USA > Missouri > History of southeast Missouri : a narrative account of its historical progress, its people and its principal interests, Volume I > Part 102
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Dr. Barber belongs to one of the old fam- ilies of southeastern Missouri. His father. Richard H. Barber, who is still a resident of Madison county, was born at Brazean, Perry county, January 4, 1845, and has enjoyed a career of prosperity, being the owner of large amounts of real estate. He is a member of the Presbyterian church and the Independent Order of Odd Fellows, and in politics is a Democrat. He married, October 23, 1868. Surena Cline, of Frohne, Missouri, daughter of Moses and Caroline Cline, farmers and early settlers of Perry county. Her mother, Mrs. Cline, was one of the first members of the Baptist church in this state, and lived to the age of eighty-six. Mrs. Barber died July 22. 1909, having been the mother of seven children. of whom Dr. Barber is the oldest.
In politics Dr. Barber is Democratie, is a member of the Methodist Episcopal church, South, and affiliates with the Modern Wood- men of America and the Modern Americans. He is also a member of the American Medical Association, the Missouri State Medical Asso- ciation, the Southeastern Missouri Med- ical Society and the St. Francois County Medical Association. He was married, Au- gust 29. 1895, to Miss Mollie E. Turley. She taught in the public schools of St. Francois county for ten years before her marriage. Her parents are Wesley and Emeline Turley, her father being one of the pioneer farmers in the lead belt. Three children have been born to Dr. and Mrs. Barber. The two liv- ing are Anson B. and Virginia E.
LUTHER HENRY WILLIAMS. Among the most prominent and able financiers of Saint Francois county is Luther Henry Williams, cashier of the Farmers' Bank, a monetary institution in whose organization he partic- ipated ; a director of the Mines' Supply Com- pany at Flat River; and interested in the National Bank of Commerce of the city of St. Louis and the Bankers Trust Company of St. Louis. The Farmers' Bank is one of
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the monetary institutions which emphasize and exert marked influence in conserving the financial stability and commercial pres- tige of the county and its judicial center and Mr. Williams has shown marked dis- crimination in the management of its affairs.
Mr. Williams is a native of Saint Francois county, his birth having occurred within its pleasant boundaries on November 21, 1869. His father, George McGahan Williams, was born in this county, March 4, 1831. The senior Mr. Williams, owing to educational conditions of his time, received but a limited training, this, such as it was, being secured in the common schools of the locality and period. He passed his early days on the farm and in truth has devoted his life-long activities to the great basic industry. He established a household of his own in 1855, when he was united in marriage to Amelia Thomasson, of St. Francois county, a daugh- ter of Gabriel and Sally Thomasson, the former of whom was a prominent agricultur- ist. To this union nine children were born, six of whom are living at the present time. The devoted wife and mother was sum- moued to the life eternal in 1885, but the father survives, a venerable gentleman, well- known in the locality. He remained upon his farm until he sold it to the Theodora Lead Company, about the year 1894, which marks the time of his retirement from active farm life, and he now makes his home in Farmington. In political questions he gives heart and hand to the men and measures of the Democratic party, which he has sup- ported since his earliest voting days, and his religious conviction is that of the Southern Methodist Episcopal church.
Luther Henry Williams had what is gen- erally considered the good fortune to pass his early life upon the farm, and in the com- mon country schools he received his prelim- inary education. When it came to choosing a life work he found that he had no ambition to follow in the paternal footsteps, and at the age of twenty-one years he left the farm and went to work in the mines, running a dia- mond drill. He was engaged in this wise for four years, at the end of which time he con- cluded to prepare himself for a business career and to this end he went to St. Louis and entered the Bryant & Stratton Commer- cial College, and having finished this he en- tered the mercantile business at Flat River in association with his brothers, George K. and John T. In 1898 the Messrs. Williams
sold out and after a short period of leisure the subject entered upon his first banking experience, as an employe of the Miners' & Merchants' Bank at Flat River, he taking the office of assistant cashier for the first year and in the two years following holding that of cashier. In 1904 he assisted in the organization of the Farmers' Bank at Farm- ington, and was made cashier of the institu- tion, which place he now holds. As men- tioned in a preceding paragraph he is a director of the Miners' Supply Company at Flat River and also interested in the Na- tional Bank of Commerce in St. Louis and The Bankers Trust Company of St. Louis.
