USA > Missouri > History of southeast Missouri : a narrative account of its historical progress, its people and its principal interests, Volume II > Part 48
Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25 | Part 26 | Part 27 | Part 28 | Part 29 | Part 30 | Part 31 | Part 32 | Part 33 | Part 34 | Part 35 | Part 36 | Part 37 | Part 38 | Part 39 | Part 40 | Part 41 | Part 42 | Part 43 | Part 44 | Part 45 | Part 46 | Part 47 | Part 48 | Part 49 | Part 50 | Part 51 | Part 52 | Part 53 | Part 54 | Part 55 | Part 56 | Part 57 | Part 58 | Part 59 | Part 60 | Part 61 | Part 62 | Part 63 | Part 64 | Part 65 | Part 66 | Part 67 | Part 68 | Part 69 | Part 70 | Part 71 | Part 72 | Part 73 | Part 74 | Part 75 | Part 76 | Part 77 | Part 78 | Part 79 | Part 80 | Part 81 | Part 82 | Part 83 | Part 84 | Part 85 | Part 86 | Part 87 | Part 88 | Part 89 | Part 90 | Part 91 | Part 92 | Part 93 | Part 94 | Part 95 | Part 96 | Part 97 | Part 98 | Part 99 | Part 100 | Part 101 | Part 102 | Part 103 | Part 104 | Part 105 | Part 106 | Part 107 | Part 108 | Part 109 | Part 110 | Part 111
In politics Mr. Michie's convictions are those of the Democratic party. He is a mem- ber of Modern Woodmen of America. Three children, Iverson, junior, Erma and Earl Larkin, complete his home circle.
FABIUM MAXIMUM WILKINS, for years iden- tified with the medical progress of Dunklin county, has solved the one mystery in this brief life-the mystery of death-his demise having occurred on the 16th day of July, 1895, after a life of successful efforts to en- rich the cause of science and to aid his fellow men. He gained friends and admirers, re- spect and esteem, and his loss was mourned by his professional brethren, by his fellow citizens, by his numerous friends and ac- quaintances, as well as by his family. After the lapse of seventeen years his memory is still green in the hearts of those who knew and loved him.
. Dr. Wilkins was a son of John and Helen (Grisum) Wilkins, both natives of North Carolina. Both husband and wife passed their youthful days in their native state, were there married and became the parents of eight children, including: Eliza, Ellen, Fa- bium, Mary, Fanny, Lucien and Columbus. Father Wilkins was engaged in the occupa- tion of farming and in 1844 he with his family migrated to Tennessee, where they took up their residence at Union City, Obion county ; there the mother died during a siege of cholera, in the '70s and several years after the father and husband's death occurred.
Fabium Maximum Wilkins' birth took place on the 22nd of December, 1834, in Wake county, North Carolina, and he re- mained in his native place until he had at- tained his tenth year, at which time the family moved to Union City, Tennessee, as mentioned above. He received an excellent general education in the Union City schools, then entered the University of Nashville to study medicine, and was graduated from the medical department of that institution in 1859. He returned to his boyhood home and
963
HISTORY OF SOUTHEAST MISSOURI
commenced his medical practice, but he only remained there a few months, for in June, 1859, he came to Dunklin county, Missouri, located at Clarkton, where he soon was ac- corded the position to which his merits en- titled him. For twenty years or more he devoted his whole time to his extensive prac- tice, and in 1881 he commenced to sell drugs in Clarkton. Three years later he came to Malden and there continued both business and professional activities and had one of the largest practices of any physician in Dunklin county. He kept in touch with the latest medical discoveries through his con- nection with the Southeastern Missouri Medi- cal Association, and when he died, in 1895, he was regarded as one of the ablest prac- titioners in his section of the country. While putting his professional work before every- thing else in his estimation, he was also in- terested in polities, being aligned as a Demo- crat, and in the Christian church, of which he was a member, as well as in his family. He was buried in Rosewood cemetery at Malden, the funeral rites being in the charge of his Masonic brethren.
