History of southeast Missouri : a narrative account of its historical progress, its people and its principal interests, Volume II, Part 97

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 97

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He is not unknown to public office and is prominent in the Republican party organi- zation of the county. He is at present secre-

tary of the county central committee. He has been a candidate for prosecuting attorney both in Pemiscot and in New Madrid coun- ties and also once ran for state representa- tive. For three years he was city attorney of Parma, but resigned from that office in 1908. He is at present mayor of the town, elected in 1911.

In the fraternal orders Mr. Webb belongs to the Masons, to the Odd Fellows and the Modern Woodmen, besides being a Knight of Honor, a Mystic Worker and a Rebekah. He and Mrs. Webb are communicants of the Presbyterian church.

Mr. Webb's father was born on the same farm in Stoddard county as was his son Wiley twenty years later. Here he lived until W. J. Webb was six years old. Another son, James W. Webb, was also born in Stoddard county. At present the father and his wife, Angeline Pearson Webb, are living in Parma. Mr. Webb is in partnership with Mr. Hyde in the real estate and insurance business. The firm is in a prosperous condition.

A. C. THROWER, whose postoffice address is Advance, R. R. No. 2, Stoddard county, Missouri, ranks with the representative farm- ers of this locality.

Mr. Thrower was born in the neighboring state of Arkansas, in Johnson county, August 6, 1860. When he was five years old his par- ents moved to Kansas, thence to Missouri (to Lawrence county), next to Arkansas again, and finally back to Missouri, this time to Stoddard county. That was in the winter of 1865. The greater part of this traveling was done with an ox team, the rest with horses. The first of their residence in Stod- dard county was on a rented farm. Then the father bought eighty acres north of Bloomfield, but at the time of his death, a few years later, he owned only sixty acres, which constituted the homestead on which the mother lived. She married a second time.

A. C. Thrower had meagre educational ad- vantages in his youth and, being the only boy in the family, early in life worked hard in order to assist in the support of his widowed mother. Years afterward he purchased most of the old home place. He continued to live with his mother until he was twenty-three years of age, when he married and started out in life for himself. For three years he lived near Tillman. Then he bought forty acres of land, to which, four or five years later, he added eighty acres. He cleared

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seventy acres of this tract and built a barn, and was fairly successful in his farming ope- rations. For ten years he made his home there, and when he sold that place he pur- chased eighty acres on which he lived for six years, and which he still owns. This land he cleared. His next purchase was the eighty acres of cleared land, to which he moved Oc- tober 18, 1905, and on which he now lives. Here he has built a good barn, done consider- able fencing, and made various other im- provements. Wheat and corn are his chief crops. Altogether, he now owns two hundred and eleven acres.

On December 2, 1884, Mr. Thrower and Mrs. Mary Pinnington, of Illinois, were united in marriage, and they are the parents of six children, namely: Ada C., Marion R., William L., Fern, Orbay and Esther. Polit- ically Mr. Thrower is a Republican. He and two of his sons have membership in the I. O. O. F. at Advance, two of the sons belong to the W. O. W., and Mrs. Thrower is a member of the Mystic Workers at Bell City.

PATRICK FERGUSON, M. D. It is not alone the great material resources, so nearly inex- haustible and so slightly developed, in our great land which have won for us our indus- trial supremacy. Great as these are, they would be ineffective without the spirit to in- fuse life into them, and this is supplied from the strong hearts of the older civilizations who have been moved to seek the newer country. Northern Europe, where the flower of modern civilization has come to its fairest perfection, has contributed most richly of all to us and no element is more admirable than the sturdy independence and unswerving rectitnde of the Scotchman. It is of this stock that Pat- rick Ferguson comes, and all its sterling qualities are exemplified in him.

William D. Ferguson was the father of the physician, Patrick Ferguson. He was born in the land of heathery hills on March 12, 1836. When only a lad he left that fair lit- tle country, whose sterile soil raises such mighty men, and came to America with his parents. His father settled on a farm in In- diana and when the son William grew np he married a young woman born in Lynville, his adopted home, and settled in the same place, where he lived the rest of his life, an honored and prosperous member of the community. He was a member of the Masonic fraternity and justice of the peace for some thirty years. In politics he was and advocate of the policies promulgated by the Democratic party and Vol. II-33

in his religious views he was a Baptist. He died in Lynville, Indiana, in 1900.

