Page:History of Southeast Missouri 1912 Volume 1.djvu/622

 560 HISTORY OF SOUTHEAST MISSOURI he set his slaves free, but they never lost the feelings of affection and devotion towards him, but would have cheerfully laid down their lives for him at anj' time. One of thein, Charles Birthwright, with his wife Bettie, live in Clarkton and are leaders among the colored people of that town. Colonel Pankey lived in Cardwell, ^lissouri, later, where he died in January, 1910, at the age of seventy- four, his wife having died many years before. The Colonel served the county as county col- lector. He was a man who had served the country both in the army and in civil affairs. He was very well known all over the state and was universall}' respected. D. B. Pan- key, the son of the Colonel and brother to ]Mrs. Baldwin, is well known in Kennett, hav- ing served it in many capacities. He was clerk of the county and one time mayor. He was one of the organizers of the bank and is its cashier still. He has seen it grow in wealth and reputation. He is president of the electric light company, having helped to organize it. He is president of the Ken- nett Store Company and of the St. Louis, Keokuk & Southeastern Railroad Company and is treasurer of the Dunklin Publishing Company. Mrs. Baldwin's sphere of useful- ness has been her home, but she has been every whit as effective as her father and her lu'other, though in a more retired way. She has brought up a family of six children, all of whom are a credit to her.' Sallie May Baldwin, the eldest child, is now the wife of L. P. Tatum, a merchant in Kennett. Edward Y. is cashier of the Campbell Lumber Com- pany and a director in the Kennett Bank. Ernest Albert is proprietor of the Baldwin Drug Store, formerly owned by his father. Paul is a physician, having received his de- gree of Doctor of Medicine at the Washing- ton University, medical department, in 1904. He is now practicing medicine in Kennett and making a success, as the son of such a father and such a mother must needs do. Lillian Ballard is just graduated from the Synodical College at Fulton, Missouri, in the class of 1911. Josephine, the youngest, is at present attending the public school of Kennett. Jlr. Baldwin is a Mason and also a member of the Independent' Order of Odd Fellows. He was a member of the Presbyterian church, having been an elder from the time of its organization, twenty-five yeai's ago, when the Reverend Beale was its first minister. Dur- ing all these years, with all his business activ- ities, it was the church which received his in- terest above all else. His greatest pleasure was in working for the church and it is need- less to say that practically the whole re- sponsibility of the church rested on his shoulders. When a man is both capable and willing, he is sure to have more thrust upon him than he really ought to carry. He was superintendent of the Sunday-school, know- ing personally eveiy teacher and scholar. Each one felt that in Mr. Baldwin he was sure to find a sympathetic confidant, one who had the faculty of entering into the feelings of others, no matter how much opposed they were to his own feelings and beliefs. He was a friend to any one who needed his help, giving money, time and of himself. It is now seven years since he passed on into the uukuowu, but the work he organized is still going on, the children he guided in the Sun- day-school are fast growing up, but they have not forgotten him. He has gone, but his in- fiuence will never die. That is the thought that must have been of comfort to his family during these years, as they live the kinds of lives that he would have had them live, try- ing to be the kind of men and women that he would have had them be. Otto Kochtitzky, as he commonly writes his name, or Otto von Kochtitzky, as he is en- titled to write it, is perhaps the best authority on swamp laud values and drainage in South- eastern iMissouri. He was born iu South Bend, Indiana, May 4, 18.35, and comes of a family well-known both in this country and abroad. His father, Oscar von Kochtitzky, was for some years state auditor, and was connected with many public enterprises. The son Otto was educated in the public schools and the Jefferson City high school. Upon taking up active work for himself he be- came interested in surveying and qualified himself for the work of a civil engineer. He was for a time surveyor of New iladrid coun- ty, and thus lieiame acquainted with the great opportunities offered by the swamp lands of the section. He was interested in building the Little River Valley and Arkansas Railroad from New Madrid to Maiden, the beginning of the present St. Louis Southwestern System, He was one of the first men in the section to see the possibilities of drainage in the swamps of Little River and made a thorough study of the topography of the country and of the his- tory and development of drainage in similar sections, especially in Indiana and Illinois. In