Macon County, Missouri - Biographical sketches, 1910 (part 10 of 20)

In polities the Doctor is a Republican. He takes an active and serviceable interest in the affairs of his party, bears in every campaign his full share of the burden of work and responsibility, and aids in every way he can, both by wisdom in counsel and active efforts in the field, the cause in which he believes and to which he is devoted. In fraternal life he is connected with the Knights of Pythias, the Woodmen of the World and the Brotherhood of American Yeomen. In the organizations devoted to the advancement of the science of medicine he also takes an active interest, being a member of the State Medical Society and the American Institute of Homwopathy. He was married in 1904 to Miss Losie Clark, who was born and reared in Missouri. 'lheir home is a eenter of refined and gracious hospitality and all the bland amenities of life. Like his father, the Doctor is a member of the Methodist Episcopal church, and he takes a great interest in all the work of the organization and gives every portion of it his active and intelligent support. He is also an active worker in the temperance cause and follows the teaching of the Bible in his practice and in all the walks of life.

Y John William Thompson

Without the aid of fortune's favors or adventitious eireumstances of any kind, but by steady applieation and the sensible and judieious use of his faculties in hard and unremitting toil, John William Thompson, one of the leading business men of Macon, has won his way in the world to his present position of consequence and publie esteem. He is essentially the architeet of his own fortune, and the work he has made of itis highly to his eredit. In every field of activity to which he has been called he has met the claims of duty faithfully, though arduous labor, personal peril and even death itself might be in the stake, and has never shirked or turned his baek upon the obstaele that confronted him, whatever it might happen to be.

Mr. Thompson was born on November 26, 1841, in Monroe county. this state, and is the son of Harvey and Sarah A. (Ballard) Thompson, the former a native of Rockingham county, Virginia, and the latter of Lexington, Kentucky. The father was born on April 11, 1810, and became a resident of Missouri in 1832. He located at Marion City and later moved to Maeon eounty, where he farmed and earried on a profitable mercantile business. He and his wife were the parents of seven sons and three daughters. Of these the following are living: John William; Richard A., of Ames, Oklahoma; Thomas J., of Gunnison, Colorado; Mattie E., of Kirksville, Missouri; Fannie E., wife of Dr.

The father was a contractor and builder, and pursued his ehosen line of enterprise from his early manhood until his death. He was an early settler in this part of the state and built the first houses in the present eity of Macon. He was also prominent in the publie affairs of the community and rendered excellent serviee to the people for a number of years as a justice of the peace. He was a Demoerat in polities and a member of the Methodist Episeopal Chureh, South, in religious affiliation.

John William Thompson was reared and educated in Randolph and Macon eounties, Missouri, and reached the dawn of his manhood just when the long gathering storm of civil war burst upon the country with all its violenee. In his young and enthusiastie vision the path of duty led to the field of eonfliet in defense of what he had been taught to believe the correct theory of government, and he joined the Confederate army in 1861. He served four years in the awful struggle, facing death on many a gory field, and finally saw the tattered banner under which he had fought go down in everlasting defeat. Among the leading engagements in which he took part were the battles of Lexington, Pea Ridge and Baker's Creek and the sieges of Corinth and Vicksburg. He was once made prisoner and then suffered the privations and hardships of elose confinement for a period of seventeen months.

After the close of the war he returned to Macon and soon afterward went to Montana, where he remained nine years engaged in mining. In December, 1873, he came again to Macon, and for several years thereafter was employed by the firm of T. E. Sharpe & Co. in shipping leaf tobaeco. In 1879 he began a four years' service as manager of a grain elevator in which he was also a stockholder. In 1888 he moved to Mareeline, in this state, and engaged in the lumber business. The next year, however, he transferred the seat of his operations in this line to Maeon. He continued dealing in lumber in that city until 1891, when he changed to the grocery trade, which he eondueted until January, 1901. He then became general manager of the North Missouri Lumber Company, of Macon, and he is still acting in that capacity.

Mr. Thompson was married on June 27, 1876, to Miss Lida E. Hornback, of Maeon. They have three children, their daughters, Eugenia E., who is the wife of P. A. Thomas, of Palmyra, Missouri; Nanny E. and Berniee H. The head of the house is an ardent Demoerat in polities and always takes an active part in the campaigns of his party. He has served it well and wisely in counsel, most effeetively in aetion and with decided eredit to himself and benefit to the people in official station, having been a member of the city council for four consecutive years and also a member of the board of publie works. He is connected with the business of the community in a variety of ways, one of them being as à stoekholder in the building and loan association. In religious faith he follows the teachings of the Methodist Episcopal Church, South. But, while he is loyal to his church, he is not ostentatious in proclaiming the faet, or in any way intolerant toward the views of those who differ with him in religious opinions.

Mr. Thompson has been very successful in his undertakings and he owes his success to his own capacities and energies. He is regarded ns one of the best and wisest business men of Macon county, and he has won this reputation by demonstrating in his career that he deserves it. He is highly esteemed as a citizen, also, and in this relation stands second to none, and for the same reason. He has met all the obligations of eitizenship in a straightforward and manly manner, proving on all occasions that his interest in the community is earnest and is based on a high sense of duty and local patriotism.

The life of a country physician, always full of sacrifices and privation, is especially a destiny of hardship and trial on the frontier or in any new or undeveloped country. Climatic and other conditions increase and intensify his duties, and the very cireumstances of the ease render them much more difficult of performance than in older and more populous.communities, Yet his life is one of the most useful to his kind, its value being augmented in proportion to the exaetions laid upon it. He ministers direetly to the relief of suffering humanity, and often when it has no other means of relief or assistance.

The early professional career of Dr. Charles W. Reagan, of Macon, is an apt and foreible illustration of this fact. He began his professional work in this part of the world at a time when the country was eomparatively new and praetieally unsettled, and he was obliged to undergo all the hardships and privations of such a condition, and submit to all its exaetions. But he bore his lot bravely and cheerfully, and in time secured the guerdon of his fidelity in the regard and good will of all the people, to say nothing of more material returns and the approval of his own conscience for the faithful and unremitting performance of his duty.

former a native of Georgia and the latter of Virginia. The father was born on June 13, 1830, and in 1853 moved to Missouri, where he gave his attention to farming. He was married on March 17, 1853, to Miss Agnes E. Reid, not long before he set his face toward the setting sun and journeyed to a new home amid its still almost primeval natural conditions. He and his wife became the parents of seven children, four of whom are living: Charles W., Nathaniel R., Mrs. Mamie E. How (a widow), and Dr. Sterling M., now a resident of Oregon.

Dr. Charles W. Reagan was reared in his native eounty and began his edueation in its publie schools. Later he attended New Windsor college in the town of that name in Carroll county, Maryland. In 1882 he entered the State University at Columbia, Missouri, from the medieal department of which he was graduated in 1884 with the degree of M. D. He at once entered upon the practice of his profession in Macon eounty, where he continued it three years, then moved to Audrain county, in which he was an active practice nine years. At the end of that period he took up his residence and pursued his professional duties in the eity of St. Louis for four years. In October, 1899, he settled in this county, making his home in the city of Macon, and here he has ever since resided and been in active practice.

In this community he has given close and careful attention to his ealling, and at the same time has taken a zealous and helpful interest im the public affairs of the county, being among the foremost in every worthy undertaking for the advancement of the county and the welfare of its people. In 1907 he was appointed health officer of Macon county, a position in which he is still rendering excellent service and winning good opinions from all classes of the citizens for the efficiency and fidelity of his work. He is also physician to the county jail, and as health officer has charge of all eases of infectious and contagious diseases in the county.

Dr. Reagan's technical instruction and training at the State University did not eomplete his professional education. During the whole of his practice he has been a thoughtful student and reflective observer in the wide domain of medical science, and has also kept in touch with the most advanced thought and practical experience in connection with it by a diligent perusal of its literature. He has, in addition, mingled freely with his professional brethren and had intimate intercourse with them in the associations formed among them for the purpose. He is a member of the county, state and national medical associations, and counselor for the Tenth District for the Missouri State Medical Association for past four years, and takes an active part in the proceedin,

In fraternal life the Doctor is a member of the Masonie order, the Woodmen of the World and the Knights of Pythias. He was married in 1886 to Miss Maud Landree, who was born in Bloomington, Missouri. They have three children, their sons, Charles W., Jr., and Cody S., and their daughter, Agnes Lucille, Dr. Reagan has been eminently successful in his practice and has reached the first rank in his profession in this part of the country. He is looked upon as one of the leading and most representative men in the community and is held in the highest esteem in all parts of the county. Moreover, he has richly earned the laurels he so modestly wears, for he has, in all respects, been an exemplary citizen - an upright, serviceable, manly man.

