History of southeast Missouri : a narrative account of its historical progress, its people and its principal interests, Volume II, Part 22

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

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read. For forty years he made money and loaned it successfully, but those who knew him best say that he did not accumulate nearly as much as he might have done if he had been less tender hearted. He would trust any man once and if he proved honest there was no limit to his confidence. He was never known to harass or deal unjustly with a debtor. He was not a member of any church, but he was none the less a Christian man, as is evidenced by his charity. He gave freely and without show, so that none but the recipients of his deeds of kindness ever knew of his charitable acts. He left an estate worth close to three quarters of a million dollars, most of the amount going to his two nephews, W. F., Junior, and Lee, sons of Mr. Shelton's brother Joseph. He was a partner in the W. F. Shel- ton Junior Store Company, in the firm of Shelton and Ward and the Kennett Furniture Company, besides being a stockholder in various companies. He was president of the Dunklin County Publishing Company, the owners of the Dunklin Democrat. He owned a number of business houses and dwellings in Kennett and also large tracts of farm lands in the county. At the time of his death, Feb- ruary 11, 1908, he was the oldest merchant in Kennett and Dunklin county. He was a Democrat and a leader in political affairs, doing everything he could for the advance- ment of his county. He was county treasurer for eight years and was chairman of the Democratic Central Committee. It hardly seems possible for anything to have added to the usefulness of Mr. Shelton, but it may be that if he had married his life would have been more complete. He was not, however, like the old bachelor is usually depicted ; he thought of himself last and of those in need at all times. There are many who can testify to the help that Mr. Shelton was to them. Three years have elapsed since his death, but his place is not yet filled by any one man, nor will the gap he left ever be entirely filled while those who knew and loved him live.

At the same time his namesake, W. F. Shelton Junior, is doing all that it is possible to follow in his uncle's footsteps and has in addition made tracks of his own. He was born in Kennett, November 24, 1870. His parents were Joseph and Mary Jane (Hamilton) Shelton, both natives of Tennessee, coming to Dunklin county before the war. Joseph was a farmer and died when he was forty-five . years old.

W. F. Shelton was brought up on his

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father's farm and attended school at the Bellevue Collegiate Institute at Caledonia, Missouri, then taking a business course in St. Louis. When he was only eighteen he entered his uncle's office, remaining with him until 1892, since when he has made good for himself, although his uncle always took the most af- fectionate interest in his doings. Mr. Shelton is a member of the W. F. Shelton Junior Store Company of Kennett, a business which had been established by his uncle soon after the Civil war. Since its first start the name had changed from T. E. Baldwin and Com- pany to R. E. Sexton and Company and later to W. F. Shelton Junior and Company in 1892, being changed in January, 1908, to W. F. Shelton Junior Store Company, and being in- corporated with a capital of twenty-five thou- sand dollars. The business has grown greatly during the last sixteen years, during Mr. Shelton's connection with it. They do an an- nual business of about one hundred thousand dollars, general merchandise sales. The Com- pany owns the building in which they do busi- ness, a structure forty-two by one hundred and thirty-two feet, two stories high. They carry a line of dry goods, groceries, millinery, hats, caps, ladies' suits, clothing, etc. They employ fourteen salesmen. Mr. Shelton is also a stockholder in the Shelton Ward Hard- ware Company of Kennett, the owners being W. J. Ward, W. F. Shelton and Lee Shelton. It was founded about 1897 by W. F. Shelton. W. F. Shelton Junior and W. J. Ward and was incorporated January, 1908, with a cap- ital of fifteen thousand dollars. Mr. Shelton has for years been a director of the Bank of Kennett, organized by his uncle. For the past five years he has been the president of this bank. In addition to his commercial inter- ests, Mr. Shelton is farming two thousand acres of land in Dunklin county and Greene county. Arkansas.

In October, 1908, Mr. Shelton married Edith Jeannin, one of the most popular young ladies in the county. She was born in Cape Girardean and brought up in Florida. No children have as yet been born to the union. As the wife of Mr. Shelton, she has by no means lost anv of her charm nor her sweet personality. She is loved by all who know her not for the sake of her husband's posi- tions, but for her own self.

Mr. Shelton is a young man still and has many years of usefulness before him, it is to be hoped and expected. The name of W. F. Shelton will ever be loved in Kennett, first

because Mr. Shelton's uncle bore it, but sec- ondly because the present owner is endearing it to the people. He is living a life worthy of the name, than which no higher encomium could be given. He is the worthy nephew of a worthy uncle, a successful business man in a prosperous city and a helper to his fellow men.

