Henry Clay Hinton, merchant and post master at Allenville, MO was born in St. Clair County, Illinois on November 09, 1838 and is a son of Vachel Hinton, a native of Kentucky, born of german parents. The latter when a young man moved to St. Clair County, Il, where he married Phobe Cox, also a native of Kentucky, whose parents were formerly from Maryland. After his marriage Vachel Hinton engaged in farming in St. Clair County which he continued until his death.
Henry grew to manhood on his parents farm, and received a fair education in the common schools which had been greatly improved by reading since arriving at mature year.
In 1860 he came to Missouri and located in Cape Girardeau County, where he married on April 13, 1863, to Anna C Pauch, a native of Hesse Cassel, Germany. She came to this country when she was only three years old. After his marriage Mr. Hinton located on a farm near Dutchtown, which he cultivated until 1870, while engaged in merchandising at Dutchtown. After one year he moved his stock of goods to Allenville. He now has the Wheeler store, and controls a good trade.
He was appointed deputy postmaster in 1871, but the next year was comissioned postmaster. In politics Mr. Hinton is a Democrat. In 1870 he was appointed justice of the peace of Hubble Township, and was afterward elected and re-elected holding the office eighteen consective years.
He and his wife are members of the Methodist Church. Mr Hinton is a Royal Arch Mason. They had a total of nine children, but only four lived. Mary (Mrs. Joe Courtway) of Horton, Kansas, Harry Henry, Flora A and George Clay Hinton.
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D A Nichols
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D. A. Nichols, a farmer of Allenville, MO, is a native of Putnam County, Ohio, born on March 14, 1844. His parents, Samuel and Hannah (Wickham) Nichols, are also natives of Ohio. They removed to Missouri in 1852, and located in Daviess County, where Mr. Nichols purchased land and made a farm upon which he and his wife shill reside. The subject of this sketch spent his youth on the farm in Daviess county and served as a soldier in the Federal army from 1861 to 1865, being once wounded. In 1869 he came to Cape Girardeau County. Although he came without money, by industry and good management he has acquired considerable property. Upon coming to the county he contracted for timber for the St. Louis market. In 1872 he engaged in the mercantile business, which he continued until 1876, when he sold out his stock. During that time he also ran a large saw-mill, doing an extensive lumber business. In 1882 he again engaged in the mercantile business, from which he has but recently retired. Besides his property in Allenville, consisting of a fine dwelling, store building and large barn, he has a farm near town, which he has managed for the past three year. Mr. Nichols has been twice married. His first wife was Mary J. Turner, of Chicago, whom he married in Solon Mills, Ill., in 1873, and who died in August, 1879. In April, 1882, he was united in marriage with Mrs. M. A. Courtway, of St. Louis. Mr. Nichols is a Royal Arch Mason, and is highly respected by all who know him.
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F S Markel MD
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Dr. F. S. Markel is one of the two physicians practicing at Allenville and a liberal patronage is accorded him. He was born in Johnson County, Ill, in 1862, a son of Frederick S. and Susan Markel, the former a native of Pennsylvania and the latter of Ohio. They were married in the Buckeye state, where they began their domestic life but after a brief period removed westward to Illinois, settling in Johnson County, where the father engaged in foundry work and blacksmithing until 1862. At that time all business cares and personal considerations were put aside and he enlisted for service in the Civil war in defense of the Union, remaining with the army until illness caused his death in 1863, his remains being interred at Pocahontas, Tennessee. His wife died in 1885, when fifty-four years of age. In their family were five children: Margaret, the wife of J. M. Ollis, of Goreville, Ill; Louvina, who married J. C. Smith, of Vienna, Ill; Joseph, whose home is at Olive Branch, Ill; James T., of Oklahoma; and F. S., of this review.
After acquiring a public school education in Illinois Dr. F. S. Markel began preparation for a professional career as a student in the Marion Sims Medical College of St. Louis, from which he was graduated with the class of 1892. Later, not content with the advantages which he already enjoyed, he became a student in the College of Physicians & Surgeons and Was There Graduated in 1900. He began practice in Allenville in 1892 and has since remained there, being one of two physicians living in the town. A large practice is accorded him and his professional patronage has grown year by year. He is a member of the Tri-State Medical Society and through his connection therewith and also through reading and investigation he has kept in touch with the advanced thought and purposes of the medical fraternity. He has likewise been prominently connected with commercial interests in Allenville for the past ten years, owning a general store, whish includes a splendidly equipped drug department, and he holds a first class pharmacist’s certificate from the state of Missouri. His name is likewise prominent in financial circles, for he is a stockholder and one of the organizers of the Allenville State Bank and is also a stockholder in a wholesale grocery house conducted under the name of the Interstate Grocery Company of Cairo, Ill. He owns a good business block in Allenville and also has other realty.
