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 II > Part 106
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Frank R. Massey is a fine type of the successful self-made American. and this title is the proudest that anyone can bear in our great Republic of the west. He never went to school a day in his life, but be- ing a man of natural strong endowments and ambitions he has become a well-informed man through actual contact with the world, and by wide home reading. When a child he went to Virginia, where he was reared to manhood, leaving there in 1866, he came back to Missouri and began his splendid business career as a merchant, in which line of en- deavor he was successful from the first. He organized what is now known as the Springfield Grocery Company, one of the most successful concerns of its kind in the great Southwest. It paid one hundred per cent. the first six years of its existence under the able management of Mr. Massey, who man- aged it for seven years, then he retired two years, and then organized the Massey-Herndon Shoe Company in Springfield, which partnership continued fairly successful for five years, when Mr. Massey purchased Mr. Herndon's interests and merged the concern with the Keet-Rountree Shoe Company, of which large establishment our subject was general manager for five years,
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during which time the company did a very extensive wholesale business all over this section of the country ; but on account of failing health Mr. Massey was forced to retire from the firm, and he later went into the mining busi- ness at Granby, Missouri, and is still actively engaged there, being general manager of extensive mining interests at that place, and, as usual, this venture has been a highly successful one from a business standpoint.
Politically, Mr. Massey is a loyal Democrat and influential in the party. Fraternally he belongs to the Masonic Order.
ANDERSON T. MOORE.
One of Springfield's representative business men of a past generation was the late Anderson T. Moore, for many years a well known traveling salesman, later a successful mercant on Commercial street. He was a busy and enterprising man, one of the kind that can be relied upon as a helpful citizen. His was a kind of life that does not attract especial attention for any picturesque quality or daring deeds, having been led along prosaic lines of useful endeavor, but was of the kind that goes to make up the continuous achievements of humanity, and his example was no doubt imitated by others, for many admire a life like his in preference to a quiet, unobtrusive, yet withal, useful and successful one, and when he passed away regret was freely expressed on every hand by the many who knew and admired him as a man of affairs, a neighbor and citizen.
Mr. Moore was born in Waterloo, Monroe county, Illinois, June 5, 1857, where he was reared and received a good practical education in the public schools. He came to Springfield, Missouri, in the early eighties, and for twenty-eight years he was a commercial traveler, giving the firms which he represented every degree of satisfaction and becoming popular with the trade in his territory; in fact, few traveling men were better known in southwestern Missouri, for nearly three decades is a long time for one to travel, and during such a long period one would necessarily meet a great number of people, and, being a good mixer and genial, our subject neces- sarily made many acquaintances and friends everywhere he went. He finally retired from the road, in 1911, and went into the dry goods business on Commercial street, Springfield, but shortly thereafter he was disabled and was not in his usual health for some three years. He understood thor- ougly every phase of his business and had he not been somewhat handi- capped by ill health would have made a great success as a dry goods mer- chant.
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Mr. Moore was married on October 8, 1894, to Aetna Risser, who was born in Mt. Pleasant, Iowa, in 1875. She is a daughter of Daniel and Mar- tha Risser. The father was born in Germany, from which country he emi- grated to America when a child, with his parents, and the family settled in Ohio, but soon came on to lowa, establishing their future home at Mt. Pleasant, where Mrs. Moore grew to womanhood and received her educa- tion. She is the youngest of a family of eleven children.
Three children were born to Mr. and Mrs. Moore, named as follows: Martha, born on July 10. 1900; Helen E., born on August 25, 1907: and Thomas, born on February 12, 1911. They are all at home and attending school.
Mr. Moore was a member of the First Baptist church of Springfield for many years. His widow belongs to the Episcopal church here. He was a member of the Travelers' Protective Association and a director of the same for a number of years. Politically he was a Republican all his mature years.
Mr. Moore was summoned to his eternal rest on December 22, 1913, at the age of fifty-six years, and after a protracted illness.
JEREMIAH FENTON.
