USA > Missouri > History of southeast Missouri : a narrative account of its historical progress, its people and its principal interests, Volume II > Part 70
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Dr. Ashley found church work agreeable and satisfactory, but he believed that a field of even greater usefulness was presented by the profession he had abandoned, and accord- ingly located in Bloomfield to resume his medical practice. He came here as a minister of the Methodist Episcopal church, entering upon his duties in 1898. He is prominently identified with Stoddard county medical af- fairs and is a member and secretary of the Stoddard County Medical Society, having held said office since the society was organized in 1903. In 1910 he was made a vice presi- dent of the State Medical Society, and for six months during 1911 he has been an able mem- ber of the State Board of Health. In the American Medical and Southeastern Missouri Medical Associations he also holds member- ship, and he is a medical writer of high at- tainments and originality. He is a constant student of his profession and is ever alert to new scientific discoveries.
Dr. Ashley was married in Chester, Eng- land, on the 8th of July, 1878, to Hannah Hughes, daughter of Thomas Hughes, of Chester, England. This happy union has
been resultant in the following family of six children. Charles Leonard, who died in 1900, at the age of twenty-two years, was principal of the High school at Golden City, Missouri. This promising young man was a graduate of the Lamar high school and had also been a student in the State University. Millicent, wife of J. Herndon, a mining chemist at Salmon, Idaho, and graduate of the Rollo School of Mines, is an elocutionist of remark- able gifts and has won the entire series of Demorest medals, the silver, gold, grand gold and diamond-in successive years. Winifred is the wife of Dr. Spencer Clark, of Green- ville, Illinois. John Lucas is secretary, treas- urer and general manager of the Weber Ab- stract Company, of Bloomfield. Munford is a student in the Dental department of Wash- ington University, St. Louis, Missouri, and Vincent, a recent graduate of the Bloomfield high school, is a student in the American Medical College, St. Louis, Missouri.
ALBERT B. HUNTER is probably the largest grain dealer in this section of the country. In less than thirty years he has built up a busi- ness which averages a quarter of a million dollars a year, and besides this he is one of the large landholders of the region and a heavy stockholder in several corporations.
Samuel and Mary Ann (Lewis) Hunter were the parents of Mr. A. B. Hunter. They were both born in the county and the mother is still living here, at seventy-nine years, and still active. The father died in 1864, at thirty-five, meeting an accidental death. Albert B. was born July 8. 1855, and grew up on the farm six miles north of New Madrid. He received his education in the country schools and until he was twenty-eight stayed on his father's farm. In 1883 he started in the business of which he has made such a signal success, establishing a grain and gen- eral merchandise bouse in La Forge, this county. The venture was a success from the start and the receipts from the general store and grain house at La Forge are now from one hundred thousand dollars to one hundred and twenty-five thousand dollars a year. Mr. Hunter has his headquarters at this place for the six grain houses he owns in different towns. For eighteen years he has had an es- tablishment at East Prairie. His other branches are located at New Madrid, Ristine, Marsten and Lilbourn. Mr. Hunter says that the receipts from his grain business from
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October, 1910, to the same date in 1911 were about three hundred and forty thousand dol- lars.
Some of Mr. Hunter's other interests are farms, a bank and railways. He owns a total of seven thousand acres of land, six thousand of this being cleared and in one tract. An- other of his possessions is Hunter's Bank of New Madrid. This concern has a capital of twenty thousand dollars and a certified sur- plus of forty-five thousand dollars and is do- ing a rapidly increasing business. In the St. Louis and Missouri Sonthern Railway he owns ten thousand dollars worth of stock and is third vice president of the road. His resi- dence in New Madrid is the finest home in this part of the county.
Mrs. Albert Hunter was born in the county, near Point Pleasant, in 1862. She is a grand- daughter of Godfred Le Sieur, who wrote a history of the earthquakes in 1811 and 1812. This distinguished scholar was the father of Mrs. Hunter's mother, Amanda Le Sieur, who became the wife of John Pack, a phy- sician of note in the earlier days of New Madrid county. Ella Pack Hunter was born about two years before her father's death and four years before that of her mother. She is a member of the Roman Catholic church.
One of the four children of Mr. and Mrs. Hunter, Camille, born in 1890, is still at home. David R., born in 1881, is cashier in the bank. Henry, one year younger, is in the mule busi- ness in New Madrid, and Albert B., Junior, born in October, 1884, is a farmer and stock- raiser. All the brothers are married.
