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ENCYCLOPEDIA
OF THE
History of Missouri,
A COMPENDIUM OF HISTORY AND BIOGRAPHY
FOR READY REFERENCE.
EDITED BY
HOWARD L. CONARD.
VOL II.
New York, Louisville, St. Louis :
THE SOUTHERN HISTORY COMPANY,
Halde,«an, Conard & Co.. Proprietors.
1 90 1.
THE SOUTHERN HISTORY CO,
1199597
INDEX TO ILLUSTRATIONS.
c
PAGE
Clapp, Charles L! i
Clarke, William B 15
Clayton, Ralph 22
Coffin, George 41
ColHer, William 48
Collins, George R 50
Collins, Monroe R., Jr 52
Colman, Norman J 54
Comstock, T. Griswolcl 80
Conn, Luther H to6
Connor, Thomas 108
Corby, Amanda M 135
Corby, John 136
Corby Chapel 1 38
Corrigan, Bernard 140
Courtney, Caldwell C 172
Crane, Walter S ' 181
Crawford, Dugald 182
Cresap, Sanford P 191
Cresap, Martha P 192
Crutcher, Edwin R 201
D
Daugherty, James A 225
Daugherty, William A 226
Dean, Oliver H 246
De Menil, Alexander N 257
Dennis, George W 259
Desloge, Firmin 268
Dockery, Alexander M 284
Doniphan, John 295
Donovan, John, Jr 303
Drumm, Andrew 318
Drummond, James T 320
Dubach, David 322
Dulany, Daniel M 333
Dulany, William H 334
E
Eitzen, Charles D 357
Elliott, Charles E 370
Emerson, John W 377
Estill, James R 383
F
Ferree, Charles M 424
Finney, Thomas M 441
Flemirfg, Alfred W 472
Flory, Joseph 476
Forrist, William 487
Forsee, Edgar B 489
Forsee, Zeilda 490
Foster, William D 499
Fowler, William 500
Francis, David R Frontispiece.
Frank, Nathan 509
Frederick, Philip A 512
Fruin, Jeremiah 530
G
Gallaher, John A 549
Gantt, James B 553
They who lived in history .... seemed to walk the earth again.
— Longfellow.
We may gather out of history a policy no less wise than eternal.
— Sir Walter Raleigh.
Histories make men wise. — Bacon.
Truth comes to us from the past as gold is washed down to us from
the mountains of Sierra Nevada, in minute but precious particles. — Bovee.
Examine history, for it is "philosophy teaching by example." — Carlyle.
History is the essence of innumerable biographies. — Carlyle.
Biography is the most universally pleasant, the most universally
profitable, of all reading.— Grr/jVr.
Both justice and decency require that we should bestow on our
forefathers an honorable remembrance. — Thucydides.
"If history is important, biography is equally so, for biography is
but history individualized, in the former we have the episodes and events
illustrated by communities, peoples, states, nations. In the latter we have
the lives and characters of individual men shaping events, and becoming
instructors of future generations."
y
Encyclopedia of the History of Missouri.
Civil War.— See "War Between the
States."
Clan-na-Gael. — A secret organization
composed of Irishmen and having for its ob-
ject the estabhshment of Ireland's independ-
ence of Great Britain. There were many
branches of the society in the United States,
and leading Irish Nationalists were identified
with it until a faction which obtained control
brought odium upon it by its violent and
criminal methods. The Clan-na-Gael was, in
a sense, the successor of the Fenian Broth-
erhood, which was founded in New York in
1857 and spread over the United States and
Ireland. A branch of the Clan came into
existence in St. Louis after the Civil War,
and some prominent Irish-Americans of that
city were numbered among the members of
that organization. None of these, however,
were involved in the plottings which over-
whelmed the Clan in Chicago and other cities
and practically put an end to its existence.
Clapp, Charles, B., physician and sur-
geon, was born in Danville, Illinois, Novem-
ber 21, 1858. He is a son of George A. and
Catherine Clapp, both of whom were of
German descent. The original American an-
cestry of the paternal line came to America
in the early Colonial days and settled first in
Massachusetts. Later on descendants of
these Clapps drifted into North Carohna and
here George A. Clapp, father of Dr. Charles
B. Clapp, was born. In 1832 George A.
Clapp, with his brothers, moved to Danville,
Illinois, where twenty-six years later Dr.
Clapp was born. The story of Dr. Clapp's
experiences in life should afford encourage-
ment and inspire confidence and ambition in
many a struggling youth to whom the future
may look dark and hopeless. It is a story of
early bereavement and privation, of subse-
quent struggle and effort against overwhelm-
ing odds, and finally of success achieved
Vol. II— 1
solely through persistent, intelligently direct-
ed, never ceasing endeavor. It is a story
that must command the admiration of the
thoughtful and appreciative reader, for the
heroism displayed, and at the same time the
heart throb of sympathy goes out involun-
tarily to the brave lad, who, with the stoical
patience and sturdy bravery characteristic of
his race, battles on and on with only the
end in view, scorning the obstacles encoun-
tered by the way. When Dr. Clapp was but
seventeen days old his mother died; the
infant was cared for by various kindly dis-
posed persons for some six months following,
and finally found a home in the family of his
father's eldest brother. Here he remained
eight years, when, his father having married
again, he was taken under the parental roof
together with a twin brother and a sister
two years their senior. This was in 1866.
The father was a farmer, and thus in rural
surroundings and pastoral pursuits Dr. Clapp
passed his boyhood until 1872, when the elder
Clapp removed with his family to Nemaha
County, Nebraska, where he still resides. In
the meantime, Charles B. Clapp, now ap-
proaching man's estate, felt the need of an
education, and a longing for something dif-
ferent in the way of a life's career from that
of a simple farm hand. This aspiration and
ambition grew with his growth and would
eventually no longer be stifled. On the 2d
day of March, 1874, with but four pennies in
his pocket and the snow nearly a foot deep
on the ground, he set out afoot from his
father's house to fight, as best he might, life's
battle and carve out for himself the best
career future opportunity or environment
might offer. After a journey of about forty
miles, which brought him into the State of
Iowa, he found employment as a farm laborer
at $15 per month. The following winter he
attended school. The succeeding summer he
again worked on a farm, and with his ac-
cumulated earnings entered the State Normal
CLARDY— CLARK.
School as a student. When eighteen years
of age he taught a district school in Ne-
braska and in the autumn of 1879 went to
Philadelphia and entered the College of
Pharmacy, working on Sundays and all extra
time for C. J. Biddle, on West Market Street,
for his board. He graduated from this col-
lege in 1882, and at once took charge of a
large drug store at Chestnut Hill, Philadel-
phia. The incessant demands he had so long
made on his vital energies, however, brought
about a physical collapse, and after a few
months he found himself compelled to retire
for a period of long needed rest and recupera-
tion. He returned to his native town of
Danville, Illinois, and after some four
months' rest and nursing, felt himself again
able for the conflict. He then assumed
charge of the wholesale and retail drug busi-
ness of W. W. Woodbury, of Danville, where
he continued until 1884, when he went to
Chicago and purchased a drug store on State
Street, and the next year one also on Prairie
Avenue. These properties he disposed of in
1886 and began the study of medicine in the
office of Dr. H. W. Morehouse, of Danville.
In the autumn of that year he entered Rush
Medical College, Chicago, and graduated
from that institution February 19, 1889. Re-
turning to Danville, he opened an office there
March 4, 1889, and that year was appointed
local surgeon of the Wabash Railroad. In
October, 1890, he removed to Moberly, Mis-
souri, and was at once appointed division
surgeon for the Wabash, and on the comple-
tion of the Wabash Employes' Hospital at
that place, was appointed surgeon-in-charge,
which position he still holds. He has been
health commissioner of Moberly from the
beginning of his residence there to the pres-
ent time. Dr. Clapp now directs his prin-
cipal attention to surgery, although he has
an extensive general practice. He also de-
votes all the spare time at his command to
bacteriological researches. In politics he is
a Democrat. He is a thirty-second degree
Mason and has filled all the offices in the
Blue Lodge. He is a Knight of Pythias and
has held all the offices in his commandery.
He is also a member of the orders of For-
esters, Modern Woodmen of America and
Maccabees. He was married November 21,
1883, to Miss Laura Dell Lockhart, eldest
daughter of J. R. Lockhart, of Danville, Illi-
nois. Her father is of German parentage,
and her mother of English. Mrs. Clapp is
a lady of culture and refinement. She grad-
uated at the Danville High School in 1879,
and from that time till her marriage was a
teacher.
C'lardy, Martin Liinn, lawyer and
member of Congress, was born in Ste. Gene-
vieve County, Missouri, April 26, 1844, and
was educated at St. Louis University and the
University of Virginia. He then studied law
and devoted himself to the profession. In
1882 he was elected to the Forty-eighth Con-
gress as a Democrat, and re-elected to the
Forty-ninth and Fiftieth, serving three full
terms as the representative of the Tenth Mis-
souri District. He subsequently removed to
St. Louis and became attorney for the Mis-
souri Pacific Railroad Company.
Clarence. — A city of the fourth class in
Shelby County, twelve miles west of Shelbina,
on the Hannibal & St. Joseph division of the
Burlington Railroad. It was founded in 1857
by the railroad company. It has five
churches, a graded public school, a flouring
mill, bank, two hotels, two newspapers, the
"Courier" and the "Farmers' Favorite," and
about half a dozen other business concerns,
both large and small, including shops and
stores. The leading fraternal orders have
lodges in the city. Population, 1899 (esti-
mated), 1,500.
Clark. — An incorporated town in Ran-
dolph County, eleven miles southeast of
Moberly. It is located at the junction of the
Wabash and the Chicago & Alton Railroads.
It has a substantial bank, a saw and grist
mill, hotel, churches, excellent public school,
a commodious operahouse, and about fifteen
stores and shops. It is surrounded by an un-
surpassed farming country. Population, 1900
(estimated), 250.
Clark, Champ, lawyer, journalist and
member of Congress, was born in Anderson
County, Kentucky, March 7, 1850. He re-
ceived his education at Kentucky University
and Bethany College, with the advantage of
a course of law at the Cincinnati Law School.
He served for a time as president of Mar-
shall College, of West Virginia. After estab-
lishing himself in the practice of his profes-
sion in Missouri, he was elected city attorney
of Louisiana, Pike County, and afterward
held a similar office in Bowling Green, and
was elected prosecuting attorney of Pike
County. He also served in the JNIissouri Leg-
islature and as presidential elector. In 1892
he was elected, as a Democrat, to Congress
from the Ninth District. In 1896, after an
interval of one term, he was re-elected, de-
feating the Republican antagonist, William
M. Treloar, who had defeated him two years
before, and in 1898 he was again re-elected.
He is one of the limited number of members
of Congress who are always listened to with
interest and delight by the promiscuous
crowds at Washington City. He has, in his
varied life, worked for wages as a farm hand,
taught school, clerked in a country store,
assisted to pass laws in the State Legislature,
practiced law, and had a wide experience in
the making of stump speeches. He is cheer-
ful, genial and humorous, often brilliant and
entertaining, and there is never a failure of
a full audience in the House when it is
known that Champ Clark is going to speak.
Clark, Charles, was born in the city of
New York, December i, 1831. At the age of
twenty-two Mr. Clark entered commercial
life. In 1858 he removed from New York
City to St. Louis and engaged in the insur-
ance business until the Civil War. On July
22, 1862, he married Miss Susan McLure,
daughter of William Raines and Margaret A.
E. McLure, of St. Louis, and has two chil-
dren, Louis Vaughan Clark and Charles
McLure Clark. At the close of the war Mr.
Clark went to Montana and spent several
mo.nths studying the mineral resources of
that State, then a Territory. Not deeming
the time propitious in which to project min-
ing enterprises, he returned to St. Louis and
engaged temporarily in the grain commis-
sion business. When the time seemed ripe
for him to enter upon the business of mining
he returned to Montana and engaged in it.
Meeting with success, he formed the syndi-
cate which purchased the Granite Mountain
properties, and subsequently organized the
Bimetallic Mining Company, of which he was
president and manager until it was a pro-
nounced success. These companies, pro-
jected by the foresight and propelled by the
energy of Mr. Clark, have paid about
$14,000,000 in dividends to the owners and
placed ir circulation in St. Louis and Mon-
tana over $23,000,000, the greater portion of
which was invested in St. Louis enterprises.
These successful mines were no doubt some
of the principal causes of the material pros-
perity which St. Louis has enjoyed for the
past dozen years. He is still largely inter-
ested in mining. He was prominently identi-
fied with the organization and erection of the
St. Louis Merchants' Bridge and Terminal
Railway system of St. Louis.
He is a director in the JNIississippi Valley
Trust Company (in which he is also a mem-
ber of the executive committee) and in the
Merchants'-Laclede National Bank. He is
also a member of the board of directors of
the Missouri, Kansas & Texas Trust Com-
pany (of Kansas Chy, Missouri) ; of the
Kansas & Texas Coal* Company ; of the St.
Louis Fair Association, and of other less well
known business enterprises and associations.
He has always been active in the support
of the parish of the Church of the Holy Com-
munion, and is in the directories of many
charitable and philanthropic institutions.
His interest in general enterprises is shown
by holding membership in various business
and social clubs of the city.
In business, social and religious circles he
enjoys the favor and esteem of his intimates
and associates, and sees the setting sun of life
shedding roseate hues athwart his pathway.
With excellent health and a sound mentality,
he is fitted to enjoy life to its full, and bids
fair to reap for many years to come the
fruits and pleasures resulting from a well
ordered life.
Clark, Charles N., Congressman, was
born in Cortland County, New York, August
21, 1827, and was educated at Hamilton, in
his native State. In 1859 he removed to
Illinois. In i86i he assisted to raise a com-
pany of cavalry and served with it in the
Union Army until 1863, when, being disabled,
he left the service and settled at Hannibal,
Alarion County, Missouri, where he took an
active part in building the Sny Island levee,
by which a hundred thousand acres of choice
land was saved from overflow. This experi-
ence led him into the movement for the im-
provement of the Mississippi River, in which
he became active and prominent. In 1894
he was elected to Congress as a Republican,
from the First District, Missouri, receiving
15,786 votes, to 15,357 cast for W. H. Hatch;
CLARK.
4,270 for John M. London, Populist, and 228
for W. S. Little, Prohibitionist.
Clark, Cyrus Edgar, merchant and
manufacturer, was born February 19, 1853, in
the town of Rahway, Union County, New
Jersey, son of Daniel and Harriet (Williams)
Clark. His father, who removed from New
Jersey to St. Louis in 1858, was the founder
of the business which the son has since in-
creased and expanded in keeping pace with
the development of the country and the de-
mands of trade. The elder Clark was a man
of superior capacity and large enterprise, and
during his business career in St. Louis built
up the most extensive leather trade controlled
by any house west of the Alleghany Moun-
tains. He was recogflized by the leather in-
terests of the country as an authority on all
matters pertaining to the trade, and in St.
Louis he is remembered as an eminently suc-
cessful merchant and a citizen noted for his
benevolence and philanthropy. Coming to
St. Louis in his early childhood, the subject of
this sketch grew up in that city, receiving
thorough educational training in the public
schools. At the end of a scientific course of
study, which included the higher mathe-
matics, the Latin and German languages and
English literature, he was graduated with
honor from the high school in the class with
Charles Nagel, John S. Thompson, Dr. Rob-
ert Luediking and others, who have since
distinguished themselves in various callings.
In accordance with the practical views of the
elder Clark he began, as any other boy would
have had to begin, to learn the leather busi-
ness, and worked his way upward from one
position to another, as his merits justified
promotion. When he had thoroughly mas-
tered all the details of the business he was
admitted to a partnership and became an
active participant in its conduct and man-
agement. Upon the death of his father, in
1895, his uncle and cousin, who had pre-
viously been partners in the business, with-
drew, and Mr. Clark then organized the
James Clark Leather Company, a corporation
of which he has since been president, and
which has greatly extended the trade of the
old house. He married, in 1876, Miss Mary
Cliff Warren, daughter of Samuel D. and
Josephine Warren, of St. Louis. The chil-
dren born of this union are : Celeste W.,
Warren D., Arline and Robert E. Clark.
Clark, Cyrus F., farmer and legislator,
was born November 17, 1847, in Strafford
County, New Hampshire. His parents were
John and Betsey (Jenness) Clark, both
natives of that State, and of English par-
entage. In 1855 they removed to Ohio, and
thence to Audrain County, Missouri, in 1869.
The father died in 1872, and the mother in
1899. The elder Clark was a Democrat until
the breaking out of the Civil War, when he
became a Republican. His wife was a most
charitably disposed woman, delighting in
kindly deeds. Their two oldest sons, Jacob
Pike and John Everett Clark, were Union
soldiers during the Civil War, and the first
named lost an arm in battle in Virginia.
Cyrus F. Clark acquired the rudiments of an
English education in the common schools,
and afterward entered the high school in
Batavia, Ohio, where he mastered the pre-
scribed course, and passed the final exami-
nation most creditably. In 1867, when
nineteen years of age, he removed to Audrain
County, Missouri, and engaged in farming
and school teaching. After teaching in vari-
ous country schools, he taught in the graded
schools in Mexico, Missouri, from i86g to
1871, and for a year following in a school in
Texas. Except for the time occupied in teach-
ing, and a few months' visit with a brother,
then land register in Washington Territory,
his attention has been given to the conduct of
large farming and stock-breeding interests in
Audrain County, Missouri, in which he has
been industrious, persistent and successful.
His real estate holdings amount to more
than two thousand acres, and he usually cares
for from one hundred to three hundred head
of cattle, and upwards of one hundred horses
and mules, together with many hogs and
sheep. He has had much of public concern
to deal with, evidence of the confidence and
esteem in which he is held by his fellows.
For thirteen years he has been a director and
the secretary of the Hardin College board,
and for twelve years a director in the South-
ern Bank. He has been a member of the
Audrain County Fair board for ten years,
and has served as secretary, treasurer and
president of that body. His interest in high-
grade horses led to his election to his present
position of president of the Horse Breeders'
Association of Missouri. Being a pro-
nounced Democrat, and a man of command-
ing influence in city and county, he has been
CLARK.
frequently called upon to occupy important
positions through the suffrages of the people.
In 1886 he was elected to the City Council of
Mexico, Missouri. His service in this body
ceased in 1888, when he was elected from
Audrain County to a seat in the General
Assembly of Missouri, and he was re-elected
on the expiration of his term. In both posi-
tions his services were faithful and merito-
rious. Not assuming to be an orator, his
speech was always earnest and effective, and
was heard with deep respect because of the
honesty and good judgment of the man;
while in the committee room, and in con-
sultation, he was regarded with interest, and
his influence was commanding. In both
legislative sessions in which he sat, revision
of the statutes occupied a large part of the
consideration of the lawmakers. In the
Fortieth General Assembly, Mr. Clark was
chairman of the ways and means committee,
and a member of the committees on banks
and corporations, on accounts, and on agri-
culture. He introduced and championed to a
successful finish the bill establishing the
State Fair of Missouri, a measure of vital
importance to the farmers of one of the most
prolific crop and stock-producing States in
the Union. In advocacy of this important
measure, he acquitted himself admirably, for
he had given so much thought to the sub-
ject, and had drafted the bill so carefully and
exhaustively, that it was adopted substan-
tially as it came from his pen. There are
States that hold in grateful remembrance
those who instituted. their fairs many years
ago, and it may be that Mr. Clark will be
similarly appreciated. He was also author
of the bill establishing veterinary service in
Missouri, for the abatement of disease, and of
bills for the regulation of railways, for the
taxation of favored classes, and of other salu-
tary measures. Mr. Clark is an active mem-
ber of the Baptist Church. His benevolent
spirit holds him in warm sympathy with the
Home for Aged Women, at Mexico, and he
is treasurer of its board. He is a member of
the American Order of Modern Woodmen,
and of the King's Sons. He was married
January 19, 1876, to Miss Wilmoth Sims, a
lady of culture and benevolent disposition,
and an active member of the Baptist Church.
She was a daughter of William M. and
Frances (Barnes) Sims. Mr. Sims was a
prominent citizen of Audrain County, and
took an active part in public concerns. He
served as county judge, and occupied other
responsible positions, and was one of the
founders and the vice president of the South-
ern Bank, of Mexico. He was one of the
most extensive land-owners and stock dealers
in the county. To Mr. and Mrs. Clark have
been born five children, of whom three are
deceased.
Clark, Harvey Cyrus, lawyer and
prosecuting attorney of Bates County, is a
descendant of one of the most prominent
families of English ancestry residing in New
Jersey in Colonial times. Abraham Clark,
one of the signers of the Declaration of
Independence, was a descendant of the first
of the family to settle in the Colonies, and a
distinguished patriot of New Jersey. The
first of the family of whom there is extant
any authentic record, was Joseph Clark. He
settled in South Carolina, and some of the
subsequent generations located in Kentucky.
One of his sons, James Clark, was the father
of James C. Clark, whose son, James Harvey
Clark, was the paternal grandfather of the
subject of this sketch. James Harvey Clark,
a native of Kentucky, practiced medicine in
that State for many years. He was a veteran
of the Mexican War, and served as captain
in a Confederate regiment raised in Ken-
tucky during the Civil War. His son, James
Cyrus Clark, was born in Kentucky, and in
young manhood removed to Otterville,
Cooper County, Missouri. There he married
Melissa M. Myers. Their son, the subject
of this sketch, was born in Cooper County
September 17, 1869. When he was two
months of age his parents removed to But-
ler, where his father immediately engaged in
mercantile pursuits. The elder Clark was
one of the early pioneers of Butler, the
village numbering, at that time, not more
than a dozen small frame houses. In 1875
he was elected sheriff of the county as the
candidate of the Democratic party, whose
principles he has always endorsed. In this
office he served two terms. Subsequently he
was elected county collector, serving in that
capacity also for two terms. In 1880 he was
elected cashier of the Bates County Bank,
and is still the incumbent of that position.
The career of General Harvey C. Clark has
been a most noteworthy one, considering his
age. Few men of his years rise so rapidly
CLARK.
to positions of trust and responsibility, stand
so high in the esteem of the public, or wield
so potential an influence as he. As a boy he
attended the public schools of Butler, and
Butler Academy, from which he was grad-
uated in the class of 1887. In the fall of that
year he entered Wentworth Male Academy at
Lexington, Missouri, from which he was
graduated in 1889. The two following years
were spent as a student in Scarritt College,
at Neosho, Missouri, which granted him a
diploma in 1891. Soon after the conclusion
of his college course he entered the law ofifice
of Honorable David A. De Armond, of But-
ler, and in June, 1893, was admitted to the
bar before Judge Lay, of the Twenty-ninth
Judicial Circuit. The Honorable W. W.
Graves, of the circuit court, at that time a
practicing attorney of Butler, immediately
ofifered him a partnership, upon which he
entered, sustaining this relation until the
elevation of the senior member of the firm to
the bench, on January i, 1899. Since that
date General Clark has been engaged in
professional practice in partnership with J.
S. Francisco. In 1896, as the candidate of
the Democratic party, he was elected to the
ofifice of prosecuting attorney of Bates
County. So satisfactory were his services
to the public that he was renominated and re-
elected in 1898, being the recipient of a large
number of votes from the ranks of the Re-
publican party. He is now (1900) closing his
second term of office. General Clark is a
Royal Arch Mason, and is identified with the
Independent Order of Odd Fellows, the
Knights of Pythias and the Modern Wood-
men of America. But it is in military affairs
that he has risen to a position of the greatest
distinction. In 1888, while yet under age, he
organized Company B of the Second Regi-
ment, Missouri National Guard, stationed at
Butler, and was elected, without opposition,
to the captaincy. In this position he served
continuously until June, 1897. During his
inciunbency he was twice elected lieutenant
colonel of the Second Regiment, but refused
to accept the office, preferring to remain as
an officer in the company he had organized.
In June, 1897, he resigned the captaincy of
Company B to accept an appointment as
major and quartermaster on the staff of Brig-
adier General Milton Moore. L^pon the out-
break of the Spanish War, in t8()8. Governor
Stephens requested him to raise and organ-
ize the command which became known as the
Sixth Missouri Volunteer Regiment of In-
fantry. This he did at once, and was com-
missioned lieutenant colonel of the regiment,
filling that position during practically all of
its service in the war. The command
formed a part of General Fitzhugh Lee's
Army Corps, and was the only Missouri regi-
ment which reached Cuba. During this
service of about a year he displayed rare mili-
tary ability ; and in recognition of his services
and his skill as an organizer and commander,
in February, 1899, Governor Stephens ap-
pointed him brigadier general of the Missouri
National Guard, thus placing him in com-
mand of the entire military organization of
the State. Since that time he has effected a
complete reorganization of the National
Guard, placing it on a firmer and more sat-
isfactory basis than has ever before obtained.
He is probably the youngest man ever as-
signed to the highest position of command
of the military establishment of any State
in the LInion. General Clark was married
June 30, 1897, to Harriet De Armond, daugh-
ter of Judge David A. De Armond, of But-
ler, now (1900) Representative in Congress
from the Sixth District.
Clark, John B., Jr., lawyer, soldier
and member of Congress, was born in Fay-
ette, Missouri. January 14, 1831. He was
educated at the common schools and the
State University. He studied law under his
father, John B. Clark, Sr., and graduated at
the law department of. Harvard University.
In 1 861 he espoused the Southern cause in
the Civil War, entered the Confederate
service as lieutenant, and served through the
war, rising by successive promotions to brig-
adier general. At the close of the struggle
he returned to Fayette, and was elected col-
lector of Howard County. In 1872 he was
elected to the Forty-third Congress from the
Eleventh Missouri District, as a Democrat,
and re-elected four times in succession, serv-
ing in all ten years.
Clark, S. H. H., railroad president and
manager, was born October 17, 1836, on a
farm near Morristown, New Jersey, and died
at Asheville, North Carolina. June i, 1900.
In his early boyhood he found it necessary to
contribute his share to the support of his
father's family. While working at whatever
CLARK.
he could find to do, he managed to obtain a
fairly good c(hication l)y studying diligently at
night and spending the most of his leisure
time reading such books as were accessible
to him. He began "railroading" as a boy in
a humble capacity, but was apt, faithful and
efficient, and in the course of a few years
reached, through successive promotions, the
position of passenger conductor on one of the
railroads running between New York and
Harrisburg, Pennsylvania. It was while serv-
ing in this capacity that he attracted the
attention of the distinguished railroad man-
ager and financier, Sidney Dillon. Dillon was
an admirable judge of men, and was always
cjuick to discover the capacity for usefulness
of those in his employ. He discovered such
capacity in Mr. Clark, and took him from
the passenger train which he was running to
make him general manager of the Flushing
Railroad, on Long Island. This brought him
into an intimate relationship with Mr. Dillon
and his New York associates, and the ability
which he displayed as a railroad manager
marked him for promotion and operation in
a larger and broader field. When the Dillon
syndicate obtained a controlling interest in
the Union Pacific Railway system Mr. Clark
was sent west to take the position of general
freight agent on that line. In this new field
his splendid capabilities were soon made man-
ifest, and after a time he became second vice
president and general manager of the Union
Pacific system. While acting in this capacity
he was brought into close contact with the
eminent financier. Jay Gould, and a warm
friendship sprang up between the two men.
In 1886 Mr. Could persuaded him to accept
the vice presidency and general management
nf the Could Southwestern Railway system,
and he was given full control of the manage-
ment of lines aggregating seven thousand
miles of trackage and earning thirty millions
of dollars per annum. For years after this,
in fact, until Mr. Gould's death, he was one of
that gentleman's closest and most confiden-
tial friends, and was the recognized repre-
sentative of his interests in the west. After
Gould got control of the Union Pacific the
second time Mr. Clark became vice president
and general manager of that system, as well
as of the Southwestern system, and continued
to hold that position until 1893, when failing
health compelled him to relieve himself of a
portion of his responsibilities. As a result
he severed his connection with the Alissouri
Pacific and was elected president of the
Union Pacific Railroad. Afterward, when the
Union Pacific Company went into the hands
of receivers, Mr. Clark was made chairman
of the receivers' board, and was practically
the manager of the property up to the time
that its affairs were reorganized, in 1897. He
was conspicuously active in perfecting the
plan of reorganization, under which the road
relieved itself from the government claims
against it and entered upon a new era of
development. i\s a natural consequence of
his close connection with this reorganization,
and of the ability which he had displayed as
a railroad manager and executive officer, he
was the first choice of those most largely
interested in this great railway property for
the presidency of the reorganized Union
Pacific Company, but failing health com-
pelled him to decline the position, and toward
the close of the year 1898 he retired from
active participation in railway management.
At the time of his retirement to private life
he had been for nearly thirty years a con-
spicuous figure in the Western railway world,
and among his contemporaries none had
shown broader capacity or contributed more
to modern railway development. Mr. Clark
married Miss Annie M. Drake, of New
York, and one son was born to them, S.
Hoxie Clark, now a member of the St. Louis
bar.
Clark, Williaiii, Governor of Missouri
Territory, was born in A^irginia, August i,
1770, and died in St. Louis. September i,
1838. lie belonged to an old Virginia family
that did much for the West at a critical
period in its history. His parents were John
Clark and Anne Rogers, who were married
in King and Queen County, Virginia, in 1749-
They had four daughters and six sons. Wil-
liam Clark married Julia Hancock at Fin-
castle, \'irginia, January 5, 1S08. Their chil-
dren were :
1. Meriwether Lewis.
2. William Preston.
3. Mary ]\Iargaret.
4. George Rogers Hancock.
5. John Julius.
Julia Hancock, first wife of William Clark,
died at the family estate of Fothcringay, Y'lr-
ginia, June 27, 1820.
Subsequently William Clark married a
CLARK.
widow with three children, Mrs. Harriet Ken-
nerly Radford. By this second marriage they
had two sons :
1. Jefferson Kearny.
2. Edmund.
Of the above, three of William Clark's sons
were married.
]\Ieriwether Lewis Clark married Abigail
Churchill. Their children were, William
Hancock, who married Camilla Gaylord;
Samuel Churchill, Mary Eliza, Meriwether
Lewis, who married Mary Martin Anderson
(their children being John Henry Churchill,
Caroline Anderson and Mary Barbaroux) ;
John O'Fallon, George Rogers and Charles
Jefferson, who married Lena Jacob (their
children being Alary Susan, Evelyn Kennedy
and Marguerite Vernon).
The second wife of Meriwether Lewis
Clark was Julia Davidson.
The next son of William Clark, who mar-
ried and left descendants, was George Rogers
Hancock Clark, who married Eleanor A.
Glasgow. Their children were, Julia, who
married Robert Stevenson Voorhis (their
child being Eleanor Glasgow) ; Sarah Leon-
ida, John O'Fallon, who married Beatrice
Chouteau (their children being Henry Chou-
teau, Beatrice Chouteau, Carlotta, William
Glasgow, Clemence Eleanor, John O'Fallon,
Harriet Kennerly and George Rogers) ; and
Ellen Glasgow, who married Willis Edward
Lauderdale (their children being Seddie Clark
and Walter Clark).
The third son of William Clark that mar-
ried was Jefferson Kearny Clark, who
married Mary Susan Glasgow, the only sister
of Eleanor A. Glasgow, they being daughters
of \\'illiam Glasgow, of Delaware, and Sarah
Mitchell, of Fincastle, Virginia.
The Clark family has been illustrious in
three States — Virginia, Kentucky and Mis-
souri — and its connection with the history of
each is honorable and patriotic. Of the six
brothers born in Virginia four bore a prom-
inent part in the Revolution, and when,
in the year 1784, the family came to the West,
and settled at the falls of the Ohio River on
the site of the present city of Louisville, their
patriotic name had preceded them and pre-
pared the way for eminence and usefulness
among the large number of Virginians ; emi-
nent because of their struggles and sacrifices
during the Revolution, who sought the glow-
ing West as a field in which to begin life anew
and with whom Revolutionary service was a
sufficient claim on their confidence and sup-
port. One of the brothers was General
George Rogers Clark, whose daring and diffi-
cult expedition for the capture of the posts
of Kaskaskia, Cahokia and Vincennes forced
the British to abandon the Ohio and Missis-
sippi Valleys and retire to the northern lakes,
and thus secured the West to the United
States at a time when neglect and inaction
might have made a long and bloody struggle
necessary. The subject of this sketch was the
youngest of the brothers. He was only four-
teen years of age when the family came from
Virginia to the fort which his enterprising
elder brother, George Rogers Clark, had
built at the falls of the Ohio ; and it was in the
dangers, alarms, expeditions and combats
c'onnected with this fort that William Clark
received the rugged experience that prepared
him for his future historic, military and bril-
liant career. Life in the West at that time
demanded unflinching and daring personal
courage, vigilance, prudence and a thorough
knowledge of Indian character and habits —
and these qualities young Clark already pos-
sessed in no small degree, when, in 1788, at
the age of eighteen years, he was appointed
ensign in the United States Army. Four
years later, in 1792, he was made lieutenant of
infantry, and next promoted to adjutant and
quartermaster. In 1796 failing health com-
pelled him to resign his position in the army,
and he shortly afterward came to St. Louis,
at that time in foreign territory, but recog-
nized by the emigrants from Kentucky and
Virginia already moving into the trans-Mis-
sissippi region as destined, at no distant day,
to become part of the United States. Presi-
dent Jefferson was familiar with the patriotic
record and the high qualities of the Clark
family, and when, in 1803, the President
planned the expedition to the mouth of the
Columbia River, he selected William Clark,
at that time thirty-three years of age, and in
the full vigor of his powers, as the companion
of Meriwether Lewis in the conduct of the
enterprise. The expedition, composed of
Lewis, Clark, nine young men from Ken-
tucky, fourteen regular soldiers, two Cana-
dian voyageurs and a colored servant, started
in the spring of 1804, made the journey to the
Pacific in November, 1805, and returned, ar-
riving in St. Louis September 23, 1806. This
famous expedition accomplished all that
CLARK.
President Jefferson expected and much more.
It not only gave a great deal of valuable and
interesting information about a region before
almost unknown, but it made an assertion of
United States authority over the great North-
west which forced the Hudson Bay Company,
at that time encroaching upon it under Brit-
ish claims, to withdraw and concede the un-
disputed possession of it to our government.
When William Clark, appointed lieutenant of
artillery, began his preparations in company
with Lewis for the enterprise in 1803, St.
Louis was a foreign village, but before the
party started, in 1804, the cession treaty had
been made and the young officers had the
satisfaction of making the journey on the soil
of their own country. The return of the ex-
pedition, in the fall of 1806, after an absence
of two years and a half, was an interesting
event in the history of St. Louis, and of
national value also, and the record of it is to
this day one of the most charming books of
travel in existence. In 1807 Clark resigned
from the army and was appointed brigadier
general for the Territory of Upper Louisiana,
and in 18 13 was appointed Governor of JNIis-
souri Territory by President Madison, hold-
ing the office until the State of Missouri was
organized, in 1821. In 1822 he was appointed
superintendent of Indian aiifairs in St. Louis,
and held the office until his death. Governor
Clark was a citizen of St. Louis for forty-one
years, and his residence on the corner of
Main and Vine Streets was a center of hos-
pitality known far and wide — -North, South,
East, and especially throughout the West —
to army ofificers, travelers, authors and dis-
tinguished visitors. He expended a large
amount of time and effort in the foundation
of an Indian museum, the first collection of
Indian weapons and curiosities in the coun-
try, and for a long time it was one of the
sights in St. Louis which visitors were accus-
tomed to examine. The friendship that
existed between Clark and Meriwether Lewis,
companions in the famous expedition ever
since known by their joint names, was of a
chivalrous and romantic character. They
were high-bred, accomplished young men, of
noble and gentle natures, firm and fearless in
the presence of danger and sincere and
faithful in their affections. At the be-
ginning of the century their successful
exploration marked a brilliant event in
history.
In February, 1806, President Jefferson ad-
dressed to Congress a communication re-
garding the discoveries made by Lewis and
Clark. This was read in Washington, and
afterward the President's message was re-
printed in New York and in London.
j\Iany editions have been published of the
Lewis and Clark expedition, in America and
in England; there appeared an Irish edition
in Dublin in 1817, and translations have been
made into French, Dutch and German, show-
ing the continued public interest, both na-
tional and foreign. Toward the close of the
century its vital importance has been empha-
sized anew in the literary tribute of Dr. Elliott
Coues" splendid volumes of "The Lewis and
Clark Expedition." This complete and schol-
arly work was published in 1893 by Francis
P. Harper, of New York. It contains a map
of North America from the Mississippi to the
Pacific Ocean, made from the original draw-
ing of William Clark, which shows his re-
markable power as a draughtsman at that
early day.
Dr. Coues writes : "William received his
first title or distinction of any sort while yet
a mere lad, being made a member of the So-
ciety of the Cincinnati on March i, 1787,
before he had completed his seventeenth
year. His original certificate of membership
is extant; it bears the signatures of George
Washington, President, and General Henry
Knox, Secretary."
To quote again, Dr. Coues says : "General
and Governor Clark was known far and wide
to the Indians. . . . Probably no officer
of the government ever made his personal
influence more widely and deeply felt; his
superintendency grew to be a sort of lawful
autocracy, wielded in the best interests of all
concerned, on the strong principle of even-
handed justice ; his word became Indian law,
from the Mississippi to the Pacific. . . . This
man was a large factor in the civilization of
that great West which Lewis and Clark dis-
covered. It may be said of him, with special
pertinence, stat magui nominis umbra — for the
explorer stands in the shadow of his own
great name as such, obscuring that of the sol-
dier, statesman, diplomat and patriot."
Clark, William Heni-y, deputy sher-
iff of Jackson County, was born August 28,
1857, near Blue Springs, Jackson County,
Missouri. His father, David M. Clark, was
10
CLARK COUNTY.
born in \'irginia in 1822 and is now a resi-
dent of Kansas City, Missouri. He came to
this State with his parents and the greater
portion of his Hfe was spent on the farm
near Bhie Springs, a fine tract of land owned
by him. He has always been in sympathy
with the principles of the Democratic party,
but has never sought public office. David
Clark served four years under General Price,
in the Confederate Army. The mother of
the subject of this sketch was Mary E. Har-
ris, daughter of Samuel Harris, one of the
earliest settlers of Jackson County, ^Missouri.
She was born in that county, and is living
a life of contentment and deserved happiness.
David M. Clark and wife are the parents of
eleven children, of whom ten are living.
William H. is the third son. He was edu-
cated in the public schools of Jackson County,
limited as they were when compared with
the splendid educational advantages of to-
day, and made the best of his opportunities.
At an early age he accepted his full share
of the farm work and gave evidence of indus-
try. He made his home with his father until
he was twenty-seven years of age. In 1883
he removed to Independence, Missouri, and
engaged in the hardware business, which he
followed from that year until 1897. He was
connected with the Russell Hardware Com-
pany for ten years, and as a business man
showed himself possessed of keen judgment
and commercial ability, coupled with strict
integrity and an adherence to the principles
of right and honor. In January, 1897, he
was appointed by Sheriff Robert Stone, of
Jackson County, to the position of deputy
sheriff, having charge of the outside work
for the eastern part of the county. He has
always affiliated with the Democratic party,
and as a representative of that party served
the constituency of the Third Ward of Inde-
pendence as member of the city council dur-
ing the year 1896-7. Mr. Clark is a member
of the Christian Church. He is identified
with McDonald Lodge Xo. 324, A. F. and A.
M.. and is' a member of the Knights of
Pythias and the Modern Woodmen of Amer-
ica. He was married October 30. 1889, to
IVIiss Nannie J. Oldham, daughter of John R.
Oldham, one of the pioneer residents of
Jackson County. Mr. and IMrs. Clark have
two children: Alattie Oldham Clark, aged
five, and John R., aged three. The head of
this familv, devoted to his home and church.
exerts a strong inlluence in the community
and enjoys the high esteem of his neighbors
and those who are brought into daily contact
with him.
Clark County.— -A county in the ex-
treme northeastern part of the State. l)ounded
on the north by the State of Iowa ; northeast
by the Des Moines River, which divides it
from Iowa ; east by the Mississippi River,
which separates it from the State of
Illinois : south by Lew-is County, and
west by Knox and Scotland Counties;
area, 325,238 acres. The surface of
the county is about two-thirds prairie.
Along the larger streams and back
from the river bottoms, the land is broken
and hilly. About 11,000 acres of rich bottom
land lies between the Des Moines and Fo.x.
Rivers, and this land is protected from over-
flow by an expensive system of levees. An-
other rich tract of bottom land is south of the
Fox River. The county is drained by the
Des Moines, Little Fox, Sinking Creek,
Wyaconda, Little Wyaconda, Honey and
many smaller streams which flow directly or
indirectly into the Mississippi River. The
soil of the bottom lands is of great fertility,
and year after year produces enormous crops.
The soil of the uplands is a friable loam,,
with a stiff clay subsoil, in places streaked
with gravel and sand. About 68 per cent of
the land is under cultivation and in pasture.
Ten per cent of the area of the county is
still in timber, consisting of fine growths of
oak on the uplands, while along the streams
are oak, black walnut, butternut, hickory,
sycamore, ash, maple, elm and honey locust.
The grasses grown are bluegrass, clover and
timothy. The average yield to the acre is :
Corn, 32 bushels ; wheat, 16 bushels ; oats,
25 bushels ; potatoes, 90 bushels ; clover hay,
two tons, and timothy hay, 1^/2 tons. All the
vegetables are produced abundantly. Fruits
of all kinds that can be grown in a moderate
climate bear well. In the northern part of
the county are considerable deposits of
bituminous coal. There is plenty of lime-
stone suitable for building purposes. The
most profitable industries of the residents of
the county are agriculture and stock-raising.
According to the report of the Bureau of
Labor Statistics, the exports of surplus prod-
ucts from the county in 1898 were : Cattle,
4.252 head; hogs, 35.715 head; sheep, 1.319
CLARK COUNTY.
11
head; horses and mules, 1,694 head; wheat,
17,732 bushels; oats, 129,996 bushels; corn,
468,186 bushels; hay, 394.000 pounds; flour,
1,621,000 pounds; timothy seed, 111,000
pounds; lumber, 1,854,000 feet; walnut logs,
84,000 feet; piling and posts, 18,000 feet;
cross ties, 1,135; cord wood, 1,248 cords;
cooperage, 496 cars ; stone, 18 cars ; wool,
8,155 pounds; potatoes, 1,202 bushels; mel-
ons, 12,000; poultry, 733,304 pounds; eggs,
308,070 dozen; butter, 31,361 pounds; game
and fish, 53.973 pounds ; hides and pelts,
30,451 pounds; vegetables, 888,694 pounds;
molasses, 1,993 gallons; whisky and wine,
1,220 gallons ; vinegar, 60,000 gallons ; canned
goods, 168,030 pounds; furs, 1,430 pounds;
feathers, 5,995 pounds. Other articles ex-
ported are brick, tobacco, cheese, dressed
meats, tallow, strawberries, fresh fruit, honey,
beeswax, nuts and nursery stock. Accord-
ing to the most authentic record obtainable,
the first settlement in the territorj' now Clark
County was made in September, 1829, when
Sackett and Jacob Weaver, who came from
Kentucky, settled upon land on the Des
Moines River, near the present site of St.
Francisville. A year later William Clark
built a log cabin near the present site of the
town of Athens. Soon after a number of
Kentuckians settled in the same neighbor-
hood. Among them were Samuel Bartlett,
Jeremiah Wayland and George Heywood.
Wayland moved to where St. Francisville is
now situated and there built a log cabin,
which, in 1832, was swept away by a flood.
In 1831 Giles Sullivan settled in the county
about two miles above St. Francisville, and
a few months later his wife died — the first
death in the new settlement. The winters of
1830-1, so it is related in the traditions of
the old settlers, were of great severity, and
the snow was of such depth that travel was
almost impossible, and Indians who occupied
the bottoms along the Des Moines River
lost nearly all their horses. In 183 1-2,
among the people who settled in the county
were Richard Riley and Dabney Phillips, of
Kentucky; Colonel Rutherford, of Tennes-
see ; J. Weaver, who, in 1832, built the first
mill on Fox Creek, near the present .^ite of
Waterloo, and which afterward became
known as Moore's Mill. William D. Hen-
shaw, of Virginia, and Messrs. Butts, Rebo
and Ripper, who came from Kentucky. The
first children born in the Clark Countv terri-
tory were George Wayland, Elizabeth Bart-
lett and Martha Heywood. For some time
the nearest mill was at Palmyra, some sixty
miles distant, and there was no store much
nearer until 1833, when John Stake opened
one at St. Francisville. Owing to the Black
Hawk War, there was no heavy immigration
to the county until 1834, when numerous
families from Kentucky joined the settle-
ments about St. Francisville. All the earhest
settlers lived on the most friendly terms with
the Indians, particularly with Chief Keokuk's
band, against whom the only grievance was
that their dogs killed the hogs of the set-
tlers. A complaint about this resulted in a
pow-wow, at which the Indians were feasted,
and the "talks" were of such a nature that
soon few Indian dogs were seen running
about without a muzzle of lind tree bark.
During the Black Hawk War a fort, called
Fort Pike, was erected at the present site
of St. Francisville, and was occupied for
about three months by a company from Pike
County. After the defeat of Black Hawk,
it is a tradition in Clark County that his
squaw and papooses were guests at the house
of Jeremiah Wayland, where they helped hoe
corn and dig potatoes. The first marriage in
the territory now Clark County was per-
formed by, as it was afterward learned, a
"bogus" minister. The contracting couple
were William Clark, who came from Illinois,
and Elizabeth Payne, a young widow, and
the first ceremony took place at the house
of Jeremiah Wayland. When it was discov-
ered that the minister was a counterfeit.
Squire Robert Sinclair, who lived at Tully,
was sent for, and the matrimonial knot was
legally tied, and the event was duly cele-
brated. The first brick house in the county
was built in 1837, at Waterloo, by Pleasant
Moore. The Baptists were the first to organ-
ize a religious society, their organization
dating from May 7, 1835, and soon afterward
they built the first church, on the trail leading
to the Fox River ford. In 1818 the Terri-
torial Legislature organized a county which
was called Clark, in honor of Governor Wil-
liam Clark, and it included the territory that
is now embraced in half a dozen counties
in the northeastern part of the State. Owing
to the lack of population, the county govern-
ment became disorganized, in fact it never
was thoroughly organized, nor did it have
representation in the Legislature. December
12
CLARKE.
16, 1836, the county was reorganized and its
limits further defined. Thus did the present
county of Clark come into existence. The
members of the first county court were John
Taylor, Thaddeus, William and R. A. Mc-
Kee, with Willis Curd, clerk, and W. S.
(Sandy) Gregory, sheriff. The first county
court met at the house of John Hill, in Des
Moines Township, April 10, 1837. The com-
missioners appointed to locate a permanent
seat of justice were Stephen Cleaver, of Ralls ;
O. Dickerson, of Shelby, and Michael T.
Noyes, of Pike County. They selected a
tract of land four miles east of the site of
Kahoka, and in 1837 a town was laid out,
which was named Waterloo. This place re-
mained the county seat until February, 1850,
when the county court changed the judicial
seat to Alexandria, where courts were held
until August 9, 1855, when it was ordered
that the Circuit Court of Clark County be
notified that the county seat had been
changed back to Waterloo. Waterloo re-
mained the county seat until 1872, when the
present courthouse was completed at Ka-
hoka, and in it the county court first met,
January 15th of that year. The first county
court met about two miles west of the present
site of Kahoka. The second term was held
at the house of Joseph McCoy, the first
county treasurer, which place was the meet-
ing place until August 8, 1837, when the court
made an order moving the county seat to
Waterloo. The first circuit court for the
county of Clark was held April 6, 1837, at the
house of John Hill, in Des Moines Township,
about two miles west of the present site of
Kahoka, Honorable Priestly H. McBride,
presiding judge. The first grand jury re-
turned no true bills and was discharged. At
the December term, 1837, the first indictment
was found against J. C. Boone, who was
charged with larceny and burglary. Clark
County, being on the dividing line between
the North and the South during the Civil
War, was in a constant state of agitation,
first from one side and then the other. In
all, however, the county fared well, and dam-
ages within its borders were small. The
county furnished a large number of soldiers
to the Northern side, and a few to the cause
of the Confederacy. Clark County is divided
into thirteen townships, named, respectively.
Clay, Des Moines, Folker, Grant, Jackson.
Jefferson, Lincoln. Madison, Sweet Home,
Union, Vernon, Washington and Wyaconda.
The assessed valuation of real estate and town
lots in the county in 1899 was $2,439,860;
estimated full value, $4,879,720; assessed
value of personal property, including stocks,
bonds, etc., $974,240; estimated full value,
$1,948,480; assessed value of railroads and
telegraphs, $727,590.47 ; assessed value of
merchants and manufacturers, $75,135 ; esti-
mated full value, $150,270. There are fifty-
nine miles of railroad in the county, the
Keokuk & Western passing from east to west
near the center; the Atchison, Topeka &
Santa Fe, passing diagonally through the
county in a southwestwardly direction, and the
St. Louis, Keokuk & Northwestern, passing
south from the eastern center of the county,
along the Mississippi River. The number of
schools in the county in 1898 was ninety-
one; teachers employed, 114; pupils enrolled,
4,805; permanent school fund, $29,898.56.
The population of the county in 1900 was
15.383-
Clarke, Enos, lawyer, was born near St.
Clairsville, Belmont County, Ohio. He is of
Scotch-English descent and the founders of
his family in this country, who settled in Vir-
ginia, were active patriots in the Revolution.
During his childhood his parents removed
to Princeton, Bureau County, Illinois, where
he received such instruction as was afforded
by the common schools of that day, then
prepared for college in a private classical
school, and in 1855 entered Madison Univer-
sity, at Hamilton, New York, from which he
was graduated in 1859, sharing the highest
honors of his class. Having determined
upon law as the profession of his life, he
studied in the office of ex-Chief Justice Sam-
uel M. Beardsley, of Utica, New York, and
was admitted to the bar of Oneida County,
New York. Justice Beardsley having died
just prior to this time, he became a member
of the firm which succeeded to the large and
important business of that eminent lawyer,
his associate being a son of the deceased jus-
tice, and the firm known as Beardsley &
Clarke. At the bar of his district, it was his
good fortune to frequently meet those who
were classed with the leading legal minds of
that long-distinguished bar, composed at that
time of men since eminent, as Justice Ward
Hunt, Roscoe Conkling, Hiram Denio,
Francis Kernan and others. While condi-
13
tions seemed to assure honor and success at
that bar, he had cherished the purpose of
returning to the West, and in 1863, in re-
sponse to overtures from Edward R. Bates,
of St. Louis, Missouri, he removed to that
city and entered into a law partnership with
him. This relation was terminated by the
death of Mr. Bates, and in 1866 he became
associated with John C. Coonley, the firm
being Clarke & Coonley. This continued
until the removal of his associate to Chicago,
and then he formed a partnership with
George A. Madill, under the name of Clarke
& Madill, which was maintained until about
the time Mr. Madill was elected judge of the
circuit court, when Mr. Clarke formed a law
co-partnership with Daniel Dillon under the
name of Clarke & Dillon, and this continued
until 1878, when Mr. Dillon was also elected
judge of the circuit court. About this time
he found it necessary to withdraw from pro-
fessional life on account of an illness which
came upon him in the fullness of his powers
and prospects, and was protracted through
many years, and he has since devoted his
attention to various official and private
trusts committed to his care. In 1867 he
was appointed register in bankruptcy of the
United States District Court for the Eastern
District of IMissouri by Chief Justice Chase,
under an act of Congress enacted that year,
and performed the duties of this position,
often arduous and exacting, through the va-
ried volume of cases and issues presented with
a method, ability and fidelity which brought
distinction and honor to the office. At a na-
tional commercial convention, called to con-
sider proposed bankruptcy legislation, held in
the year 1888, he was appointed a member of a
committee of three to prepare and submit to
Congress a draft of a new bankrupt law,
which was thereafter formulated and became
known as "The Torrey Bill." His active life
was largely occupied with political concerns,
natural consequence of his early training and
theimportanceofthequestions at issue. In his
boyhood he had imbibed from his environ-
ments a deep-seated abhorrence of slavery.
During these impressible years of his life,
while moved by parental teachings, he came
under the personal influence of Owen G.
Lovejoy, brother of the martyred Elijah P.
Lovejoy, which tended to strengthen the
convictions governing his subsequent politi-
cal life. In New York State, at the begin-
ning of the Civil War, he furnished prompt
assistance in the organization of troops for
the Union cause, and afterward in Missouri
rendered service as a member of the Seventh
Regiment of the State Enrolled Militia. On
the occasion of the National Fast Day pro-
claimed by President Lincoln, in 1862, he
delivered, at the request of the citizens of
Utica, a public address on the state of the
country. On coming to St. Louis he allied
himself with the few who were then prepared
to assert themselves as anti-slavery men, in
forming the first immediate emancipation
association known in a slave State. In 1863
he was a member of the famous delegation
of seventy appointed by a mass convention
held at Jefferson City, under the leadership of
the late Justice Charles D. Drake, to visit
President Lincoln and urge the removal of
General Schofield from the command of the
Department of Missouri and the appointment
of a commander more radical in his L'uion-
ism and anti-slavery sentiments. In 1864 he
was an alternate delegate from St. Louis in
the convention which nominated President
Lincoln at Baltimore. During the same year
he was elected from St. Louis to the Legisla-
ture, and in that body he commanded respect
and attention by his vigor of address upon
questions which the more timid w'ould have
avoided. Among measures of public interest
which he introduced at that time was a reso-
lution providing for a constitutional amend-
ment conferring the right of suffrage upon
the colored people, and he advocated it in
a speech remarkable for its force of argument
and boldness of utterance. It was widely cir-
culated and received the warm commenda-
tions of Senator Charles Sumner, Gerritt
Smith and others. When John M. Langston,
the colored orator of Ohio, on conclusion of
a State canvass, made a visit to the State
capital, during the session of the Legislature,
it was upon presentation by Mr. Clarke that
he was accorded the privilege of delivering an
address in the chamber of the House — the
first time in the history of Missouri that the
courtesy had been extended to a colored man.
In 1868 the Missouri (now "Globe") "Demo-
crat," on its own motion, brought out the
name of Mr. Clarke for the position of
Attorney General of the State, and with a
number of the leading Republican papers in
the State, warmly advocated his nomination,
but the selection of a St. Louis man (E. O.
14
CLARKE.
Stanard) for second place on the ticket re-
ferred the choice of a candidate for Attorney
General to the western part of the State.
