USA > Missouri > Bates County > History of Bates County, Missouri > Part 53
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In the city schools of Butler, Missouri, A. W. WeMott received his education. He has been employed in the harness shop, now owned by
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himself and Claude Major, since 1882, working first for McFarland & Son, former owners of the establishment. Mr. WeMott had charge of the manufacturing department for twenty-five years. In April, 1916, Claude Major, who had been with the firm for eighteen years, and A. W. WeMott purchased the stock and have continued the business. This is the pioneer harness shop of Butler and is still today one of the flour- ishing business establishments in Bates county. WeMott & Major usually employ three or four assistants and they are enjoying an extensive patron- age. Both owners are skilled workmen and possess excellent business judgment.
In 1889, A. W. WeMott and Flora Denny, daughter of Charles Denny, a well-remembered grocer of Butler, Missouri, were united in marriage. The Dennys came to Bates county among the earliest set- tlers, many years prior to the time of the Civil War. They were resi- dents of Butler during the troublous times of the civil conflict and did much to assist the needy, dependent people, who were reduced to penury by the long struggle. To A. W. and Flora (Denny) WeMott have been born four sons: Theodore Charles, who is now at Fort Riley, Kansas; Herbert H., who is in the employ of the Levy Mercantile Com- pany of Butler, Missouri; Walter, a stenographer, who is now at Fort Riley, Kansas; and Samuel, who is at home with his parents. The WeMott home is in Butler on East Dakota street.
For nine years, during which period the paving of the city streets of Butler was laid, Mr. WeMott was a member of the city council. He is affiliated with the Modern Woodmen of America at Butler. A. W. WeMott is a gentleman, whose fidelity to the duties of good citizenship, whose honor in business and industry have attracted the attention of his fellowmen and made his example worthy of emulation.
John A. Silvers, attorney-at-law of Butler, Missouri is a native of Iowa and a worthy representative of an old and honored, pioneer family of Decatur county. The Silvers family were originally from Kentucky, but in the early days before Iowa was admitted as a state to the Union they moved to the territory of Iowa in 1840, having first located in Missouri about 1836. From Iowa, in 1873, they came to Bates county, Missouri, and settled on a farm one and a half miles west of Butler. where the father died in 1889. Thomas Silvers was a successful farmer and stockman, a citizen who throughout life maintained an unimpeach- able record and in Bates county no one has ever been more highly regarded than was he. Elizabeth (King) Silvers was a native of Ten-
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nessee. She died recently at Parsons, Kansas and interment was made in the cemetery at Butler, Missouri. John A. Silvers was born in Decatur, Iowa, in 1864, a son of Thomas and Elizabeth (King) Silvers.
When John A. Silvers was a child, nine years of age, he came with his parents to Bates county, Missouri, and was here reared and edu- cated. He attended the public schools of Bates county and Butler Academy and later studied law, reading with his brother, T. W. Silvers, and in December, 1889, was admitted to the bar. Mr. Silvers has been engaged in the practice of his profession in Bates county ever since that date. He first opened a law office with W. O. Atkeson, on January 1. 1890, at Butler and afterward dissolved partnership and opened an office where he labored at law independently for many years. In 1907, Sil- vers & Dawson formed a law firm, which partnership still continues. Mr. Dawson is the present county attorney of Bates county, Missouri. Mr. Silvers resided at Rich Hill, Missouri, for six years and was living in that city at the time he was elected probate judge of Bates county, taking office January 1, 1903, and serving two terms, until January 1, 1911. He was associated with Judge C. A. Denton in 1895 and 1896. Mr. Silvers well recalls the "boom days" of Rich Hill, when the streets were crowded with miners and men from the smelteries and when "booze" was plentiful and easily obtained, eight saloons doing a flourishing and prosperous business. While in Rich Hill, Mr. Silvers was appointed city attorney during the administration of William W. Ferguson, the mayor of the city, and in one year cleaned out the houses of prostitu- tion and gamblers that had infested the city, but refused a second appointment as city attorney.
