Shelby County, Missouri - Biographical sketches, 1911 (part 15 of 16)

Mr. Cotton was born on April 29, 1857, at Shelbyville, Missouri, and is a grandson of Chester K. Cotton, a native of Connecticut and one of the earliest settlers of Shelby county. He was for many years engaged in general merchandising at Shelbyville, and prospered finely in his business. The parents of William J. were William B. and Mary (Parsons) Cotton, the former born in Baltimore, Maryland, in 1835, and the latter a native of this county. He came to Missouri with his parents when he was quite young and was reared and educated in this county, attending school in Shelbyville, where he lived. As soon as he was old enough and sufficiently trained for the purpose, his father took him into the mercantile estal)lishment as a i)artner under the firm name of Cotton & Son, which became a very ])opular and prosperous firm, doing a large business and wixining trade from a veiy large extent of the surrounding country. But the life of the junior member of this firm was short, as he died in 1871 at the early age of thirty-six years.

He was married in 1854 to Miss Mary Parsons of this coimty, a daughter of Jonathan and Mary Ann (Carter) Parsons, natives of Virginia. They had two children, their daughter, Mary Catherine, the wife of I. N. Frederick, of Shelby county, and their son, William J., both of whom live to revere their memory and follow their example of upright and useful living. The mother died in 1858, and in 1860 the father married a second wife, choosing as his partner on this occasion Miss Jennie Dobbins, of Marion county. Four children were born of their union and three of them are living, and all residents of Shelbina. They are: Thomas M. ; Cora, the wife of Sim Downing; and Weldon. In politics the father was a Democrat and an active worker for his party. He was a Freemason fraternally and a member of the Methodist Episcopal church in religious affiliation.

William J. Cotton obtained his academic training in the district schools of Shelby county and at Ingleside College, Palmyra. After leaving the latter institution he pursued a course of special business training at the Gem City Commercial College, Quincy, Illinois. Upon completing his education he started making his own way in the world, and until 1866 rented land and carried on farming operations as extensively and vigorously ashiscircumstanceswouldpennit. In 1866 he received as an inheritance from his grandfather, with whom he had made his home after the death of his father until he started a home for himself, a farm of 360 acres of wild and unbroken land, and he immediately gave himself up with all his energy to make this tract over into a comfortable home and a productive and valuable basis of general farming and stock breeding and feeding operations, enlarging his efforts in each department as he prospered and gained facilities for the purpose. In this design he has been very successful. His farm is well improved, highly productive and very valuable, and he has made it all this by his energj', intelligence and excellent judgment in managing everything connected with it. And the live stock industry conducted in connection with the farming is managed with the same care, intelligence and skill, and is in its measure proportionately as profitable.

Mr. Cotton has risen to prominence and influence also in the general life of his township and county. He has shown gi'eat interest in their development and improvement, giving active support to every worthy undertaking for promoting that and looking well to the best interests of the whole people in every way. His public spirit as a citizen is highly appreciated by the people, and he is very popular and has high standing among them. He has served them well as a school director and in all other ways open to him, or that he could make open to him, has given their affairs and their enduring welfare his best and most helpful attention.

On December 18, 1878, Mr. Cotton was united in marriage with Miss Jessie Barnum, of Palmyra, a daugliter of Ezra and Martha (Wells) Barnum, the former a native of Connecticut and the latter of

Kentucky. Two children have been born of the union, a son named Chester P., who is living at home with his parents, and a daughter named Alberta, who is the wife of B. F. Floweree, an esteemed resident of Shelby county. In i^olitics the father is a pronounced and unwavering Democrat of the most reliable kind. In fraternal relations he is a Freemason, and in religious connection he and his wife are zealous working members of the Missionary Baptist church, he having served as clerk of the congregation to which he belongs during the last fifteen years with credit to himself and benefit to the church and greatly to the satisfaction of the whole congregation.

John J. Hollyman

The untimely death of this excellent farmer, fine stock man and most highly esteemed citizen of Tiger Fork township, Shelby county, which occurred on November 13, 1899, when he was but little over fifty-five years of age, stopped in its midst a very progressive and successful business career in the allied industries to which it was devoted, and cast the whole community in mourning over the loss of an inspiring force, a leader of thought and action and a very useful man in all practical requirements of every day life, which had been at work among its people.

Mr. Hollyman was born on August 23, 1844, in Shelby county, Missouri, and here he resided all the years of his life. He was a son of Charles N. and Nancy (Eaton) Hollyman, natives of Kentucky, where the former was born in 1810. He came to Missouri in the very early days and for a short time lived in Marion county. From there he moved to Shelby county, and on its fertile soil and amid its inspiring and progressive institutions he passed the remainder of his days, dying on March 25, 1882. He spent his years in this state in farming and raising live stock, and in his time was considered one of the very best farmers in Shelby county. His marriage, which took place in 1835, resulted in three children, all of whom are now deceased.

John J. Hollyman attended the district schools in Shelby county and also the public schools in Lexington, Kentucky, whither he went during the Civil war and remained three years. After his return to this county he finished his education in one of the schools here. He remained on the home place with his parents, assisting them until death robbed him of them. He then bought the place and on it he passed the rest of his own life and the remaining years of a very successful career as a farmer and also as an extensive breeder and feeder of stock, which he shipped in large consignments to the Chicago and other markets. He began as a farmer and stock man with 160 acres of land, and when he died he owned 480 acres, which his widow now controls and manages with a skill and intelligence that keep the old spirit in the industries conducted on the ]ilace and maintain the profits at the highest range of the times.

Mr. HolljTnan was prominent in local public affairs as a Democrat who never wavered in loyalty to his party or flagged in zeal in its service. But he would never consent to accept a ]"»olitical ofiice either by appointment or election, although frequently and earnestly solicited to do so by his friends among the party leaders and also those who marched with the rank and file. He preferred the independent and honorable position of private citizenship as a man and the duties and interests of his farm to all official cares and all artificial distinctions boi'n of temporary elevation in public life. At the same time he gave close and intelligent attention to the needs and possibilities of his township and county, and omitted no effort possible on his part to provide for the one and develop the other to the highest extent. Every form of public improvement or enterprise for the good of the people had his hearty, cheerful and helpful support from start to finish.

On April 26, 1883, he was united in marriage with Miss Anna V. Bell, who was born on July 17, 1855, in Shelby coimty, Missouri, and is a daughter of J. W. and Elizabeth B. (Ferguson) Bell, the former a native of Kentucky and the latter of Virginia. Mr. and Mrs. Hollyman were the parents of two children, both living : Charles N., who lives at Laredo, Texas, and Frank, a resident of this county. Their mother is a member of Mt. Zion Baptist church, and one of the active workers among those who belong to it, doing everything she can to advance the interests of the congregation and the church in general.

Having passed the limit of human life as designated by the Psalmist, although bearing well and with spirit the burden of his years, James W. Turner, one of the prosperous and enterprising farmers and stock men of North River township, in this county, is entitled, on account of his age, to the veneration the people bestow upon him. But he has another title to their regard and good will and to their gratitude and esteem as well. That is that more than half a century of his useful life has been passed among them and the greater part of this period has been devoted in a leading and substantial way to the development and improvement of the locality in which his labors have been expended.

Mr. Turner was born on December 10, 1839, in Garrard county, Kentucky, and is a grandson of James Turner, who was also a native of that state and when he left it, and came westward with the advancing tide of migration toward the Rocky mountains, became one of the verj' early settlers in this portion of Missouri. He settled on a farm in our adjoining county of Marion, and on that farm he passed the remainder of his days, dying on it at last and being laid to rest in the very soil he had hallowed by his labors. His son, Thomas W. Turner, the father of James AV., was born in 1818 in Garrard county, Kentucky, where he grew to manhood and was married at the very dawn of that estate. In 1840 he brought his j'oung family to Missouri and located on a farm in Marion county, also, near where his father lived. On this farm he was actively, extensively and prosperously engaged in farming and raising live stock during all the subsequent years of his life except the last two or three, which he passed in Shelby county at the home of his son James, where he died on October 10, 1899.

He was married in 1838 to Miss Margaret Tucker, of the same nativity as himself, and they became the parents of ten children, eight of whom are living: James W., the interesting subject of these paragraphs; Thomas, who has his home in the state of Oklahoma ; John, who is a resident of this county; Micajah, who resides at Fort Scott, Kansas; Samuel, whose home is also in Oklahoma ; Mary, the wife of George Powell, of Marion county; Holman, who dwells in distant California ; and Nancy, the widow of the late George Nash, of Marion county, tliis state. In politics the father was a Democrat and always took an interest in the welfare of his party.