When the Liberal movement in Missouri
came into existence, and even before, Mr.
Clarke vindicated the consistency and logic
of his convictions by giving it the support of
his name and his active eiTorts. Having al-
ready maintained a protest against a gov-
ernment half free and half slave, he now
recognized that the State, in time of restored
peace, could not long e.xist with its former
voters half enfranchised- and half disfran-
chised. This led him to join in remonstrance
against the extreme measures of his party,
and ally himself at the outset with a dozen or
more persons, with Carl Schurz in the lead,
in an organization known, in 1868, as the
"Twentieth Century Club," which preceded
the liberal movement and prepared the way
for that removal of disabilities from voters
that followed it. In 1870 he was a delegate
to the State Republican Convention, urging
the restoration of the sufifrage to all dis-
franchised persons, and in 1872 he was a dele-
gate to the National Liberal Republican
Convention at Cincinnati, and supported the
nomination of Charles Francis Adams for
President, and that failing, he supported Hor-
ace Greeley. The same year, in the State
Liberal Republican Convention, he was nom-
inated for Lieutenant Governor on the State
ticket with Governor Woodson, but declined
in favor of another. With the readjustment
of parties, he resumed active afifiliations with
his old-time party, and has since usually given
his support to its policies, and now and then
participated in its conventions. He is recog-
nized as a scholar, a thinker, a student and
a speaker of impressive address, and never
fails to impart a charm and an interest to dis-
cussion in the lyceums and clubs in which he
is a frequent participant. As early as the
year 1866, on invitation from the Alumni
Association of his alma mater at Hamilton,
New York, he delivered before the literary
societies the annual commencement address,
the poem on that occasion being delivered by
the then venerable Dr. Smith, of New Eng-
land, author of the national anthem, "Amer-
ica." This event was the first when so young
an alumnus had received this distinction from
that historic institution. His deep interest in
educational matters led to his election, in
l86> as one of the curators of the L^niver-
sity of Missouri, and he served a number of
years. Some years ago he retired to his
beautiful home at Woodlawn,near Kirkwood,
suburban to St. Louis. There, with his library
and attractive environments, he pursues his
literary researches with even more enthu-
siasm and real enjoyment than in his earlier
days, and is a keen observer of all current
events. During recent years improved health
conditions have permitted the resumption of
more active interests, which, in many direc-
tions, now engage his attention. He is a
member of the Ohio State and Missouri His-
torical Societies, the Contemporary Club, and
other organizations in the city, and mem-
ber of standing committee of legislation of
the World's Fair committee of two hundred.
His home is yet shared by the bride of his
youth, to whom, as Miss ^l. Annette, daugh-
ter of the Honorable John J. Foote, of New
York, he was wedded in 1862. A daughter,
Rowena A., is their only child.
Clarke, Joseph Marcus, journalist
and banker, was born June 4, 1814, at Bethel,
Ohio. His parents were Houten and Nancy
(Riley) Clarke. The father was an English-
man, who came to Ohio when a young man,
there married, and reared a family of three
sons and four daughters. Smith, the oldest,
married and settled in his native State.
Wright was for some years a member of
Congress, and afterward served as third
auditor of the treasury under the adminis-
tration of President Grant. Joseph Marcus,
the third child in order of birth, mastered the
common school course in the place of his
nativity, afterward adding to his education in
academies in Bethel and Bavaria, Ohio. His
first effort in business life was at Shawnee-
town, Illinois, where, for two years, he man-
aged with signal success the Illinois "State
Journal," the third newspaper in the State,
with respect to age, one of high reputation,
and of which much was expected. His
health was impaired by the confinement, and
seeking its restoration, he spent three years
in travel through Virginia, Kentucky, Ala-
bama and Tennessee, busying himself with
dealing in horses. This tour proved most
satisfactory, for while it was profitable in a
pecuniary way, it cured him of his physical
ailments. For a couple of years he managed
a plantation near Richmond, Mrginia, after-
ward removing to New Liberty. Kentucky,
.a ^'Z^^-
^^
15
■where he engaged in mercantile pursuits for
some years. In 1854 he settled in Osage
County, Missouri, and cultivated a farm for
fifteen years. While residing here he repre-
sented his county in the Legislature during
the session of 1858 and 1859. About 1866
he returned to Kentucky, again locating at
New Liberty, where he established the
"Owen News," the first newspaper printed in
the county. He conducted this successfully
for some years, when he returned to Alis-
souri, and engaged in the banking business at
Jefiferson City, eventually becoming presi-
dent of the First National Bank of that city.
He was an earnest member of the Christian
Church, and the acknowledged founder of
that organization in JefTerson City. Major
Clarke was twice married. While traveling in
the South he met and married Miss Elizabeth
E. Mottley ; several children were born to
them, all of whom, with the mother, are de-
ceased. In 1845, ns^r Richmond, Virginia,
he was married to Miss Lavinia E. Nunley,
daughter of Anderson and Frances (Russell)
Nunley, and of this union was born one son,
Julius S. Clarke. Major Clarke died Decem-
ber 7, 1889, and his loss was deeply felt
throughout the community. He was a man
of great force of character, whose influence
and example were potent in all concerns en-
tering into the welfare of the people among
whom he lived. With a versatility of talent
which served him in various and diverse
lines, he was constant in all his purposes, and
all of his efifort was to a definite and useful
end. Benevolence was a feature in his char-
acter which marked him pre-eminently before
his fallows, his kindness and charity reaching
all classes of the suffering and distressed, yet
so quietly that his good deeds went unher-
alded, except by the recipients of his bounty.
In movements for the public good, he was
active and liberal. Jefferson City is indebted
to him for its city hall, a fine edifice, elegant
in its appointments. In recognition of this
munificent gift, as well as his worth as a man
and value as a citizen, the city has set up
his statue in that building. The figure is of
bronze, in exact life size, standing six feet
two inches in height, designed by Doyle, of
New York, and is a real work of art, as well
as a piece of faithful portraiture. In the same
building are fine oil portraits of Mrs. Clarke,
widow of Major Clarke, and of their deceased
son, Julius S. Clarke, executed by Miss Ober-
miller, of Toledo, Ohio, at a cost of $1,000,
under order of the city authorities, who were
desirous of yet further honoring the memory
of this philanthropic family. Julius S. Clarke,
at the time city attorney, died at the home
of his mother in Jefferson City, August 5,
1878. He had received his literary education
in Louisville, Kentucky, afterward studying
law at Jefferson City, Missouri, where he was
admitted to the bar. Although but a young
man in years, and scarcely entered upon the
active work of life, he had won for himself
an honorable place in his profession, giving
promise of unusual usefulness and high dis-
tinction. He inherited the best traits of the
father, displaying virtues of the highest type,
and was regarded with confidence and esteem,
in all the relations of life, by all classes of
people, who, to this time, cherish his mem-
ory and deplore his untimely death with deep
sorrow. He was a member of the Christian
Church, consistent in his life, and abounding
in works of charity and kindness. The re-
mains of father and son rest side by side in
the cemetery near Jefferson City, in a family
mausoleum of impressive design, built of
Carthage limestone, eighteen feet in length
and thirteen feet in width, erected in 1898.
Mrs. Clarke survives. She is a devoted mem-
ber of the Christian Church, in whose special
work and beneficences she maintains a deep
interest and bears a liberal part, at the same
time extending aid to all worthy objects
throughout the community.
Clarke, William Bingham. — Th«
name of W. B. Clarke is illustrious not in
Kansas City alone, where he is prominent in
financial and social circles, but throughout
the West. He was born in Cleveland, Ohio,
April 15, 1848, his parents being the late
Aaron Clarke, formerly of Milford, Connecti-
cut, and Caroline E. Bingham, of Andover,
in the same State. He was educated in the
public and private schools of his native city,
and afterward studied law and was admitted
to the bar. In his subsequent career as a
banker, financier and capitalist, he found his
legal attainments invaluable. He acquired a
practical mastery of the banking business in
two of the largest banks in Cleveland. In
1869 he visited the Northwestern States in
search of a favorable locality for engaging
in banking on his own account, deciding at
length on .'\bilene. Kansas, then the -head-
16
quarters for the Texas cattle trade for the
West. It was a place of rapid growth and
of much prominence, with all the wild charac-
teristics of a frontier town. Mr. Clarke, ever
strictly temperate, and carrying no weapons,
was always treated with respect and had no
personal difficulties in this lawless commu-
nity. He there established and carried on a
successful and rapidly increasing business.
After the scattering of the cattle trade, he
removed to Junction City, Kansas, there
organizing the First National Bank of that
place, which he afterward purchased and
changed to a private banking house bearing
his name. He early saw the advantages of
buying bonds in all parts of the State and
negotiating them in the East, where money
was more plentiful and consequently cheaper.
He has conducted his "Kansas Bond Bureau"
for nearly twenty years without the loss of a
dollar to any of his clients. Following the
panic of 1873, a county upon whose bonds
he had advanced a large sum of money re-
pudiated its obligations, causing him a total
loss of the whole sum invested. On the heels
of this misfortune (for misfortunes never
come singly) came the suspension of several
of his correspondents, followed by a run on
his bank, which forced him to make an as-
signment for the benefit of his depositors.
He called a meeting of his creditors ; made a
statement of his financial condition, and the
causes which led to it, and laid before them a
proposition to pay them 25 per cent of his
indebtedness, which — such was their confi-
dence in his integrity — they accepted with-
out a murmur and signed a full release. He
was thus able to keep his bank open and con-
tinue his legal warfare against the delinquent
county to recover the sum due him. Not
long afterward, to his own gratification and
much to the surprise of his creditors, he was
enabled to declare a dividend of 10 per cent
on his discharged indebtedness. At the end
of seven years, having won his case in the
United States Supreme Court, at great ex-
pense, he collected the amount of the repudi-
ated bonds, with interest, and at once de-
clared a further dividend of 65 per cent and
interest for the entire time depositors had
been deprived of the use of their money. In
his determination to discharge every shadow
of obligation against him, he even made good
to certificate-holders their losses in selling
their claims, which they did at the moment
of his suspension, when the excitement was
at fever heat. This way of doing business — all
too uncommon everywhere — and which IMr.
Clarke could not have been legally compelled
to, was widely commented upon and dis-
cussed by the press throughout the country
— no such record ever having been made by
a banker before. No combination of circum-
stances could have inspired the public with
greater confidence in Air. Clarke than this
misfortune, and the able manner in which
he extricated himself and others from its
eflects. After relieving himself from these
moral obligations, which seemed to worry
him more than his creditors, he continued his
banking and bond business with remarkable
success, for he had come to be recognized as
the most extensive and best informed dealer
in municipal bonds in the State.
In 1886, having been chosen president of
the Merchants' National Bank, of Kansas
City, Missouri, in which he was a .large
stockholder, he reorganized his private bank
in Junction City, Kansas, into the First
National Bank of that city, in which he still
retains an interest and is one of the directors,
the president of that bank being the Honor-
able G. W. McKnight, the young man who
came west with Mr. Clarke, in 1871, to Abi-
lene, and was with him and has been connected
with him ever since. Mr. Clarke then removed
with his family to Kansas City, Missouri,
where he has since resided. In 1881, when
telephones were being introduced throughout
the East, Mr. Clarke's attention was directed
to their utility for business and other pur-
poses, and he invested largely in the stock of
The Missouri & Kansas Telephone Company,
becoming its president. During his admin-
istration the business grew to a remarkable
degree, largely covering the field indicated
by its name, and also the Indian Territory.
Other important enterprises calculated to
enhance the prosperity of Kansas City and to
open up its tributary country, have always re-
ceived his liberal and practical co-operation,
and he is prominent in the city's financial,
commercial, religious and social circles and
helpful in all to a remarkable degree. He is
a thirty-second degree Mason ; has been
twice president of the Kansas City Club ; once
president of the Country Club ; third, second
and first vice president of the Commercial
Club, and in 1891 was elected president of
that remarkable semi-social organization. On
CLARKSBURG— CLARKSVILLE.
account of his private business, however, he
found it impracticable to do the office justice,
and therefore decHned the election. He is
an officer and director in several benevolent
associations, and has been conspicuously
identified with various other interests of a
charitable, social and business character. In
1888 Mr. Clarke organized the United States
Trust Company, of Kansas City, Missouri, of
which institution he was the first president,
and still holds the office. In 1891 he became
interested in the manufacture of salt at Salt
Lake, LTtah, and in connection with some
associates and prominent officials of the
Mormon Church organized the industry into
one large corporation controlling the entire
output of salt from that great lake. His bus-
iness interests brought him in close touch
with the Mormon Church, and the business
has been conducted most successfully. In
Colorado he early became interested with
many of the leading and wealthy mine-own-
ers and capitalists in developing the mines of
their State. Some of the largest enterprises
conducted in Colorado have had the benefit of
his co-operation in their development. When
the proposed road connecting Salt Lake City
with Los Angeles and San Pedro, California,
was organized, he was invited into it and
became one of its incorporators, bringing to
it a large amount of influence and prestige.
As a layman of the Protestant Episcopal
Church he has always been prominent, and in
the State of Kansas was the first treasurer of
that diocese, and held the office until his
removal to Missouri. When the diocese of
Missouri was divided and the new one
formed, known as the Diocese of West Mis-
souri, he was chosen the first treasurer of
that diocese, and still holds the office. He
has six or seven times been elected a delegate
to the Triennial Convention of the Protestant
Episcopal Church of the United States. He
is a prominent member of the Sons of the
Revolution, and is also a member of and has
held important offices in the Society of
Colonial Wars. In 1896 he was requested by
the National Republican Committee to assist
in stamping out the free silver fallacies, then
at their height. He immediately organized
a Sound Money League, and was elected its
president, and in that capacity used his re-
markable executive and organizing powers
for the benefit of his party. The league
secured in a few weeks a membership of
17,000 out of 32,000 registered voters in Kan-
sas City, who voted for sound money, efifect-
ing a change of over 8,000 votes in his own
city, thereby bringing it to the notice of the
business world that the business interests of
Kansas City recognized the wisdom of a
sound circulating medium. In the campaign
of 1900 Mr. Clarke was made a member of
the National Advisory Committee from Mis-
souri, again adding his business sagacity and
executive ability to another successful sound
money campaign. ]Mr. Clarke has always de-
clined any political office, but by his action
has shown that he feels it the duty of all
good citizens to take an active interest in the
selection and election of proper representa-
tives to office. In 1876 he married Miss Kate
E. Rockwell, daughter of George Rockwell —
a native of Ridgefield, Connecticut — and
Catherine C. (Westlake) Rockwell, of New-
burg-on-the-Hudson. They have tw'O sons,
William Rockwell Clarke, Yale, 1900, and
Bertrand Rockwell Clarke, Williams, 1904.
Clarksburg. — A city of the fourth class,
in the northwestern part of ^Moniteau County,
on the main line of the Missouri Pacific Rail-
road, six miles west of California. The rail-
road name of the town is Moniteau. The
first house on what is now the site of the
city was built by Hiram Clark, a Kentuckian,
who settled upon the land. In 1859 a post-
office was established there, with Mr. Clark
as postmaster, and the same year a store
was opened by W. J. Stephens, and since that
the growth of the town has been gradual. It
is in the central part of the Moniteau County
coal district. It has Union and Baptist
Churches, one hotel, a good public school
and two private institutions, Llooper's Insti-
tute and Clarksburg College, the latter under
the supervision of the Baptist Church. Pop-
ulation, 1899 (estimated), 850.
Clarksdale.— A town in DeKalb County,
laid out in 1885, and incorporated in 1887.
There are five stores and one church build-
ing, used by Baptists, Christians and Latter-
Day Saints. Population, about 250.
Clarksville. — A city of the fourth class,
in Pike County, located on the Mississippi
River, twelve miles below the city of Louis-
iana, on the St. Louis, Keokuk & North-
western branch of the Burlington Railroad. It
18
CLARKTON— CLAY COUNTY.
was laid out in 1819 by John Miller, who
afterward became Governor of Missouri. It
was incorporated as a city in 1854. Its loca-
tion is picturesque, inclosed by clififs running
back from the river. It has two public
schools, one of which is for colored pupils;
Methodist Episcopal, Presbyterian, Baptist,
Episcopal, Catholic and Christian Churches,
and Baptist and Methodist Episcopal
Churches for colored people. The business
interests of the town are represented by two
banks, an iron foundry, a vinegar and cider
works, tobacco factory, opera house, two
hotels, a flouring mill and about twenty-five
other business enterprises, including stores
in the different branches of trade, shops, etc.
Population, 1899 (estimated), 1,500.
Clarkton. — A village in Freeborn Town-
ship, Dunklin County, eighteen miles north-
east of Kennett. It has a church, public
school, a flouring mill and cotton gin. It was
founded in i860 and named after Henry E.
Clark. Population, 1899 (estimated), 250.
*' Claybaiiks." — This was the name
given to the conservative element of the Re-
publican party when it became divided into
two factions, as a result of President Lincoln's
removal of General John C. Fremont from
the command of the Western Military De-
partment in 1861. This element of the party
had opposed the radical action of General
Fremont, indorsed President Lincoln's action
and recognized the fact that great diplomacy
was necessary on the part of the government
in dealing with the war issues. The radical
Republicans of that period were known as
"Charcoals."
Clay County. — A county in the north-
western part of the State, bounded on the
north by Clinton County, on the east by Ray
County, on the south by the Missouri River,
separating it from Jackson County, and on
the west by Platte County. The land surface
is rolling, in a few parts so rough as to be
untillable, with rocky and precipitous bluffs.
The Missouri River bottom portions are
richlv productive. The county was originally
heavily timbered, and much forest is yet
standing, comprising oak, hickory, ash, wal-
nut, hackberry and cottonwood. It is abun-
dantly watered, having a front of nearly fifty
miles on the Missouri River, and being
drained by its many affluents. Flowing
springs are abundant, and wells sunk to a
depth of thirty feet yield excellent water. The
climate is salubrious, and the hygienic condi-
tions are favorable to health and longevity.
The county contains some of the most pro-
ductive farms in the State. The chief
products are corn, wheat, rye, oats, barley,
grass, cattle, horses, hogs and sheep. The
following were the principal surplus product
shipments reported by the State Bureau of
Labor Statistics in 1900: Wheat, 13,395
bushels; corn, 13,457 bushels; flour, 1,231,300
pounds ; shipstuff, 330,000 pounds ; vegeta-
bles, 1,043,255 pounds; fruit, 245,255 pounds;
poultry, 734,752 pounds ; eggs, 177,588 dozen ;
game and fish, 26,398 pounds ; cattle, 19,739
head ; hogs, 60,328 head ; horses and mules,
633 head; sheep, 5,090 head; wool, 27,834
pounds; lumber, 590,700 feet; coal, 7,000
tons; stone, 117 cars; brick, 1,570,000. The
valuations for taxation in 1900 were : Real
and personal property, $5,698,066; railway
property, $1,616,975; merchants and manu-
facturer's, $153,845; total, $7,468,886. The
county tax was 40 cents on the $100; there
is no bonded county or township debt. The
first white settlement was by French trap-
pers about 1800, at Randolph Bluff, on the
Missouri River, but no trace of their occu-
pancy remains. Major John Dougherty, on
his way to the Rocky Mountains, was in the
county in 1808. The first permanent settlers
came in 1819, and among them were John
Owens, Samuel McGee, Benjamin Hensley,
William Campbell, Thomas Campbell, John
Wilson, Zachariah Everett and John Braley.
In 1820, and until 1828, a brisk tide of immi-
gration set in. The new settlers were mostly
from Kentucky, Tennessee, Virginia, Mary-
land and North Carolina. They were of the
true pioneer type, possessed of sturdy inde-
pendence and self-assertion, and free from
vice. In 1820 the Indians became trouble-
some, and four blockhouses were erected;
one was on the Thornton farm, five miles
southwest of Liberty ; another was one and
one-half miles southeast of that place, and
the other two were on Fishing River, in the
southeastern part of the county. In the same
year, in the latter locality, a number of In-
dians were killed in a skirmish, and the set-
tlers were thereafter undisturbed. Much
distress was caused by the deep snow in
1830-1. October 29, 1830. snow began to fall,
CLAY COUNTY,
19
and soon covered the ground twenty inches
deep on the level, with five feet drifts in
places. A week afterward there was a snow
fall of two feet, and a third heavy fall oc-
curred January 3d following. The snow went
off in a flood in March. Nearly all crops and
growing farm products in the Missouri River
bottoms^ were destroyed by the great flood
of 1844, and much suffering ensued. Clay
County was created January 2, 1822, by de-
tachment from Ray County, and was named
after Henry Clay, of Kentucky. It extended
to the northern boundary of the State, and
included the territory now constituting the
counties of Clinton, De Kalb and Gentry, and
the larger portion of Worth. The legislative
act of January 2, 1833, constituting various
counties, reduced Clay County to its present
dimensions. The creative act appointed John
Hutchins, Henry Estes, Enos Vaughn, Wyatt
Atkins and John Poor as commissioners to
locate a permanent seat of justice, and made
the house of John Owens the temporary seat.
There convened, February 11, 1822, the first
county court, consisting of Justices John
Thornton, Elisha Cameron and James Gil-
mer, commissioned by Governor Alexander
McNair. The court appointed W. L. Smith,
clerk ; John Harris, sheriff ; W. Hall, asses-
sor ; Jesse Gilliam, collector, and Samuel Til-
ford, John Hutchins, Howard Everett, R.
Linville and B. Sampson as commissioners
to preserve the school lands from waste. The
court allowed the justices one dollar a day
each, and Mr. Owens the same sum for the
use of his house. At the May term, John
Thornton was made presiding justice, and G.
Huffaker and J. Williams were recommended
to the Governor for appointment as justices
of the peace for Fishing Creek Township. In
1822 there were six stores in the county,
which paid a license of five dollars each. The
first road established in the county was from
Liberty to the Bluffton road. The tax list was
-for $142.77, of which less than two dollars
Avas uncollected. In 1824 a road to Council
Bluffs was established. The county court,
in 1825, comprised the justices of the peace,
George Burnett and Sebron G. Sneed, and
court sessions were held in Sneed's house in
Liberty. In February, 1826, the county
court adopted a seal with the following de-
vice : "A plough and rake with the sun im-
mediately over the plough, the rays of which
point in every direction." The court ap-
pointed patrols to see that slaves remained at
home at night. In February, 1823, were re-
corded deeds of emancipation to "Tom, a
man of color," by Henry Estes, and to
"Sylvia, a woman of color," by John Evans.
In 1836 was built a bridge, the first in the
county, over Fishing River, at the crossing
of the State road. March 4, 1822, was held
the first circuit court, at the house of John
Owens, with David Todd as judge, W. L.
Smith as clerk, Hamilton R. Gamble as cir-
cuit attorney, and John Harris as sheriff.
The first grand jury was composed of Rich-
ard Linville, foreman ; Z. McGee, B. Samp-
son, R. Y. Fowler, Z. Everett, H. Everett,
J. Ritchie, J. Munker, J. Evans, T. Estes, A.
Robertson, R. Hill, D. Magill, W. M. Mc-
Clelland, R. Poage, S. Tilford, D. Gregg, W.
Allen, E. Hall and J. Williams. Dabney Carr
was the first attorney admitted to practice.
Among the first judicial processes was a war-
rant, issued by Judge Todd, for the arrest of
three Indians, Buffalo Nose, White Briar and
Where-He-Is-Crossing, of the lowas, who,
while passing through, stole horses from Eze-
kiel Huffman and others. Arrests were made
and the Indians were jailed at Fayette,
whence they were taken to the Chariton
County jail, from which they escaped. The
horses were recovered. In 1828 a slave
woman named Annice drowned two of her
small children in a stream ; she was put upon
trial, convicted, and was hung in Liberty,
August 23d following, this being the first legal
execution in the county. The first Repre-
sentative from Clay County was Simon Cock-
rill, elected in 1822, and the first State Sena-
tor was Martin Parmer, elected in 1826. In
i846Williard P.Hall was elected to Congress.
He was nominated as the regular Democratic
candidate while he was a private in Captain
AIoss' Clay County Company in Mexican
War service, and was opposed by James H.
Birch, Independent Democrat. Hall marched
with his company to Santa Fe, and wrote an
address of reply to his opponent, who was
making an active canvass. Hall's address
was printed, and proved a most effective cam-
paign document. Hall was elected by a large
majority, and was duly advised of the fact.
He remained with the army, however, for a
time, accompanying General Kearney from
Santa Fe to California, and was commis-
sioned a lieutenant. In 1836 two school dis-
tricts were formed in Township 52, Range 30,
■20
CLAY COUNTY.
with Fishing River as the dividing Hne ; the
southern district was called Franklin, and had
as trustees, Hames Dagley, George Withers
and Samuel Crowley; the northern district,
called Jefferson, had as trustees, Winfrey E.
Price, Michael Welton and Joel P. Moore.
Later four school districts were formed in
Township 52, Range 31, and schools were
opened in all. In 183 1 the county court ap-
pointed W. S. May to select the school sec-
tions, and sales were made from these lands
by Samuel Tillery as commissioner. In 1853
Colonel A. W. Doniphan became the first
school commissioner. August 29, 1854, the
Clay County Teachers' Institute was organ-
ized at Alount Gilead Church, with James
Love as president, and L. R. Stone as secre-
tary; this is believed to have been the first
body of the kind in the State. Clay County
is now pre-eminent in its educational advan-
tages. In addition to William Jewell College
and Liberty Ladies' College (both noted un-
der their respective heads in this work), and
Haynes' Academy, at Excelsior Springs,
there are excellent high schools at Liberty,
Kearney and Excelsior Springs, and high-
school work is done at other places. In 1899
there were ninety-five public schools, of which
six were for colored children ; the enrollment
of pupils was 4,192 white and 226 colored;
the number of teachers employed was
117, of whom six were colored; the
value of school property was $104,840;
the average tax levy for school purposes was
51 cents on the $100; the permanent school
fund amounted to $75,802.34.
Many of the early settlers were devout
people who turned their minds to public
worship as soon as there was a settlement
sufficiently numerous. The old-school Bap-
tists, mostly from Kentucky, predominated
and effected the first church organization in
Clay County, known as Little Shoal Creek
Church, in Liberty Township. This was con-
stituted May 28, 1823, by Elder William
Thorp, a forceful pioneer preacher, who
served the congregation for twenty-eight
years. In 1824 was built a log house of
worship, which was replaced with a brick
structure in 1882. In 1823 Elder Thorp also
organized the Big Shoal Creek Baptist
Church. Other churches of the denomina-
tion were formed at Duncan's schoolhouse, in
Platte Township, in June, 1827; Mount Zion
Church, in Fishing River Township, in Sep-
tember, 1830; Clear Creek Church, in Kear-
ney Township, August 6, 1840, and the Provi-
dence Church, in Liberty Township, organ-
ized April 28, 1848, by the Rev. Robert
James (father of the James boys), and the
Rev. Franklin Graves. A Cumberland Pres-
byterian Church was organized at Barry,
June 3, 1826, by the Rev. R. D. Morrow; it
numbered twenty-seven original members.
An old-school Presbyterian Church \.as
formed at Liberty in 1829. In 1837
a Methodist Episcopal Church was or-
ganized at Pleasant Grove, from which place
it was removed, first to Haynesville, and
then to Holt. The same denomination
formed a church at Liberty in 1840, and at
Gosneyville in 1843; the Rev. E. M. Marvin,
afterward known as Bishop Marvin, was first
pastor of the church at Liberty. The first
organized body of Christians was at Liberty
in 1837. Other Christian Churches \vere the
Barry Church, which organized April 26,
1840, and built a frame house of worship the
same year; the Church of Christ, at Smith-
ville, organized in October, 1843, which in
1848 built a brick edifice, which was replaced
by a larger structure erected in 1883. at a
cost of $4,500; and Mt. Gilead Church, in
Kearney Township, organized in 1844 by the
Rev. A. H. Payne; the latter body built a
house of worship the same year, and replaced
it in 1873 with a brick edifice costing $2,600.
Bethel German Methodist Church, in Kear-
ney Township, was organized in 1845, with
the Rev. Heinrich Neulson as first pastor,
who, the same year, organized Zoar Church,
in Fishing River Township ; in 1847 a church
of the same denomination was formed four
miles east of Liberty by the Rev. H. Hogrefe.
The churches at Liberty are noted at length
in the article on "'Liberty." The military and
political history of Clay County is of intense
interest. In 1832 Colonel Shubael Allen,
with two mounted companies, commanded
respectively by Captains George Wallis and
Smith Crawford, made a thirty-two days'
campaign to the Iowa line to protect the set-
tlements against Indians ; the expedition re-
turned without finding an enemy. It was at
a regimental muster on the farm of Weekly
Dale, three miles north of Liberty, in the
summer of 1835, that the Platte Purchase
movement had its inception ; William T.
Wood, David R. Atchison, A. W. Doniphan,
Peter H. Burnett and E. M. Samuel were
CLAY COUNTY.
21
there appointed a committee to conduct the
negotiations. (See "Platte Purchase.") In
1836 Colonel Shubael Allen's battalion, be-
fore mentioned, was called into service in
"the Heatherly War" (which see) and re-
turned without having encountered an enemy.
In 1838 two companies, commanded respec-
tively by Captains Moss and Prior, partici-
pated in the "Mormon War." It is to be noted
that Joseph Smith and several of his Mormon
leaders were brought to Liberty and confined
in the jail; they were thence sent to Boone
County for trial, and on the journey Smith
made his escape. Clay County took a dis-
tinguished part during the Mexican War.
May 3, 1846, at a meeting presided over
by J. T. V. Thompson, a committee, consist-
ing of J. M. Hughes, M. J\L Samuels, Alvin
Lightburn and J. T. V. Thompson, was ap-
pointed to procure means to equip a company
of volunteers. As a result, a company of
114 men was formed and equipped, officered
by O. P. Moss, captain; L. B. Sublette, first
lieutenant ; James H. Moss, second lieuten-
ant, and Thomas Ogden, third lieutenant.
The company rendezvoused at Fort Leaven-
worth, and became part of Colonel A. W.
Doniphan's Regiment. (See "Doniphan's
Expedition.") After its return from Mexico,
at the close of the war, the company was
banqueted at Liberty, when a reception pro-
cession was marshalled by Judge J. T. V.
Thompson, a welcoming address was made
by H. L. Routt, and addresses were deliv-
ered by Colonel A. W. Doniphan, General
D. R. Atchison and Honorable James H.
Birch. During the border troubles, in 1854-8,
the people of Clay County were intensely in-
terested. Recognizing the menace to slavery,
they were among the foremost in active oppo-
sition to the designs of the Free-Soilers, and
evidence of the spirit which then prevailed
is found in the action of a public meeting at
Liberty, where resolutions were adopted ap-
proving the destruction of the "Parkville
Luminary" newspaper by a mob, because of
its Free-Soil utterances. December 4, 1855,
a pro-slavery party seized the Liberty Ar-
senal. At the presidential election in i860,
the county cast 1,036 votes for Bell, the Con-
stitutional-Union candidate ; 524 votes for
Douglas. 304 votes for Breckinridge, and not
a single vote for Lincoln. When South Caro-
lina seceded, a meeting was held in Liberty,
when Judge J. T. V. Thompson and H. L.
Routt were the principal speakers, and a com-
pany of minute men was formed to meet such
emergencies as might arise. Later, Colonel
A. W. Doniphan and James H. Moss were
chosen by an overwhelming vote as Union
delegates to the State Convention in Janu-
ary, 1861. In April following, when Fort
Sumter was fired upon, followed by President
Lincoln's call for troops, a great popular
movement set in in favor of secession. April
20ththe Liberty Arsenal was taken possession
of by those favoring the Southern cause. A
few days later a meeting was held in the
courthouse, where secession flags were dis-
played, and violent secession speeches were
made. This was followed next day by a
Union meeting, in which addresses were
made by Colonel Doniphan and James H.
Moss, and resolutions were adopted declaring
adherence to the LTnion, but protesting
against coercion. A company of home
guards was organized at Liberty, under the
command of Captain O. P. Moss, an Uncon-
ditional Unionist, and a company of Mounted
Rangers, composed almost entirely of
"Southern Rights" men was formed under
Captain H. L. Routt, and were provided with
arms taken from the Liberty Arsenal. Four
other companies were formed elsewhere in
the county, and most of their men afterward
entered the State Guard. June 19th Captain
Prince entered Liberty with several com-
panies of United States troops and captured
and paroled twenty of the State Guards, and
tore down a secession flag. Five companies
from the county took part in the siege of
Lexington. September 17th occurred the
battle of Blue Mills. After the capture of
Lexington, five companies were organized in
the county, and joined General Price's army.
December 8, 1861, General B. M. Prentiss
entered Liberty with 2,000 Federal troops,
and administered the oath of loyalty to a
numl^er of Southern sympathizers, and took
away with him a number of the most con-
spicuous of them. March 14, 1862, Colonel
Parker, with a company of Confederates,
appeared, shot and wounded Owen Grim-
shaw, a LTnionist ; captured Captain Hubbard,
a Federal officer, and ten of his recruits, and
tore down a United States flag. In the sum-
mer of 1862 the county was in possession of
Colonel Penick's regiment of Missouri State
^lilitia, who arrested many Southern sym-
pathizers, whom he obliged to take the oath
22
CLAYTON.
of allegiance and give bond for good be-
havior. Among these was Frank James, who
took the oath, gave bond for $i,ooo, and soon
afterward joined Bill Anderson's guerrilla
band. The same year, Judge J. T. V. Thomp-
son and Colonel H. L. Routt, original seces-
sionists who had supported Governor Jack-
son, returned to Liberty and took an active
part in Union movements. A considerable
number of Clay County Confederates partici-
pated in the battles at Independence and
Lone Jack, and several were killed, among
them Colonel John T. Hughes. August 14,
1862, Colonel Penick and iifty men were am-
buscaded near Barry, losing three men killed
and two wounded. They drove ofif the bush-
whackers and killed two citizens whom they
accused of giving false information. May 19,
1863, guerrillas entered Missouri City and
killed Captain Sessions, of the Enrolled
Militia. Lieutenant Gravenstein and a
private, plundered the stores, and took a
number of horses. September 6th a bush-
whacker named Donovan was killed in a
skirmish between Liberty and Missouri City.
In the fall of 1863 Colonel James H. Moss
formed the Eighty-second Regiment Enrolled
Missouri Militia ; among its members were a
number of ex-Confederate soldiers. The
year 1864 was notable for crime and dis-
order. Bands of bushwhackers roamed
about. Among those who came to death at
their hands were Bradley Y. Bond, Alvis
Daily, the brothers Simeon and John Bige-
low. All these were Unionists, and most of
them ex-soldiers. The perpetrators of these
deeds pleaded that they were in retaliation
for the killing of their own people. June 2d,
while pursuing the bushwhackers. Captain
Kemper and party were ambuscaded on Fish-
ing River, losing two killed, while Captain
Kemper and two others were wounded. In
the summer of 1864 Bill Anderson's band
routed Captain Colly's company of militia;
Captain Colly was shot and killed by Ander-
son, two of his men were killed in the affair,
and two others were shot after being taken
prisoners. March 30, 1865, Shepherd's band
of bushwhackers were attacked by armed
citizens, and routed, losing Alexander and
Arthur Dever, killed. These disorders ended
May 28th, when Oliver Shepherd, with four
of his men, surrendered to Lieutenant Ben
Cooper, at Liberty. Shepherd was hung by
a vigilance committee in Jackson County in
1868. Ling Litton became a quiet citizen,
and was afterward elected city marshal at
Liberty and sheriff of Clay County. Several
of the guerrillas became brigands after the
war, and were concerned in various bank and
train robberies between 1866 and 1881.
Among these depredations was the robbery
of the Clay County Savings Bank, Septem-
ber 13, 1866. A number of the outlaws stood
guard, while two of their number entered the
bank, covered Cashier Bird and his son with
their revolvers, and took from the vault
$60,000. One of the robbers wantonly shot
and killed a young man, William H. "Wymore,
who was standing on the street. In 1867 the
Kansas City branch of the Hannibal & St.
Joseph Railway was completed from Cam-
eron, INIissouri, to Kansas City. The Wabash
Railway was completed through the county
in 1868, the Council Bluffs Railroad in 1869,
and the Chicago, Milwaukee & St. Paul Rail-
road in 1886. Notwithstanding the drainage
of war times, the population in 1870 was
15,564, a gain of more than 2,500 since i860.
In 1900 the population was 18,903.
F. Y. Hedlev.
Clayton. — The county seat of St. Louis
County, nine miles west of the city of St.
Louis. It was laid out in 1878 around a tract
of four acres donated by Mrs. Hanley for
the public buildings, and was named after
Ralph Clayton, an old citizen, who donated
one hundred acres of his farm to the new
county. Mr. Clayton was born in Augusta
County, Virginia, February 22, 1788, came
to Missouri in 1820 and settled in Central
Township of St. Louis County, on the land
which he opened and lived on, till his death,
at the age of ninety-six years.
Clayton, Ralph, one of the most hon-
ored citizens of St. Louis County, and the
man after whom its county seat was named,
was born February 22, 1788, in Bath County,
Virginia, and died at his home, in the town
of Clayton, July 22, 1883. When he was a
small child his parents removed to Augusta
County, Virginia, and there he grew up and
received a good practical education. His
father, whose name was John Clayton, and
his mother, whose maiden name was Mar-
garet Rice, were both natives of England.
From the land in which they were born and
reared they came to Virginia, and for many
£ha.iu m//iams ^/y
A' ' ^-5^
CLEARING HOUSE.
23
years they lived on a large estate, which has
been handed down from father to son through
several generations, and which is still in the
possession of their descendants. Ralph
Clayton came to Missouri in 1820, at the
time when the new Commonwealth was pre-
paring to assume the duties and responsi-
bilities of statehood. He settled on a farm
which was nine miles west of what was then
the little city of St. Louis, and for more
than threescore years thereafter he was a
prosperous agriculturist and one of the lead-
ing citizens of St. Louis County. On this
farm he lived for sixty-two years, and in the
later years of his life he saw a thrifty and
prosperous village grow up on the lands
which he had cleared and cultivated. When
St. Louis County was separated from the
city and it became necessary to establish a
new county seat, he donated to the county
a site for its capital, and, in honor of him,
the town was named Clayton. Near his home
he built a JN'Iethodist Church, in which he
and his family worshiped for many years.
In this good work he was generously aided
by his neighbors and friends, and those who
applied to him for favors in turn were never
disappointed in his contributions, no matter
what religious denomination benefited by his
gift. A most hospitable and generous man,
he was the friend of all who came to him
for aid, and no unfortunate was ever turned
away from his door unblessed by his benefac-
tions. Frequently urged by his friends to
accept office, he as frequently declined the
honors, preferring the quietude of his home
and his farm life to public position. Only
once did he vary from this rule, and that
was when he consented to serve a term as
justice of the peace. After a long, useful,
happy and contented life, he died when in
his ninety-sixth year. One of his distinguish-
ing characteristics was his temperance in
everything and total abstinence from the use
of into.xicating drinks, and doubtless this had
much to do with the prolongation of his life.
Notwithstanding his remarkable age, as long
as he was able to walk he could be seen every
day directing his workmen on the farm and
in the village of Clayton. Two weeks before
his demise he walked from his home to a
Sunday service at the church which he loved
so well. He had a remarkably retentive
memory and was a great reader, his Bible
being the best beloved of all his books. It
was his custom to spend the early morning
of each day in the privacy of his own cham-
ber reading the Book of Books, and the old
volume which was his constant companion
through life is treasured as a sacred heirloom
by his family. In all his business relations
his integrity was of the ideal kind, and the
good name which he left behind him is a
precious inheritance to his children. May
31, 1831, he married Miss Rosanna McCaus-
land, of St. Louis County, who died in 1862.
Their children were John A. Clayton, Rev.
William D. Clayton and Mrs. Mary McCaus-
land.
Clearing House. — The clearing house
is of comparatively modern origin, the first
institution of the kind having been established
in London about the beginning of the last
centur}^ The New York Clearing House,
the first organized in the United States, be-
gan its operations October 11, 1853. The St.
Louis Clearing House was organized in 1868,
beginning its operations December 24th of
that year. The banks and banking institu-
tions numbered among its charter members
were as follows : Accommodation Bank, Bar-
tholomew, Lewis & Co., Boatmen's Saving
Institution, Butchers' and Drovers' Bank,
Central Savings Bank, Clark Bros. & Co.,
Commercial Bank. Exchange Bank, First
National Bank, Fourth National Bank,
Fourth Street Bank, Franklin Avenue Ger-
man Savings Institution, Franklin Savings
Institution, German Bank, German Savings
Institution, Haskell & Co., International
Bank, G. H. Loker & Bro., Mechanics' Bank,
Merchants' National Bank, National Bank
State of Missouri, National Loan Bank,
North St. Louis Savings Association, Peo-
ple's Savings Institution, Provident Savings
Institution, St. Louis National Bank, St.
Louis Building and Savings Association,
Second National Bank, State Savings Asso-
ciation, Third National Bank, Traders' Bank,
Union National Bank, Union Savings Asso-
ciation, United States Saving Institution,
Western Savings Bank. Of these banks the
following have since voluntarily retired from
business, many of them soon after the panic
of 1873: Accommodation Bank, Central
Savings Bank, Clark Bros. & Co., Exchange
Bank, First National Bank. German Bank,
Haskell & Co., G. H. Loker & Bro., Na-
tional Bank, State of Missouri, National
CLEARING HOUSE.
Loan Bank, North St. Louis Savings Associ-
ation, People's Savings Institution, Second
National Bank, Traders' Bank, Union Na-
tional Bank, United States Savings Institu-
tion, Western Savings Bank. Of the banks
belonging to the original clearing house not
in business, or represented by legitimate
successors in 1897, the Provident Savings In-
stitution is the only one which went into
bankruptcy. This bank failed, but paid the
depositors almost in full. The first president
of the Clearing Houwe Association was Wil-
liam E. Burr, and the first vice president was
Charles Hodgeman. The first committee of
management was composed of J. H. Britton,
Felix Coste, J. C. H. S. Block, W. H. Mau-
rice and John R. Lionberger. The first man-
ager was Jas. W. Howenstein. Howenstein
was succeeded as manager in 1871 by Edward
Chase, who continued to act in that capac-
ity until his death, which occurred March i,
1897. Thomas A. Stoddard succeeded Chase.
A reorganization of the association took
place soon after the panic of 1873, and in 1875
an aniendment to the constitution was
adopted, providing that no member should
be added to the association who has not a
paid-up capital of $150,000. Mainly through
consolidations of the banking interests of the
city and the building up of banking institu-
tions prepared to operate on a vastly larger
scale than their predecessors, the number of
members of the association had been reduced
in 1897 to twenty, one of these members be-
ing the Cfnited States Subtreasury in St.
Louis. For the month of January, 1873, the
total clearings were $43,033,907; the total
clearings for the month of January, 1897,
were $113,589,327, and these figures are fairly
illustrative of the growth and expansion of
the financial and commercial interests of the
city during this period of twenty-four years.
The purpose of the Clearing House Associa-
tion is, primarily, to facilitate the exchange
of checks and bring about the immediate set-
tlement of balances between the banks of the
city. Tlie method of doing this is a matter
of interest to the public in this connection.
In the conduct of his affairs a business man
receives checks on various banks. These
checks are not presented for payment at the
banks upon which they are drawn, but are
deposited by the man in whose favor they
are drawn in the bank in which his own ac-
count is kept, and either cashed or passed to
his credit. At the end of each day's business
each bank finds itself in possession of large
numbers of checks drawn upon other banks,
which must be presented for payment. To
bring together representatives of all these
banks, to check up their accounts against
each other and to settle the balances before
another day's business begins is the business
of the clearing house. When a bank closes
its business for the day all of the checks
drawn against each of the other banks of the
city, which have been deposited during the
day with such bank, have been filed away
in an envelope bearing the clearing house
number of the debtor bank. A memorandum
made on a clearing house slip, showing the
amount due the bank from each of the debtor
batiks, is filed with the checks which are to
be sent to such banks for payment. On the
following morning a delivery clerk and a set-
tling clerk representing each of the banks
proceed to the clearing house, carrying with
them all of the checks held by the bank which
they represent drawn on other banks. At
10:30 o'clock the clearing house is called to
order by the manager, and the delivery clerks
then present to the settling clerks of each
of the banks the checks charged up to them
on the preceding day. When the accounts of
the different banks against each other are
thus brought together the exact amount that
one bank owes another on account of the ex-
change of their checks is quickly ascertained,
and a clearing house check, drawn in favor
of the creditor and against the debtor bank,
settles the day's business between them.
Thus in fifteen minutes all the transactions
of the previous day are adjusted between
the banks of the city and the new day begins
with all scores settled. Banks which are not
members of the Clearing House Association
arrange to make their clearings through
banks which are members of the association,
their checks being treated the same as those
of individual depositors in such clearing
house banks, except that the clearing house
makes it a point to keep informed as to their
solvency. July 29, 1884, the St. Louis post-
office was admitted to clearance privileges,
the idea originating in that city. IMoney or-
ders, as turned into the banks by their de-
positors, bear the clearing house stamp of
the bank offering them in lieu of and equiva-
lent to indorsement. Balances are certified
in favor of some bank having a credit.
CLEARMONT— CLEARY.
25
•Checks in favor of the clearing house certifi-
•cates are issued by the postmaster upon the
United States Subtreasury, which is the de-
pository of all postofifice moneys. Fully
seven-eighths of the money orders payable
at St. Louis are credited on the accounts of
bank depositors engaged in trade, thus af-
fording to payees an easy method of cash-
ing the same without the annoyance in many
cases of personal identification. January i,
1897, the Subtreasury joined the Clearing
House Association. In addition to facilitat-
ing the exchange of checks between banks,
the clearing house "exercises a supervisory
watchfulness over the afTairs of its members
and bonds them all together in mutual help-
fulness in times of commercial distress."
Clearinont.— A village in Atchison Town-
ship, Nodaway County, five miles northeast
■of Burlington Junction, on the Chicago,
Burlington & Ouincy Railroad, and also on
the Clarinda branch of the Wabash, St. Louis
& Pacific. It is a thriving place of 300 in-
habitants. The place contains Methodist,
Baptist and Christian Churches, a Masonic
lodge, a lodge of the Independent Order
Good Templars, the Jackson Bank, with a
capital of $12,000 and deposits of $46,000,
and is the center of a large grain trade. The
■"News" covers the field of local news-gather-
ing acceptably. A good creamery receives
fair support.
Cleary, JohnM., lawyer and legislator,
Kansas City, was born August 21, 1869, at
Odell, Illinois. His parents were Michael
and Ellen (Burke) Cleary. The father was
a native of Livingstone County, Illinois, a
wealthy land-owner and stockman, a mem-
ber of the State Legislature from 1882 to
1890, and again elected in 1898. The mother
was reared in Sandwich. Illinois. The son
lived at home until he was seventeen years
of age, engaged in such labors as pertain
to a large stock farm, and laying the founda-
tion for an education in the district school
and in the Odell High School, following this
with a course in the Northern Illinois Normal
School, at Dixon, Illinois. In 1886 he entered
St. Victeur's College, at Bourbonnais Grove,
near Kankakee, where he completed a liberal
literary course. He then engaged in the study
of law in the Bloomington Law School, at
Bloomington, Illinois, and in the office of Ste-
venson & Ewing, in the same city. One of
his preceptors, Mr. Stevenson, was elected
Vice President of the United States in 1892.
Mr. Cleary was admitted to the bar in 1893,
and in September, 1894, removed to Kansas
City, Missouri, where he engaged in practice.
In November, 1898, he was elected a repre-
sentative in the General Assembly, where his
intelligent judgment and careful discharge of
duty commanded deep respect. In politics
he is a Democrat, and has always been ear-
nest in advocacy of the principles and inter-
ests of his party. In religion he is a Catholic.
He is a member of the Phi Delta Theta, a
Greek letter society, with which he became
connected in his college days; of the Mar-
quette Club of Kansas City, and of Kansas
City Lodge, No. 26, Benevolent and Pro-
tective Order of Elks. He is unmarried. Mr.
Cleary occupies an honorable place at the
Kansas City bar, and in other courts where
his professional attainments and enthusiasm
in his calling have won for him respect and
admiration. In his political affiliations he
commands a degree of confidence among his
associates which afifords promise of prefer-
ment in the field of politics or in the line of
his profession, as he may prefer, while for
his social traits he is highly esteemed in all
circles in which he mingles.
Cleary, Kedmond, was bom May 25,
1829, on a farm in Tipperary County, Ire-
land. He was reared at home and attended
a private school near there until fifteen years
of age. His father died about this time and
he then had to work on the farm until his
twenty-first year. Owing to reverses, the
family emigrated to this country in the lat-
ter year — 1850 — via New Orleans, and settled
in Carondelet. After several years of hard
work and economy he managed to accumu-
late a few hundred dollars. With these
savings he started in the grocery and feed
business in 1854. Later in this year he be-
came a member of the then Union Merchants'
Exchange of St. Louis, which was in its in-
fancy, and remained an active member of
'Change until his death, covering a period
of nearly forty-five years. He continued in
this line for a number of years, being suc-
cessful from the start, and in the spring of
1865 he organized the general grain and com-
mission house of Cleary & Taylor. This firm
also prospered, and he remained in this co-
26
CLEAVESVILLE-CLEMENS.
partnership until 1876. In that year he
bought Mr. Taylor's interest, and continued
the business under the name of Redmond
Cleary & Co. — he being the sole owner. In
1887 he incorporated the latter concern as
the Redmond Cleary Commission Company.
Shortly after Mr. Cleary's death — which oc-
curred in January, 1898 — this latter very well
known corporation went into voluntary liqui-
dation and retired from business, after nearly
half a century of honorable and successful
commercial life. Air. Cleary was of a specu-
lative turn, at times being largely interested
in real estate, mining, banking and elevators.
Although often solicited, his modesty pre-
vented him from accepting many very high
positions in either public or private life, he
having no taste for the excitement of the
former, although deeply appreciating the
honor his fellow citizens sought to confer
upon him. He was a devout member of the
Roman Catholic Church, and always gave lib-
erally to charity, being a generous benefactor
of several local institutions. In 1858 he mar-
ried Miss Alice K. Ryan, of St. Louis, who
lived a little more than a year, and whose
death was preceded a few days by that of
their only child. Some months after this
great loss Mr. Cleary, in i860, left for Ire-
land, where he revisited the many dear
scenes of his youth. While abroad he trav-
eled extensively, spending nearly two years
in Europe. Shortly after his return to this
country, on June 17, 1863, he married Miss
Julia H. Doyle, of St. Louis, daughter of John
Do3'le and Mary C. Hayden.
Cleavesville. — A hamlet in Gasconade
County, forty miles southwest of Herman.
It has one store, a school and church. Popu-
lation, 1899 (estimated), 20.
Clemens, Samuel Langhorne, bet-
ter known as "jMark Twain," distinguished
as an author, is a native of Missouri, born in
the village of Florida, Monroe County, Mis-
souri. He was of aristocratic lineage. His
father, Judge John Marshall Clemens, of
Virginia, was a descendant of Gregory
Clemens, who was one of the judges who
condemned to death King Charles I, of
England. Jane Lampton, mother of Samuel
L. Clemens, was of the Lampton family of
Durham, England. The Montgomerys, who
accompanied Daniel Boone to Kentucky, in
which State she was born, were also among
her ancestors. John Marshall and Jane
Clemens were married in Kentucky, and first
made their home at Lexington, where they
owned a handsome estate and six slaves who
came to them by inheritance. They removed
to Jamestown, Tennessee, w'here Judge Mar-
shall had procured a large tract of land from
W'hich he anticipated large returns, and this
transaction afterward prompted the writing
of "The Gilded Age" by "Mark Twain." In
1835 the parents removed to Missouri, locat-
ing at Hannibal. Their son, Samuel, was
then a delicate child, three years of age.
Somewhat later he was sent to the farm of
an uncle, where he could enjoy open air and
outdoor sports. He was anything but
studious, and could neither be coaxed nor
driven to school after he was ten years old.
He found occasional occupation in the office
of a newspaper conducted by his brother,
Orion, but tiring of confinement, left home
at the age of eighteen years, and went east
where he lived for four years. In 1857 he
began learning steamboat piloting, under
Horace Bixby, on the Mississippi River. His
memory was marvelous, and his eye for land-
marks sure, and he soon became a skillful
pilot. In his leisure hours upon the boat,
or while lying in port, he sought society,
and made himself agreeable in conversatioa
and as a piano performer and singer. At the
breaking out of the Civil War, he entered the
Confederate Army as a second lieutenant
under General Tom Harris, but he aban-
doned this service a few weeks later. His
brother, Orion Clemens, having been ap-
pointed secretary of the new Territory of
Nevada, .Samuel accompanied him in his trip
across the plains, and, residing in Virginia
City, contributed to the leading paper of the
town a series of letters which found such
favor with the proprietor, that he appointed
the writer local editor, and sent him to
Carson City, as legislative correspondent. It
was while so engaged that his journalistic
nom dc plume, "]\lark Twain." was adopted.
Shortly afterward, he removed to San Fran-
cisco, California, and became city editor of
the "Morning Call." After a short time he
was sent to Hawaii as a newspaper cor-
respondent, and while so engaged his de-
scription of the burning of the ship "Hornet"
brought him generous recognition as a
CLEVELAND— CLIMATE OF MISSOURL
27
descriptive writer. Six months later he
returned to CaHfornia and gave a few lec-
tures, but soon abandoned the uncongenial
labor. In 1867 he wrote "The Jumping Frog
of Calaveras," and this gave him immediate
introduction as a humorous writer. The
next year he went abroad with the "Quaker
City" steamship excursion to Europe and
the Holy Land, and this afforded him inspira-
tion for his first considerable published
volume, "Innocents Abroad," which brought
Him immediate fame. An episode of his
voyage was his meeting with Miss Olivia L.
