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CHAPTER EIGHT

EARLY PHYSICIANS

Physicians were few and far between in early day Maries County. The population was small and scattered over a wide territory. Every mother of a family was a fair doctor and nurse herself, after raising a family in or on the edge of the wilderness. Her experience also qualified her to act as 'granny-woman' for the younger wives of the neighborhood, refusing her services in such an event being unknown. Raising a large family also qualified any woman of thirty-five or so as a 'yarb doctor,' her teas and brews being judged for their ef­fect largely by the taste--the nastier the mess tasted the more potent it was supposed to be (this idea seems to have persisted pretty well down to the present day). Anyway, the patient got well most of the time.

 

Among the standard remedies so universally used

 

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that even the most inexperienced young housewife knew of them were catnip tea for small babies--indeed, for stomach disturbances of all ages. A thick syrup of hoar-hound and mullein was used for sore throat and coughs. Dried mullein leaves, smoked in a pipe, served for asthma. Liquor off the inner bark of slippery elm was resorted to for all stomach disorders not cured by cat­nip tea. A 'spring tonic' was made by soaking chips of wild cherry, sassafras, sarsaparilla, wahoo bark, yel­low puccoon, and half a dozen more, in whiskey; the dose was a tablespoonful three times a day. The writer will testify that it worked; no respectable disease would stay about it. A hot flaxseed or mush poultice drew a boil to a head, and either one, or a poultice made of hot onions, was used in treating lung fever. If the fever was very high a mustard plaster was used instead. A cut about the limbs or body and worms in children were both treated by the same remedy--turpentine. Polecat (skunk) grease and goose grease were sovereign 'rubbin' remedies for almost any kind of misery.

 

In addition to these remedies many diseases were supposed to be prevented, especially in children, by wearing a small lump of asafoetida in a bag about the child's neck. Grown people 'kept down' rheumatism by carrying a buckeye, or by wearing a copper wire around one arm, or by doing both.

 

Three diseases accounted for most of the calls for a doctor in the new country; pneumonia--the dreaded 'lung fever'-- which took a fearful toll of lives in the win­ter and spring months; tuberculosis, far more common than now, and then considered incurable, although a doctor was always called if one could be had; and third, typhoid fever, which was almost a yearly visitor. Since many of our very highest priced modern diseases had not then been invented, the above three covered three-fourths of the cases where a doctor was called. Any 'yarb doctor' could cure the 'aguer' if the patient would assist him by moving to higher ground. 'Accidents' in

 

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the way of gunshot and knife wounds frequently called for the attention of a doctor, but many times only the services of the local gravediggers were necessary. And too, many times the sufferer was so far from a doctor that he either died or was well on the road to recovery before the physician could get there.

 

Such population as the county then had followed the main-traveled roads into this country, and it was natur­al that the earliest physicians should settle where there were the most people. Dr. Henderson, the first resident physician, settled near the great Illinois Trace; Dr. Latham near its branch to the Osage Fork; Dr. Curtis near the crossing of the Potosi Road and the Illinois Trace, and Dr. Bumpass within reach of the Rinquelin Trace from the Missouri to Piney.

 

While Dr. William H. Bowles was the first physi­cian in present Maries County certainly known to have been graduated from a regular school, the first man known to have lived and practiced medicine here at least attended such a school for a time, but whether graduated or not is now not known. This man was David Waldo, who owned and lived on land on the east side of the Gas­conade, near to or a part of the Goodman place now owned by James Brown. He was a son of Jedediah and Polly Waldo, was born at Clarksburg (now) West Vir­ginia, April 30, 1802, and came to Missouri in 1820, having rafted logs on the Ohio River. He engaged in rafting pine logs from Piney to St. Louis, was the first Sheriff of Gasconade County in 1821 (at the age of nine­teen) and in the course of time was Clerk of the Cir­cuit Court, Justice of the Peace, Coroner, Acting Treas­urer, postmaster and a Major in the Militia. From this it would appear that young Mister Waldo made a grab at about everything in sight. Having accumulated five hundred dollars he took a medical course in Transyl­vania University in Lexington, Kentucky.

 

Returning to Gasconade County and likely to present

 

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Maries County in 1827 he began the practice of medicine in addition to his other activities until he soon became known as Governor Waldo of the State of Gasconade, whose borders then reached to the Arkansas line for civil and court purposes. He removed from the county in 1831 to west Missouri, and finally settled in Inde­pendence, where he made his home the balance of his life.

 

He did little, if any, medical practice after leaving this county and not very much here, from which it would appear likely that he did not complete any course at Transylvania; he soon engaged in the Santa Fe trade and spent a large part of his time on the road and in Mexico, where he lived and operated a store for some time. At the outbreak of the Mexican War he was elected Captain of Company A, First Regiment, Missouri Volunteers, and made the entire overland trip with Doniphan's Ex­pedition to Santa Fe and the later march down the Rio Grande. He led his company at the battles of Brazito, Sacramento, and Chihuahua, after which the command marched overland to Brownsville, Texas. From this point they returned home by boat, having walked some­thing like three thousand miles in the course of the ex­pedition.

 

He continued to engage in trading expeditions after his return to Independence and was there married on March 27, 1849, to Eliza Jane, daughter of Edward and Margaret Norris. His later activities were confined to the Platte River country and Utah, which engaged his attention until his death on May 20, 1878. So far as in­vestigation has shown no children were born of his mar­riage, and no relationship existed between him and any other settler in this county.

 

The first physician definitely known to have lived and practiced in the present limits of Maries County was Dr. William Wallace Henderson, who came here not later than 1835 and possibly earlier. He was born

 

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April 28, 1810, and was the third of the ten children of Samuel Henderson by his marriage to Mary Goforth, which took place in Greene County, Tennessee, Decem­ber 20, 1804. Samuel Henderson, the father, the son of James and Hannah Henderson, was born in that county and state February 21, 1785, and Mary Goforth was also born there October 1, 1785. The exact date of their com­ing to Missouri is not known, but their fourth child, John, is definitely known to have been born in Bellevue Valley in present Iron County, in 1810, so Dr. Henderson may have been born in this state also.

 

Samuel Henderson lived in Bellevue Valley for about thirty years after coming to Missouri, except for a few years prior to the admission of Missouri as a state, when the uncertainty in regard to the act of admission led him to move with his slaves to either Kentucky or Tennessee for a few years. But once this matter was settled he moved back to his old home and lived there until 1838, in which year he, with at least one son, James, joined the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints (Mormon) and the next year joined their colony at Nauvoo, Illinois. They finally moved to Utah in the great emigration of 1851, and he died in Salt Lake City Feb­ruary 21, 1856. His wife had died in Bellevue Valley December 13, 1825, with their youngest child, George, then ten months old. Two of his daughters were also connected with Maries County affairs, and will be noted farther along in this chapter.

 

We do not know where Dr. Henderson 'read medi­cine' but there is a family tradition that it was in Ken­tucky, and he may have practiced there for a while. If so, it was evidently not for long because he was only twenty-six years old when he rode up the Boone's Lick Trail to near its crossing with the Kickapoo Trace and established himself on the northwest corner of Lanes Prairie. Here on the west half of the northwest quarter of section 30, Township 40, Range 7, which is only half a mile north of the crossroads, he proceeded to hang

 

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out his shingle. He did not bother to enter the land, however, until June 30, 1836. The site is now marked by a lone poplar tree some hundred yards south of the Vienna and Lanes Prairie road, near the west line of the Dr. W. H. Bowles home place. It was then a part of Osage Township in Gasconade County.

