Office Hours
Tuesday and Thursday
9:30 a.m. - 11:30 a.m.
12:30 p.m. - 3:00 p.m.
Closed
Monday-Wednesday-Friday
Saturday and Sunday
Museum Hours
By Appointment
Only
Admission Fees
Adults (18+) $5
Seniors (55+) $4
Children (K-12) $3
Children (5 & under) Free
Members Free
Museum is open by appointment Only
(Call 573-635-1850)
A. S. Ferguson
Alfred Sterling Ferguson was born in Callaway County, Missouri on May 30, 1861. He is the son of John R. and Minerva (Waggoner) Ferguson. On his father’s side, he is a descendent of the old Scotch family, the Ferguson’s, known in history and literature. The first of the family who came to this country settled in Nelson County, Kentucky. In 1818 his grandfather, Robert Ferguson, immigrated to Missouri, settling in St. Louis County, and for whom Ferguson Station was named. The following year, Robert moved to Callaway County, purchasing the farm where Alfred was born.
On his mother’s side, he comes from German ancestors who came to this country when it was still under English rule, settling in Davidson County, North Carolina. During the Revolutionary War, two of his great grandfathers fought gallantly (one a Colonel and one a Major) for their adopted country in the struggle for independence. Early in the century his grandfather, David Waggoner, removed to Callaway County, near Millersburg, where he owned a large farm. Before the outbreak of the Civil War, Mr. Ferguson’s father had become a wealthy farmer, most of which he lost during the tragic period.
Alfred Ferguson engaged with Colonel Switzler in 1873 as an apprentice of the printer’s trade, on the Columbia Statesman. After two years he went to Jefferson City where he worked at the Journal office, completing his apprenticeship and became editor and publisher of the Journal in 1883. One year later he accepted a position with the St, Louis Globe- Democrat and in 1886 was appointed foreman of which he resigned three years later, in 1889, due to ill health.
Mr. Ferguson was married in 1885 to Virginia Beauregard Harding, daughter of General James and Christine (Cordell) Harding. They had one son, James Harding Ferguson and they made their home at 429
C. H. Fischer
Fischer Drug Store first opened in Jefferson City in 1886, founded by G. A. Fischer. He was born in Jefferson City, the son of Frederick and Sophia Fischer who were natives of Germany, In 1890 he married Miss Jennie Bruns, daughter of Herman Bruns who as a son of Dr. Bernard Bruns, founder of Westphalia and pioneer physician and civic leader of Jefferson City (see sketch). Mr. and Mrs. G. A. Fischer had two children, a daughter who married William H. Allen of Kansas City; and C. H. Fischer, Jefferson City druggist.
C. H. Fischer was born in this city in 1891. Following his graduation from high school and college work in the state university and the St. Louis University, and aside from service in World War I, his life was spent in running his the business started by his father. At the beginning of the war he entered the officers’ training camp at Fort Riley, Kansas and was commissioned second lieutenant. He served twenty-two months overseas, in the
J. T. Fisher
James Thomas Fisher was born January 5, 1870, his ancestors being from Ireland. He was raised on his father’s farm in Osage County until he was seven, when his mother died, and was left to the tender mercies of friends and family. He was sent to public schools in Gasconade County until the age of ten. His father remarried and moved to Russellville, Cole County, where he lived one year, then moved to Linn, Osage County, where Thomas was sent to the public schools for three years. His father then went to Morrison and Thomas.
Mr. Fisher came to Cole County and worked on a farm in Clark County after which he was employed by the US Government Survey. He was also employed by the Missouri Pacific Railroad Company for a year.
In 1890 he took a job as press feeder with the Tribune Printing Company, later becoming Assistant Pressman. In 1899 he was placed in charge of the night force of the press room and after his foreman died, he was made foreman. He, his wife and daughter made their home in the southwestern part of Jefferson City.
G.C. Fowler
Green C. Fowler was born on a farm near Bass, 16 miles southwest of Jefferson City, on March 7, 1854, being educated in the public schools. His father, W.F. Fowler, was Judge of the Cole County Court for 27 years. Upon manhood, he left for Nevada working various jobs there for three years, returning to Cole County and the home of his childhood. He was elected County Surveyor in 1892 and at the expiration of that term, was elected Tax Assessor of Cole County.
Mr. Fowler married Artimitia Henley, daughter of William Henley, on March 6, 1870. She died August 9, 1892. Six children were born to this marriage. Mr. Fowler remarried Eliza Amos Karr, daughter of Benjamin Amos, having 2 children, one Robert and one who died at the age of one. They made their home on a farm on South Jackson.
William Fowler
William Fowler was born on a farm near Hickory Hill on November 8, 1883. His parents were Green C. and Artimitia L. (Henley) Fowler, also natives of Cole County. His mother died when he was the age of eight. His father remarried Mrs. Eliza E. (Amos) Karr. His father moved the family to Cole County for a better education for his children.
Judge James Britton Grant
Judge James Britton Grant was born in Putnam County, Georgia on October 26, 1845. His education was in the private schools and academies of Jones and Bibb counties, Georgia. In 1862, at the age of 16, he enlisted in the 12th Georgia Regiment Infantry C.S.A. and served in Jackson’s Second Army Corps of Northern Virginia, until permanently disabled by a wound at Cedar Creek Valley, VA on October 19, 1864. Previous to this, he was twice wounded at the famous Battle of Gettysburg and met with a misfortune at the Battle of Wilderness on May 5, 1864. After the war he read law and attended the Law Department at the University of Virginia, where he graduated in July 1868. He moved to Missouri in October of that same year and engaged in practice.
He was elected Judge of the 22nd Judicial Circuit of Missouri in November 1880, serving 6 years, returning to his practice in Clinton. In 1890 he was elected as Chief Justice and Presiding Judge of the Supreme Court of Missouri.
He was united in marriage on April 23, 1872 to Alice Warth, who died August 8, 1889. To this marriage four children were born. He remarried Matilda (Weidemeyer) Lee on July 23, 1891. They made their home at 111 East McCarty Street.
John E. Garman
John E. Garman was born August 28, 1846 in Wayne County Ohio on a farm near Worcester where he was reared and educated. In 1868 he moved to Cole County and purchased a farm near Elston. In connection with his farm, Mr. Garman taught in the public schools in his home district.
While attending the Democratic County Convention in Jefferson City in 1892 for the purpose of nominating county officials, he was urged by the delegates to accept the party’s nomination to the office of public administrator, and he was elected to that position. He was re-elected to a second term and in 1900 was nominated to the office of County Assessor.
He was married on December 27, 1870 to Miss Mary Douglas, whose parents had recently moved to the area from Ohio. She died one year later and on December 24, 1872 he was married to Miss Eliza Plummer, the daughter of a farmer near Elston. They had a daughter, Minnie E., who was married on May 24, 1896, to Mr. George Crump, a farmer near Olean, Miller County. His second wife died five years later. On June 24, 1884 he married Miss Rachel Plummer, sister of his second wife. They had a son, Martin W., born in 1886.
Mr. Garman with his wife and son, lived with a brother-in-law on East Water Street but continued to own and operate his farm He was a Master Mason and an active member of the Cumberland Presbyterian Church, serving as elder.
H. A. Gass
Howard Allen Gass, editor and publisher of the Missouri School Journal, was born on a farm in Audrain County, near Mexico, Missouri, August 22, 1852. He was educated in the district school and at Mexico Private High School for Boys. Upon completion of his education he taught for fifteen years. His first position was in the High School at Mexico where he had been a student, and the following seven years he was Principal of the High School at Vandalia, Mo. In 1887 he accepted a position as Chief Clerk under W.E. Coleman, then State Superintendent of Public Schools, where he served for three years followed by two years in the same position with L.E. Wolfe, who succeeded Mr. Coleman.
He resigned to devote full time to his publication, The Missouri School Journal, which he bought in 1887. The journal was recognized as the organ of the school teachers and was more influential in the educational field than any other like publication in the state. Through this medium, which circulated throughout the state, he was a potent factor in advancing the interests of the teachers, and the means of introducing in the Legislature many measures which materially helped the educational interests of Missouri.
Mr. Gass was united in marriage to Miss Alice Josephine, daughter of Judge J. Shell, a prominent farmer of Audrain County, December 25, 1876. To this union were born two children: Miss Alma, a talented musician, and Howard Ray, a civil engineer who worked for the Pittsburg & Gulf Railway Company and was living in Texarkana, Texas in 1900.
Mr. Gass was a member of the First Baptist Church, serving as Moderator and Superintendent of the Sunday school. He was for many years a trustee, and was one of the Building Committee who pushed forward to completion the new building project.
He was a Mason, member of the Blue Lodge, Royal Arch Chapter and Commandery. He was a Democrat and an active worker in that political organization. The family resided at 319 East High Street.
Henry E. Gensky
Henry E. Gensky was born in Hanover, Germany, March 3, 1890. At the age of fourteen years he came to America with an uncle and worked for a year on a farm near Concordia. He then worked for two years in a Sedalia restaurant. In 1907 he came to Jefferson City where he spent the remainder of his life. At first he worked in the Jefferson Hotel. In 1915 he went into the grocery business for himself, and at the time of his death had been twenty-one years at the same location on the corner of Cherry and Miller streets.
Henry Gensky’s life was a constant struggle against what seemed overwhelming handicaps. Against odds he faced with courage, a quiet confidence, and indefatigable industry that enabled him to win the battle against poverty but he succumbed to two years struggle against bad health, dying on July 27, 1937. He was a member of the Lutheran Church. At the time of his death he was serving his second term as a member of the school board.
April 10, 1917, Mr. Gensky married Miss Stella Schmidli, a native of this city; they had two children, Ruth and Henry Edward Jr. Mr. Gensky’s parents were William and Katherine Angelbeck Gensky, farmers.
Mrs. Gensky was a daughter of Joe and Elizabeth Walz Schmidli. Her mother was the daughter of Carl and Margaret Meister Walz. Mr. Schmidli was of Swiss descent, the son of Peter and Sophia Schmidli who lived in Carthage. Joe Schmidli was born in Jefferson City in 1868, where his father had come at the close of the Civil War. In early life he was in the dairy business but later became a contractor. He laid the first concrete walk in Jefferson City. In one year he built fifty-seven homes, and a total of about 750 homes in Jefferson City. He learned the bricklayer’s trade in 1890. He used to haul sand across the Missouri River on the ice.
Other children of Mr. and Mrs. Schmidli were Mrs. Edna Manes, Mrs. Del Brummet, Mrs. Frances Jobe, and Miss Florence, all of Jefferson City.
I. M. George
I. M. George was the son of Rufus and Prudence McGirk George (the mother being a niece of Judge Mathias McGirk, one of the first Chief Justices of the Supreme Court of Missouri), early pioneers of Moniteau County from Tennessee. He was born August 29, 1844, on a farm in Moniteau County, where he worked with his father until twenty-one years of age, being educated in the neighboring schools.