In 1888, John A. Silvers and Emma Hixon, daughter of Amos Hixon and Barbara (Weaver) Hixon, of Clearfield, Pennsylvania, were united in marriage. Mr. Hixon died in Pennsylvania in the late sixties and Mrs. Hixon joined him in death in 1907. Mrs. Hixon died at Butler, Missouri, To Mr. and Mrs. Silvers have been born six children : Guy E., a graduate of Butler High School and of Columbia University, who was admitted to the bar in 1916 and is now deputy clerk in the Supreme Court of Missouri; Ada, who died in the sixteenth year of her life; Elsie B., a graduate of the Warrensburg State Normal School and a teacher of the fifth and sixth grades of the Webster school in Butler, Missouri; Bertie J., who has taught two terms of school in the Franklin school of Butler, Missouri, and is now in his senior year at the Warrensburg State Normal School; Anna L., an undergraduate of the Warrensburg
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State Normal School, who is now employed as teacher of the fifth and sixth grades at the Washington school in Butler, Missouri; and Mildred, who is a sophomore in the Butler High School. Mr. and Mrs. Silvers reside in Butler on South Mechanic street. Both have always mani- fested a deep interest in education and Mr. Silvers has been a member of the Butler school board for twelve years. They are justly proud of their fine family of boys and girls, upon whom they have lavished all the advantages obtainable.
Missouri has long been noted for the high rank of her bench and bar. Probably not one of the newer states can boast of abler jurists or attorneys. Some of them have been men of national fame, many who were distinguished in the days gone by have long since laid down their briefs, still there is scarcely a city in the state but that can produce a lawyer capable of crossing swords in forensic combat with the best and most noted legal lights in the country. In John A. Silvers we find many of the rare qualities which make the successful lawyer and jurist. Perhaps he possesses few of those dazzling, brilliant, meteoric qualities, which have at times flashed along the legal horizon, riveting the gaze of the multitudes and blinding the vision for a moment, then disap- pearing, but rather the more substantial qualities which shine with a constant luster. In all that goes to make up sturdy and upright man- hood. John A. Silvers has stood pre-eminent and he has always com- manded public confidence and universal esteem.
John H. Stone, the widely and favorably known treasurer of Bates county. Missouri, is a native of Kentucky. Mr. Stone was born Decem- ber 27, 1861, a son of William and Agnes ( Raney) Stone, both of whom were natives of Kentucky. William Stone was a son of Joseph Stone, a veteran of the Revolutionary War, who lived to be almost a centena- rian. Joseph Stone died at the Stone homestead in Harrison county, Kentucky. Agnes ( Raney ) Stone was a daughter of James Raney, who settled in East Boone township. Bates county in 1876. He lived but a few brief years to enjoy the new Western home. Mr. Raney died in 1886. To William and Agnes (Raney) Stone were born two sons: J. W .. a farmer residing near Adrian, Missouri: and John H .. the sub- ject of this review. In 1876. William Stone moved with his family from Kentucky to Missouri and located on a farm. of two hundred forty acres located in East Boone township, which place was originally owned by Henry Tamer. This farm, when purchased by Mr. Stone, was a raw prairie and at that time farm land in Missouri was
JOHN H. STONE.
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valued at five and eight dollars an acre. Mrs. Stone lived but a few months after the family came West. She died July 4, 1878, and was laid to rest in the cemetery at Everett, in Cass county. For twenty years, Mr. Stone resided on his farm in East Boone township, engaged in farming and improving the land. He then retired from the active labor of the farm and moved to Butler to spend the closing years of his life quietly at the home of his son, John H. William Stone died in 1913 and his remains were laid beside those of his wife in the cemetery at Everett. Mr. Stone occupied a high place in the ranks of Bates county's most enterprising and successful agriculturists. He believed in progress and spared no trouble or labor in making his country place one of the best farms in the county. He was a public-spirited citizen and for more than a score of years was one of the dominant factors in the growth and devel- opment of East Boone township.
Jolin H. Stone attended school in Kentucky and in Bates county, Missouri. His early life was the same as the boyhood days of the average lad in the rural districts. He is a "self-made" man, for almost since childhood he has made his own way in the world. He began farming for himself on the home place in 1880 and there resided until 1896, when he moved to Adrian to engage in the work of carpentering and contracting. Mr. Stone was thus employed when, in the election of November, 1912, he was elected treasurer of Bates county and April 1, 1913, assumed the duties of his office. In the following election of November, 1916, he was re-elected county treasurer and he is the present incumbent in that office. While always interested in public and political affairs, Mr. Stone has not been an active partisan and, until the time of his nomination for treasurer, he had not been known as a politician or party . worker. For a number of years, his well- defined business policy and sterling honesty had been noted, and duly recognized, by his countless friends throughout the county, and it was by reason of these, and other qualifications, that his name was placed on the county ticket in the autumn of 1912. When he first entered upon the discharge of his official duties, the people, irrespective of party affiliations, predicted that Mr. Stone's career as a servant of the public would fully justify the wisdom of their choice and so far he has measured up to all expectations and has proven himself worthy, capable, and obliging, in every way deserving of the esteem and con- fidence in which he is held.