On the 20th day of April, 1898, Mr. Wil- liams was happily married to Nelly Pearl Moody, of Irondale, daughter of William Moody, an engineer and mechanic. The union of Mr. and Mrs. Williams has been blessed by the birth of six children, namely: Gwendolyn, Luther Wallace (deceased) : George Harry, Franklin, Mary Lucile and Corinne.
Mr. Williams is an interested and popular member of the great Masonic order and ex- emplifies in his own life its noble principles, while his church home and that of his worthy wife is of the Southern Methodist denomination. Politically he is a stalwart supporter of the Democratic party, having been aligned with the same since his earliest voting days.
ROBERT H. WHITELAW, one of the success- ful lawyers of Cape Girardeau, is as popular as he is influential. Throughout his career his maxim has been to do the duty which lies nearest, not worrying about what the next step might be. It is because of this simplic- ity of creed that Mr. Whitelaw has made such an unmitigated success of his life up to the present time. He has by no means reached the limit of his capabilities, although he has accomplished enough to satisfy a less enter- prising man. However, it is safe to predict that inasmuch as he has heretofore filled all offices to the satisfaction of both his own and opposing parties, he will continue to have re- sponsibilities thrust upon him.
He was born in Essex county, Virginia, January 30, 1854, and is the son of Thomas Whitelaw, a planter in Virginia, in which state he was born. He was possessed of a large plantation on which were many slaves, but he was a believer in the rights of the col- ored man and was a most considerate master.
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In 1859. foreseeing the struggle that was im- southeastern Missouri, which has been to him minent between the north and the south, he set free his slaves and sold his plantation. coming to Cape Girardeau in 1859. He bought a farm there but died in 1863, while the war was still in progress. He married Emily Reynolds, a young Virginia girl, who bore him three children, the last one costing her her life. She died in 1856, leaving her husband, her two little boys and baby girl to mourn her loss.
When Robert was only five years old, his father took him and his little brother to Cape Girardeau, leaving the daughter in Virginia. Robert has very little recollection of the little mother who left them when he was two years old. of the plantation where he was petted and scolded by turns by his colored mammy and of the journey from Virginia to Cape Girardeau. He has, however, very distinet ree- ollections of the first school which he at- tended, of the death of his father when he was only nine years old and of the sense of desolation which overwhelmed him at being left without father or mother at that early age. He attended the public schools of Cape Girardean and later the academy of St. Louis, Professor Wyman being the principal at that time. He then went to Ann Arbor, where he took a law course at the University of Michigan. He graduated in 1874 when he was just twenty years old and located in Cape Girardean. He soon established a practice, and. young as he was, in 1876 he was elected prosecuting attorney of Cape Girardeau county. This office he held until 1879. He was elected to the legislature, representing Cape Girardeau county, serving for two terms. He was a member of Congress in 1890 and 1891 and has been prosecuting at- torney for many years.
In 1877 he married Katie Block, the daughter of Zalma Block of Cape Girardeau. Mr. and Mrs. Whitelaw have three children living, as follows: Helen, the wife of Lieu- tenant R. G. Rutherford. now stationed at Madison Barracks, New York. Matilda, the second ehild, is the wife of Captain Allen R. Williams and is also stationed at Madison Barraeks. New York. Thomas G., the young- est child and only son, is in business in St. Louis.
Like his father, Mr. Whitelaw has always been a Democrat and most active in the inter- ests of his party. Although not born in Cape Girardeau, he has very little remembrance of his native place and his affeetions are all with Vol. 1-45
a foster parent, taking the place of father and mother. He is a man who has done in- calculable good in the county and his efforts have been appreciated by the citizens of Cape Girardeau.
BRISTOL FRENCHI. To the editor is confided singular responsibility. Ile is the moulder of public opinion, and it is his privilege to be heard on questions of public welfare by more people than any public speaker could possibly hope to reach. The Piedmont Ban- ner is indeed fortunate to have as its publisher and editor Mr. Bristol French, who, though yet a young man, brings to his task a va- ried experience in the newspaper field as well as a courageous sense of his responsibility to the public whom he informs through the pages of the Piedmont Weekly Banner.
