Springfield-Greene
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FRANK P. STUTZMAN. "The Song of the Forge" has ever been pleasant to the ears of Frank P., Stutzman, one of the most skilful and popular blacksmiths of Greene county, whose well-equipped shop in the city of Springfield draws patrons from remote parts of this locality, for here they know that they will receive prompt and careful attention. A criterion of his high-grade work is shown from the fact that many of his customers have patronized him for a score of years, refusing to have any other do their blacksmithing. It is as much an art to shoe a horse properly as it is to do anything else in a mechanical way, and our subject has become quite proficient in this art, being excelled, in fact, by none of his contemporaries. He has lived in Springfield nearly a half century.
Mr. Stutzman was born in Goshen, Elkhart county, Indiana, April 25, 1856. He is a son of John M. and Catherine (Baughman) Stutzman, both natives of Ohio, where they grew up, received such educational advantages as the early day schools afforded and there were married and established their home. In his earlier years John M. Stutzman was a carpenter, contractor and builder and in later life a farmer. He is living in Springfield, Missouri, at this writing. He has been twice married, first to Catherine Baughman, by which union eight children were born, six of whom are still living, namely: Elizabeth, Frank P., Mahalia, Emma, Adeline is deceased; Mary, Jerome; the youngest child died in infancy, unnamed. The father's second marriage was to Mrs. Shaw.
Frank P. Stutzman spent his boyhood in northern Indiana. He had little opportunity to attend school, and most of his education has been obtained by studying at home of evenings after the day's work. When eleven years of age, in 1867, he accompanied his parents to Springfield, Missouri, where the family established their permanent home, on a farm, just south of the city, and there they resided about five years, then our subject went to Illinois where he remained two years, after which he returned to Springfield and took up blacksmithing, first working with Sam Begle, and when only nineteen years of age Mr. Stutzman went into the business for himself, having learned rapidly and shown much natural ability in this direction. He started up in the alley in the rear of the Metropolitan Hotel, on a small scale, and since then he has carried on general blacksmithing and horse shoeing, his business increasing constantly with advancing years until he soon found it necessary to secure larger quarters and employ assistance. He has built up a large and lucrative business, and is now located in a modern and commodious shop on Convention avenue. He has an excellent location, and while he is specializing in high-grade horse shoeing, he is doing a great deal of general blacksmithing. Prompt and honest work has ever been his motto.
Mr. Stutzman was married on May 5, 1878, in Springfield to Louise Crostwait, who was born in Canada in 1859, and she removed from her native land to Missouri with her parents when she was a child, and here grew to womanhood and received a common school education, and here Mr. and Mrs. Crostwait spent the rest of their lives, both having been deceased a number of years.
Two children have been born to Mr. and Mrs. Stutzman, namely: Alta, born in 1881, was reared and educated in Springfield, and she is living at home; Virginia, born in 1883, was also reared and educated in Springfield, and is still with her parents.
Politically, Mr. Stutzman is a Democrat. Fraternally, he belongs to the Knights of Pythias, the Modern Woodmen, and the Royal Arcanum. He is a member of the Christian church.
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