USA > Missouri > Greene County > Past and present of Greene County Missouri, early and recent history and genealogical records of many of the representative citizens, Volume I > Part 83
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made an excellent record in the ward schools and entered high school in September, 1914.
Major Weaver is entitled to be called a "forty-niner," for he was one of the courageous gold seekers who made the precarious journey across the vast, wild western plains to California-not, it is true, in the year 1849, but only a few months later-in the spring of 1850. He engaged in mining for some time on the Pacific coast, later returning to Greene county and "wound up" his business affairs, and returned with his family to the Golden State in 1852, and went into the hotel business there. He was successful in this venture and remained in California until 1867, when he returned to Missouri, the four long journeys having been made without especial inci- dent of importance. Upon his return he located in Barry county in the southwestern part of the state and engaged in the saw milling business. later removing to Lawrence county, this state, and engaged successfully in mercantile pursuits until 1889 when he took up his residence again in Spring- field, after an absence of nearly thirty years, and practiced law for twelve years and has been living a retired life ever since, enjoying the fruits of his former years of activity and excellent business ability. He owns a pleasant home on West Walnut street. Major Weaver was elected in 1896 to the Missouri Lower House as a Democrat, of which party he has always been a stanch supporter. Major Weaver is well and favorably known all over Missouri, the phenomenal growth of which he has been deeply interested in, for he has lived to see it develop from a wilderness on the then western frontier to one of the opulent and important localities of the Union. He is a man of public spirit and is hospitable, genial, likable, a man of never- failing courtesy of the old school, and now, in the golden Indian summer of his years he is held in the highest esteem by a wide circle of admiring friends, and he can look backward over a useful and well-spent life, and forward with no misgivings or fears.
CAPT. GEORGE T. BEAL.
A prominent and useful pioneer citizen of Greene county was the late Capt. George T. Beal of Republic, for a long lapse of years a leading farmer in the western part of the county. He was a man of industry and public spirit, willing at all times to do his full share in the work of development, never neglecting his larger duties to humanity. He was neighborly, obliging and kind, which traits made him popular with all who knew him and won the respect and good will of those with whom he came into contact. Thus for many reasons, not the least of which is the fact that he was one of the
GREENE COUNTY, MISSOURI.
worthy veterans of the great army that saved the national Union, we are glad to give him special mention in this volume.
Mr. Beal was born November 10, 1832, on his father's farm near Verona, Missouri, but his long life of seventy-eight years was spent in Greene county, he being an infant when brought here by his parents, Daniel N. and Nancy (Gibson) Beal. He sprang from an old Colonial family, members of which have been influential in their localities in America for many generations. Our subject's paternal grandfather was a native of North Carolina. The father. Daniel N. Beal, was born in that state, May 19. 1799. He was a cabinet maker by trade, and when a young man went to Giles county, Tennessee, and there he and Nancy Gibson were married. She was a daughter of George Gibson, and they were the parents of seven children, namely: George T., Allen H., James M., Martha A., Damaris, Mary J .. and Penelope. Mr. Beal remained in Giles county, Tennessee until three children were born and in 1831, moved to Crawford county, Missouri, and settled near where Verona now stands. Judge James White came the same time, and here Mr. Beal made a clearing and began his home. He was in company with Judge White in the ownership of land, and as they thought the tract of land not large enough for both, Mr. Beal sold out and came to Greene county, the latter part of 1833 and settled in what is now Campbell township. on Wilson's creek, four miles west of Springfield. Here he cleared up a farm and passed the remainder of his days, owning two hundred and eighty-eight acres. In politics he was a Democrat, and both himself and wife were members of the Baptist church. Mr. Beal died in the prime of life, dying December 7. 1847, being about forty-seven years old. He was one of the frontiersmen of southwestern Missouri and highly respected by the early settlers, by whom he was well known as a man of integrity of character and honest worth.