The year after the Doctor came to Dunklin county, August 15, 1860, he was married to Martha Baird. who was a life-long resident of Dunklin county, Missouri. She bore him five children,-Columbus, Samuel, Minnie, Lena and Eugene-and died March 7, 1874, at Clarkton, where she was buried in the Standfield cemetery. On the 23rd day of February, 1875, Dr. Wilkins formed a matri- monial alliance with Miss Tennessee Moore, and to this union two children were born,- Helen and Claude. The wedded life of the second Mrs. William was very brief, as two days before her third wedding anniversary she passed away and was buried in Stan- field cemetery. On the 5th of February, 1880, the Doctor was married for the third time, and the woman on whom his choice rested was Mrs. Mary Ella (Scruggs) Wilkins, the widow of his brother, C. C. Wilkins, and the daughter of James Lawrence Scruggs and Sarah (Bagby ) Scruggs. Mrs. Wilkins' birth occurred September 21, 1846. The third Mrs. Wilkins became the mother of four children, -Fabium Maximum, Jr., born November 13, 1882, now a musie student of the Chicago Con- servatory of Music and at the Cosmopolitan School : Guy S., whose nativity occurred May 19, 1884; Wiley S., the date of whose birth was May 19. 1886; and Paul E., born on the 1st day of November, 1889. The younger boys all
live in Malden with their mother, Wiley S. being in the employ of the Frisco Railroad Company. The family is very prominent in the social life of Malden and each member is esteemed for his own sake and not on account of the father's and husband's high standing. Mrs. Wilkins, tenderly cared for by her children, is loved for her sweet and gracious personality and womanly demeanor.
WILLIAM A. SWEARINGEN, M. D. A well- known and popular physician of Steele, Wil- liam A. Swearingen, M. D., has an extensive and lucrative general practice, and is fast winning for himself a prominent and honor- able name in the medical profession of Pem- iscot county. He is a native of Missouri, his birth having occurred November 26, 1871, in Farmington, Saint Francois county, where his parents, Thomas V. and Mary (Turley) Swearingen, are still living, owning and oe- eupving a valuable farm. The Doctor has one brother, Zeno L., who is married and is in business at Saint Louis, Missouri, being associated with the Tipton Mackey Company ; and one sister, Lell, wife of Marion F. Hor- ton, a real estate dealer at Flat River, Mis- souri.
Having laid a substantial foundation for his future education in the public schools of his native town, William A. Swearingen, at- tended the Baptist College in Farmington, Missouri, and was graduated from the Barnes Medical College, in Saint Louis, with the class of 1900, there receiving the degree of M. D. Beginning the practice of medicine at Knob Lick, Saint Francois county, he re- mained there two years, and was afterwards located for the same length of time in Wyatt, Mississippi county, Missouri. Coming from there to Steele in 1904, Dr. Swearingen has here built up a large and highly satisfactory patronage. He has made rapid strides in his chosen profession, and is often intrusted with important business in connection with his practice, his skill and wisdom in dealing with difficult cases having gained for him the con- fidence of the entire community.
The Doctor married, December 25, 1896, Georgia A. Edwards, daughter of Edward Edwards, a well-known agriculturist living near Farmington, Missouri, and their home is one of the most pleasant and attractive in the community.
JOHN ELGIN STOKES is president of the Stokes Brothers' Land and Live Stock Com-
964
HISTORY OF SOUTHEAST MISSOURI
pany, and secretary of the Stokes Brothers' Store Company, both incorporated and both concerns contributing to the prosperity of the section. He is also a considerable land owner and engages in successful agricul- tural operations giving the major part of his attention to cotton, a crop from which he has enjoyed excellent returns. As a citizen he is the friend of good gov- ernment; is a man of pronounced and clear views; in short a straightforward, up- right and downright American, ever ready to give public-spirited support to all measures likely to result in general benefit. He is the eldest of the sons of Robert W. Stokes, one of the representative and pioneer citizens of Malden, to whom a more specific article is devoted on other pages of this work. The paternal ancestors were of Irish birth and the family was founded in this country by the subject's great-grandfather when the nine- teenth century was in its infancy.
