Warren E. Comstock

 Warren Ennis Comstock (1859-1928) = Advertising Sales Rep. Poet. Born in Calhoun County, Michigan, on May 3 to Hattie (Ennis) and Nicoll H. Comstock, grandson of Congressman Rev. Dr. Oliver Cromwell Comstock, Sr. and nephew of American Baptist missionary to Burma , Rev. Grover S Comstock. 

Warren married Maria Wilson "Boxie" Chiles (1869-1955), daughter of William H. and Mary (Graves) Chiles of Lexington, MO. on 17 October 1888.  They had three lovely daughters, Gladys (b.1889-90), Catherine (b.1892) and Grace (b.1893) and they spent many happy hours in Lexington visiting their daughter's maternal grandparents.  

Near the end of the 19th century, Kansas City's Commercial Club (Chamber of Commerce) was inspired to create their own version of a New Orleans' Mardi Gras festival to bring people into Kansas City, so they invented the Priest of Pallas festival complete with a large parade with floats. Invitations were sent to all the socialites to attend a ball (it ran annually until about 1912).  Boxie wore a brown satin ballgown with a Persian waist, overlaid with blue velvet bands, pink carnations and diamonds to the 1896 Pallas Ball. 

Gladys, in October of 1912, married a Mr. Rollins Smith in her parent's home at 806 East 41st Street. The ceremony was performed by Rev. J. C. Armstrong of the Westport Baptist Church. Catherine, Gladys' sister, was her maid of honor and Mr. Henry Clay Chiles, Glady's uncle, was the best man. 

Warren wrote poetry during his leisure hours when he wasn't engaged in traveling for an advertising sales agency. In 1917, Mr. Comstock was elected as the President of the Quill Club of Kansas City and was a member of the Writer's Guild in Missouri.  

He took a trip to England and returning, he left Liverpool on the ship Cedric and arrived back in New York on 17 Oct 1927 almost a year before he passed away on 17th of September 1928 of cancer and was quietly buried in the Elmwood Cemetery in Kansas City. His tombstone carries the inscription "Missouri's Beloved Poet." 

Warren's Writings:

1. "The First Woman and Other Poems." By Warren E. Comstock, Bishop Press, Kansas City. 1907.
2. The days of long ago and Immortality (antithesis of "The Rubaiyat"), by Warren E. Comstock. Richard G. Badger, Boston, MA, 1908. Internet Archive.
3. Poem: "Evolution." By Warren E. Comstock. The Lexington Intelligencer. Lexington, MO. 13 Nov 1909. Chronicling America Newspapers. 
4. Various Poems. By Warren E. Comstock. Livezey Studio, Kansas City, Missouri, 1910. UMKC Library.
5. Poem: "Hail! and Farewell!" by Warren E. Comstock. 1910.
6. "Mother" By Warren E. Comstock. The Lexington Intelligencer. Lexington, MO. 24 Sept 1910. Chronicling America Newspapers. 
7. The days of long ago and immortality (antithesis of "The Rubaiyat"), by Warren E. Comstock. Foss Publishing Co, St. Joseph, MO. 1912.. UMKC Library.
8. Poem: "The Great Southwest." By Warren E. Comstock. 1912.
9. Poem: "Mental Hospitality." By Warren Comstock. The Detroit Times, Detroit, MI, 15 July 1916. Chronicling America Newspapers. 
10. Poem: "If". By Warren Comstock, President of the Kansas City Quill Club. 1917. 
11. Poem: "Made-In-Japan" Banquet. By Warren E. Comstock (Kansas City). The Daily Missourian, Columbia, MO. 30 May 1917. Chronicling America Newspapers. 
12. "Courage & Culture," "The Willow Tree, or A Legend of Old Japan." By Warren E. Comstock of Kansas City. 1920. 

Farewell forever to the past;

Regrets to leeward we must cast.

Live well the Present; ne'er despair;

Hail to the Future bright and fair. 

By Warren E. Comstock, 1910. 