 

One of the main reasons for believing he came here not later than 1835 is the fact that he was married here January 28, 1836, to Charlotta Malone, the wid­owed daughter of Abraham Smith, by the Reverend John Avery. Experienced men say it is impossible to get a widow's consent to marry in as short a time as a month, no matter how willing she might be, so the doctor likely had been prosecuting his suit during at least a part of 1835. They made their home at his first location dur­ing her lifetime. Their three children, Oliver (later killed in action in the Confederate Army, single), Al­bert Smith, and William Wallace Henderson were born there.

 

Mrs. Henderson died in the middle forties, and very soon thereafter Dr. Henderson and his sons moved to the home of his father-in-law on the Gasconade River now owned by Bert Allen, which was then in Pulaski County. Here he lived the remainder of his life. He had served as Justice of the Peace during most of the time he lived on the Prairie, and after moving to the river he owned and operated Henderson's Ferry, which then crossed the river between the present Allen and Terry places. It is a much older location than the one a half-mile north at Bloomgarden, which was not established until after the Springfield Road, was laid out. But the new location was more accessible than the Henderson site, and the latter gradually ceased doing business. He was Representative from Pulaski County in the 1848 session, and about the close of the term was married

 

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to Jansie, daughter of John Davis. Their one child, Jane, was born in Jackson County, Missouri, October 10, 1850, while the family was on a visit to Dr. Hen­derson's father prior to the latter's departure for Utah. Returning to his home here in the dead of winter he con­tracted pneumonia and died February 24, 1851, soon after reaching home. He is buried in the Allen Ceme­tery. The second Mrs. Henderson later moved to Clay County and died there. She married again, but the de­scendants of her second marriage have not been traced.

 

Albert Smith Henderson was born on Lanes Prairie July 11, 1841, and died in Vienna December 25, 1918. He served the duration of the Civil War (swimming the Mississippi at Vicksburg to escape being surrendered with the rest of his command when that city was captured). On August 15, 1867, he was married to Sarah E., daughter of Nelson and Elizabeth Miller, who was born in this county January 15, 1852, and who died here Jan­uary 22, 1907. Elizabeth Miller was a member of the Huffman family. After their marriage the young couple bought the farm, owned by Mrs. Henderson's father, which had been sold to her stepfather, William Followill, at what is known as the Henderson Ford on the Gasconade. They operated this farm for several years before buying and moving to the present Tony Schwartz farm just south of Vienna. They lived at the latter place until 1889, when they bought the Maries Hotel from Un­cle Mose and Aunt Rachel Smith. They lived the re­mainder of their lives in Vienna.

 

Eight children were born to A. S. Henderson, of whom five are now living: Victor who married Diora Simpson August 25, 1899, lives near Houston, Texas County; Charles and Mary Lee, widow of Homer Hollenbeck, both live at Vienna; Dora, wife of Price Hawkins, lives in Kansas City; and Lillie, wife of Fred E. Bodendick, in St. Louis.

 

The three children deceased are: Helen A., the

 

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oldest child, born October 22, 1869, died February 20, 1921; she was married October 23, 1892, to James H. Spratley, who survives her; of their three children Ma­bel, wife of Edward Finn, lives at Vienna; Clarence H., Lester M., Alfred L., Walter E., and Charles, with their father, live in Valparaiso, Indiana; James Alton, the remaining son, born October 29, 1899, was killed in a train accident September 25, 1921; he was married to Mayme Honse April 1, 1920, and was survived by one child. Edna, younger of the two surviving Spratley daughters is married to Eldon Kuehl and resides in Val­paraiso, Indiana. Three daughters died in infancy. Flor­ence, the second Henderson daughter, born December 22, 1875, died October 26, 1932; she was married April 23. 1899, to Elmer Camp, for many years a newspaper man at Vienna and Belle, and is survived by one son, Byron Miller Camp of St. Louis. Clifford, the youngest, was born February 5, 1892, died May 29, 1926, sur­vived by his widow, the former Ethel Ridenhour of Belle, and two children, Carl and Beatrice Henderson, both of whom, with the widow, live in Kansas City.

 

William Wallace Henderson, oldest son of Dr. Wil­liam Wallace Henderson, was born in Maries County December 5, 1837, and died March 25, 1888; he was married March 16, 1857, to Delilah Huffman, daughter of Jacob and Josephine Huffman, nee Miller, who was also born here April 22, 1842, and who died March 12, 1888. The young couple spent the first years of their married life in this county until the outbreak of the Civ­il War when Wallace Henderson promptly enlisted in the Confederate Army and served four years. He took part in the Battle of Gettysburg the same day his brother; Albert Smith was engaged at Vicksburg. The family removed to Kentucky after the close of the war and re­mained there some years before returning to Missouri where they spent the remainder of their lives.

 

Of the twelve children born to them, five died in infancy; they were Jacob, Louise Josephine, John, and

 

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twins who lived only a few days. Five are living, namely: Albert F., born December 9, 1867, in Kentucky, was married April 8, 1888, to Judy Smallwood and lives in Fort Worth, Texas; Erie Ellen, born December 21, 1875, married Louis Maneka and lives between Vienna and Dixon (the only one of the children living in this county); Fannie May, born May 8, 1878, married Bayless Copeland and lives at Dixon; Tanner, born August 16, 1880, married Rosa Wilson and lives at Mannford, Oklahoma; Sidney Earl, a Methodist minister, born Au­gust 23, 1887, married Theo McDonald and lives at Lone Wolf, Oklahoma.

 

Bruce Edward Henderson, born March 9, 1872, was drowned near Indian Ford on the Gasconade, July 20, 1895; he was single.

 

William Carl Henderson, eldest child of Wallace and Delilah Henderson, was born in this county, De­cember 7, 1857, and was here united in marriage on October 22, 1878, to Ann, daughter of James Ragan. He died in Douglas County, Missouri, March 10, 1908, survived by his widow, who now lives in Phelps County, and nine children: Mrs. Bertha Chaney of Wymere, Ne­braska; Robert Henderson and Mrs. Emma Hicks of Douglas County; James Henderson of Colorado; Homer Henderson of West Plains, Missouri; Mrs. Minnie Cur­ry, Mrs. Millie Stephenson, Delilah, and Mrs. Mary Frost, all of Arapahoe, Nebraska. The last named died recently leaving five children.

 

Some fifteen or more years after the death of Dr. Henderson, two of his sisters moved to this county and thereafter made it their home. They were Mrs. Abiel Strickland and Mrs. Wesley M. Goforth, both of whom had lived in Reynolds County, Missouri, and left it af­ter losing their property there during the war, in which Mrs. Strickland also lost her husband. Her four chil­dren were William, Samuel, Joseph, and a daughter who died single not many years after they came here. Samuel

 

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and Joseph made this county their home thereafter; William married a member of the Hoops family and re­moved to Texas in the early seventies; his biography is found with the Hoops account.

