History of southeast Missouri : a narrative account of its historical progress, its people and its principal interests, Volume II, Part 78

Author: Douglass, Robert Sidney. 4n
Publication date: 1912
Publisher: Chicago : The Lewis Pub. Co.
Number of Pages: 802

USA > Missouri > History of southeast Missouri : a narrative account of its historical progress, its people and its principal interests, Volume II > Part 78

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Mr. Hux married, March 2, 1884, Fannie B. Bradford, who was born in Tennessee and as a child came to Stoddard county, Missouri, with her father. H. J. Bradford, a farmer, and her step-mother, in 1874, locating near Dexter. She was educated for a teacher in Fredonia, Missouri, but never taught school, preferring to become the bride of Mr. Hux. Mr. and Mrs. Hux have seven children, namely : Anna, a graduate of Martha Wash- ington College, at Abingdon, Virginia, is the wife of Dr. J. P. Brandon, of Essex; Edna, a graduate of the same college, is the wife of C. L. Harrison, of Essex; William J., Jr., was graduated from the Emory and Mary College, in Emory, Virginia, and is now at- tending the medical department of Vander- bilt University, in Nashville, Tennessee, be- ing a member of the class of 1912; Naomi, a graduate of the Martha Washington College, odist Episcopal church, which Mr. Hux as- sisted in organizing, and whose church build- ing and parsonage he practically built. Fra- ternally he is a member and past master of Dexter Lodge, No. 532, A. F. & A. M., and a charter member and past master of Essex Lodge, No. 278, A. F. & A. M., which he has represented at the Grand Lodge and at the State Lodge of Instruction; and of Charles-

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ton Chapter, No. 19, R. A. M. He is active in lodge work, and has been influential in having as many as twenty children sent to the Masonic Home, in which he has a diploma for life membership. Mr. Hux has proved himself ever ready to lend a helping hand to worthy persons, or to any good work, being of a deeply sympathetic and charitable na- ture, and animated by the broadest spirit of humanitarianism.

DAVID MARCUS RAY, M. D., who is en- gaged in the practice of medicine and sur- gery in the vicinity of Bernie, Stoddard county, Missouri, possesses all the requisite qualities of the successful physician, for, added to his broad and accurate learning concerning the principles of his profession, he has a genial manner and a sunshiny, hopeful nature which cannot fail to have its effect upon his patients. His courteous sympathy as well as his professional skill have gained him distinctive prestige during the many years of his residence in South- eastern Missouri. In addition to the work of his profession Dr. Ray is the owner of a great deal of valuable farming property in Stoddard county, his present home being on an estate of 80 acres eligibly located 31/2 miles distant from Bernie. He owns alto- gether 240 acres, all improved land.

A native of Tennessee, Dr. Ray was born in the city of Nashville, on the 1st of April, 1847, and he is a son of Henry and Lamora K. (Glasgow) Ray, both of whom are now deceased. The father was born in Bruns- wick county Virginia, and being doubly or- phaned at the age of twelve years he was brought at that time by his guardian to Ten- nessee. As a youth he entered upon an ap- prenticeship at the carpenter's trade serv- ing in that capacity for a period of six years. Thereafter he became overseer on a gigantic plantation, having the management of the estate and the numerous slaves for a period of seventeen years, at the expiration of which he became a contractor and build- er at Nashville. During the latter six years of his life he resided on a farm near Nash- ville and his death occurred in the year 1867, aged sixty-seven years, his birth oc- curring April 4, 1800. His cherished and devoted wife passed to the life eternal in the year 1873, aged sixty-seven years.

Dr. Ray passed his boyhood and youth in the city of Nashville, to whose public schools he is indebted for his preliminary educa-

