William S. Merriss, farmer and market gardener, post-office Carthage, comes originally from Franklin county, Ohio, where he was born Nov. 17, 1816. In 1836 he immigrated to Illinois, settling in Morgan county, where he bought and improved a farm. He was married there Feb. 27, 1840, to Miss Eliza Hamilton, also a native of Ohio, who died two years later. He moved to Fulton county, Ill., in the fall of 1840, and bought and improved a farm upon which he lived until 1872. He then sold out and came to Jasper county, Mo., and embarked in the grocery and provision trade in the city of Carthage, remaining in that business four years. He purchased the farm upon which he now lives in 1882. It is nicely situated, one and one-half miles southeast from the public square of Carthage. He is engaged in raising fruits and vegetables for the Carthage market, for which purpose the place is well calculated. He was married to his present wife, Mrs. Parthena Wadsworth, maiden name Hubbard, a native of Tioga county, N.Y., Dec. 24, 1843. They are the parents of two sons, John P. and Henry A., and one daughter, Eliza S. Mrs. Merriss's first husband was William Wadsworth, son of Major James D. Wadsworth, a well known New York soldier of the War of 1812. They were the parents of one daughter, Clarissa A., wife of Henry Cline, of Jasper county, Mo.
Source: The History of Jasper County Missouri; Mills & Company; page 883
A.J. Blake was born in Sarcoxie township, Jasper county, Mo., May 23, 1844, where he has spent his entire life except the war period. At the age of seventeen he joined the Fifth Missouri Battalion State Guards and was engaged at Pea Ridge. Then he joined the First Missouri Battalion Light Artillery, C. S. A., and participated in the battles of Cotton Plant, Mansfield, Louisiana; and Jenkins's Ferry. He returned to his home in July, 1865 and engaged in farming. He was married Sept. 29, 1869, to Miss Mary L. Duncan, also a native of Jasper county. They are the parents of three children: Moses E., Evaline R., and Minerva A. His farm consists of 205 acres.
Source: The History of Jasper County Missouri; Mills & Company; page 902
Daniel H. DeBoard, farmer and stock-raiser, section 28, post-office Avilla, was born in Indiana, Oct. 4, 1846. When an infant his parents moved to Illinois, and eight years after moved to Marion county, Iowa. Our subject served his country during the war of the Rebellion, enlisting in November, 1862, in Company K, Third Iowa Cavalry, and though but sixteen years old at his enlistment, stood campaigning like a veteran, never being off duty a single day during his service. He participated in the Guntown raid, the battles of Ripley, Jackson, again at Guntown, Shiloh, Memphis, White Station, the campaign through Arkansas and Missouri, under A. J. Smith. He went from St. Louis to Louisville, Ky., where the regiment wintered. Campaigned through Kentucky, Tennessee, Arkansas, Mississippi, Alabama, Georgia, and into South Carolina, and was under fire nearly every day during these raids and forced marches. He was at Macon, Ga., when the news of the armistice reached them, and was mustered out at Atlanta, Ga., in April, 1865, but was not discharged until the August following, the government thereby getting some months' service out of the boys without pay. Returning to his home in Iowa, he doffed the Union blue and donned the jeans of a farmer. He came to Missouri in 1868; staid a few months in Barton county, and from there went to Texas, where he staid one year. He became a resident of Jasper county, Mo., in 1870. He was married Nov. 26, 1874, to Miss Emma Black, a native of Macoupin county, Ill. They have one child, Mamie D., born June 5, 1876. Mr. DeBoard purchased the farm where he now lives in 1879, which consists of 200 acres, 130 acres under cultivation. He commenced without means, and has by persevering industry and hard knocks accumulated a nice property. He is known in the community as an honest, hard-working, and good citizen.
Source: The History of Jasper County Missouri; Mills & Company
Martin Brown, farmer and stock-raiser, section 29, post-office Avilla, is a native of Germany, born in Prussia, July 19, 1818. He received his education in his native country, and learned the trade of machinist. He immigrated to the United States in 1849, locating at St. Louis, Mo., where he worked several years in a locomotive shop. He was married in that city, May 1, 1856, to Miss Matilda Lender, also a native of Germany. They are the parents of six children: John, born Jan. 26, 1857; Louis, born Nov. 27, 1860; Sigel, born Jan. 26, 1862; Matilda, born Nov. 18, 1868; Frank, born July 8, 1871; and Etta, born Jan. 8, 1873. Mr. Brown became a resident of Jasper county in 1868; was here during the dark days of the civil war, and of course suffered the privations and depredations incident to these trying times. He was repeatedly raided and deprived of his property, horses, and goods. The last year of the war he went to Kansas, returning to the farm at the cessation of hostilities, since which time he has been quite prosperous. The farm consists of 280 acres, 130 acres well improved, with good substantial farm buildings, orchard, etc; also owns a 160 acre farm in Dade county, Mo. Mr. Brown is much respected in the community; has ever favored the union of states, and entertains a profound respect for American institutions.
