Biographies
William S. Merriss, farmer and market gardener,
post-office Carthage, comes originally from Franklin county, Ohio,
where he was born Nov. 17, 1816. In 1836 he immigrated to Illinois,
settling in Morgan county, where he bought and improved a farm. He was
married there Feb. 27, 1840, to Miss Eliza Hamilton, also
a native of Ohio, who died two years later. He moved to Fulton county,
Ill., in the fall of 1840, and bought and improved a farm upon which he
lived until 1872. He then sold out and came to Jasper county, Mo., and
embarked in the grocery and provision trade in the city of Carthage,
remaining in that business four years. He purchased the farm upon
which he now lives in 1882. It is nicely situated, one and one-half
miles southeast from the public square of Carthage. He is engaged in
raising fruits and vegetables for the Carthage market, for which
purpose the place is well calculated. He was married to his present
wife, Mrs. Parthena Wadsworth, maiden name Hubbard,
a native of Tioga county, N.Y., Dec. 24, 1843. They are the parents of
two sons, John P. and Henry A., and one
daughter, Eliza S. Mrs. Merriss's first husband was
William Wadsworth, son of Major James D. Wadsworth,
a well known New York soldier of the War of 1812. They were the
parents of one daughter, Clarissa A., wife of Henry Cline,
of Jasper county, Mo.
Source: The History of Jasper County Missouri;
Mills & Company; page 883
A.J. Blake was born in Sarcoxie township, Jasper county,
Mo., May 23, 1844, where he has spent his entire life except the war
period. At the age of seventeen he joined the Fifth Missouri Battalion
State Guards and was engaged at Pea Ridge. Then he joined the First
Missouri Battalion Light Artillery, C. S. A., and participated in the
battles of Cotton Plant, Mansfield, Louisiana; and Jenkins's Ferry. He
returned to his home in July, 1865 and engaged in farming. He was
married Sept. 29, 1869, to Miss Mary L. Duncan, also a
native of Jasper county. They are the parents of three children:
Moses E., Evaline R., and Minerva A.
His farm consists of 205 acres.
Source: The History of Jasper County Missouri;
Mills & Company; page 902
Daniel H. DeBoard, farmer and stock-raiser, section 28,
post-office Avilla, was born in Indiana, Oct. 4, 1846. When an infant
his parents moved to Illinois, and eight years after moved to Marion
county, Iowa. Our subject served his country during the war of the
Rebellion, enlisting in November, 1862, in Company K, Third Iowa
Cavalry, and though but sixteen years old at his enlistment, stood
campaigning like a veteran, never being off duty a single day during
his service. He participated in the Guntown raid, the battles of
Ripley, Jackson, again at Guntown, Shiloh, Memphis, White Station, the
campaign through Arkansas and Missouri, under A. J. Smith. He went
from St. Louis to Louisville, Ky., where the regiment wintered.
Campaigned through Kentucky, Tennessee, Arkansas, Mississippi, Alabama,
Georgia, and into South Carolina, and was under fire nearly every day
during these raids and forced marches. He was at Macon, Ga., when the
news of the armistice reached them, and was mustered out at Atlanta,
Ga., in April, 1865, but was not discharged until the August following,
the government thereby getting some months' service out of the boys
without pay. Returning to his home in Iowa, he doffed the Union blue
and donned the jeans of a farmer. He came to Missouri in 1868; staid
a few months in Barton county, and from there went to Texas, where he
staid one year. He became a resident of Jasper county, Mo., in 1870.
He was married Nov. 26, 1874, to Miss Emma Black, a
native of Macoupin county, Ill. They have one child, Mamie D.,
born June 5, 1876. Mr. DeBoard purchased the farm where he now
lives in 1879, which consists of 200 acres, 130 acres under cultivation.
He commenced without means, and has by persevering industry and hard
knocks accumulated a nice property. He is known in the community as
an honest, hard-working, and good citizen.