James W. Turner began his scholastic training in the district schools of his native county in Kentucky and completed it in those of Marion county, in this state, attending the latter until he reached the age of twenty-one. He then started his own career of conquest and advancement by buying eighty acres of land in Shelby county, on which he settled and which form a part of his present fine and well improved farm of 400 acres, nearly all of which is under advanced and skillful cultivation. On this land he was very actively, extensively and profitablj^ engaged in farming and raising live stock until 1903, when he retired from all active pursuits, although he still gives supervisory attention to the farming and does chores and light jobs connected with its work, according to his taste and inclination.

shown a very warm and cordial interest in whtever has involved their enduring welfare. He served as clerk of the district school and on the board of school directors twenty-five years, and is now serving his third term as justice of the peace and notary public. He also carried the United States mails for two years during the Civil war. This was a public service full of peril and he frequently appeared to take his life in his hand when he started on his trip. But he met the requirements of the case bravely and faithfully, and he escaped unharmed, winning the commendation of all who knew of his service for his courage and fidelity in performing it.

On January 25, 1866, he was united in marriage with Miss Martha Meglasson, of Marion county, a daiighter of Paschal and Caroline (Bayless) Meglasson, the former a native of Kentucky and the latter of Mississippi. Five children were born of the union, three of whom are living: Lee, Laura Belle and Hurley J. The daughter is still at home with her parents, and her brothers are ])oth prosperous and rising men in this county. The father adheres to the Democratic party in political faith and action, and in the days of his greater vigor was a very energetic worker for its success in all campaigns. His religious allegiance, and that of his wife also, is given to the Christian church, in which both are zealous and devoted workers for all that pertains to the welfare of the congregation to which they belong.

Monroe Teachenor

lisliment is by no means an easy one, however outsiders may view it. At the same time it has its compensations for its exactions and hardships and those who follow it are not slow to see and appreciate these. The traveling salesman of oxir time is looked upon as an authority on the latest phases of social, political and mercantile activity in many places, and is usually warmly welcomed as a sunbeam from the outside world in nooks and corners which are aside from the great, busy, struggling world ; and in other aspects he is regarded as a shining link between the ambitious busy strivings of the smaller cities and the mighty commercial centers. In this capacity Monroe Teachenor, of Shelbina, has served the public for a number of years and has found his life agreeable in the main. He has been successful in his calling, and this, if nothing else, is an element of enjoyment and sufficient in itself to i-econcile the man who experiences it to almost any ordinary privation. Mr. Teachenor was born in Lewis coimty, Missouri, on October 5, 1863, and is a grandson of Isaac Teachenor, a native of Ohio, and a son of Nathaniel Teachenor, who was born and reared in the same state. The father came to Missouri in 1857 and located in Lewis county, where he followed teaching school in connection with farming for a number of years. In 1869 he moved to Shelby county, and after remaining in this county two years removed to Knox county, where he died on May 1, 1909.

He was married in 1855 to Miss Sarah Glasscock, also a native of Ohio. They had eight children, four of whom are living: David W., a resident of Salt Lake

City, Utah; Isaac L., who lives at Clayton, Illinois; Monroe, the pleasing subject of this brief re\new ; and Mrs. P. F. Gardiner, of Knox county, Missouri. The father was a successful farmer and a devoted and loyal member of the Independent Methodist church. He stood well in his community, wherever he lived, and was regarded as an upright, entei-prising and useful citizen wherever he was known and by all who had the pleasure of his acquaintance, or the benefit of intimate association with him.

His son, Monroe Teachenor, obtained his education in the district schools of this state and at a high school in Newark, in Knox county. After leaving school he was employed as a clerk and salesman in a dry goods store for a number of years. He then went on the road as a traveling representative of Janis, Saunders & Co., a large wholesale dry goods establishment in St. Louis, whom he represented in th^e commercial world throughout a large territory until 1884. In that year he accepted a position in the same capacity with the Hargadine-Mc- Kiltruck Dry Goods Company, of St. Louis, and with that house he has been actively engaged ever since.

Although his home is in Shelbina, Mr. Teachenor has seen much of the world and learned its ways. He knows men and their secret springs of action, and has mastered all the details of the dry goods trade as a commercial tourist. And he has the wisdom to make an intelligent, practical ai)plication of what he has learned in the way of swelling his trade and thereby adds greatly to his own revenues and the business of the house he represents. He is regarded as one of the most capable, agreeable and successful men in the employ of the house in his line of activity, and universal testimony proclaims that he is entitled to the high rank he holds in this respect.

On September 23, ISSfi, he was united in marriage with Miss Harriet Parsons, a native of Shelbyville, Missouri. They have had four children, three sons and one daugMer. They are: Homer, Fred, Lotus and Brooks. The father is a pronounced Democrat in politics and active in the service of his party according to his opportunities to work for it. These are necessarily limited, as he is away from home a great deal of the time. Fraternally he is connected with the Masonic order, and in religious afHliation is allied with the Methodist Episcopal South.

Mr. Teachenor's heart is in his business, and in 1909, thinking thereby to win out a larger and more gratifyingsuccess in it, he moved to St. Louis. But he found that he was as well off in Shelbina and better satisfied, and in 1910 he moved back to that city, which is now his home. He takes an active interest in public affairs and does all in his power to promote the welfare of his city and county. And he is esteemed by their people as one of the best and most representative men among them.

Emmett D. Swinney

Starting in life with nothing but his native ability and his determined and persevering spirit, and winning a gratifying success as a farmer, a mechanic and a merchant, Emmett D. Swinney, of

Shelbina, furnishes in his career a fine example of the versatility of the American mind when awakened to and kept in action by correct principles and lofty ideals of duty; and an example also of the true allegiance to local and general requirements of government, which is the natural product of good citizenship.

Mr. vSwinney was born in Macon county, Missouri', on March 13, 186:3, and is descended from sturdy old Kentucky stock. His father, Rev. John G. Swinney, was born in Pulaski county, Kentucky, in 1818, the son of Wiliiam H. Swinney, who was also a native of that state, and who there was reared and had his career. The family was a pioneer one in that state. Some of its earlier members helped to lay the foundations of the commonwealth and later ones aided in Iniilding the superstructure.

Rev. John G. Swinney came to Missouri in 1832, while the conditions here were much like those found by his ancestors when they invaded the wilderness of Kentucky, and he experienced in his day many of the hardships and privations which they experienced in theirs. He was a millwright and worked at his trade along the Missouri river for a gi'eat many years. But in the meantime, feeling a call to higher duties, he studied for the Christian ministry, and the greater part of his time during the subsequent years of his life were spent in pastoral duties and in proclaiming from the sacred desk the ti-uths of the gospel.

This venerable "Father in Israel" was the last survivor of the old pioneer pi-eachers who laid the foundations in Macon and Shelby counties of the religious organization to which he belonged.

At the age of eighteen he became united with the Baptist church, and in 1843 was ordained a i3reacher in that denomination. On the fourth Saturday of November, in the same year, and seven months after his ordination, he joined with Eev. William Griffin and Eev. Henry Matthews in organizing the Macon Baptist association, of which he was the first district missionary. He devoted the labors of nearly all of his after life to ministerial work under the auspices of this association and helped to promote its growth from three feeble and struggling congregations to a membership of many thousands.

Eev. Mr. Swinney was one of the six pioneer preachers who founded the Baptist church in this region, and like his colleagues in the work, he labored on his farm and at his trade during the week and preached on Sunday, often riding many miles to fill his engagements and braving all kinds of weather by day and night for the purpose. His ministry began before the day of salaried preachers in this part of the world, and his labor in the ministerial field was therefore one of love, and given freely, without money or price of any kind. One church, in which he preached for a number of years on one occasion, gave him the sum of $2.50, and this amount he invested in a barrel of salt. At another time, in October, 1882, he requested the Darksville Baptist church, in Eandolph county, of which he was then the pastor, and from which he had received no pay for the year, to raise all it could of the salary it wished to pay him and send it to a veteran brother clergj-man, Eev. H. J. Thomas, of Shelbina, who was ill and in distress.

Eev. J. G. Swinney lived in Macon county until 1865, then moved to Tuscola, Illinois. In the spring of 1866 he returned to Missoui'i and took up his residence in Shelby county, four miles north of AVoodlawn, where he lived until 1891. In that year he moved to Clarence, where he died on August 10, 1901, aged eightythree years and two months. He was married in Macon county, Missouri, in 1844, to Miss Sarah Matthews, who was born in Kentuckj- on February 13, 1825. They became the parents of ten children, eight of whom are living: D. J., of Devall Bluff, Arkansas; J. T., of Eichmond, Missouri ; Martha, the wife of John Clark, of Leonard, this county ; J. M., of Macon, JNIissouri ; A. P., of Clarence, Shelby county; i\Iary, the wife of W. S. Cornelius, of Macon county ; Emmett D., the subject of this writing; and Alice, the wife of Calvin Matthews. The mother survived her husband nearly seven years, dying on April 25, 1908.