THOMAS BENTON TURNBAUGH, M. D. One of the most prominent and highly esteemed citizens of Bloomfield, Thomas B. Turnbaugh, M. D., is a physician of wide experience and has given much time and thought to the study of the various diseases to which mankind is heir, and to the processes of alleviating suffer- ing. He is a man of broad capacity, and has for years been active in religious affairs and in business circles, while as a strict Prohi- bitionist his influence has been felt in the arena of politics. A son of John J. Turn- baugh, he was born July 25, 1840, in Pitts-
field, Illinois, where the first ten years of his life was spent.
John J. Turnbaugh was born and reared in Kentucky, but as a young man established himself as a merchant in Pittsfield, Illinois. In 1842 he was commissioned by Governor Ford as major of the Seventy-fourth Regi- ment of the Illinois State Militia, and took part in the Mormon war of that period in and near Carthage, Illinois. In 1850 Major Turn- baugh came with his family to Jackson, Cape Girardeau county, Missouri, where for eight years he was engaged in mercantile pursuits, at the same time conducting a hotel. From 1858 until 1861, under the administration of President Buchanan, he was receiver of the U. S. Land Office, at Jackson, Missouri, and was there a resident until his death, in 1873, aged sixty-three years. Major Turnbaugh married Naney A. Morrison, who was born in Indiana and died in Jackson, Missouri, April 11, 1911, aged eighty-nine years. Of the eleven children born of their union several died in infancy and in later years, and five are now living, namely : Dr. Thomas B. Turn- bangh, the special subject of this brief sketch; two daughters living in Cape Girar- deau county, Mrs. Anna Obermiller, of Jack- son, and Mrs. James F. Brooks, of Cape Girardeau, and two daughters residing at La Jolla, California, Mrs. M. P. Dickinson and Mrs. Virginia Smith, widows.
A bright and scholarly student in his youth- ful days, Thomas Benton Turnbaugh was graduated from the Jackson Academy, in Jackson, Missouri, with high honors. The fol- lowing two years he was one of the instructors
Mr. Albert Hunter is a Democrat and, while he has not the slightest interest in poli- in the Jackson Academy, being under Dr. Ma- ties from an office-seeker's standpoint, he is counted a most influential member of the or- ganization. Although he does not care to accept any office himself, he has done much to put others into such positions.
ple, now of Cape Girardeau, the first year, and the second year being principal of the acad- emy, which is a preparatory school, having about sixty students in the institution and teaching Latin, Greek, geometry and trigo- nometry. In 1863 he began reading medicine, and was graduated from the medical depart- ment of Washington University, in Saint Louis, with the class of 1867, and was also valedictorian. Dr. Turnbaugh immediately began the practice of his profession at Four Mile, Dunklin county, a small place now de- funct, located near the present site of Camp- bell, remaining there ten years. Coming from there to Bloomfield in 1877, he has built up a large and lucrative practice in this vicinity, and has acquired a fine reputation for pro- fessional knowledge and skill. He is a mem- ber of the Stoddard County Medical Asso-
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ciation, and an honorary member of the Saint Louis Medical Association. For use in his practice he carries a good stock of pure drugs.
Sincerely devout in his religious convic- tions from his earliest youth, Dr. Turnbaugh was licensed to preach by the Jackson Bap- tist church in 1862, and was pastor of the Goshen church until 1864. In 1867 he organ- ized a Baptist church at Four Mile, and served as its pastor for ten years. From 1878 until 1888 the Doctor filled the pulpit of the Baptist church in Bloomfield, preaching as effectively and ably as he practiced medicine, interesting the community in his religious work and add- ing largely to the membership of the church, which had but forty members enrolled when he assumed its charge. The Doctor has at- tended many Baptist conventions, not only in Missouri but in Kentucky, Texas and at Hot Springs, Arkansas.
Dr. Turnbaugh is a loyal adherent of the Prohibition party. He was reared in the Democratic faith, and in 1874 represented Dunklin county in the Twenty-seventh Gen- eral Assembly, serving without special dis- tinction. He was afterwards defeated when a candidate for representative from Stoddard County to the State Legislature on the Pro- hibition ticket, although he came within one hundred and sixty-four votes of carrying the county, which is now "dry." Fraternally the Doctor is a member and past master of Bloomfield lodge, A. F. & A. M .; a member of Kennett chapter, No. 117, R. A. M .; and of Campbell Council, R. & S. M. He was for many years an active member of the local grange, and was the life of that organization.
