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 46
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Edward F. Newton was reared by his sister, Mrs. Elizabeth Mccrary, with whom he came to Greene county, Missouri, when a child, the family locating near Ebenezer, and bought a farm of one hundred and twenty acres on which our subject remained until he was twenty-two years of age. He received a common school education.
Mr. Newton has been twice married, first, to Nettie Berry, a daughter of William and Martha (Latham) Berry. She was born in Franklin town- ship, this county. William Berry was born in Tennessee, from which state he came to Greene county, Missouri, when young, making the tedious over- land journey with an ox team, bringing his wife and household effects. He settled on rough land, which he cleared and developed by hard work, and . here he and his wife spent the rest of their lives, dying on the farm now .owned by our subject. Mr. Berry purchased one hundred and sixty acres
EDWARD F. NEWTON.
FARM DALE-E. F. NEWTON. PROP.
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of railroad land, later took up other railroad land. He devoted his active life to general farming.
Mr. Newton was married again in 1909 to Mrs. Elva (White) Massey, which union has been without issue, but he is the father of seven children by his first wife, namely: Roy, born September 20, 1886, married Mazie Murray and lives in Springfield ; Ethel, born March 28, 1889, married John Jacoby, lives in Springfield and they have one child, Kenneth; Theodore, born August 5, 1892, married Bertha Goetz and they live in Franklin town- ship; Ralph, born November 4, 1894; Maver, born August 13, 1897: Harold, born July 13, 1900; and Thelma, born October 24, 1903. Their mother died February 6, 1903.
Mr. Newton moved to his present farm in 1885, after his first marriage. He has prospered through his close application, sound judgment and honest dealings, and he is now owner of one of the choice farms of the township, consisting of two hundred and fifty-three acres, of well improved and pro- ductive land, all under cultivation, but ten acres in timber. He built his present substantial residence, also outbuildings, in 1904. In 1912 he built a modern breeding barn, thirty-two by forty feet, with box stalls and other conveniences found only on up-to-date farms. In connection with general farming he makes a specialty of breeding live stock and owns some fine animals which are greatly admired by all. At present he has three jacks and two stallions-Black Eagle, Blue John and Silver Song, Skelix and Young Roman. Black Eagle is a fine black jack with mealy points, four- teen and one-half hands high, heavy bodied, high headed, large flat heavy boned. He was sired by old Ratter, a large breeder, well known in the southern part of Polk county. Black Eagle's dam was a mammoth jennett, stood fifteen hands high. Eagle's sire and dam were both high bred animals, making Black Eagle a well-bred jack. Blue John is a blue jack, fifteen hands high, jack measure, and is well known throughout Greene county to all breeders. His colts are heavy-boned, with good heads, and always make big fine mules that never fail to top the market. Silver Song is a fine black jack, weighing about one thousand pounds, and is fourteen and three-quarters hands high ; he is sired by Big Eagle, dam, Lady M. Skelix is a dark bay stallion, fifteen and one-half hands high, black points, weighing eleven hun- dred pounds. His sire is Kiosk, No. 21359. Vol. 12, page 88. Trotting record, 2:31, sire of five trotters in the list ; chestnut, star, one white hind foot : sixteen hands high ; weight over twelve hundred pounds ; sire, Kremlin, 2:0734, trotting ; champion of the world in 1892. Dam, Ellsta, 2:20; dam of Elison. 2:17, trotting : second dam Green Mountain Maid; dam of nine 2:30 trotters. Young Roman is a draft stallion, eight years old in 1915, sixteen and one-half hands high, weight seventeen hundred pounds. He is
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three-fourths Percheron, has fine style and action, is an extra well made horse with large heavy bone. He is an entirely black stallion. Young Roman was sired by Roman Prince, an imported and thoroughbred Percheron. He weighed two thousand pounds and was as fine a breeder as the southwest has ever afforded. His dam is a large black mare, one-half Percheron, and weighs fifteen hundred pounds.
Politically, Mr. Newton is a Republican, but he has never been active in public affairs or held office. He is a member of the Anti-Horse Thief Association. Fraternally, he belongs to the Modern Woodmen of America, at Springfield, also the Royal Neighbors. He and his wife are members of the Methodist church at Pleasant Valley. He is a great lover of good horses and mules and is a good judge of them. He is a home man, is soci- able, is well acquainted over the county and has hosts of friends everywhere.
