USA > Missouri > Johnson County > History of Johnson County, Missouri > Part 39
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March 29. 1866, Benoia Scott came to Hickory county, Missouri, from Scottville, Illinois. He purchased sixty acres of land in Hickory county and built a cabin home. For thirty-two years he remained there and gradually increased his holdings, until he at one time was owner of six hundred acres of land there. In September, 1898, he left Hickory county and moved to Warrensburg.
November 11, 1866, Benoia Scott was united in marriage with Mary Annes Estes, the daughter of Elisha and Mary Estes, of Hickory county, Missouri. Mr. and Mrs. Scott are the parents of seven children: Dr. WV. C. Scott, Afton, Oklahoma; Dr. J. O. Scott. Holland, Michigan ; Mrs. Bertha May Brown, who died in Hickory county, Missouri. and is interred in Cross Timbers cemetery ; Dr. N. E. Scott, who is now state manager for the Kansas City Life Insurance Company in the state of
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Washington and resides in Walla Walla, Washington; Ora Annes, Seattle, Washington; Mrs. Mary Gertrude Hemphill, Joplin, Missouri ; and Benoia Beatrice, who will graduate from the Warrensburg State Normal School in the class of 1918 and she resides at home with her parents. Though Mr. and Mrs. Scott resided on the farm, each of their children was given the best of educational advantages. All have collegiate educations and all, with the exception of the youngest, Benoia Beatrice, have been teachers. Mr. and Mrs. Scott celebrated their fiftieth wedding anniversary November 11, 1916, at their home at 614 Highland avenue in Warrensburg.
Jacob Heberling, a leading merchant of Warrensburg and a pioneer of Johnson county worthy of the highest esteem, is a native of Germany. He was born in 1841, the son of John and Margareta (Piskato) Heber- ling, who were the parents of the following children: John, who immi- grated to America in 1855 and located in Ohio for two years when he came to Missouri in 1857 and entered the meat business as butcher in Warrensburg, in which business he was employed for more than forty years, when his death occurred. April 20. 1917, at the age of eighty-one years and twenty days, in Warrensburg; Jacob, the subject of this review : Fred, a retired merchant of Chicago, Illinois; Mrs. Kate Ringer, Chicago, Illinois; and William, a prominent stockman of War- rensburg, who for years was engaged in the meat business as butcher.
Jacob Heberling immigrated to America in the spring of 1868 and located in Warrensburg, where he and his brother, Fred, opened a small boot and shoe factory. Later Jacob Heberling engaged in the manu- facture of shoes alone. This factory at one time made a thousand pairs of shoes a day . Both boots and shoes were made in the factory, which was located on the square in Warrensburg. One building was situ- ated on Culton street. Jacob Heberling discontinued his business in 1891 when he moved the factory to Ft. Smith, Arkansas. Later, he sold his interest in the factory at Ft. Smith. The first retail store of the Heberling brothers was located on Pine street in Warrensburg. In the early days the Heberlings took measures for hand-made boots and shoes, in the case of special orders, and an extensive trade was then built, which still continues. Mr. Heberling handles only first-class goods and the fact that he does not know how to build a shoddy shoe, and would not if he knew, has made the name of Heberling a splendid repu- tation and a valuable business asset. Customers of exclusive tastes, who
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have been dealing with the firm for more than fifty years, still find their way to the Heberling store. The trade extends into Cass, Henry, Lafayette, and Pettis counties and Kansas City, Missouri. The pres- ent location of the Heberling store is at 208 North Holden street in Warrensburg, and here Mr. Heberling and his sons, Adolph and Otto, conduct a shoe store and repair shop.
In Germany, Jacob Heberling and Leonore Heberling were united in marriage. While they bore the same name, Jacob Heberling and Leonore Heberling were not relatives. Within a short time after cont- ing to America, Mrs. Heberling died, about 1870. In 1873, Jacob Heber- ling was united in marriage with Mary Behron, of Warrensburg. To Jacob and Mary Heberling were born the following children: William, who is superintendent and engineer of a copper mine on the Glorieta Ranch in New Mexico; Jacob B., a shoe merchant in Columbia, Missouri : Mrs. Julia Anderson, Warrensburg: Adolph B. and Otto, who are asso- ciated in business with their father in Warrensburg; Frances, who resides at home with her father: Lillian, who died at the age of six- teen years; Robert, who died at the age of three years; and one son and one daughter died in infancy. Mary (Behron) Heberling died in 1911 in Warrensburg, and interment was made in the Warrensburg cemetery. Mr. Heberling resides in North Warrensburg.