Source: The History of Jasper County Missouri;
Mills & Company
Martin Brown, farmer and stock-raiser, section 29,
post-office Avilla, is a native of Germany, born in Prussia, July 19,
1818. He received his education in his native country, and learned the
trade of machinist. He immigrated to the United States in 1849,
locating at St. Louis, Mo., where he worked several years in a
locomotive shop. He was married in that city, May 1, 1856, to
Miss Matilda Lender, also a native of Germany. They are
the parents of six children: John, born Jan. 26, 1857;
Louis, born Nov. 27, 1860; Sigel, born Jan.
26, 1862; Matilda, born Nov. 18, 1868; Frank,
born July 8, 1871; and Etta, born Jan. 8, 1873. Mr. Brown
became a resident of Jasper county in 1868; was here during the dark
days of the civil war, and of course suffered the privations and
depredations incident to these trying times. He was repeatedly raided
and deprived of his property, horses, and goods. The last year of the
war he went to Kansas, returning to the farm at the cessation of
hostilities, since which time he has been quite prosperous. The farm
consists of 280 acres, 130 acres well improved, with good substantial
farm buildings, orchard, etc; also owns a 160 acre farm in Dade county,
Mo. Mr. Brown is much respected in the community; has ever favored
the union of states, and entertains a profound respect for American
institutions.
Source: The History of Jasper County Missouri;
Mills & Company; page 903
William Chappell, farmer, post-office Avilla, was born
in Devonshire, England, Aug. 28, 1827, and immigrated with his parents
to America in 1836, and located near East Bethany, Genesee county, N. Y.,
where the family lived six years, when they removed to Jackson county,
Mich., and purchased a farm, where our subject resided until recently.
At the death of his father, in 1851, he bought out the heirs and
occupied the homestead. He was married in Dec., 1853, to Miss
Emeline Tucker, a native of New York State, who died in 1864,
leaving a family of three children: Emma F., now the wife
of Albert O. Bridenstiene of Springport, Mich.: Arthur
D., and Lilian, deceased. He was again married
March 30, 1865, to Miss Ann Eliza Price, a native of
Lockport, N. Y., daughter of John K. and Clarissa
Price, natives of New York State. Her parents removed to
Calhoun county, Mich., when she was but seven years of age, where she
received a good English education. Three sons and one daughter have
blessed this union: William W., born Nov. 25, 1867;
Samuel B., born Nov. 19, 1871; Perry B., born
April 12, 1874; and Florence, born April 8, 1877. Mr.
Chappell became a resident of Jasper county, Mo., in 1881, and purchased
a fine farm of 188 acres, nicely situated within one mile of Avilla.
There are 148 acres in a good state of cultivation; a good house, barn,
and orchard. Mr. Chappell is well pleased with Missouri, and especially
Jasper county, and will, doubtless, make this his future home.
Source: The History of Jasper County Missouri;
Mills & Company; page 904
G. W. Edinger, farmer, post-office Avilla, was born in
Venango county, Penn., March 16, 1837, and received a good education at
the Jesuit College of Buffalo, N. Y. In 1852 he traveled overland to
Colorado, from there to Oregon, and from there to Vancouver's Island.
While in the far West he engaged at mining and lumbering, and returned
to Pennsylvania in 1859 and engaged at farming in Clarion county. He
enlisted in the Union army in Company G, Third Pennsylvania Volunteer
Infantry, in 1861, and was called into active service shortly after the
inauguration of President Lincoln, and was among the very first troops
at Washington City, and participated at the first battle of Bull Run,
and was mustered out immediately after, their time having previously
expired. He re-enlisted in July, 1862, in Company G, One Hundred and
Fifty-fifth Regiment Pennsylvania Volunteers (Zouaves), and was
attached to the Zouave Brigade of the Fifth Army Corps, and
participated in all the great battles of Virginia. He was wounded
several times, once very severely at Gettysburg; was promoted to the
rank of first lieutenant, and mustered out June 8, 1865. Returning to
Pennsylvania he engaged in oil speculations, and was at one time
wealthy, but unfortunately met with many reverses. Mr. Edinger has
held many prominent positions in civic societies; viz., Grand Master
of the Grand Lodge of the United States, A. O. U. W. He was married in
1869 to Miss Maria Alt, a native of Switzerland, who died the following
year, leaving one child, John G. He was married again April 21, 1874,
to Miss Kate Umstead, a native of Pennsylvania, from which union there
is one child, Alma Grace, born Feb. 1, 1875. Mr. Edinger became a
resident of Jasper county, Mo., in 1880.