HENRY EATON.
From a sterling family of the old Pine Tree state came the late Henry Eaton, for many years one of the prominent business men of Springfield, and, having inherited many of the commendable traits of his rugged ances- tors, he won not only material success, but also a creditable position as a citizen. He was a man of industry, prompt in the discharge of his every-day duties, and he gradually overcame the obstacles in his pathway and became one of the substantial men of his city, and his standing here as a thorough- going, honorable man of affairs was such as affords the keenest satisfaction to his family and friends, and no doubt was gratifying to himself, and in the true sense in which the term is used his life was a signal success.
Mr. Eaton was born on October 10, 1840, in Stonington, formerly known as Greene's Landing, a small island off the coast of Maine. He was a son of Charles and Rebecca (Doane) Eaton. The father was born in Stonington, Maine, also, and the mother was a native of Newberg, that state, the birth of Charles Eaton occurring in 1810, and Rebecca Doane first saw the light of day in 1818. These parents grew to maturity in their native state, received meager educations and were married there. They each represented old families of New England. Nathan Eaton, the paternal grandfather, established the family home in Maine when that state was sparsely settled. Charles Eaton spent his life in Maine, where he engaged extensively in the mercantile business, dry goods and groceries, also owned several fishing vessels, and carried on fishing on a large commercial scale. His family consisted of eight children, five of whom are still living.
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Henry Eaton grew to manhood in Maine and assisted his father when a boy and he received his education in the public schools, also attended a seminary. After leaving school he went to sea for awhile, and was also associated with his father for some time in merchandising, remaining there until 1870, when he came to Missouri and located in Clinton, Henry county, where he remained two years, and traveled for Cole Brothers, of Mt. Pleas- ant, Iowa, then came to Springfield and went into the transfer business, becoming a member of the firm of Bryan & Eaton, and later conducted the business alone. It grew to large proportions, and his vans and teams were to be seen all over the city daily. Later he added coal and ice to his transfer business and also did a large business in this line of endeavor, and con- tinued both with increasing success until his death. Honesty and promptness were his aims, and he had the good will and confidence of the people. He was also interested in mining and other lines of business.
Mr. Eaton was married on June 30, 1863, to Tryphosa B. Raynes, who was born at Sunset, on the same island in Maine on which Mr. Eaton was born, her birth occurring on November 27, 1845. She is a daughter of Abial and Susan (Lufkin) Raynes, both parents being natives of that vicinity also, and there they grew up and were married, and Mr. Raynes became a sailor, was shipwrecked on Martha's Vineyard, Massachusetts, and although he lived to reach shore, died of cold and exposure later. Mrs. Eaton's family were all seafaring people. Mrs. Eaton's grandfather, Wil- liam Raynes, was born in 1778, and lived to the advanced age of ninety-one years ; his wife, Ruth Sylvester, was born in 1789 and died in 1852. John Raynes, father of William Raynes, was born in 1753 and died in 1837; his wife, Deborah Cuchman Sylvester, died in 1837 also. Capt. Edmond Syl- vester, the maternal great-grandfather of Mrs. Henry Eaton, was born on June 17, 1762, and he served a short time in the Revolutionary war, and thereby Mrs. Eaton is a member of the Daughters of the American Revo- lution. Her grandfather and grandmother Sylvester were married at Marsh- field, Massachusetts, on December 23, 1784. Mrs. Eaton was the only child of her parents, and she was but a year old when her father lost his life at sea. She grew to womanhood in her native community and received a common school education.
To Henry Eaton and wife six children were born, three of whom are deceased ; they were named as follows : Ann is the eldest, Charles is deceased, Daisy is living, Henry, Jr., is deceased, as is also Kate; Karl, the youngest, lives in Springfield and is well known among the younger business men here.
Politically, Henry Eaton was a Republican, and fraternally he belonged to the Masonic Order. He was called to his eternal rest on March 23, 1913, at the age of seventy-two and a half years.
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COL. HOMER F. FELLOWS.
No man stood higher in the affairs of the city of Springfield in the early period of her development than the late Col. Homer F. Fellows, a pio- neer who came here nearly sixty years ago, in ante-bellum days and by his industry became one of the leading business men of Springfield, founded a great wagon maufacturing concern, helped organize the street railway sys- tem, was twice chief executive of the city and prominent in public affairs, and during the war between the states became an officer of high rank. His record shows that he did as much as any other man ever did toward the general growth of the city for a period of half a century, and he merits extended notice in a work of this nature.
