HsG Class. THE BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD OF JASPER COUNTY MISSOURI ILLUSTRATED By Hon. Malcolm G. McGregor never 'A peop,e that take no pride in the noble achievements of remote ancestors will nev achieve anything worthy to be remembered with pride by remote generations."— Macaulay CHICAGO The Lewis Publishing Company 1901 33 1 7 2 - PREFACE. JP ii * £ *¥®\JT of the depths of his mature wisdom Carl vie wrote, '" f$ Believing this to be the fact, there is no necessity of History is the essence of innumerable biographies." Eg gi advancing any further reason for the compilation of m £| such a work as this, if reliable history is to be the #9191* 'If I'WMJ II ultimate object. Jasper county, Missouri, has sustained within its confines men who have been prominent in public affairs and great industrial enterprises for half a century. The annals teem with the records of strong and noble manhood, and, as Sumner has said, "the true grandeur of nations is in those qualities which constitute the greatness of the individual." The final causes which shape the fortunes of individuals and the destinies of States are often the same. They are usually remote and obscure, and their influence scarcely perceived until manifestly declared by results. That nation is the greatest which produces the greatest and most manly men and faithful women; and the intrinsic safety of a community depends not so much upon methods as upon that normal development from the deep resources of which proceeds all that is precious and perma- nent in life. But such a result may not consciously be contemplated by the actors in the great social drama. Pursuing each his personal good by exalted means, they work out as a logical result. The elements of success in life consist in both innate capacity and deter- mination to excel. Where either is wanting, failure is almost certain in the outcome. The study of a successful life, therefore, serves both as a source of information and as a stimulus and encouragement to those who have the capacity. As an important lesson in this connection we may appropriately PREFACE quote Longfellow, who said : " We judge ourselves by what we feel capa- ble of doing, while we judge others by what they have already done." A faithful personal history is an illustration of the truth of this observation. In this biographical history the editorial staff, as well as the publishers, have fully realized the magnitude of the task. In the collection of the ma- terial there has been a constant aim to discriminate carefully in regard to the selection of subjects. Those who have been prominent factors in the public, social and industrial development of the county have been given due recog- nition as far as it has been possible to secure the requisite data. Names worthy of perpetuation here, it is true, have in several instances been omitted, either on account of the apathy of those concerned or the inability of the compilers to secure the information necessary for a symmetrical sketch; but even more pains have been taken to secure accuracy than were promised in the prospectus. Works of this nature, therefore, are more reliable and com- plete than are the "standard" histories of a country. We are indebted to the Honorable Malcolm G. McGregor, of Carthage, Missouri, for the excellent general history and sketches of many eminent men of the earlier period which he has so generously contributed to this work. THE PUBLISHERS. INDEX Historical Sketches 9-56 PERSONAL SKETCHES Adams, F. E., 305 Adams, OzroA., 275 Alexander, Samantha, 432 Allen, Elijah, 515 Anderson, Edward L., 1 '.)•'! Arey, John, 214 Atherton, Amos, 501 Ault, Isaac, 197 Ayre, H. A., 265 Bagby, William J., 148 Baird, John W., 152 Baker, Clifton I., 453 Baker, J. F., 48!> Baker, Joseph W., 330 Barbee, Gilbert, 479 Barrett, A. A., 360 Bavne, George G., 440 Bell, John W., 130 Boqua, A. E., 341 Boss, James P. ,301 Bradford, Joseph P., 421 Brooks, Robert F., 57 Brookshire, J. A., 442 Brown, Marion, 258 Browning, John M., 400 Bruton, Jesse T., 259 Burch, Edward J., 81 Burch, F. Luther, 488 Burch, John W., 358 Butler, John, 317 Buttrum, William, 349 Byers, William, 58 Caffee, Amos H., 92 Cape, John H., 340 Carlson, Emil, 111 Carmani, William, 120 Carter, William M., 82 Cass, Amos A., 312 Chaffee, Francis W., 356 Chaille, Albert C, 268 Charlson, Frank E., 4!)7 Chitwood, Stephen J., 108 Clark, A. Benson, 35] Clark, Jerry, 332 Clark, Monroe, 159 Clary, Thomas C, 325 Cline, William, 460 Cobb, Joseph E., 337 Cone, Thomas L., 40S Conklin, Harry R., 132 Cooley, George T., 410 Cooley, William C, 110 Cox, John C, 5!) Coyle, Mathew, 383 Coyne, Thomas F., 300 Craig, Charles H., 520 Crain, R. H., 498 Crampton, M. C, 155 Crosby, Thomas J., 255 Crossman, Henrv B.. 311 Curtic, H. C, 286 Dale, Hiram U.. 272 Davis, George F., 238 Davis, Sanders T., 208 De Graff. Charles M., 342 Dick, William, 106 Dietrich, Jacob YV., 175 Dilworth, Robert F., 118 Ditmore, Vinson, |397 INDEX. Donehoo, Thomas, 60 Downing, M. F., 233 Downs, William C, 168 Dreisbach, Simon W., 150 Dwyer, Daniel, 408 Earles, John W., 352 Elliott, Moses, 240 Elting, Isaiah, '2'-'<'! Emry, Cyrus A., .'567 Evans, David G., 227 Evans, W. E., 165 Everitt, David, 382 Fairfield, John, 508 Fisher, Thomas, 394 Fithian, James, 213 Flanigan, John H., 389 Folger, Erasmus, L31 Folger, Thomas, 202 Fountain, Isaac N., 205 Frankenberger, Jesse, 308 Freeman, John, 224 Friend, David N., 2!)7 Friend, R. C, 516 Fugitt, W. J., 512 Fullmer, Daniel, 228 Gaddis, John A., 467 Garey, Thomas B., 198 Garner, Isaac F., 11!) Gilbert, William L., 117 Gillfillan, Alexander, 491 Gleason, John, 431 Gobar, F. S., 245 Gooding, B. A., 434 Gray, Edwin, 393 Gray, Thomas E., .'!!>2 Green, Joseph, 300 Greenlee, C. W., 320 Grieb, Thomas V., 368 Grundler, Michael, 310 Guinn, John C, 151 Hacker, W. R., 509 Haines James L., 452 Hall, William E., 282 Halliburton, |ohnW., 112 Harden, M. L., 244 Hardy, George, ;>20 Hardy, J. Allen, 239 Harrington, Charles O., 250 Hart, Charles E,, 338 Hatcher, Benjamin F., 271 Haven, Frank, 179 Heck, J. C, 457 Henderson, L. C, 459 Hendrickson, Ulysses, 298 Hennessy, P. \V., 507 Henry, B. M., 316 Herron, Thomas, 136 Hess, tsaac C, 224 Hickman, |. M,, 211 Hill, T. W., 281 Hood, Norris C, 61 Hopkins, S. W., 192 Hornback, John, (i2 Hough, Augustus W., 90 Howard, George W., L35 Hudson, John, 518 Huff, John, 172 Irelan, James, 414 Irwin, Thomas K., 378 Isherwood, H. L, 181 James, Ellwood B., 0:> James, Montalbon V., 381 lameson, Eliza A., 494 Janes, L. M., 319 J"arrett, George L. , 266 Johnson, Ethelbert D., 359 Johnson, George W. , 218 Johnson, Jacob, 455 Johnson, John, 404 joiner, W. B., 462 Jones, Charles R., 511 Jones, Thomas C, 482 Joplin Business College, lli-") Juergens, Henry, 368 Kline, William, 495 Koontz, Isaac E., 04 Kyle, T. B., 22!) La Force, Samuel B., 64 Lamkin, Alfred A., 158 Leckie, William M, 315 Leddy, Patrick H., 270 Lippitt, Isaiah T., 139 Livingston, Joel T., 97 Lochrie, John, 211 Lochrie, William, 289 Long, John S., 234 Lucas, Hanson A., 200 Malang, John M., 480 Mallett, Edgar, 321 Maness, A. L., 217 Margrave, William H., 20? Mays, Berry F., 493 McAdams, James M., 477 McAntire, William B., 269 McCann, Alexander, 504 McDaniel, Francis M., 201 McDowell, W. W., 374 McGee, Robert L, 40!) McGowan, W. C, 200 McGregor, Malcolm G., 74 McKee, Ambrose B., 211 McKee, Hartwell T., 219 McMichael, Americas O., 99 McNeil], William W., 329 McWilliams, William, 1 70 Meese, George C, 28'i Merrill, John G., 507 INDEX. Miles, James A., 449 Miller/David, 403 Miller, George W., 444 Miller, Joseph C, 1G8 Mills, John H., 107 Mink, Henry J., 456 Mitchell, Charles R., 454 Mitchell, Jonas A., 365 Moffet, Elliot R., 521 Monk, Charles, 461 Monroe, Lynn, 100 Moon, Parker, 41 1 Mooneyham, R. A., 261 Moore, John S., 145 Moore, Robert A., 519 • Moore, Samuel C, 503 Moyer, William A., 500 Murphy, Patrick, (>•"> Myers, James, 4.'!.'! Myers, Joseph H., 162 Nail, J. L., 419 Nichols, James B., 391 Nielson, Hans P., 481 Nilson, John, 384 Norsworthy, George C, 'XV.) Oliver, James W. , 471 O'Neill, James, 137 Onstott, Abraham W., 276 Osborn, A. J.. 80 Osborn, J. T. 490 Owen, Carl, 109 Palmer, T. E., 438 Patrick, M. H., 505 Pearson, George, 371 Perdue, C. B., 418 Phelps, William H., 88 Pickerell, J. M., 486 Poncot, Gustav, 477 Poncot, Louis, 128 Pool, G. T., 366 Poundstone, Rezin F., 292 Pratt, E. J., 12.1 Price, William H., 470 Purcell, James F., 182 Quails, Sherman N., 257 Rackerby, W. C, 357 Rader, George, DO Ramsey, Samuel, 330 Reece, William, 513 Reed, Charles W. , 362 Reed, F. W.,470 Reel, James M., 231 Rees, Freeman, 347 Rice, C. A., 187 Richardson, Jesse, 487 Richardson, John M. 67 Rinehart, Benjamin F., 186 Kiseling, Edward, 107 Riseling, Levi, 101 Roach, Cornelius, 96 Roach, James, 202 Roach, James P., 322 Robbins, William E., 307 Robertson, James H., 350 Robinson, John M., 288 Roper, W. H., 331 Ross, James S., 121 Routzong, W. C, 242 Rusk, W. II., 340 Sailor, William J., 450 Sansom, G. L. , 327 Sayre, Edwin J., 141 Schoolcraft, D. W,, 401 Schooler, E. Lee, 380 Schooler, Isaac, OS, .'!!)() Schooler, John N., 390 Schooler, Sarah, 390 Senter, William M.,4!>«.) Sergeant, John B., 0!) Sewall, William [., 129 Shafer, William M.,309 Shaffer, Charles G., 149 Shaffer, loshua, 372 Shaw, Daniel M., 328 Shippen, John B., 2.11 Sholl, D. V., 399 Shouse, Davon, 300 Skinner, Fritz E., 441 Smith, Campbell A., 525 Smith, E. D., 191 Smith, Henry D., 147 Smith, Hiram, 447 Smith, James M., 373 Smith, Stephen A., 194 Snodgress, Hamilton, 199 Spencer, John W., 220 Springs, David T. , 506 Spracklen, Edwin E., 471 Staples, Marion, 200 Stebbins, George W., 101 Stemmons, J. M., 70 Stewart, Joseph C, 156 St. John, "George E., 443 Stone, Lon, 302 Stuckey, Silas A., 102 Swanson, Swan, 221 Taggart, Charles H., 39S Tangner, H. G., 318 Taylor, John H., 421 Thompson, Elmer E., 348 Thornton, James C, 146 Tilley, A. S., 475 Trigg, John C, 142 4" roup, James R., 122 Tyler, Robert B., 126 Vickrey, John, 502 INDEX. Walker, G. B., 139 Wampler, John, 180 Warren, F. H., 267 Warren, John C, 213 Waters, William, 472 Watson, Willis M., 496 Watt, John H., 430 Webb, Albert C, 188 Webb, John C, 70 Weeks, John M., 492 Wheaton, George E., 246 Wheeler, Isaac C, 388 Whitworth, David M., 71 Whitworth, JohnT., 397 Widner, Martin, 222 Wiggins, Thomas, 407 Wilcox, Martin, 484 Wild, James B., 91 Williams, S. B., 177 Williams, William M., 166 Willoughby, John T., 72 Wilson, N. U., 523 Wilson, Robert A., 252 Winter, Leslie W., 248 Woodson, William H., 448 Workizer, JohnG., 292 Workizer, Charles J. G., 290 Wormington, L. C, 296 Wormington, T. B., 437 Yaryan, J. T. B.,246 Young, Jacob W., 73 Ytell, Hans, 429 Zook, Jesse A., 171 HISTORY OF JASPER COUNTY, MISSOURI. DESCRIPTIVE. Jasper county is located in southwestern Missouri, bordering on the state of Kansas, a little north of the thirty-seventh parallel of north latitude and s bout forty miles north of the state line of Arkansas. Barton county bounds it on the north, parts of Dade and Lawrence counties on the east, and Newton county adjoins it on the south. The county contains about six hundred and fifty square miles or four hundred and sixteen thousand acres of land, being about thirty-one miles long from east to west and twenty-one miles wide from north to south. The average elevation above sea level is one thousand feet, the county being on the south and west slopes of the Ozark mountain range. About three-fourths of its surface is gently undulating, was origin- ally prairie land, and the balance was timbered, mostly of oak, with some hickory, walnut, sycamore and other varieties, skirting along and near the streams. The county is well watered, with many springs and streams. The principal streams are Spring river and Center creek, each of which form in Lawrence county, entering Jasper county at its eastern boundary, Center creek being about four miles south of Spring river and flowing nearly parallel to it, the whole length of the county, the two streams joining their waters near the western border of the state. These streams are fed by the north fork of Spring river, Coon creek, Dry fork, Buck branch, Turkey creek and by other smaller streams. Their fall is sufficient to afford good water-power to run many mills in the county. The county is divided into nearly two equal parts by Spring river. While the northern part is more fertile and better, as a rule, for agriculture, there is 1 io BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD OF JASPER COUNTY. much fertile land in the southern part ; and forming for the most part the great mineral belt of the county, the southern is by far the more valuable part of this wealthy county. Nature has done a great deal for Jasper county. The climate is mild and healthful. The winters are short and never severe. The springs and falls are long and pleasant, and summers, owing to the altitude and the prevalence, at all times, of a gentle breeze, are not extremely hot, with uniformly cool and refreshing nights. The soil is productive, consisting in the bottom lands of a rich, black loam, and in the valleys and on the prairies for the most part is a lich mulatto soil. While in some cases a stony or boulder formation appears on the surface, there is very little waste or hilly land. The soil, at a depth varying from two to four feet, is for the most part underlaid with a sediment- ary, overcapped with a glacial, formation, supported at varying depths by a number of sedimentary limestone strata. The northwestern part of the county is a different formation, being part of the great coal belt of Missouri and Kan- sas, and the soil consists of a smooth prairie and in some parts a sandy soil underlaid by a calcareous rock. The soil of the county is adapted to general farming, stock-raising and fruit-growing. Winter wheat, corn and oats are cultivated to a great extent. Dairying and the raising of cattle, horses, mules, hogs, sheep and all kinds of poultry are carried on extensively, together with gardening and fruit-raising. In good years the county has produced about two million bushels of wheat, which for the most part have been converted into flour by the large mills located in the cities and along the streams of the county. Jasper county excels in wheat-raising. Apples, peaches, cherries, pears and other fruits are grown. The raising of small fruits, such as straw- berries, blackberries and raspberries, is carried on extensively. The straw- berry crop of this county probably exceeds that of any other locality in the United States. The shipments of Jasper county's surplus products have, for many years, exceeded that of any other county in Missouri. The little city of Sarcoxie in each season ships over two hundred large refrigerator cars of strawberries — at one time shipping a full train of twenty-five cars in one day. While the soil, water and timber of Jasper county make her rich as an agricultural, stock-raising and fruit-growing region, it is her great mineral re- sources and her vast mining industries that are the foundation of her greatest natural wealth. In this county are found lead, zinc, building stone, limestone, and some coal, brick and potter's clay. There are also found evidences of oil deposits. The United States produces about one- fourth of the world's zinc supply, BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD OF JASPER COUNTY. n and the greater part of this zinc product of the United States comes from the mines of Jasper county. The value of the product of the zinc mines of this county for the year ending June 30, 1900, amounted to $4,601,358, and the value of the annual lead product of the county for the same year was $780,022, making the total value of both lead and zinc $5,381,380. The lead ore is sulphide o>f lead, or soft galena, and the two forms of zinc ore are blende or zinc sulphide and silicate of zinc. The purest forms of galena consist of eighty-six per cent of lead and fourteen per cent of sulphur. The purest zinc blende runs sixty-six per cent zinc, and silicate of zinc contains from thirty to forty per cent of zinc. Geologically, this region belongs to the sub-carboniferous period. Lead and zinc ores are found together and in the same mines. Both of these min- erals are found at various depths, from sometimes near the surface to, as yet, unascertained depths. At present the greatest depth to which mines are worked is about two hundred and fifty feet. The most of the mineral is mined at from one to two hundred feet deep. The mineral is found in pockets, layers and fractures, the deeper deposits often showing regular strata or sheet forma- tion. Jasper county also has in her limestone ledges a superior quality of build- ing stone. It is hard, durable, possessing a tine grain and takes a bright, smooth polish — making it not only suitable for all forms of building, but also for monuments and walks. The walls of the court house in Carthage are built entirely of this stone, as are also the First National Bank building of Carthage, and other buildings in Joplin and Carthage. It is now extensively quarried and shipped, the various quarry companies operating along the bluffs of Spring river, near Carthage, and along Center creek, shipping about forty carloads per week. Lime and brick are also burned and shipped. Coal is mined extensively at Pittsburg and Weir Qity in Kansas, and at Minden in Barton county, Missouri, adjoining Jasper county, and to- some ex- tent in the northwestern part of Jasper county. It is also found in pocket formations and is mined near Carthage and northwest of there. Among other transformations in Jasper county has been the character of wagon roads. From the rough natural roads originally traveled, the county now contains some of the best roads in the state. Added to a soil peculiarly fitted to making roads, the expenditure of the necessary money and labor, with gravel from her mines furnishing the macadam, have brought about this result. 