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 33
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Mr. Nee was born at Thayer, Oregon county, Missouri, April 1, 1888, but most of his life has been spent in Springfield, Greene county, whither the family removed when he was a child. He is a son of Coleman C. and Mary (Foley) Nee, both natives of Ireland, and from his progenitors our subject seems to have inherited many characteristics of the Celtic race which will be of inestimable benefit to him as a lawyer. These parents spent their earlier years in the Emerald Isle, from which they emigrated to the United States when young. The Foley ancestry were mostly tillers of the soil. Coleman C. Nee received his education in the common schools of his native locality and when eighteen years of age emigrated to our shores. Finally penetrating into the Middle West. he took up his residence at Thayer, Missouri, where he engaged in business. Seeking a larger field for his operations, he removed to Springfield twenty years ago and has been a successful business man here ever since, well known about town and highly respected. Patrick Nee, the paternal grandfather, was born in Ireland, lived and died there, following the sea for a livelihood; in fact, most of the Nee progenitors were sailors by profession, and noted for their ability and bravery in this line.
Daniel M. Nee grew to manhood in Springfield and here he received his education, first attending the parochial schools, later was graduated from the public schools and high school and attended Drury College for a time. In 1906 he entered the law department of the University of Missouri, where he made a splendid record and from which he was graduated with the class of 1912. In July of that year he commenced practicing in Spring-
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field in partnership with J. T. De Vorss, and notwithstanding the fact that the firm is a new one, they are doing a very satisfactory volume of business. with very bright prospects, their auspicious start auguring well for the future.
Mr. Nee has for some time been well known locally as an athlete and has devoted considerable attention to athletics, of which he has been a suc- cessful teacher, and has coached many baseball and football teams with gratifying results, and at this writing he is in charge of the athletic teams at Drury College. He was a professional baseball player, and by his excel- lent work during vacation periods as a member of some good team he earned money to defray his expenses in college, thus being enabled to obtain his professional education.
Mr. Nee is unmarried. He is a Democrat politically, and in religious matters is a Catholic. He is a member of the University Club and the Sigma Chi. He was popular among the students while in school in Spring- field and at the University.
LEONIDAS CLARK ROSS, M. D.
It is no invasion of the province of propriety to narrate or chronicle the exploits, achievements, character or the lesser or larger deeds of a man who is yet a living personality. The truest biographic insight of an indi- vidual will come to him who knows him best, has most closely studied him in his particular spheres of thought and action, and who has the advantage of aids of the subject of his narrative, as the living, suggesting source and inspiration of it. The artist's picture of the vanished original will not be an accurate photograph of it. It was a maxim of the Egoists, who were uncertain of everything, only a few things, that "each one submit to a record of himself, for his self's sake, but especially for his friends." Thus it affords the biographer pleasure to set forth appropriately, but succinctly, and, we hope, accurately, the life record of Dr. Leonidas Clark Ross, who, owing to the enviable position he has gained in the medical circles of Greene county, is entitled to specific mention within these pages.
Dr. Ross was born in Greene county, Missouri, January 1, 1860, and is a scion of one of the oldest and most prominent families of the county. He is a son of Rev. David and Eliza (Robberson) Ross, the father a promi- nent minister in the Methodist Episcopal church, South, for many years in the pioneer days. His death occurred on January 6, 1869. The mother was a sister of the late Dr. E. T. Robberson, of Springfield, Missouri, and also a representative of an old and well-known family. William Ross, our
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subject's paternal grandfather, died in Morgan county, and was buried at Versailles, this state. William Robberson, the maternal grandfather, spent his life in Tennessee, died and was buried at Farmington, that state.
Dr. Ross' brother, Dr. F. E. Ross, was for over a half century one of the best known physicians of Greene county, having practiced medicine in Springfield from 1865 until his death in 1910. His widow still lives in this city.
Dr. L. C. Ross grew to manhood in his native community and received his early education in the schools of Springfield. Finally deciding upon a career as a physician, he entered the Missouri Medical College at St. Louis, where he made a good record and from which institution he graduated with the class of 1891. In April of that year he began the practice of his profession in Springfield, and from that time to the present his patients have continued to increase in numbers until he is now a very busy man and ranks with the most successful general practitioners of the county. Dr. Ross is a post graduate of the New York Polyclinic, attending in the year 1895.
