Greene County, Missouri - Biographical sketches, 1915 (part 29 of 29)

The mother of the subject of this sketch was known in her maidenhood as Melissa Bower, a representative of an old Knickerbocker family of Xew York. She was a daughter of Plarvey Bower. Her death occurred November 3. 1914, at Los Angeles, California, at the age of seventy-three years.

Three children were born to Alfred F. LaBounty and wife, namely: Cora married Henry Balfour, a lawyer of Jonesboro, Arkansas; Hattie, who took care of her mother in her declining years, married H A. Esmond, formerly a locomotive engineer on the Mobile and Ohio railroad, but is now living in retirement in Los Angeles; and Charles F., of this sketch.

The subject id" this sketch received his education in the common schools, but left school when sixteen years old, and he began his railroad career when a small buy. lie tirst went to work for the Missouri Pacific at St. Louis as machinist apprentice, and after serving out his time in this capacity he left that city as journeyman in 1890, and went t<> Pine Bluff, Arkansas, as machinist with the Cotton Belt road, remaining there nine or ten months, then returned to St. Louis and resumed his old position with the .Missouri Pacific, later was promoted from machinist t<> foreman, which position he held two years, lie has worked for the Missouri Pacific at various times for a period of fifteen or sixteen years. Some time he worked for the Pneumatic House (leaning Company in St. Louis: this linn manufactured chairs, and Mr. LaBounty was the first man that ever assembled one of the lirm*s famous chairs. In [902 our subject went 1<> I'd Paso. Texas, where he worked as machinist for the Southern Pacific Railroad Company for two years. In October, 1904, he began working in the north side Frisco shops, Springfield, Missouri, as machinist, later being promoted to assistant machinist foreman, which position he now holds, having fifteen men under his direction; he is also assistant foreman of the brass department in the same shops, and his two-fold duties keep him busy but, being a man of industry and good executive ability he discharges the duties devolved upon him in a manner that is highly pleasing to his employers. He is an expert in his line and has kept well up-to-date in the same.

Mr. LaBounty was married in 1893 to Emma Grassman, a daughter of John and Elsie ( Grundum ) Grassman, of St. Louis. To this union one child has been born - Elise LaBounty, who was educated in the ward and high schools, and is now teaching in the Robberson school, Springfield; she is also musically inclined and is organist at St. John's Episcopal church.

Politically, Mr. LaBounty is a Republican. Fraternally, he belongs to the Order of Eagles, Knights and Ladies of Security, Loyal Order of Aldose, and was formerly a member of the Knights of Pythias. He is a member of St. John's Episcopal church, and sang in the choir there many years. He owns a comfortable home on Clay street.

Mr. LaBounty has found time during his work-a-day life to develop a natural esthetic nature. He has become a well-informed man along general lines by wide home reading. He has always been a great lover of floriculture and has a practical knowledge of botany. He has a small hothouse on the rear of his lot at 1320 Clay street, thirty-two by twelve feet, and he devotes his spare time to the culture of flowers, now making a specialty of asters and dahlias. Courteous and genial, he is a pleasant gentleman to meet.

Although we are prone to rail at our environments and lack of early opportunities, blaming these for our failures along the road toward the "heights." yet the contemplative mind must conclude that life is, after all, about what we make it. When hut a boy Jerry W. Owens, of Springfield, Missouri, general agent of the Penn Mutual Life Insurance Company, of Philadelphia,, realized that man is master of his fate; that he is the captain of his own soul, and he set about in a laudable manner to shape his destiny on "these banks and shoals of time."

Mr. Owens was born on September 6, 1875, on a farm eight miles northwest of Carthage, Missouri, in one of the best farming sections of Jasper county, and resided on this farm until he- was twenty-one years of age. He is a son of David D. and Frances M. (Stout) Owens. The father was born in Wales, July 15, 1834. and moved to Newark, Licking county, Ohio, with his parents when a mere boy, and the mother's birth occurred near Newark, Licking county, Ohio, September 9, 1842. Her death occurred at Santa Cruz, California, July 17, 1913, and in that city the father is still making his home. David D. Owens received a fairly good education in the rural schools. His wife was well educated and she spent her earlier vears in educational work, teaching about twenty terms in Ohio and Illinois. Mr. Owens has devoted his active life to farming and stock raising, but is now living in retirement, but still owns his fine farm of two hundred acres in Jasper county. Missouri. During the Civil war he enlisted in an Ohio regiment and served in the Union army, participating in several engagements in Maryland and Virginia. He is a member of the Grand Army of the Republic, and politically he is a Republican. His family consists of four children, namely: Edwin J. lives in Canon City, Colorado, where he is engaged in the mercantile business; David A. lives in Santa Cruz, California, where he is engaged in the transfer and storage business; James B. also lives in Santa Cruz, being in partnership with his brother in business.