 

Samuel Strickland married Rachel Crismon and lived in the west end of the county his entire adult life, dying there January 8, 1918, at the age of eighty-one. He was the father of five children, two of whom died in infancy. Of the three living Carney married Bettie, daughter of John Krone, and lives in St. Louis; Allie, the only daughter, married William Moss and lives on the Strickland home place; Coad, the third son, also lives in this county.

 

Joseph, the youngest son, born in Reynolds County September 1, 1844, married soon after coming to this county Mahala, daughter of William Simpson. She died soon after the marriage, as did their only child. His second wife was Laura A. Mears, and to this union eight children were born: Nashville, Eva, James, and Clay died in infancy or without issue; the four living are Co­ra, now Mrs. Cora S.Andrews of Colorado; Mittie, wife of Bert Sewell; and Robert M., both of St. Louis, and Richard H. of Illinois.

 

He moved to Vienna about the time of his second marriage and after spending some time operating and clerking in stores he bid in the mail route from Dixon to Vienna, and removed to that town. For the next for­ty years he was connected with some form of mail carrying, mostly the star route from Dixon to Vienna, but later with the one from Vienna to Freeburg. During most of this time the mail was the only certain connec­tion between Vienna and the outside world and the car­rier was also the expressman. It is said that Joe Strick­land drove up to the Vienna office six days a week with from six to twenty bundles and packages of everything from clothing to machine parts, that he never made a note of anything he was asked to bring, and that he never

 

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forgot an order.

 

His third marriage was to Laura, widow of Huston Ferrell of Vichy; this marriage was childless.

 

Mrs. Elizabeth Goforth was the mother of nine chil­dren: four of them, Julia, Katherine, Jane, and John died young; the two last named are buried in the Lam­beth Cemetery with their mother; Mary had one daugh­ter, Erie, who married J. M. Given; Helen married Albert Arendall; the descendants of both will be found under those names.

 

Sarah Goforth married John Rutledge and spent her married life at Sedalia, where she died. Of her two daughters Elizabeth married a man named Myers, also of Sedalia; Mary's married name is not known.

 

Evelyn Goforth married Andrew Mathis and lived at Castle Rock until her death, leaving two children, India and Andrew, both of whom are now dead. Relatives here believe they died single.

 

William B. F. Goforth, the only son of Wesley M. and Elizabeth Goforth to live to maturity, first married Rachel, daughter of John Copeland. She was the mother of two children. Arendall and Alice. Alice married Mack Brown. Arendall, who learned the printing busi­ness in the office of The Iberian Intelligencer--now The Sentinel--which his father owned, married Bessie Car­ter and died at Dixon, where he owned and published The Dixon Pilot. His children, ten in number, are: Harold, Ross, Dale, Fred, Fern, Morris, Ralph, Hess, Robert, and Helen May. Nearly all the boys are printers.

 

William F. B. Goforth's second marriage was to Martha, daughter of William Eads, by whom he was the father of four children: Hattie of California; Gertie, de­ceased; and Preston and Frank of Kansas City. He and both his wives died at Iberia.

 

The seven remaining brothers and sisters of

 

 

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Dr. Henderson, Mrs. Goforth, and Mrs. Strickland were: James, John, Sarah, Rachel, Isabelle, Samuel Junior, and George. We have noted that James Henderson ac­companied his father to Utah, and some of his descend­ants now live in and around Panguitch in that state; son George died in infancy. It is believed that the other five married and settled in Washington and Iron counties and their descendants still live there, as do some of the Goforths and Stricklands.

 

No exact record remains of the date when Dr. Valsain Gaylove Latham came to this county, but the date can be reasonably fixed as 1838. He settled first at the mouth of Clifty Creek, which was then in Pulaski Coun­ty, whose records were totally destroyed by fire in 1904. However, he is known to have been on the upper river before Dr. Henderson moved into that territory in the early forties. In fact, the two men practiced together a lot, although never actually forming a partnership.

 

He was born in North Carolina June 25, 1814, and when a boy moved with his father, James Latham, to present Tishomingo County in northeastern Mississippi, where he grew to manhood and where he studied medi­cine under Squirrel Skin, chief medicine man of the branch of the Choctaw tribe of which Tishomingo was chief (lest any of our present day physicians turn up their highly-educated noses at the idea of an Indian teaching medicine, it can be said of Dr. Latham that in his practice of over fifty years, covering parts of four states, all in a wild and thinly settled state and with absolutely no modern facilities, he lost exactly two obstetrical cases, both from accident in no wise connected with his handling of the case. He might, and no doubt would, have called appendicitis 'locked bowels,' and he might, and no doubt would, have considered 'impetigo' as a two-dollar name for the itch. But he knew the peo­ple of his times and their ailments, and also knew what was good for them, and his professional record was likely a lot higher than that of many of the men of this

 

 

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day who might deride his lack of scientific knowledge).

 

Dr. Latham was married in McNairy County, Ten­nessee, November 13, 1831, to Nancy Wolverton, who was born in that state July 16, 1814. The young couple seems to have lived in both states at different times for the next few years (McNairy County, Tennessee, and Tishomingo County, Mississippi, are adjoining). Their oldest son, William James Latham, was born in the for­mer county February 18, 1833, and their youngest, George Washington Latham, in Mississippi on Septem­ber 1, 1837. Shortly after the birth of the latter the fam­ily moved to Missouri settling near the mouth of Clifty Creek. The party included the doctor, his wife, and their three children (the daughter, died in early girl­hood), his father, James Latham, reputed to have been a Revolutionary War soldier, and their 'Aunt' Betsey Childers, a member of the family for many years, but not related. Some time afterwards, just how long is not known, Dr. Latham's sister, Clarinda Loveworth, wife of Elias H. Kenner, came to this county and lived a num­ber of years near the Kenner Church and school. During this time her husband was Justice of the Peace and a minister in the Methodist Church. The Kenner family, however, met with financial reverses here and moved to Arkansas, after which they had no further connection with this county. In addition to his daughter, Dr. Lath­am lost his father while the family lived on Clifty Creek.

 

Shortly after the county was organized in 1855 Dr. Latham and his family moved to Vienna, where he lived; he practiced medicine until January 1, 1864, when the family moved to Rolla. During that time he dealt exten­sively in land. His home here, which he bought from Ake Rowden, is still stand ing on the land owned by Travis John in the south end of Vienna. After his removal to Rolla he continued the practice of medicine and went in­to the hotel business, one he had followed to some ex­tent in Vienna. He continued in both lines of activity un­til September 1, 1875, when his own family and that of

 

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his oldest son moved to Texas, in which state his son, George, had lived some fifteen years. All settled up the Colorado River above Austin near Marble Falls, which general vicinity was thereafter the family home. His wife died there April 30, 1885, the doctor surviving her until September 29, 1892.

 

He married a second time some years after the death of his first wife, the second marriage being child­less. In his old days he became a member of Macedonia Baptist Church, a sketch of which is given in the chapter on Early Protestant Churches, and which was organized originally on the Big Maries in this county. His activity seems to have lasted during almost all his life, he hav­ing engaged in ranching and other forms of business af­ter his removal to Texas, in addition to his medical practice which was as large there as it had been here.

