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 39
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William T. Hankins grew to manhood on the old homestead near Strafford and he received his education in the district schools. He worked on the home farm until after his father's death, and his principal life work has been general farming. In 1896 he was appointed postmaster at Strafford, the duties of which office he continued to discharge acceptably and satisfac- torily for a period of seventeen years, resigning in 1913. He moved to his farm of one hundred and twenty acres, which joined Strafford, where he has a cozy home and is now living practically retired.
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W. T. HANKINS.
MRS. W. T. HANKINS.
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Mr. Hankins was married on March 7, 1871, to Mary Jane Comstock, who was born on November 4, 1852, while her parents were emigrating from Tennessee to Greene county, Missouri. She is a daughter of L. B. and Nancy Comstock. She grew up on a farm in this state and attended the common schools, removing with her parents to Greene county during the Civil war. She was a member of the Baptist church. Her death occurred on April 5, 1889.
To our subject and wife three children were born, namely: Nathaniel Brown lives in Greene county; he married Sarah McCabe Fitch and they have two children, Hershel and Zenobia; Mrs. Florence Foster lives in Strafford and has two children, Joe and Helen, and Mrs. Manta Delzell, who married George G. Delzell. They have two children, Gregory and Sarah Marie. She makes her home with her father.
Politically Mr. Hankins is a Republican, and fraternally he is a member of the Masonic Order.
JESSE D. JAQUITH.
The respect which should always be accorded the brave sons of the North who left their homes and the peaceful pursuits of civil life to give their services, and their lives if need be, to preserve the integrity of the American Union is due Jesse D. Jaquith. He proved his love and loyalty to the govern- ment on the long and tiresome marches in all kinds of situations, exposed to summer's withering heat and winter's freezing cold, on the lonely picket line a target for the unseen foe, on the tented field and amid the flame and smoke of battle, where the rattle of the musketry mingled with the terrible concussion of bursting shells and the diapason of the cannons' roar made up the sublime but awful chorus of death.
Mr. Jaquith was born January 8, 1845, near Paris, Edgar county, Illinois. He is a son of Jesse W. Jaquith, a native of New Hampshire, where he spent his earlier years. He studied pharmacy, and, having cast his lot with the people of the Middle West, became owner and operator of a drug store at Urbana, Illinois, and he was the first postmaster of that town. Active and influential in public affairs, he was elected a judge of the county court of Champaign county, Illinois. He received a good education in his native state, there learned the shoemaker's trade, which he followed for a number of years, also engaged in farming in New Hampshire. It was in 1839 that he removed to Edgar county, Illinois, among the early pioneers, and there he continued his trade for some time before locating in Champaign county and turning his attention to the drug business. Finally leaving
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Urbana he came to Holden, Missouri, where he engaged in the shoe business. There he spent the rest of his life, dying in 1881 at the age of seventy years, and was buried at Holden. Politically he was a Democrat. He be- longed to the Masonic Order and to the Methodist Episcopal church. His wife, Catherine A. Wilson, was a native of Kentucky and a daughter of John and Maggie (Buckner) Wilson. To this union the following children were born: Lottie, now deceased, was the wife of John Allen, a farmer; Jesse D., of this sketch; John located in San Francisco and engaged in the machine business; Richard, now deceased, was a shoemaker by trade; Mate ( Matilda) married John Cass, a commercial traveler, and they live at Holden, Missouri. Willard Jaquith, grandfather of these children, was born in New Hampshire, from which state he emigrated to Detroit, Michigan, in an early day. He was a farmer in his earlier life.
Jesse D. Jaquith grew to manhood in Illinois and received his education in the public schools of Urbana, leaving his text-books at the age of seventeen to enlist in the Federal army, in 1862, in Company G, Seventy-sixth Illinois Volunteer Infantry, at Kankakee. He saw much hard service and took part in numerous battles and skirmishes, including the great siege of Vicksburg and the many engagements incident thereto, also the battles of Jackson and Mobile, and although he was in many close places he was never wounded, neither had he occasion to answer to sick call. For meritorious conduct he was pro- moted from time to time until he became quartermaster sergeant, and was mustered out as such in July, 1865, at Chicago. He was in the armies of Grant and Sherman. After the war he 'returned to Urbana, Illinois, and learned the trade of tinsmith, first working for J. M. Davies. Later he came to Warrensburg, Missouri, and worked with J. L. Bettis, finishing his ap- prenticeship there, then he worked as journeyman tinsmith at Warrensburg until 1870, in which year he returned to Urbana and continued at his trade until 1877, then went to Kansas City and secured employment with the Union Pacific Railroad, working in the company's shops at Armstrong, Kansas, just across the river from Kansas City, Missouri. He was a journeyman tinsmith. He resided at Wyandotte, Kansas, and remained with that road three years. When the towns of Kansas City, Kansas, Wyandotte and Armourdale were consolidated into Kansas City, Kansas, he was the first clerk of the board of education.
