USA > Missouri > History of southeast Missouri : a narrative account of its historical progress, its people and its principal interests, Volume II > Part 99
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I. R. KELSO, one of the most prominent lawyers in Cape Girardeau county, is a man who has made his presence felt. And, indeed, that is no cause for wonderment considering that he has the blood of Scotland, Ireland, Wales and America in his veins. He seems to have retained the good qualities of each na- tionality and let the less worthy characteristics go. Ile has the shrewdness and caution of the Scotch, the humor and repartee of the Irish,
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the eloquence of the Welsh and the enthusiasm and practicability of the American.
He was born in Callaway county, Missouri, September 13, 1871. His grandfather, J. W. Kelso, was of Welsh descent and possessed of the Welsh enterprise. He came to Missouri from Virginia, being one of the pioneers of Missouri, and has seen the state grow up and prosper. He settled in Callaway county and there his son J. W. was born and received his education. He became a successful contractor and manufacturer and is now a resident of Springfield, Missouri, aged sixty-seven years. He married Virginia C. Rodgers, who was also a native of Callaway county, and a daughter of Captain Charles Rodgers, who came to Missouri from Virginia when he was a young man. He was of Scotch-Irish descent. Mrs. Kelso is still living in Springfield, Missouri. Mr. and Mrs. Kelso were the parents of four sons and one daughter who lived to maturity. The daughter is the eldest of the family, the son I. R. being next in order of birth.
The boyhood days of I. R. Kelso were spent in his native county, where he was educated in the public schools. He then attended the Westminster College at Fulton, Missouri, the Missouri State Normal at Kirksville, Missouri, and later a private school at Bushnell, Illinois. After completing his normal course he taught for two terms, which seems to have given him all the experience in the pedagogical field for which he cared. He felt that the profession of law suited both his tastes and his capabili- ties, and in order not to lose any time he entered the law offices of Crews & Thurmond at Fulton, Missouri. In 1892 he was admitted to the bar at Fulton and practiced there for a time. He later formed a partnership with General D. H. McIntyre at Mexico, Missouri, continuing in practice there for about two years. In 1896 Mr. Kelso came to South- eastern Missouri, locating at Kennett in Dunklin county, where he formed a partner- ship with General T. R. R. Ely. After the expiration of ten years he came to Cape Girardeau, where he engaged in general prac- tice as a member of the firm of Ely, Kelso & Miller.
In 1893 Mr. Kelso married Miss Nellie S. Kilgore, the daughter of N. F. and M. J. (Eller) Kilgore, of Audrain county, Missouri. Mrs. Kelso was born and educated in Audrain county. One daughter, Ruth, has been born to Mr. and Mrs. Kelso.
Mr. Kelso is a Democrat and has always
been active in politics and in public affairs generally. He was president of the Cape Girardeau Commercial Club for two years and in 1907 was president of the convention of Christian churches in the state of Missouri. HIe is president of the St. Louis-Hot Springs Good Roads Association, an interstate associa- tion organized in June, 1911. He is a mem- ber of the Masonic order and has served as master in the Blue Lodge and high priest in the Chapter. He is also a member of the Commandery. He is at the present time a member of the county central committee, and he has done such excellent work for the party that it is certain they will not let him rest on his oars. A man who is capable, willing and honest is always sure to have honors thrust upon him. Mr. Kelso is not seeking honors, but he is ready and anxious to do his share in the betterment of conditions in the state in which he has spent his whole life and the county which he has made his own.
GROVER CLEAVELAND MONTGOMERY. On March 4, 1854, in Martin county, Indiana, was born Samuel Montgomery, the father of G. C. Montgomery. Samuel was a farmer, and in 1878 he married Jane Cannon, of the same county, born March 17, 1861. They brought up a large family and now have nine living children. Two, Mayme and Floyd, are still living with their parents. Ida, Mrs. Elisha Crays, and Ollie, Mrs. W. A. Crane, live in Martin county, where they were born. Jasper, too, has established his home there. Two sons, Willis and John, live in Stark county, Illinois, and Robert resides in South Dakota. The other son is Grover C. the ris- ing lawyer of Sikeston.
Mr. Montgomery was twenty-six on the fourth day of April, 1911. He has been a resident of Missouri only since December 14, 1910. He was born in Martin county, Indi- ana, and received his education in that state. After a course in Vorhees Business College at Indianapolis he entered the Indiana Law School and graduated in 1906.
