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Biographies |
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The United States Biographical Dictionary
and Portrait Gallery of Eminent and Self-Made Men
Horatio Samuel Herbert Horatio Samuel Herbert, editor and proprietor of the Rolla Herald, is one of the most prominent journalists of Southern Missouri. His ancestors emigrated from England to America prior to the Revolution, and settled in Pennsylvania. His father was Rev. James Herbert, who married Harriet Weston ; they lived in Erie, Pennsylvania, where their son, our subject, was born, December 25, 1837. The family removed to Lawrenceburg, Indiana, and afterwards, in 1847, settled in Indianapolis, where they remained until 1855, when they removed to Schuyler county, Illinois; but in 1870 they again moved and settled in Livingston, Missouri, where they now reside. Horatio received a common and graded school education in Indianapolis, studying through the winter and working in the printing office during the summer months, until at the age of 17 when he worked regularly in the printing office one year. In 1855 he entered the high school at Rushville, Schuyler county, Illinois, remained two years and then removed to Milan, Sullivan county, Missouri, where he worked in a printing office until 1859, when he removed to Lebanon, Laclede county. He was employed as editor of the Laclede Journal; but at the expiration of one year purchased the paper and material and published it as editor and proprietor until 1861. The war between the North and South called every man of decided principles to take his place in one army or the other. It was both difficult and dangerous for men who had been prominent in the events immediately preceding it, to stay out. Mr. Herbert cast his fortunes with his sentiments, enrolled himself for the Confederate States, and became a member of what was then known as the State Guard of Missouri. He afterward joined Wickersham's company in McBride's division of Price's army, participated in the campaign during the retreat into Arkansas, and was afterward in the battle of Pea Ridge, Arkansas. His command was then ordered to join Beauregard at Corinth, and under him they participated in the series of engagements which culminated in the evacuation of that point. Mr. Herbert then went to North Mississippi, remained during the summer, and in the following fall was a participant in the engagement at Iuka Spring, afterward was with Price and Van Dorn in the march on Corinth. His command being ordered to Vicksburg, he took part in the engagements and seige which resulted in the surrender of that city to the enemy. Here he was wounded and made prisoner; but was paroled and exchanged, when he joined the command of General J. E. Johnson at Atlanta, Georgia. On the approach of Sherman, they evacuated that point and in Hood's command marched on Nashville; but in the fight at Altoona, Mr. Herbert was again wounded. In three months he rejoined his command in time to retreat with the army. He was then engaged at Mobile, Alabama, in 1865, where he was captured in the surrender of Fort Blakely, and was sent to Ship Island military prison, kept until June and paroled. The war being now closed, Mr. Herbert then went to Central Mississippi where he remained until 1868, clerking in a store a portion of the time and working in a printing office. He then went to Rolla, Phelps county, Missouri, where he was employed in the office of the Herald. In 1869 he purchased the office and paper and has since continued to be its publisher and editor. His enterprise and skill has improved both the appearance and patronage of his journal, until it has secured a large circulation and wields an important influence. It is almost needless to say Mr. Herbert is a Democrat and has been one always. He has been prominent in politics since he was old enough to understand party polity and tactics, and is now a member of the Democratic state central committee. Religiously he is liberal in his views. Horatio S. Herbert was married to Miss Tinnie A. Hooker, daughter of Benjamin and Martha Hooker, of Lebanon, Laclede county, Missouri, September 15, i860. They have had two children, both living. Mr. Herbert is a man of good business habits and strict integrity. He has been made a member of the Rolla board of education. Naturally of a social disposition, it is not to be wondered at that he has many friends and a happy home. Transcribed by: Carrie Tuck {cvt1977@yahoo.com} |
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The United States Biographical Dictionary and
Portrait Gallery of Eminent and Self-Made Men
Brigadier-General Isaac Vinson Pratt General Pratt is of genuine Puritan ancestry. Isaac V., the oldest of a family of ten children, was born within twenty miles of Plymouth Rock, at Weymouth, Norfolk county, Massachusetts, May 29, 1818. He attended Middleborough Four Corners Academy, where he received his preparatory education. In Boston, in 1836, he met Ezra Stiles Ely, D. D., M. D., a distinguished Presbyterian minister of Philadelphia, who was afterward one of the founders of Marion College, Missouri, a manual labor school, and was by that gentleman persuaded to come west. After securing the reluctant consent of his parents, and provided with one hundred dollars, he came to Marion county in 1837, finding Dr. Ely a man of considerable pecuniary means, as well as a gentleman of ripe scholarship and culture. His attempt at manual labor was a failure, but he had so impressed the Doctor with a sense of his integrity and business capacity, that he gave him a letter of credit and money for current expenses, with which he proceeded to St. Louis, purchased a stock of goods, and returning to Marion opened a store. After four months, with Dr. Ely's approval, he gave up business and entered Marion College, remaining four years, and acquiring a good classical and scientific education. Late in the fall of 1841 he was a student at the academy of Professor Ed. Wyman, Hillsboro, Illinois, and then taught a winter school, near Greenville, Illinois. About this time his father and paternal grandfather dying, he returned to Massachusetts to settle the affairs of the estate. Here, in 1843, he taught school in Abington, and the two winters following in Taunton. In the summer of 1845 he visited Norfolk, Virginia, and engaged in teaching a private school. A system of public schools being