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 8
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climax, more for a fact than an acre of verbal felicities and gems. He has a clientage in the courts that older practitioners would be pleased to com- mand. He is a man of firm and decided convictions, whether in law, poli- tics, or in any department of thought or action employing his time and at- tention.
Mr. Ragsdale was born in Dade county, Missouri, August 16, 1869. He is a son of Benjamin F. and Nancy E. (Buckner) Ragsdale. The father was born in Greenfield, Missouri, in October, 1843, and was a son of Joshua and Sarah Ragsdale. Joshua Ragsdale emigrated from the Carolinas in a very early day, the early thirties, and located in Dade county, where he en- tered twelve hundred acres of land from the government and here he fol- lowed general farming the rest of his life, and became a prosperous and in- fluential citizen. He had married before leaving his native country, a woman who also first saw the light of day under Dixie skies. Benjamin F. Rags- dale grew up on his father's broad acres, which he assisted in getting ready for cultivation and he helped with the general work of the farm when a boy. He was given the usual educational advantages of the times. During the war of the states he enlisted in a Dade county company in the Union army and was captured by the Confederates but subsequently paroled. He spent his life in Dade county, successfully engaged in agricultural pursuits and was widely known there. His death occurred on November 25, 1899. Politi- cally he was a Republican. He and Nancy E. Buckner were married in 1867. She was born in Lawrence county, Missouri, in 1852 and her death occurred in July, 1910.
Howard Ragsdale grew to manhood in his native county and received a good common school education ; later was a pupil at Ozark College, Green- field, Missouri. He began life for himself by teaching school a few terms with satisfaction, then began studying law with E. P. Mann, of Greenfield, with whom he remained two years, and in 1897 was admitted to the bar of Missouri, and soon thereafter he began the practice of his profession at Everton, Dade county, where he remained thirteen years, enjoying a large patronage and ranking among the leading attorneys of that county. He served a term as prosecuting attorney of Dade county in a manner that re- flected credit upon himself and to the satisfaction of all concerned. In 1909 he located in Ash Grove and has remained here to the present time and has from the first enjoyed a satisfactory and growing practice throughout this locality.
Mr. Ragsdale was married in September, 1899, to Ellen Finley, who was born in Greenfield, Missouri, February 1, 1879, and there grew to womanhood and received a good education. She represents one of the old prominent families of that town, and is a daughter of Milton Finley and wife.
Politically, Mr. Ragsdale is a Republican. Fraternally, he belongs to
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the Masonic Order, the Blue Lodge at Everton, and the Royal Arch Chapter at Ash Grove. He is also a member of the Knights of Pythias. He is a man of excellent mental endowments and commanding personality, a man who has ever stood well in this locality.
WILL J. MAJOR.
"The gay will laugh when thou art gone, The solemn brood of care plod on, And each one, as before, will chase His favorite phantom; yet these shall all Leave their mirth and their employment, And shall come and make their bed with thee."
The above lines, penned by America's great poet of Nature, in his in- comparable "Thanatopsis," strikingly sets forth in a few phrases a picture of death. Since the beginning of the world death has been looked upon as "the king of terrors." Why this should be so, since it is as common as birth or any other natural occurrence, the biographer leaves to more philosophic minds. The manner of laying the dead away has been given much thought by the various peoples of the earth, and many and diverse methods have been promulgated; in fact, all times, and places and customs are noted by the historian, from the methods of certain savage tribes, who suspend their dead in tall trees to the present rapidly-growing method of cremation, when all that is earthly of a mortal quickly disappears in a wave of white heat. It has always seemed to be the prevailing desire of most nations to preserve the bodies of the dead as long as possible, and, this being so, thinking men began devising means whereby this could best be accomplished, and thus resulted the art of embalming, ages ago, and although the methods have un- dergone changes from time to time, it is doubtful if the twentieth century undertaker can do his work any more effectively than did the Egyptian em- balmer in the days of Pharaoh. The most advanced and satisfactory meth- uds of embalming are employed by Will J. Major, well known undertaker of East Commercial street, Springfield.