tional training. As a boy he was appren- ticed to the distiller's business, but not lik- ing that work and having set his heart on the medical profession as a boy, he eventu- ally left the distillery in which he was em- ployed and began a course of lectures. This was in the year 1873, and for the ensuing five years he was variously employed, doing everything in his power to earn his way through the Nashville Medical College, in which he was graduated as a member of the class of 1878, duly receiving his degree of Doctor of Medicine. Immediately after his graduation he came to Missouri, locating in Stoddard county, where he rapidly built up an extensive country practice and where he has been engaged in the work of his profes- sion for a period of some thirty-three years. In the early days he was the only doctor in this section and later one out of ten repre- sentative physicians and surgeons. This necessitated his traveling extensively on horseback in the pioneer days and he cov- ered the territory between Dexter and Clarkston, a distance of some twenty miles. His home being but half a mile from the country line, he has practiced almost as much in Dunklin county as in Stoddard and he is everywhere recognized for his sterling in- tegrity and unusual skill in the work of his chosen labor. In the early days the settlers were scattered and Cotton Hill was then a mere trading post. In 1888 Dr. Ray set- tled on his present farm, located three and a half miles southwest of Bernie, and here in addition to his large patronage he has de- voted considerable attention to farming and stock-raising. His present farm was orig- inally a swamp but recognizing the fine quality of the soil in the same the Doctor purchased a tract of forty acres, paying for the same a sum of four hundred dollars. Later he added a tract of eighty acres, at fifteen hundred dollars, and still later other tracts. paying all the way from four dollars to twenty-five dollars an acre for his land. He is now the owner of 240 acres of land in Stoddard county and the same is devoted to general farming-cotton, clover and hay. At one time he was offered as much as one hundred dollars an acre for his homestead, but he refused the offer. The Doctor's prac- tice is with from one hundred and fifty to two hundred families and he has always had all the work he could possibly attend to in his chosen profession.

In his political convictions Dr. Ray is a

D.M. Ray. M.D

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stanch advocate of the cause of the Demo- cratie party, and while he takes an active in- terest in local polities he has never been in- cumbent of any public office. He is affili- ated with a number of professional and fra- ternal organizations of representative char- acter and in his religious faith is a devout member of the Church of Christ, at Bernie, in the various departments of whose work he has figured prominently. He is one of the good old-style doctors, whose very pres- ence in the sick room does more to cure his patients than all the medicine ever pre- scribed. For the past thirty years Dr. Ray has been a valued and appreciative member of the time-honored Masonie order at Ber- nie.

Dr. Ray has been twice married, his first union having been with Mrs. Isabelle Taylor, a widow, whose death occurred October 13, 1894. To this union were born four children. whose names are here entered in respective order of birth .- Georgia Pearl is the wife of C. M. Wilkins, of Bernie, and their four chil- dren are Ione, Ray, Guy and Festus; Victor Hugo is engaged in farming in Stoddard county ; Lamora Amelia, who married Everett Rice, resides on a portion of her father's farm, and their only child is Laurin Lee Rice; and Beulah M., who died in childhood. In 1896 was solemnized the marriage of Dr. Ray to Miss Letitia D. Mayes, whose birth occurred in Sumner county, Tennessee, and who is a danghter of J. D. and Amelia Hadley (Jones) Mayes, representative citizens, and both of whom died in 1873, when Mrs. Ray was a child. The father was born in 1820 and the mother in 1825. Dr. and Mrs. Ray are de- cidedly popular factors in connection with the best social activities of their home com- munity, where their beautiful residence is recognized as a center of refinement and most gracious hospitality. Dr. Ray is a member of the Southeastern Missouri Medical Asso- ciation, of which he formerly served as treasurer. . He is also a Mason, a Knight of Pythias and a Woodman of the World.

JOHN N. MILLER. Energetic and enter- prising, John N. Miller occupies a conspicu- ous position among the foremost citizens of Dexter, having long been identified with the development and growth of this part of Stod- dard county. whether relating to its agricul- tural, mercantile or financial interests, being an extensive farmer, a member of two im- portant mercantile firms, and president of

the Citizens' Bank at Dexter. A son of the late John C. Miller, he was born December 7, 1851, on a farm lying about five miles west of Dexter.

John C. Miller grew to manhood in Bol- linger county, Missouri, and when ready to begin life on his own account bought land in Stoddard county, near Dexter, and on the farm which he improved spent the remainder of his life, passing away in 1871 when forty- eight years of age, an honored and respected citizen. He was prosperous both as a farmer and a miller, having a grist mill on his farm, operating it in connection with his agricul- tural labors. He married Mahala Hodges, who was born in Tennessee, and died in Stoddard county, Missouri, a few years after his death, when seventy-four years old. They were the parents of eight children, of whom four were living in 1911, as follows: John N .; Sarah, wife of Rufus Culbertson, of Stoddard county; William, of Dexter, a farmer and stockman; and George, who is engaged in farming near Dexter.

Brought up on the home farm, John N. Miller succeeded to its ownership, and has been prosperously employed in farming and stoek breeding and raising all of his life, find- ing both profit and pleasure in his rural oe- cupations. He has acquired large tracts of land, at one time owning thirty-two hundred acres of land in one body, and now, even though he has given a farm to each of his children, owns between two thousand and three thousand acres. He leases a large part of his land, his home farm lying prin- cipally on Cranberry Ridge, although he owns valuable bottom lands. He devotes much of his attention to the raising of fine stock, a branch of industry in which he is greatly interested and in which he has met with much success.