 

William James, the oldest son of Dr. Latham, was born in McNairy County, Tennessee, February 18, 1833, and came to this county with him as a boy. He was mar­ried here about 1855 to Patsy, sister of William Clayton (the families had been acquainted in Tennessee). They lived in and near Vienna during her short life. She was the mother of two children, Valsain Gaylove Junior (Bud), and Nancy Elizabeth (Sis), who were taken into the doctor's household and raised by him after their mother's death, went to Texas with him, and thereaf­ter made that state their home. Bud Latham, the older of the two children of the first marriage, was born here December 3, 1854, lived to manhood here and at Rolla, and went to Texas with his grandfather in 1875. He was married in that state October 27, 1881, to Miss Ida Tate and died there February 28, 1932, his wife having pre­ceded him in death March 30, 1928. Their entire married life was spent in Texas.

 

Of the nine children of their marriage two died in infancy. The other seven, all yet living, in their age order, are: Mrs. Lola Simpson of Kress, Texas;

 

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Mrs. Emma Harvey, 321 Northeast Third Street, Fort Lauderdale, Florida; Mrs. Mabel Hunt of Dumas, Texas; Mrs. Eula Riley of Shirley, Montana; Rolla Latham (named after Rolla, Missouri) in Petersburg, Texas; Mrs. Jewell Harris of Brownfield, Texas; and Mrs. Thelma Glimp of Leveland, Texas.

 

Sis Latham was born in November 1856, and in No­vember 1878 was married in Llano County, Texas, to Hickman L. Tate. She died July 14, 1931, leaving four children and her widower who may yet survive. The children, about whom little information has been re­ceived, are Roscoe R., Mamie Verna, Audrey, and Veda Gertrude, the last now the widow of G. G. Gallo­way lives at Pearson, Texas. Mamie married A. D. Simpson and lives at Houston, Texas. Their daughter, Rowena, was on the Athenia when she was sunk at the beginning of the war, but was rescued and reached home safely. She later married J. Ford Townsend and lives in Austin, Texas.

 

William Latham's second marriage, which was about 1858, was to Celia Hawkins of this county. The two boys born to them died in infancy, and the daughter, Sarah Jane (Sadie) was the only child of the second marriage living to maturity. She was married in Texas June 22, 1876, to Ben Major Gibson, son of James probably the most noted Indian fighter in that part of Texas. He is known to have had ten Indians to his 'credit' and took part in the battle with them on the Pecos in 1869 when his brother, Silas, was killed. Both he and his wife are long since dead, as are three of their children, Ida, Walter, and Eli. The six yet living are Mrs. Rose Crider, Mrs. Geneva Cherry, Mrs. Christina Tatum, William, Charles, and Ira Gibson, all of Marble Falls.

 

   William Latham's third wife was Margaret Mary Newberry, to whom he was married in this county No­vember 22, 1866. She was a daughter of William Newberry

 

 

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and a granddaughter of the Joseph Newberry who settled here before 1828. She was born here April 12, 1849 and died in Texas September 19, 1916, and was survived by her husband until February 10, 1918.

 

Samuel Latham, a son of this marriage, is dead. His wife was Sallie Crider and he was the father of three children, of whom one died in infancy; a daughter lives at Austin, and his son, William, a lawyer, at Houston. The six other children born of the last marriage and yet living are: Henry who also lives at Houston; Clarinda Frances, widow of Courtney Lane at La Mesa, in Texas; Hiram at Johnson City, Texas, where he is in the hotel business; Dudley at Cypress Mills, Texas; Hickman T., a veteran of World War I, lives at Goose Creek, near Houston; and Dora, wife of William Moore at Junction City, Texas.

 

George Washington Allen, youngest son of Dr. V. G. Latham, was born in Tishomingo County, Missis­sippi, September 1, 1837. He came to this county as an infant with his father, and was just reaching manhood when his father moved to Vienna, where one of his first jobs was hauling sand for the original courthouse in the county. He was married here October 7, 1858, by his uncle, Reverend Elias H. Kenner, to Sarah Jane, daugh­ter of James Gibson, who was born in Missouri in 1836. They made their home in this county until some time in the early part of 1861, when they moved to Texas. Their first home there was in Blanco County where they re­sided until 1870. Continual Indian depredations caused them to move to Llano County (Sam Strickland, who went to Texas with them, had returned to Missouri before this move). He engaged in general farming and cattle raising there, was initiated into the Masonic Lodge dur­ing the Civil War period, and became a member of the Macedonia Baptist Church, afterwards rising to and for years continuing as a minister of the Baptist faith. George Latham and his wife and at least two of their children moved to Almagordo, New Mexico, in 1898,

 

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where the children still live, and where both parents died--he on February 17, 1924; his wife had passed away May 23, 1917.

 

Of the twelve children born of this marriage, the five now, or very lately, living are: (1) Joseph Young Latham, their fourth child, who was born February 22, 1865, lives at Alamogordo, New Mexico, with his wife the former Anna Shulte, to whom he was married De­cember 11, 1890. He has been chief of police of his home city, and taught school there for many years. (2) Clara Loveworth Latham, born April 7, 1867, also lives at Alamogordo, where she taught in the public schools and now conducts a private school; she is single. (3) Benjamin Ely Latham, eighth child, born November 1, 1872, was married about 1925 to Miss Herrie Sherrill; they live at Alzada, Montana. (4) Sarah Jane Iantha Latham, tenth child, lives at Bertram, Burnet County, Texas; she was born October 16, 1876, and was mar­ried in 1898 to G. G. Hardin, who has been dead many years. (5) Georgia Bessie May Latham, the youngest child, born March 9, 1881, was married October 12, 1898, at Highrolls, New Mexico, to A. J. Perrett and now lives at 532 Raymond Street, Glendale, California.

 

The seven children of George Washington Allen Latham, who have passed away are (1) James Valsain Latham, the oldest child, who was born at Vienna July 7, 1859. He made the trip to Texas with his parents, grew to manhood there, and in 1880 joined the Texas Rangers at Fort McCavatt, in which service he stayed seven years. He was married in Blanco County in 1887 to Miss Mattie Johnson, who died April 6, 1892. The two daughters born of this marriage are now Mrs. An­nie Rokeh of 800 Arizona Street, El Paso, Texas, and Mrs. Florence Honsted, 4900 Westminster Street, San Diego, California. His second marriage in March, 1904, was to Miss Alma L. Herrington, the two daughters born of this marriage being now Mrs. Velma Ezella of Imperial, California, and Mrs. Vola Helen Ford of San

 

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Antonio, Texas. Mr. Latham died April 17, 1937, sur­vived by the above daughters and his second wife, who now lives at 4969 First Street, San Diego, California.

 

Nancy Annie Latham, the second child, also born in Vienna, January 16, 1861, was married in Llano Coun­ty, Texas, February 6, 1878, to J. H. Cherry, and both have been dead many years. The five children born to them and yet living are: Mrs. John Simmons and Mrs. Dee Simmons, both of Santa Ana, Texas; Mrs. Sam Strickland (he was the son of William); and John Cherry of Marble Falls; and Ossie Cherry, who married a granddaughter of William Strickland of Coleman County, Texas.

 

Margaret Matilda Latham, born January 19, 1863 (the third child of the family and the first born in Texas) was married July 7, 1881, to Robert Lycurgus Tate in Blanco County. She died July 16, 1884, survived by one daughter, now Mrs. Beulah Balduff of Oklahoma City, Oklahoma. Her husband may be living, but probably has passed away also.