William Ferguson's wife was Mary Miller Ferguson, born in 1838. She died in Lyn- ville, Indiana, in 1879, the mother of six chil- dren. Two of these died in infancy; Rufus was called from this mortal life at the age of six and Homer when he was twenty-six. Bernard came upon his death in a tragic fashion, for he was murdered in Luxora, Ar- kansas. He had lived in Pemiscot county and left a wife bereaved by his untimely end. Patrick Pratt Ferguson is the only survivor of that family.

Lynville, Indiana, was Dr. Ferguson's birthplace and his home until he entered the St. Louis Medical school, the Barnes Medical College. This was in 1892, when he was twenty-three years old, as he was born on June 18, 1869. On March 15, 1895, he re- ceived his diploma and began his practice at Belle Rive, Illinois.

After one year in Belle Rive, Dr. Fergu- son moved to Tamaroa, Illinois, and practiced medicine there for several years, leaving the town in 1900, when he came to Missouri. For six years Steele, in Pemiscot county, was the scene of his labors, and then he was called to Blytheville to assume the management of the People's Hospital of that place. In 1909 he came to Sikeston, where he has continued his practice. His office is in the popular of- fice building of Sikeston, the McCoy-Tanner building on Malone street. Dr. Ferguson has kept abreast of the advances in his profession not only by independent study and reading but by attending the New York Post Gradu- ate School of Medicine, where he pursued graduate courses in lines in which he is spe- cifically interested. The Frisco Railway has made him surgeon of its third division, recog- nizing in him a physician of ability and promise, as well as one thoroughly grounded in the theories of therapeutics. He is a Re- publican in his political convictions. He is a Blue Lodge Mason, member of the chapter and commandery.

It was in Lynville too that Mrs. Ferguson was born and grew up from childhood a friend of the man she married at twenty-two. The marriage of Patrick Ferguson and Katherine Zimmerman occurred at Lynville, April 20, 1892. Her parents are well known citizens of Lynville, Indiana, Clinton D. and Agnes Kerr Zimmerman. Three children, Russell, Carmen and Helen, gladden the home of Dr. and Mrs. Ferguson. The eldest was

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born in January, 1893; the second on May 15, 1895 ; and the youngest, January 15, 1899. Mrs. Ferguson is a member of the Methodist church.

BENJAMIN F. ANDERSON. Scott county has been the home of Mr. B. F. Anderson ever since he was born. His parents were Virginians who migrated first to Kentucky and then to Missouri. Both James and Char- lotte (Olds) Anderson were born about 1810 and both died in Scott county, James at the age of sixty-five and Charlotte at forty-four. They had come to Scott county in about 1844 -following the course of empire.

Benjamin F. Anderson was born near Sikeston in 1852. In his early youth he at- tended the subscription schools of the county and helped on the farm. The mercantile business was more attractive to him than agriculture, so at the age of fifteen he left home and came to Commerce to clerk in a store. The establishment in which he went to work belonged to his brother, Joseph An- derson, and he remained in the employ of his brother until 1874. At that date he was mar- ried and followed the custom of those who thus lay the foundation of a home by also going into business for himself.

Mr. Anderson's hazard of new fortunes was a felicitous one and the ten years in which he conducted his store were profitable ones. In 1882 he went into the grain business with an- other brother, W. B. Anderson. In addition to buying and selling grain, they carried on a milling business and also dealt largely in produce on the commission basis. Their zeal and untiring devotion to their work made them eminently successful. At present Ben- jamin F. owns two elevators, which have a capacity of one hundred thousand bushels. He ships car load lots of grain to the markets of the country and their large store houses enable them to sell to best advantage. Nor- well Anderson, the son of B. F., is in business with his uncle, the firm being The Anderson Mercantile Company. A farm of two hun- dred acres is another of Mr. B. F. Anderson's interests. He rents this ont and the improve- ments he is putting on it are constantly in- creasing its value.

Mrs. Anderson was formerly Miss Mary E. Wylie. She was born in Scott county in 1853. Of their children, Norwell. the oldest, is not married. Wade is a stock man of Commerce, whose wife was formerly Miss Panline Mau- pin. Fannie is Mrs. J. B. Stubblefield, and

Tilman, also a bachelor, lives in the county and is a dealer in horses.