More to Read:

1. His mother's family's genealogy = Genealogy of the Descendants of Lawrence and Cassandra Southwick of Salem, Mass.: the original emigrants, and the ancestors of the families who have since borne his name. By James Moore Caller (1813-1884), J. H. Coate & Co, Salem, MA, 1881. p. 278, 425. Internet Archive.
2. "Rev. Grover Smith Comstock." By Rev. Pharcellus Church, D.D. Brandon, VT. 
    American Missionary Memorial: including biographical and historical sketches. By Hamilton Wilcox Pierson. Harper & Brothers, New York. 1853. p. 149. Internet Archive.  
3. "Personalities." The Intelligencer. Lexington, MO. 13 October 1888. Chronicling America Newspapers. 
4. "The Priests of Pallas Shaped Kansas City's Spirit." by Diane Euston. Martin City and South KC Telegraph. Kansas City, Missouri.  1 July 2019. 
5. "Pallas' Tenth Annual Ball: Scene in the Ballroom." Kansas City Daily Journal. Kansas City, MO. 8 Oct 1896. Chronicling America Newspapers. 
6. Kansas City Journal, Kansas City, MO. 21 Feb 1897. Chronicling America Newspapers. 
7. "Was Like a Dream." and "Invitation List." Kansas City Journal. Kansas City, MO. 5 Oct 1899. Chronicling America Newspapers. 
8. Some Descendants of Samuel Comstock of Providence, R.I. who died about 1660. Edited by C. B. Comstock. The Knickerbocker Press, New York, 1905. p. 127-128, 190, 221. Internet Archive, HathiTrust. 
9. The Lexington Intelligencer, Lexington, MO. 8 July 1905. Chronicling America Newspapers. 
10. "A Clever Poet." The Lexington Intelligencer. Lexington, MO. 1 Feb 1908. Chronicling America Newspaper. 
11. "Local Briefs." The Lexington Intelligencer, Lexington, MO. 5 September 1908. Chronicling America Newspapers. 
12. The Annual American Catalog, 1900-1909. The University of Michigan, 1901. Vol. 6., p. 1908. Google Books. 
13. The Lexington Intelligencer. Lexington, MO. 8 Jan 1910. Chronicling America Newspapers. 
14. "Talk About Ads: Big Men in Business World at Leavenworth." The Topeka State Journal. Topeka, KS, 21 Feb 1912. Chronicling America Newspapers.  
15. "Smith-Comstock." The Lexington Intelligencer. Lexington, MO. 25 October 1912. Chronicling America Newspapers. 
16. The Daily Missourian. Columbia, MO. 14 May 1917. Chronicling America Newspapers. 
17. "MO. Writers Open Journalism Week." The Daily Missourian, Columbia, MO. 14 May 1917. Chronicling America Newspapers. 
18. "Journalism Week Notes." The Daily Missourian. Columbia, MO. 15 May 1917. Chronicling America Newspapers.  
19. "Missouri Ranks High in Literary Field: Active and Associate Members." The Daily Missourian, Columbia, MO. 18 May 1917. Chronicling America Newspapers. 
20. "Paddling" Impresses Visitor: Warren E. Comstock of Kansas City Tells of Journalism Week Incident. The Daily Missourian, Columbia, MO. 31 May 1917. Chronicling America Newspapers. 
21. "Echoes of Journalism Week: An Honor to Missouri." The Daily Missourian, Columbia, MO 21 June, 1917. Chronicling America Newspapers. 
22. "Journalism Week: Switzler Hall." Two Poems," Warren E. Comstock of Kansas City. 
23. The Evening Missourian, Columbia, MO. 3 May 1919. Chronicling America Newspapers. 
24. "Guild Opens Tenth Journalism Week." The Evening Missourian. Columbia, MO. 5 May 1919. Chronicling America Newspapers. 
25. "I. D. Mullinax First on Week's Program." The Evening Missourian, Columbia, MO. 3 May 1920. Chronicling America Newspapers. 
26. "Script-Crafters Please." The Evening Missourian. Columbia, MO. 4 May 1920. Chronicling America Newspapers. 
27. "Will Hear Missouri Writers on Monday." The Evening Missourian. Columbia, MO. 1 May 1920. Chronicling America Newspapers. 
28. USA Census Records
29. Missouri Death Certificate #30591 and Marie's Missouri Death Certificate #4700. 

Places to Visit:
Elmwood Cemetery, Kansas City, Missouri. 

XXVIII

We'll dwell throughout Eternity, and Wait

For other Pilgrims who have traveled Straight

The Narrow Path that leads to Heaven's Gate. 