Col. Fellows was born in Willsborough, Tioga county, Pennsylvania, July 28, 1831. He was a son of Erastus and Elizabeth Fellows. He sprang from old Colonial stock, and was of English-Puritan extraction, two brothers, John and Drane Fellows, having emigrated from England among the early colonists. John Fellows, the colonel's grandfather, was born in Canaan, Connecticut, where his ancestors had settled, and served in the Revolutionary war. He married Edna Deibold, also born in the town of Canaan, and of French descent. After their marriage they removed to Lu- zerne county, Pennsylvania, locating on a farm, which they developed by hard work from the wilderness, which was filled with Indians and wild beasts. Remaining there until about 1820 John Fellows moved with his family to Tioga county, Pennsylvania, and there passed the remainder of his life, dying at the age of eighty-three years. His family consisted of six children : Horace, Ashel, Erastus, Merritt, Eliza and Hulda. His son, Erastus, father of our subject, was also a native of Canaan, Connecticut, and was a small boy when the family moved from there to Pennsylvania. He received a fairly good education for those early times, and when a young man he went to Cincinnati, Ohio, where he spent one year, then returned to Penn- sylvania and married Mrs. Elizabeth (Cole) Johnson, a widow, and a daugh- ter of Royal Cole, a native of the state of New York, but of English ex- traction. Mr. Cole was a soldier in the Revolutionary war, participating in a number of important engagements, including the battle of Trenton, and was present at the surrender of Burgoyne. He also served in the War of 1812. He was a well-informed man on general subjects, and was a Universalist in his religious belief. He reared a large family. The latter part of his life was spent at Wellsborough. In that town also Erastus Fellows and his wife located, and there he engaged in hotel keeping and farming, being proprietor of Fellows' Temperance House there from 1825 until 1865, his inn being well known to the traveling public of that period.
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He was one of the early advocates of teniperance, accomplished much good by his determined stand, and was known as a man of high moral character in every respect. He was also a strong Abolitionist, and his house was the refuge for slaves escaping to Canada about the Civil war period. He was fearless and outspoken in his views when once convinced that he was right. The famous James G. Burney, at one time candidate for the Presi- dency on the Abolitionist ticket, came to Wellsborough, but owing to the opposition, could find no place in which to make a speech, and Mr. Fellows gave him the use of his dining-room and there his lecture was delivered. Politically, Mr. Fellows was at one time a Whig, but later an Abolitionist, and finally a Republican. During the latter part of his life he became a man of wealth, and his death occurred in 1884 at the age of eighty-four years. His wife received an excellent education for her day, and her descendants are in possession of a certificate issued to her in 1813 by the directors of the district of Coeymans, Albany county, New York, attesting her ability to teach school. Through her life she took an interest in literary matters, was a great reader, and wrote verse of much merit, some of which found its way into print. She was a member of the Methodist church and was strong in her moral convictions. By her first husband she became the mother of two children, Newton and Almira Johnson, and her union with Mr. Fellows resulted in the birth of four children : Rachael A., Homer F., of this sketch; Norris W. and Mary E. The parents of these children lived their entire married life at Wellsborough, Pennsylvania, and there their son, Homer F. Fellows, grew to manhood, working on his father's farm in the summer time and attending the common schools in the winter. At the age of seven- teen he began clerking in a dry goods store in his native town, in which position he remained about a year and a half. He then taught a district school, and later entered the Wesleyan University at Lima, New York, where he remained a year. By the time he had reached his twenty-first year he had acquired a good education for those days, and with the intention of going to Texas he came west, but illness overtook him at Rock Island, Illinois, interfering with his plans. He went on to Muscatine, Iowa, where he re- mained some time, then went to Burlington, that state, and was salesman for a mercantile firm, and later worked as collector there for one of his em- ployers, then managed a store for him at Chariton, Iowa, for a year and a half. Following this he managed a general store for two other employers, one of whom sent him East to purchase the stock. In r856 he went to Plattsburg, Missouri, where he engaged in the real estate business, which business he purchased of his employers a year later, and established offices at Warsaw and Springfield, this state, under the firm name of Fellows, Todd & Robinson, in 1857, and the firm located many land warrants in the Platt Purchase in southwest Missouri, also engaged in the abstract business here.
