The history of Buchanan County, Missouri, Part 70

Author: Union historical company, St. Joseph, Mo., pub. [from old catalog]
Publication date: 1881
Publisher: St. Joseph, Mo., Union historical company
Number of Pages: 1104

USA > Missouri > Buchanan County > The history of Buchanan County, Missouri > Part 70

Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).

NEWTON DISHON,

farmer and dairyman, Section twenty-six, post office St. Joseph, was born in Grayson County, Virginia, September 15, 1827. In the fall of 1855, he came to Buchanan County, Missouri. He was raised on a farm, and has followed the same during life. He came to this county in rather meagre circumstances and now has about 285 acres of land, 265 of which are in a home farm, and is lately directing his attention toward the raising of stock and the dairy business, keeping at the present time twenty to

725

ST. JOSEPH.

thirty milch cows. He was married July 9, 1847, to Mis Mary Buckley. who was born in Surry County, North Carolina, April 9, 1831. They have had eleven children, ten of whom are now living-John W., born December 26, 1849; Sarah, born October 6, 1851 ; Francis E., born December 24, 1853; Frealen H., born February 10, 1856; Lena E., born April 29, 1858 ; Alexander J., born April 2, 1861 ; Robert, born December 25, 1862, and died August 17, 1863 ; Lucy A., born June 12, 1864; Stephen A., born November 11, 1866 ; Oliver N., born January 28, 1869, and May E., born June 26, 1879.

A. DISQUE,

postmaster, notary public and dealer in general merchandise, Elwood, Kansas. Although not a resident of Buchanan County, Mr. Disque has been so closely connected and identified with the business men of St. Joseph that he is deserving of special mention. He was born on the Rhine, in Bavaria, Germany, May 12, 1828, and is of French extraction ; his father, George Michael, was a mechanic and farmer ; his grandfather, J. Adam Disque, furnished the French army with provisions, under the Old Napoleon, during the war with Germany; the grandfather of J. Adam was among the Hugenots who were obliged to flee from France, over three hundred years ago, on account of their religious views. The subject of this sketch was always a strong advocate of a republican form of government, and in 1848, came to the United States, locating tempo- rarily in Cincinnati, Ohio, and other points, eventually taking up his abode in Louisville, Kentucky. There he resided until 1857, when he came to St. Joseph, and a month after his arrival, located in Elwood. He is a man well read and his comprehensive faculties well developed, and has held all the important offices in the town, discharging the duties satisfactorily to his constituents. During the war Mr. Disque was a strong Union man, and advocated the principles openly and defiantly. He was notified at different times by the pro-slaveryites to leave. To this he paid no attention. Was in the militia, and went to Kansas City in the expedition after General Price. He owns considerable land in the vicinity of Elwood, the most of which was above the high water-mark of 1881. He married in Louisville, Kentucky, in 1855, Miss Ann M. Schmidt. They have one son, G. A. He was formerly a student at the high school in St. Joseph, and is now a prosperous merchant in Chillicothe, Ohio. Mr. Disque was made a Master Mason in Louisville, Kentucky, and is a member of Wathena Lodge and St. Joseph Chapter.

JOHN A. DOLMAN,

notary public, conveyancer and real estate agent, is a native of Ohio, and was born in Zanesville, February 1, 1822. His father, Samuel F.,

726

BIOGRAPHICAL.

was a native of New Jersey, and was among the early settlers of the Buckeye State. John A. was educated and resided in his native place until 1844, when he located in St. Louis, Missouri, and was engaged in the real estate business until 1854, when he became a resident of St. Joseph and has pursued the same vocation principally since. He laid off and sold the greater portion of the southern part of this city. As an official he has figured conspicuously hereabouts. Has been City Assessor; for three years, was City Recorder; for two years, City Register; and has been a member of the Council several years from the Third Ward, and for six years has been a member of the School Board. Was Coroner of the county for two years. In 1862, he was appointed Captain of the old 25th, 3d Provincial Missouri State Militia. A greater portion of the time was mustering in for Northwestern Missouri, and recruiting officer for Buchanan County. He served until the close of the war, when he was honorably discharged. During the Legislative session of 1881, Captain Dolman was docket clerk. He has a wide and popular acquaint- anceship. He has been twice married, first in 1845, to Miss Susan Mur- dock, of Zanesville, Ohio; she died in 1857. He again married 1858, Mrs. D. H. Banes, of Zanesville, Ohio. By the first union he had one son, James C., now in the insurance business in Chicago. By the latter union there are three sons, John A., Jr., Samuel Russell and Willie A. He is a member of the Masonic order, Blue Lodge, Chapter Council and Commandery. In 1880, was Grand Illustrious Master of the Grand Council for the State of Missouri.

