Page:History of Southeast Missouri 1912 Volume 1.djvu/711

 HISTORY OF SOUTHEAST MISSOURI 627 that time he has participated in every cam- paign; he has served the county, the state and the congressional committees, and he has been a recognized power in the organi- zation of his party and in its success at the polls. ]Mr. Cole has attained some prominence in Woodcraft, having tilled the chair of consul in Union, attended stated conventions of the order and been delegate to the Head Camp at Buffalo, New York. In the Masonic order he has sat in the Grand Lodge as delegate both in St. Louis and in Kansas City. He and his wife hold membership in the Eastern Star. On November 28, 1906, ilr. Cole was mar- ried to Miss Agatha Bucher at Pacific, Mis- souri. Her father was Jacob Bucher, a Swiss by birth, while her mother was Miss Agatha Zeteh, born in Germany. ]Ir. and Mrs. Cole have no children. The outline of ]Ir. Cole's career would present to one unacquainted with him the idea of a successful and popular lawyer, adroit in the handling of men and affairs. Mr. Cole is all of this and much more. No account of his achievements would picture the force and directness of his character nor the genialty of his manner, which is yet ut- terly devoid of the remotest trace of fawning or flattery. All in all, Mr. Cole's frequent selection for office may be said to be simply the natural tribute to his personal popular- ity and capabilities. George W. Redden. It has been the pleas- ant fortune of George W. Redden, leading photographer of Farmington, to have ob- tained the highest prestige in his particular field of endeavor. He is in truth one of the state's leading photographers and is an ar- tist in the truest sense of the word, his pro- ductions having that quality which distin- guishes the work of the reall.y artistic tem- perament from the commonplaceness of him who merely understands the mechanism of the camera and fails to reproduce the individual- ity of his sitters. More than this, he is a man of fine inventive ability, and his method of photographic printing, known as the "Redden Way" is known over the entire country. He has also invented a number of other devices in this fleld. George W. Redden was born July 26, 1868, on a farm near the town of St. Aubert, now Mokane, Callaway county, Missouri. He is the son of Wiley S. and Mary Jane (Level) Redden. The father was a native of middle Tennessee, and his father, Willian Redden, was born in North Carolina, and went to Tennessee as a young man. The grandfather was a farmer and slave-holder and he was called to the life eternal when about fifty years of age. He was a descendant of an old and well known North Carolina family. The father was reared and educated in Tennessee and resided there at the time of the breaking out of the Civil war. There were four brothers in the family and all of them were brave young fellows whose first thought was of enlisting. But there was so much to say on both sides of the great question which pressed for settlement that they were a little undecided upon which side to enlist. The four gathered in the yard of the old home and, seated on a log, talked the matter over, long and earnestly. At last they sadly sep- arated, one bi'other going to enlist in the Union army and the other three joining the army of the Confederacy. The first fought throughout the entire war, being wounded at the battle of Gettysburg. This brother who joined the cause of the Union was the subject's father, Wiley S. Redden, and among his adventures was a period of incar- ceration in Ander.sonville prison. He es- caped at one time from the prison, ])ut was recaptured. After the termination of the war, Wiley S. Redden, settled at St. Aubert, Callaway county, ]Mi.s.souri, and in 1867 he was united in marriage to Miss Mary Jane Level. Six children came to bless their union and of this number three died in infancy. The three surviving are George W., of this review; Samuel G., of St. Charles, Missouri ; and Charles A., of Memphis, Tennessee. Mr. Redden remained upon the farm until his death, in 1878, at the age of forty-seven years, this resulting from blood poison, with which he became afflicted fi-om the wounds received while a soldier. His widow now re- sides at Fredericktown. The boyhood days of George W. Redden were passed upon the home farm and there he learned the helpful l&ssons of industry and thrift. He attended the district school's and the schools of Fulton and subsequently became a student in Westminster College. He entered the photograph business at the age of twenty years, for several years being a journeyman workman, employed by some