USA > Missouri > History of southeast Missouri : a narrative account of its historical progress, its people and its principal interests, Volume I > Part 83
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Joseph Pelts adopted agriculture as his life work and in due time married, his chosen lady being Martha Baker, a native of this county and a daughter of James B. and Dru- silla Baker, Dunklin county pioneers and farmers. This admirable woman died at the ol'd home at about the age of fifty-five years, but two of her sisters are living, namely : Mrs. Delilah Hicks and Mrs. Esther Gorgas, both of Dunklin county. Both Joseph Pelts and his wife were members of the Mission- ary Baptist church, and the former was a stalwart Democrat, who gave unswerving al- legiance to the party and participated in its political bouts with interest. They became the parents of a family of nine children, eight of whom were sons and one a daughter, and of which number four brothers are liv- ing at the present time, namely: John A., Robert A., Joseph E. and Charles Lee. The deceased children are: James W. (eldest in order of birth), Nathaniel D., George R., Lewis and Frances E.
When Joseph Pelts arrived in Missouri many of the difficult conditions which were the portion of the pioneer still prevailed. There were no near markets and he hauled his produce to Cape Girardeau, requiring eight days with ox teams to make the round trip. Elk, deer and the like were abundant and he made fine use of his opportunities, be- ing a great hunter. He was a man of dis-
tinet personality and public-spirit and well worthy of representation in this volume de- voted to the makers of Southeastern Mis- souri.
CHIARLES LEE PELTS, a well-known farmer in Dunklin county, began in a small way but has been very successful. He was born in Dunklin county, Missouri, on the place upon which he now lives, on January 3, 1874, and he is a son of Joseph Pelts, of whom more extended mention is made on other pages of this work. He went to school at Shady Grove and lived on the farm with his father, his mother having died when Charles was very young. When he was sixteen his father married again and Charles then be- gau to work around on the different farms. Up to the time when he was twenty-one he had earned very little and spent what he did make. At the end of eight years he owned forty acres of land, having bought from his father the farm where he was born and spent his childhood days. At the time he took the farm it was very much run down, but he at once set to work to improve it. He built fences, put up a good house and now owns one hundred and fifty acres of land, on which he raises cotton, corn and peas and cattle.
When he was twenty-one years of age Mr. Pelts married Sadie Bedwell, who died on giving birth to her child. The child lived only a short time. Eight years later he mar- ried Minnie Bailey, by whom he had two chil- dren,-Lula and Ethel. On St. Valentine's Day, 1908, he married Eva Shailand, by whom he had one child, Lee Rogers.
Mr. Pelts is a Democrat, and is always happy to see his party come out ahead. He may surely feel that he has done well, as he has made all that he has through his own ef- forts, except an interest in a forty acre farm. He is indeed to be congratulated on the suc- cess of his efforts and the community for the possession of so good a citizen.
HORACE D. EVANS. Through his own char- acter and accomplishment Horace D. Evans, cashier of the Lead Belt Bank, at Bonne Terre, St. Francois county, has well upheld the prestige of a name that has been identi- fied with the annals of Missouri history for more than a century. His father attained to marked distinction in public affairs and was called upon to represent this state in the state senate, besides which he served in
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other offices of distinctive public trust. He was long one of the representative men of Missouri and was a scion of one of the hon- ored pioneer families of this commonwealth.
Horace Dell Evans was born at Steelville, the judicial center of Crawford county, Mis- souri, on the 11th of June, 1859, and is the fourth in order of birth of a family of six children, of whom two are now living. Wil- liam Evans, grandfather of him whose name initiates this review, was born in Jefferson county, Tennessee, on the 27th of December, 1793, of sterling Welsh lineage, and the fam- ily was founded in America in the Colonial era of our national history. William Evans was about seven years of age at the time of his removal to Missouri with his aunt, and records show that on the 12th of June, 1800, the family located in St. Francois county, on the site of the present thriving little city of Farmington, the capital of the county. Here William Evans was reared to maturity under the scenes and influences of the pioneer epoch, and he gained his full quota of ex- perience in connection with life on the fron- tier. He married Miss Mahala George, and of their eight children Ellis G., father of the subject of this sketch, was the third in order of nativity. William Evans was a man of strong character and sterling integrity, so that he proved a potent factor in connection with the development of St. Francois county along both industrial and social lines. Here he continued to reside until his death, which occurred on the 31st of July, 1851, and his devoted wife was summoned to eternal rest on the 21st of September, 1872, their names meriting enduring place on the roll of the honored pioneers of southeastern Missouri.
