Archie Talcott Hollenbeck of Missouri

From "MISSOURI, THE CENTER STATE" - Missouri State Historical Library:

ARCHIE TALCOTT HOLLENBECK.

Archie Talcott Hollenbeck is postmaster of Westplains, editor of the Westplains Journal, president of the journal Publishing Company and one of the most progressive, energetic and popular citizens of that city. He was born at Pacific, Missouri, September 30, 1868, a son of Dr. Archie Gillis and Amelia (Talcott) Hollenbeck. This branch of the Hollenbeck family was founded in the United States by Alexander Hollenbeck, a native of Scotland, who became a resident of Franklin County, New York, about 1830. He was a farmer by occupation and was very successful in his operations.

His son, Dr. Archie Gillis Hollenbeck, was born in Franklin County, New York, in 1839 and was reared upon his father's farm. He was educated in. northern New York and was graduated in Medicine, but upon Lincoln's call for volunteers he put aside personal considerations and raised a company of soldiers, composed largely of French Canadians, and known as Company H, Ninety-eighth New York Volunteer Infantry. He was elected first lieutenant and was later brevetted captain. He served throughout the war and was for a time adjutant of his regiment and also surgeon, his medical knowledge enabling him to alleviate much suffering. At the conclusion of his service, in the army he located for practice at Monmouth, Illinois, and was also engaged in mercantile business there with his father-in-law, Daniel Talcott. He removed to Pacific, Missouri, in 1868, and to Buffalo, Dallas County, in 1870. He resided in the last named place until 1883 and served as county recorder and as school commissioner. In 1880 he was a delegate to the republican national convention at Chicago and was one of the immortal "three hundred and six"- who persisted in their support of Grant, under whom he had served. From 1883 to 1886 he engaged in practice and was also in the retail drug business at Springfield. In the last named year he located at Willow Springs, Howell County, where he practiced his profession until his death, which occurred in 1901. He was one of, the widely known and successful general practitioners of the Ozarks and throughout his life remained a constant student of the profession, taking several postgraduate courses and keeping abreast with the advance in medicine and surgery. At the time of his death he was surgeon for the Ozark division of the Frisco Railroad and was a member of a number of medical associations including tile National Association of Railway Surgeons, the American Medical Association and the Missouri State Radical Society. He was also on the pension examining board. Fraternally he was a Knight Templar Mason and had for many years been a member of the craft, entering the order at Monmouth, Illinois,, in 1867. He belonged to Ararat Shrine of Kansas City and was one of the organizers of Ingomar Lodge, A. F. & A. M., at Willow Springs. He wore the bronze button of the Grand Army of the Republic and through his association with that organization kept in touch with the other veterans of the war. He was a man of large stature, the Hollenbeck men being all six feet or over in height, and he was as large in spirit as in body. He was known for his good cheer and numbered his friends by his acquaintances. He was generous to a fault and his charities were many and varied, while he manifested a fatherly interest in all young people. His life was one of wide usefulness and Howell C County benefited largely by. his residence within its borders. It was in 1865 that he married Miss Amelia Talcott, a daughter of Daniel Talcott, of Jefferson County, New York. She was a teacher of music and painting in Music Vale Seminary, Connecticut, and a woman of education and talent. She brought the first piano to Dallas county and taught music and painting in Springfield and Willow Springs. She retains unimpaired her ability as an artist and in 1913 painted nineteen subjects. She is also widely read and well posted as to present day happenings and is also a writer on astronomical subjects. She is the mother of the following children who survive the father: Franklin O. V., a lumber dealer of Onalaska, Texas; Archie Talcott, of this review; Clara Del, the wife of John J. Campbell, a conductor on the Current River division of the Frisco Railroad and a resident of Willow Springs; and Lucy M., the wife of John O. Carter, deputy clerk of Howell County and a resident of Westplains. Mrs. Hollenbeck resides with her daughter, Mrs. Campbell.

