USA > Missouri > Lafayette County > Portrait and biographical record of Lafayette and Saline counties, Missouri : containing biographical sketches of prominent and representative citizens, together with biographies and portraits of all the presidents of the United States > Part 36
USA > Missouri > Saline County > Portrait and biographical record of Lafayette and Saline counties, Missouri : containing biographical sketches of prominent and representative citizens, together with biographies and portraits of all the presidents of the United States > Part 36
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NDREW 1. DAVIS, a prosperous, energetic and enterprising agriculturist of Saline County, Mo., is pleasantly located upon a fine farm in township 50, range 19, near Hardeman. lle is a native of lowa and was born in Wapello County. March 22, 1855. The paternal grandfather, Guilford Davis, was born near Guil- ford Court House, Va. He early removed to the Territory of Indiana and settled m Sullivan County. The Davis family is of Welsh descent,
its members being resolute, self-reliant and earnest people, as were their ancestors before them. The father of Andrew J. was born in Sullivan County. Ind., November 9, 1823. In 1848, he removed to lowa and settled on a farm obtained by a Mexican land warrant.
Mr. Davis there married an lowa lady, Miss Elizabeth, a daughter of Andrew Major, well known in his portion of the State. The parents of our subject were blessed by the birth of six chil- dren, of whom four sons are living: Andrew J., Simon, Thomas J. and John G., all of whom have attained positions commanding respect and esteem. After a time, the father and mother, with their family, removed to Missouri and settled in 1867 in Pettis County, and the succeeding year, 1868, located in Saline County. The father was an ardent Democrat and firmly believed in the princi- ples of the party which he conscientiously main- tained. Mr. Davis enjoyed the benefit of a course of instruction in the public schools of Iowa and also attended the State University for one year.
Our subject profitably cultivates two hundred and forty acres of land, all under a high state of improvement; he is also an extensive stoek- raiser, handling choice and well-paying varieties of cattle and horses. Thoroughly trained in all agricultural duties upon his father's farm, he was especially well fitted to begin life for himself, when at an early age he left the homestead. Ac- tive and industrious and withal possessing excel- lent judgment, Mr. Davis is numbered among the progressive young farmers of this part of the country and is steadily winning his way upward to future independence and greater prosperity. Succeeding in life, he very soon found some one to share his home and was, December 20, 1882, united in marriage with Miss Mary E., a daughter of James N. and Edmoma ( Huston ) Jamison.
Into the pleasant and cheery home of Andrew J. Davis and his estimable wife have come four bright and intelligent children: Emmet E., Jamison, Guil- ford G. and Minnie May, who if they live to adult age may enjoy the best educational advantages of their home schools and colleges. Mrs. Davis is a member of the Methodist Episcopal Church, and both in the church and among the general publie
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has a large circle of earnest friends. Our subject, as did his father before him, votes the Democratie ticket and upholds the good old party which has just achieved a signal victory, both local and na- tional. Although not connected by membership with any religious denomination, Mr. Davis is a cheerful giver and is ever ready to assist in all the good work of his locality and immediate neigh- borhood, and is in every sense of the word a liberal- spirited citizen.
ENRY W. FOGUS, electrician, engineer and manager of the City Electric Light Plant, is the finest machinist in Saline County, an inventor of real genius, and a thor- oughly agreeable man. Ile has done much for the city of Slater, which is appreciative of the fact, and he is held in high esteem by the people of the place. Mr. Fogus was born in St. Louis, May 4, 1850. His father was born in New York City, while his paternal grandsire came from France.
Our subject's father was a earpenter by trade, and after marriage moved from New York to St. Louis. In 1852, he located in Carlinville, Ma- eoupin County, Ill., and afterward moved to Hills- boro, where he took work as a contractor and builder. Thence he went to Litchfield in the same county. llis decease occurred in 1886. Annie Fogus, his wife, was born in New York City, of English descent, and died in 1863. There were six children in the family, two of whom are now living, three sons and one daughter having died. Our subject was the third child. His eldest brother, Frank, served in an Illinois regiment from 1863 to the close of the Civil War. Annie. now Mrs. Davis, of Litchfield, Ill., is the only sur- viving member of the family beside our subject.
