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 58
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Doctor Frame is a public-spirited man, being an advocate of good roads and general public improvements, and stands ready to aid any move- ment having as its object the betterment of his community and county in any way.
Doctor Frame was married, December 30, 1903, to Olive Baker, a native of Bois D'Arc, Greene county, where she grew to womanhood and was educated. She is a daughter of Thomas J. and Susan J. (Johnson) Baker, the father a native of Tennessee and the mother was born in Greene county, Missouri. The Bakers are well known and highly respected in Center township, this county, and vicinity.
Four children have been born to Doctor Frame and wife, namely : Mary, the youngest child, died in infancy; Evelyn, Edna and Dorothy.
Politically, Doctor Frame is a Republican. He is a member of the Greene County Medical Society and the Southwest Missouri Medical Society. Fraternally, he is a member of Masonic Lodge No. 624 at Wil- lard, Missouri, and he and his wife are members of the Christian church at Cave Spring, the doctor being a deacon in the same. Personally he is a genial, kind, neighborly gentleman, who bears an excellent reputation for integrity, honesty and kindness, and is very popular throughout his com- munity.
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THOMAS TOLIVER BROWN.
When Thomas T. Brown, one of Greene county's honored citizens of a. past generation, passed away, there was added to the list of lamented dead whose earthly records closed like the "good and faithful servant" spoken of in Holy Writ, and as long as memory remains to those who knew him the influence of his noble life will remain as a source of encouragement and inspiration. "Our echoes roll from soul to soul and grow forever and forever." according to the poet Tennyson, and the good we do lives after us through all the ages, handed down from generation to generation. Who, then, can measure the results of a life work? Not to condemn, but to aid, Mr. Brown made the practice of his life, and many of his friends and acquaintances are better and happier for his having lived, for though the voice is stilled in death, the spirit of his work remains as the deep under- current of a mighty stream, noiseless but irresistible. His influence was as the delicate fragrance of a flower to those who had the pleasure of his friendship. His sympathies were broad and ennobling, and his life was beautiful in its purity and virtues.
Mr. Brown was born May 20, 1856, in Newton county, Missouri. He was a son of Smith W. and Mary (Goodman) Brown. The mother had been previously married to a Mr. Brock. The father came from Tennessee to Missouri in 1856, and the mother of our subject also came from that state. Smith W. Brown was a man of fairly good education. He studied law in his youth, was admitted to the bar, and practiced his profession in Greene county for several years. During the Civil war he enlisted in Com- pany F, Eighth Missouri Volunteer Infantry and served three years in the Union army, taking part in several battles and a number of skirmishes. He was also recruiting officer for a time. After the war he returned to Greene county and took up masonry, also continued practicing law. He drew a pension from the government in later years, having been wounded in one of the battles of the war. He continued the practice of his profession until his death in 1910, but spent many years on the farm, and he was active in the affairs of the Masonic Order. Thomas T. Brown was one of two children by his father's first marriage, he having been the eldest. The other child, a girl, died in infancy, the mother dying about the same time. His father married a second time but did not live long with this wife, separating when the subject of this sketch was two and one-half years of age. The elder Brown hired a family named Bailles in Bois D'Arc, this county, to take care of Thomas T., and the latter remained in that home three years then went to live with his grandfather, with whom he remained until he was about seven years of age, when Smith W. Brown married a third time,
MR. AND MRS. THOMAS T. BROWN.
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moved to Greene county after the war and here spent the rest of his life. Upon his last marriage he took our subject into his home and there he remained until he was fourteen years of age when he left home. In the meantime he had been attending school and obtained a meager education. When he was nineteen years of age he was married to Nancy Owens, Sep- tember 16, 1875. She is a daughter of Richard and Nancy (Garoutte) Owens, natives of Tennessee and Indiana, respectively. To Mr. and Mrs. Owens eleven children were born, namely: James was a soldier in the Civil war and was killed in the battle of Pea Ridge, Arkansas; Isabelle married Andy Chaisteen, of Greene county, is deceased; Andrew J. lives in Okla- homa; Charlotte married Martin Marias and is now deceased; Richard W., deceased; Bernice is the wife of William Brakebill and they live in Greene county, Missouri; Mary married George Likens and they live in Greene county ; Napoleon B. lives in Douglas county, Missouri; Nancy Elizabeth is the widow of the subject of this sketch; Sampson B., and Jeremiah both live in Lawrence county, this state. All the above named children lived to be grown, and the youngest one living was fifty years old in April, 1914.