12 BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD OF JASPER COUNTY. The county has now some fifteen rural mail delivery routes, six of that number running out from Carthage. ORGANIZATION AND EARLY SETTLEMENT. jasper county was organized in the year 1841. Crawford county had been organized in the year 1829, with Little Piney, on the Gasconade river, as its county seat, and the first movement which had for its object bringing southwestern Missouri under a local or county government was an act of the Legislature, approved January, 1831, which provided that "all that territory lying south and west of Crawford county, which is not included in the limits of any county shall be attached to said county of Crawford for all civil and military purposes, until otherwise provided by law." In 1833 Greene county was formed out of the territory temporarily at- tached to Crawford county, as above, embracing all the territory lying between the Osage river on the north, and the Arkansas line on the south, and extend- ing from what is now the line of Kansas and the Indian Territory, on the west, one-half of the way, eastward, across the state. Springfield, then as now, was the county seat of Greene county. Barry county, from that part of Greene county embracing what is now the counties of Barry, Lawrence, Dade, Barton, Jasper, Newton and McDon- ald, was organized in 1835. Mount Pleasant, near where Pierce City now stands, was made the county seat of Barry county. In 1839 Newton county was formed from the western part of Barry, embracing what is now Newton, McDonald, Jasper and Barton counties. Then followed the act of the Legislature, approved January 29, 1841, by which "a separate and distinct county to be known by the name of Jasper," was created from the northern part of Newton county, including the territory now embraced in Jasper and Barton counties, except that a strip two miles wide off the south side of what is now Jasper county, was retained as part of New- ton county. On this strip of land are now situated the city of Sarcoxie and a considerable part of the city of Joplin. While Hon. John M. Richardson was a member of the Legislature as the representative of both counties and through his efforts a change in the boundary line between the counties was effected in the year 1845, °y r which this additional strip, including the town of Sarcoxie, was taken from Newton county and added to Jasper. The act creating the new county of Jasper provided for the appointment of commissioners to select the ''permanent seat of justice" for the new county. BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD OF JASPER COUNTY. 13 which was to be located "as near the center of the inhabitable part of said county as practicable, due regard being had to the situation." The circuit and county courts were to be held at the dwelling house .of George Hornback until the permanent seat of justice was established or until the county court should otherwise direct. The house of George Hornback, referred to, was located on the south bank of Spring river about two miles west of the present city of Carthage. Samuel M. Cooley, Jeremiah Cravens and Samuel B. Bright having been appointed by the Governor justices of the county court, they met at the house of George Hornback on Thursday, the 25th day of February, 1841, and organized the first county court of Jasper county, thus setting in motion the machinery of a county government. Ellwood B. James was appointed clerk of the circuit and county courts and ex-ofhcio recorder of deeds, which offices he continued to hold by successive elections until the beginning of the year 1859. However, during the summer of 1841, an election was held for county officers, and James H. Faris was elected clerk of the circuit and county courts and qualified as such, but before assuming office he died, and. at a spe- cial election to fill the vacancy, Mr. James was elected for a term of six years, and his incumbency of the office was not interrupted by the election of Mr. Faris. The other appointments by the county court at its first session were: Samuel M. Cooley, presiding justice of the court; George Hornback, county treasurer; John Hopkins, county assessor; and Clisby Robinson, public ad- ministrator. John P. Osborn had been appointed the first sheriff of the county by the Governor. The county court continued to hold its sessions at the house of George Hornback until the 28th of March, 1842, when it met at the house of John Pennington, which was situated on the hill south of Spring river and just south of where the Carthage Woolen Mills now stand in the city of Carthage. The commissioners appointed for that purpose reported that they had selected the land south of and adjoining Mr. Pennington's residence for the "permanent seat of justice of Jasper county," the county court thereupon named the county seat "Carthage," and on the 19th of August, 1842, the •county court, for the first time, convened at the "Court house in Carthage." Barton county was formed from what was formerly the northern part of Jasper county, in the year 1855, and since that year Jasper county has em- braced its present boundaries. So far as known no tribes of Indians were ever permanently located 14 BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD OF JASPER COUNTY. here, but this region was a favorite hunting and fishing ground for them. The clear and sparkling streams abounded in fish, and the prairies and timber lands sustained various kinds of game, especially deer, wild turkeys, quail and prairie chickens. The Delaware Indians were early located near Springfield, on James river, and the Osages near Fort Scott, Kansas, and were in the habit of mak- ing frequent visits to this region before and after white people settled here. Later the Ouapaws, Cherokees and Shawnees were settled in the Indian ter- ritory, near the southwest corner of Jasper county. Prior to its settlement the county had been traversed, also, by the white frontiersmen in hunting and trapping expeditions. There are traditions and evidences of Spanish adven- turers, at a very early date, stopping for a time, searching for gold and silver ; and they doubtless made the first discoveries of lead. The first permanent settlement of Jasper county was in the year 1831. In that year Thacker Vivion emigrated from the state of Kentucky and located in the southeast corner of what afterwards became Jasper county, on Center creek, at the site of what is now the city of Sarcoxie. In that same year John M. Fullerton came from Kentucky and settled near Vivion. The early settlers, for the most part, came from Tennessee and North Carolina, and some came from Kentucky, Illinois and other states. They gen- erally located along the streams, principally on Center creek and Spring river. The prairie lands were, as a rule, only regarded as fit for grazing, and not suit- able for cultivation. In 1833 Ephraim Beasley and Hiram Hanford also settled near Sarcoxie. Ephraim Jenkins settled south of Center creek on what afterwards was known ;is Jenkins creek. Isaac Seela with his family also' settled near Sarcoxie. Abraham Onstott with his family, Thomas Boxley, Tryon Gibson, Isaac Gib- son, William Gibson and John W. Gibson settled on Center creek south and southwest of where Carthage now stands. Abraham Onstott had emigrated from North Carolina, stopping for a time in Kentucky and Indiana, and later, as early as 181 6, when Missouri was still a territory, he settled in what is now Pike county, Missouri. In 1832 he visited what is now Jasper county to look at the country, and the next year moved with his familv to this countv. His neighbors, Isaac Seela and Trvon Gibson and their families, accompanied him from Pike county. Judge John Onstott, the son of Abraham Onstott, who came with his father at that time, and William Seela and John N. U. Seela, then little sons of Isaac Seela, have resided in Jasper county longer than any other living residents of the county. BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD OF JASPER COUNTY. 15 Judge Onstott, the oldest living pioneer settler of this county, has spent a long and most eventful life in this county and will be gratefully remembered for his sacrifices for the interests of the people of this county and his sterling in- tegrity. In addition to the above, among those who came to this county prior to 1840, before the organization of the count}-, were: William Tingle, Benja- min F. Massey, John M. Richardson, B. W. W. Richardson, James Hornback, John Hornback, David Lemasters, Ellwood B. James, Montalbon M. James, Hannibal James, Josiah Boyd, John C. Cox, Elijah P. Dale, and Robert J. Dale, his son George Hornback, Joohn Prigmore, John P. Osborn, Claiborn Osborn, William Duncan, John Henry, John Halsell, Samuel M. Cooley, Jeremiah Cravens, Samuel B. Bright, John R. Chenault, William M. Chen- ault, Clisby Robinson, Thomas A. Dale, Thomas Buck, James N. Langley, Dr. David F. Moss, William Spencer, Calvin Robinson, Rev. John Robinson, Banister Hickey, Middleton Hickey, Milton Stevenson, J. G. L. Carter, Robert R. Laxson, Washington Robinson, Nelson Knight, Rev. Greenville Spencer, Rev. Anthony Bewley, Rev. William H. Farmer, Charles Vivian (a relative of Thacker Vivian), Judge Daniel Hunt, Judge Rice Challis, Judge Andrew McKee, Hiram Thompson and John D. Thompson. Many of these have held places of trust and honor. They endured the hardships and privations incident to a new country. They led honorable lives, and many of their descendants are among the best and most highly respected citizens of this county to-day. Hon. John M. Richardson represented this and Newton county in the Legislature in 1845-6, and was Secretary of State of Missouri from 1853 to 1857, and was succeeded in the latter office by Hon. Benjamin F. Massey from 1857 to i860. Among other things, Colonel Richardson enjoyed the distinc- tion of being one of the eleven voters who, in i860, cast a vote for Abraham Lincoln. John R. Chenault served as Circuit Judge of the Thirteenth Judicial Circuit from 1857 until courts were suspended by the war. Samuel M. Cooley, Jeremiah Cravens, Samuel B. Bright, Josiah Boyd, John Onstott, Milton Stevenson, Andrew McKee, Rice Challis, Daniel Hunt and John Hornback were Justices of the county court. Isaac Gibson served as Sheriff of Newton county before the organization of Jasper county. Robert J. Dale, one of the pioneer settlers of Jasper county, who still lives in Carthage, first settled with his father, Elijah P. Dale, just east of where the city of Joplin now stands. 16 BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD OF JASPER COUNTY. The first postoffice established west of Sarcoxie was at Blytheville, in 1840, with Elijah P. Dale as postmaster, and Robert J. Dale carried the mail once a week from Sarcoxie to Blytheville. On this route two other offices were afterward established, one a t t Diamond Grove, with J. W. Walker, post- master, and another at Jenkins Creek, Major William Dunn, postmaster. Thacker Vivian moved from Sarcoxie to a farm near to what is now Carl Junction, erecting a brick house thereon, and in 1843 or J S44 moved to Texas. The farm was afterward owned by his son, John Vivian, and his de- scendants, the widow of John Vivian, and daughter, Mrs. Jameson, together with the great-grandchildren and great-great-grandchildren of Thacker Vivian, the first settler of the county, still reside at Carl Junction, and the Vivian farm at that place has proved to be valuable mineral land. None of the land of the county was surveyed and subject to entry from the government until 1836, and then only that lying east of range 31. The land lying west of range 30 was not surveyed until some years later. The county remained sparsely settled until after the Civil war, farming and stock- raising, with some little mining of lead, being about the only industries. The people, before the war came to disturb conditions, were contented and measur- ably prosperous, and were gradually improving their material conditions. Frame and brick houses were supplanting the primitive log structures ; public schools were established and encouraged. A few plain church structures had been built at different places in the county ; religious services were held in them and in school houses, and often in private residences and at the old-time camp- meetings. Mills were erected along Spring river and Center creek — all run by water power. People raised their own breadstuffs, fruit, vegetables and meats, and to a great extent manufactured and made up their own clothing. The old- fashioned and healthful wood fireplace supplied necessary heating and to a great extent the means for cooking. It did not require much money to pro- vide a good living, but the people lived largely within themselves by their own individual industry and the exchange of commodities between neighbors. The principal towns were Sarcoxie and Carthage and while they had not made a large growth they were building up in a very substantial way. Carthage could boast of a two-story brick court house, a brick academy, brick jail and a number of brick business houses and residences. These were the conditions at the time of the breaking out of the Civil war. BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD OF JASPER COUNTY. 