DR. GEORGE K. DONNELLY

was born March 31, 1821, in the City of New York. His primary edu- cation was received in New York City, Canajoharie, Montgomery County, New York, and Detroit, Michigan ; and his medical education he obtained at Toluca, Mexico, and Chicago, Illinois. On account of ill health he was sent to Toluca, Mexico, in 1841, to be treated and to pursue the study of medicine. He was cured of his catarrh in less than two years and continued his studies until the end of four years, and graduated, receiving the diploma of the " Colegio de Medicos y Cirujanos de Toluca, Mexico," (College of Physicians and Surgeons of Toluca, Mexico) on the 20th day of February, 1845. He commenced the practice of medicine, as an allopathist, May 1, 1845, in the City of Mexico, and continued there until war was declared by the United States against Mexico, in 1846, when he made his way to the Texan frontier and joined the American United States Army, as a private, at Fort Defiance, afterwards known as Fort Brown. After the close of the Mexican War, he returned to the United States. In 1852, he met a friend who had graduated in the allopathic school, but had become a

727

ST. JOSEPH.

homœopathist. Through his influence he was led to investigate its merits, and was so well satisfied with the results of the system that he decided to adopt it, and he has since been a disciple of Hahnemann. Sometime after this he went to California and remained there four years, and then returned to Detroit, Michigan. In 1860, he went to Kidder, Caldwell County, Missouri, at the solicitation of the late George S. Harris, to be physician for the great New England Colony to be estab- lished there. The spring of 1861, found the people around Kidder tak- ing sides for and against the government of the Union. As his heart beat for his own country entire, and as he had received a number of leaden receipts for the dear old stars and stripes in Mexico, he could not see it trailed in the dust without striking one blow to redeem it from the dishonor intended to be heaped upon it by its enemies. He raised a company of Union men in Daviess County, Missouri, and joined Colonel Everett Peabody's regiment at St. Joseph, Missouri, in July, 1861. He was in the Platte River disaster September 3, 1861, where he was so badly mangled that he was taken to St. Joseph for dead and laid out in the old depot. He was reported killed by the disaster to his regiment, and was buried by proxy, with military honors at Lexington, Missouri, just before the battle at that place, September 20, 1861. He was in the battle of Shiloh, near Pittsburg Landing, Tennessee; was Acting Assistant Adjutant General of the First Brigade of General Prentiss' Division of the Army of the Tennessee. He resigned July 2, 1862, at Corinth, Mississippi, on account of reopening of wounds received in the Mexican War, and returned to Kidder, Missouri, where he remained until 1874. He then went to Chicago, Illinois, and attended the winter course of lectures at the Hahnemann Medical College, and graduated in the spring of 1875. He then located at Quincy, Illinois, and remained there until the fall of 1879. He then came to St. Joseph. He is a member of I. O. O. F and M. E. Church North.

COLONEL JOHN DONIPHAN

is descended from a Scotch family who emigrated to Virginia soon after the battle of Cullodon. His grandfather, Joseph Doniphan, at the age of eighteen was with Boone, at Boonesborough, and taught the first school in Kentucky at that fort, in the summer of 1778, and was a vol- unteer at the siege of Yorktown, in 1781. In 1783, he married Ann Smith, a descendent of Captain John Smith, who settled Jamestown. In 1790, he moved to Kentucky, and resided, until his death, in Mason County. He left three sons, Dr. Thomas S. Doniphan, surgeon of the Third Kentucky Volunteers, commanded by Colonel Payne, during the war of 1812, and the father of John; George Doniphan, and General A. W. Doniphan, of the Mexican War and a distinguished lawyer of Mis-

728

BIOGRAPHICAL.