Besides his home. Jacob Heberling is owner of two store buildings on West Market street in Warrensburg and the Heberling shoe store on North Holden street. He is one of Johnson county's most sub- stantial and highly regarded citizens.
William E. Johnson, M. D., a well-known and successful physician of Warrensburg, is a native of Monroe county, Missouri. He was born December 10, 1875, a son of Dr. E. W. and Frances ( Bradley ) Johnson, natives of Monroe county. Three brothers of Dr. E. W. Johnson were physicians: G. A., Robert, and William. Dr. William E. Johnson was the only child born to his parents. His father died in 1913 and inter- ment was made in the cemetery at Centralia. His widowed mother now resides in Centralia.
Dr. William E. Johnson is a graduate of the Centralia High School. Centralia, Missouri, and of Barnes' Medical College. St. Louis, Mis- souri. He is a post-graduate of the New York Polyclinic and the New York Medical School. He was graduated from Barnes' Medical Col- lege in the class of 1896. Doctor Johnson began the practice of medi-
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cine at Tulip, Missouri, in 1896. He remained there four years, when he moved to Warrensburg in 1900 and located his office at 205 North Holden street. Two years later, he moved his office to his present loca- tion at 202 North Holden street.
In 1900, Dr. William E. Johnson was united in marriage with Mary Edna Young, of Monroe county, Missouri. To this union was born one child, a son, William. Mary Edna (Young) Johnson died in 1904. In 1906, Doctor Johnson was united in marriage with Martha (Young) Wetmore, of Monroe county, a sister of his former wife. Doctor and Mrs. Johnson are the parents of three children: James Young, Lynn Francis, and Charles. Doctor Johnson's home is located in Warrens- burg at 210 East Gay street.
No physician in Johnson county is held in higher esteem than Doctor Johnson. He has an excellent practice, for which he is well qualified, possessing a well-trained mind, keen, deliberate judgment, and a quiet, attentive manner.
John A. Doak, retired pioneer of Holden, Missouri, is one of the oldest of Missouri's native-born pioneer settlers. Four score and three years ago, this patriarch was born in Missouri, a son of one of the earliest of the brave pioneer settlers, who redeemed this great state from a wilderness of plain and forest and made it habitable for man- kind. Nearly ninety years have elapsed since the Doak family settled in Missouri and during that period a great nation has grown and the great state of Missouri has achieved a foremost place among the galaxy of states which make up the greatest republic on earth of which history has ever recorded the story. Probably no living man has witnessed more or greater changes than John A. Doak, the pioneer of Holden, Missouri.
John A. Doak was born in 1834 on a pioneer farm in Lafayette county, Missouri. He is a son of Alexander and Mary A. (Campbell) Doak, both of whom were of old Southern pioneer stock. Alexander Doak was a native of Tennessee and his wife was a native of Virginia. The two were married in Kentucky and resided in that state until 1828, when they came to Missouri, residing in Lafayette county until 1842. when they made a permanent settlement in Johnson county on a farm six miles south of Holden, on Bear creek. Here they developed a fine farm and spent the remainder of their lives. Alexander Doak entered a small tract of government land and also bought land which
MR. AND MRS. JOIN A. DOAK.
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was partly improved. He died in 1879, being followed to the Great Beyond by the wife and mother five years later, in 1884. This pioneer couple were parents of eleven children, three girls and eight sons, only two of whom are now living: the subject of this review; and Mrs. Sarah J. Raker, who lives on a farm near Columbus, Missouri, in Johnson county.
John A. Doak was eight years of age when he accompanied his parents to the farm near Holden, Missouri. He endured all the hard- ships of the pioneer era in the upbuilding of Johnson county and has a vivid recollection of conditions in Johnson county in the early for- ties. There was no city of Holden at that time and no one even dreamed of building a city on the present site. Lexington was the nearest trading point and this city was forty-five miles distant. The settlers followed the trail straight across country when it became neces- sary for them to go to Lexington for trading purposes, and the round trip would require several days. The settlements were all located along the creeks so that the pioneer families would be provided with two prime necessities in those days-water and timber, the latter for fuel and building purposes. There were no luxuries although food was plentiful and wild game, such as deer, turkeys and prairie chickens, abounded and could be killed from the front door. The settlers sup- plied their tables with plenty of wild game, such as would be an unheard- of luxury at the present day. The pioneer had meats and food stuffs which are high-priced at the present day and he had no longing for other luxuries which were beyond his means. All lived alike: none were overly rich; everybody tried to be neighborly and kind: all vied with one another in making the newcomer feel at home and assisted him and his in every way possible. Mr. Doak has witnessed prairie fires and assisted in subduing them. This patriarch attended the old- time "subscription schools" in a little log school house, roughly and poorly furnished with crude, hand-made benches. The only ventila- tion or light was admitted to the hut by means of a hole made by omitting a log in the side of the building. His first teacher was W. L. King. He was later taught by Mr. Emerson. Mr. Doak engaged in farming and became very prosperous as a successful farmer and stock- man in the vicinity of Holden. He remained on his farm until 1901. at which time he removed to Holden and is now living in comfortable retirement and truly enjoying the eventide of life after a long and
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productive period of energetic endeavor. Mr. Doak disposed of his farm lands and has carefully invested his life earnings so that the returns from his well-earned hoard will yield him a comfortable income for the remainder of his days.
