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 50
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Dr. Donovan is a member of the Missouri State Optical Association, of which he is president, the duties of which important office he is discharg- ing in a very creditable and satisfactory manner. Politically he is a Demo- crat. He belongs to the Springfield Club, the Retail Merchants' Association, the Young Men's Business Club, the Associated Retailers, and he and his wife are members of St. Agnes Catholic church.
Personally Dr. Donovan is a genteel gentleman and he stands high in the circles in which he moves.
WALTER WEIR McMASTER.
Walter Weir McMaster belongs to the class of citizens whose lives do not show any meteoric effects, but who by their support of the moral, political and social status for the general good, promote the real welfare of their respective communities, and are therefore deserving of honorable mention on the pages of history. He takes an abiding interest in the progress and improvement of schools, good roads, in fact, in all matters pertaining to the upbuilding of his city and county.
Mr. McMaster was born in Springfield, Missouri, on March 22, 1874. He is a son of Cyrus J. and Belle (Weir) McMaster. The father of our subject was a son of Dr. Edwin K. and Eliza J. (Bull) McMaster, and was born in Dade county, Missouri, May. 1847. His parents were natives of North Carolina, and were among the pioneer settlers of Dade county. In 1851 his parents moved to Greene county, where Cyrus J. grew to manhood and was educated. In 1864 he enlisted in the Fourteenth Missouri Cavalry, and served until the war closed. During 1869-70 he carried on the saddle
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and harness business at Walnut Grove, this county. In 1871 he came to what was then called North Springfield and engaged in the produce and commission business. In 1880 he entered into partnership with George O. Vick and they carried on a thriving business in produce and grain shipments, handling about a quarter of a million dollars' worth of grain in 1882. We next find him engaged in the buggy and wagon business, which he conducted alone and on an extensive scale for a period of thirty-four years and was one of the best known dealers in this line in southwestern Missouri. Besides, he was local agent for a number of the standard makes of wagons and buggies. About 1904 he went on the road as traveling salesman for the Joel Turney Brothers Wagon Company, of Illinois. He remained active in busi- ness affairs until his death, which occurred on December 30, 1912. In Wal- nut Grove, on December 16, 1869, he had married Belle Weir, who was born in Springfield, Illinois, on April 23, 1852; she was a daughter of James D. and Fidelia (Meacheld) Weir, natives of Kentucky and Illinois, respectively. They spent their active lives on a farm in Illinois, and to them nine children were born, only three of' whom now survive, namely : Andrew, Mrs. Agnes Dagan and Marion. To Mr. and Mrs. McMaster two children were born, namely : Vernie, born on April 6, 1871, married John French, and they reside in St. James, Missouri, and Walter W., subject of this sketch.
The death of Mrs. Belle McMaster occurred on September 14, 1914.
Walter W. McMaster was educated in the Springfield schools, and when seventeen years of age he went into his father's store as clerk, remaining there several years. then took a position in the coach department of the Frisco shops, in the repair department, in which he remained three years, theni started in the implement business with his father on Commercial street and remained in this two years, then, in 1902, he was appointed deputy recorder of deeds and served eight years as such in a most faithful manner. In 1910 he was elected recorder of deeds on the Republican ticket, serving one term, dis- charging the duties of the same in a manner that was highly satisfactory to all concerned. He is now engaged in the implement and real estate business.
Mr. McMaster was married on July 10, 1893, to Nettie Smith, who was born in Springfield, Missouri, on August 28, 1875, and here grew to woman- hood and received her education. The union of our subject and wife has resulted in the birth of five children, named as follows: Raymond, born in 1894; Irma, born in 1899: Verna, born in 1901 : Marjorie, born in 1903, and Louise, born in 1910.
Politically Mr. McMaster is a Republican, and has been faithful in his adherence to the party in both victory and defeat. Fraternally he is a mem- ber of the Modern Woodmen of America, the Yeomen and the Court of Honor, and religiously he belongs to the Presbyterian church, in which he is a trustee and is active in the affairs of the congregation.
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SAMUEL A. REED.
