USA > Missouri > History of southeast Missouri : a narrative account of its historical progress, its people and its principal interests, Volume I > Part 95
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BENJAMIN H. HUGHES. "Some men are born to greatness; some achieve greatness, and some have greatness thrust upon them." The "greatness" which Mr. Hughes enjoys has been achieved my him. Born and reared on a farm, it was entirely owing to his own capabilities that the responsible position which he so ably fills was bestowed on him, and was even thrust on him a second time.
Mr. Hughes was born October 24, 1875, in St. Francis township, Wayne county, Mis- souri. He belongs to the Hughes family who are so well known as pioneers in Wayne county. Mr. Hughes' grandfather, William Hughes, was a native of Virginia, where he was educated and learned the blacksmith trade. He was there married and thence came to Missouri, locating near Lodi, Wayne county, on some wild land which he pro- ceeded to bring under cultivation. There his first wife died and he married a second, Miss Delphia Brown, and to this union A. C. Hughes (father of Ben. H.) was born, Feb-
ruary 2, 1849, in Cedar Creek townshij Grandfather Hughes trained his son in tł knowledge of farming and also blacksmith ing, and with these two industries Mr. A. ( Hughes has occupied himself. When young man he purchased a farm four mile west of Greenville, Missouri, and settled o the wild, uncultivated prairie, which b gradually cleared and improved until it be came a productive farm. His wife was Ma] tha Rodgers, born in Carter county, Mi: souri, who died when she was thirty-thre years of age, in 1886. Mr. and Mrs. A. C Hughes became the parents of seven chi dren, five of whom are living, and all ar residents of Wayne county. Their name are as follows,-W. W., living near the ol homestead which his grandfather owned i: St. Francis township; Benjamin; Joseph D. G. W .; and Lulu, the wife of William H Lane. Father Hughes is living a retired lif on the farm which his son superintends, an where the father spent so many years of hi. life and where he still retains the interests o. his youth. He has always been a stanch Dem ocrat, but has never desired any public offic for himself. He has for years held member ship in the Missionary Baptist church-the church in which he and his young wife worked together during the short years 0. their wedded life.
Ben. Hughes obtained his education in th district school of the township and after leav ing school he assisted his father with the work of the farm, remaining at home unti 1906. In the fall of 1906 he was elected to the office of treasurer of Wayne county, anc that his services in the capacity of treasurer were eminently satisfactory is evinced by the fact that in 1908 he was reelected to the same office to serve a four-year term. Ir January, 1910, he became cashier of The Iron Exchange Bank for a year.
Mr. Hughes was married to Miss Sarah Eads on the 11th day of April, 1901. Mrs. Hughes is a daughter of J. N. Eads, formerly a prosperous farmer in Wayne county, where he died in the year 1907. Mr. and Mrs. Hughes are the parents of five sturdy sons, Ralph, Robert, Raymond, Roy and Russell; they lost one son, Richard, by death. Both husband and wife are members of the Baptist' church, where they have many friends. Mr. Hughes has always been aligned as a Demo- crat, and in a fraternal way he is affiliated with the Masonic Order, the Independent'
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Order of Odd Felows, the Rebekahs and the Modern Woodmen of America. His is a per- sonality that wins friends and admirers in all his relations of life-political, fraternal, religious and social.
G. B. SNIDER, cashier of the Bank of Marble Hill and one of the leading citizens of the town, is as popular as he is influential. Throughout his career his maxim has been to do the duty which lies nearest, not worrying about what the next might be, and it is be- cause of this simplicity of action that Mr. Snider has made such an unmitigated suc- cess of his life up to the present time, He has by no means reached the limit of his capabilities, and it is safe to predict that in- asmuch as he has heretofore filled all posi- tions in a highly satisfactory manner, that he will continue to have greater responsibil- ities thrust upon him.
Mr. Snider's birth occurred January 27, 1880, near Laflin, Bollinger county, on the old homestead which has been in the family for one hundred years or more. Early in the nineteenth century George Snider (one of G. B. Snider's ancestors) came from his home in North Carolina and took up a tract of land in Bollinger county, which he re- ceived by government grant; he cultivated the land and built the house which has re- mained in the family ever since. His son was Andrew Snider, who married and farmed in Bollinger county and there reared his family; one of his children was George P., the father of G. B. Snider. Mr. George P. Snider passed his whole life on the old homestead, engaged in agricultural pursuits. As a young man he married Miss Martha E. Clippard, and to this union one son, G. B., was born. The father died when their son was a mere child and in course of time the mother married again. She is now living in Kennett, the wife of Dr. W. B. Finney of that town.
