WILLIAM M. HARRISON

WILLIAM M. HARRISON

William M. Harrison was originally from Tuscumbia. He was the first cashier at the Bank of Eldon and later became involved in the Citizens Bank of Eldon. His son, Ross, was a finance commissioner of the State of Missouri in the 1930's and his grandson Donn Harrison became affiliated with the Citizen's Bank of Eldon.

ROBERT S. HARVEY

Obituary, Eldon Advertiser, January 30, 1938

Robert S. Harvey, for many years one of the most influential and the man of greatest financial interests in the county, died at his home in Pomona, California, Tuesday morning at 5:30 o'clock.

Mr. Harvey founded the Bank of Eldon, September 20, 1894, and continued as President of the institution 38 years until July 1932 when he resigned and Dr. W.L. Allee, who had been Vice-President since 1920, took the responsibility with J.B. Franklin as Vice-President.

Moving to Eldon from Aurora Springs, where he operated a store until 1900, he started an earnest effort to make his home town a success with the population then at 379. Better schools was his hobby and he worked for every school proposition, believing in offering the very best possible advantages to the young. He lived to see Eldon grown to a population of 3,171.

In 1891 a large brick building occupied by Harvey Mercantile Company was built and ws furnished by Mr. Harvey and his brother-in-law J.S. Franklin. They remained partners in the department store business until after the death of Mr. Franklin. The business first started as Harvey & Franklin; the firm later was known as N.E. Harvey & Co., and afterward the membership in the firm was increased and became Harvey Mercantile Company.

For years the firm of Harvey & Franklin bought thousands of ties made from the timbers of Miller and Camden Counties. Christmas week in 1895, they had 90,000 ties on the bank of the Osage River at Bagnell when a flood came and Mr. Harvey remained on duty almost night and day directing a force of men who worked to keep the ties from moving downriver.

To every church built in Eldon, Mr. Harvey contributed liberally to the building fund. He was interested in every enterprise started in the City. When the Rock Island was built through the City in 1902 and 1903 he gave liberally to the right-of-way fund for the railroad and for the round house. For many years he was named chairman of the roads committee because of his interest in road improvements in the county. When Highway 54 was considered and there was a possibility of the highway being surveyed through Eldon, he made arrangements for a special train to come from Jefferson City to take a large delegation to appear before the State Highway Commission showing the interest that Eldon citizens had in the highway. Much time was given by him in helping to put through the state road bond issue because he strongly believed such financing was necessary to have better roads in Missouri.

Before leaving Eldon, Mr. and Mrs. Harvey donated to the City an 8 acre baseball park at the south end of Maple Street and a tract of land between the Missouri Pacific and Rock Island railroads as a factory site. They also gave to the First Christian Church Pipe Organ Fund $1,000 on the condition that the church was to be remodeled or refinished on the interior.

Besides donating to the City the two tracts of land, Mr. Harvey and J.S. Franklin together donated the land to the City for the Eldon Cemetery.

Mr. Harvey was born in High Point, November 20, 1855, and was married to Miss Cirrelda Franklin, daughter of Captain W.T. Franklin and Mrs. Franklin of Mount Pleasant on January 13, 1880. To them three children were born all surviving, Ralph S. Harvey and Bert T. Harvey of Pomona, California, and Mrs. Elmer Hale of McAlester, Oklahoma.

Mr. Harvey is survived by two brothers, Barton Harvey, who resides on a farm southeast of Eldon on the Saline and N.E. Harvey who is a member of the firm of Eldon Hardware & Lumber Company. There were four brothers and all lived to be over 70 years old. The oldest, Walter Harvey, died at Bagnell several years ago and one sister, Mrs. W.C. Neville, the mother of J.M. and A.G. Neville of Eldon, died when the boys were children.

