USA > Missouri > History of southeast Missouri : a narrative account of its historical progress, its people and its principal interests, Volume I > Part 88
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Lin Grisham was born in Wayne county, Missouri, on the 10th of April, 1869, and he is a son of James and Margaret (Andrews) Grisham, who came to Missouri from Ten- nessee in the year 1854. The father was born in the state of Tennessee in the year 1837, and as a young man he was interested in farming, continuing to devote his atten- tion to that line of enterprise until 1882.
Since that time he has been engaged in the mercantile and milling business in Wayne county, Missouri, but at the present time he resides at Fredericktown. He was county judge of Wayne county for a period of eight years and also served with the utmost effi- ciency as associate judge for a period of two years. The mother of the subject of this re- view was descended from old Virginia stock, and her father at one time was a sailor on the Atlantic ocean. He established the family home in Wayne county, Missouri, in an early day and there passed the residue of his life. Mrs. James Grisham was summoned to eternal rest in 1911, at the venerable age of seventy-six years. Mr. and Mrs. Gris- ham became the parents of seven children, concerning whom the following brief data are here inserted,-Frank is a farmer and miller at Caledonia, Missouri; T. M. resides at Fredericktown, Missouri; J. S. was for- merly state representative from Colorado and he is now sheriff of Las Animas county, that state; W. F. is an extensive rancher and stock dealer in Colorado, owning barns at Trinidad and Pueblo; John is engaged in business at Fredericktown; Ida is the widow of Dr. Montgomery, of Wayne county, and she resides with her father; and Lin is the immediate subject of this review.
To the public schools of Wayne county, Missouri, Lin Grisham is indebted for his preliminary educational training. As a youth he became associated with his father in the latter's extensive mercantile enter- prises, and during the intervening years to the present time he has devoted considerable attention to general merchandising and lum- bering. The Consolidated Store & Manu- facturing Company, of which he is president, was organized in 1910, and it represents a merging of four different mercantile corpo- rations. The Company has stores in Cape Gi- rardeau, Madison, Wayne and Bollinger counties. It has a capital stock of eighty- three thousand dollars and its official corps is as follows :- Lin Grisham, president; R. H. Davis, vice-president; C. A. Grisham, sec- retary and treasurer; and the board of di- rectors includes T. M. Grisham, R. H. Davis, John Grisham and Lin Grisham, of Freder- icktown, and T. H. Wiseman, of St. Louis. Since its organization the Company has opened five new stores and now conducts six- teen individual concerns in the four counties mentioned above. The offices of the company
Wo. S. S. Wacker
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HISTORY OF SOUTHEAST MISSOURI
are located in a fine concrete structure at Fredericktown, the same being situated on West Main street. As president of this great corporation Mr. Grisham has displayed un- usual shrewdness and excellent executive ability and under his able management it has been decidedly prosperous. In addition to his mercantile interests Mr. Grisham is a member of the board of directors of the Bank of Fredericktown and he is also a member of the board of curators of Marvin College.
In Wayne county, Missouri, in 1892, was celebrated the marriage of Mr. Grisham to Miss Josie Dixon, a native of that county and a daughter of Benton Dixon. Mr. and Mrs. Grisham have two sons,-Leonard, whose birth occurred in 1893; and Lloyd, born in 1897 and at present a student in Marvin College.
In politics Mr. Grisham is aligned as a stalwart supporter of the principles and policies for which the Republican party stands sponsor. He is not a politician, prac- tically speaking, but he has given splendid service as a member of the Central Repub- lican committee. In the Masonic order he is a member of Marcus Lodge, No. 110, Free and Accepted Masons; and Solomon Chap- ter, Royal Arch Masons. In their religious faith the Grisham family are devout mem- bers of the Methodist Episcopal church, South, to whose good works, they are liberal contributors of their time and means.
CHRISTIAN E. STIVER. The present able and popular incumbent of the position of city engineer of Cape Girardeau is Christian E. Stiver, who was elected to that important office in April, 1911. He is a prominent business man of the younger generation who has achieved success as the result of his own well directed endeavors and he is a citizen who is ever on the alert and enthusiastically in sympathy with all movements projected for the progress and improvement of this section of the state, where he has maintained his home since March, 1909.
