History of southeast Missouri : a narrative account of its historical progress, its people and its principal interests, Volume II, Part 103

Author: Douglass, Robert Sidney. 4n
Publication date: 1912
Publisher: Chicago : The Lewis Pub. Co.
Number of Pages: 802

USA > Missouri > History of southeast Missouri : a narrative account of its historical progress, its people and its principal interests, Volume II > Part 103

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A. FRANK SEABAUGH. The Missouri branch of the Seabaugh family came from North Car- olina in the very beginning of the nineteenth century. In 1800 the paternal great-grand- father of Mr. A. F. Seabaugh moved from that state to Bollinger county, where his de- scendants have continued to live since that time. So Mr. Seabaugh is a representative of the third generation of his race born in the county. His father, Reuben Seabaugh, was one of the six children of Peter Seabangh. The others were Susanna, Matilda, Alexan- der, Hosea and Emerson. Peter was married to Susan Drum, of Cape Girardeau county. He is still living in Bollinger county.

A. F. Seabaugh was born October 27, 1864, near Sedgwickville. He received his educa- tion in the schools of this town and remained at home working on the farm until he was twenty-two years of age. At this time he went to farming for himself and in 1889 was married to the daughter of Henry S. Hartle, Elizabeth by name. His first farm was a tract of one hundred and sixty acres and he lived on it for twelve years. In 1897 he traded his farm for a stock of merchandise at Alliance, Bollinger county. This business Mr. Seabaugh conducted until 1900, when he sold it and went to Elvin, in the mining dis- trict of St. Francois county. After eight months there, which he spent in the livery business, Mr. Seabaugh returned to the mer- cantile line, which he carried on in Patton. Here he remained about four years. In 1906 he sold the store and bought the Bollinger mill.

This is a historic structure which has been in operation since the early days. It was built by the Statler family when the country was very new. It has been rebuilt by Mr. J. M. Bollinger, who put up a plant to take the place of the original mill in 1876. It runs by water power and has a capacity of sixty

barrels of flour per day. The present owner has a residence of ten acres of land near the mill.

Mr. Seabaugh's second marriage occurred in 1907. The bride was Elizabeth, daughter of William Barnes. The child of this mar- riage, William Jennings Seabaugh, born March 9, 1909, died at the age of two years. The three daughters of his first marriage, Rosa, Grace and Meta, are still at home. Mr. Seabaugh is a member of the Methodist church and votes the Prohibition ticket. He has never been interested in politics as a busi- ness or even as an avocation although he is deeply interested in the public welfare and does much to promote it in a private capacity.

TRENTIS V. MILLER, M. D., who has for eight years past been identified with the com- munal life of Sikeston in his professional ca- pacity, is a native born Missourian, his birth occurring on April 17, 1881, in Cape Gir- ardeau county. He is the son of James Henry and Marie E. (Edinger) Miller, both natives of the state of Missouri. The father was born in 1842, at Millersville, Cape Girardeau county, and passed his life in the pursuit of farming interests in that county. He saw service in the Civil war as a lieutenant in the Southeastern Missouri Militia. His wife, whom he married on April 21, 1878, was born in Bollinger county, Missouri. They became the parents of five sons, all of whom are liv- ing today. The second son, William C., was born on February 10, 1883. He married Marcia Tuckett, and they live at Millersville, Missouri; James Edgar, born in November, 1884, married Tady Call; they also are resi- dents of Millersville. George A., born in 1888, is a member of the teaching profession, and is now attending the Washington Uni- versity Dental College; Truman, born in 1892, is still in the parental home, and is at- tending the State Normal at Cape Girardeau, Missouri, and also looking after the interest of the farm for his aged father. James H. Miller in earlier years had married one Fannie Cawvey, and to them four children were born, of which number two girls died in infancy. Thorton died at the age of ten or eleven years, and Sylvanus lived to be twenty- eight, leaving at his death a wife and five babies. The wife and mother died in 1875, and Mr. Miller married again, Trentis V. and the others mentioned above being born of his second union. Mr. Miller was county judge for a term, and has been more or less con-

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nected with Republican politics in his district all his life. He and his wife are now living at Millersville, Missouri.

