USA > Missouri > History of southeast Missouri : a narrative account of its historical progress, its people and its principal interests, Volume I > Part 99
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During all this time he was active in the ministry, having missed but twenty appoint- ments in twenty-two years since he was or- dained for the Baptist ministry in 1889. He is now moderator of the St. Francis Baptist Association of southeast Missouri. IIe gives half of his time to preaching at Marble IIill. The other half he divides between the Baptist churches at Glen Allen and Marquand.
The Rev. Davault has been teaching in Will Mayfield College since 1893, with the exeep- tion of some years spent in teaching in the public schools. His service to that institution has been recognized by his appointment to the viee-presidency of the college, which of- fice he has held since 1900. His work as an instructor is in the departments of History and Psychology.
The marriage of Mr. Davault to Miss Margaret E. Williford occurred in 1887. Mrs. Davault is the daughter of George S. Williford, a native of Tennessee. Six chil- dren have been born to the Professor and his wife, one son and five daughters. The son. Dr. Webster W. Davault, has chosen the pro-
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fession of medicine and will graduate from the Barnes Medical School of St. Louis in 1912. Before entering upon this special training. Dr. Davault took his A. B. degree at Will Mayfield College. He was born in 1889, four years before Miss Miriam Eula Davault. Miss Davault graduated from the college where her father and brother received their degrees both in music and in the aca- demic department. She is at present en- gaged in teaching at Sikeston, Missouri. Three younger daughters, Helen Emma, Willa Anastasia and Lula Ionia, are aged sixteen, thirteen and nine, respectively, and the fifthi, Mildred Anna, made her advent into the home September 10, 1911.
Professor Davault is a valued member of the Modern Woodmen of America. His many professional and social duties have not caused him to grow indifferent to his immediate sur- roundings. He owns a fine residence and six lots in Marble Hill.
R. E. JENNINGS. Noteworthy among the prosperous agriculturists of Dunklin county is R. E. Jennings, of Senath, who through his own persistent energy and industry has acquired a good farming property, which he is managing with most satisfactory pecuni- ary results. A native of Texas, he was born in Dallas June 27. 1865, but a short time be- fore the death of his father.
Taken then by his widowed mother to Vir- ginia, he lived for awhile in the Old Domin- ion, and later accompanied his mother to Tennessee, from there, at the age of fourteen years, coming to Dunklin county, Missouri, where the death of his mother occurred in 1898. Although he had received but a mea- ger education, R. E. Jennings was forced to begin working for wages as soon as old enough to be of use to any one, and the first seven months after coming to Missouri was employed on a farm in the vicinity of Ken- nett. He subsequently worked as a farm hand in various places, principally in Dunk- lin county, and by dint of perseverance and thrift accumulated sufficient money to war- rant him in purchasing a farm. Assuming possession of his present farm of forty acres in 1904, Mr. Jennings has made improve- ments of an excellent character, increasing its value to one hundred and fifty dollars an acre. it being one of the best and most highly productive estates in the neighborhood.
Mr. Jennings has been twice married. He married fifst, in 1886, Benlah C. Wright,
who died a few months later, on November ! 30, 1886, leaving no children. He married ! for his second wife, January 8, 1888, Cassa B. Harkey, who was born August 13, 1872, and is a sister of W. R. Harkey, of whom a ' brief biographical sketch may be found on another page of this work. Mr. and Mrs. Jennings are the parents of three children, namely : Annie, born March 31, 1893; Wal- ter, born October 18, 1894; and Raymond, born February 28, 1905. Politically Mr. Jen- nings is a stanch adherent of the Democratic party, and fraternally he is a member of the Woodmen of the World.
GEORGE W. LANPHER, SR., has for many years been a leading and influential citizen of Fredericktown and his former activity in business affairs, his co-operation in public in- terests and his zealous support of all objects that he believes will contribute to the mate- rial, social or moral improvement of the com- munity keeps him in the foremost rank of those to whom the city owes its development. His life has been characterized by upright, honorable principles and it also exemplifies the truth of the Emersonian philosophy that "the way to win a friend is to be one." His genial kindly manner wins him the high re- gard and good will of all with whom he comes in contact and while he has lived in retire- ment for the past ten years he is still hale and hearty.
