The first six

Title

The first six

Description

Christian County (Mo.) genealogical indexes

Subject

Genealogy, Family history, Christian County (Mo.)

Creator

Christian County Library

Publisher

Midwest Genealogy Center, Mid-Continent Public Library, Independence, Missouri

Date

2020-02

Contributor

Christian County Library

Rights

Rights Information

Format

text/PDF (Portable Document Format); 78 KB

Language

English

Type

Text

Identifier

ccm035

extracted text

THE FIRST SIX OR SEVEN
In January 2015, a story in the Christian County Headliner-News
featured “The Leading Ladies of Justice.” For the first time in Christian
County history, four women served county-wide in the judicial system:
Circuit Judge Laura Johnson, Prosecuting Attorney Amy Fite, Circuit Clerk
Barbie Barnett-Stilling, and Chief Juvenile Officer Terri Goodall. The fifth
office in this group, was held by a male, Sheriff Joey Kyle. Adding County
Clerk Kay Brown, County Auditor Lacy Hart, Recorder of Deeds Kelly Hall
and County Treasurer Karen Matthews gave 2015 the highest percentage
of women ever in county government, eight women serving in seventeen
county offices.
For most of the first 125 years of Christian County, no woman was
listed on the roster of county officials. When they did, a single female
name appeared among the men. When I came here in 1987, only seven
women had ever served in county-wide office in Christian County. Two
were appointed, Recorder Della (Park) Keltner 1912 – 1915 and
Prosecuting Attorney Mayte (Boylan) Hardie 1965 - 1967. Four were
elected, Treasurers Loma Schupbach 1925-1927, Belle Brown 1929-1937,
and Grace Anderson 1953-1955 and Public Administrator Bertha Hedgpeth
1937-1941. For a few weeks in the spring of 1933, Sarah Elizabeth “Sally”
(Tucker) Jones served as acting sheriff after husband, elected sheriff Frank
Jones was in an automobile accident. After his resulting death, a man, Joe
Monger, was appointed to the job, later being elected to a full term on his
own.
For most of this time, the lack of women on the list of officials did not
indicate a lack of women in the courthouse. Women often did secretarial,
filing, accounting, customer service and related duties. Rayo (Butler)
Howard 24 Feb 1911 - 29 Nov 2009 enjoyed talking about her work in the
1930’s as Deputy Circuit Clerk and Deputy County Clerk.
Let’s begin with the two who were appointed. In some ways, they
were the most unexpected. In 1910, 31 year old Charles Chris Keltner, son
of John A. and Margaret Jane (Morris) Keltner, was elected to a four year

term as Christian County Recorder of Deeds. He took office in January
1911. Fifteen months later, he was dead of tubercular meningitis and was
buried in Payne Cemetery. Eighteen year old at the time of his death wife
Della (Park) Keltner and mother of his infant son, Bernice Keltner served
the remainder of his term as Recorder. Della was a daughter of Samuel
Wilson and Florence M. (Plank) Park who lived near Highlandville. I am
guessing when I say that relatives, perhaps his grandparents, cared for her
baby when Della worked at the courthouse. Among the surprises here, this
was eight years before women were given the vote; even if women had
been allowed to vote, Della didn’t turn twenty-one until near the end of the
term and during her term her son went from about fifteen months old to age
four. In October 1916, after the election of the next county recorder, Della
married Elmer Waggoner with whom she had five more children. She was
widowed again in 1945. At her 1982 death, she was buried in the Ozark
Cemetery by her second husband. All six of her children survived her. Her
obituary does not mention her county service.
At the other end in time and in experience of the earliest women
serving in county offices was Mayte (Boylan) Hardie 26 May 1910 - 8
March 1989. Bill E. Davenport 11 Oct 1917 - 23 Aug 1998 was a school
teacher, coach and lawyer in Christian County. He married Sparta native
Romalda Abbott, and they are buried in Sparta Cemetery. In 1958 and
again in 1962, he was elected Prosecuting Attorney. In 1965, he accepted
a position as Acquisition Attorney for the Corps of Engineers, continuing
there until his retirement in 1990. Following his resignation, the governor
appointed to complete the term an eminent qualified candidate who was
nonetheless certainly atypical for Christian County office holders. She was
that rare breed, a Democrat in a Christian County office. Born and raised in
Manhattan in New York City, she appears there on the 1930 census with
her widowed mother Adelaide and a younger brother Joseph Boylan. In
1933, she graduated in only the third Columbia University Law School class
to accept, after years of resistance and hesitance for fear it would ‘lessen
the prestige and honor of the institution’, women. Later, she was a
Lieutenant in the U. S. Army. Her resume included several years at the U.
S. Department of Justice in Washington D. C. and three post-World War II

