USA > Missouri > History of southeast Missouri : a narrative account of its historical progress, its people and its principal interests, Volume II > Part 69
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Dr. Mayfield has been twice married. His first wife was Rosaline Branham, to whom he was wedded October 18, 1904. She bore him one child, Maurellian, born December 24, 1905. On August 34, 1910, Dr. Pinkney was united in marriage to Olive, daughter of Syl- vester and Mary (Snider) Miller. Mrs. May- field was born in Millersville, September 29, 1886.
Dr. Mayfield is of the same political party as his father and brother Amon. His lodges also are those of his brother, the Modern Woodmen and the Masons. However, Dr. Pinkney Mayfield is a member of the Elks, the Ben Hur, the Mutual Protective League and the Modern Brethren. He carries seven- teen thousand dollars insurance for himself and ten thousand dollars for his wife, and he owns business property on Main street and two residences in Portageville.
CLARENCE L. JOSLYN. It is a subject for congratulation that the young men in the state of Missouri are coming to the front in such a prominent manner, as it augurs well for the
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future prosperity of the state. Mr. Joslyn is a young man who has already shown the mettle that is in him and has won the esteem and good will of all who have come within the sphere of his influence.
Clarence L. Joslyn was born April 10, 1877, at Port Huron, Michigan, and is a son of Otis and Sarah (Libby) Joslyn. The father is a native of New Hampshire, born at South Lyndboro, that state, August 5, 1835. He was educated in his home town, where also he learned the lumber trade. In the course of his business he went to Boston, Mass- achusetts, where he engaged in the flour and feed business. There he met Miss Libby, who was born January 16, 1842, at Saco, Maine, and she later became his wife (1865). Four of the six children who were born to Mr. and Mrs. Otis Joslyn are living,-Otis W., born September 14, 1869, living in Charleston, Mis- souri ; Clarence L .; Bertha; Fred L., whose birth occurred September 16, 1882. In 1869 Otis Joslyn Sr., moved to Port Huron, Michigan, and in 1889 he located in Whiting, Mississippi county, Missouri, and remained there ten years. He built the sawmill in Whiting which is known as the Ward Lum- ber Company. In 1899 he went to Sagi- naw, Michigan, where he and his wife still maintain their residence.
Clarence L. Joslyn attended school at Port Huron, Michigan, where he passed the first fourteen years of his life; he then accom- panied his parents to Whiting, Missouri, and for the ensuing six years was in the employ of the Ward Lumber Company, above men- tioned. In the month of January, 1898, he accepted a position with the St. Louis South- western Railway Company at Campbell Dunk- lin county, Missouri, and the following year, in July, he was moved to Malden, Missouri, where he worked as cashier and agent until 1905 when he was promoted to the position of traveling auditor for the St. Louis South- western Railway Company, the position which he is still filling.
On November 15, 1907, Mr. Josłyn was united in marriage to Miss Inez Squires, born exactly twenty-one years earlier, as her wed- ding took place on her twenty-first birthday. Her parents were Richard H. and Margaret (King) Squires, of Malden, Missouri. On the 13th of September, 1908, Mr. and Mrs. Joslyn became the parents of a boy, Harold Lees.
Mr. Joslyn is a stanch Republican, which political party he believes stands for the best principles of good government. He is a
Knight Templar and a member of the A. A. O. N. M. S.
CORNELIUS C. WHITE. New Madrid has many men of whom it may be proud for the integrity and stability of their business as well as of their personal records. Cornelius C. White may easily be listed among this number. He was born in Mississippi county, Missouri, in the year 1870, to Jesse K. and Margaret (Barry) White. The father was born in Benton county, Tennessee, in 1836. and passed to his reward in Mississippi county in 1884. Margaret A. Barry was born in 1844, in the vicinity of Atlanta, Georgia, and at present makes her home in Bertrand, Mississippi county.
As a boy Cornelius C. White attended the public schools of Bertrand, which prepara- tion was ably followed by a course in the State Normal school at Cape Girardeau. For two years he then made use of his normal school training and followed the pedagogic profession. In 1895, however, he gave up teaching to enter business, and with a capital of about five hundred dollars he embarked in the drug business. Following this venture he was interested in another drug stock, and was in Cardwell, Dunklin county. After two years in that place he came to New Madrid and bought the stock of Jasper & Hale, which store he still has and which is the basis for his present enterprise. The business now in- cludes not only drugs but also a general line of jewelry, musical instruments, paints, china and the like, amounting altogether to about twelve thousand dollars a year in volume of business.