To the union of Thomas T. Brown and wife the following children were born: Effie is the wife of Robert Nelson and they live in Barry county, Missouri, and have ten children; May, deceased, was the wife of Ferd Jackson, and left five children; Dollie F. is deceased; Lulu, deceased ; Sam R. lives in Pond Creek township, this county, and has four children; Katherine is the wife of Roy Browning and they live in Greene county and have five children ; Richard, and Smith, both live in this county also; Martha W. is the wife of Chris Bielier and they live in Greene county, and have one child; Mary V. is the wife of Dal Davis of this county and have one child; the two youngest children were twins and died in infancy. Mrs. Nancy E. Brown has twenty-nine living grandchildren and one great grand- child, all of this generation, and all but one live in Greene county. Mrs. Brown owns an eighty-acre farm of rich bottom land, one of the desirable small farms of this part of the county. It is operated by her youngest son who has remained at home. He is married and has one child.
Thomas T. Brown devoted his active life principally to agricultural pursuits ; however, he was for many years engaged in other occupations. Soon after his marriage he went into the drug business which he followed about two years. then sold out and started a nursery business on his farm, which he managed in connection with farming for six years. Later he took stock in the corporation known as Owen & Cahill, which manufactured fence building machines, and was connected with this concern for four years. then secured employment with the L. E. Lines music house of Springfield.
(93)
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with which he remained for a period of seven years, or until his health failed, causing him to give up active business and retiring to his farm in Ponk Creek township, where he remained until his death about six years later, on September 4, 1909. He was very successful as a business man and gave entire satisfaction to his employers. He was broad-minded, far- sighted and was a good mixer, and, dealing honestly with the business world, always had the confidence of those with whom he came in contact.
Fraternally he was a member of the Modern Woodmen. Politically he was not a party man, voting for the man rather than the party. He was a man of upright character and loyal in his friendships, and his death was a loss to the community.
AMBROSE POTTER, M. D.
If we would stop trying to get the money that the other fellow earned, without giving something in exchange, the biggest problem of life would be solved. We quite often want more than our share. Dr. Ambrose Pot- ter, a popular and efficient young physician of Ebenezer, Robberson town- ship. Greene county, is one of those who take a delight in bringing succor to suffering humanity-who delights in giving more in this world of ours than he receives. Such a man is ahvays admired in whatever community he may cast his lot, and his record is most commendable and should be emu- lated by others.
Doctor Potter was born in Christian county, Missouri, February II, 1886. He is a son of Christopher Columbus and Mary Elizabeth (Fon- dren) Potter. The father was born in Greene county, near Strafford, on November 27, 1858, and there he grew to manhood, received a common school education, and remained on his father's farm until his marriage, in 1878, later removing to Christian county, where he bought one hundred and forty-four acres of land. Prospering by hard work and good manage- ment he added to this until he is now owner of a fine farm of two hundred and sixty acres, where he carries on general farming and stock raising and is one of the leading farmers of that county. Politically, he is a Democrat, but has never sought political leadership. Fraternally, he belongs to the Modern Woodmen of America at Ozark; the Court of Honor at Kenton, Missouri; and the Independent Order of Odd Fellows at Ozark. He is a member of the Christian church at Sparta. His family consists of five children, namely: Laura, deceased; Ambrose, of this sketch; Mrs. Alta Lawson : Agnes and Angie, twins. The mother of these children was born in Greene county and here grew to womanhood and received a common-
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school education. She is a daughter of Ambrose and Nancy (Yeary) Fondren.
Doctor Potter grew to manhood on the home farm in Christian county and there worked in the summer months, attending the public schools dur- ing the winter, later the high school at Ozark. He taught one term of school in Christian county. Later he took the prescribed course in the St. Louis College of Physicians and Surgeons, which he entered in Septem- ber. 1907, and from which he was graduated with the class of May, 1911, with an excellent record.