Dr. Turnbaugh married, in November, 1867, Minerva A. Owen, who was born in Stoddard county, Missouri, in 1844. Her fa- ther, Judge R. P. Owen, for three terms judge of the judicial circuit, located in Bloomfield in 1841, and for years was a leading attorney in this community. The Doctor and Mrs. Turnbaugh have two sons, namely : John O., born in 1868, an insurance.man, and now in San Diego, California, with his mother for his health, the Doctor owning a house in that city ; and T. Ben, Jr., mayor of Bloomfield, of whom a brief sketch may be found following.
T. BEN TURNBAUGH. A public-spirited, in- fluential citizen of Bloomfield, T. Ben Turn- baugh, now serving as mayor of the city, is also a prominent business man, being actively engaged in the jewelry trade and having a well-stocked establishment. A native Mis-
sourian, he was born July 30, 1875, at Four Mile, Dunklin county. He grew to manhood in Bloomfield, acquiring his elementary educa- tion in the public schools and being gradu- ated from the William Jewell college, in Lib- erty, with the degree of A. B. in 1897.
Not caring to enter upon a professional ca- reer, Mr. Turnbaugh, in June, 1898, opened his present store, succeeding the well-known firm of J. C. Tribble & Son. Mr. Turnbaugh carries a fine line of jewelry and precious stones, and handles musical instruments of all kinds and novelties both pleasing and ar- tistic.
In April, 1911, Mr. Turnbangh was hon- ored by his fellow-citizens, who elected him to the mayor's chair, not because he was a stanch Democrat, as his election was not the result of party affiliations, but was the outcome of the people's belief in his integrity and his ability to advance the best interests of the municipality, the campaign motto having been "Let us make Bloomfield a better place in which to live." In the administration of affairs since assuming the duties of his office he has endeavored to carry out the wishes of the people, and is succeeding well, being ably seconded in his efforts by a wise, loyal and progressive people.
Mr. Turnbaugh married, October 31, 1900, Ellenor Drysdale, of Stoddard county, a daughter of Thomas Drysdale, a prosperous hardware merchant, and they have one child, Leonore. Mr. Turnbaugh is a strong advocate of temperance, and, with his family, attends the Baptist church.
Mr. Turnbaugh is a son of Dr. Thomas B. and Minerva A. (Owen) Turnbaugh, who have resided in Bloomfield for a quarter of a century, his father being a well-known phy- sician, of whom a brief sketch may be found on another page of this work.
JOHN H. YESBERG. It is as postmaster and grocer that John H. Yesberg stands in rela- tion to the community of Pevely, Jefferson county, Missouri, and both as a genial and ef- ficient servant of Uncle Sam and an up-to-date merchant who brings the best afforded by the market within the reach of the people who are his fellow townsmen Mr. Yesberg is a success. He is a native of the city of St. Louis, his birth having occurred there on July 23, 1874. His father, John Yesberg, Sr., was born in Oberassven, Germany, February 6, 1843, and like many another young Teuton who has en- riched the citizenship of the land of the stars
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and stripes he early came to the conclusion to try his fortunes in the much-vannted land of "Opportunity" on the other side of the At- lantic. He came to America about the year 1870 and was married in 1872 to Katie Scha- fer, of Lisa, Germany, who had, like her hus- band, left her native land in youth. They have four children, the subject being eldest in order of birth and the others being Katie, now Mrs. Phil M. Reilly, Ferdinand W., and William J. The elder man served in the Ger- man army for the necessary period and learned the cooper's trade, and after locating in St. Louis he followed that trade until 1876, when he removed with his little family to Schmidt Station, in the vicinity of Pevely. He survives and is the owner of extensive farming property, he and his estimable wife enjoying in comfort the fruits of their previ- ous industry and thrift. His politics is Re- publican and he is influential on the right side in all public matters, being a prominent and highly esteemed citizen.
The scene of the life of John H. Yesberg has thus far been laid in Jefferson county. He was educated in the common schools and when yet a lad worked on various farms for the modest stipend which such labor affords. He had also a good deal of experience as a dairy worker. In 1889 he accepted a posi- tion as a clerk in the general store of J. W. Matheis at Pevely, and when Mr. Matheis sold out the concern to Mr. A. D. Davis, Mr. Yes- berg stayed with the store as a necessary fix- ture. It changed hands several times, and the subject remained with it. At last Mr. J. F. Meier became its owner and took it to an- other location. From there he went to work for H. J. Henkel, a merchant, with a post- office in the same building, and Mr. Yes- berg was chosen as clerk of the same. While with him (in 1906) he received the ap- pointment of postmaster of Pevely by Presi- dent Roosevelt, his excellent citizenship hav- ing recommended him to this trust. Its duties not requiring all his time and energy, in 1908 he opened a grocery store independently and the store and the postoffice are situated in the same building. He is now serving his second term as postmaster.