Trentis Miller attended school in his native district, later graduating from the high school at Millersville, and followed that with a two years' course of study at the State Normal at Cape Girardeau. When he was nineteen years of age he was ready to begin the study of medicine, upon which he had early settled as the profession most suited to his abilities and inclinations, and he accordingy entered Barnes Medical College at St. Louis, Missouri, from which he was graduated on May 3, 1904, receiving at that time his degree of M. D. He immediately located in Sikeston and began an independent practice, in which he made steady and consistent progress from the be- ginning. He has in the passing years won a high standing in this community, both as a citizen and as a physician, and his popularity is of a most pleasing order. In 1911 Dr. Miller entered a partnership with his cousin, Dr. Otis W. Miller, and they have since con- ducted a joint practice in the city. Dr. Miller, of this review, is a member of the Sikeston board of health, and has done ef- ficient service in that capacity.

Dr. Miller is a Republican, and in a fra- ternal way is connected with the Maccabees, the Woodmen of the World, the Mutual Pro- tective League, the Mystic Workers and the Masons.

On July 30, 1902, Dr. Miller was united in marriage with Miss Lillian May Shanks, the daughter of Frank and Malvina (Grey) Shanks, of Sikeston. Mrs. Miller was born in May, 1883. Four children have been born to Dr. and Mrs. Miller,-Dorothy M., born January 21, 1904; Justine G., born Septem- ber 13, 1906; Trentis V., Jr., born September 14, 1908; and Franklin H., born July 18, 1910. All are living with the exception of Trentis V., Jr., who died at the age of eight months and four days.

ALONZO D. HILL, M. D. One of the longest established and most prominent physicians and surgeons of Stoddard county, Alonzo D. Hill, M. D., passed away at the home of his daughter, at Dexter, Missouri, on March 24, 1912, at 9:15 A. M. He had obtained dis- tinction in a profession which is one of the most exacting in its demands to which a man may lend his energies, requiring not only a good preliminary training, but constant study and a nicety of judgment little understood Vol. II-35

by the people in general. A native of New York state, he was born on August 24, 1836, in Havana, Schuyler county, coming from a family of prominence and influence, one of his younger brothers having been the late David Bennett Hill, of New York, a noted lawyer, who acquired much fame in the political arena, serving as governor of his native state and as United States senator.

Another brother, Erastus W. Hill, born June 17, 1833, in New York state, died in Malden, Missouri, July 11, 1888. A civil en- gineer by profession, he helped survey the Illinois Central right-of-way and made the survey as far as Sikeston for a branch of the Iron Mountain Railroad, doing the work prior to the Civil war. He settled in Bloomfield, Missouri, and soon after the outbreak of the war enlisted in the Confederate army, receiv- ing a commission as sergeant in the state mi- litia and serving under General Jackson. He was captured during an engagement with the Federal forces, and held as a prisoner until exchanged. He was afterwards engaged in mercantile pursuits at Bloomfield, Missouri, until his removal to Malden, Missouri, where he spent his last years.

Talented and scholarly, Alonzo D. Hill acquired a good education in the public schools, and in 1859 and 1860 took a course of study in the medical department of the University of Michigan. When ready to de- cide upon a location Dr. Hill wisely chose the west as a field of labor, in the fall of 1860 settling at Bloomfield, Missouri. At the out- break of the Civil war he enlisted in General Jackson's regiment, and was subsequently ap- pointed assistant brigade surgeon, a capacity in which he served until the expiration of his term of enlistment, his labors being chiefly confined to Southeastern Missouri. On leav- ing the army he, with abont thirty others, was arrested by a scout from Cape Girardeau, taken to the Federal post at the Cape, and at the end of two days was released on parole. The next summer Dr. Hill returned east and enlisted in the Volunteer New York Heavy Artillery, in which he served until the close of the conflict, receiving his honorable dis- charge in the fall of 1865. Going then to Cincinnati, Ohio, he was graduated from the Miami Medical College with the class of 1866, after which he resumed the practice in Bloom- field, Missouri. Coming to Dexter, Stoddard county, in 1873, the Doctor met with good success as a practitioner, being the first physi- cian to locate permanently in this part of the

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county. He had a wide, old fashioned horse- back practice, his patronage extending over a territory including anything within a ra- dius of twenty miles, the diseases with which he had to battle in those early days having been principally pneumonia and malaria, al- ways the bane of the newly settled country.

Dr. Hill married, in Dexter, Missouri, Emily E. Montgomery, a native of Tennessee, who survives him, and their only child, Zoe E., is the wife of Ira White, one of the sub- stantial merchants of Dexter. Mr. and Mrs. White have one child, Ira Hill White.