Langdon, to whom he was married in Feb-
ruary, 1870. For four years following his
return home, he was successfully engaged in
lecturing. Shortly after his marriage he
established his home at Buffalo, New York,
where he purchased an interest in a news-
paper, but he found confinement irksome,
and removed in 1871, to Hartford, Connecti-
cut, where he produced two volumes,
"Roughing It" and "The Gilded Age." In
1873, with his family, he visited Great
Britain. Among other works he has pro-
duced "Life on the Mississippi," 1875 ; "Tom
Sawyer," 1876; "A Tramp Abroad," 1880;
"Prince and Pauper," i88i,and "Huckleberry
Finn," 1885. In 1885 he became a member of
the new publishing firm of Charles L.Webster
& Co., New York. This firm paid to the
family of General Grant, $350,000 for the
"Memoirs" of the distinguished soldier, the
largest sum ever paid for a biographical
work. The fortune thus acquired was lost
through investment in a type-setting machine,
and "Mark Twain" turned again to author-
ship and with the proceeds of his book "Fol-
lowing the Equator" paid a debt of $96,000
outstanding at the time of his failure. He
made a lecturing tour in various countries,
and afterward wrote "Pudd'nhead Wilson,"
which was entirely successful, as was an after
dramatization. Years of voluminous writ-
ing have failed to exhaust Mr. Clemens'
originality or buoyant humor. On the con-
trary, improvement and versatility are dis-
cerned in his more recent work. His works
have been translated into seven different
languages, and are as familiar in many
foreign countries as at home.
Cleveland. — See "Burlington Junction."
Clevelainl, Cincinnati, Chicago &
St. Louis Railroad. — The Cleveland,
Cincinnati, Chicago & St. Louis Railroad,
lying entirely on the east side of the Mis-
sissippi, is one of the most important systems
reaching St. Louis. It controls 2,248 miles
of road in Ohio, Indiana and Illinois, ex-
tending into the southwestern part of Mich-
igan and connecting the four great cities that
constitute its name in a quadrilateral of trade.
It was formed in 1889 by the consolidation
of several valuable roads, St. Louis contribut-
ing the Indianapolis & St. Louis, and other
lines coming in to complete the "Big Four"
system. There are nine divisions, each of
these four cities having one, and four oth-
ers, being those of Cairo, Whitewater, San-
dusky and Michigan. It is one of the most
compact systems west of the Alleghany
Mountains, and it would be difficult to over-
estimate its advantages to St. Louis, one
being the connection it affords with the Ches-
apeake & Ohio Railroad and Newport News.
Cliff Cave. — A cave thirteen miles below
St. Louis, on the Mississippi River, used for
a wine cellar. It is known also by the name
of Indian Cave.
Clifton Hill. — An unincorporated town,
located in the extreme western part of Ran-
dolph County, on the Wabash Railroad,
twelve miles west of Moberly. It has five
general stores, two drug stores, hardware
store, lumber yard, barber shop, hotel, shops,
etc. The town also supports an enterprising
newspaper. It has a good public school and
two churches. Population, 1900 (estimated),
200.
Climate of Missouri. — The annual
mean temperature of Missouri, as computed
from all available records to the end of 1898,
is 54.5 degrees. The annual mean of each of
the five physiographical divisions of the
State is as follows: Northwestern plateau,
51.9 degrees; northeastern plain, 53.6 de-
grees ; southwestern lowlands, 54.5 degrees ;
Ozark plateau, 55.2 degrees, and southeast-
ern lowlands, 57.6 degrees. The lowest an-
nual mean temperature is found in the
extreme northwestern counties, where it is
slightly below 50 degrees, and the highest in
the extreme southeastern counties, where it
is about 60 degrees. The variations in the
annual mean temperature from year to year
rarely exceed three degrees and are often less
CLIMATE OF MISSOURI.
than one degree. The following table shows
the mean temperature of each division by
seasons :
Division. Spring. Summer. Autumn. Winter.
Northwestern plateau 51.8 74.5 53.6 27.7
Northeastern plain 53.5 75.3 55.1 30-6
Southwestern lowlands 54.3 75.7 56.1 31.9
Ozark plateau 55.1 74» 56.2 '34.7
Southeastern lowlands 58.0 76.7 58.3 37.3
State 54.5 75-3 55-9 32-4
The warmest month of the year is July,
with a mean temperature for the State of
77.0 degrees, and the coldest is January, with
a mean temperature of 29.8 degrees. During
the months of June, July, August and Sep-
tember the temperature occasionally rises to
■95 degrees, but does not often exceed 100.
The highest temperature ever recorded at
any weather bureau station in the State was
106 degrees, at St. Louis on August 12th
and 26th. 1881. During the winter months
the temperature sometimes falls to 5 or 10
degrees below zero, but temperatures of 20
degrees below zero are of very rare occur-
rence. The lowest temperature ever re-
■corded at any weather bureau station was 29
degrees below zero, at Springfield on Febru-
ary i2th, 1899. The average number of days
during the year with maximum temperature
above 90 degrees is twenty, and the average
number with minimum temperature below
32 degrees ranges from about 75 in the south-
ern, to no in the northern portion of the
State. During the winter cold waves occa-
sionally sweep over the State, causing falls
in temperature of from 40 to 60 degrees in
twenty-four hours, but periods of extreme
cold are usually of short duration, as are also
periods of extreme heat in summer.
The average date of the last killing frost
in spring and the first in autumn, as com-
puted from the records of the several weather
bureau stations, is as follows :
<, . Last in First in Length of
Spring Autumn. Season, days.
Keokuk, la April ii October 13 1S4
Hannibal April 13 October 16 185
St. Louis April 10 Octoher3i 20;
Columbia April 13 October 14 1S3
Kansas City April S October 16 100
Springfield April 16 October 13 iSo
Cairo, 111 March 29 October 25 20^
The average annual precipitation for each
division, and for the State, is as follows :
Northwestern plateau, 36.33 inches ; north-
eastern plain. 38.41 inches : southwestern low-
lands, 39.24 inches; Ozark plateau, 43.73
inches ; southeastern lowlands, 46.36 inches,
and for the State, 40.81 inches. The wettest
months are May and June, the average pre-
cipitation for the State for those months
being 5.23 and 4.95 inches, respectively, and
the driest are February and October, with an
average for the State of 2.33 and 2.36 inches,
respectively. The following table shows the
average precipitation for each division by sea-
Spring. Summer Autu
Northwestern plateau 10.74
Northeastern plain 11.58
Southwestern lowlands 12.44
Ozark plateau 14.00
Southeastern lowlands 14-53
State 12.65
.75 8.89
.36 9.90
.44 8.47
Of the eleven years from 1888 to 1898,
inclusive, the wettest was 1898, with an aver-
age for the State of 53.67 inches, and the
driest was 1894, with an average of 33.18
inches. Rainfalls of from 2 to 3 inches
in twenty-four consecutive hours occur in
some portion of the State during nearly
every month of the year, but falls of more
than 4 inches in twenty-four hours are com-
paratively rare.
From November to March, inclusive, the
precipitation is usually general in character,
but during the summer months the greater
part occurs in the form of local showers.
The average seasonal snowfall ranges from
about 10 inches in the southeastern, to about
25 inches in the northwestern portion of the
State.
The prevailing winds are southerly, al-
though during the winter season northwest-
erly winds prevail a considerable part of the
time. The average hourly wind velocity
ranges from five to ten miles during the sum-
mer, and from eight to twelve miles during
the winter months.
The average cloudiness ranges from 35 to
50 per cent during the summer and autumn,
and from 50 to 55 per cent during the winter
and spring. The average number of rainy
days (days on which .01 of an inch or more
of precipitation falls) is 9 in January and
February, 10 in March, 11 in April, 13 in
May, II in June, 9 in July, 8 in August and
September, 7 in October, and 8 in November
and December.
The mean annual relative humidity is 72
per cent. a. E. Hackett.
CLINKSCALES— CLINTON.
2»
Clinkscales, James R., banker, was
born May 25, 1851, in Carroll County, Mis-
souri, and died at Excelsior Springs, Mis-
souri, October 24, 1893. His remains now
rest in Oak Hill Cemetery at Carrollton, Mis-
souri. His parents were John W. and Joanna
P. (Thomas) Clinkscales, the first named of
whom came of a Virginia family, and the last
named of a Kentucky family. His father was
only a child when he came to Carroll County,
Missouri, and his family were among the first
settlers in that county. James R. Clink-
scales obtained his early education in a
private school at Carrollton and completed
his academic studies in the University of the
State of ^Missouri at Columbia. For two
years after leaving college he lived at Golden,
Colorado, having gone there for the benefit
of his health. While there he was engaged in
mercantile pursuits. At the end of this
period of two years, he returned to Carroll-
ton, Missouri, and embarked in the general
merchandising business there, which he con-
tinued until about the year 1889. The First
National Bank of Carrollton was then or-
ganized through his efforts, and he became
its president, a position which he continued
to fill until his death. By nature a public-
spirited and enterprising man, he was long
recognized as one of the most useful citizens
of Carrollton. Having in view the building
up of the town as a trade center, he was espe-
cially active in promoting the building of
railroads through this portion of the State,
and in bringing about the establishment of
manufactories of various kinds in the chief
town of Carroll County. It was through his
efforts largely that the Dain Manufacturing
Company, which engaged in the manufacture
of mowers and all kinds of agricultural im-
plements, was induced to begin business at
Carrollton, and he was a director and treas-
urer of this corporation up to the time of his
death. • He had also been a stockholder in a
planing mill and other manufacturing con-
cerns, and scarcely any enterprise was sug-
gested or promoted during his active bus-
iness career at Carrollton which he did not
aid and assist with his means and influence.
He was the kind of man looked to by his
neighbors and townsmen to lead in all move-
ments having for their object the advance-
ment of the material interests of the place,
and his high character and unquestioned
probity commanded the confidence of the
public for any enterprise with which he was
identified. In politics he was a Democrat,,
and he was a member of the Christian
Church. When the new church of that de-
nomination was erected in Carrollton, he was-
a member of the building committee, and be-
sides handling all the building funds, gave-
his personal and daily supervision to the work
of erecting the edifice. Deeply interested
in all the work of the church, and holding the
office of deacon, he contributed in every way
possible to the extension of its usefulness.
He affiliated with fraternal societies as a
member of the Masonic Order, in which he
had attained the degree of Knight Templar.
October 3, 1878, Mr. Clinkscales married
Miss Annie F. JMcBaine, of Columbia, Alis-
souri. Mrs. Clinkscales has been, and is still,
very prominently identified with educational'
and philanthropic work and various move-
ments for promoting culture and intelligence
among women. She is now State secretary
of the Missouri Federation of Women's
Clubs and has taken an active part in formu-
lating and pushing forward educational and
literary work among the women of Carroll-
ton. She is a director, and has been presi-
dent, of the Carrollton Magazine Club, and
is a member of the Chautauqua Circle of that
city. She was graduated from Christian Col-
lege, of Columbia, Missouri, in 1876.
Clinton.— The county seat of Henry
County, on the Kansas City, Fort Scott &
Memphis, the Missouri, Kansas & Texas,
and the Kansas City, Osceola & Southern
Railways, eighty-five miles southeast of Kan-
sas City, and 230 miles west of St. Louis.
The business center is substantially built, and
the residence districts are laid out in broad
streets and avenues, upon which stand beau-
tiful homes of various types of modern archi-
tecture, surrounded with spacious and
well adorned grounds. Water is provided by
the Home Water Works, incorporated in
1886. For two years the supply was drawn
from Grand River. In 1888 a six-inch well
was sunk to a depth of 840 feet, and in 1894 a
second well was sunk, eight inches in diam-
eter, and 550 feet deep. The aggregate
capacity is 600,000 gallons per diem. The
water is slightly sulphurized. Other large
water sources are the artesian wells of the
Clinton Ice Plant, 800 feet deep, and eight
inches in diameter ; and the free-flowing un-
30
CLINTON.
utilized well, 900 feet deep and eight inches in
diameter, owned by Britts and Dorman. The
Holly system affords pressure for fire pur-
poses, and the city maintains a fire depart-
ment at an annual cost of $960 for men in
charge, paying additional men when called
into service. The city expends $4,000 per
annum for water for public uses, and $3,700
per annum for electric lighting, furnished by
the Clinton Gas & Electric Light Company.
The bonded indebtedness is $18,000 on sewer
and building account. The city hall is a two-
story brick building, erected in 1891 at a cost
of $6,000; it contains a council chamber,
police court room, calaboose, and rooms for
the fire equipment. The courthouse is a
beautiful edifice of Warrensburg stone, com-
pleted in 1893, and costing $50,000. The
walls are rough, with smoothly dressed fac-
ings of same material as the body of the
building.
Church edifices are spacious, and in most
instances are of modern and handsome de-
sign; these are of the Baptist, Catholic,
Christian, German Evangelical, Methodist
Episcopal, Methodist Episcopal, South ; Pres-
byterian, Cumberland Presbyterian and Prot-
estant Episcopal denominations. Churches
are also maintained by the colored Baptists
and Methodists.
The public schools were organized soon
after the Civil War, with Rev. L. C. Marvin,
Dr. G. Y. Salmon and Judge J. G. Dorman
as directors. The first superintendent was
Aaron T. Bush, and he was assisted by Mrs.
Richard Wooderson, i\Iiss Irene Rogers
(Mrs. B. G. Boone) and Miss Almira Parks
(Mrs. A. M. Fulkerson). The first school
building was a four-room, two-story frame
structure, located about half a block west
from southwest corner of the square. The
Franklin school, of six rooms, was built in
1870 at the northwest corner of Franklin and
Third Streets, and the frame school building
was moved to North Clinton and named
"Lincoln School." This was occupied by the
colored school until 1894, when it was de-
stroyed by fire, and a four-room, two-story
brick structure took its place. In 1881 six
rooms were added to the west side of the
Franklin building, and an east wing, consist-
ing of six rooms, was built in 1885. Eight
years later a six-room brick edifice was
erected at the corner of Franklin Street and
Orchard Avenue for the benefit of the children
in the western part of the town. This school
was named "Jefferson Park." The crowded
condition of the rooms necessitated still an-
other schoolhouse, and in 1897 Washington
School, on the corner of Ohio and Sixth
Streets, was built. Although there are eight
rooms in that building at the present time
(1900), only seven have been used. About
four miles southeast from Clinton is Reid
School, which, although it is in many respects
but a rural school, yet is in the Clinton dis-
trict and under the supervision of the city
school. There have been fourteen superin-
tendents since the war: Aaron T. Bush,
1865-6; Joel Townsend, 1866-7; J. A. De La
Vergue, 1867-8; Mrs. Maggie Salisbury,
1868-9; C. L. Wells, 1869-70; L. M. Johnson,
1870-3; F. Rowe, 1873-4; J. N. Cook, 1874-6;
E. W. Stowell, 1876-8; C. J. Harris, 1878-9;
E. P. Lamkin, 1879-81; C. B. Reynolds,
1881-97; G. M. Hohday, 1897-9; F. B. Owen,
1899. Since 1875 there have been 258 grad-
uates from the high school. In 1897 the
course was lengthened from three to four
years, two courses — Latin scientific and Eng-
lish scientific — were offered, and the high
school was placed on the list of approved
schools of the State University. The prepar-
atory work is divided into eight grades— four
years primary and four years grammar.
Upon the completion of the work in the
grammar school, certificates of admission
into the high school are given. The school
board is strictly non-partisan, each of the
two leading political parties making one nom-
ination each year. The growth of the schools
may be shown by the following: Teachers
employed in i88'6, 18; 1891, 22; 1893, 27;
1895, 30; 1897, 32; 1898, 36; 1900, 37. Value
of buildings and grounds, 1886, $40,000;
1 89 1, $51,000; 1893, $65,000; 1897, $79,000.
It is said that Judge J. G. Dorman, one of
the prominent citizens of Clinton to-day, at
one time knew the name of every child in the
district, and that he was one of two who
took the enumeration in an hour's time. The
report of the State superintendent for 1899
shows the following: Total enumeration,
2,131; total enrollment, 1,617; number of
days school is maintained, 180; number of
pupils that may be seated, 1,861 ; volumes in
library, 1.125: value of library, $1,000; as-
sessed value of taxable property, $1,452,680;
levy for school purposes, $1 on $100.
Fraternal societies include a Masonic
31
lodge, a chapter, a commandery and a
chapter of the Eastern Star ; two lodges and
an encampment of Odd Fellows, and lodges
of the Knights of Pythias, United Workmen,
Modern Woodmen, Woodmen of the World,
the Maccabees, the Ancient Order of Aegis,
the Home Roofers, and the True Samari-
tan; the latter order has its principal office
here. In 1895 was organized Company F,
Second Regiment Infantry, National Guard
of Missouri, under command of Captain John
W. White ; it served with its regiment during
the Spanish-American War under Captain A.
C. Landon, and under him resumed its place
in the State military establishment after be-
ing mustered out of the service of the
United States. The newspapers are the
"Democrat," daily and weekly. Democratic,
founded in 1868 by Joshua Ladue, and now
conducted by Charles H. Whitaker & Son;
the "Tribune," weekly. Democratic, founded
in 1895 by Hutchinson, Stark & McBride,
and purchased in 1897 by the present propri-
etors, E. R. and W. P. Lingle; the "Eye,'
weekly. Democratic, founded in 1885 by its
present proprietor, T. O. Smith; and the
"Republican," the only Republican newspaper
in the county, conducted by Harry H. and
T. E. Mitchell; it is successor to the "Clinton
Advocate," founded in 1845 by W. H. Law-
rence, and purchased in 1891 by Harry H.
Mitchell, who changed its name.
The oldest banking house is that of Salmon
& Salmon, one of the pioneer financial insti-
tutions of southwest Missouri. It was
founded December i, 1866, by George Y. and
Harvey W. Salmon, and De Witt C. Stone;
Stone retired in 1873, the Salmons buying
his interest, and yet continuing in manage-
ment. The capital is $50,000, the deposits
are $600,000, and the loans are $500,000.
The Citizens' Bank of Clinton was founded
in 1872, as the First National Bank of Clin-
ton ; in 1894 it surrendered its charter, and
became a private bank under its present
title ; March 20, 1900, its capital was $25,000,
its deposits were $115,000, and its loans were
$90,000. The Brinkerhofif-Faris Trust and
Savings Company, capital $150,000, was es-
tablished in 1867, and incorporated in 1887.
The industries comprise two large steam
roller process flour mills, a custom mill, a
foundry and machine shop, an ice factory,
and two pottery works, one operated by
steam. Large shipments are made of live
stock, grain, flax seed, broom corn, flour,
pottery ware, coal, leather and cigars. One
and one-half miles southwest of Clinton, at
the terminus of a horse-car line, are the
beautiful grounds of the Artesian Park, con-
taining a spacious lake, with hotel of three
stories, basement and attic, equipped with all
modern conveniences, including dancing hall,
billiard rooms and bowling alley, a pavilion,
and boat and bath houses. The artesian well
on the grounds discharges a palatable water,
possessing known medicinal qualities, con-
taining the chlorides of potassium, sodium,
magnesium and calcium, the carbonates of
magnesium and calcium, sulphate of calcium,
and sulhydric gas. The park is a favorite
resort, and attracts visitors from considerable
distances. Adjacent to this property, and
owned by the same company, are the fair
grounds of eighty acres, which afford annual
exhibits of farm and garden products, and
are the scene of spirited contests in the speed
ring. One and one-half miles east of Clinton
is Englewood Cemetery, owned by the city,
upon rolling and well shaded grounds, con-
taining many artistic productions from the
chisel of the sculptor.
Clinton was made the county seat of Rives
County (see "Henry County") in November,
1836, and the first sale of lots took place in
February following. The first building
erected on the site was a weather-boarded
log house, built by Thomas B. and Benjamin
F. Wallace, who opened a store, removing to
it a stock of goods from their old location
a mile northward. Others who soon put up
buildings were John M. Reid, Asaph W.
Bates and John Nave, the latter named open-
ing the first tavern. In 1837, when the popu-
lation of the town did not exceed fifty, the
building of the courthouse was begun, and a
postoffice was established. The office was
known as "Rives Court House," and retained
this name for some time ; Benjamin F. Wal-
lace was the first postmaster, and was suc-
ceeded by Frank Fields about 1841. In the
latter year came Dr. Hobb, the first physi-
cian, and Preston Wise opened a dramshop.
In 1843-4 the United States land office had
been removed from Lexington, and Daniel
Ashby was receiver, and John L. Yantis was
register. Gold and silver were required in
payment for public lands, and large quan-
tities of specie were conveyed by wagon to
St. Louis, guarded by armed men. One
CLINTON ACADEMY— CLINTON COUNTY.
Turner was keeping a school in a frame
building on what is now FrankHn Street, near
the public square ; among his pupils were Dr.
J. H. Britts, afterward a man of prominence ;
Mrs. B. L. Owen and her sister, Mrs. Garth,
and others. The population was then not
much more than loo.
Religious meetings were held in the court-
house. The first preachers were itinerants,
among whom are remembered Frank
Mitchell, a Methodist; Reece, a Cumberland
Presbyterian ; Longan, a Christian, and Mar-
vin, a Universalist. The first church build-
ing was of frame, built in 1858, on the south
side of the public square, on Main Street, by
William Schroeder, a Methodist preacher:
the building was occupied by preachers of
various denominations, as they made their
visits. In 1858 the first newspaper appeared,
the "CHnton Journal," Isaac E. Olney, pub-
lisher. It suspended publication in 1861.
The town sufifered no material damage dur-
ing the Civil War, but industry and develop-
ment were paralyzed. Progress was slow for
some years after the restoration of peace.
The first church building erected after the
war, and next after the Schroeder church, was
that of the Cumberland Presbyterians. It
was a two-story brick structure ; the lower
floor was used for religious purposes; the
upper story was used as a Masonic lodge
room, and was occupied by the resuscitated
Tebo Lodge No. 68, chartered in 1844, and
suspended during the Civil War. Numerous
churches organized in 1866, and began the
erection of houses of worship. Among these
was the Cumberland Presbyterian Church,
the fruit of a revival held by Hugh R. Smith
and J. H. Houx ; the latter named had been
invited to Clinton after his arrest under the
provisions of the Drake Constitution test
oath, while conducting a revival at the Bear
Creek camp ground, in the south part of the
county. In 1866 Salmon & Salmon opened a
bank, and G. Sellers began the publication of
the "Advocate" newspaper. Its first issue
claimed for the town a population of 250.
August 26, 1870, the first railway, the Tebo
& Neosho, reached the town, and that dates
the beginning of the substantial development
and prosperity of the place. Clinton was in-
corporated February 6, 1858; it became a
city of the fourth class April 2, 1878, and a
city of the third class February 24, 1886.
Population in 1900, 5,061.
Clinton Academy. — An educational in-
stitution formerly conducted at Clinton, and
founded by W. H. Stahl. In 1881 Emilius
P. Lamkin became associated with Mr. Stahl^
and soon afterward assumed complete con-
trol. The school was first conducted in
rooms over a store building on the south
side of the square, but afterward was moved
to a one-story frame building on North Sec-
ond Street. The lack of suitable buildings
was always an obstacle in the way of a large
attendance. The enrollment averaged about
125 each year. The work done was not sur-
passed by any school of its class, and the
courses offered were exceptionally advanced.
The school was chartered in 1885, and degrees
were conferred upon the completion of the
classical, scientific. English or commercial
courses. From 1882 to 1896 there were sev-
enty-one graduates, many of whom are rising
into prominence in their chosen life work. In
1891 the secret society of Phi Lambda
Epsilon was founded by four of the students
in the academy. The death of the principal,
Professor Lamkin, in the middle of the term
of 1893-4, was an irreparable loss to the
school. For the remainder of that session
the associate principal, William M. Godwin,,
and Charles F. and Uel W. Lamkin, con-
ducted the work. The following year Rev.
J. S. Worley and W. H. Forsythe were joint
principals, and during 1895-6 Rev. J. L. Dar-
sie was at the head of the institution. .-Vt
the close of 1895-6 the doors of the academy
were permanently closed.
Clinton County. — A county in the
northwestern part of the State, bounded on
the north by DeKalb ; east by Caldwell ;
south by Clay, and west by Buchanan and'
Platte Counties; area 420 square miles, or
269,000 acres. It was named after De Witt
Clinton, the distinguished Governor and
statesman of New York. Its latitude is about
that of Philadelphia. The surface is mainly
undulating prairie, well drained, with little
swamp, and with little land that can not be
tilled. The soil is rich, black loam, easily
cultivated and exceedingly productive. The
largest stream in the county is Smith's Fork
of Platte River. The others are Shoal Creek,
Castile Creek. Horse Fork, Clear Creek,
Dear Creek, Robert's Branch, all unfailing-
streams, which afford a good supply of run-
ning water. Ever flowing springs abound,.
CLINTON COUNTY.
and in digging wells good water is found at
a depth of twenty-two feet. Every water-
course is marked by a line of timber, with
occasional isolated groves, and although it
is a prairie county, nearly a fourth of the area
is timber — red, white and black oak, ash,
maple, cottonwood, elm, wild cherry and crab
apple. The soil is light, porous, and capable
of holding and absorbing moisture. Good
building stone is plentiful, the limestone be-
ing of a superior quality and used in the con-
struction of buildings. The mineral springs
of the county enjoy a high reputation.
The first settlers in the territory now Clin-
ton County were William Castile, who lived
on the creek which bears his name, and
Hiram Smith, a hunter, whose cabin stood
about the center of what is now Jackson
Township. This was in 1826, and shortly
afterward James McKowan, from Clay
County, and Armstrong McClintock and
Samuel Biggerstaff, from Kentucky, located
on Castile Creek. In 1828 Mrs. Nellie Coff-
man, from Kentucky, settled near the present
site of Hainesville, and Josiah Cogdell, Drew
Cogdell, George Denny and Collet Haynes
located in the same neighborhood shortly
after. John Stone made a settlement near
the present site of Cameron, and Isaac D.
Baldwin, James Shaw, John Ritchie, Samuel
McKorkle and Edward Smith came into the
same neighborhood before 1830. Two years
later John Livingston made a settlement
about a mile northeast of where Plattsburg
now stands, and in 1833 he put up a pole
cabin on the present site of Plattsburg. The
earliest settlements were made nearest to
Clay County, which was already comfortably
settled, and because the Indians were not yet
gone from the northern part of the county.
The pioneers had no trouble in supplying
their rude tables with wholesome food, for
the groves and prairies alike abounded in
game. Deer were to be seen in herds, even
when not looking for them, and wild turkeys
and prairie chickens were plentiful, while the
streams were alive with wild ducks, geese
and swan and fish. The bears had not en-
tirely left the country, and were occasionally
encountered. Hunting and trapping were
profitable vocations, and the experienced
trapper could easily manage to gather a
yearly pack of furs and pelts, which, taken
to the nearest town, brought him in exchange
all the necessaries of his simple life, and some
Vol. II— 3
money besides. Wolves were abundant, and
wolf scalps were first-class currency, always
received for taxes. Bee trees were frequent
in the timber along Smith's Fork, Castile
Creek and Shoal Creek, and when located and
cut down yielded a supply of wild honey for
the settler's table. The act of the State Leg-
islature creating Clinton County was passed
January 2, 1833, and it named David R.
Atchison, afterward United States Senator;
John Long and Howard Everett commission-
ers to select the seat of justice. On the 15th
of January Governor Dunklin appointed
John P. Smith, Archibald Elliott and Stephen
Jones judges of the county court. On the
second Alonday in March following, the
county judges met at the house of Laban
Garrett, and organized the first county court
by choosing John P. Smith for presiding jus-
tice, and Richard R. Rees for clerk, and
recognizing Thompson Smith, appointed by
the governor, as sheriff. Elijah Fry was ap-
pointed assessor. On the 8th of April fol-
lowing the court met at the house of John
Biggerstaff and appointed Washington Huf-
faker, collector ; Levi Shalcher, surveyor, and
John Biggerstaff, treasurer. The commis-
sioners appointed to locate the seat of justice
reported that they had selected the east half
of the northwest quarter of Section 24, of
Township 55, Range 32. The report was ap-
proved, and the name of the town to be laid
off was Concord. In the following January,
1834, the name was changed to Springfield,
and in 1835 it was again changed to Platts-
burg, after Plattsburg in Clinton County,
New York. Henry F. Mitchell was appointed
commissioner of the seat of justice, and on
January 18, 1834, presented to the court the
plat of the town. After six weeks' notice in
the "Liberty Enquirer," the first sale of lots
was made July 13, 1835. The first deed re-
corded in the county was from Vincent and
Sarah Smith to John P. Smith, all of Clay
County, conveying eighty acres of land for
the consideration of $200. There were four
attorneys present at the first term of the
circuit court, Amos Rees, W. T. Wood, D.
R. Atchison and A. W. Doniphan. The first
courthouse was built in Plattsburg (then
called Springfield) in 1834. It was of hewed
logs, two rooms, one eighteen by twenty feet,
the other sixteen by eighteen, one story.
Henry F. Mitchell was the superintendent
and Solomon Fry the contractor. This was
34
CLINTON COUNTY
a temporary structure, and in June of the
same year, the county court let the contract
for a brick courthouse thirty-two feet square
and two stories high. This building stood
until 1859, when a large courthouse was
erected, the main building being a square
with short wings projecting north and south
from the western side. In 1873 the county
court purchased from Daniel Thomas a farm
of 156 acres at $46 per acre, and made it a
pauper farm, at which the paupers dependent
on the county are cared for. In 1868 the
county court, in compliance with the general
wish of the people of the county, subscribed
$200,000 in aid of two railroads — $100,000 to
the St. Louis & St. Joseph, and $100,000 to
the Leavenworth & Des Moines. The first
of these is now part of the Wabash system,
and the other a part of the Chicago, Rock
Island & Pacific system. The St. Louis &
St. Joseph road was completed in July, 1870,
and on the 23d of that month the last spike
was driven at Plattsburg with formal cere-
monies and amid great rejoicing. The Leav-
enworth & Des Moines road was finished in
1871, and there was a double excursion, one
from Chicago, and the other from Leaven-
worth, meeting at Trenton. Missouri. The
Hannibal & St. Joseph road, which runs
through the northern edge of the county in
two places, was completed through Cameron
in 1859. The roads in the county in the year
1900, with their modern names, were Atchi-
son, Topeka & Santa Fe, St. Joseph branch ;
Chicago, Rock Island & Pacific, Leavenworth
branch, and Hannibal & St. Joseph. Cameron
branch.
When the Mexican War began, in 1846,
Clinton County was only thirteen years old,
but its people shared the war spirit that pre-
vailed in western Missouri and produced the
Doniphan Expedition, and the army under
General Price which followed. A consider-
able number of young men went into Clay
County and entered companies that served
under Doniphan and Price, among them be-
ing W. J. BiggerstafT, Halet Jackson, Cyrus
Jackson, Thomas J. Morrow, Charles C.
Birch, James H. Birch, Jr. ; Hort Peak, Rom-
ulus E. Culver, James H. Long and Henry
Quine. In the Civil War there was the same
division among the people of Clinton County
that prevailed in so many counties of Mis-
souri, though happily there was less viol.ence
and bloodshed than occurred in Clav and
Platte Counties. In the election for dele-
gates to the State Convention of 1861, Judge
James H. Birch, an avowed Unionist, was
elected over Rev. A. H. F. Payne, who was
put forward as representative of the Southern
element. During the summer of 1861 there
was active recruiting on both sides carried
on, four companies, under Captain William
H. Edgar, who was afterward killed at
Shiloh ; Captain Hugh L. W. Rogers, Captain
Archibald Grooms and Captain James H.
Birch, Jr., being raised for Federal service,
and at least 150 young men from the county
being enlisted in the bodies that joined Gen-
eral Sterling Price's army. In November a
body of Confederates arrested Judge Birch,
member of the State Convention and the
most prominent Union man in the county,
and carried him ofif to General Price's camp,
south of the Missouri River, but after a short
confinement he was released. In 1863 a de-
tachment of Colorado troops came into the
county and plundered several merchants,
John E. Shawhan being robbed of $10,000.
Shortly after a body of the Twenty-fifth Mis-
souri came in and killed two prominent citi-
zens. Southern sympathizers. Captain John
Reed and Rev. A. H. F. Payne, the last
named an old minister of the Christian
Church, who, two years before, had been the
Southern candidate for delegate to the State
convention, and been defeated by Judge
Birch. The return of peace, after the pro-
tracted strife marked by so much animosity,
estrangement and blood, in the State, was
joyfully received by the people of Clinton
County, and on the 21st of April, 1866, there
was a large mass meeting held in Plattsburg
to commemorate the happy event. Judge
Robert Johnson presided and W. J. Bicker-
stafif was secretary. On the 14th of May,
following, there was an ovation to the dis-
charged Union soldiers at the Plattsburg fair
grounds. The "Clinton County News," pub-
lished first at Plattsburg in 1859, was the
pioneer newspaper of the county. G. W.
Hendley was the publisher. It continued till
the year 1862, when the office was burned
and the paper ceased. During the Civil War
the "New Constitution" was published for a
time by W. L. Birney, and in 1866 Judge
James H. Birch started the "Clinton County
Register," a Democratic paper; in 1873 the
"Lever." also Democratic, was started by
Tolin McMichael. and in 1880 C. T. Nesbit
CLINTON NORMAL BUSINESS COLLEGE— COAL.
35
and Thos. G. Barton commenced the "Puri-
fier," all these exhibiting ability and intelli-
gence, and recognized as useful and valuable
journals. In 1867 the "Chronotype" was first
published at Cameron by J. A. Carothers. A
year afterward the name was changed to
"Observer," and it is Republican in politics.
The "Cameron Democrat" and the "Cameron
News," both Democratic, were started after-
ward, but did not survive long. In 1867 the
"A'indicator" (Republican) was begun by J.
H. Frame and G. T. Howser, and soon grew
into a prosperous journal. In 1881 it began
the issue of a daily edition. The Lathrop
"Herald" was first published in 1869, and
ceased in 1871. The same year the Lathrop
"Monitor" was begun and became a spirited
and thriving Republican journal. The
Lathrop "Herald," a Democratic paper, be-
gun in 1880 by Lee & Chonstant, has become
a useful and influential local organ. Ac-
cording to the report of the Bureau of Labor
Statistics for the year 1898, the products
shipped from the county at that time were :
Cattle, 33,600 head ; hogs, 70,022 head ; sheep,
3,821 head; horses and mules, 3,588 head;
wheat, 3.899 bushels ; oats, 3,959 bushels ;
corn, 5,997 bushels ; flax, 536 pounds ; hay,
49 tons; flour, 1,446,653 pounds; corn meal,
14,891 pounds; shipstuff,6,ioopounds ; clover
seed, 27,000 pounds ; timothy seed, 3,970
pounds ; lumber and posts, 6,000 feet ; cord-
wood, 1,846 cords ; wool, 23,738 pounds ; poul-
try, 532,230 pounds; cheese, 17,459 pounds;
dressed meat, 9,728 pounds ; game and fish,
1,560 pounds; tallow, 23,815 pounds; hides
and pelts, 84,400 pounds ; feathers, 4,337
pounds; nursery stock, 12,410, and other arti-
cles in smaller quantities. In the year 1900
the enrollment of school children in the pub-
lic schools in the county was 3,868 white and
294 colored, total 4,162; number of volumes
in the school libraries, 1,137 ; valued at $1,200.
There were seventy schools in operation ; 106
teachers employed, 100 white and six colored,
of whom forty-three were male and sixty-
three female ; estimated value of school prop-
erty, $70,000 ; total receipts for school
purposes, $83,795; total expenditures, $55,-
309 ; permanent county school fund, $24,505 ;
township school fund, $20,586; total, $45,092.
The assessment of property for taxes of 1898
in Clinton County showed 265,000 acres of
land valued at $3,142,747, being at the rate
of $11.85 per acre; 4,000 town lots valued
at $777,045; total real estate, $3,919,792;
horses, 7,913, valued at $148,285; mules,
1,488, valued at $32,951; asses and jennets,
34, valued at $1,620; neat cattle, 26,451, val-
ued at $416,548; sheep, 2,320, valued at
$2,961 ; hogs, 34,327, valued at $78,542 ; all
other live stock, $520; money, bonds and
notes, $835,667; corporate companies, $151,-
089; all other personal property, $297,366;
total personal property, $1,965,549; railroad,
bridge and telegraph , property, $1,076,908;
total taxable wealth of the county, $6,962,249.
The total taxes levied for the year 1898
against real and personal property were for
State purposes, $15,983; for all county pur-
poses, $34,339; total, $49,322. In addition to
this there were taxes on railroad, bridge and
telegraph property in the county, $13,457;
taxes on merchants and manufacturers,
$2,441 ; foreign insurance taxes apportioned
in the county, $1,009; total taxes, $66,299.
The bonded debt of the county in 1898 was
$65,000, consisting of $50,000 in 6 per cent
bonds, issued in 1880 and running ten to
twenty years, and $15,000 in 6 per cent bonds,
issued in 1896 and running five to ten years.
The population of the countv in 1900 was
17.363- 1199597'
Clinton Normal Business College.
A commercial college at Clinton, formed
by consolidation, by Joseph Harness, of what
was known as the Clinton Business College,
C. E. Greenup, principal, and Smith's Bus-
iness College, Ellis Smith, principal. After
this consolidation the building now occupied
by the institution was erected, in the year
1895. The principals of the college have been
Ellis Smith. C. J. Davis, J. E. Fesler, E. W.
Doran, and at the present time (1900) H.
A. Harness is in charge. The college has
enjoyed a good enrollment during its exist-
ence and its graduates are to be found in
almost every walk in life.
Coal. — Coal is the most abundant mineral
in ^lissouri, and there are more persons em-
ployed in mining it than in mining any other.
It is estimated that the coal fields of the State
are 25,000 square miles in area, of which
8,400 square miles are upper coal measures,
2,000 square miles are exposed middle, and
14,600 square miles are exposed lower meas-
ures. The upper measures contain about
four feet of coal ; the middle measures about
36
seven feet, and the lower measures about five
workable seams, varying in thickness from
eighteen inches to four feet and a half, and
thin seams varying from six to eleven inches
— in all about thirteen feet and a half of
coal. The area of over eighteen inches thick-
ness of coal within 200 feet of the surface
is about 7,000 square miles. The southeast-
ern boundary of the coal measures runs from
the mouth of the Des Moines River through
the counties of Clark, Lewis, Scotland, Adair,
Macon, Shelby, Monroe, Audrain, Callaway,
Boone, Cooper, Benton, Henry, St. Clair,
Bates, Vernon, Cedar, Dade, Barton and Jas-
per Counties, into Oklahoma, and all the
counties northwest of this line are known to
contain coal. The regular coal rocks exist
also in Ralls, Montgomery, Warren, St.
Charles, Callaway and St. Louis Counties,
and local deposits of bituminous and cannel
coal are found in Moniteau, Cole, Morgan,
Crawford, Lincoln and Callaway Counties.
In 1865 the State geologist. Professor Swal-
low, estimated that the coal area of the State,
at an average thickness of only one foot,
contained 26,800,000,000 tons of coal. But
in many places the thickness is fifteen feet,
and a reasonable estimate places the average
thickness at five feet, so that, it is probable
the State contains five times this quantity of
coal, in workable beds. In 1880 the quantity
of coal mined in the State was 543,990 tons,
valued at $1,037,100; in 1898, 2,036,364 tons,
valued at $2,295,000. Coal was mined in
forty counties of the State in 1898, those
yielding the largest quantities being Adair,
58,420 tons; Barton, 13,032 tons; Bates, 364,-
254 tons; Henry, 26,448 tons; Lafayette,
299,338 tons; Macon, 655,415 tons; Vernon,
239,554 tons; Linn, 7,218 tons; Randolph,
171,078 tons ; Putnam, 56,320 tons ; Ray, 132,-
200 tons. I
Coates, Kersey, conspicuous among
the few whose foresight and energy made
Kansas City the metropolis of the Missouri
\'alley,was born September 15, 1823, in Salis-
bury, Lancaster County, Pennsylvania, and
died in Kansas City April 24, 1887. His par-
ents were Lindley and Deborah (Simmons)
Coates, both members of the Society of
Friends. The father, who was a farmer,
afforded liberal educational advantages to
his son. Kersey, who acquired a thorough
knowledge of the English branches and some
of the modern languages at Whitestown
(New York) Seminary, and at Phillips Acad-
emy, Andover, ]\Iassachusetts. For some
years afterward lie taught English literature
in the high school in Lancaster, Pennsyl-
vania. When twenty-five years of age he
began the study of law in the office of the
distinguished statesman and lawyer, Thad-
deus Stevens, and in 1853 was admitted to
the bar. Before he could fairly enter upon
practice, an unforeseen circumstance gave a
different direction to his life, leading him
into a field of peculiar usefulness, and eventu-
ally rewarding him with fortune and distinc-
tion. The struggle for possession of the
Territory of Kansas between the Free-Soil
and pro-slavery parties was just beginning.
In sympathy with the former element were a
number of Pennsylvanians, members of an
Emigration Aid Society, whose purpose it
was to save the Territory to freedom, and
who were also desirous of purchasing pub-
lic lands, solicited Thaddeus Stevens to name
a man of capability and integrity to go-
thither as their adviser and agent. Upon his
warm recommendation Colonel Coates w-as
engaged, and in 1854 he departed upon his
mission, which was destined to engage him
for two years, during which time he wit-
nessed many scenes of violence and blood-
shed, while his own life was frequently im-
periled. He was more than the mere agent
for men of means seeking prospectively re-
munerative investments. His natural in-
stincts led him to ablior slavery, and his
convictions had been deepened through the
influence of his father, an active aider in the
management of the "Underground Railway,'
and of his personal friend and patron, Thad-
deus Stevens, an implacable enemy of a sys-
tem of human bondage. Colonel Coates
aided the Free-Soilers persistently and fear-
lessly, and soon came to be regarded as one
of their most resourceful leaders. In two
instances his experiences were among the
most intensely interesting and dramatic of
those troublous times. In the one, he was of
counsel for the defense of Governor Charles
Robinson, put on trial for treason. In the
other, he afforded concealment to Governor
Andrew H. Reeder, whose life was in jeop-
ardy, and aided his escape to Illinois. Years
afterward Governor Reeder sent to Mrs.
Coates an oil painting representing himself
in the disguise of a woodchopper, as he ap-
37
peared at that critical time. When the imme-
diate emergency had passed, Colonel Coates
located in Kansas City, where he passed the
remainder of his life, continually exerting his
effort for its development and improvement.
From the beginning he was tlie acknowledged
leader in all important enterprises. There
were a splendid few. such men as R. T. Van
Horn, E. M. McGee, M. J. Payne and others,
who were as sanguine of the future of their
city, and as energetic in their effort, but
Colonel Coates stood alone in his remarkable
prescience of conditions and possibilities, and
in a reserve resourcefulness which achieved
success in face of apparent failure. At the
close of the Civil War the population of
Kansas City was less than 5,000, and the
nearest railway was thirty miles distant.
Leavenworth, Kansas, claiming a population
of 15,000, was generally regarded as the com-
ing Western metropolis. It was under these
conditions that Colonel Coates and his col-
leagues made their . greatest effort and
achieved their greatest successes. The build-
ing of the Cameron branch of the Hannibal
& St. Joseph Railway was begun; a charter
for a bridge over the Missouri River at Kan-
sas City was procured ; the Missouri River,
Fort Scott & Gulf Railway was incorporated
and endowed with State lands in Kansas ; and
railway right of way was secured by treaty
through the Indian Territory. In all these
great enterprises Colonel Coates was one of
the ablest leaders ; in awakening the interest
of Eastern capitalists, and in securing means
for railway and bridge-building, his efforts
\vere the most incessant, and his influence was
the most commanding. He was a familiar
figure in the moneyed circles of Philadelphia,
New York and Boston, in legislative as-
semblages at Jefferson City and Topeka. and
in Washington City during congressional
sessions. His purpose was ever the same, the
advancement of the interests of Kansas City,
and he never failed to command attention,
and ultimately to effect his purpose. Mean-
time, he busied himself as earnestly in insti-
tuting and advancing purely local enterprises
as though he bore no weightier burden. He
aided in the establishment of newspapers,
banking houses, and innumerable commer-
cial and industrial concerns. From the first
his faith in the city had been implicit. At
the close of the war period the Philadelphia
investors whom he represented were dis-
couraged, regarding as a poor investment a
tract of no acres of land bounded by the
Missouri River, Main Street, Broadway and
Santa Fe Street, which he had purchased for
them at an outlay of $6,600. At their solici-
tation, he purchased it from them, and this
tract ultimately became the foundation of his
fortune. The payment of a security debt
at one time forced him into a mercantile
business, from which he soon retired, but
which developed into the present mammoth
house of Emery, Bird, Thayer & Co. The
most conspicuous buildings of his erection
were the Coates House, one of the most ele-
gant hotels in the country, and the Coates
Opera House. He assisted in organizing the
Kansas City Industrial Exposition & Agri-
cultural Fair Association in 1870, and the
Inter-State Fair Association in 1882; he was
for many years president of the latter organ-
ization. He was also president of the Mis-
souri River, Fort Scott & Gulf Railway Com-
pany at its organization, and for some years
afterward. He was an original Republican,
and in i860 was president of the only Re-
publican Club in western Missouri, and one
of less than eighty Kansas City voters who
voted for Lincoln. During a part of the war
period he was colonel of the Seventy-seventh
Regiment Enrolled Missouri Militia, which
rendered efficient service, particularly during
the Price raid in 1864. In his religious views
he leaned to L'^nitarianism. His wife, SARAH
W. CHANDLER, was born March 10, 1829,
at Kennett Square, Chester County, Penn-
sylvania, She was descended from the
Chandlers of Wiltshire, England, a Quaker
family which established its American branch
in 1687, on the River Brandywine, twenty-
seven miles from Philadelphia. Her parents
were John and Maria Jane (Walter) Chand-
ler. The father was a farmer, a man of great
force of character, who, for three consecu-
tive terms, occupied a seat in the Pennsyl-
vania Legislature, The mother was also of
English descent, a member of an influential
■family. The parents removed to a farm near
Kennett Square when their daughter Sarah
was an infant. There she was reared, and the
influences by which she was surrounded were
traceable in the years of her mature woman-
hood. It was the place of birth of Bayard
Taylor, and the home of his first wife, Mary
Agnew. Both became intimate personal
friends of Sarah Chandler, who, after com-
pleting her education at the Simmons Sem-
inary in Philadelphia, became first an assist-
ant and then a principal in the Martin
Seminary. Here, in her young womanhood,
she met many of the literary celebrities of
the day, from whom she derived inclination
to investigate social, economic and political
questions, eventually abandoning orthodox
Quaker reserve and allying herself with a
more progressive and- active element. Here,
too, she first met him who became her hus-
band, whose admiration she won in her
delivery of an address upon the "Social Ad-
vancement of Woman" before a Young
Ladies' Lyceum. From the first, she gave
evidence of high talent. At the age of ten
years she had mastered arithmetic, and un-
dertaken the higher branches. She never
regarded her education as completed, and
through her lifelong habit of study she con-
stantly added to her store of knowledge.
She was an accomplished botanist and lin-
guist. After her marriage to Mr. -Coates,
in 1855, she accompanied him to Kan-
sas City. In their journey up the Missouri
River she witnessed scenes of violence which
were a severe shock to one of her delicate
sensibilities. In the troublous times which
followed she sympathized with her husband,
and encouraged him in his every undertak-
ing, sharing the labors in which he engaged
and the dangers to which he was exposed.
Previous to and during the Civil War her
home was at once a refuge for the pursued
and terror-stricken, and a hospital for the
sick and wounded. When peace was restored
she became equally interested and equally
active in promoting the material progress of
the community, and in the leadership of
various movements having for their object
the awakening of inquiry, the dissemination
of knowledge, and the advancement of edu-
cation, art and science. A history class, of
which she was president, was a most success-
ful organization of its kind, and left a broad
and enduring influence. She was an earnest
friend of the Art Association, to which she
afiforded great encouragement and liberal
pecuniary assistance. It was in the fields of
social and domestic life, however, that her
efforts were mainly exerted, and her influence
was most strongly felt. A woman of re-
markably sympathetic disposition, she sought
amelioration of the condition of the suffering
and oppressed, particularly of her own sex,
and her zeal at times led her to advocate
measures so greatly in advance of the day,
and so foreign to prevailing sentiment, that
few followed her, and a lesser number
aided her, until accomplished results
vindicated her course. She was an inde-
fatigable worker in the Woman's Christian
Association — of which she was one of the
founders — having for its purpose the aid of
the homeless and struggling, and in the
Woman's Exchange, which afiforded oppor-
tunity for remunerative labor to necessitous
women who were unable to engage in em-
ployment away from their homes. The
Mothers' Club claimed a large share of her
attention, and in that body her counsels were
regarded as of unusual worth. Her interest
in the Social Science and Equal Suffrage
Societies was earnest and continuous, and led
her to investigation resulting in the discov-
ery of peculiarly distressing conditions. As
a result, she visited the State Board of Char-
ities to enter a protest against neglect and
ill treatment of women committed to public
institutions, and it was largely through her
effort that relief was afforded to insane
women sent to county poorhouses on ac-
count of the overcrowding of the State
Insane Asylums, and that a police matron
was placed in charge of women committed to
prison. Her last appearance in a public
capacity was in January, 1897, in Kansas City,
as honorary chairman of the reception com-
mittee, on the occasion of the annual meet-
ing of the Missouri Federation of Women's
Clubs. She extended bountiful pecuniary aid
to all societies with which she was connected,
and her private charities were many and lib-
eral. In religion she was a Unitarian. Her
death occurred July 25, 1897. The record of
her remarkably useful life is preserved in an
interesting volume, "In Memoriam Sarah
Walter Chandler Coates," printed by her
children for private distribution, and edited
by her daughter, Mrs. Homer Reed.
F. Y. Hedley.
Cobb, John Columbus, banker, was
born in Sniabar Township, Lafayette County,
Missouri, March 18, 1843, son of Albert T.
and Louisa (Hoskins) Cobb, and is one of
the oldest living natives of the county. His
father was born in North Carolina, was reared
in Tennessee, and came to Missouri in 1838,
becoming one of the first inhabitants of
Sniabar Township, where he spent the re-
mainder of his Hfe. His wife was a native
of Tennessee. They raised a family of nine
sons and one daughter, all of whom are still
living. J. C. Cobb attended the common
schools of his native place, but his studies
were interrupted by the outbreak of the Civil
War. In 1864 he entered the Forty-fourth
Missouri Volunteer Infantry Regiment and
fougjit for the preservation of the Union until
the close of the war. Soon after peace was
declared he engaged in freighting on the
plains, devoting two years to this exciting
life, of which he had had a taste in 186 1. In
1868 he began cultivating the farm at Chapel
Hill, Lafayette County, owned by A. W. Rid-
ings, who had been his employer on the
plains. This fine property he purchased in
1869, and has added to it from time to time
until the estate now includes 430 acres. It
is the seat of the old Chapel Hill College, at
one time one of the noted institutions of
learning in Missouri, where many of the
famous men of the State were educated. In
1879, upon the founding of the town of
Odessa, Mr. Cobb established a grain busi-
ness there. The next year he removed with
his family to the town and established the
Bank of Odessa, of which he has since been
president. The original capital stock was
$10,000, but this has been increased to $50,-
000. Mr. Cobb continues to raise stock on
his farm, which is one of the best improved
and most highly cultivated in Lafayette
County. Though he has always been a Dem-
ocrat, he has never cared for public office.
He is deeply interested in the cause of edu-
cation, and has been trustee of Missouri
Valley College at Marshall ever since its
establishment. In the Cumberland Presby-
terian Church he is an active and influential
factor, and for some time he has served as
treasurer of the church at large, home and
foreign. He is also a member of the board
of trustees of the Lexington Presbytery. Mr.
Cobb was married April 12, 1868, to Lou A.
Hobson, a native of Jackson County, Mis-
souri, and a daughter of Lemuel Hobson,
one of the early settlers of that county, who
erected the first brick house in Independence.-
They have been the parents of two sons and
one daughter. The only living child is the
daughter, Dora Lou, now the wife of Gordon
Jones, president of the St. Joseph Stock
Yards Bank.
Cobb, Seth Wallace, Congressman,
son of Benjamin and Margaret (Wallace)
Cobb, was born in Southampton County,
Virginia, December 5, 1838. He lived on a
farm until he was seventeen years of age,
receiving in the meantime what education he
could get at intervals in the public schools,
and then took up the business of saddle and
harness-making, which he followed for four
years. During this period he also served as
deputy postmaster at Jerusalem, the county
seat, pursuing his studies at night and vary-
ing these occupations by sending local news
items to the Petersburg "Express," which re-
sulted in his becoming a correspondent of
that paper, continued after the war, under the
pen name of "Black Eagle," by which title he
is still known among his friends in Virginia.
Mr. Cobb entered the Confederate Army as
orderly sergeant with one of the first com-
panies raised under the call of Governor
Letcher for volunteers. His family had been
strong Whigs and opposed to secession, but
when his native State seceded he was prompt
to enlist. He served in the artillery of the
Army of Northern Virginia during the entire
war, reaching the rank of major by brevet
toward its close. When General Lee sur-
rendered, Major Cobb returned to his home
with the view of resuming life on the farm,
but after only, a short experience he went to
Petersburg, where he was employed as a
clerk, first in a grocery and commission
house, and then in a clothing store. An op-
portunity was offered him by friends to be-
come associated in the editorship of the
"Inde.x," the successor of the "Express,"
which had been suppressed by the military
authorities, and Major Cobb embraced it,
serving on that paper with William E. Cam-
eron, afterward Governor of Virginia. In
December, 1867, he came to St. Louis, with-
out money and among strangers, and demon-
strated by his subsequent career that merit
and perseverance can wrest success from the
most unpromising surroundings. By the aid
of Colonel Thomas Richeson, then of the
Collier White Lead Company, he obtained a
situation with the late Ira Stanbury, which
he held for a short time and then went with
the grain commission firm of James G. Greer
& Co., afterward with E. E. Ebert & Co.,
working through all the lower grades of
clerkship. In 1875. with a few hundred dol-
lars, alone and unaided, he started the firm
40
COCHRAN— COCKERILL.
of Seth W. Cobb & Co. This house at this
date — 1899 — stands as high as any in St.
Louis, and is equaled by few in the volume of
its business. Few enterprises for the ad-
vancement of that city's interests have been
inaugurated during a period of almost a quar-
ter of a century, in which Mr. Cobb has not
been a factor. During his presidency of the
Merchants' Exchange the Merchants' Bridge
was projected, and he was the president of the
company that built it until 1889, when he was
first elected to Congress. Though not a
seeker for office, his abilities and popularity
early indicated to his fellow citizens his avail-
ability for the public service, and he was
easily elected. He represented the Twelfth
Missouri District as a Democrat in the Fifty-
second, Fifty-third and Fifty-fourth Con-
gresses, refusing a renomination which was
offered him for the Fifty-fifth.
