USA > Missouri > History of southeast Missouri : a narrative account of its historical progress, its people and its principal interests, Volume I > Part 77
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CON Miller
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for a time, and was afterwards engaged in general farming on his own account until 1903. Locating then in Essex, he was clerk in the store of William J. Hux, continuing in mercantile pursuits for several years. Be- ing appointed postmaster at Essex on March 20, 1909, Mr. Stady assumed charge of the office about two weeks later, on April 7, sue- ceeding the former postmaster, James R. Grant, who had been forced to resign the position on account of ill health. He has since devoted himself carefully to the duties devolving upon him in this capacity, having charge, in addition to the local service, of one star route going out from the Essex office.
Mr. Stady has ever evinced a warm in- terest in the promotion of the leading in- terests of town and county, and has served three years in the village Council, and is now a member of the Board of Education, and with his fellow-associates has done good work, the public schools of Essex being exception- ally fine for a town of its size. In April, 1911, Mr. Stady was elected mayor, and is not only pushing the improvements already inaugurated, including the laying of cement walks, but has paid off the indebtedness of the town and has money credited to the village in the local bank.
Mr. Stady has been twice married. He married first, in Bollinger county, Mary A. Henderson, who died in early womanhood, leaving one child, Mettie M. Mr. Stady mar- ried for his second wife, in Stoddard county, Electa E. Page, and to them three children have been born, namely: Merrill, Lillian and Kathleen. Fraternally Mr. Stady is a member of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows; and of Essex Lodge, No. 705, A. F. & A. M., in which he has passed all the chairs excepting that of worthy master. Mrs. Stady is a woman of devout Christian prin- ciples, and a member of the Methodist Epis- copal church.
WILLIAM HENRY MILLER, one of the most successful lawyers in southeastern Missouri is also president of the Southeast Missouri Trust Company at Cape Girardeau, Missouri, The men of his acquaintance are so accus- tomed to thinking of him as being away up at the top notch that they almost forget that he was not born that way. We fall into or climb up to close fitting positions in the ac- tivities of life, according to our varying sizes and values. All cannot be generals; most of
us find our places in the ranks of soldiers. In either capacity there is full incentive for our best endeavors as well as fitting recompense for the highest grade of service. Civiliza- tions in their early stages maintained a premium on brawn and perseverance. As they grow older physical supremacy gives way to intellectual. America is rapidly emerging from the rule of museular force and untutored intelligence to the sway of trained minds. In this age men who labor are val- ued by the amount of cash they can produce. The amount of wealth is largely governed by the intelligence brought to bear upon it. Mr. Miller has produced and is producing cash. He has acquired and is acquiring prominence amongst the men who know. This condition has not been brought about by accident, but is due to Mr. Miller's natural abilities and his unbounded capacity for work.
William Henry Miller was born in Cape Girardeau county, Missouri, September 28, 1856. His grandfather, Henry Miller, was a native of North Carolina and he came to Cape Girardeau county in 1808, locating on a farm twenty miles west of Cape Girardeau. He was one of the pioneers of the county and saw it grow from a collection of scattered hamlets into the cities and towns of which it is now composed. The Miller family orig- inally came from Germany and were early settlers in North Carolina. Andrew Miller, son of Henry and father of William Henry, was born December 20, 1825, on the farm in Cape Girardeau county, on which his father first located on his arrival in Cape Girardeau county. The farm is situated near Millers- town, which was named in his honor. He is now eighty-six years old and has spent his entire life on the farm, first where he was born and later on his wife's farm, where he now lives. He married and later managed thie farm on which his wife was born and where he now lives. She died in 1856, the year that her son William Henry was born. Of her three sons and one daughter who all grew to maturity, only two are living now, William Henry and his brother E. S. who is a farmer.
William Henry Miller's boyhood days were spent on the farm on which his mother was born, adjoining the farm on which his father was born and where his grandfather lived. He attended the public schools of his district until he was eighteen years of age, when he spent two years at the Southeastern Normal School. He then determined to become a lawyer and to that end he entered the state
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university and graduated from the law de- partment in 1879, immediately commencing the practice of law. He located at Jackson, Missouri, and became the first president of the Cape Girardeau County Savings Bank at Jackson, Missouri. For fourteen years he was attorney for the Cotton Belt Railroad and was also attorney for the Southern Illi- nois and Missouri Bridge Company at the time of its organization. He still holds this office. He served four years as member of the state board of law examiners of Missouri He is a director of the street railway com- pany.