G. B. Snider received his preliminary edu- cational training in the public schools and was graduated from the State Normal at Cape Girardeau in 1900. When he was twelve years old he accompanied his mother to Kennett and remained there until 1902, when he returned to Marble Hill in Bol- linger county. The last two years of his resi- dence in this county he was the editor of the Bollinger County Times. In 1902 he sold his interest in the paper, moved to Laflin and entered the mercantile business. In 1906 he
commenced his connection with the Bank of Marble Hill, serving successively as book- keeper, assistant cashier and later as cashier, which responsible position he still occupies. Mr. Snider was one of the original stock- holders, as the bank was organized in 1906, with C. A. Sanders, M. D., as its president. During the five years of its existence the stockholders have each year received div- idends and the capital is now fifteen thou- sand dollars. Today (1911) the deposits amount to fifty-one thousand dollars and the bank is doing a thriving business under the management of its efficient cashier. Mr. Snider has other interests besides his bank connection; he is a stockholder of the Ad- vance Telephone Company and is the owner of two hundred and seventy-five acres of land in Bollinger county and another tract of one hundred and twenty acres in Dunklin county.
On the 17th day of December, 1903, Mr. Snider was united in marriage to Miss Anna Drum, a daughter of Senator Robert Drum, of Marble Hill. Mr. Snider is affiliated with the Masonic fraternal order and with the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks, his direet membership in the former being in the Blue Lodge at Marble Hill, Ancient Free and Accepted Mason, and he holds member- ship with the Elks at Cape Girardeau. His is the personality that gains friends, who re- spect him for his sterling characteristics and esteem him for his genial, affable manners.
W. T. CANEER, JR. Possessing in an em- inent degree the energy, keen foresight and sound judgment that ever command success in the business world, W. T. Caneer, Jr., general manager of the Caneer Store Com- pany, holds a place of note among the lead- ing merchants of Senath, and is numbered among the representative citizens of Dunk- lin county. A native of Tennessee, he was born July 29, 1866, in Gibson county, near Milan, where the days of his youth were spent.
Soon after attaining his majority Mr. Caneer spent a year in Missouri, and was so well pleased with its future possibilities that when looking about for a permanent location he came to Dunklin county, in 1894 locating in Senath, which has since been his home. The following four years he was employed as a clerk in the store of Caneer & Karnes, and then, with his brothers, bought the en- tire business, which was conducted for sev-
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eral years under the firm name of Caneer Brothers, he being manager of affairs.
In 1904 the Caneer Store Company was in- corporated, with a capital of fifty-two thou- sand dollars, and is now doing an immense business, its trade extending not only throughout the southern portion of Dunklin county, but over a large portion of Arkansas. This business was founded by J. I. Caneer, who at the inception of the town of Senath established the first mercantile house in the place, it being a small building, sixteen by
twenty-four feet. He began on a modest scale, and afterward enlarged his stock and his operations. In 1891 Mr. J. I. Caneer be- came sole proprietor of the business, which increased so rapidly that more commodious quarters were needed, and he erected a large frame building, which soon proved none too large for his extensive trade. In 1898 he with his two brothers, W. T. Caneer and A. A. Caneer, engaged in business together under the firm name of Caneer Brothers, W. T. Caneer becoming manager of the store and A. A. Caneer, bookkeeper, collector, etc. Mr. J. I. Caneer, who had been instrumental up to that time in the upbuilding of the busi- ness, simply holding a third interest in it. Mr. J. I. Caneer was a man of wonderful resources, and in addition to having man- aged a business amounting to about fifty thousand dollars a year had also made much money in the buying and selling of lands, and is now living retired in Los Angeles, California, although his financial interests are mainly in Missouri, as he retains an in- terest the Caneer Store Company and owns upward of a thousand acres of land in Dunk- lin county.
The Caneer Store Company is owned mostly by Senath people, and has the fol- lowing named gentlemen as officers: A. W. Douglass, president; E. Baker, vice-presi- dent; A. T. Douglass, secretary; A. A. Caneer, treasurer; and W. T. Caneer, Jr., general manager. The store building which the firm occupies has a hundred feet front- age, and is one hundred and fifteen feet deep, a part of it being two stories in height, and in addition has outside warerooms. The Company carries on a general supply busi- ness, handling tools and implements of all kinds, its stock being valued at thirty-two thousand dollars, while its sales in this line amounts to upwards of one hundred thou- sand dollars annually. The firm likewise handles hay, feed and cotton, buying and
ginning about fifteen hundred bales of the latter production each year, its sales from cotton exceeding one hundred and twenty- five thousand dollars a year.