Ellis G. Evans was born on the family homestead at Big River Mills, St. Francois county, on the 10th of July, 1824, and his early education was secured in the common schools of the locality and period. His father was one of the early teachers in the schools of this county and was a prominent figure in educational affairs in this section of the state. Thus Ellis G. Evans had the privi- lege of receiving instruction from his honored father, who likewise was a man of superior intellectuality. His natural heritage of alert mentality was amplified by his own appli- cation to reading and study and he became a man of exceptionally broad intellectual ken, mature judgment and well fortified opinions. As a youth he served an appren-
ticeship to the carpenter's trade in the city of St. Louis, and through his work at his trade he laid the foundation for the sub- stantial success which he eventually gained in connection with the productive activities of life. It is worthy of record that he cast his first vote, in 1845, in support of delegates to the convention which formulated a new constitution for the state. He finally en- gaged in the general merchandise business at Steelville, Crawford county, and he be- came prominently concerned with the in- dustrial and civic upbuilding of that section. He was one of those interested in the build- ing of the old Merrimac iron works near Steelville and his co-operation was given in the promotion of many other enterprises of important order.
Major Ellis G. Evans, both by reason of impregnable integrity and fine mental gifts, was well fitted for leadership in thought and action, and his interest in public affairs soon brought him into prominence in political af- fairs in his native state. When the dark cloud of civil war cast its pall over the na- tional horizon his loyalty to the Union was of the most perfervid order, and he became, in the climacteric period leading up to the great struggle between the north and south, one of the organizers of the Republican party in Missouri. He served as vice-president of the party's first state convention in Missouri, that of 1856, and he ever afterward con- tinued a stalwart advocate of the principles and policies for which the "grand old party" stood sponsor. He was a member of the Missouri constitutional convention of 1865, when the institution of human slavery was forever prohibited in the state by the provi- sions of the new constitution. He gave ef- fective service in behalf of the Union dur- ing the progress of the Civil war, as he served as major on the military staff of Governor Fletcher and was provost marshal and pay- master at Rolla, this state, during the major part of the conflict through which the in- tegrity of the nation was perpetuated. In 1866 he was elected to represent the twenty- second senatorial district of Missouri in the United States senate, in which he served until 1870, and in which he wielded most distinc- tive influence during the period of recon- struction in the south. In 1871 Major Evans was appointed register of the United States land office at Booneville, and shortly after his retirement from this office he endured
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a stroke of paralysis that rendered it in- possible for him to walk thereafter, though he retained his mental vigor unimpaired un- til the close of his long and useful life. Sub- sequently to enduring this affliction Senator Evans served twelve years as a member of the Republican state central committee and continued to exert potent influence in polit- ical affairs in the state, the while no man held to a higher degree the confidenee and esteem of his associates, not only in politieal circles but also in all other relations of life. He was for some time editor of the State Times, published as the semi-official organ of the Missouri legislature. He was a man who stood "four square to every wind that blows," and his name is held in lasting honor in the state which represented his home throughout his life and to which his loyalty was ever of the most incisive order. He passed the closing years of his life at Cuba, Crawford county, where he died in 1889, se- cure in the high regard of all who knew him. His cherished and devoted wife was summoned to the life eternal in 1886, and of their six children one son and one daughter are now living. His marriage to Miss Emily H. Treece, a native of Ohio, was solemnized at Brush Creek, Crawford county, Missouri, on the 20th of July, 1850, and his wife was a daughter of one of the honored pioneers of that section of the state. Both were con- sistent and zealous members of the Method- ist church.