souri. In 1818, Dr. Thomas S. Doniphan married Rebecca Frazee, the daughter of Samuel Frazee, who was a companion of Simon Kenton in Northern Kentucky, at Washington, in Mason County, in the year 1775. He removed to Brown County, Ohio, where John was born in 1826, and educated at the Franklin Academy, in Kentucky. After the death of his father, in 1843, he entered a printing office at Maysville, Kentucky. In 1844, through the kindness of Colonel Marshall, of Kentucky, he got a position in the clerk's office in Mason County. He came to Clay County, Missouri, in 1846. In 1848, he took a degree at the University of Louis- ville, and returned to Missouri. In February. 1849, he commenced to practice law in Platte County, where he continued to practice law until 1872, when he removed to St. Joseph. He had, however, practiced law in Buchanan County since 1849, and was engaged in some of the most sensational trials in this county, among others the State vs. Doy, for stealing slaves; the State vs. Hardin, and the State vs. Jenkins, each for murder. In 1854, he was elected to the Legislature from Platte County, as a Whig, against a Democratic majority of over 600, where he was instrumental in passing a bill to remove the Branch of the State Bank from Fayette to Weston, which Governor Price refused to sign; and in chartering, with one and a half millions of state aid, the Weston & Ran- dolph County Railroad, vetoed by Governor Price. This was the revis- ing session, and likewise memorable for the triangular contest for Sen- ator between Benton, Atchison and Doniphan. In 1862, Colonel Doni- phan was elected to the Senate from the Platte District, and served as an active Conservative Democrat during the next four years. He was a bold opponent of the Drake constitution and the registration laws, which disfranceised so large a portion of the best citizens. In 1866, he canvassed the Tenth district, denouncing these iniquities at great per- sonal hazard, and wrote the Democratic address for the state committee in 1866, setting forth the enormities of such legislation, and which did much to aid the revolution of popular feeling in 1870. While in the Sen- ate, he was a member of the Judiciary and Internal Improvement Com- mittees, and aided largely in shaping the revision of 1866, and exam- ined and passed upon, by section, the statutes of that year. His is the only solitary vote against the act authorizing the Governor to sell the Iron Mountain & Southwest Branch of the Pacific Railroad. He declared the act was a fraud on the state, to whom the properties were indebted several millions, and that they were worth every dollar of it, but the bill would jeopardize it. His words were prophetic, as the state got prac- tically nothing for the road, while the properties are now worth more than five times that sum, and the state is paying the debt by taxation. In 1861, being a Union man, he was offered the command of a regi- ment by General Lyon, which was declined, as well as several other posi- in the army, but in 1862, from the necessities of the times, he was com-

729

ST. JOSEPH.

pelled to join the militia to prevent Platte County from being destroyed between the bushwhackers and Redlegs, who were alternately swarming around her, ready to swoop down upon the non-combatants. After serving two months as a private, Governor Gamble appointed him Lieu- tenant Colonel of the Thirty-ninth Missouri militia, and afterwards Gov- ernor Hall appointed him to a like position in the Eighty-first Missouri, where he served, when on duty, until after the Price invasion in 1864, when he resigned. It was through his personal intercession with Gen- eral Rosecrans, who was a friend, that Jennison's Regiment was taken from Liberty Landing, to Fort Leavenworth, by steamboat, and thus saved Clay County from being pillaged and burned. In 1867, he was again elected to the Legislature, without opposition, and afterwards was elected Judge of the Weston Court of Common Pleas, during his absence, and without being a candidate. These facts show the estima- tion in which he was held by those who knew him well. He has always been prompt to serve the public without pay or reward, and has devoted much time to advance the cause of education and benevolence in the state. In 1848, he joined Phoenix Lodge, I. O. O. F., at Weston, and still remains a member of the lodge and Encampment there, having devoted much time to advancing the order, and has been honored as Grand Master and Grand Representative, has instituted lodges, traveled over the state instructing in the work, lecturing and giving his personal aid to the cause, and invariably refused to accept of compensation in any form for these services. In 1852, he married Miss Fanny Thornton, of Clay County, a daughter of the late Colonel John Thornton, and a sis- ter to Mrs. General A. W. Doniphan, Mrs. Captain O. P. Moss, Mrs. Wil- liam Morton, Mrs. R. W. Donnell, Mrs. James H. Baldwin, and Mrs. L. M. Lawson. In 1872, he was appointed attorney of the St. Joseph and Den- ver City Railroad Company, which position he has continued to fill since to the satisfaction of the company and its patrons. In 1859, in connec- tion with Judge James N. Burnes, he organized the Weston and Atchi- son Railway Company, and together paid out of their means the expen- ses of surveys, plats, etc., and having been elected the first President of the company, Colonel Doniphan gave a year in hard work to make a success of the project. In 1860, he assisted in the organization of the Missouri Valley Railroad Company, from Weston to Moberly, and was elected attorney of it, and had surveys and estimates made largely at his own expense, all of which were lost by reason of the war. Colonel Don- iphan has never been a seeker for position or place outside of his pro- fession, and those he has held have been more the result of solicitation than from any desire on his part to secure them. He is domestic in his habits and tastes, and has often said he would rather receive the "Well done," of his wife, than the plaudits of the multitude. As a practicing lawyer for more than thirty years, a member of the Legislature for seven

730

BIOGRAPHICAL.

