History of southeast Missouri : a narrative account of its historical progress, its people and its principal interests, Volume II, Part 60

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 60

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In November, 1909, was solemnized the marriage of Dr. Turley to Miss Lillian Boyd. who likewise was born and reared in St. Francois county and whose father is one of

the representative citizens of the village of Esther, this county.

HARRY TALBERT BROOKS, a successful farm- er and and ex-county sheriff, was born in Washington county, Illinois, on March 4, 1862, in the little town of Ashley. When he was thirteen years of age his father moved to Dunklin county and settled in Clarkton. Here he rented a farm until his death, which occurred in 1881. H. T. Brooks was the sec- ond of three sons and there were two daugh- ters in the family also, so he was obliged to work hard to help support the family. The country was new then and there was little chance for education even if money had not been scarce. The main school of the county was a subscription school at Clarkton. Mr. Brooks had to spend most of the time work- ing at the plough and picking cotton.

The sisters grew up and married, and the mother made her home with them. At the time of her death in 1909, she was living with a married daughter. Mr. Brooks' two broth- ers and two sisters are: J. W., of Holcomb; Mrs. Reta Hodges, a widow residing at Hol- comb; Mrs. Edward Hassley, living on a farm near Holcomb; and P. L., a farmer now lo- cated near Schumach, Dunklin county. Un- til Mr. Brooks was twenty-one, he lived at home, but at that age began to work for him- self. Until his marriage he worked out on the farms. In 1886, three years after he be- gan to work for himself, he was married to Percy Taylor, of Holcomb Island. Her father, John Taylor, was a prominent man in the county. He was at one time proseent- ing attorney of Dunklin county and later rep- resented it in the state legislature. Mrs. Brooks, his daughter, was born in Clarkton in 1878. She passed her entire life in this county, where she died in 1907.

A farm south of Clarkton was the first home of H. T. and Perey Taylor Brooks. Later they located on the farm where Mr. Brooks now resides. At that time (1899) the coun- try round about was all heavily timbered. The first farm he occupied here was a rented one of twenty-five acres. In twelve years he acquired one hundred and forty acres of his own, all under cultivation. Part of this he was obliged to buy on time, but by unremit- ting effort he has made his place into a well improved and prosperous farm. All the im- provements have been put on the place since he bought it.

In 1891 Mr. Brooks was made deputy

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sheriff of the county. In 1903 he was elected to the office of sheriff on the Democratic ticket and served two terms, and he is a candidate, subject to the Democratic primary election in August, 1912, for the same office. Mr. Brooks is a member of the Mutual Protective League and of the Woodmen of the World. His church is the Methodist, South, to, which both he and his wife belong. Mrs. Brooks was Mrs. Ford, of Kennett, before her mar- riage to Mr. Brooks in 1908. She has no children of her own but Mr. Brooks' three sons and three daughters by his first wife are all still at home. These are Maud, Lau- rence, De Witt, Page, Eleanor and Percy.

JOHN H. ZIMMERMAN. "It is less credit- able for a man to remain in the house than to attended to things out of doors,". wrote a fa- mous Greek author some two thousand years ago. And then he expatiates on that topic which more modern writers think they have discovered, the fact that the farm produces superior citizens. While our present indus- trial system will afford that advantageous training to a more and more limited propor- tion of our young men, we can but congratu- late ourselves on the fact that the Middle West is still predominantly agricultural and that our farmers still make up a large part of our population.

Mr. Zimmerman is a farmer and the son of a farmer. His father, George R. Zimmerman, was a native of North Carolina, who came to Missouri in the first half of the nineteenth century. His wife, Lucinda Haley Zimmer- man, was born in Missouri. John Zimmer- man was born in Bollinger county, in 1854, and grew up on a farm. He was married in 1877 to Drucilla McKerby. Her father. Dr. Aaron McKerby, was a physician and a Bap- tist minister in Bollinger county, where he also served as presiding judge of the county court.

In the year of his marriage Mr. Zimmer- man started out to farm for himself and bought a quarter section of land four miles west of Glen Allen. In 1884 he traded this for a tract of two hundred and forty acres north of Glen Allen, and he still owns and operates this farm.

Mr. Zimmerman is a member of the Ma- sonic order and also of the lodge of the Odd Fellows. His political party is that of the Democrats and his church membership is in the Methodist denomination.

