Does anyone know what happened to the Little Wonder that Arthur built? It would indeed be an interesting thing to have passed down. Gordon On Mar 24, 2010, at 12:00 AM, mostfran-request@rootsweb.com wrote: > > > Today's Topics: > > 1. Obituary: William Glenwood Lees (B. Warner) > 2. Arthur Littleton, son of Thomas - Fredericktown - Mar 1891 > (MehdiFakhar@aol.com) > > > ---------------------------------------------------------------------- > > Message: 1 > Date: Tue, 23 Mar 2010 13:11:35 -0500 > From: "B. Warner" <bkwofc@i1.net> > Subject: [MOSTFRAN] Obituary: William Glenwood Lees > To: mostfran@rootsweb.com > Message-ID: <web-6316655@email.accessus.net> > Content-Type: text/plain;charset=iso-8859-1;format="flowed" > > Name: > Glenwood Lees > November 18th, 1916 - March 21st, 2010 > > Obituary: > William Glenwood Lees, of Farmington, passed away on > Sunday, March 21, 2010, at Missouri Baptist Medical > Center, at the age of 93 years. He was born on November > 18th, 1916, at Flat River, and was the youngest of six > children born to Samuel and Caroline Cheesebrough. He was > orphaned at age two when his mother died in the 1918 flu > epidemic and his father was killed shortly thereafter in a > mine cave in. He was adopted by Augustus and Effie Lees. > > Glenwood graduated from Flat River High School in 1934. > After high school, he got job with the Schramm Grocery > Company in Flat River. He diligently studied the grocery > business and found he had an aptitude for marketing and > sales. The Wetterau Grocery Company in Desloge repeatedly > offered him a position and he eventually began to work for > them. > > He married Mary Louise Meier on August 22nd, 1937 in the > Presbyterian Church of Flat River. They had a very happy > marriage and when she died in 2001, they had been married > for 64 years. They had two sons, Graham and Van Lees. > > In 1939, he made a deal to take over a little neighborhood > grocery store at Chestnut and Houser streets in Flat River > by assuming the debts of the store. Under his management, > the store prospered. In October, 1943, he was drafted in > the Army. He was accepted into Officer Candidates School > and received a commission as a 2nd Lieutenant. He served > in Italy in 1944 and 1945. > > After World War II, his business continued to grow and, in > 1948, he opened a grocery store in Farmington. In the > early 1950s, he was one of the first grocery merchants in > the mid-west to install air conditioning and self-serve > meat cases. The Progressive Grocer Magazine, which was one > of the leading trade magazines in the nation, wrote a > feature story about his business. In 1953, he began > selling freezers and sides of beef. This developed into a > large business operation of selling six months worth of > food at a substantial discount along with a freezer. He > also started a loan corporation to finance these sales. He > expanded the business to a full line of appliances, > televisions, and stereos. This led to a furniture > business. He sold the grocery store in 1978 and focused on > furniture, televisions and stereos, appliances, and the > loan business. > > William Glenwood Lees first heard the gospel at age nine, > professed faith in Jesus Christ, and joined the Baptist > Church in Flat River. He sold salve door to door in order > to buy his first Bible and read through the Bible for the > first time at age nine. He taught Sunday School and served > in various ways in this Baptist church. After his > marriage, he joined the Presbyterian Church in Flat River. > After moving to Farmington, he transferred his membership > to the Farmington Presbyterian Church where he and his > wife, Mary Louise, taught Sunday school. He was eventually > made superintendent of the Sunday school and was ordained > as an elder and elected to the session. He also served on > the board of the Presbyterian Home for Children and > various mission boards and projects. > > In the 1970s, he became active in helping Camp Penuel, the > camping ministry to inner city children. He transferred > his church membership to Penuel Fellowship Church. He > served as an elder in this church and taught the adult > Sunday school class for about 20 years. He served on the > Camp Penuel board of directors since the late 1970s. He > was also very active in the Gideons and helped develop > that work in the Farmington area. Even though he was a > successful businessman and entrepreneur, his relationship > with God through faith in Jesus Christ was the top > priority in his life. He gradually sold his various > businesses and finally retired in 1997 at age 81. > > In recent years, he has enjoyed reading and his family. > The family will receive friends at Cozean Memorial Chapel > from 4 to 8 p.m. on Thursday, March 25, 2010. Visitation > will resume at 7 a.m. on Friday, with a funeral service at > 2 p.m. at the Cozean Chapel. Burial with Military Honors > will follow at Hillview Memorial Gardens. Memorial gifts > may be made to Camp Penuel in Ironton, Missouri. > > [Cozean Funeral Home] > > > ------------------------------ > > Message: 2 > Date: Tue, 23 Mar 2010 15:32:00 EDT > From: MehdiFakhar@aol.com > Subject: [MOSTFRAN] Arthur Littleton, son of Thomas - Fredericktown - > Mar 1891 > To: mostfran@rootsweb.com > Message-ID: <5378c.601b7ead.38da7130@aol.com> > Content-Type: text/plain; charset="US-ASCII" > > This appeared on page two of the Jefferson Democrat, Jefferson > County, MO > on March 5, 1891: > > Arthur, 17-yr old son of Thomas LITTLETON, of this place, has made a > complete railroad engine by hand, with the exception of the four > drive wheels, > which his father purchased for him in St. Louis. The engine has two > cylinders > and runs with steam as smooth as any large engine. It is > reversible, and by > means of a simple movement of a level will run backwards or forwards. > Arthur has it attached to the engine at the Alliance mill and by > means of a > small pipe, connected with the steam pipe of the Alliance engine, he > keeps the > little one running at full tilt. He is now working on a boiler, to > be placed > on top of the engine; afterwards he will construct a -?- and tender > and one > coach, and then he will build a line of railroad with a gauge of seven > latches. When finished it will be a wonder, and for industry and > genius will > place young LITTLETON ahead of any boy of his age and --?-- > Fredericktown > Plainsdealer. > > > ------------------------------ > > To contact the MOSTFRAN list administrator, send an email to > MOSTFRAN-admin@rootsweb.com. > > To post a message to the MOSTFRAN mailing list, send an email to MOSTFRAN@rootsweb.com > . > > __________________________________________________________ > To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to MOSTFRAN-request@rootsweb.com > with the word "unsubscribe" without the quotes in the subject and > the body of the > email with no additional text. > > > End of MOSTFRAN Digest, Vol 5, Issue 10 > *************************************** >

My mother had a set of twin boy naturally ~~ not generated.  There was nothing out there for twins at that time and especially during the WWII!  My father had to work in defense kind of job doing welding I think.  He built a taylor tot fro the boys.  I still have it.  It was beautiful so to speak.  But it was soooo heavy and my mother was not well.  She had to drive a stickshift car with the clutch on the floor.  It was NOT easy to get that thing into the small car.   Wish it could be put some place as a special piece of art of what could be done when there was nothing.   Alanna --- On Wed, 3/24/10, Gordon Taylor <gtaylor1@sunset.net> wrote: Does anyone know what happened to the Little Wonder that Arthur built? It would indeed be an interesting thing to have passed down. Gordon On Mar 24, 2010, at 12:00 AM, mostfran-request@rootsweb.com wrote: