Biographies
Willard L. Butts. – Like thousands of
other men in the United States who have become distinguished in
business or professional life, Willard L. Butts, one of the
leading lawyers of Jasper county and the Southwest, passed his
boyhood and youth on his father’s farm and acquired habits
of useful industry in doing his full share of the labor incident
to its cultivation. And like others, also, he felt within him the
yearnings of an ambitious spirit that longed to be among men in a
greater aggregate and connected with their striving activities in
an intellectual rather than a physical way, even while he found
freedom, independence and a varied field for thought and effort
in farm work and throve on the self-reliance it developed.
Mr. Butts is a native of Kentucky, and was born at
Carrollton, in Carroll county of that state on March 18, 1873.
His parents, John W. and Susanna M. (Cox)
Butts, were also natives of Kentucky, the former of an old
Virginia ancestry that came to this country from England in
colonial days, an the latter descended from old Scotch families
that were among the early arrivals in Maryland. The father was
born on June 9, 1840, and died on February 1, 1904. The mother,
who was born on February 5, 1843, is still living and has her
home on the old family homestead at Carrollton, Kentucky.
The subject of this brief memoir comes of martial
strain, and shows it in his fighting proclivities in his
professional work. His great-grandfather on his father’s
side, who was a resident of Culpeper county, Virginia, was a
valiant soldier in the war of 1812, and John W. Butts, the father
of Willard L., saw three years hard service in the Confederate
army during our Civil war and took part in numerous engagements,
especially those fought with the forces under the renowned
Confederate raider, General Morgan. He belonged to the Fourth
Kentucky Cavalry, and although almost continually in the field or
on the march, was never either wounded or taken prisoner during
his service.
Willard L. Butts was the first born of his
parents’ four children, two daughters and two sons. He
obtained his academic training in the public schools and at
Hanover College in the city of the same name in Indiana,
receiving the degree of Master of Arts from that institution in
1904. His professional studies were conducted in the law
department of the University of Louisville, Kentucky, from which
he was graduated with the degree of LL. B. in the class of 1895,
and he then began to look for a location suited to his desires
for the development of a professional career.
On November 19, 1897, he became a resident of Joplin,
fate or good judgment having led him into pleasant associations
and a promising field for his work, and immediately began
practicing his profession. One month later he formed a
partnership with R.A. Pearson, creating the law firm
of Pearson & Butts, which is still in very active general
practice and has risen to the first rank in the profession in
this part f the country. Its office at 314 Main street is a busy
place in all but slack time, as the firm is engaged in every case
of importance tried in this or any adjacent county within an
extensive radius of the surrounding country.
The local affairs of his city and county have always
been deeply interesting to Mr. Butts, and have had his careful
and intelligent attention. He has proven himself a wise counselor
in reference to them and a very energetic and influential agency
in helping to secure their bet administration and promote all
lines of enduring and wholesome development and improvement. He
is at present (1911) a member of the Joplin municipal light
board, and as such is in a position to gratify his strong desire
to render the people of the community good service and secure for
them every advantage available from their public utilities.
He is connected with the fraternal life of the community
by his membership in Joplin Lodge, No. 335, of the Masonic order,
and is helpful in religious matters through his zealous
membership in the Baptist church. On June 15, 1904, he was
married in Carrollton, Kentucky, to Miss Virgie Voris
Giltner, who was born in that town on March 4, 1882, a
daughter of J.M. and Ida (Phillips)
Giltner, old settlers there. One child has blessed the
union and brightened the family circle, a daughter named
Virginia, whose life began in Joplin on March 10, 1907.
All the aid Mr. Butts has had working out his
advancement among man is embraced in his educational facilities,
which were provided for him by his parents. The rest of his
acquisitions and achievements are the fruits of his own natural
ability and his intelligence and industry in developing it and
applying it to whatever his hand has found to do. He stands well
at the bar, is highly esteemed by his professional brethren, has
a strong hold on the confidence and good will of the people, and
is regarded wherever he is known as one of the most estimable and
representative citizens of Jasper county and the state of
Missouri.
