In the books' own words, not ours, with obvious scanning errors fixed. The later printing (1911) is folded below the first. Families often supplied these stories to the publisher, so check key dates.
From General history of Shelby County, Missouri (1911), History of Monroe and Shelby counties, Missouri (1884)
JOHN MILTON McCULLY, M. D.
(Of Downing & McCully, Editors and Proprietors of the Shelbiua Index).
Dr McCully retired from the practice of medicine in 1882, on account of failing health, having previously occupied the position lor nearly 10 years of one of the leading physicians ot Macon county if indeed not the leading one, for his practice was perhaps larger than that of any other y)hjsician in the county. He is a native Missourian, born and reared in this Ssate, and is a man of superior education and culture. On the ist of March, 1884, he bought a half interest in the Index at Shell)ina and has since been identified with this paper as an associate editor and proprietor with Mr. N. H. Downing. Dr. McCully is a man of extensive, general information, commendable public spirit, and an easy, graceful, pungent writer. He has contributed very materially to the success of the Index, and to the high standing it is rapidly attaining as an able, prosperous and influential country journal. Dr. McCully was born in Randolph county, May 8, 1851. The McCully family were early settlers in Missouri. His grandfather, John McCully, came here with his (the hitter's) father's family as early as 1828 and located in Howard county. John Mc- Cully subsequently settled in Randolph county and there his son William, afterwards the father of the Doctor, grew to manhood and was married to Miss Frances Yates, daughter of John M. Yates, who was a lineal descendant of Sir George Yates. In the spring of 1860 William McCully and family removed to Shelby county, settling near Cherry Box, where he still resides, a prosperous farmer and respected citizen. Dr. McCully was reared on a farm and educated at Mt. Pleasant College, taking a course of four years and graduating with distinction in the class of 1871. He was assistant professor of mathematics during the last year preceding his graduation. He then studied medicine under Dr. L. Turner and took a regular course of two terms at the St. Louis Medical College, from which he graduated in the spring of 1873. He at once located at Sue City, in Macon county, and practiced there with eminent success for about eight years, working so hard, indeed, that it broke down his health, so that he was compelled to retire from the practice. He then came to Shelbina and engaged in the drug business. In 1884 he left that to enter journalism in partnership with Mr. Downing. September 25, 1883, he was married to Miss Alice Rawliiigs, a daughter of Capt. William H. Rawlings, deceased, late of Shelby ville. The Doctor and Mrs. McCully have had three children: Charles H., named for Gov. Hardin, being born the day the latter was inaugurated governor of the State, but who died at the age of 15 months, Aubrey and Glessie. Mrs. McCully is a member of the M. E. Church South, and the Doctor is a prominent member of the I. O. O. F.
HON. JOHN H. McKEE
(Farmer and stock-raiser, Post-office, Shelbina).
One of the leading men of Shelby county among those who may still be termed new-comers (although he has been a resident of the county for over 10 years), is the subject of the present sketch. Mr. McKee's life has thus far been one of marked activity and rather varied experiences, a life somewhat prominent in affairs heretofore and always one reflecting credit on himself and honor upon the various positions he has held. He is a native of West Virginia, and was the adopted son of his uncle by marriage, John McKee, an early settler and afterwards a prominent citizen of Marion county, Mo,, originally from Pittburg,Pa. Mr. McKee's foster-parents removed to Missouri in 1834, settling in Marion county. The elder McKee (John H.'s foster-father), opened a large farm about a mile north of the present site of Reusselaer, where he resided for a number of years engaged in farming and stock-raising, one of the prosperous, well known and highly respected citizens of the county. In 1844, however, he removed to St. Louis, and after a residence in that city of about five years, went to California during the gold excitement, in 1849. He died at San Francisco 10 years afterwards. Mr. McKee's foster-mother was a sister to his natural mother, being, before her marriage, a Miss Sarah Bryson. She died in 1860. Mr. McKee was given excellent advantages as he grew up. After a preparatory course at the y)primary schools and intermediate institutions, he