Page:History of Southeast Missouri 1912 Volume 1.djvu/698

 618 HISTORY OF SOUTHEAST :MISS0URI happily married to Miss ilargaret Carroll, daughter of P. W. Carroll, of Cape Girar- deau, Missoviri, a concrete contractor and decorator. They have no children. Mr. and Mrs. Mauthe enjoy a prominent place in the best social life- of the place aud are very loyal to the interests of Pacific. Daniel E. Conr.,vd is the sou of David R. and ilary (Bollinger) Conrad, who are also the parents of Peter Conrad, whose life is briefly outlined in this work. Daniel was the thirteenth child of the family of which Peter was the eldest. As has been stated, the grandfather came to Missouri from North Carolina in 1820. Daniel was liorn in 1859, on February 27. David Conrad owned several hundred acres of land aud as he was not only a man of wealth but also of culture, he took pains with the education of his children. Daniel went to the county schools and afterwards to the State University at Columbia. When twenty-two years of age he married and be- gan to farm for himself. He first managed his father's farm for a few j-ears and then operated a portion of the farm for himself. In 1890 he bought one hundred and seventy- five acres of laiid and now has five hundred and fifty-five acres of laud on Whitewater creek, of which two hundred and fifty acres are under cultivation. Besides this Mr. Con- rad is farming his sister's farm of two hun- dred acres. Sixty acres of this is in culti- vation. Agriculture is a pursuit which jlr. Conrad follows according to scientific meth- ods, as he is a progressive farmer. He has a modern residence on his place, put up in 1901. Stock engages part of his attention and he owns eighteen horses and mules, forty- three head of cattle, one hundred and twenty hogs and twenty-seven sheep. Mrs. Conrad's maiden name was Ella Statler, the daughter of Robert Statler. She and Mr. Conrad have had the following chil- dren: Ora, born June 14, 1883; Howard Dale, July 23, 1885; David R., August 9, 1887; Ella Ethel Irene, February 11, 1889; Mary Kathleen, December 31. 1890; Hazel, November 30, 1892 ; Chalmers F., December 3, 1894: Gyle D., Mav 14, 1896; and Corliss Dewey, JMarch 1. 1898. Mr. and Mrs. Con- rad are members of the Presbyterian church. Alfred Howard Akers. Few men are better and more favorablv known in Saint Francois county than Alfred Howard Akers, who has been identified with this section since the year 1884 aud who holds the position of county principal and superintendent of schools. He held the office of county school commissioner for fourteen years and no one" is more thoroughly in touch with educational matters or better able to cope with the vari- ous problems arising. Mr. Akers was born in the Valley of Vir- ginia, near the city of Roanoke, October 12, 1855. His father, Henry Akei"s, was born in the vicinity of Lynchburg and was reared on a farm, receiving the limited education to be acquired in the country schools. He was married at the age of twenty-two years to Katie Garnet, daughter of Allen Garnet, a farmer located in that vicinity, and they be- came the parents of three children, namely : A. H., the immediate subject of this review ; Walter; aud Bessie. In politics the father was au old-line Whig and he subsequently became a Democrat. He was Baptist in re- ligious conviction and a member of the time- honored ]lasonic fraternity. He passed away at the age of sixty years. Until the age of fifteen years Mr. Akers was reared upon the farm and received his earlier education in a private school, located not far from his home. When arrived at his fifteenth birthday he was sent to the Agri- cultural and ]Iechanieal College at Blacks- burg, Virginia, and after a four years' pre- paratory course there he matriculated in the University of Virginia, where he remained two years. AVith a view to entering the field of educational endeavor, Mr. Akers took a brief normal coui-se at Farmville, Virginia, and ever since then he has been engaged in teaching school. In 1884 he came to the state of JMissouri and for the past eighteen years he has been principal and superintend- ent of schools in this county. In 1909 he was elected county superintendent and at the next election succeeded himself, being the present incumbent of the office. He enjoys a splendid reputation for ability, judgment and progressiveness in educational circles aud has done much in this important field. On the 1st day of September, 1886, Mr. Akers was united in marriage to Alice Wes- cott, of Saint Francois county, daughter of J. W. and Mary J. Wescott. Mr. and Mrs. Akers are the parents of the following seven children: J. Clyde, Jessie V., Wilbur D., Waldemar F., Alfred Howard, Christine and