Page:History of Southeast Missouri 1912 Volume 1.djvu/740

 648 HISTORY OP SOUTHEAST MISSOURI sharing their delightful home with a trio of young people. Mr. "Williams is Democratic in polities, giv- ing heart and hand to men and measures. He and his family attend the Methodist Episcopal church. South, and he exemplifies in his daily living the fine principles promul- gated b}^ the jMasonic Lodge, in which he is entitled to wear the white-plumed helmet of the Knight Templar. Dr. John P. Wagnee, a progressive young medical practitioner of Greenville, Wayne county, is a son of the widely known edu- cator. Professor L. 51. AVagner. The father was born in Washington county, Tennessee, on the 1st of April, 1851, aud received a theological education at Mosheim College, one of the fir.st institutions of higher learning esta])lished in that state east of the Alle- ghany mountains. Soon after his gradua- tion he commenced preaching in Missouri under the auspices of the Lutheran synod. At the same time, in order to eke out a live- lihood, he taught school, most of this work in that state being in connection with va- rious parochial institutions connected with his church. Professor Wagner first came to Missouri in 1877, locating in the northern part of what is now Cascade, Wayne county, where he founded Concordia College, in which so many of the professional men of that sec- tion of the state have received the early literary training which fitted them to assume the higher courses of their education. While conducting that select institution Professor Wagner also preached to many scattering charges aud those without regular pastors. He was thus busily and worthily employed until 1909, when he retired from professional work altogether and entered the employ of the Williamsville, Greenville & St. Louis Railroad at Cascade, his present occupation. The Professor also cultivates aud operates a farm, and has been serving on the local Board of Education since 190U. He had previously been a member of the County Board of School Commissioners for three terms, and there has never been a time since he became a resident of Wayne county that he has failed to show his unbounded interest in her educational progress, or that her peo- ple have failed to show their faith in his ability and high-minded motives. His wife (formerly Miss Emma Whitener) is also liv- ing and highly respected as an intelligent and lovable woman. Of their nine children, the following seven are living: Virda, now the wife of Zark Souderman ; John P., of this biography ; Effie, who became Mrs. William E. Pabor, of Predericktown, IMissouri ; Harry, a citizen of Cape Girardeau ; and Otto, Gus and Irving, still living at home. John P. Wagner was born at Gravelton, Wayne county, on the 20th of December, 1882; was reared on the family homestead; educated in his preparatory courses at his father's school (Concordia College), and in 1902 was matriculated at the American Med- ical College, St. Louis, from which he grad- uated in 1906. He established himself in. practice at Cascade iu 1906, but finally located at Greenville, where he has founded a sub- stantial and a high-grade professional busi- ness. He continues the family tendencies in his adhesion to the Lutheran church, as well as in his general support of Democratic principles and policies. His professional relations are with the Missouri Eclectic Medical Society and the National Electic Medical Association, and his fraternal con- nections are with the Modern Woodmen of America. Dr. Wagner was married, JMarch 7, 1911, to Miss Stella Rhodes, born in Greenville, a daughter of John P. and Sarah (McGhee) Rhodes, who have spent their lives here. IMr. Rhodes has filled nearlj^ all county offices, including that of Representative, and owns a fine farm near Greenville, Missouri. Jesse A. ]McGlothlin, the present circuit clerk and count,y recorder of Bollinger county, Missouri, is a man whose position as one in whom all who know him impose im- plicit trust, and whose name has come to he s.vnonymous with progressive enterprise, makes it impossible to omit his name from an.y record of the history of Southeastern ^lissouri. He was born in Reynolds county on his father's farm. ]Iarch 10, 1869. His father, Joseph IMcGlothlin, was a native Hoosier, while his mother, prior to her mar- riage ]Mi.ss Louisa Allison, was born in the state of Tennessee. In 1879 the family moved to Wayne county, this state, and there Jesse A. McGlothlin lived until his twentieth year. His early education he obtained in the district schools of the locality, meantime being a willing a.ssistant in the various duties of the home farm.