WILLIAM B. PHIPPS

 

     William B. Phipps, editor and publisher of the Cedar County Republican, was born in Story County, Iowa, in 1858, and is a son of Dr. John B. and Martha J. (Chandler) Phipps, the former being a native of Jefferson County, Ohio, his birth occurring May 5, 1829.  After studying medicine in Akron, Ohio, he entered a medical college at Petersburg, Penn., from which institution he graduated as an M. D. in 1850, and in the spring of 1856 went to Story County, Iowa, with his father, where he married, and practiced his profession for seventeen years.  In 1873 he returned to his native State, and located in Summit County, but in 1877 came to Missouri, and settled in Virgil City, Cedar County.  In the fall of 1881 he located in El Dorado Springs, in which place he was the first physician to settle, and is now one of the leading practitioners of the famous summer resort.  His wife was born in Maine in 1831, and previous to her marriage was a teacher by profession, and is now the president of the W. C. T. U. of Cedar County.  William B. Phipps is the eldest of their children, and received his early education in the common schools of Iowa.  In 1876 he purchased a small job press, with which he did local work in Western Star, Summit County, Ohio, and the following year came to Cedar County, Mo., with his parents, and in the fall of 1878 commenced as a journeyman on newspaper work in a printing office.  In February, 1880, he returned to Missouri, locating at Clintonville, and in the fall was appointed postmaster of the place, and at the same time established a job printing establishment, continuing this until July, 1881, when he went to El Dorado, and July 30 of the same year issued the first copy of the El Dorado News, just ten days after the first lot in the town was sold.  In January, 1883, he leased this paper to N. H. Cruce for six months, and went to Stockton to take charge of the Stockton Stalwart, but after managing that paper ten weeks, returned to El Dorado and published a pamphlet pertaining to the growth and prosperity of that town.  June 9, 1883, he issued the first number of the Weekly Cyclone in El Dorado, and September 3 of that year again secured control of the El Dorado News, and combined the two papers under the name of the El Dorado News-Cyclone, which was changed on the 22d of December to Uncle Sam, and as such now continues.  In December, 1886, he went to Stockton, and on the 30^th of the same month issued the first copy of the Cedar County Republican, of which he has since been editor and publisher, but also retains his interest in the Uncle Sam.  Mr. Phipps is an able newspaper man, and from the columns of his paper interesting and valuable information can always be obtained.  He is a stanch Republican, being chairman of the Republican County Executive Committee, and is Noble Grand in the I. O. O. F.  In March, 1878, he was united in marriage to Miss Sarah J. Conyers, who was born in Illinois, and by her has an interesting family of four children: Gracie M., Rollin B., Annie M. and William H.  The paternal grandparents, John C. and Rebecca (Burnett) Phipps, were born in Pennsylvania and Virginia in 1791 and 1792, and were of English and Irish descent, respectively.

From the History of Hickory, Polk, Cedar, Dade and Barton Counties, Missouri, 1889, p. 765-766

 

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