USA > Missouri > History of southeast Missouri : a narrative account of its historical progress, its people and its principal interests, Volume II > Part 39
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On February 18, 1885, when only nineteen years of age, Mr. McElvain was united in marriage to Miss Margaret Adams, born in 1868, in Saline county, Illinois, where her parents, John and Demarins (Boyd) Adams, resided. Mr. and Mrs. McElvain had a family of six children, whose names are as follows: William, born April 9, 1886, who is a recent graduate from the law department of the University of Missouri and is now practicing in Caruthersville; Gilbert, de- ceased: Clyde, who was graduated from the Jackson, Missouri, Military School and is married to Josephine Pierce, daughter of Charles R. and Elizabeth Pierce, owners of
Louis Theilmann
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a farm near Caruthersville; Ralph, who is employed in the Famous Store Company ; Minerva, the wife of D. B. Burnett, of Tip- tonville, Tennessee; and Jerry, who died in infancy. Mrs. McElvain was with her hus- band during his poverty and has remained by his side during his prosperity-a help- meet throughout. She is greatly interested in the work of the Methodist church of Caruth- ersville, and is ever ready to lend her aid to any branch of the religious activities of the church.
Mr. McElvain is a loyal Democrat in po- litical views, anxious at all times to do his best in support of his party. He holds mem- bership with the fraternal order of Eagles and with the tribe of Red Men. Probably because he was denied the privileges of a liberal education himself, he has realized its importance and he has given his children the best educational training that he could find. They are all doing credit to their training and to their parents and are becoming men and women of prominence in the world.
LOUIS THEILMANN is one of the foremost educators of Southeastern Missouri. As su- perintendent of the Bonne Terre schools for eight years his work has borne fruit in the reputation for its fine schools, which is now one of the best distinctions of Bonne Terre. This city was one of the first in Southeastern Missouri to introduce manual training as part of its public school course. Throughout his long career as an educator Professor Theilmann has been an exponent of the prac- tical in education, and was among the first in the state to urge instruction in agriculture, manual training and domestic science, as a regular part of common-school work. While advocating the modern and practical in pref- erence to the outgrown formulas of the past, he also strives to make civic righteousness the central principle of his plan of education.
Professor Theilmann was born in Hamilton county, Ohio, April 27, 1862. His father, John Theilmann, was born in Hesse-Darm- stadt, Germany, January 5, 1833, and re- ceived his early education in German schools. He arrived in America on his twenty-first birthday, and after working a number of years in New York and Cincinnati he moved to a farm in Northwest Missouri in 1867. His final years are being spent on his old homestead. He is one of the old-time hon- est, industrious and thrifty farmers, and has always enjoyed the respect and esteem of his
community. In politics he is a Republican, and is a member of the Swedenborgian church. He married, in 1857, Miss Amelia Felileisen, a native of Wurtemberg, Ger- many. Education was one of her strongest ideals, and she was willing to deny herself in order that all her children, four sons and two daughters, might receive adequate prep- aration for life.
While growing up on the home farm Pro- fessor Theilmann attended the country schools of Caldwell county, and after leaving the Kingston high school entered the Mis- souri State University, where he graduated in 1885 with the degree of Bachelor of Science. The degree of Master of Science was given him by the university in 1890. During the quarter of a century since leaving the Uni- versity his work has been almost entirely in the educational field. He was principal of the Kingston schools one year, taught in Clinton Academy one and a half years; in 1888, with his brother, G. A. Theilmann, or- ganized the Appleton City Academy and was connected therewith ten years, was principal. of the Breckinridge schools three years, and for the past eight years has been superin- tendent of the schools at Bonne Terre. He is also part owner, with Mr. Wolpers, of the Bonne Terre Register, Mr. Wolpers being editor of that popular paper.
Professor Theilmann is Republican in pol- ities, is a member of the Swedenborgian church, and affiliates with the Masonic and Odd Fellows orders. He married, in 1898, Miss Jessie M. Baugh, daughter of J. M. Baugh, of Appleton City, Missouri. They have three children: Gertrude, Wallace and Giles.
