USA > Missouri > History of southeast Missouri : a narrative account of its historical progress, its people and its principal interests, Volume II > Part 18
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The part played by Dr. Peter in the rural activities about St. Clair has been of a bene- ficial sort for Franklin county. He is ener- getic and he believes in progress and his plans include a general program of improve- ment from the clearing of the brushy hill lands to the rebuilding and remodeling of the old aristocratie land marks of ante-bellum days. He has come into possession by pur- chase of some nine hundred acres of land and has adopted the Angora goat method of cleaning np the brush, an experiment which has demonstrated a dual profit. In truth, his experience has convinced him of the indis- pensable utility of the Angora in the removal of the scrub timber and weeds from the land and at the same time the reaping of a reason- able profit from the clip of the animal. The Doctor has recently purchased the old Massey homestead in the country and the old-time brick mansion is assuming shape as a modern bungalow which is destined for his future home. He is a busy man, with fine business gifts, but he is not sufficiently engrossed in his own affairs to be oblivious of the general in-
terests. He is public-spirited and all matters worthy of this qualification are sure to receive his support. He is a stanchi Democrat, but polities have never tempted him to office- seeking.
Dr. Peter was married on the 17th day of September, 1895, to Miss Cora J. Hibbard, daughter of H. A. Hibbard, one of the old merchants of this locality and a representative of a pioneer family of this county, becoming his wife. They have no children. 1
DR. MATHIAS M. REAGAN. The Doctor's parents and grand-parents were natives of Missouri, so he is a representative of the third generation of that sturdy stock who hewed down the prime forests, brought the land un- der cultivation and when they had reduced farming to a science, found opportunity to follow other vocations, while continuing to live the virile life of the agriculturist.
Mathias Reagan was born in Bollinger county in 1875. His parents were George and Malinda Reagan. After a course in the country school Mathias Reagan entered the Vanderbilt University of Nashville, Tennes- see, and took a two years' course in medicine. Following this he spent two years in the Barnes Medical School of St. Louis, grad- uating in 1900.
After completing his medical studies, Dr. Reagan returned to Bollinger county and took up the practice of medicine. He makes his home on a farm of one hundred and thirty- two acres near Patton, Missouri, on which he does general farming. For one year he was postmaster at Precinct, Missouri.
In 1899 Dr. Reagan was married to Mary Clements, whose parents, Henry and Minnie Clements, are natives of this state. Seven children have been born of their union : Emma, in 1900; Ida J., in 1902; Lena E., in 1904, George L., in 1906; Minnie R., in 1908: Willie, in 1910, and Louis, in 1911.
Dr. Reagan is a member of the Methodist church and is a Republican in politics.
T. W. READ, the well known farmer in Dunklin county, has had to work very hard all of his life, but has now reached the point where he can enjoy some of the fruits of his labors. He was born in Carroll county, Tennessee, April 22, 1863. His father was a farmer and in 1870 moved to Benton county and in 1873 to Lake county. In 1879 Mr. Read was taken ill, and he died in 1882. In 1885 his wife died. They were the parents of
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seven children, five girls and two boys, of whom only two are living now, T. W. and his sister Dollie, who married W. W. Curry and lives on the Tom Douglas place in Dunklin county.
Tom Read spent the first seven years of his life in Carroll county, Tennessee, when his parents moved to Benton county. He started to go to school there, but in three years his parents again moved, this time to Lake county. He was a good student and would have liked to stay in school, but when he was sixteen his father became sick and Tom and his mother took charge of the other six chil- dren. They lived on the little farm of thir- teen acres and found great difficulty in mak- ing both ends meet. After three years of sickness the father died and three years later the mother followed him. During the next year Tom's sister Martha was married and took the little Dollie to bring up. One of the other sisters died during the year. Tom took charge of the other two children and in two years his sister married. His brother died after seven years. Up to 1885 Tom owned nothing but the thirteen acres which he had inherited from his father's estate and a mule. He had absolutely no money. In 1885 he began to farm the bigger farm which had been his father's, living there from 1885 to 1893, renting the farm at first, but in 1893 he owned fifty-five acres of the land. In 1893 he came to Dunklin county, where he traded the fifty-five aeres of land which he owned in Tennessee for the one hundred and twenty acres a mile and three-quarters east of Ca- ruth which he owns today. The one hundred and twenty aeres was valued at thirty-four dollars an acre. Mr. Read traded his fifty-five aeres for it and paid sixteen hundred dollars in cash. In addition to this place Mr. Read owns one and a half acres of land in Caruth, where he lives. He has a nice seven-roomed house, which he has remodeled. On his bigger place he has two sets of buildings, one of which is good. Ile has improved the farm by «learing it of timber. He has built new fences and outbuildings. The place is now well drained and is in much better condition than when Mr. Read came here. He has im- proved some of the low land of his farm.