Source: The History of Jasper County Missouri;
Mills & Company; pages 904 - 905
Valentine F. Fagg, farmer and stock-raiser, section 36,
post-office Avilla, was born in Franklin county, Tenn., March 5, 1841.
When he was fifteen years old his parents removed to Missouri, and
settled in Boone county. He was reared on a farm, which business he
has always followed. He was married Oct. 25, 1860, to Miss Nancy
E. Fagg, daughter of W. B. and M. G.
Fagg of Alabama. They have six children, five sons and one
daughter: Thos. P., born Dec. 9, 1865; Nancy
A., born April 17, 1868; R. L., born April 11, 1870;
C. A. born March 2, 1872; E. A., born Aug. 1,
1874, and G. C., born Aug. 19, 1879. Mr. Fagg became a
resident of Jasper county in 1877, and purchased the farm upon which
he now lives. The farm consists of 160 acres, 130 acres in good
cultivation, well-watered, also a fine orchard of 150 apple trees, with
numerous peach, pear, and cherry trees of different varieties, all in
good bearing, and of excellent quality. Mr. Fagg has held various
township offices of trust with satisfaction.
Source: The History of Jasper County Missouri;
Mills & Company; page 905
Robert Murray. – An active and
prosperous business man of Carthage, Robert Murray, junior member
of the firm of Mallory & Murray, is identified with the
manufacturing interests of this section of Jasper county, making,
repairing and dealing in vehicles of all descriptions, including
single and double carriages, road carts, driving carts, sulkies
and wagons. He was born, April 13, 1871, in Ashley, Washington
county, Illinois, the year made memorable, especially to the
Illinois people, by the disastrous conflagration that so nearly
destroyed Chicago.
His father, M.F. Murray, was born in
Pennsylvania, of thrifty Scotch ancestry, and as a young man
migrated to the Prairie state, locating in Ashley. His wife,
whose maiden name was Margaret Casner, died several
years ago, her death occurring at Ashley.
In his earlier life Robert Murray spent a number of
years in Princeton, Indiana, and likewise in Princeton, Illinois,
being employed as a mechanic in different railroad shops. Coming
from Illinois to Carthage, Missouri, Mr. Murray was for fourteen
years employed as a blacksmith in the stone quarries, keeping
tools used in quarrying in perfect order, work which he was fully
competent to execute, being an expert in the use of iron and
steel. In 1911 Mr. Murray formed a copartnership with Mr.
J.E. Mallory, and has since carried on an extensive
and thriving business as a manufacturer of vehicles, as mentioned
in a previous paragraph, his mechanical ability and thorough
knowledge of the blacksmith’s trade winning him marked
success in his operations.
Mr. Murray married, at the age of twenty-two years, in
Illinois, Dolly Fox, and to them three children have
been born, namely: Jewett, Saint Elmo, and
Bluebell. Politically Mr. Murray is a consistent
member of the Republican party, and fraternally he belongs to the
Knights and Ladies of Security.
Source: A History of Jasper County Missouri by
Joel T. Livingston
Leonidas P. Cunningham. – Numbered
among the representative members of the bar of Jasper county and
known as one of the leading citizens and substantial capitalists
of Joplin, the thriving metropolis of the county, Leonidas P.
Cunningham well merits recognition in this publication. He is
familiarly known as “Lon” Cunningham, and this
abbreviated title gives evidence of his democratic personality
and also of his popularity in the community with whose interests
he is thus prominently identified.
