History of southeast Missouri : a narrative account of its historical progress, its people and its principal interests, Volume II, Part 37

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

USA > Missouri > History of southeast Missouri : a narrative account of its historical progress, its people and its principal interests, Volume II > Part 37

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In 1902 Jesse H. Schaper was chosen pro- bate judge of Franklin county, and after serving a full term in this office he was again chosen to succeed himself, serving four years more and again returning to the office with an increased acquaintance and a wide popularity among his constituents whom he has served so faithfully and so well. He has partici- pated in many forensic battles during his professional career, one of the best known of which was his defense of the bank robbers and murderers, Collins and Rudolph, charged with the murder of detective Shoemacher and the looting of the Bank of Union several years ago. One of the cases in which he was chief counsel, which is well remembered in that county, was a civil one involving the validity of the will of H. Tibbe, who be- queathed a large amount of property to Eden College of St. Louis and to the German Synod of North America. He was associated in the case with Judges Lubke and Muench of St. Louis, the latter being now circuit judge of that city. The trial in the lower court went against them, but the brief on appeal was prepared by Judge Schaper and said law firm and resulted in a reversal of the case and a verdict for the defense and the sus- taining of the will. the brief being commented upon by judges of the higher tribunal as one of the best efforts in that line on record. Mr. Schaper has for six years been legal adviser of Washington. He is likewise attorney for the Franklin County Bank, of which he is a stockholder, and is a director of the public schools.

In politics Judge Schaper has always allied his vote and his services with the Republican party, and has taken an active part in local elections, as his aforementioned record shows. Ile is an Odd Fellow and a Modern Wood-

man, occasionally relaxing from the arduous and confining duties of his profession for a pleasant chat with his fellow lodge members. In religious affairs he is a devout adherent of the Methodist Episcopal church, having been, as he laughingly asserts, "brought up a Methodist."

Judge Schaper laid the foundation for a home and hearth of his own when he married, in Franklin county, Missouri, Miss Jessie Martin, a daughter of Judge John R. Martin, a pioneer and one of the leading lawyers of Franklin county. He was a man of fine edu- cation and intellectual ability, a Republican of the early organization who helped to bring the party into shape for its first national campaign. He was especially adept in ad- ministration work, and was appointed by Governor Fletcher of Missouri as the first probate judge of Franklin county. Judge Martin was the Republican candidate for congress from his district in 1886, but was defeated in a general Democratie victory. His daughter, Jessie Martin Schaper, in- herited her father's mental acumen, she being a woman of high intellectual powers. She was a teacher in the public schools before her marriage, her education having been com- pleted at Synodical College, Fulton, Missouri. She is at present superintendent of the Presbyterian Sabbath-school, and is especially pleasing in her manner with young folks. Judge and Mrs. Schaper have six children: Florence, Phoebe, Margaret, John Martin, Jessie and Randolph.

No more fitting tribute could be paid to Judge Schaper than that he is beloved by his family, esteemed by his friends, honored by his legal confreres, and respected by his political or judicial opponents.

JOHN D. PHELPS. The father of John Phelps was Reverend D. S. Phelps, a native of Kentucky. He preached the gospel in southeastern Missouri for many years and also worked at the blacksmith trade. He was a minister of the Congregational denomination and for six years before his death, in 1910, had lived in Oklahoma. He died in Lutes- ville, where his wife had died twenty years before. She was born in Illinois and her maiden name was Nancy Roland.

John D. Phelps was born on the last day of July, 1874, at Millerdale, Cape county, Missouri. He attended school in Lutesville and at Will Mayfield College. He taught school in 1897 and 1898 in Mississippi

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county. The following two years he farmed in the same county and then worked at public works, doing draying until 1907. During this period he spent eleven months in Okla- homa for his health, but with that exception has lived continuously in Missouri. In 1907 Mr. Phelps accepted the position of manager of the Poultry House of Goodwin & Jean of Lutesville. This concern handles sixteen thousand pounds of poultry every month and two thousand cases of eggs annually. They also deal in hides.

Mrs. Phelps was formerly a resident of Cincinnati, Ohio. She is the daughter of Joseph Arthur, of Bollinger county, now retired. She was married to John Phelps June 27, 1897. The children of John and Iva Arthur Phelps are: Austin A., born August 9, 1898; Nellie May, three years younger; Joseph Elbert, born in 1903; and Ruby Idella, born in June 1907.

