USA > Missouri > History of southeast Missouri : a narrative account of its historical progress, its people and its principal interests, Volume II > Part 65
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A. P. SIMPSON. Among Dunklin county's many successful farmers it would be hard to find a more energetic and public-spirited one than A. P. Simpson. The county was his birthplace. He came into this life in a house within one hundred and fifty yards of his present home. Except for three years it has been his home continuously ever since the July of 1874 when he was born. He has worked for its improvement not only by bet- tering his own property but by striving stead- ily for the things that benefit the country as a whole.
The only accessible school when Mr. Simp- son was a boy was at Schumach settlement. He attended this for four or five years, but only about three months of each year, although the term was of six months' dura- tion. so his educational advantages were limited. Mr. Simpson's parents lived on the place where he was born only a few months after his birth and then moved to the place where Mr. Simpson now resides. They re- mained here for six years; moved to a neigh- horing place also now Mr. Simpson's prop- erty, and then went to Washington county, Arkansas, and stayed three years. Mr. Simpson was fourteen years old when he came back to Dunklin county and into the home where he now lives.
Until he was twenty-one he stayed on his father's place. In 1895. on May 23. he was married to Miss Doda Marlowe, daughter of
Doda B, Simpson
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Richard and Sarah Marlowe, old residents of the county. Mrs. Simpson was born August 22. 1869. After his marriage Mr. Simpson moved to Campbell and worked there for three months. Then he came back to the farm and built a house. After renting for three years, he bought eighty acres of land. Mr. Simpson cleared forty-six acres of this tract, fenced it and built a good six-room house on that place. This was his residence for six years and then he moved to his present home. Mr. R. L. Mead now owns the eighty Mr. Simpson left in November, 1905.
When the farm Mr. Simpson now operates so successfully first came into his possession it was not fenced nor were there any build- ings on it. Only seventy-five acres were cleared. The bringing of the other 225 un- der cultivation is another accomplishment of Mr. Simpson's. Two years after buying his first hundred acres. he bought eighty acres more from Mr. Hoffman. This adjoins his original place. only it is across the road. Upon this he put up a good house and also fenced it. A second eighty was soon added to the hundred and eighty and this also was improved with a good house. At the present time Mr. Simpson has six hundred acres of land for which he would not take one hun- dred dollars an acre.
Most of Mr. Simpson's large estate is farmed on shares. There are sixteen dwelling houses on the entire place and most of these are as comfortable quarters as could be de- sired. Mr. Simpson believes in housing his help. Attending to his farm is his chief busi- ness in life and he has the reward of those who attend to business in having it pay. All he has, has been accumulated in that prosaic and practical fashion. He has never in- herited nor married any land or money.
Although Mr. Simpson declares that farm- ing takes up all his time, he finds or makes some to devote to matters of public welfare. In 1905 he formed a new school district near his home from two other districts and he built a school house. Another undertaking in which he was the moving power was the changing of a road near his place and making it better for travel. He has spent several hundred dollars out of his own pocket for building and im- proving public roads. And last but not least of his labors for better highways was his serv- ice as promoter of a road from his place to Frisbee.
In agriculture Mr. Simpson devotes his ener- gies chiefly to growing cotton. He began by
planting twenty acres and now his acreage for that crop is five hundred acres. In addition to the land he owns he rents some two hun- dred acres yearly. Each year he operates a larger acreage than the preceding year.
Mr. and Mrs. Simpson have seven children: Elvesta, born in 1898; Velma, in 1901 ; Hubert in 1903; Alfred, in 1905; the twins, Varah, and Vada, in 1909, and Alta, born in 1911.
Mr. Simpson's father. Thomas J. Simpson, was born in December, 1849. His birthplace was Tennessee, but his parents were from Ken- tucky. Schools were poor, and as his father died when he was but twelve, and yet the old- est of a family of seven, his opportunities were few indeed. When he was twenty-one he came to Dunklin county with his mother and younger sister. His mother died in 1877.
Thomas J. Simpson has lived in Tennessee, Arkansas and in the Ozark mountains. He came to Dunklin in 1873 and bought a hun- dred acres near his present home. He had nothing at the time but he set to work to clear and improve the land. He married Sarah Curry, of Marshall county, Tennessee, in 1871. Their children are: A. P. Simpson, of this re- view ; Rebecca, now Mrs. Robert Green ; Mary, Mrs. Ira Green; and Ella, who lives with her father. Mrs. T. J. Simpson died in 1905, and her husband has never married again. He is a member of the Methodist church, South.
