USA > Missouri > History of southeast Missouri : a narrative account of its historical progress, its people and its principal interests, Volume I > Part 89
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Mr. Vitt is a Knight of Pythias and a Mason, and has served as a delegate to the Grand Lodge of both orders. Well informed and unusually interested in the general wel- fare of the community, which he has served in such varied capacities, Mr. Vitt is a worthy representative of an admirable race. He is hale and hearty and very active for one of his years.
F. G. CLIPPARD. The postmaster and mer- chant farmer of Leopold is a Missourian and the son of Missourians. He was born in Bollinger county, in 1854, his parents being G. W. and Sorintha Clippard. Like most of the district's prominent citizens, Mr. Clip- pard spent his early life working on his
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father's farm. At the age of eighteen he left the farm to work for his uncle in the mer- cantile business and remained here for ten years, always an efficient and careful worker.
In 1872 Mr. Clippard and his sisters in- herited jointly an estate of one hundred and thirty-five acres. The brother bought out his sisters and operated the farm for twenty years. In 1892 he sold this farm and bought two hundred and seventy-five acres near Laf- lin, Missouri. Mr. Clippard is also the owner of one hundred acres near Leopold. In the town itself he holds three and a half lots besides a large general merchandise store. He has conducted this mercantile business since 1892 with notable success.
Mr. Clippard was married in 1876, to Miss Katie Manning, daughter of Herman and Fronie Manning, natives of Germany. Six children were born of this marriage, three of whom are still living: E. W., aged twenty- six; Early, aged nineteen; and Mary Clip- pard, aged twenty-three. The mother of these children died in 1901. In 1903 Mr. Clippard married Miss Josephine Geroniskie, a native of Germany. Two daughters have been born to them, namely: Ella, born in 1904, and Alma, born in 1907.
Mr. Clippard is a communicant of the Roman Catholic church. Politically he is a loyal and consistent Democrat. His effi- ciency in office is indicated by the fact that he has been postmaster since 1902.
THOMAS W. SCHULTZ, court stenographer for the Twenty-second judicial circuit, is a young man who has attained prominence not only in Kennett, but throughout Dunklin county. If we should look for the cause of his success we might recall the fact that in his veins flows the blood of Germany, France and America, and Mr. Schultz has inherited from each country qualities which largely account for his advancement. Combined with the industry of the Germans we find in his personality the vivacity of the French and the enterprise of the Americans.
Mr. Schultz was born at Hornersville, Dunklin county, December 16, 1881. This also is the native county of Francis M. Schultz, his father, who was born June 11, 1838, and his grandfather was one of the pioneers of this section, whither he came about 1830. Previous to this date he had re- sided in Stoddard county for a period of nine years, having migrated from Tennessee
to Missouri in 1821. Tennessee was the com- monwealth to which Grandfather Schultz owes his birth and his early education, but although his family had been amongst the early settlers of that state, his ancestors orig- inated in Germany. After coming to Dunk- lin county Mr. Schultz was uniformly" successful and was accounted one of its most substantial and honorable citizens. The. homestead there became endeared to him, being the one in which he was married and where his children were born and reared to childhood years. Before they had grown to be young men and women, however, the father died, leaving the children to be brought up: by their mother, who lived to see them all doing well, and she died on the farm where her married life had so profitably and hap- pily passed.
The son, Francis, after the death of his' father, spent much of his early life with the In- dians along Little river, taking keen delight in the companionship of those untutored but in- telligent people. When a young man, Fran -. cis M. Schultz was married to Angeline Dun- away, who was born in New Madrid county, near Portage, and descended from an old French family of pioneers who had settled along the Missouri river in that section of the state. At the outbreak of the Civil war Mr. Schultz enlisted in the Confederate army and served until hostilities ceased. After he was mustered out he went to Hornersville, Dunklin county, where he settled on a farm. and has since followed agricultural pursuits continually. There he and his wife still live, content to feel that they are performing their modest part for the good of the community. Mr. Schultz has always been a good Demo- crat, at all times staunch in the support of his party, but personally having no desire for political office.