A native of the fine old Keystone state of the Union, Christian E. Stiver was born in the city of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, on the 19th of January, 1884. He is a son of Charles L. and Sarah (Hagey) Stiver, both of whom were likewise born in Philadelphia and both of whom are now living, their home being at Nazareth, Pennsylvania. Of the two children born to Mr. and Mrs. Stiver the sub-
ject of this article is the eldest and his brother, Ellwood II. Stiver, is attending col- lege. In his youth Christian E. Stiver was afforded excellent educational advantages. After completing the curriculum of the pub- lie schools of his home community in Phila- delphia he was matriculated as a student in Nazareth Hall, a military academy at Naza- reth, Pennsylvania. In 1901 he was a stu- dent in the Lehigh University, at Bethlehem, Pennsylvania. He entered Lafayette Col- lege, at Easton, Pennsylvania, in 1904, in the engineering department of which excel- lent institution lie was graduated as a mem- ber of the class of 1907. In March, 1909, he came to Cape Girardeau, where he ac- cepted a postion with the Cape Girardeau Portland Cement Company as engineer. In June, 1909, however, he left that concern and took up railroad survey work. In September of the same year he entered the employ of the Kettle River Company, a paving concern in this city, and in July, 1910, lie again turned his attention to railroad surveying. In April, 1911, he was honored by his fel- low citizens with election to the office of city engineer and he is now serving in that capac- ity with the utmost efficiency.
In his political convictions Mr. Stiver is aligned as a stalwart in the ranks of the Re- publican party and his religious faith is in harmony with the teachings of the Methodist Episcopal church. In a fraternal way he is affiliated with the local lodge of the Benevo- lent & Protective Order of Elks and he is also connected with the Sigma Nu college fraternity. He is a young man of splendid mentality and fine moral fiber and in all the relations of life he has so conducted himself as to command the unalloyed confidence and esteem of all with whom he has come in con- tact. He is genial in his associations, affable in his address, generous in his judgment of his fellow men, and courteous to all. As a citizen and enthusiast of his town, it is but just to say that communities will proener and grow in proportion as they put a pre- mium on men of his mould.
WILLIAM S. C. WALKER. Distinguished for his umblemished record as a man and a jurist is William Samuel Crittenden Walker, circuit judge of the Twenty-second Judicial Circuit. Judge Walker is the son of Thomas C. and Susan F. (Crittenden) Walker, both repre- sentatives of old Virginia families and na-
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tives respectively of Lancaster and Essex counties of the Old Dominion. He was elected to the bench in 1910 and assumed the duties of his high office in January of the ensuing year. His reputation as one of the prominent lawyers of Dunklin county has been reinforced with the passing years, dur- ing which he has appeared in connection with many of the important cases brought before the state and federal courts, and his standing has been stamped with approval by his elevation to the bench.
Judge Walker was born at Tappahannock, Virginia, August 22, 1859. After finishing his public school course in his native town he entered William and Mary College, from which he was graduated with the degree of Bachelor of Arts in 1877. He next took up the study of law at the University of Vir- ginia and received the degree of Bachelor of Laws in 1880. He practiced law in the Old Dominion, the scene of his first professional labors being in his native county, and in 1889 he came to Dunklin county, where he has ever since remained and where his life and achievements have amply recommended him. For four or five years he was in prac- tice with H. N. Phillips, now of Poplar Bluff, and subsequently he entered into partner- ship in the practice of the law with D. R. Cox, of Malden, this association continuing throughout the decade included between the years 1897 and 1907. From 1901 to 1905 he was prosecuting attorney of the county, be- ing twice elected to the office without oppo- sition. His tenure of office in that capacity was thus of four years' duration. In 1910 he was elected circuit judge, as previously mentioned, and he has already had opportu- nity to prove that the choice of the people was by no means at fault. In his political convictions Judge Walker is a Democrat, and he has ever been very loyal in his sup- port of the principles and policies for which the party stands.
Judge Walker stands high in Masonry, be- longing to the Blue Lodge and Chapter, and lives up to the fine ideals which the ancient and august order teaches. He holds mem- bership in the Knights of Pythias and the Independent Order of Odd Fellows. He is a member of the Missionary Baptist church in Kennett.
Judge Walker was first married in 1891, to Marion B. Phillips, the daughter of Colonel H. N. Phillips. She died after five years of
married life, leaving one daughter, Rose M. In 1900 he married Miss Belle McCarroll. She became the mother of one son, Henry, and died in 1904.
Judge Walker is a quiet, unassuming stu- dent of the law. He is slow to form opinions, but when he has become sure of his ground he acts accordingly and nothing can make him swerve from the right as he sees it.
