HiSTORY OF CLAY COUNTY  309

was the eldest child of the family, to assist his widowed mother in making
a living for the younger children. He therefore engaged in farming and
teaming in early life and subsequently he had the agency for the sale of
pop and gingcr ale but disposed of that business in 1893. He then became
conductor for the street car company, five years being thus passed, when
ifl 1898 he was elected to the office of sheriff of Clay county, receiving
a majority of 732 votes, the largest majority that was ever given any
sheriff in Clay county. Two years later he was re-elected by a majority
of 622 votes. This fact stands in evidence of the capability and fidelity
which he displayed during his first term, his seeond election being the
public endorsement of his loyalty and efficiency between 1898 and 1900.
He retired from office at the end of his second term as he had entered it—
with the confidence and good will of all concerned, and has a splendid
record to his credit.
    In 1903 Mr. Klingler organized the Citizens Telephone Company
of Clay County, of which he was chosen president and general manager
with T. W. Englehart vice president, and M. J . Murphy secretary and
treasurer. This is an incorporated independent company and their course
has ever been an exemplification of their motto “Our aim is to please
and satisfy the people.” They have secured many patrons and are con-
tinually extending their lines. Fraternally Mr. Klingler is connected
with Centennial Lodge, No. 541, A. F. and A. M., Brazil Lodge, No. 30,
K. P., Indianola Tribe, No. 61, I. 0. it M., and Brazil Lodge, No. 762,
B. P. 0. F., and Ilome Defenders, in politics he has always been a
stalwart Democrat and has recently been elected chairman of the Demo-
cratic county central committee—a fact which indicates his leadership in
the local ranks of the party. He is regarded as one of the prominent
representatives of Democracy here,while in citizenship he stands for local
advancement and national progress and in office has ever placed the
public welfare before personal aggrandizement..

    Thomas SCOTT PELL.—A young man of ability and scholarly attain-
ments, Thomas Scott Pell is well known in the educational circles of Clay
county as principal of the Carbon schools, a position for which he is
eminently fitted. He is a native-born citizen, his birth having occurred
on the home farm in Van Buren township October 7, 1861. A brief
history of the lives of his parents and his immediate ancestors may he
found on another page of this work, in connection with the sketch of his
father, William F. Pell.
    Fond of his books from an early age, Thomas S. Pell labored hard
to secure an education, walking a mile and a half to the nearest public
school, traveling over an almost impassable mud road much of the time.
Subsequently completing his early studies at the Central Normal School
in Danville he began to teach at the age of twenty years, making teach-
ing, with farming, his life work. With the exception of teaching one
term in Brazil, Mr. Pell has taught in Van Buren township, and is now
serving his eighth year as principal of the schools in Carbon. Well
qualified for this responsible position he has proved himself a most com-
petent instructor and is discharging the duties devolving upon him in a
manner creditable to himself and satisfactorily to all concerned.
    On Novemher 21, 1880, Mr. Pell married Nettie R. Cornwell, who
was born in November, 1862, in Brazil township, a daughter of Benjamin
F. and Mary F. (Griffee) Cornwell. A brief sketch of her father