Page:History of Southeast Missouri 1912 Volume 1.djvu/633

 HISTORY OP SOUTHEAST MISSOURI 569 for a time, and was afterwards engaged in general farming on his own account until 1903. Locating then in Essex, he was clerk in the store of William J. IIux, continuing in mercantile pursuits for several years. Be- ing appointed postmaster at Essex on March 20, 1909, Mr. Stady assumed charge of the ofSce about two weeks later, on April 7, suc- ceeding the former postmaster, James R. Grant, who had been forced to resign the position on account of ill liealth. He has since devoted himself carefully to the duties devolving upon him in this capacity, having charge, in addition to the local service, of one star route going out from the Essex office. Mr. Stady has ever evinced a warm in- terest in the promotion of the leading in- terests of town and county, and has served three years in the village Council, and is now a member of the Board of Education, and with his fellow-associates has done good work, the public schools of Essex being exception- ally fine for a town of its size. In April, 1911, Mr. Stady was elected mayor, and is not only pushing the improvements already inaugurated, including the laying of cement walks, but has paid off the indebtedness of the town and has money credited to the village in the local bank. Mr. Stady has been twice married. He married first, in Bollinger county, jMarj' A. Henderson, who died in early womanhood, leaving one child. Mettle M. Mr. Stady mar- ried for his second wife, in Stoddard county. Electa E. Page, and to them three children have been born, namely: jIerrill, Lillian and Kathleen. Fraternally ]Ir. Stady is a member of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows ; and of Essex Lodge, No. 705, A. F. & A. M., in which he has passed all the chairs excepting that of worthy master. Mrs. Stady is a woman of devout Christian prin- ciples, and a member of the Methodist Epis- copal church. William Henry Miller, one of the most .successful lawyers in southeastern Missouri is also president of the Southeast Missouri Tnist Company at Cape Girardeau, Missouri. The men of his acquaintance are so accus- tomed to thinking of him as being away up at the top notch that they almost forget that he was not born that way. We fall into or climb up to close fitting positions in the ac- tivities of life, according to our varying sizes and values. All cannot be generals; most of us find our places in the ranks of soldiers. In either capacity there is full incentive for our best endeavors as well as fitting recompense for the highest grade of service. Civiliza- tions in their early stages maintained a premium on brawn and perseverance. As they grow older physical supremacy gives wa.y to intellectual. America is rapidly emerging from the rule of muscular force and untutored intelligence to the sway of trained minds. In this age men who labor are val- ued by the amount of cash they can produce. The amount of wealth is largely governed by the intelligence brought to bear upon it. ]Ir. Miller has produced and is producing cash. He has acquired and is acquiring prominence amongst the men who know. This condition has not been brought about by accident, but is due to Mr. Miller's natural abilities and his unbounded capacity for work. William Henry ]liller was born in Cape Girardeau county, Missouri, September 28, 1856. His grandfather, Henry Miller, was a native of North Carolina and he came to Cape Girardeau county in 1808, locating on a farm twenty miles west of Cape Girardeau. He was one of the pioneers of the county and saw it grow from a collection of scattered hamlets into the cities and towns of which it is now composed. The Miller family orig- inally came from Germany and were early settlers in North Carolina. Andrew Miller, son of Henry and father of William Henry, was born December 20, 1825, on the farm in Cape Girardeau county, on which his father first located on his arrival in Cape Girardeau county. The farm is situated near Millers- town, which was named in his honor. He is now eighty-six years old and has spent his entire life on the farm, first where he was born and later on his wife's farm, where he now lives. He married and later managed the farm on which his wife was born and where he now lives. She died in 1856, the year that her son William Henry was born. Of her three sons and one daughter who all grew to maturity, only two are living now, William Henry and his brother E. S. who is a farmer. AVilliam Henry Miller's boyhood days were spent on the farm on which his motlier was born, adjoining the fann on which his father was born and where his grandfather lived. He attended the public schools of his district until he was eighteen years of age, when he spent two years at the Southeastern Normal School. He then determined to become a lawyer and to that end he entered the state