He is a member of the Greene County Medical Society, the Missouri State Medical Association, the Southwest Missouri Medical Society and the American Medical Association. Fraternally he belongs to the Masonic Order. Politically he is a Democrat, and in religious matters belongs to the Methodist Episcopal church, South.
Dr. Ross has remained unmarried. He is well liked by a wide acquain- tance, being a man of pleasing address and good habits.
NANDY C. WILLIAMS, M. D,
To have the human name preserved has ever been, not only the desire, but one of the illustions of the race and will doubtless always be. Mauso- leums are built and the tablets hewn-"A graven stone to plead for tears with alien eyes," for the purpose of binding in memory the fact of a life. In the very earliest of the Hindoo mythology the milk of the sea was mys- tically churned to make the amrita which gave immortality; and, all litera- ture since bears trace of similar fancies. This desire to be remembered, that our dust shall retain the tender regard of those whom we leave behind; that the spot where it shall lie will be remembered with a kind and soothing reverence ; that our children will visit it in the midst of their sorrows; and our kindred in after times will feel that a local inspiration hovers round it, has been one of the most potent forces in the history of man. Hence the value and importance of biography and a volume of the nature of the one
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in hand, embracing as it does the leading characters in the drama of civili- zation as staged in Greene county, one of the well known and deserving actors in it of the present generation being the successful physician of Spring- field, whose name forms the caption of this article.
Dr. Nandy C. Williams was born in Warren county, Iowa, February 25, 1860. He is a son of Uriah F. and Jane (Graham) Williams. The father was born near Indianapolis, Indiana, and there spent his earlier years, finally emigrating to Warren county, Iowa, where he established the family home. He devoted his life to general farming, and his death occurred in 1878. His wife preceded him to the grave in 1871. William Williams, the paternal grandfather of our subject, was a soldier in the Mexican war and was killed in battle.
Doctor Williams grew up on the home farm and much hard work fell to his lot when he was a boy; however, he was ambitious and forged ahead despite obstacles. He received his early education in the public schools of his native community and also spent three years in the Simpson Seminary College at Indianola, Iowa, and in 1884 he entered the Iowa State Univer- sity at Iowa City, where he remained two years. In order to defray the expenses of a college course, having to depend entirely upon his own re- sources, he engaged in any kind of honorable work he could get to do dur- ing vacations, and taught school seven years. His undaunted determina- tion brought success. Making up his mind to enter the medical profession at an early age he began the study of medicine while still in school and began practicing under a preceptor in 1888, and in 1894 received his degree from. Barnes Medical College, St. Louis, Missouri. In 1895 he came to Spring- field, Missouri, and began the practice of his profession, which he has con- tinued to the present time with much success, and has long since ranked with. the best and most popular general practitioners in Greene county.
On June 17, 1885, Doctor Williams was married to Etta A. Lyman, who was born near Bloomington, Wisconsin, March 9, 1862. She is of Welsh ancestry. To the doctor and wife one son was born, Leslie E., born at Clifton Hill, Randolph county, Missouri, December 9, 1891 ; he was edu- cated in public and high schools at Springfield, this state, later spending three years in the Fine Arts Academy at Chicago; he taught one year in the Art Institute of Chicago, in 1913, and is now engaged in commercial art work; he lives in New York City, and is unmarried; he was evidently born with the artistic temperament, which has been well developed and he gives promise of a brilliant career in his chosen field of endeavor.
The parents of our subject's wife are both deceased, George Lyman, the father, who devoted his life successfully to farming, died in 1898, but was living retired at the time of his death. His wife had preceded him to the grave in 1890.
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Doctor Williams is a member of the Greene County Medical Society, the Southwest Missouri Medical Society, the Missouri State Medical Association and the American Medical Association. Fraternally, he belongs to the Masonic order, including the Ancient Arabic Order of Nobles of the Mystic Shrine and the Order of Eastern Star; he also belongs to the Benevo- lent and Protective Order of Elks. Politically he is a Democrat, and in religious matters belongs to the Presbyterian church which he faithfully supports.