Mr. Cunningham was born in the city of Wheeling, West
Virginia, on the 15th of January, 1845, and is a son of
John P. and Elizabeth (McClure)
Cunningham. His parents remove to the state of Illinois
when he was about eight years of age, and they passed the closing
years of their lives in Joplin, the father having been engaged in
practicing medicine during the major portion of his active
career. He whose name initiates this review, is indebted to the
common schools of Middlepost, Iroquois county, Illinois, for his
early educational discipline, but, like many another who has
attained to definite success, his education has been gained
mainly in the school of his own ambition. When but fourteen years
of age he became largely dependent upon his own resources and at
the age of fifteen years he entered upon an apprenticeship to the
printer’s trade, to which he devoted his attention for four
years and in connection with which he gained most valuable
discipline of general order. He continued his studies in his
leisure hours and finally proved himself eligible for pedagogic
honors, as is evidenced by the fact that he held the dignified
position of teacher in a district school in Atchison county,
Missouri, for a period of six months. In the meanwhile he had
formulated definite plans for his future career, in which
connection his ambition lay in the direction of the legal
profession. He applied himself closely to the study of law, under
effective preceptorship, and at the age of nineteen years he was
admitted to the bar, at Platte City, Missouri. He initiated
practice of his profession at Rockport, Missouri, and for forty
years he continued in active service as an attorney and counselor
at law. He gained marked prestige as a versatile trial lawyer and
through his labors in his profession he laid the foundation for
his large and substantial success as a man of affairs. He finally
retired from practice, in order to devote his attention to his
varied and important capitalistic and business interests, but is
prominence as a lawyer and the success he achieved in his
profession amply demonstrated the wisdom of his choice of
vocation.
On the 7th of August, 1866, Mr. Cunningham established
his residence in Carthage, the judicial center of Jasper county,
Missouri, and he has continued to maintain his home in this
county during the long intervening years, which have been marked
by earnest and fruitful endeavor on his part. He followed the
work of his profession at Carthage until March, 1877, when he
removed to Joplin, where he has since resided, and he has been
prominently identified with the material and civic development
and upbuilding of this thriving industrial city. During the years
of his professional activities Mr. Cunningham was concerned with
much important litigation in the circuit and district courts of
not only Missouri but also of Kansas and Texas, and he likewise
presented many important causes in the appellate and federal
courts of his home state and in the supreme court of the United
States. With a broad and accurate knowledge of the science of
jurisprudence and with splendid dialectic powers. Mr. Cunningham
gained a place in the front rank of the members of the Missouri
bar, and his fame as an advocate far transcended local
limitations, the while his personal integrity ad honor lent
dignity to the profession of his choice.
A man of progressive ideas and high civic ideals, Mr.
Cunningham has found many avenues along which to direct his
energies aside from the course of his profession. In July, 1871,
he became associated with Hon. John S. Phelps
(former governor of Missouri), Colonel Henry C.
Young, of Springfield, this state; J.B.
Perkins, of Pierce City; J.P. Boyd and
Charles Marquis, of Sarcoxie township, Jasper
county; and Colonel E.H. Brown, of Carthage, in the
organization of the Memphis, Carthage & Northwestern Railroad
Company, and it may be noted that of these valued coadjutors in
the important enterprise he is now the only survivor. Mr.
Cunningham was elected president of the company and under his
effective administration the road was constructed and placed in
operation from Pierce city to Sarcoxie, Carthage, Oronogo and
Smithfield, and thence to Columbus, Kansas. This line proved of
inestimable benefit in developing the resources and furthering
the civic progress of Jasper County and other sections tributary
to the road, and it is now a part of the main line of the Frisco
system between St. Louis and San Francisco. At a later period Mr.
Cunningham became associated with Colonel E.H. Brown and the firm
of Moffet & Sergeant in the construction of the Joplin &
Girard Railroad, which property, after a number of years of
successful operation, was finally sold to the Frisco Lines
corporation. He was also associated with Moffet & Sergeant in
projecting and building the Kansas City, Joplin & Little Rock
Railroad, the completion of which was stopped by its sale to the
Frisco company.
