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 36
Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25 | Part 26 | Part 27 | Part 28 | Part 29 | Part 30 | Part 31 | Part 32 | Part 33 | Part 34 | Part 35 | Part 36 | Part 37 | Part 38 | Part 39 | Part 40 | Part 41 | Part 42 | Part 43 | Part 44 | Part 45 | Part 46 | Part 47 | Part 48 | Part 49 | Part 50 | Part 51 | Part 52 | Part 53 | Part 54 | Part 55 | Part 56 | Part 57 | Part 58 | Part 59 | Part 60 | Part 61 | Part 62 | Part 63 | Part 64 | Part 65 | Part 66 | Part 67 | Part 68 | Part 69 | Part 70 | Part 71 | Part 72 | Part 73 | Part 74 | Part 75 | Part 76 | Part 77 | Part 78 | Part 79 | Part 80 | Part 81 | Part 82 | Part 83 | Part 84 | Part 85 | Part 86 | Part 87 | Part 88 | Part 89 | Part 90 | Part 91 | Part 92 | Part 93 | Part 94 | Part 95 | Part 96 | Part 97 | Part 98 | Part 99 | Part 100 | Part 101 | Part 102 | Part 103 | Part 104 | Part 105 | Part 106 | Part 107
The immediate subject of this sketch grew to manhood in his native county and he received his education in the public schools. When young in years he began his career as machinist in the Frisco shops in Springfield, the South Side plant, known as the old Gulf shops. Here he remained two years, when he gave up this line of work, which was not congenial to his
1269
GREENE COUNTY, MISSOURI.
tastes, and went to Memphis, Tennessee, where he engaged in contracting. Later returning to Springfield, he bought the old Hargrove Bottling Works. Subsequently he returned to Memphis and worked in the Frisco shops, where he became general foreman, in which responsible position he gave eminent satisfaction. Finally he began dealing in apples, and was very successful as a horticulturist. In 1905 he went into the theater business in Memphis and has been very successful in this field of endeavor ever since. Since then he has owned and operated thirteen shows. In September, 1913, he opened the Springfield Hippodrome, in which he owned a half interest, and on January 25, 1914, he took full charge of the Jefferson Theater at 216 South Jefferson street, an up-to-date and popular vaudeville house, with two changes per week. In connection with a bill of several good acts of vaudeville he features at each performance a pleasing moving picture. He has been very successful with both the Jefferson and the Hippodrome.
Our subject was married on May 1, 1908, in Pine Bluff, Arkansas, to Priscilla (Cagle), of Pine Bluff. They have one child, Thelma Vermel, who is five years old.
Politically, Mr. Wilhoit is a Democrat. He belongs to the Springfield Club, the Independent Order of Odd Fellows and the Improved Order of Red Men.
MIKE SHEEDY.
No people that go to make up our cosmopolitan civilization have better habits of life than those who have come from "Erin's green isle." These people, as well as their descendants, are distinguished for their thrift and honesty, and these two qualities in the inhabitants of any country will in the end alone make that country great. When with these two qualities is cou- pled the other quality of sound sense, which all the Celtic race possesses, there are afforded such qualities as will enrich any land and place it at the top of the countries of the world in the scale of elevated humanity. One of this number is Mike Sheedy, of Campbell township, Greene county.
Mr. Sheedy was born in Ireland, in August, 1885. He is a son of Matt and Katy (Sexton) Sheedy, both natives of Ireland also, where they grew up, were educated and married and there they spent their lives on a farm. They were members of the Catholic church. They were the parents of three children, namely: Mike, of this sketch; Katie, who lives in Ohio; and Mrs. Mary Lathem who makes her home in Ireland.
Mike Sheedy grew to manhood on the home farm in his native land where he was taught to work diligently and intelligently. What education he has received has been through his own efforts. When he was fifteen
I270
GREENE COUNTY, MISSOURI.
years of age he emigrated to America with his sister Katie and settled in Cleveland, Ohio, later went to New Orleans, thence to St. Louis in 1868, and has lived in Missouri ever since. For some time he was in the service of the St. Louis & San Francisco Railroad Company. In 1873 he purchased the farm of eighty acres where he now lives in North Campbell township, Greene county. He has prospered through close application, good judgment and honest dealings and he is now owner of nearly eight hundred acres in Greene county, comprising one of the most valuable and desirable farms of the county, and he carries on general farming and stock raising on an ex- tensive scale. He raises blooded short-horn cattle, keeping about one hun- dred head the year round, and feeds some two to three car-loads of hogs yearly-also is an extensive wheat grower. In 1914 he had two hundred acres in wheat and raised five thousand bushels- an average of twenty-five bushels per acre. He has a substantial home and large outbuildings and is re- garded as one of the successful self-made men of the county.