17 THE WAR AND ITS INCIDENTS. The results of the Civil war of 186 1-5 were very disastrous to south- western Missouri and especially to Jasper county. The war almost depop- ulated the county. Towns and farm buildings and other improvements were destroyed. So great were the destruction and change of conditions that after the war but little remained save the mere natural physical features of the country., dotted over here and there with the ruins of former homes. Before the war the population of Jasper county was almost wholly of southern birth and quite a number of her citizens were slave owners. There had been practically one sentiment prevailing on the slavery question. Polit- ically people were either Whigs or Democrats, the Democrats being in the majority. Of course, the Republican party had no organization or following in Jasper county. There had never been much political excitement, and men were elected to local offices largely on their personal popularity, without considering their political views. With the election of Lincoln and the movement throughout the south in favor of secession from the Union the feeling and excitement which soon culminated in war were aroused here as elsewhere, only more intense in these border states than anywhere else, and old neighbors and former friends were soon estranged and became bitter enemies. A state convention had been called to consider the position Mis- souri should take on the all absorbing question of secession. This convention met at Jefferson City, and while a sentiment in favor of adhering to the Union prevailed no definite action was ever taken. John R. Chenault, of Jasper county, was a member of the convention and acted with the seces- sionists. The sentiment in Jasper county was almost equally divided between the secession and Union parties. After actual war commenced in April, 1 861, the bitterness between these parties increased and it was not long until hostilities broke forth in Jasper county in full force. The battle of Carthage was fought as early as the 5th of July, 1861. The Confederates in this state, along with the governor, Claiborne F. Jackson, having been forced to leave the capital, first retired to Boonville and from thence, in June, 1861, retreated southward, intending to establish themselves in southwest Mis- souri. General Sterling Price was already in McDonald county organ- izing an army, when the governor with his generals and forces under him started south from Boonville. General James S. Rains, a citizen of Jasper county and at that time the state senator from this senator- ial district, had been assigned a command of some of these troops, 1 8 BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD OF JASPER COUNTY. the state troops with the governor being commanded by Generals Par- sons and Rains. Their object no doubt was to make a junction with General Price's army. In the meantime the federal forces were active, and having first gained control of St. Louis and central Missouri federal troops had been sent to Springfield in the southwest. In the beginning of July General Franz Sigel, with a small force of eleven hundred men, marched from Springfield to Neosho, probably with the intention of watching the movements of the enemy and preventing, if possible, a junction of Governor Jackson's forces with those of General Price. Arriving at Neosho-, in Newton county, on the 3d of July, on the 4th the march was made to Carthage, and on the morning of the 5th General Sigel's command marched to a point just beyond Dry Fork creek, some seven miles north of Carthage, where on the prairie it encountered the force with Governor Jackson, numbering some five thousand state troops. It may be General Sigel expected another Federal force to follow Jackson from the north, and that while he encountered the Confederates in front another Federal force would soon come up in their rear, but if this was his expectation he was disappointed. The Confederates, although having the advantage in numbers, were not so- well armed or dis- ciplined as Sigel's men. The fighting commenced in the forenoon and con- tinued through the day. Sigel had some artillery and the Confederates had none. Sigel would keep up the fight with the enemy in his front until General Rains' force of mounted men, poorly armed, however, would seek to flank him and get in his rear, when he would be compelled to turn his fire on it, at the same time gradually retreating towards Carthage. The battle con- tinued until Carthage was reached, the last of the fighting being in the town. As night came on Sigel withdrew his force to the east, on the road toward Springfield, and the Confederates were glad to let him go* and did not follow him beyond Carthage. After General Sigel had started north from Neosho runners from there were sent to inform General Price of the movement, on learning of which, General Price with his command started for Carthage. On the day after the battle at what is now the Corwine farm, three miles south of Carthage, the governor's force was joined by that under General Price, where they rejoiced greatly on account of their "victory over the Dutch." The losses to Sigel's command in this battle are stated to be eight killed and forty-five wounded. The losses of the other side were considerably greater, being in the neighborhood of two hundred and fifty in both killed and wounded. After this battle and during the whole course of the war the county BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD OF JASPER COUNTY. 19 became a field for almost constant irregular fighting, robbing and destruction of property, in which ihe rules of civilized warfare were disregarded. All civil government was suspended and the county was not permanently under the military control of either army. Especially was this the condition of the western two-thirds of the county, including the town of Carthage. The eastern part of the county, including the town of Sarcoxie, had some pro- tection from detachments of Federal troops sent out from Springfield and from its own militia organization. Nearly all the inhabitants of the county were forced to join either one army or the other or entirely leave the country. Many went to Texas and settled there permanently- Those of Union sym- pathies went into Kansas or further north. Among the first acts of violence committed in the county after war had commenced was the robbery and murder of George W. Broome, which occurred in the summer of 1861. Mr. Broome was a native of Georgia and had resided in Jasper county a number of years, a young man, unmarried and living on his farm at Georgia City. He was quite wealthy, owning several thousand acres of land and was engaged in stock-raising and farming. He also owned a number of slaves, besides a large amount of other personal property, and was understood to have a considerable sum in money. A body of men, supposed to » have been mainly from across the state line in Kansas, came to Broome's house in the daytime and murdered him, burned his house, seized and carried away his money and much personal property. This was the first assassination and robbery occurring after the breaking out of war, and aroused a strong feeling for revenge among Broome's friends, who charged some of Broome's neighbors with complicity in the outrage. Some of Broome's friends, citizens of Jasper county, soon after this, one night took out John Ireland, who lived near Broome, and after giving him a form of trial on the charge of participation in the murder of Broome hung him. Some prominent citizens of the county were aftenvard charged with a part in the hanging of Ireland. These events were only a prelude to the condi- tions which prevailed afterward. Thomas R. Livingston, formerly a merchant and lead miner and smelter at a place near Minersville, called French Point, on Center creek, organized and led a company of men who carried on a guerrilla warfare throughout this region and are charged with much of the incendiarism and destruction of life and property occurring in this county. Quantrell's band, which raided the city of Lawrence, Kansas, operated in Jasper county, and also another force, charged with burning the court 20 BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD OF JASPER COUNTY. house at Carthage in October, 1863, and other similar acts, was Anderson's company of Confederates. These various local organizations operated inde- pendently of any of the main armies, and were controlled by none of the restraints of military discipline which applied to the armies of either side. Colonel Ritchey's command of Federal Indians is charged with the mur- der of many inoffensive people, and with arson, robbery and with much wanton destruction of property. There were also irregular bands of persons bent on robbery passing back and forth over the border between Missouri, Kansas and the Indian Territory, killing, robbing and destroying without much regard to whether their vic- tims' sympathies and affiliations were with one side or the other. As a result of this state of affairs the town of Carthage was destroyed — the court house being burned in October, 1863 — and farm houses and farm improvements were mostly burned and destroyed. At the close of the war all that remained of Carthage was less than a dozen dwellings of the poorer sort, all else, including court house, jail, academy, business houses and dwelling- houses, were destroyed, and the town was a heap of rubbish, exposing to view open cellars, standing chimneys and occasionally part of the brick walls of what had been some of the more pretentious buildings. Before the war closed nearly all the inhabitants of the central and western part of the county who lived to tell the tale of their privations and sufferings had been com- pelled to leave the county and seek safety elsewhere. Other prominent instances of arson and murder were the murder of Dr. Jaquillian M. Stemmons and the burning of his residence. Dr. Stem- mons was a pronounced Union man. In the spring of 1862 his house, located on his farm about three and a half miles northeast of Avilla, was surrounded by a band of men at night, and his house set on fire and he was shot down. The other members of his family escaped unhurt. The supposed cause for this attack was that a man, claiming to be a recruiting officer for the Federal army, along with a few of his recruits, were stopping at Dr. Stemmons'. Also James G. Ennis was killed at his home south of Georgia City by Indians supposed to belong to Colonel Ritchey's command, and his wife was so severely tortured as to render her a cripple for life. Archibald McCoy was a leading lawyer at Carthage before and at the breaking out of the war, and was the county treasurer when the war broke out. Mr. McCoy was a native of Ohio, and an active, outspoken Union man. As the war progressed McCoy was much concerned for the safety of the county's money in his custody, especially after Governor Jackson and BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD OF JASPER COUNTY. 21 his forces came into this region. Knowing the governor to be greatly in need of money to equip an army, McCoy concluded his safest course was, at least temporarily, to turn the county's money over to some good man known as a Confederate sympathizer. So, at his request, his sureties called 1 in him and it was decided that the money should be placed in the hands of John J. Scott, who had been McCoy's predecessor as treasurer. It is certain that McCoy if he had 10 give up the money was anxious to place it in hands that would preserve it for the county and would not aid the Confederates with it. This matter was kept as quiet as possible. Mr. Scott kept the money safely until in October, t86i, and fearing longer to remain in Jasper county he prevailed on Judge John Onstott, one of McCoy's sureties on his bond, to take the money for safe keeping. He accordingly paid over to Judge Onstott the sums of one thousand and fifty dollars in gold and two hundred dollars in paper money. No one except John B. Dale, Onstott's wife and his little son. Abe W. .Onstott, knew of his having this money. He kept the gold buried in the ground for nearly the whole four years it was in his custody, his son Abe alone knowing the spot where it was buried. It not being safe, for fear of its rotting, to bury the paper money, Mrs. Onstott carried it much of the time on her person until she was robbed of it by Colonel Ritchey's Indians. Judge Onstott remained quietly on his farm on Center creek until June, 1864, not taking any part in the war. By that time it became so dan- gerous to remain longer that he went to another part of the state temporarily, and his family soon followed him, taking the county's gold with them. He remained away until August, 1865, and upon the reorganization of the county government in the fall of 1865 Judge Onstott paid over to the newly appointed treasurer of the county all this money in the identical coin he had received from Mr. Scott. This gold during this time was at a high premium over greenbacks. If it had been suspected by the armed bands marauding the country that Judge Onstott was the custodian of this money they would have resorted to every form of violence and torture conceivable to compel him to give it up. Upon paying" the money into the county treasury he related to the new county court the circumstances of his having received the two hundred dollars paper money and its loss, but the court insisting - that he pay that money also, Judge Onstott sold his team and wagon to get the money and paid it to the treasurer in addition to the gold he had paid. In 1874, the first time after the war that a Democrat was elected to office in this county, Judge Onstott was elected county treasurer, holding the office by re-election for three successive terms. 22 BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD OF JASPER COUNTY. Mr. McCoy remained in Jasper county until the early part of 1862, and feeling compelled to leave the county for his personal safety he started for Fort Scott, Kansas, but never arrived at his destination. His fate was long in doubt; his friends, continuing to hope him alive, made strenuous efforts to find him. Near the time of McCoy's disappearance a Confederate force under command of General (now United States senator) Francis M. Cock- erill, passed south through this region, and it was first supposed that Mr. McCoy had been taken a prisoner by this force, and to seek to insure Mr. McCoy's safety and as a retaliatory measure the commander of a Federal force at Fort Scott, Kansas, sent to Jasper county and arrested William Tingle and John Ffalsell to hold as hostages for the safety of McCoy. It was later ascertained that McCoy had never been a prisoner of General Cockerill's command, and Tingle and Ffalsell were released and nothing could be learned of Mr. McCoy. It has since developed that Mr. McCoy went to Lamar on his way to Fort Scott and was there taken prisoner by either Quantrell's or Anderson's men, who took him to near Lone Jack in "Jackson county and there shot and killed him. Stanfield Ross was clerk of the circuit and county courts and ex-officio recorder of deeds of the county at the breaking out of the war, having been elected as the successor of Ellwood B. James at the election in 1858. As the county court at that time had probate jurisdiction he was the custodian of all the county records and valuable papers. By the movement of the Confederate forces to the south and Governor Jackson establishing his movable state capital at Neosho, following the battle of Carthage, that town became tem- porarily the Confederate state and military headquarters of Missouri. Mr. Ross not only accompanied Governor Jackson and the Confederate army to Neosho, but he took with him the Jasper county records and files of his office. Soon afterward by a Union military movement from Springfield the Confederates were compelled to abandon Neosho rather precipitately and Mr. Ross left with them, leaving the Jasper county records and papers in Neosho. Norris C. Hood, of Carthage, ex-sheriff of the county, and a Union man, learning of the condition of the county records, went to Neosho and loading them into wagons brought them to Carthage, and from thence he took them with his family to Fort Scott, Kansas, for safety, and where he kept them during the war, returning them to the proper authorities when the county was reorganized in 1865. Thus all of Jasper county's deeds and court records were preserved from destruction during the war. BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD OF JASPER COUNTY. 