John Elgin Stokes was born December 1, 1862, near Clarkton, Dunklin county, Mis- souri, and there passed his boyhood. He received a good public school education and his father's farm was the scene of his first activities as a worker. He continued to be thus engaged until the attainment of his majority. At about that time (in 1883) he went to Clarkton and entered into a business partnership with a cousin. This was of a gen- eral mercantile character and the two young men were sufficiently successful in their venture to continue it until 1890. In that year, which was the year of his marriage, Mr. Stokes disposed of the interest above noted and embarked in a new line of activity, -the stock business. In 1896 he removed to Malden, where he still engaged in the buying and selling of live stock and at the same time effected a partnership with his brother Amzi L. Stokes, of whom more extended mention is made on other pages of this history. This mercantile concern has since been enlarged and is at present one of the important busi- nesses of the county. He acts as secretary and his executive ability has contributed much to its good fortunes. His activities as a farmer and cotton grower have been men- tioned. His farms are situated some six miles north and south of Malden. He has other in- terests of large scope and importance in ad- dition to those already mentioned and is a stockholder and director of the Bank of Malden, of which his brother A. L. Stokes is
presiding officer. He is of sufficiently social nature to find much enjoyment in his lodge relations, which extend to the Knights of Pythias, the Maccabees and the Modern Woodmen. Politically he subscribes to the articles of faith of the Democratic party, to which all his male relatives pay fealty, and he takes in all public affairs the interest of the intelligent voter. His wife is a member of the Presbyterian church.
On September the 17th, 1890, Mr. Stokes became a recruit to the Benedicts by his mar- riage to Miss Cassie Ashcraft, daughter of Cass and Lucinda (Kelly) Ashcraft, both de- ceased, but formerly residents of Malden, near which place Mrs. Stokes was born. Their union has been blessed by the birth of a trio of daughters, namely: Roberta, Ruth and Helen, all of whom reside with their father and mother. Their respective birth dates are July 3, 1891; March 11, 1893; and September 3, 1896.
THOMAS I. BROOKS, the manager of the Cooter Supply Company, was born in this county and his father has lived in it since he was four years old, so that both of them have grown up with the country. W. C. Brooks was born in Henderson county in 1852. When he came to Pemiscot county, in 1856, his family lived at Cottonwood Point. A year later they moved to a place two miles north of Cooter, near the present site of Steele, which latter town was not then on the map. Mr. Brooks' schooling was obtained in terms of about two months of the year, and until he was married he lived at home. In 1874 his marriage to Miss Mosellar Coleman, of Ware county, Tennessee, took place, and he went to work for himself on a rented farm. Grad- ually, as he was able, Mr. Brooks bought land and at present he owns one hundred and eighty-four acres near Steele. There are three good houses on this estate and the land is worth from ninety to one hundred dollars an acre. Mr. Brooks lives in Cooter and rents out his farms. In the town he is interested in the bank of which he is a stockholder. He is active in the work of the Methodist church, South, being a steward and a trustee. Thomas Brooks is his only child.
The centennial year was the year of Thomas Brooks' birth, October 26th being the exact date. He has always lived in the county and was educated in the public schools and in the Southern Normal University of
Will Bane
965
HISTORY OF SOUTHEAST MISSOURI
Huntington, Tennessee. He attended this school for three years and upon completing his course there spent some years in teaching.
When Mr. Brooks came to Cooter he spent seven years clerking in different stores. In 1905, he bought an interest in the Cooter Supply Company and the same year the busi- ness was incorporated and Mr. Brooks was made general manager and secretary and treasurer. The business is constantly increas- ing and the plant is now the largest store in the county south of Caruthersville. When Mr. Brooks began clerking, he had practically nothing. He had been in business for sev- eral months in Steele, but his enterprise there was a failure.