He engaged in farming on his own account near his birthplace until 1884, when he was elected to the office of Assessor of Moniteau County, on the ticket which elected Cleveland, the first Democratic President after the Civil War. At that time he moved to Clarksburg, three years later returning to his farm which he sold in 1892, and purchased the Judge Short farm, one-half mile west of Russellville.
He was one of the organizers of the Russellville Exchange Bank, and the first Assistant Cashier. He resigned this position but was re-elected in December, 1899.
His wife was Miss Sarah C., daughter of John A. Short of Russellville. They had a family of five boys (Charles, Edwin, John L., Robert M., Harlin) and three girls (Sarah E., Laura, Maggie). They were members of the Presbyterian Church.
Dr. F. W. Gillham
Frank Willard Gillham was born at Brighton, Macoupin County, Illinois, July 11, 1876. He received his education in the public schools of that city, and at the Westrn Normal College at Bushnell, Illnois, which he attended for four years. His medical education was received at the Homeopathic Medical College of Missouri, located in St. Louis, Missouri, graduating from there in 1899. Following graduation he practiced at Chicago, Illinois for eight years, locating at Jefferson City, Missouri in 1909. He was a member of the Methodist Church and the Masonic Lodge. Also a member of the Cole County Medical Society, Missouri State Medical Association and the A.M.A.
His forebears were among the earliest settlers. His great-grandfather together with his three brothers located in Illinois at the present site of Granite City, in the year 1801. His father was born at this place in the year 1832, and died in 1917. His mother, whose maiden name was Martha Price, was born in the state of Ohio in 1832 and died in 1913. Dr. Gillham was married to Susan Mae Jenkins in 1913. Mrs. Gillham was born in St. Louis, Missouri, a descendant of Joseph T. Jenkins, who was born in Loudon County, Virginia and Maggie E. Sadler Jenkins, born in Aberdern, Mississippi. They had one child, Margaret Ann Gillham, born May 3, 1916. She graduated from the University of Missouri class of 1938.
Dr. Gillham practiced medicine in Jefferson City and from 1922 to 1929 he was physician in charge of the Missouri State Penitentiary.
Robert E. Glover
Robert E. Glover was the grandson of Peter G. Glover, former Register of Lands, State Auditor, and State Treasurer. He was born on the site of the old Glover’s Mill, owned by his uncle, Robert V. Glover, the first water mill in Cole County built in 1856.
eter Glover was born in Virginia in 1792. He married Martha Mosely in 1814, moved to Callaway County which he represented in the legislature, and afterwards moved to Cole County, where he lived when elected to various state offices. At the time of his death he was considered the logical choice for governor at the next election.P
Dr. W. S. Glover, father of Robert Glover and tenth of the eleven children of Peter Glover, was born July 11, 1832. He attended Mount Sterling Institute, Kentucky, and Missouri University, and graduated in medicine from the old Missouri Medical College, St. Louis. He was married December 22, 1858, to Miss Margaret Lavenia Evington, a native of Indiana, born December 22, 1836. During the Civil War Doctor Glover was a surgeon in the Confederate army and served under General Sterling Price. He died in Jefferson City in 1912. Doctor and Mrs. W.S. Glover had seven children: Robert E. of this city; Mrs. Sallie Bolton of Nevada; Mrs. J. Ed Wells of Jefferson City; Mrs. Lulu Virginia Berry, Jefferson City; Walter K. Glover, Carthage; Mrs. Mary Helen Laux, Los Angeles.
Robert Glover followed farming for several years, then became a tie contractor with the late George C. Ramsey. In 1902 he became connected with the Giesecke-D’Oench Shoe Company where he remained until 1907 when he bought the East End Shoe Store at Ash and High Streets, which he conducted until 1919. Two years later, with Ed Wells, he formed the Glover-Wells Oil Company, wholesale dealers, with which he remained until 1928.
In 1907 Robert E. Glover was married to Miss Olive Gilleland of a pioneer Miller County family. Mrs. Glover, born at Olean November 12, 1879, was the daughter of William and Matilda Gilleland. William Gilleland was also born at Olean, February 4, 1837, on land entered from the government by his father. He was a farmer and fruit grower. He enlisted in Company D, 5th M.S.M. Cavalry on February 19, 1892, and served three years and three months. November 5, 1857, he was married to Miss Matilda Starling who was born in Tennessee, October 10, 1841 and died December 16, 1902. Ten children were born to them, two dying in infancy.
Mrs. Glover’s paternal grandfather, Samuel Gilleland, came to Missouri from Kentucky in 1828 when a young man, bringing his wife, Mary Wellborn. The Gillelands were of Scotch, the Welborns of English ancestry. Samuel Gilleland and wife reared a large family. He gave the land on which the Olean cemetery is located. He died in 1884 at the age of eighty-two, she in 1873. Mary Welborn’s father was a Baptist minister in Indiana, and most of Mrs. Glover’s ancestors were Baptists. Her paternal grandfather, Thomas Day Starling, married Elizabeth Bryan. He was from Baltimore, going thence to Tennessee, then to Missouri where he settled at Olean and reared a large family. His father was an English merchant-ship owner.
Rose Goetz
Miss Rose Goetz was a talented musician and one of the more accomplished vocalists of the city, devoting her talent almost exclusively to sacred music at the song service of St. Peter’s Catholic Church. She was a daughter of the cigar manufacturer, Mr. Joseph E. Goetz and resided with her parents at 126a West High Street.
Robert L. Goff
Robert L. Goff was born in Osage City, Cole County October 14, 1910. He was the son of Louis and Sophia Hoffman Goff, natives of Cole County. Louis Goff was the son of Katherine and Louis Goff, Cole County pioneers of English descent and natives of Pennsylvania. The older Louis Goff died when his son was a child and the son later assisted his mother in operating a store at Osage City until her death, after which he conducted the business until his own death in 1923 at the age of fifty.
Louis Goff married Sophia, the daughter of Elizabeth Schaefer and Herman Hofmann. They had four children, two of whom were living in 1938—Robert L. and Louise, the wife of C. C. Case of Jefferson City. Mrs. Hofmann came to this country from Germany when she was seventeen. She died in 1926 at the age of sixty-seven. Henry Hofmann died in 1918 at the age of sixty-eight. Following the death of Louis Goff, Mrs. Goff married Herman Krueger in 1929. Mr. Krueger died the same year.
Robert L. Goff was married in Paducah, Kentucky on January 21, 1933, to Dorothy Louise Langkop. Mrs. Goff was the daughter of Manie Smith Langkop and Herman A. Langkop. She was born at California, Missouri, May 2, 1913. Her father, Herman A. Langkop, a native of Cooper County, had stores in Cole County beginning in 1913. He was a son of Phillipine Kopp Langkop and Henry W. Langkop, natives of Hanover, Germanym, who came to Missouri in the 1850s. Henry Langkop fought in the Union Army during the Civil War and later went west with General Custer’s army in Indian wars.
Herman A. Langkop was married in 1906 to Manie Smith of Bunceton, Missouri, the eldest daughter of Augusta Brandes Smith and Chris T. Smith, prominent Cooper countians. Augusta Brandes Smith was born in Greymouth, New Zealand, the daughter of a German musician and band leader who toured Europe with his band in the 1840s and 1850s. Her mother, Sarah Wilshire Brandes, was a member of an old English family. Chris T. Smith, a retired farmer of Bunceton, was a member of a family which was identified with the pioneer and civic life in Cooper County. He was a leader in adoption of improved methods of agriculture and his exhibits won hundreds of awards at state and other fairs in various parts of the country. His mother was Margaret Dornhouser, his father Nicholas Smith. Herman and Manie Smith Langkop were the parents of four children: Thelma, a former teacher in the Jefferson City schools who married C. E. Hartley; Earl was superintendent of the Missouri camp for unemployables at Springfield; Eugene, salesman for the Tweedie Footwear Corporation in the southern states, married Uldine Utley, the famous evangelist; Dorothy married Robert L. Goff.
Robert L. Goff was in the grocery business since childhood, assisting his mother in the store conducted by his father and grandfather. In 1933 he purchased the grocery business in Osage City of his father-in-law, Herman A. Langkop. Considering the county seat town of Linn in Osage County to offer wider opportunities, he established a grocery business in that city but continued to live in Osage City. Mr. and Mrs. Goff were graduates of the Jefferson City High School and Mr. Goff was a graduate of a radio school in Washington, D.C. Before entering business for himself he was connected with the Harris-Goar Company of Kansas City in the radio department. Mr. and Mrs. Goff attended the Christian Science Church.
John Goins
Reverend John Goins was installed as pastor of the Second Baptist Church of Jefferson City in October 1900. He was born in Madison County, Kentucky, October 15, 1864. When still a lad, he moved with his parents to Marshalltown, Iowa and from there to Richmond, Mo.
His public school training was in the white schools of Marshalltown, Iowa. His higher education was at Louisville, Kentucky State University, an all black school. He finished a classical theological course at the Western College, Macon, Mo., in 1897, which entitled him to the degree of B.D.
His pastorates included the churches at Waverly, Liberty, Stewartville, Plattsburg and Platt City, Mo. These churches were greatly improved under his administration during the last two and a half years. He worked as State missionary under the plan of co-operation, run by the American Home Mission Society (white), Southern Baptist Convention (white), State Board of Missions (white), and State Board (black), of this state.
He was united in marriage October 24, 1899, to Miss Mary E. McMahan, of Fulton, Mo., who was a graduate of Lincoln Institute. They lived at 507 Monroe Street. Rev. Goins was a member of the A. F & A. M.
Joseph Goldman
Joseph Goldman was born in Jefferson City on October 27, 1875. He was educated in the schools of the city and graduated from High School in 1896. He was local editor of the Jefferson City Courier, owned by J.C. Fisher, and worked in that position until the plant was purchased by E.S. Link. During this time he also represented the Jefferson City Tribune for nine months.
In response to the call for volunteers for the Spanish War, he enlisted in Co. L. 2nd Missouri Volunteers. The company was located for some time at Albany, Ga., where they were mustered out March 8, 1899, his discharge being March 6. While stationed at Lexington, Ky., he was camp correspondent for the Lexington (Ky.) Leader, and also for the St. Louis Globe-Democrat.
Mr. Goldman’s education was acquired with a view to the study of law, in which he was engaged with the Hon. W.S. Pope, but he later gave up the legal profession, yielding to his taste for newspaper work. On returning from the war he was correspondent for the St. Louis Chronicle and the Kansas City Star until July of 1899 when he became assistant editor of the Daily and Weekly State Tribune. He became the proprietor and editor of this publication, employing ten printers and assistants. He also became president and treasurer of the Goldman Shoe and Clothing Company, and owner and manager of the Jefferson Theater.