Jerry \Y. Owens spent his boyhood on the farm in Jasper county and received his education in the common schools, later attending college in Carthage, then came to Springfield and took a course in the Springfield business College. He began life fur himself by doing clerical work for a number of different firms in Springfield. He subsequently became official court reporter fur the Circuit Court and the Criminal Court, discharging the duties of this important trust for a period of eight years in a manner that was highly satisfactory to all concerned. He reported all civil cases in Division No. 2 and reported all criminal cases. While incumbent of this office he found time to engage to some extent in the insurance business, and about ten years ago he was made general agent fur the I'enn Mutual Life Insurance Company, of Philadelphia, his territory comprising about twentyfive counties in southwestern Missouri. lie has offices at 826 Landers Building. lie is one of the best known insurance men in this section of the state.

.Mr. Owens was married on March 10. 1909, in Springfield, to Minnie Clyde Umbarger, who was born in Saline county. Missouri, June 21. [877. She is a daughter of Thomas A. and Mary Jane (Spates) Umbarger. The father was born on July 5, [846, near Bloomington, Indiana, and died on ( (ctober 8, [910, bis death being the result of an accident. The mother of Mrs. Owens was born on February K>. [837, near Louisville, Kentucky, and Iter death occurred on March 5, [903. To these parents six children were born, five of whom are still living, namely: William W. is engaged in farming near Marshall. Saline county, Missouri; Walter A., who lives in Springfield, is a member of the firm of Boehn & Umbarger. fire insurance agents; Dr. Thomas T. is practicing dentistry in Springfield; Maggie, who married William W. Naylor. He was killed in a train wreck near Lebanon, Missouri, September 15, 1914; Minnie C, who became the wife of Mr. Owens, of this sketch. She attended the country schools, and the Missouri Valley College at Marshall, Missouri.

Politically, Mr. Owens is a Republican and is active in party affairs. He is at this writing chairman of the county committee of his party and has done much for the success of the candidates of his party. He belongs to the Knights of Pythias and the Illinois Commercial Men's Association, of Chicago. The family belongs to the Cumberland Presbyterian church.

Charles Wesley Morckel

We are told by the ancient philosophers that all in this world is in ordained form, some maintaining that in nature nothing develops with the help of man's hands. The charm that is charm is that which has become an existing object by an unhampered, ungoverned process in a natural manner. While many who love to spend their lives close to the soil, with the sustaining touch of nature on every hand, may not understand her workings, but they feel a kinship nevertheless which renders the life of the outdoor person better in every way than that of his city brother. Some, of course, not feeling that sense of harmony, do not think so. The Morckel family, of whom Charles Wesley Morckel, a farmer of east Center township. Greene county, is a creditable representative, have preferred to spend their lives in agricultural pursuits, getting both pleasure and profit from the close contact with Mother Nature.

Mr. Morckel was born March 11, 1869, in Cooper county, Missouri, near Boonville. He is a son of John Christian and Rosanna (Bandy) Morckel. The father was born in Bavaria, Germany. The mother was of French parentage, but was born in Switzerland. These parents emigrated to the United States about 1834, before their marriage; the father first located in Stark county, Ohio, and the mother in Columbiana county, that state, and they were married in the latter county about 1858. and some two years later they moved to Marshall county, Indiana, remaining there six years, then went to Illinois for two years, and from that state went to Cooper county, Missouri, locating on a farm near Boonville, where they made their home for a period of eighteen years. After spending a few years each in Vernon and Jasper counties, this state, they established their home in Greene (121) county on the farm where our subject now lives, in section 1 and 2, east Center township, in 1892, and here they spent the rest of their lives, the father dying on August 9, 1908, and the mother's death occurred on April 2, 1908. They were the parents of five children, four of whom are still living, namely : John Wesley is farming in New Mexico ; William Edward is farming in Idaho; Mary Louise is the wife of Paton Gallagher and they live in Tipton, Missouri ; and Charles W. of this sketch.