The people of Greene county have been fortunate in securing such men as Samuel A. Reed as their public servants and it would be difficult to re- place the present county officials, clerks of the various courts and those in general who are serving the people here in an official capacity with better men, at least this is in the main true. It seems that they have been chosen for these responsible positions more for their ability and honesty than for political reasons. One of these is Samuel A. Reed, present incumbent of the office of clerk of the circuit court.
Mr. Reed is a scion of a worthy old family of the far Southland and he was born in the fair state of Mississippi while the family was en route to the North, on September 8, 1859. He is a son of Robert S. and Sarah (Goode) Reed, and is one of a family of twelve children, eight sons and four daughters, of which number only four sons now survive. Robert S. Reed, the father, was a native of Tennessee, where he grew to manhood, was educated and married and there he spent his earlier years engaged in farming. His wife was also a native of that state where she grew up and was educated. The paternal grandfather of the subject of this sketch was of English descent, and he was born in Virginia, from which state he re- moved to Mississippi in a very early day.
The Reed family was desirous of getting out of the South on account of the turmoil there during the Civil war period. The long journey over rough roads to Christian county, Missouri, required over six weeks. It was on this trip that our subject was born. The family located on a farm and made their permanent home in this locality, unlike most of the Southern families who left on account of the war, after which they returned to their old homes. Robert S. Reed continued farming up to old age and he is now living in Springfield at the advanced age of eighty-four years. He is well known in the sections of Christian and Greene counties in which he has lived and his record is of the best. His wife passed away a quarter of a century ago, dying in 1889.
Samuel A. Reed grew to manhood on the farm and assisted his father with the general work of the same when a boy. He received his education in the common schools of his locality.
On November 3, 1881, he was married to Susie W. Turner, a daugh- ter of John and Edith Turner, an old family of Greene county, who spent their active lives on a farm, and here Mrs. Reed was reared to womanhood and was educated in the common schools. She is one of a family of thir- teen children.
Five children have been born to our subject and wife, namely: Lulu
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Maud married R. N. Farren, an electric engineer; they live in Wright county, Missouri, and have three children: Sarah E. married Fred W. Hoover, who is engaged in the lumber business in Tacoma, Washington, where they reside; Elizabeth, born in 1888, is at home; Benton, born in 1892 is a natural artist and at this writing is attending the Chicago Art School, expecting to be a member of the graduating class of that institution in 1915; Nellie, born in 1894, is at home.
Politically Mr. Reed is a Republican and has been more or less active in political affairs. In 1910 he was chosen clerk of the circuit court here, the duties of which he has discharged in an eminently satisfactory manner, being accurate, prompt and courteous. He was re-elected in 1914.
Mr. Reed and family are members of the Grace Methodist Episcopal church on South street.
GEORGE IRVIN BOMGARDNER, D. V. S.
Foresight is one of the greatest assets of the individual. We all know what we should have done yesterday. The real trouble is to know what to do today. There are opportunities in southern Missouri and northern Arkan- sas for the young and middle-aged men who are not afraid to work and wait for time to bring them recompense for their years of toil. In the Ozarks, in the country and in the town there are innumerable opportunities awaiting men with foresight, but the majority of these opportunities will not be seen by the present generation until they are brought within the range of vision of their retrospection. Among the exceptions is Dr. George Irvin Bomgard- ner, a promising young veterinarian of Ash Grove, Greene county, who had the foresight to first get ready to do something that needed doing well and then locate in a country that abounds in opportunities and has a great future.
Dr. Bomgardner was born at Cedar Rapids, Iowa, on July 28, 1882. He is a son of John and Adeline E. (Hawkins) Bomgardner. The father was born in Somerset county, Pennsylvania, about 1848, and when quite young he went to Iowa among the pioneer settlers, and was living there when the war between the states began, and although he was quite young, he enlisted in the one hundred day service in an Iowa volunteer regiment and served faithfully until his term expired and he was honorably discharged. When a young man he learned the painter's trade and followed that for some time, later engaged in the coal and livery business. In 1875 he began farming, which he followed with success until 1895, in Iowa, when he moved to Greene county. Missouri, and bought a farm in Center township, adjoining the town of Bois D'Arc, and here he spent the rest of his life, dying on June 4. 1898.