Mr. Major was born in Iroquois county, Illinois, December 19, 1861. He is a son of Robert D. and Ellen (Hitchcock) Major. The father was born in Tippecanoe county, Indiana, about 1839, and was a son of James Major and wife. James Major was born in Indiana back in the days of the first settlers and there he grew up, but finally located in Illinois where his death occurred in 1877, after an active life as a farmer. His wife, who
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was a native of Pennsylvania, preceded him to the grave by several years. Robert D. Major learned the carpenter's trade in early life and followed this in connection with farming for a livelihood. He remained in Illinois until 1883 when he went to Montana and followed his trade, remaining there until 1885, when he came to Springfield, Missouri, where he continued car- pentering practically until his death in 1896. Politically, he was a Repub- lican, was a member of the Baptist church, and belonged to the Independent Order of Odd Fellows, in which he passed all the chairs in the local lodge. Ellen Hitchcock, mother of our subject, was born near Niagara Falls, New York, March 30, 1832, a daughter of John and Eliza Hitchcock. She died in St. Louis, Missouri, September 4, 1914, at the age of eighty-two years and six months.
Will J. Major received a common school education, spending two years in the high school at Aurora, Illinois. He remained on the home farm until he was eighteen years of age, then began learning carpentering and cabinet making, at which he worked until 1898, having attained a high degree of skill in each. He then spent four years as assistant custodian in the Spring- field postoffice. Then went to work for J. M. White, a pioneer undertaker of this city, and, making a careful study of the business, he passed the state board examination in 1909, and was duly qualified to enter the profession, and has since been in business for himself at 230 East Commercial street, and is now one of the busiest and most popular undertakers in Springfield, maintaining large, modernly equipped and well furnished parlors and his treatment of his patrons is always courteous and honorable.
Mr. Major was married April 15, 1886, to Anna B. Reynolds, who was born in Nebraska, October 1, 1869. She was a daughter of a highly re- spected family, and she received a good education, and proved to be an ex- cellent helpmeet. This union has been blessed with three children, namely : Mabel, born July 4, 1890, is the wife of John Hulse, of Springfield; E'Ilene, born in September, 1892, is the wife of Lee Donald, of Kansas City; Helen, born July 25, 1897, is at home.
Mr. Major is prominent in fraternal circles, belonging to Springfield Lodge No. 218, Independent Order of Odd Fellows, of which he is past grand, has been district deputy grand master for three years, and has been secretary of the same for the past eighteen years; he is a member of the Empire Encampment, Independent Order of Odd Fellows, of which he is past chief patriarch ; also Springfield Canton No. 23, Independent Order of Odd Fellows. He is a member of Julia Lodge No. 72. Daughters of Re- bekah. He also belongs to the Loyal Order of Moose, Bears. Fraternal Order of Eagles, Knights and Ladies of Security. Modern Woodmen of America, Woodmen of the World, Modern Brotherhood, Knights and La- dies of Honor, and the Court of Honor.
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ELY PAXSON.
From the days of the Egyptian mummies, when the old Pharaohs were elaborately embalmed, to the present time this science-embalming-has. gone through various stages of development, but it is doubtful if it is any better today than when the body of the great Rameses was prepared for the tomb, for the student of history finds that the ancients knew many things which we do not know, the "lost arts" being a theme which has engaged much thought by moderns. In various museums, notably the British, mum- mies are to be seen which have withstood the ravages of many thousands of years. The manner of laying away the dead has differed widely in . different ages and with different nations. The ancients preferred sepulchers hewn from solid rock, some were buried in upright positions, some with. their heads to the east, others to the west. We read of the Hindus casting their dead into the Ganges river, of bodies being deposited in trees by the Indians of North America and the natives of Africa. It was once the desire to so prepare the body that it would retain its material form forever; now many desire that this house of clay shall be dissolved as quickly as possible after it has been cast aside by the inscrutable something we call spirit or soul, hence cremation is now a well-established business. The universal civilized manner of burial demands skill of a high nature, and so in every city and town in Christendom we find undertakers and embalmers. One of the most adroit, learned and successful, as well as best known and popular, of those who are engaged in this line of endeavor in Springfield is Ely Paxson, whose experience of half a century entitles him to a position in the front rank of undertakers in Missouri.
