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GENEALCCY COLLECTION
ALLEN COUNTY PUBLIC LIBRARY 3 1833 01716 4499
Digitized by the Internet Archive in 2010 with funding from Allen County Public Library Genealogy Center
http://www.archive.org/details/centennialhistor01instev
CENTENNIAL HISTORY OF
MISSOURI
DE LUXE SUPPLEMENT
1921 THE S. J. CLARKE PUBLISHING COMPANY CHICAGO
1143111
E C. SIMMONS
BOAH SEPTEMBER 21, 1839
QIEn APRIL 10 122.
Edward C. Simmons
DWARD C. SIMMONS had passed the eightieth milestone E when he was called from his activities to the world beyond. His career had indeed been a most active and useful one. He was numbered among those men to whom St. Louis attributes her development and her greatness. He entered the com- mercial circles of the city when a lad of sixteen years as an apprentice to the hardware trade in the store of Child, Pratt & Company on Main street, near Vine. From that time until his death his course was marked by a steady progression that ultimately gave him world lead- ership in connection with the hardware business, until he stood at the head of the largest enterprise of this character not only in America but in all the world. It has been said that opportunity never knocks at the door of one who is not ready to receive her. At every point in his career Edward C. Simmons was watchful of those chances which would permit him to take a forward step and he was never afraid to venture when the way was open. The story of his life is certainly an inspiring one.
Born in Frederick, Maryland, on the 21st of September, 1839, he was but seven years of age when brought by his parents, Zachariah T. and Louise (Helfen- stein) Simmons, to St. Louis, where he became a public school pupil, passing through consecutive grades to his entrance to the high school, then located on Sixth, between St. Charles and Locust streets. When his textbooks were put. aside he entered upon the apprenticeship previously indicated and after three years thus spent he became an employe of Wilson, Levering & Waters, a firm that had recently established business at No. 51 North Main street. In that connec- tion he made steady advancement as the result of his industry, his capability and faithfulness, and when four years later Mr. Wilson retired from the firm he was admitted to a partnership under the style of Levering, Waters & Company, becoming one of the proprietors of the business on the 1st of January, 1863. Fol- lowing the death of Mr. Levering in 1864, the business was reorganized under the firm name of Waters, Simmons & Company and so remained until Mr. Waters retired in 1870. With the accession of Isaac W. Morton to the firm at that time the style was changed to E. C. Simmons & Company and thus Edward C. Sim- mons reached the head of an enterprise which, under his guidance, was to develop into the largest establishment of the kind in the world. A contemporary writer said of him while he was still a factor in the world's work: "He was the first of the business men of St. Louis to appreciate the advantage of the liberal provisions of the Missouri laws as applied to corporations and was the pioneer in the entire United States in incorporating mercantile concerns, thus setting an example that has been most extensively followed since." He was led to this step by the purpose and desire to give his worthy employes an opportunity to invest in the
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stock of the company and thus reap the more direct reward of their labors. The name of Simmons Hardware Company has become synonymous with the hard- ware trade of the country and the growth of this mammoth concern is attri- butable in large measure to him whose name introduces this record.
It has been said that no man is truly successful who does not love his business and find joy in its control. From his boyhood Mr. Simmons was enthusiastically interested in his work and beginning with the most simple duties advanced from one department to another until he had mastered the trade to the minutest de- tail and through experience had gained a splendid equipment for the larger operations of the vast enterprise which he developed. He has not been a follower but a leader in the world of trade, being the first to introduce and utilize methods which are now generally followed. He was one of the earliest merchants to employ traveling salesmen and with the growth of the business the company today employs more traveling representatives than any other establishment in America. The selection of these men was always a matter of pride with Mr. Simmons, for it was his constant aim to secure men who would elevate the busi- ness, keeping it up to the highest possible standard, not only in the extent of trade, but in the courtesy of its representatives and in the service to the public. He encouraged his salesmen to be upright in the broadest sense of the term, to cultivate good habits and strict integrity. His favorite maxims, which he made the basis of his business rules, were: "The jobber's first duty is to help his cus- tomers to prosper"; and "The recollection of quality remains long after the price is forgotten." The latter constituted the watchword of his entire business career and he would sacrifice profit rather than his standard in this direction.
In an analyzation of his life work it will be seen that one of the strong ele- ments in Mr. Simmons' success was his ability correctly to judge men. This was evidenced in his selection of his staff of assistants and it may be confidently asserted that there is not today in the United States a more perfeet business organization than Simmons Hardware Company, nor one founded on a more enduring basis.
