USA > Missouri > History of southeast Missouri : a narrative account of its historical progress, its people and its principal interests, Volume II > Part 57
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15, 1882, is the wife of Sam Dunscomb of Clarkton.
Dr. Chatham married for his second wife, Miss Mary B. Davis of Boyle county, Ken- tucky, a daughter of John A. and Ellen M. (Raney) Davis.
Dr. Chatham, devoted though he has al- ways been to his profession, has also been in- terested in civic affairs. He is a stanch Democrat, as was his father before him, and in recognition of his abilities as an executive of high order, his fellow citizens have at dif- ferent times persuaded him to hold various offices. For two years he was the coroner; for a short time he acted as sheriff and he has also held the responsible position of mayor of Clarkton. He is president of the Farmers' Bank of Clarkton-one of its largest stock- holders. He is affiliated with the Independ- ent Order of Odd Fellows, and although not himself the member of any church, he was entirely in sympathy with his wife's religious views as a member of the Baptist church. Dr. Chatham is too broad-minded a man to have any hobby ; he is interested in so many and such widely-differing subjects, that he is prevented from becoming narrow. The gath- ering together of interesting relies, such as the Doctor has made, in a man of less broad sympathies would be regarded as a hobby, but in the case of the Doctor, his collection, ex- tensive as it is, is just one of many interests.
JOSEPH A. RENICK. Dunklin county, Mis- souri, is one of the rich agricultural districts of Missouri. It has been and is signally fa- vored in the class of men who have contrib- uted to its development .along commercial and agricultural lines, and in the latter con- nection the subject of this review demands recognition, as he has been actively engaged in farming operations during practically his entire active career thus far. He is a pros- perous and enterprising agriculturist, who is honored and esteemed throughout the county for his sterling integrity and worth.
On the 14th of September, 1872, on a farm four miles southwest of Malden, Missouri, oc- curred the birth of Joseph Avery Renick, who is a son of John W. and Susan (Basin- ger) Renick, both of whom are deceased. The father was summoned to the life eternal in the year 1888, and the mother passed away in 1899. Mr. and Mrs. John W. Renick be- came the parents of children concerning whom the following record is here inserted :
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Mary wedded J. M. Blackburn, a farmer near Matden, and they have five children, David, Joseph, Rosy, Lucy and William; Nancy was the wife of John Douglass at the time of her demise, in November, 1897, and their two sons, Marvin and Grover, reside at Clarkton ; Cora B. married Lawrence Mills, a farmer near Malden, and she died in 1909. The three children born to this union are Agnes, Edgar and J. R. John W. wedded Maggie Campbell, and they reside four miles north- west of Malden. Their four children are Martin, Julie, Ruth and Martha. Gussie died at the age of five years. Joseph married Molly Mills, and they reside near Malden. Their children are: Geoffrey, who died at the age of two years, and Avery A. is a child of seven years of age and is now attending school at Craig, Missouri. Joseph A. is the immediate subject of this sketch.
Joseph Avery Renick was reared to adult age on the old homestead farm in Dunklin county and he received a good common school education in his youth. Subsequently he at- tended school at Malden, under Professor Buck, and for two years he was a student in the State Normal School at Cape Girardeau. For. seventeen years he was devoted to the pedagogic profession, teaching for eight years in Craig settlement and for six years in Tompkins district near the St. Francois river. In 1900 he decided to engage in farming op- erations on his portion of the old parental estate. Later he bought up the shares of one brother and two sisters, this making in all one hundred and twenty acres. In 1903 he purchased eighty acres of heavily wooded land from the Chateau Land and Lumber Company, and in 1910 he bought forty acres from Sant Davis. He now has two hundred and forty acres, of which all but twenty acres are under cultivation. He expects to add an- other forty acres to his estate some time in the near future. Cotton, corn and hay con- stitute his chief crops, and in addition to gen- eral farming he devotes considerable time to the raising of cattle, hogs and mules, having made a splendid success of stock growing. He has a beautiful orchard of apple and plum trees. His fine farm buildings located in the midst of well cultivated fields, are splendid indications of the thrift and industry of the practical owner. In connection with the management of his farm, Mr. Renick employs one farm hand all the year round and part of the time he has work for as many as three extra men.
