History of southeast Missouri : a narrative account of its historical progress, its people and its principal interests, Volume II, Part 110

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

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When U. S. Totty was sixteen his mother was taken ill with a chronic disease and the hoy worked to earn money to send her to her old home for treatment. He wished to write to her while she was gone and so he set to work to master that art. The recipients could not read all of the first letter, but the second missive was entirely legible and now he is a good writer. For five or six years Mr. Totty worked by the day or month and later went into the logging business.

In 1896, ten years after his mother's death, Mr. Totty was married. The first year after that he rented twenty-five acres of land. The next year he increased this to forty. then to ninety and the fourth year to one hundred. The next two years he farmed only fifty acres and worked at logging, and in 1903, devoted all his time to the latter occupation. The fol- lowing year he bought a farm of forty acres and two years later purchased another tract of the same extent. All of this land is cleared except twenty acres, and its owner devotes himself to general farming.

Mr. Totty's political party is that of the General whose name he bears. He belongs to the Red Men's lodge and to the Royal Brother- hood of America. His wife is also a member of the latter body. Mrs. Totty was formerly Miss Coar Dowdy, daughter of William Dowdy, of this county. She was born June 23, 1872, and has lived here all of her life. She and Mr. Totty have no children.

MRS. M. K. COOK, of Hornersville, the widow of the late Dr. Ralph Guild Cook, for many years one of the best and most popular physicians of Dunklin county and South-

eastern Missouri, is a lady widely and favor- ably known in this locality, where her resi- dence has so long been maintained. She is the scion of an excellent southern family and, like her late husband, is the friend of all such measures as seem likely to prove of gen- eral benefit to the community.

Dr. Cook was born August 5, 1837, and died at his old home near Hornersville, Feb- ruary 5, 1882. He was reared in Cape Girar- deau county, Missouri, and, early coming to a decision as to his work in life, entered a medical college in Cincinnati, Ohio, where he received his professional training. He came to Arkansas to begin his practice and was in that state at the outbreak of the Civil war. Being very loyal to the institutions of the South, he enlisted in the Confederate army, and served two years as a soldier and two years as surgeon, his military experience being of eventful character. When the war closed and he had returned to the routine of pro- fessional life he was married at Hornersville. Mrs. Cook's maiden name was Keelin, and she is a daughter of Crittenden and Kiddy (Wagester). The father was a native of Ten- nessee and the mother of South Carolina, and their arrival in Dunklin county was in the year 1846. Mrs. Cook's birth occurred in Troy, Tennessee, April 26, 1849.

Dr. and Mrs. Cook began their married life at Hornersville, but two years later removed to Cotton Plant. There the remainder of the Doctor's life was spent and his death marked the passing of a kindly physician and friend to a large number of the county's residents. He was prominent and greatly respected and beloved, doing much to the building up of this section, and his memory and influence will not soon be obliterated. He was one of the extensive land holders, owning two good farms, and Mrs. Cook now resides on one of a hundred and forty acres near Hornersville. Since the demise of her husband she has man- aged these properties very efficiently and suc- cessfully. The fine old home, which was built thirty-seven years ago, stands in an oak grove, and the estate is at once valuable and attractive.

The union of Dr. and Mrs. Cook was blessed by a number of children: Averla, Amasa Summers, Thomas J., Mary Kitty, Van, Guild D. and Zelza. Thomas J. died at the age of twenty-eight. Mary Kitty is the wife of Bev Hunter, of Malden, Missouri. Zelza is the wife of John Knight, of Pemiscot county, Missouri. Guild D. died at the age

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of nineteen. Van lives on the old homestead and works part of it.

Dr. Cook was a self-made man, his prestige and good fortunes being wholly the result of his own well directed efforts. He was a valued member of the Christian church, and fraternally was affiliated with the Independ- ent Order of Odd Fellows and the Royal Arch Masons, exemplifying in his own life the ideals of moral and social justice and brotherly love for which these orders stand.