October 5, 1881, was a notable one with him, as on that day was solemnized his mar- riage with Elizabeth Bollinger Welling a na- tive of Jackson, Missouri. One son was born to this union, Julien Gale, who followed law as his profession and is now practicing in Cape Girardeau.
William Henry Miller is a member of the Masonic order, is a Knight Templar and also a Shriner. He is a member of the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks in which or- ganization he is past excellent ruler. Mr. Miller is still president of the bank in Jack- son, having held that office since 1893. There is now a capital of fifty thousand dollars in the bank with sixty-five thousand dollars sur- plus. He is also president of the Southeast Missouri Trust Company, which has a paid up capital of five hundred thousand dollars, and one of the directors of the Sturdivant Bank, being chairman of the discount com- mittee. He is a loyal member of the Demo- cratic party, but has never desired public office. As a life long resident of southeast- ern Missouri it is natural that he should be intensely interested in any enterprise that affects the welfare of his native state. He has made a decided success of his life, both finan- cially and from a higher standpoint, for he has been of use to his fellow men. He is a citizen of whom the county is proud and one whom it delights to honor.
ALEXANDER THOMAS DOUGLASS, who was at the head of the family in Dunklin county, was a native of Virginia. He was born in Bedford county in that state April 5, 1811, being the son of Robert Henry and Permelia (Noel) Douglass. The family was originally from Scotland and it seems that the second "s" in the name was added in this country to distinguish different branches of the family.
The children of Robert Henry and Permelia
Douglass besides Alexander Thomas, were Louvina, who became the wife of a man named Penny in Callaway county, Kentucky; Cath- erine, who married Matthew Senter of Ten- nessee and removed to Southeast Missouri ; and Alfred Hill Douglass, who afterward lived in Cheatham county, Tennessee.
Alexander T. Douglass was married at Mos- cow, Kentucky, to Elizabeth Mott in 1838. The entire family moved from Virginia to Montgomery county, Tennessee, in 1830. At various times they lived near Fulton, near Union City, Tennessee and in Callaway county, Kentucky. The family was related to the Callaways in whose honor Callaway county was named. While living in Kentucky they were associated with the family of Daniel Boone and at one time Sue Callaway, a cousin of Alexander T. Douglass, and Daniel Boone's daughter May, were captured by the Indians and after a thrilling pursuit were rescued.
In 1850 the family consisting of father, mother and children moved to Dunklin county where they engaged in farming, the land which was settled by them was near the site of the present town of Caruth. Mr. Douglass made his home at this place until the time of his death in 1876.
Dunklin county was at this time a frontier county. The first settlers were still living and the population was exceedingly small conditions of life were hard in many respects but Mr. Douglass was a bold, vigorous, hardy and enterprising man and soon accumulated a competence. He was held in the highest respect and confidence by his neighbors, and while never a politician or candidate for office was appointed to positions of trust, at one time being made a special commissioner for the sale of county lands and at another time being vested with authority to adjust certain difficult matters in the early history of the county. In person he was a tall well pro: portioned man of commanding presence and bearing and possessed a wonderful strengtl. and power of endurance; he died in 1876, a previously stated, from an attack of erysip elas.
His wife, Elizabeth Mott, was born in Ken tucky, June 12, 1821. Her family was on of the pioneer families of that state and man of its members are still living there. One o her sisters, Mrs. W. H. Helm, lives at Ker nett. Mrs. Douglass died at Senath, Febru ary 1, 1899. To Mr. and Mrs. Douglas there were born the following children : Rey
MR. AND MRS. A. T. DOUGLASS
Jas. M. Douglass
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R. H. Douglass, who died at Caruth in 1904; William, who died as a young man; J. M. and A. W. of Senath; Mrs. Hettie Satterfield of Helena, Arkansas; Mrs. Jennie Lawson of Cape Girardeau; Mrs. C. P. McDaniel and Mrs. Lucy Baird of Senath.