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His widow survived until November 26, 1913. Politically he was a Demo- crat, and he belonged to the Grand Army of the Republic.
Dr. Bomgardner grew to manhood on his father's farm in Missouri and assisted with the general work there. After his father's death he and his younger brother took charge of the farm. He had the advantages of a good common school education, and later he entered the Western Veterinary Col- lege, where he spent one year, then was a student for three years at the Kansas City Veterinary College, making an excellent record there, and was graduated in 1911. The first Missouri Kansas City Veterinary College Club was organized that year and our subject was elected vice-president and the following year he was elected president. Soon after graduating he began the practice of his profession at Ash Grove, where he has since remained and has built up a large, satisfactory and rapidly growing practice, and has had uniform success. He is very studious and keeps fully abreast of the times in all that pertains to his profession.
Dr. Bomgardner was married on July 6, 1904, to Mary M. Hudgings, who was born in Boone township, this county, on September 6, 1881, and here she grew to womanhood and received a good public school education. She is a daughter of F. M. and Dorthula (Gilmore) Hudgings.
To our subject and wife two children have been born, namely : Dorothy A., who is attending school, and Gertrude A.
Politically the doctor is a Progressive, and religiously he belongs to the Baptist church. In March, 1913, he organized the Baptist Young Men's Organization, the only organization of its kind. Dr. Bomgardner is a teacher and active worker in the Sabbath school. He is Scout Master of the Boy Scouts of America at Ash Grove, and is also a Free and Accepted Mason in the Blue Lodge.
LEONARD WALKER.
The name of Leonard Walker is entitled to a high position in the list of Springfield's successful attorneys-at-law, as those conversant with his record will readily attest, for he possesses the personal characteristics that should always enter the make-up of the man who essays a legal career. In addressing the jury or the court he is interesting, forcible and decisively natural-natural in his native conceptions of the law-forcible in his scru- tinizing of it, direct, lucid and concentrative in his presentations, employing and using in a remarkable measure the language of the law, if not by actual quotation, in a vocabulary of his own, highly comparative with its best stand- ards of legal and literary expression. He easily obtains the understanding of the court, and uniformly places himself in such relations to it that he will
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not be misunderstood. His powers with a jury is well known. His argu- ments come from the sources upon which decisions are based, radiate the light of his judgment and investigation, and his words are but the echo of the law with which courts are disposed to co-ordinate themselves.
Mr. Walker was born near Ozark, Christian county, Missouri, on March 1, 1866. He is a son of Leonard and Nancy M. (Adamson) Walker. The father was born in Wilson county, Tennessee, on July 12, 1812, and was a son of William J. and Polly ( Adams) Walker. William J. Walker was born near Dublin, Ireland, and he emigrated to America when a boy, just after the close of the Revolutionary war. He first located in North Carolina, later lived in Virginia and Tennessee, and was a resident of the latter state during the war of 1812 and joined Gen. Andrew Jackson's force and fought with the famous Tennessee Riflemen at the memorable battle of New Orleans. After the war he returned to Tennessee and accumulated a handsome for- tune, owning six hundred and forty acres of rich bottom land, also a large whisky distillery. He owned many slaves, but sold them after the death of his wife, and began trading in live stock, buying up large herds and driving them to the far South and selling them, and while on one of these trips he contracted a fever in northern Alabama and died there about 1827. Polit- ically he was a Whig, and was a great personal friend of both Henry Clay and Andrew Jackson. Religiously he was a Baptist. Leonard Walker, Sr., was reared on the home plantation in Tennessee, and received a limited edu- cation in the schools of his native locality. His mother died when he was ten years of age and he was reared by an old negro mammy, who did not accord him very tender treatment. He was fifteen years of age when his father died. The estate was all squandered and he was left practically penny- less. When young in years he began his career as a general farmer, also engaged in the tinware business, remaining in Tennessee until 1842, when he made the tedious overland journey to Missouri, stopping first near Bolivar, Polk county, and farmed there for three years, then moved to the Finley Creek bottoms near Ozark, Christian county, where he purchased a farm of two hundred and five acres, which he developed and operated in a fairly successful manner until his death, which occurred on January 18. 1896. Hle was regarded as one of the substantial, useful and worthy citizens of that county and was more or less influential in public matters. Politically he was first a Whig, later a Republican and was a stanch Union man during the Civil war period. He belonged to the Baptist church. He and Nancy M. Adamson were married in September. 1842. She was born in DeKalb county, Tennessee, on July 24, 1826, and was a daughter of Wells Adamson and wife, pioneers of that state and there Mrs. Walker grew to womanhood and was educated in the old-time log cabin schools. Her death occurred on October 15, 1901. Twelve children were born to the parents of the subject
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of this sketch, ten of whom are still living at this writing. One son, W. J. Walker, was a soldier in the Civil war.