Mr. Yesberg was married in 1900, Miss Carrie K. Stahl, of Sulphur Springs, Missouri, becoming his wife. They share their pleasant home with one son-Arthur J.
OSCAR McNIEL, sheriff of Stoddard county, is one of the prominent citizens of this section
and is unselfishly devoted to the cause of law and order of which he is the official champion. He is one of the standard bearers of the local Democratic party and extremely popular, his election to the office of sheriff having been a great personal triumph, as the campaign was an extremely warm one. He is a native of Bloomfield and is very loyal to the interests of a locality which is dear to him with the as- sociations of life-long residence. His birth- date was March 19, 1874, and his parents, Jesse F. and Nancy Jane (Johnson) McNiel. The father was a native of the Old Dominion and served in the Army of the Confederacy under Lee, surrendering with that great Southern commander at Appomattox Court House after four years' devotion to the cause which he believed to be just. He was wounded at Vicksburg, but recovered suffi- ciently to continue to the end of the war. At the close of the great struggle he came to Mis- souri and engaged in the shoemaker's trade, working at the bench at Bloomfield and con- tinuing thus honestly and industriously em- ployed throughout the course of his life. His wife, who survives, was a daughter of Ben Johnson, of Bloomfield, a well-known market gardener. Mr. Johnson was a soldier in the Union army and his demise occurred in this place, which was the birthplace of Mrs. Mc- Niel, the elder.
Mr. MeNiel had the misfortune to lose his father when a lad but eleven years of age, and the family was left in serious circumstances, for young Oscar had four younger brothers and sisters. He shouldered no small part of the responsibilities and doubtless this early discipline had a definite part in moulding a character of unusual strength and firmness. When the youngest child was twelve years of age and Oscar had not yet bade farewell to his teens his mother was summoned to the life eternal and the little family was again left without a head. His first adventures in the workaday world was as a farm laborer, work- ing for eight dollars per month at first and giving most of this to his mother. He worked seven years for George W. Bobbitt, whose eld- est daughter he married. In the days when the wolf howled about the doorstep, the brave mother took in washing to support the fam- ily. She subsequently married Charles Young and after his death married James Grimm, who survived her. The children of the first marriage were as follows: Oscar; Virgie, who married Lee Young and died at the early age of twenty-six years; Rosa, who died at the age
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of fourteen years; and Willie, a citizen of Kennet, Missouri.
On March 6, 1899, Mr. MeNiel laid the foundation of a happy and congenial mar- riage, Miss Emma E. Bobbitt, daughter of the subject's former employer, George W. Bob- bitt, becoming his wife. They began life in very modest circumstances, but their industry and thrift put them on the high road towards success. For a time he worked for N. M. Cobb, ex-sheriff, for seventy-five cents per day, boarding himself. By the means of strictest economy the young couple finally succeeded in securing funds to buy a horse, which, with one the wife owned, made a team. They rented land for two years and then took a three year lease on a tract.
They then removed to a rented property of one hundred acres, located six miles east of Bloomfield Bottom, near Idalia, and there they spent six years. Mr. and Mrs. McNiel now reside at Bloomfield, Missouri.
In the year 1908 Mr. McNiel made his first entry into public life, becoming a candidate for sheriff; he was duly elected and assumed office January 1, 1909. The campaign was one of the most interesting and hard-fought in the history of that section. No less than six candidates entered the field. for the nom- ination, one having been sheriff for six terms and one having had twelve years' experience in the position in days past. The subject's friends, who are indeed numerous, rallied to his support and he received the nomination. He is now serving the first four-year term ever served by a sheriff in this county. He gives his best energies to the office, by de- voted service demonstrating the wisdom of the choice of his constituents. His deputy is G. M. Barham, one of his boyhood friends who lived in the neighborhood of his old home and with whom he was wont to "swap" fishing experiences and like interests. He is a tried and true Democrat and has always worked for the good of his party and the cause of his political friends, and he is pos- sessed of considerable influence in party ranks. At the last election he led his ticket, beating Bryan by one hundred and forty votes. He borrowed one hundred dollars to make the race.