Mr. Paxson was born near Findlay, Ohio, January 17, 1847. He is a son of Morris and Mariah (Shipman) Paxson, and a descendant of an old English family of Colonial stock. Ely Paxson, the paternal grandfather of our subject, was a native of Pennsylvania and received his christian name from the old Ely family. He grew to manhood in the old Keystone state and there became a successful farmer and useful citizen, remaining there until 1833, when he removed with his family to near Findlay, Ohio, where he continued farming until his death, which occurred about 1876. His son, Morris Paxson, father of the subject of this sketch, was born in Burks county, Pennsylvania, September 26, 1825, and he was eight years of age when the family removed to Ohio. He grew to manhood in Hancock county and assisted his father with the work on the farm, and he received his education in the pioneer schools there. When a boy he learned the black- smith's trade, at which he became quite expert. He remained in the Buck- eye state until 1867, when he came to Missouri, arriving in Springfield in
Ely Paxson.
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May of that year, and here he spent the rest of his life, becoming well known to the business world here in that early period of the city's development. His death occurred January 17, 1893, in his sixty-eighth year. He was an honest, hard working man whom everybody respected. He was a mem- ber of the Knights of Pythias, and religiously he belonged to the Methodist church. He and Mariah Shipman were married at Findlay, Ohio, where she had spent her girlhood and was educated. To this union seven children were born.
Ely Paxson, the immediate subject of this sketch, spent his boyhood at Findlay, Ohio, and there received his education in the common schools, and later learned the cabinetmaker's trade, also the undertaking business, for which he seemed to possess from the outset decided natural ability, such as industry, tact, steady nerves, kindness, promptness and integrity, and these qualities with others have resulted in great success in later years. In 1868 he came to Springfield, Missouri, and for two years worked as a journey- man cabinetmaker in the establishment of Julius Kassler on College street, then entered into partnership with his employer, and in March, 1880, bought him out, and has continued in the undertaking business ever since alone, his business growing with advancing years until it has long since reached very extensive proportions and Mr. Paxson's name is known over all southwestern Missouri, and in his dealings with the people here for a period of over forty- five years he has maintained a reputation for honesty, courtesy and good citizenship, enjoying all the while the good will and esteem of his fellow men. His establishment was destroyed by fire in 1875 and again in 1885. In 1888 he erected the substantial two-story brick structure which he still occupies, and which is modernly equipped in every respect for the successful and prompt carrying on of his business, and here he employs assistants of the highest skill.
Mr. Paxson was married on March 20, 1873, to Anna Belle Keet, daughter of James Keet, a prominent business man of southern Missouri, the Keets having been among the leading families of Springfield for many years, and here Mrs. Paxson grew to womanhood and received an excellent education. She is a lady of culture and is prominent socially.
Politically, Mr. Paxson is a Republican and has been more or less active in public affairs. He was coroner of Greene county for two terms, the duties of which office he discharged with ability and satisfaction. Frater- nally, he is a well-known Mason, having attained the thirty-second degree in that order. For a number of years he was recorder of St. John's Com- mandery No. 20, Knights Templars, of which he is past eminent commander. He is treasurer of the latter body and Solomon Lodge, Free and Accepted Masons, and treasurer of Springfield Chapter, Royal Arch Masons. He is
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also past master of the Blue Lodge. He and his wife are members of Grace Methodist Episcopal church, of which he is treasurer.
Mr. Paxson has always had the welfare of Springfield at heart, and his aid in furthering the best interests of the same has never been withheld in all laudable movements, and he is not only one of the best known men in this city and county, but is one of the most highly respected for his industry, public spirit and exemplary record as a man and citizen.
JAMES S. McILVIN.
The great Empire state (which seems to have been given a most ap- propriate sobriquet) has sent large numbers of her enterprising citizens into the great West, where they have made commendable records in every walk of life, being people who believe not only in doing things but in doing them well; they seem to be, almost without exception, men and women who combine the proper elements of character and innate qualities to make good and useful citizens. James S. McIlvin, a locomotive engineer of the Frisco Lines, living at Springfield, is one of this number.
