Page:History of Southeast Missouri 1912 Volume 1.djvu/709

 HISTORY OP SOUTHEAST .AHSSOURI 625 years, making- altogether eighteen years of public service in county office. WHien the Bollinger County Bank was or- ganized Mr. Wells, ever on the alert where the welfare of the county is concerned, was actively concerned in the establishment of a reliable local monetary institution, and sub- sequently became its president. In 1897, upon the resignation of Cashier B. F. Stev- ens, he accepted the cashiership, thus giving in all fifteen years of service. Besides his interest in the Bollinger Coimty Bank he is also a stockholder in the Bank of Marble Hill, and with some six others he maintains a con- trolling interest in the Advance Telephone companj-, an enterprise that started with a capital stock of $20,000, and has since, through wise executive policies, been built up to $44,000. Besides his handsome residence and town lots in Marble Hill, Mr. Wells' real estate holdings include town lots in Okla- homa, a one hundred and twenty acre farm and an interest in a farming property amounting to three hundred and sixty acres. Besides this he holds the enviable record of having been identified M'ith Mayfield College for twenty years, having been president of the Board of Trustees for that length of time. On September 29, 1887, Mr. Wells laid the foundation for his present happy household by his marriage on that date to Miss Lucy E. Swift, daughter of Thomas and Hannah A. (Wilkinson) Swift, of Cape Girardeau county. Six children have been born to this iinion, four of whom survive, as follows: — William F., born September 20, 1888. is now a cashier of the Bank of Patton, which he or- ganized with a capital of ten thousand dol- lars ; Marie, born January 24, 1896 ; Emma Jane, born April 19, 1899; and Harry Hu- bert, born March 17, 1902. Mr. and Mrs. Wells and their family are members of the Baptist church, and Mr. Wells is a deacon in the iMarble Hill church. Fraternally Mr. Wells is affiliated with that historic order, the Ancient Free and Accepted ilasons. It is interesting to note, not only for the fact itself but for the lesson it may possibly teach the younger generation, bred among less trying scenes than those of war and frontier pioneering, that Mr. Wells never actually attended school except for the tri- fling period of six months, but like many an- other indomitable soul of the sixties and sev- enties, when circumstances demanded that the daylight hours be given to toil, he under- took to educate himself at night, and it is no mere figure to say that he studied by '"midnight oil." jMr. Wells indeed deserves tlie loyal affection and high respect with, which he is regarded throughout the county and beyond its limits. Edgak Prewitt Caruthers. There are but ten persons on the Midway Islands, a recent acciuisition of the United States, yet they are not lonesome, for these Islands are used as a cable station, and the news of the world passes daily through their hands. The man who brings this news to our doors in readable form has performed a public bene- faction, which should be highly appreciated. Such a man is Edgar Prewitt Caruthers, who was born in southeastern Missouri, in St. Francois county, October 27, 1854, a son of Solomon D. and Maiy Jane (Harris) Caru- thers. The father, Solomon D., was a native of IIadison county, ilissouri, coming here with his father, David L. Caruthers, from Tennessee in 1820. The mother was a native of Kentucky, her father being Squire Samuel Perrin Harris, of Irish descent, who came to Mis.souri at an early day. The branch of the Caruthers family to which this subject be- longs were of Scotch-Irish stock, and were settlers in North Cai-olina before the Revo- lution. The immediate subject of this review, Ed- gar P. Caruthers, obtained his education in the common schools of his native state. In early life he decided to adopt the printer's trade as his life work, and, in accordance with this idea, went into a printer's office at Fredericktown, where he mastered the intri- cacies of this business and became the owner of the Bee there when but a mere boy. Later he was employed for six years in the treasury department of Missouri, and then became a reporter on a St. Louis newspaper. He then removed to Medicine Lodge, Kan- sas, where he published a paper for eight years, and takes credit as the "discoverer" of Jerry Simpson. He then returned to Mis- souri and located at Carthage, where he was engaged in the printing business for two years, when he removed to Kennett, in the same state, taking charge of the Dunklin Democrat in 1893, since which time he has been its editor and publisher, and he is quite proud of the fact that it has not missed an issue during all that time.