Butler County Mo Biographies FRANCIS M. KINDER By David B. Deem Submitted by: Sherry Link 2003 FRANCIS M. KINDER Deem’s History of Butler County Missouri by David Bruce Deem, Probate Judge, Butler County, MO Biographies FRANCIS M. KINDER OUTSTANDING among the professional men of Butler county is Francis M. Kinder, prominent Poplar Bluff attorney and counselor at law who is a member of a pioneer family that migrated to Southeast Missouri from the Southwestern part of North Carolina about 1819. Francis M. Kinder, the son of Millington Newton and Margaret J. (Dickson) Kinder, was born on a farm near Buchanan in Bollinger county, Mo., on January 8, 1883. He spent his early years doing general farm work on his father’s farm on Castor River in Bollinger county and was educated at the district school near his home. He entered the State Normal School at Cape Girardeau in 1903 graduating in 1907 and then enrolled in the University of Missouri College of Law and graduated with a degree in law in 1910. Francis Kinder’s father and his two brothers, Amsy Alexander Kinder and Peter Kinder divided the farm left to them at the death of their father, Absalom Kinder and his wife Louisa McMinn Kinder who later married Solomon Kittrell in Butler county. Three children were born of this union, two sons, Alfred and Francis and a daughter, Martha Smith, who died in September 1939 at the age of 84 leaving a son, O. L. Smith living on Cane Creek and three daughters, Mrs. Della Witte of Poplar Bluff, Mrs. Maggie Hopkins of Oklahoma and Mrs. Anna Austin of St. Louis. The Kinder family founded farms in the vicinity of what is now Gravel Hill in Cape county and the village was first known as Kinder Hook after the family’s arrival in the district about 1819. Mr. Kinder’s grandfather had five brothers, John, Jacob, David, Conrad and Peter Kinder who were the sons of Henry Kinder. Francis Kinder opened his law office in Poplar Bluff on June 10, 1910 shortly after his graduation from the University of Missouri. He has practiced in Poplar Bluff continuously since that time and is one of the best known and most highly respected attorneys in South Missouri. He was married to Miss Myrtle M. Moore of Bloomfield, Mo., in 1912. Miss Moore was teaching in the Poplar Bluff school system at that time and has served continuously for 32 years without being absent or tardy one time. Mrs. Kinder was the first person in Poplar Bluff to organize a Parent Teachers Association and the movement, started at the Mark Twain School, where she was principal, soon spread to the other Poplar Bluff grade schools and the high school. Mr. Kinder is a member of the Masoic bodies maintaining lodges in Poplar Bluff. He is a member of the Scottish Rite in St. Louis and was an active member of the Elks Lodge in Poplar Bluff from 1910 until the local chapter of the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks was abandoned. Mr. Kinder was elected as Representative to the State Legislature from Butler county in 1916 and was elected as Prosecuting Attorney in 1920. While serving in those two offices he established records for efficiency which have never been surpassed either before or after he entered the offices. Mr. Kinder, a lifelong Republican, was his party’s selection as candidate for Judge of the 33rd judicial circuit in 1936. ************************************************************************ PLEASE READ THIS NOTICE USGENWEB NOTICE: In keeping with our policy of providing free information on the Internet, material may be freely used by non- commercial entities, as long as this message remains on all copied material, AND permission is obtained from the contributor of the file. Unauthorized use for commercial ventures expressly prohibited. These electronic pages may NOT be reproduced in any format for profit or presentation by other organizations. Persons or organizations desiring to use this material for non-commercial purposes, MUST obtain the written consent of the contributor, OR the legal representative of the submitter, and contact the listed USGenWeb archivist with proof of this consent. ******************************************************************