In fraternal channels Mr. Renick is affil- iated with the Malden Lodge of the Inde- pendent Order of Odd Fenows; and he is also a valued and appreciative member of the Protective League of Malden. In politics he is an uncompromising supporter of the principles and policies for winch the Repub- lican party stands sponsor and he is an active factor in the local council of that organiza- tion. In their religious faith he and his wife are devout members of the Methodist Prot- estant church at Craig settlement, and they are prominent and popular factors in connec- tion with the best social activities of their home community. Mr. Renick is recognized as one of the most enterprising citizens of Dunklin county, where his fine farm repre- sents one of the most beautiful estates in this part of Missouri.
REUBEN S. CHAPMAN. Since 1874 Dunklin county, Missouri, has been the home of Reu- ben S. Chapman, and during the most of that time the community has recognized in him one of its most useful, estimable and progres- sive citizens, his particular field of endeavor being agriculture and in former years, the supervision of farms. He is now and has been since August 16, 1910, when he gave the more active management of his affairs into younger hands, living retired at his beautiful home at Senath, where now in leisure he cul- tivates those finer pursuits from which his former busy life partially withheld him. He is a man of excellent civic ideals and very loyal to the section in which his home has been maintained for nearly forty years.
Reuben S. Chapman is the scion of a Southern family, his birth having occurred at Montgomery, Alabama, February 3, 1836, the son of Solomon and Feriba (Ferguson) Chapman. The father was born in South Carolina in 1800, and died at Hickman, Ken- tucky, on May 22, 1842. He was married in Georgia and passed his life in several south- ern states, first residing in Alabama, going thence to Mississippi, then to Kentucky and dying while en route to Missouri, at Hick- man, Kentucky. He was an extensive farmer and slave-owner and died when the South little foresaw the changes which were to come in its fortunes. The mother, whose maiden name was Feriba Ferguson, was born near Savannah, Georgia, and survived her husband for many years, her demise occurring in 1873, at Hickman. Kentuckv. She was a member of the Methodist Episcopal church. Her
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father was a planter, his country home hav- ing been in the vicinity of Savannah. Reu- ben S. was one of a family of seven children, four of whom were sons and three daugh- ters, and of the number he is the only sur- vivor. The following is an enumeration of his brothers and sisters, now all passed to the Great Beyond. David W. lived and died in Kentucky, where he followed the vocations of a carpenter and mechanic; Turner G., who died in 1858, near Malden, Dunklin county, Missouri, was for many years a bookkeeper, but eventually went into business for himself and also engaged in farming; Irene E. mar- lied Alec Perry and lived and died at Hick- man, Kentucky; Artemesia married David T. Riley and passed away at Hickman, her hus- band's death occurring in Louisiana; Emily V. died single at Hickman, Kentucky, in 1853, her death being caused by cholera ; Fetuah Ann died unmarried in 1873, while living at Hiekman.
Reuben S. Chapman was partly reared at Hickman, but passed his youth in several states of the Union, due to his father's nu- merous changes of residence in those days. It was early incumbent upon him to make his own living, and his first occupation was in a dry-goods store, subsequent to which he took up carpentry and was thus engaged until the outbreak of the Civil war. A Southerner by birth and parentage and holding the institu- tions of the South in warm affection, it was but consistent that he should enlist in the Confederate army, and this he did, becom- ing a private under Captain (later General) Forrest, and serving throughout the entire struggle, from the spring of 1861, to his pa- role on May 10, 1865, at Gainesville, Ala- bama. At the end of the war he returned to Hickman. Kentucky. and there engaged in contracting and building until his arrival at Cotton Plant, Dunklin county, Missouri, in October, 1874. He at once entered with a zest into the many-sided life of the commu- nity and became a force in its affairs. Among his first contracts upon coming here was a church building with a Masonic hall on the second floor.
Mr. Chapman married after coming to Dunklin county, on December 24, 1876, his chosen lady being Miss Ellen Parker. She was a native of the county. horn April 22. 1858. and the daughter of Enos and Sallie (Horner) Parker, who came to Missouri in 1835 from Henderson county, Tennessee. Her grandfather. Russell Horner, was the
second representative sent from Dunklin county to the Missouri state legislature, and it was in his honor that Hornersville was named. In 1835, when he was residing there, there were not to exceed a half dozen white families in Dunklin county, and there still remained many Indians, who not so long be- fore had claimed it as their own hunting ground. Mrs. Chapman's father was a farmer. He was captured during a guerrilla raid at the time of the Civil war and died while still imprisoned. She was one of mine children ana is the only member of the family living, with the exception of a half-sister, probably now resident in Texas. To Mr. and Mrs. Chapman were born six children, of whom two sons survive. Alvin is a coal dealer at Senath and Elbert is a teacher in the schools of Dunklin county. All the others died in infancy with the exception of Nevin, who was six years of age when summoned by the Grim Reaper.