JUDGE JAMES M. DOUGLASS, of Senath, Missouri, was born in Fulton county, Kcn- tucky, October 27, 1847. He is the son of Alexander T. and Elizabeth (Mott) Douglass He eame with his parents to Dunklin county in the year 1850. The family set- tled on Grand Prairie, not far from the site of the present town of Caruth. Dunklin county was only sparsely settled at that time and the life was largely that of a frontier country. Schools were few then and opportunities for education were very limited. Pioneer life is wonderfully stimulating to both body and mind, however, and it is always true that some education may be had under the most adverse circumstances. The boy who desires to learn finds some way opened to him. It was true in this case. He had always a desire for an education and a just appreciation of its importance. This led him to take advan- tage of such schools as were afforded and to pursue his studies at home. Thus, in spite of the limitations of early life, he was able to acquire a business education, being a life-long student, and is a well informed man.
His principal occupation has been that of a farmer and stock raiser, although he has always been interested in other things as well. In 1879 he was elected county asses- sor, and made a very careful study of prop- erty values. The assessment he made was ac- cordingly one of the fairest and best ever made in the county. A few years later he was elected a member of the county court, serving two terms of two years each. Here his well known good judgment and his knowl- edge of conditions in the county made his services especially valuable to the people. Since the expiration of his term of office he has never been a candidate for other official positions, but he has always maintained an intelligent interest in politics.
He was one of the organizers of the Cotton Exchange Bank of Kennett and served as its president for five years. At the expiration of that time he assisted in the organization of the Citizens Bank of Senath. serving as its president until he was forced to spend some years away from the county on account of his health. He is now president of the Bank
of Senath. IIis business operations have enabled him to accumulate a competency, and he owns several hundred acres of fertile farm land.
Judge Douglass moved to Senath in 1881, before it was dignified by the name of "town." At that time the present site of the town of Senath was a dense forest, and many are the changes which he has seen worked in that place. He has been one of the foremost men of the town of Senath since its organiza- tion many years ago, and has contributed his full quota toward the growth and upbuilding of the town, much of the credit for the pres- ent standing of Senath as a thriving and prosperous community of right belonging to Judge Douglass.
On Christmas day, 1881, he was married to Miss Belle Phelan, a daughter of William G. and Belle (Randol) Phelan. The father of Mrs. Douglass was a native of Ireland, hav- ing been educated there for the Catholic priesthood, but became a lawyer instead of taking holy orders, and for many years prac- ticed law in southeast Missouri. The mother was a member of the Randol family of Scott county, one of the oldest and best known fam- ilies in the state.
Judge Douglass and his wife are the par- ents of five children : J. Mott, who is a mem- ber of the drug firm of Bradley & Douglass at Senath : Thomas G., who is superintendent of schools at Senath; Miss Frances, a teacher in the Senatlı schools; Allen M., who is a consulting chemist, now located in Mid- land, Michigan; and Margaret, a student in the State Normal School at Cape Girardeau.
The Judge is an active member of the Bap- tist church, and fraternally is a Mason.
GILBERT OWEN NATIONS was born in Perry county, Missouri, on August 18, 1866. His father, James W. Nations, fought under the stars and stripes in the Civil war as a pri- vate in Company F, Fiftieth Missouri Vol- unteer Infantry, and after the close of the war he engaged in the milling business, taught school and did considerable survey- ing and civil engineering, having held the office of county surveyor of Ste. Genevieve county, Missouri, for eight years. In 1861 James W. Nations was married to Miss Caro- line L. Hart, of Perry county, Missouri. Of this union seven children were born, five of whom, including the subject of this sketch, are living.
Gilbert grew up amid the rugged hills of
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Ste. Genevieve county, where his parents inade their home in his early childhood. Be- sides the indifferent educational advantages then offered in the rural schools of that neigh- borhood, he did much systematic home study ; and at the age of ten years he had gained considerable notoriety among the neighbors on account of his attainments in arithmetic, geography and other common-school branches of study. In his eighteenth year he entered the State Normal School at Cape Girardeau, Missouri, and completed the sophomore year in ten months. After teaching in the public schools of home county a few terms he be- came a student in the National Normal Uni- versity at Lebanon, Ohio, then under the presidency of Alfred Holbrook, and com- pleted the course in the College of Science. Returning to Missouri, he resumed the work of teaching in the public schools, holding the superintendency of schools for several years successively at Crystal City and at Farm- ington.