For twenty-five years Dr. Hill was con- nected by membership with the Methodist Episcopal church, but in later years he affili- ated with the Christian church. At Bloom- field, Missouri, in 1868, he was made a mem- ber of the order of Ancient Free and Ac- cepted Masons, and at the time of his death had the distinction of being the oldest living member of that lodge. He also belonged to the Royal Arch Chapter.

HON. L. W. DANFORTH. It is a happy lot to be able to witness the development of a wild country into one of industrial eminence and prosperity; and to be able to claim a large and honorable share in such growth is a joy comparable only to that of having given to the world sons and daughters who have served their age and fulfilled the high calling whereto we are all called, of passing on the fair inheritance we have received from our forefathers increased in power and goodness. It is Judge Danforth's fortune to have achieved both of these satisfactions.

Leander F. Danforth, the father of L. W., was a native of New York. His ancestry was of that sturdy English stock which bequeathed to America her love of liberty. Jane W. Jones Danforth, his wife, was a Virginian, and their son, L. W., was born in Henderson, Kentucky, June 10, 1837. He grew up in the town of his birth and received a good educa- tion. His father was in the marble business and until he was twenty-two L. W. worked with him. In 1859 the family moved to Mis- sissippi county, Missouri, and settled on a farm. Mr. Danforth stayed there until 1862, when he came to Charleston.

It was in the mercantile business that Mr. Danforth first engaged upon coming to this city, and in this he was in partnership with his brother until 1885. His interest in civic and political matters early brought him into public life and in 1882 he was elected to the

general assembly and reelected in 1884. While serving as representative of the county Mr. Danforth was chairman of the swamp lands committee and served on that of edu- cation and normal schools also. In the county he has acceptably filled the offices of collec- tor, deputy sheriff and coroner. At different times he has been mayor of the city and has served in all about twelve years. He has been a member of the city council and is now pre- siding judge of the county, to which position he was reelected in 1910 for four more years. Since 1901 he has conducted a retail lumber yard, which does a business of from twelve to eighteen thousand dollars a year.

Not only business and politics engage Judge Danforth's interest but also those influences which make for the higher life. He was for- merly an active worker in the church and Sunday-school of the Christian denomination, to which he and his family belong, and he has always been deeply interested in educational matters. He has served nine years as school director and was for four years a member of the board of regents of the Southeastern Nor- mal school of Cape Girardeau.

Judge Danforth has been a Mason since 1859, when he entered the order in Kentucky. He is a member of lodge No. 407 here and also of the Chapter, which he serves in the ca- pacity of high priest. It was his privilege to help to organize the Chapter at Cape Gir- ardeau.

The marriage of L. W. Danforth and Miss Mary J. Yates at St. Louis took place in 1860. Ten children have been born of this union, six of whom are now living. These are Lieu- tenant George W. Danforth, instructor in the drawing department of Annapolis, Mary- land, in the naval academy; Mrs. Kennison, nee Nettie Danforth, now the wife of Captain Kennison of San Francisco; Emma, Mrs. Wil- liam Mattingly, of Charleston ; Gussie, Mrs. Joslyn, also of Charleston; Henry A. Dan- forth and Miss Grace, living at home.

Judge Danforth is a large property owner in Charleston, having thirty or more dwelling houses in town which he rents besides his own spacious and beautiful home property. He is not only one of the most popular of Charles- ton's citizens, but one sincerely esteemed for his genuine interest in the advancement of the country and his zealous work in promoting such advancement. He has always been a loyal member of the Democratic party, but his views are liberal and are his own, carefully thought out and as fearlessly promulgated.

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ULYSSES GRANT HOLLEY. The able president of Sikeston's leading establishment, the Hol- ley-Matthews Manufacturing Company, was born on the first of March, 1869, in Folsom- ville. His father William Holley, was a native of Ohio and a soldier in the Union army. The boy, who was named for the General whom his father so admired, grew up on a farm with little opportunity for schooling. In his twenty-first year he was married to Sarah E. West and came to Scott county, where he spent one season on the Greer homestead, two miles from Sikeston. They returned to Indi- ana, as Mrs. Holley's mother and sister were sick, and during their stay of a few months both of these relatives were claimed by death.