Capt. George T. Beal grew to manhood on the old home place in Camp- bell township, where he worked when a boy. He attended the old pioneer log school house three months each year until he was twenty years of age. He had taken an interest in farming from the start, and at the age of twenty- one years, in 1854. he was one of the gold seekers, crossing the great western plains toward the "sundown seas," as the poet Joaquin Miller sang of them and their goal. He made the trip to California with three of his neighbors, Samuel G. Bragg. John H. West, and George Likins, the journey being made with an immense ox-wagon, drawn by four yoke of cattle. They also had two riding horses with them. The trip across was uneventful, in fact, pleas- ant and required four months, somewhat quicker than many others made it, the majority of them spending five and six months on the way. Mr. Beal engaged in gold mining at Shasta City on the Sacramento river for two years and then returned by way of the Isthmus of Panama and New York City.
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The next year he again crossed the plains, driving a herd of cattle and milch cows, remaining nine months and returning home by way of Panama and New Orleans, and took up general farming in Greene county.
March 20, 1860, Captain Beal married Ann Eliza Rountree, born Febru- ary 19, 1841, a daughter of Junius and Martha J. Rountree, an old and prominent Greene county family. After his marriage Mr. Beal settled on a farm which he had purchased the year previously, which place consisted of one hundred and twenty acres. By his thrift and industry he added to this until he owned a fine farm of two hundred acres which he placed in a good state of cultivation, and here carried on general farming and stock raising until his retirement in 1896 when he removed to Republic where he spent the rest of his life.
To Captain and Mrs. Beal were born five children, named as follows: Dr. Edward L., a well known physician of Republic, a complete sketch of whom appears elsewhere in this volume; Marshall F., Joseph S .. Carrie M., and Nettie R. All of these children were given excellent educational advantages.
Captain Beal had a military record of which his descendants may well be proud. When the war between the states broke out in April, 1861, he enlisted in the Home Guards and he was one of the guides for Gen. Nathaniel Lyon, from Springfield to Wilson's creek battle-ground the night before the attack. The Union army left Springfield in the evening, the sun being about one hour high and Mr. Beal rode with General Lyon and staff in the advance, the general frequently asking him questions about the road. The route taken was the Mt. Vernon road until five miles from Springfield and then across the prairie in the direction of the Confederate camp. About two o'clock in the morning a halt was called at a point one mile east of Brook- line where the home of Milford Norman later stood, the troops resting quietly on their arms until daylight, which at that time, August 10th, was about five o'clock. Mr. Beal was sent back to the Mt. Vernon road with dis- patches to Major Wright, who was in command of several companies of cavalry and was encamped as a picket outpost, to instruct him to close up immediately and be ready to go into battle at daybreak. By the time the command was in marching condition it was daylight and they rode rapidly to the battle-field, the fighting having begun when they reached the ground. Mr. Beal reached the scene of conflict at six o'clock a little behind the cavalry. The armies of Generals Price and McCulloch had been taken entirely by sur- prise and their first alarm was the shooting at two of their foragers who were out after roasting-ears and gave the alarm. The firing began on both sides when the armies were fully one mile apart but little of the battle could be seen owing to the broken condition of the country-hills, black-jack woods and underbrush being in the way. After six hours of terrific fighting the
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Federals began retreating about eleven thirty o'clock, and Captain Beal and another guide rode back to Springfield, the country being entirely deserted and they met no one on the way. Soon thereafter Mr. Beal returned to the farm, bringing his wife back from her mother's where she had been for safety. He remained at home until November when Fremont's army occu- pied Springfield, and went on to Rolla. Mr. Beal went to Illinois, taking his wife there, and he remained in that state until the following March when he returned to his farm and made a crop. On August 9, 1862 he was elected captain of a company of Missouri State Militia which he had assisted in enlisting in his township, and he served as captain until he resigned two years later, being regarded as a brave and efficient officer. He commanded his company at the battle of Springfield when Marmaduke attacked the city. Two of his company were killed and fifteen wounded. Captain Beal was struck by a spent ball but not seriously injured. This was all done from one fire of the southerners, Captain Beal's company being stationed where Colonel Moore's residence later stood. in fact, the hardest fighting occurred there.
After the war he lived quietly on his farm and was known as a good citizen, a friend of education and honest government. He served his dis- trict several years as school director. In political opinions he was a stanch Democrat, although he neither sought nor accepted office. Both he and his wife were members of the Presbyterian church, in which he was for many years a deacon.
The death of Captain Beal occurred in Republic July 14, 1910, and his wife is living in Republic. They were a fine old couple, beloved by all who knew them and they will long be remembered in this locality.