After his marriage Mr. Chapman engaged in farming for three or four years near Cot- ton Plant and then entered the employ of Edmond J. Langdon, assuming general su- pervision of his extensive landed interests in Dunklin county, and for twenty-two years he remained associated with him, managing Mr. Langdon's affairs with signal success. Mr. Langdon was at that time by far the largest land-owner and operator in Dunklin county. He died iu 1892, at Arcadia, Iron county, Missouri. Subsequent to that lamented event Mr. Chapman resumed farming on his own account near Cotton Plant, buying a farm and there residing until his sale of the property on August 16, 1910. He thereupon purchased his present fine and advanta- geously situated home near Senath, where he now resides, secure in the esteem of his neigh- bors and associates. Politically he is a loyal Democrat, and he has played his part in pub- lie life, having served as magistrate and no- tary public at Cotton Plant for many years. No one has been more interested in public events in this section of Southern Missouri in the last four decades than this gentleman of worthy citzenship.
ALVIN CHAPMAN. A man of scholarly at- tainments, Alvin Chapman long held a prom- inent place in the educational field of Dunklin county. He was born at Cotton Plant in this county, February 27, 1882, and was educated in the county's public schools and in the State Normal School at Cape
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Girardeau, Missouri. Following the comple- tion of this training he taught in the schools of Dunklin county for five years, and during the last two years of that period he served as the superintendent of the Senath Iligh School. Possessing thorough knowledge of advanced methods of teaching and being an enthusiastic believer in education for the people, he brought the school with which he was identified to a high grade of excellence. He served one term as county commissioner of schools and one term as county superin- tendent of the schools of Dunklin county. While filling the last named position, as su- perintendent of the schools of Dunklin county, Mr. Chapman conducted the first County High School Meet and Declamatory Contest ever held in the state, and to him also belongs the distinction of introducing the county graduation exercises at the county seat of Dunklin county, which proved of greater efficiency in bringing the country schools into notice than any other act before accomplished by the educators of the county. Under Mr. Chapman's administration as su- perintendent the standard of certification of teachers was raised until the schools were supplied with well qualified teachers and the price of teachers' wages was increased over five dollars a month, and the attendance was increased over twenty-three per cent and four new districts organized. He had the distinc- tion of being the first county superintendent elected under the new law, and he served with such marked ability in that position that he was re-elected to the same office in 1909.
Mr. Chapman resigned the county superin- tendency to accept a position wth the High- fill Mercantile Company, of Senath, in which he rose to the treasurership and continued in the office until August, 1911. In October of that year he purchased the coal, ice and feed business of George W. Crone, at Senath, which he is now conducting in association with S. C. Hooper. In the fall of 1912. he was elected a director of the Citizens Bank of Senath, Missouri. Although one of the ris- ing young business men of Senath, Mr. Chap- man is best known, perhaps. as an educator and scholar.
WILL M. RUNELS is one of the successful farmers of Bollinger county. The man who has devoted his life to one occupation may justly be regarded as somewhat of an author- ity on all matters pertaining to that calling, and Mr. Runels stands in just that relation
in regard to farming-the primal need of the human race. He is a man of energy, pos- sessed of a progressive spirit, and his efforts have been crowned with success.
The birth of Mr. Runels occurred August 4, 1873, in Bollinger county. He received his education in a district school and after terminating his schooling he commenced to work out on the farms of his neighbors, con- tinuing as a field hand until he was thirty years old. He then rented a farm, moved on to it and for three years he cultivated this rented land. In 1896 he bought eighty acres of good land near his present residence, and for the ensuing nine years he did his best to bring the already fertile land into a state of high cultivation. In 1905 he rented the place which is his home today, and two years later he bought the same, which then included one hundred and thirteen acres. He has added to this purchase during the past six years and now is the owner of over three hundred acres of land, himself farming over two hundred acres, while the tract of one hundred acres he rents out.
