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 42
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the blacksmith department at his old trade until 1913, when he was changed to the reclamation department of the South Side shops, October 20, 1913, as foreman of the blacksmith department, which responsible position he still holds, having a number of men under his direction. He has long been re- garded as an expert in ,his line and has been in the service of the Frisco for fourteen years.
Mr. Constance was married in 1897 to Viola McClure, a daughter of John and Sarah (Gosney) McClure, of Clark county, Missouri; to this union four children were born, namely : Grace, a junior, and Rae, a freshman, in the Springfield high school at this writing; Mary is deceased, and Margaret is attending ward school.
Politically, Mr. Constance votes independently. The family attends. the Congregational church. He belongs to the Modern Woodmen of Amer- ica, and for a period of eleven years was a member of the Blacksmiths' Union.
JEROME A. HOUSTON.
It was fifty years ago that Jerome A. Houston, foreman of the air department at the reclamation plant of the Frisco's South Side shops, in Springfield, began his career as machinist, and he has been active in rail- road service ever since, having held many positions of responsibility with a number of different companies. His long and close devotion to one line of endeavor has made him an expert to be envied by the young machinist ap- prentice, but his advice to all such would doubtless be that there is no royal road to the goal of those with ambitions to become an expert in his line. It can only be won by earnest, hard, conscientious and long continued work.
Mr. Houston was born in Loudonville, Ashland county, Ohio, January 20, 1845. He is a son of James E. and Ann ( Prutzman) Houston, the lat- ter having died in 1865 at the age of forty-eight years. The father was born near Lancaster, Pennsylvania, and there grew to manhood and at- tended school. When a young man he started out as a cabinet maker in Lancaster, later took up the railroad business at Lancaster, Ohio, with the Cincinnati, Wellington & Zanesville railroad as foreman of the paint shop, which position he held ten or twelve years, then went to Logan, Ohio, and formed a stock company known as the Logan Cabinet Manufacturing Com- pany, for the manufacture of cabinets, and his death occurred in that city at the age of sixty-six years. As a Republican, he took a lively interest in political affairs and was elected mayor of Lancaster, Ohio, two terms. He belonged to the Masonic order, including the Royal Arch and all chapters. He was a member of the Lutheran church. His family consisted of the fol-
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lowing named children: Jerome A., of this sketch, is the eldest; Sarah is deceased; Margaret, widow of Alonzo Belt, deceased, now lives at Winni- peg, Canada; George, deceased, was a locomotive engineer on the Frisco Lines, and met an accidental death; Ellen, who is married and lives at Galesburg, Illinois; Lelia married Homer Wright, who is an ex-judge and is now representative from Logan county in the Ohio legislature; Mrs. Mary Johnson lives in Danville, Illinois, where her husband is engaged in the coal business; Hattie, who has remained unmarried, lives at Columbus, Ohio; Ida and Frank are both deceased.
Jerome A. Houston attended the public schools in his native state until he was fifteen years of age, when he left school and began learning the ma- chinist's trade in the shops of the Cincinnati, Wilmington & Zanesville rail- road at Lancaster, Ohio, and there completed his apprenticeship. From there he went to Vincennes, Indiana, as machinist for the old Ohio & Mis- sissippi railroad (now the Baltimore & Ohio). Remaining there eighteen months, he went to Lancaster, Ohio, and worked six months for his former employers at his trade, then went to Columbus, Ohio, with the Piqua rail- road, known as the Columbus, Cleveland & Indiana Central railroad, and worked there as machinist for three years; then came to St. Charles, Mis- souri, as machinist for the North Missouri railroad, with which he remained for eighteen months; then returned to Columbus and continued his trade with his former employers there, but in time returned to Missouri and worked at the town of Pacific for the South Pacific Railroad Company from 1869 until 1871, in which year he came to Springfield as machinist for the old Atlantic-Pacific railroad, now the Frisco, and after working at his usual trade for six months, he was transferred to St. James, Missouri, as round- house foreman, which position he held two years; then worked at Dixon, this state, as roundhouse foreman; then held the same position at Newburg two years, after which he came back to Springfield and began working as machinist in the North Side shops. A few months later he was promoted to erecting foreman in this department, which position he held twelve or fifteen years, then was transferred to Sapulpa, Indian Territory, as master mechanic on the Frisco's Red River & Western division, and was there four or five years, when he was sent to Hugo, Oklahoma, as general foreman, then was ordered back to Springfield as foreman of the air department of the reclama- tion plant, South Side shops, which position he has held since 1912. He has twenty-two men under his direction. He has given honest and high grade service in all the above named positions and has been regarded very highly by all the roads for which he has worked, both as to his skill as a machinist and a man of executive ability and as a trustworthy gentleman.
