USA > Missouri > Shelby County > General history of Shelby County, Missouri > Part 49
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the directorate save that in April, 1909, upon the death of Dr. Megee, J. B. Shale was chosen as his successor. The pres- ent board of directors is composed of the following gentlemen : J. O. Stribbling, J. B. Shale, B. L. Glahn, H. C. Williams, W. M. Pritchard, W. L. Hamrick and M. II. Lewis. The bank now controls a large and representative support and its business is constantly expanding in scope and importance. Sketches of the careers of its president and its cashier may be found on other pages of this volume.
HON. NATHANIEL MEACON SHELTON.
Eminent as a jurist, occupying an exalted place in the confidence and es- teem of the people as a citizen, and an ornament to any social circle of which he is a part, Hon. Nathaniel Meacon Shelton, of Macon, circuit judge of the Second judicial district of Missouri, is an honor to the state in which he lives, the profession to which he belongs, and high-toned American manhood, of which he is so shining an example.
The Judge was born near Troy, Lin- col county, this state, on March 17, 1851. His parents were Meacon and Anna (Berger) Shelton, natives of Pitt- sylvania county, Virginia, where the father was an extensive planter and owner of large tracts of land and numer- ons slaves. They were married in 1828. in their native state, and when they de- termined to migrate to the then far dis- tant and uneivilized region beyond the Mississippi from their ancestral home, they came to Missouri in 1833, making
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the trip overland with teams and bring- ing with them a good herd of cattle and a number of their negroes. The father en- tered government land in what is now Lincoln county, which the family lived on, cultivated and improved until 1870, when the parents sold their property and thereafter made their home with their daughters until death called them from their earthly labors. The father died in 1873, aged 76 years, and the mothier in 1887, aged 80 years. They were the parents of three sons and six daughters. Of these two sons and one daughter are living, and all are resi- dents of Missouri. The family, like un- counted others, paid its toll to the awful slaughter of the Civil war, one son dy- ing in the military service of the Con- federacy, being a surgeon in the South- ern army.
The father was a Whig until the party of that name died through the sectional strife in polities which preceded the war, and after that became a Democrat. For more than twenty years he was the pre- siding judge of the Lincoln county court, and his name is revered by the people of all Missouri as that of a capable and upright jurist and a citizen whose life was ahove reproach. He was twice mar- ried, his first wife, whose maiden name was Ann Evans, dying in her native state of Virginia.
The Shelton family is of English ori- gin, the American progenitors having emigrated from Great Britain to this country early in the seventeenth cen- tury. Abraham Shelton, great-grand- father of the present Judge Shelton, was long a member of the Virginia House of Burgesses, in which he served with Pat-
rick Henry and other distinguished men of his day who gave the political history of the world a new direction and wrote their names in illuminated letters on its heroic pages. He was active in the agita- tion leading up to the Revolution, and was widely and favorably known through- out his own and the other American colonies as a wise counselor, a pure patriot and a fearless defender of his faitlı.
His son, Crispin Shelton, the judge's grandfather, was also an extensive planter in the Old Dominion, and died on his plantation there after many years of usefulness and elevated manhood. His widow came to Missouri and died some years later at the home of her son, the judge's father. In two of the great com- monwealthis of this country, members of this family have lived and labored for the general welfare, dignifying and adorning the citizenship of the nation and giving examples worthy of imita- tion everywhere by their readiness to take their places in every crisis and their fidelity to every duty, whether in private or in public life.
Hon. Nathaniel M. Shelton grew to the age of eighteen on the paternal home- stead in Lincoln county. He obtained lis scholastic training in private schools, Parker Seminary in Troy, this state, and at William Jewell College, located at Liberty, Missouri, which he attended two years. He then taught school one year, and at the end of his service as a teacher was appointed deputy clerk and recorder of Montgomery county, Missouri. Dur- ing his two years of wise and faithful service in that capacity he studied law under the direction of Judge Elliott M.
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Hughes. In 1874 he entered the law de- partment of the Missouri State Uni- versity. After passing one year of la- borious study in that institution, he was admitted to the bar in 1875 in Mont- gomery county before Judge Gilchrist Porter at Danville, Missouri.