Mr. Runels was married in 1893, on the 17th day of August, to Miss Ida Allen, daugh- ter of D. J. Allen, a respected resident of Cape Girardeau county. The year of his marriage is doubly memorable to Mr. Runels, as in that year he first commenced farming on his own responsibility, having previously always worked for others. He now has a fam- ily of seven children, having lost three by death. The names of the living are as fol- lows: Tessa, born in 1894; Norman, whose birth occurred August 1, 1896; Georgie, the date of whose birth was January 13, 1900; Beulalı, whose nativity occurred on the 28tl day of July, 1902; Dessie, born October 14, 1903; Willie, whose birth occurred February 25, 1906; and May, who made her first ap- pearance into the world on Christmas day, 1907.
Politically Mr. Runels has never taken any active part with any party. Fraternally he is affiliated with the Modern Woodmen of America, and in religious connection he holds membership in the Methodist Episcopal church, where he has many friends. His neighbors regard him as a farmer who has prospered and as a man who is well worthy of respect and esteem.
HENRY S. GOAD. In the honored list of those citizens who have added to service of their country in war the still more valued
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industrial contribution of "diligence in busi- ness" in the time of peace, Wayne county clanns a generous quota of names and none more revered than that of Henry S. Goad. Ile is counted one of the county s most sue- cessful business men and model farmers; an eminence that is cheerfully accorded him by all who know him either in a social or a busi- ness way. For he is a man active in all good works and his reputation among those who deal with him in a business way is that his word is "as good as a government bond."
Ilenry S. Goad was born in Tennessee in 1840, on the 22nd of May. His father, Abra- ham Goad, was born in the same place and died there at the age of about sixty. Mr. Goad's mother had died four years previ- ously, when he was but two years old. There were five children in the family, Mr. Goad be- ing the only one now alive. Abraham Goad was a farmer and blacksmith and died a well- to-do man for that time.
At the age of fourteen (in 1854) Mr. Goad eame to Missouri with a Mr. E. Kemp, loeat- ing in Madison county. In 1864 he enlisted in the Forty-seventh Missouri, Company HI. He was in the battle of Pilot Knob, as well as at Leesburg and in numerous engagements. He came home in the fall of 1865 and turned his attention to farming. Such was his abil- ity and industry in this pursuit that in 1866 he purchased a model place in Madison county, improved it and paid for it with its produets. He sold this estate to purchase a larger one and this he also improved and later sold. At this juncture he came to Wayne county and bought his present home of two hundred acres. He has made this into a farm of the best modern type. All the modern appliances for efficiency and comfort have been put in since Mr. Goad acquired the place. Success has always been his and he is accounted one of the region's authorities on stock, in whiel he has dealt all his life.
Mr. Goad was first married to Elizabeth White, who lived but a short time. She left two children, Ilarry and Arthula, both of whom are deceased. In 1865 he married Catherine Hinkle, whose demise occurred in 1873. The three children of this marriage are all living: Mrs. James P. Hunter, of Brunot. Missouri, nee Mary Elizabeth Goad : Peter M .. at home: and Barbara. wife of Samuel Ashley. of Wayne county. The present Mrs. Goad was formerly Miss Raebel Smith. She and Mr. Goad have seven ehil- dren. Their two daughters are married,
Atlanta to Elias White, of Wayne county, and Bertha to Gilbert Hunter, of Brunot. Of the sons, three, Claude, George and Harry, are at home; John W. lives in Madi- son county ; and James L., in Wayne county.
Politics is not one of Mr. Goad's activi- ties, though he is eminently public-spirited and interested in all the political issues. He is aligned with the Democratie party, to which he has given his life-long adherence.
Both Mr. and Mrs. Goad are members of the Missionary Baptist church, to which their loyal support and devotion have been of great service.
J. P. PRESLAR is another citizen of this county who has a right to the title of a self- made man. Starting with almost nothing, he has in less than a seore of years risen to the position of one of the solid financial men of the county. His success both in farming and in the mercantile line has been conspieu- ous and gratifying to all who know him, inas- mueh as it has been attained by virtue of his sterling qualities both as an individual and as a man of business.
Born in North Carolina, Mr. Preslar's father, S. P. Preslar, moved to Tennessee with his parents when he was about fifteen years of age. Here he grew up and married Elizabeth Taylor, the mother of J. P. Preslar and of J. H. Preslar, now living at Frisbee in this county. Elizabeth Preslar died when the subject of this sketch was only eight years old. His father married a second time and his wife, Polly Slayter Preslar, was in every way a mother to the children. She later left her husband and is now living in Kennett. S. P. Preslar lives in Frisbee.