Among the men of sterling attributes of character who have impressed their personality upon the community of their residence and have borne their full share in the upbuilding and development of the Queen City of the Ozarks during its recent period of phenomenal growth, mention must not be omitted of Jeremiah Fenton, prominent citizen of Springfield during the past quarter of a century, for he has exerted a strong influence for the good of the city, being a man of upright principles, industrious in business affairs and public matters, always desirous of seeing the advancement of the city and county along moral, civic and material lines. He is too well known to need extended notice here, his career as business man, postmaster, mayor and citizen being familiar to the readers of this work. And now as the twilight of his years gather about him he can look back over a life of hard toil, some parts somewhat thrilling, especially that relating to his splendid career in the Union army and his life in the wild Southwest; but this Irish lad had in him the qualities that make for success and when he began his career in the New World he was in a way, exceptionally well equipped, and he has well deserved the success he has attained.
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GREENE COUNTY, MISSOURI.
CHARLES F. LABOUNTY.
Charles F. LaBounty, assistant machine foreman and assistant brass foreman in the north side shops, Springfield, was born on January 14, 1871, at Murphysboro, Jackson county, Illinois. He is a son of Alfred F. La- Bounty, a native of the city of Paris, France, from which place he was brought to Canada as a child, and he was reared to manhood at Rochester, New York. His parents died when he was a small boy, but he managed to secure a practical education and get a start in life, engaging in the dairy and cheese business in New York state, also engaged in mercantile pursuits, operating for a number of years a large store near Rochester. He subse- quently removed to Murphysboro, Illinois, where he continued in mercantile pursuits, then came to Willow Springs, Missouri, and engaged in the brick manufacturing business for himself until his death in 1893, at the age of sixty years. He was a successful business man, doing well in whatever line he engaged in. Politically, he was a Democrat. Fraternally, he be- longed to the Masonic Order, and he was a member of the Methodist Epis- copal church.
The mother of the subject of this sketch was known in her maidenhood as Melissa Bower, a representative of an old Knickerbocker family of New York. She was a daughter of Harvey Bower. Her death occurred Novem- ber 3, 1914, at Los Angeles, California, at the age of seventy-three years.
Three children were born to Alfred F. LaBounty and wife, namely : Cora married Henry Balfour, a lawyer of Jonesboro, Arkansas; Hattie, who took care of her mother in her declining years, married H. A. Ismond, formerly a locomotive engineer on the Mobile and Ohio railroad, but is now living in retirement in Los Angeles; and Charles F., of this sketch.
The subject of this sketch received his education in the common schools, but left school when sixteen years old, and he began his railroad career when a small boy. He first went to work for the Missouri Pacific at St. Louis as machinist apprentice, and after serving out his time in this capacity he left that city as journeyman in 1890, and went to Pine Bluff, Arkansas, as machinist with the Cotton Belt road, remaining there nine or ten months, then returned to St. Louis and resumed his old position with the Missouri Pacific, later was promoted from machinist to foreman, which position he held two years. He has worked for the Missouri Pacific at various times for a period of fifteen or sixteen years. Some time he worked for the Pneumatic House Cleaning Company in St. Louis; this firm manufactured chairs, and Mr. LaBounty was the first man that ever assembled one of the firm's famous chairs. In 1902 our subject went to El Paso, Texas, where he worked as machinist for the Southern Pacific Railroad Company for two
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years. In October, 1904, he began working in the north side Frisco shops, Springfield, Missouri, as machinist, later being promoted to assistant ma- chinist foreman, which position he now holds, having fifteen men under his direction; he is also assistant foreman of the brass department in the same shops, and his two-fold duties keep him busy but, being a man of industry and good executive ability he discharges the duties devolved upon him in a manner that is highly pleasing to his employers. He is an expert in his line and has kept well up-to-date in the same.
Mr. LaBounty was married in 1893 to Emma Grassman, a daughter of John and Elsie (Grundum) Grassman, of St. Louis. To this union one child has been born-Elise LaBounty, who was educated in the ward and high schools, and is now teaching in the Robberson school, Springfield; she is also musically inclined and is organist at St. John's Episcopal church.
Politically, Mr. LaBounty is a Republican. Fraternally, he belongs to the Order of Eagles, Knights and Ladies of Security, Loyal Order of Moose, and was formerly a member of the Knights of Pythias. He is a member of St. John's Episcopal church, and sang in the choir there many years. He owns a comfortable home on Clay street.