In February of 1892 Mr. Holley returned to Missouri and in partnership with his old friend, Mr. G. B. Greer, purchased a small corn and feed mill in the south part of Sikes- ton, half a mile from the railroad. Mr. Hol- ley's share of the business was bought on an I. O. U. The mill soon did a thriving business under the prudent management of its owners and not only made them a living but paid for itself in one year. Mr. Holley supple- mented his income by operating a threshing machine in the harvest season, although his wife was sick and his presence at home was greatly needed.

In his need Mr. Holley received that gen- erous aid which the rural population is so ready to extend to men of enterprise and kindliness. Among those who stood loyally by the young couple were a Mr. Lesher and his family. Another neighbor in the scriptural sense was Dr. Moore, for whom Mr. Holley had threshed. The Doctor accommodated the young miller with corn at a time when feed was scarce and when Mr. Holley had not funds to pay cash. Such confidence was in- spired by Mr. Holley's intelligent efforts in his business.

It was decided to build a larger mill and Mr. W. C. Bowman, a practical flour miller from Cape Girardeau county, became a part- ner in the new enterprise. A modern roller mill having a capacity of a hundred barrels of corn and of wheat flour was erected in Sikeston, on the railroad track. Mr. Holley was superintendent of the the plant. Mr. Bow- man was head miller and G. B. Greer was general manager. The mill had an elevator capacity of fifty thousand bushels and repre- sented an investment of eighteen thousand dollars. It was opened for business June 23, 1893, its working capital being mostly bor-

rowed. The history of the next two or three years was the duplicate of nearly every indus- trial concern during that trying time of busi- ness depression. Any and all of the stock- holders would have disposed of their inter- ests at any time, but no one was in the market to buy anything. Prices were such as this generation can scarcely conceive, wheat going to forty cents a bushel, bran sold at the rate of three hundred pounds for a dollar and flour was proportionately low.

In 1896 the business was reorganized as the Greer-Bowman Milling Company, C. D. Matthews becoming a stockholder. As he was the wealthiest and most successful man in Southeastern Missouri, the new corporation acquired prestige and business began at once to improve. It took over also the former ex- tensive grain business of Mr. Matthews, and at the end of the fourth year the concern showed a profit of one hundred percent.

On June 1, 1897, Mr. Holley retired from the mill company to accept the position of postmaster of Sikeston, remaining in the of- fice for nine years. Under his administra- tion the office made a rapid growth, increasing from a place of one thousand dollars to one of sixteen hundred dollars salary annually.

In 1899 Mr. Holley bought a tract of swamp land three miles west of Sikeston, for which he paid five dollars an acre. It was situated near the site of the first dredge ditch constructed in the vicinity. When this was · brought into operation Mr. Holley de- veloped his farm and later sold it for seventy- five dollars an acre. There was a fine growth of timber on the land, and to utilize this Mr. Holley put up a saw mill and began the manu- facture of elm barrel hoops. Later timber became scarce and in 1903 he removed the mill to Sikeston, where the railroad facilities were good, and developed it into the Holley Cooperage Company. Machinery was added for making veneer and barrel staves.

About this time there arose a great demand for egg cases. Mr. Holley secured a contract to make a number, constructing them out of the cottonwood lumber and using the veneer- cutting machinery in making them. Their manufacture became a feature of the busi- ness, which was one of its most profitable undertakings. In 1907 the mill was destroyed by fire, at a loss of twenty-five thousand dol- lars. The saw mill and the box factory were at once rebuilt, the capital was increased and the company became the Holley-Matthews

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Manufacturing Company, Mr. Holley contin- uing as president.

A similar plant was erected at Greenville, Mississippi, in the heart of the cottonwood timber district. This company employs from four to five hundred men in the mill and in the yards and its annual output runs into the hundreds of thousands of dollars in sales. Their market includes every state from the Atlantic to the Rocky mountains. In com- pany with some former employers Mr. Holley became interested in a barrel-stave plant at Yarboro, Arkansas. This company is called the Yarboro Cooperage Company, and Mr. Holley is president of it. Another of his en- terprises is the Holley-Baker Lumber Com- pany, of Sikeston and Thebes, Illinois. The yards are in the latter town and the offices at Sikeston. This is a wholesale company, re- cently incorporated in the Holley-Matthews Company. Mr. Holley is also president of the Rinnell store, the third largest mercantile concern in Sikeston.

Originally an uncompromising Republican, Mr. Holley has come to believe that the su- preme wisdom of statesmanship is not to be found in the old or Regular, but rather in the new or Progressive wing of the party. He is liberal in his views and holds some ad- vanced ideas regarding a more equitable sys- tem of taxation. He keeps abreast of the times and while his education has been ac- quired in the course of his experience his views are clear and not restricted by narrow habits of thought. There are three children in his family, Herbert, aged nineteen, Mary, seventeen, and Ida, twelve.