OBA HALEY, M. D. For the past thirty- five years Dr. Oba Haley has been engaged in the practice of medicine and for at least a quarter of a century he has maintained his professional headquarters at Fredericktown, Missouri, where he controls a large and rep- resentative patronage and where he is hon- ored and esteemed by all with whom he has come in contact. The years have told the story of a successful career due to the pos- session of innate talent and acquired ability . along the line of one of the most important professions to which man may devote his energies,-the alleviation of pain and suf- fering and the restoration of health, which is man's most cherished and priceless pos- session. This is an age of progress in all lines of achievement and Dr. Haley has kept abreast of the advancement that has revolu- tionized methods of medical and surgical practice, rendering the efforts of physicians of much more avail in warding off the in- roads of disease than they were even at the time when he entered upon his professional career.
Dr. Haley was born at Steeleville, in Crawford county, Missouri, on the 25th of November, 1847, and he is a son of Henry and Emma (Key) Haley, the former of whom was born in Tennessee and the latter of whom claimed Steeleville, Missouri, as the place of her birth. The father was reared to maturity in the vicinity of McMinnville, Tennessee, and as a young man came to Crawford county, this state, where was sol- emnized his marriage to Miss Emma Key and where he passed the greater part of his active career as a farmer and stockman. William Haley, grandfather of the Doctor, was likewise a farmer by occupation and he came to Crawford county, Missouri, in the latter '40s. His father was a soldier in the English army and he served as such in the war of the Revolution. During that conflict he was captured and imprisoned in the United States and at the close of the war he
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decided to make his home in this new coun- try. Henry Haley was a valued and appre- ciative member of the time-honored Masonic order. He was called to eternal rest in 1879, at the age of sixty years. The mother of the Doctor was a daughter of Oba Key, a pio- neer Missourian and a native of Kentucky. Mrs. Henry Haley passed to the great be- yond in 1879, at the age of fifty years. Dr. Haley was the first born in a family of eight children-six boys and two girls, of whom all the sons are living. William M. Haley is a prominent real-estate man in St. Louis, Mis- souri, where he has resided for the past thirty years; John and Wilson Haley are en- gaged in the general merchandise business at Steeleville, Missouri; Basil conducts a meat market at West Plains, Missouri; Jerry maintains his home in Texas; and Oba is the immediate subject of this review. Concern- ing the two sisters,-Mary died at the age of eighteen years, in 1880; and Delia, who be- came the wife of Reuben Summers, resided for a number of years in East St. Louis, where her death occurred in 1893; she is sur- vived by her husband and two daughters.
Dr. Haley, of this notice, was reared to adult age at Steeleville, his preliminary edu- cational training having been completed with a course in the Steeleville Academy. For three years thereafter, from 1864 to 1867, he was employed as a clerk in the gen- eral store of the Merrimac Iron Works. From 1864 to 1867 he attended school in Phelps county, Missouri, and in 1869 he began to read medicine under a noted physi- cian at Steeleville, Missouri. In 1872 he was matriculated as a student in the old St. Louis Medical College, in which excellent institu- tion he was graduated as a member of the class of 1873, duly receiving his degree of Doctor of Medicine. Subsequently he at- tended the medical department of the Uni- versity of Missouri, in which he was gradu- ated in 1879. He initiated the active prac- tice of liis profession at Bellevue, Missouri, where he remained for the ensuing ten years, coming thence to Fredericktown, in 1886. During the period of his residence at Fred- ericktown he has achieved unusual success as a skilled physician and surgeon and he holds prestige as one of the finest doctors in Southeastern Missouri.
Dr. Haley has been twice married, his first union having been to Miss Martha A. Brooks, who died in June, 1904. To this marriage
were born three children,-Claude B., who is engaged in the newspaper business at Cin- cinnati, Ohio; Henry L., who is a civil engi- neer at Los Angeles, California; and Lucy, who is the wife of Dr. Keller, of Willisville, Illinois. In 1908 Dr. Haley wedded Mrs. Birdie Law, nee Nifong, who had one child by her first marriage, namely,-Jamie, who died at the age of six yars.
