Biographical Sketches

Biographies from Cole County People



Harry B. Mackey

Harry B. Mackey became constable of this township in 1932 and chief of police of Jefferson City on January 15, 1937. Chief Mackey was a native of Missouri, the son of John T. and Sarah Blanchett Mackey. He was born at Marshfield April 16, 1890. John T. Mackey was a farmer and fruit grower and lived in Springfield, MO. Sarah Blanchett Mackey died October 1, 1930.

Harry B. Mackey came to Jefferson City in 1923 where he went to work as brakeman on the Missouri Pacific Railroad. He lived here and worked for the railway company until his election as constable. He was married October 6, 1916, to Miss Gladys Holder, daughter of Oscar and Arpha Holder of Aurora.


Mary Amelia Thomas Magee

Mary Amelia Thomas, who married William A. Magee in Jefferson City November 25, 1908, was born August 18, 1871, at 102 Main Street (now Capital Avenue). Her old home, with other buildings in the block, was torn down to make room for a park between the governor’s mansion and the Capitol.

Mrs. Magee was the daughter of Henry Thomas who was born January 29, 1838, at Hesse Darmstadt, Germany. About 1843 he came to America with his widowed mother and brother, Daniel. The family lived at Pittsburg until 1856 when they moved to Boonville. Henry Thomas worked in a printing office in Boonville for a time, then in a Jefferson City printing office. When the Civil War came he enlisted in Company G., Tenth Missouri Cavalry, where he became a sergeant. At the close of the war he returned to his work in the printing office where he remained until shortly before his death on May 20, 1876.

Henry Thomas was married to Christina Wolfenschneider in Jefferson City February 12, 1868. Rev. Miller of St. Peter’s Church performed the ceremony in a house on the present site of the Baptist Church. Mrs. Thomas was born in Hesse, Darmstadt in November 24, 1848; she died March 31, 1926. She was the daughter of Adam and Catharina May Wolfenschneider who were married in Darmstadt, and in 1851 after a three months’ ocean trip to America, settled in Cincinnati for a short time then came by boat to Jefferson City, then a small village. They lived for a time on Water Street. About 1860, Mr. and Mrs. Wolfenschneider with their family of eight children and Mr. Wolfenschneider’s parents, Adam and Anna Marie Wolfenschneider, moved to a farm near the Country Club.

Daniel Thomas, Mrs. Magee’s paternal grandfather, was born in Hesse, Darmstadt, Germany in 1790, and died in that city. His wife, Julia Hissrich Thomas, born in Hesse in 1794, died in Jefferson City in 1877.

William A. Magee was born in St. Louis June 12, 1868. He was educated there and attended Washington University. He learned the machinist trade in his father’s shop, worked in Chicago, Philadelphia, New York and Boston and after a trip to England, Scotland and Ireland returned to work for his father. In 1890 he came to Jefferson City and worked in a foundry conducted by Ernest Simonsen. Later he was supervisor of the manual training department of Lincoln University, after which he went into business for himself. He opened the Star Dynamo Shop in the old Episcopal Church building, later moving it to Water and Lafayette Streets on a site now within the prison yard. He again moved to another site on Capitol Avenue where his shop was damaged by fire. He then built a new shop on the present site (1938) of the Sunlite Laundry where he remained in business until his death. During World War I he closed his shop and worked for the government in the arsenal in Davenport, Iowa.

Alice, daughter of Mr. and Mrs. William A. Magee, was born in Jefferson City, August 26, 1909, graduated at St. Peter’s in 1926 and the Jefferson City High School in 1928, attending George Washington University in the District of Columbia in 1931-32. She was with the state department in Washington from 1930 to 1935 and then became a codist for the American embassy in Rome. Thomas, born June 8, 1911, attended St. Peter’s and Conception Academy, graduated from the local high school in 1929, was with the state highway commission four years and then with the Geological Survey in southeast Missouri. He was married November 21, 1935, to Melba C. Koch of Owensville. Henry, born September 27, 1913, attended St. Peters, the high school and junior college, attended the Kansas City school of Pharmacy and in 1935 became a registered pharmacist. He was with the Brandenberger Drug Company for five years, being manager the last year. He ran his own prescription counter in the Trust Building. November 14, 1936, he married Helen LaCroix of Kansas City.

Mrs. Magee was educated in Notre Dame Convent and the Jefferson City schools, graduating from high school in the class of 1890-91. The old Central School, then the only school building in the city, was over-crowded and classes were taught outside. There were eleven in the graduating class, each of who prepared an essay or oration for commencement.


Thomas B. Mahan

 Thomas B. Mahan, Sheriff & Collector
Thomas B. Mahan was born February 27, 1845 in Cooper County, MO, where his early education was of only a few winter months in a neighboring school. He moved to Cole County in 1864 and engaged in farming; twelve years later he moved to Jefferson City where he took a position as guard at the prison, in which he continued for eighteen months. He then became a teamster with the City Transfer Company moving to the position of Superintendent. A few years later he engaged in the wood and coal business which he continued until 1886, when he was elected Sheriff and held this position until he was elected Collector of Cole County in 1890.