December 24, 1884, the marriage of John H. Stone and Mattie
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Webb, daughter of T. B. and Sarah (Sharpe) Webb, was solemnized. Mr. and Mrs. T. B. Webb were both natives of Jackson county and they are now deceased. To John H. and Mattie (Webb) Stone have been born four children, three of whom are now living: Ethel, wife of H. D. Chaney, of Kansas City, Kansas; John Webb, who was accidentally killed at the age of nineteen years; Dr. W. H., a prominent dentist of Hiawatha, Kansas; and Winifred, who is serving as deputy treas- urer of Bates county. Mr. and Mrs. Stone and their younger daugh- ter, Miss Winifred, reside at 204 North High street in Butler.
Mr. Stone is a valued member of the Ancient Free and Accepted Masons of Butler, and of the Blue Flag Lodge of the Knights of Pythias of Butler. As a skilled mechanic, Mr. Stone enjoys more than local repute and as a business man, he is careful and methodical, possess- ing executive ability of a high order, sound judgment, keen discern- ment and foresight. John H. Stone is a man of scrupulous integrity. His word is as good as a Liberty Bond and for many years he has enjoyed the distinction of being one of the broad-minded, representa- tive citizens of Bates county.
A. H. Culver, the senior member of the A. H. Culver Furniture Company of Butler, undertakers, and manufacturers of special work in store fixtures and office furniture, is a worthy descendant of a long line of furniture manufacturers. His grandfather, William Culver, was the pioneer furniture manufacturer of Shelby county, Illinois, and John L. Culver, son of William Culver, was engaged in the furniture business in Edinburg, Illinois, until the time of his death in 1873. John L. Culver was a skilled manufacturer of coffins, and in addition an expert con- tractor and architect. His factory in Edinburg, Illinois, occupied a large two-story building. Both William and John L. Culver are now deceased and they were buried in Oak Grove cemetery in Christian county, Illi- nois.
A. H. Culver was born in 1853 in Sangamon county, Illinois, and in that state was reared and educated. At the early age of eighteen years, Mr. Culver began life for himself. For two years, he was employed in selling tombstones for a cousin and then he returned to his father's home and entered his employ. He soon mastered the art of coffin- making and after the death of his father continued the business estab- lished by him, remaining at home with his widowed mother for many years. Later, Mr. Culver traveled for one year as salesman for a coffin factory. He came to Butler, Missouri, in 1878, via Fort Scott and
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Appleton City, overland on the stage coach from the latter city, to visit a friend and as he found Butler an inviting field, he opened a furniture and undertaking establishment afterward in partnership with Mr. Young. This firm did well and prospered for three years, when the store was burned and the entire stock was a total loss, there being no insurance. This calamity broke up the business at that time and the owners were obliged to sell to P. J. Jewett, in whose employ Mr. Culver remained for six and a half years. For nine years, Mr. Culver clerked for the American Clothing House Company and again was one year on the road as traveling salesman. Twenty years ago, in 1897, he purchased an interest in a new and second-hand furniture store, having in addition an undertaking business, which establishment was conducted and owned by Mr. Campbell. About twelve years ago, A. H. Culver organized the A. H. Culver Furniture Company of Butler, Missouri, as a stock com- pany and shortly afterward Mr. Culver bought out the others and he and a son, C. E., and daughter, Nina L., are now conducting the business, well prepared and equipped to attend to all demands coming within their line. Mr. Culver has advanced steadily, overcoming many obstacles and forging to the front until he now ranks among the most successful business men of Bates county. Industrious and energetic, he took advan- tage of every opportunity that came his way and his honorable dealings, unquestioned integrity, and keen discernment have borne legitimate fruitage in the comfortable competence of which he is now possessor.
In 1875, A. H. Culver and Julia Greenwood were united in mar- riage. Mrs. Culver is a daughter of Dr. and Mrs. B. G. Greenwood, of Edinburg, Illinois. She is a native of Sangamon county. Both par- ents of Mrs. Culver are now deceased. To A. H. and Julia (Green- wood) Culver have been born three children: B. G., of Leavenworth, Kansas, who is now superintendent of the Abernathy Furniture Fac- tory of Leavenworth, Kansas; C. E., who is associated in business with his father; and Nina, who is an assistant in her father's office. B. G. Culver married Emma Whitsett, of Butler, Missouri, and they are the parents of two children, Ladine and Catherine. C. E. Culver married Hattie Newell, of Butler, Missouri, and they are the parents of one child, Hilda.