Archie T. Hollenbeck was educated in the public schools of Buffalo and Springfield, Missouri, and in 1886 entered the employ of the South Missouri Land Company at Willow Springs. In 1889 he went to Colorado for his health and remained in that state for a year, returning to Missouri in 1890. In 1891 he became a member of the firm of Whitlock & Hollenbeck, of Springfield, real estate insurance and advertising agents. They were the first to employ street cars for advertising purposes in that city and were thoroughly modern and up-to-date in all their methods. In 1893 he was elected assistant cashier of the Citizens Bank of Willow Springs and in 1894 was elected recorder of Howell County on the republican ticket at which time he became a citizen of Westplains, and was later reelected to that office. In 1902 President Roosevelt appointed him postmaster of that place and in 1907 reappointed him to that position, President Taft continuing him in the office in 1911. He proved a capable official and made a fine record both as recorder and as postmaster. In 1911 he became associated with the Journal Publishing Company, publishers of the Westplains Journal, of which he is the president. This paper was established in 1870 and is the oldest in the County. Mr. Hollenbeck has since edited the same and has developed into a strong, forceful writer, known favorably for his trenchant and timely editorials. His paper has become an influence to be reckoned with in the county and he has proved a successful journalist.

Mr. Hollenbeck was married in November, I892, to Miss Geneva Hanon, a daughter of Joseph and Mary Hanon, of Willow Springs. She was born in Illinois but was reared in Kansas and for a number of years taught school in Howell County, Missouri. She is past matron in the Eastern Star and one of the social leaders of Westplains. By her marriage she has become the mother of two daughters, as follows: Gladys M., who was born in 1894, received her elementary and secondary education in the Westplains schools and then attended Belmont College at Nashville, Tennessee. She is a talented violinist and leader of the Westplains Ladies Orchestra. Dorys C. was born in 1895 and after graduating from the Westplains schools also became a student of Belmont College and later the School of journalism at the Oklahoma University. She is also a musician of talent, playing both the piano and pipe organ. She has likewise taught in the public schools.

Mr. Hollenbeck has taken a great interest in military affairs and while he was a resident of Springfield was first lieutenant in Company F, Second Regiment, N. G. M., and in 1900 after his removal to Westplains he organized Company K, Second Regiment, N. G. M., and served as captain thereof for five years. The company was made up of the leading men of Westplains and it had an unusual number of very tall men as twenty-two were six feet or over. During his service as captain, in which time one hundred and fifty men were enrolled, there was not a death in the company. He has been active in republican affairs and was a member of the executive committee of the state committee in 1906 besides having served as delegate to a number of state and congressional conventions. He was one of the most active factors in the organization of the Westplains Commercial Club and in 1912 was president of the Ozark Commercial Congress, an organization made up of commercial clubs from thirty-two counties of the Ozarks. He is quite prominent in local Masonic circles and is past commander of Westplains Commandery, No. 48, K. T., and formerly district deputy grand master. He is a member of Abou ben Adhem Shrine at Springfield and is past patron of the Eastern Star. His religious belief is that of the Presbyterian church and he is active in the work of that organization being superintendent of the Sunday school. Mr. and Mrs. Hollenbeck are noted for their hospitality and their friends are legion. He is recognized as a man who has done as much as any other one person to advance the welfare of Westplains and can always be counted upon to subordinate private interests to the good of the town and county.



From "MISSOURI Biographies" at Missouri State Historical Library:

ARCHIE TALCOTT HOLLENBECK is president of the West Plains Journal Company, publishers of two newspapers of Howell County. Howell County is part of the wonderful Ozark section of southern Missouri, and it is doubtful if anyone during the present century has worked more consistently and enthusiastically to make this region better known and more properly appreciated by the world at large. Mr. Hollenbeck's career has many interesting chapters. He is himself an interesting man, and a brief sketch of his experiences and activities will be welcome reading to his many friends all over the state.

He was born at Pacific in Franklin County, a native Missourian, September 30, 1868. Both his parents were natives of New York State, and one of his great-grandfathers was born in Holland and another in Scotland. His father was Archie Gillis Hollenbeck, born August 5, 1839, and in 1865 married Amelia Lucy Ann Talcott, who was born June 2, 1843. His father was a hard working country physician who spent the greater part of his active career in southern Missouri.

