USA > Missouri > History of southeast Missouri : a narrative account of its historical progress, its people and its principal interests, Volume II > Part 12
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Dr. Finney is a Democrat, but he has always made a point of keeping out of poli- ties. He stands high in the Masonic order, having taken the thirty-second degree. He is a member of the Blue Lodge at Kennett and of the Scottish Rite line in the Valley of St. Louis. He also belongs to the Knights of Pythias and the Independent Order of Odd Fellows. The Doctor owns seventeen hundred acres of land in Dunklin county, of which he has already developed six hundred acres. He rents this land to tenants, growing cotton and corn for the most part and he also owns property in Kennett, valued at about twenty thousand dollars. The Doctor has a pleasant residence in a big yard, where there are a fine lot of native oaks standing nearly one hundred feet high, in addition to other varieties which he set out himself. His is one of the pleasantest homes in Kennett.
JOHN H. MALUGEN. Numbered among the representative members of the bar of St. Francois county and a scion of one of the sterling pioneer families of this county, with whose history the name has been identified for more than three-fourths of a century, Mr. Malugen is engaged in the active practice of his profession in the village of Bonne Terre. He is a citizen of prominence and influence in the community and his personal popu- larity attests the sterling attributes of his character.
John Henry Malugen was horn on a farm near Bismarck, St. Francois county, on the 12th of July, 1859, and is a son of Thomas Benton Malugen and Mary Jane (Tulloch) Malugen, whose marriage was solemnized on the 6th of November. 1856. Thomas B. Ma- lugen was born near French village, St. Fran- cois county, on the 4th of September, 1834, and he was three years of age at the time of his mother's death. When he was a lad of
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seven years his father also passed away, and he was reared to maturity on the farm of John Tulloch, in the same locality in which he was born, the while he was afforded the advantages of the common schools of the lo- cality and period. He finally wedded Miss Mary Jane Tulloch, a niece of his employer and fosterfather and a daughter of Henry Tulloch, a representative of a family that was founded in this section of Missouri about the year 1814. The father of Thomas B. Malugen was a man in most modest circumstances at the time of his death, and thus slight pro- vision was made for the care of the son. He had been a soldier in the war of 1812, in which he took part in the battle of New Orleans, under General Jackson. Thomas B. Malugen devoted his entire active career to agricultural pursuits and was one of the prosperous farmers and honored citizens of hiş native state at the time of his death, his wife surviving him by several years. He served as a private soldier in the Civil war and he was wounded in action at the time of Price's raid. He never recovered from the effects of this injury, which was the primary cause of his death, which occurred on the 2d of January, 1888, his cherished and de- voted wife being summoned to the life eternal on the 22d of September, 1906, secure in the affectionate regard of all who knew her. Both were earnest and zealous members of the Baptist church and Mr. Malugen was a close student of the Bible. He continued to follow agricultural pursuits in St. Francois county until 1878, when he purchased a farm in Wayne county, where he continued to re- side until his death. His widow then sold the farm and removed to Piedmont, Wayne county. where she passed the residue of her life. They became the parents of nine chil- dren, of whom the subject of this review was the second in order of birth, and all of the five sons and four daughters are now living. The father was a stanch Democrat in his political proclivities and was a man of strong convictions and broad views.
John H. Malugen passed his boyhood days on the homestead farm near Bismarck, St. Francois county, and in the schools of the locality he secured his early educational dis- cipline, which was supplemented by a course in the high school at Piedmont, Wayne county. His ambition prompted him to fur- ther effort in educational lines and he finally entered the Missouri State Normal School at Cape Girardeau, in which he was graduated
as a member of the class of 1884 and from which he received the degree of Master of Scientifie Didacties. After his graduation he became principal of the high school at Car- thage, Jasper county, and for fifteen years he was engaged in successful pedagogic work in the schools of the state. Within this period he was for five years superintendent of the public schools of Bonne Terre, his present home, and he also served as superintendent of the Indian Industrial Schools at Sisseton and Pine Ridge agencies, in South Dakota.