Mr. Jaquith came to Springfield on February 18, 1887, and took a position with the Kansas City, Ft. Scott & Memphis railroad as tinsmith foreman in their local shops, which are now known as the South Side Frisco shops, having come under the control of the Frisco System in 1900, and this position our subject held till 1915, his long retention in the same being evidence of his faithfulness and skill and his ability to handle men so as to obtain the best results. However, he was foreman tinsmith at the new
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shops on the North Side for three years. He has been with these roads con- tinuously for a period of twenty-eight years.
Mr. Jaquith was a member of the city council of Springfield for four years. Before leaving Urbana, Illinois, he was a member of the board of education for two years and was also city clerk there for two years. As a public servant his record has been a most satisfactory and commendable one. Politically he has always been a stanch Democrat. He is a member of the Baptist church. Back in the seventies he was a member of the Knights of Pythias.
Mr. Jaquith was married in 1865, at Warrensburg, Missouri, to Rilla E. Dulin, who was born, reared and educated in Illinois. To this union two children have been born, namely: Ira, who is a machinist by trade and employed at the new shops in Springfield, married Carrie Burton, and they have two sons and two daughters; Charles was for some time a soldier in the Seventeenth United States Infantry, regular army, saw service in the. Philippines, where he was mustered out.
FRANK P. CARROLL.
If there is one thing which distinguishes the American tradesman or business man from those of any other country it is the faculty with which any and all occupations are readily taken up by him and made successful. In the older countries it was customary for the son to follow the father's. pursuit. "Follow your father, my son, and do as your father has done," was a maxim which most of sons were expected to adopt. In this country we find few men of the present generation engaged in the same pursuits as were their fathers, except among the farming element. Frank P. Carroll, chief engineer in the Frisco's North Side shops, Springfield, has turned his hands to various things and proved that farming was not the only occupation which he could make successful.
Mr. Carroll was born May 2, 1863, near Frankfort, Clinton county, In- diana. He is a son of Moses Carroll, who was born at Troy, New York. He grew up in his native state, attended school and learned the carpenter's trade there, later removing to Clinton county, Indiana, where he established his home. He is now deceased. He married Hannah Clark, a daughter of A. B. Clark, of Clinton county, Indiana, and a native of Kentucky, from which state the family removed to Indiana in 1840. Ten children were born to Moses Carroll and wife, four of whom died in infancy; the others were named as follows: Louisa J. is a widow and resides at Zion City, Illinois ; Wilson B., who was a carpenter and engineer, is deceased; Mattie, also a
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widow, is engaged in dressmaking at Phillipsburg, Montana; Relda is the wife of Ellis Kiser, a draftsman by trade, and they reside in Springfield, Mis- souri; Mary, commonly known as Mollie, is the wife of Gus Widmeyer, a farmer of Greene county, this state, and Frank P. of this sketch.
The subject of this review spent his boyhood in Clinton county, Indiana, and received his education in the common schools. When seventeen years of age he went to work as a farm hand, later worked as fireman in a flouring mill in Boone county, Indiana, for two years, then came to Springfield, Mis- souri, in 1884, and went into the dairy business with his brother-in-law, J. N. Kern, remaining in this line of endeavor two years. The next two years we find him employed at an electric light plant and in various other posi- tions. He also worked at the old Coon Tobacco Works, under George H. McCann, who was president of the concern. Our subject worked here as engineer from 1888 to 1900, in which year he was made chief engineer, and continued in this capacity with the plant until it was absorbed by the Amer- ican Tobacco Company, whereupon he went to the South Side or old Gulf shops, and was assistant engineer here for two years. He then went to Cali- fornia, where he remained a year as chief engineer for the Italian-Swiss Wine Company at Kingsburg, that state. Returning to Springfield, Missouri, he took a position as gas and steam fitter with the Springfield Gas Company and worked at this two years, then farmed a year, having previously pur- chased a farm near the Valley Water Mill. He then came back to Spring- field and worked as chief engineer at the Frisco Hospital for two months, then was chief engineer at the Metropolitan Hotel for some time, after which he worked as night engineer in the North Side Frisco shops, remaining there from September, 1905, to May 12, 1910, when he was promoted to chief engineer there, which position he still holds. He has thirty hands under his direction and as in all his former positions is giving entire satisfaction.