Oscar Sandusky

Earnest and energetie from his youth in the stirring activities of life, whether as employe or employer, mechanie, merehant or general business man, faithful and true to every requirement in private life and offieial station, Oscar Sandusky, of Macon, has honestly won the esteem in which he is universally held and the place he oceupies as one of the leading and,most representative citizens of the community in which he lives.

He was born on January 31, 1871, in Sullivan, Indiana, and is a son of the late Samuel and Sarah A. (Knotts) Sandusky, a sketch of whom appears elsewhere in this volume. At the age of six he came with his parents to Missouri, finding a home in Marion county, and there receiving his education and remaining until he reached the age of fifteen. After leaving school he assisted his father on the farm for a time, then took up his residence in Kansas City, this state, where he was employed in various capaeities for a time.

In 1886 he became a resident of Macon county, and for eleven years thereafter operated a barber shop on his own account. There were, however, aspirations and activities within him which cried alond for larger affairs and more fruitful opportunities, and in due time he yielded to them. In 1905 he formed a partnership with T. E. Wisdom to engage in the real estate, loan and insurance business, which continued until 1909. He also conducted a grocery establishment under the firm name of Sandusky & Co. The success which followed his entrance into the mercantile field has fully justified his faith in making the change and demonstrated that the voice of nature, in selecting the occupations of men, if properly interpreted, should always be heeded.

Mr. Sandusky has risen to the first rank among the business men of the eounty, and has won the place by his own capacity, energy and acumen, without any favors of fortune or adventitious cireumstances. His success, which has been pre-eminent, is all his own and all the more ereditable to him on that account.

But his achievements in mercantile pursuits are not the only faetors in his general popularity and the high respect in which he is held. He has at all times taken a very active interest in the affairs of the eounty, and been foremost in the promotion of every commendable enterprise for its advancement and the good of its people. No work of publie improvement and no effort for the enlargement of the moral; mental or educational forces of the community has ever gone without his active aid or been left without the benefit of his influence and wise counsel.

His political affiliation is with the Democratic party, and in the service of that organization he has for many years been diligent and zealous to the full extent of his powers. In 1900 he was elected treasurer of Macon county, filling the office with great acceptability and fidelity until 1904. Since 1905 he has been county committeeman of his political party and as such has been one of the most forceful potencies in conducting the affairs of the party. Fraternally he belongs to the Order of Elks, the Knights of Pythias, the Eagles, the Modern Woodmen and the Court of Honor.

In June, 1894, he was married to Miss Mary M. Weakley, a resident of Macon. They have two children, Mionette, who is thirteen years old, and Robert Oscar, who has reached the age of five. Their home is a center of genial and refined hospitality and an exemplification of every domestic and social virtue.

The life story of this estimable man, who dignified and adorned the eitizenship of his country by usefulness and manly industry in three of its great commonwealths, is full of interest at every period from the dawn of his manhood to the close of his suggestive and instructive career. True, it is, in the main, an oft-told tale, especially in the middle and western sections of the land, but it has individual and personal features which give it special distinetiveness and importance.

Mr. Sandusky was born in Missouri when the whole of what now forms one of the great and progressive states of the American union was almost an unbroken wilderness, not yet aroused from its sleep of ages by the voice of American progress, and when its people were obliged to undergo all the perils and hardships of pioneer life. But he was a worthy representative of the hardy and enduring race to which he belonged and the heroie time in which his life began.

At an early age he removed with his parents to Sullivan county, Indiana, where he was reared and edueated. That state was also, during his boyhood and youth, a frontier locality and still very largely undeveloped. So that he entered at once upon the trying duties to which hie had been born, and continued in the discharge of them almost until his earthly eareer ended.

In 1849, when the golden musie of California enraptured all lands and peoples with its seduetive charms, he joined the argonauts who crossed the plains to the promising Eldorado of the period, and became one of the heroie band of eourageous adventurers whom history has embalmed in the significant and poetic name of "The Forty-Niners."' He remained in California until 1854, when he was united in marriage with Miss Sarah A. Knotts, a native of Indiana, who is still living and has her home in the state in which her life began. They became the parents of eleven children, ten of whom are living.

in 1877 the family moved to Missouri, locating in Marion county. where it remained until 1885. In that year the parents, with the children who were still at home, took up their residence in this county, where they continued farming, the industry in which they had engaged in Marion county. By thrift and industry they made their way in the world, and by the uprightness, consisteney and usefulness of their daily walk among the people they won the confidence and high regard of all who became acquainted with them. They performed with fidelity every duty to which they were called, and exhibited at all times the freedom of intercourse with an open-handed hospitality toward all comers for which the West has ever been noted.

The father passed away, esteemed by the whole community in which he lived and deeply mourned by hosts of friends who admired and revered him. The children who are living are: John F., a resident of Spokane, Washington ; Samantha, wife of T. B. Springer of Sullivan county, Indiana; Ella, wife of T. E. Wyne of Sullivan, in the same county; Alice, wife of John Claggett, also a resident of Indiana; Charles W., who lives in Quincy, Illinois; Murray E. treasurer of Macon eounty, Missouri; Oscar, who lives in this county and is engaged in the real estate, loan and insurance business, a sketch of whom will be found on another page of this work; Katherine, wife of Finley Pugh of Sullivan, Indiana; Louise, wife of George A. Davis of Kansas City,

In polities the father was a firm and faithful Demoerat. In fraternal life he was a member of the Masonie Order; and in religious affiliation he was allied with the Southern Methodist church. Exemplifying throughout his career the best traits of sturdy and upright American citizenship, meeting with self-reliance and independence every proper claim on his time and faculties and dealing with all men in strict accordance with the Golden Rule, his life is an example to all who know of it, and his memory is warmly cherished by all who knew him. He lived in the stirring times and bravely he met their responsibilitie He dwelt amid the scenes and activities of peaceful industries, and diligently he took his part and performed his duty in-connection with them. In every situation he was a strong, resourceful and manly man, without ostentation in his daily life, but without fear in any eri

Mr. Thomas is recognized as one of the alert and progressive business men of the younger generation in his native city and county and is essentially and deeply loyal as a citizen of the county and state in which it has been his to attain a large measure of success in connection with practical commercial and industrial activities and in which his circle of friends is limited only by that of his acquaintances.

Thomas D. Thomas, Jr., was born in Bevier, this county, on the 24th of November, 1869, and is a son of Thomas D. Thomas, Sr. of whom specific mention is made on other pages of this volume, so that a repetition of the data is not demanded in the sketch at hand. Mr. Thomas is indebted to the publie schools of Bevier for his early educational training, and after leaving school he was associated with his father in the work and management of the farm, located in Callao township, about four miles west of Bevier and comprising 115 acres. He continued to be actively indentified with agricultural pursuits and stockgrowing for a period of about fifteen years, at the expiration of which he located in the city of Bevier, where he became one of the interested principals in the firm of A. D. Thomas & Company, which conducts one of the largest and most successful general merchandise establishments in the county, and with this concern he has since been actively identified, maintaining a status as one of the liberal and enterprising merchants of his native place. Though he has had no predilection for the honors or emoluments of public office, Mr. Thomas is found enlisted as a staunch supporter of the principles and policies of the Republican party, and both he and his wife are zealous members of the First Congregational church of Bevier. In a fraternal way he is identified with the local organization of the Knights of Pythias.

On the 21st of March, 1894, Mr. Thomas was united in marriage to Miss Elva M. Pillers, of Callao, this county, in which she was born and reared, and of their four children three are living: Ralph, Verbena and Wendell.

Otho F. Matthews

This gentleman, who was recently elected mayor of the city of Macon by a majority of 250 votes over his Republican opponent, although the city is normally Republiean by a majority of 80 to 100, is a native of the eity«and has passed the whole of his life to this time, except during his absence while attending school, among its people. The electorate of the eity, therefore, sustained his candidaey with full knowledge of his character and record, and on these they impressively placed the stamp of their approval.

Mr. Matthews was born in Macon on May 21, 1875, and is just thirty-five years old. He is a son of Judge R. S. Matthews, a sketch of whose life will be found in this work, and reference to it is made for the earlier history of the family. He was educated in the schools of Macon, being graduated from the high school in 1890. He then attended the University of Missouri two years, and afterward the Cumberland University at Lebanon, Tennessee, from which he was graduated with the degree of A. B., with the class of 1896. Having selected the law as his profession, he bagan the study of it in his father's office, and in September, 1897, was admitted to the bar through an examination conducted by Judge Andrew Ellison.

After his admission to the bar he at once formed a partnership with his father under the firm name of R. S. Matthews & Son, and as a member of this firm he has been actively and continuously engaged in the practice of law ever since. In 1904 he was a candidate for the office of proseeuting attorney, but was defeated at the primary election. But his defeat in his first attempt to secure an office in the service of the people had no effect on his devotion to his party or his ardor in its service except to increase them. He has been a life-long Democrat, and even before the dawn of his manhood was an earnest and effective worker for the success of his political organization. His attitude in this respect has never wavered, and his party work has been highly appreciated by both the leaders of his party and its rank and file, his effectiveness as a campaigner being universally admitted.