Thomas W. Schultz, as noted, was brought up on his father's farm. As soon as he was of proper age he was sent to the public, schools at Hornersville, and after finishing their prescribed course 'entered a business college at Quincy, Illinois, August 31, 1910. where he received a thorough training, espe- cially in stenography. In 1899, when eigh- teen years of age, he commenced work in the post-office and general stores and was thus employed for the ensuing eight years. At the expiration of that time, in 1907, he lo- cated at the town of Senath, where he earned a fine reputation as an insurance agent. In
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this capacity his French blood came to his practical assistance, for his fluent speech and persuasive manners made it difficult for anyone to long turn a deaf ear to the prop- ositions he laid before them. Although Mr. Schultz was defeated for circuit court clerk in the Democratic nominating caucus, Judge Walker appointed him to the office of court stenographer of the twenty-second distriet. in which capacity he is serving now. In every way he is one of the bright young men of this seetion, whose steady advance is taken as a matter of course.
On the 8th day of December, 1908, the year after Mr. Schultz entered the insurance field, his marriage to Miss May MeCluer was solemnized at her native town of Senath.
DONALD H. CAMERON. Taking cognizance of the name of the able and popular editor of the Mining Herald, of Elvins, St. Francois county, there can be no measure of conjec- ture as to his ancestral lineage, for both his personal and family names bear unmistak- able evidence of the sturdy Scotch deriva- tion, and the family history gives reeord concerning the valiant deeds of the fine old Cameron clan of the Scottish highlands, within which oppression has been hurled baek to keep the boon of liberty. Mr. Cam- eron, as editor and publisher of the Mining Herald, has made that paper an effective ex- ponent of local interests, especially of the mining industry in the section of the state in which it is published, and it ranks as one of the vigorous and excellent weekly papers of southeastern Missouri.
Donald Hilliard Cameron was born at Woodville, Victoria county, province of On- ario, Canada, in 1878, and is a son of Dun- an and Lovisa (Irish) Cameron, whose mar- riage was there solemnized in the year 1862. The father was born in the staunch Scottish settlement in Glengarry county, province f Ontario, in the year 1841, and was eared to the sturdy discipline of the great basic industry of agriculture. He be- ame a marine engineer, however, and for many years was identified with navigation nterests on the Great Lakes. He continued o reside in Canada until his death, on the 7th of December, 1897, and his widow still maintains her home at Port Arthur, province of Ontario. Duncan Cameron well exempli- ied the eanny traits of the race from which te was sprung, and his independence, ster-
ling integrity and mature judgment made him a strong and noble character. Ile com- manded the respect of all with whom he came in contact and lived a life of signal honor and usefulness. Ile was a staunch Tory in his political allegiance and was a member of the Presbyterian church, of which his widow also has long been a devoted adherent. Of the nine children Donald H., of this review, was the seventh in order of birth.
The childhood and youth of Donald H. Cameron were passed in his native province, -principally at Woodville and Orillia-and his early educational discipline, secured in the public schools, was effectively supple- mented by a course of study in the collegiate institute in the village of Orillia. It has been consistently said that the training of a news- paper office is tantamount to a liberal educa- tion, and the consistency of this statement has been exemplified in the career of Mr. Cameron, who instituted his association with the "art preservative of all arts" when he was a lad of fifteen years. He entered, at the age noted, the office of the Orillia News Letter, in which he served a practical ap- prenticeship to the printer's trade and with which he continued to be identified for five years, after which he was employed at his trade and as a reporter on various papers in his native province,-principally in the eity of Toronto.
In the year 1902 Mr. Cameron came to Missouri and located in St. Louis, but in the following year he established his residence in Elvins, St. Francois county, where he as- sumed the position of editor of the Labor Herald. In March, 1910, was effected a reorganization of the controlling company and the name of the paper was changed to the Mining Herald, under which title it has since been effectively conducted, with Mr. Cameron as editor and manager. The Herald is staunchly aligned in support of the prin- ciples and policies for which the Republican party stands sponsor, and with this party Mr. Cameron has been actively identified since he became a naturalized citizen of the United States, in 1908. He is a vigorous and resourceful writer and the editorial and news columns of the Herald amply indicate his ability in this line. As a citizen he is liberal and progressive, and his personal popularity shows conclusively that he has measured up to the demands of the metewand of objective approbation. In April, 1911, there eame
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distinctive evidence of the confidence and es- teem reposed in him in his home community, as he was then elected mayor of Elvins, in which position he is giving a most careful and progressive administration of municipal affairs. Both he and his wife hold member- ship in the Presbyterian church and he is affiliated with the Independent Order of Odd Fellows and the Knights of Pythias.