Archie Talcott Hollenbeck was fifteen years old when the family moved to Springfield, and three years later his father went to Willow Springs, where he became physician for the South Missouri Land Company, a Boston corporation operating sawmills in this section. While attending a small village school and three terms of high school Mr. Hollenbeck had the usual assignment of chores, such as getting in wood, caring for horses and working in the garden, and these early years undoubtedly sharpened his powers of observation and he acquired habits and interests that have more or less persisted through his mature years. He was fond of reading history and particularly books on military affairs, enjoyed wild life, hunting and walking, and learned to know the birds and flowers of village and field. While at Willow Springs he had his first regular job, in a planing mill, being paid $1.05 a day for ten hours of work. Prior to that time he had some experience as a "devil" in a printing office, and as a means of making a little spending money he canvassed for calling cards, sold needles, and also trapped rabbits and birds. After a short time in the planing mill he was promoted to office boy, and at the end of three years was pronounced an expert accountant. Here he acquired a practical knowledge of land numbers and map making, and in 1891 he entered the real estate, loan and advertising business at Springfield. A year later he returned to Willow Springs as assistant cashier of the Citizens Bank. He was elected city collector, but resigned to become recorder of deeds for Howell County on January 1, 1895. Altogether he put in thirty-three years in public office. After eight years as county recorder he was appointed postmaster of West Plains on February 1, 1902, serving until February 1, 1915.

Meanwhile he bought an interest in the West Plains Journal, the oldest paper in Howell County. It was established in 1870. In 1911 he became its editor, and eventually became president of the company which publishes the Journal, the only Republican paper in Howell County, and also publishes, with a different political editor, the Howell County Gazette, which is the official organ of the Democratic party in this county.

Mr. Hollenbeck has been a Republican by conviction as well as by inheritance. His father, who had commanded a New York company in General Grant's army, was an enthusiastic follower of Grant's political fortunes after the war. He was a member of the famous Republican National Convention at Chicago in 1880 and was one of the "old guard" of 306 delegates who from beginning to end cast their ballots for General Grant in the effort to nominate him for a third term, four years after he had completed his second term in the presidency. The Hollenbeck family carefully preserves the bronze medal which General Grant in recognition of this persistent loyalty presented to each member of the "old guard." Mr. Arch Hollenbeek has served on city, county and state Republican committees. He has frequently taken issue with party leaders. He was a member of the League to Enforce Peace, headed by Secretary W. H. Taft, and opposed the Republican party's stand on World Court, and still believes that the eventual solution of some of the world's difficulties will be found in the equivalent of a World Court. He was an office holder under President Hoover, but sharply differed with Hoover's policy of leaving the enforcement of the national prohibition to the treasury department, which is a money raising rather than a law enforcing agency. Friends have described his political attitude as that of a "band wagon builder" and not that of a "band wagon jumper." Mr. Hollenbeck is credited with originating the saying that to be a successful politician one must be able to distinguish a band wagon from a hearse while it is coming instead of going. The Missouri press has frequently quoted from a column of sharp comments written by him in the West Plains Journal under the title "Random Remarks." In 1918 he was campaign manager for Colonel Jay L. Torrey, the Rough Rider commander in the Spanish-American War and father of the Torrey Bankruptcy Law, and who at that date was a candidate for the Republican nomination for United States senator from Missouri. In 1920 he was state manager for United States Senator Selden P. Spencer for reelection. On November 1, 1921, he was appointed registrar of the Federal Land Bank at St. Louis, but resigned to become director of penal institutions in Missouri on January 1, 1922. As director during the administration of Governor Hyde he had charge of the State Penitentiary at Jefferson City, the Boys Reformatory at Boonville, the Industrial School for White Girls at Chillicothe and that for colored girls at Tipton. October 1, 1923, he resigned as director of penal institutions to again become postmaster of West Plains, in which office he continued until May 1, 1934.

His military service was as first lieutenant of Company F, Second Regiment of Missouri National Guard at Springfield in 1892, and his application for active service as a volunteer was rejected both in 1898 and again in 1917. On October 1, 1899, he organized and became captain of Company K of the Second Regiment of the National Guard at West Plains, and through this nucleus so many officers were trained that when the World War broke out Howell County's quota was more than filled. It was one of only nineteen counties in the United States to escape the demand of the first World War draft, and General Pershing himself commented on that fact in a personal letter.