Otho F Matthews

Mr. Matthews also takes an active interest and a leading part in the fraternal and social life of the community. He is a prominent member of the Order of Elks and belongs to other organizations of worth whieh are promotive of intelleetual, moral and social interests among the people. His religious affiliation is with the Presbyterian church of the United States of America, and is one of the trustees and the treasurer of the Presbyterian board of the MeGee Presbytery.

In the local affairs of the city of Macon Mr. Matthews has taken a warm and serviceable interest from his youth, and since he became a man and voter he has been at the front in every movement for the advancement of the city that commended itself to his judgment. This activity in behalf of the city's welfare, and the knowledge of its needs whieh he has displayed therein for years gave him a great hold on the confidence and regard of its people as one of its best and most judicious friends, and this fact counted strongly in his favor in the late municipal eleetion, in which, as has been noted, he reversed long standing party majorities and led all eandidates of his party, past and present, in the vote he received as a candidate for the mayoralty of the eity. He was swept into the office, in fact, on a tidal wave of publie confidence and enthusiasm, which is a strong testimonal to his publie spirit and his private worth. And his past record in every relation in life fully justifies the confidence of the people which elected him and the high expectations they have of his uprightness, breadth of view and striet adherence to the best interests of the community in the discharge of his official duties.

Mr. Matthews was married on December 25, 1901, to Miss Mary Alby Anderson, a granddaughter of Thomas L. Anderson, who for years represented the First Missouri district in the congress of the United States and was widely known as a distinguished lawyer and orator. She is the daughter of William R. Anderson, one of the leading lawyers of Palmyra and a niece of the late Rufus Anderson of Hannibal in this state. Mrs. Matthews is a lady of talent and high culture in literary maters. Many products of her facile and graceful pen have won reputation for her and brought her high approval in publie opinion and the press. One in particular is her novel entitled "Love vs. Law," which was very extensively sold throughout the country and received hosts of very favorable notices in the newspapers and literary magazines. She is in addition a member of the bar, and before her marriage served with ability as eity attorney of Palmyra. She is also a member of the organization known as the Daughters of the American Revolution, and a lady of the highest social rank in Macon, and wherever else the people have knowledge of her she is held in the highest esteem.

Austin A. Clymans

Until the death of his honored brother, the late William A. Clymans, to whom a memorial tribute is dedicated on other pages of this work, the subject of this sketch was associated with him in the grocery business which he has since conducted in an individual way, being numbered among the representative merchants and influential citizens of the flourishing little city of Bevier, where he has maintained his home since 1891.

Austin A. Clymans was born in Fulton county, Pennsylvania, on the 30th of August, 1849, and was reared and educated in the old Keystone state, where his parents, Robert and Susanna (Woods) Clymans, passed their entire lives. As a young man the subject of this review became identified with railroad interests in his native state, where he also taught in the common schools for a time, He learned the blaeksmith trade under the able direction of his father, and followed the same as a voeation for a number of years. He continued his residence in Pennsylvania until the year of 1891, when he came to Missouri and joined his elder brother, the late William A. Clymans, in the grocery business in Bevier. Since the death of his brother, in 1905, he has suecessfully eontinued the enterprise, and his establishment is one of the best of its kind in the city, catering to a large and representative patronage. Mr. Clymans has made judicious and extensive investments in local real estate, and in this connection is the owner of a number of valuable business buildings in Bevier. He is a stockholder of the State Bank of Bevier, and as a citizen he is essentially progressive and public-spirited, taking a lively interest in all that touches and advanees the general welfare of his home eity and county. In polities he is aligned as a staunch supporter of the cause of the Republiean party and in 1890, while residing at Fulton county, Pennsylvania, he served as United States census enumerator. He has been identified with the Independent Order of Odd Fellows for the past quarter of a century, and in the same his affiliation is now with Fort Littleton Lodge, No. 484, of Fort Littleton, Pennsylvania. Both he and his wife are members of the Methodist Episcopal church and they are held in high esteem in the community with whose best social interests and activities they have closely identified themselves.

In the year 1879 was solemnized the marriage of Mr. Clymans to Miss Virginia Wagner, who was born and reared in Pennsylvania, where their marriage oceurred. Concerning the children of this union the following brief record is consistently entered: Susan is a successful and popular teacher in the publie sehools of the state of Kansas, and is at present (1909) located in Whiting, that state; Clarence is employed by the Smith, MeCord & Townsend Dry Goods Company, of Kansas City, this state; Almina is a popular teacher in the publie schools of Bevier; and Harriet is attending the home schools, being thirteen years of age at the time of this writing. Capitola a teacher of this county is now at home,

In the eivie and industrial affairs of Macon county the late William A. Clymans played an important part during the many years of his residence here, and he was honored as one of the substantial business men and sterling citizens of the county. He passed the elosing years of his life in the city of Bevier, where he died on the 10th of August, 1905, and where he is held in gracious memory by all who were familiar with his generous and worthy life and well directed service as one of the world's workers.

Mr. Clymans was a seion of one of the old and honored families of the Old Keystone state of the Union, and was one of its native sons. He was born in Bedford, now Fulton eounty, Pennsylvania, in the year 1839 and was a son of Robert and Susanna (Woods) Clymans, both of whom were likewise natives of Pennsylvania, where they passed their entire lives and where the father long followed the sturdy trade of blaeksmith. Of the ten children in the family only two are now living, Almira, who is the wife of Thomas L. Marshall of Whiting, Kansas; and Austin A., of Bevier, Missouri. Robert Clymans died in 1889 and his eherished and devoted wife passed to the life eternal in April, 1891.

William A. Clymans, the subjeet of this memoir, seeured his educational discipline in the schools of his native state, and that he made good use of his scholastie opportunities is evident when recognition is taken of the faet that for several years he was a successful and popular teacher in the common schools of his native commonwealth. He tendered his services in defense of the cause of the Union at the time of the Civil war, having enlisted in 1864, as a member of Company H,Two Hundred and Fifth Pennsylvania Volunteer Infantry, and having been appointed as clerk at department headquarters, in which capacity he continued to serve until the close of the war, when he received his honorable discharge. As a youth he had learned the blacksmith trade under the direction of his father, and after the termination of his army service he removed to the state of Michigan, where he was employed at his trade for a time. In 1868 Mr. Clymans eame to Missouri and located in the village of Clarence, Shelby county, whence the later removed to Bevier, with whose business and civie interests he was thereafter identified until his death. Upon taking up his residence in Bevier Mr. Clymans engaged in the grocery business, in which he continued about one year, at the expiration of whieh he established himself in the general-merchandise business, in which he continued for a number of years, being one of the leading merchants of the town and controlling a representative trade, based upon adequate serviee and upon popular appreciation of his sterling integrity and honor. He was a stockholder and direetor of the State Bank of Bevier.

In polities Mr. Clymans gave a stalwart allegiance to the cause of the Democratic party, in the promotion of which he took a lively interest. He served as justice of the peace for more than twenty years, and this indicates most emphatically the confidence reposed in him by the people of the community. He was also a school director for many terms. Deeply appreciative of the time-honored Masonie fraternity, he was affiliated with Bloomington Lodge, Free and Accepted Masons, in Bevier, and both he and his wife held membership in the Methodist Episcopal church of this city. The maiden name of his wife was Harriet Strunk, she was a widow when he married her, and she too was a native of Pennsylvania, where their marriage was solemnized in 1862. They became the parents of two children, both of whom are deceased, and Mrs. Clymans was summoned to eternal rest in 1889. Mr. Clymans' brother, Austin A., was associated with him in business at Bevier and is the subject of an individual sketch elsewhere in this volume.

John F. Richards

A representative of one of the honored families of Macon county, which has been his home from the time of his nativity, John Franklih Richards is well upholding the prestige of the name he bears and is one of the essentially representative farmers and stock-growers of the county, besides which he is vice-president of the State Bank of Bevier and is known as one of the substantial business men of this favored section of the state. For detailed mention concerning the life of his honored father, the late John Richards, reference may be made to the special memoir to the latter appearing on other pages of this work.

John Franklin Richards was born in Bevier, Macon eounty, Missouri, on the 23rd of September, 1866, and was here reared to maturity, having early begun to assist in the work of his father's farm and having been afforded the advantage of the well conducted publie sehools of the village of Bevier, which is now incorporated as a eity. He has eontinued to be actively identified with the great basie industry of agriculture during his entire business career, and in this important field of enterprise he has been exponent of the most advanced scientific methods and the most progressive poliey, so that his suecess has been on a parity with the splendid forces and energies he has brought to bear. He maintains his home in Bevier and his fine homestead farm, comprising 390 acres, is located about one-half mile south of this city, in Bevier township, being a portion of the fine landed estate aceumulated by his father. Mr. Richards is one of the principal stockholders of the State Bank of Bevier and is a valued member of its direetorate as well as its vice-president, of which latter position he has been ineumbent since 1901.