He married Priscilla Gordon, daughter of Alexander Gordon, on April 6, 1895. They had six children; two boys and four girls. They made their home on a farm one mile east of Jefferson City.











Albert B. Markway

Albert B. Markway was a native of Cole County, being born in Osage Township November 1, 1884. He was the son of Fred and Katherine Schneiders Markway, the latter being born in Liberty Township. Fred Markway when a small child was brought from the Alsace-Lorraine region in Germany to America by his parents. His father died in New York, following which his mother brought the family of four sons and a daughter to Jefferson City. Here she later remarried.

In early manhood Fred Markway bought a farm in Osage Township. They became the parents of seven sons and four daughters; one son died in infancy and another at the age of twenty-four. Al Markway, the third son of Mr. and Mrs. Fred Markway, remained on the home farm until after he was of age. For a number of years he combined farming and carpenter work. In 1911 he bought a general store at Wardsville and served that community both as a merchant and postmaster in 1930 when he was elected County Collector. For more than ten years prior to his election, Mr. Markway was shipping manager of the Cole County Co-operative Farmers’ Association.

In Wardsville in 1912, Mr. Markway was married to Miss Marie Winkleman, daughter of Herman and Johanna Melies Winkleman, who came from Osage to Cole County in the late 1880s. Mr. Winkleman lived in Wardsville; his wife died in 1934. Mr. and Mrs Markway were the parents of eight children: Dorothy A. who was married in May 1937, to John Creff; Norbert H.; Maurice H. and Marcellus B., twins; Albert B. Jr.; Jerome; Mary K. and Louis. The family belonged to the Catholic Church and Mr. Markway was a member of the Knights of Columbus.


Charles B. Maus

 Charles B. Maus
Charles B. Maus was born December 3, 1823 in Germany, his parents immigrating to America in 1830, stopping first in Lancaster County, PA where his father was employed at an iron furnace. His father died in 1833 and with his mother and family moved to Tuscarava County, OH where Charles worked as a driver on the Ohio Canal. Here he lost his mother and in 1840 with his only sister and several brothers, moved to Jefferson City where he worked as a carpenter. However, his brothers thought a stone mason position would pay better so they sent him to St. Louis for four years where he apprenticed as a stone cutter. He returned to Jefferson City in 1845 and immediately went to Springfield where he assisted in erecting a building for the Branch Missouri State Bank.

In 1846 he enlisted in the war with Mexico, after which he returned to Jefferson City, engaging in merchandising, his first venture being in a small way in what was called a boat store, selling chickens, produce, etc. to the many steamers which then plied the Missouri River. He associated with Charles F. Lohman in general merchandising, the partnership continuing seven years. The firm was dissolved and Mr. Maus continued the business alone, first on the corner of Water and Jefferson Streets, then moving to 101 East High Street.

In 1861 he enlisted as a Private in a response to a call for volunteers, later seeking promotions to Sergeant, Lieutenant and Captain. His service as Captain was with Company “E” and covered nearly three years, including active movements in Price’s raid, however most of the time he was guarding supplies from Rolla to Sand Springs, a distance of 30 miles.

Mr. Maus was united in marriage to Amelia Linsenbarth, sister of Mrs. Charles F. Lohman, on August 3, 1848. To this union four children were born. Amelia died on January 29, 1858 and later he remarried a Margaret Blochberger, who was the mother of six children. They made their home above the store at the corner of High and Jefferson streets. In addition he had a 240 acre farm across the river in Callaway County, three miles north of Jefferson City.


Peter C. Mayens

Around 1885 Jacob Mayens established a grocery at 910 East High Street in what was then suburban Jefferson City. Peter, then a lad of thirteen, began helping his father in the store. The store remained in business at this location for thirty-six years until Peter C. Mayens erected a large new modern store.

Jacob Mayens in 1854 came to Cole County with his parents who were natives of Belgium. He was then eleven years old. For five years he lived with his parents on their Cole County farm, then in 1859 he became station agent at Osage City where he remained twenty-four years. For the last seventeen years of this time he was in the mercantile business. Later he came to Jefferson City where he opened his grocery. Jacob Mayens was married to Margaret Koehler, who came to America at about the age of five. He died in 1913, his wife in 1903.

Peter C. Mayens was born at Osage City in 1872. Most of his life was spent in Jefferson City. He assisted his father while the latter was active in business, later assuming personal charge. He was married to Margaret Beck, a native of this city of a pioneer family, who died within a year, leaving a daughter. Ten years he married another Margaret Beck, a distant relative of his first wife. Five children were born to this marriage: Constance; Janet, who married Rev. Oscar L. Mueller; Katherine and June who lived in Scott City, Kansas; Margaret married Dr. Arnold Cook, a St. Louis physician; Wilbur was with the Heinz Pickling Company in St. Louis; Imogene graduated from Winfield College, Winfield, Kansas.


Walter Young Mayo

 Walter Young Mayo
Walter Young Mayo was born on November 21, 1874 in Louisville, KY, son of Walter Powhatan Mayo and Lucy Elizabeth Young. His grandfather, Hon. William H. Mayo, was killed near his home at Boonville, MO during the Civil War by Bushwhackers.