On December 10. 1885. Mr. Read was mar- ried to Julia A. Mauldin in Lake county, Tennessee. She was born October 17, 1867, and had spent all of her life in Tennessee be- fore her marriage. She was with her hus- band during all of his hard times and helped
him to care for his family. They had four children, three boys and one girl : Willie S., born October 30, 1886: Eva Elizabeth, born April 2, 1888; Arthur T., born July 3, 1891 ; and Melvin T .. born July 8, 1906.
Mr. Read belongs to the Mutual Protective League of Caruth. He is a member of the In- dependent Order of Odd Fellows of Caruth and of the Woodmen of the World, having been the consul commander in Caruth in the last named order for the past four years. He helongs to the Christian church and is a mem- ber of the school board. He is a Democrat and was elected in 1910 to be one of two jus- tices of the peace for Clay township, Dunklin county, his term to last four years. A man of less true calibre than Mr. Read would never have made the success of his life that he has. He has the satisfaction of knowing that he has done his best not only for his family, but for the people with whom he has been brought in contact and for his county.
CHARLES AUGUSTUS FREDERICK HEMME. Hanover, Germany, is the birthplace of Mr. Hemme, though few born and bred Mis- sourians are more completely identified with the enterprises for the welfare of Hillsboro than the present county recorder of Jeffer- son county.
Augustus Hemme, father of Charles A. F. Hemme, was also born in Einbeck, Province of Hanover. He was well educated and a large land-owner in his native country. He was, moreover, a scientific farmer, and the op- portunities of the newer land of America ap- pealed to him so much that in 1857 he came to this country and settled in Marinetown, Madison county, Illinois. He had been mar- ried to Regina Witteram, of Hanover. Charles is the eldest and the only living child of the four born to them. Mr. Hemme lived but one year after coming to America, and his wife survived him only a twelvemonth.
Born in 1843, Charles A. F. Hemme en- joyed the excellent schooling of Germany un- til he was thirteen, at which time the fam- ily emigrated to America. He continued his studies in this country, taking a course in Bryant & Stratton's Commercial College in St. Louis. When he was fifteen Mr. Hemme began to learn the carpenter's trade. After his parents' death he made his home with an uncle, who was in the lumber business, and acted as clerk in his uncle's establish- ment. When Mr. Hemme came to Jefferson county in 1872 he went into the business of
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contracting and building, being well pre- pared for such work by his experience in the lumber business as well as by his knowledge of the carpenter's trade.
Mrs. Hemme was formerly Miss Margaret Brill, of Ironton. She became the wife of Mr. Hemme in 1873 and has borne him six children. The eldest, Oscar, is dead, but the others are all living in this vicinity. Laura is now Mrs. William Wilson; Verdie, the wife of Charles Hermann; Rebecca, of Ware Evans. Charles and Lillie are unmarried.
Mr. Hemme is an honored member of the Republicans, who testified their appreciation of his abilities by electing him recorder of Jefferson county in 1906 and re-electing him in 1910. Not only in his party, but through- out the county and wherever he is known Mr. Hemme enjoys the respect of all who have dealings or acquaintance with him. He is affiliated with the Ancient Free and Ac- cepted Masons, of Hillsboro, Missouri, and he and his family are members of the Congrega- tional church.
FRANCIS M. VESSELLS, M. D. During the years which mark the professional career of Dr. Francis M. Vessells he has met with grati- fying success and during the period which rep- resents his residence in Perryville, Missouri, he has won the good will and patronage of many of the best citizens here. He is a thor- ough student and endeavors to keep abreast of the times in everything relating to the dis- coveries in medical science. Progressive in his ideas and favoring modern methods as a whole he does not dispense with the time-tried sys- tems whose value has stood the test of years. Dr. Vessells has maintained his home and pro- fessional headquarters in this city since 1902 and the years have told the story of an emi- nently successful career due to the possession of innate talent and acquired ability along the line of his life work.