years in Tokyo Japan in the general headquarters of the Supreme
Commander of the Allied Powers and even submitting friend of the court
briefs before the Supreme Court. Perhaps because of her New York City
background, her hard-earned Ivy League education or her military or legal
careers, she was reputed to have not integrated well into Christian County
life and society. Sometime after her time at the courthouse ended with
William Anthony McConnell’s first election as Prosecuting Attorney, she
moved to Springfield where her husband, Robert S. Hardie, was an
economics professor at one of the universities. Robert had also served in
World War II. Both are buried in Springfield National Cemetery. My efforts
to find an obituary for either were unsuccessful. Residents during her term
recall that they had a son who attended Ozark High School.
I call this the first six or seven women in county office because it’s
hard to know whether to include Sarah Elizabeth "Sally" (Tucker) Jones 13
Jun 1866 - 10 Mar 1948, daughter of Andrew Jackson and Pauline
(Walker) Tucker. She was never elected nor officially appointed. In 1888,
the 22 year old Tennessee native had married 23 year old widower, Frank
Jones who had two young children. He was the son of Isaiah and Mary
Delilah (Moore) Jones and had married first Nan Estes. Frank and Sally
had five more children. In 1932, Frank Jones became the only Democrat
ever elected to the position of Sheriff in Christian County, taking the oath of
office in January 1933. Less than three months later, he suffered critical
head injuries in a wreck of the sheriff’s car on a curve between Nixa and
Ozark. Initially, he was unconscious and could not explain what happened.
Appearing to rally after a stay in the Ozark Sanitarium, he returned home
but could not remember details of the accident as his condition continued to
worsen and additional medical personel were called in on his case. No
witnesses came forward. Since then, several theories/legends have spread
about the accident. He may have been chasing fleeing lawbreakers who
neither stopped to help nor later told the story. He may have been
deliberately forced off the road for reasons that are purely speculative. He
may have encountered something in the road such as wildlife or lifestock
and attempted to avoid it. Something may have been done to make his
vehicle unsafe, or he was somehow made so sick or hurt as to be unable to

drive safely. Or, he may simply have fallen victim to the difficult stretch of
road as have so many others. No one knows. He died of his injuries May
25, 1933. In the well over a month between the accident and his death,
Mrs. Jones performed the duties of sheriff. The funeral was said to be one
of the largest ever in Christian County, and much acclaim to Mr. Jones was
printed in the Christian County Republican. Joe G. Monger was appointed
sheriff and was later elected to a full term on his own. Sally Jones never
remarried and at her death was buried in Payne Cemetery beside her
husband.
Now to the four women actually elected to Christian County office in
its first century.
A daughter of Samuel Henry and Mary M. (Carter) Hilton, Loma
(Hilton) Layton Schupbach 8 Aug 1896 – 6 Feb 1992 had graduated from
School of the Ozarks in Forsyth and Normal School in Springfield before
becoming Postmistress as Day, Missouri and teaching in rural schools in
Taney and Christian County. She married Ross Layton 14 May 1894 – 25
Sept 1922, son of John F. & Alabama (Sartin) Layton. Ross was severely
burned in a gasoline explosion at his store in Reeds Spring 22 September
1922. He was brought to the Wade Clinic in Ozark where he lingered for
three days before his death. Loma was left with one young daughter Hazel.
A second, Imogene, was born after her father’s death. Only four years after
women were given the vote, the 28-year old widow ran in November 1924
on the Republican ticket for Treasurer of Christian County. In January
1925, she took office as the first woman elected to county office in Christian
County. About a year later, she married Fred “Fritz” Schupbach 10 Feb
1895 - 6 Dec 1973. In time, they added two more daughters and three sons
to their family. After leaving office in 1929, she and her husband operated a
store in Highlandville. Ross was buried in Reeds Spring. Loma and Fritz
are buried in Schupbach Cemetery.
The experience with Loma may have convinced Christian County
voters that a woman could perform well as county treasurer. Immediately
following her was another woman.