Judge Shelton began the practice of his profession in the same year in Schny- ler county, and continned to practice in that county until his elevation to the bench in 1898. He has been re-elected judge at the end of his term ever since then with a steady growth in popularity and strength before the people, whose confidence he has won and retained by his course on the bench, his demeanor as a man and his breadth of view and progressiveness as a citizen. Prior to his election as judge he served as at- torney for the Wabash railroad for a number of years in Schuyler county, ren- dering the company good and faithful service without contravening the rights or interests of the people. In 1884 he was elected to the lower honse of the state legislature, and was re-elected in 1886. In that body he was chairman of the committees on education and jnris- prudence, and rendered such excellent service and showed himself so well equipped for the administration of public affairs that in 1888 he was elected to the state senate. In the senate he served capably and with high credit to himself as chairman of the judiciary committee.
In 1902 the judge moved to Macon county, where he has ever since resided. In polities he has been a life-long Demo- crat, and before his election to the bench was very active in council and on the hustings in the service of his party, hold-
ing firmly to the belief that its political principles and theory of government are the correct ones, and that in their ascen- deney in state and nation rests the en- during welfare of the American people, collectively and individually. He has al- ways been one of the progressive men in the judicial district, looking with favor on every worthy enterprise for its im- provement and the strengthening of its mental, moral and material forces, and lending all the full measures of aid cir- emmstances allowed him to advance. Fraternally he is a Freemason of the third degree and a member of the order of Modern Woodmen of America; and socially he is a gentleman of the old school, preserving against all innova- tions the high character and courtly manners of our earlier and, perhaps, better days, not as assumptions or from force of habit, but because they are in- herent with him and as much parts of his nature as the organs of his body and the faculties of his mind. Professionally he is in the front rank of Missouri jur- ists, strictly upright, fair and just, learned in the law, wise in applying and interpreting it, and fearless in enfore- ing it.
The marriage of Judge Shelton oc- eurred on November 21, 1878, and united him with Miss Belle T. Garges, a native and life-long resident of this state. Of the four children born to them three are living: Mabel, the wife of Wilbur M. French, M. D., of Chicago, Illinois; and Charles W., who is preparing for admis- sion to the bar, and Anna E., both of whom are living at home. All the mem- bers of the family belong to the Christian church.
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HISTORY OF SHELBY COUNTY
JOHN C. RICKEY.
Mr. Rickey is known as one of the progressive business men and loyal and public-spirited citizens of Shelby county, where he has maintained his home since 1887. He is now incumbent of the office of postmaster in the thriving village of Clarence, where he is also identified with the cement-contracting business, in which connection a very successful en- terprise has been built up. He has gained a seenre place in the confidenee and esteem of the community and as one of its representative citizens is well en- titled to consideration in this publica- tion.
John C. Rickey claims the fine old Buckeye state as the place of his nativ- ity, as he was born at Athens, Athens county, Ohio, July 11, 1863. He is a scion of one of the honored pioneer fam- ilies of that commonwealth, in which his grandfather, John Rickey, was born in Belmont county and moved to Athens county, having there passed his entire life. Henry B. Rickey, father of him whose name initiates this article, was born in Athens county, Ohio, November 16, 1844, and in his native state he was reared and educated. There he contin- ned to be actively identified with the great basic industry of agriculture until 1885, when he sold his property in Ohio and removed to Eskridge, Kansas, where he remained about four months, at the expiration of which he located in Law- rence, that state, where he was engaged in the hotel business until 1887, when he came to Shelby county, Missouri, John Larkin.
where he passed the remainder of his life. Here he purchased a farm, in Clay
township, where he continued success- fully identified with farming and stock- growing, becoming one of the substan- tial farmers and highly honored citizens of the county. He passed the closing years of his life in the village of Clar- enee, and here he was shot and killed January 9. 1909, while in discharge of his duty as village marshal. He was a citizen of sterling integrity of character and his genial personality had won to him a wide circle of friends in the com- munity, so that his death was deeply de- plored. He was a staunch Republican in his political proclivities, and he served as a valiant soldier of the Union in the Civil war, having enlisted in a regiment of Ohio volunteer infantry. He was a valued member of the Grand Army of the Republic up to the time of his de- mise, and his religious faith was that of the Methodist Episcopal church, as was also his wife's, who died September 12. 1905.
