USA > Missouri > Shelby County > General history of Shelby County, Missouri > Part 34
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He was ever active and intelligent in his efforts to promote the welfare of the community in which he lived. In polit- ical allegiance he was a firm and faithful Democrat, loyal to his party and as ear- nest and zealous as any in his efforts to maintain its supremacy. Fraternally he was a member of the Court of Honor, and in church affiliation was allied with the Southern Methodists. No man in the city was more highly esteemed.
WILLIAM B. HERRON.
The family of which William B. Her- ron, of Hunnewell, is a scion illustrates in three generations of its life the gen-
eral trend of American history from colonial times to the present day, or al- most until this period. That history has been a continual flow of the tide of emi- gration from the Atlantic toward the Pacific and a conquest of one portion of the wilderness after another, the sons taking up the march of advance in the wake of the setting sun where the fathers laid it down. until the whole continent became covered, settled and subjugated to the requirements of civilization.
Mr. Ilerron's grandfather, David Her- ron. was a native of Pennsylvania, and felt the "call of the wild" when he was a young man. He left the scenes and associations of his boyhood and youth and plunged into what was then the wil- derness of Indiana, locating in the por- tion now forming Ohio county of that great, populons and progressive state. There the father of William B. was born and reared, and he in turn took up his pilgrimage toward the Farther West when his time came for the task, moving onward with the tide of progress to Mis- souri, where he passed the remainder of his days.
William B. Herron was born in Dear- born county, Indiana. on January 28, 1866, and is the son of Jesse T. and Au- gusta (Lankin) Herron, natives of In- diana, where the father's life began on July 21, 1834. The father grew to man- hood in his native state and obtained his education there. On leaving school he turned his attention to the occupation to which he had been reared, farming and raising live stock, and in that he was en- gaged during the remainder of his resi- dence in Indiana and for a short time after his arrival in the state of Missouri
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in the spring of 1868, tilling the soil of Shelby county. In 1875 he abandoned farming and turned merchant, carrying on extensively as a grocer at Clarence until 1903, when he sold his establish- ment and retired from business. He died in Clarence on October 24, 1905. He was a Republican in politics, a Freemason in fraternal life and a member of the Meth- odist Episcopal church in religious con- nection, and was zealous and faithful in his duty in all. Called upon to lay down his trust at the advanced age of seventy- one, he went to his tomb respected by all who knew him and his memory is cher- ished by the people among whom he lived and labored as that of one of the best citizens of the county.
On March 16, 1865, he was joined in marriage with Miss Augusta Lamkin, whose life, like his own, as has been stated, began in Indiana. Of the four children born to them all are living: Their first born, William B .; Cora, the wife of R. R. Smith, of Craig, Missouri; Kate, the wife of Dr. F. L. Magoon, of St. Louis ; and Minnie, who lives in Clar- ence, this county.
On the completion of his education, which was obtained in the public schools of Clarence, William B. Herron entered his father's grocery as a clerk and sales- man, in which he was employed until 1890, when he entered general merchan- dising as an employe of B. P. Rutledge, of Clarence. Ile remained with Mr. Rut- ledge ten years, with the exception of a few months, and devoted himself to the business of the house with such close and studious attention that he acquired a thorough knowledge of it and became so confident of his proficiency that in
1901 he entered the lists as a general merchant himself in Hunnewell. The next year he took H. Kirkwood in as a partner, and the firm then became Her- ron & Kirkwood. They disposed of this business December 1, 1909. Mr. Herron was elected cashier of the Farmers' and Merchants' Bank on March 15, 1909. He is still rendering satisfactory service to the bank and the community in that ca- pacity and by his business acumen, per- sonal influence and enterprise in his work is greatly helping to build up the trade of the institution and enlarge and strengthen its hold on the confidence and regard of the people.
