USA > Missouri > Centennial history of Missouri (the center state) one hundred years in the Union, 1820-1921, Volume V > Part 14
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HENRI RUSH.
Henri Rush, member of the firm of Lee & Rush, architects of St. Louis, was born in Cape Colony, South Africa, June 24, 1874. He was educated in the Poly- technic Institute at Johannesburg, South Africa, being there graduated with the class of 1890. He entered upon professional work in that city as an architect and structural engineer and was thus engaged until 1896. Later he entered the mili- tary service as an engineer officer in the Transvaal State Artillery, being connected with the technology branch having charge of searchlights, bridges and roads on the Ladysmith's battle front. On account of illness he was left by his company in the Drakensberg Mountains, where he was picked up by British soldiers and taken to Pretoria, where he remained in the military hospital until convalescent. He was then paroled and later was permitted to depart for England, after giving
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his word that he would not take part again in the war. He then went to Amster- dam and also traveled through continental Europe and England. Later he re- turned to Amsterdam, where he obtained his passport papers preparatory to com- ing to America.
On reaching the United States in 1901 Mr. Rush first settled in Cleveland, Ohio, and was there employed by the Garrett & Cromwell Engineering Company for two years. He afterward returned to England on a visit and on account of not being able to get passports for South Africa he went to Hamburg, Germany, and then came again to the United States, settling in St. Louis in 1903. Here he entered the employ of the Missouri Pacific Railroad Company as designer of stations, and later he became connected with the director of public works, being thus engaged during the time of the Louisiana Purchase Exposition. In this connection he designed buildings, including the airdrome for airships and also the buildings for the Boer exhibition. When the fair was over he accepted a position as chief engineer in the building department of the city and continued to act in that capacity until 1919, during which period he designed several buildings for the city. While thus serving he became silent partner in the firm of Lee & Rush in 1905 and when he left the city department in 1919 it was for the pur- pose of devoting his time exclusively to the interests of his own firm. They are numbered among the prominent architects of the state, making a specialty of large hospitals and churches and other buildings of great size. Some of the finest struc- tures of the city and state stand as monuments to their ability, and they have gained a reputation as one of the leading firms of architects in St. Louis.
It was in this city in November, 1904, that Mr. Rush was united in marriage to Miss Marie Grueneberg, and four children have been born to them: Henry, Jr., Mary, Irma and Hildegard.
The activities and experiences which have come to Mr. Rush have been broad, varied and interesting. He was given a full citizenship in the Transvaal Republic as a reward for his services, this being considered a very high prize in that country. Aside from the military service already mentioned he was likewise in the Jamieson raid in South Africa in 1895. Since coming to the new world he has taken out his citizenship papers here and has given his political allegiance largely to the republican party but does not hesitate to cast an independent ballot if his judg- ment so dictates. He was a member of the St. Louis Home Guards during the World war. His religious faith is that of the Lutheran church and he also has membership with the American Society of Civil Engineers and with the St. Louis Engineering Club. He is a man of highly developed powers and ability along the line of his chosen profession and has ever been actuated by a laudable ambi- tion to obtain a high degree of efficiency in this field. Step by step he has ad- vanced, and the high quality of his work is today widely recognized.
WILLIAM F. WOERNER.
William F. Woerner, an active member of the St. Louis bar for more than a third of a century, having completed a course in the St. Louis Law School in 1885, was born August 20, 1864, in the city which is still his home, his parents heing J. Gabriel and Emilie (Plass) Woerner. In the acquirement of his education he passed through successive grades in the public schools of St. Louis until graduated from the Central high school in January, 1883. He then became connected with the work of the courts through a clerkship under his father in the probate court during the spring and summer of that year. In the autumn of 1883 he enrolled as a student in the St. Louis Law School, from which he was graduated magna cum laude in 1885 with the degree of LL. B., this serving as admission to the bar without examination. He entered upon the practice of his profession in connection with Charles W. Bates, the partnership continuing until 1887, after which Mr. Woerner practiced alone until January, 1895. He then entered into partnership with his father upon the latter's retirement from the probate bench and the firm association was main- tained until the father's death. He materially assisted his father, J. G. Woerner, in the preparation of his monumental work, "The American Law of Administration"
WILLIAM F. WOERNER
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and "The American Law of Guardianship," and prepared the subsequent editions of the former work.