Emmett D. Swinney obtained his education in the district schools of Shelby county, and after completing their course of instruction, worked for his father on the home farm a number of years. He was, however, of a mechanical rather than an agricultural turn of mind, and gratified his inclination by operating a saw mill for some time. In 1885 he moved to Shelbina and accepted employment under W. S. Clark in the implement and woodenware trade, remaining with him seventeen years. In 1902 he and "William McDaniel bought the business from Mr. Clark, and tliej' prospered in the undertaking until 1910. Mr. McDaniel then sold his interest to Mr. Hawkins, and the firm name became Swinney & Hawkins. Under the new arrangement the business has gone steadily ahead to larger proportions, a higher reputation and more considerable importance. It is now one of the leaders iu its line in this part of the state.

On December 25, 188.3, Mr. Swinney was united iu marriage with Miss Mattie Rutter, a native of this county, born in 1863, and a daughter of James and Mary Rutter, esteemed citizen of the county. All of the three children born of the imion are living. They are Edward, Effie and Wade. The father has long been prominent in local public affairs and the fraternal life of his community. He has been secretary of the Odd Fellows' lodge in Shelbina during all of the last fifteen years, and has made a very creditable record in that important and responsible office. He is a member of the Missionary Baptist church and takes an earnest interest and active part in all its uplifting and benevolent work.

In the affairs of his city and county Mr. Swinney has also been zealous and very helpful. No worthy undertaking for the benefit of the people has ever gone without his energetic support, and by the wisdom of his counsel and the force of his example, as well as by his influence and efforts, others have been brought into line and made effective for good. Shelby county has no more estimable citizen, and none who is more justly held in high esteem and good will by the people of every class.

Elmer B. Ray

Elmer B. Ray, who conducted the leading livery and horse sales barn in Shelbina, which was, at the time, one of the principal establishments of its kind in this part of the state of Missouri, is a native of Shelby county, and was born here on January 11, 1878. He is a grandsou of Felon Ray, a native of Kentucky, and a son of Andrew B. Ray, also a native of that state. The Ray family was among the pioneer families in Kentucky, its earlier members who went to what is now that great state when it was literally a howling wilderness having been coml^anions of Daniel Boone and the heroic men who associated with him in laying the foundations of the commonwealth. Their descendants repeated on the soil of Missouri their performances on that of Kentucky, for Andrew B. Ray, the father of the subject of this writing, was brought to this state by his parents when he was but one year old.

The family located in Shelby county on arriving in Missouri, and here its members passed the remainder of their lives actively engaged in farming and raising live stock. Andrew B. Ray grew to manhood on his father's farm and attended the primitive frontier schools of his boyhood and youth. After reaching man's estate he started a farming enteqirise of his own near Shell)yville, and in time acquired the ownership of 420 acres of land there. Wlien advancing years made him desire to retire from active pursuits, he moved to Shelbyville, where he still lives.

He was married to Miss Orzella Bond, a native of Missouri. Of the three children born to them Elmer B. is the only one living. His mother died on July 14,

1900. She and her husband saw this country in its state of almost primitive wildness, and encountered all the hardships and faced all the perils of frontier life. But they bore their destiny bravely and performed its duties faithfully, in accordance with the heroic spirit of the pioneers, whose exploits in various places embody many of the most thrilling and spectacular f e a t u r e s of American history.

Elmer B. Ray shared the fate of country boys of his day in Missouri. He worked on his father's farm, attending the district school in the neighborhood of his home when he had opportunity, and reached manhood with no other prospect in life than that of following the occupation of his forefathers. He had, however, one advantage over many of his boyhood associates. He was allowed to take a finishing course of instruction at Leonard college, and this brouglit liim near to his majority. So, after working a short time longer at home, he began farming on his own account on a fariu of 120 acres in the vicinity of Shelbyville. Some time afterward he moved to his father's farm, which he cultivated during the next seven years.

But, while he was an excellent farmer and found both pleasure and profit in his occupation as such, he had a longing for mercantile life and mingling somewhat in the great world of business. Accordingly, he moved to Shelbina and opened a livery and sales stable. The results have realized his hopes of advancement and ])roved that his venture was not a mistake. He made a success of his present business and won a reputation for himself as a cajiable and enterprising manager of it. His stable was known throughout a large extent of the surrounding country and to hosts of traveling men for the excellence of its equipment and service, and its sales feature was equally well known and popular.

On November 14, 1900, ^Ir. Ray was united in marriage with Miss Jennie Rankin, a native of this state. He is a prominent member of the Order of Odd Fellows, in whose progress he takes an interest and an active part. His religious connection is with the Christian church, and in this he is also zealous and serviceable, especially in the affairs of the congregation of which he is a member, but he is helpful to all churches without regard to creed or denominational differences.

In connection with the interests of his city and county Mr. Ray is a man of public spirit and enterprise. He is always ready to bear his jjortion of the burden of improvements and assist every worthy undertaking in the most practical and effective way. And he is intelligent and far-seeing in respect to such matters, and never narrow, obstinate or dogmatic. He expresses his own views freely and as freely accords to every other citizen the same right. And he welcomes every suggstion and examines it carefully, giving it weight in i)roportion to its merit as he sees it. He is universally regarded as one of the most enterprising and progressive citizens of the county, and as such is held in high esteem.

Marvin Whitby

erring spirit, and the manner in which he lived up to it half redeemed his fame from the reproach due to even his grosser errors. Without involving anything of error, and in its best sense, this motto might he ai^plied to Marvin Whitby, of Clarence, this county, which has been his home and the seat of his interesting career for many years. For he has been tried by both extremes of fortune and never seriously disturbed by either.

Mr. Wliitby was born at Canton, Lewis county, Missouri, ou January 27, 1849, and comes of good old Maryland and Kentucky stock. He is a grandson of William B. Whitby, who was born and reared in Maryland, and a son of Augustus E. Whitby, who was also a native of that state and born in 1806. He came to Missouri in 1841 and took up his residence in Shelby county, where he remained five years, removing to Lewis county in 1846. There he wrought at his trade as a millwright and prospered at the business, not only because there was great demand for his services, but also because he worked industriously and lived frugally. In politics he was a Democrat, loyal to his party and zealous in its service, and in religion a member of the Southern Methodist Episcopal church. And under all circumstances and wherever he lived he was an excellent citizen, and universally esteemed as such.

In 1842 he was united in marriage with Miss Catherine A. Miller, a native of Kentucky. They had six children, two of whom are living, Marvin and his sister, Laura A., the wife of Benjamin Heathman, of Shelbina. The father died in March, 1855, and the mother on June 5, 1894. This excellent woman, who survived her husband and natural protector tliirty-nine years, bore the burden of rearing her offspring cheerfully and with Spartan courage. She could not do all she wished for her children, but she did what she could, and this was all that could be asked. And it stands out greatly to her credit that she never shirked the duty or grew restless in performing it to the best of her ability and the full measure of her strength.

Marvin Whitby was orphaned at the age of six years by the untimely death of his father, and was thrown on his own resources at an early age. He attended school for a short period in Clarence, and then went to teaching. His own opliortuuities for scholastic training and acquirements had been very limited, but he had improved them in the fullest measure, and was fairly well qualified to impart to others the knowledge he had himself gained by such arduous effort. As he taught he kept on enlarging his fund of information and developing and training his mind with such success that he kept pace with the progress in teaching and adhered to his chosen vocation twenty-eight years, beginning in 1870 and teaching vmtil 1898. In the meantime, so favorably had he impressed the public witli his capacity and general acceptability that in 1889 he was elected school commissioner of Shelby county, and at the end of his term was re-elected for another.

tiously know, and while engaged in it Mr. Whitby sought relief from its pressure in farming a tract of fifty-five acres of good land, which he purchased for the purpose. He was progressive and successful in farming, as he was in teaching, and won a reputation for intelligence and enterprise in that line of endeavor. In 1900 he was elected public administrator of Shelby county. This office he held continuously for eight years, making a first rate record for efficiency and ability in its administration and extending and strengthening his hold on the regard and good will of the i:)eople. He served as city clerk for eight years, also sixteen years as justice of peace and a number of years as a school director.

Since leaving the office of public administrator he has been engaged in farming on 283 acres of as good land as can be found in this county, all but ninety acres of which he has acquired by his own industry and thrift, aided by the counsel and assistance of his excellent wife, to whom the ninety acres came as an inheritance from her father. In addition to his farm he owns valuable city property. His jiresent home in Clarence is a pleasant one, and in that city he is looked upon as one of the leading and most useful men in the community. He well deserves the rank he holds in public estimation, for he is unceasing in the use of his influence and the gift of his inspiration for the progress and imi)rovement of the city and county, and at all times eagerly desirous of promoting the substantial, intellectual and moral welfare of their people in every way open to him.

On December 24, 1894, he married Miss Alice M. Taylor, a native of Missouri and a daughter of the late Major Taylor, of Shelby county. Mrs. "Whitby walked life's troubled way with him fourteen years, and proved herself to be a model woman by every test of excellence. She was a true companion for her husband, and a highly useful factor in the life of the community. All she possessed of intelligence, wisdom and energy she freely devoted to the advancement of her household and the business of the family, and, at the same time, spared no elfort of which she was capable to contribute to the betterment of the community around her. She died October 12, 1908.