Cochran, Charles Fremont, editor
and member of Congress, was born at Kirks-
ville, Adair County, Missouri, September 27,
1848. His parents were Dr. W. A. and
Laetitia Cochran. The father located at Lan-
caster, Schuyler County, Missouri, in 1852,
and was one of the substantial residents and
prominent professional men of northeast
Missouri. The mother was the daughter of
a South Carolina farmer. Charles received
a solid education in the common schools of
the localities where his parents resided dur-
ing his boyhood, and from his youthful days
down to the years of maturity has shown a
preference for political economy, biography
and history, choosing these branches above
all others. He has in his library the works
of most of the great authors on these sub-
jects and the studied pages are thumb-
marked by frequent handling and are still his
favorites. The family removed to Weston,
Platte County, Missouri, in 1857, and re-
mained there until 1859, when there was a
removal to Atchison, Kansas. At the age
of sixteen Charles was left to make his own
way in the world, on account of the death of
his father, and was henceforth to fight life's
battles alone. He learned the printer's
trade and followed it faithfully for seven
years. He set type during the long days and
studied the books of legal authorities at
night, without the advantage of the precep-
tor or the opportunities of the class room.
Notwithstanding the unfavorable circum-
stances under which he struggled he mas-
tered the study sufficiently to secure speedy
admission to the bar, and within a few years
was recognized as one of the leading mem-
bers of the profession in the State of Kansas.
His health failing, on account of injuries re-
ceived accidentally, Mr. Cochran was com-
pelled to retire from the legal profession. He
removed to St. Joseph, Missouri, and became
the editor and publisher of the St. Joseph
"Gazette," a newspaper that has long battled
for the political principles to which it stead-
fastly holds, and which is counted among the
oldest, most reliable and most influential pub-
lications of the State. Mr. Cochran contin-
ued in the editorial chair until he was elected
to Congress. He has enjoyed a political ex-
perience that is brilliant on account of its
steady and rapid advancement. He was
county attorney of Atchison County, Kansas,
for four years, being twice elected to that
office. In 1890 he was elected State Senator
from Buchanan County, Missouri. In 1896
he was elected to Congress from the Fourth
District of Missouri. In 1898, and again in
1900, he was renominated and re-elected. As
a legislator Mr. Cochran is known as a tire-
less and conscientious worker, a man who
pays close attention to the welfare of his dis-
trict and of his constituents, and who is nota-
bly brilliant in debate and while on the plat-
form expounding the principles in which he
has abiding faith. He is generally recognized
as a forceful writer, a logical reasoner and
a consistent advocate of that which he holds
to be right. Mr. Cochran was married April
27, 1874, to Miss Louise M. Webb, of Leav-
enworth, Kansas. To this union one child
has come, Charles Webb Cochran, a promis-
ing young man of the age of twenty-four.
Cockerill, John A., was born in Ad-
ams County, Ohio, in 1846, and died at Cairo,
Egypt, April 10, 1896. His father, J. R.
Cockerill, was a member of Congress and
colonel of the Seventeenth Regiment Ohio
Volunteers in the Civil War. John A. Cock-
erill served in the Union Army, also, enlisting
at the age of fifteen years as a drummer in the
Twenty-fourth Ohio Regiment, and serving
under Rosecrans and Buell. After the war
he was associated with C. L.\'allandigham, of
Ohio, in the "Dayton Ledger," and in 1870
became connected with the "Cincinnati En-
quirer," beginning as a reporter, and rising
'^J
COCKRELL— COFFIN.
41
rapidly to the position of managing editor.
In 1876 he went to southeastern Europe and
served the "Enquirer" as correspondent on
the field in the Russo-Turkish War. On his
return, he became connected with the "Wash-
ington Post," and the "Baltimore Gazette,"
and in 1879 came to bt. Louis and took a
position on the "Post-Dispatch." In 1882 the
"P^ost-Dispatch" becarne involved in an acri-
monious personal quarrel with Colonel A. W.
Slayback, a prominent lawyer and public man
of St. Louis, which resulted in Slayback, in
company with a friend, going to the editorial
room of the "Post-Dispatch," and in the en-
counter that followed being shot and killed on
the spot by Cockerill. The tragedy provoked
intense feeling, for both the combatants were
prominent and influential, each with a back-
ing of prominent and influential friends — it
being asserted on the Slayback side that
Cockerill had goaded his antagonist beyond
endurance and then wantonly slain him — and,
on the Cockerill side, that Slayback had come
to the office armed, with a mortal purpose,
and Cockerill had only killed him in self-
defense. Cockerill stood an examination
and was discharged. He afterward went to
New York and became editor of the "World,"
and was subsequently connected with the
"Commercial Advertiser." During the Japan-
China War he went to the scene as war cor-
respondent for the New York "Herald," and
on the w-ay home, after the war, died at Cairo,
Egypt. He was a brilliant writer, equally at
home in the editorial ofiice, in the field or at
Washington as correspondent. He was high-
spirited and warm-hearted, and was affection-
ately esteemed by his friends.
of Franklin, besides many other smaller en-
gagements. "Cockrell's Brigade," com-
posed entirely of Alissourians, was recog-
nized as one of the best disciplined, best
fighting and most efficient bodies of soldiers
in the Confederate Army. When the war
was over he came back to Missouri and set-
tled down to the practice of his profession.
In 1875 he was chosen to the United States
Senate as successor to Carl Schurz. It was
the first civil office he had ever held, and he
was the second native-born Missourian,
Lewis V. Bogy being the first, chosen to
that august position. Senator Cockrell's
record at Washington has been in the high-
est degree honorable and acceptable to the
people of Missouri, an evidence of which is
that, without encountering a competitor for
the honor in his own party (the Democratic),
he has been re-elected four times. Fidelity
to duty, loyalty to his country, the highest
sense of honor and a watchful regard for the
interests of his State, mark his senatorial
career, and there is no one of his compeers
who commands a larger measure of personal
influence and a higher respect from his polit-
ical opponents than Senator Cockrell, of Mis-
souri.
Coffeysburgj. — A village on Grand
River, in Daviess County, sixteen miles north
of Gallatin, the county seat, on the Omaha,
Kansas City & Eastern Railroad. It has
Baptist, Christian and Methodist Episcopal
Churches, a bank, two hotels, a weekly
paper, the "Sun," and about twenty-five
miscellaneous stores and shops. Population,
1899 (estimated), 400.
Cockrell, Francis Marion, lawyer,
soldier and United States Senator from Mis-
souri, was born in Johnson County,
Missouri, October i, 1834, and raised to
farm work, receiving the best part of his
education at Chapel Hill College, in Lafay-
ette County, Missouri, where he graduated
in 1853. He studied law and began the
practice at Warrensburg. When the Civil
War came on he espoused the Southern
cause and entered the Confederate Army,
serving with distinguished gallantry to the
end of the strife. He rose rapidly to colonel
and brigadier general, taking part in the
battles of Wilson's Creek and Pea Ridge, the
siege of Vicksburg and the bloody battle
Coffin, George Oliver, physician, was
born August 4, 1858, at Danielsville, North-
ampton County, Pennsylvania. His parents
were Samuel T. and Lavina (Seigenfuss)
Coffin. The father was directly descended
from Tristram Coffin, the founder of Nan-
tucket, and originator of whaling industries
in Nantucket and New Bedford, Massachu-
setts. The mother was great-granddaughter
of John Boyer, whose parents were among
the earliest settlers of Pennsylvania, living
in the Wyoming Valley. At the time of the
famous massacre the Boyer mother and three
children found protection in the fort. The
father was killed and scalped by the Indians,
who took two of his children to Canada. The
42
COLE.
daughter remained in that country. When
John, the son, was of age he walked back
to Pennsylvania, where he married and
founded a family. George Oliver Coffin, fifth
in descent from him, was educated in the
common schools of his native town and at
Williamsburg Academy. When nineteen
years of age he entered the Penn Medical
College at Philadelphia, from which he was
graduated in March. 1879. He engaged in
practice at Frankfort, Kansas, where he re-
mained for five years. In 1884 he removed
to El Paso, Te.xas, where he passed the
winter, and then entered the Marine Hos-
pital service as contract surgeon and quar-
antine officer. He was in Mexico during
the winter of 1885-6, and in the spring of
the latter year removed to Silver ClifT, Col-
orado, where he remained in practice for
about eighteen months. In the fall of 1887
he located in Kansas City, where he is now
usefully and successfully engaged. Soon after
arrival he took a course of study in the Kan-
sas Citv Medical College, and in 1891 a second
course, receiving the degree of doctor of
medicine for the second time. In May, 1894.
Mayor Webster Davis appointed him house
surgeon of the City Hospital, which position
he held until his appointment as city physi-
cian. May I, 1895. Upon the expiration of
the latter term he was reappointed in 1897.
and was again reappointed in 1899, for a
term expiring April 20, 1901. During his
occupancy of this position he has received
high commendation for marked improvement
in the hospital service. In the first year of
his administration he secured from the city
council an appropriation of $25,000, with
which he constructed the second of the brick
buildings, the first at all adequate for hos-
pital purposes. This was two stories, with
full basement, and contained the offices, in-
sane ward, female wards, male surgical de-
partment, and female sick and surgical
department, all provided with modern equip-
ments. In 1897 he secured a further appro-
priation of $7,000, and remodeled the original
brick building, constructing a modern operat-
ing room, provided with necessary accesso-
ries, an amphitheater accommodating two
hundred students, and sanitary bath rooms,
making the building and furnishings as com-
plete as any new hospital. In 1899 he pro-
cured $3,500, with which he erected a ward
for tuberculosis and infectious cases, practi-
cally establishing the first isolation for tuber-
culous cases, with accommodations for
forty-four patients. In 1897 he was elected
professor of surgery of the Medico-Chirur-
gical College, which position he continues to
hold, as well as that of dean of the faculty,
to which he was elected the year following,
and re-elected in 1899 and 1900. He is also
professor of clinical surgery in the Woman's
Medical College, of Kansas City. He is a
member of the medical staff of the Kansas
City, Fort Scott & Alemphis Railway Hos-
pital, consulting surgeon to the Kansas City
Southern Railway and the Metropolitan
Street Railway, surgeon on the staff of the
German Hospital, consulting surgeon to the
Douglas Hospital, at Kansas City, Kansas,
and medical director for the Kansas City
Life Insurance Company. He is a member
of the Kansas City Academy of iNledicine,
the Jackson County [Medical Society, the Mis-
souri State Medical Society, and the Ameri-
can Medical Association. From 1876 to 1879
Dr. Coffin served as a private in Company K,
of the Fourth Pennsylvania Regiment, Na-
tional Guard. His political affiliations have
always been with the Republican party, but
his conduct has been marked by independ-
ence and freedom from political aspirations.
He is a thirty-second degree Mason, a Xoble
of the Mystic Shrine, a past chancellor in the
order of Knights of Pythias and a member
of the order of Elks. ' In 1883, Dr. Coffin
married Miss Alinnie A. Deane, daughter of
Colonel G. A. A. Deane, of Frankfort, Kan-
sas, present land commissioner of the Mis-
souri Pacific Railway. Their children are
Deane Oliver and Eertha M. Coffin. Edward
Carl Coffin is a son of Dr. Coffin by a former
marriage, his first wife having been jMiss
Lucy Brady, of Frankfort, Kansas.
Cole, Amadee, a leading representative
of the younger generation of business men in
St. Louis, was born in that city, September
21, 1855, son of Honorable Nathan and Re-
becca (Fagin) Cole. He was educated in the
public schools of that city, at Washington
LTniversity, and at Shurtleff College, of Upper
Alton, Illinois. Soon after leaving college he
became interested with his father in the com-
mission business, and is now rounding out
a quarter of a century of successful operations
in that field of enterprise. As the elder Cole
sought to withdraw from the business to
COIvE.
43
which he had devoted so many years of his
life, he shifted its burdens and responsibil-
ities to the shoulders of the son, who has
not only maintained the high reputation
which the house had previously established
for integrity and correct business methods,
but has added to its prestige and promi-
nence. When the business was incorporated
he became vice president of the corporation,
and for a decade or more he has had entire
charge of the conduct and management of
its afifairs, transacting annually a large vol-
ume of business, having numerous ramifica-
tions and extending over a wide area of
territory. No higher compliment can be paid
to him than to say in this connection that
he has proven himself a worthy successor
to one who has always enjoyed to the fullest
extent the confidence of the people of St.
Louis, and whom it has been their pleasure
to honor in numerous ways. For many years
Mr. Cole has been a member of the Mer-
chants' Exchange, has served as vice presi-
dent of that organization, has been solicited
to accept the highest office in its gift, and
has enjoyed at all times the unqualified es-
teem of those with whom he is brought into
contact in the afifairs of everyday life. A
member of all the Masonic bodies of the city,
he has attained high rank in tnat order,
and is one of a comparatively small num-
ber of thirty-second degree Masons in Alis-
souri.
Cole, Nathan, merchant, ex-mayor and
ex-Congressman, was born in St. Louis, Julv
26, 1825. His father, Nathan Cole, had emi-
grated from Ovid, Seneca County, New York,
to St. Louis in 1812. Li 1837 he removed his
family to Chester, Illinois, and made a deter-
mined but fruitless stand against the finan-
cial ruin of that year. He died in 1840,
leaving nothing to his children but the in-
heritance of an honorable name and a repu-
tation for great energy of character and
unsullied integrity.
In such a school of discipline young Cole
grew up, and while the teaching was bitter,
it no doubt contributed to strengthen his
character to a degree attainable in no other
way. In 1845 h^ went to St. Louis and
began the search for employment. He had
neither money nor friends, and no acquaint-
ances even. For some time he canvassed
the city in actual privation, but eventually
a position was offered him at ten dollars a
month, and he gladly accepted it. His salary
was rapidly advanced, and so efficient and
valuable had he become to his employers that
in a comparatively brief period he was earn-
ing fifteen hundred dollars a year, no small
compensation in those days for the salary of
an employe.
In July, 1851, Mr. Cole was admitted as
a junior partner in the house of W. L. Ewing
& Co., wholesale grocers, and during the
fourteen years of this connection he contrib-
uted his full share toward giving the house
its reputation as one of high character and
remarkable success. On January i, 1865,
this partnership was dissolved, when, in con-
junction with his brother, the house of "Cole
Brothers, commission merchants," was es-
tablished. From that day to this the firm
and succeeding corporation has enjoyed a
continuous success, amid all the vicissitudes
of the war and the panic that followed it, and
to-day it stands among the first in St. Louis
in credit and reputation for fair and honor-
able dealing, and for the faithful discharge
of all trusts confided to its care by its nu-
merous patrons.
In 1869 Mr. Cole's fellow citizens pressed
him into public service and (much against
his personal inclination) elected him mayor
of the city to deal with certain- evils that
had been inflicted upon the people by "rings"
in the municipal government.
In 1876 he was summoned to a more im-
portant service, to represent his district in
the Forty-fifth Congress, and in this case
also against his will. He discharged the du-
ties of the office, however, to the general
satisfaction of his constituents. He went to
Washington as a business man, and devoted
himself specially to the commercial interests
of St. Louis and the Mississippi Valley. He
was an ardent advocate of closer business
relations with Mexico and South America,
and delivered a speech on our commercial
relations with Mexico which was highly
praised, and in Mexico was hailed as the
commencement of a new era. It was
widely reprinted in the Spanish language, and
Mr. Cole had the pleasure of receiving copies
of it elegantly printed and bound.
Mr. Cole has also held many minor offices
and positions in the public service, always,
however, unsought on his part. Among the
institutions with which he has been promi-
COLE CAMP— COLE COUNTY.
nently connected are the St. Louis National
Bank and National Bank of Commerce.
Cole Camp. — A village, in Benton
County, on the Sedalia, Warsaw & South-
western Railway, twenty miles northeast of
Warsaw, the county seat. It has a public
school, Baptist, Methodist, South, and Cath-
olic Churches, the latter with a parochial
school ; a Republican newspaper, the "Cour-
ier" ; a bank, a flouring mill and a cream-
ery. In 1900 the population was 700. The
first settler was Hosea Powers, in 1839; he
was an educated man, a lawyer, and a practi-
cal surveyor, who established the lines for
his own claim. In 1846 V. G. Kemper set
up a store, and others followed. A post office
was established by removal from a location
on Cole Camp Creek, and from this the new
settlement took its name. It is believed that
the name originated from the fact that some
of the Cole family, from Cooper County, had
camped in the vicinity while on a hunt.
Cole Camp was the scene of one of the
most bloody conflicts of Civil War days, in
which the loss of life, for the numbers en-
gaged, exceeded that of many greater
engagements. Early in 1861 Captain A. H.
W. Cook organized here a force of some 300
loyal Home Guards. This command was
occupying the barns of Harman Harnes and
Henry Heisterburg, two miles east, on the
night of June i8th. At nearly daybreak next
morning they were attacked by two compa-
nies of Confederates organized at Warsaw,
led by Captains O'Kane and Hale, who, on
their way, had captured one Tyree, whom
they charged with being a spy, and killed.
As they approached the first barn the doors
opened and they met a heavy fire, which
killed six of their number, but the Home
Guards failed to follow up the advantage.
The Confederates then turned to meet the
Guards issuing from the second barn, who
broke under their fire, and in their retreat
were met by a party of Confederate horse-
men, who hastened their retreat with further
loss. Of the Home Guards nineteen were
killed and twenty-two wounded; the attack-
ing party lost six killed and numerous
wounded. This affair broke up the Home
Guard organization for the time, but most
of them soon found service in other com-
mands.
Cole County. — A county in central
Missouri, of irregular shape, bounded on the
northeast by the Missouri River, on the east
by the Osage River, which joins the Missouri
at the eastern extremity of the county ; on the
south and southwest by Miller County, and
on the west by Moniteau County. It is
drained by Moniteau and Moreau Creeks,
and numerous other small streams. It com-
prises 234,466 acres, of which 70,000 acres
are under cultivation. Considerable portions
are untillable, but afiford excellent grazing.
The upland soil is rich and warm, producing
grain and small fruits of superior quality,
while the low lands yield a rank growth of
nearly all products known to the latitude.
The crops are wheat, corn, oats, barley and
hay, with tobacco of peculiar excellence.
Peaches and apples are abundant, and per-
fect in quality. Hogs and cattle are large
and profitable products. The broken lands
are rich in lead, iron and bituminous coal,
with some deposits of cannel coal. The
native woods are oak, hickory, walnut, elm,
ash, sugar maple and cottonwood. In early
days there were many relics of the Mound-
builders, which have all but disappeared. The
most numerous and perfect mounds were at
the junction of the Missouri and Osage Riv-
ers and on Moreau Creek, some containing
stone sepulchers enclosing human skeletons,
with war and hunting implements. The late
EHas Elston, of the village named for him,
made a collection of these relics, which in-
cluded specimens before unknown, now in
possession of the Missouri Historical Society,
in St. Louis. Cole County was originally
contained in the tract occupied by the Osage
Indians, and was in the St. Louis district of
Louisiana Territory. It became a part of
Howard County upon its organization, in
1816, and of the new county of Cooper in
1818. In 1820 it was organized as a county,
and named for Captain Stephen Cole, a pio-
neer, who built Cole's Fort, where Boon-
ville now stands. The first whites came from
Tennessee, in 1815-16. settling at the mouth
of Moniteau Creek. John Inglish located
west of that point, and Henry McKenney op-
posite, with James Miller, James Fulkerson,
John Mulkey, David Chambers, Joshua
Chambers, John Harman, David Young,
William Gooch and Martin Gooch near by.
Harman brought one son, and all the others
COLEMAN.
45
from two to five sons each. In 1819 came
James Hunter, the first militia colonel ; John
Hensley, the first Senator, with others, who
located on the Missouri River, nine miles
from the site of Jefiferson City. In 1820
the lands of the county were opened for
entry, and a large immigration began. In
1821 John Vivion and James Stark were ap-
pointed judges, and opened the first county
court April 2d, at the house of John Inglish.
In 1822 the first elected judges, John Inglish,
Reuben Smith and James Stark, took their
seats. Marion was designated as the seat
of justice, and order was made for the erec-
tion of a courthouse and jail ; the cost of
the former was $748, and of the latter was
$690. The north half of Marion Township
was detached, being designated as Marion
Township, and in 1823 Jefferson Township
was created. February 3, 1829, the county
court held its last session at Marion, the
building selling for $450, and March 30th
convened at the house of John C. Gordon,
in Jefferson City, pursuant to a removal act
of January 21st, and appropriated $900 for
a jail. In 1831 the court occupied the State
House, and in 1832 rented a building from
R. W. Wells. In 1838 the new courthouse
was occupied, built at a cost of $4,000, part
of the realty being donated by the State.
Judge David Todd held the first circuit court
at the house of John Inglish, with Paul Whit-
ley as sheriff, January 15, 1821. In 1824
Reuben Hall was indicted for murder, and
sentenced to death, but the execution was
deferred, and he was afterward pardoned.
Judge Todd held the first term of court in
Jefferson City, at the home of John C. Gor-
don, February 20, 1829. In 1835 the first
divorce case in the county was tried, that
of Alary Hodges against Peter B. Hodges.
Louis White and David Duaine, Canadians,
were the first foreigners naturalized. In 1839
Henry Lane was tried for murder, found
guilty, and his execution, October 14th, was
the first in the county. The old courthouse
was replaced in 1897 by the present hand-
some edifice of Carthage stone, erected at
a cost of $49,700, and furnished at a cost of
$10,000. The indebtedness of the county is
$60,000 for building the courthouse, and
$30,000 on railroad bond account. The first
church building was of logs, erected by the
Baptists, in 1837, on the James Dunnica farm,
ten miles west of Jefferson City. Rev. John
B. Longdon was the first minister, and James
Fulkerson and Martin Noland deacons. The
same year a Catholic Church was formed by
Father Helias. Rev. James AlcCorkle was
the first Cumberland Presbyterian minister,
and the elders were James Mead and Sam-
uel Crow. The Methodists organized a
church in 1838. The first school was opened
by Lashley L. Woods, in the courthouse at
JNIarion, March 10, 1827. In addition to the
children of James Miller, Jason Harrison
and others, he had for pupils about twenty
grown men and women. Another pioneer
teacher was Jefferson Thomas, who died in
1832, and was the first person buried in the
Jefferson City Cemetery. Jefferson School
District was instituted in 1835, with Daniel
Colgan, John Walker and Samuel L. Hart
as trustees. In 1898 there were in the county
55 public schools, 76 teachers, and 6,241 pu-
pils ; the permanent school fund was $16,-
636.56. Railroads entering the county are
the main line and the Lebanon branch of the
Missouri Pacific. In 1898 the principal sur-
plus products were as follows: Wheat, 158,-
883 bushels; flour, 7,746,180 pounds; corn-
meal, 87,000 pounds; shipstuff, 1,428,600
pounds ; clover seed, 97,993 pounds ; hay,
98.500 pounds ; wool, 7,850 pounds ; neat cat-
tle, 2,458 head; hogs, 20,950 head; logs, 36,000
feet ; cross ties, 76,953 feet ; lumber 246,900
feet. In 1900 the population was 20,578.
Coleman, Henry B., physician, was
born July 27, 1853, at Columbus, Missouri.
His parents were Thomas and Leah Cather-
ine (Tackett) Coleman. The father, born in
Henrico County, Virginia, son of a practicing
physician, was educated at Yale College,
studied medicine in Philadelphia, Penn-
sylvania, and removed to Columbus, Mis-
souri, in 1846, where he practiced medicine
until 1854, when he came to his death by
drowning near his home. The mother, born
in Monroe County, Virginia (now West Vir-
ginia), was educated at Abingdon, in that
State, and came to Missouri with her parents
in 1844, the family making their home in
Cass County. Her grandfather came to
America from France at the same time with
Lafayette, to aid in the cause of independ-
ence. Her grandmother, Mary Anderson, was
a relative of Charles Carroll, of Carrollton,
one of the signers of the Declaration of In-
dependence. She died in 1861. The son,
COLLEGE MOUND— COLLEGIATE ALUMNAE ASSOCIATION.
Henry B., orphaned at the age of eight years,
was cared for by an uncle until he was twelve
years of age, when he went South with his
older brothers to make his home with an
aunt at Tulip, Arkansas. After two years'
residence there his uncle and aunt, John AL
Rice and wife, removed to Missouri, making
their home near Columbus, and he accom-
panied them, remaining with them until he
began to work for himself. His only edu-
cation was such as he received in the ordi-
nary ungraded schools where he made his
home during his boyhood days. In 1875 he
entered the Missouri ^Medical College, St.
Louis, from which he was graduated in 1878,
and in 1893 he took a postgraduate course
in Chicago. In 1878 he began the practice
of medicine at Columbus, and was occupied
in a large and remunerative field for many
years. In 1893 he removed to Kansas City,
Missouri, where he is now engaged in a prac-
tice which has been for many years widely
useful, and in which he has risen to promi-
nence. In 1888 he was elected to the IMis-
souri House of Representatives from the
Western District of Johnson County, and
served one term, commanding the unquali-
fied respect of the members of that body
for his careful and diligent attention to the
duties devolved upon him. In politics he is
a Democrat, earnest in support of the prin-
ciples of his party, without undue self-
assertion. While a boy at Tulip, Arkansas,
he became a member of the Methodist Epis-
copal Church, South, and has since main-
tained his connection with that denomina-
tion, being now a member of the Olive
Street Church, in Kansas City. In 1882 he
became a member of iMitchell Lodge, A. F.
and A. M., at Columbus, Missouri, over which
he presided at one time as worshipful mas-
ter ; he now holds membership with Temple
Lodge, No. 299. of Kansas City.
College Mound. — An incorporated vil-
lage, twelve miles southwest of Macon, in
Macon County. It was laid out October 10,
1854, McGee College, a private institute, con-
ducted under the auspices of the Cumberland
Presbyterian Church, having been started
there the year before. The school was discon-
tinued some years ago. The town is seven
miles from Excello, a station on the Wabash
Railroad. It has two general and two drug
stores. Population, 1899 (estimated), 300.
College of Physicians and Sur-
geons, St. Louis. — This institution was
organized in 1869, by Professor Louis Bauer,
then but recently from Brooklyn, New York.
The faculty was composed of the following
phvsicians: Louis Bauer. M. D., M. O. C. S.;
Montrose A. Pallen, Augustus F. Barnes, T.
F. Prewitt, J. K. Bauduy, John Green, G.
Baumgarten, I. G. W. Steedman, W. B. Out-
ten, A. J. Steele, F. H. McArdle, J. M. Leete,
J. M. Scott, Charles E. Briggs, William L.
Barret, James F. Johnson, William T. Mason,
A. G. Jackes.
The second year Dr. Barret withdrew from
the faculty, and Dr. Le Grand Atwood was
added thereto. In the course of the second
vear dissensions sprang up between members
of the faculty, and the school was aban-
doned at the close of the year. The building
in which the two years' lectures were deliv-
ered stands on Locust Street, between Tenth
and Eleventh Streets.
As the name of this college indicates, one
of its principal features was the introduction
of a "Practitioner's Course," which, at this
time, had begun to attract considerable at-
tention in medical circles, and this college
is credited with having been the first to inau-
gurate a special course of lectures for physi-
cians and advanced students of medicine.
Collegiate Alumnae Association,
St. LiOuis Bi'anch of. — In 1893 there
met in St. Louis all graduates from the
State of the colleges then admitted to the
Collegiate Alumnae Association, for the pur-
pose of forming a State branch, which might
work to better advantage under local condi-
tions than as individual members of the
national organization. There was such a
large number that it was deemed wise
to form two Slate branches — from the mid-
dle of the State westward in Kansas City,
and from the middle eastward in St. Louis.
The first president of the St. Louis branch
was Mrs. William Trelease, with Miss Ade-
laide Denis as secretary, who served until
May, 1897, when their places were filled by
Mrs. Philip N. Aloore as president, and Mrs.
George C. Vich as secretary. The meetings
are held three times a year at the homes of
the members. The membership is small,
when considered as a union of forces from
half the State, but it is an organization that
grows steadily, and must increase in power
47
with its growth. The national organization
is working toward higher courses of study
and better equipment in the colleges; toward
scholarships at home and fellowships abroad,
and toward establishing an American Table
in the Archaeological School at Athens. Each
member of a branch becomes a member of
the Collegiate Alumnae Association, and half
of her fees go to the work of that body.
Local conditions are very much benefited by
local aims, and the St. Louis branch has
taken direct interest in the public schools of
the city. Its first aim was toward better work
in English, in preparation for college, and
toward that end the best work of different
colleges was brought to the student's notice,
and a prize was offered to the girl preparing
for college who had the best record in Eng-
lish. Three such prizes were given, with
excellent result. During the last year the
work has been directed toward proper sani-
tation of the schools — not necessarily of the
old buildings, which were known to be much
out of order, but of the new buildings, where
the advice of women who were interested
might help toward that perfection of result
which all wish to attain. The report of such
work will be given to the building superin-
tendent, at his own request, as quietly and
unobtrusively as possible. JMeantime any-
thing that seems a part of direct educational
advancement is of interest to the association,
whose aim is always toward the highest and
the best. Martha S. Kayser.
Collier, George, in his day one of the
wealthiest citizens of St. Louis, was born
March 17, 1796, near Snowhill, Worcester
County, Maryland, and died in St. Louis,
July 18, 1852. He was the son of Peter and
Catherine Collier, and was reared in Mary-
land. He came west in 1818 and engaged
in business with his elder brother in St.
Louis, under the firm name of John Collier
& Co. His brother died, unmarried, at an
early age, and from him and his mother
George Collier inherited a considerable for-
tune. He afterward became identified with
various manufacturing and other interests in
St. Louis, among them being the Collier
White Lead Company, which is still in ex-
istence, and is widely known throughout the
country. He acquired a large fortune and
died a millionaire, when millionaires were
•comparatively few in number in the West.
He was twice married, first to Frances E.
Morrison, daughter of James Morrison, of
St. Charles, Missouri, and after her death
to Sarah A. Bell, daughter of William Bell,
of Pittsburg, Pennsylvania. At his death
Mr. Collier left five sons and two daughters.
Collier, Luther, lawyer, was born June
19, 1842, in Howard County, Missouri, son
of William and Susan (Higbee) Collier. His
father was prominent both as a man of af-
fairs and a public official. He served as jus-
tice of the peace in Grundy County, was a
judge of the county court for two or three
terms in the fifties, and was postmaster at
Trenton eight years, beginning with the first
administration of President Lincoln. He died
at Trenton, October 10, 1870, and is remem-
bered as a worthy pioneer and a useful and
honored citizen. The son, Luther Collier,
was carefully educated in the schools of Tren-
ton, graduating from the high school of that
city when Professor Joseph Ficklin, later of
the University of the State of Missouri, had
charge of the Trenton schools. In i860, the
year after his graduation from the high
school, he became assistant instructor in that
institution, and was teaching when the Civil
War began. His patriotic impulses carried
him into the militia service, beginning with
a six months' term in the Enrolled Missouri
Militia. He was mustered out of the mili-
tia organization in March of 1862, and three
months later enlisted in the Twenty-third
Missouri Volunteer Infantry Regiment. With
this regiment he served until the close of
the war, being mustered out at Washing-
ton, D. C, in 1865. He was with General
Sherman on his famous march to the sea
and in the siege at Atlanta, and saw much
hard fighting. Gallantry and soldierly con-
duct won for him promotion from a private
in the ranks to the captaincy of Company A
of his regiment, and he was later made adju-
tant of the regiment. After the war he re-
turned to Trenton and first embarked in
business as a partner in a marble shop. He
was thus occupied for a year, and then farmed
for another year. At the end of that time
he turned his attention to the study of law,
and read under the preceptorship of Colonel
J. H. Shanklin, while serving as road and
bridge commissioner of Grundy County. He
was admitted to the bar in February of 1870,
and began the practice at Trenton in the
48
COLLIER.
summer of 1871. A careful and judicious
counselor and adviser, he has since built up '
a large office practice, with which he has
coupled the abstracting of land titles and in-
surance. Candid and conscientious in all his
dealings with clients, he has gained and re-
tained the confidence of the public, and is
much beloved by the people among whom
he has lived from early boyhood up to the
present time. Immediately after the Civil
War he was appointed by the county court
of Grundy County a justice of the peace,
and throughout the reconstruction period
had some difficult duties to perform in that
connection. Other official positions which
he has filled have been those of docket clerk
in the General Assembly of Missouri, dur-
ing the years 1870-1-2; mayor of Trenton,
in 1882; city attorney of Trenton for several
terms, and member of the school board of
that city. The last named position he has
filled for twenty-five years, and he is now pres-
ident of the board. In politics he is a Repub-
lican, and he has been a member of the
Christian Church since he was fifteen years
of age. Since 1879 he has been an elder
in that church. He was first post commander
of Colonel Jacob Smith Post, No. 72, of the
Grand Army of the Republic, and gave to
that post its name. Other organizations of
which he is a member are the Independent
Order of Odd Fellows, the Ancient Order
of United Workmen and the Woodmen of
the World. Captain Collier was first mar-
ried, March 27, 1862, to Miss Martha B. Car-
ter, of Trenton, who died June 16, 1878,
leaving five children. October 29, 1879, he
married Miss Fannie C. Brawner, who died
April 30, 1893, leaving four children. Febru-
ary 28, 1895, he married Alexa W. Marshall,
and two children have been born of this
Collier, William, pioneer, was born
June 2, 1828, in Fayette, Howard County,
Missouri, and died at Trenton, Alissouri, Sep-
tember 8, 1900. His parents were William
and Susan Collier, both of whom were na-
tives of Kentucky. His mother's maiden
name was Higbee. Prior to his marriage
the elder William Collier saw service in the
War of 1812 as a Kentucky volunteer. He
was married in 1817, and lived in Kentucky
until he came with his family to Missouri.
The younger William Collier attended the
common schools at Fayette in his early boy-
hood, and later attended the schools at Tren-
ton, Missouri. His father was a brickmaker
and mason by occupation, and the son
learned these trades. The elder Collier was
the contractor for the building of the court-
house in Grundy County, and began this
work in the year 1843, completing it in
1844. He removed with his family to Tren-
ton before beginning work on the court-
house, becoming a resident of that place in
the year 1842. William Collier, Jr., who was
then fifteen years of age, assisted his father
in the building of the courthouse, which is
still standing and in use. He worked at the
building trade, in all, about fifteen years, and
from 1853 to i860 was thus engaged at Tren-.
ton. He was also engaged for a number of
years in farming operations. During the
Civil War he served in the Enrolled Mis-
souri Militia, and was numbered among the
loyal Unionists of northwestern Missouri
who were ready at all times to do all in their
power to suppress the secession movement.
After the war he engaged for a time in the
mercantile business, and was also a trader
in real estate. He was an active, capable
and honorable man of afifairs, and through-
out a residence of more than half a centurv
in Grundy County he enjoyed the unqualified
esteem of all with whom he was brought into-
contact in business and social relations. In
early life his political affiliations were with
the Whig party. In i860 he voted for Bell
and Everett, who were the candidates of the
Constitutional-Union party for President and
Vice President, respectively. His devotion
to the perpetuation of the Union carried him
into the Republican party, and he continued
to be a warm supporter of its principles and
policies as long as he lived. In 1853 he
united with the Christian Church, and he was
a consistent member of that great religious
denomination until his death. In his younger
days he was very active in church work, and
was noted for his kindly deeds and his help-
fulness to those less fortunate in life than
himself. His was a gentle and kindly nature,
and he derived the most genuine pleasure
from charitable and benevolent acts. In 1852
he was initiated into Grand River Lodge, No.
52, Independent Order of Odd Fellows, at
Trenton, and remained an honored member
of that organization up to the time of his
death. He filled many important offices in
Ur^ifii^^u^
'-7^
49
his lodge, having been elected secretary
June 30, 1853, and noble grand jNIarch 27,
1856. He also served as treasurer of his
lodge in 1850 and 1870. Mr. Collier was
twice married, first in 1854, to Miss Sarah
A. Tenipleman, who only lived eleven months
after their marriage. His second marriage
occurred September 14, 1871, when he was
united to Mrs. Samantha M. Telley, whose
maiden name was Leedy. Airs. Collier sur-
vives her husband. No children were born
of his first marriage. Of his second mar-
riage six children were born, two of whom
died in infancy. Those living in igoo were
Mrs. Lillie Burrill, Mabel Collier, James Col-
lier and Susa Katheryn Collier.
Collins. — A village in St. Clair County.
on the Kansas City, Clinton & Southern
Railway, twelve miles southeast of Osceola,
the county seat. It has a public school, a
Baptist Church, and a United Brethren
Church, a Republican newspaper, the "Ad-
vance," and a flourmill. In 1899 the popu-
lation was 650. It was platted when the rail-
way was built, and took its name from that
of the township in which it is situated, named
for judge William Collins.
Collins, Daniel, was born August 10,
1847, in Melvoge, Ireland. His parents were
Michael and Margaret Collins. He received
an indifferent education, but his life training
from his earliest youth served to give him
such mastery of a science which has brought
untold wealth to countless thousands that
his experiences and judgment are held to
be of greater value than the opinions of many
who are accounted scientists. His school op-
portunities were limited to a few months at
irregular intervals before he was twelve years
of age, and there ceased. His father was a
copper-miner, and from him he derived some
knowledge of the properties of that metal,
the mode of its production, and a desire to
learn more of the subject thus unfolded to
him. At the age of eight years he began
labor in the tin mines at Cambron, near
Land's End, Cornwall, England, famous for
their antiquity and as the most productive
field in that metal found in the world. His
first work was to operate a blow-fan to sup-
ply air to the miners. He was there em-
ployed for one year, and when sixteen years
of age was a miner, drawing a miner's
Vol. 11—4
wages. When he reached the age of seven-
teen years he came to America and found
employment in the zinc mines at Ogdens-
burg, Sussex County, New Jersey. From
there he went to West Cheshire, Connecticut,
where he opened a barytes mine for A. L.
Hunt, the presence of that mineral having
been discovered by himself. He subsequently
took charge of the Red Ash Coal Mines, at
JNIackinac City, in Pennsylvania, owned by
Michael Barry, and was so engaged for three
years. He then mined zinc for a time at
Freedensville, Pennsylvania, in old diggings.
Removing to Illinois, he dug coal for three
years at Gardner, Grundy County. In March,
1871, he came to Missouri, and mined lead
at Granby for a few days, when he went
to the site of Joplin, then wild prairie. He
there engaged in mining, but unsuccessfully.
The practice was to seek mineral upon the
hills, instead of on the low grounds, and the
toil was arduous. Repeatedly he and his col-
leagues suffered disappointment, taking up
their windlasses and carrying them and their
tools to another location miles away. After
spending four months in these profitless im-
dertakings, he went to Oronogo, to assist
in sinking a pump shaft for the Granby Com-
pany. He then moved back to Joplin, and
instituted a stage line to Carthage and a
freighting line to Baxter Springs, a distance
of fifteen miles, transporting to that place
part of the pig lead produced from the Jop-
lin mines. He continued this a number of
years, until the completion of what is now
known as the Kansas City, Fort Scott &
Memphis Railway, which supplanted his
freighting business, and he resumed mining,
continuing a livery stable business. He re-
tired from these pursuits some years ago,
and now gives his attention to his large min-
ing properties, which are of great value,
comprising many thousand acres held indi-
vidually or in association with others. His
services to the mining interests of Joplin and
the adjacent territory can not be estimated,
nor are those interests to be mentioned un-
connected with his name. He was one of
the first twelve men who came to the neigh-
borhood after the war, and the first to sink
a new shaft or resume work in an old one,
by proper processes, he being the only practi-
cal miner then on the ground. He traced the
ore croppings from Joplin Hollow to East
Hollow, a distance of five miles, and was the
60
COLLINS.
discoverer of the celebrated John Jackson
Mine, in the Chitwood Hollow, giving it the
name of an old friend in St. Louis. He was
the first in that section to identify "black
jack" as zinc blende, and he sent a package
to East St. Louis, where the result of the
assay confirmed his assertion. At this time
there was no market for zinc, and it was
not until about a year afterward that the
first car load was shipped by Murphy and
Porter. He was an intimate friend of Mr.
Murphy, and the two advised together con-
stantly, but were never associates in busi-
ness. Mr. Collins has always been an
intensely active Democrat, devoting his effort
and means unstintingly to the service of the
party, but without the least selfishness of
purpose, having been neither a seeker after
nor holder of office. He was reared a Catho-
lic. Toward all sects of Christians he has
constantly manifested the utmost liberality,
and he has contributed toward the building
of every church edifice in the city. His aid
has been rendered with equal willingness and
generosity to every public purpose, and
wherever suffering or distress made its ap-
peal. He enjoys the fame of being the best
informed mineralogist in the district, and his
counsel is constantly sought by investors,
among whom are the largest in the East, in-
dividual and corporate, who refer to him as
being a masterly practical expert in zinc,
copper, lead and silicate. His highest fame,
however, rests upon his discovery of zinc in
the Joplin fields, the vast product of which
has made this region the wonder of the
•world.
Collins, (i-eorge K., prominently iden-
tified with the business interests of Kansas
City ever since his removal to Missouri, was
born in Troy, New York. His parents were
Samuel and Mary A. (Banker) Collins. On
the paternal side he is descended from six
of the original Puritans who settled in New
England during the years preceding 1630,
and the genealogical records of both his pa-
ternal and maternal ancestors are traced
back to the very foundations of England and
Holland as nations. The paternal ancestor
who came to America was Lieutenant Ben-
jamin Collins, who located at Salisbury,
Massachusetts, in 1628, and from whom the
subject of this sketch is a descendant in the
ninth generation. The other five original
Puritans, whose daughters, granddaughters,
etc., married into the Collins family, were
the first Hugh Alosher, the first Samuel Hub-
bard, the first John Greenman, the first
Joseph Clarke and the first Richard Maxson.
John Maxson, the senior son of Richard
Maxson, the ancestor of George R. Collins
in the second generation, had the distinction
of being the first white person born on the
site of Newport, Rhode Island, the date of
his birth being in 1639. John Collins, the
ancestor of the subject here written of, in
the fourth generation, was Governor of
Rhode Island from 1786 to 1790. Histories
of New England show the prominence of
these men and their descendants down to the
present day. The mother of Mr. Collins was
Mary A. Banker, a direct descendant of the
original patroon, Gerit Bancker, who came
from Amsterdam, Holland, in 1656, to New
York and settled in Albany, then a mere
village. He also had interests at Schenec-
tady, New York, and spent a portion of his
time there until the terrible Indian massa-
cre which desolated that town. After that
event he concentrated his business at Albany.
He was a fur trader and merchant, and was
very wealthy at the time of his death. He
left one son. Evert, and one daughter, Anna.
The son continued his father's business at
Albany with his portion of the fortune, and
the daughter married Johanns De Peyster,
of New Amsterdam (New York City), thus
becoming the mother of the celebrated
De Peyster family, her wealth being the
foundation of the present massive fortune
of that family. The entire line of Gerit
Bancker's descendants were successful, con-
servative business men, retaining the strong
characteristics of the sturdy Holland stock
even to the present generation, and it may
be readily understood that they have always
been progressive, substantial citizens, fiUing
many positions of trust and serving in vari-
ous political offices the municipalities and
nation they so materially assisted in estab-
lishing. To give the military history of the
ancestors of Mr. Collins would require an
entire volume. He is eligible to membership
in the society of the Sons of the American
Revolution through their distinguished rec-
ords of service. The father of Mr. Collins
was a wholesale grocer at Troy, New Y. .'k,
and after retiring from business he removed
to Daytona, Florida, to escape the rigors of
51
the northern climate. There he died, Febru-
ary 8, 1898. The boyhood days of George
R. Collins were spent upon the banks of the
Hudson River and Lake Champlain. He re-
ceived his education in the public schools of
Troy, New York, and finished by graduating
from the Troy Military Academy. He then
went to New York City and entered the em-
ploy of the Western Union Telegraph Com-
pany, but after a period of fourteen months
he realized that promotion beyond an ordi-
nary clerkship was improbable, so he re-
signed his position and, returning to Troy,
took a position in a large dry goods estab-
lishment. A few months later he accepted a
clerkship in the Manufacturers" National
Bank, and remained in that capacity until
1887, when he removed to Kansas City, ]\'lis-
souri. Mr. Collins had the same desire to try
his fortune in the Western country that is
experienced by most of the young men in
Eastern States, with the point of difference
in his case that the Western idea had a fixed
point of location in his mind at an early age.
He studied histories of different States dur-
ing his boyhood, and chose Missouri as his
future location, believing that, for a large
number of reasons, it was destined to become
one of the wealthiest States in the Union.
The location of Kansas City appealed to him
as a desirable one, and, pinning faith to the
opinion that such a city in such a State could
have only a bright future, he decided to cast
his lot in the city which has since been his
home. In New York he had every advantage
which political and social influence could give,
but in October, 1887, he acted upon his de-
termination and started for Kansas City, hav-
ing secured the promise of a position with
the American National Bank of that city.
Upon his arrival he found that the bank
would not be ready for him until the first of
the following month, when the new building
now used by the same institution would be
ready for occupancy. Mr. Collins was ten-
dered a place in the bookkeeping department
of the G. Y. Smith Dry Goods Company, and
accepted it. He was advanced rapidly, and
during the following July was made credit
manager of the large concern, which position
he filled until the company moved its stock to
Fort Worth, Texas, in 1890. Mr. Collins
declined strong inducements to accompany
his employers to tlie new location. His faith
in Kansas City and a purpose many years
old refused to let him leave. At this time the
Westport Bank was opened and he was
offered the position of cashier, which he
accepted. He held this until the following
year, when he accepted the position of cash-
ier of the German Savings Bank, of Kansas
City. He remained in that capacity until
1892, when he entered into a partnership
with Henry H. Craig and W. S. Sitlington,
forming a financial and insurance business
arrangement. This continued until 1895,
when Air. Collins sold his interests therein
to devote his time to the management of the
National Benevolent Society, a large fra-
ternal organization which had been started
by some of the most prominent business men
of Kansas City. Under his management the
society has prospered and increased in mem-
bership, until now it has many thousands
throughout Missouri, the Central and West-
ern States. Mr. Collins has been a member of
the Kansas City Commercial Club, has been
identified with many of the movements orig-
inated for the advancement of the business in-
terests there, and has unbounded faith in the
city's prospects to become the metropolis of
the West. It was he who made the discov-
ery that in proportion to population, Kansas
City does more business per capita, each
week, in dollars and cents, as shown by the
bank clearings, than any other city of the
United States, and his articles on this subject
were widely copied by the press and favor-
ably commented upon. He has interests in
various enterprises, including a cattle ranch
in New Mexico and a tract of mining land
in the center of the zinc-mining district at
Joplin, Missouri. Many of Mr. Collins' an-
cestors possessed military disposition, and he
naturally inherited their spirit. He was a
member of cadet companies until old enough
to enlist, when he became a member of the
Sixth Separate Company, National Guard of
New York, known also as the Troy Citizens'
Corps, which was originally organized in
1835. He served continuously with this com-
pany until he removed to Missouri, and
within a month after his arrival in Kansas
City he met the celebrated Captain Thomas
Phelan, who was then organizing Battery B
at Kansas City. Mr. Collins was induced to
enlist in the new battery, and was immedi-
ately made first sergeant. He served with
the battery .until the following Alay, 1888,
when he was commissioned second lieutenant
52
COLLINS.
of Company D, Third Infantry, N. G. M.
During the following April he was promoted
to the first lieutenancy. In 1889 he accom-
panied the regiment as acting adjutant upon
its trip to New York City, to attend the cere-
monies of the Washington centennial inau-
gural. He continued with Company D until
March, 1890, when he was commissioned by
Governor D. R. Francis to organize a new
company for the Third Regiment, to be
known as Company H. This he promptly
accomplished, and was commissioned captain.
His company was more generally known as
the Kansas City Fencibles, and in 1892 was
sent by the State of Missouri to Chicago to
assist in representing this State in the dedi-
cation of the World's Fair. The battalion,
composed of Company H and other troops,
was under his command during the period
of absence from the State, and the trip was
safely and successfully made. Captain Col-
lins continued in command of Company H
until the summer of 1896, when he became
dissatisfied with the manner in which the
affairs of the regiment were managed to such
an extent that he resigned. Immediately
upon the breaking out of hostilities with
Spain, he rented a store room at Eighth and
Main Streets, in Kansas City, and organized
a regiment of infantry of i,cx)0 men. He
tendered the services of the regiment to the
government, but the early collapse of Span-
ish resistance precluded the possibility of
their seeing active service, and the regiment
was therefore disbanded when there was no
further prospect of its being needed. The
Third Regiment was ordered mustered out
of service in 1899, and a new regiment was
ordered organized. Captain Collins was
selected as one of the organizers, and chose
the letter "H," the name of his old company.
Primarily a business man, he devotes to mili-
tary affairs only that portion of his time
which he deems it his duty to devote. Tak-
ing no interest in political affairs, he feels it
a duty to perform some public service, and
prefers this department of it to that offered
by the field of politics. Captain Collins is a
member of the Presbyterian Church, and of
Southgate Lodge No. 547, A. F. and A. M.
He was married July 2, 1900, to Miss Blanche
W. Hastings, daughter of Hiram C. Hastings,
a wealthy contractor, of Frankfort, Kansas.
Her parents were among the pioneers of that
State, removing to the western country from
the State of New York. Mrs. Collins was-
carefully educated and is a woman of refine-
ment and culture.
Collins, Monroe E., Jr., a native soa
of St. Louis, who has grown into prominence-
among the business men and financiers of the
city, was born February 8, 1854. son of Mon-
roe R. Collins, Sr. His father came to Mis-
souri from Ripley, Ohio, and his mother was-
a native of ^Maryland. He is a nephew of the
late Peter and Jesse G. Lindell, who came to
St. Louis at an early date and engaged exten-
sively in various business enterprises, built
up vast fortunes and left their names linked
indissolubly with the city's growth and prog-
ress. After completing his education at
Washington University, Mr. Collins began his
business career as shipping clerk in a whole-
sale grocery house. Later he established a
general collecting agency in St. Louis, and
in 1879. forming a partnership with Delos R.
Haynes, engaged in the real estate business
under the firm name of Haynes & Collins.
In 1884 he established what is now the widely^
known real estate firm of J\I. R. Collins, Jr.,.
& Co., of which he has since been the man-
ager and executive head. Inheriting a por-
tion of the Lindell estate, he became largely
interested in the management of the proper-
ties belonging to the estate, and also became-
manager of numerous other estates and the
representative of many Eastern and local
capitalists in the guardianship of their in-
terests in St. Louis. In addition to looking-
after these trusts, he has been extensively
engaged in a general real estate business,
and, acting for clients, has laid out several'
additions to the city and suburbs of St.
Louis, two of which have been named for
him. One of these is known as "Collins"'
Addition to Kirkwood," and the other as
"Collins' Subdivision" at Ellendalc, on the
old Manchester Road. He is vice president
and secretary also of the Collins Realty Com-
pany, a corporation which owns property in
all parts of the city of St. Louis. Few men
identified with the real estate interests of that
city are so well known to the general public
as is Mr. Collins, and none exerts greater in-
fluence in real estate circles. From Novem-
ber I. 1895, to April 12, 1897, he was secre-
tary of the St. Louis Real Estate Exchange,
and he has long been one of the most active,,
forceful and enterprising members of that
COLLINS— COLMAN.
53
■body. He has served one term as a member
•of the St. Louis House of Delegates, and
while in that body was speaker pro tem. of
the House, chairman of the ways and means
<:ommittee, and member of the committee on
public improvements. His religious affilia-
tions are with St. John's Methodist Episcopal
Church, South, and in Masonic circles he is
well known as a member of Occidental
Lodge, No. 163, St. Louis Chapter No. 8,
Ascalon Commandery No. 16, and Moolah
Temple of the Mystic Shrine. For five years
he served as member of the Masonic Board
of Relief, and is also a member of the St.
Louis Club, the St. Louis Jockey Club and
the Missouri Historical Society. He married
in 1878, JMiss Clara Shewell, of Philadelphia,
who belongs to an old English family which
settled in the "Quaker City" about the year
1700.
Collins, Monroe R., prominent in St.
Louis for many years as a merchant and man
of affairs, was born August 13, 1827, in
Ripley, Ohio, and died in St. Louis, August
30, 1887. His parents were Eli and Mary
(Barrett) Collins, who removed to St. Louis
in 1847. The elder Collins was a successful
general merchant and pork-packer, who,
prior to his removal from Ohio, had been
prominent in the politics of that State. The
son was educated in the schools of his native
town, and came to St. Louis an intelligent,
well informed young man, equipped by natu-
ral endowments, as well as early training, for
a successful business career. His father had
met with financial reverses shortly before his
coming to St. Louis, and the young man
began life there without other capital than
brains, energy and a capacity for hard work.
During the earlier years of his career he
engaged in a small way in manufacturing en-
terprises, with such success that the capital
accumulated in this way enabled him later to
embark in business as a member of the
wholesale grocery firm of Miller & Co. En-
dowed by nature with the instincts which
make men successful in trade, prosperity
attended his merchandising operations, which
he continued tmtil he retired from business
to give his entire time and attention to the
management of his property interests and
the estate inherited by his wife. In the early
part of the year 1850 he had married Miss
Esther Baker, a daughter of Robert Baker,
of Berlin, Maryland, and a niece of Jesse G.
and Peter Lindell, who were numbered
among the wealthiest and most prominent
citizens of St. Louis. At the death of the
Lindells, Mrs. Collins inherited a share of
their estates, and the responsibility of looking
after this property devolved upon Mr. Col-
lins. Severing his connection with the mer-
cantile interests of the city in 1861, he was
known thereafter as the representative of
large property interests, and the estate com-
mitted to his care was largely increased in
value as a result of his judicious guardianship
and management. While he led a quiet life,
he was recognized as a man of keen sagacity
and superior capacity for the conduct of
affairs, especially accurate in his judgment
of real estate and other property values, and
in his forecasts of the growth and improve-
ment of the city. As a citizen he stood high
in the community with which he was identi-
fied for forty years, his unquestioned probity
and honorable business methods commend-
ing him to all with whom he was brought into
contact in the relations of everyday life. In
his young manhood he identified himself
politically with the Whig party, and later be-
came known as a staunch Democrat, but he
was never active in political campaigns, and
never sought or held any political offices.
He was a member of the Methodist Epis-
copal Church, South, and at the time of his
death was officially connected with St. John's
Church, of that denomination, as a steward.
Out of his abundance he gave liberally to
that church, and his catholic spirit made him
a generous donor, also, to other churches
and religious institutions. He left at his
death two sons, both of whom are now
prominent citizens of St. Louis, the elder,
Robert E. Collins, being a member of the bar,
and the younger. Monroe R. Collins, Jr., be-
ing head of the real estate firm of M. R.