Source: The History of Jasper County Missouri; Mills & Company; page 903
William Chappell, farmer, post-office Avilla, was born in Devonshire, England, Aug. 28, 1827, and immigrated with his parents to America in 1836, and located near East Bethany, Genesee county, N. Y., where the family lived six years, when they removed to Jackson county, Mich., and purchased a farm, where our subject resided until recently. At the death of his father, in 1851, he bought out the heirs and occupied the homestead. He was married in Dec., 1853, to Miss Emeline Tucker, a native of New York State, who died in 1864, leaving a family of three children: Emma F., now the wife of Albert O. Bridenstiene of Springport, Mich.: Arthur D., and Lilian, deceased. He was again married March 30, 1865, to Miss Ann Eliza Price, a native of Lockport, N. Y., daughter of John K. and Clarissa Price, natives of New York State. Her parents removed to Calhoun county, Mich., when she was but seven years of age, where she received a good English education. Three sons and one daughter have blessed this union: William W., born Nov. 25, 1867; Samuel B., born Nov. 19, 1871; Perry B., born April 12, 1874; and Florence, born April 8, 1877. Mr. Chappell became a resident of Jasper county, Mo., in 1881, and purchased a fine farm of 188 acres, nicely situated within one mile of Avilla. There are 148 acres in a good state of cultivation; a good house, barn, and orchard. Mr. Chappell is well pleased with Missouri, and especially Jasper county, and will, doubtless, make this his future home.
Source: The History of Jasper County Missouri; Mills & Company; page 904
G. W. Edinger, farmer, post-office Avilla, was born in Venango county, Penn., March 16, 1837, and received a good education at the Jesuit College of Buffalo, N. Y. In 1852 he traveled overland to Colorado, from there to Oregon, and from there to Vancouver's Island. While in the far West he engaged at mining and lumbering, and returned to Pennsylvania in 1859 and engaged at farming in Clarion county. He enlisted in the Union army in Company G, Third Pennsylvania Volunteer Infantry, in 1861, and was called into active service shortly after the inauguration of President Lincoln, and was among the very first troops at Washington City, and participated at the first battle of Bull Run, and was mustered out immediately after, their time having previously expired. He re-enlisted in July, 1862, in Company G, One Hundred and Fifty-fifth Regiment Pennsylvania Volunteers (Zouaves), and was attached to the Zouave Brigade of the Fifth Army Corps, and participated in all the great battles of Virginia. He was wounded several times, once very severely at Gettysburg; was promoted to the rank of first lieutenant, and mustered out June 8, 1865. Returning to Pennsylvania he engaged in oil speculations, and was at one time wealthy, but unfortunately met with many reverses. Mr. Edinger has held many prominent positions in civic societies; viz., Grand Master of the Grand Lodge of the United States, A. O. U. W. He was married in 1869 to Miss Maria Alt, a native of Switzerland, who died the following year, leaving one child, John G. He was married again April 21, 1874, to Miss Kate Umstead, a native of Pennsylvania, from which union there is one child, Alma Grace, born Feb. 1, 1875. Mr. Edinger became a resident of Jasper county, Mo., in 1880.
Source: The History of Jasper County Missouri; Mills & Company; pages 904 - 905
Valentine F. Fagg, farmer and stock-raiser, section 36, post-office Avilla, was born in Franklin county, Tenn., March 5, 1841. When he was fifteen years old his parents removed to Missouri, and settled in Boone county. He was reared on a farm, which business he has always followed. He was married Oct. 25, 1860, to Miss Nancy E. Fagg, daughter of W. B. and M. G. Fagg of Alabama. They have six children, five sons and one daughter: Thos. P., born Dec. 9, 1865; Nancy A., born April 17, 1868; R. L., born April 11, 1870; C. A. born March 2, 1872; E. A., born Aug. 1, 1874, and G. C., born Aug. 19, 1879. Mr. Fagg became a resident of Jasper county in 1877, and purchased the farm upon which he now lives. The farm consists of 160 acres, 130 acres in good cultivation, well-watered, also a fine orchard of 150 apple trees, with numerous peach, pear, and cherry trees of different varieties, all in good bearing, and of excellent quality. Mr. Fagg has held various township offices of trust with satisfaction.