Walter Mayo came to Jefferson City with his widowed mother and sisters in 1886 and he worked in the Treasury Department under then Governor Lon V. Stephens. Because of failing health, he went to New Mexico with his mother; he died there on March 7, 1895, and was buried in Woodland Cemetery in eastern Jefferson City.

The subject of this sketch is a direct descendent of Major William Mayo who immigrated from England in 1716, to the Isle of Barbados, making the excellent map of that Isle, which is on file in the King’s College Library. Major Mayo went to Virginia in 1723, running the dividing line between Virginia and North Carolina. One of the rivers intersecting that line was named in honor of Major Mayo, which name it still remains. He was also one of the most prominent Civil Engineers in Virginia. In 1736, he was appointed surveyor of the Northern Neck of Virginia in order to settle a disputed boundary between Lord Fairfax and the crown. Early in 1737 he lay off the city of Richmond and died in 1774.

Colonel John Mayo, born October 21, 1760, was the projector and founder of the celebrated Mayo Bridge just below the falls of the James River at Richmond. Mrs. Mayo was a daughter of John De Hart of Elizabethtown, NJ who was a member of the First Continental Congress that met in Philadelphia in 1774. The old Mayo homestead “Powhatan” was a short distance from Richmond and in full view of the Capitol steps. There is a huge rock which marks the spot of the most powerful Indian Chief of Virginia, Powhatan (1741), whose principal residence was there and for which the home was named. Major Mayo served in the War of 1812 and his eldest daughter Maria was the wife of General Winfield Scott, the hero of Lundy’s Lane.


Burr Harrison McCarty

 Burr Harrison McCarty
Burr Harrison McCarty was born near Leesburg, London County, Virginia on June 10, 1810. He passed away at his home in Jefferson City on January 6, 1890. His ancestors came from Ireland to America in 1618, settling in Virginia. His father was William McCarty, a large land owner in Virginia and his mother an English lady who was visiting in the home of George Washington, then President of the United States, when he met and married her.

Mr. McCarty was raised on a farm and educated at Virginia University at Charlotte. At the age of 25 he went south to make his fortune and in 1835 came to Missouri, first settling in Fayette, Howard County and then in Jefferson City in 1836.

For many years he was with Gen. Thomas L. Price, with whom he owned and operated stage lines before the days of railroads. He was married to Algira Hughes in Jefferson City May 4, 1838. She was born and reared in Virginia, and came with her family to Jefferson City in November 1837, arriving the day the old State Capitol burned.

In June 1838, he purchased the ground and erected a commodious home which became part of the McCarty House. From taking to his home traveler friends who came on the stage, the hotel grew and as necessity demanded, additions were built to accommodate the ever increasing number of guests.


 McCarty House, 120 E. McCarty St.

McCarty House, 120 East McCarty Street

Mr. McCarty lived to celebrate his golden wedding anniversary, and had occupied his home continuously, except for a few weeks during the Civil War when he was ordered to vacate it for a hospital, it then being the largest hotel in the city. In its time the McCarty House entertained nearly all the distinguished Missourians. Senators Benton and Linn were patrons of the house during their lifetime. Speaking of his hotel in the antebellum days, Mr. McCarty once said that it was a common occurrence for Sheriffs and Collectors to come here on horseback with so much silver and gold strapped on their horses as to make the animal’s back sore. Then Sheriffs and Collectors received taxes in specie and were required to deliver the money to the State Treasurer in person.

Mr. McCarty was a fine old Southern gentlemen whose house was conducted upon the old Virginia plan of hospitality and the landlord was no less famous than the manner in which guests were entertained. After his death at the age of 80, the hotel continued in operation, managed by his daughter, Miss Ella McCarty.


Russell C. McMahan

 Russell C. McMahan
Russell C. McMahan was born in Arrow Rock, Saline County, MO, of parents both native Missourians. He came to Jefferson City when nine years old and entered the public schools. He was appointed a Page for the 39th General Assembly. In 1899 the Speaker of the 40th General Assembly, W.J. Ward, honored him with a place at his side as private Page.

Russell is descended from many of Missouri’s most prominent men of the past and was the nephew of Governor Lon V. Stephens. He was a member of the M.E. Church (South) of Jefferson City and lived with his parents at 115 Jackson Street. His father, W. E. Mahan, was chief clerk at the prison.


















Foster B. McHenry

 Foster B. McHenry
When the Capital City Telephone Company was organized in 1900, its first board of directors contained the name of Houck McHenry. He was made manager soon after the company was organized and retained that position until his death. In 1936 his son, Foster B. McHenry was made general manager of the company.

Houck McHenry was born in Westport, June 21, 1868. His father, James Edgar McHenry, was the son of James Bennett McHenry who was born in Tennessee in 1800 and in 1833 came to Jefferson City to make his home. The wife of James Bennett McHenry was Sidney Roland Edgar. James Edgar McHenry for a number of years worked on steamboats operating on the Missouri and Mississippi Rivers. At Westport in 1866 he married Kate Francisco Houck, daughter of Solomon and Kate Francisco Houck. It was Mrs. McHenry’s parental home that the famous military Order Number Eleven was written. James E. McHenry was elected state registrar of lands in 1876 and re-elected in 1878. This city remained his home for the rest of his life.

