The History of Pettis County, Missouri, History of Sedalia, Part 74

Author: Demuth, I. MacDonald
Publication date: 1882
Publisher: [n.p.]
Number of Pages: 1148

USA > Missouri > Pettis County > Sedalia > The History of Pettis County, Missouri, History of Sedalia > Part 74

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JAMES K. MERRIFIELD.

The subject of this sketch was born in Scranton, Penn., Aug. 20, 1844, and is the elder of a family of two children. He received a liberal educa-

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tion from the schools of his native State. In the spring of 1862 he moved to Illinois, where he remained until the fall of '62, when he enlisted in the 88th Illinois " Board of Trade Regiment," United States Volunteers, of Chicago, under Colonel Frank Sherman and Captain Geo. A. Sheridan, who afterwards held the office of Recorder of Deeds, at Washington, D. C., under the administration of President Hayes. Mr. Merrifield was with the Army of the Cumberland . and Tennessee, and participated in all the principal battles fought by those armies and was actively engaged from the battle of Perryville to the close of the war. After peace had been declared he returned to his old home in Pennsylvania, where he remained until the year 1870, when he engaged in the railroad business. In the spring of that year Mr. M. moved to Missouri, settling in Sedalia, where he has since resided, and been engaged with the Missouri Pacific as con- ductor. In November, 1881, he was transferred from the Lexington branch to a passenger run from Sedalia to St. Louis, which position he still fills. He was married May 18, 1866, to Miss R. T. Crandall, a native of Great Bend, Penn .; from this union there is one child, Walter, a bright boy of fifteen years. Mr. M.'s father, John Merrifield, is a native of Pennsylvania, and stil resides at Great Bend. Of Mr. Merrifield it can be truthfully said, that he is one of the most popular conductors that run upon the road. In his long railroad experience he has had but few acci- dents, and none of them connected with disastrous results. Much of this good fortune is due directly to Mr. Merrifield's good judgment and care- fulness. The most unfortunate one in which he was a party was that of the Houstonia cyclone in 1875, in which his train was badly wrecked, several of the cars being literally torn into kindling wood. Mr. Merrifield saw the storm coming and had his passengers all get out of the coaches and he was standing upon the ground near the depot and was taken up by the tornado and carried about a hundred yards across the prairie with lightning express time. Strange to say no one was severely hurt, he receiving only a few slight bruises. From this incident he received his sobriquet, " Tornado Jim," by which he is known from one end of the line to the other. He immediately took his locomotive and run to Browns- ville for medical assistance and returning did all in his power to alleviate the suffering of the wounded. In person Mr. Merrifield is tall, straight and spare. He has a pleasant face, keen sparkling eyes, full of intelligence, eagerness and vivacity, an agreeable address and courteous, dignified man- ners, and is a favorite with his friends, and has the full confidence of his employers.

JOHN H. MERTZ.

Of Mertz & Hale, druggists. Among the enterprising men of Sedalia, John H. Mertz takes a high rank. He was born in Frankfort, Germany,

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Sept. 28, 1846. His father, Henry Mertz, came with his family to Amer- ica, in 1852, locating at Beardstown, Ill., where he died in 1875. Here John H. Mertz was reared and educated. In the winter of 1863-4, he enlisted in the Federal army in Company G, of the 145th Illinois Infantry, and was stationed most of the time in Missouri, and it was at this time that he became favorably impressed with. the State. After the war he took a course at Jones Commercial College, St. Louis, clerking in a drug store at the same time. On March 15, 1865, he came to Sedalia, and clerked for W. E. Bard until July, 1866, at which time he purchased the drug store of Dr. J. G. Beck, and has ever since been identified with the drug business of Sedalia. In 1872, Dr. R. L. Hale became associated with him in the drug business, and together they built the three-story brick block on Ohio street, which they now occupy, and which was at that time one of the finestin Sedalia. They do a large business, having a large job- bing trade, and the enterprising character of Mr. Mertz is well known throughout Central Missouri. A great deal is due his untiring labors in behalf of our growing city. He is President of the Fourth Building Associa- tion, of Sedalia, and director of four others, and for the past five years a member of the School Board. He is one of the original members of the Congregational Church of this city. He was married to Miss Nettie P. Lamm, of Sedalia, April 16, 1868, a native of Wayne County, Ohio, and daughter of Wm. Lamm, of that county. They have six children, all living: Ella L., Anna L., Nettie F., Alice B., Henry L. and Mary L. The last two are twins.