In polities, though never a seeker of official preferment of any deseription, Mr. Richards is aligned as a staunch supporter of the prineiples and polieies for which the Democratie party stands sponsor; he is affiliated with the Masonic fraternity and the Independent Order of Odd Fellows, and his wife holds membership in the Welsh Congregational ehureh of Bevier, being actively identified with its work.

On the 23rd of September, 1896, was solemnized the marriage of Mr. Richards to Miss Jennie A. Davis, who was born in Wales and who was a child at the time of her parents' immigration to America. She is the daughter of Edward A. and Ann (Jones) Davis. Mr. and Mrs. Richards have one child, John Franklin, Jr., who was born on the 16th of December, 1897.

T John Richards

The late John Richards long maintained his home is Macon county and he left upon its history the record of a well ordered and beneficent life. He did his share in the development and eivie progress of the county, was one of its extensive and essentially representative farmers, and was a man who ever merited and received the unqualified confidence and esteem of his fellow men. He achieved success and independence through his own efforts and his loyalty to the land and state of his adoption was ever of the most insistent type. He died on his fine homestead farm, in Bevier township, this county, on the 28th of June, 1898, and in his passing away the county lost one of its most valued and honored citizens, - a man whose character represented those high ideals that are the best and most enduring in the seheme of human and was himself a native of the southern part of Wales, having been born on the Rhyw farm, near Buillt, Radnorshire, on the 14th of October, 1818, so that at the time of his demise he lacked only a few months of being eighty years of age. His parents passed their entire lives in Wales. In the schools of his native land John Richards secured his early edueational training and when he was eighteen years of age he located at Dowlais, South Wales, where was solemnized his marriage to Miss Elizabeth Watkins. He became one of the substantial citizens and influential business men of that section, having been for nineteen years contractor in the working of the Cwmbargaed coal mine.

In 1862 Mr. Richards eame with his family to Ameriea and he first located in Pennsylvania, purchasing a farm near Ogdensburg, that state, where he remained two years, at the expiration of which he sold his farm and came to Missouri. He made Macon County his destination and here he purchased a farm, in Bevier township, eventually adding to its area until he had a fine landed estate of 390 acres. His energy, progressiveness and excellent business judgment enable him to attain a high degree of success in connection with his farming and stockgrowing operations, and he finally gained precedence as one of the leading representatives of the agricultural industry in Macon county. He made substantial improvements on his homestead, including the erection of excellent buildings, and he was a man of too broad intellectuality and too generous and noble spirit to hedge himself in with mere personal advancement, having ever shown a deep interest in all that tended to conserve the material and eivie advancement of the county and the moral and educational progress of its people. His first wife died in 1878, at Rome, New York, where they had maintained their home for a brief interval, and of the thirteen children of this union, five attained to years of maturity. The second wife of Mr. Richards died in 1885, leaving no children, and in 1887 was solemnized his marriage to Mrs. Elizabeth Thom, who died in November, 1906. No children were born of the third union.

John Richards was a thorough, practical and progressive business man, and his clear judgment, his promptness, uprightness and decisive action in connection with his business affairs gained to him a large measure of success in temporal affairs, so that he beeame one of the wealthiest and most successful farmers of the county, while he so ordered his course in all its relations as to retain the inviolable respect and esteem of his fellow men. Mr. Richards was a man of specially deep and sincere religious convictions, and few men in secular life have had a broader and more intimate knowledge of the Bible. For many years he was a most zealous worker in the Sunday school and in other departments of religious enterprise, and he was a most earnest and devout member of the Welsh Congregational ehurch. Of the five children who attained to maturity two are now deceased - Anna, who became the wife of John J. Jones and who died in 1871; and Hon. David D. Richards, who was'a distinguished citizen of Macon county, which he represented in the legislature in 1885-87 and who died in 1889. The surviving children are: Thomas, who is a suecessful business man of the eity of Butte, Montana; Elizabeth, who is the wife of Benjamin Howell, of Rock Springs, Wyoming; and John F., of whom individual mention is made on other pages of this volume. Mr. Richards was a Republican in his political proclivities, and while he ever took an intelligent interest in the questions and issues of the day he was never a seeker of publie office. He was, nevertheless, a man of influence in his community, and every worthy measure and enterprise projeeted for the general wellbeing of his township and county found in him a liberal and ready supporter. He made his life count for good in all its relations and his name merits an enduring place on the roll of those who have been numbered among the sterling and valued citizens of Macon county.

Luther W. Ryals

This representative business man and honored citizen of Bevier has passed the major portion of his life in Macon county and is a son of the late William Ryals.

Luther W. Ryals was born in Randolph county, Missouri, and in 1856 his parents removed to Macon county, where he was reared to maturity and where he gained his earlier edueational diseipline in the publie schools, after which he continued his studies in the Missouri State Normal School at Kirksville, for two years. After leaving this institution he put his scholastie acquirements to practical test and utilization by turning his attention to the pedagogie profession, in which connection he was a successful and popular teacher in the publie schools of his native state for a period of four years. In 1882 he located in the village of Callao, Macon county, where he was associated with F. Theodore Mayhew in the general merchandise business for three years, at the expiration of which period, in 1885, he became traveling representative for the Brogher, Force & Goodhuyer Hat Company, of St. Louis, with which important concern he continued for the long interval of fourteen years, within which he gained a high reputation as a suecessful and popular salesman and formed a wide and representative acquaintance throughout the extended trade territory which he covered.

He became a stockholder of the company and retained his interest in the same until 1899, when he disposed of his stock and located in the little eity of Bueklin, Missouri, where he entered into partnership with Joseph Claybrook in the general mereantile business. This alliance continued for four years, at the expiration of which Mr. Ryals purchased the interest of Mr. Claybrook who died that year, and in 1904 he associated himself with Thomas D. Thomas in the same line of enterprise in the thriving little city of Bevier, where he has since continued to be identified with the general merchandise business, under the firm name of Ryals & Thomas. The well equipped and admirably stocked establishment of the firm is one that controls a large and substantial trade and the interested prineipals are known as progressive and liberal business men and public-spirited citizens, - well worthy of the unqualified esteem in which they are held in this community.

In polities Mr. Ryals has been a loyal and zealous supporter of the cause of the Democratic party and has been active in its work in a local way. He has been the candidate of his party for the offices of county clerk and county recorder, but met defeat in each instance, with the remainder of the party ticket in the county. In the spring of 1909 he was eleeted a member of the city council of Bevier, and he has proved a most valuable and popular member of this municipal body, in whieh he has made every possible effort to conserve good governmental policies and to further the general interests of his home city. He is affiliated with the loeal organizations of the Knights of Pythias and the Knights & Ladies of Security.

In the year 1888 was solemnized the marriage of Mr. Ryals to Miss Clela Claybrook, who was born and reared in Macon county and who is a daughter of the late Joseph Claybrook, an honored citizen of this section of the state. Of the two children of this union one is living, Ray, who was born on the 22nd of September, 1890, and who is now associated with his father in business.

James F. Williams

James Franklin Williams, one of the representative business men and popular citizens of Bevier, where he is engaged in the jewelry business, is a native of West Virginia and was ushered into the world at a time when that commonwealth was enduring the ravages of the Civil war. He was born in Harrison county, West Virginia, in the year 1862 and is a son of Isaae and Martha (Shahan) Williams, both of whom were born in West Virginia, whieh was then an integral portion up their residence in Macon county, where the father was for a number of years engaged in farming, after which he conducted a meat market in Bevier, where he continued to maintain his home until his death, which occurred in 1884. Of his four children two are living, the subject of this sketeh being the younger and Isaac Richard being a resident of Bevier, where he is engaged in mining. The mother is still living and is now the wife of John Bundion, of Callao. Isaae Williams was a staunch Democrat in his political proclivities and took an active part in the promotion of the party cause, though he never sought or held publie office. He was a man of sterling integrity of character, was a member of the Presbyterian ehureh, and he ever commanded the confidence and esteem of his fellow men.

James Franklin Williams was a lad of eight years at the time of the family removal to Missouri and he was reared to manhood in Macon county. His educational training was seeured in the publie schools of the old town of Bloomington, and after lenving sehool he became associated with his father in the meat-market business in Bevier. He continued the business individually after the death of his father, but in 1887 disposed of the same and established himself in the jewelry business, in connection with whieh he opened and conducted a barber shop. The latter department of the enterprise he sold in 1907, since which time he has continued the jewelry business, in whieh he has a large and substantial trade, based upon fair and honorable dealings and also upon his unreserved personal popularity. His well equipped store is one of the well equipped and attractive retail establishments of the thriving little eity of Bevier and he is one of its popular and progressive business men and essentially publie-spirited citizens. His success represents the results of his own efforts and is well merited. Mr. Williams has marked inventive ability and has given no little time and attention to the devising of various practical devices. He is the inventor and patentee of a device which provides for the facile and instantaneous detaching of a horse from vehicle and is developing several other valuable inventions of his own.