Mr. Houston was married in 1872 to Julia Hufschmidt, a native of Pacific, Missouri, and a daughter of Frederick and Julia Hufschmidt, of
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Pacific, Missouri, and to this union one child was born, Archie. Mrs. Hous- ton died in 1876, and our subject later married Martha Harris, a native of Dixon, Missouri, and a daughter of William Harris and wife. To this union six children were born, named as following: Mary married George Bailey, superintendent of the Western division of the Frisco; George is with the Long Belt Lumber Company at Cleveland, Ohio; Frank died when twenty years of age; Earl is with the Long Belt Lumber Company in Louis- iana; Homer lives in St. Louis; Helen also lives in that city; the last two children are twins.
Mr. Houston resides on Washington avenue, Springfield, but his fam- ily is making their home at Newburg, Missouri. Politically, he is a Re- publican. He is a member of the Lutheran church. Fraternally, he be- longs to the Masonic Order, the Knights of Pythias, the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks, the Woodmen of the World, and the Ancient Order of United Workmen.
RICHARD F. WHALEN, JR.
An undeceiving, earnest man, self-assertive and self-controlling, is Richard F. Whalen, Jr., superintendent of the reclamation department of the South Side Frisco shops, Springfield. He has, owing to his Celtic blood, a number of the characteristics of his people, and thus he has "cer- tain things to say" when occasion demands, which is no fault. Good nature beams through his features; a kind heart sits at the windows of his imag- ination, and his soul is pervaded with sympathy and good will. He is ap- preciative and sensitive to the opinions of others, though strong to himself in the trial hour.
Mr. Whalen was born March 21, 1875, at Hannibal, Marion county, Missouri. He is a son of Richard E. and Johanna (Cronican) Whalen, and a grandson of John Whalen, the latter born in Ireland, where he spent the first half of his life, finally immigrating to America, and spent the rest of his days on a farm near Quincy, Illinois. The father of our subject was also born in Ireland, in County Waterford, and he was brought to America by his parents when six years of age. He grew to manhood at Quincy, Illi- nois, and was educated there, and in that city he served his apprenticeship as machinist in the Chicago, Burlington & Quincy railroad shops, then worked there as a journeyman for many years. He later removed to Han- nibal, Missouri, where he worked as machinist and later as gang foreman for the Hannibal & St. Joseph Railroad Company for many years. For some time he held the position of master mechanic. He was subsequently
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employed by the St. Louis & Hannibal Railroad Company, and then the Texas Railroad Company. At this writing he is gang foreman at Hannibal for the Chicago, Burlington & Quincy road, although he is in his seventy- third year. He has been very faithful in each of the positions with the sev- eral roads for which he has worked and is a highly skilled machinist. He is a Democrat and is a member of the Catholic church. His wife is now seventy years of age. To them nine children have been born, five of whom are deceased; those living are: Mary, who has remained single and lives with her parents; John is traveling out of St. Louis for the fuel depart- ment of the Frisco railroad; Richard F. of this sketch; Michael, of St. Louis, is manager of the Payton Lumber Company.
Richard F. Whalen, Jr., attended the common schools until he was sixteen years of age, when he began learning the machinist's trade with the St. Louis & Hannibal Railroad Company in their shops at Hannibal, Mis- souri. Later he went to the shops of the Chicago, Burlington & Quincy railroad as journeyman machinist, then became gang foreman and finally general foreman of the machine shop of this road at Hannibal, remaining there until 1905, when he became general foreman for the Lehigh Valley Railroad Company at the locomotive shops at Sayre, Pennsylvania. Re- maining there until 1907, he went to Topeka, Kansas, for the Atchison, To- peka & Santa Fe Railroad Company, as assistant superintendent of the road's shops there. He then took a position with the Frisco system at Springfield as superintendent of the reclamation department in the South Side shops, which position he still fills, having two hundred men under his direction, whom he handles in such a tactful and diplomatic manner as to get the best results possible and at the same time retain their friendship and good will. During his career of twenty-four years in railroad service he has filled his many positions with the several roads mentioned above in a man- ner that has reflected much credit upon himself and to the satisfaction of his employers.
