552 HISTORY OF SOUTHEAST MISSOURI tive from Mississippi county in the general assembly of the state and served as speaker of the house. In 1900 he was elected to con- gress as a representative of the 14th congres- sional district and was again elected to the same position in 1910. He has won for him- self a place in congress by his ability and close attention to the duties of his position. He is held in high esteem by those who know him well and is regarded as one of the ablest men in this part of the state. One of the pioneer families of Southeast Missouri is the Deal family. The oldest one of this family to live in this part of the state was Colonel H. J. Deal, who was born in Pennsylvania in 1829. He learned the tan- ner's trade and worked at this until he was nineteen years of age when he went west. At first he was employed for a time in Famiing- ton, Iowa, then for two years he lived in St. Louis. In 1856, after his marriage, he came to Charleston in Missi.ssippi county. At first he engaged in the business of building levees and digging ditches, but in 1857 he took a contract for building the Cairo & Fulton Railroad. At the breaking out of the war he had finished building twenty-seven miles of this road, but nothing further was done in contract work during the war. The repre- sentative in congress from this district at that time was Ro])ert A. Hatcher, who resigned his position, however, and attached himself to the fortunes of the South, ilr. Deal was elected to succeed him ; he served for one year and then became a member of the state sen- ate. In 1868 he was elected representative from ^Mississippi county in the legislature, and was later re-elected for another term. During the war Colonel Deal was ap- pointed by the governor to enlist men in a number of counties in Southeast Missouri : he was given the rank of colonel of enrolled militia and served in the capacity of a re- cruiting officer during the war. On the close of the war Colonel Deal once more took up his former work of contracting. In 1866 he began the work of building fifty miles of the St. Louis & Iron Mountain Railroad ; this work he completed within a year. In 1867 he finished up the work of the Cairo & Ful- ton Railroad to Poplar Bluff. In 1881 he took a contract for building one hundred and ten miles of the St. Louis, Arkansas & Texas Rail- road, which he completed in 1882 ; after that time he turned his attention to farming and stock raising. He secured large tracts of land in Mississippi county which became very val- uable and up to the end of his life he was in- terested in farming in all of its branches. Colonel Deal was a public spirited citizen and always interested in whatever work was to be done for the improvement of his community and his count}^ ; his interest was manifested on more tlian one occasion by building public roads at his own expense. In 1806 Absalom ]IcElmurry, a native of Kentucky, moved from that state to South- east Jlissouri. In a sliort time he removed to Little Rock, Arkansas, but returned to Mis- sissippi county, Missouri, in 1813. He was the first judge of the county, lieing appointed in 1843. His eldest son, Thomas S. McEl- muriy, was born near Charleston, in 1815 ; he was reared on the farm and attended the public schools in the vicinity. After becom- ing a man, he interested himself in politics and held a number of offices in the county, at one time he was interested in the mercantile business, but during the latter part of his life he devoted himself to farming. Judge McElmurry lived to a great age and was one of the best known citizens of the county. He
