Page:History of Southeast Missouri 1912 Volume 1.djvu/677

 HISTORY OF SOUTHEAST MISSOURI 601 services to the Army of the Confederacy. He and the late Robert H. Douglass were comrades in the same company, and neither of them ever lost interest in reviewing the stirring, but lamentable experiences of the dark days of the '60s. The death of this gentleman occurred at Doniphan in the win- ter of 1906-07, but his memory will long re- main green, recalling the poet's words: "To live in hearts we leave behind. Is not to die." Joseph Pelts was born in Indiana in the '30s and passed his boyhood and early youth in that state, there receiving his public school education. In 1851, when about seventeen years of age, with his parents and the other members of the family he removed to Dun- klin county, ilissouri, making the journey overland by team and locating at fii-st near Clarkton. His parents were William and Mary Pelts. The father was a horseman who handled thoroughbreds and racers and who was a well-known figure in Clarkton and its neighborhood. Joseph Pelts adopted agriculture as his life work and in due time married, his chosen lady being Martha Baker, a native of this county and a daughter of James B. and Dru- silla Baker, Dunklin county pioneers and fai'mers. This admirable woman died at the old home at about the age of fifty-five years, but two of her sisters are living, namely : Mrs. Delilah Hicks and ilrs. Esther Gorgas, both of Dunklin county. Both Joseph Pelts and his wife were members of the ]Mission- ary Baptist church, and the former was a stalwart Democrat, who gave unswerving al- legiance to the party and participated in its political bouts with interest. They became the parents of a family of nine children, eight of whom were sons and one a daughter, and of which number four brothers are liv- ing at the present time, namely : John A., Robert A., Joseph E. and Charles Lee. The deceased children are: James W. (eldest in order of birth), Nathaniel D., George R., Lewis and Frances E. When Joseph Pelts arrived in Missouri many of the difficult conditions which were the portion of the pioneer still prevailed. There were no near markets and he hauled his produce to Cape Girardeau, reciuiriug eight days with ox teams to make the round trip. Elk, deer and the like were abundant and he made tine use of his opportunities, be- ing a great hunter. He was a man of dis- tinct personality and public-spirit and well worthy of representation in this volume de- voted to the makers of Southeastern Mis- souri. Ch.bles Lee Pelts, a well-known farmer in Dunklin county, began in a small way but has been very successful. He was born in Dunklin county, Missouri, on the place upon which he now lives, on January 3, 1874, and he is" a son of Joseph Pelts, of whom more extended mention is made on other pages of this work. He went to -school at Shady Grove and lived on the farm with his father, his mother having died when Charles was very young. When he was .sixteen his father married again and Charles then be- gan to work around on the different farms. Up to the time when he was twenty-one he had earned very little and spent what he did make. At the end of eight years he owned forty acres of land, having bought from his father the farm where he was born and spent his childhood days. At the time he took the farm it was very much run down, but he at once set to work to improve it. He built' fences, put up a good house and now owns one hundred and fifty acres of land, on which . he raises cotton, corn and peas and cattle. When he was twenty-one years of age Mr. Pelts married Sadie Bedwell, who died on giving birth to her child. The child lived only a short time. Eight years later he mar- ried ]Minnie Bailey, by whom he had two chil- dren, — Lula and Ethel. On St. Valentine's Day, 1908, he married Eva Shailand, by whom he had one child, Lee Rogers. Mr. Pelts is a Democrat, and is always happy to see his party come out ahead. He may surely feel that he has done well, as he has made all that he has through his own ef- forts, except an interest in a forty acre farm. He is indeed to be congi-atulated on the suc- cess of his efforts and the community for the possession of so good a citizen. Horace D. Ev.vns. Through his own char- acter and accomplishment Horace D. Evans, cashier of the Lead Belt Bank, at Bonne Terre, St. Francois county, has well upheld the prestige of a name that has been identi- fied with the annals of Missouri history for more than a century. His father attained to marked distinction in public affairs and was called upon to represent this state in the state senate, besides which he served in