Houck McHenry lived in Jefferson City from the time he was eight years old, attending school there. He was baggage man at the Missouri Pacific station, then went into the transfer business in which he remained until he became head of the telephone company, giving his time to the development of that enterprise. He was a member of the city council two terms, twice president of the Chamber of Commerce, fifteen years on the school board, a member of the Rotary Club and of the Baptist Church.

In 1890 Houck McHenry married Miss Thelma Bolton, daughter of Walter Bolton, Jr., whose father, Waller Bolton came to Cole County in 1831. Waller Bolton, Jr. married the daughter of William Henry Foster of Callaway County.

Foster B. McHenry was born March 11, 1895. He attended school in this city and graduated from William Jewell College in 1914, following which he took post-graduate work in business administration in the state university. In college he was a leader in scholastic and athletic activities. He entered Camp Funston September 7, 1917, and served with the rank of sergeant in the 356th Infantry, 89th Division. He served sixteen months in World War I and was wounded at St. Mihiel.

Following the war he was in the insurance business until he became connected with the telephone company in 1925, except for an interval spent as manager of the Madison Hotel. In 1925 he entered the service of the Capital City Telephone Company as plant accountant, and later secretary and assistant manager. In 1936 he became vice-president, and general manager, following the death of his father. He was a charter member of the Kiwanis Club, and was first commander of the local post of the American Legion. A Mason of high rank, he was the fifth successive generation of his family to hold membership in that order.

Mr. McHenry was married June 12, 1920, to Miss Ellen Madge Waddill, daughter of Mr. and Mrs. John T. Waddill, her father for years being chairman of the state tax commission (see sketch). Mr. and Mrs. McHenry had two children. John Houck was born November 17, 1924 and James Foster October 26, 1930. Mrs. McHenry was state registrar of the D.A.R. and an officer in the national organization of the D.A.R., organizer and regent William Greenway Chapter Daughters of American Colonists. She was instrumental in founding the Cole County Historical Society.


Walter Frazier McMillin

 Walter Frazier McMillin
Walter Frazier McMillin, son of Samuel H. McMillin, was born in Dunlap, KS December 23, 1879. At the age of two years he moved with his parents to Jefferson City where he spent most of his life. He graduated from the public high school at the age of seventeen and entered Westminster College in September 1897, taking courses toward a Bachelor of Arts degree. He was a member of the Philolethian Literary Society (debate and oratory) and the Beta Theta Pi Fraternity.

His residence was at the corner of Jackson and Water Streets in Jefferson City.
















Tom Menteer

Thomas Jefferson and Andrew Jackson Menteer, were twins and father and uncle respectively of the Tom Menteer. They were born September 19, 1862, sons of John Wyatt and Susan Rice Menteer. Their names indicate their southern ancestry and their politics. John W. Menteer, a native of Kentucky, came to Cole County with his parents when he was three years old and spent the remainder of his life and reared his family. His wife was the daughter of Andrew Rice, a pioneer settler.

A. J. Menteer was a bachelor. He was a long-time employee in the Supreme Court library and became librarian January 1, 1917. T. J. Menteer married Maggie Anderson of a prominent Maries County family. He worked as a carpenter, a grocer, and for a number of years was associated with his son in the bottling business.

Tom Menteer was born in Jefferson City April 9, 1887, and was reared and educated there. He was head of the Jefferson City Bottling Company; engaged in the manufacture of soft drinks. The plant served a trade area of about a fifty-mile radius from Jefferson City and employed eight full-time employees with seasonal extra help.

Mr. Menteer was married in 1912 to Miss Ida DeBroeck, a native of the city, daughter of Ben and Mary DeBroeck. Mr. and Mrs. Menteer had two children, Robert and Virginia May.


William R. Menteer

 William R. Menteer
William R. Menteer was born four miles south of Jefferson City on December 11, 1860. When he was six years old his parents moved to Polk County, returning in 1875 to settle on a farm. William’s father died in 1879 and in 1885 he moved to Jefferson City and worked as a carpenter. In 1888 he associated for three years with Mr. John T. Short in the contracting and building business, the firm being Menteer & Short. Later he went into business alone.

He was married October 21 1885 to Miss Amanda Anderson of Jefferson City and they had two daughters, Naomi and Margarette. Mrs. Menteer died November 13, 1891 and in 1896 William married Emma Engelbrecht, daughter of George J. Engelbrecht, a farmer near the city. Mr. Menteer belonged to several civic organizations and was a member of the M.E. Church South. He was a contractor and builder of a number of residences in the city and county. His shop and office were north of the court house and the family resided at 313 Jackson Street.