He was born in Houston county, Tennessee, February 2, 1877. His father was John French, a member of an old Tennessee family, and his mother was a daughter of Colonel John Morris, who was a military officer in both the Mexican and Civil wars. Until the opening of the Spanish-American war he was engaged in the newspaper business, con- nected with the Erin News in his home town of Erin. Tennessee. At the call for volun- teers, he at once enlisted with the First Ten- nessee Volunteers, and went with that com- pany to the Philippine Islands, where he spent nineteen months in the service, during which time he served as sergeant major in the second battalion and sergeant in his own company. His army career, however, in no way interfered with his life work, as he was an active correspondent for the Nashville papers during his stay in our insular posses- sions. Upon his return, he was associated first with the Memphis News Scimitar, and later with the Memphis Commercial Appeal. In 1904 Mr. French took his present position, and purchased the Piedmont Weekly Banner, which sheet was established by Dr. J. N. Hohes in June, 1892.
He was married in 1905 to Miss Nettie Wil- liams, of Piedmont, Missouri, and to this union have been born two children. Polit- ically Mr. French favors the policies advo- cated by the Democratic party, and both per- sonally and officially, is counted a valuable member of his party.
C. A. WALKER has risen from clerk to the position of leading hardware merchant in the
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county by the qualities of business sagacity and initiative, combined with a genius for hard work. He was born in Illinois, in 1869, on the 16th of July. His parents, C. T. and Lonise Walker, are still living on a farm in that state.
Mr. Walker spent the first twenty-one years of his life in Illinois. He helped his father on the farm and secured his educa- tion in the meantime in the district schools and in the normal at Carbondale, Illinois. In September, 1890, he came to Lutesville and secured employment as clerk for George E. Clark & Son. Mr. Walker learned the business 'thoroughly in the following six years and rose steadily in it, so that in 1897 he was able to purchase a hardware business in Marble Hill. In 1910 he sold out his in- terests in Marble Hill and went to Colorado, intending to make his home in that state, but decided to return to Missouri. In January, 1911, Mr. Walker purchased the interests of Clark & Son and is engaged in managing that extensive business. The house carries a line of hardware, agricultural implements, furniture, lumber, shingles, cement and lime, and transacts the bulk of the trade in these lines in Lutesville and in Bollinger county. In addition, Mr. Walker is a stockholder in the Bollinger County Bank and in the Bank of Marble Hill. His residence is one of the attractive homes of Lutesville.
Mr. Walker's wife was Miss Nellie Clark, daughter of George Clark, the former em- ployer of Mr. Walker. Mr. George Clark was a pioneer merchant of Lutesville, com- ing to that town in 1872 from Marble Hill, where he had located five years previously. Mr. and Mrs. Walker have two children : George Earl, born in 1893, and Charles Dean, in 1897.
Mr. Walker has attained high honor in the Masonic order. He was made a Blue Lodge Mason at Marble Hill, Missouri, and joined the Chapter at Fredericktown. He went into the Commandery at Cape Girardeau, and into the Consistory at St. Louis, taking thirty-two degrees in all. In addition he is a member of the Modern Woodmen and of the Odd Fel- lows in Lutesville. He takes an active inter- est in his lodges and in the Presbyterian church, of which Mrs. Walker is a member and a valued adherent.
J. OLIVER EUBANKS. A thrifty and well-to- do agriculturist of Hollywood, J. Oliver Eu- banks is the proprietor of a fine farm, which
in regard to its appointments compares fa- vorably with any in the locality, the neatness and orderly appearance of the property show- ing conclusively that the owner has a thor- ough understanding of his business and ex- ercises excellent judgment in its management. A Missourian by birth, he was born on a farm in Douglas county, January 8, 1877, and lived there until three years of age. In 1880 his father and his half-sister were killed by lightning, and his mother subsequently married a second husband and removed to Stoddard county, Missouri, where her death occurred in 1892, on the farm which she had there purchased.