In the year 1862 was solemnized the marriage of Henry B. Rickey to Miss Susan Ford, who was born and reared in Harrison county, Ohio, and they be- came the parents of six children, all of whom are living, and concerning whom the following brief record is here en- tered: John C., subject of this review. is the eldest of the number; Samuel is engaged in the fur and hide business in Moberly; James A. is also a resident of Moberly, Missouri; Cora is the wife of Charles J. Woolridge, of Sioux City, Iowa; Charles H. resides in Clarence, as does also Edna, who is the wife of
Jolın C. Rickey gained his carly edu- eational discipline in the excellent pub-
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lic schools of Athens and Pleasanton, Ohio, and after leaving school he con- tinued to be associated with his father in the work and management of the home farm until 1883, when he went to Mount Sterling, Illinois, where he was associated with his unele, Dr. John C. Rickey, where he spent two and a half years after a severe spell of typhoid fever, at the expiration of which he re- turned to the parental home. He ac- companied his parents on their removal to Kansas and was associated with his father in the hotel business in Lawrence, after which he came with the family to Shelby county, Missouri, in 1887. For two years he was here associated with his brother-in-law, Charles J. Woolridge, in the grocery business in Clarence, and thereafter he was engaged in the same line of enterprise in an individual way until 1897, when he founded a success- ful business in contracting work for the constructing of cement walks, buildings and other structural work. He is still interested in this enterprise, which has grown to be one of no inconsiderable scope and importance. As a business man he has shown marked energy, dis- crimination and progressiveness, and his course has been so directed as to retain to him the unqualified confidence and es- teem of the community, the while he has ever manifested a loyal interest in all that has tended to conserve the general welfare.
In polities Mr. Rickey is found aligned as a stalwart supporter of the principles and policies for which the Republican party stands sponsor, and he has given effective service in its eanse. On April 19, 1906, under the administration of
President Roosevelt, lie received ap- pointment to the office of postmaster of Clarence, of which position he has since remained the able and popular incum- bent, besides which he served two years as a member of the village council of Clarenee. He is affiliated with the Court of Honor, and his wife is a member of the Christian church.
On January 23, 1895, Mr. Rickey was united in marriage to Miss Emma Carey, of Clarence, who was born near Eldera, Pike county, Illinois, and who is a daugh- ter of William Carey, a representative citizen of Shelby county. Mr. and Mrs. Rickey have two children, Merle and Claremont, both of whom are attending the publie schools of their home village.
CITIZENS' BANK OF CLARENCE.
One of the ably managed and essen- tially substantial financial institutions of Shelby county is that whose title initi- ates this paragraph and which is estab- lislied in the thriving and attractive city of Clarence. This bank was organized in 1900, and its charter bears date of June 13th of that year. It began opera- tions upon a capital stock of $10,000, and the personnel of the original official corps was as here noted : John R. Jones, president ; Jacob H. Merrin, vice-presi- dent; B. B. Asbury, cashier; and Will- iam B. Pritehard, assistant cashier. On September 2, 1902, the capital stock was increased to $15,000, and on September Sth of the following year the stock was raised to $20,000. On March 30, 1905, Theodore P. Manuel, Charles F. Afflick and others purchased the interests of Messrs. Asbury and Pritchard and in-
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creased the capital stock of the institu- tion to its present noteworthy figure- $40,000. The bank is now one of the solid and progressive financial institu- tions of the county, controlling a large, representative and constantly expanding business and basing its operations upon ample capital and the best of executive direction. The present officers of the bank are as here noted: Theodore P. Manuel, president; Charles F. Afflick, vice-president; and William J. Daniel, cashier. In addition to these executive officers the board of directors also in- cludes John T. Amiek and J. E. Daniel. The bank has a surplus fund of $6,500; its loans and discounts, personal collat- eral and real estate, aggregate fully $140,000, and the institution owns its own well equipped banking house.