Edgar Meyer

Edgar Meyer was the son of John Meyer who came to this country from Germany in 1896. John Meyer secured a job with the old Interstate Restaurant Company and was sent to Texas where he became a cook. He was sent to Jefferson City to take charge of the old Depot Restaurant, working there until it sold then went into business for himself. John bought the building at the corner of Monroe and State streets in 1901. He prospered and built the hotel up; at the time of his death in 1934 it contained 40 rooms and an enlarged restaurant.

Edgar Meyer aided his father and when he died the young man took over the operation of the hotel and restaurant. He completely modernized the hotel and café and the business became a popular eating place in Jefferson City.

Edgar Meyer had two brothers and a sister. Adolph worked at the post office for twelve years and then became a regular carrier. He married Miss Willmasher and they made their home in the west end of town. Ralph, another brother, worked for the Central Missouri Trust Company. He married Miss Irene Rockleman and they made their home on Green Berry Road. A sister, Mildred, and her mother made their home with Edgar Meyer on West Main Street.


Ralph Meyers

 Ralph Meyers
Ralph Meyers, eldest son of William W. and Bertha Meyers, was born October 14, 1881, in Jefferson City. He entered the public schools in 1888 and for two or three summers took summer school courses. He entered high school in 1896 and at the close of his junior year secured a position with the Giesecke Boot and Shoe Manufacturing Company, returning September 1, 1899 to finish school and graduate. He was chosen President of the graduating class of 1900. It was in his last year of school that the White and Rose Societies were organized and he was chosen the first President of that organization.












Otto Michael

 Otto Michael





















George Wear Miller

George Wear Miller, the son of John Miller and Mary Wear, was a native of Kentucky. He was born in 1812 in Christian County, and died in Jefferson City, March 19, 1879. He moved with his family to Missouri about 1818 and settled in Howard County. His father, John Miller, represented that county in the General Assemblies of 1822-23 and 1824-25. In 1827, Mr. Miller came to Cole County to teach school at Old Sardis Church in Marion Township for three months. After he fulfilled that engagement he came to Jefferson City in the spring of 1828 and taught school there.

About this time he commenced the study of law in the office of Judge Robert W. Wells, then Attorney General of the State, and remained under his instruction until he obtained his license and entered the practice of his profession. In October 1829 Mr. Miller was appointed Postmaster of Jefferson City by President Jackson and held the office for twelve years consecutively.

In 1831 he married Miss Louise W. Basye of Jefferson City, the daughter of Major Basye and Frances Wilton Robinson. In 1832 he was elected to the legislature from Cole County, and reelected in 1834. In 1838 he was elected to the Senate from this district, and reelected in 1842. He was appointed State Auditor by Governor Edwards to fill the vacancy occasioned by the death of Mr. McDearmon. In 1850 he was again elected to the Senate to finish the unexpired term of Peter Glover who had been elected Treasurer. He was reelected in 1851 and resigned before the term expired, having been elected Judge of this Judicial Circuit, which position he filled until he was defeated in 1866 by Judge I. M. Rice, a majority of Democrats being disfranchised by the Drake constitution. He was again elected circuit judge in 1873 and held the office until the time of his death, having in all presided twenty years as judge of this circuit. He was once Adjutant General of Missouri and Commissioner of the Permanent Seat of Government.

He was a personal and political friend of Col. Benton, and when the Benton and anti-Benton question divided the party, he stood by his old friend. When the rebellion broke out, Judge Miller took his position promptly on the Union side and did a great deal to keep the counties within his judicial circuit quiet by regularly holding his courts, sometimes at great personal peril, and giving the people opportunity for legal remedies. He was the only circuit judge in the state who was not deterred at some time during the war from holding court. Part of the time during the years he was Judge, he resided in Boonville.

Soon after Judge Miller’s marriage he and his wife joined the Presbyterian Church in Cooper County. However, later in Jefferson City they were affiliated with the Methodist Church, South (now United Methodist Church).

Judge Miller died prior to his wife. They reared four children: Mr. E. A. Clark (Louise Miller) who later married Judge Henry Clough of Denver, Colorado; Mrs. John M. Kennedy (Elizabeth Miller) of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania; Mrs. Duncan McMillan (Eliza Miller), and Mrs. W. S. Pope (Lucy Miller) of Jefferson City. The four daughters all married lawyers.


John Miller

The founder of the Miller family in Cole County was John Miller, who left Maryland for North Carolina. Thence he went to Tennessee where he married Hannah Young. In the early 1800s he came to Cole County, (probably by boat to Sandy Hook), and entered land about three miles south of Sandy Hook on the west bank of the Moniteau in a densely wooded section miles from the nearest neighbor. Not much is known of his family save that he had a son, William; and a brother, Pinkney Miller settled in what is now Miller County, which is said to have been named for him, and where many of his descendants live.

William Miller, the son of John Miller, was county judge of Cole County in 1840 before its separation from Moniteau. When the latter county was created in 1845 he was presiding judge of its first county court. In 1852 he was in charge of the probate court of Moniteau County, his home being a short distance on that side of the county line. He was born in Tennessee, August 4, 1776, and there married Mary Kinkaid who died shortly after coming to Missouri. He then married a widow named Moad, by whom he had several children. One of the number, John, in 1849 left for the gold fields of California and was never heard from. His second wife dying, Judge Miller married Thursa Moore, daughter of Jacky and Jane Moore of the Elston community by whom he had seven children. One of these, Mrs. Thursa Powell was born December 1858. Judge Miller, a man of means for his day, had seventeen children and owned seventeen slaves. He died October 16, 1865 and is buried at Elston.