Mr. and Mrs. McNiel have five children, all of whom are still sheltered beneath the roof- tree. They are by name: Flo, Fay, George, Mildred and Irene. Norman, the fifth child, died at the age of eighteen months. Mrs. Mc- Niel is a zealous member of the Missionary
Baptist church and Mr. MeNiel takes no small amount of interest in the affairs of the fol- lowing quartet of organizations with which he is affiliated : the Knights of the Macca- bees ; the Court of Honor; the American Yeo- men ; and the Independent Order of Odd Fel- lows. He enjoys his vacations with rod and gun and is typical of the good citizenship of Southeastern Missouri.
WILLIAM H. WHITTEN was born in Missis- sippi county, Missouri, in 1870. His parents were both natives of Illinois, where the mother died when William was very young, and the father's death occurred in August, 1900. He was brought up by his grandfather and an unele, both of whom lived in Southern Illinois. Mr. Whitten attended. school in Metropolis City, Illinois, and at an early age went to work in the factories. He was em- ployed in a saw mill, in a wool factory and in a plough-handle factory during the four years when he was working in this line. He began work at the wages of twenty cents a day. His first raise was to forty cents and before he quit that sort of work he was re- ceiving a dollar and a quarter a day.
Upon leaving the factory Mr. Whitten went to Tiptonville, Tennessee, where he worked on a farm for a year. Then, in 1886, he came to this county and rented thirty acres of land. He has continued to rent and farm tracts of increasing size ever since. He now works about seventy acres, doing general farming and raising some stock. His chief crops are corn and cotton.
In 1889 Mr. Whitten was married to Miss Rosy Gadar, of this county. They have four children, three at home, Nellie, Thaddeus and Lena, and one daughter, Mamie, married to Mr. Charles McGee, mentioned elsewhere in this work. Mr. Whitten is a member of the time-honored Masonic fraternity and also of the Woodmen of the World. His political al- legiance is given to the Democratic party.
THOMAS EWING TRIBBLE, M. D. In this lo- cality the name of Tribble stands for pro- gress, and the death of Dr. Thomas Ewing Tribble, physician and drug merchant, on February 9, 1911, deprived Bloomfield and Stoddard county of a potent influence in the direction of development. Not only was he an ornament to his profession, but he brought about many benefits, being an innovator in the best sense of the word. Wherever he re- sided this has been the case, and he was fre-
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quently misunderstood, from the fact that he was often ahead of the status of the locality. He was very loyal to the interests of Bloom- field, serving it in every way possible, and his home, with its classic beauty, was one of the glories of the city.
Dr. Tribble was born in Franklin, Simpson county, Kentucky, October 19, 1856, and was in the prime of life when summoned to the "Undiscovered Country," being a little over fifty-four years of age. He was the scion of excellent families, a son of Nelson and Hen- rietta (Reed) Tribble, the latter a cousin of the late Thomas Brackett Reed, the noted Maine statesman, who was speaker of the House of Representatives at Washington for several terms and a prominent candidate for the presidential nomination. When approach- ing manhood Dr. Tribble became drawn to the medical profession and received his train- ing in the medical department of the Univer- sity of Tennessee, being graduated with the class of 1883. Shortly after graduation he engaged in the practice of his profession at Grain Valley, Missouri, and he then. to find a larger opening. removed to Bloomfield and after three years' residence went on to Kan- sas City, where he remained for about a twelvemonth. When the lands in Oklahoma were opened up to settlement, he became in- terested in the matter and was aboard the first train that steamed into Guthrie. There his natural gifts of leadership and his unusual ability readily placed him at the front and he was honored by being made president of the county board of health and United States pen- sion surgeon. He later returned to Bloom- field and here remained until his death. en- gaged in the practice of his profession and the proprietorship of the Tribble Drug Company.
Dr. Tribble spent five years in the new town of Guthrie, Oklahoma, where he met with success. In Guthrie was also located his wife's father, W. W. Duncan, who built the first roller flour mill in that locality in 1891. The charms of Bloomfield ever remained vivid with Dr. Tribble, and in 1893 he returned and resumed his practice, which had always been of a thriving character. Five years later he opened the Tribble Drug Company, but at the same time continued an office practice, his failing health having felt the strain of visit- ing. He gave faithful and efficient service as county physician for six vears, this being in two periods of service. He also established a. cement block, sills. etc., plant at Bloomfield and owned the nicest and best home in south-
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