Source: History of Jasper County by Joel T. Livingston
Capt. Bennett J. Cooper, a pioneer farmer,
who is now living virtually retired at Sarcoxie, in Jasper
county, Missouri, is a native of Tennessee and a scion of fine
old revolutionary stock, his paternal grandfather, Dabney
Cooper, having served as a gallant and faithful soldier in
the war for Independence. His maternal grandfather, Joel
Tolar, served in the war of 1812 and fought under General
Andrew Jackson at the battle of New Orleans. Not to
be outdone by his ancestors, Captain Cooper, of this notice, at
the time of the inception of the Civil war, became an ardent
sympathizer with the Union cause and served as a member of
Company F, First Tennessee Volunteer Mounted Infantry, from
October 21, 1863, to May, 1865. He was promoted from a private to
the rank of captain of his company, and he served in a number of
important campaigns, marking the progress of the war, the history
of his military career being coincident with that of his
regiment.
Captain Cooper was born near Lafayette, in Macon county,
Tennessee, on the 28th of January, 1834, being the son of
Dabney and Luaney (Tolar) Cooper, both
of whom were born in Tennessee. The former was a farmer during
the greater part of his active career and he was summoned to
eternal rest in 1844, at which time Captain Cooper was a mere
youth. Being thus bereft of paternal care and guidance in early
life, he began to shift for himself. His early education was of
but meager order, and consisted of such advantages as were
afforded in the schools of the locality and period. From 1852 to
the outbreak of the Civil war he worked as a farm laborer in
various parts of Tennessee, and during the latter half of the war
he served as a soldier in the Union Army, as previously noted. In
November, 1866, he came to Jasper county locating near Sarcoxie,
where, in company with four other young men, he purchased a tract
of four hundred acres of land. At one time he owned as much as
one hundred and sixty acres of some of the finest land in this
section of the state and for a number of years he was most
successfully engaged in diversified agriculture and the raising
of high grade stock. In 1891, however, he disposed of his
holdings and since that time he has lived a life of retirement in
Sarcoxie, where he is beloved and respected by scores of friends
all of whom honor him for his sterling integrity and numerous
fine qualities.
On his trip from Tennessee to Missouri, Captain Cooper
was accompanied by his sister, Valerie J., who was
the wife of G.G. Meador, formerly Captain of Company
A, Eighth Tennessee Volunteers Infantry, in the Union Army.
Captain Meador was identified with agricultural pursuits in the
vicinity of Sarcoxie. Captain and Mrs. Meador reared to maturity
six children, all of whom reside in and near LaRussell. Captain
Meador died in 1899 and his wife died in 1881. Captain Cooper has
never married.
In politics, Captain Cooper is a stalwart in the ranks
of the Republican party, and although he has never been the
incumbent of any political office, strictly speaking, he has
never manifested a deep and sincere interest in all matters
projected for the good of the general welfare. He retains a deep
and abiding interest in his old comrades in arms, and signifies
the same by membership in Curtis Post, No. 84, G.A.R., Department
of Missouri, and in addition to membership in that organization,
he is also affiliated with Sarcoxie Lodge N. 293, Ancient Free
and Accepted Masons at Sarcoxie. In his religious adherency he is
an attendant of the Baptist church, to whose philanthropical work
he has contributed most generously.
Captain Cooper is a modest, unassuming man, genial and
inspiring. He is a man of quick perceptions, and while he has now
attained to the venerable age of seventy-eight years, he is still
upright and active, retaining in much of their pristine vigor the
splendid mental and physical qualities of his youth. He is broad
minded and liberal in his views, is tolerant of the opinions of
others, and it has been said concerning him that his charity
knows only the bounds of his opportunity.
Source: History of Jasper County by Joel T.
Livingston
 Charles A. Robinson. – Through an
extensive and varied experience in newspaper work Charles A.
Robinson, of Joplin, acquired a knowledge of men, their methods
of thought and impulses to action, and of the world in general,
which qualified him well for almost any other line of productive
endeavor for which he was adapted by natural endowment and
inclination, and has made him successful in all his undertakings.
He was a poor boy and early in life found himself at the mercy of
the buffets of fate and compelled to take care of himself and
work his own way to comfort and consequence among men. He
accepted his destiny with cheerfulness and entered upon the task
before him with alacrity, applying all his powers to whatever he
had to do and making every hour of his labor to his
advantage.
Mr. Robinson is a native of our adjoining state of
Kansas, and was born in its county of Johnson on July 9, 1875.
His father, Richard C. Robinson, was born and reared
in Ohio, and the mother, who maiden name was Mary
Miller, was a native of Illinois. They are now living in
Neosho county, Kansas, where they are profitably engaged in
farming and generally esteemed as among the most worthy and
useful citizens of the prolific and progressive region in which
they live.
