USA > Missouri > History of southeast Missouri : a narrative account of its historical progress, its people and its principal interests, Volume II > Part 7
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HISTORY OF SOUTHEAST MISSOURI
some money while there, Mr. Poe in 1902 opened a smithy of his own, putting in one hundred and twenty-five dollars worth of tools, and in its management has met with well- merited success. As his large and constantly increasing patronage demanded more efficient service, he added to his tools and equipments until he has now machinery and appliances valued at two thousand, five hundred dollars, his shop being one of the best and most up- to-date of any similar plant in Southeastern Missouri. A few years ago Mr. Poe pur- chased a grist mill, in which he employs three men, the mill having a capacity of fifteen bushels an hour.
In 1906 Mr. Poe, with characteristic enter- prise and ambition, rented a building on Main street, and there for about two years dealt in second hand furniture. Succeeding far beyond his expectations in his venture, he purchased a lot, erected a brick building, forty by one hundred feet, and in 1909 es- tablished his present mercantile business, which is one of the largest of the kind in this part of the county, his stock of furniture be- ing choice in quality and his sales unusually large for a town no larger than Senath. In addition to owning his store, smithy and mill, Mr. Poe has a half acre of land in his home lot and a substantial residence. This prop- erty he has acquired by his own energy, laboring in season and out, sometimes by night as well as day, having done much of the work on his home by lamp light.
Mr. Poe married, in 1899, in Dunklin county, Hetta Freeman, who was born in Stoddard county, near Bloomfield, and into their pleasant home three children have made their advent, namely: Bernice, Elton A. and Vivian N. In his political affiliations Mr. Poe is a Republican, but has never sought public office. Fraternally he is a member of Senath Lodge, No. 513, of A. F. & A. M., of Senath ; of Helm Chapter, R. A. M., of Kennett; of Campbell Council, R. & S. M .; of the Valley of Saint Louis Consistory, of Corinth; of Moolah Temple, A. A. O. N. M. S .. of St. Louis; and of Eutopia Lodge, No. 283, I. O. O. F.
JOSIAH M. WHITE. Among the useful, highly honored and influential citizens of this part of Missouri is Josiah M. White, county clerk of Madison county. He is a thoroughly representative man and as such is well en- titled to place in this compilation. He has held the important office above mentioned
since January 1. 1907, and his services have been of the most enlightened and satisfactory character. He is a native son of Madison county, his birth having occurred at what is known as White Springs on March 6, 1858, the son of William B. M. and Sarah ( Kelly) White. The father was born in 1829 in the state of Tennessee and was the son of the Rev. Elias White, a minister of the Methodist Episcopal church who came to Southeastern Missouri about 1835. He was a very well- known minister and devoted his life to the cause he represented. He was native to Giles county, Tennessee. William B. M. White had two brothers and four sisters, all of whom found their way to this state. The eldest brother, John White, served in the Mexican war and now all of the number are deceased with the exception of the subject's father. He was reared in this vicinity and engaged in farming and in the lumber busi- ness here and near Fredericktown. He was a soldier in the Confederate army, serving under Colonel Kitchens for three years. His military career was somewhat adventurous and he was captured about the close of the war.
Sarah Kelly, mother of the immediate subject of this record, was born in Madison county, and died in January, 1902. She was a daughter of Robert Kelly, who was of Irish descent. That gentleman settled in Madison county and followed agricultural pursuits. Sarah was very active in the affairs of the Methodist Episcopal church. She had two sisters and four brothers, all of whom have passed on to the Undiscovered Country.
Josiah M. White is one of a family con- sisting of three brothers and one sister, all of whom are living at the present time. Rufus T. is a hotel proprietor of Ironton, Missouri; Robert E. is engaged in the lumber business at Marquand, Missouri; the sister, Miss Emma, resides with her father at Frederick- town, Missouri.
Mr. White finds this section replete with many associations, for here he was born and reared and he resided here continuously un- til about the age of twenty years. He then spent some time in Iron and Saint Francois counties, principally in the former, where he engaged in mining and in the lumber busi- ness, in which he continued until 1902. He then embarked in a new line of business .- the mercantile-at Marquand, Madison coun- ty, and his identification with that line of enterprise continued until his acceptance of
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his present office in 1907. He is a Democrat in politics and is very enthusiastic in his en- dorsement of the policies and principles of the party of Jefferson, Jackson and Cleve- land.