It will thus be seen that Mr. Cunningham has shown the
qualities of leadership in enterprises of great benefit to the
general public, and in his home city and county his progressive
policies have led him into other undertakings that have likewise
conserved social, industrial and commercial advancement. He has
been specially active in connection with real-estate operations,
in connection with which he has platted and compassed the
effective improvement of several important additions to the
cities of Joplin and Carthage. He has also purchased and sold
many thousands of acres of farm lands in Jasper and other
counties and his handling of the city lots in both Joplin and
Carthage has been so ordered as to inure greatly to the benefit
of both communities. His public sprit was further manifested
through his forming an alliance with Judge O.H.
Picher and Patrick Murphy, with whom he was
associated in the building and operation of the Joplin water
works, which they finally sold. Mr. Cunningham is also one of
those who have been prominently identified with the exploiting
and development of the great zinc industry in Jasper county. He
was one of the eight men who built and placed in operation the
Joplin Zinc Works, besides which he was one of the organizers of
the company that established the Joplin woolen mills and also
that which placed in operation the Keller wagon factory in
Joplin. He furnished the entire capital for the inauguration of
operations by the Joplin Overall Company. He was indefatigable in
his efforts to secure adequate railroad facilities for Joplin,
and all lines entering the city secured his earnest co-operation,
both in the matter of influence and capitalistic support. He was
one of a small party of representative citizens who contributed
forty thousand dollars to aid in the erection of the Connor
hotel, in Joplin, and his individual contribution of three
thousand dollars was the largest given by any person except
Gilbert Barbee, who gave an equal amount. Through
such liberality on the part of leading citizens was secured to
Joplin a hotel of the best metropolitan type and the improvement
has materially add to the prestige of the city.
Alive to all that touches the best interest of the
community and loyal to all civic responsibilities imposed by
personal success, Mr. Cunningham has given liberal support to all
measures and enterprises that have tended to advance the general
welfare. He was a generous contributor to the Children’s
Home in Joplin, and in conjunction with Samuel H.
Regan, of Carthage, he gave the ground for the erection of
the present fine government building in that city. That this
donation was not one of mere nominal order is shown by the fact
that he had paid twenty thousand dollars in cash for the ground
thus given for public use. Mr. Cunningham has been one of the
largest owners of real estate in Jasper county, and here his
holdings are still extensive and valuable. He has large
investments in mining properties in his home county and has been
an influential factor in the development of the fine mineral
resources of this section of the state. He is also the owner of
valuable natural springs property in Lawrence county, and it is
his intention to so develop this property to supply therefrom the
purest of water for general municipal and domestic use in Joplin,
Carthage, Sarcoxie and Webb City, and eventually Kansas City.
Even the brief data here given afford ample evidence of the
versatile genius and splendid organizing powers of Mr.
Cunningham, and the value of his work will prove cumulative in
coming years.
A man of broad mental ken and of well fortified opinions
as to matters of public polity, Mr. Cunningham has ever given an
unqualified allegiance to the Republican party. He has been an
effective advocate of its principles and policies, has been a
delegate to various party conventions and has been a valued
campaign speaker, though he has never permitted his name to
appear in connection with candidacy for political office, having
held his profession and his business interests as worthy of his
undivided attention. He has been in the most significant sense
the artificer of his own fortunes, and has felt the lash of
necessity, so that he has due appreciation of the dignity of
honest toil and endeavor, has naught of intellectual intolerance,
and places true valuations upon both men and affairs. He has been
one of the builders of Joplin, one of the leading industrial
cities of the southwest, and popular approbation accorded him
well indicates the status and character of the man himself. He is
identified with various social and fraternal organizations of
representative order, including the Benevolent and Protective
Order of Elks, and he is a citizen whose merits and
accomplishments render most consonant this brief tribute in the
history of the county that has so long been his home.