Source: The History of Jasper County Missouri; Mills & Company; page 905
Robert Murray. – An active and prosperous business man of Carthage, Robert Murray, junior member of the firm of Mallory & Murray, is identified with the manufacturing interests of this section of Jasper county, making, repairing and dealing in vehicles of all descriptions, including single and double carriages, road carts, driving carts, sulkies and wagons. He was born, April 13, 1871, in Ashley, Washington county, Illinois, the year made memorable, especially to the Illinois people, by the disastrous conflagration that so nearly destroyed Chicago.
His father, M.F. Murray, was born in Pennsylvania, of thrifty Scotch ancestry, and as a young man migrated to the Prairie state, locating in Ashley. His wife, whose maiden name was Margaret Casner, died several years ago, her death occurring at Ashley.
In his earlier life Robert Murray spent a number of years in Princeton, Indiana, and likewise in Princeton, Illinois, being employed as a mechanic in different railroad shops. Coming from Illinois to Carthage, Missouri, Mr. Murray was for fourteen years employed as a blacksmith in the stone quarries, keeping tools used in quarrying in perfect order, work which he was fully competent to execute, being an expert in the use of iron and steel. In 1911 Mr. Murray formed a copartnership with Mr. J.E. Mallory, and has since carried on an extensive and thriving business as a manufacturer of vehicles, as mentioned in a previous paragraph, his mechanical ability and thorough knowledge of the blacksmith’s trade winning him marked success in his operations.
Mr. Murray married, at the age of twenty-two years, in Illinois, Dolly Fox, and to them three children have been born, namely: Jewett, Saint Elmo, and Bluebell. Politically Mr. Murray is a consistent member of the Republican party, and fraternally he belongs to the Knights and Ladies of Security.
Source: A History of Jasper County Missouri by Joel T. Livingston
Leonidas P. Cunningham. – Numbered among the representative members of the bar of Jasper county and known as one of the leading citizens and substantial capitalists of Joplin, the thriving metropolis of the county, Leonidas P. Cunningham well merits recognition in this publication. He is familiarly known as “Lon” Cunningham, and this abbreviated title gives evidence of his democratic personality and also of his popularity in the community with whose interests he is thus prominently identified.
Mr. Cunningham was born in the city of Wheeling, West Virginia, on the 15th of January, 1845, and is a son of John P. and Elizabeth (McClure) Cunningham. His parents remove to the state of Illinois when he was about eight years of age, and they passed the closing years of their lives in Joplin, the father having been engaged in practicing medicine during the major portion of his active career. He whose name initiates this review, is indebted to the common schools of Middlepost, Iroquois county, Illinois, for his early educational discipline, but, like many another who has attained to definite success, his education has been gained mainly in the school of his own ambition. When but fourteen years of age he became largely dependent upon his own resources and at the age of fifteen years he entered upon an apprenticeship to the printer’s trade, to which he devoted his attention for four years and in connection with which he gained most valuable discipline of general order. He continued his studies in his leisure hours and finally proved himself eligible for pedagogic honors, as is evidenced by the fact that he held the dignified position of teacher in a district school in Atchison county, Missouri, for a period of six months. In the meanwhile he had formulated definite plans for his future career, in which connection his ambition lay in the direction of the legal profession. He applied himself closely to the study of law, under effective preceptorship, and at the age of nineteen years he was admitted to the bar, at Platte City, Missouri. He initiated practice of his profession at Rockport, Missouri, and for forty years he continued in active service as an attorney and counselor at law. He gained marked prestige as a versatile trial lawyer and through his labors in his profession he laid the foundation for his large and substantial success as a man of affairs. He finally retired from practice, in order to devote his attention to his varied and important capitalistic and business interests, but is prominence as a lawyer and the success he achieved in his profession amply demonstrated the wisdom of his choice of vocation.
On the 7th of August, 1866, Mr. Cunningham established his residence in Carthage, the judicial center of Jasper county, Missouri, and he has continued to maintain his home in this county during the long intervening years, which have been marked by earnest and fruitful endeavor on his part. He followed the work of his profession at Carthage until March, 1877, when he removed to Joplin, where he has since resided, and he has been prominently identified with the material and civic development and upbuilding of this thriving industrial city. During the years of his professional activities Mr. Cunningham was concerned with much important litigation in the circuit and district courts of not only Missouri but also of Kansas and Texas, and he likewise presented many important causes in the appellate and federal courts of his home state and in the supreme court of the United States. With a broad and accurate knowledge of the science of jurisprudence and with splendid dialectic powers. Mr. Cunningham gained a place in the front rank of the members of the Missouri bar, and his fame as an advocate far transcended local limitations, the while his personal integrity ad honor lent dignity to the profession of his choice.