They were the parents of nine children, of whom Charles
A. was the third in the order of birth, but the eldest of the six
that survived. He obtained a limited education in the public
school in Olathe, Kansas, attending it until he reached the age
of eleven years. The exigencies of his situation then compelled
him to go to work for himself, and he began his useful and
progressive career as a newsboy, selling the old line newspapers
of Kansas City. He was so apt and alert in his work, and so
keenly on the lookout for something better, that he soon secured
a more agreeable and remunerative position in the circulation
department of the Kansas City Journal. His duties in this
engagement were to establish agencies and news depots in various
places, and thus help to build up the circulation of the paper.
He was very energetic and successful in his efforts and won high
commendation from the paper for his enterprise.
He continued in connection with newspaper work in Kansas
City until 1894, then went to Chicago and secured employment in
the circulation department of the Chicago Tribune, with which he
was connected about three years. In 1897 he came West again and
located in Kansas City, Missouri, where he opened a retail
grocery store, establishing himself at the corner of Main and
Thirty-first streets. One year of mercantile life was enough for
him at that time, and at the end of it he returned to the
newspaper line, taking employment in the circulation department
of the Joplin Globe. He remained with the Globe nine years, and
made an excellent record in its service.
In 1908 he was appointed receiving teller of the Joplin
Gas Company, a position in which he has given eminent
satisfaction to his employer and its patrons, and extended and
intensified the general esteem in which he has always been held.
He is careful and correct in his work, courteous and obliging in
his demeanor, constant in attention to the requirements of his
position and faithful in the performance of every duty. These
traits of character, together with his well known ability and his
loyal service on all occasions to his political party, induced
his party to appoint him city clerk under the Democratic
administration of 1911.
Mr. Robinson is a firm believer in the political
principles of the Democratic party and an earnest and effective
worker for its success in all campaigns. He is recognized by both
its leaders and its rank and file. He knows the voters and how to
commend the cause he represents to their judgment and approval,
and is therefore able to render great service to the organization
and its candidates whenever he takes the field, as he always
does.
His ancestors on his father’s side of the house
came to this country from the north of Ireland and located in
Ohio. Members of the family have helped materially to develop and
build up that great state, and have written their record in its
history in lines very creditable to themselves and deeds very
serviceable to the commonwealth. Succeeding generations have
lived and labored in many states, and everywhere have well
sustained the traditions and inspiring examples furnished by the
earlier arrivals and residents of the family connection on
American soil.
Mr. Robinson was married in Kansas City, Missouri, on
June 9, 1897, to Miss Nellie Norris, a daughter of
Captain W.H.P. Norris, a valiant soldier in the
Twenty-first Missouri Infantry during the Civil war. They have
one child, Charles A. Robinson, Jr., whose life
began in Joplin on June 26, 1904. The parents are members of the
Methodist Episcopal church, South. They have an attractive home
in Joplin, at 616 North Joplin street.
Source: History of Jasper County by Joel T.
Livingston
Calvary Chapman, section 20, post-office Avilla, is a native of West Virginia, born in Kanawha county, Oct. 30, 1825, and was there reared to manhood and learned the cooper's trade in his father's shop. He was married in his native county, July 12, 1848, to Miss Mary J. Payne, and the following year immigrated to Ohio, and carried on a cooper-shop at Proctorville, in that state, until 1855, when he moved to Des Moines county, Iowa, where he remained two years, when he became a citizen of Jasper county, Mo., locating where he now lives. At the breaking out of the civil war Mr. Chapman espoused the cause of the Union, and volunteered in the Seventy-sixth Regiment Enrolled Missouri Militia, going into active service. His family remaining at home, subject to all the dangers and indignities of these trying times, were repeatedly raided by bushwhackers and deprived of everything movable. Their horses being driven off early in the struggle, forced the family to remain, and the hardships endured by them would fill a volume. Their daughter, then a girl of fifteen, was forced to take off her shoes and give them to a party of raiders. At one time Mr. Chapman came home and went with his wife and several neighbors to Fort Scott to purchase supplies, and on their return were met by a party and everything taken from them; the shawl taken from his wife and coat and hat from himself. In this condition they had to return to their home by a long night's ride, with oxen-a cold night in October. After the cessation of hostilities Mr. Chapman, with the poor facilities left him, again commenced improving his land, and has been quite prosperous. His farm consists of 200 acres of improved land, also forty acres of timber. His wife died Dec. 17, 1876, leaving a family of six children: Elizabeth J., wife of J. L. Striker; Sarah F., wife of L. Van Tarter; Charles W., Morris D., Mary S., and Harriet. He married for his second wife, Mrs. Caledonia Wilson, daughter of John C. Batton (should be Bottom), Oct. 28, 1880. Of this union there is one child, Abner D.