Leonard Walker, of this review, grew to manhood on his father's farm and assisted with the general work during the crop seasons, and he had the advantages of a good education, attending the district schools in his home community, and later was a student in Drury College, Springfield, but was compelled to leave his studies on account of failing health. When only sixteen years of age he was deputy assessor of Christian county. He has remained a close student and has become a well educated man, not only keep- ing fully abreast of the times in his chosen profession, but is familiar with the world's best literature and well informed on current topics. He began studying law when quite young and made rapid progress in the same. How- ever, ill health interrupted his studies and he underwent an operation in a hospital in St. Louis in 1890. He studied in the law offices of Harrington & Pepperdine, a well-known firm in Springfield, in 1891, and was admitted to the bar in February, 1892, and ever since he has been successfully engaged in the practice of his profession in Springfield, enjoying a constantly growing and satisfactory business and ranking among the leading lawyers of Grecne county.
Mr. Walker was married in August, 1892, to Lucy Jania Robertson, of Ozark, Missouri, where her birth occurred on December 25, 1866, and there she grew to womanhood and was educated. She is a daughter of J. W. and Martha Robertson, a well-known and highly respected family of Christian county. To Mr. and Mrs. Walker two children have been born, namely : Harold M., born on November 2, 1895, is at this writing a junior in Drury College ; Helen A., born on October 26, 1896, is now a sophomore in Drury ·College; they are both making excellent records in scholarship.
Fraternally Mr. Walker is a member of the Masonic Order and the Knights of Pythias, being past chancellor of the latter lodge in Springfield and a member of the Grand Lodge of Missouri. He is a member of the Con- gregational church.
His Americanism and Republicanism, neither give nor take quarter from any faction, junta or party. Practically self-educated, self-qualified for the exercise of his civic duties, fortified in his political views by the confirming theories and opinions of the most brilliant and powerful leaders of the Re- publican party, Mr. Walker stands nobly erect in the ranks of the gigantic national political organization to which he belongs. The principles that gave birth to it, that vitalized it in infancy, nurtured its growing years, and in its maturity impart to it, its dominant and beneficent character, are those that he advocated in the days of Grant, Garfield and Blaine, for even when a boy he had pronounced views on national questions, and he has ever been in straight and uniform alignment with the Republican party and its policies,
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and he has been one of the local leaders in the same for many years. He was elected city attorney of Springfield in 1896 and renominated in 1898, but went down in defeat with the entire ticket in Greene county. Again in 1912 he was elected city attorney and served two years. He has also served one year as tax attorney. As a public servant his record was eminently satisfactory to his constituents and all concerned, being marked with fidelity to duty, honesty and ability of a high order.
WILLIAM HOWELL.
The late William Howell was one of the sterling pioneer characters of Greene county, there remaining today but very few of his type. He came here when the country was comparatively little developed. He was also an adventurer of the great plains of the Southwest in the days of the hostile red man. He also served his country as a soldier. All this indicates that he was a man of courage, hardihood and strong characteristics. It is the names of such as he that the biographer likes to write of in a volume of the nature of the one in hand.