In connection with the work of his profes- sion Dr. Haley is affiliated with the Madison County Medical Society; the Southeastern Missouri Medical Society, the Missouri State Medical Society and the American Medical Association. He has served as president of the Southeastern Missouri Medical Society. He was local surgeon for the Iron Mountain Railroad from 1886 to 1896, and was also Secretary for ten years of the United States Pension Board. In a fraternal way he is connected with the Independent Order of Odd Fellows and in politics he accords a stalwart allegiance to the principles and poli- cies promulgated by the Democratic party. Dr. Haley commands the hearty admiration and esteem of his fellow practitioners by reason of his strict adherence to the unwrit- ten code of professional ethics and as a citi- zen he is essentially loyal and public spirited, doing all in his power to advance the general progress and improvement.
LOUIS KRUEGER. The present able and popular incumbent of the office of clerk of the common pleas court at Cape Girardeau, Missouri, is Louis Krueger, who has resided in this city during all of his life and who is here honored and esteemed by all with whom he has come in contact by reason of his fair and straightforward business dealings. Mr. Krueger was born at Cape Girardeau, on the 11th of September, 1874, and he is a son of William and Elizabeth (Schrader) Krueger, both born in Brunswick, Germany. Both parents came to the United States in early youth, settling at Cape Girardeau, where they became acquainted and eventually mar- ried. As a young man Mr. William Krueger turned his attention to the meat-market busi- ness, stock buying and farming, and he was identified with those lines of enterprise dur- ing the major part of his active career. He died November 4, 1880, his wife, now Mrs. Hitt, living in Cape Girardeau. Mr. and Mrs. Krueger became the parents of six children, of whom the three daughters are deceased.
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The sons all reside in this city,-Louis is the immediate subject of this review; Martin O. is most successfully engaged in the hardware business and is mentioned on other pages of this work; and William H. is janitor of the Federal building.
Louis Krueger was reared to adult age at Cape Girardeau, where he attended the Loir- mier Public School until he had reached the age of seventeen years. He then entered the State Normal School, and later Bryant & Stratton's Business College at St. Louis. After completing his education he taught school for two years, and then entered the office of Cape Girardeau Water Works and Electric Light Company where he remained for two years. He gave his attention to the hardware business for a short time. For a number of years he was secretary of the Cape Girardeau and Jackson Gravel Road Company, but a few years ago resigned that position. He has an interest in a farm, and as above stated, is the clerk of the common pleas court at Cape Girardeau at the present time.
In his political convictions Mr. Krueger is aligned as a stalwart supporter of the prin- ciples and policies for which the Republican party stands sponsor. On the 1st of Jan- uary, 1911, he was honored by his fellow citi- zens with election to the office of clerk of the court of common pleas, in discharging the duties of which important position he is acquitting himself with all of honor and dis- tinction. Mr. Krueger is a man of sterling worth and unquestioned integrity; he looks upon a public office as a public trust and as a result of his varied experiences and broad information is eminently well fitted for pub- lic honors. In fraternal circles Mr. Krueger is affiliated with the local lodges of the Be- nevolent and Protective Order of Elks, the Royal Arcanum and the Sons of Veterans, he being eligible for membership in the last organization by reason of his father's serv- ice as a gallant and faithful soldier in the Union army of the Civil war. Mr. and Mrs. Krueger are noted for their geniality and in their comfortable, attractive home hospice is given to all comers. They are held in high regard by their fellow citizens and possess scores of friends.
At Jackson, Missouri, in the month of March, 1903. was solemnized the marriage of Mr. Krueger to Miss Helen Jaeger, who was born and reared in this place and who is a
daughter of Joseph and Elizabeth Jaeger, the former a native of Germany and the lat- ter a native of Cape Girardeau. Mr. and Mrs. Krueger are the parents of two daughters: Helen, whose birth occurred in 1905, and Louise, born in 1908.
ALFRED A. VITT, of Union, represents one of the pioneer families of Franklin county. His father, John T. Vitt, was a native of Prussia, born at Siegen in 1809. A man of university training, Mr. Vitt was induced to come to America by the "Giesener Auswan- derings Gesellschaft," a society for the pro- motion of immigration to the United States. The opportunity to become a citizen of the : republic and to enjoy its privileges appealed to John T. Vitt and in 1834 he came to Franklin county. Four years later he re- turned to Prussia for his bride, Cornelia Schmidt, and the couple formed the nucleus of a family that has been modestly identified . with Franklin county's history for more than seventy years.