Mr. Hollenbeck organized the first Commercial Club in West Plains July 10, 1900, was its first secretary and has been president of the club. In 1915 he organized and was first president of the local Parent-Teacher Association. West Plains was the first city in Missouri to take advantage of the state law permitting the adoption of a commission form of city government. He and his paper were a chief influence in persuading local citizens to adopt the plan. In 1920 he was manager of the campaign at the end of which Howell County voted half a million dollars in road bonds, the constitutional limit for the county. He is a charter member of the Missouri State Chamber of Commerce and has been a director since its organization in 1922. For several years he was head of the county tuberculosis association. In 1940 he was head of the county Finnish relief and on the local Red Cross board. He has been a Mason since 1895, has been an officer in the lodge, Royal Arch Chapter and Knight Templar Commandery, has been district deputy grand master and lecturer and is a charter member of Abou Ben Adhem Temple of the Mystic Shrine. He and his family are members of the First Presbyterian Church, and he has been chairman of its board of trustees fifteen years and is a former superintendent of the Sunday school. Mr. Hollenbeck'is a true lover of the Ozark country, and has a practiced knowledge of its varied resources. He has made something of a hobby of transplanting wild flowers, trees and shrubs, has maintained a bird bath and feeding places, and gardening and floriculture are an important source of his recreation. It is said that he has worn a button-hole bouquet so long that he is ill at ease without one. Over the years he has made some private collections, including badges, stamps, Indian arrowheads and old guns.

At Willow Springs, November 1, 1892, he married Geneva Hanon, daughter of Joseph and Mary Hanon, of Willow Springs. They have two daughters, Gladys, now Mrs. Dean W. Davis; and Dorys, born at West Plains, who is Mrs. William N. Farley. Both graduated from the West Plains high school, attended the Ward-Belmont School at Nashville, Tennessee, and are graduates of the University of Oklahoma at Norman, Gladys in 1916 and Dorys in 1919. Both are members of the Alpha Chi Omega sorority and Mrs. Farley is a Theta Sigma Chi and Phi Beta Kappa. Mrs. Farley is a former president of the Missouri Business and Professional Women's Club and has been vice chairman of the Republican State Committee. Mr. Hollenbeck's mother was a teacher of music and art, and one of his daughters has conducted a music studio, while Miss Barbara Davis, a granddaughter, is a graduate of the music department of Northwestern University. A grandson, Dean Bill Davis, a graduate of Kemper Military School at Boonville, Missouri, is a cadet in the Missouri State University at Columbia, Missouri.



Obituary from Missouri Historical Review - April 1955:

A prominent civic leader, he was editor of the West Plains Journal for thirty-five years and publisher of the Howell County Gazette, the Houston Advocate, and the Willow Springs Advocate. A member of the Society.

From the Jefferson City Daily Tribune September 18, 1904

Resignations Accepted

Second Regiment - Captain Arch T. Hollenbeck, Company K

Democrat - Tribune
Jefferson City, Missouri
Monday, December 12, 1921

NEW PRISON CHAIRMAN

A. L. Hallenbeck of West Plains Appointed to Succeed Nelson

Governor Hyde today appointed Arch T. Hollenbeck of West Plains chairman of the state prison board, vice Col. A. T. Nelson, who resigned some weeks ago to accept charge of the state marketing bureau. Hollenbeck was formerly a candidate for Internal Revenue Collector for the western district of Missouri. He is quite well known over the state and has been prominent in Republican state politics since he managed the first campaign made by United States Senator Spencer. It is believed here that the appointment will prove a good one.

Daily Democrat
Jefferson City, Missouri
September 12, 1923

HOLLENBECK RESIGNS AS CHAIRMAN OF STATE PRISON BOARD

Has Been Appointed Postmaster at West Plains - Salary Not So Big but It Is Back Home.

Arch T. Hollenbeck, chairman of the State Prison Commission has tendered his resignation to Governor Hyde. Mr. Hollenbeck has just been appointed postmaster at West Plains, his old home, and while the salary is not so large as that connected with the prison position it is "back home" and as Mr. Hollenbeck put it, "that intrigues him mightily." There is nothing, like "home urge" to make a man sacrifice money for it.

Mr. and Mrs. Hollenbeck have made a host of friends in this city who will regret to see them leave the capital city.

Descendants of Alexander Hollenbeck

1 Alexander Hollenbeck Born: in Scotland
2 Archie Gillis Hollenbeck Born: August 05, 1839 in Franklin County, New York Died: 1901
+Amelia Talcott Born: June 02, 1843 Married: 1865
3 Archie Talcott Hollenbeck Born: September 30, 1868 in Pacific, Franklin County, Missouri Died: December 29, 1954
+Geneva Hanon Born: in Illinois Married: November 01, 1892 in Willow Springs, Missouri
4 Gladys M. Hollenbeck Born: 1894
+Dean W. Davis
4 Dorys C. Hollenbeck Born: 1895 in West Plains, Missouri
+William N. Farley

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