Until sixteen years of age J. Oliver Eu- banks worked on his mother's farm in Stod- dard county, near Puxico, in the meantime obtaining a practical education in the district school. He subsequently worked for wages on neighboring farms for a number of years. Coming then to Dunklin county, he invested his money, all of which, with the exception of forty-two dollars that he received from his mother's estate after attaining his major- ity, he had earned by the sweat of his brow, in farming land in Hollywood. Mr. Eubanks first purchased forty acres on time, and later bought forty acres of adjoining land. and of this he has cleared about sixty-three acres himself, and placed it under culture. and when he first came to the place he also cleared land for other people, becoming quite ex- pert in the pioneer task. For a number of years after assuming possession of his prop- erty Mr. Eubanks lived in a rude shack, but he has since erected a substantial. eight-room house and good farm buildings, and is now devoting his energies to the growing of corn and cotton, crops which he finds most profit- able. Mr. Eubanks also owns an eiglity-acre farm lying one and three-fourths miles north- east of Cardwell, on which he has made valu- able improvements, that land being rented out. He is also now contemplating the pur- chase of one hundred and twenty acres of land adjoining his farm near Cardwell. an investment which will eventually prove of value.
Mr. Eubanks married first, in 1892, on his present farm, Nellie Horner, the daughter of an early settler of Hollywood. She passed to the higher life a few years later. leaving four children, namely: Nettie. Melvin, El- mer and Herman, all of whom, with the ex- ception of the eldest child, are at home. Mr. Eubanks married in 1900 Ora Sanders, and
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they are the parents of three children, namely: Ruth, Rose and Floyd. Politically Mr. Enbanks is a Democrat, and fraternally he belongs to Senath Camp, No. 256, W. O. W.
WILLIAM M. GUDGER. At this juncture in a volume devoted to the careers of representa- tive citizens of southeastern Missouri, it is a pleasure to insert a brief history of the life and work of William M. Gudger, who has ever been on the alert to forward all measures and enterprises projected for the general wel- fare and who is the present efficient incum- bent of the office of president of the Madison County Milling Company, an enterprise which reflects credit on Frederiektown.
William M. Gudger is strictly . a self-made man, the admirable success which he has achieved in the business world of Madison county being the direet result of his own well applied endeavors. He was born in the vicinity of Nashville, Tennessee, the date of his nativity being the 29th of May, 1869. He is a son of John and Nancy (MeCreary) Gud- ger, both of whom were natives of North Caro- lina, whence they removed to Tennessee a short time after their marriage. In the early '70s they decided to move still further west, and accordingly came to Missouri, settling at Fredericktown. They were the owners of a fine plantation in Tennessee in the ante- bellum days but the ravages of the war prac- tically ruined them. The father was identi- fied with farming operations during the greater part of his active career and he was summoned to the life eternal in 1908, when past seventy years of age. The mother died in 1884, in her forty-fifth year. John Gudger was a devout Methodist in his religious faith and his wife was a member of the Baptist church. Mr. and Mrs. Gudger were the par- ents of five children, two of whom are de- ceased. Those living are: Henry, who is en- gaged in the railroad business in Texas ; Lulu, who is the wife of Henry Robinson, of St. Francois county. Missouri; and William M., the immediate subjeet of this review.
Mr. Gudger grew to young manhood at Fredericktown, where his preliminary educa- tional training consisted of such advantages as were afforded in the publie schools. Af- ter leaving school he launched out into the business world on his own aeconnt, early be- eoming interested in milling enterprises. Ile had no capital to start with but by hard work and careful management he finally forged ahead and today he is recognized as one of
the most prominent and influential citizens in this place. He is president of the Madison County Milling Company, which important concern was incorporated under the laws of the state of Missouri in 1903. In November of that year the present mill was erected and since that time a splendid business has been controlled. The Company is incorporated with a capital stock of twelve thousand dol- lars and the officers are as follows: W. M. Gudger, president; George O. Smith, secre- tary; and Henry Ward, director. The ca- pacity of the mill is one hundred and fifty barrels of flour per day and two of the lead- ing brands of flour in this section of the state are turned out, namely, "Pride of Madison" and "Lily of the Valley." A force of five men are constantly employed and ninety per cent of the wheat ground comes from local customers. Mr. Gudger was formerly asso- ciated in the milling business with Messrs. DeGuire and Lanpher, being a member of the DeGuire Milling Company at Fredericktown for some eighteen years. His long association with milling enterprises has made him ex- pert in that particular business and under his careful and wise management the Madison County Milling Company has prospered won- derfully.
In the year 1894 was celebrated the mar- riage of Mr. Gudger to Miss Elizabeth Hunter, a native of St. Francois county. Mis- sonri, and a daughter of English parents, who came to America about the year 1873. Mrs. (indger's father was long engaged in teach- ing in this part of the state and he is now residing at Fredericktown. Mr. and Mrs. Gudger have no children living.