CHAS. E. MESSERLY.

Mayor of Sedalia, Mo. Mr. Messerly is a native of Ohio. His father, Lewis F. Messerly, and mother, Elizabeth Messerly, nee Eberhardt, were both born in Switzerland, and came to America in 1842. They are now living in California, Mo. Charles was reared and educated in Ohio, grad- uating at New Philadelphia High School, in 1869. He immediately came to Sedalia, and engaged as salesman with Major Wm. Beck, one of the first dry goods firms in the city. He remained in the same capacity until 1876, and then became a partner. At this time the new business house on the corner of Second and Osage streets was opened for their use. · The firm of Beck & Messerly is one of the best established general stores in this portion of the State, and through their thorough business qualities and long experience, they secure a large and valuable trade. Mr. Messerly is a young man of bright promise. He came to Sedalia with naught but his personal energy and integrity, and by close attention to business, has taken a high station among the enterprising men of this growing city. His popularity may be inferred from the fact that he was elected Mayor of Sedalia, April 4, 1882, by a handsome Republican

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majority, when the city had for two years been under the rule of the other party. As a social, genial gentleman, Mr. Messerly has rare quali- ties, and an exemplary influence upon those with whom he mingles. Mr. Messerly is a member of the Granite Lodge, A. F. and A. M., of this city; also of the Sedalia Rifles, holding the office of Sergeant of the same.

ABRAHAM MEYER.

Lumber merchant, Sedalia. Was born in Prussia in 1829. His father, Peter A. Meyer, came to America in 1830, locating in St. Louis, Mo .; where he engaged in operating a foundry until the time of his death, in 1851. Abraham was reared and educated in St. Louis, with the excep- tion of one year in the State University, at Columbia. In 1850, he went to California, where he remained two years, when he returned to St. Louis and engaged in the leather business until 1859. During the early part of the war he was appointed Assistant Assessor for the United States, for Henry, Benton, St. Clair, Polk, Dallas, Laclede and Hickory Counties. In the year of 1863, he came to Sedalia, and went into the hide, leather and saddlery business, which he followed until 1872, when he engaged in the real estate business, which he followed only for a short time. During the succeeding year he organized the First Building and Loan Association of Sedalia. In 1873, he engaged in the lumber busi- ness, which he has continued successfully to the present time. Mr. Meyer is the owner of considerable real estate in Sedalia, and his many transac- tions in that line of business net him a fine profit. He made one addition to the city, known as Meyer & Kahr's Addition. Mr. Meyer is a mem- ber of the Masonic fraternity, and also an original member of the First Presbyterian Church. He was married in 1852, to Miss Adaline Lumley, of St. Louis, and a native of Louisville, Ky. In 1878, he and his wife visited the old country, attending the Paris Exposition, and visiting England, Scotland, Ireland, France, Belgium, Holland, Prussia and Swit- zerland, which is now a source of great satisfaction to him, as his com- panion was called from him soon thereafter. The death of his wife occurred June 16, 1881. He was an honorary delegate to the Paris Expo- sition.

PETER R. MEYERS.

Of the firm of Vitt & Meyers, dry goods. Mr. Meyers is a native of Cole County, Mo. His father, Peter S., was a native of Germany, now a resident of Sedalia. His mother was also a native of Germany. Peter R., the subject of this sketch, was educated in Cole County, Mo., where he learned the printing business in his youth. In 1871 he entered the First National Bank, of Sedalia, as bookkeeper, where he remained one

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year, when he entered the dry goods house as salesman where we now find him. After the first year he bought an interest in the business, since which time he has been an active partner in the house. Mr. Meyers was married in 1874 to Miss Bianka Frish. They have two children, Ida A., Leo C., one deceased. Mr. Meyers is a member of the Catholic Knights.

DR. ROBERT TEVIS MILLER.

