Page:History of Southeast Missouri 1912 Volume 1.djvu/726

 638 HISTORY OF SOUTHEAST MSSOURI the St. Francois i-iver, situated one mile dis- tant from the land which Grandfather ]Meador took up on his arrival in Wajue count}'. J. Frank Meador was reared on his father's farm and when he was old enough he attended the district school in his neigh- borhood, remaining there until he was six- teen years old. He then entered the state normal school at Cape Girardeau and after a two years' course in this well-known insti- tution he entered the state university at Columliia, ^Missouri, from whose law depart- ment he was graduated in 1901. He had not attained his majority at the time of his grad- uation, and was therefore not eligible to practice, so for a few months he taught and then took up his residence at Jlountain Grove, "Wright county, Missouri, where for eighteen months he practiced law. In 1903 he" removed to Van Buren, Carter county, aiissouri, remained there in legal practice until 1905, when he removed to Greenville, ^Missouri. In the fall of 1906, when he was less than twenty-six years old, he was elected to the office of prosecuting attorney of Wayne county; in 1908 his record had been so entirely satisfactory that he was re- elected, and again in 1910 he was the Demo- cratic nominee and was elected for the third time. He is now serving his third term, and is but thirty-one years of age. Mr. Meador was married to Miss Willa Ilixson on the 3rd day of August, 1902 She is a daughter of Jerry and Elizabeth (Cole- man) Ilixson, both of whom are still living. Mr. and ]Mrs. ^leador are the parents of two daughters, — Violet and Fern. The husband and wife are members of the Baptist church, where they have many friends. Mr. ileador's career so far may be characteri'-'-.-d as brilliant, and inasmuch as he is a young man, he may expect a future of still greater prominence. Franklin A. Wiggs, a citizen of distinc- tive prominence and influence at Lutesville. Missouri, is owner and editor of the well known publication, the Lutesville Banner, a Republican paper, whose unusual success and wide renown are the direct result of Jlr. Wiggs' well applied efforts. A native of the state of Illinois, ilr. AViggs was born in Union county, on the 2nd of Au- gust, 1857, and he is a .son of William and Mary E. Wiggs, both of whom are deceased, the father having passed awaj' in 1903 and the mother in 1899. William H. Wiggs was a native of Virginia and his wife was born in North Carolina, both having come to southern Illinois in early life. The father was a farmer by occupation and he and his wife were the parents of eight children, of v.hom the subject of this review was the first born. Franklin A. Wiggs passed his boyhood and youth on the old homestead farm in Union county, Illinois, and his preliminary educa- tional training consisted of such advantages as were afforded in the district schools of that county. At the age of seventeen years he was matriculated as a student in Ewing College, at Ewing, Illinois, spending the en- suing seven years in preparatory and colle- giate work in that excellent institution. Ow- ing to illness, however, he was unable to complete his course and was obliged to go to Colorado to recuperate. Returning to Illi- nois in 1882, he located at Ewing, where he was engaged in the general mei'chandise busi- ness until 1890. While in college he had worked for a time in the printing office of a Baptist paper, and thus, being somewhat familiar with that particular line of enter- prise, he opened a job-printing office at Chester, Illinois, in 1890, continuing to con- duct the same for five or six months. In the latter part of 1890 Mr. Wiggs re- moved to JMountain View, Missouri, where he was unfortunate in investments, losing a great deal of mone.y in the panic of 1S93. For a time thereafter he was engaged in the job and blank printing business at [Mountain View and subsequentl.v he edited the Moun- tain View Times, achieving a fair amount of success along these lines of enterprise. In 1900 he removed his printing plant to Charleston, Missoiiri, where he established the Charleston Star. Disposing of the latter publication in 1901, he bought out the plant of the Lutesville Banner, a Republican news- paper which boasted a Washington hand press and a subscription list. Mr. Wiggs is now the owner of a fully equipped plant, modern in all its appointments and fitted out with power and type-setting machines. The Lutesville Banner has grown from a sec- ond rate paper to be one of the most influen- tial newspapers in southeastern ^lissouri and its prestige is due entirely to ]Mr. Wiggs' excellent management. In addition to his