USA > Missouri > Pike County > The history of Pike County, Missouri : an encyclopedia of useful information, and a compendium of actual facts > Part 22
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Edgar Alonzo Parks, general dealer in musical instruments and mu- sical merchandise, and leader of Parks Military Band and Orchestra of Louisiana, was born in Louisiana, Missouri, March 19, 1845. He is the eldest of three sons of William O. and Eliza A. (Robinson) Parks. He was raised and educated at Louisiana. He began his musical education, when very young, under the instruction of Prof. M. Lebondi, he first appearing as
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a vocalist when only eight years of age. ITis instruction on the piano was given by Charles More, a well-known merchant of Louisiana, who being a good pianist was persuaded to give young Parks his first lesson on that in- strument. After taking lessons of Miss Lon Hart, of Palmyra, and others, he, in 1860, went to Hannibal and took lessons of Prof. Wolner on the piano and violin, and during that year was connected with an amateur concert company known as the " Hannibal Calliopeans." In 1861 he enlisted as a musician in the Tenth Regiment M. S. M., and served in the regimental band six months, when he became a member of the band of the Eleventh Regiment Illinois Cavalry, and served in it only a short time, when it was cut to pieces at the battle of Shiloh, he being present at that battle, and it be- ing the duty of the musicians to assist in caring for the wounded. After that he was bugler in Captain Clint. Allison's Company of M. S. M., and served six months. In October, 1863, he organized a concert troupe and traveled through Illinois, Iowa, and Wisconsin, it disbanding at Grinnell, Iowa, the following November. He then went to Milwaukee, Wisconsin, and was employed as the leader of an orchestra in a concert hall, and after- wards traveled through portions of Wisconsin for the same proprietors until 1864, when he returned to Louisiana and organized the Silver Cornet Band of that city, and was its leader until 1866, when he gave band instructions at Montgomery City and Ashley, Missouri, and at New Hartford, Illinois, until the summer of 1867, when he went to Milwaukee, where he remained until February, 1868, when he returned to Louisiana and permanently located, becoming associated with his father in a bakery and confection- ery store, as W. O. Parks & Son. Having retired from the firm in 1869 he established his present business in Louisiana. October 1, 1867, he married Miss Emma M. McCormick, of Milwaukee. They have one child, Edgar A. He is a prominent Mason, and member of Perseverance Lodge No. 92, Bond Chapter No. 23 of Louisiana, and of Cyrene Commandery No. 13 of Bowling Green.
Augustus Oury Parsons, of the firm of Parsons & Hoss, editors and proprietors of the Louisiana Journal. Mr. Parsons was born in Louisiana, Missouri, June 14, 1854. He is the son of Benjamin F. and Susan W. (Oury) Parsons, with whom he lived until attaining his majority. In 1862 he went with his parents to Washington, D. C., where his father held a po- sition in a department of the United States Treasury until 1869, where he was mostly educated by attending the Georgetown Academy. Returning with his parents to Louisiana in 1869 he entered the office of the Louisiana Journal to learn the art of printing, and continued to work in that office
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until 1874, when he was employed as a compositor in the Riverside Press office until February, 1881; he then went to Maysville, Colorado, and took charge of the Maysville Chronicle for a short time, when he returned to Lonisiana, and becoming associated with A. D. Hoss purchased the Louis- iana Journal. The Journal is a Democratic paper, and the oldest one in the county. In July, 1882, he was elected one of the Democratie central committee of Buffalo township. April 11, 1876, he married Alice S., daughter of the late Dr. Elijah Thurman, of Louisiana. They have one child, Ralph W. He is a member of Unison Lodge No. 1875, of Louisiana.
Rev. Erasmus Darwin Pearson, was born in Saline county, Missouri, June 6, 1830. He was the youngest of five children, two boys and three girls. His parents were Alonzo and Eliza W. Pearson, the latter the daugh- ter of Dr. Jolm Sappington. His father was a lawyer by profession and died in 1835. Mrs. Pearson, his mother, married ex-Governor Claiborn F. Jackson, in 1839. His boyhood days were spent in Fayette, Howard county, and Arrow Rock, Saline county. His collegiate education was obtained in Cumberland University, Lebanon, Tenn .. graduating in 1852. He pro- fessed religion at a camp-meeting near Lebanon, Tennessee, in August, 1848, and united with the Cumberland Presbyterian Church. In March, 1854, at the Buffalo church, Pike county, Missouri, he was licensed to preach by the Salt River Presbytery. For six months he rode the circuit and preached al- most every day. In October of 1854 he was sent by an order of the pres- by tery to Louisiana to preach, and to build a church-house. The house was completed and dedicated by the second sabbath in October, 1855. Ile preached to the Lonisiana congregation until the sad wave of our civil war unsettled the interest, and business relations of our people in a very large degree. In June, 1861, he moved to Marion county and remained there on a farm-yet continuing to preach-for three years. In 1864 he moved near Spencersburg, and in 1867 he moved back to Louisiana to take charge of that congregation, and has been preaching to them since that time. Ile has preached in Louisiana twenty-four years the first of October 1853. He was married to Miss Orpha M. Dysart, daughter of Colonel John Dysart, of Howard county, Missouri, on the 5th of January, 1859. They have a family of four boys and one girl. .