On September 4, 1898, occurred the mar- riage of Thomas I. Brooks to Miss Minnie Scott. Mrs. Brooks is a native of this county, born in 1882. Her parents are old settlers here. She has borne Mr. Brooks children as follows: Thelma, born in 1900, Raymond, in 1902, and Gerald, in 1904.
Like his father, Mr. Thomas Brooks is a Democrat; he is also a member of the Inde- pendent Order of Odd Fellows at Cooter, to which his father belongs. Thomas Brooks is also affiliated with the Modern Woodmen at Cooter. Both he and his father are the own- ers of pleasant residence properties in the town.
J. A. SHIVERS, M. D. Distinguished not only as the longest-established physician and surgeon of Malden, Dunklin county, but for his professional knowledge and skill, J. A. Shivers, M. D., has attained eminent success in his chosen work and built up an extensive and lucrative practice. The son of a farmer, he was born March 16, 1865, in Crockett county, Tennessee, where he was reared and educated.
A close student in his boyhood days, he made good use of all offered opportunities for acquiring an education, and subsequently, by teaching in the rural schools of his district, worked his way through college, in 1887 being graduated from the Memphis Hospital Med- ical College with the degree of M. D. In seek- ing a favorable location the Doctor's thoughts turned towards southeastern Missouri, eastern Arkansas and Texas as fields of promise. Ar- riving in Malden, he was pleased with the prospects in view, and decided to here begin the practice of his profession. Meeting with success from the start, he has since remained here in active practice, being the oldest phy-
sician in point of continuous practice in this part of the county. For four years, 1897 to 1901, Dr. Shivers conducted a drug store as a side issue, but has since devoted his atten- tion to his numerous patrons. Still a student, as in his earlier years, he keeps up to the times in the knowledge of diseases and their treatment, and in 1902 took a post graduate course at the New York Post Graduate School of Medicine. The Doctor has served at dif- ferent times on the Malden Board of Health, and for fourteen years has been president of the United States Board of Pension Examin- ers. He is a stanch Republican, but not a politician. Fraternally he is a member of the Ancient Free and Accepted Order of Masons.
Dr. Shivers is interested to some extent in agricultural pursuits, owning two hundred and sixty acres of drainage land, which he is fast improving, already having eighty acres under cultivation. He has one son, Pat Shiv- ers, a lad of twelve years.
WILLIAM M. BONE. For more than forty years prominently identified with the agri- cultural interests of Dunklin county, Mis- souri, the record of the earnest and indus- trious life of William M. Bone is one upon which rests no shadow of wrong or suspi- cion of evil, his name being honored by all who knew the man and had cognizance of his sterling character and inflexible integ- rity of purpose. At the time of his death, October 8, 1911, he was perhaps the most prominent and wealthiest resident of Hor- nersville, where for six years he had acted as president of the Bank of Hornersville. Mr. Bone was born in Perry county, Ten- nessee, March 5, 1848, and was a son of Baxter Bone and his wife, who both died at their home on Grand Prairie, near Cotton Plant, Dunklin county.
Mr. Bone had one sister and four broth- ers, all of whom are now deceased. He was but nine years of age when the family migrated to Dunklin county, and not long thereafter his father passed away. He at once started to work to assist in caring for his widowed mother, but she passed away when he was still a youth, and the twenty- first year of his life found him with prac- tically no family connections or capital. Turning his attention to farming, to which vocation he had been reared, Mr. Bone made a small purchase of land two and one-half miles southwest of Hornersville, and so successful were his operations throughout
966
HISTORY OF SOUTHEAST MISSOURI
his life that he became the owner of five hundred and forty-eight acres of some of the best soil in the state, and cultivated and improved all except eighty acres thereof. Mr. Bone eventually erected tenant houses and rented his land, and in 1905 came to Hornersville to become president of the Bank of Hornersville. In 1907 he settled in his residence in the southwestern portion of the city, where his death occurred. Fra- ternally he was prominently connected with the Masons, and his religious faith was that of the Missionary Baptist church. In polit- ical matters a Democrat, he was known as a leader in the ranks of his party in this county, and for many years served ably as justice of the peace. Signally true and up- right in all the relations of life, he com- manded the respect and esteem of all who knew him, and his death was a distinct loss not only to his immediate family but to those who had been proud to call him friend and to the community which had benefited by his long years of residence.