In July, 1906, was solemnized the mar- riage of Mr. Cameron to Miss Kate Langdon, daughter of Mrs. Mary Langdon, of Elvins, and she is a popular factor in connection with the social activities of her home community. Mr. and Mrs. Cameron have no children.
AARON PALMER. One of the most active and prosperous agriculturists of Dunklin county, Aaron Palmer owns and occupies a valuable farm in the town of Senath, where he has won an enviable reputation as an honest man and a good citizen, and as one who has contributed his full quota towards the advancement and development of one of the richest agricultural regions of South- eastern Missouri. A son of William and Pamelia (Miller) Palmer, he was born in Carroll county, Tennessee, February 4, 1845, on the home farm.
William Palmer was born and reared in South Carolina, but as a young man settled in Carroll county, Tennessee, where he lived until 1849, when he came to Missouri, locat- ing in Stoddard county, near Bloomfield. He was of English ancestry on both sides of the house, as was his first wife, the mother of the subject of this sketch. She died on the farm near Bloomfield, in 1854, leaving three children, namely: Aaron Palmer, the subject of this sketch ; and a son and a daughter that are now living in California. William Palmer was subsequently twice married, and had one other child, Mrs. Martha Hays, of Dunklin county.
Brought up in Stoddard county, Aaron Palmer lived at home for a few years after his father's second marriage. At the age of thirteen years, however, he began working out for wages, finding employment on differ- ent farms in Missouri and Tennessee. In 1862, during the most exciting period of the Civil war. he came to Dunklin county with two yoke of steers, which he drove sixty miles in three days. his father, who had large herds of stock and was a southern sympathizer,
coming here for protection, as things were pretty warm for him in Stoddard county. Mr. Palmer himself subsequently fought for a few months in the Confederate army, being a member of Marmaduke's Cavalry, which was stationed principally in Arkansas.
At the close of the conflict Mr. Palmer came to Dunklin county in search of re- munerative employment, having no capital save willing hands, a courageous heart and a strong determination to win success in the battle of life. About four years later he had succeeded so well in his efforts that he felt warranted in taking unto himself a wife. She had some land and a few head of cattle, and they settled near his present home. A year or two later Mr. Palmer purchased eighty acres of the land now included in his farm, and in its management met with such emi- nent success that he has since made frequent purchases of other land, and is now owner of eight hundred acres of land in Dunklin county, nearly all of which is in one body, he being now one of the largest owners of im- proved land in the entire county. When Mr. Palmer located in Senath there were no roads in the vicinity, nothing but pathis, and only one building had then been erected in the town. The country roundabout was heavily timbered, his first dwelling place having been erected in the woods, and having been made of logs, with a stick and mud chimney. At the end of seven years Mr. Palmer traded his original property, selling to a man at Cotton Plant, and subsequently made another deal with Will F. Shelton, Sr., of Kennett. He is now occuping a large, seven-room cottage, and on his farm has fifteen tenant houses, which are occupied by his renters, who devote their time and attention to the raising of the crops common to this region, Mr. Palmer himself doing now but little of the actual labor of the farm.
Mr. Palmer has been twice married. He married first, in September, 1869, Parlee Cook, who died in 1895, leaving six children, namely : Nancy ; Thomas J. ; Martha ; Charles, living at home; George, also at home: and Tennie. Mr. Palmer married for his second wife, Mrs. Rachel T. Culp, nee Hardin, a widow with three children, namely : Henry, Janetta and Alfred. In his political relations Mr. Palmer is a Democrat, and religiously he is an active and trustworthy member of the Primitive Baptist church.
I. Calmer
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IHISTORY OF SOUTHEAST MISSOURI
WILLIAM F. BERGMANN. The name Berg- mann suggests commercialism to the people of Cape Girardeau. . Not only is William F. Bergmann a go-ahead business man, but his ather before him was a merchant. William mbibed business principles in his babyhood ; le observed them in his boyhood and he has practiced them in his maturity. The people of Cape Girardeau feel that they have a pro- prietary interest in him, he having spent the best part of his life in their midst. They lave watched his development and that of is business. They have seen him grow from being simply the son of his father to a man who has made his own career, not being will- ng to live on the reputation of his father, however good that might be.