Collins. Jr., & Co.
Coluian, Norman J., agriculturist,
journalist and cabinet officer, was born May
16, 1827, near Richfield Springs, New York.
After obtaining an academic education he
came west from New York State as far as
Louisville, Kentucky, where he engaged for
a time in teaching school. While there he
also studied law and received the degree of
bachelor of laws from the Law Department
of Louisville University. After graduating
54
COLONIAL DAMES OF AMERICA.
from the law school he went to New Albany,
Indiana, and began the practice of his profes-
sion as a partner of Honorable M. C. Kerr,
who had formerly been his roommate and
classmate, and who in later years, achieved
national distinction as a member of Congress,
dying while serving as Speaker of the House
of Representatives. Well adapted to the pro-
fession of law, Mr. Colman built up a fine
practice at New Albany, and while there was
elected to and held for one year the office of
district attorney, resigning the position to
come to St. Louis. After practicing at the
bar of that city for some time an innate fond-
ness for rural pursuits caused him to purchase
a country home, and about the same time he
began the publication of the agricultural paper
which has since become famous throughout
the country as "Colman's Rural World."
From the beginning of his career he took an
active interest in public afifairs, and when the
country was plunged into civil war as a result
of the slavery controversy, he was among the
prominent Missourians who stood bravely in
defense of the Union. He served as lieuten-
ant colonel of the Eighty-^fifth Regiment of
Enrolled Missouri Militia, and both as soldier
and civilian aided in preventing Missouri
from joining the secession movement and in
establishing national supremacy. After the
war he was among those who believed that
the victors should be magnanimous in their
treatment of those who had suffered defeat,
and, as a consequence, affiliated politically
with the party which favored restoring all the
rights of citizenship to those who had par-
ticipated in the Southern uprising. He was
elected to the Missouri Legislature in 1865,
and, after serving with distincrion in that
body, was nominated by the Democratic
party for Lieutenant Governor in 1868. In
that year he was defeated, with all the candi-
dates on the Democratic ticket, but in 1874
he was again nominated for Lieutenant
Governor and was elected. A warm friend
of popular education, he early became inter-
ested in the welfare of the State University
of Missouri, and for sixteen years was a
member of the Board of Curators of that in-
stitution. At the same time he was doing all
in his power to promote the interests of the
farmers of Missouri and of all the Western
States, and throughout all the years of his
later life he has been exceedingly active in
this field of labor. He has served as presi-
dent of the Missouri State Horticultural
Society, of the State Live Stock Breeders'
Association, of the State Board of Agricul-
ture, of the State Dairy Association, and has
been officially identified with many other
State and national associations organized to
advance the interests of the farmers of the
country. His broad and practical knowledge
of everything pertaining to agriculture and
agricultural interests, and his eminent fitness
to perform the duties of the office caused him
to be appointed United States Commissioner
of Agriculture in 1885 by President Cleve-
land, with the result that the sphere of this
department was immediately afterward very
materially enlarged under his administration.
In 1889 l^hs Agricultural Department was. by
act of Congress, elevated to the dignity of an
executive department of the general govern-
ment, and it was provided that the head of the
department should occupy a seat in the Presi-
dent's cabinet as Secretary of Agriculture.
President Cleveland at once appointed Gov-
ernor Colman to the newly created office, and
he served in that capacity until the close of
the administration, enjoying the distinction
of being the first representative of the
agricultural interests of the United States to
sit in the President's Cabinet. He dignified
the position and rendered services of great
value to the farmers of the country by his
able and eminently practical administration
of the afifairs of his department. Upon his
retirement from the Secretaryship of Agricul-
ture the President of France, through the
Minister of Agriculture, conferred upon him
the Cross of "Officier du Merite Agricole,"
which was accompanied by a gold medal and
the decoration of the order. Since then he
has resided at his country home near St.
Louis, devoting his time to the editorial
management of his famous journal and to his
private farming interests. His influence has
always been strongly and aggressively in
favor of progress in the highest and best
sense, and he has been at the same time an
able and useful public official, a journalist
whose influence has been felt throughout the
length and breadth of the land, and a
thoroughly public-spirited citizen in all that
the term implies.
Colonial Dames of America. — A
society composed of women, each of whom is
descended in her own right from some an-
COLONIZATION SOCIETY.
55
cestor who resided in an American colony
prior to 1750. this ancestor, or some one of
his Hneal descendants, being a lineal ascend-
ant of the member ; or who held some
important office in the Colonial government,
and, by distinguished services rendered prior
to 1776, contributed to the founding of this
great nation. The object of the society is the
commemoration of the brilliant achievements
of the founders of this republic and to stimu-
late women as well as men to better and
nobler lives ; to diffuse information of the
past and create popular interest in American
history; to inspire love to country and teach
the young to venerate the memory of their
ancestors. In furtherance of this object the
society collects manuscripts, traditions, relics
and mementos of bygone days for preserva-
tion, and gives loan exhibitions from time to
time. The local work of restoration and
preservation of historic buildings is neces-
sarily limited to the residents of the original
thirteen Colonies ; the restoration of the
Senate chamber. Congress Hall, Philadelphia,
in 1896, by the Pennsylvania Society of
Colonial Dames being a notable instance.
The Missouri Society of the Colonial
Dames of America was organized October
10, 1895. and incorporated December 11,
1896, with the following officers: Mrs.
George H. Shields, president; Mrs. Hamilton
Gamble, first vice president ; Mrs. William A.
Hardaway, second vice president; Mrs. H.
N. Spencer, secretary; Mrs. William S. Long,
treasurer ; Mrs. James J. O'Fallon, registrar.
Additional members of the governing board :
Mrs. Amos M. Tliayer, Mrs. Henry W. Eliot
and Florence Boyle — all of St. Louis, with the
exception of Mrs. Gamble, who resides in
Kansas City. At the end of six months there
were in Missouri only seventeen members of
this exclusive organization, most of these re-
siding in St. Louis. The growth of the so-
ciety is necessarily slow, as, aside from the
hereditary restriction, applicants can present
their credentials only on invitation, and each
member is permitted to invite only one in a
year. The board meetings are held in St.
Louis, at residencesof officers, at noon, on the
last Saturday of alternate months from Octo-
ber to June. The name of a candidate pro-
posed at one meeting is passed upon at the
next, two adverse votes preventing election.
In the words of the president, Mrs. Shields:
"Our work for the first year has been prin-
cipally in organization ; for the coming year
we have other plans. In our non-Colonial
States we can not have loan collections of
Colonial relics or visit the places made sacred
by the deeds of our noble ancestors, but we
can reawaken and keep alive interest in and
love for the traditions of Colonial days, that
when the opportunity occurs to pay defer-
ence to the memory of the founders of our
great country their descendants may not be
found wanting in patriotism, but may be
worthy the name inscribed on the bar of the
insignia — the name loved and honored by
Colonial ancestors."
During the recent War with Spain the
Colonial Dames demonstrated their active
patriotism. The society as a whole was the
first women's organization to contribute to
the relief fund. Their services were formally
offered to the President and formally ac-
cepted by him on the day that war was
declared, and theirs was the first contribution
to the relief ship "Solace." The members of
the St. Louis society worked along with their
sister organizations in this common cause.
They are now interested in the coming
centenary celebration of the Louisiana Pur-
chase, and have issued a letter to the schools
throughout the State offering two cash prizes
of twenty and ten dollars for the best essays
relating to this subject written by pupils dur-
ing the year. This educational work will be
continued and medals will be provided for
awards for future essays by pupils on given
subjects. The seal adopted by the Missouri
Society in December, 1897, was originated
by Mrs. William A. Rucker, of St. James,
Missouri, and is directly commemorative of
the Louisiana Purchase. Within a ribboned
Napoleonic wreath of wild roses and wheat
heads are the French and American flags,
crossed above a quill treaty pen. Half en-
circling the wreath from below is a flat
garland, with ends notched and pendant,
bearing the words, "Missouri Society of
Colonial Dames of America."
Martha S. Kayser.
Colonization Society. — The idea of
restoring Africans in America to their native
land was suggested as early as 1773 by Rev.
Samuel Hopkins and Rev. Ezra Stiles, of
Rhode Island, who issued a circular in which
they invited subscriptions to a fund to be
used for founding a colony of free negroes on
COLONY FOR FEEBLE-MINDED AND EPILEPTIC.
the western shore of Africa. A contribution
was made by ladies of Newport in February,
1774, and aid was received about the same
time from Alassachusetts and Connecticut.
After the Revohitionary War, Dr. Hopkins
continued his efiforts to rid this country of
negro slaves, and, among other endeavors,
sought to make arrangements by which free
blacks from America might join the English
colony at Sierra Leone, which had been
established in 1787 and which was designed
to constitute "a home for destitute Africans
from different parts of the world, and for
promoting African civilization." Failing to
make this arrangement, he proposed in 1793
a plan of colonization which was to be put
into operation by the general government
and States of the American L^nion. The
subject continued to be agitated, and in 181 1
steps were taken for the organization of a
colonization society. An organization was
finally effected in 1816, and the first officers
of the "Annerican Colonization Society" were
chosen January i, 1817. The society as
organized made no reference to emancipa-
tion, present or future, and Henry Clay, lohn
Randolph, Bushrod Washington and other
slave-holders took a leading part in its forma-
tion. Samuel J. Mills and Ebenezer Burgess
were sent to Africa in 1817 to select a site for
the colony, and Cape Mesurada was finally
chosen. Two years later Congress appro-
priated $100,000 to be used in sending back
to Africa such slaves as should be surrepti-
tiously imported. The first emigrants were
sent out in 1820, and the government of the
colony was assumed by the society. The
colonv was named Liberia, and its civil gov-
ernment was established first in 1824. Until
1847 certain governmental powers were
vested in the Colonization Society. but in that
year it was declared a free and independent
State, and the United States, Great Britain
and France acknowledged its independence.
The American Colonization Society may
therefore be said to have founded Liberia,
and to have sustained the colony until it be-
came self-supporting. The first movement
looking to the formation of an auxiliary to
the American Colonization Society in St.
Louis was made in 1825. In March of that
year a public meeting was held for that pur-
pose in the JNIethodist Episcopal Church,
over which Rev. Salmon Giddings presided
as chairman. and in which \\illiam Carr Lane,
A. Monroe, Colonel John O'Fallon, James
H. Peck, Theodore Hunt, Edward Bates,
Edward Charless, Charles S. Hempstead, H.
L. Hoffman and other well known citizens
of that day, took a prominent part. The re-
sult of this meeting was the organization of
the St. Louis Colonization Society, which
co-operated actively for several years with
the American Colonization Society. About
1 83 1 this organization appears to have lost
its vitality and practically ceased to exist.
In 1839 a new society was organized, which
was called the "Missouri State Colonization
Society," and which continued in existence
several years, having in view the same objects
as the first society. Beverly Allen, Rev. A.
Bullard, Rev. William M. Daily, Rev. W. S.
Potts, Edward Bates and a number of promi-
.nent men outside of St. Louis were the mov-
ing spirits in the organization and in the
conduct and management of this society.
"The Young Men's Colonization Society"
was organized in 1848, with Rev. William G.
Ehot, H. S. Woods, J. R. Barret, Rev. Mr.
Finley, Josiah Dent, Barton Bates, R. F.
Barret, John Henderson, William W'arder
and C. Carroll as officers and managers. All
these societies contributed to a considerable
extent to the advancement of the movement
which resulted in the building up of the negro
republic known as Liberia, which now has a
population of something more than a million
people, but which has never realized the full
expectation of its founders and promoters.
Colony for Feeble-minded and
Epileptic. — The Fortieth General Assem-
bly of Missouri appropriated $40,000 for the
founding of a colony for the Feeble-minded
and Epileptic, hitherto cared for in the State
Lunatic Asylums. A board to locate the
colony was constituted, the members being
John O'Day, of Springfield, president ; Dean
D. Duggins, of Marshall ; George Robert-
son, of Mexico ; Mrs. Dora Lee Hall, of St.
Joseph ; and Miss Pearl Mitchell, secretary,
of Rocheport. Propositions including gifts
of land or cash were made by the citizens of
Lexington. Springfield, Mexico. Glasgow,
Monroe City, Hannibal and Marshall. The
institution was located at the last named city
upon a tract of 280 acres, presented to the
State by the people of Saline County. One
cottage, already built, will accommodate
sixty patients. Plans for future building
COLORED INSTITUTE FUND-COLUMBIA.
57
-contemplate the erection of fourteen cot-
tages, affording accommodations for one
thousand inmates, an administration building,
a chapel and a schoolhouse. The General
Assembly of 1901 was expected to make the
necessary appropriations for the work, to
■enable its completion in that year.
Colored Institute Fund. — This is a
State fund composed of tuition fees of
colored teachers' institutes, collected by
county treasurers and paid into the State
treasury. The moneys are used to pay con-
ductors and instructors in colored institutes.
The receipts into the fund in 1897 were
$1,046, and in 189S, $771; and the disburse-
ments to conductors and instructors were, in
1897, $1,033 and in 1898, $661 ; balance Jan-
uary I, 1899, $147.
Colored Orphans' Home. — This or-
phanage is conducted under the auspices of
the Harper Woman's Christian Temperance
Union, colored. This union was organized
in 1886, and in the following year voted to
make charity one of the leading features of
its work, proceeding then to take the first
steps in the founding of a home for colored
•orphans and destitute children of St. Louis.
A board of fifteen directors for the manage-
ment of the projected home was elected in
October, 1887, of whom the following were
■ofScers : president, j\Irs. S. D. Brown; vice
president, Mrs. S. W. Newton ; recording
secretary, Mrs. F. M. Oliver; corresponding
secretary, Mrs. N. E. Cheney; treasurer, Mrs.
'E. Napier. After great efforts in the over-
coming of many obstacles, the home was
opened in r)ctober. 1889, at its present loca-
tion, 1427 North Twelfth Street, and was in-
corporated in 1889. The building which it
■occupies, the property of the Western Sani-
tary Commission, had been used years ago
■for the same purpose, but as, after its estab-
lishment, the home had not been supported
by the colored people, the commission, hav-
ing exhausted the fund for its support, had
closed it and used the building for other
charitable purposes. Mrs. James E. Yeat-
aiian. becoming interested in the efforts being
made by the board of directors, offered them
the use of the building, rent free, under
■certain conditions, and there for ten years the
liome has been maintained. During this time
it has housed and cared for over two hundred
orphans and destitute children. Thirty-
seven of these are present inmates, one hun-
dred and twenty-five have been returned to
parents and friends, and twenty-five have been
provided with homes. In 1895 the home
succeeded in getting the care of the "city
waifs," which is a source of income to the
institution.
Coliiiiibia. — The county seat of Boone
County, and the seat of the State University.
It was founded by the Smithton Land Com-
pany, which consisted of thirty-five stock-
holders, among whom were Lilburn W.
Boggs, elected Governor of Missouri in 1836;
David Todd, first judge of the Circuit Court
of Boone County ; Taylor Berry, killed in a
duel in 1824 by Abiel Leonard; and Nicholas
S. Burckhartt, first sheriff of Howard
County. This corporation first laid out the
town of Smithton, which it designed to make
the county seat of Boone County, and which
was located on the beautiful elevated plateau
northwest of the site of Columbia, and now
part of the estate of the late Jefferson Garth.
The town was named in honor of General
Thomas A. Smith, then receiver of the land
oiifice at Franklin, Howard County. Smith-
ton never had more than twenty inhabitants,
for, in May, 182 1. it was removed to the pres-
ent site of Columbia and called by that name.
Nevertheless, until this removal, by an act of
the Legislature, it was the temporary capital
of Boone County, and the first terms of the
county and circuit courts were held there.
The first county court began its sessions I'eb-
ruary 23, 1821, in Smithton. Judges Ander-
son Woods and Lazarus Wilcox were
present. After appointing Warren Woodson
clerk pro tern., and Michael Woods county
assessor, it adjourned. At its next meeting,
held in Columbia, May 21, 1821, Peter
Wright, the third judge, appeared and took
his seat. The first session of the circuit
court in Boone County was held at Smithton,
.\pril 2, 1821, with David Todd as judge;
Roger N. Todd, clerk ; Hamilton R. Gamble,
circuit attorney, and Overton Harris, sheriff.
Peter Bass was foreman of the grand jury,
which indicted William Ramsey and Hiram
liryant for assault and battery. The court
held its sessions under an arbor constructed
for the purpose, there being no suitable
building for its accommodation. At the end
of two days the court adjourned. The first
58
COLUMBIA.
Fourth of July celebration in the county was
held in Smithton, in the shade of the trees, in
1820, John Williams acting as president, and
Overton Harris as secretary. A serious
difficulty in obtaining water by digging wells
in Smithton was the cause of the removal of
the town. For many years after removal a
dry well ninety feet deep existed on the site
of Smithton, and in Mr. Garth's pasture.
Columbia was laid out in 1821, and the first
sale of lots took place May 20th of that year.
The first house erected there was a log cabin
built by Thomas Duly, in 1820, on the south-
east corner of Broadway and Fifth Street.
The first merchant of Columbia was Abra-
ham J. Williams, who, in 1825, was president
of the Missouri State Senate, and after the
death of Governor Frederick Bates was act-
ing Governor up to the time of the election
to that office, in September of 1825, of John
Miller. Mr. Williams died December 30,
1839, and is buried in the Columbia Ceme-
tery, where the monument over his grave
can now be seen. He erected a two-storv
frame store room on the southeast corner of
Broadway and Fifth Street, which occupied
the site until some years since, when it was
torn down and a brick dwelling erected in
its place. Colonel Richard Gentry opened
the first tavern in Columbia, in 1821. It was
a log building, and stood on the site of the
present operahouse. Colonel Gentry became
a very prominent citizen. He was post-
master after the death of Charles Hardin in
1830. served as colonel of a regiment of vol-
unteers in the Florida war, and was killed at
the battle of Okeechobee, December 25,
1837. Gentry County was named in honor
of him.
The first brick house was built in 1821 by
Charles Hardin, who was Columbia's first
postmaster, and the father of Governor
Charles H. Hardin. The house is still occu-
pied as a residence, although it is now nearly
eighty years old. December 7, 1821, the first
session of the first circuit court was held in
Columbia, David Todd sitting as judge. This
court was held in a log cabin, near the site
of the present county jail. The first session
of the county court held in Columbia began
February 18, 1822. The first tavern license
was granted to Wilfred Stephens, August 20,
1821, and the first license to retail merchan-
dise was granted to Peter Bass, June i, 1821.
At this time the town consisted of a few cab-
ins on "Flat Branch." In 1822 a spirited
rivalry sprang up between Dr. William Jew-
ell and Colonel Richard Gentry, as to
whether the central part of the town should
be where it now is, or at the intersection of
Broadway and Water, or Fifth Street. Gen-
try triumphed, and during the year 1822 sev-
eral houses were built on what is now
Eighth or Courthouse Street. The primary
design of the founders of Columbia was that
the lot on which now stands the courthouse
and jail should be a public square, and the
survey was so made. At the end of the year
1822 the nucleus of a town had been fully
established, and dry goods stores were kept
by Peter Bass, Abraham J. Williams and
Robert Snell ; groceries by Thomas Duly and
John Graham, and taverns by Richard Gen-
try, Wilfred Stephens and Samuel Wall. In
1823 the population of Columbia was only
130, but in 1830 it had grown to 600; and in
1840, when the corner stone of the State
University was laid, to about 1,000. The
first church in Columbia was founded by the
Baptist denomination, November 23, 1823,
with eleven members, at the residence of
Charles Hardin. The Presbyterians organ-
ized the second church, with seven members,
September 14, 1828, the organization being
eiTected at the residence of James Richard-
son, a one-story log building, on the north-
east corner of Tenth and \\'alnut Streets.
This building stood until 1899, when it was
torn down. The first courthouse erected in
Columbia, in 1824, was called, in the adver-
tisement for bids, "the hull of a courthouse";
and those who aided in the administration of
justice within its walls, either as judges,
jurors or other officers, or as citizens or
spectators, listened with rapture to the
forensic eloquence of early lawyers, will
agree that it was a "hull," in fact, as well as
in name. It was a brick structure, erected
by Minor Neal, and stood, until supplanted
in 1848 by the present courthouse, where the
Baptist Church once stood. It was of plain,
old-style architecture, hip roof, two stories
high, with a court room on the ground floor,
the floor of brick, and grand and petit jury
rooms above stairs, the building being fifty
feet long by forty feet wide. The rooms
were lighted with candles. Courts were held
in this building until the completion of the
present courthouse. The first jail was built
by George Sexton in 1822, and the first jailer
COLUMBIAN CLUB.
59
was John M. Kelly, who died in Columbia in
1874.
The first newspaper published in Colum-
bia was the "Missouri Intelligencer," with
Nathaniel Patten as editor and publisher.
He removed the paper from Fayette to Co-
lumbia, and issued the first number May 4,
1830. It was discontinued in 1835, and was
succeeded by "The Patriot," Frederick A.
Hamilton, publisher, and James S. Rollins,
editor. In January, 1843, "The Patriot" was
discontinued, and William F. Switzler started
"The Statesman," which he owned and ed-
ited until 1885, covering a period of forty-
two years. At the end of that time he went
to Washington to assume the duties of chief
of the Bureau of Statistics, in the Treasury
Department.
The first theatrical performance was given
in Columbia, home talent alone participating,
on Christmas night, 1832, the play being
"Pizzaro ; or the Death of Rolla," concluding
with the farce, "My Uncle." On the 21st of
October, 1833, a semi-weekly line of mail
coaches was established between St. Louis
and Fayette, by way of St. Charles, Fulton
and Columbia.
From the small and unpretentious begin-
nings, indicated above, with wide expanses
of unsubdued forests and wild prairie about
it, Columbia has grown to be recognized as
one of the most beautiful, cultivated and
wealthy little cities of the State, and the busi-
ness, social and educational center of an agri-
cultural district of unsurpassed fertility,
enterprise and intelHgence. Its streets are
broad and shady, and many of them well
paved, with more miles of granitoid, brick
and plank sidewalks than any town of its
population in Missouri. Many of its busi-
ness blocks, and its three banks, are attrac-
tive in architecture and models of conven-
ience, and its suburban homes, and a large
proportion of those in the central portion of
the city, are unsurpassed in size and beauty
of their adjacent grounds. The streets of
the city are lighted by electricity, and its
waterworks furnish an abundant supply of
the best water. The religious denominations
represented in Columbia are Baptist, Pres-
byterian, Christian, Episcopalian, Methodist
and Catholic. The four first named have
large, beautiful and costly church buildings,
the Presbyterian, Christian and Episcopalian
edifices being of stone. Education is the
dominant interest of Columbia, and it well
deserves the name "Athens of Missouri."
The State University and Agricultural Col-
lege buildings, located in a quadrangle, in a
beautiful campus ; Christian and Stephens'
College, for the education of yovmg women ;
three public school buildings for white chil-
dren, and one for colored, all in the midst of
shady groves, are the pride and boast of the
people.
"The Herald" and "The Statesman" are its
newspapers, issued weekly, together with
several monthly college and fraternity mag-
azines, all printed and illustrated in the best
style of "the art preservative." The Herald
Publishing House is one of the largest and
best appointed in the State, and prints and
binds the Supreme Court decisions of Mis-
souri and other States, and also other books.
Columbia is connected by branch railroads
with two of the great systems of the West
and South, the Wabash, at Centralia, twenty
miles north, and the Missouri, Kansas &
Texas, at McBaine, nine miles south. The
population of Columbia in 1900 was 5,651.
William F. Switzler.
Columbian Club. — Among the many
pretty clubhouses of St. Louis the Columbian
is one of the most imposing. Situated on
Lindell Boulevard, at the northwest corner
of Vandeventer Avenue, its location is admir-
able. It is a massive, square, yellow brick
structure, with white stone trimmings, the
front facade being a worthy tribute to the ar-
chitect's art. In fact, the Columbian Club is
the finest Jewish institution of its kind in the
West. The internal appointments are rich in
elegant simplicity, there being nothing lack-
ing for the comfort and convenience of the
members, and on evenings of entertainment
the ball room is one of the sights of the city.
The first meeting for the organization of the
club was held May 15, 1892, there being
present at this meeting Messrs. Marcus
Bernheimer, Nicholas ScharfT, J. D. Gold-
man, Jonathan Rice, Jacob Meyer. Elias
Michael, Louis Glaser, Benjamin J. Strauss,
Moses Fraley, Adolph Baer, Joel Swope and
William Kohn. At this meeting it was de-
cided that, besides the twelve gentlemen
present, the following should be admitted as
charter members of the club : Messrs. Isaac
Schwab, William Sti.x, Ben Eiseman, David
Eiseman, Isaac Meyer, Jacob Furth, Mever
COLUMBIAN EXPOSITION.
Bauman, Louis M. Hellman. A. S. Aloe,
Gustav Roseberg, Simon Strauss, Morris
Glaser, J. J. Wertheinier, Philip Constani,
Meyer Swope, M. Schwab, Sam Schroeder,
George W. Milius, Adolph Scharff, Lazarus
Scharff, Adolph Samish, Simon Seasongood,
Joseph Wolfort, A. J. Weil and Charles Stix.
The first officers were, Jacob jMeyer, presi-
dent ; Jonathan Rice, first vice president ;
•Gus Roseberg, second vice president ; L. M.
Hellman, treasurer, and Benjamin J. Strauss,
secretary. The meetings before the formal
•opening of the clubhouse, in September of
1894, were held at the vestry rooms of Tem-
-ple Israel.
Colximbian Exposition. — One of the
most interesting and instructive events in the
"history of the city of St. Louis was the effort
made to secure the holding of the Columbian
Exposition, which it was then proposed
should be held in 1892, in that city. The ef-
fort was the work of all classes of citizens,
from the capitalist to the laborer; from the
Avealthy manufacturer and merchant to the
smaller tradespeople. The first meeting to
consider the matter was convened at the
■office of the mayor of the city of St. Louis,
in the old City Hall, corner of Eleventh and
Chestnut Streets, on a joint call issued by the
then Governor of Missouri, Honorable
David R. Francis, and the then mayor of St.
Louis, Honorable E. A. Noonan, August 3,
1889. Invitations were sent to forty leading
citizens, who assembled on said date, and
Mr. Charles Green, then president of the St.
Louis Agricultural and Mechanical Fair As-
sociation, was called to the chair. Colonel C.
H. Jones, then editor of the "Republic," of-
fered a series of resolutions expressive of
the sentiment of the meeting, "That the
World's Fair be held in the city of St. Louis,"
and for the appointment of a committee of
twelve, who should take in hand all matters
connected with the securing of the fair, which
resolutions were adopted, and the committee,
consisting of the following gentlemen, was
appointed : David R. Francis, E. A. Noonan,
C. C. Rainwater, C. H. Jones, Charles Green,
John A. Dillon, Samuel M. Kennard, D. M.
Houser, Leverett Bell, Emil Preetorius,
Charles A. Cox, John O'Day. Congressman
Nathan Frank offered the following resolu-
tion, which was adopted :
"Resolved, that the committee of twelve
appointed by the meeting have and be
clothed with plenary power to appoint a
committee of one hundred or more, and that
they ask the co-operation of other munici-
palities of the .State, and of the State at large,
for the selection of auxiliary committees."
Soon after a meeting of the committee was
held at the Alercantile Club. Mr. John T.
Davis was elected a member and chairman
of the committee. It was then resolved that
a committee be appointed, to be called a
"Committee of Two Hundred for the Pro-
motion of the \\'orld's Fair of 1892 in St.
Louis." The committee was subsequently
appointed, and met on the 7th day of Sep-
tember, 1889. John T. Davis having declined
the chairmanship of the committee. Honor-
able David R. Francis was elected. An ex-
ecutive committee was carved out of this
committee, with C. H. Jones as chairman,
and Frank Gaiennie, secretary. A finance
committee, with Honorable E. O. Stan-
ard as chairman ; a committee on con-
gressional action, with Honorable E. S.
Rowse as chairman, and a committee
on the local site, with Colonel George
E. Leighton as chairman, were created.
The committee engaged headquarters at the
Mermod-Jaccard Building, corner of Broad-
way and Locust Streets, and Mr. D. H. Mac-
Adam was placed in charge as chief of the
bureau of information. A well prepared ad-
dress to the people was issued. It was de-
termined that a "guarantee fund" of $5,000,-
000 should be raised, and subcommittees
were constituted for this purpose. October
4, 1889, at a meeting of the general commit-
tee, it was reported that the $5,000,000 guar-
antee fund was completely subscribed, and
on the nth day of November, 1889, a dele-
gation of twenty-five, in addition to the vice
presidents of the committee of two hundred,
was selected, called the "Washington Dele-
gation," for service, when called on, to pro-
ceed to Washington to aid in securing
congressional support for the location of the
fair at St. Louis. November 12th Governor
David R. Francis and Colonel C. H. Jones
left for Washington, and opened a St. Louis
bureau at Willard"s Hotel, placing in charge
thereof General John B. Clark, ex-clerk of
the House of Representatives at Washing-
ton ; ex-Governor Thomas B. Fletcher, and
Sanniel Hayes. Auxiliary committees of the
residents of St. Louis, natives of other States
COLUMBIAN EXPOSITION.
ftl
than Missouri, were constituted to exert their
influence on the Congressmen from the States
whence they came, and Hterature and docu-
ments of ail kinds were prepared and dis-
tributed for the purpose. The active work
was then transferred to Washington.
Four cities competed for the prize : New
York City, Washington, D. C, Chicago and
St. Louis. -Each city had headquarters in
Washington, and the contest was most ex-
citing and spirited. The congressional dele-
gation from St. Louis consisted of Honor-,
able F. G. Niedringhaus, representing the
Eighth Congressional District ; Honorable
Nathan Frank, representing the Ninth Con-
gressional District, and Honorable Wilham
M. Kinsey, representing the Tenth Congres-
sional District.
The Senate World's Fair Committee met
on January 8, 1890, to hear arguments as to
where the World's Fair should be located,
and time was allotted for presentation of the
claims of the various cities.
The reasons why the World's Fair should
be located at St. Louis were forcibly urged
by Governor David R. Francis, Honorable
E. O. Stanard and Colonel Charles H. Jones.
Succinctly stated, it was urged on St. Louis'
behalf that she was first in the field in pro-
posing a World's Fair to celebrate the
quadricentennial of the discovery of Amer-
ica by Columbus, and that the city of St.
Louis was the most suitable site ; that this
was done as early as 1882 in articles written
for the "Missouri Republican," and which
idea was subsequently adopted at the First
National Convention of Fair and Exposition
Managers, held at St. Louis in June, 1884;
that in 1885 the commissioners of the New
Orleans Exposition declared themselves in
favor of a World's Fair, and in favor of St.
Louis as the site of that fair.
The international aspect of the fair was re-
lied on, namely, that visitors from the Old
World, traveling from the Atlantic seaboard
to the banks of the Mississippi River, would
see about one-third of the domain of the re-
public. The national view was dwelt on, and
a map showing that a circle with a radius of
500 miles, drawn around the city of St. Louis,
contained therein, according to the census of
1 880, 23 ,800,000 people; a similar circledrawn
around the city of New York contained 20,-
100,000, and a similar circle around the city
of Chicago, 21,700,000 people. The trans-
portation facilities were strongly put forth,,
showing a larger mileage of inland water
transportation than any other large city of
the LTnion. The local advantages, because of
the magnificent water supply, and the per-
fect sewerage system, were strongly urged,,
and the hotel accommodations were shown
to be fully equal to the demands which would
be made upon them.
The conmiittee ofifered seven distinct avail-
able sites within the limits of the city of St.
Louis, which were displayed by photographic
views to the committee. They were the fol-
lowing: Site No. I, two gentle slopes of
ground sotith of Tower Grove Park and west
of Grand Avenue ; Site No. 2, was an area
bounded by Shaw Avenue on the south.
Tower Grove Avenue on the west. Grand
Avenue on the east, Manchester Road atid
Chouteau Avenue on the north ; Site No. 3,
a strip from Grand .\venue to Forest Park,
and from the Wabash Railroad track to La-
clede Avenue ; Site No. 4, the ground be-
tween L^nion Avenue on the east, Jacob Ave-
nue on the west. Forest Park on the south
and Delmar Avenue on the north ; Site No. 5,
a level plain running from the St. Charles
Rock Road to the fair grounds, bounded
by Prairie Avenue on the east ; Site No. 6,
beginning on Penrose Street, north to Belle-
fontaine, with Warne Avenue and Bircher
Road as its eastern and western boundaries.
The city of St. Louis also tendered Forest
Park, containing 1,300 acres of ground, for
use of the World's Fair, which was the sev-
enth site proposed.
During the six months preceding the con-
vening of the Fifty-first Congress all the
cities competing for the location of the fair
were active and zealous in securing commit-
tals on the part of their representatives in
Congress. The subject of whether there
should be a celebration and where the cele-
bration should be held, in the event Congress
decided that there should be a celebration,
was thoroughly digested by the members of
Congress when they went to Washington to
attend Congress. Following the precedent
established in the legislation regarding the
Centennial of 1876, at Philadelphia, the com-
mittee on foreign affairs assumed that it
would have charge of any legislation touch-
ing the World's Fair.
Knowing that if this conmiittee was given
jurisdiction of this matter it would act
62
COLUMBIAN EXPOvSITlON.
against the interests of St. Louis, because no
member of Congress favorable to St. Louis
was a member of the committee on foreign
aflfairs, Congressman Frank offered a reso-
hition providing that a select committee of
nine members should be appointed, to be
called the "World's Fair Committee," to
whom should be referred all matters relating
to the proposed celebration. The committee
on rules subsequently reported such resolu-
tion back with the recommendation that it
be passed. A minority report was submitted
in the nature of a resolution as a substitute,
namely : "That the committee on foreign af-
fairs have jurisdiction of all matters relating
to the World's Fair." On the 17th of Jan-
uary, 1890, this report of the committee on
rules was submitted to the House, and gave
rise to one of the most exciting and most
earnest debates that took place in that mem-
orable Congress. The members favoring the
appointment of a select committee consisted
of those favorable to St. Louis for the loca-
tion of the fair and those who were un-
pledged to any city. A combination of the
other cities was made of the members who
supported the minority substitute. By a
close vote, namely, 135 to 133, the resolution
providing for the appointment of a select
committee was adopted. This victory was
hailed with great delight by the people of St.
Louis, but the effect was, however, to more
strongly combine the opposition to St. Louis
by the friends of the other competing cities.
Speaker Reed, in pursuance of the resolu-
tion, appointed a select committee on the
\\'orld's Fair, consisting of the following :
John W. Candler, of Massachusetts ; Robert
R. Hitt and William M. Springer, of Illinois ;
G. E. Bowden, of Virginia; James J. Belden
and Roswell P. Flower, of New York ;
Nathan Frank and W. H. Hatch, of Mis-
souri ; William L. Wilson, of West Virginia.
Missouri was honored with two places on
this committee — Nathan Frank and Wm. H.
Hatch.
A bill providing for the holding of the fair
at St. Louis was introduced by Mr. Frank
and referred to this committee. Other cities
followed and introduced similar bills through
their representatives. The select committee
reported back to the House a "bill to provide
for celebrating the four hundredth anniver-
sary of the discovery of America by Christo-
pher Columbus, by holding an international
exhibition of arts, industries, manufactures,
and the product of the soil, mines and sea, in
the city of , in the year 1892." This
bill was made a special order for debate on
Thursday and Friday, February 20th and
2 1 St, which was participated in by the lead-
ing members of Congress.
The vote was taken on the 25th day of Feb-
ruary, 1890, on the resolution to fill in the
name of the city. On the first roll call Chi-
cago received 115 votes. New York "ji,
St. Louis 60 and Washington 56. No place
having received a majority of all the votes
cast, a second roll call was had, and no place
having then received a majority, another roll
call was needed. It was necessary to call the
roll of the House for an aye and nay vote
seven times, which finally resulted in a com-
bination of interests by which Chicago re-
ceived 156 votes, or a majority of one vote,
and the resolution was then adopted, insert-
ing the name of "Chicago" in the blank
place. Nathan Frank.
[Congressman Frank, both at home and
at Washington, was one of the busiest of the
promoters of the Columbian Fair project for
St. Louis. He was punctual in attendance
upon all the committees to which he was as-
signed, and was prolific in wise suggestions
in furtherance of the cause. His speech be-
fore the final congressional vote was taken
was replete with facts and fine points bearing
upon the contest. He referred to the orig-
inal conception of the idea belonging to St.
Louis, where it had been elaborately dis-
cussed for five years, as one of pure senti-
ment and patriotic feehng. He deprecated
the partisan considerations which had been
made to bear weight upon the settlement of
the location. He spoke of the geographical
advantages of St. Louis, accessible, as she is,
to the largest number of people of this coun-
try, and of the continent south of us ; of her
greater nearness to the general variety of
exhibits than any other city ; of her choice of
favorable sites or grounds ; of the welcom-
ing and hospitable spirit of her people ; of
her complete ability to carry out all the re-
quirements of the bill; her salubrious and
healthful climate ; her character as a cosmo-
politan city ; her hundreds of miles of streets
and boulevards ; her magnificent parks and
monuments ; her splendid hostelries, and her
conspicuous place in the liistorv and tradi-
tions of the country. — Editor.]
COLUMBIAN KNIGHTS-COMMERCE OF KANSAS CITY.
63
Columbian Knights.— A fraternal in-
surance order established in Chicago, and in-
corporated under the laws of Illinois August
14, 1895. Its total membership was about
six thousand in 1898. St. Louis Lodge No.
55, having about ninety members, was the
only lodge of this order in existence in St.
Louis at the beginning of the year 1898. This
lodge was organized in July, 1897, by George
A. Lemming, who later removed from Chi-
cago to St. Louis and became the president
of the lodge, succeeding John B. Meyers.
Other officers were N. W. Perkins, Jr., vice
president; F. Ryan, secretary, and Hugh
Koch, chaplain.
Columbian Medical College. — The
Columbian Medical College was founded in
Kansas Citv, in 1898, bv Dr. J. L. Robinson,
Dr. W. F." Morrow, Dr. P. C. Palmer, Dr.
J. E. Moses, Dr. G. W. Lilley and Dr. J. H.
Johnson ; all except the two last named are
yet connected with the college. It occupies
two stories of a rented building, and is pro-
vided with necessary laboratories, and main-
tains a free dispensary. The first graduat-
ing class were six in number, and there were
thirty matriculants in 1900.
Columbian School of Osteopathy.
This school is located at Kirksville, Missouri,
and is for the giving of instruction in the art
of osteopathy, surgery and medicine. It
was founded November 8, 1897, by Dr.
Marcus L. Ward, who on that date formed
the first class for instruction. A charter for
the institution had been granted on Novem-
ber I, 1897. The first class occupied rooms
in one of the business blocks in the main
part of the town of Kirksville. The growth
of the school was so rapid that it was decided
to erect a building especially for school pur-
poses. A tract of land one mile east of the
Wabash depot at Kirksville was secured, on
which a fine pressed brick building, sixty by
sixty feet, three stories and basement, was
built and equipped in the most modern man-
ner. Into this building the school was
moved in April, 1898. The location of the
college is at a considerable elevation above
the surrounding country, of which it com-
mands an extensive view. A monthly review,
called the "Columbian Osteopath," is pub-
lished under the direction of the faculty of
the college. During the 1899-1900 term. 25c
students were in attendance at the school.
Comingo, Abram, lawyer, soldier and
member of Congress, was born in Mercer
County, Kentucky, January 9, 1820, and died
at Independence, Missouri. After receiving
a good English education he studied law and
was admitted to the bar in his native State
in 1847. The following year he came to
Missouri, and achieved a successful practice.
In 1861 he took a firm stand for the Union
cause, and was elected to the State Conven-
tion. The same year he entered the Union
Army, and was made provost marshal for the
Sixth District of Missouri. In 1870 he was
elected to the Forty-second Congress from
the Sixth Missouri District, by a vote of
12,652 to 8,597 for Smith, Republican, and in
1872 was re-elected, serving two full terms.
Commei'ce. — An incorporated town on
the Mississippi River, in Commerce Town-
ship, Scott County, eight miles northeast of
Benton and 165 miles from St. Louis. It is
the eastern terminal of Houck's Missouri and
Arkansas Railway. The town was laid out
in 1823 by the heirs of Thomas W. Waters,
the original locater of the land which com-
prises the town site. It was incorporated in
1857, and in 1864 became the seat of justice
of Scott County, by legislative enactment,
and remained such until 1878, when by
popular vote Benton was again made the
county seat. It has a bank, large flouring
mill and elevator, two churches, a public
school, a hotel and several stores. It is an
important shipping point for grain and other
produce. Population, 1899 (estimated), 800.
Commerce of Kansas City. — The
situation of Kansas City at the point where
the Missouri River turns eastward naturally
made it a center of trade. There was a good
landing, and goods could be transported
cheaply to this point from the East, and
hence it became the depot for supplying the
Indians and settlers to the south and west.
Santa Fe, eight hundred miles distant, had
been the port of entry for the Mexican em-
pire, and after Texas, New Mexico and
Arizona came into the possession of the
United States, the trade increased until
superseded by the railroads which brought
the frontier town nearer and nearer to the
point of consumption. From 1824 oxen were
used to draw the wagons, and these oxen
could feed on the grasses along the route.
64
COMMERCE OF KANSAS CITY.
The prices obtained for domestics, tobacco,
whisky and iron was i,ooo per cent of their
cost and hence the trade yielded large
profits. The trade with Santa Fe prior to
the founding of Kansas City, in 1838. is
given by competent authority as amounting
to $1,700,000. Then about eighty wagons
made the trip annually, and each had to pay
a duty of $500 on entering Santa Fe, regard-
less of the value of the cargo. The port was
closed in 1843, t>y order of Santa Anna, but
was reopened in 1844. When the trade re-
opened, in 1845, Kansas City, or Westport.
being the nearer point and affording good
pasturage foroxen, superseded Independence,
which had previously been enriched by this
trade. At this time Messrs. Bent & St. \'rain
landed the first goods that were shipped di-
rectly from Kansas City in wagons. During
the next five years the freighting and out-
fitting business was drawn away entirely
from Independence. In 1850 the Subletts of
St. Louis, F. Aubrey, Dr. Conolly and the
Armijo Bros., of Santa Fe, were, with
Messrs. Bent & St. Vrain, the chief firms
engaged in the trade. (See article on "West-
port.") In the earlier stages the business
aggregated about $100,000 annually, but in
1850, six hundred wagons set out from Kansas
City. During the decade the business grew
enormously, and in i860 it was five times as
great. The outgoing trains carried whisky,
fancy groceries, prints, notions, etc., and
brought back wool, dried buffalo meat,
buffalo robes, golddust, silver ore, and Mexi-
can dollars sewed up in raw hides. The
California excitement in 1849-50 brought
business to Kansas City in furnishing horses,
mules, oxen, wagons, and other outfitting
supplies to immigrants. The Overland Ex-
press, by means of Concord coaches drawn
by horses or mules, carried mails, express
goods and passengers to Santa Fe and to
Salt Lake City and San Francisco. The
passengers were armed in order to defend
themselves against hostile Indians. The
Santa Fe line was started in 1849, but the
Stockton line was not established until
October i, 1858, when six Concord coaches,
twelve provision wagons with one hundred
and fifty mules, started from Kansas City,
then a pioneer town of about 7,000 inhabi-
tants. The next train did not leave until
November 6th. The Kansas City landing
had a rocky bank with a deep current before
it. This naturally fitted it to become a great
steamboat freight depot. Warehouses and
stores were located in the vicinity of the
landing. The steamboats arrived loaded
down with passengers and freight. About
fifteen hundred boats arrived and departed,
in 1857. The immigration to Kansas and
Nebraska in 1854-60 added to the prosperity
of Kansas City. The newcomers replenished,
their needs and found a market for their
produce. This was interrupted for a time
during the border troubles. The money
used was specie. Over five million dollars
was put in circulation, the United States mint
furnishing $2,800,000, $1,500,000 came from
New Mexico, and the balance was brought
by immigrants. This money was expended'
largely in Kansas City, and added to her-
growth. The year 1856 showed an increase
in population from 2,000 to 4,000. The ware-
house business of this year was $545,000:
the merchandise sold amounted to $6,000.-
000 : the imports from New Mexico amounted
to $1,768,000. The commerce of the city was
growing so rapidly that in 1856 the Chamber
of Commerce was formed, and November 9,
1857, the General Assembly chartered the
Chamber of Commerce, the incorporators of
which were Dr. Johnston Lykins, John
Johnson, M. J. Payne, R. G. Stephens, John
Campbell, Dr. Benoist Troost, William Gil-
liss, J. M. Ashburn, W. H. King, H. M.
Northrup, E. C. McCarty, Jos. C. Ransom,
Kersey Coates, S. W. Bouton, Thomas H.
Swope and W. A. Thompson, all of whom
were noted factors in organizing Kansas City
as a great business center. This organization
did a noble work for the city, but was grad-
ually dissolved by the troubles growing out
of the Civil War. (See article on "Kansas
City Chamber of Commerce.") When the
war cloud burst, in 1861, the freighting bus-
iness of Kansas City was transferred to
Leavenworth, and the large disbursements
of the government at that point stimulated '
its growth. The population of Kansas City
dropped off one-half, while that of Leaven-
worth increased. In 1863 a part of the
Santa Fe business returned and trade began
to revive. The tide was turned October 22,
1864, when Price was defeated near West-
port, and Kansas City was saved from fur-
ther molestation. Peace came early in 1865,
and with it an active renewal of all business
interests. The Southern Kansas trade re-
COMMERCE OF ST. JOSEPH.
65
turned to Kansas City. The building of rail-
roads became the absorbing theme and the
Chamber of Commerce realized the building
of the railroads, which they had promoted.
The trade of 1867 was $33,000,000, which in-
creased to $35,000,000 in 1870. The crisis of
1873 did not afTect the growth of trade much.
From 1876 trade increased and a steady
growth set in, which improved for a decade.
The wholesale trade alone in 1886 was over
$52,000,000, and became $78,000,000 the next
year. A decade passed, covering the panic of
1893, with years of depression, and in 1897
the grand aggregate of business was as fol-
lows : Manufactures, $100,000,000; packing
products, $75,000,000; wholesale trade, $150,-
000,000; grain, $30,000,000; live stock, $1 11,-
000,000 ; and retail trade, $75,000,000. This
increase within ten years of 600 per cent
shows the marvelous growth of this the
metropolis of the "New West," especially as
it covers the panic years from 1893 to 1897.
The wholesale business of 1898 was still bet-
ter, amounting to $172,000,000.
Within a generation Kansas City has
grown from a frontier town to a metropolitan
city with the newest and most modern equip-
ments. The largest business done is in
agricultural implements, the sales of one
hundred and thirty-three houses engaged in
these lines aggregating $25,000,000 in 1898;
lumber, $16,500,000; dry goods and gro-
ceries each, $13,000,000; liquors and flour
each, $11,000,000; produce, $10,000,000;
building material, $9,000,000 ; hardware, $6,-
000,000; coal, furniture, printers' supplies,
tobacco, cigars, machinery, each, nearly $5,-
000,000; oil and drugs, each, $4,000,000;
boots' and shoes, hay and feed, jewelry and
saddlery, each, $3,000,000; paints and paper,
each, $2,500,000; millinery and notions, each,
$2,000,000 ; wagons and carriages, $1,250,000 ;
candies, glassware, hats, pianos and wood for
fuel, each, $1,000,000; photographers' sun-
dries, surgical and dental supplies, toys, and
art materials, each, about $500,000. These
figures show what huge proportions the
various business interests of Kansas City ag-
gregate. The crops in this section have
enabled the farmers to buy largely and the
merchant has participated in the general
prosperity. The jobbing business along the
usual lines has had a steady growth.
By dint of continuous effort the wholesale
houses have gained an enviable success in
the city. The retail trade of Kansas City is
very large. What New York is to the East,
Kansas City is to the West. Purchasers
wishing a large assortment from which to
select go there to buy. While the growth of
the trade of Kansas City has been phenom-
enal, it is natural and normal. The acknowl-
edged metropolis of the "New West," which
in itself is a rapidly developing empire, trade
in all lines must continue to expand and the
city has no limitation to its growth. When
Chicago reaches her limit, Kansas City will
be only a vigorous youth.
Joseph Macaulay Lowe.
Commerce of St. Joseph.— Trappers
and hunters were the pioneers of civilization.
They moved out along lines of least resistance,
generally along rivers, and over mountains,
through passes, following the trail of animals.
The traders followed the trappers and
selected centers where they could exchange
for furs and peltries the rude articles which
the Indians wanted. The settler followed
the trader, who in turn was followed by the
missionary and the pedagogue. The needs
of the new community soon required the
professional aid of the physician and the
lawyer and the wants of the people created a
demand for artisans in all lines. Thus arose
our commerce — our trade with all its rami-
fications. French traders came into the
upper Mississippi and Missouri valleys in
1764, when the Mississippi had become the
boundary line between the English and the
French. Pierre Liguest Laclede held a
charter from the French king, granting him
the exclusive right to trade with the Indians
in this region. He brought with him to St.
Louis hunters and trappers who had expe-
rience in trading with the Indians. Their
mode of operation was to penetrate into the
interior and establish posts for trading. Such
operations as these led to the formation of
fur companies. In 1808, after French
authority had ceased in this territory, Pierre
and Auguste Chouteau organized the Mis-
souri Fur Company, and a year after this
John Jacob Astor organized the American
Fur Company, into which the Missouri Fur
Company was merged in 1813. In 1819 a
branch of the American Fur Company was
established at St. Louis and a monopoly of
the trade was begun. Francois Chouteau
was sent to root out the independent traders
COMMERCE OF ST. JOSEPH.
and establish three trading posts, namely:
One twenty miles west of Kansas City known
as the "Four Houses ;" one at Council Bluffs,
Iowa, and another at Roy's Branch, above
St. Joseph. In 1826 Joseph Robidoux came
to Black-snake Hills, in the employ of the
American F"ur Company, and four years
afterward he bought their interest and
became sole proprietor. He built his log hut
where the Occidental Hotel now stands, an
old negro doing the cooking for himself and
his helpers. About the time the "Platte
Purchase" was made a few families located
near him. He had from fifteen to twenty
Frenchmen in his employ, who, mounted on
ponies, went east and west to trade with the
Indians, and bring back furs and peltries.
Between 1837 and 1840 a number of other
persons settled at Blacksnake Hills. In
1839 three gentlemen came from Liberty,
Missouri, with $1,600 in silver, to buy the site
of St. Joseph, but Mr. Robidoux would not
sell. In 1 841 a sawmill and two flouring
mills were built. Carpenters, plasterers,
bricklayers and blacksmiths came, and the
work of building a town was begun. The
great naturalist, Audubon, on a trip to
Yellowstone Park in 1843, stopped at Black-
snake Hills and noted that it was "a delight-
ful site for a populous city." Later in the
year IMr. Robidoux platted the town and
obtained a charter for it under the name of
St. Joseph. The lots were sold at from $100
to $150 each. Immigration at once began,
and the population increased from 200 to
500. This involved building. Charles and
Elias Perry built two stores for general
merchandise. In the next year Hull &
Carter, and Livermore & Co., built business
houses. Israel Landis began business, Wil-
liam jM. Carter and Aquila ]\Iorrow each
opened a plow factory, Philip Wortwein
started a barber shop, and Allendorf &
Rhodes opened a meat market. Joseph
Fisher was the first licensed drayman and
John Kennedy opened the first tenpin alley.
The Rev. T. S. Reeve, a Presbyterian
clergyrhan, built a log church 20 x 30 feet,
in the steeple of which the first bell in St.
Joseph was rung.' In 1845 the Edgar House,
the first three-story house in St. Jqseph, was
built. A Dr. Martin built a six-room house,
of hewn logs, which he conducted as a board-
ing house. A man of good education and
business tact, named John Corby, came from
Kentucky, and was the first money-lender,
being patronized by persons wishing to
enter land. James Cargill came from Vir-
ginia, and built a flouring mill which operated
three runs of burrs. A tailor and a jeweler
came, and a livery stable was opened. A
carriage shop was built, and the bakery bus-
iness begun. A warehouse was built, and two
hotels provided accommodations for visitors.
A home market was provided for stock and
grain, the current prices being as follows :
Horses, $30; cows, $7; oxen, $25 per yoke;
wheat 37 1-2 and corn 10 cents per bushel.
Thus, within three years the nucleus of the
vast business of St. Joseph was formed. The
first circus came in May, and the first artist
in July, 1846. In the next year there was
quite a business boom. New business houses
were established and the older ones were en-
larged. Improvements were made in all
parts of the town and mechanics found
remunerative employment. The farmers
throughout the section began to trade with
the merchants of St. Joseph, hemp, grain,
and pork being staple products. When the
rush to California in 1849 began. St. Joseph
became a great outfitting point. Wagons,
utensils, etc., were shipped to this point, but
oxen and supplies were obtained here. The
gold hunters camped around St. Joseph
awaiting the appearance of grass that the
oxen might find provender for their overland
trip to California. From April i to June 15,
1849. 1.508 wagons crossed the ferries at St.
Joseph, while 685 wagons crossed at Dun-
can's ferry, four miles above, thus making
nearly ten thousand people who set out from
St. Joseph in search of gold. This was in-
creased to 50,000 the next year, which
contributed greatly to the business growth of
the city. Such places on the route as Denver,
Fort Laramie. Fort Kearney and Salt Lake
became trading points for supplying Indians
and immigrants. Cattle were driven to Cali-
fornia to supply the mining camps with fresh
beef, and such men as James McCord,
Richard E. Turner, Abram Nave and Dudley
M. Steel, made large ventures and reaped
immense profits. Provisions and wares were
shipped westward by wagon trains, and the
freighting business of St. Joseph grew to
immense proportions. The overland stage
was inaugurated and John M. Hockaday
contracted to carry a weekly mail from St.
Joseph to Salt Lake City for $190,000 a year.
i
COMMERCE OF ST. JOSEPH.
67
For years the tide of immigration rolled west-
ward into the new lands, so that by i860 St.
Joseph had a population of ii.txx) people.
After the completion of the Hannibal & St.