Mr. Phelps has been connected with the Odd Fellows' lodge for five years and has been a Modern Woodman for ten years. He is a member of the Presbyterian church of Lutesville, in which place he owns residence property.

The father of J. D. Phelps was married three times and John is one of fifteen children born of the second marriage. Eleven of these are still living, and they reside in this county, in Arkansas, in Colorado, Kansas, Washing- ton and in St. Louis.

CAPTAIN DANIEL HAYNES. A well-known and highly esteemed citizen of Malden, Dunklin county, Captain Daniel Haynes served with distinction as an officer in the Civil war, and now, in these days of peace and prosperity, is serving with equal ability and fidelity in public positions, being justice of the peace and notary public. A native of Illinois, he was born June 3, 1839, in Wayne county, where he grew to man's estate, spending his earlier years on the old home farm.

During the progress of the Civil war he promptly responded to the call of Governor Yates for one hundred-day men, and was mustered into the state service by General U. S. Grant. On May 28, 1861, he was mus- tered into the United States service by Cap- tain T. C. Pitcher as a member of the Eighteenth Illinois Volunteer Infantry, which was under command of Colonel M. K. Lawler, serving for three years as a brave and faithful soldier. On June 8, 1862, on

account of gallant conduct on the field of battle, he was promoted to the rank of cap- tain, having earned his promotion in the en- gagements of Fort Donelson and Shiloh. The Captain was in the fiercest of the fight at Fort Donelson, where thirteen of his com- rades were killed, and at Shiloh he was at the front during two days of fighting, his regi- ment forming a part of General John A. MeClelland's division. He took part in the siege of Vicksburg, and with his comrades he was later sent to Little Rock, Arkansas, and was an active participant in the engagements at Elba and Saline River, where a shot in the left leg shattered a bone, and he was obliged to give up active service for a time. Captain Haynes subsequently did special court- martial duty, later being inspector of army supplies. At the expiration of his term of service he was honorably discharged at Springfield, Illinois, and returned to his old home in Wayne county, where he served as deputy sheriff and sheriff.

In 1870 Captain Haynes located in Stod- dard county, Missouri, and in 1877 became a resident of Dunklin county. Having formed a partnership with Sylvester W. Spiller, he filled several contracts on the narrow-gauge railroad, grading several miles of the road, reaching Malden, Missouri, July 4, 1878. Moving a frame building from Cotton Hill, three miles away, to Malden, the Captain and Mr. Spiller put in a stock of railroad sup- plies, and on the completion of the railway in the following spring, installed a full line of general merchandise and embarked in business under the firm name of Spiller, Haynes & Company, Mr. J. H. McRee subse- quently being admitted to partnership. The firm built up a good business, and in addition to the selling of groceries, dry goods, etc., bought all the cotton grown in the country roundabout, erected a gin, and made a spe- cialty in dealing in cotton until 1881, when that branch of the business was abandoned on account of the credit system then intro- duced.

The firm then accepted a contract for grad- ing the right-of-way for the railroad for a distance of twenty-five miles south of Malden, and in the spring of 1882 the grading was finished and the ties ready to be laid. The road, however, passed into the hands of a re- ceiver, and after taking debenture the firm of Spiller, Haynes & McRay realized but sixty cents on the dollar, even after waiting four or five years and having a law suit.

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Captain Haynes then embarked in agricult- ural pursuits, opening up a farm and carry- ing on a good business as a dealer in cattle. He bought a large tract of land at five dollars an acre, the land being heavily timbered, and after clearing oue hundred and twenty acres of it sold it for thirty-five dollars an acre, the same land at the present writing being worth fully one hundred dollars an acre. Leaving the farm in 1905, the Captain returned to Malden, and has since been actively engaged in official work, having been elected justice of the peace, a position which he had previously filled for six years, and is also serving as notary public, positions for which he amply qualified and which he is filling with credit and honor.

A stanch Democrat in politics, Captain Haynes was chairman of the first Board of Trustees of Malden, serving for six years after the organization of the village. Frater- nally he is one of the charter members of Malden Lodge, Ancient Free and Accepted Order of Masons, with which order he united forty-five years ago and which he has served most acceptably as master, and of which he is now secretary. He is also a Royal Arch Mason, and he represented his Masonic Lodge at the Grand Lodge of Masons in Missouri.