 

Silas Franklin Latham, the sixth child, was born January 7, 1869. He was married September 9, 1894, to Miss Mattie Roberts, and died March 1, 1897. He is survived by his widow, now Mrs. Mattie Backues, and his youngest son, John, both of Camp Crook, South Dakota. Another son, Frank, spent eighteen months in France and now lives at Bullock, South Dakota.

 

Mary Elizabeth Latham, born in Llano County No­vember 11, 1870, the seventh child of George Latham, was married November 16, 1887, to Howard Hardin, and died in Alamogordo, New Mexico, February 16, 1908. Her husband died later at Marble Falls. The six living children of this marriage are: Edward Hardin Junior and Mrs. Winnie Ussery, Marble Falls;

 

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Mrs. Ruth McManigal and Mrs. Lella Lacy, San Antonio, Tex­as; Mrs. MarieCalvert, Dallas, Texas; and Sybil, whose married name and address are not at hand.

 

Harriet Deborah Latham, the ninth child, born August 1, 1874, was married in October, 1895, to William Schmidt. She died March 7, 1896, childless. Her widower has since passed away.

 

William Washington Latham, the eleventh child, was killed in a car accident November 28, 1913. He is sur­vived by his widow, the former Maude Daniels, to whom he was married about 1902, and their one child, now Mrs. Sarah Patton of Camp Crook, South Dakota.

 

We have very little detailed information about the Gibson family, but the best information is that there were at least four brothers, John, James, William, and another. William and the unnamed brother, probably the oldest, married daughters of John T. Powers. James, about whom we have the most data, first mar­ried Margaret Morrow of Osage County, about 1827. He lived in what is now Maries County most of his married life on the present Lewis Eads place on the upper Big Maries mostly. Somewhere in that vicinity his wife was killed by being thrown from a horse on July 17, 1848. In December of that year he married the widow of Sanford Backues Junior. His activities in connection with the organization of Friendship Baptist Church are else­where noted. He went to Texas in 1854, came back to Missouri in 1856, and later returned to Texas where he and his second wife died (her account will be found in the Backues chapter).

 

His nine children besides Mrs. Latham were John, William, and James, all of whom died in infancy and are buried in this county; Samuel, the oldest son, who went to California in the gold rush of 1849; Silas, the second son, who went there in 1850 (he was later killed by the Indians in a battle on the Pecos River in western Texas, in 1869); Joe M. Gibson who also went to California;

 

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and Harriet, wife of H. T. Duncan; Deborah, wife of R. W. Hardin; and Ben Major Gibson, all of whom went to Texas with their father.

 

John Gibson, who seems to have been more active­ly engaged in the ministry than his brother, James, went to Texas in 1853 and died there about 1858. Few details concerning him are at hand. He was married to Mary Mattie Lane in Missouri, and was the father of at least four children: Lane L., William, and James Gibson Junior (the last killed by Indians in Texas) and Mary Ann Gibson. who married Lewis L. Green in Texas about 1860; he served the duration of the Civil War in the Confederate Army. The children all have descendants in Texas.

 

William Gibson, the remaining brother, married a daughter of John T. Powers and probably took a trip to Texas also, but returned to this county and thereafter made it his home. He owned the present Joel Hale place a great many years, finally disposing of it in 1876, some few years before his death. Two of his sons, Wash and Thomps Gibson, went to Texas in 1877, the former dying at George Latham's six weeks after his arrival, and the latter surviving until 1894, dying at the same place. Both were single.

 

Dr. William Curtis, the third resident physician in the county, settled on the south side of Lanes Prair­ie on the farm later and for many years known as the William Clark place. He bought this land from Ganaway Davis of Casey County, Kentucky, who had entered it in 1844. He came here from Indiana and was at least middle aged at the time of his coming since he had served as a private in Stewart's Second Cavalry in the War of 1812. His birthplace is not known certainly, but there is a tradition that he was from Pennsylvania.

 

Dr. Curtis spent the remainder of his life in Ma­ries County, dying about 1868 or 1869, and is buried on the Clark place. He was a Union man during the Civil

 

 

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War and commanded the Union troops in the Battle of Bloomington, in which his son-in-law, William Poor, was wounded, and in which his sons, Hiram and Cicero, also took part.

 

Five children were born to Dr. Curtis, of whom the three sons, Hiram, Albert, and Cicero, had accumulated considerable land adjoining their father's place, which they sold after his death and moved down nearer to the Gasconade River. Hiram Curtis, the oldest son, married ____ ____ and was the father of one daughter Miss Mary Ellen, who married William Poor; both are long since dead. Of the nine children of William and Mary Ellen Poor two died in infancy; Barton lives in Maries County; James lives in Texas; Thomas in Port­land, Oregon; Jennie, wife of Charles Arnce, in St. Lou­is; and Minnie, wife of Jesse Cook, at Belle. Ollie, wife of John Gay, is dead, leaving three children: Laura, wife of Jesse Heck of Belle; Lucy, wife of Cecil Branson of Bland; and Henry of this county.

 

Elizabeth, the oldest child of Mary Ellen Poor, died in February, 1936. She was married twice; first to Si­mon Crutts, by whom she had one child that died in in­fancy; her second marriage was to Silas Spencer, and to this union six children were born, all living: Josie, wife of Ed Cook, Iva, widow of Tilghman M. Feeler, May, wife of Harvey Feeler, lives just over the line in Phelps County, and Sarah, wife of Tom Hutson, in St. Louis.

 

Cicero, the second son, married a Newberry and was the father of four children; John died single; Jacob and Samuel went to Montana in an early day and their connection with the rest of the family has been entirely lost; Mary, the only daughter, married Richard Phelps and moved to Dent County, where their descendants still live. Cicero Curtis married Miriam Beasley after the death of his first wife, but no children were born of the second marriage.

 

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Elizabeth Curtis married John O'Neil, and both died either in the east end of this county or in Crawford County. James and Charles, their sons, live at Cuba, as do the descendants of their only daughter, Sarah, wife of Amos Hunt.

 

Emma Curtis married Phillip Shinkle and removed to Indiana, where they both died. Three children were born to them: James, Barbara, wife of John Brant, and Margaret, wife of Sam Gray.

 

Albert Curtis, the fifth child, was the father of six children by his marriage with Mary Gray, of whom three, Albert, Clementine, widow of James Moreland, and Belle, wife of D. T. James, are living and reside in this county. Martin married Lydia Spratley, and is long since dead leaving one son, William Albert Curtis, also of this county. Julius Nathan Curtis, the remain­ing son, who was born August 4, 1872, married Dora Hickam February 26, 1894, and died June 8, 1927, leav­ing five children: Everett T., Julius M., Emmet C., all of Maries County; Ruby C., now Mrs. Niewohner, and Jeannette B., both of St. Louis.

 

Minnie Curtis, the remaining--and oldest--child of Albert Curtis, was twice married; first to William Cur­tis by whom she was the mother of a child that died in infancy, and second to James K. P. Hart, by whom she was the mother of five children: Bert, Etta, Ina, Mamie, and Stella. Their further descendants will be found un­der the name Hart.