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Mr. Fellows was a strong Republican from the first, and, possessing exceptional qualifications, he was appointed registrar of lands for the dis- strict of Springfield by President Lincoln, in May, 1861, and continued in this office until the battle of Wilson's Creek. In 1861 he visited Washington, D. C., on military business in the interest of General Sigel, and made the personal acquaintance of President Lincoln, whom he had voted for the previous year. Springfield then being occupied by the Confederates, Union men avoided the city, and Mr. Fellows engaged in merchandising at Rolla, Missouri. In 1863 he was appointed lieutenant-colonel of the Forty-sixth Missouri Militia, which regiment was called out under General McNeil, mustered into the service of the United States, and was on guard duty during the last invasion of Missouri by the Confederates under Gen. Sterling Price. In the winter of 1864 Mr. Fellows sold out his interests in Rolla and engaged in the wholesale grocery business in St. Louis, under the firm name of McElhaney & Fellows. Continuing in this business until 1867, he then sold out and went to Arlington, where he established a gen- eral store. The St. Louis & San Francisco railroad was at that time being built from St. Louis to Springfield, and when business over the same com- menced Mr. Fellows established stores at convenient points along the road, one at Lebanon and another at what was then known as North Springfield. This business was largely wholesale. In 1871 he erected the first grain elevator in Springfield and the following year was induced to take charge of the Springfield Manufacturing Company, which had just been organized and which was in a bad condition financially. Finding the concern hope- lessly involved the stockholders surrendered their stock and a new com- pany was organized as the Springfield Wagon Company. The principal stockholders were Colonel Fellows, his brother, Morris W., and Capt. Boy- den. New capital being invested the company began the manufacture of farm wagons and did a good business from the start. In 1883 the plant was destroyed by fire, but was rebuilt a year later and the capital stock increased from twenty-five thousand to fifty thousand dollars. A year later it was increased to seventy-five thousand dollars. The plant was greatly enlarged and the business increased, and from that time to the present the demand has been equal to the capacity of the works, and several thousand wagons have been annually manufactured here, and they find a very ready market over a vast territory. The reputation of the Springfield wagon for utility and service has steadily gained from the first, so that it has long since com- manded the highest price in southern Missouri, Arkansas, Texas and all over the great Southwest. Its equal is not manufactured by any firm in America, and it comes in competition with all other wagons manufactured in this country and ranks as the best. The great success of the enterprise was due for the most part to Col. Fellows. The plant of the company is a
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large and modern one and gives employment to scores of men, and as an industrial enterprise has been one of the most important in the city for thirty years. In 1881 Col. Fellows was the chief promoter of the Spring- field street railway system, and was president of the company for three years and made it a successful venture. In 1859 he was one of the stock- holders of the first telegraph line through Springfield. This line followed the overland stage road. Col. Fellows built the first telephone line that came into Springfield, in the latter part of the seventies, which connected his office and residence. He was a liberal contributor to the Kansas City, Ft. Scott & Memphis railroad, which was made a part of the Frisco System in 1900. He was one of the organizers of the Springfield Water Works, and president of the company for three years. For a number of years after the close of the war he also engaged in shipping and a transfer business between Rolla and Springfield. He remained manager of the wagon fac- tory the rest of his life.
In 1860 Col. Fellows was the only man in Springfield but one who openly voted the Republican ticket. Like his father, he had the courage of his convictions upon all occasions. He was elected mayor of this city in 1876, later serving a second term, and for many years he was a member of the city council and the local school board. He ever extended a helping hand to the cause of education, and did much to establish good schools here. Liberal in his views and progressive in his ideas, he always assisted with his means, time and influence the churches of the city without regard to denomination ; in fact, one of our most public-spirited citizens, he did much to further the general interests of the city. Fraternally, he was a member of the Masonic Order, the Independent Order of Odd Fellows, in his earlier years, and towards the latter part of his life belonged to the Knights of Honor and the Woodmen of the World. He was at one time nominated for lieutenant governor of Missouri, but was defeated.