23 CONDITIONS AND PROGRESS AFTER THE WAR. The return of peace found Jasper county almost depopulated. Mail routes and postoffices had been discontinued, and the courts and all local civil government suspended. In February, 1865, the legislature passed a law authorizing the holding of the circuit and county courts at a house to be designated by the sheriff at or near Cave Springs, but the county was not reorganized and the various officers appointed to fill vacancies existing, until in August, 1865. There was no place left in which to hold court at Carthage, hence by authority of the above mentioned law the sheriff recently appointed designated the brick school house near Cave Springs as the place to hold the courts until the county should provide a place at the county seat. This school house was about three miles northeast of Sarcoxie, about two hundred feet from Cave Springs, near the residence of William Duncan and close to the line of Lawrence county. It consisted of two rooms, both on the ground floor, and had been known also' as the Cave Springs Academy. The clerk's office, with the county records, occupied one of the rooms and the other was reserved for the use of the courts. This place was practically the county seat from August, 1865, until June, 1866, and courts were all held there. By June, 1866. the walls of the old county jail at Carthage, which were left partly standing, had been rebuilt to the height of one story and roofed over and a brick floor laid, making only one room of the size about sixteen by twenty-four feet, and this one room served as clerk's office and court room, besides being used for religious meetings of all kinds for about one year. On the re-establishment of the civil authorities many of the old settlers, who had been compelled to leave, returned to find, in many instances, their homes and improvements destroyed. Many had died and many others had established homes in other places, south and north, and never returned. Northern troops had marched through and been stationed at times in Jasper county, especially from Iowa, Illinois and Kansas, and many of these soldiers so greatly admired the climate and natural resources of the country that they resolved to return here at the close of the war. Nearly all the old settlers who had been Union men during the war were now Republicans in their politics. Those who had borne arms for or sympathized with the Con- federacy were disfranchised by law from voting, so that the Republican party was in control of the national and state governments and of the local offices. 24 BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD OF JASPER COUNTY. It was not possible that the bitter feelings engendered by four years of war would at once subside, yet as a rule good order prevailed. Aside from the fact that two or three persons were, during the first year or two succeeding the war, waylaid and shot on account of old grudges there was no serious trouble. Every man, as a rule, went armed, carrying two large revolvers strapped to his person, outside his clothing, and was prepared to defend his person and home. Strangers and new comers were welcomed and treated with great hospitality. Rolla, to the northeast, and Sedalia, north, were the two nearest rail- road points, each about one hundred and forty miles distant, and freight was all hauled by wagon from these points. Notwithstanding the drawbacks, the settlement of the county was rapid. There were large bodies of land to sell at low prices. Those who had their farms in condition to raise crops found a ready market, at high prices, for all grains, fruit and produce at their doors, selling to new settlers and others who were not so fortunately sit- uated. During those first years after the war corn, wheat and apples often sold as high as one dollar and a half per bushel. Commencing with 1866 a large immigration flowed into Jasper county, mostly from northern states. The mild and salubrious climate, productive soil and the well watered and timbered country rendered Jasper county an inviting spot. The counties north of this used to complain that from nearly all the covered wagons, laden with immigrants, the response was that they were "bound for J-as-pttv county," with the accent prolonged on the first syllable of the word Jasper, and they could not be induced to stop elsewhere. In later years the wonderful mineral resources of the county induced another character of immigration and the building up of cities and towns. By the census of 1850 Jasper county had a population of 4,223. In i860 she had 6,883 — °f the last number 350 were negro slaves; and notwith- standing the war and its ravages by 1870 the population increased to 14,- 928. In 1880 it was increased to 32,019; 1890 it was 50,500, and in 1900 it was 84,018, for more than ten years this county having been the third county in the state in population — the city of St. Louis and the counties of Jackson and Buchanan, of the one hundred and fifteen counties in Missouri, alone exceeding the population of this county. The increase in population for the last twenty years has been mainly in the cities, towns and mining districts. The city of Joplin, with a popula- tion of 26,023 m 1900, is now the fourth city in size in the state. Carthage, with 9,416, is the ninth city, and Webb City, with 9,201, is the tenth city; BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD OF JASPER COUNTY. 25 besides these three cities are several fourth-class cities, Cartervill,e, with 4,445 population, Oronogo, 2,073, and Sarcoxie, 1,126. In October, 1866, a threatening and unlooked for invasion of the county- occurred, which for a time was a source of alarm to the inhabitants. Like the old plague of the ancients, it was the grasshopper, rather grasshoppers — grasshoppers almost as numerous as sands on the seashore. They came from the west, flying through the air in such numbers as to obscure the light of the sun. As they alighted they covered the earth everywhere. In a day or two following their coming they had devoured every spear of grass, the newly sprouted wheat and every other form of vegetation, leaving the ground bare. When heavy frosts came they became dormant and died, and those persons who resowed their wheat raised a good crop the next season. In the spring of 1867, with the coming of warm weather, young grasshoppers hatched out from the eggs deposited in the earth the fall previous, and although this for a short time caused alarm to many persons, they soon dis- appeared and no further harm resulted. This visitation of the grasshopper, however, did not extend to the eastern line of the county, but only a few miles east of Carthage. A special feature that induced the early immigration to Jasper county,, after the war, was the sales of the so-called "swamp lands" at the low prices, and favorable terms of payment offered to settlers, and the advertising of the advantages of this county by the vendors of these lands. Now there are no swamps in Jasper county any more than there are snakes in Ireland , the natural drainage being such as not to allow their formation. However, in the year 1850 the congress of the United States passed an act to enable the states of Arkansas and Missouri and other states to reclaim the swamp and overflowed lands within their boundaries, by granting all such lands to the states, respectively, in which they were situated, in aid of schools. The state of Missouri in turn granted these lands to the respective counties wherein they were located. While the fact is notorious that no lands answering the description of those designated by the law are within the borders of Jasper county, commissioners were appointed who selected and reported practically all the lands owned by the government in Jasper county as "swamp and oxer- flowed lands." These selections were confirmed in the year 1857, embrac- ing- about one hundred and twenty-five thousand acres in Jasper county, and being nearly all fine prairie land, among the best farming lands of the county. The title to all these lands vested in the county and the lands became subject to sale by the county, the proceeds constituting a permanent school fund,. 2 26 BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD OF JASPER COUNTY. which is loaned by the county court, and the yearly interest is distributed to the school districts for the maintenance of public schools. This is the prin- cipal source of Jasper county's great public school fund of two hundred and fifty thousand dollars. During the years 1857 and 1858 the county disposed of these lands, first selling" in tracts of quarter-sections and over to individuals at one dollar per acre, and latterly selling all oi the remainder of these lands, about ninety thousand acres, in bulk, to George E. Ward, of Barton county, John M. Richardson being a silent partner with Ward in the purchase. The- lands were sold to Ward at ninety cents an acre, and the county took Ward's note with security bearing ten per cent, interest per annum for the purchase price, due in one year from the date of purchase, and the county also retained the legal title to the land until it should be paid for. George E. Ward died during the war without making payment for these lands. In 1866 the interest of Ward's estate and of John M. Richardson to about seventy-five thousand acres of these lands was sold to William Frazier, of Ohio, Frazier assuming to pay the county's claim, which amounted, in June, 1866, to one dollar and sixty-four cents per acre, and which the county treated thereafter as principal of the fund. In 1867 Frazier's interest in most of these lands was sold by him to G. A. Cassil and some associates. Mr. Cassil came to Carthage and immediately commenced to make sales of the land at quite reasonable prices and liberal terms of payment. Prior to the year j 869 Jasper county was remote from railroads. In the early days merchandise was hauled by wagon from Boonville on the Missouri river, having" been shipped by boat from St. Louis to that place. Salt and other kinds of heavy freight were often shipped by boat to- the town of Finn Creek on the Osage river, when the stage of water in the Osage would admit of navigation, and was then hauled from that place by wagon. Pig lead was hauled in wagons to these points for shipment, and on the return trip merchandise was hauled. In 18G9 the Missouri River, Fort Scott & Gulf Railroad, then commonly known as the "J a Y Road'' (and now the Kansas City, Fort Scott & Memphis Railroad), was completed from Kansas City through the eastern border counties of Kansas to Baxter Springs, and soon after this the Atlantic & Pacific Railroad (now the St. Louis & San Francisco Railway) was built from its former terminus, Rolla, to Neosho. Neither of these railroads touched Jasper county, and its prospect for a railroad for several years was not encouraging. The enterprising citizens of the county felt the need of railroad facilities and were anxious for the building of a railroad into the county. The Missouri, Kansas & Texas Rail- BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD OF JASPER COUNTY. 27 road was then building south from Sedalia under a charter granted in this state to the Tebo & Neosho Railroad Company, which authorized the build- ing of a railroad from the line of the Missouri Pacific Railroad in a south- west direction and to leave the state south of the northwest corner of Jasper county. Notwithstanding its charter provision and the activity of Jasper county citizens in favor of its building into this county, this railroad was built from Sedalia to Fort Scott, Kansas, and thence to Texas, and all efforts for its building into Jasper county were unsuccessful, as were also efforts to bring other railroads, until finally, in the year 1871, L. P. Cunningham, then a lawyer at Carthage and an extensive real estate owner — now living in Joplin — and E. H. Brown, another citizen of Carthage, organized a local railroad corporation, under the name of the Memphis, Carthage & North- western Railroad Company, of which Mr. Cunningham was president and Mr. Brown secretary, to build from Pierce City on the Atlantic & Pacific Railroad, passing through Sarcoxie, Carthage and Oronogo into the state of Kansas. They obtained bonds to be issued on behalf of Peirce township in Lawrence county, and Sarcoxie, Marion and Mineral townships in Jasper county, and, securing the aid of capitalists interested in the Atlantic & Pacific Railroad, this railroad was completed through the county in 1872, and is now part of the main line of the St. Louis and San Francisco Railway running from St. Louis to Wichita and Ellsworth, Kansas. In 1878 a branch of this railroad was built from Oronogo through Webb City to Joplin and has since been extended to Galena, Kansas. Until the building of the Memphis, Carth- age & Northwestern Railroad Jasper county had no railroad within her bor- ders. Now she can boast of more miles of railroad than any other county in the state. The next railroad built in the county was the Joplin & Girard Railroad, built from Girard, Kansas, to Joplin in 1876. This, too, was a local enter- prise by Joplin's two pioneer citizens, Elliott R. Moffett and John B. Ser- geant, the two men who first discovered the mines at Joplin. This was the first railroad built to Joplin. Now that city has five railroads. This rail- road has also become part of the St. Louis & San Francisco Railway system. E. H. Brown, after his experience in helping build the Memphis, Carthage & Northwestern Railroad, obtained control of the charter granted the Lex- ington & Southern Railroad Company, and after beginning the construction of this railroad from Pleasant Hill, on the Missouri Pacific Railroad, south, he interested Jay Gould in the enterprise, and mainly through Mr. Brown's efforts the Lexington and Southern branch of the Missouri Pacific Railroad 28 BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD OF JASPER COUNTY. system was built in the year 1880, from the north into Jasper county, through Jasper, Carytown, Carthage, Carterville, Webb City and Joplin to Galena, Kansas. In 1880 the Missouri River, Fort Scott & Gulf Railroad was extended east from Baxter Springs to Joplin, Webb City and Carterville, and also, about that time being built from Fort Scott to Memphis, is assumed the name of the Kansas City, Fort Scott & Memphis Railroad. This railroad has now been consolidated with the St. Louis & San Francisco Railroad and runs its trains to and from Carthage over the track of the latter road. In 1886 a local organization was formed at Neosho in Newton county for building a railroad south from that point and was chartered as the Kansas City, Fort Smith & Southern Railroad, which soon became known as the "Splitlog road, 1 ' owing to the fact that Mathias Splitlog, an Indian, one of the wealthiest in the United States, who resided in the Indian Territory south- west of Neosho, became its heaviest stockholder. Principally with Mr. Split- log's money this railroad was built from Neosho south into McDonald county to a point called Splitlog,' and between which place and Neosho this railroad was open ted for seme time with only one locomotive and a few cars. Mr. plitlog was a very interesting character. Although without education and necessarily lacking business qualifications, in many respects, to manage his fortune, and being quite childlike and trusting toward those he believed to be his friends, he had a great love for machinery, and was withal a capable and orderly farmer and something of an inventive genius. After he became the principal owner of this little railroad he delighted to ride on the locomotive and never tired studying its mechanism. In a short time Mr. Splitlog clis- ed of his railroad to eastern parties, who in 1889 extended it north to Joplin and south also. The Kansas City, Pittsburg & Gulf Railroad was some time later built from Kansas City to Pittsburg, Kansas, and under the promi ti< n of A. E. Stillwell was consolidated with the "Splitlog road," and in 1803 tne railroad was built from Pittsburg to Joplin and extended south fn m the terminus of the "Splitlog road," making a continuous line of rail- road from Kansas City to Port Arthur, Texas, on the Gulf of Mexico, pass- ing through Asbury, Waco, Carl Junction and Joplin, in Jasper county, and now known as the Kansas City Southern Railroad. Aside from short branches and numerous switches built into mining districts, this completes the history of Jasper county's railroads operated by steam. It now remains to notice her system of electric railroads. Both Joplin and Carthage prior to the days of electric roads had an BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD OF JASPER COUNTY. 