The Democratic party has availed itself of Mr. Anderson's talents by selecting him to serve the party in numerous capacities. He is at present chairman of the township com- mittee of the organization of that faction. From 1870 to 1874 he was deputy sheriff and deputy collector, his brother, J. T. Anderson, being sheriff and collector. In the office of marshal he has served a number of times and has been chairman of the town board. An- other post he has filled with honor to himself and satisfaction to his constituents is that of county judge. He is known as one truly in- terested in the public welfare and at all times ready to bear his part in the conducting of such measures as promote the good of the people. He is as highly esteemed for his merits as a private citizen as for his faithful work in public office and his sagacity in af- fairs of business.

JOSEPH A. LEGRAND. Born in n Scott county, in 1868, October 2, Mr. Legrand has spent the forty odd years of his life in this region and has added his generous share of hard work to its development and prosperity. His father was Michael Legrand, a native of Belgium, who became a landowner and a farmer of Scott county, where he was living at the time of his death in 1871. He married Angeline Dumey, and they became the par- ents of a large family of children, nine of whom are still living. Three daughters died, two, Katherine and Clementine, in infancy and Josephine fourteen years ago. She was the wife of Frank Heiserer and left three children Three other daughters are still living. Mary is the wife of John Wetter, a retired farmer of Sikeston; Louisa also re- sides in the county and is Mrs. Hieserer; Katherine lives in San Francisco, California. Five sons beside Joseph have grown to ma- turity and settled in various parts of the country. Emil lives in El Reno, Oklahoma. Frank lives on a farm near Kelso, Missouri. He married Rosa Diebold, and they have a place of two hundred and seventy-five acres. John lives on one of the home places near Hamburg; he married Lena Scherer, of Scott county. William and his wife, Lucy Grog- ian Legrand, live on the old home place near John. George is a landowner near Oran. He married Edith Witt. The mother of this ad- mirable and enterprising family lived until

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March 3, 1908, when her death occurred at New Hamburg, Missouri.

Joseph Legrand obtained his first property twelve years ago when he came into possession of one hundred and sixty-five acres. Later he purchased eighty-four acres adjoining the original place and fifty acres of swamp land, not yet cleared or drained. Beside these tracts he owns twenty acres up in the hills. But farm lands do not represent all of Mr. Legrand's real estate interests, as he has a house and six lots in Chaffee. He is also a stockholder in the German American Bank of Chaffee.

In 1895 Mr. Legrand was married to Miss Clara Witt, the daughter of John and Mary (Popst) Witt, old residents of this county. Three children have been born of the union: Steve, on November 16, 1897; Edith, Janu- ary 17, 1903, and Cornelius, on Sepember 27, 1909. Mr. Legrand is a member of the Cath- olie church of Chaffee and is one of the rep- resentative men of the county.

DR. HENRY L. CORDREY is the son of a Methodist minister, Rev. John Cordrey, of Madison, Indiana. Henry Cordrey was not fourteen years old when he lost his father in 1871, as the date of his birth was December 15, 1857. When fifteen years of age, the boy went to Kansas, locating in Humboldt, Allen county. There he went to school, and when he had gone as far as the course of study there permitted he took higher courses in Keokuk, Iowa, and in Chattanooga, Tennes- see. Dr. Cordrey graduated from Grant Uni- versity in Chattanooga.

For five years the Doctor practiced medi- cine in Denver, Colorado. He then spent five years in Rocky Mountain, Missouri, but left this place to go to Pioneer, where he also spent five years. From Pioneer, he came to Chaffee, and has now been in business here for five years.

In addition to his professional work, Dr. Cordrey started a drug store in Chaffee and became the proprietor of the finest establish- ment of the sort in the town. In 1911 he sold his drug store and has since devoted his entire time to practice. His skill in his profession has gained him a large practice in this region and has caused him to be selected as presi- dent of the board of health. Beside being a graduate of a medical school, he is a regis- tered pharmacist.

Dr. Cordrey is a prominent lodge man of Chaffee. He holds membership in the Knights

of Pythias, the Odd Fellows, the Modern Woodmen and the Eagles of Chaffee.

The Doctor has six children, three sons and three daughters, Henry, Minnie, Maud, George, Arthur and Ida. Their mother was Minerva J. Lobach, whose marriage to Dr. Cordrey took place at Humboldt in 1877. She died in Burlington, Iowa, in 1887. In 1902 Dr. Cordrey was married to Miss Delia Russel, of Missouri. They have no children.