In 1903 Mr. White established a household of his own by his marriage to Miss Allie Work, a native of Saint Louis. They have no children. Both are interested in fraternal affairs, Mr. White being a member of the In- dependent Order of Odd Fellows, with a Grand Lodge degree and a record of having filled all chairs. Mrs. White is a member of the Rebekahs and is district department president for the local district. Mr. White casts his vote for the party candidates of the party of Jefferson, Jackson and Cleveland. Both he and his wife are devoted members of the Methodist Episcopal church, in which they are stewards.
J. W. THOMASSON. Henry county, Tennes- see, was the birthplace of Mr. Thomasson, but his parents moved to Dunklin county when he
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Bettie Thomas
Judr. Thomasson
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was a very small boy. The son was born on the 20th of February, 1862. His parents on both sides were of Southern birth, and moved from North Carolina to Tennessee in an early day. His paternal grandfather, Arnold Thomasson, moved from Tennessee to Arkan- sas about the year 1852. He had married Charity Lowrey. Some time before the birth of the son J. W. his father had come to Dunk- lin county, Missouri, to look over its possi- bilities before moving his family here. At the time of the location of the family here the first levee was being constructed on the St. Francois river. Those who worked on it re- ceived an acre of land for each rod of levee constructed. Mr. Thomasson's father built three hundred and twenty rods, and so re- ceived two quarter sections of land, the same being the site of the village of Holcomb. When the family joined Mr. Thomasson they settled on what was known as the Pritchard place in Frisbee, and while living there they were burned out. After a year or two Mr. Thomasson took his family to Greene county, Arkansas, and they spent some years there. It was during this time that the elder Mr. Thomasson enlisted in the Confederate army and went into the campaign from which he never returned alive, being mortally wounded in an engagement and dying at Holly Springs. Mississippi. His widow remarried and moved back to Missouri, locating two miles south of Holcomb. Her second husband was P. M. Ray, and Mr. Thomasson of this review lived with his mother and stepfather until Mrs. Ray's death, in 1878. She bore the maiden name of Sarah Benton, and her brother, Wil- liam H. Benton, accompanied Mr. Thomasson to Dunklin county. He afterward moved to Craighead county, Arkansas, where he bought a farm near the town of Jonesboro, and he also built and operated a grist mill and cot- ton gin. The city of Jonesboro now covers this farm. The death of Mr. Benton occurred about the year 1874.
After the death of his mother Mr. Thomas- son lived one year with his brother-in-law. Until he was twenty-four he worked in differ- ent states, in Kentucky, Tennessee and Ar- kansas, and at that time he settled on the place where he now resides and married Lula. the daughter of John P. Taylor. She died in 1902, after sixteen years of wedded life. Her only child. Fred, married Miss Lora Crow and lives at Holcomb, and they have two children, Jeanette and an infant, having also lost one child in infancy.
When Mr. Thomasson first settled on his present farm he was without capital, and he bought sixty acres from his brother-in-law on credit. His wife owned ninety acres in her own right, and he afterward not only paid for his sixty but bought land from her. He now owns a continuous tract of two hundred and forty acres, of which thirty-five acres are in timber. When Mr. Thomasson acquired the land only about one hundred acres were cleared, the clearing of the remainder, as well as the buildings on the place, being his work. Only the house was standing when he first occupied the place. The entire farm is well improved and in splendid condition, and some of his best land now is that which was said to be worn out.
Mr. Thomasson gives his support to the Democratic party, like most of the men of his inheritance and training. In fraternal orders he is a member of the Woodmen of the World and the Independent Order of Odd Fellows. In all respects he is one of the prominent and popular members of the community in which he has lived since it was only a sparsely set- tled and wooded wilderness.
While at the World's Fair at St. Louis in 1904 Mr. Thomasson met Miss Bettie Godbey, a daughter of Kentucky, born and reared in Casey county. In August of the same year they were married. and they are living on the place where Mr. Thomasson brought her as a bride. She is a daughter of E. J. Godbey, now of Lincoln county, Kentucky, where he is a farmer and a banker and a very prominent member of the community. Her mother is Louise (Wesley) Godbey, and the family in some ways is rather remarkable. Both par- ents, also the five sons and five daughters, are all living. Of the sons, two are lawyers, two are physicians and one is a farmer ; one daugh- ter is the wife of Professor C. E. Lewis, of Berea College, Kentucky, another is the wife of J. P. Kelsey, a druggist of Somerset, Ken- tucky, one is unmarried, and the remaining daughter married Mr. C. E. Jones, a farmer who lives near Middleburg, Kentucky. Mr. Thomasson did not have as large a family con- nection, and he is now the only member living. His two brothers died in childhood, and his two sisters died after reaching years of ma- turity.