THOMAS HIGGINBOTHAM. Washington coun- ty presents no more stanch nor interesting character than Judge Thomas Higginbotham who at his country home near Blackwell is engaged in the wise management of his agri- cultural property and the quiet pursuits of a scholar. His varied experience, his wide reading and his able practice in the law and on the bench has stored his mind with a great fund of knowledge, freighted with ad- venture, keen observations and gleanings from the world's literature. Having fully earned retirement from the storm and stress of life, although well along towards patriar- chial age, he still possesses that sturdiness of manhood and vital interest in the affairs of this good world that save him from sloth either of body or of mind. His old and pic- turesque homestead, with its quaint flower gardens and mounds thrown up by prehis- torie builders, as well as its fine evidences of modern thrift and taste, is a fitting ma- terial manifestation of a strong and broad character which is rooted in the past, but still leaves and blossoms in the present.

Judge Higginbotham is a native of Wash- ington county, Missouri, where he was born on the 15th of November, 1835. His father, G. W. Higginbotham, also a native of that section of the state, was one of the pioneer farmers and lead miners of southeast Mis- souri. Without waiting for a large bank account (as it was not the style of those days), he wedded Miss Helen Turley, by whom he had eight children, as follows: Bur- ris and Nellzenie, both deceased; Thomas, of this review; Alzoinie (Mrs. Engledow), a widow; Z. F. and L. B. also deceased ; Crews and Miranda, the last named having passed away. The father of this family met a violent death at the hands of robbers, in May, 1863, and the mother died in 1867.

The son's early manhood was spent in the log schoolhouse of his home neighborhood, assisting his father in the cultivation of the farm and the handling of his live stock. In his youth and young manhood he was em-

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ployed in the construction of the Iron Moun- tain railroad and in the mining of lead. He began the study of law in 1870, and in the same year was elected to the probate bench, upon which he sat for six years. At the con- clusion of his terin he commenced to raise stock, at one time having a large contract with the government in that line.

Judge Higginbotham's homestead is not only quaint and picturesque, but historic. His large and striking residence is of ante- bellum architecture, and his father bought the property of Jack T. Smith, a noted fighter of the early days, who claimed his title from an old Spanish grant. This tract bearing such interesting evidences of prehistoric builders was purchased by his wife's grand- father, and was also originally included in one of the noted Spanish grants with which this section of the country is so plentifully plastered. It was this circumstance that aroused the Judge's interest in antiquarian studies and eventuated in such large and complete collection that it justly may be termed a museum of antiquities.

The tract of land from which have been chiefly unearthed these valuable and inter- esting relics is known as Boat Yard Farm, and lies at the forks of the Mineral Ford and Big rivers. It derives its name from the fact that in early times many river boats were built at this point. The locality carries the student of American history back for some two centuries, but concerns the antiquarian as the depository of mastodon bones and a favorite locality of the mound builders.

In 1873 Judge Higginbotham was united in marriage with Miss Caroline Madden, a native of his own Washington county. The only child of their marriage, Lottie, is de- ceased. He is a Democrat in politics and a Mason fraternally, having joined the order in 1873. Mrs. Higginbotham is a member of the Catholic church. Both the Judge and Mrs. Higginbotham are sociable and charming en- tertainers and their unique and beautiful home is the center of much enjoyment and cultured hospitality.

BEN ROGERS DOWNING, M. D. One of the greatest of the English poets has declared,

"A wise physician, skill'd our wounds to heal,

Is more than armies to the public weal."

As such must be reckoned Dr. Ben Rogers Downing, who is one of the able and enlight-