AMBROSE S. STEWARD. Until he was twenty- seven years of age Mr. Steward did not go into business for himself, but devoted his time and energy to helping his father run his farm in New Madrid county. It was in that section of Missouri that Mr. Ambrose Steward was born in 1870 and there that his parents, George Washington and Puss Brinkley Stew- ard, lived until they passed from this life. Mrs. Steward had formerly been the wife of a Mr. Brinkley, a farmer of New Madrid county.

Ambrose Steward attended school in the rural schools of New Madrid county and sub- sequently farmed in that county. It was here that his marriage to Miss Jane Hogan occurred in 1897, the same year in which Mr. Steward went into business for himself. Jane Steward died, leaving one daughter, Elsie, born in 1902. Mr. Steward came to Pemsicot county in 1907, and the same year married Mrs. Meatt, born in this county in 1873. Her parents were John W. and Clotilda Harris Jacobs. By her former marriage Mrs. Stew- ard has four children: John F., born in 1898; Laura, in 1900; Fannie, in 1902; and Ruth, in 1904. She and Mr. Steward have one child, Claudie, born February 14, 1908. For six years after his first marriage Mr. Steward raised erops on shares and then for four years he worked by the month. Since coming to this county four years ago he has pur- chased forty acres of land, which he has im- proved more than ordinarily and has fenced completely. His crops are chiefly cotton and corn.

Mr. Steward's lodge affiliations are with the Woodmen of the World and with the Red Men, in which latter order he is one of the Braves. He gives his political support to the Democratic party, and both he and Mrs. Steward are members of the Baptist church.

THOMAS MABREY. The most precious her- itage of the great middle class is its long

inheritance of "plain devotedness to duty, steadfast and still, nor paid with mortal praise, but finding ample recompense in work done squarely and unwasted days." Such a heritage was Thomas Mabrey's, and it has been received and amplified, so that he passes the torch of progress undimmed to those who shall follow.

Thomas Mabrey was born at Franklin, Ten- nessee, on June 2, 1835. His parents, Fred- rick and Nancy Mabrey, removed to Cape Girardeau county when Thomas was three years of age. He grew up in Cape Girardeau county, attending school there and later teach- ing for two years at Jackson. His spare time was spent in reading law and in 1858 he was admitted to the bar in Cape Girardeau county. For a year thereafter he was deputy circuit clerk in the county and then began the prac- tice of his profession in Doniphan. In addi- tion to his law business Mr. Mabrey handled real estate.

Recognition of his unusual abilities soon brought business to the young lawyer and he was retained in many of the most important cases in Ripley county, not a few of which went to the supreme court. He became a power in the Democratic party and in 1876 was chosen representative of the county. Three years later he was called upon to act as state senator and then, as when representa- tive, he was active in working for the meas- ures advocated by his constituents. He served on the judiciary committee and was chairman of the committee on accounts, besides working on a number of other committees, including that of schools.

It is interesting to note that William C. Mabrey, son of Thomas Mabrey, has served two terms as circuit clerk in Ripley county and is at present representative of the county, thus following in the path of his honored father. The other children of the family are Bessie Mabrey; Sallie, now Mrs. Johnson; Nora, wife of Mr. Malvogin, of Wayne county ; Pinkney, whose residence is in Arkansas ; Annie Mabrey, who married Professor W. M. Westbrook; and Edna and Irene, still at home with their parents. Mrs. Mabrey was formerly Miss Sallie J. Carter. Her father was Zimmry A. Carter, for whom the county where his daughter was born was named. Miss Carter became Mrs. Mabrey in 1870.

The Mabrey family worship in the Method- ist church, of which they are active members. Mr. Mabrey is especially interested in the Sunday-school, where his trained intellect is

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no less valuable in attracting the young peo- ple than his religious enthusiasm.