He was a member of the Modern Woodmen of America, and an active worker for the Democratic Party. He lived with his wife Edith and daughter Evelyn at 409 Lafayette Street.
The Goodall Family
Job Goodall
Job Goodall, the father of the family known by that name, of Cole County, Missouri, was born March 20, 1797, in that part of the Massachusetts Territory now known as the State of Maine. He was the third son of Capt. Josiah Goodall (commander of a fishing schooner) and Rebecca Brooks Goodall. Josiah was the only son of Paul Goodall, a Methodist minister and a native of Scotland; his wife was a daughter of Joel Brooks, a Scotch Presbyterian minister.
Josiah, having lost his health, moved to Madison County, Va., in 1808, where Job grew to manhood. At the age of 16 Job with an elder brother, enlisted in the army (War of 1812). In the year 1826 Job Goodall moved to Jefferson City where he engaged in the grocery business. In April, 1827, he was united in marriage to Sarah McRoberts Embree, daughter of John and Frances Prewitt Embree, of Greenbrier County, Ky. The grandfather of Mrs Goodall (Joel Prewitt) was a soldier in the Revolutionary War.
Perry Goodall
To Job and Sarah Goodall were born eight sons and one daughter. Oliver Hazard Perry was born in Jefferson City August 1, 1828. He went to Oregon in 1852, where he continued to make his home except for the years 1868-1871 which were spent in Missouri. He married twice and was the father of thirteen children; seven sons and five daughters survived. He was a prosperous farmer and stockman and a prominent citizen of Oregon.
In 1829 Job Goodall disposed of his business and moved to St. Louis, returning to Cole County in 1830 to engage in farming.
In 1831 he moved to Randolph County until 1849 when he returned to his old farm in Cole County. In 1850, fascinating stories of the discovery of gold carried him to California, from which he returned via Mexico in 1851. On August 1, 1856, he was murdered on his farm in Cole County in the middle of the day by unknown parties who were never apprehended.
John Embree Goodall
John Embree, the second son of Job Goodall, was born on a farm in Cole County December 13, 1830. He started to California with his father and died en route at the age of 20. Mary Ann Rebecca, born December 13, 1832, married James Gordon of Vernon County, Mo. and had ten children, eight of whom survived. Joel Brooks died in 1843 at the age of 8 years. Henry Clay was born in Randolph County, February 28, 1838. After traveling over and making his home for a short time in a number of the western states, he met an accidental death while engaged in mining in southeast Kansas, in June 1878. He was survived by a wife, son and daughter who moved to Leadville, Colorado. Daniel Webster died in 1843 at the age of 2 years.
William Washington Walker Goodall
William Washington Walker Goodall, born March 13, 1844, enlisted in the Confederate Army in July 1862, Company E., 10th Infantry, Missouri Volunteers, Parson’s Brigade, Price’s Division. He was made a prisoner at the battle of Helena, Ark., July 4, 1863. He was later exchanged at Richmond, Va., March 5, 1865. He was in the Siege of Mobile, April 1864, which was bombarded by the Federal fleet continuously, night and day, for two weeks. From here he made his escape when the city surrendered and returned home July 3, 1865 where he continued to live on the farm with his mother until her death, December 22, 1875. He was united in marriage to Sarah D., daughter of Thomas Handley, of Cole County, August, 1864. To this union were born five sons and three daughters, one of each whom died. He was later employed as a guard at the State Penitentiary in Jefferson City. He met with a painful accident while crossing the railroad track, April 15, 1890, and as a result was permanently crippled.
Winfield Scott Goodall & Zachary Taylor Goodall
Winfield Scott and Zachary Taylor Goodall (twins) were born in Randolph County June 30, 1847. Scott was assassinated February 16, 1870, on the streets of Jefferson City; the assassin was never brought to justice. Taylor was united in marriage December 22, 1870, to Nannie B., daughter of Thomas Mahan, a prominent farmer of Cole County. His tragic death on July 19, 1892, was the result of a fall from a railroad bridge. He was survived by his wife, two sons and two daughters. The eldest son went to work for the railroad in New Mexico; the second remained in Jefferson City; the youngest daughter was a teacher in the public schools of Cole County; the eldest married James H. Harrison and moved to Fulton, Callaway County, Mo.
John W. Gordon
John W. Gordon was the youngest son of John T. and Elizabeth Berry Gordon, natives of Virginia, who immigrated to Ohio in 1835. Three years later they came to Missouri, settling at Stringtown on Moreau Creek, Cole County Missouri. John W. Gordon was born there in 1845 and died at his home October 10, 1899.
He received his early education in the nearby district school and at the age of 19 years he attended school for one year at Warrensburg, Johnson County. During that time Price made his raid through Missouri and Mr. Gordon was arrested by mistake but afterward released through the influence of a friend. He had previously served in the State Militia and on his return home re-enlisted but served only a short time; he then returned home where he remained with his father until the latter’s death.
In 1867 he purchased the Central Flour Mill near Scruggs in Cole County, and ran it for two years, after which he sold it to George Rains.
In 1878 he began to handle stock very extensively, at that time getting his first contract with the state to furnish meat to the State Penitentiary at Jefferson City. The contract was renewed from year to year until near the time of his death. Mr. Gordon moved to Jefferson City in 1884 and engaged largely in the livestock business, not only in Cole County, but in Kansas City where he was a large buyer, selling to butchers and feeders. During a series of years he shipped about 150 car-loads (which amounted to $150,000) annually. Besides his stock interests he also did a large feed business, using as a storehouse his barn and sheds on the corner of Main and Harrison streets in the western part of the city.
Mr. Gordon was a member of the Masonic Lodge; took an active interest in politics, being a Democrat, and was a liberal supporter of every movement for the advancement of Jefferson City.
He was Married on November 23, 1864 to Miss Henrietta (Hattie) L. McMillan, daughter of Capt. T.H. McMillan, an early settler of Missouri and a captain in the Mexican War. In 1888 John and Hattie purchased a home on the corner of Main and Jackson Streets.
L. D. Gordon
Lafayette D. Gordon was born on a farm four miles south of Jefferson City on November 15, 1847. He was educated in the local schools and worked on the farm until 1868. During 10 months of that year he carried mail on horseback from Jefferson City to Rolla. It required four days to make the round trip, and it is said that during the entire time he did not miss a trip and was always on time.
Soon after this he worked on a farm in Callaway County for wages and for a few months worked at a saw mill. In 1872 he purchased a portion of the farm where he was born and reared and there continued successfully until 1886, when he rented and later sold his farm, and moved to Jefferson City. About a year previous to leaving the farm, he engaged in burning lime, his kiln being three miles east of the city. The very excellent quality of the product of his kiln resulted in a greatly increased trade. He continued to run his kiln three miles east of the city.
In 1888 he was elected a member of the City Council, serving two years. In 1892 he was elected to the School Board where he served for three years. He was made one of the board of regents of Lincoln Institute in 1897. In 1898 he received the nomination of the Democratic Party for the office of County Treasurer to which he was elected.
August 20, 1871, he was united in marriage to Sallie W., daughter of Robert Hord, a prominent farmer of Callaway County. The eldest child born to this union, Cora Alice, married Gerhardt Guenther of Jefferson City; Charles died at the age of 3; Minnie V. married Waller Bolton, Jr.; Stella May died at the age of 19 years; Norman A. worked for the L. S. Parker Shoe Company.
Mr. Gordon was a member of the M.E. Church (South) of Jefferson City where he served as steward. He was an A.O.U.W. and a member of the Macabees. He took an active interest in the advancement of Jefferson City, working toward the construction of the Missouri River Bridge and defeating the removal of the Capital from the city. He was a Democrat in politics. He resided at 1104 East McCarty.
Thorpe Gordon
Thorpe J. Gordon was born in Cole County September 29, 1891, of a pioneer family. His father was Charles Alexander Gordon, born in what was known as the Gordon neighborhood near Scruggs Station in Cole County, died May 24, 1937 at the age of eighty-two years, the last surviving member of his generation of the Gordon family. During his active years he owned and operated a farm in the Gordon settlement near the place of his birth. He moved to Jefferson City many years prior to his death.
Charles A. Gordon was the son of William James Gordon, a native of Virginia. His mother, whose maiden name was Eliza Noland, was a sister of Martin Noland, pioneer teacher and Baptist preacher of Cole County. Thorpe Gordon’s mother, whose maiden name was Georgia Ann Dickerson, was born October 22, 1864, in the old Gordon neighborhood. She was a school teacher prior to her marriage to Charle A. Gordon and died in Jefferson City December 21, 1920. Her father, Jacob Dickerson, died before her birth and she was reared by her uncle, George W. Rains, who conducted one of the largest flour mills in the county at Scruggs Station.
Thorpe J. Gordon began his career in the undertaking business in December 1910, when he was employed by the Walther-Wymore Furniture and Undertaking Company, which was owned by the late George W. Walther, and continued in that firm until 1927 when he established his own business as successor to that company. The building his company occupied was formerly the home of Major Winfield Scott Pope, a distinguished attorney of Jefferson City. This large old home was extensively remodeled as to have been virtually rebuilt around 1937.
Mr. Gordon was married to Miss Margie Irene Donaldson on December 22, 1937. Miss Donaldson’s home was in Montgomery City. She was the daughter of R. H. and Mary Donaldson.
Mr. Gordon served two terms as President of the Chamber of Commerce in 1936 and 1937. He was president of the Rotary Club and served two terms as commander of Roscoe Enloe Post Number 5, American Legion. In World War I he served overseas with Company B, 337th machine gun battalion. He was a member of the Methodist Church and of the board of stewards of that church. In 1937 he was elected a member of the Jefferson City School Board.
John Grant
John Grant was born in Scotland, March 3, 1849, where he was raised and educated. At the age of nineteen he crossed the waters, coming directly to Cole County, where his first work was as a laborer on the railroad. Soon after he engaged in lead mining, which was then widely carried on in Cole County. In 1875 he went to work as a clerk for J. L. Chambers, then a general merchant at Belleville, after which he was a short time with Mr. F. Steffens at Decatur, then again with Mr. Chambers.
In 1885 he purchased a stock of general merchandise, in partnership with W.C. Hatler and John F. Kelly. They formed the firm of J. Grant & Co., and opened business in Russellville.
On July 3, 1873, Mr. Grant was married to Alice Morris, daughter of Jacob and Jane Morris who moved to Moniteau County from Pennsylvania. One daughter, Anna E., was born to this union and on May 13, 1891, she married Robert Short, a prominent farmer near Russellville. Their children were Mary, Florence, Clyde, Wade and Isaac.
Mr. Grant was a social member of the M.W.A. and a substantial and leading citizen of Russellville.