JAMES D. BRANDON. One of the prosper- ous and extensive farmers in the vicinity of Clarkton, Dunklin county, was the late James D. Brandon, who owned a valuable property, and whose operations included general farm- ing, stock-raising and cotton-growing. He was born in Livingston county, Kentucky, May 10, 1867, his parents being John A. R. and Fredonia (Burgess) Brandon. His decease occurred July 28, 1911. The father was a farmer and mechanic in the Bluegrass state and owned one hundred and fourteen acres near Smithland, Livingston county, Kentucky, where he successfully raised to- bacco. When the subject was of tender years the little family removed to Henry county in the western part of Tennessee and there they
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resided for about eight years. In 1879, they made another change of residence to Clay county, Arkansas, where the father bought four hundred and eighty acres of land. John A. R. Brandon was the father of a number of sons and daughters. The eldest was John A. Jr., who came into Dunklin county in 1891. He located in the southwestern part of Free- man township, where for several years he worked upon a farm. IIis marriage to Miss Alice Reeves occurred December 23, 1894. He gradually acquired property, in 1899 buy- ing eighty acres; in 1902, forty acres; in 1907, ninety acres and a little later thirty, the lat- ter purchased from J. W. Swobey. He was unfortunate in losing a great number of hogs in the cholera epidemic in 1910. He is the father of six children, namely : James, a pupil in the fifth grade; Everett, in the third; Lola, Clarence, Ruby and Audrey, who have not yet attained to school-going age. John A. Brandon Jr. was a student at Campbell high school and was a teacher in the county for several years, teaching three years at Prov- idence, and one year at Lentz. He is engaged for the coming year at Pee Dee and expects to continue as an instructor, a work for which he is well qualified. He is a member of the Masonic fraternity, of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows, and the Domestic Workers, of which latter order he is secretary. Mrs. Brandon is a member of the General Baptist church of Mount Gideon.
Melissa, second child of Jolin A. Brandon, Sr., became the wife of J. R. Rice, a farmer residing on the Saint Francois river. At his death, some fifteen years ago she married Mr. David Jones, a farmer of this county. She died in 1898, leaving one child, Alice, who first married a Mr. Lot of Kentucky and at his death married a Mr. Harris. She has four children-Eliza, Hattie, George and May. Minnie Rowton, third of John Bran- don's children, is now deceased.
James D. Brandon, the third child of the family and immediate subject of this review, left his native Kentucky when a child and the changes of residence of his parents divided his early years between Henry county, Ten- nessee, and Arkansas. He eventually found his way to Missouri and began working for the father of James Kitchen in 1885 and con- tinued in his employ for about one year. He then was engaged by other farmers and in 1890 he made a start toward independence by purchasing from his father-in-law, H. G. Hall,
eighty acres of land. In 1903 he bought forty acres more of Judge Scobey's son J. W. Scobey, and in 1908 bought an additional one hundred and twenty acres of the Scobey land from Judge L. H. Scobey. In 1897 he sold sixty acres to H. G. Hall.
Mr. Brandon was united in the holy bonds of matrimony to Margaret R. Hall, daughter of H. G. and Mary (Baysinger) Hall, of Dunklin county. They became the parents of five children, three of whom are living. One died in early infancy and a little daughter, Tennie Elizabeth, succumbed at the age of two years to chills and fever. Mary, the eldest daughter, married W. S. Sanders, farmer of Dunklin county and their two children died at an early age. Mr. Sanders owns a farm not far from the homestead of Mr. Brandon. Lula married L. H. Shepard, a farmer living in the vicinity of Sanders, and they have an infant son, Homer, while a daughter Hazel, died in infancy. Mattie, became the wife of Joseph Ferguson an agri- culturist in this section and they have an infant daughter, Opal. Mr. Brandon also had a little daughter, Alice, by his last marriage. The first Mrs. Brandon died in 1896 and after her demise the subject married Tennie McFarland, a daughter of one of the old fami- lies here, but she lived for only a short time. In 1905, Mr. Brandon married a third time, Ida May Netts, daughter of J. P. Netts, who was reared in this county, becoming his wife. She died in 1907. Mr. Brandon then took as his wife Nora Lentz, daughter of Eli and Sarah (Norman) Lentz and had one child, Alice, who is about eighteen months of age.
Mr. Brandon was a successful farmer and left a well-improved property, all but sixty acres of which is well-cleared and under cul- tivation. He raised cotton and every year had excellent crops. His estate now consists of about three hundred and twenty acres. He was a consistent member of the Metho- dist Protestant church, in which he held the office of trustee. His widow is a Baptist. The subject was a Republican in his political conviction and took a public-spirited interest in all the affairs of the community. He was a very popular lodge man, having belonged to the Independent Order of Odd Fellows, at Campbell, Missouri; and at Malden was affi- liated with the Modern Woodmen, the Modern Brotherhood and the Woodmen of the World, while he was also connected with the Domes- tic Workers at Pee Dee.