Mr. Carroll was married in 1890 to Dora Gardner, who was born on the old Phelps farm in Greene county, Missouri. She is a daughter of Allen A. Gardner, of Springfield. She grew up in this county and was edu- cated in the common schools.
To our subject and wife four children have been born, namely: Myrtle is single and lives at home; Leonard married Mattie Leamon, and he is em- ployed as typewriter repairer at the Gardner Office Supply Company in Springfield; Frank is employed as typewriter repairman at the office of the Underwood Typewriter Company in Springfield ; Paul is attending school.
Our subject and wife celebrated their twenty-fifth wedding anniversary on November 5, 1914. They reside on Clay street.
Politically Mr. Carroll is a Republican. He belongs to the Christian church. He is a member of the National Order of Stationary Engineers No. 9, the Springfield division.
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JOHN P. MALLEY.
The general foreman of the Frisco System boiler shops, John P. Malley, is evidently as well qualified for his position as anyone whom the company could have selected, for his record shows that he has been constantly employed about boiler shops for a period of nearly thirty-five years, or ever since he was a boy, and during this time he has had vast experience in many different places. He has been a close observer and has learned many new things about his chosen calling in each shop he has been employed, in fact, has left no stone unturned whereby he might improve himself.
Mr. Malley is of Irish parentage and has inherited many of the praise- worthy traits of that industrious people. He was born in Laporte, Indiana, September 25, 1862. He is a son of John and Mary (Consendine) Malley, both born in Ireland, where they grew to maturity, received good educations in the common schools, but were married in Indiana. They were yet young when the immigrated to the United States. They established the family home in Laporte, Indiana, where they spent the rest of their lives, both dying there, our subject being a small boy when his father died. The father fol- lowed railroading and for years was roadmaster for the Lake Shore rail- road, also the Michigan Southern railroad, being employed in that capacity by the latter road at the time of his death. To John and Mary Malley three children were born, all living at this writing, namely: John P. of this sketch; William is a tinner by trade and lives in Chicago; Charles is an engineer and also lives in Chicago.
John P. Malley had little opportunity to receive an education, however, he attended the common schools in Indiana, but he is for the most part self- taught. He was married May 24, 1900, in Kansas City, Missouri, to Mary Glennon, a native of Independence, this state, and a daughter of Patrick Glennon and wife, both natives of Ireland, from which country they immi- grated to America when young. Mr. Glennon was a stone mason by trade. His death occurred in Kansas City, as did also that of his wife. Mrs. Malley grew to womanhood in Jackson county and was educated in the common schools.
To our subject and wife one child has been born, Glennon Malley, whose birth occurred May 24, 1904.
In 1870 John P. Malley left Laporte, Indiana., and worked as check clerk in the mammoth mercantile establishment of Marshall Field's, but not desiring to continue this line of endeavor, he began his apprenticeship to the boiler maker's trade about a year later, when seventeen years of age, in the plant of McFarland & Company, of Chicago. He remained in the employ of that company for about eight years, during which time he thoroughly
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mastered his trade, then went to Dubuque, Iowa, and worked about a year, then went to St. Paul, Minnesota, where he worked for the Great Northern Railroad in their shops there about two years, then returned to Iowa, and worked in Dubuque for the Milwaukee and St. Paul Railroad Company, then went to firing on a locomotive and continued in this work a year and a half, after which he went to Texas, and was foreman at Galveston in the boiler shops of the Gulf, Colorado & Santa Fe Railroad from 1891 until 1900, in which year he came to Springfield, Missouri, as general foreman of the boiler shops of the St. Louis & San Francisco Railroad Company, and has since been connected with this shop, having been general foreman of the same since 1910, and is still incumbent of that position, in which he is giving eminent satisfaction in every respect.
