette, who remains at the parental home ; Olga, who is the wife of Charles Sears, of Ames, Iowa, and Ralph, who is a commercial traveler, in Alabama and Georgia and is now married to a lady who was Miss Mabel Shipp of Winchester, Kentucky.
CHARLES O. WALKER.
Charles O. Walker, one of the prosperous and progressive farm- ers, fruit-growers and dairymen of Round Grove township, is wholly a product of Macon county, and in himself and his career he reflects credit on the portion of the state that gave him birth and opportunity for the exercise of the faculties which have built his own fortunes and greatly helped in the development and progress of the locality in which he has operated. Born, reared, educated and married in this county, and carrying on within its borders all the activities that have engaged his attention, he is a representative man among the people of the county and is esteemed accordingly.
Mr. Walker's life began on September 5, 1850, and he is a son of John P. and Mary H. (Brown) Walker, natives of Botetourt county, Virginia, where the father was born in 1820. In 1840, when he was but twenty years of age, with the hardy and daring spirit that has long characterized his family, he determined to leave the parental rooftree and the scenes and associations of his boyhood and youth, and make a home and name for himself in a region remote from his ancestral home, and in which there was still conquests awaiting the pioneer, the woodsman and the hunter. In that year he came to Missouri in obedi- ence to this impulse and located in Macon county, where he passed the remainder of his days actively engaged in farming and raising live- stock. He took up wild, unbroken land and was successful in improv. ing it and bringing it to productiveness. He increased his holdings from time to time until when he died on March 3, 1898, he owned and had under cultivation 240 acres of first-rate land, well improved with
HISTORY OF MACON COUNTY
good buildings and other necessary structures, and yielding abun- dantly in response to the persuasive hand of skilful husbandry.
John P. Walker was married in 1843 to Miss Mary H. Brown, of Virginia, and their union resulted in nine children, seven of whom are living and adding to the productiveness, wealth and power of this country and Canada. They are: William G., a resident of Macon City, this state; Nathan E., who lives at Moberly, Missouri; Charles O., the immediate subject of this brief review; John S., also a resident of this county; Sarah, the wife of William Sketchley, of Canada, and Ella J., the wife of Louis Ebright, of Mequite, Texas. In politics the father was a lifelong Democrat, true and faithful to his convictions and earnest in seeking to enforce them. Fraternally he belonged to the Masonic order and was a veteran in its ranks. He was successful in industry, upright in manhood and influential in citizenship, win- ning an estate from Nature's bounty for himself by his enterprise and the esteem of all who knew him by his uniform cleanness of life and fairness in all transactions in business, united with his progressiveness and clearness of vision as a potency in efforts for the improvement and elevation of the county. He was county surveyor and county judge for years.
Charles O. Walker began his education in the district schools near his home, continued it at the Macon City high school, and completed it at the college in Huntsville, Missouri. After leaving college he remained with his parents on the homestead until his marriage on February 17, 1884. He then bought 120 aeres of land on which and his subsequent purchases he has ever since been engaged in vigorous and progressive farming and stock-breeding. He also has a fine and fruitful apple orchard of forty acres, and, in addition to the industries already indicated, carries on a flourishing business as a dairyman, helping to supply the surrounding country with the products from his herds and shipping large quantities of milk, cream and butter to the market.
Mr. Walker now owns and cultivates 170 acres of good land and has his farm well improved. He has been successful in all his undertaking's and is regarded as one of the most prosperous and substantial men in the township in which he lives. But his own advancement has not blinded him to the needs of the county or the enduring welfare of its people. On the contrary, it has made him zealous in behalf of all pub- lic improvements and the general elevation of his locality through the quiekening influence of the mental and moral agencies at work in it. These and every form of material development he has aided diligently
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and intelligently to promote, serving capably and acceptably as a mem- ber of the school board and in various other positions of public useful- ness and responsibility.
On February 17, 1884, he married Miss Sina Rogers, of Macon County. They have had eleven children and all of them are living but two. Those living are: Elva, wife of Frank Scarlott, of South Dakota; Albert L., of South Dakota ; Grace, wife of James Goe, of New Mexico; Agnus M., of Washington, D. C .; William O., and Ruby J., who reside in South Dakota, and Ada H., Chauncey M. and Roger W., who are still living at home. The political faith of the father is in the Democratic party's principles and theories of government, and he gives a loyal and helpful support to the candidates of that party on all occasions. Ilis religious affiliation is with the Methodist Episcopal Church, South, of which he has long been a leading member in the community of his home. His life has been a stinmilus and an incitement to those around him, showing what industry, thrift and skill can accomplish in this bountiful land, and demonstrating, at the same time, what elevated and useful citizenship means. All look upon him as a representative of the best elements in the population of the county and esteem him highly.
JACOB T. BROWNING.
Born and reared in the mountain region of Pennsylvania, and dur ing the last thirty-six years a resident on the plains of Missouri. Jacob T. Browning, one of the most prosperous, progressive and success- ful farmers of Round Grove township, Macon county, during the long period of his activity, finds his evening of life passing amid scenes and associations far different from those of its morning, and the interven- ing time has been full of incident, adventure and conquest for him. It has given him experience, too, in many trials and privations, and subjected him at times to all the hazards of deadly warfare, on whose ensanguined fields Death stalks always the final conqueror, whatever military banner may be victorious.