A man of progressive ideas and high civic ideals, Mr. Cunningham has found many avenues along which to direct his energies aside from the course of his profession. In July, 1871, he became associated with Hon. John S. Phelps (former governor of Missouri), Colonel Henry C. Young, of Springfield, this state; J.B. Perkins, of Pierce City; J.P. Boyd and Charles Marquis, of Sarcoxie township, Jasper county; and Colonel E.H. Brown, of Carthage, in the organization of the Memphis, Carthage & Northwestern Railroad Company, and it may be noted that of these valued coadjutors in the important enterprise he is now the only survivor. Mr. Cunningham was elected president of the company and under his effective administration the road was constructed and placed in operation from Pierce city to Sarcoxie, Carthage, Oronogo and Smithfield, and thence to Columbus, Kansas. This line proved of inestimable benefit in developing the resources and furthering the civic progress of Jasper County and other sections tributary to the road, and it is now a part of the main line of the Frisco system between St. Louis and San Francisco. At a later period Mr. Cunningham became associated with Colonel E.H. Brown and the firm of Moffet & Sergeant in the construction of the Joplin & Girard Railroad, which property, after a number of years of successful operation, was finally sold to the Frisco Lines corporation. He was also associated with Moffet & Sergeant in projecting and building the Kansas City, Joplin & Little Rock Railroad, the completion of which was stopped by its sale to the Frisco company.
It will thus be seen that Mr. Cunningham has shown the qualities of leadership in enterprises of great benefit to the general public, and in his home city and county his progressive policies have led him into other undertakings that have likewise conserved social, industrial and commercial advancement. He has been specially active in connection with real-estate operations, in connection with which he has platted and compassed the effective improvement of several important additions to the cities of Joplin and Carthage. He has also purchased and sold many thousands of acres of farm lands in Jasper and other counties and his handling of the city lots in both Joplin and Carthage has been so ordered as to inure greatly to the benefit of both communities. His public sprit was further manifested through his forming an alliance with Judge O.H. Picher and Patrick Murphy, with whom he was associated in the building and operation of the Joplin water works, which they finally sold. Mr. Cunningham is also one of those who have been prominently identified with the exploiting and development of the great zinc industry in Jasper county. He was one of the eight men who built and placed in operation the Joplin Zinc Works, besides which he was one of the organizers of the company that established the Joplin woolen mills and also that which placed in operation the Keller wagon factory in Joplin. He furnished the entire capital for the inauguration of operations by the Joplin Overall Company. He was indefatigable in his efforts to secure adequate railroad facilities for Joplin, and all lines entering the city secured his earnest co-operation, both in the matter of influence and capitalistic support. He was one of a small party of representative citizens who contributed forty thousand dollars to aid in the erection of the Connor hotel, in Joplin, and his individual contribution of three thousand dollars was the largest given by any person except Gilbert Barbee, who gave an equal amount. Through such liberality on the part of leading citizens was secured to Joplin a hotel of the best metropolitan type and the improvement has materially add to the prestige of the city.
Alive to all that touches the best interest of the community and loyal to all civic responsibilities imposed by personal success, Mr. Cunningham has given liberal support to all measures and enterprises that have tended to advance the general welfare. He was a generous contributor to the Children’s Home in Joplin, and in conjunction with Samuel H. Regan, of Carthage, he gave the ground for the erection of the present fine government building in that city. That this donation was not one of mere nominal order is shown by the fact that he had paid twenty thousand dollars in cash for the ground thus given for public use. Mr. Cunningham has been one of the largest owners of real estate in Jasper county, and here his holdings are still extensive and valuable. He has large investments in mining properties in his home county and has been an influential factor in the development of the fine mineral resources of this section of the state. He is also the owner of valuable natural springs property in Lawrence county, and it is his intention to so develop this property to supply therefrom the purest of water for general municipal and domestic use in Joplin, Carthage, Sarcoxie and Webb City, and eventually Kansas City. Even the brief data here given afford ample evidence of the versatile genius and splendid organizing powers of Mr. Cunningham, and the value of his work will prove cumulative in coming years.
