Finally all arrangements having been made for our removal to West Plains we were surprised the evening before we expected to leave Hermitage when Inez informed us of her intention to marry Harry Pitts, only son of Mr. and Mrs. William L. Pitts of Hermitage. With our consent they were married June 24, 1913, at the residence of Rev. John P. Ferguson, the officiating clergyman. We spent the night before our departure at the home of our son, Joe, and family, and the next morning bidding our Hermitage friends and relatives farewell, accompanied by all of our daughters except Inez, as she and her husband had decided to make their home with his parents temporarily, we departed for our prospective home in West Plains, arriving there the 25th of June, 1913 and the next day we occupied a small rented house, our household goods including our furniture had been shipped in a car with the property of Dr. W. S. Woodford of Weableau, who had located, together with Dr. Ballinger, an optometrist there, and our goods were there on our arrival at our destination. In a few days however, I bought a ten room dwelling house which although it needed repainting was very comfortable, and we were soon domiciled in our new purchase and were again in our own home.

Assisted by Mary, Bernice and Irene, I began to make a new set of abstract books. We did our work by making abridged copies of the deed records beginning with the first record, and using a separate book with corresponding letter or number of the respective records. We were very kindly given permission to do our work in the Recorder’s Office in the courthouse by the general recorder of deeds, Mr. Samuel R. Laswell. We were assisted in many ways by Mr. Laswell and his very efficient and accommodating deputy, Mr. Bowman Livingston, during the time we were at work in the recorders office in West Plains. While the other girls already named assisted me, our daughter Nelle, who was in rather poor health, remained at home and assisted her mother with the housework, which kept them busy every day. Soon after we commenced making the abstract books, I had our West Plains residence repainted. It had been painted when it was built several years before I bought it but the paint had worn or been washed off and it had a very unsightly appearance. I had it painted white, the front lawn which was brown and bare, seeded with grass and a cement front walk made. This improved the external appearance of the building and lot very much. The only objection we had to the place was that the location was too low compared with its surroundings.

Before we had been in West Plains many months my wife’s rheumatic affliction which had been giving her much pain and interfering considerably with the use of her lower limbs, became much worse, so that it became difficult for her to walk alone and with the hope of obtaining relief from this very painful and annoying physical condition, she took osteopathic treatment from Dr. Black, a lady osteopathist, and electrical treatment from Dr. William S. Woodford, who had x-ray electrical equipment, and also medical treatment from Dr. Gum. But she received very little benefit except partial temporary relief from pain, from the various treatments, and her abilty to walk, unaided, constantly decreased.

The work on our abstract books progressed very well. We were all working constantly and having become familiar with copying transfers of land from the deed records to our corresponding abstract books, in the course of two years it became apparent that in the near future our job would be completed and would be ready for business. Realizing however, that to make the business profitable, some other kind of business which would be revenue producing would be a great help in establishing a paying concern, I bought the insurance business of Attorney J. L. Bess, who represented more than a dozen standard fire insurance companies. This purchase was made about the first of January, 1915, and as recorder Laswell’s term of office would expire then, I employed his very efficient deputy, Mr. Bowmen Livingston to assist me with the insurance business. Then with greater energy we pushed the work on the abstract books, and finished copying the current deed records about midsummer of the year, and we began to make abstracts, using our abstract books. But in doing so we carefully compared every transfer on the land of which we made an abstract of title with the deed records to see that no errors had been made in our work. In every instance we found our abstract books were absolutely correct and dependable. I had kept a careful check and comparison with the records as we did the work and felt sure that few mistakes were in them.

We were soon doing a very good abstract business and under the careful management of Mr. Livingston our insurance department did very well. We had a fairly good office, though in order to get a building with a fire proof vault for our abstract books and insurance records we had to take a place on an alley but not far from the public square and it was adjoining the office of Judge Hayden, one of the leading attorneys of West Plains. Had other conditions been satisfactory our prospect for establishing a prosperous and profitable business was very favorable. But we were worried about my wife’s failing health. It continued to grow worse, largely we became satisfied because of the climate of that section of Missouri was so exceedingly damp and very detrimental our physician informed us to persons afflicted with a rheumatic malady. I am sure his opinion of the effect of a humid climate upon rheumatic patients is correct, and that a high dry country is beneficial to such patients.