Mr. Herron's political faith is given to the Republican policies and principles in national affairs, and while he is not an extreme partisan, he acts upon his convictions by loyally supporting his party and its candidates at all times. Fraternally he is a Knight of Pythias, a Modern Woodman of America and a member of the Masonic order, being the treasurer of his lodge in the society last named. On March 25, 1884, he was mar- ried to Miss Belle Hill, a native of Shelby county, in this state, who was « reared and educated at Clarence. They have had two children, but one of whom is living, their son, Claude E., who is a resident of Hunnewell. Mr. Herron is a gentleman of fine public spirit, which he manifests by his cordial and intelligent interest in all the affairs of the commu- nity of his home and his earnest efforts to promote the welfare of the people in every way. He enjoys in a marked de- gree the regard and good will of all classes of the citizenship of the county.
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ELI C. DAVIS, M. D.
All his life a resident and for more than fifty years an active physician and surgeon among the people of Missouri, and in every relation and under all cir- eumstances an exemplar of all the bland amenities of social culture and natural gentility, Dr. Eli C. Davis, of Hunne- well, is justly esteemed as among the finest types of citizenship the state has to offer for the consideration and high regard of men. The best estimate of his elevated character, extensive profes- sional attainments and generous and courtly disposition is to be found among the people of this county who have dwelt with him and had the benefit of his labors for a period of half a century.
Dr. Davis was born in Marion county, this state, on March 3, 1830, and is a de- scendant of old North Carolina families, which dignified and adorned the profes- sional, business and public life of that good old state for generations before the branch to which he belongs founded a new home for the name in Kentucky, whither his grandfather, John Davis, moved in his early manhood. The Doc- tor's parents, John and Elizabeth (Dick) Davis, were born in North Carolina and reared in Kentucky, the father's life be- ginning in 1790. He farmed for a living, and while the fruits of his labors were considerable in the state of his adoption, either because they were not all he wished, or because he had inherited a love of adventure and conquest from his ancestors, he determined in 1824 to leave the region which had welcomed him into being and try his fortunes in the farther wilderness of that day.
On his arrival in this state in the year last mentioned the elder Davis located in what is now Marion county and contin- ued his farming and stock-raising opera- tions until 1856, when he became an in- valid and was forced to give up all active pursuits. He died in September, 1859, generally esteemed as a good man who was called from his earthly labors at an age when he was just prepared to enjoy the rest he had so richly earned. He was a firm believer in the principles and theo- ries of government proclaimed by the Whig party and gave that organization his earnest and effective support from the dawn of his manhood to the close of his long and useful life. His religious feelings found a suitable field for their exercise and employment in the doctrines of the Baptist church, of which he was long a member and in which he was for many years an active worker. He was married in 1811 to Miss Elizabeth Diek, a native of North Carolina. They had twelve children, of whom the Doctor is the only one now living.
Dr. Davis obtained his scholastic train- ing in the district schools of Marion county, the only means available to him for such discipline, and might have been expected to turn his attention to the oc- eupation of his father and his fore- fathers, situated as he was. But he had aspirations to a different career, and supplemented his slender academic ac- quisitions by industrious and reflective reading as a means to the end he had in view. In 1856 he entered the medical de- partment of the Iowa State University at Keokuk, and from this he was grad- uated in 1858 with the degree of M. D. He at once began the practice of his pro-
FRANK DIMMITT
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fession in Knox county, but a short time afterward located at Hunnewell, where he found a ripe field for his labors, and in this county he has ever since resided. He continued in active practice until 1906, when he deemed that he had earned the right to retire in obedience to the ad- monitions of advancing years. For a long time he has been an active member of the Shelby County and the Northern Missouri Medical associations and taken a prominent part in their proceedings, contributing to their deliberations all the light he could from his experience and observation and drawing unto him- self from them all the benefit his oppor- tunities allowed.
On November 9, 1858, the Doctor was united in marriage with Miss Susan Day, of Marion county. They became the par- ents of thirteen children, ten of whom are living : Lily Jane, wife of Charles T. Cox, of Hunnewell; John Thomas, a res- ident of Kansas; Jennie, wife of Dr. William T. Bell, of Stoutsville, Monroe county; Herman C .; Myrta Ellen, wife of W. L. Pollard, of Montrose, Colorado; Ida Elizabeth, wife of Fletcher Blanford, of Lebanon, Kentucky; Effie, of Lamar, Colorado; Alice, wife of S. C. McAtee, of Lamar, Colorado; Florence Dixie, of Denver, Colorado; and Susan, who is still at home.