The Captain read law in early manhood, but was not admitted to the bar, although his legal knowledge has oft times been of inesti- mable value to him in his business enterprises. He has dealt in real estate to some extent, having sold several hundred acres of Missouri land. In 1877, when he was engaged in rail- road work, he frequently saw bear tracks in the woods, and as a hunter found not pleas- ure only, but considerable profit, at one time selling seventy dollars worth of hides and pelts.

At Clarkton, Dunklin county, Missouri, November 6, 1879, Captain Haynes was united in marriage with Judith E. McCon- nell, who was born in Obion county, Tennes- see, and came to Missouri with her uncle, Gilham Hopper, who is now living retired at Malden. Mrs. Haynes died in April, 1889, at a comparatively early age. Of the six children born of their union two died in infancy and four are living, namely: Irene, a stenog- rapher and bookkeeper for the Campbell Lumber Company, at Kennett, Missouri; Inez, wife of Dr. J. B. Sharp, of Senath, Mis- souri; John A., who is connected with the Iron Mountain Railroad Company; and

Nancy, who presides most gracefully and ably. over her father's household.

Many funny anecdotes are told of Captain Haynes. On one occasion a young man was brought before him charged with stealing a saddle. The young man pleaded guilty and in assessing his punishment Captain Haynes said: "Young man, owing to the fact that you have a great deal of competition in your business I will make your punishment light. I will fine you twenty-five dollars." On an- other occasion a man was sued for delinquent poll tax before the Captain, and, not wishing his case to be tried before him, prepared an affidavit for a change of venue, which motion Haynes at once overruled. The man told him he had a right under the law to a change of venue. "I know it," said Haynes, "but a man who refuses to pay his taxes is an unde- sirable citizen and not entitled to the protec- tion of the law." At the proper time judg- ment was rendered by default, the man's wages were garnisheed and the tax collected. Captain Haynes has the reputation of being very just and impartial in his rulings and decisions, and is seldom reversed by the higher courts.

CHARLES L. JONES. Upon the practical, broad-minded citizens who do things, de- pends the spirit and progressiveness of any community, and Caruthersville owes much of its business reputation to such men as Charles L. Jones, who has done much of the building and carpenter work in the city for several years, building up an enviable reputa- tion in that line of enterprise. Although still in the very prime of life, Charles L. Jones has accomplished more solid construct- ive work than many men do in a life time. He was born in Franklin county, Illinois, in the year 1871, a son of James Calvin and Sarah (MeGlasson) Jones, and was brought up by his parents in a comfortable farm home. His father, James Calvin Jones, was a good carpenter and many comfortable homes stand today in Franklin county, Illinois, as monuments to his ability as a carpenter. His death occurred in 1887, the mother's in 1890.

Charles L. Jones engaged in the carpen- ter's trade in Stoddard county before coming to Caruthersville in 1900. In that year he came to his present location and has been actively engaged in his chosen pursuit ever since. He has several fine buildings to his

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credit and specimens of his work may be found throughout the county. He owns four lots at the corner of Eighth street and Grand avenue, on which in December, 1910, he erected a splendid two story, ten room house, with an ingenious double hallway, and in this house he and his brother, Dr. B. F. Jones (with whom he has lived since sixteen years of age) make their home.

Dr. Jones is a graduate of the North West- ern Medical School of St. Joseph, Missouri, and has been a practicing physician over thirty years. In 1883 he was married to Miss Minnie Clara Smith, of Louisville, Kentucky, and their four children are as follows: Anna, the wife of William Cone, of Bloomfield, Missouri, is the mother of two children and she resides near her father in Caruthersville, where she and her husband own two lots and a very cozy home. Grace is the wife of James W. Spencer, of Saint Louis, associated with the Smith & Davis Manufacturing Company of that city. Clarence Oden, sixteen years old, is a student at the local high school, and Virginia Lee, aged twelve, is still in school and, like her brother Clarence, remaining at the parental home.

Charles L. Jones is a bachelor and frater- ually is entitled to wear the blanket of the Red Men.

WILLIAM G. BRAY. With a remarkable ca- pacity for the handling of multitudinous details, and a concentration of purpose that enables him to make everything work to de- sirable ends, William G. Bray, cashier of the Bank of Senath, holds high rank among the more active and successful business men of this part of Dunklin county, his interests be- ing many and varied. A son of W. E. Bray, he was born, December 25, 1869, at old Four Mile, Dunklin county, of honored pioneer stock.