By Warren E. Comstock, Immortality (Antithesis of "The Rubaiyat")

Dr. John S. Sappington

Dr. John S. Sappington (1776-1856) = Author. Doctor. Store-keeper. Best known for creating a quinine pill to treat malaria.
He was born to Dr. Mark and Rebecca Sappington in Maryland on 15 May 1776. He was the third of seven children.
When John was nine, his family moved from Maryland. His father trained he and his brothers as physicians. Out on the frontier, they were in high demand.

In 1804, he married Jane Breathitt. The couple had nine children together, seven girls and two boys.  The future 15th Governor of Missouri, Claiborne Fox Jackson (1806-1862), married three of their girls, Jane (1831; she died of the "ague" or malarial fever),  Louisa (1833), and Elizabeth (1838). 

In 1819, upon the advice of Thomas Hart Benton, a future US Senator, Sappington moved to Saline County, Missouri.
He established two stores, one at present day Napton and another at Arrow Rock. Once financially successful, Sappington experimented with the bark of a South American tree to create a chemical called quinine.  Malaria, scarlet fever, yellow fever, and influenza, diseases carried by mosquitoes, were pestilential along creeks and rivers. He wanted to use quinine to treat the fevers caused by these diseases, but eventually it was used to prevent the onset of malaria.
In 1844, Dr. Sappington wrote the first medical treatise west of the Mississippi River. It was called "Theory and Treatment of Fevers." Following a long illness, he died in 1856. An inscription over his grave reads: "A truly honest man is the noblest work of God. He lay like a warrior taking his rest."

Historical Note: George Caleb Bingham painted his and his wife's portraits in 1834. Click here and here to view.  

More to Read:

1. The Theory and Treatment of Fevers. By John Sappington. 1844. FREE Google e-book. 

2. Dr. John Sappington of Saline County, Missouri: 1776-1856. By Thomas B. Hall. Friends of Arrow Rock, 1975 

3.Claiborne Fox Jackson. By Christopher Phillips, University of Mo. Press, Columbia, MO; 2000.

4. "Historic Missourians," The State Historical Society of Missouri. 

5. "Dr. John Sappington."

6. Sappington's Papers
7. Panama Canal Online Exhibit; Clendening History of Medicine Library, University of Kansas Medical Center, 3901 Rainbow Boulevard, Kansas City, KS , 2015.
8. Findagrave #11994.

Note: Infectious malaria is not caused by a bacteria or a virus, but by a tiny worm parasite that enters your bloodstream via a mosquito bite! To prevent the spread of malaria, it is best to drain standing water where mosquitoes breed, to use fine metal mesh screens on your windows and doors to keep them out and/or tuck in mosquito netting over your bed when you sleep at night in warmer climates. Spray insecticide on your clothing to ward them off if you must be out at dusk, their prime feeding time. 

Places to Visit:

1. The Santa Fe Trail 

2. Napton, Missouri Supplemental Route E, SE Saline County

3. The Missouri River

4. Dr. John S. Sappington Museum, 108 High Street, Arrow Rock.

5. Son, William B. Sappington's home called Prairie Park, 3 mi. SW of Arrow Rock on  CR TT. National Register of Historic Sites. (please respect the privacy of homeowners).

6. The Miller-Bradford House, Arrow Rock

7. Sappington Cemetery State Historic Site

8. Visit Missouri Sappington Cemetery, Route AA, Nelson

Rose O'Neill

Rose O'Neill (1874-1944) = Self-taught Artist/Illustrator. Author. Free-Spirit. Poet. Best known for her Kewpie characters. Rose was born in Wilkes Barre, Pennsylvania in the summer of 1874 to "Meemie" Alice and William Patrick O'Neill as one child of seven. She attended a Catholic primary in Omaha, Nebraska and taught herself to draw by looking at illustrations in her father's books.

The Kewpies first appeared in 1909 as cartoon characters in the Christmas issue of Ladies' Home Journal and were regularly featured in other women's magazines for the next twenty-five years, however by 1912, German porcelain doll makers were creating dolls based on her Kewpie illustrations. She said  she wanted her Kewpies to teach people to be happy and kind.

She married twice, but chose not to become a mother of any chubby babies herself as she was supporting her large family with her work.  