Jonathan Paris, better known as J. P. Miller, son of William Miller, was born November 11, 1846. He became a leader in his community. He bought all his father’s land lying east of the Little Moniteau, and there lived until his death January 29, 1915. January 3, 1873, he was married to Mary Jane Hayter, daughter of Mathison and Cynthia Powell Hayter, natives of Tennessee and pioneers here. J. P. Miller and his wife were the parents of nine children: Hermon, Edna, Arna, Boyd, Young, Mayme, Calperna, Paris and Eunice. In 1881 J. P. Miller served as representative from Moniteau County. He was of the old southern gentleman type, and a man of integrity and good judgment. He helped to organize the Shiloh Christian Church of which he was an elder until his death. He was a consistent member of the Masonic lodge. After his death, his widow lived with a daughter at their old home.

Hermon Miller was a well known lumber dealer of Centertown and the eldest son of J. P. and Mary Jane Miller. He was born July 25, 1874. After attending public schools and the Chillicothe Normal he taught school and farmed in his early life. April 5, 1905, he was married to Etta Durham, daughter of James and Sallie Hickham Durham, old and respected citizens of the Marion and Elston community. Mrs. Miller was born April 28, 1873, the youngest of seven children. In 1920 when land was high, Mr. Miller sold his farm and bought a half interest in the lumber yard at Centertown with W. A. Stark. Upon the death of Mr. Stark in 1933 he acquired full ownership. He helped to organize the Masonic Lodge at Centertown in 1910 and became its first secretary.


P. T. Miller

 Philip Thomas Miller
Phillip Thomas Miller was born at Greensburg, Greene County, Kentucky, May 7, 1818. He came to Jefferson City in 1833 at the age of fifteen, accepting a position as clerk in the store of his uncle, Thomas Miller. He continued there for six years and in 1839, in partnership with Thomas M. Winston Sr., he embarked in merchandising on his own, continuing until 1846. At that time he withdrew from the business to engage in steam boating on the Missouri River with his uncle, Thomas Miller, who was the master and owner of the Steamer Amelia. He served as clerk and later as captain of this steamer.

He then became clerk of the Missouri Penitentiary under Major Cochran, and was appointed to the position of Warden in 1961 by Governor Gamble. He served in this position until 1865. Later, in company with Gen. H. Clay Ewing and Wm. E. Dunscombe, he organized the Jefferson City Savings Association, which later became the Exchange Bank, then National Exchange Bank. He was cashier of this organization until December 1872 when he resigned to take the position of editor of the Jefferson City Tribune, which was published at that time by Reagan & Carter.

He retired from this position when he was appointed Chief bookkeeper in the office of the State Treasurer under Phil E. Chappell, a post he held through four administrations until his death, January 25, 1895.

Mr. Miller was married December 22, 1841 to Miss Maria Louise Winston, daughter of Nicholas J. Winston. To this union were born seven children, four boys and three girls. The family resided at 509 Jackson Street. George B. Miller, Nicholas E. Miller, Louise Bragg and Dr. Phil T. Miller were among those still living in the family home in the 1880 census.

Mr. Miller was a member of the Old School Presbyterian Church and superintended the erection of the first Presbyterian Church building in Jefferson City on Main Street west of the Madison Hotel. He was a delegate from Missouri to the National Prison Congress in January 1873 and held many offices of trust and honor during his lifetime.


Theodore Miller

 Theodore Miller Home

Theodore Miller sent this group picture postcard to Mrs. Jacob Miller, R.F.D. 1, Jefferson City, from Pierre, Indiana on March 13, 1911. He was working with this crew setting telegraph poles across the Midwest.

 Chris Miller Home

Chris Miller Home, 125 W. McCarty St.

This post card was addressed to Mr. T. C. Miller, Camden, Ohio in care of the Postal Telegraph Co. Notes identify Nona—Aunt Yetta—on the left. Postmarked Jefferson City Sept. 1909. The message is signed “Your Niece, Venita”.


W. A. Moore

Wlliam Alfred Moore first came to Jefferson City in 1882. He was born in Callaway County June 18, 1865. On coming to this city he was superintendent of the Jefferson City Transfer Company until 1892. October 28, 1890, he married Miss Nellie C. McHenry and they had three children: William S., Kate D., and James H. William S. Moore as Captain of Company L., Missouri National Guard, took his company to Mexico in 1916 under General Pershing. During World War I, Company L. became Company C., 130th Machine Gun Battalion. James H. Moore was a volunteer in the marine corps.