Joseph Railroad. Russell. Waddell & Majors
inaugurated the Pony Express from St. Joseph
to Sacramento, California. This required
si.xty agile riders, 100 station helpers, and
420 strong why horses. The company was
organized in 1859, and the first courier set out
from St. Joseph. April 3, i860, at 5 :30 p. m.,
after the arrival of the Hannibal & St. Joseph
train. The tariff for carrying a letter to San
Francisco was five dollars. During the decade
many improvements were made, such as
macadamizing streets and building bridges, all
of which were a stimulus to business. During
the Civil War the city retrograded, but after
the war closed a tide of prosperity again set
in and a number of houses were built and
the population rapidly increased. Prosperity
continued up to the panic of 1873 when the
board of trade was organized, but was not
chartered until 1878. About this time pork-
packing began to be carried on briskly. The
Tootle Opera House was built in 1873, and
a new era in building began. From 1880 to
1884 was a period of steady progress. The
building of large business houses was begun
at Fourth and Francis Streets. The J. W.
Bailey building, Hax's furniture store, and
the Bergmann & Stone buildings filled the
block between Fifth and Sixth Streets. R.
L. McDonald built on Fourth and Francis
Streets, and the imposing block of wholesale
houses on Fourth Street followed. The
Turner-Frazer and the Xave-^NIcCord build-
ings were erected in 1882. The Tootle
building, the I'^nion Station, the Chamber
of Commerce building and the gen-
eral offices of the Burlington Railroad
were built during this period. While
the erection of new buildings was a
pressing need, it was also the precursor of
enlarged business. In 1886 a wave of real
estate speculation swept over the country,
but St. Joseph suffered less from the re-
action than her neighbors. Energy, progress
and confidence displaced lethargic methods,
values advanced, and outside capital was at-
tracted. Real estate speculation was at its
height. Such -new additions to the city as
the St. Joseph Eastern Extension, Saxton
Heights, Wyatt Park, and McCool's and
Walker's .Xdditions were laid out. The
boom proved a blessing. Prior to this there
were not fifty houses east of Twenty-second
Street, while now these new portions of the
city are populous. From 1885 to 1893 the
Rock Island, the Chicago Great Western, the
Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe, and the St.
Joseph Terminal Railroads were built. These
new means of transporation required new
business facilities, and such large buildings,
as the following were built : The Y. M. C. A.,
the Commercial Block, Center Block, Carbry
Block, the Zimmermann buildings, the Irish-
American Building, the German-American
Bank, the Ballinger building, the C. D. Smith
building, the \'an-Natta-Lynds building,
the Wyeth building, the Crawford Theater,
the Podvant and Donovan buildings, the
Coulter ^Manufacturing Company's building.
Central Police Station, the Rock Island
building. Turner Hall, the Moss building,
the Samuels Block, the Saxton & Hendrix
building; also, those massive piles of archi-
tecture occupied by the Richardson-Roberts-
Byrne Dry Goods Company, Tootle, Wheeler
and Motter, and the Wood Manufacturing
Company, to which may be added the Michau
Block, the Hughes building, and the block on
the north side of Felix east of Sixth Street.
During thispcriod the Blacksnakeand Mitch-
ell Avenue sewers were built and the drain-
age of the city perfected. The electric light
plant was put in, and the entire street railway
system was placed upon an electric basis.
During 1888-90. the bureau of statistics did
much to attract Eastern capital. The panic
of 1893 checked the growth of the city. A
fresh impetus, however, was given in 1897
by the revival on a gigantic scale of the live-
stock and meat-packing interests. The
wholesale and jobbing business which was
started in 1856 by Tootle & Farleigh has
grown to vast proportions. There are now
four very large dry goods houses, doing bus-
iness throughout the territory stretching
from the Mississippi to the Pacific Coast.
The boot and shoe business is carried on by
five first-class houses, the wholesale millinery
business is a large interest, three large firms
being engaged in it. Agricultural imple-
ments, hats, hardware, saddlery, harness,
crockery, queensware, paper, drugs, gro-
ceries, crackers, rubber goods, carpets, cloth-
ing, notions, liquors, candies, furniture, and
other articles needed on the farm or in the
household, or needed for the cijuipment of
COMMERCE OF ST. LOUIS.
offices, stores, hotels or factories, are largely
supplied through the wholesale houses of St.
Joseph. The trade reaches the enormous
sum of $60,000,000 annually. The retail stores
are large and capable of supplying the local
and transient trade. The hotels furnish
ample accommodations for the traveling
P"''"'^- F. W. Maxwell.
Commerce of St. Louis — A com-
mercial motive founded St. Louis. That
metropolis owes its origin to the far-reaching
enterprise of New Orleans merchants. The
early prosperity of the post which they
established was due to the fur trade of Upper
Louisiana. Indeed, the chase was the pio-
neer of Western colonization. In the valleys
of the Mississippi and Missouri, many a vil-
lage proudly boasts of a situation whose
superiority the keen eye of a hunter was the
first to observe. American civilization is
largely indebted to the animals that once
roamed the forests of the Western wilder-
ness. The death of the wild beasts almost as
actively promoted Western settlement as the
life of wild men retarded it. The scantiness
of authentic facts renders necessarily imper-
fect any account of the primitive commerce
of St. Louis. The early traffic was almost
exclusively restricted to barter for peltries.
The fur trade of the Missouri Valley was the
richest in the country. The commodities des-
tined for the Indian trade were mostly im-
ported by way of the St. Lawrence and the
Lakes. Quebec and Mackinaw were impor-
tant distributing points. Witli the limited
facilities for transportation that existed in
those days, the importation of goods over
vast ranges of country was slow, difficult and
costly. The very small quantity of freight
that could be carried at one time across the
portages increased the delay and expense of
transit. It sometimes took four years to for-
ward an assortment of furs to Europe and
procure a stock of goods in return. The
freight on foreign merchandise was not infre-
quently 100 per cent, but this enormous
charge did not discourage importation, for
even then the average profit of the Indian
traffic was more than 50 per cent, and an oc-
casional gain of 200 or 300 per cent inspired
the trader with hopes of speedy wealth. St.
Louis was the center of the fur trade of
Upper Louisiana. The bulk of the peltries
of this great region was brought to this
mart. From 1789 to 1804 this fur trade
amounted to more than $200,000 a year. The
proportionate value of peltry which different
animals contributed to this aggregate was as
follows: Beavers, $66,820; deer, $63,200;
otters, $37,100; bear, $12,200; fox, raccoon
and wild-cat, $12,280; buffalo, $4,750; mar-
tins, $3,900; lynx, $1,500. In the first years
of St. Louis the wealth of private individuals
was very limited. Consequently associations
of capital became necessary to conduct the
extensive and costly operations of the fur
trade. Companies were formed. The influ-
ence of these compact and energetic organi-
zations was wide-spread. Their agents
penetrated the passes of the Rocky Moun-
tains, and extended their trade even to the
Pacific Coast. The hundreds of men engaged
in their service were scattered over all the
Northwest. To the explorations undertaken
in the prosecution of their business, most of
our early knowledge of the physical geogra-
phy of the far West is due. In 1808 the Mis-
souri Fur Company was organized. Its chief
members were Pierre Chouteau, Sr., Manuel
Lisa, William Clark, Sylvester Labadie,
Pierre Menard, Auguste P. Chouteau, Ber-
nard Pratte, J. P. Cabanne and B. Berthold.
Its capital stock was $40,000. The expedi-
tions of this company explored the Yellow-
stone, crossed the barriers of the Rocky
Mountains, and established a trading-post on
the banks of the Columbia River, in Oregon.
This company was dissolved in 1812, but sev-
eral of its members still continued in the fur
trade. Berthold and Chouteau, M. Lisa.
Bernard Pratte and J- P. Cabanne established
peltry houses of their own. From 1813 to
1823 less activity prevailed in this branch of
business. In 1819 John Jacob Astor founded
in St. Louis a branch house, of which Samuel
Abbott was the manager. It was called the
Western Depot of the American Fur Com-
pany. Without mention of the year, Nicollet
states that "this company once employed
from 400 to 500 trappers and hunters, nearly
1,000 horses, from 2,000 to 3,000 traps, and
bartered off annually from $15,000 to $20,000-
worth of merchandise." These figures, which
illustrate the trade of only one companv,
vividly suggest the magnitude of the West-
ern fur trade. The operations' of the Astor
company extended over all the Northwest as
far as the Rocky Mountains. Six or eight
years after its dissolution, the old Missouri
COMMERCE OF ST. LOUIS.
Fur Company was reorganized. The most
prominent men in this partnership were Cap-
tain Perkins, Manuel Lisa, Joshua Pilcher
and Thomas Hempstead. This company was
unfortunate. The disaster in which several
of its expeditions terminated exhausted its
resources. Under its auspices, Immel and
Jones, in 1823, led a party, equipped with a
costly outfit and laden with rich goods, to the
valley of the Yellowstone. Defeated in an
attack by the Blackfeet Indians, the leaders
themselves and several of their men were
slain, and all their valuable stores fell into
the hands of the savages. The company sur-
vived this catastrophe but a short time. Its
brief life was a succession of misfortunes. In
1823 General William H. Ashley led a force
of hunters beyond the Rocky Mountains to
revive a trade that had been languishing for
ten years. Assailed by the Indians, fourteen
of his men were killed and ten wounded. Un-
dismayed by this calamity, General Ashley
still prosecuted his enterprise. In his explo-
rations he discovered Green River and traced
the Sweetwater to its sources. His energy
was richly rewarded. Large profits on the
extensive stock of peltries which he secured
repaid him for his hardships. The next year
General Ashley increased still further the
range of his commercial transactions. In
command of a second expedition, he pene-
trated to Salt Lake, and built a fort on the
borders of another lake, which, by right of
discovery, he named Ashley. In 1826 a six-
pound cannon, brought from Missouri, was
mounted in this fort. It had been drawn by
oxen 1,200 miles. The route then opened
was never afterward closed. In 1828 many
teams heavily loaded with merchandise
traversed the plains to this remote destina-
tion. From 1824 to 1827 the value of the
peltries brought to St. Louis by the agents of
General Ashley was more than $180,000. At
length the wealth amassed by General Ashley
enabled him to retire from business, and his
interest was sold to the Rocky Mountain Fur
Company. William L. Sublette, J. S. Smith
and David E. Jackson were members of this
partnership, and Robert Campbell was clerk.
The aggressive activity of these men invaded
new fields and rendered California and Ore-
gon tributary to their mercantile enterprise.
The commercial influence of the early fur
companies is incalculable. The trade of the
Northwest was chief^v in their hands. The
transaction of their business peopled the wil-
derness, founded posts and villages, and gave
employment and competence to a pioneer
population. The prosperity of St. Louis owes
its first powerful impulse to the energy of
these companies. But the life of the agents
who so effectively promoted the early com-
merce of the West was full of peril. The
hunters and fur traders were never exempt
from hardships or safe from the stealthy at-
tack of murderous savages. It is stated that
two-fifths of the wood-rangers, even as late
as 1825, were either killed by the Indians or
perished from the exposures incident to the
life of a hunter. It must not be supposed
that there was no fur trade in Upper Louisi-
ana prior to the establishment of St. Louis.
Even before this event, Canadian hunters
had extended their search for peltries to the
headwaters of the Yellowstone. The French
at Fort de Chartres carried on an active
trade with the Osage Indians. They con-
veyed goods to this tribe in canoes by the
Mississippi, Missouri and Osage Rivers.
But when the Indians visited the fort they
took the shortest overland route, and crossed
the Mississippi at Wood Island, just above
Ste. Genevieve. In those days Ste. Genevieve
was a point of commercial importance. It
was the center of the leacT trade of Upper
Louisiana. In 1810 it had twenty large
stores, and was still the source from which
St. Louis derived a portion of its supplies.
But prior to 1764 Fort de Chartres con-
trolled the trade in oil and peltries, and se-
cured the profits of a large Indian patronage.
At first, supplies for the St. Louis market
were obtained chiefly at Mackinaw and New
Orleans. Exchanges between places so re-
mote from each other, with means of com-
munication so imperfect, were limited to a
few trips a year. The route to Mackinaw
was by way of the Illinois River and a por-
tage to Lake IMichigan. The foreign goods
intended for the Indian trade were bought at
Mackinaw, and groceries and heavy merchan-
dise were purchased at New Orleans. Coffee
was then worth about two dollars a pound,
and tea was a rare luxury until after the
transfer. Salt was six dollars a bushel, but
after the cession the erection of new salt
works reduced the cost to one-half of this
price. In the course of a few years the trade
of St. Louis had extended to Pittsburg, Phil-
adelphia, Baltimore and Quebec. Merchants
70
COMMERCE OF ST. LOUIS.
usually went to Philadelphia by way of the
Ohio River and Pittsburg. They carried
their pehries with them and brouglit home
the merchandise which they purchased. The
round trip commonly occupied about four
months. The vast wilderness that lay be-
tween the Atlantic cities and the settlements
on the Mississippi precluded frequent inter-
course. During the Colonial period the
traders of St. Louis dealt but little with New
York. Philadelphia, being the seat of the
government, was then far better known than
its conmiercial rival, and possessing the only
good road that crossed the Alleghanies, en-
joyed a virtual monopoly of the Western
trade which sought an Eastern market.
Many of the early commercial houses of St.
Louis were established by Philadelphia mer-
chants. It was not much before 1830 that
the patronage of St. Louis traders was
largely diverted from Philadelphia to New
York. L'uder French and Spanish domina-
tion the Indian traffic embraced a vast area.
Hunters had visited the St. Francis, White,
Illinois, Mississippi, Missouri, Osage and
Yellowstone Rivers, and the rich furs from
this boundless territory had become partially
tributary to St. Louis. The Mandan villages
were more than 1,600 miles from the market
to which they sent their peltries. The traders
who visited the valley of the Yellowstone
generally started from St. Louis in April, but
seldom reached their destination before Sep-
tember or October. To insure success in the
Indian trade, a perfect knowledge of the
habits, tastes and caprices of the different
tribes was necessary. The Indians of those
days were blind adherents to traditional
usages. The example set by their fathers
was followed with a Chinese fidelity. If a
blanket differed from the conventional pat-
tern in size, color, quality, number of stripes,
or length of fringe, an Indian would sooner
freeze than wear it. If a knife varied from
the prescribed form in length of blade or
fashion of handle, it would hot be accepted as
a gift. If a rifle deviated from the favorite
style, the savage would resort to his primi-
tive bow and arrow sooner than use it. Con-
sequently caution and expertness in selecting
commodities to suit the peculiar tastes of the
various tribes were essential to success in the
Indian trade. In the infancy of St. Louis, a
"store" was a room of very humble preten-
sions. In some instances it was scarcely
larger than a modern closet. The goods were
generally kept in a box and were only taken
out at the request of a customer. Specie was
rare. The skins of wild animals were legal
tender. As a medium of exchange, the stand-
ard value of shaved deer skin was twenty
cents a pound, and of otter and beaver skins
forty cents a pound. In the absence of spe-
cific agreement, notes were payable in pel-
tries. The law enforced a literal observance
of the terms of a contract. When money was
mentioned as the consideration in a commer-
cial transaction, the Spanish milled dollar was
meant. Its value was $1.50 in peltries. Re-
mittances were ordinarily made in salt, lead,
provisions and furs. In exchange for these
things, whisky, iron, steel and dry goods were
brought down the Ohio River to St. Louis.
The bills' which were drawn on the treasury
at New Orleans to pay the civil and military
officers of St. Louis were frequently ex-
changed for foreign merchandise. "Peltry
bonds," based on the personal responsibility
of the merchants who issued them, were in
active circulation. The measure of value was
a given number of pounds of shaved deer
skins. This currency was good not only for
local uses, but also for remittances from bus-
iness men whose credit was well established.
In the early times htmdreds of hunters, fur
traders, Indian agents and military officers
were scattered through the boundless region
lying west of the Mississippi. Most of these
pioneers purchased their outfit at St. Louis.
The sale of these supplies materially in-
creased the traffic and resources of the young
settlement. From its humble beginning the
commerce of St. Louis rapidly expanded to
important proportions. In 1821 the proxi-
mate value of the fur trade of the Mississippi
and Missouri Rivers was $600,000 a year, and
the annual imports of St. Louis were esti-
mated at more than $2,000,000. Even as
early as 1821 sagacious minds had already
predicted the construction of a highway to
the Pacific which would bear across the con-
tinent the rich freights of Oriental com-
Prof. S. W.\terhouse.
The period from 1830 to 1865 may be
regarded as marking the transition from the
early primitive trade of St. Louis to its mod-
ern commerce. What existed before this
period was barter, traffic and trade, and that
which followed was the development into the
COMMERCE OF ST. LOUIS.
71
marvelous phenomenon of commerce. The
old state of things had little to do with trans-
portation and distribution, for these features
can not be said to have had an existence ;
the present state of things has everything to
do with them — for internal commerce has
come to mean not only exchanging, but car-
rying, collecting and distributing. In the old
era freight rates were hardly thought of, ex-
cept to make them as high as possible ; but
in the new era, they are computed and con-
sidered down to a fraction of a cent on the
hundredweight. St. Louis prospered when
it had little less to thrive on except the fur
trade, for the fur trade was a source of great
wealth, and it supported a considerable local
force of persons engaged in conducting it —
keel-boatmen, cordeliers, hunters, trappers
and wood-rangers ; and the going and com-
ing of its expeditions imparted an animation
and excitement which were lacking in the
other \^'estern towns of that day. But pull-
ing and poling loaded boats and barges up
stream, and floating with the mere force of
the current downstream on our great rivers,
was slow locomotion, even at the best, and
it is no wonder that the advent of steam-
boats should make the prodigious change
that it did make, and prepare the way for that
transformation of business which took place
in the last three score years of the nineteenth
century in St. Louis. Before the appearance
of steamboats the regular charge for bring-
ing freight up the river from New Orleans
was fifty cents a pound, and when, twenty
years after the landing of the first steamboat
at the .St. Louis wharf, in 1817, these river
carriers had so multiplied and the competi-
tion between them became so great as to
reduce the rate to one twenty-fifth of this
figure, some idea may be formed of the won-
derful effect which the introduction of steam
in navigation had, not only in St. Louis, but
in the entire Mississippi Valley. In the year
1897 a citizen of St. Louis was still living
who was a clerk in the Citizens' Insurance
Company in 1837, and remembered a conver-
sation in the ofifice of the company between
Captain Aleck Scott and other steamboat-
men, in which the decline of freight rates be-
tween St. Louis and New Orleans to $2
a hundred was sadly lamented as presag-
ing the doom of the river business : boats
could not do the work at such a rate and live,
and iniless it could be brought back to what
it was ten years before, the good times of
steamboating might be considered as gone
forever. It was some years after this — from
1845 to i860 — that the steamboat era may
be considered to have reached its climax, and
it was a time in which a fierce rush of busi-
ness and an unaccustomed prosperitv disre-
garded all such things as commissions, costs
and rates, provided only the articles needed
were supplied — when the increasing volume
of trade pressed so strongly upon the means
of accommodating it that recklessness and
extravagance were the order of the day.
There was profit in anything and everything,
for immigration was pouring into Missouri,
Illinois, and the adjacent States, both from
Europe and the Atlantic region ; the gold
mines of California and Nevada were yield-
ing their stream of treasure ; and that vast
overland trade and travel which preceded the
building of the first railway to the Pacific
Coast was at its height. It was the steamboat
era, and it was the transition era between the
primitive age of keelboats, which ended about
1830, and the railroad era, which began about
1865. In 1827, only ten years after the ap-
pearance of the first steamboat at St. Louis,
there were six steamboats, besides a number
of keels, engaged in the trade between St.
Louis and Ferre River, Illinois, at that time
the seat of an active lead business, and the
"Republican" of April 19th, of that year,
speaks of a show of business at the wharf the
past week, greater than had ever been wit-
nessed before, and of an "unprecedented"
number of arrivals. Five years later there
were eight steamboat arrivals reported for
the year 1832, and the whole number of
steamboats on the Mississippi and its tribu-
taries was given at two hundred and thirty.
A merchant of Portland, in Callaway County,
who kept a record of steamboats that passed
that place in 1852, had the names of one hun-
dred and five different boats that had gone
up and down the Missouri River in that year.
One day in April, 1837, it was proudly an-
nounced that there were thirty-three steam-
boats receiving and discharging at the St.
Louis levee. In the following year— 1838 —
there were one hundred and fifty-four steam-
boats entered at the port of St. Louis. In
1842 there were four hundred and fifty
steamboats employed on the Mississippi and
its tributaries — nearly double the number re-
ported ten years before; and in 1843 tliere
72
COMMERCE OF ST. LOUIS.
were six hundred and seventy-two, among
them the "J- M. White," whose famous trip
from New Orleans to St. Louis that year, in
three days twenty-three hours and nine min-
utes, remained the climax of steamboat
achievement for nearly thirty years after-
ward. That this steamboat era which bridged
over the period between 1830 and 1865, or
between the primitive trade and the modern
railroad era of commerce, was amazingly
prosperous, is demonstrated by the enor-
mous growth of population in St. Louis. In
1830 it was less than 5,000; in 1840 it was
over 16,000, an increase of 230 per cent in
ten years. But the next decade showed a
still more marvelous growth — from 16,469 to
77,860 — an increase of over 372 per cent.
And in the following decade, from 1850 to
i860, there was an increase from 77,860 to
185,587, or more than a doubling. In the
thirty years from 1830 to i860 the increase
was thirty-six fold. St. Louis has been the
center of a prosperous business of exchange
in all its conditions — in the keelboating days,
from 1780 to 1820, when the freight rate was
fifty cents a pound ; in the steamboat age
which followed, from 1830 to 1865, when the
bulk of its annual commerce was one million
tons ; and in the railroad age in which we are
now — 1898 — living, when its annual com-
merce is estimated at $600,000,000. But
while its colossal proportions as a great man-
ufacturing and commercial city are due, in a
great measure, to the vast railroad systems
that converge within its limits, history will
always point to the transition period, or
steamboat age, as the days of its most ex-
uberant growth.
A glance at the map of the United States
shows St. Louis located near the center,
about midway between the British American
line on the north and the Gulf of Mexico on
the south, and about midway, also, between
the two oceans on the east and west. And
when to this central geographical location is
added its commanding position at the center
of the fluvial system of the great Mississippi
Valley, on the middle section of the mighty
stream which, with its tributaries, presents
over ten thousand miles of navigable water
line, its importance as a collecting and dis-
tribtiting point for the products of this vast
territory becomes apparent. And even this
does not exhaust the natural advantages of
St. Louis. It possesses the additional one of
being situated within twenty miles of the
point where the two greatest rivers of the
valley flow together, and only a short dis-
tance from the mouth of the Ohio, the next
largest river of the valley. It is true that
river transportation has lost much of its im-
portance since that prodigious development
of railroad construction in the country which
was witnessed between 1850 and 1890; but it
maintained its value long enough to decide
the location of all the large cities in the cen-
tral west, for we find them all situated on
navigable rivers and lakes, and this arrange-
ment itself helps to fortify the commanding
natural position of St. Louis. With New Or-
leans, the largest city in the South, control-
ling the mouth of the Mississippi, and the
twin cities of St. Paul and Minneapolis at the
head of the great river, and its river connec-
tion with them carefully maintained, it is not
possible that the supremacy of St. Louis as
the chief commercial center and distributing
point of the Mississippi Valley shall ever be
lost. Before steamboats were thought of, St.
Louis was an important trading- post, and
before they came into use as reliable means
of transportation, it was the largest town in
the Central West, with a population of ten
thousand souls ; and this pre-eminence has
been maintained through its natural advan-
tages of position, reinforced by an intelligent
and enterprising community. In 1890 it had
a population of 451,770, and in 1900 a popu-
lation of 575,238, marking it as one of the
great cities of the earth. And it possesses
an importance beyond that of mere numbers.
Its commerce and manufactures exceed even
its population in a reckoning of its greatness,
for statistics show that the increase of its
manufactures between 1880 and 1890 was
three times as great as the increase of its
population, and the record of its receipts and
shipments of produce and merchandise ex-
hibit a corresponding growth of its commerce.
In the twenty-nine years of 1870 to 1899 the
population did not double. But in the same
period the amount of freight received in the
city from all sources, by river and rail, more
than quadrupled, increasing from 3,182,722
tons to 15,272,482 tons. In the first twenty
years of this period, from 1870 to 1890, the
L^nited States census shows that the capital
employed in manufactures in the city in-
creased more than fourfold — from $29,977,-
292 to $140,775,392; and the value of the
COMMERCE OF ST. LOUIS.
73
gross product turned out more than trebled
— increasing from $62,832,570 to $228,714,-
317. The reasonable estimated figures of the
product of 1896, as given in the Merchants'
Exchange annual statement of the trade and
commerce of the city for that year, are $300,-
000,000. While, therefore, the city's popula-
tion was not doubled, in the period between
1870 and 1899, its receipts of freight were
more than quadrupled, and its manufactures
more than quadrupled in value. While there
was 15,272.482 tons of freight received in the
city in the year 1897, there was 8,469,598
tons shipped from it. Of course the ship-
ments embraced a large proportion of the
receipts — raw material, such as lumber, tim-
ber, iron, lead and ore coming in as receipts
and going as shipments in the form of fin-
ished manufactures. Nevertheless, the re-
ceiving and the shipping constituted two
separate carriages, and each carriage was a
contribution to the commerce of the city.
The receipts (15,272,482 tons) and the ship-
ments (8,469,598 tons) added together make
the aggregate of 23,742,080 tons, and this
enormous freight tonnage represents the
bulk of St. Louis commerce. In 1866 the re-
ceipts of wheat at St. Louis were $4,410,305
bushels ; corn, 7,233,671 bushels ; oats, 3,568,-
253 bushels; rye, 375,417 bushels, and barley,
548,797 bushels, making a total of grain re-
ceipts for that year of 16,114,000 bushels. In
1892 the receipts were, of wheat, 27,483,855
bushels; corn, 32,030,030 bushels; oats, 10,-
604,810 bushels; rye, 1,189,153 bushels; bar-
ley, 2,691,249 bushels, making a total of grain
receipts of 72,998,000 bushels. In the period
of twenty-six years, the receipts had more
than trebled. But commerce means shipping
as well as receiving, and the statistics show
that the shipments of grain from St. Louis
increased from 10,033,000 bushels, in 1866, to
43,131,000 bushels, in 1892; and the grain
trade, receipts and shipments, increased in
the period referred to from26,445,ooobushels
to 117,128,000 bushels. The receipts of coal
in the year 1870 were 23,931,475 bushels; in
1899 they were 109,067,875 bushels. In 1875
the receipts of lumber were 474,099,000 feet;
in 1899 they were 1,148,124,000 feet. In 1865
the receipts of live stock were : Cattle, 94.307
head; sheep, 52,133 head; hogs, 99,663 head
— total, 246,103 head. In 1899 they were:
Cattle, 766.932 head; sheep, 432,566 head;
hogs, 2,147,144 head ; horses and mules, 130,-
236 head — total, 3,475,948 head. In 1868 the
receipts of hams and meats were 46,753,360
pounds, and of lard 5,941,650 pounds. In
1899 they were, of hams and meats, 269,510,-
100 pounds, and of lard 52,792,420 pounds.
In 1875 the receipts of wool were 4,249,307
pounds; of hides, 7,310 bundles; and of furs
and peltries, 16,588 bundles. In 1899 the re-
ceipts were, of wool, 28,491,625 pounds; of
hides, 68,933,720 pounds; and of furs and
pehries, 259,256 bundles. In 1870 the re-
ceipts of lead were 237.039 pigs; in 1899 they
were 1,611,112 pigs. In 1885 the shipments
of white lead were 29,161,275 pounds; in 1899
they were 48,460,250 pounds. In 1883 the
receipts of boots and shoes were 301.385
cases; in 1899 they were 1,305,679 cases. In
1866-7 the receipts of cotton were 19,838
bales ; in 1894-5 they were 249,264 bales.
The foreign commerce of the country con-
sists of its exports and imports, and the com-
merce of a city may likewise be taken to
mean its receipts and shipments, the differ-
ence between these being what is consumed
by its own population. A great commercial
city is a distributing point, continually gath-
ering and continually giving out — receiving
and distributing. Through the complex
agencies of accumulated capital, railways,
steamers, warehouses, elevators, tugs, barges,
depots, stationhouses, switches, machinery
for economical handling, and also through
the agency of persons expert in judging, in-
specting, grading, selling and buying, it at-
tracts commodities from the surrounding
regions and even from distant parts of the
whole world to be sold and bought, making
it a saving both to buyers to buy and to sell-
ers to sell in its markets, rather than for buy-
ers to order direct from sellers, or for sellers
to send direct to buyers. It is this commer-
cial property and power, acquired through
centuries of patient, skillful management,
backed by enormous capital, that has made
England, in a higher degree than any other
country, the mart of the world — a place
where it is cheaper to purchase many prod-
ucts than in the very countries where they
are produced — a place where it is more ad-
vantageous to sell certain products than in
the very country where they are most
wanted. The merchants of Kansas do not
buy Louisiana sugar, molasses and rice in
Louisiana, but in St. Louis, because it is
cheaper and more convenient to do so ; and
74
COMMERCE OF ST. LOUIS.
the Louisiana planter does not order his corn
and pork from Kansas, but from St. Louis,
for the same reason. New Orleans buys the
products of Nebraska in St. Louis, and
Omaha buys Georgia watermelons in St.
Louis. And not only does the situation of
St. Louis near the center of the Mississippi
Valley, half way between the North and the
South, and on the middle section of the
Mississippi River, indicate it as the proper
distributing point for a wide region, but it
possesses artificial appliances and instrumen-
talities for distribution whose value and effi-
ciency can hardly be estimated — twenty-three
great railroads, whose tracks run into the
same vast train shed, and whose trains de-
liver their passengers at the common Union
Station ; two bridges across the Mississippi
river; one hundred and fifty miles of street
railway, affording cheap and rapid transit to
all parts of the city; twenty-eight elevators
for handling and storing grain ; over a hun-
dred steam craft engaged in river service ;
twenty-three banks and trust companies,
with an aggregate capital, surplus and de-
posits of $127,000,000; a spacious Merchants'
Exchange and a Cotton Exchange, where
buyers and sellers meet daily for the transac-
tion of business ; numerous hotels for the
accommodation of visitors who come on bus-
iness or pleasure ; ample libraries and reading
rooms ; spacious parks ; and an annual fair
for the exhibition of domestic animals, farm,
garden, orchard and vineyard products, ma-
chinery, implements and works of art. These
accessories and adjuncts attract buyers and
sellers from all parts of the world, and invite
the shipment of commodities to its markets
by guaranteeing the prompt sale of them at
the prevailing prices and at the smallest cost.
It is not strange, therefore, to learn from the
annual reports of its Merchants' Exchange,
and its various boards and associations, that
St. Louis is the mart and supply center for a
very large area of the fertile and productive
valley of the Mississippi, and that its prosper-
ity and wealth are founded on this relation.
Its receipts of grain, flour, hay and potatoes
in the year 1899 were valued at $25,000,000;
its receipts of dairy products, staple vege-
tables, fruits and salt were valued at $10,500,-
000 more; its receipts of groceries at $50,-
000,000; of dry goods at $40,000,000: of
drugs, chemicals and medicines at $20,000.-
000; of hardware at $10,000,000; of boots
and shoes at $32,000,000; of wool, hides, furs
and peltries and leather at $9,000,000 ; of lead,
zinc, iron and steel at $10,000,000; of cattle,
hogs, sheep, horses and mules at $35,000,000;
of hog products and beef at $11,000,000;
of coal and lumber at $14,000,000 — the aggre-
gate of these being $246,000,000. But St.
Louis is an industrial city, as well as a com-
mercial city, if, indeed, in a fair reckoning its
industries would not outrank its commerce.
It is the seat of thriving manufactures of
flour, white lead, oils, boots and shoes, cloth-
ing, chewing and smoking tobacco, architec-
tural iron, stoves and wire, and it is certain
that a large portion of the wheat, pig lead,
pig iron, steel, seeds, hides, leather, dry
goods, lumber, coal and leaf tobacco was
used up as raw material in its mills, factories
and shops and made into finished and more
valuable products to be shipped ofif for con-
sumption elsewhere. It had, in 1896. 6,500
manufacturing establishments, with an ag-
gregate capital of $150,000,000, employing
95,000 persons, paying out in wages $57,000.-
000 a year and consuming raw materials
valued at $130,000,000 a year. Only one-
half of the $260,000,000 worth of commodi-
ties which made up its receipts, brought by
rail and river to its warehouses, in 1896,
therefore, was reshipped in their crude form ;
the other half was used to feed the city's in-
dustrial establishments. But they were not
lost to its commerce. On the contrary, they
were returned to the channels of trade in a
doubly valuable form, for the product of the
city's manufactures in 1896 was valued at
$300,000,000. In other words the $130,000,-
000 worth of grain, lead, cloth, hides, leather,
iron, steel, lumber and leaf tobacco, which
the city used, not only furnished a living to
95.000 work people, but came out of their
hands doubled in value. Making a reason-
able allowance for the portion of these man-
ufactures consumed by its own population, it
may be assumed that $260,000,000 worth of
St. Louis manufactures were shipped away in
1896. And the statistics show that, in addi-
tion to this shipment of manufactures, there
was shipped also $60,000,000 worth of grain,
cotton, lead, hay, meats, cattle, hogs, horses
and mules, eggs, fruit, vegetables, hitles and
wool. Adding together these three sums —
$260,000,000, representing the total receipts ;
$60,000,000, representing that portion of
these receipts sent ofif in a crude form ; and
COMMERCIAL CLUB— COMMERCIAL CLUB OF KANSAS CITY.
75
$260,000,000, representing the value of the
manufactures shipped away, and we liave
$580,000,000 as the vahie of the commerce of
St. Louis in 1896.
D. M. Grissom.
Commercial Club. — One of the most
prominent, active and influential clubs of St.
Louis, whose chief objects are somewhat in-
dicated by its name, but whose social and
personal attributes have much to do with the
high position it maintains among other simi-
lar associations of the city. It was organized
in 1881, with Gerard B. Allen as president;
E. O. Stanard, vice president ; Joseph Frank-
lin, treasurer ; Newton Crane, secretary, and
Edwin Harrison, E. C. Simmons and S. M.
Dodd, who, with the officers, composed the
executive committee. Its purpose is to "ad-
vance by social intercourse, and by a friendly
interchange of views, the commercial pros-
perity of the city of St. Louis." Its select
and exclusive character is protected by the
limitation of membership to sixty active mem-
bers, with such honorary members as may be
added from time to time — nominations for
membership are made by the executive com-
mittee, and, if approved by them, are re-
ported to the club and balloted for at the
next meeting for election. Three negative
votes exclude a candidate. The entrance fee
is five dollars. Any member submitted by the
unanimous vote of the executive committee
may be placed on the honorary list by the
unanimous vote at any meeting; and any
member, seventy years of age or over, who
has been a member for a period of not less
than ten years, may be placed on the hon-
orary list by the unanimous vote of the
executive committee. In the admission of
members due regard is had to the branches
of business in which they are engaged, so
that the various commercial interests of the
city shall be represented. The annual dues
for members are fifty dollars, honorary
members being exempt. Meetings are held
monthly, except during the summer, and any
member absenting himself from three con-
secutive meetings shall be considered to have
withdrawn from the club, and his name shall
be stricken from the roll, unless, upon report
of the facts, the clul? shall otherwise order.
Members may invite a friend, with the per-
mission of the executive committee, to attend
a meeting of the club, but no guest shall be
present on more than one occasion, except by
special invitation of the club itself. In 1898
there were fifty-six active members and ten
honorary members, and twenty-one members
have died since the first organization. The
club is constituted without regard to politics,
and does not deal with party disputes as a
general rule ; but this rule, which is implied
rather than expressed, does not debar it from
an active interest and participation in impor-
tant public questions on which there is unan-
imity of opinion among its members. It took
an energetic part, soon after its organization,
in the movement for a reconstruction of the
streets of St. Louis, and it is largely due to
its efforts, and the information on the subject
given in a report made by it to the public, that
the mud and dust of the macadam and the
rotting wooden blocks of a former day have
been replaced by the clean, firm and im-
perishable granite blocks with which the
streets are now laid. The club's efforts in
this behalf were followed by a vigorous
action in favor of the general system of street
sprinkling for the city, which has taken the
place of the incomplete and unsatisfactory
method by private subscription which for-
merly prevailed. At a later day the organi-
zation took a conspictious and leading part
in opposition to free silver coinage in the
national controversy on that issue which
preceded the presidential election of 1896.
One of the duties which the club imposes
upon itself, in the prosecution of its supreme
purpose to "advance the commercial pros-
perity of the city of St. Louis," is that of
interchanging courtesies with other cities,
particularly Chicago, Cincinnati and Boston,
in each of which a similar club exists, and be-
tween which and the Commercial Club of St.
Louis cordial relations are maintained. The
St. Louis Commercial Club has paid visits to
each of these cities upon the invitation of
their clubs, and has, in turn, entertained
successively the- Commercial Club of each.
Commercial Club of Kansas City.
For a number of years, the business men of
Kansas City were without any organization
whatever, with the exception of the Board
of Trade and Live Stock Exchange, both of
these organizations being formed and con-
ducted for the purpose of trading, tlie one in
live stock and the other in grain. .\nd while
it is true that the Board of Trade took more
or less interest in public affairs, the jobbers
76
COMMERCIAL CLUB OF KANSAS CITY
and manufacturers were of the opinion that
there should be an organization whose chief
business would be to promote Kansas City's
welfare as a commercial and manufacturing
center. Accordingly, in December, 1887, a
meeting of business men was called, the
result of which was the formation of the
Commercial Club. The organization was in-
corporated in December, 1887, and its object
is fully stated in the incorporation papers as
follows : "The objects of the association
shall be to promote the progress, extension,
and increase of the trade and industries of
Kansas City, acquire and disseminate valu-
able commercial and economical information,
promote just and equitable principles of trade
and foster the highest commercial integrity
among those engaged in the various lines of
business represented ; to increase acquain-
tanceship among its members and facilitate
the speedy adjustment, by arbitration, of
business disputes ; to interchange views and
secure concerted action upon matters of
public interest, freely discuss and correct
abuses, using such means as may be best cal-
culated to protect the interests and rights of
its members as business men and citizens,
looking chiefly toward the commercial
development of the city."
The officers consist of a president, first and
second vice presidents, secretary and a treas-
urer. The Board of Directors number fifteen
and from their number they choose all of the
officers except the secretary, who is ap-
pointed. The club's year dates from the
first of September. The standing committees
of the Commercial Club are as follows :
Executive committee, house committee, arbi-
tration committee, committee on agriculture,
auditing committee, entertainment commit-
tee, insurance committee, committee on
manufactures, committee on mercantile
library, committee on municipal legislation,
committee on State and national legislation,
trade extension committee, transportation
committee.
From an organization consisting of a few
jobbers and manufacturers, the Commercial
Club has grown to a membership of 235,
embracing an individual membership of 575.
Memberships in the Commercial Club are
taken either by the individual or by the firm
or corporation, which is entitled to be repre-
sented by either the individual, a member of
the firm or an officer of the corporation. The
club embraces men who are engaged actively
in jobbing or manufacturing, as well as pro-
fessional men.
One of the great accomplishments of the
Commercial Club has been to have the bus-
iness men of Kansas City become acquainted
with each other. Previous to the organiza-
tion of this club, business men in the same
line of business scarcely knew each other,
but now they all feel upon friendly terms
with their competitors, and the members of
the club feel that the bringing about of this
result has been a great work. In the way of
practical work the Commercial Club formed
what is known as the Transportation Bureau,
presided over by a competent freight man,
whose business it is to look after the freight
and passenger business in which Kansas
City is interested, and see to it that her mer-
chants are not discriminated against in the
matter of freight rates. In the accomplish-
ment of this purpose, the club members
organized a transportation company and
built a line of steamers which were used on
the Missouri River until such time as freight
rates were in such condition that the use of
these boats was not necessary. The club has
been instrumental in locating in Kansas City
several of the large jobbing and manufactur-
ing houses, has always been interested, in
everything that would tend to make this
more of a commercial and manufacturing
center, and has not been unmindful of other
things which are not strictly of a commercial
nature. The club has advocated the building
of parks and boulevards, and if the present
plans of the park board are carried out, Kan-
sas City will have some of the best parks and
boulevards of any city in this country. The
club has advocated well paved streets ; it
believes in the enforcement of sanitary laws
and the abatement of the smoke nuisance.
In the last few years the club has advocated
the building of a free public library, which
Kansas City now has : also a manual training
high school, and its most recent accomplish-
ment has been the erection of a convention
hall, capable of seating 15.000 people. The
erection of this building w^s the result of
the Commercial Club's enterprise, and they
have to their credit the completion of a
building- costing something like a quarter
of a million dollars, upon which there is
no debt. _
E. M. Clkndening.
COMMERCIAL CLUB OF ST. JOSEPH— COMMON PLEAS COURT.
Commercial Club of St. Joseph.—
A club which has for its object the promo-
tion of the business interests of St. Joseph.
It encourages new enterprises and affords
information in regard to the city. It has an
office with a secretary ever ready to impart
information. Its monthly meetings are held
in sumptuous rooms, in the Chamber of
Commerce building, where all other public
business meetings are held. This club has
cognizance of all business matters pertain-
ing to the welfare of the city. The expenses
of the club are defrayed by the annual mem-
bership fees of the business men who belong
to it.
Commissioners of Deeds. — Persons
appointed by the Governor to make certifi-
cation of deeds, conveyances of land, re-
linquishment of dower, lease of lands, con-
tracts, letters of attorney and all other writ-
ings under seal to be used or recorded in
Missouri. They may be appointed in every
State in the Union, for every Territory, and
in foreign countries where they are needed.
Commissioners of Public Print-
ing. — These are the State Auditor, the Sec-
retary of State, and the State Treasurer.
They have supervision over the printing of
the Supreme Court reports and other print-
ing for the State.
Commissioner of Public Schools.
An officer chosen by the people at the dis-
trict school meeting, on the first Tuesday in
April in the odd years. His duties are to ex-
amine applicants who desire to become
teacher's, and grant certificates to those whom
he finds qualified, receiving $1.50 from each
applicant. He makes report of the educa-
tional statistics of his county. His term of
office is two years.
Commissioners, United States. —
The office of United States commissioner has
been in existence since 1791, and has always
been a part of Federal jurisprudence. The
number of such officials in St. Louis varies
from time to time, as appointments are made
to subserve the purposes of the courts. They
are appointed by the respective United States
courts for the purpose of taking depositions
and testimony in cases pending in such
courts. They also have the power to bind
offenders against Federal laws over to the
grand jury.
Committee of Safety.— A committee
formed in St. Louis in January of 1861, with
full power to act for the Union party in in-
augurating measures designed to prevent
Missouri from joining the seceding States,
and to aid in establishing the Federal au-
thority throughout the city and State. The
committee was composed of O. D. Filley,
Samuel T. Glover, Francis P. Blair, Jr., J. J.
Witzig, John How and James O. Broadhead.
O. D. Filley was president, and James O.
Broadhead was secretary of the committee.
It maintained a paid detective force, which
reported, from time to time, material facts
relative to the movements of the secession-
ists. For a long time the committee met
every night at Turner Hall, at the corner of
Tenth and Walnut Streets, to receive these
reports and take such action as might be
deemed necessary. . (See "War Between the
States ; Federal History.")
Common Fields — The common fields
of St. Louis were lands "immediately adjoin-
ing the village on the northwest . . .set
aside for cultivation and conceded in strips
of one arpent front by forty in depth, each
applicant being allotted one or more, accord-
ing to his ability to cultivate it. . . . The
tract extended from a little below Market
Street, on the south, to opposite the Big
Mound, on the north, and from Broadway to
Jefferson Avenue, east to west." The
"common field" lots "were obtainable by
petition and grant, and belonged to the in-
habitants as fee-simple property." Every
inhabitant owning a lot in the village was
entitled to a section of the common fields,
proportioned to the size of his family and
to his ability to cultivate it. This communal
arrangement was well adapted to the condi-
tions of pioneer life in this region. It enabled
those engaged in agricultural pursuits to
carry on their work in close proximity to
each other, and to rally to each other's as-
sistance in case they were attacked by the
Indians, the establishment of such safeguards
being a wise precautionary measure.
Common Pleas Court. — See " St.
Louis Circuit Court."
78
COMMONS— COMMUNISM IN MISSOURI.
Conimons.— It was the custom of the
French and Spanish founders of new settle-
ments in the Mississippi Valley to set aside
certain lands in close proximity to their vil-
lages for village pasture lots, in which the
cattle and other live stock belonging to the
inhabitants were kept for safety and conven-
ience. Such tracts of land were not devoted
to tillage, but were public pastures and wood
lots. The benefits of the "commons" were
free to all the inhabitants of the villages to
which they were dedicated, and the grants of
land made for this purpose were sometimes
very extensive. The Cahokia common, for
instance, was some three miles long, and the
Ste. Genevieve common contained about four
thousand acres. The St. Louis "common"
was a tract of land, well watered by springs
and covered with timber, lying southwest of
the village, which contained, according to the
survey of 1833, a trifle more than 4,500 ar-
pens. This tract of land, or a considerable
portion of it, at least, "was inclosed by the
people in 1764-5," said Colonel Auguste
Chouteau, in testimony bearing on the sub-
ject in 1808. The growth of the village made
it necessary to add to the "common" from
time to time by taking more land from the
royal domain, and the area of the land fenced
in was several times extended. The "com-
mon" was the property of the village, and
was cared for by a syndic and eight umpires,
nominated by the people on the first day of
each year. The official decree under which
a title to the lands was vested in the village
was issued by Lieutenant Governor Cruzat
in 1782, and by virtue of that decree the peo-
ple of St. Louis claimed that their title to the
"common" should be confirmed to them
when the American jurisdiction was estab-
lished. In 1812 Congress recognized the
validity of the claim and confirmed the grant
by act of June 13th of that year. An act of
Congress of JMay, 1824, and of the Missouri
General Assembly of March, 1835, author-
ized the sale of this body of land with reser-
vations for schools. Soon after the legisla-
tive enactment of 1835 the people of St.
Louis, to whom the question w-as submitted,
voted in favor of the sale of the "common"
and the appropriation of one-tenth of the
proceeds of such sale to the school fund.
This act provided for a subdivision of the
land and a sale of the lots, the purchasers to
pay 5 per cent interest on the amount of the
purchase money for a period of ten years,
and at the end of that time to receive deeds
upon payment of the principal. The sale
took place in 1836, and 3,735 acres were dis-
posed of at prices aggregating $425,000.
Very soon afterward the purchasers appear
to have reached the conclusion that they had
agreed to pay too much for their lots, and
with practical unanimity defaulted in their
payments. On this account the sales were
set aside, and the city again became almost
sole owner of the "common." In 1842 a lim-
ited number of lots were again sold. In 1854
the City Council, acting under legislative au-
thority, created the "Board of City Com-
mon," which subsequently subdivided and
sold at auction lands belonging to the "com-
mon," aggregating in value $670,000, the last
sale being made in the fall of 1859. A con-
siderable portion of these lands was retained
by the city and has been appropriated to
various public uses.
Comiiuiuisiu in Missouri. — In its
primitive meaning of holding all property in
common, communism is an ancient theory,
and has had advocates and experiments for
ages. Traces of it are found in the writings
of Plato, and it is asserted that learned men
before him defined and favored it. Among
the Jews, a purist sect called the Essenes
advocated it, and in the very first year of the
founding of the Christian Church at Jerusa-
lem the followers of Jesus attempted to estab-
lish it as a part of its polity. "As many as
were possessors of lands or houses sold them
and brought the prices of the things that
were sold and laid them down at the apostles'
feet; and distribution was made unto every
man according as he had need." This was
communism, innocent, pure and simple — and
it possessed the important feature of being
strictly voluntary. It was not binding on the
individual Christians, and as there is no
further allusion to it as an existing practice
in the church, it is probable it was allowed
gradually to fall into disuse. At a later day
the Anabaptists of Muenster, the Libertines
of Switzerland and the Familists of England
advocated it, and later, still, the Shakers, the
Harmonists and the Buchanites. It found in
England such supporters as Bacon, Moore
and Robert Oliver, and in France Saint
Simon. Fourier and Proudhon. After the
Franco-German War, in 1870, the Interna-
COMMUNISM IN MISSOURI.
79
tionalists of Paris, whose theory was com-
munism, managed to secure possession of the
French capital, and their brutal excesses and
wanton destruction of property brought the
doctrine into disrepute. The Russian nihil-
ists and the anarchists of Germany make
communism one of their principles, and this
association has not commended it. Never-
theless, in spite of all the crimes committed
in its name, and all the successive failures of
the enterprises undertaken to illustrate and
commend its principles, it continues to have
its advocates who fondly contemplate a time
when society will be a vast commune, or a
system of communes, without the strife and
conflict of hostile interests which now dis-
turb it ; and one of the most popular books in
its day was Bellamy's "Looking Backward,"
giving an attractive picture of what our great
cities will be "in the good time coming,"
when competition shall have ceased, and co-
operation taken its place. Missouri has not
been without a share in the experiments to
bring about this happy condition. In the
year 1845 ^ colony of communists estab-
lished themselves on North River in Shelby
County, under the leadership of Dr. William
Kiel, who had been a Methodist clergyman
in Pennsylvania. He had been deposed for
preaching unwarranted doctrine, and when
he came to Missouri to found the colony,
his friends and followers came with him.
They purchased a tract of 1,100 acres of land,
which was made common territory ; and a
common refectory supplied meals to all who
were not married, the families dwelling in
separate houses. A colony church, built of
brick and stone, and paved with tiling, stood
in the center of the town, called Bethel, and
there regular worship was conducted every
Sunday by the leader who made claim to a
certain kind of inspiration which his followers
acquiesced in. Not far from the town was the
mansion house of Dr. Kiel, called Elim.
There were about a thousand of the colo-
nists, and their chief vocation was agriculture,
though some attention was given to the man-
ufacture of cloth from the wool of the colony
sheep, and buckskin gloves. There was a
brewery on the colony farm and a distillery,
also, at which was made a supply of lic|uor
for the colonists and some to sell. The
products of the colony farm and factories
were sold for the common good, and the
proceeds given into the hands of the treas-
urer, to be expended for the common inter-
est; a well stocked colony store supplied all
the comforts and luxuries of the colonists,
so that they had little or no use for money.
They lived mostly to themselves and were
orderly, industrious, kindly and exemplary in
all their conduct. The leader sent out mis-
sionaries armed with his authority to found
another colony at Aurora, in Oregon. Both
enterprises prospered for a time, and the
Bethel colony in Missouri was beginning to
attract attention as a successful experiment,
when dissensions about the management
crept in and impaired its integrity. Members
began to desert, and its affairs fell into dis-
order, and at last the leader. Dr. Kiel, took
his departure for Oregon, in 1858, and Bethel
colony began to fall into a ruin, and in a
short time nothing was left but deserted
buildings and an untilled farm to tell the story
of the failure.
In 1857 a commune called the Icarian set-
tlement was started at the little village of
Cheltenham, at that time five miles from St.
Louis, but now within the city limits. The
founders were followers of Etienne Cabet, a
well known Frenchman, writer and commu-
nist, who had previously made similar experi-
ments in Texas and at Nauvoo, Illinois, A
small tract of land, which included a sulphur
spring and the large stone building that had
been the country residence of William Sub-
lett, a famous Indian trader and explorer,
was purchased. The place had been used as
a summer resort, and there were several
stone cottages near the main building, which
commended the situation to the communists.
The settlement was administered by a pres-
ident and advisory council, and the members
were all on the same footing, working at
mechanical vocations and having an equal in-
terest in the common property. There were
on the place blacksmiths, carpenters, coopers,
tailors, shoemakers and cabinetmakers,
whose labors were directed to improvements
on the property, and to the manufacture of
products to be sold for the common good —
all the earnings going into the general treas-
ury. Movements and operations were con-
ducted with regularity and military precision,
the members assembling at the call of a
trumpet, in the common dining hall, and sim-
ilar blasts announcing the hours of work and
recreation. There was no common religion
and no common worship, the majority of the
COMO-COMSTOCK.
members being freethinkers. Meetings for
the discussion of social and economic ques-
tions constituted the chief entertainment.
The community possessed only limited means
from the beginning, and the conditions were
not favorable to success. The land was
bought on credit, and after seven years re-
verted to the seller. For a time affairs went
on smoothly and the settlement was pros-
perous until the Civil War came on to break
up so many enterprises, when it became a
victim of the general disorder. The settle-
ment was kept up until 1864, when it came to
an end. Other less notable experiments have
been made in the State, but all have met a
similar fate.
Coiiio.— See "Lotta."
Compton's Ferry.— A ferry crossing
on Grand River in Carroll County, which was
the scene of a fight on the nth of August,
1862, between the Union troops under Col-
onel Guitar, and a body of Confederates
under Porter. This body of Confederates
had been defeated at Kirksville a few days
before, and they were again overtaken in
their attempt to cross Grand River. A num-
ber had already crossed when the Union
troops came up with two pieces of artillery
and attacked them in the rear. They were
thrown into disorder, some throwing away
their guns and plunging into the river, some
of the horses became unmanageable and
swimming back to the shore with their riders.
Some were drowned, others killed and a con-
siderable number captured. Two days later,
on the 13th of August, the remnant that
escaped was again attacked by Colonel
Guitar at Yellow Creek, in Chariton County,
and the band completely broken up.
Comstock, T. Griswold, physician,
was born in the town of LeRoy, Genesee
County, New York, July 27, 1829, son of Lee
and Sarah (Calkins) Comstock. Both his
parents were natives of Lyme, Connecticut,
and his father was a brother of Dr. John Lee
Comstock, a surgeon of the United States
Army in the War of 1812; and the author
of "Comstock's Philosophy," "Comstock's
Chemistry," "Comstock's Geology," and
other text books on mineralogy, physiology,
natural history and physical geography. His
mother was the daughter of Dr. Daniel
Calkins who, in his day, was the most cele-
brated and accomplished physician of New
London County, Connecticut. Dr. Calkins
was a descendant, in the sixth generation, of
one of the Puritans who landed from the
"Mayflower," and Dr. Comstock, his grand-
son, belongs to the eighth generation of those
descended from the Puritan colonist. Reared
in New York State, Dr. Comstock completed
his academic studies at the high school in
his native town, and soon afterward came to-
St. Louis, where he began the study of medi-
cine. He entered upon his preparation for
the medical profession not only with the
prestige of springing from an ancestry dis-
tinguished in this field of intellectual effort,.
but with an inheritance of those qualities
which had caused such ancestors to achieve
distinction, both in medicine and in literature.