Horace D. Evans, whose name initiates this article, gained his early educational disci- pline in the public schools of Rolla and Booneville, and in the former place he en- tered upon an apprenticeship to the printer's trade, in the office of the Rolla Herald. He familiarized himself with the esoteric mys- teries of the "art preservative of all arts" and incidentally gained a training that proved a most valuable supplement to his prior education. In 1879 he went to the city of St. Louis, where he was a clerical employe in the office of the city assessor and collector until 1883, when he received an appointment to the railway mail service, with which he thereafter continued to be identified for a period of thirteen years, as an efficient and valued employe. In 1896 he resigned his position and assumed the posi- tion of bookkeeper in the Farmers & Miners Bank of Bonne Terre, where he has since maintained his home and where he has risen
to prominence as one of the representative business men and influential citizens of St. Francois county. In 1899 he became asso- ciated in the organization of the Lead Belt Bank, of which he has since served as cashier and in which he is a stockholder. His effec- tive administration has had marked influence in the upbuilding of the substantial business of this popular institution, which bases its operations on a capital stock of fifteen thou- sand dollars and which is one of the solid banking houses of this section of the state.
Mr. Evans has also identified himself with other enterprises that have conserved indus- trial and commercial stability and progress and as a citizen he is most liberal and public- spirited,- ever ready to lend his influence and co-operation in the furtherance of meas- ures tending to enhance material and eivic prosperity. He is treasurer of the Bonne Terre Building & Loan Association, is a mem- ber of the directorate of the Bonne Terre Lumber Company, and is a director of the Bank of Hereulaneum, at Herculaneum, Jef- ferson county. He is president of the Com- mercial Club of Bonne Terre, an organization of high civic ideals and one that has been most influential in promoting the best inter- ests of the thriving little city.
In politics Mr. Evans has never swerved from the faith in which he was reared and he is aligned as a stalwart in the local camp of the Republican party, in whose cause he has given yeoman service. He was elected chairman of the Republican county commit- tee of St. Francois county in 1904 and was re-elected in 1906 and 1908. He seems to have inherited much of his father's discrimi- nation in the maneuvering of political forces and gave most effective service along this line during his incumbency of the position noted, as has he also as a member, from the state at large, of the Missouri state central committee of his party, with which he has been thus actively identified since 1904. He served five years as a member of the board of education of Bonne Terre, and here he is affiliated with the Masonic fraternity and the Knights of Pythias. Both he and his wife hold membership in the Congregational church in their home town, and are liberal in the support of the various departments of its work.
On the 28th of December, 1887, Mr. Evans was united in wedlock to Miss Annie Towi, a daughter of William Towl, a prominent
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merchant and lumber manufacturer at An- napolis, Iron county, this state. Mr. and Mrs. Evans have two children, Emily T. and Claire, bothı at home.
JOSEPH A. MINTRUP. No member of the business community has a greater responsi- bility than the banker, and any community or city is much to be congratulated which has at the head of its finances men of thor- ough training, true worth and moral depend- ability. No banker of southeastern Missouri is more closely typical of what is required in the financial manager and leader to inspire and retain business and commercial confi- dence than Joseph A. Mintrup, cashier of the Citizens' Bank of Union, Missouri. From every possible viewpoint Mr. Mintrup is a man of the finest citizenship, public spirited, altruistic, ever ready to give his support to all measures likely to result in general bene- fit. He is one of the standard bearers of the local Democratic party and as a public official has a record of the most meritorious character. He was for a number of years postmaster of Washington and for twelve successive years hield the office of county clerk of Franklin county with credit to him- self and honor to his constituents. The length of time he held this important posi- tion is sufficient in itself to show how well he performed its duties, and doubtless much further public usefulness lies before him, for he is a man in the prime of life. By his private life as well as his public services he has endeared himself to the people of Frank- lin county, for he grew up in the county from the age of five years and his whole career is an open book.