The subject of this review was reared on the farm and worked thereon when he became of proper age, and he received a common school education in Cooper and Jasper counties. He remained on the farm with his parents until his marriage on December 25, 1895, to Belle Young, a daughter of Charley and Kittie Young, of Murray township, this county. After his marriage he bought eighty acres adjoining his father's farm and lived on this place one and a half years, when, upon the death of his wife on July 23, 1899, ne returned to the home of his parents and has since remained on the homestead. He again married in 1901, his last wife being Francisca Melkesswan. To the first union two children were born : Almeda, born on November 14, 1896; and Harry, born on May 7, 1899.

In addition to carrying on general farming Mr. Morckel devotes considerable attention to raising and handling live stock, and no small portion of his success has been derived from this source. His farm is one of the best in the township. It consists of two hundred acres, all under a high state of cultivation and improvements, including good drainage into a spring branch. The bottom land is of a soil known as black loam, the higher portions, red limestone land. In addition to the homestead he owns thirty acres of timber, not far away.

Prominent among the successful medical men of Springfield and Greene county is Dr. Ulysses F. Kerr, formerly a well-known general practitioner of Christian county. During his fourteen years of practice, his punctuality in keeping appointments with his patients has been religiously adhered to, never having disappointed anyone except in cases of the most urgent necessity. Privately, as well as professionally, his life has been an exemplary one, and no proper help to worthy enterprises, public, charitable or otherwise, has he withheld, and he is honored and respected by all as a true type of the sympathetic, broad-minded Christian physician.

Hubert H. Hayward

Many appellations have been applied to the present epoch or cycle of the world's history, such as the electric or steam age, none of the terms, it seems being broad enough, but if we sin mid christen it the age of invention, we would evidently not go far amiss, as any contemplative mind will readily agree. If we look at the far-reaching effects of the inventions of only a few such wizards as Edison, Tesla, Bell and Maxim, we would see the appropriateness of the last named phrase to this the greatest age since the dawn of the world's history. But as in other walks of life, not all the inventions that have blessed the race have been made by men bearing names which have become household words the world over. Here and there, in every civilized nation, may be found some one outside of "fame's eternal camping ground" who has by his genius or talent or, perchance, by merely commonplace hard work produced some device that has lightened or facilitated man's work, and therefore added his little quota to the great aggregate force that is lifting from humanity's shoulders "the burden of the world," of which the poet, Markham, wrote in "The Man with the Hoe." Belonging to this class of minor inventors who have accomplished definite results is Hubert H. Hayward, president of the Hayward Wrench Company, of Springfield, and skilled machinist and talented inventor.

Mr. Hayward was born on June 22, 1882, in Sac township, Dade county, .Missouri. He is a son of Albert Clinton and Harriet A. (Rector) Hayward. The father was born in Sac township, Dade county, on July 27, 1841, his parents being among the pioneer settlers there. The paternal grandfather was Edwin Clinton Hayward. He was born in New York and served as apprentice in the shipyard for several years ; also worked in the United States navy yard. He was born in 181 1, and died at the age of seventy-eight years. Grandmother Hayward's maiden name was Caroline Smith. She was born in Roane county, east Tennessee in 1824, and died at the age of sixty years. The maternal grandmother was Angeline Butler, who was born on May 14, 1829, in Anderson county, east Tennesee, and is still living, and enjoying good health for one of her age.

Albert C. Hayward, father of our subject, grew to manhood in Dade county, and in early life learned the carpenter's trade, which he followed in his vicinity in connection with farming. He prospered with advancing years and became owner of a fine farm of about five hundred acres there. He has spent the major part of his life in his native county, where he now lives retired and is one of the most widely and favorably known men in that county. He was for three terms assessor of Dade county, which position he filled with credit and efficiency. He has always been a loyal Republican, and is a stanch member of the Christian church at Bona, Mis- souri. His wife, Harriet A. Rector, was born on May 21, 1848, in eastern Tennessee, but when only six years of age she made the long overland journey in wagon from that country to Missouri, the family locating in Dade county. She was fairly well educated for that period and she taught school several years in Dade county before her marriage. She is a member of the Church of Christ at Bona, near which village the parents of our subject are spending their declining years in their pleasant home. To them six children were born, namely: Mrs. Ina Perkins lives in Cedar county, Missouri ; Albert C. is an attorney and lives in Springfield, Missouri ; Ada is teaching school in Dade county: Hubert H.. subject of this sketch; Henry is operating the old home farm; Homer lives in Springfield and is treasurer of the Hayward Wrench Company.