Mr. McIlvin was born at Rochester, New York, May 16, 1856. He is a son of Robert and Rosine E. (Richards) McIlvin, both parents natives of New Hampshire, each representing an old New England family. They grew to maturity in their native state, attended the common schools there and were married in New Hampshire, but removed from that state to the state of New York about the middle of the nineteenth century. The father of our subject was a carpenter by trade and he followed carpentering and building during the latter part of his life, but his earlier years were devoted to farming. His death occurred at Westfield, New York, about ten years ago. He removed his family to Kansas when that state was being settled by Eastern people and there the mother of our subject died, in the town of Lacygne, in 1872. To these parents two children were born. namely : Herbert, a conductor on the Southern Pacific railroad, lives in Dallas, Texas; and James S., of this sketch.
James S. McIlvin was taken to the state of Kansas by his parents when he was a small boy and there he grew to manhood and received his education in the common schools. He began his railroad career in 1877, in Pennsylvania, on the Bessemer railroad, which at that time was known as the old Alleghany road. He began as fireman and remained with this road about five years, then came to Kansas and worked out of Dodge City a short time as fireman on the Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe road. He removed to Kansas City, Missouri, in 1881, and began firing on the Kansas
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City, Ft. Scott & Memphis railroad. He was sent to Springfield by this road in 1882 and worked on the Ozark division. He assisted in track laying from Cedar Gap to Mammoth Spring. In 1883 he was given a regu- lar run as engineer on this division. He remained with the old "Memphis Route" until it was leased to the Frisco Lines in 1900, when he went with the latter road, with which he has remained to the present time. He is now engineer on a freight train, between Springfield and Thayer. He has given excellent satisfaction in the various positions he has held with different railroads, being capable, alert, conscientious and trustworthy.
Mr. McIlvin was married in Mercer, Pennsylvania, October 23, 1883, to Ida A. McGinnis, who was born in Venango county, Pennsylvania. She is a daughter of Samuel and Sarah (Jolly) McGinnis. The father is deceased, but the mother is living at the advanced age of eighty-five. Mr. McGinnis devoted his life to farming. Mrs. McIlvin's maternal grand- father, Capt. Thomas Jolly, was a soldier in the War of 1812, in which he made an excellent record. He lived to the unusual age of ninety-three years.
Six children have been born to Mr. and Mrs. McIlvin, namely: Gert- rude is the eldest; Annetta is teaching in the public schools of Springfield; Mary, Hazel, Edith K., and June are all at home.
Our subject owns an attractive and well furnished home at 1820 Dem- ming Place, Springfield.
Politically, Mr. McIlvin is a Republican. He belongs to the Masonic order and the Order of Eastern Star, he and his wife being charter mem- bers of Crescent Chapter, No. 21. The family belongs to the Cumberland Presbyterian church.
ELWOOD ALAMANDO WILLIAMS.
It was Charles Kingsley, the noted English author, who said that every morning we should remember to be thankful that we have something to do during the coming day, whether we like it or not. Being forced to work, and forced to do our best, will breed in you temperance and self-control, diligence and strength of will, cheerfulness and content, and a hundred virtues the idle will never know. Elwood Alamando Williams, a farmer near Ash Grove, is one of the citizens of Greene county who takes delight in his work and is therefore happy and prospering.
Mr. Williams was born on a farm in Carroll county, Missouri, Sep- tember 23, 1860. He is a son of Mortimer H. and Jennie S. (Gale) Will- iams. The father was born in Monroe county, Ohio, June 20, 1837, and, was a son of William and Martha (Hurd) Williams. William Williams
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was born near Wheeling, West Virginia, in 1809, and followed farming until. 1848, when he began running a boat down the Ohio river to the Mississippi, then up that stream and up the Missouri river to Boonville and later to Carroll county, Missouri, carrying freight and passengers, each trip re- quiring several weeks. He was a cooper and cabinet maker by trade and was also a physician of the old school. After locating in Missouri he made a professional trip to Ohio. He was a learned man and remained a close student all his life, one of his favorite studies being astronomy and he became an amateur astronomer of no mean ability. He entered eighty acres of land in Carroll county, this state on which he spent the rest of his life, dying there in 1887. Politically, he was first a Whig, later a Republican. He was an ardent worker in the cause of education and helped in the matter of establishing schools. Fraternally, he was a member of the Masonic order, and he was a free thinker and broad-minded man. His wife was also born near Wheeling, West Virginia, the year of her birth being 1812, and her death occurred in 1859.