In the meanwhile Mr. Malugen had pros- ecuted the study of law with much assiduous- ness and in June, 1898, he was admitted to the bar of his native state. He has since been engaged in the general practice of his profes- sion in St. Francois county and is also known as one of the progressive and public-spirited citizens of his home town of Bonne Terre. Here he was one of those primarily concerned in the organization and incorporation of the Lead Belt Bank, the establishing of which met with strenuous local opposition, and he is now vice-president and attorney of this bank, which controls a large and substantial business and had proved a most valuable ad- junct to the business interests of this section of the state. He has also lent his co-opera- tion in the promotion of other enterprises and measures which have tended to further the social and material progress and upbuild- ing of the town and county, and in politics, though never a seeker of official preferment, he accords a staunch allegiance to the Demo- cratie party and is a member of its central committee in St. Francois county. He is affiliated with the Knights of Pythias and the Modern Woodmen of America, and both he and his wife hold membership in the Con- gregational church.
On the 24th of July, 1889, Mr. Malugen was united in marriage to Miss Sarah Per- kins, their union having been solemnized in South Dakota. They became the parents of four children. of whom three are living: Ora Loraine, Effie Lucretia and Lewis Benton. Birdie, the third child, died in her eighteenth year. and the devoted wife and mother was summoned to eternal rest on the 8th of Aug- ust. 1903. On the 1st of August, 1906, Mr. Malugen contracted a second marriage, by his union with Miss Emily K. Johnston, of St. Louis, and they became the parents of two children .- Mary Isabelle and John Henry, Jr., the latter of whom died in infancy.
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HISTORY OF SOUTHEAST MISSOURI
WILLIAM M. CATES, general merchant of Hornersville, who is now considered one of the most prosperous citizens and able business men of the town, began his career in South- east Missouri about thirty-five years ago with very little money and only his industry and integrity as the basis for advancement. He is one of the honored men who have won suc- cess from reluctant fortune and have over- come many obstacles in their paths of prog- ress.
Born on a farm in North Carolina, June 26, 1852, and losing his parents during his childhood, so that he has no recollection of them, he had no opportunities to attend school, has instructed himself in the essentials of learning, and was brought up until he was seventeen years old in the family of a North Carolina farmer. At that age he began work- ing on a railroad near home, but after a year, having heard good reports about Tennessee, he made the journey alone to Gibson county, where he worked as a farm hand. He was in a stave factory in Moscow, Kentucky, two years, but then returned to Tennessee and lived on a farm until 1877.
In the meantime he had married, and in 1877 he brought his family in a wagon to Dunklin county. There was no railroad at Hornersville, Malden being the nearest rail- road point. Having little money, he began as a renter on a farm, made money and pro- gressed a little each year, and continued the life of farming until 1890. He also bought and sold land to some extent. He began his career as a merchant at Cotton Plant, where he started with a five hundred dollar stock, part of which he bought on credit. During his four years at that town he did well, and then moved to Hornersville. A stock com- pany was formed, of which Mr. Langdon was manager, and they began business in a little brick building, in which Mr. Cates held five hundred dollars worth of the stock. He af- terward bought out all the other parties, paying them four thousand dollars, the busi- ness having been organized on the capital basis of ten thousand dollars. After purchas- ing the stock he sold Mr. J. W. Block a half interest. About 1901 he sold his interest to Mr. Block and he established himself at his present location on Main street. He put up a one-story brick business room, fifty by eighty feet, and owns the lot, fifty by 140, on which this building stands. As a general merchant he commands a trade from all the country around, and many of his patrons have traded
with him for years, their confidence in his dealings never having been misplaced. He also has a two-story brick building across the street from his general store, where he car- ries furniture and undertaking goods. He is the only undertaker in a radius of seven miles. He owns three other lots on Main street, and also two lots where his comfortable residence stands. He is a stockholder and one of the directors of the Bank of Horners- ville.
Four years before coming to Missouri, in January, 1873, Mr. Cates was married to Miss L. A. Short. Four children were born, but they and their mother are all deceased. the latter passing away in 1895. In 1897 he married Miss India Tankesley. Their two children are: Sadie M., twelve years old, and Erny Lee, born in 1901. The family are members of the Baptist church, and fra- ternally Mr. Cates is a member of the lodges of the Masons and Odd Fellows at Horners- ville.