The genealogies of Mrs. Thomasson's family on both the paternal and maternal sides are very interesting. and a few facts may he in- serted here. On the maternal side she is a direct descendant of Charles and John Wesley,
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the noted preacher and founder of Methodism. On the Godbey side are many well known the- ological students, including a cousin of E. J. Godbey, the Rev. Mr. Godbey, a former editor of the Christian Advocate and a minister of the Methodist Episcopal church. The Rev. W. B. Godbey, another cousin, is a noted Evangel- ist and is the author of several books. He has written a work on "Baptism," which is con- sidered an authority by the clergy of his denomination, and he has twice translated the Bible from the Hebrew and the Greek, being a scholar in both languages. In his sermons he uses the original Hebrew and Greek texts.
With the traditions of such a family it is not remarkable that Mrs. Thomasson should be a woman much above the ordinary both in character and intellect. She is a member of the Eastern Star, holding her membership in the Chapter at Middleburg, Kentucky.
A. F. BLAKEMORE. Something over a quar- ter of a century ago a young man who was working on a farm in Tennessee heard that Dunklin county was a good country. This young man had no capital; he was not even educated in the common school branches, but he had that surest lure to fortune, the. capac- ity for hard work. He came to the county in 1878, when he was twenty-five years old. He is now fifty-seven and owns four hundred acres of valuable land. That man is A. F. Blakemore.
Mr. Blakemore spent a year in Clarkton when he first came to the county and then he moved to the place where he has lived for twenty-six years. His original farm con- sisted of forty acres. Now the place is one of one hundred and twenty acres. All the im- provements on the farm are his work. The house on the home place is a structure of seven rooms and the barns are large and well equipped. Mr. Blakemore raises corn, cattle and hogs. His other property in the county, two hundred and eighty acres, is almost all cleared land and he has cleared it himself.
Mrs. Blakemore was formerly Mrs. Nettie Williams. Their family numbers two chil- dren. William S. and Alley, both at home. They lost one child. Mr. Blakemore is a Dem- ocrat in politics. He is an active worker in the Methodist church, of which he is one of the influential members.
DAVID H. MANN. Germany was the birth- place of Mr. Mann's parents and it was near the town of Mainz, on the storied Rhine, that
they and their children were born. Abram, the father, began this mortal life in 1820 and Minna Moritz Mann, his wife, two years later. Two of their seven children died very young. The parents came to America in 1856, when David was scarcely a year old, for he was born on July 7, 1855. The voyage was made in a sailing-vessel and was about two and a half months in duration.
The father, Abram Mann, went into busi- ness in Dayton, Ohio, but afterwards re- moved to Cincinnati, about 1859. Like most of our German-Americans, Mr. Mann was re- markably loyal to the land of his adoption and during the war he served in the Union army, being a soldier in the Cincinnati guard against Morgan.
David went to school in Cincinnati until he was nineteen. At that age he went to Hen- derson, Kentucky, and worked for the Mann Brothers of that city. He stayed with the Henderson firm until August, 1884, when he came to New Madrid and bought out J. R. Newton, a fur dealer. David Mann and his brother Ferdinand composed the firm of Mann Brothers of New Madrid. The estab- lishment was the largest of its kind in South- eastern Missouri. The house bought from the trappers and from the local merchants. One of the buildings used by the firm is still stand- ing on Main street.
Mrs. Mann was Miss Lilia O'Bannon. Her father, William O'Bannon, was a well known merchant in New Madrid and in St. Louis. He built the first road from Clarkton through the swamp to New Madrid. His wife was for- merly Virginia La Farge. Their daughter Lilia was born in New Madrid county, on De- cember 9, 1871, and less than twenty years after, on March 17, 1891, became Mrs. David Mann. She is a member of the Roman Catho- lic church. Mr. and Mrs. Mann have two chil- dren, Milton, born August 18, 1892, and Will- iam, November 24, 1893.
Mr. Mann was the first banker of the town and indeed the only one until he and some other business men organized the New Mad- rid Banking Company. This was the first or- ganized banking firm in this part of Mis- souri. Mr. Mann has large interests in real estate in Missouri and in other states. Be- sides organizing the first bank of New Mad- rid, he erected the first saw-mill here and he was one of the promoters and builders of the St. Louis & Missouri Southern Railway, and is one of the stockholders and directors. His enterprise has been a strong factor in the com-
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mercial development of the town. The poli- cies of the Republican party commend them- selves to Mr. Mann's political judgment, al- though he is a business man and in no sense interested in political preferment. He is a member of the Masonic order.