Politically, Mr. Malley is a Republican, and he belongs to the Catholic church.
JOHN R. DRITT.
The responsible position which John R. Dritt, freight agent of the Frisco Lines at Springfield, fills while yet a young man, would indicate that places of merit and responsibility are open to those who are capable of filling them no matter what their age or early environment may be. However, our subject had careful preparation, taking sure but definite steps in his chosen field of endeavor from the time he was a boy, having all the while been honest both with himself and his employers. This is, no doubt, the secret of his success.
Mr. Dritt was born in Pierce City, Missouri, November 13, 1880. He is a son of A. M. and Nancy Jane (Roark) Dritt. The father was born at Tipton, Missouri. He was engaged in the harness and saddlery business at Pierce City, where his death occurred in 1892, at the early age of thirty- four years. Politically he was a Republican, and religiously he belonged to the Baptist church. The mother of our subject is a daughter of W. B. Roark and wife. The father is engaged in the mercantile business at Aurora, Mis- souri, and in that city Mrs. Dritt is making her home. Three children were born to the parents of our subject, namely : John R., of this sketch; Russie, who married E. W. Cave lives in Chicago, where Mr. Cave is engaged in the automobile business. Wiley M., the third child, who was engaged in mercantile pursuits at Aurora, this state, died at the age of twenty-six years. Joseph Dritt, paternal grandfather of these children, was a prominent citizen of Tipton, Missouri, and was mayor of that town for a number of years.
John R. Dritt spent most of his early years at Aurora, where the
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family located when he was young, and there he attended the common and high schools. When sixteen years of age he went to work in that town for the Frisco System. He was messenger boy and did station work. Later he came to Springfield and engaged in the hotel business, clerking for some time in the Central hotel, then went back to Aurora and continued station work for the Frisco, remaining there until 1904, at which time he went to Monroe, Louisiana, and worked for the National Packing Company, re- maining there until in December, 1905, as cashier and auditor. He then came to Springfield as cashier for the Frisco in its freight department. In May, 1907, he was promoted to assistant general agent of the general freight department, and in December, 1911, he was appointed agent of the freight department, which position he now holds, and the duties of which he is dis- charging with his usual fidelity and general satisfaction, and with much credit to himself. He has under his direction seventy-five clerks.
Mr. Dritt was married on December 15, 1912, to Edith Smith, a daugh- ter of Earl N. and Lola (Doss) Smith, a well known family of Ash Grove, this county, where Mrs. Dritt grew to womanhood and was educated. To our subject and wife one child has been born, Nancy Jane Dritt, who was born April 27, 1914.
Politically Mr. Dritt is a Democrat. He belongs to the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks, and religiously he attends the Baptist church.
STEPHEN E. BUTLER.
It is no reflection when we say a man is a Hoosier; on the contrary it is a compliment, if the word is properly understood. All natives of the great state of Indiana are known as Hoosiers, and everyone knows that some of the greatest men of the nation have been born and reared on her soil, in- cluding presidents, vice-presidents, great statesmen, renowned army and navy officers and famous literary men and women. Stephen E. Butler, foreman of the tin shop of the reclamation plant in the South Side Frisco shops, Spring- field, is a Hoosier, although not yet belonging in the class of the mighty just enumerated, however, being yet a young man and possessing those traits that win success, one must necessarily predict for him a future of use- fulness and more than average success.
Mr. Butler was born April 23, 1882, in Stark county, Indiana. He is a son of Austin D. Butler, a native of Ohio, and a carpenter by trade. He left his native state when a young man and located in Stark county, Indiana, where he remained until 1888, when he went to Helena, Montana, whither he removed his family the following year, and there his death occurred in
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1897 at the early age of forty-six years. He was a soldier in the Spanish- American war; however, contracting malaria typhoid in the Philippines not long after his enlistment, he was sent back home, having spent about a year in service. He was a member of Company L, First Montana Volunteer Infantry. Upon his recovery from the malaria typhoid he resumed his trade of journeyman carpenter, in which he was exceptionally skilled. As a soldier his comrades say he was brave, faithful and intelligent. His untimely death was by accident, having been drowned in the Missouri river near Stubbs. Ferry, where he was working on a dredge. Politically he was a Democrat He belonged to the Independent Order of Odd Fellows. He belonged to the Methodist Episcopal church. His widow, who was known in her maidenhood as Alice Miller, is now the wife of A. J. Lemkie, and they reside in Helena, Montana. Three children were born to her union with Mr. Butler, namely: Stephen E. of this sketch; Ethel married Earl B. Richardson, who is engaged in the retail drug business at Helena; Hazel married Charles H. Coar, super- intendent of the telephone company at Minot, North Dakota.