In 1872 Mr. Miller first embarked in mer- cantile pursuits. For four years he oper- ated a general store alone, and then, in 1876, admitted to partnership Mr. Ladd, who took charge of the store, while Mr. Miller gave his personal attention to his farm and stock. Subsequently Mr. A. H. Carter, who had been a clerk in the store for four or five years, was made a member of the firm, the name being changed to Miller, Ladd & Com- pany. In 1896 Mr. Ladd retired, and the firm was continued as Miller & Carter, with the junior member as manager, until 1909, when it was incorporated as the Miller-Car- ter Company, with Mr. Clow as general man-

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ager. This company was capitalized at twenty thousand dollars, and handles both dry goods and groceries, having a large trade, the building in which it is housed be- ing owned by Mr. Miller.

Mr. Miller is also senior member of the firm of Miller, Ulen & Carter, which was in- corporated with a capital of fifteen thousand dollars, and deals in hardware, agricultural implements, etc .. earriyng on a substantial business, with William M. Ringer as man- ager. The building in which this store is located is owned by the firm, of which one of the partners, Mr. Sam Ulen, is president. Mr. Miller is likewise in partnership with Mr. Dan Ulen, of the firm of Miller & Ulen, who are carrying on an extensive general mercantile business at Morehouse, Missouri. Mr. Miller has kept out of politics, although he invariably supports the principles of the Democratic party at the polls. He is a mem- ber of the Knights of Pythias fraternity and Mrs. Miller is a member of the Presby- terian church.

Mr. Miller married, in 1872, Mary Sitton, of Stoddard county, a daughter of the late John Sitton, a well-known farmer, and into the household thus established five children have been born, namely: Dora, wife of Sam Ulen, of the firm of Miller, Ulen & Carter; Anna, wife of Arthur Wilcox, a prominent farmer ; Minnie, wife of Dr. Walters, of Dex- ter; Charles, a successful agriculturist ; and Myrtle, wife of Ned Jones.

The Citizens' Bank, of which Mr. Miller is president, was organized in 1903, with a capital of $30,000, the officers being as fol- lows: John N. Miller, president ; C. M. Hall, vice-president ; and Asa Norman, eashier. The institution has a surplus amounting to $15,000, with assets, in March, 1911, of $201,893, while its deposits on April 28, 1911, were $150,089.55.

ARTHUR R. EMORY. Throughout South- eastern Missouri the name of Emory is syn- onymous with thrift, enterprise and pros- perity, and in the mercantile interests of Stoddard county, especially, is the name well known, A. R. Emory, of Essex, being one of the leading general merchants of his com- munity, and a prominent business man. He was born at Sikeston, Scott county, Missouri, a son of J. B. Emory, a successful agricul- turist.

Although he was well trained in the art

and science of agriculture as a boy and youth, A. R. Emory did not take kindly to farming, but when ready to begin life for himself entered a store as clerk. Subsequently com- ing to Essex in pursuit of employment, he elerked in the store of Mr. A. J. Mathews for four or more years. In 1900, in com- pany with T. S. Heisserer, Mr. Emory bought out the store established by A. J. Mathews & Company, and for three years carried on a good business as senior member of the firm of Emory & Heisserer. Buying out his part- ner in 1903, Mr. Emory has since continued the business alone, each year increasing it in volume and value. He carries a fine line of agricultural implements, hardware, saddlery and harness, buggies and wagons, handles flour and grains of all kinds, and deals in cotton and operates a cotton gin. He also has a large elevator and a large warehouse.

Mr. Emory's main store is a two-story building, fifty by one hundred feet, and con- tains various departments. His hardware store is housed in a separate building, thirty by one hundred and twenty feet, and con- tains his agricultural implements, harnesses, vehicles, etc., while his flour and grain house is forty by forty-eight feet in dimensions, and his warehouse is forty by one hundred and twenty feet. Mr. Emory carries a stoek valued at $75,000, and does an annual busi- ness of $175,000 employing twenty-five sales- men in his different departments. He handles about fifteen hundred bales of cotton each season, at $85.00 per bale, paying out $127,500 for cotton alone, including the seed, which is ten dollars per bale. He has an elevator and shellers for corn, and ships about seventy-five thousand bushels per year, paying about forty cents a bushel for it, or $30,000. In addition to this Mr. Emory also handles about fifteen thousand bushels of oats each season, cow peas, grass seed, etc., and likewise ships from twenty-five to thirty ears of live stock each year. The first year that Mr. Emory was in business for himself his transactions amounted to about $40.000, a sum that has increased each year, his manage- ment of affairs having been eminently suc- cessful.