In polities Mr. Williams is aligned as a stalwart advocate of the prineiples and polieies for whieh the Demoeratie party stands sponsor, but the honors and emoluments of politieal office have not appealed to him in the least. He is affiliated with the Independent Order of Odd Fellows and the Knights of Pythias, and both he and his wife are members of the Christian church. He is found arrayed as an enthusiastic devotee of sports afield and afloat, and his chief recreation is found

In the year 1883 was celebrated the marriage of Mr. Williams to Miss Sallie E. Grimes, who was born and reared in Macon county and who is a daughter of the late Paul C. Grimes, a prosperous farmer of this seetion of the state. Mr. and Mrs. Williams became the parents of three children, none of whom attained to years of maturity.

Deloss H. Babbitt

The life story briefly recorded in the following paragraphs contain a strong leson for the young men of the country and presents an example that is well worthy of their close imitation. It should be a stimulus to the hesitating, a comfort to the struggling and an incitement tothe daring. Forit shows what thrift, enterprise and breadth of view, closely applied to agricultural pursuits in this state and county, on which Nature has lavished a bountiful share of her best gifts with free-handed generosity, bestowing fertility of soil, a favorable and delightful climate, and immense volume and variety of produetiveness, ean accomplish even in one generation of human life, and under circumstances largely adverse and troublesome.

Deloss H. Babbitt, who is now one of the leading farmers and most publie spirited and enterprising citizens of Lingo township, came to Missouri in 1866 with almost nothing but his health, energy and unconquerable determination to win out in the struggle for advancement. Te had these faeulities, and he used them. He had also good judgment, and he applied it. He had, moreover, confidence in himself, and this has been his sheet anchor in every storm that has assailed him. He came to this eonnty a young man aged twenty-three, but his fiber had been tested and his temper proven in the stern arbitrament of the battlefield, on which, in the front rank of unrolling columns, he faced death every moment, and displayed the qualities of head and heart that have been the groundwork and foundation of his success in the pursuits of peaceful industry.

Mr. Babbitt was born on January 23, 1842, in Wyoming county, New York, and is a son of Harry and Rebeeea (Gray) Babbitt, the former a native of Massachusetts and the latter of Rhode Island. The father passed his boyhood and youth in his native state, then moved to the state of New York, where he passed the remainder of his days, energetically engaged in farming until his death in 1843. Three children were born in the family of whom the interesting subjeet of this memoir is the only one now living. He obtained all thé scholastie training for whieh he had opportunity in the distriet sehools near his home in Wyoming county, New York, and ably and devotedly assisted his widowed mother on the farm until 1862. In October of that year he was moved by his love for the Union to go into the army in its defense, and enlisted in Company K, Ninth New York cavalry, under the command of Colonel Nichols. Mr. Babbitt served to the end of the war and was mustered out near Winchester, Virginia, in June, 18 His regiment was a part of one of the great fighting corps of the federal army and was most of the time during the terrible confliet in the very heart of the contest. He took part in the battles of Berryville and Goose Run, Virginia, Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, Wiliamsport, Boonsboro and Funkstown, Maryland, Yellow Water and Culpepper, Virginia, and numerous minor engagements.

After the war Mr. Babbitt returned to his New York home and remained there until the spring of 1866. He then came to Missouri and settled in Lingo township, this county, where he has ever since resided and been energetieally and very successfully engaged in farming and raising stoek. Soon after his arrival in this locality he bargained for 120 aeres of railroad land, on which he obligated himself to make small payments every year. His industry and thrift enabled him to meet his obligations promptly and also forge ahead with accelerating progress. He now owns 1475 acres of fine land, with all but sixty aeres under eultivation, and feeds 150 to 200 head of various kinds of cattle every year. He cares for his stock with every consideration of their comfort and condition, looking always to the best results, and he sends them to the markets in such a prime state that his out-put stands at the head of the list with the dealers and brings the highest prices, every precaution being taken to keep its reputation up to the high mark it has reached and held for long years.

With a mind as active, a publie spirit as broad and an energy as intense as he possesses, it was inevitable that Mr. Babbitt should become a potential influence in everything connected with the advance and improvement of the locality of his home, wherever that might be He has taken a leading part in the affairs of his township and county for many years, rendering long and valued serviee to the people as road overseer and school director, and giving his active, and effective praetieal aid to every undertaking he has deemed helpful to the people and contributory to the general weal. Although a pronounced Republican in national polities, he is not a partisan in reference to local interests, but works for their promotion without regard to party considerations.

On Mareh 17, 1875, he was united in marriage with Miss Mary V. Beale, who was born in this county in 1853 and is a daughter of William and Elizabeth (Thompson) Beale long prominent residents of the county. Five of the six children born of this union are living: Anna, the wife of Wiliam Burrows of Grand Junction, Colorado; Bessie, the wife of N. D. Stephenson of Marceline, Missouri; and Edna, Jennie and Della, all of whom are living at home with their parents. The family is prominent in the social life of the county, and all its members are held in the highest esteem wherever they are known. They meet all the obligations of duty with fidelity and by the examples they give . stimulate others to do the same.

This representative business man of the thriving little city of Bevier is a son of the late F. Theodore Mayhew, to whom a memoir is dedicated on other pages of this volume, so that a further review of the family history is not demanded in the present sketch. Ivy G. Mayhew is continuing with success the general merchandise business in which he was associated with his honored father until the death of the latter, and he is recognized as one of the alert and progressive business men and public-spirited citizens of his native county.

Mr. Mayhew was born on the homestead farm of his father, in this county, on the 28th of March, 1870. His educational advantages were those afforded by the publie schools. After leaving school he became a clerk in a general merchandise store in the village of Callao, Macon county, where he was thus engaged for a period of six years, at the expiration of which he took up his residence in Bevier, where he beeame associated with his father in the mereantile business, in which he has since continued, being sole proprietor of the business since the demise of his father. He is enterprising and progressive, has a well appointed and well stocked establishment, and controls a large and substantial trade, which is drawn from the excellent territory normally tributary to Bevier. His eareful and honorable business methods and genial personality have gained to him the unqualified esteem of the people of his native eounty, where he enjoys unalloyed popularity. "Though never active in the field of practical politics he is aligned as a staunch supporter of the eause of the Republican party, and both he and his wife hold membership in the Christian church. He is affiliated with Callao Lodge, No. 326, Knights of Pythias.

being a daughter of Daniel Taylor, a successful farmer of Callao township. Mr. and Mrs. Mayhew have one child, Theodore D., who was born on the 22nd of November, 1906.

George N. Davis

'The legal profession in Macon county has as one of its able and popular representatives George Newton Davis, who is engaged in aetive general practice as an attorney and counselor in the thriving little eity of Maeon, where his marked success stands as the most effective voucher for his ability and his devotion to his profession.

Mr. Davis is a native son of Missouri, having been born at Marshall, the judicial center and metropolis of Saline county, on the 26th of November, 1876. His father, Judge Samuel Davis, was likewise born in Marshall and is a seion of one of the old and honored families of this commonwealth. He was reared to maturity in his native town, in whose sehools he secured his early training, whieh was supplemented by a course of study in Kemper Family School, now known as Kemper Military Academy, at Boonville, Missouri. After leaving school Judge Davis took up the study of law under the direction of Judge John P. Strother, of Marshall, and in due eourse of time he proved himself eligible for and was admitted to the bar. He initiated his professional work in his native place and he has long held prestige as one of the able legists and jurists of the state, and also as a citizen of prominence and influence. He has ever accorded a stalwart allegiance to the cause of the Democratic party, and has rendered yeoman service in its behalf. In 1877 he was elected to represent Saline county in the state legislature, and at the expiration of his term was chosen as his own successor, having proved one of the resourceful and loyal legislators of the state and having done all in his power to further and foster the interests of its people as a whole. In 1879 he was elected prosecuting attorney of Saline county, and of this office he continued incumbent for two terms. In 1899 he was elected to the bench of the eirenit court and he has since presided in this tribunal, in which connection he has shown great discrimination and judicial acumen in the handling of the causes presented before him, and few of his decisions have met with reversal by the superior courts. He is affiliated with the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks and he and his wife hold membership in the Presbyterian church of Marshall, where they still maintain their home.

As a young man Judge Davis was united in marriage to Miss Julia S. Newton, who was born in the city of Louisville, Kentucky, from which state she came with her parents to Missouri when she was a child.

After attending the publie schools of his native place George N. Davis was matrieulated, in 1889, in the academy of Missouri Valley College, at Marshall, Missouri, and in the college proper in 1893, in whieh institution he was graduated as a member of the class of 1896, with the degree of Bachelor of Arts.