Mr. Mintrup was born in St. Louis county, Missouri, April 28, 1862. He is of German stock, his father, Francis Mintrup, having been a native of the German state of Han- over, now a part of the province of Prussia. where his birth occurred in 1822. Like the majority of his countrymen he was of the stuff of which the best citizenship is made, and his stalwart, fine Teutonic characteristics have come to his son as a heritage. He and a brother, Joseph, came to the decision to make a hazard of new fortunes in the land across the Atlantic in their youth and saying farewell for all time to their parents and brothers and sisters they sailed, two brave and adventurous spirits, for America, some years previous to the outbreak of the Civil
war. In course of time they found their way to Missouri and located in Washington, where they became useful citizens, married and reared families and both now sleep be- neath the sod of that section. Francis Min- trup, ideal patriot and lover of liberty, was in sympathy with the Union and when the long-lowering war cloud broke in all its fury in tlie early '60s of the nineteenth century, he enlisted in a Missouri regiment of the Federal army, only served a very short time when discharged on account of disability. In 1867 he established himself in business at Washington with his brother, and together they operated a planing-mill until the de- mise of Francis Mintrup in 1869. The young woman whom he chose as his wife and the bearer of his name was Miss Mary Narup, an admirable lady who has survived her hus- band for these many years, making her resi- dence at the family home. The children are as follows: Miss Annie, of Washington, Mis- souri; Joseph A., of this notice; Kate, wife of Edward Jasper, of Washington; and Henry and August, of Chicago, Illinois.
In the Washington public schools and in the well-known Catholic institution at St. Mary's, Kansas, Joseph A. Mintrup received his education. When a youth he learned the printer's trade on the Franklin County Ob- server at Washington, and proving faithful and efficient in little things, he in course of time acquired a partnership in the paper and eventually became the editor. He evinced no . inconsiderable gifts as an exponent of the Fourth Estate, but sold the plant and en- tered mercantile life, joining the J. L. Hake Shoe Company at Washington and becom- ing secretary of the same. He remained thus associated until the beginning of Presi- dent Cleveland's second administration, when he received the appointment of assistant post- master of Washington, and a year later was appointed chief of the office. He filled the position until June, 1898, when he was re- placed by a Republican and not long after- ward engaged in the real estate and insur- ance business.
At the fall election in 1898 Mr. Mintrup was chosen county clerk on the Democratic ticket, overcoming a Republican majority of several hundred and winning the office with one hundred and seventy-five votes to spare. His first service of four years so justified the confidence of the people that he was reelected for another term, which was succeeded in
MR. AND MRS. J. THOMPSON BLANTON
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turn by another. He retired from office in January, 1911, with twelve years of successful political life to his credit. Resuming private life, he entered the domain of finance, becom- ing cashier of the Citizens Bank of Union, March 1, 1911, and in addition to this office he is secretary of the official board.
Mr. Mintrup married in Washington, Mis- souri, December 29, 1891, his wife being Miss Amelia Wehrmann, whose father, Louis Wehrmann, was for many years postmaster of Washington and a leading citizen of that place. He was a German by nativity, a Republican in politics, and he was engaged in the real estate business. The children of Mr. and Mrs. Mintrup are five in number and as follows : Mamie, Louis, Lillie, Frances and Doherty. The family is a popular one and the home is the center of a gracious and attractive hospitality. Mr. Mintrup is a com- municant of the Catholic church and a mem- ber of the Knights of Columbus and the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks.
J. THOMPSON BLANTON. In that particu- lar portion of Iron county in which his home is situated and where he is best known, J. Thompson Blanton, farmer, stockman and veteran of the Civil war, stands as one of the important and highly esteemed members of his community. Here he has resided for many years, since 1858, to be exact, and although not a native of the county, he has resided in the state all his life with the ex- ception of a period spent in farming in the state of Nevada and during his war service. The attractive Blanton homestead is situated some seven miles southeast of Ironton and is one of the highly improved estates of Iron county.