29 experience with the local mule car, which made trips over some of their streets, but which was a very unsatisfactory service, most people who were able to walk or ride in any other form of conveyance shunning it. In 1893 tne Southwest Missouri Electric Railroad Company was organ- ized and an electric railroad was constructed by it running from East Joplin to West Joplin and south on Main street in Joplin to the different railroad depots, and was built from that city through the cities of Webb City and Carterville to Prosperity, three miles southeast of Carterville. A. H. Rogers was president of this company, and the other principal stockholders resided in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, among whom was E. Z. Wallower, who built and owns the Keystone Hotel building in Joplin. In 1895 the Jasper County Electric Railroad Company was organized by residents of Carthage, W. W. Calhoun becoming its president, the other members of its board of directors and principal stockholders being William McMillan, J. F. Harrison, D. R. Goucher, J. L. Moore, Robert Moore, C. F. McElroy, Isaac Perkins, W. E. Hall and F. H. Fitch, the latter of whom was superintendent of the road. This road was built from Carthage to Carterville to a connection with the Southwest Missouri Electric Railroad, and in 1895 the two roads were consolidated under the control of the Southwest Missouri Electric Railroad Company. The electric railroad was after this extended from Joplin to Galena, Kansas, making a complete and highly satisfactory electric railroad service from Carthage to Galena, a distance of twenty-eight miles, passing through Carterville, Webb City and Joplin, with a branch to Prosperity, besides street cars being operated on some of the principal streets of Joplin and Carthage. In the early days oth towns as the city of Joplin. The city of Joplin some years afterwards incorporated under the general laws of the state as a city of the third class and has remained such ever since. With productive mines within its borders and surrounding it in every direc- tion, combined with the enterprise of its citizens, railroads have been built, business and manufacturing have developed and the growth of Joplin has been rapid. By the census of 1880 its population had increased to 7,038, in 1890 to 9,943 and by 1900 to 26, 023. From a rough mining camp it has grown in less than thirty years to be not only the center and leading city of this mining territory, but also a thriving business and manufacturing center BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD OF JASPER COUNTY. 45 and a distributing point for a large wholesale trade. Much of the mining machinery used in the mines all over the district is manufactured here. The city has quite a number of large machine shops engaged mainly in the manu- facture of mining pumps, holsters, crushers and reduction mills. The city has four leading lines of railroad entering the city, the Missouri Pacific, St. Louis & San Francisco, the Kansas City, Fort Scott & Memphis and the Kansas City Southern, together with branch lines of these roads. She also has good street car service through the city by the Southwest Mis- souri Electric Railroad, which also connects her with Galena, Kansas, on the west and Webb City, Carterville and Carthage on the east. Another electric line has been chartered and granted a franchise over many streets by the city. Perhaps the greatest manufacturing enterprise in the city is the Picher White Lead Works. These works were erected in 1879 by George T. Lewis and E. O. Bartlett, of Philadelphia. Mr. Bartlett was the inventor of a patent process for manufacturing white lead from the fumes that had formerly gone to waste in smelting lead ore into pig lead, and he, in connection with Mr. Lewis, erected the works under a contract with the Lone Elm Mining & Smelting Company, through which the works passed into the ownership, after their completion and successful operation, of the latter company. After two years the first works burned down and were rebuilt. In 1887 the Picher White Lead Company purchased these works, with which Judge O. H. Picher, William H. Picher and E. O. Bartlett, the orig- inal patentee of the process, and others are connected. This company is capitalized for $100,000.00, but the actual capital employed in the company's business and represented by the property owned by it exceeds many times that sum, the works alone having cost in the neighborhood of $300,000.00. These works now cover ten acres of land and employ one hundred and fifty men. They annually manufacture four thousand tons of white lead and smelt about eight hundred tons of pig lead. Joplin's water supply comes from Shoal creek, three .miles from the city, and she has both gas and electric lighting and a thorough sewerage system. Her hotels and business houses are equal to those of many larger cities, the Keystone hotel being six stories in height. There are many elegant residences. The schools and school buildings are among the finest in the state. She has some thirteen public school buildings, which have been erected at a cost of over one hundred thousand dollars, the high school building being a costly, elegant building. The teachers employed in the schools number over eighty. 46 BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD OF JASPER COUNTY. THE CITY OF CARTHAGE. The location of the county seat of Jasper county was made by the com- missioners appointed by the legislature in the act creating the county in the beginning of the year 1842. Lot 1 of the northwest fractional quarter and the west half of the southwest quarter of section 3, and lot 1 of the northwest frac- tional quarter and east half of the southwest quarter of section 4 in township 28, of range 31, comprising three hundred" and twenty acres of land, was selected before the government survey of the land, so that it was not until December 23, 1846, that the land was entered at the government land office by George Hornback, as the agent of Jasper county, and who, by a quit claim deed, conveyed the land to the county. Before this time the town had grown to a considerable size. After the report of the commissioners, as to their selection, the county court, by an order of record of March 29, 1842, named the new county seat Carthage. The first plat of the town, dedicating the public square and seven streets surrounding and near the square for public purposes and locating ninety lots, was filed in the recorder's office June 30, 1842, and by the orders of the county court these lots and others, as they were laid off from time to time, were sold by commissioners of the seat of justice. What are now the public high school grounds, including also what are now the lots on Main street fronting these grounds, were on July 28, 1858, conveyed by Jasper county by J. O. A. Walton, commissioner of the seat of justice of Jasper county, to the board of trustees of the Carthage Female Acad- emy, which institution had been incorporated by a special act of the Legislature of the state, and on these grounds was erected a substantial two-story brick; academy building, and school was conducted in this by John J. Williams, to which both sexes were admitted, until forced to suspend by the war. There was no public school in Carthage during this time. With the destruction of Carthage this academy building was destroyed, and after the close of the war these grounds stood unoccupied until in 1871. All the original members of the board of trustees of the Carthage Female Academy having died or re- moved from Carthage, save Norris C. Hood, a new board of trustees was or- ganized, of which Mr. Hood remained a member, and the new board, on the 31st day of May, 1871, conveyed these academy grounds to the board of edu- cation of the town of Carthage for a consideration sufficient to pay the indebt- edness resting on the Female Academy growing out of the erection of the acad- emy building. The part of the grounds lying on the west side of Main street BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD OF JASPER COUNTY. 47 was sold by the board of education for residence lots, and the remainder of these grounds, lying between Main street and Grant" street, has ever since been held as public school grounds, what is now known as the Central School build- ing having, soon after the acquisition of this property by the school district, been erected thereon at a cost of thirty thousand dollars, and in the year 1889 the High School building was erected on the same grounds, costing twenty thousand dollars. When the ruins of the old academy building were cleared away preparatory to building the Central building, the bell that had been on the Academy was found uninjured and was placed on the Central building and has been ringing ever since for the public schools of Carthage. The land immediately west of these Academy grounds, consisting of about seven acres, had been, on August 30, 1848, set apart and dedicated by the County Court as a burying ground, and had been used as such until Maj 7, 1869. when the town had so built around it that it had become desirable that this public cemetery should be removed; so, by order of the County Court, this ground was transferred to the town of Carthage for a public park, sub- ject to the right of the public for burying purposes, which right was to cease when other and suitable grounds should be obtained for that purpose, by the town. The town obtained such grounds and bore the expense of removing nearly all the graves thereto and has enjoyed, improved and beautified this old burying ground which is now known as Central Park. The town of Carthage immediately before the war contained a population of about five hundred people located around and within two or three blocks of the public square in each direction. Shirley's Tavern was on the north side of the square; Norris C. Hood lived on the west side of the square and there were two or three stores on that side. William M. Chenault lived on the block corn- ering with the southeast corner of the square, and Jesse L. Cravens had a store there. James and John B. Dale had a store on the east side of the square. Judge John R. Chenault lived on the eighty acres of land immediately south of what is now the High School grounds and Central Park, the land being now in Lamb's addition to the city. He had his residence where Neill Piatt has com- pleted his elegant new house on Grand avenue, and his orchard was to the west and north of the house. The first place where the writer boarded after coming to Carthage in March, 1866, was at the log house, the former slave quarters of Judge Chenault, nothing but the foundation of his residence then remaining. Titus B. Housted lived on a farm north of town, including the bottom land south of Spring river. The Heusted family residence is still standing on the hill a little to the south of the Carthage Woolen Mills. Ellwood B. James had 48 BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD OF JASPER COUNTY. a residence and orchard some distance east of the square, and his brother, Han- nibal James, lived still east of that, where is now Dr. John A. Carter's farm and residence. North and west of the town, reaching from what is now Cen- tral avenue north and from Garrison avenue west, was timbered with a thick growth of trees, mostly black jack oaks. There was no road leading directly i;orth from the square, but the road to the north crosed the river where is now the lower bridge. Carthage was depopulated by the war, and all its buildings, except about six of the more inferior ones, were destroyed. Very few of the former resi- dents returned to live there after the war. Norris C. Hood, Mrs. McCoy, the widow of A. McCoy, M. M. James, Mrs. Elizabeth A. James, widow of Ell- wood B. James, William G. Bulgin and Amanda Glass, widow of Thomas R. Glass, with their families, returned and again resumed their residence in Carthage. Dr. A. H. Caffee, who had been a physician in the county before the war, and served as surgeon in the federal army during the war, settled in •Carthage and in co-partnership with Captain J. W. Young started the drug business still continued by him. George Rader, who was the first postmaster of Carthage after the war, was the first person to take up his abode there after the close of the war. He came in August, 1865, before any of the former residents had returned. He brought with him in a wagon from Fort Scott, Kansas, a small stock of goods, which he opened in an old building he found unoccupied. He continued as postmaster until March, 1879, nearly thirteen years, having been appointed May 18, 1866. He served for a time as county treasurer also, and was, after his term as postmaster expired, mayor of Carthage. Dr. John A. Carter came soon after Mr. Rader and took up the practice of medicine, which he has unceasingly and with great success continued to this time. Thomas E. Gray, still an honored citizen of Carthage, came in the fall of 1865, and successfully conducted a mercantile business for a number of years. Griffith M. Robinson, Esq., who still resides a few miles west of the city, took up his residence in Carthage, and served some years as justice of the peace. The first newspaper established in Carthage was printed in 1857 by James Kelly and was called the "Carthage Pioneer ;" afterward the paper passed into the hands of Christopher C. Dawson and its name was changed to the "Southwest Star.'' After the battle of Carthage it is understood Daw- son took his printing outfit and accompanied Governor Jackson to McDonald county, where he printed state script. In December, 1866, Thomas M. Gar- BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD OF JASPER COUNTY. 