Therefore, notwithstanding that we were beginning to do well financially with a flattering future prospect for business, I determined that we now had our books completed up to date and our business well enough established to dispose of it to a fairly good advantage that I would do so at the first favorable opportunity. To that end, I exchanged the insurance business for a large two story frame residence owned by Judge George Halstead, another insurance agent of West Plains, and then I exchanged the abstract books for some real estate owned by Attorney Joseph Van Wormer of West Plains, located in Colorado, which real estate I exchanged for a fruit farm owned by Mr. J. M. Johnson, and situated near Gentry, Benton County, Arkansas.

We believed after consulting some of our acquaintances in West Plains who were well acquainted with the section of Arkansas in which the farm of which we became possessed was located and who recommended the climate, the altitude being higher than that in West Plains, so we decided to remove to our Arkansas fruit farm. But we were loath to leave West Plains. We had become acquainted with many good friends in the little city. We had attended the First Methodist Episcopal Church there regularly since coming to West Plains, and my wife and I and our daughters had put our membership in the church by letter having been members of the Methodist Church in Hermitage before leaving there. We liked the minister of our church, Rev. Schaeffer, very much. He was an able preacher and a very fine singer. There was an association in the city, the Christian Brotherhood, to which I belonged and often attended. I also visited the West Plains Masonic Lodge occasionally.

Since we had been in Howell County, our daughter Inez, who lived with her husband on their farm near Hermitage, visited us several times, and generally stayed with us two or three weeks. My wife’s brother Eugene T. Lindsey of Springfield also visited us several days the last year we lived in West Plains. Being among strangers we felt very lonely and greatly enjoyed the visits of our daughter and brother Eugene and also the several visits of our son Joe, his wife and little daughter. The last visit they made us there was shortly before we removed to our farm in Arkansas, while they were there on that visit, Joe and I went by train to Gentry, Arkansas and attended to some business pertaining to our deal with Mr. Johnson for the farm. After we returned from Arkansas we started in a day or two by train on our journey to our Arkansas home and Joe and his family accompanied us on our trip as far as Springfield.

Although when we went to West Plains we were entirely among strangers, except Drs. Woodford and Ballinger who had formerly lived in Hickory County, but had moved to West Plains about the time we did, we had made a number of good friends there, one of whom Mrs. Carter is deserving of special mention. She and her family consisting of her husband, a merchant, and three children, Jamie, Virginia and Mary Louise, lived just across the street from our house and she often visited us and frequently took Josie for a ride in their buggy. She was a good woman and was very kind to our family. When we were ready to leave on our trip to Arkansas, she took Josie by buggy to the station. We regretted very much to hear of her death after we left West Plains. Other neighbor women who kindly visited us while there were Mrs. Smith, a club footed woman, Mrs. Springer, wife of our grocery man, Mrs. Thompson, and Miss Hattie Howard. We were very sorry to hear while we lived in Arkansas that Miss Howard got killed in an accident, where she was living in Kansas.

I became acquainted with a number of men in a business capacity in West Plains, among whom in addition to those I have already mentioned were Judge Henry D. Green; Judge Springer; collector David Little; circuit clerk Lawhead; banker R. S. Hogan; Arch Hollenbeck, editor of the Journal; Will H. Zorn, editor of the Gazette; Mills Williams and daughters of the Daily Quill; M. E. Morrow, Will. H. D. Green and J. N. Burrough, lawyers; and Messrs. Langston, Peas and Whitman, merchants and several others whose names I cannot recall just now. The members of the press and the bar treated us very courteously and all of the business men with whom we had dealings were very accommodating in the transaction of business with us.

Our daughters were very busy while we were in West Plains, rarely attended public gatherings except church services, were not participants in social functions, and formed few acquaintances aside from those made in business activities. Among the few visiting them socially, were Mr. and Mrs. John Moore, who were very kind and visited them frequently.

After our family and Joe and his wife and daughter Helen arrived at Springfield as already stated, Joe and family went on to their home in Hermitage. We spent the night in Springfield, and the next day Mary and Bernice and I continued our trip to Gentry, Arkansas, while my wife, Nelle and Irene remained in Springfield, where my wife took some treatments of Dr. Fenter and wife, both of whom were chiropractors. The treatments consisted of what they term adjustments of the spine. We could not tell that the treatments were any benefit to her.

Copyright ©2005 Larry Slavens. All rights reserved.