ALBERT J. GORG. To the larger and surer vision there is no such thing as luck. No man' achieves anything worthy until he learns the power of conviction and, appreciative thereof, bends his energies to the accomplishing of a definite purpose. Among the representative citizens and influential business men of South- eastern Missouri is Albert J. Gorg, who has risen to a position of marked precedence in the industrial and commercial world by the vigorous assertion of courage, pluck, determi- nation and staying power. His has been the conviction born of the consciousness of strength and of integrity of purpose, and thus has his success-position been amply fortified. He has been in a significant sense the archi- tect of his own fortunes and has made of suc- cess not an accident but a logical result. He has shown marked facility in meeting con- tingencies and wielding forces at his com- mand with effectiveness, and he is now one of the dominating factors in the business activi- ties of the section of the state in which he was born and reared. His industrial and capi- talistic interests are many and varied, and his business career, covering a period of a third of a century, has illustrated in a very marked degree of power of concentrating the re- sources of the entire man and lifting them to the plane of high achievement; of supple- menting admirable natural endowments by close application, impregnable integrity and distinctive tenacity of purpose. Maintaining his home at Union, Franklin county, the busi- ness interests of Mr. Gorg cover a wide field. and he has office headquarters in the city of St. Louis, from which point he directs his large activities in the domain of industrial and commercial enterprise. His secure status as a man of affairs and as a citizen of utmost loy- alty and public spirit renders most consonant the brief review of his career presented in this History of Southeastern Missouri.

Albert J. Gorg was born on a farm situated about midway between the towns of St. Clair and Union, Franklin county, Missouri, and the date of his nativity was August 5, 1861. He is a son of Paul and Margaret (Schiller) Gorg, the former a native of Germany. A scion of the staunchest of Teutonic stock, Paul Gorg was born in Germany, in the year 1824, and he was abont fifteen years of age at the time of the family immigration to America. His father became one of the pioneer settlers

of Franklin county, Missouri, where he se- cured a tract of land in the clay hills and de- veloped a productive farm, upon which he continued to reside until his death. He was twice married, and his second wife was the mother of the well known Louis Gorg, who is one of the substantial capitalists and repre- sentative manufacturers in Kansas City, Mis- souri. Paul, father of Albert J., of this re- view, was one of the children of the first marriage, and others of the number were Peter, Casper, Mrs. Fink and Mrs. Kraets- meyer. Paul Gorg was reared to maturity in Franklin county, Missouri, his rudimentary education having been secured in the schools of his native land. As a young man he be- came overseer of slave labor on the plantation of Charles Jones, of Franklin county, this position having been assumed a number of years prior to the inception of the Civil war. He finally engaged in agricultural pursuits in an independent way, and he eventually be- came one of the representative farmers and stock-growers of Franklin county, where he has ever held seenre vantage ground in popu- lar confidence and esteem. When the dark cloud of civil war cast its pall over the na- tional horizon he followed his earnest convic- tions and became a staunch supporter of the cause of the Union. He served as a member of the Missouri militia and did all in his power to aid in maintaining the integrity of the nation. For many years of his active ca- reer Paul Gorg was one of the prominent and influential citizens of Franklin county and was specially zealous in the promotion of measures and enterprises tending to advance the general welfare along both civic and ma- terial lines. He was particularly active in championing the cause of good roads in this section of the state and did much to foster improvements in this important line. In fact for many years he had personal supervision of the building of country roads, a position to which he was chosen without regard to political allegiance, as he was the choice of Republicans and Democrats alike. He lias long been a stalwart adherent of the Repub- lican party and has given yeoman service in support of its principles and policies. Now venerable in years, he is passing the gracious evening of his life in the home of his son, Albert J., and he is one of the honored pio- neer citizens of the county in which he has long lived and labored to goodly ends. His cherished and devoted wife, who was loved by all who came within the compass of her gentle

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influence, was summoned to eternal rest in 1903, and concerning their children the fol- lowing brief data are entered: Elizabeth is the wife of Mr. Angerer, of St. Clair, Frank- lin county ; James died at St. Clair, at the age of thirty-six years; Fannie is the wife of a Mr. Weckerly, of Newburg, Phelps county, this state; Annie is the wife of Joseph IIarris, of Springfield, Missouri; Mrs. A. F. Mauthe, of Union; Albert J., of this sketch, was the next in order of birth; Mrs. A. L. Wilson of St. Louis; and Charles A., who died in child- hood.