was matriculated at Washington College, in Penns3'vania, where he took an advanced course f studies. At Washington College he was a room-mate and classmate with James G. BUviue, now the Republican candidate for the Presidency. Between him and Mr. Blaine there is to this day the warmest relations of personal friendship, only such as can spring from early associations at school or college, in the class together, in sports or the play ground, at home in the same study-room, and in all the experiences of daily life at college. After quitting college Mr. McKee went to California, on account, mainly of failing health, resulting from hard study and close confinement. He was there when the Rebellion broke out, and having no impulse of public duty" but that of loyalty to the Constitution and the Union, he promptly offered himself as a volunteer under the Old Flag. Such were his education, standing and ability, that he was at once given a position as an aide on the staff of Gen. Shepley, with whom he served until well along in 1863. He then located at the city of New Orleans, in Louisiana, where he engaged in the brokerage business and merchandising. He remained at the Crescent City for over 10 years, and, upon the whole, was quite successful in his business affairs, but was not in the lines mentioned above continuously or exclusively. While he was in New Orleans, in the fall of 1866, "he was appointed United States marshall for the State of Louisiana, being an appointed of President Johnson. On coming to Missouri, in 1873, Mr. McKee settled on a large farm he owns in Shelby county, located about a mile west of Shelbina. Here he has since been engaged in farming and handling stock, and with excellent success. As the above facts show, Mr. McKee is a man of liberal education, large experience in the affairs of the world, much energy and enterprise, and is, indeed, one of the leading, progressive, public-spirited and liberal minded citizens of the county. During his residence in this county, however, he has avoided taking any part in pul)lic affairs, preferring rather to devote his entire time and attention to his private interests. Yet, as a man of character and ability, his influence, if he were disposed to exert it in public affiiirs, would not be without results. While a resident of California, and before enlisting in the army, Mr. McKee was a practicing lawyer in San Francisco, having been admitted to the bar by the Supreme Court of that State in 1855. Subsequent events, however, changed the course of his life, and since the war he has done little or nothing in the legal profession. In 1875 Mr. McKee was married to Miss Sarah Tabler, an estimable young lady of Shelby county a daughter of Elijah Tabler of Shelbina. They have two children, namely: Mary Woods, aged eight years and Saraii Ann, aged two years. Mr. McKee, as stated above, resides on his farm near Shelbina, which is a handsome place of 1,200 acres — hind entered by his foster-father in 1835. Mr. McKee was born at Wheeling, W. Va., June l(j, 1829, and was the son of Col. Thomas Woods and wife, nee Miss Mary Bryson, his father a native of Ohio county, Va., but his mother of Pittsburg, Pa. His father was a prominent banker of West Virginia, president of the North- Western Bank of Wheeling. He died when John H. was quite young, after which the latter was taken by his uncle, John McKee, to rear and was adopted by him by act of the Legislature of Pennsylvania, in 1833. Mr. McKee's grandfather was a civil engineer by profession, a friend and associate of Washington, and a collaborator with him in the work of surveying West Virginia, long prior to the Revolutionary War. It is thus that the Woods family became settled in that part of the State. His grandfather's name was Archibald Woods, and he was born and reared in Rockbridge county, Va.
As printed in History of Monroe and Shelby counties, Missouri (1884). See the original pages. Wording is the original; obvious scanning errors have been corrected, and a few may remain.
JOHN M. McCULLY, M. D.
Dr. McCuUy, who is engaged in the successful practice of his profession at Clarence, is recognized as one of the able and representative physicians and surgeons of Shelby county, and in view of this fact he is well entitled to consideration in this compilation, which has to do with the history of the county and its people. He is a schon of one of the honored pioneer families of Missouri, where his grandfather, John McCully, a native of Tennessee, took up his above in an early day, becoming one of the sterling pioneers of Randolph county, where he passed the residue of his life and where he followed agricultural pursuits.