established in Portsmouth, Virginia, in 1847, Isaac was . elected principal, having the highest grade to teach and the six assistants to oversee. Here he taught four years, many of his old pupils afterward becoming distinguished military officers during the Rebellion, both in the Union and Confederate armies. In 1855, on the breaking out of the yellow fever in Norfolk, he returned, after an absence of thirteen years, to look up the value of military lands, of which his wife had several patents, received from her father. This opened a new field of enterprise, and by judicious investments in military land titles he accumulated considerable wealth. December 31, 1859, apprehensive of the coming rebellion, and fearful of the consequences, from his intimate knowledge of the men of both sections, he started West and came to his present home, Laclede, Linn county, January, 1860, where he took a decided stand for the government, although a slaveholder and connected by marriage with a strong southern family. In June, 1861, he raised a company of infantry, of which he was elected captain, and by the close of July had raised a regiment, of which he was made lieutenant-colonel, afterward known as the 18th Missouri volunteers, W. J. Morgan, colonel commanding. He was stationed at Laclede, where he threw up fortifications, at Brookfield and Platte City, which latter place he entered just as Lieutenant Gordon, the notorious bushwhacker, was leaving. His headquarters were at Weston, Platte county, until February 18, 1862, when his command was ordered into Tennessee via St. Louis, at which city he remained in barracks until March, when he was ordered to Island No. 10. After one week's active service against the gunboats, he served with his command in Tennessee, taking part in the battle of Shiloh, April 6th, being the only mounted officer of his regiment and its acting commander. Here he was taken prisoner, and for seven months tried the commissary department of almost every rebel prison, including "Old Libby;" at the end of that time was exchanged at Aiken's Landing, James river, Virginia, his wife being still in Virginia and ignorant of the fact that he was in the service, until she saw his name in a list of prisoners. In the fall of 1862 he returned with his wife to Missouri, found his regiment reorganized and himself without a command. He served as secretary of the Missouri Senate during the session of 1862-63. In 1863, he obtained a license to practice law, but preferred agriculture to law. He was elected to fill the vacancy in the Senate created by the death of Major John McCullough, and was also reelected to serve a second term, which expired in 1866. He was appointed brigadier-general by Governor Fletcher, and given command of the military district of North Missouri, embracing all that portion of the state lying north of the Missouri river. At the close of the war he returned to his fine farm near Laclede, which he had previously improved .and upon which he has since resided. As a grower of wheat and timothy the General has become proverbial for his success, and is popularly known as the ''Linn county Cincinnatus." Originally a Whig, he has always acted with the Republican party since its organization. He was never a member of any church, but is broad and tolerant in his views and cosmopolitan in his feelings. He belongs to both the I. O. O. F. and the A. F. & A. M., and was at one time a Son of Temperance. As a soldier and a civilian, as a merchant and a teacher, the General has always been marked by those qualities of mind and manners of life which not only endear him to his friends but have compelled the respect of his enemies. Transcribed by: Carrie Tuck {cvt1977@yahoo.com} |
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Biographical Sketches of the Officers and
Members of the Twenty-seventh General Assembly of Missouri, Together
with State Officers, etc. J. Titterington The Representative from Laclede is a physician and a farmer, a native of Kentucky, 48 years old and married. Postoffice address: Hazel Green, Missouri. Transcribed by: Carrie Tuck {cvt1977@yahoo.com} |
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The United States Biographical Dictionary and
Portrait Gallery of Eminent and Self-Made Men John Wright Wilson John W. Wilson was born February 3, 1852, in Sheffield, England. He is the son of Wright and Theresa Wilson, of Sheffield. His father is a physician of prominence and skill, being a member of the Royal College of Surgeons. The subject of this sketch is the second son. John W. Wilson attended the common schools of Sheffield until he was thirteen years of age, when he was placed under the instruction of private tutors, studying medicine, chemistry and collateral branches. When eighteen years of age he entered the establishment of Joseph Haywood & Co., Glamorgan Works, Sheffield, cutlery and hardware manufacturers, where he remained until he was twenty-two, acquiring a complete knowledge of the business. Leaving this house, he secured a position as manager of the table-knife department in the Tiga works of Messrs. Deakin, Reuss & Co., and held the place for one year. Love of adventure and a desire to try his fortune in the New World, induced him to leave England, and he arrived in America in October, 1875. He and his brother purchased over three hundred acres of land in Laclede county, and located there with the intention of farming. The monotony of farm life was unsuited to his active and enterprising temperament, and he determined to embark in some other pursuit. Accordingly, he sold out his interest in the farm, and immediately began the erection of a grain elevator in Lebanon. He thus brought himself in direct contact with the farmers of the county, and became popular by the affability of his manners and the correctness of his deportment. In addition to his operations in grain, he is also engaged in the agricultural implement business, carrying the heaviest stock between St. Louis and Springfield. Though but twenty-six years old, he has already established a business reputation of which more experienced operators might well feel proud. Politically, Mr. Wilson is a Democrat, though he takes no active part in politics. He is a member of the Episcopal church. Mr. Wilson is of medium height, ruddy complexion, genial disposition, and prepossessing appearance. He is unmarried. Transcribed by: Carrie Tuck {cvt1977@yahoo.com} |