Page:History of Southeast Missouri 1912 Volume 1.djvu/617

From Wikisource
Jump to navigation Jump to search
This page needs to be proofread.
557
557

HISTORY OP SOUTHEAST MISSOURI 557 Nelson B. Henry, a minister of the ileth- odist Episcopal Cliurcli South, was born July 23, 1848, near Burfordville, Missouri. He is a grandson of John D. Cook, one of the pio- neers of Missouri and for a number of years a circuit judge of this state. The father of Nelson B. Henry was also a Methodist preacher and for many years one of the most prominent in Southeast Missouri. Mr. Henry, who is now pastor of the Methodist church at Bonne Terre, was reared on the farm, received a good education, being grad- uated from the State Normal School at Kirksville in 1876. After his graduation he became principal of the high school at Oak Ridge, serving two years. In 1878 he be- came a member of the faculty of the State Normal School at Cape Girardeau, teaching English and literature and holding the po- sition until 1886, when he was elected to the chair of pedagogy in the University of North Carolina. Prom this position he resigned to become president of the Pueblo Collegiate In- stitute at Pueblo, Colorado, in 1888. Here he remained until 1892 when he was elected president of the Bellevue Collegiate Institute at Caledonia. He filled this position two years and then resigned to become the pre- siding elder of the Farmington district. He held this position one year and then became president of the Marvin Collegiate Institute at Predericktown. Mr. Henry assisted in the organization of this school and did much to develop it. He resigned, however, after a few years and entered upon the work of the min- istry, which he still continues. While he was teacher of the high school at Oak Ridge in 1876 he began an agitation which resulted in the organization of the Southeast Missouri Teachers Association of which he became the first president. Another man who has been closely asso- ciated with the development of the lead in- dustry in Southeast Missouri is P. P. Graves, who was born in Rochester, New York, in 1849. After receiving a good education he came to Missouri and found employment in the St. Joseph lead mines at Bonne Terre ; this was about the year 1869. Before coming to Missouri he had had some experience in lead mines in Massachusetts. When he first became connected with the St. Joseph Lead Company he worked in the mill and the shops, but after two years was made cashier of the company and held this position for seventeen years. In 1887 he became connected with the Doe Run Lead Company, assisting in its or- ganization and becoming its secretary and as- sistant superintendent. Under his direction the company prospered greatly and the Doe Run mines became one of the chief lead pro- ducing centers in this part of the state. Mr. Graves has found time from his connection with the lead industry to take an intelligent and active interest in public affairs. He served as postmaster at Doe Run from 1887 to 1891 and has been a consistent party worker though never a candidate for public oifice. Mr. Graves gathered one of the finest collections of minerals in the state, and it has been a feature of a number of great expositions in this country. Pirmin DesLoge, whose name is connected with the development of the mining district of Southeast Missouri, was born at Potosi in Washington county. His father was a na- tive of Nantes, France, who came to Potosi while a young man and engaged in a mercan- tile and lead-mining business. Pirmin Des- Loge was educated at Potosi and at St. Louis University, and began his business career as