He read medicine under the preceptorship
of Dr. J. V. Prather, one of the founders of
St. Louis Medical College, then attended the
regular course of lectures at that institution,,
and received from it his first doctor's degree.
Naturally an independent thinker, the fact
that he had graduated in the allopathic
school of medicine did not prevent him from,
giving consideration to homeopathy, theit
just beginning to attract attention and re-
ceive a measure of recognition in the West^
His investigations impressed him favorably
with this system of practice, and after study-
ing homeopathy for a time under the special
direction of Dr. J. T. Temple, he went to-
Philadelphia, and became a student of the
"Homeopathic Medical College of Pennsyl-
vania."" He was graduated from that institu-
tion in 1854, and immediately thereafter
began practicing in St. Louis, meeting with;
flattering success from the start. After a
short time he went abroad to visit the hos-
pitals in Europe, and later matriculated in
the University of Vienna, where he passed'
the examination of the university in the Ger-
man language, and received the honorary
degree of master in obstetrics — doctor of
midwifery. He resumed the practice of his-
profession in St. Louis in 1858, and in a com-
paratively short time he had not only taken
rank among the leading physicians of the city
as a practitioner, but had become conspicu-
ously identified also with medical, educational
and hospital work. He has ever since that
time occupied a commanding position in his-
profession and has left the strong impress of
J^ ^7^;-/.-^-.^^ .■^<rr77/y ./^
CONANT— CONCORDIA.
81
his individuality upon homeopathy in the
West. He was professor of obstetrics in the
St. Louis College of Physicians and Sur-
geons/and when that institution was merged
into the Homeopathic College of Missouri,
he was appointed to the same chair in the
last named college. Some years since he
retired from the active duties of professor,
and has been elected emeritus professor. At
the special request of the faculty and students
of the Homeopathic College of Missouri, for
the past three years he has continued to de-
liver his course of lectures during the ses-
sions of the college, fulfilling the duties of an
acting professor with the same enthusiasm
and erudition as in former years. In recog-
nition of his attainments and of his distin-
guished services in connection with the
development of medical science, the St. Louis
University conferred upon him the honorary
degree of master of arts and doctor of phi-
losophy. In 1862 he was appointed surgeon
of the First Missouri Regiment of Volunteer
Infantry, and served for a short time under
General John B. Gray, resigning to take up
his private practice. He was primarius phy-
sician on the staff of the Good Samaritan
Hospital for more than twenty years and at
the present time — 1898 — is president of the
medical staff of the St. Louis Children's Hos-
pital. His practice has always remained gen-
eral, although he has been most widely
consulted as an authority on obstetrics and
gynecological surgery. He has been through-
out his long and useful career a close
student, and his library is one of the largest
medical libraries owned by any physician in
the West, his collection of medical literature
covering a wide range of thought, research
and investigation, and including many works
published in foreign languages, as well as in
the English language. A chivalrous devotion
to his profession has operated to prevent him
from participating actively in politics or pub-
lic affairs, but he has always had well de-
fined political views, and has been known as
a staunch Republican. He is an Episcopalian
churchman, and a member of Christ Church
Cathedral, of St. Louis. October 21, 1862,
he married Miss Marilla H. Eddy, eldest
daughter of J. Phillips Eddy, of the old
wholesale dry goods house of Eddy & Jame-
son. Dr. Comstock is one of the founders
of the Humane Society of Missouri for the
protection of children and animals against
cruelty. For some years past he has been
chairman of its executive committee, and he
is still an enthusiastic worker in the alliance,
and spends a good deal of his time in the
interests of the cause. Not the least valuable
services which Dr. Comstock has rendered
to his profession has been the preparation of
an admirable historical sketch of "Homeo-
pathy in St. Louis," which appears elsewhere
in these volumes.
Conant, A. J., archaeologist, was born
in Vermont, in 1821, and came to St. Louis in
1857. He made the Indian Mounds in St.
Louis and in Illinois the subject of careful
and diligent study, and contributed to Camp-
bell's "Commonwealth of Missouri" an article
which is regarded as high authority. He
found four kinds of mounds in Missouri and
the American Bottom in Illinois — burial
mounds, including caves or artificial caverns ;
sacrificial mounds ; garden mounds ; and mis-
cellaneous works — and he treats them in an
interesting and instructive manner.
Conception. — A town in Nodaway
County, fifteen miles southeast of Maryville,
near the Wabash, St. Louis & Pacific Rail-
road. It was founded in i860 by Father
Powers, Owen Reilly and Anthony Felix, and
was named in honor of the Immaculate Vir-
gin. It was made the center of the Reading
colony established by the same persons. A
tract of forty acres was platted and the colony
house and chapel built and dedicated. Seven
years later, in 1867, a Catholic Church was
erected. In 1880 a monastery was built,
which is now called the Benedictine Abbey,
New Engelberg. It is four stories high and
has forty-six rooms and fine halls. In it is
conducted a theological school and a high
school for boys. There are two libraries, one
for the abbey and one for the people — the
former containing 3,000 books, some of them
very old and rare. A mile and a half
from the abbey is a Sisters' convent, a four-
story building, and a new house completed
in 1882. The population of the town in 1899
was 150.
Concord.— See "Plattsburg."
Concordia.— A city of the fourth class,
in Lafayette County, on the Missouri Pacific
Railway, twenty-four miles southeast of Lex-
82
CONCORDIA COLLEGE.
ington, the county seat. It is the seat of a
large German settlement. It has a public
school; an Evangelical Lutheran male sem-
inary, St. Paul's College, with three teachers,
forty-three students, and property valued at
$18,000; three German parochial schools;
two Lutheran Churches, an Evangelical
Church, a Baptist Church and a Methodist
Episcopal Church ; a Republican newspaper,
the "Concordian;" two banks, a creamery,
a flourmill and a fruit cannery. There are
coal mines in the vicinity. In 1899 the pop-
ulation was 1,300. In 1856 Henry Flander-
meyer and Louis Bergman operated a large
flourmill here. The town was platted in 1868
by a joint stock company, consisting of G. P.
Gordon, George S. Rathburn, and others.
The name was given it by its German resi-
dents.
Concordia College. — This institution
was founded in 1839, at Altenburg, Perry
County, Missouri, where it was housed in a
log hut, constructed by the first faculty of the
college shortly after their arrival in this
country with the Saxton colonists, who came
here to enjoy religious liberty for themselves
and their children. That first building was
dedicated in_ October, 1839, and the first
faculty consisted of C. F. W. Walther, J. F.
Buenger, O. Fuerbringer and Th. J. Brohm.
All these men were before long called away
to serve in various parts of the country as
Lutheran ministers, and the only instructor
of the school was, for a time, the Rev.
Loeber, of Altenburg, until he received an
assistant, J. Goenner, in 1843. After the or-
ganization of the Missouri Synod it was for
various reasons deemed preferable to have
this school located in St. Louis, and the con-
gregations of that place offered two acres of
land and $2,000 in cash for the erection of
suitable buildings, and the proceeds of their
cemetery and of the sale of the hymn book
published by them, for the maintenance of
the college. On November 8, 1849, the
cornerstone of the first building was laid, and
in the same year. Rector Goenner with his
students arrived from Altenburg. The build-
ing was dedicated June 11, 1850. and occupied
by the professors and their families, with six-
teen students. To the professorship of theol-
ogy the pastor of the St. Louis congregation,
C. F. W. Walther, had been called by the
Synod, and in 1850 Professor A. Biewend was
called, chiefly for the classical department.
In 1856 two more instructors were added,
G. Schick and A. Saxer, and Dr.
G. Seyffarth, formerly professor of
archaeology in the University of Leip-
zig and a renowned Egyptologist, was
received as a teacher of theology and history.
Additions were made to the first building
until the original plan, comprising a main
building with two wings, was completed in
1857. In 1858 the institution suffered a seri-
ous loss in the death of Professor Biewend.
In December of the same year Professor R.
Lange, formerly of St. Charles College, was
called, and in 1859 Professor Larsen was
appointed by the Norwegian Synod, whose
students were to receive their education in
Concordia College until the Synod would
provide a college of its own. In 1861 Pro-
fessor Seyffarth left to pursue his scientific
researches in New York, and Professor Lar-
sen was called as the director of the college
which the Norwegian Synod had concluded
to erect. In the same year, however, a more
radical change was brought about, as the
classical department of Concordia College
was, with Professors Lange, Schick and
Saxer, removed to Fort Wayne, Indiana,
while the Practical Theological Seminary of
the Synod, with Professor Craemer, was re-
moved from Fort Wayne to St. Louis to be
united with the "Theoretical Seminary'' un-
der the supervision of Professor Walther.
Rector Goenner was pensioned on account of
advanced age. In 1863 a third professor of
theology, Professor Brauer, was installed,
and in 1865 Professor Baumstark took charge
of a preparatory department to the Practical
Seminary. For a number of years the Rev.
Theo. Brohm served as instructor in Hebrew.
After Baumstark's apostasy, in 1869, Dr.
E. Preuss, formerly of the University of Ber-
lin, was appointed to a fourth theological
professorship. He remained until 1872, when
Professor F. A. Schmidt, of the Norwegian
Synod, was appointed to a professorship in
the seminary, as quite a number of Norwegi-
an and Danish students pursued their studies
there. In the same year Professor G. Schal-
ler was added to the faculty, and Professor
Brauer accepted a call to the pastorate of
Trinity Church, St. Louis. In 1873 Profes-
sor M. Guenther was called. Until 1875 all
the professors lectured to the students- of
both seminaries, l^ut in tliat vear the Prac-
I
CONDE-CONFEDERATE CEMETERY.
tical Seminary, with Professor Craemer, re-
moved to Springfield, Illinois. In 1876
Professor Schmidt, was, by his Synod, trans-
ferred to Aladison, Wisconsin. In 1878 Pro-
fessors R. Lange and F. Pieper were called.
In 1887 Professor Dr. Walther died, and Pro-
fessor Pieper succeeded him in the presidency
and in the chair of systematic and pastoral
theology. In the same year Professor A. L.
Graebner was added to the faculty. In 1892
Professor Guenther died, and in the follow-
ing year Professor Lange. In 1893 Profes-
sor L. Fuerbringer and F. Bente were
appointed, and in 1897 a sixth professorship
was founded and filled by the appointment of
Professor G. Metzger. The course of studies
comprises three years, the students being all
then postgraduates, having completed a six
years' collegiate course. Lectures are given
in German, English and Latin. Graduates
from this institution are to be found not only
all over the United States and the Canadas,
but also in Europe, Africa and Australia. In
1882 the old building was taken down, and on
the same site and adjacent grounds the pres-
ent stately structure was erected at a cost of
$150,000 and completed in 1883.
Prof. Augustus L- Graebner.
Coiide, Andrew Augiiste, pioneer
physician, was born in the Province of Aunis,
France, and died in St. Louis in 1776. He
was educated and fitted for the practice of his
profession in his native land, and then en-
tered the French colonial service as a military
surgeon. Coming by way of Canada to the
Illinois country, he was stationed at Fort
Chartres as post surgeon when that fort was
surrendered to the English in 1765. He came
to St. Louis immediately afterward with St.
Ange, and in 1766 received a concession of
two village lots fronting on Second Street.
On this ground he built a primitive home-
stead, in which he continued to reside up to
the time of his death. He was a man of fine
education, and practiced his profession dur-
ing the years of his residence there. He was
the first physician to begin practice in the new
colony, and hence the father of the medical
profession in St. Louis. His practice ex-
tended to the French settlements on the op-
posite side of the river, and at his death an
inventory of his estate gave the names of
233 persons indebted to him for professional
services, the list being so large as to consti-
tute an almost complete directory of the in-
habitants of this region. He had two daugh-
ters, both of whom survived him, and both
of whom reared large families of children.
He has, therefore, numerous representatives
in the older French families of St. Louis, al-
though none of his descendants bear his
name.
" Conditional Union Men."— This
term, which grew up in 1861 during the dis-
cussions preceding the election of delegates
to the State Convention of February of that
year, described all who, while being uncon-
ditionally opposed to secession and disunion,
were also opposed to coercion, or the armed
opposition of the Federal government to se-
cession. If the Southern States would with-
draw from the Union, they would let them
go, Dut Missouri ought not to go with them.
This was the view of a large majority of the
people of the State, and among its conspicu-
ous advocates were Hamilton R. Gamble, of
St. Louis ; James S. Rollins, of Boone ; Col-
onel A. W. Doniphan, of Clay; John S.
Phelps, of Greene; Sterling Price, of Chari-
ton ; L^riel Wright, of St. Louis ; Judge Wil-
liam A. Hall, of Randolph, and Judge John F.
Ryland, of Lafayette. The name did not sur-
vive Camp Jackson. After that sharp event
most of the Conditional Unionists became
unconditional supporters of the Federal gov-
ernment, while a few, among them Sterling
Price and Uriel Wright, cast their fortunes
with the Confederate cause.
Confederate Cemetery. — In 1869
the Confederate Burial Association of Mis-
souri was formed, and committees were
appointed to secure means for the removal
of the remains of Confederate soldiers in and
about Springfield to a permanent cemetery.
Many ex-Federals and their families gave
active assistance. About $3,000 was secured,
and three and one-half acres of ground were
acquired, adjoining the National Cemetery,
three miles southeast of Springfield. The
bodies of 501 ex-Confederate soldiers were
interred at the beginning, brought in almost
equal numbers from the battle grounds of
Springfield and Wilson's Creek. Few of the
bodies were identified, and the majority were
marked "unknown." June 12th (the Con-
federate Decoration Day) the grounds were
dedicated with appropriate ceremonies, in
84
CONFEDERATE FLAG, FIRST IN MISSOURI.
presence of a large concourse of people from
various portions of the State, when an ora-
tion was delivered by Colonel Celsus Price,
of St. Louis, son of General Sterling Price.
As the only distinctive Confederate cemetery
in the State, in 1882 it was adopted by the
ex-Confederate Association of Missouri as
the special object of their care, and that body
contributed $6,000 for the erection of the
massive stone wall surrounding the grounds.
In 1898 the Daughters of the Confederacy
began the creation of a fund for the erection
of a monument upon the grounds. This
monument was erected under the auspices of
the United Confederate Veterans' Associa-
tion of Missouri in 1900. It is the work of
Chevalier Trentanove, of Washington, D. C,
and shows the figure of a Confederate soldier
with folded arms, bareheaded and his hair
brushed back from his forehead. He is
dressed in the uniform of a Confederate
private, with his pants tucked in his boots.
The figure, which is of heroic size, stands on
a pedestal of Vermont granite twenty feet in
height, one of the panels bearing a bas-relief
portrait of General Sterling Price and the
words : "To the Memory of the Confederate
Dead." The cost was $12,000.
Confederate Flag, First in Mis-
souri. — It is stated on good authority that
at Sarcoxie, in Jasper County, the home of
James Rains, who became a brigadier general
in the Confederate service, was floated the
first Confederate flag in Missouri. It was
known to be in existence prior to the com-
mencement of hostilities, but was not pub-
licly displayed until the fall of Fort Sumter,
in April, 1861. It was twenty-seven feet long,
and was hoisted upon a hundred-foot flag-
staff, which was cut down by Colonel Sigel's
troops when they entered the place, in July
of that year, on their way to Neosho. It is
further stated that a schoolhouse in the vicin-
ity was fired by a Federal soldier, in revenge
for a "tarring and feathering" received by
him as an abolitionist, when he was a teacher
there months before.
Confederate Home of Missouri. —
A State institution, designed as a home
for honorable Confederate soldiers residing
within the bounds of the State, who, from
wounds or disease or infirmity of age, are no
longer able to support themselves. In some
cases the wife of a veteran is also admitted.
It is located on the line of the Jefferson City,
Boonville & Lexington Railway, two miles
northwest of Higginsville. The grounds
comprise 362 acres, and are utilized in large
part for farm purposes, and for garden
and dairy products, hogs and chickens.
The buildings include the home proper,
of brick, two stories, with full basement, sup-
plied with hot and cold water, and lighted
with gas, with a library of 4,000 volumes ; a
two-story frame hospital, with steam and gas ;
a two-story frame building for the superin-
tendent and his family ; a chapel, for religious
meetings ; thirteen three-room and one two-
room cottages, for veterans and their wives,
and two frame houses, with necessary barns.
Upon the grounds is a cemetery of nearly
three acres, title to which is in the Confed-
ate Association of Missouri; the Daughters
of the Confederacy provide headstones for
graves, and a fund is being secured for the
erection of a memorial monument. The man-
agement of the home is vested in a board of
managers, appointed by the Governor, who
appoint a superintendent, a matron, a com-
mandant and a surgeon. In 1899 the average
number of beneficiaries was 128 males and 22
females. The average male age was sixty-
five. The cost of maintenance was $11,-
024.23 for the year. The home was founded
in 1891 by the Confederate Association of
Missouri, incorporated, which paid $18,000
for the farm and farm buildings. The pres-
ent main building was erected in 1892, at a
cost of $30,000, principally contributed by
the Daughters of the Confederacy of Mis-
souri. The hospital building was provided by
the Daughters of the Confederacy of Mis-
souri. The cottages were provided by in-
dividual counties and cities, and each bears
the name of a noted Confederate officer from
Missouri. In 1897 the property was trans-
ferred to the State, which assumed its
maintenance for the purposes for which it
was founded. From this transference are ex-
empted the cemetery grounds, which continue
in possession of the Confederate Association
of Missouri.
Confederate Raid of 1864 The
"Price raid" into Missouri, in 1864, was the
last effort made to secure the State to the
Southern Confederacy, and the signal and
disastrous failure it turned out did much to
precipitate the final catastrophe to the Con-
CONFEDERATE RAID OF 1864.
85
federate cause. It was intended to be an
organized and formidable invasion, carrying
everything before it and ending in the capture
of everything south of the Missouri, west of
St. Louis, including Jefiferson City, and if
things went well, the capture of St. Louis
itself. To facilitate the movement against St.
Louis, the State was entered at the south-
east, where the Arkansas line is nearest to
that city, with a straight road up through
Doniphan and Arcadia Valley, Iron Moun-
tain and Hillsboro, to the city. It was a
cavalry expedition, intended to be rapid in
movements, and thus increase the chances
of surprise and capture of places along the
route ; and it was made up of three divisions,
under Marmaduke, Shelby and Fagan —
Marmaduke's division being composed of
Marmaduke's old brigade, commanded by
General John B. Clark, Jr., and Freeman's
brigade, 3,000 men and four pieces of artil-
lery ; Shelby's division consisting of Shelby's
old brigade, under Colonel David Shanks,
and Jackman's brigade, 3,000 men, with four
pieces of artillery; and Fagan's division of
Arkansas troops under General Cabell, Gen-
eral Dobbins, General Slemmons and Gen-
eral McCray, 4,000 men, with four pieces of
artillery — altogether 10,000 men, with twelve
pieces of artillery, according to Confederate
statements, the most formidable Confederate
Army ever seen in Missouri. On the 5th of
September it started from Pocahontas, Ar-
kansas, Marmaduke on the right, Shelby on
the left and Fagan, with General Price, in the
center. So great was the confidence in the
success of the expedition that Thomas C.
Reynolds who, four years before, had been
chosen Lieutenant Governor of Missouri, and
who now claimed to have succeeded to the
governorship on the death of Governor C.
F. Jackson, accompanied Shelby's division as
an aide, expecting to be formally installed in
the State capitol building upon the occupa-
tion of Jefferson City. No resistance was
offered at Doniphan, Patterson, or Freder-
icktown, and a small Federal force at Farm-
ington was forced to fall back; several
bridges on the Iron Mountain Railroad were
burned and the road destroyed. On the 27th
of October Price appeared before the fort at
Pilot Knob, commanded by General Hugh S.
Ewing, with 1,200 Federal troops, and, with-
out waiting to place his artillery in position on
the mountain where it could command the
garrison, attempted to take it by assault. The
experiment cost him nearly 1,000 men, and
proved an utter failure — and the commander
of the garrison. General Ewing, baffled a sec-
ond attempt by destroying his magazines and
spiking his guns and making his escape at
night. He found an open road in the rear
which the Confederates had neglected to
secure, and, by this, retreated almost without
interruption to Leesburg on the railroad be-
tween St. Louis and RoUa. This inauspicious
beginning attended the expedition to the end.
It was now more than three weeks since the
invading force entered the State, and it had
advanced only a hundred miles. General
Rosecrans was in command in St. Louis, and
when the first news of the Confederate in-
vasion was received, it caused some excite-
ment, because all the Federal troops that
could be spared had been sent out of the
State to support, or co-operate with the de-
cisive movements under Grant, Sherman and
Thomas in other quarters ; but General A. J.
Smith's command, which was on its way up
the Mississippi to be sent to Georgia, was
ordered to proceed to St. Louis ; and the
slowness of Price's movement was favorable
to Rosecrans' preparations, and when, on the
28th of October, the Confederate Army was
ready to march from Pilot Knob, an advance
on St. Louis was considered unwise, and was
abandoned; and while Marmaduke and
Shelby made demonstrations at Richwood
and Union, forty-five miles from the city, the
main body of the Confederate Army turned
west and marched toward Jefferson City.
From this time the invasion began to assume
the character of retreat, for General A. J.
Smith followed close upon it, and General
Price burned the bridges behind him to im-
pede the pursuit. On the 5th of October the
Confederate Army crossed the Osage River
at Castle Rock, and next day drew up round
Jefferson City with all the indications of a
purpose to attack it — and it was the belief
in the Confederate Army that the attack
would be ordered next day. The garrison
was in command of General E. B. Brown,
whose gallant and successful defense of
Springfield against Shelby's attack a year be-
fore, was, no doubt, vividly remembered, and
reinforcements under General Pleasanton,
were on the way from St. Louis. On the 7th,
therefore, when, instead of attacking the city,
General Price moved west, the Confederates'
CONFEDERATE VETERANS-CONGREGATIONAL CHURCH.
themselves recognized that the invasion
of Missouri was a faihire, and their only ob-
ject now was to escape from the State — for
General Pleasanton arrived at Jefiferson City
the day after Price departed, and Mower's
cavalry shortly after, and the Confederates
were forced to halt and defend their rear
against the forces now rapidly following
them. As Price moved west, he sent Shelby
and Clark to Boonville and Glasgow to take,
these places, and this was easily effected, Col-
onel Harding surrendering Boonville, and
Captain Shoemaker surrendering Glasgow.
The Confederates moved then to Lexington,
and on to Independence ; but by this time
their condition had grown perilous. Mower
and Pleasanton were pressing them in the
rear, and Blunt, sent out from Leavenworth,
was opposing them in front. At the Little
Blue crossing there was severe fighting, and
again at the Big Blue, where Captain Todd,
a noted bushwhacker, fighting in the Con-
federate ranks, was killed ; and at Westport
Price found himself so severely attacked in
front and rear, at the same time, that it
seemed as if he could not escape. Lieutenant
Colonel Merritt Young, belonging to Mar-
maduke's command, was killed, and Captain
Frank Davidson was wounded and captured,
and the losses in Shelby's command alone,
which held the road out of Westport to the
south, while the Confederate train passed,
were over 800 men. On the 25th, two days
after leaving Wes'tport, the Federal forces
again attacked in the rear at Marais des
Cygnes, and Marmaduke and Cabell, who
were there to cover the retreat, were cap-
tured, as were also Colonel Jefifers and Col-
onel Slemmons. The Confederate Army was
now becoming disorganized, and it was only
the firmness of Shelby's disciplined command
that saved it from destruction. By marching
in retreat all that night, without food or
sleep, under Shelby's protection thus given.
Price's army barely managed to escape, and
even then, only for a time. Three days after-
ward, on the 28th of October, it was again
attacked at Newtonia and again escaped de-
struction through the protection afforded by
Shelby's trained command. Three days more
were spent in painful and difficult marching
in retreat, and at last the Confederate Army
managed to cross the Arkansas River, where
it was safe from further pursuit.
Daniel M. Gki.ssom.
Confederate Veterans.- — See "United
Confederate Veterans."
Congregational Chiiroh. — The first
Congregational Church people in Missouri
were the Hempstead family, who came from
Connecticut. The first to come was Ed-
ward Hempstead, a young man of good par-
entage, good education and good habits, who
made the journey on horseback in the year
1804, a formidable undertaking at that day.
On arriving at the important post of Vin-
cennes, he found there General William
Henry Harrison, Governor of Indiana Ter-
ritory, who was about to go to St. Louis to
organize a civil government of the newly
acquired District of Louisiana, which had
been attached to Indiana Territory. At the
request ot General Harrison, Mr. Hempstead
accompanied him, and, at first, located at St.
Charles, removing afterward to St. Louis.
His education and capacity for affairs, to-
gether with his upright character, com-
mended him to the people of the Territory,
and he was appointed and elected to several
places of honor and trust, in succession,
serving a term as Territorial delegate in Con-
gress in 181 2. The year before that, recog-
nizing the important future that awaited the
new Territory, he brought his father, mother,
brothers and sisters to it, and established
them at Bellefontaine. They were devout
people of the Congregational faith, trained
up in strict moral habits, and accustomed to
grave and reverent methods of worship, and,
as they missed in their new home the regular
services they had been trained in, it was nat-
ural that they should seek to introduce them
into Missouri. In 1814 Rev. Samuel J. Mills,
sent out by the Home Missionary Society, of
Connecticut, visited Missouri and preached in
Stephen Hempstead's house. Three years
later, when Rev. Salmon Giddings, from
Connecticut, came to Missouri and, in No-
vember, 1817, organized the first Presby-
terian Church in St. Louis, five of the
Hempsteads became members, although they
had been, and still were, Congregationalists.
There was a cordial mingling of efforts in
evangelistic and missionary work between
Congregationalists and Presbyterians in that
day, and for many years after, and it was only
by chance, humanly speaking, that the church
organized by Rev. Mr. Giddings was not the
first Congregational Church organized in
CONGREGATIONAL CHURCH IN KANSAS CITY.
87
Missouri. The Congregationalists of New
England were more lil)cral with their means,
and more zealous in their efforts to give the
gospel to the new settlements in the West,
than to affix their name to the new organiza-
tions — and thus it came about that many
Presbyterian churches in Missouri owe their
existence in no small measure to the Con-
gregationalists of Connecticut and Massa-
chusetts. In 1847 Rev. T. M. Post, of
Jacksonville, Illinois, was invited to become
pastor of the Third Presbyterian Church in
St. Louis, and accepted the call, the engage-
ment being for four years. At the end of
the time he withdrew, and returned to Jack-
sonville, but his eloquence and learning, and
much more, his high and gentle spirit and
lofty principles had so permeated the congre-
gation that they resolved themselves into a
Congregational Church and recalled Dr. Post
to be their ])ermanent pastor. This was the
first Congregational Church in Missouri,
though a congregation had been organized at
Arcadia some years before, which, after a
feeble existence, passed away, through the
removal of its members to other places. Dr.
Post was pastor of the First Church in the
State for thirty-five years, and when he died,
in 1886, Congregationalism had become one
of the leading forms of Protestantism in St.
Louis and Missouri. Its ministers have been
eminent for piety, a cheerful and liberal faith,
evangelical zeal, and their generous co-oper-
ation in the work of popular education. In
1900 there were seventy-six Congregational
Churches in the State, having an estimated
value of $859,700, and a membership of 9.502.
In St. Louis there were 12, in Kansas City 7,
in St. Joseph 2, in Sedalia 2, in Springfield 4,
in Bevier 2, in New Cambria 2, and one each
in Afton, Amity, Anson, Aurora, Billings,
Bonne Terre,Breckenridge,Brookfield, Cam-
eron, Carthage, Cole Camp, Dawn, De Soto,
Eldon, Grandin, Green Ridge, Hamilton,
Hannibal, Honey Creek, Iberia, Joplin, Kid-
der, Lamar, Lebanon, Maplewood, Mead-
ville, Neosho, Nicholas, Noble, Old Orchard,
Pierce City, Republic, Riverdale, Sappington,
Sedalia, Thayer, \'alley Park, Verdella, Web-
ster Groves and Willow Springs. It sup-
ports at Springfield, Drury College, one of
the most efficient institutions of the kind in
Missouri, and prosperous academies at
Drury, Iberia, Kidder and Noble.
Congregational Church in Kansas
City. — The Congregational Churches are
pure democracies. Each church is self-gov-
erning, acknowledging no head but Christ,
and the ditiferent churches are bound to-
gether only by the voluntary fellowship of a
common faith and work. They are histori-
cally associated with opposition to prelacy
and to a union of church and State. They
have been characterized by zeal for education
and for missions. One strong and influential
church in St. Louis was the only organization
in the State prior to the Civil War. With the
opening of new railroads and the influx of new
population, churches of this order began to
spring up in Missouri. Kansas City, in 1863,
was a frontier village of about 5,000 popula-
tion, a military post, and practically in a state
of siege. In the summer of that year Con-
gregational brethren from Kansas, notably
the Rev. R. D. Parker, the Rev. Richard
Cordley, the Rev. L. Bodwell and the Rev.
Mr. Liggett, crossing the Kaw River b\- boat
and coming through the forest covering the
"West Bottoms," where are now warehouses
and factories, held regular Sunday preaching
services, attended largely by the military and
their families, at Long's Hall, 509 Main
Street. A Sunday school was also estab-
lished. In October the Rev. E. A. Harlow,
from Maine, took charge and remained a
year. Services were held by him in Miss
Brown's sclioolhouse, in "The Addition,"
on McGee Street, between Twelfth and Thir-
teenth Streets. In 1865 the Rev. Leavitt
Bartlett, from Vermont, was sent to the field
by the American Home Missionary Society,
of New York. He began his work in the
building of the Christian Church, which
stood on a high bank at the northwest corner
of Twelfth and Main Streets. On Wednes-
day evening, January 3, 1866, he organized
the First Congregational Church in the house
of W. P. Whelan, near the corner of Eleventh
and McGee Streets, the site of the present
church edifice. Only eleven persons entered
into the solemn covenant at that time. There
was yet only a small straggling frontier town
creeping up from the levee, building its scat-
tered houses southward, while the lines of
earthworks could still he seen on the western
bluffs, but, from the new population, profes-
sional and business men. school-teachers and
artisans, who came in their youth, bringing
CONGREGATIONAL CHURCH IN KANSAS CITY.
their fixed principles, their frugal habits, their
faith in God and love of country, the organi-
zation was rapidly strengthened. The church
was formally recognized as a Congregational
Church on January 7, 1866, at a council of
churches held in the Christian Church, the
Rev. Dr. Cordley, of Lawrence, Kansas, ex-
tending the fellowship of the churches. In
the same year, a substantial church build-
ing, still standing, was put up on the corner
of Grand Avenue and Tenth Street. It was
dedicated June 24th. The Rev. Mr. Bartlett
was succeeded for a few months by the Rev.
R. AI. Hooker, who, in turn, was followed
by the Rev. E. A. Andrews, who remained
with the church for a year. In the intervals
between ministers, sermons were often read
by the Honorable E. H. Allen and others.
April 27, 1869, the Rev. J. G. Roberts was
regularly installed by council as pastor. The
Honorable David J. Brewer, now one of the
justices of the Supreme Court of the United
States, was the scribe of that council. This
was a strong and successful pastorate, lasting
for ten years. The Rev. Henry Hopkins, the
present pastor (1900), was installed March
18, 1880. In 1884 a substantial and beautiful
church edjfice of stone, at the corner of
Eleventh and McGee Streets, was dedicated,
free from debt, at. a cost, for lot and building,
of over $80,000. The entire history of this
church is an illustration of commercial in-
tegrity and business methods in the conduct-
ing of church affairs. It has maintained a
varied and aggressive work in the city along
various lines of philanthropic effort, for the
destitute sick, for neglected boys, and for the
poor and unemployed. In 1881 a building, now
occupied by the Bethel Mission, was erected
in the West Bottoms, near the great packing
houses, and an extensive institutional and
evangelistic work was successfully inaugu-
rated. This included a boarding house, a
lodging house, a reading room, a singing
school and a free dispensary. Evangelistic
meetings were held, and a church was organ-
ized, but the latter was discontinued on ac-
count of the dispersion of neighborhood
population, owing to the necessities of busi-
ness enterprise. Other features of the work
were abandoned for a similar reason, but n
mission is yet maintained, through other
agencies. The women of the First Church
have been effectively organized and are con-
stantly active in every form of practical
effort. This practical character of church life
has held the congregation to a downtown
position, remote from the homes of nearly all
its people. The church has always actively
and generously fostered the younger organ-
izations. In 1899 the membership of First
Church was 516.
Clyde Congregational Church was organ-
ized June 25, 1882, with nine members. Sep-
tember 24th, following, the corner stone of the
present church edifice at Seventh and Brook-
lyn Streets was laid with appropriate cere-
monies, and the building was completed in
November following at a cost of $7,000. In
November, same year, the Rev. J. H. Wil-
liams, of Marblehead, Massachusetts, was
called to the pastorate. During his ministry,
continuing for nearly eleven years, the orig-
inal church building was greatly enlarged, and
the membership increased to upwards of 250.
The Rev. John L. Sewell served in the pas-
torate from the autumn of 1893 until Sep-
tember, 1896. The Rev. Wolcutt Calkins was
for fifteen months stated supply, and was help-
ful in the adjustment of the financial obHga-
tions of the church. In April, 1898, the Rev.
E. Lee Howard entered upon a pastorate
which continued for two years and one
month. Following his removal from the city
the Rev. Albert Bushnell was called, and en-
tered upon pastoral duty July i, 1900. The
church was the first west of the Mississippi
River to organize a Young People's Society
of Christian Endeavor, and the second in the
world to organize a Junior Christian En-
deavor Society. In 1899 the membership of
the church was 333.
Olivet Congregational Church was organ-
ized in 1883, and the Rev. Henry C. Scotford
was the first pastor. For a number of years
the congregation occupied a small chapel at
Eighteenth Street and Lydia Avenue. The
Rev. George Ricker succeeded Mr. Scotford.
and served for some months. He was
followed by the Rev. Robert L. Layfield, un-
der whose care the church did constantly a
strong evangelistic work, and established
several missions in neglected neighborhoods.
During his pastorate, the site at Nineteenth
Street and Woodland Avenue was purchased,
and the basement to the present edifice was
built. The auditorium was completed dur-
ing the pastorate of JNIr. Layfield's successor,
the Rev. H. L. Forbes, to whom much credit
is due for the completion of the building proj-
CONGREGATIONAL CHURCH IN KANSAS CITY.
ect. The Rev. R. Craven Walton succeeded
Mr. Forbes, and served until 1900, when the
present pastor, the Rev. G. E. Crossland, was
installed. The church numbers no members,
and the property is valued at $10,000.
The Southwest Tabernacle Congrega-
tional Church, at Twenty-first and Jefferson
Streets, was organized November 27, 1888.
About a year previously a few members of
the First Congregational Church opened a
Sunday school, with D. R. Hughes as super-
intendent, in a hall at Twenty-first and Sum-
mit Streets. At that time the southwest
portion of the city was practically without
churches. The Sunday school soon resulted
in a call for preaching. The first service
was held Sunday evening, November 29, 1887,
when the Rev. H. E. Woodcock, a retired
pastor residing upon the field, conducted the
meeting and delivered the first sermon. The
work having outgrown its quarters, in the
summer of 1888 the congregation occupied
a tent, with the Rev. Howard H. Russell
(now national secretary of the Anti-Saloon
League), then serving as city missionary un-
der the City Congregational Union, in
charge. His services continued for three
years. In the summer of 1889 the site of the
present church edifice was secured by the
City Congregational Union, and the building
was erected, its cost at completion being
about $25,000. In 1891 the Rev. Charles
L. Kloss, now of Webster Groves, Missouri,
was called from Argentine, Kansas, and re-
mained as pastor for seven years. During
this time the membership of the church stead-
ily increased, and the Sunday school work
was extended, and in the latter part of the
period 'mission schools were organized and
buildings were erected at Penn Valley and at
Genessee. June 5, 1898, the Rev. J. P.
O'Brien, the present pastor, entered upon
his work, called from St. Louis. Under his
leadership the church has grown steadily.
and has fully maintained its active aggressive
character. It has always kept in touch with
the working people, and has been the church
home of many people of Welsh descent. In
1900 the membership was 280.
Ivanhoe Park Church had it beginnings in
the labors of workers from Olivet Church.
It was organized October 12, 1895, with
about twelve members, and the present
chapel at Thirty-ninth Street and Michigan
Avenue was first occupied December 8lh fol-
lowing. The first minister was the Rev. Wil-
liam Sevvell, who was succeeded in 1896 by
the Rev. Martin Luther, the first installed
pastor. In 1898 the Rev. Leroy Warren be-
came pastor; he served until September i,
1900, when he resigned, and was succeeded
by the Rev. Alfred H. Rogers. The church
numbers fifty members, and the property is
valued at $3,000.
Beacon Hill Congregational Church was
organized in the summer of 1896, through the
effort of members of the First Church, who
recognized the necessities of people of their
denomination in that portion of the city. The
organizing membership was about sixty in
number, which had increased in 1900 to 126.
The first pastor, the Rev. J. H. Crum, S. T.
D., was yet serving in the same year.
Services are held in Ariel Hall, on Twenty-
fourth street, near Troost Avenue. In addi-
tion to meeting current expenses, the con-
gregation has made considerable progress
toward establishing a church home. A site
at Troost Avenue and Twenty-fourth Street
has been purchased at a cost of nearly $5,000,
and $3,000 has been expended in putting in
a foundation for a stone church building, to
cost upward of $25,000. The time of com-
pletion is uncertain, the policy of the congre-
gation being to progress only so rapidly as
means actually in hand will permit. The
church strives to keep itself in touch with
its sister churches by co-operating with them
in the work of missions, and in all benevolent
causes, as well as in all other ways in which
there can be mutual helpfulness.
A vigorous and useful organization known
as the Fourth Congregational Church, now
merged in the Beacon Hill Church, was for
several years maintained at Twenty-fourth
Street and Howard Avenue. Tlie Plymouth
Congregational Church, on the Southwest
Boulevard, near the State line, did a strong
and much needed work for several years
prior to 1899, but is now continued only as a
Sunday school and mission.
The Congregational Churches of Kansas
City are not religious clubs, but are working
organizations seeking to save men. They
have made themselves felt for righteousness
and progress in municipality, and are known
as believing in an applied Christianity, in the
Kingdom of God that is to come in this
world.
Hknrv Hoi'kins.
90
CONGREGATIONAL CHURCH IN ST. LOUIS.
Congregational Chiircli in St.
LiOnis. — This article on Congregationalism
in St. Louis can be but the briefest outline of
the theory or principle of the Church's life in
that city. To do more would be impossible.
Indeed, we must begin with the history of
the Church of our order far beyond the limits
of the city and far beyond the present cen-
tury, which has witnessed such a development
of church life. Congregationalism is more a
development of Christianity under God's
providence and by His Spirit than a denomi-
nation. It is a great principle or body of
principles of free, progressive, expanding,
evangelical Christianity, embodied at last m
free churches.
There are four theories or doctrines of the
Christian Church, namely:
"(i) Fellowship and unity on the princi-
ple of infallible primacy, which emerges in
the Papacy.
"(2) Fellowship and unity on the princi-
ple of apostolic succession, which emerges in
Episcopacy.
"(3) Fellowship and unity on the princi-
ple of authoritative representation, which
emerges in Presbyterianism.
"(4) Fellowship and unity on the princi-
ple of church independency, which emerges
in Congregationalism."
In these four theories fellowship is a com-
mon factor and unity a common end sought,
but sought by a different principle in each
and destined to success or failure according
to the truth or fallacy of the theory. These
four theories are actual theories and have re-
spectively developed into or dominated large
communions.
In order of age, says an eminent authority,
they are : First, Congregational ; second,
Presbyterial ; third. Episcopal ; fourth, Papal.
In the order of historic development they
are : First, the Papal ; second, the Episcopal ;
third, the Presbyterial ; fourth, the Congrega-
tional.
We take, of course, the last of these four
theories of the Christian Church, distin-
guished by the two facts that it is oldest in
principle and latest in development. Church
historians conceive that the primitive
churches were as absolutely independent one
of the other as were the "synagogues or clubs
from which they came ;" that there was at
first no organic system of fellowship between
the independent churches, and when such
fellowship arose it was without the exercise
of authority. Here is a true definition of Con-
gregationalism : "The Congregational theory
of the Christian Church is that the kingdom
of Heaven, being itself one, has but one nor-
mal manifestation or natural development,
which appears first in individual churches,
equal in origin, rights, functions and duties,
which are consequently independent one of
another in matters of control ; then in associ-
ations of churches, without authority, by
which the fraternity and unity of all Chris-
tians are expressed and the churches co-
operate in Christian labors, all being subject
to Christ alone and to His revealed will. It
shuns independency on the one hand, with
which it is sometimes confounded, and on the
other hand the exercise of authority by asso-
ciated churches. It also avoids all minis-
terial or prelatical rule." Its constitutive
principle is "the independence imder Christ
of each fully constituted Church of Christ,
or the autonomy under Christ of every local
congregation of believers duly organized."
A principle of Congregationalism is, of
course, fellowship ; but since fellowship is
common to all polities and should never be
spoken of as a principle peculiar to any one
of them, since the fundamental idea of the
Church of Christ is "the communion of
saints," the distinctive principle of Congre-
gationalism is the independence of the local
church. Growing out of this constitutive
principle, in the order of development, is
therefore :
(i) The local congregation of believers,
having power of self-government under
Christ, to manage all its internal affairs, com-
plete, autonomous, inilependent of external
control.
(2) These independent churches in the
closest relation to one another in fellowship,
a fraternity or brotherhood, with obligations
and duties that bind them into associations
of communion, assistance, co-operation.
(3) This fellowship finding ex])ression in
councils of churches to inquire and advise in
matters of common concern.
(4) That fellowship widening out into :
(a) District associations or confer-
ences.
(b) State associations or conferences.
(c) National associations.
I
CONGREGATIONAL CHURCH IN ST. LOUIS.
(d) And finally, general councils of
all national associations, or, in
other words, an ecumenical as-
ciation.
So the statement is true that, "when organ-
ized, as it some time will be, the Congrega-
tional theory of the Christian Church will
have reached ecumenical comprehension.
This development will be normal from be-
ginning to end, with no introduction of for-
eign elements, with no damage to the liberty
of local churches. Its constitutive principle
dominates fellowship in every stage of its
widening development."
This Congregational theory is simple ; it is
comprehensive; it is consistent; it is living
and revolutionary. As has well been said of
it, "It bears in its bosom popular govern-
ments, democracies in the nations, because
first in the churches. It makes all men broth-
ers, under one Father, in essential equality.
It makes the people of the Lord free — a king-
dom and priests unto God." It withholds
from any the power of "lording it" over God's
heritage. And so this theory of church gov-
ernment, by its very leveling power, has been
opposed by aristocracies and hierarchies "as
no other polity has ever been or can ever be.
Yet it still lives, to contend for mastery ;
for the life of God is in it." Indeed, "the in-
fluence of this theory of the church upon lib-
erty in the state has been immense." Indeed,
we may say with one of the keenest minds,
"It laid the foundations of this republic, and
may even claim the form of its development."
"The church," says Palfrey's History of New
England, "was the nucleus about which the
neighborhood constituting a town was gath-
ered ;" and no institution "has had more in-
fluence on the condition and character of the
people" than these little towns of New Eng-
land, which were republics in themselves.
"The germ of our state," it has been well
said, "and national institutions was this town
church, and this church was democratic and
Congregational." "To Robert Browne be-
longs the honor of first setting forth in writ-
ing the scheme of free church government"
— this "government of the people, by the peo-
ple and for the people."
Congregationalism is, therefore, a spiritual
democracy, and as we grow more and more
intelligent as a people, and more and more
virtuous as a people, such spiritual democracy
must make itself felt. "The most significant
fact of modern history," says Hatch's "Origin
of Early Christianity," "is that within the last
hundred years many millions of our own race
and our own church, without departing from
the ancient faith, have slipped from beneath
the inelastic framework of the ancient organ-
ization and formed a group of new societies
on the basis of a closer Christian brotherhood
and an almost absolute democracy." The
church, "in the first ages of its history, while
on the one hand it was a great and living
faith, so on the other hand it was a vast and
organized brotherhood. And, being a broth-
erhood, it was a democracy."
To write the history of Congregationalism,
therefore, for this or for any city, is more
than merely to give dates of formation of the
churches bearing its distinctive name, with
their numbers and membership. It is the
rather to analyze the principles and elements
from which those churches spring and which
they exemplify. It is to seek the original
eflorts and influence of the constitutive prin-
ciple of Congregationalism and then of the
system as it has developed and produced
results. If we follow the history of Congre-
gationalism in St. Louis as a development of
Christianity, under God's providence and by
His Spirit, the local history of development
during the present century is in outline this :
In 1811 Stephen Hempstead and family,
Congregationalists from New Lonrlon, Con-
necticut, followed two sons who had come a
few years earlier to Missouri, and finally
settled at Bellefontaine. Appalled by the re-
ligious destitution, and missing church privi-
leges and wishing for them, he wrote to Dr.
Channing, of Boston, doubtless with the idea
that that was a source of wealth and benevo-
lence, appealing for a minister, and saying
that he thought a thousand families at least
had already come into Missouri with religio'is
preferences. The division between the evan-
gelical Congregationalists and the I'nitarians
had not then openly developed, and was not
publicly acknowledged till some years later,
when Dr. Channing led ofif in the separation.
No answer seems to have come to Mr.
Hempstead's request to Dr. Channing. Had
a favorable response come it is impossible to
say what would have been the efifect on those
who finally became Unitarians in Boston and
vicinity, especially if their great leader, in
person or by proxy, in heeding the call from
this then far West, had led his wealthv fol-
92
CONGREGATIONAL CHURCH IX ST. LOUIS.
lowers into a great home missionary move-
ment thitherward. But that was not destined
to be. The rupture between the two orders
had not taken place ; moreover, there were
other movements on foot. The Congrega-
tionalists had formed their Home Missionary
Society in Massachusetts in 1799, but their
efforts were chiefly directed to Maine, Ver-
mont and New York, to which emigration
from Massachusetts then chiefly flowed, as
Maine was then a part of Massachusetts,
Vermont was a new State, and Massachusetts
had obtained a large portion of land in west-
ern New York, on account of a grant in its
original character. This was one fact. There
was also another, and that was a controversy
between the orthodox and evangelical move-
ment of Congregationalism, especially toward
foreign missions, and Unitarianism, and this
was absorbing attention.
Then, too, the Connecticut Home Mission-
ary Society, organized in 1798, had its atten-
tion specially called to its own people settling
in northeastern Ohio on the lands reserved to
that State when it surrendered to the United
States Government its chartered claims to the
lands running west in its own latitude, and
for that reason called "The Western Re-
serve," and sent missionaries early to them
and further west to the then Territory of
Michigan and other parts of the Northwest
Territory, now numerous and great, populous
States of the interior of our country.
But what called direct attention to St.
Louis was the following: The Rev. Samuel
J. Mills, failing to be sent as a foreign mis-
sionary, received commission from that so-
ciety — the Connecticut Home Missionary
Society — to explore W'est and South, and in
1812 came down the Ohio, crossed southern
Illinois, but was warned that it was not quite
safe to come as a Protestant missionary to
St. Louis, and so went south to ^lemphis and
New Orleans and formed the first Presbyte-
rian Church in those cities. His report
kindled great interest in Connecticut and
Massachusetts regarding this portion of our
country. Mr. Mills also was so interested he
came again in 1814, and this time visited St.
Louis, preaching in Mr. Hempstead's house,
distributed Bibles and raised $300 for 'Bible
work. This was one of the causes underlying
the origin of the .\merican Bible Society, in
1816, as a national society. Some have
thought this prenching by Mr. Mills the first
Protestant preaching in St. Louis, but this
can hardly be true, for there is evidence that
a Baptist minister had preached once before
and Methodist circuit riders years before,
although they did it in defiance of the local
laws of the Spanish and French authorities in
that town, forbidding any but Catholic
settlers to come. These preachers, disregard-
ing those local laws against Protestant
preaching, crossed after dark from Illinois,
held services in the night and returned be-
fore morning. There is also this to be said,
this preaching was not perhaps within the
bounds of the present city of St. Louis, but
at other places in the State ; for the first
Methodist Church in the city was not formed
till 1820. A few others in the State were
formed earlier. ^Ir. Mills' work, as we have
seen, was only transient and preparatory; he
gave himself up subsequently to the foreign
missionary work. But the first permanent
effort in church organization was made by
Rev. Salmon Giddings, from Hartford, Con-
necticut. Mr. Giddings was graduated from
Williams College, 181 1; Andover Theologi-
cal, 1814; ordained under commission by the
Connecticut Home Missionary Society in the
Congregational Church, Hartford, December,
1815; journeyed on horseback and reached
St. Louis April 6, 1816, where he found no
Protestant Church and could not succeed in
organizing one till November 15, 1817, when
nine members united in forming the First
Presbyterian Church of St. Louis; five of
these were Congregationalists — Mr. Hemp-
stead and family and connections. This or-
ganization was named Presbyterian doubtless
because it was thought such a form of church
government better fitted to gather in those
who came from the Southern States and from
Pennsylvania, where that denomination pre-
vailed. Thus the Congregational and Pres-
byterian Churches began the work in St.
Louis and were united in the home work.
Those great bodies of Christian workers were
united for years in the foreign work— down,
in fact, to 1870. Indeed, the A. B. C. F. Al.,
to-day the largest organization in the Con-
gregational Church, has still a prominent
Presbyterian for its vice president. We refer
to D. Willis James, of New York; and his
father-in-law, W. E. Dodge, occupied before
him the same position. So closely related
have the two great bodies East and \\'est
been, and so close they still are, that many
CONGREGATIONAL CHURCH IN ST. LOUIS.
Presbyterian members and churches still con-
tribute to the A. B. C. F. M. In his work
Rev. Mr. Giddings also organized nine
churches in Missouri and eight in Illinois — all
Presbyterian — and led several ministers to
come from New England as home mission-
aries, and he and they were all the time
supported by the Connecticut and A'lassachu-
setts Home Missionary Societies, till the
formation of the American Home Missionary
Society, in 1826, when that society assumed
their support and the State societies became
auxiliary to it. That grand society did an
immense work in all this portion of our coun-
try, but to recount it, or even to follow up
all its work in St. Louis and vicinity, would
be beyond the province of this review. We
may truly say that, as the Missouri and Mis-
sissippi mingle their waters in one river, so
the waters of the stream of Congregational-
ism and Presbyterianism were mingled in the
great river of salvation, which has continued
to flow in St. Louis for more than three quar-
ters of a century. But we can notice only a
few of the many facts of this earlier history.
For example, Rev. Artemas Bullard, the
most prominent pastor of the First Presby-
terian Church from 1838 to 1855 — called "the
second founder in the seventy-fifth anniver-
sary" — was a Congregationalist from Wor-
cester County, Massachusetts, and went back
to that State and collected large sums from
the Congregationalists for a Presbyterian
College at Webster and for other church pur-
poses, as also did others. In 1845 he led ten
ministers from New England Congregational
Churches, live of them from Andover Sem-
inary, to come to Missouri and aid in building
up Presbyterian Churches. Several pastors
of various Presbyterian Churches in St. Louis
owed their education and early religious
training and their membership to Congrega-
tional Churches. Congregationalism and
Presbyterianism, therefore, were combined
in the early preaching of the gospel and the
formation of Protestant Churches — -and Con-
gregationalism could do it, or thought it
could do it, for it was behind and builded
church and State and college in New Eng-
land. It had its Harvard, its Yale, its Dart-
mouth, and subsequently its Amherst .and its
Williams to train its men.
But why was no Congregational Church
formed in St. Louis during all its early years
of growth from about 2,000 inhabitants, when
Mr. Giddings came, to nearly or quite 100,000
in 1852? Almost all other denominations
had churches, and the Presbyterians had
formed some seven of various kinds before
any efficient attempt was made to gather a
regular Congregational organization. Va-
rious causes combined in this delay in the
progress of Congregationalism in St. Louis,
some general and some local. In the first
place, as we have already said, the Congre-
gationalists had largely pre-empted New
England with their heritage of strong
churches and colleges, and the questions that
were pressing the body in the East either be-
came too absorbing or the denomination did
not consider enough the beauty and fitness of
its own democratic form of government for
new and growing States, and indeed many
Congregationalists thought a more central-
ized form of church government was better
adapted for the new country, and did not at
the time realize what afterward became so
plain until they had given away hundreds and
thousands of organizations. There is a sec-
ond reason in the fact that, while Congrega-
tionalism has never been anything other than
a vigorous system, it has always been over-
generous ; or, in other words, more eager to
propagate and support what Dr. Ross has so
aptly called the church kingdom rather than
a denomination. A spirit of liberality has
always pervaded the Congregational Church.
It has contributed a very large share "to
found institutions of learning East and West,
and to carry on missionary work at home and
abroad." This is to its credit rather than
otherwise. So that whatever loss it may have
sustained has not been due to the lack of
vitality, but to the disregard of so-called de-
nomination and the appropriation of its fruits
by others.
There is another reason for the delay in
the progress of the denomination in the plan
of union between the Congregationalists of
Connecticut and the Presbyterians, adopted
in 1801, by which they agreed not to form
rival churches where one would answer all
the needs of smaller communities, intended
for good. This actually operated to the pre-
vention of the free progress of our churches
all through portions of the country. The
difference between the two has been well thus
put : To Congregationalists evangelism was
everything, the propagation of a polity noth-
ing. With Presbyterians the former was to
94
CONGREGATIONAL CHURCH IN ST. LOUIS.
be done, but the latter was not to be left un-
done. Each preferred his own system. The
Presbyterian took care of his ; the Congrega-
tionalist left his to take care of itself. Hence,
under the plan of union, it became the chief
privilege of Congregational missionaries to
build up Presbyterianism in the West. Where
Congregationalism was thoroughly estab-
lished and united and working definitely it
grew stronger and stronger, as in New Eng-
land ; but in newer portions of the country,
first in the middle States and then throughout
the West and Southwest, where Congrega-
tionalism was in a formative and dependent
state, Presbyterianism, with its more concen-
trated government, easily gained the suprem-
acy and held it firmly. As has well been said,
however, "If Presbyterianism has secured
any part of our birthright it is because we
have surrendered it ; the fault was not that
they loved their polity too well, but that we
did not love ours enough." Thus it came
about in regard to the work carried on by the
American Home Missionary Society that,
though "most of the means and the men for
this work were furnished by Congregational-
ism, every church organized by the mission-
aries for an average of some twenty years
was Presbyterian." It was magnificent gen-
erosity, but was not good denominationalism.