Reared under the benignant influences of the farm and early learning the lessons of practical industry, Albert J. Gorg continued to be associated with the work and manage- ment of the old homestead until he had at- tained to the age of twenty-two years, and in the meanwhile he had duly availed himself of the advantages of the public schools at North Bend. At the age noted he secured a position as clerk in the general store con- ducted by his brother-in-law, Mr. Angerer, of St. Clair, and while his salary was small he gained much in experience and quickened his ambition for independent enterprise along business lines. Finally, with a capital of one thousand dollars, he associated himself with Buren Duckworth and engaged in the general merchandise business at St. Clair. The suc- cess of the venture was made somewhat nega- tive by the action of the Farmers' Alliance, under the auspices of which a rival store was opened in the town. Mr. Gorg found condi- tions unpropitions and accordingly sold his interest in the business at St. Clair and re- moved to Union, where he bought a half in- terest in the general store of Mr. Hibbard. The firm of Hibbard & Gorg thereafter con- ducted a prosperous enterprise until the Farmers' Alliance again threw down the gauntlet and endeavored to kill the business by competition. Mr. Gorg was older, stronger and wiser than he had been at the time of the prior action on the part of the Alliance, and he decided that he would prove a foeman worthy of the steel of his formidable antago- nist. He instrneted his assistants to maintain a quiet attitude and indulge in no discussion of conditions, but to sell goods for cash and at such prices as would secure the trade. Within a few months he found himself a vic- tor in the field, for his competitor disposed of his stock at eighteen cents on the dollar. This early and successful conflict with opposing forces did much to fortify Mr. Gorg in self-

reliance and mastering of expedients,-the discipline having been such as to give him the greater acumen and facility in the handling of affairs of greater scope and importance.

While thus engaged in the mercantile busi- ness at Union Mr. Gorg here purchased a grain elevator, and from this nucleus has been evolved a system of elevators which he con- trols at various points along the line of the Chicago & Rock Island Railroad in Southeast- ern Missouri. His powers rapidly matured with the passing years and he found new channels along which to direct his energies. He engaged in the buying and shipping of live stock and in connection with his well equipped hardware establishment in Union he built up a successful business in the handling of farming implements and machinery, as well as lumber. His original partner, Mr. Hibbard, was succeeded by J. G. Moutier, and the firm of Gorg & Moutier conducted a thriv- ing mercantile business at Union until the construction of the line of the Chicago & Rock Island Railroad through this part of the state was instituted. Discerning an excellent op- portunity for profitable enterprise in this connection, Mr. Gorg secured contracts for the construction of bridges and culverts along the line and also for the supplying of ties. This contract was made with Scullin & Fran- cis, the original promoters of the line, and after the Chicago & Rock Island Company as- sumed control Mr. Gorg continued his con- tracting association, through the influence of Mr. Sands, the general manager. His contract was enlarged to include the construction of all the depots and section houses from St. Louis to Kansas City, and since the completion of the road he has retained the confidence and esteem of its officials, the company today be- ing one of his largest patrons in the buying of ties and timber.

His success in this connection caused Mr. Gorg to realize the possibilities of developing a large and prosperous business as a contrac- tor for the supplying of ties and timber for railroads, and in 1907 he established an office in the city of St. Louis for the purpose of en- gaging in such contracting on an extensive scale. It will be recalled that this was a year of financial stringency, and just when the prospects of Mr. Gorg seemed brightest, conditions became such that a number of his customers notified him that they could not meet their obligations to him, the final result being the disrupting of the entire market in this field of enterprise. One of the wise and

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careful provisions that have made the busi- ness armor of Mr. Gorg practically invulner- able is that he has always ordered his affairs in such a way as to have available such sums of ready money as have been demanded in meeting such emergencies, and to this pro- vision is due the fact that he was able to weather successfully the financial storm which swept the country at the time noted. Under the conditions existing, he showed his versa- tility by turning his attention to contracting for the erection of buildings in St. Louis, and he made this venture a successful one by his careful and conservative policies. He thus erected a hospital, a few apartment buildings and a number of houses, and in time he found himself ready to take advantage of the oppor- tunities afforded in connection with the re- habilitated and substantial timber market. The firm today controls one of the most exten- sive and prosperous enterprises in the Missis- sippi valley in the handling of ties and other railway timber. The general offices of the firm are maintained in the Frisco building, in the city of St. Louis, and in 1911 the firm furnished to its various patrons two and one- half million ties. Among the railway com- panies thus supplied have been the Wabash, the Cincinnati, Hamilton & Dayton, the Chi- cago & Eastern Illinois, the Baltimore & Ohio, the Chicago & Rock Island, the Iowa Central and the Big Four.