Mr. White was united in marriage to Miss Jessie Newcum, a native of Madison county, and a daughter of Bennett Newcum, a con- tractor and carpenter, now deceased. He was one of the early residents hereabout. His wife died in 1908. Mrs. White is a mem- ber of the Christian church, but her husband favors the Methodist Episcopal. They share their pleasant home .with two daughters and a son, namely : Claude, now of St. Louis, where he is employed; and Florence and Lil- lian, who are at home.
Mr. White is a Royal Arch Mason and is also affiliated with the Independent Order of Odd Fellows and the Modern Woodmen of America. The family maintains its home at Southport.
MELBOURNE SMITH, editor of the Lead Belt News, is one of the able representatives of the Fourth Estate in this part of the state, the publication of which he is the head standing as a fit moulder of public opinion and re- corder of the events of the many-sided life of the community. One of our greatest American writers has penned the lines
"There was a young fellow of excellent pith, Fate tried to obscure him by naming him Smith."
But in the case of the subject, as in that of the hero of the couplet, Fate seems des- tined to frustration in her nefarious designs.
Melbourne Smith is a native son of Mis- sonri, his birth having occurred at Marble Hill, Bollinger county, on December 9, 1882. He is the son of that well-known statesman and lawyer, Madison R. Smith, member of Congress from the Thirteenth district of Mis- souri. The elder gentleman was born July 9, 1850, at Glen Allen, Missouri, and received his preliminary education in the public schools, later entering Central College at Fayette, and preparing for the law under Louis IIouck, of Cape Girardeau, Missouri. He was admitted to the bar at Marble Hill in 1874 and he was united in marriage to Nan- nie Leech of Cape Girardeau January 12, 1881. To this union five children were born, namely : Melbourne, Alma, Taylor, Bab and Buntie. The family removed to Farmington about the year 1888 and there the head of the
house engaged in the practice of law. An able man and one of high ideals of citizen- ship, he soon received marked political pre- ferment, representing his district in the state Senate from 1887 until 1891 and giving most loyal and efficient service to his constituents. He acted as reporter of the St. Louis Court of Appeals from 1901 until 1904 and in 1907 reached the zenith of his career, going as rep- resentative of the Thirteenth Missouri Dis- trict to the Sixtieth Congress, his tenure of office lasting from 1907 to 1909. The Hon. Mr. Smith is a stanch supporter of the prin- ciples of Democracy and he is a prominent Mason. The religious faith of the family is that of the Southern Methodist church. Mad- ison R. Smith is at the present time counsel for the Federal Trust Company of St. Louis and he also acts in the same capacity for the Houck Railroads. He is located at Farming- ton at the present time.
The early education of Melbourne Smith was secured in the public schools of Farming- ton and he subsequently attended a number of well-known institutions. These were Elm- wood Seminary and Carlton College of Farm- ington; Branham & Hughes School at Spring Hill, Tennessee; and Central College at Fayette, Missouri. He exhibited marked at- tainments in scholarship and in 1902 re- ceived the degree of A. B. from the last named institution. After his graduation he became connected in 1903 with the Republi- can of Cape Girardeau. About a year later, -on June 9, 1904, he accepted a position on the St. Louis Republican and remained with that well-known newspaper for the fol- lowing three years. When his father was sent to the National Assembly in Washing- ton, D. C., Mr. Smith went with him as his secretary and he remained in the national capital during the session of 1907-1909. He subsequently became connected with the Fed- eral Trust Company and remained with that organization until March, 1911, when he es- tablished himself upon a more independent footing, by becoming editor and publisher of the Lead Belt News, at Flat River. This paper represents the political principles for which the Messrs. Smith have ever main- tained great loyalty,-the Democratic-and is a live and excellently conducted sheet.
On June 26, 1908, Mr. Smith was united in marriage to Miss Helen Albert, daughter of L. J. Albert, president of the Bank of Cape Girardeau. This happy union was of brief duration, Mrs. Smith's demise occurring
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HISTORY OF SOUTHEAST MISSOURI
. in March, 1909, at Farmington. She is sur- vived by one son, Albert. Mr. Smith is an earnest member of the Methodist Episcopal church, South and holds membership in the Masonic lodge. He is widely and favorably known and stands as a valuable member of society.