W. A. Moore was in the livery business from 1892 to 1917. From 1913 to 1919 he was city collector. Following this he served in the city engineering department as bookkeeper in the Farmers’ & Mechanics Bank and for the Gundelfinger Products Company. January 1, 1928, he was employed by the Capital City Telephone Company as public relations man until he reached the retirement age of seventy years. Mrs. Nellie McHenry Moore died October 10, 1932. On October 5, 1937, Mr. Moore was married to Annie Hale Berry. He was a charter member of the Painted Rock Hunting and Fishing Club and charter member of the Knights of Columbus.

Meredith Tarlton Moore, the father of W. A. Moore, was born May 25, 1827, at Ham’s Prairie, Callaway County. His mother dying at his birth, he was nursed by Mrs. Hockaday, grandmother of Gus Hockaday and Hugh Stephens, until six months old when he was taken to Kentucky to his grandmother, Mrs. Mary Briscoe Tarlton, widow of Jeremiah Tarlton. He came with his grandmother to Missouri in 1839 and they made their home with his uncle, Meredith Tarlton, near Cedar City. He was in the Mexican War under Doniphan.. He went to California in the gold rush of 1849, returning in 1856. Immediately after his return he was married to Miss Martha Hannah Ramsey. To this union seven children were born of whom three survived: Leulah Moore Carlton, William Alfred and Hendley Hobbs Moore. His early married life was spent in farming in Callaway County. He served as collector of that county from 1871 to 1875. In 1882 he moved to Jefferson City and operated a ferry on the Missouri River about fifteen years. He died September 9, 1911. W. A. Moore’s mother, Martha Hannah Ramsey Moore, was born in Callaway County, January 18, 1830 and died December 26, 1896.

Mr. Moore’s paternal grandparents were Samuel Turner Moore, who died in 1833, and Emily Tarlton Moore, who died in 1827. S. T. Moore was the son of William Moore, born in 1753, a soldier in the Revolution, and Hannah Ransdall Moore, born 1757. William Moore’s parents were Samuel and Charity Courts Moore of Maryland. W. A. Moore’s maternal grandparents were Beverly Allan Ramsay and Martha Curtis Thomas Ramsey, who died in 1839. Beverly A. Ramsey was the son of Jonathan Ramsey, born November 23, 1775, died June 1, 1860; and Hannah Lamkin Ramsey, born August 6, 1775, died January 26, 1830. Jonathan Ramsey was a member of the legislature in 1820 which appointed a commission to choose a site for a state capital and it was he who had a clause inserted in the act of appointment compelling them to choose a site within forty miles of the mouth of the Osage. He was the son of Josiah Ramsey, Sr.

Josiah Ramsey when a small child was stolen by Indians, and held by them until he made his escape when twenty-one years old. His younger brother, taken at the same time, was scalped when he made some outcry. On making his escape Josiah tried to find his parents but was never able to do so He was adopted by a family named Ramsey who themselves had had a son stolen by Indians. He died about 1835.

Mr. Moore’s maternal grandmother was the daughter of Isabella Pendleton Thomas who was a descendant of Phillip Pendleton who came to America from Norwich, England in 1674.


William Herman Morlock

 William Herman Morlock
William Herman Morlock was born at Hermann, Missouri, March 27, 1841. His parents, Jacob and Frederica Morlock, natives of Baden Germany, came to America in 1839, stopping for a time in Philadelphia before settling in Hermann. In his youth, William Morlock worked as a clerk in the general store of R. Schlender; from there he went to St. Louis where he worked in the old Seventh Street Depot ad a telegraph operator under Charles McKissock, having learned the business at Hermann.

He resigned in 1861 at the age of 20 and entered government service as a U.S. Military telegraph operator, a position he continued throughout the Civil War, his duties carrying him to all parts of the state. At the end of the war he secured a position as operator for the U.S. Telegraph Company in Jefferson City. He continued in this work until 1866, when he bought a stock of general merchandise from Jacob Tanner and leased his building, which he continued to occupy for three years. He purchased ground on the corner of Jefferson and Dunklin and erected a substantial new brick building for his business of general merchandise and farm machinery.

He was united in marriage in 1866 to Miss Lena, daughter of Frederick and Phillopena Kerser of Hermann, MO. To this union was born four boys and seven girls. The eldest, William, died at the age of 27, the second child, Miss Toney, died at the age of 20 and Agnes died as a young woman. Surviving were Fredrick, Phillopena, Otto J., Emma, Fredericka, Cary, Lena and Grover Cleveland. In addition to his mercantile interests, Mr. Morlock was a stockholder and Vice President of the Merchants’ Bank of Jefferson City. He was a member of the German Evangelical Church. The family resided at 629 Jefferson.


Robert W. Morrow

 Robert W. Morrow
Robert W. Morrow was born in Galway, Ireland, October 27, 1865, where he received his early education. At the age of nineteen he immigrated to the United States, staying a short time with his sister, Mrs. Logan Reavis, in St. Louis. He accepted a position as stenographer and clerk with the Texas Pacific Railroad and resigned two years later to take a similar job with the Adam Roth Grocery Company where he worked for two years. He took a position with the Secretary of State, working in the office of Capt. A.A. Lesueur for six years.