Mr. Whitby's political faith and earnest support are given to the principles and candidates of the Democratic party. His church affiliation is with the Southern Methodists, and in fraternal relations he is connected with the Independent Order of Odd Fellows and the Ancient Order of United Workmen. In his part}', his church and his lodges he is an energetic and effective worker, and his membership in each is highly valued, while in all the duties of citizenship he is as true as the needle to the jjole, and as useful and productive as he is straightforward and upright.

On the erection of the New Methodist church at Clarence in 1910, Mr. Whitby donated the primary room of the building, furnishing it in memory of his wife and it is known as the Alice M. Whitby room.

Oliver Jerre Lloyd

Although but twenty-eight years old (1910) Oliver Jerre Lloyd, of Shelbina, has already had a busy and varied career. His activities have been employed for the most part in one line of work, but that has taken him to many diiferent places and shown him men and their impulses and aspirations under widely differing circumstances. He is now the cashier of the Shelbina National Bank and is performing the duties of his position to the entire satisfaction of the directorate and patrons of that progressive and enterprising institution. But he was well trained for the work by tuition in its theory and experience in its practice.

Mr. Lloyd was born in Lewis county, Missouri, on January 10, 1882, and is a son of James T. and Mary (Graves) Lloyd, a sketch of whose lives will be found elsewhere in this volume. He obtained his academic training in the district schools of Shelby county and one of its high schools. After completing this part of his preparation for the battle of life, he attended a business high school in Washington, D. C, from which he was graduated in 1902. Armed with his diploma, his hopes of success, his worthy aspirations for consequence and standing among men, and his determination to realize all he looked forward to, he again came to Missouri and located at Kirksville, having been appointed assistant cashier of the Baird National Bank in that city.

the accomplishment of his wishes. But soon after his connection with it began the bank went into liquidation, and he was obliged to seek another avenue to the goal he desired so ardently to reach. He was offered a clerkship in the Citizen's Bank, of Memphis, Missouri, and he accepted it and filled the position with credit to himself and benefit to the bank until April, 1908. He was then asked to take the chief clerkship of the Democratic Congressional committee in Washington, D. C, and yielded to the request.

Political life and its contentions were not to his taste, and being offered the position he now holds, he resigned from the clerkship of the committee on June 1, 1910, and became the cashier of the Shelbina National Bank. This brought him again to the performance of duties for which he is particularly well fitted and which are in accordance with his wishes and ambitions. They also give him scope to apply his desire to aid in the progress and improvement of the region to which he is warmly attached, and minister to the welfare of its people, whom he holds in high regard, as they do him on just grounds of well demonstrated worth and manhood.

On June 22, 1904, he united in marriage with Miss Gertrude Chick, a native of this county, born on January 31, 1881, and a daughter of W. C. and Eliza (Stuart) Chick, esteemed residents of the county. Mr. Lloyd and his wife are earnest and serviceable members of the Christian church and take an active part in its works of benevolence and evangelization. They are also interested warmly and practically in all good and worthy agencies for ad- vancement and improvement, social, intellectual and moral, at work in the community. They are social sunbeams lighting and warming all circles in which they move, and are highly esteemed as among the best and most representative citizens of their city and county. Their pleasant home is a center of refined and gracious hospitalit}', and a very popular resort for their hosts of friends and admirers. It is also a center of earnest work for the good of the community.

Andeew J. Oliver

The state of Virginia, which gave us a number of our earlier presidents and the ancestors of several of later date, has also sent her sons and daughters abroad throughout the land, quickening the spirit of improvement, brightening and elevating the social atmosphere and giving trend and character to the civil institutions of many different sections. Among those who went abroad from the wide domain of the Old Dominion and came to Missouri in the early days were John L. and Nancy (Warren) Oliver, the parents of Andrew J. Oliver, one of the leading mechanics and merchants of Shelbina.

Mr. Oliver's paternal grandfather, Lemuel Oliver, was a native of Virginia, and his forefathers had been planters in that state from colonial times. His son, John L., was born there on January 29, 1821, and was reared to the occu]iation of his ancestors. But when "manhood darkened on his downy cheek" he was seized with a spirit of adventure and determined to seek a home and found a name for himself in a distant part of the country. Accordingly, in 1844, he came to this state and located near Milan in Sullivan county. After a short residence in that county he moved to Lewis county, where he lived a number of years, and then came to Shelby county in 1886. He took up his residence in Shelbina, and here he engaged in farming and teaming, prospering in his work and rising to influence and good standing among the people by the worth of his character, his industry and uprightness and the enterprise and jjrogressiveness of his citizenship.

His first marriage was with Miss Nancy Warren, and by the union they became the parents of twelve children, five of whom are living: John W., Andrew J., George W^., Sherman, and Laura, the wife of George Warren. The mother of these children died on July 22, 1882, and in February, 1884, the father married a second wife, being imited in this with Miss Pauline Fitzsimmons, who is still living.

Andrew J. Oliver was born on October 13, 1854, in Marion county, Missouri. He grew to manhood on his father's farm, acquiring a good practical mastery of the business, and attended the district school in the neighborhood, where he obtained a limited common school education, his opportunities for regular and lengthy attendance being subject to the necessities of the farm, which required his labor much of the year. The school he attended was in Lewis county, where the family was then living, and after leaving it he learned the blacksmith trade, and then worked at it as a helper at Trenton, Missouri. Soon afterward he accjuired the ownership of a shop at

His trade became distasteful to him and he sold his shop, determined to go back farming. He located on a farm in Lewis county, which he lived on and cultivated six years. He tired of this in turn and took up his residence in Shelbina on August 1, 1890. Here he has ever since been engaged in blacksraithing and dealing in implements, and has been very successful in his operations. His shop is one of the most completely equipped in this part of the state, and the mercantile end of his business is extensive and flourishing. In addition, he owns 480 acres of land in Warren county. North Dakota, and other property of value.

On February 15, 1884, he was united in marriage with Miss Maggie Ellen Harrison, a native of Pennsylvania. They had three children, two of whom are living: Maggie May, the wife of E. A. Newman, and Effie Eebecca, the wife of Richard Highland. Their mother died on August 17, 1899, and on August 9, 1900, the father contracted a second marriage, being imited in this with Miss Ellen Hales, a native of Iowa. He and his wife are members of the Methodist Episcopal church, South.

In ])olitical affairs Mr. Oliver gives his allegiance and support to the principles of the Eepublican party, and he is loyal to it and energetic and effective in its service, although neitlier seeking nor desiring any of the honors or emoluments it has to bestow for himself. In fraternal life he is connected with the Modern Woodmen of America, and, although a busy man and much engaged in his own affairs, he finds time to give his lodge the benefit of his frequent presence at its meetings and his counsel in its management with a view to securing the best possible results for its members. In the public affairs of his city and county he takes an active part, giving his earnest and intelligent aid to every worthy undertaking for their improvement and the substantial good of their people. His citizenship is of an elevated character, and has gained for him the esteem of the whole people wherever he has lived and become known. He is a representative man and altogther worthy of the high regard in which he stands in public estimation.

Marvin Dimmitt

Although he has several times changed his residence, occupation and business associates, and covered in his interesting and instructive career farming and mercantile life, banking and official duties, Marvin Dimmitt, now the capable and highly esteemed cashier of the Shelby County State Bank, located at Clarence, has known how to make the changes for his own advantage and advancement, and how to use every means at his command for the benefit of the people around him in promoting their general welfare and heli)ing to magnify their comforts and conveniences in life.

Mr. Dimmitt is a native of Shelby county, Missouri, and was born on a farm near Shelbyville on January 14, 1863, He is a son of Dr. Philip Dimmitt, now deceased, and a brother of Lee and Prince Dimmitt, sketches of whom will be found on other pages of this work. He grew to manhood and was educated in the Shelbyville High School, Shelbyville, Missouri. In 1877 he turned his attention to mercantile life, becoming a salesman in the dry goods store of W. A. Dimmitt in Shelbyville.

At the end of one year's experience and training as a clerk and salesman in the store he found an opening that was more attractive to him, and became a clerk in the bank of Messrs. Cooper & Dimmitt, which was also located in Shelbyville, His fidelity to duty, capacity for business and progressive spirit were amply manifested in each engagement, and he found his services in demand for other business connections. In 1879 he left the bank and assumed the management of a branch store belong-ing to W. A. Dimmitt at Bethel. But his one year's experience in banking had given him a fondness for the business and demonstrated to him that he had special fitness for it. At the end of one year passed in the management of the store at Bethel he returned to the bank of Cooper & Dimmitt and resumed his position as clerk and bookkeeper.

In 1881 his desire to have and conduct a banking business of his own induced him to open a bank at Clarence for Messrs. Holtzclow & G a skill as a stepping stone to the accomplishment of his purpose. He opened this bank in April of the year last named and continued in charge of it until the following November. During the summer he erected three business buildings in partnership with his brother, Frank, and in the autumn they ojiened a dry goods store in one of them under the firm name and style of Dimmitt Bros.

