USA > Missouri > History of southeast Missouri : a narrative account of its historical progress, its people and its principal interests, Volume I > Part 86
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Mr. Mauthe is a native son of Pacific, his birth having occurred here January 14, 1873, the son of William Mauthe, an ante- bellum settler who spent his active life as a nerchant and who died in the harness, Jan- mary 18, 1901. The father was born in Ger- nany, in 1826, and came to America to seek a home among a people more free and inde- pendent than the people of the Fatherland. He located in Pacific and built up a good mercantile business, and was identified, be- sides, in the most praiseworthy manner with the civic affairs of the place. IIe served as postmaster during the Civil war and was at imes connected with the town board. He vas a Republican and was a loyal supporter of the cause of the Union in the troublous lays of the great conflict between the states. William Mauthe married Susan Kiburz, who was also a native of Germany, and this worthy lady is still a resident of Pacific. The ssue of their union was as follows: Miss An- nie Mauthe, of Pacifie, a member of the mer-
cantile house of Mauthe & Company; Wil- liam, who is engaged in the bottling business at DeSoto, Missouri, and who is president of the German-American Bank there; August F., who was cashier of the Citizens Bank of Union, Missouri and who died at that place in January, 1910; Louis F., who died at Pa- cific in January, 1905, and who was engaged in the bottling business, married Miss Lena Burger and at his death left a family of six children, whose names were Raymond, Lor- ine, Dewey, Harold, Gertrude and Louise, Mrs. Gus C. Rau, of Pacific; Louisa, who married Charles Hufschmidt, of this place, and is deceased ; and John J., the immediate subject of this record.
John J. Mauthe gained his schooling in the publie schools of Pacific and when about seventeen years of age he entered his father's store as one of the fixtures of that institution. He mastered the details of the retail mer- cantile business and when his father passed away he became the active head of the con- cern. The firm of Mauthe & Company in- cludes himself and his sister Miss Annie, who is a most able and judicious business woman. Although Mr. Mauthe is not associated as in- timately with the business as in youth, he retains a connection with it and to him is largely due the fact of its permanence and the same confidence as under the old regime which it enjoys in the community.
When the Citizens' Bank was brought into existence in 1909 Mr. Mauthe, who was one of the promoters, was invited to take the place of cashier. The bank was chartered in that year; buildings were erected, and it opened business on August 30 of the same year, with a capital of fifteen thousand dol- lars. Its other officers are James Booth, president, and L. R. Dougherty, vice presi- dent, and it has already gained prestige as a sound and substantial monetary institution.
Mr. Mauthe is also one of the directors of the electric light company of Pacific and is a member of the board of directors of the Pacific Home Telephone Company. Like his father. he is identified with the Republican party, but unlike that well-remembered gen- tleman he has never been connected with of- fice. The fraternal order of Knights of Pythias knows Mr. Mauthe as one of its members, but business connections preclude his giving his time to the work of this or other fraternal societies.
On December 28. 1904. Mr. Mauthe was
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happily married to Miss Margaret Carroll, daughter of P. W. Carroll, of Cape Girar- deau, Missouri, a concrete contractor and decorator. They have no children. Mr. and Mrs. Mauthe enjoy a prominent place in the best social life of the place and are very loyal to the interests of Pacific.
DANIEL E. CONRAD is the son of David R. and Mary (Bollinger) Conrad, who are also the parents of Peter Conrad, whose life is briefly outlined in this work. Daniel was the thirteenth child of the family of which Peter was the eldest. As has been stated, the grandfather came to Missouri from North Carolina in 1820. Daniel was born in 1859, on February 27.