Hubert H. Hayward spent his boyhood days in Dade county with his parents on the farm, and he received his education in the township schools and the high school at Everton, Missouri. Having natural inclination to the machinist's trade he learned the same in the school of practical experience and hard knocks, and he followed his trade in Dade county and in Springfield for a number of years. He also learned the carpenter's trade, at which he worked for some time in his native count}- and other places with the highest honors of his trade in Dade count}-. He moved to Springfield in 1914, where he has since resided. His practical knowledge of the machinist's trade enabled him, by careful and well laid plans and thoughtful diagrams to invent a new wrench on which he secured a United States patent on November 4. 1 9 1 3 , and for the manufacture of which he organized a $100,000 stock company, which has been incorporated as the Hayward Wrench Company, of which he is president, and his brother Homer, Nicepresident. The}- have offices at 505 Woodruff Building. Springfield, Missouri, and the\- are making the wrench in large numbers in Chicago, Illinois. and placing it on the market, which is finding a very read}' sale, as its merits are made known over the United States and Canada. It is an automatic combination wrench of which the mechanism and advantages over all other wrenches speak for themselves, and is the only combination nut and pipe wrench made that is self-adjustable. It will fit any bolt, nut or pipe without having to be adjusted. It is invaluable as a ratchet wrench. It works on the same principle as rachet, and many places where there is little room to work it is indispensable. It will not crush pipe, hut the tighter one pulls, the tighter the jaws clamp the nut or pipe with equal force on each side. It is also most desirable as a pipe wrench, being so constructed that it will not mash or crush the pipe, although holding it very tightly. Most pipe wrenches slip after hold breaks, but this wrench will not slip, for the tighter one pulls the better the wrench holds. The jaws come together with equal force and the teeth in each one go straight in when the operator pulls on it, so that it is impossible for it to slip. It is a handy, automatic combination, all-purpose wrench for the machinist, engineer, plumber, chauffeur and farmer. It is simple, hand}' and always ready. It is made of 80 to 90 carbon drop forged tool steel and constructed with links like the chain of a bicycle, and withal, is strong, durable and inexpensive, and is one of the most wonderful inventions of its kind in the history of the world. The construction and mechanism of its different parts are so perfectly arranged and fitted together that each function has part of the work to do. There is no mechanical science or mathematical rule discovered by which to figure out how to get the strength, length and size in the double-compound, balance leverage connection, in the different sized wrenches.

Hubert H. Hay ward was married on February 17, 1902, to Ora Frieze, daughter of Richard Denton Frieze and Emily ( Perkins) Frieze, both natives of Dade county, Missouri, where they grew to maturity, were educated, married and established their home. Air. Frieze becoming a prominent farmer there, owning a fine farm of over two hundred acres, in fact he spent his life on the farm on which he was reared, dying in April, 1908. Politically he was a Democrat, and he belonged to the Church of Christ, to which his widow also belongs, she having remained on the home place. To these parents seven children were born, namely: Ora. wife of Mr. Hayward of this sketch; Claude lives in Dade county; Maude is the wife of Flavin Davis; Macy L. is the wife of A. R. Pee, who lives in Dade county; Jessie is the wife of C. E. Martin, who lives in Jasper county, Missouri; Ernest, who at this time is a young man of eighteen years of age, lives with his mother on the homestead in Dade county; Norma, wife of J. C. Tygart, lives in Dade count)-. Missouri.

To Mr. and Mrs. Hayward eight children have been born, named as follow; Pa Vernice, Cleo, Theta, Clinton and Denton, twins; Wilbur, Raymond and Maude.

Politically Mr. Hayward is a hard-working Republican. He belongs to Podge No. 9160, Modern Woodmen of America, at Dadeville. Missouri. He and his wife are members of the Church of Christ at Bona, Dade county.

Capt. John Hapstead

Everybody in the western part of Greene countyr knows Capt. John Halstead, real estate agent and general manager of the Brookline Inn and feed barn. He has long been a resident of this locality, whose interests he has had at heart and sought to promote, and as a booster for his town and township he has done as much as any other man and is deserving of the high esteem in which he is universally held.