On the 1st of January, 1898, Mr. Simmons, together with his friend and as- sociate, Mr. Morton, retired from active business. He was succeeded by his eldest son, Wallace D. Simmons, who had gone through a long and careful course of training for the important duties devolving upon the head of this immense institution. Mr. Simmons and Mr. Morton, however, retained their places on the board of directors, acting in an advisory capacity while shifting the larger responsibilities to younger shoulders. Mr. Morton died some years ago. Mr. Simmons was an important factor in bringing trade from remote sections to St. Louis, his salesmen having covered every state and territory in the Union. He always believed St. Louis to be the most favorably located geographically of the larger cities as a jobbing center and was enthusiastic on the subject of its com- mercial possibilities. He witnessed its development from a small and incon- sequential town with but limited industrial and financial interests, into the fourth city of the Union and to this result he largely contributed. It would be impossible for a man of his resourcefulness to confine his efforts to one line alone. His activities covered a wide range and at all times the city has been either a direet or indireet beneficiary. In addition to his mercantile enterprises he has been largely interested in banking, having been at different times and for long periods a
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director of the Boatmen's Bank, the St. Louis National Bank, the National Bank of Commerce and the St. Louis Union Trust Company.
In 1866 occurred the marriage of Edward C. Simmons and Miss Carrie Welch, a daughter of George W. and Lucy Welch. They became the parents of three sons: Wallace D., now the president of Simmons Hardware Company; Edward H. and George W., who are vice presidents of the company.
The family eirele was broken by the hand of death when on the 18th of April, 1920, Edward C. Simmons was called to the home beyond, and thus passed away one whose name is inseparably linked with the commercial development of St. Louis, for long after he had retired from active connection with the Simmons Hardware Company he was known throughout the country as the dean of the trade in the United States. A lifelong member of the Episcopal church, Mr. Sim- mons made his religion the basis of the high ideals which over actuated him in his relations to his fellowmen. He was a member of the St. Louis, Noonday, St. Louis Country and Commercial Clubs. He was keenly interested in the welfare of the city and cooperated in many of those movements and organized activities which looked to the benefit and upbuilding of St. Louis. His own standards of life were ever high. In 1880-1 he was a member of the St. Louis police board which is given eredit for the permanent closing of every public gambling house in a single night. Always an advocate of temperance, while he never interfered with others in this particular he gave encouragement and asisstance to all who attempted to leave intoxicants alone and the large force of employes of Simmons Hardware Company is made up almost wholly of men who abstain. His teaching was ever that of example rather than of precept and his own career was a source of encouragement and inspiration to many.
Wilbur Fisk Bople
SELL merited honors and distinction came to Wilbur Fisk Boyle. W who as a practitioner before the bar of Missouri continuously advanced from the outset of his career until he left the ranks of the many and stood among the successful few. A native of Brooke county, Virginia, now West Virginia, he was born August 20, 1840, a son of the Rev. Joseph Boyle. D.D., and Emeline (Gist) Boyle. His father's birth occurred in Balti- more, Maryland, May 12. 1812, and the mother was a native of Brooke county, Virginia. They were married on the 9th of August, 1836, and Dr. Boyle devoted his life to the ministry of the Methodist Episcopal church, being connected with regular pastorate service in that church until called to his reward, his death occurring in Lexington, Missouri, May 3. 1872. He became a member of the Missouri conference in 1842 and thereafter filled pulpits in the various Metho- dist churches of St. Louis and in other cities of the state, being recognized as one of the prominent divines of Missouri and a most able exponent of the doctrines of his denomination. He was again and again chosen representative to the general conference of the church and in the deliberations of that body became so influential that he acquired national fame. In 1844 he was a delegate to the convention of southern conferences, which took action upon the question of separate organization of the Methodist church in the south, the body casting an affirmative vote therefor. Rev. Boyle was also active in the promotion of the educational and publishing enterprises of his conference, having been the founder of the St. Louis Christian Advocate.