The Zimmerman family numhers four chil-

dren, two of whom are married. Elery, born in 1879, married Octie King, and Rufus, four years younger, is wedded to Myrtle Ward. Orville, born in 1881, and Rosco, in 1905, are still in their parents' household.

F. A. MAYES. For over thirty years Dr. Mayes' history has been identified with that of Dunklin and Pemiscot counties and it is safe to say that few of its citizens have evinced a livelier interest in the welfare of the community than he has. He has been ac- tive not only in his profession-in itself one of the most philanthropic occupations-but every movement for better education, for more churches, for public improvements of every sort found in him a generous supporter and an influential champion.

Dr. Maves was born in Nashville, Tennes- see, in 1849. Twenty years later he moved to western Tennessee and stayed there for a few years. This was after he had completed the Knoxville High School. The state senator had the privilege of appointing two students to go to this school and the Doctor was one of the chosen students. In 1871 Dr. Maves went to the Nashville Medical College and took a two years' course. After finishing there he went to Louisville and spent some months as a graduate student. From Louisville Dr. Mayes went to Dexter. Missouri, and in 1877. after two years spent in Dexter, he moved to Malden, which was his home for a quarter of a century.

When Dr. Mayes settled in Malden it was only a tiny village and there were very few physicians in the county. He had been mar- ried three years before in Union City, Ten- nessee, to Miss Emma Ownby, a young lady who had been brought up in Tennessee. in which state she was born in the year 1855. Upon coming to Malden Dr. Mayes threw himself heart and soul into his profession and into all the enterprises for the good of the new town. He built up an extensive practice in Malden and the surrounding country in the days when the region was only a raw, un- developed district and he has retained it in the later stages of the county's growth.

Dr. Maves is a Democrat "clear through." and he held many minor offices in Dunklin and Pemiscot counties. He contributed gener- ously to the schools and churches of Malden and was always counted upon to help all good works hoth with money and influence. Ever since 1876 he has been a member of the Free and Accepted Masons, of the Chapter at Ken-

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HISTORY OF SOUTHEAST MISSOURI

nett. He also holds membership in the Knight of Pythias and in the Odd Fellows.

In 1903 Dr. Mayes came to Hayti, where he had established one of his sons in business and since that time he has resided here. He owns one of the finest homes in the town and has a large practice here also, which keeps him busy all the time. He and his family are members of the Christian church. His daughter Carra is now Mrs. E. A. Baldwin, of Kennett. His two sons are Von and Clarence.

The recommendation, "Physician, heal thy- self." could not be spoken to Dr. Mayes. He has always been known as an athlete, is now in perfect health and has never spent more than three days in bed in his life, except as the result of an accidental injury. He at- tributes his vigor and health to the care he has always taken of himself.

W. A. PITMAN. An essentially representa- tive agriculturist and stockraiser in Dunklin county, Missouri, is W. A. Pitman, who is the owner of a fine estate of two hundred and eighty acres, eligibly located one and one-half miles distant from Malden, where he has re- sided for the past twelve years. Mr. Pitman was born in Dyer county, Tennessee, the date of his nativity being the 2nd of October, 1856. He is a son of Jordan and Caroline (Bird) Pitman, both of whom are deceased. The father died in Tennessee when the subject of this review was an infant of but three months old and after that sad event the bereaved mother, with her two children, came to Mis- souri, locating near Malden. She died at the home of her son W. A., in 1893. George W. Pitman, only brother of him whose name forms the caption for this review. is now en- gaged in farming in Dunklin county. He married Miss Susan Bailey and they are the parents of five children.

W. A. Pitman was reared to maturity near Malden, to whose excellent public schools he is indebted for his preliminary educational training. As a young man he became inter- ested in farming operations and in 1878 he purchased a tract of forty acres of land west of Malden from the Chateau Land Company. Two years later he bought one hundred and sixty acres adjoining the original tract but subsequently disposed of it. In 1899 he bought one hundred and eighty acres of land north of town and he has resided on the same during the long intervening years to the pres- ent time. His holdings, in 1911, amount to

three hundred and forty acres and his prin- cipal crops consist of cotton, corn and wheat. He also raises a great deal of stock and in his various ventures has met with most gratifying success. He is a stalwart supporter of his political proclivities and gives freely of his aid and influence in sup- port of all matters and enterprises pro- jected for the good of the general welfare. He is affiliated with a number of representa- tive social and fraternal organizations of a local character.