 

Dr. Henderson's removal from the Prairie to the Gasconade about the time Dr. Curtis settled on the Prairie did not change matters any from a medical stand­point, as he was about as easily reached at the new lo­cation as at the old one, and the three physicians con­tinued to look after the afflicted until 1850, when the coming of Dr. Bowles was the beginning of a complete, or nearly complete, change in the situation.

 

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Dr. Bowles came to the county in 1850, settling near Dr. Henderson's first location. Dr. Henderson died in February, 1851, again leaving three physicians, two on the Prairie and one at the mouth of Clifty. They continued to serve the population until 1852 when within the space of less than a year three more doctors were added to the list. They were: Dr. Harrison Barnett, who settled in the extreme northwest corner, certainly by 1853 and likely as early as 1852; Dr. Benjamin F. Bumpass, who came to the Big Maries in the spring of 1853, and Dr. Thomas J. Jones, who began active prac­tice the same year. A biography of the last is given in the chapter devoted to first settlers. Such facts as we have obtained as to Dr. Austin L. McGregor will be found in the chapter relating to the Mosby and Hoops families.

 

Dr. William H. Bowles, the first and for many the only graduate of a medical school to live in the county, was born in St. Louis County in 1827, the son of Caleb and Mary Hearst Bowles, and made that coun­ty home until after his graduation from the old McDowell Medical College in St. Louis, his father's estate being on the Meramec River near Fenton. He came to this county about 1850 and settled near the Dry Fork of the Bourbeuse on the north side of Lanes Prairie in the immediate vicinity of the former home of Dr. William Henderson which had been vacated when the latter moved to the Gasconade River. Shortly after settling there Dr. Bowles was married to Augusta Glanville, daughter of Reverend John Glanville, a pioneer Methodist minister, west of the Mississippi, also of St. Louis County. For five years thereafter the young couple endured the ups and downs of pioneer life, aggravated for the young wife by the fact that her husband's practice extended from fifty to one hundred miles in all directions, and that she was left alone even more frequently than, the wives of other pioneers. Their union lasted until 1857 when she departed this life leaving two children,

 

 

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William A. Bowles of the state of Washington, and Octavia Bowles, who was married on July 2, 1874, to Thomas James of St. James, grandson of the founder of the Meramec Iron Works. Mrs. James is long since dead, leaving one daughter, Mrs. Lucy Wortham James of St. James, who is now the owner of the property in and about St. James acquired by her ancestor.

 

His second marriage was in 1866 to Louisa Greatwood Kinsey, widow of Thomas J. Kinsey, nee Bray, but this marriage was short, Mrs. Bowles dying in 1868. No children were born of this marriage, but Mrs. Bowles was survived by one daughter, Minnie, by her first marriage, who later married Samuel Burchard and now lives in St. Louis, having been a widow for many years.

 

His last marriage was in 1887 to Elizabeth Ella, daughter of Matthew William and Margaret Kinsey of High Gate. About this time, too, Dr. Bowles removed from his first home near the Dry Fork to the north side of Lanes Prairie, from which time 'Greatwood' became the landmark it remains today. Seven children were born of this marriage: John Anderson Bowles and Thom­as K. Bowles followed in the footsteps of their father and are practising medicine in the state of Washington; Joseph Hearst Bowles lives in California; Margaret A. Waltenspiel, Mary Louise Lennox, and Hortense D. Donnan live at Rolla, as does Mrs. E. E. Bowles, his wid­ow; Lucy J. Bennetson lives in Richmond Heights.

 

Dr. Bowles died at 'Greatwood' January 5, 1903, and at the time of his death was the wealthiest man in the county. His property interests here included some­thing over seven thousand acres of the best farm land in the county, besides other large holdings in Phelps. Gasconade, and St. Louis counties; and a large amount of personal property.

 

At one time Dr. Bowles had three nephews practicing medicine in and near Maries County. Dr. S. A. Bowles at Westphalia, Dr. Dunivin at Koeltztown, and

 

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Dr. Edward Bates Bowles at Vienna. The last was born in St. Louis County April 10, 1842, and graduated from the St. Louis Medical College in 1868; settling first at Jake's Prairie in Crawford County. His first wife died, after a short married life, leaving three children: Wil­liam McM. Bowles of Enid, Oklahoma; Anderson P. Bowles of Tulsa; and Addison V. Bowles of Detroit. His second marriage was childless, his wife being killed by a falling tree soon after their marriage.

 

After these losses Dr. Bowles moved to Vienna, and shortly thereafter was married to Ella Hyer, daugh­ter of Dr. John Hyer of Lake Spring, Dent County. Two children, John, a mining engineer with headquarters in Chicago, and Joseph of Lake Spring, were born of this marriage. Dr. Bowles moved from Vienna to Lake Spring some thirty-five years ago, and there died August 16, 1920. His widow survives and lives at their old home there.

 

John W. Harbison, a cousin of Dr. William H. Bowles, made his home in this county for many years after his return from the Confederate Army, and was at one time Collector of the county. He died on the west coast and his widow only recently passed away at the home of Mrs. Bowles in Rolla. They had no children.

 

Dr. Bowles and his brother, the father of Doctors E. G. and S. A. Bowles, were first cousins of Senator George Hearst of California, their mother being his father's sister; George Hearst was born in Missouri and was grown when he left here. His wife, the former Phoebe Apperson, was also a Missourian by adoption, having come to present Phelps County from Ohio to con­duct the school at the Meramec Iron Works, which she taught for some years before meeting and marrying George Hearst. It is likely that neither of them had the slightest idea that nearly fifty years later she would pay eight million dollars for a newspaper for her only son, William Randolph Hearst, to play with.

 

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Dr. Harrison Barnett, born in White County, Ten­nessee, January 18, 1814, was of early middle age when he came to Missouri in 1852. He was first married in Tennessee to Sallie Gourd, by whom he was the father of two children, Robert and Elvira. Robert married an Orr and moved to and died near Forsythe, Taney Coun­ty; Elvira married John McWhorter, who was killed in the Civil War leaving two children, Harrison and Wil­liam. She afterward married Joseph York and the fam­ily removed to Cambridge, Idaho, where both she and her husband died. Her sons still live there.

 

The first Mrs. Barnett died about 1839 or 1840, and on December 9, 1841, he married Hannah Mariah Hos­ier, who was born in the state of Tennessee November 22, 1823, and died in Maries County December 23, 1887. Dr. Barnett died May 8, 1902.

 

Dr. Barnett 'read medicine' under a neighborhood doctor, and shortly after attaining his majority began independent practice, which he followed for about fif­teen years before coming to Missouri in 1852. He moved with horse-drawn wagons and was followed by a man named McCoy with ox-teams which carried most of his family's belongings. The horses were faster than the steers which necessitated McCoy driving late at night to catch up. Near Babbtown Dr. Barnett met up with Abraham Barnhart, who had just killed a deer, and on his invitation the family went to his house nearby to spend the night. McCoy, making his late drive, came on the pool of blood left by the deer while the men talked, reasoned that Barnett and his family had been killed, and by 'laying the bud' to his steers succeeded in es­caping.

 

The doctor at first had not intended to locate in this part of the state. Indeed, it seems that he had no cer­tain location in mind when he left Tennessee, but he liked this part of the country and settled just inside the northwest corner of what is now Maries County. His

 

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home and office at once took the name of Barnett's Sta­tion, by which name it was known for many years. He made his home at and near his first settling place the rest of his life, except that the family refugeed to Vi­enna in 1864 and lived there for several years thereaf­ter.