On September 9, 1877, Mr. Bone was mar- ried to Miss Arrena Bivins, who was born in Gibson county, Tennessee, January 10, 1859, the estimable daughter of Wiley and Jane (McFarland) Bivins. Wiley Bivins was born and reared in Tennessee, and fol- lowed agricultural pursuits throughout his life, his death occurring in the spring of 1882, when he was seventy-two years of age. His father died when he was a youth. Mrs. Bivins was born March 23, 1838, in Gibson county, Tennessee, where she spent her entire life, and died there June 15, 1867. Her father, Erasmus McFarland, was an exten- sive farmer and land-owner in Tennessee. Mrs. Bone was one of four daughters and is now the only survivor, the other three, all of whom passed away in Dunklin county, being: Miranda, who was the wife of Peter Hall, of Senath; Alice, who married Adam Karnes, of Senath; and Miss Marcis. Six children were born to Mr. and Mrs. Bone, namely : William Ashby, born November 1, 1879, who died December 25, 1903; Min- nie Alice, born October 25, 1883, who mar- ried R. H. Tinnin, mention of whom is made elsewhere in this volume, and who has four children, Nelson Bone, Opal Vera, Ruby Maude and Clinton Cockerel; Luther Lee, born December 23, 1885, engaged in culti- vating the homestead farm, married Miss Icy Dowdy, daughter of William Dowdy; Ora Ethel, born November 23, 1888, who
married Harry Sheperd, and now resides on the old homestead ; James Walter, born July 20. 1890, who died at the age of one month and twenty days; and Maude Elizabeth, born October 22, 1892, who married Robert Edmonston, and resides at Hornersville with her mother.
JOHN H. BLEDSOE. An honored resident of Malden, Missouri, John H. Bledsoe holds a position of note among the progressive and keen-sighted business men who have been in- fluential in advancing the agricultural and in- dustrial interests of the community, and at the same time have been so successful in manag- ing their own affairs that they have accumu- lated property of much value. A native of Tennessee, he was born, June 23, 1845, in Overton county, a son of Baylor Bledsoe, who was born in Virginia, and died, in 1860, in Tennessee. His father was a nephew of Col. H. M. Bledsoe, of Lees Summit, Missouri, who as commander of Bledsoe's Battery during the Civil war gained fame and distinction.
Leaving the home farm in 1870, John H. Bledsoe went from Tennessee to Texas, and for several years thereafter was engaged in farming in Johnson county. In 1880, after visiting his friends in Tennessee for a brief time, he came to Dunklin county, Missouri, locating in Malden, which had then but seven hundred or eight hundred inhabitants. But six men that were then residents of this town are now living here, namely : Captain Haynes, Sill Spiller, J. H. McRee, Dr. Van Cleve, H. P. Kinsolving, and J. M. Barrett; the first three gentlemen were in business to- gether under the firm name of Haynes, Spil- ler & McRee. There were neither churches or schoolhouse here when Mr. Bledsoe came, and not one of the business houses then standing has been preserved, all having passed out of existence. After living here two years, he bought a tract of wild land lying two miles out of the village, paying fifteen dollars an acre, and in due course of time succeeded in clearing and improving a farm of two hun- dred and eighty acres, retaining, however, in the meantime, his home in Malden. In 1910 he sold this same farm for one hundred dol- lars an acre, a large advance on his original investment of money.