Mr. Simpson has now about sixty acres of land valued at a hundred dollars an acre. All the work of clearing this and all the improve- ments in the way of buildings on it are the re- sults of his efforts, so he feels that he has made his farm if not his land.
ALBERT MCBRIDE, undertaker and worker in wood, is one of the best known figures in Campbell, hut by reason of the nature of his business his advent in his industrial capacity cannot fail to be regarded as a sad one. His is not a joyous occupation, and yet Mr. Mc- Bride contrives to be cheerful. As long as there is death in this world there will be need of undertakers, and it is their province to try and do away with the repulsiveness of death, such as existed in former years before the embalmers had acquired the proficiency which they have now attained. Mr. McBride visits the homes into which affliction has come and does everything in his power to relieve the sorrowing ones of all anxiety concerning the last rites for their departed relatives.
The birth of Mr. McBride occurred on the 28th day of September, 1869, at what was
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known as Four Mile, a mile and a half from Campbell, Missouri. His father was a na- tive of North Carolina, where he was born in 1839 ; he came to Dunklin county in 1867, and the following year married. His wife has been a life-long resident of Campbell, where she still lives-a widow for fifteen years, as her husband's demise occurred in 1886.
The first born child of Mr. and Mrs. Mc- Bride was Albert and he early learned to as- sist his father with the work of cultivating his fifty acres of land. When he was of the proper age the lad was sent to the country school, but only for three months in the win- ter, as during the remainder of the year his assistance was required at home. In this manner Mr. McBride spent his time until he was seventeen years of age, when he began to work in the store owned by John Bridges and Sons, and he lived at home. After the death of his father he left home and con- tinued to work in the store until he was twenty-two years old. He then gained em- ployment with the Kennett & Southern Rail- road Company, now part of the Frisco sys- tem, and after a year with this corporate con- cern he engaged in the building business and since that time has been connected with build- ing, contracting and all kinds of wood work. In 1909 he went in business with his brother, O. McBride, under the firm name of O. Mc- Bride & Company. They are undertakers and woodworkers and theirs is the only under- taking establishment in Campbell. The firm owns its own building, a structure one hun- dred and sixty-six feet by one hundred and four feet.
In 1891, the year that Mr. McBride left home, he was married to Miss Lillie Van Meter, born in 1869 in the central part of eastern Missouri, the latter moved to Dunklin county with her parents. To this union of Mr. and Mrs. McBride two daughters were born,-Bernice, who began life in 1897 and Neva, who made her first appearance into the world in 1901.
Mr. McBride is affiliated in a fraternal way with the order of Masons, belonging to the Blue Lodge, A. F. & A. M .; with the Inde- pendent Order of Odd Fellows; and with the Modern Woodmen of America. In politics he has always rendered unwavering allegiance to the Democratic party, who have shown their appreciation of his abilities and his upright- ness by electing him to the high office of mayor-the position he is now filling with
honor to himself and with distinct advantage to the residents of Campbell.
GEORGE DELISLE. If the business history of Portageville is closely interwoven with the mercantile ventures of the DeLisle, the record of the agricultural prosperity of the county can also bear witness to the talent and pro- gressiveness of a DeLisle. George DeLisle, who farms one hundred acres of rented land and owns eighty, has demonstrated what up- to-date methods can do to get the greatest possible yield from ground under cultivation.
George DeLisle was born within the con- fines of the county in 1876, to Frank and Ce- cilia (Leroy) DeLisle. His father was born in New Madrid county in 1837 and passed to his eternal reward in 1889. His mother was also a native of the same county, having been born in 1838, and she passed away in 1900. Frank DeLisle, the father of the immediate subject of this sketch, was a general farmer, and died leaving a high reputation for honesty and fair dealing with all with whom he had ever come in contact.
George DeLisle as a boy attended the dis- triet schools of the county. His father died when he was thirteen years old, and he was early called upou to assume the duties of the home farm. He began to farm for himself in 1901, renting first a tract of forty acres, and later enlarging his base of operations. He raises stock for his own use but otherwise gives his time to general farming and grain crops.