 

Eleven children were born of Dr. Barnett's second marriage, of whom Nancy, the oldest, married Calvin Breeding. Both she and her husband are long since dead leaving nine children: Rose, wife of Thomas Brannam of Belle; William who died in infancy; Nettie, widow of O. C. Hopkins, now wife of Charles E. Hefti of Vienna; Alonzo, died in infancy; Eveline, wife of Vince Keeney of Argyle; Alice, widow of Neal Shanks of Jefferson City; Augusta, wife of Edward Wilson of Jefferson City; Cora, wife of Joseph Pohl of Freeburg; Hiram who mar­ried Mary Hutchison, is dead, leaving the following children: Harrison, Ray, and William all of Maries County; Ada, wife of Stephen Brunnert, and Mabel, both of St. Louis.

 

Louisa Barnett, the second daughter, married Rolen Burns, and is dead, as is the third daughter, Lucin­da, born December 9, 1848, who married Buck Caldwell; William T. Barnett, the oldest son of the second marriage, born December 17, 1850, married a Pearson and lives on the Big Tavern, not far over the line in Miller County. The above children were all born in Tennessee.

 

Tennessee Catherine Barnett, born February 10, 1855, married John F. Well, and died in 1936, Mr. Well having died in 1923. Of the seven children born of their marriage two, Joe E. Well and Victoria, later Victoria Harrison, are dead, leaving children whose names have not been obtained. Fred C. Well, John H. Well, Christina A., wife of Andrew C. Barnett, Lena, wife of Thomas Greenwood, and Bertha, wife of Thom­as Caldwell, survive. John H. Well lives in Kansas and

 

 

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the Barnett and Greenwood families in Arkansas.

 

The six remaining children are: Sarah Adelaide, born January 29, 1853, who married Fayette Monroe; James Polk, born March 17, 1857, married Lizzie Wal­ker and lives in this county; George M. Dalls, born April 19, 1850, married Martha Jane, daughter of John, who was a son of Solomon Copeland, and both died at Payton, Oklahoma; Wellington Monroe Parsons, born July 4, 1861, married Rebecca A. Pearson, who was born October 23, 1861, and lives in this county; John Eberley, born July 10, 1864, married Rachel Fields in Oklahoma and lives at Locust Grove in that state; Cal­vin Washington, the youngest, born January 21, 1868, married in Oklahoma and died at Tulsa.

 

The first connection of our Bumpass family with Maries County affairs was that of William Weldon, who was born in Halifax County, Virginia, January 7, 1800. He came with his wife, Leanah, to Missouri in 1831, and settled on the land near the Lacy and Star schoolhouses known to the older settlers as the Barnwell place. Here his daughter Mary Ann was born on December 4, 1831. He was the first white man to find the lead de­posits in that region, but upon visiting the place thirty years later he found the country so changed that his dis­covery could not be relocated. After living there some four or five years he removed to near Osage City, and, after the marriage of his daughter, to Clinton in Henry County. A pronounced and outspoken Confederate sympathizer, he was compelled to refugee out during the Civil War, and came to the home of Dr. Bumpass on the Big Maries, making his home there until his death on January 20, 1879.

 

William Bumpass made the horseback trip from Kentucky to present Gasconade County about 1820, just in time to become the new county's first Treasurer up­on its organization in 1821. His wife died within a few years, leaving two children, one of whom was Sallie

 

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Bumpass, later wife of Jared Branson and a resident of this county from 1867. The second wife of William Bumpass was Hannah Eads, and to this union seven children were born, one of them. Benjamin F. Bumpass, on September 3, 1828.

 

Dr. Benjamin F. Bumpass, prominent early day physician, was born in Gasconade County, September 3, 1828, the son of William Bumpass, lawyer and sur­veyor and the first Treasurer of Gasconade County. He 'read medicine' under Dr. Rainey and other physicians there and in St. Louis. He attended Missouri University after which he began his active practice in 1852. He was married November 4th of that year to Mary W. Weldon, daughter of J. William and Leanah Weldon, natives of Halifax County, Virginia, who had settled in what is now Osage County where Mrs. Bumpass was born December 4, 1831.

 

In 1853 the young couple moved to the land on the Big Maries in this county later known as the Buschmann place. William Bumpass had bought this land some time before. He sold it to the doctor and his brother, Hugh. Hugh Bumpass, however, never moved to this county and soon sold his interest to his brother. They made this place their home during the troublesome time of the Civil War and until 1868. They then sold it to Jos­eph Buschmann and moved several miles farther up the Maries to the farm on which they spent the remainder of their lives. The place was generally known as Weldon from the former post office of that name conducted there.

 

Their three children were: Sarah Weldon Bumpass, born August 22, 1863, who died November 18, 1860; Martha Josephine Bumpass, born January 19, 1855, survives, together with her husband, Thomas E. Waters, and lives at the Dr. Bumpass place at Weldon. They have two children, W. E. Waters, present Clerk of the county, and Kate, wife of Adam Copeland, a guard at

 

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the state penitentiary, Kate died in 1936. Oliver Perry Bumpass, the youngest child, born October 4, 1856, married Hallie Murphy and was for many years a prom­inent farmer, stockman, and merchant in the western part of the county. He died about 1919, leaving his wid­ow, who still survives and lives at Dixon, and the fol­lowing children: Ewell C. Bumpass who married Susan Lawson, and William W. Bumpass who married Eunice Martin, both of Maplewood; Benjamin F. Bumpass whose wife was Lottie Ramsey; and Oliver Bumpass who mar­ried in the west, both in California; Mary who married Clint Healey, Clay and Sallie, both of whom married in Illinois, all live in that state; Sydney who is the wife of Ed Roberson lives at Dixon.

 

Mary A. Bumpass died more than fifty years ago, and on October 13, 1897, Dr. Bumpass was married for the second time to Mary C. McAfee, with whom he lived until his death in 1902. His second wife is also dead.

 

In addition to his professional duties Dr. Bumpass took a deep Interest in politics as a Democrat, but he was not an off ice seeker, his political honors being con­fined to one term in the state legislature in 1863. He was chairman of the Democratic Central Committee in the county for a number of years. In addition to his im­mediate family the children of a grandnephew, William D. Bumpass, were raised in this county, their mother taking as her second husband Mark West. These children were: Emmett, who married Millie Sherill and died at Dixon; Lora, later wife of Marion Eads; and a third child that died in infancy.

 

Dr. A. S. Petit settled in Vienna just about the time the town was laid out in 1855, and practiced his profes­sion for seven or eight years. He gradually expanded interests until his professional card in the Central Missourian in 1861 read as follows: "Dr. Alfro S. Petit; Physician, Surgeon and Obstetrician; Notary Public;

 

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Coroner for Maries County; Commissioner for Vienna; Carding Machine and Woolen Factory.' In addition the paper carries his name at the masthead as Editor and Publisher. Shortly after coming here he bought and built on the property now occupied by the homes of Judge Leslie B. Hutchison and Miss Lizzie McManamy which he called 'Petit's Cottage Park.' Nothing is known of his antecedants or his former residence. He moved away during the Civil War 'and no man knoweth his rest­ing place.'