Bonniebrook in the Missouri Ozarks (Taney County) was Rose's favorite home. At the height of her career, she purchased other homes in New York, Connecticut, and in Italy. Near the west side of Bonniebrook, a small brook gurgled its way downstream which was said to have inspired the name for her home. At the top of the house was Rose O'Neill's studio, filled with treasures from friends and family. Her unusual, but favorite mode of dress for the times  were blousy aprons or kimonos over a Greek style tunic. 

In the spring of 1944, Rose died of heart failure at the age of 69. She was buried near her family and Bonniebrook.

For Your Info: While I find Rose's Kewpies appealing, some of her other illustrations I find dark and disturbing.

More to Read:
1.) Rose O'Neill: An Autobiography. Edited by Miriam Formanek-Brunell.University of Missouri Press, Columbia, Mo; 1997.

2.) American Illustrator: Rose O'Neill. By J. L. Wilkerson. 2001

3.) Collecting Rose O'Neill's Kewpies. by David O'Neill and Janet O'Neill Sullivan. 2003.

4.) Historic Missourians

5.) Kewpies and Beyond: The World of Rose O'Neill. By Shelley Armitage. 1994.

6.) Rose O'Neill - The Girl Who Loved to Draw by Linda Brewster. 2009.

7.) Representative Women. By Lois Oldham Henrici. 1913.

8.) The Kewpie Primer. By Elizabeth V. Quinn. Illustrated by Rose O'Neill. Frederick A. Stokes Co, New York. 1916.

9.) Titans and Kewpies: The Life and Art of Rose O'Neill. By Ralph Alan McCanse.

10.) The Adventures of the Kewpies: A Coloring Book.  Saalfield Publishing Co, 1962.

11.) Missouri newspapers at Chronicling America

12.) Findagrave #21784408

Places to Visit:
1.) Branson's Kewpiesta in April.
2.) Drury University: The Rose O'Neill House, 900 North Benton Ave, Springfield
3.) Nelson-Atkins' Collections, 4525 Oak Street, Kansas City (2 pieces of Kewpie art)

4.) O'Neill Museum, 485 Rose O'Neill Road, Walnut Shade, Mo.

5.) Ralph Foster Museum, College of the Ozarks, 1 Cultural Court, Point Lookout (south of Branson)

"Do good deeds in a funny way. The world needs to laugh or 

at least smile more than it does."  

~ Rose O'Neill

Biography written by Dolores J. Rush. Updated: 2/5/2020

Thor Hagen

1955

Thor Hagen (1925-1982) = WWII Navy Vet. 1943-1946. Professional Wrestler. Founder of New Life Ministries for underprivileged children.

Born as Orion Clemence Heskin in Minneapolis, Hennepin County, Minnesota on 24 November to  Bertha M. (Sveen) and electrician, John S. Heskin. All his grandparents were born in Norway and emigrated to the United States before his parents were born. Life was rough growing up for Orion. By the time he was fourteen, his parents were divorced and he and his mother were living with his maternal grandmother. 

His military registration records described him as a white young man, but having a ruddy complexion with brown-eyes and hair. He stood at 5 ft. 11 in. and weighed 195 lbs. at the time of his Navy enlistment in Los Angeles, California. 

  

He married his wife, Lenore E. Hagg (1929-1985) in September of 1949 while living in California. 

He wrestled from 1952 until 1971, won 385 times and was a Central States Heavyweight Champion and a World Tag Team Champion several times. 

But none of his titles meant anything when God got hold of his heart and he began working with the Salvation Army, Young Life, Youth for Christ and founded New Life Ministries. He purchased  an old broken down, 3-story mansion in central Kansas City, Missouri and remodeled it so the young people in the area would have a nice place to hang out. 

Sadly, Thor died 14 December 1982 of cancer and was buried in the Leavenworth National Cemetery in Leavenworth, KS. 

More to Read: 

1.  Ancestry. com Records

2. Biographical Dictionary of Professional Wrestling, 2nd ed. By Harris M. Lentz III., p. 140. Google Books.  

3.  Daily Colonist News, (Victoria, B.C.), 17 Jun 1955. p. 9. Internet Archive

4. Facebook: Thor Hagen

5. Findagrave #367093

6. Focus on the Family with Dr. James C. Dobson, Pomona, CA.1997. Vol. 21-22, p. 48.

7. Memoirs of Oscar and Gladys O'Neal. Satanta, Kansas. Aft. 1977. p.28. Ancestry.
8. NWA Central States Heavyweight Championship

9. Online World of Wrestling

10. Professional Wrestling Historical Society

11. "KETV, Channel 7: Omaha's All-Star Wrestling."  Sponsor, (New York) 3 Oct 1959, p. 62. Internet Archive. 