As soon as he left school Mr. Montgomery located at Loogootee, Indiana, and practiced there for two years. He then moved to Mount Vernon, and spent the same length of time there. From Mt. Vernon he came to Sikes- ton and after practicing two months alone went into partnership with R. E. Bailey. The firm have offices in the City Hall building.
Mr. Montgomery was married on December
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23, 1908, to Mary, daughter of William J. and Etta Rayhill McCord, of Davis county, Indiana. Mrs. Montgomery was born August 18th, 1885. A son, Donald, was born to Mary and Grover C. Montgomery September 17, 1910, but whose death occurred December 1, 1911.
The church home of Mr. and Mrs. Mont- gomery is the Methodist, in which they are valued members. Mr. Montgomery's politics are those of the illustrious statesman whose name he bears. He is one of the young law- yers whose star is in the ascendant and in Sikeston he has chosen a fitting field for his talents.
CAPTAIN ROBERT B. HEUCHAN. Mr. Hen- chan's father was a cabinet maker, born in Scotland, at historie Castle Douglas, that place so inextricably bound up in our mem- ories of the gallant romances of bonny Scot- land and so fateful in the history of that country. James Heuchan came to America when only nine years of age, in the year 1812 so he knew little of fair Scotia. But none the less he bore the heritage of his race, its austere virtues and its all conquering per- sistence. His parents settled in Quebec, Can- ada, and here he lived until he was sixteen. He learned the trade of cabinet making and taught it to his son Robert. James Heuchan came into the United States in 1819, going to New York state. Later he went to Jack- son, Tennessee, and thence to Richmond, In- diana, and it was here that Robert was born in 1844. His mother was Elizabeth Lynton, a native of Yorkshire, England, and so the boy had the English love of liberty added to the Scotchman's independence and was, moreover, an American born. Her parents settled first in Baltimore, Maryland, and then came west to Richmond, Indiana.
In 1868, Mr. Henchan came to Missouri from Indiana, desiring to be in a newer coun- try. He had been married two years before to Mary E. Arnold, of Covington, Kentucky. Most of the children of this union are living in this county at present. Lily, born in 1868, is Mrs. C. P. Bondurant, of this county. Emma's husband is H. W. Dodge, a carpen- ter in Commerce. Moses, who celebrated his thirty-eighth birthday on August 5, 1911, is a farmer at Keatsville. He is married to Dela Drace. Charles, two years younger than Moses, is in business with his father. He is also serving his fifth year as postmaster. His wife was Miss Oda Davis, of Keatsville. He
is a Mason and a Modern Woodman. Marvin R., born in October, 1878, is stock buyer for the Hamilton-Brown Shoe Company, of St. Louis. He is also married to a young lady of St. Louis, whose maiden name was Mary O'Connor. Floy married Jo F. Ellis and lives on a farm in Scott county.
For two years after his arrival in Com- merce Mr. Heuchan rented a farm. He then moved to town and worked by the day. He continued this for six years. In 1872 he turned his attention to the undertaking and cabinet-making trade and he still continues to follow that line of work. He has made the business signally successful and its receipts are from $500 to $800 every year. He has the only undertaking shop in the village and has been in the business longer than any other undertaker in Scott county. The Oak Dale cemetery is owned by him. He laid it out in 1889 and sells lots therein.
Besides being a Mason, a member of Lodge No. 336 here, and having been through chairs in Ashley lodge, Mr. Henchan is an active worker in the Methodist church. He was formerly steward and trustee and ever since 1870 has been superintendent of the Sunday- school. His influence is as widely extended as it is salutary and his integrity of life and genuine devotion to the cause of uprightness and righteousness make him an invaluable member of his denomination and a true benefactor of the entire community. Not only he but all his family are communicants of this church.