Mr. W. T. Canecr is also interested in Missouri lands, Caneer Brothers owning large tracts that are under cultivation and . are highly productive. He is also a stock- holder and the vice-president of the Citizens' Bank of Senath. He is a stanch Republican in politics, and fraternally is a member of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows and of the Woodmen of the World.
Mr. Caneer married, in 1903, Kate Law- son, a daughter of the late Moses Lawson, of Kennett, who was for many years a prom- inent attorney and county official of Dunk- lin county. Mrs. Caneer passed to the higher life November 19, 1909, leaving no children.
PETER R. CONRAD traces his ancestry in a direct line back to the Revolution. He is the son of David, son of Peter, son of Rudolph, son of Peter, who probably came to America from Prussia about 1750. Rudolph and his brother Jacob went from the neighborhood of Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, to Lincolnton, North Carolina, during the Revolutionary days. Both brothers were soldiers in the Revolutionary war and probably witnessed the battle of Cowpens, accounts of which have been handed down to the children of the third and fourth generation; how the men rode two by two to battle under the gal- lant General Greene.
Rudolph Conrad was three times married. His first marriage was with a Miss Schuford. The issue of this union was one child, Daniel. By his union with Miss Shell, Rudolph had five children, Peter, Jacob Lewis, Mary (Kline), Susan (Baumgarten) and Charlotte (Plott). His third marriage was to Miss Stockinger, and their children were John Lewis, Ephraim, Rebecca, Elizabeth. Peter, the paternal grandsire of Peter R. of this sketch, married Sarah Abernathy, of North Carolina, and came to Missouri in 1820. David Conrad, the father of Peter R., was the oldest of his seven children. The others were Elizabeth, Jacob, William, Clarissa, George and Martha. The Conrads are a re- markably long-lived race and all these chil- dren except David and Martha lived to be over eighty. The latter died at the age of seventy-five and the former in 1890, at seventy-nine. George is supposed to be still
Peter R. Konrad,
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living near Grinnell, Iowa, at the age of ninety-one. The father of this family was a eabinet maker by trade. He had been ap- prenticed to a worker in this craft when a boy, being bound out for a number of years, as was the enstom of the time. When he came to Marble ITill he settled near an unele, Casper Shell, who' gave him five acres of land, planted in corn. Peter was very poor at the time of his arrival in the county, but before he died he accumulated a fair eompe- tenee and a comfortable home. He died in August, 1842, at the age of sixty-two.
David R., son of Peter and father of Peter R., was born January 5, 1811. He married in 1833 Miss Mary Bollinger and lived and died on the farm now occupied by Daniel E. Conrad. This was a part of the old Spanish grant purchased by David R. from Fred- eriek Slinkard. David Conrad had thirteen children, ineluding Peter R., of this review; Jacob, who died on December 7, 1905, at the age of seventy; Moses, who passed away at sixteen years of age; Elizabeth, still living ; John; Sarah and Priscilla, both deceased; Clarissa, wife of William Heitman; George E., born in 1852; Benton, who died at the age of nineteen; and Frances Jane, wife of Trustin Gideon.
Peter R. Conrad was edneated in the county schools and at home. He had the ad- vantage of the instruction of his parents, both of whom were well educated and cul- tured. Peter spent nearly two years at Pleasant Hill Academy, north of Jackson. He lived with his father until he was twenty- six years old, this being in the year 1860. At that date he began to farm for himself. but interrupted this peaceful pursuit a year later to enter the Union army.
The First Missouri Engineers was Peter Conrad's regiment and he gave three years of service to the country which his great- grandfather had helped to make an inde- pendent nation. He served as a sapper and a miner and in the signal corps, in the rail- road repair work, in railroad building and in road making. In the course of perform- ing this important work Mr. Conrad saw much hard service and was present at the bombardment of Fort Henry.
After the war agriculture again elaimed Mr. Conrad's attention. He now owns two hundred and forty aeres of land, one hundred of which is fine eleared land on Whitewater creek. He owns considerable
live stock, inelnding a small herd of sheep. A large fruit orchard is one of the most val- uable sections of his farm.
Mr. Conrad does not permit his work to absorb all his attention. He is a man of broad culture and wide reading. Geology is one of his favorite studies and he has studied the geological formation of the region with which he is thoroughly familiar. IIe is famed as a collector of minerals and Indian implements, as well as other curios. Ilis col- lection of stone implements used by the In- dians is one of the finest private collections in the state.