Source: A History of Jasper County Missouri; by
Joel T. Livingston
Jacob A. Shepherd, lumberman, was born in
Philadelphia, Pa., May 7, 1825. His parents, James
and Rachel (Freeze) Shepherd, were also natives of
the Keystone State. His grandparents on both father and
mother’s side were natives of England, the former of
Sheffield. Our subject grew to manhood in Philadelphia, and was
educated in the Quaker schools. When about twenty years of age he
commenced work for the P., B. & W.R.R., and one year later he
accepted a position as foreman on bridges on the B. & O., and
had charge of work-shops and store-house at Martinsburgh, Va;
continued in that position five years, and then took charge of
the sixth division of that road. In 1856 he came west to
Illinois, and took charge of the center division of the I.C.R.R.,
and in 1857 took charge as superintendent of all bridges on that
line. In 1863 he moved to Knox county, that state, and there
engaged in farming for nearly nine years. He then came west to
Kansas and opened a lumber yard at Baxter Springs, at the same
time engaging I mining and smelting in Harrison county, Ark.; he
came to Joplin in 1872 and established his present business. Mr.
S. was married in Trenton, N.J., Oct. 13, 1850, to Miss
Sarah C., daughter of Daniel and
Jane Thorne, of that place. Mrs. S. was born in New
Jersey, Nov. 15, 1830. This union has been blessed with thirteen
children: Rosalie Isabell, born Feb. 21, 1851;
Mary L., born Dec. 26, 1851, and died Aug. 21, 1852;
Mary E., born March 16, 1853; Rachel
J., born Aug. 9, 1854, and died April 6, 1874; Sarah
V., born Oct. 19, 1858, and died Feb. 14, 1882; John
A., born Oct. 23, 1858, and died Dec. 19, of the same
year; Ann, born Jan. 19, 1861; Emma T.,
born Feb. 26, 1863; Chas. C., born May 7, 1865;
Ellen M., born Feb. 6, 1867; Wendal B.,
born Aug. 17, 1869; Frederick, born July 28, 1873,
and died Aug. 31, 1874; and Edward Lee, born Aug.
30, 1877. Mr. and Mrs. Shepherd have a very pleasant home on the
corner of Main and Ninth streets, and enjoy the confidence and
esteem of all with whom they are engaged in social and business
relations. Mr. S. has been established longer here than any other
lumberman in the city, and is certainly deserving of the liberal
patronage which his enterprise and fair-dealing has gained for
him.
Source: The History of Jasper County; Mills &
Company
John S. DeHart, post-office Carthage,
farmer, located on section 25, Sheridan township, was born in
Knox county, Ohio, Aug. 31, 1818, and reared in the village of
Martinsburg. When he was twelve years of age he moved with his
parents on a farm. He is the son of William and
Catharine Dehart, natives of New Jersey. Of ten
children John is the eighth child. He was married in 1841, July
14th, to Miss Harriet, daughter of
William and Nellie Taylor. Mr. Dehart
rented for ten years, and then bought 160 acres of timber land,
cleared off a farm, and lived there twenty-one years. He then
sold out and came to Jasper county, Mo., locating on his present
farm of 160 acres, and has improved it greatly. He has one of the
best springs in the county, a stone milk-house, a good granary,
dwelling house, and two good orchards. Mr. and Mrs. Dehart have
one child, named Charles S., born in Allen county,
Ohio, April 11, 1847, who was educated in Allen county, and moved
to Jasper county with his parents, and has lived with them all
his life. He married Miss Mary Jane Orbeck Jan. 22,
1870. She was the daughter of Conrad and Katie
Orbeck; her father was a native of Pennsylvania and her
mother of Ohio. Charles S. and wife has six children, names
Isaac S., Clara M., John J., Sarah A., Ora, and
Delphi. His father, John Dehart, is a member of the
Masonic order, and is universally known and respected.
Source: The History of Jasper County; Mills &
Company
Page updated Thursday, March 04, 2004
© 2004 Renessa Lewis
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