Oldest merchant in Sedalia, was born in Richmond, Ky., Nov. 19, 1831. His parents, James E. and Harriet F. Miller, were born and reared in Madison County, Ky., where they resided until 1844, when they removed to Missouri and located on a farm near where Tipton now stands, in Moni- teau County. The subject of this sketch received his academical educa- tion at the State University of Missouri, where he prosecuted his studies four years under the able administration of James T. Thanon. He after- wards took the degree of Doctor of Medicine at the St. Louis Medical College, spring of 1860, and attended a third course of lectures at the same college in 1863. Was united in marriage to Miss Nellie M. Hutchin, of Detroit, Mich., May 28, 1861. He had the misfortune to lose his wife October 2, 1880, leaving four girls, Jeannie T., Julia K., Hattie and Katie B. After graduating he engaged in the practice of medicine at Tipton, Mo., where he had a drug store and near by a farm, which he cultivated by slave labor under the management of an overseer. During the fall of 1860, business becoming very dull at Tipton, he concluded to look out another location for the sale of drugs and. practice of medicine, and came to Sedalia prospecting. He was well pleased with its location, &c., and was induced by Gen. Geo. R. Smith, with whom he boarded, to purchase a lot, which he did at once, and bought the lot now occupied by Bixby & Houx, of Mr. Wm. Nichol, now cashier of Commercial Bank of St. Louis, for two hundred dollars, and at once commenced the erection of his drug store, a story and half building. He bought a small stock of drugs of John A. Read, who was in the commission and forwarding business, and rented one side of his store room until he could build, which enabled him at once to commence the sale of drugs and practice of medicine. After having opened out in his new house his stock of drugs, which was about the 1st of March, 1861, Mr. W. E. Bard, his present partner, applied to him for a situation as clerk in the drug store ; he was accordingly employed at a salary of fifteen dollars per month and board. After the expiration of one year he was taken in as a full partner in the drug business, and the partnership has continued from that day to this, now over twenty years. The doctor was the first physician, as well as druggist, to locate in Sedalia. The war breaking out, and his overseer on the farm near Tipton, having abandoned his situation, the doctor was compelled to return to his old

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home and take charge of the farm and negroes in person and leave the drug store in the hands of his partner until the close of the war, when he again resumed the drug business at Sedalia. In 1873 he entered the political arena and was elected Mayor of Sedalia over his competitor, Major Wm. Beck, by a large majority. During the same year he was elected a member of the Board of Incorporators of the Female Orphan School at Camden Point, Mo. October, 1879, he was elected the first President of the State Pharmaceutical Association, and was re-elected the following year. Was chosen Vice-President of Pettis County Bank, 1880; was married the second time to Miss Margaret T. Henderson, daughter of the Rev. J. T. A. Henderson, May 23, 1882, at Sedalia, Mo.

C. MITCHUM.

Was born in Woodford County, Ky., in 1841. His father, John Mitchum, was a native of Kentucky also. His mother, Julia, nee Davis, was a native of Maryland. C. Mitchum, the subject of this sketch, came to Lexington, Mo., in 1842, with his parents. He was raised principally in Andrew County, Mo. In 1861 he entered the Confederate army in Gen. Morgan's command and served four years, except nineteen months, when he was a prisoner. During his soldier life he was twice wounded. After the war he remained in Kentucky until 1866, when he returned to Sedalia. Since which time he has spent a good portion of his time in farming and dealing in stock. He was married in 1870 to Miss M. A. Wood, a daughter of Watson Wood, one of the early settlers of this county. They have six children, John A., Eva, Ada, Dovey, Mary E. and Virginia.

THOMAS J. MONTGOMERY, (deceased.)

One of the remarkable men of his age, the latter part of whose life was closely identified with the history of Sedalia, was Dr. T. J. Montgomery. His strong character and remarkable individuality has left indelible impressions upon the city, whose growth he had seen from its infancy, and whose society he had done so much to elevate and adorn. Possessed of a mind of rare cultivation and stored with the richest gems of knowledge, Dr. Montgomery was at once conspicuous for his social virtues and his Christian graces. A steadfast friend, a tender husband, a consistent, earnest Christian, and a devoted father, he filled his sphere in life in a way which ennobled himself while benefitting mankind. Few men of his age and country have passed through a more chequered career, or one which involved the elements of a nobler manhood. In the years of his long residence in this county, his strong character and pre- vailing sense of duty has done much to fashion the social and moral opinions of the community, and wherever the imprint has been felt it has been alike effective for good, and happy in its influence. Dr. Montgom-