ELMER G. WADLOW.
.As a lawyer Elmer G. Wadlow is characterized by quickness of per- ception. He has a seeming intuitional knowledge of the principles in the cause of trial; a clear comprehension of testimony, and the methods of its analysis and application : and. as an advocate, enjoys rare. peculiar and praise- worthy gifts. As a cross-examiner he has tact, without simulated intimida- tions. He does not, however. confide alone in his inherent power and abil- ities. Being an alert, logical and indefatigable inquisitor after underlying principles, he thoroughly digests and prepares every case, and then, thrice- armed, he becomes a formidable antagonist. He is intrenched in the funda- mental and basic principles of the law. In argument he is clear, concise, analytical and convincing. "Persuasion hangs upon his lips and sly insinua- tion's softer arts, in ambush lie about his flowing tongue."
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GREENE COUNTY, MISSOURI.
Mr. Wadlow was born in Ash Grove, Greene county, Missouri, June 22, 1874. He is a son of Elijah G. and Izora L. (Arnn) Wadlow, and is of Scotch, Welsh and Irish descent. The father was born near Cave Spring, Greene county, this state, September 15, 1848, and there grew to manhood and was educated in the early-day rural schools. He devoted several years of his life to farming and was then in the United States internal revenue service. and has for many years lived on his farm near Marionville, Missouri. The mother of our subject was born in Paris, Tennessee, February II, 1850, and was a child when her parents removed with her to Missouri in the early fifties, and here she grew to womanhood and was educated in the district schools. She is a step-daughter of Judge John R. Earnest, judge of Greene county court from 1856 till 1860. To Elijah G. Wadlow and wife seven children have been born, five sons and two daughters, namely: Clarence was killed by the kick of a horse in 1880 when he was a boy; Elmer G., of this review ; Maud is the wife of V. K.Darby, a merchant of Marionville, Law- rence county, Missouri, and they have four children: Clyde V., who is en- gaged in the mechanical business in Springfield, being a machinist by trade. He married Carrie Weiss and they have one child; Ernest C., who is a Meth- odist minister, now in charge of a church at Pierce City, Missouri, married Ella Gibson, and they have two children; William H., a paint contractor in Springfield, married Bertha Cohnen ; Beulah died in early life.
Elmer G. Wadlow was reared on the home farm and he received his early education in the public schools of Springfield, and he worked his way through school by firing the boiler in the Baker block during nights, and experienced the usual hardships of a poor boy with ambition in obtaining his education. He also attended the Springfield Business College. He studied law in the office of A. Harrington, under the preceptorship of T. J. Delaney and Charles J. Wright, all prominent attorneys of Springfield. He made rapid progress and was admitted to the bar in 1901, and has since been suc- cessfully engaged in the practice of his profession here.
Mr. Wadlow was married on November 24, 1901, to Mary M. Evans, who was born, reared and educated in Greene county, Missouri. She is a daughter of John and Mary (McClary) Evans, residents of this county. Mrs. Wadlow has one brother, W. L., who lives in Hartville.
To our subject and wife one child has been born, George W. Wadlow. whose birth occurred August 18, 1902.
Politically, Mr. Wadlow is a Democrat. He has been more or less active in public affairs, and he was deputy county collector under R. H. Trevathan. He attends the Methodist Episcopal church, South. Fratern- ally, he belongs to the Modern Woodmen of America, the Independent Order of Odd Fellows, the Improved Order of Red Men and the Loyal Order of Moose.
GREENE COUNTY, MISSOURI.
JAMES HARVEY BARTON.
