USA > Missouri > History of southeast Missouri : a narrative account of its historical progress, its people and its principal interests, Volume I > Part 75
Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25 | Part 26 | Part 27 | Part 28 | Part 29 | Part 30 | Part 31 | Part 32 | Part 33 | Part 34 | Part 35 | Part 36 | Part 37 | Part 38 | Part 39 | Part 40 | Part 41 | Part 42 | Part 43 | Part 44 | Part 45 | Part 46 | Part 47 | Part 48 | Part 49 | Part 50 | Part 51 | Part 52 | Part 53 | Part 54 | Part 55 | Part 56 | Part 57 | Part 58 | Part 59 | Part 60 | Part 61 | Part 62 | Part 63 | Part 64 | Part 65 | Part 66 | Part 67 | Part 68 | Part 69 | Part 70 | Part 71 | Part 72 | Part 73 | Part 74 | Part 75 | Part 76 | Part 77 | Part 78 | Part 79 | Part 80 | Part 81 | Part 82 | Part 83 | Part 84 | Part 85 | Part 86 | Part 87 | Part 88 | Part 89 | Part 90 | Part 91 | Part 92 | Part 93 | Part 94 | Part 95 | Part 96 | Part 97 | Part 98 | Part 99 | Part 100 | Part 101 | Part 102 | Part 103
Another man who has been closely asso- ciated with the development of the lead in- dustry in Southeast Missouri is F. P. Graves, who was born in Rochester, New York, in 1849. After receiving a good education he came to Missouri and found employment in the St. Joseph lead mines at Bonne Terre ; this was about the year 1869. Before coming to Missouri he had had some experience in lead mines in Massachusetts. When he first became connected with the St. Joseph Lead Company he worked in the mill and the shops, but after two years was made cashier of the company and held this position for seventeen years. In 1887 he became connected with the Doe Run Lead Company, assisting in its or- ganization and becoming its secretary and as- sistant superintendent. Under his direction the company prospered greatly and the Doe Run mines became one of the chief lead pro- ducing centers in this part of the state. Mr. Graves has found time from his connection with the lead industry to take an intelligent and active interest in public affairs. He served as postmaster at Doe Run from 1887 to 1891 and has been a consistent party worker though never a candidate for public office. Mr. Graves gathered one of the finest collections of minerals in the state, and it has been a feature of a number of great expositions in this country.
Firmin DesLoge, whose name is connected with the development of the mining district of Southeast Missouri, was born at Potosi in Washington county. His father was a na- tive of Nantes, France, who came to Potosi while a young man and engaged in a mercan- tile and lead-mining business. Firmin Des- Loge was educated at Potosi and at St. Louis University, and began his business career as
558
HISTORY OF SOUTHEAST MISSOURI
a clerk for the firm of John B. Valle & Com- pany of St. Louis. In 1867 he gave up his position and turned his attention to mining operations at Potosi. He was one of the first men to become interested in the mining pros- pects of St. Francois county. He purchased land adjacent to the plant of the St. Joseph Lead Company and built a smelting plant for the corporation known as the DesLoge Lead Company. Mr. DesLoge managed this company until it was sold in 1887 to the St. Joseplı Lead Company. During his connec- tion with this corporation he helped to build the first railroad, the Bonne Terre & Missis- sippi Valley Railroad, which penetrated the lead regions to St. Francois county. Later
Mr. DesLoge bought property which had be- longed to the Bogy Lead Mine Company and the St. Francois Mining Company and organ- ized a new corporation known as the DesLoge Consolidated Lead Company. The Bonne Terre Railroad was extended to these mines which were operated on a large scale. Not only was he interested in the development of the mining industry in which he acquired con- siderable wealth, but Mr. DesLoge was inter- ested in public affairs ; he served as treasurer of Washington county and on various occa- sions was a director of public schools. The town of DesLoge, now one of the prosperous mining communities of St. Francois county, was named in his honor.
5
JEBalduin
559
HISTORY OF SOUTHEAST MISSOURI
JUDGE THOMAS EDWARD BALDWIN. There is one mystery in this brief life and that mystery is death. What we call history is a long procession of human beings, reaching back into the ages, who arrive on this earth, act, hate, love, accumulate, strive and then go back. Each one of us has one spark of life and then death, the mystery of the un- known. The thought of death should stimu- late a man to better work and harder work, that he may shine in some way while his little spark is still a light. Whether Thomas Edward Baldwin ever reflected just along these lines or not, the fact is that he made the most of his life while he was here and when the spark went out, reflections from it still remain.