THEODORE A. COFFELT, M. D.
A name that is deserving of a high position in the list of physicians in Greene county is that of Dr. Theodore A. Coffelt, formerly a Methodist minister. He is appreciated and respected in every relation of life-profes- sional, social and religious-a learned doctor, a sincere and reliable citizen, and in the better and higher conception of hini, an honest man. The unos- tentatious candor and openness of his character were never warped by selfish instincts, or obscured by professional ardor. As a friend and neighbor he is known as a genial, generous, kind-hearted man, free from circuity and deceit, gentle in disposition, modest, judicious, placid, reasonable and just ; who holds his own and his friend's honor above all the blandishments of passion and the seductions of ambition and wealth; and who aims to come, as nearly as human nature can come, to loving his neighbor as himself.
Doctor Coffelt was born in McDonald county, Missouri, April 10, 1855. He is a son of Rev. Wyatt and Jane (Sligar) Coffelt, the father a native of Kentucky, and who devoted his active life principally to the min- istry and was one of the prominent pioneer preachers of his day. He spent the last years of his life on a farm. His death occurred in Springfield, Missouri, October 17, 1901, and he was buried in the Coffelt cemetery near Mason Valley, Benton county, Arkansas. The mother of our subject was a daughter of Adam Sligar, a German; she was born on June 18, 1816, in McMinn county, Tennessee. Her death occurred on January 20, 1886. She . and her husband are buried in the same cemetery. They became parents of a large family, twelve children, an equal number of sons and daughters.
Philip Coffelt, the paternal grandfather of our subject, was born in Greenbriar county, Virginia, now a part of West Virginia. He was a son of Henry Coffelt, a native of Germany, from which country he emigrated to America in the old Colonial days. He was a member in George Wash- ington's company at the time of Braddock's defeat, during the French and Indian war. Henry Coffelt married Ellen Ryan, who was born in Ireland, from which country she emigrated to America when five years of age. She
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and her older brother were captured by the Indians when she was seventeen years old, but effected their escape after eight weeks of captivity. Their freedom was gained by the wit, perseverance and ingenuity of the girl. Her brother was lame, suffering with what was then known as white swelling of the hip. When the Indians were within one day's journey of their set- tlement they compelled this girl and her lame brother to carry wood from the nearby forest into camp. The girl suspected that this meant that they were to be burned at the stake while the red men engaged in their accus- tomed revels on such occasions. So she instructed her brother how to leave the encampment, where to go and await her coming. He got away late in the afternoon and when night came on she made a break for liberty herself. Finding her brother at the appointed rendezvous, they concealed themselves under a fallen tree in a dense thicket and remained there for three days, never daring to move. At one time the Indians in their search for the runaways climbed upon the very tree under which the children were lying. All the sister and brother had to eat during that trying period was the dried tongue of a horse which Ellen had stolen from her captors shortly before she escaped. Finally deciding that it was safe for them to leave their hiding-place they traveled by night, secreting themselves during the day, and eventually came to the Ohio river, which was at that season low, and, finding a shallow place the girl carried her brother on her back across the river, which she waded. The hardships proved too much for the cripple and when sixty miles from home he died. Ellen having no way of digging a grave, placed the body in the crotch of a fallen tree, and with much hard work piled limbs of trees, rocks and leaves over the body, and that was his only grave. She made her way back home which she reached after much privation and suffering from hunger and exposure. After Ellen Ryan's marriage to Henry Coffelt they settled in Greenbriar county, Virginia, and to them ten children were born. One of their sons, Philip, was the grand- father of Dr. Coffelt of this sketch. He married a Miss Wyatt, of English ancestry, who was a cousin of Sir Francis Wyatt, first governor of Virginia under old Colonial conditions.