Mary Wisdom Grant
Mrs. Frank Palmer (nee Mary Wisdom) Grant was a native of Missouri, born in the old historical town of Huntsville, the judicial seat of Randolph County. Her father, William Monroe Wisdom, was one of the most prominent families of the state, a man highly educated (being a graduate of several colleges), distinguished, and culturally refined. He was a prominent and wealthy banker of Huntsville whose financial loss was doubtless a circumstance which led his daughter to be a much more useful and valuable member of society than if she had continued in the luxurious home of wealthy and indulgent parents.
Her mother was Miss Anna Carpenter Hallack, a granddaughter of Station George Carpenter of Kentucky.
The early education of Mrs. Grant was in Huntsville. When she was 14 years of age her father suffered heavy financial losses and she opened a private school in his home for the purpose of securing means to aid in the completion of her education. She was later a student of the High School of St. Louis, after which she attended Christian College at Columbia, Mo. where she graduated valedictorian of her class. Her mother was a graduate of the same institution just twenty-five years before.
Mrs. Grant taught English and History in this college for several years, when she resigned to take charge of the Department of English in “Our Daughters’” College of Fulton, Mo. She married Frank P Grant, a prominent and successful business man, on August 19, 1891, at the home of her parents in Huntsville. Mr. and Mrs. Grant and their son, Barton Stone, lived in St. Louis.
She became state superintendent of Sunday School Work of the Christian Church of Missouri, the only woman in the city to occupy that position. At the time she was lecturer of the Sunday School Union and made a valuable contribution to all denominations of St. Louis.
Mr. Grant became a Director of Giesecke Boot and Shoe Manufacturing Company, and they moved to Jefferson City. Mrs. Grant continued her church work and contributed regularly to Sunday School Publications as well as lecturing to a wide audience across the state.
Allen P. Green
Allen Percival Green, industrial leader of Mexico Missouri, was a Jefferson City native who attained a commanding position in the Midwest business world. He was born here July 22, 1875, the son of Joseph and Eliza Green. He graduated from the School of Mines and Metallurgy of the University of Missouri (Rolla) in 1896, received the L.L.D. degree from Westminster College, Fulton, in 1933, and the degree of Doctor of Engineering from the Missouri University School of Mines and Metallurgy in 1935.
Mr. Green was married June 17, 1903, to Sara Josephine Brown of Sedalia. They had five children: Elizabeth C. who married Arthur D. Bond; Martha McHenry, wife of Walter Goodwin Stanley; Josephine who married Neal Shackleford Wood; Allen Percival, Jr. who married Rita LeBlanc; and Robert Stafford who married Susan Keays.
Mr. Green engaged in the general practice of civil and mining engineering from 1896 to 1901. In the latter year he became director and general sale manager of the Harbison-Walker Refractories Company of Pittsburgh, PA, a position he held until 1905 when he became vice-president of the Evans & Howard Fire Brick Company of St. Louis, remaining in that capacity until 1910. He became president of the A.P. Green Fire Brick Company of Mexico Missouri in 1910.
He was a Democrat, a Presbyterian and a Mason. He maintained homes in Mexico, Missouri and Miami Beach, Florida.
Mr. Green’s father was born at Troy, Lincoln County, Missouri in 1842 and died in Jefferson City in 1910. He was the son of James and Eliza Martin Green, born in Virginia in 1800. Mr. Green’s mother was born in Jefferson City in 1842 and died in Sedalia in 1894. She was the daughter of Judge Joseph E. McHenry of this city who was born in Tennessee in 1800 and Sidney Homans Edgar, born the same year in Potosi, Missouri.
J. H. Green
Joseph Henry Green was born at Troy, Lincoln County, Mo., April 2, 1842. His parents had recently moved from Fauqueir County, Va., coming by land in the old Virginia wagons with a large colony. His ancestors on his father’s side were English and Scotch and on his mother’s, Welsh and German.
His first schooling was in a log school house in Troy, Prof. G.C. Broadhead being his first teacher. Mr. Green came of old Revolutionary stock, his grand father, George Green (1756-1853) was with Gen. Benedict Arnold in his memorable winter campaign north toward the Canadian border. He afterward held the rank of Major under General Morgan and received a severe saber cut in the head at the battle of “The Cow Pens.” He was a great friend and admirer of Gen. Washington, whom he followed to the grave—their plantations being about twenty-five miles apart. He was distantly related to Gen. Nathaniel Green, both coming from the same Shire in England. His mother was Miss Jane Martin of Culpepper County, Va. His grandfather, Hezekiah Martin, was also a Revolutionary soldier, serving in “Light Horse Harry” Lee’s Legion of Virginia Cavalry.
When the Civil War broke out, Joseph Green was teaching school in West Prairie, Lincoln County. (One of his students was Elisha Robinson who later became Circuit Judge in Northeast Missouri and a prominent railroad attorney in Kansas City.)
In 1861, on a Friday afternoon, he dismissed his school expecting to open the following Monday as usual. Borrowing a horse he rode to Troy. On his arrival he found Governor Jackson’s proclamation calling for troops. Although he was already enrolled as a member of Capt. Eppie Sydnor’s Company, he sent his horse back to its owner, and with about 700 others, under Capt. Broda Hull, Capt. George Carter and Capt. John Q. Burbridge of Pike Co., started for Jefferson City.
After two days’ march they reached the home of Gen. Jeff Jones in Callaway County, where, hearing of their approach, the whole neighborhood had gathered and prepared a feast for the troops. When they came to the Missouri River they were unable to cross, as Gen. Lyon had just fought the battle of Boonville and had the Missouri River guarded. The command, then under Gen. Tom Harris and Col. Burbridge, broke up into squads.
Young Green with his stepbrother, James Carter, worked their way south and on Sept. 3, 1861, joined Capt. Martin Burke’s Co. D., 1st Mo. Infantry at New Madrid, Mo. The intrepid John S. Bowen was Colonel, and was afterward Major-General. During the long and tragic conflict following, Mr. Green was in a number of the great battles between the North and South. He was wounded at the battle of Champion Hill and his step brother, James Carter, was killed at the same time.
He was discharged because of a disability, coming across the river where he was commissioned Colonel by Gen. Price and sent to Missouri to recruit. He was captured, and with Col. Burbridge, Gen. Jefferson Thomson and others taken to Gratiot Street Prison, then to Johnson Island and exchanged. After the surrender at the close of the war he went to Old Mexico.
On his return, he stopped at Rolla for a time with his brother, James A. Green. Coming to Jefferson City in 1867, he engaged in the fire insurance business as general agent for the Farmers’ and Merchants’ Insurance Co. After two years he became one of the promoters of the Life Association of American, in which he did a large business. He engaged in general real estate business at Sedalia for 20 years, 10 years of which was as a general land agent of the M.K. & T. Railroad. This connection resulted in his handling large tracts of land in the states of Kansas and Texas. Moving from Sedalia to Jefferson City in 1899, he continued to be involved in real estate.
He was united in marriage, May 6, 1868, to Miss Eliza, daughter of James B. McHenry of Jefferson City. Their children were Bessie who married Sidney J. Twyman of St. Joseph, Mo.; Mabel; Percy, a civil engineer in the employ of the U.S. Government and living in Louisville, Ky. When Eliza died, Joseph married her sister, Emma on January 14, 1896.
Mr. Green was a member of the Presbyterian Church, also of the Maccabees, and was Door-Keeper of the House—28th General Assembly (1875). He made his home at 215 Stewart Street, the old home of his father-in-law, the late J. B. McHenry.
A. P. Grimshaw
Arthur P. Grimshaw was born in Nottingham, England, Jan. 20, 1849. His parents, Jonathan and Eliza Maria Topham Grimshaw, came to this country when he was an infant, stopping in St. Louis for six years before moving to Jefferson City. Arthur attended the public schools of that city after which he went to Wyman’s University of St. Louis, where he graduated in 1861.
He accepted a position with the United States Express Company as messenger on the Missouri Pacific, between St. Louis and Atchison, Kansas. He served in that capacity for 18 years and was then made cashier of the United Stats Express office at Atchison. Resigning this position he was appointed assistant postmaster of Jefferson City under Capt. Steininger during President Harrison’s administration, serving one year.
He was elected County Clerk in 1884, to fill an unexpired term of two years, then re-elected in 1886 for a full term. He was appointed joint agent for the Pacific and United States Express Companies to succeed his father, Jonathan Grimshaw, in 1890, in connection with which he was ticket agent for the Chicago and Alton Railroad at Jefferson City.
In 1891 he was elected mayor of the city, serving two terms and after a four interval, elected to the office again. He was the first president of the Commercial Club of Jefferson City and was one of the leading spirits in its organization. He was the first superintendent of the Jefferson City Bridge and Transit Company, serving two years.
He was a mason, member of the Blue Lodge, Chapter and Commandery. He was an active member of the Grace Episcopal Church and served as treasurer.
Mr. Grimshaw was married September 20, 1870, in Huntsville, Ohio, to Miss Juliette, daughter of Kemp Goodlow Carter, a native of Richmond, Va. They made their residence at 816 East High Street. Their two sons, Kemp Goodlow and Arthur Perry, were owners and proprietors of the Grimshaw Brothers Grocery, 212 E. High Street, Jefferson City.
E. R. Hagan
Edward R. Hagan was born on a farm near Cedar City, Callaway County on October 4, 1870. At the age of one he and his parents moved to Miller County, settling on a farm on the Osage River; later removing to Aurora Springs, where they engaged in the livery business.
His early education was in the public schools and following he engaged as a printer in the office of the Autogram, where he worked until 1887 when he moved to Jefferson City. He first worked at the Tribune, later on the Missouri School Journal, where he continued for seven years. He then helped establish the Capital City Journal and sold in 1900, accepting a position with the Cole County Democrat. He roomed at 207 Washington.
W. L Hager
William Lusk Hager was born in Wood County, Wisconsin, March 18, 1882. His father, Emile B. Hager, was a native of Allsace-Lorraine. He served as a Union soldier in the Civil War, and died when William Hager was nine years old. His mother, whose maiden name was Abigail O’Brien was a native of Queenstown, Ireland. She came to this country at the age of fourteen, settling in Wisconsin, where she met and married her husband. Following his death she came to Jefferson City where she resided for many years. She died in St. Louis on June 16, 1938, where she had been making her home with a daughter. She was eighty-nine years old at the time of her passing.
Mr. Hager went to work for Exchange National Bank at the age of sixteen, starting as a collector in 1898. He became successively, bookkeeper, teller, assistant cashier, and in 1932 became vice-president and trust officer. Prior to his connection with the bank he was a clerk in the office of the county recorder, Major William H. Lusk (see sketch). Mr. Hager’s father was a brother of Major Lusk’s wife and the relationship between this distinguished gentleman and his nephew was very close until the time of Major Lusk’s death.
Mr. Hager was married on July 7, 1908 to Miss Catherine Handley, a daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Michael Handley. She died in 1917, and Mr. Hager later married Mrs. Elizabeth Hill, daughter of Mr. and Mrs. James Keane, who came to Jefferson City from Chicago, Illinois in the early 80s to make this city their home. James Keane died in 1915 and his widow, Mrs. Mary J. Keane became a member of Mr. Hager’s household as did James A. Hill, Mrs. Hager’s son by her former marriage.