J. P. Preslar was born in Henderson county, Tennessee, in 1871, on October first. His entire life has been spent on the farm and his schooling has been obtained in the rural schools of Tennessee and later of this county. His father moved here in 1886 and settled on Buffalo Island. Until eighteen years of age Mr. Preslar worked for his father and then began to hire out on the neighboring farms. For four years he worked by the day or the month and boarded with his employers. Then, in 1893, he was married to Miss Arpy Pritehard, who was born and grew up in Dunklin county. She is the daughter of C. M. Pritehard, of Fris- bee, of whom mention is made on other pages of this work. The wedding took place at Holeomb Island, near Frisbee.
THOMAS J. DOUGLASS
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HISTORY OF SOUTHEAST MISSOURI
After his marriage, Mr. Preslar continued to farm. He had very little money when he settled on his present place and part of his first eighty acres was bought on time. How- ever, industry and good management ena- bled him to get ahead rapidly. He has built the dwelling house, the barns and other farm buildings. Land which was worth thirty dollars an acre when he took it is now val- ued at one hundred dollars and his lands have increased from eighty to two hundred and twenty-five acres. It requires the serv- ices of ten hands to carry on Mr. Preslar's farm work. The main crops are cotton and corn. He also raises fine watermelons. One of his profitable enterprises is dealing in stock. He ships seven or eight carloads every year and raises some horses and mules, be- sides buying and selling hogs and cattle.
Mr. Preslar's political principles are those for which the Republican party is sponsor. He is an active and efficient worker in the Baptist church at Frisbee, of which he and his wife are members. A family of seven children is still under the parental roof. Their names are Finus E., Florence E., El- mer, Vergil, Gladys E., Sybil and Allie May. Two others are deceased.
Since 1905, Mr. Preslar has been in the mercantile business. The firm is C. M. Pres- lar & Company and Mr. Preslar's interest is one-fourth of the whole. The store is located at Frisbee and it has also a smaller branch in Holcomb, both handling general merchan- dise. The other members of the firm are C. M., C. E. and T. E. Pritchard, father and brothers of Mr. Preslar's wife.
The Woodmen of the World, No. 275, of Holcomb, is Mr. Preslar's only fraternal as- sociation.
THOMAS J. DOUGLASS was born in Dunklin county, not far from the site of the present town of Carnth, July 17, 1859. He is the son of Reverend Robert H. Douglass and Rebecca J. (Wagster) Douglass, both of whom are de- ceased. the mother dying in April, 1865, and the father in February, 1904.
Thomas .J. Douglass was reared in Dunklin county. He attended the schools of the county, Arcadia College at Arcadia, Iron countv. and the State Normal school at Cane Girardeau. He spent six months as clerk in the store of A. D. Leach at Cape Girardeau, and was employed in a similar capacity by several men in his home county, was a suc-
cessful school teacher for a few years, and finally engaged in business for himself. He became a dealer in cattle and hogs on an ex- tensive scale, cultivated a large farm, and op- erated a store, cotton gin and other enter- prises.
In 1890 he was elected county collector and was re-elected in 1892. He was chosen col- lector again in 1904, and in 1910 was again elected for a term of four years, and is now filling that office. Mr. Douglass has a nat- ural bent for political life, and is distin- guished for his energy and for his ability to make and hold friends. No man in the county has a larger or more loyal following.
On December 17, 1884, Mr. Douglass was married to Miss Hattie A. Argo, a native of McMinnville, Tennessee. Of this union ten children were born, six of whom died in in- infancy. Those living are Hulda E. and Robert H., both of whom are in the office with their father, Frank Shelton and Hugh M.
Mr. Douglass is a member of the Baptist church, and has long been a leader in the work of his own and other denominations. He is also active in fraternal work, being a mem- ber of the Blue Lodge of the Masonic order, and also of the Royal Arch Chapter of the Council. He was for a number of years the district deputy of the order of Odd Fellows, and is an active member of the Knights of Pythias and of other orders as well. He has been identified with the farmers' movement (Farmer Educational and Co-Operation Union of America), and has often repre- sented the local organization at the national meetings.
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