Ilenry Fogus resided successively at Carlinville, Hillsboro and Litchfield, receiving his education in the public and High Schools. At the age of fourteen, he began work as a machinist's appren- tice in the Illinois and St. Louis shops at Litch-
field, and served for three years, then continued for three years after his apprenticeship was com- pleted. During the latter part of the time, lie was an assistant foreman in a machine shop. After that he went to Mound City, and there took charge of a large stave and barrel factory, manag- ing the whole business for four years. lle then became manager of the Willard Double Stave and Barrel Manufacturing Company, at Parker Station, Mo. This was an important organization and had an incorporated capital of $300,000. At the expi- ration of a three-year stay there, he resigned his position on account of ill health, and went into . the mercantile business at Piedmont, Mo., continu- ing in that for three and a-half years. The out- come of it was a disastrous fire, in which he lost everything he had invested.
In January, 1879, our subject took charge of the Water Department of the Chicago & Alton Road from Slater to Kansas City, and from Slater to Louisiana and Cedar City, having control of the lines this side of the Mississippi River, with head- quarters at Glasgow, Howard County. In 1881, he located in Slater as Superintendent of the Water Department, Fourth and Fifth Divisions, and of the Department of Stone Crushing at Blue Springs and of Bridge Engineering at Louisiana. lle was on the road constantly, and put in all the pipes on the new division between Mexico and Kansas City, in three roundhouses, and in all the truck and stock yards. All his work was done in good shape, and no trains were delayed on ac- count of inability to get water on time.
March 21, 1890, our subject was called to Pearl, Ill., to assist the Superintendent of the Water Department with the stone-erusher. At that time, owing to carelessness on the part of some one, Mr. Fogus was seriously injured while removing a large balanee-wheel. It overturned, striking him, but glancing off just enough to prevent a fatal ac- cident. The injured man had bravely exerted all his strength to prevent the great wheel striking the Superintendent, which it would have done had he permitted it to go over. It bruised his chest, right arm and right foot, took off the great toe of the latter and fractured all the joints. He was laid up six months, and the accident left him crippled.
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As soon as he was well, he was employed by the City Council as electrician, and began by assisting to put in the electric light plant, which he has managed ever since. The Ide Engine, of seventy- horse power. and the Evans Boiler of eighty, are in use in the place, with the Western Electric Are twenty and thirty lights. and the Hawkeye incan- descent light, one hundred and thirteen lights.
As we have mentioned before. Mr. Fogus is the finest machinist in the county, and he does not hesitate to use his knowledge and skill for the good of any enterprise in which he engages. Since entering upon his present position. he has made several improvements in the works, and while on the road he invented different appli- ances, automatic contrivances for handling the water to better advantage, etc., which are now used by the company, and are of great service. One of these was for regulating the supply in the tank by shutting off the supply and keeping it from running over, the back pressure in the pipe shutting off the steam pump. The same invention is used in the roundhouse, and thereby saves the expense of one man for washing out boilers.
Mr. Fogus arranged and put in the attachment for pumping water with the electric light engine from the public well into the tank for public use on the streets. The well is two hundred and fifty- three feet deep, part consisting of a four and a-half inch drill in soapstone. The eylinder of the pump is one hundred and fifty-nine feet in length, and the water is two hundred and three feet deep. He has invented an oil filter. also a self- Ibricator with the proper adjustments. He was appointed by the city to investigate different plants and systems, it being left to him to make the choice. This confidence, which the business men repose in him, is well placed. After running the place for two years, he has never yet burned out an armature. The light has always been re- Hiable and up to the expectations of the people.
Mr. Fogus has, by prudence and economy, accu- mulated a comfortable fortune. He owns a half- interest in a brick store in Slater and a thirteen- room boarding-house in the city and another in Marshall, beside one hundred and sixty acres of land in Graham County, Kan. He is a Free and
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Accepted Mason. a member of the Eastern Star Lodge; also a Royal Arch Mason. and belongs to the Odd Fellows of Slater and to the Knights Templar at Marshall.
In 1876, our subject was united in marriage with Miss Sallie Newbury, of Parker. She was a native of Fredericktown, Mo. In July, 1881, they moved to Marshall, but the new home was suddenly made desolate by the death of the wife, whose decease immediately followed their settlement there. They were the parents of two children, both of whom are deceased. Mr. Fogus is a Congregationalist and a Republican, but is not radical in his views. He is thoroughly interested in his work, giving it the strictest attention and is ever on the lookout for improvement and advance in his chosen profes- sion. Personally, as well as professionally, he is regarded as one of Slater's most popular and thoughtful men.