A native of Madison county, Missouri, George W. Lanpher was born at Mine La- Motte on the 12th of February, 1837, and he is a son of George and Elizabeth (Nifong) Lanpher, the former a native of Ohio and the latter a native of Missouri. The father came to this state as a young man, was a carpenter by trade, and after his marriage settled at Mine LaMotte, where he was interested in mining projects until his death, in 1845, at the early age of thirty years. For a short time he also conducted a tavern at Frederick- town, where he likewise served as postmaster. Mrs. Lanpher was a daughter of George Ni- fong, who settled in Bollinger county, Mis- souri, having removed thither from North Carolina. Mr. Nifong was a farmer by occu- pation and during the closing years of his life resided on a fine estate near Frederick- town, where he died in 1870. Mrs. Lanpher died in 1885, at the age of seventy-seven years; in early life she was a member of the Christian church but later affiliated with the Methodist denomination. Mr. and Mrs. Lan-
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pher became the parents of seven children, of whom four grew to maturity and three of whom are living at the present time, namely, -Felix, of Cape Girardeau; Mrs. Amanda Moore, of Ironton, Missouri; and George W., of this notice.
George W. Lanpher, Sr., the immediate subject of this review, was reared to matur- ity at Fredericktown, where he attended the common and subscription schools. As a mere youth, in 1854, he accompanied a band of fel- lows on the overland trip to California, where he remained until the latter part of 1857 and where he was interested in mining ventures. After his return to Madison county, Mis- souri, he farmed for eight or ten years, his fine homestead, a mile and a half west of Fredericktown, being now operated by a son. In 1872 he was elected to the office of assessor of Madison county and later he was chosen as county sheriff and collector, serving in the latter offices for four years. In 1879, in com- pany with Michael DeGuire, he built the mill at Fredericktown, continuing to operate the same for a period of twenty-one years, at the expiration of which he disposed of his inter- est therein to William Gudger Since 1901 he has lived in virtual retirement.
On the 14th of October, 1858, was recorded the marriage of Mr. Lanpher to Miss Eliza Virginia Parkin, whose birth occurred in Madison county, August 28, 1838, and who is a daughter of Joseph and Emily (Johnson) Parkin. Joseph Parkin was born in England, whence he removed to Virginia in an early day, settling at Wytheville. He was twice married, Mrs. Lanpher having been a child of his second union. On his trip to America, Josenh was accompanied by two brothers, one of whom died at sea, en route, and the other, Thomas, who died in Missouri shortly after the Civil war. Mr. Parkin was a farmer and miner by occupation and he died in the vi- cinity of Fredericktown in 1845, at the age of sixty years. Emily (Johnson) Parkin was a sister of Thomas and William Johnson, former residents of Cape Girardeau. She was born at Lonisa Courthouse, Virginia, re- moving thence to Mt. Sterling, Kentucky, and coming from the latter place to Missouri as a girl. Mrs. Lanpher has one brother and a sister living and one brother deceased, namely : Joseph resides at Fredericktown ; Emily is the wife of Dr. Reuben Fugate, of Farmington. Missouri; and Aylette B. was a soldier in the Confederate army and lost his
life during the Civil war, at Farmington, this state.
Mr. and Mrs. Lanpher became the parents of seven children, of whom five are living at the present time, in 1911. Emma is the wife of M. E. Blanton, of Fredericktown; they had four children-James, William, Charles (who died at four years of age), and Almeda. William, who had been attending the State University at Columbia, Missouri. died at the age of twenty-three years, at Frederick- town, Missouri. Edgar is a farmer near Fredericktown ; he married Patty Wiley and they have three daughters-Belle, Eliza V. and Dorothy. Lillian married Samuel Bu- ford and she died on the 17th of Angust, 1909, being survived hy four children- Frank, Charles, George L. and Nellie Jane. Annie is the wife of William H. Blanton and they reside on a farm one mile north of Fredericktown; they have three children- Lillian, Walter and Clyde. Charles A. is en- gaged in the general merchandise business at Fredericktown; he married Belle Hoffman and they have two children-Eliza Elizabeth and Charles, Jr. George W., Jr., operates his father's farm near Fredericktown; he married Annie Nevada Graham and they have one child, Alma.
In politics George W. Lanpher, Sr., is a stalwart in the ranks of the Democratic party. in the local councils of which he has been a most active factor, serving with efficiency in a number of important offices of public trust and responsibilty, as previously noted. For the past fifty years he has been a valued and appreciative member of the time-honored Masonic order, being the oldest living mem- ber of the lodge at Fredericktown. He and his wife are both connected with the Order of the Eastern Star and in their religions faith are consistent members of the Christian church.