Mr. Bledsoe settled in Malden during its wildest and most troublous times, when drunkenness and carousing were the order of the day, everything being run wide open, with frequent saloon fights, and an occasional mur-
967
HISTORY OF SOUTHEAST MISSOURI
der. For twelve consecutive years, from 1882 until 1894 he served as marshal, and proved himself a daring and vigilant official. He was afterwards deputy sheriff, serving under Sheriffs Donalds, Allgood, Morgan, and Sat- terfield, sixteen years in all, while under Sher- iff Satterfield hanging two men.
Mr. Bledsoe is a stockholder and a director, of the Bank of Malden; a stockholder in the Dunklin County Bank; and also in the Build- ing and Loan Association. He is a master mason, and for six years was Worthy Master of his lodge. Strictly temperate in his habits and his speech, he has never used tobacco, whiskey, or liquor in any form, and has never uttered an oath, a clean record that can scarce be equalled by any man in Missouri. He is affiliated by membership with the Methodist Episcopal church, being one of its most con- sistent and faithful members.
Mr. Bledsoe married, in Tennessee, Mary J. Carlock, one of his early schoolmates, and to them the following children have been born, namely: W. Baylor, a farmer; Mrs. Mary Crawford, of Carrollton, Illinois; Sallie, wife of M. Z. Anderson, of Malden, a railroad man ; Alma, wife of J. L. Bittiek, a bookkeeper in Paragould, Arkansas; Laura Belle, living at home.
IRA M. MORRIS. The activity and enterprise of any growing center of population is per- haps as clearly indicated in the class of pro- fessional men who look after its legal interests as in any other respect, and it is with pleas- ure that we refer to Ira M. Morris, a distin- guished and versatile attorney at law, whose home and business headquarters are at Mal- den, Missouri. He is prominent in local Demo- cratic circles, having represented his party in various delegations, and for six years he was city attorney of Malden. His accuracy and familiarity with the science of jurisprudence is well known and his library consists of the highest legal authorities.
A native of Missouri, Ira M. Morris was born at Malden on the 11th of November, 1879, and he is a son of the widely renowned Dr. J. W. Morris, who has been engaged in the practice of medicine at Malden and in Southeastern Missouri for the past twenty- five years. Dr. Morris married Miss Eliza J. Kennedy, of Martin, Tennessee, and they be- came the parents of eight children, of whom the subject of this review was the third in order of birth. On other pages of this work appears a sketch dedicated to the life and Vol. II-17
work of Dr. Morris, so that further data in regard to the family history is not deemed essential at this juncture.
When a child of but one year of age Ira M. Morris accompanied his parents on their removal to Tennessee, where the family home was maintained for a period of seven years, at the expiration of which it was established at Hickman, Kentucky. Mr. Morris received his preliminary educational training in the public schools of Kentucky and Tennessee and he was a youth of fifteen years of age at the time of his return to Malden. He early decided upon the legal profession as his life work and in 1898 was matriculated as a stu- dent in the law department of the University of Tennessee, at Knoxville, Tennesee, in which excellent institution he was graduated as a member of the class of 1900, duly receiving his degree of Bachelor of Laws. Immediately after graduation he was admitted to the bar of Tennessee and later to the Missouri bar. He initiated the active practice of law at Malden, where he has succeeded in building up a large and lucrative clientage and where he has won distinctive prestige as one of the leading at- torneys in southeastern Missouri. From 1909 to 1911 he was assistant prosecuting attorney under John H. Bradley and in 1902 he was elected city attorney of Malden, serving in that capacity with the utmost efficiency for a period of six years.
At Malden, on the 6th of September, 1905, was solemnized the marriage of Mr. Morris to Miss Florena Wallace, a native Missourian and a daughter of the late William T. Wal- lace. Mr. and Mrs. Morris are the parents of two fine sons, Kenneth, whose birth occurred on the 29th of August, 1906; and Paul, born, on the 30th of August, 1908.
Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.