AUGUST H. BRECKENKAMP, secretary and treasurer of the Missouri Meerschaum Com- pany of Washington, is one of the native sons of the county who have manifested their un- usual loyalty to the section which gave them birth by electing to remain permanently within its pleasant boundaries. He was born in the country near this city, November 22, 1866, and upon his christening day received the entire patronymic of his father, August H. Breckenkamp, Sr. The elder gentleman was also a native of the state, Franklin county being the scene of his nativity and its date December 22, 1840. He passed to the Great Beyond in August, 1904. His parents came to the United States from Germany in the year of his birth and settled among their countrymen in Franklin county. The name of the grandfather was Louis. In his de- scendant, the subject, are apparent those ex- cellent characteristics which make Germany one of America's favorite sources of immi- gration.
August H. Breckenkamp, Sr., received such education as the primitive Missouri schools of his day and generation afforded. During the period of the Civil war he was one of the militia ready for service upon call of the Federal government and soon after the attainment of peace he moved into Washing- ton and there engaged in business. In course of time he associated himself with J. M. Degen in the organization of the Degen & Breckenkamp Manufacturing Company, in the planing mill, lumber and flour mill busi- ness, which concern, some years later, united with the Detmold Pipe Works and this com- hine was ultimately absorbed by the H. Tibbe & Sons Manufacturing Company, now known as the Missouri Meerschaum Company. The elder Mr. Breckenkamp was a Republican, and there was nothing of public import at Washington and in the surrounding country in which he was not helpfully interested. He was for several years public administrator of Franklin county and gave service of the most faithful and enlightened character. He married Catherine Kappelmann, a daughter of Henry Kappelmann and born at Buch-
holzhausen, Prussia, Germany. They became the parents of the following children: August H .; Catherine, wife of E. A. Hopfer, of Alma, Kansas; Edward, who died unmar- ried; and Clara, now Mrs. A. E. Ritzmann, of Washington, Missouri.
August H. Breckenkamp, Jr., immediate subject of this biographical record, acquired his education in the public schools and at the age of eighteen he associated himself with E. H. Otto, as a member of the firm of Otto & Breckenkamp. After several years of this association he entered the firm of Degen & Breckenkamp, above referred to, and fol- lowed its many vicissitudes to its final ab- sorption by the Missouri Meerschaum Com- pany, of which he is now secretary and treas- urer. This cob pipe factory represents one of the old enterprises of Washington, its establishment dating from the year 1878, and it stands as a monument to H. Tibbe, its author and founder. Its possession is of the greatest importance to Washington, city and county, providing a market for labor and for that usually useless article-the corn cob. It does its share toward the general prosperity and at the same time has experienced no small success of its own. Mr. Breckenkamp has served as a member of the city council of Washington and gives heart and hand to the men and measures of the Republican party, with which he has been affiliated since his earliest voting days.
Mr. Breckenkamp was married, January 15, 1888. to Miss Emily Otto, a sister of George H. Otto, mentioned on other pages of this work. She is a daughter of W. H. Otto. Mr. and Mrs. Breckenkamp share their de- lightful home with two sons, Otto and August. The family are Lutherans in their religious faith.
HENRY HAYNES. Thomas Jefferson is credited with saying, "Let the farmer for- evermore he honored in his calling; for al- though he labor in the earth, he is one of the chosen people of God." Agriculture has been the chief business of Mr. Haynes during life and his industry, thrift and progressive- ness have been rewarded with success mate- rially, while his good citizenship has won him the respect of the community. Henry Haynes was born in Bollinger county, Mis- souri, on the 22nd day of October, 1855, and is the son of Daniel J. and Sophia C. Haynes, both natives of the state of Missouri. The paternal grandfather was a son of Mathew
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HISTORY OF SOUTHEAST MISSOURI
and Fanny Haynes, who were born in North Carolina and there lived out their useful lives.
The immediate subject of this biographical record was reared upon his father's home- stead and there spent the roseate days of boyhood and youth. He secured his educa- tion in the public schools and when it came to choosing a vocation he easily came to a de- cision to follow in the paternal footsteps. He made an independent start when in 1880 he began agricultural operations on a part of his father's farm near Castor, Missouri, the same comprising one hundred and ten acres of land. He prospered from the first and in later years bought two hundred and forty acres more, then giving the original one hun- dred and ten acres to his son, C. A. Haynes. He devotes his energies to general farming and stock raising and he is interested in all that tends to advance and unify the agricul- tural element in this section of the great state of Missouri.