Mr. Conrad has been twice married. His first wife was Anna Nugent, daughter of John H. Nugent, of West Virginia. Their marriage took place in May, 1860, and the union lasted until Mrs. Conrad's death, twenty-one years afterward. They had nine children, seven of whom are living. The names and dates of birth of the children are as follows : Rudolph, June 3, 1861; William, September 15, 1865, and died at the age of nine ; John I., May 20, 1867; George, May 28, 1870; Mary, July 10, 1872; Albert, February 28, 1875; Arthur O., February 25, 1877; Augusta, February 22, 1878; and David, born June 2, 1869, who died in infancy.
In 1886 Mr. Conrad was married to Emma Griffith, the adopted daughter of Dr. C. N. Griffith. Mrs. Conrad is a native of Den- mark. Her mother died on the ocean coming to America and her father in St. Louis in 1852. The infant daughter Emma was adopted by Dr. and Mrs. Griffith, of Iron county. Mr. and Mrs. Conrad have two chil- dren living, Frances Eleanor and Julius C. Two others, a son and a daughter, died in infancy.
Mr. Conrad is a member of the fast dimin- ishing Grand Army of the Republic. He is of the political party of Lineoln, Grant and MeKinley. In religious doctrines, he sub- scribes to those of the Presbyterian church, of which he is an honored and valued mem- ber.
MICHAEL DE GUIRE. Great men are great in their methods. As contrasted to ordinary men, they draw their plans on a larger scale -think in bigger units-trudge to further horizons-elimb longer hills-contest in greater arenas. and accept no compromise from opportunity. It is the size of the game as well as the size of the man that spells snc-
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cess. Michael De Guire is a scion of one of the oldest pioneer families in Missouri, his father having come to what is now Madison county as early as 1790. He has ever been imbued with the ancestral spirit of enter- prise and through his well directed endeavors has achieved a marvelous success as a busi- ness man and miller. He has lived retired from participation in active affairs since 1903, and while he has now attained to the age of seventy-four years he is still hale and hearty and manifests a keen interest in community affairs.
Michael De Gnire was born in Madison county, Missouri, on the 5th of November, 1837, and he is a son of Paul and Sarah (Ni- fong) De Guire, the former a native of Ste. Genevieve, this state, and the latter a native of North Carolina. Paul De Guire was a son of Paul De Guire, who came to America from France prior to 1800 and settled on a farm in the vicinity of Fredericktown. Paul De Guire, with three other French families, hewed the road through the wilderness to Madison county, theirs having been the first wheeled vehicle to come over the trail. Paul De Guire, whose birth occurred in 1792, died in 1875, at the venerable age of eighty-three years. He was engaged in lead-mining, smelting and shipping during the greater part of his active career, his product having been manufactured and sold after being shipped to the Mississippi river, where it commanded a price of two and a half cents per pound. He had a number of slaves and hired other negro help to carry on his busi- ness. He was also an extensive farmer. He married, in 1821, Sarah Ann Nifong. whose birth occurred in North Carolina, in 1805, and who was descended from German ances- tors. She came to Missouri as a child and died in 1887, at the age of eighty-two years. She and her husband were both devont comuni- cants of the Catholic church. Of their nine children the subject of this review was the fifth in order of birth and but three are liv- ing at the present time, namely,-Mrs. Eliz- abeth Allen, of Kansas City, Missouri; Mrs. Saralı Putnam, of California: and Michael. of this notice. At this juncture it is inter- esting to note that Panl De Guire owned the first hand-mill for grinding corn in this sec- tion of the state. The subject of this sketch still has the top stone in his possession. this being a very historical relie, as it represents part of the first mill of any description in Madison county.
Michael De Guire was reared to the pioneer life of his native place and his rudimentary educational training consisted of such advan- tages as were afforded in the schools of the locality and period. In 1854, at the age of seventeen years, he accompanied two of his brothers, A. A. and Henry, on the overland trip to California. A. A., G. W. and Henry De Guire went to California in 1849, being . members of a company of twenty-five, of whom A. A. De Guire was the last survivor, his death having occurred on the 4th of June, 1911, in his eighty-third year. A. A. De Guire crossed the plains again in 1862, driv- ing cattle, and he made two more trips in '63 and '64. In the latter years of his life he made three trips by railroad, making in all seven round trips to California. Michael De Guire remained in California from 1854 to 1858, devoting his time to mining enterprises and achieving marked success. With the ex- ception of nineteen years he has spent his entire life in Madison county, having main- tained his home in Fredericktown since 1876. For thirteen years he was engaged in the mill- ing business in St. Francois county and sub- sequently he was identified with that line of enterprise in Madison county, devoting forty years to that particular project. He started ont with a fifty barrel mill and for thirty years conducted a two hundred barrel mill, this mill being now operated by others, at Fredericktown. In 1877 he built a brick mill in this place and owned the same until 1903, when he retired. He recently sold a fine farm directly north of the town and he re- sides in his beautiful home on West Main street, where he has lived for the past twenty years.