John A. Doak was united in the bonds of matrimony with Susan J. Potts of North Carolina in 1855. To this union have been born seven children: Susan Ann, who died in childhood; William M., deceased; Tobias S., a farmer located near Chilhowee; Dora, deceased; Charles, now living in Arkansas; James, deceased; and Robert, deceased. The mother of the above named children departed this life in 1872. Two years later, in 1874, Mr. Doak was married to Martha C. Tuttle, a native of Cole county, Missouri, and daughter of John Tuttle, who was born and reared in Maryland and came to Missouri and made a settle- ment in Johnson county in 1866. The Tuttles spent their lives in use- ful farming pursuits in Johnson county and were well-respected citizens. To this second marriage of John A. Doak were born two daughters, as follow: Etta May, wife of Oscar Phipps, living on a farm south of Holden; and Mary E., deceased.
Mr. Doak has been one of the most useful citizens of Johnson county and has filled various offices of trust and honor conferred upon him by his fellow-citizens . For a period of twenty-five years, he capa- bly filled the office of justice of the peace and also served as a member of the school board. This patriarch also has an honorable war record of which his descendants may be proud. He, with five brothers, served in the Confederate Army during the war between the states and he was the only one of the six boys who came out of the terrible conflict alive. Mr. Doak enlisted in 1861 and served as a member of Company D, Sixteenth Missouri Infantry, Second Brigade, under Colonel Jack- man with whom he enlisted, serving also under General Price. He fought at the Battle of Prairie Grove and at Helena, Arkansas, tak- ing an active part in countless minor battles and skirmishes. The nearest he ever came to being wounded was when a bullet passed through his collar at Prairie Grove. His command operated extensively in Missouri and Arkansas and Mr. Doak served the cause until the close of the war.
Mr. Doak is religiouly inclined and has been a member of the Methodist Episcopal church, South, since 1856. He is a stockholder in the Blairstown Bank and is a stockholder and a director of the Farm-
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ers and Commercial Bank of Holden. He is numbered among Hol- den's most substantial and respected citizens and has many warm and steadfast friends whom he has made by acts of kindness and by honor- able and honest dealings during the many active years which he has been a factor in the development of Johnson county.
W. L. Hedges, M. D., vice-president of the Commercial Bank of Warrensburg, was born December 17, 1842, in Bath county, Kentucky, son of James F. and Ruth J. (Brown) Hedges. James F. Hedges was born in 1822 in Bourbon county, Kentucky. He was of English lineage and a descendant of the family of Hedges, who came to America with the first colony sailing from England for Maryland, which colony entered the Chesapeake late in February, 1634. Ruth J. (Brown) Hedges was a native of Nicholas county, Kentucky, and of Irish descent. To James F. and Ruth J. (Brown) Hedges were born the following children : W. L., the subject of this sketch; Benjamin F., who was principal of the Polk public school, St. Louis, Missouri, at the time of his death in 1881 ; Milton B., a retired merchant of Stillwater, Oklahoma; Mrs. Fan- nie E. Clark, Rich Hill, Missouri; John F., who was a prominent merch- ant of Stillwater, Oklahoma, where his death occurred about 1912 as the result of a surgical operation : Mrs. Belle Shirley. Chanute, Kansas ; James H., a railroad contractor residing in Springfield, Missouri; and Mrs. Rolla J. Booth, Rich Hill, Missouri.
