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 of 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
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