Dr. Francis Meridith Vessells was born on a farm located on the banks of the Mississippi river some twelve miles from Perryville. the date of his nativity being the 3d of July, 1874. His father was born in the vicinity of Me- Bride, in Perry county, Missouri, in the year 1837. John L. Vessells. father of the Doctor, was reared under the invigorating influences of the old home farm. He was a son of George Vessells, who was at one time judge of the Perry county court. The Vessells family was originally from Kentucky, whence representa- tives of the name removed to Missouri at a
very early day. John L. Vessells married Miss Elizabeth Meridith, of Perry county, and this union was prolifie of six children, namely,- Isaac, deceased; Henry B., of Perryville, Mis- souri; John J., of Perryville, Missouri ; Irene, deceased; Francis M., of this notice; and Nellie, who is Mrs. A. C. Mercier, of Perry- ville, Missouri. In 1885 John L. Vessells gave up farming and retired from aetive partici- pation in business affairs, removing to Perry- ville, where he passed the closing years of his life, his demise having occurred in the year 1894. His cherished and devoted wife, who long survived him, died in 1910. In politics ciples promulgated by the Democratic party. His wife was a member of the Baptist church.
Dr. Vessells, the imediate subject of this re- view, received his early educational training in the public schools of Perryville. At the age of sixteen years he was graduated in the Bryant & Stratton Business College at St. Louis and subsequently he was matriculated as a student in the Vanderbilt Medical College, at Nashville, Tennessee, which he attended for a period of one year, at the expiration of which he entered the medical department of Washington University, at St. Louis, in which excellent institution he was graduated as a member of the class of 1899. duly receiving the degree of Doctor of Medicine. He inau- gurated the active practive of his profession at Brewer, in Perry county, where he resided for a period of two and one-half years. In 1902 he came to Perryville, where he has built up a splendid practice and where he is recog- nized as a skilled physician and surgeon and as a citizen of marked loyalty and publie spirit. As a youth Dr. Vessells devoted considerable attention to the drug business, having elerked in a drug store from the age of sixteen to twenty-two. He is a registered pharmacist in Missouri. having passed the examination be- fore the Board of Pharmacy June 20, 1898. In 1902, just after the Doctor's advent in Perry- ville, he entered into a partnership alliance with his brother-in-law, A. C. Mercier. to en- gage in the drug business and they conducted a fine establishment for the ensuing four years, the Doctor withdrawing from the concern in 1906.
In the year 1895 Dr. Vessells was united in marriage to Miss Lillian A. Doerr. whose birth occurred at Perryville and who is a daughter of August and Mary E. (Entler) Doerr, the father of whom is now deceased. Dr. and Mrs. Vessells have one son. Meridith. whose birth occurred on the 9th of August. 1897.
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Mrs. Vessells is a woman of most gracious per- sonality and she is deeply beloved by all who have come within the sphere of her gentle influence.
In politics Dr. Vessells is aligned as a stal- wart supporter of the cause of the Democratic party and while he has no time for political preferment of any description he contributes in generous measure to all projects advanced for the good of the general welfare. He is a valued and appreciative member of the Mis- souri State Medical Society and of the Amer- ican Medical Association in connection with the work of his profession and by reason of his close observance of the unwritten code of professional ethics commands the admiration and respect of the medical fraternity in Mis- souri. In a social way Dr. Vessells is con- lected with the local lodges of the Modern Brotherhood of America, the Modern Wood- men of America, the Knights of the Macca- bees and the Fraternal Order of Eagles. His religious views coincide with the teachings of the Catholic church, to whose faith he was converted in 1910, and he is affiliated with the Knights of Columbus. Dr. Vessells is recog- nized as one of the leading physicians and sur- geons in Perry county and he is everywhere honored and esteemed for his fine manly qualities.