Mr. Gorg still controls a large and impor- tant industrial business in the buying and shipping of grain, and he has for this pur- pose well equipped elevators at Union, Ger- ald, Rosebud, Argyle, Meta and Barnett. His capacity along constructive and executive lines seems unlimited, and he has other im- portant business interests aside from those already noted .- associations that make him one of the really representative business men of his native state. He is president of the Gorg-Murphy Timber & Grain Company ; president of the Citizens' Bank of Union. his home village; president of the Hope Manu- facturing Company of Union ; and is treasurer and the largest stockholder of the Maramec River Land Company, which has large and valuable holdings in Missouri. He is a stock- holder of the Merchants-LaClede National Bank of St. Louis, and is individually the owner of several thousand acres of timber land in Missouri.

Loyal to his home town of Union and inter- ested in all that touches its welfare, he has done much to further its civic and material

advancement and is one of its most popular and influential citizens. He served four years as a member of the village council and further evidence of popular confidence and esteem was then given when he was elected president or mayor of the town. This honor was con- ferred upon him at a time when he was absent from home and he gave himself, with char- acteristic energy, to bringing about a vigor- ous and progressive administration of munici- pal affairs. With the privilege of naming the members of his council, he launched a plan of general improvement, unexpected and soon viewed with disfavor in the old town, whose conservatism was not easily to be dislodged. Protest was so general and emphatic that the council weakened under the pressure brought to bear, but, nothing daunted, the mayor stood firm in his position and said "These things must be done." For a time it seemed that his career as chief executive of Union would ter- minate with the one term and that he would not be able to accomplish the desired ends. But results have amply justified his course and the citizens in general are proud of the work accomplished under his effective admin- istration. His courage and tenacity brought order out of chaos in the council; his policies were endorsed and the town has reason to con- gratulate itself on the many improvements instituted, including the proper care of streets, the construction of sidewalks and the installation of an effective waterworks system, which Mr. Gorg himself built under contract, as did he also the fine high-school building. He was chosen as his own successor in the of- fice of mayor. Mr. Gorg served as president of the local board of education for several years and has been most zealous in bringing the schools of Union up to a high standard.

In politics Mr. Gorg gives allegiance to the Republican party, but in the filling of public offices he esteems the man above the party and gives his support to candidates and measures meeting the approval of his judgment. He is a fine judge of men and demands for the pub- lic service the same efficiency and honesty of purpose as he insists upon in connection with his own business affairs. His interest in pub- lic affairs has prompted him to do his part in furthering the nomination of worthy and effi- cient candidates for office, and he is admir- ably fortified in his opinions concerning mat- ters of economic and political import. He is essentially a business man and thus has had no inclination for the activities of practical politics or for the honors or emoluments of

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public office. His experience as mayor gave him satisfaction in that it enabled him to serve his home town and to accomplish some- thing worth while. He accepted the office in the face of personal disinclination and at no inconsiderable sacrifice in connection with his private business affairs. He has been spe- cially alert and vigorous in his advocacy of the improvement of the public highways and was chosen vice-president of the Southern Route Highway Association, which assumed charge of fostering the construction of the highway from St. Louis to Kansas City along the southern route, traversing the section in which he is most interested. When the con- vention assembled in Kansas City to shape matters for the contest as to the route to be adopted, Mr. Gorg took a prominent part in the deliberations and discussions and spent much time in securing the support of the counties along the route which he favored. Although the decision of the loeating board was adverse, Mr. Gorg helieves that the con- struction of an excellent highway along the southern route will be pushed through with- out state aid and that it will be the first to be built across the state.

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History of southeast Missouri : a narrative account of its historical progress, its people and its principal interests, Volume II, Part 110

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