After leaving college Doctor Potter returned to Christian county, and successfully passed the state board examination in June, 1911, at Santa Fe. New Mexico, and he practiced his profession at Las Vegas, that state, one year, and although he was building up a good patronage, he preferred his own state, and, returning to Missouri, took the state board examination in St. Louis in June, 1912. Soon thereafter he located at Ebenezer, Greene county, where he has since resided, enjoying a successful and growing practice, and, judging from his past record, the future must find him one of the leading general practitioners in a community long noted for the high order of its medical talent.
Doctor Potter was married, October 5, 1912, to Rosa Rathbone, a daughter of William Henry and Emma (Fielder) Rathbone, a sketch of whom appears on another page of this volume. Mrs. Potter received good educational advantages and is a young lady of commendable domestic and social qualities. The union of our subject and wife has been without issue.
Doctor Potter is the official registrar of births and deaths of Robber- son township. He and his wife are genial and neighborly and have made many friends since locating at Ebenezer.
WILLIAM W. GRANT.
The people who constitute the bone and sinew of this country are not those who are unstable and unsettled; who are always moving from one locality to another; who fly from this occupation to that; who do not know how to exercise the proper duties of citizenship, and who take no active and intelligent interest in affairs affecting schools, churches and public institutions. The backbone of this country is made up of the families that have made their homes ; who are alive to the best interests of the community in which they reside; who are so honest that it is no trouble for their neigh- bors to know it; who attend to their own business and are too busy to at- tend to that of others; who work on steadily from day to day, taking
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the sunshine with the storm and who rear a fine family to a comfortable home and an honest life. Such people are always esteemed in any com- munity and any country. They are wealth producers, and Greene county is blessed with many of them, among which is the Grant family, of Murray township.
William W. Grant, one of the agriculturists and influential citizens of Murray township, Greene county, was born in the vicinity where he now lives February 12, 1863, and here he has been content to spend his life, all his active years being spent in one vocation. He is a son of Henry and Eliza (Williams-East) Grant. Henry Grant was born November 8, 1825, in Tennessee, and was a son of John and Catherine Grant, both natives of Tennessee, where they grew up, married and spent their lives, never leaving the state. Henry Grant grew to manhood in Tennessee, received such educational advantages as the early-day subscription schools afforded and there he was married in 1848, and subsequently removed with his family to Greene county, Missouri, settling in Murray township. Early in life he learned the blacksmith's trade and followed this in connection with farming here the rest of his days, being known as a very skilled mechanic and his shop drew customers from all over this part of the county. Here his first wife died in 1859 and he married, in 1860, Mrs. Eliza East, a daughter of Abner and Mary (Folden) Williams, and the widow of Sidney East, who had died previously. Mention of her parents is made in the sketch of Howard B. East on another page of this work. Henry Grant was a successful farmer and at one time owned over eleven hundred acres of good land. He is deserving of a great deal of credit for what he accomplished, having begun life here on a small capital, renting land at first, in Cass township, then bought a farm which he later sold, and in 1870 bought two hundred acres in Murray township. He carried on general farming and stock raising on an extensive scale and ranked among the leading farmers of the county, was an exceptionally good judge of live stock. In the fall of 1871 he went south with twenty head of mules, which he sold to Southern planters. He was a man of influence and did much for the permanent good of his locality, throughout which he was highly respected. Here his death oc- curred on February 12, 1882. His widow has survived him thirty-two years, being now eighty-three years of age, and is still hale and hearty and capable of doing a good day's work. Her mind is keen and she is in possession of all her faculties, and she talks most interestingly of pioneer days in Greene county. She is greatly beloved by all who know her, and is a woman of fine Christian sentiment.
To Henry Grant and wife five children were born, namely: John Abner, of Murray township: William W., of this sketch; Henry Folden, of
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Springfield; one died in infancy; and Mary Eliza, who also died young. By her union with Sidney East our subject's mother had three children, namely : Alvin Monroe is deceased; Howard Bentley, president of the Bank of Willard, a sketch of whom appears elsewhere in this work; and Tabitha Clementine, who died in infancy.