Born in Tennessee in 1835, W. E. Bray was a son of James Allen Bray, of North Carolina, whose wife, a Miss Tillman, of South Caro- lina, was a kinswoman of Senator Benjamin R. Tillman, of South Carolina, and of Con- ductor Bob Tillman, of the Cotton Belt Rail- way. At the age of seventeen years W. E. Bray came with his parents to Dunklin county, Missouri, where he studied for the ministry, and for many years has been em- ployed as a preacher in the Baptist church, his home at the present time being in Camp- bell, Missouri. He married, at Valley Ridge, Missouri, Quilla Gregory, a daughter of

James Gregory, a pioneer settler of Dunklin county, who located on the present site of Malden settling years before the incorpora- tion of the town, and there lived until nearly one hundred years of age, at his death being the oldest person of his community, and next to the oldest one in Dunklin county.

Receiving his preliminary education in the district schools, William G. Bray subse- quently completed his early studies at the State Normal School, although several years later, on May 25, 1905, he was admitted to the Dunklin county bar before Judge J. S. Fort, and is a member of the Bar Association. After leaving the Normal School, Mr. Bray was for five years employed in railroad work, being in the offices of the Frisco, the Cotton Belt, and other railways. In 1893 he had the misfortune to receive a gunshot wound in his left arm while out hunting, but the accident in nowise diminished his love for the sport. Mr. Bray was subsequently for three years employed by E. S. McCarthy & Co., contract- ors during the construction of the Kennett & Southern Railroad. Locating then at White Oak, Dunklin county, he was there en- gaged in the milling and mercantile business for a time, being afterwards similarly em- ployed in Dent county, Missouri. Turning his attention then to agricultural pursuits, Mr. Bray carried on general farming at Ken- nett for a year, and in 1908 embarked in the drug trade at Senath, and continued so em- ployed until the organization of the Bank of Senath, of which he was one of the promoters. Mr. Bray was very active in the founding of +his financial institution, which was organ- ized July 2, 1902, with a capital of fifteen thousand dollars; its surplus and undivided profits being now fifteen thousand dollars, while its deposits are between one hundred thousand and one hundred and fifteen thou- sand dollars. Mr. Bray erected the building in which the bank is housed, sold the stock, opened the bank, and has served as its cashier ever since its organization. He has other in- terests of value, being a stockholder, and the secretary, of the John M. Karnes Store Com- pany; and being the owner of a fine farm of two hundred acres lying south of Senath. He operates his farm through tenants, one hundred acres of it being devoted to the growing of cotton. He is an extensive dealer in horses and mules, with barns in Senath, handling about one hundred head a year, finding profit in the industry.

Politically Mr. Bray is a stanch adherent

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of the Democratic party, but is not an aspir- ant for public office at any time. Fraternally he belongs to the Independent Order of Odd Fellows; and to the Paragould Lodge, No. 1080, Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks; and to other beneficial organizations.

Mr. Bray married, July 17, 1907, Ora A. Moore, a daughter of the late B. A. Moore, of whom a brief account may be found else- where in this book, in connection with the sketch of David Moore. Mr. and Mrs. Bray have no children of their own, but they have reared a nephew of Mr. Bray's, Ernest R. Bray, a lad of eighteen years, now employed as a clerk in the store of the John M. Karnes Store Company.

ROBERT L. WADE, of Malden, is vice-presi- dent and manager of the Malden Hardware and Furniture Company, one of the most important (if not, indeed, the most impor- tant) concerns of its kind in Dunklin county. This enterprise, which has experienced con- stant growth since its first coming into existence in 1905, is a business so subtantial and well managed as to contribute not only to the success and prosperity of its owners but to that of the entire community as well. Mr. Wade was born June 29, 1862, and is a son of Robert C. Wade, president of the Malden Hardware and Furniture Company and also interested in the agricultural devel- opment of this part of the state. The elder gentleman, who is one of the most prominent citizens of the county, was born in Tennessee in 1834 and served almost throughout the Civil war as a member of the Army of the Tennessee, his sympathies naturally being with the institutions of the South. IIe re- sided in Arkansas for a time and in 1889 came to Malden, where he has ever since made his home, and of whom mention is made on other pages of this work.

