USA > Missouri > History of southeast Missouri : a narrative account of its historical progress, its people and its principal interests, Volume II > Part 89
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In that year, Mr. Gardner and his wife moved to New Madrid county, locating five miles south of Sikeston, where they main- tained themselves the first year on a farm of fifty acres. The following year the young couple rented an additional one hundred acres. There they remained for five years, and then, moving to a site eight miles south of Sikeston, they spent three years on a rented farm of ninety acres. At the expira- tion of that period they returned to their former location, three miles to the north, farming one hundred acres until 1895. In that year they made another change and rented four hundred and ninety-six acres and owning two hundred and four acres, all of which Mr. Gardner conducts in his able and scientific fashion. Besides his general farming and satisfactory crops of corn, wheat and hay. he has gained no little reputation as a stock grower. He owns a poll Durham
Bull, and a herd of 125 head of cattle, be- sides forty horses and a drove of one hun- dred hogs. His farm is in every way fitted with best improvements, showing his wise management and persistent care of details.
Of this union with Miss Mary Swan five children have been born: Thomas W., Mary F., Albert, Frank and Lewis. Fraternally Mr. Gardner is a member of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows at New Madrid, and both he and his wife are members of the Methodist Episcopal church. Politically Mr. Gardner can be counted on to support the candidates and principles of the Democratic party.
JOHN WESLEY FELTS. The late John Wes- ley Felts, formerly a prominent farmer and large land owner of North Carolina, and the father of Robert George Felts, of Poplar Bluff, Missouri, was born in England, in 1831, and passed away at his home in Wilkes- boro, North Carolina, December 19, 1908. He came to the United States as a child, with his parents, and was later united in mar- riage to Miss Mattie Woodruff. They be- came the parents of four children: James W. married Miss Elsie Barfield and is en- gaged in the stock business in Poplar Bluff, Missouri; Hattie, who became the wife of a Mr. Smith, died in 1910, in North Carolina; Eugena was united in marriage to J. S. Barnes and now makes her home in Wilkes- boro; William, a twin to Hattie Felts Smith, passed away in Little Rock, Arkansas, twenty years ago. He was unmarried. John Felts was a veteran of the Confederate army, with a brave and gallant record. He served throughout the entire war and was twice severely wounded.
Fraternally Mr. Felts was a member of the Free and Accepted Order of Masons, and he belonged to the Baptist church. In the field of politics he was to be found under the standard of the Democracy, and upon the ticket of that party he was elected to the of- fice of sheriff of Wilkes county, North Caro- lina, and in that office he served for several years with satisfaction to the whole county.
Robert George Felts, the son of the late John Wesley Felts, was born on January 26, 1861, in Wilkesboro, North Carolina. He left home at the age of thirteen, up to that age having attended a private school in Wilkesboro. He went to Cincinnati, Ohio, and at the age of fifteen entered the railroading business as a switchman in the yards. From
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Cincinnati he went to Mattoon, Illinois, and was there connected with the railroad for six or seven years, going from there to Texas, where he continued in the same work for a period of twelve years.
On December 21, 1887, Mr. Felts was united in marriage to Miss Carrie Hulme, of Denison, Texas. She was the daughter of George and Mary (Swain) Hulme, the for- mer of whom passed away in Circleville, Kansas, in 1901, and the latter of whom was born in Virginia, in 1828, and passed away in Little Rock, Arkansas, November 13, 1893. Mrs. Felts was born July 26, 1868, in Troy, Illinois. She and her husband became the parents of five children, three of whom sur- vive. Charles R., born September 24, 1888, died at the age of nine years. Mayme, born November 18, 1890, is now Mrs. Irwin Gib- bons, of Poplar Bluff. Robert George, Jr., was born September 19, 1901, and Carolyn was born on the 26th of July, 1905.
From Texas Mr. Felts went to Little Rock, Arkansas, and finally, in 1893, moved his home to Poplar Bluff, Missouri. He was not unknown in Poplar Bluff, however, for he had run his train into this place (he was a conductor on the Iron Mountain road) since 1888. In 1906 Mr. Felts gave up railroad- ing and went into the telephone business. It is interesting to note that at the time he en- tered the business there were only sixty-one 'phones operated and that now the company furnishes service to 765 subscribers. Mr. Felts is half owner of the company, which is called the Poplar Bluff Telephone Company. Besides this he has various other interests. He holds real estate in several places, is half owner of the Metropolitan Steam Laundry Company, has a farm located three miles north of Poplar Bluff, and is a stockholder and president of the Farmer's Saving Bank, in all of which undertakings his keen bus- iness sense and progressive management are felt.