Mr. Sheedy was married on July 5, 1873, to Mary Gorman, a native of Iowa, but she was reared in Missouri. She is a daughter of Simon and Mary (Russell) Gorman, both her parents being now deceased. She is a member of the Catholic church.
To Mr. and Mrs. Sheedy nine children have been born, namely: John lives in Kansas City, where he is state grain inspector ; Simon, Mike, James, Emmett, Mrs. Katie Gorman lives in this county and has five children as follows: Kate, Allen, Hal, Agnes and Margarite; Agnes, Maggie and Nel- lie. All these children but the one married daughter live at home.
Mr. Sheedy was on the school board for twenty years and was road commissioner for some twenty years. Politically, he is a Democrat, and he and his family are members of the Catholic church.
GEORGE F. OLENDORF.
The theater has long been recognized as one of the world's indispensable institutions, and the management of theaters, if done judiciously, is a re- munerative and pleasant one. Humanity needs amusement amid its exacting and trying daily occupations, truly "the show's the thing," as one of the wisest of men remarked. The human mind must relax, must find relief at times, "must lose itself in other men's minds," as the great essayist, Lamb, wrote. This can be done in no better way than in spending an hour or so at a good play-house. The theater has been popular with the masses-men and women of all creeds and convictions, of all parties and denominations from remote ancient history to the present time, from the days of Grecian
1271
GREENE COUNTY, MISSOURI.
one-act, outdoor tragedies to the latest twentieth century complex grand opera, and it will ever be so. George F. Olendorf, of Springfield, has long given his attention to the theater business, and is widely known throughout southwestern Missouri in this particular field. He has met with gratifying success because he has been industrious, has had the tact of knowing what the people want and because he has always been desirous of giving his thousands of patrons adequate returns for their money and time. He has made it a study and has therefore kept well abreast of the times in this line of endeavor.
Mr. Olendorf was born in Middleport, New York, July 20, 1875. He is a son of George H. and Caroline (Forrest) Olendorf, both parents also natives of the state of New York, where they grew to maturity, attended school and were married. George H. Olendorf devoted his earlier life to the drug business in his native locality in central New York. Back in the seventies he removed with his family to St. Joseph, Missouri, where he engaged in the furniture business fifteen or twenty years and where he resided until twelve years ago, when he moved to Springfield, in which city he and his wife still reside, living in retirement. The father has been a successful business man and laid by a competency for his old age.
George F. Olendorf, the only child of his parents, was a small child when the family moved from the state of New York to St. Joseph, Missouri, and there he grew to manhood and received a common school education. In September, 1893, he began his career in the theater business, which he has continued to the present time with ever-increasing success. He began in St. Joseph, and was also cashier of the large Tootle estate and had charge of the Tootle Theater, the leading playhouse there, remaining with this estate for about eight years, giving eminent satisfaction in every respect. Then he and three other men leased a circuit of thirty-two theaters in the state of Missouri, which proved to be a paying venture. Mr. Olendorf came to Springfield in 1903 and leased the old Baldwin Theater on St. Louis street, one of the finest theaters south of the Missouri river in this state, with the exception of St. Louis, for many years, if not the finest. He managed this with his usual success until it was destroyed by fire in 1909. Afterward he was instrumental in promoting the new Landers Theater on Walnut street, which he leased and managed until 1912, when he re-leased it and promoted the Bell-Olendorf-Ballard Amusement Company, of which he is president and which operates sixteen summer theaters, including the Skydome in Springfield. He is also manager of the Springfield Poster Advertising Com- pany, and maintains offices in the Landers Theater building. Each of these new ventures has proven successful and he is kept busy in their management.
Mr. Olendorf was married on November 17, 1902, in Kansas City, Missouri, to Matilda Meyer, who was born in St. Joseph, this state. She is
I272
GREENE COUNTY, MISSOURI.
a daughter of J. B. and Marie Meyer, both natives of Germany, from which country they came to the United States when young.
To our subject and wife three children have been born, namely : Marie Caroline, born on May 3, 1905 ; George Meyer, born on November 17, 1910, died August 3, 19II ; and Forrest George, born on October 7, 1912.
Mr. Olendorf is a member of the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks and the Springfield Club; also is a thirty-second degree Mason, belong- ing to the Knights Templars. He is active in Masonic affairs, and his daily life is led along the lines laid down by this time-honored order.
FRANK P. STUTZMAN.