He was born in Cape Girardeau, Missouri, October 23, 1849, and died May 27, 1904, at Kennett, Missouri. £ His father, Thomas Baldwin, was born in Scott county, Missouri, November 16, 1810. He married Elizabeth Lobdell, and both died in 1859, when the Judge was but ten years of age. John Bald- win, father of Thomas, was born in Berkeley ·county, Virginia, October 26, 1771; and mar- ried Rachel Wellbourne, January 28, 1796, in Washington county, Georgia. The family came from Georgia to Missouri in 1803, lo- cating at what, in the early days was known as Baldwin's Landing, in Scott county, Mis- souri. John Baldwin was a descendant of one of three brothers who, in 1643, came from England and settled at New Haven, Connecticut. One of these brothers later removed to Virginia and is the progenitor of this branch of the family.
Judge Baldwin was as a boy thrown upon his own resources and got what education was possible in the schools of Cape Girardeau, where he remained until twenty-one years of age. He then came on the old road to Clark- ton, Dunklin county, Missouri, where he clerked in a store owned by Mr. Whitelaw. Previous to that time, however, he had clerked for Leech and Company at Cape Girardeau. Young as he was, he was appointed Circuit and County Clerk to fill a vacancy soon after coming to Clarkton, which necessitated his living in Kennett. Subsequently in 1878, he was elected and in 1880 re-elected to the same office and by that time had decided to re- main in Kennett. In 1882 he was elected probate judge, serving four years, during the last two of which he was also county treasurer.
Judge Baldwin became a partner of W. F. Shelton in a general store at Kennett in
1886, under the firm name of W. F. Shelton & Company.
For four years he remained in the store as book-keeper and credit man, at the end of which time he sold out his share to his partner, buying a drug store on the site of the present Baldwin Drug Store. The store had formerly been owned by the late Dr. A. B. Mobley. After conducting the drug store for two or three years he erected a brick block, in which he installed his drug store. His building and the one erected by W. F. Shelton about the same time, 1892, were the first brick buildings in Kennett. Ile con- tinued to manage the drug store until 1896, when he sold out to O. S. Harrison, who had been his druggist. He next became inter- ested in real estate and was for years agent of the Great Chouteau lands, but in addi- tion to this he bought and sold on his own account. At one time he owned several thou- sand acres of swamp land, four thousand acres in one tract. At the time of his death he owned two thousand acres and a three hundred and twenty acre farm near Kennett that he had cleared. He laid out Rose Park Addition to Kennett, selling the lots himself. He was an organizer of the Bank of Kennett, being its president until a few months be- fore he died, his interest still remaining in the bank. He was always ready to do any- thing he could for the betterment of the town and also served the county as its rep- resentative in the state legislature. He was a Democrat, always active in county and local campaigns.
In 1872 he married Mary J. Pankey, daughter of Dr. G. Pankey. Her father was born at Richmond, Virginia, where he re- ceived his education, being brought up on the farm. He became a tobacco grower and dealer in the south, owning a great number of slaves to cultivate and pick the tobacco. He always treated them in the most con- siderate manner and they were devoted to him. He married Miss Sally Jones, a charm- ing Southern woman, a native of Richmond like himself. All business was beginning to be very much demoralized in the south and Mr. Pankey was losing money on his planta- tion. He therefore sold off everything he possessed, except his slaves. These he brought with him to Missouri, settling at Clarkton, where he bought a small farm and started a store. In 1861, when the war broke out, he raised a regiment for the Confederate army, he being its Colonel. He served throughout the war, at the end of which time
560
HISTORY OF SOUTHEAST MISSOURI
he set his slaves free, but they never lost the feelings of affection and devotion towards him, but would have cheerfully laid down their lives for him at any time. One of them, Charles Birthwright, with his wife Bettie, live in Clarkton and are leaders among the colored people of that town. Colonel Pankey lived in Cardwell, Missouri, later, where he died in January, 1910, at the age of seventy- four, his wife having died many years before. The Colonel served the county as county col- lector. He was a man who had served the country both in the army and in civil affairs. He was very well known all over the state and was universally respected. D. B. Pan- key, the son of the Colonel and brother to Mrs. Baldwin, is well known in Kennett, hav- ing served it in many capacities. He was clerk of the county and one time mayor. He was one of the organizers of the bank and is its cashier still. He has seen it grow in wealth and reputation. He is president of the electric light company, having helped to organize it. He is president of the Ken- nett Store Company and of the St. Louis, Keokuk & Southeastern Railroad Company and is treasurer of the Dunklin Publishing Company. Mrs. Baldwin's sphere of useful- ness has been her home, but she has been every whit as effective as her father and her brother, though in a more retired way. She has brought up a family of six children, all of whom are a credit to her. Sallie May Baldwin, the eldest child, is now the wife of L. P. Tatum, a merchant in Kennett. Edward Y. is cashier of the Campbell Lumber Com- pany and a director in the Kennett Bank. Ernest Albert is proprietor of the Baldwin Drug Store, formerly owned by his father. Paul is a physician, having received his de- gree of Doctor of Medicine at the Washing- ton University, medical department, in 1904. He is now practicing medicine in Kennett and making a success, as the son of such a father and such a mother must needs do. Lillian Ballard is just graduated from the Synodical College at Fulton, Missouri, in the class of 1911. Josephine, the youngest, is at present attending the public school of Kennett.