W. W. ELLIS. "The harvest is ripe and the laborers are few" is an appeal that is of especial eloquence to one who labors in the fertile fields of this wonderful country in which we are living while his thoughts are upon the harvest of souls which he yearns to gather into the "city not made with hands." Such a laborer is William W. Ellis, farmer and preacher of the gospel. For forty-five years he has farmed and preached-more than half of his life, which began in North Carolina seventy-three years ago. Both of his parents were natives of that state and it was there that his father, Nichols Ellis, died. His mother, Nancy Sparkman Parker, moved to Tennessee in 1841, when William was but three years old, and spent the rest of her years in that state. Her death occurred in 1853.

Mr. William Ellis' work in the ministry

began in 1866, when he was licensed to preach in the Baptist church of Tennessee. For two years before he was ordained, he had been a deacon. He spent five years in Tennessee, preaching and working on the farm. Since 1874, Pemiscot county has been Mr. Ellis' field of operation, with the exception of four years spent in New Madrid county. He now owns four acres of land and rents thirty more, farming the entire lot. He preaches here and there as he chooses.

Mr. Ellis' first marriage took place in Ten- nessee. His bride was Miss Mary Vaughn, who died in New Madrid county in 1885. Of her nine children only two are living, William H., and John A., both farmers in this county. The others were Emma J., Anna, Mattie, George J., Susan, Mary, and James. Susan lived to grow up and was married at the time of her death, as was also Emma J. The others died in childhood or infancy. After the death of Mary E. Vaughn, Mr. Ellis mar- ried Mrs. Mary E. Lemberry, also of Tennes- see. She lived only thirteen years after her marriage. Mr. Ellis was married a third time, in 1901, to Mrs. Catherine A. Malony. She had six children by her former marriage: Lease, Herbert, Augustus (now dead), Nellie, Elsie and Clyde. Two children were born of her marriage to Mr. Ellis, Hazel, at home with her parents, and Rena, deceased.

DAVID B. YOUNG. Missouri is indebted to her sister Tennessee for some of her most truly representative men, and one such in Ripley county is David B. Young. Like so many other Tennessee-Missourians, Mr. Young came here as a boy and has grown up in the county. It was in September, 1858, that his father, Benjamin F. Young, moved from Gib- son county, Tennessee, to Ripley county, Mis- souri. David was but eight years of age at that time, as he was born on June 1, 1850. His mother, Harriet Young had died three months after his birth.

The education of the boy was the usual one obtained in the district schools, usually of the subscription order. One can but reflect, when he contemplates the meagre advantages at the command of the earlier generations, that important as equipment is, it counts for far less than native talent and sincere desire for learning. With facilities which we should consider utterly inadequate, these students managed to secure not merely considerable in- formation, but the far more valuable accom- plishment of concentration and a respect for

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learning which keeps one adding always to his store of knowledge.

At the age of twenty-one Mr. Young be- gan to farm for himself and continued in that occupation until 1874, when he was elected sheriff and collector. He spent six years in office, two as sheriff and four as collector. After leaving this post there ensued a period of four years during which he farmed, and also conducted a mercantile business. Public office again claimed him in 1884, when he was a second time elected to the office of county sheriff. After filling the office for another term, Mr. Young refused to accept it for an additional two years, and resumed his busi- ness as a private citizen for another four years. The six years following 1888, he acted as county collector, and since 1902 he has filled the office of probate judge, with still two more years to serve. His public record has been such that he has won the confidence of the entire community and they have testi- fied their appreciation of his whole-hearted devotion to the general welfare by repeatedly choosing him to fill positions of responsibility. To his services for the county he has added that of city alderman in 1910.

The Methodist church has in Mr. Young a devout and an active member. He is a con- spicuous figure in the Masonic fraternity of Doniphan, in which he has held various offices.

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History of southeast Missouri : a narrative account of its historical progress, its people and its principal interests, Volume II, Part 103

Author: Douglass, Robert Sidney. 4n Publication date: 1912 Publisher: Chicago : The Lewis Pub. Co. Number of Pages: 802

Author: Douglass, Robert Sidney. 4n
Publication date: 1912
Publisher: Chicago : The Lewis Pub. Co.
Number of Pages: 802