Mr. Blanton was born in Madison county, Missouri, on the Saint Francois river, Octo- ber 24. 1843, and is the son of Benjaman F. and Ailsey (Berryman) Blanton. The mother was a niece of the Rev. J. C. Berry- man, a detailed sketch of whose life appears elsewhere in this work. She died in 1869. aged about seventy years. Her father, whose farm included what is now Arcadia, was Josiah Berryman, a prominent man of his day. He came to Missouri at the same time as his clergyman brother. who was the founder of Arcadia College. Benjaman F. Blanton was born in Lincoln county and removed to Mad- ison county as a young man, locating on the Saint Francois river, near Wayne county, "hat being the scene of his marriage. He
subsequently removed to Arcadia Valley and died in Dunklin county, at the age of about seventy years. He whose name inaugurates this record is the second in order of birth in a family of ten children, of whom four are now living. The other surviving members of the family are: Mrs. Michael Deguira, of Freder- icktown; William H., of the vicinity of that place; and Moman, who is a Fredericktown resident.
Mr. Blanton passed the roseate days of boy- hood and youth in Madison county, and there received his schooling. When about seven- teen years of age he came to Iron county, which has ever since been the scene of his residence, with the exception of the time spent in the far west, above alluded to. He en- gages in general farming and also in the stock business, and in both departments has met with success, his methods being up-to-date and well-directed. When the Nation went down into the dread Valley of Decision in the '60s, Mr. Blanton enlisted in the Confederate army, as a member of Company C, Ninth Missouri Infantry, his enlistment taking place in Arkansas. The young man of nineteen was firmly convinced of the logic of the severing of the states from the national government if its rulings were against their conviction and he proved a loyal and valiant soldier. He participated in several engagements, but was fortunate enough not to receive a wound. When peace was restored to the stricken country, he went to Nevada and there for four years engaged in farming, in a rich valley, four hundred miles south of Salt Lake. The charms of Missouri remained strong with him, however, throughout his period of absence and he returned to Iron county, and bought the property upon which he has ever since resided. This consists of three hundred and twenty acres and is val- uable and well situated.
In October. 1871. Mr. Blanton was united in marriage to Miss Caroline F. Kinkead. who was born in Saint Francois county. in October, 1852, and is a daughter of Andrew B. and Rebecca C. (Elgin) Kinkead, who came to the state in their vonth and were married in Saint Francois county, which con- tinned to be their home for the rest of their lives. The father died before the Civil War. but the mother survived until February. 1906. when she passed away at the age of ninety years. He was a tanner and farmer by occupation. He was born in Kentucky and the mother in Virginia, and they were
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both consistent members of the Christian church. Mrs. Blanton is one of a family of seven children, but of this number only one brother, Nicholas A., a farmer in St. Fran- cois county, survives in addition to herself.
The union of Mr. and Mrs. Blanton has been blessed by the birth of the following children : Beatrice is the wife of M. P. Gregory, of Madison county and the mother of two children, Helen and Corena ; Pauline died at the age of two years; Benjamin B., deputy sheriff of Iron county, is a citizen of Ironton; Gerard, a farmer of Madison county, married Miss Belle Freeland and their two daughters are Winifred and Char- lene; Courtright R. is at home; Sophie is the wife of James L. Freeland, a farmer of Iron county, and their two sons are Nicholas and Josiah; M. Deguire is at home, as are also the twin brothers, Langdon E. and James E., and the youngest member of the family, Ailsey Litia.
In evidence of the zeal and energy of Mr. Blanton is the fact that his farm had but twenty acres cleared when he bonght it and at the present day some two hundred acres are under cultivation. It is one of Iron county's finest farms, is adorned with a fine. commodious dwelling, and its buildings and fences are of the most substantial character. In the matter of politics Mr. Blanton has always been a Democrat, having given his suffrage to the party since his earliest voting days. He is a member of the Masonic order of Blanton and exemplified its high ideals in his own living. Mrs. Blanton retains her membership in the Christian church of Libertyville, Saint Francois county, and the various members of this popular family en- joy high standing in the community in which their interests are centered.
JIMER E. RICE. Among the citizens of southeast Missonri who began their careers dependent entirely on their own ability and energy and have since attained positions of influence and independence, one of the best known examples in Dunklin county is Mr. Jimer E. Rice, the banker.
He is a native son of Dunklin connty, where he was born March 1, 1870. He at- tended the county schools. and then entered the State Normal, where he studied part of four years. He had assistance in only the first year and then taught to earn the money for the rest of his education. After grad- uating he taught four years, and made him- self known as a reliable. intelligent young
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