Mr. Mann's parents both died in Cincinnati in 1887, within two months of each other. They were members of the Jewish church, and it might be said of them as of Saul and Jona- than: "In death they were not divided."
JOHN L. BROWN, M. D., one of Campbell's successful physicians, a prominent business man and a Christian worker, has a thriving practice which extends over a large area in Dunklin county. A man's personal traits perhaps count for more in the medical profes- sion than in any other line of work. Coming in contact with people when they are most has the opportunity to speak a word here and susceptible to external influences, a physician there that will aid a man in his journey through life. Dr. Brown, possessed of the broadest sympathy not only with the physical weaknesses of others, but with their moral in- firmities, has a nature that invites confidence, a character that commands respect and a tem- perament that is willing to lend a helping hand.
Beginning life at Metropolis, Illinois, the Doctor's birth occurred on a farm in that place July 25, 1869. He obtained his first schooling at the common school in his district, then he completed a high school course and entered the medical college for physicians and surgeons at St. Louis, from which insti- tution he was graduated in 1892, carrying off the second honors in the class of eighty-three students. When the fact that he worked his own way through school is taken into consid- eration, his standing is all the more to his credit. In 1891 he took up his residence in Campbell and the following year, after ob- taining his degree, he commenced to practice. His patients are scattered over a territory of ten miles square. Most of the time that he has been engaged in the medical profession he has also superintended the management of a drug store. He and his brother, Dr. C. W. Brown, each owned a drug store; they united the two stores under one management, thereby form- ing an incorporated company in which the two brothers are the principal stockholders. The two stores are doing a very large busi- ness and the company is prospering.
In 1895 Dr. Brown was married to Miss
Josie Gehrig, whose father was a native of Switzerland, and her mother was born in Ten- nessee; they were old settlers in Campbell, where they raised their children. There Mrs. Brown's birth occurred December 28, 1875; there she was educated and married; and there she is bringing up her own children, whose names are as follows,-Hillary Lloyd, born in 1898, and Rodney Louis, whose na- tivity occurred in April, 1904.
Dr. Brown is a member of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows and of the Knights of Pythias-the Campbell lodges. He is also affiliated with the Masonic order, being a member of the Blue Lodge at Campbell, An- cient Free and Accepted Masons ; of the Chap- ter at Kennett, Royal Arch Masons; of the Council at Campbell, Royal and Select Mas- ters; and of the Commandery at Malden, Knights Templar. He has thus concluded the York Rite branch of the order. The Doctor takes an active part in church work, being a deacon in the General Baptist church at Campbell, and he has liberally contributed towards the erection of several churches of other denominations in the town. Dr. Brown owns his home and several other houses and lots in Campbell, all obtained as the result of his efficient work since he came to the town almost twenty years ago.
BERT HAINES has spent his life at the busi- ness in which he is engaged, and although that is not such a very long time, yet Mr. Haines has a thorough knowledge of all as- pects of the lumber industry. Woodford county, Indiana, was Mr. Haines' birthplace, and August 27, 1867, the date of his birth. Until he was twenty-one he went to school and worked for his father, who also had a saw- mill. When Mr. Bert Haines was about fif- teen his father moved to Campbell and put up a mill in that town.
In 1885 Mr. Haines' father left Campbell to cut the right of way for the Cotton Belt Railway from Dexter to Delta, then between Bird's Point and Jonesborough. This work occupied him for two years, during which time his son Bert was with him. The year after finishing the railroad work the father and son conducted a saw-mill at what is now the town of Parma, then called Lotta. This arrangement lasted one year and then Mr. Bert Haines worked by himself for a year in a plant near Malden. For the next six years he was in business with his father and brother in a heading mill which they put up at Lotta.
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About fourteen years ago Mr. Haines and his two sons, Frank and Bert, came to Port- ageville where they have since continued in the lumber milling business. Mr. Bert Haines is in charge of the planing mill and the lum- ber yard, while Frank takes care of the saw- mill and the stave factory.
In September, 1888, Mr. Haines and Miss Mattie Vaughn were married at Campbell. Mattie Haines lived only eight years after her union. She died in October, 1896, at Lotta, and is buried at Campbell. She left her hus- band with two children, Urcel, born Decem- ber 12, 1894, and Ethel, October 14, 1892. The present Mrs. Haines, Emma, the daugh- ter of William and Martha Webb, was born in Stoddard county, Missouri, December 12, 1877. Her marriage to Mr. Haines took place April 14, 1898. Their one daughter, Mar- jorie, was born December 23, 1903. Mr. Haines is a Republican in political convic- tions.