49 land established the Carthage Weekly Banner, which was the next paper printed in the county, being Republican in politics. The Carthage Patriot, a Democratic paper, was started in 1870 by Albert W. Carpenter. A district school was taught in Carthage in 1867 by Andrew J. Shepard, who had been a teacher in the county before the war and was deputy circuit clerk for William G. Bulgin, who was the first circuit clerk after the war. Mr. Shepard was assisted in the school by his sister Clementina, who> became afterward Mrs. George D. Orner. The court room in the frame building erected on the west side of the square was occupied by this school when courts were not in session. The first municipal government for Carthage was formed March 12, 1868, when the town was incorporated by the county court and a board of trustees for its government was appointed, and a town school district was also organized with the legal title of the Board of Education of the town of Carthage. Graded town schools were then organized, with William J. Seiber as superintendent, who had some three or four teachers under him. These schools were taught in a double building" on the south side of the square, belonging to G. A. Cassil, until the central brick school building was erected. The city of Carthage was incorporated by a special act of the legislature in 1873, and Peter Hill was elected its first mayor. Afterward, March 6, 1890. this special charter was surrendered and the city organized as a city of the third class, under the general law. There was no church building erected in Carthage prior to 1868, when the Methodist Episcopal church erected the brick building still standing at the corner of Fourth and Howard streets. The Presbyterians soon after erected their frame church building, which is still occupied by them on Grant street, and the Baptists erected a frame church on East Fourth street, near where the jail now is, which they afterward sold to< the county for a court house. Before this these denominations, as well as the Christians, had held services first in the court room and afterward rented rooms for their meetings. The modern city of Carthage lays claim to being the prettiest city in the state. The location is all that could be desired, high above and on the south bank of Spring river, with excellent natural drainage — the character of the soil being such that with slight work and attention the streets are never muddy. Besides its location the beauty of the city consists in its fine streets and walks, its uniformly neat and commodious homes and the well kept lawns and shade trees surrounding them, and its parks and drives. 5 o BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD OF JASPER COUNTY. Central Park, located centrally in the city, having formerly been the town cemetery, contains about seven acres, and still retains many of the original forest trees, and is laid out into walks, grass plats, flower beds, and has a large fountain and basin in its center, in which sport numerous gold fish. Carter's Park, near the east end of Chestnut avenue, is the property of the city, being a gift from Dr. John A. Carter. This park was originally part of the farm owned by Dr. Carter, on which he now resides, his resi- dence and farm being just beyond the city and park and adjoin them on the east. The park consists of about eight acres of ground, and adjoining it is a large spring flowing from underneath a high bluff of limestone rock, and the creek, of which the spring is the source, flows through the park. The city's electric lighting plant is located in the edge of the park. The gift to the city was a valuable one and will ever remain as a lasting reminder of the generosity of its donor. Adjoining the city limits and along the bluffs lining the north bank of Spring river are five stone quarries, where stone out of these bluffs is sawed by machinery and in some cases worked ready for the structures for which it is intended. These quarries employ about one hundred and twenty men, and shipments of the stone, to say nothing of the home demand, now amount to forty cars per week. The city has a large woolen mill, employing about one hundred and twenty operatives, two large flouring mills, with a third mill a mile east of the city, their united capacity being about eight hundred barrels of flour per day, besides machine shops, furniture factory, bed spring factory and other like establishments. The public schools of Carthage have always ranked high. Including her new high-school building, she has eight public school buildings, in which forty-eight teachers are employed. In 1883 was organized the Carthage Collegiate Institute, which has building and grounds valued at twenty-five thousand dollars. This is a Pres- byterian college, of which William S. Knight, D. D., is now president, and under whose leadership, while pastor of the First Presbyterian church of Carthage, the institution was founded. Carthage is blessed with many churches, some seventeen in number, in which about all leading denominations are represented. The city, being the county seat, is centrally located in Marion township, and in 1900 contained a population of 9,416. Dr. Robert F. Brooks, who for about thirty years prior to his death BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD OF JASPER COUNTY. 51 was a leading physician and surgeon of Carthage, by his will has left to the city his library of medical books and has also directed that on the death of his three sisters his real estate, consisting of a valuable tract of mining land near Joplin and a block of four business houses in Carthage, shall be sold by his executor and that the proceeds shall be paid to the city of Carthage and held in trust to be used for the erection and maintenance of a public hospital in the city. WEBB CITY Is located in Joplin township, with the city of Carterville adjoining it on the east, from which it is separated by a small creek and a string of zinc and lead mines stretching up and down the creek. On September 10, 1875. John C. Webb, the original proprietor of the city and from whom it took its name, filed with the recorder of deeds of Jasper county the plat of the town of Webb City, locating it on the northwest quarter of the southeast quarter of section 18 in township 28 of range 32. Under the fostering care of Mr. Webb and the development of the extensive lead and zinc mines in and surrounding it the town grew rapidly, and has extended its borders by numerous additions beyond the original limits. Mr. Webb expended much money in aiding the growth of the place, erecting many buildings himself and doing all in his power for its advancement. It has had a rapid growth, the population in 1900 numbering 9,201. The power house and main offices and shops of the Southwest Missouri Electric Railway are located in this city. Aside from a good retail trade, quite a wholesale business is done, as well as a considerable manufacturing business. There are three lines of railroad passing through the city, the St. Louis & San Francisco, the Missouri Pacific and the Kansas City, Fort Scott & Memphis, in addition to the Electric Railway, which passes over the principal streets, reaching all the railroad depots, and furnishes quick and convenient trans- portation to Joplin and Galena on the west and to Carterville, Prosperity and Carthage on the east. The city was incorporated as a city of the third class in 1890 under the general law of the state. In 1893 was erected the Webb City Baptist College on ground donated to the college corporation by J. J. Nelson, occupying a beautiful site of about six acres in the western part of the city. The building is a large, modern- built, commodious structure, costing about fifty-five thousand dollars. In =52 BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD OF JASPER COUNTY. this enterprise the college has been very liberally aided by citizens of Webb City, especially by Mrs. Elizabeth Chinn and E. T. Webb, the son of the founder of the city, who is now one of her most prosperous business men. The college is in a flourishing condition, with an attendance of one hundred and sixty pupils under the care of John W. Keltner, D. D., its president, and some thirteen teachers. The city has also excellent public schools, employing twenty-eight teachers, with first-class high school and ward buildings. CARTERVILLE Is the center of an extensive mining territory. The mines in the city and immediately surrounding it, especially to the south, being the richest and yielding a greater amount and a higher grade of lead and zinc ores than any other mines covering the same extent of territory in the whole mining dis- trict of southwest Missouri. Probably more capital is invested, more expen- sive machinery used, and deeper and more systematic mining is done and v\ ith more satisfactory results than at any other mining locality in south- western Missouri. The formation of the ground admits of comparative safety in mining it, a good cap-rock, as a rule, forming a roof to the mines, so that very little timbering to hold up the ground is necessary. The mines are well drained and the ore is quite generally found in stratified sheet forma- tions. The city of Carterville quite naturally enjoys the benefits of the pros- perous condition of its mines, and has some large manufacturing and mer- cantile establishments, a national bank, a good system of graded schools, modern brick school buildings, good railroad facilities, having the Missouri Pacific and the Kansas City. Fort Scott & Memphis Railroads located on the line dividing it from Webb City on the west, and the Southwest Missouri Electric Railroad passing through the city over its principal streets. It has for many years been incorporated a city of the fourth class, and, although adjacent to Webb City, has always maintained a separate municipal govern- ment and refused all overtures looking to uniting the two places under one city government. The plat of the town of Carterville was filed in the county recorder's office on the 9th day of September, 1875, by William A. Daugherty, James G. L. Carter and William McMillan, covering the northeast quarter of the southwest quarter and the southeast quarter of the northwest quarter •of section 17 in township 28 of range 32, the town being named after Mr. Carter, who still resides on his farm near the city. Mr. Daugherty has BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD OF JASPER COUNTY. 53. resided in the city ever since its organization, having been a very prominent, enterprising business man, and having conducted mining operations on a large scale, mostly in connection with Thomas N. Davey, and his son, Judge James A. Daugherty. Numerous additions have been laid off to the original town. The population of the city in 1900 was 4,445. A branch of the Electric Railway is operated from Carterville to Prosperity, and many switches and spurs from the other railroads are built to the mines. The Missouri Pacific Railroad has a branch from the city to and beyond Prosperity, which is likely to be extended to Granby in Newton county. Carterville is also located in Joplin township. ORONOGO. This city is located in Mineral township, nine miles west of Carthage and three miles north of Webb City. It was first known as Minersville and is the oldest mining town in the county. Lead was mined here as early as 1853, and mining was lesumed here immediately after the war and was not prosecuted again at any other place until Joplin started in 1871. The town of Minersville was laid out October 20, 1856, by Stephen O. Paine on the south half of lot 2 of the southwest fractional quarter of section 31 in township 28, of range 'i ; 2, on the north side of Center creek. On November x 9» l &73> by an order of the county court of Jasper county the name of the town was changed, and it was in that order incorporated as the town of Oronogo (Ore-or-no-go), for the reason that there was another Minersville in the state, and the name of the postoffice, which up to that time had been Center Mines, was soon also* changed to> OronogO'. Notwithstanding the length of time that lead and zinc mining has been vigorously carried on at Oronogo, it is, for the extent of territory mined over, one of the most productive mining localities in the mining district. The Memphis, Carthage and Northwestern (now the St. Louis & San Fran- cisco) Railroad was built through Oronogo in 1872, Mineral township vot- ing bonds to aid its construction. In 1878 a branch of the St. Louis & San Francisco Railway was built from Oronogo to Webb City and Joplin, a dis- tance of ten miles, which has been since extended to Galena, Kansas. In 1868 the Granby Mining and Smelting Company obtained control of the mines at this place and have carried on extensive mining operations here ever since. Colonel J. Morris Young was the first superintendent for that company and r esided at Oronogo for many years — representing Jas- 54 BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD OF JASPER COUNTY. per county in the legislature in the years 1869 and 1870. Judge Charles E. Elliott was from an early day the leading merchant in Miners ville and Oro- nogo. He served as presiding justice of the county court for the years 1895 to 1899, during whose term the court houses, commenced under the former county court administration, were completed. Ulysses Hendrickson, the first sheriff of Jasper county elected after the war by the Democratic party, has resided at Oronogo since coming to the county in 1866. The city is now a thriving, busy place, with.a population in 1900 of 2,073. SARCOXIE. The oldest of the cities and towns of Jasper county is the city of Sarco'xie. At the site of this place was the first settlement within the borders of Jasper county — that of Thacker Vivian in 183 1, as heretofore related. This occurred when there was no town west of Springfield ; when there was no Jasper county, but when all southwestern Missouri was Greene county and long before any land of the county had been surveyed. In 1834 the enterprising Mr. Vivian built a log water mill on Center creek, where is at present located the Boyd mills, adjoining the present site of the city. The mill brought customers in those days from quite a long distance, and the result was that stores, shops and dwelling houses soon fol- lowed its erection. Dr. Jewett started the first store, and in 1836 William Tingle and Benjamin F. Massey started a more pretentious one. The town, at the first, was called Centreville, but when a postoffice was established it was called Sarcoxie, being named after a Shawnee Indian chief who frequently visited the locality and who made friendship with the whites, gaining their respect and confidence as a veritable good Indian. In 1834 Thacker Vivian made entry of the land, at the local government land office, that was afterward platted as the town of Sarcoxie — the south- east quarter of section 8 ; township 27, of range 29, but the plat of the town was made and filed in the recorder's office much later, August 6, 1840, by William Tingle and Benjamin F. Massey, and a United States patent for the land was not issued until as late as November 4, 1859, to Tingle and Massey as assignees of Mr. Vivian. Until after the close of the Civil war Sarcoxie was the most thriving and populous town in the county. The stage line from Rolla, the end of the railroad, to the southwest passed through the town. The city is located in Sarcoxie township near the southeast corner of the county on the line of the BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD OF JASPER COUNTY. 