Col. Fellows was three times married, first, on November 15, 1859, to Martha Alvira McElhaney, of Springfield, and to this union three children were born, namely : Emma, who married Charles T. Keet: Clara, who mar- ried F. J. Curran; and Adah, who married George Rathbun, all establishing homes in Springfield, but the eldest and youngest daughters were left widows early in life. The mother of these three daughters died October 5. 1869. Col. Fellows was married a second time on August 15, 1872, to Minnie L. Boyden, of Neosho, Missouri, and to this union one son was born, Homer Frank Fellows, who was in the employ of the Frisco railroad for some time, in the offices of the company at St. Louis, but he is now president of the Springfield Wagon Works and makes his home in Springfield. A sketch of him will be found on another page of this work. The death of the Colonel's second wife occurred September 24. 1881. On March 24. 1884.
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our subject married Mrs. Matilda (Dickard) Jackson, widow of J. C. Jack- son. She was born, May 29, 1847, in Kentucky, and is a daughter of Josiah R. and Mary E. (Hart) Dickard, the father a native of Virginia and the mother of Kentucky, and they were married in Hardin county, Kentucky, later removing to Illinois when Mrs. Fellows was a child and there she grew to womanhood and received her education, and from that state she came to Springfield, Missouri, in 1870. She first married John C. Jackson, in December, 1864, in Illinois. He was a native of North Carolina and was a merchant by occupation. His death occurred February 22, 1883. To this first union two daughters were born to Mrs. Fellows, namely, Mary M. Jackson, born March 16, 1873, married James H. Jordon, and they live in Oklahoma; and Jennie Mabel Jackson, born April 29, 1876, married Richard M. Holbrook, and they live in Clarksville, Arkansas.
Mrs. Fellows owns a picturesque, old-fashioned home on North Main street, Springfield. She is a member of Calvary Presbyterian church, and is a woman of many praiseworthy attributes.
The death of Col. Homer F. Fellows occurred November 10, 1894, at the age of sixty-three years, after a successful, useful and honorable life.
W. C. POTTER.
In a brief sketch of any living citizen it is difficult to do him exact and impartial justice, not so much, however, for lack of space or words to set forth the familiar and passing events of his personal history, as for want of the perfect and rounded conception of his whole life, which grows, de- velops and ripens, like fruit, to disclose its true and best flavor only when it is mellowed by time. Daily contact with the man so familiarizes us with his many virtues that we ordinarily overlook them and commonly underestimate their possessor. Nevertheless, while the man passes away, his deeds of vir- tue live on, and will in due time bear fruit and do him the justice which our pen fails to record. There are, however, a number of elements in the life record of W. C. Potter, president of the Bank of Fair Grove and one of the most progressive agriculturists and representative citizens of Greene county, that even now serve as examples well worthy of emulation, and his scores of friends and acquaintances are not unappreciative of these. He is one of the leading native citizens of this section of the state, and here he has been con- tent to spend his life, which has already reached the Psalmist's specified out- post of three score and ten, and during that long period he has done much toward the general development of the country, which he has seen reclaimed from the wilderness and transformed into a splendid agricultural section.
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For he is a scion of one of the earliest pioneers of southwestern Missouri, his parents having located here, "far from the maddening crowd's ignoble strife," like the "rude forefathers" in Gray's Elegy, over three-quarters of a century ago.
Mr. Potter was born September 18, 1844, in Dallas county, Missouri. He is a son of Benjamin T. and Sarah (Adams) Potter. The father was born in Tennessee, June 15, 1815, and died in Texas, December 16, 1891; the mother was born in Virginia, in May, 1820, and died August 4, 1874, in Greene county, Missouri. These parents spent their childhood in the East and received limited educations in the old-time schools. When a mere boy B. T. Potter and his elder brother, Col. Tom Potter, emigrated to Missouri, in 1828, and were the first settlers in Dallas county (then Crawford county), locating there about the time the Fulbrights emigrated to Greene county. B. T. Potter spent his early life in Dallas county, clearing and improving a farm. He and Sarah Adams were married in Greene county in 1838. In 1860 he was one of two men in the township where he was living to vote for Abraham Lincoln. However, in later life he was a Democrat. He reared his family on his farm in Dallas county, there being twelve in number, name- ly : Elizabeth Jane is living ; Louise Ann and John W. are deceased; W. C., of this sketch; Lewis and Clark twins, are deceased; Martha is the wife of A. J. Hankin; Josephine is deceased; Benjamin F., Napoleon D., D. L. and C. L. are all living.
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