Mortimer H. Williams had only such educational advantages as the frontier schools could furnish in his day, but his father taught him much and furnished him many books, so he became a well-informed man, and he taught school in Carroll county, this state, for a number of years, and, learning the blacksmith's trade, followed that for some time. In 1873 he. moved to Chillicothe, Missouri, where he followed his trade for about ten. years, then went to South Dakota, continuing blacksmithing there about. six years, then engaged in mining in the Black Hills a few years, after which he made three trips to Alaska, finally locating in Rapid City, South. Dakota, where his death occurred in 1909. Politically, he was a Republican; religiously, a Universalist, and fraternally a member of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows. His wife, Jennie S. Gale, whom he married in 1859, was born in Chautauqua county, New York, on farm where the first chau- tauqua in the United States was held. Mrs. Jennie Williams was born Janu- ary 13, 1840, and her death occurred in 1883. To these parents five children were born.
Elwood A. Williams received a fairly good education up to the tenth grade in the Chillicothe schools. When seventeen years old he went to Deadwood, South Dakota, where he worked as a freight driver, having charge of a nine-yoke team hitched to three wagons, and this work he con- tinued about a year, then went to a lumber camp for a year, then was superintendent and bookkeeper for a lumber camp for several years, after which he came to Rapid City, South Dakota, and was head of the lumber yards there for three years. During this time he filed on one hundred and sixty acres and proved up on the same, sold out and filed on a homestead of one hundred and sixty acres, and proved up on it, and lived on the same
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for seven years or until 1900, when he sold out and came to Greene county, Missouri, purchasing one hundred and sixty acres in Boone township, and has since resided here. He owned over one thousand acres of land in Dakota, which he finally sold. He is making a specialty of live stock, raising a fine grade of mules, horses, sheep, cattle and hogs for the market, and no small portion of his annual income is derived from this source. He is one of the substantial men of Boone township, and has made what he has solely by his own efforts.
Mr. Williams was married on November 29, 1888, to Maggie M. Trim- mer, who was born in South Dakota, October 1, 1872. She was born near Chamberlain, that state, and there reared to womanhood and was educated. She is a daughter of George M. and Mary (Boyua) Trimmer. Mr. Trimmer was born near Cheona, Illinois, November 8, 1844, and was a son of Nicholas and Mary Trimmer, who lived and died on a farm in Illinois. George M. Trimmer received a common school eduction, working on the home farm during the summer months, and when a young man he went to the eastern part of South Dakota and began wood contracting for steamboats on the Missouri river. In 1876 he went to the Black Hills, and there engaged in mining and farming. He was a sterling pioneer, and helped establish trails, towns, did freighting and was incidentally a renowned hunter. He was a stanch friend of the Sioux Indians, who liked him. He was the first settler in Hot Springs, South Dakota, and he did much toward making it one of the best towns in that state, and at this writing he owns a fine orchard of one hundred and sixty acres near there, which was the first orchard set out in that region. He is one of the prominent and influential men of eastern South Dakota and has been offered many political posi- tions of importance in the state, but has refused them all. Politically, he is a Democrat, and fraternally he belongs to the Independent Order of Odd Fellows and is an enthusiastic worker in the same. On November 8. 1871, he married Mary Boyua, who was born March 4, 1847. Grandfather Boyua was an early French trader on the Missouri river.
Mrs. Trimmer was the real discoverer of the springs in what is now known as Hot Springs, and cut the first bathing "tub" out of a rock. When a child she was present at the New Ulm massacre in Minnesota, and was taken prisoner by the Sioux Indians and carried to the head of the Missouri river.
To Mr. and Mrs. Elwood A. Williams three children have been born, namely : Blanche G., born December 20, 1889, was given good educational advantages; Barney B., born April 20, 1892, was also well educated in the schools of Ash Grove, Missouri; M. Cleopatra, born September 26, 1897. graduated from the Ash Grove high school with the class of 1915. These ยท children are all at home with their parents.
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