Mr. Pitman has been three times married. In April, 1877, he wedded Adeline Baisin- ger, who bore him seven children and who was summoned to the life eternal. In Au- gust, 1883, Mr. Pitman was united in mar- riage to Mrs. N. C. Sellers, widow of John Sellers. To this union was born one child, who died a few days after its mother. For his third wife Mr. Pitman married Agnes E. Laine, this ceremony having been per- formed on the 30th of August, 1884. Con- cerning the five children born to this union the following brief data are here incor- porated,-Carrie B., born on the 8th of Oc- tober, 1885, is the wife of Joseph Mack- moore, who resides near the Pitman home- stead, and they have four children ; Joans A. died at the age of two months. on the 21st of November. 1886: Samuel T., whose birth occurred on the 23d of Jannary, 1887, is now residing at the parental home, as is also Naddie, born on the 11th of February, 1889; and Franklin B. died on the 31st of December, 1891, at the age of two months. Mr. and Mrs. Pitman are honored and es- teemed by their fellow citizens because of their exemplary lives and innate kindliness of spirit. Their attractive home is re- nowned as a center of generous hospitality and it is the scene of many happy social gatherings.

JAMES W. LYNN. A loyal and public- spirited citizen, who has gained distinctive prestige as an agriculturist and stockraiser in the close vicinty of Clarkton, Dunklin county, Missouri, is James W. Lynn, who is the owner of a fine estate of one hundred and sixty acres. He was born in McLean county, Kentucky, on the 7th of October, 1871, and is a son of Rufus and Arabella (Van Horn) Lynn, both of whom are liv- ing at the present time, in 1911, their home being on a farm near Campbell, Missouri. Mr. and Mrs. Rufus Lynn became the par-

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ents of six children, concerning whom the following record is here inserted,-James W. is the immediate subject of this review ; Rosa is the wife of D. A. Schneider, of Campbell, where he is engaged in the insur- ance business; Henry M. married a Dunklin county girl and they reside in Oklahoma; Jennie B. lives at home with her parents, as do also John and Molly. The Lynn fam- ily migrated from the old Blue Grass com- monwealth to Missouri in the winter of 1880 and the family home was established three miles northwest of Clarkton, on a farm.

James W. Lynn, of this notice, was reared to the age of nine years in Kentucky and after his parents' removal to Missouri he received his educational training in the district schools and in the public schools of Clarkton. He continued to reside at home with his father, assisting him in the work and management of the homestead until his marriage, in 1895. For five years after that important event he farmed on a rented estate and in 1900 he went to MeLean county, Kentucky, where he remained for one year. Returning to Dunklin county, Missouri, in 1901, he bought a farm of forty acres from C. C. Capshaw, this land being located near Clarkton and forming the nu- cleus of his present fine homestead. Later he bought forty acres of land from Jim Clem, and in 1907 he purchased forty acres from the Shelton heirs. IIe is also three-fourths owner of another forty acres adjoining his farm. Ile is engaged in diversified agricul- ture and the raising of high-grade stock and is achieving a most marvelous success in both these lines of enterprise. He is pos- sessed of fine, practical business ability and is everywhere recognized as a man of fair and honorable methods. He is affiliated with the Republican party. In their relig- ions adherency he and his wife are consist- ent members of the Baptist church at Mount Gilead and they are active workers in behalf of its philanthropieal projects.

On the 30th of January. 1895, Mr. Lynn was united in marriage to Miss Rosa Shel- ton, a daughter of W. H. Shelton and a na- tive of Dunklin county. Mr. and Mrs. Lynn are the parents of four children, whose names are here entered in respective order of birth .- Verna, Parolee. Olive and Alva R., all of whom are attending school.

HARRY B. BELT has lived an interesting life and had left the imprint of his personal-

ity upon divers enterprises before he came to New Madrid in 1908, where he has since become the partner of Francis L. Steel in the general abstract, loan and real estate bus- iness. He was born in Saint Louis, the date of his nativity being September 20, 1858, and he was the son of Henry B. and Margaret A. (Reynolds) Belt. His mother at present makes her home in New Madrid, aged eighty- seven years in January, 1912, but the father died in 1881.

Harry B. Belt, while naturally gifted with the qualities that bring success in the business world, has a very considerable debt to pay to the exceptional educational ad- vantages which as a boy and young man he was able to enjoy. After his preparatory work he attended the Washington University at Saint Louis, Missouri, and graduated from that institution in the class of 1874. He then attended the Missouri State School of Mines, and finished his course there in 1878, having prepared himself to be a mining and civil engineer.