John Sappington Pearson, M. D., is a native of Missouri, and the son of Alonzo and Elizabeth (Sappington) Pearson. He was born at Glasgow, Howard county, April 16, 1826. His father dying when he was three or four years old, he was raised by his grandfather, Dr. John Sappington, near Arrow Rock, Missouri. He received his literary education by attending
R. A. Campbell
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the Cumberland University at Lebanon, Tennessee. He studied medicine under his grandfather, with whom he lived, completing his course by grad- uating as M. D. at the medical department of the University of Pennsyl- vania at Philadelphia, April 12, 1849. His first practice was at Lexington, Missouri, where he remained two years, when, on account of failing health he went to Memphis, Tennessee, and practiced until 1861, when he was commissioned surgeon in Gen. MeCollough's Brigade, C. S. A., and served during the war. In 1867 he returned to Missouri and permanently settled at Louisiana, where he still has an extensive practice in both city and country. From 1865 to 1880 he was associated with Dr. J. T. Bell, as Bell & Pearson. He has been twice married, his first marriage being with Mary Ellen, daughter of Rev. Doctor F. R. Cossitt of Lebanon, Tennessee, October 3, 1849, who died at the same place, November 5, 1851. Lis present wife was Mrs. Sarah Ellen, relict of Captain George Herring, late of the U. S. A., to whom he was joined in wedlock July 8, 1874. He has four children living: Alonzo, a Cumberland Presbyterian minister, who re- cently graduated from the theological department of the Cumberland Col- lege at Lebanon, Tennessee; and Ida E., John E., and Orpha R. Himself, wife, and three of his children, are members of the Cumberland Presbyterian Church of Louisiana, of which he has been a ruling elder for some twenty- five years. He is a Master Mason and member of Perseverance Lodge No. 92, A. F. & A. M., of Louisiana.
Hon. Enoch Pepper, attorney at law, Louisiana, Missouri, was born at Flemingsburgh, Kentucky, January 8, 1845. At the age of seven he came to Missouri with his parents, they settling at Clarksville, Pike county. He was educated at St. Paul's College, Palmyra, Missouri. In 1868 he began the study of law in the office of Redd & MeCabe, of Palmyra, and was with thein until 1870, when he was admitted to the bar. He began his law prac- tice, the same year, at Kansas City and continued it there until 1877, when he returned to Pike county, and, after a short stay at Clarksville, came to Louisiana, where he has practiced ever since. In 1878 he was elected, on the Greenback ticket, a member of the Missouri state legislature and served one term. He ran for member of the legislature again in November, 1882, as an independent candidate on the Greenback and Republican ticket against fearful odds, the county being overwhelmingly Democratic, and his op- ponent an old resident and partizan. He was defeated, but by a small ma- jority. He has been twice married. His first wife was Alberta Beeson, formerly of West Virginia, whom he married in 1868, and who died at Kansas City in 1870. By her he had one child, Charles Tebbs, who died
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in infancy. He married for his second wife, Alice Luke, daughter of John 1 .. Luke of Clarksville, Missonri, in 1872. They have two children, Sarah Tebbs and Elizabeth S. He is a Mason and has taken all the degrees up to Knight Templar. He is a member of Perseverance Lodge No. 92, A. F. & A. M., and has been the worshipful master for two years, and represented his lodge in the grand lodge of the state of Missouri in 1881 and JS82. He is a member of Bond Chapter No. -- R. A. M. of Louisiana, and of Cyrene Commandery No. 13, K. T., of Bowling Green. In the summer of 1882 he built the extensive brick business block on the southwest corner of Georgia and Third streets.
