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COLUMBUS JEFFERSON PIKE, M. D. Proper intellectual discipline, thorough professional knowledge and the possession and utilization of the qualities and attributes essential to success has made Dr. Columbus Jefferson Pike, of Willard, Greene county, eminent in his chosen calling, and he has by his own efforts risen to a place in the front rank of the enterprising general practitioners in a county long distinguished for the high order of its medical talent.
Doctor Pike was born at Brighton, Polk county, Missouri, March 12, 1861. He is a son of James M. and Polly (DeRossett) Pike. The father was born in 1808 in Montgomery county, Tennessee, and in that state he spent his boyhood days and received his education in the town of Clarksville, remaining in his native state until. 1835, when he emigrated to Missouri and settled on a farm in Polk county. He had married in Tennessee and three of his children were born there before he removed with his family to Missouri. Upon coming to this state he first settled on one hundred and sixty acres near Morrisville, where he lived for seven years, then sold out and bought about three hundred acres near Brighton, and he operated this excellent farm until 1854, when he entered the mercantile business at Brighton, which he continued until 1863, when his store was burned, and he returned to his farm, where he resided until his death in 1878. He was a prominent man in that community. He was a Democrat and a Southern sympathizer during the war between the states, and religiously he belonged to the Baptist church. James M. Pike was twice married, first to Miss Mallard, by which union twelve children were born, namely: William, born in 1830, died in 1904; Sarah lives in Slagle; James M., Jr., died in 1912; Mrs. Mary Jane Slagle died in, 1862; the fifth and sixth children, twins, died in infancy; Mrs. Lucy Bryant is deceased; Mrs. Rebecca Slagle lives at Brighton, Missouri; Polly Ann is deceased; George W. lives in Texas; Carney and Joseph J. both reside at Slagle, Polk county. Polly DeRossett was the second Wife of James M. Pike, and to this union ten children were born, namely: Mrs. Lora Licklider lives at Slagle, Polk county; Richard lives at Cliquot, Missouri; Emily died May 25, 1914; Thomas Leander lives at Pleasant Hope, Polk county; Ransom is a merchant at March, this state; Sebain is a Baptist preacher and lives at Bolivar, Polk county; Dr. Columbus J., of this sketch; the eighth and ninth children, twins, died in infancy; Robert L., the youngest of the twenty-two children, is engaged in farming at Rocky Ford, Colorado. The mother of these children, Polly DeRossett, was born in Tennessee in 1825, and her death occurred in 1905.
Dr. Columbus J. Pike, of this sketch, spent his boyhood days on his father's farm, and he was seventeen years old when the death of his father occurred. He received his early education in the public schools at Slagle, Polk county. He began life for himself by entering the drug business at Brighton, which he continued four years, reading medicine the meantime, and finally entered the Kansas City Medical College, from which he was graduated in 1890, having made an excellent record there. He began at once the practice of his profession at Pleasant Hope, his native county, where he got a good start, but remained only eighteen months, when he located at Northview, Webster county, Missouri, and practiced there for a period of eight years in a most satisfactory manner, then came to Willard, Greene county. Desiring to further add to his medical knowledge, he took a post-graduate course in the New York Post-Graduate College, from which he was graduated in 1904, after which he returned to Willard, and has since been continuously engaged in the general practice of medicine, enjoying all the while a lucrative practice, and uniform success has attended his work in his vocation. He stands high with the people and his professional brethren in this section of the state, as may be surmised from the fact that he was president of the Southwestern Missouri Medical Society for the year 1913, his office expiring in April, 1914. In this responsible position he discharged his duties in a manner that reflected credit upon himself and to the satisfaction of all concerned. He is also a member of the Missouri State Medical Association, the Greene County Medical Society and the American Medical Association.
Politically, he is a Democrat, fraternally a member of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows and the Court of Honor, both at Willard; and in religious matters he belongs to the Baptist church at Willard, of which his wife is also a member, and in which she takes an active part.
Dr. Pike was married, August 15, 1880, to Mollie Ryan, who was born, reared and educated in Polk county. She is a daughter of William Ryan, an early settler and prominent in Polk county.
Three children have been born to Dr. Pike. and wife, namely: Ethel, who married Horace Dameron, a farmer of Rogersville, Missouri, has one child, Lucile; Charles R., who married Gettie Frazier, a native of Greene county, is engaged in the drug business at Willard, and they have two children, Lillian Belle and Robert Ray; Arbaleta is at home with her parents.
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