Upon leaving college Mr. Davis began reading law under the able preceptorship of his honored father, and in 1898 he was duly admitted to the bar of his native county. At the advice of his father, and in harmony with his own wishes, he deeided to fortify himself more fully for the work of his ehosen profession, and with this end in view he was matrieulated, in October, 1898, in the law department of the celebrated University of Michigan, at Ann Arbor, in which he completed the preseribed eourse and was graduated in 1900, with the degree of Bachelor of Laws. He then returned to his home eity of Marshall, where he became associated with Joshua F. Babee, under the firm name of Davis & Babee, and where he continued in the practice of his profession until 1902, when he transferred his residence and professional headquarters to the eity of Macon, where he has since practiced his profession and where he has gained distinctive success and precedence as one of the able and aggressive younger members of the bar of Macon county. Soon after locating in Macon he was appointed official court stenographer for the second judicial eireuit, and he still retains this position. In 1904 he was assoeiated in praetiee with William Van Cleve, under the firm name of Davis & Van Cleve.

In political matters Mr. Davis clings to the faith in which he was reared, and he is found arrayed as an uncompromising advocate of the generic principles for which the Demoeratie party stands sponsor. He has heen active in the work of his party and is vice-president for the first congressional district of the Young Men's Democratic Club, which has close affiliation with the Missouri Democratic state central committee. In a fraternal way Mr. Davis is identified with the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks, being one of the popular members of the lodge in Macon, and he also holds membership in the Sigma Nu College fraternity.

On the 24th of March, 1909, Mr. Davis was united in marriage to Miss Helen D. Mason, who was born in Kentucky, but who was reared and educated in Marshall, Missouri, where her father, George L. Mason, was engaged in farming, being one of the influential citizens of Saline

Modern dentistry represents both a science and a mechanie art and among those who have attained to distinctive suecess in its practice and who are exponents of the most advaneed methods and manipulations in both the laboratory and operative departments is Dr. Watkins, who is engaged in successful practice in his native city of Bevier and who is a member of one of the well known and highly esteemed families of Macon county.

Dr. John Delbert Watkins was born at Bevier, on the 13th of December, 1879, and is a son of Thomas D. and Sarah (Thomas) Watkins, both of whom were born in Wales, whence they came to America with their respective parents as children. Thomas D. Watkins was eleven years of age at the time of the family immigration to the United States, and soon after their arrival in America his parents settled in Macon county, Missouri, where he was reared to manhood and where for twenty-two years he was identified with the coal-mining industry, He now devotes his attention to agricultural pursuits and is one of the substantial citizens and representative farmers of Macon county, where he has gained a large measure of success through his own well-directed endeavors. His marriage to Miss Sarah Thomas, whose father was a miner at Scranton, Pennsylvania, was solemnized in 1870, and of their two children the subjeet of this sketeh is the elder; the daughter, Mary Elizabeth, is now the wife of Thomas Hill, of Huntsville, Missouri. Thomas D. Watkins is the owner of a fine farm of 110 acres. He and his wife live on their attraetive homestead farm, midway between the eities of Macon and Bevier, and they are held in high regard by all who know them. They are members of the Congregational church, and in polities the father is a staunch Republican.

Dr. Watkins secured his early education in the publie schools of his native eounty, completing a eourse in the Bevier high school, after which he eontinued his studies in the literary department of Washington University, in the eity of St. Louis. He was matrieulated in the dental department of the same institution, where he completed the preseribed technical course and was graduated as a member of the class of 1902, receiving his well-earned degree of Doetor of Dental Surgery. In the same year he opened a well equipped office in Bevier, and here he has amply demonstrated his professional skill and has built up an excellent praetiee of representative charaeter.

Dr. Watkins is one of the progressive and public-spirited citizens of Bevier, where he enjoys unstinted personal and professional popularity. He is a Republican in his proclivities, is affiliated with the local organization of the Modern Woodmen of America, and he and, his wife hold membership in the Congregational church. He is the

On the 1st of November, 1905, Dr. Watkins was united in marriage to Miss Minnie J. Evans, of New Cambria, Missouri, a daughter of Thomas R. Evans, a well known citizen of that place.

The popular general agent for the Chicago, Burlington Quincy railroad in Bevier, Macon county, has been identified with railroad interests from his youth to the present time and has won advancement through the various grades of promotion by reason of his able and faithful service, Mr. Nowlan is one of the well known and highly esteemed citizens of Macon county, had the distinction of being the first mayor of his fine little home eity of Bevier, and is the owner of a well improved landed estate in the county, devoting the same to diversified farming and stock-growing.

Lewis Nowlan reverts to the pieturesque old Green Mountain state as the place of his nativity, having been born in Montpelier, the capital of Vermont, on the 31st of March, 1852. His father, James Nowlan, was born in Ireland and was a child at the time of the family immigration to the United States. He was reared to maturity in the state of Vermont, where he received his limited educational discipline in the common and parochial schools, and where was solemnized his marriage to Miss Catherine Donaghue, who likewise was born in the Emerald Isle but who eame with her parents to America when she was a child, James and Catherine Nowlan became the parents of six children, of whom five are living, namely : Lewis, who is the immediate subjeet of this sketch; Daniel, who is a resident of Frankfort, Indiana; Margaret, who is the wife of Richard O'Connor, of Mt. Sterling; Mary, who is the wife of John Holland, of Fort Wayne, Indiana, and Patrick, who is a resident of Portland, Oregon. The father was aetively identified with railroad interests during practically his entire mature life. He removed from New England to the state of Illinois, where the family resided for a number of years and where he served one term as tax collector of Brown county. In 1878 he removed with his family to Missouri and established his home in Brookfield, Linn eounty. He became roadmaster for the Hannibal & St. Joseph Railroad and was ineumbent of this position until his death, whieh was the result of injuries received in the well remembered railroad wreck at Brush Creek this state, 1881. His wife survived him and resides at Mt. Sterling, Illinois. Both were devout communicants of the Catholic church, and in polities he was originally a Whig and later a Democrat.

Lewis Nowlan, whose name initiates this review, was a child at the time of the family removal to Illinois, and at Mount Sterling, that state, he was afforded the advantages of the parochial and publie schools. That he made good use of the opportunities thus afforded him is evident when we revert to the fact that he proved himself eligible for pedagogie honors, having been employed as a teacher in the publie schools of Illinois for some time. Thereafter he turned his attention to the railroad business, beginning in a modest capacity and finally winning his way upward in positions of increasing trust and responsibility until he was appointed to his present office, - that of general agent for the Chicago, Burlington Quincy Railroad at Bevier. He established his home in this city in 1878 and here his interests have since been centered. He has accumulated a competency through his own well directed endeavors, and his fine farm property, located in Bevier township, comprises 160 acres. He gives a general supervision to the property and the same yields good returns, being, as already stated, devoted to general agriculture and the raising of high grade live stock.

In polities Mr. Nowlan is found arrayed as a staunch supporter of the generic principles of the Democratic party, to which he gives his support where national and state issues are involved, but in local affairs he is independent of strict partisan dictates, giving his influence and utilizing his franchise in support of the mean and measures meeting with the approval of his judgment. He has long maintained inviolable hold on popular confidence and esteem in his home community and in 1889, upon the incorporation of Bevier as a city, he was chosen its first mayor. That his administration of municipal affairs met with unstinted popular approval is shown in the fact that he was retained in the office of mayor for eight consecutive years. For two years he served as clerk of the board of education, and his co-operation and influence have ever been extended right loyally in the support of measures and enterprises tending to advance the material and social welfare of the community. In 1903 he served in the office of school director, and in the cause of education finds in him a staunch advocate. He and his wife are

On the 28th of April, 1902, was solemnized the marriage of Mr. Nowlan to Miss Catherine MeGoon, who was born at Mount Sterling, Illinois, and they have one child, Lewis, Jr.

Charles F. Hale

Among the representative members of the bar of Macon county is numbered Charles F. Hale, who is engaged in the successful practice of his profession in Bevier, where he served for more than a decade in the office of city attorney and where he is also engaged in the real estate, loan and insurance business, in which he controls a prosperous business. He is one of the progressive and loyal citizens of his native county, and here his popularity is of the most unqualified order.

Mr. Hale was born on a farm in Liberty township, Macon county, Missouri, on the 28d of February, 1872, and is a son of Charles H. and Mary A. (Ballinger) Hale, the former of whom was born in Kentucky and the latter in Macon county, Missouri. When Charles H. Hale was a child his parents came from Kentucky to Missouri, and here he was reared and edueated, having long been one of the representative farmers and stock-growers of Macon county and being a citizen to whom has been at all times accorded the highest measure of popular confidence and esteem. In connection with his farming enterprise he was a successful and extensive breeder of poultry for a number of years, making somewhat of a specialty of this line of enterprise. He and his wife now reside in the city of Bevier, where he is living virtually retired from active business. Of their two children the subject of this sketch is the younger, the other having died in childhood. The parents are members of the Baptist church, and the father is a staunch Democrat in his political proclivities.