Source: The History of Jasper County Missouri;
Mills & Company; pgs. 903 - 904
Orrin E. Foster. – One of the
important factors in the development of the mercantile interests
and mining resources of Jasper county is Orrin E. Foster, a
hardware merchant, who together with Messrs. Barbee
and Malone has control of large mining properties
and in this field has done much to contribute to the material
prosperity of the section. He is a man of fine executive ability
and initiative and in the twenty-one years elapsing since his
first identification with the city he has played a praiseworthy
part not only as a business man but as a loyal and
public-spirited citizen, sufficiently broad-minded to rate the
general prosperity above individual advantage.
Mr. Foster was born March 27, 1865, in Hardin county,
Iowa, the son of Orrin and Almyra (Stickel)
Foster. The father was a native of the state of Ohio and
in 1842 migrated to the state in which the subject was born. He
was one of the early pioneers and made the journey to the new
location by wagon, there being no accommodations in the way of
railroads in that section at the time. He secured a homestead in
the new country and set about subduing the untamed acres. He must
have been a man of remarkable energy, for together with the
herculean tasks presented by the new farm, he met the duties of
his profession, - that of a physician – and was useful and
successful in both lines of endeavor. Orrin Foster, the elder,
remained in that section of Iowa for a number of years, but later
in life removed to Kansas, where he died in 1879. The
subject’s mother was born in the year 1830, at Barnville, a
suburb of Nashville, Tennessee. This admirable lady died in
Joplin in 1906, at an advanced age.
Orrin Foster was a lad of about eight years of age when
his parents removed to Kansas in 1873. They located near Parsons,
Labette county, which at that time was a wild part of the state,
and the peculiar experiences of the pioneer were to young Orrin
an interesting adventure, despite the fact that at an early age
it became incumbent upon him to lend a helping hand. Such
educational advantages as Parsons afforded he availed himself of,
but in 1883 he concluded that he had had enough schooling and was
ready to go to work to earn his own living. He found employment
with the M.K. & T. Railroad Company, and worked for them in
various capacities until 1890, when he concluded to make a hazard
of new fortunes and, having looked about for a location in which
to try out his abilities, found his choice influenced by the
attractions and advantages of Joplin. Upon his arrival here he
secured a position with the Whitman Hardware Company, remaining
with them until the sold out. He then entered the employ of
Halyard Hardware Company and continued in their service for seven
years, and at the end of that time, no being handicapped by the
fear of making a change, he formed a partnership with W.A.
Sheppard and remained associated with him in the hardware
business for four years. He then sold out his interest to Mr.
Sheppard and entered into a partnership with Mr. Murray in
the hardware business, which interest he still hold. His mining
interests have been previously mentioned and his association in
this field with Messrs. Barbee and Malone. Mr. Foster has other
vested interests and has been peculiarly successful in all his
ventures, building up a comfortable fortune and enjoying high
prestige in commercial circles.
In April, 1885, Mr. Foster established an independent
household by his union with Miss Virginia Murray, of
Hagerstown, Maryland, their marriage being celebrated at
Neodesha, Kansas. Mrs. Foster is a daughter of Andrew
J. and Susan (Hurshburger) Murray. Their
happy union has been further cemented by the birth of three
children, namely: Albert J., born May 20, 1886, at
Neodesha Kansas, now a member of the city fire department;
Elizabeth Lavisa, born August 20, 1890, at Parsons,
Kansas, a student in the Joplin high school; and Helen
Fern, born March 23, 1896, and attending Jackson school at
the present writing.
Mr. Foster finds fraternal enjoyment as a member of the
Independent Order of Odd Fellows; pays fealty to the policies and
principles of the Democratic party; and is a zealous member of
the Methodist church. He has proved a prominent factor in the
development of the city and is hopeful of seeing the time when
Joplin will be the metropolis of the south.
Source: A History of Jasper County Missouri; By
Joel T. Livingston
Edward Lee Shepherd. – One of the
most brilliant young representatives of the Jasper county bar is
Edward Lee Shepherd, whose attainments in his chosen profession
have already proved of the soundest and most effective character.