The Pollak Brothers are the sons of Frank A. Pollak, a Bohemian by birth, who at the age of eighteen, in 1850, immigrated to the United States. He settled in St. Louis where he worked at butchering until March, 1868, when he came to Louisiana and engaged in butchering until his death, Sep- tember 19, 1876. While at St. Louis, January 7, 1855, he married Miss Christiana Kesler of that city, where the subjects of this sketch were born; viz., John J., November 24, 1855; Albert E., December 25, 1857; and Frank J., February 20, 1860. John lived with his parents, and when old enough he assisted his father in the meat market, attending school part of the time until his father's death, after which he was variously employed at Louisiana and St. Louis until 1850, when he went to Helena, Montana Territory, where he was employed at butchering and cattle driving until 1882. Al- bert E., up to his ninth year, was an invalid, but by the time he was twelve years of age his health had so improved that he went to Clarksville and worked in the tobacco factory of Winn & Mackey, where he worked one year, when he returned to Louisiana where he worked in the various tobacco factories during the summer seasons and attended school during winters, until he was sixteen years old, when he began to clerk in the grocery store of Zuzak & Fishell, and was so employed two years, when he then worked in his father's meat market for six months, when he was employed as a clerk in the grocery store of Block & Brother, and was so employed until hia father's death when he was placed in charge of his father's business. Frank J., at the age of twelve, began to work in the tobacco factories of Louisiana, and when sixteen he engaged in buying hides, furs, rags, etc. Soon after their father's death they found they were left penniless, and they have strong suspicions that they were wronged out of what they were justly entitled to. In the spring of 1877 the two younger brothers worked in the tobacco factory until they. together. earned 850, when they went to Clarksville, and engaged in butchering for a short time, when they returned to Louis-
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iana and established their present meat market. Beginning with a capital of 850, their books show that the first year's business amounted to 86,000, the second 87,800, the third $11,000, and the fourth, just closed. $12,500. In 1882 the elder brother returned from Montana, where he met with good success. and became associated with them, thus forming the firm of Pollak Brothers. January 1, 1879, Albert E. married Miss Emma Bragonia, of Mexico, Missouri, by whom he has one child, Frank A.
Capt. William Henry Purse, postmaster at Louisiana city, was born in New York City, September 6. 1824. He lived with his parents until he was sixteen and was educated up to that age. On leaving home he went to Payson, Illinois, and worked as a farm hand abont four years, when he came to Ashley, Pike county, Missouri, where he worked in the foundry and ma- chine-shop of his uncle, S. N. Purse, for six years, up to 1852, when he became associated in the business with his uncle, in the firm name of S. N. & W. H. Purse, they having purchased the right to manufacture the Manny reaper and mower, were the first to make the manufacture of reapers and mowers a success in the state. They continued to manufacture the Manny reaper until it was superseded by other improved machines. In the enrollment of the militia in 1862 he was among the first, and was elected captain of Company F, Forty-ninth Regiment Missouri State Mili- tia, and served during the war. Ashley being a military post and rendez- vous, he was made post commander. August 28, 1862, when all his com- mand excepting nineteen men were on guard duty, the post was suddenly attacked by 130 men under Major Snyder. Capt. Purse placing his men in adjacent buildings for protection bravely repelled the assault. The as- sanlting party meeting with such determined resistance pursued a citizen, A. M. Elmore, and ordered him to convey the following note to Capt. Purse, under a flag of truce:
"ASHLEY, Angust 28, 1862.
"Commanding Officer: We demand an unconditional surrender as far as arms are concerned. All prisoners will be paroled on honor.
(Signed) COLS. PORTER AND BURBRIDGE, MAJOR SNYDER, Commanding Third Division."
While Mr. Ehnore was awaiting a reply front Purse, he was wantonly shot and wounded by his captors. The captain's terse reply was as follows: "Col. Porter and others: Can't comply with your request. You should have respected your messenger.
WM. H. PURSE, Commanding Post."
After a sharp attack of forty-five minutes they retired leaving the captain
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master of the field, and the dead and wounded uncared for. Two of the captain's men were killed and nine wounded. In the fall of 1864 he was assigned to duty at Louisiana as regimental quartermaster, and about the same time was commissioned captain in the U. S. volunteer service, but the war soon closing he was never assigned to any company. After being mus- tered out of the service at Louisiana, in 1865, he returned to Ashley, and re- sumed the business of foundryman and machinist, and was engaged until 1870, when he came to Louisiana. In 1872 he received the appointment of mail agent on the C. & A. R. R., and was so employed for two years, when he for one year had charge of the Louisiana Glass Works. Jannary, 1875, he received the appointment of postmaster at Louisiana, a position he has faithfully, honorably, and satisfactorily filled ever since. Ile was married to Mary Kerr of Ashley, May 15, 1852. They have two children living: John, a mail agent on extra mail service, and Lizzie an assistant in the Louisiana post-office. They lost one, Henry, who died in Louisiana in 1877, at the age of twenty two.