In 1885 Dr. Markel was united in marriage to Miss Eliza Jane Rogers, whose father died in her early girlhood, after which her mother married again. Four children were born the Dr. and Mrs. Markel but only one is living, William Arthur, who is now a merchant at Illmo, MO. In 1894 Dr. Markel was called upon to mourn the loss of his wife, who died on the 6th of November of that year. In 1895 he married again, his second union being with Martha Adams, who passed away in October, 1899. On the 7th of October, 1900, he married Nora Petry, a daughter of W. M. and Susan Petry, both natives of Clark county, Ill. Her father passed away in 1905, while her mother is still living in Oklahoma, at the age of fifty-six year. Mrs. Markel is one of a family of seven children, five of whom are yet living.
Both Dr. and Mr. Markel hold membership in the Presbyterian church, and he also belongs to the Independent Order of Odd Fellows, while his political allegiance is given the democratic party. His life has been an active and useful one fraught with good results and crowned by a substantial measure of success which is the merited reward of his professional ability, his enterprise and his close application.
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John H Renfroe MD
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John H. Renfroe, M.D., of Allenville, MO, was born near the city of Cape Girardeau, January 2, 1852, and is a son of William and Mary E. (English) Renfroe, also natives of Cape Girardeau County. The former is a son of Joel Renfroe, a native of Georgia, who located in Cape Girardeau County in the early part of its settlement. After his Marriage William Renfroe settled on a farm near Cape Girardeau, which he cultivated until his death in October, 1880. John H. Renfroe grew to manhood at the home of his parents, and received a good education in the high schools of the county and Bellview Collegiate Institute, Caledonia, MO. Upon leaving school he taught on year, and in 1875 began the study of medicine under Dr. J. H. Rider, of Cape Girardeau. He took his first course of lectures at Missouri Medical College, St. Louis, in the winter of 1876-77, graduating from that institution on March 8, 1878, Beginning the practice of his profession at Gravel Hill, MO, he continued there about eighteen months and removed to Dutchtown in December, 1879. In the spring of 1880 he removed to his present location, where he has since been very successful in the practice of medicine and surgery. Near Gordonville, on November 14, 1878, he married Mary E. Priest, also a native of Cape Girardeau County, and a daughter of James W. and Mary Priest. She was born on January 1, 1857. The their union one child has been born, Lillian N. The Doctor is a member of the Masonic lodge, at Jackson.
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E E Higdon MD
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Dr. E. E. Higdon, successfully Practicing medicine in Allenville, Cape Girardeau county, where he has remained continuously since 1903, was born in Madison county, MO, in 1870, a son of Captain W. H. and Nancy A. (Combs) Higdon. They, too, were natives of this state, born respectively in the vicinity of Fredericktown, on the 28th of January, 1839, and in Madison county, June 1, 1839, and they were reared and married in Missouri. The father followed farming and stock-raising throughout his entire life, carefully and successfully directing his business affairs, and he became the owner of a large farm situated in Madison and Bollinger counties. He enlisted as a private in Company A, Fifth California Infantry for service in the Civil war and won promotion to the rank of first lieutenant. He was honorably discharged February 6, 1866, at Fort Craig on the Rio Grande river. Both he and his wife are still living at the age of seventy-five years. In their family were five children, of whom Dr. Higdon is the eldest, the others being: W. H., a resident of Prairie View, Arkansas; Mary O., deceased; Charles H., who occupies the old homestead; and Mrs. Lona B. Smith, of Warrensburg, Mo.
Dr. Higdon obtained his education in the public schools of Madison county and then when he had determined upon a professional career and thought to find the practice of medicine congenial entered the Barnes Medical College of St. Louis in which he pursued the regular course, being graduated with the class of 1903. Immediately afterward he came to Allenville, where he opened an office and has since remained, continuing in the practice of medicine with good success. He is very careful in the diagnosis of his cases and seldom, if ever, at fault in anticipating the outcome of disease. He readily adopts new and improved methods and yet is not hasty in discarding the old and time-tried methods, the value of which has been proven in years of successful practice. He belongs to the Cape Girardeau Medical Society, the Missouri State Medical Society, the Southeast Missouri Medical Association and the American Medical Association and thus keeps in touch with the advanced thought of the profession and with the scientific research which is constantly bringing to light new truths bearing upon the origin and treatment of disease. He owns eighty acres of agricultural land in Cape Girardeau county and also a pleasant residence in Allenville.