I926 Greene County, Missouri Tucker-Ferguson Warehouse & Transfer Company

One of the thriving business firms of Springfield which is worthy of specific mention in this volume is the Tucker-Ferguson Warehouse and Transfer Company. They maintain three large warehouses, located as follow : Office building, a one-story concrete building with 30,000 square feet of floor space, at 666 East Chestnut street; a three-story brick building, corner Summit and Chestnut streets. It is equipped with electric elevator, containing 400,000 square feet; a three-story brick building, corner Phelps avenue and Grant street, containing 300,000 square feet of floor space, with, electric elevator. There is five hundred feet of private trackage, and there is also a large barn for live stock, accommodating twenty-five head of draft horses. The company operates three solid, enclosed, padded moving vans, and all household goods is guaranteed not to be soiled by bad weather, dust or scratched in transit. Three stake wagons are also kept for freighting and ordinary moving; also two curtain vans for household goods, other equipment, such as floats, trunk and delivery wagons and a special wagon for safes and heavy hauling. Eighteen experienced, skilled and reliable men and drivers are constantly employed, and prompt and first-class service is the aim of the firm at all times. Special carload consignments are given prompt attention, and they handle about four hundred carloads annually. Household goods are packed for shipment by experts. Their slogan, "The quality service merchants of Springfield."

The firm was incorporated in 1909, for twenty-thousand dollars, fully paid up. E. G. Tucker, a complete sketch of whom appears elsewhere in this work, is president and manager, and E. A. McKay is secretary and treasurer. Some estimate of the reliablity and efficient management of the firm may be obtained by the mention of the fact that one sugar company alone entrusts them with $500,000 of sugar for storage and distribution.

Elmer Alexander McKay was born in Knox county, Missouri. July 25, 1881. He is a son of James G. and Clara J. (Bryson) McKay. The father was born in Lafayette county, Indiana, May 13. 1845. ar>d when fourteen years of age came with his parents to Knox county, Missouri, where he followed farming for nearly forty years, and at this writing he is president of the Home Bank in Knox, Missouri, and is one of the prominent citizens of Knox county. Politically he is a Republican. He belongs to the Presbyterian church and is a member of the Knights of Pythias. Clara J. Bryson, mother of E. A. McKay, was born in Knox county, this state, October 28, 1858, and there grew tn womanhood, received her education, and. in fact, has lived there all her life.

a good education; he was graduated from the Knox high school in 1895, from the Kirksville State Normal in 1901, and from the University of Missouri at Columbia in 1906. After leaving the university he took a position in the Home Bank at Knox, where he remained until in June, 191 1, when he came to Springfield and bought an interest in the Tucker-Ferguson Company, of which he is secretary and treasurer, and the large success of the same has been due in no small measure to his industry and foresight.

Mr. McKay was married on June 20, 1907, to Mary Asbury, who was born in Farmington, Missouri, February 12, 1883, and there grew to womanhod and received her education at Elmwood Seminary and University of Missouri. Mrs. McKay is a member of the Saturday Club, the Daughters of the American Revolution, and state treasurer of the Missouri Parent-Teachers' Association.

Politically Mr. McKay is a Republican. He belongs to the Presbyterian church, and fraternally is well known in Masonic circles, being a member of Edina Lodge No. 219, Free and Accepted Masons, at Edina, Missouri; Edina Chapter No. 61, Royal Arch Masons, also at Edina; and Zabud Council, Royal and Select Masters. He is a member of the Young Men's Business Club, and is secretary of the same.

Richard Massey

The Massey family is one of those who cast their fortunes in the locality of which this history treats when it was little better than a wilderness, but being courageous and resourceful people, they forged to the front ranks and have been well and favorably known in Greene county since the pioneer epoch. One of the best known of the family is Richard Massey, a contractor of Springfield, who has spent his life of over fifty-seven years here and is therefore a connecting link between the first period of development of this vicinity and the present.

