Page:History of Southeast Missouri 1912 Volume 1.djvu/703

 HISTORY OP SOUTHEAST MISSOURI 621 was a fanner both in his native county and in ilissouri. Dr. and ]Irs. John Dalton had eleven children, of whom two daughters died in infancy, the remaining nine living to grow to maturity, seven sous and two daugh- ters. The two youngest of the family died at about the age of twenty-one. Dr. Robert P. Dalton was the second child of his parents. His childhood was passed on the farm at Frederickstown, where he was born. As soon as he was old enough to at- tend school, he had to walk a distance of five miles each way, to the little log school house, known as the Killday or McKenzie school. He received his preliminary education at this school, after which he went to the Ihider- wood school, which was four miles in another direction from his home. Both school houses were built of logs, the desks were formed of a log split in two, having peg legs. The in- struction however, was not as primitive as the buildings, as Robert learned a good deal at these two schools. He next attended the Greenville high school, in Wayne county, go- ing from there to Hales College at Gravelton, Missouri, where he took a general course, graduating in 1896. He had not yet decided to become a physician, but he believed in the advantages of a first class education, no mat- ter what course he pursued. After leaving college he was engaged in the drug and gro- ceiy business at Patton, ^Missouri, in which he continued for about four years. In 1900 he had made i;j) his mind that he was not cut out for a mercantile career, but felt a very decided leaning towards the medical profes- sion. He sold out his busine.ss, entered a medical college at St. Louis, ^Missouri, grad- uating therefrom in 1904, having taken the full four years medical course. The same year he came to Cape Girardeau, immediately starting to practice. He has been here ever since, with a steadily increasing practice. He is a member of the Cape Girardeau County IMedical Society and of the State JIedical Association. On September 7, 1892, the Doctor married Miss Sue E. Swindell, the daughter of Sam J. Swindell. There have been no children born to Dr. and Mrs. Dalton. The doctor is a member of various frater- nal orders, as follows: the Modern Woodmen of America, the Knights and Ladies of Se- curity, the ^Modern Americans. Politics do not greatly interest Dr. Dalton, his time be- ing fully occupied by his practice, his socie- ties, his family and his needed recreation. He has already shown himself to be a power for good in the community. Joseph Scott Wolff, D. D. S.— One of the best known members of the dental pro- fession in Southeast iIissouri, as well as mayor of Festus and a public citizen of broad and strong character, Dr. Joseph S. Wollf comes of an old, substantial Pennsylvania family which has included not a few distin- guished members in the east and southwest His father. Rev. A. T. Wolff, was born in Westmoreland county, that state, and was recognized until his death, in 1905, at the age of forty-nine, as one of the eminent Pres- byterian clergymen in the country. The elder man spent his early boyhood and youth on the old Pennsylvania farm and as a hard- working pupil in the neighborhood schools, afterward realizing his ambition for a higher education by completing a course at Union Seminary, Alliance, Ohio. At his graduation therefrom he became pastor of a small church at Sandy Lake, Pennsylvania, and not long afterward accepted a call from the First Presbyterian church of Alton, Illinois. He acceptably filled the pulpit of that strong or- ganization for seven yeai-s, and then sen-ed as passtor of the Calvary Presbyterian church of Detroit, and the North Presliyterian church of St. Louis. In the discharge of the duties attaching to these responsible charges. Dr. Wolff had become so widely admired and loved both as a faithful pastor and an elo- quent pulpit orator that he received an ur- gent call to assume pastoral charge of the largest Presbyterian church in Edinburgh, Scotland, the old-world stronghold of the de- nomination. Although deeply appreciative of the honor, his home ties and stanch Amer- icanism, as well as his firm conviction that he could do more good in the United States where his influence had been so long exerted — these considerations forced liim to decline the proffered Edinburgh pastorate. For some time, however, he lectured abroad un- der the Slayton Lyceum Bureau, and became widely known in Great Britain. He also be- came very prominent as a Mason and at one time was grand state orator for Illinois In 1875 Rev. A. T. Wolff was united in marriage with Miss Margaret S. Young, of Oakland Cross Roads, Pennsylvania, and of the six children born to him, the Doctor was the eldest. His mother is still living, also