The Doctor is allied with the Demo- cratic party in national politics and has long followed its fortunes in success and defeat, at all times doing what he could to win the former, and bearing the latter with all the resignation of a philosopher and the enthusiasm of youth, which hopes for better results next time. He belongs to the Masonic order and the
Odd Fellows in fraternal relations and has been prominent and zealous in be- half of the enduring welfare of both orders. In his Masonie Lodge he has served well as Worshipful Master, and in his Odd Fellows lodge has occupied every chair in succession to the highest. In his profession he has been eminent in this section of the state, and as a citizen he has always been held in the highest esteem. The nearly sixty years of his mature life have been crowded with use- fulness and its evening is full of be- nignant cheerfulness while he rests calmly under its retiring sun crowned with the laurels of a faithful perform- ance of duty and a record of achieve- ments not many men, even of his years, can surpass and but few can equal.
FRANK DIMMITT.
Frank Dimmitt, who is president of the "Old Bank of Shelbina," has been an important factor in connection with the industrial and business affairs of Shelby county, which has represented his home from his boyhood days, and he stands today as one of the honored and influen- tial citizens of the county in which he has attained to success and prestige through well-directed efforts along normal lines of productive enterprise.
As a banker he has long been promi- ment and influential and as a citizen and man of affairs he stands exponent of the utmost loyalty and public spirit.
Mr. Dimmitt, who has been from the start its leading impulse and controlling spirit of the "Old Bank of Shelbina," was born on December 2, 1857, near Boonville, Cooper county, Missouri, and
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is a son of Dr. Philip T. and Frances (Agee) Dimmitt, the former born and reared in Kentucky and the latter in Vir- ginia. A complete sketch of the father's life appears on other pages of this volume.
His son, Frank Dimmitt, grew to man- hood on a farm in Shelby county and ob- tained his education in the Shelbyville high school. He was zealous and faith- ful in the performance of his duties on the farm, and admiring friends who ob- served his capacity for farm work and his steady adherence to its exacting re- quirements, looked upon him as one of the coming leaders in the agricultural life of the county. But he was not him- self satisfied with his daily round of toil, blessed as it was with independence, plenty and good prospects, but felt with- in him a stirring impulse toward an oe- cupation which would bring him more extensively and directly into contact with men and provide greater immediate and subsequent rewards for devotion to its claims and development of its possi- bilities. He was graduated from Shel- byville high school in 1874, then taught school for four years during the winter months. and after that elerked for a time in a mercantile enterprise. From 1878 to 1881 he was engaged in farming. In the year last named he moved to Clar- ence and gave his attention to the dry goods and clothing trade for a period of six years.
At the end of that time he returned to Shelbyville, where he worked in his fath- er's bank until 1890. In 1888 he was elected county treasurer for a term of two years, and when his term in this of- fice expired was chosen clerk of the cir-
enit court and recorder, a capacity in which he served eight years with credit to himself and benefit to all who had dealings with his office. In September, 1898, he was made president of the Old Bank, and in this important and respon- sible position he has served the patrons of the bank and the people of the com- munity faithfully ever since.
In politics Mr. Dimmitt is a pro- nounced and zealous Democrat. In fra- ternal relations he is an Odd Fellow and a Knight of Pythias, and in church affil- iation a member of the Methodist Epis- copal Church, South. He was married on March 13, 1879, to Miss Emma E. Jackson. who was born and reared in Marion county. They have three chil- dren living. James J., a resident of Mon- roe City, in the adjoining county of Mon- roe, and Clara C .. of Chillicothe, Mis- souri, now Mrs. A. M. Shelton. and F. Ellison, who is living at home. The father stands well in the community and throughout his own and the adjoining counties. He has been serviceable in the progress and development of this part of the state, performing with ability and uprightness all the duties of citizenship and illustrating in a striking manner in his daily life the best attributes of an elevated American manhood.
JOHN A. O'DANIEL.
Descended from good old Maryland stock, with the family traits and char- acteristies seasoned by the residence of a generation in Kentucky, John A. O'Daniel, of Hunnewell, has within him the inspirations and incentives of two commonwealths of our common Union
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whose histories are glorious in war and crowned with immortal bays for their achievements in the peaceful pursuits of industrial effort and the higher walks of learning and art. He was born in Hunnewell, where he is now living, on October 6, 1866, and has passed the whole of his subsequent life in this community.
