M. S. NEWTON. In Arkansas on the 28th of March, 1857, was born the successful merchant and one of Douglas County’s coming men, M. S. Newton. At an early age Mr. Newton began to assume the practical duties of a business life, and by diligence, good habits and a judicious use of natural tact, has developed a character which will tell for usefulness in his day and generation. He has acquired a commercial standing which portends for him that prosperity and rank among his fellowmen vouchsafed alone to those who that died in infancy.
The maternal grandparents, Mr. Faine and wife, were born in Wales and are supposed to have come to this country before the opening of the Revolution. They located in the vicinity of Petersburg, Virginia, where they followed farming, reared a large family and are supposed to have died. After the death of John Cooper his widow continued her journey to Howell County, Missouri, and purchased the farm on which the subject of this sketch is now residing and spent the rest of her life in this neighborhood. She died April 24, 1894, lacking about three days of being ninety years old. Seventy-five years of this time she had been a devout Methodist. She became the mother of seven sons and five daughters: John T., was an orderly sergeant in Shelby’s army during the war; Sarah J. is the widow of John Perkins, of Benton County, Tennessee; Thomas D. was for a short time in the Home Guards in Tennessee and is now a farmer of Benton County; Esther A. died in Howell County, the wife of John Lidsinger; George W. was a lieutenant in the Second Missouri Infantry of the Confederate Army and was killed at Vicksburg; Mary F. is the wife of Capt. William Howard, of Howell County; Marcus A.; Eliza A. died in this county, the wife of William Burton; Harriet N. is the wife of L. J. Burton; Susan is the wife of E. Blandon, of this county, and three sons died in infancy, William, James and Marion.
Marcus A. Cooper was reared on a farm with the advantages of a common-school education, and in July, 1863, joined Company D, Fourth Missouri Cavalry, of Marmaduke’s command, and later became a member of Parson’s brigade and Wood’s battalion. He was with Price on his raid and also saw service in Texas and Louisiana, and surrendered at Shreveport, La., after which he returned to his home. In July, 1866, he was married to Miss Flora J. Killough, a daughter of Milton A. Killough (see sketch). Mrs. Cooper was born in Carroll County, Tennessee, and has borne her husband ten children: Josephine, wife of J. L. Roberts; Emma A., wife of J. H. Watts; Robert E. (deceased); John M.; Mollie B.; Frankie (deceased); William R.; Marcus A., Jr.; Augusta and Eudoxey. Mr. Cooper has improved five or six farms in this vicinity and is the owner of several valuable pieces of property, among which is the old home farm of 320 acres near the head of South Fork, eleven miles southwest of West Plains. Mr. Cooper started without means of any kind, save that with which nature had endowed him, and through his own good management and energy has become one of the leading farmers of the county. He has for years been very extensively engaged in stockraising, and is one of the most extensive dealers in this line in the county, and handled over 1,000 head of horses, mules and cattle during the past season. He is a Democrat politically, cast his first presidential vote for Tilden in 1876, and was at one time elected public administrator of Howell County, but did not qualify. Socially he is a member of Mt. Zion Lodge No. 327, at West Plains, of the A. F. & A. M.. and also belongs to Mazeppa Lodge No. 263, of the I. O. O. F. He is a member of the Congregational Methodist and his wife of the Southern Methodist Church.
Milton A. Killough, father of Mr. Cooper, was born in Rutherford County, Tennessee, in 1819, a son of John and Eleanor (Kirk) Killough, natives of Georgia and probably Tennessee, respectively, the birth of the former occurring in 1791, and that of the latter in 1790, their deaths occurring in 1855 and 1822 respectively. They were married in Rutherford County, Tennessee, and in 1821 moved to Carroll County, where they both passed from life, worthy members of the Presbyterian Church. The father was a farmer by occupation and was a soldier in the War of 1812, was justice of the peace for a number of years, and was of Dutch descent. When he was about thirteen years old his father died in Georgia, and a few years later his mother also passed from life. John Killough was married three times, but Eleanor Kirk became his first wife and bore him four children: Mary, who died in Tennessee, the widow of Vincent Parsons; Milton A.; John G., who died at the age of nineteen, and Samuel D., who died in Tennessee. William H. Killough, who died in Tennessee, was a half brother of Milton A.
The latter was reared on a farm, received a limited common-school education, and was married February 6, 1846, to Mary H., daughter of Robert and Mary Porter, who died in Carroll County, Tennessee, having been born in Chester District, S. C. Mrs. Killough was born in the Palmetto State and died January 14, 1873, an earnest member of the Methodist Church. She bore her husband the following children: James Henry, of Texas; Flora J., wife of Marcus A. Cooper; Ann E., who died, the wife of William Burton; Samuel, who died young; Sarah L., wife of Lafayette Adams; Frances, the deceased wife of Lafayette Adams; Ophelia I., wife of Luselius Burton, of Texas; Harriet, who is the deceased wife of Napoleon Hawkins; Margaret C. and John R. March 31, 1874, Mr. Killough was married to Susan Parker, a daughter of Joseph and Rachel Parker. In 1857.
Mr. Killough came to Texas County, Missouri, and the following year located on his present farm in Howell County, which contains 118 acres, in connection with the tilling of which he has also been engaged in tanning for the past twenty years. Against his will he was forced into the Confederate service during the war, and was on the Price raid. He is a dimitted member of Mt. Zion Lodge No. 327, of the A. F. & A. M., of West Plains; he is a Democrat in politics, although his first presidential vote was cast for Harrison in 1840, and he and his wife are members in good standing of the Methodist Church.