Week 8: Power – Was Thomas N. Davey V.P. of Empire District Electric Company?

This is my fourth year working on this year-long 52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks prompt, hosted by Amy Johnson Crow. I will write each week in one of my two blogs, either Mam-ma’s Southern Family or at My Trails into the Past. I have enjoyed writing about my children’s ancestors in new and exciting ways.

I have written about Thomas N. Davey before “Rich Man – Thomas N. Davey of Carthage, Missouri.” One thing really jumped out when the theme of “power” came up and it was this entry in a city directory.

Directory Entries
In a 1909 Carthage city directory entry, Thomas is listed as vice president of the Empire Electric Power & Supply Company. It was located at 112 West 4^th.[1] The next available directory at Ancestry is 1912 and Thomas was back being a mine operator. He is listed as vice president of this company in only one record. 

Next, I checked the entry for Empire Electric Power & Supply Company to get more information. I learned that T.T. Luscombe was the president, T.N. Davey the vice president, and R.J. Claflin was the secretary treasurer.[2] 

In checking the 1912 directory for Luscombe, he was back to working in mining. Claflin was an agent for lighting supplies.[3] The electric company was listed at 110 W 4^th but only one employee was listed.[4] 

Power Company Information
The next step was to learn about the Empire Electric Power & Supply. When I searched for this company, all the returns came up for the Empire District Electric Company, which started in 1909. It was formed by merging many small companies that were already in the area: Joplin Light Power & Water Co, Consolidated Light Power & Ice Co, and Golane Light & Power Co. These three had predecessor companies, too, but none named Empire Electric Power & Supply.[5] An organization chart, clearly gave conflicting information about who ran the company. There is no Thomas Davey, Thomas Luscombe, or R.J. Claflin on the chart.[6]  

So, what gives? Were there two companies with similar names? Did the Empire District Electric Company buy out the Empire Electric Power & Supply?

To try to answer these questions, I searched in newspaper collections looking for articles about the Empire Electric Power & Company. Nothing came up in Missouri newspapers but when I searched nationwide, a Wichita, Kansas newspaper gave a clue. There was a full-page ad for a General Electric Fan with listings of General Electric dealers in different towns in Arkansas, Nebraska, Oklahoma, Kansas, and Missouri. In Carthage, the dealer was Empire Electric Power & Supply Company. In Joplin, it was both Empire District Electric Company and the Ozark Power & Water Company.[7] Perhaps the power companies sold both electricity and electrical items to use the electricity. 

In looking for articles about the Empire District Electrical Company, many were about the construction of dams, building of power lines, and merging of smaller companies from southeastern Kansas, Oklahoma, and southwestern Missouri. None mentioned any of the men who were part of the Carthage company. This ad in the Webb City Register does not list Carthage as one of the towns covered by the company.[8]  

Finally, I posed a query to the Jasper County Archives & Records Center in Joplin, Missouri, asking if they have any records about the two companies and what happened to the one in Carthage. I will report back when I hear from them.

In this research session, I also came across a reference to a April 4, 1924 newspaper article about Thomas N. Davey from the Jasper County Democrat. I couldn’t find an online source for the paper, so sent a query to the Carthage Public Library to get a scan of the article. I am looking forward to their reply.

So far, the answer is no. Thomas N. Davey was not a vice president of the Empire District Electric Company, but rather the Empire Electric & Power Company for a short time period. Interesting, though, Joseph N. Gorrell, the husband of Thomas’ niece, Matilda Davey Gorrell, did work for the Empire District Electric Company most of his career as a lineman. For a photo of his ID card, see this post.

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[1] “U.S., City Directories, 1822-1995,” digital image, Ancestry (https://www.ancestry.com/imageviewer/collections/2469/images/11465955), Missouri > Carthage > 1909 > Carthage, Missouri, City Directory, 1909, image 24, Dunham Directory Co’s Carthage Missouri Directory, 1909, p 47, Thos N Davey.

[2] Ibid, p. 54, Empire Electric Power & Supply Co.

[3] “U.S., City Directories, 1822-1995,” digital image, Ancestry (www.ancestry.com), Missouri > Carthage > 1912 > Carthage, Missouri, City Directory, Dunham Directory Co’s Carthage Missouri Directory, 1912, image 22, p. 36, R. James Claflin; image 26, p. 45, Thos N. Davey; image 55, p. 102, Thos T Luscombe.

[4] Ibid, Image 97, p. 185, Empire Electric Power & Supply Co.

[5] “Celebrating a Century of Service,” The Empire District Electric Company, 2009, p. 9.

[6] Ibid, p. 13.

[7] B-R Electric Company ad, Wichita Sunday Eagle (Wichita, Kansas), 20 Jun 1920, p. 36.

[8] Empire District Electric Company ad, Webb City Register (Webb City, Missouri), 21 Mar 1910, p. 8.

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