Mr. Baldwin is a Mason and also a member of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows. He was a member of the Presbyterian church, having been an elder from the time of its organization, twenty-five years ago, when the Reverend Beale was its first minister. Dur- ing all these years, with all his business activ-
ities, it was the church which received his in- terest above all else. His greatest pleasure was in working for the church and it is need- less to say that practically the whole re- sponsibility of the church rested on his shoulders. When a man is both capable and willing, he is sure to have more thrust upon him than he really ought to carry. He was superintendent of the Sunday-school, know- ing personally every teacher and scholar. Each one felt that in Mr. Baldwin he was sure to find a sympathetic confidant, one who had the faculty of entering into the feelings of others, no matter how much opposed they were to his own feelings and beliefs. He was a friend to any one who needed his help, giving money, time and of himself. It is now seven years since he passed on into the unknown, but the work he organized is still going on, the children he guided in the Sun- day-school are fast growing up, but they have not forgotten him. He has gone, but his in- fluence will never die. That is the thought that must have been of comfort to his family during these years, as they live the kinds of lives that he would have had them live, try- ing to be the kind of men and women that he would have had them be.
OTTO KOCHTITZKY, as he commonly writes his name, or Otto von Kochtitzky, as he is en- titled to write it, is perhaps the best authority on swamp land values and drainage in South- eastern Missouri. He was born in South Bend, Indiana, May 4, 1855, and comes of a family well-known both in this country and abroad. His father, Oscar von Kochtitzky, was for some years state auditor, and was connected with many public enterprises.
The son Otto was educated in the public schools and the Jefferson City high school. Upon taking up active work for himself he be- came interested in surveying and qualified himself for the work of a civil engineer. He was for a time surveyor of New Madrid coun- ty, and thus became acquainted with the great opportunities offered by the swamp lands of the section. He was interested in building the Little River Valley and Arkansas Railroad from New Madrid to Malden, the beginning of the present St. Louis Southwestern System. He was one of the first men in the section to sce the possibilities of drainage in the swamps of Little River and made a thorough study of the topography of the country and of the his- tory and development of drainage in similar sections, especially in Indiana and Illinois. In
561
HISTORY OF SOUTHEAST MISSOURI
spite of great discouragements arising from the inherent difficulties of the situation, the indifference of the people of the district, Mr. Kochtitzky persevered in his efforts to estab- lish a system of drainage which should re- claim the overflowed lands of Little River. He carried on a campaign of education, became associated with the Luce family, which made the first attempts at constructing drainage canals on a large scale, and was finally success- ful in having much of the swamp land terri- tory organized into districts and the work of drainage actually begun. Under his direction many miles of canals were constructed and much land reclaimed. His efforts in this re- spect resulted in the organization of the Little River Valley Drainage Company, which has for its object the construction of a diversion channel which shall turn the waters of White- water, Crooked Creek and other streams which enter the lowlands from the Ozark plateau into the Mississippi river just south of the city of Cape Girardeau, thus preventing this water from spreading over the lowlands; and the digging of a large drainage canal to carry off the water which falls on the swamps of Little river. This is a most ambitious scheme, which calls for the expenditure of several mil- lion dollars and which will probably result in reclaiming large bodies of land. Mr. Koch- titzky was for a time the chief engineer of this company and did most of the preliminary work of organization.
His chief attention at the present time is given to the development of large tracts of valuable lands which he has acquired and to the work of contracting in the digging of drainage ditches.
Mr. Kochtitzky has never been greatly in- terested in politics, though he was a delegate to the Democratic convention in 1896 that nominated Palmer and Buckner, being the only representative from the Thirteenth Con- gressional district of Missouri.
For a number of years he has made his home at Cape Girardeau, having formerly lived at a number of places in this section. He, with his family, is a member of the Pres- byterian church.