On December 6, 1886, he was married to Miss Sarah E. MeFarland, of Coffman, Mis- sonri. Their oldest child, Heber, is a grad- uate of the Cape Girardeau State Normal School and is married and engaged in the real estate business at Flat River, Missouri. Heber is twenty-two years younger than his father. Six younger children, Zora. aged twenty; Gustavus, aged eighteen; Myrtle, aged fifteen ; Paul, aged twelve; Florence, aged ten, and Carl, aged seven, complete the family circle of Judge Nations and his esti- mable wife in their delightful home in Farm- ington. The entire family except Carl, are members of the Christian church, in which the Judge has been an elder for nearly twenty years.
In 1894 the subject of this sketch was ex- amined by the State Superintendent of Public Schools, assisted by the faculty of the War- rensburg State Normal School, and was given a first grade state teacher's certificate, valid for life. Ile also passed successfully the ex- amination given by the City Superintendent of Schools of St. Louis to those applying for principalships in that city, besides complet- ing a year of regular post-graduate work at Hiram College for which he was awarded an appropriate degree.
While teaching at Farmington he studied law and was admitted to the bar in the spring of 1902. In the same year the Republican party nominated him for the office of pro-
bate judge, and he was elected by nearly a hundred majority, though the county went Democratic by nearly three hundred major- ity. No other Republican nominee had then carried the county in thirty years. At the close of his term he was renominated and re- elected in the face of a substantial Demo- cratic majority.
In his habits and tastes, Judge Nations is a commoner. He stands uncompromisingly for clean politics and the rights of the peo- ple. He is opposed to the control of our politics and institutions by predatory wealth. While favoring the principles of the Repub- lican party, he believes it to be the duty of voters to favor the election of the men who are honest and capable and who will render the best service to the public. As a lawyer he is rapidly gaining an enviable reputation and is building up a clean and lucrative practice. Those who know him be- lieve intensely in his personal and profes- sional honesty. An eloquent and forceful public speaker, he has become one of the most influential men in southeast Missouri.
WILL MAYFIELD COLLEGE at Marble Hill, Missouri, is one of the favorably-known, care- fully conducted and enlightened institutions of learning of the state. It is the outcome of what was formerly known as the May- field-Smith Academy and was founded in 1878 by W. H. Mayfield and Dr. Smith, at Sedgewickville, Missouri. In 1880 the school was moved to Marble Hill and chartered. Professor T. W. Tate was the first principal in charge of the school at Sedgewickville and twenty-two pupils were enrolled in 1878 and 1879. Elder A. M. Johnson was the first prin- cipal at Marble Hill in 1880 and 1881.
The school was successively under the ad- ministration of Drs. Graham, Graves, Dob- bins, Mingo and F. J. Hendershot, until 1903, when it was re-chartered as the Will Mayfield College. It has now at its head that excellent educator, Professor A. F. Hend- ricks, of whom further mention is made in the Hendricks biography on other pages of this work.
The school has been fostered and supported by the Missionary Baptist of South-Eastern Missouri Associations. In 1877 plans were projected by Messrs. Shurtleff, Mercer. Jew- ell and Mayfield for the founding of the school. On February 10, 1878, a fund of one thousand one hundred dollars was pro-
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vided by Elder II. F. Tong, district mission- ary, and another fund or addition to the former, reaching the amount of one thousand four hundred dollars, was provided at Big Creek by the St. Francois Association, in September, 1878, and a committee consisting of W. II. Mayfield, J. Q. A. Whitener, and E. E. Graham was selected to effect an or- ganization and select a site.
The first board of trustees consisted of the following gentlemen : J. Frank Sitze, W. H. Mayfield, E. P. Settle, Alexander Jen- nings, H. M. Williams and William Spark- man. Those zealous in fostering the college were: W. H. Mayfield, F. M. Wells, J. Frank Sitze, A. J. Mayfield, H. F. Tong, E. L. Graham, Francis Graham, Henry Cheek, Enoch Robertson, F. C. Shell, J. Q. A. Whitener, J. W. Revelle. J. C. Heinbrey and E. R. Graham. F. M. Wells is president of the present board of trustees, and Jesse A. MeGlothlin, secretary.