Dr. MeCully was born in Randolph county, this state, on May 8, 1851, and is a son of William and Frances C. (Yates) McCully. William McCully was born in Randolph county, Missouri, on June 4, 1828, and was there reared and educated. He was identified with the great basic industry of agriculture throughout his entire active career and in this connection he so ordered his efforts as to gain a generous measure of success, becoming one of the substantial citizens of Shelby county, whither he removed from Randolph county in the year 1860 and where his death occurred in the year 1901. He left an estate whose valuation was conservatively placed at fully thirty thousand dollars, and at the time of his demise he was the owner of more than eight hundred acres of valuable land. He was pi'eminent and influential in public affairs in his community and for many years held the office of school director in his district. His fine old homestead, where his death occurred, is located in Taylor township] this county. In politics he was a zealous and efficient advocate of the principles and policies for which the Democratic party stands sponsor. He was a man of probity and honor and ever held the implicit confidence and esteem of those with whom he came in contact in the various relations of life. On March 28, 1850, he was united in mai-- riage to- Miss Frances C. Yates, who was born in Kentucky and reared in Randolph county, this state, and whose death occurred on April 1, 1891. She was a devoted member of the Cumberland Presbyterian church and was a woman whose gentle and gracious attributes of character endeared her to all who came within the sphere of her influence. Of this marriage seven children were born and of the number the subject of this review is the eldest. "William C. is a successful farmer of Shelby county, Sarah C. is the wife of James W. Collins, of Macon comity; Georgia E. is the wife of William E. Mc- Cully, of Macon, this state; Mary E. is the wife of John II. Hudson, of Cherry Box, Shelby county; Thomas M. is a successful physician and surgeon and is engaged in practice at Novelty, Knoxcounty, and Lucy V. is the wife of Charles H. Sterling, of Cherry Box. On November 21, 1893, William Mc-
Cully married Mrs. Mary E. Vandiver, who survives him.
Dr. John M. McCully passed his boyhood and youth on the home farm and was a lad of nine years at the time of the family removal to Shelby county, where he was reared to maturity and where he received his early scholastic training in the district schools of Taylor township. Thereafter he continued his academic studies in Mount Pleasant College, at Huntsville, this state, in which well ordered institution he completed the full four years' course and was graduated as a member of the class of 1871, with the degree of Bachelor of Arts. Soon afterward he began the study of medicine under the effective preceptorship of Dr. Luther Turner, of Cherry Box, this state, and in 1873, after the completion of the prescri])ed three years' course, he was graduated in the St. Louis Medical College, from which he received his well earned degree of Doctor of Medicine, and from which he came forth admirably equip]ied and fortified for the active work of his exacting profession. He initiated his professional practice at Sue City, Macon county, this slate, where he remained for a period of nine years, at the expiration of which, in 1882, he removed to Shelbina, Shelby county, where he devoted his attention to professional work for a short period, and then, in May, 1883, imrchasod the plant and business of the Shelbina Index, of which weekly paper he continued as editor and publisher for two years, being successful in the journalistic field. In 1885 he disposed of the paper and business and the ])publication of the same is now continued under the title of the
Slielbiua Torchlight. After retiring from the iiewsjaper field Dr. ]McCully engaged in the drug business in Shelbina, continuing this enterprise, together with the practice of his profession, for twelve years. He then sold his drug business and shortly afterward he effected, in 1896, the organization of the Shelby County Telephone Company, his interest in which he later sold to other citizens of Shelbina. During the six years of his active identification with the telephone business the doctor was president and general manager of the company which he thus organized and he developed its business along most effective and successful lines. He also has the distinction of having been a pioneer in the development of the independent telephone business in the United States.
In 1903 Dr. McCully removed to Clarence, where he established McCully 's pharmacy, which he has since conducted with ever-increasing success, while he still gives no little attention to the practice of his profession. He is identified with the Missouri State Medical Society and the Shelby County Medical Society, and is held in high esteem both as a physician and as a progressive and ])public spirited business man of unqualified civic loyalty and optimism. He is a stockholder in the Clarence Savings Bank, is a staunch Democrat in his political allegiance, is aililiated with the Independent Order of Odd Fellows. His wife is a member of the Southern M. E. church. He was president of the board of education at Shelbina for nine years and was largely instrumental in providing for the erection of the fine new school building in that place.
On September 18, 1873, Dr. Mc- Cully was united in marriage to Miss Martha Alice Kawlings, who was born in Tiger Fork, Shelby county, on October 11, 1851, and who is a daughter of the late William H. Rawlings, one of the representative citizens of this county. Dr. and Mrs. McCvdly became the parents of three children, of whom two are living, Aubrey M., who resides in Shelbina, and Glessner. Dr. and Mrs. McCully are prominent and popular in connection with the social activities of their home town and their attractive residence is a recognized center of gracious hospitality.
As printed in General history of Shelby County, Missouri (1911). See the original pages. Wording is the original; obvious scanning errors have been corrected, and a few may remain.
The printed record stops around 1911. We trace your line from there down to you, with every source cited.