Stephen E. Butler was seven years of age when his parents removed to Helena, Montana, and there he grew to early manhood and received a common school education; however, he left school when only fourteen years. of age and began learning the trade of sheet metal worker there, serving a four years' apprenticeship. He worked with Jacob Rummell about six years in that city, then went to the Pacific coast and the Northwest. where he spent a year working as a tinsmith, after which he came to Kansas City, Missouri, and worked six months, then returned West and worked in Helena. and Virginia City three and one-half years, one year of which time he was in business for himself as tinsmith. In March, 1910, he came to Springfield, Missouri, and worked a year for the Anslinger Sheet Metal Works, then took a position in the North Side Frisco shops in March, 1911, as journey- man tinsmith. On November 1, 1913, he was promoted to foreman tinsmith of the reclamation plant at the South Side shops, which position he still holds, and in this, as in all previous positions he is giving entire satisfaction, for he is not only an exceptionally highly skilled man in his line, but is energetic and understands handling those under him to good advantage.
Mr. Butler was married in July, 1907, to Dora Etta Burrell, a daughter of Charles and Mary (Codrey) Burrell, who reside on a farm near Conway, Missouri; Mrs. Butler grew to womanhood in Lane, Kansas, and received a common school education there and in California, where the family moved after leaving Kansas.
To our subject and wife one child has been born, Austin Elmer Butler, born July 18, 1911.
Politically Mr. Butler is a Democrat. He belongs to the Methodist Episcopal church, South.
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PERCY J. BATES.
Ruskin says that we are always given strength enough and sense enough for what nature intended us to do, and that, whatever we are doing, we cannot be properly fulfilling our earthy mission if we are not happy. ourselves. A part of our service to the world is unquestionably cheerfulness, and unless we are happy in our work and in the life we lead among men we are withholding something that is essential to true serviceableness. Percy J. Bates, rip track foreman at the North Side Frisco shops, Springfield, is a young man who is cheerful in his daily tasks, thus making them much lighter to perform.
Mr. Bates was born September 28, 1886, at Essex Junction, Chittenden county, Vermont. He is a son of Job Bates, who was born in Westford, Vermont. He grew up in his native state and attended school there and in his younger days followed farming, later owned and operated a general store at Essex Junction. He was very successful as a business man and became owner of three or four fine farms, which he kept well stocked and highly improved, but keeping them rented, merely looking after them in a general way. He owned a large town house in Essex Junction, where he spent about. twenty-five years of his life. He was very fond of good horses and made a specialty of raising them, always owning some fine ones. Politically he was a Republican, and was a road master and selectman, influential and prominent, in his town and county. He was a member of the Congregational church. His death occurred on May 12, 1904, at the age of seventy-five years. His widow, who was known in her maidenhood as Mary Ella Brackett, a daughter of Hiram Brackett, of Amboy, Illinois, is living at Burlington, Vermont ; she was born in 1851.
Eleven children were born to Job Bates and wife, named as follows: Kizzie married Allen Martin, an attorney of Essex Junction, Vermont ; Julia I. has remained single and lives at home: Charles M. is manager of a hotel at Cambridge Springs, Pennsylvania; Marion E., single, is teaching school in Los Angeles, California ; Willis S. is physical director at Southwestern College, Winfield, Kansas ; James S. lives at Amarillo, Texas ; Jessie E., sin- gle, is teaching in Burlington, Vermont; Percy J., of this sketch ; Mary E. is the wife of Dr. John Hunter, of the University of Vermont; Alice B. is a missionary in Labrador, teaching in the Dr. Grenville Mission there; Dorothy S. is single and lives at home.
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