The Hedges family moved from Kentucky to Indiana in 1852 and located in Putnam county, where James F. Hedges purchased a farm of two hundred forty acres, upon which the town of Carpentersville was later built. Within a short time. Mr. Hedges disposed of this farm and bought another, upon which they resided until 1856, when the family moved to Illinois, locating on a farm which Mr. Hedges purchased in Macoupin county. They remained upon this farm until the time of the Civil War, when they moved to Girard, Macoupin county. In 1869, on account of business reverses, James F. Hedges left Girard, Illinois, and went to Emporia, Kansas, near which he owned land. He moved to Warrensburg, Missouri, in 1872 and remained one year, when he moved to Fredonia, Kansas, and in 1881, to Rich Hill, Missouri, at which place Mrs. Hedges died in 1882. Fourteen years later her hus- band died in Rich Hill. Interment for both father and mother was made in the cemetery at Rich Hill.
Dr. Hedges received his early education in the public schools of
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Scottville, Illinois and in an academy of that state. He enlisted in the Union army in 1862 and served throughout the war, returning to school when the war had ended. He entered Lunbard University at Galesburg, Illinois, in the fall of 1865 and was in attendance at that institution two years. Dr. Hedges began the study of medicine with Dr. F. Jones, an eminent physician of his day, and attended a course of lectures at the Hahnemann Homeopathic Medical College at Chicago, Illinois, in 1867-68, and the next year entered the St. Louis Medical College, where he was graduated February 24, 1869.
W. L. Hedges enlisted in Company B, One Hundred Twenty-second Illinois Infantry, August 13, 1862. He lacked three votes of being elected lieutenant. On account of his age, which was only nineteen years, he preferred to serve as private. His company was assigned to the Army of Tennessee and in the battle of Parker's Cross Roads was cut to pieces. December 31, 1862. a bursting shell knocked young Hedges down, but no permanent injury was received. The following spring of 1863 he took an active part in the battle of Town Creek, Alabama, which lasted from April 15 until April 25. July 14, 1864, his company was engaged in the battle of Tueplo, Mississippi, and in October of the same year was in pursuit of General Sterling Price, marching from the barracks at St. Louis through Jefferson City, Sedalia. Lexington, Independence, Old Santa Fe, to Harrisonville and back to the barracks through Pleasant Hill, Lexington, Glasgow, Columbia, and St. Charles, a total distance of about six hundred miles within forty-one days. December 15-16 the battle of Nashville, Tennessee was fought, in which Doctor Hedges' regiment lost twenty-six men. They then marched to Eastport, Mississippi, whence they were transported to New Orleans and shortly after to Mobile, Alabama, by steamer. The regiment assisted in taking Spanish Fort and Ft. Blakely, Alabama, April 9-10, losing twenty men, killed and wounded. After a march of more than two hundred miles the regiment arrived in Montgomery, Alabama, where they learned of Lee's surrender. Doctor Hedges
returned to Mobile, Alabama, where he was appointed mail clerk, his run being from Mobile to New Orleans by boat. He received extra pay for his services in that capacity. He was mustered out July 15. 1865, and arrived in Springfield, Illinois, August 4, 1865.
Before the war. Doctor Hedges taught a rural school in 1862, receiving twenty dollars a month for his services. He began the prac-
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tice of medicine after the war, prior to his graduation from the medi- cal school in 1869. In 1871 Dr. Hedges came to Warrensburg and opened an office. He was elected honorary member of the Kansas State Homeopathic Institute in 1875 and in 1876 Doctor Hedges became a member of the National American Institute, the oldest medical society in the United States. He has also been a member of the Missouri Homeopathic Institute, of which he was president in 1879 and 1880.
May 30, 1877, Dr. W. L. Hedges was united in marriage with Vir- ginia A. Gilkeson, of Warrensburg. Doctor and Mrs. Hedges celebrated their fortieth wedding anniversary May 30, 1917, at their home at 215 West Gay street in Warrensburg. Mrs. Hedges has always taken an active interest and prominent part in religious and literary work. She has served as corresponding secretary of the Christian Women's Board of Missions and for five years was president of the Equal Suffrage Asso- ciation of Missouri.
Dr. W. L. Hedges has filled many prominent offices within the gift of the Republican party, of which he is an influential member. In 1878 he was elected mayor of Warrensburg and continued in that capacity five years, and served as president of the Warrensburg school board at the same time, from 1878 to 1883. During his incumbency, the finances of the city were placed on a firm basis and the indebted- ness satisfactorily arranged. He was appointed United States pension examining surgeon in 1879 and served eighteen years in that capacity. Doctor Hedges was a member of the Congressional Committee from the Sixth district and chairman of the Congressional Convention, con- sisting of members from this district, which met at Butler, Missouri.
September 1, 1897, A. S. Mayes and Doctor Hedges founded the Commercial Bank of Warrensburg. Until January 1, 1917, Doctor Hedges was president of the banking institution. He resigned at that time and is now serving as vice-president. Prior to the organization of this bank, Dr. W. L. Hedges was a member of the board of directors of the Centerview State Bank and of the Peoples Bank of Warrensburg. He was also one of the organizers of the Johnson County Building Association, of which he was president for thirty-one years, resigning in April, 1916.