William F. Bergmann was born at Cane Girardeau, Missouri, August 6, 1876. His ather, of whom mention is made on other ages of this work, is William C. Bergmann. William Bergmann is the eldest son of his parents and to him Cape Girardeau means home,-the place where he was born, went to chool, attended the state normal school and where his parents still live and he has made his own home. He began his business life as traveling salesman in the millinery busi- ess, being employed by a St. Louis house. n 1902 he went into business for himself nd has continued in the same place and long the same line ever since. He carries a arge and complete stock of groceries, dry 'oods and furnishings, employing fifteen lerks to carry on his growing trade.
In June, 1902, he married Fannie Harker, native of Winfield, Kansas. One dangh- er, Madeline, was born to this union.
Mr. Bergmann is a member of the Com- mercial Club of Cape Girardeau and is a very active member. He belongs to the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks, tanding high with the members of that or- anization. He is one of the most prominent nen of the city, not only in the business world, but also in his social life. Those same haracteristics which have made him so suc- essful in a commercial way have also won im friends.
J. FRANK MEADOR. There is no lawyer in Wayne county who has a higher standing han Mr. Meador, its prosecuting attorney, nd throughout his interesting career his ac- ions have been beyond criticism-no one has been able to cast any aspersions on his char-
acter either in his private or publie capacity. Since his first entry into the field of law he has set himself to run the course with single- ness of purpose. His goal has not been a crown of glory for himself, but the perform- ance each day of such duties as he saw. This course he has kept without deviating to the right or to the left. To men of such cali- bre honors will come without being sought- as indeed they have to Mr. Meador-but in his mind the satisfaction which results from the knowledge of time well spent means much more than the positions of honor which have been awarded him.
Mr. Meador was born in Wayne county, near Patterson, on the 1st day of December, 1880. James F. Meador, the father of J. Frank, is a native of Macon county, Tennes- see, where his birth occurred in 1842. Grandfather Joseph Meador was a native of Virginia, where he married Miss Luiza Rhodes, and the young couple migrated to Tennessee, where they reared their family. In 1859 they moved to Wayne county, Mis- souri, settled on some wild land which they improved and brought into a high state of cultivation. Their son, James F. Meador, was about seventeen years of age when he accompanied his parents from Tennessee to Wayne county, Missouri; he had acquired all the education he ever received in the dis- triet school in Tennessee, and on his arrival in Wayne county he commenced farming on the place which he now operates. He has de- voted mnost of his time to agricultural pur- suits, to the support of the Baptist church, of which he and his wife are both members, and to the rearing and educating of his chil- dren. Mrs. James F. Meador's maiden name was Anna Kinder, and she was born in Wayne county, Missouri, in 1849; her par- ents hailed from Pennsylvania and were of German descent. Of the ten children who were born to Mr and Mrs. James Meador eight are living, as follows: Adolph, a physi- cian located in Iron county, Missouri; J. Frank Meador, the subject of this biog- raphy; Mannie, wife of William Atnip, of Wayne county, Missouri; Ninnie, married to C. C. Ward, of Wayne county, Missouri; Callie, whose husband is George Bell, of Hi- ramı, Missouri; Luna, wife of William Chil- ton, Bismarck, Missouri; Pearl, residing in Wayne county, Missouri, with her husband, James Biggerstoff; and Walter, at home with his father, who is living on his farm on
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the St. Francois river, situated one mile dis- tant from the land which Grandfather Meador took up on his arrival in Wayne county.