Mr. Henchan is a Republican in politics. He has been. „Justice of the peace for eighteen years and has served several terms on the town board, of which he was chairman for two terms. It is not only in the duties of peace that he has fulfilled his part as a servant of the public, but he has given even more loyal devotion to his country in the dark time of war. In 1861 he enlisted in the Fifty-seventh Indiana and served until the end of the war. He was twice wounded, the first time at the battle of Missionary Ridge, when he was shot in the neck. At Franklin, Tennessee, he was wounded in the head and captured, but he escaped that night. For two weeks he was confined in Hospital No. 16 at Nash- ville, Tennessee, with lung fever. Mr. Heu- chan enlisted as a private and was promoted to the rank of captain in January, 1864. He was in the battles of Perryville, Kentucky, at Stone River, Murfreesboro, Buzzard Roost, Dalton, Resaca, Altamont, Big Shanty, Mari-
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etta, Atlanta, Jonesboro and Nashville. He University of Louisville, completing the course did his soldier's duty in soldiery fashion, as and receiving the degree of M. D., in March 1896. his ancestors had done for centuries before him, those tall Highlanders, whose majestic . march with swinging plaids and shrilling pipes, fifty convey a picture of their indomit- able courage. And his was the soldier's re- ward. Like the truest warriors who battle for principle and not for the glory of war, he has been as loyal a soldier of peace as of strife and his reward is attained in the uni- versal regard of his fellow townsmen as well as in the prosperity of his undertakings.
JACOB A. MILEM, M. D. As a general rule, the sons of the veterans of the Confederate army are inclined to favor the policies of the Democratic party, although nowadays when men do so much independent thinking, this is less frequently the case than formerly. However, Dr. Milem is an exception to the old rule, for though his father was a captain in the Southern army for the entire four years, his son is a Republican. In the fifteen years of his residence in Sikeston he has made a place for himself both in his profession and in the life of the town, where he has allied himself with every movement for its advance- ment.
Russel J. Milem, the father, was also a phy- sician. He was born in Lee county, Virginia, in February, 1827. He received his medical education in Nashville, but practiced during his life, except while serving in the army, in Lee county, Virginia. In 1866 Dr. Russel J. Milem was married to Nancy Graybeel, who was also a native of Lee county, Virginia, born in 1837. This lady was the widow of a Con- federate soldier who died in prison in Camp Douglas during the war. She had five child- ren by her first marriage, only one of whom, John J., is living. He resides in Lee county, Virginia, and has been twice married. Six children were born to Nancy and Russel Milem. These are: Jacob Allen, of this re- view ; Lorenzo D., now living in Oklahoma; William J., living on a farm near Sikeston, with his wife, Molly Carter Milem; Atha J., who died at the age of twelve; Andrew P., also a farmer near Sikeston, married to Mayme Desager ; and Francis A., who is unmarried. Russel Milem died in Lee county, Virginia, in 1889, in the place now known as Hagan.
Jacob Allen Milem was born October 16, 1867, in Lee county, Virginia. He grew up on the farm and when he had finished the course in the school of the county he entered the
He came immediately to Sikeston, where he has remained. He arrived on April 2, 1896, and at that date his wordly wealth was represented completely by the nine dollars in his pocket. However, he had assets not visible, in the way of education and faculty. For the first few months of his stay in Sikeston Dr. Milem was associated with Dr. Wyatt, but later he practiced alone. For several years he has been chairman of the board of health, as his interests in the public welfare is no less well known than his skill in his profession.
Two years after his arrival in Sikeston Dr. Milem was married to Mary F. Battie. Her parents are Charles and Frances Marian (Jackson) Battie, who reside at Commerce, Missouri, where Mary Battie Milem was born. Three sons, Jackson A., Charles Russel and Donald A., complete the home circle of Dr. and Mrs. Milem. The boys are aged twelve, ten and four, respectively. Mrs. Milem is a member of the Christian church, while the Doctor is of the Baptist faith. He is a promi- nent anti-saloon worker and a firm believer in the temperance movement, which is mak- ing such headway these later years. In his lodge connections Dr. Milem belongs to the Odd Fellows. Besides his medical practice he is the owner of a farm more than a half sec- tion in area, upon which he raises corn.
WILLIAM PFEFFERKORN is one of the powers of the business world of Chaffee, an extensive property holder in addition to being con- nected with several of the leading business concerns of the town. He is one of a family of seven children of Louis and Catherine (Thomas) Pfefferkorn, whose home is near Benton. The father is an extensive land- owner and was a farmer and stockman. He is now retired and lives at Oran with his wife and three younger children, Leo, Otto and Iva. The other children are: Anna, wife of Frank Enderle, a farmer and landowner near Oran; Joseph, living on the old farm, married to Mary Halter ; Rosalia, Mrs. Frank Arnold, living near Commerce; and William of this review.