GEORGE WASHINGTON MOOTHART. A busi- ness education for those who are ambitious to succeed in the commercial world is now considered as necessary by those who are factors in it themselves as a literary train- ing for those who are bent upon profes- sional work. It has taken years of patient labor on the part of the educators who have devoted themselves to this particular field before this truth has been generally ac- cepted by practical men and women, and to such educators is due a large share of honor in the remarkable material development of the United States, which, in turn, is at the basis of its higher civilization. In south- eastern Missouri, George Washington Moothart is a preeminent figure in commer- cial education and in the past few years his chain of schools have been the source of supply for many reliable workers. The schools of said chain are located at Farming- ton, Desoto, Cape Girardeau, Bonne Terre, Dexter and Kennett. Professor Moothart is a man of wide and varied experience in his line, and his enlightened methods are proving productive of the most gratifying
results. The time has already come when it means much to say, "a Moothart pupil."
The subject was born May 6, 1866, near Argenta, Macon county, Illinois, and is the son of Benjamin Moothart, who was born in 1821, in the state of Pennsylvania. The elder gentleman moved from the Keystone state to Ohio in early boyhood and after spending forty years in the vicinity of Sid- ney, Ohio, as one of the pioneer farmers of that section, he removed with his family to Illinois about the time of the outbreak of the Civil war. He secured land in Macon county and resumed farming, remaining for the remainder of his life, his demise occur- ring in 1908 in Cerro Gordo. Benjamin Moothart was twice married, first to Miss Elizabeth Fouts, of Sidney, Ohio, and to their union were born six children. After her death he married Miss Sarah Fike, of St. Mary's, Ohio, and to this union five children were born, Mr. Moothart being the third in order of birth. The subject's mother survived her beloved husband for a very short time, her demise occurring in Argenta, Illinois, in 1909. The father was a Democrat, having given heart and hand to the cause of the party since his earliest vot- ing days and in church matters he and his wife were of the German Baptist faith.
The early education of George Washing- ton Moothart was acquired in the common and high schools of Macon county, Illinois, and, with the idea of devoting his life to the cause of education, he entered the Normal School at Ladoga, Indiana, and received ad- ditional pedagogical training in the North- ern Normal and Business University at Val- paraiso, Indiana, the Northern Illinois Normal School and the Business College at Dixon, Illinois, giving particular attention to literary, higher accounting and pen art work. Upon beginning his actual career, Professor Moothart taught in the public schools of Macon county for three years and then began his commercial work in 1890, as principal of the business department of the Odessa Business College at Odessa, Mis- souri. He remained at that point about four years, in the second year being made vice- president of Odessa College. Upon termin- ating his association with Odessa, Professor Moothart became proprietor and director of the River City Business College, at Ports- mouth, Ohio, and he remained in charge of this institution about four years. At the end of that time he came to DeSoto, Missouri,
DR thanh
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where on March 14, 1899, he organized the first of the Moothart chain of business col- leges, and after living at DeSoto for five years and establishing other schools he re- moved the headquarters of the chain to Farmington, a rather more central situation, and here he has ever since resided. The lo- cation of the Moothart colleges, which are six in number, have been noted in a preced- ing paragraph. As the schools have grown in importance and magnitude, it has seemed expedient to form a corporation, the same being perfected in 1907, Professor Moot- hart becoming president of the corporation. The Moothart colleges are best known through the quality of their work, the thor- ough, modern and up-to-date methods em- ployed being productive of the finest results. Almost every graduate of these institutions are well qualified to become competent bookkeepers, stenographers and general office assistants. It is indeed gratifying in this day when insincerity, greed and com- mercialism are too often encountered that Professor Moothart's aims are by no means purely of financial gain, but it is rather his ambition to conduct a school in which stu- dents of good habits become competent and at the same time imbued with the idea of success. It has been said that all Professor Moothart's graduates are living references. It has been his policy to establish his schools in small towns, for he believes in bringing the schools to the students and in this way many able young people are prepared who would never go to the city, one reason being living expenses. Then, too, their moral en- vironment is often better. An important consideration is the fact that no deserving graduate of these schools is long out of a position.
On the 27th day of December, 1904, while residing in Portsmouth, Ohio, Professor Moothart was united in marriage to Miss Blanche Evelyn Grosshart, of Odessa, Mis- souri, daughter of Judge J. S. Grosshart. The subject and his wife share their pleas- ant home with two young sons-Warden and William.
