CHAPTER XXVII (Part 5)
BIOGRAPHICAL
Dr. Robert D. Haire, a well known and successful physician of Henry County located at Clinton, is a native of Missouri. He was born in Dade County, September 22, 1855, and is a son of Samuel H. and Eliza J. (LeMaster) Hare, the former a native of Georgia and the latter of east Tennessee. They came with their respective parents to Missouri at a very early day and were among the pioneer settlers of Dade County. He was a forty-niner, making the trip to California overland during the gold excitement of 1849. After following the shifting fortunes of gold mining for three years, he returned to Missouri by way of the Isthmus of Panama.
When the Civil War broke out Samuel H. Haire removed with his family to Alton, Illinois, but returned to Missouri in 1863 and settled at Smithton. He was engaged in the mercantile business, but like many others was broken up in business on account of the war. He died in California May 25, 1869, aged forty-five years and three days. His widow survived him a number of years and departed this life at Connersville, Indiana, November 18, 1906, aged eighty years.
Dr. Robert D. Haire was one of a family of five children born to his parents as follows: N. H., was a prominent stockman at Smithton, Missouri, where he died January 26, 1916; Josephine, married James Layman, Smithton, Missouri, and died April 18, 1880; Dr. Robert D., the subject of this sketch; Mary Elizabeth, the widow of Dr. S. M. Hamilton, resides at Seattle, Washington, and Charles H., assistant superintendent for Emery Bird & Thayer Company, Kansas City, Missouri.
Dr. Haire received his preliminary education in the public schools of Smithton, Missouri, and later attended Lincoln University, Lincoln, Illinois. He then entered the Missouri Medical College at St. Louis, Missouri, where he was graduated in the class of 1878 with a degree of Doctor of Medicine. He then engaged in the practice of his profession at Schell City, Missouri, and for twenty years was one of the successful physicians of that locality. In 1898, Dr. Haire came to Clinton and since that time has ranked as one of the leading physicians and surgeons of Henry County.
During recent years, he has confined himself largely to office work and surgery. Dr. Haire has done a great deal of post-graduate work and given much time and labor to scientific research along the lines of his chosen profession. After graduating from Missouri Medical College, he later took a course in the Bellevue Hospital Medical College, where he was graduated in 1883, with a degree of Doctor of Medicine. In 1890 and 1891, he studied in Vienna, Austria, taking a general post-graduate course. In 1910 he took a special course in Berlin, Germany, and again returned to Berlin in 1913, taking special post-graduate work.
Dr. Haire was united in marriage November 17, 1892, with Miss Maud Maus, a native of Schell City, Missouri, and a daughter of. J. H. Maus, a pioneer of that section of Missouri, who is now deceased. To Dr. and Mrs. Haire have been born four children, as follows: Frances, a graduate of the Sargent School of Physical Education, Cambridge, Massachusetts, and a Clinton High School graduate, and is now instructor of physical training at Lindenwood College, Lindenwood, Missouri; Cornelia Carter, a graduate of the Clinton High School and Lindenwood College, and is now instructor in domestic science in the public schools of Clinton; Marian, a student in Lindenwood College, where she is specializing in music, and Robert D., Jr., a student in the Clinton grade schools.
Dr. Haire is a member of the County, State and American Medical Association and the Southern Medical Association. He is a member of the Masonic Lodge, being a Knights Templar Mason, and a member of the Mystic Shrine. He also holds membership in the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks and the Independent Order of Odd Fellows. Dr. Haire not only devotes himself to a busy professional career, every minute of which is crowded with activity and responsibility, but he is also alive to the best interests of his town and county. He has served on the Clinton school board for twelve years. He and his wife have traveled a great deal. They have not only made several trips to different sections of Europe, but have also visited Alaska and the Tropics.
J. Melvin Hull - For over half a century the Hull family have been prominent in the affairs of Henry County, and since the arrival in this county of Silas C. Hull and his family on June 29, 1866, the descendants of this pioneer have occupied useful and honorable places in the civic and agricultural life of the county.