Endowed by nature with strong intellectual power, Wilbur Fisk Boyle care- fully and conscientiously used the talents which had been given him and laid the foundation for his later success before the bar in a thorough education, which he acquired in the public schools of the various cities to which his father's labors called him and later in different colleges and universities. He spent two years. beginning in 1852, as a student in the Masonic College of Lexington, Missouri, and from 1854 until 1856 attended Central College of Fayette, Missouri, while in the fall of the latter year he was matriculated in Asbury University at Green- castle, Indiana. He was fortunate in having as his law preceptor the lon. Ed- ward Bates, who was attorney general in the cabinet of President Lincoln, and following his admission to the bar on the 1st of January, 1868, he at once began practice in St. Louis. No dreary novitiate awaited him. He brought to the commencement of his legal career an equipment that was unusually good and through the careful preparation of each case and its forceful presentation before the courts he soon gained a reputation for ability that placed him beyond the point of mediocrity and afterward gained for him honors and success in the prae- tice of law. In 1876 he was called to the bench of the St. Louis circuit court,
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whereon he served for six years. His fellow citizens would have indorsed his first term in a reelection had he not declined a second nomination. On the 1st of January, 1883, he retired from the bench and became senior partner of the firm of Boyle, Adams & McKeighan, which partnership was succeeded in 1892 by Boyle & Adams, this relation being maintained until the appointment of Judge Adams to the bench of the United States district court in 1895. At that date Judge Boyle became senior partner in the firm of Boyle, Priest & Lehmann, and following the withdrawal of the junior partner the association between Mr. Boyle and Mr. Priest continued until the death of the former. He was one of the strongest exponents of civil law in St. Louis, thoroughly familiar with principle and precedent, and brought ready solution to the most difficult and intricate legal problems.
Mr. Boyle's activities did not cease with his work before the courts, but ex- tended into various fields, especially in connection with public projects and move- ments whereby the welfare of the city was promoted along material, intellectual, social and moral lines. He was a director of the Mississippi Valley Trust Com- pany and was a member of the advisory board of the St. Louis Law School. He was made a governmental delegate to the Universal Congress of Lawyers and Jurists held in St. Louis in 1904, and the Louisiana Purchase Exposition found no more stalwart champion than Wilbur F. Boyle. He served as a member of the executive, foreign relations and entertainment committees, was vice president of the international jury of awards, and for his valuable services in those connec- tions received decorations and honors of high rank from several foreign govern- ments. He was recognized throughout the country as the peer of many of the ablest representatives of the bar and was a valued member of the St. Louis, Missouri and American Bar Associations.
On the 6th of October, 1864, Mr. Boyle was married to Miss Fannie L. Brother, who died January 11, 1910. Little more than a year had passed when on the 28th of March, 1911, Mr. Boyle passed away, the only surviving member of the family being their daughter, Sidney Emeline. Mr. Boyle held membership in the Methodist church and its teachings found exemplifications in his life. His interests extended to those broader realms of thought wherein research is bringing to light a knowledge of the past and investigation is promoting the progress of the future. He belonged to the Missouri Historical Society and the Academy of Science and was also a cooperant factor in the work of the Business Men's League of St. Louis. The social element in his nature was also a predominant one and for fifteen years he was the popular president of the St. Louis Country Club and also held membership in the St. Louis, Noonday, Racquet and other clubs. A kindred spirit drew him into close companionship with the most intelligent and cultured men of the city and yet he possessed in marked degree the ready tact that enabled him to put the most humble or obscure man at ease in his presence.
CHICAGO
TAYLOR & TON, ENGRAVERS
Murray Carleton
Murray Carleton
N the year 1873 Murray Carleton entered the business eireles of St. Louis in connection with the wholesale dry goods trade, but while he has steadily developed his interests and has won notable success in founding and conducting the Carleton Dry Goods Company, this represents but one phase of his activity, for at all times the subjective and objective interests of his life have been well balanced. He has ever recognized his duties and obligations to his fellowmen and has been a contributing factor to the pro- motion of many lines of work which have had for their objeet the betterment of conditions and the uplift of the individual. His life, broadly useful as well as substantially successful, should serve as an inspiration to the young and a source of encouragement to all.
Mr. Carleton is a native of Cumberland, Maryland, and the son of a merchant and railway contractor, Henry D. Carleton, who resided in that city. From an early age the present St. Louis merchant has been dependent upon his own ro- sources and made his initial step in business as an employe in a newspaper office in his native town when a lad of thirteen years. There he remained for a period of six years, gaining valuable experience in his newspaper training, for such a work always brings the individual wide and comprehensive knowledge of things current in the world and promotes an alertness of mind that is perhaps manifest in no other business as quickly and forcefully as it is in the gathering of news.