In politics Mr. Gudger is a loyal supporter of the principles of the Democratic party and for six or seven years he was a member of the city council of Frederiektown. Ile is now serving on the school board. In Scottish Rite Masonry he has attained to the thirty-second degree and he is also a member of Moolah Temple, Aneient Arabic Order of the Nobles of the Mystic Shrine. IIe is likewise con- neeted with the Independent Order of Odd Fellows and Mrs. Gudger is a member of the Daughters of Rebekah. In their religious faith they are devout communicants of the Protestant Episcopal church, to whose good work they are liberal contributors.
MOSES ROSENTHAL, M. D., in his profes- sional service has been prompted by a land- able ambition for advancement as well as by
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deep sympathy and humanitarian principles that urge him to put forth his best efforts in the alleviation of pain and suffering. He has gained recognition from the profession as one of its able representatives and the trust reposed in him by the public is indi- cated by the liberal patronage awarded him. Since 1903 Dr. Rosenthal has been a valued citizen of Cape Girardeau and here he is uni- versally admired and respected for his high order of ability and for his loyal and public- spirited interest in all matters affecting the general welfare.
At Scranton, Pennsylvania, occurred the birth of Dr. Moses Rosenthal, the date of his nativity being the 15th of May, 1858. He is a son of Julius Rosenthal, who was born and reared at Stolp, Germany, whence he im- migrated to the United States about the year 1855. Julius Rosenthal was born in the year 1825 and he was summoned to the life eternal in 1892. For a time after his arrival in this country he resided in the city of St. Louis, Missouri, where he was engaged in the general merchandise business. At the time of the inception of the Civil war he gave evidence of his intrinsic loyalty to the cause of the south by enlisting as a soldier in the Con- federate army. In 1865, just after the close of the war, he went to Jackson, Tennessee, where he was engaged for a number of years in the mercantile business and where he con- tinued to reside until his demise. In 1857 was solemnized his marriage to Miss Hen- rietta Ackerman and this union was prolific of four children, of whom the Doctor was the first born and of whom he is now the only survivor. By a former marriage Julius Rosenthal had one child, Benjamin, a resident of Kentucky.
Dr. Rosenthal was a child of seven years of age at the time of the establishment of the family home at Jackson, Tennessee, where his preliminary educational training con- sisted of such advantages as were afforded in an old Catholic school. Subsequently he was matriculated as a student in the Southern Baptist Union University, at Jackson, Ten- nessee, in which excellent school of learning he was graduated as a member of the class of 1875. For two years after completing his collegiate course he was engaged in business with his father but in 1877, deciding upon the medical profession as his future life work, he began to study for the same under the able preceptorship of Dr. Joseph Thompson, at Paducah, Kentucky, the latter having been
a surgeon in the Confederate army under General Sidney Johnson. From Paducah Dr. Rosenthal removed to St. Louis, Missouri, where he attended the Missouri Medical Col- lege, in which well equipped institution he was graduated in 1880, duly receiving his degree of Doctor of Medicine. Prior to his graduation and during his residence in Ken- tucky he had been admitted to the medical fraternity of the old Bluegrass state and for a short time he was associated with Dr. Thompson in a general practice. Immedi- ately after graduation he opened offices in the city of St. Louis, where he resided until 1882 and where he was successful in building up a large and lucrative patronage. On account of ill health, however, he was forced to give up his practice in the Missouri metropolis and he then went to Pemiscot county, this state, remaining there for a period of two years, at the expiration of which, in 1885, he re- moved to Kennett, in Dunklin county. He maintained his home in the latter place until 1903 and in that year came to Cape Girar- deau, where he controls an extensive practice and where he is a man of prominence and in- fluence in all the relations of life. Since com- ing to this city Dr. Rosenthal has pursued post-graduate courses in St. Louis, Chicago and New York. He is interested in and is a valued member of a number of representa- tive medical organizations of representative character, including the Southeastern Mis- souri Medical Society, in which he has been honored with a number of important official positions. He is surgeon for the C. G. & C. Railroad Company and is everywhere held in high esteem for his splendid ability in the field of one of the most helpful profes- sions to which man may devote his energies.
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