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HERBERT SMITHI, M. D., the enterprising and energetie County Coroner, and able and successful medical practitioner of Slater. Saline County, Mo., is admirably adapted to conduct the official business intrusted to his care. A native of the county and its youngest public officer, our subject is widely known by a host of life-time friends and old acquaintances, and is closely identified with the growth and history of his resident portion of the State.
The immediate paternal ancestors of Dr. Smith were natives of Kentucky, in which prosperous State both his father and paternal grandfather were born. The grandfather, Gervas S. Early, set- tled in Missouri, and buying a farm near Napton, there entered upon the pursuit of agriculture. The father, James M., born in Henry County, Ky., was also a farmer. and in the early days cultivated hemp. Ile served in the Confederate army, and was in Price's raid and different skirmishes and battles. lle has ever been distinguished for his
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courage and resolution, and now resides near Nap- ton, on the old homestead of three hundred and forty acres.
The mother of our subject was born in Saline County and is the daughter of William Adkisson, a native of Virginia and an early settler of the county. Mrs. Mary (Adkisson) Smith was a lady of worth and intelligence, and was deeply mourned when, in 1872, she passed away, leaving a large family of children. She was the mother of ten sons and daughters, of whom eight are yet living. Dr. Smith, the fifth child, was reared upon his father's farm, and attended the public schools, but was early trained in the duties of agriculture, and initiated into the sowing, planting and reaping, and the never-eeasing round of daily farming life.
The home schools were excellent and our subject well improved his advantages, and himself taught school for four months at Salt Branch Schoolhouse until at twenty-one years of age he went to Marshall and there clerked for Rader & Burke, grocers. He remained with this firm for seven months, and then began the study of medicine under John R. Hall, M. D., a well-known physician of Marshall. In 1885 Dr. Smith entered the Medical College at St. Lonis, and graduated with honor in 1887, receiving the degree of M. D. His first location was at Shackleford, where he remained engaged in pro- fessional duties until October, 1889, when he settled in Slater, and entered at once into a successful practice. Ile thus eontinned his round of ever-in- creasing professional duties until 1890, when in the fall of that year he was elected on the Demo- cratie tieket County Coroner of Saline County, to serve from November 15, 1890, to November 15, 1892.
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Dr. Smith has a pleasant and commodious olliee in the Gilliam Building, on Main Street, and re- sides in the best portion of the residence district. He was married in Shackleford, October 4, 1888, to Miss Minnie Tickemyre, a native of Shackle- ford, and a daughter of a prominent farmer of the same place. Dr. and Mrs. Smith are the parents of one child, a promising little daughter, Enid L. Our subject is prominently connected with the Knights of Pythias and is Past Chancellor of Diamond Lodge No. 65, of Slater. Ile was the representa-
tive to the Grand Lodge at St. Louis in the fall of 1892. Ile is also Seeretary of the Fourth Regi- ment of Missouri, with the rank of Major. Our subject is also a member of the Knights of the Maccabees, and the examining physician of the or- der. lle is the Medical Examiner of the B. R. T. and B. of L. F. and Endowment Rank Knights of Pythias. Dr. Smith is a valued member of the Saline County Medical Society, and is the First Vice-president for 1892 and 1893. Iu religious belief he is a Southern Methodist Epis- copalian, and is an active promoter of the growth of the organization. lle and his wife enjoy a large eircle of friends both within the church so- ciety and among the general public, and are highly respected. Our subjeet is a Democrat, and has al- ways been, and takes a lively interest in all that pertains to public affairs, and is ever foremost in advancing loeal progress and improvement.
OHN W. HOLMAN. Leading a life worthy of being followed, and in doing good where opportunity offers, should fill the measure of any man's ambition. Such an example has the life of our subjeet proved according to the testimony of those who know him. He was born January 29, 1840, upon the farm where he now lives, on section 27, township 49, range 28, in LaFayette County. His father, Hardy Holman, was born in 1809, and for a time followed the oc- cupation of a tanner, but later engaged in agricul- tural pursuits. The trouble with the Mormons greatly excited his interest, and he took an active part in the war that followed. Nancy (Finley) IIolman, the mother of our subject, a native of Virginia, and a sister of Judge W. II. Finley, of Saline County, Mo., was born in 1808, and died in 1891. She was the mother of eight children, five of whom are now living. In religious belief, the father was a Missionary Baptist, while the mother was a Cumberland Presbyterian.