Mr. Woerner has from time to time been called to public office. In 1898 he was the democratic candidate for judge of probate and received the highest vote given to any democratic candidate that year but was defeated by a small majority. On the 23d of February, 1901, he was appointed police commissioner by the governor and occupied that position until March 9, when he resigned. On the 24th of January, 1902, he was appointed by Mayor Wells to fill out an unexpired term as associate city counselor and was reappointed in April, 1903, remaining in the position until September 26, 1905, when Mayor Wells appointed him to prepare the official revi- sion of the city ordinances and annotation of the charter and ordinances. This work was completed in a year and subsequently adopted under the name of "The Re- vised Code of St. Louis, 1907." In the spring of 1909 Mr. Woerner received the mayoralty nomination of his party, but his entire ticket went down to defeat in the landslide of that year. On the 3d of July, 1913, he was appointed by the gover- nor as one of the original members of the Public Service Commission of Missouri and remained on the commission until November 18, 1914, when he resigned to again enter upon the practice of law.
While active in the work of the courts, Mr. Woerner has conducted much im- portant litigation both in private practice and as representative of the city of St. Louis. He succeeded in effecting legislation of prime importance, always in the public interest. After prior attempted reforms had been held unconstitutional by the supreme court he turned his attention in 1903 to the reform of the then pre- vailing antiquated fee system of compensation of the probate judges, which had become highly excessive, and formulated and drafted the bill providing for the pay- ment into the public schools revenue of the excess of probate fees when such ran beyond the compensation of a circuit court judge; and after obtaining the approval of the bill by the Bar Association of St. Louis, he put it through the legislature of 1903, thereby securing not only a fair compensation to the probate judge but also a permanent increase in the public school fund of St. Louis of over twenty-five thou- sand dollars annually. This law was upheld by the supreme court against repeated attacks and is still in force. It was Mr. Woerner who also conceived, drafted and made effective the famous "mill-tax" ordinance, providing for one mill per passen- ger revenue tax payable into the city treasury by the street-car companies. This ordi- nance, which was enacted in 1903, became effective January 1, 1904, although fiercely assailed by the street-car corporations. Mr. Woerner, although no longer in office and acting wholly without compensation and for the public good, com- pletely vindicated the validity of this law in the supreme court of the United States, as reported in the case of St. Louis vs. United Railways Company, 210 U. S. 266. This decision, which was rendered in 1908, established a principle of law of great value and involved millions of dollars in the result., Though there was later resist- ance on the part of the railways, the decision above referred to was in every case held to be a final bar to the Railways Company under the doctrine of "res adjudicata" from making any successful attack upon the validity of the ordinance. Under this enactment the city has collected several million dollars and is receiving a revenue of but two hundred and fifty thousand dollars per annum. The examples cited are about two out of the many instances that might be given of his activities in public affairs for the general good.
In 1912 Mr. Woerner prepared and published a volume of one hundred and twenty-nine pages entitled "J. Gabriel Woerner-A Biographical Sketch," which is a memorial to his honored father. In 1917, at the time of the entry of the United States into the World war and before this phase had begun to be discussed, he pub- lished a pioneer hook on the subject of a world organization, a question which he had been studying for many years previous: The work was brought out under the title of a word first coined by him, but since frequently used, "Supernationalism." In former years Mr. Woerner was and now again is professor of wills and adminis- tration on the faculty of the St. Louis University Institute of Law; and for the use of the law students on this subject he prepared, as co-editor, an abridgment of his father's great work "American Law of Administration," which was published in 1913 under the title "Law of Decedents' Estates." He is now devoting his attention to private practice and has an extensive clientage of an important character.