In addition to his activities at the bank, Mr. Hager was director and treasurer of the Capital City Building & Loan Association. He was a director and treasurer of the Cole County Tuberculosis Society; a director of the local community chest, a member of the Knights of Columbus; and a member of the Republican Party. The family resided at 626 McCarty Street.
James L. Handley
James L. Handley was born in Stringtown, Cole County, in 1873. His parents were Thomas and Mary Gordon Handley. Thomas Handley, a farmer and a native of Ireland, died in 1885. Mrs. Mary Handley, the daughter of Abraham and Nellie Gordon, was born in Rockingham County, Virginia, February 25, 1835. When she was a child her parents moved to Cole County. Here in 1861 she married Thomas Handley, and here she died in 1910, having been an invalid the last thirty years of her life.
Following the death of Thomas Handley his widow moved with her family to Jefferson City. When James Handley was a young man he learned the carpenter trade under Charles Salisch and worked as a carpenter for John T. Short, H. J. Wallau and others. About twenty-five years ago he went into business as a contractor. For a time he was in partnership with George Todd, Alexander Myers and Henry Sachs. When this partnership was dissolved he became a partner of Herbert Stake, ultimately working alone. Many of the best buildings in Jefferson City were of his construction.
Mr. Handley was for more than thirty years a member of the Modern Woodmen and for several years was one of the forester team with Joe Schleer and Tom Fisher as drillmasters. He dropped his membership in that order when a rate increase was adopted. As evidence that he was a woodman in the literal sense of the word, Missouri newspapers carried a story of his killing the first deer of the season, just east of the preserves of the Painted Rock Club of which he was a member. He was a member of the carpenters’ union, and of the Methodist Church. HE had two sisters, Mrs. W.W. Goodall of Jefferson City and Mrs. Charlie Gerye of Kansas City; and a brother, Charles, a carpenter living in Cedar City.
Mr. Handley was married in the late 1800s to Miss Carrie Gipfert, daughter of a well known German pioneer family. She had two brothers, Martin Gipfert of Jefferson City and Carl of St. Louis; and three sisters, Mrs. A.M. Burkel, Mrs. Jack Stochs and Mrs. Alex Myers, all of this city. Her mother died around 1933 at the age of ninety-two. Mrs. Handley was born August 27, 1878. She was a life long member of the Evangelical Church and lived her entire life in Jefferson City.
Mr. and Mrs. Handley had three children. Roy, a carpenter in this city, married Miss Gertrude Bishop. Sadie married Henry Buehrle and they had a daughter, Caroline. Ruth married Francis L. Faunce of Independence, Mo. and they had a daughter, Patsy Ruth.
Herman C. Hanszen
Herman C. Hanszen was born in Dusseldorg, Germany in 1847, his father moving to America when he was three years old, first stopping in St. Louis, and two years later to Westphalia, Osage County A few years later, his father moved to the Osage River and established the Hanszen’s Ferry. It was here the subject grew to manhood.
At the age of 19, Herman moved to Jefferson City where he worked as a clerk with the druggist, Dr. Nicholas DeWyl. He remained there for four years until he took a position as clerk with a dry goods company, where he remained six years. He then opened his own shoe merchant business of which he ran until his death, on August 11, 1896 in St. Louis. He had gone there to have surgery of cancer of the stomach.
Mr. Hanszen was married May 4, 1870 to Clara Weiss, daughter of Frederick and Julia Weiss of Jefferson City. Six children were born to this union: Alma, Lydia, Oscar, Eugene, Edna, and Harry. They made their home at 117 E. McCarty Street.
A. H. Hatch
Dr. Alonzo Hurbert Hatch was born April 12, 1852 in Brookfield, Vermont, his early education being in the Norwich Seminary at Montpelier, VT. His father died on September 23, 1863, and at this time he left for Quebec to learn the business of watch making. Here he remained four years, then moving to Waltham, Massachusetts, working at the Waltham Watch Factory, where he remained until 1872. At that time, he opened his own watchmaker and jewelry business in Fairbury, Ill.
In 1875 he took two optician courses and then after a fire destroyed his watch making business he moved to Windsor, Illinois, operating jewelry and optical business for 14 years. In 1890 he sold his business and traveled one year with the Peoria Optical Co. as a refractionist. He then moved to Mt. Carmel, Ill and had his own practice until moving to Jefferson City in 1895. He opened his own business at 132 East High Street.
Dr. Hatch was united in marriage to Julia Carny of Gibson City, Ill., on March 1, 1876. To this union two daughters, Alice and Gertrude, were born. The family lived at 110 West Miller Street.
Samuel J. Hawken
Samuel J. Hawken was born at the foot of the Rockies in Denver on September 10, 1861. At the age of four, he and his family moved to St. Louis where soon after, his father died. At the age of fifteen, Samuel went to Franklin County, near Union, where he worked on a farm until the age of twenty one, when he began farming on his own land, until 1892, when he engaged in carpentry.
In 1897 he bought the New Haven “News Notesâ€, a weekly paper which he sold one year later, moving to Chamois. There he established the “Head Light†plant which he sold in 1899, to become manager of the Cedar City Chronicle. In November he became editor and publisher of the “Reporter†of the same place. He married March 6, 1889 to Dena Schorer in Dundee, Franklin County. They had two sons and one daughter.
A. L. Hawkins
Alfred L. Hawkins was the son Judge Thomas W. and Anna Belle Newland Hawkins. He was born in Hannibal, November 6, 1873. Judge Thomas W. Hawkins was born in Bourbon County, Kentucky, August 29, 1829, studied law at Transylvania University, and after his marriage located at Hannibal. At the outbreak of the Civil War he was editor of the South & West, a newspaper which advocated the Confederate cause. For the publication of his sentiments he was held in prison in St. Louis for the greater portion of the war. During his long residence in Hannibal he held various city and county offices, including probate judge, presiding judge of the county court, circuit clerk, representative, and mayor of the city of Hannibal.
A. L. Hawkins at the age of seventeen became deputy circuit clerk and recorder of Marion County. He came to Jefferson City to serve in the department of the secretary of state under A.A. Lesseur and remained during the tenure of office of Sam B. Cook. From 1905 to 1933 he served in an executive capacity with the Graham Paper Company, organizing the Midland Printing Company in the latter year. This company did the official printing for the state of Missouri and served a large clientele throughout the Midwest.
In 1926 Mr. Hawkins was married to Mrs. Helen Hume Harr of Kahoka. Scott Hawkins, a son by a former marriage, lost his life in January 1938 by a fall from an airplane into the Pacific Ocean. He was a naval aviation cadet attached to the U.S.S. Chicago. (Editor's Note - It is reported by family members that Mr. A.L. Hawkins previous marriage was to a Miss Winnie Pope.)
R. W. Hedrick
Robert Wesley Hedrick, better known to Jefferson City and to political and Masonic circles of Missouri as Bob Hedrick, was born at Ottumwa, Iowa, January 22, 1882. In 1907 he came to Cole Camp, Benton County, Missouri, where he lived until 1921, when he moved to Jefferson City. An attorney by profession, Mr. Hedrick devoted his time to the practice of law on coming to Missouri. He was a Republican in politics and represented Benton County in the state legislature in the sessions of 1915 and 1917. In May, 1922, he became secretary of the Missouri Telephone Association.
Mr. Hewdrick came from a pioneer Iowa family which was prominent in the civic and military history of that state. His father, John Wesley Hedrick, was born at Dahlonega, Wapello County, Iowa in 1854 and died in 1934, spending his entire life as a resident of Ottumwa. His mother, Janet Mills Hedrick, was born near Edinburgh Scotland, July 28, 1855.
On December 21, 1911, Mr. Hedrick married Emily A. Tietjen, who was reared in Benton County. Their daughter, Mary Margaret married Frank M. Pollard of Ottumwa. Their son, Robert W. Jr. attended the Missouri State University.
Mr. Hedrick was Grand Master of the Royal and Select Master Masons of Missouri for 1935 and 1936. A student of public affairs and experienced in party politics, he was one of the leaders of his party in the state.
Abraham Heim
Abraham Heim, a popular and leading clothier of Jefferson City, was born in Bavaria, Germany, July 3, 1842, where he was reared and educated. In 1860 he immigrated to America, stopping first at Mansfield, Ohio, where he engaged as salesman in a clothing store for about ten years. In 1870 he came to Jefferson City, and the following three years was salesman for Sachs & Wolferman.
He went to Germany visiting the Vienna exposition and upon returning opened business on his own account in the City Hotel building. Here he continued to do a prosperous and growing business for ten years. As his increasing trade demanded more commodious quarters to accommodate the enlarged stock, needed he purchased the property and opened his store on the corner High and Madison.
J. F. Heinrichs
John F. Heinrichs, known to everyone in Cole and surrounding counties as the “Furniture King,†was born in Cologne, Germany, November 30, 1848. His parents immigrated to Jefferson City when he was four years of age. He attended school in Jefferson City, Wyman’s University in St. Louis and St. John’s Commercial College.
On return to Jefferson City after completing his education, he assisted his father who was engaged in the business of furniture and undertaking. He was later associated in the business and became the owner in 1979 when the location was on the corner of Jefferson and Main streets. From there he moved to one of the store rooms under Bragg Hall at the corner of Monroe and High streets. In 1897 the business was moved to 207-209 East Main.
He was united in marriage May 13, 1873, to Miss Mildred Blair, daughter of Judge Milo Blair of Boonville. To this union were born six children, four boys and two girls, one of each died in infancy. Surviving were Milo, Charles, Claud and Agnes.
Mr. Heinrichs was a member of the Catholic Church, K of P., Elks, L.O.H. and A.O.U.W. In politics he was a Democrat. He was a Regent at Lincoln Institute and a member of the city school board for 12 years. He served as mayor of the city 1910-1911. He retired from business in 1914 and died in 1922. The family resided at 324 East Main Street.
Charles Pratt Heinrichs, who succeeded his father in the furniture and undertaking business in 1915, was married to Miss Emma McDaniel, a Christian minister and native of Virginia. Following his own retirement from active business in 1934, Mr. and Mrs. Heinrichs lived in Westphalia.
John F. Heinrichs, second John F. Heinrichs in the undertaking business in Jefferson City and the fourth consecutive generation of the Heinrichs family in that business here, is the son of Charles Pratt and the grandson of John F. Heinrichs. He was born August 24, 1910 and became head of the family business in 1934. Following his graduation from high school he attended an embalming school at Cincinnati. The furniture business was discontinued and Mr. Heinrichs conducted a modern funeral home. He was married in July, 1932, to Miss Bernadine Ossman, a native of Joliet, Illinois, daughter of Frank and Hildegarde Weber Ossman.
