Springfield Missouri

Biography of John Ross Newman

In the large metropolitan cities are found a number of men who are able to confine themselves exclusively to some one specialty in medicine or surgery, but in the smaller cities, however much a professional man may incline to specialization, he is almost invariably engaged in general practice. An exception to this rule is the case of Dr. John Ross Newman of Fort Scott. Doctor Newman is a surgeon of rare attainments and ability. For the past six years he had handled only surgical cases. He is one of the very few men in the entire state who can be … Read more

Biography of David O. Crane

David O. Crane. Of the men who have served Topeka in official capacities of importance and responsibility, few have won more fairly a reputation for fidelity than has David O. Crane, since 1884 superintendent of the Topeka Cemetery. In the thirty-two years that he has been the incumbent of this office he has labored efficiently and conscientiously to discharge its duties in a reverent and honorable way, and the mere fact that he has held his office during such a long period should be sufficient evidence of the quality of his ability and the worth of his service. Mr. Crane … Read more

Biography of Thomas J. Delaney

THOMAS J. DELANEY. To become distinguished at the bar requires not only capacity, but also sound judgment and persevering industry. These qualifications are combined in no gentleman at the Greene County bar to a greater extent than in Thomas J. Delaney. A careful and accurate adviser, and an earnest and conscientious advocate, his success at the bar has been achieved by the improvement of opportunities, by untiring diligence, and by close study and a correct judgment of men and motives. Like so many of the eminent men of the present day his early career was not a very auspicious one … Read more

Biographical Sketch of John Glenn Newbill

The eldest son of T. G. Newbill is a native of Southwest Missouri, his birth-place being in the northeast corner of what is now Webster county. His childhood was passed on his father’s farm, two and one-half miles west of the city of Springfield. He was educated principally in the district school and schools of Springfield, and studied three years under the tutorship of Dr. Wm. V. Allen, formerly of Bates county, Mo. For several years, while prosecuting his studies, he alternately worked on the farm and taught in the public schools of Greene and Bates counties. Returning in 1876 … Read more

Biographical Sketch of Waldo G. Gideon

WALDO G. GIDEON is one of the rising young attorneys of Springfield, who began the practice of law at the Greene County bar under the favorable circumstances of possessing an excellent general education and an accurate knowledge of law, besides coming from a family well known throughout southwest Missouri. He was born in Christian County, Missouri, May 26, 1871, and is the son of Thomas J. Gideon, Esq., a prominent attorney of Springfield. (See sketches of Thomas J. and J. J. Gideon.) Waldo G. Gideon graduated at the Central High School, 1890, and then took a business course at the … Read more

Biography of Capt. Alfred M. Julian

Among the many prominent, enterprising and successful citizens of Springfield, Missouri, whose biography it is a pleasure to give among the honored ones of that city, is the pioneer attorney, Capt. Alfred M. Julian, who has been a resident of Springfield since the year 1838. Over eighty years have passed over the head of this venerable man, leaving their impress in the whitening hair and lined features, but while the outward garments of the soul show the wear and tear of years, the man himself is richer and nobler and grander for the experience that each successive decade has brought … Read more

Biography of Dr. Thomas Jefferson Bailey

Dr. Bailey was a native of Kentucky, born in Lincoln county, January 17, 1803, whith his father, John Bailey, had removed with his family from Virginia. There the father died, and Thomas J. grew up to manhood. He read medicine at Danville under the able preceptor ship of Drs. Smith and McDowell, till he was prepared for practice. Prior to removing to Missouri, in 1828, he married Miss Harriet Sproul, a native of the same county as himself. He settled first in Ralls county, this State, where he practiced medicine till 1837, removing thence to Springfield, when that town was a mere … Read more

Biographical Sketch of Adolf Sumerlin

Adolf Sumerlin, editor and attorney at law, Mattoon; born in Keosauqua, Iowa, Aug. 24, 1851; moved with his parents, Rufus and I. A. Sumerlin, to a farm in Scotland Co., Mo., in 1859; his father having embarked in the newspaper business in Memphis in 1860, he commenced learning the printer’s trade; in 1865, he moved to Shelbyville, Ill.; in 1869, he conducted the reportorial department of the Shelby Leader, which his father had purchased in 1865; in. the same year, commenced reading law with Thornton & Wendling; moved with his parents to Springfield, Mo., in April, 1871, and after completing … Read more

Biography of Joseph S. Homan, M.D.

Dr. Joseph S. Homan, an alumnus of the St. Louis University in which he won his professional degree, has throughout the intervening period successfully engaged in the practice of medicine and surgery in St. Louis. He was born in Buchanan county, Missouri, January -, 1882, and is a son of Henry Homan, a native of Maryland, who represented one of the old families of that state of German lineage, founded in America prior to the Revolutionary war. On leaving Maryland Henry Homan came to Missouri in 1870. He was a Civil war veteran, acting as a bridge builder with the … Read more

Biography of John O’Day, Esq.