Mr. Woerner was married to Miss Agnes T. Judge and they have three chil-
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dren: Ruth J., Gabriel, and William F. Mr. Woerner is identified with the Masonic fraternity and is connected with a few clubs and social organizations, including the City Club, the Public Question Club, the Triple A and the Missouri Athletic Club. He is also a member of the St. Louis Chamber of Commerce, while along strictly professional lines he is identified with the St. Louis, Missouri and American Bar Associations. His entire life record has upheld an untarnished family name that figures most prominently in connection with the history of the har of Missouri.
GEORGE HENRY KEMMERER.
George Henry Kemmerer, district manager of truck tire sales with the Good- year Tire & Rubber Company of St. Louis, was born in this city September 23, 1891. His father, the late Charles R. Kemmerer, was a native of Pennsylvania and a representative of one of the old families of that state. He came to Missouri in early life and was successfully engaged in business as a wholesale and retail dealer in cigars. He married Ida' Victoria Tool, who was likewise born in the Keystone state, where her ancestors had lived through several generations. The death of Mr. Kemmerer occurred in 1907, when he had reached the age of forty- nine years. The mother is still living and now makes her home at Maplewood, Missouri. In the family were eight children, four sons and four daughters, of whom George H. was the third in order of hirth.
After acquiring his education in the public schools of St. Louis, George H. Kemmerer started out to earn his own living when a youth of sixteen years and was first employed by the Pullman Sleeping Car Company, continuing with that corporation until 1909. In the latter year he entered the service of the Goodyear Tire & Rubber Company in a clerical capacity and was later advanced to the posi- tion of salesman, while his next promotion made him sales supervisor and then in turn he became assistant branch manager, district department manager and is the present district manager of truck tire sales, having advanced through the steps of an orderly progression and through various departments to his present position of trust and responsibility.
On the 16th of September, 1914, in St. Louis, Mr. Kemmerer was married to Miss Ruth Blair, a native of this city and a daughter of John and Paulina ( Barnes) Blair, the former now deceased. Mr. and Mrs. Kemmerer have a daughter, Ruth Jane, born October 11, 1915. Mr. Kemmerer belongs to Mount Moriah Lodge, A. F. & A. M., and in politics he maintains an independent course, voting accord- ing to the dictates of his judgment. During the war period he took a most active part in promoting the loan drives and at all times he is a public-spirited and progressive citizen, cooperating in all plans and measures for the general good.
JEROME BAUDUY CORBY.
Starting out to provide for his own support by working through vacation periods while still a schoolboy, Jerome Bauduy Corby has steadily advanced until he is now president and treasurer of the Corby Supply Company, a husiness of considerable importance in the commercial circles of St. Louis. He was born in this city May 21, 1875, a son of Francis Patrick Corby, whose birth occurred at Economy, Pennsylvania, on the 12th of May, 1821, and of Josephine Angelique (Robidoux) Corby, who was born at Savannah, Missouri, October 1, 1843. The mother was a daughter of Felix and Jane Catherine (Smith) Rohidoux, the former born in St. Louis, May 4, 1820, and the latter in Nashville, Tennessee, March 10, 1818. Felix Rohidoux was a son of Joseph Robidoux (II), who was the founder of St. Joseph, Missouri. Joseph Robidoux (I) came to St. Louis in 1761 from Canada and was very active in shaping public affairs in the embryo city. His home occupied the hlock fronting the levee between Walnut and Elm streets, and from that time to the present representatives of the Robidoux family have remained in St. Louis and have taken prominent part in her public affairs.