In December, 1885, Mr. Dimmitt was appointed postmaster of Clarence by President Cleveland for a term of four years. He filled the office with credit to himself and satisfaction to the people for the full term, but did not sever his connection with the mercantile establishment in which he was a member of the firm. On the contrary, in December, 1896, he bought his brother Frank's interest in the store, and from then until 1895 he conducted th« business alone and under his own name. In 1895 he was elected cashier of the Shelbj'ville Bank, but held on to an interest in the store at Clarence, although the firm name was changed to that of L. Griswold & Co., the same as it is at this time (1910).

Mr. Dimmitt remained in the service of the Shelbyville Bank until February, 1902, then sold his interests in that city and moved to Clarence. In May of the same year he was elected cashier of the Shelby County State Bank in Clarence, and he has continued to fill that position ever since. In addition to his interest in that sound, progressive and highly successful financial institution, which has steadily grown and prospered imder his wise and prudent management, he owns and directs the farming of 240 acres of land and has residence and business property of considerable value in Clarence, and interests of moment in other places.

But Mr. Dimmitt 's life has not been wholly given up to business. He has taken an earnest and helpful interest in political affairs and dignified and adorned the official circles of the county, having served six terms as mayor of Clarence and eight years as a member of the school board. His political afSliation is with the Democratic party and he is one of its most assiduous and effective workers in all campaigns, showing himself wise in its councils and zealous and successful in promoting its welfare in the field. In fraternal relations he is connected with the Independent Order of Odd Fellows and the Modern Woodmen of America.

On January 31, 1884, Mr. Dimmitt was united in marriage with Miss Eva P. Davis, of Clarence, a daughter of William Davis, at that time one of the leading lumber merchants of that city, but now residing at San Diego, California. Seven children have been born in the Dimmitt household, and five of them are living: Elizabeth F., the wife of S. J. Byrd, of Carrizo Springs, Texas; and Michael, Patrick, Eva M. and Buster, all of whom are still members of the parental family circle.

Henry H. Bonnel

Finding his country in the throes of a terrible civil war soon after dawn of his manhood, Henry H. Bonnel, who was one of the prosperous and progressive farmers of Bethel township in this county, took his place in the army of defense, and during the momentous conflict bore his burden of service, with all its involvement of peril and privation, arduous labor and dark uncertainty. Then, when peace was restored, and the armies so lately engaged in deadly warfare melted away into the hosts of industrial production, he turned once more to the cultivation of field and farm, in which he was actively and successfully engaged, devoting to it the same fidelity and energy that distinguished him in the march and on the battlefield of military service until his death in 1910.

Mr. Bonnel was a native of Batavia, Ohio, born on April 10, 1835. He was a son of Levi and Elizabeth Smith (Hill) Bonnel, the former born and reared in Pennsylvania and the latter in Ohio. They had eight children and six of them are living: Henry H., Aaron, Mark, Ann Eliza (Reynolds), Mary Amelia (McDonald) and Frank. The father brought his family to Missouri in 1861 and located in Shelby county, where he engaged in farming and raising stock, pursuing these lines of useful endeavor until his death in 1874. The mother survived him eighteen years, dying in 1892.

Henry H. Bonnel was reared in his native place and educated in its public schools. He was warmly attached to his home and his parents, and after leaving school remained with them, assisting his father on the farm, and accompanjnng them to this state when they migrated to it. In January, 1862, on the 16th day of the month, he enlisted in a company of Missouri cavalry, and was soon afterward at the front and in the midst of the fray, which from that time on to the close of the war was constant and terrible. He took part in numerous im- ]iortant battles and many engagements of minor consequence, and, although often face to face with death, esca])od unharmed while his comrades fell like autumn leaves all around him. Before the end of the struggle he became quartermaster-general of Company I, being promoted to this position in recognition of the value of his services in the sterner phases of the conflict.

At the close of the war Mr. Bonnel returned to his Shelby county home, and here he was profitably engaged in farming and raising stock, except during the last two years, when he lived retired from all active pursuits. During his residence in this county he has ever taken an earnest interest and an active part iu promoting the welfare of the region, doing at all times all he could for the benefit of its people, the development of its resources, and its moral, intellectual and material advancement in every way. He was clerk of the district for more than twenty-five years and served on the school board for a period of eight. In politics he was a pronounced Republican, but never was an active partisan. Fraternallj' he belonged to the Masonic order and the Grand Army of the Eepublic.

In 18fi4 Mr. Bonnel was united in marriage with Miss Mary Washington Matkin, a native of Shelby county, Missouri. Of the eight children born to them six are living: AVillard, Effie May, now Mrs. Starmer, and Julian, Kate, Bailey and Mary Edith. The mother of these children died iu 1900 after a life of domestic service and fidelity extending over thirty-six years, during which she was true to every trust and gave her offspring a fine example of devoted and upright womanhood, for which she was held in high res])ect wherever she was known as was her husband.

Henry C. Drennan

With his boyhood darkened by the terrible shadow of our Ci%T.l war and the hardshiijs and trials incident to that momentous conflict, and being obliged in consequence to make his own way in the world from an early age, Henry C. Drennan, a leading farmer and stock man of Bethel township, in this county, and one of its prominent and influential citizens, has shown in his career that, however much the lessons of adversity sometimes indurate and sour the sijirit, they are in most cases salutarj' and stimulate their subject to a development of all that is best within him.

Mr. Drennan's life began in Illinois, Sangamon county, in 1854. In that state his father, William Drennan, also was born and there was reared, educated and married, uniting iu wedlock with Miss Lucinda Cannon, a native of Kentucky, in 185.S. They had six children, four of whom are living: Henry C, Charles W., Darius D., who lives in Idaho, and Margaret F., the wife of Charles IVIiller, of Knox county, Missouri. In November, 1855, the family moved to this county and located on a farm, which was full of promise, and during the years of its cultivation by the father realized its prouiise. He prospered on it and was winning a competency. But in 18G4. inspired by the warmth of feeling engendered by the cruelty of the predatory border warfare irresponsible parties waged on the helpless people, he enlisted in the Union army in Company G, 39th Missouri ^"olunteer Infantry. A few months later he was killed in the battle of Centralia, Missouri. The mother is

Their son, Henry C. Drennan, obtained a limited education in the district schools, his opportunities being more limited than they would otherwise have been, owing to the hard conditions laid upon the people by the war, which continued for years after that was over. He left school at an earlj^ age and at once began the career as a farmer which has made him successful in a worldly way and given him consequence and influence among the people. He has pursued his industry in this line of effort ever since and has wrung from the soil of this county, by arduous and continued industry, skill in the application of his labor and good judgiuent in the management of his operations, a substantial estate and the prospect of still greater achievements. He owns and has mostly under cultivation 360 acres of first-rate land, improved with good buildings and provided with all the a])purtenances of an attractive and comfortable country home. In connection with his farming operations he carries on a thriving general live stock industry whicli is managed with the same intelligence and care as his farming, and which brings him returns in proportion..

Mr. Drennan has ever been active and zealous in the service of his community, manifesting his interest in its welfare by close attention to its recjuirements and an effective support of every worthy enter]irise designed to promote its progress and development. He served on the school board for a period of more than fifteen years, and in other ways has done his part to advance the general weal of the locality and its people. In politics he is a firm and consistent Republican, but he has never been an over-active partisan. He was married in 1882 to Miss Sallie C. Miller, a native of Ohio who came to this state with her parents when she was three years old. They have four children. Hurley H., Fred M., Alice and Phil 0.

William Cummings Raines

Born in Wisconsin in 1839, at a time which may properly be desigiiated as belonging to the early history of the iVIiddle West, and in later years carried by his occupation to almost every other part of the country west of the Alleghany mountains, William C. Raines, now one of the i)rosperous and progressive farmers of Bethel townshi)), in this county, has had a varied experience and found it profitable, not only in the acquisition of worldly wealth, but in giving liim knowledge of himself and others, and a familiar acquaintance with the various parts of our great domain which lie between our two mighty mountain ranges.

Mr. Raines is a scion of old N'irginia families on his father's side of tlie house, his ancestors having lived in the Old Dominion from early colonial days. From there his grandfather migrated to Kentucky when that now great commonwealth was almost a pathless wildei'ness, and there his father, Isaac Raines, was born. His mother, whose maiden name was Sarah Ramsdell, was a native of Indiana. Of the eight children born in his father's family he is now the only one liviui"'. The father was of a misiTatorv disposition and sought advancement in various parts of the country. He came to ^Missouri and located in Marion county, at Hannibal, at an early date, after living successively in Kentucky, Indiana and Wisconsin. In 1850, when the excitement over the discovery of gold on the Pacific slope was at its height, he went to California. He did not tarry long in the new eldorado, however, but soon returned to his Marion county, Missouri, home.