JAMES MARTIN HAWKINS

By Gerard Schultz, 1933

James Martin Hawkins, who has a prominent place in the public life of Miller County, was born on September 19, 1847, two miles northeast of Brumley. His father, Presley Hawkins, a native of Virginia, moved from there to Hart County, Kentucky, thence to Miller County in 1842. His mother, S.B. (McCubbin) Hawkins, was born in North Carolina of Scottish parents. His paternal ancestors were English. He is related to Alvin P. Hawkins of Huntington, Tennessee, a former Governor of that state.

James Hawkins

When the Civil War broke out Mr. Hawkins enlisted at Rolla, January 10, 1862. He was discharged for disability but re-enlisted in September 1864, in Company G, 45th Missouri Infantry. He was finally discharged on June 29, 1865.

Mr. Hawkins has always been a stalwart advocate of Republican principles. In 1864 he cast his first vote, which was for Abraham Lincoln, and he has voted for every Republican presidential candidate since then. In 1873 he was appointed deputy sheriff and collector by William Carroll Brumley. He has also been a member of the county court. He was elected Miller County representative to the General Assembly in 1890, since which time he has never been a candidate for office. Mr. Hawkins was postmaster at Brumley for 12 years. He was the first president of the Bank of Brumley and has been its cashier since January 1, 1908. He was instrumental in the establishment of the high school there and served on the building committee when the first building was erected and when an annex was built.

Mr. Hawkins is active in the Christian Church, of which he is a charter member. He is affiliated with the Masonic Lodge at Iberia, is a charter member of the G.A.R. Post at Brumley, as well as its first Commander, and the only living charter member of the Masonic Order, Lodge 203, at Brumley.

On March 19, 1871, Mr. Hawkins was married to Miss Julia A. Martin, only child of Moses T. Martin and Nancy (Reed) Martin, who were from Kentucky. To this marriage were born Edwin P.; William Carroll, who was named for William Carroll Brumley; Phillips C.; James C.; George C.; Robert P.; Charles R.; Lena, who married W.E. Thornsberry; Mary C.; Nellie, who married Lloyd S. Pugh; and Nancy, who married Walter Craft.

C. R. (TED) HAWKINS, MILLER COUNTY'S RESIDENT SENATOR

By Mrs. Mabel Hawkins

C.R. Ted Hawkins

C. R. (Ted) Hawkins was a son of James and Julia (Martin) Hawkins and a grandson of Presley and Serepta (McCubbin) Hawkins. He was born 29 October 1900 at Brumley, Mo. On August 18, 1920, he married Mabel Claire Foster in Warrensburg, MO.

They reared four-daughters, Mary Hawkins Collins, Judy Hawkins, Teddy Jean Hawkins, and Dr. Sue Hawkins. Ted Hawkins became assistant cashier of the Bank of Brumley in 1920, cashier in 1934, and was President from 1956 until his death in 1959. He served on the Brumley School Board for over twenty-five years; was superintendent and teacher, Brumley Christian Church; and past master of Brumley Masonic Lodge.

C. R. (Ted) served as Chairman, Miller County Republican Central Committee for many years and was much in demand as a speaker statewide. He served in the Missouri Senate from 1945 to 1959. Senator Hawkins was one of only five men who was a resident State Senator from Miller County since its organization in 1837. The other four men included Thomas Scott 1858; James H. Todd 1869, 1871; Frank DeVilbliss 1905, 1907; and W. S. Allee 1909-1915.

The father of Senator Hawkins, James M. Hawkins, was a leader in Republican politics in Miller County. He served as Deputy Sheriff and Deputy Collector from 1872 to 1876; was elected County Judge in 1888; and served as State Representative in the 36th General Assembly in 1881-1882.

Although Senator Hawkins served on numerous Senate committees, he was most interested in the field of education. He sponsored the school reorganization law which reduced the number of districts from 8500 to 2600. He led the fight for the School Foundation Program enacted in 1955. He was the prime mover in obtaining legislation to b2tt& the lot of children who are retarded. Senator Hawkins was twice recipient of the St. Louis Globe-Democrat Award for Meritorious Public Service as the Senator Most Effective in Debate; once in 1958 and again posthumously, to Mrs. Hawkins, in 1960.