"The Song of the Forge" has ever been pleasant to the ears of Frank P. Stutzman, one of the most skilful and popular blacksmiths of Greene county, whose well-equipped shop in the city of Springfield draws patrons from remote parts of this locality, for here they know that they will receive prompt and careful attention. A criterion of his high-grade work is shown from the fact that many of his customers have patronized him for a score of years, refusing to have any other do their blacksmithing. It is as much an art to shoe a horse properly as it is to do anything else in a mechanical way, and our subject has become quite proficient in this art, being excelled, in fact, by none of his contemporaries. He has lived in Springfield nearly a half century.
Mr. Stutzman was born in Goshen, Elkhart county, Indiana, April 25, 1856. He is a son of John M. and Catherine (Baughman) Stutzman, both natives of Ohio, where they grew up, received such educational advantages as the early-day schools afforded and there were married and established their home. In his earlier years John M. Stutzman was a carpenter, con- tractor and builder and in later life a farmer. He is living in Springfield, Missouri, at this writing. He has been twice married, first to Catherine Baughman, by which union eight children were born, six of whom are still living, namely: Elizabeth, Frank P., Mahalia, Emma, Adeline is deceased; Mary, Jerome; the youngest child died in infancy, unnamed. The father's second marriage was to Mrs. Shaw.
Frank P. Stutzman spent his boyhood in northern Indiana. He had little opportunity to attend school, and most of his education has been ob- tained by studying at home of evenings after the day's work. When eleven years of age, in 1867, he accompanied his parents to Springfield, Missouri, where the family established their permanent home, on a farm, just south of the city, and there they resided about five years, then our subject went to
I273
GREENE COUNTY, MISSOURI.
Illinois where he remained two years, after which he returned to Spring- field and took up blacksmithing, first working with Sam Begle, and when only nineteen years of age Mr. Stutzman went into the business for him- self, having learned rapidly and shown much natural ability in this direction. He started up in the alley in the rear of the Metropolitan Hotel, on a small scale, and since then he has carried on general blacksmithing and horse- shoeing, his business increasing constantly with advancing years until he soon found it necessary to secure larger quarters and employ assistance. He has built up a large and lucrative business, and is now located in a modern and commodious shop on Convention avenue. He has an excellent location, and while he is specializing in high-grade horseshoeing, he is doing a great deal of general blacksmithing. Prompt and honest work has ever been his motto.
Mr. Stutzman was married on May 5, 1878, in Springfield, to Louise Crostwait, who was born in Canada in 1859, and she removed from her native land to Missouri with her parents when she was a child, and here grew to womanhood and received a common school education, and here Mr. and Mrs. Crostwait spent the rest of their lives, both having been de- ceased a number of years.
Two children have been born to Mr. and Mrs. Stutzman, namely : Alta, born in 1881, was reared and educated in Springfield, and she is liv- ing at home; Virginia, born in 1883, was also reared and educated in Spring- field, and is still with her parents.
Politically, Mr. Stutzman is a Democrat. Fraternally, he belongs to the Knights of Pythias, the Modern Woodmen, and the Royal Arcanum. He is a member of the Christian church.
ALFRED S. ABBOTT.
The eminent position attained by Alfred S. Abbott, master mechanic at the Springfield Frisco shops, has been the result of long years of patient, painstaking, honest and conscientious effort, and he is therefore deserving of his success. His record might well be studied with profit by the young men who are striving for recognition in the mechanical world, for it indi- cates, among other things, how merit wins, despite obstacles, and that suc- cess is dependent on ability and integrity more than anything else. But Mr. Abbott had good parents who taught him from the start the duties of life-not ordinary instructions, but the higher duties which all owe to each other and to society. The result has been to give broad ideas of life and its responsibilities and to fit him for honorable citizenship.
1274
GREENE COUNTY, MISSOURI.
Mr. Abbott was born, May 23, 1868, in Pentwater, Michigan. He is a son of Jacob B. and Elizabeth E. (Snowden) Abbott. The father was born in Hamburg, New York, in 1842, and his death occurred in Joplin, Mis- souri, in 1886. The mother was born in Pittsburg, Pennsylvania, in 1844, and she died in Joplin, Missouri, in 1901. These parents grew to maturity in the East and were given the advantage of a public school education. Jacob B. Abbott studied medicine when a boy and became a successful physician and surgeon, which profession he followed the remainder of his active life. In 1873 he removed with his family from Pentwater, Michigan, to Kansas. In 1875 he located in Joplin, this state, but the rest of the family did not locate in that city until 1877. Doctor Abbott was enjoying an ex- cellent practice in the mining town at the time of his death. Politically, he was a Republican. During the Civil war he served in the Union army, having enlisted in Company I, Forty-sixth Illinois Volunteer Infantry, in 1861, at Oregon, Illinois, and he saw considerable hard service in the South and took part in many of the great battles of the war, Wilson's Creek, Missouri, being among them. He was honorably discharged in 1865. His family con- sisted of three children, two of whom are still living, namely: Alfred S., of this review ; Fred J., deceased; and Harry C., who lives in Birmingham, Alabama.