In 1903 was solemnized the marriage of George DeLisle to Miss Ella Young, born in New Madrid county, in December, 1885. They have become the parents of four chil- dren,-Olga G., Linnis L., George G. and Ce- cilia E., all of whom are at home. Mr. De- Lisle and his family are members of the Cath- olic church.
In the field of politics Mr. DeLisle is a stauch adherent of the Democratic party, and he has manifested his interest in the cause of good government by serving on the board of aldermen, twice representing the second ward. He is a member of the Modern Brotherhood.
JOHN A. HUMMEL was born July 6, 1856, in New York City. His parents were natives of Baden, Germany, whence they had immi- grated to this country about 1851. Lawrence Hummel, the father, was a wagonmaker by trade. He was thirty-seven years of age when
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he came to this country and Ernstina, his wife, was but seventeen. They moved to In- diana in 1865, where the father died in 1880 and the mother six years later.
John Hummel attended the Catholic schools in Indiana. At the age of fifteen he went to work in a drug store in that state and learned the business. He came to New Madrid in 1877 and clerked for four years here, at the end of which time he went to Jonesboro, Arkansas, to enter into partner- ship with Aaron Stiefel. After three years in business there their store was destroyed by fire. In 1885 Mr. Hummel returned to New Madrid and went into business alone, but a year later he sold half his interest to J. E. Powell. This association lasted for ten years, until Mr. Powell's death, when Mr. Hummel bought out his interest from the heirs. For the past twelve years he has conducted the business alone, handling not only drugs but also school books, window glass, paints and wall paper. The business is one which aver- ages $17,000 a year. Mr. Hummel has been a registered pharmacist in the state since 1881 when he took the state examination.
Two of the children of John and Bell Sher- wood Hummel are following their father's choice of a business and have attended the St. Louis College of Pharmacy. Paul has finished his course in that school and is a reg- istered pharmacist. Lee H. is still in attend- ance. The other child, Floyd, is pursuing a business course in St. Louis. Mrs. Hummel was born in this county in 1857, and was mar- ried in November, 1886. She is a member of the Presbyterian church, while Mr. Hummel is a Catholic.
Mr. Hummel belongs to the Modern Wood- men of America and to the Red Men. He is affiliated with the Knights of Pythias. He is deeply interested in all matters of public wel- fare; has served as school director for twenty years and was three terms alderman, at the period when the city hall and the water works were built.
DAVE DYE. The Dye family is another of the many valuable units of society which Ten- nessee has contributed to Dunklin county. The parents of Mr. Dave Dye came to Clark- ton in 1876, before David had celebrated his tenth birthday, as he was born September 12, 1866. After remaining some time in the neighborhood of Clarkton, the Dyes moved to a place near Holcomb. The father died while living here, but the other members of that
household are still living in this vicinity. Thomas Dye resides west of Holcomb and Liz- zie (Dye) Boswell's home is in the town, where the mother also lives. The father died in 1906.
Dave Dye spent his boyhood as most of the sons of the pioneers did, going to school a lit- tle and working on the farm a great deal. Until he was married, at the age of twenty- one, he lived at home. The union of Mr. Dye and Miss Miles was of short duration, as her death dissolved it after a brief interval. The year after this wedding, 1888, Mr. Dye bought a farm near Holcomb and this eighty acres was his residence and working it his occupa- tion until 1898.
At this date Mr. Dye married a second time. The bride was Miss Annie Bach, born and reared in Dunklin county, but at that time residing in northwestern Arkansas. The same year was the beginning of Mr. Dye's mercantile enterprises. He had several stores in different parts of the county and conducted them successfully in the main. In 1905 he found himself perilously near to ruin on ac- count of having extended too much credit to persons who had proved to be poor risks. However, with characteristic pluck and per- severance he set to work to make good his losses and accomplished his intention more satisfactorily than he could have hoped. He sold out his stock in 1908 and moved to Hol- comb, where he lived for two years. In March, 1911, Mr. Dye came to his present home, the one hundred and forty acre farm on which he has built the house and the barns.
The home circle of our subject includes five children ; Sallie, Ellen, Walter, Ola and Dave. Mr. and Mrs. Dye have buried three other lit- tle ones. The church to which they belong is the Missionary Baptist.