Mr. Kochtitzky has done much for South- eastern Missouri. He is intimately acquainted with the country, is a clear and convincing writer, and has rendered very valuable service in making this section of the country known in other places and its opportunities appre- ciated. Few citizens of Missouri have con- tributed as much to the upbuilding of his great section of the state. One of the matters Vol. I-36
about which he has strong convictions is the New Madrid earthquake of 1811-'12. He does not believe that in any way affected the level of the country, changed its water- courses, or left other permanent effects. He dissents from the views expressed in another part of this work, holding that they are based on imperfect data.
C. E. BURTON. It is one of the rarest oc. currences in this commercial age that a man of marked business ability takes a place in the ranks of our educators. The teaching profession engages citizens of the loftiest in- tellectual and moral qualifications, but those who follow it seldom find opportunity to ex- ereise their talents in the business world. Wayne county is singularly fortunate in hav- ing at the head of her school system a man who is at once a born teacher and conspicu- ously successful in commercial pursuits, Mr. C. E. Burton, of Piedmont.
C. T. Burton, the county superintendent's father, was born in Tennessee August 15. 1852. At the age of twenty he left his native state and went to Kentucky, where he con- dueted a store and engaged in farming. His marriage to Miss Ellen Walker, a native of the Blue Grass state, took place in 1874. Mrs. C. T. Burton was born in Carlisle county in the year 1854. Seven years after their mar- riage Mr. and Mrs. Burton moved to Mis- souri, locating first on a farm near Piedmont and later moving into the town. Here Mr. Burton established a mercantile business, which he conducted until 1908, when he re- tired. He and his wife are now living in Piedmont and it is their good fortune to have the four children who are now living of the six born to them all residing in Piedmont and its environs. These are: Mand, Mrs. Charles McFarland: Artie, Mrs. C. F. She]- ton, and Daisy, still at home, besides C. E. Burton, of this sketch.
Kentucky was the birthplace of Mr. C. E. Burton and the year of his nativity was 1877. Until he was four, he lived ou the Kentucky farm. After his parents came to Missouri, he attended the Piedmont high school. front which he graduated at the age of sixteen. The next year he began teaching. At nineteen. Mr. Burton graduated from Wayne Acad- emy and has continued his work of teaching and studying ever since. He has taught in the grades and in the high school, and is fa- miliar with every part of the work of the entire curriculum from the primary grade to the university.
562
HISTORY OF SOUTHEAST MISSOURI
Three years ago, Governor Folk appointed Mr. Burton to fill out four months of J. K. Clubb's unexpired term as county commis- sioner. In the spring of 1909 he was elected a county commissioner and in August, 1909, Mr. Burton qualified as county superintend- ent. In 1911 he was again elected to the su- perintendency without opposition. Mr. Bur- ton has unusual qualities both as a man and as an instructor. He is a born teacher and an eminently progressive one. His efforts to elevate the standard of the Wayne county schools are unremitting. Under his regime some of the rural schools have added the first year of high school work to their course of study, and the high school graduates are ad- mitted to several colleges without examina- tion. Mr. Burton's educational training be- yond the common schools has been acquired by his own efforts.
On Christmas day of 1896 Mr. Burton was married to Miss Lula Bell Shelton, of Iron county, Missouri. Four children have blessed this union, all of whom are still in their par- ents' home; Celeste Cynthia, Inez Emory, Donald Clarence and Marjorie Florence. Both Mr. and Mrs. Burton are members of the Methodist church, South. In politics Mr. Burton is a Democrat and in a social way, a member of the Modern Woodmen's lodge of Piedmont.
In a business way Mr. Burton has been a successful dealer in real estate. He is also a property holder of some prominence in the county. His holdings include a residence in Piedmont and two hundred and ten acres of land near the town, on which he has a sum- mer cottage. In addition to this he has a residence in Greenville.
LUTHER P. TATUM, a successful merchant of Kennett, was born in Howard county, Mis- souri, January 3, 1863. He is the son of A. C. and Susan Franklin Tatum, who were natives of Virginia and Kentucky, respectively. L. P. Tatum, after acquiring an education in the schools of his native county, came to Kennett while a young man and immediately engaged
in business. He had even then the natural ability which makes men successful merchants and was successful from the first. The Ken- nett of that day was very different from the city of today. It was a struggling town of four or five hundred people and only a few men among them. Mr. Tatum, however, saw the great possibilities of the town.
In 1883 he formed a partnership with an older brother, James F. Tatum, under the firm name of Tatum Brothers. This soon became one of the leading mercantile firms of Dunk- lin county. It acquired the most desirable corner in the town, erected a commodious brick building, and was in a position to profit by the great growth of the town and its in- creased prosperity which followed the build- ing of its first railroad. The business is still conducted by Mr. Tatum under the firm name, although the senior partner is dead. Out of this business Mr. Tatum has acquired a com- fortable fortune and is a man of influence in his community.