Mr. LaBounty has found time during his work-a-day life to develop a natural esthetic nature. He has become a well-informed man along general lines by wide home reading. He has always been a great lover of floricul- ture and has a practical knowledge of botany. He has a small hothouse on the rear of his lot at 1320 Clay street, thirty-two by twelve feet, and he (levotes his spare time to the culture of flowers, now making a specialty of asters and dahlias. Courteous and genial, he is a pleasant gentleman to meet.
JERRY W. OWENS.
Although we are prone to rail at our environments and lack of early opportunities, blaming these for our failures along the road toward the "heights," yet the contemplative mind must conclude that life is, after all. about what we make it. When but a boy Jerry W. Owens, of Springfiell. Missouri, general agent of the Penn Mutual Life Insurance Company, of Philadelphia,, realized that man is master of his fate: that he is the captain of his own soul, and he set about in a laudable manner to shape his destiny on "these banks and shoals of time."
Mr. Owens was born on September 6, 1875, on a farm eight miles northwest of Carthage, Missouri, in one of the best farming sections of Jasper county, and resided on this farm until he was twenty-one years of age. He is a son of David D. and Frances M. (Stout) Owens. The father
1920
GREENE COUNTY, MISSOURI.
was born in Wales, July 15, 1834, and moved to Newark, Licking county, Ohio, with his parents when a mere boy, and the mother's birth occurred near Newark, Licking county, Ohio, September 9, 1842. Her death oc- curred at Santa Cruz, California, July 17, 1913, and in that city the father is still making his home. David D. Owens received a fairly good education in the rural schools. His wife was well educated and she spent her earlier years in educational work, teaching about twenty terms in Ohio and Illi- nois. Mr. Owens has devoted his active life to farming and stock raising, but is now living in retirement, but still owns his fine farm of two hundred acres in Jasper county, Missouri. During the Civil war he enlisted in an Ohio regiment and served in the Union army, participating in several en- gagements in Maryland and Virginia. He is a member of the Grand Army of the Republic, and politically he is a Republican. His family consists of four children, namely: Edwin J. lives in Canon City, Colorado, where he is engaged in the mercantile business; David A. lives in Santa Cruz, Cali- fornia, where he is engaged in the transfer and storage business; James B. also lives in Santa Cruz, being in partnership with his brother in business.
Jerry W. Owens spent his boyhood on the farm in Jasper county and received his education in the common schools, later attending college in Carthage, then came to Springfield and took a course in the Springfield Business College. He began life for himself by doing clerical work for a number of different firms in Springfield. He subsequently became official court reporter for the Circuit Court and the Criminal Court, discharging the duties of this important trust for a period of eight years in a manner that was highly satisfactory to all concerned. He reported all civil cases in Division No. 2 and reported all criminal cases. While incumbent of this office he found time to engage to some extent in the insurance business, and about ten years ago he was made general agent for the Penn Mutual Life Insurance Company,* of Philadelphia, his territory comprising about twenty- five counties in southwestern Missouri. He has offices at 826 Landers Building. He is one of the best known insurance men in this section of the state.
Mr. Owens was married on March 10, 1909, in Springfield, to Minnie Clyde Umbarger, who was born in Saline county, Missouri, June 21, 1877. She is a daughter of Thomas A. and Mary Jane (Spates) Umbarger. The father was born on July 5, 1846, near Bloomington, Indiana, and died on October 8, 1910, his death being the result of an accident. The mother of Mrs. Owens was born on February 16, 1837, near Louisville, Kentucky, and her death occurred on March 5, 1903. To these parents six children were born, five of whom are still living, namely: William W. is engaged in farming near Marshall, Saline county, Missouri; Walter A., who lives in Springfield, is a member of the firm of Boehn & Umbarger, fire insurance
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agents; Dr. Thomas T. is practicing dentistry in Springfield; Maggie, who married William W. Naylor. He was killed in a train wreck near Lebanon, Missouri, September 15, 1914; Minnie C., who became the wife of Mr. Owens, of this sketch. She attended the country schools, and the Missouri Valley College at Marshall, Missouri.
Two children have been born to Jerry W. Owens and wife, namely : Mary Frances, born January 10, 1911 ; David Allen, born January 1, 1913.
Politically, Mr. Owens is a Republican and is active in party affairs. He is at this writing chairman of the county committee of his party and has done much for the success of the candidates of his party. He belongs to the Knights of Pythias and the Illinois Commercial Men's Association, of Chicago. The family belongs to the Cumberland Presbyterian church.