ened physicians and surgeons of Saint Fran- cois county. He is a native of the state, his birth having occurred at Memphis, Scotland county, Missouri, October 28, 1874. His father, William G. Downing, was born in Virginia in the year 1820, and after obtain- ing a country school education he came with his parents to Scotland county, Missouri, and there the town of Downing was named in honor of the family. The elder gentleman engaged in the general mercantile business up to the time of the beginning of the Civil war, but although he was strongly Confeder- ate in sentiment, he could not enlist in the support of the cause he believed to be just, owing to the fact that he was a cripple, his arm being stiff from a fracture of earlier days. After the termination of the war, he went to St. Louis and there engaged in the wholesale grocery business, continuing thus profitably occupied for a number of years and subsequently going into the commission business. He was the possessor of valuable farming interests in Dakota and he came to be a man of no inconsiderable wealth. In 1884 he was elected railroad commissioner of the state of Missouri, an office he held for six years. At the close of his tenure of office, he retired and lived free from the active re- sponsibilities of life up to the time of his demise in 1902. He married Mary A. Jones, born in 1834 in Quincy, Illinois, a daugh- ter of William A. Jones, United States mar- shal for the western district of Missouri. They were married in 1849, and to this union the following nine children were born: James Logan; William Green; Milton, Tom and Charles, deceased; Smith; May, now Mrs. John B. Breathitt; Minnie, wife of Samuel P. Griffith; and the subject, who is the youngest in order of birth. Mr. Downing was a Democrat in politics and a member of the Christian church. He was a slave owner and a strong supporter of the Confederacy.

Dr. Ben R. Downing received his education in the public schools and in Jefferson City and St. Louis, in the latter city attending the Christian Brothers College. His attend- ance at the institution named was of six years' duration. Dr. Downing had in the meantime come to a decision as to his profes- sion, and after finishing his general educa- tion he matriculated in the Marion Sims Medical College, now a part of the St. Louis University, and was graduated in 1896, with the degree of M. D. Since that time he has practiced at Doe Run and at Farmington,

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being at the latter place at the present, and he is a member of the County and State Medical Associations.

On the 9th of February, 1899, Dr. Down- ing laid the foundation of a happy house- hold and congenial life companionship by his marriage to Miss Nellie Alexander, daughter of J. C. Alexander, of Farmington. Three promising children have been born to bless their union, namely: William Alexander, William Greene and Clara Abigail. In re- ligious conviction Dr. Downing is Methodist Episcopal; fraternally he is a member of the ancient and august Masonic lodge; and in the matter of politics he is Republican, ever giving heart and hand to the policies and principles of the "Grand Old Party."

HENRY E. BOLLINGER was born August 20, 1863. His pedigree is as follows: Son of Daniel Bollinger, the son of Philip, the son 'of Henry B., the son of Henry, the founder of the family in North Carolina. Henry of this sketch lived with his mother, Polly Ann Bollinger, until her death, in 1901, at the age of seventy-seven. She deeded the farm of three hundred and sixty acres upon which Henry E. now resides to its present owner before her death. Along with the land he also acquired considerable live stock.

Mr. Henry E. Bollinger was married in 1892 to Emma Bollinger, born in this county some eighteen years before her wedding. She is a daughter of Henry A. Bollinger, who is now managing H. E. Bollinger's farm. The latter sustained a serious injury in 1904, which has incapaci- tated him for heavy farm labor and since that time his father-in-law has relieved him of the management of the place.

The Bollinger family tree shows Henry A. to be a descendant also of that Henry who im- migrated from Switzerland to America in 1732, landing at Philadelphia, whence Henry B. migrated to North Carolina as mentioned above. Henry A. was born July 3, 1849, in the county of his name. He was one of a number of children, Joseph, Barbara, Eliza, Elizabeth, Aaron, Sallie (Green), Susan (Cook), and Polly Ann (Green). When twenty-two years of age he married and lo- cated on a portion of his father's farm on Little Whitewater creek. He resided there until March, 1898, when he moved to his present place of residence. He was married in 1871 to Mary T. Canneyt, a native of Bel- gium. They have the following children

living: Emma, Charles F., Sarah, Philip, Orleana, Grover, Amon, Joseph, Kye and Robert. The entire acreage which Mr. Bol- linger cultivates is over two hundred.

Emma, daughter of H. A. and wife of H. E. Bollinger, has two children: Zettie, born in 1894, and Charles, three years later, both children's birthdays occurring in November. The family are members of the Christian church.

FRANCIS MARION CARTER. A brilliant and veteran member of the bar of Saint Francois county is Francis Marion Carter, city at- torney of Farmington, who has been engaged in the active practice of the law in this city since 1869, a period of more than forty years. He is a man who has held many honorable and responsible offices and held them in a remarkably commendable manner, and in glancing over his career it is discovered that he has filled the position of superintendent of the public schools, prosecuting attorney for four terms, public administrator and state representative in the Thirty-third General Assembly. It is indeed appropriate that in a work of this nature a man of such profes- sional prestige and fine citizenship should be represented, particularly when he belongs to an old family in the state. For indeed Zimri A. Carter, father of the Hon. Mr. Carter, was one of Missouri's pioneer settlers.