CAPTAIN WILLIAM H. HIGDON. Whether as a soldier following the starry ensign of the Union and serving as a captain in her army, as a public man devoted to the best interests of the community, as a farmer using the most progressive methods, industriously making mature render her most bountiful yields, or as a private citizen and loyal friend, Captain William H. Higdon has ever shown himself worthy of the high place he holds in the af- fection and esteem of Madison county. Cap- tain Higdon was born near Fredericktown, Missouri, January 28, 1839, the son of Sam- nel and Ala (White) Higdon. His father was a native of Tennessee, the Higdons be- ing one of the old and best known families of eastern Tennessee (Marion county), where they settled some time after their coming to this country from England. He died in 1852 while yet a young man of thirty-five years. His wife, Ala White Higdon, was a native of the state of Georgia, a daughter of William and Sarah (Baker) White, who moved to the state of Missouri when their daughter was a young girl. The Whites, like the Higdons, were members of the Methodist Episcopal church, and she met and married Mr. Higdon in Madison county. She passed away at the age of thirty-two years, one week after the death of her husband.
William Higdon was one in a family of seven, two of whom died in infancy. The three who are living are as follows: Nancy
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J., now Mrs. Whitworth, of Madison county ; James T., who served over three years in the Third Missouri Cavalry of the Federal army, makes his home near his brother William, and still farms.
Captain Higdon has spent his entire life in southeastern Missouri, with the exception of his term in the Federal army and seven years spent in California and the territories before his enlistment. He was in California in 1861, when the war cloud that had lowered so long finally broke on a divided nation. He enlisted as a private in Company A, Fifth California Infantry, and was subsequently promoted to the second and then the first lieutenancy of that company. He was later transferred to Company E, First Volunteer Infantry, as its first lieutenant. He acted as captain in several of the company's engage- ments and served as adjutant at various times in many of the posts of the west and as commissary and post-adjutant. He received his honorable discharge February 6, 1866, at Fort Craig, on the Rio Grande river, having served for four years, four months and twen- ty-four days.
At the end of his army service Captain Higdon returned to Madison county, and has since spent his efforts as a farmer, being at one time interested in the lumbering busi- ness. The Captain is and has always been an ardent Republican and has more than once served the interests of the "Grand Old Party." As a popular and efficient man with the interests of community sincerely at heart, he has been elected to several public offices and has made an enviable record in each ca- pacity. He has been assessor, sheriff and col- lector and an unsuccessful candidate for rep- resentive, and this as a Republican in a strongly Democratic section.
Captain Higdon was united in marriage, on February 27, 1867, to Miss Nancy A. Combs, also a native of Madison county, born here June 1, 1839. She was the daugh- ter of Silas and Elizabeth (Whitworth) Combs, well known settlers in southeastern Missouri. Mr. Combs was from the state of Kentucky, while his wife spent her early life in Georgia. Captain and Mrs. Higdon have been blessed with five children, one of whom, Mary Octa, died at the age of twenty years, November 8. 1894. Their son Edward Everett Iligdon is a practicing physician in Allen- ville, Cape Girardeau county, Missouri, where he settled after his graduation from Barnes University. Ile and his wife, who was former-
ly Miss Whitworth, have one child. a son Floyd, aged four years. Dr. William H. Hig- don, of Prairie View, Arkansas, is a graduate of the Gate City Medical College at Dallas, Texas. Lona B. Higdon is now the wife of Dr. J. K. Smith, of Columbus, Johnson county, Missouri. Dr. and Mrs. Smith have two little daughters, Opal and Pearl. Charles H. Hig- don is the owner of a prosperous farm located near the home of his father. He and his wife, formerly Miss Dodson, have three chil- dren, Harold, William Bailey and Glida.
Captain and Mrs. Higdon are members of the Christian denomination and attend the church of that faith at Higdon. Fraternally Captain Higdon is a member of the Inde- pendent Order of Odd Fellows, and he be- longs to the post of G. A. R. at Frederick- town. Captain Higdon now makes his home on his splendid two hundred acre farm, lo- cated east of Fredericktown, Missouri.
RUFUS CORNELIUS TUCKER. One of the able and distinguished members of the bar of St. Francois county is Rufus Cornelius Tucker, former prosecuting attorney and a man active and influential in public and po- litical life. Although his career as an at. torney has been of comparatively brief dura- tion he has long ago won recognition as the possessor of an exceedingly fine legal mind, as a lawyer who reasons instead of jumping to conclusions and who always goes to trial with his cases well prepared, fortified by both law and evidence.
