Page:History of Southeast Missouri 1912 Volume 1.djvu/778

 676 HISTORY OF SOUTHEAST MISSOURI vania, July 15, 1843. His father, Dr. Robert L. Porterfield, was also a physician, a native of Pennsylvania. He practiced m Pennsyl- vania and Illinois, locating in Danville about 1848. His father, William Porterfield, was of Scotch-Irish descent and served during the Revolutionary war. Dr. Robert Porter- field married Ann Donaldson, a native of Pennsylvania, of Scotch-Irish descent. Dr. Jolrn D. Porterfield has little recollec- tion of his Pennsylvania home amongst the mountains, as his parents moved away when he was very small. He was educated at Mari- etta, Ohio, and also attended the Jefferson Medical College at Philadelphia and the Mis- souri Medical College in St. Louis, Missouri. In 1864 he came to Cape Girardeau, but only stayed a very short time, not long enough to become established in his profession. He went to Commerce, Missouri, where he stayed for twenty-three years, practicing all the time. In 1888 he came to Cape Girar- deau, where he has lived ever since. He has been in practice in southeastern Missouri longer than any physician in the state. About 1906 he retired from practice, leaving the carrying on of that work to his sons. In 1866 he was married to Sarah Hall, who died in 1872. The following year he mamed Fannie B. Cullum, who came from Mobile, Alabama. To this union were born one daugh- ter and three sons. The sous have all followed their father's profession, thus making three generations that have given themselves to the medical profession. Elmo, the eldest son, is practicing in St. Louis. John D., Jr., has taken his father 's practice in Cape Girardeau. Lowry is a physician and surgeon in Chicago. All three sons are graduates of the Chicago University -and Rush Medical College. Their sister Buiah C, is the wife of Harry H. Coff- man, son of Dr. John Coffman, a practicing physician of southeastern Missouri. In addition to his professional duties, the Doctor has taken an active part in public af- fairs. He was mayor of Cape Girardeau for one term. He is at pi-esent president of the Cape Girardeau Water Works and Electric Light Company. He was one of the organ- izers and is a director in the Southeast Mis- souri Trust Company and has other inter- ests in farm lands. He is a prominent Ma- son ; having joined that order in 1866, he has taken the thirty-second degree in Scottish rite masonry, one of the first men in southeastern Missouri to have that degree. He is also a member of the Elks, with a high standing in that organization. He was at one time Ex- alted Ruler and he took an active part in the erection of the new building, having raised the money to build same. The Doctor has lived in southeastern Missouri for forty-seven years, twenty-three years of that time in Scott county and the other twenty-four in Cape Girardeau county. Although he does not treat patients any more, he is by no means an idle man, but on the other hand is most active in all public affairs. Not only did he devote so many years of his own life to the science of medicine, but he has left three sons to carry on the work. There is no man in the county who has a wider reputation and no man who stands higher in the respect and affections of those with whom he comes in contact. Carroll P. Bennett. Greenville owes a double debt to Carroll P. Bennett, for not only is he conspicuous as the scion of a family long known in Wayne county as sturdy sup- porters of all that was advanced for the best interests of the community, but, by his own enthusiasm and untiring energy he has led others after him, and has always shown, both in industry and public affairs, that quality of leadership which inspires others to go and do likewise. Born near Coldwater on St. Francois river, Wayne county, December 14, 1871, he was the son of John L. and Mary (Mathes) Bennett. His father was born on Bear creek, Wayne county, March 7, 1845, and died at Piedmont February 11, 1906. His mother was also born on Bear creek, the date of her nativity being September 14, 1845, and she is still living, at Greenville, Missouri. Not only were his father and mother born on Bear creek, but also his paternal grand- father, Larkin Bennett, 1810 being the year of his birth, and he survived to the ripe old age of eighty-seven years, his demise not oc- curring until 1897. His wife, who prior to her marriage was Miss Mary Hughs, came to Wayne county with her father who migrated to that district at an early date and there entered a farm. The father of Larkin Ben- nett and the great-gi-andfather of the citizen to whom this record is dedicated was a native of North Carolina, who migrated from that state, moving first to Kentucky, and siib- sequently to Wayne county, where h^ located on section 30. The maternal grandfather of Carroll Ben- nett, lrilliurn Mathes, was a native of eastern