In September, 1893, he was married to Miss Sallie M. Baldwin, daughter of Judge Thomas Baldwin, one of the most prominent and in- fluential men of the county. They live in one of the most beautiful and costly homes in the county, and have the respect and esteem of all their acquaintances.
LEE SHELTON. One of the most successful and enterprising merchants of Southeastern Missouri is Lee Shelton, of Kennett, a member of the firm of Shelton & Company. He was born at Kennett, January 11, 1875, and is the son of Joseph Jackson Shelton, who was born in 1836. He was educated in the public schools, in Bellevue Collegiate Institute at Caledonia, in college at Farmington and St. Louis and received a good business training at a business college in Quincy, Illinois.
Mr. Shelton's father died many years ago and he was reared by his uncle, W. F. Shel- ton, the shrewdest and most successful busi- ness man of Dunklin county. Under his train- ing Lee Shelton acquired a knowledge of actual practical business which has enabled him to carry on the large establishment of his firm in a most successful manner. This firm probably sells as many goods as any other in the southeast and probably buys more cotton than any other. In addition to his interest in this mercantile business he is heavily in- terested in many other enterprises, many of the larger undertakings in Dunklin county being financed by his firm. He has recently erected a large office building on a prominent corner in Kennett, which is as well equipped as those found in the large cities.
Mr. Shelton finds time from his large enter- prises to give attention to public matters. He has served as a member of the board of alder-
563
HISTORY OF SOUTHEAST MISSOURI
men of Kennett, and has been for many years one of the most valued members of the board of education.
Mr. Shelton is married and has a beautiful home in Kennett.
WASHINGTON S. DEARMONT. There is much of consistency in the paraphrase of a familiar quotation which is made to express the senti- ment that "education makes the man, the want of it the fellow," for the entire basic differentiation between the various social grades is made through the training of men- tal powers. The progress of civilization has been accomplished by men of strong men- tality and well disciplined faculties, and there is no vocation which is of so great importance and that imposes so great re- sponsibility as that of the teacher, whether his work be in the more rudimentary grades or in the broad field of exalted scholarship. Numbered among the able and valued fac- tors in educational work in the state of Mis- souri is Professor Washington Strother Dearmont, who is the honored president of the Missouri State Normal School at Cape Girardeau and whose career in the domain of pedagogic endeavor has been one of sig- nal success. He has proved a most able ad- ministrative officer in his present position, in which also he has found ample scope for the most effective work along scholastic lines. None of the normal schools of the state has a higher reputation than that at Cape Girar- deau and at no period in its history has its standard been higher than under the regime of its present chief executive, who has at all times held the confidence and high re- gard of the student body and who has been able to infuse the utmost enthusiasm into all departments of the work of the institution, oy gaining the zealous co-operation of the various members of the corps of instructors ind earnest and appreciative application on he part of the students who have availed themselves of the advantages of this admir- ible school.
Dr. Dearmont finds a due mede of pride ind satisfaction in reverting to the historic Old Dominion as the place of his nativity nd he is a scion of a family that was ounded in that commonwealth in the colon- al epoch. He was born in Clarke county, Virginia, on the 22d of September, 1859, nd is a son of Peter and Mary (Bell) Dear- nont, both of whom were born and reared
in Virginia, the former being of staunch English lineage and the ancestral line of the latter being traced back to staunch Irish stock.
Peter Dearmont was a successful agricul- turist in his native state until the ravages of the Civil war wrought disaster to him, as to so many other citizens of Virginia, which was the stage of action on the part of the contending forces for many weary months, as history well records. In 1871 he sought a new field of effort and removed with his family to Holt county, Missouri. There he purchased a farm in the vicinity of Mound City and with the passing of the years he was enabled, through industry and good man- agement, to again gain independence and sub- stantial prosperity, though he did not acquire wealth. He is now venerable in years and is living virtually retired on a farm near Mound City, Holt county, Missouri. His sterling integrity of character has given him the confidence and high regard of his fel -. low men and his life has been one of use- fulness and honor in all its relations. He is a staunch advocate of the principles of the Democratic party and his religious faith is that of the Presbyterian church, of which his wife likewise was a zealous member. The latter was summoned to the life eternal in 1900, at the age of sixty-three years, and her memory is revered by all who came within the sphere of her gentle influence. Of the children five sons and one daughter attained to years of maturity, and of the number Dr. Dearmont, of this review, is the eldest.
Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.