Alfred S. Abbott was nine years old when he came to Joplin, this state and there he attended the common schools. In February, 1888 he began his railroad career by going to work in the round-house of the Frisco railroad at Joplin, and there and in Springfield he served his apprentice- ship of four years. In 1898 he was made division foreman at Sapulpa, Oklahoma, where he remained until 1902, in September of which year he came to Springfield as machinist in the North Side shops, and worked as such until in December, 1902, then was made division foreman at Newburg, Missouri, which position he held from December 13th, of that year until March 1, 1907, when he was sent to Birmingham, Alabama, as general foreman, where he remained until July 1, 1909, when he was appointed master of mechanics at Ft. Smith, Arkansas, which position he held until March 1, 19II, when he was transferred to Sapulpa, Oklahoma, with the same duties, which he discharged until August 15, 1911, when he was made mechanical superintendent at Springfield, remaining in that position until September 1, 1913, since which time he has been master mechanic for the Eastern division of the Frisco, and is at this writing discharging the duties of this responsible and important post in a manner that reflects great credit upon his ability, fidelity and integrity and to the eminent satisfaction of the company, which has ever reposed in him the utmost confidence and has regarded him as one of its most efficient, trustworthy and reliable em- ployees. He is not only a close observer but is a diligent student of all
1275
GREENE COUNTY, MISSOURI.
that pertains to his lines of work and has kept well abreast of the times in the same.
Mr. Abbott was married, June 26, 1894, in Joplin, Missouri, to Kate Seanor, who was born in Iowa, January 1, 1871. She is a daughter of John and Clara B. (Wilder) Seanor, the father a native of England and the mother of Sandy Creek, New York. Mrs. Abbott received a good education, including a college course at Boulder, Colorado.
To Mr. and Mrs. Abbott, three children have been born, namely: Katie P., born July 17, 1895 ; John Seanor, born January 31, 1899; and Alfred S. Jr., born February 1, 1907.
Mr. Abbott is a Republican. He is a member of the Episcopal church, and fraternally belongs to the Masonic order, including the Knights Templars and the Ancient Arabic Order of Nobles of the Mystic Shrine. He also belongs to the Modern Woodmen.
CLARENCE J. RHODES.
The life of the average man of affairs today is spent amidst so much bustle and hurry and worry that he often imagines he can find but little time to devote to books, recreation, retrospection ; and there are many who hardly ever open a book, seldom spend a day in the woods communing with nature, who content themselves with the dull routine of the daily drudge, and who never lose themselves in prose or poetry or fiction, in science, art or history. Perhaps one of the most busy men who lived in the past century was William E. Gladstone; yet he was one of the best informed and most deeply read men in Europe. The same may be said in America of Theodore Roosevelt. Such men do their work better because they come to it with minds refreshed and strengthened, and they move under the heavy load of the world's affairs with ease and grace and dignity because they hear things that other ears are deaf to and see upon all things a light to which un- taught eyes are blind. Clarence J. Rhodes, of Springfield, is one of our citizens who takes a delight in keeping up with current events and investi- gating the various realms of learning, having never permitted himself to become wholly absorbed with his daily tasks, therefore he is not only hap- pier but does his work better than if he ignored his tastes for culture.
Mr. Rhodes was born at Zinc, Arkansas, February 1, 1887. He is a son of Eugene J. Rhodes, Sr., a well-known man of affairs, formerly of northern Arkansas, now of Springfield, a complete sketch of whom will be found on other pages of this work.
The subject of this sketch received a practical education in the high
1276
GREENE COUNTY, MISSOURI.
school and Springfield Normal, having come to this city with his parents when he was a child. After leaving school he went to St. Louis with a bonding company, where he remained until in February, 1907, when he returned to Springfield and went to work for the Kansas City, Clinton & Springfield Railroad Company as assistant ticket accountant or statistician, then became revising clerk, joint freight accountant and voucher clerk, and at present he is bookkeeper, with offices in the Woodruff building. He has. given eminent satisfaction in all the above named positions, being alert, pains- taking, energetic and trustworthy.