With Murray Carleton's advent into the business circles of St. Louis in 1873. he became identified with the wholesale dry goods house of Henry Bell & Son and from that point has made steady progress, winning various promotions until he reached the presidency of the Carleton Dry Goods Company, which is the out- growth of the old firm of Henry Bell & Son. In 1875 Daniel W. Bell became owner of the original establishment and conducted the business under his own name until his death in 1878, when the firm of J. H. Wear, Boogher & Company was organized by former employes of the Bell establishment, Jesse L. and John P. Boogher and James H. Wear. At a later date the firm style of Wear, Boogher & Company was assumed and on the Ist of January, 1884, Mr. Carleton became a partner in the undertaking, having in the meantime gained comprehensive knowledge of every phase and principle of the trade as affecting the sales and the office management. Three years after he acquired an interest in the business it was incorporated under the style of the Wear & Boogher Dry Goods Company, which on the 1st of January, 1900. was succeeded by the Carleton Dry Goods Company, organized by Murray Carleton, who has since occupied the presi- deney. This is today one of the large and important commercial institutions of St. Louis and stands as a monument to the business ability. keen sagacity and broad commercial vision of the founder. James Russell Lowell has said, "An
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institution is but the lengthened shadow of a man," and by this the measure of Mr. Carleton's business ability, his executive force and his undaunted enterprise may be taken. He has now long occupied a central place on the stage of activity in connection with the wholesale dry goods interests of St. Louis and has also extended his efforts into other fields, becoming identified with the St. Louis Transit Company and the United Railway Company, both of which elected him to the presidency. He is likewise a director and senior vice president of the Boat- men's Bank and his opinions upon business matters are considered a valuable asset in the conduct of any public enterprise or undertaking. At the time of the Louisiana Purchase Exposition he was chosen one of the directors and likewise served on its executive committee, contributing to the success of the fair which was here held and which was one of the epoch making features in the history of Missouri and the country.
In 1884 Mr. Carleton was united in marriage to Miss Annie Laurie Hays and they became the parents of eight children, one of whom, Susan R., has passed away, while those still living are: Murray, Jr .; Hope D., who enlisted in the United States army as a private and was promoted to sergeant, being in overseas service in France and highly complimented in reports by his superior officers; Doreas, now the wife of Louis Wynne Martin of St. Louis; Esther, the wife of Captain Richard Moore, Junior, of St. Louis; Ruth, the wife of C. L. Wood of Denver, Colorado; Patricia and Annie Laurie, both at home,
That the social interests of life have made strong appeal to Mr. Carleton is shown in his membership in the Log Cabin, St. Louis Country, Sunset Hill, St. Louis, and Noonday Clubs and the Missouri Athletic Association. These inter- ests, however, constitute but one phase of his activity outside of business. He has always been mindful of his duties and obligations to his fellowmen and has long been a devoted and faithful member of the Centenary Methodist Epsieopal church, contributing generously to its support, taking aetive part in its work and serving as chairman of its board of stewards. For twelve years he was also one of the trustees and the treasurer of the Barnes Hospital. For many years he served as Sunday school superintendent and is still a trustee of the Young Men's Christian Association of St. Louis. He has been quick to meet the needs which have arisen as the result of the World war and was chairman of the Missouri Division of the European Relief Committee for the starving children of the war- ridden countries, raising more than three hundred thousand dollars for this cause. His life has been fruitful of many good results. His standards and his ideals are high and he has improved every opportunity to bring about their practical ae- ceptance. Strong and purposeful, he has accomplished much not only in the upbuilding of his own fortunes, but in the promotion of the world's work along the lines of intellectual and moral advancement and of benevolent and charitable work.
Wells L. Blodgett
ELLS HOWARD BLODGETT was born January 29th, 1839, at W Downers Grove, Du Page county, Illinois, His father, Israel P. Blodgett, was a native of Belchertown, Massachusetts, and his mother, Avis (Dodge) Blodgett, was born in the nearby town of Amherst, in that state. In 1830 they traveled across the country by wagon to Albany. The Erie Canal had then been opened, and they went by that route from Albany to Buffalo. From Buffalo they took a schooner (there were no steamboats on the Lakes in those days) to Chicago, which was then better known as "Fort Dear- born." From Chicago they traveled west about twenty-five miles, across the open country (there being no established roads), to the DuPage river, where they located their home. At that time the tribe of Indians known as the Pottowa- tomies occupied the DuPage river country. Locally they were friendly with the white people who were coming to settle in their country. But when Black Hawk, Chief of the Saes and Foxes, declared war against the whites and com- meneed crossing to the east side of the Mississippi with his warriors, the white settlers residing west of Fort Dearborn became alarmed and fled to the fort for protection. Afterwards, however, when Black Hawk had been defeated and captured, the Blodgett family returned to their home on the DuPage, but soon afterwards they moved to a new location and established their home at the place now known as Downers Grove, where Wells H. (the subject of this sketch) was born and grew up on a farm as other boys do in a new country. He was one of a family of eight children, seven sons and one daughter. His eldest brother (Henry W. Blodgett) was judge of the federal court at Chicago for many years. Another brother (Asiel Z.) served through the war 1861-5 as a captain in the Ninety-sixth Regiment, Illinois Volunteers, and was severely wounded at Mission Ridge. Another Brother (Edward A.) was adjutant of that regiment and received a brevet commission as Major of Infantry. His youngest brother (Charles B.) still resides in the old home at Downers.