 

Dr. William R. Wilson was born in Amelia County, Virginia, August 21, 1838. He studied medicine in Phil­adelphia and had just begun the active practice of his profession in his native state when the Civil War broke out, whereupon he promptly enlisted as a Lieutenant in the Medical Corps of the command of Colonel, later General, Robert E. Lee. He served for the duration of the war. He was married at Richmond, Virginia, June 6, 1865, to Sarah Miller, who was born in Chesterfield County, of that state, March 26, 1846.

 

Dr. Wilson resumed the practice of medicine after the surrender. For something like three years the young couple endeavored to make a living in the wreck that remained of their state, finally deciding to get out of the carpetbag and reconstruction mess by moving west. Just how they came to settle in Vienna is not known, but they arrived here in 1869 and made this place their home for something like six years, removing to Dixon in 1875. The main reason likely was that the latter place was then a full-fledged railroad town, the Atlantic and Pacif­ic having been completed past there a short time be­fore. During his stay here Dr. Wilson built the house known to later inhabitants as the Ellis place, now owned by Patsy McDonald. The old house has been torn down.

 

The family lived at Dixon twelve years, moving to Fort Scott, Kansas, in 1887. They then moved to Rolla in 1893, making the latter place their home until the

 

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death of both. Dr. Wilson died June 1, 1900, his widow surviving until April 13, 1911.

 

Of the four children born to them, Bettie married C. A. McComb at Fort Scott, Kansas, in 1889, and died November 13, 1932; her widower lives at Rolla. Their four children are Louisa, wife of D. L. Forrester of South Pasadena, California; Georgia, wife of J. H. Smith of Rolla; Randolph, single, lives at Washington, D. C.; Florence married Clyde Fuller of Lebanon, Missouri.

 

Mary H., the second daughter, married L. C. Smith at Dixon in 1885; Mr. Smith died at Rolla November 16, 1932, leaving his widow and six surviving children: Lucy, wife of A. B. Knapp; Ida, wife of H. D. McKibben; V. X. who married Sarhanna Fowler of Salem; and Charles who married Dixie Scheurer, all of whom live at Rolla; William S. married Lucille McKinney of Hel­ena, Montana, and lives at Pocatello, Idaho; Florence married Leroy Schuerer and lives at Wichita Falls, Texas.

 

Lee, the third daughter, married George W. Smith at Rolla in 1896 and lives in Los Angeles, California, with her two children, Georgina and Lee, both single.

 

Virginia married L. A. Wade of Rockford, Illinois, in 1913; they live in Indianapolis, Indiana, with their only child, Billie Wade.

 

Samuel D. Meriwether might be called successor to Dr. Curtis, inasmuch as he settled on the south side of Lanes Prairie a few years before the Civil War. But aside from the fact that he lived near Dr. Curtis and succeeded to most of his practice on the former's in­activity and later death, there was no connection between the two.

 

Dr. Meriwether was born in Charlottesville, Vir­ginia, January 7, 1830, the son of Reverend George and Eliza (Dodds) Meriwether, who also was born in Charlottesville

 

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December 8, 1800. Reverend Meriwether's grandfather, Colonel David Meriwether of Revolution­ary War fame, was also a resident of the same city, so the family maybe said to have been among the founders. This Colonel David Meriwether was also the great­grandfather of Meriwether Lewis, leader of the Lewis and Clark Expedition from St. Louis to the Pacific Coast in 1804-1806, and later Governor of Missouri Territory.

 

We do not know the date of Dr. Samuel Meriwether's coming to Missouri, the name of his first wife, or the date of their marriage. They were the parents of one son, Robert, born in Lewis County, Missouri, April 18, 1853. Robert was admitted to the bar in Pike County May 27, 1872, and on October 21, 1875, was married to Alice Jane, daughter of Joseph A. and Ann Bondurant at LaBelle, Lewis County. He moved to St. James in 1876, was connected with the post office there, and moved to Rolla about 1883, where their only child, Roy, was born December 13, 1884. Robert served two terms as Probate Judge of Phelps County, two terms as its Prosecuting Attorney, and was for some time cashier of the Rolla State Bank before moving to Monroe City, Monroe County, November 14, 1900, where he contin­ued to live and practice law with his son until his death on June 24, 1933.

 

Soon after removing to Maries County Dr. Meri­wether was married to Miss Mary Ehrhardt and settled on the farm on which he later died, just on the south edge of Lanes Prairie. During the time Bloomington was a thriving trading point he maintained an office there, and later moved it to Vichy, where he practiced and conducted a drugstore until his death August 11, 1888. His wife survived him a great many years, dying at Vichy at an advanced age.

 

Dr. Meriwether was the father of ten children by his second marriage, of whom only one, Marie Antoi­nette, wife of G. W. Breece, lives in this county. Thomas

 

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E., youngest child, married Edna, daughter of D. N. Gardner, and was drowned on the west coast January 23, 1930; he left three children, Gordon, Ruth, and Gladys, all of whom are now married and, with their mother, live in California. Josephine, the oldest daugh­ter, married Hance Miller. They spent most of their married life at Vichy, and after Mr. Miller's death the widow and her children removed to about Siloam Springs, Arkansas, where she later died. They were the parents of six children, all of whom are living. Carl E., Thom­as H., and Jewel A., wife of Robert A. Gulledge, live in Tulsa; Ivey H. Miller lives at Joplin; Nettie, wife of John L. Pointer, at Lexington, Missouri, and Jessie, wife of J. J. Blake, in Sabine Parish, Louisiana.

 

Belle Meriwether, born May 9, 1863, married John Avery Hart and died January 5, 1916. They were the parents of five children: Ira, wife of Dave Warner, Eth­el, formerly wife of Charles Hale and now of J. J. Snodgrass, Roy and Elston, live in this county. Myrtle, the remaining child, married Earl Evans; both are now dead, leaving one son, who lives here.

 

The remaining seven children are: Charles who is a doctor, married Effie ____; Napoleon B. who mar­ried Lucy Spaulding; Waldo P. who married in Indiana; Minnie, Annie, and Fannie (the latter three are triplets) all three of whom have been married and are widowed, and now live together in Los Angeles. All seven of the above children live in or near Los Angeles.

 

Roy Meriwether, the only son of Robert, whose birth date is given above, was admitted to the bar in Monroe County in 1906, and on October 21, 1908, mar­ried Jessie, daughter of Jasper and Annie Henderson of that county. He has been Prosecuting Attorney of Monroe County, twenty years City Attorney of Monroe City, and twelve years president of the Monroe City Board of Education. His other activities include the Presidency of the Tenth District Bar Association, member

 

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of the State Bar Committee and of the state and American Bar Association, and trustee of Culver Stockton College at Canton, Missouri.

 

The positions held by Robert Meriwether during his long and useful life are the best evidence of his charac­ter, and of his fellow countrymen's opinion of him. Il­lustrating his character, the story is told (but never by Robert) that when his father was on his deathbed he sent for his son and confided to him the site of two thousand dollars in gold he had buried in the orchard back of the house. Robert said nothing of this confidence until after the death and burial of his father, and of his qualifying as executor of the estate. His first act as the executor of the estate was to dig up the money and place it among the assets of the estate.

 

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