Politically, our subject is a Democrat, and, fraternally, he belongs to the Knights of Columbus.
Mr. Whalen was married in September, 1897, to Margaret Burke, who. was born in Schomokin, Pennsylvania, December 23, 1874, and was a daughter of John and Ellen (Whalen) Burke, of Hannibal, Missouri, in" which city she grew to womanhood and was educated. Mrs. Whalen died at her residence in Springfield December 23, 1914.
To our subject and wife eight children were born, namely: Anna and Francis are both attending the Springfield high school; Mary, Richard, Monica and Regina are all attending the ward schools; Ellen and Mar- garet died in infancy.
Mr. Whalen and family are members of the St. Agnes Catholic church.
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SAMUEL S. GRIER.
In farming communities it is the rule and not the exception to find ordi- nary educations, but occasionally you meet a family who takes more interest in the development of the mind, not necessarily attending school longer or going away to college, but who lose no opportunity to keep up with advancing civilization, who remain home students and close observers, and as a result they in time rise above some of their countrymen in the scale of mentality and the capacity to grasp the larger questions of mental improvement. Such families are numerous in Greene county, and it is a sign that this locality is equal to any in the state in point of citizenship. One of these is the Grier family, of which Samuel S. Grier, a well-known business man of Strafford is a creditable representative.
Mr. Grier was born just across the line in Webster county, Missouri, on December 16, 1870. He is a son of N. F. and Sarah (Smith) Grier. The father was born in North Carolina in 1845, and he was brought to Missouri by his parents when a small boy, and was reared on a farm. He received a limited education in the common schools, and when eighteen years old he joined the Union army, in 1861, and fought in one of the Greene county volunteer regiments at Wilson's Creek on August 10th of that year, and was wounded in that sanguinary engagement, which wound disabled him to such an extent that he was later discharged from the service. Returning home, he followed farming for some time. Prospering, he became owner of a two hundred and four-acre farm. He is now making his home in Spring- field. He is a member of the Baptist church. His wife was born in Ten- nessee, and when a young girl she was brought to Greene county, this state, by her parents and here grew up on a farm and attended school. Her death occurred in Webster county on the old Grier homestead. She was a member of the Baptist church.
Four children were born to N. F. Grier and wife, namely: Tasso L., Samuel S., of this sketch; Dorsie and Mrs. Ollie Wammack.
Samuel S. Grier was reared on the home farm, where he worked when a boy and he received his education in the local schools. He remained on the farm until he was seventeen years of age, then carried the mail for three years, after which he went to work as clerk in Strafford in the store of Hanson & Thorson. Later he began in the livery business, and built the first livery barn in Strafford, remaining in the business for five years, then engaged in the milling business, and was president and secretary of the local mill for two years, after which he launched out in the real estate business, in which he has since been engaged and in which he has built up a large and satisfactory business. He is one of the best informed men on the values of
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MR. AND MRS. S. S. GRIER.
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real estate in the eastern part of the county, and he has the confidence of those with whom he has had dealings. In 1912 his total business amounted to a profit of nearly two thousand dollars.
Mr. Grier was married on October II, 1897, to Louie Jane Bryant, who was born in Kansas on August 26, 1881, but she was an infant when her parents brought her to Greene county, where she was reared on a farm and was educated. She is a daughter of J. C. and Sarah (Urby) Bryant ; the former is engaged in the grocery business in Strafford, but the mother is deceased. Mrs. Grier is a member of the Baptist church.
Three children have been born to our subject and wife, namely : Harry U., born on August 30, 1897: Hazel W., born on July 26, 1899, and Arnold S., born on March 30, 1904.
Politically, Mr. Grier is a Democrat. He is now justice of the peace at Strafford, being elected in November, 1914. He is a member of the Inde- pendent Order of Odd Fellows, and he belongs to the Baptist church.
JOHN A. MOSER.