Mr. Browning is a native of Bedford county, Pennsylvania, where his life began on August 13, 1835. His parents, Basil and Nancy (Cheney) Browning, were also born and reared in the East, the former being of the same nativity as the son, and the latter born in the state of Maryland. The father was born on November 5, 1798, and passed the whole of his life in agricultural pursuits, but traveled extensively for diversion. He was very successful in his undertakings, and when he died owned 889 acres of land in the fertile valleys and on the sloping sides of the Alleghanies. He died on May 23, 1879, on the farm which
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had so long been his home and which his skill and industry had improved to the highest degree.
On March 9, 1819, the elder Mr. Browning was united in marriage with Miss Nancy Cheney, then living in Bedford county, Pennsylvania, but, as has been stated, a native of the neighboring state of Maryland. Of the five children that blessed their union but two are now living, the subject of these paragraphs and his sister, Rebecca E., who is now the widow of James A. House, deceased, of Flintstone, Maryland, where she maintains her home. In politics the father was a Whig until the birth of the Republican party, and from then on to the end of his days he adhered to the new organization.
Jacob T. Browning, whose grandfather, bearing the same name as himself, was born and reared in Scotland and emigrated to this country in his early manhood, seems to have inherited from his paternal ancestry all the sturdy qualities of the race to which his forefathers belonged, and to have had his faculties of industry, frugality and pru- dence strengthened and intensified through the influence of his sur- rounding's and requirements in that enormous workshop of all the crafts, Pennsylvania. He obtained his education in the district schools of his native county, and after leaving school worked on his father's farm until 1862. The Civil war was then under full headway, and the integrity of the Union was seriously threatened by the awful sectional strife. Under the circumstances he felt it his duty to go to its defense, and, accordingly, he enlisted in the Union army as a member of the renowned "Bucktail Volunteers," which became a part of the division of the army under the command of Brigadier General Stone. He was soon at the front and in the very thick of the fight, taking part in the battles of Haymarket, Mine Run, Stevensville and Gettysburg and many minor engagements. He was in Company I, One Hundred and Forty- ninth Pennsylvania Volunteers, which was one of the fighting regi- ments of the war. In March, 1864, he was discharged at Culpeper, Virginia, on account of disabilities incurred in the service, and returned to his home.
Mr. Browning remained on the farm of his parents and assisted them in carrying on its operations until 1873. He then came to Mis- souri and located in Macon county, where he has ever since resided. Soon after his arrival in this county he bought forty acres of land near Anabel, on which he has continuously made his home, and as time passed and his ventures prospered, he added to this domain until he now owns and, until recently farmed, 210 acres. In 1907 he retired from
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active pursuits and gave the management of the farming interests over to his son.
Mr. Browning has shown himself to be a vigorous and skilful farmer, keeping up to date in all his operations, and applying broad intelligence to his work as well as diligence and thrift. He has also been in line with the most advanced ideas in improvement of land and dwellings and other structures on a farm, and what he has done for himself in this connection not only stands forth as a monument to his enterprise, but has been potential in stimulating others to follow his example, and thereby has been of real and substantial benefit to the township and county. In promoting the welfare of both he has also been zealous and effective in other ways. He has served as road over- seer for seven years, and in connection with every avenue of develop- ment and advancement has been among the most assidnons and constant of the progressive forces in the county.
On January 16, 1855, Mr. Browning was united in marriage with Miss Jane A. Bennett, of Bedford county, Pennsylvania, a daughter of John Bennett, one of the leading citizens of that county. She died on August 10, 1903. They had seven children, three of whom are living: Roy S., of Milwaukee, Wisconsin; Rebecca E., the wife of John C. Gadd, of Moberly, Missouri, and Emory Milton, who is still living at home, and has charge of the farm. In politics the father has been a Repub- lican from the dawn of his manhood, and in fraternal life he is a member of the Grand Army of the Republic.
Y
FRANCIS WITHERS ALLEN, M. D.
Dr. Francis W. Allen, of Morrow township. Macon county, may properly be said to have inherited his professional taste and inclination from his father, and with it to have been born to a large degree of that esteemed physician's ability, resolution and persistency in whatever he undertook. He has been in active and successful practice for twelve years, except during a period of some months in which he was studionsly pursuing post-graduate courses in general and special lines of the medical science in Chicago. The whole time of his actual practice has been passed in this state, and nearly the half of it in Macon county.
Dr. F. W. Allen was born in this county in 1873 and is a son of Dr. F. W. Allen, Sr., who was born and reared in Monroe county, this state. Before the Civil war the father conducted an academy for ten years in Macon. But in the awful conditions attendant upon that san- guinary conflict his school was broken up and the buildings were destroyed. He began to study medicine in St. Louis, and, after his
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HISTORY OF MACON COUNTY
graduation, located in Macon county, where he lived during alnost the whole period of his eminent services as a physician and surgeon. He was a graduate of Bethany college and his career was highly creditable to that institution as well as to himself. In connection with his prac- tice he also condueted a farm with success, standing as well as a farmer as he did in his profession.
In politics he was always a Democrat and active in the service of his party, but could never be induced to accept a public office either by election or appointment. But he was zealous in behalf of the improve- ment of the county and was esteemed as one of its wisest and most useful citizens. . His wife, whose maiden name was Melvina Pearl, was a native of Randolph county, Missouri. They had four children, their sons, R. W., C. M., F. W., and J. P., and also reared an adopted daughter named Elizabeth. The father died in November, 1906. The mother is still living and is now sixty-eight years of age. She has her home on the old family homestead and is universally revered through- out the whole surrounding country. For a more extended account of the life of Dr. F. W. Allen, Sr., see sketch of his life on another page of this volume.
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