George David Reid, painter, of Louisiana, was born near St. Louis, Missouri, on a farm, October 20, 1827. He was reared at his birthplace and on a farm near Auburn, Lincoln county, Missouri. When he was nine- teen he went to St. Louis, where he learned the painter's trade with Bolton & Wilson, working with them three years, when he began to work in the same city as a journeyman and worked three years, when in 1853 he went to New Orleans, Louisiana, and worked at journey work one year. IIe then came to Louisiana and worked in a shop until 1859, when he returned to New Orleans and became associated with his brother in the firm name of G. D. & J. Y. Reid. They did business about one year, when his brother was killed by the falling of a ladder. Soon after his brother's death he re- turned to Louisiana and permanently settled, where he carried on his busi- ness alone until 1879, when his son, J. B., became associated with him in the firm name of J. D. Reid & Sou. October 20, 1852, he married Eliza- beth Ann Benson, a native of Manchester, England, by whom he has six children: Joseph B., associated with him; Leota, wife of Fremont Todd, of Louisiana, Missouri: William S., Lizzie L., Cora A., and Jeanette. During 1859 he served as city marshal of Louisiana. Himself, wife, and children, excepting the two younger, are members of the First Presbyterian Church of Louisiana.
Joseph Benson Reid, of the firm of G. D. Reid & Son, painters, of Louisiana, was born in Louisiana, Missouri, July 7, 1835. When he was
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four years old he went with his parents to New Orleans, Louisiana, where he attended school until he was thirteen, when he clerked in the lumber yard of Cuttler & Trannell for one year. He then went into the printing office of Isaac Hinton and worked as a printer until 1870, when he returned to Louisiana, Missouri, with his parents. His father wishing him to follow some vocation other than printing he tried several occupations, but finding them not to suit his taste, and having an innate love for sign and fancy painting, when he returned to Louisiana he turned his attention to that art, in which he has become an adept, and his reputation is not only at home, but he has calls to execute fine painting in Quincy, Illinois, St. Louis, and Kansas City, Missouri, and Denver, Colorado, and other western cities. He made a tour through Montana and Colorado in 1879, and in that year he also became associated with his father, as G. D. Reid & Son. He is a member of the Presbyterian Church of Louisiana. IIe is a Knight of Pythias and member of Archer Lodge No. Co, of Louisiana.
Samuel Reid, manager of the Sam Reid Tobacco Manufactory of Lou- isiana, was born near New Hope, Lincoln county, Missouri, October 1, 1848. When he was about six years of age his parents, Thomas A. and Martha J. (McCampbell) Reid, came to Louisiana, where he was reared and educated in the common school. When fourteen he began to work in the tobacco factory of Vanhorn, Murray & Co., of Louisiana, and worked in all the various departments from that of stemmer to roller or lump maker. In 1864 he enlisted in Company E, Forty-ninth Regiment Missouri Volon- teer Infantry, under Col. E. P. Dyer, and served until the close of the war, when he returned to Louisiana and attended school one year and then took a course of book-keeping at a commercial college at St. Louis. During 1869 he was employed as a clerk in the millinery and fancy goods store of Hesser & Johnson, and in 1870 he accepted a position as book-keeper in the tobacco manufactory of A. Tinsley, and was with him and his snecessors, A. Tins- ley & Co., until 1879. In 1878, while in the employ of A. Tinsley & Co., he began tlie manufacture of smoking tobacco in a small way. Leaving his employers in 1879 he enlarged his business, and soon after A. Tinsley and A. J. McCune became associated with him in the firm name of Samuel Reid & Co. In 1882 Fred Dant of Muscatine, Iowa, became one of the company, when they changed the firm name to the Sam Reid Tobacco Manufacturing Company, of which he is the business manager. Much credit is due Mr. Reid for his business standing. He started ont in life when very young, . with nothing, and educated and maintained himself by his own earnings, and by his energy and perseverance he has placed himself among the lead-
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ing manufacturers of Louisiana eity. He is a member of the school board of the city, and in 1875, being a member of the Loan and Building Associa- tion of Louisiana, he was elected treasurer, but resigned the following year, and accepted the office of director, and served as such until it disorganized in 18So, when he was one of the originators of the present Pike County Loan and Building Association. He has been twice married. He married for his first wife, Annie, daughter of Addison Tinsley of Louisiana city, in Sep- tember, 1869, who died, April, 1871. His second wife was Ann Eliza, daughter of John A. Young, of Lonisiana, whom he married January 19, 1872, by whom he has five children: Julia, Anna, Willard, George, and Florence. Himself and wife are members of the First Presbyterian Church of Louisiana, of which he is deacon. He is a Master Mason and member of Globe Lodge No. 495, A. F. & A. M., of Louisiana.
