Page:History of Southeast Missouri 1912 Volume 1.djvu/808

 698 HISTORY OF SOUTHEAST MISSOURI and Lulu (Rogers) Romines. The father, familiarly called ' ' Tom, ' ' was a native of Ten- nessee, where he spent the first few years of his boyhood, then came to ilissouri with his parents, where he later entered the agricul- tural field. He secured a tract of land on Horse Island, with the idea of cultivating it, but he was not very successful ; thinking that he would accomplish better results in some other location, he moved to Vincit, but a short trial convinced him that if anything he would find the Vincit farm less desirable than the one he had formerly worked on, so back he went to Horse Island. He stayed this time for a period of seven years, his previous ex- perience enabling him to achieve a fair suc- cess, but he was by no means satisfied. At the expiration of seven years of uphill work, he disposed of the Horse Island place and again pulled up his stakes, moving this time to a farm two and a half miles northeast of Caruth. He was a hard worker, but some- how or other he was not able to do more than make both ends meet — land was new and there were few conveniences in that section of the country. He died in 1880, leaving fifty acres of land to his twin brother Will, and this tract represented the result of his years of work; Will died some years ago, and the property' remains in the family, owned by his children. The early history of jIrs. Tom Romines was identical with that of her hus- band, in that she was born in Tennessee and had come to Missouri with her folks some years before her marriage, which took place at Caruth. To their union two children were born, Ellen, who married Wesley Winters, of Vincit, and James R,, the subject of this sketch. Mrs. Thomas Romines maintains her home with her daughter at Vincit. When James R. Romines was very small the family moved from Vincit to Horse Is- land, as above noted, remaining there until James had passed his sixth birthday and was about ready to commence his school life. At that time he accompanied his parents to Ca- ruth ; his father was poor iind the roads in the neighborhood of his new home were verj' bad, so the result was that the lad received very little education in the way of schooling, but he did receive a thorough training in all kinds of farm work, so that in 1890. when at the age of twenty he started out to carve his own career, he was erpiipped with a work- ing knowledge of the various classes of agri- cultural pur.suits, which stood him in good stead. Leaving home with^-a capital of ten dollars, he passed the eu.siting three years as a farm hand, working for the farmers in the neighliorhood of Caruth. He did not draw on his capital, but on the other hand he constantly added to it all that he could pos- sibly save, and at the expiration of three years he bought a tract of land on Horse Is- land and commenced farming operations on the place. After two years' steady cultiva- tion of the soil he had made many improve- ments in the farm, and he was able to dispose of it at a profit. For the following four or five years he rented a place, and in the mean- time he watched for an opportunity to be- come permanently located. He bought forty acres of land near Kennett, his present home, but he now owns a tract of sixty acres, and inasmuch as the land has doubled in value since he bought it, he is worth three times as much as when he fir.st came to Kennett. He has done much to bring his farm to a high state of cultivation, — has put up new fences, built new outbuildings and generally im- jiroved the place. In addition to managing liis own land, he rents about eighty acres yearly, making al)out one hundred and fifty acres of land which he farms, raising cotton and corn for the most part, but he also de- votes part of his land to stock raising. On the 8th of January, 1890, Mr. Romines married Josephine Akers, who was born in Alabama, in 1872, where her father was en- gaged in farming. She is a daughter of Leb and Jane (Stone) Akers, both natives of Ala- l^ama and both are deceased, as are ]Irs. Ro- mines' three brothers and three sisters. The Akers family moved to Vincit, Missouri, in 1874, when the little Josephine was a mere child, and as a matter of course she made the ac<iuaintance of James Romines, her neigh- lior. To the union of the young people two children were born, Hersel, whose birthday was on St. Patrick's Day, 1896, and Nolar, born May 23, 1900, Mr, Romines is a Democrat in political sympathies. He is a member of the Wood- men of the World, being affiliated with the Caruth lodge, in which he has held office at different times. He was for years active in the different enterprises of the Shady Grove
 * lission Baptist church, standing high in the

regard of its members, as with the farmers in the community «vhere he has spent all of his life, Mrs. Romines is a member of this church.