Mr. Culver has ably filled a number of offices of public trust and he has always done his part to "boost" for his home town. For the past five and a half years, he has been secretary of the Butler Commer- cial Club. He was a member of the city council for one term, during
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which period the municipal lights were installed in Butler, the first city in the state to have them. He was also a member of the first fire company of Butler. Mr. Culver has been, for the past five years, secre- tary and treasurer of the board of employment and public welfare and he was recently appointed county chairman of the County Council of Defense. He is affiliated with the Ancient Free and Accepted Masons and for the past twelve years has been secretary of the Butler Lodge.
Pre-eminently a man of his word, A. H. Culver long ago won the respect and confidence of all with whom he came in contact and from the beginning of his career to the present time he has maintained a reputation untarnished by a single unworthy act. Such is, in brief, the record of a "self-made" man, whose life, measured by the usual stand- ards of success, presents much that is worthy of emulation.
George F. Alsbach, of Butler, proprietor of one of the best restau- rants in Bates county, is a native of Illinois. Mr. Alsbach was born March 10, 1869, in Monroe county, the first-born of three children, who are now living, born to his parents, George and Mary (Powderly) Als- bach, a prominent pioneer family of Shawnee township, Bates county. George Alsbach was born in Germany and in his youth emigrated from the old country and came to America. He first located in Illinois, where he was married and his son, George F., was born. In 1869, the Alsbachs moved from Illinois to Missouri and settled on a farm in Shawnee township in Bates county, where the father and mother spent the remainder of their lives. Mary (Powderly) Alsbach was a cousin of T. V. Powderly, who was an influential leader in Knights of Labor circles and in the latter part of his life was labor commissioner at the port of New York and the head of the immigration department there. Mrs. Alsbach was a native of Ireland. To George and Mary Alsbach were born the following children: George F., the subject of this review; William H., of Butler, Missouri; and Mrs. Annie E. Yates, Kansas City, Kansas. The father died on the farm in Shawnee township, September 23, 1900, and three years afterward his wife joined him in death. Both parents are interred in the cemetery at Butler.
George F. Alsbach attended the public schools of Bates county, Missouri. He well recalls the early days in School District Number 3, Shawnee township, when "spelling schools" were the attractions of the long winter evenings and contests held at the different schools in the township furnished entertainment for the neighborhoods and "literary societies" and "debating societies" met regularly. Mr. Alsbach enjoys
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recalling those old days of "Town Ball" and "Whip Cracker" and delights in relating an amusing incident in his school-boy life. He was to be whipped at school the next day for some infringement of the strict school laws. Mr. Alsbach has always been an ardent advocate of "preparedness," and that morning went to school with his back well padded with hay, tucked in securely under his vest. Of course, he let the big girls in on his secret preparation and when the "master" com- manded him to remove his coat and proceeded to lay on the switch with much force and determination, they laughed heartily-behind their books. And George F. enjoyed it, too!
Until about ten years ago, George F. Alsbach was engaged in farming, and in raising, buying, feeding, and shipping cattle. He then resided on a farm in Shawnee township in Bates county. He left the farm in 1907 and came to Butler, where he opened a restaurant on the southeast side of the public square in this city. Three years ago, he moved his place of business to his present location, on the west side of the public square. Mr. Alsbach has an exceptionally fine restaurant and he enjoys a splendid trade. The Alsbach Restaurant opens at 5 a. m. and closes at 12 p. m. He has the following motto hanging in a conspicuous place in the restaurant :
"Don't Get a Divorce. If your Wife can't Cook, Eat Here and Keep Her for a Pet."
In 1899, George F. Alsbach and Nettie Jenkins, daughter of S. M. Jenkins, of Mound township, Bates county, were united in marriage. Mr. and Mrs. Jenkins are the parents of eleven children, all of whom are now living, and the grandparents of thirty-eight children. Mrs. Alsbach's parents still reside on the home farm in Mound township. To George F. and Nettie (Jenkins) Alsbach have been born four children: George C. and Viola, who are students in the Butler High School; and Mary Catherine and Annie Rose, who are pupils in the graded schools of Butler. The Alsbach residence is in Butler on East Dakota street.