He is particularly well-born, his ancestors on both sides of the
house having been stalwart defenders of American liberty and fine
exponents of the highest type of citizenship since Revolutionary
days, while his father, the late Jacob A. Shepherd,
was for nearly forty years one of the most sincerely respected
and useful of the residents of the city. In addition to his other
claims to distinction Mr. Shepherd was able to give signal mark
of his own patriotism by enlisting at the time of the
Spanish-American war.
Edward Lee Shepherd is one of Joplin’s native
sons, his birth having occurred in this city August 30, 1876. His
father, Jacob A., was a native of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania,
where his eyes first opened to the light of day, in the year
1827. He came to Missouri in 1870 and was sufficiently attracted
by the charms and advantages of Joplin to take up his permanent
residence here. It was his distinction to establish the first
lumber yards in the town and it was he also who built the first
two-story residence here, the same being situated on what is now
Main street. He was a man of great public spirit and he labored
manfully for the enlightened progress of the community in which
his interests were centered and gave particularly excellent
service as a member of the school board and the city council. The
mother, whose maiden name was Sarah Coleman Thorne,
was a native of Trenton, New Jersey. This admirable woman was
called to her eternal rest in October, 1911.
Edward Lee Shepherd was the youngest in a family of
thirteen children. He received his primary education in the
schools of Joplin and subsequently entered the Marmaduke Military
Academy and after graduating from that institution, became a
student in the law department of the State University of
Missouri, at Columbia, being graduated with the class of 1898,
with the degree of L.L. B. After the latter event he went almost
immediately into service in the Spanish-American war and was made
first lieutenant of Company G, Twenty-second Missouri Regiment,
of which Colonel William K. Caffee was commanding
officer. The regiment saw no active service and after his
discharge Mr. Shepherd returned to Joplin and began the practice
of the law which he continued alone until July, 1908, when he
formed a partnership with Robert A. Mooneyhan. This
association was continued until January, 1911, when it was
dissolved and Mr. Shepherd has continued alone since that time,
engaged in general practice. He has been in the field for more
than a decade and has won recognition as one of the gifted
members of the profession in the field of southwestern Missouri.
He has held the office of tax attorney for Joplin and is now
assistant prosecuting attorney for the county. He has other
interests of large scope and importance in addition to his
practice, and is a director of the Cunningham National Bank and
also attorney for that monetary institution. Politically Mr.
Shepherd gives heart and hand to the men and measures of the
republican party, in whose affairs he has always taken an active
interest. He is an enthusiastic member of the time-honored
Masonic order, belonging to Fellowship lodge, No. 345, and he is
also affiliated with the Knights of Pythias and the Commercial
Club. In the good causes of the Bethania Presbyterian church he
is one of the zealous workers, and is a trustee and deacon in the
church organization. Mr. Shepherd is identified with those
organizations looking toward the unification and advancement of
the profession of which he stands an enlightened representative,
belonging to both the State and American Bar Associations.
In July, 1907, Mr. Shepherd became a recruit to the
ranks of the Benedicts, at Westfield, Hamilton county, Indiana,
Miss Maude White, daughter of John F.
White, also a native of Westfield, becoming his wife and
mistress of his household. The Whites are old settlers of
Hamilton county and highly respected in the community. The home
of the subject and his wife is one of the attractive abodes of
Joplin.
Mr. Shepherd’s paternal ancestors came from
Sheffield, England. Three brothers, Jeff,
John and James (the latter being the
great-grandfather of the subject), came as British soldiers at
the time of the Revolutionary war, being members of the British
Dragoons. One of the brothers was reprimanded, as he thought
unjustly, on a matter of discipline, and induced the two others
to desert the British army. They joined General Washington at
White Marsh and fought under him throughout the war, remaining at
its close to be American citizens and receiving for their
services a grant of land near Philadelphia. The maternal
ancestors were English Quakers and came to America before the
Revolution. G.G.F. Coleman, in direct line with the
subject, was a soldier in Washington’s army and
participated in the battles of Trenton and Princeton. He lived
and died in Trenton, New Jersey.
Source: A History of Jasper County Missouri; By
Joel T. Livingston
Edward J. Pearson. – As the years
relentlessly mark the milestones on the pathway of time, the
older generation slowly gives way to the new and gradually there
passes from our midst the men who made our country what it is and
built up this western empire for the men of now. In every
generation and in every community some few men leave an indelible
imprint upon the history of that community and upon the memory of
those who have known them by their ability to fight and win even
against great odds, and by that kind of character which wins
lasting friends because of that innate quality which people know
as loyalty. Edward J. Pearson, who passed into the great beyond
at his home in Joplin, Missouri, on the 18th of December, 1907,
was one of those.