sessions, and an active hard worker of great practical common sense, he has done much to shape the law and political economy of his county and state, and takes a great interest in public enterprises calculated to ameliorate and elevate his fellow citizens ; he is a trustee of the Lunatic Asylum No. 2, having been appointed by Governor Phelps, without his solicitation or knowledge ; also the professor of medical jurisprudence in the St. Joseph Hospital Medical College, and several other positions of trust for the public good. Colonel Doniphan was attorney of the Weston and St. Joseph Railroad, and its successor, the Missouri Valley, for ten years, and obtained the right of way and assisted in the construction from Kansas City to Hopkins and Forest City, resigning in 1870. He built from Atchison to Edgerton, thus making the Atchison bridge and Winthrop necessities, and additions to the wealth of Buchanan County. In 1879, as agent of Jay Gould, he built the Hastings and Grand Island and Blue Valley Railroads, as tributaries to St. Joseph. As a lawyer he has been successful in defending over one hundred and sixty cases of felony ; he has never had but three clients ultimately convicted, and these were a part of those where he was defending under opposition from the court, and out of over thirty mur- der cases he has never had a client convicted capitally. Colonel Doniphan is an eloquent and forcible speaker, a compact and close reasoner, but seems to use pathos and logic only as a means of conviction. Perhaps the best illustration of his reserved powers as a public speaker was given in opposition to the sell-out bill introduced into the State Senate by Hon. David Wagner, afterwards Chief Justice, in January, 1864, by which the State sold the Missouri Pacific Railroad to John C. Fremont for seven millions State bonds, then worth twenty- five cents on the dollar. Fremont was then in the zenith of his fame, a favorite of the Missouri Republicans as against Mr. Lincoln for the Presidential nomination of 1864. He was in Jefferson City with a large hotel and restaurant run full, with many talented followers and lobyists, to aid in passing this bill. He had secured the promise from a majority of the Senate to favor it, and had it presented suddenly by one of the ablest members in a forcible and clear speech. Immediately upon Judge Wagner being seated, Col. Doniphan arose, and, in a speech of half an hour in length, dealt the proposition such fearful blows, and denounced the measure as one so fraught with peril to the State, that the Senate refused to receive the proposition. The Missouri Republi- can of the next day, says of the speech : "Thanks to John Doniphan when Wagner, of Lewis County, yesterday, introduced a bill to sell out the Pacific Railroad to John C. Fremont and others at seven millions of State bonds, the first installment of one million to be paid in 1864, John Doniphan, in the right way and on the instant, hit it just in the bull's eye, and Wagner may be thankful to our friend Bush that the

731

ST. JOSEPH.

fraudulent thing ever kicked afterwards. The Senate refused to receive the bill, but the good nature of Mr. Bush had it so far reconsidered as to refer to a committee. We have seldom seen remarks more pertinent and killing to any measure than those submitted by Mr. Doniphan. He exposed with an effect which must have been electric upon the Senate, the infamous character of the proposition. Introduced at an unexpected moment, for it had been understood that the House was first to be favored with the bill, he seems to have comprehended at a glance the enormity of the provisions of the bill, the sacrifice of State, county, city and individual interests, and the disregard of State honor and State independence, and to have denounced it with a vehemence and a sense of the injustice even in entertaining such a proposition, which com- mands our admiration. We have no fear of the adoption of a sell out proposition while he stands ready to expose it, and we are quite sure he will." Col. Doniphan seems contented in the devotion of one of the noblest of women, and in humbly aiding in the development and advancement of the country.

COLONEL JOHN DONOVAN,

of the firm of Donovan & Saxton, real estate agents, was born in Dor- chester County, Maryland, February 28, 1828. He is the son of Captain John Donovan, a native of West Virginia. His mother's maiden name was Pattison. She was a native of Dorchester County, Maryland. Young John Donovan was one of a numerous family of children. He received the advantages of the best schools and academies of that country. His first business experience was in the capacity of Deputy Circuit Clerk in his own county. In 1857, he was elected Register of Wills for Talbot County, Maryland. In this capacity he served six years. He studied law and was admitted to the bar in 1867. He after- wards engaged in the real estate business and in farming. In 1868, he left Virginia for the west, and, arriving in St. Joseph, settled there in the practice of his profession and in the real estate business, in which he has since continued. December 1, 1851, Colonel Donovan was married to Miss Evalina M. Robinson, daughter of Thomas Robinson, Esq., a farmer of Talbot County, Maryland. He has, by this marriage, five children, three of whom are sons. He is a member of Christ (Episcopal) Church, and of Zeredatha Lodge, A. F. and A. M., in St. Joseph, and is regarded as a representative citizen. .