Rufus Cornelius Tucker was born in Will- iamson county, Tennessee, July 23, 1855. His father, William Alexander Tucker, was born in the same district about the year 1833. The early life of the elder man was spent on a farm and he received a common-school edu- cation. At the time of the outbreak of the Civil war he enlisted in the Confederate army and for about three years was a mem- ber of the forces of General Forrest. Upon the return of peace he resumed his agricul- tural operations and he resided upon his farm until about five years previous to his demise in 1893. About the year 1888 he made a radical change by removing to Nashville, Ten- nessee, and assuming the position of manager of a lumber yard. He was married at the age of eighteen to Susan Catherine Chrich- low, of Williamson county, Tennessee, she being a daughter of William and Adeline Chrichlow, farmers. To this union ten chil- dren were born, the subject being the third
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in order of birth. William A. Tucker was stanchly aligned with the supporters of the Democratic party and in his church affiliation belonged to the Southern Methodist Episco- pal church.
Rufus C. Tucker passed his youth upon the parental homestead in Tennessee and gained his preliminary education in the com- mon schools. At the age of twenty-two years he assumed the responsibilities of married life, Miss Sallie E. Ledbetter, of Williamson county, daughter of Reuben and Nancy Led- better, becoming his wife. Mr. Ledbetter is a farmer and a citizen well and favorably known in his locality. The union of Mr. Tucker and his wife has been fruitful of the following eleven children: Julia Vaughn, de- ceased ; a child who died in infancy ; Preston G. Tucker, chief clerk in the train master's department of the Mississippi River & Bonne Terre Railway; Nannie, now Mrs. James Eaton, a primary teacher in the public schools of Bonne Terre; Beauford A., stenog- rapher to the auditor of the Mississippi River & Bonne Terre Railway; Susie, a music teacher in the Leadwood public schools; the Rev. Frank C .; Shelby L .; Clarence G. T .; William R. T .; and Sarah Helen.
For some years after their marriage Mr. and Mrs. Tucker resided upon their farm in Davidson county, Tennessee, but in 1881. (February 9) they decided upon a change of residence and removal to Delassus, St. Fran- cois county, Missouri. For some five years the head of the house conducted farming op- erations and also engaged in teaming, but in 1886 he took charge of a mill in Farmington and engaged in its operation for two years. He speedily won the regard and confidence of his neighbors and came to take an active interest in public affairs. In 1888 he was ap- pointed deputy sheriff of St. Francois county and served in that office for two years. He was subsequently elected justice of the peace of St. Francois township and held this office by successive elections for no less than twelve years, the length of time he held the position alone being sufficient to show how well he performed its duties and being eloquent of his worth and capacity. It was his distinc- tion to be elected the first police judge of the city of Farmington in 1896, and he continued to hold the office until 1902. During the time he acted as justice of the peace he engaged in the reading of law and was admitted to the bar in 1897, by Judge J. D. Fox. Since that time he has been continually in practice and Vol. II-5
has met with much success personally, while at the same time contributing to the prestige enjoyed by the bar of St. Francois county. In 1906 he was elected prosecuting attorney of St. Francois county, which office he held two years.
Mr. Tucker is not the only prominent mem- ber of his family, his brother, Hugh Clarence Tucker, being a missionary to Brazil and also having charge of the American Bible Society in that county. In political faith Mr. Tucker is a Democrat, giving valiant support to the policies and principles for which the party is sponsor. He belongs to the Methodist Episcopal church, South, and exemplifies in himself those principles of moral and social justice and brotherly love represented by the Masonic order. He is also a member of the Modern Woodmen of America.
GUSTAV C. RAU is the proprietor of the Pa- cific Bottling Works, one of the important industrial enterprises that contribute materi- ally to the commercial prestige of the place. He is a native son of Pacific, his birth having occurred here April 8, 1875. He is a son of Nicholas Rau, a retired stone mason of Pa- cific, who is a native of Germany. He was a youth in his 'teens when he left the Father- land and his presence in Pacific dates from a few years previous to the Civil war. He married Catherine Blaich, a lady of his own nationality, and their children are as follows : Mrs. F. J. Peterson, of Pacific; Miss Kate, who resides at the parental home ; Gustav C., the immediate subject of this review; Adam F., of Washington, Missouri; William H., of Washington; George J., Mrs. Edith Mayle and Carl, residents of Pacific.