Mr. Alsbach is affiliated with the Knights of Pythias, the Modern Woodmen of America, and the Fraternal Aid. He has always pursued an industrious, honorable course in life, constantly adhering to the upright principles in which he was reared, and he is highly respected and valued as a citizen. At the present price of food stuffs, only an exceptionally capable and cautious business man could possibly make (36)
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a success of the restaurant business, and Mr. Alsbach has been and still is making a marked success, and he is destined to continue in the future as in the past one of the enterprising, substantial, influential men of the city in which he labors and lives.
Henry Reinheimer, a late prominent and influential citizen of Butler, Missouri, the founder of the Butler & Rich Hill Telephone Exchange, was a native of Australia. Mr. Reinheimer was born March 15, 1862 at Castlemaine in the province of Victoria, a son of Peter and Catherine Reinheimer. When Henry Reinheimer was a child, six years of age, his parents emigrated from Australia and came to America, locating first in Canada, where they remained for one year and then moved to the United States, coming to Missouri in 1869 and settling in Shelby county, where the son was reared and educated.
Mr. Reinheimer, the subject of this review, attended the public schools of Shelby county, Missouri. In early youth, he engaged in farm- ing, but about 1882 he had mastered the photographer's art and for several years he traveled over Shelby county engaged in the work of photography. He located at Shelbyville in 1888, where he opened a ' general mercantile establishment and until 1891 was one of the suc- cessful and leading merchants of that place. In 1891, Mr. Reinheimer disposed of his business in Shelbyville and moved to Butler, Missouri, where he installed a system of telephones which has developed into the Butler & Rich Hill Telephone Exchange. At that time, the Rich Hill Bank and the Bates County National Bank had a private telephone system connecting them, but so far as is known no one had as yet conceived the commercial possibilities of the telephone until the coming of Henry Reinheimer
With less than one hundred telephones all told in the city of Butler, Henry Reinheimer started to put his idea into concrete working form. The charge for a telephone at that time was one dollar and twenty-five cents for residence purposes and one dollar and seventy-five cents for business purposes, payable quarterly. The people of Butler called him the "crazy Dutchman," when Mr. Reinheimer started business, but undaunted he proceeded to carry out his conception, for his own expe- rience at Shelbina and Shelbyville before coming to Butler had con- vinced him that he could make a success of the commercial telephone, and time has proven his judgment sound and correct. The telephone busi- ness grew so rapidly that within a very short time the farmers took up the proposition of connecting with the lines installed by Mr. Reinheimer
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and they ran lines to the city limits of Butler, where he connected with them. At the time of his death, in 1912, Mr. Reinheimer had about eleven hundred telephones in operation in Bates county, with exchanges at Butler, Rich Hill, and Spruce. After his death, his widow continued to control the business for three years, when she sold to H. W. Neusch- afer, a nephew of the deceased owner, who sold the business after a few months to F. M. Campbell, the present owner.
In 1905, Henry Reinheimer and Maudelle Wood, daughter of Dr and Mrs. A. G. Wood, of Lentner, Missouri, were united in marriage. Dr. A. G. Wood was a native of Santiago, Cuba, and Mrs. Wood was born in Kentucky. Doctor Wood was a nephew of Fernando Wood, at one time mayor of New York City and a noted politician of that state. The doctor came to Missouri when he was a child, five years of age, coming with his parents, who settled in Shelby county. Dr. A. G. and Mrs. Wood were the parents of nine children, all of whom are now living: Fernando, of Houston, Texas; Mrs. Maudelle (Wood) Reinheimer, the widow of the subject of this review; Miss Bunton, of Butler, Mis- souri; Mrs R. J. Smith, Butler, Missouri; Mrs. A. E. Smith, Shelbina, Missouri; Lamar, Monroe City, Missouri; and Clunette, Gertrude, and Dr. A. N. Wood, all of whom resided at home with their widowed mother in Lentner, Missouri. Dr. A. N. Wood is now a first lieutenant, Medi- cal Department, United States Aviation Corps, Waco, Texas. Doctor Wood, Sr., died in 1914 at the age of eighty-three years. To Henry and Maudelle Reinheimer were born two children, Mary Catherine and Martin Wood. Mr. Reinheimer's untimely death occurred at San Antonio, Texas, January 22, 1912. Mrs. Reinheimer and her two chil- dren reside in Butler at 403 North Delaware street.
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