Mr. O'Daniel's grandfather, James O'Daniel, was born, reared and educated in Maryland, and soon after attaining his majority struck out into the untrodden West to make a home and a name for himself amid scenes yet wholly attuned to nature and not yet freed from the wild denizens of the wilderness, savage beasts and still more såvage men. IIe located in Kentucky and there hewed out from the wilds an estate for himself and reared a family whose members have re- flected credit on his name and finely ex- emplified in their several callings the lessons given them by his teachings and example. His son, James P. O'Daniel, the father of Jolin A., the immediate sub- ject of these paragraphs, was born in the Kentucky home in 1834. On leaving school he became a farmer on his own account, as he had previously been on the account of his father by assisting the latter in the labors of the homestead. and followed the occupation of the old patri- archs, tilling the soil, until 1850 in his native state.
In 1850 James P. O'Daniel migrated to Missouri and located in Monroe coun- ty, where he continued his operations as a farmer and stock-breeder until 1865. He then changed his residence to Shelby county, and here he has made his home and employed his energies ever since. IIe is still actively engaged in farming
and raising live stock, and is one of the highly respected and most representative citizens of the county. He is one of the stockholders of the Hunnewell bank. He was married in 1865 to Miss Martha Leake, of Ralls county, Missouri, and by this union became the father of six chil- dren of whom John A. was the first born. The others are all living and are : Mamie, the wife of F. Selsor, of Kansas City, Missouri; Eugene P., a resident of Washington, D. C .; Joseph A., of Hunne- well; Rosie Alice, the wife of Augustus Gannon, of Brookfield, Linn county, in this state ; and William F., of Hunnewell In polities the father is a Democrat and in religion a Catholic. He is loyal to both party and church and stands well in each.
John A. O'Daniel obtained his edu- cation in the public schools of Hunne- well, and upon the completion of the course of study they made available to him, became a farmer and stock-breeder, occupations he had mastered while liv- ing at home and working under the supervision of his father, with whom he was associated in his new operations for about three years. Mercantile life was, however, more to his taste, and in 1887 he began a career in the drug business which he has continued and expanded to this time (1911), being still engaged in that necessary and helpful trade in connection with other duties.
On March 15, 1909, he was elected cashier of the Hunnewell bank, in which he is a stockholder and of which he is one of the directors, and in April, 1910. was elected president of the bank. He gives the requirements of the bank his first attention and it is flourishing under
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the stimulus of his enterprising and eare- ful management, growing in popular favor and steadily enlarging the volume of its business. His drug store con- tinues to be one of the established in- stitutions of the city and holds its pat- ronage because of the excellence of its stock, the wisdom of its management and the skill bestowed upon all its opera- tions in its efforts to serve the public.
In addition to these two lines of en- deavor, which would be enough to en- gross the faculties of a less comprehen- sive and active mind than that of Mr. O'Daniel, he carries on farming opera- tions and is still interested in raising live stock on an elevated plane. In poli- ties he is a Demoerat, firm in the faith and active in the service, contributing to the campaigns of his party both wis- dom in couneil and energy in effort which are highly appreciated. His religious affiliation is with the Catholic church, of which he is a devout and consistent member.
On November 16, 1905. he united in marriage with Miss Penelope A. Brown, of Shelby county. Two children have blessed their union and brightened their home, their sons James A. and George Engene. Having passed all his life so far in Hunnewell, it is but natural that Mr. O'Daniel should be warmly inter- ested in the welfare of the city and its people. He has shown that he is by his approval of all worthy publie improve- ments and his aid in promoting them. and by his zealous and energetic support of every moral and intellectual agency at work in the community for its good. Among the leaders of enterprise and advancement in the town and county he
is always to be found, and he is esteemed accordingly as one of its best and most useful citizens.
JULIAN A. WHEELER.