Politically Mr. Felts is a stanch Repub- lican. He has served on the town board of aldermen and was mayor of Poplar Bluff for four years. He is a Thirty-second degree Mason and belongs to the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks. He and his wife are of the Baptist faith.
AMOS B. PERKINS. The three-score-and-nine years of Amos Perkins' life have been crowded with varied and successful activities. He was born August 13, 1842, in Logan county, Ohio.
His parents were Sophia and Amos Perkins, farmers and landowners. Amos followed farming until the Civil war and then enlisted in the Thirteenth Ohio under Captain Ash- mead. He served three months there and then went into the Forty-second Ohio, under Cap- tain Gardner and Colonel Garfield. He was in his first engagement at Middle Creek, Ken- tucky, and from that time was almost con- stantly in the thick of the combat. He went through the battles at Cumberland Gap, Ten- nessee; Charleston, West Virginia; Memphis and Chickatato Bluff in Tennessee; then Ar- kansas Post in Arkansas; Grand Gulf, Fort Gibson, Raymond, Champion Hill, Black River and the memorable siege of Vicksburg in Mississippi. After something over two months at Vicksburg Mr. Perkins was sent north on a furlough and was in Indianapolis when the war was over. His health was in a precarious condition and the doctors gave him little hope of living over six months when he left the army, so he changed his place of resi- dence often in hopes of being benefited.
After the war he went into the lumber busi- ness at Bellefontaine, Ohio. He had a planing mill there and dealth in retail lumber. It was there that he was married, in 1865, to Mar- garet Ream. In 1868, after three years of resi- dence in Bellefontaine, Mr. Perkins went to Hoopston, Illinois. He changed only his loca- tion, not his business, but continued to handle lumber for four years in Hoopston and for five years in St. Joseph, Michigan, where he was in the wholesale trade. From Michigan Mr. Perkins went to Sullivan, Indiana, and sold lumber there for four years. Another four years were spent in Memphis, Tennessee; then two years at Cairo, Illinois, following which was a space of three years when he did busi- ness in Southeastern Missouri and had his of- fices at Cairo. He conducted business at Per- kins and throughout Southeastern Missouri, locating in Illmo six years ago.
In order to get out of the swamp, Mr. Per- kins decided to take up his residence in Illmo when the town was organized, as he could thus be near his extensive land holdings and could at the same time carry on his retail lumber business. He deals extensively in real estate also, and has recently began the exploitation of the Illmo Springs mineral water.
The value of this water was first brought to Mr. Perkins' attention in August, 1909, by some of his neighbors' advising that he drink it for kidney trouble, from which he was suf- fering. It was said that the Indians had
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prized the water for its medicinal virtues and Mr. Perkins decided to give it a trial. The re- sults were so beneficial that he sent a sample to the state chemist at Columbia for examina- tion. The analysis revealed the presence of the following elements in one gallon :
1.9505 grains Silica
14.5207 grains Calcium Bicarbonate 1.9617 grains Magnesium 1.9567 grains Sodium
20.4200 grains Mineral Matter 5.6892 grains Halfbound Carbon escaping
Dioxide
14,7308 grains Fixed residue.
The state chemist pointed out that the com- position of this water made it especially suit- able for removing the waste products of the system when the natural means of purifying the body have been impaired by age or disease and that the water had great value as a reme- dial agent because of its purity.
Mr. Perkins is improving the property on which the springs are located and intends to make the place a resort for this entire section of the country. There are four springs, yield- ing a flow of four gallons a minute. Mr. Per- kins' son Dale has also been cured of kidney trouble and malaria by drinking Illmo water, after having been to Hot Springs, Arkansas, and to Selmar Springs. He had been im- proved by his stay there, but has found Illmo equally potent to remove the disease germs.
Dale Perkins is one of the four children of Amos and Margaret Ream Perkins, and has been here with his father since 1888. He re- ceived his education in the Hoopston schools and in the Christian Brothers' school of St. Louis. He is married, his wife being Birdie Galaher Perkins, formerly of Monroe, Ohio.