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WILLIAM BREDENSTEINER. To the people of Malden the name of William Bredensteiner immediately suggests a picture of appetizing bakery commodities, neatly and tastefully arranged. As a general thing foods that are especially palatable are not particularly wholesome, but that is not the case with Mr. Bredensteiner's products, which are prepared under sanitary conditions and at the same time they satisfy the cravings of hunger. Mr. Bredensteiner is both a popular and a suc- cessful business man, and is such not by acci- dent but by virtue of industry, honor and a thorough knowledge of his specialty.
The birth of William Bredensteiner oc- curred on the 29th day of September, 1864, in the kingdom of Hanover, now a province of Prussia, Germany. His parents, Fred and Mary (Buchsick) Bredensteiner, were both life-long residents of the same German king- dom where the mother's birth occurred in 1831 and the father's in 1815. They reared a family of five children,-Mary, Karl, Anna, William and Ernest (twins). Father Bre- densteiner fought in the war of the French Revolution, and was an actor in the terrible scenes which were common during that con- flict. As a civilian he was engaged in the occupation of a farmer, and he lived to the good old age of eighty-four years, his death occurring in 1899. His widow survived him six years, she being summoned to her last rest in 1905, at the age of seventy-four.
William Bredensteiner entered school when he was six years old and his educational training continued until his fourteenth year ; during his eight years of schooling, obtained in the public institutions of his native town, he gained a good, general education, and on its termination he commenced to learn the bakery trade at the quaint town of Bremen on the Weser, as the apprentice of one of the master bakers of that town. By the time he had served his apprenticeship he had become an adept at his trade and for six months he worked as a baker in his native kingdom, but believed that he could do better in the United States. On the 5th day of October, 1882, therefore, he landed at Baltimore, Maryland, and went direct to Cincinnati, Ohio, where his sister Mary resided. She had married Fred Drees, a baker in that city. Mr. Bre- densteiner worked for Mr. Henry Kassen, a baker, for five years. Then followed a period of wandering on the part of Mr. Breden- steiner; for a year he worked in Paris, Ken- tucky, then six weeks in Louisville, Kentucky,
then two years and a half at St. Louis, Mis- souri, where he worked partly at night and partly by day. Following his St. Louis experi- ence he came to New Madrid county, Missouri, where for five years he was employed in Henry Jasper's bakery at New Madrid. Next he worked one year at Murphysboro, Illinois, then one year at Harriman, Tennessee. In 1898 he came to Malden and for five years he was the head baker of Al. S. Davis. During all these years of change of scene and of employers Mr. Bredensteiner had accumulated a little money, as well as considerable experi- ence of conditions in different parts of the country, and on the first of March, 1903, tired of working for others any longer, he bought out Mr. Davis' bakery and commenced to do business for himself. Scarcely more than two months later (May 25, 1903) a fire swept away the buildings on Madison street, where Mr. Bredensteiner's bakery was located, and his store was entirely demolished. On the 11th of February, 1904, he moved to the loca- tion where his store is today (the corner of Madison and Beckwith) and re-commenced to build up a trade. His patronage is now as good if not better than that of any other bakery in the county. In 1906 he put in a line of groceries with his bakery goods and now has a fine, up-to-date establishment.
Mr. Bredensteiner was married to Miss Eliza Cook, September 22, 1894. Miss Cook was a native of Bloomfield, Missouri, and is the daughter of Nathaniel and Anna Cook. Mr. and Mrs. Bredensteiner are the parents of three children, all of whom are attending the public school in Malden and whose names are as follows: Dorothy, born August 14, 1896; Walter, whose birth occurred January 9, 1901 ; and Albert, the date of whose nativity is March 17, 1903.
Mr. Bredensteiner has always been deeply interested in the politics of his adopted coun- try, and in the Republican party he believes he sees the best principles of good govern- ment; he, therefore, is a strong Republican, although he keeps out of politics himself. In religious belief he holds to the Lutheran creed-the doctrine in which he was trained. In a fraternal way he is widely connected ; he is affiliated with the Modern Woodmen of America, with the Maccabees, with the Knights of Pythias, with the Masons (being a member of the Council No. 46, Royal and Select Masters; of Chapter No. 117, Royal Arch Masons; and of Commandery No. 61, Knights Templars), and with the Benevolent
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and Protective Order of Elks. His stand- ing with this last mentioned order has been of a high and important nature, as is indi- cated by the fact that he dedicated the Elk hall at Cape Girardeau. Personally Mr. Bredensteiner is a man of pleasing demeanor and his views of life and attitude towards people in general are characteristic of a broad-minded man who has traveled as exten- sively as did Mr. Bredensteiner.