Edward J. Pearson was one of the best known men in the
city of Joplin, where he figured prominently in business and
public affairs from the time of his arrival here, in 188, to the
time of his death, in 1907. Mr. Pearson acquitted himself with
the efficiency which is always a characteristic of signal ability
in every undertaking to which he directed his attention. He was a
native son of the state of Kansas, his birth having occurred at
Lawrence on the 22nd of September, 1865. He was a son of
William and Sarah Pearson, and when a
small boy his parents removed to Cherryvale, Montgomery county,
Kansas, where he was reared to maturity. His preliminary
educational training consisted of such advantages as were offered
in the public schools of Cherryvale, the same being effectively
supplemented by extensive reading and by instruction from that
greatest of all teachers, Experience. He initiated his
independent business career as a clerk in the hardware store of
Butler & Grickleton, of Cherryvale, and he continued to be
identified with that line of enterprise for a number of years.
Subsequently he was employed as a clerk in a dry goods house at
Baxter Springs, Kansas. In 1888, however, he severe is
connections with the firm last mentioned and came to Joplin,
Missouri, where he soon became connected with the J.J. Graham
Grocery Company, of which he became president and general manager
on the death of Mr. Graham. When that concern went out of
business, in 1904, Mr. Pearson became district representative of
various cigar manufacturers and for a time he was himself engaged
in the cigar manufacturing business. At the time of his demise he
was representing several of the largest cigar concerns in the
country.
In his political convictions Mr. Pearson was a staunch
advocate of the principles and polices promulgated by the
Democratic party, in the local councils of which he was an active
and zealous factor. He was closely identified with the local
leaders of the party and at election time many of the details of
the campaign were entrusted to his never failing activity and
energy. He was a close personal friend of the late Thomas
Connor, whom he served in the capacity of private
secretary during that gentleman’s incumbency of the office
of state senator in the Missouri legislature. His work as a
designer of some of the laws that have been adopted by the state
government is well known and fully appreciated. “He was
skilful in debate, a parliamentarian of ability and knew the
rules of the political game thoroughly.” He was a member of
the house committee of the state legislature at the time of his
call to the great beyond. He was an especially prominent member
in the local lodge of the Benevolent and Protective Order of
Elks, in which he was honored with many important positions of
trust and responsibility. As a citizen he was decidedly loyal and
public spirited and no one in Joplin commanded a higher degree of
popular confidence and esteem than did he. His extraordinary
executive ability and indefatigable energy won for him the place
he occupied in the business world and his jovial disposition and
broad human sympathy endeared him to the hearts of all with whom
he came in contact, the list of his personal friends being
practically coincident with that of his acquaintances.
Mr. Pearson was twice married, but there were no
children born of the first marriage. In the year 1895, on the
15th of May, at Joplin, was solemnized the marriage of Mr.
Pearson to Miss Pearl Graham, a daughter of
John James and Hettie (Campbell)
Graham. Mr. Graham was born in Athens, Ohio, and Mrs.
Graham in Maysville, Kentucky. To this union was born one child,
Graham Pearson, who was born on the 7th of March,
1899. Mrs. Pearson is a woman of many accomplishments, and during
his lifetime was her husband’s closest friend and
companion. Their domestic relations were of an ideal character,
marked by complete devotion and unstinted conjugal affection.
Surviving Mr. Pearson are a mother who resides in California; a
widow and a son.
As indicating the generous and sympathetic personality
of the man and the appreciation in which he was held by his
fellow citizens, the following brief statements are taken from an
article which appeared in the Joplin News Herald at the
time of Mr. Pearson’s death.
“Mr. PEARSON was conscious to within a few
minutes of his death, his last words being: ‘Tell the
people that my heart is all right.’ In these last words Ed
Pearson epitomized a character that was loved by even his
enemies. Those who knew Ed Pearson’s failings loved him for
his faults. Those who knew his goodness of heart forgot that he
possessed faults. In that he loved his fellowman and had for all
a kindly sympathy and a generosity that was one of his chief
characteristics, his heart was right. His benevolence was as
broad as the field of thought; his desire to aid and befriend his
neighbors was sincere and tactful. The closing speech of his
career was typical of his nature.”