ROBERT F. WICHTERICH, M. D. During the years which mark the period of Dr. Wichterich's professional career he has met with gratifying success and during the pe- riod of his residence at Cape Girardeau he has won the good will and patronage of many of the best citizens here. He is a thorough student and endeavors to keep abreast of the times in everything relating to the discover- ies in medical science. Progressive in his ideas and favoring modern methods as a whole, he does not dispense with the time-
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tried systems whose value has stood the test of years. There is in his record much that is worthy of the highest commendation, for limited privileges and financial resources made it necessary that he personally meet the expenses of a college course. In doing this he displayed the elemental strength of his character, which has been the foundation of his success. He now stands very high in the medical profession of the state and is in the fullest sense of the term a self-made man. Dr. Wichterich is also engaged in the drug business at Cape Girardeau, where he has resided during most of his life thus far.
A native of this city, Dr. Robert Felix Wichterich was born on the 23d of March, 1868, and he is a son of Nicholas Wichterich, whose birth occurred at Binn, Germany, on the 12th of March, 1827. Reared and edu- cated in Germany, Nicholas Wichterich at- tended the gymnasium and University of Bünn, making a special study of astronomy. He was a school mate of Carl Schurz and par- ticipated in the Rebellion of 1848, coming to America immediately after the close of that struggle. Shortly after his advent in the United States he located at Cape Girardeau, Missouri, where in 1860 he engaged in the milling business, continuing in that line for thirteen years. He was active in politics. be- ing city treasurer for thirty-two years, thus demonstrating the respect and esteem ac- corded him by his fellow townsmen. He died January 9, 1900. He was lieutenant of the Home Guards at the time of the Civil war and his political allegiance was given to the Democratic party. He married Miss Eliza Molitor and to them were born three children, of whom the Doctor is the youngest. The others are Kathryn, who is now Mrs. An- tone Kammer, and John H. Mrs. Wichterich is still a resident of Cape Girardeau, being eighty-three years of age.
Dr. Robert F. Wichterich received his rudimentary educational training in the pnh- lie and parochial schools of Cape Girardeau and as a young man he attended St. Vincent's College. Subsequently he was matriculated as a student in the Memphis Hospital Med- ical College and still later he attended the St. Louis College of Physicians & Surgeons, and the Barnes Medical College, in which lat- ter institution he was graduated as a mem- her of the class of 1899, duly receiving his degree of Doctor of Medicine. Dr. Wichter- ich was registered as a pharmacist in April,
1889, before the state board of pharmacy and thereafter he was engaged in the drug busi- ness at Cape Girardeau for a time in com- pany with Dr. J. H. Rider. For three years, from 1885 to 1887, he was engaged in the drug business at Marshall, Texas, where he was connected with the Texas & Pacific Rail- road Hospital. After being graduated in Barnes Medical College Dr. Wichterich set- tled permanently at Cape Girardeau, where he initiated the active practice of his profes- sion and where he soon succeeded in building up a large and lucrative patronage. In 1907 he again engaged in the drug business in conjunction with his professional work and he is now the owner of a very fine drug store. In his practice Dr. Wichterich makes a spe- cialty of internal medicine, never advising surgery except in most urgent cases. He is an ardent follower of the unwritten code of professional ethics and by reason of his splendid ability and straightforward methods has won the unqualified regard and admira- tion of his fellow practitioners.
In June, 1902, was recorded the marriage of Dr. Wichterich to Miss Elma Taylor, who was born and reared at Cape Girardeau and who is a daughter of J. W. Taylor, long a prominent and influential citizen of ths place. Dr. and Mrs. Wichterich have no children. In his religious faith the Doctor is a devout communicant of the Catholic church and a liberal contributor to many philanthropical organizations.
In politics Dr. Wichterich is aligned as a stanch supporter of the canse of the Demo- cratie party and while he is not desirous of political preferment of any description he manifests a deep and sincere interest in all matters affecting the general welfare. After his father's death, in 1900, he filled out the latter's unexpired term as city treasurer. For the past eight years he has been a member of the board of health of Cape Girardeau and in that connection he has been a means of improving the sanitary conditions of the city. He was president of the Cape Girardeau Med- ical Society for one year and he is also con- nected with the Missouri State Medical Soci- ety. In a fraternal way he is affiliated with the local lodges of the Benevolent & Protect- ive Order of Elks and the Knights of Co- lumbus. Dr. Wichterich is a man of high ideals and generous impulses. He is consid- erate of others' opinions and sensibilites and
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is ever ready to lend a helping hand to those less fortunately situated than himself.