Still the gold fever had him in its grip, and the longing for the Pacitic coast was constantly with him while he was busily engaged in cultivating his Ealls county farm for a number of years. At length it became irresistible, and in 186.3 he went back to California, taking his wife with him, and there he remained thirty years, his wife dying there in 1880. Thirteen years later, in 189.3, he returned again to Missouri, Shelby county, and here he died in 1899.

William C. Raines obtained his education in the public schools of Hannibal, Missouri. After leaving school he learned the blacksmith trade, but he has never worked at it. In 1858, when he was nineteen years old, he became an engineer on transports and tow boats, and in this capacity he was employed for a period of nearly forty years during which he traversed every navigable river in the West. In 1886 he came to Shelby county, Missouri, accompanied by his family, and settled down as a farmer, to which occupation he has ever since adliorod. Tie has ]>rospered in his agricultural enterprise, and now owns and has under cultivation 137 acres of superior land, which constitutes one of the attractive and valuable country homes of Bethel township, and is managed with skill and intelligence that make him one of the model farmers of the locality.

On December 12, 1863, he was united in marriage with Miss Mary E. Calloway, a native of Maryland. They had six children, two of whom are living, their daughters, Emma, the wife of William P. Roberts, of St. Louis, and Julia C, the wife of J. C. Smith, of Walkersville, Missouri. The mother of these children died on January 8, 1909, aged seventy years. In politics the father belongs to the Democratic party, but owing to his migratory life he has never taken an active interest in political affairs. He is not a member of any church or fraternal organization, but is an excellent citizen, highly esteemed by all who know him and well worthy of the universal regard in which he is held in his own community, in the welfare of which he takes an earnest and serviceable interest.

Francis M. Kimbley

Becoming an orphan at the age of seventeen by the untimely death of his father, which left the family in straitened circumstances, and in consequence, ol)liged to nuike his own way in the world without the aid of outside help or Fortune's favors in any way, F. ^1. Kimbley, of Bethel township, in this county, found life's journey a rough and stony road during several years of his progress on it toward the goal of his hopes. He is now one of the most successful and pros- ]ierous f armersand stock men of the township, i:)rominent and influential as a citi- zen and generally esteemed and popular as a man. He has made the rugged ascent to this condition wholly by his own efforts and ability, and is deserving of the consequences he has attained.

Mr. Kimbley's life began in Adams county, Illinois, where he was born on January 1, 1863. He is a son of Matthew E. and Emilia J. (Prickett) Kimbley, the former a native of Illinois and the latter of Ohio. They had ten children, two of whom are living, F. M., and Henry, who lives in the state of Oklahoma. Harvey and Geoi'ge died after having reached maturity. The father first came to Missouri and located in Clark county in 1860. Later he moved his family to that county, and there he followed farming until his death in 1879. The mother survived him twenty-seven years, dying in 1906.

Their son, Francis M. Kimbley, obtained a limited education in the district schools of Clark county, but his aspirations in this direction were cut short by the death of his father, and even before that his advantages had been meager, as the work on the home farm required during all the working season every available force in the family, and all other considerations had to yield to it. When he left school he gave himself up wholly to the cultivation of the farm, which tlie family occupied until 1880, and then he and the rest of the living children came to Shelby county with their mother, and took up their residence on a farm in Bethel township.

In 1883, impelled by the hope of success in mining and other lines of effort, he went to Colorado, which was then looked upon, and not improperly, as a state, or territory of great possibilities. But Shelby county still had a winning voice for him, and after a short time he returned to it, content to take his chances for advancement with the fruits of its fertile soil and his opportunities for social enjoyment and civil and material progress among its home-loving but wide-awake and enterprising people. Here he has been industriously and successfully engaged in farming and raising live stock ever since with steadily increasing iDrosperity. He now owns and has under cultivation over -iOO acr«s of fine land, well improved and brought to a high condition of productiveness. His stock industry is also extensive and l^rofitable. Both departments of his work are conducted with skill and intelligence, and each well rejjays the care and attention bestowed upon it.

Mr. Kimbley was married in 1883 to Miss Anna Wester, a native of this county. They had six children, five of whom are living. They are Harry, Minnie, Ettie, Ira and Ruby. In politics the father is an active working Democrat, with great interest in the success of his party and always zealous and effective in its service. He rendered good service to the people as a member of the school board for four years, and in many other ways has been useful in promoting their welfare. In fraternal life he belongs to the Independent Order of Odd Fellows, in which also he takes an active part, contributing to its advancement Inwisdom in counsel and zeal and intelligence in active work. He is one of the most esteemed citizens of the township. Mrs. Kimbley is a member of the Baptist church.

Who shall say to how many persons a country physician in active practice is comfort in suffering, solace in sorrow, hope ia despair and even consolation in death? Or how shall we estimate the immense amount of good one who is faithful to his duty does in encouraging the failing, stimulating the flagging, and leading the almost hopeless to hold on their last anchorage of hope in the desire to be still self-sustaining and useful to others in their day? These are questions which no one, not even the country physicians themselves, can begin to answer, so far does any man's personal influence outrun his knowledge of needs and consequences. It is enough for every doctor to consider the requirements of his daily duty and properly attend to them, leaving to other than human tribimals to determine the results.

Tried even by this severe standard. Doctor Edward N. Gerard, Jr., of Leonard, this county, is entitled to a high regard. During all of the last fifteen years he has been engaged in an active general practice of his profession in Shelby county, and for thirteen of them at Leonard, where he now has his base of operations. He has rendered the people of the county excellent service, and that it is appreciated is shown by the universal esteem and confidence the people bestow u]X)n him and general and widespread popuhuity he enjoys. He has ever been at the call and service of the pnlilic, and they have not ignored the fact. For he has a large practice and gives it close, careful and conscientious attention.

Dr. Gerard was born on September 8, 1869, at Shelbina, in this county, and is a son of Edward N. and Priscilla E. (Drane) Gerard, the fonner a native of Ralls county, Missouri, and the latter of the state of Maryland. They had eight children, all of whom grew to maturity. Five of them are living : Walter, whose home is in Seattle, A¥ashington; Mary, residing in Oakland, California; Nellie, the wife of Dr. J. H. Gentry, an esteemed resident of San Bordena, California; Richard and Harry, who live in Oakland, California, with the mother and sister, Mary. The father, who was an honored ])hysician in this part of the state during Hie last generation, was born and reared in Ralls county, Missouri, and practiced his profession there and in Monroe and Shelby counties. He died in February, 1904. The mother is still living at Oaklaud, California, and is now seventy-one years old.

Dr. Edward N. Gerard, Jr., grew to manhood in Shelbina and obtained his scholastic training in part at the ordinary schools of the city. He then attended Shelbina Collegiate Institute, and after completing its course of instruction took up the study of medicine at University ]\Iedical College in Kansas City, ]\lissouri, from which he was graduated with the degree of M. D. in 1895. He began his practice at Shelbina, and continued it there and at other ])laces until 1897, when he located at Leonard, in this county, where he has ever since been actively, energetically and successfully engaged in it, with a steadily increasing body of patients and a growing poinilarity among the people.

Miss Edna Way, a daughter of Harry and Margaret (McMillan) Way, highly respected residents of Shelby county, but born in Pennsylvania. They came to Missouri in 1884 and located in Shelbina. Dr. and Mrs. Gerard have one child, their son, Nathan Way, who brighteus and warms the family iireside with his genial presence. The Doctor is a Democrat in politics and always takes an active interest in the affairs of his party, but has never accepted a political office of any kind. He is a member of the Order of Odd Fellows and he and his wife are members of the Presbyterian church.

Farmers' Bank Of Leonard

This valued and progressive financial institution, which is one of the best of its magnitude in this part of the state, was foimded on August 13, 1906, with a capital stock of $10,000. William Z. T. Peoples was elected president; B. F. Van Vacter, vice-i^resident ; B. J. See, cashier, and William Z. T. Peoples, B. F. Van Vacter, D. A. Carmichael, A. L. Perry, C. B. Forman, J. W. Hawkins, J. A.^Gillaspy, N. W. Peoples and G. W. Greenfield, directors. In 1908 D. A. Carmichael succeeded Mr. Van Vacter as vice-president and L. Kemp was chosen to his place on the board of directors. B. J. See was also added to the board that year.

The bank has flourished and been very popular from the start. It supplied a great need in the community, and the liberality and straightforwardness of its management, coupled with its undoubted strength and soundness, which is guaranteed by the character of the men at the head of it, have made it an institution of which every citizen of the community is proud, and justly so. The institution carries on a general banking business according to the most ai)i)r()ved modern methods, and toward public improvements and all the undertakings for the advancement of the town and surrounding country in which it is located, pursues a policy of great ijrogressiveness. At the time of this writing (1910) the bank has a surplus and undivided profits amounting to $3,000; deposits aggregating $51,995.54, and loans that reach the sum of $52,214.09. Its business is steadily increasing, and its hold on the confidence and regard of the peo]3le keeps pace with the increase. It meets every requirement of such an institution in the most successful manner, and while having at all times a close and circumspect eye on the line of safety, provides for every want to which it can minister in public or private life.