As is his right, Mr. Rau shares in those excellent characteristics which make the Teutonic dwellers in our country among our most admirable citizens. Germany has given the United States men of sturdy integrity, indomitable perseverance, higli intelligence and much business sagacity, the result being the incorporation of a firm and strength-giv- ing fiber. While passing the days of boy- hood and young manhood. Gustav C. Rau engaged in various activities, while at the same time acquiring his education. He passed through the schools of Pacific and at the age of seventeen years he entered as a full-fledged wage-earner the bottling works of Louis Mauthe. He mastered the business in all its details and consequently, at the death of the proprietor. Mr. Mauthe, he was
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in a position to assume charge of the factory, which he has since operated with the most excellent result. He purchased the plant which was erected by the Mauthe Brothers in 1881 and he gives his energies to its op- eration. The annual output of the concern is two hundred and eighty thousand bottles per year, and it is not to be gainsaid that it is one of the significant enterprises of Pacific. Mr. Rau is one of the stockholders of the Bank of Pacific, a sound and popular mone- tary institution, and he is also a property owner. His loyalty and enthusiasm for a progressive town is shown in his active serv- ices as a member of the committee appointed to consider the question of a water works plant and the best means of acquiring this civic benefit, despite the opposing elements which are ever present to retard and delay any public improvement, no matter how nec- essary. He is a Republican in politics and takes in all public matters the interest of the intelligent voter, although by no means an office seeker.
Mr. Rau was married in Pacific, Missouri, in November, 1896, the young woman to be- come his wife and the mistress of his house- hold being Miss Clara Mauthe, a daughter of William Mauthe, who came here as a settler from his native Germany and here passed the residue of his life. They have no children.
Mr. Rau is a popular and enthusiastic lodge man. He stands high in Masonry, be- ing a Master Mason, and also in the ranks of the Knights of Pythias, of the local lodge of which he is a past chancellor and he has been a member of the Grand Lodge of the state.
DANIEL HAWN. In 1818 Mr. Hawn's par- ents came to Missouri from North Carolina and took up government land in Cape Girar- deau county. It was here that Daniel Hawn was born in 1829 and he lived on the farm until he was twenty-one. At that age he learned the blacksmith's trade and he worked at it for forty-six years, both in peace and in war. In 1852 he came to Bollinger county and plied his trade here until 1896, when he retired to a farm of one hundred and fifty- seven acres which he had acquired by inher- Itance nearly forty years before. This place is situated three miles east of Marquand and was a part of his father's estate.
Mr. Hawn was married in 1851. to Melvina Smith, the daughter of William Smith. They have four children living: Hannah C., born
in 1854, became the wife of Edward Brinley. The second daughter, Emma Ellen, two years younger, married Henry Slinkard. Malice, born in 1858, is now Mrs. William Denman. The son, William Hawn, is the old- est of the family and was born in 1852.
During the Civil war Mr. Hawn went into the Confederate army and spent nine months of the year 1865 in Slayback's regiment. He did not see any active service, but he did blacksmithing for the regiment. Like most of the veterans of the Confederate army, Mr. Hawn is a Democrat in political convictions. He has served his party in the offices of con- stable and deputy sheriff. He filled the for- mer position at Marble Hill, for Lorance township in 1857 and 1858. His two years as deputy sheriff were spent in Bollinger county.
Mr. Hawn has now retired from his black- smith business and is living on his farm, where he bids fair to round out his four-score- and-ten years of busy and beneficent exist- ence.
REYNOLDS M. FINNEY. One of the best cultured men in Dunklin county is R. M. Finney, who owns one of the best cultivated farms in the county. He educated himself from his boyhood and has never ceased to be a student. We used to feel a certain amount of pity for the boy who had to work his own way through school, but that after all is the best kind of education. If Mr. Finney had not been obliged to pay so dearly for his edu- cation he would not have appreciated it as much as he does to-day, nor would he have been the man that he is to-day.
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