MATTHEW J. WILLIAMS. Among the native- born citizens of Stoddard county who have spent their lives within its precincts, aiding in every possible way its growth and develop- ment, especially as regards its agricultural advancement, is Matthew J. Williams, the owner of a rich and highly productive farm lying six miles southwest of Dexter, on Crow- ley's Ridge, where he has been a resident for upwards of twenty years. A son of Abner Williams, he was born not far from his pres- ent home, October 17, 1851, of pioneer ancestry.

Three members of the Williams family to which Matthew J. belongs came from Ken- tucky to Missouri in pioneer times, Thomas Williams; John N. Williams, father of Mrs. James A. Nichols; and Abner Williams. All three located on Crowley's Ridge in Stoddard county. Thomas was probably married when he came here. He settled on the land now owned by Matthew J., but he later sold it and located at East Bottom, where he cleared and improved a homestead, on which he resided until his death, at a good old age.

Abner Williams married soon after coming to Stoddard county Elizabeth Dowdy and began farming on his homestead of one hun- dred and twenty acres. He cleared a few acres of his land only, his death occurring while he was yet in manhood's prime. He left two children, namely : John H., now liv- ing near the village of Pyle, two miles from the old home farm; and Matthew J., who was but two years old when his father died. The mother was subsequently twice married, marrying for her second husband Isaac Shelby and for her third husband, Lewis Layer. She lived to a good old age, spend- ing her last years in Parma, Missouri.

Matthew J. Williams lived with his mother until nineteen years of age, when he assumed possession of the sixty acres of land left him by his father. He subsequently bought forty acres of adjoining land and put it nearly all

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under cultivation, in addition erecting a good set of farm buildings and otherwise improv- ing the place, which is now occupied and owned by his son, LeRoy Williams. In 1890 Mr. Williams bought one hundred and sixty acres of land now included in his present farm, which is quite near his old homestead farm. Fifty acres of the farm had been placed under tillage when he purchased it, and he has since cleared seventy acres more, burning the timber in order to get rid of it, that having been long before the conservation of forests became a national problem. His estate is a fine piece of rolling land, with a gentle slope; while his house stands on rising ground, about fifteen feet above the public highway, and one hundred feet above the bottoms, and com- mands an extensive view towards the east. The Chalk Bluff road passes between the house and barn, both of which are substantial and conveniently arranged buildings. Mr. Williams devotes his land principally to the raising of stock and grain, although he grows some cotton each season, and as a skilful and practical farmer has met with most satisfac- tory pecuniary results in his undertakings. For twelve or fourteen years he operated a threshing machine for the benefit of himself and his neighbors, doing all the threshing within a radius of a mile.

Mr. Williams married, at the age of nine- teen years, Mary Elizabeth Stevenson, who was born in Tennessee eighteen years before, and at the age of three years came to Stod- dard county with her parents, William and Elizabeth Stevenson, who located at East Bottom and there spent the remainder of their lives, the father dying at the age of sixty-six years. Nine children have been born to Mr. and Mrs. Williams, namely: Addie Rosetta, wife of Andy Shadd ; Laura, wife of George Petty; Daisy, wife of Joseph Ken- nedy ; LeRoy, owning and occupying the old home farm, married Leila Harris; Willie died at the age of twenty-four years; Roscoe died when eighteen years old; Rufus, owning a part of his father's farm, which at one time contained three hundred acres, married Birdie Wiggs; Edgar, who manages the home farm; and Elmer, living at home. Politically Mr. Williams is a staunch Republican.

JAMES A. NICHOLS. The industrions and progressive agriculturists of Stoddard county have no more worthy representative than James A. Nichols, who holds high rank among

the business-like farmers who are so ably con- ducting the extensive farming interests of this part of Southeastern Missouri. Born October 28, 1868, in Polk county, Arkansas, on the border of the Indian Territory, he grew to manhood in the Territory, in his boyhood days receiving limited educational advantages com- pared with those of the boys of the present day. His parents, Levanda and Mary A. Nichols, were married in Arkansas, his father going to that state from Virginia, where his birth occurred, while his mother moved from North Carolina, her native state, to Arkansas. Both parents died in the Indian Territory at a comparatively early age. the father's death occurring in 1882 and the mother's a few years later.

