Missouri

Biography of Frank William Davis

Frank William Davis. One of the best known among the real estate and insurance men of Fort Scott, is Frank William Davis, who, still a young man, has already gained an enviable position in business circles. A peculiar and particular genius is necessary to the man who would acquire success in the real estate and insurance field. The business is identical with no other, and many men who have risen to prominence in other lines have scored naught but failures when they have entered this field. Mr. Davis, however, possesses the qualities of acumen, a pleasing personality and a knowledge … Read more

Mrs. Betty Hackney Maynard – Obituary

Baker City, Oregon Betty Maynard, 80, a longtime Baker City resident, died Monday, March 25, 2002, at St. Elizabeth Health Care Center. Her funeral will be Saturday at 11 a.m. at St. Stephens Episcopal Church, 2177 First St. Betty was born March 12, 1922, at LaMar, Mo., to William H. and Nell Murray Hackney. The family moved to Salem when she was 5 years old. When she was 12 they moved to McMinnville She graduated from high school there. On Aug. 11, 1940, she married John C. Maynard in McMinnville. They moved to Baker City in 1958. Betty worked for … Read more

Biographical Sketch of Alexander B. Wall

Alexander B. Wall, the elder of the two sons, was born at Wichita on the 12th of December, 1882, and who was afforded the advantages of the public schools and the Lewis Academy of Wichita, as well as those of Wentworth Military Academy, at Lexington, Missouri. He also attended the Kansas State Agricultural College, at Manhattan, and he is now known as one of the representative agriculturists and stock-growers of his native county. He has the active supervision of the fine farm developed by his father, as previously noted, and there conducts a certified-milk dairy in connection with his general … Read more

Biographical Sketch of Paul Jean Wall

Paul Jean Wall was born at Wichita on the 19th of October, 1885, and after his graduation in the high school at St. Louis, Missouri, he entered, in 1904, the University of Kansas, in the law department of which he was graduated in 1908 and from which he received the degree of Bachelor of Laws. In June of the same year was recorded his admission to the bar of his native state, and in his chosen profession he is well upholding the prestige of the honored name which he bears., For three years after his admission to the bar he … Read more

Biography of Charles Jacob Sloop

C. J. Sloop. In January, 1909, Mr. Sloop was admitted to the bar at Topeka, Kansas, and on July 12th of that year moved to Independence. Since then he has been steadily building up a reputation as a sound and safe counselor and as one who can be trusted with the skillful handling of all important interests entrusted to him, whether in civil or criminal law. A native of Missouri, Charles Jacob Sloop was born at Queen City, December 10, 1878. His father John B. Sloop was born in Schuyler County, Missouri, November 16, 1845, and he spent his active … Read more

Biography of George L. Banks

George L. Banks. A sterling pioneer and citizen who is now living virtually retired in the City of Independence, Mr. Banks is specially entitled to recognition in this history. He was one of the early settlers of Montgomery County and has contributed his full quota to its civic and industrial development and progress, and he was long one of the prominent and influential exponents of agricultural industry in this section of the state. High honors also are his for the valiant service which he gave as a soldier of the Union in the Civil war. Mr. Banks was born in … Read more

Biography of R. W. Cates

R. W. Cates is a director and assistant cashier in the First National Bank of Independence. By profession he is a lawyer and practiced for a number of years with his father, Joseph B. F. Cates, who is one of the oldest members of the legal profession in Kansas. Joseph B. F. Cates, who is now general attorney for the Prairie Pipe Line Company, with residence at Independence, was born in Grainger County, Tennessee, April 19, 1840. His parents were Charles and Elizabeth (Lloyd) Cates. Charles Cates was a native of North Carolina, where he was reared and educated, and … Read more

Biography of John Milton Cunningham

John Milton Cunningham. Of the men who have long lent dignity and progressiveness to the business of ranching and farming in Osage County none are held in higher esteem than is John Milton Cunningham, who is now a resident of Caney and one of that city’s leading and influential citizens. During a long and successful career he has been identified prominently with financial matters in several parts of the country, but has always returned to agriculture as a vocation, and in this calling has found his greatest measure of prosperity. Mr. Cunningham was born in the City of Louisville, Kentucky, … Read more

Biography of Prof. Robert Allyn Reed

Prof. Robert Allyn Reed. It is not given to every individual to find a business career that is entirely congenial. The musical genius too frequently finds that circumstances produce for him an environment in the necessary pursuits of every day life that is not satisfying and that bars him from progress and happiness. Happily, however, this has not been the experience of Prof. Robert Allyn Reed, of Coffeyville, who has achieved great success through a broad and comprehensive training and the possession of exceptional inherent talent, and who, as proprietor of the New York School of Music, occupies a very … Read more

Biographical Sketch of Dr. William Proebstel

DR. WILLIAM PROEBSTEL. – Few among our early residents have been more serviceable to society than the gentleman whose name appears above. He was born in Germany in 1829, and is the son of a wine-grower. He received his primary education in the old country, and at the age of thirteen migrated to America, locating in Missouri, remaining there ten years, and receiving from the common schools the rudiments of an English education. He also took a course in dentistry. In 1852 he crossed the plains to Oregon, locating at Portland. The next spring, with two brothers, he purchased the … Read more