55 St. Louis & San Francisco Railway, and is a very enterprising business place, having a population in 1900 of 1,126. It was organized, November 6, 1883, a city of the fourth class. The burning and shipment of lime is among its chief industries. It has a large flouring mill, and wheat and flour are among its chief shipments. The Wild Brothers' extensive wholesale nurseries are a great feature in the business of the city, and much nursery stock is shipped by this enterprising firm. It is probably the centre of and shipping point for the greatest strawberry raising locality in the United States ; hundreds of acres of land are devoted to this industry near the city, and in strawberry picking season the population of the city and its suburbs is increased tem- porarily to several thousand persons, and shipments of strawberries made not only by the car load but by train loads of refrigerator cars. CARL JUNCTION. At the crossing of the St. Louis & San Francisco Railway and the Joplin & Girard branch of that railroad, and near to the crossing of the St. Louis & San Francisco and Kansas City Southern Railroads is this important little city of the fourth class, which is growing rapidly, being in the midst of an excellent farming and fruit-growing region, and also< a region in which good mines are being developed. In 1900 its population was 1,177. The town of Carl Junction was laid out and platted by Charles L. Skinner on the 14th day of April, 1877. It is located in Twin Grove township, on section 6 in township 28, of range 33, about fifteen miles west of Carthage and eight miles north of Joplin. JASPER Is a city of 627 inhabitants on the line of the Missouri Pacific Railway in the northern part of the county, surrounded by a rich and productive farm- ing country, in Preston township. The plat of the town was filed on the 26th day of April, 1881. by D. A. Harrison, and is located on sections 23 and 24 in township 30, of range 31, ten miles north of Carthage. OTHER TOWNS. Among the towns of the county are Neck City, a new mining town in the northwestern part of the county, in Mineral township, having a popula- 56 BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD OF JASPER COUNTY. tion in 1900 of 374. This town was platted March 22, 1899, D ) r the Neck City Real Estate Company, on the northwest quarter of the northeast quarter of section 8, township 29, range 32. The town has had a steady growth since its founding and has some very valuable zinc mines. Two and a half miles southeast of Neck City and about ten miles north- west of Carthage is the town of Alba, located on the east half of the north- east quarter of section 16, township 29, range 32. It was platted by Stephen Smith and others March 2.4, 1882, and is located near the north bank of Spring river, in Mineral township. Besides stores, shops, church buildings and school house the town has a good flouring mill, run by water power from the river. Lead and zinc are also mined there. The town of Belleville, about six miles northwest of Joplin, in Galena township, is another mining locality. This town has a branch from the Kansas City, Fort Scott & Memphis Railroad, furnishing transportation for the products of its mines and for its commerce. Duenweg is another new mining town located on the northwest quarter of the northeast quarter of section 10, township 27, range 32, platted by J. W. Ay lor November 5, 1895, in Joplin township, about six miles east of the city of Joplin. Prosperity is a mining town in Joplin township, two miles southeast of Carterville, at the end of a branch of the Southwest Missouri Electric Railroad and on a spur of the Missouri Pacific Railroad. Other towns of the county are Reed's, in Sarcoxie township, ten miles southeast of Carthage, a station on the St. Louis & San Francisco Railway;' Asbury and Waco, in Jasper township, in the northwestern part of the county, about two miles apart on the lines of the Joplin & Girard branch of the St. Louis & San Francisco Railway and the Kansas City Southern Railway. Smithfieid, in Twin Grove township, in the western part of the county, on the line of the St. Louis & San Francisco* Railway; Cary, in Preston township, six miles north of Carthage, a station on the Missouri Pacific Railroad ; Avilla, in McDonald township, ten miles east of Carthage ; Medoc, Georgia City and Galesburg, in Jasper township, in the northwestern part of the county ; Pres- ton, in Preston township, about six miles southwest of Jasper ; and Scotland, in Jackson township, two miles east of Duenweg. These towns are the locations for local stores, shops and churches. Galesburg is the site of an excellent flouring mill, run by water power from Spring river. Smithfieid has a flouring mill, run by power from Center creek, BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD OF JASPER COUNTY. 57 and Avilla has a good steam flouring mill, surrounded by a most productive farming country. PERSONAL SKETCHES. Dr. Robert F. Brooks was born on a farm about one mile from Oxford, Ohio, on the 8th day of May, 1839. He was the sixth born in a family of ten children. His father, Kennedy Brooks, was born in Ireland of Scotch-Irish ancestry. His mother was Eliza- beth H. (Butler) Brooks, born at Rutland, Vermont, and was a relative of General Benjamin F. Butler, the great Union general, lawyer and statesman. Robert F. Brooks was raised on a farm and first attended district school at his home, afterward attending Miami University at Oxford, Ohio, at which he graduated with the highest honors of his class, the class numbering forty-one. He then studied medicine, under the guidance of Dr. Goodrich, at Oxford, Ohio, where he did much toward assisting his preceptor in his large practice, and later attending the medical department of Michigan University at Ann Arbor, Michigan, where he graduated as a physician. He then took up post-graduate work in the medical and surgical departments of Columbia College and in Bellevue Hospital, New York city. He served four years, during and after the Civil war, as assistant sur- geon of the United States battleship Florida. In 1869 he came to Carthage,. Missouri, and located in the practice of his profession, to which he gave his unremitting attention up to a short time before his death. He had a large practice as both a physician and surgeon, not only in Carthage and the sur- rounding country, but also in the other cities and towns of the county, where he was probably called oftener in critical cases than any other physician, and was recognized as the leading surgeon of the county. For many years he was the surgeon for a number of the railroads entering Jasper county. He was devoted to his profession, was a great student of books, and with a remarkable memory he was able to read and remember facts and principles. Dr. Brooks never married. He always maintained a pleasant home in Carthage, which was presided over by his sister. Miss Lizzie Brooks, for whom he had great affection. His youngest brother, Peter Brooks, had studied medicine under him and became a highly successful physician in his native state of Ohio. When Peter's health had so failed that his life was despaired of he came to the home of his brother and sister in Carthage, where he was kindly nursed and watched over until his death, which occurred in 4 58 BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD OF JASPER COUNTY. October, 1898. Six months later, April 19, 1899, Miss Lizzie Brooks died, and in less than five months Robert F. died. Dr. Brooks was a lover of music and was a good singer and performer on the guitar. He took great interest and satisfaction in the cultivation of flowers, and was a man of fine taste, public-spirited and very liberal toward and considerate of the poor. He died at his home in Carthage September 6, 1899, a fter several months' illness, in which he fully realized that his sick- ness was fatal, and in which he made careful adjustment and disposition of his earthly affairs. He was a religious man, having been brought up in the Presbyterian church. By his carefully drawn will he disposed of his property in his characteristic way, with a view to doing the most good possible to suffering humanity. As he had devoted his life to relieving the sufferings of his fellow men, not only in a professional way but also in numerous other ways, so he desired that his property after death should be devoted to the same great purpose. His will provides that his sisters, Arpasia B. Brooks, Lucretia B. Miller and Annie M. Brooks, shall each -receive five hundred dol- lars annually from his estate during each of their lives, and after the death of his sisters his executor shall sell all his property and estate, paying the money received therefor to the city of Carthage in trust to be used in either erecting or equipping and maintaining a public hospital. Hs library of medical books is willed to the city, to be kept and used in such hospital. The devise is a valuable and very generous gift. Besides valuable business prop- erty in Carthage Dr. Brooks owned a large tract of valuable mining property near Joplin. This final act of Dr. Brooks is the fitting consummation of a life spent in generous, worthy acts and loving ministrations for others. Judge William Byers, former judge of the county court of Jasper county, Missouri, was born in Franklin county, Pennsylvania, November 14, 18 1 8, being descended from Revolutionary stock, his grandfather hav- ing served as a soldier in the Continental army. Judge Byers was raised on a farm in his native county and after a course in the common schools he entered ( hambersburg Academy, at Chambersburg, Pennsylvania, and at the end of three years graduated at that institution. Afterward he was engaged as a cierk in a store and in farming. In 1854 he removed to Iowa City, Iowa, and in 1857 to Springfield, Missouri, remaining there until the Confederates cap- tured the place after the battle of Wilson's Creek, when he returned to Iowa, locating this time at Marion, and where he established himself in the dry- goods business. At the close of the war he returned to southwest Missouri, BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD OF JASPER COUNTY. 59 locating this time at Carthage. In 1872 he became one of the first citizens of Joplin after that place had started, where he lived until the time of his death. Judge Byers, by judicious business and real-estate investments, became quite wealthy. In connection with Patrick Murphy, Mr. Byers laid off addi- tions both to Murphy sburg and later to the city of Joplin, one of these suburban additions being a long time popularly known as Byersville. In 1875 Judge Byers, under the law as it then was, was appointed by Governor Hardin sole judge of the county court, and at the election in 1878 was elected to another term of four years. His administration of county affairs was marked with firmness and a desire to serve the best interests of the people of the county. He was a Democrat and always acted with that party. On March 20, 1854, at Chambersburg, Pennsylvania, he married Miss Martha L. Jeffrey, who after a short residence in Iowa City died there, after her husband's removal to that place. Judge Byers never remarried and had no children. He died at Joplin in November, 1890, one of the most highly respected citizens of the county, his estate being distributed to his surviving brothers and sisters and the children of such as were deceased. v Judge John C. Cox was one of the pioneer settlers of Jasper county, locating at the present site of the city of Joplin' in June, 1838. He was born in Burke county, North Carolina, September 6, 181 1. His parents were David and Lucy (Branch) Cox, both natives of North Carolina. When Judge Cox was eight years old his parents removed to Jackson county, Tennessee, locating on a farm. Judge Cox was raised on a farm and received a fair education in the neighborhood schools. His father was sheriff of Jackson county for six years, during which time the son served as deputy. After coming to Jackson county, Missouri, Judge Cox entered a large body of land in the southwestern part of the county, which he improved as a farm, continuing to live there until his death, except that during the latter years of the Civil war he was compelled to reside temporarily at Neosho, Newton county, returning in the fall of 1865 to find his house and other improvements destroyed. He immediately set about re-improving his place and erected the brick residence which still stands (now in the city of Joplin). He soon had the postoffice, Blytheville, re-established at his place and started a country store. Lead had been discovered on his farm prior to this, but no active mining was done on his land until in 1871, when Moffett & Sergeant procured a mining lease .from him. From that time Judge Cox's income from royalties on lead and zinc became quite large, especially for a man of his simple and frugal habits 60 BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD OF JASPER COUNTY. of life. He laid off Joplin City on his land and saw it grow to become a leading city of southwest Missouri. His manner of life, however, changed but little, and he and his family continued to occupy the old homestead without any elaborate changes. Tudge Cox was a man of integrity and business sagacity, and possessed the esteem and confidence of his fellow citizens. Although taking little active part in the Civil war, he remained firm for the Union cause. In 1840 he was elected a justice of the peace for Center Creek township, and he served thirty years as postmaster of the Blytheville postoffice. At the re-organization of the county after the war he was appointed county surveyor and was subsequently elected to that office. In the fall of 1873 he was elected one of the associate justices of the County Court of Jasper county. He filled all of these offices with credit to himself and with a high regard for the interests of the public, whom he served with fidelity. August 23, 1837, Judge Cox married Sarah A. Mercer, in Jackson county, Tennessee, and they became the parents of eleven children, viz. : Lucy J., David S., Edward M., John C, Jr., Minerva J., Cassius E., William F., Sarah A., Samuel B., James J. and Benjamin F., who all lived to manhood and womanhood and all but Lucy J. and David still survive. Judge Cox died January 23, 1890, and his wife died within two years after the death of her husband. Both had attained to a good old age. J»«. THO,« »_. ,*„„,„ ,„„„„«„ „ „.,..„,. „ born in May, 1838, in Allegheny county, Pennsylvania. His father, John Donehoo, was born in Ireland, and his mother, Belle (McElhaney) Donehoo, was a native of Virginia. At the age of sixteen Thomas, being thrown on his own resources, came to Platte county, Missouri, settling in Weston, where he studied medicine, and in 1861 he was graduated at the St. Louis Medical College. He located at Easton, Leavenworth county, Kansas, where he- successfully practiced his profession until his removal to Medoc, Jasper county, Missouri, in May, 1867. Here he opened a drug store and also had an extensive practice of medicine. In 1875 Dr. Donehoo purchased a stock of dry goods and groceries, continuing his other business, along with making occasional investments in real estate and buying and shipping stock. Aside from being a physician of skill and ability, the Doctor was a business man of first class ability and integrity, and! by (industry and BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD OF JASPER COUNTY. 