After the death of his mother James A. Nichols remained in the Territory for two years, and then took up his residence in Stod- dard county, Missouri, where he was employed as a farm laborer until his marriage, when he assumed possession of the farm where he now lives, it being located six miles southwest of Dexter, on Crowley's Ridge. Mr. Nichols married, at the age of twenty-five years, Dora M. Williams, a daughter of Jolin N. and Serena (Moore) Williams, who reared a large family of children, of whom but two are now living, namely: E. G. Williams, her half- brother, a well-known resident of Bernie and an elder in the Regular Baptist church; and Mrs. Nichols, the youngest of her father's children. Her father, who died at the age of eighty years, was one of the leading agricul- turists of this part of Stoddard county, own- ing a large tract of land, a part of- which was included in the farm now owned by Mr. Nichols. He was four times married, his last wife, the mother of Mrs. Nichols, surviving him.

When Mr. Nichols married Miss Williams her father deeded her sixty acres of the farm on which they now reside, all of which was tillable but had no buildings upon it, with the exception of a small shack. She subse- quently inherited eighty acres of the parental estate and one thousand dollars in money, not receiving this legacy, however, until after Mr. Nichols had made a good start in life. Mr. Nichols afterward purchased one hundred and eighteen and one-fourth acres of the old Wil- liams estate on Crowley's Ridge, and likewise bought one hundred and eighty-seven and one-half acres of bottom land, paying $32.50 an acre for the piece. As a farmer he has met

MR. AND MRS. JAMES A. NICHOLS

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with eminent success, having the greater part of his land under cultivation, while his im- provements are of the most practical and sub- stantial character. He raises abundant crops of corn, wheat and oats, and pays much atten- tion to raising stock, while for twelve or more years he shipped stock to the near-by markets, an industry that was formerly quite profit- able.

Politically Mr. Nichols is a staunch sup- porter of the principles of the Democratic party ; religiously both Mr. and Mrs. Nichols are valued members of the Pleasant Grove Baptist church. They have no children of their own, but are bringing up a nephew, William R. Thomas, a sturdy lad of eleven years, who has lived with them since infancy, having been but a year old when he became an inmate of their household.

JOHN A. YOUNG. The wide-awake and ef- ficient president of the Sikeston Concrete Tile and Construction Company is one of the ten children of John William Young, born in Woodbury, Kentucky, in 1843 and Sophronia Orange Young also a Kentuckian, whose native place is Butler county and the year of her birth, 1849. After forty-one years of wedded life she and her husband are still living, hale and hearty, at Bertrand, Missouri, with several of their children settled in homes of their own in the same town. Here reside Guy and his wife, Josephine Robinson Young; Annie, Mrs. Eugene Lassiter ; Maud, now Mrs. Claude Bowman; and Carr, who is unmarried. Here, too, lies buried a beloved daughter, Maggie, the wife of A. T. Lang- ston. Three other children passed into the other life while yet only on the threshold of this one. These were Alphia, Tulia and Clyde. Willie married Parham Stone and lives at Diehlstadt.

The parents left Kentucky in 1875, set- tling first in Millersville, Cape Girardeau county. Here John W. Young ran a black- smith shop for fourteen years and also had wagon works in connection with his black- smithing. He moved to Bertrand in 1889 and has continued the same occupation there. He is a member of the time-honored Masonic fra- ternity and both he and his wife are active in the work of the Christian church. Politic- ally his views and policies are those of the Democratic party.

Until John A. Young was eighteen he as- sisted his father in the blacksmith shop. He was but three years old when his parents

came to Missouri, so he has obtained his edu- cation and experience in this state. From the age of eighteen until he was twenty-one, he clerked in a general store at Bertrand. Here he was married on May 18, 1893, twelve days before his twenty-first birthday. His bride was Lillie Bush, born May 10, 1874, in Bertrand.

For three years after his marriage Mr. Young conducted a drug store in Bertrand, of which he was the proprietor. He gave this up to accept a position as traveling salesman for the McCormick Harvester Company. Af- ter seven years' work for this corporation he came to Sikeston and worked five years for the Sikeston Mercantile Company. In 1909 Mr. Young organized the Sikeston Concrete Tile and Construction Company. This concern is incorporated for five thousand dollars. Its officers are : John A. Young, president ; J. W. Schroff, vice-president; J. H. Stubb, secre- tary ; and J. N. Chaney, treasurer. The ever increasing demand for concrete products makes the organization of this plant a most timely addition to the industries of Sikeston and one which cannot fail to contribute ma- terially to the economic advancement of the city.

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History of southeast Missouri : a narrative account of its historical progress, its people and its principal interests, Volume II, Part 97

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