Page:History of Southeast Missouri 1912 Volume 1.djvu/789

 HISTORY OF SOUTHEAST IMISSOURI 685 pan}' was established in the year 1903, and is capitalized for forty thousand dollars. This company makes the entire lead belt its terri- tory and does a business of the highest class, being indeed one of those excellent concerns which contribute in very material fashion to the prosperit.y and prestige of the section. William N. Howard, M. D. In all the county of Cape Girardeau there is no man who is more respected and loved by old and young, by rich and poor alike, than is Dr. William N. Howard. For years his life has been spent in seeking to benefit others. His one ambition has been and still is to serve his fellow men. His maxim is to look up, not down, to look forward not back, but lend a hand. His knowledge of human nature has taught him to look upon the errors of others in sorrow not in anger. He is a man whom to see is to admire. He was born in Cape Girardeau county. Missouri, November 26, 1862. He is the sou of James M. Howard, a native of North Caro- lina and one of the early settlers in Missouri, whither he came with his parents when he was a small boy. The family located on a farm near Appleton, on which one of the sons still lives. James M. Howard married Sarah Day who was also born in North Carolina and was the daughter of Nighten Day of that county. When Sarah was very small her par- ents moved to Cape Girai'deau county, where they farmed, settling near Oak Ridge. Mr. and Mrs. Day have four sons and two daugh- tei-s, who all live in the neighborhood of their old home. Mrs. James M. Howard died in 1909, having borne five sons and two daugh- ters. The little girls both died in infancy. Four of the sons are living now, of whom Dr. William is the third. The grandfather of William N. Howard aud father of James il. Howard was named John. He was of Scotch English descent and was born in North Caro- lina. He came to southeastern Missouri and located on a farm near Appleton. Two of his sons were also farmers. William N. Howard's boyhood days were spent on his father's farm, where he learned something of the farm life and attended the district school. After he had been educated as highly as his father thought was necessary, he started out to make a career for himself. He had not at that time decided to become a physician, but first did some surveying for the railroad, in 1884. Three years later he began to study medicine, entering the St. Louis iledieal College, from which he grad- uated in 1890. Immediately following his graduation, he came to Cape Girardeau, where he has been in practice ever since. He is a member of the Cape Girardeau Medical Society, the Southeastern Missouri Medical Society, the Missouri State Medical Society and the American iledical Association. In 1896 his marriage to Adda Wilson, daughter of Gilbert Wilson of Cape Gir- ardeau county, was solemnized. To this union was born one daughter, named Sarah after the Doctor's mother. Dr. Ploward is a Democi'at and although he is greatly interested in pa])lic affairs, he has evinced no desire for houors for himself. He is a member of the Knights of Pythias and of the ^lasonic Order, holding membership in the Blue Lodge Ancient Order Free and Ac cepted Masons. He is a life long resident of Cape Girardeau county and has been in prac tice in this city for over twenty years, having a general practice and also doing surgical work for the railroad. There is only one phy- sician in Cape Girardeau who has been in practice a little longer than Dr. Howard, but there is no one who is more loved. He is very much interested in educational work and is a member of the board of education, on which he does very admii-able work. He realizes that it is on the schools that the future of his native county depends. He has the interests of the children greatly at heart. Thomas J. Sweazea. It is a pleasure to the biographer to include in these sketches of important citizens of southeastern Missouri one who is not only prominent for his pres- tige as the grandson of a pioneer and as a respected member of the legal profession, but one who is also as firmly intrenched in the af- fection and high regard of the many who know him personally as Mr. Thomas J. Swea- zea, of Piedmont. The paternal grandfather of Thomas Swea- zea, William Sweazea, was born in the state of Tennessee, and migrated to this state in 1808, locating near the Black river, where he entered and bought a large and fertile tract of land, which he tilled and made his home until 1850, the year of his death. George ]Iaun, the maternal grandfather of Mr. Swea- zea, a native of South Carolina, also early felt the impulse to try life on what was then the frontier, and came from his native state to the Black river district. ' William Sweazea, the father of the subject of this brief record,