Jerome Bauduy Corby was educated in private and public schools and began
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his active business career in vacation time with the firm of D. Crawford & Com- pany in 1887. In 1889 he became connected with the railway supply business of Andrew Warren, with whom he continued until the latter retired, at which time Mr. Corby secured a position with the National Tube Works and was thus a factor in the business circles of St. Louis until that firm sold out to the Crane Company. He continued with the successors until November, 1903, when he was made manager of the railway supply business of C. A. Thompson and occupied the position for four years. In March, 1907, he organized the Corby Supply Company, of which he is president and treasurer, and through the intervening period of thirteen years a business of substantial proportions has been developed. He is thoroughly familiar with every phase of the railway supply business and has always manifested the utmost thoroughness as well as energy and enterprise throughout his business career. He is also the president of the Campbell Machin- ery Company of Joplin, Missouri, and is a director of the Ball Ice Machine Com- pany and a director of the Newmarket Bank. His interests have thus become important and extensive and his life work has been crowned with substantial success. He has never allowed obstacles or difficulties to bar his path but has advanced steadily as the years have gone by, overcoming all difficulties by deter- mined purpose and ever recognizing the fact that when one avenue of opportunity seemed closed he could carve out another path whereby to reach the desired goal. During the World war he devoted much of his time to supplying the manufacturers of war material with equipment. He was offered and accepted a position in the ordnance department shortly before the armistice was signed, carrying with it the rank of major, but was never called to active service in that connection.
On the 9th of June, 1899, Mr. Corby was married in St. Louis, Misouri, to Miss Ann M. Woods, a daughter of John M. and Ann Woods. She was left an orphan when but three years of age and was reared by an aunt, Miss Mary E. Tucker, a daughter of C. L. Tucker, who in 1867 was president of the Merchants Exchange and was one of the pioneer flour mill operators in St. Louis. Mr. and Mrs. Corby have become parents of two children: Lieutenant Frank S. Corby, twenty years of age, now attending the University of Michigan; and Betty, four- teen years of age, attending Mary Institute.
In his political views Mr. Corby has always been a stalwart republican and keeps well informed on the questions of the day, so that he is able to support his position by intelligent argument, yet he has never been an office seeker, pre- ferring that his public duty shall be done as a private citizen. He belongs to the Glen Echo Country Club, the Missouri Athletic Association, the St. Louiss Rail- way Club, the Rotary Club, the Engineers Club, the St. Louis Auto Club and the Chicago Auto Club and he is likewise a member of the St. Louis Real Estate Ex- change. His interests and his activities have long been broad and varied, bring- ing him into touch with many people, and the esteem in which he is uniformly held indicates the possession of sterling characteristics.
TOM WIGHTMAN BENNETT.
Tom Wightman Bennett, well known in financial circles as the organizer and promoter of the Mortgage Guarantee Company and also of the Mortgage Trust Company of St. Louis, was born in Arkansas, November 30, 1872, his parents being Zachary T. and Othelia M. Bennett. He pursued his education in the public schools of Little Rock, Arkansas, being there graduated from the high school with the class of June, 1892. He entered upon his business career in connection with the cotton commission business, in which he was engaged in 1894 and 1895. In the following year he became identified with shoe manufacturing and was thus active until 1905. In the latter year he became an officer of the Mississippi Valley Trust Company of St. Louis and remained with that corporation until January, 1909, when he organized the Mortgage Guarantee Company of this city and two years later organized as an associate company the Mortgage Trust Company, since which time the two companies have continued as associate concerns in investment bank- ing and trust business, with Mr. Bennett as president and directing head of both. He is largely interested financially in both concerns as well as in other corpora-
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tions, the affairs of which are controlled or managed by the Mortgage Trust Com- pany. On January 1, 1921, the Mortgage Guarantee Company and the Mortgage Trust Company entered into a combination with the St. Louis Union Trust Com- pany and the First National Bank of St. Louis, whereby the latter institution owns the controling interest. The Mortgage Trust Company becomes the investment division of the First National Bank and will retain its present officials. This com- bination of interests makes the largest banking group west of the Mississippi river. Mr. Bennett is likewise an officer in several private corporations and his business affairs are most carefully and wisely managed, bringing substantial results.
Mr. Bennett is a member of the Methodist Episcopal church, South, and his political position is that of an independent democrat. He is well known in club circles of the city, belonging to the Noonday, Racquet and St. Louis Country Clubs. Those who know him-and he has a wide acquaintance-speak of him in high terms because of his social qualities as well as his business ability.