William W. Grant spent his boyhood days on his father's farm in Murray township, where he gained a thorough knowledge of the various phases of husbandry. He was nineteen years of age when his father died. He received a good practical education in the common schools of his dis- trict, which has later been supplemented by wide home reading and by contact with the world.
Mr. Grant was married February 24, 1884, to Dora E. Wadlow, who was born in Greene county, February 20, 1867, and here she grew to woman- hood and was educated. She represents a prominent old family here, and is a daughter of John Wesley Wadlow and Mary Ann ( Lethco) Wadlow, an extended mention of whom is made on another page of this volume in the sketch of Albert Sidney McLinn, to which the reader is respectfully di- rected.
After his marriage Mr. Grant rented a farm near his mother's home and there got a good start. He moved to his present farm in the fall of 1890, where he owns one hundred and sixty acres of finely improved. well- cultivated and productive land on which he has made a pronounced success as a general farmer and stock raiser. He has a commodious home in the midst of attractive surroundings and large and substantial outbuildings. Everything about the place denotes thrift, prosperity and good management. An excellent grade of well-kept live stock is always to be found at his place.
To Mr. and Mrs. Grant eight children have been born, namely: George Herman, who died in 1899 at the age of fourteen years; William Errick married Edna Jones, a native of Greene county, and they have three chil- dren. Manota, Irene and Lonzo; Clara married Ike Jennings, of Cave Spring and they have one child, Dora Margaret; Ralph, Emma Jane, Floyd died in 1912 at the age of eight years ; the seventh child, a twin of Floyd, died in infancy, unnamed; and Arthur, who is the youngest.
Politically, Mr. Grant is a Republican and while he has taken an abiding interest in local public affairs, has never cared for public office, preferring to devote his attention to his farm and home. He is a member of the Masonic Order at Willard, also the Eastern Star and the Court of Honor of that town. He was reared in the faith of the Baptist church. Mrs. Grant belongs to the Methodist church. They are popular in Murray township and are regarded as good neighbors and worthy of every con- sideration.
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JOHN POLK CAMPBELL.
Agriculture is the greatest among all the arts of man, as it is the first in supplying his necessities. It favors and strengthens population ; it creates and maintains manufactures; gives employment to navigation and transportation, furnishing materials for commerce. It animates every species of industry, and opens to nations the safest channels of wealth. It is the strongest bond of well-regulated society, the surest basis of internal peace, and the natural associate of correct morals. Among all the occu- pations and professions of life, there is none more honorable, none more independent, and none more conducive to health and happiness. One of the successful farmers of the pioneer period of Greene county, Missouri, was John P. Campbell, a native of this locality, having been among the early white children born here, and, here, amid the wilderness scenes of the early times, he spent his life, dying many years ago when still a young man.
Mr. Campbell was born in Springfield, Missouri, January 2, 1835. He was a son of Junius T. and Mary ( Blackwell) Campbell, who came to Greene county, this state, from Tennessee in the earliest frontier days and located their permanent home on a farm, and here our subject grew to manhood, and assisted his father clear and develop the place. He received his education in the early schools of Springfield ; later attended school in Fayetteville, Missouri, for some time. Then young Campbell, after leaving his paternal roof-tree, began farming for himself, and became owner of a good farm five miles from Springfield, where he engaged successfully in general farming and stock raising until his death, which occurred on October 18, 1878.
Mr. Campbell was married on January 20, 1857, to Sue E. Gray, a daughter of Elijah and Anna (Brooks) Gray. These parents were natives of Virginia, where they grew to maturity, were educated in the early schools, and there were married and began housekeeping, later removing to the state of Tennessee, where they remained some time, then came to Springfield, Missouri, when their daughter, Sue, was but two years of age and here she grew to womanhood and attended the common schools.
Seven children were born to Mr. and Mrs. John P. Campbell, three of whom are living at this writing, namely: Mary Frances, who married Charles W. Doling, formerly a merchant of Springfield and a well-known citizen here, now deceased, his death having occurred on May 27, 1892. leaving four children, James Francis, Rafe Campbell, Charles Lee and Lillian Elizabeth. Mrs. Doling is at this writing principal of Berry ward school in Springfield and is one of the popular educators of the county. She and her daughter, Lillian Elizabeth Doling, are both members of the
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Daughters of the American Revolution. The other children of J. P. Campbell and wife were James Madison and Richard Huntly, both deceased; John Polk is farming in Greene county, this state; James is deceased; Robert Bruce is living on the old home place near Springfield, which he operates; Russell Vinton is deceased.