The other children of Mr. Perkins' first mar- riage are Edward Allen, who died in St. Joe, Michigan, at the age of eleven; Margaret May, who passed away at Danville, Illinois, in 1896; and Anna Belle, who is Mrs. J. P. Curtis, of Los Angeles, California. Mr. Curtis formerly lived in Kentucky. The mother of these chil- dren died in Danville in 1888. The present Mrs. Amos Perkins was Miss Mary Dowdy, of Dexter, before her marriage.
Mr. Perkins owns about 5,000 acres of land, mostly near Illmo and Perkins. In Illmo he has residence and business properties, and not only in Illmo but in many of the surrounding towns. He is a Blue Lodge Mason in Cape Girardeau and also a member of the Royal
Arch and entitled to wear the plume of the Knights Templar.
MRS. MOLLIE McCOY. One of the admira- ble women of Puxico is Mrs. Mollie McCoy, who is also one of the most prominent and enlightened factors in the educational life of Stoddard county. She holds a high place in popular confidence and esteem, being rec- ommended by a pleasing personality, rare so- cial graces and a high degree of conscientious- ness in her work. Mrs. McCoy was born in Tennessee and came with her parents to Pux- ico when a small child. Her parents were Henry W. and Mary L. (Howard) Hickman, members of prominent Southern families. The father was a captain in the Confederate army, having enlisted near the beginning of the conflict between the states as a member of the Thirty-third Tennessee Volunteer In- fantry. He was captured at home while on recruiting service and was sent to Johnson's Island, where he was kept a prisoner until the close of the war. During his life as a civilian he pursued the occupation of a farmer and was a prominent and successful expo- nent of the great basic industry. He held for an extended period the office of president of the Farmers' Alliance and he also enjoyed many other preferments, among these being elected railway and warehouse commissioner and serving for six years, until 1897. The following year (1898) while en route home, he was killed by a falling tree across the road. He was sixty-six years of age when sum- moned to the life eternal, and although more than a decade has passed, his salutary influ- ence has by no means been lost. He had one of the best improved farms in the section and he had built a fine home. His wife survived him for several years, this estimable lady dy- ing in 1909.
Mrs. McCoy was reared on the homestead of her parents and received her early educa- tion in the county schools. Coming to the decision to make teaching her profession, she attended the Cape Girardeau Normal School and was graduated from that noted institu- tion with the class of 1893. One of her class- mates was R. S. Douglass, who is editor of this work. Excellently equipped both by na- ture and training for educational work, she has proved one of Puxico's finest teachers and she has taught in the Stoddard county schools at different times for some nine terms. Her value to the community is by no means
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small, for it is not to be gainsaid that there is no office carrying with it so much of re- sponsibility as that of the instructor who moulds and fashions the plastic mind of youth; who instills into the formative brain those principles which when matured will be the chief heritage of the active man and woman.
Mrs. McCoy was married February 6, 1900, to Walter MeCoy, a dealer in timber, mainly veneer logs, in southeastern Missouri and northeastern Arkansas. He purchased the old Hickman homestead and sold it some two years since. Mr. and Mrs. McCoy have three children -- Walter Hickman, Lois and La- Cene. Mrs. McCoy will teach in the Puxico schools during 1911-1912.
WILLIAM BOLLINGER. In March, 1844, in a hewed log house on the Bollinger homestead farm, near where Walter Bollinger now lives in Stoddard county, Missouri, was born Wil- liam Bollinger, a descendant of one branch of the Bollinger family that came from North Carolina to this state at an early day, where they have lived for nearly a century.
Jeth Bollinger, father of William, was born in North Carolina, September 19, 1819, and when a small boy accompanied his father and family to Missouri, the journey hither being made according to the prevailing style of travel at that time, namely, with ox teams. They settled near Piketon, in Stoddard county. Here William Bollinger's grand- father spent the rest of his life and died, the. date of his death being 1890. Other fami- lies of the same name, from North Carolina, settled in other parts of Missouri. Bollinger county, this state, was named in honor of them. In Stoddard county Jeth Bollinger grew to manhood and married Mary Hahn, she and her parents having accompanied the Bollingers on their removal westward. He had probably known her in North Carolina. although they were then only children. After their marriage they settled near Piketon, and, in common with the other pioneers of this locality, endured many hardships and priva- tions, and here they lived active, useful lives and died.