Mr. Howell was born at Scranton, Pennsylvania, in 1838. His father died when our subject was about three months old and at the age of about one year his mother also died, he was then taken by his uncle, James Free- man, to raise, who was a resident of Ray county, Missouri. Mr. Howell lived here, receiving his early education in the district school and doing what work fell to him on the farm. When the war of the rebellion broke out our subject enlisted in Company C, Sixth Missouri Cavalry, serving his full term. He took part in many important engagements, including the battle of Pea Ridge, also the battle of Springfield, January 8, 1863. He remained in this city during the spring of that year, and while here met and married Lettie J. Gardner, who was born in 1840, in Tennessee, and was a daughter of James D. and Matilda Gardner, both Tennessee people. During his life he made two trips overland to New Mexico, which were hazardous in vari- ous ways and in later life he told many interesting incidents of the same.
Mrs. Howell is still living. She remained in Springfield during the time our subject was with his troops in the field during the Civil war, and at the close of the war he was honorably discharged as first lieutenant and located in this city where he spent the rest of his life, dying on August 30, 1901. His family consisted of three children, namely: John C., deceased ; Charles A., who lives on South Florence street : and James Edward, living on Monroe street, this city.
Charles A. Howell was born on November 1, 1866, in Ray county, Mis-
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souri. He received a high school education in Springfield, in the early period of Professor Fairbank's superintendency. He has lived in the vicin- ity of Springfield since 1873, followed farming for awhile, and kept books for seven years. On June 10, 1896, he went into the feed business for him- self in the old "elevator corner" at St. Louis and Jefferson streets which soon afterwards was destroyed by fire. He remained in this business, also carrying a line of wood and coal until January 1, 1909, since which time he has retained the last two lines, discarding the feed business, at the corner of Lena and Hayden streets, having been in business alone, and he has en- joyed a good trade which is all the while increasing. He was married on January 22, 1891, in Springfield, to Katherine C. Blackman, who was born on the old Blackman homestead a few miles south of Springfield and here she grew to womanhood and was educated. She is a daughter of J. M. and Fanny C. (Deupree) Blackman. Mr. Blackman was born in this city, March 4, 1840, and here his death occurred on November 22, 1904. He spent his life as a farmer. His family settled in Greene county in pioneer days. He became an influential citizen. He was a nephew of the well- known John P. (Jack) Campbell, who founded the city, donating ground for the public square and other important places in the heart of the city.
To Charles A. Howell and wife three children have been born, namely : Junius B., born August 22, 1893, is single and is employed in the McDaniel National Bank of Springfield; Mary E., born on September 25, 1895, is at home; Katherine F., born on November 8, 1900, is also with her parents.
Politically, Mr. Howell is a Republican. He belongs to the Royal Arcanum lodge, and is a member of the Christian church in which he is a deacon and active in the affairs of the same.
THOMAS MURRAY.
Recurrence to the past, with reflections and associations which make it appear in life-like review before our mental vision, will continue as "long as the heart has sorrows, as long as life has woes" to be a source of satis- faction ; and especially when our personality and former friends, happily in- terwoven in some pleasant incident, will the picture thus reflected be more pleasing. These reminders, however, often vanish and pass away with the life of the participants when no landmarks remain to serve as a background for the picture engraved on the tablets of memory, the impressions of which are but remodelings of others. To preserve these from oblivion before they have lost their distinguishing originality is the work devolved upon the writer of local history and biography. These both fail in their mission when
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they fail to preserve the life features connected with their trust. Biography, more than anything else, commands the most interested attention for the reason that it is a record of those who, in times gone by, traveled the thorny pathway of life as companions, acquaintances, friends or relatives. To pre- serve from forgetfulness the simple story of their experiences and record their acts, however uneventful, is a task attended with much pleasure and fraught with great good to humanity. Especially is this the case when the subject, like that of the well remembered pioneer engineer whose name forms the caption of this article, has led a useful and honorable life.
Thomas Murray was born in Ireland in 1842. He was a son of Thomas Murray, a native of the Emerald Isle, where he grew up, attended school and was married, and from there immigrated to America when com- paratively young and located in Clyde, Wayne county, New York, and when about forty years of age he was killed on the Erie Canal in New York. His family consisted of six children, all of whom are now deceased.
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