Hon, Matthew Givens Reynolds, attorney at law, of the firm of Fagg, Reynolds & Fagg. is a native of Pike county, and is the son of Dr. Stephen J. and Sophironia L. (Givens) Reynolds. He was born at Bowling Green, November 19, 1854. He received the rudiments of his education in the common schools of his native town, and when fifteen, by the recom- mendation of Hon. D. P. Dyer, received the appointment of cadet in the U. S. Naval Academy at Annapolis, Maryland, graduating as midshipman May 30, 1874. Previous to his graduation he was placed in command of Company D. Battalion of Cadets, which, at the competitive drill of 1874, received a flag, the prize for the best drilled company in the academy. After visiting home on a four months' leave of absence he was ordered to report on board the U. S. steamer Plymouth, of the North Atlantic squadron, then at Portsmouth, New Hampshire. In April, 1875, he was detached from the squadron and ordered to report at the New York navy yard, on board the U. S. steamship Tennessee, the flag ship of the Asiatic squadron, under the command of Rear Admiral William Reynolds, and in the following June set sail for a cruise on the coasts of India, China, and Japan, going out via the Mediterranean Sea, Suez Canal, and Red Sea, he acting as assistant ex- ecutive officer and navigator. In September, 1876, he returned to the Naval Academy for examination and promotion. After passing the re- quired examination he was promoted to ensign; his commission dating from July 5, 1875. He then returned home on a year's leave of absence, and began the study of law in the office of Robinson & Smith, at Bowling Green. At the expiration of his leave of absence he was ordered to report for duty on board the receiving ship Wyoming, at the Washington navy yard, Washington, D. C. November 30, 1877, he resigned his commission,
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when he went to St. Louis and took one course in the St. Lonis Law School, when he returned to Bowling Green, where he was admitted to the bar in May, 1878, and at once began to practice at that place. In June, 1879, he came to Louisiana, and became associated with T. J. C. Fagg & Son, form- ing the present law firm of Fagg, Reynolds & Fagg. In November, 1880, he was elected the representative of his district to the Missouri state legis- lature on the Republican ticket, being the first Republican representative in sixteen years. November 11, 1880, he married Miss Maime K., daughter of Hon. T. J. C. Fagg, of Lonisiana. They have one child, Stephen Clark. He is a member of Globe Lodge No. 495, A. F. & A. M .: of Anchor Lodge No. 60, K. of P .; of Unison Lodge No. 1875, K. of HI., and of Riverside Lodge No. 22, A. O. C. W.
Theodore Marion Rhea is the son of Silas and Masina (Gilinore) Rhea, who came to Pike county, Missouri, in January, 1828, from Sonth Carolina, and settled in the vicinity of Louisiana, where his father died in 1847. His mother died in Louisiana in 1856. Onr subject was born in York district, near Yorktown, South Carolina, June 22. 1819, and at the time his parents removed to Pike county he was about eight years old. IIe was raised a farmer, and to obtain an education could only attend the winter terms of the common school, having to walk daily some three or four miles, as the country was sparsely settled and schools were not numerous. He re- mained on the homestead until 1849, when he came to Louisiana, and was employed as foreman in the saw-mill of Draper & Brother until 1852, when he was employed as clerk in the store of E. G. McQuie until 1855, when, in the spring of that year, he became associated with Hugh F. Summers, and engaged in the mercantile business in the firm name of Summers & Rhea. In the spring of 1857 E. G. McQuie became Mr. Summers's suc- cessor, changing the style of the firm to MeQuie & Rhea. He retired from that firm in the fall of 1850, and in the spring of 1860 became associated with his brother, H. L. Rhea, and C. G. Hunter, in the mercantile business, as Hunter, Rhea & Co., they discontinuing in 1875. In the spring of 1879 he, with Joseph Block, organized the bank of Rhea & Block, of Louisiana; they doing a banking business until the spring of 1881, when they, with Matthew G. Reynolds, T. L. Anderson, Jacob Block, R. C. Pew, and Dr. J .. W. Dreyfus, organized and incorporated the present Exchange Bank of Louisiana. He was its first president, and served one year. In 1882 he became a stockholder in the Mercantile Bank of Louisiana, and during the same year was elected one of its directors. October 17, 1578, he married Mrs. Mary B. McCuen. Himself and wife are members of the Cumber-
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