Mr. Haynes was happily married on the 9th day of December, 1880, the lady to be- come his wife being Miss Eliza C. Rickman, daughter of James E. and Elizabeth Rick- man, natives of Alabama and Missouri, re- spectively. Their union has been blessed by the birth of three children. James E., born in 1881, took as his wife Eva Cooper and he resides near Lutesville and is a merchant; Charles A., born in 1884, is married to Clara Shetby and is engaged in farming at his grandfather's homestead; Bessie L., the youngest member of the family, born in 1894, still resides beneath the home roof and is now in college, fulfilling her desire for an educa- tion.
Mr. Haynes and his wife are prominent and helpful members of the Baptist church, and the head of the house is in harmony with the policies and principles of the Democratic party, to which he has given his vote since he first attained to his majority.
D. M. RIGDON, after starting out in life in the pedagogical field, has turned his energies to agriculture. Every year there are more men who become farmers for themselves, which is a very desirable condition of affairs. It seems suitable that a man should receive the rewards of his own labor and in no place is this so much the case as on the farm.
D. M. Rigdon was born in Fayette county, in the southern part of central Illinois, April 1, 1873. The first four years of his life were
spent ou his father's farm, at which time the family moved to Vandalia, where the son went to school. In 1887 he moved to Bol- linger county with his father, where he at- tended the public school and later was one year at the Mayfield Smith Academy at Mar- ble Hill. For the next six years he taught school in Bollinger, Stoddard and Dunklin counties. In 1898 he moved to a little farm of sixty-one acres which was owned by his wife. After a little over a year had elapsed he moved to the farm where he is at pres- ent, two and three quarter miles south of Kennett, where he bought one hundred and twenty acres of land on credit. At the time when he made the change, March, 1899, the land was very much run down, but he has cultivated it with as much care as he trained the minds of his pupils in his teaching days. He has built four miles of wire fence and the place is now well drained. He has built a barn sixty-eight by seventy-eight feet and has put up farm buildings. He raises cot- ton and corn for the most part, but he uses a large part of his land for pasture, on which are cattle, horses, mules and hogs, indeed all kinds of live stock.
In 1898 he married Miss Melissa Thomas, of Dunklin county. Three children have been born to the union, Carl, Vivian and Fred. Mr. Rigdon takes an interest in politics and has been once a delegate to the Democratic convention. He belongs to the Ancient Free and Accepted Masons and Mrs. Rigdon is an active member of the Christian church. She was born in Tennessee, in 1869, a daughter of J. E. Thomas, a prominent farmer and citi- zen, and also a large land owner of Dunklin county, and an early resident. He was a Democrat and was the founder and a charter member of the Christian church of his com- munity. Mr. Rigdon lives a happy, contented life, respected by his fellows and loved by all his friends.
Z. T. HICKS. Noteworthy among the thriving members of the mercantile com- munity of Kennett is Z. T. Hicks, who has achieved success in his career through his own efforts, his habits of industry and hon- esty having been well rewarded. He was born September 18, 1849, at Dover, Stewart county, Tennessee, about seventy miles north of Nashville. A wide-awake, ambitious boy, he joined the Confederate army soon after entering his teens, enlisting in Septem- ber, 1862, in a company of cavalry com-
.
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manded by Colonel Woodward, who was killed at the engagement in Hopkinsville, Kentucky, his successor having been Colonel Lee Sipert, who served with his command under General Lyon.
This young soldier saw service in Ken- tucky, Tennessee, Alabama, Mississippi and Georgia, at one time helping to capture one of Sherman's supply trains. Mr. Hicks took part in many skirmishes, and was at the front in the battles at Nashville and Frank- lin, at the latter place seeing some hard fight- ing. During the retreat of Hood's Army through Alabama, he kept at the rear, and although the greater part of his brigade was captured in Alabama he managed to escape, an order having been given for each man to look out for himself. Making his way as rapidly as he could back to Tennessee, Mr. Hicks went to his old hime, near the Ohio river, where he remained for a few months, living with a Colonel who had served under General Forrest; he afterwards worked for his father, and never surrendered or took the oath of allegiance.