EUSTATHIUS CHANCELLOR, M. D.
Dr. Eustathius Chancellor is a widely known representative of the medical pro- fession who since 1880, or for a period of forty years, has practiced in St. Louis. His professional and scientific attainments and his genial nature have called him to leader- ship in various connections and there are few men outside of public life who have a wider acquaintance or more friends than has Dr. Chancellor. While he comes from English ancestry the family has long been represented on this side of the Atlantic and his birth occurred August 29, 1854, in Chancellorsville, Spotsylvania county, Vir- ginia, his parents being Dr. J. Edgar and D. Josephine Chancellor who were repre- sentatives of a number of the oldest and most distinguished families of Virginia. He began his education in private schools of his native county and afterward pursued his studies at Charlottesville, Virginia, continuing his classical education until 1870. He then initiated his business career when in October of that year he visited Columbus, Georgia, and accepted a position as assistant cashier and bookkeeper in a railway office. Ill health forced him to resign his position, however, a year later. He was not content with the educational opportunities which he had already enjoyed and in October, 1871, he returned to the University of Virginia where he entered upon a course in civil engineering as a member of the junior class and at the close of the session received certificates of proficiency in several departments. He remained a student in the State University through the succeeding two years, devoting his attention to classical courses and higher mathematics and then entered upon the study of medicine in the fall of 1874. After two years of thorough work he graduated with honors on the 29th of June, 1876, and his professional degree was conferred upon him by the medical depart- ment of the University of Virginia. He further promoted his knowledge of the science of medicine by attending the clinics of the University of Pennsylvania for several weeks, at the end of which time he entered upon educational work in the line of his chosen profession, being appointed prosector in the chair of anatomy in the School of Medicine of the University of Maryland and also was made clinical assistant in the hospital. He likewise continued his studies in the Maryland University and a second diploma was conferred upon him in 1877 with a certificate of proficiency from the University Hospital. A further recognition of the excellent work which he had done came in his appointment as assistant resident physician at the University Hospital in' the spring of 1878. He served in that capacity for a year and during much of the time acted as chief physician but resigned in March, 1879. He then returned to the University of Virginia and about the same time entered into partner- ship with his father, Dr. J. Edgar Chancellor, for the practice of medicine and surgery and became a member of the Medical Society of Virginia. Throughout his professional career he has been a well known contributor to leading medical journals of the country, beginning his writing soon after leaving college.
Attracted by the opportunities of the growing west Dr. Chancellor came to St. Louis July 9, 1880, and was not long in becoming firmly established In an extensive and lucrative practice. He has always been a close student of his profession, examin- ing with thoroughness every theory and idea that has to do with the laws of health and the abolishment of disease. He has ever kept in touch with the latest scientific
DR. EUSTATHIUS CHANCELLOR
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researches and discoveries and his opinions are based upon long experience, keen sagacity and an almost innate perception as to the value of a course to be pursued.
Dr. Chancellor's service as medical examiner for many fraternal, insurance and other organizations has brought him a most extensive acquaintance and his genial qualities have gained for him the friendship of nearly all with whom he has come in contact. He has served as medical examiner for twenty of the leading fraternal organizations of St. Louis and through this avenue he became an active representa- tive of Masonry, taking the degrees of the lodge, the commandery, the Scottish Rite and the Mystic Shrine. He also belongs to Elks Lodge, No. 9, and he became one of the active members of the Knights of Pythias and in 1886 was elected supreme medical director of the Legion of Honor, filling the position most efficiently and satisfactorily for three years or until he declined a reelection in 1889. Subsequently he was appointed supervising medical examiner of the Royal Arcanum of Missouri. It has been said of him :. "No man has done more than he to advance the high standard of life insurance examination and characterize this field as a distinct specialty. He has the good fortune to be medical examiner of many of the best life and acci- dent insurance companies in the land and represents several traveling men's mutual accident and health associations."
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