Reared in a frontier district, William Bol- linger had meagre educational advantages, the local subscription schools being the only ones he was privileged to attend. He has been married three times. By his first wife, who before marriage was Miss Sarah J. Goza, he had four children : Annie, Nellie, Dora (de-
ceased), and Clara. This wife having died in 1883, Mr. Bollinger married, in 1884, Miss Margaret Sitz, who died in 1895, leaving three children : Alvin, Walter and Nettie. By his present wife, Mrs. Katie Barks, nee Hahn, whom he wedded in 1896, he has no children.
Mr. Bollinger's first land purchase here was one hundred and sixty acres. To this he kept adding by subsequent purchase until at one time he had eleven hundred acres. He worked hard and used good judgment in the management of his property, and thereby was enabled to settle on each of his children a snug little farm as they married and left him. Indeed, he has given the most of his prop- erty to his children, retaining for himself only twenty-two acres at Tilman, where he lives. Most of his land was in the northern part of Stoddard county, between Bell City and Tilman.
At the time war was inaugurated between the North and the South Mr. Bollinger was a youth of seventeen. His love of the South- land took him into the Southern army, the vicissitudes of which he shared throughout the long years of that memorable struggle. It was in June, 1861, that he enlisted, at Bloom- field, under General Price. He was a mem- ber of Company A, Fourth Missouri Regi- ment, Dave Hicks being captain of the com- pany ; was in nearly all the engagements west of the Mississippi River, including both of Price's raids. and was mustered out of the service at Shreveport, Louisiana, in April, 1865. During his service he was twice wounded, but never suffered capture. Re- turning to his home, he found much of the stock had been either killed or driven away from his father's farm, and on all sides de- vastation met him. Like others, however, he made the best of the situation and went to work, with the successful result as above stated.
WALTER A. BOLLINGER, one of the highly respected young farmers of Stoddard county, Missouri, was born July 31, 1886, on the farm where he now lives, the old Bollinger homestead tract. His early education was re- ceived in the district school near his home, and for two years he attended high school at Cape Girardeau. When he was old enough to assume the responsibilities of life his father deeded him one hundred and twenty acres of the old farm, which portion included a house and barn. He afterward built another barn, a larger one, fifty by sixty feet in dimen-
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sions, with roof fifty feet high, and by pur- chase he added to his land sixty-six acres ad- joining it, making a farm of one hundred and eighty-six acres. Mr. Bollinger's mother died some fifteen years ago, and his father, Wil- liam Bollinger, who has since married, is now a resident of Illman.
On September 7, 1907, at Bloomfield, Mis- souri, Walter A. Bollinger and Miss Zella Proffer were united in marriage, and to them have been given two children: Mona, born September 7, 1908, and Melba, born January 12, 1910. Mrs. Bollinger is a daughter of Calvin and Lola Proffer, old residents of the county. Mr. Proffer died March 8, 1900.
Mr. and Mrs. Bollinger are identified with the Methodist church, South, of which they are worthy members. Politically Mr. Bollin- ger affiliates with the Democratic party and fraternally, with the M. W. of A.
WILLIAM J. GARNER. The agricultural in- terests of Stoddard county, Missouri, have a worthy representative in this native son of the county, W. J. Garner, whose fine farm lies near Bell City.
Mr. Garner was born in the vicinity of Dex- ter, Stoddard county, Missouri, December 31, 1869. At an early age he lost his father by death, February 29, 1880, aged thirty-four years, and thus was deprived of the educa- tional and other advantages he would have had if his father had lived. As soon as old enough he lent a helping hand to the support of his mother (who was before marriage Mary Brown, and who resides near Bell City, Mis- souri, aged sixty-four) and other members of the family. Being the eldest son he naturally assumed the responsibility of the work at home, and, when a little older, also looked after his uncle's farm, of which he had charge for five years. When he was nineteen he married the daughter of a prominent and well-to-do citizen of the county, and he and his bride went to housekeeping at their pres- ent location, where her father gave them one hundred and sixty acres of land. To this tract has since been added one hundred and forty acres of adjoining land, making three hundred acres in one body. This land at the time he came into possession of it was nearly all cleared. He has cleared the rest, and has the entire farm well fenced and drained and under a high state of cultivation. He built a good seven-room house, which he and his family occupy, and several barns and ont-
buildings. Wheat and corn are his chief crops.