Politically Mr. Campbell was a Democrat, and he was a member of the Christian church.
Mrs. Campbell, now advanced in years, is living on South Jefferson street, Springfield.
NICHOLAS POTTER.
Everybody in Brookline township, Greene county, knows Nicholas Potter, now living in retirement, after a long career at the forge, during which there was no more highly skilled blacksmith in the county. He is a pioneer here, for it was fifty-four years ago that he first cast his lot with us, at the time the ominous clouds of rebellion were gathering, and, although born under an alien flag many thousand miles away from here, he enlisted his services in behalf of his adopted country during that great struggle. He has seen the locality develop from a comparatively wild state to one of the foremost farming communities in the state, and he has always taken just pride in the same.
Mr. Potter was born in Uerceg, Prussia, September 29, 1834. He is a son of Nicholas and Katerine Potter, both natives of that country also, where they grew up and were married, established their home and spent their lives. Both the father and grandfather of our subject were blacksmiths by trade. Neither of them ever came to America.
Nicholas Potter, of this sketch, who was one of seven sons. spent his boyhood in his native land and there received his education in the common schools. In 1853, when nineteen years of age, he emigrated to the United States, as did so many of his countrymen at that period. His first four years in the New World were spent in New York and New Jersey. In 1857 he came on to the interior, locating at Jefferson City, Missouri, where he finished learning the blacksmith's trade, a rudimentary knowledge of which he had gained under his father in the old country. After remaining there some time he went to Glasgow, this state, for about a year and a half, and in 1860 came to Little York, near Springfield, Greene county, and began working at his trade. When the war broke out he enlisted in the Home Guards, June 11, 1861. and fought in the great battle of Wilson's Creek, August roth of that year, after which he was honorably discharged, but he
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continued with the Union army, following his trade of farrier, until July 1, 1865. After the war he returned to Greene county and worked at his. trade in Springfield a few years, locating in Little York in 1867, and in 1873 located in Brookline Station, upon the completion of the Frisco rail- road to that point, and here he has since resided, maintaining a blacksmith shop up to a few years ago, when the infirmities of old age made it neces- sary for him to give up active life. He is now eighty years old, but is comparatively hale and hearty. His shop was always a popular one, and his patrons came from all over this section of the country. Mr. Potter also. owns eighty acres of good land in Brookline township.
Mr. Potter was married, March 26, 1866, to Louisa Philips, a daughter of William Philips, a prosperous farmer near Brookline, Greene county, where she grew to womanhood and received a common school education. She is one of eleven children.
A son was born to Mr. and Mrs. Potter, John, whose birth occurred in 1867. He is now in the employ of the Frisco railroad, with which he has been connected since 1891 ; he married Jane Stuldley, of Brookline, and they have three children, two sons and a daughter. A daughter was also born to Nicholas Potter and wife, Mary Ellen, whose death occurred at the age of nineteen years.
Politically Mr. Potter is a Republican, and religiously he and his wife: belong to the Baptist church.
WILLIAM C. MURPHY.
There was a valuable acquisition to the Greene county bar when Will- iam C. Murphy began the practice of his profession in Springfield. Although young in years, he has had the proper preliminary training for a lawyer and also possesses the required natural characteristics. He is deserving of the highest degree of success in his chosen vocation, for his- ambition is a laudable one and he has fought his way upward from an early environment that was none too auspicious.
Mr. Murphy was born at Festus, Jefferson county, Missouri, July II, 1879. He is the son of John J. and Delia Iola (Bradfield) Murphy. The father was born in New Albany, Indiana, of Irish parents. He grew to manhood at New Albany and there received his education in the public schools and learned the glass workers' trade. In 1876, when twenty-one. years of age, he went to Crystal City, Missouri, where he met and married the mother of the subject of this sketch. She is a daughter of Charles R. Bradfield and wife, whose family consisted of five children. To John
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