In 1910 Mr. Dye built a two-story brick building, one hundred and twenty-three by seventy feet, in Kennett, on the main street of the town. This structure is now occupied by a restaurant, hotel, a grocery store and a barber shop. Mr. Dye's fortune has practi- cally all been made since 1905, and in these six years he has accumulated something be- tween twenty-five and thirty thousand dollars.
SHAPLEY R. HUNTER, JR., the county treas- urer of New Madrid county is the son of L. F. Hunter, of whom mention is made on other pages of this work, and was born in this county in 1879. He enjoyed the advantages of training in several of the fine schools in
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both the west and other sections of the coun- try. After attending the public schools of New Madrid, he went to St. Louis and studied in the college where his father had gone when a boy, that of the Christian Broth- ers. Mr. Hunter later attended Notre Dame in South Bend, Indiana; the Davis Military academy of South Carolina, the Marmaduke Military academy at Sweet Springs, Mis- souri; and also the Gem Business College of Quincy, Illinois.
Mr. Hunter is a Democrat and has been chosen repeatedly to fill various offices by his party. In 1899 he was assistant county clerk and served in this capacity for two years. After a year spent in mercantile work at La- Forge, he again returned to public life this time in the office of the county treasurer, in which capacity he is still serving. He is also street commissioner of New Madrid. In the commercial activities of the town he is far from being without interest. He owns a half interest in the New Madrid Hardware and Supply Company, of which concern he is sec- retary and treasurer.
Mr. and Mrs. Shapley Hunter (nee Agnes Digges) have five children, Thomas, Lloyd, Margaret, Agnes, and Shapley. They are both communicants of the Roman Catholic church.
WILLIAM J. McMILLAN. No citizen in Dunklin county holds a higher place in the unqualified confidence and esteem of his fel- low citizens than does William J. McMillan, a representative farmer whose fine estate of one . hundred and forty acres lies two and a half miles north of Malden. Mr. McMillan is a young man of unusual enterprise and initia- tive and he has met with such marvelous good fortune in his various business projects that it would verily seem as though he possessed an "open sesame" to unlock the doors to suc- cess.
A native of Dunklin county, William Jef- ferson McMillan was born on the 14th of Sep- tember, 1884, and he is a son of John and Mary (Harris) McMillan, both of whom are now deceased. The mother died and the father was mysteriously killed in April, 1906, while attending a ball game at Malden. John Mc- Millan was owner of two hundred acres of land just north of Malden, and at the time of his demise this land was divided among his three children. Mr. and Mrs. McMillan became the parents of four children,-Homer is seven- teen years of age, in 1911, and he is engaged
in farming on a tract of sixty acres of land near Malden; Henrietta is residing in Mal- den with her step-mother, Mrs. Joseph Smith ; William is the immediate subject of this re- view; and one child died at the age of two years.
William J. McMillan was reared to matu- rity on the old homestead farm, in the work and management of which he early be- gan to assist his father, and his early school- ing consisted of such advantages as were af- forded in the graded schools of Malden. William McMillan came into possession of eighty acres of land, his share of the paternal homestead, in 1906, and subsequently he pur- chased a tract of sixty acres of uncleared land from Barney Drerup. He intends cut- ting down his timber in 1912. His chief crops are cotton, corn, peas and hay, and he is also interested in stock-raising, having about thirty head of hogs, some cattle, four horses and a number of mules. He did not conduct his farm until 1911, and prior to that time was engaged as a clerk in Malden, working for a time in Levi's store and later in Sex- ton's. He has two houses on his farm, one for his own personal use and one for the hired help. He recently erected a fine, modern barn, twenty by thirty-six feet in lateral di- mensions and two stories in height.
Although Mr. McMillan does not participate actively in public affairs, he is ever ready to give his aid and influence in support of all measures and enterprises projected for the good of the general welfare. In fraternal circles he is affiliated with the Malden lodges of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows, the Knights of Pythias and the time-honored Ma- sonic order. In addition to managing his own farm, he is guardian of his sister Henrietta's estate. He is a young man of fine business capacity and tremendous vitality, qualities which count for success in any undertaking.
On the 27th of July, 1910, was solemn- ized the marriage of Mr. McMillan to Miss Gertrude Penny, who is a relative of the pres- ent mayor of Malden, and who is a daughter of Jack Penny, of Malden. Mrs. McMillan is a devout member of the Presbyterian church at Malden and she is a woman of most gracious personality, being a great influence for good in the community in which she re- sides.