Charles F. Hale passed his boyhood days on the home farm, and his earlier edueational discipline was seeured in the publie schools of the village of Callao, after which he completed a course in the Northwestern Business College, at Stanberry, Missouri. In the spring of 1891 he was matrieulated in the Northern Indiana Law School, in the eity of Valparaiso, in which institution he was graduated as a member of the elass of 1891 and from which he received the degree of Bachelor of Laws. In the fall of the same year he was admitted to the bar of his native state and forthwith opened an office in Bevier, where he has built up a substantial and representative practice and gained prece-

In politics Mr. Hale has rendered loyal and effective service as a stalwart advocate of the principles and policies for which the Demoeratie party stands sponsor, and in 1891, soon after his admission to the bar, he was elected city attorney of Bevier, of which office he continued in tenure for thirteen consecutive years. He has been a notary publie for eighteen years, and in the handling of his real estate, loan and insurance business he has gained a substantial business. He is a stockholder and direetor of the People's Bank of Bevier, in a fraternal way is identified with the Masonie order, the Knights of Pythias, the Woodmen of the World and the Modern Woodmen of Ameriea, and he is one of the zealous members of the First Congregational church, being also a valued member of its board of trustees. He was married March 23, 1898, to Maggie G. Richardson, a daughter of John J. Richardson, of Bevier.

John W. Nisbeth

Through well-direeted endeavors this native son of Macon county has risen to a position of prominence and influence as a business man and as a loyal and progressive citizen. He has a fine landed estate in the county and has various business and capitalistic interests of importance in his home city of Bevier, and he is held in unqualified esteem as a man of sterling integrity of eharaeter and as one well deserving of the sueeess whieh he has achieved through his own efforts. He is engaged in the real estate business in Bevier, and his operations in this important field of enterprise have been large and important, and he is also president of the Bevier Hollow Cement Block Building Company.

John William Nisbeth was born in Bevier, Macon county, Missouri, on the 8th of July, 1871, and is a son of Charles and Matilda (Skinner) Nisbeth, whose marriage was solemnized in 1* The father was born in England, where he was reared to the age of sixteen years, when he came to America. He took up his residence in Macon county, Missouri, while still a youth and here followed the trade of briek-moulder for some time, after which he turned his attention to agricultural pursuits, in connection with which he gained a large measure of success, having eventually become the owner of large tracts of land. He was a man of sterling character and was held in high regard as a citizen. His politieal support was given to the Republiean party. He continued to maintain his home in Macon county until his death. "They became the parents of three children, of whom one died at the age of twenty years.

The subjeet of this review is the elder of the two surviving, and his sister, Nettie, is now the wife of Edward E. Rogers, of Hutchison, Kansas.

John W. Nisbeth gained his early education in the publie schools of Bevier, and after leaving school he secured employment in the general store here eondueted by the Loomis Coal Company. He was thus engaged for two years, after which he was identified with farm work for one year, and for the ensuing two years he was engaged in railroad work in the state of Kansas. From that state he went to South Dakota, where he secured employment as night watchman on a railroad, and in 1893, when twenty years of age and after having had varied experiences, all marked by close application to work, he returned to Bevier and established himself in the hardware and farm implement business, in which he eontinued for the ensuing thirteen years. Fair and honorable dealing and careful attention to the requirements of his patrons gained to him a large and substantial trade, and through his able management of the details of the business he secured substantial financial returns, thus placing himself in a position of independence. Since 1906 he has been engaged in the real estate business at Bevier, handling both city and farm property and controlling a representative support in this important field of enterprise. He is also the owner of a well established hardware business at Brunswick, Missouri, is the owner of one of the best store buildings in the business center of Bevier, has two well improved farms, comprising a total of 565 acres, and also owns other valuable realty in Macon county.

Mr. Nisbeth attributes his success to perseverance and hard work, and in all his operations and efforts he has been guided and governed by the highest principles and has proved himself a man of strength and fertility of resource and of unimpeachable character, so that he well merits the unqualified confidence and esteem so uniformly accorded him by his fellow-men. He is not a technical Prohibitionist, but believes thoroughly that the country would be better in all respects if the liquor business were eliminated. He himself has never used liquor or tobacco, and his moral eode, though never paraded, is one of the highest order. He and his wife hold membership in the First Baptist church, and he is affiliated with the Independent Order of Odd Fellows and its auxiliary, the Daughters of Rebekah, as well as with the Modern Woodmen of America and the Woodmen of the World.

In polities Mr. Nisbeth gives an unequivocal support to the principles and policies of the Republican party, and in 1899 he was elected a member of the board of aldermen of Bevier, serving two years and doing much to promote wise administration of the municipal government. In 1904 he was again elected alderman, and he served four consecutive years, within which he advocated a progressive poliey and gave his influence in the furtherance of all measures tending to promote the best interests of his home city.

On the 4th of October, 1897, Mr. Nisbeth was united in marriage to Miss Ora Powell, who was born and reared in Macon county and who is a daughter of Henry M. Powell, a successful farmer of the county. Mr. and Mrs. Nisbeth have two children, Otho and Merwyn.

The creamery industry in the city of Macon, which began about twenty years ago, had until recently a rather calamitous history. It never succeeded in getting a permanent foothold here until the right man to conduct it came to the city, but since the advent of Rudolph Miller, who had special training for it in a number of places and on two continents, it has flourished and grown strong. The first effort to establish a creamery in this community was made by John J. Davis and others about twenty years ago, as has been stated. The plant they had was a small one, and for a period of two years they conducted it with success and profit under the old system of gathering cream. At the end of the period mentioned a disastrous fire entirely destroyed the plant, and as the owners carried no insurance at the time, they lost everything they had invested in the business and were unable to rebuild, and their experience discouraged others from making any attempt in this direction for a long time.

Nearly ten years after the fire another creamery was started, but this resulted in a complete failure, and nothing further was done in the industry in Macon until October, 1906, when the Macon Creamery company was formed and began business. It has been a success from the very start and is now one of the soundest and most progressive manufacturing enterprises in the city. It has paid its stockholders an eight per cent dividend every year since it started, and has enjoyed a steady expansion of its business, and, at the same time, has elevated and enlarged the reputation of its output.

The success of this company has been largely if not wholly due to the skill, knowledge and business capacity of its secretary, treasurer and general manager, Rudolph Miller, who had extensive and varied experience in the business before he came to Macon. He also had the benefit of valuable experience in other lines of activity, having been a cooper, a soldier, a dairyman and a farmer, and having followed some

Mr. Miller was born in Denmark on April 3, 1858. His parents, Christian and Johanna (Hendriekson) Miller, were also natives of that country, and there their forefathers lived for many generations before them. The father was chief of police in the Danish eity of Nakskov for more than a quarter of a century, and was a man of consequence and influence in that thriving and progressive municipality. For his ability and fidelity in the publie service the King of Denmark decorated him with a badge of honor known as "The Dannebrogs Cross." He was born in Nakskov in 1820 and died there in 1897. He and his wife were the parents of ten ehildren, of whom those now living are Rudolph, George, Harriet (the wife of Christian Mortenson), and Laura, the two daughters being still residents of their native land and living in that portion of it in which they were born.

Rudolph Miller was reared and edueated in Nakskov. He left school at the age of fourteen and was apprenticed to a cooper, with whom he passed four years. At the end of that period he enlisted in the Danish army, which he left after a service of sixteen months. In 1877 he learned the dairy business under the direction and in the employ of the Danish Land association, and in 1882 eame to the United States, taking up his residence in a Swiss cheese manufacturing colony near New Philadelphia, Ohio. During his residence of eight months in that settlement he aequired a good practical knowledge of the German language, and thus added another weapon to his armour for the battle of life.

He moved to Chieago and there found employment in various oceupations, and finally engaged as a milker on a farm near New Hampshire in Illinois, milking twenty-five cows night and morning. Following this he entered the service of the renowned Elgin Butter company at Elgin in the same state. One year later he paid a short visit to his native land, and on his return to Illinois he again worked for the Elgin Butter company, and is at this date (1910) a member of the Elgin Butter board of trade, in 1885 he secured employment in the dairy business with E. Buehanan of Johnsburg, Illinois. He passed the years 1886, 1887 and 1888 in the service of Fitzsimmons & Evans at Barryville, Illinois.