Source: A History of Jasper County Missouri; By
Joel T. Livingston
George W. Miller, M.D. – The sterling
character and fine professional attainments of Dr. Miller have
given him prestige as one of the honored and essentially
representative physicians and surgeons of Jasper county, and he
has been engaged in active general practice in the city of Joplin
for more than a score of years. In point of service he thus takes
precedence of the greater number of his professional confreres in
the county, and by them he is held in unqualified confidence and
esteem, as is indicated by the fact that he has served as
president of the Jasper County Medical Society.
The family of which Dr. Miller is a worthy scion was
founded in America in the colonial days and the lineage is traced
back to staunch English origin. The progenitors in America were
members of the Society of Friends and first settled in New
Jersey, whence representatives later removed to Pennsylvania,
with whose history the name has been identified for many
generations. Dr. Miller himself is a native of the Keystone
state, which is endeared to him by the gracious memories and
associations of the past. He was born at Brownsville, Fayette
county, Pennsylvania, on the 28th of May, 1845, and is a son of
Thomas and Hanna (Rammage) Miller, both
of whom were likewise natives of Pennsylvania, where they passed
their entire lives. There Thomas Miller who was born in Fayette
county, was for many years engaged in the manufacture of
agricultural implements, at New Geneva, but the later years of
his life were devoted to agricultural pursuits. He died in 1882,
at the age of seventy-two years, and the mother of the Doctor was
summoned to the life eternal in 1856, at the age of thirty-six
years. Both were birthright members of the Society of Friends and
ever continued their allegiance to the same, the while they
exemplified its noble and simple faith in their daily lives.
Dr. George W. Miller gained his early educational
discipline in the common schools and in private schools in his
native state, and as a youth he proved himself eligible for
pedagogic honors. He as engaged in teaching in the public schools
of Pennsylvania for several years, and in the meanwhile he
formulated definite plans for his future career. He determined to
prepare himself for the medical profession, and with this end in
view he finally entered the celebrated Bellevue Hospital Medical
College, in the city of New York, in which institution he was
graduated as a member of the class of 1880 and from which he
received his well earned degree of Doctor of Medicine. He has
ever continued to the best of its standard and periodical
literature he has also taken effective post-graduate courses in
leading medical institutions in New York city and Chicago.
In 1879 Dr. Miller had come west and established his
home in Girard, Kansas, and after his graduation, in the
following year, he here took up the active work of his
profession. He continued in successful practice at Girard for a
period of ten years, at the expiration of which, in 1890, he
removed to Joplin, in which city he has since labored with all of
zeal, ability and devotion to the work of his exacting vocation.
He has found demand for his ministrations throughout the section
tributary to Joplin and his practice has been of extensive and
representative order for many years, the while he has gained and
retained a secure place in the confidence and affectionate regard
of the people of his home city and county. He is serving as a
member of the board of United States pension examining surgeons
for Jasper county, and he is identified with the American Medical
Association, the Missouri State Medical Society and the Jasper
County Medical Society, of which last mentioned he served as
president for one year. He was also president of the Joplin
Academy of Medicine, which was later merged with the county
medical society. Broad-minded, liberal and public-spirited, Dr.
Miller is ever found ready to give his co-operation in support of
measures and enterprises projected for the general good of the
community, and, while not desirous of political preferment he has
given an unqualified allegiance to the cause of the Republican
party, in so far as national issues are involved. In local
affairs he maintains an independent attitude, giving his support
to the men and measures meeting the approval of his judgment. He
is affiliated with the Masonic fraternity, the Benevolent and
Protective Order of Elks and other social organizations, and his
family hold membership in the Presbyterian church.
In his personality and benignant influence Dr. Miller
well exemplifies the traits of the old-time family physician,
though he has kept pace with the advances made in both
departments of his professional work. He has proved a true
friend, a dispenser of good cheer, a safe and wise counselor in
all matter affecting the happiness an welfare of the family and
the community. He has made of his calling something more than a
cold-blooded science, without soul, heart of sympathy, and he has
sedulously observed the best ethics and ideals of his profession,
ad his personal honor has been manifested in all the relations of
life. His dominating purpose has been to alleviate suffering and
distress, and his reward has been based upon honest and
conscientious service.
At Girard, Kansas, in the year 1891, was solemnized the
marriage of Dr. Miller to Miss Caroline Strauss, who
was born at Hublersburg, Pennsylvania, and who is a daughter of
the late Dr. Henry P. Strauss, a representative
physician of Pennsylvania and one who gave valiant service as a
Division surgeon with the Army of the Potomac in the Civil war.