Mr. Massey was born September 15, 1857, just east of Springfield, on the old homstead. He is a son of Capt. James and Martha (Anderson) Massey. The father was born in Ireland, where he spent his boyhood and attended school, and when eighteen years of age he ran away from home and sailed on the broad Atlantic toward the United States to seek his fortune. He first settled in Knox county, Tennessee, at the foot of the Cumberland Mountains, regarding whose picturesque inhabitants so much has been written, and in that locality he was married and made his home until the year 1832, when he made the tedious and somewhat hazardous overland trip to Greene county, Missouri, bringing his family in a primitive wagon, and thus the Masseys were among the earliest pioneers of this locality. He secured a tract of land just east of what is now the thriving city of Springfield, but which was at that time an encampment of the Kickapoo Indians. He set to work with a will, cleared, broke and fenced his land, erected a log cabin and by perseverance and hard work became very comfortably fixed in due course of time, and was a man of influence among the early frontiersmen, his neighbors being, however, very few and most of them some miles distant, until more Tennesseeans followed him, the Fulbrights, the Freemans and others. Although he devoted the major portion of his life to farming, he was a mechanic by trade and a skilled workman. He made the first separator, or "ground-hog" thresher, ever seen in this part of the country. During the War of 1812, he enlisted in defense of his adopted country, gladly fighting against the flag under which he was born, and for meritorious conduct on the field of battle he was promoted from a private to a captain, and served with distinction throughout the war. Politically he was first a Whig, then a Republican after that part)' was organized in the fifties. His death occurred on his farm here in [863. His wife was a native of Tennessee, where she grew up and received a limited education. She lived to an advanced age, dying in Stone county, Missouri, in February, [899. To these parents nine children were borri; only four of whom are living at this writing: Robert, Richard of this sketch, Sally and Emma.

Richard Massey grew to manhood on the old homestead, where he helped with the general work when a boy, and he received his education mostly by home study. When his father died he was a small boy, and as soon as he could, he was compelled to work and assist in supporting the family, lie followed farming for some time, then took up carpenter work, then railroad grade contracting and at the present time he is engaged in general contracting. He has been very successful in his line and has handled some large jobs, among which was the Valley water falls, the Grant street subway, did the work for the filtering plant at the pump station for the Springfield water works, and he built the first piece of special road that was ever seen in Greene county. He has been very successful in a business way, and owns a commodious home on South Campbell street, surrounded by a lot containing five acres.

Mr. Massey was married, first on April 14. 1874. in Stone county, Missouri, to Hannah Price, who was born in Henry county, Iowa. Her death occurred in Stone county. She was a daughter of Allen and Mary (Brown) Price, who were pioneer settlers in Henry county, Iowa. Bv this first union of our subject seven children were born, namely: Clara, Guy, James Allen, Robert E., Ernest, Laura and Sally. Mr. Massey was married a second time in Stone county, to Mary J. Price, a sister of his first wife, and to this union five children have been born, namev : Floyd Glenn, Zella, Percy, Carrol and Kenneth.

Politically Mr. Massey is a Democrat. He belongs to the Knights and Ladies of Security, and is a charter member of the Supreme Court of Honor. The Massey family are members of the Christian church.

Charles Lee Lloyd

One of Greene county's farmers who evidently saw long ago that mind is superior to matter is Charles Lee Lloyd, of Brookline township, for he has made and is making a pronounced success as a general farmer, not only producing good general crops but specializing also in fruits and breeding and raising a superior grade of live stock. He was born September 22, 1864, near Weston, Platte county, Missouri. He is a son of Manlius B. and Martha (Pence) Lloyd, who emigrated from near Georgetown, Scott county, Kentucky, about i860, to Platte county. The paternal grandfather, Littleton Lloyd, was born near Roanoke, Virginia, and his wife, Naomi Burton, was born in Virginia. Their parents were from Scotland, having emigrated to America shortly after the Revolutionary war.

Our subject has two brothers living and two who died in infancy; four sisters are living and three died in infancy. The brothers are: William Ernest, a farmer of Brookline township, this county: Edgar B., a well known veterinary surgeon, lives at Brookline. The sisters are : Ollie, who married E. B. Boland and they live at Dallas, Texas ; Fannie married F. M. Parson and they are now living in Brookline ; Zadie married W. H. Pennington, of Springfield; Alta is single and lives in Dallas, Texas; Minnie married A. M. Crabb, of Stone county, Missouri, and she died in 1888; Eddie married W. T. Parsons, of Paragould, Arkansas, and she died in 1898. Her son, Clifford, now sixteen years old, is making his home with the subject of this sketch.