The college is supported entirely by tui- tion and the Baptists of South-Eastern Mis- souri. The Baptists of sixteen counties are interested and students are drawn from the surrounding counties. Under a re-charting clause recently enacted, it is impossible for the college to remain in debt, and it is thus placed upon a remarkably firm financial foundation. A large and attractive boarding- hall (Rosemont Hall) in charge of Mrs. Hendricks will house thirty-six girl students comfortably.
Professor W. A. Devanlt is vice-president of the college and a faculty of seven teachers is employed. Two degrees are conferred, namely: Bachelor of Science and Bachelor of Arts. Twenty-three graduates were re- ported for the year 1911 and one hundred and seventy students were continuously en- rolled in 1910-1911. Strong departments of music and elocution are maintained in the institution, thus sending forth an appeal to students so inclined. A high moral training is an important feature, the methods of the college proceeding on the thought that mo- rality in the best sense ean be taught only through the inculcation of high ideals con- stautly kept before the minds of the student.
The college buildings, which are commodi- ous structures, are situated on a commanding wooded height, and are situated in a health- ful locality, excellent drinking water of the mineral sort similar to that obtained from the Marble Hill mineral well furnishing a
strong recommendation to parents to whom the health of their sons and daughters is dear.
PROFESSOR A. F. HENDRICKS. There is no profession open to man so fraught with equal responsibility and opportunity to serve the race as that of the educator, for in equip- ping the young for their work in life he has somehow to combine all professions, and in the greater number of individuals that pass through his hands at the most pliant periods of their careers, he holds the responsibility for the mental, moral, and physical vigor of each recurring "next generation." One of the educators of southeastern Missouri whose calibre justifies his high calling is Professor A. F. Hendricks, the president of Mayfield College. He is a man in whom high ideals and exceptional vision are happily united with a broad experience and keen sense of practical values, a combination of qualities needed but rarely found in the field of education.
Professor A. F. Hendricks was born Feb- ruary 1, 1870, in James county, Tennessee, the son of Nathan and Mary J. Hendricks. His father was a skilled mechanic, and both the parents, knowing the inestimable value of a thorough education, were vastly inter- ested that their son should enjoy its benefits. After having finished his preparatory work in the public schools of Birchwood, Tennessee, the son attended the seminary at Shumach, Georgia, and then went to Dayton Univer- sity in Tennessee. Following that Professor Hendricks went to the Valparaiso University, at Valparaiso, Indiana, graduating there in the class of 1904. He returned the next year and took post-graduate work in the same col- lege. In the year 1906 his desire to be thor- oughly prepared for his life work led him to take graduate work in the University of Chicago. In his career as an educator Pro- fessor Hendricks has been in many places. In 1905-1907 he was principal of the Lutes- ville schools. Ilis first teaching was done in 1893, in Hamilton county, Tennessee, and he had charge of the Morgantown schools for three years, following by two years at the head of the Dayton city schools. In 1907 he was elected to the presidency of Will May- field College, and his incumbeney of this of- fice has been such as to bring honor both on himself and on the institution whose policies he directs. Since his advent, an addition to
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the college buildings has been made at a cost of six thousand dollars, and the annual report shows an attendance of one hundred and seventy students, in all departments, the academic course of four years and the col- lege departments, both the scientific and the classical courses.
Will Mayfield College is under the control of the Saint Francis Association of the three counties. It is supported in its running ex- penses by the tuitional fees. Under its new charter, recently obtained in the place of the original charter, it is not allowed to in- cur any indebtedness, so that the college is now on a solid financial basis. All the build- ings and rooms have been repaired, and all are furnished complete. The college confers two degrees, B. S. and A. B. In 1911 there were twenty-three academic graduates and two graduates from the college receiving the degree of B. S., and there were seven teachers on the instructing corps. Besides its regular curriculum, Will Mayfield College has a de- partment of music and of elocution. Its dor- mitory, of which Mrs. Hendricks has charge, can accommodate thirty-six girl students. The personnel of the student body is made up largely of residents of Bollinger and ad- joining counties. President Hendricks holds both the degrees of B. S. and A. M. He is also one of the members of the Southeastern Missouri Educational Association. Much might be said of Professor Hendricks' work as president. It is certain that the college is establishing a reputation of which Marble Hill may well be proud. His efforts are building up the institution, and the annual attendance has steadily increased since his advent.
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