David Conrad owned several hundred acres of land and as he was not only a man of wealth but also of culture, he took pains with the education of his children. Daniel went to the county schools and afterwards to the State University at Columbia. When twenty-two years of age he married and be- gan to farm for himself. He first managed his father's farm for a few years and then operated a portion of the farm for himself. In 1890 he bought one hundred and seventy- five acres of land and now has five hundred and fifty-five acres of land on Whitewater creek, of which two hundred and fifty acres are under cultivation. Besides this Mr. Con- rad is farming his sister's farm of two hun- dred acres. Sixty acres of this is in culti- vation. Agriculture is a pursuit which Mr. Conrad follows according to scientific meth- ods, as he is a progressive farmer. He has a modern residence on his place, put up in 1901. Stock engages part of his attention and he owns eighteen horses and mules, forty- three head of cattle, one hundred and twenty hogs and twenty-seven sheep.
Mrs. Conrad's maiden name was Ella Statler, the daughter of Robert Statler. She and Mr. Conrad have had the following chil- dren: Ora, born June 14, 1883; Howard Dale, July 23, 1885; David R., August 9, 1887; Ella Ethel Irene, February 11. 1889; Mary Kathleen, December 31, 1890; Hazel, November 30, 1892; Chalmers F., December 3, 1894; Gyle D., May 14, 1896; and Corliss Dewey, March 1. 1898. Mr. and Mrs. Con- rad are members of the Presbyterian church.
ALFRED HOWARD AKERS. Few men are better and more favorably known in Saint
Francois county than Alfred Howard Akers, who has been identified with this section since the year 1884 and who holds the position of county principal and superintendent of schools. He held the office of county school commissioner for fourteen years and no one is more thoroughly in touch with educational matters or better able to cope with the vari- ous problems arising.
Mr. Akers was born in the Valley of Vir- ginia, near the city of Roanoke, October 12, 1855. His father, Henry Akers, was born in the vicinity of Lynchburg and was reared on a farm, receiving the limited education to be acquired in the country schools. He was married at the age of twenty-two years to Katie Garnet, daughter of Allen Garnet, a farmer located in that vicinity, and they be- came the parents of three children, namely : A. H., the immediate subject of this review; Walter; and Bessie. In politics the father was an old-line Whig and he subsequently became a Democrat. He was Baptist in re- ligious conviction and a member of the time- honored Masonic fraternity. He passed away at the age of sixty years.
Until the age of fifteen years Mr. Akers was reared upon the farm and received his earlier education in a private school, located not far from his home. When arrived at his fifteenth birthday he was sent to the Agri- cultural and Mechanical College at Blacks- burg, Virginia, and after a four years' pre- paratory course there he matriculated in the University of Virginia, where he remained two years. With a view to entering the field of educational endeavor, Mr. Akers took a brief normal course at Farmville, Virginia, and ever since then he has been engaged in teaching school. In 1884 he came to the state of Missouri and for the past eighteen years he has been principal and superintend- ent of schools in this county. In 1909 he was elected county superintendent and at the next election succeeded himself, being the present incumbent of the office. He enjoys a splendid reputation for ability, judgment and progressiveness in educational circles and has done much in this important field.
On the 1st day of September, 1886, Mr. Akers was united in marriage to Alice Wes- cott. of Saint Francois county, daughter of J. W. and Mary J. Wescott. Mr. and Mrs. Akers are the parents of the following seven children: J. Clyde, Jessie V., Wilbur D., Waldemar F., Alfred Howard, Christine and
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David R Conrad
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Julian. The head of the house is Democratic in politics; his fraternal relations extend to the Masons, the Redmen, the American Or- der of United Workmen and the Knights of Pythias; and his church is the Baptist.
In evidence of Mr. Akers' successful eleva- tion of the standard of the county schools is the fact that there are three fully accredited ones among them and ten are doing high school work.
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MANN RINGO. Mr. Ringo's entire attention is given to the banking business, specifically to the Iron County Bank, of which he has been a director since its organization in 1896 and cashier since 1897. Other officers of the organization are William R. Edgar, presi- dent, whose biography appears elsewhere in this volume, Eli D. Ake, vice-president, and Arthur Huff, assistant cashier. These gen- tlemen and William H. and I. G. Whitworth constitute the board of directors. The bank was organized by the present stockholders with a capital of ten thousand dollars and has now a surplus of fifteen thousand dollars and has been incorporated as a state bank.