The Swiss have ever been known as a liberty-loving and independent people. As a rule the peoples of the world in mountainous countries are. This little republic has furnished an admirable example to many of the larger nations of the earth and her government and institutions might be emulated with profit by the kingdoms and monarchies whose subjects do not seem to be as fortunate as the Swiss. A large number of them have immigrated to Amer- ica, where they have broader opportunities, and they have been welcomed everywhere for reasons too obvious to detail here. Greene county, Missouri, has not been so fortunate as some localities in securing these aliens, for not a large number have cast their lots with us; but among those who have is John A. Moser, foreman of the frog department of the reclamation plant of the South Side Frisco shops, Springfield.
Mr. Moser was born in Canton Bern, Switzerland, May 5, 1875. He is a son of August and Lizette (Lowrie) Moser, both natives of Switzerland, also, where they grew to maturity, attended school and were married. They remained in their native land uuntil 1880, when they immigrated to the United States, landing in New York City. From there they came direct to Spring- field, Ohio. In Switzerland, August Moser learned the miller's trade, which he followed until he left there. Upon locating in Springfield, Ohio, he se- cured a position as grinder for the Ohio Knife and Bar Works, and remained there six or seven years, then moved to Arkansas, and, six months later, came
(84)
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to Springfield, Missouri. He located on a farm three miles from here and carried on farming, gardening and trucking until his death, in November, 1900, at the age of fifty-five years. His widow survives, is now sixty-five years of age and makes her home in Springfield. He was a Democrat, and belonged to St. John's Lutheran church. His family consisted of nine chil- dren, named as follows: John A., of this sketch, is the eldest; Minnie mar- ried a Mr. Whittaker, who conducts a restaurant at the new Frisco shops, Springfield; Rosa is the wife of John Fridley, a farmer at Symerton, Illinois ; Ada married Rudolph Messerli, who is employed in the coach department at the new Frisco shops here, and with this daughter the mother makes her home; Mrs. Lucy Knowles is the wife of the master mechanic of the American Creosoting Company ; Charles is a machinist in the new Frisco shops; Fred is farming near Symerton, Illinois; Ernest is a clerk in the bridge and building department of the North Side Frisco shops; Lillian is deceased.
John A. Moser was five years of age when his parents brought him to America, and he grew to manhood in Ohio and Missouri and received a com- mon school education, but his schooling was limited, for when only eleven years of age he began working in the knife and bar shops at Springfield, Ohio, as a rivet hand. He remained there until 1890, when he came to Spring- field, Missouri, and here worked in a cooper shop for a short time, then learned the trade of stonemason, and worked here as a journeyman stone- mason until April, 1896. He worked in Chicago for some time, where he was fire inspector for Marshall Field & Company, and had charge of the fire apparatus there a little over a year. In 1900 he went to work for the Frisco Lines in Springfield, in the car repairing department in the old North Side shops, later worked in the coach department in the South Side shops. Later he was sent out on the road as frog and switch repairer as foreman on all the lines of the Frisco system. This position he held until November 15, 1913, when he began work in the reclamation department of the South Side shops, as foreman of the frog department, and this position he still holds. He has shown himself to be capable and trustworthy in all positions which have been assigned to him. He also owns and looks after a grocery store at Park and Atlantic streets, Springfield, and has built up a good trade here. He owns five houses and lots in this city and owns considerable lands, and is a speculator of ability. He has been successful above the average in a busi- ness way.
Mr. Moser was married, in 1909, to Katherine Rees, of McAlester, Okla- homa. This union has been without issue.
Politically, Mr. Moser is a Republican. He belongs to the Lutheran church, and is a member of the Masonic order and was formerly a member of the Eagles.
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JOHN FRENCH.
Among the comparatively small element of foreign-born citizens who have cast their lot with the people of Greene county and have won success through their industry and close application is John French, blacksmith fore- man in the Frisco shops. He comes of a sturdy family, one that has always been strong for right living and industrious habits, for education and morality, and for all that which contributes to the betterment of the communities in which they have resided. Many years ago, in fact, nearly a half century ago, our subject, unaccompanied, although scarcely more than a boy, crossed the great Atlantic, having bid a permanent farewell to his native isle, and cast his lot among the Americans who have treated him so kindly and well that he has been pleased to remain with us.