HENRY ALLEN MAY. Too much honor and esteem cannot be given to a physician who counts his time and pleasure as naught in comparison with the aid he can give to suffer- ing humanity, who foregoes his night's rest, perhaps, and buffets a driving snowstorm to render assistance to one of our loved ones. Dr. Henry Allen May, of this review, has passed his entire life in Franklin county, Missouri, and has, doubtless, during the last decade and more, done just sueh serviee for many who will read this history.
Robert H. May, grandfather of our subject, was the founder of this Franklin county fam- ily and the progenitor of all the older mem- bers of this family. He was born August 7, 1792, in Charlotte county, Virginia, and re- moved from that state to Missouri. loeating at
Gray Summit, where he lived until March 13, 1870, when he was called to the Great Beyond. This old pioneer married Mary R. Portwood, of Virginia, and to them were born seven sons and two daughters, as follows : Stephen T., William H., Robert H., Jr., John R., James A., Joseph F. and Edward B. F., the two daughters, Mary A. E. F. and Martha, dying unmarried.
James A. May, one of the large family of Robert H. May, was born in 1827, on a farm near Gray Summit, Franklin county, Mis- souri, and he followed his father's vocation, that of farming, while he lived. His allegi- anee to the Southern eause precluded his en- listing in any other than the Confederate army when hostilities broke out, and he had many thrilling adventures during his war record. He was a prisoner of war in the hands of the Federals, and was wounded at the battle of Gettysburg. James A. May mar- ried Sarah Frances Hundley. a daughter of W. A. Hundley. a pioneer of Franklin county from the Old Dominion state, the locality from whence also came the Mavs. The chil- dren born to this union were James Arthur. a lawyer of Pacific, Missouri; Annie Lee, the wife of W. H. Miles, of Gray Summit ; and Henry Allen, the subject of this sketch. The mother of these children died July 23. 1880, when she was but little more than thirty-one years of age: the father had died nine years previously, in December, 1871.
Dr. Henry Allen May was thus left with- out parents at a very tender age, his birth having occurred at Gray Summit, Franklin
county, Missouri, on the 14th of April, 1872. At the death of his mother, this eight-year- old boy was taken care of by his relatives, and he spent the first two years in the home of his uncle, Edward B. F. May. Upon the death of this gentleman he went to live with another uncle, Thomas B. North, where he remained for some years, acquiring his edu- cational training in the common schools of that locality. After finishing the prescribed work of the public school he spent two years in the State University of Missouri, and, hav- ing decided that he would become a physi- cian, he took up the study of medicine at Beaumont Hospital Medical College, a school which later was merged with the St. Louis University, and graduated from that institu- tion, receiving his certificate of Doctor of Medicine in 1894. The next year young Dr. May located at Washington, where he has since successfully practiced his profession, attaining a eonsderable clientele and an ever- growing circle of admirers, who have every confidenee in the skill and professional aeu- men of IIenry A. May. The Doctor holds membership in the Franklin County Medical Society, the Missouri State Medical Society and the American Medical Association. Fra- ternally he is affiliated with the Ancient Free and Accepted Masons and the Modern Wood- men of America, while in politics he, like his ancestors, is a supporter of the principles and policies of the Democratic party. Dr. May is also one of the proprietors of that interesting sheet, the Franklin County Observer.