Mr. Ringo was born September 25, 1864, in Mississippi county, southeastern Missouri. His parents, J. M. and Fredonia (McGregor) Ringo, had come to Missouri nine years be- fore from western Kentucky. The father was a native of Kentucky, but the mother was born in Tennessee. After settling in Mis- souri, J. M. Ringo became a merchant farmer and was prominent in the political affairs of the county. He served as district judge of the county court and also as county treas- rer of Mississippi county. He died in 1893, at the age of sixty-five years, after the death of his wife. Both were members of the Bap- ist church.
Mr. Mann Ringo has two brothers and three sisters. Mr. D. M. Ringo is a merchant farmer and a stock and grain dealer. He re- sides in his father's adopted home, Mississippi county. Mr. S. P. Ringo is a merchant in fronton. The sisters are Mrs. W. A. Fletcher. of Arcadia, Miss Nannie Ringo, primary teacher in the same place, and Mrs. Louis Miller, also of Arcadia.
Mr. Ringo has spent his active life in the Arcadia valley. He was educated at the Normal in Cape Girardeau, graduating in the class of 1886. The two years following he taught school. In 1888 he was elected to the legislature and served two terms. Dur-
ing Cleveland's second administration he was appointed receiver of public moneys for the U. S. land office. Since 1897 he has been cashier of the bank and an exceutive officer.
Ile married Miss Annie Newman, a native of Ironton. She is the daughter of the late Thomas Newman, whose widow and family still reside in Ironton. Mr. Newman was a house and sign painter, a native of England, but a resident of Ironton from 1864 until his death, in 1907. Mr. and Mrs. Ringo have two daughters, Miss Lucille, aged sixtcen, and Miss Fredonia J., aged eighteen. Both are attending their father's old school, the Normal at Cape Girardeau.
Mr. Ringo's retirement from the field of active polities has in no way weakened his adherence to the Democratic party, whose policies have always embodied his political convictions. Though banking is his exclusive business, he finds opportunity to maintain his affiliation with the Masonic order.
SAMUEL B. KIEFNER. Civilization will hail riches, prowess, honors, popularity, but it will bow humbly to sincerity in its fellows. The exponent of known sincerity, singleness of honest purpose, has its exemplification in all bodies of men; he is found in every asso- ciation and to him defer its highest offices. Such an exemplar whose daily life and whose life work have been dominated as their most conspicuous characteristic by sincerity is Samuel B. Kiefner, who is a business man of prominence and influence at Perryville, Mis- souri, and who is the present able and popu- lar incumbent of the office of postmaster of this city.
Samuel B. Kiefner was born on a farm near Kaiser's Ridge, in Allegany county, Maryland, on the 20th of October, 1863, and he is a son of John and Catherine (Lakel) Kiefner, both of whom are now living in re- tirement at Perryville, where the former was long engaged in the furniture and undertak- ing business. John Kiefner was born in Ger- many in the year 1834 and he accompanied his grandfather to America when he was a lad of sixteen years of age. Settlement was made at Baltimore, Maryland, where John entered upon an apprenticeship at the cabinet maker's trade and where, on the 25th of De- cember, 1854, was recorded his marriage to Miss Catherine Lakel. This union was pro- lific of eleven children, five of whom are liv- ing, in 1911, the subject of this article being
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next youngest of those who survive. Else- where in this volume appears a sketch of the life and career of Charles E. Kiefner, younger brother of Samuel B. Kiefner.