12. Times-News (Twin Falls, Idaho), 26 Sep 1954, p.15  Internet Archive
13. Times-News (Twin Falls, Idaho), 15 Sep 1954, p. 13. Internet Archive

14. Times-News (Twin Falls, Idaho), 16 Nov 1954, p.19. Internet Archive
15. Times-News, (Twin Falls, Idaho), 24 Jan 1955. p. 8  Internet Archive. 

16. Times-News, (Twin Falls, Idaho), 25 Jan 1955. p. 8. Internet Archive
17. Times-News, (Twin Falls, Idaho),14 Feb 1955, p. 7. Internet Archive

18. Wrestling Classics Message Board

19. Wrestling Data

20. Wrestling Legends

1954

Written by Dolores J. Rush, updated 3/19/2021. 

Albert E Brumley

Albert Edward Brumley, Sr. (1905-1977) = Singing School Teacher. Gospel songwriter. Best known for " I Can Hear Them Singing Over There (1927);" "I'll Fly Away (1932);" "If We Never Meet Again (1945);" "They Have a Good Time on Sunday (1951);" and "Turn Your Radio On (1938)." Best guesstimates are that he wrote between 600 to 800 songs in his lifetime.

Albert was born near Spiro, Oklahoma to Sarah Isabelle (Williams) and William S. Brumley. He, the middle child of three, grew up in the cotton fields and on the family farm - hoeing, picking cotton, and chopping down the spent plants. It was hard work, but music made life bearable - his father played the fiddle,  his older brother played the guitar and he learned to play an instrument too. After completing the tenth grade, between 1926 and 1931, he studied at Eugene Monroe Bartlett's (1884-1941) Hartford Musical Institute in Hartford, Arkansas. 
He married Goldie Edith Schell (1912-1988) in 1931 and together they raised six children - five bouncing boys and one sweet girl. It is said that Mrs. Goldie was a good encourager and wife for Mr. Albert. He was like Fred MacMurray in the movie "The Absent-Minded Professor" when he was in the zone, writing and creating and Goldie kept him on track.
In 1970, Brumley was inducted into the Nashville, Tennessee Songwriters Hall of Fame. He would go on to be  inducted into seven more Halls of Fame such as the Gospel Music Hall of Fame and the Oklahoma Music Hall of Fame.
Albert was a member of the Fox Church of Christ and was buried in the church cemetery after he passed into glory on the 15th of November 1977. Goldie graduated from earth to heaven ten years later. His work lives on. 

More to Read:

1. "Albert E. Brumley, A Living Legend." By Gene Gideon. Albert E. Brumley's All-Day Singin' and Dinner on the Ground. Camdenton, Mo; 1972. Repository: Author's Home Library.
2. Albert E. Brumley's Songs of the Pioneers. Pioneer Song Book, Camdenton, MO.; 1970. Repository: Author's Home Library.
3. Albert Edward Brumley (1905-1977) Biography

4. A photo of his Powell, Missouri Home 

5. Brumley Music Company

6. Arkansas Historical Encyclopedia Biography

7. Sing Me Back Home: Southern Roots and Country Music by Bill C. Malone. 2017. Ch. 7.  Google Books. 

8. "The Gentle Genius." Listening to the Jar Flies: Growing Up in Wheaton and Rocky Comfort. By Jimmy R. Lewis. 2015. Ch. 28. Google Books. 

9. Findagrave #5659883

Quote: "I may be a little old-fashioned, but my Savior was old-fashioned too." ~ Albert Brumley

Places to Visit: 

1. Powell, McDonald County, Missouri

2. Albert E. Brumley Parkway (a 13 mile strip between MO Highway E and MO Highway 76; between Rocky Comfort, Mo to  Pea Ridge, AR. It was dedicated in 1987)

3. Powell Bridge across Big Sugar Creek (This one lane bridge was built in 1915, is on the National Register of Historic Places and is only open to foot traffic.)

4. Brumley Gospel Sing, Cowan Civic Center, 500 E. Elm St, Lebanon

Homeschool Educator Helps:
Albert's favorite books were a rhyming dictionary and a thesaurus. He also carried a pen and paper with him wherever he went.