Young Robert secured his education in the schools of Hickory Plains, Arkansas, and passed his early youth upon his father's farm, continuing as the assistant in his agri- cultural endeavors until the age of twenty- four years, and becoming so well-versed in the many departments of the great basic in- dustry that he might well have continued as its exponent as far as familiarity with it is concerned. At the age mentioned he left home and for two years resided at Des Arc. On March 4, 1890, Mr. Wade took up his resi- dence at Malden and secured a position with Johnson Marks, a general merchant, in whose

employ he continued for a year. A year later he went into the Allen Store Company, as a stock-holder, his role in the affairs of the concern being as buyer. His mercantile career, which had begun most auspiciously, was interrupted by ill-health and he spent some time in St. Louis recuperating. After regaining his natural strength and vigor he went to work for T. C. Stokes as salesman and remained with him for over three years. When his father decided upon establishing an independent business and having the sub- ject as his partner in the enterprise, he gave up his other interests and since 1905 he has acted as manager and vice-president of the Malden Hardware and Furniture Company. This has experienced the best of fortunes and is one of the big houses of Dunklin county, the executive ability and good judgment of the immediate subject being one of its most valuable assets. It is an incorporated con- cern.

Mr. Wade forsook the ranks of the bache- lors when, on April 15, 1896, he was united in marriage to Nellie C. Hill, daughter of E. W. and Cora (Bartlett) Hill. Mrs. Wade was born September 27, 1876, at Bloomfield, Illinois, and she and the subject share their pleasant home with two children-Wolford C., born February 4, 1897; and Cora Nell, born July 24, 1907. Mr. Wade is one of the pillars of the Democratic party, ever giving heartiest support to its men and measures. He is a member of the ancient and august Masonic order and he and his wife are mem- bers of the Methodist Episcopal church.

JAMES S. WAHL. A man of distinctive energy, ambition and pronounced business acumen, thoroughly public-spirited and pro- gressive, James S. Wahl, of Caruthersville, began life for himself as poor as the poorest of boys, for ten years, even, roving the coun- try, more especially the western states. His native talents, industry, and the inherent self-consciousness of his ability, however, took possession of him at an opportune time, and he is now classed among the more enter- prising, progressive and wealthy men of Pemiscot county, his interests being varied and of great importance. A son of Lewis Wahl, he was born in 1864, in Daviess county, Kentucky, of German ancestry.

Lewis Wahl was born May 1, 1810, in Wit- tenburg, Germany, and was there brought up and educated. Immigrating to the United states when twenty-two years of age, he fol-

Stephan Hugo

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lowed his trade of a piano manufacturer for many years in Kentucky, but spent his last days in Tennessee, dying December 27, 1901. His wife, whose maiden name was Harriet Thomas, was born February 29, 1832, in Gibson county, Tennessee, and died in Milan, Tennessee, February 18, 1882.

Receiving his early education in the public schools of Milan, Tennessee, James S. Wahl left home a beardless boy of seventeen years and for ten years thereafter roamed the country without aim or purpose, stealing rides on box cars or wherever he could find a hold, in the meantime working as a farm laborer or at odd jobs when his pocket was empty. In 1889, having, as Kipling ex- presses it, "found himself," Mr. Wahl took up his residence in Bernie, Stoddard county, Missouri, where for a year he clerked in a grocery and drug store. Going from there to Kennett, Missouri, he ran a pool room for eighteen months, and then went back to Bernie, where, within a little more than a year, he lost one thousand six hundred dol- lars in the saloon business, or at least, was that much in debt when he retired from that industry.

Locating in Caruthersville, Missouri, in October, 1891, Mr. Wahl conducted a pool room in this city for two years, making money in the operation. Embarking then in an en- tirely new occupation, he began shipping in ice on a small scale, and also dealt in beer and soda water, peddling his ice in a wheel- barrow at first. Devoting his energies to his business, he has since built up an enormous trade in soda water, and now carries on a substantial business, manufacturing and sell- ing a thousand cases daily, shipping not only soda water, but ciders and all brands of vinegar to various points within a radius of one hundred miles, his patronage being very large. He is likewise agent for the William J. Lemp Brewing Company, of Saint Louis, and in the management of his affairs em- ploys thirty-five men. In addition to his plant at Caruthersville Mr. Wahl has sixteen branch establishments in other near-by towns, and is the sole proprietor of all of them.

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History of southeast Missouri : a narrative account of its historical progress, its people and its principal interests, Volume II, Part 37

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