Samuel B. Kiefner, of this notice, was a child of but two years of age at the time of his parents' removal to Perryville, to whose public schools he is indebted for his prelim- inary educational training. At the age of eighteen years he undertook to learn the ins and outs of the carpenter's trade and two years later, in 1883, he accompanied his par- ents to Kansas, where the family home was maintained for the ensuing four years. Dur- ing three years of that time Mr. Kiefner was foreman of a street-car barn at Wichita, Kan- sas, and in 1889 he removed to Des Moines, Iowa, where he resided for one year, at the expiration of which he went to Keokuk, Iowa, where he was employed as clerk for the street-car company from 1890 to September, 1891. On the date last mentioned he re- turned to Perryville and here was engaged in the work of his trade until the fall of 1903. He then organized the Union Store Company, which was incorporated under the laws of the state with a capital stock of twenty-five thou- sand dollars and which is officered as fol- lows,-Samuel B. Kiefner, president; H. M. Geile, vice president; and Charles J. Litsch, secretary and treasurer. For a time he had charge of the furniture and undertaking de- partment of this concern but on the 22nd of May, 1906, when he was appointed post- master of Perryville, he was obliged to re- linquish that work. In his political convic- tions Mr. Kiefner is a stanch supporter of the principles and policies promulgated by the Republican party and while he has never shown any great ambition for political prefer- ment he was a member of the Perryville board of aldermen from 1896 to 1898. In 1906, as previously noted, he was appointed postmaster of Perryville, by President. Roose- velt, and he was re-appointed to that office by President Taft in 1909. In fraternal cir- cles he is affiliated with the United Brother- hood of America, the Ancient Order of United Workmen and the Modern Woodmen of America. For a period of three years he was a member of the Perryville school board and his religious support is given to the Presby- terian church, in whose faith he was reared.
In the year 1889, at Wichita, Kansas, was celebrated the marriage of Mr. Kiefner to Miss Clara B. Armstrong, who was reared
and educated at Wichita. Mr. and Mrs. Kief- ner became the parents of six children, all of whom are living except Clarence, who was summoned to the life eternal in 1901. The names of the other children are as follows, -- Maud, Leroy, Carl, Burton, and Nellie. Maud is assistant postmistress at Perryville and Leroy is a popular and successful teacher in the public schools of this place. Mrs. Kief- ner is a woman of charming personality and she and her husband are everywhere ac- corded the highest regard of their fellow citi- zens on account of their exemplary lives and sterling qualities.
DR. ROBERT P. DALTON, one of the most promising young doctors at Cape Girardeau, is a life long resident of southeastern Mis- souri. His family on both sides were amongst the oldest settlers in Missouri. The time has passed when youth is any handicap to a man,-even a physician-nor is age any detriment. The world demands that a man shall deliver the goods, having no fault to find with him as long as he does that. It is only when he fails that attention is called to his years. . Dr. Dalton has shown the people in Cape Girardeau that he has ability of an unusual order, combined with integrity of a still rarer kind. He, like a number of other young men, was not decided what road he would travel to success, but when he did decide he quickly got on to it and is making up for lost time by his rapid progress along it.
He was born at Frederickstown, Missouri, on the last day of the year 1876. His grand- father, John P. Dalton, was born in Ripley county, Missouri, his father having been one of the pioneers of southeastern Missouri. John P. Dalton was a farmer and also a blacksmith, a common enough combination years ago. His son, also named John was a native of Frederickstown, Missouri. where he received his education. He studied medicine and became a practicing physician. as also a preacher of the Gospel. A physician has many opportunities to speak a word in sea- son regarding the spiritual life as well as the corporeal, but Dr. Dalton was not satis- fied with that, he felt the necessity of pro- claiming in a public way the teachings of the Bible. He married Fannie Best, a young woman born in Perry county. Missouri. She was the daughter of Jonathan Best, one of the first settlers of southeastern Missouri, whither he came from North Carolina. He -1
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was a farmer both in his native county and in Missouri. Dr. and Mrs. John Dalton had eleven children, of whom two daughters died in infancy, the remaining nine living to grow to maturity, seven sons and two daugh- ters. The two youngest of the family died at about the age of twenty-one.