Charles L. Lloyd was reared on the home farm in Platte county, and there he received his education in the common schools. He has always followed farming and dealing in live stock, starting out on his own account before he became of age. His present farm of one hundred and twenty acres in Brookline township is situated on the main highway between Springfield and Republic on one of the highest points in this section of the Ozarks, from which a commanding panorama may be had of the surround- ing country for many miles, and the place is appropriately named "Highland Farm." His residence is an attractive eight-room house, surrounded by a fine grove of walnuts and elms, and his convenient and substantial outbuildings include two large barns, machine shop, garage and a concrete chicken house. No better farm buildings are to be found in the county, and everything about the place is well kept. Mr. Lloyd has become interested in fruit culture, showing decided preference for cherries, and has over one hundred trees just coming into bearing. He is a well known Shorthorn cattle breeder and is also a breeder of a big type of Poland-China hogs, and is very successful with both, his fine stock being greatly admired by all interested in such, owing to their superior quality. He has frequently exhibited at various fairs, and has never failed to carry away the blue ribbons, although contending with the best exhibits the county affords.

Fraternally, Mr. Lloyd is a member of Republic Lodge No. 570, Ancient Free and Accepted Masons, and Zabud Council, Royal Arch Chapter No. 25, of Springfield. He also belongs to the Independent Order of Odd Fellows, of Brookline. Religiously, he is a member of the Cumberland Presbyterian church. Politically, he is a stanch Democrat and is influential in the affairs of his party. He has been elected to serve in several township offices, including school director and road commissioner, holding the latter office at present. He has given satisfaction in all positions of trust.

Sam M. Wear

It is not so much the different things which men do as the way and spirit in which they do them, that makes the greatest difference between men. The man whose daily work is simple drudgery, is, in spirit, a serf. He regards himself as only a means to the end of accomplishing certain fixed tasks. It is the very bitterness of serf's condition that he is a mere instrument, a tool, and that he cannot rise above that relation to his work. Hence, there can be for him but small delight in his employment. His labor can possess no dignity for him. because he possesses none in himself. Labor and service are invested with dignity only when the individuals who perform them are brought into a true and responsible relation to them. It is the person who dignifies the work. If he exists, or supposes himself to exist, only for his drudging tasks, they share in his degradation. Only as the individual is lifted into something of the dignity of true, responsible, personal life, can his duties and work assume new and higher meanings.

This is true just because it is not the simple performing of the duties which impart to them their meaning, but the purpose, spirit, and way of doing them. In the instance of this word-setting to Sam M. Wear, the present popular and able prosecuting attorney of Greene county, it may be recorded of him that during his career he has given dignity to his profession, the law, although he is a plain, unassuming gentleman, but he communicates dignity to every duty he performs. He infuses the new and higher meanings into all his work, and his purpose, spirit and way of doing it, is what addresses our attention. In his relations with his fellowmen there has ever beeen the evident purpose and spirit of an honest personality. This spirit and purpose are illustrated along his private path-ways as well as in his career at the bar, his uniform integrity and fairness impressing all with whom he has come in contact.

Mr. Wear was born at Cassville, Barry county, Missouri, January 14, 1880. He is a son of A. H. and Ona (McConnell) Wear, both born, reared, educated and married in Missouri. For a number of years they made their home in Barry county, from which county they removed in 1886 to Greene county, locating in Springfield. The elder Wear was at that time appointed receiver of the United States land office here, filling this responsible position with credit and satisfaction to all concerned for a period of four years. He was a lawyer by profession, and practiced with success in Barry and Greene counties for many years. In 1894 he was elected prosecuting attorney of the latter county, the duties of which office he discharged faithfully and well until 1898. His death occurred in November, 1910, at the age of fifty-six years, his wife having preceded him to the silent land in 1896. They were both members of the Cumberland Presbyterian church, and were highly respected by all who knew them, and politically he was a Democrat and was long influential in local public affairs. To these parents one other child besides our subject was born, Madeline Wear, an accomplished young lady who makes her home in Springfield.