Doctor Coffelt received his education in the common schools and the high school at Pea Ridge, Arkansas, after which he entered the medical de- partment of Vanderbilt University, Nashville, Tennessee, in 1883, where he remained one term, and in 1885 entered the Missouri Medical College from which he was graduated in 1886. He has been a practicing physician and surgeon since 1884. His earlier years were spent in Arkansas. Leav- ing that state in 1891 he entered the post-graduate department of the Mis- souri Medical College, where he remained until 1893, then removed to Car- thage, Missouri, and began practicing as a specialist on the eye, ear, nose and throat. Remaining there two years, he then entered the ministry of the
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Methodist Episcopal church, South, and was thus engaged from 1895 to 1901, having joined the Southwest Missouri Conference. During that pe- riod of six years he served the congregations of that denomination two years at Pineville, in his native county ; two years at Willard, Greene county; and two years at Marshfield, Webster county. He did an excellent work in building up the churches at these places and was regarded as an earnest, faithful and capable pastor in every sense of the word. But on account of failing health he gave up the ministry and resumed the practice of medi- cine, opening an office in Springfield where he has since remained, confin- ing himself to the eye, ear, nose and throat, in which field he has few equals and no superiors in southwest Missouri and has enjoyed a constantly grow- ing business all the while. He maintains an up-to-date suite of rooms in the Woodruff building. In order to further equip himself for this special line of work, the doctor took the course in the New York Post-Graduate School of Medicine, from which he was graduated, and he also has a certifi- cate of graduation from Washington University, 1888.
Doctor Coffelt is a member of the Greene County Medical Society, the Southwest Missouri Medical Society, the Missouri State Medical Asso- ciation, the Western Academy of Ophthalmology and Oto-Laryngology and the American Medical Association. Fraternally, he is a member of the Ma- sonic Order, including the Royal Arch and the Council degrees. Politically, he is a Democrat, and he belongs to the St. Paul Methodist Episcopal church, South. He has always been an ardent worker in the lines of his profession. He has been president of the Greene County Medical Society, also president of the Southwest Missouri Medical Society, vice-president of the Mis- souri State Medical Association, and in 1908 was appointed a delegate to the international tuberculosis congress which convened in Washington, D. C. He is now president of the board of directors of the Springfield Hospital.
Doctor Coffelt was married on October 1, 1885, to Mary M. Clayton, a native of Arkansas, where she grew to womanhood and was educated. She is a daughter of Rev. John M. and Cynthia (Dameron) Clayton. The father's death occurred in 1902 and the mother passed away September, 1914, in Fayetteville, Arkansas.
Five children have been born to Doctor Coffelt and wife, named as follows: Everett C., born at Pea Ridge, Arkansas, July 14. 1886, was edu- cated in the high school in Springfield and Drury College; he married Vita Hampton, and they have, two children, Kenneth, born in 1912, in Kansas City, and Kathryn Ruth, born on March 1, 1915. They reside on a farm in Webster county, Missouri. Anna Maud, second child of Doctor Coffelt, was born in Pea Ridge, Arkansas, September 5, 1889, was educated in the Springfield high school and Drury College, also attended the State Normal here, and is at this writing a student in the Ward-Belmont School at
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Nashville, Tennessee. Oscar T., the second son, was born in Pea Ridge, Arkansas, December 18, 1890, was graduated from the Springfield high school and is now a student of Drury College, where he will graduate with the class of 1915; Mabel Ruth, born in Willard, Missouri, September 19, 1898, is attending high school in Springfield; Glenn Palmore, born in Marsh- field, this state, July 1I, 1900, is in his last year in ward school.
Doctor Coffelt is, practically speaking, a self-made and self-educated man, and is a credit to himself, his family and the public; he is a master of his specific profession, and justly merits the large practice which he has gained through skilful work, honest dealings and courteous manners.
LAFAYETTE A. ROSS.
One of the venerable and most widely known citizens of the northern part of Greene county is Lafayette A. Ross, who has spent practically the entirety of his nearly four score years in this locality, which he has seen grow from a wild and sparsely settled prairie, dotted with log cabins, when land could be secured for one dollar and twenty-five cents per acre to its present thriving state when some of the best acres are worth one hundred and seventy-five dollars each and modernly appointed homes are numerous. And in this great transformation he has played well his part in every respect. His long life of usefulness, industry and charitable acts has won for him the sincere affection of almost every man, woman and child in Murray town- ship, and of many of those living in townships adjacent. His early industry has resulted in his possession of a neat competence, and while he still enjoys the glow of the golden rays of the sun of life that must eventually set behind the horizon of the inevitable, he shares that enjoyment with no stint in the companionship of the members of his family and his wide circle of friends, won through his residence here of more than three-quarters of a century.