In 1856, '57 and '58 Wells H. Blodgett was a student at Wheaton and Mount Morris, and at the elose of the school year in 1858 he entered the law office of Norman B. Judd as a student. Mr. Jndd was at that time one of the best known citizens of that state. He was chairman of the Republican State Com- mittee and the member of the National Republican Committee from Illinois. He was general counsel for the Rock Island Railroad Company, and in the great suits brought, in both the state and federal courts, by the river interests, to prevent the plaeing of a bridge pier in the channel of the Mississippi river, he employed Mr. Lincoln as his associate, and at the National Republican Conven- tion that met at Chicago in June, 1860, Mr. Judd presented the name of Mr. Lincoln as the candidate of his state and party for the presidency. In March.
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1861, Wells H. Blodgett presented himself before the examining committee for admission to the bar, and received a certificate that entitled him to enrollment. On the 15th day of April, 1861, Mr. Lincoln issued his first call for an army of seventy-five thousand "to protect the national capital and suppress insurrection." April 17 of that year Wells H. Blodgett enrolled as a private in a military eom- pany then being organized at Chicago by Captain (afterwards Colonel). C. C. Marsh. That company was not called into active service, but in July of the same year he again enrolled as a private for "a term of three years or during the war," in Company D, Thirty-seventh Regiment, Illinois Volunteers, and afterwards, in August, 1861, he was commissioned by Governor Yates as a first lieutenant in that company and regiment. In the autumn of that year he marehed, with his company and regiment, to Springfield, Missouri, in the army commanded by General John C. Fremont. But as the Confederate Army commanded by General Sterling Price had fallen baek to a point farther south, the army commanded by Fremont returned north to a camp in Missouri, near what was then the western terminus of the Missouri Pacific Railroad. General Price, however, soon returned with his army to Springfield, and General Samuel R. Curtis, who had succeeded Fremont, decided to move his army against the Confederate forces at Springfield, and in February, 1862, that movement began and continued until the main army, under Curtis, had reached Sugar Creek, Arkansas, at a point two or three miles south of Pea Ridge. In the meantime the army under Price had been reinforced by a division of Confederate troops from Louisiana commanded by General Hebert; by a division from Texas commanded by General Ben MeCullough, and a division from Arkansas com- manded by General MeIntosh. Such being the situation, and while the troops of the main army under Curtis were quietly resting in their camp on Sugar Creek, they were, on the afternoon of March 6, 1862, suddenly startled by the roar of artillery in the direction of Bentonville where the division of the Federal Army under Siegel was in eamp. During the night of March 6 the Confederate Army moved from its position near Bentonville, and, on the morning of March 7, it was occupying a position north of the army under Curtis. The Thirty- seventh Illinois Infantry was in the division of the Union Army commanded by General Jeff C. Davis of Indiana, and instead of moving south to the attack it moved north, and at daybreak on the morning of March 7 the fighting began and continued until the night of that day. It was renewed the next morning and continued until between one and two o'clock p. m. of March S. In the final charge of the Union Army, at the point known as Elkhorn Tavern, it so happened that the right of Company D, Thirty-seventh Illinois, rested on the highway leading up (they were then moving north) to what was known as the Elkhorn Tavern. Down the slope to the north some seventy-five or one hundred yards the Confederates had been compelled to abandon two pieces of artillery, and the next day, March 9, Company D of the Thirty-seventh Illinois, commanded by Lieutenant Blodgett, was detailed to escort the two captured guns to the head- quarters of General Curtis, who thanked the lieutenant and his company and complimented, in generous terms, the gallantry of the regiment to which they belonged. In the two days' fighting at Pea Ridge (March seventh and eighth, 1862), the Thirty-seventh Illinois Volunteers lost fifty-four men killed on the
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