In 1889 Mr. Miller found himself with sufficient capital to go into business for himself, and became a member of the firm of Evanson & Buchanan, the firm name being changed to Evanson, Buchanan &

Miller to suit the new arrangement. The business was located at Crystal Lake, Illinois. In 1890 he sold his interest in it to his partners and bought a ereamery in Iowa, which he operated until the plant was destroyed by fire. In 1894, in company with his former employer, J. Fitzsimmons, he built a new creamery at Dunbarton, Wisconsin, where he remained three years. The next three years he passed in a creamery at Beloit, Wisconsin, and on March 28, 1900, came to Macon, Missouri. Here he followed the same line of industry for three years more, then leased his business to the Blue Valley Creamery company of St. Joseph, Missouri, and became the traveling representative of the company.

In 1906, at the solicitation of citizens of Macon, he founded the Macon Creamery company, which was organized as a stock company with a eapital of $10,000, and ineorporated under the laws of Missouri. He was elected secretary, treasurer and general manager of the company, and is still acting in that capacity. Under his vigorous and skillful management the company has doubled its output, and in 1908 it paid out upwards of $50,000. Its goods are not only shipped to all parts of Missouri, but find a ready and profitable market in the large cities on the Atlantie eoast and in many parts of the South, having a high reputation for excellence everywhere.

In polities Mr. Miller is a zealous working Republican, always taking an active part in the campaign of his party but never seeking or accepting a publie office of any kind. His fraternal relations are with the Western Travelers' association and the Knights of Pythias, and his religious connection is with the Baptist chureh. In March, 1887, he was united in marriage with Miss Wilhelmina Carolina Augusta Daugs, a native of Berlin, Germany. They have seven children, Hulda, Ethel, Edwin, Rudolph, Jr., Clarence, Vera and Paul. The father is a true and progressive American eitizen, as ardently devoted to the welfare and institutions of the land of his adoption as he ever was to those of the land of his nativity, and works as earnestly for the promotion of the former as he ever could have done for that of the latter.

David M. Williams

There is ever a large measure of satisfaction in entering incidental record concerning the man who has achieved success through his own well-directed efforts and by worthy means, and such a man is the representative business man and influential citizen of Macon county whose name initiates this article. He is the owner of considerable land in Macon county and his capitalistic interests, aside from this, are of important order, indicating the judicious use of the resources which he has acquired through his own energy and ability, the while so ordering his life as to hold the implicit confidence and unreserved esteem of his fellow-men. "There is both lesson and incentive in his career, and it is most consonant that in this history be incorporated a brief review of the same.

David Morgan Williams claims the fine old Keystone state of the Union as the place of his nativity, since he was born in Pottsville, Sehuylkill eounty, Pennsylvania, on the 30th of April, 1867. He is a son of John T. and Elizabeth (Morgan) Williams, both of whom were born in Wales and whose marriage was solemnized at Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, on the 4th of July, 1866. Their choice of marital date, the anniversary of our national independence, may be said to have well indicated their loyalty to the country of their adoption. John Thomas Williams was born in the southern part of Wales, on the 10th of August, 1541, and was reared to maturity in his native land, where he received a fair common school edueation. At the age of eighteen years he accompanied his parents on their immigration to Ameriea and the family settled at Danville, Pennsylvania, where he secured employment as an iron-worker, in which trade he became a skilled artisan. Later he was identified with the eoal-mining industry in various parts of Pennsylvania and Illinois, where he continued to reside until 1875, when he removed with his family to Illinois, and then to Missouri and took up his abode in Macon county. In this section he continued to be identified with coal-mining during the greater portion of his subsequent active career, though for a number of years he did a profitable business as a manufacturer of cement walks. He located in Bevier in 1878, and here passed the remainder of his life, which was marked by honest industry and attended by a due measure of temporal success. He was a man of impregnable integrity and his life was guided and governed by sterling principles. He was a member of the Chureh of Latter Day Saints, with which his wife also is identified, and his political allegiance was given to the Republican party. He had distinctive musical talent and was enthusiastic in all that related to the ''divine art," besides which he was the composer of a number of musical scores of much attractiveness. In a fraternal way he was long identified with the Independent Order of Odd Fellows. His death occurred on the 3d of May, 1908, and his widow died October 24, 1909. Of their seven children, five are living, the subject of this sketch being the eldest of the number; John L. is engaged in business at Bevier; Thomas H. resides

David M. Williams, the immediate subject of this review, gained his early educational training in the publie sehools of Pennsylvania, and was about eleven years of age at the time of the family removal to Missouri, where he continued to attend sehool as opportunity afforded. When nineteen years of age he returned to Pennsylvania, where he learned the trade of blacksmith in the shops of the Bethlehem Steel Company. In 1889 he returned to Missouri and found employment as a journeyman blaeksmith, and in 1891 he established himself independently in the blacksmithing business in Bevier, where he has since continued operations in this line. He has made every effort count materially in the furtherance of his ambition to gain success and independence, and well has he realized his ambition. In evidence of this fact we need but state that he is now the owner of 360 acres in Macon county, is a stockholder and director of the State Bank of Bevier, and a stockholder and director of the New Cambria Land Company. His advancement also indicates good business judgment, energy and executive ability. He is a member of the board of supervisors of drainage, district No. 1, Macon county, within which distriet his farming property lies. It may be stated, incidentally, that he is the first person who has suecessfully exploited the propagation of alfalfa on Chariton river valley lands in Macon county. Mr. Williams is always to be counted upon to, lend his aid and co-operation in the promotions of enterprises and measures tending to enhance the civic and material prosperity of his home city and state, and his political allegiance is given to the Republiean party, in whose cause he takes a deep interest. He is affiliated with Bloomington Lodge, No. 102, Free and Accepted Masons, of which he is secretary, and with Eskridge Lodge, No. 253, Independent Order of Odd Fellows, of whose board of trustees he has been a member for fully sixteen years, also Bevier Camp, No, 324, W. O. W.; clerk of same. He is now treasurer of the Bevier volunteer fire department, and had the distinction of being the first chief of the same, holding that office for one year. It may further be said that he has been most active in the work of the Independent. Order of Odd Fellows, in the Missouri grand lodge of which he represented his district for ten years.

On the 29th of October, 1894, Mr. Williams was united in marriage to Miss Eliza Hamer, who was born and reared in Macon county, being a daughter of John and Sarah Hamer. He and his wife are members of the Chureh of the Latter Day Saints.

James G. Edwards

One of the prominent business men and representative citizens of Bevier is James G. Edwards, who has been a resident of Macon county since his childhood days, being a member of a family whose name has been identified with the annals of the county for nearly half a century, and here he has won for himself a secure place in popular confidence and esteem, while he has so directed his efforts in connection with business affairs as to gain marked success, He has served as mayor of the city of Bevier and is now presiding judge of the county court at Macon.

Judge Edwards claims the fine old Buckeye state as the place of his nativity, as he was born in the village of Pomeroy, Meigs county, Ohio, on the 29th of June, 1859, being a son of Robert and Catherine (Michael) Edwards, both of whom were born in Wales and whose marriage was solemnized in Ohio, in 1849. They became the parents of nine children, of whom five are living, namely: Thomas, who is associated with the subject of this sketch in the mercantile business and who is individually mentioned on other pages of this publication; James G., whose name initiates this article; Elizabeth, who is the wife of James Evans, of Kansas City, Missouri; Margaret, who is the wife of George Keeley, of the same city, and Amelia, who resides in Bevier, as does also the widowed mother, who makes her home with her sons and is by them accorded the deepest filial solicitude.

Robert Edwards was reared and educated in his native land in 1837, when a young man, he immigrated to America and took up his residence in Ohio. For a time he was located in Jackson county, that state, and he thence removed to Pomeroy, Meigs county, where he was identified with the toal-mining industry until 1865, when he removed with his family to Macon county, Missouri. He purchased a farm in Bevier township and turned his attention to its development and cultivation. In 1871 he engaged in the general merchandise business in Bevier, continuing operations in this line until 1878, when he resumed his active association with the great basic industry of agriculture, with which he was successfully identified during the residue of his active career, He was a man of impregnable integrity and of strong mentality, and his course was so guided and governed that he won and retained the high regard of all with whom he came in contact in the various relations of life. He was a Republican in his political proclivities and his religious faith was that of the Congregational church, of which his widow also has long been a devoted member. He died on the

James G. Edwards was about six years of age at the time of the family removal from Ohio to Missouri, and he was reared on the home farm and in the village of Bevier, in the meanwhile being afforded the advantages of the common schools of the locality and period. After leaving sehool he eontinued to be identified with farming and also found employment in the eoal mines of this section, and he is still the owner of valuable property in Macon county.

In 1882 Judge Edwards became associated with his elder brother, Thomas, in the general merchandise business, in which they have since continued, under the firm name of Edwards Bros. Their establishment is recognized as one of the best in Bevier, a large and seleet stoek being earried in each of the several departments and the facilities being of high standard. Through fair and honorable dealings the firm has built up a large, substantial and representative trade, and its members are recognized as being progressive and straightforward business men of distinetive ability.