There was also a tendency among the early
Congregationalists of Connecticut toward
more authority over individual churches than
in Massachusetts and other New England
States. The consociation, which was a "mid-
dle way between Presbyterianism and Con-
gregationalism," as compared with the asso-
ciation and conference was more potent in
Connecticut during periods of early history
than in other parts of New England. This
Presbyterianized form of Congregationalism
had for a time its influence in the Connecticut
Home Missionary Society, which was more
or less a center of power, as we have already
seen, for the propagation of the gospel in the
West and Southwest. Then Presbyterians
were a more compact body. Ministers, also,
often thought their position more secure,
authoritative and permanent under the
Presbyterian system than in popular Con-
gregationalism.
The American Home Missionary Society.
too, was originally formed by union of the
denominations with a view to prevent rival-
ries in forming churches in newly settled
places ; but in 1837-8 the division in the Pres-
byterian Church occurred, and the old school
repudiated the plan of union and formed its
own lioards of mission, leaving the new
school to appeal to the Congregationalists to
continue to support them and their churches
as they were most in accord with the preva-
lent New England theology. Some trials, as
of Lyman Beecher and Albert Barnes, inten-
sified this appeal for co-operation, and Lane
Theological Seminary and several colleges
became new-school Presbyterian, yet were
largely supported by Congregationalists on
this ground, while they ought to have been or
distinctly to have remained Congrega-
tional. Union Seminary, New York, later
was supposed to be formed on that kind of
union and drew its professors from New Eng-
land, but required them to pledge themselves
to support the Presbyterian Church, and stu-
dents followed them without noticing or
knowing that pledge.
In St. Louis, Congregationalists com-
ing from New England were thus drawn into
the new-school churches, as agreeing with
the doctrines they had heard preached in New
England, and the conservative High-Calvin-
ists were induced to attend and support the
old-school church for its orthodoxy, and thus
both classes found homes in the Presby-
terian Church instead of earlier forming Con-
gregational. It was much easier, also, and
more attractive in coming to a city as stran-
gers to go into a church well organized and
ministered to, with fine building and all con-
veniences, than to organize a new church
even of their own choice. Business alliances
and dependencies also added to these induce-
ments. Then, too, the first church in St.
Louis claiming the Congregational name and
Congregational polity was Unitarian in doc-
trine. It was formed in 1835. built a fine edi-
fice, had an attractive and highly educated
pastor, drew to itself Eastern people who de-
sired intellectual and refining attractions
such as they had been accustomed to, though
the doctrines were not quite what they had
heard in the true Congregational Churches
of New England ; and this produced popular
prejudice against the name Congregational-
ists on. the part of those who did not know
the distinction between the evangelical Con-
gregationalists and the LTnitarians. This
prejudice was fostered by some even who
oueht to have known better, and vet who
CONGREGATIONAL CHURCH IN ST. LOUIS.
95
charged in public that the Congregationalists
were not only not evangelical, but were even
erratic and fanatical, when as a matter of fact
the Congregational preachers and church
members from the Congregational Church
East were forming the bone and sinew of the
earliest Protestant Christian life of St. Louis.
This also pertained quite extensively to the
whole West.
But for the reasons assigned, and perhaps
others not spoken of, it came to be a fact that
Congregationalism was slow in forming
churches in the West generally; especially
was this true in Missouri and the Southwest ;
for, let us note, there were in Illinois nearly
100 churches, in Iowa over fifty, in Wisconsin
fifty, in Minnesota five ministering mission-
aries with a few churches, in Oregon two
missionaries and a few churches, in newly ad-
mitted California five, before any were started
in St. Louis. No doubt also the institution
of slavery and the popular sentiments con-
nected with it held the State and the city
against any church distinctively anti-slavery,
especially against a denomination largely
Northern and "Yankee." The murder of
Lovejoy, son of a Congregational minister,
in Alton, after he and his printing press and
paper had been suppressed in St. Louis ; the
driving out of Missouri of Rev. David Nelson,
who wrote "The Shining Shore," suggested
in the hour of danger by the lights across the
Mississippi River ; the driving away at night
of the first pastor at Kidder, and other his-
torical incidents, are illustrations of this feel-
ing, and were warnings against certain move-
ments in favor of more freedom and a church
that preached equal rights and privileges for
all men before the law. This troubled the
Home Missionary Society severely and made
a divided sentiment among its supporters, and
led eveiUually to its withdrawing aid from
churches where members held slaves, and
finally was the occasion of alienation of some
from the society. Congregationalists had al-
ways found difficulty in the South from this
cause ever since its first ministers were driven
out of Virginia, and its few churches in the
other Southern States were isolated. It was
for these reasons a matter of latitude and lon-
gitude that our churches were late in starting
in St. Louis.
But how came Congregationalism to start
at all there? The reason was this: LTnder
the providence of God the time came at last
for the assertion of religious freedom. Like
many other steps of progress in the develop-
ment of the history of the world, or "in the
evolution of society," this was part of a great
movement, and God had His agents for the
work. The plan of union between Congre-
gationalists and Presbyterians had become
irksome to many Presbyterians, for it infused
into their churches more ideas of religious
freedom and popular choice than their system
was fitted for. Moreover, the Presbyterian
Church had become divided, not only on the
plan of union, but also on some doctrinal
points ; and so the Congregationalists, who
had yielded up in the union some two thou-
sand churches in various parts of our country,
began to awaken anew to the scriptural and
historical strength of their position. Their
growing power in New England encouraged
them to trust elsewhere the solid, simple, sta-
ble scriptural polity of their church, both as
an evangelizing and organizing agency, and
the renaissance of Congregationalism had
begun. A new era had begun for the denomi-
nation in New York, in New Jersey, in Penn-
sylvania, and under pioneers like Rev. Mr.
Pierce in Alichigan and in Ohio, where espe-
cially the introduction of the "State Confer-
ence" introduced an era of unity and progress.
The Presbyterian Church itself, by its with-
drawal from Congregationalism, sometimes
on theological and sometimes on political
grounds, also tended to promote Congrega-
tional independency. For example, "the ex-
cision of forty-two members of the First
Presbyterian Church of Chicago in 185 1 be-
cause of their attitude toward a pro-slavery
General Assembly led to the formation of the
First Congregational Church of that city and
to the recreation of the denomination
throughout the State." In Wisconsin, also,
the Presbyterian and Congregational Con-
vention organized in 1840 a "plan of union
with modern improvements." This was
operated in good faith for a while and with
harmony ; but the Presbyterian Church with-
drew and left the convention to the Congre-
gationalists, who, with their 200 churches and
their Beloit College, "one of the best col-
legiate institutions in the West," founded in
1847, and Ripon College, founded in 1863, to-
gether with other institutions and organiza-
tions, are now making good proof of the
power of their polity.
We note. too. this fact: In 1846 a con-
96
CONGREGATIONAL CHURCH IN ST. LOUIS.
vention met in Michigan City, Indiana, and
called upon the Congregationalists of the
whole land to declare their rights, stand by
the principles and adhere to the doctrines and
polity of the New England fathers. This
gave confidence to churches in the West and
in the East and brought Congregationalists
to see the value of their system and the im-
portance of sustaining it. This new move-
ment in Congregationalism removed local
prejudices, promoted enlargement, prepared
the way for the convention in Albany in 1852,
for the Congregational Union, which became
the Church Building Society, and finally for
the National Councils at Boston in 1865,
Oberlin 1871, and which now meet trien-
nially.
Congregational history west of the Missis-
sippi belongs chiefly to what has been called
"the period of renaissance." Home mission-
ary labor began in Iowa in 1835 ; the Ameri-
can Board entered Minnesota in 1835 as a
missionary field, but the American Home
Missionary Society began work there in 1834.
When the great struggle was impending
between the pro-slavery and anti-slavery par-
ties, in 1854, Kansas was entered by Congre-
gationalism; but, strange to say, it had
pushed its way through to the Pacific Coast
as early as 1849. Oregon for men like Mar-
cus Whitman was a foreign missionary field.
before it was a home missionary field. The
heroic achievements and massacre of Dr.
Whitman are known everywhere. The great
West beyond the Mississippi Valley and be-
yond the Rocky Mountains — the great new
West — felt the power of the Congregational
Church in this new majesty of movement.
The State of Missouri, and especially St.
Louis, could not entirely shut out this for-
ward movement for greater religious freedom
any more than it could bar out immigration
from the Northeast. A church had been
formed at Arcadia, but had ceased to exist by
removal of its members. Into St. Louis the
movement came thus : The Third Presby-
terian Church had Rev. Henry M. Field as
pastor, and had received from him ideas of
freedom and the free air which he and many
of them had breathed in the East, at the home
of his father, as minister at Stockbridge, Mas-
sachusetts ; at Williams College and Yale
Seminary. When he returned to New York
and to a Congregational pastorate in Mas-
sachusetts they called Professor T. M. Post
from Jacksonville, Illinois, as pastor. He
declined at first, but finally yielded to
the solicitations of Dr. Reuben Knox,
who went to Jacksonville to induce him
to come. Others joined their requests
with Dr. Knox, and Professor Post con-
sented to come for four years if he could
be assured of the privilege of free expression
of his opinion on slavery and other subjects.
It was represented to him that he would
soften sectarian animosities. Dr. Post came
to St. Louis ; he was wise and judicious and
his people loved him ; but when his four years
expired he returned to his loved Jacksonville.
It is evident that Dr. Post's ministry changed
the sentiment of that Third Presbyterian
Church, and the greater portion of that
church were not satisfied to remain longer
under the bond in which they had been held.
More than two-thirds majority voted to form
a Congregational Church, bought out the
other pew-holders and called Professor Post
to their pastorate. Their church building
was on Sixth Street, near Franklin, then a
desirable location for families. They com-
pleted arrangements in 185 1. Several gentle-
men of public spirit invited Dr. Post to
explain to them the system of Congregation-
alism, which he did in a lecture, January ir,
1852, defending it from Scripture, reason and
history, and raising the question, "Do not her
character and history and the number of her
sons here demand that she should have at
least one church here in the heart of this
great American domain, of which she has
been so primordial and mighty an architect?"
As a result of all these influences the First
Congregational Church of St. Louis was or-
ganized March 14, 1852, with twenty-five
members. Here, then, the
First Church. root, long and deeply
growing, reached the sur-
face as a visible shoot to grow into a wide-
spreading tree, and henceforth we have
definite data to guide us. At its origin this
church had a Sunday school of twenty-four
teachers, 130 pupils. It first appeared in the
Year Book of 1856 with the Illinois Associa-
tion as having 132 members. Prominent and
powerful men in larger proportion than usual
were early connected with the church and
society, yet they had a hard struggle for
years. Their location was rendered unfavor-
able by growth of business and other causes.
With view to new location, $20,000 had been
CONGREGATIOlSiAL CHURCH IN ST. LOUIS.
97
subscribed at starting, and in a compara-
tively few years they had purchased land on
Locust and Tenth Streets for $13,000, built
a chapel, and afterward a church costing
$55,000, which was dedicated March 4, i860.
To see how these men struggled, note the
fact that they had on their house of worship
a heavy debt, on which they made at different
times payments of greater or less sums, and
finally in 1863 they discharged the whole debt
by the payment of $40,000, $10,000 of which
had been raised at one meeting.
During these years of the life of the First
Church, the State and city were overshadowed
by slavery. The excitement on the subject
was intense ; political animosities were fierce,
ending in the great war which involved the
whole country from 1861 to 1865 ; but the
struggle was early concentrated in St. Louis,
and these men of the First Church were in
the midst of it. The name they chose, to pre-
vent any confusion with the First Unitarian,
was "The First Trinitarian Congregational
Church." Its affinities were with the evan-
geHcal churches of all names, and its pastor
ever maintained friendly relations with all
churches and people, but for over fourteen
years it stood ecclesiastically alone in the city,
and most of that time alone in the State. For
associational connection it belonged to the
Southern Illinois Association, which met four
times with it, till in 1865 eighteen churches
had been gathered in Missouri, sufficient to
form an association of their own. These or-
ganizations were chiefly in the northern por-
tion of .Missouri; nevertheless, in April, 1866,
the pastor joined this association of Congre-
gational Churches in his own State and
severed his connection with the Southern Illi-
nois Association, to their mutual regret. The
pastor and church were interested in the
progress of the denomination. In its first
year of existence they sent $100 to the Al-
bany Convention fund for aiding feeble
churches in building houses of worship. That
convention voted $3,000 to Missouri, but
there were then no churches to require it.
Dr. Post was the vice president of the Con-
gregational Union from its origin in 1853,
attended and addressed its meeting in New
York in 1854, wrote an account of the begin-
ning of Congregationalism in Missouri for
the first Year Book in 1854, and continued to
be active in all the movements of the denomi-
nation through all the thirty years of his pas-
torate. The church was always liberal in
giving to the various causes of benevolence,
education and general good. They aided the
college started in Kidder, which was sup-
planted by Drury, to which also they have
given largely. They have also given to the
Chicago Theological Seminary, to which Dr.
Post lectured, and to many other causes.
The time came for a new location. A chapel,
originally for a Sunday school, had been built
on Delmar Boulevard, near Grand Avenue.
It had been first occupied in February, 1879.
The growth of business, however, having
driven those families that had worshiped in
the first house from the locality, the church
was eventually forced to sell that building
downtown and make a church home in the
new location, two miles west. But Dr. Post
had grown in years, and, feeling unable to
perform the extra duties involved in the
charge, he resigned, but by his people, who
loved him, was chosen pastor emeritus. This
relation continued till his death, the last day
of 1886. Rev. James E. Merrill came as pas-
tor in 1882, had part in the building and dedi-
cation, in 1885, of the stately stone building
in which they now worship, costing $103,000.
Called to Portland, Maine, Mr. Merrill was
dismissed November 18, 1889. Rev. J. H.
George, D. D., was pastor from 1891 until a
council released him, July 26, 1897, to the
regret of all, to accept an invitation to the
Congregational College in Montreal, Canada.
In forty-five years the church had had but
three pastors, and all of them able men.
Thus far we have followed the single trunk,
the only church for fourteen years of our
faith and polity in St. Louis ; but in 1866 two
vigorous branches grew out of that trunk. It
was necessary that the parent trunk attain
considerable strength, else the branches
would have been too slender, or would have
enfeebled the parent. We now come to
those flourishing branches. In following the
first enterprise in church extension we find
that a thriving community had sprung up at
Webster Groves desiring a church convenient
and congenial in their own place. A sister
denomination was asked to start a church,
but declined lest it should weaken another
of their order some distance away. Then the
Congregationalists met the need, organized a
church January 31, 1866, consisting of ten
from the First Church, some of their best,
and afterward others from other denomina-
CONGREGATIONAL CHURCH IN ST. LOUIS.
tions. This little band erected a substantial
building of stone in 1870, since enlarged with
more rooms. This has been a noble, active,
generous body of Christian workers. Its pul-
pit has been filled by Revs. H. M. Grant,
1866; J. Cruikshank, 1871 ; R. M. Sargent,
1875, some months ; R. Kerr, L. S. Hand,
1881 ; E. B. Burrows, 1883 ; J. W. Sutherland,
D. D., 1889; C. L. Kloss, 1898.
The second epoch in church extension
came on this wise : The First Church had
maintained a Sunday school since 1853, the
year after its own formation, in what was
then the western portion of the city. The
school was started by Rev. F. A. Armstrong
in a house on Garrison Avenue and Morgan
Street. It was supported about fourteen
years by Mr. S. M. Edgell, who had erected a
building for its use on Morgan Street, near
Garrison Avenue. In the summer of 1866
its was proposed to organize a church as the
natural development of the Sunday school.
This part of the city had become the central
residence part, and was fast filling with fam-
ilies most congenial to Congregationalism.
They were largely from the Eastern States,
most wealthy and cultured, many of them re-
ligious, and ready to take up the responsi-
bilities and duties and privileges of church
life. Land was presented by Messrs. S. M.
Edgell and James E. Kaime, on the corner of
Washington and Ewing Avenues, a chapel
was erected, and the church was organized
at the house of Mr. Wm. Colcord, December
5, 1866, recognized by council December 22d
and 23d, and the building dedicated to the
worship of God. The church took its name.
Pilgrim, from the Sunday school and in
memory of the Pilgrim Fathers, on the anni-
versary of whose landing
Pilgrim Church. at Plymouth the church
was recognized by coun-
cil and the house of worship dedicated. For-
ty-five members organized, thirty-six of
whom came by letter from the First. Others
were rapidly added till Pilgrim became the
largest Congregational Church in this part
of our country. It had a most favorable
location in a rapidly growing community,
easily accessible from all directions : its mem-
bers were able in every department, liberal
and consecrated workers. The organization,
especially when established under the minis-
try of Dr. Goodell, was full of enthusiasm
and hope ; the kings of business brought their
gold and silver into it, and it concentrated
in itself a great power for benevolence in the
city and State and whole Southwest. Pil-
grim's days were also marked by the laying
of the corner stone for the main edifice,
December 21, 1867, and the building was ded-
icated December 22, 1872; the brick chapel
was rebuilt with a stone front and an added
story in 1873; the spire was finished in 1876,
and the chime of bells, the gift of Dr. R. W.
Oliphant, of the First Church, were put in the
belfry in December, and the clock in the
tower was the gift of Mrs. E. F. Goodell in
honor of her father. Governor E. Fairbanks,
of Vermont. Other improvements were
added and debts were paid up at various
dates, making the cost of the building $156,-
973. The pastors have been. Rev. John
Monteith, Jr., November i, 1866, to March
15, 1869; Rev. W. Carlos Martin, June 24,
1869, to September i, 1871 ; Rev. H. C. Hay-
den, for some months ; Rev. C. L. Goodell,
D. D., November 27, 1872, installed June 5,
1873, died February i, 1886; Rev. H. A.
Stimson, D. D., September 23, 1886, installed
October 28, 1886, dismissed March 20, 1893;
Rev. M. Burnham, D. D., June 4, 1894. The
grand work of this great church goes on.
Since its organization in 1866, to the annual
report at the beginning of 1898, it has re-
ceived into its membership by letter 1,132,
and on profession of faith 1,134; it has raised
for church building and its own current ex-
penses nearly a half million dollars, and for
benevolences a half million or more. It
included at its last annual report nearly one-
fourth of the entire Congregational mem-
bership in the city — 850 out of some 3,600 —
and it continues in its work ; and, though a
change in the center of the residence district
has occurred, and other churches have grown
up, the population within its reach, in the lo-
cality and by the increasing electric car lines,
is greater than ever before.
But Pilgrim Church remained not long
alone, for in 1869 two branches grew out to
the northwest.
December 22, 1867, the young people of
Pilgrim Church started a
Third Church. mission Sabbath school on
Grand Avenue and Lucky
Street. The next year a chapel was built on
Boston Street, near Grand, dedicated June
13, 1869. March 15, 1S69, the Mayflower
Church, of eighty-one members, was organ-
CONGREGATIONAL CHURCH IN ST. LOUIS.
ized, with Rev. John IMonteith, Jr., as pastor,
followed by Revs. E. P. Powell, 1871 ; W. S.
Peterson, 1874, under whom the church re-
ported itself "independent," i. e., not belong-
ing to the association. Rev. Wm. Twining,
a member of the church, supplied for some
months. Rev. Theodore Clifton came in 1875 ;
Wm. C. Stiles, 1884; George H. Grannis,
1886, and W. W. Willard, 1893. Having
moved their building for better location to
Francis Street, in 1877, December 19th they
rededicated it and adopted the Fair Ground
mission. Finding their location not attrac-
tive, in 1882 they purchased for $12,000 a
very fine corner at Grand and Page Avenues,
with a house for a parsonage on one side ;
they moved again, and afterward erected a
brick chapel on Grand Avenue, and for a
time increased and prospered greatly. Their
membership reached 242, and Sunday school
578, families 165, benevolences $479. But
the population of the vicinity changed, many
of their own families removed to a distance, a
debt encumbered their fine property, and in
the summer of 1895 they sold their property
to a German Church from downtown for
$35,000, which enabled them to pay their in-
debtedness and carry about $22,000 to a
union enterprise with Aubert Place Church.
They reported a membership then of 185 ;
families, 125; Sunday school, 220; benev-
olences, $456. They had maintained through
varied changes a church life for over twenty-
six years ; had received many members, and
seen numerous conversions and confessions
of faith in Christ. Rev. Harry C. Vrooman is
the present pastor of the new union organiza-
tion, which has adopted the name of "The
Fountain Park Church."
Again a mission Sunday school was started
in what was called Elle-
Plymouth Church, ardville, then an outlying
northwestern suburb of
St. Louis, and Rev. W. Porteus, city mission-
ary, sought help for it. Mr. Wm. Colcord, of
Pilgrim, took hold of the enterprise in 1868,
devoting to it about six years in time and
$3,000, it was estimated, in money. Land was
given and a building erected on Belle Glade
Avenue, many contributing for this. Pilgrim
Church giving $950 ; the Congregational Un-
ion, $1,770, at two different times; and a
church of eleven members, with seventy-five
in the Sunday school, was organized July 31,
1869, over which Rev. W. H. Warren was
pastor. He was followed by Revs. W. Per-
kins, 1873; W. B. Millard, 1874; John E.
Wheeler, 1875; James H. Harwood, 1877;
James A. Adams, 1880; Charles R. Hyde,
1886; Allen Hastings, 1891, and J. Scott Carr,
1895. The church has kept on, having its
varied struggles and victories, sometimes sus-
taining Sunday schools in its vicinity and mis-
sion services at other points besides its reg-
ular work in its own home. The population
around it grew rapidly for some time, a popu-
lation chiefly of Americans ; then other
nationalities came into the locality. The
membership of the church rose to 205 ; the
Sunday school nominally to 540, which prob-
abl}' included mission work; the benevolences
to $256. Several other churches of different
denominations have been formed near it, yet
the church maintains its position. In 1889 it
had paid back to the Church Building So-
ciety $56 of the $1,770 it had received from
them. This church has a field of some prom-
ise immediately about it and increasing op-
portunities to the north.
After these two churches were started, in
1869, there was a delay before beginning any
more, and during that delay the churches al-
ready planted were growing in their own
lines of work and membership. Not until
1875 have we record of a new work. What
was called The Southern Mission Church was
reported that year in the Year Book (Congre-
gational), with eighty-five members and a
very large Sunday school; but no pastor's
name was given; no further account of the
church is found. Whether the enterprise was
merged in some other enterprise is not re-
corded.
The Swedish Church was adopted in 1879,
not reported in the Year
Swedish Church. Book till 1886, when it had
forty members ; Rev. Gus-
tavus Holmquist, pastor, beginning in 1885;
Solomon Arnquist, 1891 ; Andrew G. John-
son, 1894; followed by N. J. Lind, ordained
pastor November 4, 1897, by a council. Hav-
ing paid rent for a hall on Locust and
Eleventh Streets, in 1892 its liberal members,
led by Mr. Johansen, purchased land on
Hickory and Armstrong Streets, and by the
aid of the City Missionary Society its good
brick edifice, with church rooms above and
two dwellings below, was erected, dedicated
100
CONGREGATIONAI. CHURCH IN ST. LOUIS.
December 20, 1894. This church among the
people of Gustavus Adolphus deserves the
sympathy of all.
In 1881 we find the next outbranching of
our tree, and then on both sides, north and
south.
In 1880 an appeal for help came to Pilgrim
Church at its prayer meet-
Compton Hill Church, ing from some who had
been trying in vain to
make a Sunday school and Presbyterian
Church live on High, or Twenty-third and
Clark Streets; and earnest and liberal mem-
bers took hold of the enterprise as a Sabbath
school. At the solicitation of Rev. Dr. Good-
ell, Rev. George C. Adams, of Alton, Illinois,
came as pastor, and in July, 1881, a church
was organized with thirty-seven members,
as the "Fifth Congregational," and Rev. Mr.
Adams was installed October nth of that
year. The property was purchased and sal-
ary guaranteed by pastor and members of
Pilgrim Church, and the Fifth Congrega-
tional Church soon came to self-support, and
soon began talking about removal to a better
locality, for by 1887 a change had come over
the vicinity by progress of business, and a
more promising field opened south of the rail-
roads, not well supplied with churches and
rapidly growing with families, giving pros-
pect eventually of a much stronger church in
that vicinity. Therefore, under lead of their
pastor, they sold their property and bought a
lot, and by help of Pilgrim Church built a
chapel at the corner of Lafayette and Comp-
ton Avenues, and took the name of Compton
Hill Congregational Church, retaining the
date of their organization in 1881. Their
beautiful and convenient edifice was com-
pleted in 1894, and their increasing congrega-
tions, Sunday school and varied societies have
responded to the attractive privileges. Rev.
Dr. Adams, after fifteen years of remarkably
strong and successful work, yielded to an
urgent call from the First Congregational
Church in San Francisco, and was dismissed
October 22, 1896, to go to his new charge.
He had greatly endeared himself to his peo-
ple, to the denomination and to the city. Rev.
Dan'l M. Fisk, D. D., was called from the
First Church, Toledo, Ohio, and was wel-
comed with enthusiasm early in 1897. Some
conveniences were added to their house of
worship for the meeting with them that year
of the General Association of Missouri, and
the work began auspiciously with a new
pastor. Compton Hill Congregational
Church occupies a good position, and
is at the center of a large and growing
population.
Also in 1881 another enterprise was begun.
A chapel built by the
Hyde Park Church. Presbyterians for a work
that had been given up
was purchased, moved, finished and dedicated
July loth, and a church was organized July
25th of that year with twenty-one members,
taking its name from the adjoining park as
the "Hyde Park Congregational Church."'
Rev. A. K. Wray was first pastor, 1882; he
was followed by Robt. M. Higgins, 1887;
Wm. M. Jones, Ph. D., 1891, who still re-
mains. The first church edifice was built of
wood; it was sold in 1894, and a fine brick
building, commenced immediately, was in
process of building when financial difficulties
prevented its completion. With noble faith
and liberal efforts, the Hyde Park people per-
severed in finishing the commodious first
story. They have received an appropriation
from the Congregational Church Building
Society sufficient to remove embarrassments
and give into their possession a fine building
in an important district ; and, although the
building is not yet complete, its future is
secured. Their Sabbath school is one of the
largest in the city. It has 450 members, and
averages 290 in attendance.
Again, a Sunday school had been started
in a neighborhood where
Memorial Church, little religious interest was
found, in Cheltenham,
then a suburb, by Mr. Hobart Brinsmade and
Mr. A. W. Benedict, and this led to a church
of twenty-six members, organized August 20,
1882, which, after the death of Dr. Goodell,
was named "Memorial Church," in honor of
his memory. Its pastors have been. Revs.
Charles W. Drake, 1882 ; Horace B. Knight,
1884; Francis C. Woodward, 1886; Elias F.
Swab, 1888; Henry Tudor, 1890; Edward
Fells, 1891 ; Christopher H. Bente, 1892 to
1896, a longer pastorate than any preceding.
He was followed in 1897 by Frank Foster.
This is both a needy and a growing field, in-
cluding in its area a large manufacturing-
population and a residence section south of
Forest Park.
Thus in two years three churches were
added to the number already existing.
CONGREGATIONAL CHURCH IN ST. LOUIS.
101
Again, in the onward movement, a mis-
sion Sunday school with
Union Church. preaching services had
been begun, and was sus-
tained by Mr. S. B. Kellogg, at Third and
Biddle Streets, and here "Union Church" was
organized in 1883, removing several times,
till, in 1890, it found an abiding place on
Tenth Street, near Cass Avenue, in a brick
building erected by the City Missionary Soci-
ety, on a lot purchased for it. The church,
with two dwellings on the same lot, are
valued at $16,000. The pastors have been.
Revs. Edmund R. Colman, 1885; David Q.
Travis (Lie), 1886; Dana W. Bartlett, 1887;
Wm. D. Jones, 1891 ; Harry L. Forbes, 1893 ;
S. T. McKinney, 1897, with occasional
preaching by others. This is the most east-
erly and strictly downtown of our churches,
in a denseley settled section. It is earnestly
working, although amid embarrassments, and
doing strictly missionary work.
The Olive Branch Church likewise resulted
from a Sabbath school on the south side, in
a neglected neighborhood, conducted by Mr.
H. Brinsmade and others. For a time the
Sabbath school numbered several hundred
members. The church was organized in 1884.
A chapel, by liberal gifts, had been built on
Sidney Street, and it was dedicated May 26,
1885. It was dedicated with a debt, but that
debt was afterward paid and a subsequent en-
largement of the chapel made. The first pas-
tor was Rev. Edmund T. Colman, followed
by Rev. Irl R. Hicks, 1885 ; John B. John-
ston, 1888; Charles A. Wight, 1890; Edgar
H. Libby, 1893, who ministered here until
May, 1,898, working faithfully among a great
population of varied nationalities.
Thus two churches were added in two years
in the downtown districts at long distances
from each other.
The year 1885 was marked by the addition
of two other churches in the northern portion
of the city, different in language, and hence
both much needed.
The first German Congregational Church
was organized June 25, 1885. For its use a
small building was erected on Garfield and
Spring Avenues. This building was com-
pleted early in 1886, and did well for a time:
later on, and for greater needs, a fine church
was erected in 1897, and dedicated December
I2th of that year. Marcellus Herberg com-
menced work in this new organization as pas-
tor in 1885; George Horst, in 1887. Mr.
Horst died by injury from a runaway horse
in 1894, August 7th. Martin Krey, the pres-
ent pastor, was installed February 7, 1895.
For the purchase of land and the original
building $3,679 was obtained from the Con-
gregational Union ; Pilgrim Church reports
$1,050 given; probably this was reckoned in
the aid through the Union. The present
church was erected by subscriptions from
members and friends. It has a useful work
before it, and strongly appeals to us as the
only distinctive representative of our denomi-
nation among the German population in the
city, although many of the Germans, it is
true, are in our other English-speaking
churches.
Again, a Sunday school was commenced
July 7, 1870, in a wooden chapel near the fair
grounds, led by M. Trumbell, D. N. Brown
and J. A. Parker, chiefly under the care of
Pilgrim and Third Churches. In 1885 a com-
modious brick church, costing $5,347.60, was
erected on Barrett and Thompson Avenues
by liberal gifts — $3,000 of it given by Mrs.
Goodell and presented to The Church of the
Redeemer at its formation, and at the dedica-
tion of the house, October 19, 1885. Silas L.
Smith, 1885; George M. Sanborne, 1887;
George S. Ricker, 1889; Elmer E. Willey,
1890; Edward F. Wheeler, 1893, its present
devoted pastor, have followed each other in
succession. The church was aided in fur-
nishing its chapel and in other expenses in
1885, Pilgrim Church giving $833.41 ; but of
late years it has been self-supporting, a fact
largely due to the unwearied efforts and the
Christian self-denial of its pastor. It has a
large Sunday school, especially of young chil-
dren, and is doing a great educational and
missionary work in the midst of a large popu-
lation. The possibilities of the church and
school are far beyond their present enrolled
membership.
Now comes an epoch in Congregational
work and church exten-
Congregational City sion in St. Louis. Thus
Missionary Society, far the churches had been
organized by persons de-
siring to form them, or as a result of the
effort of individuals working in Sunday
schools, or by pastors and churches, espe-
cially Pilgrim Church and its pastors, aiding
and bringing forward new enterprises, a
method of procedure in which it is easy to
102
CONGREGATIONAL CHURCH IN ST. LOUIS.
see that the care of starting churches, or
erecting buildings, or supporting pastors until
self-support was reached, had rested oiT the
unorganized liberalitj' of churches and indi-
vidual givers. True, the American Home
Missionary Society had helped support the
missionary pastors and the superintendents
of that society, as, for example, in the case of
Rev. E. B. Turner, with a residence at Han-
nibal, and Revs. West, Harwood and Doe,
who resided in St. Louis, while they super-
vised the work of the whole State; and the
Congregational L^nion had aided three
churches and stood ready to help as facts of
need were presented and churches grew. But
there was need of more thorough organiza-
tion among the now twelve Congregational
Churches of the city to overlook the whole
field, to explore destitute portions of our
extending city, to determine the need for
church extension and church building, to ad-
vise with and aid feeble churches, to take
the oversight of buildings, of property, of
funds raised for the work, by an organiza-
tion and an agency nearer and more efficient
than any established in New York, or man-
aged by the New York society, could possi-
bly be. Several mission churches had already
been formed and more were in prospect from
prospering mission Sunday schools. To
meet, therefore, the growing demand felt by
all parties for a closer relation between the
increasing needs and an efficient superin-
tendency on the ground, the Congregational
City Missionary Society was incorporated
May 12, 1887. The organization of the soci-
ety was brought about largely through the
influence of Rev. Dr. Stimson, pastor of Pil-
grim Church, and it has been an efficient
agency in starting or counseling or aiding
churches ever since, and it has stimulated
and received liberal contributions from all, or
nearly all, the churches of our order, and
from many generous givers, though its means
have never equaled its wants, and some of
the most promising opportunities for church
extension in the city have been lost through
lack of funds to meet the pressing demands
of the hour.
The first work of the city society was pur-
chasing the building on Twenty-third and
Clark Streets, abandoned by the Fifth
Church when it moved to Compton Hill, and
resuming services in it as a People's Taber-
nacle, under the care of Superintendent Rev.
Wm. Johnson, who organized there a church
in 1887 with eighty-six members, all joining
by letter. He was followed by John M. P.
Metcalf, 1888; John D. Nutting, 1890, and
Rev. Mr. Johnson himself returning in 1893,
where he has labored constantly since with
success. The People's Tabernacle is sur-
rounded by a numerous population, engaged
in manufacturing, railroad work, etc. It
stands with little or no competition from
other churches, and is doing a great evan-
gelistic work. 'While the building is old, the
land upon which it stands is valuable.
We come now to the Aubert Place Church,
Aubert Place, in the central-western portion
of the city. This church was organized in
1890 with twenty-five members, thirteen
chiefly from the First Church, by letter, and
twelve on confession. The Rev. E. E. Braith-
wait was ordained pastor in November, 1890.
The first church, which they were assisted '
in building, was of wood ; this in a few years
proved inadequate, and they prepared for a
larger and more costly stone and brick
church with enthusiastic self-denial, moving
the wooden structure to another portion of
their lot. After removal the old structure
was burned in January, 1895, with furniture,
library and all its contents. This was, of
course, a blow, but services were held in a
German church until they could furnish the
spacious basement of their new building,
which they did, and moved into it in the
spring. A proposition was made to unite
with the Third Church, which union was
brought about in the autumn of that same
year, and their pastor. Rev. E. E. Braith-
wait, was dismissed September 19, 1895,
after five years of faithful labor. After union
the church took the name of "The Fountain
Park Congregational Church," and has for
its present pastor, as we have already noted
under the Third Church, Rev. Harry C.
"Vrooman.
Again, in 1890, the Old Orchard Church,
really a daughter of the Webster Groves
Church, was organized. Its pastors have
been : Revs. F. W. Burrows, 1891 ; A. I.
Bradley, 1894, and F. W. Hemenway, 1897,
who, w^ith health impaired, has just resigned.
After worshiping in a hall, it built a con-
venient church in 1898.
In 1891 two more new churches were or-
ganized, one in the northwest, and the other
the southwest, part of the city, and they
CONGREGATIONAL CHURCH IN ST. LOUIS.
103
were well named Hope and Imnianuel. A
Sunday school under varied auspices, chiefly
those of Plymouth Church, had been carried
on north of Easton Avenue, in the western
border of the growing city, and the City
Missionary Society took charge of the en-
terprise, erected a building, and April 26,
1891, organized a church of twenty-six mem-
bers, with Rev. J. P. O'Brien in charge, who
was installed by council June 25, 1891, and
regretfully dismissed also by council May 26,
1898, after seven years of fruitful labor, to
accept a call to Kansas City, Missouri, to
take the place of Rev. C. L. Kloss in the
Tabernacle Church. Hope Church has a
large Sunday school crowding its accommo-
dations, and it appeals for a new and larger
building, that it may come to full self-sup-
port. It is, indeed, a hopeful, promising field.
The organization of the Imnianuel Church
was as follows : A Sunday school had been
started in 1890, under charge of Deacon
Isaac Green, of the Third Church, in the
southwestern part of the city. Several pas-
tors visited the field, saw the need and pros-
pects, and as a result Immanuel Church,
January 27, 1891, was formed to supply the
wants of a growing community in Harlem
Place and Lindenwood and vicinity. It occu-
pied a building erected by the City Mission-
ary Society for $1,500. The church had
twenty-nine members, coming to join it from
several denominations. Rev. J. P. O'Brien
was pastor for a time, followed by Revs.
Edgar L. Morse, 1892, and Wm. N. Bessey,
1894. Though the growth of that immedi-
ate vicinity has not been as rapid as was
expected, yet the church has done, and is
doing, excellent work, and continues to in-
crease. It has a good field almost entirely
to itself and a loved pastor.
In 1890 the City Missionary Society, see-
ing that many families were moving into a
central portion of the west end, not then
supplied with churches, purchased a lot on
Delmar and Newstead Avenues, and in 1891
erected a brick chapel upon it, which was
dedicated December 6th of tliat year, and a
Sunday school was commenced the next
Sabbath, Deacon H. Brinsmade being super-
intendent. Rev. J. L. Sewall was called by
the City Missionary Society January 25, 1892,
to take charge of the work, and remained
till September 26, 1893. The church was
organized Ajtril 28. 1892, and recognized by
council June 3d of that year, with seventy-
one members, fort3'-three coming by letter
from Pilgrim Church, fifteen from other
churches and thirteen on confession of faith
in Christ. June 29, 1892, the church Ijought the
property from the City Missionary Society,
paying $8,927, assumed an encumbrance of
$5,260, paid up all which had been expended
on their field and declared self-support, be-
coming also liberal contributors to that and
other societies, their contributions being the
third in aggregate amounts given by any of
our churches, and by far the largest in av-
erage per member of any church in the city
and State. In December the church called
Rev. C. S. Sargent, D. D., of Massachusetts,
to their pastorate ; he entered on his work
in January, 1894, and was installed March
1st. Dr. Sargent has labored faithfully and
successfully in this field, but the opportu-
nity before the church has always been lim-
ited by the fact that its chapel has not been
sufficient to meet the demands of the field.
This condition of things is more than ever
emphasized at this time by the fact that
Central Church is now surrounded by other
churches, who have sold costly properties
farther east and erected new l^uildings in
the vicinity of, and surrounding. Central
Church. And yet this church has an impor-
tant strategic position for reaching desirable
families, who would not attend any other
of our churches. The numerous additions
of late have been largely of persons from
other places, many of them not formerly
Congregationalists, and who would not be
so now if this church were not where it is.
In Maplewood, just at the western limits
of the city, a Sunday school was formed
under the care of the City l\Iissionary Soci-
ety, December 27, 1891, first, in a private
house ; it then moved to an unfinished shop
in the neighborhood. Iii connection with
this school also was formed a branch at
Ellendale, near the other. The F.Uendale
enterprise failed ; the other was very suc-
cessful, so that a church of thirty-two mem-
bers, formerly of eleven dififerent denomi-
nations, was organized April 2. 1893. taking
the name of the Congregational Church of
the Covenant. This church was ministered
to by Rev. A. L. Love, superintendent of the
City Missionary Society, by whose efforts a
neat church building with many conveniences
was erected, costing in all about $6,000. It
104
CONGREGATIONAL CHURCH IN ST. LOUIS.
was dedicated March 13, 1896. Mr. Love's
work, of course, was only temporary, and
the church soon felt the need of a perma-
nent pastor, and they called Rev. T. T. Hol-
way, who was ordained pastor May 14th.
The church is in a growing section, and has
promise of substantial increase under its
faithful young pastor. It has won to itself
those who made efforts to organize another
Christian Church near them, and thus proves
itself a union church.
The year 1894 is memorable for the addi-
tion of two churches, as 1866, 1869, 1881,
1885 and 1891 had also been memorable
years.
The first of these is what is known as
Reber Place Church. Some distance from
any .church, in the southwestern section of
the city, a Sunday school, under care of P. W.
Allen and Lewis E. Snow, had been gath-
ered, and sometimes worship had been held
several years near old Manchester Road,
under the name of the Manchester Road
Mission. After a revival, in which were many
conversions, and in which George E. Thomas,
of Aubert Place, was a successful spiritual
leader, there were gathered into a church
eighty-three members, sixty-four on confes-
sion and nineteen by letter, February 25,
1894, the organization being called, from its
locality, Reber Place Church. The City Mis-
sionary Society erected a building capable
of use for a Sunday school and Sabbath
worship, but so made as to be available sub-
sequently for residences. Rev. E. L. Morse,
of Immanuel Church, had charge for a sea-
son, but as a special pastor was needed all
the time, and both churches wished services
at the same hour, a call was, therefore, ex-
tended to Rev. Firth Stringer, and he was
installed June 22, 1894. His work has pros-
pered ; he has seen a good development in
numbers in both the church and Sunday
school, and growth both in Christian work
and in spirituality. The promise of increased
financial ability is also good, and the mem-
bers of the church are now looking hopefully
toward a larger building on a more favor-
able lot.
The Bethlehem' Bohemian Mission has
been conducted since 1891 under the City
Missionary Society by Rev. E. Wrbitzky and
Miss Belcahm, visitor. The new mission
absorbed what had been called Bethany Mis-
sion, commenced in 1888 to work, and with
success, among the Bohemians. But the
Bethany Mission was in a location not the
best for that purpose. Its headquarters were
in a hall; it was supported by the City Mis-
sionary Society, who paid for the hall, a con-
siderable expense, and also for the work of
the visitor. Miss Tilson. After four and a
half years this seemed to be too expensive
a method of conducting the Bohemian work,
and the Bethany and the Bohemian Missions
were united. Alarch 20, 1894, a church of
seventeen members was formed; the chapel
of another church was hired for the Sunday
school and for worship, till, by a free lease
of land and liberal gifts, a good brick church
was erected on Allen Avenue and Thirteenth
Streets, and dedicated, free of debt, May 16,
1897. The history of the building of this
house is of the deepest interest, and the
mission has a work for both Bohemians and
Americans, especially for the young. The
Sunday school has two departments, one Bo-
hemian and the other in English.
The churches had now in forty-two years
reached just a full score, but several were
having hard struggles financially on account
of depression of business.
In 1895, as we have seen, the Third Church
sold their buildings and desirable lot on
Grand and Page Avenues for $35,000, paid
debt of $13,000 and joined with Aubert Place
Church, who had a capacious lot, good foun-
dations and basement, in which they were
worshiping, and with united resources fur-
nished an ample and convenient church for
worship and all church uses. We have noted,
too, that the union movement took the name
of "Fountain Park Church,"" and they dedi-
cated their house of worship November 29,
1896. But by this union the number of
churches was reduced to nineteen, the total
membership of the churches and Sunday-
school members diminished ; but the abil-
ity for giving and ease of support increased.
The pastors of the two churches combined
removed to other fields, and Rev. Harry C.
Vrooman was installed over the united
church. January 30, 1896. This field has a
well-nigh unlimited opportunity.
The expenditures of the City Missionary
Society had for several years exceeded its
income, and though generous offers were
made by its friends and reduction of sala-
ries was submitted to by its missionaries,
and no new work in the city was permitted,
CONGREGATIONAL CHURCH IN ST. LOUIS.
105
yet its debts became so heavy that the dis-
pensing with the services of a superintend-
ent became unavoidable. Rev. A. L. Love,
therefore, resigned his office in the autumn
of 1896, after having buih an edifice costing
$900 at Valley Park, some twenty miles west
of the city for a Sunday school at a needy
community, and organized there in 1896 a
church of six members, all by letter, with the
expectation of more to join them. Thus the
city work reached into the country by send-
ing ministerial supplies. The superintend-
ent, however, took charge of building and
finished the church for the Bohemians as his
last work before leaving the city.
This brings us to our present condition and
the summing up the growth of Congregation-
alism. In less than forty-six years — less than
a single full ministry of one reaching ripe
age — it has grown from one church of
twenty-five members, with 130 in Sunday
school, to nineteen churches, with 3.59°
(last year's report), all maintaining Sunday-
schools with 4,387 attendants ; all maintain-
ing prayer meetings, ladies' societies of
varied kinds, and various other forms of
work for the kingdom of Christ. This is
really a remarkable growth. Add to this
facts like these — the total value of church
property in 1895 was $461,000, with debts,
$59,900, leaving value above encum-
brances $401,100. Since that the Bohemian,
costing about $7,500, and the German main
church buildings have been erected, and
Fountain Park's attractive church, costing
$26,000.
Again, there was raised for home expenses
last year $80,393 ; the reported benevolences
were $23,608. Average per member for both
purposes, $26.18. The summing up is full
of encouragement and power.
As to spiritual results, we can not esti-
mate them. Such results as have come from
the preaching of the gospel of Christ are
incomparably better than gold, and the gen-
eral influences in societ}' are inestimably im-
portant, but they can not be counted or
specified. Conversions with confession of
Christ and additions to churches have been
made every year in probably every church
and under every true pastor. The years
1853, 1874 and 1880 were most marked as
revival seasons, and also 1894 and 1896, in
some of our churches ; but every year has
seen the Lord's work and manifested the
Spirit's power. Another fact we may note
also, namely this, there is no regularly or-
ganized church connected with the Congre-
gational Association in St. Louis that has
failed so far in all this history, and only the
one union above spoken of has taken place.
Several Sunday schools and mission enter-
prises, which did not reach church estate,
have failed, perhaps for that reason. Many
churches in other parts of this State, of our
own and of all other denominations, and mul-
titudes in Illinois and other States near us,
have failed from various causes, but none has
yet failed in St. Louis. This sheds light on
prospects for permanence. It would be well if
our churches should gain permanent funds, as
we hope they may in time. Our ministry has
been varied in ability, character, education,
efifectiveness, popularity, theological views
and methods of work and preaching; but
we can rejoice and be thankful for all the
good done by the more than seventy pas-
tors and acting pastors. A few have been of
long duration in the ministry, as, for ex-
ample :
Dr. Post, who was for thirty years active
pastor and nearly five emeritus.
Dr. George C. Adams, fifteen years.
Dr. Goodell, fourteen.
Theodore Clifton, nine.
Dr. J. G. Merrill, Dr. Sutherland, near
the city, and Rev. J- P- O'Brien, seven years
each.
Rev. W. M. Jones, Ph. D., is now in his
seventh year.
Rev. E. F. Wheeler is in his sixth year.
St. Louis has been a healthy climate for
ministers, and yet most of the pastorates
have been short. Only a few pastors have
died in their work. Dr. Goodell died Febru-
ary I, 1886, of apoplexy, aged fifty-six. Dr.
Post, emeritus, died December 31, 1886, of
heart disease, aged seventy-six years and six
months.
Rev. George Horst. of German Church,
August 7, 1894, was killed by falling from a
horse, at the age of thirty-two years.
Rev. Mr. Swift, preparing for organizing
Olive Branch, died as a young pastor.
Our churches are now, relatively to each
other, well located, no two crowding each
other : all have distinct fields and work ; all
well manned and with prospects of good.
Other facts of interest which may appro-
priately be mentioned in connection with this
106
CONGREGATIONAL CLUB— CONN.
sketch of Congregationalism are the follow-
ing:
"The Year Book" was first pubhshed by
the Congregational Union in 1854; the "Con-
gregational Quarterly" commenced in 1859
and published the statistics of the denomina-
tion from i860 to 1878, when the "Year
Book" was resumed as a separate issue, and
its statistics are of inestimable value and are
open to the public.
The Congregational ministers of St. Louis
and vicinity meet each Monday for mutual
helpfulness and consultation. They also have
part in the Evangelical Alliance of the vari-
ous denominations.
Fellowship of the churches is promoted
by occasional fellowship meetings ; by coun-
cils called for advice, or for ordination,
installation or dismission of ministers, when-
ever desired by any church ; by the St. Louis
Association of ministers and churches, which
meets each April and October; by the Mis-
souri State Association meeting, the last of
April each year, and by the National Con-
gregational Council meeting, once in three
years.
The Congregational Club, formed in 1887,
composed of ministers and members elected,
holds five meetings each year.
Weekly papers have been published in the
interest and for the mutual information of
the churches, as "The Life," from 1887 to
1895, and "The Messenger," for six months
in 1897 — but are now suspended.
The churches contribute regularly to six
great denominational boards and societies,
and to many other benevolent organizations
and needs as occasions call. Thus they have
part in the progress of the kingdom of Christ,
and the good of mankind in all the world,
in addition to the local work and beneficial
influence at home.
R. M. Sargent.
M. BURNHAM.
Congregational Club. — The club of
this name was organized in St. Louis,
November 29, 1886, and has for its object "to
encourage among the members of the Con-
gregational Churches and societies of St.
Louis and vicinity a more intimate acquaint-
ance ; to secure concert of action, and to
promote the general interests of Congrega-
tionalism." Rev. Henry A. Stimson, then
pastor of Pilgrim Congregational Church,
originated the idea of forming the club and
was the prime mover in effecting its organi-
zation. The regular meetings of the club are
held on the third Mondays in January, March,
October and November, and on the second
Monday in May. The regular meeting in
November is the annual meeting for the
choice of officers.
Congressional Ratio. — The number
of inhabitants entitled to one representative
in Congress. This ratio is fixed anew after
each decennial United States Census. After
the census of 1890 it was decided that the
number of members of the House of Repre-
sentatives at Washington should be 356, and
when the total population of the United
States, 62,622,250, was divided by this num-
ber the quotient, 173,901, was made the con-
gressional ratio. This entitled Missouri,
with its population of 2,679,184, to fifteen
representatives. The census of 1900 gave the
State sixteen Congressmen.
Congressional Representation.—
When Missouri was admitted as a State into
the Union it was allowed one representative
in the lower House of Congress, and it had
but one for twelve years; from 1833 to 1843
it had two; from 1843 to 1853 it had five;
from 1853 to 1863 it had seven; from 1863
to 1873 it had nine; from 1873 to 1883 it
had thirteen; from 1883 to 1893 it had four-
teen ; in 1S93 it was allowed fifteen, and after
1903 will have sixteen. (See also "Repre-
sentatives in Congress.")
Congressman. — The popular name
usually given to a member of the L^nited
-States House of Representatives.
Conn, Luther, H., a veteran of the
Civil War, and for thirty years a leader
among men of affairs in St. Louis, was born
March 14, 1842, at Burlington, Boone
County. Kentucky. His parents were Dr.
James V. and Mary E. Conn, strong and
forceful characters, who were active in
church and educational work and leading
citizens of the community in which thev
lived. His paternal grandfather was Captain
Jack Conn, of Bourbon Countv, Kentucky,
who was a participant in the War of 1812.
and who was accreditedj by manv of his con-
temporaries, with having killed the Indian
Qaha ov^JL,
/T^
107
chieftain, Tecumseh, at the battle of the
Thames, although others have claimed that
distinction for Colonel Richard M. Johnson,
afterward Vice President of the United
States. Luther H. Conn was educated in
part at Carrollton, Kentucky, in an old-time
seminary numbered then among the leading
educational institutions of the State. Later
he pursued a special course of study under
Professors Cloud and Magruder, the last
named of whom. Major Magruder, was a
graduate of West Point, and from whom he
obtained a knowledge of military tactics, of
which he soon afterward made practical use.
He was still in school when the Civil War
began, being then nineteen years of age.
Fired with sympathy for the Southern cause
and burning with military ardor, he left
school and home very soon after the struggle
began, and joined the Confederate Army as
a private soldier. He was soon promoted to
a captaincy and served in that capacity under
the brave and dashing cavalry leader. Gen-
eral John H. Morgan, participating in all the
thrilling and exciting experiences incident
to the vigorous and effective campaigns of
his renowned commander. In a hot engage-
ment near Murfreesboro, Tennessee, he was
wounded, and besides being shot through
both legs, had his clothing perforated with
bullets, escaping death by a seeming miracle.
He was captured with General Morgan's
command on the occasion of the celebrated
raid into Ohio and Indiana, and for more
than a year thereafter was held a prisoner of
war at Johnson's Island, Allegheny City,
Point Lookout, Fort McHenry and Fort
Delaware, being transferred from one prison
to another in the order named. In the fall
of 1864 he was returned to the Confederate
service through an exchange of prisoners,
and participated in the subsequent campaign
of 1864-5. On the surrender of General Lee
and the evacuation of Richmond, his com-
mand was made the special escort of Presi-
dent Davis and the Confederate officials on
their retreat into Georgia. After the final
surrender and complete overthrow of the
government at Washington, Georgia, in the
spring of 1865, he returned to his old home
in Kentucky, and addressed himself to the
duties of civil life. The question as to what
his vocation in life should be was one which
he had not determined when he left school
to don the uniform of a soldier, and it was
still unsettled when he returned to civil pur-
suits. His education and the broadening ex-
periences of his military career had fitted
him admirably for professional life, but he
preferred to turn his attention to business
pursuits, and after a few months devoted to
rest and recreation, he went to Arkansas and
engaged in cotton-planting. Not satisfied
with this occupation at the end of a year's
experience, he came to St. Louis in 1867 and
embarked in the real estate business as a
member of the firm of Flournoy & Co. The
style of this firm was later changed to Conn
& McRee, and it quickly took rank among
the leading firms of its kind in St. Louis.
For more than twenty years it had a large
and lucrative business in all the departments
incident to real estate operations, its mem-
bers being especially noted for their sagac-
ity, thorough knowledge of realty values,
honorable methods and the strict integrity
of all their dealings. In addition to his real
estate operations. Captain Conn has been
connected with many important enterprises,
semi-public in character, prominent among
them being the construction of the West
End Narrow Gauge Railway, the Jefferson
Avenue Railway, the building of the South-
ern Hotel and Merchants' Exchange. In
promoting the establishment and improve-
ment of Forest Park he was a moving spirit,
and feels justly proud of having been a par-
ticipant in the movement which gave to St.
Louis what is now and will always be one of
the most beautiful parks in the world and the
pride of the city. He is a lover of music and
art, and enthusiastic over all field sports, has
traveled extensively and spent considerable
time in Europe and the Orient. He is now
the owner of the historic "Grant Farm," the
former home of General U. S. Grant, now in
the suburbs of St. Louis. There he resides
much of his time and indulges his tastes for
fine horses and cattle, and for rural sports
and pastimes generally. The possession of
the early homestead of the great soldier is
something in which he very naturally takes
great pride, and the American people, in-
clined to make of it a shrine, like Mount Ver-
non, Monticello, or "The Hermitage," are to
be congratulated upon its having fallen into
the hands of one so appreciative of its his-
toric associations as