ROBERT F. BURNS. A self-made man in every sense implied by the term, R. F. Burns, without even the advantages of a common
MR. AND MRS. ROBERT F. BURNS
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school education, has steadily plodded his way along the road to success, and is now numbered among the more enterprising and prosperous agriculturists of Dunklin county, having a well-kept farm in the town of Sen- ath. Born November 2. 1857, on a farm in Cape Girardeau county, Missouri, he has spent his entire life as a farmer. finding both pleasure and profit in his independent occu- pation.
His father was taken ill while serving as a soldier in the Northern army during the Civil war, and sent home. where he died a few days later. His wife married for her second hus- band Frank Holderfield, and subsequently moved from Missouri to the northwestern part of Arkansas.
Robert F. Burns remained at home until eighteen years of age. spending the last five years of the time in northwestern Arkansas. where he assisted his step-father on the farm. becoming familiar with all branches of agri- culture, although he had no means of obtain- ing an education. Coming from Arkansas to Dunklin county, Mr. Burns arrived here in a hack with a brother-in-law, but with no other assets than the clothes he wore and a change of clothing. He had an unlimited stock of energy and determination. however, and im- mediately secured work on a farm. At the end of two years he married and settled on land that is now included in his present fine farming estate. The land was heavily timbered, but he immediately began to clear and improve it, and met with such well mer- ited success in his efforts that he was from time to time enabled to purchase other land, becoming owner of two hundred and forty acres of valuable land in this vicinity. A part of this estate he has given to his chil- dren, his present home farm containing one hundred and sixty acres, which are well cul- tivated and well adapted to the raising of the cereals common to this part of the state.
Mr. Burns married Martha Turner, a native of Dunklin county, and into the household thus established five children have been born. namely : Frank. who married Laura Phelps, of Homersville; James. who married Kate Neal, of Kennett ; Curtis married Lulu Wil- liams. and resides in Dunklin county ; Florence, wife of Thomas Coleman. living in Dunklin county : and Ethel. wife of Andrew Walthrop. residing on the home farm. Po- litically Mr. Burns is a Republican. Frater- nally he is a member of Caruth Lodge, I. O.
O. F., and religiously he is a member of the Baptist church at Coldwater.
WILLIAM M. KILLION. Talent and circum- stance combine to bring success in this world, but the men who have found success know best of all that talent is a wasted gift unless fostered by hard, persistent labor-labor that knows no obstacles and is never tired-and that circumstances are in the main of man's own making. The record of William M. Kil- lion, of Portageville, Missouri, than whom none stands higher in the esteem and affec- tion of the county, bears out these facts, for his life is the story of steady industry coupled with conspicuously alert management.
William M. Killion was born in Obion county, Tennessee, on May 3, 1858, the son of John and Cristie (Snyder) Killion, both of whom were natives of Perry county, Tennes- see. In all William Killion attended the dis- trict schools of his native county only three weeks, the rest of his education being ob- tained in that greater school of observation and experience, where he who runs may read, provided the eye be keen and the mind acute. After helping his father on the home form for several years he started to farm on his own venture, and began a trading business in horses and mules in which he subsequently engaged for a period of twenty-five years.
In November, 1902, Mr. Killion settled in Pemiscot county, Missouri, locating on a farm near Stewart. There he remained for three and a half years before moving to Portage- ville. He is, at the present time, the owner of fourteen hundred acres of Missouri farm land which he rents out to tenants.
The maiden name of Mr. Killion's first wife was Miss Tennessee Glover, and she hecame the mother of four children, namely: Chris- tina ; Henry A., now a practicing physician and a graduate both of the University of Nashville, Tennessee, and Barnes University at St. Louis; Anna; and Ader A. The pres- ent Mrs. Killion was formerly Miss Jonnie C. Lewis, a native of Lake county, Tennessee. Mr. and Mrs. Killion are the parents of four children. Lewis, Leo. Mary F. and Willard T.
Fraternally Mr. Killion is a thirty-second degree Scottish Rite Mason, belonging to Portageville lodge, A. F. & A. M., No. 166. and to Missouri Consistory No. 1, of St. Louis. He is also a member of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows, Lodge No. 161.
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