Francis Marion Carter was born November 28, 1839, in Ripley county, Missouri. His father, Zimri A. Carter, was born about the year 1796, in South Carolina, and came to this state at the age of eighteen years with his father, Benjamin Carter. These hopeful pioneers located first in Warren county and then came to Wayne county, where they very successfully followed the vocation of farming and stock-raising. In that county the father met and married Clementine Chilton, a young woman living in the locality but a native of eastern Tennessee. To their union was born a family of true pioneer proportions, for fif- teen sons and daughters were their portion, Mr. Carter, of this review and a twin, being the eleventh in order of birth. The father passed away in 1870, and the faithful wife and mother survived him only until 1871. The politics of the elder man were Democratic and he was one to be deeply interested in the many-sided life of his community.

F. M. Carter, immediate subject, spent his early life upon the farm and early became acquainted with the great basic industry in

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HISTORY OF SOUTHEAST MISSOURI

all its workings. After securing such ad- vantages in the way of education as were offered by the district schools, it became the young fellow's ambition to gain a higher education, and in proof of the old adage that "where there's a will, there's a way," he matriculated in Arcadia College; then in the University of Missouri; and took the degree of A. B. from the University of North Caro- lina in the year 1862. With the passage of the years he had fully decided to adopt the profession of law as his own and he pursued his studies under John F. Bush and his brother, Judge William Carter, being ad- mitted to the bar in 1869. Ever since that time, as previously noted, he has been engaged in the practice of law at Farmington, and here many honors have come to him. These have been in part enumerated and give in themselves an idea of his ability and the trust in which he is held by those who know him best. He is now city attorney of Farm- ington and is engaged in the active practice of the profession to which he is so undeniably an ornament. He is a Democrat of the sound- est and most stalwart type and holds high place in party councils.

Mr. Carter's wife previous to her marriage was Miss Maria A. MeAnally, daughter of Dr. D. R. MeAnally, of St. Louis, and their union was solemnized June 20, 1877, at South St. Louis, Missouri. They share their cul- tured and delightful home with the following five children : Amy M., Russell, William Pres- ton, Francis Floyd and Helen B. The family is affiliated with the Methodist Episcopal church, South.

EDWIN L. TINNIN, who was born on the place where he now resides, near Horners- ville, March 18, 1872, is one of the prosper- ous citizens of Dunklin county whose early life was spent among the pioneer conditions that once prevailed in this part of Missouri, and who has been a factor in promoting the work of development and has been rewarded with a fair share of the general prosperity which now rests on this region.

His father was Z. P. Tinnin, who died in 1887, at the age of seventy-five. He was a former resident of Madison county, Missouri, and in 1859 located on Big Lake Island, Mis- sissippi county, Arkansas, but some two or three years later secured a farm near the state line. Finally he settled about two miles south of Hornersville and spent the rest of his active life in farming there, excepting

two years spent in Texas. He was married three times, and the mother of E. L. was his third wife. Her maiden name was Missouri Taylor, and she was born in Stoddard county Missouri, but lived in Mississippi county Arkansas, from the age of eighteen until her marriage to James H. Bunch, when they removed to Dunklin county, Missouri. After Mr. Bunch's death she married Mr. Z. P. Tinnin, in 1870. She then resided at the home in Dunklin county, Missouri, until her death in 1902, at the age of sixty-six, excepting the two years spent in Texas. She had lived in this county when the Indians were still about, before the general departure of the tribes for the west.

Mr. Edwin L. Tinnin is next to the young- est of the three families of children of his father's three unions. His only full sister, Emma, died when three months old. He had seventeen half brothers and half sisters, of whom but three half sisters are living; Betsy Ann (Henson), of Madison county, Missouri ; Victoria (Roach), of Dunklin county, Mis- souri; and Catherine (Rhodes), of Missis- sippi county, Arkansas.