Sam M. Wear was six years old when the family moved to Springfield, and here he grew to manhood and received his education, attending the public schools when he became of proper age until 1895, when he entered Drury Academy here, from which he was graduated in 1898, then entered Drury College proper, made a good record for scholarship and was graduated with the class of 1902. When a mere boy he determined to follow in the footsteps of his father in a professional way and began the study of law, which he continued at spare moments until completing his college course, whereupon he entered the Cumberland View Law School at Lebanon, Tennesee, from which he was graduated in 1904, and was at once admitted to the bar and began practice in Springfield with his father, with whom he remained for two years, then entered, as a partner, the well- established firm of Farrington & Pepperdine, the firm then becoming Farrington, Pepperdine & Wear, which continued thus success fully for two vears, then Mr. Wear and Mr. Farrington formed a partnership, which continued until both were elected to office, our subject being elected prosecuting attorney of Greene county in the fall of 1912, and he is filling the same in a manner that reflects much credit upon his ability, fidelity and courage and to the eminent satisfaction of all concerned, irrespective of party alignment. He is fearless and energetic in the performance of his duties and has proven himself to be thoroughly grounded not only in the basic principles of jurisprudence, but also with the statutes of Missouri. He always goes into court well prepared and he has great weight with juries and the bench by his earnestness, clarity of his statements of facts and interpretation of the law. In view of his eminent success at the bar so early in life, the future must needs be replete with greater honors and successes for him.

Politically Mr. Wear is a Democrat and loyal in his support of the party. Fraternally he belongs to the Knights of Pythias, the Improved Order of Red Men and the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks. Religiously be is a member of the Presbyterian church.

Mr. Wear married Susan McClellan, a lady of many commendable characteristics. She is a native of Claremore, Oklahoma, where she was reared to womanhood and educated and where her family has long been prominent. The union of our subject and wife has been blessed by the birth of two children.

Samuel A. Hooper

Nearly eighty-nine years have dissolved in the mists of the irrevocable past since Samuel A. Hooper, one of the oldest citizens in Greene county, a well-known and venerable farmer of Clay township, first saw the light of day. He has lived through one of the most remarkable, and in many respects the most wonderful, epochs in the world's history. There will never be another like it, for it embraced the period when the strong-armed homeseekers from the Eastern states invaded the great West ( he being among the number) and redeemed it from the wilds, bringing it up through various stages to the present high state of civilization. It was nearly sixty-four years ago that our subject took up his abode in this locality, which he has helped develop and where he has seen wonderful changes take place, of which he talks interestingly, for the pioneer days were altogether different from those of the present ; and, we agree with him, that they were in some respect better than these advanced times. It seems at least that people were then hap-

28, 1826. He is a son of Samuel and Susan (Alford) Hooper. The father was born in Virginia in i/6y, ami was reared and educated about eight miles from the city of Richmond, and he spent most of his life in that locality. Finally he moved to North Carolina, where our subject was born, and from there to Tennessee, in 1833. After remaining in that state until 1851, he moved to Missouri, and settled in Greene county, where our subject rented a farm on which he and his father lived until the latter's death, in 1862. The mother of our subject was born in Caswell county, North Carolina. where she was reared and educated. She spent her declining years at the home of our subject, dying at the advanced age of eighty-eight.

Samuel A. Hooper grew to manhood in Robertson county, Tennessee, and he received such educational advantages as those early times afforded. He made the overland trip from that state, with his parents, in 1851, in ox wagons, locating in Greene county, Missouri, on one hundred and twenty acres, most of which he cleared and put under culitvation, in Washington township, and there engaged successfully in general farming until fourteen years ago, when he sold out. For some time he has been living in Clay township in retirement.

29, 1837, a,u' was 'iere reared on a farm and educated in the country schools She was a member of the Cumberland Presbyterian church. Her death occurred in 1877. After this event our subject went to live with one of his children, and at this writing makes his home with one of his sons. Before coming to Missouri, he made a trip to Texas in 1847, returning to Tennesee the following year. Since coming to Greene county he has made a trip to California. He is one of five children, namely: Henry, who is far advanced in years, lives in Texas; Pleasant, Allen and Dabner are all deceased; Samuel A., our subject, is the youngest.

Thirteen children were born to Mr. Hooper and wife, namely: William lives in Greene county; Milton lives on a farm in Clay township, and our subject is living with him; Mrs. Mary Jane Kinser lives in this county; Thomas makes his home in Springfield; Mrs. Deniza McDaniel, Robert, John and David all live in Greene county ; Donald is living with his father, our subject; Albert lives on the adjoining farm; Mrs. Margaret Ann Snyder lives in Kansas City; Abner Morris is deceased.

Politically Mr. Hooper is a Republican, and has always been loyal in the support of the party. He is a member of the Cumberland Presbyterian church.