J. Melvin Hull, assessor of Davis township, member of the County Council of Defense for his township and for many years a real leader in his community, is a worthy scion of this old family, which came to Missouri from an eastern State in time to assist in laying the foundation for the development and progress which Henry County has enjoyed during past years. J. M. Hull was born on April 4, 1854, in Oneida County, New York, and is the son of Silas C. and Angeline P. (Linebeck) Hull. Silas C. Hull was born in 1829 and died in 1877. He was a native of New York and was a son of Nathaniel Hull, who was born and reared in Connecticut and served his country as a soldier in the War of 1812. The Hulls are descended from one of the oldest and honorable American families of Colonial ancestry. Nathaniel Hull was twice married and reared several sons. Several members of the family served in the Civil War. Angeline P. (Linebeck) Hull was born on May 7, 1829, and died on March 5, 1891.
She, also, was a native of Oneida County, New York, and was a daughter of Adam Linebeck (born 1801), married Phoebe Nichols (born 1799, died 1876), the daughter of a Hessian named Nichols, who was an aide-de-camp to Gen. John Burgoyne and was present with Burgoyne at the surrender of the British Army at the battle of Saratoga during the War of the American Revolution. Mr. Nichols then made a permanent settlement in this country, like many others of his nationality. Adam Linebeck, grandfather of J. M. Hull on the maternal side, was the son of a British soldier who served under General Cornwallis, and he also settled in New York after the close of the Revolutionary War. Soon afterward the grandmother of Mrs. Phoebe Linebeck, who was a Hagedorn, came to America. During the War of 1812, the Hagedorns were robbed of a large sum of money.
Silas C. Hull left his native State of New York in the fall of 1856 and settled in De Kalb County, Illinois, where the family resided until May 27, 1866, and then started for Missouri, arriving here in the following month. Mr. Hull purchased the farm which is now owned by his son in 1868 and resided thereon until his death. Mr. Hull assisted in the organization of school district No. 68 and served as the first school trustee of the district. He was then elected to the office of township clerk and held this office for four years. During the Mexican War he offered his services to the Government and with his command was ready to entrain when word came that Mexico City had fallen and the war was over.
The following children were born to Silas C. Hull and wife: Herman M., a resident of Davis township, and J. Melvin, of this review. Silas C. Hull was a life long Democrat and he and his wife were devout members of the Methodist Church, always interested in religious works and ever trying to advance the educational interests of their community. They were good and faithful pioneers who left their impress for good upon the community.
J. Melvin Hull received his education in the Willow Branch school and has always been a student and reader who has kept abreast of the times. For a period of seventeen years he taught school, five years of which were spent in continuous service in his home district. While teaching his work was always within the radius of a few miles of his residence so as to enable him to remain at home with his family. He is capably farming a well improved tract of two hundred forty acres, eighty acres of which comprises his home place and one hundred sixty acres of which is his wife's inheritance. For sixteen years Mr. Hull was a successful breeder of O.I.C. hogs, a department of animal husbandry of which he has made a special and exhaustive study.
December 28, 1891, Mr. Hull was united in marriage with Miss Elizabeth Woodson, who was born in Walker township June 3, 1871, a daughter of Chesley G. Woodson, a pioneer resident of Henry County, concerning whose career an extensive review is given elsewhere in this volume. C. G. Woodson was born in Kentucky and migrated to Henry County, Missouri, in pioneer days with his father, Silas Woodson. He served in the Confederate Army during the Civil War. The mother of Mrs. Hull was Mary Ann Harness prior to her marriage (born 1837, died 1898). Three sons and a daughter have been born to Mr. and Mrs. J. M. Hull, as follows: Chesley De Loss, born August 29, 1893, residing in Walker township with his grandfather Woodson, married Olga Robinson September 26, 1917; Orin D., born April 10, 1895, enlisted in the National Army, now a corporal, auto mechanic in Truck Company B, 2nd Corps, Artillery Park, Camp Stewart, Newport News, Virginia; Melvin Adam, born November 9, 1897; Mary Angeline, born June 6, 1904, now attending school.