In 1865, Dr. W. L. Hedges was made a Master Mason and made a Royal Arch Mason in 1866, and in 1892 a Knights Templar. He is also affiliated with the Ancient Order of United Workmen. He has been
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an active member of the Christian church since 1857. For many years he was an elder and for more than five years served on the state board of missions and served as president of the Missionary Organization of Missouri one year.
Doctor Hedges has always been an active man of affairs and now at the age of seventy-five years is as alert physically and mentally as when he was appointed United States examining surgeon for pension- ers of Johnson county in 1879. He attributes his remarkable strength and vigor to his war experience, which he believes hardened him and thus helped him bear the strain of the strennous public life which fol- lowed. Dr. Hedges still stands five feet eleven inches, practically the same as when he entered the army. He is now, and has ever been, one of Johnson county's leading citizens.
H. F. Parker, M. D., the founder of the "Oak Hill Sanitarium" in Warrensburg, has not only pre-eminently succeeded in the practice of medicine in Johnson county but he has made a name for himself that is widely known and he is now only thirty-three years of age. Doctor Parker was born January 8, 1884, in Johnson county, the son of Col. J. H. and Elizabeth Ann (Field) Parker, the former a native of Virginia and the latter of Missouri. Col. J. H. Parker was the son of William W. and Elizabeth A. (Higgins) Parker. The father of William W. Parker, Solomon Parker, was of Scotch descent and a lineal descendant of one of three brothers who emigrated from Scotland and settled in Jamestown, Virginia, during the earliest Colonial days.
William W. Parker came from Virginia to Missouri with his maternal grandfather, Mr. Higgins, and his son, J. H., and settled in Lafayette county in 1842, on tracts of land they had purchased and entered from the government. Their route to Missouri led over the Allegheny mountains and along the national road from Cumberland to Wheeling, West Virginia. Mr. Higgins died in Lexington, Missouri, in 1843 and in the same year his daughter, Elizabeth A. (Higgins) Parker, the mother of Col. J. H. Parker, also died. William W. Parker and his son, J. H., were engaged in the pursuits of agriculture in Lafayette county, as were also the family of Fields, prominent pioneers of Mis- souri. J. H. Parker and Elizabeth Ann Field were united in marriage in 1860 and to them were born the following children: William, a well-known farmer and stockman; John, deceased: Frank, deceased; Joseph, deceased; Sallie, deceased; James H., who is engaged in the
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real estate and stock business in Julesburg, Colorado; Bettie, deceased ; and H. F., the subject of this review. Col. J. H. Parker has been prominently connected with the early history of Johnson county. Politi- cally, he is affiliated with the Democratic party and he represented John- son county in the state Legislature. Colonel Parker has also filled a number of appointive offices. He is a member of the Ancient Free and Accepted Masons and the Cumberland Presbyterian church. While residing in Johnson county, Colonel Parker erected a church near his home and contributed generously toward its support. A sketch of Colonel and Mrs. Parker appears in the Biographical History of Mis- souri in the edition of 1915.
Harry Field Parker was one of the youngest students who have attended the Warrensburg High School, graduating at the age of six- teen years. He entered the University of Missouri and was in attend- ance at that institution two years when he matriculated in the Medical School of Washington University. St. Louis, Missouri, graduating with the degree of Doctor of Medicine in the class of 1906. For one year Doctor Parker was interne in the City Hospital of St. Louis, which was then under the direction of the board of health. Doctor Parker had charge of the Hearne Hospital in San Diego, California. for one year. In 1908 he returned to Warrensburg, Missouri, opened his office. and began at once an extensive practice. Three years after locating in Warrensburg, Doctor Parker founded the "Oak Hill Sanitarium," located at 519 South Holden street, which he still owns and maintains at a high standard. The hospital has the best and most modern equip- ment and is always filled to its capacity. The patients who have been taken there are among Doctor Parker's warmest friends and admirers upon leaving the sanitarium. It has proven of great value and has filled a long-felt need of the citizens of Warrensburg and adjoining counties. Doctor Parker devotes his time exclusively to his large prac- tice. His practice is of a general nature and he has proven equally efficient as physician and surgeon. "Oak Hill Sanitarium" is open to all the physicians of Johnson county, who send many of their patients there. It is under the official management of Mrs. Maude M. Irwin, a trained nurse who has been connected with the institution since its founding.
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