Coming to Missouri in the fall of 1870, Mr. Hicks located in Kennett on the tenth day of December, and has since been a resi- dent of this city. He worked at first on a farm, or in the timber regions, and for eight winters followed trapping and hunting, catching beaver, otter and other fur-bearing animals, finding both pleasure and profit in the work, each season filling a contract with a dealer in furs. Mr. Hicks also ran a dray in Kennett for a time, and took some con- tracts for levee making along the Saint Francois river, building four miles of it and doing some other work along the same line. For the past five years Mr. Hicks has been successfully engaged in business for himself, as a dealer in coal and wood having a large and lucrative trade. He has accumulated a fair share of this world's goods, and owns an entire block in Rose Park, where he has a neat and attractive home.
Mr. Hicks married, June 17, 1883, Drusilla Seeley, who was born in Tennessee, but was brought up in Clay county, Arkansas. Two children have been born to Mr. and Mrs. Hicks, but both died in infancy. They, how- ever, reared an orphan child from the age of two years until fourteen years old. Mr. and Mrs. Hicks are both trustworthy members of the Baptist church, and he is a Democrat in political affiliations.
FRANK ALEXANDER JOHNSTON, first mayor. of Crystal City after the incorporating act of June 3, 1911, is a thoroughly educated, trained and worthy representative of its busi- ness and public interests. He was born in Pennsylvania October 25, 1874, and is a son of Joseph and Martha (Flemming) Johnston. The father was also a native of the Key- stone state, born in 1848, and served in the Civil war as a mere youth. Thus trained and matured, even beyond his years, at the con- clusion of the awful conflict he settled in Venango county and engaged in the oil busi- ness; in 1866 he evidently longed for a more peaceful and secure occupation, for in that year he located on a farm in that section of the state, where he lived and labored until his death, at the age of sixty-three.
Frank Alexander Johnston was the fourth child in a family of five, and received his early education in the country and high schools of Homer City, Pennsylvania. After finishing his advanced courses, he taught school for five years, and then established himself as a merchant at Irwin, that state, continuing his mercantile career at Ford City. In 1902 Mr. Johnston became a citi- zen of Missouri, becoming one of the founders of Valley Park and its first merchant. He remained in that town until his coming to Crystal City in 1907. Mr. Johnston and his brothers had established a flourishing general store at Valley Park, St. Louis county; in fact, the business was such as to warrant the opening of another store at Crystal City, and it was for that purpose that Frank A. be- came a citizen of the place. That he found a substantial welcome is evident both from the growth of the Crystal City enterprise and that when the place was ready to assume the municipal garb his name was almost unani- mously presented to the Judge of the County Court for appointment to the mayoralty. In his religious belief he is a Presbyterian and attends the lodge meetings of the Modern Woodmen of America.
In 1900 Mr. Johnston married Miss Ellen Naysmith, of Ford City, Pennsylvania, and their home is a center of hearty and cultured hospitality.
WILLIAM H. HATCHER, M. D. For a num- ber of years Dr. William H. Hatcher has been connected with the upbuilding of Perry- ville and he has just reason to be proud of the fact that to his efforts can be traced many a
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substantial enterprise or advancement con- tributing greatly to the growth and prosper- ity of this section of the state. In every sense of the word he is a representative citizen and a physician and surgeon of unusual ability. It is to the inherent force of character, the commendable ambition and the unremitting diligence of Dr. Hatcher himself that he has progressed in the professional world until he now occupies a leading place in the medical fraternity of Missouri.
A native of Cape Girardeau county, Dr. William H. Hatcher was born at Pocahontas, on the 2nd of September, 1863, and he is a son of James D. and Amanda K. (Wilson) Hatcher, the former of whom was born in the eastern part of Cape Girardeau county and the latter of whom claimed Cape Girardeau county as the place of her nativity. The father of James D. Hatcher was of German extraction and his wife traced her ancestry back to stanch Irish stock. Reared to ma- turity in Cape Girardeau county, James D. Hatcher early engaged in agricultural pur- suits and for a number of years he lived on a farm in Illinois, later returning to his na- tive place where he purchased the old Wilson homestead. He was summoned to the life eternal in the year 1908 and his cher- ished and devoted wife passed to the great beyond in 1905. Mr. and Mrs. James D. Hatcher became the parents of ten children, of whom the Doctor was the second in order of birth and of whom six are living at the present time, in 1911.
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