The Democratic party has always had the unqualified support of J. M. Hull and he has served his party and the people in various useful capacities. For fifteen years he served as school trustee and has ever been found in the forefront of educational affairs. He has served as assessor of Davis township ever since the township organization went into effect. During the height of the Grange movement he was active in the affairs of this organization. He and Mrs. Hull are valued and useful members of the La Due Methodist Episcopal Church, and for a period of fifteen years she served as superintendent of the La Due Methodist Sunday school. Mrs. Hull retails her membership with Stone's Chapel of the M. E. Church, South. Mr. Hull is a very useful citizen who is highly respected in Henry County and widely known among the best citizenship of the county. It is his nature to be always active in good works and he is continually being called upon to take the lead in all matters affecting the public welfare, be it religious or school work, matters affecting the township government or raising funds for charity, or spreading patriotic feeling and lining up the citizens for the purchase of Liberty Bonds for the furtherance of the Government's war program.
Dr. J. R. Wallis, a prominent physician and surgeon of Clinton, Missouri, was born at Marshfield, Missouri, January 18, 1860. He is a son of Dr. C. S. and Elizabeth (Hoover) Wallis. Dr. C. S. Wallis, the father, was a pioneer physician of Missouri and practiced his profession at Marshfield for over fifty years. He was a native of Columbia, Tennessee, and came to Missouri in 1844. He died in 1903, aged seventy-four years. His wife was a native of North Carolina. She departed this life in 1905, aged seventy-three years. They were the parents of ten children, six of whom are living as follows: Sarah Elizabeth, married Samuel N. Dickey, an attorney at law of Marshfield, Missouri; Dr. J. R., the subject of this sketch; Emma, is the widow of Emmet Ming and she now resides at San Antonio, Texas; Sophia, the widow of Harry Fyan, Marshfield, Missouri; Hattie, the wife of J. L. Pipkin, Marshfield, Missouri, and Dolly, the wife of W. H. McMahan, Marshfield, Missouri.
Dr. J. R. Wallis received his preparatory education in the public schools of his native town, and entered the Washington University at St. Louis, Missouri, where he was graduated with a degree of Doctor of Medicine in 1883. He then entered the Bellevue Hospital Medical College, New York City, where he also was graduated with a degree of Doctor of Medicine in 1884. After practicing for one year in Marshfield, Missouri, he came to Henry County and located at La Due and after five years went to Montrose, where he was engaged in practice for fifteen years. In 1905, he removed to Clinton. Dr. Wallis' removal from La Due and Montrose by no means meant that he had given up his practice in that section of the county. He merely extended his field of operation, and since coming to Clinton he has continued to treat many of his old patients in the vicinity of La Due and Montrose.
Dr. Wallis was united in marriage in 1884 with Miss Frances Ming of Washington, Missouri. She is a daughter of Judge James N. Ming and Jemima (Osborn) Ming, both of whom are now deceased. To Dr. and Mrs. Wallis has been born one child, Elizabeth, now the wife of James Parks, a well known attorney of Clinton, who is associated with his father, Peyton Parks, in the practice of his profession.
Dr. Wallis belongs to a family notable for its great number of physicians. Not only his father, but two of his father's brothers were physicians, and a number of their sons, cousins of Dr. Wallis, are also physicians. Dr. Wallis has never ceased being a hard student of the science of his profession and has taken a number of post-graduate courses. He has done post-graduate work in the St. Louis Post-Graduate School of Medicine and has also taken a post-graduate course in the Polyclinic Medical School of New York City. He is a member of the County, State and American Medical Societies and the Southern Medical Society. He holds membership in the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks and he is a member of the Methodist Church, South. He is a Democrat.