Our subject was reared on the home farm, at-
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tending the public schools and working in the in- tervals of vacation until the outbreak of the Civil War, when he enlisted in Capt. Withers' company and took part in many memorable battles, the first of which were those of Carthage and Wilson's ('reek. When the battle of Lexington occurred be was down with the typhoid fever. Recovering, he re-enlisted and fought in the battles of Pea Ridge, Corinth, Grand Gulf, Baker's Creek, and the siege of Vicksburg, all in the State of Missis- sippi. At the place last named he surrendered, was paroled and sent to Camp Morton, Indian- apolis, where he remained eight months. being Finally released through an intercessory letter writ- ten by Ins sister Kate. Suffering and in prison. he wrote to her and she immediately addressed a let- ter to Gov. King. who promptly proceeded to Washington and handed it to President Lincoln, and our subject was set at liberty at once. Gov. King said, "It was the most powerful and con- vincing letter I ever read in my life."
For a long time afterward Mr. Holman was in poor health, and suffered from an attack of illness each succeeding summer for five years. Ever since that period of war, he has lived quietly upon his farm. In 1868, he married Emma Christian Fickle, daughter of Helva Fickle, an early settler, now de- ceased. Mrs. Holman died June 27, 1883. She was the mother of tive children, three girls and two boys, the latter deceased; the daughters are: Frances Gertrude; Julia Ella, wife of Walter Drum- mond; and Emma Pearl. Mr. llolman is a con- scientious farmer, who gives his entire time to the business of managing his farm of three hundred and forty acres, all under fence and well culti- vated. One year's experience as a merchant at Odessa satisfied him that the farm is the happiest of all places. An advocate of education, he has been careful to give his children the benefit of good schooling. A Deacon in the Missionary Baptist Church, he is quite active in furthering its inter- ests. Ile is a member of the Masonic order, being acting Master of his lodge, and has filled all of the Chairs up to that of Senior Warden; he is also Chap- lain of the Eastern Star. The Farmers' Alliance for a long time was the objeet of his care, which he served as its first President, also as Chaplain, and
likewise filled the latter position in the Central Protective Association. Politics interest him greatly, and he exercises much influence among the Democrats, being frequently chosen a delegate to the conventions of that party.
OBERT II. WILSON, M. D., a prominent and highly successful medical practitioner of Saline County, and widely known as one of the most influential, prosperous and public-spirited citizens of Gilliam, possesses the esteem and confidence of his friends and neighbors, and is ever ready to aid in all matters concerning public progress and improvement. Our subject was born in Rockbridge County, Va., March 4, 1829, and is a descendant of illustrious ancestry. Ilis paternal grandfather served bravely in the War of the Revolution, and was a half- brother of James Wilson, a signer of the Declara- tion of Independence, who was born in Scot- land, and died in August, 1798. Under the Fed- eral constitution. he was appointed by President Washington one of the first judges of the Supreme Court of the United States.
Dr. Wilson is the son of David S. and Margue- rite Wilson, whose forefathers were of English, Irish and Scotch descent. The father of David Wilson, the Revolutionary hero to whom we have before referred, was a native Virginian. Our sub- jeet was one of a family of eight children, five sis- ters and three brothers. A. G. Wilson was born in Saline County in 1837, and continues his resi- denee here. Julia, born in Saline County in 1812. married G. A. Cannon, and with her hus- band resides in her native locality. One of our subject's brothers served in the Confederate army for three years under Gov. Shelby. Dr. Wilson attended the common schools of Missouri, and at ten years of age began farming upon his father's land, and until nineteen years old gave his time industriously and successfully to the duties of ag- riculture. His first departure from home was
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made to the distant State of California, where he remained six years, when on account of failing health he returned to the farm m Missouri.
After a time our subject began the study of medicine under Dr. Alexander, and afterward completed a course of study in the Nathan Med- ical College at Washington, where he remained two years, graduating with the degree of Doctor of Medicine in 1861. Immediately after receiving his diploma he began the duties of his profession, and soon enjoyed an excellent practice in Cam- bridge, Mo., where he remained for a full score of years. In 1880 he came to his present home in Gilliam.