Mr. Belt did not, however, put his tech- nical knowledge to the usual occupation, and for two years he represented a publishing house and traveled out of Kansas City, after which he accepted a position in the Continen- tal Bank of Saint Louis and worked on in- dividual books, as well as fulfilling the duties of exchange clerk. The succeeding four years he spent in the auditor's office of the Missouri Pacific Railroad. Following that he went to Memphis, Tennessee, where for twelve years he was employed in the land department of the Louisville, New Orleans and Texas Rail- road. From thence he went to Clarksdale. Missouri, and entered the abstract business, remaining with the company he started for two and a half years.

In 1908 he came to add his vigor to the business life of New Madrid, and went into the New Madrid Title and Abstract Company for the first year, finally, as before stated, forming a partnership with Francis L. Steel, which is now one of the trustworthy and stable enterprises of New Madrid.

In 1887, in Kirkwood, Missouri, Mr. Belt was united in marriage to Miss Aura Mills. She passed away five years later at Memphis, Tennessee, leaving two children, Alice E., who has since become the wife of a Mr. Betts. of Saint Louis, and Margaret R. Belt, who remains at home with her father.

Fraternally Mr. Belt is connected with the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks,

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Herd No. 27, of Memphis, Tennessee. At the polls he supports the principles and men advocated by the Democratic party. He is a Presbyterian.

O. B. COATS is general manager of the stave mill which operates in Lilbourn under the name of O. B. Coats & Company. This plant is one that covers three acres and has a ca- pacity of one million five hundred thousand staves every twelve months. It employs forty men and is one of the largest industrial con- cerns in the county. Large as this establish- ment is, it does not represent Mr. Coats' en- tire interest in business nor even his entire holdings in the lumber milling enterprise. The company, composed of himself, his cousin, J. A. Coats, and his brother, Herman Coats, have another mill at Rector, Arkansas. The flourishing business has been built up from the very foundation by the owners, with little or no capital to start on. During the first eighteen months the company shipped a hun- dred car loads of staves.

O. B. Coats was born in Greenfield, Tennes- see, in 1866, on October 15th. His father was in straitened circumstances and not able to do much for his family. Until he was twenty- four Mr. Coats lived on the home farm. At the age of twenty his father gave him a horse worth seventy-five dollars. He worked on the farm two years after this then sold what he had and went to school for a year. After this he worked at hauling timber, (which he also bought) until he was married, December 23, 1893, to Miss Lula Wingo, who was born and reared in Tennessee.

After his marriage Mr. Coats farmed for five years and then spent five more years in the timber business. When he left Tennessee he went to Kentucky, where he bought an in- terest in a stave mill. He stayed in Kentucky two years and then moved his plant to Puxico, Missouri. After four years in Puxico, Mr. Coats went to Greenway, Arkansas, where with his brother and cousin he did a profit- able business in the same line of work in which he is still engaged. In 1910 Mr. Coats moved to Lilbourn and took charge of the plant here. The company have some timber lands near Lilbourn, and Mr. Coats himself owns one hundred and twenty acres a mile and a half west of town. In town he owns a residence and several lots.

He is a Republican in matters of political policy. His church is the Missionary Baptist. Fraternally he is affiliated with the K. O. T.

M. and the Modern Woodmen, his member- ship in both these lodges being in Puxico.

Four children have been born to Mr. and Mrs. Coats, all of whom are still at home. They are Glennie, born in 1895; Annie, in 1898; Henry, in 1906; and Mattie, in 1909.

JOHN W. HARRIS. A prominent and pros- perous citizen of Gibson, John W. Harris, who for six years, from 1904-1910, served as county judge of Dunklin county, has here been suc- cessfully engaged in general agriculture for several years. He is a native of Tennessee, his birth having occurred March 30, 1851, in Benton county.

Left fatherless when a small child, Mr. Har- ris was brought up by his grandparents, whom he accompanied to Greene county, Arkansas, in 1867. In 1869 he came with them to Dunklin county, Missouri, and for two years or more assisted his grandfather in the clearing and improving of a farm. Be- ginning the battle of life on his own account in 1871, he purchased seventy-three acres of land on the Saint Francois, and there began his business career. Energetic, resolute and persevering, he cleared much of the land, and continued its management until 1890, when he sold out and moved to Oklahoma, where he re- sided three years. Going from there to Frank- lin county, Arkansas, Mr. Harris bought a farm and carried on mixed husbandry until selling his land, in 1895. Returning to Dunk- lin county, Missouri, in 1896, Mr. Harris rented land for six years, and then bought his present fine farm of one hundred and forty acres, which is one of the most desirable in the neighborhood, being well supplied with convenient buildings and all the appliances for carrying on his work after the most ap- proved modern methods.