On the 19th of December, 1861, Mr. De Guire was united in marriage to Miss Eliz- abeth Blanton, a native of Iron county, Missouri, and a danghter of Benjamin Blan- ton, who was born in Kentucky and who became a farmer in this state in an early dav.
Mr. and Mrs. De Guire became the parents of two daughters, concerning whom the fol- lowing data are here inserted,-Fannie mar- ried H. D. Christoff. who is a druggist at Fredericktown, and they have four children. Charles, John, Norman and Consuelo; and Flora, who is the wife of W. R. Nifong. of Oklahoma City, where he is a civil engineer, employed in setting up refrigerating and ice plants. They have two children, Jennie and Robert.
In politics Mr. De Guire is a Republican,
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with Prohibition tendencies. He has never been ambitious for public office of any de- scription but has served with efficiency as a member of the board of school directors. In their religious faith he and his family are devout members of the Methodist Episcopal church. Mr. De Guire is strictly a self-made man, having himself built the ladder by which he rose to affluence. All his business dealings have been characterized by fair and honorable methods and as a citizen he com- mands the unalloyed confidence and esteem of his fellow men.
SAMUEL BOUTIN. If those who claim that fortune has favored certain individuals above others will but investigate the cause of success and failure, it will be found that the former is largely due to the improvement of opportunity, the latter to the neglect of it. Fortunate environments encompass nearly every man at some stage of his ca- reer, but the strong man and the successful man is he who realizes that the proper mo- ment has come, that the present and not the future holds his opportunity. The man who makes use of the Now and not the To Be is the one who passes on the highway of life others who started out ahead of him, and reaches the goal of prosperity in advance of them. It is this quality in Samuel Boutin that has made him a leader in the business world and won him an enviable name in con- nection with contracting and building affairs at Cape Girardeau, where he is recognized as a citizen whose loyalty and public spirit have ever been of the most insistent order.
Samuel Boutin was born in Windham county, Vermont, on the 19th of July, 1852, and he is a son of Joachim Boutin, who was born at Point Levis, Canada, the date of his nativity having been 1804. The grandfather of him to whom this sketch is dedicated im- migrated to America from his native land of France in the latter part of the eighteenth century. After being reared and educated in Canada Joachim Boutin came to the United States, locating in the state of Ver- mont, where he turned his attention to agri- cultural operations. In 1826 was recorded his marriage to Miss Martha Warner and to them were born ten children, of Whom Sam- uel was the seventh in order of birth and five of whom are living at the present time, in 1911. The father was summoned to the
life eternal in the year 1879 and the mother passed away in 1883.
In the public schools of his native state of Vermont, Samuel Boutin received his ele- mentary educational training. In 1872, at the age of twenty years, he decided to seek his fortunes in the west and in that year es- tablished his home at Hampton, Iowa, where he became interested in the contracting and building business, being associated in that line of enterprise with his brother, C. W. Boutin, until 1887. In the latter year he removed to Centerville, Iowa, where he was superintendent of bridge-building for the Keokuk & Western Railroad Company for the ensuing fourteen years. In 1901 he went to Gary, Oklahoma, where he was general road- master for the Choctaw & Northern Railroad for about one year, at the expiration of which he came to Cape Girardeau to accept a posi- tion as superintendent of bridges and con- struction work on the St. Louis & Gulf Road. In 1903 his territory was extended over the third district of the Frisco system and he remained with that road until March, 1905, at which time he went to Muskogee, in the Indian Territory, where he was roadmaster over the Midland Valley. In September, 1905, he returned to this city, where he was employed as general foreman by the Frisco system to build the Chaffee yards. In 1907 he was in Georgia with the Fall City Con- struction Company and soon thereafter was forced to give up railroading on account of the impaired condition of his health. In 1908 he came back to Cape Girardeau and here opened offices as contractor and builder. He has been eminently successful in this line of enterprise and by reason of his extensive experience has won renown for the excellent quality of his work.
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