Born in Hunnewell, this county, on August 15, 1858, and living practically on the border during a part of the Civil war and the rest of the time within the actual boundaries of the Confederacy, Julian A. Wheeler, of Hunnewell, dwelt during the period of that awful contest "in the midst of alarms," and had his childhood and youth darkened by its terrible shadows. In the exacting pur- suits of peaceful industry and the strug- gles for material conquest and acquisi- tion which have engaged his faculties since then the memories of the war have faded to a considerable extent, but noth- ing can ever wholly efface them. They were born of a time that tried men's souls, and were literally burned into the consciousness and recollection of those who took part in or were in any sense a party to the events of that date.
Mr. Wheeler's grandfather, Nathan W. Wheeler, was a native of New York state and a member of one of the noted families of that great commonwealth. He lived in Otsego county and tilled the soil for a livelihood, as his parents had done before him, and on his farm he reared his family, among them his son, Edwin R. Wheeler, who was the father of Julian A. and was born in Otsego county, New York, on September 14, 1824. He did not follow the occupation of his an- cestors, but became a carpenter and builder, and in an extensive apprentice- ship so thoroughly mastered all the de-
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tails of the trade, for which he had a natural aptitude, that in 1857, when he was but thirty-three years old, he was sent to Missouri to superintend the con- struction of railroad stations for the Hannibal & St. Joseph railroad. After two years of excellent and appreciated service to the Hannibal & St. Joseph rail- road in the capacity named, he went to Beaumont, Texas, and helped to build the first railroad in that state. By the time the line was completed in 1863 he desired a change of occupation and set- tled down to farming in Parker county, Texas.
This was no time, however, for peaceful industry in that section of the country. The Confederacy was in the last stages of its disastrons history, and needed every man it could get into the service to recruit its failing armies in the field. Mr. Wheeler was a firm and loyal Union man and yet was face to face with con- scription into the Confederate service. So he left his family in Texas and came to his old home city of Hunnewell to escape the fate that threatened him, and in the city last named engaged in the grocery trade for a period of six months. But he could not rest in seeking his own profit while his country was in danger. The Jove of the Union was strong within him and he felt it his duty to make his faith practical by helping to defend the cause to which he was so warmly attached. Therefore, in the fall of 1864 he went to Quiney, Illinois, and enlisted in the Union army as a member of Company B, One Hundred and Fifty-first Illinois Vol- unteer Infantry, and was soon afterward assigned to the first regiment that fol- lowed in the wake of Sherman's march to
the sea. His company took part in the battle of Dalton, Georgia, and many en- gagements of less importance.
At Atlanta, Georgia, he obtained a furlough signed by General Sherman an- thorizing him to go to Weatherford, Texas, and take his family further North. In the fall of 1865 he bought eight yoke of oxen and with them and the rest of his equipment, conducted his family into Illinois, locating about fourteen miles south of Quincy, and being three months on the journey. Taking up his residence on a farm, he devoted himself to raising wheat and live stock for two years. At the end of that period he returned to the state of New York, where he followed contracting and building nntil 1871. He then moved to Titusville, Pennsylvania, and during the next two years carried on a flourishing business in the same line in that then enterprising and progres- sive city, to which the great wealth of fast flowing oil wells had given enormons prosperity and world-wide fame.
In 1873 he returned to this county and again took up his residence in Hunne- well, where he devoted the remaining years of his strength to contracting and building on a large scale. He built the first house in Shelbina and put up a number of the most notable buildings in this part of the state, among them the Prairie View Baptist church in Jackson township. Failing health in 1877 drove him out of business and indneed him to seek recovery amid the blandishments of the climate of California. He went to Santa Rosa in that state, where he lin- gered for a year, dying there on April 10, 1878.
Mr. Wheeler was twice married. His
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first wife was Miss Johanna Steer. a na- tive of Connecticut, with whom he was united in 1853. They had two children, one of whom died in childhood and the other after reaching manhood. The sec- ond marriage of the father occurred on October 10. 1857, when he was united with Miss Mary Elizabeth Hickman, of this county. They became the parents of eight children, three of whom are liv- ing: Julian A., the immediate subject of this sketch: William D., a resident, also of Hunnewell: and Lena M .. the wife of Herman C. Davis, of Lamar. Colorado. The father was a Republican in politics, a member of the Grand Army of the Republic and belonged to the Bap- tist church. He was highly esteemed and his early death was universally deplored.
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