Great achievements always excite admiration. Men of deeds are the men whom the world delights to honor. Ours is an age representing the most electrical progress in all lines of material activity, and the man of ini- tiative is the one who forges to the front in the industrial world. Among the distinctive captains of industry of a past generation in Greene county, a place of priority must be accorded to the late Jantes Harvey Barton, for to him was due the upbuilding of an industry which was not only one of the most important in the locality of which this history treats, but also one of the most extensive of its kind in southern Missouri. The comparativeiy brief time in which he obtained pronounced results as a man of affairs further testify to his exceptional administrative ability and executive power. The city of Ash Grove and vicinity owe him a debt of gratitude which can never be paid. Mr. Barton was in the fullest sense of the word a progres- sive, virile, self-made American citizen, thoroughly in harmony with the . spirit of the advanced age in which he lived, while he made the most of his opportunities and worked his way upward from a beginning none too aus- picious to a noble and worthy success. He made good use of his opportuni- ties and prospered from year to year, conducting all business matters care- fully and systematically, and in all his acts displaying an aptitude for suc- cessful management. He did not permit the accumulation of fortune to affect in any way his actions toward those less fortunate than he, and he always had a cheerful word and a helping hand for those in need. Indeed, Mr. Barton was a most companionable gentleman and had a very wide circle of warm and admiring friends throughout southwestern Missouri. All who came within range of his influence were profuse in their praise of his admirable qualities, and the high regard in which he was always hell, not only in commercial but in social life, indicated the possession of attri- butes and characteristics that fully entitled him to the respect and good will of his fellowmen, which were freely accorded by all with whom he came in contact.
Mr. Barton was born in St. Louis, Missouri. March 29, 1844. He was a son of Waite and Hannah (Frothingham) Barton. The father of the subject of this memoir was born in New England and there grew to man- hood and was educated, and in an early day he came west and located in St. Louis, Missouri. He was a member of the famous band of "forty- niners." making the hazardous journey across the great western plains to the California gold fields, and while in that state was a member of the noted Vigilant Committee. His wife died in early life, about 1848, but he lived to a good old age.
JAMES H. BARTON.
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GREENE COUNTY, MISSOURI.
Upon the death of his mother, James Harvey Barton, then only four years old, was sent to the home of his aunt in Boston, Massachusetts, where he grew to manhood and was educated. When eighteen years of age he enlisted for service in the Union army, becoming a member of Company A, Forty-second Massachusetts Volunteer Infantry, in which he served faith- fully and gallantly for three years, taking part in a number of the important battles of the war, and was honorably discharged in 1865. After the war he joined his father in Quincy, Illinois, and made a trip through Kansas, then back to St. Louis. When the St. Louis & San Francisco Railroad Com- pany built its lines west from that city he followed the construction with a supply store, which he continued until he reached Pierce City, Missouri, where he engaged in the lumber business for a few years, then built a lime- kiln which he operated until 1880. In that year he came to Ash Grove, and in company with Charles W. Goetz and W. B. Hill, formed the Ash Grove White Lime Association. They began with one kiln, but their business increased continuously until in a few years they had eleven kilns running, using about forty cords of wood a day. A large number of men were employed, and the owners of timbered lands did a thriving business. The firm shipped its first lime in May, 1881. They also established a two-kiln lime plant at Galloway. The firm incorporated in 1907 as the Ash Grove Lime and Portland Cement Company, with a capital stock of two million seven hundred and fifty thousand dollars, which stock is a staple one of the country. The cement they handle is manufactured at Chanute, Kansas. The firm is one of the largest of its kind in the Middle West and is widely known, doing an extensive business over a wide territory. One hundred and forty men are now employed by the plant at Ash Grove, this plant being modernly equipped in every respect and has a capacity of fourteen hundred barrels and three hundred barrels at the Galloway plant. The firm owns four hundred acres of splendid quarry land, located just west of Ash Grove, and four hundred and fifty acres of equally as good land just north of the. city. The firm also owns and operates its own cooperage plant, making all the barrels it uses. It is not too much to say that this company is the largest and best equipped lime and cement manufacturing concern west of the Mississippi river and rivaling any industry of its kind in the United States. And the motive force back of the establishment and development of this mammoth concern was Mr. Barton, who made few mistakes in a business way and who was a man of rare foresight and courage.
Mr. Barton lived in Springfield for a period of eleven years, but re- turned to Ash Grove to make his future home in 1900, spending his last years at his beautiful estate, Woodbine, one of the most splendid country homes in southwest Missouri.
Mr. Barton was married in 1877 to Cynthia Hill, who was born in Cov-
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ington, Ohio. She is a daughter of Thomas and Mary ( Yetter ) Hill, who finally removed from the Buckeye state to Carthage, Missouri. Mr. Hill was for years engaged in the live stock business.