Biography of George W. Proebstel

GEORGE W. PROEBSTEL. – The subject of this sketch was born upon a farm in Missouri in 1842. When ten years old he crossed the plains with his father, Jacob Proebstel, driving an ox-team and experiencing the usual hardships attending such a trip. On one occasion he saw his mother pay a dollar a pound for flour, which was hard to secure even at that price. It was the Fourth of July that his party reached Independence Rock, and found there a large train celebrating the holiday with music and dancing. The behavior of the cowboys whom he saw made … Read more

Biography of McCauley Porter

McCAULEY PORTER. – This gentleman, one of the oldest and best farmers in the Willamette valley, was born in Todd county, Kentucky, November 28, 1829. At the age of five he removed with his parents to Montgomery county, Illinois, and in 1845 made with them a new home in Missouri. In 1848, by the prevalent reports and fabulous stories of Oregon everywhere circulated, his attention was drawn to the land by the sunset sea; and with his two brothers, William G. and John E., he set out upon the journey across the plains and mountains. He had ox-teams and loose … Read more

Biography of Matthew Patton

MATTHEW PATTON. – This well-known and now venerable pioneer was born in Monongahela county, Virginia, November 15, 1805. As a child he moved with his parents to Highland county, Ohio, and four years later to Brown county, remaining until he was sixteen years old. Being naturally mechanical, he was sought and gladly received as an apprentice to a cabinet business by a certain Mr. Eli Collins, and at the end of four years of diligent application mastered the trade. Being young and ambitious, he turned his face to the far West, as Ohio, Indiana and Illinois were then called. After … Read more

Biography of Haman C. Lewis

HAMAN C. LEWIS. – This dauntless pioneer of the earliest times in our state was born in New York City January 31, 1803, and was the son of a ship carpenter. He early was apprenticed to learn the trade of a cooper, but while only a boy of fourteen went to sea, serving six months as cabin boy, and later was apprenticed to the ship carpenter. At eighteen he went as sailor – or perhaps more strictly speaking as “fillibusterer” – to the Gulf coast, taking service on a Mexican privateer. For a number of years he followed a most … Read more

Biography of A. Lawrence Lovejoy

A. LAWRENCE LOVEJOY. – The subject of this memoir was born in Groton, Massachusetts, March 14, 1808, and was the third son of Doctor Samuel and Betsey Lawrence Lovejoy, descendants of good English families. His mother, Betsey Lawrence Lovejoy, was a cousin and adopted sister of Amos and Abbot Lawrence of Boston. When quite young he moved with his parents to Townson, Massachusetts, where he was a pupil of the Reverend David Palmer until the age of sixteen, when the death of his mother made it necessary for him to reside with an elder brother in Boston, where he engaged … Read more

Biography of Theodore C. Van Epps

THEODORE C. VAN EPPS. – Mr. Van Epps, a portrait of whom is placed among the illustrations of this work, is one of the best known men in Washington’s capital city. He was born in New Scotland, eight miles west of Albany, New York, February 15, 1847, and is the son of Charles and Angelica (Vedder) Van Epps, both of whom were born in New York of Holland parentage, his mother being a cousin of ex-President Martin Van Buren. His great-grandfather was from Holland, and founded the town of Amsterdam in New York State. At the age of six Theodore … Read more

Young, J.D. – Obituary

J.D. Young, 26, of Apache Flats, Mo., a former Baker County resident, died May 30, 2001, in Callaway County, Mo., as a result of a motor vehicle accident. His funeral was Sunday at the Dulle-Trimble Funeral Home at Jefferson City, Mo. Burial was in Hawthorn Memorial Gardens. Mr. Young was born on Sept. 8, 1974, at Las Vegas, Nev., to Jack Doil Young and Waynese Marie Moore Weston of Fulton. He attended elementary school at Halfway and at Brooklyn and South Baker schools in Baker City. He was a 1993 graduate of South Callaway High School in Missouri and worked … Read more

Biographical Sketch of J. H. Brannon

J. H. Brannon, farmer, Sec. 7; P. O. Oakland; born in Rockingham Co. Va., Sept. 1, 1836, where he engaged in farming until 19 years of age, when, in 1855, he emigrated to Missouri, where his father died soon after his arrival, when he returned to Virginia, remitting during the winter, and, in the spring of 1856, he returned to Illinois, and located in Oakland Tp., Coles Co., and engaged in farming, which business he has since successfully followed; he owns 200 acres of land, mostly under cultivation. His marriage with Sally A. Troxwell was celebrated Nov. 11, 1858; she … Read more

Biography of M. B. Valodin

M. B. Valodin, farmer and stock-raiser; P. O. Oakland; born in Portsmouth, Scioto Co., Ohio, March 28, 1828; at 8 years of age, he removed with his parents to New Madrid, Mo., living there until 1838, at which time his father died, when he removed with his mother and sister to Edgar Co., Ill., where he engaged in farming until 1844, with the exception of one year in which he attended school in Paris; he then went to Wisconsin, where he was engaged at work in the shot tower at Helena, six months, and followed mining the same length of … Read more

Biography of S. A. Reel

S. A. Reel, physician and surgeon, farmer, stock-raiser and dealer in stock, Oakland; born in Gibson Co., Ind., May :3, 1829, where he attended school and engaged in farming until 18 years of age, when he taught school and studied medicine for two years in Missouri and Arkansas, when he cut a raft of lumber, which he took down the Mississippi River to New Orleans, and, after disposing of the same, he returned to Indiana, then to Cincinnati, Ohio, where he attended the Eclectic Medical School one term; in the fall of 1852, he located in Pleasant Grove Tp., Coles … Read more