Dr. and Mrs. Miller have but one child, Mildred, who
remains at the parental home.
Source: A History of Jasper County Missouri; By Joel T.
Livingston
 William J. Driver. – During the long
period of years which covered the active career of William J.
Driver as a prominent agriculturist an stock-raiser in Jasper
county, Missouri, he achieved a most phenomenal success. From his
farm of one hundred and ninety acres, comprising the townsite of
LaRussell, the village was platted in 1903, and from this venture
Mr. Driver realized a comfortable fortune. He has ever been loyal
and public-spirited in his civic attitude, contributing in
generous measure to all matters affecting the general welfare of
the community in which he resides and at present, in 1911, he is
living virtually retired, enjoying to the full the fruits of his
former years of earnest toil and endeavor.
A native of the fine old Bluegrass state of the Union,
Mr. Driver was born in Monroe county, Kentucky, the date of his
nativity being the 6th of January, 1843. He is a son of
Allen and Rebecca (Akers) Driver, the
former of whom was born and reared in the state of Tennessee, and
the latter of whom was a native of Kentucky. Allen Driver was
engaged in agricultural pursuits in Kentucky during his early
manhood and in 1848 he removed with his family to McDonald
township, Jasper county, Missouri, where he rented a farm for a
period of two years, at the expiration of which he returned to
his old home in Kentucky. In 1850, however, he returned to Jasper
county and then invested in a farm at the mouth of White Oak
Creek, where he was identified with farming and stock-growing
during the remainder of his life time. His demise occurred in the
year 1889 and his devoted wife passed to the life eternal bout
1898. They were the parents of eight children and of the number
six are living at the present time.
William J. Driver, of this notice, received his
rudimentary educational discipline in the public schools of
Jasper county, which he attended during the winter terms, working
at home upon the farm during the busy seasons. He remained at
home with his father until 1871 and in that year launched into
the business world as a farmer on a rented farm in McDonald
township, this county. In 1873 he removed to Kansas, where he
entered a tract of government land in Cowley county and where he
continued to reside for a period of a year and a half. He then
sold his land there and, returning then to Jasper county, he
rented a farm in McDonald township for two years and in 1876
again ventured into Cowley county, Kansas, where he eventually
disposed of his holdings. He then settled permanently in Jasper
county, where he bought a farm of one hundred and ninety acres in
Sarcoxie township, on which he continued to reside for a long
number of years, devoting the major portion of his time and
attention to diversified agriculture and the raising of
high-grade stock. His holdings gradually increased in value and
in 1903 his farm was platted for the village of LaRussell. He
realized a great deal of profit from this venture and soon
thereafter invested in a two hundred and eighty acre farm on the
prairie north of Avilla. Placing his son in charge of this farm,
he removed to Carthage, where he remained for a period of three
years, at the expiration of which he returned to LaRussell, where
he erected a fine, modern residence and where he and his wife are
now enjoying the comforts of their declining years.
In Jasper county, in the year 1871, was celebrated the
marriage of Mr. Driver to MissLodemay Eads, a
daughter of Edward and Harriet (Keeling)
Eads, natives of Iowa and Kentucky, and the father a
prominent and influential farmer in Jasper county during the
greater part of his active life time. Mrs. Driver was born in
Monroe county, Iowa, and she received an excellent common-school
education in her youth. She is a woman of great sweetness of
character and one who is deeply beloved by all who have come
within her sphere of gentle influence. Concerning the six
children born to Mr. and Mrs. Driver the following brief record
is here inserted, - Minnie, born in 1871;
Effie, who married N.W. Henry and lives
in McDonald township, was born in 1878; William,
born in 1881, is a teacher of athletics in Washburn College,
Topeka, Kansas, and he was graduated in the University of
Missouri as a member of the class of 1908; Cloudy
V., born in 1887, is engaged in farming operations in
Jasper county; Charles E., born in 1889, is a
student of dairying and agriculture in the University of
Columbia, Missouri; and Lilia, born in 1892, remains
at home with her parents.
In politics Mr. Driver is aligned as a stalwart
supporter of the cause of the Republican party and while he has
never been an office seeker he has done much to advance the
material welfare of Jasper county. In fraternal circles he is
affiliated with the local lodge of the Independent Order of Odd
Fellows.
Source: A History of Jasper County Missouri; By
Joel T. Livingston; Pg. 985 – 987
Page updated Thursday, March 04, 2004
© 2004 Renessa Lewis
|