To Mr. and Mrs. Barton three children were born, namely : William H., born October 23, 1884, was educated in the Springfield public school, which he attended three years, then was a student at Drury College four years, then spent three years in the Shattuck Military Academy, at Fair- bault, Minnesota. He was graduated from the high school at Ithaca, New York, in 1904, and from Cornell University at that place in 1908, from the mechanical engineering department. At this writing he is superintendent of the plants of the Ash Grove Lime and Portland Cement Company in Greene county, and is a young man of much business ability. In June, 1909, lie married Edna Baldwin, who was born in Cleveland, Ohio, August 21. 1886, and died January 29, 1913, leaving one child, James H. Barton, whose birth occurred April 19, 1912. Helen, the second child of James Harvey Barton and wife, was born January 1, 1886, and is now the wife of Dr. Harry M. Hosnier ; James H., Jr., youngest of the children, was born in 1889 and died in 1897.
Politically, Mr. Barton was a Republican and fraternally a member of the Masonic order.
Mr. Barton was called to his eternal rest August 3, 1907, at the age of sixty-four years, while still in the fullness of his powers and usefulness. Interment of Mr. Barton's remains was made in Maple Park cemetery, Springfield.
We quote the following lines from an article which appeared in the Ash Grove Commonwealth at the time of our subject's death :
"Mr. Barton was an optimist of the broadest type. energetic, pushing and always sanguine of the future. He knew no such word as failure in any of his business ventures, and to this energy the Ash Grove Lime and Port- land Cement Company is indebted for its splendid growth and present magnitude. He was ever kind and considerate of the welfare of those in his employ and enjoyed their trust and respect to the fullest. As one of the employees expressed it after his death, 'We worked together as one big family. Ile could have been worth a half million more but for his generosity to those in his employ.' No more fitting tribute than this could be paid to the mem- ory of any man that those who worked with and for him loved and respected him. No public enterprise for the betterment of the community that came to his notice was left unaided. and in his death AAsh Grove has lost one of her stanchest friends and helpers, and the Ash Grove Lime and Portland Cement Company a master mind, capable of grasping the opportunities for its future development."
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GREENE COUNTY, MISSOURI.
The following is a paragraph from an article entitled "Death of a Prominent Citizen," which appeared in the Journal, of Everton, Missouri, at the time of our subject's death :
"With the last twenty-five years there has been no movement for the betterment of Ash Grove and vicinity that Mr. Barton has not been identified with. He has ever been for progress and improvement. Liberal and broad- minded. he endeared himself to hundreds of men who were in his employ, and together with Mrs. Barton has done much for the mental and moral advancement of the people who have built up a little city around the big plant. All during his illness the workmen at the plant, together with their families and his friends from Ash Grove and Springfield, have besieged the Woodbine home for news of the sick man whom they loved so well. His death has cast a pall over the city of Ash Grove."
From these paragraphs it will be seen that Mr. Barton was eminently deserving of the high esteem in which he was universally held.
GILBERT RUSSELL WATSON.
A fine type of the sturdy, conscientious American of today is Gilbert Russell Watson, farmer of Murray township, Greene county. He is a man who unites a high order of ability with courage, patriotism, clean morality and sound common sense, doing thoroughly and well the work he finds to do and asking praise of no man for the performance of what he conceives to be his simple duty.
Mr. Watson was born March 13, 1850 in Monroe county, Tennessee. He is a son of Spencer and Margaret (Holloway) Watson. The father was born in December, 1823, in Monroe county, Tennessee and there grew to manhood, was educated in the common schools and worked on the farm when a boy, and there he married in 1845 and purchased a farm of his own of two hundred and eighty acres, which he operated until in the spring of 1852 when he came to Lawrence county, Missouri, and made a crop on Turn- back creek, then came to near Ebenezer, Robberson township, Greene county where he spent the winter in a camp, cutting logs and building a cabin there. This was in the winter of 1852-3. Later he purchased two hundred acres on Robberson prairie, and moved thereto in the spring of 1853 and later entered eighty acres adjoining and there resided until 1866 when he sold out and moved to Cass township, locating on the edge of Grand prairie, own- ing three hundred acres there on which he spent the rest of his life, dying June 20, 1887. He was one of the leading general farmers and stock raisers in this locality, handling many horses and mules annually. He was sixty-
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