John T. Vitt had entered a tract of gov- ernment land in 1834, but later became a merchant in the town of Union and re- mained in the mercantile business until 1856. In 1859 he built a steam grist and merchant mill at Union and he continued to operate the mill with the assistance of three of his sons until 1868, when he retired. Always an active business man, he was an equally con- scientious public official. A resident of Union when it was incorporated, he was made one of its first trustees. In the early days he filled the office of justice of peace and was several times chosen county judge. He was among the original Fremont Repub- licans and had few colleagues here during that memorable campaign. Three of his sons served in the Union army : Adolphus H., who died in Union, leaving a family of six chil- dren; Herman W., whose home is still in Union; and Alfred A. The other children of John and Cornelia Vitt are Edwin, who passed away in 1878, and Mrs. Bertha E. Clark, of Union. Cornelia Vitt died in 1884 and John T. Vitt in 1889.
Alfred A. Vitt was born near Union, Mis- souri, February 28, 1844, the historic "high water" year. His education was concluded before the outbreak of the Civil war and he gave evidence of his patriotism by enlisting in Company A of the rifle battalion attached to the First Regiment, Missouri Infantry
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Volunteers, commanded by Colonel Frank P. Blair, in April, 1861. Company A was commanded by Captain L. E. Konieuzeski. The enlistment was for ninety days, and up- on its expiration Mr. Vitt returned home. He served in and around the St. Louis ar- senal and marine hospital-Meramec Station on the Missouri Pacific Railroad and Rolla, at that time the terminus of the Southwest- ern Branch, now the Frisco Railway. He witnessed the capture of General Frost's Confederate Camp Jackson at St. Louis by General Lyon, on May 10, 1861, which event saved St. Louis to the Union. From August, 1861, until some time in 1864 Mr. Vitt re- mained out of the zone of hostilities, working in his father's mill. In that year he enlisted in the Forty-seventh Missouri Infantry, com- manded by Colonel Thomas C. Fletcher, afterward governor of the state. Until May, 1865, Mr. Vitt was in active service in the war. His company helped to build the fort at Pilot Knob, Missouri, and after General Sterling Price's raid they were sent up the Missouri river on a boat with a detachment of artillery, to prevent the crossing of bands or independent companies from the north side of the river to join Price's army. His regiment was subsequently ordered into Ten- nessee, when General Thomas at Nashville called for aid. Before the Forty-seventh reached that point, Thomas had cut Hood's army to pieces, so that the services of the regiment were diverted to other points in Tennessee, where it did active military duty until the spring of 1865, when it was ordered home to be mustered out at Benton Barracks, St. Louis.
Resuming business as a civilian, Mr. Vitt assisted his father in the mill until the fall of 1866, when he engaged in the stove and tin- ware business in Union. He learned the tin- hers' trade and followed that business until May, 1868. At that time his father decided to retire and Alfred A. and his brother Her- nan W. purchased the mill. In 1880 he be- same sole proprietor and has since conducted the business. Other matters have claimed lis attention in the ensuing forty odd years, imong which was the organization of the Citizens' Bank of Union. Mr. Vitt was the irst president of this bank; later lie acted is its cashier from January 4, 1910, to March 1. 1911, and is still a member of the board. In politics Mr. Vitt has, like his distin- yuished father, always acted with the Repub-
lieans, of which party he has been an hon- ored and prominent figure, being twice chosen chairman of the Republican County Committee. Ile has been mayor of Union and has represented his county in the general assemblies of 1907 and 1909. During his first term he was a member of the committee on private corporations and that of claims, local bills and miscellaneous business. In the second session he was a member of the committee on roads and highways, wills and probate law and private corporations, and chairman of the committee on labor. The legislation towards good roads claimed Mr. Vitt's special interest and the measures passed during his service in the legislature are now bearing fruit. Another of Mr. Vitt's achievements was the bill empowering counties to levy a special tax for the erection of a court house or other public buildings without resorting to bonded debt, inasmuch as he was the author of the bill, now a law in Missouri.
On March 5, 1866, Mr. Vitt was married to Miss Mary Jane White, a daughter of John White, who came to Missouri from Pennsyl- vania. Mrs. Vitt's mother was Elizabeth Ferguson. Mrs. Vitt died February 10, 1886. Of the children born to the subject and his wife, Fred married Miss Caroline Pisane and resides in Union; Jessamine is Mrs. J. W. Ream, of Portland, Oregon; Mary M. married Edward Muench, of Union, where Gertrude E. (Vitt) Shelton also makes her home. One son, Tracy G., is dead; the others are Eugene B., a locomotive engineer of St. Louis, Missouri; and John T., a civil engineer, now at Evansville, Indiana, in the employ of the C. & E. I. Railroad Company.
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