Dr. Robert P. Dalton was the second child of his parents. His childhood was passed on the farm at Frederickstown, where he was born. As soon as he was old enough to at- tend school, he had to walk a distance of five miles each way, to the little log school house, known as the Killday or Mckenzie school. He received his preliminary education at this school, after which he went to the Under- wood school, which was four miles in another direction from his home. Both school houses were built of logs, the desks were formed of a log split in two, having peg legs. The in- struction however, was not as primitive as the buildings, as Robert learned a good deal at these two schools. He next attended the Greenville high school, in Wayne county, go- ing from there to Hales College at Gravelton, Missouri, where he took a general course, graduating in 1896. He had not yet decided to become a physician, but he believed in the advantages of a first class education, no mat- ter what course he pursued. After leaving college he was engaged in the drug and gro- cery business at Patton, Missonri, in which he continued for about four years. In 1900 he had made up his mind that he was not cut out for a mercantile career, but felt a very decided leaning towards the medical profes- sion. He sold out his business, entered a medical college at St. Louis, Missouri, grad- uating therefrom in 1904, having taken the full four years medical course. The same year he came to Cape Girardeau, immediately starting to practice. He has been here ever since, with a steadily increasing practice. He is a member of the Cape Girardeau County Medical Society and of the State Medical Association.
On September 7, 1892, the Doctor married Miss Sue E. Swindell, the daughter of Sam J. Swindell. There have been no children born to Dr. and Mrs. Dalton.
The doctor is a member of various frater- nal orders, as follows: the Modern Woodmen of America, the Knights and Ladies of Se- curity, the Modern Americans. Politics do not greatly interest Dr. Dalton, his time be- ing fully occupied by his practice, his socie-
ties, his family and his needed recreation. Hle has already shown himself to be a power for good in the community.
JOSEPH SCOTT WOLFF, D. D. S .- One of the best known members of the dental pro- fession in Southeast Missouri, as well as mayor of Festus and a public citizen of broad and strong character, Dr. Joseph S. Wolff comes of an old, substantial Pennsylvania family which has included not a few distin- guished members in the east and southwest. His father, Rev. A. T. Wolff, was born in Westmoreland county, that state, and was recognized until his death, in 1905, at the age of forty-nine, as one of the eminent Pres- byterian clergymen in the country. The elder man spent his early boyhood and youth on the old Pennsylvania farm and as a hard- working pupil in the neighborhood schools, afterward realizing his ambition for a higher education by completing a course at Union Seminary, Alliance, Ohio. At his graduation therefrom he became pastor of a small church at Sandy Lake, Pennsylvania, and not long afterward accepted a call from the First Presbyterian church of Alton, Illinois. He acceptably filled the pulpit of that strong or- ganization for seven years, and then served as pastor of the Calvary Presbyterian church of Detroit, and the North Presbyterian church of St. Louis. In the discharge of the duties attaching to these responsible charges, Dr. Wolff had become so widely admired and loved both as a faithful pastor and an elo- quent pulpit orator that he received an ur- gent call to assume pastoral charge of the largest Presbyterian church in Edinburgh, Scotland, the old-world stronghold of the de- nomination. Although deeply appreciative of the honor, his home ties and stanch Amer- icanism, as well as his firm conviction that lie could do more good in the United States where his influence had been so long exerted -these considerations forced him to decline the proffered Edinburgh pastorate. For some time, however, he lectured abroad un- der the Slayton Lyceum Bureau, and became widely known in Great Britain. He also be- came very prominent as a Mason and at one time was grand state orator for Illinois.
In 1875 Rev. A. T. Wolff was united in marriage with Miss Margaret S. Young, of Oakland Cross Roads, Pennsylvania, and of the six children born to him, the Doctor was the eldest. His mother is still living. also
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HISTORY OF SOUTHEAST MISSOURI
two brothers and one sister, residents of St. Louis.