William Z. T. Peoples, the ex-president and controlling spirit of the bank, is a native of Shelby county, Missouri, born on March 12, 1849. His grandfather, John Peoples, was born in Ireland and became an early settler in Tennessee. In Sullivan county of that state the father of Mr. Peoples, the president of the bank, was born in 1804, and there he was reared and educated. There also ho was united in marriage with Miss Rebecca Bachman, a uative of Tennessee. They bad thirteen children, five of whom are living, and all residents of this county but one. They are : John ; Chrissey, the wife of John A. Gillaspy; Solomon, who resides in the state of Oklahoma; Wil- liam Z. T. ; and Mary E., the wife of Eichard Tuggle. The father was an old time Democrat in his political faith and allegiance and a great worker for the success of his party. His religious affiliation was with the Christian church.

AVilliam Z. T. Peoples obtained his education in what is known as Ernest district school, in Taylor township, this coimty. The schoolhouse, when he was a pupil in the school, was a rude construction of logs and furnished with slab benches and lacking nearly all the conveniences of the modern structure devoted to the education of the young. But, primitive as it was, and irregularly as it was kept, the school helped in the development of character along with mental training, and that its ministrations were of value is shown by the make-up and achievements of those who learned some of the lessons of life under its discipline.

The parents of Mr. Peoples came to Missouri in 1836, and after a residence of two years in Marion county located in Shelby county, where they were among the early settlers. The father entered government land and became a very successful and extensive farmer and stock man, holding at the time of his death, which occurred on October 21, 1854, 1,.300 acres of superior land, a great deal of which he had reduced to systematic fruitfulness. His operations in both farming and stock raising were extensive, as has been stated, but every detail of them received his close and intelligent attention and was directed by his personal supervision. His great success was the logical result of bis skill and industry, and it marked him as a man of great natural al)ility enriched by study and reflection.

His son, William Z. T., remained at home until he reached the age of twentyone, working on the farm and assisting the family. In 1870 he bought 160 acres of land and began farming and raising stock for himself, but continued to reside with his mother until his first marriage the next year. He kept up his farming operations and stock raising with increasing prosperity and frequent additions to his farm until 1906, when he was chosen president of the Farmers' Bank of Leonard. He moved into that town in 1907 and there he has even since resided. But he still retains his fine farm of 450 acres and rents it to his son. In December, 1910, Mr. Peoples resigned his position as president of the bank on account of failing health and D. A. Carmichael was chosen as acting president until the office can be regularly filled.

In the local public affairs of the township and county Mr. Peoples has always shown a good citizen's earnest and helpful interest. He has served as school director and in many other waj^s has contributed to the welfare and advancement of the people around him. He was first married on May 4, 1871, to Miss Mary Alice Garnett, a daughter of Thomas and Ziraldi (McWilliams) Garnett, esteemed residents of this county. The union resulted in one child, a son named Noah W., who is a prosperous farmer in this county. The mother of this son died on Se]itember 8, 1900, and on January 16, 1907, the father was married to Miss Florence Taylor, of Woodson county, Kansas. In politics he is a Democrat of the most reliable and unwavering kind, and in religion a member of the Christian church, and a very active worker in the congregation to which he belongs. In all the elements of elevated and upright citizenship he is distinguished and he is correspondingly esteemed by all who know him throughout the county.

James William Hawkins

Successful in everything he has undertaken and highly reisresentative of the people among whom he lives and labors and having also developed and built up to large proportions a distinctive industry, which is one of the sources of pride to the people of this county, James William Hawkins, of Taylor township, this coimty, presents a j^leasing theme to the pen of the biographer, however briefly it may be found necessary to treat it. He is a native of the county and has passed his life to this time (1910) within its borders. He was educated in its public schools and he married one of its native daughters. He has also expended all his efforts in industrial life among its people. Whatever he is, therefore, he is all the county's own.

Mr. Hawkins was born in Clay township, Shelby county, in 1855. His paternal grandfather, John F. Hawkins, was born and reared in Kentucky where the family to which he belonged was among the i^ioneers. There also his son Bowles Hawkins, the father of James William, was born. But when the latter was but two years old the family moved to this state and located in Ealls county. In that county the father of Mr. Hawkins grew to manhood and obtained his education. After leaving school he followed farming in Ralls county until 1850, then moved to Shelby county and here renewed his farming operations, supplementing them with a thriving industry in raising stock generally for the Eastern markets. His operations were extensive and he continued them successfully and profitably until his death, which occurred in May, 1877.

In 1849 he was united in marriage with Miss Lucinda S. Dawson, a native of Ralls county, Missouri, and daughter of John and Fanny (Bowles) Dawson, who came to this state from Kentucky. The elder Mr. Hawkins and his wife became the parents of eleven children, all but one of whom grew to maturity. Those now living are: James W., the immediate subject of this memoir; Fanny B., the wife of V. B. Creekmur, whose home is at Prescott, Arizona; John F., who resides at Phoenix, Arizona ; Eugene T., who is a citizen of California ; Wallace B., a resident of Montevista, Colorado; Lulu A., the wife of Norris Farmer, of Shelby county, Missoiiri; and Leslie B. The mother survived her husband ten years, passing away in February, 1887.

James W. Hawkins grew to manhood in this county, and as soon as he left school turned his attention to farming and raising live stock. His industry in these kindred pursuits was small at first and general. But be soon developed a taste and capacity for specialties, and to them he has ever since devoted himself. He has a fine farm of 1 20 acres, which he calls the "Cedar Grove Stock Farm," and on this he specializes in Shorthorn cattle, Poland-China hogs, Cotswold sheep and single comb brown leghorn chickens with great success. He has won a high reputation for his output, and the study and care he bestows on his breeding have made him an authority on all matters connected with the subject and given his opinions concerning it great weight. In 1907 he opened a general store in Leonard. But he soon found out that merchandising in a general way was not to his taste, and in October, 1908, he sold the business to his son-in-law, C. E. Stuart, and returned to his farm.

On February 25, 1880, Mr. Hawkins married with Miss Bertha G. Shofstall, a daughter of W. H. and Sarah C. Shofstall, natives of Ohio, but herself born and reared in this county. Three children have been born of the union, two of whom are living, Sallie Kate, the wife of C. E. Stuart, of Leonard, and Arthur Scott, who is associated with his father in the stock business, the name of the firm being J. W. Hawkins & Son. The business is extensive and all the energies and time of both father and sou are I'equired for its proper management and complete success.

In politics ]\rr. Hawkins is a pronounced Democrat, but he has never been a very active partisan, nor has he at any time sought or desired a political office, although he did serve three years as school director. Fraternally he is connected with the Independent Order of Odd Fellows, and in religious affiliation belongs to the Baptist church. lie is a stockholder in the Farmers' Bank of Leonard and a member of its board of directors. TMiile his business is exacting and he has given it all the attention necessary to make a great success of it, he has not allowed it to absorb him wholly, but has given due and heli>ful attention also to the affairs of his township and county, always aiding in the promotion of every worthy enterprise for their benefit, and contributing his full share of zeal, enterprise and industry to accelerate their progress and raise the standard of living among their people, with an ardent desire to keep them in the forefront of progi-ess in every way as parts of one of the most enterprising and influential states of the American Union.

Michael Heeshey

Although born in Canada and of a father who was also a native of that country, Michael Hershey, of Cherry Box, in this county, has passed almost the whole of his life in the United States and may properly be considered an American to all intents and purposes. His life began in 1843, and he is a son of Benjamin and Magdaleua (Dausman) Hershey, the father born in Canada and the mother in Germany. "V\Tien their son Michael was a very small boy the family moved to Indiana, where the father has passed the subsequent years of his life as a farmer. His principal occupation in Canada was farming also, but in connection with his agricultural operations there he conducted a gi'ist and saw mill. Nine children were born in the family, five of whom are living: Benjamin, David, ^Michael, Martha and Salome. Their mother died on January 11. 1872.

Michael Hershey obtained his education in the district schools of Indiana, and after leaving school remained with his parents, working on the farm and assisting the family for a number of years. In 1870 he came to Missouri and located at Cherry Box, in Taylor township, this county, where he is still living. He has been continuously and successfully engaged in farming since his arrival in the county, and has made steady progress in his work of gaining a substantial competency for life. He owns and has under cultivation eighty acres of good laud, and the farm is well improved and highly productive. In 1869 he was united in marriage with Miss Maria Benner, a native of Pennsylvania. They have had nine children, six of whom are living: Allen, Magdalena, Jacob, Benjamin, Henry and Nancy. Fannie died August 16, 1910. In politics the father is a Republican, but he has never taken a very active interest in political affairs. His religious connection is with the Mennonite church.