Mrs. Garner, formerly Miss Clara Foster, is a daughter of F. T. Foster. Two children were born to Mr. and Mrs. Garner, namely : Myrtle, born September 16, 1891, and Ellis, April 9, 1894, the former being the wife of William Dunlap, whom she married in Au- gust, 1906. They have two daughters, Irie A., born in the fall of 1908, and Dorothy, born in the fall of 1910.
Mr. and Mrs. Garner are members of the German Baptist church. Mr. Garner is also a member of the blue lodge of the Masonic order, and the Independent Order of Odd Fellows of Bell City, Missouri.
L. E. KELCH. Both the farming and lum- ber interests of Stoddard county, Missouri, are fortunate in having such an enterprising, up-to-date man identified with them as L. E. Kelch. He has one of the largest farms in the county and his mill and timber interests here are extensive.
Mr. Kelch is a native of Ohio. He was born on a farm in Miami county, that state, June 4, 1870, and in the "Buckeye" schools re- ceived his education. When not attending school his boyhood days were passed in as- sisting his father in the farm work. Later the family moved to a near-by town, where his father had a sawmill and where he worked until he was twenty-one. Then he went to southern Indiana, where he owned and oper- ated a mill, and where he remained for two years, doing a successful business. From In- diana he went to Fairfield, Illinois, where he made his headquarters for several years while he operated a number of mills in that local- ity. In 1896 he came south to Missouri and selected a location north of Bloomfield, in Stoddard county, where he purchased two hundred and five acres of timber land. He cut the timber from this land and in due time placed it under cultivation, also he bought adjoining land which he cleared and brought under cultivation, and now he has here one of the largest farms in Stoddard county, one thousand two hundred and sixty-one acres in extent, fenced and ditched, and equipped with buildings sufficient for his eight or ten tenants who cultivate the soil. His crops are grain and chiefly corn, six hundred acres on an average being devoted to this crop. In the vicinity of Brownwood he owns about four thousand five hundred acres, and he
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HISTORY OF SOUTHEAST MISSOURI
practically owns the whole town of Brown- wood, with its sawmill and its thirty-five houses for employes of the mill. This saw- mill he purchased in December, 1910, and is now busily engaged in remodeling it and in- creasing its capacity, which, when completed, will be from thirty thousand to forty thou- sand feet of lumber daily. A track, five miles in length, has been constructed, which facili- tates the transportation of timber to the mill. On the north side of the town he has a barrel heading factory, where he employs in the neighborhood of forty men. At the mill he furnishes employment to no less than one hundred and fifty men. The hotel of the town he built and still owns, and in addition to the farm and timber land above mentioned he has other tracts, making in all over seven thousand acres, the value of which ranges from twenty-five to one hundred dollars an acre.
As the head of such industries Mr. Kelch wields an influence in the community that is far reaching and beneficial. Withal, he is quiet and unassuming. He has the good will and the kindly feeling of those about him, and balancing up the esteem in which he is held by them is a just appreciation on his part. Mr. Kelch is unmarried.
EDWARD LEWIS HAWKS. Practical indus- try, wisely and vigorously applied, never fails of success; it carries a man onward and up- ward, brings out his individual character and acts as a powerful stimulus to the efforts of others. The greatest results in life are usually attained by simple means, implying the exercise of the ordinary qualities of com- mon sense and perseverance. In the legiti- mate channels of industry, Edward Lewis Hawks has won the success which always crowns well directed labor, sound judgment and untiring perseverance, and at the same time he has concerned himself with the af- fairs of the community in a loyal, public- spirited way, the section counting him one of its leading and representative citizens. He is proprietor of the E. L. Hawks Roller Mill at Puxico, one of the town's most important in- dustries. In 1891 he assisted in organizing a milling company and erected the present mill, with J. A. Hickman as president and Mr. Hawks retaining the position of manager and millwright. He has successfully man- aged it for the twenty years intervening since that time and three years ago he bought out the other interests and operates it independ-
ently. The elevator, which is a part of it, is now owned by that prominent financier and business man, J. A. Hickman. Some years ago an electric lighting plant was added, which the subject owns and operates as a side feature of the milling business. The mill, which bears the name of the Merchant & Ex- change Mill, has a capacity of seventy-five barrels daily. The mill is supplied with grain by the local farmers and its patronage is mainly local, although large quntities of the flour, meal, etc., are shipped away. Mr. Hawks also conducts a small saw mill and planing mill and operates a lumber yard. He buys the timber for the most part from farmers who are engaged in clearing their land. In all these enterprises he has met with no small amount of success.
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