Thomas Heisler
Thomas Heisler was born in St. Thomas, in Cole County. He resided there until 1894 when he moved to Jefferson City. Having had youthful experience as a contractor and builder, he followed that profession in Jefferson City. He had good skills as a builder and it was not long before he had all the work he could do and in the expansion of the city he contributed his part. He built many private residences in the city and perhaps the first apartment house, a four unit building, promoted by Julius Conrath on McCarty Street between Madison and Monroe. He also built the Masonic Temple at the corner of High and Jefferson in 1908.
Mr. Heisler was married at St. Thomas to Miss Teresa Gerling February 16, 1886, and the couple made their home at McCarty and Broadway—228 McCarty Street. They had two sons, John and Quentin. John lived in Chicago and Quentin practiced dentistry in Jefferson City. Their daughters were Zita; Agnes (Mrs. Barton); Hilda (Mrs. Redmond) of Decatur, Ill.; Elizabeth (Mrs Swigert) of Dallas, Texas; Margaret (Mrs Foley) of Kansas City; and Lucille (Mrs. Johnson) of Detroit; and Rosalind. Mrs. Heisler died in 1931.
Father Ferdinand Helias
In 1838, Rev. Ferdinand Helias was sent by the Jesuit Provincial of St. Louis to minister to the band of German immigrants who had settled near the Maries River in present-day Osage County, Missouri. These folks were form the Westphalen Province of Germany and had chosen the beautiful Maries River country as their American home. It was said the green, rolling hillsides and river valleys reminded them of their German homeland.
The German immigrants desired to preserve their traditions and customs even though in a strange new land. The descendants of these German pioneers have continued the same beliefs, attitudes and customs into our present day.
When Father Helias arrived in Osage County, he decided a new church should be built upriver a short distance from where an old log building was standing. They called their new community New Westphalia, later shortened to Westphalia. Father Helias named the log church and parish for St. Joseph and it was designated as the Jesuit headquarters for central Missouri.
It was from this Maries River town that Father Helias, with a missionary zeal, ventured out and founded six additional parishes including Taos, Reich Bonn (Rich Fountain), Loose Creek, St. Peters at Jefferson City, St. Thomas and Cedron. An offshoot of the additional parishes has been established throughout the last century in the counties of Maries, Miller, Osage, Cole and Callaway.
His life story is a fascinating adventure. Born Ferdinand Bonoit Marie Gusilan Helias D’Huddinghen on Aug 3, 1797, Father Helias was a native of French Flanders (Belgium). He was born in the same house where Emperor Charles V was born and he grew up in the town of Ghent, which was predominantly Flemish-Catholics; the language was Flemish/Dutch. Father Helias was not only a Jesuit priest, but he also served as an ex-soldier and was considered to be a man of wealth. These qualities produced an outstanding pioneer missionary for the American wilderness. It was said his superiors were happy to send him off to America because they felt he was too wild and energetic for any European cloister.
Before coming to the Maries River country in the northern Ozarks, he served as priest to a band of German immigrants on St. Louis’ north side, where he organized St. Joseph’s Church. He made periodic missionary visits to the Catholic families along the Missouri River and its tributaries. He traveled by horseback seeking out and visiting the scattered Catholic folk.
He would stay for a few days at each settlement, then venture further in search of more of his flock. He was as rugged a pioneer as the people he served. In his travels, it was not uncommon for him to sleep outdoors wrapped in buffalo robes. He braved fevers, the cholera epidemic of 1853, and the near-drowning in a river of himself and his boatman. During the Civil War, he was accused of harboring Confederate spies and he also endured many attacks from some “Latin farmers†who plagued him throughout his ministry.
Father Helias was a man of personal wealth before becoming a priest and it was with this wealth that he helped to build many churches throughout his territory. He remained in Westphalia until 1842. At that time, he experienced some difficulties with his parishioners, so he returned to St. Louis for a short while. In the autumn of the same year, he returned to his missionary duties and moved his residence to Taos, a small community in Cole County.
In 1848, Father Helias made a trip back to Westphalia to bless the cornerstone of the new stone church that was to be built. Today, the church is a historic landmark in its “old world†setting majestically standing atop a hill overlooking the green valley of the Maries River below.
In 1838, when he first arrived in the region, one of the first jobs Father Helias undertook was enumerating a census for the Catholic settlements. It was difficult to translate his writings because he wrote the census in a combination of Latin, Old French, Flemish and a little German. Almost 170 years later, some of the family names he recorded in 1838 can still be found in the various parishes. He was also the first man to minister to the spiritual needs of the inmates of Missouri’s state prison in Jefferson City.
Father Helias died at age 78 on August 11, 1874, at Taos, poor and alone at his simple country rectory. He died with little more than the clothes he wore on his back with no attending physician and no relatives to give him comfort in his last hour of life. It was 78 years and eight days since he was born into a wealthy, noble Flemish family that he died alone in a simple log house on the plains of our northern Ozarks.
On the shrine/tomb of Father Helias, located inside Taos’ St. Francis Xavier Church, are the following words…. “Flanders was my cradle; France instructed me; Italy, Germany and Switzerland sheltered me. After many ventures and labors on land and sea, God settled me in Missouri. The foundations of Westphalia were laid by me and seven churches were founded by me to the greater glory of God.â€
It seems fitting that this pioneer priest, who was instrumental in establishing important parishes in central Missouri, should remain in the land he served so well. In his twilight years, he was given the opportunity to return to his native Belgium, but he refused. He loved his new land and its people and wished to live out his remaining years in our beautiful Ozark Plateau country. He was certainly a true and honored Missourian.
“Window to the Past†2006
By Peggy Smith Hake
J. J. Henderson
Joseph J. Henderson was born near Russellville on July 28, 1859. He moved to Jefferson City in 1879 accepting a position as foreman in the prison brick yard, where he worked until 1892 when he was elected City Marshal of Jefferson City, apposition he held until becoming Sheriff in 1898.
He married Nettie Donnell, a Tennessee native, whose parents moved to Cole County in 1861. They had four sons, Bert, Duke, Roxie and Frank and three daughters, Lula Bessie and Nellie. The family resided at 403 Monroe Street.
Rev. John Fenton Hendy
Rev. John Fenton Hendy was born in Northern Ireland, August 23, 1837. His parents were Francis and Martha (Molyneux) Hendy. His father was in the linen industry. In 1841 the family immigrated to America and settled on a farm in Kenton County, Kentucky.
John Hendy’s early education was in the neighboring schools; at the age of twenty he entered Centre College of Danville, Kentucky and graduated in 1862. In the fall of the same year he entered the theological department of the University at Princeton, New Jersey, graduating in 1865. In 1864 he was licensed by the Presbytery at Augusta, KY and in 1865 he was ordained in the Second Church of Covington where he was a pastor for one year. He transferred from Covington to the churches of Crittenden and Lebanon in Grant County, KY where he spent two years.
In 1867 he responded to a call from Vincennes, Indiana where he served for five years. During his stay he was tendered the presidency of Vincennes University which he declined. In 1872 he transferred to Owensboro, KY where he was the spiritual advisor of the first Church for nine years during which time the enrollment trebled and the church was remodeled, enlarged and improved. During his ministry at this place he was in Europe for five months in 1880.
In 1881 he responded to a call to the pulpit of the First church of Emporia, Kansas where, in addition to the duties of pastor of the church, he was president of the New Presbyterian College, the exacting duties of which, one year later, required his resignation as pastor of the church. Here he remained ten years, and in addition to the duties of directing the educational affairs of the institution, he was its financial director. During his administration, magnificent buildings were erected at a cost of $90,000.
In 1892, because of failing health, he was determined to resign. He then made a second visit to Europe for the double purpose of recreation and study. On returning he was called to become President of the Presbyterian Female College of Oswego, Kansas. Here his three years’ stay resulted in many improvements and clearing a debt of $10,000. After a rest and third trip to Europe following his resignation from this college, he accepted the position of pastor of the First Presbyterian Church of Jefferson City.
On December 5, 1865, he was united in marriage to Nannie, daughter of John Allen McClure, a prominent farmer and planter of Grant County, KY. To this union was born three children. William Rankin, the eldest, a graduate of Harvard, was a prominent and successful surgeon in Chicago. The second child spent two years in Europe in the completion of her education and became the wife of G. F. Swezey, a prominent and rising young minister. Edwin M. became state veterinary surgeon of Missouri and made his home with the family at 306 East Dunklin in Jefferson City.
Jesse W. Henry
Jesse W. Henry was born near Fayette, July 16, 1854. During the Civil War the family moved to Independence, Missouri, thence to Jacksonville, Illinois where they remained until the war was over. They moved to Macon where they lived for twelve years, until 1877. That year the family moved to Jefferson City, Mr. Henry’s father, John W. Henry, having been elected judge of the supreme court of the state in the 1876 election.
John W. Henry, of Kentucky and Virginia ancestry, graduated in law from the University of Virginia. He became an attorney of distinction before his ten years service on the Supreme Court of the state, practicing at Fayette, Boonville and other cities. He also served as the first state school superintendent. He married Maria Ridley Williams of a family of Howard County pioneers of Kentucky ancestry. Judge Henry died in 1892 at the age of seventy-eight.
Jesse W. Henry served as state librarian for three years, following his coming to Jefferson City in 1877. Resigning, he bought the grocery business located on Madison Street that had been owned by Chris Wagner and William Zuendt who were killed in a railroad wreck late in 1881. The landlord increased his rent to the unreasonably high figure of forty dollars a month and Mr. Henry moved his business to 630 East High Street where it remained to the late 1890s. He was elected director of the First National Bank, and within a few months was its president. He resigned to become treasurer of the Central Missouri Trust Company in association with Sam B. Cook. Five years later he resigned and became cashier of the Farmers and Merchants Bank where he worked for eleven years until his retirement.
Mr. Henry was married April 20, 1880 to Miss Kate Madison Davison at the old Doctor Davison home at Capital Avenue and Cherry Street. Mrs. Henry was a descendant of James Madison. Mr. and Mrs. Jesse Henry resided at 728 East Main Street. Kate died in 1925 leaving the following children: Donald D. Henry, state agent Commercial Insurance Co.; J. Porter Henry of the St. Louis law firm of Green, Henry & Green; Jesse Powell Henry of the St. Louis insurance firm Daniel & Henry; Jane Francis who married Richard Riefling of St. Louis. Mr. Henry was married in 1932 to Miss Thelma Garnett of Cole County, daughter of Mr. and Mrs. C.C. Garnett.
Charles E. Hess
Charles E. Hess was born in Hanover Germany, April 30, 1839. He died in Jefferson City December 22, 1904. Mr. Hess was educated in St. Charles, Missouri and graduated in law at Harvard University. He served with the Union Army in the Civil War. Following the war he was employed by the Rolla General Merchandise Company, then was appointed registrar in bankruptcy by Judge Krekel of the U.S. Court in this city.