Mr. Ross was born in Robberson township, Greene county, Missouri, February 21, 1835. He is a son of David and Louisa (Robinson) Ross. David Ross, who was one of the noted pioneer preachers of southwestern Missouri, and one of the most extensive agriculturists and stock men of Greene county, was born in Kentucky, March 12, 1812, and he was six years of age when his parents, William and Elizabeth Ross, removed with their family to Boonville, Cooper county, Missouri. William Ross was a man of ability and an expert surveyor. While living in Cooper county he laid off the town of Boonville, and about that time was employed by the government of Mexico to assist in surveying the greater portion of what is now the state of Texas. After returning from the Southwest to Cooper
MR. AND MRS. L. A. ROSS.
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county he brought his family to Greene county, having maintained his home in the former county six years. He took up a claim in Robberson town- ship, before this locality had been surveyed, and on this he erected a log- cabin, made such other improvements as were necessary in placing raw prairie land under cultivation, but he subsequently moved to Bolivar. Polk county, and engaged in mercantile pursuits for seven years, then located at Versailles, Morgan county, this state, where he spent the rest of his life, dying when past eighty years of age. His widow died at the home of their son, David Ross, when past eighty-two years of age. They were a sterling old pioneer couple and did much for the advancement of early civilizing influences in this section of the state. David Ross was twelve years of age when he accompanied his parents to Robberson township Greene county, from Boonville. Here he engaged in farming, erecting a log cabin and starting in true primitive fashion, and, being a hard worker, a man of rare foresight and good judgment he prospered with advancing years and became owner of over five hundred acres of fine farming land here, which he brought up to a high state of cultivation and improvement and carried on general farming and stock raising on an extensive scale, raising large num- bers of horses, mules, cattle, hogs and sheep annually, and was a most ex- cellent judge of live stock. He was one of the best known and most influen- tial of the early settlers in this locality. For a period of over thirty-five years he was a minister in the Methodist Episcopal church, South, and preached in Springfield for many years and all over this country. He was profoundly versed in the Bible, was an earnest, forceful and eloquent preacher of the old school. His wife, Louisa Robinson, was born in Ten- nessee about 1815, and her death occurred on the home place in Greene county at an advanced age. He died in 1869 at the age of fifty-six years, when in the zenith of his powers.
To David Ross and wife twelve children were born, namely : Lafayette A., subject of this sketch, is the eldest; William Monroe; Dr. Francis Emery, now deceased, was for over a quarter of a century one of the lead- ing physicians of Springfield; Mrs. Elizabeth Jane Whitlock lives in Spring- field; Mrs. Mary L. Skeen lives in Ash Grove, this county: David W. lives at Willard; Mrs. Sarah Melissa Watson lives at Morrisville, Polk county ; Mrs. Henrietta Josephine Robinson lives in Texas; Mrs. Cordelia Robinson lives in Oklahoma; Bennett J. is farming in Murray township; Mrs. Laura Emma Appleby lives in Topeka, Kansas: Dr. Leonadus Clark is practicing medicine in Springfield.
Lafayette A. Ross grew to manhood on the home farm and worked hard when a boy, and received such educational advantages as the early schools afforded. He remained on the farm until he was nineteen years of
(79)
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age, when, on April 10, 1853, he started overland across the great western plains to the gold fields of California where he remained three years, return- ing home on July 7, 1856. His experiences on his long journey to and from the Pacific coast and while in the West forms a most important and interesting chapter in his life record. With the exception of this brief period he has always lived in the locality of his birth, and has resided in his present home since in April, 1868, or over forty-six years. He owns a finely improved and well-kept farm of one hundred and twenty acres, which was a raw, unpromising looking tract when he purchased it, but by hard work and close application he has made a fine farm of it and has a commo- dious residence and substantial group of outbuildings, his place being now well worth one hundred and seventy-five dollars per acre. He has always followed general farming and stock raising, and he is still active, although the frosts of old age are upon him, but he has had an exceptionally robust constitution and has lived a careful life. He is a man of fine business judg- ment and broad-minded in practical affairs.
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