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ery was born in Danville, Ky., on the 9th day of August, 1812. In 1814 his father started to move from Danville to St. Louis, but owing to the distracted state of the country, from the war then waging between the United States and Great Britain, concluded to stop in Springfield until the war was over, where he remained until he died in 1826. About the time of his father's death Dr. Montgomery met with an accident, which ever afterward had a marked effect upon his life. We give it in his own lan- guage, from a hastily written sketch of his life, prepared by him at the importunity of his son: "When I was in my fourteenth year I was sent to school some five miles from town, in the country, boarding out five days in the week and returning on Friday evening. Being very fond of fishing, I frequently spent part of the night on the creek. One night, late in the fall, I and another boy went out fishing, and the night being cold, we built quite a large fire. I soon tired of fishing, and the other boy not being willing to go home so soon, I laid down by the fire, with my back near it, and fell asleep. I slept an hour or two, when I awoke and found that it had been raining, a drizzling, cold rain. I was very cold, except my back, which, being near the fire, was intensely hot, while my feet were cold and numb, but, boy-like, I thought nothing of it, and went to my boarding house. In a few days I was taken with a pain in my back, which gradually developed into curved spine. For three years I never knew what it was to be free from pain, day or night. Between the disease and the doctor, my life was a torture. At the end of three years my pains left me, but I was a deformed cripple for life. No one can tell the mental anguish I·now suffered. During my confinement of nearly three years I had been almost a constant reader, devouring everything I could get hold of in the form of a book. My mind was well stored with general information, but my prospects for future success very gloomy. Mother was very poor, a large family to sustain, but some how or other, under the Providence of God and the occasional assistance of friends, I managed to pick up a pretty good education, and at the age of eighteen commenced the study of medicine with Dr. E. B. Gaither, of Springfield, Ky. I remained in his office, except when at home assisting my mother, until the fall of 1833, nearly three years." Years afterward, when he had grown to be a middle-aged man, and his fortunes in life were made, in speaking to a young friend-himself deformed-of that great misfortune of his youth, he said, in his quaint, expressive way: "It was for twenty years the horror of my life, but I have outgrown it now, as you will yours in time. It is a great deal better to be lame in the back or feet than in the head." But the encouraging words were accented with a touch of pity or regret, and it is doubtful if the shadow of that youthful affliction was ever completely banished from his life. No one upon whom the finger of Providence has fallen will ever escape its memory. But it stimulated him

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to exertions that wrested from the jaws of affliction the triumphs of a well- spent life. Others might have given up and fallen by the wayside-it has been the fate of many-but it had no power to swerve his evenly bal- anced character from the path of duty, or to curb the activity of a mind bent upon achieving its appointed work. An important auxiliary in this result was his early and happy marriage. No influence upon man's des- tiny is so effectual for good, as that of a pure and noble woman's love. Of this event, his manuscript says:

In 1836, I met Miss Emily Flournoy, daughter of Mathew Flournoy, deceased, at a party, and fell over head and ears in love with her. She was then in her 18th year. I paid her very close attention, and in 1837 proposed and was accepted by her. She told me, however, that her mother would oppose the match on account of my poverty, and being burdened, as she expressed it, with another family-my mother's. I was very much in love, and told her that if she would stick to me we would marry anyhow. She promised, and I redoubled my exertions in business. In the fall of that year I went to Louisville and attended a course of medical lectures at the Louisville University, and having practiced suc- cessfully four years, was allowed by the rules of the school to be a candi- date for graduation. I graduated without any difficulty, in 1838. I must, in passing, say to my own credit, although it may look like self-praise, that in my graduating thesis, I took a position in the treatment of the disease on which I wrote, twenty years in advance of the day, and was regarded as a medical heretic. I believed, however, that I was right, and to my great satisfaction, twenty years after, it became the approved treat- ment, and so continues to this day. I got no credit, however, for it, as my essay slumbered in the archives of the medical institute, and somebody else made the same discovery that I had made, published his treatment and took the honors, and even he is now forgotten.

In the spring of 1838 he married Miss Emily Flournoy, and in the years that followed he learned to treasure his pure and noble wife as his greatest earthly possession. From that time on his course was but a repetition of the vicissitudes which fall to the lot of struggling humanity all the world over. It had its crosses and trials-its successes too; for what life is so severe that it has no sweets. At the time of his marriage he was prac- ticing his profession in Maxwell, a small town in Washington County, Ky., but about a year afterwards, moved back to Springfield, where he con- tinued in the practice until he moved to this State in the fall of 1857. He first settled on a farm on Heath's Creek, about fifteen miles north of Sedalia, but soon tiring of this, he in 1859 moved to Georgetown. He here opened a drug store, and practiced medicine until the spring of 1853. In 1862 he suffered his next and greatest bereavement in the death of his wife, but with a large family of young children he continued to reside in Georgetown until in the spring of 1863, when his daughter, Georgiana, who had kept house for him and cared for his children, sickened and died. The whole county was then torn in pieces by the civil war. From the