During his residence in Jefferson City he devoted his leisure hours to the study of law and on April 1898 was admitted to the bar at Vienna, Maries County, by Judge Shackleford. During the session of the 40th General Assembly he was elected Enrolling Clerk of the House of Representatives. After the adjournment he decided to locate permanently in the Capital City and opened a law office in the Realty building and made his residence at 105 West High Street. He was a member of the M.E. Church South and a Democrat in politics.







Speed Mosby

 Thomas Speed Mosby
Thomas Speed Mosby was born in Linn, Osage County, Missouri May 1, 1874. He was the youngest son of Samuel Mosby, lawyer and ex-Confederate soldier, who died shortly after election to the Missouri Senate in 1892. On his father’s side he was the fourth lineal descendent of Capt. Hal Speed who fell at the battle of Guilford Court House in the Revolutionary War, and on the side of his mother is the third lineal descendent of Sylvester Pattie, a Kentucky pioneer who came to Missouri in 1812 and served as a lieutenant in the army during the war of 1812.

Mr. Mosby attended a country district school until age 13, when he began working at the printer’s trade. At seventeen he went to the State of California to follow that trade but family affairs called him home after a few moths. In 1892 he was associated with his brother Bayard as editor and publisher of the Unterrified Democrat at Linn, MO.

In 1896 his first essay on “church Taxation” was published in the North American Review and widely discussed throughout the United States, especially in religious circles. In that same year, his essay on “The Fellow Servant Doctrine” appeared in the American Law Review. In 1898 he was a frequent contributor to the Mississippi Valley Democrat and Journal of Agriculture of St. Louis.

October 25, 1896, he was examined by the Judges of Division No. 1 of the Supreme Court and licensed to practice law. He was married September 4, 1895, to Bertha Neef, daughter of Herman Neef. Three children were born of this union, Frances Elaine, Donald and Mary Virginia. The family lived at Neef Terrace on West High Street.


Theophil L. Mueller

 Theophil L. Mueller
Theophil Louis Mueller, pastor of the German Evangelical Central Church of Jefferson City, was born in Okawville, IL, March 5, 1863. He is a son of Rev. Andrew Mueller, a prominent retired minister of the same denomination. His mother was Minnie Franke, both parents being natives of Germany.

At thirteen years of age he entered Elmhurst College at Elmhurst, IL where he continued three years, graduating in 1880. He then entered Marthasville Theological College (later removed to St. Louis and known as Eden College). He graduated in 1883 and went to Europe, attending the University of Berlin and Erlangen, Bavaria. He returned to America in 1885; his first charge was at Fort Worth Texas where he remained two years. He next went to Millstadt, IL where he served four years before moving to Kansas City in 1891, coming then to Jefferson City in 1893.

Mr. Mueller was married in St. Louis, October 21, 1887, to Miss Selma Haeberle, daughter of President Haeberle of Eden College. He had two sons, Helmut and Edmund, and the family resided in the parsonage at 713 Washington Street.





J. E. Murphy

 John E. Murphy
John E. Murphy was born at 215 Miller Street in Jefferson City on July 28, 1860. He was the eldest son of Capt. Richard and Katherine Murphy, natives of Cork, Ireland. He was educated in the public schools of Jefferson City and St. Louis, with the plan to continue his education and become a civil engineer. When he was sixteen, his father died and he had to withdraw from school to assist in the support of his mother and sisters.

His first work was for Reagan & Carter, then the publishers of the People’s Tribune and State printers, in which office he continued in various positions under different managements until 1890. He resigned and went to St. Louis where he worked for five years as a composer for the Globe Democrat and other printing offices of that city. Returning to Jefferson City in 1896 he accepted the job of foreman of the Evening Courier, published by Ferguson & Mayer. He continued in that position until the plant was purchased by Jacob C. Fisher. Following this he sold insurance for about six months then accepted a position as foreman of the State Tribune, when Henry W. Ewing was its President.

Mr. Murphy was married September 30, 1885 to Miss Laura, daughter of Major Peter and Mary Meyers of Jefferson City. Of the five children born to this union, Mary Grace died at the age of 16 months. Surviving were Richard, Mary C., Edgar and Gerald. The family lived at 311 Jackson Street.

During the Capital removal fight Mr. Murphy was President of Jefferson City Typographical Union and used his influence with the labor organizations of the state in supporting Jefferson City for the retention of the Capital for its friendliness in the past for organized labor. He went to St. Louis and visited the members of the different organizations at his own expense. Mr. Murphy was a strong believer of Trade Unions. He was a member of St. Peter’s Church.


John T. Musick

 Judge John T. Musick
Judge John T. Musick was born December 11, 1841, on a farm in Cole County, twenty miles southwest of the Capital City. In 186, at the age of 20, he joined McKinzie’s Company, Parson’s Brigade and was in active service the following three years. In 1864 he returned home where he remained until 1865 when he purchased a farm in Clark Township.

In 1866 he married Marinda Simpson, daughter of John Simpson, a Cole County farmer. Five children were born of this union. Ida married Mart Hale, Dora married J.H. Sullens, Anna, Eliza and Thomas Delaware.

Judge Musick was a member of the Christian Church and a Democrat in politics.














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