GEORGE DONALDSON,

conductor on the St. Joseph and Des Moines Railroad. This genial gen- tleman is a native of Pennsylvania, and was born in Allegheny County. His father, Hugh Donaldson, was an agriculturist, and George spent his

732

BIOGRAPHICAL.

youthful days in tilling the soil. In 1863, he tendered his services to the Union cause, enlisting in Company C, One Hundred and Thirty-sixth Pennsylvania Volunteer Infantry, and served fourteen months. In 1873, he came West, and made his debut in railroading on the C., R. I. & P. R. R. in Iowa, and was in the employ of that company about six years. During three years he acted as conductor. He next became an employe of the K. C., St. J. & C. B. for a time, and in the autumn of 1879, became connected with the St. J. & D. M. Co. He is thoroughly proficient in railroading, and commands the confidence of his employers. In 1873, at Stuart, Iowa, Miss Clara Warner became his wife, and they have had three children-Pearl, Laura and Birda.

DR. EDMUND A. DONELAN,

was born in Ogdensburg, St. Lawrence County, New York, April 5, 1824, and is of Irish parentage. He obtained a common school educa- tion, and in 1839, removed to Wayne County, Indiana. For two years he was a student in the Beach Grove Academy, and then taught school for two terms. In 1844, he commenced the study of medicine at Liberty, Union County, and subsequently attended a course of lectures at the Ohio Medical College in 1847 and in 1848. Dr. Donelan first began practicing at Abington, but after six months he removed to Missouri, locating at Amazonia, and removed to Savannah in 1850. Returning to college in 1851, he graduated in the winter of 1851-2. In the fall of 1852, he was first elected to represent his county in the State Legislature, and was re-elected in 1854, and served two full terms. In 1857, he removed from Andrew County, and located in Platts- mouth, Cass County, Nebraska. In 1858, he was elected a member of the Nebraska Legislature, and the succeeding year (1859) was elected to the Territorial Council, a body corresponding to the present State Senate. During the session of 1859 and 1860 he served as presiding officer. In the spring of 1860, Dr. Donelan removed to St. Joseph, and at once entered on a successful practice of his profession. During the winter of 1870-71, he visited New York, and attended Bellevue Medical College and the various hospitals of New York city. He has filled sey- eral public positions, among them those of county physician of Buchanan County and city physician of St. Joseph. He was elected Treasurer of the Missouri State Medical Association in 1873, and served as President of the St. Joseph Medical Society. In November, 1876, he was chosen Representative in the Twenty-ninth General Assembly, and was re-elected to the Thirty-first General Assembly from St. Joseph. He was one of the founders of the College of Physicians and Surgeons, of this city, and was one of its lecturers. He has filled the chair of Materia Medica and Therapeutics for two years. In 1881, he was elected Pro-

733

ST. JOSEPH.

fessor of Diseases of Women and Children. Dr. Donelan is now devot- ing his time wholly to his profession.

ALEXANDER M. DOUGHERTY,

of the firm of Dougherty, Ray & Co., lumber dealers, was born in Kentucky, October 17, 1833. In 1834, he immigrated to St. Joseph, Missouri. He was raised a farmer, but afterwards learned and worked at the carpenter trade. In 1858, he engaged in the livery business, con- tinuing in the same till the breaking out of the civil war. Inspired by a conviction of right, he united his fortunes with the South, and enlisted in Company A, of John Morgan's regiment of Confederate cavalry. By the fortune of war, he was captured at Buffington Island, near New Lisbon, Ohio, in July, 1863, and was incarcerated in a Chicago prison during the remaining days of the war, at the close of which he returned to St. Joseph and engaged in the lumber business. Three years after this, the present company was formed, of which he became the head. In common with many others, he sustained severe loss during the civil war, his own amounting to not less than eight thousand dollars. By energetic action and well directed enterprise, he succeeded in recovering his losses and now ranks with the successful business men of St. Joseph. March 17, 1867, he married Miss Celia Pullens, a native of Kentucky, born January, 1845, and a daughter of Judge Pullens, a prominent citi- zen of Buchanan County. The result of this union was three children, William, born February 14, 1868; Sarah, born August 17, 1870; and John, born January 5, 1872. Mr. Dougherty is a member of the Christian Church and an energetic and public spirited citizen.

Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.

The history of Buchanan County, Missouri, Part 70

Author: Union historical company, St. Joseph, Mo., pub. [from old catalog] Publication date: 1881 Publisher: St. Joseph, Mo., Union historical company Number of Pages: 1104

Author: Union historical company, St. Joseph, Mo., pub. [from old catalog]
Publication date: 1881
Publisher: St. Joseph, Mo., Union historical company
Number of Pages: 1104