L. B. CRAVENS was born in Indiana, Octo- ber 14, 1857, and lived in that state until after the Civil war, when his father moved to Henderson county, Kentucky. Here the boys attended school three months of the year and worked on the farm for the rest of the time. On September 10, 1875, his father was killed, and the mother died August 20, 1878. L. B. Cravens was left on the farm his father had rented, with his two sisters to support. There were six other brothers, but the burden of caring for the sisters fell upon L. B., and he took care of them for eight years.
In 1883, after his sisters were married and provided for, he came to New Madrid county, part of the way by train and part of the way by wagon. He settled a mile and a half east of the present site of Lilbourn, which was then only timber and deep water. For a year Mr. Cravens rented a farm on the prairie and then bought land. a farm between Point Pleasant and New Madrid, and went into the stock business with F. A. Lewis, of New Mad- rid. Three years later he sold his farm and invested in other properties, but he continued to deal extensively in stock. When he first came to what is now Lilbourn all was range and wilderness.
In 1905 Mr. Cravens came to Lilbourn and engaged in the livery business, conducting the only establishment of this sort in the town. Ile has done a flourishing business in the liv- ery line and now owns six good buildings on the main street besides his livery stable. A
blacksmith shop and a meat market are among his other possessions and several houses which he has built. He leases about five hundred acres of land near town, on which he keeps his stock. Another of his in- terests is the tile factory of Lilbourn.
Mr. Cravens has found time in the midst of his busy life to fulfil the duties of public of- fice. He was mayor of the town until Sep- tember, 1911, and is now a justice of the peace and for four years he acted as police judge.
Although Mr. Cravens and his wife, Jane (Taylor) Cravens, have but one child, Bettie, born in 1904, a year after their marriage, he has found place in his heart and at his hearth-stone for fourteen nephews and nieces. Three of these were the children of his two sisters; seven more were orphaned by the death of one brother and not only these, but four of another family were taken into his house and provided for. At the present time only three of these orphans are living in Mr. Cravens' home, as the others have all mar- ried.
In the lodge of New Madrid Mr. Cravens has taken three degrees in Masonry. Ever since coming to the state he has lived in this county, where he has been unusually success- ful in his enterprises. His prosperity is grudged him by no one, for he has earned it by strict . attention to business, and he has given of his store generously. Mr. Cravens is a life-long Democrat. Mrs. Cravens is a mem- ber of the Methodist Episcopal church, South. She was born in Indiana, but was reared in Henderson county, Kentucky, where her par- ents removed shortly after the Civil war.
Mr. Cravens is a stockholder and director of the Bank of Lilbourn and also a stock- holder of the Lilbourn Electric Light Com- pany. He still conducts his livery-barn and blacksmith shop.
JOHN ASHLEY, M. D. Prominent among the citizens of foreign birth in Stoddard county, Missouri, is Dr. John Ashley, who . since 1898 has been engaged in the general practice of medicine at this point. His pro- fessional ability and prestige is on a par with his standing as a gentleman and a pub- lie-spirited member of society. He is a man of two-fold profession, having preceded his career as a physician by sixteen years as a elergyman of the Methodist Episcopal church, and he still retains his membership in the conference.
John Ashley was born in Cheshire, Eng-
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land, June 18, 1853, and spent his boyhood on a farm in his native land. He received his academic and medical training in that country, receiving his degree in 1874. He engaged in the practice of medicine and preaching, being located at Liverpool and Chester, and from 1882 until 1898 was out of regular practice, having previous to the first date (in 1878) been ordained to the min- istry of the Methodist church. He preached for a time in England and then in 1882 came to America to enter the St. Louis conference of the Methodist Episcopal church. Subse- quently he was sent to San Antonio, Texas, as supply, and he remained there for a year and a half previous to locating at Osceola, Missouri. He went there in January, 1884, and remained there for three years, the limit of the Methodist pastorate. His next re- moval was to Butler, Missouri, where he stayed one year; then went to Sedalia, Mis- souri, for two years; to Lebanon for two years: Lamar for two years; to Greenfield for three years; and then to Golden City, where he remained until 1898. His value as a minister of the Gospel was everywhere recog- nized and his services were devoted to pastoral work. Although no longer engaged in minis- terial service, he is still a member of the St. Louis conference as supernumerary.
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