In June 1880, Mr. Hess married Ottilie Bruns, daughter of Dr. Bernard Bruns (see sketch). No children were born to this union. He became interested in ore refractory business in Colorado and in wholesale crockery business in Toledo, Ohio. He was made superintendent of the Jefferson City Light, Heat and Power Company, a merger of the gas company and the Wagner-Fisher Electric Company, and remained in that position until his death. Mr. Hess was keenly interested in civic affairs. He sponsored the Jefferson City Town Mutual Fire Insurance Company which operated for some twenty years. He served on the school board and was active in promoting the bridge over the Missouri River.
Miss Ottilit Bruns was born in this country April 23, 1851. She was educated in this city and St. Louis, teaching in St. Louis until her marriage. She was always keenly interested in education and in young people, many of whom she helped through school. She was fond of travel and traveled widely. Her career was handicapped by an accident in Egypt, from which she suffered for years. She was a member of the library board of this city. Mrs. Hess passed away July 19, 1934.
J. W. Heskett
J.W. Heskett was born on a farm in Ross County, Ohio near Chillicothe on May 6, 1859. At the age of 11, his parents moved to Missouri settling on a farm near Malta Bend, Saline County. He attended the country school there and then graduated from Missouri State University in 1881.
He first taught school and then later managed his father’s large farm, later worked in the general mercantile business. In 1888 he purchased a farm 8 miles NW of Marshall and farmed until he took charge as Marshall of the post office in 1897. After only 5 months, he moved to Jefferson City and opened the New York Racket department store on Main Street.
He was married to Mollie Blosser and they had five children, two of whom died in infancy; those surviving were two girls, Allie and Annie and one boy, Harry. The family resided at 314 Monroe Street.
Arthur J. Hirst
Arthur J. Hirst moved to Jefferson City in 1920 and was president and manager of the Shryack-Hirst Wholesale Grocery Company. The trade territory of this major Jefferson City enterprise extended from fifty to one hundred miles in various directions from the city and included 8-10 counties. It was one of several whole groceries operating independently at various strategic locations in the state, but largely owned by the same group of individuals.
Mr Hirst was a native of Iowa, born at Keokuk, July 10, 1890, and reared and educated in that city. Prior to coming to Jefferson City he was a traveling salesman with headquarters at Macon, Missouri. In World War I he enlisted in the marines and served overseas. HE was active in the Chamber of Commerce, the American Legion and in Masonry as a member of the Shrine, Commandery, Chapter, Council and Blue Lodge.
Arthur J. Hirst was the son of James A. and Emma Hertlein Hirst. His father, a native of Keokuk, was born June 30, 1859, and died July 29, 1920. James A. Hirst was the son of James Hirst, born in Lancastershire, England, February 19, 1813, died April 27, 1892. James Hirst married Margaret Bond, born in Mancheaster, England, of Welsh descent, June jk10, 1816, died January 7, 1907. They emigrated to America about 1840.
Mr. Hirst’s mother, who made her home with him, was born March 24, 1860. She was the daughter of John Hertlein, a native of Bavaria, who was born August 17, 1824 and died June 21, 1899. John Hertlein married Marie Heinlein, born October 26, 1827, died April 24, 1884.
Mr. Hirst was married June 12, 1917, to Miss Grace Freuhling of Fort Madison, Iowa, born December 7, 1889. Mrs. Hirst died April 13, 1927, leaving two children; Grace Carolyn, born January 23, 1924 and Dorothy Louise, born April 4, 1927.
John Wilbourn Hobbs
John Wilbourn Hobbs was born in St. Louis, Mo., April 7, 1896, the youngest of seven children of William Pulaski Hobbs and Laura Wilbourn Hobbs. Both of his parents were born in Scott County, Missouri, and were members of pioneer families of Missouri and Kentucky. His paternal grandfather was one of the earliest judges of southeast Missouri district. The Court House at Benton stands on the side of the old Wilbourn home, one of the first large homes built in Missouri. Both families were southern sympathizers and slave owners during the Civil War period and suffered the usual hardships of the period following the war.
Mr. Hobbs attended the St. Louis public schools and Washington University night school. He went to Chicago and spent several years with the Continental and American Can Co., in an executive position. While there he attended the night school of Northwestern University. He returned to St. Louis to enlist in the aviation corps in July 1917. He served throughout the war in the air service and was discharged from Carlstrom Field, Florida in May 1919.
He was in the industrial equipment business in St. Louis before coming to Jefferson City in 1923. He was engaged in the real estate business in this city. He promoted the Bella Vista Apartments, converted the old Monroe Hotel into a modern office building, developed the Oak Park subdivision and built up one of the largest real estate exchanges in central Missouri. He was secretary and treasurer of the Missouri Real Estate Association, and a member of the National Real Estate Board.
He was very interested in farming and developed an excellent herd of Guernsey cattle at his farm near Jefferson City. He and his wife spent their summers riding horse back daily and enjoying country life. He married Myrene Houchin in February 1923.
Edwin R. Hogg
Edwin R. Hogg was born October 16, 1863 in Hannibal, MO, attending the public schools until the age of 15 when he went to work in his father’s planning mill. At the age of 18 he went to western Kansas to take charge of a lumber yard and after six months he resigned, taking a position as a lumber salesman for the Kohn J. Cruikshank Co. of Hannibal. In March 1893 he moved to Jefferson City and purchased a lumber yard from J.L. Keown.
On January 16, 1895 he married Maude McHenry, daughter of James E. McHenry, in Jefferson City. They had two children, Edwin R. Jr. and Jack C. The family resided at 413 East Main.
Edward Holtschneider
Edward Holtschneider was born November 1, 1855 in Kaiserworth, on the Rhine River, Prussia, immigrating to America with his parents, at the age of eight. His father was a cigar manufacturer in Westphalia and later in Tipton. Edward was educated in Tipton, later attending Bryant and Stratton College in St. Louis, graduating in 1876.
He taught the district school at Tipton for one year and also worked for his uncle and father. He then engaged in the business of general merchandise where after two years he moved to Decatur. There he bought a general store which he continued for one and a half years, moving to Tipton where he worked in the lumber business. He sold in 1895 and purchased a lumber yard on Madison Street in Jefferson City. He opened branches in Versailles and Bunceton, later disposing of them by 1898. He became treasurer of the Bockrath Shoe Company and for many years was the director of Merchant’s Bank.
He married Sara Walther on May 29, 1877 with nine children being born to this marriage, Flora and Henry dying in infancy. The surviving children were: Otto, Leo, Edwin, Paul, George, Clara and Paula. They made their home at 111 E Main Street.
Otto Joseph Stanislaus Hoog
Rev. Otto Joseph Stanislaus Hoog, pastor of St. Peter’s Church in 1900, was born in Ettenheim, Baden, April 18, 1845. He immigrated to America with his parents in 1854. Their first year in St. Louis, both parents were victims of the cholera epidemic, leaving their son an orphan at the age of nine. Father Uland, C.M., who attended his parents in their closing hours, placed him in St. Vincent’s Orphanage, where he remained five years.
In 1859 he entered the St. Louis University, an educational institution in charge of the Fathers of the Society of Jesus. In September 1861, he entered the Theological Seminary at St. Francis, Wisconsin where he remained for four years before transferring to St. Louis Diocesan Seminary at Cape Girardeau, conducted by the Fathers of the congregation of the Mission.
Father Hoog was ordained in St. Louis by the Right Rev. Bishop Junker of Alton, Illinois, December 21, 1867. Soon after his ordination he was sent to Lexington, MO where he presided over the parish as pastor until transferred to Jefferson City to replace Rev. H. Meurs who died August 24, 1876.
From the day of his arrival, September 20, 1876, St. Peter’s parish made substantial progress, spiritually, intellectually and financially.
James Albert Houchin
James Albert Houchin was the son of John Bourbon Houchin and Margaret Ann Jones Houchin. He was born in Logan County, Illinois, October 10, 1869. His ancestors were Huguenot French who settled in Salisbury, Massachusetts before 1679. Later descendants settled in Virginia and Kentucky.
James A. Houchin was reared on a farm. At Lincoln, Illinois he attended high school and Lincoln College, and took a two-year business course and graduated at the Gen City Business College at Quincy. With the recommendation of the latter institution he came to Jefferson City in 1891 as office man for the Charles L. Lewis Clothing Company. After four years with this concern he organized the Star Clothing Manufacturing Company which became one of the leading concerns of its kind in the United States. During the period when prison labor was sold to manufacturers, Mr. Houchin was one of the largest employers and thus paid many thousands of dollars to the state, his payroll to the state being more than a million dollars per year over a long period. At one time he conducted fifteen branch factories in various states.
Mr. Houchin acquired extensive realty interests in Jefferson City. He operated widely known stock farms in Cole, Callaway, Morgan and Pettis counties, becoming known as one of the leading breeders of fine saddle horses in America and was the owner of the famous stallion Astral King. He also developed a herd of fine Herefords. He was a member of the Methodist Church, and during his long residence in Jefferson City was a leader in all civic activities.
Attracted by the record of Joseph W. Folk in purifying conditions in St. Louis, Mr. Houchin exerted a powerful influence in securing Folk’s nomination and election as governor. He contributed freely of his own funds, was president of the state organization of Folk for Governor Club and made a state-wide speaking tour. After Folk’s election, however, the two differed on the method of prison management, Houchin advocating a more liberal policy. From that time to the end of his life Mr. Houchin was influential in Democratic politics. He died December 14, 1933.
In 1893 Mr. Houchin was married to Miss Mollie Clark, daughter of Benjamin and Isabelle Sone Clark, both members of pioneer families. Mr. Clark was a Confederate Veteran and for nearly fifty years an official at the state prison. Mrs. Houchin died in 1924, leaving a daughter, Myrene, who became the wife of J. W. Hobbs of Jefferson City. Mr. and Mrs. Houchin lived at 611 East Main Street.
George W. Hough
George W. Hough was born in Loudon County, VA on April 17, 1808 and was married to Mary C, Shawen at Waterford, VA on March 24, 1833. His early ancestor was John Hough, who moved from Bucks County, PA to Louden Co., VA about 1750, where he married Sarah Janney. John Hough was a grandson of Richard Hough who came from Cheshire, England to PA under the auspices of William Penn on the ship "Endeavor" land in Philadelphia in 1638.
In 1837, George Hough moved to St. Louis Co. MO. In 1838 he moved to Jefferson City where he engaged in merchandising until 1854 when he retired.
For forty years, Mr. Hough was a man of marked prominence and influence not only in this locality, but throughout the state. He was considered the leading mind in the Democratic Party during the decade preceding the war.