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very beginning, Dr. Montgomery was firm and outspoken in his feelings and opinions, and believing the time had come when even he should do his share in the common cause, he moved his children to St. Louis, and accepted the position of Surgeon in Col. Philips Seventh Regiment, M. S. M. He served with the regiment until the close 'of the war, being the Medical Director of the District of Central Missouri. While stationed at Warrensburg, he met there Mrs. Amanda Smith, to whom he was married on the 26th day of April, 1864. In 1865 he was mustered out of the service and moved to Sedalia. He at once entered upon a large and lucrative practice, and before many years ranked with the ablest and best men of his profession in the State. In 1872 his health began to fail him, and before long his complaint developed with Bright's disease of the kidneys, and on the 18th day of May, 1878, he died-honored and loved by all who knew him and calmly confident of the well-earned plaudit- " well done, good and faithful servant." In politics Dr. Montgomery was an Old Line Whig until the dissolution of that grand old party compelled him to seek other affiliations, when he allied himself with the Democrats. But he was never a partisan. His conservative cast of character always led him to oppose the extremists of both sections, and fired with that spirit of conciliation and compromise which was so dear to the followers of Clay, the true solution of our sectional troubles. In 1866 Dr. Montgomery was elected an Alderman of Sedalia and was re-elected in 1869, and in 1871 was nominated and elected by the Democratic party to the Mayoralty. These were perhaps the only public offices that he ever filled. Yet his wise and inflexible administration of the laws, and his high sense of duty, made him a very popular magistrate. Recurring to this period of his career, he says in his autobiography:

The office of Mayor was a vexatious and troublesome affair, and always will be to a man who wishes to honestly discharge its duties. I found it to bring many more kicks than coppers, and the only pleasant memory I have of it is that at the close of my term the officers of the city, with the Board of Aldermen, presented 'me with a beautiful gold watch as a token, they said, of my fearless and honest discharge of the duties of my office.

Dr. Montgomery joined the Presbyterian Church under the ministra- tion of his brother, Rev. Dr. Montgomery, in the early part of 1840, and was an active and zealous member of that church, as long as he lived, having served as an elder for some twenty years. Dr. Montgomery left, surviving him, his widow, Mrs. Amanda J. Montgomery, and three sons and four daughters, all of whom reside in Sedalia, except the wife of Anthony Haynes, Esq., who lives in Boonville.

JOHN MONTGOMERY, JR.

Was born August, 1844, in Springfield, Ky. His father, Dr. T. J.

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Montgomery, was born in Kentucky, as was his mother, whose maiden name was Emily Flournoy, and who died in 1862. His father came to Pettis County in 1857, and died in Sedalia in May, 1878. John, the sub- ject of this sketch, was reared and educated in Georgetown, this county, and in 1865 he took up the study of law with Col. John F. Philips, of Sedalia. In June, 1868, he was admitted to the bar, and began the prac- tice of his profession. In 1873, he was appointed attorney for the M., K. & T. Railway Company, and served in that capacity until their consolida- tion with the Missouri Pacific. In 1880, he, in connection with J. C. Thompson, bought out the Sedalia Gas Light Company, and have since been the sole owners and operators of that enterprise. Mr. Montgomery is also largely interested in real estate in the county. He belongs to the different lodges of the Masonic order, and has just been elected Master of the Granite Lodge, Sedalia. He was married in November, 1868, to Maggie M. Sneed, daughter of John M. Sneed, an old settler and promi- nent resident of Pettis County. As a lawyer, Mr. Montgomery occu- pies a leading position. Patient and thorough in investigation, ever vigi- lant, earnest and persuasive before court and jury, he is generally success- ful in his causes. Standing as he does in the prime of life in vigorous health, his ability as a lawyer established, with a lucrative practice which has already yielded him a life competence, we predict for him an honor- able, useful and brilliant future. He has two children living, Lee and George, and two deceased.

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The History of Pettis County, Missouri, History of Sedalia, Part 74

Author: Demuth, I. MacDonald Publication date: 1882 Publisher: [n.p.] Number of Pages: 1148

Author: Demuth, I. MacDonald
Publication date: 1882
Publisher: [n.p.]
Number of Pages: 1148