JAMES E. ROY, M. D.
Dr. Roy is numbered among the rep- resentative physicians and surgeons of the younger generation in Shelby county and is engaged in practice in the village of Clarence, being associated with his elder brother, Dr. Frank K. Roy, under the firm title of Drs. Roy & Roy, and both are recognized as able and success- ful members of their profession and as citizens of progressive ideas and dis- tinetive publie spirit, well worthy of the high regard in which they are uniformly held in the community.
Dr. James E. Roy was born in the village of Hager's Grove, Shelby county, Missouri, July 22, 1883, and is a son of James G. and Pauline (Bright) Roy, both natives of Marion county, this state, where the former was born March 10, 1846, and the latter February 2, 1849.
The father was reared and educated in Marion county and as a young man he engaged in the boot and shoe business at Palmyra, that county, where he con- tinned to reside until 1878, when he came to Shelby county and located in the vil- lage of Clarence, where he owned and conducted a lumber yard for one year. He then sold the business and removed to a farm in Clay township, this county, where he devoted his attention to farm- ing and stock-growing for the ensuing five years. In the spring of 1883 he sold his farm and removed to the village of Hager's Grove, where he continued to be associated with Joseph Hunolt in the general merchandise business until his death, which occurred November 20, 1908. He was also the owner of a farm of 160 acres at the tinre of his demise. In 1868 was solemnized his marriage to Miss Pauline Bright, who survives him and who now maintains her home in Clarence. Of their four children, three are living-William E., of Hager's Grove; and Drs. Frank K. and James E., of Clarence, who are associated in professional and business lines, as al- ready noted. The father was a man of exalted integrity of character and was a leader in thought and action in the community. In politics he gave his al- legiance to the Democratic party, and he served as postmaster and justice of the peace at Hager's Grove. He was affiliated with the Masonic fraternity and the Independent Order of Odd Fellows, and was a most zealous and devoted member of the Christian church, as is also his widow. He was an elder in the church at Hager's Grove and also served as superintendent of its Sunday school.
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Dr. James E. Roy gained his prelimi- nary education in the district schools of Shelby county and later continued his studies in the high schools of Shelby- ville and Shelbina. For four years after leaving school he was a successful and popular teacher in the village of Hager's Grove, and for one year he was similarly engaged at Bacon Chapel, this county. For two years thereafter he was em- ployed as clerk in different mercantile establishments in Clarence, and in the meanwhile he formulated definite plans for his future career, deciding to pre- pare himself for the medical profession. With this end in view he was duly ma- triculated in the University Medical Col- lege of Kansas City, in which excellent institution he completed the prescribed technical course and was graduated May 14, 1908, duly receiving his well earned degree of Doctor of Medieine. After his graduation he served nearly a year as house surgeon of the University hospi- tal, connected with his alma mater, and here he gained specially valuable elin- ical experience. In May, 1909, he be- came associated with his brother, Dr. Frank K., in the practice of his profes- sion in Clarence, where he has been most successful in his work and where he has gained a secure hold upon popular con- fidence and esteem, both as a physician and as a citizen. He is identified with the Shelby County Medical Society, and is examining physician for a number of prominent insurance companies and fra- ternal organizations. In politics he is aligned as a staunch advocate of the principles of the Democratic party, and he is affiliated with the Masonic frater- nity, the Independent Order of Odd Fel-
lows, and the Modern Woodmen of America.
On December 20, 1908, Dr. Roy was united in marriage to Miss Blanch Eber- hard, daughter of Francis M. Eberhard, of Clarence, and they are prominent in the social activities of the community.
WILLIAM M. BAYLISS, M. D.
Dr. Bayliss, who is engaged in the practice of his profession at Clarence, Shelby county, is one of the well known and essentially representative physi- cians and surgeons of the state, having served as a member of the medical staff of the Missouri State Hospital for the Insane at Fulton, and also having been prominently identified with the estab- lishing of the state hospital for the treat- ment of incipient tuberculosis. These preferments indicate his high profes- sional standing, and in his private prac- tice he has gained distinctive success and prestige, the while commanding unquali- fied popular confidence and esteem both as a physician and as a citizen.