A man of broad mental ken and of well fortified opinions as to matters of public polity, Mr. Cunningham has ever given an unqualified allegiance to the Republican party. He has been an effective advocate of its principles and policies, has been a delegate to various party conventions and has been a valued campaign speaker, though he has never permitted his name to appear in connection with candidacy for political office, having held his profession and his business interests as worthy of his undivided attention. He has been in the most significant sense the artificer of his own fortunes, and has felt the lash of necessity, so that he has due appreciation of the dignity of honest toil and endeavor, has naught of intellectual intolerance, and places true valuations upon both men and affairs. He has been one of the builders of Joplin, one of the leading industrial cities of the southwest, and popular approbation accorded him well indicates the status and character of the man himself. He is identified with various social and fraternal organizations of representative order, including the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks, and he is a citizen whose merits and accomplishments render most consonant this brief tribute in the history of the county that has so long been his home.
Source: A History of Jasper County Missouri; by Joel T. Livingston
Jacob A. Shepherd, lumberman, was born in Philadelphia, Pa., May 7, 1825. His parents, James and Rachel (Freeze) Shepherd, were also natives of the Keystone State. His grandparents on both father and mother’s side were natives of England, the former of Sheffield. Our subject grew to manhood in Philadelphia, and was educated in the Quaker schools. When about twenty years of age he commenced work for the P., B. & W.R.R., and one year later he accepted a position as foreman on bridges on the B. & O., and had charge of work-shops and store-house at Martinsburgh, Va; continued in that position five years, and then took charge of the sixth division of that road. In 1856 he came west to Illinois, and took charge of the center division of the I.C.R.R., and in 1857 took charge as superintendent of all bridges on that line. In 1863 he moved to Knox county, that state, and there engaged in farming for nearly nine years. He then came west to Kansas and opened a lumber yard at Baxter Springs, at the same time engaging I mining and smelting in Harrison county, Ark.; he came to Joplin in 1872 and established his present business. Mr. S. was married in Trenton, N.J., Oct. 13, 1850, to Miss Sarah C., daughter of Daniel and Jane Thorne, of that place. Mrs. S. was born in New Jersey, Nov. 15, 1830. This union has been blessed with thirteen children: Rosalie Isabell, born Feb. 21, 1851; Mary L., born Dec. 26, 1851, and died Aug. 21, 1852; Mary E., born March 16, 1853; Rachel J., born Aug. 9, 1854, and died April 6, 1874; Sarah V., born Oct. 19, 1858, and died Feb. 14, 1882; John A., born Oct. 23, 1858, and died Dec. 19, of the same year; Ann, born Jan. 19, 1861; Emma T., born Feb. 26, 1863; Chas. C., born May 7, 1865; Ellen M., born Feb. 6, 1867; Wendal B., born Aug. 17, 1869; Frederick, born July 28, 1873, and died Aug. 31, 1874; and Edward Lee, born Aug. 30, 1877. Mr. and Mrs. Shepherd have a very pleasant home on the corner of Main and Ninth streets, and enjoy the confidence and esteem of all with whom they are engaged in social and business relations. Mr. S. has been established longer here than any other lumberman in the city, and is certainly deserving of the liberal patronage which his enterprise and fair-dealing has gained for him.
Source: The History of Jasper County; Mills & Company
John S. DeHart, post-office Carthage, farmer, located on section 25, Sheridan township, was born in Knox county, Ohio, Aug. 31, 1818, and reared in the village of Martinsburg. When he was twelve years of age he moved with his parents on a farm. He is the son of William and Catharine Dehart, natives of New Jersey. Of ten children John is the eighth child. He was married in 1841, July 14th, to Miss Harriet, daughter of William and Nellie Taylor. Mr. Dehart rented for ten years, and then bought 160 acres of timber land, cleared off a farm, and lived there twenty-one years. He then sold out and came to Jasper county, Mo., locating on his present farm of 160 acres, and has improved it greatly. He has one of the best springs in the county, a stone milk-house, a good granary, dwelling house, and two good orchards. Mr. and Mrs. Dehart have one child, named Charles S., born in Allen county, Ohio, April 11, 1847, who was educated in Allen county, and moved to Jasper county with his parents, and has lived with them all his life. He married Miss Mary Jane Orbeck Jan. 22, 1870. She was the daughter of Conrad and Katie Orbeck; her father was a native of Pennsylvania and her mother of Ohio. Charles S. and wife has six children, names Isaac S., Clara M., John J., Sarah A., Ora, and Delphi. His father, John Dehart, is a member of the Masonic order, and is universally known and respected.
Source: The History of Jasper County; Mills & Company
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