Laura Belle (Grant) Brown 1 Oct 1885 - 28 Dec 1971 was born in
Iowa to Oscar & Anna P. (Bailey) Grant. She’s often shown just as Belle.
She was just a toddler when the family moved to Missouri. Her father, a
cousin of General and President U. S. Grant, ran a livery stable in Ozark for
more than thirty years. Belle married 8 May 1906 Robert A. Brown. One
record gives Robert’s birthdate as 1 April 1877. The couple is living with her
parents and their year old daughter Nelle on the 1910 census. His
occupation is listed as teamster. They later had a son Joe. On the 1920
census, Belle and the children are still listed with her parents and Belle’s
marital status is married, but Robert isn’t listed. In 1930, Belle’s marital
status is widow. My efforts to locate a cemetery, mortuary, obituary or
death certificate record for Robert were unsuccessful, leaving me with little
more information. In 1928 and again in 1932, Belle ran successful
campaigns and thus served as Christian County Treasurer 1929 to 1937.
She and her family were always proud of Mrs. Brown’s county service. She
was buried in Ozark Cemetery. Seventy two years after her mother’s time
in the court house ended, 100 year old Nelle Jeane (Brown) Gardner 8
March 1909 – 13 August 2012 came from her home in Kansas to help
celebrate the Christian County Sesquicentennial in the summer of 2009.
When Worth Caughron became county treasurer in 1937, it did not
mean the end of women in county government.
Bertha L. (DeBrunner) Hedgpeth 29 Aug 1874 - 24 Sep 1966 was the
daughter of Frederick L. and Mary F. (Werder) DeBrunner and wife of Dr.
Donald Franklin Hedgpeth. After a successful 1936 campaign, she was
elected Public Administrator on the Republican ticket. She served 1937 to
1941 administering estates and taking care of the affairs of individuals who
neither could handle it on their own nor had someone to do so. A Billings
native married to someone with Sparta area roots, their combined medical,
real estate and banking interests centered around the middle of Christian
County. She was a cashier for Ozark Bank from just a couple of years after
its 1906 founding until her 1949 retirement. Her son, John Frederick
Hedgpeth, daughter-in-law Chlorene (Blevins) Hedgpeth and
grandchildren, John Frederick “Fred” Hedgpeth II, Laura Haseltine and

Daniel Franklin Hedgpeth spent their entire working lives right to the
present in leadership of Ozark Bank.
More than a decade passed before another woman was elected to
county-wide office.
In 1952, Grace B. (Caughron) Anderson 16 Sep 1913 - 24 Jun 2010
sought and won the position of County Treasurer. The third woman to hold
the job, she was the daughter of another county treasurer and another of
those rare Democrats in the courthouse. Born in Boaz to Rev. James
Worth & Effie (Frazier) Caughron, she graduated from Clever High School
and attended Draughon’s Business College. She was employed by the
Federal Emergency Relief Administration and Farm Security
Administration. In1941, she married Charles Gratz Anderson 7 Mar 1906 –
4 Jun 1997. With her husband, she operated Anderson-Flood Hardware
and raised a daughter Jeanne and son Jim. She also operated the License
Bureau in Ozark. After retirement, she volunteered for more than six years
at St. John’s Hospital Auxiliary and Gift Shop. She was vice-chair of the
Christian County Democrat Central Committee; for fifteen years chair of the
Christian County Memorial Gift Fund of the American Cancer Society; was
on the board of the Christian County Public Welfare Board; and for more
than 60 years, she was a member of the Ozark Study Club and Eastern
Star. An active member of First Baptist Church, Ozark, for most of her life.
She joined Second Baptist, Springfield upon moving to Springfield in 1995.
She and Gratz are buried at Selmore Cemetery.
Many women have served Christian County in many capacities in the
past forty years. But these six – or seven – women were the first to be
counted as county officials, and their stories deserve to be told.