J. Frank Meador was reared on his father's farm and when he was old enough he attended the district school in his neigh- borhood, remaining there until he was six- teen years old. He then entered the state normal school at Cape Girardeau and after a two years' course in this well-known insti- tution he entered the state university at Columbia, Missouri, from whose law depart- ment he was graduated in 1901. He had not attained his majority at the time of his grad- uation, and was therefore not eligible to practice, so for a few months he taught and then took up his residence at Mountain Grove, Wright county, Missouri, where for eighteen months he practiced law. In 1903 he removed to Van Buren, Carter county, Missouri, remained there in legal practice until 1905, when he removed to Greenville. Missouri. In the fall of 1906, when he was less than twenty-six years old, he was elected to the office of prosecuting attorney of Wayne county; in 1908 his record had been so entirely satisfactory that he was re- elected, and again in 1910 he was the Demo- cratic nominee and was elected for the third time. He is now serving his third term, and is but thirty-one years of age.
Mr. Meador was married to Miss Willa Hixson on the 3rd day of August, 1902 She is a daughter of Jerry and Elizabeth (Cole- man) Hixson, both of whom are still living. Mr. and Mrs. Meador are the parents of two daughters,-Violet and Fern. The husband and wife are members of the Baptist church, where they have many friends. Mr. Meador's career so far may be characterized as brilliant, and inasmuch as he is a young man, he may expect a future of still greater prominence.
FRANKLIN A. WIGGS, a citizen of distinc- tive prominence and influence at Lutesville. Missouri, is owner and editor of the well known publication, the Lutesville Banner, a Republican paper, whose unusual success aud wide renown are the direct result of Mr. Wiggs' well applied efforts.
A native of the state of Illinois, Mr. Wiggs was born in Union county, on the 2nd of An- gust, 1857, and he is a son of William and
Mary E. Wiggs, both of whom are deceased the father having passed away in 1903 and the mother in 1899. William H. Wiggs was a native of Virginia and his wife was born ir North Carolina, both having come to southerr! Illinois in early life. The father was a farmer by occupation and he and his wife were the parents of eight children, of whom the subject of this review was the first born Franklin A. Wiggs passed his boyhood anc youth on the old homestead farm in Unior county, Illinois, and his preliminary educa- tional training consisted of such advantages as were afforded in the district schools of that county. At the age of seventeen years. he was matriculated as a student in Ewing. College, at Ewing, Illinois, spending the en- suing seven years in preparatory and colle. giate work in that excellent institution. Ow.' ing to illness, however, he was unable to complete his course and was obliged to go to Colorado to recuperate. Returning to Illi- nois in 1882, lie located at Ewing, where he was engaged in the general merchandise busi ness until 1890. While in college he had worked for a time in the printing office of a Baptist paper, and thus, being somewhat familiar with that particular line of enter prise, he opened a job-printing office a-1 Chester, Illinois, in 1890, continuing to con duct the same for five or six months.
In the latter part of 1890 Mr. Wiggs re moved to Mountain View, Missouri, where he was unfortunate in investments, losing & great deal of money in the panic of 1893 For a time thereafter he was engaged in the job and blank printing business at Mountain View and subsequently he edited the Moun tain View Times, achieving a fair amount o success along these lines of enterprise. Ir 1900 he removed his printing plant to Charleston, Missouri, where he established the Charleston Star. Disposing of the latter. publication in 1904, he bought out the plan of the Lutesville Banner, a Republican news paper which boasted a Washington hanc press and a subscription list. Mr. Wiggs i: now the owner of a fully equipped plant modern in all its appointments and fittec out with power and type-setting machines The Lutesville Banner has grown from a sec. ond rate paper to be one of the most influen. tial newspapers in southeastern Missour: and its prestige is due entirely to Mr. Wiggs excellent management. In addition to luis
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printing plant, he is the owner of some fine property at Lutesville, the same including a beautiful residence.
On the 12th of October, 1887, at Sailor Springs, in Clay county, Missouri, was sol- emnized the marriage of Mr. Wiggs to Miss Dean Sailor, a daughter of Thomas N. and Rebecca J. Sailor, residents of Sailor Springs, Illinois. This union has been blessed with one child, William S., whose birth occurred on the 25th of November, 1892. In religious matters the Wiggs family give a loyal support to the Presbyterian church, of which they are devout members, ind in a fraternal way Mr. Wiggs is a valued ind appreciative member of the local lodge of the Modern Woodmen of America. In politics he accords a stalwart allegiance . to the principles and policies for which the Re- publican party stands sponsor and he is ever on the alert to do all in his power to ad- vance the best interests of Lutesville, where he is a man of mark in all the relations of life.
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