Person:William McDaniel (18)

Bought land March and August of 1860 in Greene Co.

Bio in "History of Greene Co." St. Louis Western Historical Co., 1883: WILLIAM JASPER McDANIEL (DECEASED). Mr. McDaniel was the son of Samuel A. and Sarah (Bray) McDaniel, and was born May 12th, 1832, in North Carolina. When he was about twelve years of age his parents came to Missouri and settled in Christian county. At the age of twenty-one Jasper came to Springfield and accepted a clerkship in the store of Maj. McElhany at eight dollars per month. He was married in this county November 11, 1863, to Miss Emma Evans, a native of North Carolina. Three sons and two daughters bless the union. Mrs. McDaniel is a member of the M. E. church south. Wm. J. McDaniel's father was a native of North Carolina also, and died in April, 1876. His mother died in March, 1865. They had a family of three sons and four daughters, the oldest son, Alfred, was killed by bushwhackers near Ozark, Missouri. Jasper was the sixth child, and at his father's death received a handsome patrimony, and being one of the most careful, far-seeing business men of the county, he had already accumulated a fine estate, to which was added his portion of his father's property, and made him one of the wealthiest men of the city. He was enterprising and progressive, many of' the best buildings in Springfield being built by his money and judgment. He died in the spring of 1883. [785]

A story found at the State Historical Society of Missouri (no author listed, published in th McDaniel Family Newsletter Feb. 1984) includes the following:

“When he was twenty-one years of age, in 1853, [William Jasper] left the Christian County farm to come to Springfield and enter business. He became a clerk in a store of McElhany and Jaggard....

“Shortly after the Civil War ended, William Jasper McDaniel with a group of associates organized a banking company known as Vaughn and Company, Bankers.... This was succeeded by teh Greene County bank, which soon became the Greene County National Bank, the first national bank in soutwest Missouri....

“William Jasper McDaniel was presentied of the Greene County National Bank for a number of years. The institution was strong enough that it weather the hard panic of 1873, which ruined many banks and many communities....”

In the 1870s, William Jasper was among the businessment who helped bring the first railroad to Springfield.

1860 Greene Co, MO: W J McDaniels 28 NC merchant in household of R.J. McNary. (Campbell Twp, Springfield, p. 165, 8/9/1860) 1880 Greene Co, MO: W.J. Mc Daniel 49 NC Capetalist, Emma E. 42 NC, George 15 MO, Horace R. 11, Lizzie P. 8, Wm. J. 5, Emma E. 2, Ida (niece) 17, Charles P. (nephew) 20. (4th Ward, Springfield, p. 247B)