J. S. N. FARQUHAR. Especially worthy of representation in this biographical volume is J. S. N. Farquhar, of Caruthersville, who through his own enterprise, worth and ability has risen to a commanding position in the lumber trade of Southeast Missouri, and is actively identified with the advancement of other industrial enterprises. A native of Mis- souri, he was born in 1881, in Madison county, a son of David and Sarah Ann (Graham) Farquhar, the latter of whom was born and reared in the same county, the former in Scotland.
Completing his early education at the Mar- vin Collegiate Institute, in Fredericktown, Missouri, J. S. N. Farquhar taught school for a year, and in 1903 was graduated from Dranghon's Practical Business College, at Saint Louis. Going then to Arkansas, he had charge of a lumber yard until ill health compelled him to resign his position and return home. He married soon afterward, and for a few months succeeding that impor- tant event in his life was bookkeeper, at Marianna, Arkansas, for the L'Anguille Lum- ber Company. Locating at Caruthersville, Pemiscot county, Missouri, May 2, 1904, Mr. Farquhar assumed charge of the yards of the Riverside Lumber Company, and has since been instrumental in building up a large and lucrative trade for his employers. He is amply qualified for the position, being keen and alert to take advantage of opportunities, and broad and bright enough to handle all of the business that comes in his way. The Riverside Lumber Company was organized in 1900, and is carrying on a substantial busi- ness. Mr. Farquhar is likewise connected with various other important enterprises, being a stockholder and the president of the Home Lumber and Shingle Manufacturing Company, which was organized March 11, 1911, and is a stockholder in the Whitener Jewelry Company, the Argus Publishing Company and the Twentieth Century Pub- lishing Company of Saint Louis.
On March 27, 1904, Mr. Farquhar was united in marriage with Gertrude M. E. Twid- well, who was born in Wayne county, Mis- souri, July 25, 1882, and they have two chil- dren, namely : Angella Conchita, born Janu- ary 7, 1907; and Bonnie Marie, born Febru- ary 14, 1909. Mr. Farquhar is an active mem- ber of the Caruthersville branch of the Mutual Protective League, and since its organization, in 1907, has served as its secre- tary. He likewise belongs to the Modern Woodmen of America, and has held all of the officers in the local camp. Both Mr. and Mrs. Farquhar are prominent members of the Bap- tist church, in which he is a deacon, the church clerk and a teacher in its Sunday- school.
AMBROSE DAVIS BRIDGES. A venerable and highly respected citizen of Campbell, Dunk- lin county, Ambrose D. Bridges has been a resident of this part of the state for upwards of sixty-six years, and in that time has wit- nessed many wonderful transformations in the county, the wild land being converted into fields rich with grain, the log cabins of the pioneers being replaced by commodious frame houses, while the hamlets of the early times have developed into thriving villages and populous towns and cities. In this grand change Mr. Bridges has contributed his full share of the pioneer labor, and can now look back with pride and pleasure upon his work. A native of Kentucky, he was born, January 10, 1823, in Mercer county, a son of William and Nancy (Davis) Bridges, the former of whom died in Campbell, Missouri, in June, 1846, and the latter died about 1838.
Reared and educated in Kentucky, Ambrose D. Bridges came to Missouri soon after attain- ing his majority, and on January 18, 1844, located in the woods near the St. Francois River near what is now Campbell, where he pursued his favorite occupations, farming and hunting. No land south of township twenty- two had then been surveyed, but he took up a tract of forty acres, which, as soon as it was surveyed, he purchased. This was then a part of Stoddard county which then extended north to Whitewater sixteen miles southwest of Cape Girardeau. With true pioneer grit, he began the improvement of a homestead, and as a farmer met with eminent success. As his means increased, he wisely invested it in other tracts of land, in course of time acquiring title to two thousand acres of rich and valuable land, thirteen hundred of which
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he still owns, the remainder having been deeded to his children. In addition to carry- ing on general farming with good results Mr. Bridges has devoted much attention to the raising of hogs and horses, and for a quarter of a century operated a saw mill. His farm is finely improved, and amply supplied with all the accessories required by a modern and successful agriculturist.
Since taking up his residence near Camp- bell, he has resided at his present home sinee his marriage in 1845. Mr. Bridges has taken an intelligent interest in everything pertain- ing to the welfare of town and county, and had the honor of being called to sit upon the first grand jury convened in Dunklin county. During the Civil war, he served as lieutenant in Captain Leander Taylor's company, Col. James Walker's regiment, for a year, and after his return home, while running his saw mill he had frequent troubles with the guer- rillas, which then infested the country at times. He is identified with one of the lead- ing financial institutions of his community, having been a director of the Bank of Camp- bell since its organization.