Dr. Bayliss is a scion of a family early founded in the patrician Old Dominion state, of which he himself is a native son, having been born in historie Win- chester, Virginia, October 12, 1850. Ilis grandfather, Thomas Blackburn Bayliss, was likewise a native of Virginia, where he passed his entire life, and where he was the owner of a large plantation, being a man of influence in his commu- nity. John W. Bayliss, father of the doctor, was born in Frederick county. Virginia, on January 7, 1828, and he was reared and educated in his native state, where he continued to maintain his
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home until 1858, when he removed to Indiana, where he has since maintained his home, being one of the honored pio- neer citizens of Hendricks county, that state, where he is now living retired, having been actively identified with farming and stock-raising from 1850 until 1900, in which latter year he re- signed the active labors and responsibili- ties to others, and he has since enjoyed the gracious rewards of former years of earnest toil and endeavor. He has wielded no little influence in publie af- fairs of a local order, is a staunch ad- herent of the Democratic party, and in the community that has so long been his home he commands the high regard of all who know him. Both he and his wife are members of the Methodist Episcopal church.
In the year 1849 was solemnized the marriage of Jolin Bayliss to Miss Frances V. Brill, who likewise was born and reared in Virginia, and of their eight children, those living are, namely : William M., who is the immediate sub- jeet of this sketch; Marshall W., who is a snecessful farmer of Hendricks county, Indiana; Lewis E., who is a car repairer by vocation, and is a resident of the city of Indiaanpolis, Indiana; John H., who resides in Mooresville, Indiana; James C. and Robert HI., who are residents of Hendricks county, that state; Thomas, who resides in MeGill, Nevada; and Ella, who remains at the parental home.
Dr. William M. Bayliss was a lad of eight years at the time of the family removal from Virginia to Indiana, in which latter state he was reared to ma- turity on the homestead farm, in Hen- drieks county, and there he was afforded
the advantages of the public schools, after completing the curriculum of which he was matriculated in DePauw Univer- sity, at Greeneastle, Indiana, in the year 1872, there continuing his studies for two years, at the expiration of which he became a successful and popular teacher in the public schools of Hendricks county until 1876, in which centennial year he entered the National Normal University, at Lebanon. Ohio, in which excellent in- stitution he was graduated as a member of the class of 1878, and from which he received his well earned degree of Bach- elor of Science. During the ensuing two years he continued to follow the peda- gogie profession in the state of Kan- sas, and in the meanwhile he began the study of medicine, under effective pri- vate preceptorship. In 1880 he entered the Kansas City Medical College, in which he was graduated as a member of the class of 1882, being valedictorian of the class, with the degree of Doctor of Medicine. In the same year he located at Millford, Texas, where he engaged in the practice of his profession, to which he continued to devote his attention in the Lone Star state until 1887, when he came to Shelby county, Missouri, and es- tablished himself in practice in the at- tractive and thriving little eity of Clar- ence. Here he built up a large and rep- resentative professional business, to which he continued to give his undivided attention until 1902, in the fall of which year he was appointed a member of the staff of physicians of the Missouri State Hospital, No. 1, for the care of the in- sane, at Fulton, proving a most able and valued official, and continuing incumbent of this position for four years. Upon
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the election of Hon. Joseph Folk to the office of governor of the state, in 1904, the chief executive appointed Dr. Bay- liss chairman of the commission to which was assigned the work of selecting a lo- cation and instituting the erection of the state hospital for the treatment of incipi- ent tuberenlosis. The hospital was es- tablished at Mount Vernon, and after the building for the same was in part completed Dr. Bayliss was chosen super- intendent of the institution, in which capacity he continued to serve for one year, at the expiration of which he re- signed to resume the private practice of his profession in Shelby county. At that time he returned to Clarence, where he has since maintained his home and where he has even increased his professional precedence, his clientage being of repre- sentative order. He is a member of the Shelby County Medical Society, the Mis- souri State Medical Society, and the American Medical Association. He is a close student of his profession and keeps in touch with the advances made in both medicine and surgery.
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