CHARLES WESLEY MORCKEL.
We are told by the ancient philosophers that all in this world is in ordained form, some maintaining that in nature nothing develops with the help of man's hands. The charm that is charm is that which has become an existing object by an unhampered, ungoverned process in a natural man- ner. While many who love to spend their lives close to the soil, with the sustaining touch of nature on every hand, may not understand her workings, but they feel a kinship nevertheless which renders the life of the outdoor person better in every way than that of his city brother. Some, of course, not feeling that sense of harmony, do not think so. The Morckel family, of whom Charles Wesley Morckel, a farmer of east Center township, Greene county, is a creditable representative, have preferred to spend their lives in agricultural pursuits, getting both pleasure and profit from the close contact with Mother Nature.
Mr. Morckel was born March II, 1869, in Cooper county, Missouri, near Boonville. He is a son of John Christian and Rosanna ( Bandy) Mor- ckel. The father was born in Bavaria, Germany. The mother was of French parentage, but was born in Switzerland. These parents emigrated to the United States about 1834, before their marriage; the father first located in Stark county, Ohio, and the mother in Columbiana county, that state, and they were married in the latter county about 1858, and some two years later they moved to Marshall county, Indiana, remaining there six years, then went to Illinois for two years, and from that state went to Cooper county, Missouri, locating on a farm near Boonville, where they made their home for a period of eighteen years. After spending a few years each in Vernon and Jasper counties, this state, they established their home in Greene
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county on the farm where our subject now lives, in section I and 2, east Center township, in 1892, and here they spent the rest of their lives, the father dying on August 9, 1908, and the mother's death occurred on April 2, 1908. They were the parents of five children, four of whom are still living, namely : John Wesley is farming in New Mexico; William Edward is farming in Idaho; Mary Louise is the wife of Paton Gallagher and they live in Tipton, Missouri; and Charles W. of this sketch.
The subject of this review was reared on the farm and worked thereon when he became of proper age, and he received a common school education in Cooper and Jasper counties. He remained on the farm with his parents until his marriage on December 25, 1895, to Belle Young, a daughter of Charley and Kittie Young, of Murray township, this county. After his mar- riage he bought eighty acres adjoining his father's farm and lived on this place one and a half years, when, upon the death of his wife on July 23, 1899, he returned to the home of his parents and has since remained on the homestead. He again married in 1901, his last wife being Francisca Mel- kesswan. To the first union two children were born: Almeda, born on November 14, 1896; and Harry, born on May 7, 1899.
In addition to carrying on general farming Mr. Morckel devotes con- siderable attention to raising and handling live stock, and no small portion of his success has been derived from this source. His farm is one of the best in the township. It consists of two hundred acres, all under a high state of cultivation and improvements, including good drainage into a spring branch. The bottom land is of a soil known as black loam, the higher portions, red limestone land. In addition to the homestead he owns thirty acres of timber, not far away.
Politically he is a Republican, but is not a seeker after political honors, but is a booster for the general good of his community.
ULYSSES F. KERR, M. D. .
Prominent among the successful medical men of Springfield and Greene county is Dr. Ulysses F. Kerr, formerly a well-known general practitioner of Christian county. During his fourteen years of practice, his punctuality in keeping appointments with his patients has been religiously adhered to, never having disappointed anyone except in cases of the most urgent neces- sity. Privately, as well as professionally, his life has been an exemplary one, and no proper help to worthy enterprises, public, charitable or other- wise, has he withheld, and he is honored and respected by all as a true type of the sympathetic, broad-minded Christian physician.
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GREENE COUNTY, MISSOURI.
HUBERT H. HAYWARD.