In 1898 Dr. Higdon was married to Miss Minnie Belle Whitworth, a native of Higdon, MO. And a daughter of William D. and Nancy J. Whitworth. Dr. and Mrs. Higdon have one son, Floyd E., who was born in 1908. His study of the political conditions of the country and the leading questions and issues of the day has lead the Doctor to give his endorsement to the republican party because he feels that its principles contain the best elements of good government. He is a Mason, an Odd Fellow and a Modern Woodman and all of these organizations fins in him a loyal supporter. He and his wife are members of the Christian church and in Allenville, where they reside, and in fact throughout Cape Girardeau county, they have many warm personal friends.
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Newton W Amos MD
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Dr. Newton W. Amos, a physician of St. Louis, was born at Cape Girardeau, Missouri, January 26, 1867. His father, Adam Amos, was a native of Alsace Lorraine and came to America in 1856, making his way direct to Cape Girardeau county, Missouri, where he built the first blacksmith shop of the place. There he resided until 1871 when he removed to Smithville, Bollinger county, and in 1873 he removed to Poplar Bluff, Missouri, where afterward he established his home in Allenville, Cape Girardeau county, Missouri, his death there occurring in 1875. During the Civil war he was a member of the Cape Girardeau Home Guard. He married Anna Litzelfelner, a native of Austria, who came to America with her parents at the age of six years, the family settling in Cape Girardeau county, where Mrs. Amos was reared and educated. By her marriage she became the mother of three sons, of whom the youngest, Benjamin, is now deceased, while Robert, the eldest, is a resident of Allenville.
Dr. Amos, the second in order of birth, was educated in the district schools of Cape Girardeau county before attending the Southeast Normal at Cape Girardeau, after which he won a teacher's certificate and entered upon educational work. He taught in Cape Girardeau county for seven terms, but regarded this merely as an initial step to other professional labor and at the end of that time took up the study of medicine in the St. Louis Medical College, from which he was graduated with the M. D. degree in April, 1897. Following the completion of his course he had charge of the out-clinic for one year. Later he became assistant to Dr. John Paul Bryson, remaining with the latter until his death on the 5th of May, 1903. He then entered upon general practice, in which he has since continued and has gained a liberal public support. He is a teacher in the clinical department of genito-urinary surgical department of the Barnes Hospital and he is a member of the St. Louis, Missouri State and American Medical Associations. His hospital work and his private practice are of an important character and he ranks high in the branch of the profession in which he specializes.
On the 22d of January, 1908, Dr. Amos was married in Edwardsville, Illinois, to Miss Ids May Holtzman, a native of Missouri, who was born in Kirkwood, St. Louis county, a daughter of John H. and Annie (Schafer) Holtzman, both representatives of old Pennsylvania families, who became early settlers of St. Louis. To Dr. and Mrs. Amos have been born two children: Newton W., Jr., whose birth occurred July 3, 1909; and Glenn Wade, born September 22, 1912. Both were born in St. Louis. Dr. Amos enjoys a game of baseball, but his leisure is largely devoted to his home and his greatest happiness is found at his own fireside. In his profession he is a close and discriminating student and by reason of his broad investigation he has steadily advanced in his profession, his position being a creditable one.
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W F Wilson
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W. F. Wilson is the popular and efficient cashier of the Allenville State Bank, which was organized in 1911. He is yet a comparatively young man to whom the future holds out good inducements and his enterprising nature will enable him to take advantage of this. He was born in Scott county, Missouri, in 1880, a son of G. R. and Amanda J. Wilson, the former a native of Indiana and the latter of Missouri. The father was connected with a government engineering corps in his early life, continuing in that work until 1861, when he felt that he wished to serve his country at the front and enlisted for active duty. He was with the army during the greater part of the Civil war. When hostilities were put aside he came to Missouri, settling in Jackson, where he married and then turned his attention to carpentering and contracting. He followed that line of business until fifty years of age, after which he conducted a hotel for a time in Cape Girardeau. He later went upon the road as a traveling salesman and continued in the business until 1908, when he retired from active life. He is now a resident of Allenville, where both he and his wife are widely and favorably known. In their family were six children but only two are now living: C. W., who is a resident of Black Rock, Arkansas; and W. F. Those deceased were Hallie, Minnie, Beulah and Arthur.
W. F. Wilson attended the public schools in Southeastern Missouri and also the Marvin Collegiate Institute of Fredericktown, while later he pursued a business course in banking and bookkeeping, at the Barnes Commercial College of St. Louis. He made his initial step in the business world as a traveling salesman and was thus employed for three years. On the expiration of that period he took charge of a farm in Cape Girardeau county, which he operated for five years. He then turned his attention to financial affairs and became one of the organizers of the Allenville State Bank, which was formed in 1911. It was capitalized for ten thousand dollars and now has a surplus of eighteen hundred dollars. Mr. Wilson has been its cashier from the beginning, with H. H. Hinton as the president, J. A. Withers, as vice president and Lathan Misenhimer as assistant cashier. Mr. Wilson has had much to do with shaping the policy and directing the interests of the bank and, bending his efforts to executive control, has contributed largely to the success of the institution.