In his political convictions Professor Moothart is in harmony with such policies and principles as are presented by the Dem- ocratic party ; his religious denomination is Presbyterian ; and he is prominent and pop- ular in a trio of lodges,-the Knights of Pythias, the Modern Woodmen and the Modern American.
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F. M. JONES has for twenty-two years been a teacher and a farmer. The former occupa- tion he has practiced in Bollinger and Perry counties and the latter in the first named county, the place of his birth. His parents, Francis Marion and Nancy Susan (Burcham) Jones, came to the county from Tennessee shortly after their marriage and reared a family of thirteen children, eleven of whom lived to maturity. Mr. Jones' grandfather was a Confederate soldier who lost his life during the war. He had been released from prison and was killed as he was starting home. His father was taken prisoner and in- carcerated for several weeks, then allowed to return home.
F. M. Jones was born December 9, 1870, near the town of Patton. He attended the district schools and worked on the farm un- til he was nineteen and then began to teach. Since 1889 he has taught continuously. At the death of his father in 1891 Mr. F. M. Jones bought out the shares of the other heirs of the home farm and since then he has farmed the one hundred and twenty acres of land three fourths of a mile north of Patton.
In June, 1901, Mr. Jones was united in marriage to Miss Mary E. Hutson, daughter of John W. Hutson, of Perry county. They have four children; Edith Naoma, born Jan- uary 22, 1902; Willie Edna, May 19, 1904; Irene Pearl, October 31, 1907; and Perry Hutson, October 29, 1909. Both Mr. and Mrs. Jones belong to the lodge of the Modern Brotherhood and Mr. Jones is a member of the Missionary Baptist church.
Mr. Jones has recently invented a hand corn-shocking machine which he will put on the market in a short time. A patent was is- sued on this corn-shocker August 15, 1911.
DAVID HENRY MCKENZIE, M. D., is a physi- cian of prominence in St. Francois county. He has been in active practice at Leadwood since 1906 and his entire career in the pro- fession has been passed in Missouri, in which state he has resided since the age of three years. He enjoys a large acquaintance and takes a keen and active interest in the gen- eral affairs of the day. Dr. Mckenzie was born in the troublous days of the Civil war, the date of his nativity being July 8, 1863, and its scene near Riceville, Tennessee. His father, Henry Mckenzie, was born in North Carolina in 1835, and having lost his father at the age of four or five years was brought up by his mother. Having been left in some-
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what destitute circumstances, it was impos- sible for this worthy woman to give her son anything but a limited education. They re- moved to Tennessee when he was a lad and there he followed farming, and at the age of twenty-one established an independent household by his union with Arvezena Wells, a native of Tennessee. To their union were born ten children, of whom the Doctor is the fourth in order of birth. At the time of the war Henry Mckenzie was in the govern- ment railroad service and shortly after the termination of the great conflict between the states he took his wife and four children to Missouri and located in Saint Francois coun- ty. He remained in the county three years and at the end of that time bought a small farm in Iron county, near Sabula. Upon this estate the rest of the children were born and the Doctor with his brothers and sisters were reared to years of usefulness and in- dependence. And here the father died on Christmas day, 1905, his demise losing to the community a fine citizen, a great church worker, a man of ideal life who did not drink, smoke nor swear, a man of domestic nature who found his greatest pleasure at his own fireside in the company of his own. He was of Scotch-Irish descent, the former element being so evident in the name and he embodies in himself the most admirable char- acteristics for which that nation stands. He was Democratic in politics and a member of the Methodist Episcopal church, South. The noble wife and mother survives and now, at the age of seventy-five years, makes her home at Williamsville, Wayne county, with one of her sons.
Dr. Mckenzie passed his early life upon the farm, which, if one may judge by a study of the lives of great men, seems to be a piece of good fortune rather than anything else. At the age of twenty years he began to teach school and he continued thus employed for nearly a decade, employing his earnings upon his own education, a part of which he re- ceived in the Bellview Collegiate Institute. In looking about him for a life work which would fully enlist his sympathies, he decided to become a physician and he entered the Kentucky School of Medicine at Louisville, Kentucky, and in 1896 he received the de- gree of M. D. When it came to choosing a lo- cation he decided upon Lesterville in Rey- nolds county and there he practiced for ten years, from that place removing to Lead- wood, Missouri, in 1906. A man of signal ability, now strengthened by a particularly
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