Among those who have given Greene county its enviable reputation for possessing men of high character, large brain, and sterling worth and ability, is Mr. John O’Day, one of the leading members of the Greene county bar. Mr. O’Day was born in the city of Limerick, Ireland, November 18, 1843. He was brought in infancy with his father’s family to America, his parents settling at first in the State of New York. When he was about 12 years of age the family removed to Juneau county, Wisconsin, where John was educated in the common schools and at an academy. Arriving … Read more

Biography of Ralph Chester Dixon

Ralph Chester Dixon. While many of the successful men represented in this publication have found their work as farmers, eattle men, merchants, bankers and in the professions, Ralph Chester Dixon had directed his energies practically along one line since leaving college and had made a notable success as a fruit grower and horticulturist in the vicinity of Arkansas City. He had a splendid fruit farm three miles northwest of the city, and is one of the leading commercial apple growers of the state. Mr. Dixon is a native of Kansas, born at Caldwell August 5, 1875. His people have lived … Read more

Houses of the Illinois Confederacy

Although the tribes of the loosely constituted Illinois confederacy claimed and occupied a wide region east of the Mississippi, in later years centering in the valley of the Illinois River, nevertheless certain villages are known to have crossed and re-crossed the great river. Thus, in the early summer of 1673, Père Marquette arrived at a village of the Peoria then standing on the right Mississippi, at or near the or west bank of the later it had removed to the upper Illinois. Two months passing the Peoria, Marquette discovered another of  the Illinois tribes, the Michigamea, living near the northeastern … Read more

Biography of A. Harrington

As a leading citizen of Springfield, in its professional, business and social life, lending eminent strength to her bar, to her finance and grace to her society, A. Harrington commands attention from the historian who would wish to do the city justice. He is one of the ablest of attorneys, and has few, if any, peers in his comprehensive knowledge of State and International law, and has conducted many cases to a successful issue. While a born orator he does not solely rely upon the rhetorical finish of his sentences, upon his fervid declamation or upon his rich imagery, but … Read more

Biography of Col. Fidelio Sharp Jones

Col. Jones is the son of Col. Joseph and Matilda (Sewell) Jones, and was born in Tazewell, Claiborne county, Tennessee, July 19th, 1835. His father and mother were both Virginians, and the former was once colonel of militia in times of peace. Fidelio S. was the oldest of ten children, eight of whom lived to be grown. In 1837, his parents moved to Greene county, Missouri, locating at Springfield, where the subject of this sketch was reared and educated, and where both his parents died, the father in 1865, and the mother in 1881. In 1852 he began his business … Read more

Biography of Hon T. A. Sherwood

Thomas Adiel Sherwood was born at Eatonton, in Putnam county, Georgia, June 2, 1834, where he spent his early life. His father, Rev. Adiel Sherwood, D.D., was a Baptist clergyman of great learning and prominence, who was born and reared at Fort Edward, in the State of New York. The family were of English extraction. Dr. Thomas Sherwood, and Andrew, his brother, immigrated to this country during its colonial period, from Nottinghamshire, England, and settled in Connecticut. Dr. Thomas Sherwood was the grandfather of Major Adiel Sherwood, who served in the war of the Revolution under Gen. George Washington, and … Read more

Biography of John G. Land

John G. Land, whose intimate friends call him Jack and who is representing the Prudential Life Insurance Company of America as manager for the territory embracing Oklahoma, Arkansas and Texas, was born in Springfield, Missouri, May 26, 1878, and is a son of J. G. and Nancy A. (Berry) Land, both of whom are deceased. The son was educated in the public schools of St. John, Kansas, and in Marmaduke College at Sweet Springs, Missouri. When sixteen years of age he took up the study of telegraphy and for fifteen years was an operator. In 1898 he came to Muskogee … Read more

Biographical Sketch of Mrs. Callie Elliott

Elliott, Mrs. Callie (See Foreman)—Callie, daughter of Samuel and Annie (Edwards) Whatenberger, born March 15, 1868, in Springfield, Mo. Educated in Texas. Married at Vinita Jan. 7, 1892, Hiram Thompson Elliott, son of Archibald and Rachel (Smith) Elliott, born May 22, 1858. They were the parents of Hiram Thompson Elliott, Jr., born November 26, 1892; Samuel Talbert, born July 5th, 1894, married Genevieve Blackford, Vera May, born February 26, 1896, married Guy L. Jones, and has one son, Raymond Jones, born April 4, 1914; Lucullus, born August 25, 1899, is in the United States Marine Corps in Haiti; Lucien Bell, … Read more

Biography of Joseph F. Savage

Joseph F. Savage. There are many things of interest connected with the career of Joseph F. Savage, of Coffeyville, particularly in the line of achievements and success and position gained through individual efforts and with honor. Perhaps the most interesting, however, as well as the most important in regard to the history of Kansas, is the fact that this retired banker made what was really the first treaty here with the Osage Indians, this being in 1868, when Mr. Savage was a “sooner.” Since that time his fortunes have grown and developed and he has watched what was once the … Read more

Biography of C. B. Mitchell

Although one of the more recent additions to the Miami bar, Charles B. Mitchell has already demonstrated his ability to cope with the intricacies of the law and is building up a good practice. He is also well known as a writer of ability and has contributed many interesting articles to leading magazines. He was born at Brunswick, Maine, on the 9th of October, 1870, his parents being George E. and Agnes E. Mitchell, also natives of the Pine Tree state, the former born at Brunswick, August 3, 1850, while the birth of the latter occurred at Oldtown in 1854. … Read more

Bailes, Andrew Jackson – Obituary

Death came here early this morning September 18, 1943 to an early and widely known Kittitas Valley pioneer, Andrew Jackson Bailes, 83. Born in Springfield, Mo., November 4, 1859, he came to the valley in 1878 and resided in the Fairview District most of his life. At the time of his death, he resided at the home of his daughter, Mrs. Clarence Houser, in Ellensburg. He was a charter member of the Ellensburg Christian Church. Besides Mrs. Houser, he is survived by three other daughters, Mrs. E. R. Edwards and Mrs. Ray Ayers of Ellensburg, and Mrs. H. M. Shephard … Read more