Dr. Wolff is also a native of Westmore- land county, Pennsylvania, where he was born June 14, 1878. He first received a com- mon school education, but pursued his pro- fessional courses at Washington University, St. Louis, from which he graduated, in 1905, with the degree of D. D. S. For the succeed- ing two years he engaged in practice in that. city, and then moved to Festus, his present residence and his lucrative and progressive field of professional labor.
That Dr. Wolff's honors do not end there, has already been intimated. To particular- ize-he was first elected mayor of Festus in 1909, and re-elected in 1911, and his adminis- trations have been so conducted as to earn him the respect of all parties, albeit his per- sonal support has always been given to the Democracy. He is one of the leading frater- nalists of this section of the state. The Red Men, Odd Fellows, Modern Woodmen and Select Knights have all afforded him evi- dences of their esteem, and at the present time he is presiding officer (Great Sachem) of the Improved Order of Red Men, State of Missouri. And his advancement has never been of the drifting nature, but rather of the propelling and pushing kind, often against strong contrary currents. Owing to a seri- ous decline in his father's health, he was com- pelled to work his way through college. Both figuratively and literally, he had to fight hard to get his education, for, soon after the completion of his freshman year at Wash- ington University, he enlisted for service in the Philippines, and served as regimental commissary sergeant for two years and seven months. This delayed his graduation until 1905, but showed his stamina and added to his deserved popularity as a man.
In the year of his graduation Dr. Wolff was married to Miss Antoinette Nengle, of Festus, Missouri, and their three children are Scott Emmerson, Marguerite Antoinette and Marie Wolff.
OLIVER B. GWYN is at the head of the Con- ran Cooperage Company, one of the indus- trial enterprises which play an important part in the prosperity of the county, his re- lation to this thriving concern being that of president and general manager. Although a Kentuckian by birth, he has resided in this state for a number of years and here has en-
joyed excellent fortunes. Mr. Gwyn, who is a son of E. B. and Margaret J. (Lynch) Gwyn, natives of Kentucky, was born in Hickman county of the Blue Grass state Jan- uary 27, 1874. His father was a painter by occupation and the subject resided beneath the home roof until the age of fifteen years. He is one of a family of five children. At the age mentioned Mr. Gwyn went to Clay county, Arkansas, and located in Rector, where the young fellow, who had started out quite alone in the world, secured a position in a saw-mill, and remained thus engaged for four years. The kind of work he secured when a boy had no inconsiderable influence upon his subsequent career, for he has been for a number of years in the milling business. After that he found farm work to do and while thus employed he was married in 1891, to Miss Ada Deniston, daughter of James and Mary E. (Welch) Deniston, their mar- riage occurring in the vicinity of Rector. Mrs. Gwyn was born there November 18, 1873. For a time after his marriage Mr. Gwyn continued to farm, but he finally con- cluded that he could not make enough money as a farmer and so took up another line of enterprise-milling, with which he was al- ready familiar. He came to Missouri in 1899, locating in Dunklin county, in the town of Paulding, and there took a contract to stack lumber for three years. He then engaged with the Paulding Stave Company and con- tinned in this line until 1906. During this. time he carried on business in both Paulding and Geneva, at the latter place with the Buf- falo Stave Company. In 1906 he went into business in Boynton, Arkansas, just across. the line from his former Missouri residence, again operating a mill for one year. During. the same year he moved to Kennett. He sold the Boynton mill in 1908. In January, 1909, he put in a new plant at Gideon, New Mad- rid county, but in the following October he sold the same, and in the following January put in a new mill at Conran, which he still operates. This has a capacity of forty-five thousand slack barrel staves a day and is an up-to-date and paying concern. Mr. Gwyn also built a mill in Marston, Missouri,-the Marston Cooperage Company, which he operated for nine months and then resigned from its management to more fully devote his energies to the constantly growing busi- ness of the Conran concern. This is an in- corporated business, and Mr. Gwyn is presi-
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