Mr. Emory married, in 1903, Laura McCol- gan, a daughter of J. M. McColgan, of Essex, and they have three children, James, Eloise and Evelyn. Mr. Emory is also bringing up a nephew, Fred Emory, a lad of ten years, the son of one of his brothers.

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ELISHA G. WILLIAMS, general merchant at Bernie, is one of those enterprising citizens who contribute in definite manner to the prosperity of the section in which they re- side. He is a native of Stoddard county and the family has been identified with this part of Missouri since 1842, when the subject's father came as a young man to find his for- tunes in the new country. The father, John N. Williams, was born in Hopkins county, Kentucky, in 1826, his eyes first opening to the light of day in a rural community in the Blue Grass state. He remained at home until his father's death and then came to Stoddard county, as mentioned, locating five miles north of Bernie. He made the journey across country with an ox team and a two wheeled cart and crossed the Mississippi river below Cape Girardeau. He was already a married man, at the age of seventeen years having been united to a young neighbor girl, Edie Wiggs. These plucky young "squat- ters" took up their home in the woods, John Williams clearing his land himself. He sold deer skins and saved money to buy land, pay- ing for it the exceedingly low price of twelve and one-half cents per acre. He prospered by dint of hard labor and thriftiness and owned four hundred and twenty acres when he died, and he had previously given his eight children forty acres apiece as a start in life. A part of his estate had cost him as much as fifteen dollars an acre, the price hav- ing increased as time went on. The land is now worth one hundred and twenty-five dol- lars per acre. The children born to these good pioneer citizens were as follows: Rich- ard, Louisa, Mary Ann, John, Harmon, Eli- sha, Irvin (who died when an infant), Eve- line, Elvira and Susan. Of these all are now deceased with the exception of Elisha. The first wife died about the year 1874 and the father subsequently married Serena Moore, a native of Mississippi. The chil- dren born to this union were: John and Charlie, deceased; and Dora, wife of J. A. Nicholls, residing five miles north of Bernie. When the father died, in 1899, the farm was divided among the children. He also sur- vived his second wife, who died in 1892.

Elisha G. Williams was born November 24, 1860, on his father's farm, and received his education in the district school. He worked for his father until the age of sixteen years and the year following was married to Amma Wiggs, of Stoddard county. She lived five miles north of Bernie and was born in Clay

county, Arkansas, May 27, 1864. Her father died in the Southern army and she came with her brothers to Missouri, the Ozark Moun- tains being the scene of her early life. The marriage of Mr. and Mrs. Williams occurred on January 17, 1877. Following this event Mr. Williams farmed part of his father's land for three years and he then removed to the forty acres given to him by his father and lived upon this for the next ten years. He sold this at a profit and, to make a long story short, bought and cultivated and sold again several farms, gaining financially with each transaction.

Mr. Williams' first experience as a mer- chant was as the owner of a little country store on his father's old farm. This proved quite a profitable matter, and he continued engaged thus for eight years. In 1909 he decided to branch out in a more important way and came to Bernie, where he established a general store, carrying a general line of groceries and clothing. His business is con- tinnally improving and is upon two floors, the clothing being upon the second floor and the groceries and other commodities on the first. It is a building of good size, being forty-four by twenty-six feet in dimensions. His pleasant residence adjoins the store. Mr. and Mrs. Williams are the parents of a family of children. William, the eldest, was born in 1879, is married and lives in Bernie, working for his father. His wife was Annie Woolridge, and of their children none are living. Etta, born April 4, 1884, is the wife of A. A. Copper and resides in Dexter, Mis- souri. She is the mother of two children. Isabella, born November 28, 1889, is the wife of Robert Canady, and makes her home in Bernie. Nolan, born July 1, 1897, Arlie, born July 3, 1903, and Inez, born May 6, 1904, all are attending school at Bernie.

Mr. Williams is a minister of the Gospel as well as a business man, and has been pastor of a number of Baptist churches, his work in this field having taken him to a num- ber of Southeastern Missouri counties. He has, in fact, been engaged in this work for twenty-six years and has much ability as a preacher and church worker. He has been interested in and devoted to the canse of the Master ever since a very young boy. Up to the present time he has baptized one thou- sand and one persons and has married over six hundred couples. It is safe to say that no citizen of the locality is held in greater confidence and esteem than he.