In 1842-43 he represented Cole County in the General Assembly with marked ability. In 1844 he took an active part in the organization of "The Missouri Historical and Philosophical Society," which was later incorporated by an act of the General Assembly of Missouri in February 1845. He was one of the charter members of the society and its Treasurer for a number of years. In 1854 he was the candidate of the Democratic Party for Congress.
In conjunction with Judge William B. Napton and Judge William Scott, then on the Supreme bench of Missouri, and Judge Carby Wells of Mario County, Mr. Hough participated in framing the famous "Jackson Resolutions" introduced by Claibourne F. Jackson, afterwards Governor, in the Missouri Legislature in 1849, which resolutions occasioned the celebrated appeal of Col. Thomas H. Benton from the instructions of the Legislature to the people of Missouri. These resolutions looked forward to a conflict between the Northern and Southern States and pledged Missouri to a co-operation with her sister states of the South. The leading Democrats of Missouri were then known as Calhoun Democrats, chief among them being David R. Atchison, William B. Napton, James S. Green, Carby Wells, Claibourne F. Jackson and George W. Hough, and the bitter personal hostility existing between Calhoun and Benton was much intensified by these resolutions, the authorship of which Col. Benton attributed to Calhoun. The result of the canvass was Col Benton's retirement from the United States Senate.
Soon after making his unsuccessful canvass for Congress in 1854, Mr. Hough was appointed by Gov. Sterling Price a member of the Board of Public Works of Missouri, of which board he was President. The board was then charged with supervision of all the railroads in the state to which state aid had been granted.
At the general election in 1860 he was elected to the same office. It was admitted at the time that he would have succeeded Gov. Jackson as Governor of Missouri had the Civil War not broken out. Mr. Hough was stronger in the convention of 1860 than was Gov. Jackson and could have had the nomination if he had contended for it. Instead, he yielded to the friends of the nominee, upon the assurances he should have no opposition for the next term. During the campaign of 1860 he made a thorough canvass of the state with Governor Jackson.
Though offered various government positions at the federal level, he declined. He was Curator of the Missouri University for a time.
Mr. Hough died February 13, 1878. He had six children living in 1900: Mrs. George B. Winston, Judge Warwick Hough, Mrs. John P. Keiser, Dr. Charles P. Hough, Arthur M. Hough and Miss Georgia B. Hough.
Arthur M. Hough
Arthur M. Hough was born in Jefferson City. His parents, George W. and Mary C. Hough, moved to the city in 1838, coming from Loudon County, VA. He was educated in the public schools. His first job was as salesman for a large general store in the city, later working as a clerk on a lower Mississippi River steamboat.
In 1870 he decided to study law and located in Kansas City, MO studying and working as assistant clerk of the Jackson County Circuit Court. He was admitted to the bar in 1872, Kansas City. Later moving to Jefferson City, he became a Lt. Colonel on Gov. Stone’s Military Staff and helped establish the City Public Library of Jefferson City. He also helped secure the necessary funds to extend the Bagnell Branch of the Missouri Pacific Railway to Springfield, MO. He was also appointed several times as Special Judge of the Circuit Court. His home was at 224 East Miller Street.
Dr. Stanley P. Howard
Dr. Stanley P. Howard was born December 3, 1890, in Cole County where his ancestors had lived for many years. His father, S.J. Howard was born in Pulaski County in 1855, but his parents came to Cole County three years later. He was reared on a farm near Brazito, and was a mechanic during the greater part of his life until his retirement.
S.J. Howard married a daughter of John M. Proctor who was born in Alabama in 1826 and who was ten years old when his father, Nathan Proctor, settled with his family near the present site of Russellville. Nathan Proctor and his old friend, Lannon Short, had set out with their families to settle on Cowskin Prairie in southwest Missouri. The lynch pin of one of the ox drawn wagons caught in a narrow rutted trail and had to be dug out. While some of the party was freeing the wagon, others cut down a dead tree. In the tree was a great quantity of honey and a fat opossum. The unexpected supply of food was considered a good omen and the party made a permanent settlement in the location of the mishap instead of moving on. Thus around 1836 Cole County became the home of the Proctor family.
Nathan Proctor’s wife was Rachel Downing. John M. Proctor married Mary Ann Taylor, daughter of Thomas and Mary Ann Simpson Taylor of Tennessee. Thomas Taylor’s father, fighting in the War of 1812 under General Harrison, was killed in the Battle of Horseshoe Bend.
Doctor Howard’s paternal grandfather was Lilburn J. Howard, who was a merchant in Pulaski County from 1845 to 1858 when he came to Cole County. During the Civil War, learning of a plan to take his life, he left the community with the Confederate Army under the protection of General Sterling Price. His wife was a daughter of John West, noted pioneer Baptist preacher. Both Howard and Proctor families were Baptists for generations. An old copy of the minutes of the Little Piney Association of Regular and Predestinarian Baptists shows Lilburn J. Howard to have been moderator.
Doctor Stanley P. Howard attended Russellville High School, William Jewel College, and received his bachelor’s degree from the state university. He studied in St. Louis University, specializing in diseases of the eye, ear, nose and throat. After a year as an intern in St. Louis he came to Jefferson City in 1922 where he went into private practice.
Doctor Howard was married in 1918 to Miss Mildred Snow, daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Alonzo Snow of California, Mo. Her father was a merchant in that city for many years. Her mother was a member of the Burkhardt family, pioneer merchants of California. Doctor and Mrs. Howard had two sons, Stanley Proctor and David Snow. Dr. Howard taught school for a number of years. He taught high school in Arkansas, California, Mo., Jefferson City, and was on the faculty of the Southwest Baptist College at Bolivar where he served on the board of trustees.
A. A. Hunter
A.A. Hunter was born near Russellville on October 21, 1860. Upon manhood, he farmed in places such as Moniteau County, Cole County and in Russellville. He first rented a farm in Moniteau County before buying one near Decatur in Cole County. He sold this after three years and purchased another near Russellville which he sold in 1893 and moved to Russellville to work in his brother-in-laws’ lumber business, later opening a branch in Centretown.
He married Callie Stevens, daughter of J.R. Stevens, on October 2, 1884. Both Mr. Hunter and his wife were members of the Mt. Olive Baptist Church. They made their home in Russellville.
J. H. Jackson
Prof. John H. Jackson was born in Lexington on October 31, 1850 where he received his early education in the public schools. He later attended Berea College, graduating with high honors in 1874, being the first Negro graduate of the Bluegrass State. Following graduation, he taught a number of years in Lexington and in 1881 became the President of Lincoln High Schools in Kansas City. While there he held many important positions such as Clerk of the Jury Commission and Clerk of the Police Board of Commissioners of Kansas City, as well as a member of the Board of Examiners, Kansas City. In 1887 he went to work for the State Normal College of Frankfort, KY, where he remained until 1898.
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He was married to Henrietta Stewart in July 1877, who passed away in November 1887. Two sons, Arthur and Atwood, were born to this marriage. In 1889 he married Ida Joyce and they had one child, Earl. They made their home at a home provided by the Regents of the Lincoln Institute where he served as President.
Sam W. James
Sam W. James, Jr., Jefferson City attorney, was born in Sedalia May 24, 1900, the son of Samuel and Rose E. James of that city. Following his graduation from the Sedalia High School Mr. James entered the state university. January 1, 1921, he came to Jefferson City to take a position in the office of the Secretary of State, Charles U. Becker, which he held until August 1932. Meanwhile, November 23, 1929, he was admitted to the bar and the following February he opened an office for the practice of law.
Sam W. James, Sr., prominent in real estate and insurance and as a Republican Party leader, died June 27, 1936. He was born in Washington Township, Pettis County, February 7, 1871, the only child of Samuel B. and Louvina M. James. He was active in the newspaper business for about twenty years. A lieutenant in the Spanish-American War, after the war he organized a National Guard company in Sedalia of which he was captain, and he was major in the National Guard from 1905 to 1910. He served as probate judge and as prosecuting attorney of Pettis County. He was a member of the Presbyterian Church. The James family, pioneers in Pettis County, is of Connecticut origin. In 1898 Sam W. James married Rose E. Grosshaus, a native of Pettis County, daughter of George J. and Mary Eicholz Grosshaus.
Sam W. James, Jr., was married February 1, 1922, to Miss Georgia I. Fowler. Their daughter, Betty Jean, was born July 16, 1933. Mrs. James was the daughter of Green C. Fowler (see sketch), a prominent citizen of Cole County who was born in Clark Township Marcy 7, 1854. Educated as a civil engineer, he served two terms as county surveyor. A leader in the Democratic Party, he served four years as County Assessor and ten years as probate judge. March 6, 1879, he married Artemitia Hanley who died August 9, 1892. Following her death he married Eliza Ellen Amos. She was born in Millbrook, Mo., September 10, 1858, the daughter of Benjamin Amos. Her daughter, Mrs. James, was born August 17, 1900. Green C. Fowler died February 13, 1919.
The Fowler family in this city is of Virginia origin. James Fowler of Virginia, a colonial scout, served under Col. Wm. Russell at Fort Bliss. His son, James Fowler, Jr., born in Virginia in 1780, bought land in Saline County, Missouri, where his widow, Esther Fullen Fowler, started with her large family after his death in 1822. In Jefferson City she met a former neighbor and was induced to settle in this county. Her son, Whitley, born in 1815, was a small boy when the family arrived here. He became an engineer and surveyor, and served many years as county judge during which time he handled probate matters. He was the father of Green C. Fowler. He married Anna, daughter of James Martin, in 1843.
Albert Jobe
Albert Jobe, Jefferson City jeweler, was born near Elston, Cole County in 1888. He attended school at Elston and Jefferson City, and took a course in a business college. He spent some time in the state of California, returning to Jefferson City in 1916. Having learned the jeweler’s trade, from 1916 to 1933 he worked for jewelry stores in this city, including thirteen and a half years at the Phil Dallmeyer store. In 1933 he opened his own store on High Street.
The Jobe family came to Missouri in the early 1800s and settled in Cole County, some of them in what later became Moniteau County. Albert Jobe’s father, Bosh Jobe, married Nancy Pieper, a native of Cole County who lived with her husband on the farm where she was born. Bosh Jobe’s father, David Jobe, was killed in the Civil War.
In 1917 Albert Jobe was married to Miss Naomi Chambers, daughter of John D. and Sue Chambers of near Centertown. The Chambers family came to Cole County in 1816 with the first colony to settle here (see sketch).
Prof. Lee Jordan
Prof. Lee Jordan was born in Moniteau County near High Point on January 27, 1867. At the age of fifteen he and his family moved to Miller County where he attended the Miller County Institute at Spring Garden. He began teaching at the age of 15 and taught over the years throughout Miller, Moniteau and Miller counties. He took charge of the Russellville School in September 1898. He also served as School Commissioner of Miller County two terms.
He married Ella Pitchford, daughter of Judge J.J. Pitchford of Spring Gardens, on April 27, 1887. To this union five children were born.