Mr. Harris is one of the leading Democrats of the county, and has served his fellowmen in various public offices of trust and respon- sibility. In 1878 he was elected constable of Holcomb township, and held the position four years. He has served as roadmaster, and has served six years as county judge, having been elected to the position in 1904, re-elected in 1906, and again in 1908. He was at one time a candidate for probate judge, but was de- feated at the polls. Fraternally he is a mem- ber of Four Mile Lodge, No. 212, Ancient Free and Accepted Order of Masons, at Campbell; of Freeborn Lodge, No. 290, In- dependent Order of Odd Fellows, in which he has passed all the chairs; and is also a mem-

I.V. Harris

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HISTORY OF SOUTHEAST MISSOURI

ber of the local Encampment, having been secretary of the subordinate organization for six years. He belongs to the Missionary Bap- tist church, and for a number of years has been a deacon in the church.

Mr. Harris married first, in 1870, Mary Brown, who died April 20, 1879, leaving two children, William A., born April 6, 1871, and James M., born May 10, 1874, both farm- ers in Dunklin county ; R. J., born November 6, 1872, died in 1879. Mr. Harris married for his second wife July 29, 1879, Almira Ben- son, born in 1861, a daughter of William and Jane ( Wildman) Benson, and to them the fol- lowing children have been born: Dora, born August 6, 1880, wife of F. C. Curd, a farmer living near Holcomb; H. L., born January 21, 1882, died September 10, 1884; Lily, born March 13, 1884, and who married Heury Barnes, received a first-grade certificate after leaving school, and subsequently taught school seven years; Florence, born June 24, 1886, wife of D. C. Morrow, who is a well-known merchant of Gibson; Grover C., born Febru- ary 23, 1888, station agent at Holcomb, Mis- souri; May, born May 5, 1890, formerly a student at the Cape Girardeau Normal School and now teaching at Schumach; Dee, born November 21, 1892; Velma, born November 25, 1897, died September 15, 1899 ; and Susan, born November 25, 1899.

ALFONSE DELISLE. Perhaps no family has been more closely identified with the fortunes of New Madrid county or contributed more men of sterling worth and progressiveness to the business life of Portageville than the De- Lisle family, of whose clan Alfonse DeLisle is a typical and substantial representative.

Alfonse DeLisle is the son of Eustace and Clemence (Meatt) DeLisle, the former of whom was born in Missouri and died here in January, 1897, and the latter of whom was born in this county and passed away in New Madrid county .on September 26, 1887. He was the grandson of Eustace and Philine (Pikey) DeLisle, both of whom were born in the land of the fleur-de-lis, and immigrated to the new world in company with a brother, John DeLisle, some time after the close of the Revolutionary war. The father of Alfonse DeLisle followed the great basic industry of agriculture, and attained both prominence and respect in the community, where he is still remembered for his hearty co-operation in whatever was broached for the general wel- fare.

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His early life Mr. DeLisle spent amid the surroundings of his father's farm, and there gained the substantial foundations of a suc- cessful life, good health and a respect for honest labor. He attended the district school and helped with the hardy outdoor labor of the farm until he reached his twentieth year. In that year he took his little savings of two hundred dollars and went to work in the store of his brothers, Ambrose and Edward, known as the DeLisle Brothers. Ambrose died in 1875, and in 1878 Edward and Alfonse formed a partnership, which continued until 1900, when the establishment was enlarged under the caption of the DeLisle Store. In 1906 J. J. DeLisle was added to the firm and the business reorganized as the DeLisle Sup- ply Company. With a fine patronage to start, and an adherence to strict business principles, under the able presidency of Alfonse DeLisle, the store has developed into a mercantile in- stitution with an annual business record of one hundred and fifty thousand dollars.

Besides the presidency of the DeLisle Sup- ply Company, Mr. DeLisle heads the list of officers of the Pinkley Store Company, is a stockholder and first vice-president of the De- Lisle Lumber and Box Company, and vice- president of that substantial monetary insti- tution, the Bank of Portageville.

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History of southeast Missouri : a narrative account of its historical progress, its people and its principal interests, Volume II, Part 60

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