The old homestead where Mr. Tinnin was born and where he still lives was the prop- erty of his mother's first husband. His father died when he was fifteen years old, he being the youngest of the four children left in the mother's care. He had no school ad- vantages, and has won his success through his own efforts. In 1891 he married at Hor- nersville, Miss Lueta Fleeman, who died in 1895, at the age of twenty-four, the mother of three children; Mollie, born in 1893, and Maude, born in 1896, both now living at home, and James, who died in infancy. Mr. Tinnin in 1897 married Janetta Lee Grable, daughter of Jonathan P. and Mary (Crites) Grable, and who was born in Cape Girardeau county, Missouri, September 1, 1879. Two of their children, William and Edwin, Jr., died at six weeks and nine months, respectively, and the others at home are Omega, Robert, Mc- Kinnis and Hazel. Mrs. E. L. Tinnin's par- ents, J. P. and Mary Grable, were natives respectively of Indiana and of Wayne coun- ty, Missouri. Both are deceased, the father dying August 8, 1910, aged seventy-four, and Mary, his wife, died August 20, 1903, aged sixty-five years. Mrs. Tinnin was the ninth of a family of ten children, of whom five are living, all the others in Mississippi county, Arkansas, viz: Bennett, Francis, Maggie (Laxson), Columbus.

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HISTORY OF SOUTHEAST MISSOURI

In 1891 Mr. Tinnin began buying out the heirs to the home place, and by thrift and in- dustry gradually got ahead in the world un- til he now owns a nice farm of sixty-eight acres, worth a hundred dollars an acre. He supported his mother after his father's death, and has paid all his obligations and made a worthy career. In politics he is a Democrat. Fraternally he belongs to the Masonic lodge, the Independent Order of Odd Fellows and the Mutual Protective League. His church is the Missionary Baptist.

CHARLES W. SCHNEIDER. The present effi- cient incumbent of the office of vice-president of the widely renowned Schneider Granite Company, of St. Louis, is Charles W. Schnei- der, whose name forms the caption for this re- view. Mr. Schneider maintains his home and business headquarters at Graniteville, in Iron county, Missouri, one of the large quarries of the company being located in this place. This gigantic concern was founded in the year 1869 by Philip W. Schneider, father of the subject of this review, and it has been controlled by members of the family during the long intervening years to the present time.

Charles W. Schneider was born in the city of St. Louis, Missouri, on the 11th of No- vember, 1869, and he is a son of Philip W. and Sophia (Hiltz). Schneider, the former of whom was born in the province of Bavaria and the latter of whom is a native of Alsace- Lorraine, Germany. The date of the father's birth was 1825 and he came to the United States in 1840, at the early age of fifteen years, immediately proceeding to the middle west and giving his attention to railroad con- struction work. He was employed for a time on the Baltimore and Ohio Road and later became foreman and contractor on the Panama Railroad. In the latter '50s he built the Iron Mountain railroad tunnel at Vineland, Missouri, and thereafter conducted limestone quarries at St. Louis for a number of years. In 1869 he became interested in some granite quarries in Iron county and in addition to various experiments he handled many large government contracts in a num- ber of large cities in the United States. He developed and introduced red granite into the markets of this country and it may be stated here that his product is the finest and hardest red granite produced in America. In 1869 he began operations at the quarries now leased by the Syenite Granite Company,

continuing to work the same until 1882. In 1886 he organized the Schneider Granite Company and opened the quarry one mile northwest of Graniteville, of which gigantic concern he was president until his death, on the 6th of July, 1905. This company was incorporated under the laws of the state of Missouri in 1890 and the paid up capital stock at the present time amounts to one hun- dred and fifty thousand dollars. It produces Missouri red granite for building work, di- mension, paving, flagging, curbing and polishing, and crushed granite. There is a tremendous demand for the above products throughout the United States and the busi- ness is in a most flourishing condition.

The mother of the subject of this review is Sophia (Hiltz) Schneider, who accom- panied her parents from her native place in Germany to the United States as a child. Lo- cation was first made by the Hiltz family at New Orleans, whence removal was later made to St. Louis. Mr. Hiltz operated a stage and mail line south from St. Louis for a number of years. Mrs. Schneider is still living, at the age of seventy-six years, her home being in St. Louis. She is a devout member of the Lutheran church and is deeply beloved by all who have come within the radius of her gentle influence. Concerning the seven chil- dren born to Mr. and Mrs. Philip W. Schnei- der the following data are here incorporated, - Charles W. is the immediate subject of this review; Robert is president of the Schneider Granite Company, at St. Louis; Mary is the widow of Dr. Alois Blank and she resides in St. Louis; Philip W., Jr., died in 1908; Julius A. died in 1900 ; one child, a son, died in infancy; and Miss Bertha, died December 5,1907.

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History of southeast Missouri : a narrative account of its historical progress, its people and its principal interests, Volume II, Part 22

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