61 faithfulness to business amassed quite a fortune. While a resident of Kansas he married Miss Frances Creech. John J. Donehoo, his son, is a druggist in the city of Joplin. Dr. Donehoo died at Medoc in February, 1894. J . . Norris C. Hood, a prominent pioneer settler of Jasper county, whose memory is worthy of being cherished by later generations, was born in South Carolina, on the 14th of March, 1811, the son of Thomas and Martha Hood. Some years after his birth the family removed to Tennessee. Norris received a good education for the opportunities offered in the south in his early days. He was raised on a farm and for the most part followed farming throughout his life. On the 15th of January, 1833, he married Melinda Bond, in Monroe county, Tennessee, and continued a resident of that state until he moved with his wife and children to Jasper county, Missouri, in October, 1852, and settled a good farm on Center Creek three miles west of SarcO'xie. In the fall of 1856 Mr. Hood was elected sheriff of Jasper county and was re-elected to the same office in 1858, serving until the beginning of 1861. While serving as sheriff he removed his family to Carthage, building a residence on lots fronting the public square, along the west side, on what is now the location of the Regan block. Notwithstanding his South Carolina birth and southern raising, at the breaking out of the Civil war Norris C. Hood took his position on the side of maintaining the Union and used all his influence to strengthening the sentiment in favor of the Union in Jasper county. He and his family were in Carthage when the battle of Carthage was fought, and after Stanfield Ross, the then clerk of the circuit and county courts, had removed the records of the county to Neosho, Mr. Hood, on learning that they had been abandoned by Mr. Ross at that place, took his wagon and went to Neosho after them. Soon after this, for safety, he removed his family and the county records to Fort Scott, Kansas, where he remained in charge of the records until after peace had returned ; and when the county was reorganized he returned them to Mr. Bulgin, the newly appointed clerk. His wife died May 10, 1862, leaving a family of nine children. Of these David C, Joel L. and Mrs. Mary F. Spence have died. Joel L. Hood died in the service of his country, having been shot at Stockton, Cedar county, Missouri, in October, 1864, while acting as a Union scout. The living children of the Hood family are Stephen M., who lives on the old home farm near Sarcoxie ; Mrs. Martha R. Freeman, residing in the Indian 62 BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD OF JASPER COUNTY. Territory; Thomas C, who lives at Joplin; Amanda, living at Colorado Springs, Colorado; and Mrs. Lucy Cunningham and Mrs. Esther Dinsmore, who both live in Carthage. In the spring of 1866 Mr. Hood built him a new house at the corner of. Third and Maple streets in Carthage, to which he brought his family from Fort Scott, the former family residence having been destroyed during the war. Early in 1867 he was appointed treasurer of Jasper county and held that office until after the election in 1868. Mr. Hood was an earnest Christian and a faithful, exemplary member of the Baptist church and took a great interest in his church and in Christian work generally. He was largely instrumental in establishing a Baptist church in Carthage after the war and in erecting its present church edifice. He made his house a temporary home at all times for the preacher of the gospel. He was prominent also as a member of the Masonic fraternity and for a number of years was treasurer of Carthage Lodge. He died at his home in Carthage on the 23d day of February, 1870. Judge John Hornback, one of the earliest settlers of Jasper county and one of the best known and most highly respected citizens of the county, was born in Champaign county, Ohio, August 24, 1827. His father was James Hornback, who when John was only four years old removed to Indiana and thence, in October, 1838, to Jasper county, Missouri. His father settled on a farm about five miles southwest of Carthage before the land was sur- veyed by the government, where both he and his son lived and died. John "Hornback's education was such as was afforded in the early days of Jasper county, but these opportunities he had improved to the utmost so as to become a man of fair educational attainments and able to clearly and forcibly express his views either in public speech or in writing. He was a man of strong personality and exerted a great influence among the people of the county. He served as a justice of the peace for Marion township prior to the war, and his fairness and good judgment in his decisions gained for him a reputation almost equal to those educated in the law. In 1862 Judge Hornback was compelled by the war to leave Jasper county and seek safety for himself and family elsewhere, and being a Union man in sentiment he went to Douglas county, Kansas, returning to Jasper county in the spring of 1866. While in Kansas he served with the militia of that state as a first lieutenant of the company to which he was attached. In the fall of 1866 he was elected an associate judge of the county court, BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD OF JASPER COUNTY. 63 serving as such a term of two years. Judge Hornback was independent in his political views, and after the war did not attach himself to either of the old political parties. He was a strong and outspoken opponent of corruption and corrupt practices in politics and public place, and a sincere, earnest reformer. He became a leader of the Greenback and afterward the Populist party in his county. He always held the confidence and esteem of men of all parties among his acquaintances and was frequently called on to act as administrator of the estates of deceased persons, which he did with fidelity and to the unvarying satisfaction of the interested living representatives. He first married, January 24, 1850, Miss Eleanor Walker, who died May 2, 1877, leaving eight children of this marriage, — five sons and three daughters. He died or the old homestead farm in Jasper township in November, 1899. It falls to the lot of few men to be so sincerely mourned and missed as was Judge Hornback by his large circle of friends, many of them the steadfast friends of a whole life-time. Ellwood B. James, one of the most prominent pioneer settlers of Jasper county, was born in Loudoun county, Virginia, June 10, 1807. His father, David, and his mother, Charlotte, James, were both natives of the Old Dominion, belonging to old Virginia families. Ellwood B. James was married in 1835 to Elizabeth A. Richardson, also a native of Virginia. In the fall of J 837, with his young wife and their only child, he removed to what is .now Jasper county, Missouri, but what was at that time Barry county, the family of his father-in-law, Joseph Richardson, coming to southwest Missouri and settling in what is now Lawrence county at the same time. Mr. James opened a store at Centreville (now Sarcoxie) soon after his arrival. On the organization of Jasper county in 1841 Mr. James was appointed by the county court clerk of the circuit and county courts and ex-officio recorder of deeds of the new county, which office he continued to hold by successive elections until the beginning of 1859, — a continuous service of eighteen years. A\ "hen Carthage was laid out he moved his family and store to Carthage and continued his mercantile business until 1844, when he closed it out and devoted his attention wholly to the duties of his office. In 1857 Mr. James, in partnership with his son, again engaged in mercantile business at Carthage, under the firm name of M. M. James & Com- pany, which business was sold out by them shortly before Mr. James' death, which occurred on the 31st of March, i860. 64 BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD OF JASPER COUNTY. Ellwood B. James was a member of the Methodist Episcopal church, South, and also a prominent Mason. His wife survived him many years, living after his death at Carthage, except the time she was compelled to absent herself by war. Their children were Montalbon M., born in Virginia; Mary S. Holman, wife of David S. Holman; Elmina S. Bulgin, wife of William G. Bulgin; George E. James, and Myra J. Wyne, wife of George M. Wyne. Air. James by careful management accumulated a considerable property, at his death leaving some valuable real estate in and near Carthage to his widow and children. y Judge Isaac E. Koontz died at his home farm, five miles northeast of< Carthage, Missouri, on the 23d of January, 1879. He was a native of Ohiov born in Fairfield county, December 6, 1821, and was reared in Lancaster, the county seat of that county, where he received a good education. When a young man he studied civil engineering and assisted in laying out the Hock- ing Valley canal. His father, Isaac Koontz, was a native of Pennsylvania. At twenty vears of age Isaac E. Koontz married Miss Priscilla Pease, at Lancaster, and after his marriag'e -engaged in farming - , which vocation he fol- lowed during life, except that during the war he held a position in the inter* nal revenue department of the government. In 1867 he sold his farm of over two hundred acres in Ohio and removed to Jasper county, Missouri, and locat- ed on the farm of nearly four hundred acres, on which he continued to reside until his death, with the exception of a year or two passed in Carthage. Judge Koontz was a good farmer and business man and a man of intelli- gence, sociable and popular wherever known. He was a stanch Republicar in politics, and in 1868. as the candidate of that party, was elected a member of the county court. During his incumbency of the office the jail of the county was erected and a railroad built into' the county. Judge Koontz left a widow and five sons and one daughter surviving. Two of his sons and his daughter have since died, and three sons, George W., Isaac E. and John, are living. Hon. Samuel B. La Force, deceased, was one of the prominent pioneer settlers of Jasper county. He was of French descent. His an- cestors settled in this country before the Revolution and took part in the struggle of the colonies for independence. His father, Raue La Force, was a native of Virginia, and his mother, Martha (McGee) LeForce, a native of Kentucky. Samuel B. was born May 15, 18 15, and reared in Pike county, BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD OF JASPER COUNTY. 65 Missouri, receiving his education there, and in October, 1843, came to Jasper county, Missouri, two years after its organization, and settled two miles north of Carthage, on the prairie, overlooking Spring river and the town, where for many years he resided on his large and beautifully located farm. During his residence in Jasper county, Mr. La Force was a leading citizen. He was elected and served as the second sheriff of the county, from 1847 to 185 1, succeeding John P. Osborn in that office. The same year of his retirement from the sheriff's office he was elected a representative in the legislature for a term of two years. At the breaking out of the war he became an active Union man and acted as a guide for General Sigel at the battle of Carthage, July 5, 1861 ; afterwards he joined the One Hundred and Fifty-second Illinois Infantry, holding a captaincy in that regiment. At the close of the war he returned to Jasper county, again taking up his residence on his farm. In the fall of 1866 he was nominated as the candidate of the Republican party for the offices of clerk of the circuit and county courts and ex-officio recorder of deeds and was elected for a term of four years. Mr. LaForce was always a capable and faithful officer in all the public positions he was called on to fill, served his four years as clerk with credit, and retired with the respect of his fellow citizens. During his in- cumbency of this last office he removed to Carthage to reside, and survived to an advanced age, dying on the 19th day of April, 1899, at the age of nearly eighty- four years. He was married April 13, 1837, in Pike county, Missouri, to Miss Lucy Brown, who died some years before her husband. They had two sons and one daughter, all now dead, the only survivor of the family being Mrs. Arra (Jenkyn) Murto, a resident of Carthage and a granddaughter of Mr. and Mrs. La Force, and a daughter of Mrs. Martha (La Force) Jenkyn, their only daughter. ^Patrick Murphy was born in county Monaghan, Ireland, January 6, 1839, the son of Michael and Margaret Murphy. When Patrick was eleven years old his parents emigrated to America, landing in Philadelphia in January, 1850, and very soon located on a farm in Bucks county, Pennsyl- vania. The son lived on the farm with his parents till about twenty years old, attending the common school and doing farm labor. In 1859 he came west and joined in the gold-seekers' rush for Pike's Peak. In Colorado he met with reasonable success in mining, but soon turned his attention to freighting over the mountains and across the plains. He was engaged in 66 BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD OF JASPER COUNTY. this business for about five years, making his headquarters most of the time at Plattsmouth, Nebraska, and during that time crossing the plains thirty-one times. Leaving Nebraska in 1865, with William P. Davis, they came first to Fort Scott, Kansas, and engaged in the mercantile business. In August, 1866, Mr. Murphy located in Carthage, Missouri, to conduct a branch of their Fort Scott store, and soon their entire business was located in Carthage, Mr. Davis following his partner there. The mercantile business of Davis & Murphy was continued at Carthage until the fall of 1871. With the Joplin mining excitement the firm moved their store to the Joplin mines. Davis & Murphy and Moffett & Sergeant laid out the town. of Murphysburg. The firm erected a lead smelter, purchased and developed mining land and carried on extensive mining operations, later organizing the West Joplin Mining & Smelting Company. From the starting of Joplin until his death, Mr. Murphy was always recognized as a foremost business man of the city, taking a leading part in public and private enterprises. At a critical time in the history of the city of Joplin, when the lawless element were seeking to rule the city, the good-order element insisted that Mr. Murphy must become the leader of their side, and after an exciting contest he was elected mayor of the city. Under his ad- ministration Joplin became an orderly city. In addition to his mining enter- prises, he became president of the Miners' Bank, on its organization, was for a time president of the Joplin Woolen Mill Company and vice-president and treasurer of the Joplin Water Works. He was a man of indomitable energy, of strictest integrity, kind-hearted, and a man who attracted to himself friends, and no man appreciated or valued friendship more. November .19, 1868, at Carthage, he was married to Miss Belle Workizer, who survives him. Their children are Ida E., Howard C, Frank J., Ninun T. (now wife of Dr. Frank Mathews) and Nettie I. Mr. Murphy died at Joplin in October, 1900. J * George Rader. — The first man to settle in Carthage after the ravages of war had compelled all the old residents to leave the place was George Racier. Mr. Rader was born in Fairfield county, Ohio, in 1829. His father, Henry Rader, was a native of Pennsylvania, and his mother, Nancy (Black) Rader, a native of Virginia. George Rader was reared and educated in Indiana, where afterwards he engaged in farming. In the year i860 he went to the