The year of Mr. Pfefferkorn's birth is 1880, the day being September 5. He lived at home until 1901, when he went out west. There he was a contractor and worked in many different places for four years. In 1906 he came to Chaffee and continued in the
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business of contracting. He has had a hand in the building of most of the important edi- fices of Chaffee. For three years he was in the lumber business alone, and he is still interested in that trade, being president of the Chaffee Lumber Company. Other organizations with which Mr. Pfefferkorn is connected are the Chaffee Ice and Cold Storage Company of which he is vice president; the First National Bank, of which he is president and director; and the Building and Loan Association of Chaffee, of which he is also a director. The list of his holdings in the real estate of the town in- cludes five houses and seven or eight vacant lots.
Mr. Pfefferkorn's marriage to Miss Helen Enderle, daughter of Mike Enderle, of Scott county, took place October 21, 1906. Their three children are Anita, Raymond and Ralph Pfefferkorn, aged respectively two years, four years, and ten days. The family belong to the Roman Catholic church.
EMIL STECK. Although Mr. Emil Steck will not celebrate his thirty-fifth birthday un- til September 15, 1911, he has achieved a lead- ing place in the commercial circles of the county and is recognized as one whose power and influence is steadily increasing. Cape Girardeau was his birthplace, but when he was seven years old his parents, Frank and Wilhelmina Steck, moved to Benton, where his father started a flour mill. He bought property in Benton and lived there until his death, in 1892. His widow still resides there with her sons. R. F. Steck is a dealer in live stock and conducts a butcher shop in Benton, where he also owns city property in addition to his farm on the outskirts of the town. Alva, aged twenty, is at home with his mother. Lena Steck married William F. Damon, a flour miller of Elkton, Kentucky.
Emil Steck worked with his father until the latter's death. He attended the high school in Benton and after graduating from the school went several terms to the Cape Girar- deau Normal. In 1897 he graduated from the commercial and banking department of the Gem City Business College of Quincy, Illi- nois. After coming home from school Mr. Steck was for two years associated with W. H. Heisserer in the mercantile business in Benton and then spent three years there in the same line of work by himself. In 1905 he came to Fornfelt and helped to organize the First State Bank of Fornfelt. This organiza- tion was organized by local promoters and
has been an eminently successful venture. The present officers are A. Baudendistel, president; E. A. Wells, vice president; Emil Steck, cashier; and M. Nelsmann, assistant cashier. The bank has deposits of $74,000, with $2,000 surplus and profits. Ever since its organization it has paid a dividend of four per cent annually and its business is con- stantly increasing.
Mr. Steck owns city property in Benton and also one hundred and twenty acres in Pemiscot county. In Fornfelt he has both residence and business lots. His home, now being erected, is one of the finest residences in the township, being a seven-room struct- ure, brick veneered. He also has stock in the Benton Bank. The community has given evidence of its high opinion of Mr. Steck's administrative ability by choosing him chair- man of the village board. He is no longer in this office, but is treasurer of the Fornfelt school district Number 3. In the Masonic order he is treasurer of Illmo Lodge, No. 581, and he is a past master in the A. F. & A. M. In Cape Girardeau he belongs to the Knights Templars. His church membership is in the same city, where he is affiliated with the Lutheran church.
J. R. YOUNG, the city attorney of Illmo, was born on his father's farm in St. Francois county, near French Village, May 1, 1865. His father, James Young, was at the time of his death the owner of 1,200 acres of land. He was twice married, his first wife being Susan Allen. She bore him four sons who are still living. Of these, William is an at- torney in Farmington, Missouri; Henry E. is a farmer in Ste. Genevieve county, living on the land his father gave him before his death ; Joseph Young, too, is at present residing on a place in the same county, which was also a gift from the father; John, the oldest son, fol- lows the pursuit of his father and his two brothers in Texas. J. R. Young's mother was Susan Porter Young. She had two other chil- dren, Edwin, now married to Anna Phur- man, with whom he is living on the old home place, and Lilian, who married J. B. Phur- man, a brother of Mrs. Edwin Young. Mr. and Mrs. Phurman are located on a farm which was owned by Mrs. Phurman's mater- nal grandfather, Mr. Porter. James Young's death occurred twenty-three years ago on the farm where he had lived the most of his life. Susan Porter Young, his widow, died on the same place fifteen years later.