In 1904 Mr. Wilson was married to Miss Calista C. Coger, a native of West Virginia and a daughter of J. M and Jennie Coger, who are residents of Springdale, Arkansas. It was in that city that Mrs. Wilson acquired her education. To this marriage has been born a daughter, Heloise G., whose birth occurred in 1906 and who is now attending school. Mr. Wilson is a democrat in his political faith not aspirant for office. He and his wife hold membership in the Methodist Episcopal church and its teachings are a motive force in their we spent lives. They enjoy the warm regard of those with whom they have been brought in contact and many sterling traits of character are possessed by them.
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Aza Otis Blackman
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Aza Otis Blackman was born 1875 in Saline County, Illinois. Education must have been important in the Blackman family, since both Aza and his sister Grace became doctors.
Aza traveled to St. Louis, Missouri to do his medical studies. He attended the St. Louis College of Physicians and Surgeons. St. Louis College of Physicians and Surgeons was incorporated in 1879. A class of five members graduated in the spring of 1880. Each succeeding class increased in numbers and the management was forced to seek new and more commodious quarters. This necessity resulted in the erection of a handsome building specially designed for the accommodation of the college on the corner of Jefferson Avenue and Gamble Street. The course instruction, which was a graded one, extends over four years of study in college, devoted to dissections, laboratory work, didactic and clinical instruction, recitation and quizzes, demonstrations and manual training in the use of instruments and appliances.
The Class of 1900 included 37 graduates from Illinois, Missouri, Iowa, Oregon, Texas, Kentucky Nebraska, New York, West Virginia, Oklahoma, Kansas, and California. Also in his graduating class was Otis Miller of Millersville, Missouri, and F. S. Markel, also of Allenville, Missouri.
In 1900, upon completion of his medical training, Dr. Blackman chose to make his home in Allenville, Missouri. There he established a brief, but successful, medical practice for the Whitewater-Allenville area. When Aza Blackman arrived in Allenville in 1900, the population was 148. Population continued to grow to 257 in 1910, 270 in 1920. After that the population decreased drastically to 190 in 1930.
In April of 1901, apparently planning on staying in the area for some time, Aza purchased Lot 9 of Block 2 in Allenville from W.E. and Lizzie E. Ford for $20. Sometime between the purchase of this lot in April 1901 and June 1902, a building was constructed to house the medical practice and drug store. This based on tax records showing the valuation increasing from $25 to $225.
On June 26, 1902, Aza and Flora May Browning, of Jackson Missouri, were married in Millersville, Missouri, by Justice of the Peace J. B. Miller. In February, 1903, Aza and Flora purchased half lots 8 and 10 of Block 2 from Miss Nora E. Renfroe for $50, where they began additional construction. Block 2 is located on Whitewater Street in Allenville.
Aza was also active in the Allenville community. His name appears on a Plat showing boundary for change of corporation lines of Allenville. He was one of five trustees of the Village of Allenville.
On March 9, 1903, Thomas Hugh Blackman was born to Aza and Flora. But, as we know, Hugh was not to know his father. Aza died in July of 1903 after suffering an illness of 10 days acquired by exposure to the sick patients he visited. I have heard that there was some type of epidemic in the area during this time. He was just two month from being 28 years old.
His obituary in the From The Missouri Cash-Book, Thursday, July 9, 1903, read:
Dr. Blackman Dead. Dr. A. O. Blackman died at his home in Allenville on the 2nd inst., After a short illness of some ten days or more. The Dr. was a young physician who came to Allenville two or three years ago from Illinois. About a year and a half ago he married a daughter of T. J. Browning. He was considered a model young man and a promising physician, who was building up a good practice. His father is a Baptist minister. Both father and mother were summoned and were at the bedside of their son when he died. The remains were buried in the Roberts graveyard west of Jackson.
I guess the reference to the Roberts graveyard is either incorrect or another name for the Howard Cemetery. Howard Cemetery is located west of Jackson, Missouri. Go West on Highway 72. Turn right on County Road 465 (first county road past the Highway 34 turnoff). Turn right on County Road 467 and go about.5 of a mile. Turn left on the gravel lane lined with trees. Go about .4 of a mile on the lane. The cemetery is on a hill on the right in a grove of trees.
In looking at the documents in his probate folder, it appears that he treated many patients and was willing to do this on credit. At his death 68 patients owed money for treatment, for a total of $1,858.43 due.
The inventory of the drug store and medical practice at the time of death was quite extensive. It included various drugs, tonics, oils, liniments, toiletries, office supplies, and other items. These drugs, stationary, store fixtures, etc., were sold to E. E. Higdon for the sum of $600. The property was sold for 74 percent of the appraised value.