Mr. French was born in Durham county, England, April 16, 1846. He is a son of John and Elizabeth ( Robertson) French, both natives of England, also, where they grew up, were educated and married and spent their lives. The father learned the blacksmith's trade when young, in which he became very skillful and at which he spent his life. The grandfather of our subject was also a blacksmith by trade. The parents of our subject have both been dead many years, the mother dying in 1888. To them ten children were born, namely : Allen : Elizabeth is deceased; Annie is deceased; Polly; James is deceased; John, of this sketch; William is deceased; Robert; and the two youngest died in infancy.
John French spent his boyhood in England, and there received a com- mon school education, and when a boy learned the blacksmith's trade under his father, who owned his own shop. Our subject worked in different parts of England at his trade, and in a few years became an expert in his line. He immigrated to America in the spring of 1865, reaching our shores about the unsettled time that marked the closing of our momentous conflict, he being at that time nineteen years of age. The great armies of citizen soldiery had not had time to return to the pursuits of peace and he found it hard to get a start, and for a time worked as a laborer in Cincinnati, Ohio, later worked at his trade there. He came to Greene county, Missouri, in 1900, having previously worked at his trade for different railroads, and since coming here he has been employed by the Frisco, and has been promoted for his skill and faithfulness to the position of foreman of the blacksmith shop, the duties of which responsible place he is worthily discharging, having a large force of men under his direction.
Mr. French was married, in November, 1868, to Mrs. Jane Wright, who was born in the state of New York, June 18, 1840, and there she grew to womanhood and was educated. To our subject and wife five children have
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been born, namely : Alice is deceased; Mrs. Susan Tingell, Mrs. Martha Player, Mrs. Jessie Weaver, John C. is a soldier in the United States army, being with the troops in Vera Cruz, Mexico in 1914.
Politically, Mr. French is a Republican. Fraternally, he belongs to the Knights of Pythias.
WILLIAM L. KIRKEY.
It is not a very frequent occurrence that in a historical work of this kind the biographer finds a man who was born in the fair Sunflower state living east of that state; they either prefer to remain within the limits of their own boundary or go farther west, but in the person of William L. Kirkey, foreman of the mechanical department of the reclamation plant of the Frisco's South Side shops, Springfield, we have an exception, and, if all na- tives of Kansas are as capable in their vocations and as good citizens in gen- eral as he, we would welcome many more to Greene county
Mr. Kirkey was born, August 24, 1872, in Highland Station, Doniphan county, Kansas. He is a son of Louis and Nana (Jones) Kirkey. The father was born in America of French parents, and the mother was a native of Nevada, Missouri. His death occurred in 1874 and he was buried in Kan- sas. Her death occurred in 1886 at the age of forty-eight years. To the union of these parents only one child, William L., of this review, was born. After the death of her first husband the mother remarried, N. N. Fields being her last husband. To them three children were born, namely: Nathan was a carpenter in Springfield, Missouri; Charles is deceased, and Burton E. is the youngest.
William L. Kirkey worked some on a farm when a boy and he received a limited education in the public schools. He hired out at farm work when only thirteen years of age, later learned the marble-cutter's trade, having had natural ability as a sculptor. He served his apprenticeship at Rich Hill, Mis- souri, for P. H. Scott, and continued in this work for twelve or fourteen years, then turned his attention to machinery and learned the machinist's trade at St. Louis, meanwhile studying at home all books available pertain- ing to his trade, and in due course of time he became an expert, working for the Parker-Russell Mining and Manufacturing Company as a full-fledged machinist, at their St. Louis plant for six or eight years, the last four or five years of that period as foreman. He then secured employment with the Frisco Railroad Company at Springfield in the North Side shops as carpenter in the coach department, in 1907, then was inspector until in No- vember, 1913, when he was transferred to the reclamation plant of the com- pany in the South Side shops as foreman of the mechanical department, which
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position he still holds to the satisfaction of his employers. Here repairing of all descriptions is done, as well as new work turned out. He has a large number of men under his direction, about forty on an average. He still devotes some time to sculpture, maintaining a shop at home, this being his hobby, and he has achieved quite a reputation as a sculptor, turning out some beautiful work from time to time. He owns a pleasant home on Vernon aventie.
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