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Mr. J. R. Young attended the high school in Farmington and also Carlton College in the same place. He took further work in the Cape Girardeau Normal and upon complet- ing his course there taught school near Val- ley Mines and French Village. He began the study of law in Farmington, under Jude Carter and Merill Pipkin, of that city. In 1888 he was admitted to the bar at Frederick- town, Madison county. For one year he was assistant prosecuting attorney at Ste. Gene- vieve county ; then he practiced three years in St. Francois. Seeking a larger field, he re- moved to Springfield and stayed there for three and a half years. Following this, he spent two years in St. Louis and from there went to Stoddard county, locating at Bloom- field. Here he remained for an extended pe- riod and five years ago came to Illmo, where he is now counselor and city attorney and where he has a large practice.
Mr. Young has identified himself with the interests of Illmo in various ways. He holds stock in several of its enterprises and owns several houses and lots in the town. He has farm property in this vicinity in addition to two farms in Stoddard county, near Bloom- field.
Mrs. Young was formerly Miss Lizzie Rad- cliffe, daughter of John and Katherine Rad- cliffe, of Washington Court House, Ohio. Her marriage to Mr. Young took place on February 1, 1893.
Mr. Young's fraternal affiliations include the Royal Arch Masons at Poplar Bluff and the Knights of Pythias at Bloomfield. Though he has been a resident of Illmo but a comparatively short time, he has gained the place of a leading citizen in the community.
ELI WILSON, M. D. A man of high pro- fessional attainments and one whose great heart and kindly sympathy endeared him to all with whom he came in contact, Dr. Wilson was distinctively one of the representative physicians and surgeons of Southeastern Mis- souri and, though his personal presence and marked ability would have given him prestige in any metropolitan center, he was loyal to the people among whom he had been reared and found pleasure in working among them, for the alleviation of suffering and distress. He was in the very prime of his strong and useful manhood at the time when he was sum- moned from the stage of his mortal endeavors, and he controlled a large and appreciative practice in his native county, where his circle
of friends was coincident with that of his acquaintances, and where his name will long be held in reverent memory by those to whom he ministered with so much of ability and unselfishness. He achieved much in his chosen sphere of endeavor and as one of the loved and honored citizens of Stoddard county his status was such that it is most consonant that in this publication be accorded a tribute to his memory.
Dr. Eli Wilson was born on a farm near Leora, Stoddard county, Missouri, on the 30th of July, 1867, and his death occurred at Hot Springs, Arkansas, on the 15th of October, 1910. He had maintained his residence in the village of Puxico, in his native county, for about two years prior to his death, and his entire active career in his profession was de- voted to practice in Stoddard county. He was a son of. Alexander M. and Margarette J. Wilson, who were numbered among the sterling pioneers of Stoddard county, where they continued to reside until their death and where the father devoted his attention to agri- cultural pursuits. Dr. Wilson was indebted to the public schools of his native county for his early educational discipline, and his ambi- tion for high academic advantages was early quickened to definite action. His father was unable to give him more than nominal finan- cial assistance and as a means to an end he began teaching in the schools of Stoddard county. For a number of years he was one of the successful and popular representatives of the pedagogie profession in this county, and in the meanwhile he devoted all of his leisure time to study of medical text-books, in order to pave the way for fitting himself for the profession to which he had deter- mined to devote his life and in which he was destined to gain unqualified success. At inter- vals during his period of teaching he attended medical schools, and it was through his own exertions that he gained the means for com- pleting his technical education. His first course of lectures was taken in a medical col- lege at Louisville, Kentucky, in 1894, and in the following year he was graduated in a medical college at Atlanta, Georgia. He be- gan practice in that year, but in order to fortify himself further for the work of his chosen calling he entered the Barnes Medical College of St. Louis, in which he was grad- uated as a member of the class of 1896 and from which he received a supplemental de- gree of Doctor of Medicine. Opening an office in Leora, his success and popularity as
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a physician in the community in which he had been reared set at naught any application of the scriptural aphorism that a prophet is not without honor save in his own country. For more than ten years Dr. Wilson continued in active practice near his old home and he built up a large and representative business. He was essentially a student and ever put forth every effort to keep in touch with the ad- vances made in both departments of his pro- fession. Had he chosen to locate in a large city, where he might have the advantages of hospital practice and association with leaders in the ranks of his profession, it is altogether probable that he would have gained high repu- tation in original research work, as such appli- cation was of distinct interest to him. Denied the incidental advantages noted, he made good the handicap by constant and well di- rected study of the best in standard and periodical literature of his profession, besides which he explored special lines of professional work. In 1898 he passed the examination that entitled him to practice electro therapeutics, and in 1901 he was graduated in a college of science at Philadelphia. The following year he was granted a license as a pharmacist by the Missouri state board of pharmacy.
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