Many appellations have been applied to the present epoch or cycle of the world's history, such as the electric or steam age, none of the terms, it seems being broad enough, but if we should christen it the age of invention, we would evidently not go far amiss, as any contemplative mind will readily agree. If we look at the far-reaching effects of the inventions of only a few such wizards as Edison, Tesla, Bell and Maxim, we would see the appropriateness of the last named phrase to this the greatest age since the dawn of the world's history. But as in other walks of life, not all the inventions that have blessed the race have been made by men bearing names which have become household words the world over. Here and there, in every civilized nation, may be found some one outside of "fame's eternal camping ground" who has by his genius or talent or, perchance, by merely commonplace hard work produced some device that has lightened or facili- tated man's work, and therefore added his little quota to the great aggregate force that is lifting from humanity's shoulders "the burden of the world," of which the poet, Markham, wrote in "The Man with the Hoe." Belonging to this class of minor inventors who have accomplished definite results is Hubert H. Hayward, president of the Hayward Wrench Company, of Spring- field, and skilled machinist and talented inventor.
Mr. Hayward was born on June 22, 1882, in Sac township, Dade county, Missouri. He is a son of Albert Clinton and Harriet A. (Rector) Hayward. The father was born in Sac township, Dade county, on July 27, 1841, his parents being among the pioneer settlers there. The paternal grandfather was Edwin Clinton Hayward. He was born in New York and served as apprentice in the shipyard for several years ; also worked in the United States navy yard. He was born in 1811, and died at the age of seventy-eight years. Grandmother Hayward's maiden name was Caroline Smith. She was born in Roane county, east Tennessee in 1824, and died at the age of sixty years. The maternal grandmother was Angeline Butler, who was born on May 14, 1829, in Anderson county, east Tennesee, and is still living, and enjoying good health for one of her age.
Albert C. Hayward, father of our subject, grew to manhood in Dade county, and in early life learned the carpenter's trade, which he followed in his vicinity in connection with farming. He prospered with advancing years and became owner of a fine farm of about five hundred acres there. He has spent the major part of his life in his native county, where he now lives retired and is one of the most widely and favorably known men in that county. He was for three terms assessor of Dade county, which position he filled with credit and efficiency. He has always been a loyal Republican, and is a stanch member of the Christian church at Bona, Mis-
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souri. His wife, Harriet A. Rector, was born on May 21, 1848, in eastern Tennessee, but when only six years of age she made the long overland journey in wagon from that country to Missouri, the family locating in Dade county. She was fairly well educated for that period and she taught school several years in Dade county before her marriage. She is a men- ber of the Church of Christ at Bona, near which village the parents of our subject are spending their declining years in their pleasant home. To them six children were born, namely: Mrs. Ina Perkins lives in Cedar county, Missouri; Albert C. is an attorney and lives in Springfield, Missouri ; Ada is teaching school in Dade county; Hubert H., subject of this sketch; Henry is operating the old home farm; Homer lives in Springfield and is treasurer of the Hayward Wrench Company.
Hubert H. Hayward spent his boyhood days in Dade county with his parents on the farm, and he received his education in the township schools and the high school at Everton, Missouri. Having natural inclination to the machinist's trade he learned the same in the school of practical experi- ence and hard knocks, and he followed his trade in Dade county and in Springfield for a number of years. He also learned the carpenter's trade, at which he worked for some time in his native county and other places with the highest honors of his trade in Dade county. He moved to Springfield in 1914, where he has since resided. His practical knowledge of the ma- chinist's trade enabled him, by careful and well laid plans and thoughtful diagrams to invent a new wrench on which he secured a United States patent on November 4, 1913, and for the manufacture of which he organized a $100,000 stock company, which has been incorporated as the Hayward Wrench Company, of which he is president, and his brother Homer, vice- president. They have offices at 505 Woodruff Building, Springfield, Mis- souri, and they are making the wrench in large numbers in Chicago, Illinois, and placing it on the market, which is finding a very ready sale, as its merits are made known over the United States and Canada. It is an auto- matic combination wrench of which the mechanism and advantages over all other wrenches speak for themselves, and is the only combination nut and pipe wrench made that is self-adjustable. It will fit any bolt, nut or pipe without having to be adjusted. It is invaluable as a ratchet wrench. It works on the same principle as rachet, and many places where there is little room to work it is indispensable. It will not crush pipe, but the tighter one pulls, the tighter the jaws clamp the nut or pipe with equal force on each side. It is also most desirable as a pipe wrench, being so constructed that it will not mash or crush the pipe, although holding it very tightly. Most pipe wrenches slip after hold breaks, but this wrench will not slip, for the tighter one pulls the better the wrench holds. The jaws come together with equal force and the teeth in each one go straight in when the operator
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