Mr. Bridges married, February 24, 1845, Charlotte Russell, who was born January 13, 1829, in Hickman county, Kentucky, and died at the home near Campbell, Missouri, in 1896. Fourteen children were born into the pleasant home of Mr. and Mrs. Bridges, namely : Eliza- beth, deceased, who married Jasper Beasley ; Minerva, a widow, living in Campbell; Wil- liam, of Campbell, of whom a brief notice appears elsewhere in this work; John, James, Ellen, and Perry E., all deceased; Eliza, wife of Lee J. Taylor, of whom a short sketch may be found on another page of this volume ; Sarah Ann, wife of Frank Bristol, an employee in a mill at Campbell; Lucy, wife of G. W. Mccutchen; Josephine, wife of Thomas Medley ; and Lottie and Daniel, twins, who died in infancy and Marion D., deceased.
Politically Mr. Bridges is a stanch adherent of the Democratic party. Fraternally he is a member of Four Mile Lodge, No. 212, A. F. & A. M., of Campbell; of Kennett Chapter, R. A. M., which he organized; and of Campbell Council, No. 33, R. & S. M., of Campbell. He is also a member of the Order of the Eastern Star of Campbell.
LEVI MERCANTILE COMPANY. At this june- ture attention is directed to a brief history of one of the leading department stores in Southeastern Missouri. The Levi Mercantile Vol. II-14
Company was incorporated under the laws of the state of Missouri in 1889, with a capital stock of twenty-five thousand dollars and it is officered as follows: J. D. Goldman, St. Louis, president ; J. N. Arends, vice-president ; A. Lebermuth, secretary and treasurer; and A. Lebermuth and J. N. Arends, general man- agers. This concern, the business of which has now reached very large proportions, was originally J. S. Levi & Company, which was founded by J. S. Levi and J. D. Goldman, at Malden, Missouri, in the year 1878. At that early day J. S. Levi was resident manager and the other partner, J. D. Goldman, main- tained his home in the city of St. Louis, the two men having formerly been associated in a number of important business enterprises at Dexter, Missouri. Closely connected with the Levi Mercantile Company is the Goldman- Levi Land Company, which was incorporated in 1889 and which controls considerable valu- able real estate in this section of Southeastern Missouri. Mr. Levi lives at Kokomo, Indiana, whither he removed in 1889 and where he is engaged in the dry goods business, and Mr. Goldman is still in St. Louis, where he is also a member of the Lesser-Goldman Cotton Com- pany . The Goldman-Levi Land Company owns a great deal of city and country realty at and near Malden and the Mercantile Com- pany is its local representative. The Levi Mercantile Company occupies two floors, fifty. by one hundred feet each in lateral dimen- sions, and it also owns a store room, twenty- five by one hundred feet. It is a modern and well equipped department store, its stock in- cluding a complete line of dry goods, cloth- ing, furniture, hardware and agricultural im- plements, in addition to which it also is a large buyer of cotton, handling upwards of twenty-two hundred bales per annum of the latter commodity. This business enterprise is constantly increasing the scope of its opera- tions and it caters to a very cosmopolitan trade.
Adolph Lebermuth, one of the general man- agers of the Levi Mercantile Company, was born in Bavaria, on the 19th of September, 1855, and he is a son of David and Jeannette Lebermuth, both natives of Bavaria. He received his preliminary educational training in the public schools of his native place and in 1885 he came to Malden, to accept a posi- tion as bookkeeper for J. S. Levi & Com- pany. He continued in the employ of that concern, in the capacity of bookkeeper, up to 1889, when the company was incorporated
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and he was installed as one of the general managers. in co-partnership with J. N. Arends. Mr. Arends is a native of Germany, where his birth occurred on the 6th of Janu- ary, 1854. He is a son of John N. and Mary T. Arends and after completing the curri- culum of the Christian Brothers school of Mobile, Alabama, he, as a young man, turned his attention to the mercantile business. In 1879 he entered the employ of Messrs. Levi and Goldman at Dexter, Missouri, coming with Mr. Levi to Malden when the firm of J. S. Levi & Company was formed. While at Dexter he was salesman and cotton buyer and since 1889 he has been joint manager of the Levi Mercantile Company. Under the able management and guidance of Messrs. Lebermuth and Arends the business of this concern has increased to a remarkable extent. They are both possessed of executive ability and energy and as citizens their interest in the general welfare has ever been of the most loyal and public-spirited order. In politics they are uncompromising advocates of the principles and policies promulgated by the Democratic party and in fraternal circles they are affiliated with a number of represent- ative organizations of a local character.
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