Goodspeed biographies file name T.txt contributed by Mary Collins USGENWEB ARCHIVES NOTICE: These electronic pages may NOT be reproduced in any format for profit or presentation by any other organization or persons. Persons or organizations desiring to use this material, must obtain the written consent of the contributor, or the legal representative of the submitter, and contact the listed USGenWeb archivist with proof of this consent. The submitter has given permission to the USGenWeb Archives to store the file permanently for free access. *************************************************************************** Subject: Goodspeed T - W MICHAEL D. TREECE, dealer in general merchandise is a native of Perry County, Tenn., born November 30, 1833. His paternal grandparents came from Germany, but his parents, Samuel B. and Sarah (Ketchersides) Treece were born in Bedford County, Tenn. Perry County became their home after marriage, until in 1835, when they moved to Alabama. They returned, however, after the war, and there spent the remainder of their lives. The father was a blacksmith by trade. Their religious home was the Methodist Episcopal Church South, and his fraternity spirit found expression in the Masonic order. He was a Democrat. Seven children were born to them, of whom Michael D. was the fourth. Young Treece gained enough of an education to do business after he had reached the age of nineteen years. Soon after this he began in a harness and shoe shop, where he spent the next fifteen years of his life. He had charge of a government shop for a time during the Civil War, and after some time in his trade in Alabama and Tennessee, he came to Poplar Bluff. He worked by the day for a short time, and purchased a small stock of goods, chiefly on borrowed capital, owning about $20 worth in a stock of $200. To this he added a repair shop, and his business has so increased and prospered that it now occupies a two-story block 26x52 feet. He is a Democrat, and has served both as justice of the peace and city alderman. In 1855 he married Mariah J. Holley, a native of Tuscaloosa County, Ala., and their union has resulted in three sons and two daughters. Mrs. Treece is a Baptist. Page 1090- 1091. B.F. TURNER, another successful farmer of Butler County, was born in Logan County, Ky., in 1828, and is the son of Willis and Sarah (King) Turner, natives of Fairfax County, Va., where they were reared and married. They afterward moved to Kentucky, thence to Illinois, and from there, in about 1856, to Butler County, Mo., where they both died about 1860. The father was a soldier in the War of 1812, and a farmer by occupation. B.F. Turner was the eighth of eleven children. He was educated in the common subscription schools and went with his parents to Massac County, Ill., but in 1857 came to Butler County, where he married in 1859. He has seven children. Mr. Turner has since lived in Butler County, one mile northwest of Poplar Bluff, and has 3,000 acres of land, also owning land in Kentucky. After serving one term as public administrator, he was elected sheriff in 1868 and served two terms of two years each. He subsequently filled the position, two terms, a few years afterward. He is now engaged in farming and stock raising, and his property is the result of his own labor and good management. Politically, a Republican, his first presidential vote was for J.C. Bell in 1860. Mr. Turner is a member of the Masonic fraternity, the I.O.O.F. and the K. of P. Page 1091. MILTON J. WYATT, druggist Poplar Bluff, was born in Gibson County, Tenn., April 4, 1848. He is the son of Alfred and Narcissa (Banks) Wyatt, both born, reared and married in North Carolina. They afterward moved to Tennessee, and in 1858 to Ripley County, Mo., where they are both living at the present time, the father engaged in agricultural pursuits. When Price made his raid through Missouri, Mr. Wyatt was caught up and taken along. He served a term as public administrator of Ripley County, and is a much respected citizen. Both he and wife are members of the Southern Methodist Church. Of the nine children born to their union, five are now living, one son and four daughters. Milton J. Wyatt was reared a farmer boy, and received a limited education, owing to the scarcity of schools at that time. He was about nineteen years of age when Price made his raid through Missouri, and was taken with his father. He began business for himself as a bar-tender, and some time after he kept a saloon of his own. Subsequently he turned his attention to farming and then to the timber business. In 1886 he engaged in the drug business, and after a partnership with O.P. Adams of short duration, he became sole proprietor. He came to Butler County, Mo. in 1886. In 1873 he married Miss Theressa Cook, a native of Illinois, and a member of the Methodist Episcopal Church. Mr. Wyatt is a member of the Masonic fraternity, is a Democrat in politics, and is a man who will succeed in any undertaking. Page 1091