On February 5, 1895, our subject married Miss Clara Ming, who was born Setember 8, 1868, a daughter of the late Judge James M. Ming, an honored citizen of Frankiln county. Judge Ming was born in Virginia, in 1824, where he married Jemimah Oshorn, a native also of that state, and from there they removed to Missouri early in life. He rendered invaluable and undying service to the citizens of Franklin county when he. as county judge. declined to make the levy of taxes for the payment of the bonds of the fraudulent Budd and Decker road, and, he- cause of such refusal, he was imprisoned by the court and thus suffered for his loyalty to his county and his allegiance to the prin- cinles of right. The children of Judge James M. and Jemimah (Oshorn) Ming were as fol- lows: Eugene, who has sat upon the bench of the county court of Franklin county and wore the ermine which his father graced and rendered hallowed by his righteous decisions,
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and he is now engaged in farming; William, who married Miss Celeste Jeffries; Emmet, deceased, who married Miss Emma Wallis; Fannie, deceased, who was united in mar- riage with Dr. J. R. Wallace, and passed away at Washington, Missouri, in June, 1904; and Clara, who married Dr. May, our sub- ject. Judge Ming was not only respected and beloved as a public official, but was a man of fine character, being, as he always as- serted, a "self-made man" in the truest sense of the word. He made a success of whatever he undertook, believing in that old and trite but true axiom: "What's worth doing at all is worth doing well." He was a staunch Democrat in his political proclivi- ties, having served Franklin county for three terms in the legislature. He passed away March 22, 1908, his wife having preceded him to that "Far Country," her demise oc- curring October 2, 1903.
Returning to the immediate subject of this sketch, Dr. Henry Allen May, we would chronicle the fact that Dr. and Mrs. May have one daughter, Susie Frances, and these three form a home circle which is in every way ideal, and their friends, be they rich or poor, are ever accorded a genial welcome to their home.
JACOB M. DECK. That true American, Thomas Jefferson, is credited with saying : "Let the farmer evermore be honored in his calling; for though he labor in the earth he is one of the chosen people of God." Jacob M. Deck, of Bollinger county, Missouri, comes of a family of farmers, men of honor and good citizens and he stands as a representa- tive of the third generation of his family in this county, the first of the name having been one of the brave and dauntless pioneers who turned out of the trodden highways and cut new paths, laying them straight and clean. Mr. Deck was born one mile northwest of the town of Glen Allen. Bollinger county. Mis- souri. on the 18th day of April. 1858. He is the son of Frederick and Margaret E. (Clubb) Deck, natives of Missouri. and his paternal grandfather. Isaac Deck, was a na- tive of North Carolina. Isaac Deck was the founder of the family in the state, his arrival in Bollinger county occurring in 1805. He secured six hundred acres of land. which he entered and homesteaded, and he changed the wilderness into a fertile farm, upon which he lived and reared his children. His son Fred- erick, father of the immediate subject of this
biographical record, died March 20, 1865, and left three hundred and forty acres to be di- vided among his four heirs. Mr. Deck be- came the possessor of the entire estate, buy- ing the shares of the other three heirs. How- ever, he later sold forty acres and now owns all but that amount of the old Isaac Deck homestead.
Upon this fine old farm the subject was born and reared and here has passed all his life. He attended the district school and like most farmers' sons early became familiar with the many mysteries of seedtime and har- vest. When it came to choosing a vocation he concluded to follow in the paternal foot- steps and he has achieved success, being well- to-do and prominent.
Mr. Deck married in 1880, the lady of his choice being Eliza J. Sites, born in Madison, a daughter of Emanuel and Susan (Yount) Sites, natives of Missouri. Their union has been blessed by the birth of a number of children, seven of whom are living, namely : Ira Walter, born in 1881, married to Ruie Reason; Dora, born in 1883, married to E. A. Lincoln; Isaac Jacob, born in 1886; Mary Ann, born in 1887, is the wife of Jesse H. Winters and now lives at Hotchkiss, Colo- rado; Archie M., born in 1891; Nellie, born in 1896; and Beulah, born in 1898. The cheer- ful and hospitable Deck household is one of the most popular of the community. Mr. Deck is a tried and true Democrat and in his religious conviction is in harmony with the teachings of the Missionary Baptist church. He is a member of the Woodmen lodge.
Mr. Deck is the only one living of a fam- ily of ten children, and he has but one aunt living, Mrs. Catherine Sullivan, who was also one of a large family, one of the younger chil- dren. She is now past eighty-five years of age.
CHARLES E. KIEFNER. An enumeration of the men of the present generation who have won success and public recognition for them- selves and at the same time have honored the state to which they belong. would be incom- plete were there failure to make prominent reference to the one whose name initiates this paragraph. He holds distinctive pre- cedenee as a contractor and builder at Perry- ville, Missouri, as a man of broad and varied attainments and as a valued and patriotic citizen. He is distinctively a man of affairs and one who has wielded a wide influence. A strong mentality, invincible courage and a
Chas. E. Kiefuer.
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