Milton Paschal Oaks

This enterprising and progressive farmer of Taylor township, in this county, whose success in life has been considerable and won altogether by his own industry, thrift and business capacity, was born in Greene county, Illinois, in 1850, and came with his parents to Missouri in 1857. His father, Michael Oaks, was a native of Tennessee, as was also his mother, whose maiden name was Sarah Oaks. They had twelve children, of whom only two are living, Milton P. and his sister Etta, the wife of Samuel Windrum, of Denver, Colorado, and these are the only living members of the family, as the parents are also deceased, the mother having died in 1868 and the father in 1877. He, after the dentli of his first wife married again, choosing Miss Jane Debord as his second wife.

On coming to Missouri the family located in Bethel township, Shelby county, and there the parents passed the remainder of their days engaged in farming. Their son Milton obtained a limited education in an old log sciiool house in Bethel township, and as soon as he left school began the career as a farmer, which he is still extending with increasing profit and esteem among the people. His farm contains eighty acres and is well improved and highly cultivated. It is fully equipped with the needed appliances for its work, and is one of the comfortable and valual)le country homes of the township in which it is located. In connection with his farming operations he carries on a nourishing live stock industry, which he manages with the same sedulous care and close attention that he bestows on his general farmnig.

In 1871 Mr. Oaks was united in marriage with Miss Ellen Waite, a native of Shelby county. They have iiad four children, of whom three are living, their sons Walter Byron, Isaac Pierce and Milton Chester. In ]iolitics the father is a Reimblican, deeply interested in the welfare of his party and always zealous and effective in its service. He served on the school board more than five years, and in many other ways has been of great service to the township and county of his home. In religious connection he is allied with the Methodist church. He and his wife are regarded with respect and good will wherever they are known, and looked upon as oxemjilars of the best attril)utes of elevated and sterling American citizenship.

Edward Pendleton Alexander

Pursuing the even tenor of his way from year to year as a farmer of enterprise and progressiveness, never mingling with the noisy affairs of the world, yet shirking no duty of citizenship, Edward Pendleton Alexander, of Taylor township, in this county, has entitled himself to general regard and favor by his industry, ability and success as a farmer and his uprightness and high character as a man. His valuable farm of 190 acres is altogether his own acquisition, as he had nothing to start with and has had no favors of Fortune to help him along since, and all that it is he has made it. It stands forth, therefore as a monument to his business ability, good judgment and persevering diligence in the work that has been allotted to him.

Mr. Alexander was born in Monroe county, Missouri, on October 18, 1855, and is a son of John Morris and Cordia (Gaines) Alexander, natives of Kentucky. The father came to Missouri when he was yet a young man, and in tliis state he put in practice the lessons in advanced and progressive farming that he had learned in that of his nativity. He and his wife were the parents of ten children, five of whom are living : James Thomas, whose home is in Shelbina; William Franklin, Edward P. and Samuel L., now at Denver, Colorado, all of whom are prospering in their several callings. Both parents died in the same year, 1901.

when he had opportunity, but his advantages were limited. He left school at an early age, and after working on the home farm with his father and assisting the family for a few years, he began farming on his own accoimt and has been doing so ever since. He was married in 1880 to Miss Louisa Cook, a native of Kentucky. Four of their five children are living: John W., Cordia Frances, Samuel Grover and Goldie. The father is a Democrat in politics and belongs to the Christian church.

Joseph Franklin Cockrum

Conducting a prosperous and progressive business as a general farmer and stock man in Taylor township, this count}^, and representing in his character, habits and attention to every duty the best attributes of the people of his locality, Joseph F. Cockrum is justly deserving of the universal esteem he enjoys as a citizen and the high position he holds as a farmer. He is a native of Missouri, born in Knox county, in 1853. His parents, James and Elizabeth (Shaw) Cockrum, were farmers also. The father was born and reared in Kentucky and came to Missouri when he was a 3'oung man. He located in Knox county and followed farming and raising stock there until a few years ago, when he retired from all active pursuits. There, also, he met with and married his wife, who died in 1857. He is still living and is now eighty-eight years of age. They were the parents of seven children, six of whom grew to maturity. Four besides Joseph Franklin are living: Ange, the wife of

Andrew Figli, who has her home in the state of Washington; Orlette, the wife of E. Hammond, a resident of Knox county, Missouri; Viva, the wife of W. Hammond; and Thomas, who also lives in Taylor township, Shell)y county.

Josejoh F. Cockrum was educated at Washing-ton district school, in Knox county, and has been a farmer ever since he left school. For some years he worked with his father on the home farm and assisted the family. In 1882 he came to Shelby county and located in Taylor township, where he now lives. Born and reared on a farm and well trained to its requirements, he desired no other occupation than that of farming, and this he has followed with gratifying results ever since his advent into this county, and in connection with it has for years carried on a thriving industry in raising live stock for the markets. His valuable farm comprises 120 acres and is all under advanced cultivation and his live stock business is in proportion.

On March 25, 1875, Mr. Cockrum was united in marriage with Miss Elizabeth Boggs, a native of Kansas. They had two children, their son Gilbert E. and their daughter Carrie L., who is now the wife of Henry Hersher, a resident of Shelby countj'. Their mother died in 1885, and in 1887 the father married again, choosing as his partner on this occasion Miss Sarah Street, who was liorn and reared in Knox county, where he also had his nativity. They have no children. In politics Mr. Cockrum is a Democrat, but he has never been an active partisan and has never held a political office or sought one. He is a member of the Christian church.

William Stalcup

Although he is now prosperous and increasingly successful as a farmer and stock man, William Stalcup, of Jefferson township, Shelby county, started in life seriously handicapped by disaster. He was made an orphan when he was but five years old by the death of his father on the battlefield of Centralia, Missouri, where he was fighting for his convictions as a man and citizen. The son then grew to manhood amid the desolation and prostration of all enterprise in the community of his home brought al)out by the Civil war and the predatory sectional strife that preceded it. But he was made of stern stuff and the very trials of his lot toughened the fiber of his nature for the contest before him. And he has succeeded in the contest with adverse circiunstances because he meant to and made the required efforts for the accomplishment of his purpose.

Mr. Stalcup was born in the township in Shelby county in which he now lives, his life beginning in 1859. He is a son of James and Mary (Byars) Stalcup, natives of Virginia, both of whom came to this state in early life. The father was a small boy when his parents moved the family to Missouri and found a new home in Jefferson townshi]), Shelliy county. He grew to manhood here and obtained a limited education in the district schools, or such as there were during his boyhood and youth. When he left school he turned his attention to farming, at that time the principal occupation of the men in this part of the state, and he adhered to his chosen vocation throughout the remainder of his life. He was a soldier in the Civil war and was killed in the battle of Centralia, Missouri, in 1864, as has been noted. His widow is still living and resides in Clarence, Missouri. She and her husband were the parents of five children, two of whom are living, AVilliam and his brother G. W.

AVilliam Stalcup attended the country school near his home and through its ministrations secured a limited education. His opportunities for scholastic training were limited, owing to the conditions of the country and the circumstances of the family, which forced him to look out for himself in the struggle for advancement at an early age. Since leaving school he has been engaged in farming, working under great difficulties and with veiy slow approaches toward his desired goal at first, but with increasing speed and greater prosperity after a few years as the harvest from his persistent industry and self-denying frugality began to ripen and be gathered in. He now owns a valuable farm of more than 130 acres, which is well imjaroved, fully equipped with the necessary appliances for its vigorous and profitable cultivation and provided with all the requirements of an attractive and comfortable country home.

On this farm he has for many years carried on general farming operations on a high plane of skill and enterprise, and also conducted a thriving live stock industry of good proportions and elevated character. In 1897 he embarked in a general mercantile enterprise at Maud in this coimty, but this was not to his taste, and after hanging to it three years he sold the business and returned to his farm. He was married in 1883 to Miss

Jennie Phillips, a native of Monroe county, Missouri. They have had four children, three of whom are living, Georgianna, James Thomas and Ethel. In political affiliation the father is a Republican, and although he has never sought or desired a political office, he has always been active in the service of his party. For the good of the community he served on the school board about six years, but he prefers at all times the honorable post of private citizenship. He is a member of the Northern Methodist church.

During the last eighteen years this prosperous farmer and stock man of Jefferson township has been one of the useful factors in promoting the industrial and civil life of Shelby county, adding to its wealth in agricultural products and live stock, helping to advance it in public impi-ovements and aiding in sustaining and strengthening all its moral, educational and material interests. He has been faithful to the duties of citizenship and while pushing forward his own interests has always lent a willing hand to the advancement of those of the township and county in which he lives.

Mr. Kesner was born on September 30, 1867, in Lewis county, Missouri. He is a son of G. AA^ and Mary J. (Allison) Kesner, the former a native of Indiana and the latter of A^irginia. The father came to Missouri in 1840 and located in Lewis county. There for a period of forty-two years he was actively engaged in farming and raising stock, with steadily increasing prosperity in a worldly way and a strengthening hold on the con- fidence and esteem of the people. In 1882 he moved his family to Monroe county, where he followed the same pursuits. He died on October 4, 1899.