Mr. Rhodes was married on July 30, 1908, in Springfield, to Stella I. Sanders, who was born in Billings, Missouri. She is a daughter of J. W. and Elizabeth T. (Tipper) Sanders, both natives of England, from which country they came to the United States in early life. The father is now deceased, but the mother is making her home in Springfield. Mrs. Rhodes was given good educational advantages.
To our subject and wife two children have been born, namely: Warrena. L., born July 14, 1909; and Richard J., born November 20, 191I.
Politically, Mr. Rhodes is a Republican, and fraternally he belongs to the Knights of Pythias.
JOHN KELLY.
The vast majority of men are not their own employers. They are working for some one else and must continue to do so. The tendency of modern business is toward more economical production and this means larger establishments and fewer employers. Out of the ranks will come some captains of industry who will have large business enterprises of their own; but their number will be insignificant compared with the army of toil- ers who work for some one else. There are few men who are not compelled to sell their services in their youth in order to get a start in life, but lucky is he who does not remain a hired man too long, thereby losing confidence in himself and incapacitating himself in a way to be able to go it alone. One of the business men of Springfield who had the tact to quit hiring out and start in business for himself when the proper time came is John Kelly, who first came to Springfield forty-four years ago, and for nearly four decades has been identified with the business of the city, thus literally growing up with the town.
Mr. Kelly was born in Ireland, June 13, 1849. He is a son of Patrick and Mary (Heckey) Kelly , both natives of Ireland, where they grew up, were educated in the common schools, and there were married and devoted
1277
GREENE COUNTY, MISSOURI.
their lives to general farming. The mother was a daughter of a physician.
John Kelly spent his early boyhood in the Emerald Isle, and there re- ceived a limited education by attending night school. He was sixteen years of age when he emigrated to America. He penetrated to the interior, first locating at Fulton City, Illinois, where he remained about a year, then went to Montana, Utah and Colorado, remaining some time in the West, then came to Springfield, Missouri, in 1870, arriving here in February, but soon there- after he went to Neosho and started in the liquor business for E. F. Kinney. After remaining there a year he came back to Springfield where he remained until 1876, when he went to Fort Worth, Texas, and spent two years there, then lived at Parlor Point, Texas, two years. From there he went to Colo- rado, where he remained six months, then returned to Springfield in the fall of 1880 and continued working at his profession until 1883, when he started in business for himself in partnership with E. F. Kinney, in the liquor busi- ness, on Commercial street, but two years later the partnership was dis- solved and he struck out for himself near the corner of Boonville and Com- mercial streets, where he conducted his business for fifteen years, then moved to Mill street where he has remained to the present time. He has prospered in a financial way, and has always been regarded as a law-abiding citizen.
Mr. Kelly has remained unmarried. He has been a Democrat ever since he was old enough to vote, but has never aspired to office. He was confirmed in the Catholic church in infancy, and has always adhered to the same.
JOHN W. ROSE.
Among the enterprising, progressive and widely known merchants of Springfield is John W. Rose, one of Greene county's worthy native sons, and a worthy scion of an old and honored family of this locality, a man who is deserving of a great deal of credit for what he has accomplished, which has been in the face of obstacles that would have crushed men of less grit and ambition, for his early environment was decidedly unpromising, but, the modern Don Quixot that he was, he did not sit by idly pining for something to turn up, but went forth to conquer, and, by persevering, succeeded. His life, though comparatively uneventful, has not been unfruitful of good results and kind deeds in behalf of his fellow-men. He thoroughly understands the business to which so many years have been devoted, and the confidence and respect of the hundreds of customers who pass in and out of his doors continuously are his in a satisfactory degree.
Mr. Rose was born in Greene county, Missouri, on November 6, 1862. He is a son of John W. and Elizabeth (Laney) Rose, both natives of this
1
1278
GREENE COUNTY, MISSOURI.
state. The father was a soldier in the Confederate army and was killed in a skirmish with Union troops in 1864. The death of the mother occurred in 1906. The paternal grandfather, W. R. Rose, was a native of Ten- nessee, and from that state he came to Greene county, Missouri, in early pioneer times, locating on a farm here in 1834. The maternal grandfather, J. H. Laney, was also a native of Tennessee, from which state he emigrated to Lawrence county, Missouri, in 1835, and was one of the earliest settlers of that county. Both the Rose and Laney families were represented in the Revolutionary war. The Laneys are of French and English ancestry. Grandfather Laney and wife are buried in Garroutte cemetery, and Grand- father Rose and wife are buried in Prospect cemetery.
Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.