Attention to his medical duties and other busi- ness of his active life have absorbed the time of Dr. Wilson, but he is nevertheless willing to aid all public measures of known value. He is a valued member of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows, and is ever ready to assist in social, be- nevolent or religious enterprises of his neighbor- hood or vicinity. Dr. Wilson is an ardent advo- cate of educational progress and reform. He has never aspired to official positions, nor been a pol- itician in the wider significance of the term, but is a sturdy Democrat, his father having been a Whig. Hle takes a lively interest in the conduct of local and national affairs. An excellent and skillful physician, ministering to the wants of suffering humanity, he has long since won and worthily re- tains the confidence of the general public.
OHN E. CONNELL, M. D., a talented gen- eral medical practitioner and skillful sur- geon, now located at Little Rock, has a brilliant future before him and is rapidly winning his way upward. Our subject was born April 20, 1865, in La Grange, Lewis County, Mo. His great-grandfather was Samuel Connell, a Vir ginian, who passed his life principally in his na- tive State and died there at a good old age. He was a Major in the War of 1812, serving in the
Ohio militia, and started to the relief of Detroit, but before reaching that post heard of its sur- render by Hull to the British forces. The Con- nels are of Irish descent, and the first representa- tives of the family in America came from the Emerald Isle at a very early period in the history of our country.
The paternal grandfather of our subject, Eph- raim Connell, was born in Brooke County, Va., in 1802. In 1824 he married Miss Artemesia Rob- erts, at her home in Ohio County, Va. They soon afterward removed from Virginia to Belmont County, Ohio, and the town of Connellsville is named in honor of the family. The grandparents had the following-named children : George W., father of our subject; Mary, the widow of John Blackwood, of La Grange, Mo .; Emily, the widow of Coleman Biggs, of Kansas City; and Mattie, de- ceased. Dr. George W. Connell, father of our subject, was born March 30, 1825, in Belmont County, near Connellsville, Ohio. There he lived until sixteen years of age, when he came with his father's family to Lewis County, Mo. His educa- tion was mostly obtained in the common schools of the State, and when a young man he taught school, and with the money thus carned paid his way through college, graduating in 1850 from the Missouri Medical College at St. Louis.
For the succeeding six years after his gradu- ation, Dr. George Connell practiced in California, and established the first drug store in Marysville. Returning finally to Missouri, he located in his old home in La Grange, where he resided until 1877, when he went to Quincy, Ill., and then in 1881 to Hallsville. Boone County, Mo., and there engaged in the practice of his profession. Ile is to-day a prominent and leading physician in that part of the State. On June 25, 1861, he married Miss Virginia Fowler, who was born in Prince George County, Md., in 1839, and became the mother of three children: Mary L .; John E., the subject of this sketch; and Margie. Mrs. Virginia Connell died in 1870, and the Doctor afterward married Miss Susan, daughter of Dr. Fowler, of Saline County. Our subject's mother was a niece of Gen. George B. Mead, of Virginia, and the daughter of James Fowler, of Maryland, who
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owned the site of the Capitol Building, it being purchased from him by the State for its present use.
Dr. Connell was primarily educated in the pub- lie schools of his home, and afterward completed a course of instruction in the High School of Quincy. III., from which he was graduated with honor in 1881. Ile then began the study of med- icine under his father's instructions, and later en- tered the College of Physicians and Surgeons at St. Louis, graduating in 1888. His life had not been all an uninterrupted study, for in common with all boys who reside upon a farm, he assisted in agricultural duties and was familiar with the work of sowing, planting and reaping.
Soon after graduating, Dr. Connell began to practice with his father in Hallsville, from which place he came to Little Rock, where his success in- dicates that in this flourishing town he may make his future home. Thoroughly versed in the sci- ence of his profession and bred as it were to the duties of a medical practitioner, he devotes him- self to his calling, and is fast gaining the conli- dence of the community and winning their high respect and esteem. Alike in storm or sunshine, the family physician goes his daily rounds, and when he devotes his life and service to his fellow- citizens, as does our ardent and energetic subject. Dr. John E. Connell, it is just that he should meet with the fitting reward of success and publie ap- preciation.
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