SELBY JOHN HELTZELL

By Gerard Schultz

Selby John Heltzell, a widely-known salesman, was born at Glencoe, Missouri, on August 27, 1868. His father, George Heltzell, and his mother, Priscilla (Harrier) Heltzell, were born of German Parents at Bedford, Pennsylvania, the former on August 19, 1834, the latter May 10, 1840.

On January 30, 1895, at Iberia, Mr. Heltzell was married to Miss Samantha Josephine Mace, daughter of Thomas Mace and Julia Ann (Tate) Mace of Gallatia, Illinois. The children born to this marriage were: May, who died at two years of age; Edna, who married M.J. Davidson, state highway contractor; Eska, who is a graduate of the University of Missouri and who married Robert E. Fendorf, attorney; John, who attended Iberia Academy and who married Lena Martin; George Dallas, who graduated from Drury College in 1930; and Mary Louis, who is now attending Iberia Academy.

Mr. Heltzell has been traveling salesman for the firm of H.W. Gildehaus for 31 years. He was chairman of the Republican Miller County Committee in 1908. He has always found time to cooperate in those measures which contributed to the up-building and progress of the community. He has been a member of the Board of Trustees of Iberia Junior College for about 20 years, 16 of which he has been chairman of the Board, a member of the Town Board of Iberia for several terms, and commissioner of the Iberia Special Road District for six years. He was an important factor in the establishment of the Iberia Canning Company. He is a trustee of the Congregational Church.

JOSEPH T. HENSLEY

Joseph T. Hensley was born 6 August 1849 in Cole County, MO. He was a son of John Hensley Jr. (b. c/1811 KY) and Marian/Anna Sanderson (b.c/1814 KY). His grandfather was John Hensley Sr. served as a Missouri Senator shortly after Missouri received its statehood in 1821. John Hensley Sr. held the office of State Senator from 1824 through 1826 and again in 1832.

Joseph T. Hensley came to Miller County with his parents in the 1850s and they settled in Osage township near the families of Barton, Crane, Albertson, McDonald, Ramsey, Bilyeu, Berry, Brumley, and Wyrick. Joseph married Tabitha Ellen Jarrett on November 23, 1873. Tabitha, born 1855, was a daughter of David and Jemima Jarrett, natives of North Carolina and Tennessee, respectively.

The children of David and Jemima Jarrett: Mary Humphrey, Minnie Ramsey and Barbara Cathleen Crane

While in Miller County, Joseph and Tabitha were members of Mt. View Church of Christ, located today on Highway 17 about half-way between Iberia and Tuscumbia.

Joseph, Tabitha, and their children left Miller County sometime after the turn of the 20th century and moved to Oklahoma and lived there the remainder of their lives. Tabitha died in July 1917 and was buried in a cemetery at Sand Springs, Oklahoma. Joseph lived until August 9, 1937 when he died at Tulsa, Oklahoma. He was laid to rest beside his wife in the cemetery at Sand Springs, a few miles from Tulsa. At his death in 1937, all the children were living in Oklahoma with the exception of Mrs. Joseph M. Lamb (Mary Belle) who was still living in Miller County near Iberia.

BARTON HARRIS HICKOCK

BARTON HARRIS HICKOCK

Barton Harris Hickock moved to Eldon in 1882 from Chicago, Illinois. He originally opened a general merchandise store, Hickock and Company. He was instrumental in forming the Eldon Hook and Ladder Company in 1905, the first fire department in Eldon. He was the father of F.C. Hickock and the grandfather of George R. Hickock who continues to live in Eldon. B. H. Hickock died on February 2, 1929.

Mrs. B. H. Hickock and granddaughter, Estella in 1898