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MIr. Williams is a prominent Mason, ex- emplifying in himself the principles of moral and social justice and brotherly love for which the order stands. He is a Master Mason and belongs to Bernie Lodge, No. 573. He is also a member of the Mystic Workers and several other lodges, taking much pleas- ure in his fraternal relations. His political faith is that of the "Grand Old Party."

HON. Doc BRYDON. Noteworthy for his public spirit and good citizenship, Hon. Doc Brydon, editor and proprietor of the Essex Leader, holds a place of prominence and in- fluence among the useful and valued residents of Stoddard county, his activity as a mem- ber of the State Legislature having been of benefit to the district which he represented in the Forty-sixth General Assembly of Mis- souri. A son of Benjamin F. Brydon, he was born February 22, 1881, in Hamilton county, Illinois, but has spent the larger part of his life in Stoddard county, Missouri.

A native of Kentucky, Benjamin F. Bry- don was reared to agricultural pursuits, and first began his career as a farmer in his na- tive state, removing to Illinois in 1870. About 1891 he came with his family to Stod- dard county, Missouri, locating about seven miles from Bloomfield, near Aid, and there converted a tract of raw bottom land into a productive farm, on which he resided until his death, in 1896, at the age of sixty-four years. While living in Illinois he was prom- inent in public affairs and in religious circles, and after coming to Stoddard county was a leading member of the Missionary Baptist church. He was a Democrat in his political views. He married Emily Oldham, who was born in Kentucky in 1840, and died on the home farm in Missouri in 1892. Of their ten children, one died in childhood, and nine, eight sons and one daughter, grew to years of maturity, all of whom are now, in 1911, living with the exception of the daughter, Nancy M., who married Thomas T. Davis and died at the age of thirty-nine years.

In common with his brothers and sister Doc Brydon acquired his preliminary edu- cational training in the district schools. and after an attendance at the Bloomfield Iligh School began, at the age of eighteen years. to teach, and for four years taught in the public schools of Stoddard county. Locating then in Puxico, Stoddard county, he bought the Puxico Index, and entered the field of jour- nalism with characteristic enthusiasm, put-

ting his individuality into his work in a noted degree, editing it successfully for four years. He became active in local affairs, fill- ing various public offices, including that of mayor. Coming to Essex in 1908, Mr. Bry- don on the first day of May established the Essex Leader, an eight-page, six column, local newspaper, which he has since conducted, wisely and well, having in connection a job- bing plant, which is well patronized.

Public duties have also been added to Mr. Brydon's other responsibilities, his fellow- citizens having elected him to the Lower House of the State Legislature in 1910. Here he has served faithfully on various com- mittees of importance, having been the rank- ing member of the committee on swamps, lands levees; a member of the committee on public schools and text books; of the state printing committee; and of the committee on eleemosynary institutions. Mr. Brydon also worked hard to secure the passage of the act for the maintenance of drainage ditches, with a ditch commissioner for each county to see that all ditches are kept clean, the com- missioners to act under the county court. All details of the bill were worked out, but did not become a law on account of a lack of en- rollment. Mr. Brydon was likewise one of a sub-committee to draft uniform text book laws, which will be presented to the Legisla- ture in its 1912 session. He has been a del- egate to two Democratic state conventions. His paper is devoted to the promotion of the material interests of Southeastern Missouri, in whose future Mr. Brydon has great faith.

Mr. Brydon married, April 6, 1902, Maude Walker, who was born in Stoddard county, a daughter of Van W. Walker, also a native of Stoddard county, Missouri. He lives in Castor township, four miles north of Bloom- field. Two children have blessed the union of Mr. and Mrs. Brydon, namely : Blan and Velva. Fraternally Mr. Brydon belongs to the Independent Order of Odd Fellows; to the Modern Woodmen of America; and to the Mutual Protective League. Religiously he is a member of the Baptist church, having never swerved from the faith in which he was reared.

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History of southeast Missouri : a narrative account of its historical progress, its people and its principal interests, Volume II, Part 78

Author: Douglass, Robert Sidney. 4n Publication date: 1912 Publisher: Chicago : The Lewis Pub. Co. Number of Pages: 802

Author: Douglass, Robert Sidney. 4n
Publication date: 1912
Publisher: Chicago : The Lewis Pub. Co.
Number of Pages: 802